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Businessman to Help Syrians regain reopen meat processing plant dignity: Heir Apparent shut 23 years ago

DOHA: A Qatari businessman ‘Govts in Arab Spring states must not shun democracy’ who set up a meat process- ing plant 31 years ago but shut DOHA: The Heir Apparent dialogue, the Heir Apparent said, of hope.” The Heir Apparent it down in 1989 since the local H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad without naming Iran. said that anyone who doesn’t market wasn’t as big, has re- Al Thani yesterday stressed the He rejected the idea of an take into account the fact that launched the project. need to support the people of external role in the Arab revo- events like the 2006 war against The plant, to be commissioned Syria in their struggle for free- lutions and said the Arab peo- Israel, the situation as regards soon, is the first of its kind in the dom and dignity. ple rose in rebellion against the Palestine, occupation of Iraq and country and is expected to meet He said one could not live in regimes in their respective coun- the Judaisation of Jerusalem have much of the local demand for fresh isolation, and so backing the peo- tries to assert their basic rights to made Arabs frustrated over time and frozen meat (chicken and red ple of Syria, who have risen in food, shelter and dignity. is politically blind. meat) and for processed meat like rebellion, did not amount to inter- So anyone who thinks that Arab countries will be forced to chicken and beef sausages and fering in Syria’s internal affairs or there are external hands behind preserve their sovereignty after hamburgers. violating its sovereignty. the Arab Spring is mistaken, the revolutions and pay more The development comes at a The Heir Apparent opened a the Heir Apparent said amid attention to basic issues like the time when the Qatari market is conference titled ‘Geostrategic applause. dignity and freedoms of people, he facing severe shortages of fresh and Transformations within the “Arab people didn’t revolt for said, adding that Palestine was an frozen chicken because of Saudi Context of Arab Revolutions’ last strategic reasons but for basic issue close to the heart of every Arabia’s decision to ban exports, as evening, and said while referring needs like bread and dignity and Arab. The Heir Apparent H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani addressing a a result of which prices have been to the Syrian people in his inaugu- for their rights as citizens.” One of the most important conference at the Ritz-Carlton in Doha yesterday. soaring. “Some 70 percent of our ral address: “We need to cooper- Any superpower is capable of outcomes of the Arab Spring produce would be chicken and only ate (with them)”. influencing any country in the had been that people had become 30 percent red meat, both mutton About the GCC region, he said world but it can in no way cre- more aware of their problems and more. He took a dig at the world In the end, he warned the gov- and beef,” Ahmed Al Khalaf told without mincing words: “We are ate public revolt in a country, he needs, he said. community as well and said that ernments that have emerged in The Peninsula yesterday. not interested in seeing the region said. People revolt when they have About Palestine, the Heir during the Arab Spring they had the Arab Spring countries not to He said that his factory would destabilised. We are not inter- nothing concrete in sight as solu- Apparent said he welcomed the intervened only in Libya. “The shun democracy, and make dem- first cover the local market and ested in a war”. Any disagree- tions to their woes. “They wouldn’t UN resolution but added that the reasons for this I don’t want to ocratic values the basis of their then embark on an export-ori- ment must be resolved through rebel if there is even a flicker world body needed to do much talk about.” rule. THE PENINSULA ented expansion during a sec- ond phase. “We will be importing chicken and red meat stocks from various countries,” he said. For chicken imports, his com- Venezuelans in Qatar wish speedy recovery for Chavez pany has identified Brazil, China and some European countries, whereas, Australia, Argentina and DOHA: An estimated 800 The Venezuelans — men, for the support of the president,” Mohamed Jawad Asayesh, along speech: “Venezuela and Cuba are New Zealand have been selected to Venezuelans in Qatar yesterday women and children — gathered declared the Venezuelan ambas- with his counterpart from Cuba, the best friends of Iran, and I source red meat. The plant would joined their compatriots back at their country’s embassy, with sador in Doha, Dr Juan Antonio Ernesto D Plasencia Escalante wish, God willing, the president process the meat and the idea is to home and in the rest of the world many of them holding candles and Hernandez, in remarks to this — a sight not very delightful for would recover from his opera- market at least a 100 products like to wish early recovery to their Chavez’s photographs, and stood newspaper on the sidelines of the Americans who have long accused tion.” Asayesh added he wished chicken, mutton and beef sausages country’s president, Hugo Chavez, in silence for an hour in a rare assembly. the three countries of forming an long life to Chavez and to the and nuggets, etc. “This aside, we who recently underwent a critical show of love and solidarity for A highlight of the otherwise anti-US alliance. Cuban leader Fidel Castro. will also be marketing fresh and surgery for cancer in Cuba and is their president. emotional event was the pres- Asayesh was guarded in his THE PENINSULA frozen items.” THE PENINSULA said to be recovering. “This is an international event ence of the ambassador of Iran, comments and briefly said in a See also page 3 Continued on page 3 SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER 2012 02 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com HOME

Photo gallery of Imam Al Wakra Fire on the Corniche building Hospital records Muhammad bin Abdul first birth Wahab Mosque launched DOHA: The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic DOHA: Al Wakra Affairs inaugurated yesterday in the court- Hospital recorded its first yard of the Imam Muhammad bin Abdul birth hours after the facil- Wahab mosque an exhibition showcasing pho- ity was officially opened tographs of the mosque and also launched by the Emir H H Sheikh the mosque website as part of its activities to Hamad bin Khalifa Al mark the first anniversary of its inauguration Thani last Wednesday. on December 16, 2011. The baby boy, named The Gallery is one of four similar exhibitions Mohammed, was born in the being held at the Qatar Islamic Cultural Center hospital’s state-of-the-art (Fanar), the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic maternity unit at 12.53am Affairs premises and Souq Waqif. on December 13. The hospi- The exhibitions with photos selected out of tal was opened by the Emir 3,500 mosque photographs introduce visitors the on December 12. design of Imam Muhammad bin Abdul Wahab Johannes Kedzierski, Mosque and its facilities. They also reflected the Chief Executive Officer of Al The image of a fire that broke out on the top floors of the under-construction World Trade Center building on the Corniche, captured aesthetics of this islamic edifice which was built Wakra Hospital, said: “We on the mobile phone of a construction worker, yesterday. Eye witnesses said the fire was contained within 15 minutes, and no casual- according to the old Qatari architectural design. are extremely pleased to ties were reported. QASSIM RAHMATULLAH QNA have had the hospital’s first birth so soon after our offi- cial opening and wish baby Mohammed and his parents well,” he said. “I am pleased to say that Al Wakra Hospital is now Qatari-Italian solution for water leakage fully operational and open to patients of all ages. Like all large-scale new hospitals we Qatar Mobility Innovations Center and Italy’s Polito announce three-year project in Torino will be fine tuning our proc- esses in all departments as DOHA: The Qatar Mobility of interest globally. Subsequently and intelligently identifying the we move forwards in meet- Innovations Center (QMIC) a three-year project for the devel- location and severity of the leak- ing the healthcare needs of at the Qatar Science and opment of a new wireless-based age in non-metalic water pipe- this growing community,” he Technology Park, and the solution to detect and monitor lines in underground distribution added. Politecnico di Torino (Polito) in water leakage in underground dis- networks. “Although a lot more Al Wakra Hospital is a Italy announced the successful tribution networks was launched work and investment are needed general hospital with a flex- c ompletion of a th re e-yea r proje ct late in 2009. The project was to translate this into a commer- ible capacity of 210 to 260 to develop an innovative system funded by a grant from QNRF cially-feasible solution, today’s beds. In addition, there are for water leakage detection. through its NPRP programme. announcement represents a 96 critical care and observa- The eventheld in Torino, Italy, Abdulla Al Talib, Chairman of milestone as all key components tion beds. was attended by a high level del- QMIC said: “Today’s announce- and technologies are in place and “This is an important egation from Qatar that included ment represents another example working in the current prototype facility for the local com- senior executives from QMIC, of the progress QMIC is making solution,” he added. munities of Al Wakra, Doha Qatar University, and the Qatar in tackling global challenges and Water distribution networks International Airport and National Research Fund (QNRF). creating locally-engineered solu- suffer huge losses all over the the southern region and we In November 2009, QMIC and tions and intellectual assets. This world. According to industry fig- expect our patient num- Polito launched a global research is a good example whereby build- ures, the amount of water lost is Officials of The Qatar Mobility Innovations Center (QMIC) at the Qatar bers to grow very quickly. and development initiative called ing local capacity and know-how typically in the range of 20 per- Science and Technology Park, and Politecnico di Torino (Polito), Italy during The opening of the hos- “wireless Innovations for water and using it for tackling global cent to 30 percent of production. pital means many, people conservation” to tackle water problems clearly demonstrate the ceremony in Torino, Italy. In the case of some older sys- will no longer have to travel leakage and quality issues in the progress Qatar is making in tems, the percentage of water lost to Doha for life changing water distribution networks. transforming itself into a knowl- that a combination of a common Executive Director (CEO) of could be high as 50 percent. Hence, investigation and treat- Kahramaa in Qatar, the edge-based economy”. vision, together with following a QMIC Dr Adnan Abu Dayya leakage remains the major source ment,” Kedzierski said. Regional Administration of Rector of Polito, Professor collaborative model for research said, the new innovative proto- of inefficiency and it represents an THE PENINSULA Piedmont, SMAT, and CCAM in Marco Gilli said: “We are pleased and development can deliver sig- type solution represents an end- acute problem not only in develop- Italy supported the initiative as with the achievement announced nificant results that neither party to-end solution backed by unique ing countries, but also in developed conservation of water resources is today. This clearly demonstrates can achieve on its own”. intellectual property by effectively ones. THE PENINSULA SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER 2012 HOME www.thepeninsulaqatar.com 03

Emir sends condolences DOHA: The Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani has sent a cable of heartfelt condolences and sympathy to US President Barack Obama on the victims of the fire shoot- ing at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. The Heir Apparent H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has sent a condolence cable to US President Barack Obama. The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani also sent a similar cable. National Day holiday DOHA: On the occasion of the National Day, the Emiri Diwan announced December 18 Tuesday as official holiday for the ministries and other govern- ment agencies, public bodies and institutions, Qatar Central Bank (QCB) and banks and finan- Dr Juan Antonio Hernandez, Ambassador of Venezuela, speaks during a gathering of a large number of Venezuelan and Cuban nationals assembled at the embassy premises to extend their cial institutions under the QCB support for the ailing President Hugo Chavez. The Ambassadors of Iran and Cuba ,Mohammad Jawad Asayesh and Ernesto D Plasencia Escalante are also seen. QASSIM RAHMATULLAH and Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA)’s control, and Qatar Securities Company. QNA Venezuelans show solidarity with Chavez Meat processing Continued from page 1 Envoys from Iran, Cuba join Venezuelan community to wish president speedy recovery Asked about having his own poultry farm, he said if the gov- BY MOHAMMAD SHOEB “This is an international event “I do not have specific informa- expatriates, including doctors and named his Vice-President, Nicolas ernment provided land and the for the support of President tion about it… but it is below paramedic staff from the Cuban Maduro as the most appropriate necessary support, his company DOHA: Ambassadors of Cuba, Hugo Chavez during his strug- the waist”. Ambassador Asayesh hospital at Dukhan also came to man to replace him incase any- could think on those lines. Ernesto D Plasencia Escalante gle to overcome cancer disease said: “Cuba and Venezuela are attend the campaign with can- thing goes wrong with him. But Al Khalaf said that paper- and the Islamic Republic of Iran, after his surgery. So the people best friends of Iran. God willing, dles and pictures of Hugo Chavez Earlier Chaves underwent work had taken a lot of time. “It is Mohammad Jawad Asayesh of Venezuela and around the I wish, the president Hugo Chevez to extend their support for the surgeries for unspecified type difficult to meet senior government assembled at the Embassy world are holding meetings at the will recover from his operation president. of cancer in the pelvic region in officials and explain your business of the Bolivarian Republic of embassies of the country globally,” very soon and get back to normal Chavez is the most popular June 2011 and last February along plan.” According to him, accessing Venezuela to extend their sup- Dr Juan Antonio Hernandez, life. We wish long-life to Chavez leader of the communist coun- with chemotherapy and radiation a plot of land that was big enough port, solidarity and best wishes Ambassador of Venezuela told and Castro”. try, and is the current president treatments. for his meat processing plant was for the quick recovery of the The Peninsula. Qatar and Venezuela, the two of Venezuela, having held that Asked, if there is any possibility so difficult that he has to now man- ailing President of Venezuela, Detailing the operation and energy rich countries, share position since 1999. On October of improvement in the relations age with a smaller plot. “The result Hugo Chavez here yesterday. the present health condition strong relationships with each 7, 2012, he won election as presi- between Caracas and Washington, is that we have a two-floor factory.” A large number of expatri- of the ailing president, he said: other for years and have signed dent for a fourth time, defeat- Hernandez said: “There is a pos- Al Khalaf said that his group ates (from Venezuela and Cuba) “President Chavez is recovering different Memorandum of ing Henrique Capriles, and is sibility but we need to wait for has plans to set up an aqua farm also assembled at the embassy from the fourth surgery. It was Understandings. expected to serve for six years some positive gestures from to breed salmon fish. Feasibility premise, many with num eyes to a long and delicate operation in There are over 800 Venezuelans from January 10, 2013 –January Washington. We expect respect studies are over and if launched, express their deep concern for which the president lost a lot of working here, most of them being 10, 2019. from Washington, which is the this would be the first such fish the president who is currently blood, but he is doing very well engineers working with oil and However, before leaving for basic ground in order to build farm in the entire GCC region. recovering from his fourth cancer now”. Explaining about the the gas companies. Havana on November 27, he bilateral relations between the two THE PENINSULA operation in Havana, Cuba. cancer, the Ambassador said: More than one hundred addressed to the nation and countries. THE PENINSULA Majority of citizens call for regular inspection at eateries

DOHA: The Ministry of there will be more rush in the will make it public through social Municipality and Urban restaurants. Many of them simply media. This is putting more pres- Planning is not doing enough ignore the rules in a rush to make sure on the eateries,” he added. to ensure that eateries and food money and accommodate more Abdulla Al Qadi said that there outlets across the country com- customers,” said Al Sheeb. A res- is a lack of continuous monitoring ply with the regulations related taurant manager said that eateries by the municipalities. to health and hygiene, feel a are now under pressure to improve “The inspectors would visit a number of citizens and expa- their standards because people are locality and then they forget the triates.An online survey con- openly discussing such issues in the area for the next many weeks or ducted by Al Sharq found that a social media. months. This is making the eater- majority of the respondents- 65 “If someone detect a problem ies lax in following the rules,” he percent- do not believe most in a restaurant immediately they said. THE PENINSULA eateries here are follow- ing good hygiene. Only 20 percent expressed the opposite view. About 50 percent of the respondents also believe that the government monitoring on eateries is not satisfactory. However, 43 percent think that the monitoring is up to the mark. A bigger number of respondents- 94 per cent- called for intensify- ing inspections on restau- rants, cafeterias and food outlets across the country. Reacting to the sur- vey findings several citi- zens and members of the Central Municipal Council (CMC) expressed the view that the inspections are not continuous and are limited to certain localities. “Not all parts of the country are covered by the municipal inspectors. They are focusing only on cer- tain important locations in the city. Remote areas and places like Industrial Area have been ignored. People working with many restaurants and cafeterias in the Industrial Area don’t wear hand gloves while serving food,” said Hassan Al Hakeem, a Qatari businessman, citing his personal experience. CMC member Ahmed Al Sheeb said that there is a severe lack of awareness about health and hygiene among those working with eateries. “There is a need of intensifying inspections during week-ends when SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER 2012 04 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com HOME Katara to screen two award-winning Arab films ‘The Repentant’ and ‘The Lebanese Rocket Society’ will be screened on December 21 and 22

DOHA: Katara, Cultural about the launch of the Middle Village and Doha Film Institute East’s first rocket in Lebanon (DFI) have announced the and how the nation celebrated its latest strand of Katara DFI involvement in the international Cinema Series, ‘Arab Voices.’ space race. It will feature two screenings In bringing this forgotten epi- of ‘The Lebanese Rocket Society’ sode to light, this film revives by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Arab dreams buried since the Joreige, and ‘The Repentant’ by Arab-Israeli conflict of 1967 – a Merzak Allouache, winners from reflection of the reawakening of this year’s Arab Film Competition hopes in the wake of the Arab revealed at the fourth edition Spring. of Doha Tribeca Film Festival Algerian director, Merzak (DTFF). Allouache and two time DTFF Two screenings of each film will Arab Competition winner, be held per day from December 21 returns with ‘The Repentant’, to December 22 at Katara Drama a narrative that tells the touch- Theatre in building 16. ing story of Rashid, a young Set in the 1960’s, ‘The Lebanese jihadist who leaves his moun- Rocket Society’ is a documentary tain hideout to return home in an attempt to resume a screening cycle. The normal life. Allouache New Year will bring delves into his nation’s a multitude of new ‘black decade’, taking a screenings, starting close look at the linger- with award winning ing effects of extremism American film ‘Beasts Stills from the ‘The Lebanese Rocket Society’ (left) and ‘The Repentant’ . and civil war. of the Southern Wild’, DFI and Katara in directed by Benh Zeitlin. Buoyed by the extraordinary The film will screen from celebrating contempo- The film is about a six-year- imagination of childhood, she January 24 to January 30 and rary Arab filmmaking old girl in an isolated bayou believes the universe is in balance, tickets will be on sale from noon that will mark the end community on the brink of but when a fierce storm comes, on December 21. of its 2012 year-round orphanhood. she must learn to survive. THE PENINSULA

Minister opens Doha Girls’ Forum DOHA: The Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage H E Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kuwari said Qatar is living through a historic phase and the world can see its renais- sance in the different fields, hailing the effective role of girls in building the Qatari society. Speaking during the opening of the Doha Youth Center’s Doha Girls’ Forum, the minister expressed his pleasure as the forum coincides with Qatar National Day celebrations, pointing to the significant role of the forum in the coming years to provide an opportunity for girls to further learn and actively participate in the community through special activities and programmes. Dr Kuwari thanked the Youth Centers Department at the ministry for the unique activities and programs it provides for youth, so as to develop youth work and take it to better standards. Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage H E Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kuwari QNA inaugurating Doha Youth Center’s Doha Girls’ Forum yesterday.

Qatar University holds sixth Life Science Symposium DOHA: Qatar University’s sixth Life Sciences Symposium (QULSS) under the theme ‘Biotechnology’ discussed about healthcare for cancer, allergies and cardiovascular disorders, food security, sustainable waste water treatment, coastal improvement and mangrove restoration, and technology transfer. Led by the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), the two-day forum drew experts and researchers from insti- tutions from around the world to present on a wide-range of topics and issues and to come up with recommendations for bio- technology development and technology transfer needs and mechanisms. “This symposium has been growing in popular- ity since its debut in 2007 which addressed genetic and environmental factors and therapeutic strategies of diabetes. The following years we looked at biologi- cal diversity, date palm research, marine envi- ronment and sustainable development, and protec- tion of the mangrove eco- system,” said CAS Dean Dr Eiman Mustafawi. “We have continued to bring critical issues to the fore and raised the level of dialogue among experts and researchers, and pro- vided our students with an accessible environment to engage with them to share their projects and ideas,” Mustafawi further said. Faculty from CAS and College of Pharmacy joined presenters from QU Laboratory Animal Research Center, Weill Cornell Medical College- Qatar, Total Qatar, ExxonMobil Qatar, Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP), Qatar Biotechnology Center, Illinois at Urbana University USA, Sassari University Italy, and Angany Genetics France. THE PENINSULA

SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER 2012 06 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com HOME

Commercialbank Qtel CEO Marafih expands ‘buy now, pay later’ re-elected to partnership DOHA: Commercialbank yes- terday announced an expansion GSMA Board of their “Buy Now, Pay Later” retail partners. “Buy Now, Pay Later” enables Commercialbank credit card Qtel official is one of 26 members customers to spread the repay- ment of their credit card pur- DOHA: Qtel Group CEO Dr chases over a number of months Nasser Marafih is one of several at 0% interest, which is ideal for leading industry figures to have the holiday season when custom- been re-elected for another ers are purchasing gifts for their term as a Member of the Board families and friends. of the GSMA, it was announced The partnerships now include yesterday. Regency Travels & Tours, Dnata The GSMA is the leading Travel, Mannai Hoildays, fur- mobile trade organisation that niture and furnishing show- represents nearly 800 of the rooms such as Homes ‘R’ Us, world’s mobile operators, as well Home Centre, The One; elec- as more than 230 companies in tronic and mobile showrooms the broader mobile ecosystem. such as, Virgin Megastore, Dr Nasser is one of 26 members Jumbo Electronics, Video Home of the Board, and first joined the & Electronic Centre, E-Max, Board in 2011 following an elec- Panasonic and the leading jew- tion in December 2010. He will elry retailer Pure Gold. serve his next term from January The offer also covers automo- 2013 through December 2014. Dr Nasser Marafih, CEO of Qtel tive retailers such as QTIRE, Dr Nasser said: “I am grate- Group Participants at the three-day symposium at the Hilton Doha. plus other lifestyle retailers such ful and honoured to have been as Blue Salon, Toy4Me Store, re-elected to the Board of the together mobile operators, the Mosafer, Highland, GUESS and GSMA, one of the world’s lead- mobile industry and development Jarir Bookstore. ing organisations, and congratu- community to drive services for All Commercialbank credit late Franco Bernabè on being under-served people in emerging Texas A&M hosts international card holders including Diners re-elected as Chairman. I look markets. The Foundation is help- Club, Visa or MasterCard can forward to working with my col- ing to stimulate the development make purchases on their cards league Members of the Board in of scalable, life-enhancing mobile design and test symposium and enjoy the benefit of paying providing direction and leader- services through programmes back in interest-free monthly ship in the rapidly changing and such as mWomen, mHealth, installments, comfortably spread growing mobile industry, and in Mobile Money for the Unbanked, DOHA: Texas A&M University multi-chip modules and printed Technology Technical Council over a period of time. delivering life-enhancing services and Green Power for Mobile. in Qatar opened the 2012 circuit boards to full systems and and organized by the University. Commercialbank has been to millions of customers around The GSMA also re-elected Institute of Electrical and Microsystems, as well as exam- Dr Mark H Weichold, Texas devoted to proactively servicing the world.” Franco Bernabè, Chairman and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ining the methodologies and A&M at Qatar Dean and CEO customers and offering tailored As well as his role on the Chief Executive Officer, Telecom International Design and Test tools used in the design, verifi- said, “Texas A&M at Qatar is products and services that can GSMA Board, Dr Nasser will Italia Group, as its Chairman, and Symposium yesterday at the cation and silicon debug of such proud to organise and support simplify their day-to-day bank- also continue as Chairman of the Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President Hilton Doha. products. gatherings such as this because ing transactions. GSMA Mobile for Development and CEO, Telenor Group as its The three-day symposium IDT provides a unique forum they promote academic discourse THE PENINSULA Foundation, to which he was Deputy Chairman, for second will focus on exploring emerging to discuss best practices and and exchange. I want to thank and appointed in September 2012. terms in these roles. challenges and novel concepts in novel approaches in design, acknowledge Mentor Graphics In this role, he will continue Qtel Group also participates design, automation and test of automation and testing in for its generous sponsorship of to lead the community and in the GSMA’s industry-leading electronic products. the Middle East and Africa this conference, as well as TTTC, social responsibility work of the events, such as the Mobile World The electronic products (MEA) region. The event is IEEE and the IEEE Computer al khaliji launches GSMA Mobile for Development Congress and the Mobile Asia under discussion range from initiated and sponsored by the Society for their support.” Foundation, which brings Expo. THE PENINSULA integrated circuits through IEEE Computer Society, Test THE PENINSULA mobile and SMS banking services

