Djokovic eases into second round in Qatar.

BUSINESS | 21 SPORT | 29

Carmaker Ferrari makes Milan stock

exchange debut.

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Verdant landscape in Al Shamal after rains heralding the onset of the coldest month of winter in Qatar. Pic: Baher/The Peninsula

North of Qatar goes green

A Syrian refugee child, moments after arriving on a raft with other Syrian refugees on a beach on the Greek island of Lesbos, yesterday.

Innocent refugee

TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016 • 25 Rabia I 1437 • Volume 20 • Number 6666 thepeninsulaqatar @peninsulaqatar @peninsula_qatar

Advisory Council wants shop rent rise slab reduced

DOHA: The Advisory Council wants to reduce the percentage by which own-ers of shops and other commercial space can increase the rent annually.

The Council recommended yes-terday that the Cabinet’s decision (Number 8 of 2015) that allows own-ers of shops and offices to increase the rent annually by a fixed percent-age, be reduced.

The Council, at its weekly meeting, also recommended to the govern-ment that the validity of the Cabinet decision which is due to expire next month, be extended, reports QNA.

The Council, however, didn’t spec-ify the duration by which the validity of the Cabinet Decision is urged to be extended.

According to the Council, once the validity of the Cabinet decision is extended, the legal validity of all the rent contracts that are signed within its framework are also to be auto-matically extended.

The Advisory Council has like-wise asked state-owned companies that own real estate which is given on

rent or companies in which the gov-ernment has stake and which own real estate, to also review their rent prices and sign fresh rent contracts with their tenants.

These companies must ensure that the rents they take from their tenants are not unjustifiably high, noted the Council, saying this was necessary to ensure so as to keep the general price rise under check.

During a debate on the issue of escalating rents, Fahad Al Khayareen, Secretary-General of the Council, referred to the address of Emir, H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, at the opening session of the Coun-cil in which he expressed concern at what he said was unjustified rise in rents and which he said were neg-atively impacting individuals and society as a whole.

Earlier, the Council discussed the issue of rising rents, both residential and commercial, and said the trend must be checked as it was affecting the prices of goods and services and adding to inflationary pressures.

In its recommendations, the Council also urged the government to conduct studies to assess the feasi-bility of giving on ownership shops it owns and has rented out to nationals.

And nationals should be increas-ingly encouraged to invest in real estate, said the Advisory Council.

→ Continued on page 2

Bahrain and Sudan snap ties with IranAgencies

RIYADH: Tensions between Iran and its Sunni Arab neighbours reached new heights yesterday as Saudi Arabia and its allies cut or downgraded dip-lomatic ties with Tehran in a row over the execution of a Shia cleric.

Bahrain and Sudan cut ties with Iran yesterday, as Moscow offered to act as an intermediary between Riyadh

and Tehran. Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran late on Sunday, giving diplomats 48 hours to leave the country, after protesters set fire to its embassy in Tehran and a consulate in second city Mashhad.

Saudi Arabia said yesterday it would end air traffic and trade links with Iran and demanded that Tehran must “act like a normal country” before it would restore severed diplomatic relations. The United Arab Emirates

also downgraded its ties, recalling its envoy from Tehran and reducing the number of its diplomats in the country.

Angry exchanges following Saudi Arabia’s execution Saturday of prom-inent Shia cleric and activist Sheikh Nimr Al Nimr erupted into a full-blown diplomatic crisis as Riyadh and then Bahrain and Sudan severed their rela-tions with Tehran.

The Arab League will hold emer-gency talks at the request of Saudi

Arabia on Sunday, its deputy head said.The US and other Western nations

urged calm, amid fears the dispute could derail efforts to resolve con-flicts across the Middle East, from Syria to Yemen.

Sunni Arab nations accused Tehran of repeatedly meddling in their affairs, with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir saying “Iran’s history is full of negative interference and hostility in Arab issues”.

Qatar opens tourism office in Milan to lure more visitorsThe Peninsula

DOHA: Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) has opened a representative office in Milan to reach out to travellers and tour operators in Italy, which is one of the Gulf state’s fastest growing vis-itor source markets.

“The number of Italian arrivals increased by a remarkable 16 percent

to more than 34,000 in 2015, and we are confident that this market has great potential for growth,” said Rashed Al Qurese, Chief Marketing & Promotions Officer at QTA.

The Milan office will aim to greatly enhance QTA’s on-the-ground pres-ence and capabilities, introducing and developing awareness and knowl-edge on Qatar as a quality destination through pro-active marketing to tour operators, travel agencies, hospitality

partners and media, as well as target-ing consumers.

Al Qurese explained that, in recent years, Qatar has successfully built on its reputation as a business travel des-tination by diversifying their approach to attract increasing number of leisure tourists as well. Total international vis-itors have soared by 91percent since 2009, with an average annual growth rate of 13.8 percent, making Qatar one of the fastest growing destinations in the

world. Qatar’s marketing campaign in Italy will cover a wide range of promo-tional initiatives, including workshops, sales visits, travel agents destination training through QTA’s online TAWASH programme, partnerships with tour operators, familiarisation trips, media campaigns and a variety of innova-tive activities to raise Qatar’s profile as a destination among Italian holi-day makers.

“Our focus will be on projecting

the message that Qatar combines top quality accommodation and superb leisure facilities in a clean and safe environment, together with an authen-tic taste of traditional Qatar hospitality and a range of cultural experiences unmatched in the region,” Al Qurese noted. The office in Italy is the fourth to open in Europe and sixth worldwide. It joins an international network cov-ering UK, France, Germany, the GCC markets and South East Asia.

By Sanaullah Ataullah

The Peninsula

DOHA: Large fish catches this winter have turned the Central Market into a buyer’s market as seafood prices have been falling much to the glee of fish lovers.

Vendors at the Central Market attribute the fall in fish prices to big catches this winter.

The Central Market operates in two shifts: From 4 in the morning to 2pm and later, from 5pm to 10pm throughout the week. The auction of fish for the vendors takes place daily during evenings.

Yesterday, kingfish was availa-ble at the Central Market for between QR25 and QR30 per kg.

Kingfish rates vary slightly based on their size. The price was QR30 for a big one. The smaller one, though, was available much cheaper—for QR23

a kg. Hamour, the most popular fish among Qataris, was sold for QR35 a kg (the bigger one) while QR30 per kg was the rate for the smaller ones.

Shahri was sold for QR12 a kg and Foskar was, perhaps, the cheapest fish at the market as it was sold for QR8 per kg. Kufar was available for QR10. While Jash was being retailed per kg for QR20, and Zubaidi was slightly more expensive at QR30.

The prices of Safi fish have also fallen. There are two types of Safi available in the Qatari waters. The variety that is fished in Al Shamal was marginally expensive as it was sold for QR35 per kg. The Safi vari-ety hunted from the water near Doha was available at QR30. Both types of Safi fish are the same but their taste is different, fish lovers and retailers claim. Mohammad Ashiq, a vendor at the Central Market, told this news-paper that Al Shamal variety of Safi is tastier than its Doha cousin.

→ Continued on page 2

Big catch brings down fish

prices at Central Market

One killed as two

Sunni mosques

bombed in Iraq

AFP

HILLA, IRAQ: Blasts rocked two Sunni mosques in central Iraq yesterday, amid fears of renewed sectarian strife in the region, police and medics said. As thousands dem-onstrated against Saudi Arabia in Baghdad, Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi vowed to track down the attackers, whom he said were attempting to undermine national unity. A man was killed in one of the attacks and a muezzin was gunned down in the same region south of Baghdad. In Hilla, about 80km from the capital, a police captain said the Ammar bin Yasser mosque in Bak-erli neighbourhood was bombed after midnight. A muezzin from a Sunni mosque in Iskandariyah, a town about 40km south of Bagh-dad, was also shot dead overnight.

→ See also page 6

Advisory Council discusses issue of rising rents

UN monitor on

Palestinian

territories resigns

Germany warns

Schengen zone

in danger

GENEVA: The United Nations expert on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories resigned yesterday, complaining that Israel had never granted him access to the areas he is meant to monitor.

“The United Nations Spe-cial Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestin-ian territories, Makarim Wibisono, today submitted his resignation to the President of the Human Rights Council, effective as of 31 March 2016,” the UN said in a statement, adding that he had “expressed deep regret that, throughout his mandate, Israel failed to grant him access to the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

→ See also page 7

BERLIN: Germany yesterday warned the passport-free Schen-gen zone was “in danger” after Nordic countries announced new controls at their borders to stem a migrant influx.

“Freedom of movement is an important principle — one of the biggest achievements (in the Euro-pean Union) in recent years,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer told reporters. “Schengen is very important but it is in danger,” he added when asked about Den-mark’s announcement of checks at the German border.

→ See also page 15

DOHA: The health cen-tre in Abu Nakhla has extended its working hours and is open for patients between 7am and 10am, the Primary Health Care Corporation said in a state-ment yesterday.

Extension of work-ing hours will cover both clinics with prior appoint-ments, and regular clinics, support services such as the pharmacy, laboratory, radiology, nursing, recep-tion and customer service departments, the state-ment added.

The PHCC said the extension is part of its commitment to provide healthcare services of high quality, improve the qual-ity of services to ensure an excellent level of health and provide the highest level of services as dictated by its responsibilities and duties towards the people.

Alert by Armed

Forces over shoot-

ing practice

Doha: Qatar Armed Forces General Command has announced that the marine shooting range near Fasht Al Hadid will be active from January 31 until Feb-ruary 4 from 7am to 1pm every day.

In a statement, the command said the marine range is located towards the east from Mesaieed, a distance of about 40km at an angle of 105 degrees from the port of Mesaieed near Fasht Al Haid from the east and extends to the south of Shraouh Island. The command cautioned those who frequent the area to take precautions for their safety.

Qatar-Myanmar

ties reviewed

NAYPYIDAW: The Presi-dent of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, Thein Sein, yesterday met Qatari Ambassador to the coun-try Hassan bin Mohammad Rafi Al Emadi on the side-lines of the celebration of Myanmar’s Independence Day.

During the meeting, they discussed relations between the two countries and ways of enhancing them.

Abu Nakhla

Health Centre

timings extended

HOME02 TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

The Peninsula

DOHA: The fourth Ooredoo Mara-thon will take place on Friday and thousands of runners of all levels of ability have registered to take part.

This year, the event features a full marathon (42.195km), a half-mara-thon (21.0975km), 10km, 5km junior and adult races and a child-friendly 3km and a 1km events.

The first race will start from Museum of Islamic Art at 6.30am, with full marathon runners taking a course along the Corniche back again.

With a prize pot of QR1,000,000 and prizes for the best runners in various categories based on age and gender, Ooredoo expects a positive

response this year. Yousuf Abdulla Al Kubaisi, Chief

Operating Officer, Ooredoo Qatar, said: “We’ve placed a lot of empha-sis on engaging the community in the marathon, offering a full range of races, the most interesting course and the best range of facilities for runners. People of all levels of abil-ity can take part and we encourage friends, families and colleagues to come down and cheer the racers on.”

To ensure safety of runners and spectators, the Corniche Road will be closed from 6.30am to 11.30am to accommodate the races.

Spectators are urged to stand at the Corniche walkway at MIA or check-points lining the Corniche to get an unobstructed view. Runners can park

Thousands to take part

in fourth Ooredoo

Marathon on Friday

Runners taking part in a previous event.

at the MIA port side entry from 5am until 7.30am and visitors can park in Souq Waqif underground park-ing. Participants must collect their race pack inside MIA parking lot on Friday between 5am and 6am.

The event, organised and sponsored by Ooredoo, is part of its ongoing campaign to encourage more people to get involved in sports and inspire Qatar’s future sporting champions.

Ooredoo is ensuring the marathon is as safe and prepared as possible and will help provide runners with water and any necessary minor first aid dur-ing races. For details, visit Marathon.ooredoo.qa.

The

Peninsula

DOHA: Qatar Charity (QC) has sponsored 7,270 people in Gaza, including orphans, poor, disabled, students, and Holy Quran teachers.

QC’s office in the conclave implemented a project to secure its sponsored people their medical and humanitarian needs to help them have a dignified and respectful life and lighten their financial burdens.

The project included financial aid to 18 cases sponsored by QC in the Gaza Strip. Their needs included medical devices such as eye glasses and audio phones and neces-sary devices for chronic diseases, payment for treatments and others.

QC’s staff visited patients to ensure the process was documented and the patients made the utmost use of the devices, appa-ratuses and medications.

Thanks to the project, 52-year- old Mas’oud Khalil Mreish’s life has changed. He suffers from a chronic respiratory dis-tress and had to spend most of his time in

hospital because of his serious need for arti-ficial ventilation.

He does not have to do that anymore as QC bought him an alternative source of energy to operate his ventilator at home.

The UBS adaptor QC provided to Mre-ish enabled him to operate his ventilator despite the recurrent power cuts which can last more than 12 hours a day.

He can stay with his family now and no longer needs to spend his time lying on a hospital bed. I used to depend on an oxy-gen cylinder when the electricity was cut off, but it would run out quickly and I couldn’t afford to refill it.

“That is why my children used to take me to hospital. I would stay there for days. I thank QC for helping me and other sick and needy people,” said Mreish.

He expressed gratitude to QC for help-ing him have a stable life with his family. He said he no longer had to worry about him-self and his family.

Engineer Mohammed Abu Haloub, Direc-tor of QC office in Gaza, said the project reduced the financial burden of the spon-sored sick people who suffered difficult economic conditions.

He said some beneficiaries faced diffi-culties in finding their medications which were not available due to the siege on Gaza. This required more time to find alternative medications.

The number of QC-sponsored bene-ficiaries in Gaza reached 7,270, including 5,901 orphans; 803 poor families; 492 people with disabilities; several students; preach-ers; and Holy Quran teachers. In addition, QC has declared since the first few days of the aggression on Gaza to allocate QR20m for reconstruction of destroyed homes and other relief needs like food and medications. One of the beneficiaries with her supplies provided by Qatar Charity in Gaza.

Continued from page 1

Fish prices fluctuate at the Central Market, depending on the quantity of catch. When the weather is good, large quantities are available for auction and this leads to a fall in fish prices.

“Put in simple terms, supplies dic-tate fish prices at the Central Market,” said a vendor. “Usually, we go in the evening to the auction yard to buy stocks. Fish are auctioned in a bas-ket that roughly weighs 15kg.

A vendor or retailer or bulk buyer for personal use should take at least two baskets. Once the auction is over, authorities fixes retail prices based on auction prices. Two receipts for

the auction are prepared — one for the authorities and the other for bro-kers. Every vendor must follow the retail price list issued by authorities daily. Outlets found breaching the pricing list rule are made to pay a hefty fine, said Ashiq.

Central Market outlets must com-ply with more regulations. A doctor visits outlets twice a day (morning and evening) to check the quality of fish offered for sale. Municipal inspec-tors make surprise visits to outlets to ensure the price list is implemented. Most customers insist on some dis-counts, said Mohammad Mia, another salesman. “Usually, we offer discount of QR1 or QR2 per kg.”

Qatar Charity sponsors 7,270 in GazaThe project includes orphans, poor, disabled, students, and Holy Quran teachers to meet their medical and humanitarian needs

Continued from page 1

For this purpose, the government must develop land with necessary infrastructure and simplify and quicken building licensing procedures.

The Council has specifically asked nationals to build residential com-plexes to help end housing shortages in the country.

The government has also been urged by the Council to instruct the

authorities concerned to develop Com-mercial Streets with all the required facilities in different parts of the country.

And more significantly, the Coun-cil has emphasized the importance of vertical urban development to end housing and commercial space shortages by allowing buildings with more heights in different areas of the country.

The Council has recommended to

the government to allow reconstruct-ing old buildings with more height and provide the necessary backup and services in those areas.

According to Qatar News Agency, the Services and Public Amenities Committee of the Advisory Council met four times last month (December 2015) and studied and discussed at length the rising rent and other issues of immense public concern and gave its suggestions to the Council.

The Advisory Council in session.

Call to develop land with necessary infrastructure

Fish vendor Mohamed Ashiq at the Central Market yesterday.

Fish retail prices fixed based on auction rates

HOME 03 TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

The Peninsula

DOHA: To enhance patient safety within a hospital environment, Dr Moza Al Ishaq (pictured), Execu-tive Director, Corporate Quality and Patient Safety Programme, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) is the first certified root cause analyst in Qatar, using her expertise to train local and regional healthcare professionals in risk management.

“Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is an innovative quality improvement approach that involves investigation of the ‘root cause’ of an incident or error to develop the most effective solutions and minimise potential risks for patients,” Dr Al Ishaq said.

The extensive quality improvement process looks at how a particular problem occurs so strategies can be developed to prevent it from reoc-curring. Having this sophisticated procedure as one of our key improve-ment approaches has contributed to a stronger culture of safety within our facilities,” she said.

One of a cadre of Qatari clinicians in leadership roles at HMC, Dr Al Ishaq has pioneered several of HMC’s risk management initiatives and staff train-ing programmes and developed the RCA approach. These include risk assessment and register, Patient Safety Training Programme, and HMC Qual-ity Coaching Programme that focuses on incorporating best practices to aid the delivery of the safest, most effec-tive and most compassionate care to patients. With the support of multi-disciplinary teams from HMC’s Risk

Management Department and medi-cal teams, Dr Al Ishaq has led several quality improvement workshops for hundreds of HMC staff to encourage them to be proactive in patient safety.

“We are dedicated to developing leaders at every level of the organ-isation through ongoing training in the core values of integrity, collabo-ration, and innovation.

“With this approach, each member of staff understands his or her con-tribution to improving each of our patients’ healthcare experience,” she said. Recent improvements include implementation of a state-of-the-art incident reporting system.

Dr. Al Ishaq took the lead on this significant project which marked a tremendous improvement since 2011, involving a shift from a paper-based to a web-based system.

“The application of this inno-vative system has bolstered Qatar’s position at the forefront of health-care transformation.

“We are the second healthcare provider in the region and the sev-enth in the world to implement the system,” Dr. Al Ishaq added.

HMC’s Qatari root cause analyst improves quality of patient care

The Peninsula

DOHA: The Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID), Woolf Institute – Cambridge, and the Muhammad Bin Hamad Al Thani Center for Muslim Contribution to Civilisation at Hamad Bin Khalifa Uni-versity’s Faculty of Islamic Studies are holding a public lecture on ‘Secular-ity: Good or bad; religious perspective’ to be delivered by Lord Rowan Wil-liams on Wednesday from 6.30pm to 8pm at QFIS building auditorium.

The Right Reverend and Right Honorable Lord Williams of Oyster-mouth (pictured) was the archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012 and now serves as the Master of Magdalene College at Cambridge University. He is an established theologian, poet and a scholar who speaks on social and religious issues. He is known for tread-ing a ‘middle path’ that encourages dialogue between competing reli-gious viewpoints.

Lord Williams is known for warn-ing against excluding religious voices from the public arena in debates on

social and moral issues but cautions religious communities not to expect to have a casting vote on such issues in a liberal society and to accept that their role is to contribute to a wider debate rather than to determine its outcome.

He says a society committed to law and rights ought to be a society profoundly interested in the welfare of religious communities and one that realises that it needs religious insights. Simultaneous translation of the lec-ture from English to Arabic will be provided.

The Peninsula

Doha: The Ministry of Economy and Commerce, in collabora-tion with Al Mannai Trading Company, dealer of Cadillac vehicles in Qatar, has announced the recall of Cadillac ATS and CTS models of 2015, chas-sis No. 1G6A95RA6F0129973 -1G6A95RA9F0129823- 1G6A95RA8F0129585- 1G6A95RA1F0129959 due to a

possible fracture to the bracket between the brake pedal assem-bly and the rod that actuates the vehicle service brakes. The ministry said the recall is within the framework of its ongoing efforts to protect consumers and ensure dealers follow up on vehicle defects and repairs. It urged customers to report any violations to its Consumer Pro-tection and Anti-Commercial Fraud Department through its communication channels.

Cadillac models of 2015 recalled

HBKU to host lecture on

‘Secularity: Good or bad’

The Peninsula

DOHA: Qatar Airways (QA), the launch customer of the A350 and the first air-line to land the A350 in the US, achieved another milestone by being the first to offer a regularly-scheduled A350 service to the US with its January 1, 2016 service from Hamad Interna-tional Airport to Philadelphia.

QA was the official launch customer of the A350 and continues to be the leader in deploying the state-of-the-art

aircraft around the world. The A350 partnership marks QA’s strong invest-ment in technology, superior travel experience and its commitment to maintain one of the youngest and most advanced fleet in the sky.

“The Airbus A350 was designed from start to finish to meet the needs of today’s international flyer,” said Akbar Al Baker, Chief Executive, QA Group.

“At QA, we never cease searching for new ways to enhance the passen-ger experience and with the A350, we have the ideal platform to take global aviation into the next decade.”

Among the many advancements of the Airbus A350, the aircraft features eco-efficiency tools, which combine for a 25 percent reduction in emis-sions versus the current generation of airliners. The aircraft has an overall capacity of 283 passengers, including 36 Business Class seats, in a spacious 1-2-1 configuration.

Perhaps the most welcome of all,

the new aircraft boasts an extensive set of features proven to reduce jet lag. The A350 is equipped with a dynamic LED lighting system, with cycles, tones and colours to suit the time of day and

destination. A high precision air management

system filters the air every few minutes and is combined with lower cabin pres-sure and optimal humidity to counter the effects of international travel and refresh passengers on arrival.

“The A350 has transcended mod-ern aviation standards and our only challenge has been choosing which of our over 150 destinations would be among the first to enjoy it,” said Al Baker. “The city of Philadelphia has been an outstanding partner since we launched in 2014 and it is our pleas-ure to reward regional travellers with the chance to experience the future of global aviation, today.”

The A350 arrival in Philadelphia comes on the day QA commenced daily, non-stop service to Los Angeles LAX.

The airline plans to continue its US expansion throughout the year, doubling flights to New York JFK on April 1, launching daily, non-stop serv-ice to Boston on March 16 and Atlanta on June 1.

Qatar Airways is the first airline to land the A350 in the US.

Qatar Airways begins scheduled A350 Doha-Philadelphia serviceNew aircraft features reduced emissions, superior comfort and less jetlag.

DOHA: Qatar Airways rang in the New Year with a new daily, non-stop service between Los Angeles Interna-tional Airport (LAX) and Hamad International Airport on January 1. The new route features the airline’s land-mark Boeing 777-200 and represents its first passenger service to the West Coast of the US.

The expansion to LAX is the first of three new US destinations planned for 2016, along with Boston on March 16 and Atlanta on June 1.

“We are honoured to bring our award-winning service to Los Angeles. This great city embodies the glamour and sophistication that gave rise to the ’jet set’ lifestyle, when travel truly started to be part of our life experience.

“It is only fitting that we bring the world’s best airline

experience to the people of Los Angeles,” said Akbar Al Baker, Chief Executive, Qatar Airways Group.

The first arrival to Los Angeles was recognised with a special gate ceremony, celebrating the passengers on the maiden flight. The airline will officially cele-brate the new Los Angeles route on January 12, when Al Baker will host a press conference and a star-stud-ded VIP gala. The LAX launch comes as QA continues to expand operations in the US and around the world. It is also enhancing existing services along its success-ful US routes. The Doha-Los Angeles daily schedule: Departs Doha QR739 at 0745 hours and arrives in Los Angeles at 1310 hours; Departs Los Angeles QR740 at 1510 hours and arrives in Doha at 1810 hours the fol-lowing day.

Doha-Los Angeles daily flight unveiled

Streetlights stretching from Safeer Hypermarket to Commercial Bank on D-Ring Road have not been working for two days, making it difficult for motorists to negotiate.Pic: Kammutty/The Peninsula

Streetlights out of order

LTC – Qatar, the parent company of Homes r us, Daiso, Bossini, Carters & G2000, celebrated its 11th anniversary last week, with a grand event attended by staff and guests. The celebration at Hyatt Plaza was chaired by General Manager Ramesh Bulchandani.

LTC-Qatar marks 11th anniversary

HOME04 TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

The Peninsula

DOHA: About 25,000 expatriate workers will benefit from a charita-ble programme of Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) supported by Chevron Phillips Chemical Qatar.

Chevron Phillips has donated QR930,000 to QRCS to launch the sec-ond annual ‘Together for Benevolence’ campaign, a charitable programme to support expatriate workers in the country.

Michael F Zeglin, President, Chevron Phillips Chemical Qatar, and Ricardo Costa Almeida, Human Resources Specialist of the company, presented the cheque to QRCS Repre-sentatives Issa Al Ishaq, Head of Human Resources, Ahmed Al Khulaifi, Head of General Resource Mobilisation, and Hamid Moharar, Head of Corporate Resource Mobilisation.

The programme will expand to include 25,000 road, building and cleaning workers in several districts, on sites and in organisations, includ-ing Qatar Foundation, Qatar National Museum, the Industrial Area and Al Khor City. Expected to last two months, the programme has three phases: Distribution of 10,000 food meals

(QR100,000), distribution of 10,000 water and juice bottles (QR30,000) and distribution of 5,000 hygiene kits (QR800,000).

Al Ishaq urged people in Qatar to

contribute to the campaign, which directly serves the best interests of the needy segments of society.

Zeglin said, “We are pleased to work with QRCS to positively impact

expatriate workers in the country.“We value our relationship with

QRCS and its vision of contributing to social and humanitarian services in Qatar.”

The Peninsula

DOHA: A video circulating on social media claiming diabetes can be cured through weekly injection is baseless, warned an expert from the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC).

Professor Abdul Badi Abou Samra, chairman of Internal Medicine at HMC, has advised diabetics to ignore the video and continue using the treat-ments prescribed by their doctors.

“Currently, there is no injection or medicine that cures diabetes com-pletely. There are many medications that help to lower blood sugar levels, but these are not a cure. Prescribed medical treatments vary according to a patient’s age, the type and stage of his or her diabetes, and any com-plications and co-existing conditions the patient may have,” he said.

He also stressed the importance of patients not altering their treatment plan without first consulting their physician. “ All the treatments used at HMC are universally accepted for the treatment of diabetes. Treatment plans are individual. The success of a particular treatment for some patients does not mean that the same treat-ment will be effective for all patients,”

Prof. Abou Samra said.He added that HMC clinicians are

undertaking a number of research studies to compare the effectiveness of different treatments for diabetes, as well as their side effects.

“No single prescription can apply to all patients. The type and dosage of medicine prescribed will differ according to each patient’s specific condition. For instance, patients with type 1 diabetes, whatever their age, and some patients with type 2 diabe-tes whose pancreas become unable to produce enough insulin, must take insulin injections. This may not be replaced by another drug,” said Prof. Abou-Samra.

Prof Abou-Samra said that fol-lowing a healthy lifestyle, including eating a balanced diet and getting adequate physical exercise, can help prevent the disease.

He added that if their diabe-tes diagnosed in the early stages, patients may not require medica-tion and instead be able to manage the disease with lifestyle changes.

“At any stage of the disease, the patient will still need to adhere to a healthy diet and get appropriate physical exercise. Medication alone is not sufficient if the patient’s life-style is unhealthy.”

‘Together for Benevolence’ to benefit 25,000 expat workers

The Peninsula

DOHA: The seventh Qatar International Falcons and Hunting Festival (Marmi-The Challenge) kicked off yesterday at Sabkhat Marmi in Sealine.

The event that continues till the end of this month was inaugurated under the patronage of H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani.

As in previous editions, the Hadad El Tahadee local competition has grabbed

significant participation from competi-tors. The competition is being held in the morning and in the evening.

Speaking at the launch of the festival, Ali bin Khatem Al Mahshadi, Head of the Organising Committee, stressed the main goal of organizing the festival is to revive the heritage of ancestors, which is very important to Qataris.

He noted the significant turnout of the visitors from all walks of life on the open-ing day.

Ivo, a tourist from Bulgaria who is moti-vated by the nice weather in the desert,

said: “I am really excited to watch the enthralling activities of the falcons’ festival to get a close glimpse of the rich Qatari heritage and traditions.”

The Peninsula

DOHA: The Ministry of Economy and Commerce registered 64 violations of the provisions of the consumers’ protection law by commercial out-lets last months.

The erring outlets were caught during regular and surprise inspection campaigns conducted by the minis-try to ensure shops were complying with the law.

The highest number of violations (11) related to providing unclear details about products on packets, followed by seven cases of not displaying the price lists of products and services.

At least six violations with regard to selling expired products were detected. Five outlets did not display

the prices of products after and before promotional offers.

Another five violations related to cheating customers by displaying products in unsuitable way.

The remaining violations were related to selling products that did not meet Qatar’s specifications, infor-mation about products were not in Arabic, offering promotions without taking permission from the author-ities concerned, not following the price list rule, not issuing bills for sold products, and charging more than the announced prices, among others.

The ministry said in a state-ment that punishments for flouting the provisions of Law No. 8 of 2008 (Protection of Consumer Rights) vary from closure of an outlet temporarily to fines ranging from QR5,000 ($1,373) to QR30,000 ($8,238.36).

Inspections detected 64 violations

by food outlets last monthQatar Red Crescent Society and Chevron Phillips Chemical Qatar officials at the donation presentation ceremony.

Chevron Phillips donates QR930,000 to Qatar Red Crescent Society to launch the second annual campaign

Qatar International Falcons and Hunting Festival begins

A falconer competes on the first day of the contest.

HMC warns against video

on diabetes treatment

Licences for ministry trainers The Peninsula

DOHA: The Human Resources Department at the Ministry of Interior has begun assessment to issue accredited international trainer licences to 17 trainers from the ministry. The assessment was held at Al Rayyan Security

Department as part of a plan to prepare national trainers. The assessment committee consists of training experts and special-ists who met to unify standards for trainers. Lieutenant Saud Al Dulaimy stressed the importance of training in increasing perform-ance of officials in all ministry’s departments.

HOME / MIDDLE EAST 05TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al Bashir met Attorney-General Dr Ali bin Fetais Al Marri in Khartoum yesterday. Talks dealt with topics related to judiciary and public prosecution. Qatari Ambassador to Sudan Rashid bin Abdulrahaman Al Nuaimi and Dr Al Marri’s delegation were present. Dr. Al Marri also held meetings with Minister of Justice Awad Al Hassan Al Nour and Minister of State for Higher Education Dr Al Tijani Mostafa. Dr Al Marri is on visit to Sudan at the invitation of Al Nour.

Sudan President meets Dr Al Marri

The Peninsula

DOHA: Qatar National Library (QNL), will host MetLib2016 – a prestigious Conference of the Metropolitan Librar-ies of the World in April.

It is a significant achievement for Qatar and QNL to be the first in the Mid-dle East and North Africa (Mena) region chosen to host the conference, Dr Clau-dia Lux, Qatar National Library’s Project Director told this newspaper.

“MetLib2016 will provide us with an unprecedented opportunity to showcase our unique services to the world,” she said.

MetLib2016 conference to be held in Doha, under the theme ‘Pearls in the desert: Unleashing potential.’

Metropolitan libraries provide people with the knowledge and infor-mation they need to realize their full potential and become active contrib-utors to their society’s development. Public libraries provide the knowl-edge and information support that help individuals to unleash their potential, achieve their ambitions and become key contributors to their society’s advancement.

Metropolitan librarians’ profes-sional development is an important aspect of any library’s functions. They should also receive the support and development required to fully real-ize their potential so they are able to better serve and develop the com-munities that they support.

Meanwhile, QNL carries out its mission through three functions as National Library, University and Research Library, and a Metropoli-tan Public Library of the digital age.

The National Library function collects and provides access to glo-bal knowledge relevant to Qatar and the region.

It also collects, preserves, and pro-vides access to heritage content and materials about Qatar and the region.

The University and Research Library function supports education and research at all levels by providing printed and digital library materials for students and researchers.

Metropolitan Public Library deliv-ers library services and information for everyone to enjoy reading, meet peo-ple, and become information literate.

In 2015, QNL participated in the 81st IFLA World Library and Informa-tion Congress in South Africa and the library was announced as the Regional Arabic Speaking Preservation and Con-servation Center (PAC).

Through PAC, QNL will represent the 25 Arabic speaking countries in the MENA region to help preserve history and heritage of Qatar and the wider region. Making it evident the that there is a growing reading culture in Qatar, thousands of users wishing to gain access to the QNL’s wealth of learn-ing resources, have registered in 2015.

In 2016, as well QNL has planned many events to engage the society throughout the year and encourage their reading habits.

The Peninsula

DOHA: The Board of Trustees for the Awards instituted in the name of martyr Ali Hassan Al Jaber for jour-nalists announced yesterday that the deadline for receiving entries for the competition for the fifth edition of the awards is March 5, 2016.

The ideals for which Al Jaber sac-rificed his life, laid foundation for high humanitarian values which the world seeks, said Sheikh Abudlaziz bin Thani bin Khalid Al Thani, Board Member and Director, Qatar TV.

He said the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) launched the awards to help fight violations of human rights and participation in the three categories of the Awards represents important moral values as it commemorates a man who sac-rificed his life for the sake of freedom of expression.

The financial value of the awards is to encourage innovation and enhance humanitarian values, he stressed.

The awards have become a source of aspiration for journalists interested in tracking the violation of human rights, said Sami Al Haj, Member of the Board and Director of Freedom and Human Rights Department at Al Jazeera TV Network.

Another member of the board,

Nasser Salmeen called on the youth to participate in the three catego-ries of the awards which is victory for media freedom and asserts the importance of providing journalists with necessary protection to move freely and convey the truth to the people.

The Board of Trustees yesterday held a meeting at the main office of the National Human Rights Commit-tee (NHRC) to see the progress about

the fifth edition of its annual awards launched in memory of Al Jazeera cameraman Ali Hassan Al Jaber.

The wards were launched by the NHRC in the name of Al Jaber who was martyred in Libya in March 2011. The awards were instituted in the same year. For the awards entries have been invited for competitions in the categories of photography, investigative journalism and short documentary film.

March 5 entries deadline for fifth

Ali Hassan Al Jaber Awards

Qatar National Library to host MetLib2016 forumA key achievement for Qatar and QNL to be the first in Mena to host Metropolitan Libraries of the World Conference

A file photo of Ali Hassan Al Jaber in action before his martyrdom.

The Peninsula

DOHA: Qatar will host the 12th Doha Conference of Interfaith Dialogue 2016 next month under the theme ‘The role of faiths … what future for spiritual and intellectual security for society.”

The event, being held by the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID) will take place on February 16 and February 17.

During the conference winners of the Doha Award for dialogue of religions

will be announced, the Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported. A number of institutions and individuals are com-peting for the award.

The Center will also hold a dia-logue for expatriate communities in Qatar in May to discuss different issues concerning their lives. A similar event was held earlier on Qatari law and its relation with expatriates.

Dr Ibrahim Salih Al Nuaimi, chair-man of DICID told QNA that the interfaith dialogue conference will focus on the prerequisites for dialogue between reli-gions and explore the common points

between different heavenly religions.The forum theme is divided into four

areas- the concept of intellectual secu-rity as the basic requirement for security of the society, methods of intellectual and moral invasion, how to protect the youth from intellectual invasion and means of preserving intellectual and moral values.

About 500 delegates from Qatar and outside will discuss the role of media in intellectual invasion and the role of social media in destabilising intel-lectual security and the role of some extremist religious elements.

AFP

ANKARA: A Turkish court yesterday sentenced a co-mayor of a major city in the Kurdish-majority southeast to 15 years in jail on charges of mem-bership of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Bekir Kaya, Co-Mayor of Van

which has a population of around half a million, was convicted by a court in Van of being a member of the PKK and its urban wing the Group of Communities in Kurdis-tan (KCK), the Anatolia news agency said. The verdict was confirmed by a colleague who asked not to be named. Twelve other defendants in the trial were also given prison sentences of between 15 and 7.5

years, Anatolia said.A supporter of the country’s main

pro-Kurdish party the Peoples’ Dem-ocratic Party (HDP), Kaya, 38, had served time in jail from 2012-2013 over the PKK’s role in Van.

Kurdish politicians in Turkey regularly split posts between men and women to promote gender equality. Kaya’s Co-Mayor in Van is Hatice Coban.

Doha Conference of Interfaith Dialogue 2016 next month

Turkey jails Kurdish city mayor over PKK links

Woman delivers under care of medical team The Peninsula

DOHA: In a rare incident, the med-ical team in Mesaimeer health centre on Sunday took care of mother with labour pains, and they were able to help her deliver the baby smoothly.

Dr Elham Al Emadi a family physician at the Mesaimeer health centre together with Maternal and Child Health Educator Samah Al Jareedi and with help of the nurs-ing staff, provided the required medical support by conducting examinations for both the baby and mother. Dr Al Emadi said that

the mother was suffering from ter-rible pain and the medical cadre performed necessary procedures.

Everything was done with ease and the condition of the new born and the mother was in good shape.

Both the mother and the baby were transferred to Women’s Hospital.

Tunis: Security forces in Tunisia have killed a sus-pected foreign jihadist during an operation in the northwest of the country, the interior ministry said.

National Guard units shot the man, who was armed, between Mount Serj and Mount Ballouta in Siliana province on Sunday, ministry spokes-man Walid Louguini told Mosaique FM.

“Security forces were able to shoot and kill a terrorist element who, according to an initial assessment, appears to be a foreigner,” he said late on Sunday.

They seized a Kalash-nikov assault rifle, a hand-grenade and another explosive device, he said.

Militants have killed dozens of police and sol-diers since the 2011 revolution that ousted longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Last year alone, the Islamic State group claimed attacks on the national museum in Tunis and a popular resort hotel, killing a total of 59 tourists, and the suicide bombing of a bus carry-ing presidential guards, in which 12 of them died.

Saudi executes

murderer

Riyadh: Saudi Arabia yes-terday put to death a man convicted of mur-der, following its weekend executions of 47 men including a Shia cleric whose death prompted a diplomatic row with Iran.

Ahmed Obeid Al Amri Al Harbi was found guilty of shooting a man dead following a dispute, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency SPA.

He was executed in the Qassim province, north of Riyadh, it said.

86 refugees cross

into Jordan

Amman: Jordan’s Border Guards on the northern frontiers received 86 Syr-ian refugees in the past 24 hours. The source said border guards pro-vided the refugees with the necessary aid before transferring them to ref-ugee camps and shelters, according to Jordan’s News Agency, Petra.

Tunisia forces

kill suspected

militant: Ministry

GULF / MIDDLE EAST06 TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

UN peace envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura will be visiting Riyadh and Tehran for talks aimed at defusing tensions between the two regional heavyweights.

AFP

UNITED NATIONS: The UN peace envoy for Syria travelled to Saudi Ara-bia ahead of a visit to Iran for talks aimed at defusing tensions between the two regional heavyweights, the UN spokesman said.

Staffan de Mistura was to arrive in Riyadh amid fears that the furor over the Saudi execution of a Shia cleric could undermine international peace efforts in Syria.

De Mistura “believes that the cri-sis in Saudi-Iranian relations is a very worrisome development and stresses the need to ensure it does not cause a chain of adverse consequences in the region,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Both Iran and Saudi Arabia are key players in the diplomatic push to end the nearly five-year war in Syria, with Tehran among Presi-dent Bashar Al Assad’s strongest allies while Riyadh is backing mili-tias fighting Damascus.

De Mistura is due to launch peace talks between Assad’s government and the opposition in Geneva on January 25, but it remained unclear whether the Iran-Saudi crisis would have an impact on that plan.

Dujarric said the envoy would “assess the implication” of the cri-sis on the Syria peace effort.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was “deeply dismayed” by the Saudi execution of 47 people including cleric Nimr Al Nimr.

Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran late on Sunday, giving diplomats 48 hours to leave the country, after protesters set fire to its embassy in Tehran and a consulate in second city Mashhad.

Ban spoke by phone with the

foreign ministers of both coun-tries and urged them to “avoid any actions that could further exacerbate the situation between two coun-tries and in the region as a whole,” said Dujarric.

“He stressed the importance of continued constructive engagement by both countries in the interest of the region and beyond.”

In his talks with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir, Ban urged Saudi Arabia “to renew its commit-ment to a ceasefire” in Yemen after the Riyadh-led coalition announced on Sunday that it was ending the truce with Iran-backed rebels in the country.

The UN envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, was to hold talks in Riyadh tomorrow to push for a renewed ceasefire.

The White House yesterday urged Saudi Arabia and Iran to show restraint in the crisis spurred by the execu-tion of a senior Shia cleric by Saudi Arabia. “We do continue to be con-cerned about the need for both the Iranians and the Saudis to de-esca-late the situation. We are urging all sides to show some restraint and to not further inflame tensions that are on quite vivid display in the region,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a daily news briefing.

He said US Secretary of State John Kerry had been in touch with his Ira-nian counterpart and U.S. diplomatic officials had been in contact with Saudi officials to convey the message.

Demonstrators took to the streets of Tehran for a third consecutive day of protests yesterday. Some 3,000 dem-onstrators gathered in Imam Hossein Square in eastern Tehran, chanting slogans against Saudi Arabia.

AFP

ADEN: Authorities in Yemen’s south-ern city of Aden imposed a curfew yesterday after violence blamed on suspected jihadists killed at least 22 people, pro-government media and security sources said.

Suspected Islamic State group (IS) jihadists in the city also shot dead Sheikh Ali Othman, a Sufi imam who was considered a moderate, security officials said.

The curfew will come into force at 8:00 pm (1700 GMT) and last until 5:00 am (0200 GMT), the sabanews.net website said, citing a decision by the Aden Security Commission.

The decision comes after fierce battles on Sunday in the port of

Aden killed 22 people, among them 10 members of the security forces

including a colonel, the security sources said. Security sources said

the clashes erupted when forces loyal to President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi came up against resistance when they tried to deploy in the port to secure it completely.

