Proteas down Lankans in dead rubber

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Qatar players practising on the eve of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against China in Xian yesterday. Unbeaten Qatar are looking to finish off their Group C engagements with an all record in the five-team group having won seven successive matches in the Group. → See also page 29

Qatar play China today

Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani met yesterday with a delegation from the Qatari-European Friendship Association at the European Parliament, chaired by Ramona Manescu, the head of the Group, on a visit to Qatar. They reviewed cooperation between Qatar and the European Parliament.

PM meets European delegation

TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016 • 20 Jumada II 1437 • Volume 21 • Number 6750 thepeninsulaqatar @peninsulaqatar @peninsula_qatar

Emir sends message to Tunisia PresidentDOHA: Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent yesterday a message to Tunisian President Mohamed Beji Caid Essebsi per-taining to bilateral relations, reports QNA.

Qatar’s Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdul-rahman Al Thani conveyed the message during a meeting with Essebsi in Tunis.

Saudi swaps prisoners with Yemen rebelsAFP

RIYADH: Rebels who control the Yemeni capital Sana’a have released nine Saudis in exchange for 109 Yem-enis, the Riyadh-led coalition fighting them said yesterday, in the latest sign of tensions easing before peace talks.

“Nine Saudi prisoners have been recovered and 109 Yemenis who were arrested in the military operations zone” near the border have been handed over, the coalition said in a statement.

It did not specify whether the prisoners were combatants or civilians.

The swap follows another exchange of one Saudi soldier for seven Yemenis earlier this month amid tribal mediation that has helped reduce violence along the Saudi-Yemeni border.

Efforts have been building to bring an end to the devastating conflict in Yemen, a year after the Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes against the Iran-backed Shia Houthi rebels.

UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed announced last week that the combatants have agreed to a cessa-tion of hostilities from midnight on April 10, followed by talks in Kuwait on April 18. Previous negotiations have failed and earlier ceasefires were not respected, but analysts say a more conducive atmosphere pre-vails ahead of the new round of talks.

Andreas Krieg of the Department of Defence Studies at King’s College London said the prisoner swap is “a sign of Saudi goodwill” before the Kuwait negotiations.

Emir to open Dimdex at QNCC today

By Sidi Mohamed

The Peninsula

DOHA: Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani will open the 5th edition of the Doha Interna-tional Maritime Defence Exhibition (Dimdex) at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) this morning.

The three-day event, which lasts until Thursday is being organised by the Qatar Armed Forces.

The exhibition will cover an area of 25,000 square metres, while the previous edition of the expo covered only 15,000 square metres.

At a press conference held

yesterday by the Dimdex organis-ing committee, Brig Dr (Eng) Thani A Al Kuwari, Chairman of Dim-dex, said: “Over 58 countries from around the world are participating in the exhibition, and over 9,000 maritime, security and defence industry-related visitors, in addi-tion to 180 international and local companies, among them 20 percent Qatari companies, showcasing the latest technologies to meet maritime security challenges”.

Defence ministers from several countries, including France and the UK, are going to attend the event, in addition to 20 naval commanders and 10 Chiefs of Staff, he said.

Qatar Armed Forces is expected to sign some deals on the sidelines of the exhibition.

Eight warships from as many as seven countries arrived at the Doha Port early yesterday to be part of the event.

During a media trip which lasted three hours at sea, reporters wit-nessed the reception of the first two of these warships such as those from Morocco, India and Pakistan.

→ Continued on page 2

More than 58 countries and 180 companies to participate in maritime expo.

University plans post-graduate interpretation courseBy Mohammed Osman

The Peninsula

DOHA: The law which regulates the work of translation needs to dif-ferentiate between interpretation (simultaneous) and written transla-

tion, says an expert. Dr Amal Almalki, Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Science at Hamad bin Khalifa University (HBKU) said that the university has plans to introduce a master’s programme in interpreta-tion (simultaneous) in addition to the current two programmes.

“We are in touch with the authority concerned at the Minis-try of Justice to make sure that the law makes a difference between the work of an interpreter and a transla-tor,” said Dr Amal Almalki.

She was speaking about the draft law which was approved in late

January last year by the State Cab-inet that defines experts, including translators. The theme of this year’s conference being attended by over 200 participants is “Politics of Trans-lation: Representations and Power”.

→ Continued on page 2

Emir receives phone call from Morocco King

DOHA: Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani received yes-terday a telephone call from King Mohammed VI of Morocco.

They discussed bilateral relations between the brotherly countries and means of enhanc-ing them, besides exchanging views on issues of common con-cern, reports QNA.

HOME02 TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

QNA

DOHA: Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrah-man Al Thani yesterday stressed Qatar’s backing to Tunisia in all economic and social challenges the latter is facing.

The Foreign Minister also expressed Qatar’s solidarity with Tunisia in light of the increase in terrorist attacks in Tunisia.

He was speaking at a joint press conference with his Tuni-sian counterpart Khemaies Jhinaoui.

Sheikh Mohamed said his visit to Tunisia was to discuss bilateral relations and offer help to Tuni-sia in its fight against terrorism.

He said he discussed with Jhinaoui economic and social affairs and the progress of Qatari projects in the country.

He said his meeting with Jhi-naoui was a good opportunity to discuss the latest regional devel-opments in Libya and Syria.

On the Libyan crisis, Sheikh Mohamed said all parties involved in the country should work on reaching a political solution.

On the Syrian crisis, he said the political resolution to the cri-sis should come in the context of international resolutions.

Jhinaoui said the meeting also discussed Tunisia’s prior-ities of tackling unemployment and enhancing development.

The Tunisian Foreign Minis-ter hoped that Qatar continues its backing to Tunisia on the eco-nomic and social fronts.

He expressed his agreement with Sheikh Mohamed on the need for a political resolution to the crisis in Libya.

On the Palestinian issue, Jhi-naoui stressed the importance of joint Arab work to achieve the aspirations of the Palestin-ian people.

Qatar slams

Lahore bombing

DOHA: Qatar has strongly con-demned the terrorist bomb attack which rocked a crowded park in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore on Sunday, leaving scores dead and injured.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that such criminal acts that target innocent lives do not represent Islam or its principles of tolerance and moderate.

The ministry reaffirmed Qatar’s solidarity with the gov-ernment and people of friendly Pakistan and extended condo-lences to the government, people and the families of the victims, wishing the injured a quick recovery.

The Peninsula

DOHA: The World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), a global initiative of Qatar Foundation (QF), has concluded the first edition of its global Academy for Emerg-ing Leaders in Patient Safety.

According to World Health Organi-sation, one in 10 people may be harmed while receiving hospital care.

The programme, in partnership with Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q), aimed to provide comprehensive training for faculty and students in the healthcare industry to promote the delivery of safe and high-quality patient care.

Nearly 100 Qatar-based faculty and health science students took part, includ-ing participants from Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Sidra Medical and Research Centre, WCM- Q, Qatar Univer-sity, College of the North Atlantic Qatar (CNA-Q), and University of Calgary in Qatar (UCQ).

The training took place in two phases — one for the faculty and the other for students.

Egbert Schillings, CEO, WISH, said, “We pitch our research at the highest

levels to policymakers around the world. However, change doesn’t come from above, it also comes from below. We have trained young leaders who will take the initiative forward. Dozens of projects will come out of this training. The faculty and student learners will never forget this experience and it will result in real impact in Qatar and beyond.”

The programme trained faculty on how to effectively teach students best practices on patient safety. Participants were taught about the importance of encouraging students to pursue open, honest and effective communication with patients, and each other, to reduce medical error.

The second phase equipped students

with specific tools and strategies that can be used to reduce harm to patients through interactive and hands-on exercises.

They heard from patient safety advo-cates who had lost loved ones due to medical error, and shared lessons with contemporaries from other disciplines to encourage future collaboration.

WISH staff with the medical faculty who attended the Academy for Emerging Leaders in Patient Safety.

WISH holds academy for emerging patient safety leaders

Foreign Minister

stresses Qatar’s

support

for Tunisia

QNA

DOHA: The Advisory Coun-cil’s Financial and Economic Affairs Committee yesterday held its first meeting of the council’s 44th regular session under Rapporteur Moham-med Ajaj Al Kubaisi.

The committee com-pleted a debate on a request by members on doing busi-ness and selling via electronic sites in Qatar and decided to submit a report to the council.

The council also held weekly meeting, chaired by Speaker Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khulaifi.

Secretary-General Fahad bin Mubarak Al Khayareen read out the agenda which was agreed upon and the council endorsed the minutes

of its previous session.It discussed the report of

the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee on a draft law amending some provi-sions of Law No. 8 for 2002 on regulating work of com-mercial agents and decided to submit recommendations to the Cabinet.

Al Khulaifi held a separate meeting with members of the Qatari-European Friendship Association at the European Parliament and discussed parliamentary relations with the European Parliament and means of developing them.

The council’s Deputy Speaker Issa bin Rabia Al Kuwari, Al Khayareen and Qatari Ambassador to Bel-gium and Head of the Qatari Mission to the European Union Sheikh Ali bin Jassim Al Thani were present.

Master’s programme in interpretation planned

Continued from page 1

Actually, 20 warships were expected to take part in the event but due to the fact that many had other engagements from before they did not arrive, according to the organis-ing committee.

The exhibition covers a wide range of maritime defence sectors including anti-piracy diving and underwater operations and vehicles,

maritime awareness and technology, naval aviation and more.

On the sidelines of the exhibition, a conference of naval commanders will be held tomorrow to discusses regional challenges and Marine Environment.

The DIMDEX is considered the largest specialised naval defence and maritime security exhibition in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, and held every two years.

Country pavilions at the exhibi-tion will include those from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy,

Pakistan, besides Qatar, Spain, Swe-den, Turkey, the UK and the US.

Most of the companies that will

be exhibiting their products and serv-ices at the exhibition are from Turkey and France, said Brigadier Al Kuwari.

Advisory Council committee reviews online businesses

Continued from page 1

Speaking to this daily on the side-lines of the 7th Annual International Translation Conference yesterday which kicked off at Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) and con-tinues for two days, she said: “We have a plan to introduce after two years a master’s programme in interpretation (simultaneous) due to its importance for society and its close relation to security, safety and achieving justice”, as patients in hospitals and people facing trials in courts, for instance, need their help.

One of the aims of the conference is to raise social awareness about the importance of translation, its role in communication and society’s per-ception about translators should be changed, Al Malki stressed.

In her opening remarks, Al Malki pointed out that “this translation con-ference, which started seven years ago as a small intellectual gathering, has become an yearly reference for academics, media specialists and dip-lomats, as well as the general public”.

This year’s theme has resonated positively with the academic and pro-fessional communities and has proven yet again that the fields of translation and interpretation are interdiscipli-nary and span any field that has a human component to it.”

Asked why the theme of politics was chosen for this year’s confer-ence, she said politics plays a major role in this region which is in turmoil and facing refugees crisis, so poli-tics should not hinder cultural and intellectual dialogue between dif-ferent nations and translation is one of the major means to bolster such dialogues.

The conference is organized by Hamad bin Khalifa University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS). The event’s key-note addresses, panels and workshops highlighted the crucial role trans-lation plays in an increasingly globalized world as a powerful instru-ment often used to shape a narrative, the portrayal of an event, or a cur-rent situation.

Al Malki commented on the importance of the field of transla-tion and interpretation in her opening remarks. She noted: “Politics has played a role in this year’s conference.

The unfortunate events in Belgium last week and the closure of the air-port have made us both anxious and adamant in having our panellists from Belgium join us. Our team has worked closely on their travel logistics and I am very happy to say our col-leagues from Belgium are here with us today”. Three of five from Belgium were managed to join the conference said Al Malki.

The conference brings local and international scholars, political com-mentators, media personalities, and the general public together to discuss some of the most critical challenges in the field.

Keynote speakers included Dr Henri Awaiss, Dean of the Faculty of Languages of Saint Joseph University, Beirut, Dr Joselia Neves, Associate Professor at Hamad Bin Khalfia Uni-versity, Dima Khatib, journalist, writer and translator, and Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, a well-known columnist and commentator on Arab affairs based in the United Arab Emirates, previously listed in Arabian Business as one of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Arabs in the “Thinkers” category.

Al Qassemi said: “It’s been five years since I had a small role in translating some of the events that occurred during the Arab Spring. I’ve never been asked to speak about that experience until now and it has really been a journey of self-discovery.”

“It is interesting to hear what other professionals have to say about the politics of translation and the translation of politics. Doha is a great place to hold this conference, with participants from around the world, including countries with var-ied political systems such as China, and Iran, and many of the Arab states, able to discuss this issue and speak about their experiences translating major political events.”

The first day of the conference continued with attendees engaging in simultaneous panel discussions, covering topics such as the politics of gender in translation, interpreting conflicts, and literary representations of power. Speakers from Qatar, Egypt, Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, China, Iran, Turkey, Belgium, Switzer-land, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Algeria, Canada and the United States partici-pated, with the conference organizers selecting 32 abstracts from over 100

submitted.Day two of the conference will

explore topics such as translat-ing the religious, ethical questions that emerge when covering political issues, and the linguistic perspective on political translation.

It will also feature a closing ses-sion with keynote speakers and special guests, including Dr. Ahmed Albanyan, Dean of the Institute of Translation and Arabisation (TAI) at the Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Saudi Arabia, Dr. Huda Moukannas, Professor at the Lebanese American University, and Dr. Hannelore Lee-Jahnke, professor from the University of Geneva - shar-ing reflections and major takeaways from the event. A series of workshops

are also being offered in an effort to emphasize the crucial link between theory and practice with Dr. Mah-moud Al Batal, Professor of Arabic at the University of Texas, Austin and co-author of the well-known Arabic textbook series Al-Kitaab, leading a session on The Teaching of Writing in Arabic: Process, Product, and Assess-ment this year.

The impressive line-up of speak-ers at the 2016 conference, as well as its popularity among the community in Qatar, makes evident the growth and development of the annual event. In its seventh year, the conference has become the preferred Gulf-based platform for discussions in the field of translation and interpretation, drawing individuals from around the

world to Qatar as HBKU continues to evolve and expand, guided by an aim to offer academic programmes that serve local and regional needs.

Shaima Ziara, a student enrolled in HBKU’s Master’s of Arts in Transla-tion Studies programme, commented: “The Seventh Annual Translation Conference is a great opportunity for the students of the College of Humanities and Social Science to be exposed to a professional academic environment and explore the dif-ferent approaches and conditions of translation. The conference offers students such as myself the oppor-tunity to learn from experts working in various fields through the differ-ent panels and workshops that cover a wide range of topics,” Ziara said.

Dr Amal Al Malki (right), Dean, College of Humanities and Social Science, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, with other panellists (from left) Dr Henri Awaiss, Dean, Faculty of Languages, Saint Joseph University, Beirut; Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, Columnist and Commentator from the UAE; and Dr Joselia Neves, Associate Professor, HBKU, listen to Dima Khatib, Journalist, Writer and Translator, at the conference yesterday. Pic: Salim / The Peninsula

Brigadier Dr (Engineer) Thani A Rahman Al Kuwari, Chairman, DIMDEX 2016, addressing the media and (Right) two of the warships taking part in the event.

Naval commanders’conference tomorrow

HOME 03 TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

The Peninsula

DOHA: Hamad Medical Corpora-tion (HMC) honoured 38 students who completed specialised diploma programmes in clinical audiology, clinical optometry and auditory ver-bal therapy.

HMC held a ceremony at Hajar Auditorium to honour the graduates from its three programmes developed in collaboration with the Canada-based University of Toronto.

The initiative utilises the best minds from around the world to provide evidence-based continuing education to healthcare professionals.

“Our latest batch of graduates demonstrates HMC’s continuing commitment towards building local

capacity to deliver the highest standards of hearing healthcare in Qatar,” said Dr Khalid Abdul Hadi, Programme Director, and Head, Audi-ology and Balance Centre, HMC, who spearheaded the Qatari-Canadian initiative in 2009 to meet the increas-ing demand for specialised hearing care in Qatar and the region.

There were 15 graduates in the

diploma in clinical audiology; 14 in auditory verbal therapy and nine in clinical optometry, comprising staff from the Audiology and Balance Unit and Ophthalmology Department and candidates from Qatar, the GCC and other Arab countries.

Dr Arnold Noyek, Director, Inter-national Continuing Education, University of Toronto’s Faculty of

Medicine, conveyed greetings to the audience via a video clip. This is an amazing, remarkable achievement that demonstrates the innovative leadership of Dr Hadi in deliver-ing these educational activities for the benefit of Qatar’s population,” he said, adding the ongoing mission will contribute to the advancement of healthcare in the Gulf and beyond.”

The graduates in a celebratory mood, with some doing the decades-old tradition of throwing their caps up in the air.

HMC honours diploma graduates38 students complete specialised diploma programmes in clinical audiology, clinical optometry and auditory verbal therapy.

The Peninsula

DOHA: Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) will host a public lec-ture on the challenges facing Shariah today from 6 pm to 7pm.

Dr Ahmad Atif Ahmad, Profes-sor of Religious Studies at University of California in Santa Barbara, will deliver the lecture.

Increasingly, scholars have engaged in intense debate on the future of Shariah.

However, this is not an entirely new debate as it can be traced to the 11th century, where scholars first defined the Shariah as being owned by traditionally trained jurists, and argued that the ‘death’ of the legal scholars marks the fatigue of the Shariah.

In his lecture, Dr Ahmad will map the classical contours of the debate as they unfolded in juris-prudential and theological centuries between the 11th and 13th centuries.

He will end by revisiting mod-ern questions to see in what ways the classical discussion can illumi-nate the modern discourse.

The university will host another public lecture on ‘Islamic law today’

tomorrow by Dr. Ahmad, in which he will map the development and evolution of Islamic law in modern nation state systems.

Most evaluations of modern Islamic law take an idealistic per-spective, leaving us without any good description of how an uneven presence of Islamic law in today’s world can be approached.

It also tends to underestimate the impact of pre-modern governments in Muslim societies and the multi-ple changes the Shariah underwent and its geographic diversity before modernity.

This lecture will take a realistic approach that looks at the possibil-ities and tensions of Islamic law in the modern world.

Dr Ahmad previously served as Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Chair of MidEast Studies at College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and Associate Director, University of California Washington Centre in Washington, DC.

He is the author of Pitfalls of Scholarship; The Fatigue of the Shariah; and Islam, Modernity, Vio-lence, and Everyday Life — all from Palgrave Macmillan & Structural Interrelations of Theory and Prac-tice in Islamic Law’

GU-Q to host 2 lectures on

challenges facing Shariah

The Peninsula

DOHA: An estimated 200,000 people visited the seventh Qatar International Food Festival (QIFF) which ended yesterday.

The record turnout was based on daily visitor counts at the three ven-ues — Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) Park , Katara and the Pearl-Qatar.

The week-long event, expanded to three locations, was billed the larg-est and most popular yet in terms of the number of visitors and participat-ing chefs, including world-renowned Martha Stewart, George Calombaris of Master Chef Australia and Salma Soliman of Fatafeat TV.

According to Rashed Al Qurese, Chief Marketing and Promotion Officer, Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA), this year’s QIFF has set a new standard for festivals and events in

Qatar, which “QTA will continue to build on with our partners in future editions. Festivals are an impor-tant part of our strategy to diversify Qatar’s tourism offering and we are proud of the success QIFF has achieved as a homegrown event that is now eagerly anticipated by peo-ple in Qatar and visitors from across the region

“The seventh edition of QIFF was the perfect platform to showcase our country-wide five-star culinary and hospitality offerings, giving visitors a taste of Qatar’s most authentic experiences.”

QIFF 2016 was marked with new locations — the Pearl-Qatar and Katara Cultural Village — con-nected with the main venue at MIA Park with water taxis that proved highly popular.

The Qatar-China 2016 Year of Culture was celebrated with a court, along with signature activities such

as Dinner in the Sky by Qatar Air-ways (QA), QIFF Live Cooking Theatre, High Tea by the Bay, Ins-taMarket, Health Court, Dinner on a Dhow and BBQ on the Bay.

“This year was the first time we expanded the festival to multi-ple locations. While the expansions were limited, we were able to create a city-wide celebration of all things food,” said Mashal Shahbik, Director, Festivals and Tourism Events, QTA.

“In the planning process, we had asked members of the commu-nity to share what they would like to see in QIFF and that was a large part of its success. As we wrap up and look forward to the 2017 edition, we encourage residents and visitors to share feedback through QIFF’s social media pages,” added Shahbik.

QA, co-host of QIFF, welcomed guests to its premium lounge to enjoy A Taste of Business Class and its award-winning hospitality on

Qatar International Food Festival ends with a record 200,000 visitorsboard its signature Dinner in the Sky experience.

A stellar line-up of the world’s most celebrated chefs made their cooking debut at QA Cooking Theatre.

Salam Al Shawa, Senior Vice- President, Marketing and Corporate Communications, QA, said: “We are delighted to see that the popularity of

QIFF continues. This year’s new sat-ellite festivities were a great success and delighted the local commu-nity and tourists and visitors who experienced Doha’s finest food and fun entertainment. As the country’s national airline, QA is proud to support such a world-class event, delivering the award-winning hospitality and

entertainment we are renowned for the world over, for everyone to enjoy in Qatar.”

In line with its theme ‘A differ-ent side of food’, the festival placed emphasis on healthy-eating, espe-cially as a means of preventing chronic illnesses and life-threatening heart conditions.

A display of fireworks marks the conclusion of the seventh edition of the festival.

The Peninsula

DOHA: Inspectors from the Health Control Section of Doha Municipal-ity found 350kg of expired foodstuff, hidden in a secret warehouse inside a restaurant in The Pearl-Qatar area.

The items were stored in a hid-den place difficult to access within the restaurant and were being used in the preparation of meals and drinks for customers.

The seized items included fla-vourings, concentrates, juices, salad dressings, meat dressings, mix of blue cheese sauce, among others.

Immediately after detecting the violation, inspectors transferred the case to security authorities for legal action.

The manager of the restaurant was considered in charge of the

violation of provisions of the health law.

Doha Municipality inspectors checking some of the items.

350kg of expired foodstuff found in secret warehouse in restaurant

HOME04 TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

The Peninsula

DOHA: Qatar Career Fair (QCF) has concluded its second Career Coun-sellors Training Workshop.

The week-long event at Edu-cation City Club House brought together more than 40 counsellors from public and private schools in the country.

QCF, a member of Qatar Foun-dation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF), hosted the workshop in collabora-tion with the Training and Education Development Centre of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, and the US embassy.

Through the five-day workshop, conducted by Margo McCoy, a US licensed Professional Counsellor, the counsellors received training in how best to guide young students to make informed academic and career decisions and submit successful uni-versity applications.

The workshop discussed

vocational guidance, effective ways to research for universities, measur-ing the success of career counsellors, and how to effectively organise university tours, among other top-ics. They outlined the process and advantages of pursuing higher edu-cation in the US.

“I found the counsellors who were part of the workshop to be eager to learn about educational opportunities worldwide and provide their students with best guidance towards success,” said McCoy.

“Qatar provides students with plenty of opportunities, and by sup-porting counsellors and providing them with the right information and knowledge, we are able to help them work better with their students.”

Abdullah Al Mansoori, Direc-tor, Qatar Career Fair, said: “The workshop supported QF and QCF’s strategic objective to help young Qataris choose the appropriate aca-demic and career path.

“By unlocking human poten-tial and investing in Qatar’s youth

through educational and personal development opportunities,

“QCF is enabling them to become productive members of Qatari society.

“I would like to thank the minis-try and the US embassy for their role and cooperation in organising this successful event, which aims to pro-vide training to career counsellors and bolster their skills. I hope that this fruitful cooperation continues in the future,” he added.

Mona Mohamed Al Kuwari, Director of the centre, said: “I would like to thank Qatar Career Fair and the US embassy for their efforts in organising the workshop, which pro-vided academic counsellors with the knowledge needed to guide our students towards applying to uni-versities that suit their potential and capabilities, as well as the market needs of Qatar.

We value our training partner-ship with Qatar Career Fair and the US embassy and look forward to developing our cooperation,” Al Kuwari added.

Qatar Career Fair holds second

training workshop for counsellors

Qatar Career Fair officials with counsellors at the event.

The Peninsula

DOHA: Utility distributor Kah-ramaa (Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation) honoured sev-eral organisations for contribution to energy audits on their premises.

The audits were carried out of energy flows on their premises to identify opportunities to reduce use and save energy (electricity and water). The move was part of Kah-ramaa’s National Programme for Conservation and Energy Efficiency (Tarsheed), an official statement said yesterday.

The felicitation was held yester-day at Kahramaa’s Awareness Park. The audited organisations were honoured with Certificates of Appre-ciations by Engineer Abdul Azeez Al Hammadi, Manager, Conservation and Energy Efficiency Department,

Kahramaa. Several senior function-aries from the participating firms were present, along with Engineer Hashim Al Sada, Head of Conserva-tion Technology at the department.

The participating entities were also provided with detailed audit reports which contained analyses of the energy use of the buildings energy conservation measures and their cost and benefits.

The department conducted thor-ough energy audits in various types of buildings by an expert team.

In the government buildings’ category, Kahramaa’s Main Tower, Ashghal Tower 2 and the main build-ing of the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs were audited in addition to five mosques.

In the commercial category, Safwa Building (Barwa Commercial Avenue), Al Faisal Tower and Doha Bank were audited and the Commer-cial retails building category included Lulu Hypermarket, Safari and Fam-ily Food Centre.

Five schools were also audited — Abu Obaida Independent Prepar-atory School for Boys, Al Gharraffa; Ibn Khaldoon Preparatory Inde-pendent School for boys, Al Rayyan; Hamad Bin Abdullah Bin Jassim Sec-ondary Independent School for Boys, Bani Hajer; Khalifa Independent Sec-ondary School for Boys, Madinat Khalifa South; and Nasser Bin Abdul-lah Secondary School for Boys in Al Kharatiyat.

Recommendations based on fur-nished audit reports were classified into three types: High cost/Medium cost and Low to no cost measures.

The payback period of these measures are less than two years, in the medium cost measures, the payback period of the measure are between two and five years and the invest grade measure where the pay-back period of the measures are more than five years.

Tarsheed appreciated the meas-ures taken by the organisations for the smooth conduct of the study. The study will help them conserve energy and water on their premises.

As per the recommendations, the common best practices in operation and maintenance are implementing energy monitoring and management system, setting higher tempera-tures for air-conditioners (above 25 degrees C) during non-occupancy hours, reducing the lighting level during non-occupied hours, reducing the speed of ventilation and extract fans during non-occupied hours and installing water saving aerators.

Tarsheed was launched in 2012 under the patronage of Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

It aims to reduce per capita water and electricity consumption by 35 percent and 20 percent, respectively, by 2017 and preserve the drop until 2020 within the expected increase in population and demand, the state-ment added.

DOHA: The Abdullah Abdulghani & Bros. Co. (AAB) management has advised all Toy-ota customers to visit Toyota service centres and authorised dealers in Qatar for quality service and genuine parts.

Imitation products of all key items have hit the global market such as Toyota parts, oil and air filters, spark plug, belts, brake pads and others, and chances of these parallel imports to Qatar is possible, the

company has warned. AAB, the sole agent for Toyota and

Lexus vehicles in Qatar, held an anti-coun-terfeit spare parts awareness programme under the theme ‘One Little Mistake, Big

Trouble’ at its Central Parts Department in the Industrial Area yesterday.

Consumers who value security and safety of their vehicles and passengers should not compromise on this and should

Officials at the honouring ceremony.

Kahramaa honours several entities for energy auditsEnergy flow audits were carried out on their premises to identify opportunities to reduce use and save electricity and water.

only use genuine parts, it advised.

The programme highlighted that fake parts are dangerous and put lives at risk and that some outlets in Qatar are illegally using Toyota genuine parts logo with-out Abdullah Abdulghani & Bros Co. logo mark are not the authorised agents appointed by AAB.

The programme aimed to educate and promote Toyota and Lexus customers to use genuine parts for their vehicles.

Toyota genuine parts are designed with high-est standards to all its processes to keep Toy-ota car running for years. Toyota never compro-mises on quality and is constantly focuses on product improvement. Each product guarantees hassle-free driving and comes with peace-of-mind. The company does not certify that parts sold

through such shops are Toyota genuine parts.

AAB appreciates the positive role played by the Consumer Protection Department for its fre-quent inspection to raid outlets dealing in coun-terfeit parts.

AAB plans to conduct educational programmes as part of continuous awareness among Toy-ota and Lexus customers.

Established in 1958 as part of Qatar’s infra-structure development, AAB has grown to be one of the country’s leading automobile companies with operations spanning heavy equipment, pre-owned vehicles, rental and leasing. It always strives to live up to its tradition as a socially responsible corporation supporting important activities in the country, especially aimed at the well-being of the people and the nation.

AAB holds anti-counterfeit spare parts awareness programme

The Toyota and Lexus anti-counterfeit spare parts awareness programme in progress in the Industrial Area Street 5.

HOME 05TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

Pakistan Day was celebrated on March 23 by ‘Sohni Dharti’ AKC of Al Khor Community. Children of all age groups participated in the celebration with great enthusiasm. The new Sohni Dharti Executive Committee for 2016 - 2017 also took charge after the event. Pic: Abdul / The Peninsula

Pakistan Day marked

The Peninsula

DOHA: Qatar Charity (QC) has honoured winners of its “The Young Writer” competition at a ceremony held at the Al Wakrah Municipality Building.

Launched last February on the occasion of the Mother Lan-guage International Day by QC Community Development Centre in Al Wakrah, ‘The Young Writer’ competition in Arabic involved female students of both primary and preparatory school levels in Al Wakrah and Mesaieed.

Many Qatari intellectuals and journalists, ambassadors from QC’s Social Network, students and parents attended.

Jawaher Hamad Al Mana’i received the first prize for pri-mary school level for her story

‘Toys Talk’, while the second prize went to Reem Amin Al Yaf’i for her story ‘Rapture after Distress’.

Addana Hussein Al Hashimi won the third place for her story ‘Girl and Hijab’.

In the preparatory school level, Merriam Yehia won the first prize for her story Jasmine and the Unfair King’; Hamas Mohammed Mahran won the second place for her ‘Sally and the Big Forest’; and Nour Mustafa Khattab for her ‘My Hijab is My Happiness’.

The winners of the first three prizes received cash prizes of QR2,000, QR1,500 and QR1,000, respectively.

In his speech, Ali Al Gharib, Director of Programmes and Centres Administration at QC, announced that Al Sharq news-paper and QC Magazine will publish the winning entries.

“QC will continue to support the winners through offering them creative writing courses and workshops. Our main pur-pose is to improve their skills so that they publish their own works in the future.

“We thank Ibda’ Cultural Centre, Al Wakrah Municipal-ity, the participating schools, the trainers of the competi-tion’s workshops (Julnar Fahim and Hassan As-Sa’i) and QC’s Social Network’s ambassadors Ahmed Abdullah and Asmaa Al

Hammadi, journalists”. Jassim Fakhru, a jury mem-

ber, said that such competitions teach the students to expand their horizons and thinking through improving their writing skills. “I enjoyed reading the stories. The girls mixed fantasy and myths with life. It shows creativity and innovation,” he added.

The winners expressed their deep happiness for receiving

the first three prizes. Addana Al Hashimi, one of the winners, said that she was thrilled to win and that she knew she was going to. “I aspire to become a writer and I hope my writings will be pub-lished in the newspapers one day.”

Reem Al Yaf’i said, “It is my first time to participate in a writ-ing contest. I definitely want to do this again,” she said.

Nour Mustafa said, “I was hoping to win. I worked really hard. Now I wish to have my first book published and that I become a very famous writer in the future.”

Hamas Muhran expressed her happiness for winning and that she wished luck for all the others who participated but did not win. “Keep writing. It is not over yet,” she encouraged them.

The Peninsula

DOHA: Qatar University (QU) and Qatar Shell Research and Technol-ogy Centre (QSRTC) have established a Faculty Internship Programme enabling faculty members from the university to work at Qatar Shell for a period of three months where they will receive hands-on indus-try experience related to their field of expertise.

The signing ceremony took place at Qatar University and was attended by Dr. Mazen Hasna, Vice President and Chief Academic Officer at QU, and Youssif A Saleh, Vice President of QSRTC.

Following a tight selection proc-ess, Assistant Professor Dr. Ujjal Ghosh was selected as the faculty representative from QU. Dr. Ghosh

will evaluate various options to pre-vent dust and silt from entering the Pearl GTL Cooling Water system and find potential alternatives to the exist-ing Cooling Water system chemical programme.

Commenting on the programme, Dr. Mazen Hasna said: “The fac-ulty internship provides a new and unique opportunity for collabora-tion between our university and QSRTC and reflects our determina-tion to work hand in hand with QSRTC to devise long term and sustainable solutions for domestic challenges in the fields of energy and environment.”

Youssif A. Saleh, Vice President of Qatar Shell Research and Tech-nology Centre, Qatar Shell, stated: “We are extremely proud to collab-orate with Qatar University as part of our commitment to enhancing local research capacity and deliv-ering sustainable impact in support

of the Qatar National Vision 2030.” QSRTC works closely with univer-sities and schools to develop local Qatari talent and enhance technical capabilities, and will be extending the Faculty Internship Programme to Texas A&M at Qatar in the current academic year.

Dr Bilal Mansoor has been selected as the Texas A&M at Qatar faculty representative and will be analysing the feasibility of a local oxygen service materials testing facility. The air separation unit at Pearl GTL produces 30,000 metric tonnes per day of oxygen, making it the largest oxygen plant in the world. Currently testing of oxygen service materials is conducted abroad but Qatar Shell’s objective is to have a local test facility of international standard and this would facilitate research into an improved materi-als for oxygen service. QSRTC is the

QNA

DOHA: Dr Ali bin Smaikh Al Marri, Chairman, National Human Rights Committee, yesterday outlined NHRC’s role locally and regionally during a lecture for Qatar Leadership Centre students.

Giving a detailed explanation on the concept of human rights, he said national human rights institu-tions are established by governments to promote and protect human rights at the national level.

He said the establishment of these institutions is through legislation or inclusion into the constitution of the state. He also touched on the responsibilities of national human rights institutions and said they include submitting proposals and recommendations to governments on humanitarian issues, promotion of human rights education, related research, planning pro-grammes and awareness campaigns, among others.

With regard to NHRC, Dr Al Marri said Qatar devel-oped a system of national mechanisms for the protection and promotion of human rights, the most important of which is NHRC, promulgated through Decree Law No. 38 of 2002 as a national institution for the promotion and protection of human rights in Qatar and in light of the Paris Principles. He said NHRC is neither a gov-ernmental entity nor a civil society institution, It is a national official committee of a special nature and can neither be described as an administrative entity in its narrow sense nor a decisionmaking body.

NHRC is considered an advisory body concerned with human rights at the national level of authorities and administrative entities in the state and on the other hand, it receives and investigate complaints from indi-viduals or groups, he said.

Dr Al Marri also discussed NHRC’s powers, including following up and enhancing the goals of international agreements on human rights. It can also recommend to the state to join a particular human rights accord.

NHRC can look into any reported violations to human rights in the country and report to authorised state entities. It can also recommend ways to prevent such violations, Dr Al Marri added.

He said the committee receives complaints on human rights violation from individuals and organi-sations regardless of whether they were citizens, expats or tourists. NHRC also monitors elections in Qatar or abroad, he said, adding there is cooperation between the committee and international and regional organi-sations concerned with human rights.

Qatar’s national mechanisms

to protect and promote

human rights highlightedQC honours competition winners

Youngsters taking part in the event.

‘The Young Writer’ contest in Arabic involved female students of primary and preparatory school levels in Al Wakrah and Mesaieed.

QU and Qatar Shell set up Faculty Internship Programme

anchor tenant at Qatar Science and Technology Park, and is playing a vital role in shaping the future of R&D in Qatar through research and thought leadership.

Officials at the programme signing ceremony.

HOME06 TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

The Peninsula

DOHA: Qatar Airways (QA) and Rolls-Royce, the airline’s strategic partner, have developed a new train-ing programme exclusively for Qatari nationals. Under QA’s Al Darb Qatari-sation programme, nominated Qatari delegates visited the Rolls-Royce facility in Derby, the UK, to attend the Rolls-Royce Business Manage-ment and Commercial Awareness Programme.

The annual business manage-ment programme, provides a unique

learning opportunity for Qataris enrolled in Al Darb Qatarisation pro-gramme to connect with and learn from experts at the leading aero-engine manufacturing company.

Chosen for their high perform-ance and as a token of appreciation for their long time service with the company, the selected delegates met with specialists from Rolls-Royce over a five day induction programme that introduced them to a variety of subjects crucial to executives in the aviation industry. These included corporate strategy, financial man-agement, relationship management, and customer service management.

Nabeela Fakhri, QA’s Senior Vice President Human Resources said: “At QA, we believe that continuing to provide learning experiences to our employees will enable them to play a pivotal role in the future development of our organisation, as well-rounded, visionary leaders.

“Our Al Darb Qatarisation pro-gramme, part of QA National Talent Management, identifies the most tal-ented Qatari individuals to join our team and empowers them with the knowledge required to contribute to the growth of their national car-rier and the rapidly transforming aviation industry. We are pleased

QNA

DOHA: Qatar and Georgia yester-day signed two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) in the fields of veterinary health, livestock pro-duction and economic, scientific and technical cooperation in agri-culture.

Minister of Municipality and Environment H E Mohamed bin Abdullah Al Rumaihi and Geor-gian Minister of Agriculture Otar Danelia signed the MoUs in the presence of officials from both sides.

In a statement, Al Rumaihi expressed pleasure over the signing of the MoUs and said the signing would open wide hori-zons of the great cooperation between the two countries in the

field of agricultural investment and livestock production so that GCC nations would benefit from it.

The Georgian Minister expressed pleasure over the sign-ing of the two MoUs in the fields of agriculture and livestock to encourage cooperation and exchange of experiences, informa-tion and technology in these areas for the benefit of the two friendly countries.

Sheikh Dr Faleh bin Nasser Al Thani, Assistant Undersecretary of Agricultural Affairs, Livestock and Fisheries at the ministry, said

cooperation between the two sides had existed in the field of import-ing live animals, pointing out that the signing of the MoUs will enhance investment opportunities in the field food security.

The first MoU seeks to exchange information on veteri-nary health and animal production activities and information through an early warning system on the epidemiological situation, coop-eration in the field of animal production, artificial insemina-tion development, experiences in the field of livestock research,

animal feed production and leg-islation issued in the area.

The second MoU seeks to develop cooperation in the areas of support and facilitation of imports and exports of food and agricultural products, animal husbandry, animal and plant production, food processing and training of specialists in the field of agriculture, activating cooper-ation between scientific research centres and in the fields of vet-erinary and plant protection and taking measures to combat dis-eases, pests and weeds.

Cadillac ATS models recalledDOHA: The Ministry of Economy and Commerce, in collaboration with Mannai Trading Company, dealer of Cadillac vehicles in Qatar, has announced the recall of Cadillac ATS models of 2013-2016 due to sunroof ‘tilt’ and ‘slide’ switches not being recessed properly

The ministry said the recall is part of its efforts to protect consumers and ensure dealers follow up on vehicle defects and repairs.

The ministry said it will coordinate with the dealer to follow up on maintenance and repairs and communicate with customers to ensure repairs are carried out.

It urged customers to report any violations to its Consumer Protection and Anti-Commercial Fraud Department through call centre: 16001; email: info@mec.gov.qa; Twitter: @MEC_Qatar; Instagram: MEC_Qatar; and the ministry’s mobile app for Android and IOS: MEC_Qatar

Arabic Debating Championship from April 10DOHA: The third International Schools Arabic Debating Championship organised by the QatarDebate Centre of Qatar Foundation will see 53 teams representing 50 Arab and other countries.

The championship held to spread the culture of debate and dialogue in the Arab World. It will held between April 10 and April 13.

The contest targets those who follow QatarDebate on social media, and is set up using the league system where the winners will be selected depending on the number of points they get, said, Abdulrahman Al Subaie, Educational Projects Specialist at QatarDebate speaking at a press conference.

The competition on social media will begin on April 2 and continue until April 12.

Indian mission to host Open HouseDOHA: The Indian embassy will hold an Open House on Thursday to address any urgent consular and labour issues of Indians in Qatar, the mission said in statement yesterday.

The Open House will be held from 5.30pm to 6.30pm. Written information on issues/cases proposed to be discussed may be given from 5.30pm to 6pm. This will be followed by meetings with officials from 6pm to 6.30pm.

Qatar and Georgia sign MoUsThe two deals cover veterinary health, livestock production and economic, scientific and technical cooperation in agriculture.

Minister of Municipality and Environment H E Mohamed bin Abdullah Al Rumaihi and Georgian Minister of Agriculture Otar Danelia sign the MoUs in the presence of officials from both sides.

Officials and participants in Derby.

to offer this programme with our esteemed part-ners at Rolls-Royce, as it reinforces our goal of providing high quality professional development opportunities that benefit our employees.”

QA’s Al Darb Qatari-sation programme is an initiative that aims to develop young Qataris to become the leaders of the national carrier.

