BUSINESS | Page 1
Umm Salal
INDEX
QATAR 2, 20 COMMENT
REGION
ARAB WORLD
3
3, 4
BUSINESS
CLASSIFIED
INTERNATIONAL 5 – 17 SPORTS
GULF TIMES
In brief
PALESTINE | Occupation
Israeli restrictions
on Al Aqsa prayers
The Israeli occupation authorities
yesterday banned Muslim men
aged below 50 from entering Al
Aqsa mosque to perform dawn
prayers in congregation. Observers
said that such measures were
aimed at the non-violent Muslim
congregation with the advent of the
Jewish holidays. Left with no other
alternatives, Muslim worshippers
were forced to perform their prayers
at the entrances to Al Aqsa and the
alleys of Jerusalem’s Old City. “By
banning Muslims from the mosque
while propping up settler break-
ins under religious pretext, Israel
intends to divide the mosque, both
spatially and temporally...,” Al Aqsa
mosque director Sheikh Omar al-
Kiswani said.
YEMEN | Conflict
Key strait under
govt troops’ control
Government forces in Yemen now
control the key Bab al-Mandab
Strait through which much of the
world’s maritime traffic passes
after retaking it from Shia rebels, a
general said yesterday. “The Bab al-
Mandab Strait is now under the total
control of our troops,” General Turki
Ahmed told AFP. Ahmed was one
of the commanders of an offensive
that Thursday seized the island of
Mayyun (Perim) between the Gulf of
Aden and the Red Sea. The narrow
waterway, which separates Yemen
from Djibouti only some 32km away,
funnels shipping to and from the
Suez Canal, which lies at the north
end of the Red Sea. Page 3
INDIA | Climate
Delhi sets out
green targets
India yesterday set out a series of
ambitious environmental targets
including reducing its carbon
intensity by 35% by 2030, but
rejected calls to curb coal use,
saying developed countries were
mostly to blame for climate change.
In an action plan submitted to the
UN ahead of a major environmental
conference in Paris, India also
pledged to generate 40% of its
electricity from renewable sources
within 15 years. “We are confident
we will achieve the 35% (target)
by 2030,” Environment Minister
Prakash Javadekar said, adding
that “it is a huge jump for India,
therefore it is a very ambitious
target”. Page 12
NEPAL | Offer
Koirala proposes
statute amendment
Nepal’s Prime Minister Sushil Koirala
yesterday proposed an amendment
to the country’s new constitution to
address the demands of parties in
the south of the country protesting
against it. Page 17
Expatriate, who had not gone home for more than a decade, dies
By Ramesh Mathew
Staff Reporter
A
n Indian expatriate, who had not
travelled home for more than a
decade as he was caught up in
the struggle to mobilise savings from
odd jobs to marry off his five daughters,
has died of heart attack.
Abdul Khader Meeran, 67, a native of
Chinnamuthandipatti in Thanjavoor
district of Tamil Nadu, died a day be-
fore the first day of Eid al-Adha, one
18, 19 Saudi ‘to keep up
1 – 12
7
energy spending
1 – 12 despite oil drop’
Condolences conveyed
HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-
Thani yesterday conveyed the condolences of HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad
al-Thani to King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud of Saudi Arabia, Custodian of the Two
Holy Mosques, on the death of Prince Nawaf bin Abdulaziz al-Saud. The Prime Minister
was at a reception held by Prince Mohamed bin Naif bin Abdulaziz al-Saud at the King
Faisal Palace in Jeddah. The Prime Minister also conveyed the condolences of HH the
Deputy Emir Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad al-Thani on the death of Prince Nawaf, who
was the special adviser to the Saudi king. The Prime Minister also condoled members
of the Saudi royal family on the death of Prince Nawaf.
Obama calls Russia’s
engagement in Syria
‘recipe for disaster’
AFP
Washington
U
S President Barack Obama yes-
terday warned that Russia’s
military engagement in Syria in
support of President Bashar al-Assad
is a “recipe for disaster”, though Wash-
ington could still work with Moscow on
reducing tensions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin
“doesn’t distinguish between ISIL
and a moderate Sunni opposition that
wants to see Assad go,” Obama told
reporters, referring to the self-pro-
claimed Islamic State group.
“From their perspective, they’re all ter-
rorists. And that’s a recipe for disaster.”
Russia carried out a third day of air
strikes in Syria, saying it targeted Is-
lamic State militants, as Putin faced in-
creased international criticism over his
military campaign.
The West has raised concerns that
Bahrain complains to UN about Iranian ‘interference’
AFP
Manama
B
ahrain has submitted a complaint
to the UN denouncing Iranian
“interference” in its internal af-
fairs, the BNA news agency said yes-
terday.
The move came a day after Manama
recalled its ambassador from Iran and
ordered Tehran’s envoy to leave within
72 hours.
of his friends, a house driver, told Gulf
Times.
At the time of his death, Meeran was
serving as a watchman at a warehouse
on Street 18 of the Industrial Area.
Meeran died after collapsing in the
kitchen of his accommodation in the
warehouse compound.
When Meeran did not answer calls on
his mobile phone, another watchman
and “mandoop” of the company came
searching and found him unconscious
on the floor. He died soon after an am-
bulance arrived.
SPORT | Page 12
Russian forces were also striking at
rebel groups opposed to Assad, in a bid
to bolster its ally.
Obama accused Moscow of “prop-
ping up a regime that is rejected by an
overwhelming majority of the Syrian
population”.
He also said the United States would
“continue to support” moderate rebels
in Syria because they are groups that
“can help pick up the pieces and stitch
together a cohesive, coherent country”
in the aftermath of Assad’s rule.
Obama signalled he was willing to en-
gage with Putin, particularly if Moscow
“works instead to bring about a political
settlement” instead of doubling down
on its military support to Assad.
“We can bring the rest of the world
community to a brokered solution, but
that a military solution alone - an at-
tempt by Russia and Iran to prop up As-
sad and try to pacify the population - is
just going to get them stuck in a quag-
mire.” Page 4
The complaint was delivered to UN
chief Ban Ki-moon in New York by
Foreign Minister Khaled bin Ahmed al-
Khalifah.
The minister was quoted as saying
the move was sparked by Iran’s “con-
tinued unacceptable interference in the
internal affairs” of Bahrain.
“Iran has chosen the path of escala-
tion in an attempt to exert control over
its neighbours by continuing to inter-
fere in internal affairs” of neighbouring
countries, BNA added him as saying.
Abdul Khader Meeran: at the time
of his death, Meeran was serving as
a watchman at a warehouse in the
Industrial Area.
grab last-gasp
equaliser
against QSC
New cameras
to increase
traffic safety
The new surveillance cameras are
being set up as part of a project
to monitor traffic violations of all
types
By Joseph Varghese
Staff Reporter
N
ew surveillance cameras, in-
stalled on several roads across
Qatar, will augment monitor-
ing of a number of traffic violations and
enhance road safety.
Central Operations Department
of National Command Centre, in as-
sociation with General Directorate
of Traffic and General Directorate of
Information Systems (Security Sys-
tems Department), had announced the
launch of the project a few months ago.
Many such cameras are seen on
some of the major roads while more are
One of the new surveillance cameras on a street in Doha. PICTURE: Noushad Thekkayil
On Thursday, the foreign ministry
said Tehran’s envoy was being expelled
in response to “continuing interference
by Iran in the affairs of the kingdom”
and an attempt by Tehran to foment
“confessional sedition”.
Iran supports acts of “sabotage and
terrorism” in the country, a statement
added, accusing Tehran of forming
and arming “terrorist groups” and
providing them with refuge.
Bahraini authorities said on Wednes-
day they had uncovered a large stash of
Meeran, who earlier worked as a
watchman at a residential complex, had
married off his youngest daughter a few
months ago, his friend recalled.
Meeran could not afford to travel
home even for this marriage “as his fi-
nances were very bad”.
“As all the major responsibilities to
his family were over, he was planning to
leave Qatar for good shortly,” the friend
said.
Realising Meeran’s plight, his
sponsor had allowed him to work
“outside”. For the last few months he
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www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals
being installed at other roads. Lately, a
long stretch from Midmac flyover on
Al Shamal Expressway has got several
such cameras. New cameras are set up
on the road at about every 100 to 200m
distance.
“The new cameras are being set up as
part of the project ‘talaa’, which aims to
activate security surveillance cameras in
the streets and main roads in the country
to monitor traffic violations of all types,
as specified by the traffic law,” an official
of the Ministry of Interior said.
Areas under the talaa surveillance
include Al Khor, Al Sadd – Al Mirqab,
Al Sailiya, Al Shafi, Bin Omran, D Ring
Road, February 22nd Road (which is a
part of Al Shamal Expressway), Grand
Hamad St, Mesaieed, Muaither and
Umm Dawm, Shahaniya and Al Wakrah.
The project aims to monitor all kinds
of traffic violations, including not fas-
tening seat-belts, talking on the phone
weapons and arrested a number of peo-
ple suspected of having links with Iran
and Iraq.
An interior ministry statement said
arms and explosives were discovered in
a house in the town of Nuwaidrat, south
of the capital Manama.
The cache included a tonne and a half
of C4 explosives and other explosive
material, as well as automatic rifles,
pistols and hand grenades, the ministry
said.
In August, Bahrain arrested five
was working at the warehouse.
Meeran last saw his family either in
2001 or 2002, according to the house
driver who had known him for sev-
eral years. “I am ready to take Meeran’s
body to India if someone could bear the
expenses,” he said.
The death of Meeran would have
gone unnoticed but for Abdul Salam,
a humanitarian worker in the Indian
community. He came to learn about
Meeran’s death during a routine visit to
the Hamad Hospital mortuary in Doha
on Thursday evening.
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or texting while driving, wrong over-
taking, excessive speed, violating sig-
nals and other irregularities which pose
a threat to public safety on the road.
The owners of the vehicles will be
informed about the traffic violations
by text messages through Metrash
Services.
According to the Security Systems
Department, this will contribute to
tightening security control in all parts
of the country as well as to facilitate
traffic movement and monitor any
traffic violation with in time.
The traffic department had under-
taken a trial process of the project a few
months ago and monitored more than
23,000 traffic violations. All the cam-
eras on the roads are smart cameras
and can be controlled from the opera-
tions room by monitoring violations by
zooming onto vehicles and capturing
the number plates and location.
people suspected of links with Iran
in connection with a bombing that
killed two policemen in the island
state.
Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign ministry
has declared Bahrain’s second-ranking
diplomat in Tehran persona non grata
and given him 72 hours to leave the
country.
“According to a foreign ministry
statement, Tehran has given Bassam al-
Dosari 72 hours to leave Iran,” the Fars
news agency said on its website.
There have been many cases of ex-
patriates who are unable to travel
home for many years owing to numer-
ous issues, mainly financial. Some of
them have left for good following the
intervention of community members.
Even the local financial commitments,
mainly bank loans, of such people were
settled by philanthropists.
Some of the others have died in Qa-
tar. Humanitarians came forward on
many occasions for the repatriation of
some bodies while many others were
locally buried.
2 Gulf Times
Saturday, October 3, 2015

QATAR
Greetings sent to
Guinea president
HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin
Hamad al-Thani, HH the Deputy
Emir Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad
al-Thani and HE the Prime
Minister and Minister of Interior
Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin
QC delegates
visit project
Khalifa al-Thani yesterday sent
cables of congratulations to
Republic of Guinea President
Alpha Conde on the occasion of
his country’s Independence Day.

Yemen aid talks

HE the Minister of Foreign Affairs
Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah,
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel bin
Ahmed al-Jubeir and UAE Foreign
Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin
Zayed al-Nahyan held in New
for displaced
Syrians
York a meeting with humanitarian
agencies on partnership to
deliver humanitarian assistance
in Yemen, on the sidelines of
the 70th session of the General
Assembly of the United Nations.
Al-Attiyah also took part in a mini-

ministerial meeting called by US
Secretary of State John Kerry to
discuss the latest developments
in the Syrian situation.
Qatar population
touches 2,347,000
Qatar’s population has grown by
2.5% compared to the figures of
the previous month, according
to the Ministry of Development
Planning and Statistics.
The population as of September
30 is 2,347,000, which is
marginally more than the second
highest population of 2,346,723,
recorded on March 31. The
gender-wise break up of the latest
figure was not provided.
The highest population ever in
Qatar, 2,374,860, was recorded
on May 31 this year. The year’s
lowest figures were on July
31, when the population was
2,120,129, apparently because
a number of residents were
on vacation. Compared to the
previous month’s (June) figures,
there was a fall of more than
224,000 at that stage.
Usually in the months between
November and next May, the
country’s population shows a
rise every month compared
to the previous month, except
between the end of December
and the middle of January. The
trend is that a large number of the
residents fly out of the country
during the period.
A
delegation from Qatar
Charity (QC) has taken
stock of the progress
achieved so far on the Al Rayyan
city project near the Syria-
Turkey border.
The project, described as
the “biggest residential city”
for displaced Syrians, is being
implemented by QC and 70%
of the work is over. The project
is likely to be completed by
November.
The city will accommo-
date around 7,000 people and
is being built at a cost of over
QR40,000,000.
The QC delegation included
Mohamed Abdullah al-Yaf’ie,
support affairs CEO, and Ib-
rahim Zainal, QC’s deputy
executive director of inter-
national development, who
were accompanied by Urooj
Hussain, deputy director of
the Turkish International Hu-
man Relief and Humanitarian
(IHH), which provided land for
the project and supervised its
implementation.
During the tour, the delegates
visited housing units that had
already been completed. They
also visited housing units and
service facilities that were un-
der construction, including the
mosque.
The delegation reviewed
plans laid down for completion
of the project and was pleased
to note that 70% of the work
was over.
Further, the delegation em- ter with two rooms, which can
phasised the importance of accommodate a family of 6-7 A group photo of the QC delegation and supervisers of the project.
making steady progress to com- members. The place will be
plete the project by November equipped with basic needs such several service facilities, such as This project is the outcome of Turkey, a few months ago.
in order to provide shelter to as mattresses, blankets, pillows, a mosque, 30 classrooms, clin- a co-operation agreement be- The agreement states that
thousands of displaced Syrians carpets, space heaters, refrig- ics, administrative offices and tween QC and IHH, which was QC will donate QR33,000,000
before winter. erator, water tanks, closets and playgrounds for children. A wall signed by QC CEO Youssef bin while IHH will provide
The QC delegation also vis- cookware. will be built around the city to Ahmed al-Kuwairi and IHH pres- QR7,000,000 and supervise the
ited the Al Salama refugee Al Rayyan city will also have ensure its safety. ident Bulent Yildirim in Istanbul, implementation of the project.
camp for displaced Syrians. It
is expected that some of these
Syrians, who are living in dif-
ficult conditions, will be moved
to Al Rayyan city once it is
completed.
In a press release, Zainal said:
“QC conducted the field visit
because it is keen to follow up
on the progress of its distin-
guished projects in general and
the completion of this project
in particular. We hope a number
of displaced Syrian families,
who are still living in tents near
the Turkey-Syria border, will
benefit from this project.”
Al-Yaf’ie commended vari-
ous aspects of the Al Rayyan
city project, including the fact
that all labourers working on it
are Syrians. Further, the project
is environment-friendly as its
lighting requirements will be
met entirely through solar en-
ergy. Finally, once the project
is entirely implemented, the
“people of the city will be its
governors”, he noted.
The model city consists of
10 villages, each of which will
comprise 100 caravans. The
beneficiaries will get a shel- A view of the upcoming Al Rayyan city.

How CMU-Q student turns Qatar backs plan to

build bridges among
failure into opportunity world civilisations
QNA defusing tensions, bridging the gap be-

T
he popular saying “When life egie Mellon Qatar. The university New York tween the cultural and religious iden-
gives you lemons, make lem- adopts a holistic approach, believing tities, improving and developing un-
onade,” is one that embodies that clubs and activities outside of the derstanding and co-operation among

the positive, tenacious attitude of
Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar
(CMU-Q) student MinKyung Kang.
Although depression and family
tragedy plagued her young adulthood
in South Korea, she took a leap of faith
and applied to the Biological Scienc-
es programme at CMU-Q in Qatar
Foundation’s Education City.
This life-changing decision to
travel the world has presented many
opportunities for MinKyung, and she
decided to share her positive out-
look with her classmates by creating
Dreamers Club.
Open to Education City students
and faculty, the Dreamers Club pro-
vides a platform for those who share
the passion of helping others achieve
their aspirations.
At first, a handful of students
signed up and attended bi-weekly
club meetings where they participat-
ed in leadership and creativity semi-
nars and discussed inspirational vid-
eos. But when MinKyung auditioned
for the well-established TEDxEduca-
tionCity, the club took a sweet turn.
“I auditioned for TEDx but I didn’t
make it through to the final round. So
classroom play an important role in
personal development and promoting
an overall sense of fulfilment.
“Research at the highest levels
shows that students who actively
participate in their community also
tend to succeed academically and do
better than students who do not par-
ticipate in other activities,” said Glo-
ria Khoury, assistant dean for student
affairs.
A diverse slate of clubs caters to
a vast range of interests and aspira-
tions. Students learn essential pro-
fessional and life skills when they are
active in clubs, skills such as public
MinKyung Kang (left) with a fellow ‘dreamer.’ speaking, debating, conflict resolu-
tion and time management that con-
I decided to create a better and bigger al-Khenji, who shared the story of tribute to success in school and once
event along with an exhibition for all how he launched a start-up company they graduate.
of Education City,” she said, turning while he was still a student. The Tartan Activities Fair is an an-
her disappointment into an opportu- MinKyung remarked: “I never ex- nual event for students to explore the
nity to create something new. pected Inspire Me to interest students many extracurricular offerings and
Inspire Me, the Dreamers Club in- outside of Carnegie Mellon Qatar but learn more about the extensive op-
augural event, drew hundreds of stu- in fact many students approached me portunities for learning, skill devel-
dents, staff and faculty from the Edu- wanting to be a part of it. Next year opment, fun and friendship.
cation City community. Six unique I hope to extend Inspire Me beyond The Dreamers Club is open to eve-
speakers were selected to share their Education City to the rest of Doha.” ryone in Education City, with ambi-
inspirational stories, including in- The Dreamers Club is one of a host tions to open its doors in 2016 to the
formation systems graduate, Abdulla of clubs available to students at Carn- wider Doha community.
Q
atar reaffirmed support to all se-
rious initiatives aimed at build-
ing bridges between different
cultures and societies, which will have
positive effects to enhance values of hu-
man solidarity, democracy, development
and peace in all parts of the world.
This came in Qatar’s statement de-
livered by the state’s permanent rep-
resentative to the United Nations and
other organisations in Geneva, Faisal
bin Abdullah al-Henzab, before the
Ministerial Meeting of the UN Alliance
of Civilisations Group of Friends held in
New York on the sidelines of the 70th
session of the UN General Assembly.
He said that the meeting was of great
importance in light of the circumstanc-
es the world was witnessing, “which
requires to exert more efforts to pro-
mote peace, security and stability in the
world, and to ensure co-existence for
our future generations”.
He said that the world was experi-
encing divisions, tensions, instability,
violations and abuses of human rights,
threatening peace and embodying the
importance of the role that could be
played by the Alliance of Civilisations
through its creative activities aimed at
nations to achieve peace.
“The State of Qatar pays attention to
the Alliance of Civilisations as a com-
plement to the political and security
efforts undertaken by the United Na-
tions and the international community
for the prevention of conflicts and the
creation of appropriate post-conflict
environments,” Henzab said.
He said that despite the UN Gen-
eral Assembly’s proclamation of 2001
as the United Nations Year of Dialogue,
the world was witnessing many ongo-
ing crises, “which undermine the idea of
dialogue and threaten the international
security and peace”.
He also noted that the world was wit-
nessing widespread abuse of the inter-
national humanitarian law by authori-
tarian regimes and terrorist groups alike.
Henzab stressed that the Alliance of
Civilisations would spare no effort in
supporting the international commu-
nity to stop such violations, face the in-
creasing international challenges, build
bridges of understanding among civili-
sations, promote dialogue frameworks
among cultures and religions and en-
hance respect for cultural and religious
pluralism.

Doha among most attractive markets for schools: report

D
oha is among the most
attractive markets for
school developers, with
eight to 12 new schools required
each year up to 2022, according
to a report.
The Doha Education Overview
2015 notes that school develop-
ers and operators are increas-
ingly recognising opportunities
for growth in Qatar’s education
sector as the country continues
to develop.
The report is published by
Colliers International, a global
leader in real estate advisory
in different sectors, including
education and healthcare.
Among the drivers of this
growth, the report points out,
includes a high population
growth rate, with current pro-
jections anticipating a further
increase to 3.09mn at a 4%
growth rate and 3.53mn at a 6%
growth rate by 2022.
Given that Qatar’s population
primarily consists of expatri-
ates, falling within “Generation
X, Y and Z”, this translates into a
wide base of young parents and
school attendees, it is observed.
Further, the transient nature
of Doha’s population leads to a
preference for international cur-
riculums, typically American or
English, due to their transferable
nature and for private education
choices.
Additionally, a large number
of Qatari nationals also prefer
to send their children to private
rather than government schools.
All of these factors are attract-
ing private education providers
and operators with the result-
ant growth in new K-12 schools
within Doha, the report adds.
Mansoor Ahmed, director of
healthcare, education and PPP
at Colliers International, said:
“Given that a well-run school
can achieve profit margins of
around 20% once the stabi-
lisation years are complete,
private investors and opera-
tors are increasingly looking
at the Qatar market as a major
opportunity.”
Already, Qatar ranks among
the top countries that host over
100 international schools. Lu-
sail Education City is a massive
development that will have 34
school plots catering to a diverse
range of residents and needs and
with a forecast capacity of ap-
proximately 28,000 children of
school age plus KG.
Speaking at the just-conclud-
ed IPSEF Dubai conference, Si-
mon Lucas, head of education,
Arcadis, which is helping build
the infrastructure for the up-
coming city, said the develop-
ment offers “a unique opportu-
nity to apply a well-considered
vision and strategy to and for
an entirely new city education
infrastructure from the outset,
and in creating a genuinely stra-
tegic development comprising a
‘system’ of schools working col-
laboratively”.
In his presentation, Lucas
mentioned the strategy set in
place by the developers for ed-
ucation in Lusail City, saying
“it will have ambitious learn-
ing communities that recognise
and nurture unique strengths
and abilities and are a source of
inspiration, as well as outstand-
ing schools serving the commu-
nity, both present and future, in
which children and their families
take pride”.
Meanwhile, the report also
notes that the quality of teaching
staff is critical to the long-term
success of a school; however,
similar to other countries in the
GCC, attracting and retaining
quality staff is a major challenge
in Qatar.

Thousands
demonstrate
for reforms
in Iraq cities
AFP
Baghdad
T
housands of Iraqis dem-
onstrated in Baghdad and
several other cities yes-
terday, urging the government
to deliver on its promised reform
package aimed at tackling cor-
ruption and improving services.
Iraqis have been staging week-
ly protests since July. The move-
ment that stemmed from exas-
peration over power cuts in the
searing summer heat gradually
led to broader demands for po-
litical reform.
Prime Minister Haider al-
Abadi, with backing from the
country’s most revered Shia
cleric, announced a reform pack-
age but change has been slow to
materialise and the protests have
continued.
“Baghdad will no longer be
silent,” chanted thousands of
protesters in the capital’s Tahrir
Square.
Regular protesters—dominat-
ed by secular groups, journalists,
artists and social activists—were
joined yesterday by supporters of
Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr.
“Our participation in the
protests continues because the
scope of Abadi’s reforms is limit-
Protesters display a huge Iraqi flag during the demonstration in
Baghdad yesterday.
Loyalists ‘in total control’ of key strait in Yemen
AFP
Aden
G
overnment forces in
Yemen now control the
key Bab al-Mandab Strait
through which much of the
world’s maritime traffic passes
after retaking it from Shia rebels,
a general said yesterday.
“The Bab al-Mandab Strait
is now under the total control
of our troops,” General Turki
Ahmed said.
Ahmed was one of the com-
manders of an offensive that on
Thursday seized the island of
Mayyun (Perim) between the
Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.
The narrow waterway, which
separates Yemen from Djibouti
only some 32km away, funnels
shipping to and from the Suez
Canal, which lies at the north end
of the Red Sea.
President Abd-Rabbu Man-
sour Hadi and his government
returned to Aden last month fol-
lowing six months in exile, after
loyalist forces regained control
of the port city and four other
southern provinces from the
rebels.
The rebels still control the
capital and northern provinces
near the border with Saudi Ara-
bia.
On Thursday, troops backed by
a Saudi-led coalition seized Bab
al-Mandab and Dhubab in the
southern province of Taez near
the strait, loyalist military official
Abd-Rabbu al-Mihwali said.
The strait had been in the
hands of Houthi rebels and their
allies, units still loyal to ousted
former president Ali Abdullah
Saleh, since March.
Bab al-Mandab was “brought
under our control with the help
of coalition forces, who provided
ground, naval and air support”,
General Ahmed said.
ed,” said Bashir al-Saadi, a young
Sadr supporter.
He claimed the prime minister
was restrained in his efforts by
his own Dawa party—of which
his predecessor and rival Nuri
al-Maliki is also a member—and
other parties.
Some civil society activists
who have taken part in the pro-
test movement since it began ar-
gued that the Sadrists should put
their own house in order before
campaigning against corruption
in the state.
“They are part of the govern-
ment so they should start by re-
moving their own ministers and
MPs in front of the Iraqi people,”
said Abu Ammar, 51.
“Right now they are protesting
against themselves, it doesn’t
make sense,” he said, surrounded
by protesters waving the national
flag and holding up banners de-
manding bread, freedom and so-
cial justice.
The demonstration, held un-
der heavy protection from the
police, army and the Sadrists’
own security service, passed off
without incident.
Several smaller protests were
also held in other cities, includ-
ing the main southern hub of
Basra, the Shia shrine city of
Karbala and Nasiriyah.
Fighters loyal to Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi stand in the area of the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait, in the southern Yemeni province of Taez, on Thursday.
“The Houthis and their allies
retreated to Mokha,” a Red Sea
port some 20km further north.
“We are awaiting orders from
the political leadership and Pres-
ident Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi
for the next move in the offen-
sive,” Ahmed added.
The attack took place “in re-
sponse to rebel troop move-
ments” towards Aden and the
four other recaptured southern
provinces, one source said.
Yemen’s temporary capital
Aden “was targeted on Thurs-
Palestinian children inspect the remains of a car after it was set on fire, allegedly by Jewish settlers, in the West Bank village of Beitillu yesterday.
Palestinians attacked as
settler couple shot dead
The site of Thursday’s
shooting was near the
Palestinian village of Beit
Furik, where a Palestinian
was killed by Israeli forces
during clashes last month
AFP
Beit Furik
H
undreds of Israeli troops
searched the West Bank
yesterday for the sus-
pected Palestinian killers of a
Jewish settler couple, the army
said.
As the manhunt was under
way, numerous attacks on Pal-
estinians were reported in the
occupied West Bank, as tensions
remained high between them
and Israelis.
Rabbi Eitam Henkin and his
wife Naama, both in their 30s,
were shot as they were driving
on Thursday night between the
day by a Scud missile which hit a
suburb west of the city”, a source
said.
The Houthis had admitted los-
ing control of the strategic strait.
Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, self-
described “president of the High
Committee of the Revolution”,
sent a message to UN chief Ban
Ki-moon expressing “surprise”
at Thursday’s attack “on Mayyun
island and areas close to the Bab
al-Mandab Strait”.
He viewed the assault as “a
grave and irresponsible escala-
REGION/ARAB WORLD
settlements of Itamar and Elon
More in the north of the terri-
tory.
Their four children, aged be-
tween four months and nine
years, were found unharmed in
the back of the car.
Israel’s foreign ministry said
“at least two” gunmen targeted
the vehicle in a “drive-by” at-
tack, but the exact circumstanc-
es of the incident were unclear.
Israeli forces were conduct-
ing an “intensive search” on the
ground, army spokesman Arye
Shalicar said.
Soldiers searched cars along
roads around the attack site.
The Henkins were residents of
the Neria settlement, northwest
of Ramallah, seat of the Pales-
tinian Authority.
The foreign ministry said they
were returning from a gradua-
tion ceremony at a Jewish school
when the shooting occurred at
around 9pm.
tion”, and said it threatened “the
security of international mari-
time navigation”, according to
the text of the message released
by the rebel-controlled Saba
news agency.
In Aden, government spokes-
man Rajedh Badi outlined what
could happen next.
“The next step for our forces
will be to retake all of the coast
along the Red Sea, including
Mokha and Hodeida,” he said.
The United Nations said yes-
terday more than 500 children
Israeli Prime Minister Ben-
jamin condemned the killings,
which he called “the effects of
Palestinian incitement”, and
vowed that security services
would work to “capture the
murderers and improve security
for all Israeli citizens”.
The European Union called
for both justice and restraint.
“Even in the face of such a
crime, restraint and calm are
needed on all sides to ensure
that the violence witnessed
yesterday and in recent months
does not aggravate the situation
further,” it said.
Apprehensive of rising ten-
sions between settlers and Pal-
estinians, the army said it would
be deploying “four battalions in
order to prevent an escalation of
violence in the area adjacent to
the location of the attack”.
Palestinian news agency Wafa
said a 35-year-old man was shot
in the leg by settlers near Beth-
have been killed since the up-
surge in violence in Yemen in
March, while some 1.7mn youths
are at risk of malnutrition.
During the six months, at least
505 children have died and 702
have been injured, said Christo-
phe Boulierac, spokesman for the
UN children’s agency.
“These are conservative fig-
ures,” he told reporters in Geneva.
He said the children were being
killed in the bombing campaigns
but also amid street fighting.
“The situation for children is
lehem, and police said settlers
had stoned a number of cars and
set fire to olive trees.
And in the Palestinian vil-
lage of Beitillu, a short distance
from Neria, assailants torched a
car and spray-painted “Revenge
Henkin” in Hebrew on a nearby
wall, the army said, adding that
nobody was hurt.
The Henkins were buried
yesterday in Jerusalem’s Har
Hamenuhot cemetery at a cer-
emony attended by thousands of
mourners, including their nine-
year-old son Matan, his grand-
mothers and Israeli President
Reuven Rivlin.
Tensions have also been run-
ning high between Israeli police
and Palestinians at the Al Aqsa
mosque compound in Jerusa-
lem.
The site of Thursday’s shoot-
ing was near the Palestinian vil-
lage of Beit Furik, where a Pales-
tinian was killed by Israeli forces
deteriorating every single day,
and it is horrific,” Boulierac said,
urging all parties with influence
to bring an urgent end to the vio-
lence.
He also lamented a sharp in-
crease in the recruitment of chil-
dren as fighters in the war-rav-
aged country, with 606 verified
cases so far this year.
That is four times the 156 cases
verified in 2014, he said.
“Children in Yemen are being
used by armed groups, manning
checkpoints or carrying arms,”
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 3, 2015 3
during clashes last month.
Israeli Defence Minister
Moshe Yaalon visited the attack
site yesterday.
The circumstances surround-
ing the killing remain unclear. A
group purportedly linked to Fa-
tah claimed responsibility, but
this could not be immediately
verified.
Hamas hailed those behind
the shooting, while not taking
responsibility for it.
“This operation was in re-
sponse to the crimes of the Zi-
onists,” it said.
The last killing of an Israeli in
the West Bank happened on June
29, when a settler died and three
others in a car with him were
wounded.
On July 31, suspected Jew-
ish extremists firebombed a
Palestinian home in the village
of Duma that killed toddler Ali
Saad Dawabsha and fatally in-
jured his parents.
he said, adding that “the recruit-
ment is happening on both sides”.
In the impoverished country,
where 80% of the population is
under 18, some 10mn children are
in desperate need of humanitar-
ian aid, Boulierac said.
The dire humanitarian situ-
ation, along with underfunding
of aid organisations and diffi-
culty accessing those in need,
could prove deadlier for Yemen’s
children than the violence, he
warned.
“We know that more children
(could) die from preventable
disease than from bullets and
bombs,” he said.
The nutrition situation, which
already before the conflict was
dire in Yemen, has meanwhile
worsened significantly, he said,
pointing out that 1.7mn children
were at risk of malnutrition.
The number of children under
five at risk of severe acute mal-
nutrition has tripled this year to
537,000, up from 160,000 before
the conflict, Boulierac warned.
The United Nations says at
least 2,355 civilians have been
killed in Yemen’s conflict since
late March, and another 4,862
injured, Colville said.
Some 1.4mn people have
meanwhile been forced to flee
their homes.
Meanwhile, a European-
backed resolution calling for a UN
investigation into rights abuses
committed during the conflict
was withdrawn this week.
The Dutch-drafted UN rights
council proposal had called for
a full inquiry into violations in
Yemen since September 2014.
Saudi Arabia introduced its
own proposal which instead sup-
ported a domestic probe.
After securing the support
of the US and Britain, the Saudi
resolution was adopted by the
UN’s top rights body yesterday
by consensus.
 Gulf Times
4 Saturday, October 3, 2015
ARAB WORLD
US, allies tell
Russia to halt
raids outside
Syria IS areas
As Russia carries out a third
day of air strikes in Syria,
President Vladimir Putin
faces mounting international
criticism over his military
campaign
Reuters
Beirut/Moscow
R
ussia bombed Syria for a
third day yesterday, main-
ly hitting areas held by ri-
val insurgent groups rather than
the Islamic State fighters it said
it was targeting and drawing an
increasingly angry response from
the West.
The US-led coalition that is
waging its own air war against
Islamic State called on the Rus-
sians to halt strikes on targets
other than IS.
“We call on the Russian Fed-
eration to immediately cease its
attacks on the Syrian opposi-
tion and civilians and to focus
its efforts on fighting ISIL,” said
the coalition, which includes
the United States, major Euro-
pean powers, Arab states and
Turkey.
“We express our deep concern
with regard to the Russian mili-
tary build-up in Syria and espe-
cially the attacks by the Russian
Air Force on Hama, Homs and
Idlib since yesterday which led
to civilian casualties and did not
target Daesh,” it said.
ISIL and Daesh are both ac-
ronyms for Islamic State, which
has set up a caliphate across
a swathe of eastern Syria and
northern Iraq.
In Syria, the group is one of
many fighting against Russia’s
ally, President Bashar al-Assad.
Washington and its Western and
regional allies say Russia is us-
ing it as a pretext to bomb other
groups that oppose Assad. Some
of these groups have received
training and weapons from As-
sad’s foreign enemies, including
the United States.
President Vladimir Putin held
frosty talks with France’s Fran-
cois Hollande in Paris, Putin’s
Top Iraq cleric urges
wider war against IS
Reuters
Baghdad
I A
raq’s most powerful Shia
cleric called for a global
war against Islamic State
yesterday, a day after the
prime minister said he would
welcome Russian air strikes
against the group on Iraqi
soil.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-
Sistani, who has a huge fol-
lowing and can often influ-
ence government thinking,
was speaking through an aide
after nationally televised Fri-
day prayers.
“Battle with Daesh is des-
tined for all Iraqis,” said Sist-
ani, using an Arabic acronym
for Islamic State.
“But it’s not their battle
alone but the whole world,
because terrorists target with
their dark ideology all hu-
manity, its culture and mor-
als.”
He added: “It’s essential to
join together all efforts and
expand the parameters of
countering this movement”
The United States has led
air strikes against IS in Iraq,
as well as in Syria, for more
than a year, but Baghdad has
repeatedly called for engage-
ment and air support for Iraqi
forces trying to regain terri-
tory against the ultra-hard-
line group.
Russia began bombing
raids in Syria on Wednesday
against groups fighting the
first meeting with a Western
leader since launching the strikes
two days after he gave an address
to the United Nations making the
case to back Assad.
Friday prayers were cancelled
in insurgent-held areas of Homs
province that were hit by Russian
warplanes this week, with resi-
dents concerned that mosques
could be targeted, said one per-
son from the area.
“The streets are almost com-
pletely empty and there is an un-
announced curfew,” said the res-
ident, speaking from the town of
Rastan which was hit in the first
day of Russian air strikes.
Warplanes were seen flying
high above the area, which is held
by anti-Assad rebels but has no
significant presence of IS fight-
ers.
IS also cancelled prayers in
areas it controls, according to
activists from its de facto capital
Raqa.
A Russian air strike on Thurs-
day destroyed a mosque in the
town of Jisr al-Shughur, cap-
tured from government forces by
an alliance of Islamist insurgents
earlier this year, activists said.
The United Nations said it had
been forced to suspend planned
humanitarian operations in parts
of Syria due to the fighting.
Moscow said yesterday its lat-
est strikes had hit 12 IS targets,
but most of the areas it described
were in western and northern
parts of the country, while IS is
mostly present in the east.
The Russian defence ministry
said its Sukhoi-34, Sukhoi-24M
and Sukhoi-25 warplanes had
flown 18 sorties hitting targets
that included a command post
and a communications centre in
the province of Aleppo, a militant
field camp in Idlib and a com-
mand post in Hama.
A defence ministry official,
Igor Konashenkov, later told
Russian news agencies the air
force had conducted 14 flights
in Syria yesterday and made six
strikes against IS targets. The
ministry was not immediately
available to comment on the ap-
forces of President Bashar al-
Assad, which include IS.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider
al-Abadi said on Thursday his
government would welcome
Russian air strikes against IS
in Iraq, and was receiving in-
formation from both Syria and
Russia on the group.
Abadi, asked by France 24
television whether he had
discussed air strikes with
Russia in his country, said:
“”Not yet”. He added: “It is
a possibility. If we get the of-
fer we will consider it and I
would welcome it.”
Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov said on Thurs-
day that Moscow was not
planning to expand its air
strikes to Iraq.
Iraq’s military joint opera-
tions command said on Sep-
tember 27 its officials were
co-operating on intelligence
and security in Baghdad
with Russia, Iran and Syria to
counter the threat from IS.
Iraqi officials have sug-
gested this co-operation
would focus on countering
the threat from IS in Syria.
Iraqi officials said the
agreement to share intel-
ligence with Russia did not
mean the United States
would lose influence with the
Baghdad government.
But diplomats and officials
said Abadi may use the grow-
ing Russian presence as lev-
erage to secure greater Amer-
ican co-operation, including
weapons from Washington.
parent discrepancy with the ear-
lier figures.
The UK-based Syrian Observ-
atory for Human Rights, which
monitors the conflict with a net-
work of sources on the ground,
said there was no IS presence at
any of those areas.
Russia has however also struck
IS areas in a small number of
other attacks further east. The
Observatory said 12 IS fighters
were killed near Raqa on Thurs-
day, and planes believed to be
Russian had also struck the IS-
held city of Qarytayn.
Russia has said it is using its
most advanced plane, the Su-
khoi-34, near Raqa, the area
where it is most likely to encoun-
ter US and coalition aircraft tar-
geting IS.
The US-led coalition said
it conducted 28 air strikes on
IS targets in Syria and Iraq on
Thursday.
Hollande and Putin both
looked stern at their talks in Par-
is, exchanging terse handshakes
for the cameras.
Hollande laid out France’s
conditions for supporting Rus-
sian intervention, which include
a halt to strikes on groups other
than IS and Al Qaeda, protec-
tions for civilians and a commit-
ment to a political transition that
would remove Assad.
“What I told President Putin
was that the strikes should con-
cern Daesh and only Daesh. On
that basis we have to hold eve-
ryone to their responsibilities,”
Hollande told reporters after the
talks on Syria that lasted more
than an hour.
Putin’s decision to launch
strikes on Syria marks a dramatic
escalation of foreign involve-
ment in a four-year-old civil war
in which every major country in
the region has a stake.
Lebanese sources have said
that hundreds of Iranian troops
have also arrived in recent days
in Syria to participate in a ma-
jor ground offensive alongside
government troops and their
Lebanese and Iraqi Shia militia
allies.
US Secretary of State John Kerry sits next to Samantha Power, US ambassador to the UN, at the high-level
meeting on Libya yesterday.
Libya rivals warned on peace deal
Reuters
United Nations
U
nited Nations member
states yesterday pushed
warring factions in Libya to
agree to a UN-brokered peace deal
with a promise of international
help to rebuild the country and a
warning not to further delay an
end to the conflict.
After months of stalled negotia-
tions, UN envoy Bernardino Leon
handed the Libyan parties a final
draft of a September 21 peace ac-
cord aimed at ending fighting be-
tween two rival governments and
their armed backers.
“There is no time to waste. We
all know the threats that further
hesitation will bring,” US Secretary
of State John Kerry told a meeting
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and French President Francois Hollande meet at the Elysee Palace in Paris yesterday.
Muallem says negotiations
alone will not end conflict
Reuters
United Nations
S
yrian Foreign Minister Walid
Muallem yesterday ques-
tioned the value of political
negotiations and said air strikes
against militants in his country are
useless if they are not co-ordinat-
ed with his government.
“Terrorism cannot be fought
only from the air, and all of the
previous operations to combat it
have only served its spread and
outbreak,” Muallem told the UN
General Assembly.
Muallem was apparently
referring to US-led coalition air
strikes on Islamic State fighters
and the Al Qaeda-linked Al Nursra
Front in Syria and Iraq that began
nearly a year ago.
“Air strikes are useless unless
they are conducted in co-
on Libya on the sidelines of the an-
nual gathering of world leaders at
the UN General Assembly.
“If they make the right deci-
sions ... if they forge a true gov-
ernment of national unity, and if
they begin to govern as their peo-
ple need them to govern, we, the
international community, will be
behind them and beside them each
and every step of the way. They can
count on that,” he said.
US President Barack Obama
said on Monday that the world
should have done more to avoid a
leadership vacuum in Libya, where
Islamic State militants have been
able to gain a foothold in the city
of Sirte.
Leon hopes the factions will
sign the deal by October 20, when
the mandate of the elected parlia-
ment ends. .
operation with the Syrian army,
the only force in Syria that is
combating terrorism,” he told the
193-nation assembly toward the
end of the annual gathering of
world leaders in New York.
Earlier this week, US President
Barack Obama and Russian
President Vladimir Putin met in
New York on the sidelines of the
General Assembly to discuss Syria
and Ukraine, two issues that divide
the former Cold War rivals.
The Russians and Americans
faced off repeatedly this week, with
both sides claiming legitimacy for
their actions in Syria but differing
over the role of Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad, a staunch
Russian ally.
Muallem welcomed Russia’s
move this week to conduct air
strikes in Syria at the request of
the Damascus government in
“support of the Syrian efforts in
The deal proposed by the United
Nations calls for a one-year united
national government, with the
current elected parliament as the
legislature, and another chamber
as a consultative body.
“As we work to ensure this text
is accepted by the Libyans, let us
be clear: All those who choose to
remain outside this framework
will be responsible for the con-
sequences and suffering that will
ensue,” said UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon.
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh
Shoukry said those who believed
they could delay a deal any longer
were wrong.
“The international commu-
nity cannot accept any further
delays,” he said. “We are with you,
we would never desert the Libyan
people.”
combating terrorism”.
Muallem suggested it would be
impossible to end the crisis in his
country solely through political
negotiations.
“No one should think that,
after all these sacrifices and
steadfastness for more than four
years, they could obtain through
politics what they could not win in
the field, or that they will achieve
at the negotiating table what they
failed to achieve on the ground,” he
said.
However, he announced that
Assad’s government was ready to
participate in a series of working
groups set up by UN mediator
Staffan de Mistura aimed at
hammering out the framework of
an agreement on a future political
transition for Syria.
“Syria agrees to participate
in the four brainstorming
committees of experts proposed
State of emergency
in Tunisia is lifted
AFP
Tunis
state of emergency im-
posed in Tunisia after a
gunman massacred 38
foreign tourists in June is set to
be lifted, the president’s office
announced yesterday.
“The state of emergency an-
nounced on July 4 and extended
on July 31 ends today, October
2,” Beji Caid Essebsi’s office said.
“It had been extended for two
months and this period ends” at
midnight, presidency spokes-
man Moez Sinaoui said, with-
out elaborating.
On July 4, eight days after the
shooting spree at the Mediter-
ranean resort of Port El Kan-
taoui north of Sousse, Essebsi
ordered a state of emergency for
an initial 30 days.
On July 31, the president’s of-
fice announced it would be ex-
tended.
The state of emergency was
one of a raft of measures intro-
duced by the authorities after
the seaside massacre, which
dealt a heavy blow to Tunisia’s
key tourism industry.
The June 26 attack killed 30
Britons, three Irish, two Ger-
mans, one Belgian, one Portu-
guese and a Russian.
Afterwards, the government
began arming tourism police
for the first time and reinforced
them with troops in an attempt
to reassure foreign govern-
ments.
A state of emergency, grant-
by the special envoy Staffan de
Mistura,” Muallem said, adding
that the results of the working
groups would be non-binding.
So far, the idea of the working
groups has failed to produce
concrete results, and de Mistura -
like predecessors Kofi Annan and
Lakhdar Brahimi - has been unable
to get the warring sides to halt
their fighting.
Muallem said that reforms
related to democratic elections
and the country’s constitution
would have to wait while the
government pursues its fight
against what he characterised as
terrorism.
“Syria cannot implement any
democratic political measures
related to elections, a constitution
or the like, while terrorism is
striking at home and threatens
innocent civilians in the country,”
he said.
ing special powers to the police
and army, was in force for three
years up until March 2014, fol-
lowing longtime secular presi-
dent Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s
ouster in a 2011 revolution.
Apart from allowing the bar-
ring of strike action, the meas-
ure authorised the authorities
to raid homes at any time of the
day and to keep tabs on the me-
dia.
The gunman behind the June
26 attack on foreign tourists,
23-year-old Seifeddine Rezgui,
was killed by police after his
bloody rampage.
Tourists fled in horror as
Rezgui pulled a Kalashnikov as-
sault rifle from inside a furled
beach umbrella and began a
shooting spree outside a five-
star hotel.
The attack on the beach and
around the swimming pools of
the Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel
was claimed by the Islamic State
group.
Rezgui was buried uncere-
moniously on Wednesday in the
farming town of Gaafour under
strict security, three months af-
ter the attack.
The interior ministry said on
Wednesday it could not say why
there had been a delay of three
months between Rezgui’s death
and burial, during which time
his body was kept in the morgue
of a Tunis hospital.
Prime Minister Habib Essid
has said Rezgui was radicalised
on the Internet before undergo-
ing weapons training in neigh-
bouring Libya.

Students harness solar energy for motorcycles
Thomson Reuters Foundation
Urudi, Kenya
M
otorcycle taxi operators
waiting for passengers
in this village in western
Kenya’s Kisumu County lounge
on their various machines - but
Alfred Omondi’s plug-in elec-
tric scooter stands out from the
crowd.
Surrounded by motorbikes
running on polluting fossil fuels,
Omondi sits astride his solar-
powered rechargeable motor-
Four suicide
bombers kill
at least 10 in
Nigeria city
AFP
Abuja
A
t least 10 people were
killed and 39 others in-
jured when four suicide
bombers blew themselves up in
the city of Maiduguri, northeast
Nigeria, the military said yester-
day.
“So far it has been confirmed
that 14 people have lost their
lives, including the suicide
bombers, while 39 people were
wounded,” Defence Headquar-
ters in Abuja said of Thursday
night’s attacks.
Boko Haram Islamists have in-
creasingly used suicide bombers
to target civilians, including in
Maiduguri, where on September
20 at least 117 people were killed
in a wave of attacks.
Locals and one police officer in
the Borno state capital said ini-
tially there were seven blasts in
the Ajilari Cross area of the city,
with at least two bombs strapped
to teenage girls.
The military said yester-
day: “Although details are still
sketchy, suffice to state that four
Boko Haram terrorists suicide
bombers detonated their vests
simultaneously.
“Three of the terrorists
(struck) in the same area and the
fourth detonated in front of a
mosque.”
Ajilari Cross, near Maiduguri
airport and a military base, was
one of several places in the city
also hit 10 days ago.
Nigeria’s military has claimed
a series of successes against Boko
Haram in recent weeks, which
has led many to fear an increase
in attacks against civilians in the
restive northeast.
Amnesty International said
on Wednesday more needed to
be done to protect ordinary citi-
zens, with at least 1,600 killed in
Boko Haram violence in Nigeria,
Cameroon, Chad and Niger since
June.
The conflict has claimed more
than 1,260 lives in Nigeria alone
Swazi princess of rap sings her father’s praises
AFP
Luve
S
itting on a cushion under a
tree on a hot and dusty farm
with a reality TV show crew
standing by, Swaziland’s royal
princess Sikhanyiso Dlamini lays
down a quick-fire rap.
“Where’s my next breath? The
one that you promised me. Maj-
esty of your faithfulness, and
honesty,” she sings, a stream of
lyrics dripping off her tongue.
Wearing white sneakers, a
faux tiara, and a traditional wrap
around her body, the eldest child
of King Mswati III is something
of a cultural custodian in Swazi-
land, one of the world’s last ab-
solute monarchies.
Around her, tens of thousands
of girls and young women pre-
pared to travel to the nearby royal
village for the Reed Dance, an
annual virginity celebration in
which they dance in front of their
king.
Sikhanyiso would be at their
cycle, which uses technology
developed by students from the
University of Nairobi.
Charles Ogingo, Robert Achoge
and James Ogola - all final year
students - have built a system
they call Ecotran, which captures
the sun’s energy, stores it in bat-
teries, and uses it to charge a mo-
torcycle’s electric motor.
Much of western Kenya has
no grid electricity, and the plac-
es that do face frequent power
disruptions, so solar energy is a
promising alternative, they say.
The three students have set
since Muhammadu Buhari took
office as president on May 29.
At least 17,000 people have
been killed - 3,500 of them this
year, according to Amnesty - and
more than 2.5mn made homeless
since the Boko Haram insurgency
began in 2009.
On Wednesday and Thursday,
suspected Boko Haram fighters
killed 11 people during attacks
on three villages in the northeast
state of Adamawa, a lawmaker
and local official said yesterday.
The attacks on Wednesday
evening in Bitiku and Kubu left
four dead, while seven were
killed early on Thursday morning
in Kirchinga.
The three villages are in the
north of Adamawa state, near the
town of Madagali and the border
with Borno state.
Just over the state border is the
Sambisa Forest, which has long
been a Boko Haram stronghold.
Adamu Kamale, who repre-
sents the Madagali and Michika
areas in Nigeria’s House of Rep-
resentatives, blamed the attacks
on Boko Haram remnants and
said people needed more protec-
tion.
“We need more security per-
sonnel, as our villages share bor-
ders with Sambisa Forest,” he
said.
“The insurgents attacked a
group of traders returning from
Gulak market and killed four
of them before proceeding to
Kirchinga where they slaugh-
tered seven persons, including
three women.”
The military said earlier this
year it had cleared Adamawa
of Boko Haram, which last year
captured towns as far south as
Mubi, nearly 200km by road
from the state capital, Yola.
AFP visited Michika in May,
where locals who had returned
complained about a lack of func-
tioning administration and sup-
plies, including food.
Maina Ularamu, a former lo-
cal government administrator
in Madagali, said little had im-
proved since then.
Princess Sikhanyiso Dlamini sits under a tree during an interview in
Luve, Swaziland.
head—the chief maiden of the
small, land-locked nation where
traditional ways of life still hold
sway.
She says the steady flow of
beats in old Swazi music first
up a “fuelling” station with 40
solar photovoltaic units, each
generating 250 watts of electric-
ity. The energy is stored in bat-
teries before being transformed
by powerful inverters into the al-
ternating current needed by the
motorcycle.
The motorbike uses a small
portable battery which, fully
charged, can run for 70km, after
which it must return to the sta-
tion to be recharged while an-
other charged battery is fitted to
the bike.
The students, who have set up
Chimneys of steel factories are seen behind a dry maize field outside Johannesburg.
El Nino brings threat
of drought and floods
The El Nino weather pattern
is expected to bring more
drought to already-parched
southern regions in Africa and
potential flooding in the east
Reuters
Potchefstroom, South Africa
S
tanding waist-deep in a
hole, South African maize
farmer Tom van Rooyen
digs at the side with a small
pickaxe.
“There is moisture 25m down
but nothing beyond that. If we
get below-average rains, it will
be a disaster,” he said, wiping
the red dust from his calloused
hands.
Poor rains are forecast for
South Africa’s maize belt be-
cause of the El Nino weather
pattern, expected to bring more
drought to already-parched
southern regions in Africa and
potential flooding in the east.
This will add misery to the
world’s poorest continent, al-
opened her to the world of hip
hop, and allowed her to build a
local reputation as a rap musi-
cian under the moniker “Princess
Pashu”.
“The rhythm that I have from
a company called Pfoofy Solar
Ltd, put together their system in
2014 at a climate change innova-
tion centre at Strathmore Busi-
ness School in Nairobi, where
they had been sent to give practi-
cal form to their ideas.
After successfully trying out
the Ecotran technology on three
locally bought motorcycles in
Kisumu County’s Nyakach area
early this year, the young in-
novators are now expanding the
project, and powering 40 more
bikes.
“We were awarded $100,000
ready reeling from a collapse
in commodity prices triggered
by China’s slowing economic
growth.
Aid agency Oxfam warned this
week that 10mn people, mostly
in Africa, face hunger because
of droughts and unusual rainfall
patterns caused by a “super” El
Nino.
Also called “Little Boy” or
“Christ Child” - Peruvian fish-
ermen first noted it around
Christmas - El Nino is a warm-
ing of ocean surface tempera-
tures in the eastern and central
Pacific that occurs every few
years. The last “super” El Nino
occurred in 1997-1998.
While the weather phenom-
enon heralds drought in some
parts of the globe and flooding
in others, this one follows record
temperatures linked to global
warming.
Drought cut the staple maize
crop in South Africa, the region’s
biggest producer, by about a
third this past season. It is likely
to continue into the southern
hip hop derives from the cultural
traditions that we have here in
Swaziland. They’re what inspire
me,” she said.
“That already sounds like rap.
That’s where we got the rhythm.”
Educated in England and the
United States and with a Masters
in digital communications from
Sydney University, the 28-year-
old now sits on her father’s pow-
erful advisory council.
And the royal life winds its way
into her lyrics.
In a music video for her fawn-
ing ballad Hail Your Majesty,
she appears on camera as the
quintessential Disney princess,
rapping and singing her father’s
praises.
“My heart is stirred by a noble
theme. A humble servant, I recite
my verse for the king,” she sings
in a style similar to US superstar
Nicki Minaj, some of the lyrics
taken from the Book of Psalms.
“The time has come and the
time is now, for King Mswati’s
dream to manifest within.”
It is a message that fits with the
by the United States African
Development Fund and Power
Africa for the ingenious innova-
tion. It is this money that we are
now using to upscale the solar
project,” said Pfoofy Solar man-
ager Achoge.
The new motorcycles are im-
ported from China, he said.
The students will lease the
bikes to 40 riders who they have
trained in road safety. Most mo-
torcyclists in Kenya, like Omon-
di, have no bikes of their own but
ride leased machines.
Omondi, who used to ride a
hemisphere summer as El Nino
strengthens.
According to Reuters data,
futures for the white maize con-
tract used for human consump-
tion - the staple of the poor - hit
record highs over 3,000 rand
($215) a tonne in July and are
within striking distance of that.
Inflation in Africa’s most ad-
vanced economy moderated to
4.6% in August from 5% in July,
but the central bank has warned
that drought remains a concern
because of its impact on food
prices.
Drought has also hit South
Africa’s sugar crop, which the
Cane Growers Association fore-
casts will fall to 14.9mn tonnes in
the 2015-16 season from 17.7mn
tonnes last year, which was al-
ready stunted, a fall of 15%.
South Africa is the world’s
second-largest citrus exporter,
a 9bn rand industry, and the
northern Limpopo region which
accounts for a third of the crop is
under water restrictions, indus-
try sources say.
political situation in Swaziland,
where the prime minister and the
cabinet are appointed by the all-
powerful king, who has been on
the throne since 1986.
Political parties are banned
from taking part in elections,
when only candidates approved
by chiefs loyal to the king can
stand for office.
Sikhanyiso—who heads a
women’s empowerment founda-
tion—does not claim all is perfect
in her father’s kingdom.
With an estimated 63% of
Swazis living below the poverty
line, Sikhanyiso says she hopes to
see development funds serve the
people on the ground and not the
politicians.
“It’s a problem when you put
greedy people in power,” she said.
“And it’s a problem in a soci-
ety like Swaziland where the ulti-
mate authority then gets blamed
for everything that happens be-
neath the surface.”
But the royal family has been
accused of being the country’s
biggest drain of wealth, with a re-
AFRICA
petrol motorcycle, said he used to
make 1,000 shillings ($9.60) on a
good day, but would spend about
350 shillings on fuel and another
300 to lease the bike from its
owner.
Now it costs him 100 shillings
to recharge the electric motor-
bike, saving him money even
as he helps the environment by
curbing pollution and climate-
changing emissions.
“The only challenge is that this
electric bike has low acceleration
and cannot work in hilly terrain,”
he pointed out.
Neighbouring Zimbabwe has
been hit hard by drought that
has halved the maize harvest to
742,000 tonnes this year, ac-
cording to the UN’s World Food
Programme.
The government says drought
is a major reason it cut the 2015
growth forecast to 1.5% from
3.2%. Aid agencies say 1.5mn
Zimbabweans, or 16% of the
population, would need food aid
by next March.
The drought has also reduced
power generation to 475 mega-
watts (MW) from 750 MW at the
Kariba Hydro electricity plant,
after water levels at the dam fell,
forcing mines to reduce output
in neighbouring Zambia, Af-
rica’s second-biggest copper
producer.
In west Africa, a lack of rain-
fall across Ghana’s cocoa belt has
raised fears that the world’s No 2
grower could be facing another
poor crop.
In Ethiopia, 4.5mn people
need food aid because of El Nino
and long-term climate change,
ported household budget in 2014
of $61mn.
In a 2009 interview with her
campus newspaper at Califor-
nia’s Biola University, Sikhanyiso
said the only perk of being a
princess was “the ability to af-
ford things, to afford a luxurious
lifestyle”.
A taste for bling was exposed
last year when SwaziLeaks, an
anti-monarchist Twitter ac-
count, posted photos of young
royals partying abroad.
Among them was Sikhanyiso,
posing glamorously by a pool
at the Intercontinental Hotel in
Cannes.
She made headlines again
when she engaged in a debate on
Twitter with the People’s United
Democratic Movement (PU-
DEMO), a pro-democracy organ-
isation which was banned after
a series of small bomb attacks in
2008.
Sikhanyiso’s account was shut
down days later, but she says she
is always open to discussions.
“In Swaziland, we have a say-
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 3, 2015 5
Ogingo, a mechanical engi-
neering student, agreed that the
technology promises lower op-
erating costs as well as environ-
mental benefits.
Taxi motorbikes are a big in-
dustry in Kenya, employing
thousands of young people.
The World Health Organisation
estimates that between 2005
and 2011, motorcycle registra-
tions in Kenya increased almost
40-fold, and that by 2011 mo-
torcycles made up 70% of all
newly registered vehicles in the
country.
according to UN agencies.
However, the case in east Af-
rica’s biggest economy, Kenya,
will be more mixed, according to
Peter Ambenje, assistant direc-
tor at its Meteorological Depart-
ment. El Nino typically brings
increased rains to Africa’s east.
“Enhanced rainfall will boost
farming even though farmers
need to be aware of prevalence
of diseases due to high moisture
levels that may cause post-har-
vest losses,” he said.
Recent El Nino events brought
floods to Kenya in 1997-1998 and
2006-2007, resulting in losses
of lives, harvests and livestock as
well as infrastructure damage and
outbreaks of hunger and disease.
Back in South Africa, Van
Rooyen says he expects a tough
year, but retains the stoic faith of
a farmer.
“When they forecast a bad
El Nino in the late 1990s, I still
planted,” he said, manoeuvring
his pick-up through the fields.
“Then the rains came and I had
a good crop that year.”
ing: people don’t go in one di-
rection like water. People are
allowed to have their own opin-
ions on things, and it’s good,”
she said.
“Actually, Swaziland is the
most democratic country in the
world,” she added, explaining
that the monarchy fulfilled the
wishes of the people and the peo-
ple wanted a king.
Getting up from her cushion,
with praise singers crying out
all around her, Sikhanyiso made
her way singing and stamping
to lead the tens of thousands of
waiting girls towards the royal
village.
“I don’t feel other people
should coerce this kingdom to
change what it believes,” she said
above the din.
“You see all these girls here.
Nobody has compelled them to
be here.
“They want to celebrate vir-
ginity and their lives. They’re
here for a brighter future. And
they feel that future is with the
monarchy.”
 Gulf Times
6 Saturday, October 3, 2015
AMERICA
College massacre
gunman ‘had cache
of 13 weapons’
The gunman shot a professor
and then ordered cowering
students to stand up and
state their religion before
he shot them one by one,
according to survivors’
accounts
Reuters
Roseburg, Oregon
T
he Oregon gunman who
carried out an execution-
style massacre at a col-
lege classroom had a cache of 13
weapons, body armour and am-
munition, authorities said yes-
terday as they sought a motive
for the bloodiest US mass shoot-
ing this year.
Celinez Nunez, assistant spe-
cial agent of the US Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives disclosed the cache
as details emerged about the
suspect in Thursday’s rampage
at Umpqua Community College
in Roseburg, about 290km south
of Portland.
Six of the guns, plus body
armour and five magazines
of ammunition were recov-
ered from the campus where
the gunman stormed into a
classroom, killing nine peo-
ple before he was shot dead by
police, Nunez told a news con-
ference.
Douglas County Sheriff John
Hanlin declined to name the
Sheriff who opposes
gun control measures
is thrust into spotlight
By Jon Herskovitz and Katie
Reilly
Reuters
A
bout a month after the
2012 Sandy Hook school
shootings, Douglas
County Sheriff John Hanlin in
Oregon posted a video on his
Facebook page from conspiracy
theorists who said the event
might have been a hoax. A few
days later, he wrote to Vice
President Joe Biden, telling him
to stay away from gun control.
Hanlin was thrust into the
spotlight this week, when a
gunman opened fire at a college
classroom in Douglas County,
killing 10 people and wound-
ing several others before police
shot him to death.
The sheriff from a woodlands
section of Oregon quickly be-
came a focal point of the national
debate about mass killings at
schools. Some criticise him for
opposing measures to make it
more difficult to obtain firearms,
and others see him as a man of
integrity standing up for the
constitutional right to bear arms.
“Gun control is NOT the
answer to preventing heinous
crimes like school shootings,”
he wrote in a letter to Vice Pres-
Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin speaking to members of the media in Roseburg, Oregon, yesterday.
Emergency workers blocking access to Umpqua Community College
in Roseburg yesterday.
gunman, saying: “Again, you
will not hear anyone from this
law enforcement operation use
his name. I continue to believe
that those media and commu-
nity members who publicise his
name will only glorify his hor-
rific actions. And eventually, this
will only serve to inspire a future
shooter.”
Law enforcement sources
confirmed reports identifying
the suspect as Chris Harper-
Mercer, 26.
The gunman shot a professor
and then ordered cowering stu-
dents to stand up and state their
religion before he shot them one
ident Joe Biden in 2013, about a
month after Sandy Hook, when
a gunman killed 20 children
and six adults at an elementary
School in Newtown, Connecti-
cut, then killed himself.
Yesterday, the sheriff told
CNN: “The discussion over
firearms and control of fire-
arms will occur,” adding that
he would speak on the subject
later but now was not the time.
Hanlin, who has been with
the Douglas County Sheriff ’s
Office since 1989, was elected
sheriff in 2009. In 2012, he ran
unopposed.
Born and raised in the Rose-
burg area, he attended Umpqua
Community College - where
the shootings took place - his
official biography said. He has
two sons, according to a bi-
ography by the Oregon State
Sheriffs’ Association.
A hunter and fisherman,
Hanlin’s views on gun owner-
ship are similar to many other
residents in the state that is
sparsely populated and guar-
antees the right to arms.
“The people shall have the
right to keep and bear arms for
the defense of themselves and
the state,” the state Constitu-
tion declares.
Oregon is also one of seven
by one, according to survivors’
accounts.
Another seven guns and a sig-
nificant stockpile of ammunition
were found at the apartment he
shared with his mother in nearby
Winchester, about 273km south
of Portland, Nunez said.
Although authorities have
disclosed scant information
about the gunman, they ap-
peared to be learning more about
him and why he might have
opened fire.
The shooter left behind a
“multipage, hate-filled” state-
ment in the classroom, according
to a tweet from an NBC reporter,
US states that allow concealed
weapons to be carried on college
campuses, according to the Na-
tional Conference of State Legis-
latures, which tracks local laws.
Supporters of such laws ar-
gue that having more guns
on campus would prevent the
mass shootings that have be-
come commonplace in recent
years. Opponents say such
measures mean more danger
for all on campus.
Hamlin was at the forefront
in speaking opposition to a
measure debated earlier this
year in Oregon that would ex-
pand background checks on
gun sales. He testified at a leg-
islative committee in April.
“Creating more regulation
and control over the transfer
of firearms will only affect the
honest, law-abiding major-
ity of Oregon gun owners,” he
wrote in March of this year.
The governor signed the leg-
islation into law in May.
On his Facebook page, Han-
lin shared posts in favour of
gun ownership, including one
from Sarah Palin, the former
Republican vice presidential
candidate, that said “Remem-
ber when the Colonists stood in
line to register their muskets...”
...me either.”
citing multiple law enforcement
sources who were not identified.
Citing unspecified sources, CNN
said the statement showed ani-
mosity toward blacks.
Hanlin declined to comment
when asked about the writings
at a news conference.
Harper-Mercer, who identi-
fied himself on a blog post as
“mixed race”, enlisted in the US
Army and served for about a
month in 2008 before being dis-
charged for failing to meet ad-
ministrative standards, military
records showed.
A man identifying himself as
the gunman’s father Ian Mercer
told reporters outside his home
in Los Angeles on Thursday
night, “It’s been a devastating
day, devastating for me and my
family.”
At some point of his life,
Harper-Mercer appears to have
been sympathetic to the Irish
Republican Army, a militant
group that waged a violent cam-
paign to drive the British from
Northern Ireland. On an undated
Myspace page, he posted photos
of masked IRA gunmen carrying
assault rifles.
Harper-Mercer was born in
the United Kingdom and arrived
in the US as a young boy, his
stepsister Carmen Nesnick told
CBS Los Angeles.
After the shooting, Mercy
Medical Center in Roseburg re-
ceived 10 patients, including
Woman dies
from black
bear attack
By Laura Zuckerman
Reuters
A T
n 85-year-old Mon-
tana woman has died of
wounds she suffered in a
rare attack by a black bear inside
her rural home where she had
been feeding bruins in violation
of state law, authorities said yes-
terday.
Barbara Paschke died on
Thursday at a hospital in the city
of Kalispell from injuries sus-
tained to her muscles, tendons
and other soft tissues in the at-
tack on Sunday afternoon, said
Flathead County Undersheriff
Dave Leib.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and
Parks managers are seeking to
capture the bear involved.
Earlier this week, wardens
trapped two other bears, a male
and a female at the woman’s
property, which is near a lake
west of Kalispell, in the north-
western part of the state.
The pair were euthanised after
it was determined they had been
routinely fed sunflower seeds
and millet by the elderly home-
owner, and perhaps others in the
residential area.
A different bear is blamed
for the fatal attack, and agency
spokesman John Fraley said it
was not yet known whether the
pair were related to that one, nor
how that bear got inside Pas-
chke’s house.
Wardens have gone door-
to-door warning residents that
bears accustomed to being fed
by humans were roaming the
neighbourhood, and reminding
them Montana law forbids feed-
ing of bears.
The ban is designed to pre-
vent bears from losing their fear
of humans or seeing them as
sources of food, making them a
threat to public safety, said re-
gional Fish, Wildlife and Parks
manager Neil Anderson.
Anderson said such animals
must be destroyed.
“It would be irresponsible to
release potentially dangerous
bears somewhere else when the
bears are habituated to people.
This is a very unfortunate exam-
ple of how feeding bears directly
leads to their death,” he said in a
statement.
Black bears are not generally
known for attacking humans.
People taking part in a candlelight vigil following the mass shooting at Umpqua Community College
in Roseburg.
one who died in the emergency
room, hospital officials told re-
porters yesterday. Three were
transported to other facilities
because they needed a higher
level of care, four required sur-
gery, and two were treated and
released. All were treated for
gunshot wounds.
The violence, the latest in a
series of high-profile mass kill-
ings across the country, has
fuelled demands for stricter gun
control in the US.
Not counting Thursday’s in-
cident, 293 US mass shootings
have been reported this year,
according to the Mass Shoot-
ing Tracker website, a crowd-
sourced database kept by anti-
gun activists that logs events in
which four or more people are
shot.
Hours after Thursday’s
shooting, a visibly frustrated
President Barack Obama urged
Americans to press their elected
leaders to enact tougher firearms
safety laws.
“Somehow this has become
routine. The reporting is rou-
tine. My response here, at this
Canada poll race
is narrowing
to two parties
Reuters
Montreal/Ottawa
C
anada’s tight three-
way election race
may be turning into a
two-party contest.
The left-leaning New
Democrat Party (NDP),
which had surged into top
spot after an unexpected May
victory against the ruling
Conservatives in Alberta, has
stumbled in national polls as
support in its stronghold of
Quebec wanes.
The NDP, down from first
to third place in national
polls, appears to have been
hurt by its backing of Mus-
lim women who want to
wear the niqab during citi-
zenship ceremonies, while
its plans to fund a universal
day-care proposal have been
greeted with skepticism.
The NDP, historically Can-
ada’s most socially progres-
sive party, had looked feder-
ally electable for the first time
ever, buoyed by the Alberta
win and a shift away from far-
left policies that had previ-
ously alienated voters.
But it has failed to distin-
guish itself from fellow cen-
tre-left party the Liberals as
the best alternative to the
nine-year-old government
of Conservative Prime Min-
ister Stephen Harper.
The NDP has been seri-
ously damaged, too, by the
fallout from a court ruling
this month allowing women
to wear the niqab during
the oath of citizenship. The
party’s decision last week to
come out in support of the veil
has prompted a backlash, es-
pecially in the predominantly
French-speaking Quebec, a
fiercely secular and electorally
important province.
“Right now we are looking
at an emerging two-horse
race with the New Demo-
crats on the decline,” pollster
Nik Nanos said. He released
a poll this week that showed
the Conservatives and Lib-
erals tied at 32% and the
NDP trailing at 26%, down
from a high of 33%.
While the party could still
podium, ends up being routine,”
he said. “We’ve become numb to
this.”
Gun control advocates say
easy access to firearms is a major
factor in the shooting epidemic,
while the National Rifle Asso-
ciation and other pro-gun ad-
vocates say the Second Amend-
UN chief urges action to curb gun violence
UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon yesterday urged the
US to take action to curb gun
violence, saying it was taking
an “appalling toll” on American
society.
The UN chief said he was
“deeply saddened” to learn
of Thursday’s mass shooting
in Oregon. “In the face of
yet another tragedy of this
kind, the secretary-general
expresses his strong hope that
the US, through the robust
democratic process that
characterises it, will be able
to take the necessary action
to reduce the appalling toll in
human life that gun violence
bounce back, momentum is
going in the wrong direction,
and there are just 19 days
until the election.
If the NDP decline con-
tinues, it potentially means a
greater share of the “anyone
but Harper vote” for the Lib-
erals. Harper, whose govern-
ment is appealing the court
ruling, also stands to gain
among voters opposed to ac-
commodating immigrants’
customs, pollsters said.
“While a majority of vot-
ers for every party supports
the requirement (of showing
a woman’s face), this could
be just the wedge issue the
Tories have been looking
for,” pollster Ipsos said in a
report on Monday.
NDP leader Thomas Mul-
cair has dismissed questions
about his party’s slide in
the polls, saying the NDP’s
“support in Quebec is at his-
toric levels.”
Quebec is crucial to the
NDP’s survival. It accounts
for 23% of parliamentary
seats, second only to On-
tario. The Conservatives
hold just five Quebec seats
while the NDP have 54.
NDP campaign spokes-
man Brad Lavigne said each
of the three parties have
been at or below the NDP’s
current levels, and that while
NDP support has slipped in
Quebec, it is still the favorite
choice in the province.
Still, the party cannot af-
ford to lose any ground in
Quebec, given its lower stand-
ing in other regions of Canada,
where the Liberals and Con-
servatives hold more sway.
“What Mulcair and the
NDP will be doing for the re-
maining 19 days of this cam-
paign is focusing the attention
of those in Quebec that the
niqab is not the ballot ques-
tion. The ballot question is,
‘Do you want Stephen Harper
to have four more years or do
you want to defeat and replace
him?’” Lavigne said.
But the niqab controversy
has caused divisions in the
party. Three NDP candidates
broke with Mulcair on Tues-
day, saying they opposed the
veil.
ment of the US Constitution
guarantees Americans the right
to bear arms.
Oregon Governor Kate Brown
declined in television interviews
yesterday morning to discuss
gun control, as did the sheriff,
and both said it was a time for
healing the community.
is taking on American society,”
said a statement from Ban’s
spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.
There have been 142 school
shootings in the US over the
past three years, according
to data compiled by Mass
Shooting Tracker.
Asked if the UN could help
bring about stronger arms
control in the US, Dujarric
stressed that Washington
should come up with its own
ways to tackle the problem.
Ban, however, noted that
President Barack Obama had
“consistently demonstrated
his commitment to address
this scourge”.
Convicted
murderer
is executed
AFP
Washington
he state of Virginia has ex-
ecuted multiple murderer
Alfredo Prieto, rejecting
last-minute court appeals from
lawyers for the Salvadoran im-
migrant.
Prison officials said in a state-
ment that Prieto, who was put
to death by lethal injection, was
pronounced dead at 9:17pm lo-
cal time.
His final words, they said,
were: “Let’s get this over
with.”
Prieto had been convicted of
or linked to nine killings across
the US.
His attorneys had filed a
lawsuit seeking to temporar-
ily postpone the execution over
objections to the mix of drugs
used in the lethal injection, but
a federal judge rejected their
appeal.
Prieto’s main attorney, Rob-
ert Lee, complained that he had
filed an 11th hour appeal on be-
half of his client with the US Su-
preme Court, but that the exe-
cution was carried out before the
US highest court could render a
decision.
“The Justices of the Supreme
Court of the US were consider-
ing Mr Prieto’s request for a stay
of execution but the Virginia
Department of Corrections went
ahead with the execution with-
out waiting for a decision from
the Justices,” Lee said in a state-
ment.
Crimes that Prieto has been
convicted or linked to by evi-
dence include the 1988 shoot-
ings of Rachael Raver and War-
ren Fulton III on the outskirts of
the US capital, the Washington
Post reported.
Authorities say they believe
he also raped four of his victims,
including a 15-year-old girl in
California, where he was ar-
rested in 1990, according to the
newspaper.
According to Lee, Virginia
“executed a man without know-
ing whether he has intellectual
disability or not, using drugs
that are far beyond their ap-
proved date of use.”
Prieto’s execution was the
third scheduled in the US this
week, just two of which were ac-
tually carried out.
 Gulf Times
Saturday, October 3, 2015 7