They said the fighting lasted for several hours and that pro-Hadi forces eventually managed to take control of the facility.

Witnesses said they saw an unprecedented number of armed men in Aden on Sunday, without being able to identify them.

Hadi toured parts of the city, including the port, yesterday. Aden, declared by the government to be the temporary capital, has seen growing unrest between Al Qaeda in the Arabian Penin-sula, long active in Yemen, and IS as both groups appear to be vying for influence.

Aden under curfew as clashes kill 22

UN envoy heads to Saudi, Iran

AFP

HILLA, IRAQ: Blasts rocked two Sunni mosques in central Iraq yesterday, amid fears of renewed sectarian strife following Saudi Arabia’s execution of a prominent Shia cleric, police and medics said.

As thousands demonstrated against the Gulf monarchy in Bagh-dad, Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi vowed to track down the attackers, whom he said were attempting to undermine national unity.

After Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran over the firebombing of its embassy and was followed by Bahrain and Sudan, the protesters demanded Baghdad break off rela-tions with Riyadh.

A man was killed in one of the overnight attacks and a muezzin — the person appointed to recite the Muslim call to prayer —was gunned down in

the same region south of Baghdad.In Hilla, about 80km from the

capital, a police captain said the Ammar bin Yasser mosque in Bak-erli neighbourhood was bombed after midnight.

“After we heard the explosion, we went to its source and found that IEDs (improvised explosive devices) had been planted in the mosque,” he said.

“Residents said a group of peo-ple with military uniforms carried out this operation,” he added.

A witness said he saw gunmen shoot dead a young man displaced from his home town of Ramadi who had been living in the mosque with his family.

“The armed men killed one of the displaced who lives in the mosque” with his wife and two children, the resident said on condition of anonym-ity for fear of reprisals.

A Hilla doctor confirmed the death.Ramadi is a Sunni city where Iraqi

federal forces reclaimed the upper

hand a week ago after months of bat-tling the Islamic State group.

The Al Fateh mosque in a village called Sinjar, just outside Hilla, was also destroyed overnight. A police captain said three or four men in military uni-forms were involved in that bombing.

“They took advantage of the cold weather, there was nobody outside,” he said.

A medical source in Hilla said three people were wounded in the explosions.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts, nor for the killing near the town of Iskandariyah, about 40km south of Baghdad.

A muezzin from a Sunni mosque in Iskandariyah, a town about 40km south of Baghdad, was also shot dead overnight, several sources said.

A local councillor identified the slain muezzin of the Mohammed Abdallah Jabbouri mosque in Haswa as Taha Al Juburi.

Two mosques bombed in Iraq

Reuters

BENGHAZI: Islamic State militants clashed with security forces near Libya’s Es Sider oil export terminal on Monday killing two guards, while an oil storage tank at nearby Ras Lanuf was set on fire during fighting there, witnesses and a guard said.

The guard told Reuters that Islamic State suicide car bombers had attacked Es Sider, after which the insurgents retreated, and that the tank at Ras Lanuf, about 20km from Es Sider, had been hit by a rocket. A spokesman for Libya’s National Oil Com-pany (NOC) said the tank was holding about 400,000 barrels of oil. The NOC was still trying to put out the fire late on Monday

evening. Libya descended into chaos after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 and rival governments and the militias that support them are fighting for control of the North African state and its energy reserves. Es Sider and Ras Lanuf, its biggest oil ports lie between Sirte and Benghazi and have been shut for a year.

Islamic State has taken advantage the security vacuum to grab territory and is threatening to advance from Sirte, which it controls. So far the group has failed to take control of any Libyan oil installations but has done so in Syria.

The group said it had attacked Es Sider after taking the nearby town of Ben Jawad. However, there was no independent con-firmation of its capture.

Es Sider is protected by Ibrahim

al-Jathran’s Petrol Facilities Guard, which has backed the government based in the city of Bayda in the east, but is also fighting other forces supporting that government.

Libya’s crude oil production has dropped to less than a quarter of a 2011 high of 1.6 million barrels per day.

The United Nations has been trying to win support for a deal brokered in Morocco last month to create a national unity gov-ernment for Libya.

Separately on Monday, a plane target-ing militant groups in the eastern city of Benghazi was shot down, though the pilot ejected, senior army commander Fadel al-Hassi told Reuters.

Forces allied to the Bayda government have been battling insurgents based in Beng-hazi for months.

IS targets Libya’s main oil terminals

A policeman inspects the debris at the Al Fateh mosque, that was one of two mosques bombed overnight, in Sinjar village, about 80km south of the capital Baghdad, yesterday.

Saudi halts flights to IranRIYADH: Saudi General Author-ity of Civil Aviation (GACA) announced halting of all flights from and to Iran.

In a statement carried by Saudi Press Agency, GACA stressed that this halting came due to severing diplomatic ties with Iran, adding that the national carriers will take the necessary proceedings.

Sources: World Energy Atlas; U.S. Energy Information Administration; Thomson Reuters.

Libya’s oil infrastructure

Staff, 04/01/2016

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Sirte

ShahatDerna

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LIBYA

LIBYA’S CRUDE OIL PRODUCTION — Million barrels per day (average)

E G Y PTA LG E R I A

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Four years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, Western powers are pushing Libya's warring sides to accept a U.N. accord and form a unity government to end Libya's conflict, which has allowed Islamist militants to gain ground and illegal migrant smugglers to take advantage of the chaos.

Oil/gas field Oil pipeline Refinery Oil port Closed oil port

F E Z Z A N

Es Sider oil portAn attack by Islamic State militants on the oil export terminal on Jan. 4 killed two guards and set an oil storage tank on fire.

Yemen’s President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi tours the cargo terminal of the Mualla port in Aden yesterday.

GULF / MIDDLE EAST 07TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

AFP

GENEVA: The UN expert on the human rights situation in the occupied Pales-tinian territories resigned yesterday, complaining that Israel had never granted him access to the areas he is meant to monitor.

“The United Nations Special Rap-porteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, Makarim Wibisono, today submitted his resig-nation to the President of the Human Rights Council, effective as of 31 March 2016,” a UN statement said.

Wibisono, who took up the inde-pendent expert in June 2014, “expressed

deep regret that, throughout his man-date, Israel failed to grant him access to the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” it said.

“Unfortunately, my efforts to help improve the lives of Palestinian victims of violations under the Israeli occu-pation have been frustrated every step of the way,” Wibisono said in the statement.

The Indonesian diplomat said he had been assured before taking up the position that he would have access to the occupied Palestinian territories.

“I took up this mandate with the understanding that Israel would grant me access, as an impartial and objec-tive observer,” he said.

But he said repeated requests

for access were unsuccessful.“With no reply from Israel to my

latest request, in October 2015, to have access by the end of 2015, it is with deep regret that I accept the premise upon which I took up the mandate, which is to have direct access to the victims in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, will not be fulfilled,” he said.

By contrast, the Palestinian gov-ernment had “cooperated fully” with his mandate. Israel has long had stormy relations with the UNHRC, which it accuses of having a built-in bias against the Jewish state.

Wibisono took over from American professor Richard Falk, who repeatedly locked horns with Israel, Washington and others over his harsh criticism of

the Jewish state, which included a call to boycott companies profiting from its settlement enterprise in the occu-pied Palestinian territories.

The Indonesian diplomat has proven less controversial, although he harshly criticised the deadly 2014 Gaza war, warning the “ferocity of destruction and high proportion of civilian lives lost in Gaza cast serious doubts over Israel’s adherence to inter-national humanitarian law.”

And in November, Wibisono accused the Israeli security forces of using excessive force against the Palestinian and may have carried out summary executions as they sought to crack down on a wave of lone-wolf attacks with knives, guns and cars.

Yesterday, he voiced deep concern over the lack of protection for Pales-tinians who face an ongoing range of human rights violations.

“I reluctantly wish to pass the baton to a successor, selected by the Human Rights Council,” Wibisono said.

“It is my sincere hope that whoever succeeds me will manage to resolve the current impasse, and so reassure the Palestinian people that after nearly half a century of occupation the world has not forgotten their plight and that universal human rights are indeed uni-versal,” he added. He stressed that it was important for Israel’s own human rights credibility to cooperate with the mandate and to provide access to the Palestinian territories.

Israel denying access to Palestinian territories: Monitor

AFP

AMMAN: Jordan has released a sen-ior leader of the Muslim Brotherhood after he served an 18-month sen-tence for criticising the United Arab Emirates, his lawyer said yesterday.

Zaki Bani Rsheid, who is the deputy head of the Brotherhood in Jordan, was released late on Sunday night “after serving his full sen-tence”, Abdelkader Al Khatib said.

The lawyer said the 58-year-old was probably released at night to prevent his supporters from celebrating.

The state security court in Amman last year found Rsheid guilty of making statements “likely to damage relations between the kingdom and a foreign country”, referring to the UAE.

Rsheid had been arrested in November 2014 after criticising the UAE for blacklisting more than 80 Islamist groups including the Brotherhood.

In comments published on his Facebook page, Rsheid accused the energy-rich Gulf state of serv-ing US and Israeli interests in the region.

Jordan is a close ally of the UAE and both nations are part of the US-led campaign against the Islamic State group that controls swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.

Organisations blacklisted by the UAE include Al Qaeda, IS, Yemen’s Shia Houthi militia and the Brother-hood — which was formed in Egypt in 1928 and has branches across the region.

The Jordanian branch of the Brotherhood is the main opposi-tion force in the kingdom and has wide grassroots support.

The attack appeared to be revenge for an Israeli air strike in Syria in late December that killed Hezbollah military leader Samir Kantar.

AFP

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Hezbollah move-ment said it had targeted an Israeli army border patrol with a bomb yes-terday in an attack that prompted retaliatory fire from the Jewish state.

The attack appeared to be revenge for an Israeli air strike in Syria in late December that killed Hezbollah mil-itant Samir Kantar.

In a statement, Hezbollah said the attack in the disputed Shebaa Farms area along the Lebanon-Israel

ceasefire line “destroyed the armoured Hummer vehicle and injured those in it”.

It said the attack was carried out by a group named for Kantar, who commanded Hezbollah’s operations in Syria’s Golan Heights, parts of which are occupied by Israel.

The Israeli military confirmed that its forces had been targeted in the border area. “IED detonated against IDF (Israeli army) vehicles in the area of Mt. Dov,” Israeli army spokesman Peter Lerner wrote in a tweet, refer-ring to the disputed Shebaa Farms.

He said the army responded with “targeted artillery fire”.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said there were no indications so far of injuries on the Israeli side.

Lebanese security sources said Israel responded with artillery fire into two villages adjacent to the She-baa Farms, but had no immediate information on damage or injuries.

The Shebaa Farms have been under Israeli occupation since the 1967 Middle East war. Lebanon says the area is Lebanese territory, while the UN says it was annexed from Syria.

Hezbollah bombs Israeli border patrol

Reuters

BEIRUT: Syria’s opposition wants to see confidence-building steps from Damas-cus including a prisoner release before negotiations due this month, officials said yesterday, a demand that could complicate efforts to start the talks.

Opposition leaders including rebels plan to deliver that message to the UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, when they meet him in Riyadh today, three opposition officials familiar with preparations for the meeting said.

The United Nations said last month it aimed to bring together the warring parties on January 25 in Geneva to begin talks aimed at ending nearly five years of conflict that has killed an estimated 250,000 people.

The effort aims to build on a UN Security Council unanimously approved on December 18 endorsing an inter-national road map for a Syria peace process with peace talks due to start in early January.

The opposition body meeting in Riyadh groups political and armed opponents of President Bashar Al Assad. It was formed last month as part of a Saudi-backed effort to get the opposi-tion ready for talks. Riyadh is a major backer of the opposition to Assad, who is in turn an ally of its regional rival Iran.

George Sabra, a member of the political opposition, said the talks must be preceded by “real steps on the ground that express not only good will but also confidence-building measures such as releasing political detainees and stopping the bombardment of towns and cities by heavy artillery and jets”.

A second official said the opposition leaders would tell de Mistura “they can’t go to negotiations without Assad doing something serious such as a ceasefire or releasing detainees”.

The third said: “There will be no negotiations before the issuance of implementation of good-will meas-ures”. He said they must include a halt to bombardments and lifting of block-ades imposed by the government on rebel-held areas.

The officials said their demands were in line with the Security Council resolution, specifically articles calling for the release of arbitrarily detained people, an immediate halt to attacks on civilians and unhindered humanitarian access. The UN Security Council res-olution appeared to mark a rare show of international unity over a crisis that has divided major powers.

Take confidence-building steps before talks: Syria opposition

Jordan frees Brotherhood deputy leader

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed last month to take revenge for the death of Kantar, who was impris-oned in Israel for decades for the 1979 murder of three Israelis.

He was freed by the Jewish state in a prisoner exchange in 2008, but an Israeli security official warned then that he was a “target.”

“For us, Israel is fully responsible for assassinating the martyr Samir Kantar. We have no doubt about this,” Nasrallah said in an address after the strike. Hezbollah reserved “the right to respond to this assassination at the time and place of our choosing,” he added. Israel did not confirm that it

was behind Kantar’s death, but wel-comed it. Hezbollah played a key role in Kantar’s release after 30 years in Israeli jails.

He was convicted of having infil-trated the Israeli village of Nahariya by sea from Lebanon with three other militants and killing a 28-year-old man and his four-year-old daughter.

Kantar was sentenced to five life terms plus 47 years for murdering the father and daughter and an Israeli policeman.

Shortly after his release, he joined Hezbollah and more recently he served as the head of a unit charged with the “liberation of the Golan”. Hezbollah

has an extensive presence in Syria, where it is mostly working to bolster the regime against an uprising that began in March 2011.

Hezbollah and Israel scuffle inter-mittently in the disputed border area between Lebanon and the Jewish state, and the powerful Shiite group has in the past targeted army patrols in response to strikes against its members.

In January, it claimed an attack in the Shebaa Farms against an army patrol in apparent revenge for an Israeli strike in Syria that killed six Hezbol-lah fighters and a member of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.

Reuters

ANKARA: Turkey’s opposition nationalists agreed yesterday to take part in a cross-party commission to forge a new constitution but said they remained opposed to a full-blown pres-idential system favoured by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The ruling AK Party has put a new consti-tution at the heart of its agenda after winning back its parliamentary majority in a November

election. Erdogan wants the change to con-solidate power in the hands of the president, previously a largely ceremonial figure in a system where the government has decided on policy.

Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), agreed at a 1-1/2 hour meeting with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to take part in a revived parliamentary com-mission to work on a new text.

“We agreed to form a commission with equal representation from all parties in par-liament,” MHP Vice President Oktay Ozturk told a news conference, though he also made

clear his party would not accept a presiden-tial system for Turkey.

Opposition parties agree on the need to replace the current constitution, born of a 1980 coup and still bearing the stamp of its military authors, but do not want the presidential system envisaged by Erdogan for Turkey, a candidate country for European Union membership.

The mildly Islamist AKP holds 317 of the 550 seats in parliament, but would need 330 votes to take a new constitution to a referen-dum, meaning it is dependent on winning at least some opposition support.

The MHP, with 40 seats, is the fourth larg-est party in the Turkish parliament after the AKP, the left-leaning, secularist CHP and the pro-Kurdish HDP. The CHP also agreed last week to take part in the commission.

“There will be a limited amount of time for the new constitutional commission. We agreed not to waste any time,” AKP spokesman Omer Celik told a separate news conference, follow-ing the meeting with the MHP.

Davutoglu last month cancelled a planned meeting with the leader of the pro-Kurdish HDP on the plans for a new constitution after

it joined a call for Kurdish self-rule.Celik said the HDP needed to act with “polit-

ical legitimacy” if it wanted to take part.Meanwhile, a Turkish court sentenced a

co-mayor of a major city in the Kurdish-major-ity southeast to 15 years in jail on charges of membership of the outlawed Kurdistan Work-ers Party (PKK). Bekir Kaya, co-mayor of the city of Van which has a population of around half a million, was convicted by a court in Van of being a member of the PKK and its urban wing the Group of Communities in Kurdistan (KCK), the Anatolia news agency said.

Turkey’s nationalist opposition ready to discuss new constitution

A girl walks outside tents housing internally displaced people in the town of Maar Zita in Idlib province, Syria, yesterday.

An Israeli artillery gun fires a shell into Lebanon, after a roadside bomb exploded next to an Israeli military border patrol near the Shebaa Farms area, near Kiryat Shmona, Israel, yesterday.

Zaki Bani Rsheid

A man looks at a giant statue of the late chairman Mao Zedong under construction near crop fields in a village of Tongxu county, Henan province, China, yesterday. According to villagers, several entrepreneurs spent nearly 3m yuan ($460,000) to build the 36.6-metre-high statue covered in golden paint.

Giant Mao statue

ASIA / PHILIPPINES08 TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

AP

MANILA: The Philippine govern-ment said yesterday that like Vietnam, it opposes China’s recent test of a newly completed runway on one of seven islands Beijing has constructed in the disputed South China Sea.

Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said the gov-ernment was considering protesting China’s action, as Vietnam did, add-ing that the test at Fiery Cross Reef “adds to tension and uncertainties in the region.”

Vietnam last week protested the test, saying it violated Hanoi’s sover-eignty, and demanded that China stop

such actions. China rejected Hanoi’s protest and will likely dismiss Manila’s concerns as well.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokes-woman Hua Chunying said on Saturday that China deployed a “civil aircraft” on the island, which it calls Yongshu Jiao, to determine whether the new airfield in what she said was Chinese territory conformed to civil aviation standards.

Vietnam is one of the claimants over the disputed Spratly Islands.

The early diplomatic tussle pres-ages a continuation this year of tense exchanges, mainly among China, Vietnam and the Philippines, over long-disputed and potentially oil- or gas-rich offshore territories also claimed by Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.

Tensions have risen in the last two years after China transformed dis-puted reefs in the Spratly Islands into islands that rival claimants fear Bei-jing could use to project its military might far from the Chinese mainland and threaten their territories.

The United States has expressed alarm over China’s island-making in the disputed waters and deployed a guided missile destroyer near Subi Reef in October to challenge Bei-jing’s claim of sovereignty in the waters around the artificial islands. China blasted the US action and

A December 31, 2015 file picture shows Filipino children holding up a national flag during a protest on Pag-asa island, a remote Philippine-held island in the South China Sea claimed by the Philippines.

Philippines opposes China runway testDepartment of Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said the government was considering protesting China’s action.

warned Washington not to repeat the manoeuvre.

Meanwhile, Japan also expressed grave concern over China carry-ing out a test f light to a runway on an island in a disputed part of the South China Sea, Foreign Minister

Fumio Kishida said yesterday.China rejected the protest, say-

ing it will not accept the accusation, public broadcaster NHK reported. Kishida called the flight an “action to unilaterally change the status quo”. He suggested it was an attempt to further

make a fait accompli of China’s recla-mation of disputed areas.

Kishida called on China to refrain from such acts, saying that they do not contribute to a peaceful resolution of the dispute. Kishida said China’s large-scale rapid reclamation and construction

of bases in the waters are a matter of concern common to the international community.

He said Japan will continue to deal with the issue in cooperation with the international community to protect the open and free seas.

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi says peace talks will be priorityAFP

YANGON: Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday said bringing peace to the country’s strife-wracked ethnic regions will be a priority for her gov-ernment when it takes power.

The veteran democracy champi-on’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party swept landmark Novem-ber polls that look set to curtail the military’s decades-long choke hold on the country.

But under Myanmar’s complicated junta-era political charter, her party is

not expected to take power until Feb-ruary—and Suu Kyi herself is banned from becoming president.

“We have to build peace. Building peace is the first ever duty of a new government,” she told supporters at the party’s Yangon headquarters on Monday, during a speech marking the

country’s Independence Day.“We have to work to include eve-

ryone in a signed ceasefire agreement by holding a really effective peace con-ference,” she added.

The 70-year-old opposition leader had remained somewhat tight-lipped on what her government’s main objec-tives and who her main players will be, as delicate transition negotiations continue between the incumbent mil-itary-backed government and the her victorious party.

Myanmar is a patchwork of ethnic identities with over 130 officially-rec-ognised minority groups, many with distinct languages and cultures.

Across vast swathes of these often remote regions, ethnic rebel groups have fought wars against the military for greater autonomy, many of them lasting for decades.

Ethnic minorities have long accused the central government and the mil-itary of human rights abuses and resource grabs. Myanmar’s outgoing quasi-civilian, military-backed gov-ernment recently inked ceasefires with a clutch of ethnic armed groups, with a landmark peace conference due to start next Tuesday. But several major conflicts persist and some of the most significant insurgent outfits have yet

to sign up to the deal.Suu Kyi has said her party supports

a federal future and has made eth-nic affairs and peace a central pillar of her party manifesto for Myanmar, where ethnic minority groups have fought decades-long wars for greater autonomy. But she was criticised in the run-up to the polls for failing to reach out to minority parties.

“All people have to participate in our struggle,” she told supporters. “Tat-madaw (the army) must participate. Ethnic groups must participate.”

Suu Kyi is accutely aware that even once her government takes power, its rule will be limited. The military retains huge power with a quarter of parlia-mentary seats reserved for unelected soldiers, and military appointees in charge of key security ministries.

The ban on Suu Kyi taking the top position of president stems from her having married a foreigner and hav-ing foreign born children.

Outgoing president Thein Sein steps down on March 31. His successor will be chosen in a vote by Myanmar’s two legislative houses and the military par-liamentary bloc. Suu Kyi has vowed to rewrite the junta-era constitution and be “above the president” when her government takes power.

Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi arrives at National League for Democracy party head office to attend 68th Myanmar Independence Day in Yangon yesterday.

Three die in

Bangladesh

earthquake

IANS

DHAKA: At least three people died in Bangladesh in a massive earthquake that also jolted the northeastern region of India yes-terday. The quake, with its epicentre in Tamenglong district of Manipur and measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale, shook the country, rattling nerves and causing panic.

A youth died following a heart attack in Dhaka while another per-son succumbed to injuries sustained while rushing out from his home in Rajshahi district, some 256km west of capital Dhaka.

An old man also died following a heart attack in Lalmonirhat dis-trict, 343km from Dhaka.

Around 100 people have report-edly been injured in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country as they rushed out of their residences for safety in panic. Panic-gripped peo-ple, who took to the streets and stayed there for a long time being afraid of possible aftershocks, were seen reciting verses of the Holy Quran and other prayers loudly.

Some of them started the Azan (call for prayer) to seek God’s mercy.

Mizanur Rahman, director of Dhaka Medical College and Hos-pital, said at least 40 persons were rushed to the hospital.

He said several of them were injured when they jumped from upper floors of buildings.

Dozens of Dhaka University students were also injured while evacuating halls during the quake.

However, police and fire offi-cials said there were no immediate reports of any big damage.

Although no major building col-lapsed in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country yet, the powerful earth-quake reportedly caused cracks and tilting of some buildings.

A meteorologist of the Bangla-desh Meteorological Department said the quake, with its epicentre some 352km to the east-northeast of Dhaka, struck the country around 5.05am (local time).

Thousands of people in Dhaka and many other parts panicked and rushed outdoors following the jolts which lasted for several seconds.

AFP

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe courted Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday, holding out the prospect for a summit as he renewed his call for progress on an elusive World War II peace treaty.

The two countries have never offi-cially struck a peace accord more than after 70 years after the end of the conflict amid a territorial dispute over four Japa-nese islands seized by Soviet troops at the war’s conclusion.

“President Putin and I share the view that it is abnormal for our nations not to have a peace treaty 70 years since” the war, Abe said at his first press conference of the year.

“The issues related to the Northern Terri-tories cannot be resolved without exchanges between the leaders,” he added, referring to the Japanese appellation for the islands.

“I will continue my dialogue with Pres-ident Putin when opportunities arise,” he added. “We will explore the most appropriate

timing for his visit to Japan.”Putin has come under intense criticism

from the United States and other democ-racies over Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the conflict in eastern Ukraine, with the country’s participation in the Group of Eight summits under suspension.

Abe is hosting a meeting of Group of Seven leaders in May. Putin is not expected to attend and Abe did not suggest otherwise.

But he emphasised the need for dia-logue, saying the international community must encourage Russia’s participation in the world’s fight against terrorism and the Syrian crisis.

“It is also important that we gain Rus-sia’s constructive engagement to deal with issues of terrorism, Syria and Iran,” Abe said.

Russia has been waging air strikes in Syria since the end of September as it seeks to bolster the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and prevent Islamic State jihadists and other extremists from carry-ing out attacks on Russian soil.

But Russia’s intervention has also drawn criticism, with US Secretary of State John

Kerry last week expressing concern over a heavy civilian toll in Russian air strikes.

Abe also stressed that he was focused on reviving Japan’s fragile economy and hosting the G7 summit. He said he was not planning to dissolve the lower house of parliament and call a snap poll ahead of the triennial upper house elections this summer.

Abe said that maintaining his ruling bloc’s majority in the upcoming upper house elections would be a priority, Xin-hua reported.

To advance politics in a stable way under the coalition government of the LDP and Komeito, I would like both of them to secure a majority in the House of Councillors, the prime minister said.

“I will do the utmost to win that vic-tory,” Abe added.

On matters of Constitutional reform, the prime minister said efforts in this regard will be stepped up and be one of the focal points of the upcoming election.

“Through such calls, I would like to deepen national debate about the issue,” said Abe.

Japan PM courts Russia for peace deal

Helicopters extinguish a blaze on the hills above Ocean View in Cape Town, South Africa. Extreme heat and dry conditions have been factors causing an increase in bush fires in Cape Town.

People wait at a traffic junction during a hazy day in Bozhou, Anhui province, China, yesterday.

Bush fires in Cape Town

Hazy day in China

ASIA / AFRICA 09TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

AFP

HONG KONG: The leader of Hong Kong said yesterday that he was “very concerned” over the disap-pearance of five booksellers known for publications critical of the Chi-nese government after a prominent lawmaker accused mainland secu-rity officers of kidnapping the men.

The booksellers all worked for the same Hong Kong-based pub-lishing house and are feared to have been detained by Chinese authori-ties, adding to growing unease that freedoms in the semi-autonomous city are being eroded.

Under its mini-constitution, Hong Kong enjoys freedom of speech and Chinese law enforcers have no right to operate in the city. “I and related government departments are very concerned.

The government cares very much about Hong Kong residents’ rights and safety,” Leung Chun—ying told reporters, saying it would be ‘unac-ceptable’ if mainland law enforcers were operating in Hong Kong. “Only legal enforcement agencies in Hong Kong have the legal authority to enforce laws in Hong Kong,” Leung said.“If mainland law enforcement personnel enforce the law in Hong

Kong, it is unacceptable because it is against the Basic Law (the city’s constitution).”

Democratic legislator Albert Ho said Sunday he believed the men had been kidnapped by Chinese secu-rity officers.

At a regular briefing Monday, Bei-jing’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said: “I’m not aware of the situation; I have nothing to offer,” when asked about the latest bookseller to disappear, Lee Bo, who went missing last week. “These books spread to the mainland by various means, becoming a source of polit-ical rumours, and creating negative effects,” it said.

“Although the... bookstore is based in Hong Kong, it maintains itself by causing trouble in the mainland.”

“In the era of the Internet, their impact is not limited to Hong Kong, but also leaks into the mainland, and becomes a genuine problem facing the country,” it said.

Opponents criticised unpopu-lar Leung, who is considered close to Beijing and a hate figure for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement.

“The Hong Kong government and Leung Chun-ying should express to the top level on the mainland Hong Kong people’s concern, instead of awaiting a reply,” said pro-democ-racy lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan.

All five men worked for pub-lishing firm Mighty Current, which is rumoured to have been about to launch a book on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s former girlfriend.

The fifth, a Swedish national, was reported to have disappeared in Thai-land. Hong Kong is semi-autonomous after being handed back to China by Britain in 1997 and enjoys freedoms unseen on the mainland.

Hong Kong police are investigat-ing the disappearance of Lee and of three co-workers who are believed to have gone missing in Shenzhen.

AFP

BANGUI: Twenty out of the 30 can-didates vying to be president of the Central African Republic have demanded the election be scrapped after what they said was a tainted first round of voting.

The dissenters cited what they described as irregularities and intim-idation in ballotting on December 30, partial results of which have been published. They said refused to be “complicit in this electoral masquer-ade” and called for the whole process to be “purely and simply stopped.”

They invited all players to get around the negotiating table “to draw up ways of safeguarding the nation.” Signatories included heavyweight can-didate Karim Meckassoua, a former foreign minister from the minority Muslim community, who had been a pre-election front-runner.

Independent candidate Faustin Archange Touadera, a former prime minister, has taken a commanding lead in the presidential race, garner-ing more than 23 percent of the vote with a quarter of the ballots counted, electoral officials said Sunday.

The former maths professor had been considered an outsider. Anicet Georges Dologuele, also a former prime

minister, was in second place with Desire Kolingba, son of a former pres-ident, in third.

A likely second round is set for Jan-uary 31. The election is seen as vital to restoring stability in the former French colony after years of unrest.

Some two million voters were eli-gible to cast their ballots, for a new president and members of the 105-seat parliament. Voting passed without major incident and was hailed as a suc-cess by the international community.

One of the world’s poorest coun-tries, with a history of coups and rebellions, Central African Repub-lic was plunged into fierce sectarian unrest in 2013 after longtime leader

Francois Bozize was ousted by a mainly Muslim rebel alliance.

Thousands of people were killed and around one in 10 fled their homes in attacks by rogue rebels on remote vil-lages and brutal reprisals by Christian militia against Muslim communities.

UN and French peacekeepers helped restore a degree of calm in January 2014, when a transitional gov-ernment took over, but large parts of the country remain lawless. With this, the attempts to bring a calm atmosphere in Central African Republic poses a ques-tion mark. However, vast majority of the public considers this as a positive development to end a long turmoil in the Central African Republic.

CAR presidential candidates want poll scrapped

Frustrated youth push for power in Taiwan elections

Zambia sets 2016 election date, scraps power price hike

HK chief sad over vanished booksellersDemocratic legislator Albert Ho believes that the men had been kidnapped by Chinese security officers.

Reuters

LUSAKA: Zambia’s new constitution yesterday set August 11 as the date for five-yearly presidential and parliamen-tary elections, previously set by the president, lining up another close vote after last year’s neck-and-neck race.

Also on Monday, President Edgar

Lungu, who plans to stand in the election, reversed a sharp increase in electricity tariffs, saying the hike had ended up hurting the poor, presi-dential spokesman Amos Chanda said yesterday.

Lungu, who is due to ratify the con-stitutional amendments on Tuesday, defeated the opposition United Party for National Development’s (UPND)

Hakainde Hichilema last January. Hakainde said the election had been “stolen”. Lungu, a lawyer, won 48.3 percent of the vote to 46.7 percent for Hichilema, a wealthy economist.

“The new constitution has a fixed election date and that will take effect as soon as the president signs,” Chanda said.

Other amendments to Zambia’s

constitution include a clause requir-ing a winning presidential candidate to get more than 50 percent of the valid votes cast, Chanda said.

Some analysts criticised as polit-ically motivated Lungu’s decision to scrap electricity price increases and sign the constitutional amendments at a lavish public ceremony.

“Obviously these are efforts

intended to gain political advantage,” University of Zambia analyst Lee Haba-sonda said. “For now the decision to reverse the electricity tariff increase will go down well with the voters but it won’t help to resolve Zambia’s power problems,” Habasonda said.

Zambia’s state power utility Zesco Ltd on Decemeber 3 nearly doubled the price of electricity.

AFP

TAIPEI: Young activists frustrated by Chinese interference and pessimis-tic about the future are standing for election in Taiwan this month, deter-mined to shake up politics in a move set to alarm Beijing.

The vote comes after Beijing-wary campaigners in Hong Kong won seats in recent elections, a further chal-lenge to Chinese influence as anger swells among a generation of disaf-fected youth.

In Taiwan, the dramatic occupation of parliament in 2014 by student-led protesters over a China trade pact reflected increasing resistance to Bei-jing as young Taiwanese seek to forge and protect their identity.

It was also borne out of more eve-ryday frustrations—low salaries, fewer job opportunities and unaffordable housing as the economy stagnates.

Although young Taiwanese had staged protests in the past, none had been on the scale of the Sunflower Movement’s occupation of parliament.

Now, in the first island-wide election since the protests, activists are deter-mined to push for political power, saying standing for office is the best way to bring change.

“Social movements can’t obtain real political influence because Tai-wan’s system is too closed and too conservative,” said Tseng Po-yu, 24, a spokeswoman for the Sunflower Movement who is standing for the newly-formed Green Party-Social Democratic Party Alliance.

Tseng would become the youngest ever member of parliament and said many of her policies revolve around improving life for young people. “It’s impossible for young people to save money with low salaries and rising consumer prices, let alone to afford the skyrocketing housing prices,” said Tseng.

“I want to speak up for young people who are concerned about their future. We deserve better lives.” Similar frustra-tions in semi-autonomous Hong Kong led to the pro-democracy Umbrella Move-ment, which brought parts of the city to a standstill in late 2014.

The student-led rallies were sparked by Beijing imposing

restrictions on leadership elections, but were also an expression of frus-tration in a city where salaries cannot keep up with soaring house prices. Former Hong Kong protesters recently took seats in district elections, although pro-Beijing forces dominated the polls in a key test of public sentiment.

“Young people are an economic minority as both (Hong Kong and Tai-wan) government policy focus is not on them—their dissatisfaction exploded in the movements,” said William Niu, a political analyst at the Chinese Cul-ture University in Taipei.

“It is the awakening of many young people in Taiwan and Hong Kong who are fearful of being marginalised in society,” he added.

Taiwan is self-ruling after splitting with China in 1949 following a civil war but has never formally declared independence from Beijing, which regards it as a breakaway territory to be reunited by force if necessary.

The vote on January 16 is likely to see the ruling Beijing-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) lose the presi-dency and possibly their majority in parliament.

Sri Lanka Tamils welcome land, demand end to army occupation

AFP

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s main opposition yesterday welcomed President Maithripala Sirisena’s promise of land for 100,000 peo-ple who were forced from their homes during the long civil war, most of them Tamils.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said Sirisena’s pledge to give displaced civilians new plots within six months was a “positive development”, but demanded that the military vacate the private land it occupied.

“This is the first time he is giv-ing a timeframe,” TNA spokesman M. A. Sumanthiran said a day after Sirisena made the offer.

“We welcome this as a very pos-itive development but our stand is that the military must vacate all private lands they are occupying.”

Sirisena, who was elected last January, has won praise for start-ing to hand back land after the end in May 2009 of one of South Asia’s longest and bloodiest ethnic wars.

But he is also under international pressure to do more to ensure rec-onciliation. The president said in an interview on Sunday that he would give land to civilians displaced by war by the middle of this year.

He admitted it was an “ambitious target” but said it was necessary to end what he called an “unacceptable situation”. The land will be in addi-tion to the property being handed back by the military in line with an earlier election pledge by Sirisena.

More than 100,000 people are still living away from their homes more than six years after the end of the war, Sumanthiran said, while another 168,000 live as refugees in neighbouring India.

VIEWS10 TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

By David Cameron

This year’s four hun-dredth anniversary of the death of Wil-liam Shakespeare is

not just an opportunity to com-memorate one of the greatest playwrights of all time. It is a moment to celebrate the extraordinary ongoing influ-ence of a man who — to borrow from his own descrip-tion of Julius Caesar — “doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus.”

Shakespeare’s legacy is without parallel: his works translated into over 100 lan-guages and studied by half the world’s schoolchildren. As one of his contemporaries, Ben Jon-son, said: “Shakespeare is not of an age, but for all time.” He lives today in our language, our cul-ture and society — and through his enduring influence on education.

Shakespeare played a crit-ical role in shaping modern English and helping to make it the world’s language. The first major dictionary com-piled by Samuel Johnson drew

on Shakespeare more than any other writer. Three thousand new words and phrases all first appeared in print in Shake-speare’s plays. I remember from my own childhood how many of them are found for the first time in Henry V. Words like dishearten, divest, addiction, motionless, leapfrog — and phrases like “once more unto the breach”, “band of brothers” and “heart of gold” — have all passed into our language today with no need to reference their original context. Shakespeare also pioneered innovative use of grammatical form and structure — including verse without rhymes, superlatives and the connecting of existing words to make new words, like bloodstained — while the pre-eminence of his plays also did much to standardise spelling and grammar.

But Shakespeare’s influ-ence is felt far beyond our language. His words, his plots and his characters continue to inspire much of our cul-ture and wider society. Nelson Mandela, while a prisoner on Robben Island, cherished a quote from Julius Caesar which said “Cowards die many times before their death, the valiant never taste of death but once.” While Kate Tempest’s poem “My Shakespeare” captures the eter-nal presence of Shakespeare when she wrote that Shake-speare “…is in every lover who ever stood alone beneath a win-dow…every jealous whispered word and every ghost that will not rest.” Shakespeare’s influ-ence is everywhere, from Dickens and Goethe to Tchaik-ovsky, Verdi and Brahms; from West Side Story to the Ham-let-inspired title of Agatha

Christie’s “The Mousetrap” – the longest-running theatre pro-duction in London’s West End today. While his original plays continue to entertain millions — from school halls across the world to the overnight queues as hundreds scrambled for last minute tickets to see Benedict Cumberbatch playing Hamlet at London’s Barbican last year.

But perhaps one of the most exciting legacies of Shakespeare is his capacity to educate. As we see from the outreach work of the Royal Shakespeare Com-pany and Shakespeare’s Globe and the impact of pioneer-ing British charities like the Shakespeare Schools Festi-val, studying and performing Shakespeare can help improve literacy, confidence and wider educational attainment.

So this 5th January, Twelfth Night, and every day through-out 2016, Britain is inviting you to join us in celebrating the life and legacy of William Shake-speare. Today we are launching “Shakespeare Lives” — an exciting global programme of activity and events to high-light his enduring influence and extend the use of Shakespeare as an educational resource to advance literacy around the world.

The programme will run in more than seventy countries, led by the British Council and the GREAT Britain campaign. You can share your favour-ite moment of Shakespeare on social media, watch never-before-seen performances on stage, film and online, visit exhibitions, take part in work-shops and debates, and access new Shakespearean educa-tional resources to get to grips with the English language.

The Royal Shakespeare Company will tour China; Shakespeare’s Globe will per-form across the world from Iraq to Denmark. Young peo-ple will reimagine Shakespeare in Zimbabwe. A social media campaign called “Play your Part” (#PlayYourPart) will invite the next generation of creative talent to produce their own dig-ital tribute to the Bard — and, in partnership with the Brit-ish charity Voluntary Services Overseas, we will raise aware-ness of the huge challenge of global child illiteracy and use Shakespeare to increase educa-tional opportunities for children around the world.

Beyond the great gift of lan-guage, the bringing to life of our history, his ongoing influ-ence on our culture and his ability to educate, there is just the immense power of Shake-speare to inspire. From the most famous love story to the greatest tragedy; from the most powerful fantasy to the wittiest comedy; and from the most memorable speeches to his many legen-dary characters, in William Shakespeare we have one man, whose vast imagination, bound-less creativity and instinct for humanity encompasses the whole of the human experience as no one has before or since.

So, however you choose to play your part, please join us in 2016 in this unique opportunity to celebrate the life and endur-ing legacy of this man; ensuring that, as he himself put it, “all the world’s a stage” and that through his legacy, truly, Shake-speare Lives.

David Cameron is the

British Prime Minister.

Shakespeare lives-four centuries after his death

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

EUROPE’S Schengen passport-free system has been experiencing severe strain since the start of the migrant crisis. The arrival of hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers at the borders of Europe – mainly from Syria -- created a crisis which the founders of Schengen couldn’t have foreseen.

Several European countries protested at the easiness with which these migrants were able to move inside the continent; some countries were prepared and equipped to meet the crisis and others were not. So naturally, calls arose for the reformation of the system and grew louder.

The passport-free system suffered a new setback yesterday as Sweden imposed controls on travellers arriving from Denmark in a desperate bid to curb an influx of refugees, triggering counter measures from Denmark. Just hours after the Swedish controls on its border with Denmark went into effect, the Danish government announced spot checks on its border with Germany. The move came from fears that the country could be saddled with large numbers of migrants if their onward journey is blocked at the borders. Germany too announced that the Schengen zone was in danger. “Freedom of movement is an

important principle and one of the biggest achievements (in the European Union) in recent years,” German foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said. “Schengen is very important but it is in danger,” he said.

Germany and Sweden are grappling with record numbers of migrants. They say it’s not possible to absorb any more as opposition at home builds up at the government’s charitable attitude.

Alarmed at the inability of Brussels to find an immediate solution, some member states have been implementing their own controls, which go against the

very spirit and concept of Schengen zone. If these controls continue, the passport-free system risks a natural death.

It’s true that Europe has been facing an unprecedented migrant crisis, but imposing new controls is no solution. Millions have benefited from Schengen, as have the European countries, and placing curbs on the system will be counter-productive and amount to undoing the vision of founders of Europe. The new measures mean that travellers between the neighbouring countries will have to show their ID cards for the first time in over half a century, under a Nordic agreement that predates the 20-year-old Schengen zone. Several EU countries, including Germany, Austria and France, had re-imposed border checks last year as they grappled with the biggest refugee crisis since World War II.

The Schengen system is not rigid as it allows member countries to reintroduce temporary border checks in exceptional circumstances. Europe needs to return to the previous rules once the current crisis is over.

Keeping Schengen

Quote of the day

It’s (IS execution video)desperate stuff from an organisation that really does do the most utterly despicable and ghastly acts and people cansee that again today.

David CameronBritish Prime Minister

There is fresh concern about the future of Schengen as more countries tighten their borders.

