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Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani yesterday met Turkmenistan’s Deputy Prime Minister for Foreign Policy Affairs and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov in capital Ashgabat. Sheikh Mohammed also met President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow and conveyed greetings of Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to him and wishes of further progress and prosperity to the people of Turkmenistan.

FM in Turkmenistan

A water sport enthusiast enjoying flyboarding at the Sports For All Summer Festival at Katara Beach yesterday. Pic: Abdul Basit / The Peninsula → See also page 2

Flyboarding at Katara Beach

FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2016 • 30 DHUL QA’DA 1437 • Volume 21 • Number 6907 thepeninsulaqatar @peninsulaqatar @peninsula_qatar 2 Riyals

Emir congratulates

Uzbekistan President

DOHA: Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani yesterday sent a cable of congratulations to Uzbekistan’s President Dr. Islam Karimov on his country’s Inde-pendence Day.

Deputy Emir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani also sent a congratulatory cable to Dr. Karimov.

Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani sent a similar cable to Dr. Kari-mov, reports QNA.

Emir greets

Slovakia President

DOHA: Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani yesterday sent a cable of congratulations to Slovakia’s President Andrej Kiska on his country’s National Day.

Deputy Emir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani also sent a congratulatory cable to President Kiska. Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani sent a similar cable to Pres-ident Kiska, reports QNA.

Arafa Day on

September 11DOHA: This year’s Arafa Day will be on September 11 (Sunday) and Eid Al Adha on September 12 (Monday), Saudi Arabia’s High Judiciary Council has said. As the crescent was not sighted yester-day, tomorrow (Saturday) marks the first day of Dhul Hijjah.

Many expats show up on first day of amnesty

By Sanaullah Ataullah

and Sidi Mohamed

The Peninsula

DOHA: Many expatriates staying in the country illegally have turned up at the Search and Follow-Up Depart-ment of the Ministry of Interior (MoI) since last afternoon to take advan-tage of the three-month amnesty which came into force yesterday.

The inflow of people started at around noon, much ahead of the schedule given by the authori-ties, and police officers were found screening the visitors at the recep-tion area of the department.

Those who came with all

required documents were able to complete procedures within a few hours, while others were turned back. They were asked to come again with necessary papers.

Once procedures are complete, the amnesty seeker will get an exit permit to leave the country.

Department sources have indi-cated that they can come back to the country if they were not involved in any serious offences.

The ministry has issued a list of documents required for submit-ting an application for departing the country during the amnesty period.

The list in various languages is being circulated among expatriate communities and the embassies.

The requirements include a valid passport, a travel document issued by the embassy in case the passport is not available, ID card or copy of entry visa, and an open air ticket or one with a booking after three days.

Applications are received from 2pm to 8pm from Sunday to Thurs-day every week. The amnesty ends

on December 1. A Bangladeshi amnesty seeker said he had come to know about the amnesty through Facebook.

He had been working for sev-eral years on a “free visa”, paying a fixed amount to the sponsor every month. Late last year, he fell sick and needed a surgery for appendicitis. The sponsor asked him to go home but he refused because his visa was still valid and he could get treatment at Hamad General Hospital (HGH).

The sponsor filed a complaint at the department saying the worker had run away. However, he got admitted at HGH through a referral from a health centre and underwent the surgery successfully.

“My visa expired on January 18 this year and I was planning to leave the country using my medical report. A relative informed me about the amnesty through Facebook and I decided to avail of this opportunity on the first day,” he said.

→ Continued on page 2

QNA

DOHA: Qatar yesterday expressed condemnation of a statement issued by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on the settlement decision in the occupied East Jerusalem.

The Foreign Ministry said the statement refuses a report by Nikolay Mladenov, United Nations Coordinator for the Middle East peace process, on the developments in the Occupied Pal-estine and proves the Israeli policies that reject peace and weaken opportunities for the two-state solution. It reiterated Qatar’s stance and policy in supporting the Palestinian cause and stressed that the Palestinian people’s authentic and legitimate rights must be protected.

It called on the international community to shoulder its legal, humanitarian and moral responsibilities and take a firm stance to compel Israel to comply with peace requirements, at a time of intensified international efforts to resume the peace process and save the two-state solution.

Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met Mladenov in Doha.

Qatar denounces Israel’s

West Bank settlement plan

Qatar condemns use of

chemical weapons in Syria

Unlicensed supermarket shut down

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday met Qatar’s Attorney-General H E Dr. Ali bin Fetais Al Marri on the sidelines of the launch of the Judicial Year in Ankara. The launch in Ankara was held under the auspices of Erdogan and in the presence of presidents and judges of courts. Qatari Ambassador to Turkey Salem bin Mubarak Al Shafi attended the meeting. → See also page 2

Erdogan meets Qatar’s A-G

Anatolia

ANKARA: A total of 543 judges and prosecutors were dismissed yesterday as part of a probe into the Fetullah Terrorist Organisa-tion (FETO), authorities said.

The general assembly of Turk-ish Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors decided to dismiss 543 of 648 suspended judges and prosecutors, the board said. The decision was made under a stat-utory decree issued in July during the current three-month state of emergency.

On August 24, the board had dismissed 2,847 suspended judges and prosecutors. The dismissed personnel were accused of being linked to FETO the government blames for the failed July 15 coup attempt.

The Peninsula

DOHA: Al Khor-Al Dhakhira Munic-ipality has permanently shut down a supermarket operating without licence at an animal farm in Al Khor.

The municipality’s inspectors, in collaboration with Criminal Inves-tigation Department and Al Shamal Security Department, found the supermarket selling food without the necessary permit, in violation

of Law No. 8 of 1990 on Regulation of Human Food Control. Other vio-lations included not putting labels on some food items and not complying with health standards.

The director of the municipality has referred the case to concerned authorities to complete legal procedures.

Meanwhile, a resident com-plained against a restaurant in Al Najma, saying it was preparing food and storing it inside a labour accom-modation in the same area.

After thorough checking, inspec-tors from the Health Monitoring Section at Doha Municipality found that the restaurant was storing food supplies at room temperature and preparing food in unhealthy condi-tions at a labour accommodation and then bringing it to the restaurant.

Legal procedures were taken against the restaurant for violating Law No. 8 of 1990 on regulation of human food control.

→ Continued on page 2

QNA

DOHA: Qatar has strongly condemned the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime and the Islamic State group in Syria, following the findings released by the Prohibition of Chemical Weap-ons (OPCW)-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism on August 30.

An official source at the Foreign Ministry said the results refute completely and undoubtedly the continuous denial of the Syrian regime about using chemical weapons against civilians, in a blatant violation of the international law and international instruments, particularly the Chemical Weapons Convention and the relevant decisions of the United Nations.

The source expressed Qatar’s hope that the results would mark a turning point in the interna-tional position towards immediate and effective measures to protect the Syrian people.

The source also renewed Qatar’s demand to bring to justice all those responsible for this hei-nous crime, all war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Syria.

AFP

SINGAPORE: Malaysia yesterday reported its first suspected case of Zika, a woman believed to have contracted it in neighbouring Singapore where more than 150 infections have been confirmed.

The 58-year-old is believed to have contracted the virus after visiting her daughter in the city-state in late last month, Malaysia’s health ministry said in a statement, though full confirmation via blood tests is pending.

“The source of infection is suspected to have occurred in Singapore,” the statement said.

Those infected in Singapore include people from China, India and Bangladesh, Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia and Taiwan.

Indonesia and Malaysia have intensified mon-itoring of border points for passengers arriving from Singapore. Tropical Malaysia — which has struggled in recent years to control the spread of dengue fever — has been bracing for Zika after Singapore last weekend reported a surge in cases.

→ See also page 6

Malaysia reports first suspected Zika case

Turkey dismisses 543 judges and prosecutors

Easy and fast procedures for departure.

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Qatar’s Attorney-General H E Dr. Ali bin Fetais Al Marri and Qatar’s Ambassador to Turkey Salem bin Mubarak Al-Shafi holding talks with officials in Ankara.

Dr. Al Marri meets officials in Turkey

HOME 02 FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2016

The Peninsula

DOHA: Mall of Qatar and Landmark Group have signed an agreement that will see the leading retail and hospi-tality conglomerate introduce some of the world’s most beloved brands to Qatar, under one roof.

Landmark Group said its brand store fit-out processes are under way in preparation for the October 29 soft launch. The brands will enhance the mall as a shopping destination by offering trendy fashion apparel, sporting gear, footwear, beauty prod-ucts and accessories for men, women and children.

“We are delighted to announce that the Group stores will be ready to welcome visitors once we open and we look forward to hosting its brands at Mall of Qatar,” said Rony Mourani, General Manager of the mall. “Our aim is to create a super-regional shopping mall that will find its place in the league of the super-lative shopping malls of the region.”

Santosh Pai, Chief Operating Officer, Landmark Group Qatar, said, “The mall will be a significant addi-tion to the country’s retail landscape and we are delighted to be one of its anchor tenants. We are certain that tourists and residents will delight in the concepts we will introduce from October 29.”

The Group will showcase 19 of its core brands, including Centrepoint, Max Fashion, Iconic, Reiss, New Look, Koton, Steve Madden, Carpisa, Ecco, Kurt Geiger, Pablosky, Emax, Candel-ite, Shoexpress, the group’s newest home-grown brand, SportsOne, as well as a new fashion brand in Qatar Lipsy. It will also introduce fresh new offerings in casual and fast casual dining, with award-winning brands such as Zafran, Carluccios and GRK- Fresh Greek.

The mall will capture the imag-ination of the nation as it opens the doors to its 500,000sqm innovative shopping concept with top-notch rec-reation and leisure options.

The destination will premiere the

world’s first resident troupe — offer-ing mall-wide entertainment with 52 weeks of spectacular headline shows on a 360-degree custom developed revolving stage, as well as a multi-level Family Entertainment Complex integrating an international edutain-ment concept with advanced gaming machines and enthralling rides.

The mall’s experience completes with a 19-screen Cineplex inclusive of IMAX’s revolutionary laser projec-tion and 12 channel immersive sound system on the region’s largest screen.

The cinema will feature the lat-est 4D projection technology screen, seven VIP screens, an eight-lane bowling alley and in-theatre gour-met food services.

Landmark Group gears up for soft opening at Mall of Qatar

The mall will premiere the world’s first resident troupe offering entertainment with 52 weeks of headline shows.

The Peninsula

DOHA: The Turkish embassy yes-terday marked the 94th anniversary of the Turkish Victory Day at a cer-emony attended by representatives of the Turkish community in Qatar, diplomats Qatari officials and mili-tary personnel.

Assistant Minister for For-eign Affairs H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi attended the event as the Honorary Guest.

Turkish ambassador Ahmet Demirok delivered the Victory Day Message of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“I would like to congratulate wholeheartedly on August 30 Vic-tory Day millions of our citizens who live in Turkey and different countries around the world>” said Erdogan in his message.

Erdogan said “the torch of inde-pendence lighted in 1919 under difficult conditions and depriva-tions was crowned with the Battle of Commander-in-Chief on August 30 under the leadership of Ghazi Mustafa Kemal and his comrades.

On August 30, 1922, the Turk-ish nation announced to the whole world that it would never bow to oppression and forego its independ-ence in any way.

“We are exerting our utmost efforts so that our Republic stands forever, and raise our country above the contemporary civilizations in economic, social and political aspects,” said Erdogan.

“Victory of August 30 should be a lesson for the terrorist organisa-tions and evils targeting the unity, welfare and existence of our coun-try in these lands,” he added.

The President emphasized that during the bloody 15 July coup attempt “all Turkey along with Turkish, Kurdish, Laz, Circassian, Sunnites and Alawites united their forces around our common values and defeated the members of FETÖ terrorist organization, who disguised themselves in military uniforms.”

“The single aim of all terrorist

organizations is to damage the “New Great Offensive Spirit” which man-ifested itself on 15 July and 7 August, and bring this country into its knees.

Turkey is determined to take all necessary steps to ensure the security of its citizens and the Jara-blus operation is a reflection of our resoluteness and will,” said the President.

“Our operations will continue until the terrorist organisations such as Daesh, PKK and its Syrian affili-ate YPG cease to become a threat to our citizens,” he added.

Continued from page 1

The section said inspection campaigns will continue to regis-ter such violations. It praised the resident’s complaint and said sup-port by the people will help ensure food safety. Al Shamal Municipal-ity also held inspection campaigns against food outlets and restaurants.

The director of the municipal-ity and inspectors visited Al Shamal

abattoir, the fish market and poul-try farm.

All municipalities have intensi-fied inspection campaigns against food outlets, abattoirs, barber shops, beauty salons, sweet shops and res-taurants across the country ahead of Eid Al Adha to ensure consumer safety. The Doha Municipality will conduct daily inspection of food stores at Industrial Area or in the central market.

By Raynald C Rivera

The Peninsula

DOHA: As the mercury starts to dip and the summer draws to a close, more and more people go to the beach while others take part in water sports activities at resorts and other popular destinations.

With the onset of autumn, the Meteorology Department has forecast gradual decrease in temper-atures this month which is ideal for water sports enthusiasts to engage in their passion for these high-inten-sity sports fast becoming a favourite pastime in Qatar.

Some people, however, shy away from exorbitant fees charged by resorts for using their facilities.

Thanks to the ‘Sports For All Summer Festival’, people get the chance to engage in water sports for free.

Organised by Qatar Sports For All (QSFA) federation, the festival began yesterday and runs until the end of the month at Katara Beach.

“This is the first event of its kind that we have organised in Katara. We already had different sports events and activities but this is the first time in Katara. The aim is to get more people involved in sports and be more active,” Ahmad Mubarak, Events Coordinator at QSFA told The Peninsula yesterday.

The festival is going to run every weekend from Thursday to Saturday

for the entire month of September from 4pm to 9pm at Katara Beach Gate 14. It offers a variety of water activities for the entire family.

“We have activities for chil-dren and families such as slides, mini-pool, inflatable ride, jet skis and flyboards from Qatar Sail-ing and Marine Sports Federation (QSMSF) and a volleyball court,” said Mubarak.

Water sport companies Blue Marine and Speed Marine are also present at the venue with their products.

“Everything is free of charge. Anybody can come, have a look and play at no cost,” added Mubarak.

Although there is no age limit,

children below ten years old who wish to be in the water should be accompanied by parents and to ensure safety, lifeguards and secu-rity personnel are present at the venue, he added.

The month-long event is being organised by QSFA in cooperation with Katara, Qatar Tourism Author-ity and QSMSF with the participation of Blue Marine and Speed Marine.

The Qatar Sports For All Federa-tion was established last year under the Ministry of Youth and Sports with the goal of spreading awareness of the concept of sports, expand the scope of practice, and increase the number of participants in physical activities.

Continued from page 1

He said he came in the afternoon with all required documents, includ-ing an open air ticket, and completed procedures by 6pm. “They gave me an exit permit and asked me to go to the airport directly,” he said.

There were another three amnesty seeking Bangladeshi workers, who were hired by a con-struction company about nine months ago. Each of them paid a hefty amount for their visa but the company failed to secure them a res-idency permit.

“We worked for nine months and got the salary for six months. We have realised that we can nei-ther get an RP nor be transferred to another employer.

“So we decided to take advan-tage of this opportunity although we have not gained anything. We don’t have the money to pay back our loans back home,” said a worker.

A Sri Lankan amnesty seeker said he had come to work as a driver in a house but ran away after he got the driving licence. “I worked more than six months and I don’t want to go back to my sponsor. So I decided

to leave,” he said.An African national said he had

come to Qatar two years ago and spent almost half of the period with-out a valid visa and residency permit.

A few women also turned up yes-terday, including two Africans. Some of the amnesty seekers came accom-panied by representatives from their sponsoring companies and some were seen carrying baggage, all pre-pared for departure.

An official at the department said amnesty seekers can complete formalities very fast if they come with all required documents.

Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi with Turkish Ambassador Ahmet Demirok, diplomats, members of the Turkish community and Qatari civilian and military officials during the celebration of the 94th anniversary of Turkish Victory Day at the embassy.

‘Sports For All Summer Festival’ opens at Katara Beach

Inflatable slides at the festival at Katara Beach. Pic: Abdul Basit / The PeninsulaAmnesty procedures to be faster

with all required documents: Official

QIB issues QR2bn Additional Tier 1 Perpetual SukukDOHA: Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), the country’s leading Sha-riah-compliant banking services provider, announced yesterday that it has raised QR2bn Addi-tional Tier 1 Perpetual Sukuk to enhance the Bank’s capital ade-quacy ratios in compliance with Basel III norms, and also to sup-port its future business growth strategies. The transaction was completed on September 1, 2016, reports QNA.

The Peninsula

DOHA: The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs has launched an updated version of a mobile application for pilgrims from Qatar to help them remain connected with Qatar’s Haj Mission in Makkah during the pil-grimage.

The app ‘Hajj Guide’ is available on Android and Apple store and will help pilgrims send their location to the mission in case they lose the way, QNA reports.

“The app will enable the pilgrims to directly contact

the help desk at the mission and send their location if they need any help,” said Abdul Hadi Obaid Al Marri, Head of IT Unit at the Mission.

“The help desk could be contacted through the app on 132 from Qatar and 8003040444 from Saudi Ara-bia”, he added

The app includes several services like details related to the Hajj including rituals, Fatwas, prayers, informa-tion about Haj tour operators and important telephone numbers for hospitals operating in Arafat and Mina.

To track the movements of buses ferrying pil-grims from Qatar to Saudi Arabia a GPS system is being installed and connected with the IT unit of the mission.

Turkish embassy marks 94th Victory Day

Municipalities intensifyinspection campaigns

Hajj Guide mobile app launched

ISLAM 03 FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2016

In this life people are usually aware of two kinds of journeys; those made to earn a liveli-hood and those undertaken

for pleasure and sightseeing. The Haj, however, is unique from these journeys, since it is made solely for the purpose of pleasing Allah, the Exalted. For over 1,400 years, Mus-lim from around the world, men and women had been travelling to the Holy city of Makkah.

Haj is a trip of lifetime; it is only required once from a Muslim and it is only the first one that counts as the fulfilment of the obligation.

All other performances of Haj are voluntary and cannot replace the compulsory Haj. Therefore, it is imperative that it is performed sin-cerely and correctly for the first time.

Though Haj can be quite a jour-ney, a little preparation and planning will, In shah Allah make your journey much easier. This planning should not be limited to the logistics, but should also include spiritual, financial, physical and mental preparations. Following are a few points to help you prepare for your Haj:

1. Purify your creed (Aqeedah) from all aspects of Shirk, major or minor. No deed is acceptable to Allah however noble it is, without such purification: “If you associate (with Allah), your deeds will be ruined and verily you will be among the losers.” (Quran, 39: 65)

2. Devote your Haj purely and sincerely for Allah. This is a spirit-ual preparation; the acceptance and reward of your Haj largely depends on your intention and piety.

3. Acquire thorough knowledge about the rites of Haj and Umrah from start to finish, because knowl-edge differentiates right from wrong. Haj education can be sought through various means, reading books which explain in detail the subject, com-puter programs which precisely demonstrate the rituals of Haj using the multimedia format, attending regular Haj classes offered by Islamic centers, etc.

4. Use Halal means to support your journey. “Allah is pure and He does not accept but pure only.”

(Saheeh Muslim) Take everything what you will require (do not depend on others or ask them to fulfill your needs). Make sure you have enough money to suffice yourself during the journey and secure the needs of your family members whom you may leave behind.

Nowadays, people try their best to take along all things of comfort for Haj. They take all kinds of precau-tions but the best precaution is piety, fear of Allah and righteousness. Allah says: “Take a provision (with you) for the journey, but the best provision is At-Taqwa (piety). So fear Me, O men of understanding!” (Quran, 2:197)

5. At the end of this verse, Allah orders us to be righteous and fear Him, this is for two major reasons, one because the Haji need piety before going to Haj. He should remind himself to fear Allah because he will face many difficulties and hard-ships, which he should accept and endure, in order to please His Lord. The second reason is that Haj itself is a means to achieve Taqwa, the Haji increases in faith by obeying Allah and his Messenger (peace be upon him) all throughout his Haj.

6. The intense exertion coupled with harsh desert climate of Makkah can take serious toll on your body. Therefore, be sure to carry along vaccines and drugs. Avoid all unnec-essary hardships and take adequate precautions to avoid problems.

7. The journey of Haj involves a great deal of physical activities and thus you must be fully prepared to face this physical challenge. The experts recommend that people who intend to perform Haj must ini-tiate a walking routine one or two months prior to the journey. This will increase physical stamina and help the Haji to keep up with the long walks and long standings. Indeed, Haj involves a lot of labor and struggle but the reward for this great act is also great in amount.

8. Also from the preparations of Haj is the mental preparations. Know that the Haji (pilgrim) is bound to experience intense heat, pushing, standing in long lines, uncomfortable lodging, etc. due to the large crowd of people trying to accommodate in

a particularly small area.9. Relieve yourself from any

injustice, which you may have inflicted upon others. Fulfil any obli-gation, which you owe to other before the journey. Prepare a Waseeyah (will) before you depart and make peace with those with whom you have a dispute, pay your debts, and

advise your family not to be extrava-gant, Allah says: “… and eat and drink but waste not by extravagance…” (Quran, 7:31)

10. Accompany the knowledgea-ble and righteous Muslims and stay away from the innovators. Keep away from all prohibited acts, men should not shave their beard for the Haj and

it is prohibited for them to wear gold.11. Safeguard your tongue from

all vain talk, backbiting, arguing and complaining. This is against the morals of Islam in general and espe-cially against the rules of Haj. Such talks and actions will make one’s Haj incomplete and reduce the reward. Haj is a long journey and one is likely

to behave immorally, therefore guard and control yourself from any mis-conduct: “So during Haj there should not be obscenity, nor wickedness, nor wrangling.” (Quran, 2:197) Remem-ber, Shaytan is at his best to cause mischief!

Courtesy: www.ahya.org

Haj is the fifth pillar of Islam. It is oblig-atory for every Muslim to perform Haj once in his, or her, lifetime unless there is no financial or physical ability. Allah

has said,“Say: “Allah spoke the Truth: follow the reli-

gion of Abraham, the sane in faith; he was not of the Pagans.” The first House (of worship) appointed for people was that at Bakkah; full of blessing and of guidance for all kinds of beings. In it are Signs manifest; (for example), the Station of Abraham; whoever enters it attains security; pilgrimage thereto is a duty people owe to Allah, those who can afford the journey; but if any deny faith, Allah stands not in need of any of His crea-tures.” (2:96-97)

“And complete Haj and Umrah in the serv-ice of Allah” (2:196)

“For Haj are the months well-known. If any one undertakes that duty therein, let there be no obscenity, nor wickedness, nor wrangling in the Haj and whatever good you do, (be sure) Allah knows it. And take a provision (with you) for the journey, but the best of provisions is right conduct. So fear Me, O you that are wise!” (2:198)

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “O people! Perform Haj for Allah has made it oblig-atory on you”. Hearing this, a man said, “is it every year O Messenger of Allah?” The Prophet (S) kept silent until the man repeated the question thrice and then said, “if I say yes it will become com-pulsory and you won’t be able to do it”. (Muslim and Ahmad).

Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “Allah’s Messenger (PBUH) addressed us

saying, “O people! Allah has prescribed Haj on you”. Al Aqra’a ibn Haabis then stood up and said, “is it for every year O Messenger of Allah?” The Prophet (PBUH) replied, “if I say yes it would become obligatory and if it’s oblig-atory to perform Haj annually you certainly won’t be able to do it. Haj should be performed only once in one’s lifetime and whoever does more, it will be considered supererogatory.” (Related by Annassa’i, Abu Dawud, Ibn Maa-jah and Ahmad).

“Islam was built on five pillars: The Shahaa-dah — declaration — that there is no one worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, performing prayer, giving Zakaat, performing Haj, and fasting Ramadan.”

Preparations for the big day

By Mariam Anwer

At certain stages of life we often find ourselves at crossroads, impelled to make important decisions that would have huge impacts on our

future. These decisions could be about choos-ing a career, getting married to someone, buying a car or a house, relocating or mov-ing to a foreign land and the like.

Despite considering all the positives and negatives and consulting family, friends or other qualified people, this task of reaching a sound decision leaves us doubtful and nerv-ous. Praise and thanks to our Creator who doesn’t leave us fretting and worried during these crucial times. He has taught us, a spe-cial prayer for guidance in making decisions called Salat Al Istikharah. When performing this prayer one asks Allah to guide him to the right choice concerning a certain essen-tial matter.

The prayer of Istikharah was described in a Hadith narrated by Jabir ibn Abdullah Al-Salami, who said: “The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) used to teach his com-panions to make Istikharah in all things, just as he used to teach them surahs from the Quran. The Prophet (PBUH) said: ‘If any one of you is concerned about a decision he has to make, then let him pray two rakahs of non-obligatory prayer, then say: (Transla-tion) O Allah, I ask for Your decision by Your knowledge and Your decree by Your abil-ity, and I ask of You from Your great favor.

For You are able and I am not able, and You know and I do not know, and You are the Knower of things concealed. O Allah, if You have known that this matter (naming it here) is good for me in my religion, my livelihood and the outcome of my affair, then decree it for me, make it easy for me and then bless it for me. And if You have known that this matter is bad for me in my

religion, my livelihood and the outcome of my affair, then turn it away from me and turn me away from it, and decree for me what is good wherever it may be. And then make me content with it.’ (Al Bukhaari, Al Tirmidhi, Al Nisa’i, Abu Dawood, Ibn Maa-jah and Ahmad).

The result of Istikharah is known by being inclined to do something and continuing to

feel positive about it. In addition, if the deci-sion one is about to take is good for him (in both worlds), the paths to it will open up and if it’s not, then the paths will become obstructed and Allah will direct him somewhere else. The beauty of Istikharah is that the person who sought the guidance of Allah will be content with Allah’s decision for him even if it diverts him from what he thought was good as he will know that this is the result of his Istikha-rah. This is because, Allah, the Creator knows what is best and will definitely guide His serv-ants to what is best for them within His vast knowledge and infinite wisdom.

We need to understand that Istikharah does not guarantee the absence of tests and trials in life. Since Istikharah is a dua, Allah’s response to it may come in any of the three ways as stated in the Hadith: “There is no Muslim who offers a dua in which there is no sin or severing of family ties but Allah will give him one of three things in return: either He will answer his du’aa soon, or he will store it up for him in the Hereafter, or He will divert an equivalent evil away from him because of it.” (Ahmad)

So if one goes through a bad marriage even after performing Istikharah or suffers loss in his business, etc., it might be that Allah wants him/her to draw closer to Him by way of patience and dua and send His blessings through some other way. Allah says: “But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah knows, while you know not.” (Quran 2:216)

The Prophet (PBUH) said: “It is from the happiness of the son of Adam to practice

Istikharah and be pleased with what Allah had ordained for him. And it is from the mis-ery of the son of Adam to drop the Istikharah of Allah and be displeased at Allah’s decrees.” (Tirmidhi and Ahmad)

Unfortunately, many people nowadays ignore this beautiful Sunnah and resort to baseless or forbidden ways to make important decisions. There are some who do follow the Sunnah of praying Istikharah but have added weird myths and unreasonable expectations to it. They ask some stranger or religious personality to do it for them and expect the results of Istikharah to be shown to them in dreams, visions, some special sign or color while all of this is nothing but acts of igno-rance. Firstly, it is a form of innovation to ask someone else to do Istikharah for you or do it for others and secondly, it doesn’t give one instant results like giving a green signal to proceed in a certain affair.