T h roug h i n i t i a-tives such as its summer internship programme and Graduate Develop-ment programme, Al Darb provides students and graduates with real-life projects that add to their work experience and pre-pare them for a successful career in the airline. Al Darb includes nine pro-grammes and 36 majors, 13 of which were added recently. Tailormade pro-grammes are created for each participant, in order to support and develop Qatarisation. A Qatari word that means ‘The Pathway’, Al Darb high-lights the different paths that individuals can take with QA.

QA and Rolls-Royce offer training for Qataris

MIDDLE EAST 07TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

Syrian troops push forward after retaking Palmyra

AFP

DAMASCUS: Syrian forces strengthened their hold on Palmyra yesterday and pushed for-ward against the Islamic State group after dealing it a major blow by retaking the ancient city.

The country’s antiquities chief said the treasured monuments damaged by the jihad-ists could be restored in five years, but a UN expert cast doubt on the estimate.

Backed by Russia, pro-government fighters overran Palmyra on Sunday morning in a vic-tory President Bashar Al Assad hailed as “fresh proof of the efficiency of the Syrian army and its allies in fighting terrorism”.

The United States welcomed the news, despite concerns over Assad’s brutal record.

“We do think that it’s a good thing that Daesh no longer controls it,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said, using an Arabic

acronym for IS. “That said, we’re also mindful, of course, that the best hope for Syria and the Syrian people is not an expansion of Bashar Al

Assad’s ability to tyrannise the Syrian people.”Yesterday, regime forces turned to nearby

IS-held towns. “The army was concentrated

around Al Qaryatain, and today the mili-tary operations began there,” said a military source in Palmyra. “That is the next goal for the Syrian army. They also have their eyes on Sukhnah” towards the northeast.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Sukhnah’s capture would bring govern-ment forces to the gates of oil-rich Deir Ezzor province, an IS bastion.

IS overran Palmyra — a Unesco world her-itage site known as the “Pearl of the Desert” — in May 2015 and used its ancient theatre for public killings as the world watched in horror.

The extremist group blew up temples and tower tombs, as part of its campaign against pre-Islamic monuments it considers blasphemous.

An AFP correspondent in Palmyra saw the Temple of Bel and the Arch of Triumph in pieces on Sunday, with some large stones marred by spray-painted messages in sup-port of IS.

Yesterday, army sappers worked to defuse bombs and mines IS had planted before retreating. One soldier said more than 50 bombs had been disarmed.

Antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim said with Unesco support, his department would need five years to restore the destroyed monuments, and that a preliminary assess-ment showed 80 percent of the site was “in good shape”.

But UN expert Annie Sartre-Fauriat said she was “very doubtful” a speedy restora-tion would be possible. The US-based Soufan Group said IS “suffered an undeniable loss”.

The jihadist organisation has come under growing pressure from Syrian and Iraqi forces set on breaking apart its self-proclaimed “caliphate”.

It has been responsible for a spate of deadly attacks abroad, most recently in Brus-sels, where 35 people were killed last week.

“The past week exemplifies the future of the Islamic State: relentless internal set-backs amid persistent external attacks,” said the Soufan Group.

Syria expert Thomas Pierret said the loss of Palmyra showed IS was “clearly weaker than in the past”. But he said he expected the group to “fight much harder” to maintain con-trol of its de facto capital of Raqa and Deir Ezzor to the east.

“After all, Palmyra was a forward post.”Long keen to portray his army as the van-

guard of the fight against the jihadists, Assad hailed Sunday’s victory in Palmyra as an “important achievement”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose government provided air and ground support for the offensive, congratulated Damascus.

Experts say Russia’s role in Palmyra has left the West scrambling to figure out Putin’s game plan.

Militant clashes spill into Lebanon from SyriaReuters

BEIRUT: Fighting between Islamic State and the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front spread from Syria into Lebanon’s northern Bekaa Valley region yesterday, killing combatants on both sides, a security source and the state news agency said.

Eighteen Nusra Front members were killed and six were taken prisoner during the clashes, and 14 Islamic State members were also killed, the security source said. Islamic State said in an online statement that it killed 17 members

of Nusra Front. The fighting began on Sunday near the Syrian town of Jrajeer in the Qalamoun mountains near the Syrian-Lebanese border, before spreading towards the Lebanese towns of Ras Baalbek and Arsal, the source said.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that Nusra Front had fought on Sunday to regain some positions it lost to Islamic State. In the fighting it said 10 Nusra Front fighters and eight Islamic State militants had died.

The border is not clearly demarcated in the mountainous region and fighting often spills over into Lebanon.

Nusra Front, loyal to the successors of Osama bin Laden, and Islamic State are the two most powerful forces fighting government forces in Syria.

The groups have also fought each other since a split in 2013, prompted largely by a power struggle between leaders.

Nusra Front and Islamic State fighters have staged regular incursions into Arsal from the barren hills just outside.

They overran the town briefly in 2014 before withdrawing to the hills after clashes with the army.

A man takes a selfie with rebel fighters in front of a rainbow in the rebel-held area of Aleppo’s Salah Al Din neighbourhood in Syria yesterday.

United Nations not sure speedy restoration of ancient city possible.

Obama not

likely to

meet

Erdogan

AFP

WASHINGTON: US President Ba rack Obama is not expected to hold sit-down talks with his Turkish coun-terpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan when he visits Washington later this week for a nuclear secu-rity summit, amid deep divisions between the two Nato nations.

Several heads of state are set to attend the summit on Thursday and Friday, but Obama is only scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, an official said.

The absence of a meeting with Erdogan in the thick of the fight against the Islamic State group is glaring.

Turkey and the United States are nom-inally close allies, but tensions have been piqued by Ankara’s attacks on Kurdish militants, who are seen by Washington as the best bet for tackling the Islamic State group in Iraq and northern Syria.

Turkey says the groups are linked to the outlawed Kurdis-tan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought a long battle for Kurdish independence.

The White House has been outspoken in recent months about threats to free speech and democracy in Tur-key. Earlier this month, the White House called on the Turkish gov-ernment to respect democratic values.

Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi (right) meets with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the Carthage Palace in Tunis yesterday.

UN chief in Tunisia

MIDDLE EAST08 TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

Abadi urged to name cabinet in three days

Reuters

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s parliament yes-terday gave Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi three days to present a new non-party cabinet to fight corruption or potentially face a no-confidence vote amid street protests piling on the pressure for action.

A flash on state television called Thursday the “final deadline” for Abadi, who said more than six weeks ago that he would replace ministers with technocrats unaffiliated with political parties.

Yet other politicians, including some within his own party, have pushed back against a reshuffle, fearing it could weaken the political patronage networks that have sustained their wealth and influence for more than a decade.

Powerful Shia Muslim cleric Moqtada Al Sadr on Sunday launched a personal sit-in inside Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses embassies and government offices.

His supporters extended a week-old sit-in just outside the district’s gates, huddling in tents and under

umbrellas in heavy rain. They also demonstrated in the southern city of Basra.

Sadr, who commands the loyalty of tens of thousands of supporters, including Shia fighters who helped defend Baghdad against Sunni Islamic State militants in 2014, has re-emerged as a leader in matters of state in recent months.

“If Abadi does not present his new government by Thursday, then he will be questioned in Saturday’s (parliamentary session),” said Sadr bloc MP Yasir Al Husseini.

“This will be the start of a number of steps leading to a no-confidence vote.”

Failing to deliver on long-promised anti-corruption measures could weaken Abadi’s government.

Support in parliament for withdrawing confidence from Abadi did not appear unanimous yesterday.

Abbas Al Bayati, an MP from Abadi’s ruling National Alliance coalition, said lawmakers would want an explanation for any further delay of reform steps but had not agreed to pursue a no confidence vote.

“Between now and Thursday is sufficient and if he cannot do it by then, he should come and clarify why in order to convince the blocs and the street,” Bayati said.

He said Abadi had composed a preliminary roster of candidates for the new cabinet and coalition leaders were consulting with Sunni, Kurdish and other Shia politicians “to create a balanced list that has the standards of professionalism and technocratic experience”.

Iran vows to pursue missile planReuters

DUBAI: Iran will pursue its develop-ment of ballistic missiles despite the US blacklisting more Iranian com-panies linked to the programme, a senior Revolutionary Guards com-mander said yesterday.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) test-fired sev-eral ballistic missiles this month, drawing condemnation from Western leaders who believe the tests violate a United Nations resolution.

The US Treasury Department blacklisted on Thursday two Ira-nian companies, cutting them off from international finance over their connection to the missile programme.

Washington had imposed sim-ilar sanctions on 11 businesses and individuals in January over a mis-sile test carried out by the IRGC in October 2015. “Even if they build a wall around Iran, our missile pro-gramme will not stop,” Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, com-mander of the IRGC’s aerospace arm, was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency. “They are trying to frighten our officials with sanctions and inva-sion. This fear is our biggest threat.”

US officials said Iran’s missile test would violate UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which calls on Iran not to conduct “any activity” related to ballistic missiles capable of deliv-ering nuclear weapons.

However, Washington said that a fresh missile test would not violate

a July 2015 accord under which Iran has restricted its disputed nuclear programme and won relief from UN and Western financial sanctions in return. That agreement between Iran and six world powers was endorsed in Resolution 2231.

The Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s elite fighting and security force, maintains dozens of short and medium-range ballistic mis-siles, the largest stock in the Middle East. It says the missiles are solely for defensive use with conventional, non-nuclear warheads.

President Hassan Rowhani, a pragmatic conservative, said on Sunday that boosting Iran’s defence capabilities is a “strategic policy” though Iran should take care not to provoke its enemies.

Kuwait to deport

60 Lebanese for

Hezbollah links:

Newspaper

AFP

KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait is to deport 60 Lebanese for alleged links to Hezbollah in the latest Gulf move against the Shia mili-tant group, a newspaper reported yesterday.

All those to be deported had permanent residency which has been revoked, Al-Qabas daily said.

Those classified as “dangerous cases” were given just two days to leave the country, it added.

It is the second wave of depor-tations from Kuwait reported since Gulf states blacklisted Hezbollah as a “terrorist” group earlier this month.

Last week, Al-Qabas reported that 11 Lebanese and three Iraqis had been deported for alleged links to the group.

Around 50,000 Lebanese live and work in the country, provid-ing remittances that are vital to the domestic economy.

The terror blacklisting was the latest step taken by Gulf states against Hezbollah, the leading force in Lebanon’s governing bloc which is backed by Riyadh’s Shia rival Tehran.

Last month, Saudi Arabia halted a $3bn programme of mil-itary aid to Lebanon to protest what it said was “the stranglehold of Hezbollah on the state”.

It also urged its citizens to leave Lebanon and avoid travel-ling there.

United Arab Emirates has banned its nationals from travel-ling to Lebanon.

Hezbollah is fighting in sup-port of the government of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad against Gulf-backed rebel fighters and extremist militants.

Erdogan warns diplomat over court selfieReuters

ISTANBUL/ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned a foreign diplomat yesterday over a “selfie” taken at the espi-onage trial of two journalists, after Britain’s consul-general tweeted a photo of himself with one of the reporters.

Erdogan has harshly criticised Western diplomats after several showed up on Friday to support Can Dundar, editor-in-chief of the Cumhuriyet newspaper, and his colleague Erdem Gul on the first day of their trial in Istanbul.

The journalists are accused of trying to topple the government with the publication of a video purporting to show Turkey’s state intel-ligence agency helping to ferry weapons into Syria by truck in 2014. The two face life imprisonment and their case has brought interna-tional condemnation and raised concerns about freedom of the press in Turkey. “The consul general of a certain country went to the trial of a journalist charged with espionage, to support him. Moreover he gets a picture taken cheek to cheek (with the journalist) and had it published,” the state-run Anadolu agency quoted Erdogan as saying, citing the text of a speech to Turkey’s War Academy.

“And he does not stop at that, on social media he says things like ‘Turkey needs to decide what kind of country it will be’, words that exceed their intended meaning.”

Erdogan did not name the diplomat. British Consul General Leigh Turner on Friday posted a photograph of himself with Dundar on Twitter before the start of the hearing. Several other ambassadors, consuls-general and diplomats also attended.

Turner tweeted: “Key point not comparisons or history but Tur-key deciding for itself what kind of country it wants to be.”

The British Foreign Office in London made no immediate com-ment on the matter.

Erdogan said the diplomat was only in Turkey because of the hos-pitality of the Turkish government, Anadolu reported.

“If this person could still go on working here that’s because of our generosity and hospitality. If it were another country they wouldn’t let a diplomat who exhibits this kind of behaviour to stay there a day more,” it quoted him as saying.

The Turkish foreign ministry is conveying its displeasure to some foreign governments over social media postings from the trial, an official said.

Israel asks citizens to leave TurkeyReuters

JERUSALEM: Israel urged its cit-izens visiting Turkey to leave “as soon as possible” in an upgraded travel advisory yesterday predict-ing possible follow-up attacks to the March 19 suicide bombing in Istanbul blamed on Islamic State.

Three Israeli tourists and an Iranian were killed in the Istan-bul attack, which prompted the counter-terrorism bureau in Prime Minister Benjamin Netan-yahu’s office to issue a generalised “level 3” warning against travel to Turkey.

A statement by the bureau raised this to “level 2” yesterday, signifying what it called a “high concrete threat” that Islamic State or similar groups would attack Turkish tourist attractions. It did not elaborate on what prompted the alert.

A senior diplomatic source said the advisory was intended only for Israeli tourists, not for dual-nationals living in Turkey, and that the update was issued in line with the latest information from the Turkish authorities.

President Recep Tayyip Erdog-an’s spokesman, when asked at a briefing about the Israeli advisory, said the move had followed Tur-key’s own warnings to its citizens. But he urged countries against playing into the militants’ hands, after a series of security alerts from foreign diplomatic missions in Turkey.

“One should refrain from moves that lead to the suspen-sion of daily lives, in a way which would be welcomed by the ter-rorists,” presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said.

The Israeli statement said Israelis should avoid going to Tur-key and, if already there, “depart as soon as possible”.

If a “level 1” alert were issued by Israel, that would urge cit-izens to leave the country “forthwith”.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with a portrait of modern Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in the background, addresses the war academy in Istanbul, yesterday.

Failure to meet deadline may trigger no-confidence motion against Iraq PM.

Egypt forces 32 judges into retirementAFP

CAIRO: Egypt’s Supreme Judicial Council yesterday forced 32 judges into retirement for having opposed the army’s ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in 2013, officials said.

Mursi was deposed by then army chief and now President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, and since then the authorities have cracked down on all forms of dis-sent, including secularists and liberals.

“Today, the Supreme Judicial Council took a deci-sion to force 32 judges into retirement for intervening in politics and supporting a certain party” after the ouster of Mursi, a senior official from the council said on condition of anonymity.

Last week the council had taken similar action against 15 other judges for the same reason.

These judges have been suspended since March 2015 after a lower panel of the council ordered they be sent into retirement. Yesterday the council upheld that order. The judges had refused to recognise the legal-ity of the ouster of Mursi, Egypt’s first freely elected president who was ousted after mass street protests against his sole year of divisive rule.

The council official said that some of the judges had openly declared their opposition to his ouster at the time in a signed statement at Cairo’s Rabaa Al Adawiya Square. Thousands of pro-Mursi supporters had demonstrated at the square for weeks demand-ing the Islamist’s reinstatement.

On August 14, 2013 police stormed the square to disperse the sit-in. About 700 people were killed within hours at Rabaa Al Adawiya and the capital’s Nahda Square where another similar sit-in was being held.

Tense Libyans await new govt amid dual authorityAFP

TRIPOLI: Sitting outdoors at a quiet Tripoli cafe, Libyans wonder how a third government could possibly take up residence in a capital controlled by armed groups who reject it.

“The mood is tense and people are tired,” says Abu Ehab, sipping a cup of

green tea. “Having three governments is causing great problems.”

Libya’s capital has been relatively calm since a militia alliance includ-ing Islamists seized it in mid-2014, but the expected arrival of a disputed UN-backed unity government has raised fears of renewed violence.

Both of Libya’s rival authorities — the one in the capital and the other

that in 2014 fled to the country’s far east — have refused to cede power to the new government under prime minister-designate Fayez Al Sarraj.

“If the (unity) government felt it had people’s support here, it would come and things would get better,” adds Abu Ehab, a 71-year-old biology professor. “But this will be difficult. We will have to be patient and pray.”

Tripoli’s unrecognised admin-istration on Friday announced a “maximum state of emergency” after the Tunisia-based presidential council headed by Sarraj said the government would soon start working in the cap-ital. In a coastal city whose airport is controlled by forces loyal to a hostile local administration, some residents fear fighting will break out and have

stocked up on food in preparation.“No more than 10 cans of tuna per

person,” a sign in one shop reads.Others in the city can only imag-

ine how Sarraj’s government might enter the capital.

Some say Sarraj will arrive by hel-icopter and set up his government in the Palm City beach resort in the west of the city.

ASIA / PHILIPPINES 09TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

South Korean conservative activists launch large balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets in Paju, yesterday. A group of South Korean activists sent to the North tens of thousands of leaflets criticising the leader Kim Jong-Un via giant balloons at a time of heightened military tension.

Anti-Pyongyang leaflets

Japan concerned

over possible

Russian base

TOKYO: Japan has con-veyed its concern to Moscow over possible Russian plans to build a naval base on a west-ern Pacific island chain, part of which are claimed by Tokyo, a top Japanese government spokesman said yesterday, the latest in a long-running territo-rial spat.

Tokyo’s action follows Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu’s comment last week that Russia would study the possi-bility of building a naval base on what it calls the Kurile islands.

Japan claims a south-ern segment of the island chain, which was seized by Soviet troops at the end of World War Two. The territorial row has kept the two countries from signing a formal peace treaty since.

The disputed islands are called the Northern Territories in Japan and Southern Kuriles in Russia.

WHO: China

must manage

vaccine market SHANGHAI: China must strengthen regulation of its market for vac-cines, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday, after a bust of an illegal black mar-ket drugs ring this month underscored the country’s regulatory weaknesses.

Police have arrested more than 130 suspects over a scandal in which $48m of illegal vaccines was sold onto the mar-ket. The value of the illegal trades could be as much as $90m. “This inci-dent has highlighted the need for much stricter enforcement of vaccine management regulations across the board,” WHO China representative Bernhard Schwartländer said in an emailed state-ment. The vaccines, some targeting meningitis and rabies, are suspected of having been sold in doz-ens of places around China since 2011.

AFP

MANILA: Philippine authorities are staging an online exhibition of jewelry owned by late dictator Ferdinand Mar-cos and his family to try to educate a new generation about the corruption of that era.

The postings on Facebook and Twitter by the Presidential Commis-sion on Good Government (PCGG)

come as the family tries to extend its political comeback in elections in May. “The PCGG will be posting selected jewellery items to show and remind the present generation of the excesses and extravagance of the Mar-cos in their two-decade dictatorship,” the anti-corruption agency said on its website.

“The Virtual Jewellery Exhibit” began in mid-March with regular postings showcasing valuables recov-ered after the dictator was ousted by a military-backed popular uprising in 1986.

Aside from pictures of the jewels uploaded regularly, there are postings explaining what they cost the country.

A picture of a diamond tiara comes with the caption: “can fund... the treat-ment of 12,052 cases of tuberculosis.” The PCGG, which plans eventually to auction off the Marcos jewels, has previously said that international auc-tion houses have appraised their total value at more than a billion pesos ($21 million).

Marcos and his jet-setting wife Imelda were accused of massively enriching themselves during their years in power while the country sank deeper into poverty.

Imelda was known for her extrav-agance, amassing jewellery, art masterpieces and a huge collection

of shoes. Although the family fled abroad during the 1986 revolt, they were allowed to return home after the former dictator died in exile in 1989. Since then the Marcoses have made a startling resurgence, with members not only evading criminal charges but winning election to prominent positions.

Ferdinand Marcos Jnr., previously elected to the powerful Senate, is now running for vice-president. Widow Imelda Marcos is seeking re-election to Congress and her eldest daughter Imee is running for another term as governor of the family bailiwick in the north.

Despite a campaign by vic-tims of the Marcos regime against his candidacy, surveys show Mar-cos Jnr. is second in the race for the vice-presidency.

Imelda Marcos has previously said she hopes her son will eventu-ally become president.

Critics say the generation that grew up after the Marcos years has no memory of the abuses, setting the stage for the family’s return to power.

Both Imelda and her son have long denied any wrongdoing. Spokesmen for the two could not be contacted for comment. This has attracted public opinion as many have come up com-menting against and favouring it.

Marcos jewel images put online to teach about graft Images of Marcos jewellery items will be posted to remind the present generation of the excesses and extravagance of the Marcoses in their two-decade dictatorship, the anti-corruption agency said.

An official from the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) holding a diamond-studded piece of jewellery seized by the Philippine government from former first lady Imelda Marcos at the Central Bank headquarters in Manila, yesterday.

Chinese People’s Liberation Army marching before a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. China has ordered its military to end all paid services within the next three years as it seeks to focus on modernising its armed forces and eliminating corruption.

China to modernise military

Reuters

BANGKOK: One in five children aged 10 to 17 in Myanmar go to work instead of school, according to figures from a census report on employment published yesterday.

The Occupation and Industry report - part of Myanmar’s 2014 census - shows about 1.7 million chil-dren between 10 and 17 years of age are working.

“Today, one in five children aged 10-17 are missing out on the educa-tion that can help them get good jobs and have employment security when they grow up,” Janet E. Jack-son, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) representative for Myan-mar, said in a statement.

Many parts of rural Myanmar are mired in poverty and one mil-lion people are estimated to be in need of humanitarian aid due to nat-ural disasters and internal conflict which have driven hundreds of thou-sands from their homes, according to the United Nations.

The 2014 nationwide census - Myanmar’s first in 30 years - was criticised for excluding the coun-try’s Muslim Rohingya minorities, who suffer state-sanctioned discrim-ination. Most of 1.1 million Rohingya are stateless and live in apartheid-like conditions in the western state of Rakhine.The main results of the cen-sus were released in May 2015, and

showed Myanmar’s population stood at 51.4 million - a figure that includes an estimate of the Rohingya popula-tion based on pre-census mapping in Rakhine state, according to UNFPA.

The employment data high-lighted a gender gap in the labour market, with about half of women aged 15 to 64 working or looking for a job, compared to 85 percent of men.

Myanmar’s population is work-ing in the agriculture, forestry or fishing sectors. These findings can be used to improve agricultural pro-ductivity to boost economic growth and farmers’ earnings, said UNFPA, which assisted the government in carrying out the census.

The report also showed one in five elderly people aged 65 or older still work, mostly in the physically demanding agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors.

“The data suggest that economic realities oblige many people to con-tinue heavy manual labour into old age to survive. This underlines the need for adequate social services and policies that serve the aged,” Jackson said.

Data from other sources show deep poverty in the country.

Only a third of Myanmar’s households have electric light, the infant mortality rate is 62 per 100,000 live births, and life expect-ancy stands at 66.8 years compared to neighbouring Thailand’s 74 years, according to the World Bank.

Census: One in 5 children

in Myanmar go to work

AFP

SEOUL: South Korea and Japan offered muted reactions yesterday to Donald Trump’s suggestion that, as president, he would withdraw troops from both countries and allow them to develop their own nuclear arsenal.

There are nearly 30,000 US troops permanently stationed in South Korea and 47,000 in Japan, with little appetite for nuclear weap-ons in either nation.

Asked to respond to Trump’s ‘America first’ policy to wean nations off US support, South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-Gyun said it would be inappro-priate to comment on remarks by a US presidential candidate.

But he stressed there was no change to Seoul’s position that the South Korea-US Mutual Defence Treaty remained the bedrock of the alliance with Washington.

Japan’s top government spokes-man Yoshihide Suga also declined to react directly to Trump’s comments, published Saturday in the New York Times.

But insisted the military alli-ance with Washington was crucial and enduring.

“It is the main pillar of Japan’s foreign policy and extremely

important for the prosperity and safety of the Asia-Pacific region and the world,” Suga told reporters.

He said Japan would maintain its policies against nuclear possession and production, and a ban on for-eign nuclear weapons on its territory.

Support for a nuclear-armed South Korea is a minority voice in the country -- although one that grows louder after every nuclear test by North Korea.

Japan is widely seen as having the know-how to produce nuclear arms but, as the only country to have suffered an atomic attack, public opinion is strongly opposed to such a move.

Trump’s remarks caused a stir in the media, however, with Japan’s mass-circulation Yomiuri Shim-bun daily saying they had generated some government concern.

“If he becomes the US presi-dent, it would be a problem for the Japan-US national security system,” it quoted an unnamed source close to the government as saying.

South Korean newspapers called Trump’s comments dangerous and shocking.In a strongly-worded edito-rial, the English-language JoongAng Daily said:

“His views -- stemming from a critical lack of understanding about the alliance and security issues -- are utterly short-sighted.

South Korea and Japan

guarded over Trump’s

foreign policy plansAFP

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s high court yesterday rejected a petition by secular activists to scrap Islam as the state religion in the wake of nationwide protests by hardline Islamist groups.

A special bench of three judges threw out the petition within moments of opening the case and without allowing any testimony.

The petition, which was first launched 28 years ago, has trig-gered countrywide protests by Islamist groups in the impover-ished nation.

“We are saddened (at the ruling). It’s a sad day for the minor-ities of Bangladesh,” said Subrata Chowdhury, who represented the secular activists in the case.

The court did not allow the petitioners to state their case or present any arguments, he said. “The judges simply said the rule is discharged.”

Bangladesh was declared offi-cially secular after the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan which created the nation from what was previously East Pakistan.

In 1988 the then-military ruler, General Hussain Muham-mad Ershad, elevated Islam to the state religion in an attempt to con-solidate power.

Bangladesh

court rejects

scrapping Islam

as state religion

Bloomberg

It wasn’t so long ago that Amer-ica’s commitment to free trade could be taken for granted. Now

it’s in doubt — even though support for open markets remains vital for the nation’s future prosperity, and the world’s. In this presidential elec-tion year, the mood is decidedly anti-trade. Democratic front-run-ner Hillary Clinton, under pressure from the left of her party, refuses to back the Trans-Pacific Partner-ship, a new trade pact she once called the gold standard for such agreements. Donald Trump, her Republican counterpart, is more direct: He advocates punitive tar-iffs and all-out trade war.

The idea that import barriers

will strengthen the economy is brainless populism — and one might expect economists to say so. If only. Many experts say, or seem to say, that it’s all very complicated, that the benefits of free trade have often been overstated, and even that it might not matter too much if the US retreated from the global economy.

Economists don’t want to be thought simple-minded— or, worse, market-fundamentalist. But the result is that some aggressively dumb economics is arousing only the most feeble pushback. The case for free trade, correctly understood, is as powerful as ever. It deserves much stronger support.

The basic case is robust, and the economic record of the world’s richest economies — including that of the US — attests to it: Free trade

makes economies more productive by forcing producers to innovate, specialise and compete.

There are exceptions to the argument that openness promotes growth, mostly concerning the need to shelter infant industries in developing economies. It’s also true that more trade involves win-ners and losers, and that gains for the overall economy aren’t much use to the people who lose their jobs because of cheap imports. You could say the same of people who lose their jobs because of automa-tion. Yet presidential candidates don’t oppose technology because it creates losers as well as winners. Perhaps that’s next.

Recent research suggests that the short-term losses from trade liberalisation are bigger and more

protracted than previous work showed. This careful, detailed work underlines the need to help the workers harmed by trade. Yet these new studies don’t show that short-term adjustment costs entirely outweigh the short-term gains — much less contradict the essential point that trade, over time, gives the economy as a whole a substantial boost. Forgive the market funda-mentalism, but a policy that delivers small net gains in the short term and substantial net gains in the long term still seems like a good idea.

Settling for the status quo, by fail-ing to extend liberalisation through TPP or other agreements, would be one thing. An outright retreat from liberal trade would be far worse — and a retreat as dramatic as Trump’s proposal would be disastrous.

OPINION10 TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

Terrorist attacks are the main drivers of Islamophobia, anti-immigration sentiments and rise of the right all over the world. A series of IS attacks in the West has resulted in a spate in anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant hatred. Last week’s devastating IS suicide attacks

on Brussels airport and the metro, the death toll in which has reached 35, too have triggered a fresh wave of anti-immigrant hatred. Belgian riot police fired water cannons on Sunday to disperse far-right football hooligans who disrupted mourners at a shrine for victims of the attacks. Black-clad protesters shouting anti-immigrant slogans zeroed in on the makeshift memorial at where hundreds of people had gathered in a show of solidarity. The clashes between the far-right supporters and cops show the rising tensions in the country after Tuesday’s attacks.

Such protests and rise of the right are expected after terrorist attacks as some sections of the society will feel infuriated more than others and will be tempted to express their anger on the streets. But generally, Europeans have been sympathetic to immigrants and have resisted the temptation to become victims of xenophobia. The government in Brussels too has acted with judiciously and with caution in their reaction to the attacks. While there have been several raids after the attacks, the authorities and the police have refrained from actions that will be interpreted as an excessive reaction and targeting of

Muslim community. Police carried out 13 raids on Sunday across the country, questioning nine people and holding four for further inquiries. While the social media has been abuzz about the threat of Islamic extremism, there have also been voices of support and calls for restraint. The media too adopted a cautious approach in general without trying to stigmatise the entire Muslim community.

But one lesson of the Brussels blasts has been the need for heightened security. Though it’s true that all terrorist attacks can’t be prevented even with the use of the best intelligence machinery, there have been questions about the security preparedness and preparations of the Belgium government. Some believe

the authorities could and should have done more to prevent the massacre, as the links to the November Paris attacks by IS grow clearer by the day. Turkey too had said that the Belgian government failed to act on the tips provided by it to Brussels about potential terrorists.

The IS militants are on the run after the setbacks they suffered in Iraq and Syria and they are likely to launch more attacks in Europe and other countries. The governments must increase security and act more diligently on the information collected.

Brussels fallout

IS militants are on the run after the setbacks in Syria and Iraq, and European governments need to ratchet up security.

Quote of the day

By closely coordinating with Mr Mugabe... we wish to help promote reform of the UN Security Council.

Shinzo Abe Japanese Prime Minister

E S TA B L I S H E D I N 1996

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

ACTING EDITOR-IN-CHIEFDR. KHALID BIN MUBARAK AL-SHAFI

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORHUSSAIN AHMAD

hussain@pen.com.qa

It is not rocket science to claim that terrorism thrives because of oppression, dictatorship, marginalisation and all forms

of social exclusion.During the last few weeks, Tuni-

sia has demonstrated an amazing determination to stand up against Daesh (ISIS) at a time when this terror group has managed to gain ground in Iraq, Syria and Libya.

The town of Ben Guerdan (South of Tunisia and bordering Libya) has been partly turned into a battle-field between the Tunisian army and civilians against a group of heavily armed Daesh members coming from Libya (though all of them were Tunisians).

This resilience has totally defied political analysts’ anticipation that the Arab region is doomed to fall under Daesh’s influence and that it can lead to a fragmentation of the region into small entities based on ethnic groupings.

Daesh has miscalculated its strategies in Tunisia. In fighting terrorism, Tunisians have yet again shown immense solidarity, clear vision, strong awareness regarding their strategic interests and adher-ence to democratic values (aims of the revolution).

The Daesh epidemic is not an Islamic product, but a fruit of any environment where injustice pre-vails. The decades of dictatorial rule

in Tunisia of the Ben Ali Regime and before Habib Bourguiba were the breading ground of disenfran-chised youth and extremist groups.

Also one may argue that the reasons such a group may find a fertile ground for instance in Tuni-sia are twofold: Firstly, the total media control under the regimes of Habib Bourguiba and Ben Ali which aimed at homogenizing the Tunisian political thought. Through the centralization of the religious establishment, President Habib Bourguiba, also called Al Muja-hid Al Akbar (greatest mujahid) had total monopoly over media output relating to modernism, educational reform, womens’ emancipation, religious and political discourse and every other aspect of governance.

Secondly, being the leader of the country, who claimed to be elected for life, Bourguiba ruthlessly excluded every potential compet-itor for the country’s leadership, including the religious leadership/authorities of Al Zaytouna Mosque and the Tunisian National Union of Workers.

Al Zaytouna educational and religious institutions had served for centuries as a centre of learning and as a multi-disciplinary university, offering religious as well as secu-lar subjects such as mathematics, chemistry and astronomy in addi-tion to fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), history and Quranic studies.

More importantly, ‘Karaouine (in Morocco) and Al Zaytouna (in Tunisia) sat at the crossroads of the medieval Islamic, Christian, and Jewish worlds, and they were instrumental not only in transmit-ting advanced scientific knowledge to Europe but also in promoting Maliki Islam.

The era of Bourguiba’s rule meant a complete subjugation of all forms of political, intellectual and religious dissent and the sup-pressive containment of all forms

of diversity. The continued total absence of a well-informed reli-gious authority during the reign of Ben Ali who succeeded him has led to an evident vacuum in the country which was ultimately occu-pied during the 1990s onward by preachers from abroad via satel-lite TV channels.

Thirdly, one may also argue that the violent tendency of such groups (sometimes called the Al Salafiya Al Jehadya) is due to the failure of the ruling regimes over the last few decades to partly con-tain them, but also their deficiency in building a multi-cultural society,

A multi-party political system and promoting the rights of minor-ity groups to thrive. In fact the state media since the independence of Tunisia in 1956 have been solely in the service of the regime and its political elite. Both Bourguiba and Ben Ali (the only two presidents who ruled Tunisia from 1956-2011) have exploited all mass media outlets to advance their parties’ ideologies and they ruthlessly marginalised any religious or political groups which may potentially have influ-ence in society.

Their version of cultural, political as well as economic development is solely based upon channelling all media outlets into promoting the only official ide-ology of the ruling regime. This type of governance has obviously proven deficient since the begin-ning of the 1970s. Yet the country has had to wait until the revolu-tion of 14 January 2011 for a regime change to take place.

However, most importantly,now it is evidently that the Daesh terror-ists have nothing to do with Islam. Their actions point to a criminal mind that cannot be condoned by any faith group. A few of the iden-tified attackers on the town of Ben Guerdan in Tunisia are reported to be ex- drug addicts and criminals.

So were scores of those who joined Daesh in Libya and Iraq.

In a TV programme entitled: ‘Reality Check: How religious are so-called “Islamic terrorists”?’ Mehdi Hasan challenges the com-mon view that ISIL or Al Qaeda attackers are devout Muslims. He reveals that:

“Islam for dummies” was the reference book used by Charlie Hebdo attackers they “couldn’t differentiate between Islam and Catholicism” they “Went to strip clubs and drank alcohol before their attacks”

Finally it is worth-noting that the post-revolution democrat-ically elected governments in Tunisia have been waging fierce wars against extremism. The troika government led by Al Nahda party declared since 2013 that Ansar Al Sharia for instance was a terrorist group given its violent tendency in social change.

Today, and after five years of the revolution in Tunisia, Al Nahda party stands not only as a stum-bling block against the country’s escalation into a chaotic scene, but it is emerging as a key pillar in the country’s political landscape in this period of democratic transition. The democratic transition that the country is witnessing seems to have become a deterrent against the flourishing of Daesh.

Terrorism is not the fate of the region. This contagion is a symp-tom of corruption, dictatorship and unjust rule in any society. Therefore the solution to the eradication of such terrorist groups as Daesh is not only military but a multi-dimen-sional strategy. It is a combination of providing education, job opportuni-ties, youth empowerment, freedom and power-sharing.

The writer is Professor of Media and Communication. He can be reached via e-mail: nmiladi@hotmail.com

Tunisia’s democracy is a deterrent to terrorism

By Dr Noureddine Miladi

The case for free trade is as strong as ever

EDITOR IAL

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

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ASIA / AFRICA 11TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

Mali arrests 2

over attack on

Ivory Coast townBAMAKO: Authorities in Mali have arrested two men believed to be linked to an al Qaeda attack on a beach resort town in neighbouring Ivory Coast that killed 19 people ear-lier this month, military officials said yesterday.

Gunmen shot swim-mers and sunbathers before storming into sev-eral hotels in the town of Grand Bassam, 40km from the commercial capi-tal, Abidjan, on March 13.

Ivory Coast announced last week it had detained 15 people in connection with the attack, which was claimed by al Qaeda in the Islamic Magh-reb (AQIM), the Islamist group’s North African branch.

Taiwan arrests

41 Chinese

poachers TAIPEI: The Taiwanese coastguard said yesterday it had arrested 41 Chinese fisherman in possession of 15 tonnes of illicit coral reef and endangered tur-tles near a disputed atoll in the South China Sea.

Taiwanese authorities detained the fishermen on March 22 after their 300-tonne vessel was dis-covered operating illegally off the shore of Tong-sha island, the coastguard said, in the island’s largest mission targeting rampant poaching in the contested waters. Officials later recovered the harvested reef from the ship along with three endangered turtles and about 40kg of chemicals used to kill fish.

Japan loans

Sri Lanka for

new terminal COLOMBO: Japan has loaned $400m to Sri Lanka to build a new ter-minal at the island’s main international airport which suffers congestion from growing tourism, it was announced yesterday.

The Japan Interna-tional Cooperation Agency said the 2nd terminal would more than double capacity to 15 million pas-sengers annually. It will be opened in 2020, would use solar energy and recy-cled water.

Reuters

YONAGUNI: Japan yesterday switched on a radar station in the East China Sea, giving it a permanent intelligence gathering post close to Taiwan and a group of islands dis-puted by Japan and China, drawing an angry response from Beijing.

The new Self Defence Force base on the island of Yonaguni is at the western extreme of a string of Jap-anese islands in the East China Sea, 150km south of the disputed islands known as the Senkaku islands in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.

China has raised concerns with its neighbours and in the West with its assertive claim to most of the South China Sea where the Philip-pines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims. Japan has long been mired in a ter-ritorial dispute with China over the East China Sea islands.

“Until yesterday, there was no coastal observation unit west of the main Okinawa island. It was a vac-uum we needed to fill,” said Daigo Shiomitsu, a Ground Self Defence Force lieutenant colonel who com-mands the new base on Yonaguni.

“It means we can keep watch on territory surrounding Japan and respond to all situations.”

Shiomitsu yesterday attended a ceremony at the base with 160 military personnel and around 50 dignitaries. Construction of some

buildings, which feature white walls and traditional Okinawan red-tiled roofs, is still unfinished.

The 30-sq-km island is home to 1,500 people, who mostly raise cattle and grow sugar cane. The Self Defence Force contingent and family members will increase the popula-tion by a fifth.

“This radar station is going to irritate China,” said Nozomu Yoshi-tomi, a professor at Nihon University and a retired major general in the Self Defence Force.

In addition to being a listening post, the facility could be used a base for military operations in the region, he added. China’s defence ministry, in a statement sent to Reu-ters about the radar station, said the international community needed to be on high alert to Japan’s military expansion.

“The Diaoyu Islands are China’s inherent territory. We are reso-lutely opposed to any provocative behaviour by Japan aimed at Chi-nese territory,” it said.

“The activities of Chinese ships and aircraft in the relevant waters and airspace are completely appro-priate and legal.”

The listening post fits into a wider military build-up along the island chain, which stretches 1,400km from the Japanese mainland.

Policy makers last year told Reu-ters it was part of a strategy to keep China at bay in the Western Pacific as Beijing gains control of the South China Sea. Toshi Yoshihara, a US Naval War College professor, said Yonaguni sits next to two potential flashpoints in Asia - Taiwan and the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands.

“A network of overlapping radar sites along the island chain would boost Japan’s ability to monitor the East China Sea,” he added.

Yonaguni is only around 100km east of Taiwan, near the edge of a controversial air defence identifi-cation zone set up by China in 2013.

Japan opens radar station in East China Sea

AFP

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday welcomed Zim-babwean President Robert Mugabe -- the 92-year-old former guerrilla fighter who is widely shunned in the West but frequently courted in Asia.

Mugabe, whose country is subject to sanctions by the United States and European countries over its tainted human rights record, was visiting Japan for the fourth time as presi-dent and holding his third meeting with Abe.

The Japanese Prime Minister said he wants to work with Mugabe, who chaired the African Union last year, to help with Japan’s push to reform

the UN Security Council.“By closely coordinating with Mr

Mugabe... we wish to help promote reform” of the global body, Abe told reporters, in remarks carried by Jiji Press, referring to Mugabe as an esteemed African elder.

After their talks, Japan announced development aid worth $5.3m for the nation to buy equip-ment needed to build roads.

The welcome for Africa’s longest-serving ruler comes as Japan tries to compete with China for influence in the continent’s fast-growing econ-omies and as Tokyo prepares to sponsor a major conference on Afri-can development this August.

Chinese President Xi Jinping wel-comed Mugabe in 2014, calling him a renowned African liberation leader

and an “old friend” of the Chinese people -- one of the country’s high-est compliments for visiting foreign leaders. Abe met Mugabe at the last round of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, or TICAD, held in 2013 in Yokohama. This year’s TICAD, slated for Kenya, will be the first to be held in Africa.

They also met last year during a UN disaster conference held in Japan.