DOHA: al khaliji custom- Mashreq opens UAE ers can now perform bank- ing transactions using their mobile phones. realty to Qatar residents The new services further demonstrate al khaliji’s strong commitment to the customer DOHA: Mashreq, a lead- experience is fast, smooth and experience, by making bank- ing financial institution in the hassle free. ing more easily accessible and region, has launched a home Niranjan Mendonca, Head of convenient. loan product that enables Retail Banking, Mashreq Qatar, “Customers today expect to do Qatari nationals and expatriates commented: “Mashreq has their everyday banking service to purchase property in Dubai at responded to consumer demand with little or no disruption to low interest rates starting at 5.99 from Qatari clients by offering their daily activities,” explained percent per annum. This lat- financing options for property Richard Davey, al khaliji’s Head est product offering by Mashreq investments in the revitalized of Channels & Cards. UAE is in line with the bank’s real estate market in the UAE. “With our new banking serv- approach to offer convenient and Through this product, Mashreq ices, everyday transactions can be innovative financial solutions to UAE offers customers in Qatar done with your phone from virtu- customers across the region. unparalleled local expertise and ally anywhere in the world even Salaried and self-employed insight to help identify the right if you do not have access to the Qatari nationals and expatri- property deals.” Internet or do not have a smart- ates can avail mortgage loans of This product further estab- phone. We want to ensure that up to Dh5m and repay in instal- lishes Mashreq as a leading our services are accessible to all ments over a period of up to 25 regional player, adding to earlier our customers.” years while the down payment recognition the bank has received The al khaliji mobile app is required is as low as 35 percent since it was awarded the ‘Best available for iPhone, Blackberry of the property value. A dedicated Regional Retail Bank Award’ at and Android phones, and SMS Mortgage Advisor will assist cus- the Banker Middle East Industry Banking is compatible with vir- tomers throughout the entire Awards 2012. tually every mobile phone. process to ensure the customer THE PENINSULA THE PENINSULA

Vodafone launches franchise channel

DOHA: Vodafone Qatar and Data Select Qatar have formed a partnership to meet the grow- ing telecommunications needs of customers and bring Vodafone products and services closer to every community in Qatar. This will be achieved by launch- ing new stores during 2013. The first Franchise presence was a kiosk at Hyatt Plaza and the sec- ond is a store at Al Nasr Street with several more to follow in key locations across the country. Speaking at the official open- ing of the Al Nasr Street Store, Vodafone Qatar’s CEO Richard Daly said: “Vodafone’s aim is to be as accessible as possible and to give customers world class customer experience. Our partnership with Data Select will help us do this with their proven track record of Vodafone Qatar CEO Richard Daly inaugurating Al Nasr Street franchise delivering unmatched customer store. services and experience.” Commenting on the partner- Vodafone achieve its aim of being how Vodafone and Data Select put ship, Data Select’s Managing the most admired brand in Qatar. the customer and the community Director Holly Joint said, “Data The Al Nasr store is in the heart at the centre of their businesses.” Select is proud to be helping of Doha and clearly demonstrates THE PENINSULA SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER 2012 MIDDLE EAST www.thepeninsulaqatar.com 07

Yemen gives 93 Top Syria rebel soldiers jail terms for attack on base SANA’A: A Yemeni military court sentenced 93 members of commander the Republican Guard to prison terms of up to seven years for an attack on a military complex in August, the Defence Ministry said yesterday. killed in battle The sentences, which were more lenient than expected, fol- lowed increased tensions between Troops press assault on Damascus factions loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, whose son BEIRUT: A top rebel com- captured large parts of a military commands the Republican Guard, mander in the northern Syrian school in the north as the nation’s and the interim government led province of Aleppo was killed conflict entered its 22nd month by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour in a major battle for a military yesterday, activists said. Hadi. academy yesterday, his brigade Syrian warplanes bombarded On Tuesday, Brigadier General said. the town of Moadamiyat Al Sham, Ahmed Saleh refused orders to “It is with pride that Liwa Al southwest of Damascus, while the hand over long-range missiles to Tawhid (brigade) announces the army deployed reinforcements the Defence Ministry, raising fears death in combat of the hero mar- and attempted to storm the rebel- of showdown that threatens a frag- tyr, Colonel Yusef Al Jader (Abu held nearly town of Daraya, the ile transition agreed in February. Furat),” the brigade said on its Syrian Observatory for Human The United States and Yemen’s Facebook page. Rights said. Gulf neighbours fear political insta- Abu Furat was killed during In Daraya, rebels held out bility in the impoverished Arabian battles pitting troops against against fierce army attempts to Peninsula state will allow a branch rebels trying to “liberate” a major break in on several fronts, the From left: Syrian MP Ikhlas Badawi, who defected and fled Syria to Turkey, former deputy oil minister Abdo of Al Qaeda based there to strike at military academy at Muslimiyeh, Britain-based Observatory said. Hussameddin and former ambassador Taha Faruk attend an opposition meeting in Amman yesterday. top oil exporter Saudi Arabia and just north of the embattled city “This is the 28th day the crimi- Red Sea shipping lanes. of Aleppo. nal (President Bashar Al) Assad’s (five miles) of the city. In north- Amos was in Damascus for a Muslimiyeh, north of the embat- The Republican Guard, the Abu Furat once headed a tank forces have attempted to break ern Damascus, the army foiled an brief visit on Saturday, the agency tled city of Aleppo, said Rami best-equipped of Yemen’s mili- brigade in the Syrian army, but into the town,” read a statement attempted car bomb attack, state said. Abdel Rahman, head of the tary units, is seen as important defected to join the rebels after from activists in Daraya. television said. During the meeting, Muallem Observatory. in efforts to contain al Qaeda and putting his wife and children in a Troops tried to storm the town “Army forces deactivated a car also called on the United Nations “Only four or five buildings Islamist groups that took over safe area of the war-torn country. from several directions, but the bomb laden with 1,000kg of explo- to “contribute its efforts to rebuild of the school complex remain in towns in the south this year. After joining Liwa Al Tawhid, Daraya Martyrs battalion, a unit sives in Barzeh,” the broadcaster infrastructure and hospitals that army hands, and the rebels have Former president Saleh, a rebel brigade linked to the of the mainstream rebel Free said. were destroyed by armed terror- them besieged,” he said. who was pushed from power in Muslim Brotherhood, Abu Furat Syrian Army, has kept them at Meanwhile, Foreign Minister ist groups,” a reference to anti- “This is one of the most impor- February after more than a year became commander of military bay, the activists said. Walid Muallem told a top UN offi- regime rebels. tant military academies in all of of protests, was granted immu- operations in Aleppo. Daraya “remains isolated from cial in Damascus yesterday that Almost two years into the out- Syria. The rebels are besieging nity from prosecution and is seen He frequently fought on the the outside world due to a com- Western sanctions are causing break of an uprising that morphed and shelling troops there, mir- by some Yemeni politicians as front lines of key battlegrounds munications and power cut for the population to suffer. into a bloody conflict, hundreds of roring the army’s tactics in their attempting to retain influence. such as Salaheddin and Seif Al the past 37 days. With ongoing The United Nations “must thousands of Syrians are suffering bid to control the complex.” Judge Abdulmalik Ali Rashid Al Dawla, in the city of Aleppo. fuel cuts, there is an urgent need intervene to ensure (US and EU from a lack of food, shelter and The Observatory, citing pre- Arshi convicted the men of offences Sharp-witted and friendly, Abu for supplies to be restored as win- sanctions) are lifted,” Muallem medical assistance. Hundreds of liminary reports, said 35 people including “assaulting a defence com- Furat was loved by his supporters. ter sets in,” they said. said, according to state news thousands more have fled. were killed in violence across plex in Sanaa on August 14, desert- “I propose that the Infantry Clashes also erupted in the agency Sana. Because of the raging violence, Syria yesterday. At least 10 of ing their military posts ... refusing Academy be renamed ‘Martyr Palestinian camp of Yarmuk in US and EU sanctions “are the United Nations decided in them — civilians — were killed orders from the president of the Abu Furat School’,” one person the south of the capital between responsible for the suffering of early December to pull out “non- when warplanes bombarded the republic, opening fire ... resulting in wrote in a commentary posted on rebels and troops backed by pro- Syrian citizens,” Muallem added. essential” staff from the strife- rebel-held town of Rastan in the murder and attempted murder,” a Liwa Al Tawhid’s Facebook page. regime Palestinian fighters, the In her meeting with Muallem, torn country, a spokesman said. central province of Homs, it said. statement on the ministry website Abu Furat welcomed and pro- Observatory reported. Under Secretary General for The rebels came close to scor- A total of more than 43,000 said. The men were given jail terms vided cover to several news teams The outskirts of Damascus Humanitarian Affairs Valerie ing a significant victory in the people have been killed since of between three to seven years, covering Syria’s conflict in Aleppo. have been at the heart of fight- Amos said the UN “will continue northern province of Aleppo—a the uprising against Assad’s rule while five other Republican Guard Meanwhile, Syrian forces ing this month as the regime to provide humanitarian assist- fierce battleground for several erupted in March 2011, according members were acquitted, according assaulted rebel areas southwest launches operations to reclaim ance in coordination with the months—as they captured large to the Observatory. to the ministry’s statement. of Damascus and insurgents territory within eight kilometres Syrian government,” Sana said. parts of an infantry academy in AGENCIES REUTERS UN, EU call for more aid as Syria conflict enters ‘new phase’

Syrian refugees receive humanitarian aid at a distribution centre in Bar Elias village in the Bekaa Valley yesterday.

BEIRUT: EU and UN aid trying to provide assistance to difficult,” she said. The impact of chiefs called in Beirut yester- Syrians inside their country “so fighting on the economy has com- day for urgent funds to help they don’t need to flee to neigh- pounded the problems facing those internally displaced and refu- bouring countries. But that “is who remain in their country. gee Syrians, in a new phase of a becoming increasingly difficult, “Aleppo used to produce medi- “brutal conflict” that has killed and in some parts of the country cines and also chemicals for treat- tens of thousands and affected impossible,” she added. ment of drinking water. That hundreds of thousands more. The two officials spent yesterday production capacity is gone,” she In Damascus, meanwhile, morning in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa said, referring to Syria’s former Foreign Minister Walid Muallem Valley, visiting refugees, a third of commercial hub and second city. called on the United Nations to whom are hosted by Lebanese fami- “Many people are killed or push for an end to Western sanc- lies, according to the UN. “While all wounded, but on top of it hospitals tions, which he said were causing the refugees we talked to prefer to are destroyed and medical serv- suffering among the Syria people. stay in their home country, they are ices to the population are gone in UN High Commissioner for reporting atrocities and fighting of many places.” Refugees Antonio Guterres told a magnitude that pushes them out,” “We just talked to a family who reporters in Beirut that “this is said Georgieva, adding that “unfor- said the price of bread jumped 12 not a conflict like many others. tunately the conflict has entered a times in the place they came from. This indeed became a brutal con- new phase.” In these conditions, unfortunately flict in the context of dramatic Syria has authorised the UN there is a new strong push that humanitarian tragedy.” to open eight new field offices to leads to an increase in refugees He called on the world to step aid the displaced but, “for the first and that is where our alert has up financial support for countries time since the beginning of this to be high.” hosting Syrian refugees, saying conflict, the number of interna- For his part, Syria’s Muallem they require “massive support.” tional humanitarian staff inside told visiting UN Under Secretary The UNHCR says the number Syria is decreasing.” General for Humanitarian Affairs of refugees in neighbouring “We rely more and more on Valerie Amos that US and EU Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and local staff and on the social fab- sanctions “are responsible for the Iraq has now reached more than ric of the Syrian society and com- suffering of Syrian citizens.” 500,000, and is projected to jump munity organisations that deliver He told her the world body to 1.1 million by June. assistance,” Georgieva said. “must intervene to ensure (US and EU Commissioner for “But the problem is for this EU sanctions) are lifted,” according Humanitarian Aid Kristalina assistance to cross battlefield lines, to state news agency Sana. Georgieva said her agency is and that is becoming very, very AFP SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER 2012 08 VIEWS www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Editorial ESTABLISHED IN 1996

CHAIRMAN: SHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: KHALID AL SAYED Solving the crisis E-MAIL: [email protected] ACTING MANAGING EDITOR: HUSSAIN AHMAD E-MAIL: [email protected] Egypt needs peace and all parties must EDITORIAL: TEL: 44557741 / 44557743 return to normal lives after the vote. FAX: 44557746 / 44557758 P. O. BOX: 3488, DOHA, QATAR. E-MAIL: [email protected] T’S difficult to predict the exact outcome of the ongoing Egyptian the people and the lessons which Mursi has learnt already should be ADVERTISING: TEL: 44557837 / 780 FAX: 44557870 referendum on constitution. But the current turmoil has made enough to prevent him from embarking on anything that will be seen CLASSIFIED: E-MAIL: Ione prediction possible: that whatever the outcome of the vote, or interpreted as autocratic. 44557857 [email protected] Egyptians are determined to prevent a return of their country to autoc- But what is worrying is the polarization which has taken place in the SUBSCRIPTION / HOME DELIVERY racy and will fight resolutely and tirelessly to protect their rights. country between Islamists and the secular-liberals. The referendum Egyptians are vigorously taking part in the referendum. Interestingly, results are expected to aggravate the divisions. But both sides must TEL: 44557809 /839 FAX: 44557819 leaders of the opposition National Salvation Front eventually endorsed realize that a solution to the current crisis lies in more democracy and E-MAIL: [email protected] a No vote rather than a boycott. That is good news for Egyptian democ- freedom, not in a return to more powers for the president or autocracy. SUBSCRIPTION RATES racy and can be taken as the beginning of a strategy that focuses on The opposition must realize that although some of their concerns about ANNUAL democratic organization and participation rather than street con- the draft charter are genuine, the constitution is far better than the QR 675 frontations and boycotts. previous one, because it contains protections against arbitrary arrest 6 MONTHS QR 340 There are indications that the Brotherhood, being better organ- and enshrines liberal rules for forming political parties and media. ized, is likely to win the referendum with the support of crisis-weary One major concern is that it limits personal freedoms and can limit the Egyptians who might think that a Yes vote means an early end to freedom of minorities. But in an atmosphere of freedom and democracy the current crisis. If that is the case, the opposition must respect peo- which currently prevails in the country, it’s unlikely that judges will ple’s verdict, and continue to use the tool of mass protests and other use the clauses to curb freedom. democratic means to press their demands rather than do anything Egypt needs peace and all parties must return to normal lives after that will prolong the crisis and retard the country’s economic growth. the vote. Protests and dissent can happen but should not disrupt the PUBLICATION President Muhammad Mursi too needs to listen to the opposition and functioning of the government and the country. Freedom and democ- the minorities and try to accommodate their views. The past few weeks racy will be of no use if the means used to achieve them destabilise have shown that no president can rule the country against the will of the country.

Each one of these Patriots The other side is a black mark on the world map, and is meant Quote of to cause a world war. The war on deadly drugs the day General Hassan Firouzabadi RUGS are scourge that worldwide ruin lives, destroy families Iranian Armed Forces Chief and undermine societies. Young people, and tragically it is pri- Dmarily the young, become victims to narcotics and are then enmeshed in the downward spiral of addiction and degradation. The craving for drugs causes the loss of all decent instincts, as the addicts find they can think of nothing else except their next fix. If they do not have the cash to pay their dealers, they will beg, borrow or steal to get the money. It is this pathetic decline, this appalling loss of any sense of proper values that causes narcotics to have such a dangerous and corrosive impact not just on friend and family, but on wider society. It is, therefore, appalling to learn the latest statistics on narcotics seizures and arrests in the Kingdom. In the last year, investigators have arrested over 1,000 smugglers and dealers and seized more than SR 11 million in cash. Moreover, the street value of drugs recovered by the authorities, just in the last three months of the last Hijra year, approached SR 900m. These figures are both staggering and shameful, the more so because almost a quarter of the dealers and smugglers arrested, some 207, was Saudis. The remainder were from 32 other nationalities, including 174 Yemenis. It is hard to conceive of the sort of person who would know- ingly put bread on their own family’s table by committing crimes that bring desperation and heartache around the tables of other, entirely innocent families. Yet it is equally hard to understand how kids, many of whom have been taught the evils and dangers of drugs use, still chose to experiment. And there are far worse consequences as a result of the international narcotics trade than the mere destruction of hopeless addicts. Drugs are a prime funding source for terrorists. Though it claimed to be cracking down on opium production, Afghanistan’s Taleban govern- ment and its Al Qaeda allies, actually encouraged the farmers who cultivated and grew the opium poppies. That exploitation of this evil crop has continued since the Taleban’s ouster and has funded both the insurgency and Al Qaeda’s attacks. What is so disturbing about the latest news on the success of the clampdown on drug peddlers is that it is relative. The amount of nar- cotics and drugs proceeds seized here in the Kingdom, huge though they may seem, are only a little part of the wider picture. Regardless of the jurisdiction, anywhere in the world, it is acknowledged that law enforcement officials only seize a small proportion of the narcotics that are out there. ARAB NEWS Cartoon Arts International / The New York Times Syndicate In Colombia, Cameron’s stance on drugs looks cynical

BY FIDEL CANO CORREA growers, distributors and con- countries in the evident in David both in Latin America and to support the exploration of sumers leaves a trail of violence world. Cameron’s Cameron’s defence Europe are open to discussing more effective options to con- WENTY-SIX years ago, and does nothing to curb the sky- decision simply of the current new alternatives – backed by trol the demand and supply of on 17 December 1986, my high profits of the cartels from ignores the impact policy, “which empirical evidence and political illegal drugs and minimise vio- Tuncle, Guillermo Cano corrupting the body politic and that his country’s actually is work- resolve – consuming countries lence. Where is Great Britain Isaza, editor of the Colombian police. We need to look at differ- consumption has The prime ing in Britain”, such as the UK should be taking in this debate? Will Cameron let daily newspaper, El Espectador, ent ways of managing the terrible on producing he says. That pol- the lead. We need a real com- his country be left to one side as was killed by gunmen paid by social effects of drug abuse, while countries such minister’s icy is not work- mitment from these world lead- major shifts in political and public Pablo Escobar and his drug traf- also eliminating the enormous as Colombia. Yes, belief that the ing in the world. ers to stop the disasters of the opinion swirl around his nation? ficking cartel. He had led a jour- profits of the illegal drug traffic. western nations, Colombia shows drugs war. The problems are not Did he even notice that two US nalistic crusade to denounce the It is disappointing, then, to whose people war on drugs concrete advances abating, they are simply moving states – Washington and Colorado corruptive and violent power of hear that David Cameron has consume most of is working in, for example, a through central America as a – voted to legalise marijuana last drug trafficking. He paid with his decided to reject the report of the drugs, provide decrease of 60 per- sequence of “transit countries” month? He has a moral responsi- life. The newspaper he edited was a cross-party committee on the resources, intel- ignores cent in hectares (through which the drugs pass bility to engage the debate – since bombed and became a target as UK’s drug policy, published last ligence and mili- cultivated for coca en route to the US) experience we pay the price of his citizens’ we lived through the bloody years week, which recommended the tary equipment. Britain’s during the past the same kind of violence and appetite for drugs. of the so-called “war on drugs”. establishment of a royal commis- This makes complicity in decade or a similar instability that happened in Precisely 10 years ago this Back then, and every year sion to review UK drug policies their politicians drop in homicides. Colombia. month, a senior British politician since, I’ve asked myself the same and explore alternatives, such as feel a little more the trade. But how could The world is moving. The Global said in a debate in the House of question: was it inevitable? Was decriminalisation and legalisation. comfortable about anybody go from Commission on Drug Policy, led Commons: “I ask the Labour gov- there another way to fight the The prime minister has decided their complic- there to say that by former presidents Gaviria ernment not to return to retribu- perverse effects of the illegal to move in precisely the opposite ity in the drugs the war on drugs of Colombia, Zedillo of Mexico tion and war on drugs. That has trade in drugs? way from where the world is, and trade. Meanwhile, the savage vio- “is working”? Consumption keeps and Cardoso of Brazil, as well as been tried and we all know that With few positive results to should be, heading. lence that very nearly destroys a growing and other countries – Clinton and Carter of the US, has it does not work.” show from the “war”, another way There was keen expectation country’s civil and legal institu- Mexico among them – are now joined the Beckley Foundation That politician was David now seems possible. Throughout that a parliamentary commission tions is kept far from their citi- following the same painful path in the UK and Colombian and Cameron. THE GUARDIAN the world, a serious debate is in the UK would explore a dif- zens. Votes assured in the UK, that Colombia went through sev- Guatemalan presidents Juan (Fidel Cano Correa is gaining momentum on the inef- ferent approach. Great Britain is the problem kept far away. eral years ago. Manuel Santos and Otto Perez editor of the Colombian daily ficacy of prohibition. Prosecuting one of the main drug-consuming That same cynicism is Today, when many countries Molina, in asking world leaders El Espectador) SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER 2012 VIEWS www.thepeninsulaqatar.com 09 When is the time to talk about gun control?

