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Monday 8 April 2013

27 Jumada I 1434 - Volume 18

Number 5663 Price: QR2

C E R T I F I E D N E W S P A P E R

ISO 9001:2008

Lorenzo wins MotoGP

Jorge Lorenzo (right) of Spain, winner of MotoGP Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar, and runner-up Valentino Rossi of Italy celebrate on the podium at Losail International Circuit yesterday. MotoGP rookie Marc Marquez of Honda took a superb third on his debut in the top division. See also page 28 SHAIVAL DALAL

Business | 20 Sport | 31

Doha Bank gets nod to list more shares

All eyes onMutaz atGCC event

Decks cleared for Qatar’s satellite launchDoha joins UN conventionDOHA: The decks are clear for Qatar to execute its ambi-tious Satellite Project ‘Eshail’ announced early last year, as the country has joined the United Nations Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space.

Eshail is from the Arabic root word ‘Suhayl’ which means Canopus or the bright star Alpha in the southern constellation Argo.

Qatar Satellite Company, EshailSat, early last year selected Arianespace to launch its first satellite Eshail 1 in the current quarter (April-June) on board an Ariane 5 launcher.

The announcement was made at a Satellite 2012 show in Washington early last year.

The Emir, H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, yesterday issued a Decree (No 14 of 2013), approving Qatar joining the UN Convention (XXIX) of 1974. The decree will have the status of law, Qatar News Agency (QNA) reports.

In 2010, EshailSat inked a contract with Space Systems / Loral to build Eshail 1 which will share a spacecraft platform with the European satellite operator Eutelsat.

Eshail 1 will provide television, Internet, corporate, and gov-ernment services in expanding

markets across the Middle East, North Africa and beyond.

The selection of Arianespace to deliver Eshail 1 into orbit marks a step forward in the EshailSat programme to invest in and oper-ate a high-performance satellite at 25.5° East, a well-established orbital position for television broadcast services.

The new satellite will provide further Ku-band resources for television broadcasting and will also mark the start of Ka-band services, opening up new busi-ness opportunities for EshailSat and their customers, according to details posted on the website of ictQATAR, the country’s tel-ecom sector regulator. The six-tonne satellite will be launched from Arianespace’s space port in Kourou, French Guyana, on the east coast of South America.

Commenting on the selection of Arianespace, EshailSat’s CEO Ali Ahmed Al Kuwari said, “We are delighted that, together with Eutelsat, we have been able to select Arianespace to launch our first satellite. Eshail 1 is just the start of our mission to provide high quality, independent satellite services to meet Qatar’s national stakeholder’s interests and serve customers throughout the Middle East and North Africa.”

THE PENINSULA

The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs H E Ahmad bin Abdullah Al Mahmoud, Sudanese First Vice-President Ali Osman Mohammad Taha and other dignitaries at the International Donors Conference for Reconstruction and Development of Darfur, at Ritz-Carlton Hotel, yesterday.

Qatar to help in Darfur rehabilitationDOHA: The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani yesterday said Qatar was implementing a pro-gramme to facilitate the return of displaced people and refugees to Darfur.

The initial phase of the project targets 150,000 people at a cost of $31m, while the next phase cost-ing $529m will help rehabilitate some two million people in 45 vil-lages in five regions of Darfur.

Inaugurating the International Donors Conference for Recons-truction and Development of Darfur, at Ritz-Carlton Hotel, the Premier said the return of

displaced people and refugees to their native places was an urgent mission. Sudanese First Vice-President Ali Osman Mohammad Taha, Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs H E Ahmad bin Abdullah Al Mahmoud, regional and international partners for peace in Darfur and representatives of donor countries and regional and interna-tional organisations attended.

Qatar agreed to head the Arab-African Committee on Darfur Peace out of its humanitarian and ethical responsibilities as well as its Arab obligations and Islamic values, the Premier said, pointing out that it had not been driven by

any agenda. It did not exclude anyone, did not favour one party at the expense of another and did not distinguish between groups or movements, the Premier stressed.

He called on participants to allocate adequate spending in their programmes for education and said increasing awareness and spread of education would deepen the culture of tolerance and con-firm conviction for peace and the futility of wars and conflicts.

“It is a task that needs big finance as there are tens of thou-sands of people in Darfur living for years in displacement camps at home and in refugee camps in Chad, and the return of those

requires rehabilitation of their original areas by building homes, schools and hospitals so they can resume their normal lives,” he said.

At the political level, a regional authority has been established in Darfur, which has set up its admin-istrative structures, executive and legislative bodies and begun to function in coordination with the central authority in Khartoum and the governors of Darfur’s five regions, the Premier added.

At the economic level, the road network is now being built and agricultural projects has resumed after years of stoppage.

THE PENINSULAContinuation on page 6

RAMALLAH: US Secretary of State John Kerry and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday discussed reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace talks but neither side offered details on how, when and whether that might happen.

Kerry, who spoke one-on-one with Abbas for about an hour after a 20-minute group meeting, is on his third trip to the region in three weeks, having accompanied President Barack Obama on his

March 20-22 visit and returned alone a day later.

A senior US official described the talks, which took place after a week marked by clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli security forces in the West Bank, as a constructive meeting but said little about substance.

“During the one-on-one meet-ing, Secretary Kerry and President Abbas discussed the path to peace and they agreed to continue work-ing together to determine the best

path forward,” the US official said in an emailed statement.

While focusing on economic issues, the wider talks included a discussion of “how to create a positive climate” for peace talks, said the senior US official. The US official said that Kerry had asked the Palestinian officials not to discuss the specifics of this dis-cussion, a request they appear to have honoured.

REUTERSPicture on page10

DOHA: An expatriate woman driver was fined QR5,000 by a lower court after it found her guilty of physically assaulting a male expat motorist.

The court also ordered her licence confiscated and car seized for two months.

She was driving fast and

suddenly slowed down since her victim was driving very slowly as traffic was moving at a snail’s pace. The woman kept honking but when the man did not move, she stopped her car, got out in fury, opened his front door and began hitting him.

Other motorists gathered

around her to dissuade her from attacking the man, but she refused to listen.

Police arrived and took both to police station. The man filed a complaint and the case was referred to the Prosecution which filed charges against the woman.

THE PENINSULA

Woman fined for assaulting motorist

CAIRO: One person was killed and 84 were wounded in clashes at the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in central Cairo yes-terday after a funeral service for four Egyptian Christians killed in sectarian violence with Muslims, state media said.

Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowds but clashes contin-ued late into the evening. Fresh clashes erupted when hundreds of angry Copts came to the funeral service at St. Mark’s Cathedral. After an emotional church service, Christians chanted anti-govern-ment slogans and started hurling rocks at police officers outside the cathedral, witnesses said.

Some protesters, believed to be Copts, smashed six private cars and set two on fire, prompting an angry reaction from Muslims living in the neighbourhood, who threw home-made petrol bombs and stones at them, a witness said. REUTERS

Picture on page10

Ezdan to build 10 residential complexesDOHA: Ezdan Holding Group, a leading real estate develop-ment company in the region, plans to construct 10 new residential complexes, most of them in Al Wakra. The Group CEO of Ezdan Holding, Ali Al Obaidli, while speaking to The Peninsula on the side-lines of the company’s annual general meeting, said that the com-pany was set to open its ‘Ezdan Mall’ at Gharafa on Sunday. The Group’s audited net profit stood at QR408.7m for the financial year ended December 31, 2012. Full report on page 17

QNB nets QR2.1bn profit in first quarter DOHA: The QNB Group has reported net profits of QR2.1bn for the first quarter (January to March 2013), up 6.7 percent over Q1 of 2012, the Group, announcing its financials for the first three months of 2013, said yesterday. Total assets of the group increased by 22.2 percent from March 2012 to QR380bn, the highest ever achieved by the bank. This was the result of a strong growth rate of 28.7 percent in loans and advances to reach QR259bn, while customer deposits increased by 28.2 percent to QR280bn. Full report on page 20

Car missing after given for valet parkingDOHA: A GCC national who was here as a tourist lost his car after he handed it for valet parking at a famous hotel where he was stay-ing. When he drove up to the hotel entrance, a man in the uniform approached him and took his car for valet parking. Later, when the tourist demanded his car keys from the concierge, he was told that there were no keys. It was discovered that the car was also miss-ing. The GCC national filed a complaint with police which launched an investigation and questioned staff, including the supervisor of the parking lot in the basement. The victim informed his embassy which provided a lawyer to follow up the case. THE PENINSULA

Kerry, Abbas discuss reviving peace talks

Egyptian Copts, Muslims clash again; one dead

02 HOMEMONDAY 8 APRIL 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Emir receives credentials of envoys

The Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani received yesterday at the Emiri Diwan credentials of four new ambassadors — Ivgen Mikitenko (Ukraine), Guido De Sanctis (Italy), Abubakr Al Siddiq Chourouma (Chad) and Wong Kwok Pun (Singapore). The Emir wished them success in their missions.

Emir issues three decrees DOHA: The Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani yesterday issued three decrees. Of the three, Decree No 14 approved Qatar joining the United Nations Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space.Decree No 15 endorsed an agreement for cooperation in the legal field between Qatar and Uzbekistan, signed in Doha on November 24, 2010. Decree No 16 approved an agreement between Qatar and Malaysia on the avoidance of dual taxa-tion and the prevention of fiscal evasion with regard to income tax, signed in Putrajaya on July 3, 2008.

The Emir also issued a ratifi-cation instrument, approving a draft agreement on commercial maritime transport and ports signed with Algeria in Algiers on January 7.

The Emir issued a ratification instrument approving an agree-ment signed with Ukraine on visa exemption for diplomatic and spe-cial passports holders, signed in Doha on January 28 last year.

Emir appoints envoy to Gambia DOHA: The Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani yesterday issued the Emiri Decision No. 22 for the year 2013, appointing Mohamed Nasser Issa Al Kaabi as Ambassador to the Republic of The Gambia.

Prime Minister greets new Lebanese premier DOHA: The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani has sent a cable of greetings to Lebanese Prime Minister Tamam Salam on the occasion of his assignment to form a new government. QNA

3DS brings innovative technology to QatarDOHA: The US Embassy and Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q) partnered 3-Day Startup (3DS) entrepre-neurship contest that concluded here on Saturday.

During the 3DS ‘boot camp’, over 40 students collaborated to build innovative technology start-ups for Qatari and international markets. 3DS is an American non-profit organisation that empowers the next generation of young business leaders.

From online fitting experience, mobile in-flight magazines, appli-cation for booking taxis in Qatar to a virtual market place for home catering — students came up with innovative solutions utilising their business acumen and creative flair.

Student teams presented their

ideas to a panel of experts, where they demonstrated real proto-types for new technology startups in hopes of attracting investment from established entrepreneurs.

Team awards were given to 3DS Team Hustle: Fit Right, Team Focus: Tidalal, Smooth Talker: Sweet Story, best use of a hairdryer: Smart Clothing and the Spirit of 3DS: Bayt Baytk.

Since the conception of the pro-gramme five years ago, over 2,500 3DS alumni from 55 worldwide events have started 39 technol-ogy companies that have collec-tively raised $9.5m in investment capital.

“Once again, the youth of Qatar have shown us that if you work hard and collaborate, everything is possible,”US Ambassador Susan L Ziadeh said.

Students came to the pro-gramme from a cross-section of disciplines including business, computer science, communica-tions, law and design.

CMU-Q ramped up the event by inviting high-profile faculty to mentor the students through-out the weekend, including Dave Mawhinney, Director of the Donald H Jones Center for Entrepreneurship, and Dr Milton Cofield, Executive Director, Undergraduate Programmes.

The Qatar chapter of Entrepreneurs’ Organisation, led by President Khalifa Al Misnad, also mobilised successful Qatari entrepreneurs to mentor students on doing business in Qatar.

Kenrick Fernandes, Tidalal team member and CMU-Q com-puter science student, expressed his excitement about winning the 3DS team focus award.

“I particularly enjoyed applying my computer science knowledge to develop an app that could have an impact on Qatar’s culture. One thing that really stood out for me was the momentum and excite-ment that was built during the program, after Friday I couldn’t wait to get here early on Saturday morning,” Fernandes said.

The following universities in Qatar participated in 3- Day Startup: Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, Qatar University, Drexel University, Texas A&M University at Qatar, Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, College of the North Atlantic, Stenden University, Hamad Medical Corporation, University of Leeds, TKM College of Engineering and Academic Bridge Program.

THE PENINSULA

11 ambassadors moved to ministry’s headquartersDOHA: The Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani issued yesterday decisions to transfer a number of ambassadors to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters.

They were Dr Mubarak Klefekh Khalid Al Hajri (Ambassador to the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina), Mohammad Kurdi Taleb Al Marri, (Mauritania), Hamad Al Hamad Al Ibrahim Al Attiyah (Spain), Abdul Razak Abdul Jalil Abdul Ghani Al Ghani ( Turkey), Salem Mubarak Shafi Salem Al Shafi (Canada), Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman Turki Subaie (Morocco), Nasser Rashid Mohammed Al Nuaimi (Kazakhstan), Rashid Ali Hassan Al Khater (Singapore), Jassim Abdulaziz Faisal Al buainain (Yemen), Hassan Mohamed Rafae Emadi (India) and Saeed Abdullah Hilal Alqzam Al Mansouri (Sri Lanka).

PM meets Ecuadorian Minister DOHA: The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani met here yesterday with Ecuadorian Minister of Tourism Freddy Ehlers. Talks dealt with bilateral relations. QNA

Over 40 students take part in entrepreneurship contest

Some of the participants in the 3-Day Startup (3DS) entrepreneurship contest.



Dubai fest to screen 6 ‘Made in Qatar’ filmsDOHA: Doha Film Institute (DFI) will showcase six ‘Made in Qatar’ films at the sixth Gulf Film Festival (GFF), which runs from Thursday to April 17 at Dubai’s Media City.

The films, which were screened at last year’s Doha Tribeca Film Festival, will present audiences at the GFF with a unique and valu-able opportunity to explore Qatar and its creative aspirations through a series of innovative and enlight-ening independent short films.

Fatma Al Remaihi, Head of Programmes at DFI said the regional acceptance of “Made in Qatar” films is a testament to the creativity and hard work of emerging talent from Qatar, committed to expressing their voices.

“We are incredibly proud of the films that have been selected to screen for regional audiences at GFF. They exemplify what can materialise when young filmmak-ers are given the tools, support and education to be able to bring their stories to life. The selected shorts will offer a glimpse into the imagination and creativity of Qatari youth who share a common goal to strengthen and promote the regional film industry,” she said.

“We are consistently impressed with the quality of the submissions from Qatari filmmakers which is a great example of the burgeoning film industry in Qatar. These tal-ented filmmakers are testament

of programmes like “Made In Qatar” created by DFI who are dedicated to bringing these shorts onto a global stage. This year’s line-up of films presents a panorama of the country and its culture that will educate, inform and entertain audiences at GFF,”

said Masoud Amralla Al Ali, GFF Festival Director.

First time filmmakers Robert Arlo Deguzman and Kennedy Somera explore the issues of home, identity and belonging through a series of dream-like images in the compelling short Transient.

Tarek Abu-Esber questions the daily routine of a local Qatari in the short Al Muqanna3 (Masked) which follows Ahmed Al Jaber who drives his breathtakingly designed vehicles — adorned with

flags, golden ornaments and lights — on the Corniche in Doha.

Acclaimed actor and director Hend Fakhro’s first foray into film titled Esmah (His Name) focuses on a Qatari woman and the unexpected friendship that is initiated with the man who cleans the streets of her neighbourhood.

Ghazil — The Story of Rashed and Jawaher inspired by William Shakesperes’ Romeo and Juliet revolves around the trials and tribulations of a strict family, a jealous cousin and society as enemy set in the Gulf in the early 1900s, by aspiring filmmaker Sara Al Derham.

Established director Riad Makdessi’s thought-provoking short 8 Billlion is set in the slightly surreal world of Doha, a city of expatriates, in which two young people find that they are not only lost in an unfamiliar culture far from their families but, more sig-nificantly, they are lost in their own self-inflicted isolation.

Lyrics Revolt is the work of four women directors Shannon Farhoud, Melanie Fridgant, Rana Al Khatib and Ashlene Ramadan. This documentary delves into the lives of leading Arab artists — young rappers, hip-hop artists, and beat-boxers — who employ the sharp political edge of hip hop during this game-changing time for the Mena region and beyond.

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Katara yesterday unleashed a number of events simultaneously to launch the inaugural African Festival fea-turing the diverse culture of 15 countries from the second larg-est continent in the world.

African arts fair, art exhibi-tions, art and music workshops, urban painting, outdoor shows, live concerts, films, and food fea-tured the first day of the week-long festival.

Organised by Katara in coop-eration with 15 African embas-sies here, the seven-day festival is being held in alignment with Qatar National Vision 2013 and is aimed at promoting mutual

respect among people and bridg-ing various cultures.

Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, General Manager of Katara, said Katara respects culture of people regardless of language and ethnicity and it is part of Katara’s strategy to reach out to different communities to promote mutual respect of the diversity of culture and heritage.

The festival, he said, sheds light on the culture of Africans and offers an invaluable opportunity to know the creativity of Africans and how the continent contrib-uted to the culture of humanity.

“Qatari citizens appreciate and respect African people and their

culture,” he added. Other events visitors to the festival can look forward to in the coming days are colourful African circus and parade and concerts by well-know African musicians includ-ing Johnny Clegg, Manu Dibango and Cheikh Tidiane Seck.

The festival also features an Embassies Zone highlighting each country’s culture, a Cine Zone which will screen a total of 20 culturally relevant films and a Kids’ Zone which highlights a live size stuffed animal zoo, face painting, workshops and a large wall where children can express themselves artistically.

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Texas A&M University at Qatar, in partnership with Education City and Hamad Bin Khalifa University, will host the third annual Technology in Higher Education (THE) conference on April 16 and 17 at Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC). The theme for the conference is ‘Today, Tomorrow and Beyond: Innovation in Teaching, Technology and Learning.’

THE conference, co-chaired

by Dr Othmane Bouhali, research associate profes-sor and director of Research Computing at Texas A&M at Qatar, seeks to encour-age attendees to explore how to effectively meet the chal-lenges and opportunities in education practice today while anticipating the possibilities of tomorrow.

The annual (THE) conference is an opportunity for educators, IT professionals, and students to get

together and discuss educational and technological advancements. The conference focuses on iden-tifying the shifts, challenges, and opportunities for educators and IT professionals as they explore ways to adapt and innovate their practice in a constantly changing technological and higher educa-tion landscape.

It is designed to foster learn-ing, innovation and practice in the use of technologies in higher education and discuss challenges

and strategies for technology integration. As a peer-focused conference, THE serves faculty, instructional designers, adminis-trators, librarians, support per-sonnel, technology leaders and enthusiastic users of technology who recognise the need to remain current on technology issues related to the higher education community.

This year, the conference focuses on mobile devices in classrooms, cloud technologies, virtual reality, the next genera-tion of information technology infrastructure and many more topics of today, tomorrow and beyond.

Dr Hamid Parsaei, associate dean of Academic Affairs and

professor of mechanical engi-neering, said: “Technology is reshaping education at all lev-els, and this conference will be a forum for important conversa-tions about how we can maximise technology’s positive impact on teaching and learning.”

Bouhali noted the impor-tance of THE’s audiences coming together to discuss innovations: “The conference is designed to foster learning, innovation and best practices in the use of tech-nologies in higher education. In a rapidly changing world, espe-cially in information technology, IT professionals and instructors have to constantly adapt to these challenges and keep themselves up-to-date.” THE PENINSULA

Sixth Gulf Film Festival begins on Thursday

African Festival opens at KataraDancers perform on the first day of African Festival at Katara, yesterday.

Education forum to focus on next generation technology Global Innovators Conference concludes DOHA: Global Innovators Conference 2013, Qatar’s first international gathering on technical and vocational educa-tion and training (TVET), con-cluded yesterday at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC).

Hosted by College of the North Atlantic – Qatar (CNA-Q) in partnership with Qatar Petroleum and UNESCO-UNEVOC, the three-day conference highlighted the latest research and methodol-ogies in TVET, and culminated in a “think tank” session for TVET leaders in Qatar.

“In the ten years since CNA-Q opened its doors, over 3,000

young Qataris have mas-tered technical skills and moved on to challeng-ing jobs in our country’s key industries,” said Dr. Latifa Ibrahim Al-Houty, Vice Chair, Executive Committee, CNA-Q and one of the founders of Qatar’s leading technical college.

“Global Innovators 2013: Leading and Learning in Technical and Vocational Education” called atten-tion to Qatar’s progress in TVET, and how this focus is helping the country to realize its National Vision 2030 and along with it, the goals of the National Development Strategy,” added Dr Al Houty.

The conference gathered over 650 delegates from 42 countries including Algeria, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Canada, Central African Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Guinea, Iran, Jordan, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, West Africa, Libya, Malaysia, Morocco, Namibia, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Occupied Palestine Territory, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Spain, Switzerland, United Republic of Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, and Yemen.

THE PENINSULA

Heir Apparent with Dubai Crown Prince

The Heir Apparent H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met at Al Bahr Palace yesterday Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai, and his delegation. The Heir Apparent also hosted a luncheon banquet in honour of Sheikh Hamdan.

MONDAY 8 APRIL 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.comHOME 05

DOHA: Some 33 nurses and supporting health workers from Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and primary health centres are being trained in administrative and leadership skills at a programme launched by the Supreme Council of Health (SCH) yesterday.

The ‘Leadership for Change’ programme is being held at Renaissance Doha Hotel, in col-laboration with International Council of Nurses. It will con-tinue until Thursday. Nurses from Qatar Petroleum are also taking part.

The programme continues for

16 months and aims to develop leadership and administrative skills of nurses and supporting health workers in the country.

On the sidelines of the work-shop, Dr Nabeela Al Meer, head of Health Services at HMC, said there was a need to upgrade nurses’ skills in view of the increasing prevalence of dis-eases like diabetes, obesity and hypertension.

The programme includes four sessions. The current one is dis-cussing topics, inlcuding reform of health system through Qatari and global perspective, challenges of health system in Qatar, priorities of

health projects and NHS in Qatar, and nursing and healthcare.

The second session will take place from October 27 to 31 and the third and fourth will be held in April next year.

A group of nurses has been selected under the programme which will be provided with the best knowledge and skills. That will enable them to develop their capabilities to improve the quality of health services and face critical challenges in their career.

The selected nurses will later share acquired knowledge and experiences with colleagues.

THE PENINSULA

SCH trains 33 nurses in leadership skills



Darfur seeks $7.2bn pledges at donors meetDOHA: Working groups have set priorities for rebuilding Darfur on three major pil-lars, namely reconciliation and equality, reconstruction and economic reinvigoration.

Tajeddin Bashir Niam, Darfur’s Minister of Development and Reconstruction, speaking on the sidelines of the International Donor conference for Reconstruction and Development in Darfur , said reconstruction efforts needed $5bn, including $845m for reconciliation and equality, whereas $1.4bn is needed for economic development.

Total cost of the strategy for reconstruction of Darfur is estimated at $7.2bn, he said explaining that the Sudanese government is committed to $2bn while $5.245 is expected to be pledged by the donors at the two-day conference which started yesterday.

The conference, which has faced criticism inside Darfur itself, was agreed under a July 2011 peace deal which Khartoum signed in

the Qatari capital with an alliance of rebel splinter groups.

Britain pledged at least £11m ($16.5m) for Darfur annually over the next three years to help com-munities to grow their own food and to provide skills training to help people find work.

“It is not good enough to simply offer more handouts,” said Britain’s international development minister, Lynne Featherstone.

“This conference is a unique opportunity for Sudan and Darfur to turn the destiny of this conflict-ridden region,” said Jorg Kuhnel, team leader of the UN Development Programme in Sudan.

In his speech, Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha urged “all armed groups to make the historic decision to respect the will of the people of Darfur,” referring to militants who have so far refused to join the 2011 peace agreement.

The head of the Darfur Regional Authority, Tijani Sissi,

said the people of Darfur have “high expectations” from the meeting.

“We expect from this confer-ence a political support for the (development) strategy, accom-panied by material and techni-cal support, to implement the reconstruction programme,” he said.

The Doha meeting comes 10 years after rebels rose up in the western Sudanese region to seek an end to what they said was the domination of power and wealth among the country’s Arab elites.

“After 10 years of emergency assistance, it is time to start rebuilding communities in Darfur, and allowing them to start taking care of themselves again,” Kuhnel said.

Some 1.4 million people have been displaced by Darfur’s dec-ade-long conflict.

Yesterday, displaced people demonstrated in several camps in Darfur, demanding that secu-rity take priority, with some

saying they would not return to their villages until peace is restored.

Major insurgent groups rejected the Doha pact, which UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in January had seen only limited progress in its implementation.

A breakaway faction of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement on Saturday became the second group to join the peace deal. It signed a “final agreement” with the Sudanese government in Doha, official media reported.

The development strategy calls for agricultural upgrades, access to financing and other measures to help Darfuris support them-selves under a more effective sys-tem of local government.

While the worst of the vio-lence has long passed, rebel-government clashes continue along with inter-Arab battles, kidnappings, carjackings and other crimes.

But the draft development

strategy on the table in Doha says there will probably never be an ideal time for recovery, and delays can only make the process more difficult.

“We are aware that it is a dif-ficult international environment to mobilise funds. But we believe that it would be a grave mistake not to seize this opportunity for the international community as a whole,” said Kuhnel.

He said not all funds need to be mobilised immediately. “We need to be able to start and receive suf-ficient funds to build credibility of the process and the strategy,” he added.

The President of Sudan Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Mohamed Bishr has expressed thanks and gratitude to the Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, government, and people of Qatar for sponsor-ing peace efforts in Darfur with patience and wisdom for the benefit of the people of Darfur and the region’s stability and security. AFP/QNA

Prime Minister meets OIC chief DOHA: The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani met yesterday at Ritz Carlton Hotel with Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Dr Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu on the sidelines of the International Donors Conference for Reconstruction and Development in Darfur. QNA

DOHA: The 4th International Symposium: Parenting and Child Wellbeing: Theory and Practice is a two-day interdisci-plinary event organised by QU’s Department of Social Sciences in the College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) and sponsored by Qatar International Islamic Bank and the Social Rehabilitation Center.

Concluding today, the confer-ence features keynote speakers from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the USA. In total, 13 separate pres-entations and discussions focus on issues including parent-child interaction, approaches to parent-ing and discipline, child abuse and neglect, social change and child welfare and child development.

CAS Dean Dr Eiman Mustafawi opened the event, followed by QU’s Associate Professor of Sociology Dr Kaltham Al Ghanim, who wel-comed the international, regional and local delegates. Dr Al Ghanim said: “This symposium aims to align practices relating to child welfare here in Qatar with the best stand-ards internationally, within the contexts of society and culture. We are grateful to our partners for their professional expertise which plays an important part

in Qatar’s development.”Professor Heather Turner,

research associate at the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, USA opened the conference with a presentation highlighting the factors which contribute to, or help limit, men-tal health problems in children. She spoke about the importance to children of having a loving, supportive, interactive and stable family which employs consistent and appropriate discipline. When one or more of these things do not occur, it can contribute to a child’s inclination to mental health issues at the time or later in life, she argued.

Other topics raised on the open-ing day included social change and child welfare, parent training pro-grams, children’s human rights and identifying and responding to child abuse by speakers from the Doha International Institute for Family Studies and Development, Hamad Medical Corporation and Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, the University of New Hampshire, USA and Georgia State University, USA.

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Consumer Protection Department (CPD) has initiated legal action against 17 outlets in the Industrial Area that were found selling expired tyres, in clear violation of the law.

The violations were detected during surprise raids conducted by inspectors of the Department.

As per the Qatari rules, tyres of cars, buses, vans and pick ups have 24 months validity starting from the date of manufacturing

while the validity is 30 months for tyres of trucks, trailers and other heavy vehicles, said a state-ment issued by the Department.

In view of the high number of violations, the Department has advised the public to clearly check the expiry date before buy-ing tyres. The year of manufac-turing could be seen written on the right side of the tyre and the week/month can be visible on the left , it added.

THE PENINSULA

Professor Heather Turner, Research Associate at the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, the US, speaking at the conference.

Fire at Msheireb Properties Project

A storage area belonging to a subcontractor working on a building at the prestigious Msheireb Properties Project caught fire last evening. Fire fight-ers rushed to the scene and brought the blaze under control, a press statement issued by Msheireb Properties said. Smoke was seen billowing out from the site close to Souq Waqif. “No one is injured in the fire and investigations are on,” the Msheireb Properties statement added.

17 outlets charged with selling expired tyres

Britain to provide $16.5m annually over the next three years

Representatives of donor countries and aid groups during the International Donors Conference for Reconstruction and Development in Darfur, which kicked off in Doha, yesterday. RIGHT: The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs H E Ahmad bin Abdullah Al Mahmoud with Joseph Stafford, head of the US delegation to the Darfur conference.

Darfur peace a reality Continued from page 1

The situation at the security level in Darfur in 2003 and the subsequent years cannot be com-pared with the current situation, he said. Peace has become a real-ity and limited and isolated opera-tions in marginal areas of Darfur have failed to shake it, prompting many people in Darfur to leave ref-ugee camps for their villages, the Premier noted.THE PENINSULA

Symposium on parenting and child well-being opens

MIDDLE EAST 07MONDAY 8 APRIL 2013


Homs under siege for 300 days: OppositionBEIRUT: A siege of Syria’s central city of Homs entered its 300th day yesterday, as troops loyal to President Bashar Al Assad wage a campaign to oust rebel groups holed up there, the opposition said.