Mugabe’s latest visit comes as Japan has tried to maintain cordial ties even with states controlled by leaders who have antagonised West-ern nations, most notably Iran.

Abe has also reached out to Russian President Vladimir Putin --- under intense criticism in the West for the annexation of Crimea and fighting in eastern Ukraine.

In addition to being a listening post, the facility could be used as a base for military operations in the region: Expert

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (right) and Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe attend a joint press briefing at Abe’s official residence in Tokyo, Japan, yesterday.

Japan’s Abe hosts Mugabe

New Central African president takes office AFP

BANGUI: The Central African Repub-lic’s new president takes office yesterday, faced with the challenge of reconciling a divided population and rebuilding a shattered country.

Former maths teacher Faustin-Archange Touadera (pictured), 58, was the surprise winner of Febru-ary’s run-off election in the country that had been wracked by three years of communal violence.

The spiral of unrest between Muslim and Christian militias has left thousands dead, displaced more than 400,000 and disrupted farming, transport and public services in one of the world’s poorest nations.

The violence was so serious that it prompted a military intervention by France -- the former colonial power -- and led to the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force.

Several heads of state and dele-gations from the region and partners including the UN and France are expected to attend Touadera’s swear-ing-in in the capital Bangui.

The ceremony marks the last stage of the political transition that began after the toppling of Christian former president Francois Bozize in 2013 by a rebellion of the predomi-nantly Muslim Seleka militia.

And though a new president has been elected and a new constitution adopted, the country’s parliament is still not in place.

The second round of postponed legislative elections is scheduled for Thursday. The elections came after 93 percent of voters backed a con-stitutional referendum that cleared the way for the vote. It also followed Pope Francis’ groundbreaking trip to the country in November, his first to a war zone, during which he made an impassioned plea for peace and reconciliation. Immediately after

his election Touadera declared he “understood the weight of responsi-bility” on his shoulders. Previously prime minister under Bozize between

2008-2013, Touadera will face enormous economic and security pressures from the moment he sets foot in the presidential palace.

Central African Republic second round presidential candidate Faustin Archange Touadera greeting supporters in Bangui.

Reuters

BEIJING: Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama is “making a fool” of Tibetan Buddhism with sug-gestions he may not reincarnate, or reincarnate as something inappro-priate, and the faithful are not buying it, a Chinese official wrote yesterday.

China says the Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in India after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, is a violent separatist. He denies espousing violence and says he only wants genuine autonomy for Tibet.

The animosity between the two sides, and their rivalry for control over Tibetan Buddhism, is at the heart of the debate about reincarnation.

Tibetan Buddhism holds that the soul of a senior lama is reincarnated in the body of a child on his death.

China says the tradition must continue and its officially atheist Communist leaders have the right

to approve the Dalai Lama’s succes-sor, as a right inherited from China’s emperors. The Nobel Peace Prize-winning monk has suggested his title could end when he dies. China accuses him of betraying, and being disrespectful toward, the Tibetan religion by saying there might be no more reincarnations.

Writing in the state-run Glo-bal Times, Zhu Weiqun, chairman of the ethnic and religious affairs committee of the top advisory body to China’s parliament, said the Dalai Lama had to respect the religious and historic traditions of reincarnation.

“The Dalai Lama continues to proclaim his reincarnation is a ‘purely religious matter’ and some-thing only he can decide, but he has no way to compel admiration from the faithful,” wrote Zhu, known for his hardline stance on Tibet.

“He’s been proclaiming he’ll rein-carnate as a foreigner, as a bee, as a ‘mischievous blond girl’, or even pro-posing a living reincarnation or an

end to reincarnation,” he added.“All of this, quite apart from mak-

ing a fool of Tibetan Buddhism, is completely useless when it comes to extricating him from the diffi-culty of reincarnation,” wrote Zhu, who was involved in the past in Bei-jing’s failed efforts to talk to the Dalai Lama’s representatives.

Tibetan exiles worried China will appoint its own successor to the 80-year-old leader can point to a precedent.

In 1995, after the Dalai Lama named a boy in Tibet as the reincar-nation of the previous Panchen Lama, the second highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism, China put the child under house arrest and installed another.

Zhu also said China had been successful in getting fewer and fewer foreign leaders to meet the Dalai Lama, because of the anger it draws from the world’s second-larg-est economy. “Anyone getting ready to offend China must first weigh up the consequences,” he wrote.

China official says Dalai Lama ‘making a fool’ of Buddhism

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama delivers teachings at the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Bylakuppe in Karnataka, India.

An aerial view of Uotsuri Island, one of disputed Senkaku islands in the East China Sea, claimed by China, Taiwan and Japan.

PAKISTAN12 TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

AP

LAHORE: In an emotional televised address, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed yesterday to hunt down and defeat the militants who have been carrying out attacks like the Easter bombing that targeted Christians and killed 72 people.

“We will not allow them to play with the lives of the people of Paki-stan,” Sharif said. “This is our resolve. This is the resolve of the 200 million people of Pakistan.”

As the country began three days of mourning after Sunday’ suicide bomb-ing in the eastern city of Lahore in a

park crowded with families, Sharif said the army would forge ahead with a military operation on extremist hideouts and police will go after what he called the “cowards” who carried out the attack. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway Taliban faction that sup-ports the Islamic State group, claimed responsibility and said it specifically targeted Christians.

But most of those killed were Mus-lims who also had been in the popular park for the holiday. Many women and children were among the victims, and dozens of families held tearful funer-als yesterday for their slain relatives. At least 300 people were wounded.

Sharif, who cancelled a visit to the United States to attend a nuclear sum-mit, also warned extremists against using Islam to justify their violence in the overwhelmingly Muslim nation.

Pakistan has suffered a series of attacks in recent months, and Sharif said militants are hitting “soft targets” like playgrounds and schools because military and police operations are putting pressure on their operations.

Sharif met with security offi-cials earlier in the day, and raids and dozens of arrests were carried out in eastern Punjab province, where several militant organisations are headquartered. The Prime Minis-ter also visited hospitals in Lahore where many of the injured were being

LEFT: Pakistani civil society members sing the national anthem at the site of a suicide blast in Lahore yesterday. RIGHT: Police secure the scene of the attack.

Emotional Sharif pledges to defeat militants

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif addressing the nation in his office in Islamabad yesterday.

treated. Sharif was born in the city, which is also the capital of Punjab province, his power base.

“It strengthened my resolve when I met the wounded people,” he said in his address. “God willing, I will not sit idle until I bring smiles back on their faces.” The attack underscored both the militants’ ability to stage large-scale attacks despite a government offensive and the precarious position of Pakistan’s minority Christians.

In Islamabad, Islamist extrem-ists protested for a second day outside Parliament and other key buildings, demanding that authorities impose Sharia law. The army deployed para-military Rangers as well as about 800 additional soldiers from Rawalpindi to Islamabad, to protect the cen-tre, which houses main government buildings and diplomatic missions.

Earlier this month, Sharif had offi-cially recognised holidays celebrated

by Pakistan’s minority religions, including Easter and the Hindu fes-tival of Holi.

Ahsanullah Ahsan, a spokesman for the breakaway Taliban faction, said that along with striking at Chris-tians celebrating Easter, the bombing also was meant to protest military operations in the tribal regions. The same group also took responsibility for the twin bombings of a Christian church in Lahore last year. But of the 72 dead from Sunday’s attack, 14 have been identified as Christians and 44 as Muslim, said Lahore Police Super-intendent Mohammed Iqbal. The rest have not been identified.

Shama Pervez, a widow who lost her 11-year-old son Sahil in the bomb-ing, was inconsolable at his funeral. A fifth-grader at a Catholic school, he had pleaded with her to go to the park rather than stay home on Sunday, and she said she finally gave in.

In Youhanabad on the outskirts of Lahore, mourners crowded into a church that was targeted in an attack a year ago. “How long will we have to go on burying our children?” asked Aerial Masih, the uncle of Junaid Yousaf, one of Sunday’s victims.

Ten members of Qasim Ali’s family were killed in the park, and all were Muslims. His 10-year-old nephew, Fahad Ali, lay wounded in a bed at home. He had lost his parents

and a sister, and another two sisters also were badly injured. “I don’t know how I will be able to do anything to continue at school!” he cried.

Forensic experts searched debris in the park. The bomb had been a crude device loaded with ball bearings, designed to rip through the victims for maximum damage, said counterterror-ism official Rana Tufail. He identified the suicide bomber as Mohammed Yusuf, a known militant recruiter.

White House spokesman Josh Ear-nest called the bombing “grotesque”. “The fact that you have an extrem-ist organization targeting religious minorities and children is an outrage,” he said, also noting the high number of Muslims among the victims.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said targeting a park filled with children “revealed the face of terror, which knows no limits and val-ues”. France expressed its “solidarity in these difficult moments” with Paki-stan and underlined “the inflexible will of our country to continue to bat-tle terrorism everywhere.”

Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif promised Pakistan “will never allow these savage nonhumans to overrun our life and liberty”. Punjab’s govern-ment said it will give about $3,000 in compensation to the seriously wounded and $1,500 to those with minor injuries from the bombing.

Sharif said the army would forge ahead with a military operation on extremist hideouts and police will go after what he called the “cowards” who carried out the attack.

A view of an Afghan Parliament building, in Kabul yesterday. According to media reports, four rockets were fired at the new building. No casualties were reported.

Rockets fired at Afghan Parliament building

AP

KABUL: A US soldier shot and killed an Afghan boy yesterday near an American airfield close to the cap-ital Kabul, a senior Afghan police officer said.

The boy, whose age is unknown, had been carrying what looked like an automatic rifle near the Bagram Airfield, 50km from Kabul in neighbouring Parwan province, said the provincial police chief, Gen Zaman Mamozai.

An American soldier had warned the boy from a watchtower to stop, he said. Local people gath-ered near the base to protest the killing, but dispersed once they were told about the circumstances, Mamozai said.

He said the incident is being investigated. Bagram officials could not immediately be reached for com-ment. Army Brig Gen Charles H Cleveland, spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan, said the US military was looking into the incident.

Earlier, an Afghan official said overnight attacks by the Taliban on two police checkpoints in the volatile southern Helmand province killed at least eight police.

Col Almas Kahn, deputy police chief in Helmand, said the attack happened in the Gereshk district around midnight.

Though Kahn blamed the Tali-ban, the group did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack. Afghan forces have been trying to reduce the number of checkpoints as they are vulnerable to insurgent attacks.

KARACHI: The Sindh province security administration found no existence of more than 2,000 registered seminaries on ground which they believe were brought on government record only to col-lect donations and funding from different sources, official sources said yesterday.

This has been revealed during a recent survey jointly carried out by police’s two units namely the Special Branch and the Counter-Terrorism Department.

This ongoing survey was being conducted to ascertain the number of seminaries allegedly involved in promoting extremism and sectar-ianism in order to keep check on their activities.

“We have detected a total of 2,096 seminaries, which on papers have been shown as registered in Sindh, but actually they are closed or are not available,” disclosed additional inspector general of police, CTD, Dr Sanaullah Abbasi.

The senior police officer described these seminaries as ‘ghost’ and said that they had been regis-tered merely to get donations and funding from different sources.

Out of such ghost seminar-ies, at least 639 seminaries have been detected in Karachi division only followed by Hyderabad (843), Mirpurkhas (192), Sukkur (364) and Larkana divisions (58).

The police counterterrorism unit chief pointed out that there were a total of 10,222 seminaries in Sindh. Out of them, 1,491 were unregistered. As many as 1,185 seminaries have not been regis-tered in Karachi division, 175 in Hyderabad, 53 in Mirpurkhas, 18 in Sukkur and 60 in Larkana.

Internews

PESHAWAR: Containers, usually used to transport goods or block roads in Pakistan, will be put to use in natu-ral disaster-hit areas of the province as schools on a trial basis.

Following the footsteps of India, South Africa, Philippines and Malay-sia, the K-P government is going to install container schools.

An official of Planning and

Development Department, requesting anonymity, said it was his organisa-tion that initially floated the idea of container schools to the provin-cial government. He said authorities showed interest and ordered their construction.

He said India also inaugurated its first container during 2015, while other countries had already made similar arrangements for those natural disaster-hit zones where edu-cational facilities did not exist.

The official said these institutes

will deliver education to the doorstep of every child and reduce the number of those out of school. He said locals of several areas complained about the lack of schools and said their children, especially girls, cannot go to school. The officer believed such facilities will resolve the issues of people.

He said this type of school can be set up anywhere in a short time and all that was needed was the supply of land and electricity. The P and D offi-cial believed the issues of each district in the province will be resolved, while

children can have access to the same quality of education. The official said education minister Atif Khan showed personal interest in the matter and ordered work to commence. A suita-ble structure will be prepared in two months and the first container school will be delivered in May.

According to the P and D official, the container school will be built at a comparatively low cost and in a short span of time, adding the facility could be moved from one area to the other.

He said that disaster-hit areas

like Chitral, Upper Dir, Shangla and Kohistan were left with schools that were destroyed. Students were left with little to no options in the after-math of earthquakes and floods.

He said structures can be designed according to the school level and number of students, while facilities would be made available accordingly. Minister for Elementary and Second-ary Muhammad Atif Khan confirmed the P and D department had proposed the idea of a container school and said it was an interesting one.

Container schools to be rolled out in Pakistani province

US soldier shoots and kills

Afghan boy near airfield

More than 2,000 ‘ghost’ seminaries detected in Sindh

INDIA 13TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

Boys cool off in a pond in New Delhi, yesterday.

Boys play to cool off

5,250 people

dead in Haryana

accidents

CHANDIGARH: Over 400 people have been killed on an average every month in road accidents in Haryana over the past 13 months, the assembly was informed yesterday.

Chief Minister Mano-har Lal Khattar said 5,250 people were killed in road accidents between Jan-uary 1, 2015 and January 31 this year. Replying to a question, he said 11,564 people were injured in the accidents. Khattar said 12,009 accidents occurred during the same period. “As many as 8,912 vehicles, which had caused accidents, were traced and 8,849 drivers arrested,” he added.

Indian jailed for

14 years over Bali

drug smuggling

INDONESIA: An Indian man was jailed for 14 years yesterday for trying to bring crystal meth-amphetamine into the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

Sayed Mohammed Said was arrested with 1.5kg of the narcotics hid-den inside his backpack when he arrived at Bali airport from Bangkok in September. The 30-year-old claimed the package belonged to a friend and he did not know it con-tained drugs.

But he was found guilty Monday at a court in the Balinese capital Denpasar, and a judge handed down the 14-year sentence. The prison term was lower than the 20 years recommended by prosecutors and he escaped a possible death penalty. Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest anti-narcot-ics laws. People caught smuggling over 5gm of some controlled sub-stances can be sentenced to death. Said’s lawyer said his client still consid-ers whether to appeal.

IANS

PANAJI: A Pakistani team in India to probe the terror attack on Pathankot’s airbase woud not have access to the base per se but only the isolated “crime scene”, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said yesterday.

Parrikar said the defence minis-try had “refused permission” to the visiting probe team to access the base. “The crime scene has been handed over to the NIA. Who they want to

bring there is their call.” Parrikar said only the National Investigation Agency (NIA) can tell whether it is taking the Pakistan probe team to the crime scene.

The Pakistani team comprising five intelligence and police officials is expected to reach Pathankot in Punjab on Tuesday.The crime scene, where terrorists from Pakistan killed seven security personnel on January 2, has been handed over to the NIA and has been isolated.

But it lies within the sprawl-ing Indian Air Force complex. The

minister said the area has been fenced, has no contact with the base and even has a separate entry. “The area is isolated, taken out of the air-base, and completely barricaded.”

He added that the Pakistani team has been given no permission to interact with any defence personnel or use any defence vehicle during its Pathankot visit. “The directions are very clear. The crime scene should be barricaded, visually blocked. Exter-nal entry has been given to the NIA. Who they bring in is their responsi-bility,” the minister said.“If we don’t

give (NIA) the freedom for inves-tigation, the burden of failure will come to the defence ministry,” Par-rikar added.The Pakistani officials arrived in Delhi on Sunday to probe the January 2 terror attack. The team will travel to Pathankot on Tuesday, informed sources said.All the ter-rorists and seven security personnel were killed at the base. Parrikar had so far kept quiet on the issue as the air force chief, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, had said that the IAF had no objection in allowing the Pakistani team if the government agreed.

IANS

NEW DELHI: India looks forward to the southeast Asian nation of Timor Leste joining the Asean bloc, Exter-nal Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said yesterday.

She said this during a meet-ing with Timor Leste’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Hermani Coelho da Silva, according to external affairs ministry spokes-man Vikas Swarup.

This is the first visit to India by a foreign minister of Timor Leste since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries in 2003.

Then minister of state for external affairs Omar Abdullah represented India in Timor Leste’s independence day celebrations in May 2002. According to Swarup, Sushma Swaraj said that Timor Leste’s accession to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) would help India extend more sup-port and cooperation under the bloc’s mechanism.

She also expressed concern that bilateral trade between India and Timor Leste stood at only $3 mil-lion and said that both sides should explore new avenues of trade and investment.

She said Timor Leste could ben-efit from India’s advancement in the health sector and low cost medicines.

There is a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) on health cooperation that is under discussion between the two countries.

Stating that conclusion of the MoU soon would benefit both countries, Sushma Swaraj said that India was happy to provide a fully equipped ambulance to Timor Leste in January this year. The ambulance can serve as a mobile operation the-atre. “The external affairs minister also recalled that we had offered to sign an MoU for setting up a centre of excellence in IT in Timor Leste which has been pending since 2004,” Swarup said.

In terms of capacity building, Sushma Swaraj said that India could increase Indian Technical and Eco-nomic Cooperation (ITEC) training slots and Indian Council for Cul-tural Relations (ICCR) scholarships for Timor Leste. She also said that India could also consider imparting training to Timor Leste diplomats in the Foreign Service Institute here.

“The minister for foreign affairs and cooperation thanked the exter-nal affairs minister and said that Timor Leste had received a lot of support from India,” Swarup said.

Da Silva told Sushma Swaraj that relations between India and Timor Leste went back centuries from the time Goa was under Portuguese rule.

Currently, Timor Leste has a population of 1.2 million and the median age of 18.6 years. As such skills training for youth was very important, the visiting minister said.

“He invited Indian private sector companies to participate in infra-structure development, agriculture development and capacity build-ing,” Swarup said. Da Silva also said that 11 oil blocks were also open for exploration by India. “He said that a delegation of Indian businessmen could visit Timor Leste for which they would identify the appropriate sectors,” the external affairs ministry spokesman said. The visiting minis-ter also requested an early meeting.

Sushma Swaraj said that Timor Leste’s accession to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) would help India extend more support and cooperation under the bloc’s mechanism.

India favours Timor Leste joining Asean

Pakistani team can’t enter IAF base: Parrikar

A Kashmiri shepherd leads his flock of sheep near a mustard field in full bloom on the outskirts of Srinagar, yesterday. The Kashmir valley comprising six districts has an estimated area of 65,000 hectares of paddy land under mustard cultivation.

Mustard in full bloom

IANS

NEW DELHI: Filmmaker S S Rajamouli’s southern magnum opus “Baahubali: The Beginning” was yesterday named the Best Fea-ture Film at the 63rd National Film Awards announcement here. Bollywood stars Amitabh Bach-chan’s performance in “Piku” and Kangana Ranaut’s dual act in “Tanu Weds Manu Returns” was lauded with the Best Actor and Best Actress hon-our.

“Baahubali: The Beginning”, which was a box office wonder, was lauded for being an “imaginative film, monumental by its production values and cinematic brilliance in cre-ating a fantasy world on the screen” by filmmaker Ramesh Sippy, head of the Feature Film jury here.

“Baahubali” was even named for the award for Best Special Effects as these brought out the “emotional and dramatic upheavals of the story” in the movie.

While some other marvels of southern cinema have found a place in the list of winners, Bollywood clearly

stole the limelight with “Bajrangi Bha-ijaan” winning the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment; and Sanjay Leela Bhansali getting the Best Direction Award for “Bajirao Mastani”, which also won the Best Supporting Actress award for Tanvi Azmi.

The period drama even emerged victorious in the Best Cinematogra-phy category, while Remo D’Souza won the Best Choreography honour for “creating enchanting moves” for the track “Deewani mastani”, and Shriram Iyengar, Saloni Dhatrak and Sujeet Sawant won for the movie’s

production design.In the audiography section,

Biswadeep Chatterjee’s sound design-ing and Justin Ghose’s re-recording of the final mixed track for the Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone starrer, have been honoured.

Another big Bollywood winner was “Dum Laga Ke Haisha”, which was not just named Best Hindi Film, but also won the Best Female Play-back Singer for Monali Thakur for a “delightful and soulful rendition of a song of love”, “Moh moh ke dhaage”.

The use of “fresh, simple array of metaphors” in the song by Varun

Grover was appreciated with Best Lyrics honour. A Special Jury Award went to Kalki Koechlin for her “real-istic performance as a young woman afflicted with cerebral palsy” in “Mar-garita, With A Straw”, whereas Ritika Singh, a kick boxer-turned-actress, got a special mention for “gutsy per-formance of a boxer in the making”.

Neeraj Ghaywan, whose unu-sual drama “Masaan” found critical acclaim nationally and internation-ally, has been encouraged with the Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director for “his perceptive approach to filmmaking in handling

a layered story of people caught up in changing social and moral values”.

Social media platforms were abuzz with users slamming the importance given to Bollywood vis-a-vis regional cinema.

Another interesting facet that emerged was that the honours went to movies which were true blue box office wonders in 2015.

As for regional cinema, actor-filmmaker Samuthirakan was given the Best Supporting Actor award for the Tamil drama “Visaranaai”, for which late Kishore T.E.’s editing work has also been lauded.

National Awards: Baahubali is best film; Big B & Kangana best actors

IANS

BENGALURU: Infosys techie Raghavendran Ganeshan died in the terror attack on a metro station in Brussels on March 22, the software major confirmed yesterday.

“It is with deep regret that we confirm the passing of our colleague Raghavendran Ganeshan in the ter-rible attack in Brussels,” the IT major

said in a statement here. The 28-year-old India-born techie was said to be in a metro train on that fateful day when the Maelbeek metro station in the Belgian capital was rocked by an explosion, in which at least 20 people died and many were injured.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with Ganeshan’s family and those who were injured or lost a loved one in the terror attacks,” the state-ment noted. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had tweeted. “We

will continue to provide all possi-ble support to Ganeshan’s family in this hour of grief and request the pri-vacy of his family during this difficult time,” the Infosys statement added. The company learnt that she spoke to Ganeshan’s mother Annapoorni and assured her of all help in trac-ing her son then.

It is also learnt that Ganeshan spoke to his mother in India an hour before blasts ripped the Brussels air-port and the metro rail

Infosys techie dead in Brussels attack

IANS

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ker-ala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s office was yesterday flooded with phone calls from across the world wanting to know the fate of Catho-lic priest Tom Uzhunnallil who was abducted by the Islamic State terror-ist group in Yemen, an official said.

The official who did not wish to be named said that various agen-cies like the UN, Vatican and the FBI were among those working hard to rescue Uzhunnallil and were confi-dent of bringing back the priest from his kidnappers. “We have various other sources in Yemen, Aden and

other Catholic institutions and we are confident of his release. All the calls that I am getting are from the international media and well wish-ers of the priest.

“Till this moment, we have no reason to disbelieve our sources and our mission is on the right track,” the official said. Chandy is reach-ing Delhi later on Monday and is expected to call on External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. On Satur-day morning, Sushma Swaraj had tweeted that they were trying to res-cue Uzhunnallil.

“Fr Tom Uzhunnallil - an Indian national from Kerala was abducted by a terror group in Yemen. We r making all efforts to secure his release,” she wrote.

Calls flood Kerala CM’s office over

kidnapped Catholic priest

Farmer, Navghanbhai Talpada, poses with a bunch of ripe tomatos in a field in the village of Alindra, Nadiad Taluka, in Ahmedabad. Due to an unseasonal rise in temperature, crops of the vegetable have ripened early causing a glut in supply, making transportation and selling of the produce unprofitable.

Crops ripen early

Coal case: Court

convicts JIPL

directorsNEW DELHI: In the first conviction in a coal block allocation case, a court here yesterday held Jharkhand Ispat Pvt. Ltd. (JIPL) and its two direc-tors guilty of criminal conspiracy and cheat-ing to bag a coal block in Jharkhand.

Special Central Bureau of Investigation Judge Bharat Parashar convicted JIPL and its directors R.S. Rungta and R.C. Rungta for the offence of cheating and crimi-nal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), observing that they had “fraudulently” and with a “dishonest intention” deceived the govern-ment in allocating the North Dhadu coal block in Jharkhand to the firm.

Modi to leave

on three-nation

tour todayNEWDELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will leave today night on a three-nation visit during which he will attend the India-EU summit in Brussels and the Nuclear Security Sum-mit in Washington.

Modi will attend the 13th India-Euro-pean Union (EU) summit and a bilateral summit with Belgian Prime Min-ister Charles Michel on Wednesday during his first ever visit to Brussels.

The EU is the world’s largest exporter and importer of goods and services. For India, EU is the largest export des-tination and trading partner.

India willing to

export fighter

jets: ParrikarPANAJI: India is willing to export Tejas fighter jets, Akash missile system and even the Brahmos missile, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said yesterday, but added that it will hap-pen only after the Indian Air Force’s requirements are met.

On defence exports, the minister said: “Once IAF requirements are taken care of, we can export Tejas, Akash, Brahmos.”

Parrikar said clearance can be given for exporting up to 10 percent of what is manufactured. On the Tejas aircraft, the minis-ter said it was likely to be inducted into the IAF by the end of 2016 or early 2017.

Noida to have

new eight-floor

parking facility

NOIDA: The Noida Author-ity yesterday said that it will soon open a new eight-floor parking facility in sector 18 here to pro-vide relief to commuters.

According to the authority, the new parking facility costs approxi-mately Rs.212 crore and will be opened to the public from July 31, 2016. “Parking has always been an issue in Noida. A multi-level parking is helpful for the people for preventing congestion.

INDIA14 TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

IANS

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi yesterday said India will live up to the global expectation of being a bright spot for growth with requisite policy as also administra-tive reforms on a sustained basis.

“The world has much expecta-tions from India in contribution to the global growth. I would like to place before you how India intends to meet the challenge,” the prime minister told the Bloomberg India Economic Forum 2016, held here to commemorate the media group’s 20 years in India.

Modi said India today was not just the world’s fastest-growing economy but also has a low cap-ital account and fiscal deficits, along with low inflation. “This is the result of good policies and not good fortune,” he said, alluding to the achievements in the difficult times globally.

“Let me emphasise on our fis-cal consolidation. We have met the ambitious fiscal deficit targets in each of the previous two fis-cal years,” the prime minister said, adding: “We have reduced the def-icit even while increasing capital expenditure.” He told the gathering that the country’s net foreign direct investment inflow during the third quarter of the current financial year was an all-time record. “This is concrete evidence of the success of ‘Make in India’ policy in employ-ment-intensive sectors.”

As examples, Modi said motor vehicle production, which was a strong indicator of consumer pur-chasing power and economic activity, grew at 7.6 percent this fis-cal, furniture output grew 57 percent and employment-intensive wearing apparel sector grew 8.7 percent.

“My goal is reforms through transformation. Administrative reform is a start.” The prime minis-ter said since a large share of India’s population still depended on agricul-ture, his government’s target was to double the income of farmers soon. Towards this, he added, a big focus was being given to irrigation with a large budget.

“We are also creating a national agricultural market and removing distortions,” he said, adding” “Seeds have been sown for a new dawn for farming, and retaining the youth in the sector.” The prime minister said transparency was another hallmark of his government, giving the exam-ple of auction of resources such as coal through competitive bidding. “Our record on implementation in general and reduction in cor-ruption in particular is now well understood.”

The prime minister said since a large share of India’s population still depended on agriculture, his government’s target was to double the income of farmers soon.

Modi: India will be bright spot for growth

People take part in a procession as they celebrate the Rangpanchami festival in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, yesterday.

Rangpanchami festival

IANS

UTTARAKHAND: The political cri-sis in Uttarakhand showed no signs of ending with the Congress party moving the state high court yester-day against imposition of President’s Rule as BJP leader and union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley justified central rule, saying the Congress government was “murdering democracy”.

Meanwhile, a delegation led by ousted chief minister Harish Rawat met Governor K K Paul to protest against imposition of central rule in the hill state. Justice U.C. Dhy-ani of the Uttarakhand High Court has begun hearing a petition filed by the Congress against imposi-tion of President’s Rule. The petition

has been moved by senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi. “We have come to show our strength and protest against the decision taken against our government,” Congress’ Bajpur legislator Yashpal Arya said after party MLAs led by Rawat met the governor.

He said the Rawat government should have been given time to prove its majority.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leg-islators from Uttarakhand thanked President Pranab Mukherjee for imposing central rule.

President’s Rule was clamped on the state on Sunday, a day before Rawat was to seek a floor test in the assembly to prove he had the num-bers. The Uttarakhand assembly has been kept in suspended animation with the proclamation of President’s

Rule under Article 356 of the Consti-tution.The Congress party has termed the move a “murder of democracy”.

Meanwhile, over two dozen BJP legislators arrived in Dehradun to a grand welcome at the Jolly Grant air-port on Monday.

Hundreds of BJP activists gath-ered at the airport exit to welcome the legislators, showering flowers and raising slogans.

The BJP MLAs had been camping in Jaipur, Gurgaon and New Delhi for the last one week, to avoid contact with the beleaguered Rawat camp and chances of horse trading since the political crisis erupted in the hill state. State BJP president Teerath Singh Rawat said after his arrival that the state unit was thankful to President Mukherjee for signing the proclamation of central rule.

IANS

HYDERABAD: A court here yester-day granted bail to 25 students and two faculty members of University of Hyderabad even as protest contin-ued on campus and Vice Chancellor P. Appa Rao appealed to agitating students to rise above anger and confrontation.

The students and faculty members, arrested last week for ransacking the office of the vice chancellor and for allegedly attack-ing police while protesting his return after two-month leave, will have to spend another night in jail as the for-malities for their release could not be completed today.

Their families and friends are hoping for their release on Tuesday.

The 25th Metropolitan Magis-trate’s court at Miyapur pronounced

the orders on the bail pleas as the Telangana government choose not to oppose the petitions.

The court asked the accused to arrange surety of Rs.5,000 each and appear before Gachibowli police sta-tion every week till the final disposal of the case. Meanwhile, protest con-tinued in the campus over the last week’s police crackdown.

Students, sympathetic towards those arrested, boycotted the classes in response to the call for nation-wide protest given by the Joint Action Committee of Social Justice, com-prising 14 students’ organisations.

Raising slogans against the vice chancellor and demanding his removal and arrest, hundreds of students took out a march even as police and university security stepped up vigil to maintain law and order. In another development, former union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde met students.

Uttarakhand row: Congress moves

court and Jaitley defends central rule

Hyderabad varsity students

get bail; to be freed today

IANS

NEW DELHI: Delhi’s AAP govern-ment yesterday unveiled a budget of Rs.46,600 crore for 2016-17, with edu-cation and health cornering the lion’s share for a second straight year.

Education was allotted Rs.10,690 crore, or 23 percent of the total, and healthcare Rs.5,259 crore, a hike of Rs.472 crore over last year’s budget, Finance Minister Manish Sisodia announced in the assembly.

Sisodia, who is also the deputy chief minister, said: “The highest allocation this year has been for eduction.” He said Rs.4,645 crore of the total had been allocated under the plan head.

Taking a dig at the BJP and Con-gress, Sisodia said: “We are increasing the education budget every year

whereas the central government, irrespective of the political party in power, has been decreasing the percentage of budget allocation for education every year.”

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal praised the budget. “This is a budget for the people, for aam aadmi.”

“The health department is being allocated Rs.5,259 crore... Delhi will get 1,000 mohalla (community) clin-ics and 150 polyclinics,” said Sisodia. The allocation for health last year was Rs.4,787 crore.

The government planned to add 10,000 additional beds in its hospitals.

In a major relief for Delhiites, the government would reduce VAT on a slew of products including sweets, namkeens and readymade garments, from 12.5 to five percent.

And in a decision taken clearly with an eye on municipal elections due next year, the budget of the three

BJP-held municipal bodies -- whose employees have repeatedly gone on strike -- was hiked by over Rs.1,000 crore: from Rs.5,908 crore last year to Rs. 6,919 crore. “I hope the MCD will utilise this money to pay the salaries of its employees on time. This is public money and the MCD should not waste it by indulging in corrupt activities.”

Sisodia said the Aam Aadmi Party government had built 21 new build-ings for government schools and these would be functional in July this year.

“We have constructed 8,000 new classrooms, which are equivalent to the infrastructure of 200 schools. If these schools function in double shifts, they will be equivalent to 400 schools,” he said.

The Delhi government allocated Rs.350 crore for ‘Swaraj Nidhi’, a fund to execute projects selected through Mohalla Sabhas. Sisodia also announced implementation of Swaraj

Nidhi in all 70 constituencies.The planned expenditure of the

budget has been pegged at Rs.20,600 crore and non-plan at Rs.26,000 crore. “About 95 percent of the budget will be from our own resources, and only five percent will be provided by the central government. Of the total budget, Rs.36,500 crore will come from the taxes collected,” said Sisodia.

Sisodia said sweets and namkeens were daily consumable items and needed to be made cheaper. VAT on marble was cut from 12.5 to five per-cent. VAT on watches costing above Rs.5,000 had been proposed to be reduced from a high of 20 percent to 12.5 percent.

“We tried to bring balance in the rates of goods in Delhi on par with other states to avoid outflow of tax. It was made possible through vol-untary compliance, and not through imposition.” VAT on battery operated

e-rickshaws and hybrid vehicles has been proposed to be reduced from 12.5 percent to 5 percent.

On the much-hyped WiFi projects, Sisodia said the government would evaluate the pilot projects and come up with more efficient WiFi system in the national capital.

Delhi will get a new Inter-State Bus Terminus at Dwarka, 3,000 new buses including 1,000 in the premium category, two elevated BRT Corridors including from Anand Vihar to Peer-garhi (29 km) and from Wazirabad to the Delhi airport (24 km), and Mohalla Rakshak Dals for women’s safety.

Focusing majority on health, the Delhi government hiked its budgetary allocation for public health by Rs.472 crore over last year, and proposed a three-tier health system with opening of 1,000 mohalla (community) clinics and 150 polyclinics in various parts of the city.

Education and health key focus in second AAP budget

Men wearing traditional 17th century uniforms from the Royal Cravattes Regiment, take part in a parade in Zagreb, Croatia.

Smartly dressed for smart walk

EUROPE / UK 15TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

The sole suspect identified as Faycal C arrested on Saturday was released yesterday due to a lack of evidence.

Agencies

BRUSSELS: As the number of victims in the Brussels suicide attacks rose to 35, Belgian police released a video of a mysterious man in a dark hat seen in the company of the bombers who attacked Brussels Airport, indicating that he is still at large.

“Police are seeking to identify this man,” the Belgian Federal Police’s website said yesterday.

The video’s release came as a Bel-gian magistrate also ordered release of man identified as Faycal C., who

was arrested during the police raids that followed the March 22 attacks.

The announcement was a major blow to an investigation that had net-ted half a dozen people charged with lesser offences in Belgium and others in the Netherlands, Italy and France, where officials said the same network had planned another attack.

But the Belgian magistrate ruled that new evidence uncovered by investigators revealed there were no grounds to keep Faycal C. in custody and he was released, the Belgian Fed-eral Prosecutor’s Office said.

The Belgian Federal Police’s web-site posted a 32-second video of the still-unidentified suspect as he wheels baggage through the terminal along-side the bombers. “If you recognise this individual or you have informa-tion concerning this attack, please contact investigators,” police asked.

Authorities also announced that three more people swept up in police raids that followed the attacks on the airport and on a Brussels subway train were being held on charges of partic-ipating in terrorist activities.

It was not clear if the suspects

ordered held by an investigating judge were linked to the attacks themselves. The three — identified by Belgian prosecutors as Yassine A, Mohamed B and Aboubaker O — were detained during 13 police searches on Sunday in Brussels and the northern cities of Mechelen and Duffel.

The bombings, the bloodiest in recent Belgian history, were claimed by the Islamic State extremist group and confirmed Belgium’s status as an unwitting rear base from which Muslim extremists can stage attacks in Europe. Many of those responsible for the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people and wounded hun-dreds came from Belgium.

Four more people wounded in the Brussels attacks died in the hos-pital, Belgian Health Minister Maggie De Block announced on her Twitter account yesterday.

She posted: “Four patients deceased in hospital. Medical teams did all possible. Total victims: 35. Courage to all the families.”

De Block had reported over the weekend that 101 of the 270 wounded in the blasts were still being treated in

hospitals, including 32 in burn units. Florence Muls, an airport com-

munications manager, said 800

staff members will test temporary infrastructure and new arrange-ments designed to handle passenger

check-ins today. It’s too early to say when airport service might actually resume, she said.

AFP

LONDON: The Brussels attacks have pushed security to the forefront of Britain’s EU referendum campaign this week, as intelligence experts came out of the shadows to press the benefits and disadvantages of membership.

A claim by the former head of foreign spy agency MI6, Rich-ard Dearlove, that leaving the bloc would have few security implications sparked interventions from key fig-ures on both sides of the Atlantic.

Prime Minister David Cameron has repeatedly stated that EU mem-bership makes Britain safer and a so-called Brexit would divide the West as it faced global threats from the Islamic State group and Russia.

But Dearlove painted an unflat-tering image of the quality of intelligence provided by Britain’s EU allies.

That position was supported by former CIA chief Michael Hayden, who said the 28-nation bloc could even be a security hindrance.

The former head of communi-cations spy agency GCHQ, David Omand, hit back, arguing that Brit-ain had “the best of both worlds” in controlling its own borders and hav-ing strong security ties with other EU nations.

Ex-CIA chief, David Petraeus warned that leaving the EU “would only make our world even more dan-gerous and difficult to manage”.

Security was already shaping up to be a key issue ahead of the June 23 referendum, given Britain’s height-ened state of alert against Islamist

terrorism, and the events in Brussels brought many concerns to the fore.

Security is “the one and only issue that is a draw between the two sides”, with an even split between people who think Britain is better off in and out, Professor John Cur-tice of Strathclyde University said.

Joe Twyman, head of politi-cal and social research at pollsters YouGov, said the debate could see a short-term shift towards the “Leave” campaign but it would not last.

“Security is important, borders are important but the economy is more important,” he said, adding: “I think it would be different if, God forbid, there were to be an attack on Britain.”

Dearlove, who was head of MI6 from 1999 to 2004, also said there would be a “security gain” from bringing greater control over immigration by pulling out of the EU, although he did not clarify.

He said Britain “gives much more than it gets in return” in terms of intelligence sharing with EU part-ners, and said cooperation would be unlikely to end if Britain left the bloc.

“The truth about Brexit from a national security perspective is that the cost to Britain would be low,” he wrote in Prospect magazine.

Former CIA chief Hayden agreed, saying: “The (European) Union is not a natural contributor to national security of each of the entity states and in some ways gets in the way of the state providing security for its own citizens.”

Campaigners to leave the EU insist that intelligence cooperation through the Nato military alliance would be unaffected, as would key relations with the US.

Ex-human rights

ombudsman

named Russia’s

election chief

AFP

MOSCOW: Russia’s former human rights ombudsman Ella Pamfilova was yesterday appointed the coun-try’s top elections chief ahead of parliamentary polls this year.

Her candidacy was approved by the majority of members of the central election commission.

Russia will hold parliamentary elections this September amid a prolonged economic crisis due in part to the fall in oil prices and Western sanctions over the Krem-lin’s role in Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin earlier this month dropped the controversial chief of the elec-tion commission Vladimir Churov dubbed the “magician” by the mar-ginalised opposition.

Churov—who had headed the election commission since 2007 — has been accused by critics of presiding over mass election fraud to ensure victories for the Kremlin.

Pamfilova said the commis-sion’s task was to ensure that all Russians have “equal voting rights.So that there is trust in elections, people want to take part in polls so that they feel the situation really depends on their votes,” she said.

Experts say Pamfilova’s appointment is apparently aimed at lending more legitimacy to the upcoming polls but will change lit-tle given the Kremlin’s tight grip on the political system including par-liament, court and media.

Putin has earlier warned that “foreign enemies” were seeking to disrupt the elections and tasked the FSB security service with pre-venting any such interference.

Reuters

BERLIN: German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said he is plan-ning a new law that will require refugees to learn German and inte-grate into society, or else lose their permanent right of residence.

The initiative comes after vot-ers punished Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives in regional elections earlier this month, giving a thumbs-down to her open-door refugee policy and turning in droves

to the anti-immigrant party Alter-native for Germany (AfD).

Around 1 million migrants arrived in Germany last year — many fleeing conflict and economic hardship in the Middle East and Africa — and de Maiziere said around 100,000 more had arrived so far this year.

Germany expected that in return for language lessons, social benefits and housing, the new arrivals made an effort to integrate, he told ARD television.