ASEAN
Plane
Indonesia ‘forest fires could carrying
10 loses
become worst’ on record
AFP dard Institute for Space Stud-
contact
AFP
Jakarta
Jakarta ies, was quoted as saying by the
US science agency earlier this

A
week. n Indonesian passenger

T
he forest fires blanket-
ing Southeast Asia are
on track to become the
worst on record, Nasa has
warned, in a crisis that has seen
thousands of people seek medi-
cal treatment, flights grounded,
and schools closed.
Malaysia, Singapore and large
expanses of Indonesia have
suffered for weeks from acrid
smoke billowing from fires on
Indonesian plantations and
peatlands that are being ille-
gally cleared by burning.
Though the crisis grips the
region nearly every year during
the dry season, scientists pre-
dict the current outbreak could
surpass 1997 levels, when out-
of-control fires sent pollution
soaring to record highs in an en-
vironmental disaster that cost
an estimated $9bn.
Herry Purnomo, a haze ex-
pert at the Centre for Interna-
tional Forestry Research, said
yesterday that the dry season
was not expected to peak in In-
donesia’s Sumatra island until
next month.
“It’s not over yet,” he said,
adding the economic cost of the
“horrendous” fires would be as
bad as 1997.
If the dry conditions contin-
ue, the region could be envel-
oped in even denser smog.
“Conditions in Singapore
and southeastern Sumatra are
tracking close to 1997,” Robert
Field, a Columbia University
scientist based at Nasa’s God-
“If the forecasts for a longer
dry season hold, this suggests
2015 will rank among the most
severe events on record.”
Pressure on Indonesia from its
neighbours has intensified this
year as the fires have raged on.
Singapore officials have re-
acted with outrage to Indone-
sian Vice President Jusuf Kalla’s
comments that neighbouring
countries should be grateful
for good air quality most of the
year, and that Jakarta need not
apologise for the crisis.
To battle the blazes, Indone-
sia officials have deployed more
than 20,000 troops, police and
other personnel to fight the fires
through waterbombing and
chemically-induced rainfall.
An El Nino weather system
has made conditions drier than
usual in Indonesia, but authori-
ties are hoping much-needed
rains will arrive within a month
to finally douse the blazes.
It could be too little too late
in Malaysia, where farmers
have complained of poor yields
due to the haze, and in Singa-
pore where the government has
launched legal action against
companies blamed for farm and
plantation fires.
Authorities worry air quality
in Singapore, which improved
yesterday to the lower end of the
“unhealthy” range after heavy
rains overnight, could worsen
again depending on the wind
direction.
In Malaysia, where weeks
This handout image from Nasa and taken from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Nasa’s Terra satellite,
shows smoke from fires in Indonesia.
of fog-like white-gray smoke
has forced repeated large-scale
school closures out of health
concerns, there are fears the
prolonged dry season could
spark fires, compounding the
disaster.
“That will be a double ca-
tastrophe,” said Lim Teck Wyn,
who organised a protest march
to Indonesia’s embassy in Kuala
Lumpur over the haze.
The annual haze crisis has
persisted as plantations expand
to meet rising global demand
for products like palm oil, a key
ingredient in a vast range of
everyday consumer products.
The fires smoulder beneath the
surface of carbon-rich peatlands,
feeding off vast quantities of fuel,
making them extremely difficult
to curb as millions of tonnes of
greenhouse gas emissions are
released into the atmosphere.
The Nasa-linked Global Fire
Emissions Database has esti-
mated around 600mn tonnes
of greenhouse gases have been
released as a result of this year’s
fires — roughly equivalent to
Germany’s entire annual output.
plane carrying 10 peo-
ple lost contact with air
traffic control during a flight
in Sulawesi island of Indonesia
yesterday, officials said.
The head of Indonesia’s search
and rescue agency confirmed an
Aviastar Twin Otter DHC-6 air-
craft lost contact shortly after
taking off from the remote Ma-
samba airport in North Luwu to
the provincial capital Makassar
at 2:29 pm (0629 GMT).
“We are still waiting for more
detailed information but me and
my team are flying to Masamba
tonight,” agency chief Bambang
Sulistyo said.
Sulistyo said the rescue efforts
were likely to be carried out on
Saturday morning.
“It’s already dark now, but
things can change depending on
the latest development,” he added.
The plane was carrying four
adults, three children and three
crew members and was sched-
uled to arrive in Makassar one
hour after taking off.
Abdul Munir, general manager
of Makassar airport, told TVOne
in a live interview the plane lost
contact eight minutes after it
took off.
Aviastar Mandiri is an Indone-
sian domestic passenger airline.
The country has a poor avia-
tion safety record and has suf-
fered major disasters in recent
months, including a plane which
crashed on a remote mountain in
Oksibil Papua in August, killing
all 54 people onboard.

Suu Kyi courts Malaysia hopes to boost

minority vote social enterprise sector
AFP Suu Kyi has been criticised Thomson Reuters Foundation ety more equitable,” Chan said Thailand now has some
Winemaw for failing to build alliances with Cyperjaya at MaGIC’s headquarters. 120,000 social enterprises,
these groups and on Friday the As other examples, he cited helped by government through
NLD was trying to woo minority Epic Homes which works with the creation in 2010 of the

A U
ung San Suu Kyi yester-
day told voters in war-
torn Kachin state that her
opposition party represents the
“whole” of Myanmar and not
just the majority ethnic group,
as she courts the crucial minor-
ity vote ahead of November’s
landmark polls.
Hundreds of ethnic Kachin
people cheered as Suu Kyi ad-
dressed the crowd on the out-
skirts of Winemaw town, near
the state capital Myitkyina, as the
National League for Democracy
(NLD) steps-up its campaign for
the first countrywide election it
has contested in 25 years.
“The NLD does not represent
any one ethnic group, includ-
ing the (majority) Bamar ethnic
group. We represent the whole
union,” she told voters in the
former junta-run nation where
minorities make up around a
third of the 51mn population.
Kachin, together with Myan-
mar’s six other minority-dom-
inated states, has become a key
election battleground as ethnic
parties are expected to make
strong gains in the November 8
polls.
voters in an election the party is
tipped to win if free and fair.
“If you want change, please
vote for the NLD,” she urged the
crowd.
Their restive state has seen
around 100,000 people dis-
placed since fighting reignited
between the Myanmar mili-
tary and ethnic rebels from the
Kachin Independence Army
(KIA) in 2011.
Unsurprisingly the issue of
self-administration was one of
the first raised in questions from
the crowd to the Nobel Lau-
reate and it’s one she avoided
answering directly.
An NLD government would
introduce the “system that peo-
ple want, with their support and
cooperation”, the 70-year-old
said carefully.
Myanmar’s elections are seen
as a crucial test of democratic
progress in a nation that only
emerged in 2011 from half a cen-
tury of military rule.
But despite the raft of political
and economic reforms launched
under President Thein Sein’s
quasi-civilian government, My-
anmar is still beset by bitter con-
Aung San Suu Kyi delivers a speech near Winemaw town of Kachin
state yesterday.
flicts for greater autonomy in its
remote ethnic pockets.
Many of these regions have
been fighting since the nation’s
independence from British colo-
nial rule in 1948, and securing a
countrywide ceasefire deal before
the polls has been at the heart of
Naypyidaw’s reform drive.
But those hopes have crum-
bled as several major groups, in-
cluding the KIA, have vowed not
to ink the deal without the inclu-
sion of all rebel forces—notably
a clutch of smaller organisations
locked in conflict with the army.
Clashes between the KIA and
government troops have intensi-
fied in recent weeks as the cease-
fire negotiations reach a critical
moment.
The government is still pushing
for a deal to be signed this month,
in a move observers believe could
split the ethnic armies.
Around a third of Myanmar’s
population identify as one of the
country’s 135 minority groups,
which have their own languages
and traditions.
Though a member of the ma-
jority Bamar ethnic group, vet-
eran activist Suu Kyi drew out a
stream of supporters yesterday.
In Winemaw, NLD activists
were busy selling T-shirts embla-
zoned with the democracy icon’s
image as local supporters waved
flags adorned with the party’s
fighting peacock and star symbol.
The abundant wealth of natu-
ral resources in Kachin, wedged
between India and China, is seen
both as an impetus for war and
an impediment to halting it.
Home to lucrative reserves of
timber, jade and gold, the state’s
riches have not passed down
to most of its impoverished
residents.
ntil they started to build
micro-hydro dams,
many of the indigenous
people living in remote rainfor-
ests of Malaysia’s Sabah state
did not have access to electric-
ity, forcing them to resort to
costly ways of generating pow-
er through diesel generators.
With the help of social en-
terprise Tonibung they learned
how to build, repair and main-
tain the dams, a small-scale
version of the big hydroelec-
tric dams that help power large
cities.
Tonibung’s work is one ex-
ample of how Malaysia’s nas-
cent social enterprise sector
is working to address social
and environmental issues, said
Ehon Chan, head of social en-
terprise at the Malaysian Glo-
bal Innovation and Creativity
Centre (MaGIC).
Malaysia’s rapid economic
growth has reduced poverty
rates but social challenges re-
main in Southeast Asia’s third
largest economy, providing
opportunities for social en-
terprises to tackle unequal
access to education, environ-
mental sustainability, rural
development and poverty,
said Chan.
“There is a lot of scope for
social entrepreneurs in Malay-
sia to work among marginalised
communities or on environ-
mental issues to make our soci-
indigenous communities by
building easy-to-assemble
houses for the Orang Asli peo-
ple and ARUS Academy which
provides students from low-
income groups with computer
and coding skills.
As public funds around the
world come under increasing
pressure from shrinking eco-
nomic growth, governments
have become more aware of
the potential of social en-
terprise to promote a more
equitable and sustainable
society.
In Britain, for example, the
government has invested heav-
ily into the sector and there are
now more than 70,000 social
enterprises, employing more
than 1mn people.
Malaysia is hoping to tap into
this growing sector, loosely
defined as businesses that aim
to address social and environ-
mental problems while making
a profit.
Prime Minister Najib Ra-
zak in May announced a plan
to grow the sector by allocat-
ing 20mn ringgit ($4.5mn) to
MaGIC to increase the number
of social enterprises to 1,000
by 2018 from around just
over 100.
Compared to its neigh-
bour Thailand, Malaysia
is still in the early stages
of building up its social
enterprise sector.
Thailand Social Enterprise Of-
fice, which provides support
and advice.
MaGIC aims to fill the gap
in Malaysia by providing
training in setting up a busi-
ness, how to access funding
and networking opportuni-
ties, along with competitions
and outreach.
“It’s a very vibrant sector.
Lots of young entrepreneurs
are keen to start a social enter-
prise,” said Chan.
MaGIC last year introduced
its annual Amplify Awards, a
prize aimed at allowing social
enterprises to expand their
operations and boost their
impact.
“We already have made con-
tact with a lot of corporates
interested in strategic partner-
ships with social enterprises,
which could be a huge boost.”
The lack of a legal definition
often causes confusion as many
people think a social enterprise
is the same as a charity.
But it would be too restric-
tive at this stage to come up
with a legal definition of a
social enterprise, Chan said,
a step only South Korea has
taken so far among East Asian
countries.
“As long as they are a reg-
istered entity with a social or
environmental mission we’re
happy to support them,” he
said.

PM vows to take in 3,000 Syrians

DPA war in the Middle-Eastern At present there are a little
Kuala Lumpur country. over 153,000 refugees in pre-
“Malaysia will do its share, dominantly Muslim Malaysia,
and open our doors to a further according to the United Na-

M
alaysia will take in
3,000 Syrian refugees
in the next three years
as its share in alleviating the
current refugee crisis, Prime
Minister Najib Razak said
yesterday.
Hundreds of thousands
of Syrian migrants have
Supporters applaud as they listen to a speech by NLD chairperson Aung San Suu Kyi as she campaigns ahead of the November 8 election, on fled Syria since the begin-
the outskirts of Winemaw town in Kachin state yesterday. ning of the year amid the
3,000 Syrian migrants over the
next three years,” Najib said in
a speech at the United Nations
General Assembly.
“New international solu-
tions are needed to deal with
the migration crisis,” he said.
“The millions fleeing are peo-
ple - like us. They should con-
cern us all. We must respect
our common humanity.”
tions High Commissioner for
Refugees.
The refugees in Malaysia
comprise over 143,000 mi-
grants from Myanmar, more
than 3,000 Sri Lankans, 1,230
Pakistanis, 1,100 Somalis, 970
Syrians, 860 Iraqis, 490 Irani-
ans, 490 Palestinians and the
rest from other countries, the
UN agency said.
8 Gulf Times
Saturday, October 3, 2015
AUSTRALASIA/EAST ASIA
Singer Brown thanks ‘strong NZ women’ for support
AFP
Wellington
A
merican R&B singer Chris Brown
yesterday thanked New Zealand
women’s advocates for support-
ing his plan to perform in the country,
Campaign against pollution
Chinese designer Wen Fang adjusts straws on her mask decorated with asthma medicine bottles at her “Maskbook” workshop during the Beijing Design Week 2015 in
Beijing yesterday. In the workshop, participants decorated and designed masks with their own ideas, as a symbol of collective citizen action for climate change, and
against pollution and smoking in public places, the designer said.
Two killed outside Aussie
state police headquarters
AFP
Sydney
A
civilian police employee
yesterday was killed in a
double shooting outside
law enforcement headquarters
in Sydney, but the attack did not
appear to be linked to terrorism,
Australian authorities said.
The worker, who has not been
identified, was leaving the build-
ing in Parramatta, western Syd-
ney, around 4.30pm (0630 GMT)
when he was shot once by a gun-
man at close range, police com-
missioner Andrew Scipione said.
The gunman— whose iden-
tity has also been withheld —
remained on the street and later
discharged more shots at an of-
ficer guarding the headquar-
‘Most valuable art collection
ever’ on show in Hong Kong
AFP
Hong Kong
M
asterpieces belonging
to controversial former
Sotheby’s owner A Al-
fred Taubman went on show in
Hong Kong yesterday, touted as
the most valuable private collec-
tion ever offered at auction.
Sotheby’s estimates the 500
works will fetch $500mn —they
include Modigliani’s “Portrait
de Paulette Jourdain”, as well as
pieces by Picasso, Degas, Willem
de Kooning and Mark Rothko.
“It was collected over 70
years with the great eye of Al-
fred Taubman... we have Old
Masters, impressionists, mod-
ern pictures as well as con-
temporary works on display,”
Sotheby’s Asia chairman Patti
Wong said.
Sotheby’s beat Christie’s to
the Taubman collection — both
had vied to auction it.
But Christie’s unveiled its
own Modigliani in Hong Kong
despite a domestic violence conviction
which could see him banned.
Brown’s 2009 conviction for as-
saulting his then-partner pop star
Rihanna means he may be refused en-
try to New Zealand, even though tick-
ets for a December 18 concert in Auck-
land went on sale this week.
A police van blocks a street outside the New South Wales (NSW) state
police headquarters located in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta,
Australia yesterday.
ters before being killed in an
exchange of gunfire with other
policemen. “An employee of the
yesterday, which is also set to
break records. Christie’s says
that the reclining nude “Nu
Couché” by the modern Italian
painter will be the most valu-
able work by the artist ever of-
fered at auction - predicted to
fetch at least US100mn.
The Taubman collection
will go on sale in four separate
Sotheby’s auctions in New York
from November to January.
Christie’s Modigliani will
also go on sale in November in
New York.
Taubman, who died in April
aged 91, was an entrepreneur
and retail magnate, bringing
shopping malls to suburban ar-
eas of the US.
After buying Sotheby’s in
1983 he took it public, open-
ing it up to a new market of
wealthy collectors.
But he became mired in con-
troversy over a price-fixing
scandal between Sotheby’s and
Christie’s for which he was
jailed in 2002, despite main-
taining his innocence.
In order to perform, Brown needs to
apply for a special dispensation from
immigration officials, which as of last
week had not been granted.
But the Grammy winner has found
support from an unlikely source —
Maori women’s advocates who say
Brown appears to have reformed and
NSW (New South Wales state)
police force has been callously
murdered here today,” Scipione
Abe’s slogan stirs memories of wartime rhetoric
Reuters
Tokyo
A
new slogan adopted by
Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe and meant to show
that all Japanese will benefit
from economic growth is raising
eyebrows among those who see
it as an eerie echo of wartime
propaganda.
Abe unveiled the goal of
building a “Society in Which All
100mn People can be Active”
after his re-election as ruling
party chief late last month. He
will create a new post to oversee
the plan when he reshuffles his
cabinet on Wednesday.
Political insiders say the
phrase describes a society in
which all can achieve their
potential. The 100mn level is
where the government wants to
hold Japan’s shrinking popula-
tion over the next five decades,
versus 126mn now.
However, some bloggers and
historians say the slogan recalls
wartime rhetoric, such as a call
for all “100mn” civilians, span-
ning Japan’s then-colonies of
could send a powerful message against
domestic violence.
A string of high-profile advocates,
such as former Women’s Refuge chief
Merepeka Raukawa-Tait, have backed
Brown and offered to hold a traditional
Maori welcome for him. Former Maori
Party chief Dame Tariana Turia said
told reporters near the crime
scene. “This is a very sobering
time for us and I have viewed a
number of pieces of footage, I
can tell you that this was a bru-
tal... terrible crime.”
Scipione said the employee
was “deliberately targeted” by
the gunman — who was wear-
ing a “long pair of long trousers
and a flowing top” and appeared
to be operating alone — although
he did not give further details.
He said it was also possible the
gunman remained on the street
after shooting the employee as
he wanted to “commit suicide
by cop”.
The shooting came as Austral-
ians started to mark the so-called
grand final long weekend, with
thousands expected to pack pub-
lic venues as top teams from the
People hold placards as they listen to a speech during a rally to denounce Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe in Tokyo yesterday.
Korea and Taiwan, to be ready to
die, rather than accept defeat, in
World War Two.
“Abe-chan, is this a return
to 1937 and a “Movement to
Mobilise the National Spirit?”
quipped one person on an inter-
Maori youth could relate more to an
anti-domestic violence message from
26-year-old Brown than one delivered
by indigenous elders.
“Good, bad, ugly or otherwise, the
truth of it is that young people are
more likely to be in tune with Chris
Brown than they are with one of us,”
National Rugby League and Aus-
tralian Football League square off
in the season’s last matches.
“I can assure you that we
shouldn’t be letting an event
like this disturb what we do as
a nation,” Scipione said, but
added that police were assess-
ing whether heightened secu-
rity was needed in some Sydney
spots over the long weekend.
The commissioner said al-
though there was as yet no link
to terrorism, homicide investi-
gators assisted by the counter-
terrorism unit were “keeping an
open mind” about why the at-
tack took place.
“At this stage we’ve got noth-
ing to link this event to any ter-
rorist-related activity but we
could not say that that wasn’t
the case.”
net chat board, addressing the
premier by a familiar diminu-
tive, and referring to another
wartime propaganda campaign.
Asked about the perception
that the phrase echoed wartime
rhetoric, a government source
the 71-year-old said this week. Brown
acknowledged the “amazing” Maori
women’s stance yesterday.
“Nothing more amazing than strong
women,” he tweeted.
“Thank you to Dame Tariana Turia
and everyone who showed their sup-
port in NZ.”
North Korea at UN
calls for peace treaty
AFP
UN
N
orth Korea’s foreign
minister told the UN
on Thursday that a
peace treaty was urgently
needed to prevent a repeat of
the military standoff that rat-
tled Asia two months ago.
Tensions soared on the
Korean peninsula in August
following a rare exchange of
cross-border fire that also
saw North Korean leader Kim
Jong-Un put his frontline
troops on war-footing.
“Having gone through the
August incident that made
northeast Asia and the entire
world hold their breadth in
anxiety, it has become a cru-
cial issue today to replace the
armistice agreement with a
peace treaty with no further
delay,” Foreign Minister Ri Su
Yong told the UN General As-
sembly.
Ri said replacing the 1950-
1953 armistice with a perma-
nent peace accord “requires
the bold decision of the US
before anyone else.”
“It is high time for the US
to come up with the signing
Anti-abortion activist
loses legal bid to stay
AFP
Sydney
C
ontroversial American
anti-abortion activist
Troy Newman will be
deported after losing a legal
bid to stay in Australia yester-
day, following the immigration
minister’s decision to revoke
his visa.
Opposition politicians and
campaigners had appealed
for Newman to be blocked
from entering the country
for a speaking tour, arguing
that his opinions — which
allegedly include calling for
doctors who perform abor-
tions to be executed — were
extreme and dangerous.
It is Australia’s second
high-profile visa case in as
many weeks after US R&B
singer Chris Brown was no-
tified last week that he could
be blocked from touring Aus-
tralia for his domestic vio-
lence conviction.
Immigration Minister Pe-
familiar with Abe’s thinking
said,
“The biggest meaning is ‘in-
clusive growth’.”
Abe, 61, has often spoken
of “escaping the post-war re-
gime”, a legacy of the US occu-
of a peace treaty,” said the
foreign minister, adding that
North Korea was ready to
enter talks. North Korea has
made overtures to the US in
the past, putting the onus on
Washington to make a gesture
to open up a dialogue.
Washington maintains that
any dialogue with Pyongyang
would include discussions on
its nuclear programme and
human rights.
Ri also blasted the UN as
“no more than a toll which
can be abused by the US”
after a UN commission of
inquiry concluded that the
Pyongyang regime was com-
mitting widespread rights
abuses.
The 1950-1953 Korean
War ended in a truce but not
a peace treaty, which means
that the two Koreas techni-
cally remain at war.
Ri also met with Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon who
said a series of agreements
reached to end the stand-off
could pave the way to im-
proved dialogue.
Ban, a former South Korean
foreign minister, said the UN
was ready to help to facilitate
dialogue.
ter Dutton cancelled New-
man’s visa on Tuesday but
the American still flew to
Australia, arriving Thursday
in Melbourne where he was
detained. His bid to stop de-
portation was denied by the
High Court in Melbourne.
Justice Geoffrey Nettle
told the hearing he was re-
jecting Newman’s appeal to
stay, adding that he did “not
come to this court with clean
hands” as he had boarded
the flight without a visa, the
Australian Broadcasting Corp
reported. Nettle’s decision
means he could be deported
soon, media reports said.
A court official said a sec-
ond application to overturn
the visa cancellation could
still be heard at a later un-
specified date.
Newman, the president
of Kansas-based Operation
Rescue, a pro-life Chris-
tian organisation, was due to
speak at several events across
the country hosted by Right
to Life Australia.
pation that conservatives say
eroded national pride and tradi-
tional mores.
“Whether he chose this slo-
gan consciously or as a result
of a mindset that doesn’t think
it is somehow problematic, I
don’t know,” said Sven Saaler, a
history professor at Sophia Uni-
versity in Tokyo. “But it comes
from a basic sympathy he has
for prewar and wartime Japan.”
Political analysts say the new
slogan and Abe’s three new
“arrows” of economic policy,
ranging from a strong economy,
and support for childrearing,
to a stable social security sys-
tem, are aimed at wooing vot-
ers ahead of an upper house poll
next July.
Abe’s support has sagged
over a controversial change in
defence policy that could allow
troops to fight abroad for the
first time since 1945.
“It’s not only pre-war nos-
talgia. He needed to step up
the rhetoric for the election,”
Saaler said. “ But I don’t think
its coincidental that something
related to wartime propaganda
came up.”
 Gulf Times
Saturday, October 3, 2015 9

OBITUARY
Irish playwright
Brian Friel dies at 86
Irish playwright Brian Friel, best known for his
plays Dancing at Lughnasa and Translations, died
yesterday at the age of 86, Ireland’s Arts Council
said. Born in County Tyrone in Northern Ireland
in 1929, Friel won three Tony Awards in 1992 for
Dancing at Lughnasa a play about five maiden
aunts in Ireland in the 1930s. It was turned into a
film starring Meryl Streep in 1998. Friel died at his
home in Donegal, state broadcaster RTE reported.
Prime Minister Enda Kenny said in a statement:
“The nation and the world have lost one of the
giants of theatre. His stories from Ballybeg reached
all corners of the world from Dublin to London to
Broadway and onto the silver screen.”
CRIME
Couple jailed for
two-year coma con
A man who pretended to be in a coma to avoid
going on trial for fraud has been jailed, along with
his wife who helped him. Alan Knight claimed to
be too ill to stand trial for swindling a dementia
sufferer out of more than £41,000 of savings and
changing the 86-year-old’s will. Police found he
had forged the will using the names of two women
from a newspaper obituary section as witnesses.
When police charged the 48-year-old, he and wife
Helen, 34, concocted a story whereby he was in a
vegetative state following a massive neck injury.
The case was eventually solved by a police officer,
who tracked the couple over a period of months,
catching Knight driving a car on a family holiday.
APPEAL
Mother of baby found in
box urged to come forward
Police are appealing for the mother of a baby found
in a cardboard box in Northamptonshire to come
forward. The baby, wrapped in a blue blanket, was
discovered at about 9am on Monday by a member
of the public who heard a noise coming from the
box in Ibsen Walk, Corby. The infant is believed to
be between three and six weeks old. Detective
superintendent Steve Lingley said: “I want to
appeal directly to the mother of the little baby who
was found outside a house in Corby on Monday.
Your baby is safe and is being well cared for. I know
you may feel you are in a very difficult position and
I know it must have been incredibly difficult to have
left your baby. But please get in touch with us.”
BRITAIN/IRELAND
LAW AND ORDER
Absconding ex-lecturer
detained in Ireland
A former law lecturer who had been on the
run after being convicted of downloading
indecent images of children has been arrested
in Ireland. Julian Myerscough, 53, a former
criminal law lecturer at the University of East
Anglia in Norwich, absconded from Ipswich
Crown Court on Wednesday afternoon. The jury
was considering verdicts over allegations of
downloading child pornography and breaching
a sexual offences prevention order at the time.
Myerscough, originally from Manchester but
who was living in Lowestoft, Suffolk, was found
guilty of all counts shortly after disappearing,
Suffolk Police said.
VERDICT
Mentally ill teen jailed
over woman’s murder
A teenager has been jailed for life for murder.
Jason Conroy, 19, strangled Melissa Mathieson on
October 12 last year. Conroy, who has Asperger’s
syndrome, had a history of sexually disturbed
behaviour. He had been diagnosed as suffering
from “deviant sexual interests”, which included
fantasies about strangulation and rape. He had
previously strangled a teacher at his former
residential school. He also attempted to kill his
mother by putting a duvet over her head. Conroy,
of Savoy Road, Bristol, admitted manslaughter on
the grounds of diminished responsibility but was
convicted of murder. He was convicted by the jury
at the city’s crown court following a week-long trial.

Goldsmith to run for mayor of London

Canal killing
not linked
to organised
crime: police
London Evening Standard Magnanini’s body was recov-
London ered yards from where twins were
found murdered 19 years earlier.
Their bodies had been wheeled

A
detective has said the rea-
sons why an Italian art thief
was found dead bound and
tied to a shopping trolley in a Lon-
don canal are known by people liv-
ing close to the murder scene, and
have nothing to do with his alleged
links to organised crime or travels
around the world.
The body of Sebastiano Mag-
nanini, 46, was found last Thurs-
day in the Regent’s canal near
Kings Cross, north London, after
it came to the surface of the shal-
low waterway.
Detective chief inspector Re-
becca Reeves, who is leading the
investigation, said she did not
believe the death was linked to his
past conviction for art theft or to
organised crime.
“The people who know how he
died are living locally,” she said.
there in a shopping trolley before
being dumped in the canal.
Reeves said that after leaving
work on September 22 Magnanini
was seen in a pub opposite Victoria
station, then in Euston and finally
around Kings Cross at just before
7pm. Witnesses say there was
nothing to suggest he was anxious
or in trouble.
Friends and family of Mag-
nanini, who grew up in Venice
before moving to London and
travelling to Vietnam and Cam-
bodia, have spoken out against
his portrayal as an art thief and London Mayor Boris Johnson stands with Conservative London mayoral candidate, Zac Goldsmith, MP for Richmond Park, above Trafalgar Square in central London
a criminal, saying he had turned yesterday. Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party said yesterday it had selected lawmaker Zac Goldsmith, who opposes the expansion of Heathrow Airport
his life around. and might back Britain leaving the European Union, as its candidate for London mayor.
Magnanini was jailed for 18
months in the late 1990s after
stealing an 18th-century painting
worth nearly 2bn lire (then about
£1mn) from a church.

Boy gets life term for

Reeves would not say whether the
victim was known to police in the
UK.
Magnanini’s family in Italy and
friends in London described him
as a gentle man. Reeves said: “This
has been devastating for Sebas-
But friends from his time as a
tour guide with an Italian com-
pany in Cambodia in 2009 said
he was not a criminal and was “a
wonderful human being”.
Luke MacKenzie, who became
friends with Magnanini when he

Anzac Day terror plot

tiano’s family. He was a much-
loved son and saw his family regu-
larly as he travelled between Italy
and London for work.
“His life in Italy, before coming
to London, will inevitably form
part of the investigation, but at
this early stage we are not looking
at organised crime as a motive.”
Police believe Magnanini was
weighed down with the shopping
arrived in Cambodia, said he and
the Italian’s family were devas-
tated at how he was being charac-
terised.
“Sebastiano’s friends here in
Cambodia are very worried about
the media painting him in a bad
light, he is so far from a bad per- Reuters lice officers at an event in April someone would have been seri- another person to commit an act building a detonator from scratch.
son,” he told the Guardian. “He London to mark Anzac Day - a day of re- ously injured or killed. of terrorism, was sentenced to life During nine days in March he
stole an art piece, but I met him membrance for military dead in “From the early communica- in a youth detention centre and shared more than 3,000 heavily
after all that happened and he Australia and New Zealand. He tion we could read, it was obvious will have to serve a minimum of encrypted messages with fellow

trolley to conceal his body below
the surface. They do not yet know
how he died, but he was not shot
or stabbed.
He was last seen alive on Sep-
tember 22, two days before his
body was discovered. He was
found in the same clothes he had
worn when finishing a day of
working as a carpenter in south
London. Police say he specialised
in stage construction.
wouldn’t hurt a fly.
“This is horrible for his family.
I’m determined for his name to go
down in history as a quality, stan-
dup guy. He didn’t talk about what
happened in the past, he had told
a few friends what he’d done, but
just by knowing him you knew he
was genuinely trying to turn over a
new leaf. He was a new man and a
wonderful human being who will
be sorely missed.”
A
15-year-old boy, thought
to be the youngest Briton to
be convicted of a terrorism
offence, was given a life sentence
yesterday for inciting an attack
on a World War I commemorative
event in Australia from his bed-
room in northern England.
The boy, who cannot be named
due to his age, pleaded guilty in
July to sending messages online
encouraging an attack on po-
was just 14 at the time.
The discovery of the boy’s ac-
tions sparked a massive police
operation in Melbourne, which
led to the arrest of five teenag-
ers who were planning an Islamic
State-inspired attack on an event
to mark the centenary of the Gal-
lipoli landings, Australian author-
ities said.
British police said had the plot
not been uncovered, it was likely
the Anzac Day memorial service
was going to be a target,” said de-
tective chief superintendent Tony
Mole of the North West Counter
Terrorism Unit.
“People will be understandably
be shocked by the age of the boy.
However, this should not detract
from the horror of what he was
planning.”
The boy from Blackburn, who
had admitted a charge of inciting
five years.
Manchester Crown Court
heard he was initially arrested by
police on suspicion of making
threats to kill his teacher. When
detectives examined his phone
they found extreme images, in-
cluding a screen saver of Islamic
State militants.
There was also evidence he had
searched the internet for instruc-
tions on making explosives and
plotter “Illyas” in Australia, in
which they discussed a plan to run
over a police officer at an Anzac
Day parade.
The boy also suggested Illyas
break into someone’s house to
“get your first taste of beheading”
and they shared images, including
an exact replica of a knife used in
the Rambo films. The boy said it
had a handle which is “perfect for
tearing through throat”.

Book launch
Sierra Leone athlete One in five Tory MPs
to back Brexit: study
denied visa to stay in UK Reuters the scale of the divisions: Out
of 330 lawmakers, 67 are ei-
London
AFP The athlete now has until Mike Bense, a coach at the ther ‘firmly out’ or ‘out lean-
London Monday to leave Britain and risks Heathside running club in north ing’ while 203 could vote either

A
being detained and deported if he London, where Thoronka had s many as one in five of way.
fails to do so, according to a re- been training, said the athlete Prime Minister David The research, based on pub-

S
ierra Leone’s top athlete,
Jimmy Thoronka, who dis-
appeared during the Com-
monwealth Games in Glasgow
in 2014, has been refused a visa
to remain in Britain, the interior
ministry said yesterday.
The 20-year-old sprinter was
reportedly living rough on the
streets of London when he was
arrested in March after abscond-
ing from the Games, as his native
country was struck by the Ebola
crisis.
Thoronka, who lost most of
his family to the virus, applied to
stay in Britain and had been of-
fered a sports scholarship by the
University of East London (UEL).
But his application “did not
meet the required thresholds
within the immigration rules,”
the interior ministry said.
“All applications for a visa or
leave to remain are considered
on their individual merits and in
line with the immigration rules,”
a Home Office spokesman said.
port in the Guardian newspaper.
Thoronka was Sierra Leone’s
top 100-metre sprinter and
was given the Best Male Athlete
award by the Sportswriters As-
sociation of Sierra Leone.
The Guardian reported he
could run 100 metres in 10.5 sec-
onds.
Dusty Amroliwala, UEL’s dep-
uty vice-chancellor and chief
operating officer, said the univer-
sity was “disappointed” by the
decision, adding that it would be
a “severe test” for the athlete.
“Jimmy’s story - his struggle
against huge adversity, his de-
termination to succeed, his for-
titude, all in the face of losing his
family... these things all marked
him out as being a very special
young man,” he said.
“He was exactly the kind of
individual to whom UEL would
wish to extend the hand of sup-
port and we are deeply saddened
that we are no longer allowed to
do so.”
was “potentially one of an elite”.
“This is a very critical time
in his life and he can’t afford to
waste any time at this point,” he
told the Guardian, adding: “Jim-
my has a good support network
here and we are part of it.”
Thoronka’s lawyers had sub-
mitted a medical report stating
that the sprinter was in “a chron-
ic traumatised state” following
the death of eight members of his
family from Ebola, the Guardian
reported.
“What is going to happen to
me if I am forced to return to Si-
erra Leone? There is no one to
look after me and support me
there and the training facilities
are very bad... I don’t think I
will make it if I have to go back,”
Thoronka told the newspaper.
Sierra Leone is one of the
world’s poorest countries and
numerous athletes from the West
African nation have absconded
from the Commonwealth Games
in previous years.
Cameron’s lawmakers
is likely to vote to leave the Eu-
ropean Union in a referendum,
a new research showed yester-
day, indicating the scale of the
divide over Europe in the ruling
Conservative Party.
For at least a generation,
Cameron’s party has been
riven by a conflict over Eu-
rope that contributed to the
downfall of both Margaret
Thatcher and John Major, the
last two Conservative prime
ministers.
Under pressure from law-
makers who feared the elec-
toral success of the anti-EU
UK Independence Party, Cam-
eron promised in 2013 a refer-
endum on membership by the
end of 2017 after renegotiating
aspects of the EU relationship.
US model Cindy Crawford poses with her husband and But as Cameron’s party pre-
model Rande Gerber (left) and US actor George Clooney pares to gather for its annual
as she arrives for the launch party of her autobiographical party conference, research
book Becoming in central London. from the London-based Open
Europe think tank laid bare
lic statements and voting on
EU issues, showed just 14 law-
makers were firmly for staying
in the EU and 44 were leaning
towards staying in.
Pawel Swidlicki, an ana-
lyst at Open Europe, said the
number of undecided lawmak-
ers in the party showed “how
important it will be for Cam-
eron to secure a comprehensive
and ambitious reform package
in order to ensure that the bulk
of his party, as well as the wider
public, sees any recommenda-
tion to remain within the EU as
credible.”
Though the research is nec-
essarily only an assessment, it
is one of the first publicly avail-
able indications of the views of
Cameron’s lawmakers.
The Cabinet has 12 members
who could vote either way out
of 21 members with five leaning
towards out and four leaning
towards staying in, Open Eu-
rope said.
 Gulf Times
10 Saturday, October 3, 2015

EUROPE

Church thanks
government
for fending
off migrants
Reuters said in a statement this week.
Budapest Csongrad county lies on the
border with Serbia.
Andras Juhasz, dean of the

T
he church in a south-
ern Hungarian diocese
heavily affected by an
influx of migrants has thanked
the right-wing government
for regarding its effort to seal
Hungary’s borders against
further migration as “a task
given by God”.
Hungary, a landlocked
country whose government
has been criticised by Euro-
pean Union peers for its anti-
foreigner stance, has become
a main transit route for hun-
dreds of thousands of mi-
grants arriving via the Balkans
to the south.
More than 280,000 mi-
grants fleeing conflict and
poverty in the Middle East,
Asia and Africa have passed
through Hungary in central
Europe this year so far, nearly
all seeking sanctuary in the
wealthier countries of the
western EU.
Prime Minister Viktor Or-
A woman falls into the water with her child as they disembark off a dinghy as refugees and migrants arrive at the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey ban has split opinion across
yesterday. Greece’s prime minister told the United Nations that Athens was doing all it could to help the refugee and migrant crisis, and criticised the building of walls to keep them out. Europe by sealing Hungary’s
borders with Serbia to stem
the influx, while tough anti-
immigration measures and his
Protestant diocese, told Reu-
ters that it felt compelled to
raise its voice given “what was
happening in this part of the
country.”
“We felt that Christian peo-
ple could not remain silent in
this situation,” he said over the
phone.
In the statement, the church
thanked God for what it called
the “professional, propor-
tionate and humane” border
protection work of Hungarian
police. UN Secretary-Gen-
eral Ban Ki-moon expressed
“shock” at clashes between
Hungarian police and mi-
grants at the Serbian border
last month. Riot police used
tear gas and water cannon
against a group of migrants
pelting them with rocks.
The church said any criti-
cism of Hungary for protect-
ing its borders was “unfound-
ed and unacceptable.”
“We are aware that most
migrants arrive from coun-
tries which are open enemies
of Jesus Christ and Christian-
ity and in which Christians are
persecuted for their faith,” the

Czechs propose action to

pledge not to let mainly Mus-
lim migrants threaten Hunga-
ry’s Christian traditions have
boosted his right-wing party’s
popularity at home.
“We are thankful to God
that our country has a gov-
statement said.
“Those who come here may
not have participated in this
actively, but it is enough if
they agreed with the perse-
cution or did not raise their
voice against it, while coming

protect Hungarian border ernment now which regards

the protection of our country
and people as a task given by
God ... while it promotes and
practices brotherly love to-
wards those arriving in our
here they demand their human
rights to be observed.”
The church added that it
was providing help for mi-
grants in the name of broth-
erly love, and praised the work
Reuters asylum seekers among the EU’s homeland,” the Reformed of the Hungarian Reformed
Prague Sweden sees record number of asylum seekers in 2015 28 member states, approved by a Church of Csongrad diocese charity and refugee mission.
majority vote of the bloc’s inte-
Sweden is likely to receive a record number of full year figure will almost certainly top the record rior ministers last month.

T
he Czech government has
proposed that three cen-
tral European states send
hundreds of troops and police to
help protect Hungary’s borders
against a migrant influx into Eu-
rope’s Schengen passport-free
travel zone, officials said yester-
day.
The central Europeans have
stressed the need to secure the
European Union’s outer borders
as the basis of any response to
asylum seekers in 2015, with data yesterday show-
ing applicants have already exceeded a full year
forecast issued by its migration agency just over
two months ago. The Nordic country’s traditionally
generous attitude towards newcomers has made
it a favoured destination for many of the hundreds
of thousands of people whose arrival has created
Europe’s biggest migration crisis since World War
Two. In the year to Oct 1, more than 74,000 people
sought asylum in Sweden, data published by the
migration agency showed yesterday, meaning the
84,000 seen in 1992 during the Balkan wars.
At around a third of total numbers, Syrians fleeing
civil war were by far the biggest group, followed
by Afghans, mostly minors arriving without any
parent. Neighbouring Finland yesterday raised its
estimate for the number of asylum seekers ex-
pected in 2015 to 50,000 from a previous 30,000
after a high influx last month. In September alone,
over 24,000 people sought asylum in Sweden,
more than double the number in August, with daily
numbers frequently topping 1,000.
Poland endorsed the meas-
ure but the Czechs, Slovaks and
Hungarians continue to oppose
quotas, saying it is better to focus
on finding a solution to Syria’s
Hamburg set to seize
war, helping neighbouring coun-
tries and protecting external EU
borders. Hungarian Prime Min-
empty commercial space
ister Viktor Orban has said the
influx of refugees into Europe AFP man Ulfert Kaphengst. Private
threatens to undermine the con- Berlin apartments are not affected.
tinent’s Christian roots and that Like the rest of the country,
governments must control their Germany’s second city Ham-

the inflow of hundreds of thou-
sands of refugees this year. Hun-
gary’s position is seen as pivotal
as it forms the external bound-
ary of the EU’s Schengen pass-
port-free travel zone.
“Our government is prepared
to help Hungary with protec-
tion of the Schengen border. We
are proposing joint V4 action,”
Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav
Sobotka said on his Twitter page,
referring to the Visegrad 4 group
that compromises his country,
Slovakia, Poland and Hungary.
Sobotka said their interior
ministers would meet on Oct. 8
to tackle the idea.
Czech news agency CTK
quoted Interior Minister Milan
Chovanec as saying the plans
could include sending hundreds
of Czech, Polish and Slovak sol-
diers and police officers to help
patrol Hungary’s southern bor-
der for several months.
Hungary has drawn criticism
from larger western EU coun-
tries and rights groups for meas-
ures it has taken to keep out mi-
grants. It has built a high border
fence facing non-EU member
Serbia to the south and is racing
to complete another one along
its frontier with Croatia, an EU
member but outside Schengen.
The Visegrad 4 have been in
the spotlight over their strong
resistance to mandatory nation-
al quotas to share out 120,000
borders before they can decide
how many asylum seekers to take.
Hungary has been the most
affected in central Europe by the
migration wave, with 280,000
people entering its territory so far
this year, although nearly all have
sought just to pass on through
to wealthier countries of the
western EU.
T
he northern German
city of Hamburg has
passed a law allowing it
to requisition empty commer-
cial properties to house asy-
lum seekers, authorities said
yesterday.
“The parliament of the city
of Hamburg adopted the law
yesterday,” said city spokes-
burg has been struggling to
find lodgings for the record in-
flux of migrants.
As favoured destination for
many of those arriving in Eu-
rope, Germany is expecting up
to a million migrants this year.
Some local authorities have
been forced to put up tent cit-
ies to host the newcomers.

Style statement
Violence in refugee France urges pilots facing
homes ‘could spiral’ new job cuts to back reforms
Reuters Reuters for productivity plans sup- future” and French Prime Min-
Berlin Paris ported by the bulk of its 64,000 ister Manuel Valls urged pilots
staff, Air France is preparing to to “make an effort”.
outline a “Plan B” to unions at a Philippe Evain, head of SN-

T F
here is a risk of violence among asylum seekers getting out rance’s Socialist gov- meeting on Monday. PL’s Air France branch, said it
of hand at accommodation centres in Germany, the coun- ernment stepped up the De Juniac said the plan would was ready to make new offers to
try’s police union chief said yesterday in remarks reflecting pressure on Air France include “significant” job cuts management: “Yes we are ready
growing concern over a record refugee influx. unions yesterday saying the and Macron said they would be to make new proposals. We are
More than 200,000 migrants are estimated to have arrived nation’s flag carrier must cut “tougher” than previous pro- always open to discussions.”
in Germany in September alone—roughly the same as for the costs to survive and pilots posals. Evain would not say if new
whole of last year—and the government estimates that 800,000 should negotiate a deal to boost A union source said de Ju- talks would take place over the
or more could come over the course of 2015. More than 500,000 productivity. niac had told the board, which weekend, ahead of the workers’
migrants have reached the European Union so far this year, many Economy Minister Em- includes labour representa- committee meeting on Mon-
fleeing war in the Middle East and Africa with others pursuing a manuel Macron said the airline, tives, the airline was prepared day.
better life in the affluent EU, with Germany and Sweden among part of Franco-Dutch group Air to cut 2,900 jobs as a result of An Air France spokeswoman
the most favoured destinations. France-KLM, had no choice the failure to reach a deal with said no new talks were sched-
“We’re running the risk that the situation in refugee accom- but to tighten its belt further pilots over its “Perform 2020” uled. Les Echos newspaper said
modation will get out of control,” police union chief Rainer because of the modernisation restructuring plan. the so-called attrition propos-
Wendt told the mass-circulation newspaper Bild. already well under way at its That would equate to 4.9% als, or Plan B, also called for de-
“Our experience suggests that in many places there are, un- rivals. of the workforce of Air France, ferring deliveries of four out of
fortunately, very targeted and well-prepared violent clashes with “Air France must carry out or 3.1% of the entire Franco- 13 Boeing 787 Dreamliners Air
ethnic or religious motivations almost every day.” reforms,” Macron told reporters Dutch company formed from France has ordered.
German police arrested 15 asylum seekers on Tuesday suspected after meeting Air France-KLM the merger of Air France and Other French media said Air
of being involved in a fight at their hostel in Suhl, in the eastern Chief Executive Alexandre de KLM in 2004 and in which France would ground up to 14
state of Thuringia, which left 11 people hurt, local broadcaster MDR Juniac, adding that “the door to the French government owns long-haul jets and close five
reported. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere has also warned negotiations remains open”. 17.6%. loss-making routes.
about violence in asylum-seeker centres. Speaking on broadcaster Europe’s second largest net- The dispute with the pilots Shares in Air France-KLM
ZDF on Thursday, he said that while refugees were thankful to be in work carrier is at loggerheads has been rumbling for months. pared back earlier gains and
Germany until recently, that had changed for some now. with its main pilots union, the In September last year, a two- were up 0.8% in line with a
“They go on strike because they don’t like the accommodation SNPL, for the second time in week pilots’ strike cost Air barely positive European mar-
and they cause trouble because they don’t like the food. They a year as it seeks to adjust to France an estimated 500mn eu- ket. Three French trade unions
beat each other in the facilities for asylum seekers,” he said. pressure from low-cost com- ros. After Wednesday’s dead- — the CGT, FO and UNSA —
“That’s still a minority at the moment but we have to say clear- A model presents a creation by German designer Lutz Huelle petition in Europe and Middle line expired with no deal, Air have also called on Air France
ly that whoever comes to Germany ... must allow themselves to as part of his Spring/Summer 2016 women’s ready-to-wear East long-haul carriers. France-KLM said it would cut ground staff to hold a strike on
be distributed to wherever we send them, take part in a fair proc- fashion show in Paris yesterday. After failing to win pilot ap- back operations in the next two Oct 5 to protest against possible
ess and respect our legal system.” proval by the end of September years to “guarantee a long-term job cuts.

Merkel tops speculation on
scooping Nobel Peace Prize
AFP
Stockholm
S
peculation mounted yes-
terday that Angela Merkel
could scoop this year’s
Nobel Peace Prize for her lead-
ership during Europe’s migrant
crisis after she was being tipped
by one of Germany’s leading
newspapers and experts in Nor-
way.
Ahead of the Nobel prize sea-
son beginning on Monday, Ger-
many’s influential Bild newspa-
per said Merkel, 61, had “a good
chance” of winning, in part over
her open-door policy on refu-
gees fleeing war and persecu-
tion.
“Reasons: her actions in the
Ukraine crisis and the refugee
policies,” the German daily said.
A total of 276 nominations
have been submitted for this
year’s peace prize — two short
of the record 278 last year.
The Norwegian Nobel In-
stitute never discloses the list,
leaving amateurs and experts to
resort to a guessing game ahead
of the October 9 announce-
ment.
But Kristian Berg Harpviken,
director of the Peace Research
Institute Oslo (PRIO), is one of a
few experts who has the audac-
ity to make a bet. And according
to him “Angela Merkel will get
the Peace Prize,” he told report-
ers in Oslo on Thursday.
In his annual shortlist of pos-
sible winners, she is followed by
INVESTIGATION
Slovenia to
probe alleged US
phone tapping
Slovenia will probe claims the US
tapped its international phone lines
between 2005 and 2008, Prime
Minister Miro Cerar said yesterday,
after local media said Washington
had intercepted calls to Brussels,
Amsterdam and Rotterdam. “First
we have to determine the facts
and once we have them, we will
adopt a position,” the prime minister
told journalists, adding that he has
ordered an investigation. Television
channel POP TV said it had obtained
documents showing the US National
Security Agency (NSA) -- in an opera-
tion code-named Eikonal with the
German secret services BND -- had
tapped all calls from Slovenia to Brus-
sels, Amsterdam and Rotterdam.
Portugal set to vote austerity government back into power
AFP
Lisbon
P
ortugal’s election this
weekend looks set to be a
rare case of a bailed-out
eurozone member re-electing
a government which pushed
through tough austerity meas-
ures.
Four years after a sovereign
debt crisis, Portugal’s finances
are slowly recovering and the
final opinion polls showed the
ruling conservative coalition on
course to win tomorrow’s gen-
eral election, but likely to lose its
parliamentary majority.
With Prime Minister Pedro
Passos Coelho, 51, and his
54-year-old Socialist rival Anto-
nio Costa preparing to hold their
final rallies in the capital last
night, the outgoing government
was on average five points ahead,
according to the last three polls.
A victory for the right would
be a huge turn up for the books,
with Costa — a popular former
mayor of Lisbon — ahead in polls
as late as July, and Passos Coelho
himself admitting he expected
to be the fall guy for anger at the
drastic cuts demanded by the
country’s creditors.
If the opinion polls are proved
correct, the only other compa-
rable instance is Greece where
Alexis Tsipras and his radical
Syriza party were re-elected
last month after his government
agreed to introduce yet more
economic reforms in return for
the nation’s third bailout deal in
five years.
Syriza did lose some of its
more hardline figures before be-
ing re-elected.
the Colombian government and
Farc rebels for their peace proc-
ess, and Putin-critical Russian
newspaper Novaya Gazeta for
its perseverance in independent
reporting.
“Angela Merkel is the one
who really took moral leader-
ship and who turned the debate
on refugee issues in a European
context entirely around,” Harp-
viken said.
Despite opposition from oth-
er EU leaders and even a rebel-
lion among her domestic allies,
“she stood her ground”, said this
expert, who however has yet to
accurately predict a peace prize
winner.
Merkel has held fast to the
mantra “we will manage this” in
the face of an expected up to one
million new arrivals in Germany
this year, although in mid-Sep-
tember, Berlin decided to tem-
porarily reintroduce passport
checks on its borders, while
still allowing migrants into the
country.
The refugee crisis also topped
the list at Nobeliana.com, a
website run by leading Norwe-
gian Nobel historians.
Its top prediction was a
shared prize to the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) - which has already
won the Peace Prize twice, in
1954 and 1981 - and Eritrean
Catholic priest Mussie Zerai,
who has helped thousands of
refugees cross the Mediterra-
nean.
Nobeliana also had Novaya
Minsk process ‘will likely
not conclude by year-end’
Reuters
Paris
I
t will take time to organ-
ise elections in Ukraine
that respect international
standards, and as a result
the so-called Minsk peace
process will most likely not
be concluded by year-end,
French President Francois
Hollande said yesterday.
“On the election issue ...
it will take longer. We don’t
want elections to get held in
eastern Ukrainian territories
Socialist Party Secretary General Antonio Costa waves to supporters as he marches during a political rally for the upcoming government election, in Lisbon yesterday.
Costa yesterday told thou-
sands of supporters gathered in
the heart of Lisbon: “Every vote
counts, the majority of Portu-
guese want the government to
change!”
One poll late on Thursday put
his centre-right Social Demo-
crats and their conservative
German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives at the Elysee Palace, in Paris
yesterday, for a peace summit on the Ukraine conflict.
Gazeta in second spot.
“Freedom of expression is
under pressure in Russia and a
under conditions that would
not respect Minsk,” said Hol-
lande, who was speaking after
hosting talks with the Russian,
Ukrainian and German leaders.
“It’s therefore likely, even
certain now, that — since we
need three months to organise
elections — we would go be-
yond the date that was set for
the end of Minsk, that is to say
Dec.31, 2015,” he told a news
conference.
The Minsk accord con-
tains a year-end deadline for
Ukraine to recover full control
over its border.
Popular Party partners at 38% of
the vote with the opposition So-
cialists on 32%.
The survey by the Catholic
University estimated that the
ruling coalition would win be-
tween 99 and 114 seats in the
230-member parliament, short
of the 116 needed for an absolute
media (organisation) has never
won the Peace Prize,” Nobeliana
wrote.
Hungary to host command centre
Reuters
Budapest
H
ungary, along with
other states in central
and eastern Europe,
will host a command centre to
help co-ordinate deployment
of Nato’s rapid reaction force
in an emergency, the govern-
ment said yesterday.
The US-led military alli-
ance has already activated
similar centres in Lithuania,
Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Po-
land and Romania.
Hungary said the command
centre, called a Nato Force
majority. Another poll, for the
Eurosondagem institute— which
had made the Socialists slight
favourites over the summer —
had the governing coalition win-
ning between 102 and 108 seats.
Portugal has not seen such a
tight election race since it be-
came a democracy in 1974 after
The first Nobel to be an-
nounced will be the medicine
prize on Monday, when the jury
in Stockholm reveals the win-
ner or winners around 11:30 am
(0930 GMT).
Other names and organisa-
tions circulating in the run-up
to the announcement include
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad
Zarif and his US counterpart
John Kerry for the Iran nuclear
deal, the International Cam-
paign for the Abolition of Nu-
clear Arms (ICAN), Congolese
doctor Denis Mukwege who has
treated thousands of women
brutalised by rape in eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo,
and Japan’s pacifist Article 9
Association.
Another recurring name was
Pope Francis, to whom the on-
line betting site Unibet gave the
best odds at 9/2, followed by
Mussie Zerai at 5/1 and Novaya
Gazeta at 6/1.
The 2014 prize went to Pa-
kistani girls’ education cam-
paigner Malala Yousafzai and
another advocate of child rights,
India’s Kailash Satyarthi.
The other prize that gener-
ates much speculation is the
literature prize, with the names
of Belarussian writer Svetlana
Alexievich, Kenyan author Ngu-
gi wa Thiong’o, and US novelist
Joyce Carol Oates swirling most
frequently in Stockholm’s liter-
ary circles.
Others include South Korean
poet Ko Un, Syrian poet Adonis,
Japanese best-selling novel-
Integration Unit, would be
staffed by 40 officers from
Hungary and other Nato
member states, but it would
not be a base for forces.
“Its task in peaceful times
is to organise and plan inter-
national exercises and, in an
emergency, the co-ordination
of the Nato Reaction Force,”
the government spokesman’s
office said in a reply to ques-
tions by Reuters.
The role of Nato’s spear-
head force, due to be fully
operational early next year, is
likely to be discussed by al-
liance defence ministers at a
meeting in Brussels on Oct 8.
nearly five decades of dictator-
ship. Western Europe’s poorest
country is still recovering from
its 2011 economic crisis when
it became the third eurozone
country after Ireland and Greece
to be bailed out.
It left the bailout scheme in
May 2014 but only after im-
EUROPE
ist Haruki Murakami, Albanian
writer Ismail Kadare, and Hun-
garian author Peter Nadas.
Ursula Le Guin, a US science
fiction writer, has also appeared
on betting sites and been sug-
gested as a possible laureate
by some critics. She would be
the first in her genre to win the
prestigious award.
Americans have not fared well
lately with the Swedish Acad-
emy: Toni Morrison was the last
US writer to win, in 1993. “The
Academy has demonstrated an
aversion to American literature
... I wouldn’t protest if (Philip)
Roth or Oates were to win,” said
Bjorn Wiman, culture editor
at Sweden’s paper of reference
Dagens Nyheter.
Last year, the honour went to
France’s Patrick Modiano.
After the medicine prize kicks
off the Nobel season, the phys-
ics prize on Tuesday and the
chemistry prize on Wednesday
will follow.
Unlike the other awards, the
date for the literature prize an-
nouncement is revealed only a
few days in advance. It tradi-
tionally falls on a Thursday and
could therefore be on October
8.
The economics prize will
wrap up the season on October
12.
This year’s Nobel laureates
will receive 8mn Swedish kronor
(around $950,000 or 855,000
euros) per award, to be shared if
there are several winners in one
discipline.
Some eastern European
Nato members, including Po-
land, want to keep the force’s
focus on deterring a possible
Russian attack.
This is in light of Mos-
cow’s annexation of Crimea in
March last year.
“We started from the fact
that the world is becoming
a more and more dangerous
place and we may need fast
and efficient help from our al-
lies,” the spokesman said.
Nato said on its website
that the centres would “help
in rapid deployment of Allied
forces to the eastern part of
the Alliance if necessary.”
plementing stringent auster-
ity measures that saw a fifth of
incomes fall below the poverty
threshold of 500 euros a month.
Passos Coelho has benefited
from a modest lift in the econ-
omy this year and has warned
that his rival’s plans to lower
taxes and ease off on austerity
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 3, 2015 11
Turkey
kills
over 10
Kurdish
militants
Reuters
Diyarbakir
T
urkish security forces
killed more than 10 sus-
pected Kurdish militants
amid intensifying clashes in the
country’s southeast, while 44
people were arrested in Istanbul
on suspicion of links with the
rebels, officials and media re-
ports said.
The exact death toll from
clashes in Silvan, a town in
southeastern Turkey’s Diyarba-
kir province, was not immedi-
ately clear. A security source said
it exceeded 10 people - all mem-
bers of the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK).
Turkey’s crackdown on the
PKK began in July after a 2
1/2-year-old ceasefire collapsed
and has escalated ahead of a snap
national election on Nov 1. More
than 120 security personnel and
hundreds of militants have been
killed.
Among those detained yes-
terday were district officials of
the Peoples Democratic Party
(HDP), a left-wing grouping ac-
cused of having links with the
hardline PKK, Hurriyet news-
paper said. An HDP spokesman
had no immediate information
on the arrests, and there was
also no comment from Turkish
police.
The HDP yesterday presented
its election platform in which it
renewed a promise to seek a set-
tlement to the 31-year war with
the PKK. “Despite everything,
we say peace,” HDP Co-Chair-
woman Figen Yuksekdag said.
“We want a grand peace.”
HDP district officials have
been detained in previous po-
lice raids in the predominantly
Kurdish southeast. The HDP ac-
cuses the government of seeking
to punish it for its success in the
inconclusive June election that
deprived the ruling Islamist-
rooted AKP of its single-party
majority in parliament. Opinion
polls show the AKP may at the
Nov. 1 election regain some na-
tionalist voters who abandoned
the party over its efforts to end
the strife with the PKK, includ-
ing negotiating with the group’s
jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan.
Whether the AKP will win
enough seats to regain a majority
remains debatable as poll results
have differed.
would set the country back.
His campaign has hammered
home the slogan that a vote for
Costa would mean a “return to
the old populist politics which
pushed the country to the brink
of bankrupcy”.
If the opinion polls are
proved correct, the only
other comparable instance
is Greece where Alexis
Tsipras and his radical
Syriza party were re-
elected last month after
his government agreed
to introduce yet more
economic reforms in return
for the nation’s third bailout
deal in five years
The message seems to have
got through. “Financial rigour
was a necessary evil and now
confidence is coming back,” said
Frederico Leite, a 37-year-old
salesman, who has seen his own
income fall by a fifth.
Vanda Pereira, however, is not
convinced. “It is clear that we
have not come out of the cri-
sis,” said the single mother, who
earns 550 euros a month working
13 hours a day in a hotel.
“I am not even going to vote,”
she said. “And if I didn’t have a
12-year-old daughter I would
have left the country.”
Portugal has lost nearly half
a million people in the last four
years — most young and high-
ly-educated —as huge public
spending cuts helped push un-
employment to a high of 17%.
Although emigrants do retain
the right to vote, few are likely
to use it, with the abstention rate
likely to top the record of 42%
set at the last election in 2011.
 Gulf Times
12 Saturday, October 3, 2015

INDIA
CLAIM
AAP slams central govt for
prioritising Bharti’s case
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) yesterday criticised
the central government for giving priority
to the domestic violence case against its
leader Somnath Bharti, saying it looks like the
government did not want him to be released
on bail. “The attorney general, solicitor general
and additional solicitor general were present in
Bharti case. What was the reason behind their
presence?” questioned AAP leader Ashutosh.
He sought to know if Bharti’s case was of such
importance that all the three top law officers
of the central government were needed to be
present during the hearing on the bail plea of
Bharti, Delhi’s former law minister.
DISPUTE
Meeting to resolve
FTII row shifted to Mumbai
The third round of meeting to break the
deadlock between agitating FTII students and
the information and broadcasting ministry
officials, which was supposed to be held in
New Delhi on October 6, will now be held in
Mumbai on October 7. The last meeting held in
Mumbai on Thursday remained “inconclusive”
with both the parties failing to resolve the
row over the appointment of actor and BJP
member Gajendra Chauhan as the chairman
of the Pune-based Film and Television
Institute of India (FTII). Ranjit Nair, a member
of the striking FTII students’ core committee,
confirmed the venue change.
CONTROVERSY
Sikh groups dismiss sect
chief’s apology offer
Radical Sikh leaders yesterday dismissed Dera
Sacha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim
Singh’s offer to visit the Golden Temple complex
and demanded that he should instead appear
before the Akal Takht, Sikh religion’s highest
temporal seat, to offer his apology. “He must
come at Akal Takht and tender apology in clear
words for his blasphemous act and pledge not
to repeat the same in future,” Dal Khalsa leaders
H S Dhami and Kanwarpal Singh said. The
Dera head courted controversy when he was
accused of hurting the religious sentiments of
the Sikhs by wearing an attire resembling that
of the 10th Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh.
APPEAL
Patel urges farmers
not to commit suicide
Hardik Patel, the young leader of the newly-
formed Akhil Bharatiya Patel Navnirman Sena,
yesterday urged farmers not to commit suicide
and instead fight for their rights. He also said
loans taken by debt-ridden farmers across the
country should be waived off. “The farmers
must take a pledge that they will not commit
suicide but instead should fight for their rights.
The government knows how to play politics
with farmers’ suicides,” Patel said. He also
appealed to the farmers to unite and launch
a nationwide movement. “The voice of the
farmers should echo from every corner of the
country and they should unite
PEOPLE
Odisha engineer abducted
by IS returns home
Biochemical engineer Prabhas Samal, who was
abducted by the Islamic State militants in Libya
last month, reached Odisha yesterday. Samal,
who hails from Odisha’s Kendrapada district,
reached New Delhi on Wednesday after he was
released by the militant group recently. “Till date
I am ignorant how I managed to wriggle out from
the harrowing experience,” he said. Samal said
that he was not tortured during captivity. “I really
don’t know about who kidnapped me and why
they released only me. I can tell only you I was
not tortured in anyway,” he said. “I have forgotten
the pain of captivity after seeing my relatives and
the warm reception I got here,” Samal added.