Indeed, such situations demand both. For With 28, including one can only account for so many “iso- lated” incidents before it becomes neces- 20 children, shot sary to start dealing with a pattern. It is simply not plausible to understand events in Connecticut this Friday with- dead in Connecticut, out having a conversation about guns in a country where more than 84 people a it’s not ‘politics’ but day are killed with guns, and more than twice that number are injured with them. Amid all the column inches and air- basic decency time now being devoted to these horrific slayings, though, that elephant in the to insist America room will remain affectionately patted, discreetly fed and politely indulged. To claim that “this is not the time” ignores have this debate. the reality that America has found itself incapable of finding any appropriate time BY GARY YOUNGE to have this urgent conversation. The vic- tims in Newtown, Connecticut deserve at riday’s mass shooting at Sandy least that. And these tragedies take place Hook school in Newtown, everyday, albeit on a smaller scale. Connecticut is shocking and America’s president, Barack Obama, horrifying — the time and understands this. The number of homi- the place of these massacres cide victims in his home town of Chicago Finevitably catch us unawares. But the fact this year has outnumbered the fatalities that another mass shooting has occurred among US troops serving in Kabul. is not shocking, any more than the last In response to the Aurora shooting in one was, or the next one will be. July, President Obama was right to sus- Just as with the mass killings earlier pend the routine campaign rhetoric and this year at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin play the statesman. Nobody wanted to and the Aurora movie theatre, near hear about Mitt Romney’s tax records Denver, Colorado, the chorus of empa- and stimulating the economy on that day. thetic responses that will follow these There were other days for electioneering, tragic shooting in Newtown, Connecticut true, but he was wrong to insist on this: marks a stubborn refrain in a perennial “There are going to be other days for American elegy. Different singers mouth- politics. This is a day for prayer and ing different words, but basically singing reflection.” the same song. Yet that “other day” for debating gun Psychological profiles of the shooter laws never came — not at any point in emerge, along with portraits of the vic- the three months that remained before People gather for a prayer vigil at St Rose Church following an elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, yesterday. tims, while the political class closes ranks the election. Even now, right on cue, the so that the nation can heal. Incanted president’s spokesman, Jay Carney, has tones to sooth a permanent scar. All intoned the familiar strain that “now is on the left that refuses to address it. avoids the reality that people can kill control measures that Democrats have rituals serve a purpose. And this one is not the time” to talk about gun control. Americans are no more prone to men- people much more easily with guns than all but given up on arguing for it. In the no different. For what are we to reflect on if not how tal illness or violence than any other peo- anything else that’s accessible. Americans meantime, the country is literally and This Friday, 28 people are currently this, and so many other similar calami- ple in the world. What they do have is understand this. That’s why a plural- metaphorically dying for it. reported shot dead, including 20 chil- ties, came about. Those who insist that more guns: roughly, 90 for every 100 peo- ity supports greater gun control, and Gun control is possible. There are both dren. Their families must be given space we should not “play politics” with the ple. And regions and states with higher a majority thinks the sale of firearms a constituency for it and an argument for to mourn, and that space should be victim’s grief conveniently ignore that rates of gun ownership have significantly should be more tightly regulated. it. But it can’t happen without a political respected. politics is what caused that grief. Not higher rates of homicide than states with The trouble is that people feel pow- coalition prepared to fight for it. But it does not honour the dead to insist party politics. But a blend of opportun- lower rates of gun ownership. erless to do anything about it. The gun If America can twice elect a black that there must be no room in that space ism on the right that flagrantly mischar- The trite insistence that “guns don’t lobby has proved sufficiently potent in president, it can do this. for rational thought and critical appraisal. acterises the issue, and spinelessness kill people, people kill people” simply rallying opposition to virtually all gun THE GUARDIAN North Korea’s boys’ toys are not a Northern Ireland remains sectarian and without threat – but our reaction to them is political leadership BY SIMON JENKINS London remarked (in his book The Shock of the Old) on the BY ADAM MCGIBBON brave new Northern Ireland. On orth Korea has fired a “paradox of lethality”, with con- the contrary, a report earlier this big rocket into the sky, flicts becoming less lethal even as e are now well into year from the Northern Ireland put a satellite in orbit weapons ostensibly become more the second week of Community Relations Council Nand then splashed the so. The reason is that those on Northern Ireland- concluded that the current situa- rocket into the sea. How much which most money is spent — hi- Wwide protests over tion could only be a “generational should I care? Not much. How tech, high-profile airborne ones Belfast city council’s decision to truce” — and “at times, Northern much should we all care? The — are fundamentally inaccurate, only fly the union flag on desig- Ireland… seems in danger of answer is not much. and are anyway useless at tak- nated days, rather than all year lurching back into the past.” The diet of global horror served ing territory. Missiles, which now round. From our politicians, there up each day by the world’s media include drones, seduce generals My native East Belfast is wild is no strategy, no plan, to bring demands we compare, reason and into an illusion of power, when in with protest, with petrol bombs about a true post-conflict society. ration, or the collective eye will reality they are little more than thrown into an unmarked police Arguably, some of our political run dry of tears. North Korea’s weapons of terror. War is about car, the inhabitants of which were parties do well off division, and spending on rocketry is tragic holding land, not blowing up peo- lucky to escape with their lives. hence no appetite exists. for its hungry people and a nui- ple and things. A typical wry Northern Irish wit There are far more “peace sance for its neighbours. But it As for nuclear weapons, takes some of the edge off the walls” dividing communities now is essentially a political stunt, as Edgerton points out, they are sim- horror for bystanders, but the than there were in 1998. We are pointed out this week by such ply too lethal to use. The craziest The control room monitors as a North Korean long-range rocket lifts off fact remains that this is the worst still sectarian, and worst of all, sober heads as Stockholm’s peace and most paranoid owners have from the Sohae Space Center in Cholsan, North Korea. and most widespread disorder in sectarian hate has turned out to research institute. With a con- not dared even to threaten them. decades. lend itself easily to other forms ventional warhead a missile might They were no help in Vietnam cause widespread terror, as the Even if used, they cannot bring From London, where I work, of hate, such as homophobia and cause a big bang somewhere. A or the Falklands, in Chechnya or Iraqi Scuds did in Israel in 1991. about the downfall of a state. The I see all this mostly through the racism. What was a sophisti- nuclear warhead is so far off as Iraq or Afghanistan. The Chinese But it is no different militarily claimed “effectiveness” of the 1945 eyes of my friends from home cated paramilitary infrastruc- to be fanciful. It would make a communists were right to call from a suitcase or car bomb, or atom bombs on Japan came after who live here, and through ture has, in many areas, swiftly terrible mess but not conquer them “paper tigers”, though that from the German V1s and V2s a long, conventional engagement communicating with further- become a sophisticated organised territory. The prospect of North did not stop the Chinese army of the second world war. As for that had sapped Japan’s will to flung friends scattered around crime infrastructure. Despite the Korea using its missiles to topple wanting them as prestige objects. blood-curdling talk of bacterio- fight. the globe. They speak of a deep tireless efforts of many groups, a foreign regime is absurd. The trouble is that no one ever logical or chemical weapons, like More to the point, it is clear embarrassment having to explain for the most part we still go to That has not stopped the usual sold a book or won a defence nuclear ones they have curiously that the only practical way of to their colleagues and friends school separately, we still grow hysteria. North Korea “rattles contract by downplaying nuclear failed to materialise. They lack halting the dribble of nuclear pro- what’s happening at home. The up separately, we are still housed Asia and the US”, hollers the holocaust. The cold war was dom- the symbolic virility, and thus the liferation is by the use of force. Yet potted history lesson that needs separately. International Herald Tribune. inated by pro- and anti-nuclear terrorist appeal, of a missile. all the fantasies of neoconserva- to accompany every explanation So, disgusted at our politi- Analysts declare that the rocket hysterics, giving no purchase to The greatest menace posed by tives and liberal interventionists only deepens the embarrassment. cian’s lack of leadership — and “could ultimately be used as a anyone accusing both sides of terrorist regimes is not military will not bring to pass a new glo- The exasperation of why society is even more disgusted at some of nuclear missile”. Its “hidden exaggeration. Yet every discus- but political. It is their effect on bal “empire of freedom”, least of grounding to a halt over the issue the politicians who have inflamed purpose” is said to be a “nuclear sion of nuclear proliferation is the psychology of victim states. all one in which only “we” have of a flag flying from a building is the recent situation — many in warhead capable of striking the awash in such qualifiers of doom Terrorism relies for its impact nuclear weapons. Smaller states hard to fathom for our peers. my generation now join the oft- US west coast”. The UN’s Ban as possible, potential, escalating on the multiplier of publicity and such as North Korea do not seek A friend of mine working in discussed Northern Ireland “brain Ki-moon calls the rocket “a clear towards, capable of and, most politics. nuclear arsenals to attack their India declared to me that after drain”. violation” of UN resolutions. seductive of all, tipping point. The threat of terrorism to the enemies but as machismo. They recent events, he had no ambitions Ironically, this is an issue that Britain’s William Hague “strongly Alarmism has always been the British lies in the overreaction to are expensive toys for boys. to return home permanently. worries unionist politicians most, condemns it”, which I suppose stock in trade of power. Rulers it of British governments. Each Those who worry about these After these past two weeks, who worry about their future makes him feel better. have a vested interest in height- one in turn clicks up the ratchet things would do best to worry with absolutely no end to the cultural identity in a society they The same response greets ening threats, however implau- of surveillance, intrusion and about the boys, not the toys. chaos in sight, I feel the same. do not dominate. It’s fair to say every new weapon announced sible, egged on by their armies security. Each one diminishes lib- Sanctioning and ostracising Scores more I’ve spoken to back that the ferocious response to the by a proto-nuclear state. Iran’s and arms manufacturers. The erty. David Cameron insists that nuclear states is so clearly coun- home want to emigrate and never union flag issue is in part a reac- ambition drives the so-called cold war has thus been followed his latest communications data ter-productive that it is aston- return. The reasons are now tion to this fear. international community to dis- by the “war on terror”, chiefly as bill is “vital to counter terror- ishing people still propose it. political as well as economic. I imagine that worry is com- traction. Any sign of instability manifest by jihadism. But jihad- ism”. Yet terror is mayhem. It is Reducing regimes such as North Our generation was supposed pounded by the census results in the internal politics of Pakistan ists, like North Koreans, pose no no threat to freedom. That threat Korea and Iran to penury does to be the inheritors of a “new” that show a continuing decline in is received with a global shudder. state threat to Europe, the US is from counter-terror, from min- not make their rulers less para- Northern Ireland, free from the the Protestant population, now at A missile of any type is assumed or Japan. They can only topple isters capitulating to securocrats. noid but more so. Humiliating carnage of the past. Born in 1988, 48 percent, down 5 percent from to be a harbinger of some unique regimes, possibly in Egypt and Only land armies threaten the Pakistan with drones, or Iraq or I was just 10 years old when my 2001. horror, like Thursday’s news of Syria, by force of conventional integrity and security of states. Afghanistan with invasion, does parents voted in the Good Friday Unless Northern Ireland can the Syrian regime using “Scud- arms. The Taliban have no need No land army has threatened not make them proof against Agreement referendum, but I also recapture the determination of type” missiles against rebel for missiles. They are defeat- Britain since 1940. Nuclear mis- extremism but the opposite. remember the huge sense of opti- 1998 to change our society, then targets. ing Nato with Kalashnikovs and siles are, I am sure, nasty things Everyone knows this. The trouble mism that followed. another generation may leave and This is mostly nonsense. David mines. but it is barely conceivable that is it makes a boring story. Fourteen years on, my gen- never return. Edgerton of Imperial College An intercontinental missile can anyone will ever explode one. THE GUARDIAN eration has not emerged into a THE GUARDIAN SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER 2012 10 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com MIDDLE EAST

Opposition ‘No’ vote in referendum is a luxury for some cries fraud in CAIRO: Tucked away in a customers compared with before exhausted by the upheaval to second round of voting on Dec. 22. a way to move beyond the latest Cairo bazaar that in better the uprising that overthrew Hosni push through a constitution that In a rundown neighbourhood crisis regardless of reservations. first round times drew hordes of tourists, Mubarak in February 2011 and if approved will lead to a parlia- of Cairo, a woman with a big bag “I voted ‘yes’ for stability,” said shopkeeper Ahmed Sayed said scared away foreign visitors. mentary election in early 2013. of potatoes balanced on her head Ahmed Abou Rabu, 39, a shop- voting “no” in a referendum on “If we vote ‘no’, we will be back Their liberal-minded opponents said: “Those who vote ‘no’ are keeper in Alexandria, Egypt’s of voting Egypt’s future is a luxury he at square one. The tourists will say the document is too Islamist well-off. They are comfortable second biggest city. cannot afford. never come as long as there is and tramples on minority rights. and living well but we here are “I cannot say all the articles CAIRO: Egypt’s opposition His shop full of model pyra- no stability. We shopowners are A win for the “no” vote could the ones suffering.” of the constitution are perfect cried fraud in yesterday’s first mids, statuettes of the Sphinx the ones harmed,” he said in the mean another nine months before Critics insist that the new but I am voting for a way for- round of a divisive referendum and “hubbly bubbly” water pipes, Khan Al Khalily market, next to a new constitution is in place and constitution, far from ending ward. I don’t want Egyptians to on a new constitution, accusing Sayed is backing a constitution mosques that date back hundreds may mean a year’s wait for a par- the turbulence, will compound go in circles, forever lost in this President Mohammed Mursi’s with an Islamist flavour that of years. liamentary poll. it by alienating many Egyptians, transition.” Muslim Brotherhood of rigging opponents say will deepen divi- President Mohammeed Mursi, Egyptians queued to vote including Christians who make up In Rafah, on Egypt’s border votes to adopt the Islamist- sions in a country battered by two who touched off deadly protests on Saturday on the constitu- 10 percent of Egypt’s 83 million with Gaza, Moussa Abu Ayad ech- backed text. years of turmoil. last month by awarding himself tion, with soldiers joining police people. oed that view: “Those who want But the National Salvation “We need stability,” Sayed, 35, extra powers, and his Islamists to secure the referendum after But for many across the Arab chaos don’t want the constitution. Front opposition coalition did said, grumbling that he was only allies are banking on their disci- deadly protests during the run- world’s most populous nation, a We want to say ‘yes’ for stability.” not immediately make good on a seeing a quarter the number of plined supporters and Egyptians up. Official results are due after a vote for the constitution is simply REUTERS threat to call a boycott if it per- ceived violations, instead stepping up an appeal to Egypt’s 51 million voters to reject the draft charter. The Front’s allegations, which Egyptians vote included unsealed ballot envelopes and a judge preventing Christians from voting at one Cairo polling station, underlined the highly charged conditions in which the on divisive two-stage referendum was tak- ing place. Three weeks of anti-Mursi protests and clashes in Cairo last constitution week that killed eight people and injured hundreds failed to pre- vent the referendum going ahead on the draft, largely shaped by 2nd round of voting next Saturday Mursi’s Islamist allies. To ensure security, some CAIRO/ALEXANDRIA: military-backed strongman Hosni 120,000 troops were reinforcing Egyptians queued in long lines Mubarak. “The sheikhs (preach- 130,000 police. yesterday to vote on a constitu- ers) told us to say ‘yes’ and I have Voting was being staggered tion promoted by its Islamist read the constitution and I liked across the country yesterday backers as the way out of a it,” said Adel Imam, a 53-year-old and a week later because many political crisis and rejected queuing to vote in a Cairo suburb. judges were not willing to oversee by opponents as a recipe for “The country will move on.” polling. further divisions in the Arab Opposition politician and Nobel In Alexandria, Egypt’s world’s biggest nation. Peace Prize laureate Mohamed second-biggest city, clashes Soldiers joined police to secure El Baradei wrote on Twitter: between stone-throwing mobs the referendum after deadly pro- “Adoption of (a) divisive draft erupted on the eve of voting, tests during the build up. Street constitution that violates univer- injuring 23 people, the official brawls erupted again on Friday sal values and freedoms is a sure A soldier tries to control a queue outside a polling centre in Cairo yesterday. Mena news agency reported, in Alexandria, Egypt’s second way to institutionalise instability after a cleric urged worshippers city, but voting proceeded quietly and turmoil.” Information, which is monitoring the country is living through to said yesterday’s vote could extend in his mosque to vote “yes” in there, with no reports of violence Official results will not be the vote, said nothing reported so be over and the crisis to pass, and to today if crowds were too heavy the referendum. elsewhere. announced until after a second far was serious enough to invali- then we can fix things later.” to allow everyone to cast ballots The situation there was calm President Mohammed Mursi round of voting next Saturday. date the referendum. Islamists are counting on their in one day. Voting for Egyptians yesterday, Khaled Al Azazi, provoked angry demonstrations But partial results and unofficial Christians, making up about 10 disciplined ranks of supporters abroad that began on Wednesday spokesman for the regional secu- when he issued a decree last tallies are likely to emerge soon percent of Egypt’s 83 million peo- and the many Egyptians who may has been extended to Monday, the rity authorities, said. month expanding his powers after the first round, giving some ple and who have long grumbled fall into line in the hope of ending state news agency reported. “We will arrest anyone who and then fast-tracked the draft idea of the outcome. of discrimination, were among turmoil that has hammered the After weeks of turbulence, starts riots.” constitution through an assem- In order to pass, the constitution those waiting at a polling sta- economy and sent Egypt’s pound to there has been limited public Mursi cast his ballot at a poll- bly dominated by his Muslim must be approved by more than 50 tion in Alexandria to oppose the eight-year lows against the dollar. campaigning. Opposition poli- ing station near the presidential Brotherhood group and its allies. percent of voters who cast ballots. basic law. They fear Islamists, Mursi was among the early ticians and parties, beaten in palace in Cairo, state television At least eight people were killed A little more than half of Egypt’s long repressed by Mubarak, will voters after polls opened at 8 two elections since Mubarak’s showed. He made no comment to in clashes last week outside the electorate of 51 million are eligible restrict social and other freedoms. a.m. (0600 GMT). He was shown overthrow, only announced on the media. presidential palace. to vote in the first round in Cairo “I voted ‘no’ to the constitution on television casting his ballot Wednesday that they backed a The Muslim Brotherhood has The liberal, secular and and other cities. out of patriotic duty,” Michael shielded by a screen and then dip- “no” vote instead of a boycott. thrown its formidable organisa- Christian opposition says the Rights groups reported some Nour, a 45-year-old Christian ping his finger in ink - a measure The second round will be held tional machine behind a campaign constitution is too Islamist and abuses, such as polling stations teacher in Alexandria. “The con- to prevent people voting twice. in other regions on December in favour of the draft constitution. tramples on minority rights. opening late, people being bribed stitution does not represent all Turnout was high enough for 22 because there are not enough The proposed charter “offers Mursi’s supporters say the char- to vote “yes”, intimidation and Egyptians,” he said. voting on Saturday to be extended judges willing to monitor all poll- rights and stability,” said one ter is needed if progress is to officials telling people to vote Howaida Abdel Azeem, a post by two hours to 9pm (1900 GMT). ing stations after some said they Cairo voter backing it, Kassem be made towards democracy “yes”. But Gamal Eid, head of the office employee, said: “I said ‘yes’ One senior official on the com- would boycott the vote. Abdallah. nearly two years after the fall of Arab Network for Human Rights because I want the destruction mittee overseeing the referendum REUTERS AFP Mubarak hurt after slipping in prison Iran warns against Patriot missile shower: Report deployment on Turkey border CAIRO: Egypt’s ousted dicta- tor Hosni Mubarak, who is serv- BEIRUT: Iran’s army chief of staff warned the country. Desperate food shortages are grow- ing a life sentence, was injured Nato yesterday that stationing Patriot anti- ing in parts of Syria and residents of Aleppo say when he slipped in a prison missile batteries on Turkey’s border with Syria fist fights and dashes across the civil war front shower yesterday, the official was setting the stage for world war. lines have become part of the daily struggle to Mena news agency reported. General Hassan Firouzabadi, whose coun- secure a loaf of bread. The former president, who was try has been a staunch supporter of President Nato military commander Admiral James sentenced over the killings of pro- Bashar Al Assad throughout the 21-month upris- Stavridis said a handful of Scud missiles were testers during the uprising that ing against his rule, called on the Western mili- launched inside Syria in recent days towards toppled him last year, was being tary alliance to reverse its decision to deploy the opposition targets and “several landed fairly close treated for a head wound and defence system. to the Turkish border, which is very worrisome”. bruising in the medical ward of the “Each one of these Patriots is a black mark on It was not clear how close they came. Turkey, south Cairo prison, Mena reported. the world map, and is meant to cause a world a Nato member once friendly toward Assad but Mubarak, 84, ruled Egypt war,” Firouzabadi said, according to the Iranian now among the main allies of the rebels, has com- for three decades before he was Students’ News Agency. “They are making plans plained for months of artillery and gunfire across forced to resign on February 11, for a world war and this is very dangerous for the the border, some of which has caused deaths. It 2011 following 18 days of mass future of humanity and for the future of Europe sought the installation of missile defences some protests. He was sentenced to itself.” weeks ago. life in June. Despite the warning, Firouzabadi did not “Syria is clearly a chaotic and dangerous situa- threaten any action against Turkey in his speech tion, but we have an absolute obligation to defend Turkey seizes to senior commanders at the National Defence the borders of the alliance from any threat ema- University in Tehran. “We are Turkey’s friend nating from that troubled state,” Stavridis wrote drugs, guns in raid and we want security for Turkey,” he said. in a blog on Friday. Nato’s US commander said on Friday the alli- Batteries of US-made Patriot missiles, on Kurdish rebels ance was deploying the anti-missile system along designed to shoot down the likes of the Scuds Syria’s northern frontier because Assad’s forces popularly associated with Iraq’s 1991 Gulf War DIYARBAKIR: Turkish secu- had fired Scud missiles that landed near Turkish under Saddam Hussein, are about to be deployed rity forces backed by helicop- territory. by the US, German and Dutch armies, each of ters seized an estimated $22.5m Damascus denies firing the long-range, Soviet- which is sending up to 400 troops to operate and worth of marijuana along with built rockets. But, forced on the defensive by protect the rocket systems. guns and fertilizer in a swoop mainly Sunni Muslim rebels, Syria’s 47-year-old Damascus has accused Western powers of against suspected Kurdish mili- Alawite president has resorted increasingly to backing what it portrays as a Sunni Islamist “ter- tants yesterday, officials said. air strikes and artillery to stem their advances. rorist” campaign against it and says Washington Hundreds of soldiers, police Warplanes bombed insurgents on the airport and Europe have publicly voiced concerns of late and special forces carried out road in southeast Damascus on Saturday and that Assad’s forces might resort to chemical the coordinated raids in seven government forces pounded a town to the south- weapons solely as a pretext for preparing a pos- villages around the southeastern west, activists said, in a month-long and so far sible military intervention. city of Diyarbakir, seizing drugs, fruitless campaign to dislodge rebels around the In contrast to Nato’s air campaign in support guns, ammunition and ammo- capital. of Libya’s successful revolt last year against nium nitrate, which can be used Activists also reported heavy fighting in the Muammar Gaddafi, Western powers have shied to make explosives, officials said. Palestinian district of Yarmouk in southern away from intervention in Syria. They have cited Turkish officials say the drug Damascus between rebels and fighters from a the greater size and ethnic and religious com- trade is a major source of funding pro-Assad Palestinian faction. plexity of a major Arab state at the heart of the for Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) In the north, rebels said they had seized control Middle East - but have also lacked UN approval militants, who since 1984 have been of an infantry college in the northern Aleppo due to Russia’s support for Assad. fighting to carve out a Kurdish state province, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Forty thousand people have now been killed in Turkey’s southeastern border Rights said there was still fierce fighting around in what has become the most protracted and region with Iran and Iraq. the site by nightfall on Saturday, when it esti- destructive of the Arab revolts. AGENCIES mated at least 70 people had been killed across REUTERS SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER 2012 INTERNATIONAL www.thepeninsulaqatar.com 11 Russian leaders held as 20 migrants die, 7 missing after boat sinks off Greece ATHENS: Twenty migrants sank off a Greek island near the said 16 bodies were found, but have died and seven were miss- Turkish coast, police said yes- they went on to discover four protesters defy police ing after their makeshift boat terday. Port police had earlier more bodies. AFP

MOSCOW: Russian riot police Russian leadership. The police expressing their view and show- detained four opposition leaders eventually lost patience with the ing that they exist,” Navalny said and broke up a crowd of about rally, which had been banned before he was detained. 2,000 people who went ahead by Moscow city authorities, and “Obviously the authorities don’t with a banned rally yesterday strode across the square haul- like attempts to carry out such to demand an end to Vladimir ing protesters away one by one. protest actions and the develop- Putin’s 13-year rule. About 40 people were detained, ment of the protest movement in The opposition chose a sym- police said, and there were minor general. They don’t like anything bolic location, in front of the scuffles. that threatens them.” Soviet KGB security police’s Leftist leader Sergei Udaltsov Protests began a year ago after former headquarters, for the and anti-corruption blogger Putin’s United Russia party won rally marking a year of protests Alexei Navalny were detained at a parliamentary election marred against Putin, and said the police the start of the rally and two fel- by allegations of vote-rigging, but intervention showed the limits on low protest leaders, Ilya Yashin quickly developed into the biggest dissent under the president. and Ksenia Sobchak, were movement against the former Police were out in force and detained on their way to the pro- KGB spy since he first came to helicopters buzzed overhead as test. All four were released with- power in 2000. protesters, wrapped in scarves out charge hours later, indicating At their peak last winter the and fur hats because of the cold, they had been detained to prevent biggest rallies attracted up to chanted “Down with the police them stirring up the crowd at the 100,000 people, witnesses said. state” and “Russia without Putin” protest. But attendance has dwindled on the Lubyanka Square in cen- “I don’t know how many peo- since Putin began a six-year tral Moscow. ple are here but I am proud of third term as president in May One unfurled a banner saying each and every one of those who and started what the opposition “crooks and thieves” - a popular came here. The main thing is that says is a clampdown on dissent. term coined by bloggers for the people are here, that they are REUTERS