“For those who refuse to learn German, for those who refuse to allow their relatives to integrate - for

instance women or girls — for those who reject job offers: for them, there cannot be an unlimited settlement permit after three years,” he said.

De Maiziere, who belongs to Mer-kel’s conservatives party, added that he wanted “a link between success-ful integration and the permission for how long one is allowed to stay in Germany.”

Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel welcomed the draft law, which is planned for May.

“We must not only support inte-gration but demand it,” Gabriel told the local daily Bild.

AFP

PARIS: Tens of thousands of homes were without power in northwest-ern France early yesterday after the region was pounded overnight by winds gusting to hurricane force that also triggered flight cancellations and outages in southern England.

Seven departments, or coun-ties, in Normandy and Brittany were placed on “orange” alert, the second highest in Meteo-France’s three-stage warning system. Some 60,000 homes were without power, more than half of them in Brittany, electricity grid operator ERDF said.

Firemen across the two regions

were called for more than 400 times, to clear roads blocked by fallen trees and debris. The strongest gusts were recorded on the Breton tourist island of Belle-Ile, of 150km per hour.

Coastal dwellers in three depart-ments on the Atlantic—Finistere, Morbibhan and Loire-Atlantique—were warned of storm-surge waves.

In Britain, the same weather sys-tem—dubbed “Storm Katie”—left a trail of disruption as it swept across southern England overnight, leaving debris and roadwork barriers strewn across London’s streets.

Winds gusting to 170kph an hour forced cancellation of around 150 flights in and out of Britain and left around 2,000 homes without power.

Heathrow airport reported 130

cancellations with other flights delayed or diverted to other airports.

Some 20 flights in and out of Lon-don’s Gatwick Airport were cancelled and another four diverted.

The Met Office national weather service issued an amber warning for winds for London and southeast Eng-land, advising people to be “prepared for disruption to outdoor activities.” The service recorded gusts of 170 kph off southern England coast.

A bridge crossing River Thames in and the Severn Bridge which con-nects England and Wales were also closed. UK Power Networks said they were dealing with problems across Sussex, Surrey and Kent in south-ern England, leaving at least 2,000 households without electricity.

Belgian cops hunt new suspect; toll rises to 35

Right-wing demonstrators protest against the wave of terrorism in front of the old stock exchange in Brussels, Belgium, yesterday.

Intelligence experts debate security risks of Brexit

German minister wants refugees to

integrate or lose residency rights

Powerful winds bring outages, traffic chaos in France and UK

A tree that fell in high winds brought by Storm Katie damaged a car in a street in Brighton, yesterday.

A huge wave hits the Cuchia cliff in the village of Suances, region of Cantabria, Spain, yesterday. Spanish authorities alerted that heavy winds will hit the northern coast of Spain.

Alert on Spain coast

People walking up the Tetrahedron structure at Halde Emscherblick in Bottrop, Germany, yesterday. The walkable structure shaped like a three-sided pyramid offers a wide view of the Ruhrgebiet region.

Walkable Tetrahedron structure

EUROPE16 TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

Czech President Milos Zeman has taken the lead in courting China despite the fact that the Czech government, not the president, is chiefly responsible for foreign policy.

Reuters

PRAGUE: Chinese President Xi Jin-ping began a two-day state visit to Prague yesterday to promote business ties, crowning efforts by Czech Presi-dent Milos Zeman to build a strategic relationship with Beijing.

Zeman has been keen to forge stronger ties with China and Russia since his election in 2013 rather than with partners in Nato and the Euro-pean Union. EU relations with both Beijing and Moscow are tainted by disputes over human rights and trade.

“Now we are again an independ-ent country and we formulate our foreign policy which is based on our own interests,” Zeman told Chinese television before the visit.

Xi said in an article published in the Czech daily Pravo the two

countries should boost relations and “see them from a strategic viewpoint and long-term perspective.”

His visit, the first by a Chinese president, will include a business forum and the signing of Chinese investments in the nation of 10.6 million people. China is Prague’s third-biggest trade partner, with bilateral trade worth some $21 billion.

Zeman, a former leftist prime minister, has taken the lead in court-ing China despite the fact that the Czech government, not the president, is chiefly responsible for foreign pol-icy. In the past, ties were damaged by a centre-right government that was “submissive (to) pressure from the United States and... the European Union”, he said.

China was deeply appreciative that Zeman attended a massive mil-itary parade in Beijing last September marking the end of World War II, the only Western leader to do so.

On a previous 2014 trip, Zeman said he had come to China to “learn how to increase economic growth and how to stabilise society” rather than “teach market economy or human rights”.

That marks a sharp contrast with the Czech Republic’s first post-communist president, Vaclav Havel, a Soviet-era dissident and personal friend of the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader.

Zeman’s remarks and Xi’s visit have drawn protests from the Czech opposition, which has compared it to the warm welcome extended to Soviet leaders during the Cold War.

Police arrested 12 people yester-day who replaced Chinese flags with Tibetan ones along the main route from the airport, CTK news agency reported.

On Saturday, unknown activists defaced dozens of Chinese flags with black paint. China’s state-run Global Times, in an editorial yesterday, said this showed “major lapses from the Prague police and the hidden hostil-ity in Czech society”.

But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the attempt by a “handful of saboteurs” to disrupt the visit would not damage relations.

Efforts by Chinese intelligence to build influence in Czech politi-cal circles have raised eyebrows in the Czech counter-intelligence serv-ice. In its 2014 annual report, it said unnamed Czech civil servants and politicians were aiding these efforts.

Chinese investments have mostly consisted of acquisitions by CEFC China Energy, a firm with unknown owners which says it is the sixth big-gest private enterprise in China.

Last year, CEFC took a 9.9 percent stake in J&T Finance Group, which owns banks in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and stakes in airline Travel Service, brewery group Lob-kowicz , a media house and football club Slavia Praha.

CEFC is completing investments worth 18bn crowns ($747.29m) to add to 20bn crowns spent already, Exec-utive Vice President Marcela Hrda said. They span finance, energy, healthcare, industry, tourism and e-commerce.

China’s Xi begins Czech visit to strengthen ties

AFP

MADRID: Spanish police have detained a helicopter pilot sus-pected of flying hauls of hashish from Morocco to Spain while on tempo-rary release from prison, they said.

Officers arrested the pilot on after he allegedly landed a helicop-ter loaded with 750kg) near Estepona in southwestern Spain.

“The pilot was carrying out a

sentence at a correctional centre and took advantage of his weekend fur-loughs to carry out the drug flights,” the police said in a statement.

The pilot was serving a sentence for an undisclosed crime at a jail in the city of San Sebastian in Spain.

Police seized 1.5 tonnes of hash-ish as part of the operation along with 1,000 marijuana plants, two heli-copters, 15 vehicles and €220,000 ($245,695) in cash.

In a separate case, police said they dismantled a drug ring that used

cars fitted with false floors to trans-port huge amounts of hashish from Spain to Russia, Poland and Estonia.

Investigators seized 1.2 tonnes of hashish in separate raids across Europe, as well as several luxury cars and €20,000 ($22,000) in cash in Spain, police said in a statement.

Five suspects were arrested in Spain, including the alleged leader of the ring who lived in Benissa on the Mediterranean coast. Another seven were arrested in Estonia and three were detained in Poland.

CIA chief visited

Moscow for Syria

talks: US official

MOSCOW: CIA Director John Brennan visited Moscow in early March to discuss Syria and put the case for the departure of Syrian leader Bashar Al Assad, a US offi-cial said yesterday.

While meeting Russian offi-cials, the spy agency chief “reiterated the US government’s consistent support for a genuine political transition in Syria, and the need for Al Assad’s departure,” the US official said.

Brennan also stressed “the importance of Russia and the Assad regime following through on their agreements to implement cessation of hostilities in Syria,” the US official said.

Russian deputy foreign min-ister Oleg Syromolotov confirmed Brennan’s visit yesterday, telling journalists that “the fact that Bren-nan was here was not hidden.”

“I know for sure that he was at the Federal Security Service (FSB),” Syromolotov added.

AFP

KIEV: More than one hundred Ukrainian protesters rallied out-side the president’s office yesterday demanding the immediate ouster of the chief prosecutor and a more ded-icated fight against state graft.

Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin is ensnared in a web of scan-dals that have worried Ukraine’s Western allies and left despond-ent the throngs who spearheaded the country’s pro-EU revolution on Kiev’s Maidan Square in 2014.

Shokin is accused of failing to probe the alleged theft of state funds by the deposed Russian-backed leadership and of stalling investi-gations into prosecutors who were fired after being discovered hoarding cash and diamonds in their homes.

He has also purportedly covered up the corrupt dealings of people close to the ruling regime.

The demonstrators and several parliament members held up ban-ners reading “We are embarrassed for our authorities” and “We demand an independent prosecutor’s office”.

“The Maidan (revolution) is not over,” anti-corruption activist Vitaliy Shabunin told the crowd. “We have to push further,” he said. “They (the authorities) fear nothing but the street.”

The rally highlighted one of the reasons Ukrainian President Petro

Poroshenko has seen his public approval ratings fall to just a frac-tion of what they were when he was elected in May 2014. The embattled pro-Western leader tried to appease the mounting discontent by asking his ally Shokin and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk to step down on February 16.

But Yatsenyuk refused and that same day survived a no-confidence vote in parliament that has left the future of Ukrainian politics up in the air.

Lawmakers are expected to decide whether to accept Shokin’s own letter of resignation on today.

A senior member of the pros-ecutor general’s office, Vladyslav Kutsenko, told the Ukranews website that “according to our information, there are not enough votes” in par-liament to approve his dismissal.

Shokin’s survival would be a disappointment for Kiev’s foreign allies and the International Monetary Fund—its financial rescue suspended due to Ukraine’s hampered progress towards a more streamlined econ-omy and the recent political turmoil.

US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt this month tweeted that “we want to the see (the prosecutor gener-al’s office) leading the fight against corruption instead of openly & aggressively undermining reform”.

Poroshenko last week called on premier Yatsenyuk to finally step down and for parliament to pick his successor during today’s session.

Reuters

BRUSSELS: Three cases on the legal-ity of bulk data collection pending at the top European Union court could spell trouble for a new transatlantic data pact that will underpin billions of dollars in digital trade.

EU and US officials clinched an agreement on the Privacy Shield framework on February 2 after two years of difficult talks aimed at ensuring that Europeans’ data transferred by companies across the Atlantic would be afforded the same level of protection as in Europe.

The Privacy Shield, Safe Har-bour, will allow companies to shuffle Europeans’ data to US offices easily by committing to respecting EU data protection standards and thereby avoiding EU limits on moving data outside the 28-nation bloc.

EU data protection authorities are

assessing the limits the framework sets on the scope of US surveillance activities, a particularly thorny issue since former US intelligence contrac-tor Edward Snowden leaked details of American mass surveillance pro-grammes in 2013. Safe Harbour was struck down by a top EU court last year on grounds that it did not protect Europeans’ data enough from being accessed by US spies.

“Bulk collection is obviously a key issue,” said Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, chair of the group of 28 EU data pro-tection authorities, at a hearing in the European Parliament. “The judge has not yet settled this.”

She said the European Court of Justice (ECJ) would hear three cases, the first on an agreement between the EU and Canada on sharing airline passenger data for law enforcement purposes and two on the retention of communications data by telecoms companies.

Four people familiar with

regulators’ deliberations said the cases were particularly relevant to the Privacy Shield, given that its legality under EU law hinges on bulk surveillance being allowed when it is necessary and proportionate to the risk. Washington has set out how it meets that standard.

Should EU law on bulk data col-lection become more restrictive, US commitments on its surveillance practices could fall short of EU standards, the people said, putting the Privacy Shield on shaky ground.

“We have negotiated the Privacy Shield based on current state of law in the EU,” a senior US government offi-cial said. “If the law changes, we’ll have to go back and relook at how we handle these things.”

EU data protection authorities will publish their opinion on the Pri-vacy Shield on April 13, before the ECJ rulings. While it is non-binding, it is influential because they enforce data protection law across the EU.

Putin and Elton

John likely to

meet in Russia

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin could meet Brit-ish singer Elton John when he visits Russia in May if room can be found in the two men’s schedules, the Kremlin said on Monday.

Putin telephoned Elton John in September to say he would be ready to meet for a chat after the entertainer requested a meeting.

“When they spoke by tele-phone several months ago, they agreed ... they will meet dur-ing Elton John’s stay in Moscow,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. “Such a meeting cannot be excluded, if there are precise dates of his (John’s) stay here and if the president’s work-ing schedule allows it,” he said.

John is set to give a concert in Moscow on May 30. Before going to Moscow, he is expected to give a concert in St. Petersburg, the sec-ond biggest city in Russia and also Putin’s birthplace.

Spanish pilot held for smuggling drugs

Ukrainians rally against tainted prosecutor

Protesters sing national anthem during a rally in front of the presidential office in Kiev yesterday.

EU privacy court cases loom over EU-US data transfer pact

Guests pose for a photograph before entering Hogwarts School during a soft opening and media tour of “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” theme park at the Universal Studios Hollywood in Los Angeles.

In the world of Harry Potter

A solid Ted Cruz win in Wisconsin would narrow Trump’s path to the nomination and put pressure on the billionaire.

AMERICAS 17TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

AP

OSHKOSH: Donald Trump is plan-ning to make his first campaign visit to Wisconsin today, where the upcoming Republican presidential primary could mark a turning point in the unpredictable race.

But rival Ted Cruz has gotten a jump-start on next week’s contest, collecting influential endorsements and campaigning in key regions.

A solid Cruz win in Wiscon-sin would narrow Trump’s path to the nomination, put pressure on the billionaire to sweep the remaining winner-take-all primaries this spring and increase the chances of a con-tested party convention in July.

“The results in Wisconsin will impact significantly the primaries

to come,” Cruz told reporters after attending a rally.

Next Tuesday’s contest will be the first primary since the Texas sena-tor began collecting the backing of establishment Republicans, such as former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, adamant about eliminating Trump.

As Cruz campaigned across the state, he was following a win-ning roadmap drawn by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker in 2010 in Wisconsin’s rural and working-class midsection, the same demographic that has driven Trump’s success thus far.

Trump has slightly fewer than half of the Republican delegates allocated so far, short of the major-ity needed to clinch the nomination before the party’s national conven-tion this summer. Cruz has more than a third of the delegates.

If Cruz wins most of the 42 delegates in Wisconsin, then the remaining winner-take-all contests in Delaware, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey and North Dakota could determine the future of the race. A solid Cruz win in Wisconsin would likely require Trump to win those five contests to avoid fighting for the nomination at the party’s national convention.

Trump on yesterday told

Wisconsin-based radio host Charlie Sykes that he would not apologise to Cruz’s wife, Heidi, whom he mocked on Twitter last week until Cruz apol-ogises for the ad his supporters ran in Utah featuring a photo of a partially clad Melania Trump that originally appeared in a magazine.

Cruz has said he knew nothing about the ad, which was published by a political action committee that backed him. That did not satisfy Trump, who said, “I didn’t start, he started it. If he didn’t start it, it never would have happened.”

Cruz’s campaign was airing about $500,000 in advertising over the final two weeks before the pri-mary — a sharp contrast to Trump, who aired no commercials in the state. The anti-tax group Club for Growth announced its plans to spend $1m on pro-Cruz ads, while an anti-Trump group was spending roughly $340,000 in the final two weeks.

The third remaining Republican candidate, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, has also visited Wisconsin, but polls show him trailing both Trump and Cruz.

“Ted Cruz has a real opportu-nity to win the state, in a way that would be pretty resounding,” said Mark Graul, an unaffiliated Repub-lican strategist from the state.

AFP

SAN SALVADOR: Police in El Sal-vador yesterday rejected talks with gangs which on the weekend unex-pectedly announced a halt to their rampant murders that have turned the country into one of the most dan-gerous on the planet.

“There is no negotiation of any sort with any type of criminal organ-isation,” the country’s police chief,

Howard Cotto, told reporters. “We have nothing to talk about

with members of criminal organi-sations. Our job is to investigate and bring to justice those who commit crimes,” he said.

Three of the most brutal gangs operating in El Salvador on Sunday issued a video statement saying they had ordered a stop to killings by their members.

In exchange, they asked the gov-ernment to hold off applying new and exceptional tactics to combat

them, arguing they were an inte-gral part of the society.

“We have made the government understand that it can’t get rid of the gangs, because we are a part of the community in our country,” said a masked man on the video speaking on behalf of the feared Mara Sal-vatrucha gang and two factions of the rival Barrio 18 organszation.

El Salvador is considered to be the most deadly country in the world outside of a war zone, based on its per capita murder rate. More than

6,000 people were slain in the Cen-tral American nation last year.

The government this month moved to harden its militarised crackdown on the gangs after the March 3 massacre of eight electricity workers and three sugar cane cutters in a rural area just west of the capital.

The proposed measures being put before the country’s Congress include boosting the army’s role in the fight, adding restrictions on gangs inside prisons, and a plan to increase con-trol over areas under gang rule.

Reuters

CHICAGO: A veteran Chicago police supervisor who did not even apply for the job will be named interim police chief by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who rejected finalists cho-sen by a civilian board as he tries to rebuild trust in a department facing a federal investigation and racism accusations.

Eddie Johnson, 55, head of police department’s patrol division who grew up in a city housing project, will be named acting superintendent. Local media said Emanuel hoped to give him the job permanently after complying with hiring rules.

Emanuel’s spokeswoman, Kel-ley Quinn, declined to address why the mayor chose an internal Afri-can American candidate who had not applied over one who had or why the mayor had not encouraged John-son to apply in the first place. She said the mayor would answer those questions at the press conference.

Emanuel’s decision underscores the political sensitivities in nam-ing a successor to Garry McCarthy, who was ousted as superintendent in December after days of protests over a white officer’s shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald.

The city delayed for more than a year the release of video that led to first-degree murder charges against the officer, prompting calls for Emanuel’s resignation. The Dem-ocratic mayor, who was re-elected last year, has vowed to complete his second four-year term. In the after-math of the protests, the U.S. Justice

Department launched an investiga-tion into Chicago police shootings.

At public hearings over choos-ing a new police leader, many Chicagoans said they wanted an African-American superintend-ent and expressed concerns about racism on the force and ineffective discipline after police misconduct.

Of 405 people shot by Chicago police, 74 percent were black.

The Chicago Police Board picked three finalists, including a top administrator with the Chicago police, and two of them are black. Johnson had not applied.

“While each of the finalists had strong qualifications, the mayor did not feel that any of them were the complete package that Chicago needs at this time and thus none were offered the position,” Emanuel’s spokeswoman Quinn said.

Emanuel concluded only an insider could restore the trust of Afri-can Americans after the release of the video, the Chicago Sun-Times reported, citing unnamed sources. The last two chiefs came from outside.

Johnson is a Chicago native who lived until age 9 in the Cabrini Green housing project, joined the police department as a patrolman in 1988 and has held several super-visory roles. The mayor’s office said he has a strong track record in fight-ing crime and has received a number of policing awards.

The law requires Emanuel to pick a candidate recommended by the board. Local media reported he will comply with the law by asking the board to conduct another search and encourage Johnson to apply.

Masterpiece seized

by Bolsheviks

remains in America

AFP

WASHINGTON: A Vincent Van Gogh masterpiece can remain in the United States after the US Supreme Court rejected an appeal from the descendant of a Rus-sian collector whose property was nationalised after the 1917 Revolution. The decision ends Frenchman Pierre Konowaloff’s last legal recourse to claim “The Night Cafe,” which the Dutch art-ist painted in the southern French city of Arles in September 1888.

Estimated to be worth $200m, the canvas is on display at the Yale University Art Gallery in Connecticut.

The Impressionist painting was previously owned by Ivan Morozov, a Russian merchant and aristocrat who built an extensive collection of works by some of the greatest painters of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The Communist authorities confiscated Morozov’s collection after the Bolshevik Revolution.

In 1933, the Soviet government sold the painting to a Berlin gallery.

The work later went to a New York gallery that sold it to Amer-ican collector Stephen Clark, grandson of a founder of the Singer Sewing Machine Company.

Clark bequeathed the paint-ing to Yale, his alma mater, which has kept it since his death in 1961.

Konowaloff, who is Morozov’s great-grandson, has waged a legal battle since the early 2000s claim-ing he is the rightful heir.

A federal appeals court in New York dismissed his claim last year, citing the “act of state doctrine,” which prevents US courts from second-guessing the policies of sovereign governments.

Reuters

TORONTO: To feed a growing popu-lation without destroying the world’s forests, governments and companies need to harmonise rules on deforest-ation to stop farms or cattle ranches from moving operations into areas with weak environmental laws, researchers said yesterday.

By 2030, 100 million new hec-tares of farm land, an area larger than Nigeria, will be needed to grow enough food for the world’s growing population, said a study by Stanford University in the United States.

But tighter land or environmental laws in one country can simply push deforestation into other regions, the

study found, so legislation and regu-lations should be streamlined across large areas to balance competing interests for valueble lands.

“This race to the bottom (towards regions with lax laws and enforcement) is one element of what’s going on,” Yann le Polain de Waroux, a researcher at Stanford University, said.

Large farming firms or cattle ranches also shift their operations to access cheap land or to be closer to their other investments, he said.

The Gran Chaco, an area covering parts of Argentina, Bolivia and Par-aguay where the study was focused has been losing 6,000 square km of forests anually over the past decade, de Waroux said.

Covering about 1,000,000 square km, the Gran Chaco has a population

of about 4 million, most of whom live in Argentina, according to the Organ-isation of American States.

Deforestation rates in the region exceeded those of the Brazilian Ama-zon for the first time in 2010.

Based on interviews with 83 soybean and cattle farmers, research-ers saw significant differences in environmental laws and levels of enforcement between the neigh-bouring states. Farming investment has flown into Formosa province in northern Argentina over the past five years, partially to take advantage of lax regulations on forest protec-tion, de Waroux said. Paraguay has decent laws for preseving forests, but weak enforcement means firms are moving in to chop down the trees to expand agriculture, he said. “I think

there is hope for harmonising stand-ards among companies working in that region and working to respect the regulations that are already in place,” the researcher said. Some large food companies say they are working to prevent products grown on deforested land from entering their supply chains.

Unilever, Walmart and a group of other large retailers in the Consumer Goods Forum, with a combined rev-enue of $2.8 trillion, say they have committed to zero net deforestation in their supply chains by 2020.

It remains unclear if companies will be able to meet these targets, but publicly committing to zero defore-tation makes it easier for consumers to hold firms to account on the envi-ronment, de Waroux said.

Gunman captured

after shooting

WASHINGTON: A police officer was shot and wounded yesterday in the US Capitol complex and the gunman captured, a source citing information from the Sergeant-at-Arms office in Congress said.

Gunshots were heard in the US Capitol Visitors Centre and work-ers were told to shelter and there was confusion in early accounts about what occurred.

The source said the officer’s wounds were not serious.

A US Capitol Police officer, who asked not to be identified, said that the suspected shooter was being transported to hospital. The officer did not identify or describe the suspect and he added that there were no additional suspects.

Reuters

WASHINGTON: Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton will assail the prospect of a Donald Trump-appointed US Supreme Court justice, her cam-paign said, as she seeks to regain momentum from party rival Bernie Sanders, the winner of three week-end nominating contests.

Clinton will criticise US Republican senators for refusing to consider Presi-dent Barack Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, and voice concern about any nominee from Trump, front-runner in the Republican race for the November 8 presidential election.

A Trump nominee to fill the posi-tion vacated with the February 13 death of Justice Antonin Scalia would seek to curb Americans’ rights and empower corporations, Clinton will

say in the speech urging Republicans to do their jobs and consider Garland.

Senate Republicans, including Judi-ciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, have refused to meet with Garland, a moderate federal appeals judge. Clinton’s campaign said she would urge Grassley to give Garland a hearing.

Clinton will speak in Wisconsin, which holds a primary nominating contest on April 5.

Trump to visit Wisconsin but Cruz has a head start

Hillary to push Trump on Apex Court fight

El Salvador cops reject talks with gangs calling ceasefire Veteran cop tapped as interim police chief

Need to harmonise rules on deforestation: Study

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in Washington.

Tourists use a selfie stick to take pictures of blooming cherry trees along the Tidal Basin in Washington

Going hi(gh) tech

The world’s tallest chocolate rabbit, in General Alvarado, city of Miramar, Argentina. The figure is 5.2 metres high and weighs 3 tonnes.

Tallest chocolate

AMERICAS18 TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

The Democratic Movement Party, will decide at its national leadership meeting on the pace of disengagement from the Rousseff administration, in which it holds seven ministerial posts and the vice presidency.

Reuters

BRASILIA: Brazil’s largest party will decide today to break away from President Dilma Rousseff’s floun-dering coalition, party leaders said, sharply raising the odds that she will be impeached amid a corrup-tion scandal.

The fractious Brazilian Demo-cratic Movement Party (PMDB) will decide at its national leadership

meeting on the pace of disengagement from the Rousseff administration, in which it holds seven ministerial posts and the vice presidency.

A formal rupture appears inev-itable and will increase isolation of unpopular Rousseff, freeing PMDB members to vote for her impeach-ment. That makes it likely she will be temporarily suspended from office by Congress by early June and replaced by Vice President Michel Temer, leader of the PMDB, while the Senate decides if she should be per-manently ousted.

Temer aides said the vice presi-dent is ready to take over and move fast to restore business confidence in Brazil, in an effort to pull Latin Amer-ica’s largest economy out of a tailspin. Brazilian media reported over the weekend that a team of Temer aides is drawing up a plan for his first weeks as president.

“Today we will be disembarking from this government. The vote for independence will win,” PMDB Sen-ator Valdir Raupp, who until recently had backed Rousseff, said.

Raupp said PMDB ministers would have to resign or leave the party, though a gradual withdrawal from those posts may take place as a compromise to keep the party united.

Party officials calculate that between 70 to 80 percent of the 119 voting members of the directorate will vote to end the PMDB’s alliance with Rousseff and her Workers’ Party. One told reporters that 75 had already pledged to do so.

Rousseff, a former Marxist guer-rilla who is Brazil’s first female president, has vigorously denied any wrongdoing and rejects impeachment charges that she manipulated govern-ment spending accounts to help her re-election in 2014.

The impeachment process only adds to the crisis that has hit Brazil, shaken to the core by its biggest ever corruption scandal - an investigation into political kickbacks to the ruling coalition from contractors working for state oil company Petrobras.

Rousseff’s government is also grappling with Brazil’s worst reces-sion in decades and an epidemic of the mosquito-borne Zika virus, as it scrambles to host the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in August.

The Petrobras scandal has weak-ened Rousseff by reaching her inner circle with allegations against her mentor and predecessor, Workers’ Party founder Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

An attempt by Rousseff to

appoint Lula to her Cabinet was the last straw for many of her allies who saw it as a desperate move to shield him from prosecution by a lower federal court that is over-seeing most of the Petrobras case, a view fed by a wiretap recording of a conversation between them.

Brazil’s top court is expected to decide later this week if Lula can indeed become a minister. If he is allowed, that means that only the Supreme Court can put him on trial under Brazilian law.

“The latest events make it very difficult for us to continue supporting the Workers’ Party government. The feeling among the party rank and file across the country is that we should leave,” said Jorge Picciani, leader of the PMDB in Rio de Janeiro, which had been a bastion of support for Rouss-eff until recent days.

Picciani said all but two of Rio’s 12 voting delegates were in favour of quitting Rousseff’s coalition.

The departure of the PMDB is expected to lead other smaller parties to bolt from the governing coalition, a domino effect that will further under-mine Rousseff’s ability to muster one third of the votes in Congress needed to block her impeachment.

Republican Party (PR), each with

40 seats or more in lower chamber, have signaled that they are leaving.

“We don’t want to be the last to abandon this ship,” said PP Senator Ana Amelia speaking to reporters.

An impeachment vote is expected as soon as mid-April in the lower house. If she fails to block it with the votes of 171 of its 513 members, Rous-seff would face a trial in the Senate where she has lost crucial support, Senator Raupp said.

PMDB senators believe it would be almost impossible for them to stop the impeachment if it passes the lower house. Rousseff would be suspended for up to six months at the start of the trial and Temer would become act-ing president.

Temer is looking at ways to cut public spending to tackle a widening fiscal gap that cost Brazil’s its invest-ment grade credit rating, the O Estado de S Paulo newspaper reported.

It said a small team of aides led by Wellington Moreira Franco, Rous-seff’s former civil aviation minister, is considering sweeping welfare cuts in social programs that would be carried out by the finance minister of a Temer government. Two names being con-sidered for the job are former central bank governors Henrique Meirelles and Arminio Fraga.

FBI wants help of

US businesses in

cyber extortion

investigation

Reuters

WASHINGTON: The FBI is asking businesses and software security experts for emergency assistance in its investigation into a perni-cious new type of “ransomware” virus used by hackers for extortion.

“We need your help!” the Fed-eral Bureau of Investigation said in a confidential “Flash” advisory.

Ransomware is malicious software that encrypts a victim’s data so they cannot gain access to it on their computers, then offers to unlock the system in exchange for payment.

FBI alert was focused on ran-somware known as MSIL/Samas.A that the agency said seeks to encrypt data on entire networks, an alarming change because typ-ically, ransomware has sought to encrypt data one computer at a time.

The plea asked recipients to immediately contact the FBI’s CYWATCH cyber centre if they find evidence that they have been attacked or have other information that might help in its investigation.

It is the latest in a series of FBI advisories and warnings from security researchers about new ransomware tools and techniques.

“This is becoming a national cyber emergency,” said Ben John-son, co-founder of Carbon Black, a cyber security firm that uncov-ered another type of ransomware that seeks to attack PCs through infected Microsoft Word docu-ments. The FBI first reported on MSIL/Samas.A in a February 18 alert that lacked the urgency of warning. The message contained some technicals details but did not call for help. It said that MSIL/Samas.A targets servers running out-of-date versions of a type of business software known as JBOSS.

In its latest report, the FBI said that investigators have found hack-ers using a software tool dubbed JexBoss to automate discovery of vulnerable JBOSS systems and launch attacks, allowing them to install ransomware on computers across the network. The FBI pro-vided a list of technical indicators to help companies determine if they were victims of such an attack.

Reuters

HAVANA: Retired leader of Cuba, Fidel Castro accused the US President Barack Obama of sweet-talking the Cuban people during his visit to the island last week and ignoring the accomplishments of Communist rule, in an opin-ion piece carried by all state-run media yesterday.

Obama’s visit was aimed at con-solidating a detente between the once intractable Cold War enemies and the US president said in a speech to the Cuban people that it was time for both the nations to put the past behind them and face the future “as friends and as neighbors and as fam-ily, together.”

“One assumes that every one of us ran the risk of a heart attack lis-tening to these words,” Castro said in his column, dismissing Obama’s comments as “honey-coated” and reminding Cubans of the many US efforts to overthrow and weaken the Communist government.

Castro, 89, laced his opinion piece with nationalist sentiment and, bristling at Obama’s offer to help Cuba, said the country was able to produce the food and mate-rial riches it needs with the efforts of its people.

“We don’t need the empire to give us anything,” he wrote.

Fidel Castro took power in a 1959 revolution and led the country until 2006, when he fell ill and passed power to his brother Raul Castro.

He now lives in relative seclu-sion but is occasionally heard from in opinion pieces or seen on tele-vision and in photos meeting with visiting dignitaries.

The iconic figure’s influence has waned in his retirement and the introduction of market-style reforms carried out by Raul Castro, but Fidel Castro still has a moral authority among many residents, especially older generations.

Obama did not meet with Fidel Castro, 89, during his three-day visit, to the country nor mention him in any of his public appearances. It was the first visit of a sitting US president in the last 88 years.

Fidel Castro blasted Obama for not referring in his speech to the extermination of native peoples in both the United States and Cuba, not recognising Cuba’s gains in health and education, and not coming clean on what he might know about how South Africa obtained nuclear weapons before apartheid ended, presumably with the aid of the US government.

“My modest suggestion is that he reflects (on the US role in South Africa and Cuba’s in Angola) and not now try to elaborate theories about Cuban politics,” Castro further wrote in the column.

Castro also took aim at the tour-ism industry in Cuba, which has grown further since Obama’s rap-prochement with Raul Castro in December 2014. He said it was dom-inated by large foreign corporations which took for granted billion-dol-lar profits.

Reuters

WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court yesterday rejected former two-term Democratic Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s appeal of convic-tions on corruption charges including attempted extortion from campaign contributors wire fraud. and other crimes.

The court left in place a July 2015 ruling by the 7th US Circuit

Court of Appeals, which upheld the bulk of the convictions. Blagojevich is serving a 14-year sentence.

Prosecutors said Blagojevich was at the centre of a conspiracy to seek cash, campaign contributions and jobs for himself and others in exchange for state appointments, state business, legislation and pen-sion fund investments.

Among those actions were attempts to leverage his authority as a governor to appoint a US senator when Barack Obama left his Senate

seat representing Illinois after being elected president in 2008, the pros-ecutors told the court.

Blagojevich was arrested in 2008 while still governor. He was impeached by the state’s General Assembly in 2009, becoming the first Illinois governor to be removed from office.

The 18 convictions, five of which were thrown out by the appeals court, came in two jury trials. Blagojevich began serving his federal prison sen-tence in 2012.

From the time of his arrest until his conviction, Blagojevich launched a national campaign to proclaim his innocence, appearing on television shows and even appearing on Don-ald Trump’s programme “Celebrity Apprentice.”

Blagojevich was caught on court-approved wiretaps describing the Senate seat as something so valu-able “you just don’t give it away for nothing.” Blagojevich added he might appoint himself if he could not get anything for the seat.

Reuters

WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court yesterday agreed to consider a former Puerto Rico state senator’s claim that he cannot be retried on corruption charges involving a trip to Las Vegas to watch a boxing bout after his original conviction was thrown out.

The court said it would hear an appeal filed by Hector Martinez Mal-donado, who served in Puerto Rico’s Senate from 2005 until his 2011 con-viction, and businessman Juan Bravo Fernandez, the former president of a private security company.

Bravo Fernandez sought to bribe Martinez Maldonado in order to win passage of bills that would benefit his

business, according to prosecutors. The case focused in part on alle-gations that Bravo Fernandez paid for Martinez Maldonado to travel to Las Vegas in 2005 to watch a boxing match involving Puerto Rican fighter Felix “Tito” Trinidad.

In 2011, both were convicted for their role in the alleged bribery scheme, but the Boston-based 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals threw out their convictions in 2013.

Federal prosecutors said they would seek a new trial. But Martinez Maldonado and Bravo Fernandez said a new trial should be barred because it would violate the constitutional protection against “double jeop-ardy,” which prevents people from being tried on charges for which they already have been acquitted.

Their lawyers say double

jeopardy applies because the jury had acquitted the two men of some of the criminal charges concerning con-duct closely related to the actions on which the retrial would be focused.

The appeals court ruled in favour of the prosecution last year.

It is the third case concerning Puerto Rico that the Supreme Court has taken up recently. Last week, the justices heard oral arguments over the US Caribbean territory’s bid to revive a law that would allow it to cut billions of dollars in debt at pub-lic utilities..

The court is also considering a second criminal case that concerns double jeopardy.

The case the court agreed to hear today is Bravo Fernandez v United States, US Supreme Court, No. 15-537.

Brazilian party set to abandon Rousseff

Fidel Castro flays Obama after visit

Court rejects Illinois ex-governor’s corruption appeal

US Supreme Court takes up Puerto Rico bribery case

MORNING BREAK20 TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

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A woman walks along side apricot blossoms in a meadow in the Wachau valley formed by the Danube river in Duernstein, approximately 80km north of Vienna, Austria, yesterday. Austria's biggest apricot cultivation region comprises of around 100,000 apricot trees in a 170 hectare area.

Apricot blossom in Austria

AFP

NEW YORK: A documentary by a former British medical researcher who claimed a link between vaccines and autism has been withdrawn from the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, event founder and actor Robert De Niro said.

"Vaxxed: From Cover-UP to Catas-trophe" had drawn protests from critics who said including the film in the festi-val line-up amounted to siding with the anti-vaccine movement spawned by the discredited research.

"My intent in screening this film was to provide an opportunity for conversation around an issue that is deeply personal to me and my family," De Niro, who has a child with autism, said in a statement.

"But after reviewing it over the past few days with the Tribeca Film Festival team and others from the scientific com-munity, we do not believe it contributes to or furthers the discussion I had hoped for."

The film's director, Andrew Wake-field, is the researcher whose 1998 paper claiming a link between the MMR vaccine and autism set off an anti-vaccine move-ment that medical authorities say has led to deaths from outbreaks of preventable childhood diseases like measles. A probe by the British General Medical Council found that Wakefield had acted "dishon-estly" in publishing his results.

British medical journal The Lancet retracted its publication of the study, say-ing parts of it had been falsified. Wakefield was subsequently barred from practicing medicine in Britain."The festival doesn't seek to avoid," De Niro said.

De Niro yanks

anti-vaccine

documentary

from film fest

Reuters

INCHEON: About 4,500 employees of a Chinese cosmetics firm visiting South Korea as the largest tour group to arrive in the country by plane sat down yesterday for a dinner of fried chicken and beverage, a staple made popular in China by a hit Korean tele-

vision drama. The group, from Aolan International Beauty Group on an employee reward trip, began arriv-ing from Saturday on 158 flights for a seven-day tour and gathered around 750 outdoor tables for Monday’s din-ner, according to officials in Incheon, 50km west of Seoul.

The number of Chinese visitors to South Korea rose 17 percent in the first two months of the year to 1.07

million, and South Korea expects a record total of 8 million this year, lured in part by the popularity of Korean cultural exports, such as TV shows, movies and K-pop music.

The combination of South Korean chicken and beverage became popular in China with the Korean TV show “My Love From the Star,” a romantic com-edy about a famous actress and her alien boyfriend that aired in 2013 and 2014.

Drawn by Korean TV drama, Chinese

tourists gather for staple food

AFP

TOKYO: Dozens of space scientists are desperately scouring the skies after losing track of a quarter-of-a-billion-dollar Japanese satellite that was sent to study black holes.

The ultra-high-tech "Hitomi" -- or eye -- satellite was supposed to be busy communicating from orbit by now, the Japan Aerospace Explora-tion Agency (JAXA) said, but no one can say exactly where it is.

The device briefly made contact with ground crews but has since dis-appeared, with American researchers reporting that it could have broken

into several pieces. "We're taking the situation seriously," Saku Tsuneta, director of the agency's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, told a news conference on Sunday.

JAXA has around 40 technicians on the case, trying to locate the spacecraft and establish some kind of communication with it, an agency spokesman told AFP on Monday.

"We know approximately where it is," the spokesman added, but sci-entists were still trying to work out its precise location.

The satellite, developed in col-laboration with NASA, the US space agency, and various other groups, was launched on February 17 and was designed to observe X-rays

emanating from black holes and gal-axy clusters.

Black holes have never been directly observed, but scientists believe they are huge collapsed stars whose enormous gravitational pull is so strong that nothing can escape.

The announcement last month that gravitational waves had been detected for the first time added to evidence of their existence after scientists found the waves had been caused by two enormous black holes colliding.

The lost satellite, which cost 31 billion yen ($273 million), including the cost of launching it, was supposed to orbit at an altitude of about 580 kilometres (360 miles).

Japan loses track of satelliteAn artist's rendering made available by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, yesterday, shows the Japanese Astro-H satellite that was launched on February 17 to observe black holes and galaxy clusters.

AFP

WASHINGTON: Jim Harrison, the American novelist and poet who explored the natural world in such works as "Legends of the Fall," has died, his publisher confirmed Sun-day. He was 78.

Harrison, who US media said passed away at his home in Patago-nia, Arizona, relished a reputation as a rugged outsider far removed from the East Coast literary scene.

He produced 21 volumes of fic-tion and 14 books of poetry as well as essays and a children's book.

A heavy drinker, smoker and self-described manic depressive, Harrison's fictions were extensions of his love of wild places, and his passions as a hunter, fisherman and cook.

"America lost one of its greatest writers and we at Grove lost a fam-ily member," his publisher, Grove Atlantic, tweeted Sunday, adding that "his work lives on."

Harrison had just published another novella, "The Ancient Min-strel," and a book of poetry, "Dead Man's Float," earlier this year.

Born in Grayling, Michigan, he had a difficult rural upbring-ing, blinded in one eye as a child and losing his father and sister in an automobile accident when he was 21. He was often described as a "macho" writer in the vein of Ernest Hemingway, but Harrison said it was his subject matter that prompted the comparison.

"All I have to say about that macho thing goes back to the idea that my characters aren't from the urban dream-coasts," he said in a 1986 interview with the Paris Review.

Jim Harrison

dies at age 78

AFP

PHNOM PENH: An American museum yesterday returned to Cam-bodia a 10th-century sandstone sculpture of the Hindu god Rama decades after it was looted from a jungle temple during the kingdom's civil war.

The 62-inch-tall torso, which was stolen in the 1970s from the Koh Ker temple site near the famed Ang-kor Wat complex, was handed over by the Denver Art Museum at a cer-emony in Phnom Penh.

