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[email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780www.thepeninsulaqatar.comFriday 26 December 2014 • 4 Rabial I 1436 • Volume 19 Number 6291
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Business | 13
Saudi lifts spending in 2015 budget
Sheikh Eid charity sends relief for Syrians
A 48-truck convoy of relief items organised by Sheikh Eid Bin Mohammed Al Thani Charity yesterday arrived at the Turkish-Syrian border. The $1m aid, including winter clothes, foodstuff and medicines, will be distributed among more than 50,000 Syrian refugees. Report on page 3
DOHA: All cars used for driv-ing lessons in Qatar will soon have uniform colours.
The Traffic Department has asked all driving schools to adopt the new colour pattern in three months, it is learnt.
The colour will be a combina-tion of orange and white, with an additional shade of maroon in the front and back of the vehicle.
To help identify easily, the cars will have roof lights similar to those on the taxis, showing the English letter ‘L’, an internation-ally accepted symbol for driving school vehicles.
Sources from a leading driving school confirmed yesterday that the school had received a circu-lar from the Traffic Department regarding the change.
“We have been asked to change the colours of our cars in three months and have started work-ing on that. The new colours have been selected after a study by the Traffic Department with feedback from experts and the public,” a senior official of the school told this daily yesterday.
The idea behind uniform col-ours is to make the cars easily identifiable. Currently, different driving schools are using different colours for their vehicles.
Quoting a source from the
Traffic Department, local Arabic daily Al Rayah said yesterday that orange had been selected as the dominant colour since it is rec-ognised internationally as the colour representing something temporary.
This indicates that the trainees in the cars are not trainees all the time and are supposed to become licensed drivers soon. The change in the colour pattern also aims to raise standards of driving school vehicles to international levels and improve their look and image, said the daily.
Though all cars will have uni-form colours, they can be distin-guished from those belonging to other driving schools by the name and logo of the school inscribed on the doors in a white shade.
Cars will also carry a warning with the letter ‘L’ in English and its Arabic equivalent on the back bumper below the number plate.
The daily published pictures of a car in the new colours belonging to a leading driving school.
Most schools are also prepar-ing to implement the electronic assessment system mandated by the Traffic Department, that will replace manual supervision of driving tests by police.
THE PENINSULAPicture on page 2
QC to equip UK students with business skills DOHA: Qatar Charity (QC) is going westward.
In a first, QC has launched a unique entrepreneurship talent-tapping drive among thousands of needy students in the UK.
The first phase of the project was launched a week ago.
About 4,000 British students from some 100 secondary schools from five regions in the UK will benefit.
In the first phase, supervi-sors are being trained on how to choose beneficiaries.
In the next phase, guidance in the field of entrepreneurship and business management will be pro-vided to selected students.
And in the third and final phase, students’ business skills and competence will be polished and they will be short-listed for managing business projects.
This was disclosed by Ayub Aby Al Yaqeen, Director-General, QC, in remarks to Al Sharq yesterday.
QC has signed an agreement with a local charity in the UK to launch the project.
Qatari stocks recover 11.33pcDOHA: Qatari stocks recov-ered substantially in the week that ended yesterday with investors’ wealth, or mar-ket capitalisation, going up by 9.82 percent (or QR60bn) to QR679bn ($186.46bn).
The benchmark index of Qatar Exchange went up 11.33 percent in the week to 12,449.05, bolstered mainly by real estate stocks.
THE PENINSULAFull report on page 13
DOHA: Qatar is taking steps to bolster consumer protection mechanisms and bring protec-tion measures on a par with international standards.
The country is set to sign a cooperation deal with UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) which is busy revising the UN Guidelines on Consumer Protection. Some of the areas of focus of the guidelines are consumer protection in eCom-merce and financial services.
A senior official from Qatar’s Permanent Mission in Geneva
said yesterday that plans were afoot to further develop the mechanisms in the country in coordination with authorities concerned.
Nasser Al Lenjawi told Al Sharq in an interview being published today that the consumer’s rights are protected by law in Qatar. Consumer protection is a prior-ity area in the country and there is a department at the Ministry of Economy and Commerce that takes care of it, he said.
Al Lenjawi, Head, Economy and Trade Office at Qatar’s Permanent
Mission, said they were working with authorities in Qatar to ink a deal with UNCTAD to benefit from their experience and seek technical assistance to build capa-bilities to bolster mechanisms.
“We are working to make sure we adopt the best global practices in Qatar in the realm of consumer protection,” he added.
Al Lenjawi said his office in Geneva was seeking to benefit from the experiences in the field of consumer protection from sev-eral international organisations.
THE PENINSULA
‘L’ vehicles to have uniform colours soonRoof lights on driving school cars
UNCTAD deal likely to boost consumer protection in Qatar
02 HOMEFRIDAY 26 DECEMBER 2014
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
DOHA: Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) has urged the public to practise good personal hygiene to prevent themselves and their children from contracting contagious diseases such as hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD).
The common viral illness usu-ally affects infants and children under five and is rarely seen in adults. It is unusual, but possible, to get HFMD more than once.
While it can be an unpleasant condition, especially for young children, it does not usually pose a serious threat to health.
HFMD can occur at any time of the year but is most common in the summer and fall.
HMC’s Senior Consultant in Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Dr Hussam Al Soub (pictured),
said, “HFMD usually starts with a fever, poor appetite, a vague feeling of being sick (malaise) and a sore throat.
“Symptoms include fever (high
temperature), blister-like sores in the mouth and skin rash. The rash is usually on the palms and soles; it may also appear else-where on the limbs and buttocks.
“Those infected with the virus may not experience all symptoms.”
There is no specific anti-viral therapy and no vaccine has been developed against it.
A person with HFMD is highly contagious until about a week after symptoms appear. The virus is normally acquired about three days before symptoms appear and HFMD is thought to remain infectious until the asso-ciated rash disappears.
Those with the condition should be excluded from group settings, including being kept home from school or nursery.
The virus is spread by direct contact with nose and throat discharges, blisters and fae-ces, including through diapers and contaminated objects and surfaces.
“A person can lower their risk of getting HFMD by frequent hand washing and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces and soiled items, including toys, and by avoiding close contact or shar-ing eating utensils or cups with affected people,” said Dr Al Soub.
Teaching children good hand washing habits can be a chal-lenge. There are techniques to encourage kids to understand the importance of good hand hygiene, including hand washing songs, posters, stickers, reward charts, videos and orchestrated campaigns. THE PENINSULA
Personal ‘hygiene can prevent hand, foot and mouth disease’The viral illness most common in summer and fall: HMC expert
DOHA: Nursing students Carlien Oberholster and Diariatou Lassana Gassama from University of Calgary in Qatar are the first two UCQ exchange students to complete the final clinical practicum in Calgary.
They spent five weeks, immersed in Canadian health-care and Calgary culture.
“As the only international branch campus of the University of Calgary, the connection between Canada and Qatar is strong. We educate our nurs-ing students to the same high standards as those in Faculty of Nursing in Calgary.
“Obtaining clinical place-ments in Calgary for UCQ stu-dents we send there through our exchange programme is a vital part of the professional and edu-cational relationship between our two campuses,” said Dr Kim Critchley, UCQ Dean and CEO.
“I am pleased to see these two students participate in our first practicum in Canada,” said UCQ Student Services Director, Justin Williams.
“Thanks to strong support from our home campus, they have had an amazing learning experience.”
“This has been the best clinical
trip,” Carlien said, adding it had been an academic expedition and a vacation.
“I have been on Unit 54 at Calgary Foothills Hospital and learned a lot, but I have also been to the mountains, the Calgary zoo three times, and went to a music concert: I know the Calgary tran-sit system very well now!”
Diariatou said she found her educational experience bet-ter than she expected, but the Canadian weather a little challenging.
“Learning first-hand about the Canadian medical system was very informative for the work I will do as a nurse in Qatar. But I have never seen snow before. In Qatar, we find 20 above zero to be cool, but 20 below zero is too cold!”
Both got a taste of frigid Canadian temperatures when they joined their former UCQ teacher, Instructor Emeritus Leanne Wyrostok, on a trip to the Rocky Mountains.
Both completed the require-ments of their Bachelor of Nursing degrees and will have their convocation in 2015.
Based on their experience, UCQ plans to expand student exchange practicums between the two cam-puses. THE PENINSULA
UCQ students finish practical clinical sessions in Calgary
Qatar, Somalia discuss tiesMOGADISHU: Somalia’s Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke met here yesterday with the acting charge d’affaires at Qatar’s embassy in Somalia, Hassan bin Hamza Assad Mohamed .
They discussed ties between the two countries and ways of devel-oping them in various fields. QNA
DOHA: Qatar National Bank (QNB), the country’s largest lender, has bagged the prestig-ious ‘Best Company for Investor Relations in Qatar’, award at the Middle East Investor Relations Society 2014 Annual Conference held at the DIFC Conference Centre in Dubai, a statement said on Wednesday.
The award, in collaboration with Thomson Reuters Extel, were weighted according to votes cast by buy and sell side analysts globally.
It recognises efforts of regional companies and investor rela-tions professionals who play a
critical role in developing inves-tor relations.
With this, the bank has added another award to its portfolio.
This year, QNB was recognised as ‘The Best Bank in The Middle East’ by Euromoney magazine.
It also received ‘The Best Bank in Qatar’ and ‘Best Bank in the Middle East 2014’ from the Banker magazine.
QNA maintains its recognition as ‘One of The World’s Top 50 Safest Commercial Banks’ by the Global Finance magazine.
The Middle East Investor Relations Society’s flag-ship event is its annual
conference and awards ceremony. The event is the largest investor
relations forum in the Middle East. Its main aim is to educate market participants on the importance of investor relations, encourage dia-logue and support implementation of investor relations best practice, while providing members with a networking platform.
The conference brings together members of the capital markets community, investors, buy and sell side analysts, advisers, representa-tives from regional governments, stock exchanges and regulatory bodies.
QNB Group is among the
highest rated of regional banks with credit ratings of Standard & Poor’s (A+), Moody’s (Aa3), Fitch (A+), and Capital Intelligence (AA-).
The Group also has a robust financial performance with net profits for nine months ending September 30, 2014, recorded at QR8bn (up 12.6 percent from the previous year) and total assets of QR475bn (up 8.8 percent), the highest achieved by the Group.
The Group has an ownership structure split between the Qatar Investment Authority (50 per-cent) and the private sector (50 percent. THE PENINSULA
QNB wins another top award in region
New look
A car from a driving school sporting the new colours being made mandatory for all cars used for driving lessons.
DOHA: The Cultural Village Foundation (Katara) last night launched Dhad events to cel-ebrate World Arabic Language Day and highlight Arabic cul-ture and identity.
Under the theme, ‘Spreading Arabic language is the responsi-bility of all’, Katara unveiled two Arabic writing competitions — illustrated story and lyric poetry contests — and the annual Dhad Week.
The Dhad events aim to improve the linguistic skills of children and adults, help them recognise the beauty of Arabic language, encourage thinking and innovation, and develop deeper understanding of syntactic and morphological rules.
The illustrated story contest will include words and photos and aims to make the reading of Arabic language attractive to readers. Entries should present
an original idea on teaching Arabic. They should use stand-ard Arabic language complying with grammatical rules. Photos and graphics should be attractive, clear, and match the aims and religious and social values. They should not be less than six pages or more than 10, with no less than 24 illustrations.
Entries for the lyric poetry con-test should be original, written in standard Arabic language, comply with grammatical rules and aim to teach Arabic. The content should be in line with religious and social values and the entries should have not less than 10 verses.
The deadline for submitting entries is May 24, 2015. The entries will be evaluated by a commit-tee that will choose five winners in each contest, who will receive $5,000 each, and five runners-up who will receive $2,500 each.
QNA
Katara launches Dhad events to mark World Arabic Language Day
Zakat Fund got 575 applications in November for aidDOHA: The Zakat Fund at the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs received 575 applica-tions for social assistance in the month of November.
Zakat Fund, a charity dedicated to helping the needy through col-lection and management of Zakat, received 371 applications in its male section and 204 applications in the female section, reported local Arabic daily Al Raya.
Among these were 128 new social assistance applications — 83 from men and 45 from women. There were also 196 requests to renew expired applications, and these included 114 from men and 53 from women. Other requests included those for scholarships, made by 114 male students and 43 female students.
The fund also received 58 family assistance applications from men and 26 from women.
The fund studies each case and responds to every case in the shortest time possible.
THE PENINSULA
Culture Minister invited to KazakhstanDOHA: The Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage, H E Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kuwari, has received an official invitation from Kazakhstan’s Culture Minister, Muhamediuly Arystanbek, to visit Kazakhstan.
The visit is meant to con-solidate and enhance cultural relations between Qatar and Kazakhstan, with a cultural coop-eration agreement to be signed in this regard.
The invitation was handed over by the Kazakh Ambassador to Qatar, Askar Shokybayev, dur-ing a meeting with the minister yesterday.
QNA
Kazakh Ambassador Askar Shokybayev handing over an invitation from the Kazakh Culture Minister to the Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage, H E Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kuwari, to visit Kazakhstan.
DOHA: Criticised by several constituents for making hol-low promises, some Central Municipal Council (CMC) members have defended the elected body, saying many of their recommendations to improve civic amenities and launch development projects have been accepted by the government.
The vice-chairman of the CMC has said that since its election in 2011, the public repre-sentative body has made 186 rec-ommendations to improve civic amenities and launch develop-ment projects, and some 40 per-cent of them have been accepted by the state.
“This is a good average,” Jassem Abdullah Al Malki told local Arabic daily Al Raya in remarks published yesterday. This is quite an achievement considering that the CMC has consultative status and enjoys no executive powers.
Accusations that the CMC, in its current term, has failed to deliver and its members make promises they don’t keep are not true, said Al Malki, the vice-chairman.
But a constituent, Jassem Al Miraikhi, told the daily some
CMC members don’t follow up on issues in their wards that merit their attention.
“The CMC needs to be given executive status so they have a say at least in projects that are valued less than QR100m,” he said. “Currently, the role of the CMC is consultative.”
Another constituent, a woman, Fatima Al Ghazzal, was more critical, and said all devel-opment projects were planned by the government in advance and the CMC members have no say in their planning and execution. “So what’s their role?”
She said that in Abu Hamour, for example, there are many streets without lights. Some streets have no walkways. “CMC members must be persistent in making demands for develop-ment projects in their respective constituencies,” she said.
Yet another national, Mohamed Ibrahim Al Hassan, said that in his view each con-stituency should have a five-member committee to help the local CMC member identify issues that need his attention.
These members must be experts and locally connected
people who understand the needs of their localities, he suggested.
Al Hassan, however, added that he thought that the cur-rent term of the CMC (the fourth one, elected in 2011) was the best one.
Still another citizen, Nasser Al Suwaidi, said that in his opin-ion some CMC members were active while others were not.
He said he agreed with Al Ghazzal that CMC members had no role in planning and execut-ing development projects as that was done by the government.
According to Al Suwaidi, graduation should be made the minimum academic qualification for a Qatari to be eligible to con-test the CMC election. The next CMC poll is due in May 2015. The 29-member body was first elected in early 1999.
In remarks to this newspaper, a CMC member from Al Rayyan, Mohamed Hamoud Al Shafi, said that the critics of the CMC need only look at the key development projects launched and completed across the country since the representative body came into being. Many of the projects were launched on the recommenda-tion of the CMC, he said.
THE PENINSULA
CMC members defend role‘Many projects launched on elected body’s recommendations’
Jassem Abdullah Al Malki Mohamed Hamoud Al Shafi
Aid convoy from Qatar reaches Syria borderDOHA: A Qatari relief team arrived at the Turkish-Syrian border yesterday and was expected to start distributing winter clothes to more than 200 Syrian families today.
The convoy of 48 trucks is carrying aid worth $1m, includ-ing winter clothes, foodstuff and medicines for over 50,000 Syrian refugees. The aid is being provided by Sheikh Eid bin Mohammed Al Thani Charity.
This is the third relief convoy sent by the charity to the Syrian refugees. The convoy has been accompanied by 21 volunteers from Qatar, including 19 Qatari citizens and two expatriates, according to a release from the charity.
THE PENINSULA
DOHA: Registration for the sixth Qatar International Falcon and Hunting Festival began yesterday at the Al Gannas Association’s head-quarters at Building 33 in Katara.
The five-day registration period is expected to witness a huge rush of participants from Qatar and around the region, given the success of the previous editions of the annual festival, which lasts a month.
Last year, more than 1,400 people from Qatar and neigh-bouring countries took part in competitions at Sabkath
Marma, near Sealine, mak-ing the previous edition of the festival the biggest in terms of participation.
From January 1 to 31, the par-ticipants will compete in various contests to win big prizes. The categories include Al Mazain, Al Tala’a, Hadad Challenge, Al Da’o, Hadad Al Saluki, Young Saker and Old Saker competi-tions, among others.
Al Gannas Association and festival Chairman Ali bin Khatim Al Muhashadi said the annual festival had become a leading heritage event as well as a tourist attraction showing
authentic Qatari heritage.He stressed that this edi-
tion of the festival would boost tourism further by providing an environment suited to fami-lies and visitors and one that reflects Arabian hospitality.
Held under the patronage of H E Sheikh Joan bin Hamad Al Thani, this international compe-tition rooted in Qatar’s culture and traditions will showcase some of the most beautiful and well-trained falcons.
Launched in 2010, it is one of the largest festivals in the region in the field of falconry and hunting.
Promoting wildlife preser-vation, protection of falcons and keeping alive falconry as an important aspect of Qatari culture are among the objec-tives of this annual event.
It also aims to promote excel-lence in the field of falconry and hunting and exchange of expe-rience among falconers in the region.
Falconry is an important part of Qatari heritage, dating back to the country’s Bedouin roots. It is a hobby rooted in Qatari society that is passed from one generation to another.
THE PENINSULA
Registration for falcon festival begins
A volunteer of the Sheikh Eid bin Mohammed Al Thani Charity with Syrian refugees.
03FRIDAY 26 DECEMBER 2014
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04 ISLAMFRIDAY 26 DECEMBER 2014
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BY JAMAAL DIWAN
It is well known and understood that Islam is a holistic system that impacts all areas of a person’s life. We hear this a lot but many times
it is difficult to know exactly what it means and how it plays out in our lives. On this topic Imam Hasan Al Banna has a beautiful, terse, but dense statement. He mentions that the first thing that the Muslim should be concerned with is the reform of herself or himself. Then he says:
A Muslim should strive to attain a strong body, good character, cultured thought.
He should be able to earn a living, have pure belief, and correct worship.
He should be able to control his desires, be careful about his time, organised in his affairs, and beneficial to those around him. These comprise the duties of every Muslim as an indi-vidual. (The Tract of the Teaching of Hasan Al Banna)
These ten points provide a well-rounded approach to personal develop-ment according to the teachings of Islam.
STRONG BODY
Our health is a blessing and respon-sibility from Allah Almighty and the level at which we take care of it affects all areas of our lives. If we are healthy then we think more clearly, we have more energy, and we are even stronger psychologically.
However, at the same time, when we neglect our health we fall victim to all
kinds of things like fatigue, psychological and spiritual struggles, and even cloudy thought. For these reasons it is founda-tional in the development of the well-rounded Muslim personality.
GOOD CHARACTER
Out of this comes the first outward manifestation of the real quality of a person’s relationship with their Creator, character.
The word used in Arabic, matin, does not just mean good but also firm. It’s as if it implies that if a person has a really strong character then it does not only show in good times but also when things are difficult.
This is a great measuring stick for us in our daily lives. When things are easy it is not difficult to maintain good conduct and treat people in the best way possible, but in the face of hardship, fatigue, frustration, disappointment, anger, and an array of other emotions it becomes much more difficult. The person who really has firm charac-ter can withstand these tests, but the one who is only putting on a show will always be known eventually.
CULTURED THOUGHT
After these two comes the third quality in the set of types of strengths that build the strong Muslim personality.
The first strength was physical strength. The second was spiritual discipline, which is the foundation of good conduct. The third strength is intellectual and educational rigour: to
be cultured in thought.This particular point is actually of
the utmost importance and many times neglected by people who are perceived to be “religious.”
The fact of the matter is that Islam is a system of life, informed by the teachings of the Divine, and embod-ied in the example of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). This example lived and existed in reality.
The Muslim cannot cultivate a dynamic, powerful, meaningful, and impactful understanding of Islam with-out understanding reality.
Islam is here to provide solutions to the problems that humans and mankind face. How can we understand that and actualise it without cultured thought? We cannot.
ABILITY TO EARN A LIVING
The fourth type of strength to be directed into the service of Islam is financial strength; hence, being able to earn a living.
The reality of the matter is that it is very difficult to do anything when one is reliant upon others for their income or when their financial situation is so dire that they are occupied with essential issues like food, clothing, shelter, and health care.
For these reasons it is important that the Muslim seeks to be able to take care of himself or herself so that they can be independent and capable in their service to Islam. Yes, some people will be poorer and others wealthier but all should seek
some sort of financial stability.
PURE BELIEF, CORRECT WORSHIP
After mentioning all of these points Imam Al Banna then moves on to say that the person should also have pure belief and correct worship.
This is what directs all of those pre-viously mentioned strengths. They are used in accordance with the guidelines and inspiration provided by pure belief and aided through constant and correct worship. From these sources the Muslim truly finds his or her direction and the kind of relationship with the Divine that is required in order to face the difficul-ties of service to the Truth.
They are the well which quenches the spiritual thirst of the heart in its search for its natural inclination.
When all of these strengths are com-bined and held together with belief and worship the Muslim will find direction and mission in his or her life. This mis-sion will require much from them and herein lies the secret of the last four characteristics.
DESIRES CONTROL
The first of these last four is that the Muslim is constant in fighting their base desires. In the struggle to worship Allah Almighty and live a righteous life there are endless difficulties and tests. Those tests are sometimes very clear and open but sometimes very subtle.
They can be tests of sincerity, seek-ing praise, wanting appreciation from people, argumentation, and many oth-ers. These tests cannot be overcome
except through a never-ending process of fighting one’s base desires.
TIME MANAGEMENT
The next of these characteristics are to be strict about one’s time and organ-ized in one’s affairs. Time is life itself and the person that kills time only kills his or her self. This is why Hasan Al Basary said: “O Son of Adam! You are nothing but a compilation of breaths and with each breath that passes, a piece of you is gone.”
ORGANISED LIFE
The well-rounded Muslim will also find that their responsibilities will always outweigh the amount of time that they have to fulfill them. For this reason the Muslim is always strict with their time and organised in their affairs so that they can reap the most benefit from this life before meeting their Lord in the next life
HELPING OTHERS
The last characteristic is to be benefi-cial to others. This should be read twice. Everything that came before is lost if we are harmful to those around us. The scholars of Islam have said that the core objective of Islam is to acquire benefit.
Everything that we do is in the serv-ice of Allah Almighty and all that He requires from us is only of pure benefit to us and all of mankind. Therefore, we should use this as a way to check ourselves and assess our impact on those around us, while seeking to understand not only through our own vision but through the teachings of the Divine. www.onislam.net
BY SHAHUL HAMEED
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was always cheerful, genial, and pleasant-tempered.
He was never rude or rough. He only spoke things that brought rewards from God Almighty.
When he spoke, the listeners would listen to his words with attention. They did not feel any inclination to engage him in heated arguments.
The Prophet would always show patience with a stranger’s roughness of manners or harsh talk. He used to say:
“When you see a person seeking an object earnestly, assist him to get his need.”
(Al Baihaqi) And no wonder God Almighty said of
the Prophet: And verily, you (O Muhammad) are on
an exalted standard of character. (68:4)
A person’s face not only reflects the feelings of the heart, but also signals his or her attitude to the world around him or her. Indeed, you may even say that the total personality of a person is mirrored in the face.
And to speak about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), his smiling face was a source of solace and comfort to all those who came to meet him. Not just his words and actions, but the very expres-sions on his face shed rays of peace and tranquility into the hearts of those who were distressed by the pressures of life, or tormented by the afflictions of the soul.
Abdullah ibn Harith reported:“I have never seen anyone more in the
habit of smiling than Allah’s Messenger.” (Tirmidhi, 3641)
The Prophet’s smile had spread such an aura of indescribable joy among his Companions to the extent that they for-got all their anxieties and worries in his presence and became totally fascinated with the Prophet himself.