Istikharah is a dua which one needs to make himself, at any time of the day and then execute the matter (for which he prayed). And if it is good then Allah will make it easy for him and bless him in that, and if it is not good for him, then Allah will turn it away from him and will make easy for him that in which there is good by His permission. For with-out doubt, the person who makes Istikharah, seeking guidance from his Creator and advice from His creation never regrets, as Allah says: id to His Messenger (peace be upon him): “... And when you have decided, then rely upon Allah. Indeed, Allah loves those who rely (upon Him).” (Quran 3:159)

www.arabnews.com

Istikharah: Seeking Allah’s guidanceAnd when you are resolved on a course of ac-tion place your trust in Allah; surely Allah loves those who put their trust in Him. (Quran 3:159)

Haj : The fifth pillar of Islam

Though Haj can be quite a journey, a little preparation and planning will make the journey much easier. This planning should not be limited to the logistics, but should also include spiritual, financial, physical and mental preparations.

MIDDLE EAST04 FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2016

Situation in blockaded Gaza grim: UN officialGAZA CITY: Robert Piper, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for the Israeli-occupied Pales-tinian territories, has described current living conditions in the Gaza Strip — which continues to groan under a decade-long Israeli/Egyptian blockade — as “grim”.

“Gaza continues to face diffi-cult conditions even though the Palestinian people have great potential,” Piper said during a visit to Gaza City’s Islamic University, according to a statement issued by the university.

“Despite the large number of educated people in Gaza, there are few employment opportunities for university graduates,” he said.

“The high unemployment rate poses a serious challenge,” he added.

Piper urged the international community to promote devel-opment inside the beleaguered coastal enclave and praised the Palestinian people for their ability to adapt to the difficult circum-stances imposed by the siege.

Blockaded by air, land and sea since 2007, the Gaza Strip has seven border crossings linking it to the outside world. Six of these are controlled by Israel, while the seventh — the Rafah crossing — is controlled by Egypt, which contin-ues to keep it sealed for the most part. The siege of Gaza was first imposed after Palestinian resist-ance movement Hamas -- after sweeping Palestinian legislative polls one year earlier -- wrested control of the strip from the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.

British Airways resumes flights to IranLONDON: British Airways became the first British airline in four years to fly directly to Iran following the lifting of some sanc-tions against Tehran. Flagship carrier BA is to operate six flights per week between London Hea-throw and Tehran, with the first service started from London at around 9pm (2000 GMT). BA first offered flights between London and Tehran in 1946 but ended its service in 2007 as sanctions were imposed on Iran over its nuclear programme.

Another Britain-based airline, BMI, continued to offer flights to Iran, but the service ended in 2012.

Iran and Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States agreed a nuclear deal last year, paving the way for a softening in sanctions and the resumption of flights.

“British Airways has a long history of flying to Iran so we are very excited to be launching our new six times a week service, direct from Heathrow to Tehran,” said Sean Doyle, British Airways’ head of network and fleet.

“Iran is a fascinating coun-try, full of amazing and surprising places for tourists to visit and dis-cover its sophisticated and ancient culture.

“The recent lifting of sanc-tions has also effectively allowed Iran to re-open for business and paved the way for commerce to re-connect with Iran’s economy,” he added.he service will be oper-ated by four Boeing 777s and will take just under six hours.

AFP

GENEVA: Evidence is growing that Russia is behind a significant increase in the use of cluster bombs in Syria, campaigners said yester-day. A coalition of NGOs led by Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in an annual study that more than 400 people were killed or maimed by the banned munitions in the world last year.

They linked the increased use of cluster bombs in Syria to Rus-sian forces who are carrying out air strikes in support of President Bashar Al Assad’s regime.

“Since Russia began its joint operation with Syrian forces at the end last September, we have seen an increase in the number of cluster munition attacks on opposi-tion-held areas,” Mary Warenham, HRW’s arms advocacy director and editor of the report, told a press conference.

“And at the moment we see evi-dence of cluster munition attacks every week, if not almost every day, which is highly disturbing,” Waren-ham added. Russia has repeatedly

denied using cluster bombs, which spray bomblets indiscriminately.

HRW admitted it was difficult to determine whether it was spe-cifically Russian or Syrian forces which had used the bombs.

“Nonetheless, this is a joint military operation, so collectively together they are responsible for the actions of their coalition,” Waren-ham said. A total of 248 people were killed or injured by the munitions in Syria last year, almost all civil-ians, the Cluster Munition Monitor report said. The bombs also killed or maimed 104 people in Yemen in 2015.

The study provides an overview of how countries are implementing a landmark 2008 convention which bans all use, production, transfer and stockpiling of the weapons.

Syria and Russia are not among the 100 signatories of the conven-tion, but HRW says they remain bound by international law, which bans the indiscriminate attacks that are the hallmark of cluster bomb-ings. Attacks in Syria using the illegal weapons fell considerably in late 2014 and early 2015, but rose again after Russia began support-ing Assad’s forces last year, HRW and its partners said.

In the four years since the Syr-ian regime launched its first air strikes in July 2012, at least 360 cluster munition attacks have been recorded, with 76 since Russia’s intervention began last September.

“The actual number is likely far higher,” the report said. The report, which was co-authored by several groups including Handi-cap International, said there was “compelling evidence” that cluster bombs had been used “on opposi-tion-held areas of governorates such as Aleppo, Homs and Idlib, and on armed opposition groups”.

AFP

GENEVA: The UN Syria envoy yesterday criticised Damascus’ “strategy” of forced evacuation from Daraya following a brutal four-year government siege, warning that other besieged towns could follow.

Staffan de Mistura told reporters in Geneva that there were “indica-tions that after Daraya we may have other Darayas,” adding that “there is clearly a strategy at the moment to move from Daraya” to other besieged areas “in a similar pattern”.

Long held by opposition forces, Daraya near Damascus was ravaged by constant army bombardment, and just one aid convoy reached the town since it came under siege in late 2012 — arriving in June this year. Rebels said last week they were forced to agree to evacuate the town

because of deteriorating humanitar-ian conditions.

Hundreds of fighters and their families were bused north into rebel-held territory in Idlib province, with other civilians transferred to gov-ernment territory near Damascus for resettlement. The Syrian army has said it is in complete control of the town, from where roughly 8,000 civil-ians were still due to be evacuated.

De Mistura warned there were “indications that after Daraya we may have other Darayas,” point-ing to worrying signs around the besieged towns of Waer and Moad-amiyat al-Sham.

“If Daraya was a shock, Al Waer is 75,000 people,” he pointed out.

Jan Egeland, de Mistura’s deputy and head of a UN-backed humani-tarian taskforce for Syria, described the forced evacuation as “heart-breaking”. He insisted that the devastating sieges in Syria could not

be “broken by a population giving up after starvation and after bombing”.

“A siege is lifted by humanitarian access and freedom of movement in and out by the civilian population,” he said.

The opposition High Negotia-tions Committee meanwhile charged that “local truce” agreements like the one agreed in Daraya were leading to “ethnic and political cleansing”.

“The Syrian regime, along with its Russian and Iranian allies, is relentlessly pursuing a malicious plan to orchestrate extensive demo-graphic shifts across Syria,” HNC head Riad Hijab said in a statement late on Wednesday. Egeland mean-while said that humanitarian aid reached just three besieged areas last month, with two convoys reach-ing Waer, one reaching Harasta, and continued air-drops over Deir Ezzor, which is held by the Islamic State group.

Russia blamed over cluster bombs in Syria

AFP

BEIRUT: A garbage crisis has returned to Lebanon with piles of trash piling up in regions north of Beirut months after the govern-ment headed off a political crisis over uncollected waste.

The local council in the suburb of Bourj Hammoud, where a tem-porary dump is located, have for the past week denied access to gar-bage trucks on the grounds that the authorities had failed to honour a commitment to open a waste-treat-ment plant.

In March, after an eight-month crisis which led to mass street pro-tests, the government approved a “temporary plan” to open two new landfills, one in Bourj Hammoud to the north and another south of the capital. But recycling plans have failed to take shape.

A landfill in Naameh, 20km

south of Beirut, opened in 1997 and was meant to be a temporary dump but an alternative site was never found.

For 20 years, the waste generated in Beirut and Mount Lebanon — the country’s most populous areas —was dumped in Naameh.

The verdant valley swelled into a trash mountain of more than 15 mil-lion tonnes.

Furious residents forced the closure of the site in July 2015, say-ing it was leading to high cancer rates, skin diseases and breathing problems.

Uncollected rubbish began piling up around Beirut and its suburbs, emitting a horrible stench that sparked protests in downtown Beirut demanding a long-term solution.

After months of political wran-gling, Lebanon’s cabinet announced a four-year plan to end the waste cri-sis — and its first step was reopening Naameh for two months.

AP

CAIRO: Holding their crying babies in their arms, dozens of Egyptian moth-ers rallied yesterday on a major Cairo road, blocking traffic to denounce severe shortages of subsidised baby formula, a protest underscoring how austerity measures aimed at healing the coun-try’s budget deficit are hitting ordinary Egyptians hard.

Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund granted Egypt a $12bn loan over three years. Details have not been released but cuts in subsidies and new taxes are believed to be part of the

government’s reform program that was critical in securing the loan, which is still subject to approval by IMF’s execu-tive board.

The deal is aimed at helping stabilize Egypt’s falling currency, reduce the budget deficit and government debt, boost growth and create jobs. But subsidy cuts have a history of stoking unrest in Egypt.

At yesterday’s rally in eastern Cairo, some of the mothers broke into tears while displaying empty milk bottles to report-ers as they stood for hours on the asphalt with no protection from the scorching sun.

Riot police with helmets and batons were deployed to reopen the road but didn’t force an end to the protest, held in front of the state-run Egyptian

Pharmaceutical Trading Company in east-ern Cairo. In footage carried by Al Youm Al Sabaa news portal a mother is seen shout-ing at the policemen: “We are not talking about tomatoes, food, or drink, but for-mula for the babies.”

Mahmoud Fouad of the Egyptian Center to Protect the Right for Medicine said this is the first time that Egypt has cut baby formula subsidies.

“It’s also the first time that mothers rally in the streets to ask for food for their babies,” he said.

Formula prices have increased 40 percent and the Ministry of Health has announced that, starting this month, authorities will issue cards to mothers who meet certain criteria making them

eligible for the subsidized formula — such as having twins, working for more than seven hours a day, or having medical records that show poor health.

The ministry is introducing about 1,000 government-run distribution cent-ers for baby formula across the country. It’s not clear what exactly caused the for-mula shortages.

Health Minister Ahmed Radi said in a Cabinet statement yesterday that the government measures will regulate dis-tribution so the subsidized formula goes to those who need it the most.

The ministry said that the government provided 18 million packages of baby for-mula, worth 450m Egyptian pounds, or about $51m.

Egyptian moms protest shortages of subsidised baby formula

UN slams Syrian strategy of forced evacuation of besieged towns

Syrian Civil Defence members, known as the White Helmets, search for survivors amid burning vehicles belonging to people fleeing from the town of Souran, in northern Hama, after they were reportedly targeted by a government forces air strike, yesterday.

Garbage crisis returns to parts of Lebanon

A man drives his scooter in front of a temporary garbage dump in the neighbourhood of Jdeideh, northeast of the Lebanese capital Beirut, yesterday.

A coalition of NGOs led by Human Rights Watch linked the increased use of cluster bombs in Syria to Russian forces who are carrying out air strikes in support of President Assad’s regime.

Ring of fire

ASIA / AFRICA 05FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2016

Two dead and 19 injured in Gabon crackdownAFP

LIBREVILLE: Gabon’s opposition leader said security forces killed two people and hurt 19 in a raid against his headquarters yesterday, as vio-lence erupted after President Ali Bongo was declared the winner of disputed polls.

Thousands of angry protesters poured onto the streets of Libreville late Wednesday, accusing the gov-ernment of stealing the election after Bongo won a second term by a razor-thin margin over rival Jean Ping.

Gunfire crackled across the city and plumes of smoke billowed from the torched parliament building as protesters clashed with heavily armed security forces.

Police deployed near the parlia-ment building fired tear gas canisters to stop people gathering there.

As the country descended into chaos, the EU called for calm, former colonial power France urged “maximum restraint” and Amnesty International warned against “exces-sive force.”

By mid-morning yesterday, security forces had sealed off the city centre, which was calm and

otherwise deserted, and were mak-ing arrests around the opposition headquarters, journalists said.

Two trucks packed with dozens of detainees who raised their fists and chanted the national anthem were seen being driven off for question-ing, they said.

Police chief Jean-Thierry Oye Zue said that more than 200 people had been arrested across town for loot-ing. He said looting was “currently continuing in the poorer districts.” Telephone and internet communi-cations were cut.

It was not immediately clear where Ping -- a veteran diplomat

and former top African Union offi-cial who had earlier declared himself the poll winner -- had taken refuge.

The parliament building’s facade was blackened by fire and its win-dows were smashed. Protesters had torn down its huge main gate and torched a sentry box at the entrance.

On the city’s main artery, the Boulevard Triomphal --burnt-out buildings and cars could be seen, while makeshift barricades were still smouldering.

Security forces had surrounded the opposition headquarters over-night and stormed the building, killing two and injuring more than

a dozen there, Ping said recently.“They attacked around 1:00am. It

is the Republican Guard. They were bombarding with helicopters and then they attacked on the ground. There are 19 people injured, some of them very seriously,” said Ping, who was not himself at the party headquarters.

The president of the opposi-tion National Union party, Zacharie Myboto, said security forces were hurling teargas canisters and had opened fire.

A government spokesman said the operation was to catch “criminals” and “looters and thugs” who had ear-lier set fire to the parliament building.

BANGKOK: A Thai man accused of mastermind-ing the smuggling and trafficking of Rohingya migrants fleeing Myan-mar has been jailed for 35 years, a court said.

On Wednesday, Sunand Saengthong, an alleged trafficking kingpin, was jailed for overseeing smuggling networks.

“Overall he was sen-tenced to 35 years and a fine of $19,000,” a spokes-man at Pak Phanang provincial court said.

Two other accom-plices were sentenced to one year and six months in jail respectively.

Police arrested Sunand after a raid in January last year that uncovered 97 Rohingya, the court said.

Thai kingpin jailed

for Rohingya

trafficking

Vietnam jails

three Russians

for ATM heist

HANOI: Three Russian fraudsters, including one who tried to escape prison using a spoon and a tooth-brush to dig a tunnel, have been jailed in Vietnam for using fake ATM cards to steal $13,400.

The men, aged between 30 and 43, were detained last October pending trial when one of them made a last-ditch attempt to flee.

“He was discovered by the jailor while try-ing to dig a hole from the room,” using a toothbrush and a spoon, according to the Ho Chi Minh City’s official newspaper report.

The men were each jailed for six years for making fake bank cards and stealing from cash machines.

AFP

KINSHASA: Police and protesters clashed yesterday in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s sprawling cap-ital Kinshasa ahead of crunch talks aimed at avoiding political chaos when the president’s term expires later this year.

Tensions have been growing in mineral-rich but troubled DRC over fears that President Joseph Kabila, in power since 2001, will try to extend his rule with a third term, beyond the constitutional maximum of two.

Riot police and young protesters opposed to the dialogue scheduled for Thursday clashed near the site of a trade fair in the heart of the city, leaving the location in ruins, said Patrick Mulumba, a local resident.

For nearly an hour, protesters hurled stones as police fired tear gas in Lemba, disrupting traffic and businesses in the usually bustling

district, said a fuel station attend-ant, who witnessed the clash.

Protesters chanted slogans against Kabila, who had first pro-posed a national dialogue in November 2015, the witness said recently on condition of anonymity.

They also chanted down former Togo premier Edem Kodjo, who has been named by the African Union as the talks’ “facilitator”, he added.

Protests also erupted near the University of Kinshasa and on an avenue near the seat of parliament, where the head offices of several opposition parties are located, wit-nesses said.

A journalist saw hundreds of angry youths still gathered in the area, as the scheduled start of talks loomed. While the government dele-gation was still set to take part, only a minority of the opposition will be represented.

Once fractured opposition groups recently came together in a new coalition -- “Rassemblement” .

They have vowed to stay away from the negotiating table until political prisoners are released and legal action is halted against wealthy businessman and presidential hope-ful Moise Katumbi.

Katumbi was tried in absentia in June for real estate fraud and sen-tenced to three years in jail.

While the courts have approved Katumbi’s seeking medical treat-ment abroad they say he will be detained upon his return and could face additional charges of recruit-ing mercenaries.

The presiding judge in the fraud case has since said the authorities pressured her into signing off on a guilty verdict to ensure Katumbi would be ineligible to run.

Yesterday’s violence disrupted public transport, and bus stops in flashpoint districts were packed.

“What do they want now? Let them go to the talks instead of both-ering us,” civil servant Berthe Nzinga said.

Pokemon Go hunters snare

‘real thief’ in New Zealand

Gordhan decries

‘scurrilous’ police

AFP

JOHANNESBURG: South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan denied yesterday that he was fail-ing to cooperate with a police investigation, in a worsening row that shaken the government as the economy weakens.

Gordhan was appointed last year to calm panicked markets after his predecessor lasted just four days in office, but has come under attack from some close allies of President Jacob Zuma.

Zuma has said he backs Gord-han, who has declined to present himself to investigators to answer questions over a so-called “rogue unit” set up to spy on top politi-cians when he was head of the tax service.

“The assertions of law on which the Hawks (police) based their accusations against the Min-ister were wholly unfounded and indeed scurrilous,” Gordhan’s lawyers said. “Their handling of the matter seemed to have been designed to trigger a media event to humiliate the Minister.”

Thai govt to resume talks with insurgentsReuters

BANGKOK: Thailand’s military gov-ernment said yesterday peace talks with Muslim separatists operating in the far south of the country would resume in Malaysia, but no agree-ment would be signed unless the insurgents observed a ceasefire.

The separatists from the far-south Muslim-majority provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat have been blamed for an unprecedented string of bombings last month in several tourist towns that killed four people and wounded dozens.

A decades-old insurgency in the deep south of predominately Bud-dhist Thailand flared in 2004 and more than 6,500 people have been killed since then, according to the independent monitoring group Deep South Watch.

Talks between the government and insurgents began in 2013 under the civilian government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra but have stalled since the military over-threw her government in 2014.

Defense Minister Prawit Wong-suwan said negotiations would

restart on Friday in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia which has been trying to broker negotiations.

General Aksara Kerdphol, the Thai government’s lead negotiator, told Reuters the rebels had to show good faith by ending violence.

“I have been instructed to tell the groups that there must be a peaceful situation on the ground before we are willing to sign any document,” he said.

Malaysia’s Bernama state news agency said Thai officials would meet representatives of the MARA Pattani “separatist umbrella group”.

Bangkok-based analyst Anthony Davis, at security consulting firm IHS-Jane’s said a ceasefire was unlikely as the main group behind the violence, Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), had been left out of the talks.

“BRN has made it entirely clear that they reject the current process of peace talks between Bangkok and the group of small factions-in-exile in Malaysia called MARA Pattani.”

The three ethnic-Malay major-ity provinces were part of a Malay Sultanate before being annexed by Thailand more than a century ago.

Reuters

WELLINGTON: Some New Zea-land fans of the smartphone game Pokemon Go caught more than they bargained for when they grabbed a thief who broke into a car and held him until police arrived.

The young people were out hunting virtual cartoon charac-ters in the North Island town of Napier on Wednesday night, when they heard a car alarm and saw a masked man run past, New Zealand Police said.

“They didn’t use Pokeballs to catch him, they just held him till police arrived,” police said in a statement, referring to an online tool used to capture the Pokemons that appear in places such as tem-ples and landmarks where people gather.

A 28-year-old man was arrested and will face theft charges in court on September 7, police added.

Nintendo’s Pokemon Go has become an unexpected smash hit, using augmented reality and Google mapping to make animated char-acters appear in the real world, overlaid on the nearby landscape viewed through players’ mobile phone cameras.

The game has also been blamed for injuries and robberies of dis-tracted users in some countries, prompting authorities to warn gam-ers to play responsibly.

In Napier, police reminded play-ers their own safety was paramount.

“Capturing little Pokemon mon-sters isn’t just good for the players because in this case it’s good for the police too, but we don’t want any good Samaritans to get hurt,” said Senior Sergeant David Sutherland recently.

Gabonese police forces patrol as they clear barricades in the streets adjacent to the National Assembly, in Libreville, yesterday. RIGHT: The flash of an explosion is pictured amid flames and smoke billowing from the building after it was set ablaze.

As the country descended into chaos, the EU called for calm, France urged ‘maximum restraint’ and Amnesty International warned against ‘excessive force.’

Clashes erupt in Congo ahead of talks

A solar eclipse behind the ‘Askari monument’ in Dar es Salaam, yesterday.

ASIA / PHILIPPINES06 FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2016

Protest for dolphins

Plot to ‘assassinate’ Duterte thwartedAnatolia

ZAMBOANGA CITY: Philippine police said yesterday that they had thwarted an alleged plot to assassi-nate President Rodrigo Duterte after a suspected gun parts smuggler told them of a customer’s plan to kill the outspoken head of state.

In a press conference at national police headquarters in Quezon City, police presented a suspect arrested earlier this month, Wilford Palma, as saying that the claim was made by their smuggling syndicate’s “number one customer”.

“My boss told me our number one customer had a plan to order lower end gun parts to be used in the

assassination of President Duterte,” he said.

Even before the June 30 inaugu-ration of Duterte, who had vowed to launch a campaign against ille-gal drugs under which around 2,000 suspects have since been killed, his pick for national police chief, Ron-ald “Bato” Dela Rosa, said a bounty of $1m had been raised for himself and Duterte.

Yesterday, Palma said that he and his boss had sold more than 100 upper receivers, 40 barrels and 30 bolt assemblies that could be used in assembling 100 M-16 rifles to the client.

Palma and Bryan Ta-Ala, who is currently in custody in hospital due to suffering from hypertension, were arrested in central Bacolod City with P4.5 million worth of gun parts from the United States.

Police chief dela Rosa refused to reveal the identity of the client due to ongoing investigations, but expressed his belief that the buyer was likely not part of the group that would have been hired to kill Duterte.

“Actually we have not arrested this man [the buyer], but most likely he’s not the gun for hire,” he said recently.

“Maybe he was just instructed by

a syndicate to buy [gun parts] for that purpose.”

Chief Supt Roel Obusan, head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group that apprehended Palma and Ta-Ala, said they were validating Palma’s claim and would consider him a witness due to his testimony.

The two were arrested on August 6 based on information provided by the US Department of Homeland Security to the Philippines Bureau of Customs. They face charges of violating Republic Act 10591, or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act.

Reuters

SINGAPORE: China intensified its checks on people and goods arriv-ing from Singapore yesterday, as an outbreak of the Zika virus in the small city-state was confirmed to have spread to at least one person in neighbouring Malaysia.

Authorities in Singapore, a lead-ing regional financial centre and busy transit hub for people and cargo, said they had detected 151 people with the Zika virus, includ-ing a second pregnant woman, as of midday yesterday. The first locally-transmitted Zika infection was reported on Saturday.

The government said earlier that half of the 115 cases reported previously were foreigners, mainly from China, India and Bangladesh, and most had already recovered. Many of them are believed to be among the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers in Singapore’s construction and marine industries.

Some new Zika cases have been found beyond the cluster area where the virus was initially detected.

“We have been tracking Zika for a while now, and knew it was only a matter of time before it reached Sin-gapore,” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong posted on his Facebook page. “Our best defence is to eradicate mosquitoes and destroy breeding habitats, all over Singapore.”

Singapore is the only Asian country with an active transmis-sion of the mosquito-borne Zika virus, which is a particular risk to pregnant women, according to the

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Malaysia confirmed its first case of Zika infection, in a woman who had recently visited Singapore.

The United States, Australia and other countries have warned pregnant women or those trying to conceive not to travel to Singapore.

The outbreak and travel warn-ings come just two weeks before the Singapore F1 motor-racing Grand Prix, a major sporting and tourist draw. Race promoter Singapore GP has said planning for the event is going ahead “as per normal”.

Singapore’s Tourism Board has said it is premature to consider any impact on the tourism indus-try, stressing the tropical city-state remains a “safe travel destination”.

More than 55 million people pass through Singapore’s Changi airport each year.

Tourism arrivals topped 8 mil-lion in the first half of this year, around 1 million more than a year ago.

China is trade-dependent Sin-gapore’s top overseas market, and the Zika outbreak coincides with a dip in overall exports and slowing economic growth in both countries.

“If this continues, certainly it will have a negative impact, but it’s hard to quantify in percentage terms or dollar value,” said Francis Tan, an economist at United Overseas Bank in Singapore.

The World Health Organisation, which has declared Zika an interna-tional public health emergency, was holding a regular meeting of its Zika emergency committee yesterday to review the spread of the disease.

Philippine senator linked to drugs: MinisterReuters

MANILA: The Philippine government made another attack yesterday on a senator who is leading an inquiry into a spate of killings unleashed by President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs”, saying evidence she was linked to drugs was “overflowing”.

Senator Leila de Lima has denounced the government’s attacks on her as “madness” and she has appealed to Duterte to stop the string

of bizarre accusations and insults against her.

Yesterday, she denounced gov-ernment “harassment” of her and said it was fabricating evidence against her.

About 2,400 people have been killed in Duterte’s drug war since he came to power two months ago, according to police figures.

Police say the toll is a result of drug dealers resisting arrest or gang feuds.

De Lima set up a Senate inquiry

into the killings and held the first hearings last month.

Justice Minister Vitaliano Aguirre said two former members of de Lima’s staff and a third person, a prisoner in a penitentiary, had made sworn statements linking the sena-tor to the drug trade.

“What they have provided is volunteered information,” Aguirre said. “It is not true that the evidence are being manufactured against her. These information are just overflowing.”

De Lima was justice minister for six years in former President Benigno Aquino’s government and won a seat as a senator in May elections.

She said in an interview this week she had no fears for her life because it would be clear who was to blame if anything happened to her, but she had been warned by people close to Duterte to stop questioning the extra-judicial killings.

Duterte won the May election on a promise to wipe out drugs and dealers.

Beijing steps up arrival checks from Singapore amid Zika virus outbreak

Australia ‘must choose’ US or China: Official

Reuters

SYDNEY: A senior US soldier said yesterday Australia must choose between a stronger US alliance or closer ties with China, and urged Canberra to take a tougher stance against Chinese claims in the South China Sea.

“I think the Australians need to make a choice...it’s very diffi-cult to walk this fine line between balancing the alliance with the United States and the economic engagement with China,” US Army Assistant Chief of Staff Colonel Tom Hanson said.

“There’s going to have to be a decision as to which one is more of a vital national interest for Aus-tralia,” he said.