The statue -- still missing its head, arms and feet -- had been in the museum's possession since 1986, the Cambodian government said in a statement. "We are joyful with the torso of Rama returning

home," Cambodian official Yim Nol-son said at the ceremony, adding that the joy was tempered by the fact that the head was still missing and its whereabouts unknown. "The royal government of Cambodia appeals to all museums and collectors around the world to follow this good exam-ple by returning the Rama's head to Cambodia," he added.

The artwork was returned to Cambodia following new research into its provenance by the museum, the government statement said.

Cambodia was once home to the mighty Khmer Empire, a Hindu-Bud-dhist dynasty that built what were then some of the world's mighti-est cities and temples, including the famous Angkor Wat complex.

In January a French museum returned the head of a statue taken in 1886 during the colonial period.

US museum returns looted

statue to Cambodia

A woman takes pictures of a lit up Prunus pendula or Shidarezakura cherry blossom tree in full bloom at Rikugien Gardens in Tokyo, Japan, yesterday.

Cherry blossom in Tokyo

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TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016 • 20 Jumada II 1437 @peninsulaqatar @peninsula_qatarthepeninsulaqatar

The MotoGP World Championship, sporting world’s one of the most exciting and adrenaline-filled events, got off to a fiery

start in Qatar with Jorge Lorenzo scoring a dominant win. MotoGP is an eighteen-race series visiting 14 countries, four continents and with pan-global television coverage. MotoGP was established as a World Championship by the FIM (Federation International de Motocyclisme) in 1949.

Hertz Qatar, a leading vehicle rental organisation and part of the Al Mana Group of companies, has been a long term sponsor of the series offering cars and rental services.

Hertz, which is the largest worldwide airport general use car rental brand, operating from approximately 10,000 corporate and licensee locations in approximately 150 countries, has partnered with Dorna Sports - an international sports management, marketing and media company - in making the event a huge success.

“Our partnership with Dorna and MotoGP provides us an excellent opportunity to demonstrate our ability to manage such a big event and to reveal the best service quality that Hertz Qatar can provide in rent a car business. We are really proud to host this special event again,” said Miss. Sanaa Ouahmane, GM of Hertz Qatar.

“Hertz Qatar relies on the quality offered and we benefit from a large and diverse group of automotive operations in addition to associated service and maintenance centers. This capacity enables us to offer an exceptional service, including offering outstanding value on popular vehicles, quick procurement of cars, and priority servicing & maintenance,” added Miss. Sanaa Ouahmane.

Dorna has been the exclusive commercial and television rights holder for the FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix (MotoGP™) since 1992.

The organisation has its headquarters in Madrid, with further branch-offices and/or subsidiaries in Barcelona, Rome, Amsterdam and Tokyo.

Mr. Pau Serracanta, Dorna Managing Director Commercial Area said: “We are very happy for the excellent service that we always receive from Hertz. Qatar is the first GP of the season and the first thing that we had done when we arrived here was to rent a car. The excellent service from Hertz made all Dorna team to have a very smooth and pleasant start of the championship”.

Riding high on speed of service, quality & customer satisfactionHertz Qatar joins hands with Dorna Sports to provide cars and rental services for MotoGP World Championship

Sanaa Ouahmane, General Manager, Hertz Qatar, is a management professional with 12 years’ experience in car rental industry with international franchises. She started

her career in 2004 in France with The Hertz Corporation, and she joined Hertz Qatar about 5 years ago. Apparently, Sanaa is the only woman to hold the title of General Manager in the rent-a-car business in the region. Below is an excerpt from an interview with her.

Q Tell us about Hertz Qatar vision. How long you been operating here?Ans: Hertz has been a part of Al Mana Group of companies for the last 22 years. At

Hertz Qatar, we have a clear vision to become the highest quality and most customer focused car rental company. We strive to achieve our vision by focusing on customer and employee satisfaction as well as on asset management, with equal emphasis on efficiency and growth.

Q How many locations do you have in Qatar?Ans: We have 5 locations in Qatar

Q What is your customer base? Ans: We have customers from wide range of industries, including construction,

Government, oil & gas, Consultancy among others..

Q What makes Hertz different compared to your rivals?Ans: Our people make the difference. Hertz Qatar has more than 160 employees from

different countries and various nationalities. Our consistent investment in our people, supported by our core values, help give a unique experience to our clients. We are always tailoring the best offer that suits our customer needs.

Q Tell us a bit about your partnership with Qatar Airways?Ans: Hertz partners with Qatar Airways Privilege Club, the airline’s loyalty

programme, offering its members up to 10% discount on Hertz rentals as well as Qmiles when renting Hertz vehicles across the globe.

Q These are uncertain times with the dip in oil prices, has it affected Hertz’s business here?

Ans: Well, of course the oil pricing has affected Qatar market, but being a part of Al Mana Group, we were always prepared with strategic plans to face any sudden changes and emerging crises. We have been doing business in Doha for quite a long time and being under the umbrella of Al Mana gave us the experience, knowledge and vision to overcome this situation. We are a group of companies with a very well-known reputation and high portfolio of clients. We rely on our history, present and our planned strategic vision.

Q What is Hertz’s slogan?Ans: ‘Travelling at the Speed of Hertz’ and this is the culture that we apply on a daily

basis with our customers: Speed and quality in service.

Q Being the only one woman General Manager in the rent-a-car industry in the Middle East, how do you feel about the task?

Ans: I am very proud to be a leader in the car rental industry with an international franchise in Qatar. When I joined Hertz-Al Mana Rent A Car, I had the objective to help the company become the No 1 in terms of quality of service and market share. Today, we have more than 3,000 vehicles in our fleet and we are awarded as the best car rental company in the Middle East by various international organisations. I would like to use this opportunity to thank the Al Mana family for trusting me and giving me the chance to lead one of their automotive divisions. I am looking forward to reap more success and spread the name of Hertz across the Qatar market.

Hertz-Al Mana Rent A Car

Miss. Sanaa Ouahmane shaking hands with Mr. Pau Serracanta during the racing event at Lusail International Circuit.

MotoGP winners ... proud moment

Bikers in action

By Satish Kanady

The Peninsula

DOHA: The Qatar First Bank’s (QFB) Alternative Investment busi-nesses continued to deliver a solid performance in 2015. QFB exited three investments during the year, with IRRs or internal rate of returns ranging from 20% to 50%, Chair-man Abdulla bin Fahad bin Ghorab Al Marri stated yesterday.

Addressing the annual general meeting, QFB chairman said the bank sold its remaining shares in Al Noor Hospitals, completed the West-bourne House project in London’s W2 district and sold the plot of land near Burj Khalifa, in Dubai. “ In terms of

new investments, we acquired a 15.6% stake in Cambridge Medical & Rehabilitation Centre based in Abu Dhabi, the Centre caters for those in need of non-acute rehabilitation with a high level of physiotherapy as well as treatment for a broad range of conditions.”

Al Marri said the Bank’s Sukuk book continued to grow in size to reach QR943m ($259m) while main-taining both its investment-grade credit quality and the same duration. “We expect the challenging market conditions to continue in 2016, In spite of these challenges QFB will continue adopting an opportunistic outlook to source viable investment opportunities that surface in such market conditions in order to gen-erate sound returns for the Bank and

create value for our shareholders.”The bank’s listing on the Qatar

Exchange remains a top priority and we continue to work closely with the

concerned authorities to complete the listing requirements. Pending regu-latory approvals, we hope the listing will conclude shortly allowing QFB to

attract new investors, provide exist-ing shareholders with a liquidity event and secure a future funding source through the capital markets, he said.

The year 2015 was another excit-ing year for QFB as it marks the Bank’s evolution from a boutique investment bank to a full-fledged Shariah-com-pliant private bank and we continue to capitalise on the growing demand for Islamic banking and the increase in wealth in the region.

“We closed 2015 recording a gross income of QR336.5m and a net income of QR66m. Capital deployed during 2015 is QR33.9m, bringing our total capital invested to date to QR 1.54bn and total assets has grown by 26% to QR5.9bn.

As the global investment mar-ket continues to go through major

challenges, investors are demon-strating a growing interest in Shariah compliant financial offerings. This trend confirms QFB’s strategy to expand Shariah-compliant products to the corporate and private bank-ing market, providing expert advice on Islamic Finance services that demonstrate genuine growth and profitability, Al Marri added.

Ziad Makkawi, Chief Executive Officer, QFB said: “Last year was a milestone year for QFB. We con-firmed our strategy and streamlined our businesses to offer Shari’ah com-pliant services including alternative investments with a focus on private equity and real estate, as well as cor-porate & institutional banking, private banking & wealth management, and treasury & investments.”

QFB Chairman Abdulla bin Fahad bin Ghorab Al Marri (centre) addressing the annual general meeting yesterday. Pic: A Basit / The Peninsula

QFB’s alternative asset classes deliver solid returns

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BRENT $39.33 -$0.13

BUSINESS22 TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

The Peninsula

DOHA: Barclays has been awarded ‘Best Foreign Investment Bank’ in Qatar by EMEA Finance at the Mid-dle East Banking Awards.

The award recognises Barclays’ leading position as a top player in Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), Equity Capital Markets (ECM) and Debt Capital Markets (DCM) in Qatar; leading on a wide range of complex advisory and capital market trans-actions for sovereign, corporate and financial institutions.

Makram Azar (pictured), Chair-man of Banking for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Chair-man of Barclays MENA, said: “Our local presence and expertise, combined with Barclays’ global capabilities, enable us to offer a superior client proposition for our clients in Qatar. This award recog-nises Barclays’ value proposition in Qatar, as well as the teams’ efforts in working successfully with clients on landmark transactions. We are delighted to have won this highly sought after award in such a com-petitive market, like Qatar, which is considered one of our top priority

markets in the region.”EMEA Finance, one of the lead-

ing information sources specialised in the EMEA finance industry, also recognised Barclays’ key achieve-ments over the past 12 months which were driven by one of the most experienced and senior on-ground investment banking teams in the Middle East.

Christopher Moore, publisher of EMEA Finance, said: “Over the past 12 months, Barclays has exe-cuted multiple marquee transactions in Qatar, including M&A and capi-tal market transactions, cementing its position as the leading foreign investment bank in the country. The transactions spanned various geog-raphies and industries – a testament to Barclays’ widespread regional, as well as global capabilities.”

The latest award follows a string of accolades the Bank has won for various businesses in Qatar. These include EMEA Finance’s ‘Best Pri-vate Bank in Qatar’ and ‘Best Foreign Investment Bank in the MENA region’.

Launched in 2008, the EMEA Finance’s Middle East Banking Awards celebrate accomplishments of retail and investment banks, asset managers, and brokerage houses in the Middle East region.

The Peninsula

DOHA: The Green Division of Inno-vations Unlimited ME (IUME) has launched a new corporate identity to support its goal of reinforcing mar-ket position in the area of renewable energy solutions. The Division, after undergoing a corporate spin-off, will now operate as ‘powergreen’, a wholly owned subsidiary of Innova-tions Unlimited ME, expanding on its success in offering turnkey renewa-ble energy solutions to clients across the Middle East.

“Given the dynamic evolution of our company since its establish-ment, we have been working in the past few months towards a new name that we feel better represents us and our business operation,” said Man-aging Partner Amr Belal, head of the newly established powergreen, at a press conference held yesterday at Hilton Double Tree Hotel. “After stra-tegic assessment and consultation

with our teams, we feel that the new identity maintains the integral nature of our business while allowing for future growth. The new name has been devised to give individual iden-tity to our business division allowing us to move forward with confidence,” he said.

“Going forward, ‘powergreen’ will build on its capacity as renewa-ble energy system integrator and EPC contractor having delivered some of the pioneering cleantech projects in Qatar and will actively be involved in expanding operations to the Middle East region. “Our business activity to date has established us as a trusted partner in renewable energy tech-nologies in the markets where we operate and we foresee a growing role for us to play in this industry in the region. Our individualised iden-tity will allow us to reinforce our market position through a defined and consistent recognition,” Amr asserted.

During the press conference, Amr Belal highlighted some of the

leading projects in Qatar that have been delivered by IUME and which now fall under the portfolio of “powergreen”; such as the series of photovoltaic installations in Msheireb Downtown and the first solar sports facility “Al Sadd Multipurpose Hall” among a range of other projects.

Al Sadd Multipurpose Hall, which is a 4-star GSAS project, has been awarded the “Sustainable Project of the Year” Award for 2015 at the Con-struction Week Awards ceremony for the Middle East. “It gives us great pride to contribute such achievements to the construction industry; it is one mission that we take to heart and will continue to pursue,” said Amr .

Throughout its journey, the com-pany has also achieved a number of accolades. These include nominating and winning for Kahramaa, the 2015 Energy Globe Award accorded to the Kahramaa Awareness Park project; and the first runner up position in the 2010 Qatar Today Green Awards for the design and implementation of solar street lights for Ras Gas.

The Peninsula

DOHA: The Dodsal Group, a Dubai-based business conglomerate currently operating in countries in MENA and East Africa region and India, has struck an expansive sweep of over 2.7 TCF natural gas deposits on their onshore concession in Tanzania for oil and gas exploration.

In July 2015, the Group had marked its first natural gas discovery in the country of 2.17 TCF in the Mam-bakofi and Mtini region. However, based on recent update of studies, this estimate has now been raised to 2.7 TCF with a potential upside of 3.8 TCF. Based on the current market prices, the gas resources is valued at $8bn to a potential upside of $11bn.

In addition, Dodsal’s third well at Mbuyu has encountered a large gas column, in the western side of the block, which is estimated to contain upto 5.9 TCF of gas. Studies are ongo-ing to establish the prospective gas resources.

Having secured oil and gas concessions from the government following a production sharing

agreement signed in 2007, the Dodsal Group is currently undertaking stud-ies for prospective gas resources to be enhanced further, which could cat-alyze Tanzania’s position as a leader in the natural gas sector in the East Africa region.

The Group has already invested $200m to date, and plans to invest another $300m in Tanzania over the next 24 months to support its exploration and production activi-ties, including implementation of an Early Production System to bring Gas to the market.

The country’s biggest onshore gas discovery is located in the Ruvu Basin Coast Region, only 50km from the commercial capital city of Dar es Salaam, will contribute to increased reliability of clean energy resources in Tanzania, and drive all-round social and economic growth. With the new discovery, the nation’s total estimated recoverable natural gas reserves total over 57 TCF.

Dr Rajen A Kilachand, Chair-man and President of the Dodsal Group, said: “The discovery of natu-ral gas reserves in Tanzania further strengthens our commitment to the nation to be a partner in the country’s

all-round socio-economic progress. Tanzania has tremendous potential in the hydrocarbon sector. When efficiently leveraged, this will bring incremental economic growth by assuring timely and ready supply of clean energy. We are fully com-mitted to supporting the nation in this journey, underlined by the nine years of natural gas exploration that we have been undertaking.”

He added: “As a socially

responsible organisation, our focus is to bring in added value across all aspects of our operation and sup-porting Tanzania in stimulating the local economy, creating new jobs for the Tanzanian youth and driv-ing the growth of small & medium enterprises by building a strong local supply chain. The significant discovery of natural gas, in close proximity to Dar es Salaam, will boost the economy and strengthen

its all-round competitiveness.”With over 10,000 employees, the

multi-billion dollar business con-glomerate has proven competencies in other sectors including trading and distribution; and engineering, pro-curement & construction (EPC). As a leading EPC player in the energy, industrial and infrastructure sectors, The Dodsal Group has implemented projects in over 22 nations across the world.

Barclays is Qatar’s ‘Best Foreign Investment Bank’The award recognises Barclays’ leading position as a top player in Mergers and Acquisitions, Equity Capital Markets and Debt Capital Markets in Qatar.

The Peninsula

DOHA: KIA Motors Qatar keeps its focus in fortifying the after-sales service with the 2016 Service Clinic entitled ‘Newcomers’ with the aim to continue with a proac-tive strategy to advance the best of service excellence.

Through its exclusive dealer, Al Attiya Motors and Trading Co. (AMTC), the Service clinic will offer a free check-up of the engine, transmission, electrical system, A/C and Cooling, body, exterior, etc. The after sales service is a fundamental part at KIA Qatar and it continues to be their attempt to offer the best services for their customers. KIA Qatar is hoping to get a similar enthusiastic response from this year’s Clinic as they have been getting in the previous edi-tions. KIA Vehicle owners from 2011 onwards are eligible for the promo-tion. Customers can benefit from a basic understanding of automotive maintenance as the Service Clinic is done by the authorized and trained technicians from KIA Qatar.

Ayman Al Shami, the Director of After Sales operations at AMTC mentioned: “the Service Clinic is a significant part of our calendar as it is done to showcase the KIA Qatar service capabilities and pro-mote the use of KIA genuine parts. It is also a great opportunity for the customers to meet the service con-sultants and ask any question that mayneed to be answered for main-taining their car properly”.

The Service Clinic is until-April 2, 2016 and held at St No. 27, Al Wakalat St. Industrial Area. The Service Centre is also hav-ing major construction works as it transitions into a full-fledged 4S (Service, Sales, Spare Parts, Stor-age) facility dubbed as the ‘KIA City’. Customers can expect the revamped facility to be open to the public soon.

The Peninsula

DOHA: Al Mana Automotive group supported Ministry of Health on Sun-day and shared their latest offers and services with the employees.

Established as a trading house in 1960, Al Mana Group has evolved into one of Qatar’s leading busi-ness enterprises, growing with and contributing to the meteoric devel-opment of Qatar.

Al Mana Automotive group repre-sents: United Cars Al Mana: Jeep Ram and Dodge - Hertz –Al Mana Motors

Company: Ford and Lincoln. Privately owned and operated by Al Mana family since 1965, the company continues to expand its footprint, building on its history of excellence in the automotive industry.

In addition to the Automotive, Habitat part of Al Mana Group also participated by offering special prod-ucts . Founded in 1964 and in 2011 Habitat becomes the Habitat Design International group with its head office located in Paris. It distributes functional, beautiful and affordable furniture and home accessories

Habitat-Al Mana Group is present in Qatar on the Airport Road.

Al Mana Group attends Ministry of Health promotional day

The Peninsula

DOHA: Jaidah Heavy Equipment, a subsidiary of Jaidah Equipment, held its second edition of Isuzu Customers Appreciation Day for 2016.

The customer gathering is organized to felicitate Key Custom-ers of 2015 in addition to showcase new Isuzu products and solutions.

The event was attended by team of delegates from Isuzu Motors Middle East and Isuzu Motors International Operations Thailand, Dubai Office in addition to a huge turnout of customers, business associates, and special invitees from Jaidah Corporate Office.

Ayman Ahmed, Managing Director of Jaidah Equipment said: “Jaidah Heavy Equipment has strengthened its position in the Commercial Vehicle market by offering different types of Isuzu vehicles, Isuzu is a very important player in Pickups & Trucks mar-ket in Qatar. We are very proud seeing a lot of big fleet customers using Isuzu vehicles. We would like to stress on the important role of the after sales service, keeping this in mind, we are starting to build a new 2S Service Centre exclusive for Isuzu in the industrial area. This will help us enhancing after sales support to benefit our val-uable customers and aid future business relations.” He also said: “Jaidah Equipment is considered as one of the pillars supporting the Vision 2030 of the Country”.

The event took place at the Regency Halls in Doha, with an objective of promoting new solu-tions from Isuzu SUVs, D-Max Pick-Ups & Trucks available to contractors, logistics, distribu-tion, wholesale markets and rental companies.

IUME’s Green Division launches new corporate identity

Jaidah Heavy Equipment holds Isuzu Customers’ Appreciation Day

Dodsal Group finds $8bn natural gas deposits in TanzaniaService clinic promotion at KIA Qatar

Dodsal Group officials during the press conference.

Al Mana officials during the programme.

Managing Partner of powergreen, Amr Belal, addressing media persons.

Ooredoo unit sells wi-tribe Pakistan to HB Offshore Investment

DOHA: Ooredoo announced yes-terday that its subsidiary wi-tribe limited concluded the sale of wi-tribe Pakistan to HB Offshore Investment Ltd for a cash amount of approximately QR32.7m, in line with the carrying value of the asset. HB Group is well established within the telecommunications sector in Pakistan, and is plan-ning to expand further.

A labourer works at the main factory of Hyundai Motor in Ulsan, about 410km southeast of Seoul, South Korea. Across a total of 15 million sq metres, five different factories produce 14 different Hyundai models.

A flag bearing the logo of Lotte Hotel flutters at a Lotte Hotel in Seoul, South Korea. Riding a Seoul stocks revival, some of South Korea’s biggest family firms, including Lotte, are set to clean house this year with multi-billion dollar initial public offerings that will fire the country to a record year for new listings.

Hyundai plant in Ulsan

Lotte Hotel eyes IPO

BUSINESS 23TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

Bloomberg

NEW YORK: Oil traded near $39 a barrel in New York amid speculation that a meeting of crude-producing countries next month won’t ease a global supply glut.

Futures fell as much as 1.5 percent after earlier rising 1.7 percent. Iran and Libya are the two Opec members that haven’t pledged to attend production-freeze talks on April 17 in Doha, Qatar. The absence of countries aiming to restore supplies that were shuttered by conflict and sanctions means any accord is unlikely to be effective, Com-merzbank AG said last week.

“There’s a growing realization that the meeting in Doha is not going to be effective,” said Thomas Finlon, director of Energy Analytics Group LLC in Wellington, Florida. “The U.S. has lost about 500,000 barrels a day from its peak, but the Iranians are planning to increase output by more than 1 million, so we’re going to see the surplus grow.” Oil has climbed

back from a 12-year low last month on speculation that the global surplus will ease as U.S. output declines and major producers including Saudi Ara-bia and Russia discuss capping output. U.S. data last week showed inventories rose by more than three times what was forecast, while imports increased to the highest since June 2013.

West Texas Intermediate oil for May delivery fell 25 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $39.21 a barrel at 12:50 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Total volume traded was 52 percent below the 100-day aver-age. Brent for May settlement slipped 38 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $40.06 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Prices slipped 1.8% last week. The glo-bal benchmark crude traded at an 85-cent premium to WTI.

Trading in New York and London was closed Friday for the Good Friday holiday. The number of bets on ris-ing oil has barely increased as crude jumped more than 50 percent since Feb. 11. Meanwhile, the liquidation of short positions during the past seven

weeks covered by data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Com-mission was the largest in records going back a decade. That suggests the upward pressure on prices has come from traders cashing out of bearish wagers.

Rigs targeting oil in the US fell by 15 to 372, the lowest since 2009, Baker Hughes Inc. said on its website Thursday. More than 150 have been parked since the start of the year.

“There was speculation that the return of $40 oil would lead to a return of rigs,” said Bob Yawger, director of the futures division at Mizuho Securities USA in New York. “The data shows this isn’t the case.”

US crude inventories probably rose by 3 million barrels last week, according to a Bloomberg sur-vey before an Energy Information Administration report Wednesday.

Iran, committed to boosting output after sanctions were lifted in January, needs $40bn for oil projects in the year ending next March, according to Oil Minister Bijan Nam-dar Zanganeh.

The Peninsula

DOHA: Vietnam is expected to remain one of fastest growing emerging markets (EMs) under the new leadership. Country’s economy is likely to grow over 7 percent and above in 2016 and 2017, said QNB in its latest economic commentary yesterday.

“Statements from The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) following the Congress com-mitted to continued reforms aimed at the banking sector, state-owned companies and macroeconomic liberalisation. As a result, the outlook for Vietnam remains positive, in line with the forecasts we published in our December report for growth of 7 percent in

2016 and 7.5 percent in 2017,” said QNB in its commentary.

The CPV selected a new leadership at its 12th National Congress in January. The general secretary was reappointed while the outgo-ing reformist prime minister will be replaced by his deputy in July.

The changes were cast as a victory for the conservative rather than reformist elements within the CPV. However, the consensus-based decision making process of the CPV and the appointment of a number of young techno-crats to the politburo suggest that Vietnam is likely to press ahead with reforms.

In 2015, Vietnam’s real GDP growth accelerated to 6.7 percent from 6 percent the previous year, making it one of the fast-est growing emerging markets. Vietnam’s

outperformance has been driven by strong export growth, despite a weak global envi-ronment, supported by a number of factors.

The report said that Vietnam is attracting strong investment in low-end manufacturing for exports, thanks to competitive wages and free trade deals.

The latter grant foreign investors access to large markets. For example, an initial agreement on the Trans Pacific Partner-ship (TPP) was signed in July 2015 and a free trade agreement with the EU was con-cluded in December.

TPP involves 12 Pacific Rim economies accounting for 37 percent of global GDP and 26 percent of world trade. It is the largest trade pact in two decades.

An initial agreement was signed in July, but

needs to be ratified by national parliaments. If approved, TPP would deepen Vietnam’s access to large markets (US and Japan), boost-ing exports.

In anticipation, FDI is pouring into Viet-nam. Also, low-end manufacturing exporters are shifting from China to Vietnam as China shifts to higher-end manufacturing and as Chinese wage levels rise.

Vietnam’s exports have been resilient to the global slowdown as demand for some of its products is relatively inelastic (food, clothes and textiles, for example). In addition to strong export growth, domestic demand has picked up, benefiting from rising real wages and a recovery in credit growth and real estate.

“We expect real GDP growth to pick up to

7 percent in 2016 and 7.5 percent in 2017. The positive forces driving exports (such as low wages and shifting supply chains) will persist. FDI has already risen after trade agreements were signed in 2015, but the strongest impe-tus to growth and exports will come once the TPP comes into force, likely in 2017,” said the report.

Domestic demand should remain strong. Incomes could be boosted by the strong export sector, while the housing recovery is in its early stages and may bolster investment and consumer sentiment.

Finally, the smooth transition of power and continuation of reforms agreed at the National Congress should release investment that may have been held back pending the outcome of the Congress, added the report.

The Peninsula

DOHA: Businesses in GCC member states, including Qatar, should start planning in advance for the imple-mentation of VAT (value added tax), which is expected to be implemented from January 2018, and should not wait until the last minute to avoid challenges, say experts from EY and PwC, two leading audit and consult-ing firms.

EY yesterday held a seminar on the implementation the proposed new tax policy (VAT) in Qatar.

The introduction of VAT rep-resents a significant change in tax policy and will have a major impact on businesses across GCC. Although implementation is still more than 18 months away, businesses should already be thinking about how VAT will impact on their operational models.

EY in as statement said that VAT is expected to be implemented across the GCC in 2018. GCC Government

officials have confirmed that the go live-date is January 1, 2018, and all GCC members should have VAT in place by the end of 2018.

The final form of the VAT is still being developed, but the gen-eral shape of the tax is already known.

Finbarr Sexton (pic-tured), MENA Indirect Tax Leader, EY, said: “The intro-duction of VAT on businesses will have a broad impact. It will diver-sify government revenue sources and reduce reliance on oil revenues to finance government expenditures. The timelines for businesses to build out the VAT capability is challeng-ing. It requires careful planning and a structured programme to ensure that the business is VAT ready, includ-ing people, processes, controls and technology. Corporate structures and supply chains also need to be ana-lysed in light of the new tax. This is to ensure that potential inefficien-cies can be detected and addressed in a proactive manner.”

“If VAT is not applied correctly, it may become an additional cost to the business. Further, non-compliance with tax laws attract severe penal-ties. All businesses must undertake a review of their current contracts to determine if VAT has been appro-priately addressed,” added Finbarr.

PwC also held a VAT workshop in Qatar, as part of a region wide initiative to update locally based businesses on the latest develop-ments and the implications of VAT

introduction in the region.

PwC also noted that the tax system will present a number of challenges for busi-nesses and individuals operating in these States. Tax experts from PwC’s Qatar office and from across the region out-lined that although 2018 may seem like a long

way off, there are sensible ways busi-nesses can start preparing now – by assessing how VAT will impact them.

The PwC tax workshop outlined the VAT impact on businesses and how identifying a VAT strategy for implementation and identifying con-tracts that require VAT action are all vital steps to preparing for the intro-duction of the VAT. Also summarised was the high importance of under-taking a capability assessment of the existing systems to manage VAT.

Jeanine Daou, PwC Middle East Partner and Indirect Taxes and Fiscal Policy Leader said: “An understand-able question we often receive is ‘what steps should be undertaken now, when the legislation is yet to be issued?’ Three good areas to focus on are 1) Modelling what could be the business impacts, 2) Understanding the IT systems and business proc-esses that will be affected by VAT as part of shaping the VAT implemen-tation project and 3) Review existing contracts that do not accommodate the introduction of a new tax. On the latter point, companies may be forced to absorb the impact of VAT if the contracts are not amended”.

Agencies

DOHA/DUBAI: Strong petrochemi-cal shares lifted Saudi Arabia’s stock market in early trade on Monday, while Orascom Telecom Media pulled Egypt lower again because of concern about its deal to acquire CI Capital.

Saudi Basic Industries climbed 2.3 percent, helping the Saudi index rise 0.9 percent. Saudi Telecom rebounded 2.4 percent after slid-ing for several days in response to

regulators cutting regional roaming fees in the Gulf. The Qatar Exchange down 83.63 points or 0.82% as it closed yesterday at 10,145.39 points down from the previous closing of 10,229.02.

The volume of shares traded up to 10,189,517 from 8,847,314 Sunday, and the value of shares increased to QR370,786,003.69 from QR273,949,395.28. Among the top losers were Qatar Insurance whose share dropped 3.05% to QR79.50 and Qatar Islamic Bank with 1.89% fell to QR103.60 per share. Qatar Navigation

was lost 3.01% to QR90.20 and Oore-doo down 2.19% to QR85.00 Egypt’s index fell 0.6 percent as Egyptian bil-lionaire Naguib Sawiris’s Orascom Telecom, the most heavily traded stock, lost 1.3%.

Orascom Telecom had dropped 3.8 percent on Sunday after Sawiris said its bid to acquire CI Capital, the investment arm of Commercial Inter-national Bank (CIB), was being held up by national security concerns. Sawiris also criticised state med-dling in business that he said would put off investors.

Call for advance planning as VAT in GCC likely from 2018

Vietnam to remain one of the fastest growing EMs: QNB

Oil trades near $39 amid doubts producer talks will curb glut

Saudi index rises; Qatar drops

The introduction of VAT represents a significant change in tax policy and will have a major impact on businesses across GCC

AFP

WASHINGTON: Embattled Ger-man automaker Volkswagen said yesterday it is recalling about 5,200 VW e-Golf vehicles in the United States over a battery prob-lem that can cause their electric engine to stall.

Volkswagen Group of Amer-ica, VW’s US unit, is recalling certain 2015-2016 model years of the e-Golf. The company said “oversensitive diagnostics” in the high-voltage battery management system may inadvertently classify an electric surge as a critical bat-tery condition.

“This can cause an emergency shutdown of the high-voltage bat-tery, which in turn deactivates the vehicle’s electrical drive motor,” stalling the engine and potentially leading to a crash, the company said.

The National Highway Traf-fic Safety Administration said the recall began on March 15. Volkswagen told owners to bring their vehicles to dealers for an update on the battery management software, the federal agency said.

Volkswagen recalls e-Golf vehicles for battery fix

Containers from China Ocean Shipping Company are pictured at a port in Shanghai, China.

GuocoLand Ltd’s Tanjong Pagar Centre (right), soon to be the tallest building in the central business district of Singapore. Managements are increasingly being forced to pay up for taking their companies private as minority investors demand bigger premiums to the depressed market valuations of targets, underscoring a growing trend of shareholder activism in Asia.

Container movement

Skyscraper

BUSINESS24 TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

Reuters

DUBAI: Banks in the United Arab Emirates will suspend legal action against small and medium sized enter-prises (SMEs) struggling to repay debt for up to three months to prevent a

surge in defaults that may jeopard-ise the economy. The initiative, which involves businesses working with lenders to restructure their loans, is intended to give breathing space to SMEs, which contribute around 60% of UAE’s gross domestic product.

Banks have been hit by a spate of defaults, especially from traders of foodstuffs and oil, as a result of weak-ness in prices of commodities, as well as a gradual easing of bank liquidity.

“What we have put on the table is a mini insolvency law,” said Abdul Aziz al-Ghurair chairman of the UAE Banks Federation, the industry body representing 49 banks. “We will give the customer time and space as long as they’re genuine.”

The federation was lobbying the government to “expedite” the new insolvency law, said Al Ghurair, also chief executive of Dubai-based lender Mashreq. Fearing jail for unpaid debt, many cash-strapped expatriates opted to depart, making it hard for banks to recover payment.

The debts left behind by those

so-called “skips” had reached around Dh5bn ($1.4bn), Al Ghurair estimated in November. On Monday, he said he was unsure what the latest figure was. The plan will be open to companies that have borrowed Dh50m or more from a number of banks and were showing signs of financial stress, typically lead-ing to an inability to make repayments.

The federation will coordinate requests from companies with the lending banks, resulting in the sign-ing of a standstill agreement ensuring that no lender will take pre-emptive action for a period up to 90 days. Led by the bank with the largest exposure, the lenders will then agree how to manage or restructure the borrower’s debt. The initiative had the backing of the central bank, as well as the unanimous agree-ment of banks, said Al Ghurair. SMEs made up about 3% of banks’ total lend-ing, he said.

“We will lend as long as the econ-omy is in good shape and the customer is in good shape. If the economy slows and the customer slows the bank will also slow its lending,” he added.

Banks in UAE ease loan repayments for SMEs

Bloomberg

NEW YORK: NTT Data Corp., a unit of Japan’s former telephone monop-oly, agreed to buy technology services businesses from Dell for $3.055bn.

The acquisition was announced by the unit of Nippon Telegraph & Tel-ephone Corp. in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange yesterday. The company didn’t give a date for when it will acquire the Dell units.

NTT Data will acquire the divi-sions to strengthen its footprint in North America, and enhance cloud service and business-process out-sourcing, or BPO service, according to its filing. The company will hire the 28,000 employees located mainly in

North America and India from Dell, according to the statement.

The acquisition would be NTT Data’s largest, helping increase its sales outside Japan, where a shrink-ing and aging population has stymied economic growth. Dell, which paid $3.9bn for what was formerly known as Perot Systems in 2009, is selling some assets before completing a record deal — the $67bn takeover of software and storage systems pro-vider EMC Corp.

Dell plans to sell the division as part of a wider effort to raise as much as $10bn from the disposal of assets that aren’t core to its business, Re/code reported earlier.

NTT Data has spent more than 72bn yen ($634m) buying compa-nies since 2011, about 62bn yen of it outside Japan, according to data

compiled by Bloomberg. Overseas sales had risen to 450bn yen by the year ended March 31, 2015, compared with more than 208bn yen in the 12 months to March 2012.

Global rivals of NTT Data includ-ing Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. and Atos SE had also previously participated in an auction for Perot Systems that failed to generate a deal, according to the Nikkei, Reuters and the website re/code, which all cited people familiar with the matter.

The NTT unit has spent more than 72bn yen on buying companies since 2011, about 62bn yen of it outside Japan, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. By the year ending March 31, 2015, overseas sales had risen to 450bn yen, compared with more than 208 billion yen in the 12

months to March 2012. “Perot Sys-tems has a large base of US clients in medical and other markets, so it fits NTT Data’s strategy to increase its presence there,” Hideaki Tanaka, an analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Mor-gan Stanley, said before the deal was announced. “NTT Data can win big contracts in Japan, but in the US, it is less well-known.”

The systems unit of Japan’s former telephone monopoly has more than doubled in market value since 2011 on rising sales to financial and health-care businesses using the company’s data centers and software. Profit will probably surge 85% to a record 59.6bn yen for the year ending March 31, according to average analyst estimate.

NTT Data services are used at hundreds of hospitals and thousands of healthcare facilities in the US,

according to the company’s website. The Tokyo-based company provides software and systems for functions including electronic medical records, surgery management, billing, insur-ance claims.

NTT Data cash, near cash and short-term investments stood at 183.1bn yen as of December 31, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Dell acquired Perot with plans to expand in the fast- growing market for data serv-ices. Perot was built H. Ross Perot, the billionaire who ran for US president in 1992 and 1996, and sold his first major company Electronic Data Systems to General Motors for $2.5bn in 1984. Dell’s Perot unit has won government con-tracts for healthcare IT services and work for the Defense Department, NASA, Homeland Security and Edu-cation departments.

QNA

RIYADH: The 9th edition of Saudi Travel and Tourism Investment Market (STTIM) kicked off in the capital Riyadh on Sunday in the presence of a large number of officials, businessmen, investors, experts, dignitaries and journal-ists. The five-day event, which ends on April 1, has two major parts, exhibition and conference, as well as the distribution of the SCTNH awards for excellence.

The exhibition has attracted around 300 local companies and 13 tourism development boards from the Kingdom’s 13 regions. They are displaying a wide range of their tourism products and serv-ices, and investment opportunities to almost 25,000 expected visitors.

Around 80 local and interna-tional tourism experts will take part in more than 30 conference sessions and 40 training work-shops for visitors on travel and tourism related topics.

The topics include investment in hotels, the economics of national heritage, organising tourism trav-els and programmes, investment in tourism infrastructure, and e-marketing of tourism events and destinations. During the event, the SCTNH excellence awards 2016 were distributed to winning tour-ism establishments from among hotels, restaurants, shopping cent-ers and malls, tourism destinations and sites, entertainment cities, and distinguished Saudis in tourism services.

Bloomberg

DUBAI: Etihad Etisalat Co. is review-ing offers for its tower business as the Saudi Arabian telecommunications company seeks to become profita-ble, Chief Executive Officer Ahmad Farroukh said.

“We received certain indicative offers,” Farroukh said in an interview in Riyadh. “If the deal is good for our shareholders, for sure I’ll bring it on the table.”

The second-biggest telecommu-nication provider in Saudi Arabia is one of several seeking to sell towers as network quality becomes similar across different operators. Digital Bridge Holdings is among the lead-ing bidders for Etihad Etisalat’s tower portfolio, which could fetch as much as $2bn, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The com-pany owns about 10,000 towers in the oil-rich kingdom.

Saudi news website Maaal reported in February that “high- level negotiations” were happening to create a company to own the tow-ers of all three telecommunication providers in the kingdom, including Saudi Telecom Co. Zain Saudi Ara-bia is assessing several options for its towers, including selling them for cash and leasing them back or work-ing with competitors to create one tower company, CEO Hassan Kab-bani said last week.

While Etihad Etisalat, also known as Mobily, isn’t “after a deal for the sake of a deal” the company is keen to sell the towers as they are “not our core business,” Farroukh said. “It’s a complicated thing. You have to go to each and every of our 10,000 sites, negotiate the rent with 10,000 landlords and have the con-sent for them to move to the new tower company.”

The kingdom’s other two oper-ators, Zain Saudi Arabia and Saudi Telecom Co., are also “thinking of

the same,” he said. Mobily, 27 per-cent owned by Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Telecommunications Group, is recov-ering from accounting irregularities discovered more than a year ago that cost the company its CEO and billions in market value.

The company reported its first quarterly profit in the fourth quar-ter after four consecutive period of losses.

Mobily aims to become profitable again this year, although all telecom-munication companies are facing an unexpected challenge from a regula-tory requirement to take fingerprints from customers, Farroukh said. The requirement, instituted in January, “in a way limits your growth,” he said. “It’s a learning curve and we’re hop-ing there will be extensions, but we’re working 24/7.”

The company is still waiting to hear the results of a Capital Mar-kets Authority investigation into the accounting regularities, Farroukh said.

Etihad Etisalat assessing offers for Saudi tower business

AFP

MADRID: One of the world’s big-gest renewable energy firms, Spain’s Abengoa, said it had been given a seven-month breathing space by its creditors for restructuring that should stave off the threat of imme-diate bankruptcy.

The company ended 2015 with

a debt of ¤9.4bn ($10.5bn), which it hopes to slim to 4.9bn.

It announced in November that it was filing for preliminary protec-tion from creditors and had been given a March 28 deadline to strike a deal with at least 60 percent of its debt-holders. Under the “standstill” deal announced Monday, 75.04 per-cent of creditors agreed to the grace period. In parallel, the company plans to file for Chapter 11 protection from

creditors for its affiliates in the United States.

“This (is a) key step in the restruc-turing process of Abengoa and will permit the company to complete the Financial Viability Plan that has already been accepted by lenders in order to stabilise business and pro-tect its leadership in the energy and environmental sectors,” the company said in a statement.

Abengoa, which employed 28,700

people worldwide in 2015, wants to refocus on core activities. It has already signalled its intentions to sell off its biofuels assets and other hold-ings, on a case-by-case basis.

A family-owned company founded 75 years ago, Abengoa rose from being a local electrical firm, fix-ing installations damaged in Spain’s 1936-39 civil war, to a major player in solar energy and other renewables.

But risky bets on biofuels, Spain’s

cuts to renewable energy subsidies during an economic downturn and the Benjumea family’s refusal to raise capital out of fear of losing control of the company pushed it to the edge of bankruptcy.

The company’s head, Felipe Ben-jumea, stepped down last September. He is under investigation for serious mismanagement and under fire for taking a compensation package of ¤11m.

Reuters

DUBAI: Kuwait Finance House (KFH) has received an offer from investors to buy its stake in affiliate Aref Investment Group, the coun-try’s biggest Islamic lender said in a bourse statement yesterday.