“Three hundred days have gone by since the start of the siege of the heroic city of Homs, capital and beating heart of the Syrian revolution,” the Syrian National Council, a key component of the main opposition National Coalition, said.

Homs, the country’s third larg-est city, was one of the first to join the anti-Assad revolt that began two years ago with peaceful pro-tests but morphed into a bloody insurgency after a fierce regime crackdown on dissent.

Today, some 80 percent of the city is under tight army control, and troops use tanks, helicopters and other warplanes to bombard besieged rebel enclaves.

The army and security forces began the siege in June 2012,

setting up checkpoints all around the rebel-held districts.

Daily battles rage on the edges of the insurgent neighbourhoods, and yesterday, the army pounded the districts of Khaldiyeh, Qarabis, Qussour and Juret Al Shiyah.

“Three hundred days have gone by while the world has looked on... with all kinds of war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed in this city,” the SNC said in a statement.

“Schools and hospitals have been destroyed, water and elec-tricity have been cut off, as have communications and food supply... Civilians are deprived of medicine and treatment,” the opposition group added.

Activist Abu Bilal spoke to AFP via the Internet about life in a city under siege.

Homs is a strategic junction, linking Damascus to the major-ity Alawite coastline.

AFP

Most of Syrian city under army as civilians suffer

A general view of the destruction in Al Sukkari neighbourhood, by what activists said was an air strike by the Syrian regime, in Aleppo, yesterday.

Sudan sentences military officers to prison for plotting coupKHARTOUM: A group of Sudanese military officers were sentenced to between two and five years in prison yesterday for their role in an alleged coup last year, a lawyer said.

According to analysts, the case high-lights turmoil within the regime of President Omar Hassan Al Bashir, who himself seized power in a putsch 24 years ago. “Today the military court issued its decision about the members of SAF

(army) who have been accused of a coup. It gave various jail sentences from five years to two years against nine of the soldiers,” one of their lawyers, Hashiem Al Jali, told AFP.

All were expelled from the military but a 10th accused was freed for lack of evi-dence, Jali said, after a trial that lasted about three weeks.

Magdi El Gizouli, a fellow at the Rift Valley Institute, described the verdict as

“a political statement not a court ruling.”The heaviest sentence of five years

went to Brigadier Mohammed Ibrahim, Jali said of the man who played a role in the 1989 events which put Bashir in power.

He called it a “heavy punishment” for all the soldiers and said the defence team would look at ways of appealing to the military commander.

But a regional political expert told AFP

the penalty was in fact relatively light as they could have faced the firing squad.

“It means that President Bashir would like to calm the situation,” said the expert, asking for anonymity.

“The regime is scared about (its) opponents.”

When the trial began he said that the case against them was “not very clear” and the evidence scant, with officials releasing only vague details about the

plot. “The problem is that the people who did this this time were hardcore supporters of Bashir, once upon a time,” Gizouli said, adding that the possibility of an appeal provides room for further political negotiation.

Most of the detainees are close to a vocal group of former volunteer mujah-edeen fighters and an elite group within them called Al Saihun or “tourists for the sake of God”. AFP

DUBAI: Al Qaeda chief Ayman Al Zawahiri has urged rebels to fight to establish an Islamic state in Syria, in an online audio message yester-day in which he also warned France against its military intervention in Mali.

“Let your fight be in the name of Allah and with the aim of establishing Allah’s Shariah

(law) as the ruling system,” he said in his first message posted on the Internet since last November.

“Do all that you can so that your holy war yields a jihadist Islamic state,” said Zawahiri, adding that such a state would help to re-establish the Islamic “caliphate” system of rule.

AFP

Fight for Islamic state: Al Qaeda chief

CAIRO: Egyptian authorities released a ship loaded with heavy weapons and its crew three days after they were seized for enter-ing Egyptian territorial waters in the Red Sea, two security sources told Reuters yesterday.

The Togolese-flagged ship named COMR, with a crew of

14, was escorted into the port of Safaga, 569km south of Cairo, on Wednesday after straying into Egyptian waters off the Sinai Peninsula.

Authorities found weapons and ammunition, and detained the crew members for investigation.

REUTERS

Egypt releases ship carrying weaponsTunisia ruling coalition supporters hold protestGAFSA, TUNISIA: Tunisian police yes-terday used tear gas to disperse supporters of the Islamist-led rul-ing coalition who pro-tested against a meeting by a secular opposition party, an AFP journalist said.

“Get out!” chanted pro-testers, referring to post-revolution premier Beji Caid Essebsi, leader of the opposition movement Nidaa Tounes and a fierce opponent of the Ennahda party that heads the gov-ernment in the cradle of the Arab Spring.

Essebsi’s party, which Ennahda accuses of har-bouring remnants of the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who was ousted in 2011, is often the target of attacks by pro-government activists without police intervening, the opposi-tion says.

At the end of December, hundreds of Ennahda activists and members of the pro-government League for the Protection of the Revolution militia attacked a hotel in Djerba in the south where a Nidaa Tounes meeting was being held.

For months, the oppo-sition has demanded the disbanding of the League for the Protection of the Revolution, accusing it of brutal acts of violence, but Ennahda has steadfastly refused to disband the militia.

League members were accused of lynching a Nidaa Tounes activist in autumn last year and also of attacking the head-quarters of the UGTT, the country’s largest trade union, in December.

AFP

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BY SCOTT COOPER

I SPENT a year and a half enforc-ing “no-fly” zones over Iraq and the Balkans. My experiences con-

vinced me that the United States should declare and enforce a no-fly zone over Syria. We would do well to remember the era of no-fly zones and what they did and didn’t do.

Those who oppose a no-fly zone cite the risks: Syria has a formidable air-defense network. Policymakers fear the prospect of U.S. pilots being shot down or dragged through the streets of Damascus. Moreover, many contend that a no-fly zone will not solve the conflict. Only by arming the rebels will the tide be turned, they say, and many

of those rebels are jihadists with whom we do not want to partner. Critics of a no-fly zone also fear a slippery slope of escalated mili-tary involvement that will lead to a quagmire.

These detrac-tors miss the point, which is that a no-fly zone is only part of the solution. Its purpose is not to resolve the con-flict but to pre-vent escalation, protect innocents

and provide leverage to negotiations. In essence, a no-fly zone takes away a sin-gle tool of violence — the use of aviation — possessed by the oppressor.

Absent the no-fly zones in Bosnia, the Serbs and Croats would have wrought even more destruction than they did. Absent the no-fly zones in Iraq, one can imagine what Saddam Hussein’s air force would have done to the minor-ity Kurds and Shiites. The situation in Syria is no different. Bashar al-Assad turned his military on his own citizens,

and the tactical advantages his air force possesses are decisive. The goal of the United States and its allies would be to lessen the continued descent into a bloodbath that, over the past two-plus years, has claimed more than 70,000 lives, displaced 3.6 million people inside Syria and forced about 1.3 million to seek refuge outside of Syria.

Americans are understandably chas-tened by the experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan. We witness the chaos of Libya after the use of air power with-out a subsequent commitment of ground forces, and we are even more reluctant to engage. Many advocate a pragmatic, “lead from behind” style, arguing that we must now reason with cold-blooded calculus. Such a view misunderstands our options and our ability to influence the situation in Syria.

The logic of the 1990s was that aggressive enforcement of no-fly zones would aid civilians victimized by these conflicts, prevent escalation and, with the threat of air strikes, end the con-flicts more quickly. Those are limited objectives, but they are not insignificant.

Admittedly, air power is no pana-cea. We witnessed its limits during the Kosovo air campaign of 1999. Slobodan Milosevic called NATO’s bluff and didn’t back down after the first days of air-strikes. It is important to acknowledge the distinction between the power to deny or destroy and the power to seize or hold forcibly.

A no-fly zone is feasible. Yes, Syria possesses capable air defenses, but they are no match for U.S. air power. I flew missions over Sarajevo; over Pristina, Kosovo; over Nasiriyah and Mosul, Iraq. Not once during any of those air mis-sions did I feel as threatened as I did than when I patrolled the highways of Iraq in a Humvee. We must not lose confidence out of fear by overestimating our opponent’s capabilities.

A no-fly zone will not immediately end the conflict, but neutralizing the Syrian air force will erase one of the regime’s decisive advantages and lead to a major turning point in the con-flict. Doing so is not only morally right

but also in our strategic interest. The spillover of violence into Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq is already happening. Moreover, in a post-Assad Syria, the opposition will not forget which nations came to its aid. That was the case in Bosnia and Kosovo, and it has been the case throughout the Muslim world during the recent government upheav-als. It was also the case in Iraq, until the occupation spiraled downward into a chaotic insurgency that we initially failed to grasp.

A no-fly zone will provide more options in working with the commander of the Free Syrian Army, Gen. Salim Idriss. With established “safe zones,” Syrian rebels could be trained inside Syria. It will open the door for building governance in liberated areas.

A no-fly zone does not address the questions of a major covert-action pro-gramme and those consequent risks. But it can lessen the slaughter, and it positions the United States on the right side of the conflict, morally and strate-gically. As Nobel Peace Prize laureate Eli Wiesel eloquently said, “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.” We must take sides and not just pay lip service to a peaceful resolution.

WP-BLOOMBERG

ZIMBABWE, which for more than 30 years has suffered under the arbitrary and autocratic rule of Robert Mugabe, may

have a chance to free itself through a democratic vote. On March 16 more than 3 million of the country’s voters turned out to approve a new constitution, opening the way — years later than promised — for a new presidential election. The vote, which could take place this summer, will probably pit the 89-year-old Mugabe against his longtime rival Morgan Tsvangirai, who likely would win a free and fair ballot.

That’s where the likely trouble starts.

Tsvangirai’s victory in the first round of the last presidential election, in 2008, prompted an orgy of violence by the Mugabe regime, which assaulted vil-lages that supported the opposition and arrested and tortured many of its leaders. Some 200 people were killed; Tsvangirai refused to participate in a runoff election and Mugabe claimed a new mandate. Only the opposition leader’s subsequent agreement to join the government as prime minis-ter stopped a catastrophic economic meltdown.

With the US dollar as its currency, the Zimbabwean economy is now growing fast, thanks in part to heavy government

spending backed by loans from China. The new constitution, though flawed in some important respects, contains guarantees of human rights. But there are signs that the regime is returning to the same tactics that kept Mugabe in power four years ago. The day after the constitutional referendum three senior members of Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change were arrested, along with a leading human rights law-yer who later was released on bail.

That followed a series of raids against civic groups and grass-roots activists, like the Zimbabwe Peace Project, which investigates human rights cases. According to a report

by the BBC, police in rural areas have begun confiscating radios capable of receiving foreign broadcasts — pre-sumably so that there will be no com-petition for the state broadcaster during the upcoming campaign.

The only way to stop Mugabe and the thugs around him from manipulating the coming election is aggressive inter-vention by outsiders. That starts with Zimbabwe’s neighbors in the Southern African Development Community, which permitted the regime to get away with the outrages of 2008; South Africa and other governments must stand up against the incipient abuses before it is too late. The Washington Post

A Syrian no-fly zone is the moral, strategic thing to do

We would like to see this (Israel-Turkey) relationship that is important to stability in the Middle East, critical to the peace process itself, we would like to see this relationship get back on track in its full measure.

Quote ofthe day

John KerryUS Secretary of State

The other side

Its purpose is not to resolve the conflict but to prevent escalation, protect innocents and provide leverage to negotiations.

A no-fly zone does not address the questions of a major covert-action programme and those consequent risks. But it can lessen the slaughter, and it positions the United States on the right side of the conflict, morally and strategically.

T HOUGH North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has succeeded in ratcheting up tension in the region with his vociferous threats of military attacks against American and South Korean targets, there

is a shroud of secrecy about his intentions. It’s has been more than a week since Jong-un started making grandiose threats, but the international community has been unable to read his mind.

A few days ago, Kim threatened that he would not be able to guarantee the safety of foreign diplomats in his country if they chose to remain in their missions, but his warning failed to create panic and the diplomats chose to stay where they were. There is an abundance of confusion and uncertainty about what Pyongyang will do. Kim has been talking about attacking his powerful rivals as if it’s as easy as launching an internal military exercise, but the at the same time, South Korea and the US can’t ignore those threats because of the recklessness and desperation of North Korea.

The tension in the region has reached dangerous levels and all sides need to step back from the brink. The US decision to abandon a planned missile test in the region has helped prevent a further escalation. Carrying out the tests would have infuriated Pyongyang, which has already been provoked

by a joint US-South Korean military exercise in the region, forcing the maverick regime to resort to some face-saving measures. The US and South Korea must exercise more restraint in their reactions to threats. Reports say that Pyongyang might test-launch a missile this week as a response. It is said to have loaded two medium-range missiles on mobile launchers and hidden them in underground facilities near its east

coast, raising speculation it is preparing for a provocative launch.

Engagement with the North Korean regime has been suggested by some experts and that is an idea worth exploring. At the weekend, the South Korean media reported calls from both sides of the political divide in Seoul for the administration to send an envoy to Pyongyang to lay the foundation for talks. That will be a bold and encouraging step. Even if Kim Jong-un doesn’t react positively to such gestures, he will be forced to restrain his bellicosity.

There is another interpretation to North Korea’s belligerence – that there is a method in Kim’s madness. According to defectors from North Korea, his motivation is said to be not war, but simple regime survival, and he wants his future to be guaranteed by aid from the same country he threatened with nuclear annihilation: the United States. Kim could also be trying to consolidate his hold on power through military means as he is left with no other options. Being new in his seat, it’s time for him to prove himself, to show that he is as strong as his father in taking the nation forward •

A call for dialogue

As North Korea continues its sabre-rattling, engagement is the only way to reduce tension.

Editorial

08 VIEWS MONDAY 8 APRIL 2013


Keeping Mugabe in check

VIEWS 09MONDAY 8 APRIL 2013


Democrats seek infusion of new faces

BY PAUL KANE

Democratic Party officials believe that Kevin Strouse is exactly the kind of candidate who can

help them retake the House next year.

He’s a smart, young former Army Ranger — good qualities for any aspiring politician. But what party leaders really like is that Strouse doesn’t have particularly strong views on the country’s hot-test issues.

Immigration? Tax policy? “Certainly I have a lot of research to do,” Strouse acknowledged in an interview on Thursday as he announced his candidacy in a sub-urban Philadelphia House district.

Strouse’s candidacy reflects an emerging Democratic strategy for taking back the House from Republicans after the tea party takeover of 2010.

The best way to defeat the conservative, ideologically driven GOP, Democrats say, is to field non-ideological “problem solvers” who can profit from the fed-up-with-partisanship mood of some suburban areas. These districts will offer some of the few com-petitive House campaigns in the country.

“You pick your strategic high ground and force them to fight on it,” said Rep Steve Israel, D-NY, who as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has begun a particularly early effort at travelling the country and working the phones to lure

Strouse and others like him into races.

Israel’s approach is a variation on the model used by then-Rep Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill, the cam-paign committee chairman in 2006 when Democrats took over the House in George W Bush’s “six-year itch” midterm. Emanuel sought out centrists and conserv-atives to run in rural districts, particularly in the South.

But after the GOP 2010 wave and the redrawing of district lines, most of those seats have been locked away for Republicans. What remains are a clutch of sub-urban seats — not unlike Israel’s own on Long Island — full of non-partisan professionals who are more concerned about day-to-day issues than ideological battles.

Democrats have identified 52 possible districts where they could flip a seat, many in subur-ban areas where party officials hope to attract candidates who can break free from traditional partisan labels.

Strouse, 33, fits the bill. He enlisted in the Army in spring 2001. A suburban Philadelphia native, he served three combat stints in Afghanistan and one in Iraq as an Army Ranger, and was among the ground troops who recovered Jessica Lynch in the earliest days of Iraq combat. He then joined the CIA, where he

spent six years in counterterror-ism operations. Strouse is running to unseat Rep Mike Fitzpatrick, R, from a district directly north of Philadelphia, a swing area that since 1979 has sent Republicans to Congress for 18 years and Democrats for 16 years.

Across the country, Israel and Democrats are fighting history. Democrats did well last year, but fell 17 seats short of the majority in the House. And only once in the past 60 years has the president’s party gained seats at the halfway point of his second term.

The independent Rothenberg Political Report rates only 50 total seats as competitive, split evenly between the two sides. Republicans begin the 18-month stretch to Election Day with 209 seats safely in their cor-ner, meaning they need to win just nine of the 50 battleground seats to secure the majority for the entire four-year stretch of Obama’s second term, according to Rothenberg.

Republicans intend to play political offence, too. On Wednesday, the National Republican Congressional Committee rolled out ads against seven Democrats for opposing a GOP-drafted balanced budget plan. Five of those come from deep red districts that have sup-ported the past three Republican

presidential nominees.“The map leans to the right.

Their only path to the majority has got to be winning Republican districts,” said Daniel Scarpinato, spokesman for the NRCC.

This landscape was created, in part, by GOP-dominated state legislatures drawing up most of the House districts after the 2010 census. Their precision was borne out by last year’s election results: While Obama beat GOP nominee Mitt Romney by nearly 5 million votes, the president won a major-ity of votes in just 208 House dis-tricts to Romney’s 227.

The Democrats think their strategy can neutralise some of the map’s built-in disadvantages.

Strouse introduced himself last week as a candidate who knows how to “solve problems” and who “got the job done” protecting the nation.

“I’ve thrived in situations where there’s a fair amount of chaos,” Strouse, a graduate of Columbia University and Georgetown’s mas-ter’s programme in security stud-ies, said in a telephone interview.

Strouse only recently became a registered Democrat. “I took with pride that I was working in these nonpartisan organisations,” he said of the Army and CIA. Eventually, he became shocked by “the degree to which the Republican Party moved to the

right” on social and fiscal issues.He does not yet have deeply

ingrained policy prescriptions. On gun control, he favours instituting a universal background check, but on taxes he said he is still study-ing what levels of higher revenue taxation he would support for a broad budget deal.

In his discussions with Democratic leaders, Strouse said they focused on his background. “They’ve just liked the bio,” he said.

Fitzpatrick, who lost the seat in 2006 and won it back in 2010, is an experienced campaigner who has raised $8m for his last three races. He spent the past week explaining to local officials why he supported the austere budget proposal offered by Rep Paul Ryan, R-Wis, but he also attended events that appeal to the suburban professionals criti-cal to winning the district, such as supporting a local effort to curb child abuse.

He declined to comment on Strouse, but Pennsylvania Republicans have privately sig-nalled that they intend to ques-tion whether Strouse, who grew up in nearby Delaware County, has any real connection to Bucks County. In his pitch to the candi-date, Israel gave Strouse encour-agement but also delivered some tough-minded warnings: how he would need to raise millions of dollars, how his opponents would come after him, how the father of two children under 3 would lose his privacy.

Israel has been busy finding other candidates with similar problem-solving appeal.

In a district stretching from the New York suburbs up past Albany, Democrats are backing Sean Eldridge, 26, an investor married to Chris Hughes, the billionaire co-founder of Facebook. Eldridge runs an investment fund in the Hudson Valley and his political background is limited to advocacy work on issues such as “queer” marriage. In Tallahassee, Gwen Graham announced her bid this week for a northwest Florida district. The daughter of former Senator and Governor Bob Graham, D, Gwen Graham’s campaign presents her as a “consensus builder” with the “skills to solve complicated prob-lems.” Her work as legal adviser for the local school board and school superintendent is her best credential in public service.

No matter who runs, the suc-cess or failure of Israel’s strategy will depend on money.

Israel has been travelling the country to win over sceptics, delivering detailed, 90-minute presentations laying out what he sees as a path to victory. A

Washington Post reporter was granted access to a presentation delivered recently to donors in Manhattan.

Israel’s pitch is built around the idea that Republicans won as many as 30 seats by single-digit margins, giving Democrats immediate opportunities. Another 22 were unique targets with districts more favourable to Democrats in non-presidential years or where the party ran poor campaigns in 2012. Texas and Florida still have to resolve legal battles over their congres-sional maps, and Democrats believe the final configurations will produce several more seats for them.

Without a presidential contest to compete with, Democrats also believe liberal mega-donors will open their wallets more gener-ously to House Majority PAC, a super PAC supporting House Democrats. Its director, Ali Lapp, a former DCCC adviser, can attend events with Israel at this early stage of the campaign season without violating laws pro-hibiting the two committees from coordinating their activities.

“The House Majority PAC is the super PAC dedicated to retak-ing the House,” Israel told New York donors, introducing them to Lapp.

All 10 of House Majority’s initial targets are suburban Republicans. In 2012, the super PAC spent $40m for House Democrats, and the budget for 2014 will be much larger.

So too will Republican super PAC budgets, many orchestrated by Karl Rove, which is why Israel is happy to have Obama actively working on his behalf.

The president admitted to Pelosi and Israel in an election night phone call that he had ignored their past requests for help. “What I couldn’t do in 2012, I’m in big time in 2014. I am in, and I mean it,” Obama told the lawmakers, according to Israel’s recounting. Obama began his first-ever concerted campaign for House Democrats on Wednesday in San Francisco, a more than $3.2m night that served as the first of eight DCCC fundraisers he plans to participate in this year.

In his remarks, Obama credited Israel with “doing an often thank-less, extraordinarily difficult job” with “boundless energy.”

Pelosi said that energy, along with a New Yorker’s hardened sense of reality, is why she forced Israel into another term trying to win back the majority.

“He doesn’t sugarcoat any pros-pect that we’re on,” she said, “but he’s confident that we have a path to victory.” WP-BLOOMBERG

Are you the owner of your DNA?BY JEFFREY A ROSENFELD and CHRISTOPHER E MASON

Asked in 1955 whether his polio vaccine was patented, Jonas Salk replied, “There is no

patent. Could you patent the sun?” With that, Salk debunked the misguided notion of patenting objects found in nature. His polio vaccine was not a new invention but an inactive form of the natu-ral polio virus.

Today, Salk would be shocked to find that your DNA belongs not to you but rather to many companies and institutions that have patents on the DNA from your cells. Forty-one percent of the genes in your genome are not legally yours, according to a long list of gene patents that have been granted since the 1980s. These patents cover thousands of human genes and restrict a doc-tor’s ability to look at your DNA and plan your medical treatment. These patent claims contradict an intuitive sense that your DNA is no less yours than your lungs or kidneys.

Fortunately, the Supreme Court has a chance to rectify this genetic injustice. The justices will hear oral argument on April 15 over a lower federal court’s deci-sion that human genes can be pat-ented. The case involves Myriad Genetics, which received patents in the 1990s for the exclusive right

to examine any isolated DNA that contains the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Most people have normal versions of these genes, but those who carry mutations of BRCA usually have an 85 to 90 per-cent risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer. Doctors cannot independently look at the genetic code in a person’s BRCA genes, because as soon as blood is drawn and DNA is isolated to examine those genes, it is immediately the legal property of Myriad Genetics.

Like many scientists, we believe that these patents never should have been granted and that the genes of the human genome, like other natural body parts, belong to their owners, not to companies seeking to exploit monopolies. If the court allows these types of patents to stand, it will put the endeavours of openly researching, preventing and treating lethal diseases on a lower level of impor-tance than a set of ill-conceived property rights.

Because of Myriad’s patents, any American who wants to have his or her DNA tested for the potentially life-threatening BRCA mutations has to use the services of Myriad Genetics. There is no possibility of an independent test. Myriad charges about $3,000 for the testing, but hundreds of clini-cal laboratories nationwide could do it for less than $200.

Worse, the restrictions of Myriad’s patents are not lim-ited to breast cancer genes. The

company claims any piece of DNA having “at least 15 nucleotides” of the BRCA1 gene. In work we recently published in the journal Genome Medicine, we found that these short sequences in BRCA1 also appear in 689 other genes that have a wide variety of functions, including brain development and proper cardiac functioning.

Myriad’s claim is outrageous but must be understood in con-text. All of the genes in the human genome share 15 nucle-otide sequences with numerous other genes. So the broad reach of a patent on a single gene is not unique to Myriad’s claims on BRCA1. If patents allow claims for 15 nucleotide sequences, then a patent that was issued for bovine improvement to Cargill, an agri-cultural company that provides advice on cattle breeding, covers 84 percent of human genes, even though Cargill is interested only in cows. This lack of specificity underscores why patents on short, indiscriminate DNA sequences never should have been issued.

Patenting such a fundamen-tal piece of the human genome has been opposed by thousands of scientists and clinicians, hun-dreds of medical organisations, and many Nobel laureates. Some have likened it to patenting ele-ments of the periodic table. Such patents grant an exclusive claim that covers an entire landscape of rights in non-related fields. In the case of BRCA1, data from

large-scale cancer projects such as the Cancer Genome Atlas have shown that BRCA1 is mutated in not only breast and ovarian cancer but also at least 21 other types of cancer that afflict both men and women. Myriad’s patent means it owns the monopoly on testing DNA from any patient for any of those cancers, even though the company does not do work on the majority of those diseases. So Myriad’s control extends far beyond just breast cancer testing, inhibiting the creation of optimal tests for many other cancers.

Some argue that patents to genes are essential to encour-age pharmaceutical companies to invest the resources required to produce new therapies and to identify unknown genes. But the sequencing of genetic variants is a very small part of drug design. Of course, once a pharmaceutical company has developed a novel therapeutic agent to target a specific disease, that treatment can be patented and should be rewarded for its innovation. Others argue that the testing company must be compensated to encourage it to develop new tests.

All Americans should have the freedom to test their DNA as their doctors deem necessary. It is imperative that the Supreme Court invalidate Myriad’s patent, defend genomic liberty and make clear that one’s genes belong to that person alone.

WP-BLOOMBERG

US President Barack Obama addresses a joint session of the US Congress with Vice President Joe Biden (left) and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Without a presidential contest to compete with, Democrats also believe liberal mega-donors will open their wallets more generously to House Majority PAC.

South American tiger begins to roarDR FANDER FALCONI

The jaguar is the tiger of the South American conti-nent. Living in the Amazon

rainforest, it symbolises agility, cunning and surprise. Ecuador is now being described as Latin America’s jaguar. That’s because not only have we broken with the orthodoxies of the Washington consensus but we are developing innovative economic alternatives of our own, born in the southern hemisphere.

Ecuador’s transformation began in 2007, after the electoral victory of President Rafael Correa’s so-called citizen’s revolution. After six years in office, the revolution won a new democratic majority in February, with 57pc of the vote in the presidential election and two-thirds of the seats in the parlia-ment. By rejecting the neoliberal recipes of privatisation, structural adjustment and curtailed demand, we have grown by 4.3pc over the last five years despite the global slowdown. Central to this growth, and to the reduction of unemploy-ment to the lowest rate in the region, has been public invest-ment, which at 14pc in 2011 is the highest in Latin America.

This is a key part of moving our economy away from reliance on exports and mineral extraction, to one based on knowledge. We have

also reformed and re-regulated the banking system, expanded the role of co-operatives and credit unions, and renegotiated lopsided agreements with multinationals.

Our alternative model for society is based on the concept of “good living” — “buen vivir” in Spanish, or “sumak kausay” as it is in Quechua, our indigenous Andean language. Rooted in the ancient societies of the Andes, this is not a return to the past but looks to the future, rejecting narrow conceptions of develop-ment exclusively based on eco-nomic growth. And it rejects the false dichotomy between state and market in favour of a more com-plex interrelation of society with state, market and nature.

During the first term of the citizen’s revolution, incomes were redistributed and poverty rapidly reduced. According to the UN, Ecuador cut inequality by more than any other Latin American country between 2007 and 2011 —this in a region with the greatest concentration of social inequal-ity in the world. To do this, we have prioritised our population’s rights over our commitments to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The writer is Ecuador’s national secretary of planning and develop-ment. GUARDIAN NEWS

Egypt Copts attacked

Egyptian Coptic Christians try to smother flames on their clothes after they were attacked by unidentified people outside the cathedral in the central Cairo neighbourhood of Abbassiya, yesterday, following funeral prayers for four Christians killed in sectarian clashes.

10 MIDDLE EASTMONDAY 8 APRIL 2013


Kerry urges Israel, Turkey to come closerISTANBUL: US Secretary of State John Kerry urged Turkey and Israel yesterday to restore full relations, calling this vital to regional stability, but said it was not up to Washington to dictate the conditions of rapprochement.

An Israeli-Turkish recon-ciliation could improve regional coordination to contain spillover from the Syrian civil war and ease Israel’s diplomatic isolation in the Middle East as it faces the challenge of Iran’s nuclear programme.

Kerry said it was imperative for Israel to honour its commit-ment to pay compensation to the families of those who were killed by Israeli marines aboard a Turkish vessel trying to break a naval blockade on Gaza in 2010, and for both countries to return their ambassadors.

He was speaking in Istanbul some two weeks after US President Barack Obama bro-kered a thaw between Turkey and Israel, whose relations were fro-zen by the killing of nine Turkish citizens in that raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.

“With respect to the Israel-Turkey track, it is not for the United States to be setting condi-tions or terms,” Kerry told report-ers alongside Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

“We would like to see this relationship that is important to stability in the Middle East, criti-cal to the peace process itself, we would like to see this relationship get back on track in its full meas-ure,” he said.

“To be back on track in its full measure it is imperative that the compensation component of the agreement be fulfilled, that the ambassadors be returned and that full relationship be embraced, but it’s not up to us to discuss the timing.” Israel on March 22 bowed to a long-standing demand by Ankara, once its close strategic

partner, to apologise formally for the deaths aboard the Turkish ship Navi Marmara.

It was boarded by Israeli marines who had intercepted the flotilla challenging Israel’s naval blockade of the Palestinian-run Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he had agreed to conclude an agreement on compensation and that he and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to normalise ties, includ-ing re-installing their respective ambassadors.