Hanson said the comments reflected his personal view and were not necessarily that of the US government.

The comments follow the publication of a parliamentary booklet warning Australian law-makers to treat Chinese motives in the region with caution.

Australia, a staunch US ally, has previously drawn criticism from China for running surveil-lance flights over disputed islands in the South China Sea, and sup-porting US freedom of navigation exercises there.

“Clearly China believes that they have an opportunity and they feel empowered to flout that, and a demonstration by Australia would be welcome,” Hanson said.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said in response to Hanson’s comments that the US role in the Indo-Pacific region was as important now as it had ever been.

Sri Lankans protest UN chief’s visitAFP

COLOMBO: Dozens of Sri Lankan nationalists rallied outside the United Nations compound in Colombo yesterday as Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited the island, protesting against the UN’s actions during a prolonged civil war.

Police held back the demonstra-tors led by Buddhist monks as they tried to march on the compound just before Ban arrived on the first full day of his two-day visit to Sri Lanka.

“United Nations, where were you?” said one placard, which car-ried a photograph of a victim of a bombing blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels who were crushed by secu-rity forces in May 2009.

The protesting ultra-nationalists accuse the UN of siding with Tamil rebels while hardliners in the Tamil community also criticise it for failing to protect civilians during Sri Lan-ka’s 37-year ethnic war.

“The UN was silent when Tiger terrorists were bombing and mas-sacring our people,” Buddhist monk Akmeemana Dayaratne said as pro-testers handed over a petition to the UN office to be given to Ban.

“Now the UN is asking for inves-tigations to punish us for defeating terrorism,” he said, referring to the UN’s call for the island to probe war crimes committed during the conflict.

A police official outside the UN

offices, located in a tightly guarded area of the capital, said officers had obtained a court order preventing protests to avoid breaches of the peace.

“We did that because we feared that any protest could lead to unrest,” he said, requesting anonymity.

Ban’s convoy arrived at the com-pound shortly after the protesters had been peacefully dispersed.

The UN leader held talks with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremes-inghe on Wednesday evening after arriving in Sri Lanka from Myanmar, and is due to meet with President Maithripala Sirisena later yesterday.

He is also due to deliver a public lecture on peace and development and travel to the war-battered north-ern Tamil heartland of Jaffna, before leaving today.

Sri Lankan diplomats said they were keen to discuss the new gov-ernment’s reconciliation efforts following the civil war that claimed at least 100,000 lives between 1972 and 2009.

The United Nations has been pushing for a special court to inves-tigate allegations that up to 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed by gov-ernment forces in the final months of fighting.

AFP

TOKYO: Seventeen people were unaccounted for in Japan yesterday after Typhoon Lionrock tore through the north of the country, leaving 11 people dead and some 1,600 cut off in isolated communities, officials said.

Ten died in the town of Iwaizumi after it was hit by surging river water and mud, with nine of them perish-ing in a care home for the elderly.

The typhoon, which packed wind

gusts of over 160km an hour landed on Japan’s northern Pacific coast on Tuesday evening.

It tore through the region, dump-ing torrential rain over a wide area, stranding communities, with roads and bridges destroyed or blocked, authorities said.

“We have 17 people who cannot be reached nor their safety con-firmed,” town official Yasuyuki Ishiguro said, adding the number includes those who have been reported as missing, though he did not provide a breakdown.

“We believe many of the 17 are in communities isolated after roads and communications were cut off,” he said. “A wide area of the town remains inundated with mud and rubble.”

Nine of the town’s 10 dead were found on Wednesday morning bur-ied inside a building of the elderly care facility after water, mud, trees and rubble gushed into it.

Lionrock also caused devastation on Hokkaido, flooding vast areas on the heavily agricultural region, leaving at least three people miss-ing, according to the government.

17 unaccounted for in typhoon-hit Japan

A car lies on its roof beside an elderly care home where nine people were found dead after Typhoon Lionrock made landfall in Iwaizumi, Iwate prefecture, yesterday.

Sri Lankan nationalists, led by Buddhist monks, demonstrate outside the UN compound in the capital Colombo, yesterday.

Activists from Earth Island Institute and the Philippine Animal Welfare Society hold a demonstration in front of the Japanese Embassy in Manila, yesterday, to protest the start of the dolphin hunting season in Japan.

A gun-smuggling suspect claimed that his client had plan to order lower end gun parts to be used in the assassination of the president.

PAKISTAN 07FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2016

ISLAMABAD: Two Amer-ican climbers have gone missing while attempt-ing to summit a mountain in northern Pakistan, offi-cials said yesterday, as bad weather hampered rescue operations.

Kyle Dempster and Scott Adamson began their ascent of Ogre-II, a 7,285-metre peak off the Choktoi Glacier in Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan on Sunday, according to a website set up to raise funds for their rescue.

“They planned on five days for the climb and descent. On Monday evening, their Pakistani cook, Ghafoor Abdul, spotted their headlamps roughly halfway up the peak,” the page said.

Pakistan has been a draw for climbers lured by some of the most spectac-ular mountains on Earth.

Two US climbers

missing in

Pakistan: Officials

Tensions flare as Afghans seek to rebury remains of ‘bandit king’AFP

KABUL: Clashes erupted in the Afghan capital yesterday as support-ers of an ancient monarch derided as a “bandit king” sought to rebury his remains, laying bare the coun-try’s deep-rooted ethnic divisions.

Hundreds of people from King Habibullah Kalakani’s ethnic Tajik minority faced off with loyalists of former warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum’s Uzbek community, some of them armed, who are demanding a change of his reburial site.

Gunshots were fired as

pallbearers carrying the remains of Kalakani and his comrades approached the site, leaving at least three people wounded, a photogra-pher at the scene said.

In 1929 Kalakani toppled Aman-ullah Khan, a reformist king credited for a successful war against Britain and his efforts to modernise Afghan-istan, but he was executed less than a year later by a Pashtun king.

For almost nine decades his remains were kept in an unmarked spot below a hilltop mausoleum of the country’s ethnic Pashtun dynasty.

His Tajik supporters, who lion-ise him as a Robin Hood figure,

have sought to rebury him in a more respectful setting on another Kabul hilltop known as Shahrara, which is revered by loyalists of Dostum, currently the country’s first vice president.

They have demanded that the Tajik monarch be reburied elsewhere but his supporters have refused to back down.

“We will not leave this place unless we bury the bodies,” said Tajik supporter Ahmad Nawid.

Policemen fanned out around the hilltop as clashes erupted.

The violence comes as war-rav-aged Afghanistan struggles to rein in a nationwide Taliban insurgency.

PTI and PAT to

support each

other’s rallies

LAHORE: Pledging to unite all opposition par-ties around the slogan of ‘Go Nawaz Go’, the Paki-stan Awami Tehreek (PAT) and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have announced to participate in each other’s protests in Rawalpindi and Lahore tomorrow.

“Nation should observe September 3 as protest day. All opposition parties will be invited to attend PAT and PTI pro-tests,” PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri said

The joint press brief-ing held at the PAT Secretariat in Model Town was also attended by PTI’s Jehangir Tareen and Awami Muslim League’s (AML) Sheikh Rashid Ahmad. Qadri said the Sharif family was a risk to Pakistan’s sovereignty as some 300-400 Indian spies were working in mills owned by Sharifs.

Army admits presence of IS in the country

AFP

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan’s military yesterday admitted for the first time that the Islamic State group had a presence in the country but said it had apprehended hundreds of its militants and prevented them from carrying out major attacks.

The army’s spokesman Lieuten-ant General Asim Bajwa said forces had foiled planned attacks by IS on foreign embassies and Islamabad air-port but denied the group was behind last month’s suicide blast on a hospi-tal that killed 73, as it had claimed.

The comments confirming the presence of hundreds of militants stands at odds with previous out-right denials.

Last year, speaking from London, Pakistan’s army chief General Raheel Sharif said the military would not allow “even a shadow” of the group to enter the country, though senior police officials in both Karachi and the Punjab province have said their forces have carried out raids against IS militants.

Pakistan has been battling an Islamist insurgency since shortly after it decided to ally with the US following its invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. In 2007, Pakistani jihadists formed their own Taliban faction that has deep ties to Al Qaeda, IS’s main rival.

IS, which has struggled for traction in Pakistan in the face of competition from well-established groups, gained its first toe-hold in the country in January 2015 when six Pakistani Taliban leaders switched their allegiance over from Al Qaeda, the spokesman said.

“Daesh tried to make an ingress into Pakistan, but the core of its group have now been apprehended,”

Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa said, using the group’s Arabic acronym.

Bajwa added that a total of 309 militants -- from both its planning wing (Kutaiba Haris) and fighter wing (Kutaiba Mubashir), including its “mastermind” Hafiz Umar and top commander Ali Rehman had been held and the group had been contained.

The group’s leader in Pakistan and Afghanistan was killed in a US drone strike in Afghanistan last month.

The spokesman said IS had car-ried out several small-scale attacks including the killing of human rights activist Sabeen Mahmud in Karachi in 2015, clashed with and killed secu-rity personal, as well as committing several grenade attacks on TV chan-nels that had injured journalists.

But he denied it had been behind an attack on a hospital in the south-western city of Quetta last month that killed 73 people, including most of the city’s senior lawyers, in the sec-ond deadliest attack of the year. The suicide bombing was also claimed by Taliban faction Jamaat-ul-Ahrar.

“We haven’t gotten any evidence of any linkage with Daesh was an attempt to glorify themselves”.

An attack on a bus in Karachi in May 2015 that killed 46 people was the first major incident offi-cially claimed by IS in Pakistan, but Bajwa stated that one of the mili-tants involved had pledged fealty to the group only when in custody.

Analysts have previously said the group’s de-centralised command

structure encourages elements not in communication with its leaders to carry out attacks and then pledge their allegiance.

Washington earlier this year designated an IS affiliate -- the “Khorasan Province” -- as an Afghanistan- and Pakistan-based terrorist organisation.

Security analyst Amir Rana said the spokesman’s confirmation was an “important” step as the global threat posed by IS continues to supplant its rival Al Qaeda.

IS had made territorial gains in eastern Afghanistan, but were pushed back by Afghan troops backed by US airstrikes last month.

Internews

ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet of Pakistan yesterday gave the nod to a regional connectivity agreement, which envisions a railways network across the Southeast Asian Associa-tion of Regional Cooperation (Saarc) states and movement of commercial, cargo and passenger vehicles.

The cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, also gave approval to the prime minister’s

Sustainable Development Goals, a programme for medical treatment of deserving citizens suffering from fatal diseases and introduction of Rs10 coin while also amending the existing design of Rs5 coin.

The approval of Saarc agree-ment comes in line with the recently held 8th Saarc Finance Ministers Conference that stressed upon expe-diting progress on materialising the Saarc Agreement of Motor Vehicles and Railways for Intra-Regional Connectivity. In this regard, the rep-resentatives from the Saarc countries

had held several rounds of delibera-tions over the last two years.

The PM’s Sustainable Develop-ment Goals Programme envisages progress in different areas includ-ing development, energy and social sector and allocation of necessary funding in this regard.

On the other hand, medical treat-ment programme includes treatment from fatal diseases including kidney, liver, bone-marrow transplant and cancer and is part of the PM National Health Programme.

According to a statement issued

by the PM House, a total of 17 agenda items were approved in the meeting, attended by federal ministers, advis-ers, special assistants and relevant officials.

These items include administra-tive, financial, developmental and legal matters, moved by the Cabinet Division, Finance Division, Revenue Division, National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Divi-sion and Foreign Affairs Division.

The cabinet confirmed the rele-vant decisions taken by the Cabinet Committee on Restructuring, and the

relevant decisions taken by the Cabi-net Committee on Privatisation.

It also approved Tax Laws Amend-ment Ordinance 2016, determination of sales tax on petroleum products, agreement between Pakistan and China and Pakistan and Switzerland for the avoidance of double taxation.

The meeting also approved pub-lication of tax directories, extension of reduced withholding tax rate for non-filers, ratification of rel-evant decisions of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) and Commission of Inquiry Bill 2016.

Federal cabinet approves Saarc connectivity deal

More than $1.40bn to be spent this Eid on sacrificial animals

Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa, the military’s top spokesman speaks during a news conference in Rawalpindi, yesterday.

Army spokesman claimed that forces had foiled planned attacks by IS on foreign embassies and Islamabad airport.

Supporters ride in a convoy carrying the coffin containing the remains of Afghan King Habibullah Kalakani during a funeral in Kabul, yesterday.

Internews

KARACHI: Pakistanis are pro-jected to spend $1.42bn this Eid Al Adha, sacrificing an estimated 2.5 million cows, bulls and buffaloes - with each animal having an average price tag of Rs60,000.

The staggering sum of Rs150bn is based on the figures of the Paki-stan Tanners Association (PTA) which show 7.3m hides and skin were collected last year after Eid and a similar number is expected this year.

An estimated Rs60bn would be spent on purchasing 4m goats (with an average price of Rs15, 000 per animal) and Rs12bn will be spent on purchasing 800,000 sheep.

Over 30,000 camels worth Rs2.1bn, with each animal cost-ing an average of Rs70, 000, are expected to be sacrificed.

“In Karachi alone, around 125,000 cows have marked their entry so far at Asia’s biggest cattle market situated at Super High-way, followed by arrival of 40,000 goats and 1,500 camels,” Naveed Baig, spokesperson for Sohrab Goth Maweshi Mandi, said.

There are four to five small cat-tle markets in Karachi and many roadside sale points where sacrifi-cial animals can be purchased, he added.

The 1,000-acre Sohrab Goth Mandi for cows has five VIP blocks and 21 ordinary blocks, while goats are being sold at another 2,000-acre area.

With an increase in the price of red meat, prices of animals have increased, too. Consumers too now realise they are buying lighter weight animals every year but pay-ing higher prices.

A major reason for the price hike of sacrificial animals in the past few years is the influx of small and big investors who are in for quick profits.

Sacrificing cows appears more popular in Karachi while goats are preferred in other parts of the country.

According to the Pakistan Economic Survey 2015-16, goat production increased to 77.8m in 2015-16 from 68.4m in 2014-15 and 66.6m in 2013-14.

Cattle production rose to 42.8m in 2015-16 from 41.2m in 2013-14 and 39.7m in 2013-14, followed by 36.6m buffalo production in 2015-16 as compared to 35.6m in 2014-15 and 34.6m in 2013-14.

Despite increasing cattle pro-duction trend, profiteers have forced beef and goat meat prices up by Rs20-50 per Xme every year.

When questioned, traders gave the rhetorical response of increas-ing prices due to meat exports and smuggling of live animals resulting in shortage of animals.

Beef production hit 2.02m tonnes in 2015-16 from 1.95m tonnes in 2014-15 and 1.89m tonnes in 2013-14.

Mutton production went up to 686,000 tonnes in 2015-16 as com-pared to 671,000 tonnes in 2014-15 and 657,000 tonnes in 2013-14.

Export of meat and its prod-ucts stood at 76,448 tonnes fetching $269m in 2015-16 as compared to 74,758 tonnes ($243m) in 2014-15 and 73,664 tonnes ($229m) in 2013-14, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

Tanners expect a sharp fall in the prices of raw hides and skin due to declining price trend of these items in the international mar-kets and a slump in leather goods demand.

VIEWS08 FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2016

Donald Trump went and saw but did not conquer. The Republican presidential nominee’s visit to Mexico has raised a lot of dust, of course for the wrong reasons. For if Trump is around one does not look for the right reasons. One tries to guess

how worse the situation can get once the billionaire maverick is around laying his hands on a sliver of action — political or apolitical. The much-publicised visit to Washington’s southern ally came as Hillary’s ratings were creeping up on Trump. The wily Hillary has been watching intently and laughing under her breath as her bumbling Republican rival keeps making one mistake after another. She would have fought hard to contain her glee after it was announced that her White House race competitor would visit Mexico and meet President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Trump’s relentless and brash behaviour didn’t come out quite as much during his meeting and press conference with the

Mexican president. He rather skirted a question on the wall at the joint press meet.

Nieto said he told Trump Mexico won’t pay for the wall. Trump, once more, was caught on the wrong foot. He had said the wall wasn’t discussed with the Mexican president. Nieto’s admission to reporters left Trump red faced.

The wall issue hasn’t left Trump since the beginning of his campaign. And now since he drove himself

right into the location related to the controversy, the wall stood between him and transparency.

The declaration in the beginning of the campaign that he would erect a wall on the Mexican border if chosen president, touched a raw nerve in both countries. The idea seemed ludicrous to Americans while it was seen as insulting and against the heritage of warm political ties by Mexicans.

That Trump cannot be restrained for long was clear when the maverick tycoon reached Phoenix in the United States. Delivering a much-awaited speech, he blew to smithereens any expectation of a pivot to a softer stance on immigration. Though refraining from saying that he would throw out all illegal immigrants from the US, he railed at any attempt at trying to illegally enter the country. Any expectation of the Republican changing his stance on immigration after the Mexican visit was snubbed. It’s hard to rein in the New York real estate tycoon, went the impression.

Trump remains a force to contend with in the presidential race. Even though he betrays a lack of gravitas and often defies reason in his approach and declarations, the Republican businessman remains a substantial source of opposition to Hillary.

Ever the maverick

The immigration speech by Trump shows he is not ready to change his stance.

Quote of the day

I believe that such an agreement would mean job opportunities for us and we urgently need jobs in Europe. It is in our interest not to fall behind other world regions such as the Asian region which has concluded such an agreement with the United States.

Angela Merkel German Chancellor

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Well before the Brazilian Sen-a te t h r e w Dilma Rouss-eff out of office

on Wednesday, by a commanding 61 votes to 20, even her most fer-vent supporters sensed her days as head of state were numbered. Yet to judge by the commotion from her loyalist rearguard, you’d think a political comeback were underway. The suspended president took the stand at her impeachment trial on Monday with protesters in the street, an impressive entourage in tow, and blessings from Bernie Sanders all the way to Hollywood.

“Impeachment is a political death penalty,” Rousseff said, adding that her ouster amounted to “a coup.”

For all the drama of her trial — the partisan bombast, Rous-seff’s 14-hour grilling in the Senate, the tear gas in the streets — political apostates were already negotiating the day-after. Sitting President Michel Temer was wait-ing for word of the proceedings with his bags packed for an offi-cial visit to China as Brazil’s new head of state. By early afternoon Wednesday, Rousseff’s mandate was finished, making her the second Brazilian leader to fall to impeachment since the return to democracy 31 years ago.

But there is logic to Rouss-eff’s obstinacy. By insisting that her ouster is illegitimate and the charges of her fiddling the federal budget a flimsy cover for a polit-ical putsch, Rousseff is no longer playing to the Senate but to pub-lic opinion, and to courts of law in Brazil and beyond.

She has vowed to appeal to the Brazilian Supreme Court. And at her urging, the human rights commission of the Organisa-tion of American States recently pressed Temer’s government for explanations (and was quickly rebuffed).

Such manoeuvres are part of a compelling political endgame: Cast Rousseff as the victim of a

Latin Thermidor, and blame Bra-zilian “elites” plotting to sweep away social gains of the last decade.

Never mind that those gains are already under assault by the fiscal profligacy of the Lula-Rousseff years, which sent the Brazilian economy tumbling into severe recession, erased jobs and gutted the country’s standing among creditors.

By spinning the political con-test of impeachment as a travesty of justice, Rousseff may be hoping to build a narrative for an even-tual comeback.

Or she may be angling for something more expedient and far more troubling — turning pol-itics over to the courts.

Forget the cant about right-wing “usurpers” and a “parliamentary coup”; Brazilian democracy will survive impeach-ment uninterrupted. But far less attention has been paid to another kind of usurpation: judicial overreach.

Yes, Brazil’s diligent police and savvy prosecutors are work-ing overtime to bring crooked big shots to justice, and the courts have done their part. But as politicians have fallen into disrepute, judges and prosecu-tors are leaning in and taking up space that elected officials ought to fill, sometimes encour-aged by the very politicians they are upstaging.

This isn’t new. Consider the Supreme Court’s 2006 decision to overturn a congressional bill limiting the ridiculous number of political parties allowed to field candidates.

The result: Brazil has more than 20 parties with represent-atives in Congress, many of which

have no discernible platform other than to hold government ransom for the maximum amount of pork. Rousseff’s ruling coalition was a crab barrel of nine parties before it fell apart.

However, the current political imbroglio has raised interven-tionism to alarming heights. True, often the Brazilian courts are a last recourse.

Thanks to country’s indul-gent parliamentary privilege, the Supreme Court is the only body that can judge sitting law-makers, nearly half of whom are either criminal defendants or have been convicted of a crime.

And of course, impeach-ment naturally pits the executive against its congressional adver-saries, a standoff that often demands arbitration.

But recently, the high court has gone beyond safeguarding the Constitution to kibitzing on the arcana of congressional reg-imen and refereeing points of order. In December, the 11-mem-ber high court intervened on the composition of the congressional subcommittee assigned to review the case against Rousseff, and in April the full bench spent hours deliberating over rules for the roll call vote on impeachment in the plenary.

Not surprisingly, such influ-ence can breed swagger. Although home to respected constitutional scholars, the Supreme Court also has become a catwalk of judicial vanity, with bench members even sounding off even on cases that are under adjudication.

However, judges are not only to blame. With 315 articles and some 200 pages, the 1988 con-stitution is a monster, and holds forth on everything from interest

rates to indigenous land rights. “Almost everything in Brazil-ian life can be interpreted as a constitutional matter” Michael Mohallem, a constitutional law scholar at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, told me.

The danger of such a sweeping mandate is judi-cial incontinence; when every quarrel ends up in litigation, clearly, the courts cannot function. Every year, the Bra-zilian Supreme Court hears an “astronomical” 70,000 cases or more a year, a backlog not even the most illustrious bench could handle.

The broader problem is that hyperactive courts dimin-ish the role of elected officials — often, ironically, with the complicity of politicians them-selves. “Over and over, we have seen lawmakers defeated in a legislative vote immediately filing an appeal in court,” Mohallem said.

Which brings us back to impeachment. Rousseff has every right to a full and vigor-ous defence. That’s what Brazil’s drawn-out, ritualistic and polit-ically agonising impeachment process was all about.

To challenge the Senate’s rul-ing in the Supreme Court and seek intervention by an international diplomatic court would not just prolong the agony, but second-guess Brazil’s democracy. And that’s the last thing this crisis-roiled country needs.

The writer is a Bloomberg view contributor based in Rio de Janeiro. He was a reporter for Newsweek and is the author of “The Last New World: The Conquest of the Amazon Frontier.”

Brazil’s post-Rousseff peril: Judicial overreach

By Mac Margolis

Bloomberg

Supporters of Brazil’s former President Dilma Rousseff attend a protest after Brazil’s Senate removed Rousseff, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

OPINION 09 FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2016

All thoughts and views expressed in these columns are those of the writers, not of the newspaper.All correspondence regarding Views and Opinion pages should be mailed to the Editor-in-Chief.

Shortcomings of Obama govt’s latest pitch on TPP

By Jared Bernstein

The Washington Post

While I rarely use this column to go far afield from political economy, I’ll make an exception here and

wade into the intersection of foreign and economic policy: the push to sell the Trans-Pacific Partnership to Con-gress on the basis of geopolitics and national security.

First, some background. It looks as if the Obama administration’s primary goal for its remaining few months in office is the passage of the TPP. But the pres-idential election has seriously altered the political landscape.

Both candidates are hostile to the agreement, and President Barack Obama would be doing Hillary Clin-ton no favors by pushing for the deal while she is strongly touting her opposition. So the administration’s plan is to try to pass the agreement in the few weeks after the election but before their exit, ie, in the “lame duck” period.

As I read their arguments, they’ve largely punted on the economic case for the deal. I and many others have writ-ten that such a case was always shaky — these deals do little for overall growth or jobs (meaning a pox on both the TPP as “job-killer” and “job-savior” houses).

They are instead a sweeping set of technical rules that determine whose interests are elevated in international trade, and those interests have long tilted toward investors and multi-national corporations as opposed to workers.

It would thus be discordant for Team Obama to try to sell the deal on the benefits of trade, which are substan-tial, in the midst of an election where

the damage from global competition to significant groups of workers and their communities, which is also substantial, is so front and center.

Instead, the administration has shifted its emphasis to the geopolit-ical advantages of the deal, or more precisely, the geopolitical costs of a potential failure to ratify the 12-nation agreement. Their warnings come in two flavours, with the second more con-vincing than the first.

First, the administration argues that after years of difficult, complex, mul-tilateral negotiations, if Congress fails to approve the TPP, it will be a sign to our allies that the United States can’t be trusted. Politically, this seems stun-ningly naive.

Surely negotiators, both ours and theirs, knew that Congress would never rubber-stamp a deal like this. I’ve longed watched and even par-ticipated in such dealmaking and those involved are constantly rec-alibrating the odds of passage. Our negotiators would never have guar-anteed passage; to the contrary, it is far more likely they were presenting a realistic assessment to their coun-terparts, who, of course, would have been doing their own homework on this as well.

So we should seriously discount this claim. If the TPP flames out, our part-ners will know what they already know — what anyone with access to this news-paper knows: American politics is in a

highly fractious, dysfunctional state.The second claim — that failure to

pass the TPP will empower China and hurt the United States — is more serious.

Clyde Prestowitz, writing recently in the New York Times, presented a nuanced argument on this point: Yes, it is in Amer-ica’s interests to try to reduce China’s global influence. But passing the TPP will be ineffectual in that regard.

Regardless of the deal’s outcome, the United States will maintain its already sizable presence in East and Southeast Asia, while both we and China will continue trying to influ-ence trade regimes.

That’s just globalisation in action. Given the extent of existing and ever-increasing global ties between China and countries throughout Asia, the idea that we’re somehow going to wrest regional influence from China in their own back yard is not credible.

For all their arguments to the con-trary, both the US government and our businesses recognise this, as they are increasingly ramping up their inte-gration with China through direct investment by our multinational corporations and yes, bilateral trade deals (the US/China Bilateral Invest-ment Treaty).

To call China a “threat” in this regard is misleading. What they are is an aggressive competitor for market share, and yes, they are gaining influ-ence through their own bilateral trade

agreements (many with TPP countries), foreign investment and financial ties with other nations. So we need a China strategy.

But that’s not at all what we’re talking about here. The TPP is a 12-nation agreement that consists of 6,000 pages of rules of origin for traded goods (which, not inciden-tally, are actually too kind to China for even my comfort), dispute settlement methods to protect investors (which a. damagingly put our skin in the game vs. that of investors themselves, and b. are now the source of financial spec-ulation), extended patents for biologic drugs and intellectual property rights (not exactly “free trade”), and more. (And they still managed to leave out enforceable rules against currency manipulation!)

The deal’s proponents are down-weighting the costs of such a corporate-centric deal to work-ers and consumers here and abroad, including unenforced labor, environ-mental improvements and extended patents, and thus higher prices on crit-ical medications. In this context, it’s hard to take their geopolitical calcu-lus seriously.

As Chas Freeman, a former interna-tional diplomat, recently put it: “Somehow — it’s not explained how — persuading Asians to adopt the intellectual property practices favored by Hollywood, BigP-harma, and patent-trolling American lawyers will keep China at bay.”