The reason was that the Prophet was a perfect personality who always exuded a charisma of charm and geniality. His way was one of harmony and compassion. He was polite and considerate to everyone, and always kept a smiling face. Once, he told his Companions:
“Smiling at your brother is a charity.” (Tirmidhi, 1956)
There is an interesting incident reported by Saad ibn Abi Waqqas:
“Umar ibn Al Khattab, one of the Prophet’s Companions, asked his per-mission to see him. At the same time, there were some Quraishi women sitting with him asking him to give them more financial support, and they were raising their voices over the voice of the Prophet.
When Umar asked permission to enter, all of them hurried behind a screen. The Prophet admitted Umar, and he entered to find the Prophet smiling.
Umar said: “May Allah always keep you smiling, O Allah’s Messenger! Let my father and mother be sacrificed for you!” (Note: This expression was used at the time to show one’s love to another.)
The Prophet said: “I am astonished at
these women who were with me. As soon as they heard your voice, they hastened behind a screen.”
Umar said, “You have more right that they should be afraid of you, O Allah’s Messenger!
And then he (Umar) turned towards them and said, “O enemies of your souls! You are afraid of me and not of Allah’s Messenger?”
The women replied, “Yes, for you are sterner and harsher than Allah’s Messenger.”
Allah’s Messenger said, “O Ibn Al Khattab! By Him in Whose Hands my life is, whenever Satan sees you taking a route, he follows a route other than yours!”
(Bukhari, 6085)Another Companion, Jarir ibn Abd-
Allah, said:“Since the time I accepted Islam, the
Prophet never once failed to notice me. Whenever he saw me, he would smile at me.” (Bukhari, 3822)
All those who knew the Prophet were fascinated and enchanted by the dignity and greatness of his character. His sweet and amiable expression made a profound impression on every stranger who met
him. No other person in history was privileged to have so many extraordinary qualities, and naturally, his Companions were ready to sacrifice their lives to pro-tect him.
His hospitality and generosity were matchless; and he was the last man to get upset or angry. Indeed, he was so gen-erous that he would never deny anything he was asked.
The forgiveness and general amnesty given by the Prophet to the Quraishis of Makkah, who had been insulting and persecuting him for over two decades, is well-known.
William Muir, the orientalist histo-rian wrote: “The magnanimity with which Muhammad treated a people who had so long hated and rejected him is worthy of all admiration.”
Even the enemies of the Prophet acknowledged his justice and honesty: Long before he received prophethood, he was called Al Ameen (that is, the truth-ful, the trustworthy). And so, his people always approached him for judgment and consultation.
He did not allow people to stand up out of respect upon seeing him, as they
usually did before kings or leaders. Visiting the poor and the unfortunate and entertaining them were his constant habits. He had no hesitation in accepting the invitation of even a slave. He used to sit among the people like any one of them.
Simplicity, sincerity, and geniality were the keynotes of his character. The Prophet’s wife, Aishah, said that he used to repair his shoes, sew his clothes, and share in domestic chores. He was most merciful, gentle, and amiable to all.
He was eager to serve anyone who served him. He was always in full con-trol of his temper, and he never got angry unless it was absolutely necessary. If at all he was angry, it was for the sake of God and His religion, and not for his own sake.
The Prophet’s magnanimity, broad mindedness, and tolerance embraced all people and entitled him to be a father to all of them.
He was careful to maintain an equal status with others and did not desire privileges. In an assembly he would seat himself at the least covetable position, next to the last person.
Whenever people came to meet him, he received them with honor and respect,
so that each person addressed by the Prophet would think that there was no one more honored by the Prophet than him- or herself.
No questioner was disappointed when seeking advice from the Prophet.
To him the most favoured one was the most pious one among the people. As for those persons who held high positions with their people, the Prophet was atten-tive to honor and respect them.
He never ignored his friends. Moreover, he used to visit them even during busy days, and inquired about their conditions.
The Prophet always adopted a moder-ate approach to all matters. He always chose the easier and the more pleasing way to solve problems.
While on his deathbed, the Prophet sent for the money in his house and dis-tributed it among the poor. Immediately before he breathed his last, he had it publicly announced if anyone owed him anything, he may claim it; and if any-one was offended by him, he could have instant revenge.
Such was the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (PBUH).
www.onislam.net
Ten strengths of the Muslim personality
Prophet: A man of charisma
MIDDLE EAST 05FRIDAY 26 DECEMBER 2014
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Beji Caid meets party leaders
Tunisia’s newly-elected President Beji Caid Essebsi (centre), speaks during a meeting with members of Nidaa Tounes party’s central com-mittee in Tunis yesterday. Essebsi is expected to resign as the party’s leader.
AMMAN: Jordan vowed yes-terday to make every effort to save a pilot captured by the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria as Washington denied claims the militants had shot down his warplane.
Maaz Al Kassasbeh, a 26-year-old first lieutenant in the Jordanian air force, was cap-tured by IS on Wednesday after his F-16 jet crashed while on a mission against the jihadists over northern Syria.
It was the first warplane lost and the first capture of a service-man since the coalition launched strikes against IS in Syria in September.
It was also a major propaganda victory for the Sunni extremist group, which released photo-graphs parading the captured pilot.
“The Jordanian government... is making all efforts with sev-eral crisis cells to free (the pilot),” government daily Al Rai said.
“We are confident that our brave one will be released... He has not been forgotten.”
Jordan, along with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, has joined the US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against IS after it seized control of large parts of Syria and Iraq.
Kassasbeh’s plane went down near the city of Raqa, which IS has used as its de facto capital and where coalition warplanes have carried out regular strikes.
The IS and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the plane was downed by an anti-aircraft missile, rais-ing concerns for other coalition aircraft.
But the US military said “evi-dence clearly suggests that ISIL did not down the aircraft”, using another name for IS, without
giving a cause for the “crash”.“We strongly condemn the
actions of ISIL, which has taken captive the downed pilot,” said Central Command chief General Lloyd Austin.
“We will support efforts to ensure his safe recovery, and will not tolerate IS attempts to mis-represent or exploit this unfortu-nate aircraft crash for their own purposes.”
Jordan’s parliament said it would hold IS “responsi-ble for safeguarding the life” of Kassasbeh, describing him as a “hero”.
FATHER’S ‘MERCY’ PLEA
IS posted pictures online showing its fighters holding the pilot.
One showed a man being car-ried from a body of water by gun-men. Another showed the same man on land, surrounded by almost a dozen militants.
The pilot’s father was quoted by Jordanian media as saying the family had been informed by the air force of his capture.
He called on IS to show “mercy” on his son, who just married in
July, and to release him.Messages of support for the
pilot flooded Facebook and Twitter under the hashtag “We are all Maaz al Kassasbeh”.
Analyst Mohamed Abu Rummaneh, from the University of Jordan, said he did not expect Amman to reconsider its role in the anti-IS coalition.
“A large majority of Jordanians — nearly 90 percent according to polls — consider Daesh (another name for IS) to be an enemy,” he said.
But political commentator Labib Al Kamhawi said the gov-ernment would come under pres-sure to pull out of the coalition “if, God forbid, anything adverse happened to the pilot”.
An activist in Raqa said IS militants were divided over the pilot’s fate, with more extrem-ist foreign fighters wanting him executed and others wanting him kept alive.
Jordanian Salafist leader Mohammed Shalabi denounced Amman’s participation in the coalition, and warned the war on IS would lead to “deaths and inju-ries”. AFP
Jordan vows ‘all efforts’ to save pilot US denies claims militants had shot down warplane
TUNIS: Tunisian authorities have arrested a blogger as he returned from a trip abroad weeks after he was convicted of defaming army officers, his lawyer said yesterday.
Yassine Ayari, 33, was taken into custody overnight after landing at Tunis-Carthage air-port and was whisked to jail in line with the court verdict pro-nounced against him.
The military prosecutor said Ayari had been sentenced in absentia on November 18 to three years’ jail on charges of having “defamed army officers and sen-ior defence ministry officials”.
Ayari, who was returning from France when he was detained
overnight, had accused these officials of financial abuse, the prosecutor said in a statement.
The blogger was unaware of the verdict against him for “undermining” the army, his law-yer Sami Ben Amor said, adding that the verdict was “very harsh”.
Ayari, who has posted on Facebook that he stands by every word he has written, has appealed the charges against him and a new hearing in the case has been set for January 6, Ben Amor said.
“This case undermines free-dom of speech and is the first of its kind to emerge under the reign of Beji Caid Essebsi,” said the lawyer, adding that “Yassine Ayari is paying the price of his
political views”.Essebsi, an 88-year old anti-
Islamist, won Tunisia’s first free presidential election on Sunday, capping off the transition to democracy in the birthplace of the Arab Spring.
His victory follows October legislative polls won by his Nidaa Tounes party.
In recent months, Ayari had published blogs very critical of Nidaa Tounes.
Essebsi is a veteran politi-cian who served under previ-ous Tunisian regimes, including in the government of autocratic president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who was ousted in the 2011 upris-ing. AFP
ANKARA: Turkey and Iraq, both wor-ried by the advance of Islamic State, pledged on Thursday to work towards greater military cooperation in their fight against the ultra radical Sunni militants.
Turkey is already training Kurdish peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq to help them battle Islamic State insurgents, who control territory in Iraq and Syria.
Some major battles are being fought very close to Turkish borders, and Turkey has become a haven for thousands who fled the militants.
Turkey is ready to work with Iraq to extend its military assistance, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said at a joint news conference with his Iraqi counter-part, Haider Al Abadi.
Abadi, the first Iraqi prime minister to visit Turkey since his predecessor Nouri AlMaliki’s visit in 2010, signalled Turkey could also be sending arms to Iraq.
“There are preparations being made with the assistance of the Turkish side in providing us with weapons,” Abadi said.
Turkey, a NATO member with a 1,200 km border with Syria and Iraq, began its
training of Iraqi peshmerga forces last month, and said this could be extended to Iraq’s National Guard.
“Our defence ministers will carry out a more detailed study on this issue. We already have provided support in terms of military training. We are ready to give whatever further assistance we can in these areas,” Davutoglu said.
Ankara has refused to take a frontline military role in the air offensive mounted by a U.S.-led coalition against the insur-gents, saying there could be no lasting stability with air strikes alone.
Supported by air strikes, Iraqi Kurdish fighters this week broke an Islamic State siege of Sinjar mountain in western Iraq, freeing hundreds of Yazidis who had been trapped there for months. Abadi said Iraqi forces were fighting to root out the mili-tants and were regaining territory.
“Their grip is weakening,” he said.Turkey and Iraq have had tense rela-
tions for years. Maliki’s government was angered by Ankara strengthening ties with northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, with which Baghdad had been locked in a bitter feud over oil. REUTERS
Tunisia arrests blogger convicted of defaming army
Anti-Assad groups in Aleppo enter allianceBEIRUT: Rebel groups fight-ing in Syria’s northern Aleppo province have agreed to form an alliance, a group monitoring the country’s civil war said.
A lack of unity among Syria’s opposition groups has undermined the revolt against President Bashar Al Assad and made foreign powers wary of intervening in a conflict now in its fourth year.
Many of the strongest factions are hardline Islamists such as Islamic State (IS) and the Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, who have clashed with one another and with more secular rebel groups.
The fight for the nothern city of Aleppo, divided between rebels and government forces, is seen as one of the most significant last fronts for “moderate” opposition forces in the country’s north.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a number of armed groups in Aleppo had agreed to the alliance.
REUTERS
Turkey, Iraq pledge more cooperation in fight against IS
Safi Al Kassasbeh (left), father of Jordanian pilot Maaz, captured by Islamic State group in Syria, welcomes well-wishers in the house of a relative in Amman yesterday.
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BY LAUREL BRUBAKER CALKINS
PRESIDENT Barack Obama drew the short straw in a lawsuit by 25 states seeking to block efforts
to loosen immigration restrictions: The judge who will decide the case has previously assailed him in that arena for turning “a blind eye to criminal conduct.”
Justice Department lawyers Wednesday urged the court to preserve Obama’s executive order allowing 4 mil-lion undocumented immigrants to stay in the US They filed their request with US District Judge Andrew Hanen of Brownsville, Texas, asking him to refuse the call by half of the US states to delay implementation of the program until their court challenge is decided.
Hanen may prove a tough sell. The judge, whose courthouse is located on the Mexican border in Brownsville, accused the D e p a r t m e n t of Homeland Security last year of complicity in cross-border child smuggling.
“The DHS should enforce the laws of the United States — not break them,” Hanen said in a written opinion.
Hanen, who was appointed by
Republican George W. Bush in 2002, rebuked the agency for “completing the criminal conspiracy” by deliver-ing undocumented children caught at the border to their parents living ille-gally in the US The judge complained in a December 2013 opinion that the undocumented parents weren’t arrested or deported after being reunited with their kids, and taxpayers were footing the transit bills.
The biggest beneficiaries of the
conspiracy, Hanen said, are the Mexican drug cartels that control the border smuggling rings, who’ve learned to rely on the US government to “finish the job of the human traffickers” if they get caught.
“Instead of enforcing the law of the United States, the government took direct steps to help the individuals who violated it,” Hanen wrote in his opinion that followed a string of child-traffick-ing convictions in his court. “A private citizen would, and should, be prosecuted for this conduct.”
The Obama administration urged Hanen Wednesday to deny the states’ attempt to prevent the new immigra-tion policy from taking effect, arguing that the federal government has broad discretionary authority under the US Constitution to “prioritise enforcement resources” however the president sees fit.
“At its core, plaintiffs’ suit is a gen-eralized disagreement about the scope of the prosecutorial discretion of the executive branch of the federal gov-ernment, in the exercise of exclusive federal authority over immigration,” government lawyers said in a filing in the Brownsville court.
That authority, under prior rulings of the Supreme Court, includes the right to “decide whether it makes sense to pursue removal at all, including because of immediate human concerns,” White Houe lawyers said.
Immigration officials must focus their limited resources on deporting criminals and recent border-crossers, because Congress singled these groups out for priority handling without pro-viding sufficient funding to accomplish the job, the White House said in the filing.
By shifting away from “low-priority aliens,” DHS can spend more on round-ing up dangerous immigrants and those without family ties to the US, they said.
The Obama administration told Hanen it believes judges don’t have authority to decide if the president abused his power by changing immi-gration laws singlehandedly, without Congressional approval.
Under a 1985 Supreme Court ruling,
“an agency’s decision not to exercise its enforcement authority, or to exercise it in a particular way, is presumed to be immune from judicial review,” White House lawyers said in court papers.
A federal judge in Washington Tuesday threw out an Arizona sher-iff ’s challenge to the immigration policy change, ruling that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Phoenix didn’t have legal grounds to question the Obama administration’s decisions. White House lawyers urged Hanen to do the same with the multi-state challenge.
Last week, after US District Judge Arthur J. Schwab in Pittsburgh called Obama’s order unconstitutional, saying it “goes beyond prosecutorial discre-tion,” the Justice Department issued a rare public rebuke of the judiciary, say-ing Schwab is “flatly wrong.”
Hanen, in the middle of his 10-page opinion last year, said he “takes no posi-tion on the topic of immigration reform” and his opinion shouldn’t be read as a commentary on a “matter of much political debate.” He went on to assail Department of Homeland Security poli-cies, alternately calling them “danger-ous” and “failing.”
Texas, which is leading the multi-state challenge to Obama’s immigra-tion policy, chose to file its case in the state’s southernmost tip. Brownsville has a front-row seat at the “humani-tarian crisis” that has swept more than 1,000 undocumented immigrants a day — many of them unaccompanied chil-dren — across Texas’s border in the past year, according to the complaint.
Brownsville has just two federal judges — Hanen and an appointee of Democratic ex-President Bill Clinton — and they evenly split all incoming civil cases, according to the court’s website and a courthouse clerk who confirmed the case-assignment protocol but declined to give her name.
“The assignments are random” between Hanen and the other judge, Lauren Bean, a spokeswoman for the state attorney general’s office, said in an emailed response to questions on how Texas decided where to file the case.
Bean had no comment on Wednesday’s filing. WP-BLOOMBERG
THE crisis in Ukraine appears to have eased slightly in recent weeks. Fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces
in the eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk has slowed, peace talks will resume this week and Vladimir Putin and other senior Russian officials have been mouthing conciliatory rhetoric. Western leaders, suspecting that Moscow’s mounting economic difficulties may incline it to a settlement, have repeated offers to lift sanctions if Russia fully implements cease-fire terms agreed to in September.
However, the calm may well reflect only a tactical decision by Mr. Putin. Though the ruble has recently plunged
and Russia appears headed into a sharp recession, Ukraine is in even worse economic shape. Its currency, the hryvnia, has fallen even more than the ruble, the economy has already contracted by 7 percent and remaining international reserves are sufficient to cover only about six weeks of imports. Mr. Putin may calculate that if he sim-ply stands back, the fragile democratic government in Kiev will be destroyed by an economic collapse during the winter.
Preventing that implosion will require $15 billion in fresh assistance to Ukraine in 2015, on top of the $17 billion International Monetary Fund bailout arranged this year, accord-ing to the European Union. President
Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk have been pleading for the funds with the European Union, the IMF and the Obama administra-tion. The response has been less than encouraging.
The United States is prepared to offer just $2 billion more in loans over the next year, while European leaders at a summit last week put no amount on a vague pledge “to further facilitate and support Ukraine’s reform process.” An IMF mission left Kiev on Friday without committing to the next payment in the previous bailout program, scheduled for January — much less the $7 bil-lion to $8 billion in additional IMF capital Ukraine needs.
Western governments have said additional support must be linked to a credible economic reform program. By most accounts, Mr. Yatsenyuk delivered one this month. It would cut government spending by 10 percent, mandate that gas prices be set at the market price, remove labor and import restrictions and allow the privatization of hundreds of state companies, among other steps. The prime minister’s new cabinet is a technocrat’s dream, with 15 ministers who have not served in pre-vious failed Ukrainian governments — including Natalia Jaresko, a US citizen and highly respected investment banker who has taken over the finance ministry.
The Washington Post
Obama policy critic weighs states’ immigration order challenge
In Scotland after the referendum many felt great disappointment while others felt great relief, and bridging these differences will take time.
Quote ofthe day
Queen ElizabethBritish Queen
The other side
The Obama administration told Hanen it believes judges don’t have authority to decide if the president abused his power by changing immigration laws singlehandedly, without Congressional approval.
THE shooting down of a warplane near the Syrian City of Raqa has not only come as a shock for Jordan but also for the coalition of nations fighting the Islamic State, and the
international community. The United States, which is leading the air strikes
against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, denies that the plane was shot down by heat-seeking missiles of the militant group that has been ravaging the region with its bloody campaign and egregious ideology.
The Jordanian pilot captured by the blood-thirsty militants is Maaz Al Kassasbeh, a 26-year-old first lieutenant in the Jordanian Air Force. He was shown being captured in IS-released photographs on Wednesday.
The picture shows the pilot surrounded by hooded gun-wielding militants. A bearded man in military fatigues with boots hanging from his hands is seen holding the pilot, who looks shocked and is injured in his lips.
The look on the faces of the militants says it all. Though they are hooded, the gleam is visible in their eyes. And the purported leader of the group has a look of victory on his face. The photograph is a reflection of the
insidious agenda of the Islamic State.
The father of the pilot has made a fervent appeal to the militants to treat his son well. Renewing an appeal for his son’s release, Youssef Al Kasaesbeh said his son was like “a guest among brothers of ours in Syria Islamic State”.
The Islamic State has been fighting a battle of supremacy in a region wrecked by multiple insurgencies in the wake of the Arab Spring. In spite of coalition air strikes and mounting international
pressure, the group has been able to hold its own. It is largely financed by sale of oil, bank robberies and kidnappings for ransom.
Though the group did not say anything about the fate of the captured pilot, it is likely that he will be used as a bargaining tool. The IS might use him to demand the release of jihadist prisoners or ask for a huge sum in return for freeing him.
Whatever the pilot’s fate, the downing of the plane has come as a boost to Islamist militants struggling in the midst of coalition air strikes and a blitz by Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, who are waging a brave struggle against the group. It is now for the United States and its allies to dilute the gains of the jihadist group through military power or by other means.
Jolt to anti-IS coalition
The shooting down of a military aircraft and capture of its pilot is a boost for shaky jihadists.
Editorial
06 VIEWS FRIDAY 26 DECEMBER 2014
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Hard times in Ukraine
VIEWS 07FRIDAY 26 DECEMBER 2014
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Debate on Common Core standards in USBY MICHAEL J PETRILLI and MICHAEL BRICKMAN
Last month, former Florida Gov Jeb Bush sug-gested to hundreds of lawmakers and educa-tion reformers gathered for his foundation’s
annual summit that “the rigour of the Common Core State Standards must be the new minimum.” Furthermore, he said, to “those states choosing a path other than Common Core, I say this: That’s fine. Except you should be aiming even higher and be bolder and raise standards and ask more of our students and the system.” Several Republican politicians, including Louisiana Sen (and guber-natorial hopeful) David Vitter and Mississippi Lt Gov Tate Reeves, promptly took up his sugges-tion, calling on their states to replace the Common Core with standards that are even more challenging.
In theory, this position is exactly right. Academic standards are the province of the states; it’s within their rights to have their own standards if that’s what their leaders and residents want.
Furthermore, though there are benefits to hav-ing common standards in terms of cost savings (for taxpayers) and continuity (for students who move across state lines, including the children of military families), most of Common Core’s upside stems from its rigour, not its sameness.
But if our fellow Republicans move to embrace standards that are even higher than Common Core, they’d better have a realistic plan for putting them in place. Otherwise, such calls will be viewed as politi-cal posturing and pandering at the expense of our children. Unfortunately, states that have thus far attempted this effort — replacing Common Core with something even stronger — have found that it is quite difficult to achieve.
For all the hoopla, just a handful of states have proposed significant changes to Common Core, and none of them has written higher standards.
South Carolina’s new draft standards have been widely panned, and they will probably need to go back to the drawing board. Oklahoma passed a bizarre bill that requires Common Core to be replaced with the lower standards that were being used in the state while yet another set of standards is written. In Indiana, modifications to Common Core were met with scepticism from supporters and detractors alike (though Republican Gov Mike Pence and his team deserve credit for attempting to reach com-promise on the standards and help districts with follow-through). And Missouri, which passed a bill
to make changes to the standards, seems unlikely to please both those who want high standards and those who value standards only in terms of how different they are from Common Core.
The basic problem is that it’s impossible to draft standards that prepare students for college and career readiness and that look nothing like Common Core. That’s because Common Core, though not per-fect, represents a good-faith effort to incorporate the current evidence of what students need to know and do to succeed in credit-bearing courses in college or to land a good-paying job — and the milestones younger students need to pass to reach those goals.
That’s why states that are sincere about wanting to aim higher would be smart to start with Common Core as a base for additions or modifications — as Florida did when it added calculus standards several years ago.
Starting from scratch, on the other hand, pulls the rug out from under educators who have spent almost five years implementing Common Core in their classrooms. “You just get frustrated and tired with trying to appease people who really have no idea what’s going on with you day to day,” one kin-dergarten teacher told Mississippi’s Clarion-Ledger.
“It’s just really mind-blowing that this is something they’re considering doing at this point.” Teachers are all too familiar with the fad du jour. Policymakers promised them that Common Core would be differ-ent, that it would have staying power. Teachers are right to be angry at those broken promises, especially because so much of the backlash to Common Core has little to do with the standards themselves.
So raise standards beyond Common Core? Sure — but you’d better make sure it’s not all talk and no action. WP-BLOOMBERG
Where celebrity opinionators rule
BY PAUL FARHI
Former TV talk-show host Montel Williams was on CNN the other day discussing the Senate tor-ture report and ...
Wait. What? Montel Williams, ubiq-uitous pitchman for payday loans, com-pression sleeves and blenders, was on a national news programme discussing the CIA’s controversial “enhanced interroga-tion” programme?
Actually, yes. CNN sought out Williams for comment after the report’s release, thereby according him equal time with senators, foreign-policy experts and human rights activists. By way of creden-tials, CNN host Brooke Baldwin noted that Williams, a former naval officer, “minored in international security stud-ies” in college.
Why Williams, of all people? CNN never explained the choice, but, well, why not? Cable news has copious hours of airtime to fill, and it sometimes fills them with expert analysts who not only
aren’t experts but also really aren’t even analysts. They just play them on cable TV news shows.