Little Gandhis
Police
deny Left
activists
India unveils
caned plan to cut rate
of greenhouse
IANS
Kolkata

T
he Kolkata police yester-
day denied baton charging
a rally by the CPI-M led

gas growth
Left Front that left several people
injured, but blamed the agitators
for provoking and assaulting the
security personnel. Left leaders
called the police response “lies”.
Several people including po-
litical leaders and policemen were
injured after the march to the city Reuters funding from the richer world. fear India’s emissions will jump
police headquarters called by the New Delhi India, often acting as the voice as the use of cars, air travel and
Left Front on Thursday turned of the developing world, plays an air conditioning grows among its
violent, leading to pitched battles important role in global climate 1.2bn people.

between party cadres and the se-
curity personnel.
“The agitators were pelting
stones and even beat up police-
men with flagpoles. They not only
made provocative comments but
also assaulted police and threw
eggs at them. Despite repeated
warning, they breached the police
barricade,” joint commissioner
of police (headquarters) Rajiv
Mishra told media persons here.
“At any moment there could
have been a serious law and or-
der situation there,” said joint
commissioner of police (traffic)
Supratim Sarkar asserting police
used “minimum force” to con-
trol the situation.
Going a step further, deputy
commissioner (central) Bastab
Baidya denied that police had
baton charged the protesters.
“We only chased them away.
That’s all. In no television foot-
age did I see any of them getting
injured from any baton charge.
Yes, some of the protestors
slipped and injured themselves.
But there was no baton charge.”
An angry Communist Party of
India - Marxist politburo mem-
ber, Mohamed Salim, dubbed the
police claims a “bundle of lies.
“Previously we thought only
the chief minister (Mamata Ban-
erjee) was a liar. Now, to save
their chair, her police officers are
also resorting to lies,” he said.
Police have also slapped cases
against many Left workers un-
der several sections including
charges of attempt to murder.
Three workers were arrested on
non-bailable sections during the
day and sent to police custody.
I
ndia has promised to shave
a third off the rate at which
it emits greenhouse gases
over the next 15 years, in a long-
awaited contribution towards
reaching a deal to slow global
warming at a UN climate sum-
mit in December.
The world’s third-largest
emitter and last major economy
to submit plans ahead of the
Paris summit did not, however,
commit to any absolute cuts in
carbon emissions.
Of the top two polluters, Chi-
na has promised its emissions
will peak by around 2030, and
the US is already cutting, but In-
dia says its economy is too small
and its people too poor to agree
to absolute cuts in greenhouse
gases now.
Instead, India said it aimed to
cut carbon intensity by between
33% and 35% by 2030 from 2005
levels and to grow to 40% the
share of power generated from
non-fossil fuels.
India’s plan balances the need
for a low-carbon future with the
need to lift millions out of pov-
erty and industrialise quickly,
Environment Minister Prakash
Javadekar said.
“Although the developed na-
tions have polluted the world
and we are suffering, India will
be part of the solution,” he told
journalists yesterday after sub-
mitting the pledges to the United
Nations. “We want to walk on a
cleaner energy path.”
School children dressed as Mahatma Gandhi take part in an attempt to set a new Guinness India said it needs $2.5tn by
World Record, for the largest gathering of people dressed as Gandhi, during celebrations to 2030 to achieve its plan, but Ja-
mark the 146th birth anniversary of Gandhi, in Bengaluru, yesterday. vadekar did not say if its pledg-
es were contingent on greater
talks and some environmental
groups welcomed its plan.
“India now has positioned
itself as a global leader in clean
energy, and is poised to play an
active and influential role in the
international climate negotia-
tions this December,” said Rhea
Suh at the New York-based
Natural Resources Defense
Council.
Close to 200 nations will meet
at a UN summit to agree a deal
to slow man-made warming by
keeping temperature rises be-
low a ceiling of 2 degrees Celsius
above pre-industrial levels.
More than 140 countries have
submitted plans, but experts say
the pledges are not enough to
keep the planet from warming
beyond the threshold and avoid-
ing the worst impacts of climate
change.
New Delhi stressed in its sub-
mission that coal would con-
tinue to dominate future power
generation. Environmentalists
Solar energy projects to be key focus
Hydro, nuclear and wind
energy all figure in the
government’s array of
renewable power sources that
it wants to expand, but top
of the list is solar energy. It is
on the back of solar energy
that the country wants to
ride to reach targeted cuts in
emissions intensity by 2030.
Ever since the Jawaharlal
Nehru National Solar Mission
was launched in 2010, India’s
solar energy capacity has
“The scale of expansion of
another 170 to 200 gigawatts of
power from coal is baffling. This
will set back India’s develop-
ment prospects,” said Pujarini
Sen of Greenpeace India.
India’s target for carbon in-
tensity falls well short of China,
which pledged at the end of June
to reduce its carbon intensity by
60% to 65% by 2030.
At a previous UN summit in
2009, India had already com-
mitted to reduce its emissions
intensity by 2020 by 20% to 25%
from 2005 levels.
Preliminary estimates indi-
cate India would need to spend
around $206bn between 2015
and 2030 to adapt to the effects
of climate change, the submis-
sion said.
“India’s climate actions have
so far been largely financed from
domestic resources. A substan-
tial scaling up of the climate ac-
tion plans would require greater
resources,” it added.
grown from 14MW that year
to 4,229MW in August 2015.
In a country where clear
sunny days are the norm, the
National Institute of Solar
Energy has estimated the solar
power potential to be 749GW.
India announced in August
that it upped the National
Solar Mission target of grid-
connected solar power projects
from 20GW by 2022 to 100GW.
Several private players are also
setting up solar projects.

‘Meena’ demands
CBI grills Mayawati in Nun’s body exhumed
after murder claims
health funds scam probe IANS murder of Sister Amala, 69,
at a convent in Pala near
Kottayam (Kerala)
IANS the then principal secretary, dead under mysterious circum- here.
New Delhi health, Pradeep Shukla has stances in the Lucknow district According to police, Babu

T
been charged by the agency,” jail. he body of 83-year-old had a strange obsession for
sources said. NRHM funds, to the tune of nun Sister Jose Maria nuns. He used to derive some

T
he Central Bureau of In-
vestigation (CBI) yester-
day questioned former
Uttar Pradesh chief minister
Mayawati here in connection
with the National Rural Health
Mission (NRHM) scam.
Sources said a team of CBI
officials quizzed the Bahujan
Samaj Party (BSP) chief Maya-
wati for over two hours at her
residence in central Delhi in
connection with embezzle-
ment of funds in implementa-
tion of the health mission.
Mayawati was at the helm of
affairs in Uttar Pradesh from
2007 to 2012 when the scam
occurred. “Mayawati was
questioned here in connection
with the NRHM scam of about
Rs100bn,” said sources, adding
that the agency had summoned
Mayawati last month.
“Mayawati was asked to
clarify the funding of some
projects under NRHM in which
some top officials, including
Many politicians, govern-
ment officials and ordinary
citizens were involved in the
scam. Babu Singh Kushwaha,
a former Uttar Pradesh cabinet
minister during the BSP rule,
was arrested on March 3, 2012
and is still in jail.
Kushwaha recently moved
the apex court seeking bail but
his plea was dismissed on Feb-
ruary 13, with the court saying
the allegations against him were
serious. The agency filed 74 cas-
es related to the scam. Charge-
sheets were filed in 48 cases.
As many as six people have
died or were allegedly mur-
dered in an attempt to cover up
the large-scale irregularities in
the case. The issue of financial
irregularities in NRHM funds
came to light with the murders
of two chief medical officers
of family welfare – V K Arya
in 2010 and B P Singh in 2011.
Besides, deputy chief medical
officer Y S Sachan was found
about Rs100bn, were allocated
to Uttar Pradesh for the period
2005-2011 by the union health
ministry. The funds were dis-
bursed through 72 chief medi-
cal officers in Uttar Pradesh
and other nodal offices across
the state under the various
schemes approved by the cen-
tral government.
A number of these works have
been executed through several
state public sector units and
a large number of contractors
and firms. The Lucknow bench
of the Allahabad High Court in
2011 directed the CBI to probe
the murder of Sachan and in-
vestigate the irregularities in
implementation of the NRHM.
A special investigation team
comprising 26 investigating
officers including five super-
intendents of police under the
overall supervision of addi-
tional director, joint director
and two DIGs are probing the
scam.
was exhumed near here
yesterday. Police conducted
a fresh autopsy after it was
claimed that the nun had not
died of natural causes as earli-
er believed but had been mur-
dered.
The autopsy was done by a
forensic team in the presence
of the Kottayam district police
chief Satish Beno. It was close
to the graveyard which had
been cordoned off by police.
The dead nun’s relatives were
also present.
Sister Maria had died a few
days after being hospitalised.
It was then believed that she
died of injuries suffered due
to a fall at the convent where
she had been residing. Since
she died in the hospital no
autopsy had then been con-
ducted.
Women belonging to Meena community stage a However, things changed
demonstration to press for Scheduled Tribe status for people after the Kerala Police ar-
with “Meena” as well as “Mina” surnames in Jaipur yesterday. rested Satish Babu, 38, from
Haridwar last month for the
sort of sadistic pleasure from
attacking elderly nuns.
During questioning, Babu
revealed that he had killed
Sister Maria by hitting her
on her head with a wooden
club.
It was earlier believed
Sister Maria died of
injuries suffered due to a
fall at the convent
“A charge-sheet has al-
ready been registered in the
new case. We will now wait
for the scientific report, for
which the autopsy has just
been done,” said Beno, Kot-
tayam district police chief, to
reporters.
Babu was arrested in Harid-
war last Thursday after the
Kerala Police traced a phone
call made by the accused to
his brother in Kasargod town.
He was brought to Kerala last
Sunday.
 Gulf Times
Saturday, October 3, 2015 13

PROTEST
All India Students Association activists stage a
demonstration against Union Human Resource
Development Minister Smriti Irani at Rajghat in
New Delhi yesterday.
CONTROVERSY
Modi slammed for ignoring
Shastri’s birth anniversary
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal yesterday
slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for ignor-
ing the late prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri,
whose birth anniversary coincides with Mahatma
Gandhi’s on October 2. After paying tributes to
Gandhi and Shastri, Kejriwal posted a series of
tweets, criticising Modi for not visiting Shastri’s
memorial at Vijay Ghat. He also accused the cen-
tral government of stopping funding for Shastri’s
birth anniversary celebration. “When I went to
pay tribute to Shastri at the memorial, I found out
that from this year centre has stopped allocating
funds to mark Shastri’s birth anniversary,” he said
in a succession of tweets.
OPINION
Air Kerala possible ‘if
aviation rules eased’
Air Kerala - a dream project of the Kerala govern-
ment to own an airline - would be a success in
case the Centre relaxes certain civil aviation rules,
a Kerala businessman said. “Funds are not a prob-
lem. The only thing that holds back this project is
the civil aviation rules,” said George V Nereapara-
mbil, who has his business headquarters in the
UAE. Under the civil aviation policy, companies
are permitted to fly on international routes after
five years of national operations and with a fleet
of minimum 20 aircraft. “I have full faith in Air
Kerala’s success and people are certain to make
huge investments in it,” said the 61-year-old entre-
preneur who hails from Thrissur.
OUTBREAK
Delhi hospitals get more
beds for dengue patients
As part of initiatives to tackle dengue in the
capital, 400 new beds were bought by the state
government, which would soon be placed in
hospitals handling the highest number of cases.
According to an official, the 400 beds are part
of the 1,000 beds to be bought by the state to
accommodate the soaring number of patients
in Delhi and its adjoining areas. “The beds
are likely to be placed in Guru Teg Bahadur
hospital, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash hospital and
Ambedkar hospital,” said a government official.
Till Thursday, the toll in the national capital had
risen to 25 after eight more people succumbed
to the vector-borne disease.
INDIA
CRACKDOWN
Doctors get notices for
dereliction of duty
The Delhi government yesterday issued notice to
14 doctors for dereliction of duty in dealing with
the dengue crisis. The action came a day after
city Health Minister Satyendra Jain visited some
hospitals, a Delhi government official said. “Jain
visited a few hospitals between 11.45pm and 6am
on Thursday to check their preparedness in terms
of dealing with the dengue patients and found
some doctors sleeping while on duty while some
were found loitering in other wards,” the official
said. The hospitals include the Aruna Asaf Ali Gov-
ernment Hospital, Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital,
Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital and Acharya Shree
Bhikshu Hospital.

Premier visits Jharkhand

Kerala bank
customers fail
to get full rate
cut benefits
The State Bank of Travancore,
the largest Kerala-based
public bank that receives
almost one-fourth of the
Rs1.17tn NRI deposits,
appeared most conservative
in passing on the benefits
By Ashraf Padanna,
Gulf Times Correspondent
Thiruvananthapuram
SBI and its prime competitor
HDFC.
HDFC was the first among all
lenders to reduce rates by 35 basis
points to 9.35% early last month.
This was even before the central
bank chief, Raghuram Rajan,
announced his second quarter
monetary policy with a surprise
rate cut.
Banking circles expects the
RBI chief to lower rates by an
additional 25 basis points af-

T
hough the Reserve Bank
of India has lowered lend-
ing rates by a cumulative
125 basis points since January,
homebuyers are yet to get the full
advantage of the rate cuts.
One basis point is one-hun-
dredth of a percentage point
and India’s central bank now
lends to commercial banks at
6.75%.
However, it hardly reflects the
ter the next policy review if he
can tame inflationary trends
even as builders hope for re-
newed buying interest from
NRIs.
The Kotak Mahindra Bank has Prime Minister Narendra Modi is greeted onstage by Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das during an event in Dumka for a money lending programme. The prime
trimmed its base rate from 9.75% minister is on an official visit to Jharkhand.
to 9.50 % while Dena Bank re-
duced its base rate by 30bps to
9.7% from 10%.
Bank of India cut minimum
lending rate by 25 basis points

lending rates of most of the 91
banks operating in the country,
including 27 in the public sector
and 44 scheduled foreign com-
mercial banks.
The State Bank of Travancore
(SBT), the largest Kerala-based
Modi-Natesan meet
to 9.70% from 9.95% while Yes
Bank brought it down to 10.25%.
Syndicate Bank, which also
has a robust retail lending port-
folio in the state, has brought
down its base rate from 10% to
9.7%.

rankles Kerala parties

public bank that receives almost
one-fourth of the Rs1.17tn non-
resident Indian (NRI) deposits,
appeared most conservative in
passing on the benefits.
The SBT home loans are now
cheaper by just 0.2 points at
9.95% while its parent bank,
State Bank of India, offers the
lowest rate of 9.3%.
The SBI is the second larg-
Punjab National Bank (9.6%)
and Bank of Baroda (9.65%),
both having a reasonable pres-
ence in the home loan market in
Kerala, have also made their rates
attractive.
The PNB’s new rates came into
force on Thursday while others IANS on decline and headed for dis- forming a third front with like- Balakrishnan said the SNDP was not at all going to make any im-
will start lending at the reduced Thiruvananthapuram aster. minded organisations. For us nei- now becoming a Natesan Sangom pact,” Sudheeran claimed.
rates on Monday. Natesan, leader of the pow- ther the CPI-M or the Congress (personal fiefdom of Natesan). Expressing his happiness at the
Both Rajan and Finance Min- erful Shree Narayana Dharma or the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) “The BJP has nothing to lose huge media coverage of the meet-

est beneficiary of the remit-
tances from the Kerala workers
overseas (Rs151.8bn) after SBT
which receives almost double the
amount.
The SBT also enjoys the larg-
est quantity of housing loan as-
sets in Kerala worth Rs62.2bn
followed by SBI (Rs58.3bn).
The total housing credit assets
of all banks in Kerala is worth
Rs3.1tn.
At 9.35%, the largest private
sector bank, ICICI, was most
liberal in passing on the rate cut
benefits to homebuyers after
ister Arun Jaitley had asked
banks to be quick in passing
on the benefits of the rate cuts
to their customers to spur in-
vestment and boost economic
activity, but many are yet to
respond.
The lower rates are expected
to increase realty and car sales in
Kerala.
The southern Indian state,
the biggest manpower exporter,
depends heavily on remittances
from its overseas workers and
the service industry to spur eco-
nomic growth back home.
K
erala’s rival political fronts,
the Congress-led UDF
(United Democratic Front)
and the Communist Party of In-
dia (Marxist)-led Left Democratic
Front, appeared united yesterday
as they attacked the much pub-
licised meeting between Kerala’s
Hindu Ezhava community leader
Vellapally Natesan and Prime
Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi
on Thursday.
A beaming Natesan, after ar-
riving at the airport here yester-
day, claimed the poll prospects
of the rival fronts in Kerala were
Paripalana (SNDP) Sangom
that owes allegiance to social
reformer Shree Narayana Guru,
has put many on tenterhooks
ever since he expressed his de-
sire to form a political party.
In Kerala, Hindus constitute
over 50% of the 3.30 crore pop-
ulation. Members of the Ezhava
community are slightly ahead of
the Hindu Nair community in
the numbers game.
“The fact that the rival fronts
have turned jittery over the meet-
ing shows the strength of the
SNDP. We will have no qualms in
are untouchables,” Natesan said
Opposition leader V S
Achuthanandan launched an
attack on Natesan and his cor-
rupt deals. He claimed Nate-
san’s Delhi trip was a family visit
which included his wife and son,
and was linked to widening of
his ‘business’.
Achuthanandan had earlier
demanded Natesan reveal how
much money he had acquired
through appointments made in
various educational institutions
under the Shree Narayana Trust.
CPI-M state secretary Kodiyeri
in Kerala, and it’s quite natu-
ral for them to join hands with
anyone. It’s time Chief Minis-
ter Oommen Chandy broke his
silence on this alliance as the
Congress is going to be the big-
gest gainer if there’s going to be
a third front,” said Balakrishnan.
Congress president V M Sud-
heeran yesterday claimed that
the likely alliance was one which
defied logic. While the ideol-
ogy of Shree Narayana Guru
was secular that of the BJP-RSS
combine was far from it, he said.
“This new found alliance is
ing, state BJP president V Mu-
raleedharan pointed out that eve-
ry political leader in the state had
for the past couple of days only
been speaking of the meeting.
“The media’s imagination is
running wild. The other day it
was written that Natesan is go-
ing to lead the third front and
he would be the chief ministe-
rial candidate. But Natesan has
made it clear he is not going to
contest any polls. So how can I
respond to such news reports,”
said Muraleedharan while
speaking to reporters yesterday.

Film promo
Beef lynching ‘part of Delhi woman wins
flat via radio show
a bigger conspiracy’ IANS the betterment of society volun-
tarily.
New Delhi
IANS goons barged into our house and yesterday met Akhlaq’s family. The most persuasive stories
Greater Noida lynched Akhlaq, accusing him “The incident was just an ac- were selected as the top five fi-

G
of killing a cow. Our family is a cident and not planned,” claimed eetanjali Babbar, who nalists. For one week, the station
patriotic family... our elder son Sharma after meeting the vic- works relentlessly for voiced the story of these selected

T
he killing of a man in a
village here following
rumours that his fam-
ily consumed beef was part of
a bigger conspiracy to spread
communal disharmony by two
right-wing organisations oper-
ating in the area, his widow said
yesterday.
A mob beat to death 50-year-
old Akhlaq and critically injured
his 21-year-old son Danish in
Bisara village in Greater Noida on
Monday night.
Ikram claimed that when her
husband was returning home on
Eid, some boys taunted him by
calling him a “Pakistani.” “They
said they would not allow a Pa-
kistani to live in the village and
would repeat a Muzaffarnagar
style incident,” Ikram said re-
ferring to the communal riots in
western Uttar Pradesh in Sep-
tember 2013.
“Suddenly on Monday night,
works with the Indian Air Force
while second son Danish, who is
completing his graduation this
year, is inclined to join the army,”
she said.
Intelligence sources revealed
that activists of the Pratap Sena
and Samadhan Sena were oper-
ating in the area to woo youths in
the 18 to 25 age group into their
fold and also disturb communal
harmony.
Anurag Singh, circle of-
ficer, Dadri, said the informa-
tion regarding the Pratap Sena
and Samadhan Sena had come
from the public. “However,
no definite information about
these organisations creat-
ing trouble has been filed,” he
added.
Meanwhile union minister and
Bharatiya Janata Party leader,
Mahesh Sharma, and AIMIM (All
India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Mus-
limeen) chief Asaduddin Owaisi
tim’s family.
“I have met the mother and
other family members. It is a very
tragic incident. Such incidents
are black spots on our society
and is also against our culture,”
the minister said.
“No one should play politics
over such an incident,” Sharma
added.
However, AIMIM chief Owaisi
said: “You cannot barge into an-
ybody’s house and assault every
member of the family. Those
guilty in this crime should face
the maximum punishment under
the charge of murder. We were
hoping that the prime minister
would condemn this with at least
a tweet.”
“It is tragic that minister
Sharma, who has taken oath on
constitution, claims this was an
accident. It was not an accident.
This was a pre-planned murder,”
the AIMIM chief insisted.
improving the lives of
children of sex workers in Delhi’s
infamous G B Road red light area,
has won a flat through a radio
contest.
Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM’s ‘FLAT
983’ on-air contest, sponsored
by Investors Clinic, has turned
out to be a big ticket of comfort
for Babbar, who has been knock-
ing on the doors of brothel own-
ers with a vision of giving a new
lease of life to the children of sex
workers, with NGO ‘Kat-Katha’.
In the third season of its on-air
show, Mirchi designed the ‘FLAT
983’ contest purely on sunshine
value to touch the emotional
chords of its listeners. The aim
of the station this year was to ap-
preciate ‘Delhi ke Heroes’.
Bollywood actors Sonam Kapoor and Salman Khan pose The contest began in the first
for a photograph during a promotional event for the week of September, with the
forthcoming Hindi film Prem Ratan Dhan Payo written Mirchi team requesting Delhi
and directed by Sooraj R Barjatya in Mumbai yesterday. residents to send nominations of
people who are working towards
heroes through his or her personal
interviews in all the shows. And
Delhi listeners had to vote for their
favourite contestant via SMS.
Apart from Babbar, the final-
ists were Rajesh Kumar Singh, a
college dropout who owns a gen-
eral store at Shakarpur and runs
a school under a flyover located
on railway land; and Medicine
Baba- Omkar Nath, who goes to
many houses each day to collect
medicines and donates them to
those in need.
There was also Dorris Francis, a
57-year-old who lost her daugh-
ter in a car crash and since then
has decided to be at the accident-
prone intersection and manage
traffic to make sure that no other
commuter suffered her daughter’s
fate; and Sylvester Peter, who’s at
the helm of My Angels Academy,
where economically challenged
children learn meditation, aca-
demics and athletics.
 Gulf Times
14 Saturday, October 3, 2015

LATIN AMERICA
COMMENT
Gerry Adams seeks closer
Irish ties with Cuba
Irish republican leader Gerry Adams told
Cuban leaders that he would like to see closer
ties between the Caribbean nation and his
country, the state media said in Havana.
Adams told Ana Maria Machado, the vice
president of Cuba’s legislature, that in Ireland
there was plenty of solidarity with the Cuban
people, the AIN news agency reported. Adams
also said that he was ready to continue
supporting Cuba’s communist revolution with
concrete actions, AIN said. The news agency
said that Adams was heading a group of
Sinn Fein politicians, but did not say when he
arrived or for how long they would stay.
OUTAGE
Oil refining complex shut
down by power failure
Venezuela’s largest oil refining complex,
considered one of the world’s biggest, has been
knocked out of operation by a power failure that
President Nicolas Maduro attributed to sabotage.
Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the state oil
monopoly, said the power failure occurred on
Thursday morning at the Amuay and Cardon
refining complex. It said power was restored
several hours later and technicians were taking
steps to reactivate the refineries, but indicated that
it would take several days for operations to return
to normal. Stella Lugo, the governor of the state of
Falcon, where the refineries are located, told state
television “both refineries are out of commission.”
OFFBEAT
New home found for
Sandra the orangutan
A Brazilian nature reserve has agreed to take in
an orangutan who shot to fame when a court
ruled she was a “non-human” being unlawfully
held at a zoo, lawyers said. The case of Sandra, a
30-year-old orangutan, made news around the
world last December when an Argentine court
ruled she had thoughts, feelings and certain
basic rights, and as such was being subjected
to unjust confinement at the Buenos Aires Zoo.
The case was brought by animal rights activists
who filed a “habeas corpus” writ for Sandra. Five
months into a second court case to decide her
fate, the Sorocaba nature reserve in Sao Paulo
has now agreed to take in Sandra.
DATA
Brazil industrial output
drops 1.2% in August
Brazilian industrial output declined for the third
straight month in August on sapped demand for
capital goods amid worries over the future of the
nation’s battered economy. Industrial production in
Brazil fell 1.2% in August from July, statistics agency
IBGE said. It was the sixth monthly retraction this
year for Brazil’s manufacturers, which have laid
off tens of thousands of workers as they struggle
to get rid of excess inventory. On an annual basis,
production fell 9%, its 18th consecutive month
of decline. Output dropped in 14 of 24 industrial
segments on a monthly basis, with a fall in
automobiles and metal products weighing most
heavily on the industrial output decline.
ECONOMIC
Argentina keeps options
open on bond payout
With only days to go until payment is due on a
$5.9bn maturity of Boden 15 bonds, Argentina is
leaving bondholders guessing whether it will pay
the whole amount in cash or launch a last-minute
swap in order to protect its foreign reserves.
The capital and interest payment on the dollar-
denominated bond would take a large chunk out of
foreign reserves that stand at $33.311bn. Argentina
uses those reserves to pay debt, finance imports
and prop up its currency. Economy Minister Axel
Kicillof told local radio late last week that investors
were “desperately” calling for a swap of the Boden
15 for other bonds, but he was still assessing
market conditions.

Paralysed
Brazilian
makes TV
show for kids
AFP 120,000 reais (about $30,000).
Sao Paulo The story follows seven chil-
dren in wheelchairs who are de-
termined to keep having fun.

F
or almost his entire 47
years, Paulo Henrique
Machado has been con-
fined to a hospital ward in Sao
Paulo - yet the Brazilian isn’t
letting that get him down.
The toys, bright posters and
adventure books around the
hospital room, not the respirator
tubes, tell Machado’s story as he
embarks on the pilot for what
he hopes will become a popular
children’s TV show.
Machado’s mother died at
childbirth and shortly after he
contracted polio, condemned
from then on to stay at the Hos-
pital de Clinicas in Brazil’s big-
gest city.
Yet like the superheroes that
he admired so much, Machado
“Brincadeirantes is dedicated
to children,” he said. “We want
to demonstrate that a boy in a
wheelchair is no different. Quite
the opposite - he must play and
explore his world to understand
the difficulties lying ahead.”
The bright cartoon colours
combine with darker themes re-
flecting the hard times Machado
has faced.
Based on real experiences, the
pilot shows Leco - Machado’s
animated self-portrait - going
to an amusement park for the
first time.
“This really happened. It was Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff is seen after a press conference to announce a cabinet reshuffle at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil.
when I was 10. Every time I got
close to one of the attractions,
the person in charge would give
me a toy. But what I wanted

was able to defeat his apparently
crushing problems.
“When I was a child I had to
make the hospital my kinder-
garten. I played, I went into oth-
er rooms,” he recalled. “At that
time there was an epidemic of
Rousseff announces
wasn’t a toy, it was to play,” he
recalled.
The story also pays homage
to the five other children in the
original ward who didn’t make
it.
“Suddenly your best friend

major cabinet reshuffle

infantile paralysis in Sao Paulo.
There were seven of us in the
room and today only two of us
remain.”
Now his love of playing is be-
ing translated into the creation
of an animated cartoon series
called Brincadeirantes, which is
a combination of the words in
Portuguese for “playing” and
“person in a wheelchair.”
is gone,” he said, remembering
his childhood friends’ deaths. “I
wanted to go with him because I
couldn’t see any other way for-
ward. The pain is like a wound
and yet then it starts to scar over
and you are stronger.”
The gift of a computer in the AFP The reshuffle aims “to guar- ures of all political stripes, Rouss- “We are making a first and ma- the reinstatement of an unpopular
1990s launched Machado on a Brasilia antee the political stability of the eff has seen her popularity ratings jor step toward the reorganisation tax on banking transactions.
new road. He has learned graph- country which is needed to renew sink to 10% and faced impeach- of the federal public administra- Rousseff said what Brazil needs
ic design and joined a huge on- growth and strengthen relations ment threats even from within her tion. We are beginning by reduc- is political stability so that it can

Across from Machado’s bed
lies his great friend Eliana, the in-
spiration for the character of Leca
in the pilot for the Brincadeirantes
idea, which so far has got more
than 62,500 visits on YouTube.
She’s also an artist and the
author of two books, using her
mouth to hold the pen while
she draws. Machado still has
some movement in his arms
which allows him to create 3D
drawings on his computer for
the pilot episode, which was
crowd financed to the tune of
line community, including some
5,000 friends on Facebook.
“Technology is constantly
changing. I love the film Avatar
because it’s about someone who
is paralysed and is able to enter
another body thanks to technol-
ogy. Getting more freedom gives
you courage.”
Movies have been an escape
for Machado ever since he first
went to a movie theatre when he
was 29 and watched Hollywood
action blockbuster Independ-
ence Day.
B
razilian President Dilma
Rousseff yesterday an-
nounced a major govern-
ment reshuffle, axing eight min-
istries in a cost-cutting measure
that also aims to end political
paralysis and threats of im-
peachment.
At a time of recession, a mas-
sive corruption scandal and po-
litical instability, Rousseff said
the shake-up would help put the
world’s seventh biggest economy
and Latin America’s biggest coun-
try back on track.
between the parties and members
of parliament who support the
government,” Rousseff, 67, said in
the capital Brasilia.
Rousseff, who was narrowly
elected last year to a second term,
has already turned into a lame-
duck president, struggling to pass
budget cuts and tax increases that
her government says are neces-
sary to help the floundering econ-
omy recover.
With the corruption scandal
centred on state-oil company
Petrobras engulfing leading fig-
unruly coalition government.
The government shake-up ap-
peared aimed at shoring up her
fraying power base.
“Coalition governments need
support from Congress. We live
in a democracy,” she said. “It’s
Congress, elected by the Brazil-
ian people, that my government
must have a dialogue with on get-
ting support for ways and laws to
speed up the exit from the crisis.”
The changes cut the former 39
ministries to 31 in Brazil’s sprawl-
ing bureaucracy.
ing eight ministries,” Rousseff an-
nounced.
A big winner in the reshuffle
was the centre-right PMDB which
is Rousseff’s most powerful, but
not always reliable, partner in the
ruling coalition, along with her
leftist Worker’s Party. Analysts
said Rousseff boosted the PMDB’s
ministerial portfolio in hopes of
winning support for economic re-
forms that have come under heavy
criticism since she unveiled them
a month ago.
They include spending cuts and
pursue the common goal of re-
storing economic growth. “We
have to put the interests of the
country above those of the par-
ties.”
The PMDB now gets seven
ministries, up from six. That in-
cluded changing the health min-
istry, which has the biggest budget
and considerable political impor-
tance, from the Workers’ Party to
the PMDB.
The Workers’ Party remains the
biggest player with nine minis-
tries.

Tax hike opposed

Brazil Speaker under
Make text of peace pressure to resign
deal public, says Farc Reuters
Brasilia/Zurich
corruption and money launder-
ing.
The attorney general’s office
Reuters where critics complain rebels of conflict that has killed 220,000 in Switzerland said in an email

A
Havana the Revolutionary Armed Forces people and displaced millions group of lawmakers to Reuters that Cunha’s assets
of Colombia, or Farc, might es- since 1964. called for the resigna- have been seized after it opened
cape punishment or extradition Half a century of war has em- tion of the speaker of criminal proceedings against

S
eeking to quell controver-
sy back home, Colombia’s
leftist Farc guerrillas yes-
terday advocated making public
the entire 18-page agreement
they reached with the govern-
ment last week to end their
50-year-long war within six
months.
At peace talks in Cuba, the
Colombian government and
Farc have only published a two-
page statement that they agreed
to establish special courts to try
former combatants including
guerrillas, government soldiers
and members of right-wing par-
amilitary groups.
While attempting to offer as
much amnesty as possible, the
courts would impose sharply
reduced sentences for those
who admit guilt and exclude
from amnesty any war crimes or
crimes against humanity.
The agreement has caused
consternation in Colombia,
to the US, where some are want-
ed on drug-trafficking charges.
“The agreement should be
published as soon as possible
in order to avoid speculation or
slanted misinterpretations about
it contents,” Ivan Marquez, the
chief Farc negotiator, told re-
porters in Havana, the site of
peace talks for nearly three years.
The government opposed
publication now because the
document is subject to change,
a government spokeswoman
said.
Peace talks resumed yesterday
for the first time since a break-
through on September 23, when
President Juan Manuel Santos
and Farc leader Rodrigo Lon-
dono, better known as Timo-
chenko, also agreed the Farc
would lay down arms within
60 days of signing a peace deal,
which has an official deadline of
March 23, 2016.
If successful, it would end a
bittered many Colombians who
mistrust the peace talks or want
harsher retribution for rebels.
Publishing the full 75-point
agreement would answer ques-
tions about amnesty, the condi-
tions of confinement, and the
structure of the special courts,
Marquez said.
The issue of extradition is also
controversial.
Timochenko, Marquez and
other rebel leaders appear on the
US Kingpin List of major drug
traffickers as some Farc units
have formed an alliance with
drug cartels.
Sergio Jaramillo, the govern-
ment’s peace commissioner, said
last week the conditions under
which rebels could be extradited
would not be defined until there
was a final peace deal.
“No one participates in a peace
process and supports an agree-
ment only to end up extradited,
that’s obvious,” Jaramillo said.
Brazil’s lower house of Con-
gress, Eduardo Cunha, after
Switzerland provided Brazil-
ian prosecutors with details
of Swiss bank accounts in his
name.
Cunha, who has been charged
with corruption and money
laundering in Brazil’s largest-
ever bribery and political kick-
back scandal, refused to com-
ment on the accounts that have
been frozen by Swiss authori-
ties. Third in the line of presi-
dential succession, Cunha is a
key figure in Brazil’s political
crisis because he can decide
whether to open impeachment
proceedings against President
Dilma Rousseff, something her
Inflatable dolls in the shape of ducks are seen in front of the opponents are seeking.
National Congress during a protest against tax increases in The office of Brazil’s top pros-
Brasilia, Brazil. The campaign “I will not pay the Duck” was ecutor said it received from its
organised by the Federation of Industries of Sao Paulo (FIESP) Swiss counterpart information
and uses the duck symbol in reference to industries that pay on bank accounts held by Cunha
high taxes. and family members that were
investigated on the suspicion of
him. The investigation has been
handed over to Brazilian pros-
ecutors, it said, as the politician
cannot be extradited to Switzer-
land.
Fifteen lawmakers signed a
petition that was sent to Cunha
asking him to inform Congress
if the bank accounts are his and
whether he had declared them
in his income tax returns.
“It is disgraceful that the Bra-
zilian Congress has a speaker
that is facing so many accu-
sations of corruption,” Chico
Alencar, a leftist congressman
who signed the petition, told
reporters.
Several defendants in a mas-
sive investigation of bribes and
kickbacks paid from overpriced
contracts with state-run oil
company Petrobras have said
in plea bargain statements that
Cunha received a $5mn bribe in
connection to contracts for two
drillships built for Petrobras.

Taliban fighters hold
out in Afghan city
Reuters
Kabul
T
aliban fighters were hold-
ing out against Afghan
troops in Kunduz yes-
terday, a day after government
forces recaptured most of the
northern city that had fallen to
the militants in their biggest
victory of a 14-year insurgency.
In Jalalabad in the east of the
country, a US military trans-
port plane crashed at an airfield
just after midnight, killing all 11
people on board, the US military
said.
The Taliban said it had shot
down the aircraft, but the US
military, which still has several
thousand troops in Afghani-
stan after Nato’s combat mis-
sion ended, said there were no
reports of enemy fire and de-
scribed the crash as an accident.
In Badakhsan province in
Afghanistan’s northeast, the
Taliban took control of Warduj
district late on Thursday af-
ter heavy fighting, according to
Nawid Forotan, a spokesman for
the provincial governor.
Residents in Kunduz, a stra-
tegic city of 300,000 that fell to
the Taliban in a stunning pre-
dawn attack on Monday, said
that while most Taliban fighters
had fled, some were holed up in
civilian homes fighting the army.
Taliban spokesman Zabihul-
lah Mujahid said on Friday they
had taken control of Kunduz, a
claim denied by the Afghan gov-
ernment.
“We have beaten up the en-
emy forces,” Mujahid said.
The Taliban have been ac-
cused of extrajudicial killings,
raping, torturing, looting and
setting fire to government build-
ings during their three-day oc-
cupation of Kunduz, the Afghan
president’s office said yesterday.
“Afghanistan is committed to
legally prosecute the perpetra-
tors of these crimes, and to that
end, assigns a civilian commis-
sion to assess the losses sus-
tained as a result of the Taliban
PPP to have Pak rights activists
new manifesto condemn execution T
next month
Internews
Islamabad
P
akistan People’s Party
(PPP) of slain former
leader Benazir Bhutto
has sped up efforts to reshape
the party, formulating new
manifesto.
Party sources said here Fri-
day that the party has given
powers to Chairman Bila-
wal Bhutto-Zardari to run
the party as per philosophy of
party founder Zulfikar Bhutto
and Benazir Bhutto.
According to sources, a new
manifesto of the PPP would
be announced on November
30, on the founding day of the
party.
They said approval for con-
stitution of a committee of the
party elders for this purpose
has been made and it is ex-
pected that its members will be
notified in the next few days.
Currently, the PPP and the
PPP Parliamentarians run
parallel as only parliamentari-
ans of the PPP were member of
the PPPP which was headed by
Makhdoom Amin Fahim while
main PPP is doing politics.
Now the PPP Parliamentar-
ians Group would be merged
in the PPP and the final an-
nouncement would be made
after November 30. The
sources said new faces would
be introduced in the top hi-
erarchy of the party and the
chairman’s office would be
made more powerful.
They said major changes
would be introduced after lo-
cal government elections in
presence,” a statement said.
At least 60 people have been
killed in the fighting as of yester-
day, according to a health minis-
try spokesman. He said hospitals
in Kunduz had treated about 466
wounded.
Ahmad Sahil, a producer for
local Afghan television in the
city, said many people were still
too afraid to leave their houses.
“The Taliban who knew Kun-
duz left the city already, but
many foreign fighters could not
flee and are hiding in people’s
homes in some parts of the city
centre and are still resisting,”
Sahil said yesterday.
Hamdullah Danishi, acting
governor of Kunduz province,
Afghan security personnel stand at a checkpoint outside Jalalabad airport where a US C-130 military transport plane crashed, yesterday.
Punjab and Sindh. The party
is expected to have a new sec-
retary general after the local
government elections, they
said.
Aitzaz Ahsan and Qamar
Kaira are top contenders for
the post but a final decision
would be made by Bilawal
Bhutto Zardari, who has re-
cently met with party workers
in Islamabad and Lahore.
The workers have told him
that they were being kept
away from party affairs while
irrelevant people were making
all the decisions which has re-
sulted in losses to the party in
Punjab.
A senior leader of the PPP
from Punjab says that he has
serious reservations on con-
tinues interference in decision
making process by irrelevant
people which has affected the
party in Punjab politically.
“The party has focused on
the next general elections,” he
said.
He said dynamics of local
government is different from
general elections as in the local
government elections it was
easy for sitting governments
to manipulate the results into
their favour but general elec-
tions will always be a different
game.
“If we have to perform in the
next elections then we have to
perform politically in Punjab
to attract the voters who ex-
pressed their annoyance with
us in last general elections. We
will come up with new team of
clean faces and new political
vision that attracts the youth,”
he said.
described the capital as calm,
and said there was “no major
fighting”.
He acknowledged, however,
that the insurgents had not been
completely driven from Kunduz.
“Taliban are still in civilian
houses and buildings,” Danishi
said. “They are using civilians as
human shields.”
The International Committee
of the Red Cross said it was in-
creasingly concerned about the
welfare of citizens inside the city
and the lack of medical supplies
and personnel.
“We are very short-staffed in
the hospitals,” said Peter Esmith
Ewoi, an ICRC doctor working
in the city. “The medical staff in
AFP
Lahore
R
ights activists in Pakistan
and from the European
Union condemned the
execution of a convicted mur-
derer who campaigners say was
a juvenile when the crime was
committed.
Ansar Iqbal was accused of
the killing after a quarrel when
he was a student in 1994. He was
executed on Tuesday.
But Namra Gilani, a lawyer
for the Justice Project Pakistan
(JPP), said yesterday that Iqbal’s
family had approached the
advocacy group recently.
They said Iqbal, their only
son, had been born in 1978, and
Search begins for new chief of electronic media regulator
Internews
Islamabad
T
wo federal secretaries,
a serving police chief, a
former head of the Fed-
eral Investigation Agency (FIA)
and a TV show host are currently
jostling for position as the new
head of the country’s electronic
media watchdog, the Pakistan
Electronic Media Regulatory
Authority (Pemra).
At least 40 candidates have
been interviewed to the lead the
authority, which became the
centre of attention following
controversy regarding the ab-
sence of a full-time chief there.
Headed by Information Min-
ister Pervaiz Rashid, the inter-
view panel included Information
PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN
the city cannot get to the hos-
pitals because of the on-going
fighting.”
The ICRC said it has emer-
gency medical supplies ready to
be flown in as soon as security at
Kunduz airport improves.
In a worrying sign for govern-
ment forces struggling to contain
a growing militant threat, the
Taliban made territorial gains
elsewhere in the country, al-
though on a smaller scale than
the brief seizure of Kunduz.
“Our forces did not get rein-
forcements on time,” Forotan
said of the loss of Warduj district
in Badakhshan. “Taliban were in
big numbers, therefore our forces
retreated.”
so was under 18 at the time of
the crime.
The EU delegation to Paki-
stan issued a statement saying
the court had reportedly refused
to consider new evidence that
proved his age, including an
official birth certificate.
“This adds to a growing
number of cases where execu-
tions have been carried out in
Pakistan for crimes allegedly
carried out by juveniles,” the
statement said.
The most high-profile case
was that of Shafqat Hussain,
hanged in August for killing a
seven-year-old boy in Karachi
in 2004 despite an international
outcry after claims he was a ju-
venile at the time and was tor-
tured into confessing.
Secretary Mohammad Azam and
Establishment Secretary Na-
deem Hassan Asif, while the di-
rector of internal publicity from
the information ministry acted
as secretary to the board.
The candidates that appeared
before the interview panel earlier
this week included incumbent
Inter-Provincial Coordination
Secretary Ejaz Chaudhry and
Antinarcotics Control Secretary
Mohammad Ghalib Ali.
Chaudhry belongs to the elite
District Management Group,
whereas Ghalib Ali has previ-
ously served in the Police Service
of Pakistan and has been a direc-
tor general at the FIA.
Islamabad Inspector General
Tahir Alam Khan, who is set to
retire next year, has also applied
for the Pemra chief’s job.
The Taliban said they killed 50
soldiers and gained control of 28
checkposts in a district of Bada-
khshan province that has been
fought over for years.
It occupies a position along
a highway to the border with
Tajikistan and also shares a bor-
der with China and Pakistan.
The attack started when Tali-
ban militants raided checkpoints
in several villages, overrunning
reinforcements and seizing con-
trol late in the afternoon, accord-
ing to a government report. The
police headquarters in Warduj
fell at around 6 p.m. it said.
At least two policemen were
killed in the battle, while three
others were reported missing.
Iqbal’s co-accused Ghulam Shab-
bir was eventually declared a juvenile
and his death sentence commuted
to 14 years imprisonment.
Pakistan has hanged dozens of
convicts since ending a six-year
moratorium on executions last
December, after Taliban mili-
tants massacred more than 150
people—mostly children—at a
school.
Supporters argue that the
death penalty is the only effec-
tive way to deal with the scourge
of militancy in the country.
But critics say the legal system
is unjust, with rampant police
torture, poor representation for
victims and unfair trials.
Punjabi prison officials said
the matter was a problem for the
courts rather than the prisons.
Abdul Jabbar, who was acting
Pemra chief under the PPP, also
presented his credentials to the
interview panel. While he does
have hand-on experience of
running the regulator, observers
say his closeness to the PPP may
work against him in the selection
process.
Kamaluddin Teepu, the former
police official who is currently
serving as the acting head of Pem-
ra, is also among the applicants.
Absar Alam, a journalist-
turned-talk show host, has also
applied for the position, while
sources say a number of service-
men, both former and serving,
have also applied.
The Ministry of Information
and Broadcasting also changed
the rules of the game at least once
during the selection process.
US military
plane crash
kills 14
Reuters
Washington
A
US military transport
plane crashed shortly
after takeoff at an air-
field in Afghanistan just af-
ter midnight on Friday (1930
GMT on Thursday), killing 14
people, the US military said,
describing the crash as an
accident.
The cause of the crash at
Jalalabad airfield was under
investigation, the military
said.
Six US military service
members and five civilian con-
tractors who were employed by
the US-led international force
in Afghanistan were killed in
the crash. Three Afghan na-
tionals were also killed, a US
military official said.
A spokesman for the Tali-
ban militant movement seek-
ing to topple the government
said its fighters had shot down
the aircraft, but the US mili-
tary said enemy fire was not
suspected as a factor in the
crash.
US President Barack Obama
issued a statement yesterday
expressing condolences to
families of the military mem-
bers, civilians and Afghans
who were killed.
“This is a reminder of the
risks that our men and wom-
en face serving their country
in remote places all over the
world,” US Defense Secretary
Ash Carter said in a statement.
The six military service
members were airmen as-
signed to the 455th Air Ex-
peditionary Wing. Four were
Govt mulls
filing case
against Altaf
Internews
Islamabad
he government in Pa-
kistan has decided to
register a money laun-
dering case against London-
based Altaf Hussain, the leader
of Karachi-based Muttahida
Qaumi Movement (MQM) and
some other party leaders.
Media reports yesterday
quoting unnamed interior
ministry sources as saying
that Pakistan and the UK have
been cooperating in three
dimensions.
The Scotland Yard was al-
lowed to probe three accused -
Muazzam Ali, Khalid Shamim
and Mohsin Ali – allegedly
members of MQM – and now
an extradition request from
the UK is being awaited.
In return for facilitating
the Scotland Yard, Pakistan
sought help from the UK for
preparing a reference against
In its first advertisement for
the position, the eligibility cri-
teria for the position stipulated
that candidates must at least
possess a master’s degree from
an HEC-recognised university.
However, in a revised advertise-
ment, this requirement was re-
duced to a bachelor’s degree.
A communications expert,
who has worked with Pemra in
the past, says that whether it
was the all-powerful Federal
Communications Commission
in the US, or the Telecommuni-
cation Regulatory Authority of
India, candidates with strong le-
gal backgrounds are preferred for
appointment because regulation
was all about framing rules and
regulations.
“But unfortunately in Pakistan,
Pemra only deals with money-re-
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 3, 2015 15
deployed from Dyess Air Force
Base in Texas, and two were
from Hanscom Air Force Base
in Massachusetts, according
to a statement from the unit.
Though enemy fire was not
suspected as a factor in the
crash, “there is, however, an
ongoing investigation by offi-
cials to determine the cause of
the crash,” the statement said.
First responders were still at
the scene conducting recov-
ery operations, the statement
said.
The crash came hours after
Afghan troops recaptured the
centre of the strategic north-
ern city of Kunduz on Thurs-
day amid fierce clashes with
Taliban militants, three days
after losing the provincial
capital.
The Taliban have been
fighting to regain power since
being toppled by a US-led
intervention in 2001.
The number of U S deaths
in Afghanistan has fallen
sharply after the United States
wrapped up its formal combat
mission last year, although
US special forces and US air-
strikes were involved in this
week’s counter-offensive in
Kunduz.
In 2011, Taliban militants
shot down a US military Chi-
nook helicopter, killing all 38
people on board.
Taliban spokesman Zabi-
hullah Mujahid said on Twit-
ter that its fighters shot down
the plane, saying “15 invaders
and a number of slave soldiers
were killed.”
The insurgents typically
claim responsibility for any
coalition air crash.
Altaf for making a provoca-
tive speech against the Pa-
kistan army and security
institutions, and most impor-
tantly, Pakistan has sought
documentary proof, including
account details, of the money
laundering charge.
According to sources, ran-
som money had been sent to
some MQM leaders in Lon-
don and the case could be
registered with the Federal
Investigation Agency coun-
terterrorism wing in Karachi
zone.
This FIA wing is being
headed Inam Ghani due to
whose efforts this wing was
given the status of a police
station empowered to reg-
ister cases related to ter-
rorism, money laundering,
cybercrimes among others.
The case would be regis-
tered in the light of proof re-
ceived from the UK. Altaf is
already on bail in a similar case
in the UK.
lated issues: licence fee collection,
imposition of fines etc,” he said.
But former information minis-
ter Javed Jabbar, who was involved
with the drafting of the original
Pemra ordinance, said that the
government was ignoring a key
requirement in its hiring process.
Jabbar said that though he was
unaware of the latest develop-
ments on this front, he said that
the recommendations of the Me-
dia Commission appointed by
the Supreme Court on January 15,
2013 included the stipulation that
the Pemra chief would, in the fu-
ture, be selected through a bipar-
tisan parliamentary committee
and that he/she would be answer-
able to parliament, not the infor-
mation ministry. “I don’t know
why the present government has
ignored this stipulation,” he said.
 Gulf Times
16 Saturday, October 3, 2015

PHILIPPINES
Govt in conditional
Appeals court likely to offer to slash
allow bail for Arroyo
By Jomar Canlas thus see no compelling reason granting bail to respondent Ar-
emissions by 70%
AFP
Manila
pre-industrial times, a level
that is still expected to cause
growing droughts and dis-
Manila Times to modify, reverse or set aside royo,” the decision read. asters but which scientists

T
our previous decision,” the res- Further, the CA ruled that no he Philippines has said consider comparatively man-
olution read. grave abuse of discretion was it would cut the archi- ageable.

F
ormer president Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo will
soon be allowed to post bail
in connection with an electoral-
sabotage complaint filed against
her by the Justice department.
Arroyo, former Maguindanao
governor Andal Ampatuan Jr
and former election officer
Lintang Bedol were charged for
allegedly staging a 12-0 victory
for the administration Team
Unity’s senatorial candidates in
Maguindanao in the 2007 polls.
Former Maguindanao pro-
vincial administrator Norie
Unas, who implicated Arroyo in
the alleged cheating, died of an
illness last year.
At least 15 witnesses, includ-
ing Unas, were presented dur-
ing bail hearings for Arroyo.
In a two-page resolution
dated September 22, the Spe-
cial Division of the Court of
Appeals denied a Justice de-
partment motion for reconsid-
eration on its earlier ruling af-
firming a decision of the Pasay
City Regional Trial Court (RTC)
allowing Arroyo to post bail.
Judge Jesus Mupas allowed
the former president to post
bail after prosecutors failed
to convince him that there is
strong evidence against Ar-
royo.
The CA resolution penned
by Associate Justices Elihu
Gloria Arroyo: bail hopes?
Ybañez, Isaias Dicdican and
Victoria Isabel Paredes con-
curred with the lower court’s
findings that the prosecu-
tors who opposed the former
leader’s bail petition had no
new arguments to convince the
court to reverse its ruling.
“We have carefully reviewed
the arguments raised in the said
motion for reconsideration and
find the same to be mere reit-
eration of matters previously
considered and found to be
without merit in the decision
subject of this recourse. We
“For these reasons, the in-
stant motion for reconsidera-
tion is hereby denied,” accord-
ing to the appellate court.
In its March 24, 2015 deci-
sion, the CA said the govern-
ment has a weak case against
Arroyo.
The electoral-sabotage in-
dictment against the former
president was filed by Justice
Secretary Leila de Lima and the
Commission on Elections then
headed by Sixto Brillantes Jr on
November 18, 2011.
The former president was
accused of masterminding
fraudulent elections in 2007 in
conspiracy with then-Comelec
chairman Benjamin Abalos.
The court ruled that the only
evidence of the Department
of Justice and the Comelec
against Arroyo is the testimo-
ny of Unas “whose credibility
was seen by the trial judge to
be tainted with doubt and in-
sufficient to establish a strong
evidence of guilt on the part of
respondent Arroyo.”
“Consequently, in finding
that respondent Arroyo’s evi-
dence of guilt is not strong, the
grant of bail now becomes a
matter of right. Thus, it can-
not be said that the trial judge
acted in a capricious, whimsi-
cal or despotic manner when
he issued the assailed orders
found from the lower court in
allowing Arroyo to post bail.
“Assuming arguendo that
the respondent judge erred in
evaluating the evidence during
the hearing on the application
for bail, certiorari will not lie.
As stated earlier, no grave abuse
of discretion may be attributed
to a court simply because of its
alleged wrongful appreciation
of facts and evidence.
“In short, certiorari will is-
sue only to correct errors of
jurisdiction, not errors of pro-
cedure or mistakes in the find-
ings or conclusions of the lower
court,” it said.
This was the first case filed
against Arroyo under the Aqui-
no administration to block an
alleged attempt by the accused
to flee the country.
The Justice department used
this case as basis to put the
former president in the Bureau
of Immigration Watchlist Or-
der.
Court records show that
since the case was filed in De-
cember 2012, only two out of
more than 50 witnesses were
presented during the trial.
Arroyo remains in deten-
tion over a plunder case filed
against her by the Office of the
Ombudsman for allegedly mis-
handling Philippine Charity
Sweepstakes Office funds.
pelago nation’s carbon
emissions by 70% by 2030 but
only if it receives support from
developed nations.
The country’s climate
change mitigation and ad-
aptation plan was submitted
to the UN Framework Con-
vention on Climate Change
on Thursday after it was ap-
proved by President Benigno
Aquino, his spokesman Her-
minio Coloma said in a state-
ment.
If fully implemented, the
Philippines’ carbon emis-
sions should drop 70% by
2030 from 2000 levels, said
Lucille Sering, head of the
country’s Climate Change
Commission.
The submission came
ahead of upcoming climate
change talks in Paris later
this year. “These reductions
in emissions are conditional
and will be pursued if suf-
ficient financial resources,
technology development and
transfer, and capacity build-
ing will be made available to
the Philippines after the Paris
climate talks in December,”
Coloma said.
A UN summit in Copen-
hagen in 2009 set a goal of
keeping temperature rises
at no more than two degrees
Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) from
Experts say this can be
achieved if wealthy nations
go ahead with plans to cap
carbon emissions by 2020
and developing countries, in-
cluding the Philippines, do so
a decade later.
However financing is a key
sticking point between de-
veloped and developing na-
tions, which have been nego-
tiating the new pact for years.
Developing countries in-
sist that rich nations must
show how they intend to
keep a promise made in 2009
to boost climate-related fi-
nances to $100bn per year
from 2020.
They also want money in
the interim, to finance the
costly shift from fossil fuel-
based to sustainably powered
economies, and to bolster
their defences against the ef-
fects of climate change.
Reuben Muni, a climate and
energy campaigner for the
Philippines from the envi-
ronmental group Greenpeace,
criticised the conditional na-
ture of Manila’s offer and said
the country could start by cut-
ting its heavy reliance on coal
for power generation.
“Do we mean to say we will
do nothing to reduce green-
house gas emissions other-
wise?”, he said.

Wealth of the sea

Residents in battle
against rainstorms
and water shortages
DPA Thursday, with strong winds
Manila toppling electric posts and
causing power outages across
the province.

P
arts of the northern Phil-
ippines were battered by
rains from tropical storm
Mujigae yesterday, but still faced
shortages in supplies of drinking
water, authorities said.
The storm brought moder-
ate to heavy rains in central
and northern parts of the main
island of Luzon, the weather
bureau said. All schools were
closed in the capital Manila and
in the four provinces affected
by the storm.
Mujigae made landfall in
eastern Aurora province late
The rains would probably not
be sufficient to end water re-
strictions in parts of the Philip-
pine capital and the surround-
ing area, where water provision
has been cut off at certain times
of day since last month, weath-
er forecaster Aldczar Aurelio
said.
The weather bureau, Pagasa,
has warned that El Nino condi-
tions will affect the country in
the latter part of 2015 and into
next year, and could bring a dry
spell longer than the one caused
by the El Nino in 1997 to 1998.

US Marines offer to
support in sea dispute
DPA ter of hours” if necessary, stress-
Manila ing that this was “not a hollow
promise.”
Philippine officials said the

T
he US will be ready to as-
sist the Philippines if its
sovereignty is challenged,
an American marine corps official
said, referring to conflicting territo-
rial claims in the South China Sea.
Speaking at a formal ceremony
for joint amphibious landing drills
in Manila, Brigadier General Paul
Kennedy assured his allies that the
US would respond “within a mat-
drills will improve the troops’
ability to utilise amphibious as-
sault vehicles, which the marine
forces are to acquire in two years.
The US and the Philippines,
who have a 64-year military alli-
ance, have hit out at China’s works
in the disputed island and reefs of A vendor weighs yellowfin tuna at a market in Manila yesterday. An international independent assessment in 2013 found stocks of bluefin tuna, prized by sushi lovers,
the South China Sea, where Viet- have fallen dramatically, with juveniles forming the majority of specimens now being caught, pushing the species closer to extinction. As a result, another sushi favourite,
nam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Bru- bigeye tuna, is now coming under severe pressure, while catches of skipjack and yellowfin tuna, which are canned, have also been steadily rising.
nei also have claims.

Marcos Jr meets Duterte to seek ‘wise counsel’ Liberal Party to probe

By Jefry M Tupas
Davao City/Manila Times
tions,” he added. Duterte said Marcos
asked for his help.“He asked for some
surely “wipe out” all other vice presi-
dential aspirants. Obviously, Cayetano
‘lewd’ show at event
advice on what he should do. He was ask- wanted Duterte to be his partner, saying
ing for my help,” according to the mayor. the mayor is surely “worth the wait.” Manila Times in the controversy. Roxas also

A
day after Mayor Rodrigo Duterte Marcos also admitted seeking Du- The Duterte-Marcos tandem, how- Manila reminded party members not to
met vice presidential aspirant terte’s enlightenment on his political ever, was not discussed on Wednesday resort to such gimmicks in similar
Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, another direction. “I came here to ask for the night. activities in the future.

rumoured VP wannabe — Sen. Ferdinand
Marcos Jr — was in town to seek the may-
or’s “wise counsel.”
Duterte and Marcos met behind closed
doors in a hotel here.
The agenda? Politics. “Obviously, we
talked about politics,” Marcos told re-
porters who waited until the meeting was
over around midnight.
When asked separately, Duterte also
Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and
Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr, field
questions from reporters.
said their meeting was all about politics.
“We talked about politics and chances
of every candidate in the coming elec-
mayor’s advice,” he told reporters. “I just
needed to talk to somebody whose advice
is genuine.”
Duterte’s supporters have been clam-
ouring for him to run for president. Mar-
cos was among the names being floated
as his possible running mate.
On Tuesday night, Duterte met with
Cayetano over dinner.
The mayor later said Cayetano will
“We discussed the tandem long time
ago. It was not discussed today,” Marcos
said. “The filing of candidacy is coming,
and I need to make a decision. I have al-
ready sought his political advice before
and this is a continuation of that.”
That he will run for vice president is
something that he still has to decide on.
“Well, I will announce that very soon,”
Marcos said.
T
he Liberal Party is inves-
tigating the appearance of
scantily clad dancers af-
ter the swearing in of new party
members in Sta. Cruz town, La-
guna province on Thursday.
LP standard bearer, former In-
terior Secretary Manuel “Mar”
Roxas, issued a statement yes-
terday denying any involvement
An earlier report said the
event’s master of ceremonies had
declared that the scantily clad
girls’ performance was a present
from Metropolitan Manila Devel-
opment Authority chairman and
senatorial aspirant Francis Tolen-
tino for Laguna Rep. Benjie Aga-
rao, who was celebrating his 58th
birthday.