What’s so frustrating about the administration’s sales pitch is its impli-cation that we are somehow unable to write trade deals whose sale is not predicated on trading off workers’ and consumers’ well-being for geopoliti-cal security. Is such a trade-off truly unavoidable?

I’m sure it’s not, and that we’re stuck here — we can have a deal that helps workers or a deal that protects our secu-rity, but not both — is another piece of evidence that our trade-negotiating regime is broken.

We can and should write new rules of the road for globalisation that place workers’ interests at the heart of any deal; these are the deals we should negotiate with any countries willing to do so.

Globalisation won’t stop if the TPP goes down. Container ships won’t weigh anchors; trade volumes will not cease to grow. Neither will countries stop seek-ing geopolitical advantages, blocking potential adversaries or strengthening ties with allies.

My hope is that they’ll just have to do so, for now, without a trade deal that would have made economic life harder for a group of workers and communities for whom economic life is hard enough already.

Jared Bernstein, a former chief econo-mist to Vice-President Biden, is a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and author of the new book “The Reconnection Agenda: Reuniting Growth and Prosperity.”

The administration has shifted its emphasis to the geopolitical advantages of the deal, or more precisely, the geopolitical costs of a potential failure to ratify the 12-nation agreement. Their warnings come in two flavours, with the second more convincing than the first.

A container is unloaded from a ship at the international container pier at Tokyo port on June 17, 2015. Japan posted a 1.75bn USD trade deficit in May, a dramatic fall from a year earlier due to a drop in energy imports, but still not enough to offset lacklustre shipments overseas.

Differentiate Japan’s aid to Africa from China’s in terms of qualityThe Japan News

Africa’s healthy development is indispensable to world stability. It is necessary to

provide support through the joint efforts of the public and private sectors and establish a relation-ship of reciprocity embracing the potential for growth as the conti-nent develops.

The Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI) was held in Nairobi, with the leaders of Japan and about 50 African nations attending, among others.

They adopted the Nairobi Dec-laration, calling for economic structural reforms and reinforcing measures against communicable diseases as its main pillars.

In a keynote speech, Prime

Minister Shinzo Abe pledged a total of $30 billion (about ¥3 tril-lion) in investments from the public and private sectors over a period of three years through 2018, and to develop human resources, including about 10 million engineers. “The time has come to make the best of Japan’s capabilities, Japanese companies’ capabilities,” Abe emphasised.

Blessed with r ich natu-ral resources and given its rapid increase in population, Africa is referred to as “the final frontier” of the world economy, leading many countries to compete to make investments in the continent.

But, in recent years, Africa has faced such challenges as declining prices for natural resources, the spread of Ebola and other infec-tious diseases, frequent civil wars and terrorism. The continent is far from being in a situation under which it can eradicate poverty

and achieve social stability. It is reasonable that the Nairobi Dec-laration refers to “economic diversification” without relying merely on exports of resources. It is essential to promote investment in high-quality infrastructure and foster human resources through the prudent use of Japanese expertise, thereby encouraging self-sustained development.

Many Japanese business cor-porations and associations took part in the TICAD conference, which was held for the first time in Africa, and discussed concrete investment projects.

The Japanese business com-munity has high expectations for Africa as a potentially huge market.

Twenty-two Japanese firms and business associations signed memorandums on a total of 73 projects. It is highly significant that the range of cooperation

is diverse, covering geothermal power generation, agricultural development, hospital con-struction and malaria control measures.

Abe announced a plan to launch the “Japan-Africa Public and Private Economic Forum” as a permanent forum for which members of the Japa-nese Cabinet, together with top executives from Japan’s major business associations and cor-porations, will visit Africa once every three years. It is imper-ative for Japan and Africa to maintain close cooperation and pursue mutual benefits.

In December, China announced a plan to offer $60 billion in aid to Africa over a period of three years. This figure is double Japan’s. But there is strong criticism that China’s assistance will not lead to fostering personnel and technical transfers because China places priority on

profits for its firms and procure-ment of resources. In addition to construction of infrastructure with an emphasis on quality, it is essen-tial for Japan to provide know-how on the maintenance and operation of infrastructure and offer elabo-rate programmes to foster local experts, thereby differentiating its assistance from China’s.

Abe has come out with an India-Pacific initiative of making the Pacific and Indian oceans “peace-ful seas governed by the rule of law.” Maintaining a rules-based maritime order and the necessity of reform-ing the UN Security Council were also incorporated in the Nairobi Declaration.

Both of these points were made with China in mind. From the viewpoint of encouraging China to exercise restraint and avoid self-centered behavior, Japan must build a strategic relationship with Afri-can countries.

The Japanese business community has high expectations for Africa as a potentially huge market.

INDIA10 FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2016

Police officers try to detain a demonstrator during a protest against the murder of a 12-year-old girl in Kolkata, yesterday.

Kolkata protest

IANS

NEW DELHI: Congress Vice-Presi-dent Rahul Gandhi yesterday told the Supreme Court that he stood by his

remarks blaming the RSS people for the assassination of Mahatma Gan-dhi and said he was ready to face trial for alleged criminal defamation of the outfit.

Gandhi’s lawyer Kapil Sibal told the Supreme Court that the Congress Vice-President stood by what he had said about the people associated with RSS. While allowing Gandhi to with-draw his petition, the bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman declined his plea for exemp-tion from appearing before the trial court in defamation case.

The Congress Vice-President had moved the Supreme Court challeng-ing the Bombay High Court order refusing to interfere with the crimi-nal defamation case instituted by an RSS activist Rajesh Mahadev Kunte

before a Bhiwandi court in Thane dis-trict of Maharashtra.

Kunte is the secretary of the Bhi-wandi unit of RSS.

During the last hearing the apex court bench took note of Gandhi’s statement before the Bombay High Court that he had not blamed the RSS as an institution for the assas-sination of Mahatma Gandhi but the people associated with it. How-ever, on Thursday the matter took a different turn when senior coun-sel Umesh R. Lalit said that to prove his bonafides, Rahul Gandhi should say that he did not intend to involve RSS for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

At this, senior counsel Sibal appearing for Gandhi told the bench that he (Rahul Gandhi) stands by

every word he had said before the High Court. “RSS ke logon ne goli mari. (RSS people shot at Mahatma Gandhi) I stand by my every word. I am ready to go to trial,” he said.

Sibal urged the court to record his statement in its order that Rahul Gan-dhi is ready to face trial. The bench refused to record it and said the trial court will decide the matter uninflu-enced by the observation in the high court order.

The Congress Vice-President in his affidavit before the High court had said: “The assassination of Mahatma Gandhi was a result of the destructive philosophy of the persons associated with the RSS. It was also clearly suggested that the assassins were associated or affil-iated with RSS. He never accused

RSSA as an institution of the crime.”The senior counsel said what

Rahul Gandhi has said is the state-ment made by Gopal Godse -- the younger brother of Nathu Ram Godse who killed Mahatma Gandhi.

Lalit said that if “He (Rahul Gan-dhi) makes a statement that he did not intend to say that RSS as an organisation was responsible for the assassination of Mahatma Gan-dhi then the matter could rest.”

At this Justice Nariman asked: “What is the problem if the page (of the Rahul Gandhi’s affidavit before the High Court) exists as it is?”

“It is a statement made for the convenience of litigation,” said Lalit.

Pointing to the sequence, Lalit said: “He (Rahul Gandhi) intended to involve RSS. No body is interested

in Nathu Ram Godse. The target was RSS. You have done repeatedly (blamed the RSS) in Assam and even after the last hearing of the matter.”

Congress had in the last 60 years blamed RSS for the assassina-tion of Mahatma Gandhi, Lalit told the Supreme Court bench. In every election, in the areas where peo-ple from minority community are present, they have repeated their charge against the RSS, Lalit added.

Sibal countered Lalit and said: “Don’t make political statement.”

Kunte had initiated the criminal defamation case against the Con-gress Vice-President objecting to his election speech at Sonale where Rahul Gandhi had reportedly blamed RSS people for Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination.

IANS

NEW DELHI: With Odisha yesterday becoming the 16th state to ratify the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, the constitution amendment is now ready to be sent for the President’s assent before being notified as law.

Thus, the pan-India overhaul of India’s indirect tax regime has got the mandatory support of more than half the states much earlier than the Centre’s targeted deadline of rolling out the GST by the start of the next fiscal on April 1, 2017.

After Goa became the 15th state to ratify the GST bill on Wednes-day, decks would have already been cleared for presidential assent had

the West Bengal government moved for its ratification earlier this week.

It did not do so at a one-day spe-cial session on Monday, citing “time constraints”.

Meanwhile, at a meeting here with the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on GST on Monday, India Inc. pitched for an 18 percent standard rate.

They said this rate would gen-erate adequate tax buoyancy without fuelling inflation. The opposition Congress party had ear-lier demanded an 18 per cent cap on the GST rate.

Industry chambers also told state finance ministers that the new tax be implemented after a minimum of six months from the date of adoption of the GST law by the GST Council.

The Federation of Indian Cham-bers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) suggested that to check inflation and the tendency to evade taxes “the merit rate should be lower and the standard rate should be reasonable”.

“As per current indications and reports, goods will be categorised as being subject to merit rates (12 per cent), standard rates (18 per cent) and de-merit rates (40 per cent),” FICCI said in a release following a meeting here with the Empowered Committee.

“Certain goods will be exempted from GST while bullion and jewel-lery would be charged to one-two per cent,” it said regarding classifica-tion of goods for applying GST rates.

Subsidised LPG costlier by Rs2

NEW DELHI: State-run oil mar-keters yesterday raised the price of subsidised LPG, or cooking gas, by about Rs2 per 14.2-kg cylinder, and cut the rate of non-subsidised LPG by Rs20.5 per cylinder.

Since July, this is the third straight increase in the price of a subsidised LPG cylinder, which will now cost Rs425.06 in Delhi as against Rs423.09 earlier.

The move is part of the gov-ernment’s strategy to reduce subsidies in a phased manner by effecting a small hike in rates every month.

LPG rates were last increased by Rs1.93 per cylinder on August 16, and previously by Rs1.98 on July 1.

Non-subsidised LPG, which consumers buy after exhaust-ing their subsidised quota of 12 cylinders, now costs Rs466.50 per cylinder in Delhi, as against Rs 487 previously. Further, the price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), or jet fuel, was cut in Delhi by Rs1,795.5 per kilolitre, or 3.8 per cent, to Rs45,411.18.

Al Sisi in Delhi; meets KerryNEW DELHI: Egypt’s president began an official visit to India yes-terday, where he also met with US Secretary of State John Kerry, who extended his stay in the country. A US Embassy official said Kerry and Egyptian President Abdel Fat-tah Al Sissi met in New Delhi, but provided no details. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

The Egyptian president is to hold talks with Indian Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi today. Kerry had been scheduled to return to Washington yesterday after vis-iting India. The embassy official said he will now join President Barack Obama in China for the G-20 summit this weekend.

Doctors fall prey to dengue fever

NEW DELHI: As dengue and chikungunya cases continue to soar, affecting hundreds in the national capital, many doctors in the city hospitals have also fallen prey to the vector-borne diseases.

Authorities said yesterday that they are witnessing a shortage of staff as many doctors, including senior faculty members in many hospitals, have tested positive for dengue and chikungunya, keep-ing them from discharging their duties. In a review meeting, Union Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha asked all stake holders in both the Cen-tre and Delhi government to take action for the prevention and management of the vector borne diseases. He said that more pub-lic awareness programmes should be run and availability of medi-cines ensured.

In a meeting with the health authorities, Centre, State and Municipal corporations, Sinha asked the bodies to intensively use the helpline facilities started for dengue and chikungunya cases in the national capital and the adjoining areas.

RSS people killed Mahatma; ready to face trial: Rahul

AFP

MUMBAI: India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani announced yes-terday that his Reliance Industries’ long-awaited 4G mobile services would finally launch this month, sending shares of rival Bharti Airtel plummeting almost seven percent.

Ambani told shareholders at the Mumbai-based company’s annual general meeting that the multi-billion-dollar telecommunications network, called Reliance Jio Infocomm, would be rolled out from Monday following repeated delays.

The Reliance Industries chair-man said it would cover 90 percent of India’s 1.25 billion population by

March 2017. The launch has been hotly anticipated in India whose notoriously patchy mobile network is known for bad reception and irreg-ular pricing structures.

Stocks in Bharti Airtel, which has already launched 4G, slumped 6.83% on the Bombay Stock Exchange in late morning trade after the announce-ment. “We can transform India from a high price data market to one with the lowest data rates anywhere in the world,” said Ambani, promising cheaper tariffs and free calls within India and no roaming charges.

Reliance Industries has spent bil-lions of dollars purchasing wireless spectrum at auction from the gov-ernment in recent years as it looks to dominate India’s cut-throat mobile market of an estimated 952 million

users. It was initially due to offer 4G mobile services from the end of 2015 but pushed the date back sev-eral times without explaining why, as Bharti Airtel snapped up millions of customers.

Market leader Bharti Airtel cut its prices for mobile data services ear-lier this week ahead of Reliance’s AGM in a bid to stop users switch-ing to Jio in coming months. But experts believe the estimated $15bn Jio launch will be a game-changer for the Ambani-led Reliance group. Reliance derives most of its earnings from its massive energy operations and is trying to diversify its business. Billionaire industrialist Ambani said Jio’s tariff plans would start from around 150 rupees a month ($2.24) and would cost up to 5000 rupees for

high-speed data services. Reliance investors appeared unimpressed by

the announcement with shares slip-ping 0.90 percent.

Reliance to roll out long-awaited 4G mobile services from Monday

IANS

PANAJI: Describing BJP MLAs in Goa as ‘asuras’ (demons) and hold-ing Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar responsible for the degen-eration of the saffron party in the coastal state, expelled Goa RSS leader Subhash Velingkar yester-day warned the BJP once again, that it would lose the upcoming state leg-islative assembly elections.

Addressing a press conference to announce the formation of a new Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Goa unit, Velingkar said that he as well as the RSS members and conscien-tious BJP workers had resolved to vote against the Bharatiya Janata Party in the assembly polls.

“No place in the world deserves such MLAs. People need MLAs who speak from their conscience. What-ever we may be on the outside, inside we have a god in all of us, a conscience. If the conscience is not clear, ill befalls and one becomes an avatar of asura,” said Veling-kar, whose unceremonious sacking as Goa division sangh chalak on Wednesday, has triggered a unprec-edented rebellion against both the RSS top brass and the state BJP by the local Sangh cadre.

“We believe we have done no wrong, while the BJP represents falsehood. Manohar Parrikar is one of the biggest liars. He has dragged BJP down with him. The BJP has become a party of sheep. The aspirations of people who have elected them, mean nothing to them. They need their ministership, chief ministership, deputy chief minister-ship. Their mouths are tied shut on issues,” he also said.

Velingkar, as well as the Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Samiti which he is convenor of, has been campaigning against the BJP for the last few months, accusing its state leadership of betraying its promise of fully backing regional languages as a medium of instruction in state’s primary schools. Velingkar, as well as the Manch, have been demanding

the scrapping of government grants to English medium schools, most of which are run by an education soci-ety backed by the influential Roman Catholic Church in Goa.

Velingkar also blamed Parrikar for betraying Hindus and Christians of Goa, for taking a cabinet decision in 2012, which allowed the continu-ance of the financial grants.

“Parrikar has cheated both Hin-dus and Christians. On the language issue, he did a U-turn. Regional lan-guages are spoken by everyone, irrespective of caste, creed and reli-gion. Parrikar is responsible for all this. Parrikar is responsible for this degeneration. The agitation is because of his volte face decision contrary to his promise,” Velingkar said. Veling-kar also said that in his last 55 years as a Sangh member, he had never seen the organisation as “weak and help-less”. The senior Sangh leader said that the RSS had not faulted him in 2011, when he had led a ‘Congress hatao’ campaign in the run up to the 2012 state assembly elections.

“The BJP betrayed the people of Goa and the way we taught the Congress a lesson (in 2012), we have resolved to teach the BJP a lesson now. We will not withdraw from this,” Velingkar said.

The RSS leader said that this was the first such experiment in the country, where the local Sangh unit was taking on a BJP government on matters of principle.

“A government which does not care for the people, respect it, ignores its demands and tramples people, should be taught a lesson. It may be the Congress or the BJP or any other party. We have to weigh every political parties on the same scale,” Velingkar said, adding that he along with state RSS workers had pledged not to vote for the BJP during the upcoming state assem-bly elections. “We all belonged once upon a time to that committed vote bank (of the BJP). Now we will not vote for the BJP even by mistake. That is our conviction,” Velingkar said, exhorting the rest of the RSS cadre and conscientious BJP work-ers to not vote for the saffron party.

Rahul’s lawyer Kapil Sibal told the Supreme Court that the Congress Vice-President stood by what he had said about the people associated with the Hindu outfit RSS.

Sacked Goa RSS chief warns BJP leadership

16 states ratify GST; bill ready for presidential assent

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani (centre) arrives with his wife Nita and son Akash for the company’s annual general meeting in Mumbai, yesterday.

Britain’s Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, pose for a picture with participants of the Wave Project, an organisation that uses surfing as a tool to reduce anxiety in children and improve their mental wellbeing, on Newquay’s Town Beach, Britain, yesterday.

Surfing for calm

Foreign ministers and officials pose for media at the Glienicke Bridge during the informal OSCE Foreign Minister’s meeting in Potsdam, Germany, yesterday.

Bridge of hope

EUROPE 11FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2016

French kids back to school amid tight security

Reuters

PARIS: More than 12 million French children went back to school under heightened security yesterday after a summer vacation marked by fur-ther deadly attacks in a country that is one of the prime targets of Islamic State militants.

Armed police patrolled out-side schools around the country as children, parents and teachers con-verged at entrance gates.

Eight months from elections, the government is under pressure to reassure a wary population of 65

million haunted by the July truck attack in Nice that killed 86 as well as the killing of a priest.

At the Bernard Palissy primary school in Joinville-le-Pont east of Paris, extra security measures included a blanket ban on parents entering school buildings and the presence of local police at open-ing time. “The difference is we can unfortunately no longer access the school,” said Faiza Teaboui, whose young son was going to school for the first time.

“But I tell myself that it is a very positive thing because it means no unknown adult can get in. You never know, security is very important for the town and our children above all. It’s important to feel reassured.”

Olivier Dosne, mayor of Join-ville-le-Pont, said a budget of ¤100,000 had been allocated to improve school security.

Some of that funded installation of one-way glass at school entrances to prevent outsiders peering in. More was being spent on evacua-tion and crisis-containment training for school staff in line with nation-wide guidelines.

“They will have more equipment such as whistles, walkie-talkies, intercoms,” Dosne said.

Another directive to school directors is that they arrange train-ing in first-aid and life-saving drills for pupils and staff, as well as train-ing in how to respond under attack — such as hiding and staying silent.

The spate of killings over the past few months took place despite emergency rule imposed after attacks last November in which Islamist militants killed 130 peo-ple in and near Paris.

Russian spies trying to destabilise Czech Republic: PragueReuters

PRAGUE: Russian intelligence serv-ices are conducting “an information war” in the Czech Republic, build-ing a network of puppet groups and propaganda agents that could be used to destabilise the country, the BIS counterintelligence service warned yesterday.

Czech security services have long focused attention on a Russian presence that remains significant a quarter century after the country of 10.6 million broke from Moscow’s orbit and became a member of NATO

and the European Union.In its annual report, the BIS said

Russian and Chinese intelligence remained the most active oper-ating in the Czech Republic, and Russia particularly sought to influ-ence Czech media over its role in the Ukrainian and Syrian conflicts.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and Kiev and the West say Moscow is arming and sup-porting separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. In Syria, Russia supports President Bashar Al Assad whom Western governments want to see leave power and Russian aircraft have carried out strikes on US-backed rebels.

The BIS warned that Russian agents sought to stoke social and political tensions in the country by using puppet groups and support-ing populist and extremist groups.

“The infrastructure created for achieving these goals will not dis-appear with the end of the two conflicts,” BIS said.

“It can be used to destabilise or manipulate Czech society or political environment at any time, if Russia wishes to do so.”

Fears of Russian interference in countries along the European Union’s eastern flank, especially in the Bal-tics, are growing in the wake of the Ukrainian crisis and NATO has been

looking to beef up its defences.Additionally a pro-Russian lobby

in Czech Republic seeks to boost relations with Russia, while its popu-lar president, Milos Zeman, expresses pro-Russian views.

He has spoken out against EU sanctions on Russia and was the only Western leader to attend the May 2015 celebrations in Moscow to mark the end of WW2, when other Western heads of state stayed away.

Russian intelligence agents, the BIS report said, sought to weaken Czech media through infiltration and by spreading propaganda and disinformation.

Italy’s PM not for

ads to produce

more children

Reuters

ROME: Italy’s prime minister yes-terday poured cold water on a campaign promoted by his health minister aimed at convincing cou-ples to have more children.

“I don’t know of any of my friends who had kids after they saw an advertisement,” Matteo Renzi said in a radio interview.

He was speaking a day after the ministry announced it would host meetings in four cit-ies to encourage couples to have children.

Italy has an ageing popula-tion and the fertility rate in Italy last year was 1.35 children per woman, compared with an EU average of 1.6.

In 2015, fewer babies were born in Italy than in any year since the modern state was founded 154 years ago, and the popula-tion shrank for the first time in three decades.

British govt condemns 5-day strike plan by junior doctorsReuters

LONDON: British Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt yesterday condemned as “totally irresponsible” a plan by junior doctors in England to hold a five-day strike after the industry’s trade union escalated a long-running dispute with the government.

The British Medical Association (BMA) trade union on Wednesday backed plans for a full walkout of

junior doctors from 0700 GMT to 1600 GMT for five days from Sep-tember 12, the longest in the near 70-year history of the National Health Service.

The union later said junior doc-tors would also strike on October 5-7 and October 10-11, and for five con-secutive days from November 14 and from December 5.

Junior doctors, a term which cov-ers recent medical school graduates right through to doctors who have

been working for well over a decade, have staged a series of walk-outs over a new contract the government plans to impose next month.

The government says the new arrangements are part of its plan to bring in a safer and fuller seven-day health service, but the doctors say it will result in them working longer hours at antisocial times, putting patients at risk.

“The way to resolve those differ-ences is to sit round the table to talk,

it is cooperation and dialogue, it is not confrontation and strikes. That is why I think this action is totally irresponsible,” Hunt told BBC Radio.

He said around 100,000 opera-tions could be cancelled as a result of the action.

In May, the BMA and the gov-ernment reached a deal to end the standoff but its members then voted to reject the new terms and conditions.

The BMA said concerns focus on

the impact the contract will have on part-time workers and those who work the most weekends.

“This is not a situation junior doctors wanted to find themselves in ... but in forcing through a contract that junior doctors have rejected and which they don’t believe is good for their patients or themselves, the gov-ernment has left them with no other choice,” BMA junior doctor com-mittee chair Ellen McCourt said in a statement.

France slams submarine secrets leak as ‘malicious’AFP

PARIS: The leak of secret technical data on French submarines designed for the Indian navy was a “malicious act”, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said yesterday.

“We will use every means at our disposal to learn the truth” in the affair, which came to light last week, Le Drian told reporters.

“Obviously, it was a malicious act,” he added.

The Sydney-based newspaper The Aus-tralian said last week it had seen the leaked papers detailing the combat capability of the Scorpene-class subs made by French defence contractor DCNS for the Indian navy.

Variants of the submarine are used by Malaysia and Chile, with Brazil due to deploy the vessels from 2018.

Australia has also tapped DCNS, inking a deal in April worth Aus$50bn for the design and construction of its next generation of submarines. The Australian said the leaked documents totalled 22,400 pages and were

marked “Restricted Scorpene India”.They included thousands of pages on the

submarine sensors and thousands more on its communication and navigation systems as well as nearly 500 pages on the torpedo launch system alone.

French prosecutors launched an investi-gation into the leak on Friday, and DCNS said unspecified “national security authorities” were probing the matter.

The Australian said DCNS implied that the leak may have come from India rather than France.

The daily, however, said the data was thought to have been removed from France in 2011 by a former French naval officer who at the time was a subcontractor for DCNS.

The newspaper said the data was believed to have passed through firms in Southeast Asia before eventually being mailed to a company in Australia.

Indian Defence Minister Manohar Par-rikar ordered a probe into the newspaper report, saying the documents could have been obtained through hacking.

Many Britons

heavily in

favour of

burqa banAFP

LONDON: Twice as many British people support a ban on women wearing a burqa than oppose one, with a majority also in favour of outlawing the burkini, according to a poll published yesterday.

Some 57 percent of the 1,668 adults polled by YouGov said they supported “a law that bans peo-ple from wearing the burqa in the UK”, with 36 percent “strongly supporting” the ban compared with only 10 percent who were “strongly opposed”.

The poll comes following a row in France about the banning of the burkini in around 30 coastal resorts in the Riviera. The coun-try’s highest administrative court later suspended the ruling after it was challenged by rights groups.

Some 46 percent of British people would support a similar ban on the burkini, against 30 percent who were opposed, with 18 percent neither for or against.

Support for the ban on the burqa, worn by women in some Islamic traditions to hide the body and face, was uniform across sup-porters of all political parties, although strongest among Con-servative and UK Independence Party backers.

The only demographics to oppose the ban were 18-24 year-olds — by a margin of six percent — and those who voted to remain in the European Union, but only by a margin of three percent.

The ban was also supported across the regions, with 51 per-cent of Londoners and 63 percent of northerners in favour.

A similar YouGov survey in Germany found 62 percent in sup-port of a burqa ban, but another in the United States found that 59 percent believed “people should be allowed to decide for them-selves what to wear.”

Romanian interior minister resigns Reuters

BUCHAREST: Romania’s Interior Minister Petre Toba resigned yesterday pending a crim-inal investigation against him over allegations

of shielding suspects in a case involving sus-pected embezzlement and abuse of power.

Anti-corruption prosecutors asked Pres-ident Klaus Iohannis earlier in the day to endorse a probe against Toba, the latest sen-ior figure to be investigated.

French Education minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem gives a press conference about the 2016 school start.

Over 12 million join session as police keep strict vigil.

Opposition supporters take part in a rally to demand a referendum to remove Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, yesterday.

Show of strength against Maduro

AMERICAS12 FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2016

Explosion destroys SpaceX rocket

AFP

MIAMI: An unmanned SpaceX Fal-con 9 rocket exploded on the launch pad during a test in Florida yes-terday, destroying a satellite that Facebook planned to use to beam high-speed Internet to Africa.

The blast at Cape Canaveral — though it caused no injuries — marks a setback for the California-based private space firm and its founder, internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, who wants to revolutionise the launch industry by making rocket components reusable.

“Loss of Falcon vehicle today during propellant fill operation,” Musk tweeted. “Originated around upper stage oxygen tank. Cause still unknown. More soon.”

Dramatic footage broadcast by ABC News showed the rocket burst into a roaring ball of flame amid what appeared to be a succession of blasts — sending its payload tum-bling to the ground as a dense plume

of black smoke filled the air.“At approximately 9:07am ET

(1307 GMT), during a standard pre-launch static fire test for the Amos-6 mission, there was an anomaly at SpaceX’s Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40 resulting in loss of the vehicle,” the firm said.