Mandela successfully treated for gall stones

PRETORIA: South African anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela yesterday underwent a successful procedure to remove gall stones, a week after he was admit- ted to hospital for a lung infection, the office of the president said. “The medical team decided to attend to a lung infection before determin- ing when to attend to the gall stones”, a statement from the presidency said. The 94-year-old is being treated at a private hospi- tal in the capital Pretoria. Initial tests revealed he was suffering from a recur- ring lung infection. The former president underwent a procedure via endoscopy to have the gall stones removed, the statement said. “The pro- cedure was successful and Madiba is recovering,” it added, using the clan name by which Mandela is affec- tionately known. Mandela was previously hospital- ised for an acute respira- tory infection in January 2011, when he was kept for two nights before being released for home-based care and intense medical monitoring. Mandela has a long his- tory of lung problems, dat- ing back decades to when he contracted tuberculosis while in prison. AFP

Nigerian state governor killed in helicopter crash

YENAGOA, Nigeria: The governor of Nigeria’s Kaduna state, Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, was killed yesterday when his helicopter crashed in the southerly oil-producing Bayelsa state, an aide to the politician said. Bayelsa police spokes- man Fidelis Odunna con- firmed a helicopter had crashed in Ogbia Creek but gave no details of who was on board or any casualties. An aide to Yakowa who asked not to be named said Yakowa had been killed in the crash. Nigeria’s 36 state gov- ernors are among the most powerful politicians in Africa’s biggest oil pro- ducer, often controlling budgets bigger than other African countries. Like many African countries, Nigeria has a poor air safety record. REUTERS SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER 2012 12 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com ASIA / PHILIPPINES Japan election candidates make final pitches LDP leader Shinzo Abe is predicted to return to premiership; PM Yoshihiko Noda’s party set to be ousted

TOKYO: Hundreds of candi- He criticised the LDP’s spend- to achieve a possible two-thirds dates vying for a seat in Japan’s ing plans, such as a promise to majority in the lower house ballot. parliament made their final fund huge public works in order That would hand Abe a man- pitches to voters yesterday, to spur growth, despite a tight date to try to fulfil his campaign ahead of an election expected to government budget. pledge of bolstering Japan’s mili- see the return of the country’s “The election is about whether tary and coastal defences, par- old guard. we can move forward or turn ticularly on the Tokyo-controlled Opinion polls show the Liberal back the clock,” he said at a train Senkaku islands, which Beijing Democratic Party on course for station in central Tokyo, his claims as the Diaoyus. a convincing victory in today’s voice hoarse after two weeks of On Thursday Japan scram- lower house election, with the campaigning. bled fighter jets after a Chinese Democratic Party of Japan led by Abe, in Saitama prefecture, plane entered airspace over the Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda north of the capital, pledged to Japanese-held chain. Tokyo said set to be ousted. restore Japan’s economy and edu- it was the first time a Chinese Hawkish LDP leader Shinzo cation system. state-owned plane had breached Abe is predicted to return to the “With stronger monetary poli- its airspace. premiership, a job he held without cies, fiscal policies and growth North Korea’s rocket launch much distinction in 2006-2007, in policies, we will end deflation, earlier this week could also boost a move that may herald a harden- correct a high yen, and grow the the right-wing vote in a country ing of Japan’s foreign policy at a economy,” Abe said passionately, that lives uneasily next door to an time of heightened tensions with his voice also croaky. unpredictable Pyongyang. China. “The Noda government makes Polls indicate that despite a As light rain fell over Tokyo, all sorts of complaints (about our strong current of anti-nuclear some of the more than 1,500 can- policies), but have they stopped feeling since the March 2011 tsu- didates running in the poll stood deflation? Have they corrected a nami sparked reactor meltdowns before train stations to make final high yen?” he said. at Fukushima, an array of smaller pleas to voters, while their staff The conservative ideologue has parties promising an atomic exit held banners with the candidates’ pledged in previous campaign may struggle to gain traction. The leader of Japan’s main opposition Liberal Democratic Party and former prime minister Shinzo Abe waves to names and parties printed in bold speeches to “repair the Japan-US On the economic front Abe has voters during a campaign event in Kawaguchi, near Tokyo, Japan, yesterday. typeface. alliance and firmly defend our been vocal in calls to tackle defla- Noda urged voters not to return territorial soil and waters”. tion that has beset the economy, to the LDP, which governed Japan In one of the last gauges of the vowing to impose a three percent He has since rowed back after pull down the high yen, delighting government to live up to the almost continuously for more public mood before the vote, polls inflation target on the Bank of criticism he was endangering exporters hit hard by the surging promise of its 2009 election win than five decades before his party published Friday showed the LDP Japan and forcing it to buy bonds the independence of the central currency. that cracked the LDP’s strangle- came to power three years ago. and its junior coalition party set -- effectively deficit financing. bank. But his comments helped Noda’s DPJ struggled in hold on power. AFP

Civil war torture Philippines says rebels violating typhoon truce Philippine police documented in kill Malaysian MANILA: The Philippine gov- An NPA raid on a police family on December 9 as the sol- according to the government. new Nepal film ernment yesterday accused station in Rizal town on the dier evacuated his daughters, aged The government suspended carrying bomb Maoist rebels of violating a self- western island of Palawan on 14 and 12, after a flood washed peace negotiations with the rebels DAVAO: A man with alleged KATHMANDU: Yubraj Giri imposed truce in typhoon-hit Wednesday left one police officer away their home in San Isidro in November last year due to ties to Islamist militants was was cycling home after visiting areas with attacks on govern- dead and another wounded, said town on the southern island of rebel demands for the release of shot dead in the Philippines friends in western Nepal when ment forces involved in rescue a Philippine government panel Mindanao, he said. jailed comrades. after he threatened to set off a he was stopped by government and relief work. involved in stalled peace talks A third attack came when an The military estimates the backpack bomb in a stand-off soldiers, blindfolded, handcuffed The New People’s Army guer- with the rebels. army unit delivering relief goods NPA’s current strength at about with local police, an official said and kicked unconscious. rilla group began a 29-day uni- “We denounce this clear viola- to Mindanao typhoon victims was 4,000 fighters, significantly down yesterday. It was April 2004 at the height lateral ceasefire on December 5 tion of their self-imposed cease- ambushed by the NPA near the from more than 26,000 at its peak A suspect identified by police of a communist insurgency rag- to allow what it said would be fire,” it said in a statement. town of Talaingod on December in the 1980s. as Mohammad Noor Fikrie of ing through the countryside, and unhampered rescue and relief In a second episode two female 6. There were no casualties, The armed forces are at the Malaysia was killed in the south- this was the first of more than 100 work for victims of Typhoon children of a soldier who had Paniza said. forefront of rescue and relief ern city of Davao late Friday beatings Giri would endure from Bopha that had struck the previ- lost his home in the typhoon “It seems that this (truce efforts following the typhoon — after he threatened to blow up security forces who accused him ous day. were abducted, but were freed announcement) is just for pub- the country’s worst natural dis- an explosive device in a ruck- of being a Maoist spy. However, the government said unharmed a day later, said licity purposes,” he said. aster this year — which left 955 sack, city police chief Ronald de “Every day they would torture the rebels had launched three Lieutenant-Colonel Lyndon The communists have been people dead and 841 others miss- la Rosa said. me in the evening and in the attacks in typhoon-devastated Paniza, military spokesman for waging an armed rebellion since ing, according to the civil defence “’If you arrest or shoot me I morning for seven months,” said areas within four days of the sup- the area. 1969, and more than 30,000 peo- office. have a bomb. I will explode it,’” de the 29-year-old, once a fit, strong posed truce. NPA guerrillas stopped the ple have died in the conflict, AFP la Rosa quoted the suspect as tell- farmer but now unable to work. ing police at the lobby of a hotel Giri’s story forms part of “The during a three-and-a-half-hour Resurrected”, a new documentary standoff. by Kathmandu-based film-maker The authorities had raided the Ganesh Pandey, who set out to put hotel after a tip-off that one of a human face on more than 9,000 Australian police officers its guests was planning a “terror” instances of human rights abuses attack in the city of 1.4m people, during the 10-year conflict. De la Rosa said, without elaborat- A farmer from a small town on withdraw from East Timor ing on the source of information. the Indian border, Giri says he was He said the Malaysian was a locked in a tiny, dark, mosquito- DILI: Australia withdrew its could handle its own security suspected member of Jemaah infested cell at an army barracks, last remaining police officers after successful national elections Islamiyah, an Islamic militant beaten and told he would be taken from East Timor yesterday as this year and the formation of a group blamed for attacks in into the air by helicopter the fol- international forces wind up new government. Southeast Asia including the Bali lowing morning and thrown out. a 13-year presence in Asia’s “Australian police have been bombing in Indonesia in 2002 that Over the following months he youngest nation, where thou- there to contribute to the claimed 202 lives. was frequently told he would be sands have died in political enhancement and professionali- While in the hotel lobby the killed and was forced at gunpoint turmoil. sation of the Timor-Leste police, suspect brandished a mobile to write confessions stating that The eight Australian offic- and the competence the national phone, which, he said was the he was a Maoist and wanted to ers serving with the UN Police police here have shown is testa- trigger for the explosives con- surrender. boarded a Darwin-bound plane ment to how far they’ve come,” tained in the backpack that was Last year the United Nations, from the capital Dili as the United she said. being carried by his Filipina wife, satisfied that he had been the Nations prepares to officially The move comes after the De la Rosa said. victim of serious rights abuses, end its peacekeeping mission by Australian-led International The warning triggered a stam- urged Nepal to investigate his December 31. Stabilisation Force (ISF) pede by guests and hotel staff for case and compensate him for his International forces began ceased its security operations in the exits and the suspect and his treatment, but no one has been pulling out in earnest in October, November and began pulling out wife took advantage of the ensu- prosecuted and he hasn’t received when the UN handed policing some of its 390 troops from the ing chaos to flee the building and a single rupee. responsibility back to the nation country. run to a nearby park, official said. A UN report released in which recently celebrated a dec- Australia has stationed 50 The couple weaved among October documented thousands of ade of formal independence that police at a time in East Timor park visitors in a bid to shake off cases like Giri’s perpetrated dur- ended Indonesia’s 24-year brutal under the UN since 2006, with the authorities, but when they ing Nepal’s civil war, which had occupation. 33 deployed this year under Australian Federal Police officers pose for photos before boarding a jet at reached a deserted area police claimed 16,000 lives by the time Australian police commander a bilateral capacity-building Dili airport yesterday, as the last batch of Australian officers under the UN snipers opened fire, killing the it came to an end in 2006. for the mission Charmaine Quade programme. police left ahead of the UN peacekeeping mission’s closure at year-end. man, De la Rosa said. AFP expressed confidence East Timor AFP AFP

Environmental hangover from Indonesia’s palm oil thirst Thai carmaker’s office bash

PARARAWEN: The roar of fruit in three years and continue for a home,” said Sri Suci Utami cannot be returned alone into chainsaws has replaced bird- doing so for the next 25 years. But Atmoko from National University new wild habitats. “Other pairs turns to brawl, 30 injured song, the once-lush, green jun- such wealth creation has meant in Jakarta. protecting their own territory gle scorched to a barren grey. environmental destruction. “You can judge that the popula- would kill them,” said Brule, add- BANGKOK: A brawl broke out “They were eating and many The equivalent of six football “We don’t see too many oran- tion is depleting from the loss of ing that rampant deforestation as prizes were being awarded at people were drunk,” said a police pitches of forest is lost every gutans any more”, said a worker orangutan habitats.” has wiped out sites suitable for a Thai carmaker’s office party officer who went to the restaurant minute in Indonesia. with a weather-beaten face, tak- Gibbons, often recognisable by single animals. and more than 30 people were to help restore order. “Things The disappearance of the trees ing a break in the shade of a hut the rings of white fur that frame There is also a human cost, injured in the melee in which got out of hand when some men has pushed thousands of animals built on a path gouged out of the their faces, are among the hard- with the permits for plantations glasses, bottles and even home- threw bottles at each other.” out of their natural homes and forest floor. est-hit species. resulting in the eviction of indig- made grenades were thrown, The Bangkok Post newspaper habitats. Experts believe there are about “There are 100,000 gibbons enous people. police and media said yesterday. said the brawl started in front of a They have been replaced by 50,000 to 60,000 orangutans left in Borneo. But in 15-20 years, Abdon Nababan, the secretary AutoAlliance Thailand, a joint stage as prizes were being handed plantations that are too nutri- in the wild, 80 percent of them in there will be more viable popu- general of AMAN, an Indonesian venture between Ford Motor out. ent-poor to support such wild- Indonesia’s Borneo and the rest lations,” said Aurelien Brule, a indigenous peoples alliance, Company and Japan’s Mazda More than 30 people were hurt life, instead dedicated solely to in Malaysia. Exact data on their French national based in Borneo said there is no exact data but Motor Corporation, threw and one was in critical condition, producing fruit that is pulped to decline is hard to come by, say for 15 years who runs an animal recorded cases of land conflict are the party for its 4,000 staff on the newspaper said. make oil used globally in products primatologists. sanctuary. in the hundreds, with thousands Friday evening at a restaurant AutoAlliance spokesmen were ranging from food to fuel. “What we see now is a contest Gibbons rescued from the of people possibly affected. in Chonburi, 100 km (63 miles) not available for comment. A palm oil tree can yield usable between orangutans and palm oil destruction of their forest homes AFP southeast of Bangkok. REUTERS SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER 2012 INTERNATIONAL www.thepeninsulaqatar.com 13 Obama urges solidarity as America mourns shooting victims

WASHINGTON: US message he put forth on Friday, who opened fire at a school in which has discouraged most poli- Bloomberg, who runs a coalition said in a statement. Ticking off President Barack Obama urged just hours after one of the worst Newtown, Connecticut, on Friday. ticians from any major efforts to of mayors on gun policy, said on some of the recent shooting inci- Americans yesterday to join in mass shootings in US history, on He killed at least 26 people there address the easy availability of Friday the Democratic president dents, Obama said in his Saturday solidarity as they mourn the the need to set aside politics and before turning his gun on himself. firearms. should press ahead despite likely address: “As a nation, we have victims of a shooting rampage “take meaningful action to pre- “We grieve for the families of Obama mostly steered clear of opposition from Republicans endured far too many of these at a Connecticut elementary vent more tragedies like this.” those we lost. And we keep in our the issue during his successful re- who control the US House of tragedies in the last few years. This school, saying the hearts of par- But Obama went no further prayers the parents of those who election campaign this year, and Representatives. weekend, Michelle and I are doing ents across the country were than that, and again stopped survived,” Obama said. it remains unclear whether he “We have heard all the rhetoric what I know every parent is doing “heavy with hurt” for the lives short of specifically calling for The shooting spree reignited might be willing to take a more before. What we have not seen is - holding our children as close as lost. tighter gun-control laws. a debate over gun-control in a assertive approach now that he leadership — not from the White we can and reminding them how In his weekly radio and Internet Twenty children were killed country with a flourishing gun has secured a second term. House and not from Congress. much we love them,” he said. speech, Obama also repeated a by a heavily armed gunman culture and a strong gun lobby, New York City Mayor Michael That must end today,” Bloomberg REUTERS Family of royal hoax nurse pays tearful tribute

LONDON: The family of a nurse who apparently com- mitted suicide after taking a prank call at the hos- pital treating Prince William’s pregnant wife Kate delivered a tearful tribute to her yesterday, saying her death had left “an un-fillable void”. Jacintha Saldanha was found hanged from a wardrobe with injuries to her wrist in staff lodgings at London’s King Edward VII hospital days after she answered the hoax call from an Australian radio station and put it through to a colleague who divulged details of Kate’s health. Last week’s call made headlines around the world as did Indian-born Saldanha’s death, leading to widespread condemnation of the radio station responsible and the DJs behind the stunt. Wiping away tears outside London’s Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral where the family attended mass, her husband Benedict said “part of me has been ripped out”. “The events of the past week have shattered our lives and we barely have the strength to withstand the grief and sorrow,” he told reporters, thanking William and Kate for kind words as well as Prime Minister David Cameron for a message of condolence. “Nineteen years of togetherness with a strong bond of affection and understanding will be cherished forever in my life. Your loss is a very painful one and nobody can take that place in my life ever again. I love you and miss you forever.” Her children Lisha, 14, and Junal, 16, spoke of a gener- ous mother who had worked tirelessly to provide for them. “The house is an empty dwelling without your pres- ence. We are shattered and there is an un-fillable void in our lives,” Lisha said. “We love you mum, sleep in peace and please watch over us until we meet again in heaven.” REUTERS SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER 2012 14 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com PAKISTAN / AFGHANISTAN Last French combat Free gasoline troops leave Kabul Pullout two years ahead of US-led allied nations

KABUL: France flew its International Security Assistance left Kapisa and returned to Kabul last combat troops out of Force (ISAF), behind the United on November 20. Afghanistan yesterday, two States, Britain, Germany and Italy. Insider attacks have spiralled years before allied nations in France joined the Nato coali- this year, with 61 Nato soldiers the 100,000-strong Nato mis- tion in late 2001 to help prop up killed by Afghan security person- sion led by the United States the new government against an nel, fuelling distrust in the war are due to recall their fighting insurgency, which began after against the Taliban. forces. a US-led invasion toppled the The attacks have led to calls in Around 200 soldiers of the Taliban government earlier that other Western countries, where 25th Belfort infantry regiment, year for giving refuge to Osama the long war is increasingly responsible for overseeing the bin Laden and his al Qaeda net- unpopular, for early troop with- hastened French exit from the work, following the 9/11 attacks drawals. But Nato has insisted it 11-year war, took off around 2:30 on New York and Washington. will follow the agreed programme pm local time (1000 GMT), an In 2007, the French moved into of pulling out all combat troops by airport official said. the strategic province of Kapisa, the end of 2014. They are expected to return to which straddles the transit route French and Afghan command- France on December 18 following from Kabul to Pakistan, after ers say Kapisa stabilised but two a three-day decompression stay president Nicolas Sarkozy agreed out of its six districts are thought on the Mediterranean island of to an American request to take to be at least partly controlled by Cyprus. on more of the fight against the insurgents. Security in the prov- Their departure means France Taliban. ince is now the responsibility of has around 1,500 soldiers left in What followed was an increas- 4,700 Afghan police and soldiers, Afghanistan, the vast majority in ingly bloody fight against insur- supported by 250 American sol- Kabul. They are due to stay into gents and armed groups. diers. France is not the first coun- 2013 to take responsibility for After a series of attack, notably try to end its combat mission. repatriating equipment and train- in January when an Afghan sol- Canada did so in July 2011 and ing the Afghan army to take over. dier shot dead five French troops, the Netherlands in August 2010. After then, only several hun- Sarkozy announced that the com- The United States pulled out dred French soldiers involved in bat mission in Kapisa and the dis- 33,000 “surge” troops earlier cooperation or training missions trict of Surobi would end in 2013. this year, although it still has will remain in the country. His successor Francois some 68,000 soldiers serving in At the height of its involve- Hollande fast tracked that to Afghanistan. ment, France had 4,000 soldiers the end of 2012, initially to veiled France has lost 88 soldiers in in Afghanistan as the fifth larg- criticism from US officials, and Afghanistan. est military contingent in the the last French combat soldiers AFP Afghans collect gasoline from a burning oil tanker after Taliban militants attacked the vehicle carrying sup- plies for Nato soldiers, in Doshi district of Baghlan province, Afghanistan, yesterday. Four killed as militants attack Peshawar airport Punjab blamed