Fox News, for example, called on Gene Simmons the other day to dissect President Barack Obama’s announce-ment that he was relaxing decades-old restrictions on trade with Cuba. You may remember Simmons as the long-tongued, face-painted co-lead singer of the 1970s glam-rock band Kiss. Among other things, Simmons knows a few things about the music business, having spent a good deal of his adult life in it.
But Cuba?Sure, why not? Go ahead, Gene.“I think we’re going to win, even though
it’s a weak political stance,” Simmons said on Fox, thus simultaneously criticising Obama and vouching for Obama’s policy. “Crack the door open. Bring America in there. Bring Twitter, Facebook. We’ll win. The (Cuban) people will rise up from within.”
Simmons made the case, albeit vaguely, for his intellectual bona fides when he was interviewed by Fox host Greta Van
Susteren in 2011. “All of us are trapped by the modern-day notion that if you’re a bootmaker that’s all you do,” he said. “In the old days, if you were a barber, in the Renaissance period in Europe, you were also the dentist, and if you were a doctor, you cured most of the ails. ... I have many passions, and I enjoy many things.”
As a Renaissance opinionator, Simmons may be to Fox what Montel Williams is to CNN. The latter has commented on CNN about the riots in Ferguson, Mo, medical marijuana and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Simmons has boldly opined on Tim Tebow, Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential candidacy, and Ebola. Neither seems to have any special knowl-edge, experience or expertise on these topics, but they do seem to have, in Simmons’s word, “passion” about them.
In that sense, Simmons could be the Wayne Rogers of Fox, if Fox didn’t already have Wayne Rogers. Although his prominence may have peaked during the Carter administration, the former star has become many things since: invest-ment adviser, Hollywood agent, real
estate developer.But Rogers can’t be limited to
Hollywood or business topics, his putative specialty on “Cashin’ In.” He’s an all-pur-pose analyst now, retailing his thoughts on such topics as prisoner swaps and NSA spying. His most electric perform-ance may have been in August, when, in a debate with fellow Fox panelist Michelle Fields, he had enough of listening to someone else’s opinion.
“You’re a moron,” Rogers shouted at Fields, “because you talk too much and you don’t think through it!”
That’s passion. Cable news may be the only mainstream news source that does this sort of thing. Other news outlets don’t usually turn over their airwaves and pixels to nonexperts when an expert is called for. The New York Times isn’t likely to quote Miley Cyrus in an arti-cle about world oil markets. “Face the Nation” doesn’t book Iggy Azalea to analyse the partisan divide on Capitol Hill. But Fox, in particular, seems to have no qualms about eliciting, say, the political musings of ‘70s rock musician
(what is it about ‘70s rock musicians?) Ted Nugent, or the national-security prescriptions of “Duck Dynasty” patri-arch Phil Robertson. It also has turned Stacey Dash, co-star of the 1995 movie “Clueless,” into an all-around pundit.
Or actor Kevin Sorbo. In a recent dis-cussion about defence spending — because apparently the former “Hercules” star knows about defence spending — Sorbo lamented, “Our defence budget (has) been so cut down over the decades, it’s really unfortunate.”
When told by a fellow panelist that defence spending has risen dramatically, Sorbo seemed surprised. “That’s not true? That’s what I’ve heard. I’m reading the wrong” material.
And this is all without mentioning Donald Trump, who has moved on from his investigation into Obama’s place of birth to downloading his thoughts about whatever Donald Trump is thinking about today. In one remarkable interview this month, Trump commented on the following topics: the Sony hack, China’s economic power, interest rates, the unemployment rate, Russia, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Jeb Bush.
A Fox News spokeswoman, Dana Klinghoffer, offered several off-the-record comments but declined to dis-cuss the network’s booking policies for attribution. CNN was equally tight-lipped; spokeswoman Bridget Leininger responded to a request for comment this way: “No, thanks.”
A couple of leading questions about this: Do “nonexperts” add much to a viewer’s understanding of the news? Does their presence devalue discussions of the news or do they offer illumination beyond the usual talking heads drawn from the Acela Corridor?
“Turning to celebrities or quasi-celebrities as news commentators sets my eyes to rolling,” W Joseph Campbell says. “I’m sure it does for a lot of people, who see through the veneer. The prac-tice usually doesn’t elevate or enrich the discussion. It strikes me as a sort of latter-day stunt journalism that sel-dom produces revealing insight.” We don’t mean to sound elitist here, but Campbell is no Stacey Dash. He’s an expert on subjects like this. A professor of Communication Studies at American University in Washington, he has writ-ten six books about the news media. By Campbell’s way of thinking, selectivity is key.
“Anyone can have an opinion,” he said, but “a diversity of well- informed views is what journalists ideally ought to seek.”
WP-BLOOMBERG
The New York Times isn’t likely to quote Miley Cyrus in an article about world oil markets. “Face the Nation” doesn’t book Iggy Azalea to analyse the partisan divide on Capitol Hill. But Fox, in particular, seems to have no qualms about eliciting, say, the political musings of ‘70s rock musician.
In this file picture, CNN talk show host Larry King (right) and Executive Chairman of Viacom Inc Sumner Redstone talk before the session “A Conversation With Sumner Redstone: If You Could Live Forever, What Would Life Be Like?”, as chairman of Milken Institute Michael Milken (centre) listens.
Santa never stopped by my house!BY WAJIHA AHMED
In the Townsville of my 1980s childhood, sum-mer was always about sticky hands from eat-ing mangoes plucked from trees, visiting every
swimming pool and avoiding contact with the cane toads who sat waiting at your front door. I was absolutely convinced it was a scientific fact that if you came into close contact with them you would get warts forever. Australia, in December, was the best place in the world.
The first Christmas I moved to Australia from Pakistan, my mother tells me I saw a Santa in a shopping centre, stopped a lady and said “Did you know that’s Father Christmas?”. Apparently she did. I then posed for my obligatory “Santa 1982” photo. My two front teeth were missing. I felt like all my Christmases had come at once. I had read and seen picture books with Santa, but here he was in the flesh. And thus began my love affair with Christmas.
Coming from Pakistan, we never had a Christmas tree or decorations at my house. When gifts were distributed at daycare or school, Santa always had gifts at the ready for my sister and me. It used to make us feel like we were so special; on Christmas Santa didn’t come to our place.
On Christmas day, we would race out to chat to the neighbours’ kids over the back fence and they would bring out their spoils to show us. I wondered why they always got socks, undies and singlets.
When we would make our annual journey to Sydney by car, we would spend Christmas Day with the Taggarts, Nances, Byrnes or the Barnetts. I remember attending my first midnight Mass with the Nance kids and wondered what the wonderous wafer they all received at communion tasted like.
Later, after we moved to Sydney, we tradition-ally spent Christmas day with the Byrnes and Barnett families. At Eid, the Byrnes and Barnetts come over to my parents’. The tradition of wear-ing Christmas hats, overeating the traditional Christmas prawn curry and playing some board game that goes on for hours is just a small part of our day. THE GUARDIAN
One-to-one computing in US schools has gotten a boost in recent years with the advent of lower-cost tablet computers.
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Christmas celebration
A man dressed as Santa Claus drives a vehicle during Christmas day in Sidon, South Lebanon, yesterday.
Three AU soldiers, civilian killed in Shebab attack MOGADISHU: Three African Union soldiers and a civilian were killed yesterday after Shebab militants attacked the force’s heavily fortified head-quarters in Somalia.
The AU force known as AMISOM said troops regained control of the base in Mogadishu after a gunfight that left five of the attackers dead while three others were captured.
“Three AMISOM soldiers and a civilian contractor unfortunately lost their lives,” AMISOM said in a statement, updating earlier information that said the four had been injured in the attack.
“AMISOM has regained con-trol of the Halane base camp and restored normalcy. All African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN) personnel in the base camp are safe and secure,” it added.
The Shebab group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The AU force headquarters is a fortified structure located on the grounds of the Mogadishu airport, which has also been placed under high security. There are currently some 22,000 African Union troops as part of the AMISOM force, deployed since 2007.
They have managed to push Shebab militants out of the capi-tal, but the Islamists still hold large swathes of territory.
Israeli girl injured in West Bank attackJERUSALEM: An Israeli man and his 11-year-old daughter were wounded yesterday when assailants threw a firebomb at their vehicle in the northern West Bank, the army said.
A military spokeswoman said the assailants threw a Molotov cocktail at the car near the Maale Shomron settlement.
The car caught fire and the 11-year-old girl was seriously wounded while her father was slightly hurt in the attack, the spokeswoman said.
Pakistani beheaded for heroin smugglingRIYADH: Saudi Arabia yes-terday beheaded a Pakistani man for heroin smuggling, the twelfth person from Pakistan to be executed in the king-dom for drug trafficking since mid-October.
They are among 85 foreigners and Saudis put to death this year in the oil-rich kingdom, according to a tally. The sentence against Ismail Khan Sayed was carried out in Eastern Province after his conviction for smuggling “a large amount” of heroin, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
AGENCIES
19 Libya soldiers slain after speedboat attackBENGHAZI: Islamists killed at least 19 soldiers yesterday after a surprise attack in which they used speedboats in a failed bid to seize some of Libya’s main oil terminals, officials said.
The militiamen belonging to the Fajr Libya, or Libya Dawn, launched the attack on the port of Al Sidra by firing rockets from speedboats, setting an oil tank on fire, security sources said.
Soldiers damaged three of the vessels before clashes in which at least 19 of them were killed, they said, adding the militants were eventually repelled.
“These speedboats had fired several rockets at the terminals of Ras Lanuf and Al Sidra and one of them hit a tank south of Al Sidra port which then caught fire,” said Ali Al Hassi, security spokesman for the region.
Witnesses said the attack was launched overnight, and reported seeing smoke from the burning oil tank.
A military source said 19
soldiers were killed in the region, and that the oil tank struck by a rocket was still burning in the Al Sidra oil terminal.
Al Sidra is located in the region known as the “oil crescent” that has been the scene of recent fight-ing between government forces and Fajr Libya.
Since the clashes erupted on December 13, oil production in the country has dropped to nearly 350,000 barrels per day compared with 800,000 previously, according to industry experts
A medical source at Ibn Sina hospital in Sirte said the facil-ity received 18 bodies from the fighting.
“The armed forces yesterday repelled an attack in which the Fajr Libya militia tried to seize the Al Sidra oil terminal,” said Hassi, adding that it was during this attack that the 19th soldier died.
The number of casualties among the Islamist militants was unknown.
The 136th battalion is affili-ated with the military. Most its fighters are from a tribe loyal to former general Khalifa Haftar.
Haftar’s forces have been fighting alongside forces from the internationally recognised government of Prime Minister Abdullah Al Thinni against Islamist militants who have seized control of cities including Tripoli.
On December 16, a warplane belonging to Fajr Libya fired mis-siles at a sector to the west of Al Sidra, Hassi said at the time, in the first such raid in the energy-rich region.
More than three years after dictator Muammar Gaddafi was toppled and killed in a Nato-backed revolt, Libya is still awash with weapons and powerful mili-tias, and has rival parliaments as well as governments.
Islamists have seized Tripoli and Benghazi in the east, and forces loyal to Thinni are fight-ing to regain control of the cities.
AFP
ANKARA: A 16-year-old high school student has been arrested in central Turkey for “insulting” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by accus-ing him and his ruling party of corruption, sparking angry criticism yesterday from the opposition.
The boy, identified by his ini-tials M E A, was believed to be a member of a leftist organisation, the Hurriyet newspaper reported.
He delivered a speech on Wednesday in the central Anatolian city of Konya, a bas-tion of Erdogan’s Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP), in memory of a young secular teacher murdered in 1930, according to the newspaper.
The boy, who was arrested by police at school, is now facing up to four years in prison if con-victed on the charge.
It was the latest controver-sial arrest in Turkey in recent weeks. Recent police raids on media outlets affiliated with Erdogan’s top foe, the US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, sparked an angry exchange with the European Union, which said the arrests undermined media freedom.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu supported the court’s decision on the juvenile’s arrest.
“Everyone must respect the office of president whoever he is,” Davutoglu said, quoted in Turkish media.
In his testimony to prosecu-tors, the boy denied links with any political party and said
that the local governor’s office granted permission for the com-memoration ceremony organised through social media.
“I’ve made the statement in question. I have no intent to insult,” he reportedly said.
The boy’s lawyer, Baris Ispir, submitted a petition to the court, together with around 100 col-leagues who came from Istanbul in a show of support.
“Even if he is convicted, he is 16 years old which requires a one-third reduction in his pen-alty,” the lawyer said, accord-ing to the private Dogan news agency.
Riza Turmen, lawmaker of the secular opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), denounced the arrest as a violation of the UN charter on children’s rights.
“Regimes taking children out of classes by police force and putting them in jail are fascist regimes,” Turmen, a former judge at the European Court of Human Rights, wrote on Twitter.
“This goes against the UN charter on children’s rights.”
Turkey’s government faced an unprecedented wave of protests in 2013 against what was seen as authoritarian policies from Erdogan, who was then prime minister.
AFP
KHARTOUM: Sudan has ordered two senior United Nations officials to leave, UN sources said yesterday, in what appeared to be an escalation of President Omar Hassan Al Bashir’s move against UN activities in the country.
The sources identified the offi-cials as Ali Al Za’tari, UN resi-dent coordinator at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and Yvonne Helle, the UNDP’s country director.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric confirmed in New York that Khartoum had ordered the exit of two senior UN officials but offered no details. “The UN has filed a protest with the govern-ment of Sudan following their decision to request the departure of two senior UN officials from the country,” Dujarric said.
The reason for the expulsions was not immediately clear, but they come a month after Bashir called for peace keepers from the joint UN-African Union Mission
in Darfur (UNAMID) to leave, calling them a “security burden.”
Sudan had already shut UNAMID’s human rights office in Khartoum and called on the mis-sion to prepare an exit plan. The move came days after it denied peace keepers permission to pay a second visit to the site of alleged mass rapes by Sudanese soldiers in Tabit, a village in Darfur, the western region plagued by conflict.
The head of the UN peacekeep-ing forces said UNAMID was unlikely to bow to Sudan’s request to leave when the situation there appears to be worsening.
Conflict erupted in Darfur in 2003 when mainly African tribes took up arms against the Arab-led government in Khartoum, accusing it of discriminating against them. UNAMID has been deployed in Darfur since 2007.
The UNDP deferred to UN spokesman Dujarric for com-ment. Sudan’s foreign ministry also declined to comment.
REUTERS
Sudan expels two senior UN officials
Rocket fired by Islamists hits Al Sidra oil terminal
Turkey student arrested for insulting president
Mauritania issues first apostasy death sentenceNOUAKCHOTT: Mauritania has delivered its first death sentence for apostasy since independence in 1960, ordering capital punish-ment for a Muslim man who wrote an article deemed blasphemous of Islam.
Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mohamed, aged in his late 20s, fainted when the ruling was read out in a court in Nouadhibou in the northwest of the country, a judicial source said. He was revived and taken to prison.
Cheikh Ould Mohamed has been in custody since January 2, after his arrest for an article he wrote that appeared briefly on several Mauritanian websites.
During his trial, the judge told Cheikh Ould Mohamed he was accused of apostasy “for speaking lightly of Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him)”.
The defendant pleaded not guilty and said it was “not his intention to harm the prophet,” the judicial source said.
No information was immediately available on whether he would appeal.
Local Islamic organisations said it was the first time a text critical of Islam had been published in the country.
Jemil Ould Mansour, the head of the moderate Islamist Tewassoul party, yesterday hailed the ruling, saying: “It’s the story of a criminal who got the fate he deserved.”
Mauritania upholds Islamic law Shariah. But it has not meted out the harshest punishments provided under that law, such as executions and floggings, for nearly three decades.
The west African country last executed a prisoner in 1987, according to Amnesty International. Capital punishment is mainly reserved for murder and acts of terrorism.
In his article, Cheikh Ould Mohamed, named by some local media outlets as Cheikh Ould Mohamed Ould Mkheitir, claimed “an iniquitous social order” was being perpetuated in Mauritania, with an underclass that was “marginalised and discriminated against from birth” and to which he belonged.
His court-appointed lawyers had asked for leniency on the grounds their client was repentant.
But the judge agreed to the prosecutor’s request for the death penalty, ruling that the country’s criminal statutes called for capital punish-ment for any Muslim “who has renounced Islam explicitly or through acts or words in that sense”.
AFP
Black smoke billows out of a storage oil tank in the port of Es Sider in Ras Lanuf, yesterday.
Gezi protester sent to jailISTANBUL: A Turkish teenager who survived a severe head injury inflicted by the police in last year’s anti-government protests was sentenced to more than three months in jail, local media reported.
Mustafa Ali Tonbul, 17, lost a large portion of his skull after being hit in the head by a tear gas canister fired by police during Gezi Park pro-tests that swept Istanbul in May-June 2013.
A juvenile court sentenced Tonbul and four of his friends to three months and 10 days in prison for “resisting police” in another demonstration in the western city of Izmir in support of the Gezi protests — two weeks before he was injured. AFP
Morocco bans Scott’s ExodusRABAT: Morocco has banned cinemas from showing the bib-lical epic Exodus: Gods and Kings just one day before the Hollywood blockbuster was due to be screened, media reports said yesterday.
It was unclear why officials decided to ban the movie which had been given the green light by the state-run Moroccan Cinema Centre (CCM), which implements all rules concerning the industry.
Ridley Scott’s historical block-buster stars Christian Bale as Moses and retells his exodus from Egypt. Moses is an important fig-ure revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike.
Muslims consider Moses a prophet and Islam opposes the depiction of its prophets.
Theatre managers said they received “verbal” instructions from the CCM not to begin screening the movie as planned on Wednesday, according to news website media24.
Others said CCM officials had informed them of the ban in per-son. Hassan Belkady, who runs Cinema Rif in Casablanca, told media24 that he had been threat-ened with the closure of the busi-ness if he refused to implement the ban.
AFP
Art during strife
Rachel Cofer (on ladder) and Kevin Conway paint a mural on a boarded up store in Ferguson, Missouri, yes-terday. The town was tense after a white policeman shot dead a black man brandishing a gun at a suburban St Louis petrol station on Wednesday.
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Ukraine truce uncertain after meetingDONETSK, UKRAINE: The latest push for peace in Ukraine appeared moribund yesterday after initial talks failed to agree when the warring sides should meet again to try to end an eight-month pro-Russian revolt.
Negotiations mediated by European and Russian envoys in the Belarussian capital Minsk broke up after more than five hours on Wednesday with the separatists reporting progress on only one of four contentious points.
That scuppered a plan for both sides to gather again today in a bid to sign a comprehensive agree-ment reinforcing a September 5 truce deal that was followed by 1,300 more deaths.
Donetsk separatist leader Alexander Zakharchenko told reporters yesterday that the “very difficult” process would now involve videoconference consulta-tions that should stretch into the weekend.
Both he and security sources in Kiev said that a deal on the terms of a prisoner swap involving 150 Ukrainian sol-diers and 225 guerrillas was the only tangible achievement of Wednesday’s talks.
State security sources in Kiev said this would leave the separa-tists in eastern Ukraine holding about 500 government soldiers.
Ukraine would be ready to exchange them for several dozen rebels still languishing in the country’s jails.
Sharply contrasting visions of Ukraine’s place in Europe and its system of government are block-ing a solution to the protracted war. In the wake of February’s ouster of an unpopular Moscow-backed president, two pro-Rus-sian eastern regions — Donetsk
and Lugansk — rose up in protest at Kiev’s shift towards Europe.
The separatist commanders have since declared their own republics and will settle for no less than Ukraine becoming a loose federation in which they manage most of their own affairs.
This option is backed firmly by Russia but rejected by Ukrainian nationalists who make up an important part of President Petro Poroshenko’s government.
Ukraine has remained tightly centralised since independence and is only now considering easing its hold over the country’s regions in order to stem public resent-ment over the relative prosperity enjoyed in Kiev.
Such problems have under-mined peace accords reached in Minsk in September that Poroshenko was forced into after the rebels mounted a surprisingly effective counteroffensive.
Nato believes the rebel surge was backed by crack Russian forces and tanks, witnessed by reporters on the ground at the time.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin denies sending in his army and calls soldiers who crossed into the war zone volunteers who were “answering the call of the heart”.
The overall toll in the Ukraine conflict — Europe’s bloodiest since the Balkan wars of the 1990s — now stands at more than 4,700.
But UN officials fear the true number may be much higher because the militias have been hiding their losses and denying outsiders access to their burial sites. The biggest immediate issue for the rebels is to make sure that Kiev resumes social welfare pay-ments it suspended last month out of fear that they were being used to fund the revolt. AFP
Rebel leader says talks difficult
Pope Francis celebrates Christmas mass at St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City late on Wednesday.
Pope Francis slams persecution of minoritiesVATICAN CITY: Pope Francis yesterday roundly condemned jihadist violence and the “brutal persecution” of religious minor-ities in a Christmas message to the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics and millions of others.
Speaking to a packed crowd outside Saint Peter’s Basilica, the popular Argentine pontiff also made a strong call to end violence wrought against children amid “indifference and tears.”
His second traditional “urbi et orbi” message (to the city and to the world) comes at the close of a year plagued by war and violent religious fundamentalism, notably in Iraq, Syria, Nigeria and most recently against schoolchildren in Pakistan.
“Truly there are so many tears this Christmas,” he said in the message broadcast across
the world.Without naming the jihad-
ist Islamic State (IS) group, he said Christians in Iraq and Syria “for too long now have suffered the effects of ongoing conflict” and “together with those belong-ing to other ethnic and religious groups, are suffering a brutal persecution.”
There were “too many dis-placed persons, exiles and refu-gees, adults and elderly, from this region and the whole world.”
Killings and hostage-takings from the Middle East to Nigeria and elsewhere must stop, he said.
Visibly moved and depart-ing from his text, the 78-year-old head of the Roman Catholic Church noted “the children mas-sacred by bombardments, includ-ing where the son of God was born” — in the Holy Land — and
their “powerless silence that cries under the sword.”
Denouncing “indifference”, he explicitly condemned abortion, deploring the children “killed before seeing the light”.
“May Jesus save the vast num-bers of children who are victims of violence, made objects of trade and trafficking, or forced to become soldiers.”
“May he give comfort to the families of the children killed in Pakistan last week”, he added, referring to the 149 people, includ-ing 133 schoolchildren, killed in Peshawar by the Taliban.
In Baghdad, where an esti-mated 150,000 Iraqi Christians have fled jihadist violence since June, Christmas celebrations were dampened by events.
“We do not have any feelings of joy,” said Rayan Dania Sabri
at Baghdad’s Church of the Ascension. “How can we be joyful when there are thousands still liv-ing in camps and schools in poor conditions?”
Turning to trouble-spots else-where across the globe, the softly-spoken Francis urged Ukrainians also to “overcome tensions, con-quer hatred and violence and set out on a new journey of fraternity and reconciliation”.
He called for peace in “the whole Middle East” and contin-ued efforts towards “dialogue” between Israelis and Palestinians.
Peace too was essential in Africa, particularly in Nigeria “where more blood is being shed”, as well as in Libya, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
AFP
Arson attack on Swedish mosque injures five STOCKHOLM: An arsonist set fire to a mosque in central Sweden yesterday injuring five people, police said, as the coun-try grapples with a political crisis caused by the rise of the extreme right.
“Somebody threw an object through a closed window and afterwards a fire started inside,” police spokesman Lars Franzell told AFP.
“There were between 15 and 20 people in the premises.”
Refugee-friendly Sweden woke up to the reality of a new politi-cal landscape in early December when the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats brought down the government by refus-ing to back its budget proposal in parliament.
The mosque is located on the ground floor of a building in the city of Eskilstuna, some 90 kilometres (55 miles) west of Stockholm.
According to police, the fire started in the early afternoon.
Police said they were investi-gating the incident as a case of aggravated arson but had no sus-pects yet.
The five injured were taken to hospital to be treated for injuries including smoke inhalation, lac-erations and fractures.
“There has been an intensifica-tion of hatred against Muslims,” Sweden’s Islamic Association head Omar Mustafa told public radio SR yesterday.
In January unknown perpetra-tors daubed black swastikas on the front door of a Stockholm mosque and in December last year neo-Nazis attacked a peaceful anti-racist protest in a Stockholm suburb, causing three people to be hospitalised.
AFP
Rift over Scotland will heal with time: QueenLONDON: Healing differences in Scotland after a divisive ref-erendum that came close to splitting the United Kingdom this year will take time, Queen Elizabeth II said in her annual Christmas broadcast yesterday.