“Per standard operating proce-dure, the pad was clear and there were no injuries.”

But the explosion destroyed the Israeli communications satellite that the Falcon 9 was due to deliver into orbit tomorrow — drawing a dis-mayed reaction from Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg.

“As I’m here in Africa, I’m deeply disappointed to hear that SpaceX’s launch failure destroyed our sat-ellite that would have provided connectivity to so many entrepre-neurs and everyone else across the continent,” Zuckerberg said on his Facebook page.

Facebook was contracted to use the Amos-6 to provide broadband internet coverage for large parts of sub-Saharan Africa and other remote parts of the world as part of the social media giant’s Internet.org initiative.

“Fortunately, we have developed other technologies like Aquila that will connect people as well,” Zuck-erberg said.

Florida residents brace for approaching hurricaneAP

CEDAR KEY, FLORIDA: People on Florida’s Gulf Coast put up shutters, nailed plywood across storefronts and braced yesterday for Tropical Storm Hermine, which the state’s governor called potentially life-threatening as forecasters said it could strike land as a hurricane.

A hurricane warning was in effect for Florida’s Big Bend from the Suwannee River to Mexico Beach. And on the East Coast, a tropical storm warning was issued for an area extending from Marineland, Florida, northward to the South Santee River in South Carolina.

Georgia’s governor declared a state of emergency for 56 counties through tomorrow, in anticipation of high water and strong winds.

In Florida, Gov Rick Scott said at a news conference that authorities

expect strong storm surge, high winds, downed trees and power out-ages when Hermine comes ashore either later yesterday or early today. He urged residents to take precau-tions immediately — moving to inland shelters if necessary — and ensuring they have sufficient food, water and medicine.

“This is a life-threatening situ-ation,” Scott said. “It’s going to be a lot of risk. Right now, I want every-body to be safe.”

Scott added that 6,000 National Guard members in Florida are ready to mobilise after the storm passes.

Hermine’s maximum sustained winds yesterday morning were near 65 mph (105 kph). The US National Hurricane Center said Hermine was likely to strengthen into a Category 1 hurricane when it lands in Florida yesterday night or early today.

As of 11am EDT yesterday, Her-mine was centred about 220 miles

(354 kilometres) west of Tampa, Flor-ida, and was moving north-northeast near 14mph (23kph).

Residents in some low-lying Flor-ida communities were being asked to evacuate yesterday as the storm approached.

The Tallahassee Democrat reported that emergency manage-ment officials in Franklin County have issued a mandatory evacuation notice for people living on St George Island, Dog Island, Alligator Point and Bald Point. Residents in other low-lying, flood-prone areas were also being asked to evacuate.

Florida Gov Rick Scott ordered state government offices in 51 coun-ties to close at noon yesterday. The order included the state capital of Tallahassee, home to tens of thou-sands of state workers. The city, roughly 35 miles from the coast, has not had a direct hit by hurricane in 30 years.

Varsity to ease admission

for slave descendantsAFP

WASHINGTON: Georgetown University yesterday announced measures to atone for having prof-ited from the sale of nearly 300 slaves in the 19th century, giving an edge in admissions for their descendants.

University president John DeGioia was to discuss the steps in a speech later yesterday on the cam-pus in the US capital Washington, and is due to offer a formal apology.

The moves also include renam-ing school buildings to honour those enslaved, creating a new institute for the study of slavery and build-ing a public memorial honouring slaves whose work benefited the university.

Georgetown, a Jesuit school founded in 1789, is one of the old-est universities in the United States.

In 1838, the sale of 272 slaves who worked on Jesuit plantations in nearby Maryland helped finance the university’s operations. The sale was worth about $3.3m in today’s dollars, and the slaves were sent off to Louisiana.

The school used about $500,000 in today’s dollars of the proceeds to pay off the school’s growing debt.

Nearly two centuries after Geor-getown’s slave sale, America is still grappling with the legacy of slavery, which was formally abolished in 1865, and how to make amends for it. The reconciliatory moves are the outcome of a year-long, 16-mem-ber working group at Georgetown including students, faculty, staff and

alumni. It found that many of the slaves were later resold.

“The most appropriate ways for us to redress the participation of our predecessors in the institution of slavery is to address the manifes-tations of the legacy of slavery in our time,” DeGioia said in a statement.

Descendants will be given “an advantage in the admissions process,” the working group recom-mended. But the university stopped short of suggesting they be given financial aid.

“While we acknowledge that the moral debt of slaveholding and the sale of the enslaved people can never be repaid, we are convinced that reparative justice requires a meaningful financial commitment from the university,” its report said.

Other top American universities — including Brown, Columbia and Harvard — have also publicly recog-nised their own ties to the slave trade.

While hailing Georgetown’s admissions moves as “new” com-pared to those of its competitors, historian Craig Wilder warned that “it will take decades for it to have any significant impact.”

“For the families who descend from the victims of the 1838 sale, neither a report nor these promises are likely to bring closure,” Wilder, a Massachusetts Institute of Tech-nology professor who has studied universities and slavery, told AFP.

“Its real value will be deter-mined by how these commitments get institutionalised on campus.”

He expressed hope that the steps announced by DeGioia would mark just the “beginning” of Georgetown’s response.

Rousseff moves top

court against removalAFP

BRASÍLIA: Impeached Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff filed a Supreme Court challenge yester-day to her removal from office in an early blow to new President Michel Temer’s bid to stabilise the country.

The appeal, filed by Rousseff’s lawyer Jose Eduardo Cardozo and seen by AFP, demands “the imme-diate suspension of the effects of the Senate decision.”

The Senate voted Wednesday to convict Rousseff on charges of having illegally manipulated gov-ernment accounts, stripping her of her office and replacing her with Temer, her bitter enemy and former vice president.

Cardozo’s appeal asks for “a new trial” during which Temer — who was sworn in as president up until the end of 2018 — would be down-graded to interim president.

Temer is now in China, attend-ing a G20 summit, while Rousseff remains in the Alvorada pres-idential palace in Brasilia. She is expected to leave shortly for her personal apartment in the

southern city of Porto Alegre. Rousseff was convicted by a two-thirds Senate majority of taking illegal state loans to patch budget holes in 2014, masking the coun-try’s problems as it slid into economic disarray.

Senators voting for her removal said she had contributed to Brazil’s economic crisis and acted with criminal irresponsibility.

Rousseff, from the leftist Work-ers’ Party, denied doing anything illegal and claimed to be the victim of a right-wing coup d’etat.

In a surprise move, a Sen-ate vote on barring Rousseff from public office for eight years failed, meaning she is free to reenter polit-ical life.

The ban had been considered by many to be a standard consequence of removal in an impeachment trial.

Rousseff left office with rock bottom ratings after being blamed by most Brazilians for the country’s slide into double digit inflation and unemployment. She has also been tainted by the revelation of a colos-sal embezzlement and kickbacks scheme at state oil giant Petrobras, although she has not been accused of participating herself.

Reuters

MIAMI: Florida officials yester-day said they have trapped the first mosquitoes that tested posi-tive for the Zika virus in the Miami area, further confirming reports of local US transmission of the ill-ness that can cause severe birth defects.

Three mosquito samples tested positive from a small area in Miami Beach where increased trapping and intensified mosquito control measures are being imple-mented, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said.

The Florida Department of Health has said there have so far been 47 cases of Zika in people believed to have contracted the virus in a small area of Miami, but until now, the department had not found infected mosquitoes.

“This find is disappointing, but not surprising,”

Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam said in a state-ment. “Miami-Dade County, the City of Miami Beach, and state and federal partners will continue to work aggressively to prevent the spread of Zika,” Putnam added.

Now that Zika-positive mos-quitoes have been identified in surveillance traps in Miami Beach, Miami-Dade County’s Mosquito Control team will continue to conduct inspections to reduce mosquito breeding and perform spray treatments as necessary in a 1/8-mile radius around the trap location, officials said.

“We are aggressively working to eliminate any and all poten-tial mosquito breeding grounds,” Miami Beach Mayor Philip Lev-ine said in a statement. “We need Congress to do its part to pro-vide the necessary emergency resources to properly combat the spread of this virus.”

The US Congress has failed to reach an agreement on emergency Zika funding after President Barack Obama requested $1.9bn for mosquito control, development of vaccines and diagnostics and other efforts to combat Zika. The US Centers for Disease Control and Preven-tion has said it is running out of funds to fight the virus.

The current Zika outbreak, first detected in Brazil last year, has rapidly spread across the Americas.

Florida officials said more than 40,000 mosquitoes had been tested since May, and that the three samples were the first to test positive.

Facebook satellite meant for Africa decimated.

An explosion on the launch site of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in Cape Canaveral, Florida, yesterday.

Residents fill sandbags at a local park as winds and storm surge associated with Tropical Storm Hermine hit the area yesterday at Bradenton, Florida.

Reuters

WILMINGTON, OHIO/WASH-INGTON: Some of Donald Trump’s Hispanic backers are distancing themselves from the Republican nominee after he stood by a hard-line approach to illegal immigration in a key speech and ignored intra-party calls to soften his tone.

Trump reiterated in a speech on Wednesday that the only way undoc-umented foreigners could live in the United States legally under his

presidency would be to leave and apply for re-entry.

But the businessman, trailing Democrat Hillary Clinton in opinion polls, did back away from promising to deport immediately the 11 million immigrants in the United States ille-gally and said he would prioritise those with criminal records.

While polls show a large major-ity of Hispanic voters oppose Trump, the withdrawal of support from among his small group of Latino backers underscores how difficult it is for Trump to broaden his support

with minorities and moderate voters.Alfonso Aguilar, who recently

organised a support letter on behalf of Trump, said he felt “disappointed and misled” by the fiery speech and withdrew his backing. “For the last two months he said he was not going to deport people without criminal records. He actually said that he was going to treat undocumented immi-grants without criminal records in a humane and compassionate way,” Aguilar, president of the Latino Part-nership for Conservative Principles said yesterday.

Trump speech riles Hispanic backers

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Kubo And The Two Strings (Animation) 3D 11:00am, 3:00 & 7:00pm 2D 1:00, 5:00 & 9:00pmBlood Father (2D/Action) 10:00, 11:30am, 12:00noon, 3:30, 4:00, 5:30, 6:00, 8:00, 9:30, 10:00, 11:00pm & 12:00midnightThe Infiltrator (2D/Action) 11:30am, 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30 & 11:55pm The Secret Life of Pets (2D/Animation) 10:00am, 12:00noon, 2:00 & 4:00pm Hell Or High Water (2D/Action) 6:00, 8:00, 10:00pm & 12:00midnightMr Fuzzypants (2D/Comedy) 10:00am, 12:00noon, 2:00 & 4:00pmMorgan (2D/Drama) 6:00, 8:00, 10:00 & 11:55pm Hands of Stone (2D/Action) 11:00am, 1:10, 3:20, 5:30, 7:40, 9:50pm & 12:00midnight Skiptrace (2D/Action) 10:00am, 2:30, 7:00 & 11:30pmWar Dogs (2D/Comedy) 12:15, 4:45 &, 9:15pmSkiptrace (2D/Action) 10:30am, 12:45, 3:00, 5:15, 7:30, 9:45pmMechanic: Resurrection (2D/Action) 10:00am, 12:00noon, 1:30, 2:00, 4:00, 5:30, 6:00, 8:00, 9:30, 10:00pm & 12:00midnightThe Secret Life of Pets (3D IMAX/Animation)10:30, 3:10& 7:40pmSuicide Squads (3D IMAX/Action) 12:30, 5:00, 9:30pm & 12:10am

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LOS ANGELES: The struggle to replicate human emotion in artifi-cial intelligence is often explored in movies, but what happens when an artificial being is too emotional?

“Morgan,” out in theatres, is set in a near future reality where a group of scientists from a corporate AI com-pany breed a synthetic baby.

Aged 5 but growing faster than

a human child, Morgan, played by 20-year-old Anya Taylor-Joy, looks like female teenager and is a highly intelligent being with outbursts of deadly anger. When Morgan is told by her human minder that she is no longer allowed outdoors and instead must stay in a caged under-ground room where she is constantly observed, she stabs her in the eye.

In comes the immaculately groomed corporate agent Lee Weath-ers (Kate Mara) to determine whether Morgan should be terminated.

“I had to hold back on most emo-tions because my character is rather unemotional and very even-keeled and calculated, very focused,” Mara said.

The film centers on its three lead female characters who include “Game of Thrones” actress Rose Leslie as Morgan’s closest friend, and Morgan’s struggle with gender identity. Half the scientists identify the being as “her,” while the other half including Lee Weathers coldly refer to Morgan as “it.”

Director Luke Scott said Taylor-Joy brought a childlike, vulnerable

and “otherworldly” element to Mor-gan. “I did consider male actors, but we talked about it and we thought it was better to find a great female lead,” he said.

“Morgan,” the first feature film for Scott, son of veteran filmmaker Ridley Scott, comes on the heels of Alex Garland’s 2015 independent sci-fi hit “Ex Machina,” in which Alicia Vikander played a female robot that outsmarts the humans who created her.

The film came out just as

“Morgan” was about to start shoot-ing, Scott said, and while he called Garland’s movie “quite niche,” he added that it made him rethink parts of “Morgan”. “There’s a lot of philos-ophy in there,” Scott said.

“I thought that was terrific, but for me it was a good lesson in that ini-tially I wanted to start moving in that direction. But watching “Ex Machina,” I thought: ‘Do you know what? I’m going to steer clear of this and per-haps be a little bit more entertaining and go for action.’”

Two women walk under colourful umbrellas decorating Dorner Platz (Dorner square) in Vienna, Austria, yesterday.

Colours of shade

AFP

BERLIN: Virtual and augmented real-ity gadgets are expected to hog the limelight at Berlin’s mega consumer electronics show IFA this week, as Pokemon Go gave a tantalising pre-view of the appetite for reality-altering technologies.

VR headsets and cameras will jos-tle for attention, while analysts expect smartphone makers to also unveil new models compatible with the latest in such technologies.

The annual IFA show, which began as an exhibition on the new medium of radio more than 90 years ago, is today a massive showcase for consumers to touch and feel the latest in technolog-ical innovations.

Over six days, tech giants will be seeking to grab consumers’ attention with novelties as diverse as the latest in high definition resolution televi-sion screens to 3D printers to fitness gadgets. Samsung launched its lat-est smartphone Gear S3, while Asus showed off its round-faced ZenWatch3.

Being the last major show before Christmas, it has a large influence over the critical European holiday gift giv-ing season. Smartphones and tablets have in recent years dominated the headlines at the show, but faced with a maturing market, manufacturers are struggling to find new innova-tions to persuade consumers to swap their already fancy phone with an even fancier one.

But virtual reality and augmented

reality may be the next cash cow. Gaming app Pokemon Go, which combines both, has been a runaway hit, sending millions of people young and old out into the streets to catch digital monsters.

“The game gives a preview of how fascinating reality technology is for many people. Virtual reality has the ability to turn our daily habits upside down,” said Hans-Joachim Kamp, who heads gfu, Germany’s federation for

consumer and home electronic firms.The difference between the two

is that while virtual reality blocks the user’s view of the real world through special glasses, augmented reality blends real life with virtual reality.

Consultancy Deloitte, which pre-sented a joint study with high-tech group Bitkom, said VR could be used in screening concerts, sports events, films and even news.

For IHS Insight analyst Ian Fogg, “VR is very much a trend of the moment, a trend of what’s happening.” “The really interesting thing is how big is the mar-ket, what role do smartphones play in this, what kind of concept will work on VR and what kind of consumers will embrace VR,” he said.

Fogg said the industry was still testing the waters. “A lot depends on Google Daydream initiative, whether they’re going to talk about that around IFA, or whether they are going to wait until a date in the autumn,” he added.

Daydream is essentially a mobile store for VR games and apps. Beyond VR, major smartphone and smart-watch makers have all lined up to unveil new offerings.

A fridge with a built-in webcam is presented at the booth of Bosch at the IFA (Internationale Funkausstellung) electronics trade fair in Berlin, Germany. RIGHT: The Samsung Gear S3 smart watch is presented at the IFA.

Berlin’s IFA fair dons virtual reality headsets

A quadproof camcorder on display at the booth of JVC.

Gender and emotion examined in artificial intelligence tale Morgan

AFP

SYDNEY: Life on Earth is even older than we thought, Australian scien-tists said yesterday as they unveiled fossils dating back a staggering 3.7 billion years.

The tiny structures — called stromatolites — were found in ancient rock along the edge of Greenland’s ice cap, and were 220 million years older than the pre-vious record holders. They show that life emerged fairly shortly — in geological terms — after Earth was formed some 4.5 billion years ago, said lead researcher Allen Nutman of the University of Wollongong.

And, he added, they offer hope that very basic life may at one point have existed on Mars. “This discov-ery represents a new benchmark for the oldest preserved evidence of life

on Earth,” Professor Martin Julian Van Kranendonk, a geology expert at the University of New South Wales and study co-author, said. The struc-ture and geochemistry of the rock in which they were found provided clues to a biological origin for the microfos-sils, he said, which in turn “points to a rapid emergence of life on Earth”.

The one-to-four centimetre (0.4-1.6 inch) high Isua stromatolites were exposed after the melting of a snow patch in the Isua Greenstone Belt of Greenland. Stromatolites are formed when microorganisms, such as certain kinds of bacteria, trap bits of sediment together in layers. These layers build up over time to create solid rock. These rocks themselves were never alive, but their existence suggest that the very simple single-cell organisms that made them were present on Earth hundreds of mil-lions of years earlier than previously thought, said the team.

IANS

NEW YORK: Internet- and mobile-based programmes can help people adopt healthy life-style, become more physically active, eat healthy and achieve modest weight loss, which may in turn reduce their risk of chronic disease, says a study.

The findings showed that par-ticipants in Internet interventions improved their diets, became more active, lost body weight, and reduced tobacco use. Participants in mobile device interventions (using smartphone apps or receiv-ing text or voicemail messages) increased their physical activity and lost body weight or fat.

“Programs that have compo-nents such as goal-setting and self-monitoring and use mul-tiple modes of communication with tailored messages tended to be more effective. We also found these programs were more effective if they included some interactions with healthcare pro-viders,” said lead author Ashkan Afshin, acting assistant professor at the University of Washington.

For the study, the team reviewed 224 studies conducted on generally healthy adults and published between 1990 and 2013.

“Such programmes can help people improve their lifestyle behaviours and reduce the risk of chronic disease, such as car-diovascular disease and diabetes,” Afshin added.

Internet and

smartphones

can boost

healthy lifestyle

Fossil find points to life on

Earth 3.7bn years ago

Minimum: 32o C Maximum: 44o C

HIGH TIDE 05:15 - 17:45LOW TIDE 00:00 - 11:00

Hazy to misty at places at first becomes hot

daytime with some local clouds, relatively humid

by night.

WEATHER

Nasdaq Dubai launches trading in single-stock futures

PAGE | 18 PAGE | 19

EU ruling on Apple’s Irish tax ‘total

political crap: CEO

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2016 • 30 DHUL QA’DA 1437 @peninsulaqatar @peninsula_qatarthepeninsulaqatar

Automobiles for sale at a car dealership in Carlsbad, California, yesterday. The US auto industry struggled to maintain past sales momentum in August, with General Motors, Ford and Nissan selling fewer vehicles as less discounting kept customers from showrooms.

US car sales slow in August

AFP

WASHINGTON: International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde (pictured) said the institution will likely downgrade its 2016 global growth forecast again as economic prospects are dimmed by weak demand, flagging trade and investment and growing inequality.

Lagarde told Reuters in an inter-view that G20 leaders need to do far more to spur demand, bolster the case for trade and globalisation,

and fight inequality. And while some major threats to the global economy have yet to materialise, such as reces-sion sparked by Britain’s vote to leave the European Union or a collapse in Chinese growth, she described the overall outlook as “slightly declining growth, fragile, weak and certainly not fueled by trade.”

“You could argue that Brexit is not really delivering the massive crisis that we had expected, you could argue that the Chinese tran-sition is proceeding reasonably well, and you could argue that low

commodity prices have gone up a lit-tle bit,” Lagarde said. “So this is on the surface. However, when you look deep down at the economic growth prospects, at the growth potential, at the productivity, we are not getting very good signals, and we will proba-bly be revising down our forecast for growth in 2016.”

The IMF is due to revise its World Economic Outlook forecasts in early October ahead of its annual meet-ings. Another cut would be the sixth straight growth markdown in about 18 months. Citing global uncertainty

over the June 23 Brexit vote, the IMF in July cut global GDP growth esti-mates to 3.1 percent for 2016 and 3.4 percent for 2017 - down about a tenth of a point for each year.

The full economic impact of the Brexit crisis will probably not be fully known until 2017, when more will become apparent about the shape of the future UK-EU relationship, Lagarde said. But she noted that Britons’ wealth has already been eroded by a 15 per-cent decline in the pound’s value, and that UK consumer and business confidence data was weak.

Lagarde said she will tell G20 leaders on Sunday and Monday in Hangzhou, China that further reduc-tions in growth potential and more obstacles to the free movement of goods, services, capital and peo-ple would hurt all of them. She said people harmed by trade and inno-vation need to be helped by policies to allow them to retrain and acquire new skills and job mobility.

“This is something that all coun-tries and all governments should be concerned and mobilised about,” Lagarde said. The IMF said in a briefing

note to G20 leaders that falling trade volumes have contributed to lower GDP growth and urged them to make a stronger case for the benefits of trade.

Lagarde said she would be spending the next several days speaking with senior officials in a number of countries to per-suade them to contribute to about $5bn to $6bn in bilateral financ-ing to support Egypt. The funds are needed to allow a $12bn IMF loan programme to be approved by the Fund’s board.

While this is likely to include Mid-dle Eastern and Gulf states that have historically supported Egypt, it also may include other countries that “are willing to chip in” to help Egypt reach its considerable economic potential.

Lagarde also said she hoped that the IMF board can complete its review of its Ukraine program in the next few weeks, to release the next loan tranche, echoing comments from Ukraine’s finance minister

Lagarde also said she was encour-aged by Greece’s recent privatisation efforts and was hopeful that reform legislation would soon be passed and implemented.

The Peninsula

DOHA: Qatar Exchange (QE) index declined 298.07 points or 2.68 percent last week after the bourse closed at 10,836.74 points yesterday. The index dropped 153.05 points or 1.39 percent yesterday.

The bourse fell for a second straight day yesterday after FTSE published a list of stocks to be included in its secondary emerg-ing market index.

Although Qatar’s upgrade to emerging market status is widely seen as positive for the market, investors had bought up stocks in anticipation of the list’s pub-lication in recent weeks, leaving many shares at or above analysts’ estimates of fair value, Reuters reports.

Trading value last week increased by 110.71 percent to reach QR1.7bn compared to QR808m at the end of previous week.

Trading volume increased by 84.97 percent to reach 36.7m shares, as against 19.9m shares, while the number of transactions rose by 46.35 percent, to reach 23,200 transactions as compared to 15,852 transactions.

Market capitalisation fell by 2.48 percent to reach QR580.7bn as com-pared to QR595.5bn at the end of previous week.

Banking and Financial Services sector led traded value last week with 42.9 percent of the total traded value. Industries sector accounted for 20.59 percent. Telecoms sector

accounted for 14 percent and Real Estate sector accounted for 8.99 percent.

Banking and Financial Services sector led traded volume last week and accounted for 33.71 percent of the total traded volume. Real Estate sector accounted for 19.54 percent. Industries sector accounted for 18.45 percent and Telecoms sector accounted 14.21 percent.

Banking and Financial Services sector led traded number of trans-actions last week and accounted for 33.95 percent of the total number of transactions. Industries sec-tor accounted for 23.12 percent. Real Estate sector accounted for 13.67 percent and Telecoms sector accounted for 13.58 percent.

Of the 44 companies listed, two ended higher while 42 fell. QNB led traded value last week and accounted for 19.88 percent of the total traded value. Ooredoo accounted for 11.71 percent and Industries Qatar accounted for 9.15 percent.

Yesterday, the volume of shares traded up to 10.8m from 10m on Wednesday and the value of shares decreased to QR512.7m from QR530.8m on Wednesday.

Of the 44 companies listed on QSE six gained, 37 closed lower and one remained unchanged. Indices of all sectors ended in the red yesterday.

QSE Total Return Index dropped -1.39 percent to 17,533.13 points. QSE Al Rayan Islamic Index dropped -1.69 percent to 4,093.37 points and QSE All Share Index dropped 1.34 percent to 2,982.21 points.

QE trading value and volume rise

IMF may downgrade global growth outlook Reuters

TOKYO: Saudi Aramco and the Jap-anese government are set to agree on a roughly 2 million barrel expan-sion of crude storage capacity in Okinawa, used by the state-run firm to store oil, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said yesterday.

Under an agreement with Tokyo, Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) each store up to 1 million kilolitres (6.3 million barrels) of crude oil in Okinawa, southwest of mainland Japan. In return for providing free storage space, Japan gets a prior-ity claim on the stockpiles in case of an emergency.

“It would be in the best inter-est for Saudi Aramco and Japan to increase the capacity,” Nasser told reporters in Tokyo. “We are look-ing at a couple of million (barrels) more than what we have now.”

A senior Japanese govern-ment spokesman confirmed the two sides had agreed to expand and extend the current storage deal, though details had not been decided. A source familiar with the matter told Reuters the deal was set to be signed in October.

Nasser is accompanying Saudi Arabia’s powerful Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz on his visit to Japan this week, along with Saudi Ara-bia’s Energy Minister Khalid Al Falih and other ministers.

Japan treats the crude oil stored at Okinawa as quasi-government oil reserves, counting half of the barrels stored by Aramco and ADNOC as national crude reserves. Saudi Aramco has stored crude in Okinawa since February 2011, and has used the facility to supply oil to China, Japan and South Korea.

Also yesterday, Aramco signed memorandums of understanding on business cooperation in Tokyo with Japanese companies including three major banking groups. The storage pact comes as part of a broad coop-eration agreement between Saudi’s Prince Mohammed and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who met on Thursday to discuss the kingdom’s drive to cut its reliance on oil exports among other issues.

Reuters

WASHINGTON: US factory activ-ity contracted in August for the first time in six months as new orders and production tumbled, but a low level of layoffs continued to point to a pickup in economic growth in the third quarter.

While manufacturing remains constrained by the lingering effects of a strong dollar and lower oil prices, sustained labor market strength

could push the Federal Reserve closer to raising interest rates later this year. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its index of national factory activity fell 3.2 per-centage points to a reading of 49.4 last month. That was the first con-traction since February. The index remains above the 43.2 threshold that is associated with a recession.

A reading below 50 indicates a contraction in manufacturing, which accounts for about 12 percent of the U.S. economy. The dollar’s surge between June 2014 and December

2015 as well as weak global demand have crimped export growth.

A collapse in oil drilling activ-ity following a plunge in oil prices has also squeezed manufacturing by undermining business spend-ing, leading to weak demand for heavy machinery. In addition, a US inventory correction has resulted in factories receiving fewer orders.