Nepal to begin process of
forming new govt: Koirala
AFP
Kathmandu
N
epali Prime Minister
Sushil Koirala yesterday
said he would ask the
president to begin the process
of choosing his successor and
forming the next government,
following the country’s adop-
tion of a new constitution last
month.
“According to my public
commitment and the present
provisions of the constitution...
I will ask the respected presi-
dent to take forward the consti-
tutional process to choose the
new prime minister,” Koirala
told parliament.
Koirala had pledged to step
down after the constitution —
Nepal’s first to be drawn up by
elected representatives — was
adopted on September 20.
It marked the final stage in
a peace process that began
when Maoist rebels laid down
their arms in 2006 after a
decade-long insurgency.
The charter was meant to
end years of inequality and ce-
ment peace but bitter disputes
over its provisions have sparked
deadly protests and a blockade
of a key trade route by demon-
strators that has forced nation-
wide fuel rationing.
More than 40 people have
been killed in clashes between
Demonstration by students
People gather in Dhaka during a demonstration held by students appealing to retake medical
and dental college admission tests. Alleging widespread question leak, admission seekers have
been demonstrating since September 19, a day after the medical admission tests in Dhaka.
Floating schools help buoy up Bangladesh’s remote villagers
Guardian News Service
Chittagong
I
saw dolphins on my way to
school this morning, says
10-year-old Runa before her
lesson on Bangladesh’s libera-
tion war. She gets a lift to school
in a small wooden fishing boat
from her village on a slither of
land in Brahmanbaria, 100km
east of Dhaka, which flood-
ing turns into an island for six
months of the year.
“My village is very pretty with
lots of green trees and small
ponds, and it’s surrounded by
water,” she says. “It’s getting
smaller. It used to be dry but now
there’s more water.”
Runa studies with 27 other
pupils on a pink-and-blue pas-
senger boat, decked out with pa-
per flowers, vibrant wall displays
and a flapping national flag. The
floating school - one of 670 set
up by Bangladesh-based NGO
Brac - is just one of the ways in
which the country is reaching
out to its rural communities,
which often have great difficulty
accessing essential services such
as education and healthcare, a
situation worsened by climate
change.
In the remote coastal com-
munities further south, declin-
ing fish stocks are driving wages
down, forcing people to seek
police and protesters represent-
ing ethnic minorities who say a
new federal structure laid out
in the constitution will leave
them under-represented in the
national parliament.
“I call on (protesting par-
ties) to sit for dialogue and talks
and solve the disagreements,”
Koirala said.
“According to my
public commitment
and the present
provisions of the
constitution... I will ask
the respected president
to take forward the
constitutional process
to choose the new
prime minister”
He said the cabinet had
agreed to suggest amendments
to a key constitutional provi-
sion criticised by protesters, in
a bid to bring them on board.
The protesters, who belong
to the Madhesi ethnic minor-
ity largely based in Nepal’s
southern plains, want to in-
crease their community’s rep-
resentation in government
bodies through proportional
representation.
“We have all accepted that
the present constitution will
ensure the right of representa-
tion and participation in (gov-
ernment bodies)... on the basis
of the principles of proportional
work in the cities. Gobindio Ku-
mar Mondal, 27, leaves his wife
and three-year-old daughter
in Shyamnagar, south-western
Bangladesh, for five months of
the year to work in a brick fac-
tory, which pays more than la-
bouring and fishing at home.
“All the men of my age in my
village go to the brick factories,”
he said. “There are agents who
take people there. It’s a day and
a half by bus. I miss my wife and
parents but I have to go to earn
the extra money. If my family
needs anything while I’m away, I
send the cash by mobile.”
Fisherman Jahangar Moham-
mad, who lives in Mongla port,
in the country’s south-west,
said: “The number of fish has
seriously declined because there
are more fishermen and some are
using chemicals, which kills all
the small fish. There are also big
boats using fine nets. If the coast
guard catches illegal boats, they
fine them - but they don’t often
catch them.”
Leading Bangladeshi econo-
mist QK Ahmad explained:
“Some people do well at the
cost of others. Shrimp owners
take the land of poor farmers.
There is great disparity between
coastal areas and the rest of the
country.”
Lack of healthcare provision
in these remote communities is
also a major issue. Ishwaripur
SRI LANKA/BANGLADESH/NEPAL
inclusion,” Koirala said.
“The cabinet has approved
and directed the ministry of
law, justice, constituent as-
sembly and parliamentary af-
fairs to prepare the constitution
amendment bill,” he said.
The protesters also want
lawmakers to amend the new
internal borders and lift a ban
on naturalised citizens hold-
ing senior positions in gov-
ernment that they say will
disproportionately affect them.
Nepal’s Madhesis have long
complained of discrimination
and many were denied citizen-
ship, rendering them stateless,
until a 2006 law that allowed
non-Nepali speakers born and
raised in the country to become
naturalised citizens.
Protesters have been block-
ing a bridge in Birgunj, 90km
(55 miles) south of Kathmandu,
since September 24, cutting
off vital supplies including
food and oil from India to the
landlocked Himalayan nation.
Nepali customs officials said
the flow of goods through other
checkpoints in the southern
plains, home to half the coun-
try’s population, had begun to
pick up after a slowdown.
“The situation is easing up
on several routes and vehicles
are coming across the border,”
said Sishir Kumar Dhungana,
director general, department of
customs.
community clinic in the south-
western coastal district of
Satkhira provides basic health-
care to 6,000 people despite the
lack of electricity and meagre
government funding. It is run by
a dedicated team of community
volunteers and health workers,
and is supported by UK NGO
Care. It focuses on immunis-
ing young children, nutritional
support for under-fives and
maternity services.
“The number of fish has
seriously declined because
there are more fishermen
and some are using
chemicals, which kills all
the small fish”
The health committee had to
persuade local officials to pay
for a tin shelter - its new waiting
room - and lobbied for essential
equipment such as surgical scis-
sors. It also asked for a medical
professional to be appointed to
the clinic - a doctor now visits
twice a month.
Prodap Shen is a community
volunteer at the clinic, supple-
menting the work of govern-
ment health staff. “I go house-
hold to household to tell people
about hygiene and tell pregnant
and lactating women to come to
the community clinic for serv-
ices,” he said. “Our staple food
is rice so people may think rice
Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala addresses lawmakers in parliament in Kathmandu yesterday.
Nepal’s President Ram Baran
Yadav is expected to reach out to
political parties and ask them to
agree on a consensus candidate
for the role within seven days.
If parties fail to reach a deal,
parliament will vote to choose
Lanka promises ‘no questions’ if
Swiss bank cash brought back
AFP
Colombo
S
ri Lanka yesterday asked
citizens holding Swiss
bank accounts to rede-
posit the cash in their home
country and promised there
would be “no questions asked”
if they do.
Following a slump in official
reserves, the Sri Lankan gov-
ernment is keen to get foreign
cash, shoring up its reserves
and stabilising the local cur-
rency.
Finance Minister Ravi Karu-
nanayake said Sri Lankans
could deposit their savings in
local banks which offer rates
several time more than those
offered in international money
markets.
“Sri Lankans could be hold-
ing about six to eight billion
will keep them in good health,
but they also need vegetables
and eggs. It’s an area we are re-
ally addressing but sometimes
people don’t want to listen when
you talk about food.”
The World Food Programme
says under-nutrition costs
Bangladesh more than $1bn in
lost productivity every year,
and even more in healthcare
costs. Approximately 7mn
children under five are chroni-
cally undernourished. Despite
growth in wages over the past
five years, food prices mean mil-
lions cannot afford a healthy,
balanced diet.
Lack of employment oppor-
tunities and essential services in
rural areas, exacerbated by ris-
ing sea levels and erosion, have
caused a steady stream of migra-
tion to the cities. Dhaka has the
highest population growth in the
world, with 3.4mn people living
in slums. Almost a third do not
have access to sanitation.
The small and relatively
well-served Peyarabagh slum
has three bathrooms for the
170 families who live in single-
room homes. Residents queue
for more than 30 minutes to
bathe and share three taps and
16 toilets.
Howa Begum, chairperson of
Oxfam’s water and hygiene com-
mittee, moved to Dhaka from
her village in central Madaripur
Koirala’s successor in the com-
ing weeks.
Work on the new constitution
began in 2008 after the Maoists
won parliamentary elections
and abolished the monarchy. But
power-sharing squabbles be-
dollars in Swiss accounts,”
Karunanayake told reporters in
Colombo. “We are telling them
to bring that money and depos-
it in any banks here. There will
be no questions asked.”
The plea comes after a
number of Swiss banks told Sri
Lankan depositors to take out
their money and close their ac-
counts, as part of restructuring
moves.
The Sri Lankan rupee has
depreciated by over 6% against
the dollar so far this year and
official reserves fell to $6.88bn
by the end of July, from a peak
of $9.18bn in August 2014.
Despite this, the minister
said confidence in the country
had been restored following the
change of government this year
and Colombo’s improved in-
ternational relations, particu-
larly with the West and neigh-
bouring India.
Runa Akter teaches 14 boys and 14 girls on NGO Brac’s boat school, near Brahmanbaria, 100km east of Dhaka.
district when she was a teenager
after her family home was lost
to river erosion. Over the past
five years, the committee has
persuaded the government to
build a road, install communal
water taps, and build toilets and
washing facilities.
“Before, there was so much
disease,” she said. “Now that we
are taking precautions, disease
has been reduced. I now clean
vegetables before cooking and
tween parties stymied progress.
Lawmakers finally reached
agreement in June this year,
spurred by a massive earthquake
two months earlier that killed
nearly 9,000 people and left half
a million people homeless.
“The perception of the
country has changed,” he
said. “What is needed is con-
fidence and we have that in
place now.”
Sri Lanka ended a decades-
long Tamil separatist war in
May 2009, but failed to ensure
ethnic reconciliation and faced
international censure over its
lack of investigation into alle-
gations of war crimes.
However, a new government
which came to power earlier
this year agreed to investigate
claims that security forces
killed tens of thousands of ci-
vilians in the finals months of
fighting.
The new administration has
also vowed to bring back bil-
lions of dollars said to have
been stolen and taken out of
the country by members of the
former regime of strongman
Mahinda Rajapakse.
cover food from insects. It has
changed my life.”
Back on the floating school
near Brahmanbaria, Runa’s
teacher, Runa Akter, empha-
sised that teaching standards are
high in Brac’s informal schools.
“I would have had to study for
longer and sit government ex-
ams to teach at the madrassa,”
she said. “But education here is
better quality.”
The pass rate at Brac’s schools
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 3, 2015 17
Austrian
climber
dies in
Himalayas
AFP
Kathmandu
A
51-year-old Austrian
climber has died on an
expedition to summit Ne-
pal’s Manaslu peak, the world’s
eighth-highest mountain, an
official said yesterday.
The climber, part of a team of
14, was descending after a suc-
cessful summit of the 8,156m
(26,759ft) tall mountain on
Thursday when he died.
“An Austrian climber died on
his way back near Camp 4 late
Thursday. We do not have de-
tails about the cause of death,”
said Nepal tourism official,
Gyanendra Shrestha.
Shrestha said that an emer-
gency rescue team had airlifted
a French climber from the same
team to a lower camp on the
same day.
Nepal had granted permits to
106 climbers this autumn season
for Manaslu peak.
More than 40 mountaineers
have summited successfully
but two leading operators can-
celled their expeditions, citing
waist-deep snow and expo-
sure to avalanches en route to
the peak.
The risks are higher than nor-
mal at the moment because of
regular aftershocks from a mas-
sive earthquake in April that
killed nearly 8,900 people in the
Himalayan nation, increasing
the risk of avalanches.
Japanese climber Nobukazu
Kuriki, the only person trying
to summit Everest this year,
returned to basecamp after a
failed attempt to summit last
weekend.
However, Kuriki, who lost
nine fingers to frostbite in 2012
on Everest, planned to begin his
second attempt to summit this
week.
Ranil to visit Japan
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil
Wickremesinghe will make an
official visit to Japan today,
his second overseas trip since
winning a parliamentary election
in August.
Wickremesinghe is scheduled to
address the Japanese parliament,
a statement released by the
Prime Minister’s media unit said
yesterday.
During his five-day visit,
Wickremesinghe will also deliver
a speech at the Science and
Technology Society Forum,
Xinhua news agency reported.
During talks with Japanese
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and
other government officials,
Wickremesinghe will have a wide
range of discussions on bilateral
relations, including economic ties,
the statement added.
speaks for itself - last year,
99.97% of its students gained
the primary school certificate
(PSC), with 80.29% of students
achieving an A grade.
“The class limit is 30 chil-
dren and the demand is more
than we can take - it takes a lot
out of me,” Akter said. “But then
there’s the feeling that some-
day a child will pass their exam
and say, ‘I learned this from my
teacher.’”
 Gulf Times
18 Saturday, October 3, 2015
COMMENT
Chairman: Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Attiyah
Editor-in-Chief : Darwish S Ahmed
Production Editor: C P Ravindran
P.O.Box 2888
Doha, Qatar
editor@gulf-times.com
Telephone 44350478 (news),
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GULF TIMES
A new global role for
Germany as it takes on
greater responsibility
On the day that Germany was reunified 25 years
ago, the chancellor, Helmut Kohl, sent out a
message to the entire world to the effect that “only
peace will go out from German soil in the future”.
“We know that through unification we have
taken on greater responsibility within the
international community as a whole,” said Kohl’s
letter of October 3, 1990, sent to all the countries
that Germany had diplomatic links with.
While today’s 25th anniversary of unification
is passing largely unnoticed, the focus around
the world is on Germany’s role in the Greek debt
crisis, the Ukraine conflict and now the wave of
refugees entering Europe.
As Europe’s biggest economy and now its leading
political power, Germany has a dominant role in
the European Union.
Germany’s political actors are another
reason. Angela Merkel, after 10 years in office
as chancellor, is widely seen as Europe’s most
powerful woman.
At the moment, Forbes magazine voted
many now look her the most powerful
woman in the world.
to Germany for And after his many
leadership years as foreign
minister, Frank-
Walter Steinmeier is also well connected.
While accepting that Germany has to accept
greater responsibility, Berlin is nevertheless cautious
on the question of whether it is the capital of a
regional power, a major power or a world power.
At the moment, however, many now look to
Germany for leadership. The sense of mistrust
that characterised the past has declined, despite
Nazi comparisons in the Greek crisis.
Germany has taken up much of the space in
Europe that the United States has vacated in its
pivot to the Asian-Pacific region. The fact that
little is currently being said about a German seat
on the Security Council can largely be attributed
to the inability of the United Nations to reform
itself. During the nuclear talks with Iran, Germany
sat at the table alongside the five permanent
members of the Security Council.
But the refugee crisis reveals the problems
Germany faces as a result of its increased
responsibility. Also at stake is how to counter the
centrifugal forces threatening to tear the EU apart.
Things have become more uncertain. Whereas in
the past it was clear where support and opposition
respectively would come from, this now depends
strongly on the issue at stake.
As Berlin takes on more important roles
internationally it will have to get used to being seen
as saviour on one hand and scapegoat on the other.
Next year Germany takes over chairing the
Organisation for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE), which is at the centre again as
a result of the conflict in Ukraine. And in 2017 it
holds the presidency of the G20 group of major
economies.
There will be plenty of opportunity for German
leaders to think about their self-image.
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A fundamental conflict
over Europe’s future
A new, effective system
for securing Europe’s
external borders must be
established as quickly as
possible
By Joschka Fischer
Berlin
U
ntil a few weeks ago,
Europeans believed they
lived in a kind of sanctuary,
insulated from the world’s
current conflicts.
Certainly, the news and images of
drowned migrants were dreadful; but
the tragedy occurring south of Italy,
Greece and Malta seemed a long way
off.
Syria’s brutal civil war, which has
been raging for years, seemed even
farther away. Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad deployed poison gas and
later barrel bombs filled with nails and
metal fragments against his rebellious
population.
And those who escaped Assad’s
henchmen found themselves
confronted by the terror of the Islamic
State.
Hundreds of thousands were killed,
and millions of Syrians have fled,
with most living in camps in Jordan,
Lebanon, or Turkey for years, in
appalling conditions and with no hope
of improvement.
So, sometime this summer, when
the last glimmer of hope of a return to
Syria disappeared and an alternative to
Assad and the Islamic State no longer
seemed realistic, these people started
heading toward Europe, which seemed
to promise a future of peace, freedom
and security.
The refugees came via Turkey,
Refugees and migrants arriving on dinghies at the Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey. The influx launched during the “refugee
summer” will change Germany and Europe. The EU will be able to address the challenge – and seize the opportunity – of integrating the newcomers only together and
in the spirit of European solidarity.
Life after Schengen Agreement
By Bill Emmott
London
T
hroughout Europe’s refugee
crisis, which has been
building for well over two
years, warnings about
the threat to the European Union’s
precious Schengen Area of border-free
travel have proliferated.
Indeed, the warning was heard again
recently, as EU ministers thrashed
out a late-night agreement on
border policing and the relocation of
refugees. But, at a time of diminished
confidence in the EU, would
eliminating border-free travel be such
a bad thing?
In short, no. Of course, the idea
of abolishing borders within Europe
holds great symbolic importance and
appeal. But sometimes even sacred
cows need to be slaughtered. With the
refugee crisis turning Schengen into
a threat to the credibility of the EU as
a collective entity and of its national
governments’ ability to maintain order
and the rule of law, that time is now.
When it was first created in 1985,
the Schengen Area included just
five countries (Belgium, France,
Luxembourg, the Netherlands and
West Germany). Membership has
since ballooned to include 22 of the
EU’s 28 member countries – with four
of those left out (Bulgaria, Croatia,
Cyprus and Romania) due to join in the
future – plus four non-EU members
Greece and the Balkan states, or across
the Mediterranean to escape similar
chaos in Eritrea, Libya, Somalia and
Sudan.
In August, thousands of refugees
became stranded at Budapest’s Keleti
train station for days on end when
Hungary’s vexed and incompetent
government deliberately allowed the
situation to escalate.
Eventually, thousands of men,
women, and children – and even old
and disabled people – started to make
their way on foot toward the Austrian
border.
At this point Europe could no
longer ignore the challenge and the
consequences of the crises in its
neighbouring region. Europe was now
directly confronted with the harsh
realities from which it had appeared to
be a sanctuary.
Europe was, no surprise,
unprepared. The European Union
lacked the civilian, diplomatic, and
military tools needed to contain, let
alone resolve, the crises and conflicts
in its neighbourhood.
And, once the migrants headed for
Europe, the EU’s common asylum
policy failed, because the so-called
Dublin III agreement provided no
effective mechanism to distribute
asylum-seekers among all members
states after their initial registration in
EU border states (in particular Greece
and Italy).
Italian Prime Minister Matteo
Renzi’s call for European solidarity
went unheeded.
When thousands of refugees arrived
in Budapest on their way to Germany
and Scandinavia, a humanitarian
disaster loomed, and German
Chancellor Angela Merkel had to
choose: either take in the refugees or
risk further escalation of the crisis in
Budapest.
(Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and
Liechtenstein). All have abolished
controls at their shared borders and
have adopted a common visa policy for
citizens of non-member states.
It is certainly handy to be able to
treat a flight from Zurich to Oslo
as a domestic journey, with no
passport controls to contend with
upon departure and arrival. And it is
undoubtedly convenient to be able to
drive from Berlin to Barcelona without
having to wait in line at each border
one crosses. Indeed, that convenience
is probably why only two EU countries
(Ireland and the United Kingdom) have
opted out of the Schengen Agreement.
But the refugee crisis has exposed
the flipside of the Schengen
Agreement – namely, the difficulty of
monitoring national and EU territory
without border controls. And though
non-Schengen countries have, in
some cases, been able to avoid direct
obligations to participate in a common
policy – the UK, for example, has
remained outside the EU’s scheme for
the relocation of refugees – they have
not been insulated from the challenges
of the migration crisis. They, like the
Schengen countries, cannot credibly
say how many migrants are in their
country, who these people are, or
when they arrived.
This loss of control matters, for
two main reasons. First, if statistics
about migration are open to doubt,
even before taking into account
illegal immigration, nationalist anti-
Germany probably could not have
stood idly by even for another two
days.
Merkel took the brave and correct
decision to let the refugees enter
Germany. For this, she deserves
wholehearted respect and full
support, all the more so in view of the
icy response of many within her own
party.
But Merkel was not alone in
embodying humane values at this
decisive moment. Civil-society
groups in Germany, Austria and
elsewhere mobilised to a hitherto
unseen extent to meet – together
with the public authorities – the
enormous challenge posed by the
influx. Without the public’s active
empathy, the authorities would never
have managed.
A united approach
will be crucial
With the support of such ad hoc
coalitions, Europe should do whatever
it takes to ensure the refugees’
successful integration.
The influx launched during the
“refugee summer” will change
Germany and Europe. The EU will
be able to address the challenge
– and seize the opportunity – of
integrating the newcomers only
together and in the spirit of
European solidarity.
Should unity crumble in this crisis,
the consequences for all parties
involved – especially the refugees –
will be grave.
First and foremost, a new,
effective system for securing
Europe’s external borders must be
established as quickly as possible.
This includes a joint procedure
for judging asylum claims and a
immigration political parties can more
easily exaggerate the figures to stoke
public fears. Second, if refugees who
have been granted asylum can move
easily to any Schengen country they
choose, burden-sharing agreements
lose their credibility and accepting
refugees loses its practical appeal.
The refugee crisis
has exposed
the flipside of
the Schengen
Agreement
A country would not want to
cover the up-front costs of settling
a particular number of refugees,
only to miss out on the eventual
economic benefits that those refugees
could provide when they join the
workforce. To avoid this outcome,
it would make sense to implement a
transition period – like the seven-year
transition periods faced by citizens of
new member states – during which
successful asylum-seekers are barred
from moving to other countries for
work. But Schengen makes this very
difficult to enforce – a reality that
plays further into the hands of the
nationalists, who are keen to portray
the EU as a burdensome obligation,
rather than as a source of solutions or
opportunities.
mechanism to distribute the refugees
among EU countries fairly.
Moreover, if the EU wants to
maintain its core values, including the
abolition of internal borders, it will
need to focus on stabilising its Middle
Eastern, North African and Eastern
European neighbours with money,
commitment and all its hard and soft
power. A united approach will be
crucial.
But Europe should avoid the kind
of dismal realpolitik that would
betray its core values elsewhere.
It would be a grave mistake, for
example, to sell out Ukraine’s
interests and lift the sanctions
imposed on Russia out of the
mistaken belief that the Kremlin’s
assistance is needed in Syria.
Co-operation with Russia, however
useful and advisable, must not
come at the expense of third parties
and Western interests and unity.
Attempting to redeem past mistakes is
not advisable when it means making
even bigger ones.
To be sure, there is a risk that
the refugee crisis will strengthen
nationalist and populist parties
in EU member states. But the
renationalisation of politics within
the EU gained traction long before the
summer of 2015, and it is not a result
of the refugee crisis.
At its heart lies a fundamental
conflict over Europe’s future: back to a
continent of nation-states, or forward
to a community of shared values?
Convinced Europeans will need
to marshal all their strength – and
muster all their nerve – in the times
ahead. - Project Syndicate
z Joschka Fischer, Germany’s foreign
minister and vice chancellor from 1998
to 2005, was a leader of the German
Green Party for almost 20 years.
To be sure, the Schengen Agreement
and the EU’s principle of free
movement of people seem naturally
to reinforce each other. But the issues
they raise are not the same. It is the
free movement of people, not border-
free travel, that forms an essential
component of the EU. And, under the
current circumstances, Schengen is
placing that fundamental right and
benefit at risk.
Of course, resolving the refugee
crisis will take far more than just
reintroducing glass booths and
uniformed immigration officials
at borders. But suspending
or abolishing the Schengen
Agreement would boost the
credibility of governments’ efforts
to maintain order at home, and
thus make ordinary citizens far
more amenable to aiding more
refugees.
At the same time, reversing a
once-cherished policy would prove
that the EU, far from being trapped
by some utopian ideology, can
adapt to changing circumstances
in a thoughtful and pragmatic
manner. Reculer pour mieux sauter
– backing up in order to jump better
– is, after all, a time-honoured and
very European principle. - Project
Syndicate
z Bill Emmott, a former editor-in-
chief of The Economist, is executive
producer of a new documentary, The
Great European Disaster Movie.
 Gulf Times
Saturday, October 3, 2015 19

COMMENT

Why finance can save the planet

Finance provides an accurate
yardstick to gauge if deeds
are consistent with words
By Jean Pisani-Ferry
Paris
Tracker Initiative, showed that the ing to incentives. Some have recom-
proven fossil-fuel reserves owned by mended that governments issue CO2
governments and private companies performance bonds, whose yield
exceed by a factor of five the quantity would be reduced if companies exceed
of carbon that can be burned in the their carbon target.
next 50 years if global warming is to be Another idea, put forward in a
kept below two degrees Celsius. recent paper by Michel Aglietta and
Reserves held just by the 200 top his colleagues, is to map out a path for
publicly-listed fuel companies – thus an indicative price of carbon called

M
ost people hate finance,
viewing it as the epitome
of irresponsibility and
greed. But, even after
causing a once-in-a-century reces-
sion and unemployment for mil-
lions, finance looks indispensable for
preventing an even worse catastrophe:
climate change.
Action is urgently needed to contain
global warming and prevent a disaster
for humanity; yet the global com-
munity is desperately short of tools.
There is not much support for the
most desirable solutions advocated by
economists, such as a global cap on
greenhouse-gas emissions, coupled
with a trading system, or the enforce-
ment of a worldwide carbon price
through a global tax on CO2 emis-
sions.
Instead, negotiations for the UN
Climate Change Conference in Paris in
December are being conducted on the
basis of voluntary, unilateral pledges
called Intended Nationally Deter-
mined Contributions. Although the
inclusion of voluntary targets has the
merit of creating global momentum,
this approach is unlikely to result in
commitments that are both binding
and commensurate to the challenge.
That is why climate advocates are
increasingly looking for other means
of triggering action. Finance is at the
top of their list.
For starters, finance provides an ac-
curate yardstick to gauge if deeds are
consistent with words. In 2011, “Un-
burnable Carbon”, a path-breaking re-
port by the nongovernmental Carbon
excluding state-owned produc-
ers – exceed this carbon budget by
one-third. And that means that these
companies’ stock-market valuation
is inconsistent with containing global
warning.
This realisation prompted a cam-
paign to convince investors to divest
from carbon-rich assets. Individuals
and institutions representing a $2.6tn
portfolio have already joined the divest-
ment movement. Furthermore, Bank
of England governor Mark Carney has
highlighted the threat represented by
potentially stranded carbon assets.
Investors are being warned that, from
the standpoint of financial stability,
“brown” securities bear specific risk.
The amount of divestment may
look big – and it is, particularly given
that the campaign started recently.
Yet $2.6tn amounts to less than 5% of
global private non-financial securi-
ties. The trend is real, but it is still too
little to trigger significant changes in
fossil-fuel companies’ valuation and
behaviour.
A second reason why finance mat-
ters is that the transition to a low-car-
bon economy requires huge invest-
ments. According to the International
Energy Agency, global investment
in energy supply currently amounts
to $1.6tn annually, and 70% of it is
still based on oil, coal, or gas. Green
investment amounts to only 15% of
the total, and investment in energy
efficiency – in buildings, transport,
and industry – totals a meager $130bn.
Containing the increase in average
surface temperature to two degrees re-
quires developing clean technologies,
and even more important, a four-fold
increase in investment in energy ef-
ficiency over the next ten years.
Yet such investment will not be
financed easily: its return depends on
a still-elusive carbon price and will
often materialise only in the long run,
while improving energy efficiency
implies replacing hundreds of millions
of outdated vehicles and refitting
hundreds of millions of energy-vora-
cious buildings. Adequate financing
instruments are required for the right
purpose at the right place and at the
right scale.
Development banks and green
banks have a huge role to play. For
example, dedicated long-term loans,
coupled with a tax break or a subsidy,
would help households decide to
modernise their homes.
But the real hope among climate
specialists is that innovative finance
could help provide the planning clar-
ity that is currently missing. To elicit
the investments that are necessary to
mitigate climate change and green the
economy, the elimination of fossil-fu-
el subsidies and a credible, fast-rising
path for the price of carbon are vital.
But, because high fuel prices are
unpopular with consumers and raise
competitiveness concerns among busi-
nesses, governments are reluctant to
take action today – and may renege on
their commitments to act tomorrow.
To overcome such trepidation,
advocates for climate action are turn-
its “social value” and provide green
project developers a government-
guaranteed carbon certificate repre-
senting the value of the corresponding
emissions reduction. Central banks,
they suggest, would then refinance
loans to such developers, up to the
value of the carbon certificate.
This would amount to a calculated
bet. If the price of carbon in, say, ten
years, actually corresponds to the an-
nounced social value, the project will be
profitable and the developer will repay
the loan. But if the government reneges
on its commitment, the developer will
default, leaving the central bank with
a claim on the government. Failure to
increase the price of carbon would result
either in higher public debt or, in the
case of monetisation, inflation.
The idea is to force governments to
have skin in the game, by balancing
the risk of inaction on the carbon tax
with the risk of insolvency or inflation.
There would be no procrastination.
Action against global warming would
take place without delay. But a decade
or so later, governments – and societies
more broadly – would need to choose
between taxation, debt and inflation.
Undertaking massive investment
now and deciding only later how to fi-
nance it looks irresponsible – and so it
is. But not acting at all would be even
more irresponsible.- Project Syndicate
Jean Pisani-Ferry is a professor at the
Hertie School of Governance in Berlin
and currently serves as commissioner-
general for policy planning for the
French government.

LEGAL HELPLINE Weather report

Three-day forecast
TODAY

Sick leave entitlement High: 41 C

Low : 30 C
Hot during day and hazy with
some clouds

SUNDAY
A worker is entitled for full get NOCs from the company. Are appear before the court for any other A: Taxpayers carrying on an activity in High: 41 C
there any provisions that could excuse, the court may adjourn the the state shall keep accounting books, Low : 28 C
wage for the first two weeks help us to obtain NOC from the hearing. If the court finds out the un- registers and documents in accordance Sunny
of his sick leave and half of company? truthfulness of the excuse for the non- with the laws of the state, interna-
his wage for other four weeks CDMD, Doha appearance, it may punish the witness tional accounting standards and the
according to the sentence provided by provisions of the executive regulations MONDAY
A: Qatar employment or sponsor- the Article (179) of the Penal Code. of this law. As per Article 19, taxpay- High: 39 C
By Nizar Kochery ship laws do not categorise expatriate As per Article 179, whoever, being a ers carrying on an activity in the state Low : 27 C
Doha employees into local and/or overseas witness before a judicial or investiga- shall keep all accounting books, reg- Sunny
recruits. Transfer of Sponsorship and tive authority, refuses to appear, take isters and documents relating to the
grant of NOC are still at the discretion of the oath or otherwise withholds testi- activity in the place where the activity
QUESTION: An employee from the current employer and subject to ap- mony before the said authority, unless is carried on for 10 years following Fishermen’s forecast
our company, who has been on proval of the immigration authorities. there is a valid excuse for this refusal, that to which the books, registers and OFFSHORE DOHA
sick leave for three weeks, has When there is no NOC there will shall be punished with imprisonment documents are related. Wind: NW-NE 08-18/20 KT
submitted his resignation under be a ban of two years for re-entry. for a term not exceeding six months The tax rate shall be 10% of the tax- Waves: 2-4/6 Feet
medical reasons enclosing certifi- According to Article 4 of Entry & Exit or a fine not exceeding three thousand able income of the taxpayer during the INSHORE DOHA
Wind: NW-N 05-15/18 KT
cate from an authorised clinic. Is Laws, except with the written consent Qatari riyals or both. taxable year. Waves: 1-3/4 Feet
it mandatory to pay the employee of the previous sponsor grant of entry Subject to the provisions of tax
entitlements on resigning from visa for work prior completion of two agreements, payments made to non-
the employment due to medical years is prohibited. Provisions of residents with respect to activities not
Around the region
Weather Weather
issues? What are the rights of the
employer for termination during
tax agreements connected with a permanent estab-
lishment in the state shall be subject Abu Dhabi
today
Sunny
Max/min
39/28
tomorrow
P Cloudy
Max/min
39/28
sick leave? Refusal Q: We are a “with-limited- to a final withholding tax of (i) 5% Baghdad Sunny 43/26 Sunny 41/24
Dubai Sunny 37/28 Sunny 37/29
JO, Doha to testify liability-company” (WLL) that
is engaged in various business
of the gross amount of royalties and
technical fees; also (ii) 7% of the gross
Kuwait City Sunny 46/29 Sunny 46/28
Manama Sunny 38/31 Sunny 39/31
ANSWER: If a worker resigns on rea- Q: A case has been filed against activities in the Middle East. What amount of interest, commissions, Muscat Sunny 39/28 Sunny 39/28
sons of sickness and with the approval my sponsor by a person and I am a is the provision under tax law with brokerage fees, director’s fees, attend- Riyadh Sunny 38/23 Sunny 40/23
of the competent physician before witness. The court has issued me regard to the keeping of records ance fees and any other payments for Tehran Sunny 32/20 Sunny 32/19
the end of the six weeks to which he summons to appear before it, but of accounts? As we engage in the services carried out wholly or partly in
is entitled as a sick leave with pay, the I am afraid of the consequences. activities which are outside Qatar, the state.
employer shall pay to the worker the What if the witness fails to appear what shall be our tax obligation
balance of his entitlement. Article 82 before the court? under the current tax laws in Please send your questions by
provides the worker sick leave with TP, Doha Qatar? e-mail to: leges@qatar.net.qa
pay on completion of three months in A: If the witness is sick or unable to DE, Doha (Mobile:55813105)
service.
The worker is entitled for full wage
for the first two weeks and half of
his wage for other four weeks. The
extension of the sick leave there-
LEGAL SYSTEM IN QATAR
after shall be without pay until the As per Article 530, the holder of a bill The holder of a bill of exchange
worker resumes his work or resigns of exchange shall notify the endorsers may claim the principal of the amount
or his service is terminated for health and the drawer of non-acceptance or of non-accepted or unpaid bill of
reasons. non-payment within the four working exchange and expenses for a protest
The service of the worker may be days following the date of protest or and notices and other expenses from
terminated at the end of the 12th week date of presentment for acceptance any person against whom he has right
of the sick leave if it has been proved or payment if it contains condition of to recourse.
by a report issued by the competent exemption from a protest being made. The person who pays a bill of ex-
physician that the worker is unable to Each endorser shall, within the two change may claim against the guaran-
resume his work at that time. working days following the receipt of tors for the whole of the amount which
the notice, notify the endorser that he he has paid and the expenses incurred. Around the world
has received this notice, stating the As per Article 535, any person
Transfer of names and addresses of the person against whom a claim for a bill of ex-
Weather
today Max/min
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sponsorship who served the previous notices from
one endorser to another as far as the
change by means of recourse, or from
whom it may be claimed, may demand
Athens
Beirut
Rain
Sunny
17/16
30/24
Rain
Sunny
19/16
29/23
Bangkok T Storms 32/26 T Storms 31/26
Q: I was hired by a company in drawer. with if the notice is sent within the said upon payment, the surrender of the bill Sunny M Sunny 21/07
Berlin 20/08
June 2012 when I was in the UAE When a notice is served on a signatory period by registered letter. of exchange and the protest in addition Cairo Sunny 34/23 P Cloudy 33/21
but was posted at the company’s of the bill of exchange in the manner According to Article 531, the drawer to a receipt for the amount paid. Every Cape Town S Showers 19/13 P Cloudy 20/13
Qatar branch. Unfortunately, I described above the same notice shall of the bill of exchange, its acceptor, endorser who pays the bill of exchange Colombo I T Storms 31/25 T Storms 29/25
Dhaka S T Storms 32/26 P Cloudy 33/25
have come to the conclusion that also be served on his guarantor within endorsers and guarantor shall be jointly may cancel his endorsement and sub- S T Storms T Storms 27/24
Hong Kong 28/25
the company has no intention the same period. If any of the signatories liable towards its holder. The holder sequent endorsements. Istanbul P Cloudy 23/17 P Cloudy 23/17
to meet its employees’ financial of the bill of exchange fails to indicate may claim from them jointly or sever- In the event of recourse against an Jakarta M Sunny 34/24 Sunny 35/24
needs fully. Because of this, some his address or recorded it in an illegible ally without observing to any order. obligor for the amount that has not Karachi P Cloudy 36/27 Sunny 34/26
employees, including me, are try- manner, it shall be sufficient to notify the Any signatory who pays the bill of been accepted of the value of the bill London Fog 18/07 M Sunny 19/13
Manila S T Storms 33/24 S T Storms 32/24
ing to seek a better opportunity. preceding endorser. exchange shall have such right against of exchange, the person who pays the Moscow Cloudy M Sunny 16/07
16/04
I already have some good offers Any person required to notify shall those liable towards him. amount shall be entitled to demand the New Delhi Sunny 37/22 Sunny 37/22
from other companies. Unfortu- perform such notification in any The institution of legal action holder to record such payment on the New York S Showers 13/12 Cloudy 17/13
nately, my current employer says manner including return of the bill of against any of obligor shall not prevent bill of exchange and to deliver a receipt. Paris P Cloudy 22/09 M Sunny 22/14
Sao Paulo T Storms 28/18 Rain 21/17
it never gives any no-objection exchange itself. He shall prove that a claim being brought against the oth- In addition, the holder shall provide Sunny M Sunny 23/11
Seoul 22/09
certificates (NOCs) to the employ- he served notice within the period ers, even if their obligation is subse- him with a certified true copy of the bill Singapore S T Storms 32/27 P Cloudy 33/26
ees for sponsorship transfer. But prescribed therefore. Service of notice quent to the person against whom the and the protest to enable him to exercise Sydney Sunny 30/17 Sunny 34/16
we have found out that in the past, shall be deemed to have been complied legal action was initially brought. his right of recourse against others. Tokyo Clear 28/18 Clear 25/16
some employees had managed to
 Gulf Times
20 Saturday, October 3, 2015
QATAR
A mirror image of Doha’s skyline along West Bay. PICTURES: Leo Bautista
Picture-perfect Doha
The Qatar Tourism
Authority has listed eight
top landmarks in Qatar,
which Bautista describes
as “a haven for many
photographers”
By Peter Alagos
Business Reporter
A
s lower temperatures
usher in more photo
walks organised by ama-
teur and professional photog-
raphers, Doha’s exposure as a
tourist destination will increase
once pictures of scenic locations
around the country are uploaded
on blogs or social media sites, a
veteran lensman has said.
Aside from photo walks,
cooler weather expected in the
coming weeks will draw more
families to outdoor locations in
Doha, such as the Museum of
Islamic Art (MIA) Park and Ka-
tara, according to Leo Bautista
of the Doha Pinoy Shooters Club
(DPSC).
“Many families, who enjoy
bonding activities outdoors,
post their pictures on their so-
cial media accounts. The same
is true with many photographers
who make the most of lower
temperatures to take snapshots
Katara - the Cultural Village beach has its own charm.
Parking at bus stops a ‘menace’
By Ramesh Mathew
Staff reporter
P
ublic transport users have
resented the practice of
parking cars in front of bus
stops, which they say is common
across the city.
This causes a lot of inconven-
ience for waiting passengers as
well as bus drivers, they point
out, requesting the authorities
concerned to take the necessary
steps to end this “menace”.
Vehicles of different sizes and
types – from private cars and il-
legal taxis to mini-vans and small
trucks used to deliver various
kinds of goods - are frequently
seen parked in front of bus stops,
including those located along
dedicated bays, completely ig-
noring the “no parking” signs
along that stretch.
The problem, say commuters,
is particularly common in ar-
eas that house a number of shops
and/or offices.
Beach resorts in the country are some of the top destinations of
photographers during winter. PICTURE: Joey Aguilar
of Qatar’s many scenic loca-
tions,” Bautista told Gulf Times.
“This expected surge in photo
uploads online will help promote
Qatar as a tourist destination,”
he explained further.
According to Bautista, many
photographers also go on road
trips and long drives to other
“favourite destinations” outside
Doha, such as Purple Island in
Al Khor, Singing Sand Dunes in
Mesaieed, Fuwairit Beach and
Zubarah Fort, among others.
The Qatar Tourism Authority
(QTA) has listed eight top land-
marks in Qatar, which Bautista
described as “a haven for many
photographers”.
While some people stop their
vehicles in front of bus stops for a
few minutes and leave after buy-
ing something from a shop in the
vicinity, others park their cars in
such places for hours, it is found.
For instance, at a bus stop near
the Toyota signal along Airport
Road, cars apparently belonging
to visitors to buildings in the vi-
cinity are sometimes seen parked
for several hours.
Trucks used by companies
supplying foodstuff and other
goods are also seen parked in
front of bus stops adjoining su-
permarkets, sometimes for more
than just a few minutes.
Bus stops are also places where
the drivers of illegal taxis - as well
as some unauthorised ones - look
for passengers. For example, il-
legal taxis are known to occupy
spaces in front of bus stops along
the busy Airport Road as their
drivers wait for passengers.
With other vehicles occupying
their designated space, drivers
of public transport buses have to
They are Dhal Al Misfir, which
features a 40m-deep cave for-
mation with fibrous gypsum
crystal; the low salt flats near
Al Shahaniya and north of the
Saudi border, home to gypsum
formations or “desert roses”;
Singing Sand Dunes; Al Dakhira
Natural Reserves; Al Reem Natu-
ral Reserves; Ras Abrouq Natural
Reserves; Khor Al Adaid Natural
Reserves; and Umm Tais-Natu-
ral Reserves.
The QTA has also listed nine
of Qatar’s well-known beaches
at Al Ghariya, Dukhan, Fuwairit,
Maroona, Ras Abrouq, Simais-
ma, Umm Bab, Sealine Beach Re-
sort and the beach near The Dip-
stop their vehicles “rather awk-
wardly”, often occupying a rea-
sonable amount of road space.
This, in turn, stalls traffic on that
stretch for a while and also causes
inconvenience to passengers who
have to find a way past vehicles
occupying the space in front of
bus stops after alighting from or
while boarding a bus.
“It is a common practice in
Doha. While some people, partic-
ularly drivers of delivery goods ve-
hicles, are sometimes compelled
to stop in front of bus stops due
to the lack of parking space in the
vicinity or in front of a shop, oth-
ers do so out of sheer ignorance of
rules and road etiquette or simply
don’t care,” said a bus user.
“What is really annoying is
that motorists park their vehicles
even in dedicated bays for bus
stops, sometimes for hours. This
happens because the motorist is
callous, ignorant or plain arro-
gant, who doesn’t care much for
bus users. Strict action is needed
against such condemnable road
Nightscape of the Museum of Islamic Art.
lomatic Club in West Bay, which
photographers also frequent.
“For photographers who do
not have the luxury of time to
go on long trips, Doha has many
locations to offer, especially to
photographers who are inclined
to shoot nightscapes and city-
scapes.
“Roundabouts and newly-
built traffic signals are superb
subjects for those who want to
‘paint with light’, while the Cor-
niche and the Museum of Islamic
Art Park provide a magnificent
view of the West Bay skyline,”
Bautista said.
Bautista also recommends
searching online for interna-
tional photo walks organised by
renowned photographers.
He said international photog-
rapher Scott Kelby will be stag-
ing a “worldwide photo walk” on
October 3 where 50 photogra-
phers from Qatar-based groups,
such as Catchers of Light-Qatar,
DPSC and Web Alliance of Radi-
cal Photographer, are expected
to join.
The photo walk, which is
free and open to all photog-
raphers, will run from 5.30am
to 8am, starting at the Pearl
Monument along the Corniche
up to the MIA Park, Baustista Photographers upload pictures of touristic places in Qatar on social media as part of their efforts to
added. promote Qatar as a top family destination. PICTURE: Joey Aguilar
Many residents visit Al Khor for its beaches and unique water attractions.
behaviour,” said another com-
muter.
While many bus passengers
agree that parking problems in
some areas is to a certain extent
responsible for such practices,
they feel it still cannot be used as
an excuse to block a space specif-
ically meant for something else.
“If you don’t have parking space
in front of your house, will you
go and park in front of someone
else’s gate or block the entrance
to an office complex? I know
some people do that, but it’s in-
appropriate behaviour, to say the
least,” a resident argued.
Calling for better monitoring
by the authorities, a resident told
Gulf Times that when he asked a
driver to remove his car parked at
a bus stop in Doha, the latter ig-
nored his request.
“When I saw the car at the
same bus stop again a few days
later, I found out that the driver
was an illegal taxi operator who
was soliciting customers,” he Motorists often park their cars in front of bus stops, such as this one on Airport Road, by completely
said. ignoring traffic signs. PICTURE: Najeer Feroke
 JAPAN DATA | Page 2 SCAM HIT | Page 8

Household VW in race
spending to detail
rebounds refit plan

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Dhul-Hijja 19, 1436 AH
ELDORADO EYES $1BN INVESTMENT: Page 12

GULF TIMES Canada firm fights

gold mine ban by
Greek government

BUSINESS
Saudi to keep up
Job growth in US stumbles, energy spending
despite oil drop
raising doubts on economy Reuters
Dubai
Nonfarm payrolls increase
142,000 in September; Saudi Arabia is continuing with its investments in the oil and gas in-
unemployment rate steady dustry as well as solar energy despite the current drop in oil prices,
at 5.1%; average hourly the kingdom’s oil minister was quoted as saying yesterday.
earnings up just 2.2% Ali al-Naimi was speaking at the G20 Energy Ministers’ meeting
from year earlier in Istanbul, according to state news agency SPA.
“Since the 1970s this industry has been experiencing sharp fluc-
Reuters tuations in prices — up and down — which have impacted invest-
Washington ments in the field of oil and energy, and its continuity,” Naimi said.
“This volatile situation is not in the interest of the producing and
consuming countries, and the G20 countries can contribute to the

U
S employers slammed
the brakes on hiring over
the last two months,
raising new doubts the economy
is strong enough for the Federal
Reserve to raise interest rates by
the end of this year.
Payrolls outside of farm-
ing rose by 142,000 last month
and August figures were revised
sharply lower to show only
136,000 jobs added that month,
the Labour Department said
yesterday.
That marked the smallest
two-month gain in employment
in over a year and could fuel
fears that the China-led global
economic slowdown is sapping
America’s strength.
“You can’t throw lipstick on
this pig of a report,” said Brian
Jacobsen, a portfolio strategist at
Wells Fargo Funds Management
in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.
The weak job growth took
Wall Street by surprise and US
stocks sold off while the dol-
lar also weakened and yields for
government bonds fell.
Bets on interest rate futures
showed investors only saw a
30% chance of a Fed rate hike in
December, down from just un-
der 50% before the job report’s
release. “(With) a weak report
here, in combination with some
of the other weakness that we
are seeing across the globe, the
odds get dinged for December,”
said Tom Porcelli, an economist
at RBC Capital Markets.
Investors saw virtually no
chance the Fed would end its
near-zero interest rate policy at
its only other scheduled meeting
Job seekers fill in applications during a career fair in Sterling Heights, Michigan. Payrolls outside of farming rose by 142,000 last month and
August figures were revised sharply lower to show only 136,000 jobs added in that month, the Labour Department said yesterday.
this year, to be held later in Oc-
tober. Futures prices indicated
investors were betting the Fed
would probably hike in March.
US factories are feeling the
global chill and shed 9,000 jobs
in September after losing 18,000
in August, according to the La-
bour Department’s survey of
employers.
“We saw events in China lead
to some global financial turmoil
and you’re seeing that in the data
here,” White House chief econo-
mist Jason Furman told Reuters.
New orders received by US
factories fell 1.7% in August, the
Commerce Department said in a
separate report.
Paul Ryan, a top Republican
lawmaker in the House of Repre-
sentatives, said the weak turn in
the economy should be a wake-up
call for Washington to reform the
national economy with new tax
laws, free trade agreements and
policies to get people off welfare.
“This recovery continues to
disappoint, but we can’t accept
it as the new normal,” Ryan said.
The recent pace of job growth
should have been enough to push
the unemployment rate lower
because only around 100,000
new jobs are needed a month to
keep up with population growth.
But the jobless rate held steady
at 5.1%. The unemployment rate is
derived from a separate survey of
households that showed 350,000
workers dropping out of the la-
bour force last month, as well as a
lower level of employment.
The share of the population in
the work force, which includes
people who have jobs or are
looking for one, fell to 62.4%,
the lowest level since 1977.
Average hourly wages fell by a
cent to $25.09 during the month
and were up only 2.2% from the
same month in 2014, holding
around the same levels seen all
year and pointing to marginal
inflationary pressures.
The report did have a few
bright spots that might be wel-
comed by Fed chief Janet Yellen,
who said last week the economy
was doing well enough to war-
rant higher rates this year.
The number of workers with
part-time jobs but who want
more hours fell by 447,000 in
September to 6.0mn.
Yellen has signaled that the el-
evated number of these workers
points to hidden slack in the la-
bour market that isn’t captured
by the jobless rate. A measure of
joblessness that includes these
workers and is closely followed
by the Fed fell to 10%, its lowest
level since May 2008.
Economists polled by Reu-
ters had expected job growth of
203,000 in September.
All told, revised estimates
meant 59,000 fewer jobs were
created in July and August than
previously believed.
In another grim sign, the
number of hours worked in the
country fell 0.2%, raising the
specter that some broader soft-
ness might have gripped the
economy last month.
Some of the strongest head-
winds on the US economy come
from the commodity sector,
which has slowed in part because
of weaker demand from China.
stability of the market.”
Oil fell yesterday, reversing earlier gains after US non-farm
payrolls data came in weaker than expected which clouded the
demand outlook from the world’s largest oil consumer.
Oil prices have almost halved in the past year because of excess
supply, although analysts see signs that Opec’s strategy of allowing
prices to fall to put a squeeze on growth in high-cost production
areas is having some impact.
International oil companies have significantly lowered spending
this year due to persistently low oil prices, cutting budgets and
thousands of jobs.
Global oil investments this year are expected to drop by 20%
marking their biggest decline in history, Fatih Birol, head of the
International Energy Agency, said yesterday.
Naimi said Saudi Arabia’s investments should continue in explo-
ration, production, refining as well as other alternative sources such
as solar energy, SPA reported. The world needs clean, continuous
and available energy now and for future generations, he said.
Naimi met with his US, Russian and Indonesian counterparts
in Istanbul, where they discussed bilateral relations in the field of
petroleum and protecting the environment, SPA reported.
Saudi minister Ali al-Naimi attending a meeting of GCC
oil ministers in Doha on September 10. At a G20 energy
ministers’ meeting in Istanbul, Naimi said Saudi Arabia’s
investments should continue in exploration, production,
refining as well as other alternative sources such as solar
energy, state news agency SPA reported yesterday.

Q3 investor flight wiped record $10tn off global stocks: BAML

Reuters in European markets, has led to a $10tn ing them at the start of 2002. Japanese over the quarter as the country suffered lost $7.4bn in the past week, the biggest flows in the first nine months of 2014.
London drop in global equity market capitali- and European equities have absorbed a huge equity plunge and devalued its outflow in five weeks, the BofA note They have seen redemptions for 10
sation, the largest quarterly fall ever, $56.4bn and $104.5bn year-to-date, currency, while economic data in most said. straight weeks, with $1.4bn pulled out
BAML said. well above last year’s levels, the data emerging markets confirmed fears of a Meanwhile risk-shy investors this past week.

I
nvestors pulled a combined $75bn
from US and emerging market eq-
uity funds in the third quarter, wip-
ing a record $10tn off the value of glo-
bal equities in the period, according to
EPFR Global and Bank of America Mer-
rill Lynch.
In data released late on Thursday,
Boston-based fund tracker EPFR Glo-
bal said European and Japanese funds
were the only equity classes to receive
net inflows between July and Septem-
ber, most likely motivated by the pos-
sibility of more central bank money-
printing.
Funds pulled $35.2bn from dedicated
US equity funds over the quarter, ac-
cording to EPFR, bringing year-to-date
outflows to $138bn.
That, along with September losses
Global equity market cap now stands
at $60tn, a two-year low, after peaking
at $71tn in April, the bank said.
The latest week saw global equity
fund redemptions of $6.6bn, the bank
said in its weekly report, which also
uses EPFR figures. This coincides with
a setback for European stocks that
have been hit by troubles at mining
firm Glencore and German automaker
Volkswagen.
European equities remain broadly
in favour however. Dedicated Europe
funds saw tiny $20mn outflows in the
past week, but Q3 inflows amounted to
$31.3bn or 190% of the full-year record
set in 2013.
EPFR added also that Japan eq-
uity inflows of $25bn were the biggest
quarterly figure since it started track-
shows. US outflows are running at
$138bn, dwarfing the $32bn received
last year
“Mutual fund investors continued
to pin what faith they have on markets
and asset classes supported by robust
quantitative easing programs,” EPFR
said.
But fears of how the Volkswagen
emissions scandal would affect German
companies led European flows to favour
Italian and Dutch equity funds towards
the end of the third quarter, BNP Pari-
bas noted, citing EPFR.
European investment grade as well
as junk-rated credit saw bigger losses
of $824mn and $617mn respectively in
the third quarter, partly as a result of
these problems.
Fears for China’s economy deepened
protracted growth slowdown across the
developing world.
While the US Federal Reserve held
off raising interest rates in September
it could move in December, despite the
increasingly fragile outlook for world
growth, especially in China and emerg-
ing economies.
Bond funds of all stripes saw out-
flows in the third quarter. Global bond
funds lost $16.9bn while US and Euro-
pean debt shed $8.9bn and $2.8bn re-
spectively.
“During a quarter marked by a sharp
correction in China’s equity markets
and persistent fear that the (Fed) would
make good on its stated desire to start
normalising interest rates investors
steered clear of most fixed income fund
groups,” the report said. Bond funds
pumped around $100bn from global
and European money market funds
over the quarter, EPFR said.
Emerging equities and bonds ex-
tended their run of losses on signs the
developing world is headed for a pro-
tracted period of weakness or even cri-
sis in the case of China and Brazil.
The EM equity exodus accelerated
during the quarter, with outflows of
$39.7bn bringing year-to-date losses
to $59.8bn. The biggest losses were
in Asia which saw outflows of over
$20bn.
The loss-making streak now extends
for 12 straight weeks for emerging eq-
uity funds, with $1.7bn pulled out in the
most recent week, BAML said.
Emerging bond funds shed $15bn in
the third quarter, versus $4.5bn out-
Allocations to Brazil in emerging
equity funds were on the brink of fall-
ing below 7% for the first time in more
than a decade, EPFR noted, amid fears
of a currency and political crisis in the
country.
Brazil’s bonds, equities and currency
are among this year’s worst performers
“Latin America’s largest economy
currently offers investors a toxic mix-
ture of stalled growth, political grid-
lock, soft demand for commodities,
above-target inflation and sliding cred-
it ratings,” EPFR said.
Net capital flows to emerging mar-
kets will be negative this year for the
first time since 1988, the Institute of
International Finance said on Thurs-
day, highlighting the extent of prob-
lems faced by the developing world.
 Gulf Times
2 Saturday, October 3, 2015

BUSINESS
BoJ chief struggles to wean banks off bonds as more easing seen
Bloomberg
Tokyo
With the Japanese economy weakening
markedly, banks are flocking to longer-
dated government debt on expectations
the Bank of Japan will expand its stimulus
programme.
That’s creating fresh challenges for BoJ
governor Haruhiko Kuroda, who’s trying
to get banks to buy fewer bonds and to
lend more.
Net purchases by Japanese city
banks of the nation’s sovereign debt
maturing in 10 years or longer reached
¥1.16tn ($9.7bn) in August, the highest
in 11 months, data from Japan Securi-
ties Dealers Association showed. The
proportion of banks’ loans to deposits
was at 0.673 in August, near a record
low touched in May, according to
Bloomberg-compiled data based on
central bank figures.
The BoJ’s Tankan survey on Thursday
showed waning confidence among the
nation’s manufacturers, adding to specu-
lations that decelerating growth at home
and abroad will force the central bank
to boost stimulus when it meets at the
end of the month. Bonds dated 30 years
and longer have returned more than 35
times that for notes maturing in less than
five years in the third-quarter, Bank of
America Merrill Lynch Index data show.
“Given yields have come down to con-
siderably low levels, there is no choice but
to tap longer-dated bonds for premiums,”
said Toru Suehiro, a senior economist at
Mizuho Securities Co in Tokyo. “Emerging
speculation of an additional BoJ easing
probably was behind the investment
flows in August.” The benchmark 10-year
JGB yield declined 10 1/2 basis points in
the third-quarter, while two-year yields
inched up one basis point. The gap
between two-year and 20-year yields nar-
rowed to 109 basis points on September
24, the least since April.
Twenty-year yields dropped one basis
point to 1.09% as of 1:54 pm yesterday in
Tokyo, according to Japan Bond Trading
Co, the nation’s largest inter-dealer debt
broker. That was the lowest since April 30.
The 30-year’s declined 1 1/2 basis points
to 1.365%.
Bonds dated 30 years and longer have
returned 1.9% in the three months ended
September 30, Bank of America Merrill
Lynch Index data show. That compares
with 1.6% for those with 20 years to 30
years maturity and 0.1% for notes due in
less than five years.
The BoJ is nowhere near reaching its
2% inflation target, with consumer prices
falling in August, even as it buys as much
as ¥12tn of Japanese government bonds
each month, or more than 90% of notes
issued to markets.
“Even as the BoJ buys up JGBs under
this scheme, its purchases are less than
the issuance amount as far as super-
long bonds are concerned,” said Naoya
Oshikubo, a rates strategist at Barclays in
Tokyo. “So, there is more scope to buy the
longer bonds.” Banks will probably accel-
erate their efforts to increase holdings of
longer-dated debt as the global financial
rout sparked by concerns about China’s
economic slowdown pressures them to
eke out profits on their bond holdings,
Oshikubo said.
The gap between deposits and loans
was ¥207.1tn in August, near the record
high of ¥209.9tn in May, underscoring
sluggish growth in bank lending.
The Tankan sentiment index for big
manufacturers fell to 12 in September
from 15 in June and the companies fore-
cast it to drop to 10 in December.
“The BoJ is caught between a rock
and a hard place,” said Nicholas Spiro,
the managing director of Spiro Sovereign
Strategy in London. “It has made it clear
it’s very reluctant to provide more stimu-
lus despite the fact that the bleak inflation
data increase the pressure for more
quantitative easing.” Data this week indi-
cated the economy may have fallen into
a recession last quarter and prompted
JPMorgan Chase & Co and Credit Agricole
SA to bring forward their forecast for
more monetary stimulus.
By contrast, BoJ officials see little need
for an immediate expansion of monetary
stimulus and would prefer to hold off
to get a clearer picture of the economic
outlook, according to people familiar with
their deliberations. Board members who
gather for a policy meeting October 6-7
want the opportunity to observe further
economic data and developments in
financial markets at home and abroad,
according to the people, who asked not to
be named because talks are private.
Among analysts polled earlier last
month, none said the BoJ would boost
stimulus on October 7 while 11 pointed
to a move on October 30. Nine projected
a policy change next year and 13 didn’t
expect any change at all.
“The economy isn’t on the brink of
collapsing, but markets are gradually
building up the case for further easing,”
said Naomi Muguruma, a senior market
economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan
Stanley Securities Co in Tokyo. “Under this
environment, bank lending won’t grow
while the global financial turmoil makes
banks reluctant to take risks. There is
more need to hold JGBs, setting aside the
low yield levels.”