In a speech dedicated to the theme of reconciliation, the queen also celebrated progress towards peace in Northern Ireland, after a broad deal was signed by rival parties this week.
The queen acknowledged dif-ferences of opinion in Scotland after a September vote in which 45 percent voted to become independent from the United Kingdom, while 55 percent voted to remain within it.
“In Scotland after the referen-dum many felt great disappoint-ment while others felt great relief, and bridging these differences will take time,” 88-year-old queen said. The monarch recalled a visit to Northern Ireland in June, when she was shown around a prison by a former Irish Republican Army commander in a visit in support of the region’s peace process.
“The benefits of reconciliation were clear to see when I visited Belfast,” the queen said in her speech.
“My visit to the Crumlin Road
Gaol will remain vividly in my mind. What was once a prison during the Troubles is now a place of hope and fresh purpose; a reminder of what is possible when people reach out to one another.”
The queen spoke on the 100-year anniversary of a spontaneous truce between warring soldiers in opposite trenches in World War One, something she described as a “remarkable” event that showed peace was possible.
“Sometimes it seems that recon-ciliation stands little chance in the face of war and discord,” the queen said. “But, as the Christmas truce a century ago reminds us, peace and goodwill have lasting power in the hearts of men and women.”
An annual event broadcast on BBC television and radio, the queen’s message is watched by millions of people in Britain and across the Commonwealth.
It is one of the few speeches that she writes herself, rather than with government ministers.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the spiritual leader of the Anglican faith, was also meant to remember the 1914 truce in his Christmas sermon but was forced to cancel due to what a spokesman said was a “severe cold”. AFP
The Interview opens in US theatresLOS ANGELES: Raunchy comedy “The Interview” — a movie about a fictional plot to kill North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un which has enraged Pyongyang — opened in US the-atres yesterday, a move its star attributed to public pressure.
Its future had been in doubt after entertainment giant Sony said it was cancelling the release following an embarrassing cyber attack on its corporate network and threats against moviegoers.
Star Seth Rogen and co-direc-tor Evan Goldberg made a sur-prise appearance at one of the first showings in Los Angeles just after midnight, when they thanked moviegoers and theatres for pushing to get the film out.
“We thought this might not
happen at all,” Rogen told a cheer-ing crowd, according to a video posted on YouTube. The theatre was near Rogen and Goldberg’s homes, the men said.
“The fact that it’s showing here and that you guys all came out,” Goldberg said, “is super exciting,” Rogen finished.
“We just really wanted to say thank you. If it wasn’t for thea-tres like this and for people like you guys, this literally would not be happening right now,” the Canadian actor added.
Many of the biggest US movie theatre chains had gotten cold feet about showing the film after anonymous online threats, prompting Sony to pull the film.
The United States has blamed the Sony cyberattack on North
Korea, and President Barack Obama has threatened reprisals.
But Sony came under fire from Obama and free speech advocates for cancelling the release, and some 300 independent theatres so far have offered to show the film.
The madcap, irreverent R-rated comedy was also avail-able online for US and Canadian viewers starting Wednesday.
“After discussing all the issues, Sony and Google agreed that we could not sit on the sidelines and allow a handful of people to determine the limits of free speech in another country — however silly the content might be,” Google chief legal officer David Drummond said in a blog post.
AFP
BOGOTA: A small passen-ger plane crashed in northern Colombia on Wednesday, kill-ing all six passengers and the pilot, who had warned air traf-fic control of a fault moments before, the website of the El Tiempo newspaper reported. The Cessna aircraft operated by Alas, a small regional air-line, disappeared while flying
the Bucaramanga to Malaga route in Santander province, the newspaper’s website said, adding all seven bodies were found inside or near the plane.
The pilot attempted to return to Bucaramanga, about 245km northeast of Bogota, to land after informing air traffic con-trollers of an engine glitch.
REUTERS
Seven killed in Colombia plane crash
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Jackie Chan ashamed of son’s drug abuse BEIJING: Hong Kong kung fu movie star Jackie Chan feels ashamed of his son’s drug abuse and hopes that one day he will speak out about the dangers of taking drugs, state news agency Xinhua reported.
Jaycee Chan was formally charged with a drugs offence this week, meaning he is almost cer-tain to face trial.
The younger Chan, a 32-year-old actor and singer, was arrested in Beijing this year after testing positive for marijuana, with police saying they found 100 grams of the drug at his home.
“I hope that in the future, he could become an anti-drug spokesman and tell his experi-ences to young people,” Jackie Chan told Xinhua, in comments released late on Wednesday.
Chan also said that he never used any of his connections to help his son out, the report added.
In August, his father offered the public a “deep bow of apology” for his son’s arrest. REUTERS
HANOI: Vietnam has started operating a new $900m airport terminal that will nearly double the capital’s flight capacity, the latest move in expanding what is one of the world’s fastest-growing aviation markets.
Passenger planes took off yes-terday from Noi Bai terminal two, Hanoi airport’s new wing that will handle 10 million passengers per year and up to 15 million in future as demand rises for air travel at home and abroad.
Noi Bai has been overstretched for years with only one terminal and capacity of 12 million annual passengers. The new terminal for-mally opens on December 31.
Foreign arrivals in Vietnam rose more than 10 percent last year to 7.6 million, government data showed, while domestic demand is climbing amid rapid
middle class growth and competi-tion between airlines in a country with underdeveloped rail and road infrastructure.
Vietnam is poised to be the world’s seventh-fastest growing market for international passen-gers during 2013-2017, as a regional open skies initiative takes off and Southeast Asia moves towards an integrated economic community, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Vietnam’s passenger traffic almost doubled between 2008 and 2013, IATA said.
The Southeast Asian nation has plans for a $18.7bn international airport in the southern economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City as the existing Tan Son Nhat airport will be at full capacity of 25 million passengers a year in 2016.
REUTERS
BEIJING: A university in northwestern China has banned Christmas, calling it a “kitsch” foreign celebration unbefitting of the country’s own traditions and making its students watch propaganda films instead, media said yesterday.
The state-run Beijing News said that the Modern College of Northwest University, located in Xian, had strung up ban-ners around the campus reading “Strive to be outstanding sons and daughters of China, oppose kitsch Western holidays” and “Resist the expansion of Western culture”.
A student told the newspaper that they would be punished if they did not attend a mandatory three-hour screening of propa-ganda films, which other students said included one about Confucius, with teachers standing guard to stop people leaving.
An official microblog belong-ing to one of the university’s Communist Party’s committees posted comments calling for stu-dents not to “fawn on foreigners”
and pay more attention to China’s holidays, like Spring Festival.
“In recent years, more and more Chinese have started to attach importance to Western festivals,” it wrote. “In their eyes, the West is more developed than China, and they think that their holidays are more elegant than ours, even that Western festivals are very fashion-able and China’s traditional festi-vals are old-fashioned.”
Christmas is not a traditional festival in officially atheist China but is growing in popularity, espe-cially in more metropolitan areas where young people go out to celebrate.
Wenzhou, a city in the wealthy eastern province of Zhejiang, has banned all Christmas activities in schools and kindergartens, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Inspectors would make sure rules are enforced, it added.
The rules are meant to counter-act an “obsession” with Western holidays at the expense of Chinese ones, an official at the city’s educa-tion bureau said. REUTERS
SEOUL: South Korea yester-day ruled out the possibility that a recent string of cyber-attacks on its nuclear power operator could cause a malfunc-tion at any of the country’s 23 atomic reactors.
The designs and manuals for two reactors have been published on Twitter over the past week, along with personal informa-tion on some 10,000 workers at Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP).
Officials said Tuesday that South Korea has heightened security in the wake of the leaks, with the defence ministry’s cyber warfare unit increasing its watch-level against attacks from North Korean and other hackers.
The presidential Blue House
moved yesterday to allay con-cerns that hackers could cause a malfunction at one of the nation’s nuclear plants by breaking into its system.
“The control system of nuclear reactors are separated from external networks, and hacking into the system is fundamentally impossible,” the presidential office said in a statement quoted by Yonhap news agency.
KHNP has said the material released on the Gori and Wolsong nuclear power plants was not classified and would not affect safety.
The hacker has styled him-self as the president of an anti-nuclear power activist group and threatened to release more infor-mation unless the government
shuts down three reactors from December 25.
Investigators said Wednesday that the suspect had used mul-tiple Internet protocol addresses based in China, though this is not always a reliable guide to the geo-graphical location of an Internet user.
Officials have not ruled out the possible involvement of Pyongyang, which Seoul has blamed for a slew of cyber-attacks on South Korean military institu-tions, banks, government agen-cies, TV broadcasters and media websites.
But there has been no indica-tion so far that the North was behind the release of the nuclear material.
AFP
Taiwan leader to sue radio host over illicit donations claimTAIPEI: Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou will file a lawsuit against a radio host for alleging that he accepted political dona-tions from a company impli-cated in food safety scandals, his office said yesterday.
Clara Chou accused Ma of accepting under-the-table funds to act as the “guardian” of food giant Ting Hsin, which has faced widespread public outrage and an island-wide boycott of its prod-ucts following the scandals.
Ma firmly rejected the allega-tion, stressing that his govern-ment has fully investigated the company’s alleged involvement in the scandals and indicted 57 peo-ple so far.
“President Ma has always highly respected the freedom of speech but despite the presidential office’s repeat clarifications, Ms Chou continues to spread false rumours to seriously affect his reputation,” his office said in a statement.
Ma has decided to take legal action to “defend his innocence and maintain the reputation of the head of state”, it added.
Separately, Taiwanese pros-ecutors yesterday said they will look into Chou’s claims against the president before deciding on whether to launch a formal investigation.
Ting Hsin, which owns the instant noodle brand Master Kong, has been implicated in three food safety scandals since late 2013.
AFP
BEIJING: China yester-day called on Japan to pur-sue “peaceful development” under its new defence minis-ter appointed this week after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s re-election, as tensions simmer over a territorial dispute and wartime history.
Abe on Wednesday appointed Gen Nakatani, 57 to replace Akinori Eto to the defence port-folio after Eto declined reappoint-ment in the midst of a political funding scandal.
Nakatani headed the defence agency — later upgraded to a min-istry — in 2001-2002 and is said to agree with Abe on the need for Japan to beef up its national security.
“It is our position that who-ever serves as the defence min-ister of Japan, the Japanese side
should follow the path of peace-ful development,” Chinese defence ministry spokesman Yang Yujun, a senior colonel, told a monthly briefing.
Yang also called on Japan to implement an agreement reached in November between the two countries aimed at improving ties which have become increasingly strained in recent years.
The four-point agreement paved the way for the first formal bilateral meeting between Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping last month on the sidelines of the Apec Asia-Pacific leaders’ meet-ing in Beijing.
A tense dispute over control of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, administered by Japan but also claimed by China, as well as Beijing’s anger over a visit by Abe a year ago to Tokyo’s
Yasukuni Shrine, which honours Japan’s war dead, including con-victed war criminals from World War II, has soured ties between Asia’s two biggest economies.
Abe served as prime minister from 2006-2007 before return-ing as leader after elections in December 2012.
He has vowed to pursue a nationalist agenda, including seeking to revise Japan’s “peace” constitution and wants its mili-tary to have the power to come to the aid of allies such as the United States if they are attacked.
The stance has divided opinion at home and raised concerns in China.
“Abe and his new defence min-ister... need to tread carefully,” China’s official Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday.
AFP
BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha cited China as a good example of economic development in a year-end speech to government officials seven months after he seized power in a military coup.
Prayuth, a former army chief who led the coup, said Thais should “stop bickering” and look to regional superpower China for inspiration.
His speech yesterday came after a two-day state visit to China aimed at forging closer ties with Beijing following a chill in relations with the US and Europe.
Several Western nations imposed sanctions and down-graded ties with Thailand in response to the coup. Last week
the regime used a regional sum-mit in Bangkok as proof of what it called the international com-munity’s renewed confidence in Thailand.
“I spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping and he told me that 60 years ago his country was (one of) the poorest in the world. In 30 years they were able to make their country a world economic superpower,” Prayuth said.
“But we are still bickering amongst ourselves.”
The army seized control of the country in what it said was an attempt to calm more than six months of crisis that left nearly 30 people dead.
Among the many tasks Prayuth faces in 2015 are how to restore
an ailing economy and roll out legislative changes aimed at preventing the return of ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his allies.
Thaksin, a populist former telecommunications tycoon, was ousted in a 2006 putsch and faces a two-year jail term for graft. Thailand has been divided for a decade between Thaksin and the Bangkok-based royalist military establishment, which sees him as a threat.
Despite some semblance of a return to normal, the Thai econ-omy, Southeast Asia’s second-largest, is stagnating.
It grew just 0.2 percent in the first nine months of this year.
REUTERS
China urges new Japan govt to pursue peaceConcern over Shinzo Abe’s defence minister
Hong Kong protest
Pro-democracy activists hold signs and posters of jailed Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo and his wife Liu Xia during a protest outside the Chinese liaison office in Hong Kong yesterday.
Christmas picnic
Filipinos celebrate at a park on Christmas day in Manila, Philippines, yesterday. Filipinos celebrate the longest Christmas in the world, which starts as early as September every year.
Chinese university bans Christmas celebrations
New Hanoi airport terminal opens
S Korea says nuclear reactors safe after cyberattacks
China a positive example: Thai leader
Workers leave the new terminal two wing at Noi Bai international airport in Hanoi.
11PAKISTAN / AFGHANISTAN FRIDAY 26 DECEMBER 2014
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Forced to flee
Afghan residents fleeing their homes after security forces launched an operation against suspected militants, in Dangam district of Kunar province, Afghanistan, yesterday. Afghan security forces killed 151 Taliban militants in 12 days of fighting in the east of the country bordering Pakistan.
Christians pray
Pakistani Christians pray as they celebrate Christmas in Karachi yesterday.
Pakistan plans foolproof security for foreign workersISLAMABAD: The Specialised Protection Unit (SPU) in its first phase will take over the security of foreigners working at three important national institutions in Pakistan includ-ing Nandipur power project during the next week.
The SPU, which is affiliated with the Punjab police, has been given its prime task to ensure foolproof security and protection of foreigners working at 10 impor-tant projects in various parts of Punjab province.
This step has been taken to restore confidence of foreign com-panies to bring their investment in development projects without any fear, sources said.
Official sources say that in the first phase, the SPU will take over security control of three projects including Nandipur Power plant near Gujranwala and two in Faisalabad and Mianwali districts.
Earlier, the security of these projects was being performed by private security agencies with the assistance of local police.
The SPU will also take over security of the remaining seven national development projects in the second phase, the sources said.
The Punjab government has allocated Rs1.21bn for procure-ment of sophisticated automatic weapons, vehicles, wireless sets, night vision goggles and other modern security gadgets and logistics for the force to make it operational. INTERNEWS
ISLAMABAD: A mixed reac-tion to Pakistan’s lifting of the six-year-old moratorium on the death penalty is being received while the Foreign Ministry has chosen to ignore all reactions and refrain from issuing any statement.
As voices for justice are being heard all over Pakistan in reference to criminals being awarded the death penalty, the United States has said that it was an issue for Pakistan to decide and Washington was not going to comment on it.
However, the European del-egation with the EU Heads of Mission in Pakistan has regretted the decision of Pakistan to lift the moratorium on executions, which had been in place since 2008.
The EU in a statement called for the moratorium to be re-established at the earliest.
While expressing support for Pakistan and sharing its grief, the EU delegation welcomed the resolve of the Pakistani people to deal with the scourge of terrorism and violent extremism in all of its manifestations.
“However, we believe that the death penalty is not an effective tool in the fight against terror-ism. The EU delegation regrets the decision of the Government of Pakistan to lift moratorium on executions, which had been in place since 2008. The EU remains opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances,” said the statement. Earlier, Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, Ambassador and Head of the European Union delegation
to Pakistan, had stated that “There is no direct link between the death penalty and GSP Plus but also no proof that capital punishment deters terrorists or criminals”.
Meanwhile, spokesperson at the US State Department in a reaction to the lifting of the mor-atorium replied, “Well, clearly this is an issue for Pakistan a decision for Pakistan, excuse me. It’s not really ours to weigh in on. We just don’t have a position on that to outline for you.”
She added that the US has been in close contact with all levels of the Pakistani government.
“As you know, the president and the secretary both spoke to Prime Minister Sharif and have stood ready to provide assist-ance in the wake of that horrific attack,” she said.
However, the spokesperson was more forthcoming on bail being granted to alleged Mumbai ter-rorist attack mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and said that the US was ‘concerned’.
“Well, look, we’re concerned by the reports that this indi-vidual terrorist got bail. The Government of Pakistan has pledged its cooperation in bringing the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice, and we urge them to uphold that promise,” she added. To a query whether this was a case of good and bad Taliban, she responded, “We have worked very closely with Pakistan on counterterrorism.
INTERNEWS
LAHORE: The leader of a banned Pakistani sectarian militant group who was set to walk free from jail is being held for two more weeks in a murder case, officials said yesterday.
Malik Ishaq, the head of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) which is dedicated to killing minority Shiite Muslims, was to be released yesterday after the Punjab pro-vincial government withdrew a request to extend his detention
under public order laws.But he has now been detained
in a murder case, a police official said, and is being held in the cen-tral city of Multan.
The news of Ishaq comes with the country ramping up its anti-terror strategy after an attack on an army-run school this month killed 150 people, spurring the country to set up military courts and drop its moratorium on capi-tal punishment in terror cases.
“Ishaq was sent to jail on judicial remand until January 6 by an anti-terrorist court on Wednesday and he will be pro-duced before the court again on January 7,” Ghulam Mohiuddin said. LeJ has claimed responsibil-ity for numerous bloody attacks, including two bombings targeting Shiites in the southwestern city of Quetta in 2013 that killed a total of nearly 200 people.
AFP
Government agrees to form commission to probe riggingISLAMABAD: The Nawaz Sharif government has agreed to form a judicial commission to probe allegations of rigging in the 2013 gen-eral elections on the demand of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf. Dr Arif Alvi, one of the members of PTI’s negotiating team, said on Thursday that the government has agreed to the demand of the PTI to constitute the judicial commission. He said a written agreement between the two sides in this connection remains to be signed.
He was speaking at the residence of his party leader Jahangir Tareen to participate in the third round of talks with the government but the meeting was postponed for a second time due to a meeting of parlia-mentary leaders at the Prime Minister’s House.
The schedule of the next meeting would be decided later.Alvi said a draft of the agreement on the formation of the judicial
commission was being given final shape and the same would also be shown to the other political parties. He, however, did not talk about the terms of references of the commission.
The PTI leadership, which resigned from the National Assembly in August, have conditioned the return of its parliamentarians to the National Assembly to the formation of the judicial commission which should probe allegations of rigging in the general elections.
Lahore to set up Quick Response Force to deal with hostage issueLAHORE: The police in Pakistan’s second largest city of 8 mil-lion have decided to establish a new 250-strong commando Quick Response Force to deal with hostage situations in the wake of the Peshawar carnage, in which a group of terrorists stormed a school and killed over 130 students last week.
Operations Deputy Inspector General Haider Ashraf has directed Headquarters Superintendent Police Umer Saeed to begin prepara-tions to raise the force following a directive from Inspector General Police Mushtaq Sukhera.
Saeed says that the policemen would be trained in six weeks following their selection. He said their training would commence on Monday at police lines in Qila Gujjar Singh. INTERNEWS
Restore ban on executions: EU
LeJ leader held for 2 more weeks
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan yesterday said it will set up military courts for terror-related cases, as part of an ambitious anti-terrorism plan follow-ing a deadly Taliban school attack that killed 150 people.
In a midnight address to the nation after almost 11 hours of deliberations with leaders of political parties, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said strong action was needed to root out extremism and warned no mercy would be shown to those behind attacks.
He announced the establishment of military courts as part of the 17-point plan of action — a week after a six year moratorium on the death penalty was lifted for terror cases in the wake of the deadliest assault by militants in Pakistani history.
“Special courts, headed by the officers
of armed forces, will be established for the speedy trial of terrorists,” he said.
He said the special courts will operate for two years. “The Peshawar atrocity has changed Pakistan, we need to eradi-cate the mindset of terrorism to defeat extremism and sectarianism,” said Sharif in the televised speech.
“This horrendous attack has shaken the nation... the terrorists struck the future of this country, when they mur-dered those children.”
The plan also includes cutting financial aid to terrorists and preventing banned organisations from operating with new names. He also announced the formation of special anti-terrorism force and regu-larisation of religious seminaries known as madrassas.
The ambitious “plan of action” included a wide range of measures including
constitutional ammendments, banning space for terrorists in electronic and print media, destroying their communi-cation systems, and the repatriation of Afghan refugees.
“As a father I can under how heavy these coffins were for their parents,” he said referring to the victims of last Tuesday’s massacre.
“With their blood, our children have drawn a line between us and terrorists,” he said. The meeting took place at the prime minister’s house in Islamabad.
It was called to chart out a plan to combat terrorism after the attack on the military-run school in the northwest-ern city of Peshawar that killed mostly schoolchildren.
“Only terrorists would be tried in these courts and these would not be used for political objectives,” the leader of the
opposition Syed Khursheed Shah said.“The aim of setting up military courts
is to ensure the speedy trial of terrorists, there are so many loopholes in our judi-cial system and it has failed to deliver,” Shah said.
He said the all the political parties had agreed to amend the constitution to facilitate the establishment of the mili-tary courts. The meeting also passed a unanimous resolution condemning the attack which was the deadliest in the his-tory of the country.
Following the assault, Sharif ended a six-year moratorium on the death pen-alty, reinstating it for terrorism-related cases. Officials on Monday said up to 500 executions were set to take place in com-ing weeks, after six people were hanged following the reversal of the moratorium.
Pakistan has described Tuesday’s
bloody school rampage, claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), as its own “mini 9/11,” calling it a game-changer in the fight against extremism.
In the wake of the massacre, Sharif said Pakistan would not distinguish between “good Taliban and bad Taliban” as it seeks to crush the scourge of home-grown Islamist militancy.
It has long been accused of playing a “double game” with militants, supporting groups it thinks it can use for its own strategic ends.
The TTP has said the attack was revenge for the killing of their families in an army offensive in the tribal northwest.
The offensive against longstanding Taliban and other militant strongholds in North Waziristan and Khyber tribal agencies has been going on since June.
AFP
Pakistan to set up military courts to try terroristsPrime Minister Nawaz Sharif announces 17-point anti-terrorism action plan
Big increase in gas tariff on the cardsISLAMABAD: The Nawaz Sharif government is all set to increase gas prices by 10 per cent to 64 per cent from January 1, 2015 and to this effect a notifica-tion is to be issued on December 31, 2014, sources at the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources have disclosed.
The government has decided to ensure a uniform gas tariff for captive power plants, the com-mercial, industrial and CNG, sectors that will stand at Rs750 per mmbtu.
Sources say the decision to hike gas prices has been pending for the last five months on account of political instability in the coun-try and since the political crises has subsided, the government has decided to increase the gas tar-iff by 10 per cent to 64 per cent mainly for two reasons.
INTERNEWS
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government plans to launch a crackdown against cellular phone companies, which issued illegal SIM cards used in recent terrorist acts as it considers tougher legislation to regulate the telecom sector.
“We have directed cellular com-panies to block 0.5 million illegal SIM cards by Sunday, otherwise a crackdown will be started against these companies,” a senior official of ministry of interior says.
He said Intelligence agencies are also trying to catch the former
employee of a cellular company, who issued five SIM cards on the name of a woman hailing from South Punjab. “These SIM cards were later used in the recent Peshawar school attack,” he said
He said that since 2003, more than 115 current or former
employees of these cellular com-panies are wanted in 365 ter-rorism related incidents. “These accused had issued illegal SIM cards to customers, who later used them in executing terror attacks,” he explained.
INTERNEWS
Mobile phone operators may face crackdown
12 INDIAFRIDAY 26 DECEMBER 2014
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GUWAHATI: More than 2,000 people have fled their homes in the restive Indian state of Assam after separatist rebels killed dozens of villagers, some of them children, an official said yesterday.
Residents sought shelter in makeshift camps set up by the state government following a series of coordinated attacks by armed rebels Tuesday that left at least 69 people dead, 18 of them children.
Another three people were killed on Wednesday when police shot at villagers who went to a police station to demand justice over the attacks.