Shakespeare’s influence is felt far beyond our language. His words, his plots and his characters continue to inspire much of our culture and wider society.

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Wrong predictions about Republicans in 2015By Jonathan Bernstein

Bloomberg

Time to account for what I got wrong in 2015.The big one was about Ted Cruz. I

believed, incorrectly, that party actors would resist Cruz’s presidential bid even within the faction of the Republican Party most com-patible with his type of conservative politics. Not only do the people who work with him dislike him, I reasoned: They would also see his role in the 2013 government shutdown as evidence that he is a poor strategist. Wrong!

I overlooked his early lead this fall in amass-ing endorsements from current and former state legislators. Cruz is still a factional candidate

and may lose the battle for the nomination. Not a single US senator supports him, and he still hasn’t won the endorsements of many of his House Freedom Caucus allies. But plenty of Republican party actors outside of Congress back him.

Most of my predictions about Donald Trump are about 2016, not 2015, so we’ll have to wait on those. But I strongly believed his run for president in this cycle was another bluff, and I said repeatedly on Twitter that he wouldn’t do it. Wrong! A third mistake I made in 2015 was technical, but important. In the fall, an apparent gap turned up in Trump’s polling numbers. He did better in live interview polls than in Inter-net or automated phone surveys. The gap then disappeared after several weeks but not before

I made a fuss about it (mostly on Twitter, but see here). Wrong! If we have enough ways to slice the data, and we do, it’s likely that some “gap” or another will show up just by pure chance. I should have known better than to take this one seriously.

I’ve probably forgotten some additional claims I made that were mistaken, and until the primaries and caucuses play out we won’t know if many of my other contentions are accu-rate or way off. But the three I mentioned? I’ll try to learn from these mistakes and do bet-ter in 2016.

Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomb-

erg View columnist covering US

politics.

OPINION 11 TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

Inventing reality during conflictsBy Dr Mohamed Kirat

News media are not presenting the truth, but they present what they want people to think of as truth. Framing is inventing reality. It is brainwashing since

it does not give the public and the audience a room for thinking, rather, it does all the thinking for them and tells them how they should react and feel about happenings and events. People consciously agree with what is being presented to them because they are psychologically convinced that what they receive is accurate.

The framing technique is all about manipulating facts to make them support certain ideologies and certain set of objec-tives to maintain the status quo and serve the establishment. This is social constructiv-ism which is the construction of ideologies and belief systems and this is how the news media’s major purpose is usually achieved through the process of framing news.

People are constantly exposed to media that is full of biases due to framing tech-niques. Entman argues: “Although the schemas and interpretations within the individuals’ minds arise from prior beliefs and interpersonal communication as well as from the media’s words and images, there

is no escape from framing”. Framing is fre-quently used in times of conflicts, crises and wars. The news media and because of the stakes and challenges at play have to secure their loyalty to the system by shap-ing a public opinion favourable to what the government sees and views as right.

The news media constructs a reality that justifies all the decisions made by the decision makers. On the events of 9/11, the news media emphasised that America was a victim and it had to fight terrorism. Mon-ahan asserts “several studies found that the initial mainstream media coverage, principally television, evoked a dominant frame that advanced the twin notions of American victimisation and the need for a militaristic hunt for justice”.

Politics plays a major role in the media industry which plays a determining role in fabricating news through framing and representation that serve the ideological,

political and economic objectives of the ruling power. Framing strategies are used by news media to serve the status-quo and the power elite by shaping public opinion through agenda setting and deciding what gets in the news and how it is presented and which aspects of it are highlighted. Fram-ing is a psychological process which does not impose different ideas on people, yet it makes them unconsciously believe and accept what it presents to them as reality.

The failure of mass communication theory to explain the practices of news organisations can be noticed during the coverage of wars and crises. Unlike nor-mal circumstances, the coverage of wars and crises faces a number of stakes and challenges making the media part of the war itself.

During war, principles such as freedom of the press and impartiality are not respected and the journalism practice is completely different than in normal times. Very often, the news organisation sides with the posi-tion of its country during wars. Scholars who have studied press-government rela-tionships have arguably failed to develop criteria and standards that explain the behav-iour and practices of media organisations and journalists during wars. Yet it can be asserted that there are no differences in media behaviour during war and crises among different media and political systems.

Dictatorships, democracies, developed and developing countries all become similar in using the media, public relations, psycho-logical warfare, propaganda, manipulation, framing, and distortion as an integral part of the war itself.

As expected, the United States began preparations for its war against Iraq long ago and further escalated its preparations after the events of 9/11 and its declaration of war on terrorism. Its accusations to Iraq ranged from maintaining relations with Al Qaeda, having ties with Osama bin Laden, possessing weapons of mass destruction, even though United Nations inspection teams operating in Iraq for more than a decade failed to prove this allegation. The US media were not willing to play their watchdog role and failed to question and investigate the war allegations of American officials.

America justified its war on Iraq by claiming to spread democracy in this coun-try and rid it of the “dictator” Saddam Hussein, and thus liberating the Iraqi peo-ple from this tyrant. To control, manipulate and reach social consent, more than 9,000 media practitioners work for various Amer-ican government departments, with more than 1,500 media and public relations prac-titioners for the Pentagon alone. It can be concluded that in times of wars and cri-ses alliances occur — whether hidden or apparent — between media and power,

thus suggesting a search for an alternative to classical communication theories. The alternative that will explain the behav-iour and practices of the media during wars, conflicts and crises come under the name of “Government Press Coalition The-ory”. Regardless of the owner of the news organisation, and regardless of the politi-cal, economic and level of democracy and freedom in society, the media institution is entirely in line with the government in times of wars, conflicts and crises. Regardless, whether they are in Western democratic countries, or developing nations; dicta-torships or authoritarian regimes, news organisations surrender completely to the ideology of the government in the process of manufacturing, gathering and dissem-inating the news, in order to fabricate, condition, and shape local and interna-tional public opinion in accordance with the interests and objectives of those who rule and govern.

Unfortunately, this is what’s happen-ing while people around the globe need an accountable and responsible press that pro-vides them with truth, but only the truth that helps enlighten their minds and opinions.

The writer is a Professor of Public

Relations and Mass Communication.

To control, manipulate and reach social consent, more than 9,000 media practitioners work for various American government departments, with more than 1,500 media and public relations practitioners for the Pentagon alone.

A file picture of New York newspapers on display featuring personal photos of suspected Russian spies Anna Chapman (left) and Richard and Cynthia Murphy at a newsstand in New York. .

Obama’s gun control options each have legal pitfallsBy Robert Iafolla

Reuters

President Barack Obama is expected to announce new gun control curbs this week, but he will have to decide

whether to take bold action that would likely spark a major legal challenge from opponents or a more cautious route that may be less effective, legal

experts said.Obama, who has expressed deep

frustration about US gun control regu-lations after a series of mass shootings at schools and other places during his presidency, said he will meet US Attorney General Loretta Lynch to dis-cuss gun control measures that do not require congressional approval.

The president said in his weekly radio address on Friday he has received “too many letters from parents, and teachers, and kids, to sit around and

do nothing” about the issue.The Washington Post and Polit-

ico reported late last week that one of Obama’s main proposals would require some unlicensed gun dealers to get licences and conduct background checks on potential buyers. Current law exempts smaller dealers who often operate at gun shows and sell online.

Obama, who has been thwarted by the Republican-controlled Congress in his push for tighter gun control legis-lation, could act through an executive order, which would be immediate and carry the force of law. It would also almost certainly prompt lawsuits by gun advocates claiming the president lacks the authority to change the legal definition of who must obtain a deal-er’s licence.

The conservative advocacy group Freedom Watch plans to sue to block any executive order on gun control, Larry Klayman, the group’s general counsel, told Reuters on Sunday.

An executive order would draw immediate comparisons to Obama’s initiative aimed at protecting five mil-lion undocumented immigrants from deportation. Challengers sued and won an injunction that blocked the move. The administration has asked the US Supreme Court to take up that case.

Guidance not binding Obama could take the less risky

path on guns by directing the Bureau of

Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explo-sives (ATF) to redefine its guidance on who is considered a dealer under fed-eral gun law. This would be advisory and lack the force of law, which would mean that prosecutors could not rely on it when pursuing small gun dealers.

“The guidance could be used as evidence that prosecutors made a rea-sonable interpretation that a dealer needed a licence, but it’s not binding,” said James Jacobs, Law Professor at New York University and author of the 2004 book Can Gun Control Work?

“In a way, it’s more like a speech, like the head of the ATF saying who needs a federal dealer’s licence,” he said.

Obama could choose an even more cautious route and direct the ATF to begin the formal administra-tive rulemaking process to change its regulations for who is considered a firearms dealer under the existing Gun Control Act. Agency action that includes the chance for public com-ment would create an enforceable rule that would likely pass legal muster, but that process probably would not conclude before Obama leaves office in January 2017.

Lawmakers could still try to block such ATF rulemaking by denying the agency funding, particularly funds for enforcing the rule if it was passed in the face of congressional opposition.

Already some Republican candi-dates seeking the party’s nomination to

be its presidential candidate in the 2016 election, including frontrunner Don-ald Trump, said they would overturn any gun control measures by Obama if they get into office.

Still, the President should be on firm Second Amendment ground if he pushes for a widening in the way the current law is applied, legal experts said.

“There are very few things I’d say with 100 percent certainty about what the Supreme Court and other courts would do, but I’m 100 percent certain that no court would say requiring more background checks violates the Second Amendment,” said Stanford University law professor John Donohue.

The Second Amendment of the US Constitution protects the right of Amer-icans to keep and bear arms.

Regardless of what steps Obama might take to increase the number of dealers who must conduct background checks, legal experts said that he can-not accomplish his desired gun control agenda — like boosting oversight of gun show sales — through executive action alone.

“This won’t really close the gun-show loophole, it will only narrow that loophole,” said Adam Winkler, a law professor at UCLA and author of Gun-fight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America. “This is going to mar-ginally increase the number of people who have to get a licence.”

Politics plays a major role in the media industry which plays a determining role in fabricating news through framing and representation that serve the ideological, political and economic objectives of the ruling power.

A man shows a girl how to hold an airsoft gun during the NRA Youth Day at the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in Houston, Texas.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his wife Kalsoom Nawaz Sharif arrive at Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake yesterday. Sharif arrived for a two-day official visit to Sri Lanka.

Sharif in Sri Lanka

PAKISTAN 12 TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

AFP

MAZAR-I-SHARIF, AFGHANISTAN: A 25-hour gun and bomb siege near the Indian consulate in Afghanistan’s Mazar-i-Sharif city ended late yester-day, after a bloody weekend assault on an air base in India near the Paki-stan border.

The lethal assaults on Indian instal-lations threaten to derail Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bold diplomatic out-reach to Pakistan following his first official visit to Afghanistan last month.

No group has so far claimed respon-sibility for the raid on the diplomatic mission in northern Afghanistan, which left at least one policemen dead and 11 others wounded.

Gunfights and grenade explosions echoed as commandos shimmied down a rope from a helicopter onto the roof of a nearby building from where assail-ants had launched the attack on the tightly-guarded compound.

“The clearance operation is over and all three armed assailants have been killed,” government spokesman Shir Jan Durrani said, 25 hours after the siege began. “We are still doing room-to-room searches. The area is absolutely under government control.”

Strongman provincial governor Atta Mohammad Noor oversaw the clearance operation armed with an

AK47, denouncing the attackers as the “enemies of Afghanistan”.

Security officials said the clear-ance operation was prolonged as commandos proceeded cautiously in the residential area to avoid civil-ian casualties.

An Indian official, who hun-kered down in a secure area within the diplomatic enclave as the attack unfolded, said on Sunday that all con-sulate employees were safe.

Local police officials said some consulate workers had been evacu-ated during the fierce fighting.

The spike in violence came about a week after Modi paid a surprise visit to Pakistan, the first by an Indian pre-mier in 11 years.

The visit immediately followed a whirlwind tour of Kabul, where Modi inaugurated an Indian-built parliament complex and gave three Russian-made helicopters to the Afghan government.

India has been a key supporter of Kabul’s post-Taliban government, and analysts have often pointed to the threat of a “proxy war” in Afghanistan between India and Pakistan.

Pakistan — the historic backer of the Taliban — has long been accused of assisting the insurgents, espe-cially with attacks on Indian targets in Afghanistan.

The Taliban have also stepped up attacks on government and foreign targets in Afghanistan, underscoring a worsening security situation.

Also, a powerful car bomb struck near Kabul’s international airport yes-terday evening, just hours after a suicide bomber blew himself up in the war-scarred Afghan capital.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, which appeared to target a compound for foreign contractors, an Afghan secu-rity official said.

Officials said there were no imme-diate reports of casualties from the explosion, which was strongly felt

Siege near India’s Afghan consulate ends

Senate panel drafts 8 bills on swift justice in Pakistan

Afghan security personnel carry their wounded comrades during an operation near the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, yesterday.

across downtown Kabul and blew out window panes of homes.

But the Italian-run Emergency Hospital in Kabul said on Twitter: “#Afghanistan two attacks today in #Kabul, we’re currently receiving victims of the #masscasualty at our Surgical Centre”.

The violence comes as Afghan forces battle to end a protracted siege near the Indian consulate in the north-ern city of Mazar-i-Sharif which began on Sunday night.

Gunfights and grenade explosions echoed as commandos battled to flush

out militants holed up in a building near the consulate, with powerful provin-cial Governor Atta Mohammad Noor overseeing the operation.

Nearly 24 hours after the siege began, security officials said they were proceeding cautiously in the residen-tial area to limit civilian casualties.

Earlier, a suicide bomber struck a street leading to the city’s interna-tional airport, near where the second blast took place, but no casualties were reported.

The bombings mark the latest assaults on the war-scarred Afghan

capital. A Taliban suicide car-bomber struck a French restaurant popular with foreigners in Kabul on Friday, killing two people in a New Year’s Day attack.

Fifteen others were wounded in the attack on Le Jardin, an Afghan-owned eatery, which caused a piercingly loud explosion and left a building engulfed in flames.

Islamabad is set to host a first round of dialogue between Afghan-istan, Pakistan, the US and China on January 11 to lay out a comprehensive roadmap for peace.

Cash-strapped

Pakistani man

returns bag

full of money

Internews

ISLAMABAD: When finding two square meals a day is an uphill task, stumbling upon Rs1m surely means hitting the jackpot. Not for 28-year-old Abdul Hameed, though, who came across such an amount just before New Year and immediately set about finding the rightful owner.

The cash-strapped car workshop employee ran into an unattended bag on his way back from work in Jutial, Gilgit. “The bag was full of money,” says Hameed who hails from Ghizer’s Yaseen Valley, about 150 kilometers from Gilgit.

“I took the bag home and counted the money. It was one million,” Hameed said yesterday.

“The main issue was tracing the owner,” says Hameed who like many young people from his valley never went to school as the area is one of the least developed in terms of infrastructure. Hameed shared the story with one of his associates in the neighbourhood.

The latter narrated the same to his boss Mithar Jan, a promi-nent social activist. The workshop employee says the money was ulti-mately traced to a cashier in NATCO, a government-sponsored transport company.

“I earn Rs10,000 and sometimes up to Rs15,000 a month, but I have never thought of using ill-gotten money. This is the manner in which I have been raised,” Hameed says.

The next day, Mithar Jan, local journalist Wajid Ali and Arab Khan went to the NATCO office to hando-ver the money. “We wanted to present the money in a way which would acknowledge the young man’s actions,” said Ali. “However, the head of NATCO Muhammad Saeedullah refused to meet us even though we conveyed the purpose of the visit and other [necessary] details.”

He said the group managed to meet a general manager and handed the large sum of money to him in his office. The journalist said it was unbelievable that an impoverished individual did not think of using the money even for a second.

Hameed is married with two children and lives with his family in a rented house in Gilgit for which he pays Rs3,000 a month. The meagre income is the main hurdle between Hameed’s children and their educa-tion as the father is unable to decide whether they should go to school or be sent to work.

Internews

PESHAWAR: Despite completion of the four-year tenure of the present office-bearers of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the central leadership seems least interested to announce schedule for intra-party elections, according to sources.

Insiders said that delay in intra-party polls was causing unrest among the would-be candidates. Pir Sabir Shah, the sitting provincial presi-dent of PML-N, and his team were nominated by central president Mian Nawaz Sharif on Decemebr 29, 2011 at Nishtar Hall Peshawar, they said, adding that many of the aspirants were expecting schedule for fresh intra-party polls.

According to sources, Pir Sabir Shah has been provincial president of the party for over a decade but now he feels that he is being ignored in important decisions.

Rahmat Salam Khattak served the party as provincial general secretary but he also tendered his resignation when PML-N candidates failed to win the local government elections in his Karak district. However, central lead-ership is yet to accept his resignation.

According to insiders, the party is also facing internal crisis which

resulted in its failure in the recently held local government elections in the province.

Eng Amir Muqam and his support-ers have been playing active role in the party for the past three years but the issue of senior and junior work-ers still persists.

Although the PML-N provincial office-bearers avoid talking about internal differences openly yet during background interviews they admit rift and grouping in the party. They also blame central leadership for its failure to resolve organisational problems.

A disgruntled group has also come into existence in the party owing to lack of coordination between the cen-tral and provincial leaders.

“We have been trying to save the party but our leaders are least inter-ested to pay attention to us,” PML-N Peshawar president Abdul Sattar Khalil said.

He said that intra-party elections were due and it was duty of the cen-tral leadership to hold polls and give a chance to energetic people to lead the party in different districts of the province.

“We will oppose all those grab-bing party seats through umbrellas. We will raise voice against injus-tices,” he said and added that workers having 10-year experience could become provincial office-bearers of the party.

Internews

ISLAMABAD:P akistan’s largest distance learning institute plans to enhance share of online academic programmes.

“The objective is to facilitate thousands of students, particu-larly those living abroad,” said a spokesman of the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU).

“Automated educational serv-ices and digital academic contents will be made available to the stu-dents from basic literacy to the PhD level,” said AIOU Vice-Chancellor Dr Shahid Siddiqui, while presiding over a briefing session on e-leaning held at the institute the other day.

The university, he said had achieved another milestone by embarking on massive e-learn-ing activities.

The AIOU will be the first in the country to adopt the massive open online courses (MOOCs) system, which emerged as a popular mode of learning worldwide in 2012.

The facility to be provided through web will have virtual classroom, besides availability of online interactive study material. Entire learners’ support system and continuous assessment will be web-based. Students will also be able to submit their assignments online.

Internews

ISLAMABAD: Taking the initiative on providing speedy and inexpensive justice to people, the upper house of parliament has drafted eight new bills, including one on security and bene-fits for prosecution witnesses.

The recommendations, in the form of new legislations, have been pro-posed by the Senate Committee of the Whole after a detailed examina-tion of the civil and criminal justice

systems. The panel was formed in May 2015 on a resolution moved by Sen-ator Col (retd) Tahir Mashhadi of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

The new bills, drafted as a way forward for providing swift justice to the people, will be introduced by all parliamentary party leaders in the Senate as private member bills.

One of the bills, the Witness Pro-tection, Security and Benefit Act, 2015, relates to the investigation and trial of serious offences and envisages providing compensation to the legal heirs of a witness under the protection

programme. The offences with respect to which a witness or a related per-son may be placed under protection include treason, sedition, murder, rape, violence, robbery, kidnapping, defeat-ing the ends of justice and perjury. Section 4 of the bill states that the government should establish witness protection programmes for the safety of any related persons as soon as the act commences.

The programme includes making necessary arrangements to allow the witness to establish a new identity; to allow the witness to conceal his

or her identity by wearing a mask; changing his or her voice, appear-ance or any other form of segregation during investigation; to allow video conferencing to protect identity pro-vided that such arrangements are approved by the authority concerned.

The bill also calls for assistance in relocating the witness and provid-ing them alternative accommodation; providing transport and reasonable financial assistance to the witness and for earning livelihood.

If the protected person is killed due to his participation in the

programme, legal heirs would be provided adequate compensation and dependent minors would get free education.

As envisaged by the proposed bill, the Witness Protection Advisory Board would comprise secretaries of the law and justice and finance min-istries and also include the attorney general and the police chief.

According to the proposed bill, before a person is provided protection under this act, he shall first execute a memorandum of understanding with the government, setting forth

his responsibilities. Any breach of the agreement shall be a ground for ter-mination of the protection provided.

The bills are likely to be introduced in the upper house of parliament in the next session as announced by Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani at the time the report was tabled in the house.

Once passed by the Senate, the bills would then be sent to the lower house for consideration. If they are approved in the National Assembly, they will become laws with the final approval of the president.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the raid on the diplomatic mission in northern Afghanistan, which left at least one policemen dead.

Distance learning

institute to adopt

online system

Polls delay creates unrest in PML-N

Internews

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Adel Al Jubeir, who was due to arrive here on a two-day official visit, cancelled the trip at the last minute. According to a Foreign Office announcement here, the Saudi minister will now come on Thursday (January 7, 2016).

Jubeir was arriving in Islamabad to discuss the situation in the Middle East and to take Pakistan into con-fidence on the 34-nation military alliance recently formed by Saudi Arabia to fight against terrorism.

Saudi foreign minister’s visit put off to Jan 7

NEW DELHI: The union power min-istry electrified 160 villages in the country last week, the ministry said yesterday.

“Of the electrified villages, 57 fall in Chhattisgarh, 40 in Odisha, 27 in Bihar, 16 in Rajasthan, nine each in Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh and one village each in the states of Tripura and Assam,” the minis-try said in a statement.

“Electrification of 160 villages resulted in overall increase of 42 percent over the week before of the ongoing electrification process under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna,” it added.

INDIA 13TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

7 dead as quake hits Bengal and north-east

People move to safer place after an earthquake hits Imphal yesterday.

IANS

NEWDELHI: With a powerful earth-quake measuring 6.7 on the Richter Scale rocking India’s north-eastern region early yesterday, Facebook has activated its safety check tool to help people in the area let friends and fam-ily know they are safe.

“A major earthquake just struck northeastern India and we have acti-vated Safety Check to help people in the area let friends and family know they are safe,” Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg wrote.

“Tremors were also felt in Bangla-desh, Myanmar and Nepal. If you appear to be nearby, we will send you a noti-fication to access Safety Check so you

can share that you are safe and see that people you care about are safe as well,” Zuckerberg posted on Facebook.

The quake occurred at 4:35 am and had its epicentre in Manipur’s Tamen-glong district. Initial reports indicate that one young girl was killed and 30 people were injured.

“My thoughts are with every-one in the affected areas. May you and your loved ones stay safe and healthy,” Zuckerberg said. The safety check tool can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/safetycheck/manipurearthquake-jan03-2016

Zukerberg’s post has been liked so far by over 100,000 users and shared by nearly 8,000 users. “Thanks a lot Mark Zukerberg for enabling safety check. I am in Bangladesh for yearly vacation. My hometown is Sylhet which

is the closest part of Bangladesh near to Manipur, India,” one of the users Aminul Haque Chowdhury wrote on the comment section.

There are more than 3,400 com-ments on the post. Earlier, Facebook had activated the “Safety Check” fea-ture for its users in Chennai to allow people to mark themselves as “safe” from the floods in the flood-hit city last year. The feature, which debuted in October 2014, allows Facebook to ask users whether they are safe if located near a natural disaster.

A click or tap on the “I’m Safe” but-ton lets friends and loved ones know straight away. Users can also check to see whether their friends are safe too. Facebook’s Safety Check feature has now been deployed on several occasions including the terrorist attacks in Paris.

Facebook activates ‘Safety Check’

for people in affected area

GUWAHATI: Union Home Min-ister Rajnath Singh yesterday assured of all central assistance to the north-eastern states in the wake of an earthquake in Manipur early morning.

“The prime minister has asked me to coordinate with all the chief ministers of the north-eastern states. I have spoken to almost all of them. However, I could not contact the Manipur chief minister (Okram Ibobi Singh). The Manipur chief secretary told me the damage is more in the state. The Centre will extend all required assistance to the north-eastern states to deal with the crisis,” the minister told the media here.

“I have also spoken to Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi-ji and taken stock of the situation,” Rajnath Singh, on a two-day visit to Assam since Sunday, said.

While the temblor shook most north-eastern states, it is feared to have caused more damage in Manipur although the exact loss is yet to be ascertained. The Manipur government’s officials confirmed that at least four people died while around 50 people were injured.

The Manipur government’s officials said at least four people died while around 50 people were injured. Rajnath Singh arrived in Silchar in Assam’s Barak Valley on Sunday.

IANS

IMPHAL: An earthquake measur-ing 6.7 on the Richter scale jolted north-eastern states and West Bengal early yesterday, killing seven people in Manipur and injuring more than 100 across the region.

Those killed included four women, Manipur’s Inspector General of Police Clay Khongsai said, Rescuers worked hard to rescue those trapped under mounds of debris.

Khongsai said several multi-storey buildings in Imphal collapsed while many vehicles were damaged. The death toll is expected to rise, an officer said in Imphal.

The quake had its epicentre in Manipur’s Tamenglong district and occurred at 4.35 a.m., snapping power supply across the state. It also shook

Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Megha-laya, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura and West Bengal, an official of the seis-mological centre in Meghalaya said. It was also felt in adjoining Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

Imphal later felt an aftershock measuring 3.6 on the Richter scale.Khongsai said the Emma market - the day market for women in Manipur - was badly damaged and cordoned off. “We are not allowing anyone to enter the market to prevent any loss of life.

“So far six deaths and 33 injuries have been reported from Imphal. Dam-ages to a few buildings, residential units and government offices have been reported, including damage to a six-storey building,” a home min-istry statement said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh on phone. Ibobi Singh convened a cabinet meet-ing to review the situation.

Modi also asked Home Minister Rajnath Singh to oversee the situation. In Guwahati, Rajnath Singh said all central assistance would be extended to the north-eastern states.

“The prime minister has asked me to coordinate with all the chief min-isters in the region. I have spoken to almost all of them though I could not contact the Manipur chief minister.

“Manipur’s chief secretary told me the damage is more in the state. The centre will extend all required assist-ance to the north-eastern states to deal with the crisis. “I have also spoken to Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoiji,” said Rajnath Singh, on a two-day visit

to Assam since Sunday.It was also reported that report at

least 20 people suffered minor injuries as some buildings across Assam devel-oped cracks due to the temblor. Chief Executive Officer of Assam State Dis-aster Management Authority (ASDMA) P K Tiwary said: “There are reports pouring in from different parts of the state about minor damage to buildings and houses. We are trying to verify the reports.”

He said there was no major dam-age or any causality in Assam. The earthquake jolted the northern parts of West Bengal, particularly the districts of Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling, leaving at least a dozen people injured.

In Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, at least two people were killed and 100 others injured. Many people rushed out of their homes in panic.

The home ministry said the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was coordinating with north-eastern states for rescue and relief.

“The NDMA has begun coordi-nating with the state governments, ministries of home affairs, defence, telecom, National Disaster Response Force, and government departments and agencies,” a statement said.

India’s north-east region is consid-ered the sixth major earthquake-prone belt in the world. In September 2011, Sikkim suffered heavy damage fol-lowing a quake. Congress president Sonia Gandhi expressed concern over the deaths and destruction caused by an earthquake in north-eastern states

Several multi-storey buildings in Imphal collapsed while many vehicles were damaged. The death toll is expected to rise. Four women were among the killed.

160 villages

electrified

Rajnath assures

central aid to

north-eastIANS

MYSURU: The Indian space agency is soon opening a 100-acre Space Park in Bengaluru where private industry play-ers would be allowed to set up facilities to make subsystems and components for satellites, a top official said.

“The Space Park is coming up near Whitefield for the private industry. It is over 100 acres. It is likely to be inaugurated this month,” Indian Space Research Centre’s (ISRO) satellite cen-tre director M Annadurai said at the science congress here.

With the space agency launch-ing more satellites for various

communication and earth observa-tion services like remote sensing and navigation, the park will enable the industry to manufacture and supply their subsystems and vital compo-nents faster for spacecraft assembled at its satellite centre in the tech hub.

“We have told them (private firms) to increase their capacity building or join us at the Space Park and make components and other parts for our sat-ellites, as they have been already using our own facilities,” Annadurai said

As India plans to launch at least 10—12 satellites a year using heavy rockets to deploy them in the earth’s lower or geostationary orbits for vari-ous applications and services, demand for subsystems and vital components

for spacecraft to carry scientific instru-ments or transponders as payloads has shot up manifold.

“The space industry has to invest and build modular capacity to enable the country to launch as many satel-lites to meet the growing demand of the user industry, including the gov-ernment, private organisations and overseas users,” said Annadurai.

The satellite centre also plans to allow the private industry to make satellites end-to-end, including inte-gration and testing for launching them from its spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

“The Space Park will also contrib-ute to the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, as the private industry and

(state-run) firms like HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd) have been helping us in making rockets and satellites over the years,” Annadurai added.

The senior space scientist, who involved in the country’s maiden lunar and Mars missions, addressed dele-gates and students on ‘Space Science, Technology and Applications’ at the plenary session of the five-day sci-ence congress in the campus of the University of Mysore here.

The space agency outsources about 80 percent of its requirements for rock-ets and satellites to the private industry comprising about 500 small, medium and large units across the country for supplying structures, subsystems, com-ponents and parts.

Space Park to come up in Bengaluru

IANS

NEW DELHI: The Justice R M Lodha Committee yesterday proposed sep-arate governing bodies for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Indian Premier League (IPL) in a bid to partially segregate their functioning, while also suggesting a one-state-one-member pattern for the board.

Submitting its report to the Supreme Court, the three-member committee comprising its former chief justice, Jus-tice Lodha, as also Justice Ashok Bhan and Justice R V Raveendran - former judges of the apex court - suggested reforms in the Indian cricket board and announced a slew of measures, among them that the IPL governing body should be of nine members with the secretary and the treasurer of the BCCI as its ex-officio members.

Two other members of the IPL

governing council will be nominated or elected by the full members.

Of the remaining five, two will be the nominees of franchises, one will be a representative of the players asso-ciation (that is to be formed) and one will a nominee of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

Among other key recommen-dations, the panel stressed that one representation for one state is a fair idea and one association of each state will be a full member of the BCCI and

have a right to vote. Other members from a state, or those without territory or competitive presence -- Services, Railways, CCI, NCC -- were relegated to associate status without voting rights in the BCCI.

The Lodha panel also recom-mended the appointment of a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to manage the day-to-day affairs of the BCCI. The CEO will be assisted by six pro-fessional managers. The Lodha panel said the CEO and his managers will be

responsible to an apex council that will be comprised of nine members -- five elected, two representatives of players association, and one woman.

The Lodha committee has also sought to put some restrictions on the BCCI office-bearers: they should not be aged more than 70, should not be ministers or government servants - and cannot hold office for more than three terms, with a a “cooling-off” period between terms. It was after a thorough survey the report was made.

Lodha panel favours separate BCCI and IPL governing bodies

A church is seen damaged after an earthquake at Leimakhong village in Imphal yesterday.

Soldiers of the Assam Rifles march yesterday during the rehearsal for the forthcoming Republic Day parade to be held on January 26.

Republic Day rehearsal

INDIA14 TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

IANS

BENGALURU: Thousands of people paid tributes to martyred National Security Guard (NSG) commando Lieutenant Colonel Niranjan E K yesterday at his residence at Bom-masandra in Bengaluru.

Garud commando Gursewak Singh, killed by terrorists at the Pathankot IAF base, was cremated with full military honours yesterday at his village Garnala in Haryana’s Ambala district.

In Punjab, Chief Minister Par-kash Singh Badal visited the families of Subedar Major (honorary cap-tain) Fateh Singh and Havildar Kulwant Singh -- who were killed while combating the terror attack at Pathankot —in their native vil-lages Jhandewal Khurd and Chak Sharif in Gurdaspur district.Gursewak Singh got married only two months back. Fateh Singh, a

51—year—old armyman who lost his life on Saturday, had won a gold and a silver at the first Commonwealth Shooting Championships held in Delhi in 1995.

Paying his respects to 34-year-old Niranjan, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, “We have to be united to end terrorism, then only India can develop.”

“Even as the prime minister vis-ited Lahore (Pakistan) to extend a hand of friendship, it is painful to know that seven of our soldiers were martyred. We cannot evalu-ate their services to the country,” added Siddaramaiah, laying a wreath on Niranjan’s body.

Siddaramaiah declared a com-pensation of Rs30 lakh for Niranjan’s family. Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers Ananth Kumar also paid respects to Niranjan and said, “We have sent a strong message to Pakistan to refrain from using its soil to launch attacks on India.” The NSG bomb disposal expert’s body

was shifted to Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) ground to facilitate more people to pay their respects. His father Sivaranjan worked with BEL.

Niranjan’s body was flown to Ben-galuru’s Kempegowda International Airport around 1am yesterday.

He died of fatal injuries suffered while defusing a grenade in the ter-rorist attack in Pathankot on Sunday. “I am familiar with Baghavad Gita. I consider my brother Arjuna. My brother had struggled a lot to become Lieutenant Colonel and sacrificed a lot,” said Niranjan’s teacher-sister Bhagyalakshmi. Niranjan is sur-vived by his dentist wife Radhika, 18—month—old daughter Vismaya, father Sivarajan, step-mother and brother Shashank.

The final rites of Niranjan will be held at Elambulsserry village in Pal-akkad district, Kerala, around 10am on Wednesday. Kerala Chief Minis-ter is expected to attend the funeral ceremony today, said an army offi-cial overseeing the arrangements.

IANS

PATHANKOT: Search operations were in their final phase as security forces moved to secure every inch of the Pathankot air force base yester-day. Occasional sound of firing and a blast was heard from inside as the counteroffensive by security forces neared 60 hours.

“We have eliminated five terror-ists and operation to eliminate one more terrorist possibly is in the final stage,” National Security Guards (NSG)

Inspector General Major General Dush-ant Singh told the media.

“The operation will continue till all the personnel, assets and structure are physically combed. So it is likely to take a long time,” he said.

“These terrorists are holed up in a double-storeyed building which is a living accommodation of the air force personnel. The operations are on to clear this building from the terrorists,” said Brigadier Anupinder Singh.

The officers said the terrorists had come well prepared and were heavily armed with the aim of targeting strate-gic assets of the Indian Air Force (IAF) at the frontier base where a MIG-21 Bison fighter squadron and MI—35 attack hel-icopters are stationed.

A search operation was also on in nearby villages for possible terrorists. There were reports of raids by security agencies at some other places in Pun-jab, Haryana and Chandigarh.

Saturday’s audacious terror attack started at 3 30am. Four terrorists were killed on Saturday. The security forces have lost seven personnel.

The army, NSG and IAF officers said the operation would continue till the combing of the air base was completed.

NSG and army commandos con-ducted a thorough mopping of the entire

area where the terrorists, suspected to be from Pakistan and trained by the outlawed Jaish—e—Muhammed (JeM) outfit, had been cornered, police said. IAF helicopters flew through the night over the air base to assist ground forces.

“Army and paramilitary forces have surrounded the entire base, which is spread over a huge area and has undu-lating terrain, buildings and forest area which have to be searched very care-fully to avoid casualties. That is why the operation is taking longer time to complete,” a Punjab Police officer said.

He said steps were being taken to ensure that no terrorist was able to escape from the area. Twenty secu-rity personnel, including 12 from NSG and eight from IAF, have been injured. A securityman who was grievously injured was flown to Chandigarh on Sunday.

The terrorists failed to destroy IAF assets due to timely action by security forces, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said in New Delhi on Sunday.

”I congratulate our armed forces and other security forces on success-fully neutralising all the five terrorists in ‘Pathankot Operation’,” union Home Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted. My heartfelt condolences to their families. We can never forget their sacrifice,” he said

One terrorist still holed up as search continues Steps taken to ensure no terrorist was able to escape. Twenty security personnel, including 12 from NSG and eight from IAF, have been injured. Five terrorists were already killed.

Army personnel take up positions near the building where the two terrorists are holed up at Air Force base in Pathankot yesterday.

Many pay respect to martyrs

Wife of Lt. Col. Niranjan E K, one of the soldiers killed during attacks at the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, cries during the funeral in Bengaluru, yesterday.

IANS

NEW DELHI: Delhi’s Deputy Chief Min-ister Manish Sisodia yesterday wrote to union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, saying the city government will not comply with the centre’s order revok-ing suspension of two DANICS-cadre

officers. He said that doing so would lead to “widespread indiscipline, insub-ordination” and a state of “complete paralysis”. With this, the situation has turned much murkier.

In his letter to Rajnath Singh, Sisodia said: “Implementing MHA’s (home min-istry) order will seriously undermine the authority of an elected government and promote widespread indiscipline

and insubordination among the DANICS officers, which may result into complete paralysis of Delhi government. “In a way, declaration of void ab initio by the MHA appears to be without jurisdiction, especially when the Constitution has entrusted the responsibility of inter-pretation of statues and expounding of the law to the courts and not to the executives,” he said.

The Aam Aadmi Party govern-ment on December 29, 2015, suspended Subhash Chandra, special secretary (prisons), and Yashpal Garg, special secretary (prosecution), for allegedly refusing to sign on two cabinet notes related to hiking salaries of public pros-ecutors and prison staff.

Following the order, officers belonging to the DANICS (Delhi,

Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service) cadre -- to which Chandra and Garg belong -- decided to go on a strike.

The central government, however, declared the suspensions invalid and said the two officers will be deemed on duty.

Sisodia wrote that Delhi’s home minister was an officer “superior” to

the special secretaries working under him and therefore has “lawful power” to place them under suspension.

“It may also be seen that communi-cation from the MHA is merely a letter and not an order of the President of India. Implementing the MHA’s order will lead to anarchy and sabotage of functioning of a democratically elected government by the bureaucracy.”

Delhi locks horns with centre over the suspension of officials

IANS

NEW DELHI: Delhiites proved as mis-placed the widespread doubts whether they would leave their odd-numbered cars at home on an even date yes-terday, and whether public transport would creak under the new burden.

Motorists largely complied with the odd-even formula on its third day. Unlike the usual gridlock on Monday morning, traffic movement was smooth on Delhi’s arterial and main roads.

A total of 1,231 motorists were fined —1040 by Delhi Police and 191 by the transport department —com-pared to 567 on the first two days of the scheme when the authorities were “soft” on the violators. “This is a vic-tory of the people of Delhi. Because of their will, Delhi has passed its litmus

test,” Transport Minister Gopal Rai told reporters. The minister praised Delhi Police, with which the Aam Aadmi Party government is at loggerheads, for its cooperation.

There was an overwhelming response on the the first two days to the scheme which was launched on January 1. Traffic was spared of the regulation on Sunday.

But sceptics said it was because of the extended weekend when peo-ple stayed at home, and the real test of the city government’s traffic regula-tion would be on Monday, the first full working day of the new year.

“There were speculations and doubts about what would hap-pen on Monday when all the offices open. Some people feared that public transport may be overcrowded today (Monday) or there may be violations by drivers, but we have not noticed

any such thing,” Rai said. While lakhs of even-numbered cars plied on the roads, the government rolled out 7,143 buses to ensure smooth travel for those who left their odd-numbered cars at home and turned to public transport to commute.

Although many odd-numbered cars were spotted, they were running on CNG or driven by women —both exempted categories.

Of the total buses, 4,461 were of the Delhi Transport Corporation, while 1,431 were cluster ones. There were also 1,251 hired private buses, and the remaining were school buses that fer-ried passengers.

The buses were not crammed as feared. Delhi Metro commuters did not find the train coaches extraor-dinarily crowded either. The roads were less crowded yesterday and the pollution level marked was also low.

Delhites comply well with odd-even scheme

A family builds snowmen during this winter’s first snow on top of the Feldberg mountain, 20km west of Frankfurt, Germany, yesterday.

Fun with snow

Journalists and passers-by watch the Jaures lock during the draining of the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris, France, yesterday. Authorities start a four-month cleanup operation of the canal to refurbish its locks and remove silt.

Canal cleaning

EUROPE 15TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

Agencies

LONDON: British Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday described an Islamic State group video appar-ently showing the execution of five British “spies” as “desperate stuff” designed to deflect from their recent military losses.

Meanwhile, Britain yesterday started examining the video show-ing a young boy in military fatigues and an older masked militant who both spoke with British accents.

The propaganda video, which could not be independently verified, also shows the killing of five men

accused of spying for the West.The masked man threatens Prime

Minister David Cameron and vows that Islamic State will one day occupy Brit-ain before shooting one of the alleged spies in the head.

After the killings of the five men, a young English-speaking boy, who is wearing a black bandanna and appears to be about four or five years old, is shown saying: “So go kill the kuffar right over there”.

“It’s desperate stuff from an organ-isation that really does do the most utterly despicable and ghastly acts and people can see that again today,” Cameron said during a visit to east London.

“This is an organisation that’s

losing territory... increasingly losing anybody’s sympathy, and this again shows what an appalling organisa-tion we’re up against.”

The masked militant shown in the new video was different from Emwazi but spoke in a clear English accent, waving a gun at the camera while crit-icising Cameron.

“This is a message to David Cam-eron, O slave of the White House, O mule of the Jews,” the man said in the 10-minute video released on Sunday.

Britain’s Foreign Office said it was aware of the video and was studying its contents. In November, British offi-cials said that up to 800 Britons had travelled to Iraq and Syria, some to join Islamic State.

Muslim Brotherhood

behind migrant

wave: Czech leader

AFP

PRAGUE: Czech President Milos Zeman, known for his anti-migrant comments, yesterday claimed the current wave of more than a mil-lion newcomers to Europe was the work of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.

“I believe this invasion is being organised by the Muslim Brother-hood, using financial means from a number of states,” the outspoken 71-year-old leftwinger told the pub-lic Czech Radio.