An Israeli delegation is expected to arrive in Turkey this week to begin discussing the details of the compensation agreement. Neither country has said, however, when their ambassadors would go back.

Despite Obama’s having pulled off a diplomatic coup — a three-way telephone call with the Israeli and Turkish prime ministers, who had not spoken since 2011, some officials in Washington are wor-ried Turkey might be backtrack-ing on the deal.

Hours after the Israeli apol-ogy, large billboard posters sanc-tioned by Turkey’s ruling party mayor, appeared in the Turkish capital showing a glum-looking Netanyahu next to a glowing pic-ture of Erdogan, suggesting some in Ankara were taking a trium-phalist tone.

Erdogan then told a rally broadcast live on television that the apology signalled Turkey’s growing regional clout.

But Kerry said Turkey had responded “sensitively” and “thoughtfully” to the apology. “They have taken steps to try to prevent any sense of trium-phalism. It has not come from the government. In fact, there has been limited response by the government itself and I think it’s important for everybody to take note of that,” Kerry said.

REUTERS

US won’t set terms for relations

US Secretary of State John Kerry (right) meets Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on his arrival in the ‘Muqata,’ the Palestinian Authority’s headquarters, in the West Bank town of Ramallah, yesterday.

Talks with Iran to continue, says USISTANBUL: US Secretary of State John Kerry said yester-day world powers would pur-sue further talks with Iran to resolve a decade-old dispute over its nuclear programme, but stressed the process could not go on forever.

The six powers and Iran failed again to bridge wide differences at weekend talks in Kazakhstan, prolonging a stand-off that could yet erupt into a new Middle East war. No new talks were scheduled.

“This is not an interminable process,” said Kerry after arriving in Istanbul yesterday on the first leg of a 10-day trip to the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

He said US President Barack Obama was committed to con-tinuing the diplomatic proc-ess despite what he called the

complicating factor of an Iranian presidential election in June.

“Diplomacy is a painful task ... and a task for the patient,” Kerry told a news conference.

Big powers suspect Iran is try-ing to develop the means to pro-duce nuclear weapons under the guise of a declared civilian atomic energy programme. Iran denies the accusation.

Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz urged the powers yesterday to set a dead-line of weeks for military action to persuade Iran to halt its uranium enrichment activity.

Steinitz, close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Army Radio action should be taken within “a few weeks, a month” if Iran did not stop work of possible use in yielding a

nuclear bomb, which Israel sees as a potential threat to its existence.

Tehran accuses Israel of threat-ening peace in the region and refuses to recognise the Jewish state, which is widely believed to harbour the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal.

European Union foreign pol-icy chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany in talks with Iran, said the two sides failed to resolve key differences during the two-day talks in Almaty.

“... It is important to continue to talk and to try to find common ground,” Kerry said. “So we hope that out of Almaty will come a narrowing of some of the differ-ences. We remain open and hope-ful that a diplomatic solution can

be found.” The six powers want the Islamic Republic to suspend its higher-grade uranium enrich-ment work in return for modest relief from international sanc-tions, an offer Iran did not accept.

Iran’s most powerful figure, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last say on all state matters, has shown no sign of willingness to scale back Iran’s nuclear activity.

“As a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran has the right to enrich uranium ... The Islamic Republic will never stop its enrichment work,” the head of parliament’s Foreign Affairs and National Security Committee, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, said, according to Iran’s ISNA news agency.

REUTERS

Tehran stops Saudi diplomat from leavingTEHRAN: Iran has barred a Saudi diplomat allegedly involved in a deadly drink-driving accident from leaving the country, Fars news agency cited top lawmaker as saying yesterday.

The unnamed diplomat was “barred from leaving until the clarification of the (legal) status” of the case, Allaedin Boroujerdi, who heads the parliament’s influ-ential foreign policy committee, was quoted as saying.

An Iranian citizen was killed in mid-March when the diplomat’s car reportedly hit another vehicle on an expressway in Tehran while speeding at 130kph.

Boroujerdi said that while for-eign mission staff have diplomatic immunity, “they have to observe the country’s regulations”.

The diplomat, he said, had also “violated international law” as a field sobriety test conducted by the police indicated the official had been “drunk” at the scene of the accident.

“Several bottles of alcoholic drinks, some of which were already open,” were found in the diplomat’s car, he added.

Iran’s foreign ministry in late March protested to the Saudi embassy about the deadly acci-dent, initiating diplomatic and judicial protocols.

At the time, it said the diplo-mat had exceeded the speed limit, and the allegations of drink-driving were only reported in the media.

The consumption of alcohol is forbidden in Iran under its Islamic Shariah law.

AFP

Iraq reforms law on Saddam partyBAGHDAD: Iraq’s cabinet unveiled sweeping reforms to a law barring members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party from public life yesterday as part of moves to placate angry rallies by the country’s Sunni Arab minority.

The amendment to the De-Baathification law still needs to be approved by parliament, where it is expected to face stiff opposition, but it is among a raft of concessions to demonstrators who have alleged that the Shia-led authorities unfairly target the Sunni community. The protests since December lie at the heart of a political dispute that has pitted Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, who is Shia, against several of his erstwhile national unity govern-ment partners, in particular those from Sunni and Kurdish parties.

Ministers yesterday approved a draft amendment that would allow Baath party branch chiefs, or firqa-level members, to rejoin

the civil service, and would pro-vide for pension payments for many members of the Fedayeen Saddam, a paramilitary organi-sation loyal to the now-ousted dictator.

It would also put a time limit on the law, ensuring that only names blacklisted by the end of 2013 would be restricted from public life. In all, the draft law would allow thousands of people to either enter the civil service or receive pensions.

Cabinet also approved amend-ments to laws on the use of secret informants and the seizure of property, both of which are major frustrations to the Sunni Arab community. “Cabinet today approved an important amend-ment to the law of Justice and Accountability,” Deputy Prime Minister Saleh Al Mutlak said in a statement summarising the reforms, referring to the formal name for Iraq’s De-Baathification law. AFP

PM’s office under cyber attack, but Israel govt calmJERUSALEM: Hackers have launched an assault on Israeli websites, but the damage has been minimal as the Jewish state is prepared to fend off such attacks, one of the country’s top cyber experts said yesterday.

The hackers associated with the activist group Anonymous reportedly hit the websites of the premier’s office, the defence

ministry, the education minis-try and the Central Bureau of Statistics, among others, but all appeared to be running normally.

“As of midday (0900 GMT) the sites of the government of Israel are available to the public, as they have been all weekend,” the finance ministry said in a state-ment. It said the education minis-try site had been temporarily out

of action “because of a technical fault which has been fixed.” It did not elaborate.

Later yesterday, the foreign ministry website was also “para-lysed for a few moments before returning to normal,” the finance ministry said, warning of pos-sible slowdowns or temporary cuts on official sites. Speaking to army radio, Professor Yitzhak

ben Israel, head of the National Council for Research and Development, said the scope of the damage to Israeli sites was “more or less non-existent”.

“That’s because of our prepar-edness in advance,” said Ben Israel, who founded the National Cyber Bureau which operates out of the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Ben Israel said it was

highly unlikely that Anonymous was seeking to do real damage to the country’s key infrastructure.

“Anonymous doesn’t have the ability, nor is it its aim to destroy the country’s essential infrastruc-ture. If it was, it wouldn’t have announced it in advance,” he said, indicating the aim was probably to stir debate over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. AFP

Kerry hails PKK move on ceasefireISTANBUL: US Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday hailed the commitment of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to a ceasefire under a renewed push by the Turkish government to end three decades of hostilities.

“We welcome the PKK’s com-mitment to lay down its arms,” Kerry told a news conference in Istanbul with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

“We discussed our work to combat terrorism in all its forms ... including the violence that has plagued Turkey for three long decades,” he said.

“No peace process is easy. It always takes courage and determination.”

Both countries are members of Nato, and the United States has for several years supported Ankara in its fight against the PKK on Iraqi soil.

The PKK is blacklisted as a terror group by Ankara, the European Union and the United States.

Jailed Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan last month called for a ceasefire in a move that raised expectations for an end to a conflict that has cost some 45,000 lives, mostly Kurdish.

AFP

INTERNATIONAL 11MONDAY 8 APRIL 2013


Ruffled by wind

A gust of wind blows Pope Francis’ mantle at the bal-cony of St John’s in Lateran Basilica after celebrating a solemn mass in Rome, yesterday. The Pontiff officially took possession of the basilica which is his cathedral in his capacity as Bishop of Rome.

Vote for me or get cursed: MaduroHugo Chavez’s protege alleges US-supported plot to kill him during campaignCARACAS: Venezuelan acting President Nicolas Maduro said yesterday a centuries-old curse would fall on the heads of those who do not vote for him in next week’s election to pick a succes-sor to late leader Hugo Chavez.

Maduro’s invocation of the “curse of Macarapana” was the latest twist in an increasingly sur-real fight between him and oppo-sition leader Henrique Capriles for control of the South American OPEC nation of 29 million people.

“If anyone among the people votes against Nicolas Maduro, he is voting against himself, and the curse of Macarapana is fall-ing on him,” said Maduro, refer-ring to the 16th-century Battle of Macarapana when Spanish colonial fighters massacred local Indian forces.

Wearing a local indigenous hat at a rally in Amazonas state, a largely jungle territory on the borders of Brazil and Colombia, Maduro compared Capriles and the opposition coalition to the enslaving Spanish occupiers.

“If the bourgeoisie win, they are going to privatise health and education, they are going to take land from the Indians, the curse of Macarapana would come on you,” he added.

Calling himself the “son” of Chavez, Maduro has more than a 10-point lead in most polls, although Capriles supporters are predicting a late pro-opposition surge as sympathy wears off from the former president’s death a month ago.

Capriles, 40, a state governor, says Venezuela needs a fresh start

after 14 years of Chavez’s hardline socialism, and is vowing to install a Brazilian-style administration of free-market economics with strong social policies.

He ridiculed Maduro’s latest speech. “Anyone who threatens the people, who tells the people a curse can fall on them, has no

right to govern this country,” he said at a rally in western Tachira state.

“I tell you here, all Venezuelans, the real curse is that little group that we are going to get rid of on April 14.”

The opposition leader also continued to mock Maduro’s

twice-told story of having seen the spirit of Chavez in a bird that flew over his head and sang to him last week.

While to some outsiders, talk of spirits and curses may seem absurd in an election campaign, Venezuela’s mix of Catholic and animist beliefs, especially in the

south-central plains and jun-gles, is fertile ground for such references.

Maduro also revived accusa-tions of a plot to kill him, saying foreign mercenaries had entered from Central America with plans to spread violence and sabotage the electricity grid.

“The third aim is to kill me. They want to kill me because they know I can’t be beaten in free elections,” he said at a later rally, again alleging the complicity of current and former US officials along with right-wing politicians in El Salvador.

“They sent paid hitmen to kill me. ... But I won’t let myself be killed. I will remain on the streets with the people.”

The US government, and two former Bush administration offi-cials named by Maduro, have denied and ridiculed the claims that echoed Chavez’s frequent denunciations of assassination plots against him during his 14-year rule. Maduro, 50, was a bus driver and union leader who rose to become Chavez’s foreign minister and then vice president.

In his daily campaign rallies, Maduro has been referring con-stantly to Chavez and playing a video where the former presi-dent endorses his protege last year as his successor. Puncturing Capriles’ public admiration of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Maduro has also been playing a video of the former Brazilian president endorsing him too. At his ral-lies, Capriles mocks Maduro as a cheap imitation of Chavez.

REUTERS

Nigeria militants kill 12 copsYENAGOA, NIGERIA: Nigerian militants have ambushed a police boat in the oil-producing Niger Delta region, killing 12 police officers, authorities said yesterday.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the main delta militant group before a 2009 amnesty, claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack, staged shortly after it had threatened to resume its campaign of violence. However, another of the armed groups roaming Africa’s top oil producer said it had carried out the ambush near the village of Azuzama, in which a further 38 police officers survived.

MEND, whose activities at their peak cut oil production in Nigeria by around half before the

amnesty, threatened to restart attacks this week in retaliation for the jailing of its leader Henry Okah by a South African court.

MEND said it had attacked the boat heading to a funeral in Bayelsa state because govern-ment forces had refused to take its threat seriously.

“For dismissing (our state-ment) ... as an ‘empty threat’, heavily armed fighters from ... MEND intercepted and engaged government security forces in a fierce gunfight at Azuzama,” said an emailed statement signed by Jomo Gbomo, a pseudonym the group uses. “All oil companies and the public are advised to ignore the false sense of security being peddled,” it said, maintaining that the attack had been on Saturday,

rather than Friday. Bayelsa state governor Henry Dickson con-firmed the 12 policemen were dead. A resurgence of militant activ-ity would be a blow to President Goodluck Jonathan, who helped to negotiate the amnesty and who is from the same Ijaw ethnic group as most of the militants. His administration’s security forces are already stretched by an Islamist insurgency in the north.

It would also be a major prob-lem for multinational energy companies such as leading oper-ator Royal Dutch Shell, already contending with industrial scale oil theft by armed gangs that saps up to a fifth of Nigeria’s 2 million barrel-a-day output, according to some government estimates.

REUTERS

Venezuelan Acting President and presidential candidate Nicolas Maduro drives a bus during an electoral campaign act in Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela, yesterday.

US immigration bill by end of the weekWASHINGTON: A bill to overhaul the US immigration system would likely be com-pleted by the end of this week, two senior US senators said yesterday.

Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York said that senators in the bipartisan “Group of Eight” have resolved all major issues in a pending deal and that their staff is putting the bill into legislative language.

“All of us have said that they’ll be no deal until the eight of us agree to a big, specific bill, but hopefully we can get that done by the end of the week,” he said on CBS’s Face the Nation programme.

“There have been kerfuffles along the way, but each one of those thus far has been settled,” said Schumer, a member of the group, which has four Democrats and four Republicans.

All eight members must then review the legislative language, he said. The US Chamber of Commerce, and the AFL-CIO, the largest labour federation, reached an elusive agreement on a guest-worker programme late last month, clearing the way for the writing of a full bill. The legislation will include an earned pathway to US citizenship for an estimated 11 million undocu-mented immigrants. REUTERS

Welfare should be linked to contributions, says LabourLONDON: Britain’s opposition Labour Party is set to overhaul its welfare policies to link state help to individual contributions, countering charges by the gov-erning Conservatives that it is soft on benefit scroungers.

Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show yesterday, Labour dep-uty leader Harriet Harman said people in work should go to the top of social housing waiting lists and the unemployed should take up job offers or lose benefits after two years.

Labour’s proposals, which mark a break from the principle that certain social benefits are uni-versal, came days after the gov-ernment started overhauling a welfare system that costs £200bn a year.

A YouGov poll for The Sun yesterday showed 67 percent of voters think the welfare system does not work and needs urgent reform. The issue is set to play a major part in the next election due in 2015.

Labour’s welfare policies would be fairer and founded on ensuring a supply of well-paying jobs for all, providing stronger incentives to seek employment, Harman said.

“Work should pay. Secondly, there should be an obligation to take work,” she said. “There should be support through a con-tributory principle, for people putting in to the system as well as taking out.”

Under welfare caps and cuts coming into effect this month, households will not be able to claim more than £26,000 each year in welfare. This comes as the government tries to eliminate its underlying budget deficit by the 2016-17 fiscal year, from 6.8 per-cent of gross domestic product in the current financial year.

Labour’s move came after Chancellor George Osborne on Thursday upped the temperature of the debate on welfare by saying a man jailed for life for killing six of his children in a fire was the “vile product” of the benefits sys-tem. In a letter to The Sun, Prime Minister David Cameron said the welfare system had “lost its way” and had become a “lifestyle choice for some”. “We are putting fair-ness back at the heart of Britain. We are building a country for those who work hard and want to get on. And we are saying to each and every hardworking per-son in our country: we are on your side,” Cameron wrote. Labour led the Conservatives in a YouGov poll of voter intention in the Sunday Times, by 40 percent to 30 percent. REUTERS

Flood damage in Argentina put at $5bnBUENOS AIRES: Damage from last week’s record rains and flooding in Argentina exceeded $5bn, according to officials, who said yesterday that more than 350,000 people suffered losses in property.

“More than 350,000 of our neighbours were affected directly or indirectly by the storm, which caused 2.6 billion pesos in damage,” according to a

press release by the Telam gov-ernment news agency.

Officials said 59 people are confirmed to have died in the disaster, after two days of storms unleashed torrential rains which led to historic flooding.

Flooding submerged cars and sent people scrambling to rooftops for safety, inundating Buenos Aires and the city of La

Plata, some 60kmsouth of the capital.

Authorities said the storm damaged some 60,000 homes in La Plata — about a quarter of all the dwellings in the city of nearly one million people.

The population of Buenos Aires, where the storm damage was not quite as severe, is about 16 million.

President Cristina Kirchner

set three days of national mourning in honour of the vic-tims which was due to end yes-terday. Several days after the disaster, officials yesterday were continuing to distribute water, food, clothing and medicine to those in need. Flood waters reached two meters in some places, turning roadways into raging rivers.

AFP

12 ASIA / PHILIPPINESMONDAY 8 APRIL 2013


Beijing warns against creating chaos in regionN Korea missile launch likely: SeoulBEIJING/SEOUL: China warned against “troublemak-ing” on its doorstep, in an appar-ent rebuke to North Korea, and the United States said it was postponing a missile test to help calm high tension on the divided Korean peninsula.

The North, led by 30-year-old Kim Jong-un, has been issuing vitriolic threats of war against the United States and US-backed South Korea since the United Nations imposed sanctions in response to its third nuclear weapon test in February.

Pyongyang’s anger appears heightened by US-South Korean joint military exercises. But most analysts say it has no intention of starting a conflict that would bring its own destruction and instead is out to wring conces-sions from a nervous interna-tional community.

The North told diplomats late last week to consider leaving Pyongyang because of the tension, but embassies appeared to view the appeal as more rhetoric and staff have stayed put.

South Korea said it was ready for any kind of action that the North’s unpredictable leaders might make — including a possible missile launch — by Wednesday, after which the North said it could not guarantee diplomats’ safety.

China, North Korea’s sole financial and diplomatic backer, has shown growing irritation with

Pyongyang’s warnings of nuclear war.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, addressing a forum on the south-ern island of Hainan, did not name North Korea but said no country “should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain”.

Stability in Asia, he said, “faces new challenges, as hot spot issues keep emerging and both tradi-tional and non-traditional secu-rity threats exist”.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi expressed similar frustration in a statement late on Saturday, relating a telephone conversation with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

“We oppose provocative words and actions from any party in the region and do not allow trouble making on China’s doorstep,” Wang said, according to a minis-try statement on its website.

Yesterday, the ministry expressed “grave concern” at ris-ing tension and said China had asked North Korea to “ensure the safety of Chinese diplomats in North Korea, in accordance with the Vienna Convention and international laws and norms”.

China’s embassy, it said, was “understood” to be operating nor-mally in Pyongyang.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, addressing the Hainan forum, said avoiding conflict on the peninsula was vital. “There, any aggression is a threat to the

North Korean soldiers with military dogs take part in drills in an unknown location yesterday.

interests of every country in the region,” she said.

British Foreign Minister William Hague said North Korea’s nuclear ambitions had to be taken seriously.

Interviewed by Sky News, he said the international response “should also be very clear, very united and calm at all times because it’s important not to feed that frenetic rhetoric that we’ve seen over the last few weeks”.

Switzerland’s Foreign Ministry offered to mediate, saying it was “always willing to help find a solution, if this is the wish of the parties, such as hosting meetings between them”.

US missile test put offIn Washington, a defence offi-

cial said a long-scheduled test of the Minuteman III interconti-nental missile, due to take place at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, would be postponed.

“This test ... has been delayed to avoid any misperception or mis-calculation in light of recent ten-sions on the Korean peninsula,” the official said on Saturday. “This is the logical, prudent and respon-sible course of action to take.”

He said the test had been unconnected to “anything related to North Korea” and added that another test launch could be expected next month. The United States remained fully prepared to respond to any North Korean threat, the official said.

North Korea trainingThe South Korean president’s

office said the country had a “firm military readiness” for any even-tuality. It described as “planned behaviour” the North’s call for South Korean workers to leave the Kaesong joint industrial park, just inside North Korea, and for diplomats to evacuate Pyongyang by Wednesday.

“Ahead of that time, a situa-tion like a North Korean missile launch could occur,” Kim Haing, a spokeswoman for the presiden-tial Blue House, quoted the chief of the National Security office as saying. “As of now, there are no signs of all-out war, but if a local conflict breaks out, North Korea should be aware that it will pay the price.”

North Korean state television showed a military training session, with soldiers putting dogs through their paces, including one seen tearing to pieces an effigy of South Korean Defence Minister Kim Kwan-jin. Soldiers were shown fir-ing at pictures of the minister and a depiction of a US serviceman.

“As you all know, on the Korean peninsula, it is not a matter of whether we will have a war or not, but whether it will take place today or tomorrow,” an unidenti-fied soldier said.

AFP

Sri Lanka orders probe into mass graveCOLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s presi-dent yesterday ordered an investigation into a mass grave dating back to a period when thousands of people disappeared during a crackdown on Marxist rebels, his spokesman said.

Mohan Samaranayake said President Mahinda Rajapaksa will in the next two days announce an expert panel to probe the grave where over 150 skeletal remains were found at the central town of Matale last November.

“This inquiry will be in addition to ongoing police investigations,” Samaranayake said.

Forensic experts last week con-firmed that the grave discovered during building work could not be older than 1986 and not newer than 1990, and placed it within a period when the then-government led a crackdown on leftist rebels.

The Marxist JVP, or People’s Liberation Front, had said their members who were tortured and extra-judicially executed had been buried at the site and have pressed for a thorough investigation.

The authorities initially said it was a burial site for those who died at an adjoining hospital during the Second World War. However, the forensic report last week drew fresh attention to the site.

Thousands of people disap-peared during the JVP-led uprising between 1987 and 1990. Sri Lankan authorities have said that nearly 17,000 people were killed during the insurgency, a figure which includes rebels and their victims.

Government forces had crushed the rebellion by wiping out its entire political leadership by the end of 1989 and mopped up remaining activists by early 1990.

However, the JVP slowly re-emerged in 1994 and has since renounced its armed struggle and entered mainstream politics.

The insurgency by the mainly Sinhalese JVP was unrelated to the separatist campaign in the north-east by Tamil rebels. The Tamil rebels were crushed by government forces in a no-holds-barred cam-paign which ended in May 2009.

Sri Lanka faces allegations of war crimes over the alleged kill-ing of 40,000 civilians in the final stages of the Tamil war, a charge the government denies.

AFP

No more appeals on party list ruling: Philippine apex courtMANILA: The Supreme Court (SC) will no longer entertain any appeal over its decision on the party-list system, the spokes-man for the high court said.

“It means no more appeal or MR (motion for reconsideration) will be entertained by the court,” SC spokesman Theodore Te said.

Te said the decision has an “immediately executory” clause that has the same effect as that of a “final and executory” ruling.

He said the ruling that allows groups not representing “margin-alised and underrepresented sec-tors” to participate in the elections is “immediately executory” and

should therefore be enforced right away. “The court makes a deci-sion immediately executory when there’s urgency to enforce it – just like in this case; the relief prayed for by petitioners was urgent since there are only a few weeks left before the polls. That’s why the court will no longer entertain an

appeal,” he explained. Te clarified that “immediately executory” is not the same as “final and execu-tory” – a ruling that is ready to be placed in the high court’s entry of judgment.

He said a final and executory ruling is applied to cases that have gone through the appeal processes

in the court, including the reso-lution of MR. “In case of rulings with ‘immediately executory’ clause, the aggrieved party may opt to file an appeal, but the high court will only act on it procedur-ally. In all previous cases, the high court never reconsidered,” Te said.

THE PHILIPPPINE STAR

Beijing to open disputed islands to tourismBOAO, China: China is to open disputed South China Sea islands up to tourism this month, state media reported yesterday, a move likely to inflame a long-running territo-rial row with its neighbours.

The plans to allow tourists to visit the Paracel Islands before the May Day holiday is the latest stage in Beijing’s development of the territory, which has previously angered Vietnam and caused concern in Washington.

Vietnam and China have a longstanding territorial row over the Paracel Islands. Hanoi last month accused a Chinese ves-sel of firing on one of its fishing boats which had sailed in disputed waters in the area.

The plan to allow cruise tours follows rapid development of infrastructure in a new city —Sansha — along with the estab-lishment of an army garrison on one of the Paracels last year.

Tourists can only visit the islands on cruise ships as the hotels are inadequate, news agency Xinhua said, citing Tan Li, Executive Vice-Governor of Hainan. Tan was speaking on Saturday at the Boao Forum for Asia, which is being held in Hainan.

The report quoted a tour-ist company as saying its cruise ship was ready to take almost 2,000 passengers on a tour of the islands. “The tour prices will be relatively high due to the high costs of tourism infrastructure construction,” said Huang Huaru, general manager of the Hainan-based agency.

AFP

China boosts bird flu responseSHANGHAI: China confirmed two more cases of bird flu in Shanghai yesterday, as authorities sought to curb a deadly outbreak by banning live poultry sales and disinfecting schools.

The announcement brought the number of recorded cases of the H7N9 strain of avian influ-enza in China’s developed eastern region to 20 since announcing a week ago that the virus had been found in humans for the first time.

Six people have died, including four in the com-mercial city of Shanghai which has recorded 10 cases of the disease.

Taiwan’s Centres for Disease Control said yes-terday it was investigating two possible cases involving people who travelled to the affected area in mainland China.

Shanghai’s local government said the latest confirmed cases in the city were two elderly men, now receiving medical treatment.

They came as China stepped up efforts yester-day to halt the deadly outbreak with state media saying “intense” farming methods had heightened the risk of deadly diseases crossing from animals to humans.

The education ministry ordered schools nationwide to “guarantee” the health of students against infectious disease, including H7N9, by ensuring the safety of food and monitoring for symptoms of illness.

In Shanghai, workers sprayed disinfectant in classrooms, local television showed, while

markets were closed to halt the spread of the disease.

Shanghai had already banned live poultry trad-ing while nearby Nanjing city has followed suit and Hangzhou culled poultry after discovering infected quail.

Dead sparrows found in Nanjing, which sparked alarm after photos were posted online, had tested negative for H7N9, state media said, providing some relief.

In an editorial yesterday the state-backed Global Times newspaper said farming methods were helping to spread the disease.

“In China’s southern and eastern coastal areas, agriculture, especially animal husbandry, has become more intense and populations more dense,” said the English-language edition of the paper.

“There is greater chance of contact between humans and animals and subsequent diseases.”

It called for higher standards in the agricul-tural industry and more balanced development, instead of a narrow focus on rapid economic growth.

Chinese authorities, who have confirmed H7N9 in birds, maintain there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the virus.

“Currently, there is still no evidence showing the H7N9 bird flu virus is transmitted between people,” Shanghai health official Wu Fan told an online chat yesterday.

AFP

Second tank leak at Fukushima plantTOKYO: Radioactive water has apparently leaked from another underground storage tank at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co said yesterday.

The utility, known as Tepco, said the volume of the latest leakage is believed to be small. On Saturday, it said as much as 120 tonnes of radi-oactive water may have leaked from another nearby storage tank.

The plant’s seven storage tanks are lined with water proof sheets meant to keep the contami-nated water from leaking into the soil. The power

company has faced a range of problems with leaks and with the plant’s cooling system.

Tepco said on Friday it lost the ability to cool radioactive fuel rods in one of the plant’s reactors for about three hours, the second cooling system failure at the plant in three weeks.

The 9.0 earthquake that shook Japan on March 11, 2011 triggered a 15-metre tsunami that struck the Fukushima Daiichi plant and set off the chain of events that caused its reactors to start melt-ing down.

REUTERS

13PAKISTAN / AFGHANISTAN MONDAY 8 APRIL 2013


Poppy bloom

A man walks at a poppy field in Jalalabad province of Afghanistan yesterday.

Musharraf allowed to contest election

Nato air strike kills 10 kids in Afghanistan Eight militants die; six women hurtASAD ABAD, Afghanistan: A Nato air attack in east-ern Afghanistan has killed 10 children, officials said yester-day, the latest case of civilian casualties which provoke great anger in the war-torn country.

The children were killed dur-ing a joint Afghan-Nato opera-tion in the Shigal district of restive Kunar province bordering Pakistan late on Saturday.

An Afghan official involved in the operation who did not want to be named said air support was called in after local and coalition forces came under attack, resulting in the death of an American and injuries to several Afghan soldiers.

The official said the force did not know there were women and children in the houses that were hit.

Civilian casualties caused by Nato forces have been one of the most contentious issues in the 11-year campaign against Taliban insurgents, provoking harsh criticism from Afghan President Hamid Karzai and angry public protests.

“Ten children and eight mili-tants were killed in the strike, six women were wounded,” Wasifullah Wasifi, the spokesman for Kunar province, said.

Shigal district governor Abdul Zahir confirmed the death toll. He said people had brought the children’s bodies to the centre of the town and the wounded women were taken to Kunar’s central hospital.

Sayed Rahman, security com-mander of Shigal, said one women was also among the dead. “We have reports that 10 children and one woman have been killed in the air strike,” he said.

A spokesman for Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed the strike but said up to 10 women

and children were wounded in the attack rather than killed.

A US civilian died in a militant attack at the scene, he said.

The interior ministry said in a statement the attack by coalition forces killed six Taliban including two senior commanders.

On Thursday a Nato air strike killed four Afghan policemen and two civilians during a pre-dawn clash with Taliban at a police post in eastern Ghazni province.