PESHAWAR: Militants fired Peshawar is the main gateway outer wall of the airfield, which under control,” the military offi- incoming flights to Islamabad and for most of rockets into the airport of to Pakistan’s semi-autonomous lies near a residential area and cial added. (the eastern city of) Lahore,” he Pakistan’s northwestern city of tribal belt on the Afghan border, military barracks in Peshawar. Medical officials said four peo- said. corruption Peshawar late yesterday, killing where the Taliban and Al Qaeda- “No terrorist has been able to ple were killed and more than 50 “The airport is closed and the four people, wounding dozens linked groups have strongholds. penetrate inside (the air field),” wounded. lights have been turned off,” he ISLAMABAD: After two days more and forcing the airport to There was no immediate claim Group Captain Tariq Mahmood, Farhad Khan, a spokesman for added. of hard hitting on the issue close, officials said. of responsibility but the Pakistani a spokesman for the Pakistan Khyber Teaching Hospital near Pakistani Islamist mili- of corruption, the National Volleys of gunfire erupted Taliban and other Islamist mili- Air Force, said in a statement. the airport, said four people died tants have carried out previous Accountability Bureau (NAB) around the airport, attached to tia have claimed responsibility for “Security forces were fully alert and that 50 wounded people had attacks on military airbases in the of Pakistan yesterday turned a Pakistan Air Force base, after past attacks on military air bases and are in control of the situation.” been brought in after the attack. nuclear-armed country. its guns on the Punjab govern- the initial attack and the mili- and routinely carry out attacks in Mahmood added there had Doctor Umar Ayub confirmed In August, 11 people were killed ment, holding it responsible for tary sealed off the area to launch Peshawar. been no casualties among the the death toll. when heavily armed militants 65 percent of total corruption in a search operation, witnesses and “Three rockets were fired. Two Pakistan Air Force or damage to Pervez George, spokesman for wearing suicide vests stormed an the country. civilian officials said. landed inside Peshawar airport equipment during the incident. the Civil Aviation Authority, con- air force base in the northwestern “Since 65 percent of the coun- Pakistani television footage and another hit a vehicle (out- Three rockets also hit a nearby firmed that the airport had been town of Kamra. try’s total population lives in showed a vehicle with a smashed side),” Imran Shahid, a senior residential area, a military official closed and flights cancelled, but In May 2011, it took 17 hours to Punjab, major responsibility lies windscreen, another damaged car, police official, said. said. said there had been no damage to quell an attack on an airbase in on the provincial government to bushes on fire and what appeared Pakistan’s air force said a “We have repulsed the attack the airport building or terminals. Karachi claimed by the Taliban. control corruption,’ NAB spokes- to be a large breach in a wall. rocket attack had damaged the on the airport, everything is now “If needed, we will divert AFP & REUTERS man Zafar Iqbal said. The bureau, he said, wanted to dispel an impression that only the Warm gesture federal government was responsi- ble for unprecedented corruption in the country. Both the federal YouTube star’s mother and provincial governments were responsible for that, he added. NAB chairman Admiral (ret) prays for more online hits Fasih Bokhari urged a newly- formed four-member commit- PATTOKI: The mother of 67-year-old mother Kalsoom tee of the cabinet to involve the Pakistani Internet sensation says she is praying and fasting Punjab government in its efforts One Pound Fish Man is pray- for Nazir’s success. to weed out corruption. ing to Allah that her son has a “I appeal to people in Pakistan According to an official press Christmas No 1 hit so his wife and abroad to give this song as release, the NAB chief welcomed and children can join him for a many hits as possible. I am fast- the committee in a telephonic new life in Britain. ing and saying special prayers for conversation with its head Law When Muhammad Shahid my son so that his song appears Minister Farooq H. Nazir left his four children behind as number one,” she said at the Naek and requested for an in Pakistan to study business in affluent family home. early meeting of the body. “The London, he could never have Nazir’s family run their own Punjab government must be imagined he would one day be business in Pattoki where they asked to attend the meeting since cavorting in a Warner video with settled after migrating from India Punjab represents majority of the scantily-clad Western beauties, to the new Pakistan when Britain country and shares 65 percent of singing about fish. closed the curtain on the empire responsibility,” he said. Nazir, who got a job as a fish- in the sub-continent. Asked if the Punjab govern- monger in east London’s Queens Today, they say they have been ment was responsible for 65 per- Market in Upton Park, came up nicknamed locally as the “One cent corruption in the country with a song to entice customers Pound Fish” family and that peo- why NAB had not directly con- in which he urged local women to ple are flocking to download the tacted it, the NAB spokesman part with one pound ($1.60) for a song onto USBs and CDs. said since the committee had single, glistening fresh fish. Nazir’s father was initially been constituted by the federal “Come on ladies, come on reluctant to let his middle son go German Bundeswehr armed forces soldiers distribute blankets to Afghan Natonal Police officers during a government, it was requested to ladies, one pound fish,” he croons. off to England, “but now he is also patrol in the small village of Taralay near Mazar-e-Sharif, northern Afghanistan, yesterday. bring the provincial government “Very, very good one pound fish, very happy”, Kalsoom said. in the loop. very very cheap one pound fish.” If her son gets a work visa, she When contacted, Punjab gov- Shoppers were charmed and said, he should take his wife and ernment’s spokesman and leader after someone filmed a video and children with him to Britain. PM’s son-in-law nominated for World Bank post of the Pakistan Muslim League-N uploaded it on YouTube the song British newspaper The Sunday Pervez Rashid said the provincial went viral and Warner Music Times reported this month that ISLAMABAD: The govern- his appointment was moved by The posts of executive director government would not send its offered Nazir a record deal. Nazir is under investigation by ment has designated the prime the Economic Affairs Division. and alternate executive directors representative to any meeting of A slicker version with Nazir the Home Office over a potential minister’s son-in-law, Raja Ultimately, the finance ministry pertaining to the seven nations the cabinet committee. “How can shimmying and strutting breach of the terms of his student Azeem-ul-Haque, as an execu- had to give in to the wishes of the are rotated between Pakistan we sit with those who are responsi- Bollywood-style in a natty suit visa after he ditched his studies tive director of World Bank, Prime Minister Secretariat. and Algeria every two years. ble for unprecedented corruption?” went up on December 10, launch- to work as a fishmonger. according to a senior official. The Pakistani nominee for The Algerian alternate executive He said the NAB chief had not ing the race to top the Christmas Nazir’s wife Kashifa, dressed Haque will replace Javed Talat, the World Bank post will have director was appointed about two blamed the Punjab government charts in Britain. in the traditional salwar kameez a former finance secretary who to win endorsements from six months ago. for any corruption, but suggested The original video has had a with a dupatta over her head, was appointed to the position other countries because he will Pakistan’s representative will that it could control corruption staggering 4.6 million hits, while smiles when asked if she is jeal- about eight years ago by the represent seven nations and deal perform duties as executive direc- on the level of common man. the professionally produced one ous of her husband dancing with Musharraf administration. with billions of dollars meant for tor for two years and then become “We don’t disagree with NAB’s already has more than two mil- half-naked girls in the video. Talat has completed two terms bank’s programmes and develop- an alternate executive director. observation that 65 percent cor- lion. Nazir has also gained nearly “I have no problem with this, in the position and was given a ment projects. Some government officials had ruption is being committed at the 28,000 followers on Twitter. nor am I getting jealous. He per- one-year extension that expired The prime minister of Pakistan been critical of Haque’s nomina- level of common people in Punjab, Back at the family home in formed the song and it was a about two months ago. is the designating authority for the tion because of his ‘quick promo- but it does not mean that the Pattoki, a small town 234 kilo- requirement for the video,” she The finance ministry had bank post representing Pakistan, tions’ within a few years from Punjab government is responsible metres south of Pakistan’s cap- said. opposed Haque’s nomination Afghanistan, Iran, Algeria, grade 18 to 21. for this,” he said. ital Islamabad, his delighted AFP even though the summary for Morocco, Ghana and Tunisia. INTERNEWS INTERNEWS SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER 2012 INDIA www.thepeninsulaqatar.com 15 NIA officials may visit Pakistan for 26/11 probe Pakistani Interior Minister invites Singh to visit country

NEW DELHI: India’s National commission was discussed dur- samples “cannot be given unless Investigation Agency (NIA) ing his meeting with Indian Home the permission is given by accused could visit Pakistan in mid-Jan- Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on himself”. uary to further its probe into Friday evening. “And yesterday “We have moved the high the 26/11 Mumbai attack while we have worked out a way for- court on the matter of (Lashkar- a Pakistani judicial panel may ward so that the (Pakistani) judi- e-Toiba commander Zakiur visit India next week, Pakistani cial commission may come next Rehman) Lakhvi’s voice sample Interior Minister Rehman week,” Malik said. and it is pending there,” he said, Malik said here yesterday as he Malik, who arrived here on adding that the high court was met Prime Minister Manmohan Friday on a three-day visit, said reminded about this two weeks Singh to press him to visit he has invited the NIA “in the ago. Malik said his government Pakistan and his native village. middle of January”. was taking steps to expedite trial “Whatever trust deficit was “Let the director general of FIA of the seven people, including there, it was removed,” he said of (Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Lakhvi, in a Rawalpindi court. his talks with Indian leaders as he Agency) and NIA sit together and On LeT founder Hafiz sought to do damage control over resolve issues,” Malik said. Saeed, mastermind of 26/11 his reported remarks on the first The NIA wants to go to attack, against whom India has day of his visit on Friday. Pakistan to examine material evi- demanded action, Malik made no Malik, who also met National dence against key masterminds firm commitment. Security Adviser Shivshankar and accused in the 2008 attacks Malik said Saeed had been Menon, sought to deflect the that claimed 166 lives. bailed out thrice by the court. “We negative publicity evoked by his A Pakistani judicial commis- have been prohibited to arrest purported comparison of 26/11 sion had visited India in March him, these are the orders”of the with Babri mosque’s demolition following a bilateral agreement high court. If I am given substan- with terror attacks and offered but did not cross-examine the tive evidence now, he (Saeed) can Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik in New Delhi yesterday. an investigation into the death of witnesses. It is expected to do so be arrested.” Kargil martyr Captain Saurabh during its next visit to the coun- Malik denied he had equated Kalia. try and present its findings to the demolition of the Babri Masjid Bombay (Mumbai). Babri mosque the country, Malik said he told Office described the meeting as BJP leader Sushma Swaraj the Pakistani court trying those with terror attacks. demolition happened. We want the prime minister that people “a courtesy call” and said it was raised the plight of Hindu minori- accused of involvement in 26/11 “When I spoke of Babri, I never any such incident should not hap- of his native Chakwal district very short. They said Manmohan ties in Pakistan at her meeting attacks. compared it with terror acts,” he pen in India or Pakistan,” he said wanted to meet him. Singh thanked Malik for extend- with Rehman and also expressed Shinde also took up the matter said, adding: “What I said is that and added his intention was not “If he (Manmohan Singh) does ing him the invitation of Pakistan concern over “slow” progress in of voice samples of the 26/11 han- we do not want ugly incidents,” to hurt. not come, people will be disap- President Asif Ali Zardari to visit bringing to book those involved dlers, which India hopes to match Malik said. Referring to his meetings pointed,” Malik said. his country. in the 26/11 conspiracy. with the ones on tape giving Speaking to reporters, Malik with Indian leaders, Malik said: The minister said he explained Speaking at a function organ- In an interview with NDTV directions during the November said he had spoken about Babri “Overall, very good meetings, very to prime minister steps taken to ised by the Confederation of news channel before his meeting 26-29, 2008 attack. mosque in context of inter-faith effective message.” bring to book those involved in the Indian Bar, Malik raised the slo- with the prime minister, Malik Malik, however, said accord- harmony. “9/11, 26/11 happened. Referring to Pakistan’s invita- 26/11 attack. gan of “Indo-Pakistan Friendship said that the issue of judicial ing to Pakistan’s law the voice There were blasts in Quetta and tion to Manmohan Singh to visit Sources in the Prime Minister’s Zindabad”. IANS

Funeral of Indian nurse to be held Modi practising politics of anger, says Rahul Delhi probing presence of GUJARAT: Congress general sec- hearts that you have expressed and in Karnataka retary Rahul Gandhi yesterday have shown also. There should be a accused Gujarat Chief Minister government in this state which has MANGALORE: Narendra Modi of practising love,” he added. The body of Indian- Swedish arms in Myanmar “politics of anger” and said it was He also questioned the Gujarat origin nurse Jacintha time people switched to the power government’s claim that the Saldanha, who was found DELHI/YANGON: India is government soldiers. The weap- newspaper, the Swedish weap- of “love” preached by Mahatma Narmada river water had reached dead on December 7 in investigating how Swedish- on’s serial number is clearly vis- ons were used by Myanmar Gandhi for the state’s progress. every household of the state. “I am London, will be buried at made weapons bought by its ible in one of the photographs. troops in their fight against eth- “When my grandmother (Indira asking you today; do you have water Shirva town in coastal army turned up in Myanmar, “One thing is clear... we are nic Kachin rebels in the coun- Gandhi) and father (Rajiv Gandhi) in your homes?” he asked, to which Karnataka, family a minister visiting Yangon not in the business of supplying try’s far north. died, I had a lot of angst in me. the assembled crowd said a resound- sources said yesterday. said yesterday, denying New weaponry,” Salman Khurshid, The rebels urged Myanmar’s Anger makes a person blind. I was ing “no”. “The coffin carrying Delhi had supplied arms in Indian Minister of External military to end hostile opera- like a blind man. But when I followed He added that nearly 14,000 Right Jacintha’s body is expected contravention of EU sanctions. Affairs, told reporters in tions in September after fight- Gandhiji’s path of love and kept anger to Information (RTI) queries were to arrive here from London Sweden asked India on Yangon. ing broke out last year following aside, I started seeing things clearly. pending in Gujarat. The Lokayukta via Mumbai this afternoon Thursday to clarify how the “We will try to find out how the collapse of a 17-year cease- Your chief minister still has a lot of could not be appointed in the state and will be taken to Shirva weapons wound up in Myanmar this happened. It’s one weapon, fire between the two sides, forc- anger inside him,” Rahul Gandhi said as “one man” did not want it. Monday for last rites and after it was revealed the Indian isn’t it? In a very big world, ing tens of thousands of people while addressing a rally here. This was Rahul Gandhi’s third funeral at the local cem- army had purchased them, one single weapon has been to flee their homes. “You (the people of Gujarat) state tour ahead of the second phase etery around 4 pm,” Udupi Trade Minister Ewa Bjorling identified,” he said, adding that Several rounds of talks aimed are full of love. You have your own of polling in Gujarat on Decemebr Superintendent of Police told the Swedish parliament. the Indian army will check its at resolving the conflict have dreams and it is you who run this 17. Sixty-eight percent voting was M Boralingaiah said, cit- Bjorling said the Swedish inventory as part of the probe. been overshadowed by ongoing state, the historical past of here has recorded in the first phase of polling ing family sources. Agency for Non-Proliferation The minister has met with battles. been of love, which is there in your on December 13. IANS Jacintha’s husband and Export Controls (ISP) had Myanmar’s President Thein The European Union has Benedict Barboza and her informed her that the weapons Sein and opposition leader had a weapons embargo against son Junal, 16, and daughter had come from India. Aung San Suu Kyi during his Myanmar since 1996. Lisha, 14, will accompany Pictures taken in Myanmar trip, holding discussions on On Wednesday, an ISP the coffin from London to and published in Swedish media energy, infrastructure and bor- spokeswoman said it was “rel- Shirva about 50km from this week showed a Carl Gustaf der issues. atively unusual” for Swedish here and 400km from M3 anti-tank rifle and ammu- According to a story pub- weapons to end up in the hands Bangalore. nition left behind by Myanmar lished in Britain’s Independent of third parties. AFP IANS NRIs may look to invest in infrastructure bonds

ON-resident Indians crore. In the THE NR EYE Economists assets, there is much higher (NRIs) who are last financial and analysts safety here. Also the interest depositing tonnes year, the gov- are unanimous earned from the bonds is totally Nof money in Indian ernment-run Moiz Mannan in predicting a tax-free. The only negative here bank accounts need to become infrastructure rate cut by RBI is that from this fiscal bond aware of another safe and lucra- entities raised a total of `30,000 sooner than later. Typically, investments have stopped yield- tive avenue that has presented crore through these bonds. when the interest rates go down, ing income tax deduction bene- itself in the form of infrastruc- Companies will have to raise bond prices go up. Interest rates fits under Section 80CCF. Bonds ture bonds. at least 75 percent of the amount seem to have peaked in India. also offer regular income in the Around `16,000 crore out of of bonds issued through public There is a very high possibility form of coupon. Hence, inves- `53,500-crore worth bonds on issue, out of which 40 percent that the rates will start mov- tors who need regular income offer are expected to be made would be earmarked for retail ing down from here. When this can go for bonds investment. available to retail investors over investors. The finance ministry happens, investors will also gain A month or so back, the gov- the coming months. notification has classified Retail in terms of bond prices going up. ernment cut the withholding The government this year has individual investors “those With this outlook, it might tax on rupee infrastructure allowed India Infrastructure individual investors, Hindu be a good idea for the risk- bonds down from 20 per cent to Finance Company Ltd Undivided Family (through averse NRIs and those wishing five per cent. The lower tax will (IIFCL), Indian Railway Karta), and Non Resident to diversify their portfolios to apply to bonds issued between Finance Corporation Limited Indians (NRIs), on repatriation look at the slew of infrastruc- July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2015. (IRFC) and National Highways as well as non repatriation basis, ture bonds on the anvil. Earlier this year, the govern- Authority of India or NHAI applying for up to `10 lakhs in The Indian government has ment cut the withholding tax to raise `10,000 crore each each issue”. major plans for infrastructure on dollar-denominated infra- through the issue, Housing According to data from the development in the 12th Five structure bonds - which applied and Urban Development Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Year Plan. The need for infra- to interest payments by Indian Corporation Limited (Hudco), dollar inflows from NRIs into structure is pegged at $1,000bn. borrowers - and on external National Housing Bank, Power bank deposits more than dou- Keeping in view the massive commercial borrowings. Finance Corporation and bled during April-October this need of funds, many firms in The government has given Rural Electrical Corporation year to $10.14 bn owing mainly India have launched infrastruc- prominence in its latest eco- (`5,000 crore each), Jawaharlal to the promise of higher returns ture bonds. nomic and fiscal reforms to Nehru Port Trust (`2,000 and a weak rupee. During the For one, such investments repairing India’s sagging infra- crore), Ennore Port Limited corresponding period last year, are absolutely safe. Most of the structure, including establishing (`1,000 crore), and Dredging inflows were at $4.88bn. companies offering the bonds a National Investment Board to Corporation of India Limited Banks on an average offer 7 are highly rated by rating agen- speed up clearance for projects. (`500 crore). to 8 percent interest rate on cies and, above all, are govern- Usually these bonds come In the budget for the present deposits with 6-12 months ten- ment owned. The risk of losing with a maturity period of 10 fiscal, the government had pro- ure for NRIs. While banks have this money, therefore, is almost or 15 years and have a lock in posed raising of `60,000 crore slashed interest rates on depos- zero. period of 5 to 7 years respec- through tax-free infrastructure its over the last three months, The bonds will fetch returns tively. One can sell the bonds in bonds. However, the notifica- NRI deposits still give high of 8 to 8.3 percent. While this a Dematerialized form after the tion that came out last month returns compared with those might not be as high as returns completion of the lock in period. slashed the amount by `6,500 of other countries. promised by equity-linked THE PENINSULA

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Vodafone Rayyan Bank Industries NakilatQatar Islamic Barwa Gulf HoldingComm. Bank Int. Islamic Qatar Bank of Qatar Bank

142,266 8.35 281,632 26.10 111,606 152.10117,318 15.13 36,721 75.20 70,403 27.40 19,558 22.40 481,015 69.90 13,778 51.60 Qatar produced 740,000b/d crude last year: QP Strategic plan for development of petrochemical and industrial projects approved

DOHA: Qatar produced 740,000 A comprehensive strategic chain around the world, has a non-associated gas. Currently, QP Qatar has huge stockpiles of per day of products, comprising barrels of crude a day (b/d) on plan for the development of pet- team of specialists reviewing the is implementing integrated studies natural gas as the third largest 140,000bbl/d of GTL products and average in 2011 with the aver- rochemical and industrial projects company’s strategy to achieve of oil reserves in the field. country in the world in terms 120,000bbl/d of condensate, LPG age price per barrel of onshore (2011-12) has been completed acquisitions worth up to a stag- The results of these studies will of the size of the reserves after and ethane. oil being $110 and that of off- and approved by the Supreme gering $5bn. lead to a long-term development Russia and Iran. Qatar’s North QPI built an impressive multi- shore, $107, according to Qatar Council for Economic Affairs Studies and negotiations are plan. High quality crude and asso- Gas Field is considered to be the billion dollar portfolio of invest- Petroleum (QP) which looks and Investment, the state’s apex on to acquire electricity and gas ciated gas are produced from the largest single non-associated gas ments in the global energy market. after the country’s vibrant oil policy-making body. assets in the Philippines, Greece, offshore Maydan Mahzam and reservoir in the world. It covers Investing in upstream, gas and and gas industry. The plans include a petro- Oman and France, in addition to Bul Hanine fields which began an area of 6,000sqm, equivalent to power, refining and petrochemicals Joint projects are currently chemical complex for Shell to be petrochemical projects in Egypt, production in 1965 and 1972, about half the land area of Qatar. as well as other midstream/down- being implemented in coordina- operational in 2017, and a pet- Vietnam, China and Tunisia. respectively. The utilisation of this field’s mas- stream projects has allowed QPI tion with international companies rochemical complex for Qapco QP implements plans to increase QP has already started pre- sive reserves has become a pri- to emerge as a company of strong specialising in geological surveys (Qatar Petrochemical Company) the reserves of crude oil and liminary engineering studies to mary national goal to continue vision and discipline. and well-drilling to help develop with an annual production capac- increase the production capacities develop the fields, which will lead the development and prosperity Work is now progressing rap- oil reserves. ity of up to 1.5 million tonnes of of the oil fields through continuous to the integration of the develop- process in the country. idly on the implementation of the As for liquefied natural gas ethylene, a million tonnes of high- efforts in collaboration with major ment plans of surface facilities, The most important achieve- project of Ras Laffan Emergency (LNG) of which Qatar is the density polyethylene and 500,000 international oil and gas compa- new wells and offshore installations ments in the gas sector have been and Safety College (RLESC), the world’s top exporter, its produc- tonnes of polypropylene, to be nies, most notably Occidental, with new ground facilities. QP also accomplished over the past year. premier emergency and safety tion capacity had reached 77 mil- operational in 2018. Exxon Mobil, Maersk Oil Qatar. operates Al Shaheen oil field which QP signed a partnership agree- training facility in the Middle lion tonnes a year in 2011 with the The plans also include other In the area of production and lies 180km north of Doha. ment for the development of East. The primary aim of RLESC two major producers, Qatargas key projects like an aromatics development, QP is implementing QP had finished a development Barzan Gas Project which aims is to train emergency and safety and RasGas, boasting 14 LNG complex, Ras Laffan Refinery 2, a comprehensive plan to raise the plan that aims at maintaining the to produce 1.4 billion cubic feet professionals in the following func- trains. hydrogen-diesel processing unit, efficiency of onshore and offshore current production rate of the per day of the North Gas Field tional areas: Oil, gas and petro- In the petrochemical sector, the gas oil loading facilities, Qafco-5 fields and to increase their pro- field. In implementation of the to feed the local industries. QP chemical industries, Marine, Civil country hopes to reach a produc- (Qatar Fertilizer Company), duction capacity. plan, 15 new platforms, pipelines to also implemented the Pearl Gas to Aviation, Civil Defense, Industrial tion level of 19 million tonnes a among others. Onshore Dukhan is a large oil transport oil, water, and gas were Liquids (GTL) project which rep- Fire Fighting, Emergency Medical year of various petrochemical This year, Qatar Petroleum and gas field extending over an area installed. The plan also includes resents one of the largest energy Services, Hazardous Materials, products over the next few years, International (QPI), an invest- of approximately 80kms by 8kms two tankers for storage and export projects. The ambitious project Search and Rescue, Health and the QP statement released by ment arm of QP that makes and is located about 80kms to the of oil and drilling of 169 wells. The has design capacity to convert 1.6 Safety, Emergency Response and Qatar News Agency (QNA) said strategic commercial invest- West of Doha. It produces crude average daily production from the billion standard cubic feet per day Driver Training, yesterday. ments across the energy value oil, associated gas, condensate and field is about 300,000bpd. of wellhead gas into 260,000 bbl THE PENINSULA

Qatari Diar opens Visitor SEC examined BoA’s Centre in Dushanbe mortgage purchases