Zeman said he had received the information regarding the Muslim Brotherhood — an opposition force in Egypt where it has been outlawed as a terrorist organisation -- from two sources, “both Muslims and leading Arab politicians”.

He said the record migrant cri-sis is due to Europe’s obliging stance towards migrants on the one hand, and to “the efforts of the Brother-hood to meet its goals” on the other.

“The Muslim Brotherhood can-not start a war against Europe, it doesn’t have the power, but it can prepare a growing migrant wave and gradually control Europe,” said the Czech Republic’s first-ever directly elected head of state.

Late last year, Zeman called the refugee wave “an organised inva-sion,” urging young men from Iraq and Syria to “take up arms” against the Islamic State (IS) group instead of running away. More than one million migrants reached Europe in 2015, most of them refugees fleeing war and violence in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. But few asylum seek-ers have chosen to stay in the Czech Republic, an EU and Nato mem-ber of 10.5 million people, with the majority heading to wealthier Ger-many and other western EU states.

Security staff check identity cards at Kastrups train station outside Copenhagen, Denmark, yesterday.

Denmark and Sweden impose border checks

Reuters

BRUSSELS: Belgian authorities yesterday scaled down heightened security adopted over fears of a mil-itant attack in the capital on New Year’s Eve, but the country as a whole remained on high alert.

Belgium’s crisis centre, a state body that advises the government on security, said the alert status for potential targets such as the police, military and Brussels’s main square was downgraded to level two.

However, the overall security level for the country, which has been at the heart of investigations into attacks in Paris on November 13, remains at level three, one notch below the maximum alert status.

Brussels had called off the city’s traditional New Year’s Eve fireworks over an alleged plot to attack the cap-ital. Two of the Paris suicide bombers, Brahim Abdeslam and Bilal Hadfi, had been living in Belgium, and at least one man was suspected of having coordinated the attacks by mobile phone from Belgium as they were being carried out.

Brussels scales back

heightened security

Reuters

CANTERBURY: Britain has granted asylum to a Sudanese man who made global headlines in August when he walked 50km through the Chan-nel Tunnel from France to England, highlighting the desperation of many migrants seeking a better life in Europe.

Abdul Haroun, who was arrested at the English end of the tunnel on August 4 and charged with obstruct-ing a railway under an obscure 19th Century law, has been held in prison since then and was due to face trial this month.

In a brief hearing yesterday at

Canterbury Crown Court where Haroun appeared by video-link from prison and spoke only to confirm his name, prosecutor Philip Bennetts said Haroun had been granted asylum on Decem-ber 24.

Bennetts requested 14 days for the prosecution to consider the impact of this new information on the criminal case, suggesting that the charge against Haroun may be dropped.

Judge Adele Williams granted the request, adjourning the case to Janu-ary 18 for the prosecution to announce their decision. She also granted Haroun immediate bail after Bennetts made clear the prosecution was not oppos-ing his release.

While in prison, Haroun has been

supported by a small, local refugee rights group who were able to pro-vide him with an address, which was not disclosed in court.

The judge told Haroun via an inter-preter that his bail terms were that he had to live at that address, sleep there every night, and report to a local police station every Wednesday dur-ing a two-hour window.

Haroun is the first migrant to have made it to Britain by foot through the railway tunnel, a perilous 12-hour journey that involved dodging trains travelling at up to 160 km per hour.

Thousands of migrants have been camped out for months near Calais, the entry point of the tunnel on the French side, hoping to find their way

to Britain. Refugee rights campaigners and immigration lawyers had accused the British authorities of seeking to make an example of Haroun to deter others from following in his footsteps.

The police, prosecution service and immigration authorities have not commented publicly on the case, as is standard when a criminal trial is pending.

However, very little is known about Haroun, who was 40 at the time of his arrest.

The court heard at an earlier hear-ing that his mother tongue is Zaghawa, suggesting that he may be from Dar-fur, a region of Sudan ravaged by more than a decade of conflict between gov-ernment and rebel forces.

Sudanese man reaching UK on foot gets asylum

Cameron rubbishes IS video claim as group begins study

Reuters

COPENHAGEN, STOCKHOLM: Den-mark imposed temporary identity checks on its border with Germany yesterday following a similar move by Sweden, dealing a double blow to Europe’s fraying passport-free Schengen area amid a record influx of migrants.

Sweden began checking docu-ments of travellers from Denmark yesterday for the first time in half a century, causing delays of up to 50 minutes for trains and buses crossing the 7.9km Oresund Bridge, Europe’s longest combined road and rail bridge. However the private vehicles were

exempt from the checks.Denmark’s prime minister said

Sweden’s move gave his country no option but to impose its own bor-der controls and he appealed to the European Union to take “collective decisions” to better protect its external borders against the tide of migrants.

“The Swedish ID checks can increase the risk of a large number of illegal immigrants to accumulate in and around Copenhagen,” Lars Lokke Rasmussen told a news conference in Copenhagen, justifying the new con-trols on the German border.

Last year some 163,000 refugees sought asylum in Sweden, the largest number for any EU country relative to its population. But with arrivals running at around 10,000 a week in November, mostly travelling through Denmark, the Swedish government has said it is time to tighten border controls and asylum rules.

“A dark day for our Nordic region,” former centre-right Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt said on his Twitter feed yesterday to describe the impo-sition of border checks.

Thousands of commuters daily use the Oresund Bridge — familiar to fans of the ‘Nordic noir’ crime drama series “The Bridge” — o shuttle by car, train

and bus between the Danish capital Copenhagen and the Swedish city of Malmo. Travellers expressed dismay at the new checks.

“I paid €230 for these tickets. This is Europe, not Africa. Why these checks?” said Gezahegn Abebe, an Ethiopian migrant living in Norway as he stood in the train station by Copen-hagen airport before trying to head to Sweden.

Returning home from a visit to Germany, Abebe said he had not been allowed through by security guards when he showed his Norwegian res-idence permit. Unlike Sweden and Denmark, Norway is not in the EU but it is a member of the Schengen zone.

“They said this is not a passport. If you don’t have a passport you can’t go,” Abebe said.

More than one million migrants fleeing conflicts and poverty in the Middle East and beyond sought shel-ter in Europe in 2015 and many more are expected to come during 2016.

The unprecedented numbers have strained to breaking point the EU’s free movement policy and its attempts to create a single economic area, with several countries temporarily re-intro-ducing border controls.

Rasmussen said the Danish border

Sweden began checking documents of travellers from Denmark for the first time in half a century.

controls would last for 10 days but could be extended. Officials in Germany, which itself is struggling to absorb about a million migrants who arrived during 2015, said they were paying close atten-tion to the new Danish border checks and their possible impact on the north-ward flow of migrants into Denmark.

Sweden has long been proud of its self-proclaimed status as a ‘humani-tarian superpower’ and its decision in November to tighten the border con-trols and asylum rules came close to bringing down Prime Minister Stefan Lofven’s minority coalition govern-ment of Social Democrats and Greens.

Norway swiftly followed Sweden’s lead and has announced 40 propos-als to tighten asylum rules.

ID-free travel within the Nordic region — long a popular magnet for migrants due to its high standards of living and generous social welfare benefits — dates back long before the Schengen accord to the 1950s, when Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland signed a passport union.

According to reports, around 15,000 commuters cross the strait between Sweden and Denmark every day and there are worries that busi-nesses in Sweden’s Skane region and

in Copenhagen will be hit.Denmark’s state-owned rail oper-

ator said the ID controls would cost it nearly 1 million Danish crowns ($147,000) a day.

Danish employers fear fewer Swedes will want to cross the bridge to work in Denmark as a result of the new rules.

“Already now the lack of workers is a problem and if the Swedes do not want to work here due to a longer commute, the problem will be even bigger,” Per-nille Knudsen, Vice Chief Executive of the Confederation of Danish Employ-ers, told Danish newspaper Borsen.

People warm themselves up by a fire in a bus station in Katowice, Poland, yesterday. The temperature in Katowice was forecast to fall to minus 9 degree Celsius.

Warming up

EUROPE16 TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

Outgoing Spain leader Mas vows not to give up

AFP

BARCELONA: Catalonia’s outgoing separatist president Artur Mas, whose months-long bid to be re-appointed as head of the Spanish region appeared to have been thwarted at the weekend, said yesterday he would not give up.

The region’s secessionist faction, which won September parliamentary polls, has been riven by in-fighting ever since due to a small, far-left separa-tist party that consistently refuses to give Mas the backing he needs to head up Catalonia again — a deadlock that could lead to fresh elections.

“I’m very relaxed and I want to fight, to forge ahead,” Mas said a day after the CUP party announced once and for all that it would not back him as president, as the January 9 dead-line to form a government approaches dangerously close.

Mas’s “Together for Yes” secessionist

alliance — helped by the CUP — won a majority of seats in the 135-seat Catalan parliament in a September election in the wealthy, 7.5-million-strong north-eastern region.

In November, they approved a resolution calling for creation of an independent Catalan republic within 18 months. But the honeymoon was short-lived as “Together for Yes”, which won 62 seats, battled with the CUP to form a government. Mas’s coalition needs the backing of the CUP, which got 10 seats. And after more than three months of negotiations, it failed to get the support of the CUP, which resents austerity measures implemented by Mas in recent years and his CDC par-ty’s links to corruption scandals.

The far-left party said it could back another candidate, but Mas’s party has ruled that possibility out.

“Our candidate is President Mas,” said Josep Rull of the CDC. “We are con-vinced it’s viable, we must forge ahead.”

As the January 9 deadline approaches, the only option that remains for the “Together for Yes” coalition is to convince a few CUP lawmakers to break rank and support them. If they fail to do so, parliament will be dissolved and Mas will have no option but to call yet more elec-tions —the fourth in the region in just over five years.

This raises the likelihood of

early elections in March in a region that accounts for about 20 percent of Spain’s output. The political mix, already complicated by national party leaders lining up on either side of the Catalan independence debate, is still harder to predict with the collapse of efforts to form a regional government.

“It’s anyone’s guess what will hap-pen now” in Catalonia, Angel Talavera, an analyst at Oxford Economics in Lon-don, said by phone yesterday. The most probable scenario at national level is new elections, he said.

Spanish leaders are trying to find their place in an upturned political landscape after Prime Minister Mar-iano Rajoy lost his overall majority. The Socialists also lost backing as vot-ers turned to emerging parties such as the anti-austerity group Podemos, which picked up votes in Catalonia by pledging support for an independence referendum.

Rajoy, whose People’s Party took the most seats, has said he wants to build a broad-based government to defend economic growth and safeguard Spain’s national integrity in the face of Mas’s demands for independence.

The failure of Mas’s bid to create a separatist regional administration should in theory make the task fac-ing Rajoy or whoever leads the new national government easier, said Talavera.

Deadlock continues as the country likely to head for fresh polls

AFP

GENEVA: Italian diplomat Filippo Grandi began work yesterday as the new head of the UN refugee agency, facing the mammoth task of leading efforts to deal with record levels of displacement worldwide.

“UNHCR is navigating extraordi-narily difficult waters,” Grandi said in a statement yesterday.

“The combination of multiple con-flicts and resulting mass displacement, fresh challenges to asylum, the fund-ing gap between humanitarian needs and resources and growing xeno-phobia is very dangerous,” he said.

The 58-year-old diplomat offi-cially replaced Antonio Guterres on Friday, when the former Portuguese prime minister stepped down after a decade at the helm of the refugee agency.

But Grandi arrived for his first day of work at the UNHCR headquar-ters in Geneva yesterday morning, the agency said, adding that he was taking the wheel “at a time of unprec-edented displacement challenges.”

Late last year, the agency announced that the number of peo-ple displaced by war and violence

hit a record high of more than 60 million in 2015 — surpassing even the 50-million mark reached dur-ing World War II.

Europe too faced its worst migra-tion crisis since 1945, with over a million men, women and children reaching its shores in 2015.

Most of those risking the perilous journey across the Mediterranean mainly to Greece and Italy were ref-ugees desperately fleeing war and persecution in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. The choice of Grandi for the key post was seen as a nod to Italy, which has been particularly hard-hit by the refugee crisis in Europe.

Denmark’s restrictive policies on refugees were meanwhile cited among the factors weighing against one of his competitors, former Danish prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt.

Grandi was also recognised for his work in several tough UN positions over a 30-year career in international affairs. Among them was his challeng-ing work as head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA from 2010 to 2014, a post he held after serving as its deputy from 2005 to 2010.

Grandi had previously worked as deputy envoy to the UN aid mission in Afghanistan and was UNHCR’s mis-sion chief there.

AFP

PARIS: Several members of the Wildenstein art-dealing dynasty went on trial in Paris yesterday charged with stashing hundreds of millions of euros in inheritance money out of reach of the French taxman.

Family patriarch Guy Wilden-stein, 70, faces up to 10 years in prison for tax fraud and money laundering.

The Franco-American is the heir of three generations of wealthy art dealers and thoroughbred racehorse

breeders.He is accused of hiding more than

€550 million ($600 million) in fam-ily money after the death of his father Daniel in 2001 and brother Alec in 2008. Alec was famed for from Swiss socialite Jocelyne Perisse, nicknamed “Bride of Wildenstein” for her extreme facial cosmetic surgeries, reportedly to make her look more catlike.

The divorce was the first action by a series of women who felt hard done by the Wildenstein men that forced the family to lift the veil of secrecy over its fortune.

AFP

OSLO: Mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik’s court case against the Norwe-gian state over his prison conditions, which he likens to “torture”, will take place in the jail where he is being held, a court ruled yesterday.

Breivik killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting rampage in 2011 because he was opposed to Nor-way’s multiculturalism.

He has complained repeatedly about being held in isolation, which

he argues is a violation of his human rights. His court case had since pre-viously been scheduled to take place March 15-18, but the question of where the case would be heard had yet to be determined, given the security prob-lems posed by moving Breivik from the prison.

The state had proposed holding the trial in prison, and Breivik’s law-yer agreed to the idea.

“Practical considerations and security issues justify that the case be heard at the Skien prison,” about 100km southwest of Oslo, the Oslo

district court ruled.The prison conditions could be

more closely studied on site, it added.On July 22, 2011, Breivik killed

eight people in a bomb attack outside a government building later murdered another 69 people in Utoeya.

He was handed a 21-year prison sentence in August 2012, which can be extended if he is still considered a danger to society. In a report published in November, Norway’s parliamentary ombudsman said Breivik’s solitary confinement risks turning into “inhu-mane treatment”.

Bosnian Muslims

arrested over

Serb war crimes

AFP

SARAJEVO: Three Bosnian Muslims suspected of killing Serb civilian and military prisoners in the Srebrenica region at the start of the 1992-1995 war were arrested yesterday, pros-ecutor’s office said.

The three —former members of Bosnian Muslim armed forces arrested in the northern town of Tuzla —are suspected to have killed 10 Serb civilians who surrendered when the village of Zalazje came under attack on July 12, 1992, the prosecutor said in a statement.

Three of the civilians were killed in front of Srebrenica police sta-tion while seven were driven off in a truck in an unknown direction and were never seen alive again, the statement said.

One of the suspects is addi-tionally accused of having killed a prisoner-of-war on June 21, 1992, in another village near Srebrenica.

Sixty-nine civilians were killed when Muslim forces attacked Zal-azje and three other villages on July 12, 1992, according to Bosnian Serb associations of families of the victims. No-one has ever been con-victed for the crimes, families of the victims say. In July 1995, Srebrenica was the scene of a mass execution of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces.

It was considered to be the worst atrocity in Europe since the World War II and two international courts described it as an act of genocide.

More than 3,200 Bosnian Serb civilians and soldiers were killed during the inter-ethnic war in the Srebrenica region and nearby town of Bratunac.

Reuters

BRUSSELS: The European Commis-sion said yesterday it would examine the impact of laws pushed through by Poland’s new right-wing government amid growing concerns for democ-racy and the rule of law in the EU’s largest eastern member.

Since winning an election last October, the Law and Justice party (PiS), which advocates higher state spending, conservative Catholic values and Euroscepticism, has moved to put Polish public TV and radio broadcast-ers under direct government control and to change the makeup of the con-stitutional court.

The court changes prompted pub-lic protests, rattled investors and drew accusations from the rights activists that PiS is undermining democratic checks and balances in a country long seen as a bulwark of economic

and political stability in Europe. PiS strongly denies such charges.

Commission spokesman Marga-ritis Schinas told a news briefing in Brussels that the EU executive would hold a “political debate” on January 13 on the rule of law in Poland.

Commissioner Gunther Oettinger, said on Sunday Warsaw should be put under the EU’s rule of law super-vision, a three-step procedure that could end up with the suspension of Poland’s voting rights within the 28-nation bloc.

The rule of law supervision frame-work was adopted in 2014 to deal with “systemic threats” to EU values. It was created amid concerns over judicial independence in two other former communist member states, Hungary and Romania.

Spokesman Schinas said the planned discussion on the changes in Poland did not amount to a first step in the rule of law procedure.

Italian diplomat takes

helm at UNHCR

EU Commission to debate

new Polish laws

Breivik’s trial to take place in prison

People run as huge waves hit the coast at San Sebastian, northern Spain, yesterday. Bad weather is expected this week, especially in the northwestern part of the country, where rough winds, rain and snow are forecast.

Rough weather

Art dealer’s multi-million fraud trial opens in Paris

A cameraman films a worker fixing a memorial stone in memory of policeman killed last year, during the jihadist attack on Charlie Hebdo, yesterday.

In remembrance

AMERICAS 17TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

AP

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama is slated to finalise a set of new executive actions tightening the nation’s gun laws, making his first order of busi-ness in 2016 a clear signal the president in his final year doesn’t intend to go quietly.

At a meeting with Attorney Gen-eral Loretta Lynch, FBI Director James Comey and other top law enforcement officials Obama is expected to sign off on a package of proposals aimed at curbing gun violence and crack-ing down on unregulated gun sales.

At the top of the list is an effort to expand background checks on gun sales by forcing more sellers to regis-ter as federally licensed gun dealers. The changes would be aimed at some unregistered sellers who skirt the back-ground check laws by selling at gun shows, online or informal settings.

Other moves being considered include improving reporting of lost and stolen weapons and beefing up inspections of licensed dealers, accord-ing to a person familiar with the plans who would not be named discussing proposals before they are finalised.

The package includes measures this White House has long consid-ered but not completed, mindful of the legal fight sure to follow as well as the potential for political backlash for some fellow Democrats.

But after a steady string of mass shootings and with the clock on his tenure ticking down, Obama appears primed to push further than he has

in the past. “We definitely think there are things he can do,” said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which advo-cates for expanding background checks. Gross says his recent conversations with White House aides have left him hopeful. “It’s very clear that the White House is feeling emboldened,” he said.

Even before the president’s for-mal announcement, Republicans were registering their opposition. “The pres-ident is at minimum subverting the legislative branch, and potentially over-turning its will,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, said in a state-ment yesterday.

Obama announced the meeting with Lynch in his weekly address from his Hawaii holiday vacation. On Thurs-day, he’ll take his argument to prime time, participating in a town hall dis-cussion of gun violence on CNN. He’s slated to make his case for changes in his State of the Union address on January 12.

The high-profile rollout reflects a White House continuing to look for ways to wrap up unfinished business, despite an uncooperative Congress.

After all but ignoring the issue in his first term, Obama changed course after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in December 2012. Nev-ertheless, the president failed to push a package of gun measures through Congress, including one expanding background checks.

At the same time, Obama took nearly two dozen executive actions to tighten gun laws, but left a major expansion of background checks out of the mix.

But after the shooting at a com-munity college in Roseburg, Oregon in October, a weary and angry Obama ordered his staff to redouble the effort to look for ways to work around Congress.

Under current law, feder-ally licensed firearms dealers are required to seek background checks on potential firearm purchasers. But advocacy groups say many sellers are currently exempt from having to

Handguns are seen for sale in a display case at Metro Shooting Supplies in Bridgeton, Missouri.

Obama starts year with a fight over gun control

register, increasing the chance of sales to customers prohibited by law from purchasing a gun.

The administration is expected to reclassify some of those dealers using a mix of criteria, such as the number and frequency of guns sold, whether sellers profit off sales, whether they advertise, rent space or tables at gun shows and pay taxes. White House offi-cials have not yet disclosed the details of the proposal.

Obama’s plans immediately set off

a political debate on the presidential campaign trail, both over the policy and whether the president has the authority to make it. Democrat Hillary Clinton, who has already proposed an executive action to close the gun show loophole, cheered Obama’s plans.

“I am absolutely convinced we can have gun safety measures consistent with the Constitution,” she said during a presidential campaign event in Con-cord, New Hampshire. “I will take on that fight. I’m very hopeful and excited

that the president is going to take some action with executive action in the next week or two ... but if it’s a Republican who walks into the White House within the first day, the executive orders will be reversed.”

Rival Sen Bernie Sanders, an inde-pendent from Vermont, told ABC’s “This Week” he wished Congress could find consensus but added the move was the “right thing to do.” Republicans candi-dates rejected the proposals, including those who have backed some gun

control measures in the past.“This president is a petulant child,”

New Jersey Gov Chris Christie said. “The fact is if he wants to make changes to these laws, go to Congress and convince the Congress that they’re necessary. But this is going to be another illegal executive action which I’m sure will be rejected by the courts.” “I don’t like changing anything,” Donald Trump said on CBS’ “Face the Nation”. “Right now, they have plenty of rules and regulations.”

With new gun measures, Obama kicks off his final year in White House on a contentious note.

Reuters

PRINCETON: Federal law enforce-ment officials yesterday sought to bring a peaceful end to the weekend occu-pation of a headquarters of an Oregon US wildlife refuge by self-styled mili-tiamen, while authorities said all staff at the facility were safe.

The occupation, which began on Saturday, is the latest skirmish over federal land management in the west-ern United States. It followed a march in Burns, a small city about 80km north of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, in protest over the imminent jailing of ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr and his son, Steven Hammond. The FBI declined to give details on plans by federal officials.

The occupation was led by Ammon Bundy, the son of Cliven Bundy, a Nevada rancher whose family staged a 2014 armed protest against federal land management officials that ended

with authorities backing down, cit-ing safety concerns.

A lawyer for the Hammonds sought to distance his clients from Bundy and his armed band, saying they did not speak for the family.

Hammond and his son, convicted in 2012 of setting fires that spread to public land, traveled to Los Angeles on Sunday evening to surrender to federal authorities, according to their lawyer W Alan Schroeder. They were to be sent back to prison after federal pros-ecutors won an appeal that resulted in their re-sentencing to longer terms.

The incident is part of a decades-old conflict between ranchers and the federal government over Wash-ington’s management of hundreds of thousands of range land. Critics of the federal government say it often oversteps its authority and exercises arbitrary power over land use with-out sufficient accountability.

“Due to safety considerations for both those inside the refuge as well as the law enforcement officers involved,

we will not be releasing any specifics with regards to the law enforcement response,” the Federal Bureau of Inves-tigation said in a statement.

The Hammond ranch borders on the southern edge of the Oregon ref-uge, a bird sanctuary in the arid high desert in the eastern part of the state, about 490km southeast of Portland.

The US Fish and Wildlife Serv-ice said late on Sunday that all of its staff from the facility were safe and accounted for. “Thanks for your con-cern re the situation at Malheur NWR,” the agency said on Twitter. “We are working to resolve this peacefully.”

The Bundy ranch standoff drew hundreds of armed protesters after the Bureau of Land Management sought to seize Bundy’s cattle because he refused to pay grazing fees. Federal agents backed down in the face of the large numbers of armed protesters and returned hundreds of cattle.

Bundy told a conference on Sun-day that some of the occupiers were armed but did not plan violence.

FBI seeks end to occupation at Oregon wildlife refuge

A US flag covers a sign at the entrance of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon.

AFP

CUERNAVACA: A state in central Mexico took over police command in several towns after a mayor was assassinated, a crime described as a gang threat to other mayors.

Governor Graco Ramirez ordered the State Security Com-mission to take charge of police in 15 municipalities of Morelos state, including the capital, Cuernavaca, and Temixco, where the slain mayor served.

Gisela Mota, 33, a left-of-centre former member of Congress, was gunned down on Saturday, barely 24 hours after taking her oath of office in Temixco, which is about 90km south of Mexico City.

Police officials say gunmen burst into her home and killed her. Two suspected gunmen were later killed and three were detained, includ-ing a minor.

Morelos state has been plagued by drug cartel violence as well as kidnappings and extortion.

Mota had vowed to clean up crime when she took office. The governor said she had agreed to back a “single command” coordi-nation scheme that groups state and local police.

Her murder “is a message and a clear threat for the mayors who recently took office to not accept the police coordination scheme that we have supported and that is being built at a national level,” Ramirez told a news conference.

Morelos has around 30 munic-ipalities and about half have not ratified the single command.

The governor, who attended Mota’s funeral, declared three days of mourning in the state and ordered flags to be flown at half-staff.

Mota’s Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), of which Ramirez is a member, hailed her as a “strong and brave woman, who, when she took office as mayor, declared that her battle against organised crime would be frontal and direct”.

AFP

NEW YORK: Republican frontrunner Donald Trump yesterday unveiled his first TV ad of the presidential elec-tion campaign, demanding a ban on Muslims entering the United States and vowing to decapitate the Islamic State group.

The 30-second ad will be broad-cast in Iowa and New Hampshire from today, costing $2m a week ahead of the state’s first-in-the-nation voting contests, his campaign said.

“The politicians can pretend it’s something else but Donald Trump calls it radical Islamic terrorism — that’s why he’s calling for a tempo-rary shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” says the voiceo-ver on the ad.

The commercial opens with footage of the billionaire candidate addressing a rally before segueing into an image of President Barack Obama and Democratic frontrun-ner Hillary Clinton, and then mug shots of the couple responsible for the San Bernardino killings last month.

“He’ll quickly cut off the head of ISIS and take their oil,” added the male speaker, referring to the IS extrem-ist group based in Iraq and Syria that

allegedly inspired the couple.“And he’ll stop illegal immigration

by building a wall on our southern border that Mexico will pay for,” the commercial added. Iowa votes first in the nation in the nomination race, on February 1, followed by New Hamp-shire eight days later.

“I am very proud of this ad. I don’t know if I need it, but I don’t want to take any chances,” Trump said yes-terday. The real estate tycoon, who is funding his own campaign, has boasted of spending no money on political television ads until this one.

He has led the polls for months, using his bombastic and provocative style to dominate the media spotlight, without spending any of the $35 mil-lion he said he had expected to use on ads by January 1.

He claims to have spent the least money of all the candidates on the campaign trail and of still achieving “the best results,” saying, “This is the kind of thinking the country needs.”

Trump has previously run radio ads and will launch a new one this week featuring Kathryn Gates-Skip-per, the first female Marine to serve in combat operations, his campaign said.

Trump is scheduled to address a political rally in Lowell, Massa-chusetts, followed by another in Claremont, New Hampshire today.

A December 2015 file photo shows Donald Trump speaking at a rally at the Westgate Hotel & Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Trump unveils TV ad and urges Muslim ban

Mexico mayor’s

killing a threat to

others: Governor

A group of people participate in a ‘corraleja’ (traditional amateur bullfight) in Turbaco, close to Cartagena, Colombia.

The Fuego Volcano, 50km southeast of Guatemala City, begins a new weak eruption phase with moderate explosions and ‘rumblings’, yesterday.

Amateur bullfight

Volcano erupts

AMERICAS18 TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

AFP

CHICAGO: A freak blizzard killed at least 15,000 dairy cows in the US state of Texas and for almost two days kept farmers from milk-ing some of those that survived, officials said yesterday.

The brutal winter storm dumped heavy snow on the northern part of Texas on December 26. Farm-ers have not yet fully assessed the damage. “They’re still trying to dig out, but at least it stopped snow-ing,” Kirsten Voinis, a spokeswoman for the Texas Association of Dair-ymen, said.

Texas ranchers typically let their cows graze in pastures rather keep-ing them locked up in barns. The storm hit too suddenly for them to get their cows inside.

The association estimates that the storm killed about ten percent of mature dairy cows in the region. It does not yet have an estimate as to how many calves and heifers were killed.

Safely disposing of the carcasses will be a major challenge. “We usu-ally send them to rendering, but we’re not sure if rendering will be able to handle a number this big,” Voinis said.

“We’re trying to figure out if there’s wintering capacity, or if we do have to bury them. That opens up other issues... water quality and how it impacts your land.”

Many of the surviving cows will also likely give less milk for months to come.

They are typically milked twice a day, but the bad roads and blow-ing snow meant farm workers were unable to get some cows into their barns to be milked for as much as two days.

“When a dairy cow goes that long without being milked, her milk supply starts to dry up,” Darren Tur-ley, executive director of the Texas Association of Dairymen, said.

The Washington Post

WASHINGTON: Often, 2015 felt like the year of outrage. The reasons for this were large and small - from police brutality to all manners of micro-aggressions, from terrorism to the colour of a coffee cup. Americans of every race, economic background and political leaning seemed to share a common gift: The ability to get angry.

These fiery sentiments were measured by NBC, Survey Monkey and Esquire over the course of four days in November, in an online poll of 3,257 American adults aptly called the “American Rage Survey”.

Now the results are in, and they reveal a landscape of national anger as layered as the population itself. Americans are angry about a lot of things, apparently, and sometimes even about the same things.

Esquire editors declared: “The body politic is burning up. And the anger that courses through our head-lines and news feeds - about injustice and inequality, about marginaliza-tion and disenfranchisement, about what they are doing to us - shows no signs of abating.”

The survey found that half of all Americans say they are angrier today than they were a year ago. Among the groups polled, white Americans and Republicans are the angriest of all.

For the purposes of quantification, the survey “measured and compared

anger primarily according to the fre-quency with which respondents report hearing or reading something that makes them angry”. It did not, there-fore, account for the intensity of each bout of rage.

In a response to the question, “About how often do you hear or read something in the news that makes you angry?” 73 percent of whites said they get angry at least once a day, in con-trast to 66 percent of Hispanics and 56 percent of blacks. Seventy-seven per-cent of Republicans also said they get angry at least once a day, compared to 67 percent of Democrats.

Among household income brack-ets, “the middle of the middle class” ($50,000 to $74,999) reported feeling anger at greater rates than the “very rich” ($150,000 and up) and the “very poor” ($15,000 and less). About 53 per-cent of women say they are angrier this year than last, compared with about 44 percent of men.

What accounts for these differ-ences, along with the seeming trend of increasing anger in the population? The survey results paint a narrative of American decline, to which a major-ity of respondents subscribe, along with the feeling that racial tensions in the country have reached a high.

Fifty-two percent of Americans said the American Dream “once held true but does not anymore”. Thirty-nine percent think that race relations have become worse since President Obama was elected.

More interesting than these num-bers are the demographic differences within them. While blacks are more likely than whites and Hispanics to think that the American Dream still holds true, they are also more likely - by 15 percentage points - to think that the recent killings of African Ameri-can men by police are part of a larger pattern in the police’s treatment of African Americans.

A Gallup poll from the past summer showed a similar waning confidence

in American institutions, while New York Times-CBS News polling has found that public perception of race relations has degraded since Obama’s inauguration. In the latter survey, 33 percent of blacks considered Amer-ican race relations “generally good”, nine percentage points below whites.

Meanwhile, the NBC News-Sur-vey Monkey-Esquire poll found that although far more whites than blacks said race relations have become worse since Obama was elected, they are also more likely to see police killings as isolated incidents.

With regard to political divisions, Republicans are angriest about con-gressional dysfunction and consumer fraud, while Democrats are the most mad about police officers shooting unarmed black men. There is still much that angry Americans can agree on.

The outrage surrounding school shootings was near-unanimous, with more than 90 percent of respondents among all ethnicities, genders and political parties concurring that they are a source of anger. Moreover, at least 80 percent of Republicans and Democrats were angry about massive consumer fraud, and the hypothetical protest sign “Taxed Enough Already” ranked in the top three picks of both political groups.

Despite the high rates of anger among most respondents, Esquire edi-tors saw one pattern that suggested optimism over despair: “Indeed, despite having what many would consider a more legitimate case for feeling angry, black Americans are gener-ally less angry than whites. Though they take great issue with the way they are treated by both society in general and the police in particular, blacks are also more likely than whites to believe that the American dream is alive; that America is still the most powerful country in the world. . . . Their opti-mism in the face of adversity suggests that hope, whatever its other virtues, remains a potent antidote to anger.”

Whites and Republicans are the angriest people

Vote to repeal Obama’s health law marks testy start to 2016

The survey found that half of all Americans say they are angrier today than they were a year ago.

Blizzard kills 15,000 dairy cows in Texas

AP

WASHINGTON: Legislation repealing Presi-dent Barack Obama’s health care law comes to the forefront when the House reconvenes this week, marking a sharply partisan start to a con-gressional year in which legislating may take a back seat to politics.

The bill undoing the president’s prized over-haul of health care has been like a long-delayed New Year’s resolution for Republicans. It will be the first order of business for the House in the new year.

There are few areas of potential compromise between Obama and the GOP majority in the House and Senate, but plenty of opportunities for political haymaking during the presidential campaign season. Obama will veto the health law repeal bill, which also would cut money for

Planned Parenthood. The measure already has passed the Senate under special rules protect-ing it from Democratic obstruction.

But that’s the point for Republicans, who intend to schedule a veto override vote for Jan uary 22, when anti-abortion activists hold their annual march in Washington to mark the anni-versary of the Supreme Court decision in 1973 that legalized abortion.

Despite dozens of past votes to repeal the health law in full or in part, Republicans never before have succeeded in sending a full repeal bill to the White House.

They insist that doing so will fulfill prom-ises to their constituents while highlighting the clear choice facing voters in the November pres-idential election.

Every Republican candidate has pledged to undo the health law. The Democrats running for president would keep it in place.

“You’re going to see us put a bill on the presi-dent’s desk going after Obamacare and Planned Parenthood so we’ll finally get a bill on his desk to veto,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R—Wiscon-sin, told conservative talk host Bill Bennett over the holidays.

“Then you’re going to see the House Repub-lican Conference, working with our senators, coming out with a bold agenda that we’re going to lay out for the country, to say how we would do things very differently,” Ryan said.

In the Senate, which reconvenes Jan 11, a week later than the House, early action will include a vote on a proposal by Sen.

Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican who is running for president, for an “audit” of the Federal Reserve. Democrats are likely to block it. But, like the health repeal bill in the House, the vote will answer conservative demands in an election year.

Also expected early in the Senate’s year is legislation dealing with Syrian refugees, fol-lowing House passage of a bill clamping down on the refugee programme.

Conservatives were angry when the year ended without the bill advancing. Senate Repub-lican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky promised a vote, though without specifying whether it would be the House bill or some-thing else. The House Benghazi committee will continue its investigation of the attacks that killed four Americans in Libya in 2012.

This comes amid new Democratic accu-sations of political motives aimed at Hillary Clinton after the committee chairman, Rep Trey Gowdy, R—South Carolina endorsed Sen Marco Rubio, R-Fla. for president. Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, was secretary of state at the time of the Benghazi attacks.

AFP

PORT: Haiti’s first round of presiden-tial and legislative voting was marred by fraud, as opposition forces have charged, an independent panel said in its report released on Sunday. In the October 25 first round to choose a successor to President Michel Martelly, the candidate he backed — Jovenel Moise — drew 32.8 percent of the vote against 25.3 percent for Jude Celestin.

A runoff had been due to go ahead on December 27 but was canceled after fraud allegations.

The first round and the sub-sequent lengthy and delayed vote count was marked by street pro-tests alleging official corruption. Celestin refused to campaign until an independent electoral commis-sion was set up.

The commission said in its report

that work by the government’s Elec-toral Board was sloppy, and led to many irregularities.

When the independent com-mission spoke with members of the (CEP) board, they said that 60 per-cent of polling station staffers were unable to do their work properly, the report said.

“There were also votes crossed out, as well as math or tallying prob-lems,” it added. Additional woes were found in voter ID inspection. That likely meant “votes were not cast by some voters even though they were eligible to do so,” the report stressed.

The October presidential election was the latest attempt in the Ameri-cas’ poorest country to shed chronic political instability and work toward development. Haiti is still struggling to recover from a devastating 2010 earthquake that killed more than 250,000 people.

Powerball’s

jackpot jumps to

$400m with no

winners

WASHINGTON, DC: Pow-erball’s jackpot has surged to an estimated $400m after the first drawing of the New Year resulted in no winning ticket holders, the operator of the multistate game said yester-day. Powerball, played in 44 states, two US territories and Washington, DC, will hold its next drawing on tomorrow, giving players another crack at the grand prize.

While no ticket holder had all six numbers in Saturday evening’s drawing (5,6,15,29,42 and the Powerball number 10), more than 2 million ticket hold-ers won smaller prizes totalling nearly $21m.

El Salvador issues

tips for migrants

SAN SALVADOR: The gov-ernment of El Salvador on Sunday offered advice to allay the worries of its citizens living illegally in the United States, where immigration authorities have vowed to crack down on undocumented residents. “If you are detained by an immi-gration agent, remain calm. If you have immigration papers, present them. If not, ask imme-diately to contact your attorney or the nearest consulate of El Salvador.

It was issued amid news reports that Barack Obama’s administration was planning to round up and expel undoc-umented migrants—including families. Crackdown could begin soon.

Haiti vote marred by fraud: Probe

London Zoo staff during the annual stocktaking which is carried out at the the start of each year.

A view showing large ice sculptures, one day before the opening of the 32th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival in Harbin city, China’s northern Heilongjiang province, yesterday. The festival will continue until February 5 attracting both foreign and local visitors to experience the ice and the snow.

A sign reads ‘let

it snow’ in Aosta,

northern Italy, after

snowfall yesterday.

Temperatures were

forecast to hover

around the zero

degrees Celcius

mark.

Ice sculptures in Harbin

Enjoying the snow

MORNING BREAK20 TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

FAJR

SHOROOK

ZUHR

ASR

MAGHRIB

ISHA

04.59 am06.20 am

11.39 am02.38 pm

05.00 pm06.30 pm

Minimum: 14o C Maximum: 21o C

HIGH TIDE 02:45 - 11:45LOW TIDE 07:45 - 19:30

Slight dust at times with scattered clouds and

weak chance of light rain at places and cold

by night.

PRAYER TIMINGS WEATHER

ONLINE CHART BUST

MOST READ

INSTAGRAM OF THE DAY

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Qatar Armed Forces General Command issues warning

Oil prices rise after Saudi Arabia cuts ties with Iran

Digitising thousands of rare historical documents

1

2

3

People enjoy-ing the weather at Souq waqif.

Pic: Abdul Basit

IANS

LONDON: The world’s largest data-base for cancer drug discovery has been updated by adding three-dimensional structures of faulty proteins and maps of cancer’s communication networks, reports a study.

The updated database, developed at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, will allow scientists across

the globe to design new cancer treat-ments more effectively, the study said.

“Our database is constantly grow-ing with information and is the largest of its kind - with more than 140,000 users from over 175 countries,” said team leader Bissan Al Lazikani from The Institute of Cancer Research, Lon-don. “And we regularly develop new artificial intelligence technologies that help scientists make predictions and design experiments. Our aim is that

cancer scientists will be armed with the data they need to carry out life-saving research into the most exciting drugs of the future,” Al Lazikani noted.

The “canSAR” database was launched in 2011 by researchers in the Cancer Research UK Cancer Ther-apeutics Unit at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) — with the ambitious goal of using Big Data approaches to build a detailed picture of how the majority of known human molecules

behave. The database has already collated billions of experimental meas-urements mapping the actions of one million drugs and chemicals on human proteins, and has combined these data with genetic information and results from clinical trials. The new version of canSAR uses artificial intelligence to identify nooks and crannies on the surface of faulty cancer-causing mol-ecules, as a key step in designing new drugs to block them.

Biggest database for cancer drug discovery now in 3-D

China celebrates

Shakespeare’s

400th death

anniversary

BEIJING: A Chinese musical named “With Love, William Shakespeare” is being staged in Beijing to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shake-speare.

The musical, presented in Beijing’s Star Theatre from December 31, 2015, to January 31, reinterprets the classics of Shakespeare, including Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in the con-text of modern China, Xinhua reported.

It tells of four young peo-ple who turn to Shakespeare’s works for answers whenever their relationships are in trou-ble, only to end up in failure and disappointment.

Turning off e-mail app on phone can make you happierIANS

LONDON: If reducing stress is on your mind, turning off the e-mail app on your phone can be an easy and inex-pensive way to bring happiness back into your life, new research suggests.

E-mail can simultaneously be a great communication tool and a source of frustration and stress, the findings showed.

In a survey of around 2,000 peo-ple, London-based Future Work Centre found that people who auto-matically receive e-mail on their devices are more likely to report higher levels of e-mail pressure.

The study also pointed out that checking e-mail earlier in the morn-ing or later at night is associated with higher levels of email pressure.

“People who reported higher levels of e-mail pressure also experienced greater interference between work and home - and home and work,” the report said.

However, how much e-mail pres-sure you feel and the extent to which

it interferes with your work-life bal-ance may depend on your personality.

“Our research shows that e-mail is a double-edged sword. Whilst it can be a valuable communication tool, it is clear that it is a source of stress of frustration for many of us,” said lead author Richard MacKinnon, insight director, Future Work Centre, was quoted as saying by Daily Mail.

“The people who reported it being most useful to them also reported the highest levels of email pressure,” MacKinnon noted.

Managers experience signifi-cantly higher levels of e-mail pressure when compared to non-managers, the results of the survey showed.

AFP

LONDON : Zookeepers armed with clip-boards, calculators and cameras fanned out across London Zoo yesterday to start its annual animal stocktake.