After an air strike killed 10 civilians, mostly women and chil-dren, in February, Karzai banned Afghan security forces from call-ing in Nato air strikes.

However, it is unclear whether the ban has been enforced and many operations are jointly run by Nato and Afghan forces.

The latest strike came a day after at least five Americans, including a young female diplo-mat, were killed in two Taliban attacks in the country’s east and south.

A suicide car bomber struck a Nato convoy in the southern province of Zabul on Saturday, killing three US soldiers and two civilians, one of whom was a female US diplomat.

Another US civilian was killed in an attack in the east, making it the deadliest day for the coalition since July 8 last year.

Though the Taliban have not yet announced their “spring offensive”, which started last year with a barrage of bloody attacks in early May, the traditional Afghan fighting season is begin-ning as the cold winter recedes.

US-led coalition forces are winding down their operations before a scheduled withdrawal of the bulk of their 100,000 troops by the end of 2014, and racing to pre-pare Afghan forces to take over responsibility for security.

AFP

Supporters of Pakistan Muslim League (N) party chant slogans after the acceptance of their candidate’s nomination papers for general election in Lahore yesterday.

CHITRAL: Pakistani poll officials yesterday approved former military dictator Pervez Musharraf to run for parlia-ment in the upcoming general election, despite a litany of legal challenges against him.

But former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, who applied to stand in his home town of Gujar Khan, near Islamabad, had his papers rejected, officials said.

Musharraf ruled Pakistan for nine years after seizing power in a bloodless coup in 1999 and returned to Pakistan from self-imposed exile last month vowing to run for the May 11 poll in four constituencies.

He remains a hugely contro-versial figure nearly five years after he resigned in the face of

impeachment proceedings and his All-Pakistan Muslim League party is not thought to be a serious contender for power at the polls.

In the far northern town of Chitral, close to the Afghan bor-der, officials approved Musharraf’s candidature yesterday.

“His papers are in order. He is not convicted so far so we cannot disqualify him,” returning officer Jamal Khan said.

But in the retired general’s home city of Karachi, officials turned down his nomination on charges of violating the constitu-tion and sacking top judges.

Returning officer Ikramur Rehman upheld objections raised by his rivals that Musharraf had violated the constitution and sacked top judges by imposing

emergency rule in 2007.“This is a biased decision,” Afzal

Agha — an official in Musharraf ’s party — said, adding that an appeal would be filed.

Musharraf ’s nomination papers were also rejected in the Punjab town of Kasur on Friday and his bid to contest a seat in Islamabad was also turned down late yesterday.

There is no limit to the number of seats a candidate can contest in Pakistan and it is common practice for high-profile politicians to run in more than one at the same time.

Lawyer Sajidullah Khan vowed to challenge Musharraf ’s candi-dature in Chitral. “Musharraf is not eligible and we will lodge an appeal before the election tribu-nal,” he said.

In office, Musharraf was a key

US ally in the “war on terror”, an alliance that became deeply controversial in Pakistan, and escaped at least three Al Qaeda assassination attempts.

Since he left power in 2008 his powerbase has shrivelled and last month he suffered the indignity of having a shoe thrown at him in court by an angry lawyer—a deeply insulting gesture in the Muslim world.

He is facing a barrage of legal cases, including conspiracy to murder.

He has been granted bail over the 2007 killing of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and a Baluch rebel leader in 2006, and for sacking and arresting judges in November 2007.

AFP

Poll campaigns turn into digital battlefield KARACHI: Several main-stream political parties, in a battle for digital supremacy, are fighting the upcoming gen-eral elections in Pakistan with tweets, hashtags, Facebook updates and emails.

A majority of them, instead of campaigning their own party manifesto, are using social media to defame other parties, or to indulge in character assassination of the opponent party leadership.

Some of the major reasons for the increasing popularity of social media sites are certain restrictions on mass level cam-paigning by Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), increased advertisement rates for road-side billboards, newspapers and television.

Many parties have constituted social media teams or have hired the services of information tech-nology (IT) and social media experts for this purpose, think-ing that social media is the fastest way to attract voters.

Supporters and party leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Awami National Party (ANP) and PML-Q are the most active on social media.

The PTI, MQM and PML-N even have social media wings. Moreover, party leaders and even chairpersons and presidents of these parties use their personal accounts to send direct messages.

Attractive graphic messages, jokes and funny pictures based on political activities, personalities and their statements are made by these social media teams and are

circulated to gain maximum sup-port of the people in favour of their party or to defame the opponents.

The social media user then circulates these graphics, photos, videos and funny messages on their accounts.

As compared to the 2008 elec-tion, the number of social media users has increased in Pakistan. According to the data on the use of social media, Pakistan is ranked 27th in global Facebook users, with about 8.6 million users, while a similar number is also present on Twitter.

“Most of the political parties are using social media not for their political campaigning but for the defamation of other par-ties and their leadership, which is very negative,” said an active Facebook user Pawan Kumar Garg. He said that people have their own political ideologies, which can’t be changed by such online campaigns.

However, another user Sultan Ahmed thinks that political cam-paigns over Facebook have great impact, and can change the minds of many.

Another avid Facebook user Zafar Kumar, from Moro, a town in Sindh said that campaigning on social media will make no differ-ence, as political parties are not offering anything on these sites.

“Voters have already decided whom to vote, and others like me, will not go for voting, therefore social media has no impact on elections,” said Kumar.

Some of the people think that majority of the Facebook users belong to small towns, where edu-cation rate is very low and peo-ple only use social media for fun, therefore, online campaigning will have no affect.

INTERNEWS

Afghan attacks raise fears over Taliban strengthKANDAHAR: The death of at least five Americans, in the deadliest day for foreigners in Afghanistan this year, has highlighted fears about Taliban strength ahead of Nato’s with-drawal in 2014.

A suicide car bomber struck a Nato convoy in the southern prov-ince of Zabul on Saturday, killing three US soldiers and two civilians, including a female American diplo-mat travelling with Afghan officials to distribute books to students.

The nationality of the second civilian was unclear.

Another US civilian was killed in an attack in the country’s east, making it the deadliest day of insurgent violence against the coalition since July 8 last year.

The strikes came as the top US military officer General Martin Dempsey arrived in the country on an unannounced visit. They raise troubling questions about the Taliban’s continuing strength ahead of the coalition’s with-drawal in 2014.

Though the Taliban have not yet announced their “spring offensive”, which started last year with a barrage of bloody attacks in early May, the traditional Afghan fighting season is begin-ning as the cold winter recedes.

US-led coalition forces are winding down their operations before a scheduled withdrawal of the bulk of their 100,000 troops by the end of 2014, and racing to prepare Afghan forces to assume

responsibility for security.General Dempsey, Chairman of

the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived on Saturday to assess the level of training the US will need to give Afghan forces following the withdrawal.

The coalition has been keen to play up the Afghan forces’ readi-ness to take over, but Saturday’s violence came hard on the heels of a devastating Taliban attack on a court complex in the west of the country on Wednesday.

Gunmen went from room to room, slaughtering defenceless civilians and killing a total of 46 people — the deadliest attack in Afghanistan for more than a year.

Last August insurgent rockets hit General Dempsey’s plane as

it was parked at the Bagram air field, wounding two maintenance crew. He flew out of the country unharmed using another plane.

US Secretary of State John Kerry paid tribute to the diplo-mat killed in what he called the “despicable attack” in Zabul.

He described her as “smart, capable, eager to serve and deeply committed to our country and the difference she was making for the Afghan people”.

Sharifullah Naseri, spokesman for Zabul governor Mohammad Ashraf Naseri, said he had planned to open a US-funded school in the provincial capital Qalat with the American officials and hand out books to students.

AFP

Mobile phones become dearerKARACHI: Retailers across Pakistan have started charging new prices for mobile phones after imposition of general sales tax of Rs500-1,000 per set by the Federal Board of Revenue.

The FBR a month back raised advance income tax to five per cent from one percent on mobile phone import. Mobile phone deal-ers said that they got the new price list from importers and distributors of cell phones.

According to an official announcement, issued on April 4, sales tax of Rs1,000 per mobile phone will be charged in case of smart phones or satellite phones.

Teletec Mobile Director Azad Lalani said that 2G phones now cost Rs500 more and smart phone have become costlier by Rs1,000.

IANS

Star salute

Actor Shah Rukh Khan and his wife Gauri Khan arrive for the inaugural Times of India Film Awards in Vancouver, British Columbia, yesterday.

Air Force Command jubilee

People take cover from dust as an Indian Air Force (IAF) chopper lands during the golden jubilee ceremony of its Central Air Command in Allahabad yesterday.

14 INDIAMONDAY 8 APRIL 2013


Premier urges more efforts to protect womenReform juvenile justice system: CJNEW DELHI: Days after a stronger anti-rape law was enacted, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday said while his government has moved fast to bring about signif-icant reforms in laws on crimes against women in the aftermath of last year’s brutal gang-rape, much more needs to be done.

Speaking at a conference of chief ministers and chief justices of high courts here, the prime minister said the “national out-rage” after the December 16 gang-rape forced “urgent intro-spection” on anti-rape laws and the justice delivery system, “but we must not allow ourselves to be overcome by a sense of despair at some of the demonstrated inad-equacies of our legal system”.

He said the government had moved “with expedition” to respond to the nationwide outpouring of anger in the aftermath of the rape and had “brought about significant amendments in the criminal law to effectively deal with heinous offences against women”.

The 23-year-old woman was raped by a gang of five men and a juvenile on board a mov-ing bus in south Delhi. She died two weeks later in a Singapore hospital where she was flown for treatment.

In the wake of nationwide pro-tests, the government promul-gated an ordinance in February to enforce harsher anti-rape laws. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013, which replaces the ordi-nance, was passed by parliament and signed into law by the presi-dent earlier this week. It provides for increased sentence for rape con-victs, including life-term and death sentence in rarest of rare cases.

The prime minister said: “Notwithstanding the steps that have already been taken, a great

deal more needs to be done as far as offences against women are concerned”. The Indian capital has already seen more than 350 rapes since the beginning of the year, as against 660 last year.

He also said that at a time when the demand for judicial reforms and change in the legal processes “has acquired a new urgency, we must ensure that the voice of san-ity and logic is not suborned to the momentary impulses of the day”.

Terming India’s current ratio of 15.5 judges per million people as “indeed grossly inadequate”, Manmohan Singh urged states to take the initiative in increasing number of judges to deal with the three crore pending cases across the country.

Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir stressed the need for strengthening the juvenile jus-tice system in the country, and to provide adequate protection for juveniles who are in conflict with law. “Forty-two percent of our population in India are chil-dren. How many of us even think of children as the potential force for the future?”

“Large number of them (chil-dren) do not have proper facilities despite best of our efforts and inten-tion. This leads to number of prob-lems, particularly drug addiction is the worst problem. To address these, we have to strengthen the juvenile justice system.”

Chief Justice Kabir also stressed the need to protect the rights of juveniles, particularly underprivileged children.

“We have children with good education, they are from the elite class but what about the rest. Ten to 15 years down the line when the new generation will take over, there might be chaos if these chil-dren are not taken care of.”

IANS

Delhi to double diplomatic strengthNEW DELHI: The Indian gov-ernment is planning to double the number of its diplomats posted in the 162 Indian mis-sions and posts abroad from the mere 600 currently.

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has begun a series of consultations on this issue and recently met many of the country’s retired ambassa-dors and distinguished diplomats to understand how the foreign service could be strengthened and used effectively to project Indian policies and power abroad.

Among those he met were

former foreign secretaries Maharaj Krishan Rasgotra and Shyam Saran, former cabinet sec-retary Naresh Chandra, who also served as Indian ambassador to the US, and former secretaries K S Bajpai, S K Lambah and Leela Ponappa.

To a question about what the government was doing to address the shortages in its diplomatic strength, Khurshid had said in a recent interview: “We are looking at just this problem. I hope that we will be able to push through a very good plan to bring much great strength to the foreign service.”

He said the union cabinet had recently approved the plan to aug-ment the strength of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS). “We have very few (diplomats), we need many more. (The) cabinet has agreed. We can double the num-bers which we are in the process of doing.”

According to the Ministry of External Affairs website: “In recent years, the intake into the Indian Foreign Service has aver-aged between 8-15 persons annu-ally. The present cadre strength of the service stands at approxi-mately 600 officers manning

around 162 Indian missions and posts abroad and the various posts in the ministry at home.”

Tiny Singapore, with just five million people, has about the same number of diplomats as India has while China, with a comparative population, has eight times the number of diplomats. Countries like the United States and Britain have many more diplomats.

The US has 294 physical embas-sies, consulates, and diplomatic missions across the world with around 15,000 professionals. Britain has an estimated 1,900 diplomats.

IANS

Nuclear-capable Agni-II missile test successful BHUBANESWAR: India yes-terday successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable Agni-II strate-gic ballistic missile from a mili-tary base in Odisha, a defence official said.

The test was conducted from Wheeler’s Island in Bhadrak dis-trict, around 200km from here, at about 10.20am by army person-nel as part of routine user-trials, MVKV Prasad, Director of the Integrated Test Range, said.

“The missile successfully hit the target. It was a perfect launch” he said.

The medium-range missile with a range of over 2,000km has already been inducted into the army, and is part of the Strategic Forces arsenal for nuclear deter-rence. The Agni-II is part of India’s Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme.

The two-stage surface-to-sur-face missile, equipped with an advanced high-accuracy naviga-tion system and guided by a novel state-of-the-art command and control system, is powered by a solid rocket propellant system.

The missile weighs 17 tonnes and its range can be increased to 3,000km by reducing the payload. It can be fired from both rail and road mobile launchers. It takes only 15 minutes for the missile to be readied for firing.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation first tested Agni-II in 1999.

However, the Indian Army’s Strategic Forces Command, which operates the missile, could test it only May 17, 2010 after two successive failures in 2009.

The failed tests did not meet the mission’s desired objectives as, on both occasions, the missile lost speed and deviated from its flight path. Since then, it has been successfully tested several times.

IANS

Katju accuses media of spreading communalismHYEDERABAD: Press Council of India Chairman Markandey Katju yesterday said media was spreading com-munalism by its irresponsible reporting of terrorist attacks.

He vowed not to allow the media to spread communalism in the interest of the nation.

He was addressing a sympo-sium on ‘Reporting terror: How sensitive is the media’ organised by The Hindu in association with NGO Help Hyderabad.

“Whenever bomb blasts take place, within an hour or so many TV channels say email has come or an SMS has been received from Indian Mujhideen or Jaish-e-Mohammed or Harkatul Jihad. They take some Muslim name. SMS can be sent by any

mischievous person. This kind of reporting sends a message in the country that all Muslims are terrorists, demonises the entire community and promotes com-munalism,” he said.

“Do you have freedom to pro-mote communalism,” he asked while stating that no freedom is absolute and that it comes with certain reasonable restrictions.

Describing poverty and dis-crimination as main causes of terrorism, Katju said unless these two problems were addressed, terrorism can’t be eliminated.

He said the 21st century would witness struggles by people for a decent and dignified living as 80 percent of people remained poor despite the potential of the modern industry to create enough wealth

to ensure a decent living for every-body. “If a man is unemployed, he will have only two options. Either to commit suicide or become a criminal or a terrorist. Unless the poverty is removed, even the police force and the military can’t tackle terrorism,” he said.

Katju said Muslims in India had a sense of great injustice in all sectors like bank loans, jobs and even houses on rent. He called for following the policies of “great emperor Akbar and his successor Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru” to keep the country united.

The PCI chairman said 80 per-cent of Hindus and Muslims in India were communal and this was having an impact on all sectors, including media. He claimed that even elite were communal and

castiest and pointed how elections to various bar councils and in uni-versities are fought on caste lines.

Claiming that there was zero percent communalism in 1857, he said the British made Hindus and Muslims fight each under their divide and rule policy.

He clarified that he was raising voice for the justice to minorities in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Katju said the British created a fake country called Pakistan to keep Hindus and Muslims con-tinue fighting each other and to prevent India from emerging as an industrial giant.

The former Supreme Court judge predicted that India, Pakistan and Bangladesh would re-unite in 15 to 20 years to emerge as a powerful, modern

and secular country.“You can’t have a theocratic

state in the subcontinent which has tremendous diversity,” he said while calling Pakistan a mad house where dozens of people get killed in bomb blasts every day.

Katju called for an amendment to the PCI Act to impose fine and suspend licenses of newspapers violating journalistic ethics and to bring TV channels under its ambit. “I met both the prime minister and leader of opposition in this regard but nothing has happened.”

Siddharth Vardarajan, editor of The Hindu, also decried the trend in a section of media to jump to conclusions about the identity of the culprits immediately after a bomb blast or any terror incident.

IANS

1.4 million appear for joint entrance examNEW DELHI: An esti-mated 1.4 million candidates appeared for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main in off-line mode yesterday across 81 cities, including Dubai, Riyadh, Muscat and Manama.

The top 150,000 scorers in the exam will be called on June 2 to take the JEE Advanced, which is meant for admissions into prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). The results will be declared on May 7.

About 47,748 students had reg-istered for the exam at Patna, followed by Kanpur from where 43,000 had registered.

The exam was conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which will also evaluate candidates for admissions into BE, BTech and BArch courses

in National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs), Delhi Technological University and other centrally-funded technical institutes.

According to Ramesh Batlish, a JEE expert, the cut-off is expected to go higher as the paper was relatively easy.

The JEE Main will be held online from April 8 to 25 in 29 cit-ies including three cities abroad — Colombo, Kathmandu and Singapore.

There are 9,647 undergradu-ate seats in 15 IITs, IIT-BHU and Indian School of Mines-Dhanbad, while the number of undergradu-ate seats in the 30 NITs of the country is 15,678 including the seats in the new ones.

IANS

Fire in Srinagar

F ire fighters try to extinguish a blaze at a tourism department office in Srinagar yesterday. There was no loss of life or injury to anyone, police said.

INDIA 15MONDAY 8 APRIL 2013


NC reiterates demand for J&K autonomy Party mum on alliance with CongressJAMMU: Ahead of the forth-coming parliamentary and assembly elections, the rul-ing National Conference (NC) has reiterated its demand for “autonomy” for Jammu and Kashmir, and revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from the state.

The National Conference took its stand on the two key issues during its two-day working com-mitee meet, which concluded here yesterday. It did not, however, take any decision on the pre-poll alliance with the Congress, with which it shares power in the state.

On pre-poll alliance with the Congress for parliamentary and assembly elections, the working committee resolved “to take a decision on the issue at an appro-priate time”.

The committee meeting, pre-sided over by NC President and federal Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah, passed a 10-point reso-lution which expressed “full faith and confidence in the leadership of Omar Abdullah”. Omar is the chief minister of the state and also the working president of the NC.

The working committee said: “The restoration of the autonomy continues to be the bed rock of the National Conference’s policy and agenda, and the party shall continue to strive for the honour, dignity and self-respect of the people of the state.”

The NC has been demanding greater autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir for almost two decades. It wants that areas of

constitutional authority other than defence, external affairs and communications “should be restored” to Jammu and Kashmir.

The NC government then headed by Farooq Abdullah passed a resolution in the state assembly in June 2000 which was rejected by the National Democratic Alliance government.

The NC working committee also reiterated its resolve that AFSPA should be revoked in a phased manner from various parts of the state, beginning from the areas where militancy has been substantially reduced and the security apparatus is being handled by the state police and the paramilitary forces.

The party also resolved that “in the interest of sustainable peace in the region, a sustained and meaningful India-Pakistan dia-logue must proceed without any impediments and that the CBMs (confidence building measures) should be further consolidated and strengthened”.

The working committee resolved that the “internal dimen-sions of the Kashmir issue should also be addressed through a proc-ess of dialogue with all shades of opinion which stands stalled at the moment”.

Reviewing the functioning and achievements of the NC-led coa-lition government with Congress since 2009, the working committee “appreciated the remarkable initia-tives taken by the state government to accelerate the process of develop-ment in all the regions of the state.”

IANS

Builder Jamil Qureshi (centre) is escorted by police in Thane yesterday. Qureshi, one of two builders arrested over the collapse of the apartment block, appeared in court in Thane.

Thane culprits sent to police custodyTHANE: All nine men arrested for the collapse of a seven-storey building in Thane that killed 74 people were sent to 14 days police custody yesterday even as 37 of the injured remained in hospitals.

Thane Police Commissioner K P Raghuvanshi said the Anti-Corruption Bureau was also prob-ing Maharashtra’s worst-ever building crash as public servants were also involved.

The nine include Thane Municipal Corporation’s suspended deputy municipal commissioner Deepak Chavan, assistant munic-ipal commissioner Babasaheb Andhale, corporation clerk Kiran

Madke, Nationalist Congress Party corporator Hira Patil, policeman Sayyed and estate agent Jabbar Patel who worked for Chavan.

A former assistant municipal commissioner, identified as only Thorbole, was also nabbed yes-terday. Earlier, builders Jamil Qureshi and Salim Shaikh were arrested from Uttar Pradesh and Thane respectively on Saturday.

NCP State President Madhukarrao Pichad yesterday announced the suspension of cor-porator Hira Patil.

Police said a search of Chavan’s house led to the recovery of Rs5 lakh in cash and some incriminat-ing documents.

All the arrested have been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Raghuvanshi said preliminary investigation revealed that the builders constructed the building using sub-standard material.

“As soon as the floors were ready, they immediately handed them over to the buyers. Once people occupied the building, it became very difficult for the offi-cials concerned to remove them and take action on the illegal con-struction,” he said

Raghuvanshi called the Thursday tragedy “a colossal one”. “We shall not spare anybody, whether they are government

servants, officials or civilians,” he said.

Meanwhile, 37 people continued to be under treatment in various hospitals in Kalyan, Thane, Kalwe (a suburb of Thane) and Mumbai.

The condition of 12 victims, who suffered grievous head and chest injuries, was said to be “serious” by Thane police.

Yesterday, a four-year-old mira-cle survivor of the Daighar build-ing crash finally opened her eyes and cried, much to the relief of surviving relatives and siblings. Sandhya Thakur had been unable to open her eyes, swollen with dust and due to psychological trauma.

IANS

‘Trinity’ to lead Congress in polls: TewariNEW DELHI: A “trinity” of Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will lead the Congress in the next Lok Sabha election, party spokesman Manish Tewari has said.

Speaking to Rahul Kanwal of Aajtak news channel, Tewari said: “We will go to the people with this ‘Trimurti’.

“For nine years, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has given us good governance and (Congress president) Sonia (Gandhi) has held the party together,” he said.

“Now, (Congress vice presi-dent) Rahul Gandhi has breathed life into the youth and invigorated the grass-roots.” Tewari disagreed with party colleague Digvijaya Singh’s observation that the dual power-centre experiment involv-ing Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi was “a big failure”.

Tewari said: “Digvijaya Singh is a senior leader of the party and he has an opinion on several issues. We are a democratic party and everybody is entitled to their views.

“But the party and the govern-ment have made it clear that the nine-year-old Sonia-Manmohan Singh experiment has been successful.

“We have struck a fine balance in governance, incorporating inclusivity, democracy and eco-nomic growth. The diarchy has been a huge success.”

Scuttling speculation of a Rahul Gandhi versus Narendra Modi faceoff in 2014, Tewari said: “We won’t be swayed by the opposi-tion’s portrayal of a particular per-sonality. “In 2004, we fought the elections against (prime minister Atal Bihari) Vajpayee. In 2009, we fought against Advani. In 2014, we will contest and win again.

“We will take our perform-ance and our vision to the peo-ple. We will portray the Congress ‘Trimurti’ of Rahul, Sonia and Manmohan before the peo-ple. “And after we win, it’s the Congress cadre and the party which will decide who will be the prime minister.”

IANS

Congress-free India by next year: ModiNEW DELHI: The BJP will set the agenda for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, emerge victo-rious and the people will get a “Congress-free India”, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said yesterday.

In an interview to TV news channel Times Now, Modi expressed confidence about his Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) victory in the next Lok Sabha polls, but remained tight-lipped over his own candidature for the prime minister’s post.

“In 2014, the BJP will set the agenda for polls, people of the country will make BJP victori-ous, and the way people of Gujarat have formed a Congress-free Gujarat, people of the country will have a Congress-free India,” he said.

Modi also termed dynastic politics a bad trend. “Dynastic politics should not be encouraged

in democracy. It does not mean two people of one family cannot be in politics, but unfortunately, the country presently is in the clutches of dynastic rule,” he said.

Modi sought to clarify his remarks at a book release func-tion at Gandhinagar on April 4 which were seen as a clear indi-cation of his prime ministerial ambitions.

Modi had said at the function that he was being told that he had repaid his debt to Gujarat and had to pay his debt to the country.

He had said every citizen owes a debt to “Mother India”.

“If someone heard my lecture, the person who spoke before me said ‘you have fulfilled the debt of Gujarat. Now fulfill your debt to the country’. I said it is not my debt alone and every citizen has to fulfill the country’s debt,” Modi told the news channel.

IANS

Pakistanis want friendship with India: Fahmida RiazNEW DELHI: Leading Urdu poet, progressive writer and women’s activist from Pakistan Fahmida Riaz has said that all three major political parties in her country seek friendly ties with India.

The Pakistan Peoples Party, the Muttahida Quami Movement and the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) — all want amicable ties, she said in conversation with journalists at the Press Club of India here.

The Karachi-based writer, known to lean Leftward, and active on issues pertaining to women’s empowerment and human rights, said that if India spurned Pakistan’s friendly over-tures, it would have unpleasant consequences for people-to-peo-ple contacts between the two neighbours.

Riaz said political parties and people in Pakistan wanted friendly

ties because her country was grappling with internal terrorism, growing religious fundamentalism and high unemployment, and did not want to jeopardise relations with India.

“Rajiv Gandhi went to Pakistan and met Benazir Bhutto and Atal Bihari Vajpeyee went to Pakistan... They wanted friendship. General Parvez Musharraf came to Agra. I have lived in Sindh and I have been in touch with the people of Balochistan. They have always wanted friendship with India,” Riaz said.

Regretting the setback for former Pakistan president Parvez Musharraf in the run-up to the elections in her country, Riaz said: “Pakistan’s returning offic-ers were arbitrary in rejecting his nomination forms.”

“This is ‘anyay’, ‘jurm’ (wrong, a crime),” Riaz said.

India has a special place in Riaz’s heart: She spent seven years in the 1980s in the Indian capital with her two children after she fled the Zia-ul-Haq regime, which charged her and her husband Zafar with treason for their liberal views in “Awaz”, a publication that the writer had founded along with her second husband, a political activist.

Her fans bailed her out, though Zafar spent time in jail before joining her and the children in Delhi. Recalling her years of asylum in India, the 66-year-old writer said: “I was charged under Section 124A of the Pakistan Penal Code (sedition). I came here and my friend (poet) Amrita Pritam spoke to then prime min-ister (late) Indira Gandhi, who allowed me to stay in India.”

Her children went to school in India.

“I was born in Meerut (Uttar Pradesh). My parents lived there. We were brought up according to Hindustani ethos. Whenever I come here, I feel that the memo-ries are frozen in time,” she said.

From childhood in India, Riaz moved to Hyderabad in Sindh in Pakistan, where she stayed till her arranged marriage in 1967, that saw her passage to Britain, where she worked for BBC (Urdu). It was in London that she met Amrita Pritam, “one of her clos-est allies”.

“I had read her ‘nazm’ before. Poetry brought us together, and we were also politically-minded and secular women,” Riaz said.

When her first marriage fell apart, she returned to Pakistan.

The writer, who is one of the foremost Urdu women poets in Pakistan along with Zehra Nigah, Parveen Shakir and Kishwar

Naheed, has authored Godavari, a novel and translated the “masnavi (spiritual poetry) of Mohammed Jalaluddin Rumi from Persian to Urdu.

She translated the works of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai and Sheikh Ayaz from Sindhi to Urdu as well. She has authored more than a dozen books, among them novels and anthologies of poetry. Among her best known works is the radical feminist poetry anthology, “Badan Dareeda” that took conservative Pakistani soci-ety of the 1970s by storm.

“I began studying Sufism because of Rumi. I find it fascinat-ing. There is space for everyone. I think it is the only alternative to organised religion. You cannot politicise the ‘mazhab’ (Islamic jurisprudence) and take spiritu-ality out of it,” the writer said.

IANS

MORNING BREAK16MONDAY 8 APRIL 2013


CHART: 1

Source : http://www.qsa.gov.qa/

News in Numbers

Prospects for the global economy have dimmed further since the last QEO, but Qatar’s outlook for 2013 is more likely to be influenced by domestic developments. The scene is set by a large capital spending programme on infrastructure, a growing population, an oil and gas sector in which output has now peaked, and low interest rates. With the completion of major investments in upstream oil and gas activity, economic growth in Qatar will move closer to the norm for countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

Real GDP of GCC countries (year-on-year change, pc)

QATAR ECONOMIC OUTLOOK2013 2

BahrainQatar

Kuwait

Saudi Arabia United Arab EmiratesOman

Nasa wants to tow an asteroid to the moon, says SenatorWASHINGTON: Nasa wants to grab a small asteroid and tow it into orbit around the moon, as part of a long-range plan towards establishing perma-nent manned outposts in space, according to a US Senator.

To get the project off the ground, US President Barack Obama will propose around $100m for the US space agency in his 2014 budget, which he submits to Congress on Wednesday, Senator Bill Nelson said in a statement.

“This is part of what will be a much broader programme,” the Florida Democrat explained.

“The plan combines the science of mining an asteroid, along with developing ways to deflect one, along with providing a place to develop ways we can go to Mars.”

The plan calls for a robotic-spacecraft to capture the asteroid and tow it back towards Earth, ultimately leaving it in a stable orbit around the moon, close enough that, within eight years, astronauts could head on over.