DOHA/DUSHANBE: Qatari delivering world-class residential WASHINGTON/ set aside reserves of $16.3bn in Diar Real Estate Investment units, Diar Dushanbe will create CHARLOTTE: Securities reg- reserves for future claims. Company, an international highly-desirable business centre ulators have made inquiries into While the SEC has taken action leader in sustainable develop- and retail space in the heart of the the mortgage repurchase prac- against Bank of America over its ment, has opened the Visitor Tajik capital. The project will pro- tices at Bank of America Corp’s merger with Merrill Lynch, it has Centre and headquarter of its vide 1,500 job opportunities during Countrywide unit, according to not sued the bank over conduct flagship project in the Central its construction and 400 opportu- a transcript filed in a lawsuit at Countrywide. In 2010, the SEC Asian republic of Tajikistan. nities when the hotel, restaurants against the bank by insurer imposed a record $22.5m penalty The inauguration cere- and other social amenities open. MBIA Inc. on Countrywide chief executive mony was attended by Anvar “The architecture of this project The details of the inquiries, Angelo Mozilo over disclosures Najmidinov, Deputy Chairman and the sustainability standards it which had not been previously made as the subprime mortgage of the State Committee on meets make it one of a kind; we disclosed, were included in docu- crisis emerged. Investments and State Property consider it the root of a paradigm ments filed this week. The SEC’s interest in repur- Management, along with officials shift in our project development It is unclear if the SEC contin- chases was disclosed as part of from the Ministry of Economy all around the world. We are proud ues to investigate the matter, but heated litigation between MBIA and Trade, Ministry of Foreign that this unique project will form a the documents reveal the agency’s and Bank of America over mort- Affairs, Ministry of Finance, and central part of Qatari Diar’s grow- interest dating back to at least gage-related claims. Bank of Dushanbe Municipality, and a ing portfolio of ambitious develop- 2010 in an issue that has already America on Thursday filed a law- number of VIP guests. A large ments across the world,” said Al saddled the second-largest US suit against MBIA related to the number of interested Tajik buy- Hedfa, while adding, “the project bank with billions of dollars of bank’s efforts to buy the insurer’s ers also attended the opening will give an additional push to the losses in the wake of the finan- bonds. ceremony. Tajiki economy through job oppor- cial crisis. An SEC spokesman did not Engineer Mohammed bin Ali tunities created across a variety of According to the documents, respond to a request for com- Al Hedfa, GCEO of Qatari Diar, sectors.” the US Securities and Exchange ment. A Bank of America spokes- said: “Tajikistan is in an ideal Boasting Tajikistan’s first indoor Commission requested a meeting man declined to comment. geographical location, and pro- ice-skating rink and a host of novel with the bank to discuss its rep- In its annual report filing in vides the right climate to attract attractions, Diar Dushanbe is set resentations and warranties proc- February, the bank said it had regional and international busi- to become an ultimate leisure des- Dignitaries during the opening of the Qatari Diar’s Visitor Centre in Dushanbe. ess, according to the documents. received “a number of subpoenas ness and tourism investors. We tination in Tajikistan and neigh- When selling the mortgages, and other requests for informa- are working tirelessly to create bouring countries, due to unique building and a central piazza. and commercial buildings with banks made promises or “repre- tion” from regulators about mort- a fully-integrated modern liv- characteristics including use of Five local contractors have been extensive retail and office space. sentations and warranties” about gage-backed securities and other ing environment through Diar efficient energy technology, earth- involved in site preparation, Diar Dushanbe was named the loans. Investors can ask banks mortgage-related matters. Dushanbe that will be a model quake-resistant construction, and earthworks, utilities replacement, the ‘Best Decorative’ architec- to buy back soured mortgages if In its most recent quarterly fil- for development in Central Asia.” sensor-activated lighting. It is the site fencing, and construction, tural project in Tajikistan for these promises were evidently ing, it also included a recurring “We dedicate this significant first real estate development in after a landmark bilateral MoU 2011 by Tajikistan’s Agency for broken, for reasons such as poor disclosure that “in the ordinary milestone in the development of Tajikistan to allow foreign owner- in August 2011 between Qatari Construction and Architecture underwriting, insufficient verifi- course of business” the bank is Diar Dushanbe to the Emir, H ship of units. Diar and the Tajik government and the Association of Builders. cation of income or other docu- “subject to regulatory exami- H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Additionally, the development paved the way for project initia- In addition to its on-going con- mentation errors. nations, information gathering Thani and to the entire State of is equipped with fibre optic net- tion. An international firm has tribution to the country’s real The SEC also asked about requests, inquiries, investiga- Qatar on the occasion of Qatar working offering high-speed ICT been appointed to undertake the estate sector, Qatari Diar is actively reserves for mortgage repur- tions, threatened legal actions National Day. We are commit- connectivity, an innovative waste construction of Phase One. furthering the expansion of other chase requests, a bank employee and proceedings.” ted to every step of this project, collection system, advanced water The Diar Dushanbe project sectors in Tajikistan, including testified. The transcripts filed this week which we see as a building block filtration mechanism, and water is being overseen by Qatari Diar tourism, hospitality and commerce. Since buying Countrywide in include depositions MBIA lawyers of Qatari-Tajiki relations,” added and electricity storage capacity - Tajikistan, a limited local com- Recently, the company spon- 2008, Bank of America has been conducted with Bank of America Al Hedfa. for up to four days. pany wholly-owned by Qatari Diar. sored the 2nd Tajikistan National forced to take billions of dollars employees in August. The inter- Diar Dushanbe will create an The Visitor Centre and head- Qatari Diar - Tajikistan has also Conference on Tourism. In May of losses on soured mortgages views, with Cynthia Simantel integrated community develop- quarter form part of Phase One invited international consultants to 2010, Qatari Diar also assisted that were sold to investors such and Michael Schloessmann, shed ment on the idyllic waterfront of of Diar Dushanbe, which also fea- tender for detail design services for with the success of the Tajikistan as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac new light on what the SEC may the Gissar Canal, overlooking the tures a residential tower compris- the development’s second and third Economic Forum. during the housing boom. At the be examining. Kuli Javonon Lake. In addition to ing 67 units, an administrative phases, which include residential THE PENINSULA end of the third quarter, it had REUTERS SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER 2012 18 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com BUSINESS

Small investors Boeing delivers shun India’s Bharti Infratel IPO first new jet to NEW DELHI: Small investors largely shunned an IPO by the tower arm of Indian telecom firm Bharti, aimed at raising $845m, but the issue was fully Iraq in decades subscribed thanks to insti- tutional buyers, data showed yesterday. The initial public offer (IPO) Baghdad orders 40 more planes marked Bharti Airtel’s return to the capital market after a decade- BAGHDAD: The first new commercial plane — a version of long break, and was the biggest Boeing Co jetliner sold to Iraq the 747 jumbo jet — in 1982, said public issue since state-run Coal in 30 years touched down in Donald Galvanin, the company’s India raised $3.4bn in an IPO in Baghdad yesterday, signalling sales director for the Middle East. late 2010. the country’s determination to He said this weekend’s delivery The tower arm, Bharti Infratel, rebuild its economy after dec- is an important step toward planned to sell 66.1 million shares, ades of war and sanctions. improving Iraq’s economy. or more than 40 percent of its Iraq is eager to improve its “To bring in business, you need offering, to small investors and creaky aviation industry, which a connection with outside ... and a offered them a discount. lags far behind that of its energy- viable airline,” he said. Individual small investors took rich neighbours. Boeing’s delivery Iraq was able to get the 777 just under 20 percent of their of the twin-aisle 777-200LR plane delivered now because another allocation but demand from insti- comes less than two weeks after customer was unable to take tutional buyers ensured that total the company’s chief rival Airbus it, Galvanin said. He said he bids exceeded the shares on offer announced the delivery of one of expects Baghdad may be inter- by 1.3 times, according to stock its own wide-body planes to Iraq. ested in buying more of the long- exchange figures. “The arrival of this plane rep- range jets down the road because Since the Coal India offer — resents a big chance for Iraqi “they realise they would need a which had bids for more than 15 Airways to turn around,” Iraqi few more.” Iraqi pilots stand near a Boeing 777 jet at Baghdad’s International Airport yesterday. times the number of shares on Transportation Minister Hadi The US Embassy said it worked offer — India’s IPO market had Al Amiri said. closely with Boeing and Baghdad earlier wanted to $1.2bn in repa- begun flying to the country, eating the self-ruled Kurdish region. virtually dried up as the economy More planes are coming. to complete the 777 sale. Financial rations, which Iraq’s postwar into the national carrier’s share of The Kurds’ northern enclave is slowed, with over 50 firms pulling Iraq has ordered another 30 of terms were not disclosed. leaders had resisted paying. the market. much safer than the capital and is their offers since early 2011. Boeing’s smaller 737-800 model Iraqi Airways’ efforts to turn Iraq and Kuwait earlier this They include airlines from a popular destination for foreign But in recent months, India’s and 10 of its new 787. The first of itself around have been hobbled year reached a $500m deal to neighboring countries, includ- investors looking to break into the benchmark 30-share Sensex stock the 737s will be delivered in the by ageing equipment, a lack of settle the airline feud, paving the ing Turkish Airlines and Royal Iraqi market. index has surged, led by optimism middle of next year, according to adequately trained staff and a way for Iraqi Airways to resume Jordanian, and well-funded Gulf No US commercial airlines over a blitz of government reforms the Chicago-based plane maker. long-running dispute with Kuwait normal operations. The dispute airlines such as Emirates and fly regularly to Iraq. The US and overseas fund in-flows. Airbus in early December stemming from Saddam Hussein’s had scuttled at least one planned Etihad Airways. Austrian Airlines Federal Aviation Administration Bharti Infratel has over 34,000 said it had delivered its first invasion in 1990. Iraqi Airways route, between last year became the first major last week lifted a 16-year-old a transmission towers across 18 states A330-200 to Iraq. Iraqi Airways, The disagreement centred Baghdad and London, after western carrier to resume regular ban on American carriers flying covering 11 telecom circles, and also which plans to use that plane on on Kuwait’s accusations that Kuwait attempted to confiscate flights to Baghdad since the 2003 to Irbil and Sulaimaniyah, also in holds a 42 percent stake in Indus European and other international Saddam’s regime stole 10 air- the Iraqi plane in the British US-led invasion. the Kurdish area. The agency said Towers — the world’s biggest tower routes, already operates two planes and millions of dollars’ capital. Foreign airlines are increas- flights to other Iraqi airports may firm — which has around 110,000. Airbus A321s. worth of equipment and spare As Iraqi Airways has struggled, ingly offering flights to other Iraqi be allowed in the future. Analysts said problems dog- Boeing last sold Iraq a parts during the invasion. Kuwait foreign airlines have increasingly cities as well, particularly Irbil in AP ging the troubled telecom sec- tor in which profits are under pressure and regulation has been erratic were responsible for the weak individual investor demand along with competition from Qatar hospitality sector must look for mid-scale properties: Expert other smaller issues. Bharti group chief executive Sunil Bharti Mittal told reporters DOHA: With the luxury seg- told The Peninsula. “Qatar is one The Group is currently oper- soon activate our sales channels he was happy with the outcome ment in Qatar’s hospitality sec- of the fastest growing economies ating a total of 32 hotels in 11 and our global network opera- and said he believed “the doors tor reaching to a saturation in the world and one of the rich- countries across the Middle East tions. The property has already have opened” for other IPOs with point, what the country needed est nations. It is becoming more and North Africa (Mena) region. undergone a renovation process. the Bharti offer. is more mid-scale properties. and more important destination Recent openings include Radisson Here we have 583 guest rooms Bharti Infratel was expected to The industry has enough mar- for global travellers. The country’s Royal Dubai, RB Resort Fujairah, and suites designed in intriguing keep a little over 75 percent of the ket potential in this segment, a hospitality sector is set to grow RB Dubai Downtown Kurt said. styles from modern to Arabic and issue proceeds while a quarter would veteran in the global hospitality further in the coming years and “The future openings include Japanese”, he said. go to private equity firms including sector said. we see Qatar as one of our key four in Saudi Arabia and UAE; Kurt has been heading The Temasek, The Investment Corp of Now, Qatar has enough luxury markets in the region”, he said. two in Oman, two in Tunisia. Rezidor Hotel Group as President Dubai and Goldman Sachs, accord- hotels. Given the kind of events The Group which was behind Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE are & CEO for more than two dec- ing to issue documents. that is being lined up by Qatar for re-branding the Ramada as our key markets. We have biggest ades. Highly acclaimed as the After the IPO, Bharti Airtel’s the coming years, what the coun- Radisson Blu, will also be man- pipeline in sub Sahara and over longest serving CEO in the global stake in Bharti Infratel would fall try really need is a good number aging the upcoming Hotel Missoni 100 projects in the Middle East hotel industry, he has been with to 79 percent from a current 86 of mid-size hotels, Kurt Ritter Doha that is scheduled to open in long-term,” he said the company over 30 years. Kurt percent, while private equity firms (pictured), President and CEO in 2015. The Rezidor has over a Kurt said the change in name will step down on December 31, will own 10.58 percent, down from of The Rezidor Hotel Group that dozen properties in pipeline in the would be soon reflected on 2012. 14 percent earlier. manages the Radisson Blu Doha, region for next three years. Radisson Blu’s services. “We will THE PENINSULA AFP SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER 2012 BUSINESS www.thepeninsulaqatar.com 19 SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER 2012 20 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com BUSINESS Crop insurance juicy target in fiscal cliff deal US lawmakers fear $9bn in annual subsidy will be cut

WASHINGTON: Rural law- give farmers additional protection crop insurance don’t come back at makers worry that $9bn in against any kind of revenue losses, it and try to cut it,” said Stabenow annual federal crop insurance such as from a drop in commod- from Michigon. subsidies are an easy target for ity prices. Farmers buy crop insurance spending cuts in a “fiscal cliff” The Senate bill’s version would to protect against weather- deal so they’re shopping around cost almost $3bn annually, with related losses such as drought for a late compromise on a farm the House bill a little under $1 or flooding. bill to protect them. billion. Farmers pay a percentage of The chairmen of the House The concern about the fate of the premium cost and the fed- and Senate Agriculture commit- crop insurance stems from previ- eral government covers the rest. tees already were set to make a ous efforts by the Obama White Companies selling the insurance sizeable contribution to deficit House to target the program for also get direct subsidies from the reduction through a new farm cuts. government. bill. There were $2.3bn in annual Obama proposed cutting the Both the House and Senate cuts to other farm programs and subsidies by $760m a year in his made room for the new insurance food stamps in a Senate-passed budget proposal last February. program by eliminating a differ- version and $3.5bn in annual cuts Conservatives long have eyed ent type of subsidy called direct in a measure awaiting House the program as a pot of money payments, in which farmers col- action. that could be used for other lect money from the government But they hit an impasse things. whether they farm or not and this past week while trying to Without giving details or regardless of prices or crop yields. merge the bills into a single numbers, Obama administra- Cutting that program would save package. It’s the same problem tion officials have made it clear almost $5bn annually and con- confronting President Barack in fiscal cliff negotiations that tribute to the overall savings in Obama and House Speaker John they see farm programs like the bill. Boehner, from Ohio, who so far crop insurance as a source for Supporters of crop insur- Abdulla Mannai receiving the award. are unable to come up with an savings. ance say fewer subsidies would alternative to the broad wave “Reforming farm subsidies, very mean fewer farmers would buy of automatic tax increases and important to do, lots of room to coverage. Oryx Engineering chief bags spending cuts that begin to hit do sensible reforms in that con- “Crop insurance proved its in the new year. text. And they can raise substan- value once again this year by The farm-state leaders hope tial amounts of money,” Treasury helping keep the rural economy that if they can agree on a farm Secretary Tim Geithner said on on track and helping farm- business leader of the year award bill, the White House and Boehner CBS “Face the Nation.” ers pick up the pieces after a might include it as a deficit-reduc- Agriculture Secretary Tom crippling drought,” said Tom DOHA: Oryx Engineering in the region and in specific acknowledged the important part ing component of a broader fiscal Vilsack warned the congressional Zacharias, president of National Solutions Group’s Founder and Qatar’s oil and gas sector. played by his team at the OESC. cliff deal. committees this past week that, Crop Insurance Services, an Managing Director, Abdulla Over the last eight years, “They bring the best of creativ- While cutting food stamps and if they don’t strike a deal soon, industry trade group. “Farmers Mannai, has been selected as Mannai’s tireless efforts as an ity and the highest standards of other farm programmes, both the White House and Republicans are telling lawmakers to ‘do no 2012’s Outstanding Business entrepreneur have been an exam- quality and craftsmanship to their the Senate and House agricul- working to avert the fiscal cliff harm’ to crop insurance.” Leader of the Year by ITP’s Oil ple to others in the region. work”, he said. ture bills preserve crop insur- may cut farm programs that law- Critics say farmers could & Gas Middle East magazine. His visionary programme of Mannai also thanked Oryx ance subsidies that cover a big makers want to protect. survive with much less federal The award, which celebrates work has resulted in the com- Engineering Solutions’ joint-ven- portion of farmers’ losses due “Don’t let somebody else craft help. exemplary leadership in the pletion of the Oryx Engineering ture partners, ABB, AESSEAL to bad weather. Those subsidies the farm legislation who may not Crop insurance isn’t farm-state region’s upstream industry, Solutions Centre (OESC), which and Transcar, for their part in buoyed a strong agricultural fully understand all of the implica- lawmakers’ only concern in the fis- was presented at a celebra- today serves the needs of a wide the OESC’s success. economy even through last sum- tions,” he said. cal cliff negotiations. Milk prices tion attended by more than 200 variety of customers in the region’s In doing so he said: “Though I mer’s scorching drought. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who could double if expiring dairy sup- key international and regional oil, gas, power, utilities and marine have received this award personally, Committee leaders from both leads the Senate Agriculture, port programmes aren’t renewed decision-makers gathered at the industries. Its success has made it I want to thank everyone for their parties say farmers consistently Nutrition and Forestry before January 1. Stabenow said Westin Hotel Ballroom in Dubai. one of the cornerstones of Qatar’s ongoing efforts and collaboration tell them crop insurance is the Committee, agreed. she’s also concerned there will be In presenting the award, Oil economic development. and assure you that we continue to program they depend on most. “It’s one of the many reasons we less money for a farm bill next & Gas Middle East recognises Speaking at the ceremony enhance, develop and build on our But both bills also create an need to get a five-year farm bill year. Mannai’s immense and creative Mannai said he was hon- business for the future.” insurance program that would done so people who don’t support AP contribution to the development oured to receive the award and THE PENINSULA SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER 2012 GECM & TENDERS www.thepeninsulaqatar.com 21

GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS MAP (GECM) Every Sunday China November trade weak in challenge to economy US trade deficit grows to UK House rents to rise further in 2013 as buying remains difficult BEIJING: China’s trade weakened sharply $42.2bn in October in November, adding to challenges for LONDON: The cost of renting a Japan economic data sparks WASHINGTON: The US trade deficit Germany, engine of Europe, the world’s second-largest economy as property in the UK is likely to rise recession fears increased in October because a gradual recovery takes shape. Export around twice as much as the cost of faces looming recession TOKYO: Japan confirmed exports fell by a larger margin growth plunged to 2.9 percent over a year buying a home next year, with the BERLIN: In a report released yesterday the world’s third- than imports, a sign that slower earlier from the previous month’s 11.6 scarcity of adequate loans forcing Friday, the Bundesbank cut its largest economy shrank in the global growth could weigh on percent, customs data showed Monday. many would-be first-time buyers onto growth forecast for the nation three months to September, the US economy. The Commerce the lettings market. That is according and said that Europe’s most Imports were flat, down from October’s stoking fears the country was Department said Tuesday that successful economy is likely to to the Royal Institute of Chartered 2.4 percent growth. conference. slipping into a recession and the trade deficit grew 4.8 percent enter a recession next year. Surveyors (RICS), which says that fueling speculation about fresh in October from September to house prices in the UK will see an easing measures. $42.2bn. Exports dropped 3.6 increase of 2 percent over 2013, percent to $180.5 bn. Sales of while the cost of renting a home commercial aircraft, autos and should rise by about 4 percent. farm products all declined. Imports fell 2.1 percent to $222.8bn, reflecting fewer shipments of cell Exports may fall $40bn short of phones, autos and machinery. government target in FY’13: FIEO JSE snaps three-day record run NEW DELHI: India’s exports may touch of gains $320bn during the current fiscal as against JOHANNESBURG: South African the target of USD 360bn due to the global stocks fell slightly on Thursday, demand slowdown, Federation of Indian Export organizations (FIEO) on Friday said. snapping a three-day record-setting Rates could hit 2pc, says Goldman run, as investors cashed in on India had recorded the highest ever export profits while worries about US fiscal of $307bn in the last fiscal. analyst problems dampened sentiment. The The prevalent economic crisis in the SYDNEY: The Reserve Bank cut rates this benchmark JSE Top-40 index gave developed economies is hitting India’s month by 25 basis points to 3 per cent, up 0.37 percent to 34,287.11 and the exports. “The target of $360bn is likely matching a low hit in the aftermath of the Argentina ordered to pay $1.3 broader All-share index retreated to elude us. Going by the present trend, global financial crisis. Few economists have billion to holdouts by Dec. 15; 0.22 percent to 38,676.70. we may end up with exports between forecast that the bank will go much further than 2.75 per cent in coming months. the defying could prompt default $300 - $320bn in the current fiscal,” FIEO President Rafeeque Ahmed told reporters RBA to cut to 2.5 per cent next year and for BUENOS AIRES: Argentina has here. the dollar to retreat towards US98c by the finally run out of wiggle room in a end of next year and to trade at US84c by billion-dollar showdown over foreign the end of 2014; said Tim Toohey Australia debts unpaid since the country’s chief economist at the US investment bank world-record default a decade ago, expects. and the stakes couldn’t be higher for President Cristina Fernandez.

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Only this time it’s on this side of the road.”  Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini on his side’s Premier League triumph. “This is such a truly wonderful moment. It’s been four marvellous years.” From left: Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer, Olympic champion in 100 meters Usain Bolt of Jamaica, swimming legend Michael Phelps and  Spain goalkeeper Iker Tour de France winner, Bradley Wiggins. Casillas on a golden age for him and his team that saw them win couple of seasons. champion, on having to drop out do with swimmers. Chlorine kills HORSE RACING of a doping ring that helped him Euro 2008, the 2010 World Cup “It wasn’t really errant. I was of the London Olympics. it so it’s not bad.” “I always think the best time win seven Tour de France titles. and Euro 2012. trying to not hit the tree she was ATHLETICS  Olympic great Michael to leave a party is when you least “My wife kept going on because “I can safely say the great- hiding behind, and I didn’t.” “It’s what I came here to do. I’m Phelps admits to a different sort want to.” she was getting ecstatic that the est character I have ever met is  US ski star Bode Miller on now a legend, I’m the greatest ath- of gold run -- his habit of peeing  Teddy Grimthorpe, rac- Queen had sent us a letter. I kept former Rangers winger wee Willie injuring his wife Morgan while lete to live.” in the pool. ing manager to Prince Khalid saying ‘F*** the Queen -- Johnny Johnston. I named a dog after they were playing golf.  Jamaica’s Usain Bolt after “Don’t cry because it’s over. Abdullah, the owner of unbeaten Marr’s sent me a message on him.” TENNIS becoming the first man to retain Smile because it happened.” - Dr. Frankel, when asked about Twitter! And Robbie Fowler -- I  US actor and director “I always felt tennis was easier the 100m and 200m titles. Seuss retiring the horse. had a message from God.” Robert Duvall, famous for his for me playing as world number “My mother used to tell us in  Michael Phelps tweets after BEACH VOLLEYBALL  Music and football fan roles in Apocalypse Now and one than actually getting there.” the mornings, ‘Carl put on your ending his career with a 22nd “They are glistening like wet Bradley Wiggins after his Tour The Godfather, talks about foot-  Swiss legend Roger Federer shoes, Oscar you put on your Olympic medal otters.” de France cycling triumph. ball during a visit to England to after reaching a combined total prosthetic legs ... So I grew up not “She’s fast, if she was there with  Mayor of London Boris RUGBY UNION promote a new film. of 300 weeks as number one in really thinking I had a disability. me, maybe she would have beaten Johnson comes up with a colour- “That’s called Australia pinch- GOLF October. I grew up thinking I had different me.” ful way to describe the sight of ing our players - it’s not a system “If he could have headed it the “There’s not just tennis in my shoes.”  US superstar Ryan Lochte female beach volleyball players breakdown.” other way, it would have been in life. I like cooking, gardening,  South Africa’s Oscar reacts to China’s Ye Shiwen at the London Olympics.  All Blacks head coach Steve the fairway.” reading, decorating the house, Pistorius, nicknamed ‘Blade swimming a faster final lap in CYCLING Hansen blasts the recruitment of  Rory McIlroy during the putting up the Christmas tree and Runner’ because of the carbon winning the women’s 400m med- “Lance Armstrong has no place Kiwi players by Australian sides. second round of British Open running.” fibre blades he runs on, on his ley than he managed in taking in cycling. He deserves to be for- “That scoreline is a bit at Royal Lytham after his wild  Former world number one and brother Carl’s upbringing. gold in the men’s equivalent. gotten in cycling.” embarrassing.” drive at the 15th clobbered a Kim Clijsters on her retirement. “It’s never going to get better “We never questioned Michael  UCI chief Pat McQuaid Ireland captain Brian young spectator on the head and “Today is one of the saddest than this, this is the best moment Phelps when he bagged eight gold when asked bout the legacy O’Driscoll after side’s 60-0 Test bounced away into the rough. days of my career, as it was one of my life.” medals in Beijing.” of banned drug cheat Lance hammering by the All Blacks in “There isn’t a low point in being of my greatest hopes and perhaps  Britain’s Mo Farah celebrates  Jiang Zhixue, the head of Armstrong Hamilton last June. a professional golfer. I mean, let’s the most special moment to be his 10,000m gold medal in front of anti-doping at China’s General “I’ve been better, but I’ve also “I’m ugly, I’m black, but I’m not be realistic.” the flag-bearer for Spain in the a packed Olympic Stadium crowd. Administration of Sport, on been worse.” stupid.” Former Springboks coach  Ireland’s three-time major opening ceremony of the games SWIMMING suspicions over teenage Chinese  Cancer survivor Armstrong Peter de Villiers vows to put the winner Padraig Harrington on in London.” “I think everybody pees in the swimmer Ye Shiwen’s explosive in the wake of detailed revela- record straight in his autobiogra- his ‘slump’ in form over the past  Rafael Nadal, the defending pool. It’s kind of a normal thing to Olympics. tions about his role at the heart phy. AFP