The keepers face the daunting task of totting up every mammal, bird, reptile,

fish and invertebrate —around 17,000 creatures across 750 different species — during the week-long count. Last year saw the arrival of many new animals at the central London zoo, from the world’s first zoo-bred Lake Oku clawed frogs to a litter of 11 endangered African hunt-ing dogs.

Edward the two-toed sloth was born in July while December saw the birth of a

western lowland gorilla, all of which will have to be included in the 2016 census.

While for some keepers the task is as simple as “one, two, three”, imagina-tive tactics are used by others to ensure every creature is accounted for.

Aquarium keepers take a photo of the tanks and use still images to avoid counting the same fish twice, while at Penguin Beach keepers wait for the

birds to line up at feeding time to do their headcount. The annual count is a compulsory requirement for the zoo to maintain its licence, with all of the infor-mation collected then shared with zoos around the world via the International Species Information System.

It is then used to manage the worldwide breeding programmes for endangered animals.

London Zoo begins stocktake of 17,000 residents

IMF head in Nigeria today for talks on economic challenges.

PAGE | 24 PAGE | 25

Fischer supports higher rates if

markets overheat.

QE 10041.70 -272.04PTS

DOW 17059.29 -365.74 PTS

FTSE100 6093.43 -148.89 PTS

BRENT $37.06 -0.6%

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016 • 25 Rabia I 1437 @peninsulaqatar @peninsula_qatar

Qatar’s mega water work begins

By Satish Kanady

The Peninsula

DOHA: Qatar’s mega water supply engineering E-bid project, constructed by Chinese construction major CGGC, has been launched smoothly.

“The water supply line installa-tion — the first node duration of this project, has been launched smoothly, 15 days earlier than planned, getting a good beginning of project manage-ment and laying a solid foundation

for the overall project performance,” CGGC announced in China.

The first node work includes 11.2km DN1200-1600mm pipe instal-lation, covering 14 valve stations and 16 anchorage blocks along the line. The members of the Project Depart-ment have acquitted themselves of suppliers’ audit, ordering, inspection, transportation, customs clearance, external corrosion prevention, pipe ditch excavation and other prepa-rations splendidly. Currently, they are engaged in the valve station and anchorage block construction.

As the first supplier participated in the node duration of this engineer-ing contract, the joint venture led by CGGC has been highly praised by the project owner with its outstand-ing performance progress, excellent construction quality and high-effec-tive field management.

The groundbreaking ceremony of Mega Reservoir PRPSs (Packages E) contracted by CGGC No 5 Company and CGGC International Company was held in the presence of the Prime minister and the Interior Minister H E Abdullah bin Khalid Al Thani at Umm Silal’ait, on May 12, 2015.

An integrated water supply system is to be formed once Mega Reservoir PRPSs, one of the largest reservoirs in the world, connected to seawa-ter desalination plants around Mega Reservoir. The project is helpful to pro-mote safety of drinking water for local

residents and advance local economic development. Mega Reservoir PRPSs (Packages E), with construction period of 36 months, located in 30km from Doha, includes five main reservoirs with 496 thousand cubic meters, one pressure pump station, 33.2km long main pipes and auxiliary facilities.

The project forms the part of Qatar General Electricity & Water Corpo-ration’s (Kahramaa) key decision to launch an ambitious water project to provide strategic water storage within its network system.

The first phase of the project will provide the 7 days of storage for the expected water demand at horizon 2026, with 5 mega reservoir sites. The second phase will provide the seven days of water storage for expected demand in 2036 by adding additional reservoirs within the 5 mega reser-voirs sites.

First node work includes 11.2km pipe installation, covering 14 valve stations and 16 anchorage blocks along the line.

Ferrari makes Milan stock debut

CEO of Borsa Italiana Raffaele Jerusalmi (left), Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi (centre) and President of Ferrari Sergio Marchionne as the luxury carmaker makes its Milan stock market debut in Milan yesterday.

AFP

MILAN: Legendary carmaker Fer-rari completed its spinoff from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles with a debut on the Milan stock exchange yester-day and pledged to remain faithful to its luxury heritage.

Eight gleaming sportscars lined up in front of Milan’s “Midnight Pal-ace” — including the latest F12 Tdf model — and the throaty roar of Fer-rari engines could be heard throughout the listing ceremony.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was among the elite walking the red car-pet between the sleek red, blue and yellow cars, while Ferrari Chairman Sergio Marchionne rang a bronze bell to mark the brand’s bow.

Trading under the RACE ticker saw

shares open at €43 before slipping to €41.75, being briefly suspended and finally closing at €43.67 — easily out-performing the overall Milan market which fell 3.2 percent on the day.

The share sale came two and a half months after the legendary mark of the prancing horse roared onto Wall Street. “From the moment we announced the split from FCA, a journey came to an end,” said Marchionne, referring to the racer’s emergence as an inde-pendent company for the first time in 47 years.

“But the truth is that today another big chapter is beginning. This list-ing marks Ferrari’s independence, which is essential in maintaining its development and potential,” he said, promising customers “ever-more exclusive models”.

Ferrari, known for its high-price

sports cars, is the biggest and most glamourous name in Formula One racing and the team’s logo of a black stallion against a red background is instantly recognised by motorsport fans around the world.

The IPO will not have any impact on Ferrari’s involvement in Formula One racing, in which it is reemerging as a force after enduring a lean period in the slipstream of world champion Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes team.

Marchionne brushed off rumours of expanding the brand, saying it would be “extremely difficult” because “Fer-rari is so unique that trying to tamper with it is very dangerous”.

As a unit of Fiat Chrysler, the super-car maker was a cash generator: in 2014 it reported net revenues of €2.76bn ($3.13bn), and a net profit of €265m.

Long-term oil price impact key for Qatari stock valuation

By Satish Kanady

The Peninsula

DOHA: While it is important to have a credible view on outlook for oil prices as evaluating stocks for 2016, it is equally important to quantify the impact of oil price changes over long term profit prospects of each company.

Talking to The Peninsula, the award-winning investment company Amwal’s Asset Management Head Afa Boran (pictured) said simply compar-ing P/Es of companies with differing future profits will give misleading con-clusions. “We currently find a consumer company trading at a P/E of 19 times based on 2016 profits to be cheaper than another (a bank) that is valued at a P/E of 15 times, because of their materially different longer term prof-itability prospects.”

The past year was a unique year for GCC economies due to decline of oil prices to “unexpectedly low” levels.

A year back, while not many expected price of oil to remain above $100 per barrel indefinitely, no one predicted it could be as low as $35 either. Compared to this steep decline, the 15 percent decline of Qatari stocks is not a cause for worry, broadly in line with other GCC markets.

Drilling down, bank stocks declined between 10-15 percent; chemicals and telecoms around 30 percent, though due to different reasons;, and “utility” stocks like Nakilat and Qatar Electricity actually went up by around 5 percent

and 15 percent respectively, he said.At Amwal, it groups Qatari stocks

into three categories based on the degree of impact of oil prices and future government spending--the stocks those are directly impacted by oil such as IQ, Mesaieed Petchem and GIS; those impacted indirectly from change in future government spending and those stocks that are not much affected by either.

The second category, the tricky one and which makes the bulk of the stock market requires a more complex approach to valuation than a simple P/E. This is because of the government’s pro-active spending and investments in the new oil paradigm, Afa said.

While there is no imperative to put the brakes on immediately, the government is showing a willing-ness to cut unproductive spending. This nuanced approach in turn affects different companies differently. For example, a company could be expected to earn good profits until 2022 but per-haps its business activity and profits

could be less afterwards. To differ-ent degrees, banks, real estate and telecoms all fall into this category of businesses that will likely be indirectly impacted by change in future govern-ment spending.

What differentiates Qatar from other GCC countries like Saudi is that even if oil prices stayed at current low levels, Qatar’s government can cope with its current spending plans, without resorting to much borrowings. “Even when we assume a conservative oil price outlook, we currently see many stocks valued cheaper than their peers in other markets. For example Several banks are now valued even below their book values, and even on conservative assumptions valued at attractive P/Es. However, being selective is now more important than in the past. We see both stocks that could decline materially as well as those that could rise mate-rially without even much dependence on oil, and if oil prices were to recover modestly, then the market could see a strong rally.”

China sparks global stocks slumpReuters

NEW YORK: Global equity markets fell sharply yesterday while gold and bonds rose after a 7-percent slide in Chinese shares, sparked by weak economic data, rekin-dled worries over global growth on the first day of trading in 2016.

Rising tensions in the Middle East also increased demand for safe-haven assets. Crude prices rose above $38 a barrel at one point.

But crude prices then retreated on worries that the weak Chinese data could portend slower glo-bal growth, which also hurt Wall Street and sent key indexes down more than 2 percent.

Emerging markets were espe-cially hard-hit by the China data, with MSCI’s index tumbling 3.4 per-cent, while its all-country world stock index fell 2.47 percent.

China’s yuan currency hit its lowest in more than four years after the central bank lowered its guidance rate and factory activ-ity contracted for a 10th straight month in December, at a sharper pace than in November.

Stocks in Europe tumbled, with Germany’s DAX index closing down

4.28 percent and the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index falling 2.53 percent at 1,401.16.

The selloff in China triggered a circuit-breaker that suspended equities trading nationwide for the first time and put at risk months of regulatory work to restore mar-ket stability.

Investors are warranted to worry about global growth as the factory numbers may not fully indi-cate how quickly China has been slowing down, said Paul Mendel-sohn, chief investment strategist at Windham Financial Services in Charlotte, Vermont. “The China 7-percent drop last night and the close of the market, along with Saudi Arabia, are causing inves-tors to rethink to their growth estimates and the geopolitical risk that’s really out there,” he said.

The dollar pared earlier gains against a basket of key currencies.

The dollar index, which meas-ures the greenback against a group of six currencies, was last up 0.31 percent at 98.938. The euro fell 0.34 percent to $1.0815, while against the yen, the dollar fell 0.83 percent to 119.30. Gold rallied as much as 2 percent, with spot gold on track for its biggest one-day rise in a month.

Two investors discuss trading in a stock firm in Fuyang, east China’s Anhui province yesterday.

Fis

mar

thepeninsulaqatar

Indonesian economists attend a ceremony to reopen the stock market after the new year at the Bursa Efek Indonesia (Indonesia Stock Exchange) in Jakarta yesterday. The slowdown in China’s economy, coupled with the shock devaluation of the yuan and uncertainty over a possible US Federal Reserve rate hike, has battered Indonesia’s market and currency in 2015.

Indonesian economists welcome 2016

BUSINESS22 TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

Ford and Toyota to fight Silicon Valley in dashboard war

Reuters

LAS VEGAS: Toyota Motor Corp and Ford Motor Co said yesterday they will adopt the same software to link smartphone apps to vehicle dashboard

screens and invited other automak-ers to join them to counter Apple Inc and Google’s push to control cars of the future.

Toyota, the world’s largest auto-maker by vehicle sales, and Ford, the No. 2 US automaker, said they will adopt a Ford-developed software called

SmartDeviceLink, or SDL, as the stand-ard for connecting smartphone apps to vehicle dashboard screens.

SmartDeviceLink technology inte-grates smartphones apps with vehicles through dashboard buttons, display screens and voice recognition tech-nology. Using it as a standard for projecting navigation or music stream-ing apps from a driver’s smartphone could help Ford and Toyota reduce dependence on Apple or Alphabet Inc’s Google, company officials said. It could also keep tighter control of customer data and the brand-defining look and feel of dashboard infotainment systems.

Adopting a connectivity standard not linked to Apple or Google may help automakers in China, the world’s largest auto market, where homegrown com-panies such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd are major players in mobile map-ping and services.

Google has a limited presence in China, although the company has sig-naled it could expand there.

Ford said France’s Peugeot SA and Japanese automakers Honda Motor Co, Subaru and Mazda Motor Corp are also investigating adopting SmartDe-viceLink as a standard. QNX Software Systems and UIEvolution, developers

of automotive connectivity technol-ogy, are also adopting SDL, Ford said.

QNX, a unit of Canada’s Blackberry Ltd, designs infotainment system soft-ware used by 40 automakers.

The Ford-Toyota tie-in follows the purchase late last year by a consor-tium of German automakers of HERE, a mobile mapping business formerly owned by Finland’s Nokia. Daimler AG, BMW AG and Volkswagen AG’s Audi brand say they will use HERE as a foundation for new connectivity services and features.

Mapping is critical to autonomous driving systems, which the German

luxury car makers intend to roll out over the next few years.

Apple and Google bring formida-ble weapons to the rapidly evolving battle for control of connected cars.

The Silicon Valley giants have armies of programmers, bulging cash reserves and deep experience in managing and profiting from con-sumer data. Even as they maneuver to avoid becoming beholden to them, many automakers are adopting Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto sys-tems to respond to customer demands for better connections between cars and smartphones.

Adopting a connectivity standard not linked to Apple or Google may help automakers globally.

The Peninsula

DOHA: The Machinery & Equip-ment Price Index (MEPI) for the second half (H2) of 2015 remained unchanged at 102.2 compared with the MEPI index for the first half (H1) of 2015, data released by theMinistry of Development Planning & Statis-tics (MDPS) show.

However, the index showed a marginal increase of 0.4 percent compared with the index for the corresponding period (H2) of 2014.

The MEPI is the new economic indicator which was added to the set of short-term economic indicators in 2014. It is currently calculated on a semi-annual basis.

Analysis at product group level shows increases recorded in the price of three groups and drop in one group: Price of Machinery and Electrical Appliances were up by 1.8 percent, Special-purpose Machines by 0.5 percent, and Office, Account-ing and Computing Machinery by 0.3 percent. Price of Transport equip-ment dropped by 0.1 percent.

Tenaga plans $3bn global sukuk for major expansionBloomberg

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s biggest electricity company plans to tap the dollar debt market for the first time in two decades with its debut offer-ing of global Islamic bonds.

Tenaga Nasional Bhd. is ask-ing bankers to submit pitches for a $3bn sukuk programme, according to people familiar with the matter, and proceeds will be used to fund overseas investments including the purchase of a 30 percent stake in Turk-ish power firm Gama Enerji AS for $243m. The company last issued dol-lar-denominated debt in 1996, when it sold 100-year conventional notes.

The planned sale would help stem a slump in issuance of global Islamic bonds and be Malaysia’s first since the Federal Reserve raised interest rates in December. The ringgit slid 19 percent versus the dollar in 2015, Asia’s biggest loss, as investor confi-dence was dented by tumbling crude oil prices, an investigation into politi-cal donations taken by Prime Minister Najib Razak and concern about debt levels at state investment company 1Malaysia Development Bhd.

“Timing is everything and Tena-ga’s plan is telling people the ringgit won’t depreciate too much from here and that it will stand to benefit from the debt sale,” James Lau, a Kuala Lumpur- based investment direc-tor at Pheim Asset Management Asia Sdn, which oversees $300m, said in a phone interview. “1MDB’s problem is more of a governance issue, which shouldn’t affect Tenaga’s financials or borrowing costs.”

Tenaga’s planned sale comes after Najib said last week that 1MDB will have trimmed its debt by 40.4bn ringgit

($9.3bn), from 42bn ringgit in March 2014, once ongoing disposals of its power and property assets are com-pleted. Offerings of global securities that pay returns on assets to comply with Islam’s ban on interest slumped 28 percent in 2015 to a five-year low of $34.7bn. Malaysia’s CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, the top sukuk arranger worldwide for seven of the last nine years, predicts a pickup in 2016 to at least $40bn.

Bankers’ proposals for Tenaga’s sukuk program have to be submitted by the end of this week, people famil-iar said. The utility’s Chief Financial Officer Fazlur Rahman Zainuddin didn’t immediately answer an e-mail and phone calls seeking comment.

Tenaga plans to add 5,000 mega-watt of regional capacity as part of a five-year expansion, Chief Executive Officer Azman Mohd said in a Decem-ber 14 statement. That’s sufficient to power 12.5 million Malaysian homes.

The electricity company has a market capitalisation of 74.8bn ringgit and a total installed capacity of 10,818 MW. It sold the country’s third-big-gest sukuk in November — an 8.93bn ringgit offering — to part-finance the construction of a 2,000 MW coal-fired power plant. The company has debt totaling 26.1bn ringgit.

Tenaga is rated BBB+, the third-lowest investment grade by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings. The yield on the company’s existing conven-tional dollar bonds due 2025 climbed 31 basis points last year to 4.39 per-cent and was 4.33 percent.

If the five-year notes to be included in Tenaga’s coming sukuk programme, the securities would be “considered attractive” at a yield of 160 basis points above similar-matu-rity US Treasuries.

Machinery and Equipment Price index stands still

Samsung warns of a challenging 2016Bloomberg

SEOUL: Samsung Electronics Co expects global economic growth to remain weak this year and urged employees to brainstorm ways to handle intensifying competition in an industry where software and plat-forms are eclipsing hardware.

Kwon Oh Hyun, vice chairman and co-chief executive officer, said products including smartphones, televisions and memory chips will face escalated competition this

year. Innovative business models are weakening traditional hardware values and workers must adapt to maintain leadership in an industry changing at its fastest pace ever, the vice chairman and co-chief executive officer said.

“The territories of industries are collapsing,” Kwon said. “We have to compete in a new way that we’ve never experienced in the past.”

Executives have preached the need to focus on software for years. Yet Korea’s largest listed company and the world’s biggest smartphone maker has lagged Apple Inc in developing

mobile-friendly software and a unique platform that can lock in users.

“The competition landscape is changing to software and platforms, so we need to build a new system and competence,” Kwon said in a speech distributed to the media.

In a signal of its newfound priori-ties, Samsung replaced the head of its phone operations in December with an executive — Koh Dong Jin — who helped create its mobile payment and security platforms.

Koh will work to turn around a division that still leads the world in

smartphone sales yet has lost favor with investors.

Samsung lost more than $8bn in market value in 2015 as sales of high-end S6 and Note 5 devices sputtered against new models from Apple and Chinese makers. Its shares posted a third straight annual decline last year, dropping 5.1 percent.

The company is expected to release its preliminary fourth- quarter earn-ings on Friday.

Net income in 2014 is projected to be the lowest profit in four years, according to analyst estimates.

Rotana opens second five-star hotelThe Peninsula

DOHA: Rotana, one of the leading hotel management com-panies in the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and Eastern Europe, has announced the soft opening of City Centre Rotana Doha (pictured), the city’s newest five-star hotel.

Developed by Al Rayyan Tourism Investment Company (ARTIC) the international hotel investment and hospitality subsidiary of Al Faisal Holding Company, the City Centre Rotana Doha is located in the West Bay area. This 52-sto-rey tower features 287 luxurious modern rooms and suites and 94 serviced apartments.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Faisal Al Thani, ARTIC’s Vice Chairman, said: “Qatar is witnessing a remarkable growth in the tourism sector and we are committed to playing a key role in supporting this growth. With City Centre Rotana, we are offering a unique addition to Qatar’s hos-pitality market that specifically caters to today’s modern travelers. The hotel provides guests with excellent facili-ties which will undoubtedly set even higher standards in Qatar’s vibrant hospitality sector.”

City Centre Rotana offers exquisite dining venues to suit all tastes, from stylish to informal, fusion tointerna-tional and state-of-the art facilities for conference and seminar requirements with the latest high-tech facilities including the grand ballroom, fully equipped meeting rooms as well as a business centre.

Omer Kaddouri, President and CEO of Rotana said: “With the opening of City Centre Rotana, Rotana’s inven-tory in Doha has increased to more than one 1000 rooms. Moreover, the second quarter of this year is slated to wit-ness the opening of Centro Capital Doha, our first hotel to be launched in the country under the lifestyle afford-able brand Centro Hotels by Rotana, which will then add another 229 rooms to our portfolio in Qatar.”

Oil down after initial 4% gain

Bloomberg

NEW YORK: Brent crude erased an initial gain of more than 4 percent as a global supply glut and the slowest Chinese growth in a gen-eration trumped mounting strife between the nations on either side of the world’s bus-iest waterway for oil tankers.

“When oil supplies were tight, we’ve seen bigger reac-tions to geopolitical tensions,” Tushar Tarun Bansal, a sen-ior oil analyst in Singapore at industry consultant FGE, said by phone. “Now the price rise has actually been quite muted because the world is in a sur-plus situation.”

Brent futures, the global benchmark, rose as much as 4.6 percent to $38.99 a bar-rel yesterday, before erasing the gain to trade 0.6 percent lower at $37.06 at 5:42 pm on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Last month, Opec effectively abandoned any limits on output and boosted production..

US manufacturing activity slumpsReuters

NEW YORK: The US manufacturing sector contracted further in Decem-ber, as the impact of a stronger US dollar undermined export profitabil-ity, while US construction spending fell for the first time in nearly 1-1/2 years in November, suggesting only moderate economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2015.

The US Institute for Supply Man-agement (ISM) said its index of national factory activity fell to 48.2 from 48.6 in November and is now at its lowest level since June 2009.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the manufacturing sector and a reading below 50 indi-cates contraction. The reading was just below expectations of 49 from a Reuters poll of 80 economists.

The employment index fell to 48.1 from 51.3 a month earlier. Expecta-tions called for a reading of 50.

An alternative reading from private data vendor Markit showed continued expansion in manufac-turing but at a slower pace.

Markit’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 51.2 from 52.8 in

November, the lowest since October 2012. The new orders subcomponent fell to 50.2 from 53.1, the lowest since Sept 2009.

US construction spending fell for the first time in nearly 1-1/2 years in November as a drop in nonresiden-tial investment offset an increase in housing activity. Construction spend-ing slipped 0.4 percent, the first and also biggest drop since June 2014, after a downwardly revised 0.3 per-cent gain in October, the Commerce Department said yesterday.

The government revised construc-tion data from January 2005 through October 2015 because of a “processing error in the tabulation of data.” The revisions, which showed construc-tion spending was not as strong as previously reported for much of 2015, could prompt economists to lower their fourth-quarter gross domes-tic product estimates.

Growth estimates are currently hovering below a 2.0 percent annual pace. The economy expanded at a 2.0 percent rate in the third quarter. Economists had forecast construc-tion spending rising 0.6 percent in November after a previously reported 1.0 percent increase in October.

A Shinto maiden (right) rings a bell to purify businessmen and women during an annual new year ceremony as they pray for a good business year at the Kanda shrine in Tokyo yesterday. Over 4,000 companies hold prayers at the shrine on the first two new year’s business days.

Companies pray for good business year

BUSINESS 23 TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

The Peninsula

DOHA: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) recognised four Nissan vehicles with Top Safety Pick Plus (TSP+) or Top Safety Pick (TSP) designations for 2016. These latest announcements underscore Nissan’s commitment to continuous improve-ment to passenger safety across its entire lineup.

IIHS awarded the all-new 2016 Nis-san Maxima (pictured) a “Top Safety Pick Plus” (TSP+) safety rating, which is the group’s highest designation. The 2016 Nissan Maxima joins the previ-ously announced 2016 Murano with the TSP+ rating. The Maxima scored “Good” in all five TSP categories and earned TSP+ status with a “Superior” rating for front crash prevention for those models equipped with Forward Emergency Braking.

The 2016 Nissan Sentra joins the 2016 Rogue in earning an IIHS “Top Safety Pick” rating. The 2016 Sentra will offer Forward Emergency Braking. Once that system is tested by IIHS the Sentra has the potential to be upgraded to a TSP+ rating. Nissan’s top selling 2016 Altima will undergo IIHS test-ing this month with the possibility of achieving a TSP+ rating as well.

“Nissan is proud to again have our core vehicles recognised by IIHS for vehicle safety,” said Pierre Loing, vice president, Product Strategy and Planning, Nissan North America, Inc (NNA). “The new Maxima, like the Murano, is setting high standards in its class for styling, performance and interior refinement. The 2016 Nissan Rogue and Sentra demonstrate Nis-san’s commitment to high quality and safety standards, and we are gratified that these outstanding vehicles have been recognised for excellent design.”

For this year, IIHS has tightened

its standards by requiring a “Good” or better rating in all five of the crash worthiness categories to earn a “Top Safety Pick” and making an available front crash prevention system man-datory for all awards. To earn the IIHS “Top Safety Pick Plus” designation, a vehicle must earn a “Good” or better on all five crash worthiness catego-ries and also receive an “Advanced” or “Superior” rating for front crash prevention.

Standard safety and security fea-tures on all 2016 Maxima trim levels include the Nissan Advanced Air Bag System (AABS) with supplemental front air bags with seat belt and occupant classification sensors; front seat-mounted side impact supplemental air bags; roof-mounted curtain side impact supplemental air bags with rollover sensor for front and rear-seat outboard occupant head protection; front seat belts with pre-tensioners and load limiters and adjustable upper

anchors; and LATCH System (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children).

Every Maxima also offers child safety rear door locks; Zone Body construction featuring front and rear crumple zones and occupant zone; Nissan Immobiliser system and anti-theft alarm system. Maxima offers a variety of advanced technolo-gies that are standard on three trim levels include Intelligent Cruise Con-trol (ICC), Blind Spot Warning (BSW), class-exclusive Predictive Forward Collision Warning (PFCW), Forward Emergency Braking (FEB), and Rear Cross Traffic Alert(RCTA). Maxima offers Around View Monitor (AVM) with Moving Object Detection (MOD) system that features four small super wide-angle cameras mounted on the front, sides and rear of the vehicle that provide a “bird’s eye” virtual 360° view around the vehicle. It provides additional selectable split-screen close-ups of the front, rear and curb

views, helping the driver manoeu-vre the car in or out of tight spots. Rear Cross Traffic Alert helps alert the driver of an approaching vehicle when backing out of a parking spot.

MOD builds on the capabilities of the AVM system, helping enhance

the driver’s situational awareness by providing visual and audible warn-ings (front, side or back range object detection) if the system detects mov-ing objects (such as another vehicle) within the displayed image in situations such as pulling out of a parking space.

IIHS awards top safety designations to key Nissan models for 2016

RasGas fosters cooperation with Govt agencies

The Peninsula

DOHA: RasGas Company Limited (RasGas) recently initiated a relation-ship-building workshop with several key representatives from Qatar Cham-ber, including the Associate Director of the Department of Affairs.

”RasGas is always seeking new ways to build on the cooperation between the government and busi-ness. We appreciate the role that the Qatar Chamber plays and their ongo-ing efforts to support and promote the country’s economic sector,” said Ali Al Marri, Procurement Manager, RasGas Supply Department.

The workshop, which was hosted

at RasGas’ West Bay headquarters, included presentations from both parties, outlining the role each plays in facilitating a mutually-beneficial work relationship, and how to enable continued development in the future.

Hussain Yousef Al Abdulghani, Associate Director of the Depart-ment of Affairs at the Qatar Chamber, extended his appreciation to RasGas

management, and confirmed that the Qatar Chamber welcomes all propos-als to strengthen relationships with national companies.

Al Abdulghani also expressed satis-faction with the opportunity to obtain an insight into RasGas’ business, which was provided during the workshop, and encouraged other companies to take similar initiatives to enhance

the relationship with the Chamber of Commerce.

Adel Shamlan, Acting Head of Procurement Logistics at RasGas, confirmed, “RasGas plans on host-ing similar workshops with other government ministries and agencies to enhance mutual understanding and contribute to the achievement of the Qatar National Vision 2030.”

RasGas hosts a workshop with representatives from the Qatar Chamber to discuss areas of mutual cooperation.

RasGas holds irelationshipbuilding workshop with several key representatives from Qatar Chamber and various organisations.

Sweden closer to intervention to tame krona exchange rate

Bloomberg

STOCKHOLM: Some of Scan-dinavia’s biggest banks are warning investors not to under-estimate the risk that the central bank is preparing to intervene in the currency market.

Nordea and SEB both say the Riksbank won’t allow the krona to strengthen beyond 9 against the euro. It traded at 9.19 yesterday. The prediction follows a December 30 warn-ing from the central bank that it’s ready to act if persistent krona strength gets in the way of its 2 percent inflation target.

“The Riksbank decided to act preemptively after see-ing strong domestic data of late and also to stave off any speculators who might want to drive the krona stronger,” said Anders Ekloef, a currency strategist at Swedbank. “There are clear references to cur-rency interventions in their press release and it seems they are less willing to lower rates at this point. After all, it’s the currency that’s their main problem.”

With a benchmark inter-est rate already at an historic low of minus 0.35 percent and several rounds of bond pur-chases behind them, policy makers are under pressure to consider other measures to live up to their inflation mandate. Underlying inflation has been below the Riksbank’s target since the beginning of 2011 and headline price growth has hovered below zero for much of the past three years.

Though Sweden has resorted to extreme pol-icy measures, its negative rates and quantitative eas-ing have been overshadowed by far more dramatic mon-etary stimulus programmes from the European Central Bank. Against the euro, Swe-den’s krona has strengthened about 4 percent over the past 12 months.

“If the exchange rate strengthens earlier and more rapidly than forecast, it will be more difficult to push up inflation towards the target,” Governor Stefan Ingves said on December 30. “The Riksbank is therefore highly prepared to intervene on the exchange market whenever we deem it necessary.” The comments pushed the krona off a nine-month high versus the euro.

Swedbank sees the krona strengthening toward 9.05 per euro in the first quarter, “but the Riksbank won’t let it gain too fast, as it has done now,” Ekloef said. According to Nor-dea analyst Martin Enlund, the unscheduled statement suggests the krona’s persist-ent strength has led to a state of alarm inside the Riksbank.

Fidelity drops credit-card partners AmEx and BofA Bloomberg

WASHINGTON: Fidelity Investments is dropping American Express Co and Bank of America Corp as partners for its cash-back credit card, capping a year of fierce competition among net-works and lenders for deals that bring in customers.

Visa Inc and US Bancorp will take over as the network and issuer of the Fidelity card, according to Ram Subra-maniam, president of Fidelity’s retail brokerage business. Their brands are

more closely aligned with Boston-based Fidelity’s, and financial terms didn’t play a major role in the move, he said.

The decision ends months of talks with Fidelity as financial firms look to wrest away partnerships that can fuel their long-term growth. Costco Wholesale Corp said early last year that it will replace AmEx with Visa and Citigroup Inc, while JetBlue Air-ways Corp broke a relationship with AmEx in favor of MasterCard Inc and Barclays Plc. With co-brand cards accounting for about 30 percent of all transactions, banks and networks

risk rising costs as they try to outbid each other, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analyst Ryan Nash.

The card — known under the old partnership as the Fidelity Investment Rewards American Express — will continue to offer a 2 percent refund on purchases, which can be paid into a variety of Fidelity brokerage, cash- management and savings accounts.

Consumers who use the card spend a total of about $11bn annually, according to Subramaniam. That’s dwarfed by the amount AmEx has typically handled through its deal with Costco, which has accounted for

roughly 8 percent of the network’s more-than $1 trillion in annual billed business.

Still, losing the Fidelity tie-up affects operations AmEx has been targeting for expansion: facilitat-ing transactions in which another bank is the lender. The fastest-grow-ing portion of spending on AmEx’s network comes from its global net-work services business, where other banks issue AmEx-branded cards. Total GNS-billed business jumped 13 percent in the third quarter, adjusted for currency fluctuations, compared with a 4 percent increase on AmEx’s

proprietary cards.While AmEx lost some partner-

ships during the past year, it has said it won’t enter deals with terms that don’t make financial sense, and that it’ll keep fighting to add and extend relationships. “It’s all about find-ing the right partners with the right vision,” Chief Financial Officer Jeff Campbell said last month. It wants partners “whose assets are comple-mentary and whose vision for what they’re trying to do for their custom-ers and what they’re trying to do to drive their business is complemen-tary to ours.”

Brazil heads for worst

recession since 1901Bloomberg

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil’s economy will contract more than previously forecast and is heading for the deep-est recession since at least 1901 as economic activity and confidence sink amid a political crisis, a survey of analysts showed.

Latin America’s largest economy will shrink 2.95 percent this year, according to the weekly central bank poll of about 100 economists, versus a prior estimate of a 2.81 percent con-traction. Analysts lowered their 2016 growth forecast for 13 straight weeks and estimate the economy contracted 3.71 percent last year.

Brazil’s policy makers are strug-gling to control the fastest inflation in 12 years without further hamstring-ing a weak economy.

Finance Minister Nelson Barbosa,

who took the job in December, has faced renewed pressure to moderate austerity proposals aimed at bolster-ing public accounts and avoiding further credit downgrades. Impeach-ment proceedings and an expanding corruption scandal have also been hindering approval of economic pol-icies in Congress.

“We’re now taking into account a very depressed scenario,” Flavio Ser-rano, senior economist at Haitong in Sao Paulo, said by phone.

Central bank director Altamir Lopes said on December 23 the insti-tution will adopt necessary policies to bring inflation to its 4.5 percent target in 2017. Less than a week later, the head of President Dilma Rouss-eff’s Workers’ Party, Rui Falcao, said Brazil should refrain from cutting investments and consider raising its inflation target to avoid higher bor-rowing costs.

BUSINESS24 TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

Singapore’s growth beats estimates with headwinds remainingBloomberg

SINGAPORE: Singapore provided a report card on its economy that beat analyst forecasts in one of Asia’s ear-liest growth estimates, as improving services and construction countered faltering exports. It may be too early to celebrate.

Gross domestic product rose an annualised 5.7 percent in the three months to December 31 from the previ-ous quarter, when it expanded a revised 1.7 percent, the trade ministry said in an advance estimate yesterday. The median of nine estimates in a survey was for a 1 percent expansion. The economy grew 2.1 percent last year, the slowest pace in six years.

Singapore’s export-oriented econ-omy, always vulnerable to global swings in demand, reflects the threat China’s slowdown poses for the region.

The island’s largest export des-tination is tipped to expand at the slowest pace in 25 years, and the first Chinese economic reports of 2016 sig-naled manufacturing weakened for a fifth straight month. Domestically, home prices posted their longest los-ing streak in 17 years last quarter and a

labor crunch could cap further gains in services. “There could be high odds of a downward revision come February,” said Weiwen Ng, a Singapore-based

economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, referring to final GDP figures due next month. “Given that the outperformance for this quarter

happens to be in the services sector, it could be rather transient. Singapore remains confronted with twin head-winds externally and domestically.”

The Singapore dollar traded at 1.4226 against the US currency as of 11:25am, compared with 1.4185 on December 31. Singapore markets were closed for New Year’s Day on January 1. The Straits Times Index fell 1.5 percent.

Monday’s data are advance esti-mates computed largely from figures in the first two months of the quar-ter, according to the trade ministry. It’s “intended as an early indication of the GDP growth in the quarter, and are subject to revision when more com-prehensive data becomes available,” a trade ministry spokesperson said yesterday in response to e-mailed questions.

This is standard practice among statistics agencies worldwide, the spokesperson said. There has been a difference of 4.3 percentage points on average between the advance and final readings of Singapore’s GDP growth since the start of 2010, based on annu-alised quarter- on-quarter data. The difference is a narrower 1 percentage point for US GDP and 1.6 percentage points for Japan’s.

Singapore faces challenges includ-ing fiercer competition in a globalised world, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in his New Year message on Dece-mebr 31. The economy is “slowing down

and undergoing transition,” he said.GDP grew 2 percent in the fourth

quarter from a year earlier, compared with a median survey estimate for 1.2 percent. Singapore’s manufacturing fell 3.1 percent last quarter from the previous three months, the trade min-istry said. The services industry grew 6.5 percent in the same period, while construction expanded 7 percent.

The Southeast Asian nation has relied on its position as an Asian finan-cial hub to bolster services as overseas demand for its goods faltered.

While industrial production fell for a 10th straight month in November, retail sales rose for a ninth month in October. “Once again, the service sec-tor is in the driving seat,” Irvin Seah, an economist at DBS Group Holdings Ltd in Singapore, wrote in a note.

“However, while this sector is known to be a resilient and stable engine of growth for Singapore, per-formance of the sector going forward will continue to be affected by the exist-ing domestic manpower crunch and drag from the manufacturing sector.”

The island’s home prices dropped for a ninth quarter in the three months ended December 31 as tighter mortgage curbs cooled demand in Asia’s sec-ond-most expensive housing market.

Fischer supports higher rates if markets overheat

Bloomberg

WASHINGTON: Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer (pictured) said it might be necessary for the cen-tral bank to increase interest rates if financial markets were overheating, though the first line of defense should

be using regulatory tools to prevent bubbles from developing.

“If asset prices across the econ-omy—that is, taking all financial markets into account—are thought to be excessively high, raising the inter-est rate may be the appropriate step,” Fischer said in a speech at the annual American Economic Association meet-ing in San Francisco on Sunday.

He suggested that might be partic-ularly true in the US, where many of the so-called macro-prudential regu-latory tools to tackle financial market excesses are either lacking or untested. Such tools would include, for exam-ple, adjusting lending rules to try to rein in borrowing.

Fischer did make clear that he thought “macro-prudential tools, rather than adjustments in short-term interest rates, should be the first line of defense” in tackling asset bubbles, while spell-ing out that “the real issue of whether adjustments in interest rates should be

used to deal with problems of potential financial instability is macroeconomic.”

Fischer didn’t address the current state of financial markets, although other policy makers, including Fed Chair Janet Yellen, have indicated that they do not see them, on the whole, as being overheated.

Fischer was among three Fed pol-icy makers who made public remarks at the AEA meeting on Sunday. San Francisco Fed President John Williams discussed estimates of long-run neu-tral rates, while Cleveland’s Loretta Mester delivered her outlook for the US economy and explained why the Fed would not react to short-term swings in economic data.

The Fed in December raised interest rates for the first time since 2006 after holding them near zero for seven years.

In making the move, the central bankers cited an improved labour mar-ket and expectations that inflation will eventually rise back to their 2 percent

goal. Officials have said they expect the pace of future rate increases to be gradual and dependent on incoming economic data.

Fischer said that the money market tools developed by the Fed to achieve liftoff had proven effective last month,

while cautioning that “issues may yet arise during normalization that could call for adjustments to our tools, and we stand ready to do that.”

In his speech, Fisher, the Fed’s No 2 policy maker, suggested that rates will probably eventually end up being

lower than they have been in the past.That’s because the equilibrium

interest rate—the rate after inflation that neither expands nor contracts the economy—has fallen. Fischer cited a number of possible reasons for the drop in what economists dub “r*,” including slower productivity growth and excess savings in emerging market countries.

“A variety of models and statistical approaches suggest that the current level of short-run r* may be close to zero,” Fischer said. “Moreover, the level of short-run r* seems likely to rise only gradually to a longer-run level that is still quite low by historical standards.”

In the last credit tightening cycle by the Fed, which ran from 2004 to 2006, the federal funds rate targeted by the central bank reached a high of 5.25 percent. The low level of the equilibrium rate increases the like-lihood that the Fed will be forced to cut its target rate back to zero in the future, Fischer said.

New World may bid for $7bn China unitBloomberg

HONG KONG: New World Develop-ment Co, controlled by the family of 90-year-old Hong Kong billionaire Cheng Yu-tung, is planning an offer to take its $7bn China unit private, a person with knowledge of the mat-ter said.

New World Development could make an announcement as soon as this week on a bid to buy the shares it doesn’t already own in New World China Land Ltd, the person said, asking not to be identified as the informa-tion is private. The stock not already controlled by Cheng’s companies is worth about $2.1bn based on New World

China’s last closing price, data com-piled by Bloomberg show.

Minority investors, helped by a reg-ulation giving each investor the same voting right, rejected a 2014 attempt by New World Development to take the China unit private for $2.4bn, forcing Cheng to wait at least 12 months for another try. New World Development, holding about HK$31bn ($4bn) in cash as of June 30, has more than enough money for the offer this time after a rights issue and last year’s strong sales, according to Bocom International Holdings Co.

“There’s no pressure financially, and it’s a very reasonable thing for them to do,” Bocom International’s Hong Kong-based analyst Alfred Lau said by phone.

Shares of New World Development

and New World China were halted from trading on Monday, pending an announcement related to a takeo-ver or merger, according to separate statements to the Hong Kong stock exchange. The China unit closed on December 31 at HK$6.21, or about 8.7 percent lower than the 2014 buyout offer of HK$6.80 per share.

Any offer would come after New World China agreed last month to sell 7.3 billion yuan ($1.1bn) of properties in two Chinese cities to Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd, controlled by billionaire Hui Ka-yan.

New World Development and com-panies associated with Cheng already own about 70 percent of New World China, exchange filings show. A repre-sentative for New World Development

said she couldn’t immediately com-ment, while a spokeswoman for New World China declined to comment.

The 2014 proposal was rejected by New World China shareholders due to a regulation known as the “head-count test.”

The China unit, which listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 1999 at HK$9.50 a share, has residential, retail, office, and hotel projects in more than 20 Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, according to its website.

Cheng transferred his shares in six Hong Kong-listed companies val-ued at about HK$3.8bn to a family holding firm, almost four years after announcing retirement from his main business, according to company fil-ings last month.

US real estate expected to draw more foreigners in 2016Bloomberg

SEATTLE: Most foreign investors expect to put more money into US property this year than they did in 2015, with New York remaining the top target market worldwide, accord-ing to a survey by the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate.

Sixty-four percent of respondents said they intend to make modest or major increases to investments in US real estate this year, while 31 percent expect to maintain their holdings or

reinvest sales proceeds into other US assets, according to the 24th annual survey by the group, known as AFIRE. None of the respondents plans a major decrease. About half of the group’s roughly 200 members participated in the survey.

“This is a very strong response,” Jim Fetgatter, chief executive of Washington-based AFIRE, whose members hold about $2 trillion of real estate globally, said in a phone interview.

China’s economic slowdown, Brazil’s recession and Europe’s immigration crisis underscored for

international investors that “the US, at the moment, really is the safest place for them to go.” Foreign purchases of US real estate have soared since the financial crisis, jumping to $87.3bn of completed deals last year, from less than $5bn in 2009, according to Real Capital Analytics Inc.