While sentiment surveys includ-ing the ISM and several regional reports have pointed to manufactur-ing weakness, so-called hard data on oil drilling rigs, durable goods orders

and industrial production have offered tentative signs of stability in the sector. Manufacturing is lagging data on con-sumer spending and housing that have suggested the economy has regained speed after growing only 1.0 percent in first half of the year.

In a separate report, the Labour Department said initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 263,000 for the week ended August 27. It was the 78th consec-utive week that claims remained below the 300,000 threshold.

Lagarde said that G20 leaders need to do far more to spur demand, bolster the case for trade and globalisation, and fight inequality.

Saudi Aramco and

Japan to expand

Okinawa crude

storage deal

US factory activity contracts in August

QE 10,836.74 -153.05 PTS

DOW 18,388.00 -12.88 PTS

FTSE100 6,745.97 -35.54 PTS

BRENT $43.03 -$1.67

BUSINESS18 FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2016

Reuters

LONDON: British manufacturing staged one of its sharpest rebounds on record in August, a post-Brexit surprise that could prompt the Bank of England to rethink the need to cut interest rates again if other surveys confirm the trend.

The recovery far outstripped all economists’ forecasts, delivering the strongest signal yet that Brit-ain’s economy is performing better than initially feared after the June 23 referendum vote to leave the Euro-pean Union.

The Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) - a closely watched gauge of factory activity - jumped to a 10-month high of 53.3 in August after tumbling to a three-year low of 48.3 in July in the immediate aftermath of the referendum.

Sterling soared by more than a cent against the dollar after the five-point monthly increase, which was the joint-largest in the manufactur-ing survey’s nearly 25-year history.

“We would expect manufactur-ing exports to fare well post-Brexit because they gain from falling ster-ling, but the surprise is that domestic business picked up too,” Investec economist Chris Hare said.

Manufacturing only makes up about 10 percent of Britain’s econ-omy but if the service sector PMI, due on Monday, shows the same trend, it would prompt a rethink among many economists about the short-term Brexit hit to Britain.

The BoE has predicted no growth in the economy in the second half of 2016 and members of its Mone-tary Policy Committee (MPC) have said they are ready to cut already

Reuters

DUBLIN/BRUSSELS: Apple’s Chief Executive Tim Cook (pictured)described an EU ruling that it must pay a huge tax bill to Ireland as “total political crap”, but France joined Ger-many yesterday in backing Brussels as transatlantic tensions grow.

European Competition Com-missioner Margrethe Vestager dismissed Cook’s broadside, saying

the demand for a €13bn ($14.5bn) back tax payment was based on the facts. Washington has lined up with the tech giant, accusing the Euro-pean Union of trying to grab tax revenue that should go to the US government.

But in Ireland itself, public opin-ion and the government are divided over whether to take the windfall - which would fund the country’s health system for a year - or reject it in the hope of maintaining a low tax regime that has attracted many mul-tinationals and the jobs they create.

Apple has said it will appeal the ruling which Cook attacked in an interview with the Irish Independ-ent. “No one did anything wrong here and we need to stand together. Ire-land is being picked on and this is unacceptable,” the newspaper quoted him saying. “It’s total political crap.”

Vestager has questioned how anyone might think an arrangement that allowed the iPhone maker to pay a tax rate of 0.005 percent, as Apple’s main Irish unit did in 2014, was fair.

She said yesterday that the calculations were based on data pro-vided by Apple itself and evidence

presented during hearings on Apple tax issues in the United States. Asked if she accepted Cook’s comments on the ruling, she told a news confer-ence: “No, I will not. This is a decision based on the facts of the case.”

The battle lines are forming on both sides of the Atlantic. In Paris, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin backed Vestager’s view that Apple’s Irish tax arrangements amounted to abnormal state aid. “The European Commission is doing its job,” he told a news conference. “It’s normal to make Apple pay normal taxes.”

German Economy Minister Sig-mar Gabriel also supported the Commission on Tuesday. However, Britain - which voted in June to leave the EU - has stayed out of the row, saying it is an issue for the Irish gov-ernment, Apple and the Commission.

Opinion is divided on the streets of Dublin. Some argued Ireland had to keep drawing foreign investors with low tax rates to provide jobs. But oth-ers said the government should drop the idea of appealing the decision and take the money.

“They are doing the wrong thing. They don’t care about the normal people,” said Louise O’Reilly, 57, a full-time carer for her diabetic and partially blind mother. “The money should be spent on the old-age pen-sioners who worked all their lives and are struggling to survive.”

O’Reilly’s mother pays €10 tax on a monthly pension of €1,050 ($1,170), a higher rate than the EU said Apple’s main Irish unit paid on its profits in 2014. By contrast, Cook estimated Apple’s average annual tax on its global profits at 26 percent. “They just picked a number from I don’t know where,” he said. However, in a

separate radio interview he promised to boost tax payments by repatriating billions of dollars in global profits to the United States next year.

“I think that Apple was targeted here,” he said. “And I think that (anti-US sentiment) is one reason why we could have been targeted ... I think it’s a desire to reallocate taxes that should be paid in the US to the EU.” Apple would fight closely with Ireland to overturn the rul-ing - by far the largest anti-competition measure imposed on a company by the EU - which he said had “no basis in law or in fact”.

Finance Minister Michael Noo-nan has insisted Dublin would appeal any adverse ruling ever since the EU investigation began in 2014.

However, the cabinet failed to agree on Wednesday whether to accept his recommendation of an appeal. A group of independent law-makers represented in the minority coalition say they need to consult fur-ther with Noonan, tax officials and independent experts.

After five hours of discussion, the cabinet adjourned until Friday when the government said a deci-sion would be made. Any failure of

the Independent Alliance group to come on board would cast doubt on the government’s survival prospects. Cook played down the possibility of the government failing to appeal the decision. “The future investment for business really depends on a level of certainty,” he told RTE radio. “I’m pretty confident that the government will do the right thing.”

In Washington, US Treasury Sec-retary Jack Lew criticised the ruling. “I have been concerned that it reflected an attempt to reach into the U.S. tax base to tax income that ought to be taxed in the United States,” he said.

Apple was found to be holding over $181bn in accumulated profits offshore, more than any US company, in a study published last year by two left-leaning nonprofit groups, a policy critics say is designed to avoid paying US taxes. But Cook said part of the company’s 2014 tax bill would be paid next year when the company repatriates offshore prof-its to the United States.

“We provisioned several billion dollars for the US for payment as soon as we repatriate it and right now I forecast that repatriation to occur next year,” he told RTE.

EU ruling on Apple’s Irish tax ‘total political crap’: CEOEuropean Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager dismissed Cook’s broadside, saying the demand for a €13bn ($14.5bn) back tax payment was based on the facts.

UK factory activity rebounds in August

British Prime Minister Theresa May (second left) and Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond view a car production line during a visit to the Jaguar Land Rover factory in Solihull yesterday. May used the visit to highlight that Britain continues to be open for economic investment following the country’s decision to leave the European Union.

record-low interest rates further.Since the referendum, consumer

demand has held up more strongly than economists expected but other surveys have shown businesses sharply cutting back on investment.

One of Britain’s biggest recruit-ers, Hays Plc, said hiring weakened significantly shortly after the June 23 vote to leave the EU as private sec-tor clients became hesitant to take on new staff.

Markit, which compiled the PMI,

said companies restarted work they had put on hold in July as clients saw business starting to return to nor-mal. There was also an inflow of new export orders on the back of a cheaper currency.

After the unexpected Brexit vote, sterling fell by more than 10 percent against the dollar and the euro, losses that have not been recouped as mar-kets bet on a long-term hit to British economic performance.

Weak PMI surveys in July

suggested the economy had begun to contract at the fastest rate since the 2008-09 financial crisis and were a big factor behind the BoE’s decision on Aug. 4 to cut rates to a record low and restart bond purchases.

August’s manufacturing PMI showed export orders flowed in at their fastest rate since June 2014, though overall order growth was below June’s rapid pace. Factories reported that they increased output by the highest amount since January.

Reuters

SEOUL: The recovery in Samsung Electronics Co Ltd’s mobile business suffered a blow yesterday as reports of exploding batteries forced the firm to delay shipments of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, and knocked $7bn off its market value.

Investors drove the stock to two-week lows after the global smartphone leader told Reuters late on Wednesday the shipments had been delayed for quality con-trol testing, and that shipments to South Korea’s top three mobile car-riers had been halted.

Faults with the new premium flagship device could deal a major blow to the South Korean giant, which was counting on the Galaxy Note 7 to maintain its strong mobile earnings momentum against Apple Inc’s new iPhones expected to be unveiled next week.

“This is some major buzz-kill for Samsung, especially given all of the hard-earned excitement that products like the Note 7 have been garnering lately,” IDC analyst Bryan Ma said.

“The pending Apple launch puts all the more pressure for them to contain this quickly. The timing of this couldn’t have been worse.”

Samsung did not comment on what problem it was trying to address or whether other markets were affected besides South Korea.

Sister company Samsung SDI Co Ltd said that while it was a sup-plier of Galaxy Note 7 batteries, it had received no information to sug-gest the batteries were faulty.

Several people posted images and videos of charred Galaxy Note 7s online and said their phones had caught on fire.

“Be careful out there, everyone rocking the new Note 7, might catch fire y’all,” one user said in a YouTube clip showing a burnt Note phone. It was not immediately possible to

confirm the veracity of the clip.Several South Korean media

reports, without citing direct sources, said Samsung will soon announce a plan to recall affected Note 7 phones and replace their bat-teries as opposed to giving the users a new device. A Samsung spokes-man declined to comment on the reports.

Last year, production prob-lems for the curved displays for the Galaxy S6 edge model resulted in disappointing sales, and Samsung risks a repeat this year if it cannot address the Galaxy Note 7 problems quickly.

Its mobile profit is on track to post annual growth for the first time in three years, thanks to robust sales of the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge devices that it launched in March to criti-cal acclaim.

The Galaxy Note 7 received sim-ilar praise, raising expectations for strong sales in the second half. Sam-sung said in August demand for the new handset, priced at 988,900 won ($882) in South Korea, was far exceeding supply, pushing the firm to delay the launch in some markets.

HDC Asset Management fund manager Park Jung-hoon said it now appeared inevitable that Samsung’s smartphone average selling price and profits would miss lofty second-half expectations.

“Apple is supposed to show off the iPhone 7 next week and this issue has emerged, so the current state of things do not look good,” he said. Though a components pick-up will buttress overall profits, Park said mobile operating profit might decline by up to 200 billion won for July-September.

The mobile division accounted for about 54 percent of Samsung Elec-tronics’ January-June operating profit of 14.8 trillion won. Hyundai Securi-ties said in a report that the Galaxy Note 7’s problems should be resolved within a “few weeks”. The brokerage retained its third-quarter operating profit forecast of 8.5 trillion won.

Samsung’s mobile business recovery suffers blow

Reuters

BASRA: Iraq’s oil exports from southern ports rose to more than 3.230 million barrels per day (b/d) in August, from 3.202m b/d in July, as crude production increased, the oil ministry and sources at state-run South Oil Co said yesterday. The West Qurna 1 field, developed by Exxon Mobil, and South Oil’s Luhais and Artawi fields contributed most to the increase, according to sources at South Oil.

Iraq, Opec’s second-largest producer after Saudi Arabia, exports most of its crude from the southern fields. Increased supply is adding to a global glut of crude, putting pressure on oil prices. The gains could add to scepti-cism over renewed talk among members of the Opec about freezing output to support prices. Exports from Iraq’s southern ports reached a record 3.37m b/d in November last year, but that resulted from an accumulation of crude that could not be exported in the previous month.

Bloomberg

NEW YORK: Oil tumbled to the low-est in almost three weeks after US government data showed crude sup-plies at the highest seasonal level in more than 20 years.

Futures fell as much as 3 per-cent in New York after dropping 6.2 percent the previous three sessions. Supplies rose by 2.28 million barrels last week, according to the Energy Information Administration. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said he sees no need for oil-pro-ducing nations to impose an output cap given current price levels. The comments come before Opec mem-bers and other oil producers meet in Algiers later this month.

“Inventories are rising and excess supply will grow,” said Gene

McGillian, a senior analyst and bro-ker at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. “We’re not going to be comfortable pushing prices above $50 with only North America reduc-ing output while the rest of the world is running all out.”

Oil rose 7.5 percent in August amid speculation that the September 26-28 talks may lead to an agree-ment to manage the market.

A cap on production would be positive, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid Al Falih (pictured) said in an interview last week, while ruling out an output cut. A freeze deal between members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other pro-ducers was proposed in February but a meeting in April ended with no final accord.

West Texas Intermediate for October delivery declined $1.33 to

$43.37 a barrel at 12:12pm on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures touched $43.35, the lowest since Aug. 12. The contract dropped 3.6 percent to $44.70 on Wednesday, the biggest decline since Aug. 1. Total volume traded was 12 percent above the 100-day average.

Brent for November settlement slid $1.26, or 2.7 percent, to $45.63 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The Octo-ber Brent contract fell 2.8 percent to expire at $47.04 on Wednesday.

US crude stockpiles rose to 525.9 million barrels through August 26, the EIA reported on Wednesday. Imports increased 275,000 barrels a day to 8.92 million last week, the highest since September 2012, while production slipped 60,000 barrels a day to 8.49 million. Supplies at Cush-ing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI futures and the nation’s biggest

storage hub, fell to 63.9 million.An initiative between Opec coun-

tries and non-members such as Russia to limit output failed in April.

Saudi Arabia won’t boost output to capacity and flood the market, Al Falih said in an interview with Al-Arabiya television. The kingdom isn’t concerned about global demand in spite of a drop in prices and a slower economy, he said.

US weekly fuel demand was overstated in the first half of the year as the EIA under-counted exports, the agency said on its web-site. BP Plc restarted its Atlantis field in the Gulf of Mexico as Trop-ical Storm Hermine moved away from area, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Oil slides to three-week low amid plentiful US stockpiles

Iraq oil exports increase

Reuters

SINGAPORE: Asia’s factories showed few signs of returning to health in August, as torpid activity in the region’s biggest economies, China and Japan, suggested world demand remained fitful at best even as global policymakers scrambled to restore momentum.

Coming a week after the United States posted sluggish second quarter growth, Asia’s uninspir-ing manufacturing surveys may give Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen pause for thought ahead of a Fed meeting on September 20-21 to decide whether or not to raise interest rates.

Moreover, the still-unknown impact of Britain’s shock decision

in June to quit the European Union is seen chilling already soft consumption, leaving factories struggling to clear their goods.

In China, the world’s sec-ond-biggest economy, factory activity showed scant growth. The official Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) ticked up to 50.4 in August, compared with the pre-vious month’s 49.9 and just above the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction. But the private Caixin version of the PMI, which covers a greater share of smaller firms, showed activity stagnated last month with the index at 50.0, from an unexpect-edly upbeat 50.6 in July.

“Downward pressure on China’s economy remains and government support to stabi-lise growth must continue,”

Zhengsheng Zhong, director of macroeconomic analysis at CEBM Group, said in a note accompany-ing the Caixin PMI report.

Indeed, with central banks almost exhausting their monetary policy support, governments in Asia have increased fiscal stimu-lus although underlying demand in many of the region’s export-reliant economies remain weak.

In Japan, while manufac-turing activity showed signs of steadying, the IHS Markit/Nikkei PMI was still in contraction at 49.5 in August versus 49.3 in July.

Export orders continued to fall, even as output increased for the first time in six months, backing expectations the Bank of Japan will need to offer more stimulus on top up its already massive easings to revive a

sputtering economy. The pres-sure on Japanese policy makers was underscored by separate data showing Japanese business expenditure fell in April-June from the previous quarter.

Conditions were even more gloomy in South Korea, a bell-wether for global demand. An extended slide in exports put manufacturers in Asia’s fourth largest economy to the sword, with the August PMI contracting at its fastest pace in a year. Other data showing Korean exports rebounded last month was seen as an aberration due to two extra working days this year.

“Given Korea acts as a har-binger for the rest of Asia, we believe Asia’s cycle is now headed for another down-move,” said Vaninder Singh, Asia economist

at RBS in a note to clients.The situation in Malaysia was

no better, with manufacturing activity in August contracting at a quicker rate than in July, although Taiwan was a surprising outlier with activity there expanding at the fastest pace in 1-1/2-years.

“We won’t rule out rate cuts in Malaysia or Korea, and expect further monetary policy easing in Indonesia, Taiwan and Thailand this year,” said Krystal Tan, Asia economist at Capital Economics.

There were some encourag-ing signs in India where August factory activity expanded at its fastest pace in 13 months, but investors will have to square that with data released on Wednesday that showed economic growth slipped to over a one-year low between April and June.

BUSINESS 19FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2016

QE Index 10,836.74 1.39 %

QE Total Return Index 17,533.13 1.39 %

QE Al Rayan Islamic Index 4,093.37 1.69 %

QE All Share Index 2,982.21 1.34 %

QE All Share Banks & Financial Services 2,977.68 1.31 %

QE All Share Industrials 3,253.52 1.41 %

QE All Share Transportation 2,561.53 1.51 %

QE All Share Real Estate 2,598.73 1.69 %

QE All Share Insurance 4,554 0.08 %

QE All Share Telecoms 1,243.5 2.04 %

QE All Share Consumer Goods & Services 6,450.22 0.89 %

QE INDICES SUMMARY QATAR STOCK EXCHANGE

QE MARKET SUMMARY COMPARISON

GOLD AND SILVER

WORLD STOCK INDICES

01-09-2016 Today 31-08-2016 Previous dayIndex 10,836.74 10,989.79

Change 153.05 324.76

% 1.39 2.87

YTD% 3.91 5.37

Volume 10,820,310 10,058,937

Value (QAR) 512,739,059.43 530,797,539.11

Trades 6,522 5,685

Up 06 | Down 37 | Unchanged 01

GOLD QR153.4056 per grammeSILVER QR2.1935 per gramme

Index Day’s Close Pt Chg % Chg Year High Year LowAll Ordinaries 5511.203 -18.205 -0.33 5691.8 4762.1

Cac 40 Index/D 4479.29 41.07 0.93 4607.69 3892.46

Dj Indu Average 18400.88 -53.42 -0.29 18668.4 15450.6

Hang Seng Inde/D 23162.34 185.46 0.81 23193.9 18278.8

Iseq Overall/D 6202.79 32.37 0.52 6791.68 5286.65

Karachi 100 In/D 39738.67 -70.91 -0.18 40213.89 29785

Nikkei 225 Index 16926.84 39.44 0.23 18951.12 14864.01

S&P 500 Index/D 0 0 0 2193.81 1810.1

EXCHANGE RATECurrency Buying Selling

US$ QR 3.6305 QR 3.6500

UK QR 4.7936 QR 4.8609

Euro QR 4.0370 QR 4.0932

CA$ QR 2.7517 QR 2.8062

Swiss Fr QR 3.6800 QR 3.7320

Yen QR 0.0348 QR 0.0354

Aus$ QR 2.7212 QR 2.7751

Ind Re QR 0.0539 QR 0.0550

Pak Re QR 0.0345 QR 0.0352

Peso QR 0.0772 QR 0.0787

SL Re QR 0.0248 QR 0.0253

Taka QR 0.0460 QR 0.0470

Nep Re QR 0.0337 QR 0.0343

SA Rand QR 0.2459 QR 0.2510

Reuters

DUBAI: The Nasdaq Dubai exchange began trading single-stock futures on shares in some of the United Arab Emir-ates’ biggest companies yesterday, a step towards drawing fresh money into UAE equity markets.

A lack of hedging opportunities has frus-trated foreign and institutional investors in the UAE, where short-selling is restricted. As a result, some have asked investment banks to design over-the-counter options for individual stocks.

Nasdaq Dubai’s standardised, exchange-listed futures, or agreements to buy or sell shares at an agreed price on a future date, are cheaper to trade and more transparent, giving investors a clearer idea of price direction while helping UAE regulators monitor deriva-tives activity affecting stocks. Trade was thin yesterday as only a small number of investors entered the futures market on its first day, but market participants said the trading system was working smoothly. Shuaa Capital is market-maker for the futures.

The exchange is initially offering futures on seven stocks accounting for almost half of traded value in UAE markets: Aldar Properties, Arabtec, DP World, Dubai Islamic Bank, Dubai Parks and Resorts, Emaar Prop-erties and Etisalat. A total of 1,636 futures contracts, each providing exposure to 100 underlying shares, traded on Thursday, Nasdaq Dubai said. In one trade, five October contracts traded in Aldar at 2.765 dirhams, exchange data showed, while the underlying stock rose 0.7 percent to 2.78 dirhams.

Nasdaq Dubai originally launched equity deriv-atives in 2008, but this coincided with the global financial crisis and trading failed to gain critical mass. Activity petered out after 2011. In May 2014, however, international index compiler MSCI upgraded the UAE to emerging market status, attracting a new inflow of foreign capital. Hamed Ahmed Ali, Chief Executive of Nasdaq Dubai (pictured), told Reuters last month that the exchange aimed eventually to develop futures based on UAE stock indexes as well as single-stock futures on shares of other countries in the region.