Nuggets tame Schwartzel, Bourdy Hockey: India, Pakistan Grizzlies on share lead at Dunhill return to Denver NEW YORK: The Denver MALELANE, South Africa: very good position to compete.” to clash on December 24 Nuggets took full advantage of a Charl Schwartzel shot an eight- After winning in Thailand last Memphis Grizzlies team lacking under-par 64 while Gregory week, the 2010 Masters champion DOHA: Bitter rivals India China, Japan and Oman will stage of the Champions Trophy in confidence by grinding out a Bourdy carded a seven-under 65 is on a roll hoping to win his sec- and Pakistan are gearing for an be in Qatar on December 18 and for the first time this year since 99-94 home win to get back to as both men shared a four-shot ond title at Leopard Creek having intriguing slugfest at the Asian Malaysia, which finished third in 2004. .500 for the season yesterday. lead at the halfway stage of the been runner-up four time. Champions Trophy hockey the last edition, is to troop in at India will be captained by the The Nuggets, who have spent Alfred Dunhill Championship Bourdy bogeyed the par-four which begins from December 20. the Doha International Airport legendary Sardar Singh – who an NBA-high 17 of 24 games on yesterday. third, but his six birdies and eagle With a top prize at stake, the tomorrow. Both, India and with over 150 international the road this season, improved to The South African teed off on on the par-four sixth nevertheless competition will be intense at Al Pakistan have some bitter memo- caps brings a vast amount of 12-12 on their return to Denver, the 10th hole, making four bird- helped him card an seven-under- Rayyan Stadium which culmi- ries of their last journey to Qatar experience to the competition while condemning the Grizzlies to ies and an eagle from the 15th par 65 -- one stroke better than nates in the final on December 27. during the 2006 Asian Games. along with vice-captain VR a third consecutive loss. to the second at the 6,671-metre his Thursday round. The Asian powerhouses Eight-time Olympic champi- Raghunath. Andre Iguodala had a big night Leopard Creek Estate course “I’m feeling great and I played recently clashed in Australia dur- ons India failed to win a medal Pakistan will be arriving on a for the Nuggets with 20 points which borders the world-famous two good rounds. Many birdie ing the Champions Trophy bronze at Asian Games when they drew high after a third-place finish in and seven assists, while bench- Kruger National Park. opportunities again today, espe- medal match, where Pakistan fin- with South Korea 1-1 in a league Australia and will bring to Qatar man Andre Miller contributed Two more birdies later and he cially on the first holes,” said the ished on the winning side. match they had to win to advance a virtually unchanged squad 18 points. was in a share of the lead, tied 30-year-old. Pakistan enters the tourna- to the semi-finals. from the Champions Trophy “He is amazing with some of the with first round leader Bourdy Meanwhile, tour rookie Daniel ment as the top-ranked team The Koreans went on to win a tournament. stuff he does and how he gets it from France at 13 under par. Popovic maintained his grip on the and will clash with defending second successive gold medal with The Pakistan Hockey done,” Nuggets coach George Karl “It was there for the taking and Australian PGA Championship by champions India on December a 3-1 win over surprise finalists Federation have confirmed told reporters of the 36-year-old luckily enough I took advantage opening a two-stroke lead after 24, in eagerly awaited match of China, who knocked out Pakistan Muhammad Imran as team cap- Miller. early on,” said the 28-year-old the third round on Saturday. the championship. in the semi-finals. tain for the tournament. “We don’t win this game with- South African. The 26-year-old Australian, India defeated Pakistan 4-2 via The Koreans who finished Malaysia also confirmed they out Andre Miller, without a “I made a couple around the who has led or shared top spot penalty shoot-out to win the first eighth in the 2012 London will play a warm-up match question. turn and could have been a few after every round of the $1.3m edition of the Asian Champions Olympics will not be here, but the against Qatar on December 18 at “It was a slow-down, drag, pull more there, but we can’t get too tournament at the Palmer Coolum Trophy held in China last year. Chinese will be one of the team 7:00p.m. teeth, punch, grab, hold, kind of greedy. All in all a very good Resort, fired a three-under 69 for The Pakistan team is due to which is likely to give the two top- The six-team tournament of an old-school basketball game. round and I’ve put myself in a a three-day total of 13-under par. arrive in Qatar on December 18 ranked countries a few headaches. Asian Hockey Federation will fol- “I think it is a really classy win “I’m over the moon, I couldn’t for the eight-day tournament. Meanwhile, the Indian selectors low the round-robin format, with for us. It is a tough-minded win Alfred Dunhill be feeling any better right now,” Arch rivals India will reach Doha decided against tinkering with the the top two teams contesting the against a team that I think is Popovic, who won the 2012 tomorrow in the championship team after India`s impressive final on December 27. going to be very, very successful Championship Scores Australasian PGA qualifying which officially opens at 3:00pm outing in the Champions Trophy The rest of the teams will play this year.” JOHANNESBURG: Leading school, told reporters. with a match between Malaysia in Australia. for positions three to six positions Memphis (14-6) had a chance scores after the second “I knew that I had it in me and Japan. India reached the last four on the same day when the final to tie the contest in the closing round of the Alfred Dunhill and I still know that I do have will be played. seconds but top scorer Rudy Gay’s Championship yesterday at the one more good round tomorrow Asian Champions Trophy Pakistan Squad: Imran Shah, (21 points) three-point attempt par-72, 6,631-metre Leopard (Sunday) in me. Match Schedule Imran Butt, Syed Kashif Shah, failed to drop as the Grizzlies Creek Country Club: “I’ve just got to keep in rou- Muhammad Imran (captain), slipped two games behind San tine... what I’ve been doing has 20 December, Thursday 15:00 Malaysia vs Japan Muhammad Rizwan Senior, Antonio in the Southwest 131 Gregory Bourdy (FRA) 66-65, Charl been working this week and 17:00 India vs China Muhammad Tousiq, Fareed Division. Schwartzel (RSA) 67-64 tonight’s going to be exactly the 19:00 Oman vs Pakistan Ahmed, Rashid Mahmood, “Honestly it shouldn’t have 135 Darren Fichardt (RSA) 67-68 same and so it tomorrow morning 21 December, Friday 15:00 India vs Japan Muhammad Waqas (vice-cap- gotten to that point,” Gay said of 136 Louis de Jager (RSA) 67-69, Steve in my warm-up.” 17:00 Pakistan vs China tian), Shafqat Rasool, Abdul the late shot that went agonis- Webster (ENG) 67-69 Fellow Victorian Anthony 19:00 Oman vs Malaysia Haseem Khan, Ali Shan, ingly close. REUTERS 137 Maximilian Kieffer (GER) 68-69, Brown scorched the course with Muhammad Ateeq, Waseem 22 December, Saturday Rest Day Robert Rock (ENG) 69-68 a blistering eight-under 64 to Ahmed, Muhammad Kashif Ali, 138 Tyrone van Aswegen (RSA) 70-68, climb up the leaderboard to sec- 23 December, Sunday 15:00 Japan vs China Shakeel Abbasi, Muhammad NBA Results Richard Finch (ENG) 70-68, Scott ond place at 11-under. 17:00 India vs Oman Irfan, M Salman Hussain. Toronto 95 Dallas 74 Jamieson (SCO) 70-68, Ockie Brown, who trailed the leaders 19:00 Malaysia vs Pakistan India Squad: PR Sreejesh, PT LA Lakers 102 Washington 96 by seven shots at the start of the Rao, VR Raghunath (vice-cap- Strydom (RSA) 69-69, Richard Sterne 24 December, Monday 15:00 Japan vs Oman Indiana 95 Philadelphia 85 (RSA) 70-68, Tommy Fleetwood third round, offset nine birdies 17:00 China vs Malaysia tain), Rupinderpal Singh Harbir Orlando 99 Golden State 85 (ENG) 69-69, Tyrone Mordt (RSA) 71- with a lone bogey yesterday. 19:00 India vs Pakistan Singh, Sardar Singh (captain), Brooklyn 107 Detroit 105 67 “I knew that there was a good 25 December, Tuesday Rest Day Kothajit Singh, Birendra Lakra, Milwaukee 90 Cleveland 86 139 Anton Haig (RSA) 73-66, Branden round in me, I didn’t really have 26 December, Wednesday 15:00 China vs Oman Manpreet Singh, Gurmail Singh, any expectations at the start of S V Sunil, Gurvinder Singh Grace (RSA) 68-71, Richard McEvoy 17:00 Pakistan vs Japan Minnesota 113 New Orleans 102 the day but whenever you shot Chandi, Danish Mujtaba, S K (ENG) 69-70, Kristoffer Broberg 19:00 Malaysia vs India Houston 101 Boston 89 64 in any tournament, let alone Uthappa, Nithin Thimmaiah, (SWE) 70-69, Garth Mulroy (RSA) 71- 27 December Thursday 15:00 5th Ranked Team vs 6th Ranked Team Oklahoma City 113 Sacramento 103 the PGA, you take it,” Brown said. Yuvraj Walmiki, Dharamvir 68, Oscar Floren (SWE) 69-70, Keith 17:00 3rd Ranked T earn vs 4th Ranked Team Phoenix 99 Utah 84 Horne (RSA) 70-69 “I’m very happy with how I played Singh, Akashdeep Singh. today.” AGENCIES 19:00 1st Ranked Team vs 2nd Ranked Tearn THE PENINSULA Denver 99 Memphis 94 SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER 2012 SPORT www.thepeninsulaqatar.com 25

Spirit of Eljaish edge Al Rayyan 1-0 Qatar Team withdraws QSL: Al Kharaitiyat beat Al Sailiyah in five-goal thriller; Umm Salal win from Dubai DOHA: Eljaish edged past round, delighted Eljaish coach Al Rayyan 1-0 in the Qatar QSL Results and Lucescu, who celebrated the goal Grand Prix Stars League (QSL), thanks to on the touchline. Abdulgadir Elyas’ goal in the Standings Al Rayyan, who dropped points DUBAI (UAE): After taking first half. Played Yesterday against Al Arabi last week, victory in Friday’s Emirates The victory for Razvan Al Sailiyah 2 Al Kharaitiyat 3 tried to get back into the game, Dubai Duty Free Grand Prix, Lucescu’s side is the second con- Eljaish 1 Al Rayyan 0 but Eljaish were closing the Al Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al secutive week that Eljaish have Rayyan players quickly. Thani, Steve Curtis, Ali Al Umm Salal 2 Al Khor 1 picked up maximum points. Both sides tried to find Neama and Matteo Nicolini Played on Friday Yesterday’s win puts Eljaish another goal in the second half, dramatically withdrew from in fourth place in the standings, Al Arabi 2 Al Wakra 1 and Wagner Ribeiro nearly yesterday’s second race of the with 19 points, one point behind Qatar SC 0 Al Gharafa 1 gave Eljaish a 2-0 lead, but the Sky Dive Dubai Grand Prix. Al Rayyan. Lekhwiya 0 Al Sadd 3 Brazilian saw his effort go wide. Along with the crew of Fendi In other QSL action yesterday, P W D L G/F G/A Pts In the 81st minute, Rodrigo Racing 10, the decision was taken Al Kharaitiyat beat Al Sailiyah Al Sadd 11 10 1 0 28 8 31 Tabata, who was named Player to boycott the race on the grounds 3-2 in a five-goal thriller. of the Year last season, nearly that the racecourse had been Lekhwiya 11 7 1 3 17 12 22 Al Kharaitiyat are in ninth equalised. changed at the 11th hour to ‘suit’ spot with 10 points, after they Al Rayyan 11 6 2 3 22 14 20 The Brazilian midfielder struck the Victory 3 boat. recorded their second victory of Eljaish 11 6 1 4 13 12 19 a free-kick that was well saved “I just had the feeling that this the season. Umm Salal 11 5 2 4 18 21 17 by Eljaish goalkeeper Ivanildo may happen,” said a disappointed Al Sailiyah are bottom with five Al Garrafa 11 4 3 4 11 12 15 Rodrigues. Sheikh Hassan, President of the points. Qatar SC 11 4 2 5 15 17 14 Nilmar had a wonderful oppor- Qatar Marine Sports Federation Elsewhere, Umm Salal scored Al Wakra 11 3 3 5 14 14 12 tunity to level the game for Al (QMSF) and driver of Spirit of both their goals in their 2-1 win Rayyan but shot wide in the 88th Qatar 96. Al Kharaitiyat 11 2 4 5 9 11 10 over Al Khor. minute. “The course was changed 30 The victory for Umm Salal, sees Al Khor 11 2 4 5 12 15 10 Elsewhere, Umm Salal were minutes before the race was sup- them in fifth place with 17 points. Al Arabi 11 1 5 5 10 19 8 2-0 up inside 30 minutes, thanks posed to start and that is clearly Al Khor are in 10th place with Al Sailiyah 11 1 2 8 13 27 5 to goals by Cabore and Osthman unfair. The rules clearly state that 10 points. Al Assas. all boats must be at the start pon- In the match between Eljaish marker, and converted a swing- But two minutes later, Al toon at 2.30pm and, at that time, and Al Rayyan at Qatar SC ing cross to put the ball past Al Khor’s Osman Saleh scored a Victory 3 was still in the pits hav- Stadium, Elyas scored a powerful Rayyan goalkeeper Omar Barry. stunning strike that swerved in Eljaish’s Anderson Martins (left) of Brazil vies for the ball with Al Rayyan’s ing the gear ratios changed to suit header in the 32nd minute. The goal, which proved to the air and into the back of the Rodrigo Tabata during their Qatar Stars League match in Doha, yesterday. the new course with no penalties The striker got in front of his be the decider in the 11th QSL net. THE PENINSULA imposed at all,” he said. “We all want to race on a German delegation meets Qatar 2022 officials level playing field and this was Goal-line technology very clearly unfair. We have now decided that the Spirit of Qatar Team will not now participate in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix next here to stay: Blatter weekend,” he added. THE PENINSULA TOKYO: FIFA President Sepp Committee meeting of the year. Blatter said yesterday that “We have had no critical situ- goal-line technology “works” ations so far and we will make Lochte sets and that referees were happy to an assessment after the final see it implemented, as a trial of matches tomorrow. world record in rival systems at the Club World “But the one thing I can say Cup in Japan enters its final is that the referees are happy to 100m medley stages. have this help for them because The world body has been test- they know now that if there’s a ing two technologies that deter- conflicting situation it is possible ISTANBUL: America’s Ryan mine whether a ball has crossed to get the assurance to say if it Lochte set a new short course the goal-line -- the camera-based was or wasn’t a goal.” world record in the 100m indi- Hawk-Eye and the German- FIFA granted licences to vidual medley yesterday when developed Goalref, which utilises Hawk-Eye and GoalRef following he clocked 50.71sec in the semi- magnetic fields and a ball fitted a lengthy testing process lasting finals at the swimming world with a microchip. around two years. championship. Although the competition has They were galvanised into The five-time Olympic cham- yet to witness a contentious goal- action by England midfielder pion knocked .05sec off the old line decision, Blatter said the Frank Lampard’s long-range mark set by Slovenia’s Peter early signs were good. shot against Germany in the 2010 Secretary General, Hassan Al Thawadi (third left) and Anne Ruth Herkes, State Secretary at the Federal Mankoc in Istanbul in 2009. “For the time being we can World Cup which was clearly over Ministry of Economics and Technology along with German Embassy officials pose for a picture. The German Lochte had also set a new only say ‘it works’,” Blatter told a the line but was missed by officials Embassy delegation was in Doha to hear the progress of the FIFA 2022 World Cup plans and the potential world record on Friday in the news conference in Tokyo, a day during the last 16 stage in South joint venture opportunities between Qatar and Germany. 200m medley event in Istanbul. after FIFA held its final Executive Africa. AFP AFP

GCC U-18 Basketball Championship Qatar Airways congratulates world squash champ Ashour

DOHA: Qatar Airways, the offi- cial airline of the Men’s Qatar PSA World Championship 2012 has congratulated the PSA World squash champion Ramy Ashour from Egypt on winning this year’s tournament in Doha. In what was an exhilarat- ing match, Ashour defeated fel- low countryman Mohamed El Shorbagy during the finalheld on Friday at Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex. Ashour’s 2-11, 11-6, 11-5, 9-11, 11-8 win after battling against El Shorbagy for 90 minutes kept fans TOP: Bahrain Under-18 Basketball team along with Qatar Women’s Sport Committee (QWSC) President on the edge as the game unfolded. Ahlam Salem Al Mana (bottom row, centre) and officials pose for a picture. Bahrain won the Under-18 Ashour, who at 16 became championship that was held at QWSC Hall at Aspire Zone in Doha. BOTTOM: Qatar players and officials the youngest ever World Junior pose for a picture after finishing second in the five-team competition that began on December 11. Al champion, along with 64 other Mana is also seen. PICTURES BY: ABDUL BASIT players from 21 countries. Qatar Airways has enjoyed being involved in numerous squash tournaments over the years and was pleased to reinforce its sup- port as the title sponsor of the PSA World Squash Championship 2012, between December 7 – 14. “We extend our congratulations to Ramy Ashour on his champi- onship win. We are extremely pleased that Qatar had the oppor- tunity to host such an elite event showcasing the best players in the world of squash,” said Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker. “Sport is one of the key pil- lars of our strategy, ensuring we spread the message of sport through our support of various events in Doha and overseas.” he added. THE PENINSULA SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER 2012 26 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com SPORT Kohli, Dhoni lead India’s charge Nagpur Test evenly poised after English bowlers pick up wickets late on the third day

NAGPUR: Virat Kohli and Scoreboard Mahendra Singh Dhoni led Interesting stats from Nagpur India’s spirited fightback on England (I innings)): ...... 330 ◆ day three of the fourth cricket MS Dhoni became the eighth Indian batsman to be dismissed for 99 in Tests. Sourav Ganguly India (I innings): Test against England yesterday has been dismissed for 99 on two different occasions. G Gambhir c Prior b Anderson ...... 37 ◆ before four quick wickets and Dhoni is the 15th batsman to be dismissed run out on 99. The last Indian batsman to be run V Sehwag b Anderson ...... 0 the captain’s heartbreaking run out on 99 was ML Jaisimha in Kanpur in 1960. C Pujara c Bell b Swann ...... 26 ◆ out on 99 towards the end of the Virat Kohli’s century is his third in Tests. His previous two hundreds came against Australia S Tendulkar b Anderson ...... 2 day left the key match evenly (Adelaide) and New Zealand (Bangalore). V Kohli lbw Swann ...... 103 ◆ poised. Kohli went past Michael Clarke to become the highest run-getter in 2012 (all formats). In 35 M S Dhoni (run out-Cook) ...... 99 Kohli (103) and Dhoni, resum- matches, Kohli has scored 2091 runs at an average of 58.08. R Jadeja lbw Anderson ...... 12 ◆ ing the day at 86 for four, bailed Dhoni faced 246 balls in his innings. This is the highest number of deliveries he has faced in R Ashwin (batting) ...... 7 India out of trouble through a an innings in Tests. P Chawla b Swann ...... 1 ◆ 198-run stand for the fifth wicket, The 198-run stand between Dhoni and Kohli is the second-best fifth-wicket stand for India Extras (B-5, LB-5) ...... 10 helping the hosts reach 297 for against England. The highest is 214 between Mohammad Azharuddin and Ravi Shastri in Kolkata Total (for 8 wkts) ...... 297 eight by stumps and 33 behind in 1984. Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-59, 3-64, 4-71, ◆ England’s first innings score of The run-rate during the 198-run stand is the third-lowest for India in Tests against England 5-269, 6-288, 7-295, 8-297. 330. (century stands only). Overall, it is the seventh-lowest run-rate for a century stand for India Bowling: J Anderson 26-5-68-4; T Bresnan Play was called-off with since 2000. 26-5-69-0; M Panesar 46-15-67-0; G Graeme Swann (3-76) castling Swann 30.1-9-76-3; J Trott 1-0-2-0; Joe the stumps of Piyush Chawla in Root 1-0-5-0. the 131st over. dominated for most part of the for five. Dhoni went back after Fast bowler James Anderson day until the Delhi batsman he attempted a suicidal run on (4-68) was also responsible for departed after making his third Anderson’s bowling in the penul- India-Pakistan T20 India’s mini collapse in the final Test century. timate over of the day. session. Swann got him trapped leg In the nervous nineties for match rescheduled Kohli and his captain before wicket, leaving India at 269 around an hour, Dhoni took off after nudging one to Alastair NAGPUR: The second Cook, who produced a brilliant Twenty20 International (T20I) direct hit from mid-off to dismiss between India and Pakistan his counterpart. which was scheduled to be The third umpire had a close played at the Sardar Patel call to make with replays showing Gujarat Stadium, Motera, in Dhoni’s bat on the line at the time Ahmedabad, on December of impact. 27 has been rescheduled to The skipper received a huge December 28. round of applause from the crowd The rest of the itinerary of while making his way back to the the India-Pakistan series is dressing room, ending his mara- unchanged, said a BCCI press thon knock off 246 balls. release yesterday. Though the effort of the two The two Asian giants will play batsmen is bound to have lifted two T20Is and three One-Day morale in the dressing room with India’s Virat Kohli celebrates scoring a century against England on day Internationals from December two days remaining, India have a three of the fourth and final Test in Nagpur yesterday. Indian captain 25 to January 6. tough task at hand for levelling Mahendra Singh Dhoni is also seen. This will be the first visit by the four-match series at 2-2. a Pakistani side for a full series Kohli’s innings especially was a of ODIs and T20s since their last treat to watch. Bringing maximum joy to the class. In all, right-handed struck trip in November 2007. Prior to the game, his top-score crowd was his classy display of 11 boundaries in his 295-ball Pakistan will be captained by of the series was 20. And he found strokes on the off-side. innings. India will resume today Mohammed Hafiz in the T20s Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is run out on 99 on the third day himself amongst the runs at a Kohli’s cover-drives, both off hoping to erase the first innings whereas Misba-ul Haq will lead of the fourth and final Test against England in Nagpur yesterday. crucial time for his team. spinners and seamers, exuded deficit of 33 runs. IANS the side in the ODIs. AGENCIES Hussey smashes century as Aussies take control in Hobart