HK’s global
heavyweights
crumble as
Japanese household spending
China links
backfire
Bloomberg
rebounds but recession looms
Hong Kong AFP
Tokyo

I
nternational companies that

listed shares in Hong Kong
to highlight their ties with
China are finding what once was
a bragging right is now a burden.
The city’s 20 biggest firms
domiciled outside Hong Kong
and the mainland dropped an
average 27% this year through
Wednesday, versus a 12% decline
in the Hang Seng Index.
Macau casino operators and
Prada, an Italian handbag maker,
have tumbled as China’s econ-
omy slowed and the govern-
ment discouraged extravagant
spending. Glencore, the Swiss
commodities group run by Ivan
Glasenberg, was down 72% even
after a record rally on Wednes-
day. Prada and Glencore both
gained Hong Kong listings in
2011, when a flurry of overseas
companies sold shares in the
city to tap investor enthusiasm
for what was then the world’s
fastest-growing major economy.
These days, connections with
China are a liability as the coun-
try heads for its weakest expan-
sion since 1990. The Hang Seng
gauge tumbled 21% in the third-
quarter, the worst performance
among global benchmark index-
es outside China and Peru.
“Foreign companies look-
ing to take advantage of Hong
Kong’s proximity to China may
need to sit tight,” said Bernard
Aw, a strategist at IG Asia in Sin-
gapore. “Slowing growth and
falling Chinese spending, espe-
cially on luxury products, will
dampen the earnings prospects
for companies such as Glencore
and Prada.”
Glencore fell 46% last month
in Hong Kong, its worst loss on
record, amid mounting concern
that its debt load will become
unsustainable as commodity
prices tumble. The rout accel-
erated last quarter as waning
demand from China, the largest
consumer of energy and met-
als, collided with supply gluts
in everything from oil to iron ore
and nickel.
Russia’s United Co Rusal,
the world’s biggest aluminium
producer last year, and Brazil’s
Vale, the largest iron-ore miner,
are also listed in Hong Kong.
They’ve slumped at least 40%
in 2015.Prada’s slide has dragged
shares of the Milan-based firm
25% below the initial public
offering price. Sales of high-
end items including jewellery
dropped in 17 of the 18 months
through July in Hong Kong as
a Communist Party campaign
against graft and largesse put a
damper on cross-border shop-
ping sprees.
The six biggest listed Macau
casino operators lost half their
market value this year through
Wednesday, with Wynn Macau
sinking 60%.
“With the economy weak-
ening and the anti-corruption
clampdown in China, people
aren’t spending as much,” said
Andrew Clarke, director of trad-
ing at Mirabaud Asia, a Hong
Kong brokerage. “Macau casinos
and luxury-goods businesses
have both been affected.”
The Hang Seng Index jumped
3.2% yesterday amid optimism
about Chinese government sup-
port measures for the automo-
tive industry and the property
market. Glencore added 7.1%,
while Prada slipped 0.2%.
S
pending among Japanese households re-
bounded in August, data showed yesterday,
offering a glimmer of hope after a string of
weak figures, but economists warned the world’s
number three economy was still headed for reces-
sion.
Consumers spent more on cars, household re-
pairs, domestic travel and education costs, boost-
ing monthly spending by 2.9%, well above market
expectations for a 0.3% rise and following a mod-
est decline in July.
The upbeat figures were a rare bright spot in an
otherwise gloomy string of trade, factory output
and business confidence data that point to a con-
traction in the third-quarter, ahead of the release
of July-September GDP figures due next month.
While private spending accounts for about 60%
of Japan’s GDP, analysts have warned over a reces-
sion in the July-September quarter - after a con-
traction in the previous three months.
The slowdown in Japan’s economy has under-
lined the challenges facing Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe’s growth blitz, dubbed Abenomics, as specu-
lation grows that the Bank of Japan (BoJ) would
have to expand its massive asset-buying plan as
early as this month.
“The renewed rise in household spending in
August suggests that private consumption re-
bounded last quarter,” Marcel Thieliant from Cap-
ital Economics said in a commentary.
“But we still expect GDP to shrink as a result of
falling investment and net exports.”
Meanwhile, other data yesterday showed Ja-
pan’s jobless rate edged up to 3.4% in August, from
July’s 3.3% rate.
Despite the slight gain in the jobless rate, Ja-
pan’s labour market was tight with a job seekers’
survey at a 23-year high. There were 123 job offers
for every 100 job hunters in August, according to
the report. A store clerk brings out a pair of boots for a customer in Tokyo’s Harajuku shopping district. Japan’s household spending rose in August for the first time
“This marks the strongest reading since 1992, in three months and the availability of jobs improved to its best in more than two decades, which could temper concerns that the economy has fallen into
and suggests that the unemployment rate could a recession.
hit three% in coming months,” Capital Econom-
ics said. “We think that rising job offers will not neces- ers were becoming less confident as a slowdown in time in more than two years. Weakness in Japan’s
But the job seekers survey also suggested a skills sarily lead to any visible increase in the number of China and weakness at home hurts their business. economy has stirred speculation that the BoJ will
mismatch between those looking for work and the employed,” Shirakawa said. The fresh figures come Japanese factory production fell unexpectedly expand its ¥80tn ($665bn) annual asset-buying
jobs available, added Hiromichi Shirakawa, chief a day after a closely watched Bank of Japan Tankan for a second month in August, while data last week scheme – similar to the Federal Reserve’s quanti-
economist at Credit Suisse. survey showed the country’s major manufactur- showed consumer prices dropped for the first tative easing.
Business confidence is waning as headwinds hit Abenomics
Bloomberg about Japan’s outlook because exports Exports to the nation dropped 4.6%
Tokyo are sluggish with the slowdown in China. in August from a year earlier, pulling
Kuroda this week urged companies down growth in overall shipments. The
to act quickly as wages and capital BoJ cut its assessment of exports and
Weakness in the Japanese economy and spending remain “lacklustre.” Large production in September, even as it kept
the slowdown in Asia are chipping away companies have reported record monetary policy unchanged.
at the nation’s business confidence, profits as the weak yen boosts overseas Abe on September 24 pledged to
with the latest survey from the central income, and this is filling up in their expand the world’s third-largest
bank showing sentiment among large coffers instead of being invested in economy by 20% without elaborating
manufacturers worsening. The Tankan production at home or higher wages. on how and by when.
index for large manufacturers fell Large companies in a range of industries The government will push companies
to 12 in September from 15 in June, plan to increase capital expenditure to buoy capital spending, Economy
the Bank of Japan said on Thursday, by 10.9% in the fiscal year through Minister Akira Amari said on September
lower than the median estimate of 13 March 2016. Despite bullish forecasts 8, after a report showed the economy
in a Bloomberg survey of economists. by companies, their investment actually shrank by an annualised 1.2% from April
The index is forecast to drop to 10 in dropped 0.9% in the second-quarter to June.
December. from the first three months of the year, Cash and deposits held by Japanese
There’s growing concern that Japan’s when there was a modest 2.6% gain, companies rose to a record ¥243tn
economy may have contracted in separate Cabinet Office data show. ($2tn) in the second-quarter, according
the quarter that’s just ended, which Big manufacturers based their plans on to a BoJ report on September 17. During
would tip the nation into its second an assumption that the yen will average the quarter, companies reported their
recession since Japanese Prime Minister 117.39 per dollar. The currency weakened highest profits in data reaching back to
Shinzo Abe took office in 2012. Large 0.2% to 120.16 at 12:55 pm in Tokyo. the 1950s, according to a report by the
companies that have benefited from While conditions for manufacturing ministry of finance.
the weak yen and rising profits under firms declined as a result of fading The government needs to make
Abe have yet to make a significant overseas demand, confidence for non- “business entrepreneurs at home
commitment to expanding domestic manufacturing companies remained and abroad believe Japan is serious
investment. “robust,” according to Bloomberg about economic revitalisation,” Shigeo
Both Abe and Bank of Japan governor economist Yuki Masujima. Large Sato, president of the Osaka Chamber
Haruhiko Kuroda have said investment non-manufacturers sentiment rose to of Commerce and Industry said at
and wage growth is needed to keep 25 from 23, with the construction, real- a conference attended by Kuroda
the economy out of deflation and on a estate accommodation and restaurant on Monday. “I want to see decisive
growth path. sectors among those showing deregulation and structural reforms.”
“The Tankan results indicate that Japan’s improvement. Twenty-two of 35 economists predicted
outlook remains grim,” said Yuichi The Topix index of stocks has declined Kuroda will have to bolster already
Kodama, an economist at Meiji Yasuda 13% since the start of August, amid unprecedented stimulus, with 11
Life Insurance Co in Tokyo. Kodama, concern that slower economic growth forecasting this will occur October 30
who estimates the economy contracted will begin to hurt profits. when the bank reviews its inflation
by an annualised 0.9% last quarter, said The slowdown in China,Japan’s biggest outlook, according to a Bloomberg
Abe: Worried over slowing growth. large manufacturers are less confident trading partner, is already taking a toll. survey conducted on September 7-10.
 Gulf Times
Saturday, October 3, 2015 3

BUSINESS
Strong
dollar As China’s gas boom falters, energy
drains
$2bn from giants grapple with wave of imports
India’s FX Reuters Oil giants PetroChina, CNOOC and

reserves Beijing/Milan Sinopec dominate domestic produc-

tion and imports, and while the state
sets a price ceiling they have little mo-

C
hina’s energy giants – after years tivation to cut prices even when de-
IANS spent scrambling to secure sup- mand falls.
Mumbai plies for the world’s third-biggest Natural gas demand was 178.6bn cu-
gas market – are being forced to sell a bic metres last year, according to the
glut of the fuel to buyers in other coun- National Development and Reform

A
strengthening dol-
lar, coupled with
continued outflow of
foreign funds and interven-
tions by the country’s cen-
tral bank to stabalise the ru-
pee drained over $2bn from
India’s foreign exchange
(forex) reserves, official data
showed yesterday.
Overall the forex declined
by $2.04bn to $349.97bn
in the week ended Sep-
tember 25. “In the week
under review, the dollar
had strengthened against
the major non-dollar cur-
rencies especially the euro
and the pound by over 1%.
This has translated into the
plunge in foreign reserves,”
Anindya Banerjee, associate
vice president for currency
derivatives with Kotak Se-
curities, told IANS.
The Indian reserves con-
sist of nearly 20-25% of
non-dollar currencies. The
individual movements of
these currencies against the
dollar impacts the overall
reserve value.
According to Banerjee,
the intervention by the Re-
serve Bank of India (RBI) to
stabilise the rupee also re-
ceded the foreign reserves.
“RBI is very active in
defending the rupee and
breaking any downward
trend in rupee value. It is
this defence that has kept
the rupee, as one of the best
performing currency so far
in the year,” Banerjee said.
The RBI is known to enter
the sport markets to either
sell or buy dollars to keep
tries as soaring demand grinds to a halt.
Consumption has been hit by a cool-
ing economy, but also state policies that
ensure Chinese pay among the world’s
highest gas prices, threatening Beijing’s
targets of curbing pollution and emis-
sions by using more of the clean-burn-
ing fuel.
This will increase pressure on Chinese
policy makers to speed up planned re-
forms of its oil and gas sector, as well as
weigh on global gas prices.
Chinese state oil firms agreed to a
string of long-term liquefied natu-
ral gas (LNG) contracts with producers
from Qatar to Papua New Guinea, as gas
consumption jumped five-fold between
2004 and 2013, but that was before de-
mand growth went from double-digits
to less than 3% this year.
Faced with a wave of new LNG im-
ports, China’s Sinopec Corp is in talks
with global firms on selling part of the
7.6mn tonnes per year contracted from
2016 to 2036 at the Australia Pacific
LNG (AP LNG) project, said an industry
source.
“Many oil majors have been making
presentations to Sinopec about how to
manage its perceived oversupply from
AP LNG,” said the source, who declined
to be named due to the sensitivity of the
issue. As a buyer and a quarter share-
holder in AP LNG, Sinopec had leverage
on diverting cargoes away from China,
but would still need the consent of other
shareholders, said the source.
The company is likely to sell abroad
only a chunk of the first few years of out-
put, traders have said.
Sinopec, which does not normally
disclose operational matters, did not im-
mediately respond to a request for com-
ment.
Facing similar headwinds, China Na-
tional Offshore Oil Corp, or CNOOC,
recently concluded its first-ever ten-
der to sell two surplus cargoes to buyers
outside China and industry sources said
it is holding private talks with counter-
parts about selling off more in 2016 and
beyond.
With the slowdown already forcing
state firms to cut back domestic onshore
production and delay developing new off-
shore fields, consultancy SIA Energy said
it would take at least five years for state
firms to digest the over-contracted vol-
umes Experts put a large part of the blame
for the slowdown in China’s gas demand
on the state’s pricing policy, as well as
supply and infrastructure bottlenecks.
Commission, China’s top economic
planner.
SIA Energy and Wood Mackenzie
have cut their 2020 demand estimates
to a range of 271-305 bcm, well below the
360-400 bcm forecast late last year by
Chinese industry researchers.
This throws doubt on China’s target
of having gas take a double-digit share
of its energy mix by 2020, from less than
6% now, and has highlighted the role of
pricing, as well as reforms to allow pri-
vate firms to enter the market.
“We’ve been closely monitoring the
gas market since April, evaluating if the
pricing system needs a revamp,” said a
senior government official close to the
pricing policy. China regulates oil and
gas prices and while the gap between
domestic petrol pump prices and global
levels has narrowed, pricing of gas has
not kept pace.
The current scheme, which ties prices
to the cost of fuel oil and liquefied pe-
troleum gas (LPG), has left China’s do-
mestic wholesale gas prices currently at
around $13.80 per million British Ther-
mal Units (mmBtu) on China’s southeast
coast, versus $2.86 in the US and $6.90
in Europe.
With the last price adjustment in
April, gas has also lost competitiveness
against diesel, stalling an industry cam-
paign to turn gas into a transportation
fuel. Rather than a one-off price cut,
industry experts expect a revamp in the
pricing scheme to include linkages to
alternative fuels and more frequent ad-
justments.
“A quick fix would be a change in
pricing to send signals to consumers, as
changes in infrastructure and market re-
form would takes at least several years,”
said Li Yao, founder of SIA Energy.

‘Coal price decline to impact investment in Australia’

the rupee in a stable orbit.
Other major factor for
the decline in reserves was
the outflow of foreign funds
from the Indian equity and
debt markets. Bloomberg 44, is seen as one of the rising stars of the Liberal-
The data with the Na- Istanbul National coalition government and was promoted
tional Securities Depository to his new role in the wake of Malcolm Turnbull’s
Limited (NSDL), showed successful leadership challenge against Tony Ab-

that the foreign portfolio
investors (FPIs) off-loaded
$190.39mn in equity and
debt markets from Septem-
ber 21-24.
The reserves had previ-
ously risen by $631.5mn to
$352.02bn in the week end-
ed September 18.
Before that the reserves
had augmented by $2.35bn
to $351.38bn in the week
ended September 11.
However, the reserves had
also declined by $2.88bn in
the week ended September
4 to $349.03bn.
The data furnished by
the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) in its weekly statisti-
cal supplement showed that
the foreign currency as-
sets (FCAs) had plunged by
$1.98bn to $326.57bn in the
week under review.
The FCA constitutes the
largest component of In-
dia’s forex reserves. It con-
sists of US dollars, major
non-dollar currencies, se-
curities and bonds bought
abroad.
A
ustralia, the world’s second-largest coal ex-
porter, expects foreign investment in the in-
dustry to decline as a slump in Chinese de-
mand continues to put pressure on prices for the fuel,
Resources and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg said.
“There’s been a slowdown in international prices
and particularly coming out of China,” Frydenberg
said on the sidelines of a Group of 20 meeting in
Istanbul yesterday in an interview with Bloomberg
Television. “That has to have a knock-on effect to
countries like Australia in terms of the investment
that may be made over the coming period.” Power-
station coal prices in Asia are heading for a fifth
annual loss as mining companies confront a Chi-
na-led slowdown in commodities demand that’s
hurting profits. Australia’s Newcastle coal price, an
Asian benchmark, has tumbled to less than $60 a
metric tonnes since surging above $136 a tonne in
early 2011.
Australia, the world’s 12th-largest economy, is
the developed world’s most China-dependent na-
tion. With signs of an economic slowdown emerg-
ing in its biggest-trading partner and world’s No
2 economy, concern is growing that demand for
Australia’s vast resources of iron ore, coal, lique-
fied natural gas and other commodities will wane
further.
“Certainly there has been a lot of volatility on
the international markets and that’s been a func-
Josh Frydenberg participates in the swearing-in ceremony at Government House in Canberra. Australia, tion of changes on the supply and the demand side,”
the world’s second-largest coal exporter, expects foreign investment in the industry to decline as a slump Frydenberg said. “But I look at the fundamentals of
in Chinese demand continues to put pressure on prices for the fuel, he said yesterday. energy and I still think it’s positive.” Frydenberg,
bott last month. The former assistant treasurer is
also the minister in charge of developing northern
Australia. Prime Minister Turnbull has led the gov-
ernment to a change of fortunes since winning the
leadership, reversing a deficit in the polls to give the
coalition a lead over the opposition Labour party
less than a year before the next election is due.
Frydenberg urged caution when asked about the
possible future of Glencore, a Swiss commodities
giant that lost almost a third of its value in chaotic
trading on September 28.
While it’s since regained most of the $6bn de-
cline, the volatility has left traders searching for an
explanation and concerned about whether it could
happen again. “Governments have to be very care-
ful not to speculate on what may or may not be an
investor’s decision,” he said.
“Glencore has a degree of high-quality assets
in Australia, being a significant player in our re-
sources space. As far as international market sta-
bility is concerned, hopefully we’ll see that stability
come back and companies like Glencore return to a
strong market position.” Frydenberg said he wasn’t
concerned about the possible negative impact on
Australian government coffers from plunging com-
modity prices. That may put pressure on Turn-
bull’s bid to rein in a budget deficit forecast to reach
A$35.1bn ($24.7bn), or 2.1% of economic output, in
the 2015-16 fiscal year.
“As far as our budget is concerned, I’m still up-
beat about the impact the resources space will have
on our bottom line,” he said.

China state firm research head eyes Temasek model, not Russia
Bloomberg
Beijing
China’s latest plan to shake up
the nation’s bloated state-owned
enterprises has drawn inspiration
from a familiar role model:
Singapore.
The Beijing-based State-
owned Assets Supervision and
Administration Commission has
maintained “close contacts” with
Singapore’s Temasek Holdings and
developed an “exchange mechanism”
to learn from the government-owned
investment company, Chu Xuping,
the head of SASAC’s research centre,
said in a written interview with
Bloomberg.
Singapore’s model is alluring to
President Xi Jinping’s government,
which wants to increase private
ownership while avoiding the kind of
mass privatisation rapidly rolled out
by former Russian President Boris
Yeltsin. The Russian sell-off in the
1990s saw state-owned enterprises
end up in the hands of a small group
of oligarchs.
“China views the Russian experience
as a case study of how not to do SoE
reform,” said Australian National
University’s Paul Hubbard, who studies
Chinese state firms. “China’s leaders
want the market to make SoEs a
bigger, better and stronger foundation
of China’s socialist market economy.”
China said last month it aims to
categorise state-owned enterprises
into commercial and public-
interest organisations, strengthen
management and take a more hands-
off approach to operations. The plan
calls for selling shares of some assets
and consolidating others, reforming
unproductive “zombie enterprises”
and encouraging a “blending” between
state-owned capital and private
investments.
At the same time, the reform
guidelines dictate that the governing
Communist Party of China will
strengthen its “leadership role” over
state companies, which range from oil
giants PetroChina and Sinopec Group
to nuclear power plants and the maker
of Great Wall Wine.
“The party’s organ has an irreplaceable
role in corporate governance,” wrote
Chu, who heads a research group of
about 40 people to give policy advice
to SASAC’s leadership. “This is the
key advantage of our state-owned
enterprises that distinguish them from
other types of enterprises.” Even as
some state companies will introduce
private capital, there’s no contradiction
between Communist Party leadership
and “mixed ownership,” Chu said.
Not everyone is convinced.
If the reform plan sought to balance
the competing interests of different
groups, it ended up getting a
“uniformly negative” reception
from investors and was a missed
opportunity to boost investor
confidence after a $5tn stock market
rout, according to Wang Tao, chief
China economist at UBS Group in
Hong Kong.
“Since major restructuring will be
negative for growth and employment
and will likely proceed gradually, we
see limited impact” on the economy
in the coming year, she wrote in a
September 21 report.
Underscoring challenges facing the
nation’s old growth drivers, China’s
official manufacturing purchasing
managers index remained near a
three-year low in September, data on
Thursday showed.
China has been reforming its
inefficient state sector for more than
three decades. In the late 1990s,
then-Premier Zhu Rongji fired millions
of state employees in a strategy
known as “grabbing the big ones and
letting go the small.” As part of that
process, SASAC was created in 2003
to look after the biggest state-owned
conglomerates. Bloomberg economist
Fielding Chen estimates that if SoEs
– with assets of 109tn yuan ($17tn) –
had expanded at the same pace as
private firms in the first-half, industrial
production growth would have been
8.5% year-on-year rather than 6.3%,
taking GDP growth to 8.2% from 7%.
In northeast China, Heilongjiang
LongMay Mining Group, a state-
owned company under the provincial
government, said last month it is
cutting 100,000 jobs in the next three
months, or more than 40% of its
workforce, to survive amid falling coal
prices and mounting debts.
Temasek, founded in 1974 and with
assets of S$266bn ($186bn) as of
March 31, has Singapore’s Finance
Ministry as sole shareholder. It
originally owned shares in former
state-owned companies and began
buying foreign equities in 2002.
It is the biggest shareholder in
about a third of the 30 members in
the Straits Times Index, including
Singapore Telecommunications,
DBS Group Holdings and Singapore
Airlines. While Temasek offers
China a useful model, it remains to
be seen whether officials in Beijing
will fully embrace it, said Nicholas
Lardy, a senior fellow at the Peterson
Institute for International Economics
in Washington and author of the
book “Markets Over Mao: The Rise
of Private Business in China.” “The
record is not encouraging,” said
Lardy. “SASAC has a penchant for
intervention in firm decision making
that is the opposite of the Temasek
model.”
 Gulf Times
4 Saturday, October 3, 2015

BUSINESS
Tokyo investors await Bank of Japan meeting next week
AFP
Tokyo
Tokyo investors will be looking to a
Bank of Japan meeting next week as
speculation grows that an economic
downturn will force policymakers to
pull the trigger on more stimulus.
If the central bank expands its ¥80tn
($665bn) annual asset-buying scheme
– similar to the Federal Reserve’s
quantitative easing – it would likely
weaken the yen further, which is a plus
for Japanese exporters.
That, in turn, could boost buying of
shares in those firms.
Many economists expect the bank will
hold off further easing until later in the
year, despite growing signs that Japan
fell into recession during the third-
quarter. But all eyes will be on BoJ
chief Haruhiko Kuroda after the bank’s
two-day meeting, which wraps up on
Wednesday.
“The market will focus on what
governor Kuroda will say at the
Wednesday press conference in terms
of whether he sees a need for further
easing steps,” Daiwa Securities said.
US jobs data to be released later Friday
will also set the tone for trading next
week as the Federal Reserve lurches
towards hiking rates for the first time in
almost a decade.
Traders see an improving labour
market as a key factor supporting
the Federal Reserve’s plan to raise
near-zero interest rates. “If the jobs
number is strong, then an interest rate
hike will look more likely, and if it’s
too weak, the market will think the US
economy is weak,” Soichiro Monji, chief
strategist at Daiwa SB Investments, told
Bloomberg News.
Yesterday, the benchmark Nikkei 225
index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange
edged up 0.02%, or 2.71 points, to
17,725.13.
The flat finish ended a tumultuous
week that saw the Nikkei plunge over
4% on Tuesday, following painful losses
across markets in the US and Europe
as downbeat Chinese economic data
hit prices of key commodities such as
oil and copper. It then staged a two-
day rally before yesterday’s lacklustre
session, ending the week down 0.87%.
The broader Topix index of all first-
section shares edged up 0.15%, or 2.18
points, to end at 1,444.92 yesterday. It
lost 0.61% over the week.
In Tokyo share trading yesterday,
automaker Nissan advanced 1.52% to
¥1,167.5 on a solid monthly US sales
report, beating market forecasts.
Supermarket giant Aeon climbed 2.11%
to ¥1,959, while telecom firm SoftBank
fell 0.07% to ¥5,625, recovering from a
drop of more than one% by the lunch
break. Japan Tobacco rose 0.55%
to 3,593 yen, after the stock took a
hammering in recent days as investors
dismissed its $5.0bn purchase of a US-
cigarette brand as too pricey.
On currency markets, the dollar edged
up to 120.06 yen from 119.93 yen
Thursday in New York.

HK retail
sales fall
for a sixth
Zero tolerance? Toshiba
straight
month in
August
tries opposite in scandal
Bloomberg
Tokyo
Reuters
Hong Kong

C
ompanies like General Electric are known
for zero tolerance policies: Any wrongdo-

H
ong Kong retail sales
fell for the sixth
straight month in Au-
gust as a drop-off in tourist ar-
rivals from mainland China and
its economic slowdown took
a bite out of the luxury goods
business.
Retail sales slipped 5.4%
from a year earlier to HK$37.9bn
($4.89bn). That followed a re-
vised 2.9% fall in July, a 0.4%
slide in June, 0.1% in May, 2.1%
in April and 2.9% in March. In
volume terms, August sales
slipped 0.2%.
“This was in part due to the
slowdown in inbound tourism,
while the stock market gyra-
tions of late might also have
dented consumer sentiment,”
the government said in a state-
ment, adding that a later mid-
Autumn festival this year also
pushed back some sales.
“Outlook for retail sales is
still subject to uncertainties,
depending on the perform-
ance of inbound tourism and
on whether there would be fur-
ther negative impact from the
recent heightened stock mar-
ket volatility,” the government
said.
Retail sales slipped 5.4%
from a year earlier to
HK$37.9bn ($4.89bn). That
followed a revised 2.9%
fall in July, a 0.4% slide in
June, 0.1% in May, 2.1% in
April and 2.9% in March.
In volume terms, August
sales slipped 0.2% as tourist
arrivals from mainland
China fell due to economic
slowdown
On Wednesday, Financial
Secretary John Tsang told Reu-
ters that Hong Kong is looking
at a “new normal” economic
growth rate of 2-4%, about
half the pace at which it grew
ing results in immediate dismissal. Now
Toshiba Corp, one of the icons of Japan Inc, is
testing the other end of the scale.
President Masashi Muromachi said on Thurs-
day the company had identified 30 more ex-
ecutives involved in an accounting scandal that
spanned almost seven years and reduced report-
ed profit by about $1.3bn. While Muromachi said
the wrong-doers will be “punished,” they won’t
be dismissed. He also disclosed that two of the
directors who stepped down in a board reshuffle
remain on the payroll as advisers.
Toshiba’s action risks making a mockery of
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to improve
corporate governance in a country that has long
been known for paying scant attention to share-
holder interests. Abe, speaking in New York this
week, urged Japanese companies to scale back the
practice of holding each other’s shares. He has
also linked such improvements to the govern-
ment’s target for expanding the economy by 20%.
“The rule at GE is one strike and you’re out,”
said Nicholas Benes, representative director of
the Board Director Training Institute of Japan.
“What I’m seeing is something closer to 100%
tolerance at Toshiba.”
Toshiba has lost about $6bn of market value
since it withdrew its earnings forecast in May and
announced an accounting probe that was later
expanded. The internal investigation showed
that company operations, including personal- Muromachi told reporters on Thursday he unrealistic targets. “The repercussions need to nary meeting that included calls for his resigna-
computer manufacturing and power plants, could not comment on possible responsibility be much more severe,” said Mitsushige Akino, an tion. Share owners angered by the damage done
overstated profits and delayed booking losses. of board members because an internal panel set executive officer at Ichiyoshi Asset Management to the 140-year-old brand interrupted the pro-
Former presidents Hisao Tanaka, Norio Sa- up to investigate hasn’t completed its work. He Co in Tokyo. “If there isn’t a fundamental change ceedings several times, shouting over him.
saki and Atsutoshi Nishida have since quit and cited the 30 executives that will be punished in at the company, who’s to say this will not happen One investor drew applause when he said
the company has revamped the board, increasing response to a question about the roles of manag- again 10, 20 years later?” The shares fell 2.1% to Muromachi was unfit to lead regardless of wheth-
the number of outside directors. For the past six ers below the director level. ¥300.6 as of the close in Tokyo, while the Topix er he knew about the improprieties.
years, Muromachi has overseen the chip busi- A third-party panel formed to investigate the index gained 0.2%. The stock has dropped 41% “You were chairman when this happened,” an-
ness and served as its chairman. The 40-year irregularities reported in July that top managers this year. other shareholder said during a question-and-
company veteran said he will step down within at the company caused systematic overstating of Muromachi on Wednesday won shareholder answer session. “What in the world were you
three years. profit by pressuring lower-level workers to meet approval as Toshiba’s president at an extraordi- doing?”
Japan emissions equipment maker humbled mighty VW
Bloomberg meeting with Volkswagen engineers trying to get
Tokyo to the bottom of the discrepancies.
The German automaker initially said the re-
searchers must have run the tests wrong and in

in 2011.
Hong Kong’s comparatively
high rents and wages have hurt
companies as fewer main-
land Chinese tourists have
come to the city to buy hand-
bags, watches and designer
clothing.
Leather goods maker Coach
Inc closed one of its flagship
locations in downtown Hong
Kong while luxury brands in-
cluding Prada SpA have said
they are trying to re-negotiate
their rents in the city.
Tourist arrivals from the
mainland, which accounted
for more than 80% of the visi-
tors to Hong Kong in August,
slipped 7.1% in the month
from a year ago, according to
Hong Kong Tourism Board
data.
The strong Hong Kong dol-
lar – which is pegged to the US
dollar – has made the city an
expensive destination. China’s
wealthiest tourists are also now
looking to more exotic destina-
tions.
August sales of jewellery,
watches, clocks and valuable
gifts were down 8.8% on a val-
ue basis. Clothing and footwear
were down 12% on the same
basis while food, alcohol and
tobacco slid 10.2%.
The South China Morning
Post reported on Friday a lack-
lustre first day to the Chinese
Golden Week holiday. It quoted
one retailer as saying sales were
down as much as 70% from last
year’s first day.
H
iroshi Nakamura heard the news early
Saturday morning last month from a US
colleague: Volkswagen had just admitted
to years of cheating on emissions tests.
Nakamura wasn’t sure, but he had a hunch that
his employer, Horiba, an obscure Japanese man-
ufacturer that makes about 70% of the world’s
auto emissions testing systems, had played a key
role in uncovering a scandal involving one of the
giants of the industry. Volkswagen, whose stock
has lost more than one-third of its value since
the news broke on September 18, out- employs
Horiba by almost 100-to-1.
Turned out Nakamura, the 42-year-old chief
manager of automotive strategy at Horiba, was
spot on. US researchers had relied on Horiba’s
portable emissions measuring systems in a mul-
ti-year round of testing that ended up catching
Volkswagen in a lie about engines it had billed
as “clean” diesels. Horiba’s equipment helped
tip off the researchers to a scheme in which 11mn
Volkswagen group cars around the world pollute
more on the road than in lab tests, exceeding US
limits by as much as 40 times more than the law
allows.
“This reminded us of our sense of responsi-
bility,” Nakamura said in an interview this week
at Horiba’s headquarters in Kyoto, Japan. “It’s
regrettable that our portable equipment helped
find the cheating but failed to work as a deter-
rent.” Horiba rose 4% to ¥4,535 as of 10:19 am in
Tokyo trading. The benchmark Topix index fell
0.3%.
Started in 1945 with the goal of continuing nu-
clear physics research that had been disrupted by
World War II, Horiba later diversified and com-
pleted its first emissions analyser during Japan’s
1960s postwar economic boom. Its entry into the
market was in response to growing unease about
air pollution, a byproduct of the nation’s growing
industrial might.
Nakamura joined Horiba in 1998 and began
developing its first portable, on-board emissions
analyser, the OBS-1000. The first-generation
Horiba’s OBS-ONE portable emissions measurement system.
model was a commercial failure, he said. Horiba
promoted him anyway, later sending him to the
US to learn about its market from 2006 to 2008.
A half decade after Nakamura’s stint in the US
ended, the non-profit International Council on
Clean Transportation sought to show that diesel
emissions in the US under actual driving condi-
tions were lower than in Europe. Instead, dis-
parities between real-world emissions and lab
performance prompted an investigation by the
California Air Resources Board that eventually
exposed Volkswagen.
The ICCT hired the Centre for Alternative Fu-
els, Engines and Emissions at West Virginia Uni-
versity, to test diesel vehicles in the US in 2013.
The centre evaluated three diesel passenger cars,
including a Volkswagen Passat and Jetta, using
Horiba’s portable measuring equipment with
hoses attached to vehicles’ exhaust pipes.
Horiba equipment revealed that while the
Volkswagen cars met US Clean Air Act stand-
ards in the lab, they emitted oxides of nitrogen
at higher levels than allowed on the road. The
California board’s technical staff spent months
part blamed Horiba’s equipment, suggesting the
instruments they were using may not have been
calibrated correctly.
Volkswagen eventually admitted it had in-
stalled sophisticated software into the engine-
control module of cars from 2009 to 2015 that
senses when the vehicles are being tested or not,
based on indicators such as movement in the
steering wheel.
The scandal has led to the resignation of
former Volkswagen chief executive officer Martin
Winterkorn and the loss of about €28bn ($31bn)
in market value for the German carmaker. By
comparison, Horiba has a market cap of about
¥185bn ($1.5bn).
“It is crucial that something like this never
happens again,” Matthias Mueller, Volkswagen’s
new CEO, said at a press conference after suc-
ceeding Winterkorn last week.
Horiba’s portable emissions systems include
OBS-ONE, which it began selling last year start-
ing at about ¥20mn. The smallest version of
the boxy device weighs about 32 kilograms (71
pounds) and can fit in the trunk of a sedan or floor
of a hatchback. Bigger emissions-measuring sys-
tems used in labs begin at about ¥100mn and can
cost as much as ¥800mn.
The company counts all Japanese carmakers
as customers and also sells equipment to US and
European automakers, and suppliers and regula-
tors worldwide. Competitors include AVL List
GmbH in Austria, which does far more business
with Volkswagen, Nakamura said.
It’s too early to tell whether Horiba will get
more orders as regulators around the globe step
up scrutiny of emissions testing, he said.
“Horiba will probably benefit greatly as regu-
lations worldwide will be tightened after the
Volkswagen scandal,” Takeshi Miyao, an analyst
at researcher Carnorama in Tokyo, said by phone.
“The expansion in demand for emissions analys-
ers, especially portable ones, will be significant.
Horiba has already built a dominant status in this
industry.”
 Gulf Times
Saturday, October 3, 2015 5

BUSINESS
DJIA WORLD INDICES
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume Indices Lt Price Change
Dow Jones Indus. Avg 16,242.38 -29.63
Exxon Mobil Corp 74.06 -0.01 5,736,694 S&P 500 Index 1,914.48 -9.34
Microsoft Corp 44.47 -0.31 12,606,668 Nasdaq Composite Index 4,626.48 -0.60
Johnson & Johnson 93.07 -0.11 3,190,510 S&P/Tsx Composite Index 13,181.83 -60.06
General Electric Co 25.08 -0.44 12,418,804 Mexico Bolsa Index 42,423.00 -272.74
Wal-Mart Stores Inc 63.98 -0.45 2,789,095 Brazil Bovespa Stock Idx 46,129.18 +815.91
Chevron Corp 79.89 1.98 4,333,119 Ftse 100 Index 6,129.98 +57.51
Procter & Gamble Co/The 71.86 -0.13 3,440,899 Cac 40 Index 4,458.88 +32.34
Jpmorgan Chase & Co 59.61 -2.95 10,404,863 Dax Index 9,553.07 +43.82
Verizon Communications Inc 42.71 -0.58 8,001,826 Ibex 35 Tr 9,603.60 +36.30
Intl Business Machines Corp 142.97 -0.43 1,365,515
Nikkei 225 17,725.13 +2.71
Pfizer Inc 32.61 2.42 17,814,541
Japan Topix 1,444.92 +2.18
Coca-Cola Co/The 39.98 0.45 5,841,095
Hang Seng Index 21,506.09 +659.79
At&T Inc 32.46 -0.23 9,268,705
All Ordinaries Indx 5,089.24 -54.89
Merck & Co. Inc. 49.36 -0.02 4,649,732
Nzx All Index 1,080.82 +1.97
Intel Corp 29.92 -0.28 9,464,763
Bse Sensex 30 Index 26,220.95 +66.12
Walt Disney Co/The 101.70 -0.94 3,773,763
Nse S&P Cnx Nifty Index 7,950.90 +2.00
Visa Inc-Class A Shares 69.38 -0.87 3,133,650
Straits Times Index 2,793.15 -8.70
Cisco Systems Inc 25.52 -0.84 11,087,025
Karachi All Share Index 23,070.78 +87.86
Home Depot Inc 116.37 -0.56 1,651,919
Jakarta Composite Index 4,207.80 -47.08
United Technologies Corp 88.99 0.71 1,761,224
Mcdonald’s Corp 98.74 -0.04 1,843,905
Boeing Co/The 130.48 -0.10 889,477
American Express Co 73.42 -0.64 2,005,916 TOKYO
3M Co 141.14 0.24 1,139,274
Goldman Sachs Group Inc 173.52 -1.42 1,881,969 Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume
Unitedhealth Group Inc 116.90 0.25 1,168,241
Kyocera Corp 5,532.00 1.32 1,434,700
Nike Inc -Cl B 123.34 -0.40 1,975,306
Nissan Motor Co Ltd 1,150.00 5.12 24,246,500
Du Pont (E.I.) De Nemours 48.49 0.29 1,814,728
Hitachi Ltd 628.50 4.59 27,907,000
Caterpillar Inc 64.97 0.90 3,834,785
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd 5,295.00 1.11 2,264,800
Travelers Cos Inc/The 98.65 0.32 1,107,284
Jfe Holdings Inc 1,625.50 4.03 5,409,300
Ana Holdings Inc 336.80 0.72 16,019,000
Mitsubishi Electric Corp 1,152.50 5.73 9,555,000
FTSE 100 Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Gr 4,706.00 4.30 9,271,800
Ricoh Co Ltd 1,221.00 1.37 4,003,400
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume Honda Motor Co Ltd 3,605.00 1.86 7,520,700
Fast Retailing Co Ltd 49,300.00 1.67 808,500
Wpp Plc 1,375.00 0.22 3,117,128
Wolseley Plc 3,677.00 -2.78 1,859,711
Ms&Ad Insurance Group Holdin 3,269.00 2.38 1,567,300 Pedestrians pass a Lloyds Bank branch in London. Lloyds Banking Group shares surged 1.77% to 76.55 pence yesterday.
Kubota Corp 1,661.50 1.59 5,315,000
Wm Morrison Supermarkets 162.20 0.37 9,688,598
Seven & I Holdings Co Ltd 5,458.00 0.26 3,504,600
Whitbread Plc 4,680.00 -0.15 472,215
Inpex Corp 1,090.50 2.54 6,292,000
Weir Group Plc/The 1,224.00 3.64 1,171,888

European equities shake off

Resona Holdings Inc 626.70 3.36 8,391,400
Vodafone Group Plc 206.15 0.91 73,701,149
Asahi Kasei Corp 849.10 1.08 6,111,000
United Utilities Group Plc 945.00 2.22 2,006,321
Kirin Holdings Co Ltd 1,565.00 -0.03 3,802,200
Unilever Plc 2,702.00 0.75 2,529,552
Marubeni Corp 589.40 0.96 12,201,200
Tullow Oil Plc 192.80 3.99 7,814,583
Mitsubishi Ufj Financial Gro 741.90 3.56 76,334,800
Tui Travel Plc 0.00 0.00 -

disappointing US jobs data

Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings 635.60 2.30 7,275,900
Travis Perkins Plc 1,951.00 -1.27 945,515
Fanuc Corp 19,035.00 3.93 1,247,800
Tesco Plc 179.85 0.90 17,123,363
Daito Trust Construct Co Ltd 12,370.00 2.02 275,000
Standard Life Plc 396.80 1.85 2,890,547
Otsuka Holdings Co Ltd 3,827.00 0.50 1,789,300
Standard Chartered Plc 666.70 2.92 7,574,836
Oriental Land Co Ltd 6,790.00 1.81 1,438,300
St James’s Place Plc 857.00 0.59 1,787,843
Sekisui House Ltd 1,903.00 2.04 4,377,000
Sse Plc 1,524.00 1.87 1,880,058
Sports Direct International 758.00 0.40 993,402
Secom Co Ltd 7,157.00 -0.17 897,200 AFP furt’s DAX 30 won 0.46% to 9,323.28. of Scotland added 0.50% to 320.80
Smiths Group Plc 997.00 0.15 1,341,798
Tokio Marine Holdings Inc 4,445.00 0.07 2,411,000
London In foreign exchange deals, the Eu- pence.
Aeon Co Ltd 1,918.50 3.42 6,407,600 ropean single currency rose to $1.1274, Barclays climbed 0.57% to 248.55
Smith & Nephew Plc 1,142.00 -0.44 3,591,830
Mitsui & Co Ltd 1,357.50 1.27 15,025,000
Shire Plc 4,513.00 0.29 1,377,809 up from $1.1187 late in New York on pence and HSBC rose 0.93% to 507.70
Kao Corp 5,408.00 0.09 1,669,700

E
Severn Trent Plc 2,215.00 0.68 607,654
Dai-Ichi Life Insurance 1,924.00 1.61 6,298,300
uropean stocks shrugged off dis- Thursday, shooting up as the prospect pence.
Schroders Plc 2,810.00 1.12 385,848 appointing US data, rallying to of an early rate hike had been propping PPI provided insurance for consum-
Mazda Motor Corp 1,978.00 5.21 12,489,700
Sainsbury (J) Plc 259.30 1.29 7,683,223
Komatsu Ltd 1,795.00 2.43 6,258,000 close higher yesterday as slower up the US dollar. ers should they fail to meet repayments
Sage Group Plc/The 504.50 -0.30 1,929,046
Sabmiller Plc 3,743.00 1.15 3,878,992
West Japan Railway Co 7,744.00 3.52 1,118,100 job creation was seen pushing back the Wall Street stocks had failed to re- on a credit product such as consumer
Rsa Insurance Group Plc 404.60 0.57 3,957,436
Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd 16,260.00 5.79 1,269,500 timing of a US interest rate hike. cover by midday, however. loans, mortgages or payment cards
Kansai Electric Power Co Inc 1,365.00 2.86 2,670,000 Major European stock indices The Dow Jones Industrial Average However, the insurance was mis-
Royal Mail Plc 456.00 0.68 2,117,684
Denso Corp 5,195.00 3.16 3,280,600
Royal Dutch Shell Plc-B Shs 1,622.00 1.31 5,426,630 turned sharply lower after data fell 0.49% to 16,192.17 points, while sold to millions of people who either
Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Holdin 3,520.00 1.85 1,095,500
Royal Dutch Shell Plc-A Shs 1,608.00 1.32 5,906,580
Daiwa House Industry Co Ltd 3,004.00 1.92 2,478,500
showed the US economy added far the broad-based S&P 500 dropped had no idea what they were buying or
Royal Bank Of Scotland Group 320.80 0.50 10,410,261 fewer jobs than expected in Septem- 0.61% to 1,912.13 and the tech-rich had little chance of making a success-
Jx Holdings Inc 438.70 1.81 10,076,400
Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc 704.50 2.62 6,068,989
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Meta 2,241.50 3.37 4,298,800 ber and hiring was weaker in the prior Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.47% ful claim.
Rio Tinto Plc 2,242.00 0.99 4,175,795
Relx Plc 1,129.00 0.89 3,474,303
Suzuki Motor Corp 3,759.00 2.65 2,604,000 two months. to 4,605.44. Meanwhile, credit-checking com-
Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc 6,030.00 0.92 1,199,743
Nippon Telegraph & Telephone 4,335.00 3.76 7,056,100 The US economy added just 142,000 The US Federal Reserve’s monetary pany Experian slumped 3.81% to 1,034
Ajinomoto Co Inc 2,536.00 0.83 2,336,000 pence, after admitting that 15mn US
Randgold Resources Ltd 4,098.00 4.22 880,566 jobs last month, far short of estimates policy committee next meets on Octo-
Mitsui Fudosan Co Ltd 3,430.00 5.12 6,549,000
Prudential Plc 1,421.50 1.94 4,465,480
Daikin Industries Ltd 7,002.00 4.88 1,805,400
of around 205,000 jobs. The Labour ber 28. customers had their personal data
Petrofac Ltd 742.00 -1.98 2,062,609
Bank Of Yokohama Ltd/The 729.60 0.76 5,690,000 Department also trimmed its estimates In London, banking sector stocks hacked.
Persimmon Plc 2,003.00 -1.67 901,577 The affected customers are clients of
Dai Nippon Printing Co Ltd 1,161.00 0.61 1,418,000 for jobs growth in July and August. shot up after the Financial Conduct
Pearson Plc 1,167.00 1.30 2,061,965
Old Mutual Plc 193.50 1.63 6,689,317
Toray Industries Inc 1,055.50 2.43 6,222,000 Analysts lowered the odds the US Authority regulator unveiled plans to T-Mobile USA — the American unit of
Next Plc 7,690.00 -0.58 420,135
Astellas Pharma Inc 1,575.00 1.94 11,899,500 Federal Reserve will imminently raise impose a two-year deadline on claims the German mobile phone giant.
Bridgestone Corp 4,173.00 1.14 2,679,100 interest rates. for mis-sold credit insurance. The hacked data included names,
National Grid Plc 932.00 1.35 9,219,023
Sony Corp 2,996.00 3.36 12,208,200
Mondi Plc 1,386.00 0.51 1,517,497 However London’s benchmark FTSE British banks have so far paid out dates of birth, addresses, social secu-
Hoya Corp 4,167.00 6.76 2,454,000
Meggitt Plc 477.00 -0.75 2,686,103
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdin 447.30 2.26 21,460,000
100 index of top companies bounced about £25bn ($38bn, €34bn) to cus- rity numbers and other forms of iden-
Marks & Spencer Group Plc 506.50 1.10 3,949,869 back to end the day with a gain of tomers who were mis-sold payment tification like drivers’ licence numbers,
Japan Tobacco Inc 3,573.00 -3.30 11,731,000
London Stock Exchange Group 2,528.00 0.84 742,469
Osaka Gas Co Ltd 454.50 0.33 4,019,000 0.95% to 6,129.98 points. protection insurance (PPI). as well as additional information. No
Lloyds Banking Group Plc 76.55 1.77 213,478,991
Legal & General Group Plc 242.70 2.58 22,545,934
Sumitomo Electric Industries 1,557.50 2.23 3,754,600 In the eurozone, Paris’ CAC 40 index Lloyds Banking Group shares surged payment card or banking information
Land Securities Group Plc 1,267.00 1.20 2,193,022
Daiwa Securities Group Inc 792.90 3.01 10,880,000 rose 0.73 to 4,458.88 points and Frank- 1.77% to 76.55 pence and Royal Bank was acquired.
Softbank Group Corp 5,629.00 2.78 8,411,600
Kingfisher Plc 361.00 1.06 6,534,968
Mizuho Financial Group Inc 230.10 3.23 195,918,900
Johnson Matthey Plc 2,461.00 -0.28 652,337
Nomura Holdings Inc 704.80 0.07 28,377,800
Itv Plc 247.80 0.32 9,356,629
-0.31
HONG KONG HONG KONG
Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd 2,063.50 4,259,400
Intu Properties Plc 330.20 0.58 2,552,157
Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd 4,413.00 3.04 4,329,500
Intl Consolidated Airline-Di 571.00 -1.55 10,733,363 Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume
Ntt Docomo Inc 2,066.00 3.66 7,955,600
Intertek Group Plc 2,493.00 0.89 572,371
Sumitomo Realty & Developmen 4,037.00 6.49 3,695,000 Aluminum Corp Of China Ltd-H 2.58 7.05 26,326,820 Hong Kong & China Gas 14.62 0.69 10,438,780
Intercontinental Hotels Grou 2,330.00 1.13 993,202
Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd 1,371.00 1.41 3,709,000 Bank Of East Asia 26.65 2.50 3,047,405 Hong Kong Exchanges & Clear 184.40 4.30 8,333,890
Imperial Tobacco Group Plc 3,369.00 0.39 3,284,545
Orix Corp 1,628.00 6.27 11,118,300 Bank Of China Ltd-H 3.39 1.80 357,297,065 Hsbc Holdings Plc 59.35 2.95 23,420,397
Imi Plc 971.00 0.67 492,356
Asahi Group Holdings Ltd 3,823.00 -1.21 1,846,100 Bank Of Communications Co-H 5.47 1.86 40,076,366 Hutchison Whampoa Ltd 0.00 0.00 -
Hsbc Holdings Plc 507.70 0.93 23,520,539
Keyence Corp 55,440.00 4.21 248,600 Belle International Holdings 6.79 1.34 24,986,124 Ind & Comm Bk Of China-H 4.55 2.02 265,353,264
Hargreaves Lansdown Plc 1,230.00 0.41 952,800
Nidec Corp 8,452.00 3.25 1,683,000 Boc Hong Kong Holdings Ltd 23.35 2.64 16,160,716 Li & Fung Ltd 5.82 -1.52 50,627,300
Hammerson Plc 623.50 0.56 1,988,856
Isuzu Motors Ltd 1,214.50 1.63 3,495,800 Cathay Pacific Airways 14.82 2.07 2,678,382 Mtr Corp 34.10 1.49 3,706,307
Glencore Plc 95.00 4.37 106,530,112
Unicharm Corp 2,205.00 4.30 5,695,400 Ck Hutchison Holdings Ltd 103.40 3.19 9,627,856 New World Development 7.67 2.27 22,128,731
Glaxosmithkline Plc 1,281.50 1.06 7,837,722
Shin-Etsu Chemical Co Ltd 6,352.00 3.88 1,768,700 China Coal Energy Co-H 3.20 2.24 13,634,116 Petrochina Co Ltd-H 5.54 3.17 96,449,755
Gkn Plc 274.10 1.48 4,561,348
Smc Corp 27,300.00 4.78 433,700 China Construction Bank-H 5.27 2.33 320,161,106 Ping An Insurance Group Co-H 40.20 4.82 47,974,061
G4s Plc 238.10 1.67 3,429,286
Mitsubishi Corp 1,974.50 1.07 6,037,500 China Life Insurance Co-H 27.70 3.36 37,456,069 Power Assets Holdings Ltd 73.00 -0.14 2,890,837
Friends Life Group Ltd 0.00 0.00 -
Jgc Corp 1,590.50 0.44 1,812,000 China Merchants Hldgs Intl 23.90 5.05 5,881,897 Sino Land Co 12.02 2.39 5,332,081
Fresnillo Plc 633.50 4.80 2,108,685
Nintendo Co Ltd 20,710.00 3.24 735,200 China Mobile Ltd 94.30 2.72 32,896,020 Sun Hung Kai Properties 100.10 -0.40 5,658,606
Experian Plc 1,034.00 -3.81 6,006,916
Eisai Co Ltd 7,052.00 0.31 1,652,200 China Overseas Land & Invest 25.00 6.84 56,188,692 Swire Pacific Ltd - Cl A 88.60 2.49 1,841,272
Easyjet Plc 1,748.00 -0.96 973,686
Sumitomo Corp 1,169.00 1.48 8,606,000 China Petroleum & Chemical-H 4.86 3.18 142,351,452 Tencent Holdings Ltd 135.50 4.80 28,503,970
Dixons Carphone Plc 435.10 2.28 4,216,823
Canon Inc 3,536.00 2.37 3,605,000 China Resources Enterprise 15.22 5.84 12,368,986 Wharf Holdings Ltd 44.30 1.84 4,770,791
Direct Line Insurance Group 376.60 0.19 3,538,332
Diageo Plc 1,782.50 0.96 4,819,399 China Resources Land Ltd 19.74 8.70 36,240,436
Crh Plc 1,711.00 -0.98 1,921,122 China Resources Power Holdin 18.66 5.54 10,816,284
SENSEX China Shenhua Energy Co-H 12.20 3.04 23,030,487
Compass Group Plc
Coca-Cola Hbc Ag-Cdi
1,052.00
1,387.00
-0.28
0.58
3,593,501
324,232 China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd 10.02 2.14 51,730,384 GCC INDICES
Centrica Plc 225.00 1.58 14,655,693 Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume Citic Ltd 14.58 3.40 25,380,487 Indices Lt Price Change
Carnival Plc 3,367.00 -1.38 817,910 Clp Holdings Ltd 66.30 0.23 3,082,023 Doha Securities Market 11,453.13 -12.09
Zee Entertainment Enterprise 400.60 2.08 2,426,323
Capita Plc 1,213.00 0.17 1,032,997 Cnooc Ltd 8.18 3.15 109,146,671 Saudi Tadawul 7,341.94 -62.20
Wipro Ltd 599.75 0.32 3,603,691
Burberry Group Plc 1,360.00 0.67 1,363,567 Cosco Pacific Ltd 10.03 0.00 - Kuwait Stocks Exchange 5,720.65 -5.31
Ultratech Cement Ltd 2,773.45 3.74 691,896
Bunzl Plc 1,804.00 0.67 612,559 Esprit Holdings Ltd 5.82 1.04 5,389,919 Bahrain Stock Exchage 1,276.31 +0.42
Tech Mahindra Ltd 563.00 1.01 2,252,266
Bt Group Plc 420.55 0.07 16,289,979 Fih Mobile Ltd 3.60 1.41 9,726,335 Oman Stock Market 5,791.06 +3.37
Tata Steel Ltd 212.25 -0.16 5,944,394
British Sky Broadcasting Gro 0.00 0.00 - Hang Lung Properties Ltd 17.40 0.23 8,554,035 Abudhabi Stock Market 4,519.96 +17.17
Tata Power Co Ltd 65.85 1.39 1,991,628
British Land Co Plc 837.00 1.03 4,068,146 Hang Seng Bank Ltd 141.50 1.65 1,899,273 Dubai Financial Market 3,619.44 +26.16
Tata Motors Ltd 297.75 -0.28 8,192,486
British American Tobacco Plc 3,634.50 1.28 1,981,952 Henderson Land Development 46.75 1.41 3,335,917
Tata Consultancy Svcs Ltd 2,644.60 2.19 1,472,380
Bp Plc 351.45 2.69 43,918,591
Sun Pharmaceutical Indus 891.00 2.60 2,430,340
Bhp Billiton Plc 1,042.00 1.26 7,784,698
State Bank Of India 235.15 -0.84 12,864,729
Bg Group Plc 987.80 2.46 5,429,751
Sesa Sterlite Ltd 0.00 0.00 -
Barclays Plc 248.55 0.57 32,882,758 “Information contained herein is believed to be reliable and had been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. The
Reliance Industries Ltd 864.70 0.28 2,153,592
Bae Systems Plc 445.20 0.36 6,721,032
Punjab National Bank 132.45 -0.60 2,867,417
accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. This publication is for providing information only and is not intended
Babcock Intl Group Plc 937.50 1.74 1,230,112
Power Grid Corp Of India Ltd 130.55 -1.36 1,222,258 as an offer or solicitation for a purchase or sale of any of the financial instruments mentioned. Gulf Times and Doha Bank
Aviva Plc 462.00 2.74 15,270,255 or any of their employees shall not be held accountable and will not accept any losses or liabilities for actions based on
Oil & Natural Gas Corp Ltd 232.35 1.31 3,200,967
Astrazeneca Plc 4,168.00 0.17 1,857,914
Ntpc Ltd 123.50 -0.20 3,434,570 this data.”
Associated British Foods Plc 3,367.00 0.42 459,860
Nmdc Ltd 93.90 0.86 856,429
Ashtead Group Plc 930.00 0.76 2,597,892
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd 4,580.35 -2.25 1,154,083
Arm Holdings Plc 935.00 -0.05 4,065,316
Antofagasta Plc 509.50 1.70 2,351,489
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd
Lupin Ltd
1,250.05
2,108.85
-1.09
3.68
1,117,093
2,903,303
CURRENCIES
Anglo American Plc 553.60 -0.25 12,719,225 DOLLAR QATAR RIYAL SAUDI RIYAL UAE DIRHAMS BAHRAINI KUWAITI
Larsen & Toubro Ltd 1,490.10 1.63 2,056,652
Aggreko Plc 963.50 0.94 924,071 DINAR DINAR
Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd 640.85 -1.12 1,050,507
Admiral Group Plc 1,493.00 -0.27 468,874
Jindal Steel & Power Ltd 60.15 -0.82 5,195,351
Aberdeen Asset Mgmt Plc 306.50 3.34 7,200,324
Itc Ltd 328.75 -0.02 4,763,511
3I Group Plc 471.70 0.92 1,708,020
Infosys Ltd 1,173.05 0.96 5,650,061
#N/A 0.00 0.00 -
Indusind Bank Ltd 957.60 1.61 1,330,041
Idfc Ltd 60.35 -57.21 118,160,682
Icici Bank Ltd 267.10 -1.20 7,941,598
TOKYO Housing Development Finance 1,196.60 -1.33 3,368,613
Hindustan Unilever Ltd 816.40 0.20 977,229
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume Hindalco Industries Ltd 70.90 0.14 5,585,799
East Japan Railway Co 10,275.00 2.19 852,100 Hero Motocorp Ltd 2,412.05 0.73 588,498
Itochu Corp 1,287.50 2.39 8,549,100 Hdfc Bank Limited 1,067.65 -0.11 1,308,958
Fujifilm Holdings Corp 4,471.00 0.34 2,802,400 Hcl Technologies Ltd 857.05 -12.74 14,617,897
Yamato Holdings Co Ltd 2,340.00 2.45 1,404,400 Grasim Industries Ltd 3,529.15 0.32 28,709
Chubu Electric Power Co Inc 1,812.00 2.90 2,120,000 Gail India Ltd 293.25 -2.99 959,688
Mitsubishi Estate Co Ltd 2,545.50 4.52 7,099,000 Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories 4,232.95 1.70 417,732
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries 550.70 3.44 14,416,000 Dlf Ltd 134.20 -2.29 10,721,792
Toshiba Corp 306.90 2.16 23,238,000 Coal India Ltd 328.35 0.23 3,057,568
Shiseido Co Ltd 2,639.50 1.50 2,696,700 Cipla Ltd 633.55 -0.39 3,142,238
Tokyo Gas Co Ltd 573.50 -0.74 10,606,000 Cairn India Ltd 153.20 -0.10 1,840,595
Tokyo Electron Ltd 5,892.00 4.95 2,120,800 Bharti Airtel Ltd 339.45 0.47 5,108,171
Panasonic Corp 1,248.50 3.74 9,300,100 Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd 855.10 0.52 1,396,451
Fujitsu Ltd 519.10 0.12 20,112,000 Bharat Heavy Electricals 199.35 -3.02 6,773,421
Central Japan Railway Co 19,630.00 2.11 520,100 Bank Of Baroda 181.10 -1.15 5,647,368
T&D Holdings Inc 1,415.00 0.75 2,818,700 Bajaj Auto Ltd 2,315.10 0.13 199,807
Toyota Motor Corp 7,151.00 2.58 14,072,700 Axis Bank Ltd 496.25 0.12 8,709,066
Kddi Corp 2,678.00 0.41 9,070,300 Asian Paints Ltd 839.65 -0.23 700,900
Nitto Denko Corp 7,504.00 5.32 1,760,700 Ambuja Cements Ltd 209.95 2.02 3,887,378
Rakuten Inc 1,558.00 2.23 6,771,500 Acc Ltd 1,363.10 1.21 154,517
 Gulf Times
6 Saturday, October 3, 2015

BUSINESS/LEISURE
Adam

Ralph Lauren hires Old Navy

exec to replace him as CEO
Reuters
New York

A
merican designer Ralph Lau-
ren, who built a fashion pow-
erhouse on luxury designs
inspired by country club chic, has
announced he is stepping down as
chief executive officer and named
the head of Gap Inc’s populist Old
Pooch Cafe Navy brand to the position.
Ralph Lauren Corp, founded by
75-year-old Lauren in 1967, ap-
pointed Stefan Larsson, the global
president of Gap’s Old Navy divi-
sion, as CEO effective in Novem-
ber. Lauren will continue to serve
as executive chairman and head its
design team, the company said in a
statement.
Lauren, who got his start design-
ing neckties, plans to stay active at
the company and Larsson will report
to him.
“When they start designing
things I can’t understand, I’ll quit,”
Lauren told the New York Times in an
interview.
Odeon Capital analyst Rick Sny-
der said the company had grown to a
Garfield size where it needed more “systems
and controls.” The change in CEO
“is just a natural progression,” Sny-
der said.
Milton Pedraza, a fashion industry
analyst at the Luxury Institute, said
Larsson’s appointment follows a
trend of luxury brands hiring leaders
from mass-market companies in re-
cent months. He cited the appoint-
ment of Grita Loebsack, a former
vice-president at Unilever, as CEO
of Kering’s emerging brands, which
include Stella McCartney and Gucci.
Larsson, 41, is credited with re-
viving sales at Old Navy, successful-
ly implementing a model of offering
trendy clothes at low prices.
Annual sales at the division rose
8% in 2014 and became Gap’s biggest
Bound And Gagged business. Sales for the division were
$6.62bn, or 40.3% of Gap’s total.
Ralph Lauren acknowledges the crowd after presenting his Spring/Summer
2015 collection during New York Fashion Week on September 11. Lauren
plans to stay active at the company and Stefan Larsson will report to him.
Lauren’s fashion empire includes
some 25 brands including Polo, Club
Monaco and Denim & Supply, and
the company makes clothing, acces-
sories, furniture, home decor items
and footwear under its labels.
Larsson, a Swede who before join-
ing Gap was global head of sales at
Hennes & Mauritz, brings experi-
ence of managing a fast fashion
business with a supply chains con-
sidered to be among the most effi-
cient within the apparel industry.
His appointment would be a good
fit for Ralph Lauren which is seeking
to reorganise and centralise business
units and brands, Snyder said.
“If he comes from a place like
H&M, he understands global supply
chains and that’s one of the things
that Ralph Lauren is trying to imple-
ment right now,” Snyder said. “It’s
going to be very positive for them.”
Despite the aura of Anglo-Saxon
elitism around his company, Lau-
ren was born Ralph Lifshitz in the
Bronx in 1939. His parents were Jew-
ish immigrants from Belarus, and he
changed his name to Lauren at age
16.
Lauren’s designs drew inspiration
from elite and exotic realms includ-
ing East Coast prepsters, the Wild
West, colonists on African safari
and czarist Russia. He designed the
wardrobe for the 1974 film version
of The Great Gatsby including a pink
suit for star Robert Redford.
The Ralph Lauren Polo shirt,
which debuted in 1972, became a
signature item for the company with
a tiny polo player embroidered on
the chest.
His designs have been worn by
presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton,
actress Gwyneth Paltrow and actor
Johnny Depp.
Lauren was also, perhaps sur-
prisingly, influential in the hip hop
world. His bright colours and bold
clothing became staples for some
New York gangs, and rappers such
as Kanye West and Lil Wayne have
mentioned Lauren and his designs in
their rhymes.
The company also said that Jack-
wyn Nemerov, chief operating of-
ficer, would retire in November at
which time she will become an ad-
viser to the company.

Mall Cinema (1): Puli (Tamil) 2
& 10.45pm; Hotel Transylvania
(2D) 5 & 6.45pm; Black Mass
(2D) 8.30pm.
Mall Cinema (2): Shivam
(Telugu) 2pm; Straight Outta
Coupton (2D) 5pm; Knock
Knock (2D) 7.45 & 9.30pm;
Black Mass (2D) 11.30pm.
Mall Cinema (3): Singh Is Bling
(Hindi) 2.15pm; Ahwak (Arabic)
4.45 & 9.30pm; Talvar (Hindi)
7pm; The Walk (2D) 11.15pm.
Cinema Land Mark (1): Puli
(Tamil) 2.30 & 10.30pm; Straight
Outta Compton (2D) 5.15pm;
& 5.45pm; Talvar (Hindi) 3.15pm;
Black Mass (2D) 7.30 & 11.30pm;
Knock Knock (2D) 9.45pm.
Singh Is Bling (Hindi) 8pm. Royal Plaza Cinema Palace
Cinema Land Mark (2): Hotel (2): Maze Runner:The Scorch
Transylvania (2D) 2 & 6pm; Trials (2D) 2pm; Sing Is Bling
The Walk (2D) 3.45 & 11.30pm; (Hindi) 4.15pm; The Walk (2D)
Maze Runner:The Scorch Trials 6.45pm; Ahwak (Arabic) 9pm;
(2D) 7.45pm; Knock Knock (2D) Talvar (Hindi) 11pm.
9.45pm. Asian Town Cinema (1): Kunji
Cinema Land Mark (3): Puli Ramayanam (Malayalam) 2.15,
(2D) 2pm; Ahwak (Arabic) 4.45 4.45, 7.15 & 9.45pm; Puli (Tamil)
& 7pm; Black Mass (2D) 9.15 & 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8,10,11pm; Singh Is
11.30pm. Bling (Hindi) 3.15, 8.30, 11.15pm
Royal Plaza Cinema Palace & 1.45am; Talvar (Hindi) 12.45
(1): Hotel Transylvania (2D) 1.30 & 6pm.