“More than 2,000 villagers have sought shelter in relief camps. People are of course scared and worried about violence flaring up again,” a state welfare official said on condition of anonymity.
The tea-growing state of Assam in northeast India has
seen violent land disputes in the past between the indigenous Bodo people, Muslim settlers, and rival tribes in the area.
Police blamed Tuesday’s attacks on the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), which has waged a vio-lent decades-long campaign for an independent homeland for the Bodo. Rights groups have in the past accused government of not doing enough to tackle violence in the country’s remote northeast, which is home to many marginal-ised communities.
But Home Minister Rajnath Singh said authorities would be “tough” on those behind the latest killings, which he called “an act of terror”.
Home Minister ruled out talks with Bodo terrorists.
After visiting some of the affected areas in Kokrajhar and Sonitpur districts, Rajnath Singh said: “The violence is not merely
a case of insurgency but one of terrorism. We are going to deal with this sternly.”
He said the central govern-ment “will adopt a zero tolerance policy” towards terrorism and declared that “there would be no talks at any cost” with such mili-tant outfits.
The comments from Rajnath Singh, who flew into Assam Wednesday evening, came as the death toll in the Tuesday hor-ror in Kokrajhar, Sonitpur and Chirang districts rose to 73, offi-cials said.
ISOLATED STATE
A villager at one of the camps said he had left everything behind and was scared to go back.
“I want to go back because all my things are lying there. But I am scared that if I go back to the village, they will come again,” he told the NDTV news network.
Survivors told the Indian Express daily that the mili-tants were dressed in army uni-forms and carrying automatic weapons.
“Luckily my wife had gone to visit a relative in another village. But what will she remain alive for? We have lost our daughter and grand-children,” 60-year-old Charan Kiskoo told the paper.
Police said recent talks initi-ated by the national government with one faction of the NDFB may have provoked the attacks as some hardliners within the group opposed negotiations.
On Wednesday, home ministry ordered the deployment of troops to Assam, as villagers launched retaliatory attacks against Bodo settlements.
Television footage showed houses in flames as angry villag-ers demanded immediate action against the rebels. Earlier this
Thousands flee deadly violence in AssamWon’t talk to terrorists, says home minister
SRINAGAR/JAMMU: The BJP declared yesterday that it was determined to govern Jammu and Kashmir amid speculation that the National Conference would ally with it if the BJP didn’t insist on a Hindu chief minister for the country’s only Muslim-majority state.
BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and Ram Madhav made known the party’s intentions separately in Jammu and Srinagar, with the latter saying he was in the state to explore various options on government formation after elections led to a hung 87-member assembly.
The BJP and the National Conference, the second and third largest groups in the house with 25 and 15 members, denied they were in secret talks. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which won 28 seats, was reportedly look-ing at both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress as pos-sible allies.
Jammu and Kashmir must have a BJP-led government, party
general secretary Ram Madhav said, adding he was in Srinagar to explore the various options.
Ram Madhav told reporters: “The BJP has the mandate to lead the government in Jammu and Kashmir. I am here to explore the options.”
He added that he was meeting representatives from different parties but did not provide details.
“We are open to discussions, and meetings can be had with the prime minister also in this regard,” he added, two days after the BJP emerged as the second largest group in the Kashmir assembly for the first time.
BJP sources said that talks between the National Conference and the BJP had hit a roadblock because of the BJP’s insistence on having a Hindu chief minister.
In Jammu, Finance Minister Jaitley said the BJP would play a prominent role in government formation and the decision on its exact nature had been left to party president Amit Shah.
Briefing reporters after
meeting newly-elected BJP leg-islators, Jaitley underlined that his party got the largest popular vote in the state though it con-tested from only 76 of the 87 constituencies.
He said the BJP was in touch with “independent and unat-tached” legislators.
“Whatever government is formed, the BJP should have a prominent role in the political process as the popular mandate in terms of highest vote is with us,” he said.
The National Conference, the sources said, was ready to support and even join a BJP-led coalition on the condition that the BJP gives up its demand for a Hindu chief minister. At the same time, the PDP, while keeping its options open vis-a-vis the BJP, had sent feelers to Sajad Lone that he could be a deputy chief minister if he backed a PDP-Congress coa-lition, the sources said.
Sajad Lone’s People’s Conference has won two seats. Congress candidates were
elected from 15 constituencies.Another independent, Hakim
Yaseen, has denied media reports that he had announced support for a BJP-led government.
Seven independents have also been elected to the assembly. A group of parties will need the support of 44 members to form a government.
Earlier, Ram Madhav denied a meeting had taken place between the National Conference and the BJP leadership.
Outgoing Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who has been in New Delhi since Wednesday, retweeted Ram Madhav’s statement.
Some reports say the BJP would get the chief minister’s post for a full six years while Abdullah would join the union cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A PDP spokesperson said the reports were meant to mount pressure on it to reach an early post-election agreement with the BJP. “As of now, we have decided to wait and watch,” the spokes-person said. IANS
Pomp and gaiety mark ChristmasNEW DELHI: Pomp and gaiety marked Christmas celebrations across India yesterday.
President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted the people on the occasion.
In Delhi, Christmas was cele-brated with prayers being offered for the country’s “well-being” as well as the victims of the Dec 16 Peshawar school attack.
“We prayed for the well-being of the country and also for those innocent children who lost their lives in Peshawar,” Delhi Catholic Archdiocese spokesman Father Savarimuthu Shankar said.
“The celebrations went off very well despite the rapid increase in the number of non-Chris-tians, who visit the churches on Christmas,” he said.
IANS
BJP wants Hindu CM in Kashmir
KOTTAYAM: Fifty-nine peo-ple converted to Hinduism yes-terday in Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s home dis-trict Kottayam, a day after he said there was no forced con-version in the state.
As many as 42 people from 21 families — all of them Christians — took part in temple rituals, and amidst chanting of slogans became Hindus in Ponkunam in Kottayam district.
Another 17 people from Kottayam town also became Hindus at a temple function.
State Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) general secretary V Mohanan said what happened yes-terday and last week — when 35 people became Hindus — “was not conversion, but re-conversion”.
“Right from the time the VHP became active in Kerala, re-con-version has been taking place but
there has been no forced conver-sion at all. “What we do is all those who have gone out of Hinduism, when they express their wish to return, we help them,” Mohanan said in a press statement issued here yesterday.
Chandy had on Wednesday said Kerala has always stayed clear of forced conversion and if any individual decides to convert, no one can stop them. Hindu Ayikya Vedi leader Bhargava Ram told the media to come out with proof that there was pressure on people to convert to Hinduism.
“We have been doing this cer-emony of making people Hindus in temples in full public glare. Today, when the function took place, the media was there and we told the media to please ask those who converted if they were under pressure.
“I challenge the authorities
to register a case against us, as forced conversion is against the law of the land,” he said.
Many people appeared before the media and said they decided to convert on their own and there was no external pressure.
Communist Party of India-Marxist state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, however, said there was a secret understanding between the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Chandy.
“What’s happening is forced conversion and police have to register a case. Chandy’s state-ment that this is not forced con-version is doubtful because there is a secret understanding with the RSS and hence no case is being registered,” Vijayan said.
Additional Director General of Police A Hemachandran is con-ducting a probe into the conver-sions in the state. IANS
Six Janata Parivar parties to merge in JanPATNA: Six parties of the Janata Parivar will merge in January to take on the BJP, leaders of the JD-U and its ally RJD said here yesterday.
“After the result in the Jharkhand polls, six parties will merge in January to stop the winning rath (chariot) of the BJP ahead of the Bihar assem-bly polls next year,” Janata Dal-United state president Vashisht Narayan Singh said.
He said a new party will be formed in Bihar and at the national level.
His views were strongly sup-ported by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui, a close confidant of party chief Lalu Prasad. “It is the need of the hour for a merger soon to coun-ter the BJP in Bihar ahead of the assembly polls,” said Siddiqui, the leader of the RJD in the assembly.
Siddiqui said the six parties will launch a joint campaign after the merger. IANS
year, about 10,000 people fled their homes when violent clashes over a border dispute left more than 45 people dead.
In 2012, ethnic clashes in the same area in Assam claimed about 100 lives and displaced more than 400,000 people.
Northeast India, linked to the rest of the country by a narrow land bridge, has seen decades of unrest among ethnic and separa-tist groups.
The region is home to dozens of tribal groups and small guerrilla armies that resist rule from New Delhi. Many are fighting for sepa-rate homelands for their tribes, and they often compete against each other.
Experts say the region’s isola-tion from the rest of the country
is economic and political as well as geographical.
Those slaughtered include 21 women and 18 children. Scores of others have been injured in the mayhem. On Wednesday, three more tribals died when police fired at thousands who took to the streets.
Rajnath Singh said 50 compa-nies of paramilitary forces had been rushed to the state, and the army and Assam Rifles had been asked to cooperate with the police to control the situation.
He said the central govern-ment had taken up with Bhutan and Bangladesh the issue of mili-tants from India’s northeast hid-ing there.
“One country has assured coop-eration, and we are sure the other
will also cooperate.”Rajnath Singh visited Sonitpur
and Kokrajhar, where he went to a few relief camps where hundreds have taken shelter after fleeing their villages. The Bodo militants had torched many homes.
The minister also met with security personnel.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, who is from Arunachal Pradesh, and Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram accompanied Rajnath Singh to Assam.
Rajnath Singh has already met Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, Director General of Police Khagen Sarma, Chief Secretary Jitesh Khosla and other heads of secu-rity forces in the state.
AGENCIES
59 become Hindus in Kerala
Villagers move to a safer place after their homes were attacked and set alight at Gossaigaon, in Kokrajhar District of northeastern Assam yesterday.
A man and a child dressed in Santa Claus costumes distribute sweets to children during Christmas celebrations at the Holy Family Catholic Church in Srinagar, Kashmir, yesterday.
PM launches Good Governance DayNEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday said that “citizen first” was the mantra of his government and promised a transparent and accountable administration as various ministries launched ini-tiatives towards e-governance to mark the Good Governance Day.
In his message to the nation, Modi said that it had been his dream to bring government closer to citizens so that they become active participants in governance and consistent efforts had been made in this direction over the last seven months.
“Citizen First is our mantra, our motto and our guiding prin-ciple,” he said.
The National Democratic Alliance government had decided to observe Good Governance Day on December 25, which is birth-day of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Vajpayee was on Wednesday named for Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour. The event coincides with Christmas, a public holiday.
IANS
Homes of Bodo people burn in Kamarapura village, allegedly set alight by Adivasi tribals in retaliation following attacks by National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) militants at Gossaigaon, in Kokrajhar District.
13BUSINESS FRIDAY 26 DECEMBER 2014
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QE index gains 1,267.40 points past weekMarket capitalisation up by 9.82pcDOHA: Qatar Exchange index gained 1267.40 points, or 11.33 percent past trading week when the bourse closed yesterday at 12,449.05 points.
The index added 91.43 points yesterday to advance to 12,449.05 points from 12,357.62 on Wednesday.
Trading value during the week increased by 28.41 percent to reach QR4.54bn compared to QR3.54bn. Trading volume increased by 25.62 percent to reach 103,132,364 shares, as against 82,096,818 shares, while the number of transactions rose by 16.87 percent, to reach 43,097 transactions as compared to 36,876 transactions.
Market capitalisation rose by 9.82 percent to reach QR679bn as compared to QR619bn at the end of previous week.
Banking and financial services sector led traded value with 33.19 percent of the total traded value. Real Estate sector accounted for 31.21 percent. Industries sector accounted for 17.26 percent and consumer goods and services sec-tor accounted for 6.26 percent.
Real estate sector led traded volume past week with 49.29 per-cent of the total traded volume. Banking and financial services sector accounted for 19.65 percent. Telecoms sector accounted for 1.35 percent and industries sector accounted for 10.08 percent. Real Estate sector led traded number of transactions in the week with 31.1 percent of the total number of
transactions. Banking and finan-cial services sector accounted for 26.16 percent. Industries sector accounted for 19.03 percent and Telecoms sector accounted for 9.23 percent.
From the 43 listed compa-nies 42 ended higher, while one declined in the week.
Barwa Real Estate led traded value during the week and accounted for 18.72 percent of the total. QNB accounted for 7.85 percent and Gulf International Services (GIS) accounted for 7.71 percent.
Elsewhere, gulf stock markets rose yesterday as Saudi Arabia released a 2015 state budget that will keep spending high, reas-suring the region that economic growth is unlikely to be hurt much by the plunge of oil prices.
The main index rose a further 0.6 percent in active trade to 8,749 points yesterday, confirming a break of its downtrend line from September — a positive technical signal.
In other Gulf markets, Dubai climbed 1.4 percent, though turnover remained moderate with many investors away for end-of-year holidays. The Abu Dhabi index edged up 0.1 percent to 4,537 points.
Oman rose 0.9 percent and Egypt’s market edged down 0.3 percent yesterday.
The Kuwait index climbed 0.5 percent to 6,578 points, while Baharain index rose 0.5 percent to 1,414 points. QNA/REUTERS
Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz (centre) chairing a cabinet session in Riyadh to approve the state’s budget for 2015.
DUBAI: Saudi Arabia will lift state spending to a record in its 2015 budget while cover-ing a deficit with its huge fis-cal reserves, the government said, providing the first detailed look at how the world’s top oil exporter aims to handle an era of cheap oil.
Financial markets had feared the kingdom might slash spend-ing. But the budget, released by the Finance Ministry, sug-gests authorities are confident of their ability to ride out low oil prices and see no need for major austerity.
Some analysts believe Riyadh is content to see oil prices fall as a way to squeeze out competing producers in non-Opec nations. The budget figures imply it could pursue this strategy for years if it felt that was necessary.
“We have the ability to endure low oil prices over the medium term,” Finance Minister Ibrahim Alassaf told Saudi television after the announcement. He defined the medium term as three to five years but also said oil was expected to rebound late next year or in 2016.
John Sfakianakis, regional director of asset manager Ashmore in Riyadh, said: “The message of the budget is, ‘it’s busi-ness as usual’. They have the will and fiscal capacity to power the economy.”
Spending in the 2015 budget is projected at a record SR860bn ($230bn), up 0.6 percent from SR855bn in the 2014 budget plan - the smallest rise in over a decade.
Revenues are projected to drop to SR715bn in 2015 from SR855bn seen in 2014, leaving a deficit of
SR145bn. That would be about 5.1 percent of the ministry’s estimate of 2014 gross domestic product.
In six months, Brent crude has tumbled from around $115 a bar-rel — a level at which the king-dom was raking in giant budget surpluses — to $60.
But government reserves at the central bank, built up over four years of ultra-high oil prices, totalled SR905bn in October, enough to cover deficits of the size projected in 2015 for about six years. That excludes the govern-ment’s other assets and its ability to borrow. Saudi Arabia will con-tinue spending on development projects, social welfare and secu-rity despite the oil price slide and challenging global conditions, the ministry said.
That would be positive not only for Saudi Arabia but also for the
rest of the Gulf, as Saudi money helps drive the entire region, from the Dubai property market to Bahrain’s tourism industry and Kuwaiti construction firms.
As usual, Saudi Arabia did not reveal the oil price assumed in its budget. Monica Malik, chief econ-omist at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, said it seemed to be assum-ing oil at $55 and Saudi output broadly unchanged at 9.5 million barrels per day.
“Saudi Arabia is in a strong position to fund its deficits...It could afford the new oil price for a year or even two,” she said.
The budget plan showed heavy spending on education, health and social welfare and state loans supporting job creation. Riyadh increased its focus on these areas after the 2011 Arab Spring upris-ings. REUTERS
Saudi lifts spending in 2015 budget
RAK Ceramics to exit Sudan business, boost UAE capacityDUBAI: United Arab Emirates-based RAK Ceramics, one of the world’s biggest makers of floor and wall tiles, said yesterday it would sell its Sudan busi-ness and use the cash raised to expand its sanitary ware production capacity in the Emirates.
The company has entered an initial agreement to sell all its shares in RAK Ceramics Sudanese Investment Company, and aims to completed the sale by March 31, it said without naming the buyer or revealing the sale price. It added that it had received an initial, non-refundable cash deposit from the buyers.
At the same time, RAK Ceramics has concluded agree-ments to raise its annual sani-tary ware capacity in the UAE by 500,000 pieces, it said with-out giving further details.
In November, chief executive Abdallah Massaad said that the company was working to exit its non-core businesses.
It reported an 18.3 percent fall in third-quarter net profit to Dh57.4m ($15.6m) as it continued to book an account-ing provision for hyper-infla-tion in Iran and Sudan and reduced its non-core business earnings.
The company’s current production of sanitary ware at plants around the world exceeds 12,000 pieces per day, according to its website. REUTERS
BELGRADE: After 19 hours of debate, Serbia’s parliament adopted a 2015 budget yester-day intended to slash spending on pensions and unprofitable public industries to secure an IMF loan.
The budget targets a consoli-dated deficit at 231.9bn dinars (€1.9bn), or around 6 percent of national output. It was drafted in line with a €1bn-euro loan deal with the International Monetary Fund and sets revenues at 924.4bn dinars and expenditures at 1.11bn dinars.
The deficit, which reached more than 7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2014,
includes spending by municipali-ties and some state-run firms.
The Serbian dinar gained 0.6 percent after the adoption of the budget, trading around €121.1 per at 0950 GMT, and dealers said investors would take some reassurance that the government was finally acting to slim down the role of the state. This should also help Serbia, which struggled to shed pariah status for almost a decade after the wars of the 1990s that broke up the former Yugoslav republic, in its efforts to join the European Union.
It has failed to attract signifi-cant foreign investments, apart from a Fiat car factory, during
years when governments allowed murky privatisations and failed to cut bureaucracy and tackle cor-ruption. The unemployment rate is 25 percent.
The 2015 budget sets borrow-ing at 706.6bn dinars, partly to cover the costs of closing down loss-making state-run firms and shedding jobs in the bloated public sector. The general government deficit is seen at 4 percent of GDP. For the first time, it will include spending on sovereign guarantees for state companies that were previously listed as non-budgeted spending.
The budget could prove a landmark, said Sasa Djogovic,
an economist with the Belgrade-based Institute for Market Research (IZIT).
“It is a major swing from previ-ous budgets as it targets problem-atic spots in the economy, namely the public sector,” he said, but warned the pace of reform posed significant economic and politi-cal risks.
During the debate, marred by bickering between opposition deputies and the parliamen-tary majority led by the centre-right Serbian Progressive Party, Finance Minister Dusan Vujovic said the budget should allow the country to emerge from crisis.
“This budget demonstrates
responsible fiscal policies,” he said.It could mean cutting up to
27,000 jobs in the public sector, of which about a third will come from redundancies in pursuit of $735m-795m in savings.
Serbia’s economy is in reces-sion and is seen contracting 2 percent this year mainly due to devastating floods in May which inflicted over €1.5bn of damage. It is forecast to contract 0.5 percent next year.
As part of the 2015 budget, the government plans to cut most of its financial support, amounting to around €1bn euros a year, to hundreds of loss-making state enterprises. REUTERS
Serbia approves job-cutting budget to win IMF deal
Trading lessons
Trader Peter Tuchman talks to a boy on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on the last day of trading before Christmas holidays in New York on Wednesday. Traders often bring their children to work on the shortened trading day.
MOSCOW: A Russian Black Sea city declared a state of emergency yesterdya after a burst pipeline spewed oil into the landlocked water body, with stormy weather hampering cleanup efforts.
The pipeline near the city of Tuapse burst late Tuesday, accord-ing to ChernomorTransneft, a subsidiary of Russia’s main oil transport company Transneft.
“The wall of the pipeline broke due to... a landslide,” the com-pany said in a statement, add-ing that the rupture caused 8.4 cubic metres to leak out into the Tuapse river, which empties into the Black Sea.
Environmentalists warned however that the volume of the spill could be nearly 100 times greater than claimed by Transneft. The oil transport
company said the damaged sec-tion of the pipeline — about 9km from the Black Sea coast — was under construction by a subsidi-ary of oil giant Rosneft and was not yet in use by Transneft.
Rosneft also operates a major oil refinery in Tuapse. Russia’s sea and river transport agency said a cleanup mission was launched on Wednesday afternoon, though stormy weather precluded the use of boats. The local authorities declared a state of emergency in Tuapse and more than 300 work-ers were at the scene, according to the regional government website.
“There is a state of emergency for Tuapse city,” a statement on the Krasnodar regional govern-ment website said. “Work is com-plicated by a storm, with waves two to three metres high,” it said.
AFP
Russia fights to contain Black Sea coast oil spill
14 BUSINESSFRIDAY 26 DECEMBER 2014
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
Russia says rouble crisis over as reserves diveInflation tops 10pc for first time since 2009; Forex reserves drop by $15.7bn in one week to below $400bnMOSCOW: Russia said yester-day its currency crisis was over even though its forex reserves have plunged and annual infla-tion has climbed above 10 per-cent, adding to the problems facing the government as it fights its worst economic crisis since 1998.
The rouble plunged to all-time lows last week on heavy falls in the price of oil, the back-bone of the Russian economy, and Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis that made it near impossible for Russian firms to borrow on Western markets.
But it has since rebounded sharply after authorities took steps to halt its slide and bring down inflation, which after years of stability threatens President Vladimir Putin’s reputation for ensuring the country’s prosperity.
Those measures included a hike in interest rates to 17 per-cent from 10.5 percent, curbs on grain exports and informal capi-tal controls.
“The key rate was raised in order to stabilise the situation on the currency market. ... That period has already, in our opin-ion, passed. The rouble is now strengthening,” Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told the upper house of parliament yesterday.
He added that interest rates would be lowered if the situa-tion remained stable. Standard & Poor’s credit ratings agency said this week it could downgrade Russia to junk as soon as January due to a rapid deterioration in “monetary flexibility”.
Keen to avert a downgrade, Russia said it had started talks
with ratings agencies to explain the government’s actions. Siluanov said the budget deficit next year would be “significantly more” than the 0.6 percent of gross domestic product originally planned.
The rouble slumped to 80 per dollar in mid-December from an average of 30-35 in the first half of 2014. It has strengthened in the last few days to trade as strong as 52 per dollar, in part thanks to government pressure on exporters to sell hard cur-rency. Russians have tracked the exchange rate closely since the collapse of the Soviet Union, when hyper-inflation wiped out their savings over several years in the early 1990s. The central bank had to spend heavily in recent months to prop the currency.
Last week, Russia’s gold and foreign currency reserves dropped by as much as $15.7bn
to below $400bn for the first time since August 2009 and down from over $510bn at the start of the year.
Analysts said around $5bn were spent on propping up the rouble, while around $7bn was due to foreign currency loaned to banks as part of repo opera-tions, meaning the money will be returned to the regulator at a later stage.
Russia imports large amounts of food, high-tech equipment and cars. As the rouble weakens it has to pay more for its imports, which pushes up inflation at home and in turn encourages people to protect their earnings by buying dollars, thereby adding to the pressure on the rouble.
Putin’s economic aide Andrei Belousov said that annual infla-tion was at 10.4 percent and could reach around 11 percent by the end of the month, surpassing the
psychologically key 10 percent mark for the first time since the 2008-09 global financial crisis.
Prices for some goods, such as beef and fish, have risen 40 to 50 percent in recent months after Russia slapped an import ban on certain Western food products in retaliation for European Union and US sanctions over Ukraine.
Bank officials say they saw a spike in withdrawals from rou-ble deposits in mid-December as Russians rushed to convert their savings into hard currencies.
The deputy head of top state lender Sberbank, Alexander Torbakhov, said this week that demand for hard currencies spiked to five times usual levels last week, when the rouble plum-meted to all-time lows.
But he added that the bank had seen depositors returning in large numbers after most lend-ers ramped up their deposit rates, some offering as much as 20 per-cent in annual interest.
“We have managed to cope (with deposit withdrawals). Can the situation be repeated? Yes, it can,” Torbakhov said, declining to discuss what could trigger a new flurry of withdrawals.
Analysts say that apart from oil prices, they will watch ratings agency decisions.
S&P warned this week there was at least a 50 percent chance it would cut Russia’s sovereign rating below investment grade within 90 days. Moody’s ratings agency warned this week that Russia’s GDP could contract by 5.5 percent in 2015 and 3 percent in 2016 due to weaker oil prices and the rouble’s slide. REUTERS
A Russian woman walks behind the electronic information panels displaying currency exchange rates during snowfall in Moscow yesterday.