HOBART: Mike Hussey to bring an end to play and leave scored an unbeaten 115 to drive opener Tillakaratne Dilshan, who Australia towards an aggressive had made 50 not out, to resume declaration at 450 for five before on Sunday with Angelo Mathews. Sri Lanka were reduced to 87-4 “I think we’re in a fantastic Australia’s at stumps on the second day of position after getting a couple of batsman the first Test yesterday. those late wickets,” Hussey told Mike More than two hours of reporters. Hussey play were lost to rain but the “You get Sangakarra, avoids a Australians made the most of Jayawardene and Samaraweera bouncer what time they had on the pic- out, they are guys that can make on way to turesque Bellerive Oval to take big scores and play in tough his century firm control of the opening match conditions. against Sri in a three-test series. “But we’ve still got a lot of hard Lanka on Dimuth Karunaratne was the work to do, they’ll fight very hard the second first Sri Lankan to fall but it was the Sri Lankans, they won’t be day of the the cheap wickets of the experi- giving anything up easy.” first cricket enced duo of Kumar Sangakkara The day had started so well Test match and Mahela Jayawardene that for the tourists when Australia, in Hobart would have delighted Australia resuming on 299-4, lost Michael more. Clarke for 74 in the third over to yesterday. Thilan Samaraweera was break the latest in a run of pro- Hussey is playing caught behind off the bowling of lific partnerships with Hussey Former Pakistani cricket captain and team batting coach Inzamam-ul his 77th spinner Nathan Lyon for seven that have produced 736 runs in Haq (centre) walks past Umar Gul (left) and Shahid Afridi during a team Test for the last four Tests. practice session at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore yesterday. Pakistan Australia. Scoreboard Young paceman Shaminda starts a week-long training camp for its landmark limited overs series Eranga induced the Australian against India with 1992 World Cup hero Inzamam and a psychologist captain into an edge which Australia (I innings): drafted in, a Pakistan Cricket Board official said. D Warner (run out-Mathews) ...... 57 Sangakkara collected with ease E Cowan c Eranga b Welegedara...... 4 at second slip but it was the last P Hughes b Welegedara ...... 86 wicket to fall in the hosts’ innings. S Watson c M Jayawardene b Welegedara 30 “We weren’t really up to it M Clarke c Sangakkara b Eranga ...... 74 today,” Sri Lanka coach Graham M Hussey (not out) ...... 115 Ford lamented. ‘Mr Cricket’ keeps things simple M Wade (not out) ...... 68 “I think the boys will be busy Extras (B1, LB3, W1, NB11) ...... 16 thinking about what went on HOBART: Australia’s Mike Hussey says of good balls, a couple of bad shots and a couple getting at the moment.” Hussey said he knew Total (for 5 wkts decl) ...... 450 today and hopefully we can come there’s no secret to his late blooming success of things not to go your way and you can feel it was his day when the normally reliable Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-97, 3-183, 4-198, out and give it a real fight in the as he claimed another century against Sri under pressure. fielder Angelo Mathews dropped him on 96 5-304. morning.” Lanka in the first Hobart Test yesterday. “At the moment it seems to be going my on the way to his latest Test century. Did not bat: P Siddle, M Starc, N Lyon, B Matthew Wade (68 not out) Hussey, also know as ‘Mr Cricket’, con- way but understanding how the game goes it Mathews looked set to take the catch on Hilfenhaus. and Hussey proved just as obdu- tinues to flourish at 37, just months younger can turn very quickly and so I want to enjoy the mid-wicket boundary ropes but fumbled Bowling: Kulasekara 32-2-80-0 (5nb; 1w); rate in a 146-run partnership and than Ricky Ponting who called it quits to Test it while it lasts.” the chance, allowing the ball to bounce over Welegedara 26-1-130-3 (4nb); Eranga 25-5- cut loose to pile up the runs when cricket earlier this month after his batting Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford believes for four to bring up Hussey’s 100. 90-1 (2nb); Mathews 15-3-41-0; Dilshan play finally resumed after lunch, form tailed off. Peter Pan Hussey has a few more years of “When you get into the 90s your mind starts 7-0-30-0; Herath 26-4-75-0. racing towards the declaration 40 But Hussey shows no signs of dimming Test cricket left in him. playing tricks on you and certainly my heart- Sri Lanka (I innings): minutes before tea. as he claimed his fifth century in six Tests “Just looking at how fit and quick he is rate was raised and you do some silly things D Karunaratne c Wade b Hilfenhaus ...... 14 Hussey reached his 19th Test against Sri Lanka with an unbeaten 115 for between the wickets that’s really impressive when you’re under pressure like that,” Hussey T Dilshan (batting) ...... 50 century in fortuitous circum- his 19th Test century and his third ton in the at his age,” Ford said after yesterday’s play. said. K Sangakkara c Hussey b Siddle ...... 4 stances when he was dropped last month. “And certainly at this stage he looks like he’s “I couldn’t believe it when I picked Angelo M Jayawardene lbw Watson ...... 12 at deep midwicket by Angelo The durable left-hander is pragmatic about got a good few years ahead of him.” out and I’ve seen him take some amazing T Samaraweera c Wade b Lyon ...... 7 Matthews and the ball bounced his longevity in the game ahead of next year’s Hussey said he had no long-term ambitions, catches over the years so I thought there was Total (for 4 wkts) ...... 87 across the boundary rope for four. Ashes series in England. just to get through this current season. no chance he was going to drop it. To bat: A Mathews, P Jayawardene, N Ku- “When you are in the 90s, your “I don’t think there’s any secret, I just think “I’ve been thinking for the last few years “But sometimes in this game it just hap- lasekara, R Herath, S Eranga, C Welegedara. mind does funny things,” Hussey you need luck to go your way. I thought Ricky that if I can just get through this year I would pens to be your day and luckily today was my Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-42, 3-70, 4-87. said. “I couldn’t believe I picked Ponting was batting really well and had some be happy so I’m not really thinking too much day,” he said. Bowling: Starc 7-1-30-0; Hilfenhaus 9-3- him out. I’ve seen Angelo take big scores in Sheffield Shield but this game further than this year at the moment,” he said. Hussey, who made his debut against the 18-1; Lyon 2.1-2-0-1; Siddle 6-1-23-1; some brilliant catches. Sometimes sometimes really can sort you out,” he said. “While I’m still enjoying it and while I still West Indies at Brisbane in November 2005, is Watson 5-1-16-1. it just happens to be your day.” “So I’m under no illusions that that’s going feel like I can contribute to the team, then playing his 77th Test for Australia. REUTERS to happen to me as well. It just takes a couple I am really enjoying every opportunity I’m REUTERS SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER 2012 SPORT www.thepeninsulaqatar.com 27

Street artist James Cochran, works on his spray painted picture of RIGHT: Jessica Jamaican sprinter Usain Ennis of Great Bolt in Sclater street car Britain celebrates park in east London in winning gold in the this July 2012 file photo. Women’s Heptathlon RIGHT: Allyson Felix of US at the London 2012 wins ahead of Jamaica’s Summer Olympics in Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce this August 4, 2012 and Carmelita Jeter of the file photo. US, in the Women’s 200m final. Games king Bolt seals legend status The Jamaican’s achievements one of many highlights in track and field in London

PARIS: Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt cemented his sta- Jamaica’s Usain Bolt tus as a true legend of track points to the crowd as he and field by claiming a second wins the gold medal in Olympic treble gold medal haul the Men’s 200m Final at at the London Games. Olympic Stadium during Bolt followed up his podium- the London 2012 Summer topping showing in Beijing in 2008 Olympics in Olympic Park by becoming the first sprinter to in Stratford, London in defend both the 100m and 200m. this August 9, 2012 file He then led home the 4x100m photo. Bolt became the relay team in a world record- breaking 36.84sec to cap a pul- first Olympian to win the sating nine days of track and field 100m and 200m race in at the Olympic Stadium in east consecutive Olympics. His London. time was 19.32sec. Jamaica “It’s what I came here to do. swept the race with team- I’m now a legend, I’m the greatest mates Yohan Blake getting athlete to live,” said Bolt. the silver and Warren Weir “For 2013, the objective is to the bronze medal. At left is go as fast as possible and win the USA’s Wallace Spearmon 100m title at the world champi- who came in fourth, and at onships in Moscow,” which run right is France’s Christophe between August 10-18. Lemaitre. RIGHT: Mo Rarely can there have been a Farah of Great Britain week’s athletics as enthralling celebrates winning the and entertaining as that at the gold in the Men’s 5,000m at London Olympics. the London 2012 Summer Every session at the Olympics in this August 11, 80,000-capacity Olympic Stadium was a sell-out, and the knowledge- 2012, file photo. able public helped make for an electric atmosphere, notably on the first Saturday when Britain by 0.88sec. Britain’s gold medal those in the stadium will never Russia came in second with the award, but the first time for officially stripped of their med- won three gold medals in the rush was kicked off by poster-girl forget. The track and field also 18 (8-4-6) and the Bolt-inspired Felix, who also won three golds in als by the International Olympic space of 45 frenetic minutes. Jessica Ennis, who dominated the broke new ground when South Jamaica in third on 12 (4-4-4). London, in the 200m and in both Committee. While Bolt stole the headlines heptathlon. African Oscar Pistorius became There was also a world record the women’s relay races. Ukraine’s Yuri Belonog was for his sprinting prowess, David She was superseded by Mo the first double amputee to race for American Aries Merritt in the The highest-profile casualty in stripped of his shot put gold, Rudisha also produced an out- Farah, a devout Muslim born in in an Olympics. men’s 110m hurdles, the American the war on doping was Belarus Belarus’ Ivan Tikhon of his sil- standing performance on the Somalia but a London resident He failed to qualify for the indi- clocking 12.80sec at the Diamond shot putter Nadezhda Ostapchuk, ver in the hammer, and Irina track, although his Kenyan team since the age of eight, who galva- vidual 400m final, but anchored League meet in Brussels to smash who was stripped of her Olympic Yatchenko of Belarus and Russian endured a relatively disappoint- nised a nation in the most multi- his team in the 4x400m relay the previous record of 12.87 set gold after testing positive for a Svetlana Krivelyova lost their ing Games. cultural of world cities when he final, in which they finished last. by Cuban Dayron Robles in June banned anabolic steroid. bronze medals in the women’s The Masai tribesman oblit- became the seventh runner to win The United States finished atop 2008. New Zealand’s Valerie Adams discus and shot put respectively. erated his own world record in the 5,000m-10,000m double. the athletics medals table with a Bolt and American sprinter was handed gold, but Ostapchuk It is the second Olympic medal the 800m, running 1:40.91 in The sheer spectacle on the total of 29 medals, comprising Allyson Felix were named the only received a one-year ban Tikhon has been stripped of, hav- the highest quality two-lap race final night’s action when Farah nine gold, 13 silver and seven International Amateur Athletics because her coach had doctored ing had his bronze from the 2008 ever seen. Last-placed Andrew kicked for home with just over bronze. Federation’s athletes of the year. her food without her knowledge. Games taken away also for a dop- Osagie’s time would have won a lap of the 5000m remaining It was their best haul since the It was the fourth time in the Four medallists from the ing offence in the Beijing Games. him gold in the Beijing Games was a spine-tingling experience 1992 Games in Barcelona. last five years that Bolt has won 2004 Olympic Games were AFP Top sports tweets of 2012

PARIS: His first “Don’t cry Have to admit pic! #excited because it’s over. quite amusing!! #cute. Smile because it - Former British - Barcelona happened.” - Dr. star triple jumper footballer Gerard Seuss. Jonathan Edwards. Pique tweeting - Michael @JDE66. an ultrasound Phelps retweets Thanks to all image of the after ending his my real fans and baby that he and career with a 22nd people who believe Colombian pop Olympic medal. in me. I am now queen Shakira @MichaelPhelps. a living legend are expecting. The only that’s for sure. @3gerardpique. thing I can - Usain Bolt Gil Hanse is think of when I after becoming a (expletive). Gerard Pique watch Ronaldo Michael Phelps the first man to Lolo Jones Haha. is that hair gel defend the 100m - Golfer Luke should really be and 200m Olympic Donald had to apologise to Boston course outlawed. titles. @usainbolt. architect Gil Hanse for his rant which - Model Bar Refaili takes aim at Stressed.5am no sleep post race. ended up on Twitter despite the English Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo’s Almost went @britneyspears on ya; shave player believing he had only sent a direct image. @BarRefaili. my head til I read ur tweets. Thx 4 lifting message. @LukeDonald. Being a hater is not a cute look. Learn me up during this time. I hear you fella! Choc ice is classic! to love. - American hurdler Lolo Jones feels low hahahahahahha!! - Ronaldo’s girlfriend Irina Shayk stands after she finishes a disappointing fourth in - Man United defender Rio Ferdinand by her man. @theirishayk. the 100m hurdles. @lolojones. was fined for appearing to endorse the Journey a nightmare. People are In short. It took me over 4hrs this phrase aimed at Ashley Cole in the John ignorant. Place stinks. Arena’s rubbish, morning to get inside the village. I was Terry affair. “Choc Ice” is understood to tables poor, food is horrendous. Other freezing my nuts off. I’m a tropical mean someone who is black on the outside than that I love China. animal. but white on the inside. @rioferdy5. - Northern Ireland snooker player Mark - Sprinter Kim Collins’ day goes from Loving the lights on the stumps and Allen not impressed by a visit to China. @ bad to worse. @kimcollins100m. bails at the BBL. pistol147. My sister just Remind me of a Might’ve been rang me: “Katie, pair of trainers I a bit harsh a few where r u?” had as a kid. hours ago in my “Switzerland” - Cricketer tweet. Not all “Oh. The cycling Eoin Morgan Chinese people road race is about enjoys the inno- are ignorant. I to go past your vations of the stand by every- flat. Guess you Big Bash Cricket thing else though. won’t see it!” League. @Eoin16. - Allen later - British tennis Roger uv got eases back on his player O’Brien. @ the moves like remarks. katiejobrien. jagger. Just chatting “Of course I’ll - India crick- with @lequipe RT the photo. eter Yuvraj Singh journalist and he my legs look after Federer’s quips. ‘you got the amazing.” victory. @ Yuvraj Singh Games, we’re get- Jonathan Edwards - US’ Lolo Jones. Kim Collins yuvstrong12. ting the medals’ AFP Sunday 16 December 2012 3 Safar 1434 Volume 17 Number 5550 Sport Price: QR2

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www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 44557741 | Advertising: 44557837 / 44557780 I never saw In-form Manchester United Armstrong dope: Ferrari

PARIS: Lance Armstrong’s former doctor Michele Ferrari yesterday insisted he had never stay six points clear in EPL seen the disgraced seven-time Tour de France winner dope. Ferrari, who like the American has been banned for life by the US Man City beat Newcastle 3-1; QPR finally land victory at 17th attempt Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), also said that he had virtually no relationship with the other LONDON: Robin van Persie our chances,” said Liverpool man- cyclists who accused him of being and Wayne Rooney were on EPL results ager Brendan Rodgers. “We will at the centre of the scandal. target for Manchester United Liverpool 1 Aston Villa 3 have to take that as a bad day at “I’ve never seen any doping as the Premier League leaders Man Utd 3 Sunderland 1 the office and move on.” practice from Lance Armstrong. swept aside Sunderland 3-1 at Newcastle 1 Man City 3 Norwich City beat Wigan I never heard something about Old Trafford yesterday to stay Norwich 2 Wigan 1 Athletic 2-1 while Stoke City and that. He never asked me for infor- six points clear of champions QPR 2 Fulham 1 Everton drew 1-1. Everton were mation about doping,” Ferrari told Manchester City. Stoke 1 Everton 1 lucky to end with 11 men after Al Jazeera. United were 2-0 up after 19 Playing Today Marouane Fellaini headbutted “My relationship with some minutes, Van Persie opening Tottenham vs Swansea (1330GMT), West Stoke captain Ryan Shawcross teammates of Lance Armstrong the scoring with a left-foot fin- Brom vs West Ham (1600GMT) without the referee noticing in an was very, very short and occa- ish from close range for his 12th Playing on Monday incident that drew censure from sional. It was not strict. There league goal of the season and Tom Reading vs Arsenal (2000GMT) his own manager David Moyes. are six riders who accused me, Cleverley adding a quickfire sec- “I’ve seen it, it’s a terrible but these riders, I didn’t have any ond three minutes later. Elsewhere, Queens Park thing to do and I expect him to relationship, any consulting with England striker Rooney, who Rangers celebrated their first win be punished - it’s down to the FA. these guys.” was a doubt due to midweek of the season after beating west I’ve told him it’s not acceptable Ferrari believes he is the vic- sickness, made it 3-0 with a 59th London rivals Fulham 2-1 thanks and whatever he gets, he and us tim of a conspiracy and that his minute tap-in before substitute to two-goal Adel Taarabt to end a deserve it,” Moyes told the BBC. accusers were prepared to make Fraizer Campbell pulled one back record run of 16 matches without Fifth-placed Tottenham him a scapegoat in order to ease against his old club with a header a victory and move off the foot Hotspur host Swansea City on any sanctions they might face. four minutes after coming on. of the table. The victory stopped Sunday when West Ham United “What I can say about the Manchester United now have QPR, still five points from safety, also visit West Bromwich Albion. USADA investigation is that 42 points to City’s 36 while becoming the first top-flight team Arsenal travel to Reading, now at there is no evidence, in particular European champions Chelsea, in since Bolton Wanderers in 1902- the bottom of the table, tomorrow. no evidence against me, but I can Japan for tomorrow’s Club World 03 to fail to win any of their open- Manchester United exacted say also there is no smoking gun Cup final against Brazilian side ing 17 games. retribution from Sunderland, about the investigations,” said the Corinthians, remained third on “It would have been a gross whose fans celebrated City’s 59-year-old Italian. 29 points with a game in hand. injustice if we hadn’t won today,” last-gasp title win last season Armstrong, 41, was stripped of City, beaten 3-2 by United in QPR manager Harry Redknapp when their own side lost to Alex his seven Tour de France titles last weekend’s Manchester derby told Sky Sports television after Ferguson’s team at the Stadium and banned from the sport for after an agonising Van Persie Mladen Petric set up a nervous of Light on the final day, and the life in October after the USADA stoppage-time winner, defeated finish with an 88th-minute goal scoreline could have been more produced evidence of widespread Newcastle United 3-1 at St James’ for Fulham. emphatic. doping by him and his former Park earlier in the day to tem- Aston Villa fans had plenty “For an hour we were fantas- team-mates. AFP porarily narrow the gap to three to cheer after a fighting 3-1 win tic,” said Ferguson. “Some of our points. at Liverpool moved them three football was very good and we The visitors were a goal up points clear of the relegation zone could have scored lots of goals. F1 team chiefs after 10 minutes when Ivorian and gave the Reds a reality check. “But I don’t know what midfielder Yaya Toure split the Christian Benteke scored in happened after that because vote for Alonso Newcastle defence with a superb each half at Anfield with Andreas Sunderland could have had two pass to Samir Nasri who rolled Weimann grabbing the other or three towards the end, it could the ball back for forward Sergio goal for Villa who were 2-0 up at have been embarrassing.” over Vettel Aguero to stroke home. halftime. Steven Gerrard headed United captain Nemanja Vidic Javi Garcia headed the second an 87th-minute consolation for made a long-awaited return, the LONDON: Formula One team after a corner in the 39th minute Liverpool. Serbian defender coming on as a principals have voted Ferrari’s and Toure wrapped up the points “I don’t know where that came second-half substitute to make Manchester United’s Antonio Valencia (back) in action against Sunderland’s Fernando Alonso their driver late on after Demba Ba’s goal had from. We were careless with our his first appearance since knee James McClean (front) during their English Premier League match at Old of the year, despite Red Bull’s briefly revived Newcastle’s hopes. final ball and didn’t end up taking surgery in September.REUTERS Trafford in Manchester, yesterday. Manchester United won 3-1. Sebastian Vettel becoming the sport’s youngest triple world champion at 25. Australia too A poll of all the team heads carried out by Britain’s Autosport No extra pressure on magazine, with each asked to list far away for their top 10 and award points according to grand prix scoring, placed Alonso first with 269 and Beckham Vettel second on 198. Chelsea, says Benitez Alonso lost out to Vettel by SYDNEY: Australia’s chances three points on the track after of luring David Beckham (pic- YOKOHAMA, Japan: Rafael Roberto Di Matteo last month, Italy’s Inter Milan in 2010. the season’s finale in Brazil last tured) Down Under appear Benitez said yesterday Chelsea expects a far tougher match He goes into the final hoping month. to be over, with the superstar had put the disappointment against the Copa Libertadores a win will placate those Chelsea The team principals’ scores footballer reportedly telling one of being knocked out of the winners in tomorrow’s final fans who still harbour a grudge were kept secret but the maga- club owner it was too far away Champions League (CL) behind at Yokohama’s International from his time as Liverpool man- zine said eight of the 12 chose for him to be able to manage his them, on the eve of a mouth- Stadium. ager and have continued to boo Alonso, who had the biggest businesses. watering Club World Cup final “When we talk about Brazilian him during matches since his winning margin in the five years Speculation about the 37-year- against Corinthians. clubs I have to mention their very appointment. since the top 10 was started, as old heading to Australia’s The English giants became the good quality,” the 52-year-old said. Benitez was sacked just five the best driver. A-League ran hot last month after first European champions to be “They have a very good system, days after lifting the Club World The Spaniard, who won his two Football Federation Australia said dumped out at the group stage, are well organised and know what Cup with Inter and refused to titles with Renault in 2005 and it had been approached by his just days before they jetted off to do. speculate whether a win with 2006, was also voted best driver representatives. to Japan for a semi-final clash “Corinthians... are very defen- Chelsea would help his contract in 2010 when Vettel took his first The news sparked keen interest against Monterrey in their debut sive, it will be difficult to create be extended past its current six championship. from several domestic clubs, with appearance at the interconti- opportunities and the match will months. Lewis Hamilton, who is moving Perth Glory reportedly tabling a nental event. be very tough,” he added. “My priority is to win. If we to Mercedes from McLaren, fin- package worth almost $2m for the Australia website. “He looked me “Before the Monterrey match, I “They have a lot of good play- can, we will see what the next ished third in the poll (177 points) former Manchester United star in the eye and basically said, ‘That was a bit concerned that going out ers, not just (midfielder) Paulinho, step is,” he said. with Kimi Raikkonen fourth for to join them for a 10-match guest would be nice, but it’s too far away of the Champions League would I like Cassio, the goalkeeper. “My job is to do as well as pos- Lotus (176) and McLaren’s Jenson stint. from my businesses’. have a negative impact,” Benitez “They are a team who are com- sible on the pitch, improve the Button fifth (104). But Glory owner Tony Sage “It would have been great to said. pact and they have players who team, and if we win trophies that “I was pleased to be chosen by met with Beckham in London have him at Perth Glory, but it “It took a good few days, but we can make a difference, so hope- will be even better.” the team principals as the best this week after the pair attended looks like that won’t be happen- recovered from that shock. fully we can keep them quiet. “I’ve been really impressed driver of 2012,” Alonso told the the opening of Viva Forever! -- a ing. I just don’t think he’ll be com- “It may motivate the squad “It’s hard to find faults, but with the mentality of the play- Ferrari website (www.ferrari.com). stage show based on the songs of ing to Australia, full-stop.” because now we have an oppor- let’s talk about how good they are ers,” Benitez told reporters. “I think it will be very difficult the Spice Girls -- and was later The comments are a blow to tunity to win the Club World Cup after tomorrow’s match.” “Also the commitment, the pas- to repeat what was almost a per- quoted as saying the possibility of the A-League, which has recently and that’s very good for us,” the Benitez, only three weeks into sion that they show. fect season this year, but we will a deal was off. been boosted by several high- Spaniard added. his caretaker role at Chelsea, is “I can’t promise them that we try...Of course, next year I would “I got the chance to chat to profile imports including Italian Chelsea outclassed the Mexican the first manager to take three will win and become world cham- prefer to win the title, happy to David, and of course I asked superstar Alessandro Del Piero side in Thursday’s semi-final 3-1 different sides to a Club World pions but I will promise we will leave this prestigious yet idealistic him about coming to Australia,” who plays for Sydney FC. but Benitez, who took over from Cup final -- losing with Liverpool do our best and do them proud.” award to one of my peers.” Sage told the Football Federation AFP Champions League-winning coach in 2005 and triumphing with AGENCIES REUTERS