A similar plan was initially pro-posed in 2012 by experts at the California Institute of Technology, and the group, along with other top researchers in the field, have since prepared a detailed study into the project’s feasibility.

“It would be mankind’s first attempt at modifying the heavens to enable the permanent settle-ment of humans in space,” scien-tists said in their report.

Obama’s goal of sending a manned mission to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025 is impossible given Nasa’s current and pro-jected funding levels, expert anal-ysis has suggested.

But using an unmanned vehicle to instead bring a 500-ton aster-oid close to home could change the game and get humans to an asteroid as early as 2021, four years ahead of the deadline.

AFP

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Monday 8 April 201327 Jumada I 1434

Volume 18Number 5663

Price: QR2

[email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 44557741 | Advertising: 44557837 / 44557780www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

BY MOHAMMAD SHOEB

DOHA: Ezdan Holding Group, a leading real estate develop-ment company in the region, plans to construct 10 new resi-dential complexes, most of them in Al Wakra.

The Group CEO of Ezdan Holding, Ali Al Obaidli, while speaking to The Peninsula on the sidelines of the company’s annual general meeting, said that the company was set to open its ‘Ezdan Mall’ at Gharafa on Sunday.

All the proposed new villages put together will offer over 5,000 two- and three-bedroom apart-ments. Of these, nine villages will be located in Al Wakra while the remaining one will be built in the north of Doha.

“Under the residential section of the Group, we are going to build 10 new villages for limited income people. There will be over 5,000 housing units all consisting of two- and three-bedroom apart-ments,” said Obaidli.

He added that other two malls located at Al Wakra and Wukair

have been scheduled for opening on February 1, 2014 and January 1, 2015.

The company has three tow-ers under-construction located at West Bay, Doha’s skyline, such as Abdul Wahab Tower and Asia Tower, which are expected to be completed by the end of second

quarter of this year. About the future of the real estate market in Qatar, he said: “The market has already shown signs of recovery. And it is going to witness another real estate boom which will con-tinue for sometime, especially the land prices.

Ezdan Holding Group yesterday held its Annual General Meeting

at La Perla, Ezdan Tower-1 and approved the distribution of 1.3 percent cash dividend, at the rate of 13 dirhams per share which was recommended by the com-pany’s Boar of Directors.

The Group’s audited net profit stood at QR408.7m for the finan-cial year ended December 31, 2012, an increase by 18.32 percent over

the figure of QR345.4m achieved in 2011.

The Chairman of Ezdan Holding Sheikh Dr Khalid bin Thani bin Abdullah Al Thani in his speech before the General Assembly said that the Group has witnessed a remarkable performance, and its’ net profit has increased by 18 percent to

QR408m in 2012 compared to QR345m in 2011.

He added that the group will continue to strive and move ahead in achieving its vision inline with Qatar’s National Vision and devel-opment strategy of the country to meet the growing demand of the real estate market.

THE PENINSULA

Ezdan to build 10 residential complexes Mall in Gharafa to open on Sunday

The Chairman of Ezdan Holding Sheikh Dr Khalid bin Thani bin Abdullah Al Thani and other board members during the annual general meeting at Ezdan Towers in Doha yesterday. KAMMUTTY VP

All the proposed new villages put together will offer over 5,000 two- and three-bedroom apartments. Of these, nine villages will be located in Wakra and one in north of Doha

Financial HighlightsCall +974 4440 7407 or visit qnb.com.qa

QNB Group Net Profit up by 6.7% to QR2.1 billion for the Three Month Period Ending 31 March 2013

QNB Group Total Assets increased by 22.2% to QR380.0 billionQNB Group, the leading financial institution in the Middle East and North Africa region, has announced its financial results for the three months ended 31 March 2013. A net profit of QR2.1 billion was achieved, up by 6.7% compared to the same period last year, demonstrating QNB Group’s success in achieving robust growth across business activities and the ability to record a strong growth in profitability for the benefit of shareholders.

Key indicators of the financial results for the three months ended 31 March 2013 are shown below. These results do not include financial results of NSGB-Egypt. QNB Group has recently concluded the acquisition of a controlling stake in NSGB amounting to 97.12%. It is anticipated that the incorporation of the financial results of NSGB will be completed during the second quarter of 2013.

�� Total assets increased by 22.2% from March 2012 to reach QR380 billion, the highest ever achieved by the Bank. This was the result of a strong growth rate of 28.7% in loans and advances to reach QR259 billion, while customer deposits increased by 28.2% to QR280 billion.

�� The Bank was able to maintain the ratio of non-performing loans to gross loans at 1.4%, a level considered one of the lowest amongst banks in the Middle East and Africa, reflecting the high quality of the Group’s loan book and the effective management of credit risk. The Group’s conservative policy in regard to provisioning continued with the coverage ratio reaching 119% in March 2013.

�� Total operating income, including the share of results of associates, increased to QR3.0 billion, up by 5.5% compared to March 2012, demonstrating QNB Group’s success in achieving strong growth across the range of revenue sources. Net interest income increased by 4.7% to reach QR2.4 billion, with net fees and commissions and net gain from foreign exchange reaching QR350 million and QR172 million, respectively, reflecting success in diversifying sources of income.

The Group’s prudent cost control policy and strong revenue generating capability allowed it to maintain efficiency ratio (cost to income ratio) of 17.7%, which is considered one of the best ratios among financial institutions in the region.

�� Total Equity increased by 9.3% from March 2012 to reach QR46 billion as at 31 March 2013. The capital adequacy ratio stood at 20.5% as at 31 March 2013, far higher than the regulatory requirements of QCB and the Basel Committee. The Group is keen to maintain a strong capitalisation in order to support future strategic plans.

�� During the first quarter of 2013, QNB Group

has successfully completed the acquisition of a controlling stake in NSGB amounting to 97.12%, which included the full stake of Société Générale – France amounting to 77.17% along with 19.95% acquired from other shareholders.

This acquisition is considered one of the largest in the Middle East and is in line with QNB Group’s strategy to expand its presence in selected markets in the region that have a strong growth potential. This acquisition is an important step for QNB Group to realise its vision of being a Middle East and Africa Icon by 2017.

NSGB has a solid financial position and a strong standing in Egypt’s banking sector, with operations throughout the country.

The announced results of QNB Group do not include financial results of NSGB, which are anticipated to be incorporated during the second quarter of 2013.

�� QNB Group has maintained its credit rating, which is considered as being one of the highest in the region, with various rating agencies affirming the Bank’s rating during the first quarter of 2013. This is as a result of QNB Group’s strong financial position, high quality of its assets and leading position in the financial sector.

As a result of the Bank’s high credit ratings and outstanding asset quality, it was selected as one the world’s 50 safest financial institutions by Global Finance.

Based on the Group’s continuous strong performance and the expanding international presence, the bank is currently ranked as the most valuable brand in the MENA region, with a world ranking of 120.

�� In line with ongoing efforts to expand the range of products and services, QNB First was launched across all five branches in Oman. The introduction of this elite and exclusive service for affluent customers is designed to meet their high expectations, which is provided by a dedicated and highly experienced team. The Group aims to roll out this service during this year to a number of countries in the region where it operates.

�� With the addition of NSGB, QNB Group’s presence through its subsidiaries and associate companies increased to 25 countries providing a comprehensive range of advanced products and services. The total number of staff exceeded 13,000 operating from over 560 locations, with an ATM network exceeding 1,150 machines.

The Bank continues to place high emphasis on recruiting Qatari nationals and provide them with dedicated training programs to further enhance their capabilities. This has resulted in the Bank having a Qatarisation ratio that exceeds 50%, the highest among financial institutions in Qatar.

Operating Income increased by 5.5% to QR3.0 billionCustomer Deposits increased by 28.2% to QR280.0 billionLoans and Advances increased by 28.7% to QR258.9 billionTotal Assets increased by 22.2% to QR380.0 billion��

Operating Income (QR billion)Customer Deposits (QR billion) Loans and Advances (QR billion)Total Assets (QR billion)��

0

75

150

225

300

91.9

131.9

179.9

218.4

280.0

2.83.0

1.3

1.7

2.3

0

75

150

300

225

81.6

117.7

140.7

201.2

258.9

0

80

160

240

320

400

140.6

183.2

242.7

311.1

380.0

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

1.0

1.3

1.7

2.02.1

March

2013

March

2009

March

2010

March

2011

March

2012

March

2013

March

2009

March

2010

March

2011

March

2012

March

2013

March

2009

March

2010

March

2011

March

2012

March

2013

March

2009

March

2010

March

2011

March

2012

March

2013

March

2009

March

2010

March

2011

March

2012

0.00

0.70

1.40

2.10

2.80

3.50

QNB Group Key Performance IndicatorsMarch 2013 March 2012 Growth

Net Profit QR2.1 billion QR2.0 billion 7%

Total Assets QR380 billion QR311 billion 22%

Loans and Advances QR259 billion QR201 billion 29%

Customer Deposits QR280 billion QR218 billion 28%

Total Equity QR46 billion QR42 billion 9%

Earnings per Share QR3.1 QR2.9

Subsidiaries & Associates of QNB GroupQNB Group Country % Ownership

QNB Capital Qatar 100%

QNB Switzerland Switzerland 100%

QNB Financial Services Qatar 100%

QNB-Tunisia Tunisia 99�96%

NSGB Egypt 97.12%

QNB Kesawan Indonesia 70%

QNB Syria Syria 51%

Mansour Bank Iraq 51%

Bank of Commerce & Development Libya 49%

Commercial Bank International UAE 40%

Housing Bank for Trade & Finance Jordan 35%

Al Jazeera Finance Company Qatar 20%

International PresenceQNB Group’s international expansion plans have become an integral part of its strategic growth and the Bank is committed to delivering a comprehensive range of products and services tailored to the markets in which it operates. QNB Group is currently present in 25 countries around the world through branches, representative �� !"

#�Syria#�Qatar#�Libya#�Iran#�Algeria

#�Tunisia#�Singapore#�Luxembourg#�Iraq#�Bahrain

#�UAE#�South Sudan#�Mauritania#�Jordan#�Egypt

#�United Kingdom#�Sudan#�Oman#�Kuwait#�France

#�Yemen#�Switzerland#�Palestine#�Lebanon#�Indonesia

These results do not include financial results of NSGB.QNB Group expects to finalise the incorporation of the financial results of NSGB during the second quarter of 2013

Financial StatementCall +974 4440 7407 or visit qnb.com.qa

Independent Auditors’ Review Report on Condensed Consolidated Interim Financial Information to the Board of Directors of Qatar National Bank S.A.Q.

�� We have reviewed the accompanying interim condensed consolidated statement of � �� $��'�� * �+�/�:��;��<* �+=�� !��;��'�� ;��<>��$=�� ?��@ ��;��V�?��;�� X��'��X��X$��;��Y��X��; �!��Z�� ;�[�\��'��;��;��X��;�$��;�� ;�� ]$� � ��;��<�� X�� '��X ��=��^;��*� ��'�_��$��'��;��$��$ � �� $�� '��;�� X�� '��X �� \�;�`:/�?j�{�<`��X�|� �� $��!=� ��;�� $$�� $��Y��'�� Central Bank regulations. Our responsibility is to express a conclusion on this condensed �� X�� '��X �� Y�\�

� ��We conducted our review in accordance with International Standard on Review }�! !�X��j�V��<��Y�\��'�`��X�|� �� `�'��X ��'��X��;��`��$��:��'��;��}��=��:��Y�\��'��X�� '��X ��'�X +�!��Z��$�X ��'�$��$��'�� !�X ��and applying analytical and other review procedures. A review is substantially less in

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED INTERIM FINANCIAL INFORMATIONFOR THE THREE MONTH PERIOD ENDING 31 M ARCH 2013

scope than an audit conducted in accordance with International Standards on Auditing and consequently does not enable us to obtain assurance that we would become aware of all �!�� X ��; ��X!;�� :��!��\��]$�� audit opinion.

!�� Based on our review, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the ��X$ ��!�� X�� '��X ��$��$ �� X �� $�� \�;�`:/�?j�<`��X�|� �� $��!=� ��;��applicable provisions of Qatar Central Bank regulations.

"��^;�� '��X �� ?��@ ��;��V��\ ��Y�\�� ;�� X�� '��;�� ?��_��X��V��were audited by another auditor, whose reports dated 4 April 2012 and 13 January 2013 ��$��Y��]$�� X��Y�\�� X�� $��on those statements.

Firas Qoussous

of Ernst & Young Doha - State of Qatar

Qatar Auditors Registry Number 236 7 April 2013

!��!��#�� $��

%&�� 2013

'��()�***

%&�� 2012

'��()�***

%&�+� ��2012

',��()�***

,��-.�

Cash and Balances with Central Banks 15,982,422 10,957,904 19,829,576

Due from Banks 37,047,055 46,305,930 37,021,743

Loans and Advances to Customers 258,941,126 201,210,133 249,936,341

Investment Securities 49,045,940 44,080,230 50,047,924

Investment in Associates 5,754,100 4,737,965 5,795,307

Property and Equipment 945,131 970,377 957,056

Intangible Assets 389,671 141,028 261,216

Other Assets 11,931,356 2,702,448 3,004,669

.��,�� 380,036,801 �%&&4&*54*&7� �%55497%49%:�

;�,<�;�.�-��

Due to Banks 24,114,402 28,050,069 22,201,770

Customer Deposits 280,037,215 218,393,346 270,039,961

Debt Securities 12,679,223 9,049,190 12,674,706

Other Borrowings 8,053,405 6,731,744 6,836,376

Other Liabilities 9,227,971 6,862,216 7,112,327

.��;�� 334,112,216 �:5>4*954757� �%&949574&?*�

-)@�.A

Issued Capital 6,997,294 6,997,294 6,997,294

Legal Reserve 23,086,902 23,086,902 23,086,902

Risk Reserve 1,750,000 1,600,000 1,750,000

Fair Value Reserve 448,161 617,840 411,403

Foreign Currency Translation Reserve (659,834) (319,679) (640,463)

Other Reserves 1,752,017 1,776,678 1,751,174

Retained Earnings 11,661,358 7,702,215 13,721,522

.��-��,��-��<� ?74*%749>9 �?&4?5&4:7*� �?B4*BB49%:�

Non-Controlling Interest 888,687 558,200 910,860

.��-�� ?74>:?4797 �?:4*&>4?7*� �?B4>9945>:�

.��;��-�� 380,036,801 �%&&4&*54*&7� �%55497%49%:

Yousef Hussain KamalChairman

Ali Shareef Al-Emadi>��$��;�'�}]��Y��

!��!��

.��%&�� 2013

'��()�***

.��%&�� 2012

'��()�***

Interest Income 3,111,999 2,997,481

Interest Expense (760,250) (750,937)

C�� :4%7&4B?> :4:?547??�

Fee and Commission Income 390,865 369,443

Fee and Commission Expense (40,642) (32,219)

C��#��!�� %7*4::% %%B4::?�

Foreign Exchange Gain 172,396 163,274

Income from Investment Securities 15,684 19,851

Other Operating Income 3,033 1,758

"�� :49>%4*97 :4B59457&�

/� ��}]$�� (294,987) (255,856)

Depreciation (49,185) (43,754)

Net Impairment (Losses) / Gains on Investment Securities (3,955) 1,343

Net Impairment Losses on Loans and Advances to Customers (242,461) (266,685)

Other Expenses (182,170) (150,784)

'BB:4B79( 'B&74B%5(

Share of Results of Associates 67,547 36,906

$�� .� :4&9B49B? :4*9>49:&�

Income Tax Expense (20,032) (13,274)

$��$�� :4&5B49?: �:4*B547?B�

,��D

Equity Holders of the Bank 2,138,213 2,004,444

Non-Controlling Interest 29,629 72,103

$��$�� :4&5B49?: :4*B547?B�

Earnings Per Share (QR) 3.1 2.9

!��!��!��

.��%&�� 2013

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.��%&�� 2012

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$��$�� :4&5B49?: :4*B547?B�

"��!�� 4�� .�

|��!��^� �� _��'��|��!��$�� (19,371) (130,397)

Share of Other Comprehensive Income of Associates 843 (9,956)

}��Y��'��; �!��| �� '�� ;�|��\��!�� 32,470 25,693

Available-for-Sale Investment Securities

Net Change in Fair Value 5,400 97,354

Net Amount Transferred to Income Statement (1,112) (2,165)

.��"��!�� $��4��

.� 18,230 '&>4?B&(

.��!�� $�� :4&954*B: :4*7B4*B5�

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Equity Holders of the Bank 2,156,443 1,984,973

Non-Controlling Interest 29,629 72,103

.��!�� $�� :4&954*B: :4*7B4*B5

)C<�E��#��

#� Net Profit exceeded QR2.1 billion, up by 6.7% from same period last year

#� Total Assets stood at QR380 billion, up by 22.2% from March 2012

#� Total Loans and Advances up by 28.7% from March 2012 to reach QR259 billion

#� Total Customer Deposits up by 28.2% from March 2012 to reach QR280 billion

#� Earnings per Share reached QR3.1 compared to QR2.9 in March 2012

#� Total Shareholders’ Equity increased to QR46 billion, up by 9.3% from March 2012.

20 BUSINESSMONDAY 8 APRIL 2013


Playing major role

Maybank Tower, the headquarters of Maybank which is one of the government-linked companies, in Kuala Lumpur, yesterday. The government-linked companies have a big role throughout Malaysia’s economy, tak-ing up 56 percent of the banking assets, 67 percent of the communication sector and 88 percent of utilities, according to Asian Development Bank.

CAIRO: EFG Hermes, the Middle East’s top investment bank, yesterday said a merger deal with Qatari investment company QInvest will lapse on May 3 unless it receives long-awaited approval from Egyptian regulators.

EFG said it had received regu-latory approval from a number of countries for the deal, under which it would initially inject its core business into a joint venture

60 percent controlled by QInvest.“If EFG does not receive a ‘no

objection’ from the (Egyptian Financial Supervisory) Authority in the coming days, it will be dif-ficult to implement the joint ven-ture agreement,” the Egyptian company said.

The joint venture would inject more than $300m of direct invest-ment into the Egyptian economy, EFG said.A spokesman for the authority said the deal was still

being studied and that a decision would be announced at the right time, declining to give any details or time frame.

EFG issued the statement on a day when Egyptian Central Bank governor Hisham Ramez was vis-iting Qatar, his office said.

The deal is politically sensitive in Egypt because both of EFG’s chief executives, Hassan Heikal and Yasser El Mallawany, are on trial, along with the two sons of

ousted President Hosni Mubarak, on allegations of illegal share dealings in relation to a 2007 transaction.

If regulators approve the agree-ment, they may face criticism for letting executives accused of profiting in the Mubarak era fur-ther their gains under the new government. On the other hand, Qatar is Egypt’s main political and financial backer in the Gulf and has pledged $5bn to Cairo

in loans and grants to help keep the most populous Arab country afloat. QInvest is majority-owned by Qatar Islamic Bank .

The transaction includes EFG’s brokerage, research, asset man-agement, investment banking and infrastructure businesses.

QInvest would inject $250m into the joint venture and have the right to buy the remaining 40 percent over a period of 12 to 36 months after the close of the

transaction for $165m or a fair market valuation.

EFG shareholders would receive a one-off dividend of 4 Egyptian pounds ($0.58) per share after the deal closes, which was originally expected in the third quarter of 2012.

The contract between QInvest and EFG Hermes is due to expire 12 months after the agreement was first signed on May 3, 2012, EFG said. REUTERS

EFG still awaiting Cairo approval for QInvest merger deal

DOHA: QNB Group, under its new expansion plan to enter into the Egyptian banking sec-tor, has announced to acquire a majority stake (over 97 percent) in Egypt’s NSGB bank, a press statement said yesterday.

Ali Shareef Al Emadi, QNB Group Chief Executive Officer presented an overall vision of the Group’s future plans to cooper-ate with NSGB team to continue its sustainable growth over the coming years. He also highlighted QNB Group’s new strategy to enter into the Egyptian banking sector through buying a share of 97.1 percent of NSGB.

Al Emadi expressed his

satisfaction in NSGB joining QNB Group stating that this move represents the largest acquisition in the financial sec-tor in the Middle East and falls in line with the Group’s strategy to expand in selected markets across the region.

He stated that Egypt has always been one of the top coun-tries in the Group’s expansion plans, due to the strategic impor-tance of the Egyptian market and its dynamic role that comple-ments the Group’s aim to be the leading bank in the Mena region.

He added that the strong finan-cial position that NSGB enjoys, its network of branches across

the country, and the capable and highly qualified staff, all together represent an opportunity to help us achieve those plans.

Concerning the Group’s plans in the coming period, Al Emadi said the Group will work closely with the NSGB staff to best implement the bank’s strat-egy, increase its activities in the Egyptian market, and serve dif-ferent economic sectors which will contribute to Egypt’s eco-nomic growth.

He asserted that NSGB has promising opportunities for expansion in the Egyptian mar-ket through increasing its net-work of branches and ATMs

across different governorates and could see a doubling the number of the network during the coming five years.

This will require increasing the number of staff and providing them with training programmes as part of QNB Group policy to recruit talented staff and develop their capabilities.

He added the team working at NSGB is more than capable of managing the bank’s opera-tions to achieve QNB’s strategy to increase its presence in the Egyptian market.

There will also be a close coop-eration between the teams of QNB and NSGB in several areas

including information technology, operation, risk management, and corporate communications.

Building on its highly devel-oped e-banking technology, QNB seeks to share its technological capacities with NSGB to offer safe, advanced e-banking services to its clients through different channels including the Internet and smartphones.

Providing NSGB’s retail and corporate clients with more channels to conduct their bank-ing services will give the bank a competitive edge that would strengthen its position in the Egyptian market.

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Chairman of Doha Bank Sheikh Fahad bin Mohammed bin Jabor Al Thani (pictured) announced that the bank has obtained approval from the regulatory authorities to list 51,674,450 new shares at Qatar Exchange.

These new shares have been issued to Doha Bank’s exist-ing shareholders registered at QE at the close of business on February 19 during the period from February 28 till March 13 at a price of QR30 per share rep-resenting a premium of QR20 in addition to a nominal value of QR10 per share.

He also stated that these shares were oversubscribed to the tune of 93,610,520 shares which is equiva-lent to 45.3 percent of the total shares capital and comprising 1.8 times the total shares offered for subscription.

The chairman said the allot-ment ratio reached around 4.83 percent and the subscription of right shares reached to 49,546,536 shares out of 51,674,450 shares.

He also said the shares availa-ble for allotment reached 2,127,914 and the bank has automatically allotted 25 percent of the current owned shares by the shareholder “Rights” and allotted the unsub-scribed right shares among the subscribers on a pro rata basis.

He also added that the bank has already approached QE to list the new shares and will refund the excess amounts to the respec-tive shareholders who have over-subscribed their priority rights as of April 9. THE PENINSULA

Doha Bank gets nod to list more shares

DUBAI: Kuwait’s small-caps helped lift the bourse to a 26-month high yesterday as investors bet on improving earnings, while other regional markets were mixed.

Kuwait’s index climbed 0.5 percent, its highest close since January 2011.

Turnover in the last three weeks has reached its highest levels since early 2012, a positive sign.

Small-caps dominated trade with leisure firm National Ranges surging 14.3 percent and International Financial Advisors rising 6.9 percent.

In Qatar, the market halted a three-session winning streak, los-ing 0.5 percent. Investors booked gains ahead of a new listing in May on Qatar’s exchange, which hasn’t seen an initial public offer since November 2009.

Doha Global Investment Co, a new $12bn Qatari investment firm backed by the sovereign wealth fund, will offer its shares to the public.

Although in the long term its presence could aid the market, the offer will only be open to citi-zens, companies and institutions

in Qatar, and the drain on liquid-ity could be negative in the run-up to the offer. Foreign investors will only be able to buy the shares after they are listed.

Local investors are selling shares to raise money that they will invest in Doha Global, and this trend is likely to continue gradually in coming weeks, trad-ers said.

“If the IPO is Islamic, there will be a higher participation from Qatari investors,” said Yassir Mckee, wealth manager at Al Rayan Financial Brokerage Co. “(The selling pressure) would open up buying opportunities for foreign and longer-term inves-tors depending on how much the prices decline.”

Losers outnumbered gainers 16 to three. Industries Qatar and Qatar National Bank decline 0.6 and 0.7 percent respectively.

In Saudi Arabia, the bourse ended little changed. Shares in Jarir Marketing rose 2 percent after posting estimate-beating first-quarter earnings.

Elsewhere, Dubai’s measure declined 0.3 percent, halting three sessions of gains. Emaar Properties dipped 2.2 percent.

Abu Dhabi’s index eased 0.09 percent, down from Thursday’s 41-month closing high.

Any break above resistance on the February intra-day peak of 3,069 points would trigger a bull-ish right triangle formed by the lows of the last few weeks, and pointing up to the 3,180-point area.

In Egypt, recent selling pres-sure brought in bargain hunters. The index rose 1 percent, extend-ing gains since Wednesday’s four-month low. REUTERS

Mixed trading in Gulf boursesYESTERDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS

QATAR: The index declined 0.5

percent to 8,537 points.

SAUDI ARABIA: The index eased

0.02 percent to 7,113 points.

BAHRAIN: The index advanced 0.2


DUBAI: The index slipped 0.3 per-

cent to 1,875 points.

ABU DHABI: The index eased 0.09


KUWAIT: The index rose 0.5 per-


OMAN: The index gained 0.4 per-


EGYPT: The index rose 1 percent

to 5,033 points.

DOHA: The QNB Group has reported net profits of QR2.1bn for the first quarter (January to March 2013), up 6.7 percent over Q1 of 2012, the Group, announcing its financials for the first three months of 2013, said yesterday.

The results did not include the financial performance of NSGB-Egypt. QNB Group has recently concluded the acquisition of a controlling stake in NSGB amounting to 97.12 percent. It is

anticipated that the incorporation of the financial results of NSGB will be completed during the sec-ond quarter of 2013, a QNB Group statement said yesterday.

Total assets of the Group increased by 22.2 percent from March 2012 to QR380bn, the highest ever achieved by the bank.

This was the result of a strong growth rate of 28.7 percent in loans and advances to reach QR259bn, while customer depos-its increased by 28.2 percent to

QR280bn. The Group was able to maintain the ratio of non-per-forming loans to gross loans at 1.4 percent, a level considered one of the lowest amongst banks in the Mena region, reflecting the high quality of the Group’s loan book and the effective management of credit risk.

The Group’s conservative policy in regard to provisioning contin-ued with the coverage ratio reach-ing 119 percent in March 2013.

The Group’s cost control policy and revenue generating capability allowed it to maintain efficiency ratio (cost to income ratio) of 17.7 percent, which is considered one of the best ratios among financial institutions in the region.

Total Equity increased by 9.3 percent from March 2012 to QR46bn in Q1 of 2013.

The capital adequacy ratio stood at 20.5 percent as at March 31, 2013, far higher than the regu-latory requirements of the Qatar Central Bank and the Basel Committee. The Group is keen to maintain strong capitalisation in order to support future stra-tegic plans.

During Q1 of 2013, the QNB Group has successfully completed the acquisition of a controlling

stake in NSGB amounting to 97.12 percent, which included the full stake of Société Générale — France amounting to 77.17 per-cent along with 19.95 percent acquired from other shareholders.

This acquisition is considered one of the largest in the Middle East and is in line with the QNB Group’s strategy to expand its presence in selected markets in the region that have a strong growth potential.

This acquisition is an impor-tant step for the QNB Group to realise its vision of being a Middle

East and Africa Icon by 2017. As a result of the bank’s high credit ratings and outstanding asset quality, it was selected as one of the world’s 50 safest financial institutions by Global Finance.

The bank is currently ranked as the most valuable brand in the Mena region, with a world rank-ing of 120.

With the acquisition of NSGB, QNB Group’s total number of staff exceeded 13,000 operating in 25 countries from over 560 locations, with a network of 1,150 ATMs. THE PENINSULA

QNB Group net profit QR2.1bn Bank’s non-performing loans lowest in Mena region

The Minister of Economy and Finance and Chairman of QNB Group, H E Yousuf Hussein Kamal. RIGHT: QNB Group CEO Ali Shareef Al Emadi.

Key Performance Indicators

Group to acquire majority stake in Egypt’s NSGB

QR2.1bn QR2.0bn

QR380bn QR311bn

QR259bn QR201bn

QR280bn QR218bn

QR46bn QR42bn

QR3.1 QR2.9

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CAIRO: The European Union’s foreign policy chief met Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi yesterday against a backdrop of sectarian violence to encourage feuding political leaders to seek a national con-sensus in tackling mounting problems.

“This is a critical time for Egypt’s transition. The country is facing huge economic and politi-cal challenges,” Catherine Ashton said before the talks.

Egypt is in the midst of long-delayed negotiations with the International Monetary Fund on a $4.8bn loan needed to cope with a growing economic crisis.

Foreign currency reserves have dwindled to less than three months’ imports, the Egyptian pound has lost nearly 10 percent against the dollar this year and there are warnings of power cuts and fuel shortages this summer.

“More than ever, Europe — as a partner and neighbour — has to support Egypt in its move towards deep and inclusive democracy. I will work hard in Cairo to engage with all parties to help build confidence and find common ground on both politi-cal and economic issues,” Ashton said.

She was due to meet six main opposition leaders later but EU diplomats said the prospect of a dialogue between the Muslim Brotherhood-led government and

its liberal and leftist opponents had dimmed after recent politi-cal violence.

The opposition accuses Mursi of seeking to monopolise power and muzzle independent media and civil society using the public prosecutor, the security forces and a controversial draft law to regulate non-government organisations.