Expats eye exit after rouble routMOSCOW: The plunge of the rouble hasn’t left only Russians shell shocked — foreign workers from traders to maids are con-sidering bailing out as Moscow turns from an El Dorado into a financial black hole. The phenomenon is not quantifiable nor is there anything to indicate an exodus of expatriates is under way, but many admit to considering whether it is time to leave Russia after the rouble shed a quarter of its value in a couple of days last week. While the rouble has recovered somewhat, it is still down some 40 percent against the dollar and euro this year, leaving many in a precarious financial position. Joy left her three young children in Manila earlier this year to cash in on the high wages offered by well-to-do Muscovites to clean their apart-ments. “When I arrived in April, I was paid 1,500 roubles, or $42, for four hours of housecleaning,” said the 28-year-old. “Today, for the same work, it comes out to just $20.” She had been lured here from the Philippines by friends who had been working in Moscow. AFP
Japan $29bn stimulus seeks quick boost for regionTOKYO: Japan aims to give a quick boost to lagging regional economies and low-income households with sub-sidies, merchandise vouchers and other schemes in a $29bn stimulus package aimed at rejuvenating a two-year reflationary effort, a draft of the plan showed.
The draft also urges the Bank of Japan to hit its 2 per-cent inflation goal as quickly as possible, and promises to do its utmost to halve Japan’s primary budget deficit in the fiscal year starting next April, to curb a runaway public debt.
The package, worth around 3.5 trillion yen ($29.06bn) and expected to be approved by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet tomorrow, follows a massive victory by his ruling coalition in a general elec-tion earlier this month, giving him a fresh mandate to push through his “Abenomics” stim-ulus policies.
The stimulus will not require fresh debt issuance as the Finance Ministry will fund it with unspent money from previous budgets and tax revenues that have exceeded budget forecasts as the econ-omy recovered, officials say.
The package centres on sub-sidies and payouts to local gov-ernments to carry out steps to stimulate household consump-tion and support small firms, as Abe focuses on regional economies ahead of nation-wide local elections planned in April.
Eligible schemes could include distributing cou-pons to buy merchandise or fuel subsidies for low-income households. It will also seek to bolster the housing market by lowering the mortgage rates offered by a government home loan agency.
The draft says the economy is still in a moderate recov-ery trend but lingering areas of weakness persist, includ-ing consumer spending, which was hit hard by an April sales tax hike. REUTERS
CHICAGO: US consumers have not turned out in force for the final shopping days before Christmas, suggesting that traditional retailers will just meet industry sales forecasts in a season marked by deep dis-counts and growing encroach-ment from online rivals led by Amazon.com Inc.
Super Saturday — the last pre-Christmas Saturday, which fell on December 20 this year — failed to make up for spotty performance this season. That included a dis-appointing Black Friday, the day after the US Thanksgiving holiday that is typically one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
“The past weekend will not save this holiday season,” said Craig Johnson, president of the retail and consumer product-oriented private equity fund Customer Growth Partners. “But combined with online sales, it would cer-tainly save the year from being a dismal one.”
Johnson said if sales hold up in the next few days and the week after Christmas, retailers may finish close to his company’s November and December forecast of 3.4 percent growth in store and online sales. He estimates that Super Saturday weekend sales, which include store and online,
rose 2.5 percent to $42bn this year. The National Retail Federation (NRF), the leading industry trade body, forecast a 4.1 percent rise in holiday sales this year, including online and store sales. The NRF is hoping to meet its expectations amid falling gasoline prices, lower US unemployment and consumer spending which showed signs of increasing during the first two weeks of December.
Promotions heated up in the past five days but that did not boost store traffic materially, said Keith Jelinek, senior managing director of FTI Consulting.
Most retailers offered an addi-tional 20 to 30 percent off on top of 30 to 40 percent discounts on a wide range of products.
Best-sellers during the season included Apple Inc’s iPhone 6, toys based on the Walt Disney Co ani-mated movie “Frozen,” and winter clothing such as coats from retail-ers like Macy’s Inc after a cold spell last month.
Home appliances including mixers, coffee makers and food processors from chains like Home Depot Inc, Lowe’s Companies Inc JC Penney Co Inc and Target Corp were also particularly popular, industry-watchers said.
Super Saturday sales rose 0.5 percent to $9.15bn from $9.1bn a
US retailers likely to just meet holiday sales forecasts
People shop at an open-air holiday market in the rain on Christmas eve in Union Square in New York City.
year ago, according to early esti-mates by ShopperTrak, which surveys spending at brick-and-mortar stores. This fell short of the firm’s $10bn sales forecast for the day, founder Bill Martin said.
Analytics firm RetailNext, which tracks specialty stores and large footprint retailers, said
sales dropped 8.9 percent over the weekend versus a year ago, and store traffic dipped 10.2 percent. However, customers who did hit the stores spent more.
Specialty stores in the United States include chains like Best Buy Co Inc and large footprint retailers include Wal-Mart Stores
Inc and Target.“Even with this drop in growth,
Super Saturday was still better compared to Black Friday,” said Shelley Kohan, vice president of retail consulting at RetailNext. “It generated a tad more in terms of sales on slightly less traffic.”
REUTERS
NEW DELHI: JPMorgan Chase & Co is partnering with SpiceJet Ltd’s co-founder for a $200m holding in the distressed Indian carrier, a senior govern-ment official said.
A private-equity unit of JPMorgan and Ajay Singh, who quit as a director of the airline in 2010, plan to buy the entire stake held by majority share-holder Kalanithi Maran, said the official with direct knowledge of Singh’s plans. SpiceJet is under pressure to end a more than two-year search for an investor after missing salary payment to staff and cancelling about 2,000 flights this month. The government added to the saga this month with a flip-flop over a proposed rescue package, initially saying it
would ask banks to lend as much as Rs6bn to the carrier before stating later that it can’t help an individual company.
JPMorgan and Singh, who have invested about Rs170m in SpiceJet to help it clear dues to oil refin-ers, plan to finalise the deal in a month’s time, the official said. The investors will brief the civil aviation ministry tomorrow on the proposal, the person said.
Singh and SpiceJet spokes-woman Sudipta Das didn’t respond to calls to their mobile phones. Maran and his company KAL Airways Pvt own more than 58 percent of SpiceJet. He paid Rs7.4bn to buy a stake from Wilbur Ross in 2010, and invested a further Rs5.6bn, according to the airline. BLOOMBERG
JPMorgan, Singh set to invest $200m in SpiceJet
TOKYO: Fuji Heavy Industries, the maker of Subaru brand cars and SUVs, has scrapped a plan to shift production of the new XV Crosstrek to its US plant and will instead make the SUV in Japan, a source familiar with the company’s production plans said.
Fuji Heavy, which has a policy of making cars in markets where they are sold, decided to make the new vehicle in Japan because of capacity constraints in Indiana and the relatively high sales price of the crossover SUV, which makes domestic production more viable, the source said.
Pricing for the Crosstrek starts at just under $25,000 for the lim-ited edition and just under $30,000 for the hybrid version.
The company had originally planned to make about 65,000 XV Crosstrek vehicles a year in Lafayette, Indiana, but will instead assemble them at its plant in Gunma prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, according to production plans reviewed.
The automaker has achieved record-breaking sales in the United States, with a 21 percent surge in the year through November com-pared with a year earlier.
A Fuji Heavy spokesman said he could not comment on produc-tion plans for individual vehicles but said there was no change to the company’s overall strategy of localising production.
Fuji Heavy’s decision to keep Crosstrek production in Japan
follows moves by other Japanese automakers to shift some produc-tion back home as the yen weak-ens. Since mid-October, the yen has lost about 11 percent against the US dollar and now trades above 120 per dollar, its lowest since 2007. Fuji Heavy is plan-ning to begin manufacturing the Crosstrek in Japan around April 2017, the source said.
Toyota Motor Corp announced in late 2013 that it would end its arrangement with Fuji Heavy for producing Camry sedans at the Indiana plant, freeing up capacity for Subaru models.
Toyota is considering moving production of some new Camrys from its Kentucky plant to Japan.
REUTERS
Subaru scraps plan to shift Crosstrek production to US
15BUSINESS FRIDAY 26 DECEMBER 2014
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
Dubai market faces winter without Russians
BY CHRISTOPHER LANGNER
The lack of oil has turned into a mark of a winner in the developing world’s bond markets. And that’s proven to be a boon for borrowers in Asia. Dollar-denominated notes from the region, a net energy importer, had the biggest returns in
emerging markets this year with a 7.49 percent advance. The world’s fastest-growing continent also held up better in December, when the selloff in crude oil upended issuers from commodity-producing companies in Russia and Brazil.
Rising Asian debt demand helped push dollar issuance to a record $197bn this year, more than Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa combined, as borrowing costs close to record lows spurred investment from textiles to Internet services. That spurred growth in Asia, which expanded 6.3 percent last quarter, at least twice the pace in the rest of emerging markets.
“The best region by a long shot is Asia,” said Jonathan Lemco, a fixed-income money manager at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania-based Vanguard Group, which oversees about $3 trillion. “The biggest diver-gence is whether you sell oil or commodities or not” and countries in Asia are “more fiscally prudent than other parts of the world. Growth, certainly in China, Indonesia and the Philippines, is better.”
Brent crude tumbled to its lowest level since May 2009 last week as the Opec lowered its estimate for demand in 2015. Its 46 percent plummet since June has sliced energy costs for India, China and other countries in Asia. They’re also benefiting from a supply glut that’s pushed metal and coal prices deeper into a bear market.
In 2014, Asia corporate dollar bond returns have been led by compa-nies including Indonesian electricity distributor PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara, whose notes due 2042 are up 25.9 percent, and developer China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd., whose 2042 bonds gained 10.2 percent this half alone. That exceeded advances of 7.2 percent in the Middle East, 4.6 percent in Latin America and 1.9 percent in Africa, data compiled by JPMorgan Chase & Co. show. Emerging Europe lost 8.8 percent. This month, Asia has fallen less than 1 percent. Europe had the biggest losses with a 7.19 decline as Russia was rocked increased sanctions and a swoon in the ruble. Bonds due 2020 from Moscow’s OAO TMK, the world’s biggest oil and gas pipemaker, have lost 28.4 percent this month. In Latin America, Petroleo Brasileiro SA, the state- controlled oil producer, paced declines as a widening bribery investigation compounded the slump in crude. The company’s 2023 dollar debentures are down 7.9 percent this half.
“Markets are telling us there’s a significant divergence” among these countries, said London-based Yerlan Syzdykov, an emerging markets money manager at Pioneer Investment Management Ltd, which oversaw $248bn as of November 30. Even with People’s Bank of China Chief Economist Ma Jun forecasting growth of 7.1 percent next year, the slowest since 1990, that’s still faster than most emerg-ing countries. Brazil will expand 0.85 percent next year, while Russia will contract, according to economists surveyed.
In India, investment and growth have both increased since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in May and the finance ministry said December 12 the economy may expand as much as 6.5 percent next fiscal year. Moody’s Investors Service said in October Modi should enhance the credit profile of India, which it rates Baa3, the lowest investment grade. Mumbai-based Reliance Industries Ltd.’s perpetual dollar bonds returned 23.1 percent this year.
“India at the moment looks like a star,” Vanguard’s Lemco said. Russia, on the other hand, “has been spending a fortune to prop up its currency.” Offshore bonds from Russian companies have lost 13.7 per-cent this year, with only Ukrainian bonds logging a worse performance.
In Venezuela, the cost to insure against a default by state oil com-pany Petroleos de Venezuela SA for five years soared to a record high this month. Based on credit-default swaps, traders are pricing in a 92 percent likelihood that the Caracas-based group will renege on its obligations before 2020.
Asia’s record supply of debt could become a cause for concern as the US Fed prepares to raise rates, according to Rosemary Fu, a senior credit analyst in Singapore at the emerging corporate team of Pictet Asset Management, a unit of Banque Pictet & Cie SA, which had 404bn Swiss francs ($409bn) under management or custody on June 30. Chinese banks also have large amounts of soured loans and policy makers are seeking to reduce leverage. “We’ve absorbed a gigantic amount of supply,” Fu said.
Diverging benchmark borrowing costs in the developing world’s biggest nations may help keep Asian bonds in demand.
While Chinese and Indian authorities ease monetary policy, econo-mists in a central bank survey expect rates in Brazil to rise 0.75 percentage point to 12.5 percent by the end of next year. Lower geopo-litical risks in Asia and falling commodity prices will support demand, according to Brigitte Posch, the London-based head of emerging-market corporate debt at Babson Capital Management. Asia has
“benefited from lower levels of volatility,” she said. It’s “enjoying a safe haven status as investors shun other regions.” BLOOMBERG
Why Asian bond buyers can dismiss oil plunge
Fed crisis plan is now China’s influence toolBY SCOTT LANMAN and SIMON KENNEDY
Just like the television, iPhone and American flags, central-bank inter-national currency swaps are a US creation now
made in China though only the swaps serve as a $500bn state tool of economic and geopolitical power.
The Federal Reserve began foreign-exchange swap lines with allies including West Germany at the peak of the Cold War in 1962 to defend against losses from gold reserves, and in 2007 revived the programme to fight the financial crisis. While the Fed’s programme has gone virtually dormant, the People’s Bank of China has been busy signing agreements over the past six years across Europe, Asia and the Americas as it seeks to expand the yuan’s role in global trade and finance.
Here’s how the deals work: Central bank A lends its currency in exchange for that of central bank B. At maturity, B returns the full amount of currency to A plus interest. That saves the original lender from assuming the risk of fluctuating exchange
rates. As a way of spraying cur-rencies around the world quickly, the pacts have proliferated to doz-ens of central banks. What makes China different is that the world’s second-largest economy is using swaps to play offence, not defence.
“In 2008 they were crucial, and if the Fed hadn’t behaved as it did then the global recession we had would have been far worse than it was,” said William Allen, a former Bank of England offi-cial who has studied swaps and is now a senior visiting fellow at Cass Business School in London. “China’s objectives are not to do with crisis management, but promoting the use of the yuan in international trade.”
Those objectives came to the forefront in recent days when Chinese officials signalled that they are willing to expand a 150bn-yuan ($24bn) swap line to help Russia weather the worst economic crisis since its 1998 default. That highlights China’s goals in making available swap funds of as much as 3.1 trillion yuan, or the equivalent of about $500bn: help countries in need such as Russia and Argentina, increase the currency’s use in trade with partners including
Thailand and deepen financial-market ties with the UK and Europe. In the case of Russia, it also increases its power at a time when President Vladimir Putin’s government is being rebuffed by international markets and capitals because of its aggression toward Ukraine.
“From China’s point of view, there is a strong element of show-ing its ability to increase its stra-tegic influence through political and economic means,” said Eswar Prasad, a former head of the IMF’s China and financial-studies divisions who wrote about swap lines in his 2014 book. “Practically every month China signs a swap deal,” Prasad said.
Transactions under the swap lines amounted to 294bn yuan in the third quarter and “played an active role in promoting bilateral trade and investment,” the PBOC said in its monetary-policy report in November.
Use of the Fed’s swap lines, which peaked at almost $600bn in 2008 as the world needed dollars in a hurry, declined to $2m as of last week. The US central bank in October 2013 made the swap lines permanent with central banks in Europe, the UK, Canada, Japan
and Switzerland. “Swaps calm crisis situations by both supple-menting foreign countries’ dollar reserves and by signalling central bank cooperation,” economists including Michael D Bordo of Rutgers University in New Jersey wrote in a study published this month by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
China’s swap lines represent a cross-section of its geopoliti-cal aims: There are most of the same major advanced nations as the US; key Asian partners like Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand; oil sup-pliers like the United Arab Emirates and Qatar; and neigh-bours including Mongolia and Kazakhstan. Others are tougher to categorise, like Hungary, Albania and what Allen said have been “bizarre ones like Belarus.”
In addition to the bilateral agreements that the US and China have made with other nations, Japan has signed deals with trading partners includ-ing the Philippines, Indonesia and India; Australia made a deal with South Korea; Switzerland and Poland reached a pact; and South Korea inked an accord with Malaysia. BLOOMBERG
BY ZAINAB FATTAH and DARIA SOLOVIEVA
Russian- speak ing clerks sit idle in the dozens of shops that line Dubai’s Deira fur market, waiting
for someone to come in and look at the racks stuffed with mink, sable and ermine coats. This was supposed to be the busiest time of the year.
“We knew the storm was com-ing, but we didn’t realise how strong it would be,” said George, a shopkeeper who says sales have dropped by about 70 percent this year. The store hasn’t sold any coats at the top price of $100,000 after several were bought in 2013, he said.
The Russians aren’t coming and that means pain for the retail, tourism and real estate markets that underpin Dubai’s foreigner-driven economy. Russia’s eco-nomic turmoil means Dubai is losing one of its biggest sources of customers at a time when events such as the falling oil price and
mortgage-lending restrictions are already putting pressure on those markets. “With the rouble’s decline, a property that would have cost $1m now costs $2m,” said Anna Kochetulim, a Dubai-based property broker. Her firm, which mainly caters to Russians, saw business shrink by 90 percent over the past several months.
The rouble dropped 38 percent against the dollar since the begin-ning of June as oil prices reached a five-year low. That made for-eign goods and travel abroad twice as expensive for those who are paid in roubles. The United Arab Emirates’ dirham is pegged to the dollar. Dubai’s economy grew at an estimated 4 percent this year, the Department of Economic Development said. The International Monetary Fund projected growth of 5 percent in 2014 compared with 4.6 percent last year.
Russian visitors to Dubai typi-cally surge toward the end of the year and into early January, when many take their longest holidays. The country’s economic
turmoil deepened in December as oil slumped and the rouble’s drop accelerated.
Russian hotel guests in Dubai have dropped by 16 percent through the end of October compared with the same period a year ago, according to Issam Abdul Rahim Kazim, chief execu-tive officer of Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing.
The decline comes as an increase in rooms is hurting occu-pancy and profitability at Dubai hotels. Occupancy in November fell 2.5 percentage points to 85.5 percent, while revenue per avail-able room dropped by 9.2 percent, industry researcher STR Global said. Around 27,000 hotel rooms are set to be completed through 2017, about 5.5 percent of current supply, according to a report by broker CBRE Group Inc. More than 3,500 rooms were added in 2014. Dubai’s occupancy rate is among the highest in the world, averaging around 80 percent in the past four years, Philip Wooller, Middle East and Africa director
at STR Global, said in September.“The middle and upper-middle
segments collapsed completely” for travel companies, said Dennis Dolmatov, business development director at Destinations of the World. “Companies working with charter flights and with large tour operators have had declines of 30 percent or more. They are losing margins as well because they’re having to fight for each tourist.”
Hyatt International, which has six hotels in the UAE including four in Dubai, saw the number of its Russian guests drop by 15 percent since August, said Tareq Daoud, regional vice president of Middle East sales.
The decrease in Russian tour-ists is coming as arrivals increase from China, Oman, India and the UK. The number of Chinese visitors climbed 25 percent, while Indian and British tourists grew 10 percent and 9 percent respec-tively this year through October, according to the city’s tourism authority.
Russian property buyers have almost disappeared, stopped by
the currency’s decline and inter-national sanctions that make moving money abroad more dif-ficult. Dubai developments such as Jumeirah Beach Residence and the Palm Jumeirah artificial island have long been popular with wealthy Russians looking for vacation homes, said Zhanna Yerkozhanova, a managing partner at BEBO Real Estate brokerage.
Kochetulim recalled a Russian who was unable to transfer the equivalent of Dh6m ($1.6m) to pay for an apartment on the Palm Jumeirah. Banks refused to allow the buyer to open an account in Dubai, forcing him to cancel the offer. BEBO’s Yerkozhanova said she has had a similar experience.
Russians were the sixth-big-gest group of foreign homebuy-ers in Dubai in the year through November 15 after being fifth last year. Transactions totalled Dh2bn in the period, compared with Dh3bn for all of 2013.
“When a significant chunk of the market is withdrawn, the impact will be felt and a lot of developers will have to rethink
their projects,” said Craig Plumb, head of Middle East research at broker Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. Even though demand from places such as China and West Africa has been growing, it won’t make up for the loss of Russian buyers, he said.
Retailers in Dubai are feeling the decline. Spending by Russian tourists dropped by about 10 per-cent this year, according to Nikola Kosutic, research manager at Euromonitor. Visitors from the country spent Dh3.3bn last year.
“They are big spenders. They buy luxury goods, which are sig-nificantly cheaper in the UAE than in Moscow or St Petersburg,” Kosutic said. Some retailers “won’t feel a thing, while others will have a devastating decline in sales.”
Tourists account for as much as 35 percent of all spending in Dubai and the decline in Russians has had an impact, said David Macadam, CEO at the International Council of Shopping Centers. Dubai has also witnessed a decline in spend-ing by visitors from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, he said.
BLOOMBERG
Cartoon Arts International / The New York Times Syndicate
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Formula One showed its best and worst in 2014Hamilton, Rosberg’s neck-and-neck rivalry spiced up seasonLONDON: Formula One entered a brave new world in 2014 but some-times the glamour sport seemed more cruel than cool, and more determined to alienate than attract new fans.
There was plenty to savour, of course, with dominant Mercedes driv-ers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg taking their wheel-to-wheel duel down to the wire in one of the great rivalries of recent years.
Amid all the flare-ups and frosti-ness, culminating in the ‘Duel in the Desert’ showdown also known as ‘Abu Double’, Formula One presented a compelling storyline at the start of a new V6 turbo hybrid era.
When Hamilton took his 11th win of the campaign, he became the first ‘Silver Arrows’ driver to take the title since Juan Manuel Fangio in 1955 and the first Briton to become a multiple champion since Jackie Stewart in 1971.
If that recalled glories of old, with Hamilton in tears as he celebrated his second crown, the ‘cruel sport’ also revived darker memories.
Only months after marking the 20th anniversary of Brazilian Ayrton Senna’s death at Imola in 1994, Formula One endured its worst moment since that last driver fatality.
Jules Bianchi, racing for the strug-gling Marussia team, skidded off at a wet Japanese Grand Prix in October and slammed into a recovery tractor. The Frenchman suffered severe brain injuries and remains critical.
The tragedy hung over the next race in Sochi, the first ever held in Russia, and the remainder of a season that had started with Michael Schumacher fight-ing for his life after a skiing accident.
Formula One also sustained s e l f - i n fl i c t e d wounds, notably the controver-sial double points experiment at the Abu Dhabi finale.
Fans saw it as a needless gim-mick, introduced after Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel won four titles in a row and the last nine races of 2013, and it will not return in 2015.
The man beh ind i t , c o m m e r c i a l supremo Bernie Ecclestone, was busy on several fronts.
Those who had written off the diminutive 84-year-old bil-lionaire were confounded when he extricated himself from a bribery court case in Germany by paying a $100m fee.
The Briton was loud in criticising the quiet new engines that replaced the screaming V8s, and made more headlines by snubbing social media and suggesting the sport was more inter-ested in wealthy 70-year-olds than the young.
There was more negativity from those whose power units were no match for Mercedes, winners of a record 16 of 19 races with 18 pole positions and 11 one-two finishes.
By year end, the noise debate had died down but the good news story of cars racing hard and fast while con-suming much less fuel was lost in wild talk of potential boycotts and argu-ments about money.
Marussia folded after missing the last three races while Caterham sat out two but made it to Abu Dhabi in the hope of finding a buyer.
The wrangling over revenues and costs, and fears that other small teams could also collapse, contrasted to the thrills on the track.
Hamilton and Rosberg were the main men but grinning Australian Daniel Ricciardo, in his first season with Red Bull, was a revelation as he took his first three wins and eclipsed Vettel.
Vettel shuffled off without a win to Ferrari, who drew a blank for the first time since 1993 and lost Fernando Alonso as well as two team principals and chairman Luca di Montezemolo.
Alonso will hope for better at McLaren, who start their new Honda partnership seeking a first victory since 2012. Williams, third overall, enjoyed their best season in more than a decade. Mercedes may have more of a battle next year. REUTERS
The prestigious annual FIA Prize-giving ceremony, which honours the achievements of all FIA Champions over the past season, took place in Doha on December 5.
CHILDHOOD FRIENDS TO ARCH RIVALS: Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg’s fight for the 2014 title was one of the most fascinating battles in any sport.
Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone was busy on several fronts.
Susie Wolff became the first woman in 22 years to drive a Formula One racing car in an official competitive session when she took the wheel of a Williams during a practice session for the British Grand Prix.