Investors from Canada, Asia, Europe and Australia bought stakes in office towers, warehouses, apart-ment buildings, shopping malls and hotels in search of relatively higher yields. Manhattan captured $23.5bn, or 27 percent, of 2015 purchases, Real Capital data show.

Although other policy makers, including Fed Chair Janet Yellen, have indicated that they do not see them, on the whole, as being overheated.

A potential investor analysing a property in the US.

People pass the skyline of the central business district in Singapore yesterday. Singapore’s economy posted surprisingly strong growth in the fourth quarter, driven mostly by domestically-focused sectors.

Indonesia

fuel levy to

fund strategic

oil reservesBloomberg

JAKARTA: Indonesia plans a levy on fuel sales to fund building a strategic oil reserve and to develop renewable power, as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Coun-tries (Opec) member seeks to improve its energy security.

The government may levy 300 rupiah per liter ($0.02) on sales of diesel and 200 rupiah per liter for other petroleum products including gasoline and jet fuel, Sudirman Said, the Energy and Mineral Resources Minister, said in an interview yesterday. The levy will be applied to retailers includ-ing state energy company PT Pertamina, Total SA and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, he said.

“We need to have a buffer to mitigate risks when prices rise or fall drastically,” Said said at his office in Jakarta.

Indonesia, a net oil importer, reactivated its mem-bership of the Opec last year as it tries to improve its long-term energy security. The coun-try does not currently have a strategic oil reserve, and the government of President Joko Widodo wants to boost its storage capacity and increase renewable power to reduce reli-ance on imported crude.

Acadia Healthcare

agreed to buy

Priory Group

Bloomberg

FRANKFURT: Acadia Healthcare Company Inc agreed to buy Priory Group in a stock-and-cash deal to gain UK facilities for older people, adults or children grappling with behavioral issues.

Acadia will pay £1.28bn ($1.9bn) in cash, including £925m to repay debt, and 5.363 million of its own shares, for Priory, the US company said in a statement yesterday.

The transaction will boost Aca-dia’s presence in the U.K., adding Priory’s 7,200 beds to Acadia’s 2,200 ones there, said CEO Joey Jacobs.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and Bellway Chief Executive Ted Ayres (Left) visit a Bellway housing development in Barking, East London.

Phiippine Stock Exchange Chairman Jose Pardo (centre) with other PSE officials lead the bell ringing during the first trading day of the year 2016 at the Philippine Stock Exchange in the financial district of Makati, south of Manila, Philippines.

Taking stock

Philippine Stock Exchange begins trading session

BUSINESS 25 TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

Insurance cost of disasters falls

Reuters

FRANKFURT: Insurance claims from natural disasters such as storms and earthquakes fell to $27bn in 2015 as the overall cost of natural catastrophes dropped to its lowest level since 2009, reinsurer Munich Re said yesterday.

The climate phenomenon known

as ‘El Niño’ last year helped reduce the development of hurricanes in the North Atlantic, which traditionally cause some of the heaviest claims for the insurance industry, the world’s largest reinsurer said in its annual review of natural catastrophes.

Insurance claims totalled $31bn in 2014 and were also below the 10-year average of $56bn, Munich Re said. In all, 23,000 people were killed in 2015, many in the Nepal earthquake in April.

The total compared with 7,700 the previous year, but was well below the 10-year average of 68,000, it said. “We were somewhat fortunate in 2015: strong tropical cyclones frequently only hit sparsely populated areas or did not make landfall at all,” said Peter Hoeppe, the head of Munich Re’s Geo Risks Research Unit. “In the North Atlantic, El Niño helped to curtail the

development of heavy storms. Meas-ures to reduce loss susceptibility have also had a positive effect”, he added.Reinsurers act as a financial back-stop to insurance companies, paying a chunk of the big claims for storms or earthquakes in exchange for part of the premium.

However, the comparatively low losses are no reason to become com-placent. “Scientists believe that in 2016 the strong El Niño phase might be fol-lowed by its twin sister, La Niña. Both versions of the climate oscillation ENSO (El Niño/Southern Oscillation) in the Pacific influence weather extremes throughout the world. A La Niña phase would promote the development of hurricanes in the North Atlantic, for example.” Hoeppe said.

Lower claims payouts boost insur-ance industry profit but have a downside

for reinsurers, whose insurance com-pany clients often then demand lower prices for reinsurers’ backing. Rein-surance broker Willis Re yesterday said reinsurance prices continued to fall for contracts taking effect at the start of 2016 and that predictions of an end to the multi-year decline had proved illusory. “The January renew-als have unfortunately confounded the hopes of commentators that the market was reaching a pricing floor,” Willis Re Chief Executive John Cav-anagh said.

However, an international effort announced by Bank of England Gover-nor Mark Carney to quantify insurance risks businesses face from climate change could eventually boost demand for reinsurance, Cavanagh said.

In the meantime, Munich Re warned that the El Niño effect might be reversed

this year, bolstering hurricane activity. Munich Re said floods in the UK and Scandinavia from storm “Desmond” in early December may cause about € 700m ($764.26m) in claims, while flooding from storm “Eva” in the UK later in December may cause overall damage of more than € 1bn.

Munich Re’s report showed that overall economic damage last year fell to $90bn from $110bn, again well below the 10-year average of $180bn. The review gave no claims figures for Munich Re itself. The reinsurer is due to report 2015 results on Feb-ruary 4.

The deadliest catastrophe, and also the costliest in terms of overall losses, was the Nepal earthquake in April, where some 9,000 people lost their lives and overall losses totalled US$ 4.8bn.

Reuters

LAGOS: Nigerian President Muham-madu Buhari, elected on a pledge to tackle corruption, will hold talks with the International Monetary Fund today as the country seeks to spend its way out of an economic crisis fuelled by plunging oil prices.

The fund said yesterday its man-aging director Christine Lagarde (pictured) would meet Buhari and his Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun.

“I look forward to productive meetings ... as they address important economic challenges, most impor-tantly the impact of low oil prices,” said Lagarde in a statement. The statement gave no other details, but the meet-ing suggests an acknowledgement of Buhari’s efforts to revive Africa’s largest economy.

He was elected in March after a campaign in which he promised to clamp down on the endemic cor-ruption that has left many Nigerians mired in poverty despite the coun-try’s enormous energy wealth.

He then announced a record budget for 2016, forecasting a dou-bling of the deficit to 2.2 trillion naira ($11bn) and a tripling of capi-tal expenditure intended to help the country adjust to the downturn in oil, which has lost around two-thirds of its value since mid-2014. It has for-eign currency reserves worth around $30bn, and plans to borrow as much as 900bn naira abroad to fund the deficit, which is equivalent to 2.16 percent of gross domestic product,

Buhari said. Some 984 billion naira would be borrowed at home.

Nigeria relies on crude exports for more than half of state revenues and is Africa’s top oil producer. It is also facing an insurgency by Islamist group Boko Haram, which has killed thou-sands and displaced more than two million people in the remote northeast and raised concern among poten-tial investors.

Lagarde is due to arrive in Niger-ia’s capital, Abuja, today. She is due to give a speech to lawmakers on Wednesday and will also meet busi-ness leaders during her visit, the IMF said. Lagarde will also visit neigh-bouring Cameroon, where she will meet President Paul Biya and his eco-nomic team. Lagarde will also meet Finance Ministers from the six member countries of the Economic and Mon-etary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), delivering a speech to the group on January 8.

Reuters

LONDON: Britain’s oil and gas output rose in 2015 for the first time since the turn of the millennium, industry body Oil & Gas UK said yesterday, revers-ing a declining trend but coming as oil prices are trading at a seven-year low.

The industry group, which repre-sents oil producers active in the North Sea such as BP, Shell or ExxonMobil, expects British oil and gas produc-tion to have risen 7-8 percent, much higher than a 3-4 percent increase it

predicted in September. Britain’s oil and gas output has more than halved in the past 15 years due to easy-to-reach resources running low and a lack of investment in new areas. But a renewed push to explore new areas of the North Sea over the past four years has meant new fields started up in 2015, including Taqa’s Cladhan oil field in resource-rich waters near the Shetland Islands, and boosted out-put year on year.

“The industry-wide focus on improving production efficiency cou-pled with investments of more than £50bn pounds over the last four years

to bring new fields on stream across the last twelve months is paying off and yielding a better result,” said Oil and Gas UK chief executive Deirdre Michie in a statement.

Final production figures were not yet available but Oil and Gas UK said it had based its estimate on data for the first 10 months of 2015 and average production assumptions for Novem-ber and December.

Britain is estimated to have another £ 200bn ($295.38bn) worth of oil and gas trapped in the North Sea and to tap these resources the government has issued a series of tax incentives and

tasked a new regulator with helping companies squeeze as much as pos-sible out of the ground.

The rise in oil and gas production comes as a global supply glut has lead to a crash in oil prices to the lowest level in seven years. Major oil produc-ers active across the world ramped up crude output in 2015 as investments in new technologies brought new fields on stream. While many new fields in the North Sea were approved at a time when oil was trading globally at more than $100 a barrel, operators are cur-rently facing prices of around $38 a barrel.

Bloomberg

MUMBAI: Rupee sovereign bonds, Asia’s best performers for two years in a row, are still the top pick for some global funds.

Plunging oil prices, a stable cur-rency and limited exposure to China are keeping investors bullish, with Pacific Investment Management Co. calling Indian notes the “preferred” local- currency securities in the region. The yield on benchmark 10- year debt in Asia’s third-largest economy will drop for a third straight year, the long-est stretch since 2003, a Bloomberg survey of ten fixed-income dealers and fund managers shows.

“We are overweight Indian bonds,” said Luke Spajic, Singapore-based portfolio manager for emerging mar-kets at Pimco, which oversees $1.5 trillion in assets globally. “They offer high carry and the Indian economy has shown resilience in the face of global growth slowing. If we see dis-location and weakness, unrelated to local influences, we will most likely look to add”. Rupee debt returned 8.1

percent last year and 16.5 percent in 2014 as sliding Brent crude prices improved public finances for India, a net oil importer. They also helped slow gains in consumer prices, paving the way for the steepest interest-rate cuts in six years in 2015. Local 10-year notes pay 546 basis points over simi-lar-maturity US Treasuries, even after the Federal Reserve raised borrow-ing costs in December.

Inflation risks are to the down-side and the Reserve Bank of India “will use the space for further accom-modation, when available,” Governor Raghuram Rajan said last month, sig-naling he is not yet done cutting rates.

The monetary authority, which next reviews borrowing costs on Feb-ruary 2, is prepared to act outside of scheduled policy meetings if war-ranted, he said.

Rajan, who cut the benchmark repurchase rate by 125 basis points last year, will lower it another 25 basis points in 2016 to 6.50 percent, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists published last month. Barclays Plc, which in a December 17 report said Indian government bonds are its top

pick in Asia, sees a reduction to 6.25 percent.“India is our favorite desti-nation for fixed income investments in Asia for the moment, with very attractive yields on a risk-adjusted basis,” said Anders Faergemann, sen-ior sovereign portfolio manager for emerging-markets fixed income in London at PineBridge Investments, which oversees $77.6 billion globally.

“It appears to be facing the glo-bal headwinds better in comparison to other emerging-market peers, is not too dependent on exports and also has quite limited trade linkages with China.”

Investor optimism is also spurred by narrowing currency swings and India’s move to relax curbs on overseas investment in its debt. Global funds got access to an additional 165bn rupees ($2.5bn) of sovereign and state-gov-ernment bonds from January 1, part of a September plan to allow a phased increase in ownership limits. Foreign holdings of rupee notes increased by 505bn rupees last year after surging 1.67 trillion rupees in 2014. The rupee’s one-month implied volatility, a meas-ure used to price options, slumped 109 basis points in December.

LONDON: UK mortgage lending grew the most since April 2008, months before the collapse of Leh-man Brothers Holdings Inc sparked the global financial crisis.

Lending increased £ 3.9bn pounds in November from the previous month, the Bank of Eng-land said yesterday. Gross lending of £20.3bn pounds was the high-est since June 2008.

The data showed other signs of a borrowing pickup, with net con-sumer credit growing £ 1.5bn, the most since February 2008. The 70,410 mortgage approvals in November exceeded economists’ forecast for an increase of 69,800.

Record-low interest rates are fuelling credit growth, with the average rate on secured loans to households dropping to 3.01 percent and on unsecured borrowing falling to 6.76 percent, both the lowest since records began in 1999. BOE policy makers have maintained bench-mark borrowing costs at a record low while inflation hovers around zero. The BOE also said overseas investors purchased £12.9bn of gilts in November.

The overall cost of natural catastrophes in 2015 dropped to its lowest level since 2009.

UK oil and gas output rises for first time in 15 years

Cairn Energy

tests Senegal

production well

BENGALURU: Oil explorer Cairn Energy Plc said yes-terday it carried out its first successful production test at its oilfields in Senegal, send-ing its shares up as much as 9 percent.

The company said it had produced high-quality oil at a rate of around 8,000 barrels per day (bpd) from its SNE-2 well around 100 kilometres off the coast of Senegal.

The West African country is one the few where oil and gas companies, hit by a plunge in oil prices, are still invest-ing to find new resources. At least two analysts said Cairn Energy’s production rate at the Senegal well was better than expected and removed significant uncertainty about the quality of the reservoir, which Cairn Energy estimates could hold more than a billion barrels of oil.

“I think this confirms a strong potential for com-mercial discovery,” said RBC Capital Markets ana-lyst Nathan Piper. Investors have been awaiting results from Cairn Energy’s Senegal project to get a better under-standing of the potential of the newly explored basin.

“The results help to con-firm the overall scale and extent of the resource base in Senegal and further appraisal activity is expected to lead to future revision of the esti-mates,” Chief Executive Simon Thomson said.

Cairn Energy, which focuses purely on exploration, also said yesterday it produced “relatively low quality” oil at a rate of 1,000 bpd at another depth in the same well.

IMF head in Nigeria today for talks on economic challenges

Pimco drawn to India as Asia’s best bonds seen rallying in 2016

UK mortgage

lending grew

most since 2008

BUSINESS26 TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

QE Index 10,041.70 2.64 %

QE Total Return Index 15,608.38 2.64 %

QE Al Rayan Islamic Index 3,701.43 2.78 %

QE All Share Index 2,679.74 2.55 %

QE All Share Banks & Financial Services 2,709.12 2.68 %

QE All Share Industrials 3,057.53 2.05 %

QE All Share Transportation 2,374.6 1.17 %

QE All Share Real Estate 2,231.94 3.75 %

QE All Share Insurance 4,009.42 1.97 %

QE All Share Telecoms 945.7 2.60 %

QE All Share Consumer Goods & Services 5,825.06 2.34 %

QE INDICES SUMMARY QATAR STOCK EXCHANGE

QE MARKET SUMMARY COMPARISON

GOLD AND SILVER

WORLD STOCK INDICES

04-01-2016 Today 03-01-2016 Previous dayIndex 10,041.70 10,313.74

Change 272.04 115.62

% 2.64 1.11

YTD% 3.72 1.11

Volume 3,053,196 2,011,338

Value (QAR) 108,819,714.93 67,433,570.20

Trades 2,317 1,321

Up 01 | Down 37 | Unchanged 01

GOLD QR125.9227 per gramSILVER QR1.6400 per gram

Index Day’s Close Pt Chg % Chg Year High Year lowAll Ordinaries 5322.786 -21.77 -0.41 0 0

Cac 40 Index/D 4501.91 -135.15 -2.91 0 0

Dj Indu Average 17425.03 -178.84 -1.02 18351.4 15370.3

Hang Seng Inde/D 21327.12 -587.28 -2.68 0 0

Iseq Overall/D 6674.97 -116.71 -1.72 0 0

Karachi 100 In/D 33009.13 -219.82 -0.66 33256.85 32828.36

Nikkei 225 Index 18450.98 -582.73 -3.06 0 0

S&P 500 Index/D 0 0 0 2134.72 1867.01

EXCHANGE RATECurrency Buying Selling

US$ QR 3.6305 QR 3.6500

UK QR 5.3460 QR 5.4217

Euro QR 3.9483 QR 4.0036

CA$ QR 2.5932 QR 2.6442

Swiss Fr QR 3.6233 QR 3.6770

Yen QR 0.0304 QR 0.0310

Aus$ QR 2.5981 QR 2.6503

Ind Re QR 0.0542 QR 0.0553

Pak Re QR 0.0344 QR 0.0351

Peso QR 0.0766 QR 0.0781

SL Re QR 0.0250 QR 0.0256

Taka QR 0.0461 QR 0.0464

Nep Re QR 0.0340 QR 0.0347

SA Rand QR 0.2323 QR 0.2370

INTERNATIONAL MARKETS - A LIST OF SHARES FROM THE WORLD

A B G Infra-Xc/D 158.6 -6.7 1578

A C C-A/D 1339.75 -33.45 9717

Aarti Drugs-B/D 589.65 -6.55 5264

Aban Offs-A/D 230.3 3.8 789749

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AFP

NEW YORK: US stocks tumbled more than two per-cent early yesterday, joining a global sell-off sparked by a seven percent plunge in the Shanghai stock market.

About 35 minutes into trade in the first session of 2016, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 405.66 points (2.33 percent) at 17,019.37

The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 45.41 (2.22 per-cent) to 1,998.53, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index sank 137.24 (2.74 percent) to 4,870.17.

Trading on Chinese stock markets was halted early as benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped nearly seven percent following poor manufacturing data.

The China turbulence led to a grim opening session for 2016, with markets from Tokyo to Mumbai to Paris and Frankfurt sharply down.

Analysts said markets were also unsettled by Saudi Arabia’s severing diplomatic ties with regional rival Iran after the Saudi gov-ernment Saturday executed a prom-inent Shiite cleric. “On the first trad-ing day of 2016, the markets have got off to a shocking start,” said ana-lyst Manoj Ladwa at brokerage TJM Partners. The hardest-hit sectors include technology, with Apple falling 2.3 percent, Google parent Alphabet 2.9 percent and Netflix 7.0 percent. Int he banking sector, JPMorgan Chase lost 3.3 percent and Bank of America 2.7 percent.

US-traded Chinese stocks were in retreat, includ-ing Alibaba and Baidu, which sank 5.8 percent and 3.9 percent. Some petroleum-linked shares rose as the Saudi-Iran tensions lifted oil prices. Oil-services companies Weatherford International and Halliburton were up 3.5 percent and 0.7 percent. ExxonMobil shed 0.4 per-cent, a much smaller decline compared with the index.

Pharma company Baxalta climbed 2.5 percent on reports it is in advanced talks to be acquired by Shire for about $32bn.

Qatar News Agency/ Reuters

DOHA: Qatar Exchange (QE) index dropped 272.04 (2.64 per-cent) points when the bourse closed trading at 10,041.70 points yester-day impacted by a global sell-off triggered by China.

The daily turnover increased to over QR108m with a volume of over 3m shares from 2,317 deals compared with over QR 67m with a volume of over 2m shares from 1,321 deals on Sunday.

Indices of seven sectors ended in the red yesterday. Insurance sec-tor ended in the red by dropping 1.97 percent to 4,009.42 points. While Banks and Financial Services sec-tor index decreased 2.68 percent to 2,709.12 points. QE Total Return Index dropped when it closed at

2.64 percent to 15,608.38 points. QE Al Rayan Islamic Index closed 2.78 percent to 3,701.43 points. QSE All Share Index down 2.55 percent to 2,679.74 points.

From the 43 companies listed on QE, 39 saw trading yester-day. From these, one gained, 37 closed lower and one remained unchanged.

Elsewhere, most Middle East stock markets tumbled yesterday in a global sell-off triggered by China, while growing tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran added to the gloom.

Chinese stocks slumped by 7 percent after weak manufacturing data, causing emerging markets in general to suffer their biggest fall in four months. “The broad mar-ket sell-off is part of the general weakness in global equity markets,” said Muhammad Shabbir, head of

equity funds at Dubai-based Ras-mala Investment Bank.

The lack of a catalyst that would support a market rally in the Gulf leaves the region vulnerable to vol-atile trade, he added. In past years, the region outperformed emerg-ing markets because of its strong budget and current account sur-pluses, but most of those surpluses have now been erased by low oil prices.

“While rising geopolitical ten-sion makes headlines and weighs on sentiment, weakness in oil and

worries about Chinese demand remain the primary drivers of GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) stock markets,” said Akber Khan, direc-tor of asset management at Doha’s Al Rayan Investment.

Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday in response to the storming of its embassy in Tehran. The attack came after the Saudis executed a leading Shi’ite cleric, Nimr al-Nimir, on terror-ism charges, infuriating Iran. Local investors have largely ignored geo-political tensions in the Gulf for

some years. But the latest events marked an escalation, and for-eign investors in particular may become more cautious about the region.

Reflecting that caution, the Saudi riyal fell to near a 16-year low against the US dollar in the forward foreign exchange mar-ket on Monday. Meanwhile, the

cost of insuring Saudi sovereign debt against default rose to multi-year highs.

Riyadh’s equities benchmark faced a heavy sell-off in the last hour of trade as investors dumped stocks across the board. The index sank 2.4 percent.

The Dubai stock index dropped 1.6 percent yesterday with all but two shares ending lower. Abu Dhabi’s benchmark retreated 1.3 percent while Cairo’s main index declined 1.5 percent.

US stocks sink more than

2% as global rout spreads

QE Index falls 2.64% as region hit by global sell-offChinese stocks slumped by 7 percent after weak manufacturing data, causing emerging markets in general to suffer their biggest fall in four months.

The China turbulence led to a grim opening session for 2016, with markets from Tokyo to Mumbai to Paris and Frankfurt sharply down.

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LONDON

BUSINESS VIEWS 27TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

Biggest economies face $7 trillion debt refinancing tab By Anchalee Worrachate

Bloomberg

The amount of debt that the governments of the world’s leading economies will need to refinance in 2016 will be lit-tle changed from last year as nations

make strides in cutting budget deficits to a third of the highs seen during the financial crisis.

The value of bills, notes and bonds coming due for the Group-of-Seven nations plus Brazil, China, India and Russia will total $7.1 trillion, compared with $7 trillion in 2015 and down from $7.6 trillion in 2012. Japan, Germany, Italy and Canada will all see redemptions fall, while the US, China and the UK face increases, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

The amount of maturing debt has grad-ually fallen since Bloomberg began collating the data in 2012. The decline may bring some support to the bond market as the US Federal Reserve gradually raises interest rates, pushing yields up from record lows. Budget deficits are forecast by economists to narrow for a seventh straight year in 2016 as governments extend

the maturity of their outstanding debt and con-tinue to cut back on the extra spending put in place to combat the global financial meltdown.

“Most of these countries are moving toward fiscal discipline,” said Mohit Kumar, head of rates strategy at Credit Agricole SA’s corpo-rate and investment-banking unit in London. “There was fiscal expansion during the crisis for various reasons: to support growth and to shift liabilities from the private sector into the public sector. Those effects are going away.”

While the decline shows there’s less pres-sure on governments to borrow, it doesn’t necessarily mean they will issue less -- that depends on their overall funding require-ments. Germany plans to boost its bond and bill sales to €203bn this year from about €175bn in 2015, partly to finance expenses caused by a record influx of migrants.

Russia and Brazil will see the biggest pro-portional declines in debt redemptions, with securities coming due tumbling by 38 percent and 26 percent, data compiled by Bloomb-erg show. Including interest payments, the amount of debt that needs to be refinanced by the G-7 and BRIC nations will total $7.8 tril-lion this year, also little changed from 2015.

Government bonds eked out a 1.2 percent gain for investors in 2015, compared with 8.4 per-cent in 2014 and an average 4.4 percent return over the past five years, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch indexes. Yields, which move inversely to prices, are now starting to rise as the fallout from recession fades, reducing demand for the securities as a haven, and as the US central bank predicts four rate increases before the year is out.

US 10-year Treasury yields will climb to 2.75 percent by the end of 2016, according to the median forecast of 65 analysts surveyed, from 2.23 percent as of 8:45 am in London.

This may prompt investors to demand more compensation to hold other bonds, too, includ-ing those from countries such as Germany and Japan, where yields are currently being kept down by their central banks expanding the money supply through debt purchases. The average sovereign yield in Bank of Amer-ica Merrill Lynch’s Global Government Index climbed to 1.1 percent, from an all-time low of 0.82 percent reached in January last year.

“Yields will rise and the Fed’s tightening will spill over into other bonds,” said David Schnautz, a London-based fixed- income

strategist at Commerzbank AG in London. “At least the reduced pressure to borrow will be a nice offsetting factor.”

In the US, the world’s largest debtor nation with $13.1 trillion of marketable debt obliga-tions, the amount of government securities coming due will rise 14 percent from last year to $3.5 trillion. China faces the biggest per-centage increase in refinancing needs in 2016, with a 41 percent jump to $254bn.

The drop in bond redemptions across most of the world’s leading economies, plus quanti-tative-easing programs and subdued inflation, will continue to underpin demand for govern-ment bonds, even as higher US interest rates put upward pressure on yields, according to Rabobank International.

Slower inflation boosts the appeal of the fixed payments that bonds offer. Economists estimate consumer prices in developed coun-tries rose just 0.5 percent in 2015, a fraction of the 3.5 percent increase in 2008.

Budget deficits across the developed world will shrink to an average 2.4 percent of gross domestic product this year, economists pre-dict, from an estimated 2.6 percent in 2015 and a peak of 7.2 percent in 2009.

Bloomberg

China’s insatiable appe-tite for crude is at least one thing oil bulls can count on

this year. The world’s biggest commodity consumer may buy 8 percent more oil from overseas in 2016, taking aver-age purchases to 7.2 million barrels a day, according to the median of seven respond-ents in a Bloomberg survey including FGE and Energy Aspects Ltd.

The country’s inbound shipments in the first 11 months of last year increased 8.8 percent to 6.63 million barrels a day and touched a monthly record of 7.4 million in April, customs data show.

The prospect of China continuing to absorb a glut of supply from overseas will encourage investors holding out for a recovery in oil from the lowest level in 11 years. The nation, which has over-taken the US as the world’s biggest buyer on occasions last year, is taking advan-tage of the two-year slump in prices to hoard crude for emergencies. Demand is further expanding as the gov-ernment relaxes rules to allow imports by private refiners.

“Growth in China’s crude imports is a supportive fac-tor for crude prices,” said Eugene Lindell, an ana-lyst with Vienna-based JBC Energy GmbH, who forecast a growth rate of 6 percent. “It will help tackle the crude sur-plus seen over the first half year in 2016.”

Brent crude, the interna-tional benchmark, slumped to an 11- year low last month amid speculation suppli-ers from the Middle East to the US will exacerbate a record glut as they fight for market share. The Organisa-tion of Petroleum Exporting Countries raised production to the highest in more than three years in November and effectively scrapped its out-put ceiling a month later. Meanwhile, the US ended its 40-year export ban and Iran plans to boost output by about 500,000 barrels a day within weeks of international sanctions being lifted.

China may start four addi-tional strategic petroleum reserves this year, augment-ing its existing eight, as part of its ultimate goal of stock-piling 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, accord-ing to Bloomberg calculations based on National Bureau of Statistics data.

Crude imports for emer-gency reserves may double to 230,000 barrels a day this year as new tanks start operating, according to Chi Zhang, an analyst with Bar-clays in Hong Kong. China stockpiled 26.1 million met-ric tonnes (about 191 million barrels) of crude as of mid-2015 at eight SPR sites and commercial storage tanks. The country will build and fill 74 million barrels of SPR capacity this year, according to JBC’s Lindell. “We expect that nearly 200,000 barrels a day of crude oil will be added to inventory in 2016” includ-ing strategic reserves, said Wu Kang, a Beijing-based analyst with industry con-sultant FGE, who gave the median estimate in the sur-vey. “This is one of the major factors determining crude oil imports.”

China’s independent refiners, known as teapots, account for almost a third of the nation’s processing capacity. Thirteen of them have been granted import quotas totaling a combined 55 million tonnes, or 18 per-cent of the nation’s annual imports, as the government seeks to promote private investment and boost the economy. The three tea-pots with the biggest import quotas have said they’ll uti-lise their permits this year. Shandong Dongming Petro-chemical Group, the nation’s largest independent refiner by capacity, said it plans to fully use its crude-import quota of 7.5 million tonnes in 2016, while Panjin North Asphalt Fuel Co. and Baota Petrochemical Group said they intend to import 7 mil-lion tonnes and 6.1 million tonnes, respectively.

Chinese crude imports should rise by at least 1 mil-lion barrels a day in 2016, or about 15 percent, given that the teapots have to meet their quotas or risk losing their licenses, said Viren-dra Chauhan, an analyst at consultant Energy Aspects. Chauhan gave the high-est growth estimate in the survey.

The lowest forecast for China’s crude import growth was 3 percent from ICIS China, a Shanghai-based commodity researcher.

Oil finds silver lining in China’s unsated thirst for crude

Foreigners get it wrong on Japan, after 25 years

By Anna Kitanaka & Toshiro Hasegawa Bloomberg

For the first year since 1989, foreign-ers sold Japanese stocks and missed a rally. Overseas investors, who account for more than two-thirds of trading in Tokyo, cut holdings

in 2015 even as the Topix index climbed 8.9 percent in dollars and 21 percent in euros. It had been 2 1/2 decades since foreigners last offloaded shares amid annual gains, data compiled by Bloomberg show. As traders dumped $2.1bn, Japan’s own pension funds, asset managers, central bank and compa-nies took their place.

For Goldman Sachs Group Inc, the home team sending shares higher can only be good, with domestic inflows showing equities can rise without substantial weakness in the yen.

Foreigners will return in 2016 on a favourable outlook for earnings and improved cor-porate governance, according to Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Asset Management Co.

Overseas investors’ sell-ing “was obviously a mistake,” said Kathy Matsui, vice chair-man and chief Japan strategist at Goldman Sachs in Tokyo.

The Topix capped a 9.9 percent gain in local-currency terms last year, its fourth straight annual increase. Combined with the yen’s resilience, that meant that the Topix out-performed the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index in dollars for the first time since 2008.

The measure’s gain in euros was triple that of the Stoxx Europe 600 Index, even as the European benchmark completed its best year in a decade versus US equities.

“For people underweight Japan, that’s not good,” Matsui said.

As Shinzo Abe enters a fourth year as premier, locals are showing more faith in his growth revival programme known as Abe-nomics. That’s a reversal of the early days of his tenure, when foreigners pumped a record 15 trillion yen into the nation’s equity market in 2013 as domestic investors sold.

Non-resident investors offloaded 252bn yen in Japanese shares from January through December 25, data from Japan Exchange Group Inc show. The last time they sold as the Topix climbed in both US- and local-currency terms was in 1989, when the gauge rose 22 percent in yen and 6.8 percent in dol-lars. Last year, the bulk of the selling came in August and September as China’s yuan devaluation sparked a global equity retreat.

“People were reducing risk across the board, it wasn’t specific to Japan,” said Mark Mat-thews, head of Asia research and a managing director at Bank Julius Baer & Co in Singa-pore, which last year ended an overweight call on the nation’s equities and now has a neutral view. “Because Japan had received a lot of inflow, it’s natural that foreigners would be selling.”

Still, some of the shift was for Japan-spe-cific reasons. Even long-only funds can’t wait years for Abe’s structural reforms to suc-ceed, Matthews said. With the Bank of Japan unlikely to increase its quantitative easing program in 2016, the yen will remain flat or strengthen, damping the outlook for equities, he said. Since the third-quarter rout, Japan has been one of the quickest developed mar-kets to recover, with the Topix jumping 12 percent through year-end from its Septem-ber low. Locals have the firepower to send

As traders dumped $2.1bn, Japan’s own pension funds, asset managers, central bank and companies took their place.

Slower inflation boosts the appeal of the fixed payments that bonds offer. Economists estimate consumer prices in developed countries rose just 0.5 percent in 2015, a fraction of the 3.5 percent increase in 2008.

Overseas investors, who account for more than two-thirds of trading in Tokyo, cut holdings in 2015 even as the Topix index climbed 8.9 percent in dollars and 21 percent in euros. It had been 25 years since foreigners last offloaded shares amid annual gains.

shares higher without foreign help, and the buying spree by professional inves-tors will encourage individuals to return to the market, according to Andrew Clarke, director of trading at Mirabaud Asia Ltd, a Hong Kong brokerage.

Trust banks, which typically trade on behalf of retirement funds, bought a net 1.8 trillion yen of stocks in 2015 after the Government Pension Investment Fund and its smaller peers boosted allocations to the nation’s shares. Proprietary traders added about 1.5 trillion yen of equities, which Nomura Holdings Inc. says reflects banks creating exchange-traded funds for the BOJ.

Women wearing traditional kimono dresses pose after the opening of the stock market for the New Year at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo yesterday. Tokyo stocks opened lower on continued yen strength, as trading resumed after the New Year holiday and as tensions in the Middle East hurt sentiment.

BUSINESS28 TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

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sightETFs hit record as BlackRock sees shift away from futures

China equity rout boosts fixed income

TOKYO: A record amount flowed into global exchange- traded funds for a second straight year, BlackRock Inc. said, as inves-tors increasingly are drawn to the products as a replacement for futures and swaps positions.

The industry took in an addi-tional $347bn globally in 2015, topping the previous year’s record of $330.7bn, according to Black-Rock. The firm grabbed more than a third of the new funds with $129 billion, the most in the industry, it said.

Among new drivers of growth were investors who used ETFs to replace derivatives includ-ing futures and swaps. Such conversions brought in $10bn to BlackRock in 2015, or about 8 percent of the funds it attracted in its ETF business. The trend away from derivatives is help-ing to buffer slowing expansion in so-called smart beta products, which BlackRock and others have targeted for future growth.

Investors are choosing ETFs as derivatives have become more expensive over the past two years “as regulation such as Volcker and Basel 3 affects the cost capital on bank balance sheets,’’ Susan Chan, the head of iShares Asia Pacific at BlackRock in Hong Kong, said in an e-mail.

Tighter regulations and higher capital requirements in the wake of the global financial crisis have made it more expensive for banks to do business. While that impact has been felt the most in bond markets where banks have cut back dealing and market-mak-ing activities, BlackRock’s data show their derivatives businesses may also be suffering as a result of the higher costs.

The phenomenon of replac-ing futures and swaps with ETFs

began in 2014 and is mostly con-centrated in equities, according to Chan. About 60 percent of conver-sions took place in the US, while Europe saw 35 percent, she said.

“A large pension fund in the UK recently bought over $300 million of equity ETFs to replace future positions, so the trend is catching on there,” said Chan. While activity in Asia is at an early stage, she expects growth in the region to accelerate in the future as well.

Investors held 139 million futures contracts globally at the end of November, down 15 percent from a year earlier, according to the latest data available from the World Federation of Exchanges.

Smart beta products, which invest according to factors such as dividends or volatility instead of market capitalization, saw growth in the entire industry slow by a third in 2015, with such ETFs draw-ing $29bn in new flows through December 24, down from $45bn in 2014, according to the firm.

Chan cited sluggish growth in US dividend funds for the slowdown, with such strate-gies attracting $1.5bn in 2015, down from $17.4bn in 2014. Other smart beta products fared better, with ETFs that invest in low-vol-atility stocks grabbing $10.5bn, up from $4bn in 2014, Black-Rock said.

Assets for the entire ETF industry swelled to $2.98 tril-lion through November, doubling since 2010, according to the latest figures made public by the firm. Investors continue to be drawn to the relatively low fees offered by ETFs, even as questions arose last year about the products’ ability to track the value of their under-lying assets during times of high volatility.

Reuters

Edinburgh/Singapore: Gov-ernment bonds are starting 2016 on a high.

With the worst-ever open-ing to a year for Chinese stocks driving demand for the relative safety of sovereign debt, Treasury 10-year yields fell by the most in more than two weeks on Mon-day, while bonds from Europe and Asia also climbed.

The moves echoed a rout in Chinese shares about six months ago that helped persuade the Federal Reserve to refrain from raising US interest rates in Sep-tember and boosted demand for European fixed-income assets on speculation that inflation would stay well below target. Stock trading was halted in China on Monday after the nation’s CSI 300 Index slumped 7 percent.

“The sharp drop in Chinese stocks and weaker PMI data is giving a hit to overall risk sen-timent, so we are seeing some flight to safety and lower bond yields in response,” said Allan

von Mehren, chief analyst at Danske Bank A/S in Copenha-gen. “China and the tensions in the Middle East are really the headlines today.”

The yield on the benchmark US 10-year note declined six basis points, or 0.06 percentage point, to 2.21 percent as of 7:28 a.m. in New York, based on Bloomberg Bond Trader data, the biggest drop since December 17. The 2.25 percent note due in Novem-ber 2025 climbed 1/2, or $5 per $1,000 face amount, to 100 10/32.

Germany’s bund yield fell seven basis points from the December 30 close to 0.56 percent and those on France’s dropped seven basis points to 0.92 percent. Trading on euro-area bonds was closed on December 31 and January 1.

The UK’s 10-year gilt yield fell eight basis points to 1.88 per-cent from December 31, when they traded for half a day.Increased ten-sions between Iran and Saudi Arabia are also helping drive demand for safety, said Toshifumi Sugimoto, chief investment officer at Capi-tal Asset Management in Tokyo.

Capital Comment

I believe inflation risk premia will return to the markets. This should provide upward lift for 30-year Treasury yields, possibly toward 3.75 percent.

Jim Caron, Managing Director,

Morgan Stanley Investment

Management

Bloomberg

AFTER defeating an expert in Japanese chess, this computer program’s next task is to figure out if you can make the payments

on a new mortgage.Heroz Inc., a small Japanese startup

whose engineers designed computer systems that were the first to defeat an active professional player of shogi, the Japanese version of chess, says it’s now working on adapting its applica-tions for the financial industry.

While Deep Blue became the first computer to beat a top chess player in 1997, the computer programming required to defeat a shogi master is even more complex than that required for conventional chess. That’s mainly because the number of potential moves in Japanese chess is much higher, as shogi’s rules on the reuse of captured pieces are more complicated.

Heroz is hoping that the lessons it has learned about how to recreate human judgment to help its comput-ers win at shogi can be applied to the crunching of data for banks when they decide whether customers are cred-itworthy, according to Heroz’s Chief Financial Officer Daisuke Asahara. “There are times that computers can see as correct what humans perceive to be wrong,” Asahara, a former invest-ment banker with Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said in an interview last month.

He said tests show the Heroz com-puters can successfully crunch the huge amount of data on consumers’ deposit and withdrawal information, and from social networks, to assist banks when they are making deci-sions on giving out loans. The firm is also working with Nomura Holdings Inc. to research whether its technol-ogy can be applied to financial-market forecasting, Asahara said.

The Deep Blue computer devel-oped by International Business Machines Corp. famously became the first computer to beat a top chess player, when it defeated then world champion Garry Kasparov in 1997. The added complexity of shogi meant it took another 16 years before Heroz

computer’s program was able to out-smart an active shogi professional, with its 2013 victory over Shinichi Sato.

Such advanced computers are able to apply a sort of judgment to which of the many trillions of poten-tial chess moves they should make, through a machine-learning process based on programming and past game data, according to Ho-fung Leung, a professor at The Chinese Univer-sity of Hong Kong who specializes in artificial intelligence. The process gets around the need to laboriously examine every possible chess move, according to Leung.

“The approach they’re taking is very different from the conventional tree-of-possibilities approach to com-puter chess,” Leung said.

There are about 10 to the power of 120 possible moves in a game of con-ventional chess, but that is dwarfed by the 10 to the power of 220 possible moves -- the number one followed by 220 zeros -- in a game of shogi, according to Heroz’s website.

Asahara wouldn’t disclose the names of the banks that Heroz is work-ing with in analyzing consumer credit data. But Japan’s Financial Services

Agency is trying to get banks to become more active in the field, saying in December that it will recommend legal changes to streamline the use of advanced technology in finance.

Japan’s largest lenders includ-ing Mizuho Financial Group Inc. are already developing services that make use of artificial-intelligence technol-ogy such as IBM’s Watson computer, mainly in call-center automation, according to Mizuho spokesman Masako Shiono.

Heroz was founded in 2009 by Takahiro Hayashi and Tomohiro Takahashi, both former employees of Japan’s NEC Corp. The 70- employee company develops and markets shogi and chess games for smartphones, which are the source of data for development of its machine learn-ing techniques.

Its move into financial analysis will be assisted by a 100 million yen ($837,000) sale of Heroz equity to Hifumi Incubation Fund on Decem-ber 28, Asahara said. He said Heroz will use the funding from Hifumi -- a Japanese startup fund -- to invest in facilities such as cloud servers and to hire more computer engineers.

After winning at chess, this computer helps decide loans

Heroz is hoping that the lessons it has learned about how to recreate human judgement to help its computers win at shogi can be applied to the crunching of data for banks, according to Heroz’s Chief Financial Officer Daisuke Asahara.

Christine Lagarde@

Lagarde

Joseph Stiglitz@

stiglitzian

World Bank@WorldBank

Dealogic@Dealogic

Dealbreaker

MoneyBeat (Wall Street Journal)

More peace, stability, trade, and jobs: Here’s to a better 2016!

Stiglitz: “Optimists say 2016 will be better than 2015. That may turn out to be true, but only imperceptibly so.”

At $243bn, the private sector is the larg-est source of climate finance

Following a #record year for global M&A in 2015, volume has now surpassed $5tr for the first time ever #merg-ers #acquisitions

Assets in liquid-alternative

funds grew to $310bn

at the end of 2014 from

$124.44bn at the end of

2010. But the inflows have

slowed as performance

faltered this year.

A surge in private fundraising

in 2015 helped technology

startups steer clear of a

painful initial-public-offering

market. In 2016, they may

not be able to avoid it.