Mursi’s supporters say the opposition is trying to undermine his legitimacy and encouraging violence by refusing dialogue, threatening to boycott parlia-mentary elections and broadcast-ing hostile propaganda.

The US, which gives Egypt about $1.5bn in annual aid, directed its sharpest criticism so far at the Islamist-led authori-ties last week, citing a “disturbing trend of growing restrictions on freedom of expression”.

The European Parliament, in a non-binding resolution, urged the EU in March “not to grant any budgetary support to the Egyptian authorities if no major progress is made regard-ing respect for human rights and freedoms, democratic governance and the rule of law”.

The resolution particularly criticised the treatment of Copts and women.

EU officials have said that if Egypt reaches a deal with the IMF, it can expect an additional $500m in financial support from

the EU and a similar amount from the US.

Meanwhile, Egypt is seek-ing to increase its previously-requested $4.8bn loan from the International Monetary Fund to cover its soaring budget deficit, the planning minister said in comments carried by three news-papers yesterday.

“Egypt will intensify its efforts in the spring meetings of the IMF

in the period from April 16-21 to receive additional funding to cover the financing deficit until mid-2015,” Ashraf El Araby said in remarks carried by Al Masry Al Youm newspaper.

“There are ongoing discussions to increase the loan, estimated at $4.8bn but it may rise, especially with the increase in the budget deficit to $20bn,” he was quoted as saying. He gave no new figure

and said the talks were not easy.The minister told Al Mal

financial daily that if a deal is not reached before May, talks will be postponed until October when parliamentary elections are expected to start.

It was the first time a minister had confirmed that the govern-ment was seeking to increase the size of the loan. Finance Minister Al Mursi Al Sayed Hegazy was

quoted on April 2 as denying that Cairo had requested any change after a senior IMF official said the amount could be raised if Egypt needed. Asked whether the loan would be increased to $5.5bn, Araby was quoted in Al Shorouk daily as saying that figure was wrong without giving details, and any increase would depend on the expected rise in the budget defi-cit. REUTERS

Ashton seeks consensus on Egypt economy Cairo to seek more IMF funds

Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi (centre) meeting with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in Cairo, yesterday.

DUBAI: Morgan Stanley named veteran banker Sammy Kayello as the chief executive and chairman of its business in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena), replacing Kamal Jabre who is relocating to London for a senior investment banking role.

Kayello, who was in charge of the US investment bank’s sales and trading operations in the region, has been with the bank for over 25 years and has been based in Dubai since 2006.

A spokesman for the bank in Dubai confirmed Kayello’s appointment and Jabre’s move to London. Jabre, a mergers and acquisitions banker who took the top Mena role in 2011, is relocat-ing to London as the deputy head for the bank’s investment banking business in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Jabre will report to Franck Petitgas, global co-head of invest-ment banking, a banking source familiar with the matter said. Mark Eichorn is the other head

of the bank’s investment banking team. “He (Jabre) is inheriting a bigger business and a wider region in the new role, so this is effec-tively a promotion for him,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Morgan Stanley, the sixth-largest US bank by assets, is trimming staff at its Dubai office, mainly by cutting jobs in its equi-ties division, as part of a global plan to reduce costs, sources told Reuters in January.

But investment banking activity in the region is showing signs of a slow revival as financial mar-kets pick up and global companies resume expansion plans.

Mergers and acquisitions trans-actions targeting Middle Eastern firms amounted to $20 billion in 2012, double the activity in 2011, according to data. Fees from advising clients totalled $157.9m, a 23 percent increase.

Morgan Stanley was one of the advisers to telecoms operator Etisalat in a block sale of its 9.1 percent stake in Indonesia’s PT XL Axiata last year. REUTERS

Morgan Stanley appoints new Mena chairman

DUBAI: Shuaa Capital has named Kamel Almunajjed as chairman of its Saudi Arabia subsidiary, the Dubai-based investment bank’s latest senior appointment as it tries to turn around sustained losses follow-ing the global financial crisis.

Almunajjed has previously held senior roles at Banque Saudi Fransi and IBM Saudi Arabia and has been the managing partner of Urjuan Real Estate Development Co since 2005.

Also joining Shuaa Capital Saudi Arabia’s board as non-exec-utive directors are the group’s Chief Executive Colin Macdonald and Chief Investment Officer Sabah Al Binali.

“The appointments follow the successful completion of Shuaa’s restructuring,” the company said yesterday. Shuaa’s shares were unchanged on the Dubai bourse at 0606 GMT. The stock has fallen 93 percent from a 2008 peak.

REUTERS

Shuaa names head for Saudi arm

ABU DHABI: Etihad Airways said passenger revenues rose 19 percent in the first quarter as Abu Dhabi’s flagship car-rier expanded globally through partnership deals.

The UAE carrier, which has stakes in Air Berlin and Virgin Australia, competes with Gulf rivals such as Dubai’s Emirates and Qatar Airways, which are also extending their reach into Europe, Asia and other markets.

Passenger revenues at Etihad totalled $900m in the first quar-ter of 2013, compared with $758m a year ago, the Abu Dhabi-based airline said yesterday.

Cargo revenues rose 17 per-cent to $193m in the quarter. The unlisted Abu Dhabi carrier provided no quarterly profit fig-ures in the statement. Its 2012 net profit tripled to $42m. The aver-age seat occupancy, or seat factor, was 80.5 percent, four percentage points higher than the previous year, despite a 12 percent increase in capacity, the statement said.

“Our Q1 2013 results have again

Etihad Q1 passenger revenues up 19pc

outstripped global trends, with our strongest ever first-quarter results for passenger revenue,” James Hogan, the airline’s chief executive said in a statement.

Revenue from code-share and equity partners jumped by 34 percent to $182m in the first three months of the year and represented 20 percent of total

revenue in the quarter. Etihad Airways under an equity alliance holds stakes in Air Berlin, Air Seychelles, Virgin Australia and Aer Lingus. REUTERS

An Etihad Airways’ Airbus A380 passenger jet.

KUWAIT: Kuwait’s No.1 tel-ecom operator Zain yesterday said its Iraqi unit would com-plete an initial public offer-ing by the end of 2013, signally a further delay in the sale process.

Zain’s 2012 earnings release states Zain Iraq would likely launch an IPO in the first half of 2013, but the company’s chairman now appears to have extended that target date.

“We are now taking the legal procedures and we think by the end of the year we will finish the public offering,” Asaad Ahmed Al Banwan told shareholders at the company’s annual meeting yesterday.

Zain Iraq along with rival mobile operators Asiacell, an Ooredoo (Qatar Telecom) sub-sidiary, and France Telecom affil-iate Korek all missed an August 2011 deadline to float a quarter of their shares and list on the Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX).

Asiacell is the only one of this trio to now have done so. It debuted on the ISX in February following a fully-subscribed $1.27bn share sale that was Iraq’s

largest ever flotation. Yet much of this demand came from Ooredoo, which increased its stake to 64 percent from 53.9 percent as part of the offering.

That Ooredoo stepped in to meet a shortfall in demand from retail and institutional inves-tors has increased doubts that Iraq’s other operators will be able to sell their full allotment of shares, especially as Asiacell had first mover advantage in terms of attracting local liquidity.

Asiacell now accounts for more than half of the ISX’s combined market value of about $9.63bn and its listing also boosted daily turnover to $7.1m in February from $4.6m a month earlier, according to data from the Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges.

Asiacell shares surged in their first few days of trading, but have now fallen back to their IPO price of KD22. Zain appears likely to be the sole seller in Zain Iraq’s IPO, which could cut the Kuwaiti firm’s holding to 51 percent from 76 percent, according to company statements in March.

REUTERS

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Riyad Bank posted a 5.5 percent rise in its first-quarter profits yesterday, beating analysts’ forecasts.

The kingdom’s third-largest listed bank by market value said in a bourse statement that it made SR951m ($254m) in the three months ended March 31, compared with 901 million riyals in the same period a year earlier.

Analysts expected the bank to post an average of SR876m for the first quarter. Riyad Bank attributed the rise in profits to higher operating income, without

providing further explanation. Operating income for the quarter rose by 4.9 percent to SR1.73bn.

Profits from special com-missions rose by 2.1 percent to SR1.09bn. Loans and advances increased by 6.4 percent to 121 billion riyals at the end of March from the same point of 2012.

In a March 26 research note, Arqaam Capital forecast lending growth for Riyad Bank of around 7 percent over the course of 2013. Growth will be sluggish, given the bank’s conservative approach to risk and its desire to maintain net interest margins. REUTERS

Riyad Bank posts 5.5pc rise in first quarter profit

Zain says Iraq unit to complete IPO this year

22 BUSINESSMONDAY 8 APRIL 2013


NEW DELHI: India’s govern-ment is appealing to corporate leaders to “keep the faith” as it struggles to revive a stagger-ing economy, but the reply from business is they need more than talk to win back their support.

Business confidence in the Congress party-led government has nosedived, with growth at a decade-low of five percent, stub-bornly high inflation, a ballooning deficit, policy drift and a string of corruption scandals.

The disenchantment is even more worrying for Congress with 2014 polls looming and business hailing corporate-friendly opposi-tion leader, Narendra Modi, the Gujarat state chief minister, as a potential prime minister.

Premier Manmohan Singh, seeking to woo back the key cor-porate constituency, conceded in a speech to the annual meeting of India’s biggest industry group last week there was a need for a “corrective strategy” to jumpstart growth.

“Keep the faith and partner with the government in our effort” to put the economy back on track for high growth, said Singh, con-sidered the father of 1990s market reforms that unleashed a two-decade economic boom.

“We grew at an average eight percent in the last 10 years and we can get there again,” Singh, who has been in power since 2004, told the Confederation of Indian Industry recently.

But Singh’s commitments to further open up the still heav-ily regulated economy, dismantle investment roadblocks and slice through India’s infamous red tape drew yawns from his audi-ence who said they were tired of promises.

“It’s like Rip Van Winkle who has woken up after nine years and recognised past failures,” said Ravi Chaudhry, chairman of Delhi-based business strat-egy consulting firm CeNext Consulting and Investment.

“Nobody has confidence, his words are not confidence inspir-ing,” Chaudhry said. “This all hap-pened under their watch.”

Congress has been losing capi-tal, especially during its second stint in power which began in 2009, among both domestic and foreign investors who have been seeking opportunities elsewhere.

The party wheeled out a string of top ministers as well as reclu-sive Nehru-Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi, often tagged India’s prime minister in waiting, at the industry meeting as part of their charm offensive.

Gandhi’s appearance, however, left business leaders scratching their heads as he lectured them in a rambling speech about the need to reduce endemic poverty and act with compassion, while failing to provide solutions for low growth. “The silver lining is they recognise they have slipped up and it is a positive they are doing something now, but they have only 10 months to turn things around,” said Kiran Karnik, former presi-dent of India’s flagship outsourc-ing lobby group NASSCOM.

Business leaders said they still have high admiration for Singh’s economic scholarship. But many say the frail Sikh is not a politi-cian able to deal with an unruly cabinet and navigate the hurly-burly political landscape.

“He’s basically an economist. What he says now is not going to change the trend — people don’t have high expectations of the gov-ernment any more,” said another delegate, Anil Sultan.

Still, the potential opposition candidate for premier, Modi, a pil-lar of the Hindu nationalist BJP, remains a controversial divisive figure for failing to halt deadly anti-Muslim riots that inflamed his state in 2002.

Modi’s business popularity stems from clean governance and effectiveness as an economic steward that has made Gujarat a go-to investment destination.

Industrialists such as Sunil Bharti Mittal, Ratan Tata and Anil Ambani have all voiced admiration for Modi — prompt-ing Congress to draw a parallel with the German corporate sec-tor’s fondness for Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. AFP

India PM urges businesses to ‘keep the faith’ Singh promises to slice red tape

BOAO, China: International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde yesterday told an audience in China that the euro has a solid future and that she hopes no more countries in Europe will need bailouts.

“I think the collective political will.... to maintain, defend, pro-tect and enhance the monetary zone and currency zone has been largely underestimated,” Lagarde said.

“The euro has a future and has a long-standing one.”

The former French finance minister spoke during a question-and-answer session that followed an address she gave at the Boao Forum for Asia, an annual con-ference of political and economic leaders held on the Chinese island of Hainan.

Her appearance prompted questions from audience par-ticipants about the situation in Cyprus, where the Mediterranean country struck a ¤10bn bailout deal with the EU, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund — the so-called troika.

Europe has struggled with financial crises and the troubles besetting Cyprus are the latest in a series of sovereign debt crises and bailouts — most notably in Greece — that have shaken global confidence.

Such concerns were highlighted Friday when a US Treasury offi-cial said uncertainty surrounding Europe’s financial woes “remains a risk to our recovery and the glo-bal economic outlook”.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew’s upcoming visit to the EU.

Asked specifically about the prospect for further crises, Lagarde said: “I don’t have a crys-tal ball.

“My dearest hope is that there is not yet another country down the line that needs to be repaired and that could require support from both the European partners and the IMF.”

She added, however, that Cyprus represented a unique case and reminded her audience that the country’s economy amounted to a mere 0.2 percent of Europe’s economy. “I don’t mean to be derogatory about this country,” she said, noting its status as a member of Europe and of the IMF.

“But it was a very specific case in many respects,” she added, cit-ing factors such as the the size of the banking sector relative to the Cyprus economy.

Lagarde also said she hoped European authorities would learn from experiences over the past couple of years and “decide to accelerate the consolidation of their currency zone”. AFP

Lagarde says euro has ‘solid future’

Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde speaks at the Boao Forum for Asia.

TOKYO: The Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) huge new easing measures mark its boldest bid yet to van-quish growth-sapping deflation, but observers warn there are no guarantees of success for the multi-billion-dollar gambit.

The central bank ended weeks of speculation over what its new management team would do last week, unleashing a torrent of measures which rival the US Federal Reserve’s wave of easy money, known as quantitative easing.

Traders lapped up the news, sending Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index skyward, while bond yields fell to record lows and the yen plunged to levels that heartened Japan’s exporters whose competitiveness depends on a weaker currency.

BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said his team would double Japan’s money supply by the end of 2014, jack up asset purchases and hit a two-percent inflation target in as many years, vowing no let-up in the battle against falling prices which have plagued the economy for decades. “We will carry out quantitative and qualitative mon-etary easing that is unprecedented in its scale and quality,” Kuroda told a packed news conference.

“Rather than doing things incrementally, we are taking all the necessary steps to achieve two percent inflation early,” he added.

Observers hailed it as a “gigan-tic step” and a “brave new world” with moves that surprised markets

used to less aggressive action from Japan’s central bank.

“Kuroda showed today that the Bank of Japan is now different from what it was in the past,” said Yoshikiyo Shimamine, executive chief economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.

Tokyo also applauded the moves with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — who hand-picked Kuroda and his deputies — saying the market reaction was “exactly what the measures were expected to do”.

Kuroda, meanwhile, brushed off worries his strategy could set off

an asset-price bubble, a big fear in Japan after the last two decades of limp growth, which followed a huge stock and real-estate bubble in the late 1980s.

However, even those who lauded the bank’s efforts concede it was a step into uncharted territory, a plan that could backfire and leave Japan saddled with bucketloads of debt and little else.

“We don’t know where this gamble will take us,” said Daisuke Uno, chief market strategist of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.

Boston University professor William Grimes predicted that the policy “will have positive effects, but there are no guaran-tees. Deflationary expectations are much more firmly entrenched among Japanese companies and consumers (now). Also, Japan’s fiscal situation has become much worse.”

Abe’s prescription for the economy includes big government spending, although that too may run into a wall: Japan has, pro-portionately, the worst debt load among industrialised nations with a rapidly ageing population threat-ening to exacerbate the problem.

Meanwhile, the one-time pow-erhouse economy has been wres-tling with falling prices for years, a deflationary spiral that put the brakes on growth because it encourages people to put off buy-ing goods in the hopes of paying less in the future and hurting pro-ducers in the process. AFP

BoJ ushers in ‘easy money’ era, but questions abound

Newly appointed Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda listens to a question during his first regular press conference at the bank’s headquarters in Tokyo.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard (second left) speaks with Chinese President Xi Jinping (second right) in Boao, Hainan province, yesterday. State and government leaders from Asia and other regions are attending an economic meeting in the Chinese resort island.

Luxembourg says willing to ease banking secrecyBERLIN: Luxembourg is prepared to ease its banking secrecy rules and work more closely with foreign tax authori-ties, Finance Minister Luc Frieden (pictured) told a paper, in a comment welcomed by Germany which wants to crack down on tax havens.

Frieden told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung there was an international trend towards automatically exchang-ing information about depositors, adding; “We no longer strictly reject this, in contrast to before.”

“Luxembourg does not rely on clients who want to save tax,” he said. Last month’s ¤10bn bail-out of Cyprus, whose banking system was swollen by foreign deposits attracted by low taxes and easy regulation, has put the

spotlight on tax havens. Austria and Luxembourg are the only European Union states that do not share with other EU mem-bers the identities of EU residents with cross-border bank accounts.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said he was pleased with the comments from Luxembourg. “I welcome every step towards automatic infor-mation exchange,” he told the Saarbruecker Zeitung newspaper.

Amid growing outrage over the scale of tax evasion, Schaeuble said last week Berlin would push the EU to take legal measures against tax havens. The German government this weekend also urged several German publica-tions to hand over details they have obtained on suspected tax cheats. REUTERS

PARIS: French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici yes-terday said that France’s econ-omy was expected to grow just 0.1 percent this year, revising downward an official target as the country struggles to get back on its feet.

The French government had initially forecast 0.8 percent growth in 2013 for the eurozone’s second largest economy, which continues to battle rising unem-ployment, stagnant growth and a stubborn budget deficit.

Speaking on Europe 1 radio, Moscovici also predicted growth for 2014 at around 1.2 percent.

For 2015, “I think French growth will get back to a cruis-ing speed that will enable it to create jobs,” he said, pointing to an expected growth of 2 percent.

His 2013 prediction con-firms those already made by the European Commission and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, which both forecast that the French economy would manage to grow by just 0.1 percent this year.

Moscovici already said last week that he “feared” growth in France would be around that fig-ure, and Sunday’s announcement confirmed this.

Last month, French President Francois Hollande insisted that the country’s promised turna-round was still on course, despite near record unemployment, a drop in household purchasing power and thousands of layoffs.

AFP

France expects 0.1pc growth

BRENT

$105.92

DUBAI

$104.30

QATAR EXCHANGE | DAILY TRADING REPORT | 07-04-2013

EXCHANGE RATE

GOLD & SILVERWORLD STOCK INDICES

CRUDE OIL

Buying SellingINDEX Day’s Close Pt Chg % Chg Year High Year Low

GOLDQR181.8052

SILVERQR 3.1606

US$ ..........................QR 3.6305 QR 3.6500

UK ...........................QR 5.5515 QR 5.6327

Euro .........................QR 4.6878 QR 4.7826

CA$ ..........................QR 3.5595 QR 3.6306

Swiss Fr ..................QR 3.8564 QR 3.9443

Yen ..........................QR 0.0369 QR 0.0377

Aus$ ........................QR 3.7347 QR 3.8295

Ind Re ......................QR 0.0655 QR 0.0670

Pak Re .....................QR 0.0367 QR 0.0375

Peso ........................QR 0.0870 QR 0.0897

SL Re .......................QR 0.0287 QR 0.0293

Taka .........................QR 0.0462 QR 0.0471

Nep Re ....................QR 0.0413 QR 0.0421

SA Rand ..................QR 0.3894 QR 0.3984

All Ordinaries 4919.296 -47.142 -0.95 5174.4 4664.6

Cac 40 Index/D 3787.71 32.75 0.87 3871.58 3600.81

Dj Indu Average 14550.35 -111.66 -0.76 14684.5 12035.1

Egypt Cma Gn Idx 1026.29 32.57 3.28 999.95 312.38

Hang Seng Inde/D 22337.49 -30.33 -0.14 23944.74 21975.9

Iseq Overall/D 3936.42 -21.68 -0.55 4009.59 3396.67

Karachi 100 In/D 18613.44 37.56 0.2 18590.25 16036.31

Nikkei 225 Index 12634.54 272.34 2.2 12650.26 10398.61

S&P 500 Index/D 0 0 0 1573.66 1266.74

Straits Times/D 3307.8 -13.97 -0.42 3331.26 3160.83

Straits Times/D 2989.31 24.69 0.83 3035.78 2657.77

QE Market Summary Comparison Today Previous day

07-04-2013 04-04-2013

Index 8,536.63 8,576.86

Change 40.23 8.23

% 0.47 0.10

YTD% 2.13 2.61

Volume 4,309,506 4,600,788

Value (QAR) 267,043,020.98 354,832,543.05

Trades 2,172 2,732

Up 10 | Down 25 | Unchanged 04

24 MARKETMONDAY 8 APRIL 2013


QE Indices SummaryQE Index 8,536.63 0.47 %

QE Total Return Index 12,192.7 0.47 %

QE Al Rayan Islamic Index 2,570.13 0.59 %

QE All Share Index 2,173.35 0.39 %

QE All Share Banks & Financial Services

2,038.84 0.48 %

QE All Share Consumer Goods & Services

5,230.82 0.47 %

QE All Share Industrials 3,014.49 0.43 %

QE All Share Insurance 2,043.82 1.31 %

QE All Share Real Estate 1,549.06 0.46 %

QE All Share Telecoms 1,178.71 0.09 %

QE All Share Transportation 1,449.03 0.70 %

ONLY when you think you

have seen it all, the mar-

ket pushes you back into

humility. Indeed, the meeting of

the Bank of Japan on Thursday

proved to be a remarkable day.

Still the ramifications of the BOJ

action will take many weeks to

come fully apparent. The Yen lost

almost five percent of its value

against the dollar in less than 24

hours after the Bank of Japan

just announced a new monetary

easing programme. As a result,

Japan’s 10-year yield fell to 0.425

percent, the lowest on record as

a first response.

On the other hand, during the

latest European Central Bank

meeting, the governing council

mentioned that an interest-rate

cut is rising up the bank’s agenda.

However, the ECB decided to keep

the main interest rate on hold at

0.75 percentfor the ninth consec-

utive month. Draghi also men-

tioned they stood “ready to act”

as economic weakness started

creeping further into Euro zone

countries unaffected by the sov-

ereign debt crisis.

On the foreign exchange side,

markets were extremely volatile

on Thursday and Friday. Speaking

after the bank’s council meeting,

Draghi responded cautiously to

the Bank of Japan’s dramatic eas-

ing plan that will see it double its

monetary base over two years.

Currencies closed the week

with a stronger euro and ster-

ling pound. Profit taking pushed

the dollar lower after the ECB’s

meeting while a short squeeze

pushed GBP up against the dol-

lar. After reaching a low of 1.5030

on Thursday, the pound ended the

week at 1.5336.

Euro on the other side behaved

in a much more volatile way.

After dropping to a low of 1.2740

during Draghi’s speech, the euro

exploded higher to close the week

at 1.2991.

In the commodity complex,

Gold continued to slide to a low

of 1,540 as investors continued to

shun the metal on hope that the

US economy would continue out-

perform its peers, while forcing

the Fed to consider ending its QE

program.

In summary, this week’s US

data disappointed investors as

numbers ranging mainly from

manufacturing to employment

figures came much worse than

expected. Although analysts

blamed the holi-

day season for

the weakness,

uncertainty over

equity markets

pressured inves-

tors to stay on

the sideline and reinforced a per-

ception of a US slowdown in Q2

Disappoint ing ISM Manufacturing, However The Trend Is Still Intact

As mentioned above, fears of a

US slowdown in growth returned

this week as manufacturing

ISM disappointing slightly. The

Institute for Supply Management

Index was 51.3 in March, down

from 54.2 in February, however

still above the 50 level diving from

growth to decline. Details of the

report showed that the pullback

from earlier in the year was due

to slowing growth in a number

of areas, notably new orders and

production. The number also

suggested that companies con-

tinue to delay hiring, spending

and capacity. In another report,

the non-manufacturing data

also grew at a slower rate than

expected in March, hitting a five-

month low. The index indeed fell

to 54.4 in March compared to

56 in February.

The New Orders

Index decreased

by 3.6 points to

54.6, and the

E m p l o y m e n t

Index declined

3.9 points to 53.3

Analysts however continued

to emphasize the underlying

trend of manufacturing growth

rather than the month-to-month

changes in the ISM numbers.

Jobless Claims and ADP disappoint.

US jobless claims rose more

than expected last week reach-

ing a 16-week high. The data

increased by 28k to 385k com-

pared to expectations for a

decrease of 7k to 350k. The four-

week moving average however

remains at 354k an increase of 11k

from the previous week revised

average of 343k.

Earlier in the week, ADP

rose by 158k from an upwardly

revised 237k gain in Feb, which

weighted also on the USD. Still,

other reports also raised concerns

that job gains may be moderating

and Q2 might be harder for the

economy. Employers eliminated

49,255 jobs in March, down from

55,356 in February but 30 percent

higher than March 2012. Analysts

continue to blame Washington’s

spending cuts for the increased

layoffs.

Europe & UKDraghi Asks for National

Government and Central Banks to do their Share

At the last council meeting, a

dovish Mario Draghi triggered a

Euro move down to 1.2745, but

this was quickly reversed after

he stated that he was looking

at non-standard measures and

will continue to debate small and

medium-sized enterprises lend-

ing. After acknowledging the

deterioration in Europe’s situ-

ation, Draghi’s message during

his speech was that additional

unconventional measures can-

not be undertaken by the ECB

within the central bank’s man-

date. This leaves the ECB with its

conventional tools only, which the

Governing Council seems more

willing to deploy. The market

now has priced in a rate cut over

the next few months even with

Draghi refusing to pre-commit.

Furthermore, Draghi implicitly

called on national governments

and national central banks to

do their own share and take ini-

tiatives, but refrained to explain

how technically these could put

in place.

In summary, the ECB relative

decision to the Bank of Japan sug-

gests that the market might want

to be funding in Japanese Yen not

in Euro as the ECB refuses to

start printing money similarly to

the Fed and the BoJ.

Germany Inflation Dropping as the Euro Zone Retail Sales continue Falling

The inflation rate in Germany

fell to 1.7 percent from 1.8 per-

cent in February, the lowest since

November 2010. This was driven

by energy price inflation fall-

ing to 0.5 percent (3.6 percent

prev.), while food price inflation

accelerated moderately from 3.1

percent to 3.7 percent. However,

with downside risks in the Euro

zone growing, the risks of miss-

ing the 2013 inflation forecast of

the ECB has materialized, adding

to the pressure of an additional

interest rate cut over the next few

months. Adding to the pressure,

Retail Sales in the Euro zone fell

0.3 percent in February and by 1.4

percent on the year.

THE PENINSULA

ECB will not print money as economic weakness intensifies

Weekly Money Market Review

27SPORT MONDAY 8 APRIL 2013


Pujols leads Angels past Texas; Hamilton strugglesARLINGTON, TEXAS: Albert Pujols didn’t have to wait nearly as long for his first home run this year. He had to wait awhile for another chance to swing the bat, though.

Then he homered again.Pujols went deep in his only two

plate appearances that weren’t intentional walks to offset another tough day for Josh Hamilton in his second game back in Texas, and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Rangers 8-4 yesterday.

Exactly a month earlier than he hit his first homer in his debut season for the Angels last year, Pujols drove a two-run shot to the lawn in center field off Matt Harrison in the first inning and watched Hamilton strike out twice behind him after taking two of three intentional walks.

The next - and last - time the Rangers let him swing, Pujols homered off reliever Jason Frasor in the sixth.

“I think it was a smart move,’’ said Hamilton, who is 1 for 20 with 10 strikeouts after signing a $125m, five-year contract. ‘’Albert was dominating today, obviously. If I was in their situation, I would have done the same thing.’’

Mark Trumbo also had a two-run homer in the first against Harrison (0-2), who gave up eight hits and five runs in five innings after losing to Houston on open-ing night.

“The biggest thing was that first inning,’’ said Harrison, who has an 8.44 ERA through two starts. “The balls I left up in the zone were hit hard, and it just led to a four-spot in that first and put us in a big hole.’’

Mitch Moreland and Ian Kinsler hit third-inning home runs against Tommy Hanson (1-0), who gave up three runs and six hits over six innings in his Angels debut after arriving in an offseason trade with Atlanta.

The boos were loud again for Hamilton, who said before the game that his wife had to call over security during Friday’s home opener for Texas because fans were shouting insults and obscen-ities at their family. There were no major incidents, and Hamilton said his family planned to return for the remaining two games.

Hamilton, a five-time All-Star with the Rangers who went 0 for 4 in his return on Friday, walked in the first inning ahead of Trumbo’s opposite-field home run to right.

First base was open the next two times Pujols came up, so Rangers manager Ron Washington chose to pitch to his former slugger. Hamilton struck out both times on breaking pitches in the dirt. He flied out to left in the sixth and again in the eighth after another intentional walk to Pujols.

“Hamilton is not swinging the bat well, we had some left-handers out there and we just went for the matchup each time,’’ Washington said. ‘’Each time we didn’t walk (Pujols), you seen what happened.’’

In his return to Texas, Hamilton is 0 for 8 with a walk and four strikeouts, and isn’t hit-ting the ball very hard when he does make contact. Pujols, also playing under the weight of a huge new contract at this time a year ago, didn’t hit his first homer of 2012 until May 6 at Toronto. Odds were pretty good he would go deep at Rangers Ballpark, where he has four multihomer games in his past 15, including a three-homer outburst in Game 3 of the 2011 World Series with St Louis. AP

James returns with a bangThe Miami Heat star scores 27 points in win over visiting Philadelphia

NBA ResultsWashington 104 Indiana 85

Brooklyn 105 Charlotte 96

Miami 106 Philadelphia 87

Minnesota 107 Detroit 101

Milwaukee 100 Toronto 83

San Antonio 99 Atlanta 97

Denver 132 Houston 114

LOS ANGELES: LeBron James returned from a three-game hiatus with a game-high 27 points to help shorthanded Miami pull away late and beat visiting Philadelphia 106-87.