Sudoku Cryptic Clues Quick Clues

ACROSS DOWN ACROSS DOWN

1. Serious Australian sexton?
(5-6)
9. It takes two to score (3)
10. Union with no money
interest in tennis perhaps
(4,5)
11. Provide some evergreen
duets (5)
13. Disorderly crooner in
court (7)
14. Possibly lets us struggle
(6)
16. Very much like sauce (6)
18. Not a professor of divinity,
evidently (7)
Sudoku is a puzzle 19. Penal reform board (5)
based on a 9x9 grid.
Weekly’s Solutions
20. It’s for every old actor (9)
The grid is also
21. Clamour for colour (3)
divided into nine
22. Community payments?
(3x3) boxes. You are
(11)
given a selection of
values and to com-
plete the puzzle,
you must fill the
grid so that every
column, every row
and every 3x3 box
contains the digits
1 to 9 and none is
repeated.
2. Hurry for a ladder (3) 1. Curse (11) 2. Wonder (3)
3. One-way passage (5) 9. Shelter (3) 3. Senior (5)
4. Heraldic symbol of French 10. Unrig (9) 4. Interior (6)
depravity (6) 11. Journal (5) 5. Passage (7)
5. A sticky place to be up (3-4) 13. Portfolio (7) 6. Clothier (9)
6. It may give a telephone 14. Instrumentalist (6) 7. Impulse to steal (11)
subscriber more time to pay, 16. Sew (6) 8. Keenly (11)
but adds to his bill (9) 18. Aerodrome (3-4) 12. Syllabus (9)
7. They’re out in the day, but 19. Temptress (5) 15. Calumny (7)
helpful if you’re out at night 20. Instantaneous (9) 17. Still (6)
(6,5) 21. Everyone (3) 19. Grim (5)
8. Plough-frame makes a 22. Countercharge (11) 21. Perform (3)
capital investment (11)
12. Unload, or it’s the sack! (9)
15. Flattened an awkward Weekly’s Solutions
fellow with inside help (4,3)
QUICK CRYPTIC
17. My ties may be a hindrance
Across: 1 Cost; 3 Intimate; 9 Across: 1 Seek; 3 Disclaim; 9
(6)
Realism; 10 Close; 11 Make a Anemone; 10 Mural; 11 Crystal
19. Prepare to whistle for
bee-line; 13 Cheery; 15 Rudder; clear; 13 Pearls; 15 Ampere; 17
one’s money? (5)
17 Degeneration; 20 Leave; 21 Age of consent; 20 Raise; 21
21. Pointless hunt for shelter
Pillage; 22 Overturn; 23 Tear. Inertia; 22 Harassed; 23 Vain.
(3)
Down: 1 Ceramics; 2 Slack; Down: 1 Seascape; 2 Enemy; 4
4 Number; 5 Incalculable; 6 Ideals; 5 Complemented; 6 Air
Adorned; 7 Even; 8 Disagreement; lane; 7 Mole; 8 Postal voters; 12
12 Grandeur; 14 Elevate; 16 Restrain; 14 Angrier; 16 Active; 18
Temper; 18 Image; 19 Also. Extra; 19 Arch.
 Gulf Times
8 Saturday, October 3, 2015
BUSINESS
Volkswagen in race to detail refit plan within a week
US chief to testify to lawmaker
panel on October 8; Germany’s KBA
watchdog wants plan presented by
October 7; owners want to know if
refit will affect performance
Reuters
Berlin/Brussels
V
olkswagen is under pressure to
give details within the next week
of its plan to refit up to 11mn
diesel vehicles, with its US chief set to
testify to lawmakers and German regu-
lators also demanding swift action.
The German carmaker needs to fix
software that allowed it to cheat emis-
sions tests, the discovery of which has
sparked the biggest business crisis in its
78-year history.
The scandal has wiped more than
a third off Volkswagen’s share price,
forced out its long-time chief executive
and rocked both global auto markets
and the German establishment.
It has also exposed inadequate regu-
lations, particularly in Europe where
the importance of the car industry to
jobs and exports has given it a powerful
voice in policymaking.
“Consumers are rightly aggrieved
and frustrated. Politics must no longer
tolerate this situation in such an im-
portant consumer market,” Klaus Mu-
eller, head of the Federation of German
Consumer Organisations, told Reuters.
Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest car-
maker, said on Thursday it would take
months to get to the bottom of who was
responsible for the software, although
it promised to “inform the public in
regard to solutions found for the prob-
lems next week.”
But analysts say it could be a chal-
lenge to do the refits without leaving
vehicles with diminished fuel economy
and performance, or requiring more
maintenance — problems that could
potentially multiply lawsuits against
the company and further sully its repu-
tation.
In a sign of the complexity, Belgian
car importer D’Ieteren told Reuters
it had not heard any technical details
about the refit yet, and that Volkswagen
had committed only to having a plan set
by the end of this month.
Volkswagen said yesterday it was
taking time to come up with solutions
because automatic and manual vehicles
and models with different engine cat-
egories needed different fixes.
In the coming days, the carmaker
will launch country-specific websites
where customers can enter details of
their vehicles to find out if they’re af-
fected, it said.
In the meantime, customers and
dealers are seething.
“There’s been no news whatsoever
from Volkswagen, from the dealer, any
letter, any phone call, nothing whatso-
ever,” said Giacomo Corrado, who lives
outside San Francisco and leases a die-
sel Golf.
Bradley Hoffman, chairman of the
American International Automobile
Dealers, said Volkswagen had not com-
municated well “out of the gate”, al-
though he was confident they would
ultimately make things right with cus-
tomers.
“I want them to get off their you know
whats and handle this thing swiftly and
correctly. But I know they will,” he said.
“This is urgent for them because it’s a
public relations nightmare ... They’re
still in assessment mode.”
Volkswagen shares, which have lost
more than $30bn in value since the cri-
sis began, fell to a new 4-year low of
€90.70 yesterday.
The scandal has thrown the spotlight
on problems with the availability and
quality of official emissions data that
campaigners have complained about
for years.
The US Environmental Protec-
tion Agency (EPA), which announced
Volkswagen’s cheating in diesel emis-
sions tests on September 18, provides
detailed information on vehicle per-
formance in tests. Published data from
German counterpart KBA, upon which
some other countries rely for tests on
Volkswagen vehicles, does not break
down the test performance of individ-
ual models.
Asked whether there was any way,
other than asking the manufacturer, for
people to find if a specific model com-
plies with EU rules, a KBA spokesman
said: “I don’t think so.”
US authorities have generally been
quicker to respond to the crisis too,
leaving Europe open to the charge of
letting down consumers and being too
close to the car industry.
The EPA, which said on September 25
it would toughen tests for all carmakers,
will scrutinise at least 28 diesel models
made by BMW, Chrysler General Mo-
tors, Land Rover and Mercedes-Benz,
the Financial Times reported yesterday.
A US congressional oversight panel
said on Thursday it had called Volkswa-
gen’s US chief, Michael Horn to testify
on October 8, while more than 30 US
state attorneys general have banded to-
gether to conduct an investigation into
Volkswagen, New York Attorney Gen-
eral Eric Schneiderman said yesterday.
European authorities are seeking
answers too. Germany’s KBA has set
Volkswagen an October 7 deadline to
present a plan to bring diesel emissions
into line with the law.
But the response in much of Europe
has been slower.
French prosecutors only opened a
preliminary inquiry into Volkswagen
yesterday, whereas the US Department
of Justice was reported on September 21
to have started a criminal investigation.
European carmakers are lobbying
hard, fearing costlier regulations and a
fall in sales of diesel vehicles — which
account for almost a half of sales in Eu-
rope compared with a small fraction in
the US.
In a letter dated September 29 to the
European Union’s council of ministers,
the European Automobile Manufac-
turers’ Association said manufactur-
ers would need until 2019 to fully meet
some new pollution limits.
It also suggested US authorities had
an ulterior motive. “We understand
that the US want to challenge the lead-
ership role that the European manufac-
turers have taken globally in this tech-
nology,” said the letter, seen by Reuters,
referring to diesel cars.
The car industry is particularly im-
portant to Germany, Europe’s larg-
est economy, where the likes of BMW,
Daimler and Volkswagen employ more
than 750,000 people. Berlin has in the
past lobbied the EU against tougher
regulations on carmakers.
German Vice Chancellor Sigmar
Gabriel, who once sat on Volkswagen’s
board, said yesterday investigations
into the company should not turn in
to a campaign against the industry as a
whole.
However, Philippe Lamberts, co-
chair of the Greens group in the Euro-
pean Parliament, said the auto industry
had to change.
“They should shut up and put up
with it. It’s not a question of profits, it’s
about health, it’s about the rule of law,”
he told Reuters.
Jos Dings, director of campaign
group Transport & Environment, said
the EU should set up a new Europe-
wide vehicle inspection agency akin to
the EPA, but was not optimistic.
“Member states will try their utmost
to keep that power with their national
type approval authorities — despite the
fact that it is clear they have not done
much more than indeed approve vehi-
cles,” he said.
 Gulf Times
Saturday, October 3, 2015 9

BUSINESS
Square could take
Global markets’ annus hit on IPO with
Jack Dorsey
horribilis turning leading Twitter

everything into losers

Reuters ago. “If Square went out and
San Francisco did well that would encour-
age people generally to go out,”
said Eric Jensen, an IPO at-

T
he much anticipated
initial public offering
from Silicon Valley pay-
Bloomberg years. Copper touched a six-year low, ments company Square could
Singapore while platinum fell 15% in the quarter. take a price hit if its chief ex-
The precious metal, used in devices that ecutive, Jack Dorsey, takes a
curb harmful emissions from cars, bore second and possibly more de-
torney and partner at law firm
Cooley.
But if it prices low and per-
forms poorly on the stock
market, he said, other tech
companies in the queue will
have a tougher time finding

F
or investors around the world, 2015
is turning into a year to forget.
Stocks, commodities and currency
funds are all in the red, and even the mea-
sly gains in bonds are being wiped out by
what little inflation there is in the global
economy.
Rounding out its steepest quarterly de-
scent in four years, the MSCI All Country
World Index of shares is down 6.6% in
2015 including dividends. The Bloomb-
erg Commodity Index has slumped 16%,
while a Parker Global Strategies index of
currency funds dropped 1.8%. Fixed in-
come has failed to offer much of a haven:
Bank of America Corp’s global debt index
gained just 1%, less than the 2.5% increase
in world consumer prices shown in an In-
ternational Monetary Fund index.
After three years in a virtuous cycle of
rising share prices and unprecedented
monetary easing, markets are now sink-
ing as emerging economies from China to
Brazil weaken and corporate profits slump.
Analysts have cut their global-growth es-
timates for 2015 to 3% from 3.5% at the
start of the year, and the turmoil has added
pressure on central banks to prolong their
stimulus programmes, with traders scaling
back forecasts for a Federal Reserve inter-
est-rate increase by year- end.
“There was an element of people be-
lieving they had found some sort of holy
grail to investing, then this breakdown
occurs and it breaks down in a way that’s
remarkable,” said Tobias Levkovich, Citi-
group Inc’s chief US equity strategist in
New York. “What seemed to trigger this
all was China. It sent us on a wave of
downward fears.”
China’s official factory gauge stabilised
in September, a report Thursday showed,
adding to speculation government stimu-
lus measures are heading off a slump in
manufacturing.
Investors suffered the brunt of this
year’s losses in the third quarter.
MSCI’s global equity index sank about
10% in the period, while the Bloomberg
commodity index lost 14% in its biggest
slump since the global financial crisis
seven years ago.
The average level of Bank of America’s
Market Risk index, a measure of price
swings in equities, rates, currencies and
raw materials, was the highest this quarter
since the end of 2011. The Chicago Board
Options Exchange Volatility Index, a gauge
of turbulence known as the VIX, reached
levels not seen since 2011 in August.
China has been the biggest source of
anxiety for investors, after turmoil in the
nation’s financial markets fuelled con-
cern that the country’s worst economic
slowdown since 1990 was deepening. The
Shanghai Composite Index fell 29% in the
third quarter, the most worldwide, and
the yuan weakened 2.4% after authorities
devalued the currency in August.
That sent a shudder around the world.
The worst quarter in seven years for the
Bloomberg JP Morgan Asia Dollar Index,
which tracks the region’s 10 most- active
currencies outside of Japan, has pushed
it down 5.1% this year to the lowest levels
since 2009. A similar measure for Latin
American currencies tumbled to a record.
Even those investors speculating on
dollar strength have found trades up-
ended by the yen’s 2.2% rally in the third
quarter and a revitalised euro.
“This is going to go down as one of the
worst quarters in a while,” said Michael
Antonelli, an institutional equity sales
trader at Robert W Baird & Co in Milwau-
kee. “It all kicked off from a China slow-
down concern and has unravelled piece by
piece.”
In the US, the Standard & Poor’s 500
Index has dropped about 7% since the
end of June as companies reported a 1.7%
slump in second-quarter earnings and
cuts to analyst profit estimates outnum-
bered increases for 17 straight weeks.
Commodity producers are to blame
for a big portion of those reductions af-
ter Brent crude oil fell below $50 a bar-
rel on the highest Opec output in seven
the brunt of Volkswagen’s attempts to
rig pollution tests for US diesel engines.
Glencore, the commodities group that’s
become a proxy for the industry’s woes,
plummeted 69% year-to-date on the
London Stock Exchange.
Credit markets haven’t been excluded
from the losses. The BofA Merrill Lynch
Global Corporate & High Yield Index is
set for its first annual decline since 2008,
with yields approaching the highest since
2012. Government bonds returned just
1.4% in an environment of strong demand
for haven assets.
For all the turbulence, the US economy
is still “pretty solid” and the Fed should
raise interest rates, Howard Marks, the
co-chairman of Oaktree Capital Group,
said at a conference in Toronto on Tues-
day. A rate increase of 25 basis points, or
a quarter of a percentage point, won’t be
“that big of an event” after the Fed held
borrowing costs near zero on September
17, said Marks, whose firm is the world’s
biggest manager of distressed debt.
The “phantom rate hike” this month
has only added to market volatility, ac-
cording to Tony Crescenzi at Pacific In-
vestment Management Co.
Traders in the futures market have
been pushing back forecasts for Fed lift-
off. They’re pricing in a 41% probability
the Fed will raise its benchmark rate by a
quarter- percentage point by the Decem-
ber 15-16 meeting, down from 60% at
the end of August. The European Central
Bank and the Bank of Japan haven’t ruled
out extending their stimulus programmes,
while forecasters including HSBC Hold-
ings Plc predict China will cut banks’ re-
serve ratios to bolster economic growth.
“More and more people will expect the
Fed to postpone tightening this year if
these very fearful conditions continue,”
said Kei Katayama, a money manager in
Tokyo at Daiwa SB Investments, which
oversees $48.5bn.
For Cristian Maggio, London-based
head of emerging-markets research at
Toronto Dominion Bank, a slide in devel-
oping-nation assets may not be over.
Emerging-market stocks dropped the
most in four years in the third quarter,
while local-currency sovereign bonds re-
treated about 3%.
Brazil’s real tumbled to a record low in
September as the nation’s credit rating
was cut to junk by Standard & Poor’s.
manding job: running Twitter.
A distracted CEO juggling
two companies, neither of
which is a well-oiled machine,
may not inspire the investor
enthusiasm Square had bet on,
financial industry experts told
Reuters.
“Management and manage-
ment focus are the single most
determining factor of the suc-
cess or lack thereof of a com-
pany pursuing an IPO,” said
Lise Buyer, an IPO consultant
with Class V Group in Silicon
Valley who also helped guide
Google’s IPO.
“Were I am a (Square) in-
vestor, I would want to be
compensated for the cost of
a part-time CEO who already
had a full plate. And by com-
pensated I mean I would ex-
pect a lower valuation.”
Square was valued at $6bn
at its last funding round a year
ago. The company has filed
a confidential public offer-
ing and plans an “imminent”
public filing, according to a
source familiar with the situ-
ation, potentially putting it in
a position to be a public com-
pany by the end-of-year holi-
day season.
There is no indication yet
how Square might price shares.
And the company could still
push back the IPO, as the mar-
ket’s volatility provides an easy
cover for any delay.
This IPO would affect more
than just Square. A block-
buster debut from Square
could rejuvenate the sluggish
IPO market, which is down
35% over last year in terms of
number of deals priced, ac-
cording to IPO manager Ren-
aissance Capital.
Concerns about slowing
growth in China and an inter-
est rate hike in the US by the
Federal Reserve helped make
the third quarter the worst
since 2012, with IPO proceeds
plummeting 77% compared
with the same period a year
buyers.
Still, Dorsey, a Twitter co-
founder who took over as in-
terim CEO in June, has been
lauded for his work guiding
both companies over the last
four months.
He has pleased many Twit-
ter shareholders, while Square
has launched new products
and its IPO plans have chugged
along.
“I don’t think anybody has
had a good experience betting
against Jack Dorsey,” said Fritz
Lanman, an early Square in-
vestor and tech entrepreneur.
But with an IPO looming,
Dorsey’s responsibilities at
Square will grow if he keeps
the top job at both compa-
nies. Tech news site Re/code
reported on Wednesday that
Twitter was expected to name
him permanent CEO as early
as this week. Neither company
has commented on the ap-
pointment.
Dorsey will likely face fire
when Square begins its road
show, the period of pitching to
investors and fund managers
leading up to the public offer-
ing, sources say.
“Investors would have to
get comfortable with how he
would do both jobs well,” said
David Erickson, a longtime
banker and venture capitalist
who teaches at the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania Wharton
School of Business.
“What would also, I think,
make this particular situation
more challenging is the turna-
round currently going on at
Twitter, and the time I assume
it would require.”
While not facing the same
scrutiny as Twitter, Square is
working to define itself and is
in need of leadership. Square
started as a payments com-
pany but now offers a suite
of small-business services,
ranging from loans to invoice
software, and it continues to
experiment and evolve.

World’s biggest wealth In shadow of Fed liftoff, Treasuries

fund awaits verdict top all other investments in 2015
on textile makers Bloomberg
New York

Bloomberg its effort to ensure it only holds

Oslo ethically sound assets. With the spectre of a Federal Reserve
The Norwegian fund takes interest-rate increase looming over
into account ethical rules en- global financial markets all year, the

T
he ethics council that
guides Norway’s $820bn
sovereign wealth fund is
zeroing in on the textile industry
for breaching its standards in a
development that may lead to
some companies being excluded
from the fund’s portfolio.
In a study of about 400 tex-
tile manufacturers, about “two
handfuls” have been singled
out and contacted, Johan H An-
dresen, the chairman of Nor-
way’s Council on Ethics, said in
an interview on Thursday at his
office on the outskirts of Oslo.
“We will see whether we think
that they are willing and able to
make changes in their conduct,”
he said. As investors shrink away
from Volkswagen following its
emissions scandal, Andresen
said hot-spots of media focus
aren’t always the areas his coun-
cil deems the most pressing.
Instead, he spoke of the “slav-
ery” and other “shocking revela-
tions” relating to how garments
for western consumption are
produced, “and nobody raises
an eyebrow in our part of the
world.”
Norway’s wealth fund isn’t
the only big investor treating the
textile industry with growing
caution. Nordea Asset Manage-
ment, a unit of Scandinavia’s
biggest bank which oversees
about $320bn, said in August it
has investigated textile suppliers
to Hennes & Mauritz as part of
compassing human rights, some
weapons production, the envi-
ronment and tobacco. It has ex-
cluded more than 60 companies
after recommendations from the
council, including global giants
like Wal-Mart Stores.
Andresen said his council’s
studies of the textile industry
have found “strong indications
of forced labour at least in the
past and we will have to judge if
that will be a possibility also in
the future.”
The council is unlikely to make
recommendations to the wealth
fund that punish a company for
past misdeeds, provided it shows
real evidence it has put in place
processes that will lead to im-
provement, Andresen said.
He also said his council hasn’t
started any study on the car in-
dustry since the VW scandal,
and declined to comment on
specific companies.
The textile manufacturing
industry made global headlines
in 2013 with the collapse of the
Rana Plaza complex in Bangla-
desh that killed more than 1,100
people. A nationwide strike by
garment workers in Cambodia
last year also left three dead.
A report by the Clean Clothes
Campaign and workers’ rights
groups released this week criti-
cised H&M for being behind
schedule in “correcting dangers”
faced by Bangladeshi workers
who produce its clothing.
asset class most susceptible to rising
rates - Treasuries - has topped other
US investments through the first three
quarters of 2015.
The slow economic growth and financial-
market volatility that have caused the
Fed to delay liftoff have benefited US
government bonds as other asset classes
stumbled. With plunging commodity
prices pushing inflation expectations to
the lowest since 2009, Treasuries have
been a haven as global equities slumped
and bond yields in Germany and Japan
touched all-time lows.
“There’s a lot of anxiety out there,” said
Robert Tipp, chief investment strategist
in Newark, New Jersey for Prudential
Financial’s fixed income division, which
oversees $533bn. “We’ve dealt with
crises in Greece, stress in emerging-
market countries and heavy corporate
issuance, and all the while the Fed’s in the
background holding the threat of rate
hikes over the market.” down note Thursday, pushing yields up for oil have helped curb US inflation between yields on investment-grade
The 1.9% return for US government from the lowest level in more than five expectations, which fell below a 1% pace corporates and Treasuries at the widest
securities this year beats the 5.3% decline weeks amid gains in global stocks and for the next five years for the first time in three years, US government debt is
in the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock a Chinese report showing stability in since 2009. likely to lag behind company bonds in the
index, the 0.1% dip in corporate bonds factory production. Benchmark 10-year Even US corporate bonds, which often do remainder of the year, Prudential’s Tipp
and a 2.1% slide in high-yield debt, not to note yields rose one basis point, or 0.01 well when Treasuries gain, have slumped said.
mention the 14.1% plunge in the Standard percentage point, to 2.04% in New York, this year. Companies have rushed to The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield
& Poor’s Goldman Sachs Commodity based on Bloomberg Bond Trader data. borrow in the US before the Fed moves to will rise to 2.46% by year-end, according
Index. China’s surprise devaluation of its raise rates for the first time since 2006. to the median forecast in a Bloomberg
“Anything positive is relatively good,” currency in August sparked a global With debt sales up 14.6% from the same News survey. The yield fell to 2.04%
said Marc Fovinci, who helps invest equities rout as volatility surged across period last year to a record $1.02tn, the Wednesday from 2.17% at the beginning
$3.2bn as head of fixed income at financial markets. Speculation that deluge has helped drive down prices. of 2015.
Ferguson Wellman Capital Management China’s economy will fall below the At the same time, the rout in crude oil Traders are pricing in a 43% probability
in Portland, Oregon. “Treasuries, by the 7% expansion pace targeted by its has led to losses in the high-yield market, of a Fed rate increase by the end of the
process of elimination, have been the government has fuelled concern that where many energy companies raise year, based on the assumption that the
winner.” global growth is declining, putting further money. effective fed funds rate will average
Treasuries started the quarter on a pressure on commodities. Lower prices With the 1.77 percentage point gap 0.375% after liftoff.
 Gulf Times
10 Saturday, October 3, 2015
BUSINESS
Investors worry about future
performance of Glencore
Bloomberg
London
F
rom London to New York to Hong
Kong, the frantic question kept
coming: could this be another
Lehman?
But nowhere did it cause more alarm
than inside Glencore - the Swiss com-
modities giant that had suddenly found
itself at the epicentre of a global panic
on Monday.
What began that morning in Lon-
don, with a sudden plunge in Glen-
core’s share price, cascaded across
oceans and time zones and left the
company’s billionaire chief executive,
Ivan Glasenberg, scrambling to calm
anxious shareholders, creditors and
trading partners.
Days later, even as Glencore regained
most of the $6bn of shareholder wealth
erased in a few hours, many investors
wondered if Glasenberg can hold the
markets at bay. Few market players,
including people close to Glencore,
are able to pinpoint why a blue-chip
member of the FTSE-100 Index- even
one that had been under pressure from
sliding commodities prices - lost al-
most a third of its value in a blink. And
that, investors worry, suggests this
could all happen again.
“There’s more pain to be had,” said
Serge Berger, a Zurich- based trader at
Blue Oak Advisors. “I don’t think the
story is over.”
This report of how the fear spread
and was eventually pacified is the
product of interviews with 13 bankers,
investors, and others involved in this
week’s events, all of whom asked not to
be identified discussing a private mat-
ter. A spokesman for Glencore declined
to comment.
Monday started out as just another
workday in Baar, the tiny town where
Glencore is based. The village could
easily pass for a Swiss backwater, ex-
cept for the billions of dollars’ worth
of commodities that quietly course
through Glencore’s headquarters on
Baarermattstrasse, between the lake
and the Alpine hills.
Glasenberg, a former coal trader,
has honed his skills over more than 30
years in the commodity-trading busi-
ness since he joined a predecessor firm,
Marc Rich& Co, in 1984.
He was part of a $1.2bn manage-
ment buyout from Rich in 1994, when
the company was renamed Glencore. A
2011 initial public offering- at the peak
of a 10-year commodity boom - made
him a billionaire on paper, with a stake
worth about $9bn.
At the worst of Monday’s panic, that
holding was worth $1.2bn.
“Monday was certainly very scary,”
said Benno Galliker, a trader at Luzern-
Singapore fund, Mitsui keen to buy Glencore’s stake
Bloomberg
London
T
he sovereign wealth fund of Sin-
gapore is among investors that
have expressed interest in buy-
ing a minority stake in Glencore’s ag-
riculture business, according to two
people familiar with the conversations.
Others involved in preliminary ne-
gotiations include Japanese trading
houses such as Mitsui & Co and at
least one Canadian pension fund, said
the same people, who asked not to be
identified because the matter is confi-
dential.
Lead, zinc prices slide across the board on China slowdown
Andy Home
London
The commodities “supercycle”, it is now
generally accepted, is over.
Slowdown in China, the lynchpin of the
whole concept, is turning out to be a lot
harder than anyone expected with indus-
trial metal prices sliding across the board.
But for some of them the “supercycle”
was arguably over many years ago.
Consider the example of lead and zinc,
often called sister metals because they
tend to be found in the same deposits and
are as often as not mined in tandem.
Zinc’s “supercycle” price peak of $4,580
per tonne, basis three-month metal on
the London Metal Exchange (LME), came
in November 2006 while lead’s peak of
$3,890 followed a year later in October
2007. Neither made it back to those lofty
heights in the Chinese infrastructure-
fuelled boom that followed the Global
Financial Crisis of 2008-2009.
And since then the two sisters have
Glencore headquarters in Baar, Switzerland. The company is now trying to get back to business as usual, proceeding with asset sales to cut debt and moving the ships,
trains and trucks it uses to ship commodities from one corner to another.
er Kantonalbank AG in Lucerne, Swit-
zerland. “It had a similar feeling to that
before Lehman collapsed.”
There’d been no news of conse-
quence over the weekend; the last ma-
jor headline - a Bloomberg story about
Glencore’s hiring of banks to sell a
stake in its agriculture unit - had sent
its shares up.
In China, whose coal plants and
steel mills are the largest consumers of
Glencore’s products, there’d been some
discouraging economic data. But this
year’s drumbeat of negative news about
the world’s second-largest economy
was hardly a new phenomenon.
Meanwhile, the South African bank
Investec had published a provocative
note in which analyst Marc Elliott sug-
gested the company could see its eq-
uity all but vanish if commodity prices
stayed weak.
While that was an alarming pre-
diction, Elliott, ranked by Bloomberg
as the eighth most- accurate analyst
covering Glencore, could hardly have
expected his views to have much of
an effect on an operation with almost
Citigroup, one of the banks hired to
run the sale alongside Credit Suisse
Group, said in an analyst note on Tues-
day that the whole business could be
worth as much as $10.5bn.
Glencore is seeking to sell a minority
stake in the unit, which deals in com-
modities from wheat to cotton, soy-
beans to sugar.
As part of negotiations with poten-
tial buyers, the Swiss- based commod-
ities trader is considering a plan that
will carve out its agriculture business
as a stand-alone company with its own
capital structure, incorporating the
unit in Singapore, the same people said.
Under the island state’s rules, com-
done little more than trudge sideways in
well-worn ranges until joining in this year’s
broader sell-off.
Such an uninspiring price perform-
ance has left the two being dubbed the
ugly sisters, to be played off against each
other in one of the LME Street’s favourite
relative-value plays.
That relative value trade has recently
been turned on its head with lead re-
establishing a premium over zinc for the
first time since June of last year.
The premium itself is still small and
tentative. As of Thursday’s closing evalua-
tions zinc ($1,687.50) was once again just
out in front of lead ($1,649.00).
And the relationship looks set to remain
confused and confusing since the turna-
round has been driven by confused and
confusing visible stock movements.
In large part the collapsing zinc pre-
mium over lead has reflected collapsing
sentiment towards the galvanising metal
relative to its battery-dependent sister.
The new negativity has been caused
by a rapid build in LME zinc stocks from
$200bn in annual turnover. A company
admired for its savvy traders and eagle-
eyed ability to spot trends looked sud-
denly vulnerable.
Some hedge funds, which direct an
ever-greater share of activity in the
equity markets, have been falling out
of love with Glencore for some time. In
addition to their concern over its debt
and the ongoing weakness in prices for
key commodities, some were further
annoyed when they were largely boxed
out of the company’s $2.5bn share sale
two weeks earlier - a chance to buy in at
a fraction of the IPO price.
A trader at a US-based hedge fund
described becoming increasingly
alarmed by Glencore’s debt levels since
it reported a 56% decline in first-half
earnings in August.
Concluding the company might have
trouble maintaining access to the cheap
financing that drives its trading opera-
tions, the fund took a short position,
betting Glencore shares would fall.
Two hedge funds - Lansdowne Part-
ners UK and Passport Capital - cur-
rently have disclosed short positions in
modity trading houses can benefit from
tax rates as low as 5%.
A Glencore spokesman declined to
comment as did a spokeswoman for
Singapore’s GIC.
A Mitsui spokesman said the com-
pany was “aware of Glencore’s plan to
sell certain businesses, but we have not
come to a decision at the present.”
The negotiations come as Glencore
fights an equity-market rout that has
eroded more than 80% of its market
value since its 2011 IPO.
After plunging nearly 30% on Mon-
day, Glencore shares have regained
most of their losses and were trading
at 91.6 pence yesterday, down 6% this
430,800 tonnes at the start of August to
617,325 tonnes in the middle of September.
That was thanks to the “arrival” of
228,225 tonnes of zinc at LME warehouses
in New Orleans, long the black hole for
surplus zinc stocks.
Suggestions that some of this metal
Glencore, according to data compiled
by Bloomberg. Others have taken such
positions in ways or amounts that don’t
require disclosure.
Another trader at a major US firm
said he and colleagues had discussed
shorting Glencore over the summer but
decided not to - a call he came to rue as
the stock cratered.
All along, Glasenberg seemed un-
perturbed, even defiant, in the face of
mounting investor worries and a de-
clining share price, people who met
with him in recent weeks said.
But as Monday’s drama deepened,
Glencore began to respond. Key finan-
ciers in London were roped in to coun-
ter the plunging share price and rebut
what the company believed was misin-
formation in the Investec report.
Unusual for a company that values
discretion, Glencore instructed bank-
ers at some of its large lenders to speak
with journalists to allay any concerns
about solvency, instead of declining to
comment.
An information session hosted by
Barclays with debt investors was hur-
week.GIC, formerly Government of
Singapore Investment Corp, had made
investments in food commodities in
the past, at one point becoming the
largest shareholder in Bunge, the US-
based food trader. Mitsui has invest-
ments in agriculture in Brazil, Japan
and the US Other Japanese traders such
as Marubeni Corp and Mitsubishi Corp
have already spent billions of dollars in
the sector.
The sale of the agriculture business
is part of a debt- cutting programme
that Glencore Chief Executive Officer
Ivan Glasenberg announced in early
September. The plan includes selling
$2.5bn of new stock, asset sales, spend-
may have been offloaded by Glencore as
part of a broader debt-reduction strategy
has reinforced the apparently bearish
message that there is a lot of zinc inven-
tory around.
But in truth these “arrivals” are almost
certainly not “arrivals” at all but rather
riedly pushed forward to Wednesday
from mid- October. In at least two
banks with significant exposure to
Glencore, senior investment-banking
executives met to evaluate its liquid-
ity and whether it was at risk of falling
short of commitments.
They concluded there was little dan-
ger - as did executives at many other
lending banks - a message they passed
on to superiors.
What Glencore didn’t do was say
anything publicly. People close to the
company disagreed over whether it
should issue a statement. Some argued
that doing so would only fuel the panic;
others insisted that Glencore needed to
do something to reassure shareholders
that it was stable.
Sellers of insurance on Glencore’s
debt began demanding payment up
front in exchange for the cushion for
the first time.
Glasenberg, who was in London any-
way to meet with investors, pulled out
of a scheduled dinner with bankers, re-
placed by Chief Financial Officer Steve
Kalmin.
ing cuts and suspending the dividend.
Taken together, the measures aim to re-
duce debt from $30bn nearer to $20bn.
Glencore became a major agriculture
player when it bought Canadian grain
handler Viterra for C$6.1bn ($4.6bn) in
2012. Nonetheless, it still has no pres-
ence in the most important grain mar-
ket of all: the US.
On top of helping to reduce its debt
pile, bringing in a group of investors
could provide the company’s agricul-
tural unit with the funding to grow fur-
ther - something that Glencore would
find harder to do alone after the price of
key commodities such as coal and cop-
per plunged.
metal that was moved earlier this year to
off-exchange storage now coming back
into LME-registered sheds.
The zinc market is paying the collective
price for taking at face value the steady
drawdown in stocks in the first half of this
year, driven by 286,500 tonnes of “depar-
tures” from New Orleans.
Sentiment, in other words, is being
driven by what is largely storage arbitrage,
irrespective of whose metal it is.
LME lead stocks, by contrast, seem
to paint a more bullish picture. Over the
same six-week period that zinc stocks bal-
looned lead stocks fell by around 50,000
tonnes and they are still sliding.
Moreover, the ratio of cancelled lead
stocks, meaning those that are earmarked
for load-out, stands at 25.6%. The ratio in
LME zinc stocks is just 10.4%.
Alas, however, lead stock movements
are no more “real” than those of zInc
Rather, they denote nothing more than
the latest skirmishing in the ongoing LME
warehouse wars, the fight for inventory
between different warehouse operators.
German bond
traders keep
yields in a
narrow range
Bloomberg
Edinburgh
A
s China, Glencore and
the Federal Reserve upset
everything from stocks
to commodities, investors are
keeping German bond yields
relatively stable.
The reason lies in the first six
months of this year, said Jan Von
Gerich, chief strategist at Nor-
dea Bank AB in Helsinki. The
speed with which 10-year yields
jumped from a record low back
in April bruised investors, he
said, making them reluctant to
pile into the traditional haven.
Yields stayed within a tighter
range in both August and Sep-
tember than their five-year me-
dian. Those months overlapped
the worst quarter for equities
since 2011, when $10tn was wiped
off the value of global stocks.
They saw China devalue the
yuan in an effort to kickstart its
flagging economy. And, more
recently, they coincided with
the rout in Swiss commodities
giant Glencore as raw-materials
prices languished at their lowest
level in a decade and a half.
“Many still remember what
happened earlier in the year, how
rapidly the selloff took place,”
said Von Gerich. “And now
there’s a clear suspicion to take
yields much lower with this big
selloff still fresh in the mind. The
big picture remains that almost
all the risks are to the downside
on yields.”
German 10-year yields moved
in a range of 29 basis points, or
0.29 percentage point, in Au-
gust, and 26 in September, data
compiled by Bloomberg show.
Both were below the five-year
median of 30 basis points.
Over that two-month period,
the yield swung between a low
of 0.51% on August 24 and a high
of 0.82% on September 1. This
spread compares with a more
than 1 percentage-point swing
between April and June.
Bund yields barely budged af-
ter a report Wednesday showed
euro-zone consumer prices un-
expectedly fell last month. They
climbed three basis points to
0.57% in London yesterday amid
a rally in stocks.
Geopolitical tensions and neg-
ative inflation should be putting
downward pressure on German
debt yields, Von Gerich said.
In a buying frenzy that pre-
ceded and continued after the
European Central Bank started
its quantitative-easing pro-
gramme, investors pushed the
German 10-year yield toward
zero in April. Less than two
months later, it was above 1%,
before trending lower again as
commodity prices rekindled dis-
inflation concerns and China’s
meltdown spread.
Other European securities
followed a similar pattern. After
reaching a record-low 1.05% on
March 12, Spain’s 10-year yield
surged more than 1.5 percentage
points by mid-year.
“The bund selloff in the
spring reminds us that, in a
post- crisis world featuring
lower liquidity in many fixed-
income markets, the threat
of sharp spikes in volatility is
very real,” analysts including
Stephen Cohen, London-based
chief investment strategist at
BlackRock, the world’s biggest
asset manager, wrote in an Oc-
tober 1 note to clients.
A mass raid on lead stocks earlier this
year saw some relocated to South Korea
and some to the Dutch port of Vlissingen
with the apparent beneficiaries Metro
and Worldwide Warehouse Solutions
respectively.
But the games are far from over.
Of the 60,000 tonnes of lead that were
warranted in July at the South Korean port
of Busan, over half have been cancelled
and delivered out again.
Vlissingen, meanwhile, saw a big can-
cellation of 21,000 tonnes of metal on Sept
18, lifting that lead cancelled tonnage ratio.
When it comes to LME stocks, beware big
round numbers. End-users tend not to
use the LME system for such tonnages.
Warehouse raiders, operating in alliance
with major merchants, do.
Just who has raided whom in Vlissingen
will only become clearer when the LME
publishes its next monthly report showing
a breakdown of stocks by operator.
Andy Home is a columnist for Reuters. The
opinions expressed are his own.
 Gulf Times
Saturday, October 3, 2015 11

BUSINESS

German equity investors see $400bn vanish as DAX falls

Bloomberg makers tumbled after Volkswagen ad- easing programme has waned, with the Asian nation’s biggest European 14% of the index’s estimated earnings feisen Capital Management in Vienna.
London mitted cheating on emissions tests in gauge now down for the year. trade partner- and VW’s down- for 2015, he wrote in a September 22 “We own some German companies and
some of its diesel cars. While economists have cut their fall weighed on the market as utili- note. He’s reviewing his firm’s forecast we’re very happy about our positions.”
“To some extent, investors have 2015 growth estimates for Germany ties RWE AG and EON SE suffered for the gauge reaching 12,100 by the As the DAX fell, the cost of options

G
erman stocks are falling at a rate
not seen since Europe’s sover-
eign debt crisis.
The nation’s equity market has lost
almost $400bn in value from a high
in April as the DAX Index heads for its
first back-to-back quarterly declines
since the start of 2009.
Hit first by a rebounding euro and
the Greek crisis, the losses acceler-
ated in recent weeks as concern over a
Chinese slowdown escalated and auto-
started to price in recessionary fears,”
Ralf Zimmermann, a strategist at
Bankhaus Lampe KG in Dusseldorf.
“If markets don’t think central banks
can react anymore, this would be very
negative.
However, I still think that markets
will be mid-term up and not down as
investors overreacted.”
The optimism that lifted the DAX
22% in the first quarter as the European
Central Bank began its quantitative-
to 1.6% from 1.8% in August, Mario
Draghi said last week it’s too soon to
say whether risks to the economic out-
look warrant a step-up in stimulus.
German equities lost 23% since an
April record through yesterday, the
fastest decline in a similar period since
December 2011.
Just this quarter, the DAX has tum-
bled 14%, more than any other major
western-European market.
Germany’s link to China - it’s the
from the lowest wholesale electric-
ity prices in more than a decade and
concerns their provisions for de-
commissioning nuclear plants may
be insufficient.
Steelmaker ThyssenKrupp AG tum-
bled amid a rout in commodities, while
Commerzbank AG was battered by
share sales to repay state aid.
VW’s scandal will have repercus-
sions for the DAX, Zimmermann said.
The automaker accounts for almost
end of the year.
The DAX has fallen so much that
it now trades at 11.5 times estimated
profit of its members, near the lowest
valuation ever relative to the Stoxx Eu-
rope 600 Index, according to data go-
ing back to 2005.
To some investors, that represents
an opportunity to buy German stocks.
“When the market is down with
fears, we are on the buy side,” said
Herbert Perus, head of equities at Raif-
hedging against swings increased.
The VDAX-NEW Index has jumped
77% from a low in August and is head-
ing for its first back-to-back monthly
gains since April.
“We have a spillover effect from
weaker economies in emerging mar-
kets and diesel-gate in the news,” said
Heinz-Gerd Sonnenschein, a strate-
gist at Deutsche Postbank AG, in Bonn,
Germany. “That can make for nervous
hands on the market.”

Emerging market
assets head for
weekly advance
Bloomberg a multiple of 14.8. Eight out
London of 10 industry groups in the
emerging-markets index rose
yesterday, led by financial

E
merging-market stocks
headed for a weekly gain
as Chinese shares in
Hong Kong rallied and inves-
tors awaited US employment
data that may offer clues on
the timing of interest-rate in-
creases. Russia’s rouble weak-
ened for a second day.
The Hang Seng China En-
terprises Index surged 3%
as trading resumed after a
holiday and the government
stepped up targeted support
for the economy. China Re-
sources Land jumped 8.7% in
Hong Kong after the nation’s
central bank cut the minimum
home down-payment for
first-time buyers. The rouble
Traders work at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The benchmark Hang Seng index closed up 659.79 points to 21,506.09 yesterday. lost 0.6% versus the dollar as
President Vladimir Putin’s
call for a coordinated effort to
fight in Syria failed to convince
some investors it’s time to buy
companies. Great Wall Mo-
tor Co rallied 13% in Hong
Kong, extending a 20% surge
on Wednesday, after authori-
ties cut a tax on passenger-
vehicle purchases. South Af-
rica’s Naspers rallied as much
as 3.4% in the fourth day of
gains.
The FTSE/JSE Africa All
Share Index jumped 0.5% in
Johannesburg, taking the in-
crease this week to 1.3%. Rus-
sia’s Micex index fell 0.6%,
extending a decline in the past
five days to 1.4%. The rouble
depreciated 0.7%, while the
yield on five-year bonds rose
three basis points to 11.33%
after falling to a six-week low
on Thursday.
“The geopolitical backdrop
still provides more ques-
tions than answers and nega-
tive headlines create more

HK stocks surge in quiet Russian assets.

The MSCI Emerging Mar-
kets Index added 0.4% to
800.38 in London, extending
this week’s increase to 1.4%.
The gauge posted its worst
price action than positives,”
said John Bates, a senior vice
president at PineBridge In-
vestments, which has $77.7bn
in assets under management.
“So it is not the time to buy

trade on Asia bourses

quarterly rout since 2011 as Russia. We are being very
concerns about China’s slow- picky at the moment.”
down and the prospect for Putin is due to meet with
higher US borrowing costs the leaders of Germany and
battered developing-nation France in Paris to take stock of
assets. “Panic that had gripped progress on the Minsk agree-
the markets has eased a bit and ment that negotiated a fragile
AFP is seeing good buying,” said Chris Weston global market (and) economic condi- up to 3.4% in August, up slightly from that helped to bring some sta- ceasefire in Ukraine in Febru-
Tokyo at IG Markets. tions staying the Fed’s hand at present, July’s 3.3% rate, while a separate survey bility,” said William Jackson, an ary.
Data showing China’s factory output tonight’s September numbers might not showed that there were 123 job offers for analyst at Capital Economics The Hang Seng China En-
contracted by less than feared cheered be completely crucial,” National Australia every 100 job hunters in August. in London. “Some of the doom terprises gauge rose after the

H
ong Kong stocks surged yesterday,
bucking the trend in Asia where
markets mostly paused after a
two-day rally as investors bided their time
ahead of a closely watched US jobs report.
Casino operators led advances in Hong
Kong after a report said the government
may unveil measures to support tourism
in gambling hub Macau, while carmakers
got a boost from cuts to the passenger-
vehicle tax.
Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng
index ended the day up 3.2% or 659.79
points at 21,506.09.
But trading was quiet elsewhere as in-
vestors remained nervous ahead of US
unemployment figures that could help
determine when the Federal Reserve will
raise interest rates.
“It’s hard to say if Asian markets have
been genuinely concerned by the payrolls
report but there has been a modest risk off
feel to today’s trade, although Hong Kong
Asian markets Thursday, sending equities
and emerging market currencies rallying
for a second straight day.
But the optimism fizzled in Europe and
on Wall Street ahead of data that could
help determine when the US central bank
will raise rates for the first time in almost a
decade, seen as a key test of the resiliency
of the world economy.
Markets have been in a tailspin in re-
cent months over concerns of slowing
growth in China, the world’s second-
largest economy and a key driver of glo-
bal growth, which triggered the steepest
quarterly losses for stock markets since
2011 in the past three months.
The turmoil in financial markets was a
key factor behind the Fed holding off rais-
ing rates in September, but investors still
expect the hike to come before the end of
the year.
“US payrolls day has come round again,
but amid a still lingering sense that it is
Bank said in a commentary.
“Much stronger or weaker than expect-
ed data could of course instantly chal-
lenge that view.”
In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei 225
index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange closed
barely higher, up 2.71 points to 17,725.13,
despite news private consumption re-
bounded in August, and the job-to-offer
ratio rose to 1.23, the highest such figure
since 1992.
Investors remained cautious as ana-
lysts expressed worries that the world’s
number three economy slipped into re-
cession last quarter, after a raft of recent
disappointing data.
While yesterday’s figures showed Ja-
pan’s consumption was better than pre-
viously thought, research house Capital
Economics it still expects GDP to shrink
as a result of falling investment and net
exports.
Meanwhile, Japan’s jobless rate edged
“Peaking of the ratio suggests an in- and gloom about China may be
creasing mismatch between job seekers a little overdone. Policy sup-
and employers,” Hiromichi Shirakawa, port should provide some sup-
chief economist of Credit Suisse, said in a port to sentiment.”
client e-mail. Capital outflows from
“We think that rising job offers will not emerging markets are on track
necessarily lead to any visible increase in to exceed inflows this year
the number of employed.” for the first time since 1988.
Other Asian markets struggled. In Aus- Investors are estimated to
tralia, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 in- pull $540bn from developing
dex fell 1.18%, or 60.14 points, to close at markets in 2015, according to
5,052.0 as all sectors slipped into the red the Institute of International
following two-straight sessions of gains. Finance, based on data for 30
Seoul slipped 0.49% on selling by for- nations.
eign investors, with the benchmark KO- The developing-nation
SPI down 9.64 points at 1,969.68, while gauge has dropped 16% this
Singapore fell 0.31%, or 8.70 points, to year and is valued at 10.7 times
close at 2,793.15. projected 12-month earnings,
Markets in China and India were closed near the cheapest level since
for a public holiday. March 2014, data compiled by
Oil prices climbed in Asia yesterday as a Bloomberg show. The MSCI
hurricane threatened refineries on the US World Index has retreated
east coast. 7% in 2015 and is valued at
biggest quarterly loss in four
years. Chinese policy makers
are increasing targeted stim-
ulus after five interest-rate
reductions since November
failed to reverse an economic
slowdown. Mainland markets
remain shut until October 8
for National Day holidays.
The ringgit fell for a second
day as concern Malaysia may
miss its target of balancing the
budget by 2020 hurt a currency
already reeling from a worsen-
ing slowdown in China and al-
legations of corruption against
Prime Minister Najib Razak.
The premium investors de-
mand to own emerging-mar-
ket debt over US Treasuries
narrowed three basis points
to 428, according to JPMorgan
Chase & Co indexes.

Chronic over-production, depressed margins hit aluminium

By Andy Home
London
Alcoa is synonymous with aluminium.
The clue is in the name. Aluminum
Company of America was born in 1907
after a change of name from the original
Pittsburg Reduction Company, although
even in 1888 the company’s founders had
initially toyed with the name of Pittsburg
Aluminium Company.
One of those founders was Charles
Martin Hall, who filed his US patent for the
new light-weight metal in February 1886,
three months ahead of Frenchman Paul
Heroult.
Just who got there first was the subject
of a protracted patent dispute but their
joint efforts are now recognised in the
name of the technology used to produce
the metal, the Hall-Heroult process.
But aluminium has proved an unruly
child for Alcoa. While its usage booms, its
price languishes.
It is a modern raw material success
story but the actual business of making
the metal is a war-zone, characterised by
structural excess capacity, chronic over-
production and depressed margins.
It’s not hard to understand, therefore,
why Alcoa has decided to split its integrat-
ed business model into two parts, the high
value-add downstream business, recently
boosted by the company’s diversification
into other modern-age metals such as
titanium, and the upstream business.
Indeed, analysts have long called for
such a move and the collective approba-
tion was evident in the sharp jump in
Alcoa’s share price after Monday’s an-
nouncement.
But for the upstream company, which
will retain the Alcoa name, the immediate
outlook is for more trench warfare.
“Don’t think of it just as the aluminum
price,” Klaus Kleinfeld, Alcoa Chairman
and Chief Executive Officer, told analysts
on Monday’s conference call in response
to a question about the proposed up-
stream company’s exposure to market
forces.
“Think of it also as the alumina price,”
he said, adding: “There is a separate baux-
ite price, there are separate energy prices,
the casthouses don’t get paid for the alu-
minum, they get paid for the value-add.”
And that’s true. Alcoa has a global
foot-print at every stage of the aluminium
supply chain, from mining the baux-
ite, through refining that material into
alumina and smelting the alumina into
metal, to then transforming it into shapes
that can be used by automakers and other
manufacturers.
It also has 1,550 megawatts of power
production capacity. Only around 30% of
that is actually used in the energy-inten-
sive smelting process, allowing it to sell
the balance into power markets.
In terms of pricing, Alcoa has itself
taken the lead in fracturing supply-chain
pricing, forcing the alumina market to
break its historic linkage with the price
of metal as traded on the London Metal
Exchange (LME).
It has aggressively pushed its third-
party alumina customers into either spot
or index-linked pricing to the point that
only a residual 25% of sales are now priced
the old way, as a percentage of the LME
metal price.
But, just as aluminium is embedded in
the company’s name, Alcoa can’t lose the
problematic lynch-pin that sits at the heart
of the supply chain, running aluminium
smelters.
Right now the price of LME benchmark
three-month aluminium is trading around
$1,550 per tonne, close to last month’s low
of $1,506.
That was the lowest level seen since the
dark days of the Global Financial Crisis,
when the price dipped below $1,300
during the manufacturing implosion that
followed the credit market implosion.
Pricing pain was mitigated during the
physical premium bubble that evolved
over the course of 2012-2014. Premiums
went supernova, flexing out to over $500
per tonne over and above the LME price,
allowing producers such as Alcoa to cap-
ture a better “all-in” price for their product.
But premiums collapsed in the early
months of this year.
Alcoa has castigated the LME for chang-
ing its warehouse rules, which reduced
the load-out queues that were blamed by
aluminium users for those high premiums.
It has even castigated the US regulator
the Commodities and Futures Exchange
Commission for leaning on the LME to
do so.
But the market is still the market.
The CME’s October premium contract,
indexed to Platts’ assessment of the Mid-
west US market, is just 7.0 cents per pound
and the same-dated “all-in” contract is just
$1,629 per tonne.
Moreover, no-one expects any signifi-
cant improvement any time soon.
Indeed, analysts at Macquarie Bank
recently went as far as saying “we see no
rationale for aluminium prices to trade
anywhere near $2,000/t this decade.”
Which means, to borrow the title of an
August research paper from Goldman
Sachs, “Aluminium producers face longest
period of pain for a generation.”
Alcoa can make a convincing case that
it has already prepared its upstream busi-
ness for such pain.
The company has since 2007 moth-
balled, closed or sold a massive 1.4mn
tonnes of aluminium production capac-
ity, around one third of its total smelter
system.
Andy Home is a columnist for Reuters.
The opinions expressed are his own.
 Saturday, October 3, 2015

GULF TIMES BUSINESS

Britain may set 2018 deadline for PPI insurance claims against banks
Reuters than £20bn has already been paid out to
London over 10mn consumers.
“We take the view that a deadline ...
would help bring finality and certainty
line could still be three years away, and dling,” said Richard Lloyd, executive and the current rules and guidance rules and guidance about how firms
the regulator’s comments have failed to director of the Which? consumer lobby. about making a complaint have been in should handle PPI complaints in the
dispel additional uncertainty caused by Normally a deadline of three years is place since December 2010. light of the Plevin judgment.
a key court ruling related to PPI. placed on complaints about financial The regulator also said the time limit However, it is suggesting that a com-

B
ritain’s financial regulator said
yesterday it intended to set a
2018 deadline for people to claim
compensation for being mis-sold debt
repayment insurance, potentially
drawing a line under Britain’s costliest
consumer finance scandal.
Over the last five years banks have
already set aside more than £28bn
($42bn) to meet compensation claims
from borrowers sold payment protec-
tion insurance (PPI).
The policies, designed to protect
borrowers in the event of sickness or
unemployment, were found to have of-
ten been sold to people who would have
been ineligible to claim.
But the Financial Conduct Author-
ity (FCA) said yesterday it planned to
call time on further PPI claims, as more
in a way that advances the FCA’s opera-
tional objectives of securing an appro-
priate degree of protection for consum-
ers and protecting and enhancing the
integrity of the UK financial system,”
the regulator said.
The British Bankers’ Association,
which has been lobbying for a deadline,
said the watchdog had provided fur-
ther clarity for consumers, who should
contact their bank directly if they think
they are owed compensation.
The FCA said it aimed to issue a con-
sultation by the end of the year, and set
the deadline two years from the rules
coming into force. The new rules would
not come in before spring 2016, so con-
sumers will have until at least spring
2018 to complain.
Bankers said privately that a dead-
But analysts at Citi bank said while
the deadline may bring forward more
complaints it would also greatly reduce
uncertainty for the banks. “We believe
this is a positive outcome, with Lloyds
set to benefit most,” Citi analysts said
in a note.
Shares in Lloyds Banking Group,
which has set aside more than any
other bank to compensate customers,
were up 1.4% at 1335 GMT. Barclays,
HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland were
all lower, reversing earlier gains, in line
with the broader market.
Consumer groups were cautious,
saying the deadline must not reward
banks that are dragging their feet over
payouts. “If a timebar is introduced,
the FCA must make sure all banks carry
out a complete review of their PPI han-
products but none was set with PPI as
many customers were unaware they
had bought the product.
The watchdog said that it was an ap-
propriate time to set a deadline as rules
on PPI claims have been in place since
2010 and surveys showed most people
were aware of possible compensation.
A deadline could help end some of
the “inertia” being seen as some con-
sumers are not bothering to make a
claim, the FCA said. It could give no
figures on potential remaining claims.
A high and growing proportion of PPI
claims now go back a decade or more,
with the evidence to back them becom-
ing increasingly “stale” or patchy, the
FCA said.
The FCA said that sales of loan insur-
ance fell dramatically after early 2009
would also apply to complaints being
contemplated following a landmark
ruling last year by the Supreme Court
which suggested there might be an ad-
ditional cause for complaint over PPI
sales concerning the level of commis-
sions paid on the sale.
The court found that Paragon Per-
sonal Finance breached the Consumer
Credit Act by failing to tell a borrower,
Susan Plevin, that the charge of £5,780
for her PPI policy, which was added to
the loan of £34,000, included a com-
mission paid to Paragon and a credit
broker amounting to 71.8% of the total
PPI premium. If the ruling was found
applicable to other PPI sales, banks
may have to pay out billions of pounds
more in compensation.
The FCA said it will now consult on
mission of 50% or more on a PPI sale
should be deemed “unfair”, with the cus-
tomer potentially eligible for compensa-
tion, but only if they have not yet suc-
cessfully claimed for PPI mis-selling.
The average commission was about
67%, and redress would cover the dif-
ference between the 50% “unfair”
threshold and the commission actually
paid, the FCA said.
Analysts at Citi said that the pro-
posals to impose the same deadline on
claims related to the Plevin case should
also mitigate the impact of the ruling on
the lenders.
“With the onus seemingly placed
on the consumer to complain, within
a fixed deadline, this should greatly
reduce the redress risk associated with
Plevin, in our view,” the analysts said.

GM to overhaul
Canada firm fights gold almost its entire
mine ban by Greek govt
Eldorado halted from
product line
Bloomberg
New York
pushing hard on autonomous,
or self- driving, technology.
developing mine in northern Late next year, GM will have a
Greece; case tests Tsipras fleet of 2017 Chevrolet Volts

G
govt’s approach to foreign eneral Motors Co chief
investment executive officer Mary
Barra told investors the
Reuters automaker will push for sales
Athens growth and roll out a parade
of new models over the next
five years, with the new Cadil-
driving autonomously at its
Tech Center north of Detroit,
Barra said. The cars will ferry
employees around the campus
and park without driver assist-
ance, the company said.
GM also said it will launch

A
Canadian company ap-
pealed to Greece’s top
court yesterday to over-
turn a ban on its plans to develop
a gold mine in a forested area of
northern Greece, in a case wide-
ly seen as a test of the leftist gov-
ernment’s approach to foreign
investment.
Vancouver-based Eldo-
rado’s venture to extract gold
and other ores on the verdant
Halkidiki peninsula is seen as
one of the top investments in
a country racked by a debt cri-
sis since the end of 2009. The
company has put in more than
$600mn since 2012 and plans
to invest another $1bn in its
quest for gold, copper and zinc
at two other sites.
But a day before resigning to
call a general election, Prime
Minister Alexis Tsipras’ govern-
ment revoked Eldorado’s permit
for the Halkidiki mine in mid-
August, citing environmental
grounds, in a move that showed
Greece remains a risky bet for
investors.
Eldorado then suspended all
its activities at the mine and
made most of its 1,300 workers
temporarily redundant.
Some 500 of its workers dem-
onstrated yesterday in support
of the company’s appeal outside
the Council of State, Greece’s
highest administrative court,
some carrying a banner that
proclaimed: “No future without
the ores”.
Their trade union has joined
the company’s lawsuit against
Greece’s energy ministry, which
had tried to block the invest-
ment since February. On Au-
gust 19, Energy Minister Panos
Skourletis, a hardline leftist,
accused Eldorado’s Greek unit,
Hellas Gold, of violating envi-
ronmental safety guidelines.
Construction equipment is seen during the digging of a pit at the Skouries gold mine operated by Hellas Gold and Eldorado Gold Corp, near
Ierissos, Halkidiki pensinsula in Greece (file). Eldorado’s venture to extract gold and other ores on the verdant Halkidiki peninsula is seen as
one of the top investments in Greece, racked by a debt crisis since the end of 2009.
After hearing oral arguments
for about two hours, the court
gave both sides until October
7 to make full written submis-
sions, Eldorado’s lawyer Eleni
Trova told reporters.
The court will hold several
sessions before it issues a ruling.
“We’re awaiting the court’s
ruling which we believe will
vindicate us,” said Yiorgos
Hatzis, head of the workers’ un-
ion, after the hearing. “People
in Halkidiki are tired of being
unemployed because of unfair
decisions.”
The high-profile case came
to court in a week when Tsipras,
who won re-election on Sep-
tember 20, appealed to foreign
investors on a visit to the US to
put their money in Greece’s fu-
ture.
“The message to inves-
tors is that they are welcome
in Greece,” he said at a Clinton
Global Initiative event on Sun-
day. “The message is that now
we have stability and a govern-
ment with a clear mandate from
the Greek people to make all the
necessary changes. So they have
nothing to lose.”
That’s not the way it looks to
Eldorado or to investment bank-
ers advising foreign companies
in Greece.
“The issue has a very bad
resonance abroad and doesn’t
help in attracting investors at
all,” said one investment bank-
ing director of an Athens-based
bank, speaking on condition of
anonymity.
Investor interest in Greece
had edged up after the country
signed up to an €86bn ($96bn)
third bailout with eurozone
governments last month, he
said, but there was still a long
way to go to restore business
confidence. Athens Univer-
sity economist George Pagou-
latos said the ban looked like a
political gambit to rally voters
for Tsipras’ leftist Syriza party
in northern Greece before the
election, and the government
would probably be relieved to be
overruled by the supreme court
now.
The court is also expected
to decide on a request by the
company and its workers for an
injunction that could open the
way for a temporary resumption
of works at the mine before the
final verdict.
lac CT6 offering autonomous
driving technology in 2016.
Barra said GM will replace
almost its entire global prod-
uct line over that period, with
39% of the its projected sales
volume being new models in
2016. She also made a case that
GM is working to be the indus-
try’s technology leader with
initiatives like offering a Super
Cruise option in the CT6, al-
lowing drivers to drive hands-
free on the highway that year.
“The convergence of rap-
idly changing technology and
changing consumer preferenc-
es is creating an inflection point
for the industry,” Barra said in a
statement on Thursday.
“Some might find this mas-
sive change to be daunting, but
we look at it and see the oppor-
tunity to be a disruptor.”
Over the next couple of years,
GM will see the benefit of high-
er investment in new product.
Because new cars take three or
four years to develop, the com-
pany’s meager $4.2bn capital
budget in 2010 left it with a
dearth of new models in recent
years. The company is on pace
to spend $9bn this year.
Along the way, Barra said she
plans to take out $5.5bn in pur-
chasing, manufacturing and
administrative expenses from
2015 to 2018.
Barra is trying to make the case
that GM is poised for growth by
pushing into emerging markets,
especially India and China, and
in established markets with new
products and technology. She
wants to show investors that the
company can enter a new phase
of improved profit after the De-
troit-based automaker’s stock
has fallen 25% since she became
CEO in January 2014.
The automaker has been
two new car-sharing programs,
one that operates in New York
City and another in an un-
named US city. GM also has a
car-sharing program in Europe
with Opel brand.
Finding new areas of growth
is vital to GM. The company’s
net income in this year’s first
half rose to $2bn from $491mn.
That was thanks in large degree
to cost cutting. Automotive rev-
enue fell to $71bn from $74.8bn.
GM is working to be the
industry’s technology
leader with initiatives
like offering a Super
Cruise option in the
CT6, allowing drivers to
drive hands-free on the
highway
Barra said that she sees con-
tinued growth in China, despite
the slowdown this year, and the
automaker wants to push ahead
in India, which she said can be-
come the world’s third-largest
car market within the next dec-
ade. GM said in July that it will
invest $5bn in the Chevrolet
brand to grow more in Brazil,
China, India and Mexico.
The company needs growth
in other markets because 75%
of its net income came from the
US and China.
Dan Ammann, the auto-
maker’s president, has said the
company can expand in emerg-
ing markets and also boost
earnings from its GM Financial
lending arm. GM will push to
make more money in the luxury
market in the next five years,
Barra said. The automaker is
pouring $12bn into eight new
models globally for Cadillac.
The brand has grown in China,
where GM thinks it can become
a bigger player.

QSE WEEKLY REVIEW

Transport, telecom and realty counters witness buying interests; index up 19 points
By Santhosh V Perumal
Business Reporter
Buying interests from foreign institutions
and local retail investors helped the Qatar
Stock Exchange (QSE) gain 19 points in an
otherwise truncated trading week in view
of Eid Al Adha holidays.
Transport, telecom and realty counters
notably witnessed some influential buying
interests, which lent bullish support to the
QSE during the week.
Notwithstanding net selling pressure
from domestic institutions and non-Qatari
individual investors, the 20-stock Qatar
Index was up 0.17% during the week that
saw gainers outnumber losers.
Saudi Arabia fell 1.35%, Kuwait (0.59%),
Muscat (0.44%), Dubai (0.36%) and Bah-
rain (0.1%); while Abu Dhabi gained 0.13%
during the week.
QSE has fallen 6.78% year-to-date
against Kuwait’s decline of 12.47%, Saudi
Arabia’s 11.9%, Bahrain’s 10.53%, Muscat’s
8.7%, Dubai’s 4.1% and Abu Dhabi’s 0.2%.
However, marginal selling pressure was
visible within the insurance, industrials
and consumer goods counters in the QSE
during the week.
The index that tracks Shariah-principled
stocks was seen gaining the most during
the week.
The 20-stock Total Return Index rose
0.17% and All Share Index (comprising
wider constituents) by 0.26% and Al
Rayan Islamic Index by 0.41% during the
week that witnessed real estate, banking,
industrials and telecom sectors together
constitute more than 79% of the overall
trading volume.
Opening the week weak at 11,275
points, the market witnessed sporadic
buying on the subsequent day to take
the index to a high of 11,465 points but
failed to surpass the 11,500 levels on the
last day and thus settled at 11,453 points.
Transport stocks appreciated 1.41%, tel-
ecom (0.84%), realty (0.43%) and banks
and financial services (0.2%); while insur-
ance, industrials and consumer goods
fell 0.15%, 0.03% and 0.02% respectively
during the week.
Of the 43 stocks, as many as 24 gained,
while 16 fell and two were unchanged.
Another one was not traded during the
week that saw Gulf International Services
(GIS) and Masraf Al Rayan dominate the
trading ring in terms of volume and value
respectively.
Six of the nine industrials, five of the 12
banks and financial services, four each of
the eight consumer goods and the four
real estate, two each of the five insurers
and the three transport and one of the
two telecom sector equities close higher
during the week.
Major gainers included QNB, Masraf
Al Rayan, Qatari Investors Group, Aamal
Company, GIS, Mesaieed Petrochemical
Holding, United Development Company,
Barwa, Ooredoo, Gulf Warehousing and
Nakilat during the week.
However, Industries Qatar, Vodafone
Qatar, Qatar Islamic Bank, Commercial
Bank, Doha Bank and Qatar Electricity and
Water were seen bucking the trend during
the week.
Market capitalisation was up 0.14% or
about QR1bn to QR603.28bn with micro,
small, mid and large cap equities gaining
1.07%, 0.39%, 0.23% and 0.15% respec-
tively during the week.
Large, micro and mid cap stocks have
reported year-to-date declines of 13.4%.
5.05% and 3.06% respectively; even as
small caps gained 3.98%.
Foreign institutions turned net buyers
to the tune of QR37.02mn compared with
net sellers of QR38.86mn the previous
week.
Local retail investors were also net
buyers to the extent of QR8.06mn against
net sellers of QR14.51mn the week ended
September 22.
However, domestic institutions turned
net profit takers to the tune of QR38.64mn
compared with net buyers of QR54.07mn
the previous week.
Non-Qatari retail investors’ net selling
increased to QR6.45mn against QR0.71mn
the week ended September 22.
Total trade volume rose 21% to 17.18mn
shares, value by 25% to QR806.61mn and
transactions by 26% to 11,654 during the
week.
The transport sector’s trade volume
grew more than five-fold to 1.67mn equi-
ties and value more than quadrupled to
QR46.86mn on more than tripled transac-
tions to 1,275.
The consumer goods sector’s trade
volume almost tripled to 1.57mn stocks on
11% surge in value to QR39.73mn and 38%
in deals to 610.
The insurance sector saw 57% expan-
sion in trade volume to 0.36mn shares but
value more than doubled to QR33.53mn
on 61% growth in transactions to 278.
The banks and financial services sec-
tor reported 12% surge in trade volume
to 3.9mn equities, 29% in value to
QR284.17mn and 39% in deals to 2,909.
The real estate sector’s trade volume
rose less than 1% to 4.02mn stocks and
value by 8% to QR98.01mn, while transac-
tions shrank 16% to 1,514.
However, the industrials sector’s trade
volume was down 1% to 3.2mn shares,
even as value grew 21% to QR234.36mn
and transactions by 14% to 3,483.
Although the telecom sector’s trade vol-
ume was flat at 2.46mn equities, there was
an 8% fall in value to QR69.95mn. Deals
soared 20% to 1,585.
In the debt market, there was no
trading of treasury bills and government
bonds during the week.