Aref is a diversified investment firm which is 53% owned by KFH and has share capital of $400m, according to information on the websites. “KFH has received an offer from investors who have shown pre-liminary interest in acquiring KFH’s stake in Aref Investment Group, and this offer is currently under study and no decision has been taken as yet,” the statement said.

NTT Data buys Dell’s systems unit for $3.055bn

Creditors give Abengoa seven months for restructuringSaudi Travel and Tourism Investment Market opens

The initiative, which involves businesses working with lenders to restructure their loans, is intended to give breathing space to SMEs, which contribute around 60% of UAE’s gross domestic product.

KFH gets offer for Aref affiliate from investors

Tourists interact with ‘Nao’, a humanoid robot by Aldebaran Robotics that offers basic service information, in front of a branch of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ at Narita International Airport near Tokyo, Japan.

Interacting with humanoid robot

BUSINESS 25TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Author-ity has approved an initial public offer of shares in Al Yamamah Steel Industries Co, the regulator said yesterday, after severe volatility in the stock market earlier this year disrupted listing plans. The maker of steel tubes, pipes and other products with plants in Jeddah, Dammam and Yanbu will offer 15.25m shares rep-resenting 30 percent of its capital between April 27 and May 3. Some of the shares will be allo-cated to institutional investors, the CMA said without giving details. The Saudi stock index has swung wildly this year in response to low oil prices, but in the last few weeks has regained some strength, permitting IPO activity to resume. Hospi-tal operator Middle East Healthcare Co, which originally intended to complete an IPO in early February, rescheduled the offer to March. Its shares will begin trading today, the CMA said.

UAE ups April petrol and diesel pricesDUBAI: The UAE will raise domestic prices for pet-rol and diesel in April after global oil prices increased, the ministry of energy said yester-day. The price of a litre of octane 95 petrol will rise to Dh1.51 (41 US cents) at the start of next month from Dh1.36. The domestic diesel price will increase to Dh1.56 from Dh1.40. Last July, the UAE said it was shifting from a system of fixed, subsidised fuel prices to adjusting prices monthly in response to global trends. It did not reveal details of its new formula.

GASC again cancels tender to buy riceABU DHABI: Egypt’s state grain buyer, the General Authority for Supply Com-modities (GASC), said yesterday that it had can-celled an international tender to buy an unspeci-fied amount of rice. GASC Vice-Chairman Mamdouh Abdel Fattah did not give a reason for the cancellation. Traders said GASC had received only two valid offers for the tender, all for Indian origin rice.

Yamamah Steel IPO gets CMA nod

AP

NEW YORK: The price for Starwood Hotels rocketed higher after an offer from China’s Anbang and its partners crossed the $15bn mark in a fight for control with Marriott International.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts World-wide Inc, which has a tony stable of hotels including the St. Regis New York, said yesterday that the offer from the Anbang group is “reason-ably likely” to be superior to the one made just last week by Marriott.

While CEO Arne Sorenson (pic-tured) said in an interview at the time on CNBC that he didn’t tell Starwood that the latest offer was Marriott’s last and best, some industry analysts believe this may be a fight it can’t win, at least if it is to be determined by the highest bid.

Marriott said in a letter yesterday that shareholders of Starwood should give serious consideration not only

to financing an offer of such size, but also to “the timing of any required regulatory approvals”.

While Marriott said it would not comment outside of that letter, it appeared to be alluding to hurdles that a Chinese company would have in acquiring Starwood. Anbang is the Chinese insurance company that two years ago acquired the famed Waldorf Astoria of York. While that deal was cleared by the US Treasury’s Commit-tee on Foreign Investment, a decision

was made to house President Barack Obama, his top aides and staff along with the sizable US diplomatic con-tingent elsewhere during the annual UN General Assembly, which takes place every September.

Presidents and other top US dip-lomatic officials had stayed at the Waldorf for decades. For Anbang, analysts say Starwood isn’t valued so much for its brand name as much as it is for its location: Outside of China. That has been the view of Canac-cord analyst Ryan Meliker, who told clients in a research note, “We don’t think (Marriott) can go higher, and we would question it if they did.”

Anbang and a number of Chinese companies have been seeking to park money in more stable locations, such as US real estate, particularly with signs of slowing growth at home growing ever clearer. The blitz by the Chinese insurer into the US real estate market has repeatedly knocked askew the ambitions of Marriott, which has been attempting to add

Starwood’s posh hotels to its portfo-lio since last year. Marriott initially bid $12.2bn for the Greenwich, Con-necticut, hotel in November and most had expected that it would become the biggest hotel in the world when it completed the deal.

But few had realised the ambition, or motivation, of Anbang, even though it made a sweeping entrance into the US real estate market when it bought the Waldorf Astoria from Hilton for

the staggering price of almost $2bn.Those ambitions became a bit

clearer earlier this month, even before it challenged Marriott for control of Starwood, when it laid down $6.5bn to acquire Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc, which owns several high-end prop-erties including the JW Marriott Essex House in New York. Shares of Marri-ott International Inc jumped 4 percent yesterday, one of the biggest gainers on the Standard & Poor’s index.

The latest offer from Anbang is for $88.66 per Starwood share, or $15.03bn. That tops the $14.41bn offer that Marriott made last week.

Anbang’s offer includes $82.75 per share in cash, which is an increase of $4.75 per share from its previous bid. The bid also includes $5.91 in stock for a spinoff of a vacation business. Whoever gains control of Starwood will likely be entering Cuba, as well. Starwood last week became the first US hotel operator to gain access to Cuba during the first visit by a sit-ting US president in almost 90 years.

China’s Anbang bids $15.03bn for StarwoodThe latest offer from Anbang is for $88.66 per Starwood share, or $15.03bn. That tops the $14.41bn offer that Marriott made last week.

Reuters

WASHINGTON: US consumer spend-ing barely rose in February and inflation retreated, suggesting the Federal Reserve could remain cau-tious about raising interest rates this year even as the labour market rap-idly tightens.

Yesterday’s report from the Com-merce Department also showed consumer spending in January was not as strong as previously reported. That, together with other data show-ing a widening in the goods trade deficit in February, indicated eco-nomic growth remained sluggish in the first quarter.

“It speaks to the weakening in domestic economic momentum at the start of this year, further reinforc-ing the Fed’s cautious monetary policy bias,” said Millan Mulraine, deputy chief economist at TD Securities in New York.

Consumer spending edged up 0.1 percent as households cut back on goods purchases after a downwardly revised 0.1 percent gain in January. Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, was previously reported to have increased 0.5 percent in January.

When adjusted for inflation, con-sumer spending rose 0.2 percent. Inflation-adjusted consumer spending for January was revised down to show it unchanged rather than the 0.4 per-cent rise that was previously reported.

Given labour market strength and cheap gasoline, economists spec-ulated that consumption had been hampered by a massive stock market sell-off at the start of the year which eroded consumer confidence.

In a separate report, the Com-merce Department said the advance goods trade deficit widened to $62.9bn in February from $62.2bn, rising for a fourth straight month as an increase in exports was offset by a gain in imports. The government will publish February’s trade data, which includes services, on April 5.

In the wake of the consumer spending and trade data, econo-mists slashed their first-quarter gross domestic product growth estimates by as much as half a percentage point

to as low as a 0.9 percent annualized rate. The economy grew at a 1.4 per-cent pace in the fourth quarter.

The dollar fell against a bas-ket of currencies on the data, while prices for US government bonds rose marginally. Inflation moder-ated last month, with a price index for consumer spending dipping 0.1 percent after nudging up 0.1 percent in January. In the 12 months through February, the personal consump-tion expenditures (PCE) price index increased 1.0 percent after rising 1.2 percent in January.

Excluding food and energy, prices gained 0.1 percent after advancing 0.3 percent in January. In the 12 months through February, the so-called core PCE price index increased 1.7 percent

after a similar increase in January.The core PCE is the Fed’s preferred

inflation measure and is running below its 2 percent target. The slow-down in the monthly core PCE reading came after Fed Chair Janet Yellen recently expressed skepticism over the sustainability of the gains in core inflation measures.

Yellen told reporters this month “there may be some transitory fac-tors” behind the run-up in prices. Still, the annual core PCE rate held above the level that central bank policymakers expected it to be by the end of this year.

The still-soft inflation suggests the US central bank will continue to gradually raise interest rates this year. New Fed projections published

this month showed policymakers expect two quarter-point rate hikes by year-end, half the number seen in December.

The Fed hiked its benchmark overnight interest rate in December for the first time in nearly a decade. Consumer spending last month was held back by a 0.7 percent drop in pur-chases of goods. Spending on services rose 0.4 percent.

Personal income rose 0.2 percent after rising 0.5 percent in January. The slowdown in income growth is likely temporary amid anecdotal evi-dence that the tightening jobs market, marked by an unemployment rate at an eight-year low of 4.9 percent and growing skills shortages, is driving up wages.

Reuters

TOKYO: A laggard in embracing the ‘fintech’, or financial technol-ogy, revolution, Japan is set to ease investment restrictions that could free up the flow of capital in an economy sitting on an estimated $9 trillion in individuals’ cash deposits.

Strict regulation, easy access to credit due to rock-bottom inter-est rates, and weak demand for innovative financial services from a risk-averse population that still prefers cash to credit cards, have strangled fintech’s advance in Japan.

Fintech ventures — usually start-ups leveraging technology from cloud data storage to smartphones to provide loans, insurance and pay-ment services — raised $2.7bn in China last year, and over $1.5bn in India, according to CB Insights data. Ventures in the US attracted invest-ment of around $7.4bn.

In comparison, investment in Japanese ventures reached only around $44m in the first nine months of 2015. Now, Japan’s finan-cial industry regulator hopes relaxed rules on investing in financial ventures, and a new system for reg-ulating virtual currency exchanges will pass through parliament by May — a first step in kickstarting the fintech revolution in the world’s third-biggest economy.

“The law changes aren’t a goal, but a first step,” Norio Sato, a senior offi-cial at the Financial Services Authority (FSA), said. The changes, which will allow banks to buy stakes of up to 100 percent in non-finance-related firms, will free up Japan’s three meg-abanks to enter into tie-ups with fintech ventures developing serv-ices including robotic investment advisory and blockchain, the decen-tralised ledger technology behind the bitcoin digital currency.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group and Sum-itomo Mitsui Financial Group have said they are eyeing such invest-ments, having previously been

restricted to holding stakes of only 5-15 percent in start-ups.

Under pressure from weak loan demand, the megabanks see an opportunity to earn money through fintech, but are also aware of its potential to disrupt traditional busi-ness models.

The unpromising fintech envi-ronment in Japan — which was blindsided by the high-profile col-lapse of the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange in 2014 when hackers stole an esti-mated $650m worth of the digital currency — has seen some entrepre-neurs go overseas for funding.

Junichi Horiguchi, co-founder and CEO of bitcoin service provider Zerobillbank Ltd established his start-up in Tel Aviv last year to take advantage of Israel’s advanced tech-nology industry.

Investment in fintech start-ups by global banks and tech giants including Barclays, Google and Facebook is far more common in Israel than in Japan, he said. “It’s completely different over there,” Horiguchi said. “Every month there are open innovation contests and (start-up) accelerator programmes.”

Sales at Japan’s fintech start-ups could jump to over half a billion dol-lars by 2020 as the use of technology such as blockchain increases, Yano Research Institute said in a report.

The new rules the FSA is promot-ing on virtual currency exchanges could make Japan one of the first countries to regulate bitcoin at a national level.

“Japan hasn’t previously been enthusiastic about fintech,” said Sato. “But creating these rules this fast could gain the world’s attention.”

Bitcoin entrepreneurs, often reli-ant on investment for growth, have called for clearer regulation and will welcome the latest changes, said Yuzo Kano, founder and CEO of bitcoin exchange bitFlyer Inc and head of the Japan Authority for Dig-ital Assets, a lobbying group. “The establishment of the law is extremely surprising,” Kano said, referring to how quickly the FSA had drafted the law. “It’s set to be very successful.”

Bloomberg

TOKYO: Sharp Corp and Foxconn Technology Group said they are pushing to close the rescue deal for the Japanese manufacturer that has been held up by disagreement for more than a month.

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, Foxconn’s flagship company, said that it will hold a board meeting tomor-row as scheduled, where it may discuss the Sharp deal depending on the stage of negotiations, according to a statement to the Taiwan stock exchange. Sharp said yesterday that it aims to reach the agreement as soon as possible, and will promptly make information public if it reaches a decision requiring disclosure.

Sharp’s banks are ready to push back the deadline for most of

the company’s 510bn yen ($4.5bn) in loans and credit lines beyond March 31, people with knowledge of the matter said earlier. That would give the Japanese maker of Aquos televisions more time to reach a renegotiated deal to be acquired by billionaire Terry Gou’s Foxconn.

Sharp, along with the banks, is aiming for its directors to endorse a final proposal by March 31, one per-son has said, although the board could meet for a vote earlier if a deal is presented. At the same time, an extension by the banks would give Sharp more time to negotiate a final agreement in April. The shares of Sharp rose 4 percent to 131 yen at the close in Tokyo, their biggest jump since March 7. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average advanced 0.8 percent.

The extension may be as long as a month, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the decision

hasn’t been publicly announced. Gou agreed a month ago to buy Sharp for more than 600bn yen, but has held off on signing a final agreement while his advisers scrutinise the compa-ny’s finances.

Foxconn is seeking to cut the amount it will pay for equity in Sharp to about 389bn yen, one per-son familiar with the matter has said. The Taiwanese company will prob-ably still pay about 100bn yen for preferred shares that the banks own, though the payment may be delayed, the person said.

More than a month has passed since Sharp’s board backed Foxconn’s bailout over a competing offer from Innovation Network Corp of Japan. In the interim, Foxconn’s Gou put the brakes on the deal while he seeks more clarity on Sharp’s perform-ance in the current quarter, people familiar with the matter have said.

US consumer spending and trade data signal sluggish growth

Japan looks to kick-start

‘fintech’ revolution

Sharp and Foxconn push to close deal

BUSINESS26 TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

QE Index 10,145.39 0.82 %

QE Total Return Index 16,316.73 0.66 %

QE Al Rayan Islamic Index 3,969.52 0.17 %

QE All Share Index 2,818.48 0.32 %

QE All Share Banks & Financial Services 2,764.01 0.52 %

QE All Share Industrials 3,123.81 0.92 %

QE All Share Transportation 2,517.82 0.60 %

QE All Share Real Estate 2,441.31 1.20 %

QE All Share Insurance 4,387.74 1.30 %

QE All Share Telecoms 1,100.08 0.90 %

QE All Share Consumer Goods & Services 6,601.89 0.54 %

QE INDICES SUMMARY QATAR STOCK EXCHANGE

QE MARKET SUMMARY COMPARISON

GOLD AND SILVER

WORLD STOCK INDICES

28-03-2016 Today 27-03-2016 Previous dayIndex 10,145.39 10,229.02

Change 83.63 56.48

% 0.82 0.55

YTD% 2.72 1.92

Volume 10,189,517 8,847,314

Value (QAR) 370,786,003.69 273,949,395.28

Trades 4,638 3,672

Up 16 | Down 24 | Unchanged 03

GOLD QR144.3135 per grammeSILVER QR1.8191 per gramme

Index Day’s Close Pt Chg % Chg Year High Year LowAll Ordinaries 5204.312 -26.473 -0.51 5379.6 4762.1

Cac 40 Index/D 4451.66 19.69 0.44 4586.11 3892.46

Dj Indu Average 17582.57 -41.3 -0.23 18351.4 15370.3

Hang Seng Inde/D 20615.23 -51.52 -0.25 21794.84 18278.8

Iseq Overall/D 6206.86 27.91 0.45 6791.68 5611.89

Karachi 100 In/D 32928.3 -94.57 -0.29 33304.4 29785

Nikkei 225 Index 17000.98 -47.57 -0.28 18951.12 14865.77

S&P 500 Index/D 0 0 0 2134.72 1810.1

EXCHANGE RATECurrency Buying Selling

US$ QR 3.6305 QR 3.6500

UK QR 5.1151 QR 5.1900

Euro QR 4.0288 QR 4.1103

CA$ QR 2.7197 QR 2.7816

Swiss Fr QR 3.6883 QR 3.7817

Yen QR 0.0317 QR 0.0325

Aus$ QR 2.7039 QR 2.7726

Ind Re QR 0.0538 QR 0.0551

Pak Re QR 0.0349 QR 0.0348

Peso QR 0.0769 QR 0.0794

SL Re QR 0.0245 QR 0.0253

Taka QR 0.0467 QR 0.0459

Nep Re QR 0.0348 QR 0.0343

SA Rand QR 0.2362 QR 0.2408

CAIRO: The Egyptian pound fell to an unprecedented low on the black market yesterday, five traders said, as hard currency demand rises in the dollar-starved econ-omy. Egypt, which relies heavily on imports, has faced a shortage of foreign currency since a popular uprising in 2011 drove away many tourists and foreign investors.

A black market for dollars has sucked up liquidity from the banking system and put a strain on the coun-try’s foreign reserves, while the central bank had been keeping the pound artificially strong through weekly dollar auctions.

Reserves more than halved to $16.5bn in February from around $36bn before the uprising. Rates on the black market continued to climb yesterday, reaching unprecedented levels of 10 pounds per dollar compared with around 9.8 pounds last week, five traders told Reu-ters. No volumes of trade were given.

In an attempt to close the gap between official and black market rates the central bank devalued the cur-rency to 8.85 per dollar from 7.7301 this month. It later strengthened it to 8.78 per dollar, while adopting a more flexible exchange-rate policy.

Egyptian pound falls to new low

IANS

MUMBAI: Profit booking, coupled with heightened chances of a US rate hike and unwinding of long positions dragged the Indian equity markets lower yesterday.

Consequently, the barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) closed the day’s trade deep in the red. It plunged by 371 points or 1.46 percent.

Similarly, the wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) receded into the negative territory. It declined by 101.40 points or 1.31 per-cent, at 7,615.10 points.

The Sensex, which opened at

25,417.11 points, closed at 24,966.40 points—down 371.16 points or 1.46 percent from the previous day’s close at 25,337.56 points.

During the intra-day trade, the Sensex touched a high of 25,432.94 points and a low of 24,895.49 points. The BSE market breadth favoured the bears — with 1,999 declines and 967 advances.

The barometer index had closed the last trade session flat on March 23. The Indian equity markets were closed on March 24-25. Market ana-lysts pointed out that profit booking, and unwinding of long positions ahead of the derivatives expiry and financial year end dragged the equity markets lower.

In addition, investors were hes-itant to chase prices due to the

heightened chances of a US rate hike next month. Recent US economic growth data have increased chances of a rate hike. A hike in the US interest rates is expected to lead away Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) from emerg-ing markets such as India.

Further, an unstable rupee dented sentiments. The Indian rupee closed flat during the day’s trade. It stood at 66.57 to a US dollar from its previ-ous close of 66.62-63 to a greenback.

“Markets are witnessing some selling pressure today ahead of the F&O (futures and options) expiry and fears of an interest rate hike after St.Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard hinted at a rate hike in April or June,” Vaibhav Agarwal, vice president and research head at Angel Broking, told IANS.

“Breadth continued to remain weak with an advance decline ratio of 1:2. We expect markets to remain under pressure in the short term. However, the directional trend con-tinues to remain positive, with a 25 basis points rate cut expected in the upcoming credit policy.”

Nitasha Shankar, senior vice pres-ident for research with YES Securities said: “Indian markets shut shop lower led by profit booking in late trade. However, it recovered marginally from the low point indicating active buying from support levels. Further, volumes remained shallow in the cor-rective bars suggesting a pause before indices resumed their uptrend.”

“Broader markets came under selling pressure underperforming the headline indices. Market breadth

also ended in favour of the bears as high beta stocks witnessed unwind-ing of long positions,” Shankar noted.

According to Shankar, metal, real-ity, PSU (public sector undertaking) banks, and pharma indices experi-enced heavy selling and closed lower by 2-4 percent.

Furthermore, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers during the day’s trade, while the domes-tic institutional investors (DIIs) sold stocks. The data with stock exchanges showed that FIIs invested Rs2,042.94 crore, while the DIIs sold stocks worth Rs2,494.44 crore.

Sector-wise, all 19 BSE indices closed in the red. Stocks of consumer durables, banking, healthcare, metal and capital goods sectors came under intense selling pressure.

The S&P BSE consumer durables index plunged by 401.98 points, the banking index receded by 348.50 points, the healthcare index declined by 301.29 points, metal index edged lower by 299.41 points and the capi-tal goods index fell by 269.23 points.

Major Sensex gainers during yes-terday’s trade were NTPC, up 1.57 percent at Rs129.35; Gail, up 0.42 per-cent at Rs357.60; and Bajaj Auto, up 0.04 percent at Rs2,355.50.

Major Sensex losers during the day’s trade were Tata Steel, down 5.23 percent at Rs300.05; State Bank of India (SBI), down 4.24 percent at Rs188.45; Sun Pharmaceuticals, down 4.20 percent at Rs811.05; ICICI, down 3.86 percent at Rs225.25; and Tata Motors, down 3.63 percent at Rs.363.25.

Profit booking and US rate hike fear subdue Indian equity markets

Reuters

NEW YORK: Wall Street and the dollar fell following weaker-than-expected US eco-nomic data yesterday that suggested the Federal Reserve may not be raising inter-est rates in the near future. The European markets were closed for a holiday.

The dollar reversed earlier gains and moved lower after US consumer spending data that indicated a cooling economy and weak first-quarter gross domestic product growth. The weaker-than-expected con-sumer spending, as well as a downward adjustment to January’s numbers and weak readings for personal income and inflation, suggested the Fed may stay on hold through its next two meetings in April and June.

“Because we had softer (personal con-sumption expenditures) data and also the big downward revision in spending in January, that is causing a lot of the (dollar) long trades that many have put on to be cut back,” said Kathy Lien, managing director at BK Asset Management in New York. “Today’s report certainly raises the question of whether the Fed can pull the trigger in June.”

Higher interest rates increase the strength of the dollar by making it more attractive to investors, but a strong dollar can weigh on the returns of firms that do

Dollar and US stocks fall

business overseas, hurting earnings. The dollar index fell 0.3 percent against a bas-ket of six major currencies, falling to 95.861. It had risen as high as 96.339 prior to the data, its highest in almost two weeks.

US stocks opened higher but turned down as investors digested the data, with the energy sector lower as oil prices slipped. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 17.15 points, or 0.1 percent, to 17,498.58, the S&P 500 lost 3.26 points, or 0.16 percent, to 2,032.68 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 10.61 points, or 0.22 percent, to 4,762.90.

Japanese shares rose overnight, with the Nikkei index up 0.77 percent to close at 17,135 yen. With share markets in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong closed for holidays, the MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat.

Chinese stocks turned lower, with the Shanghai Composite index falling 0.7 percent and the CSI 300 losing 0.9 percent. MSCI’s

measure of emerging markets stocks rose by around 0.1 percent in thin trading. MSCI’s index of world shares gained 0.11 percent.

Bond prices briefly rose in the wake of the US data before turning flat, with yields on benchmark US 10-year Treasuries fall-ing below 1.9 percent.

Oil prices, which have risen about 50 percent since multi-year lows hit in Janu-ary, turned lower in thin trading. US crude futures fell 1.1 percent to $39.04 per barrel, and Brent lost 1.4 percent to $39.87.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen and other Fed policymakers are expected to speak today, making the US central bank’s policy the big-gest focus for now.

Given that money markets are pricing in only about a 50-percent chance of a rate hike by the Fed in June, with hardly any like-lihood of an April hike factored in, any signs of a tightening in the next quarter could rat-tle financial markets.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen and other Fed policymakers are expected to speak today, making the US central bank’s policy the biggest focus for now.

LONDON: Gold edged up yes-terday, as the dollar retreated after weaker-than-expected US data, but stayed close to a one-month low as investors focused on speeches by Federal Reserve officials that could give more clues on potential interest rate increases.

Spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,218.62 an ounce by 1253 GMT, after touching a session low of $1,208.15, its cheapest since Febru-ary 23. The metal lost 3 percent last week, its biggest weekly loss since November on speculation that the next US rate increase could come as soon as next month.

Liquidity was thin as London and many other gold markets were closed for the Easter Mon-day holiday. “Gold’s short-term technical trend has slightly dete-riorated, with the $1,190-$1,200 level becoming a strong support area,” said Carlo Alberto de Casa, ActivTrades chief analyst.

Inflows into gold exchange-traded funds (ETF) continued, suggesting that some confidence in bullion remained. Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed ETF, rose to its highest since December 2013 at 26.48 million ounces on Thursday, the latest available data shows.

Russia and Kazakhstan added to their bullion reserves in Feb-ruary, while Malaysia and Turkey cut their holdings, data from the International Monetary Fund showed on Friday.

Spot silver gained 0.6 percent to $15.23 an ounce, palladium fell 0.6 percent to $573.30 and plati-num was unchanged at $946.50 an ounce.

Gold pulls away from 1-month low

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) yesterday.

BUSINESS VIEWS 27TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

China car fever lifting petrol seen as root of diesel glutBy Serene Cheong and Sharon Cho Bloomberg

China’s love of cars and the gasoline that runs them is exacerbating an oversup-ply in another fuel decried by refiners

across Asia, according to Bank of China International.

While refineries in the world’s biggest auto market process more oil to feed demand for motor fuel, they also end up producing diesel, which is being used less because of shrink-ing Chinese industrial activity, Xiao Fu, head of commodity markets strategy at the bank, said in an interview. Amid this “product mis-match”, excess gasoil is being shipped overseas, flooding regional markets and affecting profit margins, according to Fu.

Unlike China’s bloated coal and steel industries, refineries have so far been spared from President Xi Jinping’s drive to cut indus-trial overcapacity, with oil processing rising to a record last year and capacity seen expand-ing in coming years. That’s being driven by demand for petrol on surging vehicle sales, which the state-backed China Association of

Automobile Manufacturers predicts will gain about 6 percent this year, faster than the 4.7 percent pace in 2015.

“Petrol demand in China is getting very strong and it’s a function of people driving different cars, like you and I having more money and buying nicer cars,” Fu said in Sin-gapore. “As China has its infrastructure set up to produce a lot more distillates such as die-sel, when it makes more gasoline, it ends up having to export more distillates that would affect regional markets further.”

China’s demand for petrol will proba-bly jump 6.8 percent a year in the 2015-2021 period, with the nation’s vehicle fleet expanding almost 10 percent annually, the International Energy Agency said in a report last month. Meanwhile, the slowest economic growth in more than two decades is slowing factory activity and reducing domestic diesel consumption. Industrial production rose 5.4 percent in the first two months of 2016 from a year before, the weakest reading since 2009.

The Economics & Technology Research Institute of China National Petroleum Corp., the nation’s biggest energy company, predicts that the country’s annual refining capacity

may expand by 16.4 percent in the five years to 2020, with diesel making up 90 percent of the fuel surplus by then.

The nation’s diesel stockpiles increased by more than 38 percent in February from the previous month, while gasoline supplies shrunk about 7 percent, according to China Oil, Gas & Petrochemicals, a newsletter published by the official Xinhua News Agency. Die-sel demand remained sluggish as operations of plants, infrastructure projects and logis-tics services stayed lower amid the Chinese New Year holiday while the use of gasoline was boosted by increased travel during the period, the newsletter showed.

After China exported a record amount of diesel last year, profits from making gasoil in Asia slumped to $7.53 a barrel at the end of January, the lowest level since at least 2010.

China’s demand for crude will grow as the nation’s independent refiners, known as tea-pots, purchase more supplies from overseas after the government eased import rules for the processors, according to Fu. Shipments will also be boosted by the country’s drive to fill strategic petroleum reserves in the world’s second-biggest oil consumer.

A total of 23 teapots have applied for crude-import quotas so far, of which 12 were granted annual licenses with a combined capacity of 51.39 million metric tons. Oper-ating rates at the refineries clustered in the eastern Shandong province climbed earlier this year to the highest level since at least 2011, data from industry website Oilchem.net show.

“Higher refinery capacity could provide incentives for China to import more crude,” said Fu. Importing crude will help teapots improve the yield of products from processing, compared with when they operated at lower rates by using fuel oil as feedstock, she said, adding that the building of strategic reserves will provide the “additional kicker” for imports.

China may start four new strategic petro-leum reserve sites this year, augmenting its existing eight, as part of its ultimate goal of stockpiling enough oil to cover 100 days worth of imports by 2020. The country held about 29 days of supply as of the middle of 2015, according to Bloomberg calculations based on National Bureau of Statistics data. China in February bought about 8.04 million bar-rels a day of crude, the highest daily average on record.

By Liz Capo McCormick and Alexandra Scaggs

Bloomberg

Hedge funds are crowd-ing into US Treasuries, and that has bond trad-

ers bracing for more turbulence. While the Federal Reserve doesn’t break out hedge-fund ownership, a group seen as a proxy increased its holdings to a record $1.27 tril-lion in the past year, according to a quarterly report released by the central bank this month. That came as foreign central banks and finance ministries, the biggest buy- and-hold owners in recent years, culled their investments for the first time on an annual basis since 2000.

The surge of hedge funds into US government debt is a worry-ing sign to Societe Generale SA and Commerzbank AG. They say the firms, which often use borrowed money and jump in and out of trades at a moment’s notice, will boost the chances of sudden shocks in the world’s de facto haven market. That may compound swings in Treasuries, which by some measures have reached record levels as worries about China, the global economy and diverging central-bank pol-icies whipsaw bond traders. The Treasury Department is already looking into whether the mar-ket isn’t running as smoothly as it should.

Foreign central banks’ “mar-ket share is being replaced by private investors who take a much more active approach,” Rob VandenAssem, the head of investment-grade fixed-income for developed markets at PineBri-dge Investments, which manages $85bn, said in an e-mail. “Hedge funds in particular pose a risk to volatility.”

The potential that hedge funds will amplify Treasury swings adds to worries about the resil-ience of the $13.3 trillion market, especially as the Fed considers whether to raise interest rates this year.

And because yields are so low, sudden shifts in momentum could lead to big losses, especially for less nimble investors. Ten-year Treasuries yielded1.91 percent as of 4:29 p.m. in Tokyo on Mon-day, more than a half-percentage point below their June peak of 2.5 percent.

In the Fed’s quarterly reports, domestic hedge funds are cate-gorised under “households and non-profit organisations.” Most analysts consider it an accu-rate gauge of Treasuries held by those high-powered firms, and to a lesser degree, ownership by households and other groups like

private-equity shops and personal trusts. The latest data released March 10 showed they were the largest buyers of Treasuries last year, adding $398bn. That’s the biggest increase on an annual basis since 2009.

Hedge funds are also signal-ing their presence in the US bond market in other ways. Since the end of 2013, investors domiciled in the Caribbean, a popular legal home for hundreds of hedge funds seeking lower taxes, have increased their holdings of Treas-uries by 43 percent to $352bn, Treasury Department data show. As a group, they’re now the third biggest overseas creditors, behind only China and Japan.

At the same time, foreign investors, who still hold 40 per-cent of America’s bonds, were the only net sellers in 2015 as central banks in China and other emerg-ing markets raised cash to support their currencies. And Treasury Department figures showed they kept selling at the start of the year.

The rise of hedge-fund own-ership may already be making fluctuations in Treasuries worse. This year, daily swings in 10- year yields exceeded one standard deviation—equal to 0.043 per-centage point—about 39 percent of time, according to TD Securi-ties. That eclipses last year’s figure of 34 percent, which was the high-est for any year going back to 1975, the data show. “This will likely add volatility” said Bruno Braiz-inha, a fixed-income strategist at SocGen in New York.

Concerns over abrupt swings, whether it’s because of a lack of liquidity or an increase in high-volume traders, has already caught the attention of the US government. Spurred by a 12- minute plunge and rebound in yields on Oct. 15, 2014, the Treas-ury Department is conducting its first comprehensive review of the market’s structure since 1998.

Some say hedge funds aren’t the problem, but a potential solution.

By stepping in to take the place of traditional Wall Street banks, whose bond-trading businesses have come under pressure from regulations and shifts in technology, hedge funds may actually increase liquidity. And their use of leverage, or bor-rowed money, means they have the wherewithal to trade vast quantities of securities.

At least that’s the view of Ronin Capital LLC, a Chicago- based proprietary trading firm. When US officials asked for comments on liquidity and mar-ket structure earlier this year, the firm wrote in a March 19 let-ter that “leverage and liquidity in the US Treasury market go hand in hand.”

Hedge fund invasion of US Treasuries hits bond traders

Japan’s negative rates a looming headache for central bank

By Lisa Twaronite and Leika Kihara

Reuters

Driving interest rates below zero, the Bank of Japan has turned a comatose government bond market into an enormous free-for-all, complicating the central

bank’s own efforts to kick-start growth and end deflation. The $9 trillion market for Jap-anese government bonds had been all but paralysed since the BOJ began a massive monetary easing three years ago that made the bank the dominant buyer.

But in the two months since the BOJ announced it was imposing a negative interest rate, JGBs have become a volatile commodity, with prices swinging wildly as below-zero yields confound investors’ attempts to find fair market value.

“The JGB market is really in a bubble, when you think about it as an investment

vehicle,” said Takuji Okubo, chief economist at Japan Macro Advisors in Tokyo. “Their prices have moved away from fundamentals, and people don’t have a tra-ditional way to measure their value.”

As the BOJ’s dom-inance distorts bond market functions and dries up liquidity, the central bank could have a hard time tapering its buying binge when it eventually chooses to exit its “quantitative and qualitative easing” programme. The bank theoretically could just sit on its enormous hold-ings until the bonds mature, but policymak-ers are unlikely to want

those assets to remain on the balance sheet for decades. On the other hand, it might be difficult to smoothly taper off its asset pur-chases, much less sell its holdings.

So far, the BOJ’s money printing has kept the cost for financing the government’s mas-sive public debt very low. A spike in that cost could stoke market fears Japan may be losing control of its finances, potentially triggering a damaging bond sell-off, some analysts say.

“It would be quite tough for the BOJ to taper such an enormous balance sheet without disrupting markets,” said a person familiar with the BOJ’s thinking.

In the meantime, buying bonds that yield less than nothing is creating losses for the exchange-listed BOJ - not an immediate worry for the government but a potential risk to confidence in the guardian of the yen.

“The BOJ is sitting on a lot of risk, taking a huge position,” said one fund manager who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter. “How long can they keep buying so many JGBs? Not forever, but a long time.”

BOJ officials publicly say the slide in bond yields into negative territory showed the January 29 move to adopt negative rates was effective in pushing down borrowing costs, and that volatility will fall as market players get used to the concept of negative rates. But some BOJ officials worry that bond yields have become more susceptible to abrupt swings as speculators and new-comers to the market hoard 10- and 20-year JGBs, without much consideration to the risks and term premium.

As a result, the BOJ - which the Interna-tional Monetary Fund says is reaching the limits of the amount of debt it can swallow

- could face difficulties if it wants to expand its asset purchases, as markets expect it will.

“If investors are buying long-dated JGBs just because they yield something, they may be under-estimating the risks,” said another official familiar with the BOJ’s thinking.

“The BOJ needs to conduct market operations so that markets don’t become excessively volatile,” the official said.

With the market dominated by the BOJ’s

The $9 trillion market for Japanese government bonds had been all but paralysed since the BOJ began a massive monetary easing three years ago that made the bank the dominant buyer.

China’s demand for petrol will probably jump 6.8 percent a year in the 2015-2021 period, with the nation’s vehicle fleet expanding almost 10 percent annually, the International Energy Agency said in a report last month.

massive buying and its policy decisions bent on surprising markets, many mar-ket players expect high volatility to persist, giving Japanese investors who still hold a large amount of JGBs a headache.

Negative yields make it a challenge to calculate a bond’s fair value, the returns it can be expected to generate through maturity. Market participants say wide spreads between bids and offers also com-plicate trading, and increase volatility.

The average daily trading range of the benchmark JGB futures rose to about 0.44 point after the BOJ’s shock decision to adopt negative interest rates, more than double the average of 0.20 point in the preceding one-year period.

Trading in longer-dated cash bonds became even messier as about three quar-ters of JGBs, or up to 12 years to maturity, have negative yields, prompting investors to rush to buy 20- and30-year bonds in panic.

“As investors fight to secure some of the rapidly declining float of investable bonds, the market is trading like a depart-ment store’s going-out-of-business sale,” said Neale Vincent, strategist at Nomura Securities. But many market players say the BOJ’s unpredictable policy is the big-gest source of volatility.

The central bank announced its nega-tive rates policy only days after Governor Haruhiko Kuroda repeated his stance that negative rates were not among its options

- leading to cynicism in the market that there was little point trying to forecast what the bank might do.

In addition, with zero percent no longer serving as a floor for various inter-est rates, traders and investors are unsure how far rates can fall, leading to unusual instability at the short end.

BOJ officials say they do not intend to control interest rates because their main policy target is still base money, or cash and deposits. But they cannot turn a blind eye to wild swings in interest rates, par-ticularly a spike in rates.

A man walks past the Bank of Japan (BOJ) building in Tokyo, Japan.

BUSINESS28 TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

Indian rupee’s March rebound boosts reserves to recordBy Kartik Goyal

Bloomberg

INDIA’S foreign-exchange reserves climbed to a record as the rupee heads for its biggest monthly

advance in two years. The cur-rency stockpile rose by $2.54bn in the week through March 18 to an unprecedented $355.95bn, a Reserve Bank of India statement showed on Friday.

That capped a third straight week of increases. The rupee has jumped 2.8 percent in March as India’s government stuck to its fiscal goals in last month’s budget and investor sentiment toward emerging markets improved amid efforts by global central banks to support growth. That’s helped pare the Indian currency’s 2016 drop to 0.6 per-cent, Asia’s worst performance.

The rise in reserves provides RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan more ammunition to shield the region’s third-largest economy from capital outflows amid the possibility of further interest- rate increases by the Federal Reserve and any risks from the slowdown in China.

A gauge of the rupee’s expected price swings has dropped 70 basis points this month and Edelweiss Finan-cial Services Ltd says a stable currency will aid central bank efforts to control inflation and give it more room to lower bor-rowing costs.

“With record reserves in hand, the RBI is in a much more

comfortable position to coun-ter any bouts of volatility,” said Ankur Jhaveri, co-head of cur-rencies and rates at Edelweiss Financial in Mumbai.

The central bank will cut the benchmark repurchase rate by 25 basis points at its April 5 meeting, he said.

The rupee rose 0.1 percent from March 23 to close at 66.57 a dollar in Mumbai, accord-ing to prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg. Indian markets were shut on Thursday and Friday for public holidays. The currency’s rally this month follows a 0.9 percent decline in February and a 2.4 percent slide in January.

The central bank has “taken the opportunity to re- accumu-late reserves when sentiment turned positive toward the rupee,” said Khoon Goh, a senior currency strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Singapore. The RBI had also taken action during Janu-ary-February, when the rupee was under depreciation pres-sure, resulting in a decline in reserves for the period, he said.

The rupee sank to an all-time low of 68.845 a dollar in August 2013 after the Fed’s signal to withdraw monetary stimulus led to an exodus of foreign funds from emerging markets. It has since rebounded 3.4 percent. India’s foreign-exchange reserves surpassed a previous all-time high seen in June 2015 and have jumped about 29 percent since Rajan took charge at the central bank in September 2013.

By Saritha Rai

Bloomberg

CRAIGSLIST could learn a thing or two from Quikr. The Indian equivalent of the free classifieds service pub-lishes product ratings,

handles payments and shipping and — crucially — releases payment only after a buyer gives their purchase a once-over and a virtual thumbs-up.

In so doing, the site that lists for sale everything from smartphones to cars is trying to solve problems familiar to every local flea-market bargain-hunter: the typically loud and messy business of haggling, unwieldy transport, and a distrust of smaller merchants. The app’s manifold serv-ices illustrate the extent to which local companies have to innovate and tailor their approaches in a hyper compet-itive market.

“We are trying to make it as easy as buying something new,” said Pra-nay Chulet, whose eight-year-old Quikr is backed by Warburg Pincus and EBay Inc. “Instead of the Western ‘we’ll connect you and you go figure the rest’ approach to classifieds, we Indian-ised it.”

India’s shaping up to become the next big e-commerce battleground for global players from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Amazon.com Inc. to local champions Flipkart and Snap-deal. Despite concerns that industry valuations may have gotten ahead of present reality, with a Morgan Stanley fund writing down its Flipkart stake by more than a quarter, the lure is a $25bn market growing at up to 40 percent annually that’s still consid-ered virgin territory. A historic rate of first-time smartphone usage and under-developed logistics and pay-ments render the industry ripe for

Amazon to Flipkart clash in India’s nascent e-commerce market

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Company executives and

investors say that recording

values for intangible

assets like brand names

and customer data is time

consuming and difficult. That’s

why many resist the idea of

having to bring them onto

their balance sheets.

The squeeze is on for

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and it doesn’t look as if

it is going to end soon.

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BACK TO BUSINESSsight

investment. India’s attraction is grow-ing also because China and the US have been staked out by a handful of operators.