Rashard Lewis added 14 points and Norris Cole scored 13 for the Heat, who were without Dwyane Wade (ankle) and Chris Bosh (knee).

Miami has won 15 straight meetings with Philadelphia and swept the four-game season series.

Jrue Holiday scored 18 points and Spencer Hawes added 11 points and 11 rebounds for the 76ers, who were eliminated from play-off contention.

In anothe game, Tim Duncan collected 31 points and 14 rebounds and Kawhi Leonard added 23 points to help San Antonio move a half-game ahead of idle Oklahoma City in the race for the top seed in the Western Conference play-offs.

DeJuan Blair contributed 11 points off the bench for the Spurs, who were without All-Star point guard Tony Parker (neck) and key reserve Manu Ginobili (ham-string). San Antonio has won nine of its last 10 home games.

Rookies John Jenkins (23) and Mike Scott (22) both posted career-high scoring totals for the Hawks, who were without starters Al Horford (hamstring), Josh Smith (knee), Devin Harris (foot) and Kyle Korver (unspeci-fied injury).

Atlanta remains in sixth place in the Eastern Conference and slipped 1 1/2 games behind fifth-place Chicago, which was idle Saturday.

In Milwaukee, Monta Ellis had 22 points and nine assists and matched a season best with six steals as host Milwaukee routed Toronto to clinch the final play-off spot in the Eastern Conference.

Brandon Jennings had 16 points and seven assists and Larry Sanders contributed 12 points, nine rebounds and six blocked shots as the Bucks won for only the fifth time in 15 games.

Milwaukee is two games behind seventh-place Boston with six games remaining.

In Denver, Corey Brewer scored 22 points to lead seven players in double figures and Denver tied a franchise record with its 20th straight home win.

Wilson Chandler had 21 points and Andre Iguodala added 18 points and 14 assists for Denver, which stands 1 1/2 games ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies in the battle for the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.

Philadelphia 76ers’ Justin

Holiday (left) and

Evan Turner defends against

Miami Heat’s Norris Cole in the first

half of their NBA game in Miami, Florida,

yesterday. The Miami Heat won 106-87.

Houston fell to 1 1/2 games behind sixth-place Golden State in the West.

Jeremy Lin led the Rockets with 23 points, but leading scorer James Harden missed eight of his 10 shots and finished 14 points.

In Minnesota, Nikola Pekovic led seven players in double fig-ures with 20 points and added 13 rebounds as host Minnesota won for the third time in four games.

J J Barea also scored 20 points and star point guard Ricky Rubio overcame a horrid shooting per-formance to score six of his 10 points in the final four-plus min-utes for Minnesota.

Brandon Knight led Detroit

with 25 points. Rodney Stuckey added 20 off the bench as the Pistons fell to 0-14 on the road against Western Conference opponents.

In Brooklyn, Deron Williams scored eight of his 32 points in the final 1:19 and host Brooklyn fended off a late comeback by Charlotte.

Andray Blatche scored 16 points off the bench and Reggie Evans added 14 points and 20 rebounds as the Nets beat the Bobcats for the seventh straight time to move 1 1/2 games ahead of Chicago for the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference.

Ben Gordon had 27 points

and sparked Charlotte’s come-back with 13 points in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Bobcats from tumbling to their 12th consecutive defeat on the road.

In Washington, John Wall scored 37 points on 16-of-25 shooting as Washington routed Indiana for its ninth consecutive home win. Kevin Seraphin added 15 points and Martell Webster had 13 as the Wizards snapped a nine-game skid against the Pacers. Roy Hibbert had 25 points and 10 rebounds, but Indiana failed in its second attempt to clinch the Central Division crown.

REUTERS

Zou Shiming wins on debut MACAU: China’s Zou Shiming said he was eyeing up a world title after he won his debut professional fight yesterday, defeating little-known Mexican Eleazar Valenzuela on a unani-mous points decision in Macau.

The two-time Olympic gold medallist and three-time amateur world champion emerged from a tight contest over four rounds, all three judges giving him victory 40-36. Zou reportedly pocketed $300,000 for his night’s work.

No Chinese boxer has been as successful as Zou, 31, in the amateur ranks and his eagerly anticipated professional debut, in a sport once banned in China under Mao Zedong, was expected to draw hundreds of millions of television viewers in China.

The “Fists of Gold” night at the opulent The Venetian resort-hotel in Macau, the gambling enclave close to Hong Kong which attracts China’s high-rollers, saw United States promoter Bob Arum bring the razzmatazz of US boxing to China.

“Taking part in a professional fight is really a new experience. As a rookie though it’s only a four-rounder, but as a rookie that’s how you get started,” the flyweight Zou, who had few marks to his face, said afterwards.

“Hopefully it will be from four rounds to six and to eight, and to the championship,” he added, via an interpreter.

“I want to thank China as the country that has supported me, and supported my success in the Olympics. It doesn’t matter where I go, I will always be Chinese.”

Wearing gold trunks, Zou, who topped the bill at the 15,000-seater CotaiArena, which was two-thirds full, let his opponent do the work in the first round. The inexpe-rienced Mexican came into the fight with just two wins behind him.

Roared on by the passion-ate home support, Zou grinned broadly at one point as yet another Valenzuela swing hit nothing but air.

But if the crowd and Zou’s

promoters at Las Vegas-based Top Rank -- who are going after the untapped China market and its growing financial muscle -- had been expecting a first-round vic-tory, they were left disappointed.

The second round followed the same script, Valenzuela doing the work and Zou ducking and diving his way out of trouble, challenging his opponent to bring on more.

Halfway through the scheduled four rounds and things were not exactly going to plan for Zou and an electric home crowd, who were baying for a knock-out.

But the Chinese fighter showed plenty more in the third, rocking

Valenzuela twice, first with a strong right and then a clubbing left, bringing the patriotic home support to its feet.

In the fourth and final round, Zou finally showed more ambi-tion as he connected with some impressive body shots and hunted down a spectacular finale against the stubborn Valenzuela.

“It was a great fight for him. There’s something very different between amateur and professional fights,” said Freddie Roach, the celebrated trainer who has taken Zou under his wing and has had him training in the United States.

REUTERS

Ulster’s wing Andrew

Trimble (left) jumps for the ball against Saracens’

hooker Schalk Brits during the European Cup rugby

union quarter final match at Twickenham

Stadium, southwest of

London.

Baseball ResultsToronto 5 Boston 0

Chicago White Sox 4 Seattle 3

Washington 7 Cincinnati 6

NY Mets 7 Miami 3

Detroit 8 NY Yankees 4

LA Angels 8 Texas 4

St Louis 6 San Francisco 3

Minnesota 6 Baltimore 5

Philadelphia 4 Kansas City 3

Arizona 9 Milwaukee 2

Atlanta 6 Chicago Cubs 5

Oakland 6 Houston 3

Tampa Bay 6 Cleveland 0

Colorado 6 San Diego 3

LA Dodgers 1 Pittsburgh 0

Diego Magdaleno (right) of US fights

Puerto Rico’s Roman Martinez during their WBO World

Super Featherweight Title match at

Cotai Arena, inside Venetian Macao in Macau yesterday.

Magdaleno won the title. BELOW, RIGHT:

Former two-time world heavyweight champion George Foreman smiles

during the ‘Fists of Gold’ boxing event in

Macau.

Double for Semjan at Qatar ITF Futures 2013

Marek Semjan (right) singles

winner at the 1st Qatar ITF Futures

2013 tourna-ment poses for a picture with his doubles

partner James Marsalek (left)

and Qatar Tennis Federation offi-cials at the prize distribution cer-emony at Khalifa

International Tennis Complex,

on Saturday. Semjan com-

pleted a grand double by winning

title partnering Marsalek.

SPORT28 MONDAY 8 APRIL 2013


Lorenzo storms to Qatar victoryYamaha Factory Racing secure 1-2; Rossi grabs second spot in spectacular finish BY RIZWAN REHMAT

DOHA: World champion Jorge Lorenzo yesterday stormed to his second successive win in Qatar as Yamaha Factory Racing completed a stunning 1-2 at the season opening race at Losail International Circuit.

Lorenzo finished the 22-lap race ahead of nine-time world champion and team-mate Valentino Rossi who moved from the seventh spot on the grid to win his cat-and-mouse battle with third-placed Marc Marquez.

The 25-year-old Spaniard repeated last year’s performance in Qatar - winning pole position and the race - with a time of 42mins 39.802 for his 24th career MotoGP victory.

Rossi, the master of bends and tough conditions, secured his first podium of the new season ahead of 2012 Moto2 world champion Marquez who eventually finished third for Repsol Honda Team.

The 34-year-old Italian fin-ished 5.990secs behind team-mate Lorenzo who had claimed pole on Saturday.

Twenty-year-old Marquez - who remained in second place behind Lorenzo for most of the race - ended the opening round 6.201secs behind the Spaniard.

Dani Pedrosa, the Honda Repsol star who started form the third spot on the front row - fin-ished in fourth place, 9.473secs off the pace set by Lorenzo.

Britain’s Cal Crutchlow failed in his maiden podium bid but nev-ertheless the 27-year-old emerged fifth fastest, 18.764secs behind Lorenzo.

GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista (+22.148), Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso (+24.355), team-mate Nicky Hayden (+24.920), Energy T I Pramac Racing’s Andrea Iannone (+37.124) and Ignite Pramac Racing’s Ben Spies (+44.908) completed the top-10 riders at Losail Circuit.

Lorenzo - who remained in

Espargaro roars to first win of the new season in Moto2DOHA: Spain’s Pol Espargaro yesterday started capped a spec-tacular run of form across two seasons by winning the open-ing round of the 2013 Moto2 World Championship at Losail International Circuit.

Espargaro, riding a Kalex bike, overcame a pulsating challenge from Britain’s Scott Redding, to seal his win with a time of 40min 31.782secs.

Riding for Tuenti HP 40, the 21-year-old quelled a stiff chase by Redding who finished just .844secs slower than the Spaniard.

For Redding, riding for Marc VDS Racing Team, it was a week-end to remember in Qatar as the Briton began from the front grid on row second, his best ever quali-fying spot.

In third place was Takaaki Nakagami of Japan, Nakagami, riding for Italtrans Racing Team, was 12.098secs off the pace set by Espargaro in 22-degree Celsius temperature.

Espargaro has now managed five successive race starts from pole position (four at the end of last season), equalling the record set by MotoGP rider Stefan

Bradl in 2010. Technomag carX-pertSuter’s Dominqiue Aegerter of Switzerland (+18.910), Marc VDS Racing Team’s Mika Kallio of Finland (+18.933) and Italtrans Racing Team’s Julian Simon (+19.018) finished in fourth, fifth and sixth spots respectively.

For home fans, there was dis-appointment and delight in equal measure.

QMMF Racing Team rider Anthony West crashed out of the race in 11th lap after starting from the 15th gird.

West’s team-mate Rafid Topn Sucipto of Indonesia completed the race in 26th spot after six rid-ers retired mid-way the season opener.

“It was a perfect start for us,” Espargaro said. “I must say that Takaaki made things difficult for us in the first five or seven laps,” the Spaniard added.

“It was a tough weekend as new tyres were’t smooth. I am so happy 9with the result) and I thank my team-mates. They did a great job. We will definitely be fighting for the championship. It is good to collect win points,” he added. Redding said: “It was

a tricky and fast last lap. I had clutch issues in the warm-up but my team did a great job to fix that. It has been a great start for us.”

Nakagami said: “I am happy to be on the podium for the first time. It was difficult as there was good speed from all riders. Third place makes me happy.”

In Moto3, Luis Salom clinched the issue with a sensational finish in the first race of the new season.

The KTM rider - trailing from the first lap of the race - recov-ered in fine fashion to seal his win in 38mins 26.859secs. It was the Spaniard’s third Moto3 win of his young career.

Salom - who was the pole win-ner on Saturday - finished the race ahead of Maverick Vinales and Alex Rins.

Vinales, riding a KTM, was just .417secs slower than Salom while Rins, who started the race from the third grid, was .701secs off the pace set by Salom.

Salom celebrate his first career pole position with a big smile and a few words at the podium pres-entation ceremony,

“I am very, very happy,” Salom said. “I think I make a good job

with my team,” the Spaniard said.Vinales, 18, said: “I improved

as the race went on. It was really crazy in the first lap but I settled down afterwards. I think it was a really fast race.”

For 21-year-old Salom, yester-day’s race was an improvement from last year’s fourth-place fin-ish at Losail Circuit but Vinales dropped a notch after winning the race in Qatar last season.

Rins, just 17 years of age, fin-ished 10th last season but yester-day the Spaniard claimed his first podium of the new season.

Alex Marquez of Spain (.701secs adrift of Salom) was fourth while Jonas Folger of Germany was fifth. Folger, riding a Kalex bike for Mapfire Aspar team, was .916secs.

Malaysian rider Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Red Bull) ended the race in sixth spot despite starting the race from 11th grid. Khairuddin was 17.489secs adrift off the pace set by Salom.

The MotoGP family now moves to Austin, Texas in the US for the second round of the 18-leg 2013 World Championship.

THE PENINSULA

Pol Espargaro celebrates after winning the Moto2 class of Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar at Losail International Circuit yesterday.

Qatar Grand Prix Results

Losail, Qatar: Collated results of the season-opening Qatar motorcycling Grand Prix here yesterday:

MotoGP

1. Jorge Lorenzo (ESP/Yamaha 42min 39.802sec, 2. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) at 5.990s, 3. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) 6.201, 4. Dani Pedrosa (ESP/Honda) 9.473, 5. Cal Crutchlow (GBR/Yamaha) 18.764, 6. Alvaro Bautista (ESP/Honda) 22.148, 7. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Ducati) 24.355, 8. Nicky Hayden (USA/Ducati) 24.920, 9. Andrea Iannone (ITA/Ducati) 37.124, 10. Ben Spies (USA/Ducati) 44.908, 11. Aleix Espargaro (ESP/Aprilia) 49.809

Moto2

1. Pol Espargaro (ESP/Pons Kalex) 40min 31.782sec, 2. Scott Redding (GBR/Kalex) at 0.844, 3. Takaaki Nakagami (JPN/Kalex) 12.098, 4. Dominique Aegerter (SUI/Suter) 18.910, 5. Mika Kallio (FIN/Kalex) 18.933, 6. Julian Simon (ESP/Kalex) 19.018, 7. Simone Corsi (ITA/Speed Up) 19.230, 8. Alex De Angelis (RSM/Speed Up) 19.452, 9. Esteve Rabat (ESP/Kalex) 20.219, 10. Xavier Simeon (BEL/Kalex) 20.972

Moto3

1. Luis Salom (ESP/KTM) 36min 26.859sec, 2. Maverick Vinales (ESP/KTM) at 0.417s, 3. Alex Rins (ESP/KTM) 0.423, 4. Alex Marquez (ESP/KTM) 0.701, 5. Jonas Folger (GER/Kalex KTM) 0.916, 6. Zulfahmi Khairuddin (MAL/KTM) 17.489, 7. Miguel Oliveira (POR/Mahindra) 17.566, 8. Arthur Sissis (AUS/KTM) 19.355. 9. Niklas Ajo (FIN/KTM) 28.966, 10. Efren Vazquez (ESP/Mahindra) 28.995

World Championship Standings

MotoGP

1. Jorge Lorenzo (ESP/Yamaha) 25 points, 2. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) 20, 3. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) 16, 4. Dani Pedrosa (ESP/Honda) 13, 5. Cal Crutchlow (GBR/Yamaha) 11, 6. Alvaro Bautista (ESP/Honda) 10, 7. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Ducati) 9, 8. Nicky Hayden (USA/Ducati) 8, 9. Andrea Iannone (ITA/Ducati) 7, 10. Ben Spies (USA/Ducati) 6, 11. Aleix Espargaro (ESP/Aprilia) 5, 12. Randy de Puniet (FRA/Aprilia Aspar) 4, 13. Hector Barbera (ESP/FTR) 3, 14. Yonny Hernandez (COL/Aprilia) 2, 15. Hiroshi Aoyama (JPN/FTR) 1

Moto2

1. Pol Espargaro (ESP/Pons Kalex) 25 points, 2. Scott Redding (GBR/Kalex) 20, 3. Takaaki Nakagami (JPN/Kalex) 16, 4. Dominique Aegerter (SUI/Suter) 13, 5. Mika Kallio (FIN/Kalex) 11, 6. Julian Simon (ESP/Kalex) 10, 7. Simone Corsi (ITA/Speed Up) 9, 8. Alex De Angelis (RSM/Speed Up) 8, 9. Esteve Rabat (ESP/Kalex) 7, 10. Xavier Simeon (BEL/Kalex) 6

Moto3

1. Luis Salom (ESP/KTM) 25 points, 2. Maverick Vinales (ESP/KTM) 20, 3. Alex Rins (ESP/KTM) 16, 4. Alex Marquez (ESP/KTM) 13, 5. Jonas Folger (GER/Kalex KTM) 11, 6. Zulfahmi Khairuddin (MAL/KTM) 10, 7. Miguel Oliveira (POR/Mahindra) 9, 8. Arthur Sissis (AUS/KTM) 8, 9. Niklas Ajo (FIN/KTM) 7, 10. Efren Vazquez (ESP/Mahindra) 6

pole position throughout the 42-minute battle - received the trophy in front of 9,704 fans, the highest tally ever at Losail Circuit staging the 10th edition of the Grand Prix of Qatar.

After watching Lorenzo scorch Losail Circuit, sixth-placed Rossi turned things around after lap 10 when he jumped to fifth spot to shadow the top four of Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Marquez and Crutchlow.

With momentum on his side, the veteran Italian squeezed past Crutchlow on lap 18 to go fourth. A lap later, Rossi slipped past diminutive Pedrosa to go third in a riveting show of perfection on two wheels.

A couple of minutes later, Rossi went past Marquez like a shadow to sit at second place and retained the position until the end.

After the thrilling race, cham-pion Lorenzo was congratulated by QMMF President Nasser bin Khalifa Al Attiyah before he received the winner’s trophy on the podium.

A smiling Lorenzo said: “I knew it was going to be a tough week. It was very difficult and all I did was push myself, giving my 100 percent.”

The Spaniard praised team-mate Rossi’s performance.

“I am happy for Valentino who didn’t have that kind of fast rid-ing in two years. I am happy for

Yamaha that we won like this,” he added. Rossi seemed pleased with his performance that ended his podium drought after five races.

“I had a good feeling in the warm-up,” Rossi said. “I knew if I get momentum, I can fight in the race. I moved ahead step-by-step and I had a great battle with Marc.

“I am happy for Yamaha. It was a great 1-2. We can fight (for the championship),” the Italian added.

MotoGP rookie Marquez said: “It is a dream come true to be here (in the top three). I got a lit-tle nervous before the race. When I got past Pedrosa, I told myself to relax. I got good experience. It

was a great race.”Meanwhile, Stefan Bradl’s wait

to become the first German on a MotoGP podium since 1989 will continue as the LCR Honda rider crashed out in lap eight while tak-ing a bend. Bradl flew off the bike and hit the gravel before walking off the track.

Minutes earlier, Britain’s Bradley Smith also crashed out, leaving headaches for Monster YamahaTech 3 with plenty to think before the next round.

Bryan Staring, Karel Abraham and Daniel Petrucci also crashed out by lap 14.

The next round will be held in Austin, Texas, in two weeks’ time.

THE PENINSULA

Jorge Lorenzo (centre), winner of MotoGP Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar is flanked by runner-up Valentino Rossi (left) and third place winner Marc Marquez at Losail International Circuit, yesterday. RIGHT: Jorge Lorenzo celebrates with the trophy after winning the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar. PICTURES BY: SHAIVAL DALAL

Pol Espargaro (centre) winner of the Moto2

class of Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar is

flanked by second place winner Alex Redding

(left) and third place win-ner Takaaki Nakagami at Losail International

Circuit yesterday.RIGHT: Jorge Lorenzo (left), and former Spain

international and current Al Sadd football player

Raul, congratulates Lorenzo on his win.

29 SPORT MONDAY 8 APRIL 2013


MotoGP extends worldwide TV coverage with new agreements Premier-class of motorcycle racing action to reach over 200 countries DOHA: As the 2013 MotoGP season kicked off in Qatar, Dorna Sports has announced a raft of new TV agreements, in addition to its current broad-casters, to bring the premier-class of motorcycle racing directly into peoples’ homes in over 200 countries via over 77 TV networks.

With MotoGP always looking to not only improve the show on-track, but also bring the spectacle to new audiences across the globe, new and extended agreements for this season with broadcast-ers in countries such as Belgium, Holland, Austria, Cambodia, Angola, Finland and USA, amongst others, are a welcome addition to the sport’s already extensive TV coverage.

In Belgium this season, MotoGP will continue to be broadcast on the Vier channel in the north-ern region of Flanders, whilst in French speaking Belgium, both the MotoGP and Moto2 races will be broadcast live on the free-to-air RTBF channel for the first time.

New broadcast agreements in Austria will see ORF broadcast both highlights of each round of the championship and live cover-age of several Grand Prix on their free-to-air ORF Sport+ channel, as well as news and highlights cov-erage of the Championship being available on Servus TV.

In other European territo-ries, an extended agreement in Holland with Sport1, means all qualifying practices and races from all categories will be broad-cast live for the Dutch fans. In Finland, a renewed agreement sees Nelonen Sport Pro offering full coverage of the season.

The BBC’s broadcasts in the UK this season will bring extensive coverage of MotoGP Qualifying Practices on BBC2 followed by coverage of all the MotoGP races, the following day. This will be complemented by full coverage of the entire championship on British Eurosport again, mean-ing UK fans won’t miss a minute of the action on track.

In Italy, Mediaset Italia will

Luis Salom (centre), winner of the Moto3 class of Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar is flanked by second place finisher Maverick Vinales (left) and third place winner Alex Rins at Losail International Circuit yesterday. RIGHT: Jorge Lorenzo stretches in the pits on the race day of Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar at Losail International Circuit yesterday.

PICTURES BY: SHAIVAL DALAL

Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s umbrella girl before the start of the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar at Losail International Circuit yesterday. CENTRE: Jorge Lorenzo rides out of the pit during the warm-up race of Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar, yesterday. RIGHT: Yamaha Factory Racing’s mechanics work on Jorge Lorenzo’s bike on the race day.

Takaaki Nakagami is congratulated by members of Tuenti HP 40 at the Losail International Circuit yesterday.

continue its coverage of the Championship this season with new faces in their presenter line up from the paddock, as their hero Valentino Rossi looks to reignite his charge on his Yamaha. Additional news coverage will also be broadcast in Italy by both RAI and Sky Italia.

Mediaset España’s extensive coverage for the Spanish audi-ence, on their Telecinco and Energy channels, will this sea-son be enhanced by a new mul-tiscreen player, available on their mitele.com platform providing fans with a fantastic new view-ing experience from every race, including live coverage of all the action from several new camera angles as well as access to live

timing and tracking data. With two Czech riders in the MotoGP class this season in the shape of Karel Abraham and Lukas Pesek, the country’s new channel Fanda, launched by the Nova TV group last year to cater for young males, will be showing all MotoGP races live with the other classes also broadcast on the sports channel, Nova Sport.

In the USA, a renewed con-tract will see MotoGP con-tinue to be broadcast on Speed TV until the launch of the Fox Sports channels later this year. The exciting launch of these new channels, a huge undertaking by the Fox Sports group, which will bring the best in international and American sports series to

US audience, coincides with the Indianapolis GP.

This means that MotoGP will be a central part of the Fox Sports launch weekend in August and will then continue to be a key property in the Fox Sports pro-gramming line up for the remain-der of the season.

Alongside MotoGP other big name leagues and sports such as Major League Baseball, US College Football, US College Basketball, Major League Soccer, UEFA Champions League and Nascar will make up the all new Fox Sports 1 schedule.

In Latin America, ESPN will continue to broadcast extensive coverage of the 2013 season across the region. Whilst Globosat in

Brazil will continue to show all races live on their SPORTV chan-nels. This coverage will be com-plemented this year by renewed agreements with free to air broad-casters in the region. In Venezuela with Meridiano and in El Salvador with Telecorporación Salvadoreña who will broadcast races from all categories on Canal 4.

A long term agreement contin-ues during 2013 with Fox Sports Asia, covering the whole region and complemented by additional coverage in individual territo-ries on NTV in Japan, Trans TV in Indonesia, Guangdong TV in China, Ten Sports in India and Channel 9 in Thailand. A new agreement with Hang Maes channel this season will also see

highlights of each Grand Prix available for the first time on free to air television in Cambodia.

Across Africa, another long term agreement continues with Supersport during 2013 whilst a new agreement for this season with TV Zimbo in Angola, will see the MotoGP race from every Grand Prix broadcast live on this terrestrial free to air channel.

Furthermore, in an ground breaking new agreement for the 2013 season with Sport24, the first live sports channel available on airlines and cruise ships, fans of MotoGP will now be able to watch the races live whilst travelling on planes or ships, making their holi-days more enjoyable.

AGENCIES

SPORT30 MONDAY 8 APRIL 2013


Horschel leads Texas OpenMcIlroy within striking distanceSAN ANTONIO, Texas: American Billy Horschel contin-ued his impressive recent form to maintain a two-shot lead at the Texas Open yesterday with world number two Rory McIlroy in striking distance four off the pace.

Horschel fired a solid two-under par 70 in the third round to improve to 10-under 206 for the tournament, two clear of fellow Americans Charley Hoffman (70) and former US Open champion Jim Furyk (69) at eight under 208.

Northern Ireland’s McIlroy, searching for some form before next week’s Masters after an indifferent start to the season, shot a scratchy 71 to set six-under and in a tie for fourth with Americans Bob Estes (69) and Ryan Palmer (68).

The former number one started strong with two birdies in his opening three holes but bogeyed three of his next eight to fall back in the pack.

The 23-year-old then steadied with two birdies in the run home to give himself a shot at a confi-dence-boosting win.

“I feel like I fought back well,” McIlroy told reporters. “I started the back nine with two three putts but to birdie 12 and 14 to sort of get it back there was nice.

“I had a couple of chances com-ing in I didn’t take advantage of. I hit a great drive down 17 and

just hit a terrible wedge shot and it wasn’t a very good bunker shot at the last, so it could have been a couple of shots better. But I am still in a decent position going into the last day and hopefully I can make the ground up.”

Horschel, who started the year ranked 312th in the world but is currently 132nd after a runner-up finish in last week’s Houston Open, carded five birdies and three bogeys to claim his first 54-hole lead on the PGA tour.

“Today was a good round,”

Horschel told reporters. “Obviously there was a lot of emo-tion going on starting the day but I felt like I hit the ball pretty well, made some key putts, missed a couple coming in. But with this wind blowing you just have to stay patient and just try to hit every shot solid.

“I think I did a pretty good job of that, there were a few loose ones, but all in all a good day.”

The 26-year-old leads the tour in active cut streaks with 21 con-secutive cuts but has yet to taste victory. A win today would not only bring the biggest result of his career but also afford him an invitation to next week’s Masters.

Horschel has played just one major, the 2006 US Open as an amateur, but said he would try his best not to be thinking of the potential start at Augusta National.

“You can’t allow them (thoughts of Augusta) in your head,” Horschel said.

“I think if you allow anything about the future to get in there, then you are going to forget about the task at hand.

“So I’m just going to do a little putting, get some dinner, go back to my room and wake up tomor-row and focus on playing a solid day.

“If I can just play my game, play solidly and just keep doing what I’ve been doing all week I’ll be just fine.” REUTERS

Billy Horschel hits his drive on the 15th hole during the third round of the Valero Texas Open held at the AT&T Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas, yesterday.

Korean Park on track for second major championshipRANCHO MIRAGE, California: South Korea’s Inbee Park pushed further for-ward into a three-shot advan-tage after the third round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club in California yesterday.

Park fired a five-under 67 to forge ahead to 12-under for the tournament, leaving her three shots clear of second-placed American Lizette Salas and a good round away from a second major championship victory.

Salas, who started the day just a shot behind, shot a decent round of 69 but couldn’t keep pace with the Korean. The two are seem-ingly in a two-horse race for the title although the six players tied third at six-under will be looking to get hot today and create some pressure.

Americans Angela Stanford (66) and Jessica Korda (68), Thailand’s Pornanong Phatlam (70), Frenchwoman Karine Icher (68), Norway’s Suzann Pettersen (67) and seven-time major win-ning Australian Karrie Webb (67) are all six shots back. Webb famously shot a seven-under 65 in the final round of 2006, including a hole out eagle on the last, to get into a playoff before capturing her second Kraft Nabisco champion-ship. Park was bogey-free in the third round showing little signs of nerves as she looks to add to her 2008 US Open title.

“I think I played really good here in the last few years but I just couldn’t putt that well on these greens but this year it seems I’m reading the breaks really good and the putts are roll-ing in so that’s been the big differ-ence,” Park told reporters.

AFP

Ormsby claims maiden Asian Tour titleNEW DELHI: Australian Wade Ormsby held his nerve to overcome a triple bogey and complete a wire-to-wire victory by one stroke for his maiden pro-fessional title at the Panasonic Open India yesterday.