Nasdaq Dubai exchange

launches trading in

single-stock futures

INTERNATIONAL MARKETS - A LIST OF SHARES FROM THE WORLD

A C C-A/D 1686.35 -21.3 73520

Aarti Drugs-B/D 481.75 -6.95 1279

Aban Offs-A/D 214.5 -2.1 259074

Aegis Logis-B/D 139.7 8.65 9755448

Alembic-B/D 37.8 -0.55 41499

Alkyl Amines-B/D 315.2 -1.2 1122

Alok Indus-A/D 3.02 0.03 815114

Apollo Tyre-A/D 185.8 2.8 341049

Asahi I Glass-/D 202.25 5.5 33494

Ashok Leyland-/D 83.8 -3.9 1993311

Bajaj Hold-A/D 1824.75 13 1733

Ballarpur In-B/D 13.86 -0.5 108188

Bata India-A/D 540 6.1 38697

Beml Ltd-A/D 1061.65 -3.7 9005

Bh Electronic-/D 1223.6 3.95 11038

Bhansali Eng-T/D 20.85 0.3 39260

Bharat Bijle-B/D 765.55 4.95 5561

Bharatgears-B/D 93.25 1.5 19525

Bhel-A/D 135.6 -3.45 520265

Bom.Burmah-B/D 494.3 -7.9 22692

Bombay Dyeing-/D 44.05 -0.4 154377

Camph.& All-B/D 580.1 25.35 16081

Canfin Homes-B/D 1508 17 18628

Caprihans-Xc/D 93 1.95 4567

Castrol India-/D 463.2 15.3 462670

Century Enka-B/D 257.85 0.35 50761

Century Text-A/D 731.35 7.05 195312

Chambal Fert-B/D 64.7 -3.25 47109

Chola Invest-A/D 1168.4 9.15 2380

Chowgule St-T/D 16.65 -0.2 5940

Cimmco-B/D 78.45 5.45 73427

Cipla-A/D 577.55 4.95 95010

City Union Bk-/D 132.4 0.1 13388

Colgate-A/D 950.7 -0.05 11454

Container Cor-/D 1386 -8.05 3987

Dai-Tichi Kar-/D 586.35 72.9 41489

Dcm Financia-T/D 1.32 -0.06 2000

Dcm Shram Ind-/D 206.8 2.35 4371

Dhampur Sugar-/D 107.15 -2.15 59854

Dr. Reddy-A/D 3098.1 8.7 16470

E I H-B/D 108.9 -1.45 6450

E.I.D Parry-A/D 249 -5.4 24458

Eicher Motor-A/D 22740.05 7.35 2934

Eimco Elecon-T/D 386.9 -8.2 1966

Electrosteel-B/D 22 -1.35 156214

Emco-B/D 28.3 -1.05 130877

Escorts Fin-B/D 7.1 -0.58 129046

Escorts-A/D 330.15 5.35 589209

Eveready Indu-/D 285 -1.6 8419

F D C-B/D 187 -1.4 3589

Federal Bank-A/D 69.7 0.9 1086907

Ferro Alloys-B/D 4.9 -0.07 11558

Fgp Ltd-Xd/D 2 0.09 1873

Finolex-A/D 482.25 -2.75 5721

Forbes-B/D 1689 258.85 10989

Gail-A/D 392 7.9 207067

Galada Power-B/D 10.99 0.19 1807

Gammon India-T/D 16.4 -0.85 558066

Garden P -B/D 30.8 -0.6 10283

Godfrey Phil-B/D 1247.95 39.35 71245

Goodricke-B/D 195 1.8 19472

Goodyear I -B/D 558.8 -3 9273

Hcl Infosys-B/D 39.65 -0.2 345099

Him.Fut.Comm-T/D 16.65 -0.45 2007982

Himat Seide-B/D 263 3.45 36120

Hind Unilever-/D 925.15 8.5 80743

Hind Motors-T/D 5.45 0.08 49394

Hind Org Chem-/D 16.9 0.2 15471

Hind.Petrol-A/D 1210 -6.1 288085

Hindalco-A/D 157.65 -2.05 690002

Hous Dev Fin-A/D 1421.9 15.75 66653

I F C I-A/D 27.9 -0.4 773427

Idbi-A/D 71.55 -1.35 448039

Ifb Ind.Ltd.-B/D 394.95 4.9 1761

India Cement-A/D 152.65 2.8 1076019

India Glycol-B/D 107 -0.45 71447

Indian Card-B/D 225 5.6 1350

Indian Hotel-A/D 128.35 -1.85 102287

Indo-Tcount-T/D 798.35 -19.05 23517

Indusind-A/D 1182.75 -2.25 45041

J.B.Chemical-B/D 319.45 -7.4 43027

Jagson Phar-B/D 34.3 -0.7 22218

Jamnaauto-B/D 211.95 -9.15 88196

Jbf Indu-B/D 201.45 1.95 20159

Jct Ltd-B/D 5.41 -0.15 329521

Jenson&Nich.-B/D 8.39 0.13 17817

Jindal Drill-B/D 173.6 -0.45 27309

Jktyre&Ind-A/D 133.65 1.7 584503

Jmc Projects-T/D 239.05 -3.65 7865

Kabra Extr-B/D 113 0.45 5578

Kajaria Cer-A/D 1279.6 21.6 1313

Kakatiya Cem-B/D 363.3 -6.2 22722

Kalpat Power-B/D 256 -4.5 12945

Kalyani Stel-T/D 342.1 1.65 335445

Kanoria Chem-B/D 65.95 -4.85 64543

Kg Denim-B/D 86.65 -1.45 16394

Kilburnengg-Xd/D 52.15 0.1 33337

Kinetic Eng-B/D 77 -0.75 2459

Kopran-B/D 48.95 0.1 84608

Lakshmi Elec-B/D 397.95 2.55 1977

Lakshmi Mach-A/D 4042.35 -41.95 3739

Lloyd Metal-B/D 14.5 -0.2 32154

Lok.Hous&Con-Z/D 4.18 -0.22 58792

Lumax Ind-B/D 659 6.3 3597

Lupin-A/D 1501.6 17.95 90626

Lyka Labs-T/D 66.2 -0.55 2883

Mah.Seamless-B/D 223.95 -0.25 3784

Maha Scooter-B/D 1548.3 -12.4 878

Mangalam Cem-B/D 351.7 -2.35 4679

Maral Overs-B/D 27 -1 6050

Mastek-B/D 129.5 0.25 4103

Max Financial-/D 568.6 -11.45 77095

Mrpl-A/D 80.15 1.6 439430

Nagreeka Ex-B/D 37 1.05 6230

Nahar Spg.-B/D 115.8 -1 5286

Nation Alum -A/D 46.7 -0.45 120924

Navneet Edu-B/D 104.5 0.6 6778

Nepc India-T/D 1.48 0.04 35432

Neuland Lab-B/D 1008.5 26.3 5384

O N G C-A/D 236.55 -0.5 346806

Ocl India-B/D 803.75 -13.1 960

Oil Country-B/D 31.75 -1.65 11753

Onward Tech-B/D 69.35 -1.15 6556

Orchid Pharm-B/D 37.15 -0.85 51041

Orient Hotel-T/D 26.9 1.3 16758

Orient.Carb.-T/D 740 -13.4 1486

Oudh Sugar-B/D 99.45 -5.05 27523

Patspin India-/D 9 -0.18 5241

Punjab Chem.-B/D 184.4 -0.75 1705

Radico Khait-B/D 100.6 -4.4 32242

Rallis India-A/D 225.7 -1.15 47297

Reliance Indus/D 434.7 -10.35 171823

Ruchi Soya-B/D 19.5 -0.75 91717

S Bk Bikaner-B/D 672.6 -7.5 5566

Salora Inter-B/D 44.6 -1.9 1504

Saur.Cem-B/D 80.25 -1.55 76833

Tanfac Indust-/D 43.55 -1 6060

Thirumalai-B/D 400.85 2.9 35224

Til Ltd.-T/D 257 -2.55 1053

Timexgroup-T/D 42.75 -1 304956

Tinplate-B/D 88.7 -2.6 80051

Ucal Fuel-B/D 160.6 1.5 193360

Ultramarine-B/D 136.2 -0.35 8013

Unitech P -A/D 5.26 -0.12 3802876

Univcable-B/D 88.95 -3.2 7702

Uppergsugar-T/D 405.2 -7.7 249912

3i Group/D 633 18.5 734480

Assoc.Br.Foods/D 3084.4901 44 225421

Barclays/D 176.4 4.15 18598623

Bp/D 425 -2.9 6151038

Brit Am Tobacc/D 4700 -25 671054

Bt Group/D 384.7 -1.65 5788105

Centrica/D 233 0.4 3418575

Gkn/D 316.8 5.8 4825380

Hsbc Holdings/D 576.2 11.9 17702159

Kingfisher/D 372.5 1.4 2070127

Land Secs Grou/D 1111 17 579503

Legal & Genera/D 213.9 3.6 6413650

Lloyds Bnk Grp/D 61.82 2.47 93653447

Marks & Sp./D 346.5 1.8 1722107

Next/D 5575 50 130011

Pearson/D 867.5 2 719098

Prudential/D 1387 23.5 1937517

Rank Group/D 223.9 7.9 171859

Rentokil Initi/D 214.5 0.6 552000

Rolls Royce Pl/D 767 -2.5 1566116

Rsa Insrance G/D 500.25 4.1 414365

Sainsbury(J)/D 242.6 2.3 3328594

Schroders/D 2825 41 44558

Severn Trent/D 2376 -5 174570

Smith&Nephew/D 1219 -10 749083

Smiths Group/D 1343 2 411554

Standrd Chart /D 648 6 3526183

Tate & Lyle/D 732.68 -0.5 469446

Tesco/D 170 3.65 11957273

Unilever/D 3515.5 -13.5 641221

United Util Gr/D 968.5 -3 423515

Vodafone Group/D 225.5 -4.35 25565473

Whitbread/D 4199 27 163857

COMPANY CLOSE NET VOLUME

NAME CHG TRADED

COMPANY CLOSE NET VOLUME

NAME CHG TRADED

COMPANY CLOSE NET VOLUME

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LONDON

Asian factories hobble as soft global demand hits sales

BUSINESS VIEWS20 FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2016

Tired of cheap oil, Saudi eyes price boost to drive Aramco IPOBy Rania El Gamal and Alex Lawler Reuters

TWO years after triggering an oil price war, Saudi Arabia has seemingly had enough of cheap crude amid budget pressures, fear of a future supply

shortage, and as it seeks to offload a stake in state-owned producer Aramco.

The change in tone comes as Opec and other producers such as Russia may resume talks on stabilising output when they meet in Algeria later this month, after a similar effort to boost oil prices collapsed in April due to Saudi-Iranian tensions. “The Sau-dis are going to Algeria for a freeze,” said a source in the Opec. “More and more minis-ters are now talking among themselves to evaluate their production position.”

Opec in November 2014 made a land-mark policy shift, led by Saudi Arabia, refusing to cut production by itself in the hope that lower prices would discourage higher-cost competitors that had eroded the group’s market share.

Further cementing the impression of a production free-for-all, Opec ditched its last

remaining supply-management tool, an out-put ceiling, in December 2015. From 2014 until earlier this year, Saudi Arabia’s then-minister for oil, Ali bin Ibrahim Al Nuaimi, offered little verbal support for prices. The market determined them, Nuaimi said, but he gave no preferred range or any indica-tion of what levels could be sustained in the long term.

Since Khalid Al Falih took over as energy minister, the tone has visibly shifted. He says the world needs oil above $50 per barrel to achieve a balanced market, and raised the prospect of Saudi Arabia resuming its role of balancing supply and demand.

Outwardly, there is no sign yet of a defi-nite change in policy. But behind the scenes, Saudi Arabia has been working towards boosting prices, rather than leaving that job to market forces. At Opec’s last meeting in June, held in Vienna, Falih surprised some of his counterparts by proposing Opec set a new output ceiling, according to several people familiar with the matter.

In Vienna, Falih floated a number of ideas in private meetings on how best to manage the supply glut, and questioned independent Opec analysts during separate meetings as to the possible price impact of

a production freeze or even a cut. At private talks with the Nigerian oil minister before the June 2 Opec meeting, Falih was willing to revive the idea of a production freeze while showing more tolerance towards Iran, which is raising output post-sanctions, sources said.

Saudi Arabia is by far the largest Opec producer, pumping more than twice as much as the second-biggest, Iraq. Even so, plunging oil prices since mid-2014 have put stress on Saudi Arabia’s finances, causing a big budget deficit last year and forcing the kingdom to seek new sources of income, including taxes and other fees and to cut spending.

The government is trying to boost non-oil revenue and modernise the economy through a reform plan called “Vision 2030”, championed by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Sal-man bin Abdulaziz, of which the centrepiece is the sale of a stake in Saudi Aramco. Sources in the oil industry say this partly explains the shift in tone on prices.

The Saudis “want higher oil prices for a better Aramco valuation”, one industry source said, adding that some think Ara-mco could be valued as high as $4 trillion. Prince Mohammed has said he expects the initial public offering (IPO) to value Aramco at at least $2 trillion, but that the figure might

end up being higher. Any valuation would account for oil price expectations and the size of Saudi Arabia’s proven oil reserves.

Another industry source familiar with the matter agreed. “A stable oil price at a moderate level would help an IPO. I don’t know if the IPO is the major factor - but it’s certainly a factor,” he said. “Saudi Arabia does not want to crash the price. Their target indeed would be some-where north of $50 - $60 or so.”

Saudi officials have also discussed the possibility that too much future supply could be curtailed by investment cutbacks if prices remain lower for longer, and are wary of the risk of a price spike, the second indus-try source said. Falih has talked about the issue publicly, saying in June that even $50 oil would not create a rush back to invest-ment. “There’s a real fear,” the source said. “So many conventional oil projects are being cancelled.”

Saudi production stands near a record high of 10.7 million barrels per day (b/d) — on a par with Russia and the United States. But some market insiders have suggested Saudi Arabia cannot afford to push output any fur-ther and sustain it for a long period because despite official affirmation it can produce as much as 12.5m b/d if needed,

By Michelle Jamrisko

Bloomberg

AN overlooked line in Fed-eral Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s speech last week could hold the key to

whether today’s US jobs report clinches an interest-rate increase this month.

While the focus was on Yellen’s statement that the case for an interest-rate increase “has strengthened in recent months,” she followed with new language that the central bank’s decisions depend on the degree that data

“continues to confirm” the outlook. That, and other recent remarks by Fed officials, suggest that job gains need to be merely solid — rather than extraordinary — to warrant raising borrowing costs for the first time in 2016.

After global developments and weak May employment derailed Fed rate-hike plans ear-lier this year, U.S. payrolls surged in June and July, and economists expect today’s Labour Depart-ment figures to show a gain of 180,000 in August, in line with the average for 2016. That would provide evidence the economy is on steadier ground and faster wage gains are coming, context that some Fed officials have been waiting for.

“Unless there’s a massive disappointment, the bar seems pretty low for the Fed,” said Laura Rosner, a senior US econ-omist at BNP Paribas in New York. Yellen’s language “gives the impression that the indica-tors and the data are already consistent with the outlook, and they want to see that confirma-tion continue. And so it doesn’t mean things need to ramp up and accelerate way above and beyond what we’ve seen.”

Payrolls rose by 255,000 in July. Unemployment may have dropped to 4.8 percent in August from 4.9 percent, accord-ing to the median projection in a Bloomberg survey.

Yellen and her colleagues have left the door open to an interest-rate hike at their Sept. 20-21 meeting without giving an explicit signal that they are likely to take such action. Trad-ing in federal funds futures shows about one-in-four odds; inves-tors see better chances of such a move by year-end.

An increase may also hinge on gauges of wage growth and labor-market slack in Fri-day’s report, and officials could still point to tame inflation, weak business investment and

uncertain global prospects to jus-tify keeping borrowing costs on hold.

As for the headline payrolls figure, the Fed could still make the case that the employment picture is bright enough if only 100,000 or so jobs were added, since that’s all that’s needed to keep up with the growth in the labor force, said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James Financial Inc. in St. Peters-burg, Florida. San Francisco Fed President John Williams said in a recent speech that just 80,000 jobs a month are needed to sat-isfy the increase in available American workers.

Still, a 100,000 increase in employment would be the sec-ond-worst reading since early 2015. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s chief economist, Stuart Hoffman, pegs the Fed’s threshold at closer to 200,000, or if there are large upward revi-sions to prior months. The PNC economists project the next rate hike for December.

Two potential issues compli-cate the report: One, the payrolls data have been cursed in August, with the survey median over-shooting the first print for the month in each of the last five years, by an average 47,000.

“At least over the last few years there’s a few guaran-tees—there’s death, taxes, and a disappointing August first print,” said Ryan Sweet, a senior econo-mist at Moody’s Analytics Inc. in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Culprits include low response rates in a popular vacation month and difficulty adjusting for sea-sonal effects at the start of the school year. Even so, four of those last five Augusts looked better by the time the Labour Department released its final estimate. From 2011 to 2014, they were revised up by an average of 94,000 between the first and the latest prints.

The second issue is that wages could be subject to a calendar quirk. The report’s survey week doesn’t include the 15th—a payday for many work-ers—and that pattern frequently has resulted in weaker average hourly earnings growth.

In the past five instances of this calendar makeup over three years, average hourly earnings showed one monthly decline and four unchanged readings, Mor-gan Stanley’s Ted Wieseman said in a research note. The Bureau of Labour Statistics and Bank of America Merrill Lynch each point to research that shows the cal-endar pattern doesn’t result in a statistically significant impact on the wage figures.

Yellen speech contained

clue to reading

August jobs report

US petrol consumption & exports hit new highs

By John Kemp

Reuters

US MOTORISTS used a record volume of gasoline in June as good weather and cheap fuel encouraged a strong start to the summer driving season. The volume of petrol sup-

plied to domestic consumers averaged 9.664 million barrels per day, an increase of 273,000 b/d compared with the same month in 2015.

Consumption beat the previous record of 9.640m b/d set in July 2007, according to monthly estimates published by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday. Petrol consumption has been rising strongly since 2013, and especially 2014, reversing the previous downtrend since 2007. Strong economic growth and increased employment have coupled with a substantial decline in petrol prices to stim-ulate record fuel consumption.

Petrol demand shows a clear influ-ence from the weather in the first half

of 2016 and mirrors statistics on traffic volumes and national park visits. Park visits are one proxy for lei-sure-related journeys, which boost traffic volumes and fuel use, especially during the summer driving season.

Unusually warm weather in February and March spurred large increases in driving, park visits and fuel consumption. Cooler temperatures in April and much of May brought slower growth. Temperatures climbed pleasantly above nor-mal in June and were

accompanied by faster growth in traffic vol-umes, park visits and petrol consumption.

The EIA has also implemented a new system for calculating weekly petroleum exports and consumption that should sig-nificantly improve data quality. The agency has always estimated the volume of petrol and other petroleum products supplied to the domestic market by analysing the vol-ume of fuel that disappears each week and month from primary reporting sources.

The volume of each product supplied is equal to domestic production plus imports minus exports and minus stock changes (product supplied = production + imports

- exports - stock change). The agency col-lects data on production, imports and stocks directly through compulsory weekly and monthly surveys sent to the industry. But data on exports comes indirectly from the shippers’ export declarations (SEDs), now renamed electronic export information (EEI), made to US Customs.

Customs data is analysed and compiled by the US Census Bureau and published only monthly with a delay of six weeks after the month in question. The EIA has always used the monthly export numbers to calculate its monthly values for the vol-ume of petroleum products supplied to the domestic market.

But as a result of the publication lag, the agency has been forced to extrapolate weekly export numbers based on the last available monthly figure from the Census Bureau adjusted by seasonal trends in previous years. The system worked well when the volume of fuel exported was small and changed little from one week or month to the next.

But as export volumes have climbed and become more variable the potential for estimating errors in the weekly export numbers has increased. Errors estimating exports lead to equal and opposite errors estimating domestic consumption through the formula employed by the EIA.

However, under a new system agreed with US Customs and the Census Bureau, the EIA is now receiving raw EEI export data and using it to calculate export

volumes in near-real time.The use of raw EEI numbers should sig-

nificantly improve data on exports and by extension on the volume of products sup-plied to domestic customers. The EIA has been developing the system since 2013 and trialling it internally to validate its accuracy.

Some analysts have obsessed over the small differences between weekly and monthly estimates for US consump-tion of gasoline and other refined fuels. In reality, the differences belong to a cate-gory Nobel physics laureate Max Planck described as phantom problems “void of all meaning”.

Differences between the weekly and monthly consumption numbers have been small and the two series have gen-erally tracked each other with a very good degree of accuracy. For example, weekly data showed US petrol consump-tion averaging around 9.760m b/d during June compared with a monthly estimate of 9.664m b/d.

The difference between the two esti-mates was less than 100,000 b/d, or below 1 percent of domestic petrol consumption. In the first half of 2016, US domestic petrol consumption was generally overestimated but US petrol exports were underestimated. In the vast majority of cases, gasoline was exported to foreign customers who used it, rather than into long-term storage (storage options are generally cheaper and more convenient in the United States).

In the case of petrol, US refiners sig-nificantly boosted exports to Mexico and other destinations in Latin America, reflect-ing limits on local refiners’ ability to meet growing demand there. If petrol consump-tion was marginally weaker at home than the weekly numbers implied, consumption in Mexico and elsewhere was stronger by an offsetting amount.

The bottom line is that during the first half of 2016 the United States con-sumed a seasonal record volume of petrol and exported a record volume of petrol and blending components to customers overseas.

Strong economic growth and increased employment have coupled with a substantial decline in petrol prices to stimulate record fuel consumption.

The Saudis “want higher oil prices for a better Aramco valuation”, one industry source said, adding that some think Aramco could be valued as high as $4 trillion.

21FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2016

Muguruza, Raonic crash as roof shuts on US Open

AFP

NEW YORK: French Open champion Garbine Muguruza and Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic crashed out of the US Open on Wednesday as the $150m roof on Arthur Ashe Stadium rolled smoothly into action for the first time.

Third seeded Spaniard Mugu-ruza, who has struggled in the aftermath of her Roland Garros breakthrough in June, slumped to a 7-5, 6-4 loss to Latvia’s Anastas-ija Sevastova, the world number 48.

A horribly out of sorts Muguruza rallied from 1-5 down in the sec-ond set, saving three match points, but Sevastova, who briefly quit the sport in 2013, held her nerve for the victory.

Having not won a match at the US Open in five years before this week, 26-year-old Sevastova now goes on to face Kateryna Bondarenko, a 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 winner in three hours over China’s Zheng Saisai.

“This is why I came back to the sport for the big stages like this and night sessions at the Slams. But I was shaking a little at the end,” she said.

Muguruza admitted she had been outplayed.

“It was a very tough match. I think I didn’t play well. Everything she was doing was working,” said the

22-year-old who has never made the third round in New York.

Meanwhile, 120th-ranked Ryan Harrison of the United States stunned fifth seeded Raonic 6-7 (4/7), 7-5, 7-5, 6-1 in another second round upset.

“It was extremely physical out there. I was playing on adrenaline,” said 24-year-old qualifier Harrison who was as high as 43 in the world in 2012. He goes on to face experi-enced Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis for a place in the last 16.

Harrison has now reached the third round of a Slam for the first time after recording just a second win over a top 10 opponent in 27 meetings.

Raonic, considered as a potential title dangerman in New York, hit 69 winners but committed 62 unforced errors. “I started cramping midway through the second set. There was a lot of nerves and stress. It was a result of over-exuberance,” said 25-year-old Raonic.

Rafael Nadal, the 2010 and 2013 champion, eased past Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-0, 7-5, 6-1 in a match which became the first to be completed under the new retractable roof on Ashe. Light rain caused the structure to be closed at 3-3 in the second set with play only held up for around seven minutes.

“It’s part of history and I am very

happy to be the first to play under the roof,” said Nadal, who was also the first to practice beneath the roof on the cavernous 22,000-capacity arena. Nadal beat Seppi for the eighth time in nine matches and next faces Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov.

World number one Novak Djoko-vic made the last 32 of a major for the 33rd successive time without hitting a ball when Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic withdrew from their sec-ond round encounter suffering an inflammation of the left forearm.

Djokovic will face 34-year-old Russian Mikhail Youzhny, twice a semi-finalist, on Friday for a place in the last 16.

Britain’s Johanna Konta, the 13th seed, collapsed on court with heat sickness before completing a 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 win over Bulgaria’s Tsve-tana Pironkova.

After a medical timeout, the Briton dropped the second set before heading off on a lengthy toilet break which did little to help her opponent’s composure in the decider.

“I’m a little embarrassed. I’m not a fan of drama. I did the best that I could with the cards that I had,” said Konta. Angelique Kerber, the second seeded Australian Open cham-pion, made the last 32 by seeing off 34-year-old Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia 6-2, 7-6 (9/7).

Kerber faces 17-year-old CiCi Bellis of the United States, for a place in the last 16. Croatian seventh seed Marin Cilic, the 2014 champion, made the last 32 by seeing off Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-1, 6-2, 6-3.

Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia celebrates her victory over Garbine Muguruza of Spain during her second round Women’s Singles match on day three of the 2016 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Wednesday in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City.

DAY THREE WRAP-UP

Sevastova shocks French Open champion as home player Harrison stuns Wimbledon runner-up to advance

Massa to retire

at end of the

season

Serena and

Murray seek to

march on

AFP

MONZA: Brazilian Formula One driver Felipe Massa (pictured) announced yesterday he will retire at the end of the 2016 sea-son.

The 35-year-old, who began his Grand Prix career in 2002, confirmed his long-expected departure during a news con-ference ahead of this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

“I’m more nervous now than for all my race starts,” said Massa, who missed out on the champion-ship to Britain’s Lewis Hamilton by one point in 2008 at the final race of the season in his native Brazil.

“After 27 years of my racing career, since I started karting and with 15 years in F1, this will be my last season in F1.

“Life gives us so many choices. I think for me it has got to the time where I have to go and do some-thing different.”

Massa started his career with Sauber before moving to Ferrari in 2006 and then Williams.

He is in his third year with Williams, having joined the team in 2014, and will mark his 250th Grand Prix start at his final race in Abu Dhabi this year.

“Maybe you will see me again at the wheel of a race car, but at the moment the only certainty I have is that I will have a lot of time to decide on what I do in the future,” the Brazilian added.

Massa, a winner of 11 Grands Prix, said he chose to make his announcement at Monza because former Ferrari team-mate and seven-time champion Michael Schumacher had done the same in 2006, thus confirming Mas-sa’s continued presence with Ferrari alongside Kimi Raikko-nen in 2007.

“Ten years on from that day, and in the same paddock, I decided to announce my deci-sion,” he said.

Massa added he was proud to have finished his career with Williams.

“I’m so proud to have been part of this team,” he said. “Wil-liams had a difficult moment and then we managed to get amazing results in the last two championships.”

AFP

NEW YORK: Serena Williams will be aiming to step it up against Vania King as she eyes a third-round spot in the US Open, where Andy Murray seeks to move closer to a second Grand Slam title of the season.

World number one Williams, who matched the Open Era record for Grand Slam titles with her 22nd at Wimbledon, said she had plenty of room for improvement after a 6-3, 6-3 first-round win over Ekterina Makarova.

“I think I can get a lot better,” said the US superstar, who fired 12 aces and 27 winners against the Russian lefty -- and said she’d have to wait and see if the work reignited the painful inflamma-tion in her right shoulder.

Even if it does flare up, Wil-liams has to be considered a strong favorite against her 87th-ranked compatriot King, a wild card she trounced 6-1, 6-0 in their only prior meeting, in the second round of the 2014 US Open.

Murray, fresh off Wimbledon and Rio Olympic triumphs and trying to become the fourth man to reach all four Grand Slam finals in a calendar year, has a longer history against Spain’s Marcel Granollers.

But the Scot can go in with confidence having won six of their seven encounters -- the most recent at the Indian Wells hard-court Masters in March.

Murray was delighted to get past tough Czech Lukas Rosol in straight sets in the first round, sparing himself an ultra-late night on Tuesday.

Murray will face the different conditions of an afternoon match -- with predicted scattered show-ers making it possible the new roof on the Arthur Ashe stadium court could be called into action, after being closed for the first time during light rain on Wednesday night.

If so, Murray will be ready.“I think it’s great,” Murray said

of the $150m retractable roof, which he practiced under before the tournament kicked off.

“It’s very quick too to open and close. Shouldn’t be too many delays. For players it’s a good thing.”

Other marquee players eyeing a place in the last 32 include Ser-ena’s elder sister Venus, the sixth, seed, who takes on German Julia Goerges.

Women’s fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland takes on Briton Naomi Broady and fifth-seeded Romanian Simona Halep plays against Czech Lucie Safarova.

Men’s third seed Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland faces Italian qualifier Alessandro Gian-nessi in the first meeting between the two.

Bangladesh rope in West Indies great Walsh as bowling coach Reuters

DHAKA: West Indies fast bowling great Courtney Walsh (pictured) has agreed to become Bangladesh’s bowling coach and will begin his three-year role this week, the coun-try’s cricket board said yesterday.

The 53-year-old Walsh, the most successful bowler from the Carib-bean with 519 Test wickets, recently completed his role as a West Indies selector and his contract with Bang-ladesh runs until the 2019 World Cup in England.

“Having watched Bangladesh cricket from afar over the years, they are a seriously talented bunch of players,” Walsh said in a statement.

“Chandika Hathurusinghe has done a wonderful job thus far as

head coach so hopefully I can com-plement his skills and continue the positive progress.

“Obviously the West Indies is my home but the chance to go in a new direction on the coaching front and with such a talented group, was one I couldn’t look past.”

The Bangladesh job will be the first senior role for Walsh, who in the past has managed the West Indies

under-19 side and been a bowling consultant for the Jamaica Tallawahs in the Caribbean Premier League among others.

Walsh, who played for West Indies for 17 years and also took 227 wickets in one-dayers, will pre-pare Bangaldesh’s attack for three 50-over matches against Afghan-istan at home before they host a high-profile series against England next month.

“We are delighted to have Court-ney in our ranks. He is a role model to millions and his fast bowling knowledge is second to none,” Bang-ladesh Cricket Board chief executive Nizam Uddin Chowdhury said.

“Bangladesh cricket at present is going through the best pace bowling phase in our history and Courtney’s involvement I am sure will take it to greater heights.”

Pakistan name

squad for England

Twenty20

AFP

KARACHI: Pakistan yesterday announced a 13-man squad for the only Twenty20 against Eng-land to be played at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

Sarfaz Ahmed (pictured) will lead the team, while former

PAKISTAN SQUADSarfraz Ahmed (captain), Khalid Latif, Sharjeel Khan, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Rizwan,

Babar Azam, Mohammad Nawaz, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz, Moham-

mad Irfan, Sohail Tanveer, Amad Butt.

captain Shahid Afridi has not been included as Pakistan looks to bring in flesh blood.

Afridi led Pakistan in the World Twenty20 held in India in March-April this year but stopped short of announcing retirement after the team exited in the group stages.

He featured in the Twenty20 tour-nament in England for Hampshire county but failed to give a perform-ance of any note which forced the selectors to leave him out this time.

Opener Ahmed Shahzad and middle-order batsman Umar Akmal -- part of the team in the World Twenty20 -- were also not selected.

Chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq said Afridi will be selected in the future if he performs better in domes-tic matches.

“I said this before that since there is only one match we will not consider Afridi, but once he gives a perform-ance at a domestic level he will be

given a chance,” said. “If Ahmed and Umar improve their discipline and performances they will also be considered for selection but since we have only one match on this tour we have tried to build the team for the future,” said Inzamam.

Another opener Mohammad Hafeez was also not selected after he returned home mid-way in the ongo-ing one-day series against England suffering from a knee injury.

There was a recall for left-arm paceman Sohail Tanveer who last played a Twenty20 against England in November last year.

The 21-year-old all-rounder Amad Butt is the only uncapped player in the side.

Pakistan were playing the fourth one-day against England in Leeds on Thursday, having lost the first three matches. They also drew a four-match Test series 2-2 last month on this same tour.

Ryan Harrison of the United States celebrates

after winning match point against Milos

Raonic of Canada at the US Open in New York on

Wednesday.

SPORT22 FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2016

Goalie Neuer named as German captain

AFP

BERLIN: Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was yesterday named as the new captain of world cham-pions Germany following Bastian Schweinsteiger’s international retirement.

“For me it is a great honour,” said Neuer after the German Foot-ball Association (DFB) announced his appointment on their website.

“It makes me proud to be captain of the team, but we all know that we need several players to lead on the pitch, if we are to succeed.

“The key things are already always discussed within ‘die Mannschaft’ and decided together.

“Of course, the captaincy has great symbolic significance.

“I am very pleased with the trust the coach has shown in me in this appointment.”

Having made his international debut in 2009, in a 7-2 win against the United Arab Emirates in Dubai, Neuer has kept 25 clean-sheets in 71 of his Germany appearances.

He was between the posts when they won the 2014 World Cup title and was voted the best goalkeeper in the world in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

The 30-year-old will wear the captain’s armband for Germany’s opening 2018 World Cup qualifier away to Norway in Oslo on Sunday.