Course marshals and doctors attend to Formula One driver Jules Bianchi at the crash site during the Japanese Grand Prix at the Suzuka Circuit. The Frenchman suffered severe brain injuries and remains critical.
Max Verstappen became the youngest driver to take part in a Formula One weekend when he drove a Toro Rosso in practice at the Japanese Grand Prix, only three days after his 17th birthday.
19SPORT FRIDAY 26 DECEMBER 2014
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English Premier League all set for bumper Boxing DayAll 20 of England’s top-flight clubs will be in action on the same dayLONDON: While professional footballers in the rest of Europe sleep off their Christmas hang-overs, the Premier League ploughs on regardless today with a bumper schedule of tra-ditional Boxing Day fixtures.
For the first time in the 2014-15 season, all 20 English top-flight clubs will be in action on the same day, with leaders Chelsea’s home game against high-flying London rivals West Ham United the stand-out match.
Chelsea’s professional 2-0 vic-tory at Stoke City on Monday allowed Jose Mourinho’s side to re-establish a three-point lead over champions Manchester City, who visit West Bromwich Albion today.
The visit of fourth-place West Ham marks the start of a run of five games in less than two weeks, which includes an FA Cup third-round tie at home to second-tier Watford on January 4.
Mourinho’s side also remain in contention in the League Cup and the Champions League, and mid-fielder Nemanja Matic believes they can go all the way in all four competitions.
“I think it’s possible. We have a chance,” the Serbian told several British newspapers.
“I don’t want to say that we’re going to, but we’re going to try. We have quality. We will see if we can do. But I am confident, I believe in my team, my team-mates, so everything is possible.”
Belgian winger Eden Hazard is a doubt for Chelsea after hobbling off against Stoke, with Brazilian playmaker Oscar a potential can-didate to replace him.
West Ham, meanwhile, will be boosted by the return to fitness of midfielder Mark Noble, who has missed the last four games with an Achilles problem.
Injuries are a major concern for second-place City, who will be without all their senior strikers — Edin Dzeko, Stevan Jovetic and
top scorer Sergio Aguero — for the trip to West Brom.
But they can equal a club record of nine successive wins if they prevail at The Hawthorns and manager Manuel Pellegrini believes that after a mid-autumn wobble, his side have rediscovered the form that swept them to the title in May.
“We are playing now with the intensity and style of play we always do,” said the Chilean. “Again we have players in high level of performance and good moments.
“We are trusting in what we do so, in the same way maybe we played in a poor way two months ago, we are doing very well.”
Third-place Manchester United saw a six-game winning run come to an end in a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa last weekend, but confidence at Old Trafford remains high ahead of today’s visit of Newcastle United.
Manager Louis van Gaal has granted his players Christmas Day off, rather than oblig-ing them to train, and captain Wayne Rooney says that he and his team-mates are eager to repay the Dutchman’s benevolence.
“We’re not training on Christmas Day this year because we’ll be spending it at home, which will be good for the foreign players and those of us with chil-dren,” said Rooney, who has two
young sons.“It must be strange for the new
players to have more games than ever over Christmas, having had the time off previously.
“They have to adapt and be ready for it, while being aware of the fixture list. I’m sure they’ll be prepared for the upcoming games.”
United trail Chelsea by 10 points and City by seven, while West Ham are a point further back, and there is a glut of teams vying to break into the top four.
Fifth-place Southampton, who are two points behind West Ham, visit Crystal Palace on Friday, having snapped a damaging run of five straight defeats in all
competitions by winning 3-0 to home to Everton last weekend.
North London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur are both two points below Southampton.
Arsenal host Queens Park Rangers, while Tottenham visit bottom club Leicester City.
Liverpool, runners-up last sea-son, are a further five points off the pace in 10th place, but after last Sunday’s last-gasp 2-2 draw with Arsenal, manager Brendan Rodgers said he remained confi-dent of a top-four finish.
On Boxing Day Liverpool travel to third-bottom Burnley, who trail Palace on goal difference in the battle to escape the relegation zone. AFP
Lampard hope lights Man City’s striker gloomWEST BROMWICH: Manchester City’s attacking injury problems remain ahead of today’s trip to West Bromwich Albion, but manager Manuel Pellegrini expects better news concerning on-loan midfielder Frank Lampard before 2015 arrives.
Lampard’s loan move from City’s sister club New York City in Major League Soccer is due to expire at the end of the month.
But Pellegrini is confident he will sign the 36-year-old for the remainder of the season, regard-less of whatever difficulties it may present to the American club as they prepare for their inaugural season.
“I hope Frank’s situation will be resolved in the next days,” said Pellegrini, whose side trail lead-ers Chelsea by three points in the Premier League.
“I said in the beginning it will be during December we are going to have the last decision. I repeat, Frank is very important for our team so I hope he will stay here.
“I don’t think it will upset New York. That is why we have long conversations with all of them. That is just one club, so I think that what is better for the club is better for all the clubs.”
While Lampard will be part of the City squad at The Hawthorns on Friday, Pellegrini will be with-out his injured front-line forwards Edin Dzeko, Stevan Jovetic and, most damagingly of all, leading scorer Sergio Aguero.
Jovetic may play again before the turn of the year, with City hosting Burnley on Sunday, but Dzeko and Aguero are expected to be sidelined until the second half of January.
Club captain Vincent Kompany is also due to return from injury over that period, but in any case, City have hardly stuttered during their current personnel problems.
The defending Premier League champions will take an eight-game winning run in all compe-titions to West Brom, while the four games since Aguero injured his hamstring at the start of the month have all ended in victory.
“I think we need them as soon as we can,” said Pellegrini of his injured players. AFP
FROM LEFT: Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho, Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger and Manchester United’s Louis van Gaal.
Stanton eyeing play-off return, Manziel shut down for seasonNEW YORK: One NFL quar-terback is eyeing a play-off return, another has been shut down for the season, and a third team is weighing its options at the position.
Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said on Wednesday that quarterback Drew Stanton has an “85 percent” chance to be back for the play-offs.
Meanwhile, the Cleveland Browns placed rookie quarter-back Johnny Manziel on injured reserve with a hamstring injury, while Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly said the team must determine whether Nick Foles is their future quarterback.
Stanton is likely out of Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers to give his right knee time to heal, but Arians hopes Stanton will be ready for the Cardinals’ first postseason game since 2009.
Manziel was hurt during the second quarter Sunday in Cleveland’s 17-13 loss to the Carolina Panthers. He started two games this season and completed 18 of 35 passes for 175 yards and added nine rushes for 29 yards.
In Philadelphia, Kelly said: “We’ve got to make decisions moving forward in terms of what we’re going to do (at quarter-back)... It doesn’t matter if I (got enough of a look.) The reality is the reality.”
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Falcons promoted running back Jerome Smith to the active roster due to uncertainty over Steven Jackson, who has a quadriceps injury.
Jackson underwent an MRI exam Tuesday, but his status is unknown heading into Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers. Jackson was unable
to practice Wednesday. He has rushed for 707 yards this season.
The Browns signed long snap-per Charley Hughlett to the active roster from the Kansas City Chiefs’ practice squad and activated defensive lineman John Hughes (knee) from injured reserve-designated for return.
The team also placed defensive lineman Ishmaa’ily Kitchen (leg) on injured reserve.
The Minnesota Vikings signed running back Henry Josey off the Jacksonville Jaguars’ practice squad.
Josey entered the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent. He went through training camp and the preseason with the Eagles before being released during final ros-ter cuts. He replaces running back Ben Tate, who was waived
Tuesday.Seahawks quarterback Russell
Wilson was selected the NFC Offensive Player of the Week for his 339 passing yards and 88 rushing yards Sunday in Seattle’s 35-6 win over the Cardinals.
San Diego Chargers quarter-back Philip Rivers took the AFC offensive honor after leading his team back from a 21-point deficit to beat the San Francisco 49ers in overtime. Rivers passed for 356 yards and four touchdowns.
Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews won the NFC defensive award, and Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick took the AFC defen-sive honor. The special teams honorees were Atlanta Falcons punter Matt Bosher and Houston Texans kicker Randy Bullock.
REUTERS
Smith signs with Houston RocketsHOUSTON, Texas: The NBA was idle on Christmas Eve, but the Houston Rockets’ front office stayed busy.
Veteran free agent forward Josh Smith (pictured) agreed to sign a contract with the Rockets, he told a Houston television sta-tion, and the team agreed to a three-year contract extension with coach Kevin McHale.
The Rockets did not immedi-ately confirm Smith’s deal.
Smith was waived by the Detroit Pistons on Monday, even though he still had two years and at least $26m remaining on his contract after this season. He was less than halfway into his four-year, $54m contract. Smith cleared waivers Wednesday.
Smith cited the chance to play with Rockets center Dwight Howard, his former AAU team-mate in Atlanta, as a key reason for his decision to join Houston.
ESPN.com reported that McHale’s deal is fully guaranteed and valued in excess of $12m.
McHale, 57, is in his fourth sea-son with the Rockets, who are off to a 20-7 start despite Howard missing extended time with a knee injury. McHale has been working under the final year of his current contract. He is 153-104 in three-plus seasons with the Rockets and 192-159 over-all as an NBA coach, including two years with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Meanwhile, Cleveland Cavaliers
center Anderson Varejao tore his left Achilles tendon, and he likely will miss the rest of the season.
The team confirmed the news Wednesday that Varejao sustained the left ankle/foot injury when he landed awkwardly in the third quarter Tuesday night during the Cavaliers’ 125-104 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
While it is anticipated that Varejao will miss the remainder of the 2014-15 season, a timeta-ble for his return to basketball activity will be developed after he has surgery in the near future
and his rehabili-tation process is established.
Varejao has missed 166 games with various inju-ries over the past four seasons. The Cavs signed him to a three-year, $30 million exten-sion in October. He is shooting 55 percent from the field and averaging 10 points and 6.6
rebounds.The Phoenix Suns traded for-
ward Anthony Tolliver to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for forward Tony Mitchell.
Tolliver, 29, played in 24 games for the Suns this season, averag-ing 3.3 points, 1.8 rebounds and 11.3 minutes.
Mitchell, who was drafted 37th overall by the Pistons in 2013 out of the University of North Texas, averaged 8.2 points and 7.2 rebounds in six games with the Grand Rapids Drive of the NBA Development League this season.
REUTERS
Scott slapped with four-game suspensionSAN JOSE, California: San Jose Sharks forward John Scott has been suspended for four games for an illegal hit to the head on Anaheim Ducks’ Tim Jackman, the National Hockey League said on Wednesday.
The 32-year-old Canadian struck Jackman midway through the second period of Monday’s 3-2 overtime win leaving the Ducks forward sprawled unconscious on the ice.
Scott, a repeat offender has long history of run ins with NHL disciplinarians.
He missed two games for leav-ing the bench to start an alterca-tion earlier this season and last season was suspended for seven games for an illegal check to the head on Boston Bruins Loui Eriksson.
Meanwhile, the Buffalo Sabres assigned four players to the Rochester Americans of the AHL.
Forwards Joel Armia, Mikhail Grigorenko and Tim Schaller, and defenseman Mark Pysyk were sent down to the Sabres’ AHL club.
The players were called up to fill spots on Buffalo’s injury-depleted lineup, which was miss-ing eight regulars in the 6-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday.
The Tampa Bay Lightning reassigned goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy to the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League.
Vasilevskiy, 20, has appeared in three games with the Lightning this season, posting a record of 2-1-0 to go along with a 2.01 goals-against average and .940 save per-centage. He earned the victory on Dec. 16 at Philadelphia, making 23 saves on 24 shots. AGENCIES
Johnny Manziel (left) and Drew Stanton
English Premier League FixturesChelsea vs West Ham United (1245)
Burnley vs Liverpool (1500)
Crystal Palace vs Southampton (1500)
Everton vs Stoke City (1500)
Leicester City vs Tottenham Hotspur (1500)
Manchester United vs Newcastle United (1500)
Sunderland vs Hull City (1500)
Swansea City vs Aston Villa (1500)
West Bromwich Albion vs Manchester City (1500)
Arsenal vs Queens Park Rangers (1730)
Sunday’s Matches
Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester United (1200)
Southampton vs Chelsea (1405)
Aston Villa vs Sunderland (1500)
Hull City vs Leicester City (1500)
Manchester City vs Burnley (1500)
Queens Park Rangers vs Crystal Palace (1500)
Stoke City vs West Bromwich Albion (1500)
West Ham United vs Arsenal (1500)
Newcastle United vs Everton (1615)
Monday’s MatchLiverpool vs Swansea City (2000)
All times in GMT
20 SPORTFRIDAY 26 DECEMBER 2014
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Afghan women’s cricket crushed by threats and traditionKABUL: The story of Afghan cricket is a rare bright spot in the troubled country’s recent past, full of unlikely successes and glory that have helped unify a divided nation. Unless you’re a woman player.
A national women’s cricket team formed in 2010 with some fanfare was quietly dissolved this year amid Taliban threats, insecu-rity and conservative beliefs that led to a shortage of players.
“It does not exist,” said the newly appointed chairman of Afghanistan’s cricket board, Nasimullah Danish, when asked about the team. “The situation is not very much prepared for developing women’s cricket in Afghanistan.”
Activists say the fate of the squad is indicative of a wider lack of institutional support for women in sport in a country where many men are deeply uncomfortable with the idea of their sisters and daughters competing in public.
It is also a reminder of the ambiguous results of millions of dollars spent by donors on wom-en’s development in Afghanistan — a problem detailed in a December report by a US watch-dog on spending in the country.
The founder of the national
women’s team, Diana Barakzai, resigned in April. She said the cricket board obstructed the team because of a belief that women should not leave home unescorted, or be given the chance to learn the sport.
“Afghanistan’s cricket board does not support cricket for women, even though I have 3,700 girl cricketers across Afghanistan,” said Barakzai, who, like many other Afghan cricket-ers, learned the game as a refugee in Pakistan and says her mission is to teach more women to play.
“I hope their attitude will change,” she said.
Danish, however, is dreaming big for the men’s game.
He wants to make Afghanistan a top cricketing nation within 10 years, from having next to no base a decade ago. Since 2000, when the Taliban ended a ban on the sport, cricket has developed rap-idly, with an Afghan league and a men’s team that has made its mark internationally.
When the men’s team quali-fied for the 2015 World Cup in Australia, street celebrations broke out across Afghanistan, highlighting the power of sport to unite the fractious country.
For many young Afghans, sports stars are the first heroes they have known that are not car-rying Kalashnikovs.
But Danish will also have to help build up the women’s squad if he is to achieve his goal of making
Afghanistan a full member of the International Cricket Council by 2025, since a national women’s team is one of the criteria for joining.
He drew a sharp breath, how-ever, when asked about developing
the sport for women, which he insists he supports fully.
“(The Taliban) said ‘you should not develop women’s cricket, it is not in Islam, it is not in Afghanistan culture. If you do so, we will not be responsible for your players’,” Danish said, describing a threatening phone call from the militants.
Resistance from conservative families who don’t want their daughters to play adds to the challenge, he said in his bustling office in Kabul Cricket Stadium.
Danish accused Barakzai of running the team, which included members of her family, for per-sonal interest. Barakzai laughed at that suggestion and accused the board of misusing US aid money.
Danish said he was investi-gating the administration of the board under the former chairman he took over from last week, but that he had not uncovered evi-dence of corruption.
Insecurity adds to the problems for women, said Tuba Sangar, who now heads the women’s depart-ment at the cricket board, and it meant skilled sportswomen from across the country do not get a chance to play, limiting the tal-ent pool.
“Every day, every week there are bombs, when these security problems are happening, how can the families deal with it? They don’t let their daughter come and play cricket,” said Sangar.
She says the board has been supportive of her attempts to revive the team, but that the lack of players and coaches means it will take time before Afghan women are ready for cricket internationals.
Heather Barr, Human Rights Watch’s senior researcher on women’s rights in Asia, said the commitment of the government to women’s sport was “cosmetic” and aimed at pleasing aid-donor nations.
“Unfortunately, it’s part of a broader pattern of the Afghan government promising the moon on women’s rights ... while mak-ing little effort to follow through and sometimes sabotaging efforts from behind the scenes,” Barr said.
The collapse of the squad has not ended foreign donor support for women’s cricket. In June, the US Embassy announced a $450,000 grant to promote the sport through a training exchange with players from India and Pakistan. REUTERS
The founder of the national women’s team, Afghan Diana Barakzai, poses for a picture at the Kabul Cricket Stadium.
Skipper Dhoni dismisses reports of Kohli-Dhawan spat at The GabbaMELBOURNE: Captain M.S. Dhoni yesterday said sledging had nothing to do with India’s losing performance in the series against Australia and he encouraged more of it in this week’s third Test in Melbourne.
Dhoni said he saw nothing wrong with sledging despite India coming off second best in their efforts to distract Mitchell Johnson during last week’s second Test in Brisbane.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma fired up Johnson in Brisbane with the explosive paceman slugging 88 off 93 balls with 13 fours and one six, and shared in a ground record 148 runs with Steve Smith for the seventh wicket to turn around Australia’s first innings.
Johnson followed up his game-changing knock with a dynamic spell of fast bowling capturing three for 10 in the space of 11 balls to rip the heart out of India’s top order in the second innings to set Australia up for victory and a 2-0 lead in the series.
India must win today’s third Test in Melbourne to keep alive the four-match series to the final Test in Sydney in the New Year.
Former captain Sunil Gavaskar said the tourists should tone down their “verbal spats” in the series, but Dhoni confirmed that won’t be happening.
“I feel a bit of chirping is good on the field,” Dhoni told reporters.
“That’s what makes cricket interesting... if the guidelines are
followed, I’m not really bothered.“The chirping has nothing to do
with our performance.”Aggressive Australia open-
ing batsman David Warner has already said that he won’t be toning down his “banter” in the Boxing Day Test.
“I like to go at them, to try and get them to bite back at me when I go out there and bat. At the moment, it’s working,” Warner said.
Warner swapped barbs with India en route to a century in Adelaide after being bowled off a
no-ball and was fined by the ICC along with India duo Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli for bust-ups during the stormy first Adelaide Test.
“Blokes like Davey like to say a fair bit. Everyone’s different. I don’t really say too much,”
skipper Steve Smith said yesterday.
“At the moment the Indians are doing that themselves.
“They’re doing a lot of whin-nying and complaining among themselves.
“They’re doing it all for us. Hopefully that can hinder them this week.”
Dhoni also dismissed reports that Kohli and Dhawan had to be separated by team director Ravi Shastri during the Gabba Test.
Dhawan retired hurt after being struck on the arm while batting in the nets prior to day four in Brisbane.
Kohli was also struck by a short ball, but batted in place of Dhawan.
Kohli lasted 11 balls, with an Indian newspaper reporting he blamed Dhawan for the dis-missal and accused his teammate of feigning injury in a heated confrontation.
“If somebody from the team has actually told you this, it’d be interesting if you could give us the name,” Dhoni told reporters.
“Because his imagination is really brilliant and he should be working for one of the movie companies.
“He doesn’t deserve to be in our dressing room, because he has entirely created something that has not been there at all.
“As far as the reality is con-cerned, there’s been nothing like that.” AFP
A picture released yesterday shows Australian cricketers in a huddle ahead of a training session at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday.
India sweat on Kumar for Boxing Day TestMELBOURNE: India may have to wait a little longer to see Bhuvneshwar Kumar (pic-tured) in action in Australia as captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni indicated the seamer’s injured ankle could keep him out of the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, starting today.
The 24-year-old was the most impressive player in India’s 3-1 defeat in England earlier this year and was considered vital for his team’s chances in the four-Test series in Australia.
But the injury sidelined him for the first two Test defeats and could also keep him out of the Boxing Day Test, which the hosts need only to draw to seal the series.
“He has started bowling, he bowled during nets in the last Test also, but we want to load him with a bit more with bowling,” Dhoni told reporters yesterday.
“But as far as his fitness is con-cerned he is fit and also available for selection.
“But Test-match fitness is slightly different, you may be fit but you have to see five days of load, how many overs you can bowl, what the situation may be. You actu-ally prepare for the worst when it comes to fitness in Test cricket.”
Kumar was not only the most successful bowler for India in England with 19 wickets, he delivered some stoic resistance with the bat lower down the order -- something India desper-ately missed during the first two defeats in Australia.
While India usually keep a tight lid on their team selection until the very last minute, com-ments from Dhoni on Thursday suggested limited-overs specialist Suresh Raina may replace Rohit Sharma in the middle order.
Sharma has aggregated 81 from his four innings in the series and could make way for Raina, who last played a Test match in August 2012 against New Zealand at home.
“He has been working hard on his cricket and we will reflect once he gets a game,” Dhoni said of Raina, who has played 17 Tests for India.
“We need a player like him, reason being apart from being a good batsman he is also a good bowler, so if there is some turn he can bowl a bit.
“He is someone who can bowl quite consistently. He can give me those 10-15 overs if it is really needed. So that’s one area where we have been lacking in this set-up. There are not many batsmen who actually bowl. So we are try-ing to get batsmen to bowl so we can give a bit of rest needed for fast bowlers.” REUTERS
Ramdin calls on players to believe in themselvesPORT ELIZABETH, South Africa: West Indian captain Denesh Ramdin yesterday said he believed his team’s prob-lems against South Africa was a lack of self-belief although he stressed several times they were up against the number one team in the world.
Speaking ahead of the second Test, which starts at St George’s Park today, Ramdin said: “We need to believe in ourselves.”
He highlighted the failure of any West Indian batsman to score more than 39 on the way to defeat by an innings and 220 runs in the first Test in Centurion.
The West Indies batting line-up had been significantly weakened prior to the tour with the with-drawals of explosive opener Chris Gayle and the experienced Darren Bravo.
“We’ve stressed to the guys who got starts in the first Test that they need to kick on to 70, 80, even a hundred.”
Ramdin said the good perform-ances in Port Elizabeth would be important for individuals.
“Playing against the number one team in the world you want to do well. If you do well you get a lot of credit for it.”
The West Indian captain said he believed that the loss through injury of Kemar Roach, their best bowler at Centurion, could be overcome by the inclusion of either Shannon Gabriel or Kenroy Peters.
“They are both good enough to do the same job as Kemar,” Ramdin said
The message to the bowlers was to bowl a fuller length than they did in the first Test, where short-pitched bowling was dealt with comfortably by the South African batsmen.
“Hopefully the guys will look deep into themselves and pull out that magical performance,” said Ramdin.
South African captain Hashim
Amla, meanwhile, looked for more of the same from his players.
“The guys are nice and fresh after a few days off. Hopefully we can set the tone as we did in the first Test.”
Amla said it was likely South Africa would include Pakistan-born leg-spinner Imran Tahir.
The 35-year-old — who has taken just 40 wickets in his pre-vious 15 tests — was called up as the sole specialist spinner after an injury to left-armer Robin Peterson.
“Traditionally the ball tends to turn a bit here, so a spinner has more of a role to play,” said 31-year-old Amla.
Amla added he expected the St George’s Park pitch to be more batsman friendly than Centurion — even though he scored 208 there — although he cautioned that because of the surface, scor-ing rates tended to be slower.
AFPWest Indian captain Denesh Ramdin
No signs of sledging war abating in third Test
21FRIDAY 26 DECEMBER 2014
www.thepeninsulaqatar.comSPORT
Rapid Nashmi charges to Al Wajba Cup win againMy Sharona edges Collect Art to clinch Thoroughbred Conditions race DOHA: Nashmi yesterday pro-duced an impressive run to claim the Al Wajba Cup for the sec-ond time in a row in the 1850m contest at the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC) here.
Ridden by Gaetan Faucon and trained by A de Mieulle, Nashmi emerged a runaway winner ahead of Julian Smart-trained Hariir and Qabas on a chilly evening at the QREC.
Owned by Umm Qarn, Nashmi broke free of the five-rider bunch at the last bend before deliber-ately slowing at the end to claim the top prize of QR100,000.
It was Faucon’s second win of the evening following a victory in race two at the QREC where Pier Convertino celebrated a hat-trick of wins.
Earlier, in a tight contest, My Sharona edged past Collect Art to win race eight at the QREC yesterday.
Ridden by J P Guilambert, My Sharona managed to edge Harry Bentley-ridden Collect Art for victory in the 1200m race worth QR80,000 to the winner. In third place was Captain Cleo who had Marvin Suerland in the saddle.
Gerald Avranche produced a winner with Primitorio, claiming the top prize of QR 70,000 against a 12-entry field in race seven.