The country draws frequent com-parisons to China, that other vast Asian market that in the past decade learned the ropes of online commerce and welcomed foreign investors. Yet EBay pulled out after taking a drub-bing from Alibaba, while Amazon has struggled to make headway. Contrast that with India, where the US lead-erranks No. 3 and Alibaba is a major investor in both Snapdeal and rising payments provider Paytm Mobile Solutions Pvt.

“India is the last big thing in e-commerce,” said Nandan Nile-kani, the billionaire co-founder of IT services firm Infosys Ltd. and an active startup investor. China created indigenous companies in most spaces and blocked US firms, yet the Chinese themselves haven’t been successful in the US, he said. “Now, both Chinese

firms such as Alibaba and American players like Amazon see India’s open market as a huge opportunity.”

To be sure, the playing field isn’t exactly level. India caps foreign ownership of retailers selling mul-tiple brands at 51 percent — forcing them to seek out local partners — and only last year relaxed curbs on single-brand retail to allow companies such as Apple Inc to open stores. Taxes on goods and services vary from region to region.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi however has pledged to be more open to foreign investment and untangle byzantine regulations. And India is open compared with China, says Mahesh Murthy, co- founder of early-stage investor Seedfund.

“About 50 percent of India’s Inter-net economy is made up of Google, Amazon and Facebook,” he said. “We have an open economy where Indi-ans, Chinese and Americans can all go head-to-head.”

For much of India, e-commerce isn’t just an alternative. It’s often the only option. Unlike the super-stores of America, physical retail is dispersed. And while Alibaba and JD.com Inc. mesh nationwide delivery with online shopping, Indian e-com-merce remains relatively fragmented. Technology could help bridge online shopping with logistics and payments, said Gautam Chhaochharia, head of India research at UBS Securities India Pvt. “India is very well-suited to drive e-commerce as well as benefit from it,” he said.

Another divergence with the West or even China — both of which grew familiar with the Internet through the personal computer—India is mobile-led and often mobile-only. The growth of the smartphone user base in India outpaces China’s, let alone the US India could have half a billion users in the next five years, Nilekani said.

“Nowhere in Internet history has a country added five to six million users every month as India is doing through smartphones,” said Quikr’s Chulet, whose startup was valued at over $1 billion in a 2015 funding round that included Sweden’s AB Kinnevek.

But entrepreneurs have to fashion India-specific molds. “I stay awake at night thinking of how to innovate in India for India,” he said.

Start-ups are indeed beginning to work on solving physical world chal-lenges. Take Bangalore-based Fortigo, which is building fleet manage-ment and inventory software to help trucking companies organise their fleets. Chennai-based Uniphore’s Indian-language speech-recogni-tion software is helping payment providers reach the farthest corners of a country that transacts business in dozens of languages. “The e-com-merce landscape will grow five or six times in the next few years. Who’s going to capture it?” Nilekani asked.

Milner to captain England against Holland

PAGE | 30 PAGE | 31

Romania hold Spain as Casillas

equals record

TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016 • 20 Jumada II 1437

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Unbeaten Qatar aim to finish group stage with a flourish against China

The Peninsula

DOHA: Already-qualified Qatar will be looking to finish the Group C stage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualify-ing of the Asian Zone with a perfect record when they take on China in an away match at the Shaanxi Province Stadium in Xi’an today.

Much focus will be on China as Gao Hongbo’s charges need a win at home or face the very real prospect of yet another early elimination from World Cup qualifying.

China will try to continue their 2018 World Cup hopes alive as they clash with undefeated Group C leaders Qatar as the 2018 World Cup qualifi-er’s group stage winds down.

Both teams go into the match hav-ing registered wins in the their last matches.

China hammered Maldives, 4-0, in their last match to stay in the hunt for a World Cup berth.

The win gave Team Dragon its fourth victory in the Group C standings.

On the other hand, Qatar blanked Hong Kong, 2-0, at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha last Thurs-day to stay unbeaten.

Strikers Hassan Al Haiydos and Sebastian Soria scored in the 20th and 87th minute respectively to give head coach Jose Daniel Carreno’s side their seventh win of the group stage. They have the chance to sweep Group C if they win against China today.

Today’s match promises to be a nervous night for the Chinese against a side with momentum and form on their side.

While the world’s most populous nation have stumbled through qual-ifying, leaders Qatar have remained perfect with 21 points in their kitty.

With Qatar already assured of first place after seven straight wins, the focus will now be on second-placed China as they bid to finish as one of the four best runners-up.

However, it will not be easy for Hongbo’s charges as they currently sit two spots outside the top four in the rankings, and host a Qatar side looking to finish the stage with a per-fect record.

Hong Kong, who are not in action on Tuesday, are assured of finishing in third, while Maldives have all but sewn up fourth spot ahead of their home game against Bhutan.

Meanwhile, Qatar will miss the services of Hassan Al Haydos and Sebstian Soria who are out on

suspension. Ali Asad is also sus-pended while Ahmed Yasser is out with injury.

Qatar beat China PR in their first leg 1-0 when the two teams clashed in Doha in October last year.

Qatar arrived in China on Sunday

evening. Qatar squad: Saad Abdul-lah Al Sheeb, Khalifa Abu Bakr, Mohammed Kasola , Bualem Khoukhi, Ahmed Yasser, Abdulre-hman Isa, Pedro Miguel, Mohammed Musa, Musab Khidr, Abdulkareem Hassan, Khalid Muftah, Kareem

Buodiaf, Luiz Martin, Abdulreh-man Mohammed, Abdulaziz Hatem, Hassan Khalid, Ali Asad, Rodrigo Tabata, Akram Afif, Majid Moham-med, Mohammed Muntari, Meshael Abdullah, Ismael Mohammed and Ahmed Alaa.

Qatar coach Jose Daniel Carreno (second right) speaking on the eve of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against China. Unbeaten Qatar are looking to finish off their Group C engagements with an all record in the five-team group having won seven successive matches in the Group.

Qatar players Rodrigo Tabata (left) and Kareem Buodiaf practise on the eve of their 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against China.

Coach Gao Hongbo’s side needs a win at home or face the very real prospect of yet another early elimination from World Cup qualifying

Al Arabi, Umm Salal eye full points in crucial Qatar Stars League tieThe Peninsula

DOHA: Qatar Stars League’s (QSL) match of the week will see two rivals for the top 4 face off in what promises to be a must-win clash for Al Arabi and Umm Salal.

Both sides now have faint chances of getting into the Qatar Cup, and know that a victory over their rivals

will effectively put the other side out of the race for the end of season tournament.

Al Arabi has endured a incon-sistent season under Italian coach Gianfranco Zola.

Early on in the season a top four place looked on the cards for The Dream Team, however a bad run of results towards the tail end of the sea-son have effectively ruined Al Arabi’s

chances of a Qatar Cup place for this season.

Al Arabi have only grabbed four points from a possible fifteen in the last five QSL games. With a draw against Al Kharitiyat and a moral sap-ping loss to local rivals Al Ahli will be seen as major source of frustration for Zola’s side.

Despite this the side will go into the Umm Salal clash in good spirits

following a hard week of training dur-ing the international break. Ahmed Fatehi is the only absence for the side through suspension. Whilst inter-national stars Ashkan Dejagah and Boualem Khoukhi are set to join up with the side at the end of the week following international duty.

Al Arabi will be looking to captain Paulinho for inspiration in this must win match. He has scored in his last

three QSL games, with the Brazilian attacker grabbing a fine consola-tion goal for his side in the 3-1 defeat by Al Arabi, Zola will be hoping that the former Torino striker can add to his current tally of twelve goals for the season. As for Umm Salal they will be quietly happy with their fifth place position in the QSL table. How-ever head coach Bulent Uygen will be disappointed of a higher placed

position, especially when Umm Salal have drawn eleven times this season- more than any other QSL side.

Draws against the likes of Al Sadd and Lekhwiya are impressive scalps, the Orange Fortress really should be getting all three points against the likes of Al Wakrah, Al Khor and Qatar SC whom they shared points with ear-lier in the season if they are to push harder for a top 4 place.

Revenge is for

the movies, mate,

says Postecoglou

Reuters

SYDNEY: Australia coach Ange Postecoglou has dismissed revenge as a motivation for the Asian champions in today’s crunch World Cup qualifier against Harry Red-knapp’s Jordan.

After thrashing Tajikistan 7-0 on Thursday, the Socceroos need only a draw from their final Group B fixture to progress to the third stage of Asian qualifiying, from which four countries will secure tickets to Russia in 2018.

The Jordanians, who trail Aus-tralia by two points, inflicted the only defeat of the campaign so far on Australia with a 2-0 win in Amman last October.

Postecoglou has previously said that avenging that defeat would be a spur at the Sydney Football Stadium but a grumpy Australia coach performed an about-turn yesterday.

“It’s not about revenge, it’s about finishing strongly,” he told reporters at the team hotel.

“If we win tomorrow night, it’s not going to erase what happened in Jordan, that’s not the way foot-ball works.

“Revenge is best left to the movies, mate, this is real life. We just want to finish this group off strongly, I think we’ve got stronger throughout this group and we want to finish it off tomorrow night.”

Postecoglou has fitness con-cerns about his captain Mile Jedinak, who did not train with the team at the weekend because of a thigh injury, and said he would not “risk him unnecessarily”.

With everyone else in the squad “in good nick”, other changes to his team from the Tajikistan match would be about form and the kind of match he wanted to play. Most important of all, though, was a good perform-ance to improve his mood.

“I’ll let other people worry about points and top of the table and seeds, because if we have a scrappy performance tomorrow night and finish on top, that’s not going to make me happy,” he said.

“We want to keep progressing our football. A win and top of the group will hopefully be a by-prod-uct of us playing good football.

“It’s all about the performance, it always is about the performance for us.”

Postecoglou, however, thought that whatever line-up he put out, they would be able to break down the sometimes negative Jordanians.

“We’ll back ourselves against any defence,” he said.

“If Jordan sit back, it’ll make it harder for us but nothing we haven’t faced before, nothing we haven’t overcome before.”

SPORT30 TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

Larsen & Toubro ease past Nakheel Landscapes in Workers CupThe Peninsula

DOHA: Larsen & Toubro scored two late goals to confirm their victory over Nakheel Landscapes in Group A of the Workers Cup.

L&T opened the scoring in the 52nd minute from Ali Bashiru, and a brace from Arafat Youssef eight min-utes from time gave his side the win.

In another match of the same group, AALCO and Galfar shared the points in an entertaining 3-3 draw.

AALCO’s speedy forward Soe Wai Lin struck two goals in the 15th and 25th minute of the first half giving a comfortable 2-0 lead.

However, Galfar found their way back into the tie, and levelled the tie at 2-2 in the second half.

Six minutes from time AALCO took the lead through captain Muhammad Sharif, only to be pegged back by Galfar striker Hom Bahadur to give his side a share of the spoils.

In Group B, Outlook Trading edged out 2015 champions Midmac 1-0 in what was a re-match of the 2015 Workers Cup final.

Outlook Trading scored through Amir Shretta, the only goal of the match in the 34th minute.

In the other Group B clash ,MedGulf Construction ran out as comprehensive winners beating Dico-Tech Qatar 15-0.

Attacking duo Peter and Idrissu scored nine goals between them as MedGulf eased to victory against the minnows.

In Group C, the opening clash of the group saw Dulsco Qatar and Aamal played out a tense 0-0 draw.

Both sides battled for dominance in the tie, however both lacked that killer instinct in the final third. The game also saw plenty of yellow cards, in what proved to be a feisty encoun-ter. Both sides will be hoping for better things in their final Group C clashes.

In the other Group C match, Mow-asalat picked up a 4-0 victory over BOTC in a one-sided game.

A brace apiece in the first half from midfielder Abderrehmane and striker Alexander, ensured an easy days work for the Mowasalat team. The result means that Mowasalat now top Group C with two wins from two.

In Group D, Shapoorji Pallonji Qatar defeated Consolidated Con-tractors International Co. (CCC) 4-0 in the opening match of group D.

Shapoorji forward Kwadwo Akul-ley’s first half brace along with second half strikes from Mamuda and Abdul

gave Shapoorji Pallonji their first vic-tory in the tournament.

The second game of the day in Group D saw table topping Delta Doha Corporation run out as 3-1 win-ners against vs TRAGS Engineering & Contracting.

Delta Doha raced into a 2-0 lead in the first half, before being pegged back by TRAGS at the start of the

second half following a fine top cor-ner finish from Benup.

Despite being pushed back for most of the second half, Delta Doha confirmed all three points, four min-utes before time with a fine lobbed effort to confirm all three points.

In Group E , Taleb Group shared the points with Al Asmakh Facilities Management in a 1-1 draw.

Al Asmakh scored their first goal of the Workers Cup courtesy of Uchenna with a tidy finish.

Taleb pushed hard for an equal-iser and where duly rewarded in the second half, when Franklin Antwi of Taleb slotted it past the keeper on the second attempt, levelling the tie on the 67th minute.

Despite frantic final minutes of the

game, no team could gain the upper hand, with the game ending 1-1.

G4S ran out as comprehensive winners defeating Qatar Aviation Services (QAS) 3-0 in the second tie in Group E.

Three goals in the first half, including a brace from striker Raju ensured that G4S secured all three points.

In Group F, QIEI downed Byrne Equipment Rental 3-0 in an enter-taining tie.

It was QIEI who came out with full intent and took the lead on the 34th minute from ace striker Mohammed Salman. QIEI doubled their advantage at the start of the second half, mid-fielder Rifkas with a fine finish. The win was complete on the 85th minute when Wasim Akil scored an own goal for Byrne.

A large crowd was in attendance to see Gulf Contracting Co beat Car-illion Qatar 2-0 in the second match of group E.

At the stroke of half time Denis Kingara found the back of the net for his side. In the second half, GCC came out with renewed vigour and doubled their lead on the 49th minute from defender Subash, after a fine through ball from Keshav Thapa, GCC held out to grab all three points.

Action from the 2016 Workers Cup.

Romania hold Spain as Casillas equals record

Agencies

CLUJ-NAPOCA, Romania: Roma-nia held European champions Spain to a 0-0 draw on Sunday in a Euro 2016 warm-up that saw visiting goal-keeper Iker Casillas equal the record for most international caps by a Euro-pean player.

Casillas’s 166th appearance for Spain, over a 16 year span that includes winning the World Cup in South Africa in 2010, took him level with Latvia’s Vitalijs Astafjevs in the continent’s record books.

The goalkeeper has also not con-ceded a goal in 710 minutes for Spain but he was forced to make a couple of fine saves to keep the clean sheet.

The stalemate also showed that both teams have work to do in front of goal before the European champi-onship finals in France start in June.

It was Spain’s second friendly in four days following their fortuitous 1-1

draw away to Italy in Udinethat ended their run of seven successive wins as well as a run of six successive clean sheets.

David de Gea played in goal for Spain in that match.

The game featured several missed chances with Romania, who have never lost at home to Spain, enjoying decent spells of possession and always looking to counter in numbers.

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque made 10 changes to the side that started against Italy, with centre back Gerard Pique the only survivor and Barcelona midfielder Sergi Roberto making his international debut.

The second-string lineup started well, creating some decent chances, and Romania keeper Ciprian Tata-rusanu produced an excellent save to deny Pedro Rodriguez an opener after 10 minutes.

The open, attacking nature of the game continued but it was obvious that Spain needed more quality in the pen-alty area against a team unbeaten in their 16 previous games.

Nicolae Stanciu, who scored a stunning long-range winner on his international debut in Romania’s 1-0 win over Lithuania in another friendly on Thursday, tested Casillas on two occasions with lively Adrian Popa also looking dangerous.

The two coaches made a number of substitutions after the break with the flow fizzling out before Florin

Andone beat his marker in the penalty area and smashed a low left-footed shot just wide.

A minute’s silence was observed before the game in a tribute to Dutch

great and former Barcelona player and coach Johan Cruyff, who died on Thursday aged 68 after a five-month battle with lung cancer.

Romania have been drawn in

Group A with hosts France, Switzer-land and Albania at Euro 2016. Spain are in Group D alongside Turkey, Croatia and the Czech Republic.

Meanwhile, Casillas said he was

keen to carry on racking up the inter-national accolades after equalling the record for most caps by a European player but acknowledged he was clos-ing in on retirement.

“The time of my retirement is get-ting closer and closer,” Casillas told reporters.

“It’s clear that time passes every-one and I am no exception of that.

“But I have hope and I would like to be with this team full of young-sters. I don’t know if it’s my last year with Spain, I only think about enjoy-ing each day.”

The former Real Madrid keeper, who has not conceded a goal in 710 minutes for Spain, made his senior international debut on June 3, 2000 against Sweden when he was 19 years and 14 days old.

He has gone on to win Euro 2008 and 2012, the 2010 World Cup as well as five Spanish league titles with Real and three Champions Leagues.

He left Real last year to join Porto but has been first choice for Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque during the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign, playing in seven of 10 matches despite Manchester United’s David De Gea pushing for a starting spot.

“I am happy to reach 166 games and be the player with the most games for the national team,” Casillas said.

“In these years I have lived good times and bad times, but I will stick with the good ones.”

Spanish goalkeeper equals the record for most international caps by a European player

Spain’s Sergi Roberto (left) and team-mates Gerard Pique (centre) and Iker Casillas stand during their anthem at the beginning of the friendly game against Romania, held at Cluj Arena Stadium in Cluj city, 450 Km north-west from Bucharest, Romania, on Sunday night.

Brazil without Neymar and

Luiz for Paraguay tripAFP

MONTEVIDEO: Brazil will be with-out Barcelona star Neymar and Paris Saint-Germain defender David Luiz today when they face a tricky 2018 World Cup qualifying trip to Paraguay with renewed uncertainty swirling around their campaign.

The Brazilians are licking their wounds after the disappointment of Friday’s 2-2 draw with Uruguay, when they squandered a two-goal lead and finished the game clinging on for the point.

For the opening half hour in Recife, Brazil were irresistible, attack-ing with precision and purpose in what looked like being their best per-formance since their 2014 World Cup semi-final debacle against Germany.

But Uruguay’s fightback, begun with Edinson Cavani’s superb vol-ley and completed by Luis Suarez’s predatory strike after half-time, has reawakened all of the old concerns

about Brazil’s brittle defence, humil-iated in the 7-1 thrashing by the Germans two years ago.

The frustration of allowing Uru-guay back into the game eventually got the better of Neymar, who was cautioned for a petulant kick on Alvaro Gonzalez, meaning he will now be suspended for Tuesday’s trip to Asuncion.

Former Chelsea centre-back Luiz also earned a booking on Friday that will see him miss the game against Paraguay, who are level on eight points with third placed Brazil after five matches.

Brazil coach Dunga has called up Santos’s exciting teenage striker Gabriel Barbosa, a star of the Olympic team, to replace Neymar while Cor-inthians defender Felipe will come in for Luiz.

Gabriel, 19, known widely as “Gabigol” and regarded as the heir apparent to Neymar, will be making his first senior appearance for Brazil after starring for the Under-23s last year where he scored six goals in four

matches.“I will be realizing a dream that I

did not expect so soon,” Gabriel said. “I’m happy for the opportunity.”

Paraguay meanwhile will be looking for all three points against opponents whom they have caused repeated problems in recent years.

Paraguay knocked Brazil out of the Copa America quarter-finals in 2015 and 2011 and will be quietly con-fident of another win on Tuesday.

The Paraguayans were deprived of what would have been a deserved victory against Ecuador on Thursday when a dubious late equaliser saw the surprise qualifying leaders snatch a 2-2 draw.

Coach Ramon Diaz believes the performance against Ecuador augurs well for the clash with Brazil.

“We showed that we’re a com-petitive team who can fight against anyone,” Diaz said.

“I hope that the team will con-tinue to grow.”

In other matches on Tuesday, Argentina face Boliva in Cordoba

aiming to continue their recovery with a third consecutive victory fol-lowing away wins over Colombia and Chile.

Argentina are currently fifth in the standings with eight points from their opening five matches, but will be strong favourites to notch another win against a Bolivian side who are second bottom with three points from five games.

Elsewhere, Ecuador face a demanding trip to face Colombia in Barranquilla while Uruguay host

Peru in Montevideo. Chile will aim to bounce back from the disappoint-ment their home defeat by Argentina last week when they travel to bottom side Venezuela, who have only one point from five matches.

The top four teams from South America’s round robin qualifying league qualify automatically for the World Cup in Russia in two years time.

The fifth-placed team faces a play-off against a qualifier from the Oceania zone.

Argentine coach to thank for rise of English Spurs, says Dier

Reuters

LONDON: Midfielder Eric Dier has credited his Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino for the surge of Spurs players making their mark in the England team.

Dier scored the winner in England’s 3-2 friendly victory over Germany on Saturday after Tottenham team-mate Harry Kane had begun the comeback in a fixture which also featured midfielder Dele Alli and left back Danny Rose.

“Obviously, we have to be thankful for our manager for putting us in this position by giv-ing us a chance at our club,” Dier told British media.

“Obviously us Spurs boys know how lucky we are to have him because he’s been brilliant for us.”

The quartet have featured heavily under Argentine Pochet-tino this term as the north London side battle for a first English league title in 55-years.

Brazil’s Neymar controls the ball during the Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup South American qualifiers against Uruguay, in Recife, northeastern Brazil, on March 25.

SPORT 31TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

Ebullient England gunning for Dutch

AFP

LONDON: Invigorated by Satur-day’s thrilling 3-2 friendly win over world champions Germany, England tackle the Netherlands today seeking to sustain the feel-good factor ahead of the European Championship.

Goals from Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy and Eric Dier saw an Eng-land team inspired by Dele Alli come from 2-0 down to beat Germany and while manager Roy Hodgson was quick to downplay the result’s importance, there was no disguising the ebullience of his youthful team’s display.

Today’s game is Hodgson’s last chance to experiment before he announces his squad for Euro 2016 on May 12 and with Daniel Sturridge, Danny Welbeck and Theo Walcott also candidates for attacking roles -- not forgetting injured duo Wayne Rooney and Raheem Sterling -- he has plenty of options.

“I am sure he wants that,” said Tottenham Hotspur striker Kane, who took his international tally to four goals in nine appearances.

“He wants everyone on top form and applying themselves well. You want the best players to be on form come the Euros.

“I am sure it is a problem he enjoys having. All we can do is keep doing what we are doing, to keep playing, as we have great belief.

“Wayne and Raheem are great players and I am sure they will be back in the squad. Everyone is fight-ing for places and it is what this country needs. It will only make us better players.”

Hodgson always intended to make wholesale changes for the encounter with Holland, who have not qualified for Euro 2016, and inju-ries have already forced his hand.

Fraser Forster is expected to start in goal, having come on as a substi-tute for Jack Butland in Berlin after the Stoke City goalkeeper -- himself deputising for the injured Joe Hart -- fractured his ankle.

Vardy will hope to start after scoring his first international goal with a brilliant back-heeled equal-iser against Germany and his Leicester City team-mate Danny Drinkwater should win his first cap as a starter in central midfield.

Fit-again Liverpool striker Stur-ridge is also in contention for a place in the starting XI, having missed the entirety of England’s Euro 2016 qual-ifying campaign with a succession of injuries.

Everton pair John Stones and Phil Jagielka, meanwhile, could be given a chance to demonstrate that they can plug the defensive holes that almost proved England’s undoing at the Olympiastadion.

The match will feature a tribute to late Dutch great Johan Cruyff in the 14th minute -- a nod to his iconic shirt number -- with an image of the former Ajax and Barcelona star dis-played on Wembley’s big screens, but play will not stop as it did dur-ing Holland’s 3-2 loss to France on Friday.

The original Wembley held spe-cial meaning for Cruyff, for it was there that he won the first of his three European Cups with Ajax as a player in 1971 and led Barcelona to their first European crown as man-ager in 1992.

Holland won 3-2 in their last game at Wembley in February 2012, courtesy of an Arjen Robben brace, and prevailed by the same scoreline against Wales on their most recent trip to Britain in November.

Robben also netted twice in Car-diff, but he is currently absent with a thigh problem and coach Danny Blind lost another stalwart in the game against France when Wesley Sneijder succumbed to a hamstring injury. Goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen and midfielder Davy Klaassen have also withdrawn from the squad -- the former after breaking his nose in training, the latter after injur-ing his knee -- with Michel Vorm and Marco van Ginkel called up as replacements.

Meanwhile, Daley Blind, the coach’s son, is a doubt with a ham-string problem of his own.

England’s striker Jamie Vardy (left) shares a joke with defender Phil Jagielka (second right) during an England training session at the Tottenham Hotspur training ground in Enfield, north London, yesterday, ahead of their international friendly match against Netherlands today.

Milner to captain England against HollandAFP

WATFORD, UNITED KINGDOM: Liverpool midfielder James Milner (pictured) will captain England for the first time in today’s home friendly with the Netherlands, the Football Association announced on Monday.

The 30-year-old, capped 57 times, takes over from Chelsea cen-tre-back Gary Cahill, who stood in for injured regular skipper Wayne Rooney in Saturday’s 3-2 victory over world champions Germany in Berlin.

With Cahill dropping to the bench for the game against Holland -- the last England fixture before man-ager Roy Hodgson names his squad for Euro 2016 on May 12 -- Milner has inherited the captain’s armband.

“It’s great he has the opportu-nity to play tomorrow and to do it

as captain of his country,” Hodg-son told reporters while sitting next to Milner during a press conference at England’s team hotel in Watford, north of London.

“There’s no doubt that he’s ver-satile. We were speaking the other day and James gave me a long list of positions he’s played.

“There’s not many he’s not played. We’ve always known James is a very, very good midfield player.”

Asked what it meant to him, Mil-ner replied: “Everything. Growing up, you’re desperate to put on that Eng-land shirt. You’re scoring goals for England in your back garden.

“To get the chance to lead your country out is a massive honour and something you’ll never forget.”

Hodgson also revealed that Liv-erpool striker Daniel Sturridge will start against the Dutch, having missed the whole of England’s Euro

2016 qualifying campaign due to a succession of injuries. “Daniel Stur-ridge will come into the team,” he said. “We’re pleased to welcome him back after his long lay-off.”

Hodgson expressed sympathy for Stoke City goalkeeper Jack But-land, who will miss the Euro after it was revealed that he will be out for around three months with a fractured ankle sustained against Germany.

“To get your chance against Ger-many and fracture your ankle in that way, it’s a devastating blow,” Hodg-son said.

“All of us felt enormous sympathy for him, and empathy too. But he was very stoic. He said to me, ‘I’ll come back stronger. This won’t affect my career in any way.’

“Our best wishes are with him. We’re all going to miss him because we were hoping he was going to be a part of it.”

Shell-shocked Germany host ItalyAFP

MUNICH, Germany: Shell-shocked Germany hunt a rare win over bogey side Italy in a friendly international in Munich today as the world cham-pions seek to bounce back from their defeat to England.

Joachim Loew’s Germany threw away a two-goal lead in Berlin on Sat-urday to slump to a 3-2 loss against Roy Hodgson’s England.

“That was a wake-up call,” fumed Germany’s captain Sami Khedira, a stand-in with Bastian Schweinsteiger ruled out of the Italy friendly with a knee injury.

Less than three months before the start of the European champion-ships in France, the England defeat exposed sloppy defending and lack of composure in the world champi-ons’ ranks.

On the back of an unconvincing qualifying campaign for Euro 2016, the defeat to England has further rat-tled the Germans.

“We have to be clear that a game like that in a tournament means you’re going home,” said Germany striker Mario Gomez, who net-ted against England and had a goal disallowed.

Most worrying for Loew was the way his defence buckled without his World Cup-winning centre-backs Mats Hummels, who went off injured, and Jerome Boateng, who is nursing a groin problem.

Loew will demand an improved performance against Italy at Munich’s Allianz Arena in his final interna-tional before naming his squad in May for Euro 2016, which runs from June 10-July 10.

“At least we have the chance now to correct a few things against another strong opponent, you have

to live with results like that, but they are annoying,” said Loew.

Germany are still waiting for a first win over Italy at a major tour-nament -- they have won none of their three meetings at European championships or five at the World Cup.

In the 32 meetings between the two European powerhouses, Ger-many have won just seven games, all friendlies and qualifiers, with Italy winning 15 and the other ten games drawn.

Germany left Warsaw empty handed when the sides last met nearly four years ago at Euro 2012 as two Mario Balotelli first-half goals sealed their 2-1 semi-final win.

Previous to that, the Azzurri also ended the hosts’ dreams of reaching the 2006 World Cup final as Fabio Grosso and Alessandro Del Piero scored in a 2-0 extra-time win in the semi-final.

Antonio Conte’s Italy warmed up for the Munich match with a 1-1 draw against defending European champi-ons Spain in Udine on Thursday.

The draw ended Spain’s six-match winning run as Lorenzo Insigne gave Italy a second-half lead before vet-eran Spanish striker Aritz Aduriz equalised just three minutes later.

Gomez’s place in Germany’s starting line-up is set to go to Mario Goetze, who needs a convincing dis-play after a frustrating three years at Bayern Munich.

The 23-year-old, whose goal won the 2014 World Cup, has found him-self mainly on the Munich bench during an injury-hit season since his high-profile switch from Borussia Dortmund in 2013.

The Germany-Italy friendly is a chance for Goetze to prove he deserves more than a place on the bench after missing five months of the season with a groin injury.

Germany seek yoga guru’s help for Euro 2016 title bidAFP

BERLIN: In the macho world of inter-national football, world champions Germany have taken a more spirit-ual approach and will again employ a yoga teacher, whose pupils include Madonna and Sting, to help prepare for Euro 2016.

“To my knowledge, I was the only yoga teacher working with a national team at the World Cup in Brazil,” Munich-based yoga teacher

Patrick Broome said. Broome is part of Germany’s backroom staff for major tournaments and puts their stars through a series of exercises to relax them physically and mentally.

Former Manchester United star Ryan Giggs, who was still playing at 40, says yoga helped extend his career.

Germany head coach Joachim Loew is also a fan of the ancient Indian discipline.

Now the likes of Germany’s Tho-mas Mueller, Marco Reus and Mats Hummels are no strangers to yoga

postures like ‘lotus’, ‘warrior and ‘cobra’.

“We don’t just want to be top fit physically, but also in the head,” explained Loew.

Broome has accompanied Ger-many to World Cups and European championships over the last decade.

He offers sessions to help the footballers “improve flexibility, con-centration and performance on the field” which in turn helps keep them free of injury.

Broome will hold daily sessions of up to 45 minutes during Germany’s

training camp in Switzerland, then at the Euro 2016 finals in France from June 10-July 10.

His sessions are not compulsory and only three of the squad regularly decline to take part.

“Good recovery after a game is essential for the players to main-tain their level of performance,” says Broome, who is in his 40s and has been practising yoga for twenty years.

It was Loew’s predecessor, Cal-ifornia-based Jurgen Klinsmann, the coach from 2004 until the 2006 World Cup, who first invited Broome

into the German camp. Klinsmann saw the benefits of yoga while living on the west coast of the USA.

Loew then took it a step further by adding Broome, who has worked with pop icons Madonna and Sting in his career, to his backroom staff for Euro 2008.

Broome, who has two yoga stu-dios in Munich, says Loew showed “courage” to add yoga sessions to Germany’s training sessions ten years ago.

“At the time, the German press made fun of the players when they

were training with rubber bands, to increase their muscle strength, and yoga with ‘all this nonsense’,” said Broome with a smile.

At the players request, Broome accompanied Germany to the Euro 2012 f inals in Poland and Ukraine.

Through breathing techniques and holding postures, Germany’s stars “can let off steam quickly” after a match, said Broome.

“It also allows them to stretch and to experience a different physi-cal experience,” added Broome.

Germany’s assistant coach Thomas Schneider attends a press conference on the eve of the friendly match against Italy in Munich, southern Germany.

Last chance for coach Hodgson to experiment before he announces his squad for Euro 2016 on May 12

SPORT32 TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

ATP, WTA MIAMI OPEN RESULTS

MIAMI: Scores on Sunday from the sixth day of the ATP and WTA Miami Open (x denotes seeded player):

MEN THIRD ROUNDDominic Thiem (AUT x14) bt Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) 6-2, 6-2

David Goffin (BEL x15) bt Viktor Troicki (SRB x19) 6-1, 6-1

Tomas Berdych (CZE x7) bt Steve Johnson (USA x31) 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3

Horacio Zeballos (ARG) bt Fern-ando Verdasco (ESP) 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4)

Richard Gasquet (FRA x10) bt Benoit Paire (FRA x20) 6-3, 6-0

Novak Djokovic (SRB x1) bt Joao Sousa (POR x33) 6-4, 6-1

Gilles Simon (FRA x18) bt Marin Cilic (CRO x11) 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3

Lucas Pouille (FRA) bt David Fer-rer (ESP x8) 6-7 (1/7), 7-6 (7/4), 7-5

WOMEN THIRD ROUNDTimea Babos (HUN) bt Naomi Osaka (JPN) 7-5, 6-0

Angelique Kerber (GER x2) bt Kiki Bertens (NED) 1-6, 6-2, 3-0, retired, illness

Victoria Azarenka (BLR x13) bt Magda Linette (POL) 6-3, 6-0

Monica Niculescu (ROM x32) bt CoCo Vandeweghe (USA) 6-4, 6-1

Madison Keys (USA x22) bt Rob-erta Vinci (ITA x9) 6-4, 6-4

Irina-Camelia Begu (ROM) bt Kristyna Pliskova (CZE) 7-5, 4-6, 6-4

Johanna Konta (GBR x24) bt Elena Vesnina (RUS) 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7/3)

Garbine Muguruza (ESP x4) bt Nicole Gibbs (USA) 6-1, 6-0

Top-ranked Djokovic reaches Miami last 16 with easy win

AFP

MIAMI: World number one Novak Djokovic advanced to the fourth round of the ATP and WTA Miami Open on Sunday, defeating Portu-gal’s 38th-ranked Joao Sousa 6-4, 6-1.

Two-time defending champion Djokovic, trying to match Andre Agassi’s record of six career Miami titles, needed only 78 minutes to win his 12th match in a row at the hard-court event and 26th in his past 27 Miami starts.

“That first set could have gone either way,” Djokovic said. “I man-aged to hit the right balls at the right moment and make it to the finish.”

The 28-year-old Serbian, who won his 11th Grand Slam crown at the Australian Open two months ago, also has crowns at Doha and Indian Wells this year and hopes to complete the Miami-Indian Wells sweep for the third consecutive year.

Djokovic’s next foe will be Aus-trian 14th seed Dominic Thiem, who dispatched 124th-ranked Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka 6-2, 6-2 in 64 minutes.

“He has one of the most powerful baseline games in tennis,” Djokovic said of Thiem.

“He likes to construct his points so I will try and take away his time. He’s had one of the best years of his life. He’s beaten Nadal on clay. He’s one of the players in the next generation we should all look out for.”

Thiem captured his fifth career ATP title last month by beating Aus-tralia’s Bernard Tomic in the Acapulco final and downed 14-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal on the way to a Buenos Aires claycourt crown.

“I’m sure he wants to showcase all that he’s got in his arsenal but I will be sure to be ready for him,” Djoko-vic said.

Sousa fell to 0-3 against Djokovic and 1-21 against top-10 foes with his 19th such loss in a row since beating David Ferrer in Kuala Lumpur in 2013.

“He came out with a clear game plan,” said Djokovic. “He wanted to take his chances. He did not have much to lose. It can be dangerous. I know the importance of stepping up a few levels and delivering my ‘A’ game.”

Reigning Australian Open cham-pion Angelique Kerber and last week’s

Indian Wells winner Victoria Aza-renka, who each upset world number one Serena Williams in the final to win those titles, reached the last 16 on the women’s side.

German second seed Kerber advanced 1-6, 6-2, 3-0 when 108th-ranked Dutch qualifier Kiki Bertens retired due to illness.

“I was not finding a rhythm at the beginning of the match,” Kerber said. “I had to stay strong, believe and keep fighting. I hope she gets well soon but I’m glad to be in the next round.”

Kerber next faces Hungary’s 49th-ranked Timea Babos, who ousted 18-year-old Japanese 104th-ranked wildcard Naomi Osaka 7-5, 6-0.

Eighth-ranked Azarenka, who won 2009 and 2011 Miami titles, elim-inated Polish qualifier Magda Linette 6-3, 6-0.

The 26-year-old from Belarus is trying to become only the third woman to take Indian Wells and Miami in the same year after Graf in 1994 and 1996 and Kim Clijsters in 2005.

Azarenka hit a backhand winner to break for the first set, then saved two break points in an 11-minute opening game of the second set and

breezed to victory from there. “I stayed focused, took my opportu-nities and kept applying pressure,” Azarenka said.

Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos, a lucky loser who replaced Roger Fed-erer in the draw when the 17-time Grand Slam champion withdrew due to illness, advanced to the fourth round by overcoming Spain’s Fern-ando Verdasco 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).

Zeballos, ranked 112th, had not won a match since last July before beating countryman Juan Martin Del Potro in the second round. After win-ning two in a row for the first time in more than two years, he faces Belgian 15th seed David Goffin for a quarter-final berth. Goffin reached the Indian Wells semi-finals where he lost to Milos Raonic.

“Life changed for me a lot here,” Zeballos said. “Beating ‘DelPo’ and Verdasco, two better players than me, I greatly improved both the ranking and economically.”

The South American is assured $67,590, which will help since his wife is due to give birth to their first child on April 10.

“I am living happy moments,” he said.

Defending champion surges ahead with a straight-set win over 38-ranked Joao Sousa of Portugal in just 78 minutes on court

Novak Djokovic of Serbia signs autographs following his third-round match against Joao Sousa of Portugal at the Miami Open in Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida.

Jamie Murray set for British first Reuters

LONDON: Jamie Murray will become Britain’s first world number one pro-fessional tennis player since computerised rankings were introduced in the 1970s after the ATP World Tour confirmed on Sunday he will take top spot in doubles from Marcelo Melo.

The 30-year-old, whose brother Andy is ranked world number two in singles, will take top spot from the Brazilian when the new rankings are pub-lished on April 4.

Britain’s Lawn Tennis Association hailed Murray on Twitter as a history maker.

Murray won the Australian Open doubles title in Jan-uar y a longside Brazilian Bruno Soares.

Melo’s failure to reach the doubles quarter-finals in the Miami Open on Sunday means he will drop points and fall behind Murray in the rankings, despite the Briton’s earlier elimination.

“ H e r e a l l y deserves it,” the BBC quoted Melo as say-ing. “He made the final in Wimbledon, final US Open, won the Davis Cup, won the Australian Open, so he deserves it a lot. I’m happy for him.” Murray posted a picture on his Instagram account of himself sitting on a beach with the number one written in the sand.

“Last night I went to bed wondering if that was the closest I would ever get,” he said. “Today driving in my car my phone started to go crazy.”

Britain’s Virginia Wade was also world number one in women’s doubles in 1973, before computer rankings were introduced.

Jamie Murray of Britain (left) and Bruno Soares of Brazil after their doubles final match against Daniel Nestor of Canada and Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic at the Australian Open in Melbourne in this January 2016 file photo.

Australian Open champion Kerber advances in Miami Reuters

MIAMI: Second seed Angelique Kerber advanced to the fourth round of the Miami Open when Dutch qualifier Kiki Bertens was forced to retire in the third set on Sunday.

Bertens dominated the world number three in the opening set, but the 24-year-old became unwell early in the second set and was forced to take a medical timeout.

She eventually retired with an illness in the final set to hand Kerber a 1-6 6-2 3-0 win on another steamy day in south Florida.

“I think Kiki’s a great player,” Australian Open champion Kerber said in her on-court interview. “She played very well in the first set and I was not finding my rhythm at the beginning.

“For me, it’s not so easy. But I’m trying to focus on my game, doing my stuff and not looking too much over the net.”

Cycling: Belgian Demoitie dies in race motorbike smashAFP

LILLE, FRANCE: Belgian cyclist Antoine Demoitie (pic-tured) has died after he was struck by a motorbike following a fall during the Gent-Wevelgem race in Bel-gium, police said.

The 25-year-old, a member of Belgium’s Wanty-Gobert team, was involved in a fall along with three other riders around 150 kilometres (90 miles) into the race on Sunday as it lopped briefly out of Belgium into northern France.

He was then hit by a race motorbike while on the ground, before being transported first to Ypres hospital and then being transferred to an intensive care unit at Lille, where he succumbed to his injuries.

“The rider died. An inquiry is under way to determine the circumstances,” Frederic Evrard, spokesman for the Nord-Pas-de-Calais regional gendarmerie in France, said late on Sunday.

A witness quoted by Belgian daily SudPresse said four riders were involved in a fall in front of the motorbike, which “literally fell on top of” Demoitie.

Other witnesses said the Belgian rider was hit on the head.

The cyclist’s team earlier said Demoitie was taken to hospital in “extremely serious condition”.

“His wife and his family are at his side,” the team wrote on Twitter.

The Gent-Wevelgem cobbled classic lived up to its

gruelling reputation on Sunday, with riders battling strong winds as they tackled 10 climbs over a 243 kilometre route.

Former Belgian national champion Jens Debusschere was also hospitalised after he sustained a concussion fol-lowing a heavy crash, his Lotto-Soudal team said.