To Advertise here
Call: 444 11 300, 444 66 621
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Dhul-Hijja 19, 1436 AH
GULF TIMES
SPORT
QATAR PRIX DE L’ARC DE TRIOMPHE
Favourite Treve to
start from 8th gate
‘I hope we achieve this win for Qatar. It will be Qatar’s stamp on history. I think it is
important for us to be here and also to try and win this race. Competition is there and
we respect everyone that is racing. We hope to achieve what we have set out to do’
Al Shaqab Racing's Treve is drawn for gate number eight for tomorrow's Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris yesterday. PICTURES: Juhaim
By Mikhil Bhat
Paris
A
t yesterday’s draw cer-
emony for tomorrow’s
Qatar Prix de l’Arc de
Triomphe, New Bay’s
name was drawn first by Paris
Saint-Germain and France na-
tional women’s team defender
Boulleau Laure.
The winner of Prix du Jockey
Club and Qatar Prix Niel, who is
considered the second favourite
to win the Arc, drew number 5.
Four more names were drawn
and many of the 100-odd peo-
ple at the ceremony grew restless
waiting for a name.
There was quite a shuffling
around when Laure announced
the name Treve after picking it
Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club general manager Nasser Sherida al-Kaabi oversees
yesterday's Qatar Arabian World Cup draw ceremony at Longchamp Racecourse in
Paris as Al Shaqab Racing's Al Mourtajez is drawn for gate number six for the race.
up from the bowl. The Al Shaqab
Racing’s mare, the favourite to
win the Arc for the third straight
time, will start the race from the
eighth gate, not the closest to the
rails but close enough to be com-
fortable in the race.
With the sponsorship of what
is arguably the world’s most pres-
tigious race and Treve as a favour-
ite to win this year, the spotlight is
on Qatar.
“It does augur well for us as a
country. But at the same time, as
Qataris we also have a little pres-
sure on us because all the focus is
on Treve,” Qatar Racing and Eques-
trian Club general manager Nasser
Sherida al-Kaabi told Gulf Times
yesterday after the draw at Paris’
iconic Longchamp Racecourse.
“I think we are up to it and I
hope we achieve this win for Qa-
CRICKET | Page 3
Duminy
powers SA
to win in 1st
T20 match
tar. It will be Qatar’s stamp on
history. I think it is important
for us to be here and also to try
and win this race. Competition
is there and we respect everyone
that is racing. We hope to achieve
what we have set out to do.”
Asked about Golden Horn
owner Anthony Oppenheimer’s
comments on his horse beating
Treve, al-Kaabi in a calm de-
meanour said, “Anyone can say
what they want. As far as we are
concerned we are focused on our
work and we are focused on what
we want achieve. Our goal is to
win the Arc.”
Talking about Qatar’s sponsor-
ship of the event, he said, “Arc
de Triomphe is a major festival
where people from all over the
world join us here. I have read
in the news that the event has
Paris Saint-Germain and France national women's team player Boulleau Laure,
who participated in the draw for Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and the Qatar
Arabian World Cup, poses with the two trophies yesterday.
around 1 billion viewers from
around the world. I think this is
major promotion for Qatar. With
so many people watching this
prestigious race, they know that
Qatar is involved with it.”
Also to be run tomorrow is the
2000m Group 1 race for Purebred
Arabians, Qatar Arabian World
Cup. HH Sheikh Mohammed bin
Khalifa al-Thani-owned Djainka
Des Forges, who won the one mil-
lion euro race last time round, will
start from the ninth gate on Sunday.
The Julian Smart-trained horse
will be up against some of the
best Arabians in the race, notable
among them HH Sheikh Abdullah
bin Khalifa al-Thani’s Kalino, Ma-
jeed and TM Thunder Struck, HH
Sheikh Mohamed bin Khalifa al-
Thani’s Gazwan and Sir Bani Yas.
“I believe that the draw is not
TENNIS | Page 9
Muguruza
cracks top 5,
to meet
Venus in final
FOOTBALL
Mourinho
aims to revive
spluttering Blues
Page 5
a big factor in the races. If there
is not much traffic, we should be
doing well,” Alban de Mieulle,
who is the trainer for the three
horses of HH Sheikh Abdullah bin
Khalifa al-Thani in the fray, told
Gulf Times.
“For me, I think the best horse
will win. Yes, if you start on the
inside, you have an advantage
but if you start slow while you are
inside, you could hit traffic. So
the way I look at it, it works both
ways. So it depends on your hors-
es,” the Frenchman added.
Asked who is he most hopeful
for, he said, “I think TM Thunder
Struck will do well. He did well
last time too and in the prepara-
tion for this weekend, two weeks
ago, he lost just by a neck against
a good horse. He can do some-
thing nice on Sunday.”
INTERVIEW/ JASSIM AL-GHAZALI
‘Treve is
primed for
a hat-trick’
By Mikhil Bhat
Paris
M
idway through the
last season, Jassim
al-Ghazali (pic)
was feeling the heat.
He had won 140-odd races
the season before and he was
inching closer to that mark
again. With a lot of reputation
and success at stake, there were
questions he faced every time
he met someone: ‘Can you do
it?’ or ‘How will you do it?’
“You won’t believe the kind
of pressure I was under,” al-
Ghazali tells Gulf Times. “I
reached 70 wins, 90 wins, and
the questions kept coming at
me. Reaching 140 wins was not
easy, so imagine what it was like
when people were talking about
crossing that.”
And then on April 8, this
year, with 138 wins in the kitty,
al-Ghazali created yet another
record. He won all the eight
races on the card and in proc-
ess also smashed the 140-win
mark. He eventually finished
the season with 176 wins.
He looks up with a smile, “I
have done it now.”
And then there is a sudden
realization, “Now I have to look
at ways to better that.”
So how do you better that?
“This season is not going to
be easy. The Club has changed
the programme. You don’t
know how things are going to
pan out over the season. There
is a new track for the sand, so
there is that unpredictability
too,” he says, on the sidelines of
the Arqana Purebred Arabians
auction at Saint-Cloud Race-
course in Paris on Thursday
where he bought two horses.
“I hope to get to that level
and maybe even better that. But
it is not easy to stay at that level.
Anyone who knows anything
about horse racing, knows it is
not an easy job. Every season, I
put in a lot of hard work and the
last three four season have been
very good. I am hoping God will
help me this season too.”
In his quest for training
greatness, al-Ghazali has trav-
elled with the Al Shaqab Rac-
ing team and his brilliant horse
Dubday to Europe.
Dubday won the Betfred
Glorious Stakes, as part of the
Goodwood Festival in July this
year and third at Preis Von Eu-
ropa in Cologne last month.
He says this was a great ex-
perience for him to learn from
as a trainer. “Outside Qatar, the
horse racing and the training
scene is very different. I would
like to thank HE Sheikh Joaan
who gave me a chance this year
to go out and see for myself the
levels of racing and training. I
went with the Al Shaqab team
and Dubday. I stayed in Europe
for five months,” the champion
trainer says.
“Dubday did well at the
Goodwood Festival. He had
places in some other races.
Dubday is a special horse.
Probably the best one in Qatar.
During this period I ran horses
in England, France, Germany. It
is not easy… but for me good. I
got to learn a lot.”
He added: “Any trainer will
be in a very good position if
they go out and see the train-
ing scene there. I hope a lot of
teams in Qatar send a few train-
ers outside to gain experience.
It will only help in raising the
level. But at the same time we
also need to make sure that only
good horses go outside.
“When you go outside, you
are not working for your name,
but for Qatar’s name. Whether
it is an owner or a trainer, they
should keep in mind Qatar’s
name because when you are
outside, they refer to you as the
Qatari guy.”
It’s the Arc weekend and Al
Shaqab Racing’s Treve is on
everyone’s mind.
“The Treve is primed for a
hat-trick. She has been doing
well in training. And also, if you
meet her trainer, she seems to
be very happy every time you
meet her. I am a trainer and I
know how we think. A trainer
can sense it. Treve had a special
run last time she ran. If she runs
like last time, nobody can beat
her,” al-Ghazali says.
Treve’s Sunday bid at Long-
champ has also rubbed on to al-
Ghazali. “Dubday will go back
home. Just like Treve will try
for a hat-trick at Arc, I want for
Dubday to make a hat-trick in
the Emir’s Sword. I am hoping
to give HE Sheikh Joaan a great
result with that.”
 Gulf Times
2 Saturday, October 3, 2015

SPORT
HORSE RACING
Qatar, China
and Japan
Muraaqib justifies his only bidders
for Swimming
Worlds

top billing in Qatar Reuters

Singapore

O
nly three cities, all in Asia,
remain in the running to
host the 2021 and 2023

Total Arabian Trophy

World Swimming Champi-
onships after two more potential bid-
ders dropped out, swimming world’s
governing body FINA said.
At least eight countries had
expressed some interest in wanting
to host the sport’s showcase event
but just three candidates remain in

Mabrooka puts on show the speed she is known for to win the Qatar Arabian Trophy for Fillies contention: Doha (Qatar), Fukuoka
(Japan), and Nanjing (China).
FINA will vote to decide which two
will host the 2021 and 2023 cham-
By Sports Reporter pionships at a meeting in Dubai on
Paris November 8.
“We have three for the moment,
definitely three,” FINA executive direc-

M
uraaqib stayed true to his favourite tor Cornel Marculescu said yesterday.
status in the Qatar Total Arabian “Nanjing, Fukuoka and Doha are the
Trophy when he picked up a thrill- bidders. This is the finished deadline.”
ing win over RB Burn in the Group 1 Australia and Germany were the
race for Purebred Arabian colts at Saint-Cloud first two countries to quit the bidding
Racecourse yesterday. race and were followed by Argentina.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohamed al-Mak- Two others, Turkey and United Arab
toum-owned Munjiz progeny had come to Emirates, had also been interested but
yesterday's 2,000m race on the back of an have since withdrawn.
impressive win in the Al Rayyan Cup-Prix Ke- FINA was forced to find a new host
bseroy (Gr 1 PA) and ensured that he kept his city for 2021 after the Mexican city
momentum going. of Guadalajara withdrew as the 2017
Alsaker, owned by Royal Cavalry of Oman host, citing financial problems caused
and trained by Thomas Fourcy, rounded up the by falling oil prices.
top three at the race. Budapest, which had originally
Another one of the Fourcy charges, Ziyadd, been awarded 2021, agreed to step in
finished fourth ahead of HH Sheikh Abdullah at short notice and host the biennial
bin Khalifa al-Thani's Rasheed, who had only event in 2017 but a new site for 2021
started once before yesterday's race. Al Shaqab was needed, with Gwangju, South
Racing's Aba'ath had progressed well from his Korea already confirmed for 2019.
fifth place finish in the Al Rayyan Cup-Prix Kes- China and Japan both put forward
beroy (Gr 1 PA) to winning the Group 3 race for several candidate cities but have
Pure Arabians Prix Cheri Bibi, but yesterday, he now finalised their preferred choices,
had to settle for sixth place. Marculescu said.
Cheik Roque, Caud de L'Ardus, Al Bateel Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu prov-
and Cristal des Vialettes finished in that order. ince, was the host city for the 2014
In the Qatar Arabian Trophy for the fillies, Ma- Youth Olympics while Fukuoka was
brooka put on show the speed she is known for the site for the 2001 swimming world
to win the Group 1 race for Purebred Arabians championships.
ahead of Royal Cavalry of Oman's Worood. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Qatar has been steadily scooping
Mabrooka, owned by Sheikh Mansoor bin Resistance (Theo Bachelot up, up more and more of the world’s ma-
Zayed al-Nahyan, was first of the four Emirati right) takes the lead over Al jor sporting events as other potential
horses in top five. Dhakira (Pierre-Charles Boudot, bidders drop out, often spooked by
Sheikh Mansoor's Naziq and Shakrra, fin- centre) and Svoul (Umberto the enormous costs.
ished third and fourth ahead of Deyaar, owned Rispoli) during Prix Borax at Saint- Oil and gas-rich Qatar has already
by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan. Al Cloud Racecourse yesterday. been awarded next year’s Road Cy-
Shaqab Racing's Ghobat Bahar was sixth cling World Championships, the 2018
ahead of Rihan, Hania D.A., Princess Monlau Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club Gymnastics World Championships, the
and La Musawama. chairman HE Sheikh Mohamed 2019 Athletics World Championships
Qatar came closest to a win in Prix Borax, a bin Faleh al-Thani hands over the and the 2022 Soccer World Cup.
1600m Conditions race with a prize purse of winner's trophy for Qatar Arabian
24,000 euros. Trophy for Fillies at Saint-Cloud
Qatar Racing Limited’s Svoul took the lead Racecourse yesterday.
halfway through the race going into the bend and ON A HIGH
on to the straight. On the straight, HH Sheikh Total Qatar Public Relations
Mohamed bin Khalifa al-Thani’s Al Dhakira and
Resistance of Ecurie Skymarc Farm began the
manager Yousef al-Nisf with
the winners of the Qatar Total
Rowdy Russian
chase. The two then overwhelmed Svoul toward
the end and Resistance managed to take the win
Arabian Trophy for Colts at Saint
Cloud Racecourse yesterday.
military athletes
with 3/4 length advantage over Al Dhakira. PICTURES: Juhaim deported after
boozy flight
THREE QATARI HORSES IN FRAY FOR QATAR TOTAL ARABIAN TROPHY DES JUMENTS SEOUL: Several Russian athletes gunning
Three Qatari horses will try and today’s Group 1 PA. be trying her luck this time. With so many challengers, Syl- places in good lots for her last for gold at the Military World Games in
wrest the Qatar Total Arabian Al Shaqab Racing’s Bint Ja- HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Kha- vine Al Maury will have the com- runs. She finished fourth in the South Korea have instead been deported
Trophy des Juments at Long- kkarta and Majida had finished lifa al-Thani-owned Gidwa will also pany of Bellone du Croate, her high quality Duty Free Hatta without setting foot outside Incheon
champ today from the favourite, second and third respectively in be in the fray for the 150,000 euro stable and training partner. While International Stakes (Gr1 PA) and airport after getting drunk and causing a
Sylvine Al Maury. the Prix Nevadour (Gr1 PA) behind race. After three wins in Doha, Bellone du Croate has not shown second in the Shadwell Arabian commotion on their flight from Moscow.
The Royal Cavalry of Oman- Sylvine Al Maury last month and Julian Smart-trained Gidwa tried similar success, she has been en- Derby (Gr1 PA). An official from Incheon International
Airport Police said yesterday: “Complaints
owned mare has done well in will be looking to get the better herself in Europe. She finished tered in the race to ensure a good Youjiza has performed remark-
were received from inside the plane before
recent times against best males of of Elizabeth Bernard-trained four- seventh in the Qatar Derby des pace for the favourite. The field ably well in Morocco, her native it landed that the Russians were shouting,
her generation and has won twice year-old this time round. pur-sang arabe de 4ans (Gr2 PA) of eight runners is completed by country. For her first try in France, drinking and making noise.” The official
in as many months at La Teste- Yathrib, who had finished and fifth in the Qatar International Bachair Qardabiyah and Youjiza. she finished seventh in the Doha said police took them into custody as soon
de-Buch over 1900m coming into fourth, in that August 21 race, will Stakes (Gr1 PA). Bachair Qardabiyah took two Cup (Gr1 PA). as they arrived in South Korea. “The nine
were then transferred to the immigration
office. They were booked without physical
detention for violating aviation security
BOXING WORLDS law.” An official from Korea’s immigra-
Two Kenyan women tion service confirmed the nine had been
deported. Police confirmed local media
athletes banned for doping
Reuters Jepkorir’s result from the Lu-
Team Qatar hopes to make an impact reports that said the Russians “drank whis-
key and vodka, and walked around shout-
ing” on the plane and that they refused to
Nairobi anda race, and from the United By Sports Reporter how thrilled he is to be competing in up of one light heavyweight, one light- show their passports until a representative
Arab Emirates’ Ras al Khaimah Doha front of his own people: weight, one featherweight and two mid- of the Russian consulate was present. You
International Half Marathon in “Every day I have dreamt of boxing at dleweight boxers. Ji-hyun, spokeswoman for the Games, said:

K
enya’s athletics body February, had been annulled this level here in Qatar, and I can’t believe Each of these boxers will come into “Among the nine not all were athletes but

has suspended two
runners for failing
dope tests, five weeks
after two others were kicked out
of the World Championships in
Beijing for similar offences.
Athletics Kenya said yes-
terday it had suspended road
runner Josephine Jepkoech Jep-
korir and 800m athlete Agatha
Jeruto Kimaswai for
two and four years respec-
tively for testing positive for
the banned anabolic agent
norandrosterone.
“Athletics Kenya has sanc-
tioned Josephine Jepkoech
Jepkorir for failing a doping
test conducted on December
31, 2014 during the Corrida de
Sao Silvestre, in Luanda, Angola,
which revealed the presence of
prohibited substance norandros-
terone,” it said in a statement.
“Owing to the period when
the infraction was registered
a two-year sanction has been
imposed on the athlete effective
from March 15, 2015 and will end
on March 14, 2017.”
and she would forfeit prize and
appearance money, it said.
Kimaswai had failed an
out-of-competition test in April
and had been banned until May
2019. At the World Champion-
ships in Beijing in August,
sprinters Joyce Zakary and
Francisca Koki Manunga were
sent packing after failing dope
tests.
Zakary had qualified for
the semi-finals after setting a
Kenyan record of 50.71 seconds
in the heats.
Ahead of Beijing, Britain’s
Sunday Times newspaper and
German broadcaster ARD
reported that they had been
leaked suspicious blood results
from more than 800 athletes,
including 77 Kenyans.
In the last three years, 33 oth-
er athletes from Kenya, famed
for its middle and long-distance
runners, have failed drugs tests,
though only Rita Jeptoo, win-
ner of the Boston and Chicago
Marathons, could be classed as
a top competitor.
B
etween October 5-15, at the
state-of-the-art Ali Bin Hamad
Al Attiyah Arena in Al Sadd, Qa-
tar will be writing a new chapter
in its glorious history of hosting interna-
tional sports events.
Dr Thani al-Kuwari, the Qatar Olym-
pic Committee’s Secretary General, is
pleased to be able to welcome the global
elite for world boxing’s signature event.
“Qatar has been committed to devel-
oping sports and hosting highly suc-
cessful editions of major international
sporting events for many years, which is
an integral part of Qatar’s National Vision
2030. Creating a culture of sport in the
nation, and enabling that culture to grow
and flourish to its full potential has been
one of the key driving forces for hosting
events such as the Doha 2015 AIBA World
Boxing Championships,” he said.
For Team Qatar, it is a dream come true.
They have been waiting for this moment
since they pulled on their first pair of
gloves. A stage that allows them to com-
pete toe to toe with the rest of the world’s
finest boxing talent is special and some-
thing to behold, but to compete on home
soil for the first time makes it really unique.
Thirty-four year-old Abdul Latif from
Doha is the team’s captain and explains
that it’s finally going to be reality. I’m
still pinching myself,” the 60 kilo feath-
erweight boxer said, before adding: “The
competition will be really strong, but we
hope to make our country proud and to
show what boxing is all about. God will-
ing, we can get a couple of medals, too.”
260 boxers from 74 countries are con-
firmed for Doha 2015, along with 17 inter-
national broadcasters showing the World
Championships to half a billion TV view-
ers across 112 countries. The team knows
that the event will certainly boost the
interest around the sport, and drive re-
cruitment forward in the region.
Yousuf Ali al-Kazim, the President of
the Qatar Boxing Federation and Execu-
tive Director for the boxing spectacle ex-
plains: “Boxing is still not a huge sport in
Qatar, but it could very well be. To achieve
that we need to show people the best of
the best, and hosting this competition
will inspire children to take up boxing at
an early age. It will be a game-changer,
and it will drive recruitment forward with
unprecedented force.”
The Qatari team will undoubtedly gain
invaluable competitive experience and
take as much as they can from this com-
petition to progress and build for future
events. The five-man Qatari team is made
this competition with their own per-
sonal goals and targets that they want to
achieve, Hakan Nuraydin, the light heav-
yweight of the team explains what he
wants to achieve from the competition:
“It will be very difficult, but my hope
is to get a medal. That is what I’ve been
working on for two years now.”
Qatar holding these World Champi-
onships is a huge positive for the nation
itself and again attracts more and more
tourists and sport lovers to the sports hub
of the Middle East.
Hzam Nabah, one of the middleweight
boxers from the Qatari team, outlines his
thoughts on the Championships coming
to Qatar: “It’s a big happening, and I’m
so proud to get the World Championships
here in Doha. It will hopefully be fur-
ther proof that we (Qatar) are among the
best in the world in hosting world-class
sporting events.”
The Qatari team themselves hope that
with a huge event like this coming to
Doha, it will help to create a further inter-
est in the sport for all ages and really help
to boost the youth participation in boxing
in Qatar for the future.
For most of the team one of the main
highlights will be competing in front of
their home nation.
the exact number is unknown.”
The Games, organised by the Inter-
national Military Sports Council (CISM),
have been held every four years since
1995. This year’s event, being held in the
central city of Mungyeong from October
2-11, is expected to draw some 7,000 com-
petitors from 117 countries. The Games
feature many traditional big-event sports
such as basketball, boxing, swimming
and shooting, but also showcase unique
events such as the ‘naval pentathlon’.
BOXING
Klitschko-Fury fight
rescheduled for Nov 28
Wladimir Klitschko’s scheduled title fight
against Britain’s Tyson Fury in Dusseldorf
has been rescheduled for November
28, the world heavyweight champion’s
camp announced yesterday. Klitschko,
39, was due to meet Fury in Dusseldorf
on October 24 for the WBA, WBO and IBF
titles, but the fight was pushed back last
week after the Ukrainian tore a tendon
in his left calf while training. Fury, 27, is
unbeaten in 24 fights and is bidding to
become the first man to defeat Klitschko
since American Lamon Brewster in 2004.
 Gulf Times
Saturday, October 3, 2015 3

CRICKET
SPOTLIGHT

Misbah mulls retirement after England series

AFP UAE conditions and that will be a big
Lahore challenge for them.” Inzamam appointed Afghanistan coach
He refused to be drawn on the pros-
pect of another 3-0 rout of the Lions, Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq was yesterday Most Afghan players speak Urdu, however, and before

P
akistan Test captain Misbah-
ul-Haq said yesterday he was
mulling retirement after the
upcoming Pakistan-England
series, saying he hoped to leave the
game on a high.
The 41-year-old said the series
against England “could be my last”.
“I haven’t taken a final decision,”
Misbah told media on the sidelines of a
training camp in Lahore, adding that he
was considering his options.
Misbah retired from Twenty20
cricket in 2012 and left the one-day in-
ternational game after Pakistan’s quar-
ter-final finish in the 2015 World Cup in
Australia and New Zealand in March.
He said he wanted to leave Test
cricket with “good memories”.
“People remember your final per-
formance,” he said.
The unassuming middle-order
batsman will be remembered for his
admirable leadership of Pakistan in
the aftermath of the 2010 spot-fixing
scandal which resulted in five-year
bans for Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif
and Mohammad Amir.
Last month Misbah had announced
he will retire after an upcoming series
against India, but the December-Jan-
uary contest is in serious doubt due to
tensions between the arch-rivals.
Pakistan take on the Ashes-winning
England team in a three-Test series in
the United Arab Emirates (UAE) start-
ing in Abu Dhabi from October 13.
Misbah warned the conditions in the
UAE will be challenging for England.
“This English team has done well in
the Ashes,” he said.
“But they do not have experience of
such as the one in the UAE under his appointed temporary Afghanistan cricket coach for their up- Inzamam, former Pakistan players Kabir Khan and Rashid
captaincy three years ago. coming Zimbabwe tour, saying he was thrilled to be taking Latif also had stints as Afghanistan coach.
“We have to take it match by match, on a team whose rise has been the game’s Cinderella story. Inzamam said the ACB had been pursuing him for two years.
session by session and once you win Inzamam accepted a 25-day role to coach Afghanistan on “They offered me the role of head coach and had been after
sessions you go towards the bigger their tour of Zimbabwe, where they play five one-day inter- me for the last two years, and now they have asked me to
goals. nationals and two Twenty20s starting from October 16. help them for the Zimbabwe series, which I have agreed,”
“We are not thinking of 3-0, England “I have accepted the role of Afghanistan team coach only said Inzamam, whose batting expertise should boost the
is a top team and we have to play well for the tour of Zimbabwe,” Inzamam told AFP. “It will be wayward Afghan team. “They are aggressive and passion-
and think how to tackle them.” exciting and I would love to put their enormous passion on ate which could be both good and bad, if it is not controlled,
When asked if Pakistan would miss the right track.” so I will try to teach them that control and how to use their
Saeed Ajmal—one of the architects of Most of the Afghan players learned the game in refugee passion in the right manner.”
the 2012 rout with 24 wickets—Mis- camps on the Pakistan border after Soviets invaded Af-
bah said Pakistan have replacements in ghanistan in 1979. They burst on to the cricket world stage
leg-spinner Yasir Shah and left-armer in 2009, graduating from Division Five to Division One in
Zulfiqar Babar. the International Cricket Council programme.
“Shah and Babar are doing extraor- Since then they have featured in three World Twenty20
dinarily well and that’s a big plus, so tournaments, and earlier this year made their maiden ap-
they haven’t made us feel anyone’s ab- pearance in the 50-over World Cup held in Australia and
sence,” said Misbah. New Zealand. They also won a silver medal in the 2010
Ajmal was not selected for the series Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.
after he struggled with a remodelled However they hit a speedbump in August this year, when
bowling action required to overcome the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) decided not to extend
suspension. their English coach Andy Moles’ one-year tenure, admitting
He was suspended for illegal action communication between Moles and the team had been a
by the International Cricket Council challenge.
last year.

REPORT FOCUS

England yet to
Duminy powers SA decide on Cook’s
opening partner
to victory despite Reuters
Dubai

E
ngland’s selectors
have yet to decide
who will open the bat-

Sharma’s century
ting alongside captain
Alastair Cook against Pakistan
later this month and will use
two warm-up games to choose Trevor Bayliss
between Alex Hales or Moeen
Ali, coach Trevor Bayliss said that last team,” Bayliss told a
yesterday. news conference in Dubai.
The identity of Cook’s “It could get down to do
‘In a situation like this, one has to choke the opposition for runs. That did not happen’ partner and when to give leg-
spinner Adil Rashid his Test
we want an extra spinner, ex-
tra pace bowler, extra batter?
debut appear to be England’s Who opens the batting could
AFP was, with both sides getting big two main selection dilemmas be a consequence of that. I’m
Dharamsala totals. ahead of a first tussle with sure both those boys will get
“It was a superb innings from South Africa’s JP Duminy celebrates Pakistan since a 3-0 series an opportunity.”
Rohit (Sharma) at the start. But his team’s victory over India in their whitewash in 2012 in the Unit- Rashid is vying for a spot
first Twenty-20 match in Dharamsala

S
outh Africa put on a
thrilling batting display
to brush aside India by
seven wickets in the first
Twenty20 match in Dharamsala
yesterday and grab the lead in
the three-game series.
In a high-scoring encounter
played before a sell-out crowd of
23,000 at the picturesque venue,
the tourists chased down India’s
challenging 199-5 with two de-
liveries to spare.
India’s innings after being
sent in to bat revolved around a
superb 106 off 66 balls by opener
Rohit Sharma, ably supported by
Virat Kohli’s 27-ball 43.
But the Proteas, helped by the
Indian bowlers’ inability to grip
the ball in the evening dew, made
light of the stiff target following
a rip-roaring opening stand of
77 from 53 balls between Hashim
Amla and AB de Villiers.
Amla hit 36 off 24 balls and de
Villiers contributed a typically
aggressive 51 from 32 deliveries
that included seven fours and a
six. India claimed three wick-
ets for 15 runs to reduce South
Africa to 95-3, but JP Duminy
and Farhaan Behardien stepped
in to hit a match-winning part-
nership of 105 that came off just
55 balls. Left-handed Duminy
returned unbeaten on a 34-ball
68 that was studded with seven
sixes, three off them from suc-
cessive deliveries by left-arm
spinner Axar Patel.
Behardien chipped in with 32
not out.
Indian captain Mahendra
Singh Dhoni said his team had
enough runs on the board, but
the dew and a few expensive
overs by the bowlers proved
costly.
“A score of 200 in a T20 game
is a good one, we could not have
expected more,” said Dhoni.
“But there were periods when we
conceded too many runs.
“The conditions were not easy
for bowling. The execution had
to be spot-on, but unfortunately
some of our overs went for too
many runs.
“In a situation like this, one
has to choke the opposition for
runs. That did not happen.”
South African skipper Faf du
Plessis agreed the wet outfield
in the night session helped the
batsmen.
“I think it did get a little wet
towards the end,” he said. “But
what a great game of cricket it
today was one of those days ed Arab Emirates. in the first XI after ending a
when the bowlers were under the yesterday. (AFP) Hales, 26, struggled to make six-year absence from ODIs
pump. JP (Duminy) was great, he an impact opening England’s to produce some consistent
paced the innings so well with batting in a 3-2 ODI series bowling against Australia and
good support from Behardien.” defeat to Australia earlier this New Zealand this year.
Sreenath Aravind, a 31-year- year and has yet to play a test. “I’m only one of two or
old left-arm seamer from Kar- Ali, 28, appears the safer three selectors, but my view is
nataka, made a forgettable in- option after making two half- that he’ll play at some stage on
ternational debut as he was centuries in eight innings as this tour,” said Bayliss.
hammered for 44 runs in 3.4 England reclaimed the Ashes Pakistan have never lost
overs, including a last-over six from the Australians, although a series in the UAE and will
by Duminy. he has never opened at Test again play in their adopted
In India’s innings, Sharma level. home, while England have two
plundered 12 boundaries and five “We’ve got a few days of warm-up games ahead of the
sixes in his maiden T20 century, practice and a couple of warm- first test in Abu Dhabi on Oc-
displaying a spectacular array of up games ... before we select tober 13.
strokes all round the ground.
Kohli became the first Indian
batsman to score 1,000 T20 runs
as he blazed his way to three six- Australia focus on Kiwis with
es and a four. Bangladesh tour down
The pair put on 138 off 74
balls for the second wicket after Australia’s new cricket captain Steve Smith yesterday switched
Shikhar Dhawan was run out for focus to New Zealand’s upcoming tour as he voiced regret that
three attempting a second run. a two-Test series in Bangladesh had to be called off over ter-
India were coasting at 160-1 in rorism fears. “The safety and the security of the players is the
the 16th over before the tourists biggest concern,” Smith told reporters. “It’s not safe enough
hit back with four wickets in the for us to travel at this time.”
final overs. He noted that the Bangladesh tour would have been his first
The second match will be as full-time captain following Michael Clarke’s recent retire-
played in Cuttack on Monday ment. “It was a great opportunity for us,” said Smith who will
and the third in Kolkata next now play for New South Wales next week.
Thursday. “It’s a new team and new players and we were all really look-
South Africa will also play five ing forward to getting over there and playing.”
one-day internationals and four Smith said he understood disappointment over the cancelled
Tests during their 10-week tour tour among fans in Bangladesh. “Really disappointing for the
of India. Bangladesh fans as well. I really feel for them. They were all
looking forward to us ... playing over there so hopefully we can
get an opportunity to get over there at some time.”
Rohit Sharma celebrates Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said late
his century against South Thursday that an independent security assessment confirmed
Africa yesterday. the “risk of terrorism in Bangladesh targeting Australian
nationals”.
Australia’s security and intelligence organisation and department
of foreign affairs had warned about an increased risk of militant
attacks in Bangladesh. Dhaka fought to keep the tour alive, insist-
ing players would be given the level of security usually reserved
for visiting heads of state. “Many countries face this kind of
terrorist threat but it never stops cricket,” Nazmul Hassan, the
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president said in Dhaka.
“With the kind of blanket security that we had offered them, I
can’t see how they would have faced any problems.”
SCOREBOARD However, the shooting dead of an Italian aid worker in Dhaka’s
diplomatic quarter on Monday night in a murder claimed by
INDIA Tahir 3-0-35-0 (w1), Duminy 1-0-8-0 (w1). Islamic State group escalated fears. Smith said the focus had
R. Sharma c Morris b Abbott .......................................106 SOUTH AFRICA now moved on to preparing for the southern summer visit of
S. Dhawan run out ................................................................. 3 H. Amla run out .................................................................. 36 the Kiwis, with the first of three Tests starting on November
V. Kohli c Duminy b Abbott ........................................ 43 AB de Villiers b Ashwin ................................................... 51 5 in Brisbane. “New Zealand have played some very good
S. Raina lbw b Morris ........................................................ 14 F. du Plessis b Aravind ........................................................4 cricket of late,” he said. “They’ve got a very good squad so it’s
M. Dhoni not out .................................................................20 JP Duminy not out ........................................................... 68 gonna be a big challenge for us.”
A. Rayudu run out ................................................................ 0 F. Behardien not out ........................................................ 32 After losing the Ashes to England during their northern
A. Patel not out ....................................................................... 2 Extras: (lb5, w4) ...................................................... 9 summer and several veterans retiring from the international
Extras: (lb2, w8, nb1) ..............................................11 Total (for three wickets, 19.4 overs) ............. 200 game, Smith looked forward to the future. “It’s a magnificent
Total (for five wickets, 20 overs) .................... 199 Fall of wickets: 1-77 (Amla), 2-93 (de Villiers), opportunity, it’s a pretty new-look side at the moment. I guess
Fall of wickets: 1-22 (Dhawan), 2-160 (Kohli), 3-162 3-95 (du Plessis). a generational change in Australian cricket. “We are gonna be
(Sharma), 4-184 (Raina), 5-184 (Rayudu). Bowling: Kumar 4-0-40-0 (w1), Aravind 3.4-0-44-1, prepared well for the first Test match against New Zealand at
Bowling: Abbott 4-0-29-2, Rabada 4-0-32-0 (w2), Mohit 4-0-40-0 (w1), Patel 4-0-45-0 (w1), Ashwin the Gabba,” he vowed.
de Lange 4-0-47-0 (nb1, w2), Morris 4-0-46-1 (w1), 4-0-26-1 (w1). “I’m really excited about leading this team.”
 4 Gulf Times
Saturday, October 3, 2015

FOOTBALL
LA LIGA SERIE A

Balotelli, Honda
Derby demolition doubtful as Milan
look to nix Napoli

memories fresh as
Real visit Atletico
Ronaldo took his career tally to 501 goals with a double in Sweden and moved level
AC Milan’s Mario Balotelli reacts as he lies on the pitch during their
with Raul as Real Madrid’s all-time leading goalscorer in the process with 323 Italian Serie A soccer match against Genoa at the Marassi stadium in
Genoa on September 27.

ian international Higuain, whom

AFP Sarri believes is “one of the best”
Rome strikers in the world.
“He should be aware that he is
one of the best centre-forwards

M
ario Balotelli and Kei-
suke Honda remain
doubtful for AC Mi-
lan when the stutter-
ing Serie A giants host on-form
Napoli looking to avoid becom-
ing the Partenopei’s second big-
name victim tomorrow.
It took Napoli four games to
secure their first Serie A win this
season but, after shaking off the
cobwebs with a 5-0 thumping of
Lazio, they now have Serie A pun-
dits purring about their scudetto-
winning potential.
Napoli humbled champions
Juventus 2-1 in clinical fashion
at their San Paolo stadium last
week when Gonzalo Higuain hit
a stunner before setting Lorenzo
Insigne up for the winner.
And Higuain was again on tar-
get on Thursday night when he
scored the second goal in a 2-0
win at Legia Warsaw in Europa
League action.
Striker Balotelli is expected to
start on the bench, at best, after
missing several training sessions
this week due to a slight muscle
injury while playmaker Honda
Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo (L), his mother Dolores Aveiro and his son Cristiano Ronaldo Jr pose with a trophy during a ceremony at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid missed training Thursday with
yesterday. Real Madrid paid homage to Cristiano Ronaldo as their leading scorer yesterday even though the official statistics show he is yet to overhaul former Spain striker flu. The only positive note for
Raul. Milan ahead of Sunday night’s
clash is the fact that Napoli have
AFP all-time leading goalscorer in the proc- “Sunday will be a special game for “Those of us that are fit need to keep claimed only two points from
Madrid ess with 323. everyone. Lately we have played very going and know that whilst we win their three away games in the
And the Portuguese would love the well against them, above all here at home games there is less time left until those league so far. Otherwise, Milan
vindication of breaking the record at the and we hope it continues like this,” add- important players return.” coach Sinisa Mihajlovic has plen-
in the world and so he should play
like it,” said Sarri.
Napoli’s win over Juventus last
week had tongues wagging about
their title-winning potential,
but it is Fiorentina and Inter Mi-
lan who are currently setting the
pace.
Inter won their opening five
games for the first time since the
1966-67 season, when they fin-
ished runners-up to Juventus.
But Roberto Mancini’s men
looked anything but title con-
tenders last week in a 4-1 hum-
bling at home to Fiorentina, who
saw Croatia striker Nikola Kalinic
score a hat-trick.
Fiorentina went top thanks to a
superior goals difference than In-
ter and are expected to keep their
lead after hosting struggling Ata-
lanta on Sunday, when Inter face a
tough trip to Sampdoria.
Fiorentina confirmed their
positive start with a 4-0 away
rout of Europa League opponents
Belenenses on Thursday, when
injury-plagued striker Giuseppe
Rossi hit his first goal for the club
in over 18 months.
Normally sitting in the shadow
of their more decorated city rivals
Juventus, Torino are set to steal
the spotlight by going top of the
league on Saturday, if they beat
newcomers Frosinone.
Giampiero Ventura’s men have
won four of their opening six
games to sit in third place at only

R
eal Madrid make the short trip
across the Spanish capital to
face rivals Atletico tomorrow
seeking revenge for their 4-0
humiliation at the Vicente Calderon in
the league last season.
Their biggest defeat in a Madrid derby
in 27 years precipitated a Real collapse as
they surrendered a commanding lead in
the La Liga title race that allowed eternal
rivals Barcelona to claim a historic treble
of league, Copa del Rey and Champions
League.
Real defender Alvaro Arbeloa sparked
tensions ahead of the biggest La Liga
game of the season to date by claiming
the derby remains the biggest game of
the season for Atletico.
“We know that the game on Sunday is
always the game of the year for Atletico
and we will have to play well,” the former
Liverpool man warned after Real saw off
Malmo 2-0 in the Champions League in
midweek.
Cristiano Ronaldo took his career tally
to 501 goals with a double in Sweden and
moved level with Raul as Real Madrid’s
Calderon after the criticism he received
for hosting his 30th birthday party just
hours after the 4-0 defeat back in Feb-
ruary.
Meanwhile, Atletico’s early-season
optimism has been diminished by back-
to-back defeats against Villarreal and
Benfica in the past week.
Diego Simeone’s men were beaten at
home in the Champions League for the
first time since 2009 by the Portuguese
champions on Wednesday.
“In these moments it is normal that
the team isn’t happy due to the defeat,”
said Simeone.
“We will return to training and focus
on what is clearly an important game
for everyone. I don’t think there will be
much motivation needed to play on Sun-
day.”
Atletico also have reason to seek re-
venge as they were eliminated from the
Champions League for the second con-
secutive season by Madrid in their last
meeting back in April.
However, that defeat ended a seven-
game unbeaten run against Real.
ed Atletico captain Gabi.
Real boss Rafael Benitez may be able
to recall the injured trio of Gareth Bale,
James Rodriguez and Sergio Ramos, who
have all missed the last four games.
Spanish international Koke remains
Atletico’s only injury doubt, with Sime-
one tasked with deciding between the
misfiring Jackson Martinez or Fernando
Torres to partner Antoine Griezmann up
front.
Barcelona could move four points
clear of Real on Saturday when the inju-
ry-ravaged European champions travel
to Sevilla.
The blow of losing Lionel Messi for
two months was intensified as Andres
Iniesta hobbled off during Barca’s 2-1
win over Bayer Leverkusen in midweek
and is also set for a month on the side-
lines.
“It is not just 11 or 12 players that win
competitions, there are reserves behind
and now some of those that wouldn’t
have had so many minutes will get their
chance,” said Argentine defender Javier
Mascherano.
Elsewhere, Celta Vigo have the oppor-
tunity to move top for 24 hours on Friday
when they host Getafe.
Leaders Villarreal are favourites to
stretch their winning streak to six league
games when they visit Levante on Sun-
day.
Former Manchester United boss David
Moyes’s position as Real Sociedad boss
will come under more scrutiny should
the Basques fail to secure just their sec-
ond win of the campaign at a Malaga side
that has yet to score a goal this season.
And Valencia will be aiming to con-
tinue their upturn in form with a third
consecutive win when they visit Athletic
Bilbao.
Fixtures (all times GMT)
Today: Sevilla v Barcelona (1400),
Granada v Deportivo la Coruna (1615),
Espanyol v Sporting Gijon (1830), Las
Palmas v Eibar (2000), Malaga v Real
Sociedad (2005)
Tomorrow: Rayo Vallecano v Real Betis
(1000), Athletic Bilbao v Valencia (1400),
Levante v Villarreal (1615), Atletico Ma-
drid v Real Madrid (1830)
ty to keep him concerned.
Last week’s 1-0 defeat to Genoa
meant that for the first time since
1983-84, Milan have conceded
at least once in their opening six
games of the season.
It is a statistic of questionable
importance, but it points to Mi-
lan’s defence before facing a Na-
poli side that has hit 12 goals in six
league outings, only one less than
fellow title hopefuls Roma, who
have scored a league-leading 13.
Mihajlovic last week came un-
der fire for his team’s question-
able tactics, but Milan midfielder
Andrea Bertolacci was scathing
about his fellow teammates.
“Genoa didn’t scare us and the
match was decided by one epi-
sode... but we have to stop going
out and playing with the wrong
attitude: we have to put that in
our heads straight away and get
ready for Napoli,” he said.
Five of Napoli’s league goals
have come courtesy of Argentin-
two points off the pace.
Juventus, meanwhile, host an-
other promoted side, Bologna,
hoping to produce the kind of
performance that secured a con-
vincing 2-0 Champions League
win over outclassed Sevilla on
Wednesday.
It has has been sorely lacking
on the domestic front so far. Mas-
similiano Allegri’s champions sit
in 15th place, at 10 points off the
pace. Allegri said on Wednesday:
“Tonight’s game is over. Now we
have to start focusing our next
game, against Bologna.”
Fixtures (times GMT)
Today: Carpi v Torino (1600),
Chievo v Verona (1845)
Tomorrow: Empoli v Sassuolo
(1030), Udinese v Genoa, Samp-
doria v Inter, Palermo v Roma
(all 1300), Lazio v Frosinone,
Juventus v Bologna (both 1600),
Fiorentina v Atalanta, AC Milan v
Napoli (both 1845)

BUNDESLIGA

Lewandowski relishing prospect of more goals

AFP tween Barcelona and Real Madrid. our direction with great excitement “We are in good form and on the
Munich This is the 19th time the teams have on Sunday,” said Mueller. right path,” said Guardiola.
met in the last five years and Dort- It seems ridiculous to suggest, but “We’re playing much better, we can
mund lead the series with nine wins, the title race could effectively be as play wider and our strikers have more

R
obert Lewandowski aims to
add to his incredible goal-
scoring run in Bayern Mu-
nich’s Bundesliga showdown
against ex-club Borussia Dortmund in
Germany’s ‘Der Klassiker’ tomorrow.
The Poland hot-shot has netted 10
times in his last three games alone and
has scored 17 goals for club and coun-
try this season.
He backed up his spectacular five
goals in just nine minutes for Bayern
against Wolfsburg last week with two
more in a 3-0 win at Mainz last Satur-
day in the Bundesliga.
He then bagged a hat-trick in the
5-0 win at home to Dinamo Zagreb on
Tuesday in the Champions League.
Bayern top the Bundesliga table
with seven wins from seven to lead
second-placed Dortmund by four
points after Thomas Tuchel’s team
drew their last two league matches
against Hoffenheim and Darmstadt.
Bayern-Dortmund matches are
billed as ‘Der Klassiker’ in Germany
in mimmick to Spain’s ‘El Clasico’ be-
two draws and seven defeats.
Bayern, however, won the match
that truly mattered by claiming a 2-1
win at Wembley in the 2013 Champi-
ons League final.
The Bavarians won both league
meetings last season, but Dortmund
took both the German Cup semi-fi-
nal in Munich last April on penalties
and the 2014 German Super Cup title
against Bayern.
Dortmund still have their work
cut out in their bid to halt Munich’s
seemingly relentless march to an his-
toric fourth straight Bundesliga title,
which no team has done before.
“This is the game everyone in Ger-
many wants to see and we’re looking
forward to it. As a striker you always
want to score more goals, you can
never be satisfied,” said Lewand-
owski.
Bayern’s Germany forward Thomas
Mueller is just as enthusiastic.
“It’s a summit meeting of the coun-
try’s best. The whole of Germany’s
Prolific: Bayern Munich’s Polish striker Robert Lewandowski (L). football community will be looking in
good as over should Bayern finish the
weekend seven points clear if they
beat Borussia and third-placed Schal-
ke fail to beat Cologne at home.
The Bavarians have won the Ger-
man league title by at least 10 points
in each of the last three seasons and
only dropped points after each of
their title wins had been confirmed.
Even Dortmund’s CEO Hans-
Joachim Watzke has said while Borus-
sia can beat Bayern in individual
matches, he doubts they can realisti-
cally challenge Pep Guardiola’s star-
studded squad over the season.
“Of course, we have a chance to
beat Bayern in selective matches, but
over the course of 34 games currently
no one in Germany—and probably no
one in Europe—could deny this unbe-
lievable quality,” said Watzke.
With ageing injured wingers Arjen
Robben and Franck Ribery currently
sidelined, Brazil’s Douglas Costa and
France Under-21 star Kingsley Coman
have cemented their places on Bay-
ern’s flanks.
chances.”
Bayern prepared for the Dortmund
clash by sipping from frothy mugs at
Munich’s bumper beer festival Okto-
berfest on Wednesday.
In contrast, Dortmund rested stars
Mats Hummels, Shinji Kagawa, Sok-
ratis and Ilkay Gundogan for their 1-1
Europa League draw against PAOK in
Greece on Thursday.
Dortmund’s top scorer Pierre-
Emerick Aubameyang also sat out
the trip to Greece and a sub-plot of
Sunday’s clash will pit goal-machine
Lewandowski against the man who
replaced him in Dortmund.
Fixtures (all times 1330 GMT
unless stated)
Today: Bor. Moenchengladbach v
VfL Wolfsburg, Hanover 96 v Werder
Bremen, Hertha Berlin v Hamburg,
Hoffenheim v VfB Stuttgart, Ingol-
stadt 04 v Eintracht Frankfurt
Tomorrow: Schalke 04 v Cologne,
Bayern Munich v Borussia Dortmund
(1530), Bayer Leverkusen v Augsburg
(1530)

PREVIEW/EPL
Mertesacker says
Arsenal should
show aggression
‘I think everyone will have regrets. It will take a couple of days to recover and to
think about Manchester United, which will be a good opportunity to play our style...’
AFP
London
P
er Mertesacker has challenged
Arsenal to show more aggres-
sion as they look to recover
from their latest European flop
in tomorrow’s showdown with Premier
League leaders Manchester United.
Arsene Wenger’s side suffered an em-
barrassing 3-2 home defeat against Ol-
ympiakos in midweek that left them in
severe danger of missing out on a place in
the Champions League knock-out stages
for the first time in 16 years.
Adding to the Gunners’ humiliation
was the horrendous blunder from goal-
keeper David Ospina, who dropped a
corner into his own net to gift the Greeks
their second goal and in the process trig-
gered a barrage of criticism for Wenger
for his decision to rest regular first
choice Petr Cech.
But Arsenal defender Mertesacker of-
fered no excuses for his team’s second
successive European loss and admit-
ted they must rediscover their fighting
spirit to avoid another damaging defeat
against in-form United.
Arsene Wenger’s side suffered an
embarrassing 3-2 home defeat
against Olympiakos in midweek
that left them in severe danger of
missing out on a place in the
Champions League knock-out
stages for the first time in 16 years
“At home we should be much more
aggressive from the start and be more
dynamic. That is what our game is all
about,” Mertesacker said.
“When we play like we did (on Tues-
day), with that lack of concentration and
discipline, then we have got no chance.
“I think everyone will have regrets.
It will take a couple of days to recover
and to think about Manchester United,
which will be a good opportunity to play
our style of football again.”
While Wenger is certain to restore
Cech to his starting line-up if he is fully
fit, Manchester United manager Louis
van Gaal has to decide whether to make
changes four days after a 2-1 Champions
League victory over Wolfsburg.
United head to the Emirates Stadium,
where the Gunners have won just once
this season, on a four-match winning
streak in all competitions which has
lifted them one point clear of second
placed Manchester City and three ahead
of fourth placed Arsenal.
But van Gaal said immediately after
the Wolfsburg game that his players were
“suffering” after playing six matches in
18 days and he could be forced to freshen
up the team.
“The solution is recovery,” van Gaal
said. “That’s why it’s so difficult to pre-
pare for the match against Arsenal.
“As a manager, you want to prepare
BOTTOMLINE
Mourinho aims to revive spluttering Chelsea
AFP
London
A
s Chelsea’s problems deepen,
Jose Mourinho will attempt to
revive his side’s disastrous cam-
paign by masterminding a vic-
tory against Southampton at Stamford
Bridge today.
Another testing week has only added to
the growing sense of unease around the
club, with Mourinho forced to defend his
relationship with his players after making
unexpected changes for the Champions
League trip to Porto.
The Blues boss reacted to last week-
end’s Premier League draw at Newcastle
- Chelsea recovered after falling two goals
down to Steve McClaren’s struggling
team - by leaving Oscar, Loic Remy and
Radamel Falcao at home in midweek and
starting Eden Hazard, John Terry and Ne-
manja Matic on the bench.
The overhaul did not have the desired
effect, with Chelsea slumping to a 2-1 de-
feat that reinforced the view that Mour-
inho’s side this season are a shadow of the
team that eased their way to the Premier
League title in May.
The visit of Southampton will provide
File picture of Arsenal’s German
defender Per Mertesacker (L) taking
part in a training session at London
Colney in St Albans, north London.
FIXTURES (1400GMT UNLESS STATED)
Today: Aston Villa v Stoke, Bournemouth v Watford, Chelsea v Southampton (1630
GMT), Crystal Palace v West Brom (1145 GMT), Manchester City v Newcastle, Norwich
v Leicester, Sunderland v West Ham
Sunday: Arsenal v Manchester United (1500 GMT), Everton v Liverpool (1230 GMT),
Swansea v Tottenham (1500 GMT)
out on the training pitch, and you cannot
do that because you need freshness.
“There is another solution, which is to
change your squad.”
Like Arsenal, Chelsea, who host South-
ampton on Saturday, are also licking their
wounds following a painful Champions
League defeat that raised renewed ques-
tions about their lethargic form.
After watching Chelsea punished for
more defensive mistakes in a 2-1 de-
feat at his former club Porto, Blues boss
Jose Mourinho once again expressed his
frustration at his players’ inconsistent
efforts.
another stern test, with Saints manager
Ronald Koeman voicing his confidence
this week that his side can get something
from the game after twice holding Chel-
sea last season.
Mourinho’s men need a lift and injured
keeper Thibaut Courtois expressed the
frustration currently gripping the club.
The Belgium goalkeeper, currently
sidelined with a knee problem, said: “It
is not easy, no, to see all that, and not be
But Chelsea striker Diego Costa re-
mains confident the champions, who
are languishing in 14th place following
last weekend’s draw with Newcastle, can
still mount a successful title defence as
long as they don’t let the criticism get to
them.
“To come out of this we need to be all
together, and for everyone to give a little
more,” said Costa, who played against
Porto but completes his three-match
ban in the Southampton fixture.
“We are not playing well, this is not a
good moment, but we have players to get
out of this easily.”
part of the team at the moment, and being
unable to help.
“Tuesday, in the Champions League,
they lost, playing a good game. But we
will progress. And Saturday, we have to
win at home.
“There is pressure, and I hope we will
win. After that, there is the international
break, and then I hope Chelsea win a se-
ries of matches.
“We have tough matches, but we must
do better than now.”
Chelsea’s success last season was built
on their defensive strength but Cour-
tois’ absence, together with Branislav
Ivanovic’s dramatic loss of form and John
Terry’s frequent demotion to the bench,
means the back-four is not what it was.
And the keeper does not expect to be
fit enough to challenge his deputy for
a starting spot for at least another two
months.
“Hopefully early December. If there are
complications, I will work quietly to re-
turn. For now, I cannot give a date,” Cour-
tois said.
Koeman, meanwhile, is in no doubt
about where Chelsea’s weakness lies.
“Maybe they have some defensive
problems. I think if you look back to
last season they were the team with our
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers
is one of the few Premier League bosses
under more pressure than Mourinho at
present and Everton would dearly love to
add to his worries in the 225th Mersey-
side derby on Sunday.
The Reds are unbeaten in their last 10
meetings with Everton in all competi-
tions dating back to October 2010.
But an end to that run at Goodi-
son Park this weekend would further
complicate Rodgers’ position after a
stormy few weeks which saw Carlo
Ancelotti and Jurgen Klopp linked
with his job as Liverpool fell off the
early pace in race to qualify for the
Champions League.
And Everton’s Belgium striker Romelu
Lukaku is relishing the chance to make
Liverpool suffer.
“The derby is a different game. It is
about the personal pride and the pride
for us as a club,” he said.
“The side that is hungrier is going to
win this game on Sunday.”
defenders who had the best defensive
record,” he said.
“They didn’t concede a lot of goals
but this season it’s different. Maybe for
that the confidence is not the same. They
showed their character last year.
“If you were looking to the Chelsea
team you feeling were that it was a win-
ning team. Maybe they are struggling a
little bit more this season.”
Koeman, though, does not expect
Mourinho’s side to remain in the bot-
tom half of the table for long and admits
his side will have to perform even better
than they did in beating Swansea 3-1 last
weekend.
“For sure we know it’s a difficult oppo-
nent. They will look to react after the loss
against Porto in the Champions League,”
he said.
“They will go up in the table because
they don’t stay that low for so long. We
know what they can bring. We know the
qualities of them.
“We have to be good and on a very high
level to get a good result.
“We know what we can expect this Sat-
urday. We had two good results last year
against them, but we have to play on a
higher level than we did against Swansea
last week.”
FOOTBALL
EUROPA LEAGUE
Liverpool, Celtic
held to home draws
Celtic’s Scottish striker Leigh Griffiths (2nd L) scores the opening goal
in the UEFA Europa League Group A against Fenerbahce at Celtic
Park in Glasgow on October 1.
DPA
Madrid
L
iverpool and Celtic con-
tinued their poor starts
in the Europa League
with disappointing home
draws Thursday against Sion and
Fenerbahce.
Youngster Adam Lallana gave
reserve-packed Liverpool an early
lead after being set up by Divock
Origi, only for Ebenezer Assifuah
to quickly level for Sion.
The draw left Sion top of Group
B with four points and Liverpool
third with just two.
“The result was disappoint-
ing considering the number of
chances we created. We worked
well and had a good start but gave
away a disappointing goal,” Liv-
erpool manager Brendan Rodgers
said.
“The players worked hard, but
we couldn’t score the goals. You
have to be clinical. We scored a
good first goal. They weren’t half
chances - they were good chanc-
es, and you have to score them at
this level. We have to win a game
like that.”
In Group A, Celtic had to settle
for a 2-2 draw at home to Fener-
bahce despite taking an early 2-0
lead on goals from Leigh Griffiths
and Kris Commons. Fernandao
rescued the visitors with a hand-
some brace.
“We played well in the first half.
They got the goal, and that gave
them energy. It was disappointing
that they scored from almost the
(only) two chances that they had.
I’m disappointed that we didn’t
win, but I’m happy that we got
the point,” Celtic manager Ronny
Deila said.
Molde, who drew 1-1 at Ajax,
SPOTLIGHT
Hart calls for
City to build on
Euro escape
AFP
London
J
oe Hart has challenged his
Manchester City team-
mates to use their midweek
fightback against Borussia
Monchengladbach as the spring-
board for a strong run in the Pre-
mier League.
Manuel Pellegrini’s side boost-
ed their hopes of qualifying for
the Champions League knock-
out stages by coming from a goal
down to win at Monchenglad-
bach in midweek.
But City have little time to rest
on their laurels as they return to
domestic action against strug-
gling Newcastle at Eastlands to-
day.
The return of Hart in goal after
a two-match absence proved cru-
cial to the win in Germany.
Argentinian Willy Caballero
performed poorly when City ca-
pitulated in a 4-1 defeat at Tot-
tenham last weekend that cost
them top spot to Manchester
United.
Hart, by contrast, was su-
perb against Monchengladbach,
making a series of crucial saves,
including one to keep out a first-
half penalty from Brazilian mid-
fielder Raffael.
Now the England international
wants his team to build on the
momentum from that much-
needed success as they try to
avoid a third successive league
defeat.
“We need to get back to the first
five games of the Premier League
season, where we were more of a
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 3, 2015 5
are top of the group with four
points, followed by Ajax and Celt-
ic with two apiece.
Borussia Dortmund kept top
spot in Group C with a 1-1 draw at
PAOK, while Napoli stayed atop
Group D with their second win,
1-0 at Legia Warsaw.
Rapid Vienna won 1-0 on
Thursday at Dynamo Minsk, Lib-
erec prevailed by the same score
at Marseille, and Villarreal edged
Viktoria Plzen 1-0.
Leo Baptistao, who scored Vil-
larreal’s goal, said the side is in
good form.
“Tonight’s win allows us to
continue that,” he said. “We are
enjoying our matches and keep-
ing things very tight in defence.
It’s true we’re not scoring a lot
of goals, but one goal is enough if
you manage to defend well.”
Earlier, Schalke 04 continued
their excellent start in Group K
Thursday, crushing Asteras 4-0.
Franco di Santo was Schalke’s
hero with an impressive hat-
trick, then Klaas Jan Huntelaar
completed the rout.
Schalke have six points from
two matches, which leaves them
two above Sparta Prague, who
beat APOEL 2-0.
In Group J, Tottenham were
held 1-1 at Monaco. Erik Lame-
la gave Spurs the lead, only for
Stephan El Shaarawy to level for
the hosts nine minutes from time.
“Of course we cannot be
pleased with this result,” Lamela
said. “We should really have
killed the game off with a second
goal.” In the group’s other match,
unfancied Qarabag surprisingly
edged Anderlecht 1-0.
In other games, Lazio beat
Saint-Etienne 3-2, Fiorentina
cruised 4-0 at Belenenses and
Athletic Bilbao crashed 2-1 at AZ
Alkmaar.
balanced team,” Hart said.
“We’ve been a bit imbalanced.
But the season is a long season,
so you have got different stages.
We hope that will put us in a good
place for the Newcastle game.”
City were left rather short-
handed in midfield in the first half
against Monchengladbach, with
Pellegrini deciding to field an at-
tacking quartet of Raheem Ster-
ling, David Silva, Sergio Aguero
and Kevin de Bruyne together in a
starting line-up for the first time.
Yaya Toure, a surprise inclu-
sion in central midfield after a
quicker-than-expected recovery
from a hamstring injury, strug-
gled to cope and was withdrawn
at half-time for the more effective
Fernando.
There is no doubt that City’s
impressive start to the season
was helped by a solid central
defensive partnership between
Vincent Kompany and Eliaquim
Mangala.
But Mangala has missed City’s
last three matches with a muscle
problem, while Kompany has not
played since suffering a calf injury
in the Champions League against
Juventus on September 15.
Neither of their replacements,
Nicolas Otamendi and Mar-
tin Demichelis, are blessed with
pace, and both are vulnerable to
teams who are quick on the coun-
ter attack.
However, Otamendi did dem-
onstrate an attacking threat by
scoring City’s equaliser in Ger-
many, and there is a sense that
Pellegrini’s side still have goals
in them despite their recent stut-
ters.
 Gulf Times
6 Saturday, October 3, 2015

FOOTBALL
LIGUE 1 Alli left 'speechless' by England call-up
London: For someone who had set himself relatively modest

PSG-OM headline
targets for the season, Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Dele Alli
said he has been left “speechless” after being called up to play
for England.
It has been a meteoric rise for the 19-year-old, who was playing
for Milton Keynes Dons in the third tier of English football last
season.
The box-to-box midfielder managed one goal in nine appear-
ances for Tottenham but the strong impact he has had on

act as Lyon seek

Spurs’ performances has earned him a call-up for England’s
final two Euro 2016 qualifiers against Estonia and Lithuania
this month.
“I was speechless!,” Alli, whose England selection was also
helped by injuries to midfielders Jack Wilshere, Jordan Hender-
son and Fabian Delph, told the club website (www.tottenham-
hotspur.com).
“It’s been a really good start to the season for me, I maybe

Reims remedy
didn’t expect it to go this well.
“At the start of the season I set myself a target to try to become
a regular in the Under-21s and try to get a few starts in the Pre-
mier League,” he said after Thursday’s 1-1 draw with Monaco in
the Europa League.
Alli was disappointed with the Spurs conceding a late equaliser
in the match and has urged his side to be more clinical in front
Lyon’s woes in front of goal persisted in their 1-0 Champions League defeat to Valencia of goal.
“It feels like a defeat. It was a strong first half and maybe we
as last season’s runners-up continue to struggle to overcome a long-term injury to Fekir should have seen the game out, finished a few more chances,
but it wasn’t to be,” he said.
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino was happy with the
team’s performance and said they deserved to win.
“The feeling is that we lost two points. I’m disappointed but at
the same time, I’m happy with the performance and the effort,
that was brilliant,” Pochettino said.

SPOTLIGHT

Ferguson and
Beckham together
again for charity
AFP Old Trafford on November 14.
London It will be the first time the
retired Scot has returned to the
dugout since ending his 26-

A
lex Ferguson is to
manage David Beck-
ham once again when
he takes charge of a
Great Britain and Ireland se-
lect for a charity match next
month at Old Trafford.
Beckham was a high-profile
member of Ferguson’s Man-
chester United team for 11 years
before the pair had a notorious
falling out in 2003 after the Scot
accidentally kicked a boot that
struck the former England cap-
tain above his left eye.
Ferguson sold Beckham to
Real Madrid four months after
the dressing room incident and
then criticised the ex-England
captain in his autobiography,
but the pair are now on good
terms.
Beckham contacted 73-year-
old Ferguson recently to see if
Paris Saint-Germain's Ivorian defender Serge Aurier (L) celebrates with teammate Marquinhos after scoring against Nantes last month. he wanted to get involved in
the charity match designed to
AFP pare ourselves for Sunday. Mar- are big games coming up, against Hubert Fournier’s men en- from second place, so it’s not an raise funds for UNICEF and the
Paris seille have plenty of qualities, PSG for example, that this is nor- ter Saturday’s showdown with irreversible situation,” added the former United manager accept-
it’s always special to play against mal behaviour. I have to accept it fourth-placed Reims, unbeaten in OL coach. ed the offer.
them.” but I have trouble understanding their last five, already eight points Second-placed Saint-Etienne, He will manage a Great Brit-
year reign as United manager
in 2013.
In the opposing corner will
be Carlo Ancelotti, who man-
aged Beckham at AC Milan and
Paris St Germain.
The Italian will manage a
Rest of the World XI led by
former Real Madrid and France
star Zinedine Zidane.
The other players involved
will be announced over the next
month.
On Ferguson’s involvement
in the match, Beckham told
BBC Radio 1: “I called him and
asked him. He’s like a father fig-
ure to me.
“The other day I saw him
for the first time in a long time.
We’d never even think about
having a little glass of wine
or beer (as players) in front of
him but the other day someone
handed me a glass of wine and
I was talking to him (Ferguson)
for 20 minutes with the wine
hidden behind my back. Me,
Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes all
said the same thing, we all hid

P
aris Saint-Germain re-
new their rivalry with
bitter foes Marseille at
the Parc des Princes to-
morrow as Laurent Blanc’s men
bid to retain their unbeaten start
going into the international break.
PSG have a four-point lead over
nearest rivals Saint-Etienne in
Ligue 1 and made it two wins from
two Champions League group
stage matches with a 3-0 triumph
away to Shakhtar Donetsk on
Wednesday.
“Our start to the Champions
League is perfect but we’re still
not qualified for the next round,”
PSG captain Thiago Silva told Ca-
nal+ after the match in Lviv.
“Now we have to rest up and
starting Thursday we’ll pre-
Wednesday’s performance in
Ukraine was arguably PSG’s most
complete display this term, a
worrying sign for a Marseille side
languishing down in 15th place, 12
points behind their arch rivals.
Despite thumping wins over
Troyes and Bastia, OM have lost
four of eight league matches so
far and new boss Michel is still
adapting to the French mentality.
“It appears that in French
football players preserve them-
selves so they don’t play too many
matches in a row, and they choose
their matches within reason. This
surprises me but I have to get
used to it,” said Michel, in quotes
published by French sports daily
L’Equipe.
“They tell me that when there
it,” added the former Real Madrid
midfielder, who spoke of certain
players asking to sit out Thurs-
day’s home Europa League clash
against Slovan Liberec, which OM
lost 1-0.
Recent history is not on the
Spaniard’s side either as PSG
have won the last seven meetings
between the two clubs, includ-
ing a 3-2 victory at the Stade Ve-
lodrome in April that effectively
signalled the end of Marseille’s
title challenge.
Lyon’s woes in front of goal
persisted in their midweek 1-0
Champions League defeat at
home to Valencia as last season’s
runners-up continue to struggle
to overcome a long-term injury to
Nabil Fekir.
adrift of PSG.
“Winning against Reims would
be a good remedy to (Tuesday’s)
disappointment,” Fournier,
whose side have won just one of
six matches since losing Fekir,
told the club’s website.
“There are more expectations
than last season, perhaps too
many right now for several rea-
sons.
“Alexandre (Lacazette) is a case
in point. He’s struggling, just like
the rest of the team, to meet peo-
ple’s expectations,” Fournier said
of the reigning Ligue 1 Player of
the Year, who has scored just one
goal this term and was left out of
Didier Deschamps’ latest France
squad.
“(But) we’re just four points
who had their five-match win-
ning run emphatically snapped
by Nice last weekend, will aim to
get back on track at Caen, while
third-placed Rennes, coming off
three successive draws, go to mid-
table Monaco.
Free-scoring Nice have racked
up 13 goals over the course of a
three-match winning streak and
will look to continue their ascent
at home to Nantes.
Today: Lyon v Reims (1530 GMT),
Troyes v Guingamp, Nice v Nantes,
Angers v Bastia, Gazelec Ajaccio v
Toulouse (1800 GMT)
Tomorrow: Monaco v Rennes
(1200 GMT), Caen v Saint-Etienne,
Lorient v Bordeaux (both 1500
GMT), Paris Saint-Germain v Mar-
seille (1900 GMT)
ain and Ireland XI, which will
be captained by Beckham, at
Neymar remains suspended for qualifiers
Berlin: Neymar will miss two
upcoming World Cup quali-
fiers as the Court of Arbitra-
tion for Sport (CAS) dismissed
an appeal by the Brazilian
federation in connection with
a four-game ban.
The CAS said Friday the
forward Neymar will have
to serve the final two games
of a four-game ban imposed
over a red card at the Copa
America at the qualifiers at
Copa champions Chile on Oc-
the glass of wine behind our
back.”
tober 8 and against Venezuela
five days later.
Neymar served the first two
games at the Copa in July and
Brazil wanted the other two
games to apply at the next
Copa rather than the next
official games, as ruled by the
COMNEBOL confederation
and the governing body FIFA.
The CAS issued a fast-track
ruling and said it would pub-
lish the reason for its decision
at a later stage.

BOTTOMLINE

Veteran bad boys find new home in India

AFP at half-time during a match against
Mumbai Mexico. He was subsequently
banned for 18 matches, effectively
ending his 69-game international
career.
ner, was player-coach of Chennai-
yin in last year’s inaugural season
and is back in the dug-out this time
round.
During a career which included
contract renewed after serving the
ban.
Freddie Piquionne (Mumbai
City): The much-travelled Piqui-
onne, who hails from New Cal-

T
he Indian Super League, which
kicks off today, will feature
some of the most illustrious
names in football from the past
two decades, albeit some best remem-
bered for the wrong reasons.
AFP takes a look at six of the bad
boys who have a history of attract-
ing headlines:
Nicolas Anelka (Mumbai
City): Anelka, the original enfant
terrible of French football, has been
a byword for controversy in a career
that has featured multiple bans,
busts-ups and a storm over anti-
semitism.
After a sensational start with
English giants Arsenal, top-scoring
for the Gunners as they won the
league and FA Cup in 1998, he spent
much of the next season agitat-
ing for a move, earning himself the
nickname Le Sulk.
He eventually secured a transfer
Mumbai City player
Nicolas Anelka
to Real Madrid but soon fell out with mellowed.
his new employers, receiving a 45- But he showed he had lost none
day suspension for refusing to train. of his capacity for controversy dur-
After spells with the likes of Liv- ing the 2010 World Cup when he
erpool, Fenerbahce and Chelsea, it launched a foul-mouthed tirade
had been thought that Anelka had against coach Raymond Domenech
Adrian Mutu (Pune City):
The Romananian forward has the
unwelcome distinction of being
banned for drugs in two of Europe’s
top leagues—the English Premier-
ship and Italy’s Serie A.
He was sacked by Chelsea in 2004
after testing positive for cocaine,
triggering a lengthy legal saga as the
London club sued Mutu for breach
of contract.
He resurrected his career in Italy,
first with Juventus and then with
Fiorentina before being caught
doping once again in 2010, resulting
in a six-month ban.
Mutu was also banned from the
Romanian national team after post-
ing an image on Facebook depicting
his manager as Mr Bean.
Marco Materazzi (Chennai-
yin): The Italian, a former World
Cup and Champions League win-
stints at Inter Milan and Everton,
the heavily-tattooed Italian was
known as one of the hardest cen-
tral defenders of his generation,
picking up around two dozen red
cards.
But he is best remembered for
provoking Zinedine Zidane into
headbutting him in the 2010 World
Cup final after insulting the French
legend’s sister. Zidane was sent off
and Italy won the tournament.
Steve Simonsen (Pune City):
Goalkeeper Simonsen’s career in
British football came to an igno-
minious end when he was banned
earlier this year after being found
guilty of betting on dozens of
matches while playing for Scottish
giants Rangers.
The Englishman, who has previ-
ously played for teams such as Ever-
ton and Stoke City, did not have his
edonia, enjoyed success at a host
of clubs in France, England and the
United States, including Monaco
and West Ham United.
But his time at the French club
Saint Etienne ended in 2007 when he
was convicted of assault for break-
ing the nose of a supporter who had
insulted him in the club car park.
Didier Zokora (Pune City):
Veteran Ivory Coast midfielder
Zokora, who is his country’s most
capped player, won many admirers
in Europe during spells in England
(Tottenham Hotspur), Spain (Se-
ville) and France (Saint Etienne).
But his time in Turkey, where
he played for Trabzonspor, was
shrouded in controversy when he
kicked the former national captain
Emre in the crotch in apparent re-
venge after being racially abused in
an earlier game.