A computer plays against a professional shogi (Japanese chess) player in April 2015 in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward.

The Peninsula

DOHA: Third seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic is eager to hold on to his top billing at this week’s Qatar ExxonMobil Open.

Ranked six in the world, Berdych last year lost the final of the Qatar Exx-onMobil Open to David Ferrer of Spain.

“I have to say that my off-season went pretty well. I managed to squeeze few days for the IPTL and also managed to have some break after the (regu-lar) season,” Berdych said yesterday.

“I still got a very good, solid por-tion of the days where I prepared well with my fitness and tennis and every-thing went well,” the tall Czech added.

“My body is strong so no issues there. I have no injuries at all, which is always very important,” .

“Everything went pretty well, as I planned, as I scheduled. The only thing that is missing is just the start of matches,” Berdych said.

Questions and answers with Berdych.

Q: Sergiy Stakhovsky is a tough first-round match of the year. Talk a little bit about him.

A: I played him couple of times last year. It was a period of the year that we played almost like the weeks back to back and had couple of matches. I mean, he’s a very tough guy to play, especially the way he likes to play. He likes to change the game a lot, playing

a lot of variations. These days he’s not really a easy player. It’s the first match of the year so I’m just going try to focus on my stuff, my tennis. I will try to be very focused from the first point till the last. I just want to go there and have a good match.

Q: Can you talk to us about your main goals for the season?

A: This season is going to be really packed, especially since it’s the Olym-pics year. For me there is one more thing that I am looking at and that is to play the first round of the Davis Cup to get my qualification for the Olympics. It’s gonna be a little bit different than the last year. Last year I just tried to use all the time for myself - just for the direction of my career. But this year I will look at Davis Cup as represent-ing the country is always high on my priority list of my goals. I’m going to definitely include that.

I’m expecting a long, tough season. I want to stay healthy and that’s gonna be the main thing. Then I want to play the whole season. I want to compete with all the top guys and be competi-tive. It’s been a while since I put myself into the top 10 and held on to that spot. There will be new, younger guys com-ing in and trying to grab that position.

So I would like to hold on to my place and move forward from that.

Last year I managed to get the fourth spot and finished the year in sixth place. It would be great to change that number this season.

Q: What about the Rio Olympic

games 2016 goals?A: Olympics, it’s quite in advance

to think about it. It’s once in four years and I’m definitely going to play sin-gles. If everything goes well and if I get Radek (Stepanak), I would like to give a shot with him. It’s a competi-tion that you have the easiest way to get a medal because you play the least amount of matches. I will see how the season goes. Till then I’m going to accu-mulate wins and play. If everything goes well, and if I’m feeling strong and fit, I’m going to try to play all three.

Q: Coming into this year, is Djok-ovic the one that all the players are chasing?

A: No, I think every opponent and every player stands in their position. No matter what number is in front of your name, he is just opponent for the day and you just have to be focused on that one. Once you pass him, the same thing again. If you’re gonna be looking too far ahead, you might lose some things which are right around you. I have been used to do that all my career. I’m just going try to stick with that, try to work on my things and just keep going, I will keep working hard and hoping that one day I can move myself and just get higher in the ranking.

Q: We have seen a tweet of yours after training that you were pretty tired and you were saying that your coach is very demanding with your training. How does he make you try to raise your level?

A: Yes, you’re right. This was

definitely one of those from my off-season and I think it was very good one. I think I have been able to raise my fitness level and working on that direction and that aspect of the game, because I think it’s becoming more and more important in men’s tennis. Especially with my height and also I would say weight it’s something that need to really keep working and keep

being strong. The rallies are getting longer. Matches are much more diffi-cult, much more demanding. That was one of the big aspects that I have been working on and also the few things that they are.

Q: It seems a bit colder and wind-ier than usual here. How important the conditions are going to be a fac-tor in the matches, especially that

they are usually late?A: That’s true, not my first time

here. All I remember so far was nice, warm days. This year is a bit different, but the other hand I spend already a week here, so I hope I’m going to be able to use that just to be more used for the conditions. It’s all about how you are going to prepare for that day and adjust accordingly.

Captain Amla stands firm against England

PAGE | 30 PAGE | 32

Murray starts season with

easy victory

TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016 • 25 Rabia I 1437

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

thepeninsulaqatar @peninsulaqatar @peninsula_qatar

Refreshed Berdych ready to hold on to top-ten billing in 2016

World number six Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic during a press conference at the Khalifa Tennis Complex in Doha yesterday.

Djokovic eases into second round in Qatar

By Rizwan Rehmat

The Peninsula

DOHA: World number one Novak Djokovic yesterday barely broke a sweat to beat German qualifier Dus-tin Brown in straight sets to launch his new season in convincing fashion.

Winner of 11 titles last year, Djok-ovic was hardly tested against the long-haired German, winning the

first-round clash 6-2, 6-2 in just 51 minutes at Khalifa Tennis Complex.

Djokovic’s arch-rival and second seed Rafael Nadal, however, yester-day suffered an embarrassing blow in the doubles along with Fernando Verdasco.

Russia’s Teymuraz Gabashvili and Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas fought back from a set’s deficit to win 6-7, 6-4, 11-9 in 1 hour 44 minutes.

In the day’s other matches, sev-enth seed Jeremy Chardy hammered Qatari wildcard Mubarak Shannan Zayid 6-1, 6-1 while British qualifier Kyle Edmund crushed Slovakia’s Mar-tin Klizan 6-2, 6-3 in 70 minutes.

In another round of 32 match, Damir Dzumhur beat Marco Cecch-inato 6-4, 6-2.

In the day’s feature match-up, Djok-ovic hit the ground running, winning in less than an hour on Centre Court.

“Yes, of course,” Djokovic said when asked if he was happy with his per-formance. “It’s been six weeks since I played the last match, so I was very excited to go back to the court and compete and see how I go,” he added.

“Obviously you never know how you’re going to start from the blocks. You can do your best to prepare your-self well, which I did. I think I used the off-season very well to train to get my body in the right shape, and I think it was a very good start,” Djokovic said.

“Considering the weather condi-tions and everything, I think it was a good performance from my side. Obvi-ously I played a player who I never faced before and somebody that is, first of all, a very charismatic guy, very good for tennis, for sport, and some-body that is unpredictable. Comes up firing with the shots,” Djokovic said.

The 28-year-old Serbian broke Brown three times in each of the two sets as the world number one issued an early season warning to his rivals.

A 132kmph winner from Djokovic

supplemented by a couple of long returns from Brown helped the Ser-bian break his opponent in game two of the first set.

A similar pattern followed in game four when Brown faulted with a cou-ple of unforced errors followed by a long return that saw Djokovic race to a 4-0 lead.

In game seven, Brown broke Djokovic when the Serbian unchar-acteristically smashed three returns wide.

Despite the blip in game seven, Djokovic quickly reasserted himself by taking game eight and the set in just 25 minutes.

In the second set, Djokovic broke Brown in game six with the German

struggling for range on his returns.In game eight, Djokovic saw an

erratic Brown hand over the set rather tamely when he smashed a return into the net with the Serbian looking in complete control of the proceedings on a chilly evening.

Nadal downplayed his loss ahead of his first-round clash against Pablo Carreno Busta today.

“I have been winning here a lot of years (in the) doubles, so hopefully that’s the good news that I lost this time in doubles that I hope to be ready for singles,” Nadal said yesterday.

“Today’s match was a match that we had a lot of chances and was not the day to win. And that’s it,” he added without elaborating.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns the ball to Dustin Brown of Germany during their Qatar Open match in Doha, yesterday. Bottom: Qatar’s Mubarak Shannan Zayid returns to Jeremy Chardy of France during thier first round match. Chardy won 6-1, 6-1. Pictures by: Salim / The Peninsula

World number one beats German qualifier in straight sets to launch his new season in convincing fashion

Boris Becker, coach of Novak Djokovic watches the match proceedings of the Qatar Open.

QATAR OPEN 2016 ORDER OF PLAY

CENTRE COURT start 3:30 pm

[3] T. Berdych (CZE) vs

S Stakhovsky (UKR)

I. Marchenko (UKR) vs [4] D. Ferrer (ESP)

P. Carreno Busta (ESP) vs

[2] R. Nadal (ESP)

F. Verdasco (ESP) vs [WC] M. Jaziri (TUN)

COURT 1 START 3:30 PM

T. Gabashvili (RUS) vs S. Bolelli (ITA)

[Q] B. Becker (GER) vs [8] L. Mayer (ARG)

S. Bolelli (ITA) / S. Stakhovsky (UKR) vs J.

Knowle (AUT) / A. Sa (BRA)

[1] J. Rojer (NED) / H. Tecau (ROU) vs J.

Erlich (ISR) / C. Fleming (GBR)

COURT 2 START 3:30 PM

[4] P. Petzschner (GER) / A. Peya (AUT)

vs [WC] M. Zayed (QAT) / M. Zayid (QAT)

A. Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) vs

P. Mathieu (FRA)

[6] A. Seppi (ITA) vs R. Berankis (LTU)

COURT 3 START 3:30 PM

P. Andujar (ESP) vs P. Lorenzi (ITA)

W. Koolhof (NED) / M. Middelkoop (NED)

vs [3] F. Lopez (ESP) / M. Lopez (ESP)

R. Albot (MDA) / M. Klizan (SVK) vs [2] J.

Murray (GBR) / B. Soares (BRA)

RESULTS

Doha: Results from first day of the ATP

Qatar Open yesterday:

1ST ROUND

Novak Djokovic (SRB x1) bt

Dustin Brown (GER) 6-2, 6-2

Damir Dzumhur (BIH) bt

Marco Cecchinato (ITA) 6-4, 6-2

Kyle Edmund (GBR) bt

Martin Klizan (SVK) 6-2, 6-3

Jeremy Chardy (FRA x7) bt

Mubarak Shannan Zayid (QAT) 6-1, 6-1

SPORT30 TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

Azarenka sets up showdown with top seed in Brisbane

AFP

BRISBANE: Former world number one Victoria Azarenka demolished Russia’s Elena Vesnina at the Brisbane International yesterday to set up a sec-ond-round showdown with top seed Simona Halep.

Azarenka lost the opening two games to the Russian qualifier before reeling off successive victories to win 6-2, 6-0 at the Pat Rafter Arena.

After an injury-marred 2014 when she slipped to 32 in the world, Aza-renka has struggled to regain the form that took her to two Australian Opens and the top ranking.

She finished 2015 at number 22 and went into the season-opening Bris-bane International unseeded.

Azarenka started slowly against Vesnina but found her range with her groundstrokes and put enormous pres-sure on her opponent, who fought bravely but struggled with consistency.

Azarenka, from Belarus, won her

maiden WTA title in Brisbane in 2009 and said she had been keen to open her season in the Queensland capital.

“It’s such a pleasure to come here and I couldn’t wait to play my first match,” she said.

“It’s been a while to be out there playing an actual match. It’s been a lot of practice, so I was just happy to go out there and play and be in front of the crowd and just compete.”

Azarenka said she was looking forward to playing Halep. “I think it’s going to be a very good test,” she added.

“Playing against top players, you always put yourself in a situation where you have to push yourself.

“So for me it’s going to be a great challenge. To be the best, you’ve got to beat the best, so I’m looking for-ward to that.” Earlier, fourth-seeded German Angelique Kerber came back from losing the first set to Italian Cam-ila Giorgi to win 5-7, 6-3, 6-0.

She now takes on American Mad-ison Brengle, who downed Ukraine qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

Seventh-seeded Swiss player Belinda Bencic cruised past Italian Sara Errani 6-1, 6-2, while Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro was equally untroubled by Brisbane-based Croatian Ajla Toml-janovic, winning by the same scoreline

Last year’s US Open finalist Roberta Vinci also moved through to the second round when she beat Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic in three sets 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.Former US Open winner and hometown

hero Samantha Stosur survived a scare from Slovakian qualifer Jana Cepelova to win 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, while US qualifier Samantha Crawford downed Austral-ia’s Priscilla Hon 6-4, 6-4.

BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL RESULTSMen’s First Round

Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) bt Gilles Simon (FRA x5) 6-3, 7-6 (12/10)

Denis Kudla (USA) bt John-Patrick Smith (AUS) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2

Tobias Kamke (GER) bt Ben Mitchell (AUS) 6-2, 6-4

Chung Hyeon (KOR) bt Sam Groth (AUS) 7-6 (10/8), 6-4

Women’s Second RoundCarla Suarez Navarro (ESP x6) bt Ajla Tomljanovic (CRO) 6-1, 6-2

Samantha Crawford (USA) bt Priscilla Hon (AUS) 6-4, 6-4

Roberta Vinci (ITA x8) bt Jelena Jankovic (SRB) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4

Belinda Bencic (SUI x7) bt Sara Errani (ITA) 6-1, 6-2

Madison Brengle (USA) bt Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4

Samantha Stosur (AUS) bt Jana Cepelova (SVK) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4

Angelique Kerber (GER x4) bt Camila Giorgi (ITA) 5-7, 6-3, 6-0

Victoria Azarenka (BLR) bt Elena Vesnina (RUS) 6-2, 6-0

Former world number one thrashes Russia’s Vesnina to confirm clash against Halep

TENNIS: BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL

Victoria Azarenka of Belarus hits a return against Elena Vesnina (not pictured) of Russia in their women’s singles match on the second day at the Brisbane International in Brisbane yesterday.

Andy Murray of Britain hits a return against Kenny de Schepper (not in picture) of France during their fourth session men’s singles match on day two of the Hopman Cup in Perth yesterday.

Injured Serena out of Hopman openerAFP

PERTH: World number one Serena Williams suffered an early season injury setback yesterday as she with-drew from the United States’ opening Hopman Cup tie with inflammation in her knee.

Her withdrawal helped the Ukraine pairing of Elina Svitolina and Alex-andr Dolgopolov record a 2-1 round robin opening win over the US in the mixed teams tournament.

Williams was replaced by Amer-ican youngster Vicky Duval, on the comeback trail after being diagnosed with cancer in 2014, and the 20-year-old was no match for the world number 19. The first set was competitive but Svitolina cruised past the tiring Duval 6-4, 6-1.

Dolgopolov then secured the tie with a comfortable 6-4, 6-2 win over a disappointing Jack Sock.

In the dead mixed doubles rubber, the US pair gained some consolation by winning 6-2, 6-3. Williams, 34, was scheduled to play Svitolina in the women’s singles to open the tie, but

withdrew minutes before the start, saying she had pulled up sore after a training session earlier in the day.

The match at the mixed-teams tournament would have launched Williams’s preparations for her title

defence at the Australian Open in Mel-bourne later this month.

Williams, who has won 21 Grand Slam singles titles, sat out the tail-end of last season saying she needed “time to heal” after narrowly missing out

on a rare calendar-year Grand Slam.Her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou,

conceded Williams’s knees were trou-bling her in November.

But the player said she hoped to be fit to play in the United States’ sec-ond tie against Australia Gold, one of two teams representing the hosts, on Tuesday evening.

“I’m disappointed to not take the court in Perth today,” Williams said. “I had every intention to play this morn-ing. Unfortunately due to inflammation in my knee I need to rest and am con-fident to be out there against Aussie Gold tomorrow evening.”

Tournament organisers dismissed suggestions the presence of Duval in Perth as an emergency player for the event indicated they were aware of concerns over the fitness of Williams.

Williams won her sixth Australian Open last January and was on target for the coveted calendar-year Grand Slam until she suffered a shock loss to Roberta Vinci in the semi-finals at the US Open in September.

Duval only returned to tennis in August after overcoming Hodgkin’s lymphoma and has a career high ranking of 87.

Kuznetsova cruises into

second round in Auckland

AFP

WELLINGTON: Two-time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova had an easy first round win in the WTA Auck-land Classic yesterday when German opponent Mona Barthel retired early in the second set.

Kuznetsova, the tournament fourth seed, headlined the opening day with the top three seeds – Venus Williams, Caroline Wozniacki and Ana Ivanovic – not scheduled to appear until today.

The Russian was rarely troubled in her brief appearance and was ahead 6-2, 1-1 when Barthel withdrew with a stomach complaint.

Despite only a short time on court, the 30-year-old former world number two was satisfied with the way she played, particularly holding serve in the blustery conditions.

“You don’t try to play your best in these conditions it’s very hard,” she said.

“It was important to keep my serve, I was some break points down and it was tough to play with the wind.”

Of the other seeds in action on the

first day, number five Sloane Stephens from the United States had a com-fortable win over Slovakian Polona Hercog 6-3, 6-3, while eighth seed Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium was beaten by Alexandra Dulgheru from Romania 1-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, 18, jus-tified her wildcard entry to the main draw with an upset win over Johanna Larsson from Sweden 6-1 7-5.

WTA AUCKLAND CLASSIC RESULTS

First Round: Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) bt

Johanna Larsson (SWE) 6-1, 7-5

Carina Witthoeft (GER) bt Tatjana Maria

(GER) 6-2, 7-6 (7/3)

Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x4) bt Mona

Barthel (GER) 6-2, 1-1 ret

Nao Hibino (JPN) bt Mariana Duque-

Marino (COL) 6-2 2-6 7-5

Alexandra Dulgheru (ROM) bt Alison Van

Uytvanck (BEL x8) 1-6 6-2 6-4

Sloane Stephens (USA x5) bt Polona Her-

cog (SLO) 6-3, 6-3

Vicky Duval of the US (substitute for Serena Williams of the US) hits a return against Elina Svitolina of Ukraine during their third session women’s singles match on day two of the Hopman Cup tennis tournament in Perth yesterday.

Murray starts season with

easy win at Hopman Cup

Reuters

PERTH: World number two Andy Murray was satisfied with the start to his season after romping past France’s Kenny de Schepper 6-2, 6-2 at the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia yesterday.

Murray, who led Britain to their first Davis Cup triumph in 79 years just over a month ago, took under an hour to seal vic-tory at the mixed team event.

“I played well,” he told reporters. “Everything was working pretty good. I was able to finish a lot of the points up at the net.

“It’s quite a quick surface here so if you can get the first strike in in the rallies it’s quite easy to sort of stay on top of the point. “I enjoy it here and that’s why I keep coming back. I’ll be back next year as well.”

The Briton, who is using the event to tune up for this month’s Australian Open, will next meet Australian number one Nick Kyrgios tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Murray said he is prepared to put family duties ahead of Grand Slam glory.

Speaking at the mixed teams Hopman Cup in Perth, where he is representing Great Britain, the dual Grand Slam winner said he would choose being at the birth of his child over playing in the Australian Open final. Mur-ray’s wife, Kim Sears, is due to give birth next month.

“I’m going to fly home I think,” he said when asked what he’d choose if that sce-nario unfolded.

“We spoke about it and chatted and obviously it’d be disappointing if I was to get in that position and not be able to play the final. “But I’d be way more disappointed winning the Australian Open and not being at the birth of the child.

“Hopefully it doesn’t come to that.” Murray said he was looking forward to becoming a father. “It’s going to be a big change but I am very excited about it,” he said.

“I have got a few weeks of tennis here and then I’ll take February off to spend time with Kim.” Murray is very close to his family, having teamed up with brother Jamie in Great Britain’s drought-breaking Davis Cup win last year.

Wawrinka prepares for Australian Open in Chennai AFP

CHENNAI: French Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka is looking to give himself the best possible preparation for the first Grand Slam of 2016 in Melbourne later this month by winning the ATP Chennai Open, which starts on Monday.

The Swiss is bidding for his third consecutive Chennai Open title and hopes a victory in India will help propel him to another major win, just as

it did in 2014 and 2015. Two years ago Wawrinka clinched his first Slam when he won the Austral-ian Open just weeks after triumphing in southern India. Last year, Wawrinka followed up victory in Chennai by taking home the trophy at Roland Garros in June.

“I’ve always enjoyed coming to Chennai. The tournament is a nice way to start the season, the fans are great and I like the atmosphere in the sta-dium,” the 30-year-old said in comments released by organisers. “2015 has been an amazing year

and 2016 is already around the corner. I want to continue to do well, win tournaments, and go deep at the Slams. And hopefully I get a great start into the season in Chennai again,” he added.

Wawrinka, ranked fourth in the world, also won in Chennai in 2011 and is the top seed in the $480,000 tournament. His closest challenger is likely to be number two seed Kevin Anderson. The big-serving South African has a 4-4 record against Wawrinka but says he’s not thinking too much about his opponents.

SPORT 31 TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

Brathwaite fireworks light up rainy Sydney

AFP

SYDNEY: Carlos Brathwaite provided some fireworks in a lively cameo as rain washed out all but 11.2 overs of the second day of the third Australia-West Indies Test yesterday.

The Barbados all-rounder clouted two massive sixes off one James

Pattinson over on his way to a dynamic 69 after lunch at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Brathwaite smashed Pattinson over cover for his first powerful blow before flicking another off his pads for an effortless six over backward square leg.

But Pattinson had the last laugh, bowling the hulking all-rounder in his next over.

Brathwaite’s 69 runs came off 71 balls with seven fours and four sixes and further enhanced his reputation after his 59 on debut during the sec-ond Test in Melbourne.

“I just went out there and tried to play my game, thankfully I got from 30-odd overnight to 69,” Brathwaite said. “I’m not satisfied that I didn’t carry on to get three figures or firstly to see

out the day but I’m still happy in sense that I got my highest Test score.”

Brathwaite, who gave the 14,266 bedraggled fans some entertainment on a frustrating stop-start day, said he was disappointed to get out.

“I was very, very upset. Not on the dismissal because I think it was a good nut (ball), but I was upset that once again I got a start and couldn’t carry on and one of the main mantras in cricket is that when things are going good you maximise,” he said.

“Then reaching halfway off and hearing the crowd’s applause and I

even saw some people standing, I just took a step back and said, ‘You know what, just enjoy the feeling’ raised my bat and looked around and it was a very, very good feeling.”

Steve O’Keefe, one of two recog-nised spinners along with Nathan Lyon in an Australian team for the first time in a decade in a home Test, said there was still time for Australia to get a result.

“I think so. I think there’s still a hell of a lot of cricket to go,” O’Keefe said.

“If you can get three days in then that’s close to 300 overs.

“Hopefully, if the skipper sees that spin will play a big role then we might get more overs in towards the back end of the match if the wicket keeps spin-ning, it’s spinning already.”

Only four overs could be bowled in the first session and 7.2 in the second

before another heavy squall forced the players to leave the field for a third and final time.

There was no further play after tea with large tarpaulins covering the pitch and wicket surrounds. The West Indies were 248 for seven with Denesh Ramdin on 30 and Kemar Roach yet to score. “It (the rain) is annoying. It’s hard for the guys to continually switch off and get back up,” O’Keefe said.

“But we have got loads of good structure around us and support staff and they get us switched on and Smithy (Steve Smith) makes sure that with 10 minutes to go that we’re ready and out there to do a job.”

Australia have already retained the Frank Worrell Trophy after huge wins in the first two Tests, and are chasing a 3-0 series clean sweep.

Only 11.2 overs of play possible on the second day of the third Test in Sydney

West Indies batsman Carlos Brathwaite (right) hits the ball for six as Australia’s wicketkeeper Peter Nevill looks on during the first day of the third Test match in Sydney yesterday.

Uncapped quicks

in Australia ODI

squad for India

AFP

SYDNEY: Australia yesterday included uncapped fast bowlers Scott Boland and Joel Paris and left leading spinner Nathan Lyon out of a 13-man squad for the first three one-day internatonals against India.

Boland has been on the periph-ery of the Test team for the current series against the West Indies, while Western Australia’s Paris has been brought in to the national ODI squad for the first time for this month’s series.

There was no place for Lyon with all-rounder Glenn Maxwell to be used as the spinning option.

“Scott has continued to impress the selection panel, having bowled very well for his state Victoria this year,” chairman of selectors Rod Marsh said.

“He certainly deserves this chance at the top level.

“Joel is an exciting young left-arm bowler who swings the ball well.

“He has had very good figures in short-form cricket and we really want him to make the most of this opportunity.”

South Australia paceman Kane Richardson returns to the side hav-ing last played for Australia against South Africa in Canberra in 2014.

“Kane has had a taste of cricket at the international level and although that has been inter-rupted on occasions through injury we think he is ready to perform consistently for Aus-tralia,” Marsh said.

Boland and Paris have been included following injuries to front-line fast bowlers, including Mitchell Starc, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Peter Siddle.

Selector Trevor Hohns said Lyon, Australia’s leading all-time Test off-spin wicket-taker, was still in the panel’s thoughts for future ODIs.

“Nathan is not far out of the picture for one-day cricket, and of course with the (World) T20 com-ing up it’s probably ideal for him to go back and play some of those games,” Hohns told reporters.

“We’re playing the first few games in Brisbane and Perth where normally you play with your faster bowlers.

“Glenn Maxwell has done a pretty good job in the spinning role when we’re only playing that one type of spinner-cum-all-rounder, plus the quicks.”

Hohns said selectors would probably consider two spinners for the T20 World Cup in India in March because of the playing con-ditions on the sub-continent.

Shane Watson, Usman Kha-waja and Joe Burns were among other notable players left out of the squad.

It will be the first time top-ranked Australia have faced India since beating them in the World Cup semi-final at Sydney last March.

Australia subsequently beat New Zealand in the final to win their fifth World Cup

India will play five ODIs against India starting in Perth on January 12, followed by Brisbane on Janu-ary 15, Melbourne on January 17, Canberra on January 20 and Syd-ney on January 23.

West Indies (I innings):

K Brathwaite c Smith b Lyon 85

S Hope c Nevill b Hazlewood 9

D Bravo c Khawaja b Pattinson 33

M Samuels (run out-Hazlewood) 4

J Blackwood b Lyon 10

D Ramdin (batting) 30

J Holder c Burns b O’Keefe 1

C Brathwaite b Pattinson 69

K Roach (batting) 0

Extras (B-5, LB-1, NB-1) 7

Total (for 7 wkts) 248

Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-104, 3-115, 4-131,

5-158, 6-159, 7-246.

Bowling: Hazlewood 15.2-5-37-1, Pattin-

son 16-3-67-2 (1nb), Lyon 35-12-78-2,

Marsh 4-1-15-0, O’Keefe 16-5-45-1.

SCOREBOARD

India panel proposes BCCI revamp after scandalsAFP

NEW DELHI:A panel appointed by India’s Supreme Court yesterday proposed sweeping changes to the country’s scandal-hit cricket board and said gambling should be made legal.

The panel headed by former chief justice Rajendra Mal Lodha was appointed after a string of corrup-tion scandals at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Its report, recommends barring politicians from the sport’s governing

body and introducing time limits on holding office.

It also suggests legalising betting after a popular Twenty20 tournament run by the BCCI, the Indian Premier League (IPL), was rocked by allega-tions of corruption, match-fixing and crooked umpires.

“As far as betting alone is con-cerned... it would serve both the game and economy if it were legalised,” the report suggests, with several riders.

Gambling is mostly illegal in India, but betting on cricket matches thrives through networks of underground bookies.

Lodha’s panel was formed in Jan-uary last year to recommend changes after the top court found two IPL fran-chise owners guilty of betting on the outcome of matches in 2013.

In July it suspended the Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) teams, triggering the resignation of former BCCI chief Narayanaswami Srinivasan.

He was found guilty of a conflict of interest for being at the helm of Indian Cements which owns CSK.

The panel exonerated IPL chief operating officer Sundar Raman, citing lack of evidence, after it was tasked

to investigate match-fixing allega-tions against him.

“I have heard that I have been given a clean chit and I appreciate it,” Raman, who resigned in Novem-ber, told the Press Trust of India news agency.

Lodha said the BCCI should bar ministers and government officials as well as anyone over 70 from hold-ing office and impose a three-year maximum term for holding office.

The panel also suggests a sep-arate executive body for the IPL as well as the appointment of an inde-pendent ombudsman, and ethics and

electoral officers to address griev-ances and conflicts of interest.

The BCCI, which generates huge revenues due to its vast television audiences, should also be brought under India’s Right to Information Act to ensure accountability, the panel added.

Commentators welcomed the rec-ommendations, saying they would help restore the BCCI’s credibility and bring transparency.

“It might be tempting to term them radical, but the Lodha committee has basically recommended good cor-porate practices,” Cricinfo editor

Sambit Bal tweeted, calling them “well thought out and wide-ranging”.

The BCCI enjoys a pre-eminent position in world cricket and effec-tively runs the International Cricket Council with its allies Australia and England. The top court will now rule on whether the recommendations should be legally binding.

Former lawyer Shashank Manohar took charge of the BCCI in October, vowing a new era of clean governance.

The cash-rich but faction-rid-den body has usually been run by politicians or industrialists with con-flicting interests.

Australia’s paceman James Pattinson (left) celebrates with team-mate Stephen O’Keefe after dismissing West Indies batsman Carlos Brathwaite on the second day of the third Test match in Sydney yesterday.

Pakistan to appeal Yasir Shah’s failed dope testAFP

LAHORE, PAKISTAN: Pakistan will appeal against the decision to suspend Yasir Shah (pictured) over a failed dope test, authorities said yesterday, as sources said the spin star told a panel last week he had taken medication for hypertension.

The 29-year-old leg-spinner was provisionally suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on December 27 after testing positive for chlorthalidone, a diuretic used to treat hypertension that is listed on the World Anti-Doping Agen-cy’s banned list of masking agents.

Shah, whose test was conducted on November 13 during the one-day series against England in the United Arab Emirates, has recently emerged as a match-winner in Test cricket and is the world’s highest-ranking spinner in the format.

Sources within the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said Shah told the medical panel last week he had taken a tablet from his wife to treat hypertension.

PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said the board’s medical panel had met yesterday after receiving more details from the ICC on Shah’s case, and had decided not to request a second urine sample.

“We have decided not to go for the ‘B’ sample test, and instead will appeal with the ICC,” he said.

Under the ICC rules Shah has until Sunday to challenge the suspension or plead guilty.

If his appeal is rejected, he faces a possible ban of up to four years.Shah emerged as a match-winner for Pakistan in Test cricket after he

replaced ace spinner Saeed Ajmal, who struggled with a remodelled bowl-ing action after it was reported in 2014.

Shah took 24 wickets in Pakistan’s 2-1 series win in Sri Lanka in July and another 15 in a 2-0 Test win over England in November.

Fans dressed as late cricket player and commentator Richie Benaud wear suits, grey wigs and prop microphones, as they pay tribute to him while watching the third cricket test between Australia and the West Indies at the SCG in Sydney, yesterday.

McCullum out of Sri Lanka ODIAFP

MOUNT MAUNGANUI, New Zea-land: Outgoing New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum was ruled out of the final one-day international against Sri Lanka yesterday as he struggles to recover from a back injury.

Today’s game in Mount Maunganui will be the third McCullum has missed since he was injured on December 28 while fielding against Sri Lanka in the second game of the five-match series.

Coach Mike Hesson initially said McCullum, who will retire from

international cricket after next month’s Tests against Australia, had a chance of completing the Sri Lanka series.

But Hesson said yesterday that the skipper will not be considered until the first ODI against Pakistan in Wel-lington on January 25.

“He’s really struggling,” Hesson said.

“He hasn’t progressed as well as we’d thought. He will get a further assessment.”

McCullum had already announced he would sit out the Twenty20 matches against Sri Lanka and Pakistan as he

will not be going to the World Cup in March.

Fast bowler Tim Southee, who suf-fered a foot injury in the third ODI against Sri Lanka in Nelson last Thurs-day, will also miss today’s game.

However, his regular new-ball partner Trent Boult returns to the side after being rested for the first four games.

With New Zealand 2-1 up, Sri Lanka need to win today to draw the series after earlier being beaten 2-0 in the Tests. The fourth ODI was abandoned Saturday because of heavy rain.

CRICKET: WEST INDIES TOUR

OF AUSTRALIA

SPORT32 TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

Captain Amla stands firm against England

AFP

CAPE TOWN: South African captain Hashim Amla defied England’s bowl-ers and batted throughout the third day of the second Test at Newlands yesterday.

Amla made an unbeaten 157 as South Africa reached 353 for three at the close, still 276 runs behind Eng-land’s first innings total of 629 for six declared.

AB de Villiers was the only bats-man dismissed during the day as South Africa, 1-0 down in the four-Test series, dug in on a pitch which offered no assist-ance to the bowlers.

Steven Finn was the only success-ful bowler. He had De Villiers caught at midwicket shortly before tea after Amla and De Villiers had put on 183 in a third wicket partnership which lasted for two minutes short of five hours.

Faf du Plessis, who like Amla had endured a lean spell with the bat, made 51 not out as he helped his captain put on an unbeaten 85 for the fourth wicket.

It was a crucial innings for Amla, who was under pressure for both his

captaincy and his batting. South Africa have not won a Test since beating the West Indies at the same venue a year ago, while Amla had made only 150 runs at an average of 15.00 in 10 innings since that match.

It was a triumph of technique and concentration as he made his first Test century since he hit 208 against the West Indies in Centurion in Decem-ber 2014.

By the close he had batted for nine hours and 26 minutes and had faced 371 balls. His innings included 21 fours.

After the worst year of his interna-tional career, Amla had two strokes of luck. He was dropped by James Ander-son at slip off Joe Root when he was on 76 and by Nick Compton at backward point off Steven Finn when he had 120.

With South Africa’s batting hav-ing been fragile for most of 2015, the partnership between Amla and De Vil-liers, the side’s two senior batsmen,

was important for the team.Both men batted solidly for the

most part but had anxious moments which required decisions by televi-sion umpire Rod Tucker.

Amla managed to get his bat down just in time after Finn deflected a drive by De Villiers into the stumps at the bowler’s end. De Villiers was given out leg before wicket to Ben Stokes by umpire Aleem Dar when he had 85, but De Villiers immediately sought a review which showed the ball had gone off an inside edge onto his pad.

De Villiers scored only three more runs before he pulled a short ball from Finn hard but straight to Anderson at midwicket.

He had defied the England bowlers for 298 minutes and 211 balls, hitting 12 fours and a six.

By contrast to the second day, when Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow thrashed 196 runs for England before lunch and

453 runs were scored in the day for the loss of three wickets, it was attritional cricket, with only 212 runs scored in 87 overs.

Bairstow pumped his chest to the sky and wiped away a tear as he completed an emotional maiden Test hundred for England against South Africa on Sunday, amid a record-break-ing stand with Ben Stokes.

The red-haired England wicket-keeper last year lost his grandfather, with whom he shared a close relation-ship, while his dad David, a former England cricketer, killed himself in 1998.

“Obviously after everything that has gone on in the last year or so it’s fantastic to get over the line for me and my family,” he told reporters after

finishing on 150 not out with his mother and sister watching on from the stands.

“They have supported me all through my career. To have them here in Cape Town is lovely and it is my mum’s birthday on the last day of the Test so hopefully we can cap off a great game.

“It was probably the best day of my life and one I will never forget.”

After being recalled to the England side during last year’s Ashes triumph over Australia, Bairstow’s place in the team has come under scrutiny.

“It has been a little while coming. There was a lot of talk here and there so I’m delighted to get over the line today,” he said.

Stokes and Bairstow scored 399 in a record sixth-wicket stand as England declared on 629 for six on the second day of the second Test at Newlands.

It was a bludgeoning perform-ance from Stokes, who scored a

record-breaking 258 off 198 balls.“It was an exhibition of stroke

play,” Bairstow said. “We just clicked in and supported each other all the way through. To play a knock like that is something quite spectacular.

“I’ve grown up with Stokesy and seen him play some fantastic knocks and to witness that today was extremely special and something a lot of people will never forget.”

England will seek to take an even firmer hold on the Test on Monday by quickly dismissing South Africa, who closed on 141 for two.

“It will be a strong move from us if we can come back in the morning and take some chances,” Bairstow said.

“Our bowlers have a wealth of expe-rience in all different conditions and hopefully we can come out tomorrow, utilise a bit of reverse swing, moisture in the pitch and we go from there,” he added.

South Africa’s AB de Villiers plays a shot during the third day’s play of second Test against England in Cape Town, yesterday. RIGHT: South African captain Hashim Amla plays a shot during the day’s proceedings.

Pakistan team coach Waqar Younis (right) chats with Pakistan Twenty20 captain Shahid Afridi (left) and Mohammad Amir during a team practice session at a camp ahead of the New Zealand tour, in Lahore on Sunday.

Waqar supports return of tainted players

AFP

LAHORE: Pakistan head coach Waqar Younis yesterdaysaid corruption-tainted Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif and any other player who has com-pleted a ban should be allowed another chance to play for the national team.

The comments came days after paceman Mohammad Amir looked set to return to the Pakistan team after being selected for an upcoming series in New Zealand, months after com-pleting a five-year spot-fixing ban.

“I will welcome not only Amir but whosoever has completed a sentence,” said Younis. “If they (Butt and Asif) have (completed their sentences) and

are eligible then, of course, selectors should keep an eye on them,” he said.

Amir’s inclusion in the Twenty20 and one-day international squads remains contingent on him being issued a visa by Wellington -- a potential hur-dle given Amir’s criminal conviction for his role in arranging deliberate no-balls during Pakistan’s tour of Eng-land in 2010.

The scandal also involved Butt and fellow bowler Asif, who are now undergoing rehabilitation and will feature in a national one-day tourna-ment starting from January 10.

“I don’t know how long they will take to prove themselves fit and ready to go, one year or six months, whenever they are ready they should be given another opportunity,” said Younis.

Amir, once regarded as the hot-test property in international cricket, remains a polarising figure for Paki-stan’s cricket-mad public and even some teammates.

Amir’s return to the squad was opposed by one-day captain Azhar Ali and former Twenty20 captain and current player Mohammad Hafeez.

Last week Mohammad Hafeez and Azhar Ali left a training camp Amir was attending in protest at his pro-spective selection. They were later forced to return after being threat-ened with disciplinary action.

Ali also tendered his resignation Monday in protest, but it was rejected by Pakistan Cricket Board.

Pakistan fly to New Zealand on January 10.

England (I innings): 629-6 decl

South Africa (I innings):

D Elgar c Compton b Stokes 44

S van Zyl (run out-Compton) 4

H Amla (batting) 157

A de Villiers c Anderson b Finn 88

F du Plessis (batting) 51

Extras (LB-3, W-6) 9

Total (for 3 wkts) 353

Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-85, 3-268.

Bowling: Anderson 24-8-53-0, Broad

20-4-54-0, Ali 31-9-80-0, Finn 26-3-82-1

(2w), Root 5-2-12-0, Stokes 21-3-67-1

(4w), Hales 3-1-2-0

SCOREBOARD

Australia floats Ashes day-night Test prospect AFP

SYDNEY: England’s next Ashes series in Australia may have a day-night Test match, Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland said yes-terday.

Sutherland said his organisation was negotiating with Pakistan and South Africa about the possibility of staging day-night Tests on their touring schedules later this year.

He also floated the prospect of hosting an Ashes day-night Test in 2017-18 amid high interest in the concept following November’s first pink-ball Test between Australia and New Zealand in Adelaide.

“It is certainly on the radar. We haven’t had any formal con-versations with the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board),” Suth-erland told ABC Radio during the third Australia-West Indies Test in Sydney.

“With the success of the Adelaide Test match this year, the anticipation is that we will have at least one day-night Test (in 2016).

The historic Adelaide match attracted a total attendance of 123,736 fans over three lively days. The opening day gate of 47,441 was the biggest at the Adelaide Test since the famous 1932-33 ‘bodyline’ series.

Sutherland said there will be further meetings with Pakistan and South Africa representatives later this month.

“We’ll have meetings in Dubai (in January) with a lot of the chief executives and certainly will be talking to counterparts at Pakistan and South Africa,” Sutherland said.

“They definitely know it (day-night Tests) will be on the agenda.

“The right place, right time and right conditions -- we’re going to see more Test cricket played in the evening.”

England’s Ben Stokes celebrates after scoring a century during the second Test against South Africa in Cape Town on Sunday.

Stokes adopts simple mantra to flay SAReuters

CAPE TOWN: Ben Stokes’ reaction to his record-breaking day with the bat was almost as nonchalant as his approach in scoring 258 to help Eng-land to a stunning 629 for six declared in the second Test against South Africa on Sunday.

“See ball, hit ball is the only way to describe it,” he told reporters after helping England from 317 for five over-night to a massive second-day score with a bludgeoning display that had the Newlands crowd enthralled.

Stokes, who resumed on Sunday on 74, had not scored more than 21 in his previous seven Test innings for England, and had only managed one 50 in his last 13 Test knocks.

“I felt a little bit of pressure com-ing into the game with not having too many runs under my belt in the Tests before this,” he said.

“It meant more emotion than I usually show when I got to 100 but I just tried to keep on going and wasn’t

really thinking of any landmarks as I went along.

“I just tried to hit as many bound-aries as I could because it was too hot to run,” he joked.

Stokes scored a Test record for a number six batsman and starred in a record sixth wicket partnership of 399 runs with Jonny Bairstow, who was 150 not out when England declared.

Stokes, who had overcome a shoulder injury suffered on tour with England in October, also hit the fast-est 250 (off 196 balls) in Test history and the second fastest double cen-tury (163 balls).

His tally of 11 sixes was a new Test record for an England batsmen.

“I didn’t want to hang around and just nudge my way to 100 because I’d be a little bit annoyed with myself if I took the selfish route,” he said.

“I just wanted to get as many runs as quickly as I could.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet, and quite a lot of adrenalin is running through me, but at this moment in time, I don’t know, I’m pretty tired,” he added.

Seasoned batsman scores an unbeaten 157 on South Africa’s day in Cape Town

CRICKET: ENGLAND’S TOUR

TO SOUTH AFRICA

SPORT 33TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

Barcelona’s Turan and Vidal ready for Espanyol Cup clash

Reuters

BARCELONA: Barcelona can call on Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal for the first time after a FIFA-imposed ban on the club registering new players as they seek to breach Espanyol’s resilient defence in the King’s Cup today.