Head coach Joachim Loew said he was in the luxurious position of having several candidates to choose from.

Neuer’s Bayern team-mates Jer-ome Boateng, Thomas Mueller and Mats Hummels were all touted as options by the German media.

“In the national team, we are in

the fortunate position that we have several leading players who fit the format and a captain’s profile,” said Loew, who has been Germany’s boss for the last decade. “For me, Manuel Neuer was the logical successor to Bastian Schweinsteiger.

“He brings everything to the table that I’d wish for in a captain.

“His sporting achievements are outstanding. Manuel is always there for the team, he is a team player and an absolute role model.

“He accepts responsibility, but is always calm and collected.”

Although he has been named as Schweinsteiger’s permanent replace-ment, the Oslo qualifier will not be the first time Neuer has captained his country.

He has skipper in five of Germa-ny’s six matches at June’s Euro 2016 which Schweinsteiger had started on the bench after recovering from

a knee injury before the European championships.

Neuer has worn the captain’s armband in a total of 14 interna-tionals, starting with Germany’s 4-2 defeat to Argentina in Duesseldorf in September 2014, in the wake of their World Cup triumph.

Lothar Matthaeus, who cap-tained Germany to the 1990 World Cup title in Italy, says Neuer is the right man for the job.

“He has the personality, the demeanour and the reputation, within the team, to make a really good captain,” said the 55-year-old Matthaeus, Germany’s most capped player.

A reader poll in Germany’s top daily newspaper Bild made Bayern defender Jerome Boateng the peo-ple’s choice, but the centre-back only narrowly won the survey with 37 percent, compared to 34 for Neuer.

Bayern Munich’s goalkeeper Manuel Neuer reacts ahead of the German first division Bundesliga match against SV Werder Bremen in Munich, southern Germany, in this August 26, 2016 file photo.

EYE-CATCHING TRANSFERS IN SPAIN

Alvaro MorataJuventus (ITA) to Real Madrid,

30 million euros ($33.4 million)�� Fresh from winning a second

Champions League in three years,

Real Madrid resisted the temptation

to go for a new Galactico, but did

strengthen an already fearsome for-

ward line with the return of Spanish

international striker Morata.

��The 23-year-old improved mark-

edly in his two years since leaving

Madrid for Juventus, where he won

two Serie A titles and played a huge

part in knocking Real out of the

Champions League in 2015 with a

goal in each leg of the Italian giants’

semi-final win over the 11-time Euro-

pean champions.

��Morata also scored three times

in four games for Spain at Euro 2016,

but won’t be guaranteed to start as

he will battle Karim Benzema for the

central striking role with the super-

star talents of Cristiano Ronaldo and

Gareth Bale occupying the flanks.

��An early season injury to Ben-

zema offered Morata the chance to

stake his claim and he duly did so

by scoring the opener in his second

home debut in a 2-1 win over Celta

Vigo on Saturday.

Samir NasriManchester City (ENG) to

Sevilla, loan�� Sevilla’s 11th and highest pro-

file recruit of the summer arrived on

Wednesday when out-of-favour Man

City playmaker Nasri arrived on loan

to bolster an already burgeoning col-

lection of creative midfielders at the

Sanchez Pizjuan.

�� Nasri had been sidelined by

new City boss Pep Guardiola early

in pre-season for arriving back at

training overweight, but fought his

way back into connection to play the

final 15 minutes against West Ham

on Sunday.

��The Frenchman has had a con-

troversial career, but even Guardiola

described his quality as “on another

level”.

��At 29 a change of scenery and

the challenge of a more techni-

cally-focussed league could be the

kickstart Nasri’s dwindling career has

long needed.

Samuel Umtiti Lyon (FRA) to Barcelona, 25 mil-

lion euros�� Barca have spent big on a

number of occasions to find the per-

fect partner for Gerard Pique since

former captain Carles Puyol retired,

but the likes of Jeremy Mathieu and

Thomas Vermaelen haven’t been

up to the task of supplanting Javier

Mascherano.

�� The Argentine hardman has

been rewarded with a new three-year

contract, but is expected to face a

stiffer test from Umtiti, who shone in

France’s 2-0 Euro 2016 semi-final win

over world champions Germany, on

just his second international appear-

ance, having replaced the injured

Mathieu in Didier Deschamps’s squad.

��He has continued that form with

two composed performances in his

opening two La Liga starts, leaving

Mascherano on the bench for Sun-

day’s 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao.

Kevin Gameiro Sevilla to Atletico Madrid, 30

million euros��Atletico’s search for a star striker

to partner Euro 2016 top scorer Anto-

ine Griezmann saw them land the

hero of Sevilla’s third consecutive

Europa League triumph last season

in Gameiro.

��However, it has been far from a

perfect start for Gameiro as Atletico

have been held by newly-promoted

Alaves and Leganes to already fall

four points behind Real Madrid and

Barcelona in the title race.

�� The Frenchman fired home

his first goal from the penalty spot

against Alaves, but also missed a host

of other chances and was hauled off

as Diego Simeone looked for a win-

ner in the closing stages at Leganes

at the weekend.

Kevin-Prince Boateng Free transfer to Las Palmas

��Having snapped up the former

Ghana international on a free trans-

fer, Las Palmas can already claim to

have gotten more than their money’s

worth as Boateng has struck twice

in two games to take Las Palmas to

the top of the table for the first time

in 38 years.

��A powerful header in a famous

4-2 win at Valencia to open their

campaign was followed up by

another towering headed effort as

Las Palmas smashed Granada 5-1

to leave them looking down on Bar-

celona and Real Madrid in the early

season running.

I am very pleased with the trust the coach has shown in me in this appointment, says the new skipper

Germany’s Bastian Schweinsteiger

before the match.

Tearful Schweinsteiger

bows out after victory

AFP

BERLIN: Bastian Schweinsteiger let the tears flow on Wednesday as Germany’s captain made his final appearance for die Mannschaft in their 2-0 friendly win at home to Finland.

Schalke’s Max Meyer and Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil scored Ger-many’s second-half goals, but the night belonged to Schweinsteiger, who played the first 66 min-utes in Moenchengladbach on his 121st -- and final -- international appearance.

“I think you all saw how it effected me. I had just wanted to enjoy every moment, but I hadn’t expected it to be so lovely,” admit-ted Schweinsteiger who was carried off after the final whistle by his team mates.

Twelve years since his debut, the 32-year-old announced his retire-ment at the start of August, but head coach Joachim Loew gave the Manchester United midfielder the chance to skipper his country one last time.

Even before kick-off, with German FA (DFB) president Rein-hard Grindel heaping praise on the departing captain during a pre-match presentation, Schweinsteiger struggled to hold back the tears.

He gave up, sobbing openly when the 30,121-strong crowd, which just over half-filled Borussia Park stadium, gave him a standing ovation.

“I didn’t think that would hap-pen,” Schweinsteiger admitted, referring to his tears, when handed a microphone.

“Thank you for coming, it means a lot to me.

“It was a huge honour for me to play for Germany and I just want to say ‘thank you’ for everything.”

This was Schweinsteiger’s first match of the season, having been banished to United’s reserves by new coach Jose Mourinho earlier

this month, but he has insisted he will not give up on his ‘dream’ to play for the Red Devils.

Loew fielded an experimental 3-1-3-3 formation, with Hoffenheim defender Niklas Suele making his debut, and Schweinsteiger was the sole starting survivor from the team which won the 2014 World Cup final.

The hosts had the better of the first-half chances.

Kevin Volland played the ball across the face of the Finnish goal on 24 minutes, but the chance went begging.

Three minutes later, Finland centre-back Paulus Arajuuri clat-tered his own post.

It remained goalless at the break, but there were worrying scenes for Arsenal fans when new-signing Shkodran Mustafi took a knock early in the second-half, but played on.

Germany took a deserved lead on 55 minutes.

Goetze put in a cross, Volland stepped over the rolling ball to allow 20-year-old Mayer, who cap-tained Germany to silver at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, to slot his first senior goal on his second appear-ance for die Mannschaft.

The game was briefly halted with an hour gone when a fan, wearing a Germany shirt with ‘Sch-weinsteiger’ across the shoulders, ran onto the pitch, took a selfie with the World Cup winner and casually jogged off.

There was another standing ovation, but no tears this time, when Schweinsteiger came off for Julian Weigl on 66 minutes and embraced Loew on the sidelines.

He hugged each member of Ger-many’s bench, including Manuel Neuer, who is tipped to replace him as captain with Loew set to announce his new skipper on Thursday.

Ozil came on and his shot spi-ralled in off the far post on 77 minutes as Germany warmed up for their opening 2018 World Cup qualifier away to Norway on Sunday.

Germany’s Bastian Schweinsteiger (left) and coach Joachim Loew during the match against Finland in Moenchengladbach, Germany .

Syria World Cup

qualifier moved

to Malaysia

AFP

KUALA LUMPUR: War-torn Syria’s World Cup qualifier with South Korea has been moved to Malaysia, the Asian Football Con-federation said yesterday, after Macau was a late withdrawal as host.

A breakdown in talks between Syria and Macau threw prepa-rations for Tuesday’s game into disarray, with South Korea forced to cancel their bookings for the southern Chinese territory.

But an AFC official said in an email that the match would be held at the 20,000-seat Paroi Stadium in Seremban, south of the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.

Syria, who are unable to host home games because of the con-flict in their country, are among 12 Asian teams vying for four auto-matic sports for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

A Macau Football Associa-tion official earlier told AFP that they had failed to “reach consen-sus” with Syria, without giving the details.

“Because we could not reach consensus with Syria, the match will not be held in Macau,” the Macau official said.

South Korea open their bid to reach the World Cup for the 10th time when they play China in Seoul later on Thursday.

Iran, Qatar and Uzbekistan are the other teams in Group A of the qualifiers.

Leicester City’s goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel (centre) with Wes Morgan (left) and Danny Simpson lift the Premier League trophy after the English Premier League match against Everton at the King Power Stadium in Leicester, Britain, in this May 2016 file photo.

Simpson commits to champions Leicester AFP

LONDON: Controversial full-back Danny Simpson became the sec-ond player this week to commit his future to Premier League champi-ons Leicester City when he signed a new three-year contract yesterday.

The new contract sees the 29-year-old -- who went to court in May to gain permission to attend the club’s victory parade because he was under curfew for assault-ing his then girlfriend -- tied to the club until 2019.

Simpson, who failed to set-tle earlier in his career and spent most of his time on loan from Man-chester United at various clubs until he obtained a permanent move to

Newcastle United in 2010, joins winger Marc Albrighton in agreeing new terms with the club who won the title at odds of 5,000/1 last term.

Albrighton, 26, signed a four-year contract on Tuesday, becoming the latest of the key players in the title triumph to remain loyal to the club.

The England duo of striker Jamie Vardy and midfielder Danny Drink-water, Algerian star Riyad Mahrez, captain Wes Morgan, Danish goal-keeper Kasper Schmeichel and manager Claudio Ranieri have all signed new contracts.

The only major departure was French international midfielder N’Golo Kante to Chelsea, while the club has invested heavily in the transfer market, breaking their transfer record three times.

SPORT 23FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2016

Al Rayyan seek title defence as top teams look for revenge

The Peninsula

DOHA: The defending Qatar Stars League champions Al Rayyan will be looking to hold on to the falcon shield as the 2016/2017 edition kicks-off on September 15.

Al Rayyan blew away the com-petition last term to lift their first title in 21 years. Head coach Jorge Fossati was the mastermind behind the Lions charge to the title, and the Uraguyan coach was rewarded with a three year contract extension.

In terms of professional players Rayyan have stuck with the quartet of Sergio Garcia, Gonzalo Viera, Víc-tor Cáceres and Koh Myong-jin for another season. Whilst domestically the club have been quiet, with only

Damiel Goumma returning from a domestic ban and winger Musab Mah-mood signing from El Jaish.

Stability is key for any champion-ship winning side, and Rayyan have done a good job in keeping their star players. The biggest signing of the summer, perhaps could be Fossati himself who has had proven results at QSL level. Providing the Al Rayyan squad stay focused, they could have a strong chance of picking up their sec-ond QSL title in as many years.

Last year’s runner-up, El Jaish enjoyed a fine season under head coach Sabri Lamouchi and picked up their first ever Qatar Cup.

In terms of professional players, El Jaish’s hand was forced in August when striker Abdulrazak Hamdullah suffered a long term injury. The club moved quickly to pick up former FC Barcelona midfielder Seidou Keita on a free transfer.

It’s been a busy summer on the transfer front domestically for Sabri Lamouchi’s side securing a total of five local players. These include Lekhwiya duo of Dame Traoré and Ahmed Abdul Maqsoud, Al Sadd youngster Hamza Sanhaji along with Mohammed Abdrab from Al Kharaiti-yat and Fahd Abdullah picked up from Al Khor. Providing Sabri Lamouchi

can build on an impressive season last term, and be able to get the best out of his new players, El Jaish have a realistic chance of winning their first ever QSL title.

Meanwhile, Lekhwiya, under the watchful eyes of Djamel Belmadi, endured a frustrating league cam-paign last year, eventually finishing in fourth place. It wasn’t all bad for the Red Knights as they picked up the Emir Cup for the first time in their history.

On the transfer front and Lekhwiya have secured the services of Moroccan striker Yusef El Arabi from La Liga Side Granada. The former Al Hilal striker has signed a three year deal with Lekhwiya and will bring some much needed fire-power to the side.

Domestically, Lekhwiya have secured the signature of defender Viv-ien Assie Koua and goalkeeper Qasem Burhan from Kharitiyat and Gharafa respectively. The club also moved in the summer to secure many of their stars to longer term contracts includ-ing defender Mohammed Mussa and influential midfielder Yusef Msakni.

Having won the QSL title twice in the last three seasons it’s under-standable that Djamel Belmadi will be looking to finish first this season.

Providing Yusef El Arabi can get amongst the goals early, the Red Knights have a realistic title shot this term.

It was an ultimately a disap-pointing campaign for Al Sadd last term after the headline grabbing signing of Xavi from FC Barcelona. However, Qatar’s most success-ful ever side came away from the season empty handed. Head coach Jesaldo Ferriera has taken his first full preseason with the club, and will be charged with pushing the Wolves all the way in the league and cup competitions.

In terms of professional sign-ings, long serving player Nadir Belhadj has left the club and been replaced by defender Jugurtha Ham-roun. Ferriera has also elected to keep the vast majority of his local play-ers with Al Rayyan defender Hamid Ismail arriving on loan the only sign-ing of note so far.

Sadd dominated sides at times last season, yet failed to kill off the game with a crucial goal. In Bagdad Bounjah, Sadd have a young attacker who could potentially thrive at this level. The Algerian will have to be at his brilliant best if Sadd are to have a chance of lifting the falcon shield come the end of the season.

New signings strengthen teams during transfer window as QSL sides gear up for |new season

The Peninsula

DOHA: Qatar Stars League side Al Sadd confirmed the signing of defender Jugurtha Hamroun on a one year loan deal from Roma-nian side Steaua Bucharest.

The Algerian international is set to travel to Doha today to complete his medical and for-mally sign the contact with the

Wolves, which includes an option to make the transfer permanent at the end of the season.

The capture of the 27 year old now confirms Sadd’s for-eign quota ahead of the new QSL season.

Hamroun will join fellow pro-fessionals Xavi, Bagdad Bounjah and Iranian defender Morteza Pouraliganji at the club, Al Sadd are set to open up their QSL cam-paign against Al Kharaitiyat.

The Peninsula

DOHA: Newly promoted Qatar Stars League team Muaither have further strengthened ahead of the new season, announcing the sign-

ing of goalkeeper Basel Zaidan.The former Meisameer stop-

per has put pen to paper on a one year deal with the Qatar Gas League champions. The 34 year is Muaithers fifth signing of the season and is expected to start in goal for the side.

Al Sadd announce Hamroun signing

Zaidan joins Muaither

Jugurtha Hamroun

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP1. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) 197 points, 2. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) 144, 3. Jorge Lorenzo

(ESP/Yamaha) 138, 4. Dani Pedrosa (ESP/Honda) 109, 5. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Suzuki) 100, 6.

Andrea Iannone (ITA/Ducati) 96, 7. Pol Espargaro (ESP/Yamaha) 81, 8. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/

Ducati) 79, 9. Hector Barbera (ESP/Ducati Avintia) 76, 10. Cal Crutchlow (GBR/Honda) 66

MOTO2:1. Johann Zarco (FRA/Kalex) 181 pts, 2. Alex Rins (ESP/Kalex) 162, 3. Sam Lowes (GBR/Kalex) 137,

4. Jonas Folger (GER/Kalex) 108, 5. Thomas Luthi (SUI/Kalex) 106, 6. Franco Morbidelli (ITA/Kalex)

94, 7. Takaaki Nakagami (JPN/Kalex) 92, 8. Hafizh Syahrin (MAS/Kalex) 79, 9. Dominique Aegerter

(SUI/Kalex) 71, 10. Simone Corsi (ITA/Speed Up) 59

MOTO3:1. Brad Binder (RSA/KTM) 179 pts, 2. Jorge Navarro (ESP/Honda) 118, 3. Enea Bastianini (ITA/Hon-

da) 94, 4. Romano Fenati (ITA/KTM) 93, 5. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA/Mahindra) 90, 6. Nicolo Bulega

(ITA/KTM) 89, 7. Joan Mir (ESP/KTM) 83, 8. Fabio Di Giannantonio (ITA/Honda) 82, 9. Niccolo An-

tonelli (ITA/Honda) 74, 10. Jakub Kornfeil (CZE/Honda) 68

MOTO GP STANDINGS AHEAD OF SILVERSTONE

Title-hunting Marquez loves Silverstone track AFP

SILVERSTONE: Daredevil two time world champion and current run-away points leader Marc Marquez feels the Silverstone chicanes and curves can help him distance his championship rivals at the British Moto GP on Sunday.

What is more, Marquez, on 197 points going into the 12th of 18 races, copes better in the rain than sec-ond-placed Italian Valentino Rossi on 144 or misfiring champion Jorge Lorenzo on 138.

“I love this circuit, the first sec-tion is slowish but then a series of chicanes can allow a fast man to make the difference,” said the 23-year-old, who won here in 2014 on the way to his second straight World title.

“And we have been having mixed weather conditions and com-ing through that rather well,” added the Honda man, who’s big points lead is down to his consistency and a more moderate racing style than in his barnstorming past.

Dogged defending champion and fellow Spaniard Lorenzo is giving up nothing however, despite gaining zero points at Catalunya, Brno and Argentina.

“We need to think race by race and just try to get the best results day by day,” the 2015 champion and Yamaha rider, a three-time winner here, insisted.

“Silverstone is the next stop so we have to push at the maximum.

“The track is one of my favourite circuits in the world, but unfortu-nately the weather is always very unpredictable.”

His stablemate Rossi has had nightmares in the rain three times this season at the Netherlands,

Germany and the Czech Republic.One man who doesn’t mind

the rain and who won his first top class GP in a downpour at Brono last time out is Britain’s Cal Crutchlow, who can expect a hero’s welcome at Silverstone.

Principally because he is the first Briton to win a GP since Barry Sheene 35-years ago, and secondly because of the way he did it, capi-talising on his choice of hard-option front and rear tyres, fighting up from 10th on the grid for his maiden win.

“I took the gamble, nobody else did,” said Crutchlow, whose rivals had gone for combined-compound strategies.

“As far as I’m concerned, they’re all wimps, if you choose one you don’t choose the other.”

There have been six different winners in the last six Grand Prix but the top three have previous form in Britain.

Marquez and Lorenzo have three victories each here while Rossi, who won last year’s race, has two.

Rookie Jack Miller, the 21-year-old Australian who made the leap from Moto3 to the top category this season and won at Assen, has to be considered too.

In Moto2 France’s Johann Zarco is aiming for a fifth victory this sea-son and has a lead of 19 points over Alex Rins, who fell at the Dutch GP while Zarco came second.

A winner at Silverstone last year, the Frenchman is gunning to become the first rider to defend the GP2 world title.

In Moto3 Germany’s Brad Binder is still riding his early season form with a lead of 61 points over Spain’s Jorge Navarro in second, despite going through the summer season in mediocre form.

Al Rayyan, winners of the 2015/2016 Qatar Stars League, celebrate on the podium at Al Sadd Stadium in this file photo.

R epsol Honda Team rider Marc Marquez of Spain pulls into the paddock during MotoGP at the US Motorcycling Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, Texas, USA in this file photo.

Marc Marquez

Title-hunting Marquez loves Silverstone track

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GCC Gymnastics Championships: Qatar win 10 medals on day two The Peninsula

DOHA: Qatar claimed three gold and as many silvers and four bronze medals in the under-14 age-group on the second day of the 12th GCC Gymnastics Champi-onships at the Al Khawla bint Al Azwar Indoor Hall yesterday.

Tamim Al Kreib emerged as the star for the hosts, claiming gold in individual all-around, pommel horse, floor and silver in vault, parallel bars and high bars events.

“I’m happy with my performance. It’ll motivate me do well in future tournaments. I thank the Qatar Gymnastics Federation for supporting and giving me a chance to compete in an international competition,” said Al Kreib.

Rakan Al Hareth came third in individual all-around, pommel horse and high bar.

The Qatar Gymnastics Federation (QGF) is hopeful that tournaments like this one will give their gymnasts the confidence to do well at the international level.

“We’re trying our best to provide the gymnasts the exposure. The performance by our boys in the ongo-ing tournament is praiseworthy. We hope to push them further so that they gain valuable experience,” said QGF President Ali Ahmed Al Hitmi.

However, Qatar (227.514pts) finished third behind Saudi Arabia (445.637) and Bahrain (286.046) in the team final.

Meanwhile, the Saudis also impressed after domi-nating the U-11 category on the opening day, winning the vault, parallel and high bar titles while Bahrain could manage only a silver in the team’s final.

The tournament concludes tomorrow.

(Centre) Abdulhameed Al Masaood, Chairman of the Federation of Saudi Arabia Gymnastics and Ali Ahmed Al Hitmi, President of Qatar Gymnastics Federation pose for a photograph with officials and age group team winners during the 13th GCC Gymnastic championship 2016 at the Al Khawla bint Al Azwar Indoor Hall yesterday. Pictures by: Baher Amin/The Peninsula

Qatar’s Tamim Al Kreib in action during the pommel horse event at the Al Khawla bint Al Azwar Indoor Hall yesterday. Kreib won the individual all-around, pommel horse, floor and silver in vault, parallel bars and high bars events to become the star for the hosts yesterday.

Goalie’s blunder costs Qatar against Iran

The Peninsula

DOHA/TEHRAN: Injury time goals from Reza Ghoochanne-jhad and Alireza Jahanbaksh secured a dramatic 2-0 win for three-time FIFA World Cup qual-ifiers Iran over Qatar at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran, Iran yester-day evening as Carlos Queiroz’s side made a winning start in their attempt to advance to Rus-sia 2018.

Substitute Reza Ghoochanne-jhad capitalised on a horrendous mistake by Qatar goalkeeper Amine Lacomte to give the home side the lead four minutes into injury time before Jahanbaksh put the result beyond doubt with a fine long-range strike.

Iran controlled much of the opening proceedings, but it was the Qataris who fashioned out the better of the goal scoring opportunities in the first 20 min-utes. Sebastian Soria’s attempt from the tightest of angles in the 12th minute did little to trouble Alireza Beiranvand in the Iran goal.

Five minutes later Beiran-vand was in action again, this time dropping to his left to keep out Hassan Al Haydos’ relatively tame effort after the Qatari cap-tain had cut inside from the right.

Soon after the Iranians were

turning their dominance of pos-session into attempts on goal and Ashkan Dejagah should have done better with his effort from outside the area rather than dragging his low shot well wide of the target.

Just after the half hour mark, Jahanbaksh had the Qatari goal in his sights after holding off the challenge of a pair of visiting midfielders before taking aim from the edge of the area. But, like Dejagah’s effort earlier, he

did little to trouble Lacomte. The game turned increasingly dis-jointed during the second half, with Iranian defender Jalal Hos-seini going close to opening the scoring 17 minutes from time when he met Andranik Tey-mourian’s corner with a header that went just wide of Lacomte’s goal.

At the other end Boualem Khoukhi tried his luck from long range with a looping effort that only just bounced past

Beiranvand’s left post. But the best chance of the game was to fall to substitute Karim Ansa-rifard with just four minutes remaining.

Saeid Ezatohali made his way to the byline before playing back a cross that cut Lacomte out of the game, but Ansari-fard’s glancing header was too fine and the ball flew across the face of the Qatar goal.

Ansarifard made amends, however, when Lacomte miscued

his clearance with only seconds remaining, the Greece-based forward collecting the ball before laying it into the path of Ghoochanejhad, and the Heer-enveen man gleefully slotted the ball home.

And with Qatar desperately pushing for an equaliser, Iran claimed a second just before the end when Jahanbaksh thumped his shot into the bottom corner from outside the area, giving Lacomte little chance.

Iran’s Mehdi Taremi (centre) and Qatar’s Boualem Khoukhi (left) vie for the ball during their World Cup 2018 Asia qualifying football match played at the Azadi stadium in Tehran yesterday.

Russia 2018 World Cup qualifier: Hosts capitalise on a horrendous mistake by Lacomte in injury time to claim 2-0 win in Tehran The Peninsula

TASHKENT: Super-sub Alexandr Geynrikh gave Uzbekistan the perfect 25th Independence Day present and an ideal start to the final round of qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup with a 1-0 win over Syria at the Bunyodkor Stadium yesterday.

The Ordabasy forward came on in the second half and brought the match to life with a stunning strike in the 74th minute to seal all three points and a winning start to the campaign for Samvel Babayan and his team.

In a first half with few chances for either team, it was Uzbekistan’s Islom Tukhtakhodjaev who fashioned the best opportunity for his team on 26 minutes. The Lokomotiv Tashkent player found himself with plenty of space on the edge of the box but with his back to goal, improvising with a backward header that Syrian goal-keeper Ibrahim Almeh was equal to.

A long throw from the left was headed into a throng of bodies in the middle of the Syria penalty area as the lanky Igor Sergeev stuck a boot out to divert the ball towards goal but Almeh was able to dive onto it.

With 48 minutes on the clock, Almeh came off his line to claim a high corner kick but missed and a game of pinball soon ensued in the box with no Uzbekistan attacker able to take advantage with a vital touch.

Uzbekistan coach Babayan then decided to roll the dice, as he replaced Sardor Rashidov with the experi-enced Alexandr Geynrikh. But it would be fellow forward Sergeev who would come close to opening the scoring after Syria failed to clear their lines in the 58th minute.

Eldor Shomurodov showed great desire to win the ball near the touchline, cutting it back to a lurking Server Djeparov who stood the ball up toward the far post where Sergeev, despite being well placed, could only direct a powerful header straight at Almeh in the Syrian goal.

To the home crowd’s delight, Uzbekistan finally took the lead 16 minutes from time.

A late arriving Odil Akhmedov drew a smart reaction save from Almeh with a stinging shot, but Geynrikh was onto the rebound in a flash, smashing it home on the half volley to spark raucous celebrations around the stadium.

Super-sub Geynrikh earns victory for Uzbekistan

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