The race, which includes two ascents of the hills of Kemmelberg, was won by Slovakia’s Peter Sagan.

A number of accidents have struck the sport this year, including the death of young hope Romain Guyot.

The 23-year-old Frenchman died on March 3 when he was hit by a truck at a crossroads in the west of the country.

In January, six racers from the Giant-Alpecin team, including German John Degenkolb and French Warren Barguil, were injured in a collision with a car during a training ride south of Valencia.

In 2011, Demoitie’s compatriot Wouter Weylandt died from injuries suffered in a crash during the third stage of the Giro d’Italia.

On Saturday, 22-year-old Belgian rider Daan Myngheer suffered a heart attack during the Criterium International race in Corsica. He was put on artificial respiration and was said to be in a coma.

Demoite joined the Wanty-Gobert team in early 2016 after three seasons at Walonnie-Bruxelles

An excellent sprinter, particularly in uphill finishes, he won the Tour of Finistere in France in 2014, and was second in the Handzame Classic and GP Stad Zottegam in Belgium in 2015.

Meanwhile, the International Association of

Professional Cyclists (CPA) said yesterday that they wanted “light to be shed upon the circumstances” of Demoitie’s accident.

“In this moment of grief and sorrow we do not want a debate, but we do feel a lot of frustration,” said CPA pres-ident Gianni Bungo.

“We have always maintained that the cyclists’ safety must be first in the discussions of the different key play-ers in cycling. We do not want to accuse anyone, but to reflect on the responsibilities of everyone to ensure that attention, awareness and control over safety standards are maintained to a very high level.”

“The CPA and all the riders demand that light is shed on the accident immediately and the circumstances that caused it,” the association said in a statement on Monday.

CPA president Gianni Bugno, who won the world road race title in 1991 and 1992, said it was a time of “sadness and sorrow”.

“We do not want to make controversy but we have so much frustration inside,” added the Italian. “We have always stated that the safety of the riders must come first.

“I do not want to accuse anyone but make everyone reflect on the responsibility we have to ensure that a very high level of attention and awareness is maintained plus control over safety standards during each race,” Bugno said yesterday.

The 243-kilometre (151-mile) Gent-Wevelgem, which starts and ends in Belgium, was won by world road race champion Peter Sagan of Slovakia.

Victoria Azarenka of Belarus looks at the sky during her match against Magda Linette of Poland in their third round match at the Miami Open.

SPORT 33TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

NBA: Clippers beat Nuggets 105-90 AFP

LOS ANGELES: DeAndre Jordan tallied 16 points and 16 rebounds as the Los Angeles Clippers clinched a Western Conference playoff spot with a 105-90 win over the Den-ver Nuggets on Sunday.

The Clippers became the fourth West club to book a playoff berth as they used a strong second half to get the job done in front of a crowd of 19,000 at the Staples Centre arena.

Chris Paul scored 14 points, handed out nine assists and grabbed six rebounds for Los Angeles, which had six players score in double figures.

“We started getting stops in the second half,” said Paul. “When D J Augustin came back in, we started blitzing, trying to get the ball out of his hands. He sort of controlled the game in the first half.”

“He did a l it t le bit of everything. So, in the second half, we tried to take him out of the game. I think that helped us.”

Jamal Crawford scored 14 points, Jeff Green and Wesley Johnson added 13 points each, and J J Redick had 12 points.

Jorda n con nec ted on seven-of-10 shots from the floor as the Clippers clinched a playoff berth for the fifth consecutive season. Jordan leads the NBA in field goal percentage.

Jusuf Nurkic led the Nuggets with 19 points. Augustin had 16 of his 18 points in the first half before the Clippers put a dent in his production after intermission.

Augustin added 10 assists. Will Barton finished with 13 points for Denver. Gary Harris scored 11.

The Clippers opened the third quarter with a 13-4 run to stretch their four-point halftime lead to 67-54.

The Clippers took a 77-60 lead into the fourth and the Nuggets failed to get close again.

“The third quarter killed us,” Denver coach Mike Malone said on Sunday.

“They got out to a great start, we weathered the storm, came back, played really well and made it a game.

“Then, to get outscored 25-12 in the third quarter, I think we had five turnovers, and if we did not turn it over DeAndre blocked our shot it felt like.

“We just could not score,” he said.

DeMarcus Cousins finished with a double-double of 20 points and 12 rebounds and the Sacramento Kings rolled to their second straight victory with a 133-111 rout of the Dallas Mavericks.

Willie Cauley-Stein scored 21 points for the Kings, who also won by 22 points against Phoenix on Friday. Rajon Rondo contributed 11 points and 11 assists.

Raymond Felton had 15 points and Dirk Nowitzki scored 14 points for the Mavericks, who have lost 10 of 12 games.

Paul George scored 25 points and Monta Ellis added 22 as the Indiana Pacers edged the Houston Rockets 104-101.

Ian Mahinmi had 19 points and 11 rebounds for the Pacers, who are in seventh place in the Eastern Conference playoff race and sit a half-game ahead of the eighth-place Detroit Pistons.

James Harden finished with 34 points to lead the Rockets. Trevor Ariza had 14 points, and Dwight Howard added 11 points and 10 rebounds for Houston, which remains a half-game ahead of Dallas for eighth place in the Western Conference playoff race.

New world number one Day wins WGC Match Play crown

AFP

LOS ANGELES: Australian Jason Day celebrated his return to world number one with his second WGC Match Play crown on Sunday, beating Louis Oost-huizen 5 and 4 in the title match.

Day, was assured of regaining the world number one ranking on Satur-day when he reached the semi-finals as American Jordan Spieth was elim-inated in the round of 16.

And on Sunday, five days after fearing a bad back might force him out after his opening match on Wednesday, Day completed an unbeaten week at Austin Country Club in Texas with a gritty 1 up semi-final win over defending champion Rory McIlroy followed by his victory over Oosthuizen.

“To be able to play the way I did from tee to green and then on top of it make tough matches and hit the clutch shots has been fantastic,” said Day, who arrived in Austin off a win last Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invita-tional in Bay Hill.

Day joined Tiger Woods and fellow Australian Geoff Ogilvy as mul-tiple Match Play winners.

He won his first title in 2014

in Arizona before the tournament adopted its current round-robin for-mat for the first three days.

Third-seeded McIlroy, denied a chance to join Woods as the only back-to-back winners of the event, then was beaten 3 and 2 in the conso-lation final by 52nd-seeded Spaniard Rafa Cabrera Bello.

Oosthuizen, the 16th seed, had beaten Cabrera Bello 4 and 3 in the

semis, but he was no match for the second seeded Day in the final of the tournament.

Day opened the title match with a bogey to go 1 down, but squared the match at the third when Oosthuizen conceded the hole in the wake of a wayward tee shot.

Day took a 1 up lead with an 11-foot birdie at the fourth and stretched his lead from there.

He was 3 up through nine, and drained a six-footer for birdie at the 13th to go 4 up. He landed his approach at 14 within three feet for a birdie to seal the win.

“I’m very, very thrilled. It’s been a memorable week this week not only to win the Dell Match Play Champi-onship but also to get back to number one in the world,” Day said.

He said the see-saw battle with

McIlroy in the semi-final was nerve-wracking, but he drained a 13-foot par putt to halve the final hole and seal the victory.

That match was all square through 11 when Day drove the green at the par-five 12th, winning the hole with a birdie then winning the 13th with a chip-in birdie.

McIlroy drained a 12-foot birdie putt to win the 14th, but couldn’t win another hole.

“It was very stressful,” Day said. “There were moments where I think they’re the most fun, because I have to get up and hit the clutch putt at the right time.

“I wasn’t as tight from tee to green as Rory was. I just kept on saying I’ve got to frustrate him with my short game.

“If I miss a green I’ve got to get up and down. If I don’t hit a good chip then I’ve got to hole the putt.”

McIlroy called it a “good quality match”.

“I did miss a couple of opportu-nities on the front side,” McIlroy said. “He got off to a great start. I didn’t birdie 12 or 13, that was probably, I feel, what cost me the match.

“From there I was really just bat-tling back.”

Day, who confirmed his status as a Masters favourite with the first major of the year coming up in two weeks at Augusta National, said the same sharp short game that carried him to victory at Bay Hill was key in Austin.

But the mind-set for match play versus stroke play was different.

“You’re playing against a guy that’s across the tee from you,” Day said. “You have to know when and when not to go for things. When someone makes a mistake (you must) be able to aim it 20 feet from the pin and be able to hole the putt.”

Jason Day of Australia poses with his wife Ellie and children Dash and Lucy after defeating Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa in the championship round of the World Golf Championship-Dell Match Play at the Austin Country Club.

Australian golf star celebrates his return to top ranking by clinching second WGC Match Play title after beating Louis Oosthuizen

Kia Classic: Kiwi Ko scripts

four-stroke win in Carlsbad AFP

CARLSBAD, UNITED STATES: World number one Lydia Ko captured her 11th USLPGA Tour career title as she cruised to an impressive four-stroke victory at the Kia Classic tournament on Sunday.

The 18-year-old New Zealand teenager fired a five-under par 67 to finish at 19-under 269 and earn $255,000 in first place prize money. She will remain number one for the 23rd straight week.

The win puts Ko in the driver’s seat heading into next week’s ANA Inspiration, the first major champi-onship of the season.

“I’ve been playing consistently well, so I’m really happy about that. But who knows what’s going to hap-pen tomorrow,” Ko said.

Ko maintained the lead through-out the fourth round as she went into

the final day holding a three-shot lead.

She finished with seven birdies, including birdies on each of the final three holes.

South Korea’s Park In-Bee shot a five-under 67 to finish alone in sec-ond place at 15-under 273. She had birdies on three of her first eight holes Sunday to apply some pressure on Ko.

“I took a peek at the leaderboard and saw that In-Bee was making a lot of birdies,” Ko said. “I knew that I had to focus until the last moment.

“Fortunately, I made some bird-ies down the stretch, and that really helped.”

Japan’s Ai Miyazato shot a six-under 66 in the final round to finish in third place at 276, while two South Koreans, Park Sung-Hyun and Jenny Shin, finished tied for fourth at 277 after both shot even par on the final day.

Four players tied for sixth at

10-under 278, comprising Gerina Piller, China’s Feng Shanshan, Jes-sica Korda and South Korea’s Kim Hyo-Joo.

Meanwhile, Tony Finau defeated fellow American golfer Steve Marino with a birdie on the third extra hole to capture the Puerto Rico Open and claim his first USPGA Tour title on Sunday.

The 26-year-old Finau was mak-ing his 46th start on the Tour and first appearance in a playoff.

Under cloudy skies with gusty winds, Finau and Marino made clutch birdies on the first two extra holes at the par-five No. 18 to send the pair back to the 18th tee for the third extra hole.

Marino was unable to match Fin-au’s third straight playoff birdie. They both shot two-under 70 to finish at 12-under 276 in regulation.

Finau’s best previous finish was a tie for seventh at the Shriners Hospital

Open and the OHL Classic during his rookie season last year. He posted five top-10 finishes last year.

Marino recorded his first top-10 finish on the Tour since finishing runner-up at the Arnold Palmer Invi-tational five years ago.

Ian Poulter, who led after 54 holes, closed with an even-par 72 to finish

in a tie for third with Rodolfo Caza-ubon of Mexico. Puerto Rico native Rafa Campos posted back-to-back scores of even-par 72 on the week-end to finish in a tie for eighth.

Defending champion Alex Cejka of Germany fired a 71 on Sunday to reach eight under overall, four shots back of the leaders.

Lydia Ko of New Zealand speaks with LPGA Commissioner Michael Whan on the 18th hole after her -19 under victory during the final round of the KIA Classic at the Park Hyatt Aviara Resort in Carlsbad, California.

GOLF-WORLD RANKINGSLONDON: The golf world rankings released by the gov-erning body yesterday: 1. (2) Jason Day (Australia) 12.53 2. (1) Jordan Spieth (US) 11.06 3. (3) Rory McIlroy (Britain) 9.36 4. (4) Bubba Watson (US) 8.68 5. (5) Rickie Fowler (US) 7.86 6. (6) Adam Scott (Australia) 7.26 7. (7) Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 7.18 8. (8) Justin Rose (Britain) 6.07 9. (9) Dustin Johnson (US) 5.94 10. (10) Patrick Reed (US) 5.00 11. (18) Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa) 4.83 12. (11) Danny Willett (Britain) 4.65 13. (12) Branden Grace (South Africa) 4.65 14. (13) Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) 4.59 15. (14) Sergio Garcia (Spain) 4.40 16. (15) Zach Johnson (US) 4.23 17. (17) Brandt Snedeker (US) 4.18 18. (20) Brooks Koepka (US) 4.09

19. (16) Jim Furyk (US) 4.01 20. (19) Phil Mickelson (US) 3.97 21. (21) Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) 3.88 22. (22) Kevin Kisner (US) 3.79 23. (23) J.B. Holmes (US) 3.44 24. (24) Jimmy Walker (US) 3.33 25. (29) An Byeong-Hun (South Korea) 3.27 26. (25) Paul Casey (Britain) 3.27 27. (28) Kevin Na (US) 3.23 28. (30) Matt Kuchar (US) 3.21 29. (32) Bill Haas (US) 3.18 30. (31) Andy Sullivan (Britain) 3.15

LPGA KIA CLASSIC SCORESLOS ANGELES: Leading scores on Sunday in the final round of the LPGA Kia Classic at Carlsbad, California (USA unless noted, par 72):269 Lydia Ko (NZL) 68-67-67-67273 Inbee Park (KOR) 67-69-70-67276 Ai Miyazato (JPN) 67-72-71-66277 Sung Hyun Park (KOR) 71-66-68-72, Jenny Shin (KOR)

69-65-71-72278 Gerina Piller 72-70-69-67, Shanshan Feng (CHN) 71-69-70-68,

Hyo Joo Kim (KOR) 70-66-73-69, Jessica Korda 70-67-70-71279 Brooke M. Henderson (CAN) 73-70-70-66, Brittany Lang

67-68- 70-74

WGC MATCH PLAY SCORESLOS ANGELES: World Golf Championships Match Play scores on Sunday at Austin, Texas (x-denotes seeding):

FinalJason Day (AUS x2) bt Louis Oosthuizen (RSA x16) 5 and 4

Consolation matchRafa Cabrera Bello (ESP x52) bt Rory McIlroy (NIR x3) 3 and 2

Semi-finalsJason Day (AUS x2) bt Rory McIlroy (NIR x3) 1 upLouis Oosthuizen (RSA x16) bt Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP x52) 4 and 3

NBA RESULTSLA Clippers 105 Denver 90Indiana 104 Houston 101Sacramento 133 Dallas 111G State 117 Philadelphia 105Washington 101 LA Lakers 88

NHL RESULTSCarolina 3 NewJersey 2Pittsburgh 3 NYRangers 2Chicago 3 Vancouver 2

SPORT34 TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

India hails ‘genius’ Kohli

AFP

MOHALI: Virat Kohli was hailed as a batting genius yesterday after his brilliant innings led India to an improbable victory over Australia and sealed a semi-finals berth for the hosts at cricket’s World Twenty20.

Kohli hit an unbeaten 82 off 51 balls that mixed classic strokeplay with raw power in Mohali on Sunday night, as India chased down Austral-ia’s total of 160-6 in a pulsating final group match.

With three overs to go, India were still 39 runs short of their target but they cantered home with five balls to spare as Kohli and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni laid into the Australian attack.

Kohli hit four boundaries in the penultimate over off Nathan Coulter-Nile before Dhoni finished the job with another four.

Had India been knocked out, it could well have been Dhoni’s last innings amid widespread expecta-tions that he will call it quits after the tournament.

Kohli, 27, has already replaced the 34-year-old Dhoni as Test cap-tain but his regard for the older man was underlined when he paid tribute to India’s “Captain Cool” for helping him keep his head at the finale.

“MS in the end kept me calm, I

could have got over-excited,” said Kohli after being named man of the match.

“Trust me, you don’t like these sit-uations very much, (but) they improve you as a cricketer.” Dhoni said Kohli, who was also the match-winner in a high-octane clash against Pakistan earlier in the tournament, was learn-ing how to stay calm in pressured situations while not losing his natu-ral aggression.

“I think it was an incredible innings, especially the fact that the wicket was not easy to bat on,” said Dhoni.

“A lot of things pop into your head at that point of time (the last overs) and when you’re calm it just helps you to pick the right one... and not be too impulsive”.

“He will always be the same. He will be an aggressive character who is willing to take on challenges and he will be aggressive on the field, but he will also improve,” Dhoni added.

Kapil Dev, who captained India to victory at the 1983 World Cup, praised Kohli for resisting the temptation to slog, instead playing orthodox shots that would have graced a Test match.

“Hats off to this genius with a bat,” Dev wrote in the Mail Today newspaper.

“I have always believed that T20 cricket is not just about slamming the ball or indulging in ambitious shots. You can play your normal cricket strokes and win your battles against the bowlers. Virat’s exhibition proved it.” India, who now play the West Indies in the second semi-final in Mumbai on Thursday, are hoping to become the first team to win the World T20 twice, and the first on home soil.

Former all-rounder Ravi Shastri, who is now India’s coach, said that Kohli’s “fabulous” innings had proved that the team was hitting its stride at the crucial moment.

“From India’s point of view, I think they’ll get stronger as this tournament progresses,” said Shastri.

India’s first World Cup winning captain praises batsman’s heroics as Shastri hopes for more improvement after magical knock

Kapil Dev Ravi Shastri

India’s Virat Kohli celebrates after victory in the World T20 match against Australia at the Punjab Cricket Stadium in Mohali on Sunday.

Proteas down Lankans in dead rubberAFP

NEW DELHI: Hashim Amla’s com-posed fifty after an inspired bowling show helped South Africa beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets to notch up a consolation win in World Twenty20 in New Delhi on Monday.

Chasing a modest 121 for victory in an inconsequential final league match, the Proteas rode on Amla’s unbeaten 56 to canter home in 17.4 overs and get some pride back in the sixth edition of the tournament.

After losing opener Quiton de Kock early in their chase, Amla and Du Plessis stitched a 60-run second wicket stand to make things easy for their team.

Du Plessis was trapped LBW off Suranga Lakmal for 31 runs in the 12th over.

Amla, who struck his fifth T20 half-century, made sure that there were no more hiccups as he stitched a 47-run unbeaten partnership with AB de Villiers (20), who hit a massive six to seal the win.

In the first half of the game, the Proteas bowlers restricted holders Sri Lanka for 120 runs in 19.3 overs after skipper Faf du Plessis opted to field first.

Sri Lankan opening pair, Dinesh Chandimal (21) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (36), did give the team a brisk start but soon lost the momen-tum after losing a couple of wickets.

Stand-in skipper Chandimal and Dilshan looked purposeful during their respective knocks as the duo got stuck into Dale Steyn’s second over which cost 16 runs.

But the introduction of spin

changed the course for Proteas as Aaron Phangiso struck twice in his first over.

The left-arm spinner cleaned up Chandimal and then Lahiru Thir-imanne for nought on the final two deliveries of his over to be on a hat-trick.

Phangiso failed to strike thrice but ended up with impressive fig-ures of two for 26 in his four overs.

Dilshan tried to steady the innings amid the regular wicket-fall but became Farhaan Behardien’s sec-ond victim to be lbw while attempting

a reverse sweep. The South African dominance continued as Lankan batsmen failed to show application on a pitch that didn’t seem to have any devil.

Medium-pacer Kyle Abbott bagged two scalps as new-ball part-ner Steyn also enjoyed just his second outing in the tournament after mak-ing Thisara Perera trudge back to the dug out. Dasun Shanaka, coming in at number eight, made an unbeaten 20 to give some respect to the total, which proved inadequate against a star-studded South African line-up.

South Africa ended the league table on third position with two wins and as many losses, while a lacklustre Sri Lanka stayed just above laggards Afghanistan with three losses.

Stokes revels in role as death bowlerAFP

NEW DELHI: Ice-cool all-rounder Ben Stokes (pictured) said yesterday he was revelling in his role as Eng-land’s death bowler after his nerves of steel once again kept his side in the World Twenty20.

With Sri Lanka needing 15 runs to win and their captain Angelo Mathews hitting England’s bowl-ers around the park in Saturday’s crunch match in New Delhi, Stokes was handed the ball at the start of the 20th over.

But after spinners Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid were clattered for 21 in their final overs, Stokes bowled a string of near perfect yorkers and conceded only four runs to secure England’s place in the semi-finals.

Stokes also held his nerve in England’s previous match against Afghanistan, taking the final over as the minnows fell 16 runs short of their target. While other England bowlers have come unstuck on the global stage – including Stuart Broad who was hit for six sixes by India’s Yuvraj Singh in the 2007 World T20 – the 24-year-old Stokes is relishing the responsibility.

“I would much rather be doing that last over thing rather than hop-ing that whoever is bowling it gets us through. I’d rather be the man doing it,” he said in the build-up to Wednesday’s semi-final against New Zealand.

“Yes, I love being involved in the game and being in high pressure sit-uations. I think it probably brings the

best out of me in terms of my cricket. I enjoy getting into the big moments of the game.”

England’s passage to the semis was hampered by defeat to the West Indies in their opening match, meaning they had to win all of their other three games against Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and South Africa.

The West Indies also beat Eng-land in 2010 but Paul Collingwood’s side went on to win the tournament in the Caribbean, the first time that the team had ever won a major inter-national tournament.

Collingwood, who has captained Stokes back home in Durham, is cur-rently in India as a consultant for the England team.

“Colly actually did say that at the start of the tournament that we got beaten by the West Indies in the first game. It’s a good omen because that’s what happened to him,” Stokes told reporters in New Delhi. Stokes is one of the more seasoned members of the team after making his inter-national debut in 2011.

Australia rue middle over woes after Cup flopReuters

MOHALI: Australia captain Steve Smith, while tipping his hat to a bril-liant innings from India’s Virat Kohli, was left ruing his team’s middle overs malaise after their sixth attempt to win the World Twenty20 came up short in Mohali.

Kohli’s magnificent 82 not out from 51 balls helped India overhaul Australia’s 160 with five balls to spare on Sunday, sending the hosts into the semi-finals as Group 2 runners-up and Smith’s men home.

Smith was quick to pay tribute to Kohli’s “seriously unbelievable” knock but said Australia had contributed to

their failure to sustain a challenge for the one major international trophy they have never won. Dismissing crit-icism of Australia’s preparations and the make-up of the squad, Smith said it had been in the execution of their skills that the players had fallen short.

“You have to try and find your best 15, particularly in these conditions, and I think we had the right 15, we just let ourselves down in key moments,” he told reporters in his post-match news conference.

“Obviously we haven’t done as well as we’d have liked in this for-mat but hopefully we’ll continue to improve.”

The “conditions”, slow pitches which favour spin bowling, were a recurring theme throughout Smith’s

postmortem of the campaign but it was the batting in the middle overs that he pinpointed.

“We probably let ourselves down in the middle overs again ... losing a few wickets in clumps, not being able to get that partnerships together to get the score above par to 170-odd, so that was a bit disappointing,” Smith added.

“But I think the players will learn a lot from this tournament, playing in these conditions again, it’s very valu-able and hopefully we can continue to learn and get better.”

Smith paid tribute to all-rounder

Shane Watson, who took 2-23 and a stunning diving catch to dismiss Yuvraj Singh in his last match as an international cricketer before retirement.

“Obviously there’s no real fairy-tales in sport very often,” Smith said of his 34-year-old team mate.

“Shane gave his all as he did every game for Australia, I thought he bowled beautifully tonight and looked like he was 25 again taking that catch.”

Smith was in mood to complain about his own dismissal despite tele-vision pictures indicating he had been unfortunate to be given out for two.

He said the foundations for Aus-tralia’s demise had been laid in their opener against New Zealand.

India’s captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (left) shakes hands with Australia’s captain Steve Smith after their World T20 game in in Mohali on Sunday

SMITH LAUDS ‘SERIOUSLY UNBELIEVABLE’ KNOCK

South Africa’s Hashim Amla raises his bat after his half century during the World T20 match against Sri Lanka at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi yesterday.

SRI LANKAD Chandimal b Phangiso 21

T Dilshan lbw Behardien 36

L Thirimanne b Phangiso 0

M Siriwardana (run out) 15

S Jayasuriya c du Plessis b Behardien 1

C Kapugedera b Tahir 4

T Perera c Behardien b Steyn 8

D Shanaka (not out) 20

R Herath c de Kock b Abbott 2

J Vandersay b Abbott 3

S Lakmal (run out) 0

Extras (B-4, LB-2, W-2, NB-2) 10

Total (all out in 19.3 overs) 120Fall of wickets: 1-45, 2-45, 3-75, 4-78,

5-85, 6-85, 7-96, 8-109, 9-120, 10-120.

Bowling: Steyn 4-0-33-1; Abbott 3.3-0-

14-2; Phangiso 4-0-26-2; Tahir 4-0-18-1;

Wiese 1-0-8-0; Behardien 3-0-15-2.

SOUTH AFRICAH Amla (not out) 56

Q de Kock (run out) 9

F du Plessis lbw Lakmal 31

A B de Villiers (not out) 20

Extras (LB-2, W-4) 6

Total (for 2 wkts in 17.4 overs) 122Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-75.

Bowling: Jayasuriya 1-0-9-0; Lakmal

3.4-0-28-1; Herath 4-0-21-0; Vandersay

4-0-25-0; Shanaka 2-0-17-0; Perera 2-0-

15-0; Siriwardana 1-0-15-0.

SCOREBOARD

SPORT 35TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

Hikers after taking part in the inaugural GCC Hiking Championship in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE recently. RIGHT: Action during the competition.

GCC Hiking Championship ends

The Peninsula

DOHA: The inaugural Adventure GCC Hiking Championship was held in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE with Qatar also fea-turing in the exciting event.

Comprising six teams of 11 ath-letes from across the UAE, KSA, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait, the championship tested participants’

fitness levels as they made their way through the rough terrains of Jebel Jais, reaching heights over 1,000 meters.

The teams met the day before the competition where they were briefed on the day ahead and had the chance to meet fellow hikers at a designated base camp by Wadi Galila Dam.

Members of the public were also invited to take part in a fun day of music, traditional food, and folk dances and were also offered the opportunity to enjoy climbing, camping and cycling competitions.

The strenuous but rewarding hike finished at the top of Jebel Ja is Mountain - the official finish line for the competition - where the United Arab Emirates team completed the competition in just 01:58:00 minutes.

The winning team was shortly followed by Omani and Saudi Hikers who finished in 02:08:00 and 02:20:00 minutes respectively.

Haitham Mattar, CEO, Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority said: “Ras Al Khaimah provides a beautiful backdrop for hosting a wide range of great outdoor activities.”

“One of our goals for 2016 and beyond is to host a variety of exhilarating outdoor events, with a great deal of focus on sporting events in particular. The Hiking challenge

is a great example of this. It is open to residents and visitors alike, and further positions Ras Al Khaimah as the ultimate outdoor destination,” he added.

Yasser Sharaf, President & Founder of Sharaf HQ Investment, the founders of Adventure HQ said, “As an Emirati company, we are delighted to hold this GCC initiative in Ras Al Khaimah – it brings our community together and inspires people to stay healthy and discover the great outdoors in a beautiful setting.”

“The competing teams are great role models of how our passion can bring nations together as one, and challenge ourselves collectively to reach great heights. The challenging route gave the athletes the opportunity to test their stamina and

strength as they enjoyed a beautiful route through the UAE’s tallest mountain, Jebel Jais,” he added.

Following the success of this year’s Hiking Championship, Adventure HQ plan to make the championship an annual event.

Ras Al Khaimah is just a 45-minute drive from Dubai International Airport and is the perfect getaway for business, leisure, adventure, and luxury travel.

Visitors to Ras Al Khaimah will enjoy idyllic sojourns on terracotta deserts, white sand beaches and resorts, adventure activities including water sports, micro-lighting, mountain climbing, kayaking, as well as an eclectic selection of international gourmet experiences and world-class spas.

CHAMPIONSHIP TO BECOME AN ANNUAL

EVENTQatari hikers also take part in the inaugural event at Ras Al Khaimah

Qatar prepares for

Beach Volleyball

World Tour

The Peninsula

DOHA: Qatar Volleyball Associ-ation (QVBA) is preparing to host the prestigious FIVB Beach Vol-leyball World Tour to be held from April 3 to 8 at Al Gharafa play-grounds.

Qatar will field two teams in this prestigious volleyball meeting which will bring together 54 teams from across the world.

Qatar and Oman will partic-ipate in the main rounds of the event.

The event’s organising Com-mittee is doubling its efforts in order to complete all technical and managerial arrangements to host the competition in a befitting manner in Doha.

TriClub Doha organises successful Junior Triathlon meet at MIA Park The Peninsula

DOHA: Under the auspices of the Qatar Cycling & Triathlon Federation, TriClub Doha hosted a special Jun-ior Triathlon in partnership with the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) in Doha.

Triathlon is a test of endurance featuring running, cycling and swim-ming stages.

As many as 40 junior athletes aged 8 to 16 participated in the races held recently at the MIA Park.

The stages included 100m to 200m swimming in the open waters of the park’s lagoon, a 3km to 6km bicycling leg, and a 1.5km to 3km run. Stage difficulty varied between age groups.

Two brother-sister combinations topped the fields in the two young-est age groups. Arran Cameron and Amelia Bennett in the 8-10 year cat-egory, and Ethan Bennett and Ailsa Cameron finished top of the 11-12 year olds field.

In the third age bracket of 13-16 year olds, William Browne and Pia Hampel won the boys and girls races.

The young athletes were super-vised by a team of 50 volunteers and race marshals from TriClub Doha.

They utilised the Club’s modern electronic race timing equipment to ensure accurate timekeeping, sup-ported by wireless services from Vodafone.

The event was sponsored by Man-nai Auto and GMC who provided the equipment and race garb, as well as the winners’ trophies.

GMC have been avid supporters of the TriClub’s activities in recent years, and serve as title sponsors of the Aspire GMC TriSeries which tests athletes, young and old, across the picturesque Aspire Zone facility in four challenging multi-event meets each season.

GMC has had a long history in

Qatar of supporting active outdoor pursuits and continues to sponsor many triathlon events in the coun-try with the aim of promoting healthy lifestyles as well as the mental forti-tude that is a natural companion to the training regimen of these athletes.

Jamal Al Kuwari, Executive Direc-tor of the Qatar Cycling & Triathlon Federation in his congratulatory statement said that the federation is pleased to support the development of triathlon amongst the youth of Qatar.

He also encouraged the efforts of bodies such as the TriClub in main-taining a steady stream of competitive events throughout the year.

The Club’s events feature stages

customised for people with varying levels of endurance and are, most importantly, accessible to anyone wishing to participate.

Ewan Cameron, President of Tri-Club Doha, on presenting the prizes to the winners said: “We are extremely pleased with the development of pub-lic interest in triathlon. The number of new participants grows each year and we are especially honoured to welcome young aspiring athletes to the club.”

“Our more experienced mem-bers are always willing to guide and mentor new members of any age and we would like to thank them for their efforts in organising a very

professional event at the MIA Park.:Cameron added: “Triathlons are

about endurance, willpower and a strong work ethic. It takes commit-ment to succeed in any triathlon and we are glad to see that our young par-ticipants are developing values which will help them sustain their future life and health habits.”

Daniel Brown, Acting Director of the MIA said as hosts to the event, they were pleased to share the Park and its facilities to promote strong community events and draw new fans to growing social activities such as triathlon, with a landmark of Doha’s modern community architecture at its heart.

Ewan Cameron, President of TriClub Doha, poses with the winners of Junior Triathlon competition at MIA Park in Doha recently.

Eddie Jones braced for rough ride in Australia The Peninsula

BAGSHOT, UK: Eddie Jones (pic-tured) is expecting a hard time from his Australian compatriots when he returns in June aiming to lead Eng-land to more success.

But the tough-talking Tasma-nian, who led the Wallabies for four years including a home World Cup final defeat by England before being ousted, is relishing the “intense” atmosphere of a tour down under and trying to build on England’s recent Grand Slam success.

Jones knows all too well that while getting England to complete a Six Nations clean sweep in his first season in charge was a fairly difficult hill to climb, overcoming Australia in the first-ever three Test series there between the two nations will be considerably harder.

Asked if he expects to be tar-geted by the Australian media as a potential ‘trai-tor’, Jones replied: “I am a target here (England) so it is not going to make much difference!

“That’s part of the game. If it does help take some of the pressure off the players then that can only be a good thing. It doesn’t bother me.

“I think they will be respectful about what we have done regarding the Grand Slam. Well, as respectful as Australians can be!

“It definitely sets things up for a fantastic series on June 11 (the date of the first Test, in Brisbane), and that’s very important.”

Jones, who took over after hosts England were knocked out of last year’s World Cup in the pool phase following a 33-13 defeat by Aus-tralia, added: “It’s nice to go down

there with what they will see as a resurgent England team.

“Australia had France out there two years ago and, to be quite hon-est, the three Tests were quite morbid. They weren’t great. France didn’t front up at all. They were pretty poor events and the crowds were poor. “But they are going to see an England side full of energy, full of life, that wants to play posi-tive rugby and is going to take it to the Aussies. It is going to be a tough and intense tour but it will also be an exciting one.”

With his England players back at their respective clubs for the run-in to the English Premiership season, Jones’ biggest worry is avoiding any sort of injury crisis between now and the end of May when the squad fly out. Despite a first Grand Slam in 13

years, and install-ing a clinical winning attitude in a short time, Jones will not be happy unless he turns England into the global game’s dominant force.

One man he both praises but warns is England captain Dylan Har t ley, who must continue to

prove his worth if he wishes to keep his place as the team’s first-choice hooker.

Hartley must first complete his post-concussion protocol following the bang on the head that meant he missed the closing minutes of Eng-land’s 31-21 Slam-clinching win against France in Paris on March 19 before he returns to club action with Northampton.

The New Zealand-born front row missed the World Cup completely after former coach Stuart Lancas-ter kicked him out of the squad for the latest in a long line of discipli-nary offences, only for Jones to make him captain.

36 TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

Al Attiyah expects tough battle in Jordan

The Peninsula

AMMAN: The region’s motor sport-ing attention turns towards Jordan for round three of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship from May 5-7, after Nasser Al Attiyah put on a driving master class to clinch round two in Kuwait at the weekend.

The Qatari 11-time regional champion eased to victory after winning all 13 of the timed special stages to cruise home with a win-ning margin of 11 minutes and 24.9

seconds. And with Kuwait in the bag, the regional road show will begin to wind its way across to Jordan where one of the best routes in the world of rallying is being finalised by organ-isers, Jordan Motorsport, which has officially announced that entries are now being taken.

“I always look forward to Jor-dan immensely because it is such a memorable occasion,” said Al Attiyah.

“It is probably the most diffi-cult round of the Middle East Rally Championship. The stages are never easy and provide a great challenge. For several reasons, I didn’t have much competition in Kuwait but I hope my rivals will all be in Jordan.”

Held under the patronage of HRH Prince Feisal Al Hussein, the Chairman of Jordan Motorsport, rally regulations have now been published and it shows a testing route including many of the com-petitive kilometers used by Jordan when it hosted the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) in 2008, 2010 and 2011.

The overall distance is 643.28km with 222.74km to be run over timed special stages held on May 6 and May 7 through the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley areas.

A ceremonial start and spectator event will be held on the afternoon of May 5 in Amman at a location to be revealed.

The itinerary also reveals that there will be a return to the world class King Hussein Bin Talal Con-vention Centre managed by Hilton – Dead Sea where the headquarters were based during those memora-ble WRC years.

Work is also continuing una-bated on the stages, which are being repaired following a Jordan winter which brought heavy rainfall.

For more rally details and a copy of the regulations, fans and com-petitors are asked to visit www.jordanrally.com.

Qatar’s Nasser Al Attiyah will start as favourite in this May’s Jordan Rally.

Qatar’s rally king eyes win in ‘most difficult’ round of Middle East Rally Championship to be held in May

ENTRIES BEING TAKEN FOR JORDAN RALLY

French girl Charlotte Berton got the call-up to join the squad for the Sealine Rally.

QMMF’s Sealine Rally: Female drivers

prepare as entries close on Thursday The Peninsula

DOHA: Three female crew have begun their countdown to the start of next month’s Sealine Cross-Country Rally, round three of the FIA Cross-Country Rally World Cup, which takes centre stage in the State of Qatar from April 16 to 22.

They are the six individuals who have been chosen to represent a group of ladies who took part in an international competition to find ideal candidates for funded drives on the event.

They were selected after a meticu-lous assessment programme, held by the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) in conjunction with FIA Women in Motorsport.

After that gruelling selection process in Qatar at the end of last year, six origi-nal candidates were chosen to compete in the Sealine event, but both Australia’s Molly Taylor and Belgium’s Lara Van-neste had to withdraw from taking their prize drives because of other contrac-tual agreements.

Taylor has secured a factory drive with Subaru Australia and Vanneste will be competing full-time in the Ger-man Rally Championship. Events in both disciplines clash with the Sealine Rally. Vanneste actually won the 2015 Cedars Rally in Lebanon alongside Roger Feghali.

New Zealand’s Emma Gilmour and Dutch co-driver Lisette Bakker

will crew the first car. Charlotte Ber-ton was the first reserve and the French girl will now team up with Jordanian

navigator Yasmeen Elmaed in the sec-ond T2 vehicle, while South African Sandra Labuscagne will now navigate

for Spain’s Cristina Gutierrez Herrero in the third car.

“This is a great adventure. I love to discover new horizons in competition,” enthused Berton.

“I have been working hard on my physical training to be strong enough to face the heat and inevitable difficulties in the desert. Yasmeen and I drove together during the selection last year. We both had a good feeling and I am confident in sharing the car with her.”

Labuscagne added: “My selec-tion came as a big surprise. I am very grateful for the amazing opportunity. It’s a dream come true and a privilege to compete in the 2016 Sealine Rally. Training and preparation will be key in our success and I am looking forward to the challenge. I would like to thank the QMMF and the Commission for this opportunity.”

“The assessment programme took place before I took over in my role at the QMMF, but I am looking forward to meeting the winners and wish them a safe and successful week at the Sealine Cross-Country Rally,” said QMMF Presi-dent Abdulrahman Abdulatif Al Mannai.

“It’s a shame for Molly and Lara, but we are delighted they both have full programmes for the season, underlining the talent we saw in them,” said Michele Mouton, President of the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission and FIA Safety Commission.

“While it is an intense prepara-tion period for Charlotte and Sandra, who we welcome to the team, we have

a confirmed fitness, navigation and driver training programme organised in Qatar before the event and I am confident that every-one will take the maximum benefit from these final preparations.”

The final deadline for entries for this year’s Sealine Cross-Country Rally has been set for Thursday.

The event is also the second round of the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship and competitive action gets under-way from Losail International Circuit on April 18.

Spain’s Cristina Gutierrez will be seen in action at next month’s QMMF Sealine Rally.

The Lords of Gravity International group performing during the ‘’Aspire Jam’’ street basketball tournament at Aspire Park on Sunday. Pics: Kammutty VP/ The Peninsula

Doha Ballers clinch Aspire Jam titleThe Peninsula

DOHA: Aspire Zone Foundation con-cluded the 5th edition of the “Aspire Jam” street basketball tournament on Saturday at the Aspire Park with the par-ticipation of 12 teams for players aged 18 years old and above.

The Doha Ballers clinched the tour-nament title following an exciting final with the All Stars team who came second, where the Lebanese Vipers managed to secure the third place.

The tournament witnessed an exciting show for the Lords of Gravity international group who performed a mix of acrobatic and basketball moves that reflect strength, flexibility, and endur-ance. Children also enjoyed a variety of entertaining activities.

Aspire Zone has grown significantly since its inception as an international sport destination in 2003.

The official umbrella, the “Aspire Zone Foundation” (AZF), was established

by Emiri decree on 1 January 2008. The goal of Aspire Zone Foundation is to develop sports champions, promote healthy lifestyle and galvanize the sports

economy. All member organisations of AZF have their individual role to play in realizing the AZF Mission.

The Aspire Zone umbrella brand

currently comprises three strategic mem-ber organizations.

Integrated below the strategic mem-bers, which are specialised in businesses focusing on various fields such as ven-ues and events management, hospitality, sports education, sports medicine, com-munication or commerce.

All businesses have been integrated to serve, enhance or perfect AZF in its development to become the worldwide reference in sports excellence.

Aspire Academy established in Sep-tember 2004 and has developed into one of the world leading elite sport institutes.

Aspetar, the first advanced sports medicine hospital of its kind in the Gulf region and one of the leading in the world commenced its operations in 2007.

It has meanwhile achieved a pio-neering international reputation and is recognized as a FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence.

Aspire Logistics is the backbone and custodian of Aspire Zone venues. It man-ages all venues, as well as international sports events and conferences.

Mohamed Mubarak Al Kkuwari, Director of Event and Logistic at Aspire presenting the trophy to Doha Ballers during the ‘’Aspire Jam’’ street basketball tournament at Aspire Park on Sunday.