MLB
Rangers in playoff
with 5-3 victory
‘It’s a good feeling to be guaranteed in the playoffs, but we’re not done yet’
Texas Rangers Shawn Tolleson is doused with water
and Powerade by Texas Rangers Elvis Andrus and
Rougned Odor after the game against the Los
Angeles Angels at Globe Life Park in Arlington.
PICTURE: USA TODAY Sports
The Sports Xchange
Arlington
T
he Texas Rangers guar-
anteed themselves a
post-season spot by
beating the Los Angeles
Angels on Thursday with third
baseman Adrian Beltre driving
in three runs for Texas, though
just making the playoffs was not
enough for the team.
“We’re trying to get this divi-
sion,” Texas center fielder De-
lino DeShields said. “It’s a good
feeling to be guaranteed in the
playoffs, but we’re not done yet.
“We’ve got one more game to
get the division and that’s the
goal we’ve been working for all
year.”
The Rangers (87-72) can do no
worse than a wild card and are
three games ahead of Houston
(84-75) in the American League
West with three games left in
the regular season.
The Astros begin a three-
game series with Arizona on
Friday. Texas needs one more
win, or an Astros loss, to clinch
their sixth division title.
The Angels, last year’s West
champion, were eliminated
NFL
Superior kicking leads Ravens past Steelers in OT
The Sports Xchange
Pittsburgh
J
ustin Tucker stood at the
podium, faced the media
and cracked a joke while
cradling the game ball un-
der his right arm.
“You probably don’t want to
hear some kicker stand up here
and give a detailed explana-
tion about a kick,” Baltimore’s
kicker said on Thursday after the
Ravens beat the Steelers 23-20.
“I’m sure you’d rather hear
about guys throwing touch-
downs passes or catches.”
Not on this night. The pin-
point kicking of Turner and the
scattershot performance of his
Pittsburgh Steelers counterpart,
Josh Scobee, made a big differ-
ence.
Tucker’s third field goal of the
game, a 52-yarder with 5:08 re-
maining in overtime, gave the
Ravens their first win of the sea-
son.
from the division race, but are
still alive for a playoff berth. Los
Angeles and Minnesota are 83-
76, one game behind Houston
for the second wild card spot.
The New York Yankees (87-72)
locked down the other wild card
with their victory over Boston
earlier on Thursday.
“We have to win out,” Angels
center fielder Mike Trout said.
“We can’t lose anymore. It’s
plain and simple.”
Rangers starter Derek Hol-
land (4-3) worked into the sev-
enth and allowing three runs
on Thursday. The left-hander
struck out six and gave up three
hits in 6-1/3 innings.
“I thought Derek threw the
ball very well,” Texas manager
Jeff Banister said.
“The ball came out clean. The
breaking ball showed up again,
the changeup was there and,
more than anything else, there
was life on the fastball.”
Texas closer Shawn Tolleson
picked up his 35th save of the
season after a perfect ninth.
“We’ve got to win one more,”
Tolleson said. “We’ve got to win
the West.”
Los Angeles starter Andrew
Heaney (6-4) allowed four runs
The Ravens drove 32 yards
in eight plays for the field goal.
The winning march came after
the Steelers drove to the Bal-
timore 33-yard line on their
second possession of overtime
but eschewed a game-winning
field goal attempt by Scobee on
fourth-and-1.
Scobee missed two field-goal
tries, from 49 and 41 yards, in
the last 2:24 of the fourth quar-
ter. Steelers quarterback Michael
Vick threw incomplete to give
the ball back to the Ravens (1-3),
who erased a 13-point, second-
half deficit and avoided their
first 0-4 start.
“In this league, most games
come down to three points,”
Ravens coach John Harbaugh
said. “We have a great kicker.”
‘WASN’T MY NIGHT’
Scobee, acquired in a trade
just before the start of the season
after spending the first 11 years
of his career with the Jackson-
ville Jaguars, said he felt awful
RESULTS
Baltimore 6 Toronto
Philadelphia 3 NY Mets
Chicago Cubs 5 Cincinnati
LA Dodgers 3 San Francisco
San Diego 3 Milwaukee
NY Yankees 4 Boston
Minnesota 4 Cleveland
Washington 3 Atlanta
Tampa Bay 4 Miami
Texas 5 LA Angels
Kansas City 6 White Sox
Arizona 8 Colorado
on five hits and walked five in
4-1/3 innings.
Heaney worked around con-
trol issues with two double plays
through the first four innings to
keep the Rangers scoreless.
Texas broke through in the
fifth by taking advantage of
Heaney’s fourth and fifth walks
to score four times. Beltre had
the big blow, a three-run double
to chase Heaney.
“I need to bounce that,”
Heaney said of the low slider to
Beltre. “I’m not surprised. That
guy is really freaking good.”
The New York Yankees
clinched a playoff spot nine days
after the legendary Yogi Berra
about his performance.
“I feel like I let the team down,
and it’s not something that I
ever want to remember doing,”
Scobee said. “It’s a bad feeling.
I wish I had been able to come
through, but it just wasn’t my
night.”
Ravens running back Justin
Forsett rushed for 150 yards on
27 carries while quarterback Joe
Flacco completed 20 of 33 passes
for 189 yards and one touchdown
with one interception.
Baltimore wideout Kamar
Aiken had five catches for 77
yards and a touchdown.
“One of the greatest feelings
in the world is winning a game
in the National Football League
because it’s so hard,” Flacco
said.
“This one was extra special
because we were staring 0-4
in the face. You’re together so
much as a group. You work so
hard. It’s tough to lose but great
to win.”
Vick was 19-for-26 passing
died, beating the Boston Red
Sox 4-1 to record their 10,000th
4 win in franchise history.
0 The milestone victory carried
3 added significance Thursday for
2 the Yankees who claimed a wild
1 card spot and also avoided a se-
1 ries sweep to the rival Red Sox.
2 “It is a relief,” said Yankees
0 infielder Alex Rodriguez. “It has
1 been an emotional week for us
3 when you think about Yogi’s fu-
4 neral and finally clinching.”
6 New York needs one more win
or one more loss by the Houston
Astros to get the home field
advantage in Tuesday’s Major
League Baseball wild card con-
test. Right fielder Carlos Bel-
tran, first baseman Greg Bird
and second baseman Rob Refs-
nyder hit solo home runs while
pitcher CC Sabathia tossed five
innings while pitching through
cold and rain at times.
The Yankees (87-72) are back
in the playoffs for the first time
since they won 95 games and
their last AL East title.
“We had to overcome lot of
obstacles,” Rodriguez said.
“We come together the last
eight months as a team. We don’t
play for statistics, we play as a
team and that has been our DNA.”
for 124 yards and a touchdown
in his first start for the Steelers
(2-2). The four-time Pro Bowl
selection replaced Ben Roeth-
lisberger, who sat out after sus-
taining a sprained medial collat-
eral ligament in his left knee on
Sunday in a win over St. Louis.
Roethlisberger is expected to
miss at least four weeks.
“This probably the toughest
loss of my career,” said Vick.
“We had our chances to win
the game. I had plays that I
could’ve made but didn’t, and
it’s disappointing.”
Steelers running back Le’Veon
Bell rushed for 129 yards and a
score on 22 carries. Last season,
he managed a combined 79 yards
against the Ravens in two games.
Pittsburgh wide receiver An-
tonio Brown was limited to five
receptions for 42 yards, end-
ing his NFL-record streaks of 35
consecutive games with at least
five receptions and 50 yards, and
14 games in a row with at least
seven catches.
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 3, 2015 7
SPORT
NHL
Red Wings
lose DeKeyser
to leg injury
owned team. After dropping the
By Helene St. James
Detroit Free Press Wings off Wednesday afternoon
in Pittsburgh, Red Bird III flew to
Texas to pick up the Detroit Ti-
T
he Detroit Red Wings gers and ferry them to Chicago,
will be without Danny for their season-closing series
DeKeyser pending re- against the White Sox. From
sults of tests on a lower there, Red Bird III flew back to
left leg injury, Detroit, a fresh crew took over,
DeKeyser joins a number of went to Pittsburgh, and had
players who have been hurt over the Wings back in Detroit mid-
the past three weeks. The Wings morning Thursday.
took Thursday off, a chance for The Wings already are without
players to get a little breather Pavel Datsyuk who won’t be back
before hosting the Maple Leafs before November at the earliest.
Friday and playing at Toronto Darren Helm was injured the first
Saturday as exhibition season day of camp, suffering a concus-
closes. The Wings open the reg- sion and separated shoulder, and
ular season October 9. has yet to start skating.
The Wings announced the Meanwhile the Blackhawks
injury to DeKeyser Thursday announced their schedule
evening, revealing he was hurt for home-game giveaways on
during the third period of the 7-2 Thursday and there was a sur-
victory at Pittsburgh. DeKeyser prising gift on the docket.
is a top-four defenseman, slat- The Hawks will hold a Patrick
ed to play opposite newcomer Kane bobblehead night on Jan.
Mike Green. Green missed a few 24 when they host the Blues with
games because of a tender groin. the first 10,000 fans getting a
General manager Ken Holland free bobblehead.
told the Free Press that defense- The announcement of the
man Kyle Quincey is question- giveaway comes while Kane is
able for the weekend because still under investigation for an
of a lower-body injury. Forward alleged sexual assault that hap-
Teemu Pulkkinen is doubtful pened at his home in western
because of an upper-body injury New York in August.
dating to last week. While Kane has not been
The Wings generally fly out charged, he remains under in-
and home day-off exhibition vestigation but has practiced
games, but Wednesday’s group with the team and has played in
had to overnight in Pittsburgh some of the Hawks’ exhibition
to help out a fellow Mike Ilitch- games.
Beltran hit his 19th home run
in the second off Boston pitcher
Rich Hill, and Bird added some
breathing room by hitting his
11th homer with one out in the
seventh off Jean Machi in front
of a crowd of 40,033.
Refsnyder tacked on more
runs, hammering a fastball from
Heath Hembree over the left-
center field fence.
Sabathia allowed one run and
six hits in his fifth start since re-
turning from a right knee prob-
lem. He put nine of the 22 bat-
ters he faced on base, but only
allowed an RBI single to center
fielder Mookie Betts in the fifth
inning.
Sabathia got some much
needed help from his defense,
which completed double plays
on shortstop Xander Bogaerts
and right fielder Rusney Cas-
tillo in the third and fourth in-
nings.
Sabathia ended his outing
by getting first baseman Travis
Shaw on a fly ball to deep center
field with the bases loaded.
The Red Sox were missing
designated hitter David Ortiz,
who has been dealing with gen- DANNY DEKEYSER
eral soreness, and was given the
night off.
Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker
(R) kicks a game winning fifty-two
yard field goal to defeat the Pittsburgh
Steelers in overtime at Heinz Field.
PICTURE: USA TODAY Sports
 Gulf Times
8 Saturday, October 3, 2015

SPORT
SPOTLIGHT

Brazilian jiu-jitsu wrestles its way onto world stage

AFP nomenon, and popular from the belt, stage two in the long haul in the 1990s, kicking off today’s the sport’s biggest new booster.
Rio de Janeiro United States to the Middle East to jiu-jitsu black—he was suffi- hugely popular, multi-million A huge UFC fan, Sheikh Tah-
and Asia. ciently hooked to grab a plane to dollar MMA industry. But the noon created his own Abu Dhabi
At the cramped GFTeam acad- Rio. “There’s something about rest of the extended family has Combat Club with annual tour-

N
ew Zealander Jason
Lee lies face down on a
Rio de Janeiro floor, his
arm twisted in a pain-
ful lock. But the 26-year-old
couldn’t be happier—it’s exactly
what he came halfway around
the world to experience.
As pastry chefs might make
pilgrimages to France or mystics
to India, so hardened fighters
from around the globe beat a path
to Rio gyms to learn Brazilian jiu-
jitsu, a formerly obscure martial
art that has become an unlikely
success story and export.
Once restricted almost entire-
ly to the Latin American country,
Brazilian jiu-jitsu is one of the
world’s fastest-growing forms
of unarmed combat, credited
with igniting the mixed martial
arts or MMA cage fighting phe-
emy in a section of northern Rio
rarely visited by tourists, Lee
is one of four non-Brazilians
among the 20 or so men and
women grappling on the mats.
Clearly the gringos—as for-
eigners in Brazil are teasingly
dubbed—didn’t come for the
fancy facilities: the gym is open
to a noisy sidewalk, has a dodgy
toilet, and is so small that fight-
ers literally bounce off the pad-
ded walls.
The real attraction is simple:
more than half of everyone in the
room wears the elite black belt.
“They refer to this place as the
champion factory,” Lee says.
A wiry, soft spoken man, Lee
was a karate black belt in New
Zealand when he stumbled
across jiu-jitsu. Less than three
years later—after reaching blue
jiu-jitsu,” Lee said. “You fall un-
der the spell.”
Legendary family
In about 1914, with jiu-jitsu
barely known outside Asia, Jap-
anese immigrant and jiu-jitsu
master Mitsuyo Maeda intro-
duced the sport to Brazil by giv-
ing lessons to the sons of busi-
nessman Gastao Gracie in the
Amazon jungle city of Belem.
But it was Gracie’s youngest
son Helio—considered too sickly
to take part—who would make
history.
Helio, according to legend,
spent years watching his broth-
ers from the sidelines before fi-
nally getting a chance. When he
did, he had a novel idea: why not
adapt the traditional moves to
suit his weaker physique?
The supposed weakling
proved right.
Experimenting and refining,
Helio came up with techniques
that would allow skilled smaller
practitioners to dominate bigger,
stronger opponents—and with
that, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, or BJJ,
was born. The Gracies have since
turned the sport into a remark-
able family empire.
Arguably the most successful
has been Helio Gracie’s oldest
son Rorion, who launched the
Ultimate Fighting Champion-
ship or UFC in the United States
been just as busy.
“I have students here from
Bermuda, Argentina, Iran,
France,” Rolker Gracie, another
of Helio’s sons, said in an inter-
view, sitting cross legged on the
green and red mats of his jiu-jit-
su school, the Gracie Academy,
in Rio de Janeiro. “I go to Africa
for seminars, I go to Buenos Aires
for seminars, and my brothers go
to Israel, Kuwait, everywhere,”
Gracie, 51, said.
“I have a brother living in
Spain, a brother in Honolulu, a
brother in San Diego, a brother
and two sisters in Los Ange-
les. And they’re all teaching
jiu-jitsu.”
While the Gracies are jiu-
jitsu royalty, it’s an actual royal,
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed of
Abu Dhabi, who has emerged as
naments featuring prize fights
worth up to $40,000, turning
the oil-rich emirate into a new
capital for the much-travelled
martial art. The United Arab
Emirates are also the engine
pushing the next wave of expan-
sion, with jiu-jitsu being includ-
ed for the first time in 2018 Asia
Games in Jakarta and, the UAE
hopes, eventually the Olympics.
Io Brazilians jiu-jitsu is the
“arte suave,” or soft art. Others
liken jiu-jitsu to physical chess
and it’s true that with hitting
and kicking banned, there are
fewer injuries than in other mar-
tial arts.
But given that jiu-jitsu’s goal
is submission through arm locks
and choking—competitors often
end up briefly unconscious—
“soft” is a relative concept.

ASIAN BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP FOCUS

Rehan wins
Philippines to take on silver medal
in GCC

China in final today badminton

By Sports Reporter
Doha

R
ehan Arshad, a 12-year-old tal-
‘It was an outstanding game. I thought our guys just made a few more plays in the last minute and a half’ ented trainee from Qatar Bad-
minton Academy (QBA), won
the under-14 boys singles silver
Agencies medal at the IBAK GCC Tournament,
Changsha-Hunan ACTION FROM CHINA-IRAN SEMI-FINAL held in Kuwait recently.
Wales’ Alun Wyn Jones wins a lineout against Fiji. (Reuters) The QBA also won the team bronze
medal.

C
hina and the Philippines
will square off for the
FIBA Asia Champion-
ship title today and a
spot in the 2016 Olympics.
China advanced to the final
defeating Iran 70-57 and re-
mained unbeaten in the tourna-
ment.
Rolling to an eighth victory
in as many games, China spread
their points around and led from
start to finish, bringing the ti-
tle defense of the Iranians to an
end.
Gong Luming’s side raced into
a 21-12 lead by the end of the first
quarter and kept the pressure on
Iran, who had won three of the
last four Asian Championships
but showed their vulnerabil-
ity in a defeat to the Philippines
earlier in the tournament.
Iran were a woeful two of 16
from three-point range.
China are now just one vic-
tory away from a spot in the Rio
de Janeiro Games.
The Philippines had to pull
out all stops yesterday but beat
Japan 81-70 to reach the final of
this event for the second con-
secutive time.
With Jayson Castro and An-
dray Blatche again supplying
plenty of points, rebounds, as-
sists and energy, the Philippines
also got a shot in the arm from
several others to see off a Japa-
nese team that played with tre-
mendous resolve and at times
looked like a side that would go
on to win.
Philippines captain Donaldo
Hontiveros hit a tournament
high six three-pointers, includ-
ing three in the fourth quarter,
to help Tab Baldwin’s side. If
he was the X-factor, Ranidel
de Ocampo and Gabe Norwood
were close seconds.
De Ocampo had seven re-
bounds and two steals to go with
his eight points and Norwood
excelled defensively, coming
up with a couple of steals and a
block to go with five rebounds.
Japan’s Makoto Hiejima had
28 points - 22 in the first half -
but the Philippines wasn’t able
to set up a final showdown with
China.
“I think Japan deserves an
awful lot of credit,” Philippines
coach Tab Baldwin said.
“They could easily have won
that game. It was an outstand-
ing game of basketball. I thought
our guys just made a few more
plays in the last minute and a
half and they didn’t.”
Castro was the Philippines
player who held his team to-
gether for the first three quar-
ters with his solid, gutsy play.
He finished with 20 points, sev-
en assists and two steals.
Iran and Japan will take part
in a FIBA Olympic Qualifying
Tournament next year.
Earlier in the day, Kazakhstan
beat Hong Kong in the 11th-12th
place battle, and Jordan de-
feated Palestine 94-82 to in the
9th-10th place game.
In the classification round
games for the 5-8 spots Korea
won 117-72 over India and Leba-
non edged Qatar 89-86.
Lebanon’s Wael Arakji tossed
in 21 points, issued five assists
and grabbed five rebounds to
pace the winners. Qatar enjoyed
a narrow 40-39 halftime lead.
Lebanon increased the tempo in
the second half.
They fired 50 points after the
big break and got away with a
tough victory. Bassel Bawji pro-
duced 18 points and seven re-
bounds in the win.
Mohamed and Ali Saeed Er-
fan had 11 points each for the
losing side.
Korea will meet Lebanon in
the 5th-6th place game today
and India will go up against Qa-
tar in the 7th-8th place game.
Arshad knocked out top seed Adarsh
Dinesh from the United Arab Emirates in
a thrilling semi-final but he failed to sus-
tain his brilliant run and was beaten by
second seed Ravi Sajayan of UAE.
Arshad lost the opening game to Di-
nesh in the semi-finals at 16. But he used
drop shots and high clears intelligently,
forcing his rival to make errors and lose
the second game at 20. In the decider, the
UAE player was 18-15 ahead but Arshad
rallied superbly to gain the lead at the
crucial juncture and won the match by
taking the third set at 20.
In the final, Arshad battled hard. How-
ever, his rival Sajayan was much more
experienced and managed to triumph in
straight games.
The QBA team, consisting of Pa-
van Kumar, Balasubramaniam, Sharon
Raphael, Tino Thomas and Teena Mary
Cherian, won the third place in the event.
Arshad thanked QBA coaches for his
achievements. The QBA, which has been
training young players since 2008, has
posted outstanding results and hopes to
continue producing promising players.
Rehan Arshad
Pregnant Malaysian eyes
shooting berth in Rio
Malaysian pistol shooter Wahidah Ismail
is taking inspiration from London Olym-
pian Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi as she bids
to qualify for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro
Games despite being four months
pregnant.
Her compatriot Nur Suryani became
one of the headlines of the London
Games three years ago when she com-
peted for Malaysia in the women’s 10
metre air rifle despite being more than
seven months pregnant. Wahidah is
eyeing selection for the Asian Cham-
pionships - the last qualifier for Rio - in
Kuwait from Nov 1-12 and was optimistic
of making her first Games. “I’m only four
months pregnant ... so, I shouldn’t have
any problem competing in the Asian
meet to qualify for the Rio Olympics,”
she was quoted as saying by the Malay-
sian Star newspaper on Friday. “Anyway,
the pistol weighs only 1.26 kilogrammes,
which is lighter compared to a rifle.”
Philippines players celebrating their victory over Japan in the semi-final of the Asian Basketball Championship yesterday.

TENNIS
Muguruza cracks top
five with limping win,
to meet Venus in final
‘It was a really tough match and I had to struggle today. Venus is a legend. I’ll have to
go out there and do my best to win against her and I think it’s going to be a great final’
Garbine Muguruza of Spain
serves to Angelique Kerber of
Germany during their semi-
final match at the Wuhan Open
yesterday. Muguruza will meet
Venus Williams (right) of the
US, who saw off Roberta Vinci
of Italy in the other semi-final,
in today's final. (Reuters)
DPA
Wuhan, China
S
pain’s limping Garbine Mu-
guruza broke through into
the top five yesterday as the
hampered Wimbledon final-
ist defeated German Angelique Ker-
ber 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) to reach the final
of the Wuhan Open.
Muguruza, hammered at the All
England Club in July by Serena Wil-
liams, lines up showdown with elder
Williams sister Venus with both pro-
tagonists carrying substantial injuries.
Muguruza was treated in the
second-set tiebreaker for an ankle
problem while Williams, 13 years
older than her opponent, heads into
her first final since January with a leg
muscle worry and nearly three hours
of semi-final tennis in her veteran’s
legs. Both will be playing their sec-
ond final of 2015. Muguruza’s win
came after beating Kerber at Roland
Garros and Wimbledon.
Muguruza played through pain as
she rallied from 3-5 down in the second
set and was close to tears as she secured
her victory with a massive return win-
ner after a little more than two hours.
Brotherly boost as Djokovic seeks perfect six reached a career-high ranking of 581.
AFP
Bangkok
N
o tournament exemplifies the
rise of Novak Djokovic like the
China Open and the remorse-
less Serb is hungry to extend
his incredible unbeaten run in Beijing—
and this time, flanked by his brother.
The world number one has an
unblemished 24-0 record after winning
five times in the Chinese capital and
after stamping his authority on men’s
tennis this year, few look like toppling
him. What’s more, the Serb will be
joined by his brother Djordje, eight
years younger and ranked 1,485 places
lower, who has a wildcard and will team
up for an all-Djokovic doubles pairing.
The unprecedented sight will continue
a tennis tradition in the Djokovic house-
hold after their elder brother Marko
“It was a really tough match and
I had to struggle today,” said the
Spaniard. “Venus is a legend. I’ll
have to go out there and do my best
to win against her and I think it’s go-
ing to be a great final.”
The 35-year-old Williams, holder
of seven Grand Slam titles, struggled
for nearly three hours to extract re-
venge on behalf of her sister, defeat-
ing US Open finalist Roberta Vinci
5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4).
The elder Williams was playing
for family pride after Vinci knocked
Serena Williams out of the Open
semis last month, ending a shot at an
historic calendar-year Grand Slam
title sweep for the American.
Devastated Serena Williams called
a sudden halt to her 2015 season this
week in the wake of the loss three
weeks ago which apparently still
stings deeply. “If I could I’d give this
win to Serena for the US Open,” said
Williams, who played her last final
in Auckland in January. “I’m so ex-
cited to be playing the final and have
a chance at another title.”
Williams beat 15th-seeded Vinci
thanks to seven aces and saving sev-
en break-points while breaking the
Italian eight times in the bad-tem-
Djordje’s presence notwithstanding, Djok-
ovic headlines an event which is feeling
the effects of a long and hard year, with
Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova
both out of the women’s draw.
The 28-year-old’s path to an eighth
title of 2015 has been eased by the
no-shows of Andy Murray and Roger
Federer, although Rafael Nadal arrives
looking to add gloss to a forget-
table year. But for Stan Wawrinka’s
rapier backhand in Paris, Djokovic
could have touched down clutching
a calendar-year Grand Slam after he
won three out of four of the season’s
major finals.
Djokovic stands out from the men’s
“Big Four” after he subdued Murray
in the Australian Open final, Federer
at Wimbledon and the US Open, and
dethroned Nadal on the clay of Roland
Garros. “The mental strength and the
pered see-saw battle in central Chi-
na. The match was marred by dicey
line calls, with Hawk-Eye electronic
scoring not in use owing to the death
this week on site of one of the com-
pany’s team members.
Vinci showed her annoyance at
what she might have taken as time-
wasting from Williams, with an icy
handshake at the net marking the
end of the struggle. Williams was
also seen to be favouring her left leg.
Vinci had won 10 of her last 11
matches, with he only defeat coming
in the Open final against compatriot
and good friend Flavia Pennetta.
Williams lost a 3-1 lead in the final
set and had to break back to force the
deciding tiebreaker.
Williams, with 46 career trophies
from 76 finals, is competing for only
her fifth time in China—she lost in
the Wuhan first round a year ago—
but had never been past a quarter-
final in the country.
Ferrer, Lopez deliver
Spanish double in Malaysia
In Kuala Lumpur, top seed David
Ferrer led a Spanish double into the
semi-finals of the Malaysian Open
level of tennis is difficult to equal,” an ad-
miring Nadal said of Djokovic this week,
ahead of an exhibition match against
the Serb in Thailand. “I texted him after
the US Open, but I want to say today in
a public way, it’s amazing the way he’s
playing during the whole season.”
It’s a testament to Djokovic’s meth-
ods and application that he has flown
to far-flung Beijing at the tail-end of
five tough campaigns and emerged
victorious each time.
The only time he has skipped the
China Open was in 2011, during his
glorious 70-6 season in which he com-
piled a career-best 10 titles, including
three Grand Slam trophies.
A victory in Beijing, with the Shang-
hai Masters and ATP World Tour Finals
to come, would complete another
10-trophy haul plus career-high earn-
ings which already top $14 million.
Gluten-free Djokovic also draws
yesterday by matching compatriot
Feliciano Lopez with victories.
Ferrer, chasing one of four spots
in next month’s eight-man season
finals in London, strengthened his
provisional eighth position by beat-
ing Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3,
6-4.
Lopez, seeded second, advanced
over Canadian eighth seed Vasek
Pospisil 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 6-2 and next
plays Australian-Malaysian Nick
Kyrgios, after the controversial sev-
enth seed defeated serving supremo
Ivo Karlovic, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-2).
Despite his defeat, the 36-year-
old Karlovic moved to within 35 aces
of matching fellow Croatian Goran
Ivanisevic on the all-time best of
10,237 career aces. He pounded
down 13 against Kyrgios.
“It feels really good to be in the
semi-finals,” said Kyrgios. “I knew
today was going to be tough. I
thought he served really well, but I
thought I also served really well and
looked after my serve.
“It was a fun match as well; it
was really good. I thought I stayed
composed and today was a re-
ally good performance,” said the
Australian who saved three break
on traditional Chinese medicine for
inspiration, but marriage and
fatherhood have also done him no
harm at all after he welcomed his first
child a year ago.
In the context, his advice to young
players in Bangkok was telling: enjoy
what you do. “This is the main source
of motivation, love and really being
able to stand up every morning and
understand why they’re doing what
they’re doing,” he said.
While Djokovic is all smiles, an
emotionally exhausted Williams has
already pulled the plug on 2015 after
she narrowly missed out on the first
calendar-year Grand Slam since 1988.
The absence of Williams and
injury-troubled Sharapova throws
the women’s draw wide open, with
world number two Simona Halep also
shocked in Wuhan this week by 66th-
ranked Brit Johanna Konta.
points to advance in 85 minutes.
The 20-year-old, who caused a
stir this summer with an on-court
sledge over the personal life of French
Open champion Stan Wawrinka, will
be playing his second semi-final of
the season after reaching the Estoril
final in the spring.
Lopez prevented Pospisil from
reaching a final four this season,
“I think I played a great match,”
said the 34-year-old Spaniard. “I
think I improved my game from my
first match yesterday. Even though I
lost the first set, I was getting better
and better as the match went on. I’m
very happy.
“Against Nick it’s going to be
tough. He’s an aggressive player. I
have to be aware of that and try to
be aggressive on the court and put
some pressure on him. Hopefully I
will have my chances. It’s an excit-
ing match to play against one of the
young guns on the tour.”
Benjamin Becker moved into his
first semi-final of the season, to
meet Ferrer, after starting the week
with a dismal 8-18 record. The Ger-
man knocked fourth seed Grigor
Dimitrov out of the ranking top 20
with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) win.
Nadal, Djokovic meet Thai
PM, visit deadly blast site
Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic
met Thai Prime Minister Prayuth
Chan-ocha yesterday and visited the
site of a deadly Bangkok bomb blast.
Djokovic and Nadal are in Thailand for
a sold-out exhibition match aimed at
boosting confidence in safety follow-
ing the August attack which killed 20
people, including 14 foreigners. The
pair visited the Erawan shrine, the
scene of the explosion, and placed
flower garlands at the site amid
pouring rain. Earlier, the duo, wearing
pale blue and yellow traditional Thai
silk jackets, gave tennis racquets to
Prayuth and chatted to the premier
through an interpreter. Djokovic last
visited Thailand in 2008 when he lost
the final of the Thailand Open to Jo-
Wilfried Tsonga.
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 3, 2015 9
SPORT
SHORT TAKES
Spieth voted PGA Tour
Player of the Year
American world number one Jordan Spieth
was named as the PGA Tour’s Player of
the Year yesterday after a stellar 2014-15
campaign highlighted by two major victories
among his five wins. The 22-year-old landed
the coveted honour after clinching the first
two majors of the season—the Masters and
US Open—before finishing one shot out of a
British Open playoff in July and being runner-
up at the PGA Championship in August.
Spieth ended his campaign in triumphant
style with victory at the season-ending Tour
Championship in Atlanta last week where he
also clinched the overall FedExCup playoff
honours and the $10 million jackpot. Spieth
made 21 of 25 cuts on the PGA Tour, including
four runner-up spots, as his earnings for the
season ballooned to $22 million because
of the FedExCup bonus. He set a record for
official earnings on the US circuit, his tally
of $12,030,465 eclipsing the previous mark
of $10,905,166 established by Vijay Singh
in 2004. Spieth claimed Player of the Year
honours over rivals Jason Day of Australia,
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and fellow
American Rickie Fowler in a vote of his peers.
India’s Khan leads at
halfway mark in Taipei
India’s Rashid Khan took the halfway lead in
the Mercuries Taiwan Masters yesterday with
a two-under-par 70, staying one shot ahead
of overnight leader Danny Chia of Malaysia.
Khan, a two-time Asian Tour winner, carded
a six-under-par 138 total after the second
round at the Taiwan Golf and Country Club’s
Tamsui course in Taipei. The 24-year-old
had a rough start on the blustery day with
a double-bogey on the first hole, but was
able to rally with six birdies to claim the
lead. “I kept the ball in play on the back nine
and I am happy with where I stand, given
the tough conditions out there,” said Khan.
“Overall, I feel confident with my game but
my short game just wasn’t as good today,”
he added. Chia, the highest ranked Malaysian
on the Official World Golf Rankings, fell to
second place after a mixed performance
with a pair of birdies and two bogeys. “It was
really windy out there,” said the 43-year-old.
Filipino Antonio Lascuna, 44, who tied for
second last year, edged ahead to cap off the
day in third along with four others including
local favourite Pan Cheng-tsung. “If I can
play like how I did last year, I should have a
chance to win this week,” said Lascuna, who
came close to winning his maiden Asian Tour
title on three occasions last season.
Injured Furyk uncertain
for Presidents Cup
The US team’s preparations for next week’s
Presidents Cup have suffered a setback
with the news that Jim Furyk’s wrist injury is
still causing concern and captain Jay Haas
has contacted an alternate in case he fails
to make the trip to South Korea. Furyk, a
veteran of seven Presidents Cups, skipped
the last two FedExCup Playoffs events due to
a bone contusion in his wrist and Haas said
the 45-year-old was short of full fitness. The
United States face Nick Price’s Internationals
at Incheon’s Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea
from October 8-11 as the biennial team com-
petition comes to Asia for the first time. “Jim
is still testing his wrist,” the PGA Tour quoted
Haas as saying. “I don’t think it’s quite where
he wants it to be, but he’s doing everything he
can to be there. My hope is that he will be on
that plane.” Should Furyk, who has a 20-10-3
record at the Presidents Cup and been on five
winning teams, have to withdraw, Haas would
likely plump for an experienced Tour player
such as JB Holmes, Brandt Snedeker or Webb
Simpson to take his place. The US skipper was
playing his cards close to his chest, however.
“He has plane reservations, his clothing is
being readied, if that happens,” Haas said, re-
fusing to divulge the player’s identity. Jordan
Spieth spearheads the United States’ bid for
a sixth consecutive victory at the Presidents
Cup, which pits the US team against a line-up
of international players minus Europeans.
Novak Djokovic (left) and Rafael Nadal hold
garlands as they pray during their visit to the
Erawan shrine in Bangkok, site of last month's
deadly bomb blast, yesterday. (Reuters)
 10 Gulf Times
Saturday, October 3, 2015

RUGBY
SPOTLIGHT FOCUS

Raw Scotland offer

Five-try France SA second chance

come through
tough Canada test
‘We did well to get to within six points of France but made basic mistakes and you
File picture of South Africa’s Fourie du Preez.

AFP
London
Villiers in a centre partnership
with Damian de Allende, while
Lodewyk de Jager takes over from
can’t afford to do that against a top team’ Matfield at lock and Bismarck du

France’s Frederic Michalak in action during the IRB Rugby World Cup 2015 Pool D match between France and Canada at the Stadium MK in Milton Keynes, England.
Reuters Pool D on 14 points, four ahead of fellow
Milton Keynes group heavyweights Ireland who they
face in their finale at the Millennium sta-
dium in Cardiff on Oct. 11.
maul sent hooker Guilhem Guirado over.
But Canada, despite losing captain
Tyler Ardron to injury, hit back in exhila-
rating style.
“We reached our first objective,
three wins and 14 points...so now
we have to prepare for Ireland
and our target is to finish top of the
group,” Saint-Andre said
A
fter a wretched start to
the World Cup, Hey-
neke Meyer’s two-time
champions South Af-
rica get another shot at redemp-
tion today against a Scotland side
already knocking on the door to
the play-offs.
It is a crucial match in unravel-
ling the Pool B log-jam in which
Samoa and Japan also retain
quarter-final hopes after two
of the four games and clash just
hours ahead of the Springboks
and Scotland.
The weight of experience lies
with South Africa who have a
4-0 record against Scotland
since the last World Cup and
field a side with more than twice
as many caps as the 330 mus-
tered by Scotland.
Experience meant nothing
when Japan shocked South Afri-
ca in the opener. But the Spring-
boks bounced back to thrash
Samoa 46-6 only to lose captain
Jean de Villiers to a Test career-
ending broken jaw.
It inflicted further pain on a
side already flayed in their local
media as an “old man’s” team.
Fourie du Preez, 33, has been
handed the captaincy with vice
captain Victor Matfield sidelined
by a hamstring injury.
“We were really with our backs
against the wall last week,” du
Preez said, adding the win over
Samoa “hasn’t changed the po-
sition we’re in this week.”
Du Preez is rated a “tactical
genius” by coach Meyer who made
three changes to the line up that
put their campaign back on track.
“The biggest thing is he knows
how to win, he has been injured
so many times, but he has a mas-
sive passion for the Springboks.”
Jesse Kriel comes in for de
Plessis returns as hooker in place
of Adriaan Strauss.
“I know the team is ready,”
Meyer said. “We don’t look past
Saturday but I really feel we’re
going to have a great perform-
ance.”
Scrum-half du Preez, who
fought his way back from a me-
dial ligament injury to make the
World Cup, is Meyer’s ace for the
remainder of the tournament.
“He knows what I want on
the field. The biggest thing is he
knows how to win.”
It’s been a brighter run for
Scotland picking up bonus point
victories over Japan and USA
to put them one win away from
the knockout stages after falling
short in 2011.
If Vern Cotter’s side do not
seal the deal against South Africa
they have a last chance against
Samoa a week later.
They too have to overcome in-
juries with fly-half Finn Russell
(ankle) and John Hardie (head
knock) not available and lock
Grant Gilchrist (groin) out of the
tournament.
Although there are suspicions
the 11 changes in the Scots line up
are a case of preserving ammuni-
tion for what could be a must-win
pool finale against Samoa, Cotter
was emphatic that is not the case.
“This is our third game in 10
days, we’ve taken that into ac-
count,” the New Zealander said.
“These players will be giving
100 per cent of themselves and
it is a team that will be competi-
tive.”
Regardless, the Scots—who
include several kilted imports in-
cluding from New Zealand, South
Africa, Zimbabwe and the Neth-
erlands—have a lean look to them
with the amount of caps accrued.

F
rance endured some uncomfort-
able moments before pulling
away to beat Canada 41-18 in an
entertaining and breathless clash
on Thursday and close in on the Rugby
World Cup quarter-finals.
Philippe Saint-Andre’s men were in
control at 17-0 up but Canada, never
afraid to counter-attack at pace or spin
the ball wide against the beaten 2011 fi-
nalists, refused to fold.
Two tries in four minutes towards the
end of the first half gave Canada a sniff of
an upset and it was not well until the last
quarter that the French finally wrestled
back control as the underdogs tired.
Late tries from Pascal Pape and Remy
Grosso, on his debut, earned France a
“We reached our first objective, three
wins and 14 points...so now we have to
prepare for Ireland and our target is to fin-
ish top of the group,” Saint-Andre said.
France had impressed only in parts in
sterile wins over Italy and Romania but
appeared ready to shake off the shackles
when Wesley Fofana burst over the line
after three minutes from Frederic Micha-
lak’s break.
More magic from Michalak, whose
first penalty took him past Thierry Lac-
roix’s record for his country of 124 points
in World Cups, almost put in Fofana again
soon after but he botched the chance.
Fofana was heavily involved in France’s
second try, he and fellow midfield batter-
ing ram Mathieu Basteraud pinning back
DOUBLE STRIKE
A brilliant take from the restart by centre
Ciaran Hearn sparked an attack finished
by left wing DTH Van Der Merwe for his
third try of the tournament.
Their tails up, Canada attacked the
French lines again and pouring forward,
Aaron Carpenter picked up from the base
of the ruck to score.
Having seen their 17-point advantage
whittled down to five, France went back
to the driving maul to pile over and re-
store some order with prop Rabah Slima-
ni the man to emerge with the ball.
Canada held their own for long spells af-
ter the break, adding to French frustrations
with Nathan Hirayama’s two goals closing
GAME PLAN
Michalak nosed France further ahead
again and it was French forward power
that finally won the day with Pape scor-
ing from the base of the ruck before good
handling allowed Grosso to touch down
Pumas wary of
in the corner.
Canada dominated Italy for long spells
before losing by five points on Saturday
Tonga ‘disorder’ in
and coach Kieran Crowley said he was
proud of another fine performance.
“We did well to get to within six points
Leicester clash
of France but made basic mistakes and
you can’t afford to do that against a top Reuters
team,” Crowley said. London
“We are disappointed with how the
result went but I am happy we competed

A
bonus-point win that takes them top of the Canucks’ defence before a rolling the deficit to six with 25 minutes left. for long periods.” rgentina flyhalf Nico-
las Sanchez thinks the
Pumas need to keep the
BOTTOMLINE game tight and avoid
being drawn into the “disorder”
on which Tonga thrive when they
meet the Pacific Islanders in to-

Jones believes in Japan’s destiny morrow’s Rugby World Cup Pool

C match.
Argentina’s youngest side at a
World Cup since 1999 will face
an experienced Tonga side with
AFP “It’s the most experienced fered if they lose. a total of 349 caps and the oldest
London team to ever play for Japan,” said “The team is in excellent con- average age in the tournament at
Jones. dition,” said Jones. 31 years and 38 days. File picture of Argentina’s fly half
“We know we’ve got a big task “The only thing we’re worry- The Pumas have made seven Nicolas Sanchez.

E
ddie Jones believes Ja-
pan can keep alive their
dream of reaching their
first ever World Cup
quarter-final when they play
Samoa on Saturday.
However, the ‘Brave Blos-
soms’ coach said it was depend-
ent on them staying in touch for
the first hour as they did in their
historic victory over South Af-
rica and then striking the killer
blow.
Pool B is in a state of flux and
unpredictability with Scotland
topping the table on a maximum
10 points from two games and
South Africa second on seven.
One of those sides will drop
points when they clash on Sat-
urday which will propel the win-
ner of Japan and Samoa—both
on four points—right back into
the mix for tickets to the last
eight.
Samoa coach Stephan
Betham, who has had to rouse
his team after their 46-6 thrash-
ing by South Africa last week-
end, said the stakes are clear.
ahead of us. If we can stick with
Samoa for the first 60 (minutes)
then for the last 20 we should be
able to come home pretty well.”
Jones, who has an excellent
World Cup pedigree having
guided Australia to the 2003 fi-
nal and been an adviser to the
triumphant Springbok side in
2007, said that judging from the
team selected by his Samoan
counterpart Stephen Betham it
was obvious the Pacific island-
ers are going for brute force over
subtlety.
“They’ve picked an interest-
ing team, they’ve left out their
acknowledged fetcher (Jack
Lam) and picked a very big back
row,” said Jones.
File picture of Japan’s head coach Eddie Jones. “So there’s no secret as to how
they’re going to play.”
“It’s do or die for both teams Jones, who steps down after Jones and Japan’s outstand-
and I’m sure they are feeling the World Cup to take over at ing skipper Michael Leitch con-
what we are feeling. South Africa’s Western Storm- curred that having shaken off
“It’s backs against the wall for ers, has selected his most bat- the fatigue and mental effects
both teams and whoever wins tle-hardened XV including caps of the 45-10 whipping they took
will have a great shot at making record-holder Hitoshi Ono, who at the hands of Scotland, a few
the quarter-finals,” Betham de- will stride out for his 96th ap- days after the Springbok victory,
clared. pearance. there would be no excuses of-
ing about is the injuries we got
from the Scotland game.
“We just need to manage
those injuries.
“But apart from that, the
physical conditioning of the
players is first class. We don’t
have any excuses for the game.”
Leitch, whose brave decision
to go for a winning try in the final
minute of the Springbok game
contrasted with England captain
Chris Robshaw’s similar choice
failing against Wales, said the
team was mentally sharp.
“We’re going up against a very
physical side and our defence
will be important,” said the
26-year-old New Zealand-born
flanker.
“The team is really focused
now. The South Africa game
was what, two weeks ago? We’ve
moved on from that, moved on
from the Scotland game. There
are no excuses this time.”
“It’s backs against the wall for
both teams and whoever wins
will have a great shot at making
the quarter-finals,” said Leitch.
changes from the 54-9 win over
in Gloucester last week which
followed their opening 26-16
loss to world champions New
Zealand.
“Against Georgia we had prob-
lems in the first half. We weren’t
good in ball winning, lineout and
scrum which are areas where we
draw our strength,” Sanchez said
earlier this week of the first half
against Georgia after which they
led 14-9.
“The idea is to play at the same
level for 80 minutes. If we start
the same way with Tonga as we
did against Georgia, they’ll grow
stronger because they have bet-
ter individuals.
“We must try to beat them as
a team. If you close them down
and put them under pressure in
the forwards you can beat them,
but if you get drawn into their
disorder things get complicated.”
The Pumas are well aware
that Tonga, upset 17-10 in their
opening match by Georgia before
beating Namibia 53-21 this week,
are capable of shocking any team
on their day, as they did when
they beat France in a pool match
four years ago.
Tonga coach Mana Otai, whose
side are a point ahead of Argenti-
na in the pool standings with one
win and two bonuses, concurred
with Sanchez about the strength
of the Pumas.
Conceding the Argentine’s
superiority in the set piece, Otai
said his team would need to
spring a surprise or two at the
Leicester City Stadium (kickoff
1330 GMT).
“It’s always about the ele-
ment of surprise. Games now are
analysed fairly heavily and it’s a
mental game as well. You have
got to keep the opposition guess-
ing all the time,” Otai said.
“If you keep running your
head into a brick wall, you have
got to find the door. Sometimes
it helps if you can’t find the door,
then you create one.
“This game is going to be a de-
fining moment for us and we are
approaching it that way.”
 Gulf Times
Saturday, October 3, 2015 11

RUGBY
RUGBY WORLD CUP FOCUS

Under-fire Robshaw
Crunch match for rides rugby rapids

England as they
face Australia
‘We’re aware of what is at stake - you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to work it out.
England’s Chris Robshaw during training.

AFP that could have tied the match.

Fact is that if we don’t win on Saturday then we won’t go through from the pool stage’ London Instead England attempted to
force for a try and failed.
“I made that call,” Robshaw

England’s wing Jack Nowell (left), and full back Mike Brown (centre) attend the captain’s run training session at Twickenham Stadium in London.
AFP controversially, was given a contract exten-
London sion beyond the 2019 World Cup in Japan
by the Rugby Football Union last year.
“The fact is that if we don’t win on
C
hris Robshaw has been
told he is not a leader
and he is not the best
player in his position,
but England’s under-fire captain
accepts the ups and downs of in-
ternational rugby.
Robshaw has had a welter of
criticism—and some praise—
thrown at him since he was
named captain in 2012.
It has become intense since
England’s agonising 28-25 loss
to Wales last weekend. His team
must now beat old rivals Austral-
ia at Twickenham on Saturday if
they are to keep their quarter-
final hopes alive.
“As an international captain
I’ve learnt in the past you take
the rough with the smooth,” the
29-year-old Harlequins player
said. “There’s good times, there’s
bad times and you need to learn
how to deal with it.
“You want to go out and prove
a couple of people wrong.”
And while past internationals
and national newspapers lay into
the England team, how does he
cope? “I take the dog for a walk.
Everyone does something differ-
ent,” he told reporters Thursday.
Richie McCaw, the New Zea-
land captain, flies gliders, he
explained. England interna-
tional Tom Wood “likes shoot-
ing his bow and arrow” and Tom
Youngs, another England player,
enjoys farming.
“It doesn’t have to be some-
thing extravagant and whatever
it is, use it,” said Robshaw.
ROBSHAW AND RICO
Fixtures Billy Vunipola and Courtney Lawes re- On recent walks with his Af-
spectively. fenpinscher, Rico, Robshaw
Pool B England prop Joe Marler has found him- may or may not have avoided
Samoa vs Japan self in the spotlight this week after Bob the storm caused by England’s
said. “I wanted to go for the cor-
ner and to go for that win, unfor-
tunately it didn’t pay off.”
England cannot afford a simi-
lar failure on Saturday. Another
Pool A defeat could lead to them
becoming the first World Cup
hosts to go out in the pool stage.
It could be a career defining
match for Robshaw and coach
Stuart Lancaster.
“It’s knock-out rugby for us.
There’s no second chance. It’s all
on the line, it’s as simple as that,”
he acknowledged.
“There’s a huge amount of
support for us. I took the dog
for a walk yesterday and you get
people coming up, cheering you
on and willing you on. That’s
what it’s all about.
“We’ve got ourselves in the
best possible frame of mind to
deliver and now we need to.”
Not all commentators agree.
His penalty decision has been
cited as fresh evidence of Rob-
shaw’s lack of tournament aware-
ness, when the pressure is on.
He spurned kickable penalties
in a defeat by Australia in 2012
before going for the posts late on
while losing 16-12 to South Afri-
ca in a match where the clock was
against England.
Steve Borthwick, who faced
similar flak when he was Eng-
land’s skipper between 2008 and
2010, defended Robshaw.
“Those decisions are always
challenging,” Borthwick said. “If
England had scored and won the
game it becomes a tremendous
decision.
“Someone has to be there will-
ing to take on the responsibility
and making the tough decisions
- and that’s Chris.”
If England lose Saturday, Rob-

E
ngland coach Stuart Lancas-
ter knows the consequences of
failure if his side are beaten by
Australia in a World Cup ‘Pool of
Death’ clash at Twickenham today.
Defeat will see England, who suffered
an agonising 28-25 loss to Wales last
weekend, become the first world cham-
pionship hosts to fail to reach the knock-
out stages.
Australia, two-time World Cup win-
ners, who come into the tournament as
one of the most in-form sides with stars
such as full back Israel Folau sense they
can beat the English.
England have won three of the five World
Cup encounters between the two nations,
including a famous victory in the 2003 final
over Australia. A classic match is promised.
“We’re obviously aware of what is at
stake - you don’t have to be a rocket sci-
entist to work it out,” said Lancaster who,
BOTTOMLINE
Saturday then we won’t go through from
the pool stage.
“I understand the consequences, I un-
derstand the accountability and responsi-
bility for delivering in this World Cup, 100
percent. There’s no hiding away from it.”
He added: “The picture would be com-
pletely different on Saturday night after
a win. The old analogy that a week is a
long time in sport is absolutely true in
this case.”
England, changing their midfield line-
up yet again, have recalled Jonathan
Joseph at outside centre after he missed
the Wales defeat with a chest injury.
SCRUM DUEL
Brad Barritt has returned to inside centre,
with rugby league convert Sam Burgess
dropped to the bench in a match where
Owen Farrell again starts at fly-half after
a flawless goal-kicking display against
Pool B
South Africa vs Scotland
Pool A
England vs Australia
the Welsh.
“Owen Farrell’s performance against
Wales was excellent. He gave us what we
were looking for—his defensive strength
and qualities but his kicking game was
excellent,” Lancaster said.
“There’s a black and white assumption
people have made that if George Ford
plays we play fantastic, creative, attack-
ing rugby and when Owen Farrell plays
we don’t. I don’t subscribe to that view
personally.”
Up front, No 8 Ben Morgan and lock Joe
Launchbury start in place of the injured
Dwyer, coach of the Australia side that beat
England in the 1991 World Cup final, ac-
cused him of scrummaging illegally.
Lancaster was having none of it.
“I think our scrum has been good,
honest and excellent across the last three
years,” he said.
Australia, who won this year’s south-
ern hemisphere Rugby Championship,
boast an array of back-line talent includ-
ing Folau, playmaker Matt Giteau and
scrum-half Will Genia.
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has
tried to insist that England, who’ve won
last two Tests against Australia on the
back of a powerful forward effort, believe
his side have a “weak” pack.
“No I don’t,” said Lancaster. “They’ve
improved but I think we can put pressure
on them. They’ve got two very, very good
breakdown experts (Michael Hooper and
David Pocock).”
defeat and his decision to reject
taking a last minute penalty
Five great England-Australia matches
Five of the most memorable
Anglo-Australian clashes.
1984 - Twickenham
England 3 Australia 19
British and Irish rugby fans
had tended to regard Australia
as the ‘poor relation’ among
southern hemisphere rugby
nations when compared to the
traditional New Zealand and
South Africa.
Attitudes started to change on
the Wallabies’ Grand Slam tour
of 1984 which started with an
impressive victory over Eng-
land. This was the match that
really made England aware of
the talent of Mark Ella, with
the gifted fly-half scoring one
shaw may find more time to walk
his dog.
try to level things up.
England fly-half Rob Andrew
and Australia counterpart
Michael Lynagh matched
each other kick for kick before
Andrew’s 45-metre drop-goal
in stoppage time decided the
match.
2000 - Twickenham
England 22 Australia 19
England rescued victory from
the jaws of defeat when, a full
eight minutes into injury time,
replays confirmed wing Dan
Luger had touched down Iain
Balshaw’s kick into the corner
for a try that turned the match
on its head. Earlier, Jonny
Wilkinson missed several pen-

Stressed? We’re blessed, says

of the Wallabies’ three tries
and setting up another for
Simon Poidevin.
1991 - Twickenham
alties while all of Australia’s
points came from wing Matt
Burke. Wilkinson’s penalty
brought England within range,
but even then it seemed they

England’s Graham Rowntree

Reuters not to make the quarter-finals.
London “You have to keep pinching
yourselves, realising how lucky
you are, how blessed we are
England contributed to their
own downfall in last week’s de-
feat by Wales by continually of-
fending at the tackle area, de-
England 6 Australia 12
Australia won a tense first
World Cup final between the
two countries. England got
to the final on the back of a
strong forward-orientated
game backed up by the boot
of Rob Andrew yet switched to
a running style for the final.
The only try of the match
would fall short before Luger’s
late, late show sealed victory.
2003 - Sydney
Australia 17 England 20
(after extra-time)
Arguably the most tense An-
glo-Australian rugby match of
them all saw England become
the first northern hemisphere

G
raham Rowntree had a
long but painful asso-
ciation with the World
Cup as a player and
yesterday reminded the current
England side to embrace the oc-
casion when they face Australia
in today’s monumental Twick-
enham clash.
The prop made his first Eng-
land start in the 1995 tourna-
ment and also featured in the
1999 campaign. However, he
then suffered the biggest set-
back of his 11-year, 57-cap career
when he was a surprise omission
from the squad who went on to
win the 2003 tournament.
Back on board as an assist-
ant coach, he was involved in the
2007 and 2011 campaigns but
will probably go to his grave ruing
rather than being stressed by the
pressure of it all,” Rowntree said.
“You can feel the weight of the
nation willing us on tomorrow
night and I envy the guys who
are out on the field. I remember
that feeling as a player and you
cannot forget how lucky we are.”
Asked what he and head coach
Stuart Lancaster’s last words
would be before the team runs
out for Saturday night’s show-
down, Rowntree said: “We
England forwards coach Graham Rowntree. won’t have to say much because
the work is done.
what Clive Woodward has since prise, therefore, that he had no “Emotionally and mentally
described as the hardest decision truck for suggestions that the they know what’s at stake. The
of his coaching career, leaving current squad might not deal last things we say will be posi-
Rowntree to watch from afar as with the pressure of a match tive.”
his long-term team mates etched they have to win to almost cer- A more useful message, per-
their names in rugby history. tainly avoid the ignominy of be- haps, might be “behave at the
It should come as little sur- coming the first England team breakdown”.
spite Lancaster’s assurances that
they had talked all week about
not doing exactly that.
So it has again been the focus
of attention, all the more so with
Australia fielding two renowned
breakdown operators in the
shape of Michael Hooper and
David Pocock
“The breakdown is always
a battle—look at last week,”
Rowntree said.
“We drill it and train it every
day. Their back row will be a
real threat and our speed to the
breakdown will be critical, but it
is all about composure.
“It’s about doing your job
right in the heat of battle. I’ve
been through some of those
situations and that’s what it’s all
about—it’s as boring as that.”
came when Australia’s Tony
Daly scored off a line-out. Eng-
land, trailing 12-3, thought they
should have had a penalty try
when Australia wing David
Campese knocked forward a
pass for the open Rory Under-
wood. But they had to make
do with just a penalty from
Welsh referee Derek Bevan.
1995 - Cape Town
England 25 Australia 22
England edged out the Wal-
labies in a dramatic World Cup
quarter-final.
After an early penalty ex-
change, wing Tony Under-
wood’s try gave England a 13-6
advantage at half-time only
for Damian Smith’s converted
side to win the World Cup.
Australia wing Lote Tuqiri put
the hosts ahead in the sixth
minute before three Wilkinson
penalties and a try by Jason
Robinson gave England a 14-5
lead at half-time.
Elton Flatley hauled Australia
back into the match with two
penalties after the break. His
third goal-kick of the half, on
the stroke of the final whistle,
sent the match into extra-time.
Another penalty exchange
locked the scores at 17-17 be-
fore, seconds away from sud-
den death, an England drive
and Matt Dawson’s well-timed
pass provided the platform for
Wilkinson to kick a World Cup-
winning drop-goal.
 Saturday, October 3, 2015
GULF TIMES
QATAR STARS LEAGUE
Umm Salal grab
last-gasp equaliser
against Qatar SC
Rayyan scored twice in the last ten minutes to defeat Meisameer 2-0 and continue
their winning run; Wakrah get their first win of the season after defeating Khor 1-0
By Sports Reporter
Doha
U
mm Salal equalized in the last
minute to ensure the points
where shared between rivals
Qatar Sports Club in an enter-
taining tie yesterday.
Qatar Sports Club took the early initia-
tive in the match, scoring with virtually
the Kings first attack of the game. Mousa
Allaq steering the ball into the bottom
right hand corner of the goal, latching
onto a good cross from Shaheen Ali in the
6th minute.
With Umm Salal behind, charismatic
head coach Bulent Ugun rallied his troops
from the sidelines. It quickly brought the
desired results with new signing Yan-
nick Sagbo coming close to equalizing
for Umm Salal. The Ivorian target man
was central to his side’s good work, along
with winger Ismail a constant threat on
the right wing. Both linked up well to
register a good save from Qatar Sports
Club keeper Mohmad Mubark.
The Kings looked compact in the fi-
nal third, with the strike partnership of
Hamdi Harboui and Moucine Iajour rare-
ly threatening in the first half. Despite
the Umm Salal onslaught, the Kings went
into half time leading the tie 1-0.
Umm Salal continued on the front
foot at the beginning of the second half,
pressing hard for an equalizer. Attacker
Ismail Mahmoud was introduced for Bar-
zan’s falcons and he soon made his pres-
ence felt in the tie, stretching the Qatar
Sports Club defence on the left hand side.
Seeing his side under pressure, Kings
coach Radi Shneshel made a tactical
change, pushing striker Iajour back into
midfield. It proved to be a master stroke
by the Iraqi tactician, and with his side
now set to take Umm Salal on the break.
It was indeed the Moroccan striker who
bagged the second goal of the tie in spec-
tacular fashion.
The new signing from Moghreb Tet-
ouan, unleashed a powerful shot from
outside the box which nestled in the top
right hand corner of the goal. It was his
first goal for his new side, and he was duly
mobbed by his team mates and a delight-
ed Shneshel.
Umm Salal battled back into the tie
in the 80th minute. Yannick Sagbo was
knocked down by the onrushing Moham-
ed Mubarak. The Ivorian dusted himself
of to take the spot kit, which was initially
saved however the rebounded was calmly
dispatched by the Ivorian who has scored
in every game for his new side in the QSL.
Qatar Sports Clun looked dangerous
on the break, with Iajour at the centre of
the action, his raw pace stretched Salal
throughout and two jinxing runs should
FIM ASIA ROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIP
Yuki Takahashi shatters Qatar lap record
By Sports Reporter
Doha
J
apan’s Yuki Takahashi got off to
a perfect start when he smashed
the SuperSports 600cc lap
record at the Losail international
Circuit in Qatar as Round 5 of the FIM
Asia Road Racing Championship got
underway on Thursday.
Running on extra-hard Dunlop com-
pounds, the Honda-man was unques-
tionably the man to beat as he dominat-
ed the first two practice sessions before
blazing to a new lap record of 2’04.413s
in FP3, erasing the benchmark previ-
ously held by teammate, Zamri Baba
(2’04.437s).
Ratthapong Wilairot (AP Honda
Racing Thailand) delivered the next
best effort in 2’05.150s, 0.737 seconds
adrift Takahashi followed by Makoto
Inagaki (YELLOWCORN Akeno Speed
Racing) third with a personal best of
2’05.173s.
Tomoyoshi Koyama (T.Pro Yuzy
Honda NTS) was fourth fastest with
Yuki Ito (PETRONAS Hong Leong
Yamaha) completing the top five.
Yuki Ito initially aimed to bridge the
gap with Takahashi but suffered a mas-
sive crash in the opening stages of FP3,
forcing race officials to call out the red
Action from the match between Umm Salal and Qatar Sports Club yesterday. PICTURE: Noushad Thekkayil
have led to a third goal for his side.
However, the determination of Ugun’s
side lead to a deserved last minute equal-
izer. A drilled cross rebounded into the
air and the well taken half volley from
Abdul Aziz Ibrahim, ensured that the
points where shared and honors even in
this entertaining tie at the Thani Bin Jas-
sim stadium.
Al Rayyan beat Meisameer 2-0
Al Rayyan left it late to defeat fellow pro-
moted side Meisameer by two goals to
nil at the Thani Bin Jassim stadium. The
promoted sides have had vastly differ-
ent starts to the QSL season, with Rayy-
an coming into the tie unbeaten whilst
Meisameer had not registered a single
point so far.
The first half Meisameer sprung into
life having two clear chances to open
the scoring. The Flames Brazilian striker
Erivelto was the first to go close, his effort
was comfortably dealt with by Rayyan
keeper Omar Barry. Only minutes later
Meisameer’s captain Mohammed Noori
beat the Rayyan offside trap to go one on
one with Barry, the Rayyan keeper ended
Yuki Takahashi broke the SuperSports 600cc lap record at the Losail Circuit.
flag and halt the session temporarily.
“I’m glad everything worked out and
that we managed to break the lap record
here today,” said Takahashi.
The Musashi Boon Siew Honda Rac-
ing rider added, “It was not easy how-
ever. We faced difficulties finding a
good setup to bring out the most of the
extra hard compounds and it was not
until FP3 that we found the right direc-
SPORT
AFC U19 Championship Bahrain 2016 Qualifiers
Qatar thump Kyrgyzstan 7-1 in their
opening match
Qatar demolished Kyrgyzstan
7-1 in their opening match of
the AFC U-19 Championship
2016 qualifiers yesterday.
Man of the match Sayed
Issa scored a brace (12’, 82’)
skipper Abdullah Alahrak
(54’), Hazem Shehata (61’) and
substitute Khalid Mazeed (71’).
The only goal for Kyrgyzstan
was scored by Shaarbekov
Kadyrbek in the 58th minute.
yesterday in the match held at Qatar are placed in Group A
the Grand Hamad Stadium in and will play their next match
Doha. The other goals came against Lebanon tomorrow.
from Bassam Alrawi (36’), This win will give them confi-
Abdelrahman Moustafa (51’), dence for that tough match.
Qatar players celebrate after scoring a goal yesterday.
PICTURES: Jayan Orma
Results
Al Rayyan 2 – 0 Al Mesaimeer
Al Khor 0 – 1 Al Wakrah
Qatar SC 2 – 2 Umm-Salal
Qatar colts put in a commanding performance yesterday.
up victorious again. Whilst stiker Erivelto has guilt edged
Al Rayyan slowly found their way into chance drifts past the post on the 74th
the match, with talismanic captain Ro- minute.
drego Tabata pulling the strings for his The flames would set to rue those
side. The Qatari international was a con- chances, as Al Rayyan opened the scor-
stant menace throughout, a brilliant pin- ing though new signing Gonzalo Viera on
point pass to Hamad Ismael that gave the the 79th minute. He scored from close
Lions their first chance in the tie. range, after being set up by compatriot
Tabata was again a menace from the Victor Cacares, much to the delight of the
deadball, and a well drilled free kick on Rayyan fans.
the 40th minute brought a strong save Rayyan delivered the final blow in the
from Meisameer keeper Basel Zidan. 88th minute to wrap up the match, Sergio
Both sides went in level 0-0. Garcia beat the offside trap and volleyed
In the second half, Rayyan came out from close range thanks to another accu-
with renewed vigor, creating a host of rate pinpoint pass from Tabata.
chances and putting Meisameer under
pressure. Sebastian Soria came close Wakrah get first win
with a glancing header just over the bar Al Wakrah registered their first win of
from a well delivered Rodrego Tabata free the 2015-16 season when they defeated
kick on the 51st minute. Al Khor 1-0 thanks to an early goal from
Meisameer had to call on the services Ruben Amorim who scored in the 18th
of experience keeper Basel Zidan to keep minute. Mohsine Moutaouali lobbed a
them in the game, with a host of crucial cross into the box from the right flank
saves at the start of the second half. In- which was headed down by Mahir Bakur
deed, Meisameer did mange two golden into the path of Ruben Amorim and the
chances to open the scoring on the break. Portuguese midfielder calmly flicked it in
A well worked shot from Saoud Ali only with the outside of his right foot to give Qatar coach Roberto Aranzabal during the match yesterday.
just passed Omar Barry’s right had post. Wakrah the lead and the winnin goal.
Anggi Permana Putera, Ahmad Fazrul
Sham (HORSE OIL William Racing
Team), Mohd Adib Rosley (RCB Yamaha
YY Pang Racing Team( and Affendi Rosli
(PETRONAS Hong Leong Yamaha).
Practice Results
SuperSports 600cc
1.Yuki Takahashi (Honda) 2’04.413s
2.Ratthapong Wilairot (Honda)
Essa al-Mutawa in action. Abdullah al-Qubaisi in Asia Dream Cup. 2’05.150s 3.Makoto Inagaki
(Yamaha) 2’05.173s 4.Tomoyoshi
need to focus and the team will do their In the Underbone 130cc, Indonesia’s Koyama (Honda) 2’05.394s 5.Yuki Ito
best to improve the bike’s setup so I can Ferlando Herdian outpaced compa- (Yamaha) 2’05.700s
get a good start position.” triot, Gupita Kresna to take the lead for
Meanwhile Apiwat Wongthananon Friday’s SuperPole after he appeared Asia Production 250cc
declared that he is ready to make up quickest in the Underbone 130cc quali- 1.Apiwat Wongthananon (Honda)
for the errors in Thailand by setting an fying. 2’23.969s 2.Nakarin Athiratphuva-
explosive pace in the Asia Production The BKMS Indonesia Racing rider pat (Honda) 2’24.243s 3.Takehiro
250cc practice. shaved off two seconds from the prac- Yamamoto (Kawasaki) 2’24.379s
The AP Honda Racing Thailand who tice sessions to wrap up the qualifying 4.Ayumu Tanaka (Yamaha)
missed out on the chequered flag moved quickest in 2’33.181s while Manual Tech 2’26.068s 5.Kasma Daniel Kasmayu-
from fourth in FP1 to third in FP2 before KYT Rextor’s Gupita dropped down to din (Yamaha) 2’26.112s
tion. Making things more complicated, leaping to the top of the timesheets in second having clocked his best lap in
I found it very hard trying to adapt rid- FP3, clocking the fastest lap out of 26 2’33.219s. Qualifying
ing under the floodlights because the riders in 2’23.969s. Mohd Amirul Ariff Musa (T.Pro Yuzy Underbone 130cc
last time I raced here was two years ago Teammate, Nakarin Athiratphuvapat Honda NTS) also picked up the pace to 1.Ferlando Herdian (Yamaha)
during my Moto2 days.” who took a double victory at his home register third in 2’33.834s with Rezza 2’33.181s 2.Gupita Kresna (Kawa-
Speaking about his expectation for race in Thailand was second fastest Fahlevy (RPM Racing) and Sasitharen saki) 2’33.219s 3.Amirul Ariff Musa
Friday’s qualifying, Takahashi added, with 2’24.243s while championship Sukumaran rounding up top five. (Honda) 2’33.834s 4.Reza Fahlevy
“For sure it will be tricky because the leader, Takehiro Yamamoto (TRICK- The remaining five riders who made (Yamaha) 2’34.698s 5.Sasitharen
session will take place during the day STAR Racing) registered third with the SuperPole cut were Faito Factory Sukumaran (Honda) 2’35.420s
when the temperature is very high. I 2’24.379s. Racing duo, Wahyu Aji Trilaksana and