Ormsby, who held at least a share of the lead from the open-ing round, carded a final-round one-under-par 71 for a total of nine-under 279 to finish a shot ahead of Thai Boonchu Ruangkit (69) at the Delhi Golf Club.

Singapore’s Lam Chih Bing (72), who had the lead briefly during the final round, finished third while India’s Shiv Kapur (71) bogeyed two of his last three holes to finish three shots behind Ormsby in fourth.

Starting the day with a

one-stroke advantage, Ormsby came back strongly after the tri-ple bogey by sinking three birdies in four holes from the fifth to the eighth hole.

He dropped another shot on the 12th hole but an 18-foot birdie conversion on the 17th was enough to seal his victory.

“It means so much. I’ve played tournaments worldwide but to finally get a win in Asia is fan-tastic,” the 33-year-old, who fin-ished tied 33rd and tied 20th in Malaysia and Chiangmai respec-tively, told the Asian Tour.

“I was so disappointed in Malaysia and Chiangmai as I played well on both weeks but didn’t finish them off. I knew there was a win in there for me and I am glad I came here.”

Boonchu, who was looking to become the oldest winner on the Asian Tour at 56, was happy to have been able to challenge his younger opponents. REUTERS

Davis Cup: Czech Republic in semis; Serbia take 2-1 lead against USA ALMATY, Kazakhstan: Lukas Rosol of Czech Republic put the defending champi-ons into the Davis Cup semi-finals with a tough win over Kazakhstan’s Evgeny Korolev at Astana yesterday.

Rosol, who is 63rd in the ATP rankings, won 7-6, 6-7, 7-6, 6-2 in his first ever head-to-head meet-ing with the 25-year-old Korolev to give his team an unassailable 3-1 lead in the tie.

“It was a really difficult win as Evgeny showed really classy tennis today and kept me under pressure throughout the match,” Rosol said.

“Luckily I managed to resist the pressure and won. It’s our joint win, the entire team’s result.”

Both players started cautiously, trying to avoid unnecessary risks, before Rosol snatched the opening set tie-break.

In the second set Korolev, who is 187th in the world, broke in the sixth game but Rosol broke back in the ninth to set up another tie-break, which Korolev won to level at one set all.

The third set was almost a car-bon copy of the second as Korolev grabbed the lead in the fifth game,

while Rosol levelled in the 10th. But this time the 27-year-old Czech was more precise in the tiebreak to clinch a 2-1 lead.

In the fourth Rosol underlined his clay supremacy, breaking his rival’s serve twice to win the set, the match and a place in the semi-finals for his team.

On Friday Rosol and Jan Hajek gave Czech Republic a command-ing 2-0 lead beating Andrey Golubev 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 and Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 respectively.

On Saturday Kazakhstan’s pair of Golubev and Yuriy Schukin reduced the arrears with a straight-set win 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 over the Czech pair Hajek and Radek Stepanek.

In Boise Idaho, Serbia took a major step towards reaching the semi-finals by outlasting the host USA in a marathon five-set vic-tory in yesterday’s doubles com-petition of their Davis Cup tie.

Ilija Bozoljac and Nenad Zimonjic shocked the top-ranked doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/1), 5-7, 4-6, 15-13 to give Serbia a 2-1 lead in their best-of-five tie heading into a pair of today’s reverse singles

matches. World No. 1 and reign-ing Aussie Open champ Novak Djokovic can send Serbia into the semis with a win Sunday over American Sam Querrey, who is ranked 20th in the world.

The 25-year-old Djokovic has captured two ATP Tour titles in 2013, winning 19 singles matches and losing just two. Earlier this year he claimed his sixth grand slam title by beating Andy Murray in the final of the Australian Open. Querrey has a 13-7 record this year with no titles.

Djokovic has won five of six careers meetings against Querrey, including a 6-0, 7-6 (8/6) win last month in Indian Wells, California.

Serbia defeated the 32-time titlist Americans 3-2 in Belgrade in an opening-round tie three years ago in their lone previous Davis Cup encounter.

Meanwhile, recalled wild child Bernard Tomic was the hero for Australia and Tatsuma Ito sealed a pulsating tie for Japan as both countries reached the Davis Cup World Group play-offs yesterday.

Tomic, back in the fold after being dropped for disciplinary reasons, beat Denis Istomin to give Australia an unassailable 3-1

lead in their Asia/Oceania Group I tie with Uzbekistan, after also winning his first singles match on Friday.

In Tokyo, 24-year-old Ito held his nerve to defeat South Korea’s Cho Min-Hyeok 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 in the decisive match, after rookie Lim Yong-Kyu upset Japan’s Go Soeda to leave the fixture poised at 2-2. Australia and Japan now go through to the World Group play-offs in September where they will try to seal a spot in the global team competition’s top tier next season.

Meanwhile, France lev-elled their Davis Cup World Group quarter-final tie against Argentina yesterday after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga dismantled Juan Monaco 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 in 1hr 42mins to force a deciding rubber.

The French number one also won his opening singles’ match on Friday and a place in the semi-finals will now be decided in the final match between world number 71 Carlos Berlocq and 13th ranked Frenchman Gilles Simon.

David Nalbandian and Horacio Zeballos came from behind to win Saturday’s doubles. AGENCIES

Novak Djokovic of Serbia congratulates compatriot Ilija Bozoljac after the doubles win over Mike and Bob Bryan of US in the third rubber during the Davis Cup tie at Taco Bell Arena in Boise, Idaho, yesterday.

Panasonic Open India

Leading scores after the fourth and final round:

279 Wade Ormsby (AUS) 67-67-74-71

280 Boonchu Ruangkit (THA) 70-68-73-69

281 Lam Chih Bing (SIN) 67-69-73-72

282 Shiv Kapur (IND) 71-68-72-71

283 SSP Chowrasia (IND) 69-69-77-68, Anura Rohana (SRI) 71-72-71-69, Digvijay Singh (IND) 71-71-71-70

284 Richard Lee (CAN) 72-68-77-67, Shamim Khan (IND) 73-75-67-69

Wade Ormsby of

Australia poses with the win-ner’s trophy during the Panasonic

Open India at the Delhi Golf Club in New Delhi, yesterday.

LPGA Kraft Nabisco Championship

RANCHO MIRAGE, California: Leading third-round scores here yesterday in the $2m LPGA Kraft Nabisco Championship (USA unless noted; par-72):

204 Inbee Park (KOR) 70-67-67

207 Lizette Salas 70-68-69

210 Angela Stanford 70-74-66, Karrie Webb (AUS) 72-71-67, Suzann Pettersen (NOR) 68-75-67, Karine Icher (FRA) 72-70-68, Pornanong Phatlum (THA) 71-69-70, Jessica Korda 70-72-68

211 Paula Creamer 74-68-69, Caroline Hedwall (SWE) 71-68-72

212 Hee Young Park (KOR) 70-70-72, Jiyai Shin (KOR) 70-71-71, So Yeon Ryu (KOR) 73-71-68

213 Sarah Jane Smith (AUS) 72-72-69, Hee Kyung Seo (KOR) 72-70-71, Anna Nordqvist (SWE) 69-72-72

Texas Open ScoresSAN ANTONIO, Texas: Leading third-round scores here yesterday in the $6.2m PGA Tour Texas Open (USA unless noted, par-72):

206 Billy Horschel 68-68-70

208 Jim Furyk 69-70-69, Charley Hoffman 71-67-70

210 Ryan Palmer 71-71-68, Bob Estes 72-69-69, Rory McIlroy (NIR) 72-67-71

211 Padraig Harrington (IRL) 68-73-70, Martin Laird (SCO) 70-71-70, Jeff Overton 69-72-70, K.J. Choi (KOR) 72-67-72, Daniel Summerhays 69-69-73

212 Marcel Siem (GER) 76-67-69, D.J. Trahan 70-71-71

213 Martin Flores 71-72-70, David Lynn (ENG) 72-70-71, Richard H. Lee 74-70-69

214 Jason Kokrak 74-68-72, Shane Lowry (IRL) 70-72-72

31SPORT MONDAY 8 APRIL 2013


All eyes on Mutaz at GCC eventRegion’s best athletes in Doha for GCC Athletics Championships which begin todayDOHA: Qatar’s London Games star Mutaz Barshim, who won a bronze in the high jump, will be the centre of atten-tion at the 14th GCC Athletics Championships which begin at Khalifa Stadium today.

The region’s best athletes - expected number to be more than 200 - have arrived for the three-day meet that will help jump start the athletics jamboree in the Qatari capital in the next 30 days.

Later this month, the Qatar Atheltics Federation (QAF) will stage the Heir Apparent Athletics Cup and the Emir Athletics Cup events.

On May 10, the QAF will assemble top names like Yohan Blake of Jamaica and David Rudhisha of Kenya for the one-day Samsung Diamond League season-opener at Qatar Sports Club Stadium.

For the time being, Qatar will attempt to better their tally of eight medals picked up at the last GCC edition held in Saudi Arabia two years ago, Dahlan Al Hamad, President, QAF.

Mutaz is set to lead a group of more than 50 athletes represent-ing Qatar at the three-day event.

The QAF president said more than 200 athletes from neigh-bouring Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman will join Qatari track and field names at the April 8-10 event.

The three-day championships will be held at Khalifa Stadium, Al Hamad said.

This will be the second time that Qatar would be hosting the regional showpiece athletics championships after 1986.

Qatar secured second place in the 13th GCC Athletics Championship for men and fourth in the GCC Athletics Championship for juniors staged in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, in 2011.

Some 350 athletes from six GCC nations competed in vari-ous disciplines during the four-day championships.

Qatar bagged eight medals

16 medals up for grabs on day oneDOHA: A total of 16 medals will be up for grabs on day one of the 14th GCC Athletics Championships which opens at Khalfa Stadium today.

Eight medals will be con-tested by senior athletes while a similar number of events will be held for juniors (Under-17).

On day two of the champi-onship - organised by Qatar Athletics Federation (QAF) - athletes will compete for 12 medals.

Six medals will be won by the senior athletes while a similar number will be up for grabs for the juniors.

On the penultimate day of the championships, athletes will compete in 13 events (8 for seniors and 5 for juniors).

Qatar’s London Games stars Mutaz Essa Barshim will com-pete in the long jump event on Wednesday at 5:30pm.

Barshim - who won a bronze medal in the London Games long jump competition - is cur-rently out of the country train-ing for the season.

Three juniors will compete in every discipline from each participating country, QAF said yesterday.

A soft opening ceremony will be held at 4:30pm today at Khalifa Stadium.

Also today, the regional chiefs in athletics will converge at Sheraton Doha for a meeting proposed and hosted by QAF.

During the three-day cham-pionships, QAF will honour past and present athletes and officials who have served their countries in track and field.

THE PENINSULA

QAF to honour athletes, officials during meetDOHA: Qatar Athletics Federation (QAF) is set to honour names like Roqaya Al Gassra, Bahrain’s top female sprinter, and Mohamed Salman Al Khuwalidi, the Saudi long jumper, during the three-day GCC Athletics meet beginning today.

Dahlan Al Hamad, President, QAF yesterday said Qatar had proposed the plan last month and will start the proceed-ings by acknowledging the feat of Qatar’s Talal Mansour and Mutaz Barshim, the London 2012 Olympic Games bronze winner in the long jump.

In a historic performance,

Qatar’s Mutaz became one of three bronze-winning athletes in the men’s high jump final at the London Games on August 7 last year.

The young Qatari won the bronze in front of 80,000 fans at the Olympic Stadium.

Prince Nawaf bin Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Saud, President, Saudi Arabian Amateur Athletics Federation, and former QAF chief Abdullah Al Zaini will also be honoured with medallions, Al Hamad said.

“We are also going to present Mutaz Barshim with a special award. We know he is an active athlete but he still deserves to

be respected for what he has done so far,” Al Hamad said.

Roqaya, a popular fig-ure for young women athletes in the region was one of the first women to rep-resent Bahrain at the Olympic Games by tak-ing part in the women’s 100m sprint at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

She won medals at the 2006 Asian Games and went on to

run at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2009 World Championships in Athletics. She announced her internat iona l retirement in 2009.

Al Hamad said QAF has plans to make propos-als at a meeting of regional chiefs (athletics) dur-ing the three-day championships.

He said prior to the meeting of the presidents of athletics bod-ies across the region, a separate

meeting of other top officials will also be held in Doha.

“The leadership in Qatar is keen to bring nations together through sports,” Al Hamad said during a press conference in the run up to the championships to be held at Khalifa Staidum.

“This will be first step for the regional athletics family to come closer in this fashion. We will hold discussions and make proposals,” Al Hamad said.

“The successful agreements would be taken to the National Olympic Committees in the region and then possibly to the Asian body and the IAAF,” he said.

Qatar will be making propos-als on creating a ‘kids festival’ for young athletes from across the Middle East. The QAF is also keen to stage a championships designed for female athletes.

QAF is preparing for a series of activities with the Heir Apparent Athletics Cup and the Emir Athletics Cup events scheduled for later this month.

On May 10, the QAF will assemble top names like Yohan Blake of Jamaica and David Rudhisha of Kenya for the one-day Samsung Diamond League season-opener at Qatar Sports Club Stadium.

THE PENINSULA

including 5 golds, 1 silver and 2 bronze to finish in second place behind hosts Saudi Arabia.

Abu Baker Ali Kamal clinched gold medal in 3000m steeplechase while Barshim grabbed the high jump gold.

“Mutaz will be the biggest name for the hosts at the GCC Athletics Championships,” Al Hamad said in a press conference last month.

Mutaz, 21, was one of three bronze winning athletes in the men’s high jump final at the imposing Olympic Stadium on August 7 last year. The young Qatari won the bronze in front of 80,000 fans at the Olympic Stadium. Mohamed Suleiman was the first Qatari to win a medal at the Olympic Games, bagging a bronze in the men’s 1500m final in 1992 (Barcelona)

Last year, Mutaz became the

second Qatari to win a medal in track and field events at the Olympic Games.

“Qatar will have more than 50 athletes competing in different events,” Al Hamad said yesterday.

Despite Mutaz being the talk of the town, Al Hamad said QAF refrains from putting pressure on their athletes to win medals.

“Our federation tries to sup-port them, prepare them for the big events and bring the athletes to the starting blocks, so as to say,” Al Hamad said.

“We don’t put them under pres-sure. We give them every support and then let them be on their own in competition so they are able to give their best,” he added.

Junior athletes from the region will also compete in various disci-plines, Al Hamad said.

THE PENINSULA

Officials of Qatar Athletics Federation (QAF) gearing up for the 14th GCC Athletics Championships which will begin at Khalifa Stadium today. Around 200 athletes are likely to take part in the three-day meet. Qatar will attempt to better their tally of eight medals picked up at the last GCC edition held in Saudi Arabia two years ago. RIGHT: Qatar’s London Games star Mutaz Barshim. BELOW, RIGHT: Logo of the 14th GCC Athletics Championships. INSET: Dahlan Al Hamad (left), President, Qatar Athletics Federation (QAF) and Fahad Al Hajri, Media Director at QAF and another official during an inspection at Khalifa Stadium yesterday.

Al Rayyan reach semi-finals of Emir Cup basketballBY DANOTZKI SANTOS

DOHA: Al Rayyan brushed aside a lacklustre first half and came out strong in the last two periods to seal an 85-77 win over Al Arabi that sent the power-house club unto the semifinal round of the Emir Cup basket-ball by virtue of topping Group 2 with an unblemished four wins in the preliminaries.

Al Arabi had a big first half as they clobbered Al Rayyan, 45-36, with Mathew Rogers and Alvin Mofunanya outplaying their counterparts and came out with a combined output of 27 points and 13 rebounds in the first 20 minutes of play.

Al Rayyan would wake up in the third period as Tanguy Ngombo and Jeremeo Davidson went on a scoring run to pull the Heir Apparent champions out from the 9-point deficit to a 63-57 margin.

Boney Harold Watson, Yaseen Mousa and Erfan Saeed helped out to preserve the win in the pay-off period.

Davidson finished with 21

points, Ngombo had 18 and Erfan 16.

Meanwhile, Qatar Club pulled a fast one over Al Gharafa in the final quarter of the first game and ran away with an 85-81 victory to tie the latter and Al Arabi with a 2-2 slate in Group 2.

Al Gharafa were leading in the early quarters, 27-18, 44-38 and 64-63 until Qatar Club’s Lamont Leslie, Eugene Moliva and Antonio Anderson conspired to unleash a 16-5 assault from a 67-68 deficit to establish an 83-73 advantage going into the last 2 minutes of the match.

Coach Hatem Koussay and his boys would then mount an 8-5 last ditch stand but ran out of time.

Leslie had a whopping 36-point output while Moliva and Anderson had 15 each.

The quarter-final round knock-out matches will be played on April 9, with Group 1 second best Al Ahli meeting the declared third best in Group 2, while Group 1 third-placer Eljaish will pit wares versus the second-place finisher in Group 2.

THE PENINSULA

Qatar Sports Club’s La Monte Leslie (centre) breaks free from Al Gharafa’s Thomas Victor Hakim (left) and Cage Calvin Earl during their Emir Cup match at Al Gharafa Indoor Arena yesterday. RIGHT: Action from the match played between Al Rayyan and Al Arabi Club at the Al Gharafa Indoor Arena yesterday.

PICTURES BY: SALIM MATRAMKOT

Roqaya Al Gassra

Talal Mansour

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Chelsea edge past SunderlandI am not worried about relegation: Di Canio;Tottenham, Everton share spoils in EPLLONDON: Chelsea came from behind to beat Sunderland 2-1 at Stamford Bridge yesterday and deny Paolo Di Canio a sen-sational start in his first game as a Premier League manager.

Chelsea’s victory, in a game that witnessed two own goals, saw them climb above both Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur into third place, while Sunderland remain just a point above the relegation zone.

Appointed as the successor to Martin O’Neill amid a whirlwind of controversy over his alleged fascist sympathies, Di Canio had dominated the British sporting headlines in the build-up to the game.

The Italian, who this week denied he was a fascist, saw his side take the lead on the stroke of half-time when Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta inadvertently hooked John O’Shea’s header into his own goal.

Di Canio had drafted Matthew Kilgallon into his starting line-up but the centre-back accidentally gifted Chelsea an equaliser in the 47th minute when he diverted Oscar’s pass past visiting goal-keeper Simon Mignolet.

Branislav Ivanovic completed

the Chelsea comeback 10 minutes into the second half but his strike was similarly fortuitous, David Luiz’s strike cannoning off him and trundling into the bottom-right corner.

“I am not worried (about rel-egation),” said Di Canio.

“When I decided to move to Sunderland, I knew what players were here but we have to fight until the end of the season.

“I won’t say this was a bonus game but it was a test for us to see what we can do. I am not happy we lost 2-1, but there were posi-tive things I can take from this.”

Chelsea interim manager Rafael Benitez said: “We needed to improve, obviously. The nega-tive thing is we concede a goal, the positive thing is we recover and come back.”

Earlier, Gylfi Sigurdsson snatched a late equaliser as Tottenham denied Champions League qualification rivals Everton victory in a 2-2 draw at White Hart Lane.

Spurs went into the game aim-ing to tighten their grip on third place and they took the lead after just 34 seconds when a stretch-ing Emmanuel Adebayor toed Jan Vertonghen’s cross past Tim Howard. However, Phil Jagielka equalised with a 15th-minute header before Kevin Mirallas put the visitors in front eight minutes into the second half with a goal to rival his fine strike in last week-end’s 1-0 win at Stoke City.

Picking up the ball in the inside-right channel, the Belgian neatly weaved his way past three opposing players before planting a shot in the bottom-left corner.

David Moyes’ side were within sight of a fourth straight league win, only for Sigurdsson to tap home an equaliser in the 87th

minute after Adebayor’s shot came back off the post.

Tottenham finish the weekend in the fourth and final Champions League qualifying place, but although they are two points above Arsenal and six points clear of Everton, both their pursuers have games in hand.

Meanwhile, Shaun Maloney scored a glorious injury-time free-kick to earn third-bottom Wigan Athletic a 1-1 draw at second-bottom Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road.

Loic Remy’s magnificent 85th-minute strike looked to have breathed new life into QPR’s bid to avoid the drop, only for Maloney to bend a free-kick into the top-right corner with practi-cally the last kick of the game.

QPR, who had Bobby Zamora sent off in the first half, now lie seven points from safety with six games to play, while Wigan trail Sunderland on goal difference alone and have a game in hand.

Meanwhile, Liverpool’s bid for a European berth faltered as they were held to a frustrating 0-0 draw at home to West Ham United. Brendan Rodgers’ side lost Stewart Downing to injury in the first half at Anfield and their best chance saw a Steven Gerrard effort blocked on the line by James Tomkins.

The result meant Liverpool remained in seventh place, but they are now seven points out-side the European qualifying places having played a game more than both fifth-place Arsenal and sixth-place Everton.

Elsewhere, Papiss Cisse struck in injury time to earn Newcastle United a 1-0 win at home to Fulham that lifted Alan Pardew’s side five points clear of the bottom three. AFP

IPL: Sunrisers beat Royal Challengers in Super OverHYDERABAD: In a Super Over finish, Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by five runs in their Pepsi Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium yesterday.

Requiring 21 in the Super Over, RCB could score only 15 runs. Chris Gayle could hit only one six and captain Virat Kohli a bound-ary in Dale Steyn’s over. The over read 2-1-4-1-6-1.

Cameron White hit two huge sixes off Vinay Kumar to set a target of 21 for RCB. White scored 17 runs and Perera 2. The

RCB bowler also bowled a no ball. His over read 2-1-1-6-2-6-2.

Earlier, Vinay Kumar took the game to superover by not allow-ing Hanuma Vihari and Steyn to score seven of the last over of the inning. Requiring two off the last ball, the batsmen ran for one to tie the score at 130.

Local boy Ashish Reddy and Hanuma Vihari scored 14 off the 18th over of the inning to bring their team close to the target. Ashish hit Vinay Kumar for a six over long-on while Vihari picked him for a boundary.

Vihari, with 44 not out, was the

English Premier League Results

Chelsea 2 (Kilgallon 47-og, Ivanovic 55) Sunderland 1 (Azpilicueta 45-og)

Liverpool 0 West Ham 0

Newcastle 1 (Cisse 90+3) Fulham 0

Tottenham 2 (Adebayor 1, Sigurdsson 87) Everton 2 (Jagielka 15, Mirallas 53)

QPR 1 (Remy 85) Wigan 1 (Maloney 90+4)

Playing today:

Manchester Utd vs Manchester City (1900GMT)

Sunderland’s Italian manager Paolo Di Canio gestures during the English Premier League football match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in London, yesterday. Chelsea won the game 2-1.

Man City still United’s equals, says ManciniMANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM: Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini insists his team will use today’s derby to show they are still Manchester United’s equals even though the Premier League title is destined for Old Trafford.

With United 15 points clear of second placed City, Mancini has been forced to concede his side’s reign as champions is all but over.

Yet there is still plenty to play for at Old Trafford, with United looking to move closer to confirm-ing their title triumph and City desperate to inflict a bloody nose on their bitter rivals.

City supporters will never let United fans forget their 6-1 win at Old Trafford last season and another victory on enemy terri-tory would at least partially ease the pain of surrendering the title and prove they can hold their own against the champions-elect.

“To win 6-1 is impossible,” Mancini said. “This can happen every 100 years. But we don’t deserve to stay 15 points behind United. They play well, they win a lot of games, the last time they lost was at Norwich (in November), so they deserve to stay on the top.

“But it is not a true table. Now we have eight games left. If we play well, we win a lot of these games, maybe we can reduce this gap. This should be our target. I don’t know at this moment what my approach will be. To play there is difficult but there is not a big difference between us and them.” AFP

PUNE WARRIORSR V Uthappa b Chawla ............................... 19M K Pandey b Kumar .................................. 0T L Suman c Kumar b Azhar Mahmood ......... 6M N Samuels (run out-M Singh/Gilchrist) ...... 3R Taylor c G Singh b Kumar ....................... 15A D Mathews c Gilchrist b Awana ................. 4A M Nayar (not out) ................................... 25M R Marsh b Harris ................................... 15B Kumar b Azhar Mahmood ......................... 8R Sharma (run out-Chawla) ......................... 1Extras (LB-2, W-1) ...................................... 3Total (for 9 wkts in 20 overs) ................. 99Did not bat: A B Dinda.Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-21, 3-29, 4-33, 5-38, 6-53, 7-78, 8-93, 9-99.

Bowling: P Kumar 4-0-31-2 (1w); R J Harris 4-0-12-1; Azhar Mahmood 4-0-19-2; P Awana 4-0-16-1; P P Chawla 4-0-19-1.KINGS XI PUNJABAC Gilchrist c Samuels b Mathews ............. 15Mandeep Singh b Sharma ......................... 31M Vohra (not out) ...................................... 43D J Hussey (not out) .................................... 8Extras (W-2, NB-1) ...................................... 3Total (for 2 wkts in 12.2 overs) ............ 100Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-79.Bowling: B Kumar 2-0-16-0; A B Dinda 2-0-28-0 (1w); A D Mathews 2-0-12-1; M R Marsh 3.2-0-24-0 (1nb, 1w); R Sharma 3-0-20-1.Player-of-the-Match: M Vohra (Kings XI Pun-jab)

Scoreboard

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALOREC H Gayle c Patel b Vihari ............................ 1T M Dilshan b I Sharma ............................... 5V Kohli c&b Ashish Reddy .......................... 46K K Nair lbw Mishra .................................... 9M C Henriques c White b I Sharma ............. 44M A Agarwal c Ankit Sharma b Steyn ............ 7K B Arun Karthik c Ashish Reddy b Perera ..... 0R Vinay Kumar c Sangakkara b I Sharma ...... 7M Kartik (not out) ........................................ 2J D Unadkat (not out) ................................... 1Extras (LB-1, W-7) ...................................... 8Total (for 8 wkts in 20 overs) ............... 130Did not bat: M Muralitharan.Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-22, 3-42, 4-85, 5-108, 6-114, 7-125, 8-127.Bowling: D W Steyn 4-0-37-1 (2w); G H Vihari 1-0-5-1; I Sharma 4-0-27-3; Ankit Sharma 2-0-17-0; N L T C Perera 4-0-21-1 (1w); A Mishra 4-0-15-1; A Ashish Reddy 1-0-7-1.

SUNRISERS HYDERABADP A Reddy b Murali ................................... 23P A Patel c Arun Karthik b Henriques ............ 2C L White c Murali b Henriques .................... 5G H Vihari (not out) .................................... 44K C Sangakkara c Arun Karthik b Unadkat... 16N L T C Perera c Henriques b Unadkat .......... 7A Mishra (run out-V Kumar/A Karthik) ........... 0A Ashish Reddy c Kohli b V Kumar .............. 14D W Steyn (not out) ..................................... 3Extras (B-1, LB-9, W-6) ............................. 16Total (for 7 wkts in 20 overs) ............... 130Did not bat: Ankit Sharma, I Sharma.Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-20, 3-48, 4-81, 5-98, 6-101, 7-124.Bowling: J D Unadkat 4-0-24-2 (1w); M C Henriques 3-0-14-2 (1w); M Kartik 4-0-27-0 (2w); R Vinay Kumar 4-0-27-1; M Muralitharan 4-0-18-1 (1w); T M Dilshan 1-0-10-0.Player-of-the-Match: GH Vihari of (Sunrisers)

Scoreboard

hero for Sunrisers. He also picked up the prized wicket of Gayle.

In Pune, Kings XI Punjab recorded their first win with a comfortable eight-wicket win over Pune Warriors India at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium yesterday.

Excellent bowling juxtaposed with superlative fielding helped Punjab restrict the Warriors to a meagre 99 for nine. In reply, two local youngsters from Punjab, Mandeep Singh (31) and Manan Vohra (43 not out) finished the game in no time with some clean hitting. They took the game to their opponents finding the boundary regularly. Pune didn’t do their chances any good by dropping two catches and some lacklustre bowling.

Punjab scored 100 for two in 12.2 overs, ending the match with 46 balls to spare. Adam Gilchrist (15) and Mandeep Singh were the only wickets to fall for the hosts while David Hussey was unbeaten on eight.

Earlier, Pune, electing to bat, suffered a setback in the very first over of the match. Manish Pandey (0) edged a Praveen Kumar (2/31) ball back onto his stump, set-ting the trend for the rest of the innings. Buoyed by the wicket, Punjab bowlers hit the right line and length and made it very dif-ficult for Pune to score.

Tirulamasetti Suman (6) was the next to go with former

Pakistan all-rounder Azhar Mahmood (2/19) coaxing him into an expansive shot and was easily caught by Praveen Kumar.

A run out gave Punjab their third wicket while Robin Uthappa (19), who failed to get going, was castled by a low-keeping ball from leggie Piyush Chawla (1/19).

Things went from bad to worse for the hosts as skipper Angelo Mathews (4) edged an Parvinder Awana (1/16) ball straight into the gloves of his opposite number Adam Gilchrist.

With the opposition already tottering at 53 for five, Gurkeerat Singh took an exceptional one-handed catch on the square leg boundary to get rid of the dan-gerous Ross Taylor (15). Mitchell Marsh (15) provided some fire-works for the home fans by hitting a boundary and the only six of the innings but he too fell soon enough clean bowled by his countryman from Australia Ryan Harris.

Abhishek Nayar (25 not out) battled on but with wickets fall-ing all around him never got the opportunity to hit the big shots.

Pune have so far lost both their matches in this edition and are bottom of the table with zero points. Delhi Daredevils too lost their opening two matches but are seventh above Pune and Chennai Super Kings, who lost their first match to Mumbai Indians Saturday night, due to better run-rate. IANS

Cameron White of Sunrisers

Hyderabad plays a shot during their IPL match

against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Hyderabad yesterday.

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