Bunched together with the rest for most part of the 1400m con-test, three-year-old Primitorio raced past Pupil — ridden by Faucon — and Elwazeer — who had Yanis Aoubed in the saddle — to finish in the top spot.
Firdaus put up a feisty show as jockey Convertino celebrated a hat-trick of wins by topping the field in the Thoroughbred Handicap.
Timing his late surge well, Fridaus edged Janoub Nibras and Tortoni to claim the top prize of QR60,000. Janoub Nibras — rid-den by Marvin Suerland — fin-ished second while Tortino had to settle for the third spot.
Convertino — within a space of a few minutes — won his second successive race when he combined with Mujidd to nail the 1400m race that had attracted 15 riders.
Four-year-old Mujidd was gal-lantly guided to the winning post by Convertino who had also nailed race four.
Mujidd won ahead of Rassan
— who was ridden by Bentley — and Waad, who had Faucon in the saddle.
In an earlier race, Convertino produced his first win of the day when he stole the show with five-year-old Mutawasal, who topped the 1600m race ahead of Zahrah and Mustabseel.
A popular rider at the QREC,
Convertino timed his final surge well to win with a time of 1:39.92 as Zahrah — ridden by Faucon — finished second while Mustabseel — who had Avranbche in the sad-dle — ended in third spot.
Continuing with his fine run in the first two races of the day, jockey Alberto Sanna won race three with Meghwaar ahead of
Rasi and Chanson Du Sole.Meghwaar finished with a time
of 2:07.35 to seal the 1850m race ahead of Rasi — who had Declan Cannon in the saddle — and Chanson Du Sole, who was rid-den by Avranche.
In race seven, Majeed thrilled owners Umm Qarn, galloping to the 1600m race win with a time of 1:49.04.
Ridden by Faucon, Majeed fin-ished one-and-half length ahead of Refaal — who had Sanna in the saddle — and Jubail who was rid-den by Almotasem Balushi.
Ridden by Sanna, Global Icon kicked off the day with an easy win, beating the six-entry field with a convince run in the 1600m race.
Four-year-old Global Icon topped the race with a time of 1:38.62 to finish ahead of Awattan and Secretly.
Awattan had Yanis Aouabed in the saddle while Gary Carter guided Secretly.
Action resumes on December 30 with riders competing for hon-ours in Qatar Nursey Stakes (F), Doha Oaks and Qatar Derby Day.
THE PENINSULA
Horses burst from the starting line during the Al Wajba Cup race at the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Cub in Doha yesterday.
Jockey Gaetan Faucon receives his trophy after winning the Al Wajba Cup race with Nashmi at the QREC in Doha yesterday.
16th GCC Beach Volleyball Championship
Qatari player Jefferson Santos Barrera dives to receive a ball during a match of the 16th GCC Beach Volleyball Championship at the Qatar Beach Volleyball Academy (QVBA) courts at Al Gharafa Stadium yesterday. RIGHT: Qatari player Mohamed Essam (right) tries to block a scoring attempt by Bahraini player Muhammad Ali during a match of the 16th GCC Beach Volleyball Championship. The final of the tournament is scheduled at 4pm today. PICTURES: BAHER AMIN
Cycling’s golden couple
British cycling Olympic gold medallists Laura Trott and Jason Kenny, pictured here at the London 2012 Olympics, are engaged to be married. Trott, 22, who won team pursuit and omnium gold at the London Olympics, said Kenny had given her the perfect Christmas present. “Merry Christmas everyone. I’ve had the most amazing couple of days thanks to @JasonKenny107 and the whole family #engaged”, she tweeted.
Horse Racing Results
THOROUGHBRED MAIDEN PLATE (4 to 6 Year Olds ONLY)
1600m
Running Time: 1:38:62
(Read as horse, trainer and jockey)
Global Icon, M. R. Al Kuwari, Alberto Sanna
Awattan, Jassim Al Ghazali, Yanis Aouabed
Secretly, I. Al Malki, Gary Carter
L/B P/A MAIDEN PLATE
1600m
Running Time: 1:49:04
Majeed, A. de Mieulle, Gaetan Faucon
Refaal, J. Smart, Alberto Sanna
Jubail, R. Al Jehani, Almotasem Al Balushi
P/A MAIDEN PLATE
1850m
Running Time: 2:07:35
Meghwaar, J. Smart, Alberto Sanna
Rasi, Jassim Al Ghazali, Declan Cannon
Chanson Du Soleil, O. Al Dhafa, Gerald Avranche
LOCAL THOROUGHBRED HANDICAP RATED 0 - 60
1600m
Running Time: 1:39:30
Mutawassal, A. de Mieulle, P. Convertino
Zahrah, A. de Mieulle, Gaetan Faucon
Mustabseel, M. Al Yaqout, Gerald Avranche
P/A HANDICAP RATED 0 - 60
1400m
Running Time: 1:32:70
Mujidd, A. de Mieulle, P. Convertino
Rassan, Jassim Al Ghazali, Harry Bentley
Waad, A. de Mieulle, Gaetan Faucon
THOROUGHBRED HANDICAP RATED 65 - 85
2000m
Running Time: 2:02:67
Firdous, A. de Mieulle, P. Convertino
Janoub Nibras, B Al Abid, Marvin Suerland
Tortoni, S Ibido, Marco Monteriso
THOROUGHBRED HANDICAP RATED 85 - 105
1400m
Running Time: 1:23:39
Primitorio, O. Al Dhafa, Gerald Avranche
Pupil, A. de Mieulle, Gaetan Faucon
Elwazeer, Jassim Al Ghazali, Yanis Aouabed
THOROUGHBRED CONDITIONS
1200m
My Sharona, Jassim Al Ghazali, J.P Guillambert
Collect Art, Jassim Al Ghazali, Harry Bentley
Captain Cleo, Jassim Al Ghazali, Marvin Suerland
AL WAJBA CUP - P/A ADVANCED PLATE
1850m
Running Time: 2:04:20
Nashmi, A. de Mieulle, Gaetan Faucon
Hariir, J. Smart, Alberto Sanna
Qabas, A. de Mieulle, P. Convertino
1Into The Woods (2D/Comedy)
– 10:00 AM, 12:05 PM, 2:00 PM, 4:00 PM, 6:00 PM, 8:00 PM,
10:00 PM, 11:55 PM
2Paddington (2D/Comedy)
– 10:30 AM, 1:00 PM, 3:30 PM, 6:10 PM, 8:30 PM, 11:00 PM
3Annie (2D/Comedy)
– 11:00 AM, 1:30 PM, 4:00 PM, 6:30 PM, 9:00 PM, 11:40 PM
4The Water Diviner (2D/Drama)
– 10:00 AM, 12:15 PM, 2:30 PM, 4:45 PM, , 9:15 PM, 11:35 PM
Home (2D/Horror) – 7:00pm
5Camp X-Ray (2D/Drama) – 10:15 AM, 12:30 PM, 2:45 PM,
5:00 PM, 7:15 PM, 9:30 PM, 11:30 PM
6Omar Wa Salwa (2D/Comedy/Arabic)
– 10:50 AM, 1:00 PM, 3:15 PM, 5:30 PM, 7:45 PM, 12:15 AM
Home (2D/Horror)– 10:00pm
7Night At The Museum: Secret of The Tomb
(2D/Comedy) – 10:40 AM, 12:40 PM, 4:40 PM , 9:10 PM
Tusk (2D/Comedy) – 2:40 PM, 6:50 PM,11:20 PM
8P.K. (Hindi) (2D/Comedy)
– 11:00 AM, 2:00 PM, 5:00 PM, 8:00 PM, 11:05 PM
9The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies
(IMAX 3D/Adventure) – 10:10 AM, 12:50 PM, 3:30 PM, 6:10 PM, 8:50 PM, 11:30 PM
10Into The Woods (2D/Comedy)
– 11:15 AM, 1:45 PM, 4:15 PM, 6:45 PM, 9:15 PM, 11:50 PM
MALL
1Winx Club: Mystery of the Abbys (2D/Action) – 3:00pm
Into The Woods (2D/Comedy) – 5:00 & 7:15pm
Omar Wa Salwa (2D/Comedy/Arabic) – 9:30pm
The Water Diviner (2D/Drama) – 11:30pm
2Annie (2D/Comedy) – 2:30 & 6:15pm
Winx Club: Mystery of the Abbys (2D/Action) – 4:30pm
Paddington (2D/Comedy) – 8:30pm
P.K. (Hindi) (2D/Comedy) –10:30pm
3Tusk (2D/Comedy) – 2:30pm
Night At The Museum: Secret of The Tomb (2D/Comedy) – 4:15pm
Ormayundo Ee Mukham (2D/Malayalam) – 6:00pm
P.K. (Hindi) (2D/Comedy) – 8:30pm
Camp X-Ray (2D/Drama) – 11:15pm
LANDMARK
1Winx Club: Mystery of the Abbys (2D/Action) – 2:30 & 4.30pm
Meagamann (2D/Tamil) – 6.15pm
Ormayundo Ee Mukham (2D/Malayalam) – 8:45pm
Camp X-Ray (2D/Drama) – 11:15pm
2Paddington (2D/Comedy) – 2:30pm
Annie (2D/Comedy) – 4:15pm
Into The Woods (2D/Comedy) – 6:15 & 8:30pm
P.K. (Hindi) (2D/Comedy) – 10.45pm
3Annie (2D/Comedy) – 2:30pm
Vellaikara Durai (2D/Tamil) – 4:45pm
Omar Wa Salwa (2D/Comedy/Arabic) – 7:15pm
The Water Diviner (2D/Drama) – 9:15pm
Tusk (2D/Comedy) – 11:30pm
ROYAL
PLAZA
1Night At The Museum: Secret of The Tomb
(2D/Comedy) – 2.30pm
P.K. (Hindi) (2D/Comedy) – 4.15 & 10.45pm
Into The Woods (2D/Comedy) – 7:00pm
Paddington (2D/Comedy) – 9:15pm
2Winx Club: Mystery of the Abbys (2D/Action) – 2:30 & 4.30pm
Night At The Museum: Secret of The Tomb (2D/Comedy) – 6.30pm
Camp X-Ray (2D/Drama) – 8:30pm
Into The Woods (2D/Comedy) – 11:00pm
3Annie (2D/Comedy) – 2:45 & 5:00pm
The Water Diviner (2D/Drama) – 7:15pm
Omar Wa Salwa (2D/Comedy/Arabic) – 9:15pm
Tusk (2D/Comedy) – 11:15pm
Sherman’s Lagoon By Jim Toomey
C O O DSR S RW
Yesterday’s answer
Yesterday’s answer
How to play Hyper Sudoku:A Hyper Sudoku Puzzle is solved by filling the numbers from 1 to 9 into the blank cells. A Hyper Sudoku has unlike Sudoku 13 regions (four regions overlap with the nine standard regions). In all regions the numbers from 1 to 9 can appear only once. Otherwise, a Hyper Sudoku is solved like a normal Sudoku.
How to play Kakuro:
The kakuro grid, unlike in sudoku, can be of any
size. It has rows and columns, and dark cells
like in a crossword. And, just like in a crossword,
some of the dark cells will contain numbers. Some
cells will contain two numbers.
However, in a crossword the numbers reference
clues. In a kakuro, the numbers are all you get!
They denote the total of the digits in the row or
column referenced by the number.
Within each
collection of cells
- called a run - any
of the numbers 1
to 9 may be used
but, like sudoku,
each number may
only be used once.
HYPER
ACROSS
1 & 6 Subject of an eerie rural legend … illustrated by connecting nine identically filled squares in this puzzle with a closed line
15 Member of the chordophone family
16 Bisectors pass through them
17 Whizzes
18 Far south?
19 Site of many hangings
21 Some Spanish zoo exhibits
22 Some glass paperweights
24 Tolkien’s Prancing Pony, e.g.
26 Texted, say
27 Not believe in spirits?
32 Viscosity symbols
33 Big, big, big
36 Any of the Four Noble Truths
37 Join with
39 Confident, ambitious, loyal sort, supposedly
40 Guillotine targets
41 “Cómo” follower
42 Purchase on delta.com, e.g.
44 M.D. grp.
45 Raising a stink?
47 Focus (on)
50 “I’d rather not”
51 Mother who appeared on two covers of Time
52 Former Saudi king
55 Some runners
56 One feeling warm on the inside?
59 Ethyl acetate, e.g.
63 Push too far
64 Currency worth about 1/36 of a dollar
65 Clean-shaven
66 Fit
DOWN 1 Batting fig.
2 Fiction
3 It’s charged
4 Call up
5 Tool used with a hammer
6 Accumulate
7 Intelligence researcher Alfred ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE
M O B I M M A D O P T SE T A S A U C E A N O U KS T R I P C L U B R E P R OH O R N A C R S M A C K S
N E W H A R T L U S HB A S I N S D R O L LO S H E A C A A N T U BN I A M A C V S P C U S OE A R E R A S A S R E D
P A L I N B L U E S YM A C E L I P B A L MI T U N E S A R T A C A IL O R E N T R U M P C A R DE L V I S O S C A R R E OS L E D T E E N Y P A L
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16
17 18
19 20 21
22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31
32 33 34 35 36
37 38 39 40
41 42 43 44
45 46 47 48 49
50 51
52 53 54 55
56 57 58 59 60 61 62
63 64
65 66
8 Chemical restricted by the Stockholm Convention
9 ___ tree
10 Ornamental headpiece
11 Nerves may cause them
12 Loving
13 Mayberry town drunk
14 Foreign policy grp.
20 Polynesian term for an island hopper
22 Some positive reinforcement
23 Flower-shaped decoration
24 “No worries”
25 Wedding announcement word
26 Like Seattle vis-à-vis Phoenix
28 Baseball great who had a career batting 1-Down of .304
29 Gets choppers
30 Weakness
31 Pretends
34 “Mutiny on the Bounty” captain
35 Intl. trade org.
38 Charter ___, symbol on the Connecticut state quarter
42 Noted stratovolcano
43 Heavens
46 “Absolutely!”
48 They may be barked
49 Goof
51 Goods stolen by the Knave of Hearts
52 “Lincoln”
53 An integral can compute it
54 Munich mister
55 Reacts fearfully
56 Waistcoat item
57 Rose in the music world
58 Texas has a big one
60 Not yet on the sked
61 Loop takers
62 Band with the 1991 hit “Shiny Happy People”
TV LISTINGS
06:00 Christmas Is Here
Again
08:00 Tad, The Lost
Explorer
10:00 Oggy & The
Cockroaches: The
Movie
11:30 The Elf Who Stole
Christmas
12:45 Niko 2: Little Brother,
Big Trouble
14:15 Renart The Fox
16:00 Free Birds
18:00 Oggy & The
Cockroaches: The
Movie
20:00 Madagascar
21:30 Renart The Fox
23:15 Free Birds
00:45 Tad, The Lost
Explorer
02:30 Easter Egg
05:55 According To Jim
06:30 No Ordinary Family
07:30 The Walking Dead
08:30 Castle
09:30 According To Jim
10:00 Grey’s Anatomy
11:00 Army Wives
12:00 MasterChef
Australia
13:00 Private Practice
14:00 According To Jim
14:30 According To Jim
15:00 No Ordinary Family
16:00 The Walking Dead
17:00 According To Jim
19:30 Fit For Fashion
20:30 The Listener
21:30 Happy Endings
21:55 Happy Endings
22:30 Melissa & Joey
22:55 Melissa & Joey
23:30 According To Jim
00:00 The Listener
01:00 Fit For Fashion
02:00 The Bridge
12:30 Growing Up
Fisher
13:00 Better Off Ted
14:00 Last Man
Standing
15:00 Young &
Hungry
16:00 The Colbert
Report
17:00 Late Night With
Seth Meyers
18:00 The Neighbors
18:30 Last Man
Standing
19:00 Brooklyn Nine-
Nine
19:30 Young &
Hungry
20:00 The Tonight
7:30 Narayan Sewa
Sangh
09:00 Trendsetters of
Bollywood
09:30 Khana Khazana
11:30 Snack Attack
Firangi Twist
12:00 Bollywood Cut
13:00 Mad About
Dance
16:00 Zee Connect
Season 4
16:30 10 on 10
18:00 Neeli Chatri
Waale
19:00 Sapne Suhane
Ladakpan Ke
19:30 Jodha Akbar
20:00 Jamai Raja
08:00 Dr Seuss’ Cat
In The Hat-PG
09:30 Something
New
11:30 See Spot
Run-U
13:30 Sister Act 2:
Back In The
Habit
15:30 Dr Seuss’ Cat
In The Hat-PG
17:30 Keeping The
Faith
20:00 Scary Movie
22:00 Reginald D.
05:40 TCM Presents
Under The...-U
07:00 Meet Me In St.
Louis
08:55 Bells Are Ringing
11:00 Ben-Hur-PG
14:30 Murder Most
Foul
16:00 The Adventures
Of Huckleberry...-
17:45 Elvis: That’s The
Way It Is
19:35 East Of Eden-PG
21:30 TCM Presents
Under The...-U
22:00 Cool Hand Luke
11:00 Monsters
University-PG
13:00 The Great Ghost
Rescue-PG
15:00 Dawn Rider-
17:00 Jack Ryan:
Shadow Recruit-
PG15
18:45 About Time-
PG15
21:00 Saving Mr.
Banks-
23:15 Last Vegas-
01:00 Hick
09:00 Jurassic C.S.I.
10:00 Predator CSI
12:00 Battleground
Brothers
14:00 Megacities
17:00 Live Free Or Die
18:00 Ape Man
20:00 Engineering
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MORNING BREAK24FRIDAY 26 DECEMBER 2014
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Art work ‘The Passenger’
People walk by the art work ‘The Passenger’ by Belgian artist Arne Quinze, in Mons, Belgium. The installation collapsed on Wednesday.
MIAMI BEACH: Procrastinating holiday shop-pers can now grab one of Miami’s most iconic two-seaters: the all-white 1986 Ferrari Testarossa (pictured) driven by TV cops “Sonny” Crockett and Ricardo “Rico” Tubbs in the hit 1980s series “Miami Vice.”
The car is available on eBay through January 7 and is being offered for $1.75m by a south Florida pawn and auto loan com-pany. It acquired the car in 2012 from the person who purchased it from the series producer, a department of Universal Studios, in 1991, according to Auto Pawn Plus owner Peter Lima.
“This has been in a garage, hid-den for almost 30 years,” he said.
Ferrari could not be reached to confirm the car’s authenticity.
The vehicle has done 25,750km and has the built-in Motorola phone used in the show, Lima
said. Throughout the series, which aired on NBC for five sea-sons from 1984 to 1989, producers used a number of cars, including a replica Ferrari for flashy shots cruising down Miami’s sun-soaked, palm tree-lined streets. However
when Ferrari founder Enzo Ferrari discovered the show was using a replica he demanded Universal use authentic cars. Producers acquired two black 12-cylinder Testarossas that were later repainted white. The other car is owned by a south Florida collector who has it on dis-play in a flea market. Should no buyer emerge for the Ferrari it will be sent to a high-end auction. “No big deal,” Lima said. “It will sell for more.” “Miami Vice” featured Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas in the lead roles and broke new ground through the use of new wave culture and music. It remains popular in syndication.
REUTERS
‘Miami Vice’ Ferrari on eBay for $1.75m
How ants are evolved and spread across the EarthTOKYO: In a first, Japanese researchers have compared gene sequences from 300 species of Pheidole — world’s most species-rich ant genus.
It suggests that Pheidole evolved the same way twice, once to take over the New World and then again to take over the Old World.
The team from Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University used gene sequences to construct a tree that shows when and where each species evolved into new species.
At the same time, in a par-allel effort, they scoured the academic literature, muse-ums around the world, and large databases to aggregate data on where all 1,200 or so Pheidole species live on Earth, creating a range map for each species.
“If you go into any tropical forest and take a stroll, you will step on one of these ants,” said professor Evan Economo.
The new world and the old world are almost completely independent of each other.
“Pheidole first evolved in the new world, from one spe-cies to over 600 species. Then, one of those ants colonised the old world where it evolved into another 600 or so ant species,” added Economo.
Till now, researchers have never had a global perspec-tive of how the many species of Pheidole evolved and spread across the Earth.
The new work will help scientists get a better handle on these organisms that are dominant features of many of Earth’s ecosystems.
The results were published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B.
IANS
WASHINGTON: Christmas shoppers who struggled to buy something for the man who has everything should spare a thought for those whose daily job is finding the right gift for the world’s most powerful leaders.
Forget Santa’s workshop in the North Pole — year round the elves of the State Department’s busy protocol office have to select and wrap thoughtful gifts as an important symbol marking dip-lomatic visits.
They also have to log all the gifts presented to President Barack Obama, as well as Vice President Joe Biden and US Secretary of State John Kerry and their spouses. “Diplomatic gift-giving is a long historic art that’s taken very seriously by a lot of leaders and a lot of coun-tries, so we have to be prepared for all circumstances,” a State Department official said.
In 2013, First Lady Michelle Obama was given a white gold flower-shaped jewellery set of earrings, a ring and necklace resplendent with yellow sap-phires and diamonds by the queen consort of Brunei.
It was worth an estimated cool $71,468 and was accepted, as “non-acceptance would cause embarrassment to donor and US government,” according to the official list of gifts submitted to the federal register and released last month.
In fact, that was the reason for accepting all the presents lavished on US government offi-cials and which by law have to be declared.
In 2013, Obama was also given a cornucopia of gifts, from vases and paintings to sculptures, a blue-striped ottoman with storage compartments from Peru; a CD
The art and pitfalls of diplomatic gift-giving
LEFT: Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton puts on a black pearl necklace given to her as a gift by Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna during the annual Pacific Islands Forum in Rarotonga, Cook Islands. RIGHT: US President Barack Obama presents a gift of a custom-made seed chest featuring a variety of fruit and vegetable seeds used in the White House Garden, during a private audience with Pope Francis (centre) at the Vatican.
of the best-selling British songs from British Prime Minister David Cameron; a hand-made drum from Senegal; a mounted zebra skin from Tanzania and even some porcelain plates from his frosty counterpart, Russian President Vladimir Putin.
And for his wife, a pair of silver and blue crystal Baccarat drop earrings from Valerie Trierweller, the former partner of French President Francois Hollande, accompanied by a book entitled “Nature: Simple Healthy and Good” all valued at $435.
A US president can receive upwards of 15,000 gifts every year, according to the National Archives, which is responsible for storing and recording what it calls “enduring emblems of international cooperation and friendship.”
If the gifts are worth more than $375 they belong to the US government and have to be
handed over, unless the recipient decides to buy them for the mar-ket value.
Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton bought for $970 a necklace of two strands of black pearls given to her by her idol, Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in October 2012.
While Teresa Heinz Kerry, the wife of the top US diplomat, chose to keep a silver and coral jewel-lery set worth $425 — a present from Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.
In contrast, the value of US gifts to foreign leaders is a closely guarded, some might say a state secret. And officials rarely reveal what presents Obama and Kerry carry with them on their dip-lomatic trips abroad in a bid to avoid embarrassing either the US government or their hosts.
They do keep a list — and check it twice. There’s nothing worse than getting something
you already have. “You wouldn’t want to make that diplomatic misstep,” chuckled the State Department official, asking to remain anonymous.
Once a diplomatic trip is con-firmed, the protocol office swings into full gear to suggest suitable gifts for all the foreign dignitar-ies they might meet. In the end though, the final choice is made by the gift-giver.
“We try to make each gift have as much significance as we can,” the official said.
The office researches the recip-ient’s interests, tries to make a link between the two countries, and showcase American-made products.
When Obama visited Pope Francis this year he brought with him a box containing nine varieties of seeds from the White House gardens hoping they would be planted in the gardens of the papal palace, the Castel Gandolfo.
The box was hand-crafted in wood from the Baltimore Basilica, known as America’s first cathe-dral, and decorated with a spe-cial paint using copper from the Statue of Liberty.
But gaffes are made. Obama was widely excoriated by the British press in 2009 when he gave then British prime min-ister Gordon Brown a set of 25 American classic movies on DVDs, which did not play on the British system.
It seemed a poor return for Brown’s gift of a pen holder carved of timber from the sister ship which gave the wood to make the famous “Resolute Desk” in the Oval Office.
The same year during a trip to London, the US president raised eyebrows again when he gave Queen Elizabeth II an iPod loaded with video footage and photographs of her visit to the United States in 2007. AFP
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