Barca’s five trophy haul in 2015 was all the more impressive given the sanction on fielding new signings that ends when the transfer window opens on Monday but, while they have coped well, reinforcements will boost Luis Enrique’s stretched squad.

He admitted his side failed to match the work-rate of the Espanyol defence in Saturday’s 0-0 La Liga draw that cost Barca top spot although they do have a game in hand.

The Catalans are unbeaten in 18 games but, aside from the two wins that saw them lift the Club World Cup last month, they have just one victory in five matches in all other competitions.

The King’s Cup holders now face Espanyol in the first leg of their last 16 clash at the Camp Nou.

“Being unbeaten is fine but if we

want to win trophies then we have to win and score goals against any rival,” technical secretary Robert Fernan-dez told reporters after the Espanyol draw. “If we’re going to be champions it’s necessary to win.”

Turan and Vidal were signed ahead of this season from Atletico Madrid and Sevilla respectively but have had to watch from the sidelines due to the FIFA ban for the club’s alleged breach of rules on the transfer of foreign Under-18 players.

Soccer’s world governing body FIFA announced in April it had banned Bar-celona from the transfer market for

two consecutive windows and fined them $455,000.

With the prolific form of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez in Bar-ca’s so-called trident attack, Turkey playmaker Turan is more likely to be used in a deeper role while Spaniard Vidal is an option for either a midfield spot or at right back.

“It has been a difficult four months as we have had two players who have been keen to play and we have wanted to see them in action,” said Fernandez.

“Still these months have worked well in letting them get to know our style of play and the system.”

There is also set to be a hard-fought derby between Real Betis and Sevilla after last month’s bad-tempered league clash which finished 0-0 and was lit-tered with yellow cards.

La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid face city rivals Rayo Vallecano, while third-tier Cadiz play Celta Vigo having been given a bye after Real Madrid were disqualified for fielding an ineligible player inn their last-32, first-leg clash.

Real included Denis Cheryshev in their starting lineup at Cadiz in early December when he should have been serving a one-match ban. The Russia forward opened the scoring in a 3-1 win.

Despite the ban imposed by FIFA for irregularities in the signing of for-eign players under the age of 18, Barca recorded the second most successful year in their 116-year history.

Enrique’s men claimed five tro-phies in all, including a treble of La Liga, Champions League and Copa del Rey.

However, having drawn three of their last four La Liga games to fall two points behind Atletico Madrid at the top of the table, Vidal and Turan are expected to add some much needed depth to the squad for a potential run of 16 games before the end of February.

“Finally, the sanction has ended,” Vidal, who joined from Sevilla in June for a reported $21.7m fee, told Barca TV.

A year-long ban on European champions registering new players ends

Atletico Madrid’s Argentinian midfielder Matias Kranevitter performs during his presentation as new player of the Spanish Primera Division club at Vicente Calderon Stadium in Madrid, Spain, yesterday.

Benitez to be sacked as Real Madrid coach, say reportsAgencies

BARCELONA: Beleaguered Real Madrid coach Rafael Benitez (pic-tured) could be sacked by the Spanish giants as after just seven months in charge, several Spanish media out-lets reported.

Sports daily Marca reported Ben-itez’s sacking will be made official in the coming hours with French legend and the club’s reserve team coach Zin-edine Zidane to take over.

Madrid twice threw away the lead in drawing 2-2 away to Valencia on Sunday to leave Benitez’s men four points adrift of local rivals Atletico Madrid at the top of La Liga.

They also trail eternal rivals Bar-celona by two points having played a game more.

The appointment of the former Liverpool and Chelsea manager in June wasn’t a popular one with either fans or the club’s star players, who had voiced their desire for his sacked predecessor Carlo Ancelotti to stay.

A run of three league defeats in five games in November and December, including a 4-0 thrashing at home to Barcelona, wiped away the early credit Benitez had gained with an unbeaten 14-game run to start his reign.

Further embarrassment was to fol-low when Madrid were thrown out of the Copa del Rey for fielding an inel-igible player last month.

Benitez’s relationship with the dressing room has also failed to improve with key players such as Karim Benzema and James Rodriguez often showing their disgust at being substituted.

And captain Sergio Ramos failed to offer a strong sign of support for Benitez

when given the chance after the Valen-cia game. “His future doesn’t depend on us,” said the Spanish international.

“Whoever the coach is he will always have the confidence of the players. Whether it is Rafa or any-one else.”

Earlier, Benitez said he cannot stop people speculating about his position but felt his team deserved praise for the way they battled with 10 men in Sunday’s 2-2 La Liga draw at Valencia.

There has been continual talk over recent weeks in the Madrid press about Benitez’s job and the coach has been whistled by the Bernabeu crowd for some below-par performances.

His side have enjoyed some big wins this season, such as the 10-2 demolition of Rayo Vallecano last month, but most of the criticism has over the way Real have struggled to beat stronger opposition and they were hammered 4-0 at home by Barcelona.

They failed to beat Valencia but did show some quality attacking play and the fighting spirit, especially when Mateo Kovacic was sent off after 68

minutes, that even Benitez concedes has been lacking at times.

“It would be wrong to just look at the result as the effort that the players showed deserves plenty of praise,” he told a news conference.

“We have (won) on many occa-sions, but this game was against a strong side and with ten players we have battled to the end.

“I cannot prevent people from speculating (about my position) but what I can achieve is that the team works like it has today. It was a mas-sive effort and unfortunately we didn’t get the three points.”

The draw leaves Real in third place with 37 points behind leaders Atletico Madrid on 41 and champions Barce-lona, who have 39 with a game in hand.

In marked contrast to his recep-tion in the Spanish capital, Benitez was warmly received by fans at his former club Valencia and there was a banner at one end of the Mestalla which said: “Thank you for giving us the best years of our lives”.

It was a special occasion for Ben-itez who is the most successful coach in Valencia’s history, having won La Liga in 2002 and 2004, when he also led them to UEFA Cup success.

Real twice went ahead through Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale but were pegged back, and had to play the final stages of the game with ten men after Kovacic was dismissed.

“During the first 35 minutes we were in control and then in the sec-ond half it was tough,” said Benitez.

“The ten minutes when we didn’t have control in the first half doesn’t take away the merit from the first 35 minutes and the same in the second half when we conceded again after scoring. I don’t know if the opposi-tion should be praised or it was a lack of concentration.”

FC Barcelona’s German goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen (centre left) poses for a photograph during his team’s traditional open door training session on the eve of Three Kings’ Day in Barcelona, Spain, yesterday.

Struggling Genoa looking

for derby boost today

AFP

MILAN: Genoa host Sampdoria in the city derby hoping to show their current struggles are temporary as Serie A resumes today following a two-week festive break.

Gian Piero Gasperini’s men have slipped to 17th in Italy’s top flight to sit just two points above third-from-bot-tom Frosinone after a run of disastrous results leading up to Christmas.

Before then, Genoa had enjoyed a strong run which had left them firmly in the top half of the table and Colom-bian midfielder Tomas Rincon believes a win today will show their league position is misleading.

“We’ve had a good rest over the festive break and we’re determined to go out and show we don’t deserve to be where we are in the table right now,” Rincon told Sky Sport.

“The derby is a special game that is totally different from all the others, because there’s only only thing that matters and that is victory.”

Genoa’s last win at home came against Sassuolo at the end of Novem-ber and since then Gasperini’s men have suffered home defeats to struggling Carpi and Bologna while conceding defeat at title challengers Inter Milan and Roma.

In the first Serie A game of 2016 and at the clubs’ shared Luigi Ferraris stadium today, sparks are expected to fly.

Sampdoria have endured strug-gles of their own, only ending a run

of four defeats with a draw away to Lazio and a 2-0 home win over Pal-ermo in the week before Christmas.

That mediocre run of results led some to question the club’s decision to sack coach Walter Zenga at the start of November and replace him with ex-Fiorentina handler Vincenzo Montella. Montella said the festive break has given him time to reflect on their strategy for the second half of the season, but admits Samp won’t be taking Genoa lightly.

“We had time during the holi-days to recharge our batteries so we’re looking for a positive start to the new year. Mentally, we’re ready,” Montella said.

“To win this game we’ll need determination, but it won’t be enough. We need to be lucid and have full respect for our opponents.

“Genoa are a top side and at the start of the season were one of the more complete squads in the league before they suffered due to a number of injuries.”

While Genoa are hoping AC Milan striker Alessio Cerci will reply pos-itively to their offer of a move to the club during the winter transfer market, Samp yesterday welcomed Argentinian midfielder Ricardo Alvarez on a six-month deal from Inter Milan following a loan spell with Sunderland in England’s Pre-mier League.

The remainder of the midweek fixtures will be held on Wednesday when Inter travel to Empoli looking to protect their one-point lead over Fiorentina, who are away to Palermo.

Wife hints at

Totti retirement

AFP

MILAN: Long-serving Roma cap-tain Francesco Totti could retire at the end of the current season and is already considering his options elsewhere within football, his wife said yesterday.

Totti has played all 22 seasons of his professional career with Roma but during a three-month injury lay-off the 38-year-old has had plenty of time to consider his future.

For his wife Ilary Blasi, a pre-senter on a popular television show, Totti is already in his final season in Italy’s top flight.

“Retirement? We’re there,” Blasi said in an interview with Oggi mag-azine when asked when Totti would finally hang up his boots.

“Next year he will be 40 years old. Francesco has had a great career, to the extent that now he’s thinking what else he wants to do. But he will stay within the sport.”

The comments come two months after Totti, who is revered by Roma fans despite only steer-ing them to one league title (2001) during his career, said he would play “until my body tells me to stop”.

So far this season, Totti has made only three league appearances and the thigh injury that kept him on the sidelines took far longer to heal than first anticipated.

On his last appearance, Totti scored his 300th goal for Roma in a 2-2 draw with Sassuolo in late September. With 244 goals in Serie A, he remains 30 short of Sil-vio Piola’s all-time record of 274.

Totti looks unlikely to come close to Piola’s benchmark and the ‘King of Rome’ -- as he is affec-tionately known by fans -- could be deprived of the fairytale end-ing of another league title.

Sturridge to miss League Cup clash with StokeAFP

LIVERPOOL: Injury-plagued Liver-pool striker Daniel Sturridge has been ruled out of today’s League Cup semi-final first leg at Stoke after suffering a minor setback in his recovery from a hamstring problem.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, who has just one fit striker in Christian Benteke, had hoped to get Sturridge back ahead of this week’s cup dou-ble-header, with the Reds also set to face fourth-tier Exeter in the FA Cup on Friday. However, Sturridge, who hasn’t played since making a substi-tute appearance in Liverpool’s 2-0

defeat at Newcastle on December 6, suffered another setback in training which will further delay his return.

“Daniel had some problems, not serious, but could not make a session and we had to wait a day,” said Klopp, who has likened the past month to pre-season for the England international.

“Because he didn’t have one session

with the team it was not the usual plan for this week.

“It is how a pre-season can be. Some little things happen and we have to handle this.

“It is not a row of sessions and we say ‘Now we are here and go...’

“I will pick him when he is ready, I will not hold him back.”

FC Barcelona’s head coach Luis Enrique greets the crowd during his team’s traditional open door training session on the eve of Three Kings’ Day in Barcelona, Spain, yesterday.

FOOTBALL: KING’S CUP

REUTERS

BARCELONA: A Paco Alcacer header gave Valencia a 2-2 draw in a highly charged La Liga clash against third-placed Real Madrid who had taken the lead with eight minutes remain-ing on Sunday.

Real, who had Mateo Kovacic sent off after 68 minutes for a two-footed challenge, went 2-1 ahead with a superb Gareth Bale header only for Alcacer to level just over a minute later.

Real had opened the scoring after a magical team move in which Karim Benzema linked up with Bale and Cris-tiano Ronaldo before finishing clinically after 17 minutes.

Both sides had spells of dominance and Valencia equalised through a Dani Parejo penalty just before halftime after a foul by Pepe on Andre Gomes.

The game was evenly poised when Kovacic was red carded for a reckless challenge on Joao Cancelo shortly after Ronaldo thought he should have had a penalty when he was bundled over.

Bale put Real back in front when he headed into the top corner from a free-kick after 82 minutes but Alcacer nodded in the equaliser from close range.

Valencia coach Gary Neville is still without a win in four league games but will be delighted at how his team fought back. For under-fire Real coach Rafa Benitez, back at the club where he won the league in 2002 and 2004, plus the UEFA Cup, it was another game where they failed to beat battling opponents.

“It is difficult to maintain a high intensity and double if you have a player less but we showed pride,” Real defender Sergio Ramos told reporters.

“We wanted to start the year showing character and I think we did so here.”

Atletico Madrid are top with 41 points from 18 matches, two ahead of Barcelona, who have a game in hand, while Real have 37, one more than Vil-larreal who won 2-1 at Deportivo La Coruna thanks to a late penalty from Bruno Soriano who scored twice.

Real moved the ball around slickly in attack and went ahead with their first real chance. Benzema exchanged passes with Bale, who back-heeled the ball to Ronaldo, and the Portuguese set up Benzema to score.

Valencia’s improved as the first half

went on and equalised after Pepe was caught out by Gomes and he brought him down for a penalty struck by Parejo.

Real rallied in the second half fol-lowing the dismissal of Kovacic and went back ahead through a pin-point Bale header from a Toni Kroos free-kick but then they were exposed at the back with Rodrigo heading back across goal and Alcacer scored.

In the dying moments of the game

Alvaro Negredo was through on goal but denied by keeper Keylor Navas.

Villarreal went ahead with the only clear chance in the first period when Soriano was given space inside the area from a Mario Gaspar pass and he slotted home in the 36th minute.

The game opened up after the break and Depor’s Luis Alberto con-verted a Lucas Perez cross to equalise after 48 minutes. Perez fired just wide in front of goal and Villarreal’s Denis Suarez was denied by the feet of Ger-man Lux but the game appeared to be heading for a draw until Fernando Nav-arro pushed Samu Garcia in the area

to concede a penalty. Soriano stepped up to slot home his second goal in the 94th minute for their fifth straight win after a lively second half.

Elsewhere, Eibar’s Ander Capa, Keko, Adrian Gonzalez and Borja Bas-ton were on target for the mid-table side in a 4-0 win at Real Betis, while lowly Granada’s Isaac Success and Adalberto Penaranda scored in a 2-1 victory over Sevilla.

Second-bottom Rayo Vallecano’s Diego Llorente and Jozabed Sanchez struck in a 2-2 draw at home to Real Sociedad whose goals came from Aritz Elustondo and Bruma.

SPORT34 TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

Alcacer’s header earns Valencia draw with Real Madrid in thriller

Valencia CF's striker Paco Alcacer (third from left) scores against Real Madrid's Costa Rican goal keeper Keylor Navas (left) during the Spanish Primera Division soccer match played at Mestalla stadium in Valencia, eastern Spain on Sunday.

Another game where 10-man Real failed to beat battling opponents

Arsenal have right vibe tolift EPL title, says Wenger Reuters

ARSENAL: Arsenal’s victory over Newcastle United has left manager Arsene Wenger confident that his team’s mental strength will help them mount a strong challenge for the Pre-mier League title this season.

The Gunners beat Newcastle 1-0 on Saturday to move two points clear at the top of the Premier League table and the Frenchman viewed the victory as proof that his team have acquired a resilience they perhaps lacked in the past.

Arsenal last won the league in 2004, two years before shifting from Highbury to the Emirates Stadium, and Wenger says the current crop have a charisma that sets them apart from his teams of the intervening decade.

“I think we are more experienced

than the teams I had when I moved into the stadium here,” the French-man told the club’s website (www.arsenal.com).

“On our day we could play every-body off the park and when you had to dig deep you experienced it was a bit more difficult. It was different.”

“We were more questioned on that aspect than the way we played football. Now, (in terms of) the expe-rience, the quality of their attitude, the team always has the charisma. If you look at the team as a unit, it is like a person.”

“If you look at your team like a person and the vibes that are com-ing out - you can sense in this job if you feel it or not.”

“I must say (you see) another aspect

of your team in a game like (against Newcastle). It is more the mental aspect - you fight, don’t panic and wait for your chance.” In Per Mertesacker, Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, Petr Cech and Olivier Giroud, Wenger has an experi-enced core of senior players who have won titles at their former clubs, which should stand Arsenal in good stead as the season builds to its climax.

Giroud, Arsenal’s top scorer with 10 league goals so far, says that expe-rience will play a key part in whether the Gunners will win the league.

“To be a champion, I know (what it takes) because I was a champion with Montpellier,” he said.

“You need a bit of luck and some-times you cannot play a fantastic game (but you need to win).

“We have a good mixture of expe-rienced players and young players and the older ones bring confidence to the youngest and lead them.”

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger looks on as his players take part in a team training session in this file photo.

Lovren rallies Liverpool for League Cup semi AFP

STOKE-ON-TRENT: Dejan Lovren has urged Liverpool to show a stronger mental streak as they seek to recover from their latest disappointment in today’s League Cup semi-final first leg at Stoke City.

Manager Jurgen Klopp’s hopes of ending his first season in English foot-ball with a top-four Premier League finish and a place in next season’s Champions League suffered a blow when Liverpool started the new year with a 2-0 defeat at West Ham United on Saturday.

The German was angered by his team’s display, but his debut season at Anfield could yet end with silverware as Liverpool stand just two games from a Wembley meeting with either Man-chester City or neighbours Everton.

Lovren acknowledged that his manager had every right to vent his anger following the West Ham game, the Croatian centre-back saying: “We are disappointed. It wasn’t the best performance from us and we need to be angry with ourselves.

“I don’t know the reasons why, but we need to step up quickly from this because we don’t have time to

think about it now, because we have the game with Stoke today.”

“We definitely need to change our mentality and we need to keep a bet-ter run of games and to fight more. It was two easy goals conceded, I would say.”

“We have a game in the cup against Stoke and it’s a big chance for us to get to the final. So we need to stay calm and say tomorrow is a new day and we’ll start to prepare for the Stoke game and try to be in the final.”

Liverpool, whose last major hon-our was the 2012 League Cup, also get their FA Cup campaign under way at Exeter City on Friday.

“It is not what we always want to do, but at a time like this football is not easy. But all clubs have their tar-gets. Some are under pressure, some have confidence or lack of confidence. Klopp said.

“After the Sunderland game, the players were really intensive, rather than celebrating. They are thinking, ‘Next game.’ To say January is deci-sive? We will see,”

Stoke will also be seeking to bounce back after league disappoint-ment at the start of 2016, in their case a 2-1 defeat at West Bromwich Albion, which followed successive wins over Manchester United and Everton.

Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren

Chelsea can still finish in top four: Hiddink London: Chelsea still have a chance of finishing in the Pre-mier League top four and securing Champions League football at the end of the sea-son, interim manager Guus Hiddink has said.

Chelsea beat Crystal Pal-ace 3-0 on Sunday to register their sixth league win of the season and their first since Hiddink took the reins from Jose Mourinho last month.

The win moved Chelsea up to 14th place in the table and 13 points behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, and Hiddink refused to write off his side’s chances of fin-ishing in the top four although he admitted it would be “difficult”.

“Everyone knows there’s a lot of quality but sometimes a team which has just become champions has a tendency to become complacent,” the Dutchman told the BBC.

“When I started, we said mathematically when we could get to a Champions League position it would be lovely.

“It’s difficult because this league has become so strong. Everyone can win from eve-ryone, which means it’s very difficult to get there.

Former Arsenal winger Pennant to switch sides Singapore: Former Arsenal and Liverpool winger Jer-maine Pennant is set for an unlikely transfer to Sin-gaporean side Tampines Rovers, local media reported yesterday.

The 32-year-old will arrive in the Southeast Asian citys-tate tomorrow and undergo a week long trial with the five-times S.League champions, Red Card Sports Radio said yesterday.

Pennant has been with-out a club since leaving Wigan Athletic in June following their relegation to the third tier of English football and went on trial with Thai side Muang-thong United in November in a failed bid to resurrect his career.

Pennant was tipped for great things after leaving Notts County and signing for Arsenal aged 15 for 2 million pounds ($2.95 million) but he failed to find consistency in a nomadic career that has also seen him play in Spain and India.

Undeniably talented and an able crosser and dribbler, Pennant’s career was blighted by arrests and jail time for drink driving offences and he became the first footballer to play a Premier League match whilst wearing a police tag in 2005.

Alvarez joins Samp on six-month deal Milan: Sampdoria have announced the signing of Argentinian midfielder Ricardo Alvarez, who joins the Serie A club from Inter Milan following an unsuccessful loan spell with Sunderland in Eng-land’s Premier League.

Alvarez, 27, has joined the Genoa-based club on a six-month deal which expires on June 30, according to Samp-doria. Alvarez joins in time for the city derby away to Genoa on Tuesday, bringing to an end a period of uncertainty about his future. Alvarez, who has made nine appearances for the Argentina national side, joined Sunderland on loan from Inter in September 2014 but failed to make the move permanent.

With only five wins in 17 games, Sampdoria have slipped to 14th in Italy’s top flight although Genoa are four points further adrift in 17th.

FOOTBALL-LA LIGA:

VALENCIA VS REAL MADRID

FOOTBALL:

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

SPORT 35TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

Butler betters Jordan record in Bulls victory over Raptors

AFP

LOS ANGELES: Jimmy Butler broke Michael Jordan’s franchise record for the most points in a half with 40 as the Chicago Bulls rallied to beat the Toronto Raptors 115-113 on Sunday.

Butler, who scored two points in the first half before exploding for 40 in the second, surpassed Jordan’s mark of 39 which the NBA icon set against the Milwaukee Bucks in February 1988.

The 26-year-old shooting guard rattled in a clutch three pointer with 30 seconds left as the Bulls beat the Raptors for the second time in six days.

Asked about breaking Jordan’s record, Butler said, “Do not compare me to him.”

Butler’s superb second half allowed the Bulls to come from behind after trailing by as many as 15 points at the Air Canada Centre arena.

“He just couldn’t miss. It was unbe-lievable,” teammate Taj Gibson said of Butler.

The Bulls have now won seven straight over the Raptors, including a 104-97 win last Monday in Chicago.

Centre Pau Gasol added 19 points and 13 rebounds and forward Nikola Mirotic scored 17 points for Chicago.

Guard DeMar DeRozan led the Rap-tors with 24 points but missed a shot as the final buzzer sounded.

Forward Luis Scola and point guard Kyle Lowry each scored 22 points and Lowry added 10 assists for the Raptors in front of a crowd of 19,800.

With the game tied 109-109, Lowry hit a turn-around jumper with 40.9 seconds left to put the Raptors ahead by two points.

Butler came back with a three-pointer to give the Bulls a 112-111 lead with 30.6 seconds remaining in regulation.

Lowry missed a running layup and Toronto forward DeMarre Carroll was called for a foul that sent Gasol to the free throw line.

Gasol made one of two to give the Bulls a two-point lead with 23 sec-onds on the clock.

On the Bulls’ next possession

Gibson made one of two free throws and Chicago led by three. Centre Jonas Valanciunas cut the lead to one with 4.6 seconds left.

Butler made one of two free throws and DeRozan missed a long shot from beyond the arc at the buzzer.

The Bulls won despite injuries to key players, including guard Derrick Rose who missed his third straight game. Rose will have an MRI done of his sore right hamstring on Monday.Joakim Noah also did not play because of an injured left shoulder.

Brooklyn Nets point guard Jarrett Jack will miss the rest of the season

after an MRI revealed he has two torn ligaments in his right knee, the team said Sunday. Jack, 32, will require sur-gery to repair the damage. He was hurt during Saturday’s win over the Boston Celtics. Jack averaged 12.8 points, a team-high 7.4 assists and 4.3 rebounds this season in 32 games.

Meanwhile Denver forward Ken-neth Faried took to Instagram to say he was feeling “much better” after a scary neck injury in the Nuggets’ loss to

Golden State in Oakland on Saturday.To prove it, he made it to Denver in

time to start the Nuggets’ home game against Portland, which was won by the Trail Blazers 112-106.

Faried, who took an elbow to the head and was stretchered off in Oak-land, played 27 minutes, scored 13 points and pulled down nine rebounds.

In other injury news, Kobe Bryant missed his second

straight game with a sore right shoulder.However, his Los Angeles Lakers

beat Phoenix 97-77 without their aging superstar in a meeting of the league’s two worst teams.

Butler overcomes legend’s mark of 39 points which he set against the Bucks in February 1988

NBA RESULTSNY Knicks 111 Atlanta 97

Chicago 115 Toronto 113

Miami 97 Washington 75

Portland 112 Denver 106

LA Lakers 97 Phoenix 77

Chicago Bulls guard Jimmy Butler (centre) controls the ball against Toronto Raptors’ forward Bismack Biyombo (left) and guard Kyle Lowry during their NBA game at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Sunday. Chicago defeated Toronto 115-113.

BASKETBALL: NBA ROUND-UP

Alex Goligoski (right) of the Dallas Stars and Kyle Okposo of the New York Islanders pursue the puck during the first period at the Barclays Center on Sunday in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.

Okposo, Clutterbuck star in Islanders’ winAgencies

NEW YORK: Kyle Okposo and Cal Clutterbuck scored two goals apiece as the New York Islanders rode a three-goal second period to a 6-5 win over the league-leading Dallas Stars at Barclays Center on Sunday.

Thomas Greiss made 36 saves and Anders Lee and Mikhail Grabovski also scored for the Islanders, who began a two-game homestand in which they’ll host the top two teams in the NHL.

The Eastern Conference-leading Washington Capitals visit on Thursday.

Valeri Nichushkin scored twice and Vernon Fiddler, Patrick Sharp and Jason Spezza scored one each for the Stars. Kari Lehtonen recorded 38 saves.

Panthers 2, Wild 1Jaromir Jagr scored a pair of goals,

Dmitry Kulikov had assists on both of them and Al Montoya was excep-tional in net as Florida knocked off Minnesota at the BB&T Center.

Jagr scored the game-winning goal 8:52 into the third period with a sweeping wrist shot from the high slot.

The Atlantic Division-leading Panthers extend their franchise-record win streak to nine games as they wrapped up a perfect six-game homestand.

Blackhawks 3, Senators 0Corey Crawford stopped all 26

shots he faced, lifting Chicago over Ottawa.

Duncan Keith, Artem Anisimov and Andrew Desjardins scored for the Blackhawks, who won their third

consecutive game and improved to 15-5-1 on home ice. The Senators lost their third game a row. They have been outscored 13-3 in the past three contests.

Ducks 4, Jets 1Goalie John Gibson earned his

fourth successive victory and stopped 19 shots as the Anaheim Ducks defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4-1 in front of 17,174 at the Honda Center.

Right winger Corey Perry scored his team-leading 14th goal while left winger Rickard Rakell added a goal and an assist for the Ducks (16-15-7), who have won four of their past five.

The Jets (18-19-2) suffered their 13th defeat in 15 road games.

Meanwhile, Montreal Canadiens forward Dale Weise will miss the next 2-3 weeks with an upper-body injury, the team announced in a statement on Sunday.

Weise left in the second period of the 2016 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic on Friday after taking a cross-check from Boston Bruins defenseman Kevan Miller and taking a shot off his arm.

Weise, 27, has 20 points (11 goals, nine assists) in 40 games this season. His 11 goals are a career high.

The Winnipeg Jets activated center Mark Scheifele from the injured reserve list.

NHL RESULTSNY Islanders 6 Dallas 5

Florida 2 Minnesota 1

Chicago 3 Ottawa 0

Anaheim 4 Winnipeg 1

Brilliant Manning lifts Denver Broncos to AFC top seed AFP

LOS ANGELES: Peyton Manning came off the bench and piloted four Denver scoring drives in a 27-20 win over San Diego that clinched homefield advan-tage for the Broncos in the NFL play-offs.

The victory, after the reigning Super Bowl champion New England Patriots fell 20-10 to the Miami Dolphins on the final day of the regular season, lifted the Broncos to the American Football Conference West division title and the top seed in the AFC.

Manning, who missed seven weeks with a foot injury and was in uniform as backup to Brock Osweiler, received a thunderous ovation when he took over from the ineffective starter in the third quarter.

He promptly launched an 80-yard, eight-play drive capped by CJ Ander-son’s one-yard touchdown run that gave Denver a 14-13 lead.

With Manning at the helm the Bron-cos also got a rushing touchdown from Ronnie Hillman and two field goals from Brandon McManus.

Broncos coach Gary Kubiak said he decided to go with the 39-year-old

Manning after the Broncos coughed up their fifth turnover of the game -- even though the errors weren’t all on Osweiler’s head.

“Just my gut told me to turn it over to him,” Kubiak said. “I’m just very proud of him. He’s worked really hard to stay there for us and it couldn’t be a bigger day to be there for us.”

Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib said Manning’s entry into the contest “lifted the whole stadium”.

“I don’t know if it was just his pres-ence, but it was just a little energy that came through the building.”

Manning, a five-time NFL Most Val-uable Player who had never appeared as a backup as a pro, admitted it was “different” but was pleased to make a solid contribution.

“I think when I was in there, we ran the ball better,” he said. “We held on to the ball, caught the ball better. That’s just kind of how it worked out.”

A defeat would have cost the Bron-cos a first-round bye, but now they’ll

have a week to regroup -- as will the Patriots. The bye will be welcome for New England, whose superstar quar-terback Tom Brady absorbed some hard hits as he completed just 12 of 21 passes for a season-low 134 yards and no touchdowns.

“We didn’t do enough things well enough to win,” coach Bill Belichick said after the Patriots offense was held to 196 total yards. “That was a prob-lem across the board.”

The Pittsburgh Steelers snatched an AFC wildcard berth with a 28-12 victory over the Cleveland Browns, coupled with the New York Jets’ 22-17 loss to the Buffalo Bills.

The Jets controlled their own des-tiny, needing only a win to advance, but ex-coach Rex Ryan and the Bills played spoiler.

The Houston Texans trounced the Jacksonville Jaguars 30-6 and won the AFC South division title for the first time since 2012. The Texans face a tough wildcard challenge against the Kan-sas City Chiefs, who are charging into the post-season on a 10-game win-ning streak after a 23-17 victory over the Oakland Raiders.

The Steelers’ first round foes will

be the Cincinnati Bengals, who beat Baltimore 24-16 to complete the third 12-win season in club history.

The Carolina Panthers finally locked up the top seed and home field advantage in the National Football Con-ference with a 38-10 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Quarterback Cam Newton ran for two touchdowns and passed for two more as the Panthers bounced back from their only defeat of the season last week. The Arizona Cardinals own the other NFC bye as the number two seeds, but they got a reality-check from the Seattle Seahawks who cooled off the red-hot Cardinals 36-6.

In the final game of the regular season, the Minnesota Vikings ended Green Bay’s four-year reign atop the NFC North with a 20-13 victory over the Packers at Lambeau Field.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers kept the Packers pressing until the bitter end, but his desperation pass as time expired was deflected in the end zone.

The Vikings won their third straight game and will host the Seahawks in the first round of the playoffs, when Green Bay visit NFC East champions Washington.

Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning signals during the second half of NFL game against the San Diego Chargers at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on Sunday in Denver.

NFL: DENVER BRONCOS DEFEAT SAN

DIEGO CHARGERS

36 TUESDAY 5 JANUARY 2016

Top sides retain positions but shock for Al ArabiThe Peninsula:

DOHA: The top four in Qatar Stars League (QSL) retained their positions at the end of round 15 on Sunday but Gianfranco Zola’s side Al Arabi endured another tough defeat to lose ground on rivals.

Points leaders Al Rayyan adhered to coach Jorge Fossati’s plans of picking up three points by beating Al Kharaitiyat 2-1 in their clash against at Al Gharafa Stadium.

Al Rayyan’s experienced pair of Sergio Gar-cia and Rodrigo Tabata came to the rescue for the Lions as Fossati’s men pushed their tally to 42 points after 15 games.

Sabri Lamouchi’s El Jaish also battled hard to pick up points against Al Sailiya at the dou-ble header at Al Gharafa Stadium.

A late strike by Yasser Abu Baker in the 83rd minute lifted the gloom in El Jaish camp.

El Jaish, one of the most consistent sides in Qatar during the last few years, are in second spot with 32 points from 15 matches.

Djamel Belmadi’s boys at Lekhwiya produced another resolute effort, beating a committed Qatar Sports Club 2-1 in their round of 15 clash. It was Lekhwiya’s seventh successive win this season, putting the defending champions in third place with a tally of 31 points.

Former champions Al Sadd, however, lost a bit of momentum with a 1-1 draw against Umm Salal on Sunday. Al Sadd, now coached by Jesualdo Ferreira, scored first through Khal-fan Ibrahim but conceded a first-half equaliser to share points at Al Ahli Stadium.

Al Sadd are currently sitting in fourth pace with a tally of 28 points from 15 rounds. By vir-tue of Sunday’s draw, Umm Salal has jumped ahead of Al Arabi in the points table to sit at

fifth slot in the QSL title race. Al Arabi, how-ever, endured another round of pain when they went down to hosts Al Khor on Saturday. Al Khor won 2-1 to leave Al Arabi in sixth spot. It was third successive loss for Zola’s side. Los-ing nine points from three games could cost Al Arabi their dream of playing in the AFC Cham-pions League this year.

There was some cheerful news in the Al Gharafa camp when they beat bottom-placed Mesaimeer 2-0 under new coach Pedro Caix-inha. The new coach, who was managing his first game at Al Wakrah Stadium, said before the match that the Cheetahs would be mak-ing a fresh start.

“We are not worried about the past. We start a new cycle now. And the best possible way will be to start with getting three points,”Caixinha said at his maiden press conference last Thursday.

On Sunday, Al Ahli came from behind to beat Al Wakrah 2-1 in their round 15 game.

Ruben Filipe Amorim (54) opened the scor-ing for the visitors after feisty goalless battle in the first half. However, Al Ahli hit back through Mojtaba Jabari Kordgheshlaghi (79) and Ndombe Mubele (81) to bag three points. Ninth-placed Al Ahli now have a tally of 17 points from 15 matches whereas Al Wakrah - a notch behind - also have a similar tally. Al Ahli beat Al Wakrah 2-1 in a game in which the former were trail-ing at one point. Al Ahli have summer signing Firmin Mubele to thank as he scored with ten minutes to go, to deny Wakrah a share of the spoils. Round 16 kicks off on January 27 as the teams now enjoy a three week break dur-ing the AFC U23 Championships, which are being held in Doha.

S econd stage of Dakar Rally trimmed due to bad weather

Agencies

BUENOS AIRES: The second stage of the Dakar Rally yesterday was shortened because of poor weather conditions, race organisers confirmed.

Thunderstorms and heavy rain had already forced the cancellation of Sunday’s opening stage because of safety concerns, a day after 10 peo-ple were injured when a car crashed

into spectators during the prologue. The weather was again expected

to have an impact on yesterday’s stage, with race director Etienne Lavigne confirming it had been shortened by at least 150 kilometres.

“It’s going to rain for most of the nigh on the special, then it should stop to begin again in the afternoon,” said Lavigne.

“We’re going to do our best to ensure that the stage will take place in the best possible conditions.”

With the opening Prologue near Buenos Aires last Saturday, the two week-race has been broken into 13 stages, with a rest day on January 10, taking riders on a winding path through Argentina and Bolivia.

The original route included time in Peru as well, but in August the coun-try decided to withdraw from the race due to forecasts predicting particu-larly nasty weather due to El Nino.

The Peruvian government decided that it would be more appropriate to have all state services ready for action should a national emergency arise as a result of the weather.

This gave the event’s new Sport-ing Director, Marc Coma, himself a five-time Dakar champion, the chal-lenge of rerouting the course to avoid entering Peru.

By mid-September, Coma and his team had charted a new route, leav-ing the dates, number of stages and length of stages the same as originally planned.

The type of terrain riders will face did change however, with fewer dunes and more technical track during the opening days en route to the rest day at Salta. Adding to the difficulty is the

first marathon at Stage 4, a 429 kilo-metre special section that starts and ends at San Salvador de Jujuy.

High altitudes and alternating rocky and sandy terrain challenge the riders during the first half of the initial marathon, while the second half is marked by a climb even higher as competitors enter Bolivia with the goal of reaching Uyuni.

There is a second marathon stage is planned for after the rest day, and as always, there will be no assistance available to riders during either of the marathons.

Other features unique to this year’s event include the longest Fiambala dune section since the event moved to South America during Stage 10.

It’s also the first event since the inaugural Dakar that won’t include a previous motorcycle class winner, ensuring that the Number 1 plate will go to a first-time victor in 2016.

Stage shortened by at least 150 kilometres with more rains expected

A rainbow forms as Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar drives his Mini through the water during the Buenos Aires-Rosario prologue stage of Dakar Rally 2016 in Arrecifes, Argentina on Saturday.

MOTOR RALLYING:

DAKAR RALLY

QATAR STARS LEAGUE:

ROUND REVIEW

Al Ahli SC player Abdul Ghafoor Abdullah (right) heads the ball during a QSL clash against Al Wakrah at Al Ahli stadium on Sunday. Photo by:

Kammutty VP

Japanese city Aichi to bid

for 2026 Asian Games

Reuters

TOKYO: Undeterred by Tokyo’s cha-otic preparations to stage the 2020 Olympic Games, Japan’s Aichi Prefec-ture will bid to stage the 2026 Asian Games, the region’s governor said yesterday.

Aichi will submit an application to the Japanese Olympic Committee to host the event, Kyodo News reported Hideaki Omura as saying on Mon-day. “As it is a big event, we should clarify the situation at first,” Omura told reporters in Nagoya, which is expected to host the bulk of events at the quadrennial multi-sport games.

Japan have hosted the Asian Games, which features both winter

and summer Olympic sports plus a number of events selected by the hosts, twice before with Tokyo staging in 1958 and Hiroshima in 1994.

But Japan’s reputation as hosts has been hit by problematic prepa-rations for the 2020 Olympic Games, where costs have massively escalated, stadium designs scrapped and con-struction delay amid public outcry.

Japan’s first-ever staging of the 2019 Rugby World Cup has also caused concerns with construction delays forcing a change in venue for the tour-nament final.

The Olympic Council of Asia will decide upon the hosts of the 2026 Asian Games in 2018. Jakarta will host the next edition in 2018 and Hangzhou, China four years later.

Paes wants Sania to partner

at Rio Games mixed doubles

Agencies

NEW DELHI: India, who have only won 26 medals in the Olympics ever since they first participated in the Paris Olympics in 1900, will depend on their tennis players to bring home the elusive medal in the upcoming 2016 Rio Olympics.

However, if India are to have a golden chance of winning the medal, they need to come up with the best pair, which can help bring laurels to the country. Leander Paes, who has been a regular feature for India in the Olympics for a few years, has made it clear that he wants to partner Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna in the mixed and men’s doubles respectively.

“In men’s doubles I believe the best team is Rohan and myself and like-wise in mixed doubles it is Sania and myself,” PTI quoted Paes as saying.

Paes does not want dirty politics to be involved when the team selec-tion is done for the Olympics.

In the last London Olympics, Bopanna and Mahesh Bhupati refused to pair up with Paes, who believes he should get a nod for his stupendous Grand Slams in 2015 with Martina Hingis.

“I hope that does not happen again in doubles or mixed doubles. I believe, selection should be on merit. To win three mixed doubles Grand Slams in 2015 leading to the Olym-pic year I certainly hope that I am

India’s front runner in Rio in mixed doubles,” Paes said.

The nominations for the pair are expected to be filed in March-April and Paes is quite confident that the peo-ple related to selection will consider him the best candidate to represent India in the Olympics, purely on merit for the things he has achieved in the court.

“I hope that another shambles of selection does not happen. This com-ing summer, I think by about March or April, really is when the nomina-tions go in.”

“Regardless of what happens in the Aussie Open, U.S. Open and French Open this year, you look at the number of Grand Slams that I have won and also the men’s grand slams. I have in all won 33 Grand Slams. Think on merit, I should get a call.”

Paes wanted to play alongside Bopanna in the upcoming Chennai Open to prepare for the Olympics, but the latter rejected the offer. Paes, who won three mixed doubles title in 2015 with Hingis, also had a word with Sania to partner her for the Olympics.

“I have spoken with her a few times. Without shadow of a doubt when one goes by merit, winning three Grand Slams leading to the Olympics kind of speaks for itself.”

But Paes did not make any offer to Sania to play in grand slams as the former has had an incredible run with Hingis, a pair, which he is not eager to break.

Al Kharaitiyat announce

friendly encounters

DOHA: Al Kharaitiyat have announced that they will convene a training camp for the team in Doha after the return of the players from the rest following their 2-1 defeat to leaders Al Rayyan in round 15 of the Qatar Stars League.

The club has also announced that it will play two friendly games during the Qatar Stars League stoppage period due to the organisa-tion of the AFC Under-23 Championship 2016 in Doha from January 12 to 30. Al Kharaititiyat also confirmed that one match will be against local rivals Al Khor, whilst the second match is yet to be confirmed.

Bosnian head coach Ammar Osim will use the camp and friendly ties to improve the phys-ical fitness of his side.

The Thunders are currently in 11th place in the QSL table. They will take on defending QSL champions Lekhwiya when the league program resumes on January 28.

Arabi to rest for nine days

DOHA: Al Arabi head coach Gianfranco Zola has granted his squad 9 days rest following their 2-1 defeat to Al Khor in round 15 of the Qatar Stars League.

Al Arabi players will resume training sessions on January 12, during the three week break for the AFC Under-23 Championship Qatar 2016.

The dream team has endured three straight defeats towards the end of the year, and Zola will be looking to galvanise his side during the break.

Arabi are currently placed 6th in the Qatar Stars League table.