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SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2016 • 9 Rajab 1437 • Volume 21 • Number 6768 thepeninsulaqatar @peninsulaqatar @peninsula_qatar

By Mohammad Shoeb

The Peninsula

DOHA: Fresh local vegetables and fruits, which are the first priority of customers because of superior qual-ity and affordable prices, are giving a tough competition to imported pro-duce.

Some local items such as fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, capsicums, cherry tomatoes and leafy vegeta-bles like spinach, coriander and mint leaves, are being sold at the farmers’ markets in Al Wakrah, Al Mazrouah and Al Khor at nearly half the retail

prices at some hypermarkets and retail outlets.

For example, fresh cherry toma-toes directly sourced from local farms were available at QR12 a kg at Al Wakrah yard compared to QR30-QR40 a kg at retail stores. Local capsicums (red and yellow ones) were available at as low as QR7 a kg at farmers’ markets, while the imported ones were sold at about QR20 a kg at hypermarkets and supermarkets.

Like other farmers’ markets, Al Wakrah yard is becoming popular among households and restaurant owners who have started frequent-ing to the market in large numbers to buy fresh vegetables at cheaper rates.

“In addition to local tomatoes, eggplants, pumpkins, white onions and other vegetables, people come here to buy rare products, such as domesticated poultry, ducks, rabbits and ornamental plants,” said a vege-table vendor at Al Wakrah yard.

The increasing supply of fresh vegetables at affordable prices almost throughout the year, has become possible due to technological advancements in the agro industry, which has enabled local farmers to grow a wide range of produce in greenhouses even in extreme climatic conditions.

The government’s support to local farmers as part of its efforts to achieve

food security in the country has also helped in terms of the growth in the number of farmers, farm size and productivity.

“About six month ago, we started a farm in an area of over two hec-tares in Umm Salal Ali. We produce tomatoes, cucumbers, capsicums, cherry tomatoes and lettuce through hydroponics methods of farming in greenhouses,” said Ali Erdoğan, Manger of the farm run by F G Agro company. “We have set up about nine greenhouses (each spreading over nearly 2,200 square metres). Three are for tomatoes, two each for cucumbers and capsicums, one for cherry tomatoes and one for lettuce

and seeding,” he added. Under the hydroponics method of

farming, plants are grown by using mineral nutrient solutions, in water but without soil. These plants are grown with their roots in the mineral solution only, or in an inert medium, such as perlite or gravel.

“F G Agro is a US-based company. It is the first of its kind operating in Qatar, and producing several popular vegetables. Our produce is fresh and affordable,” said a salesman work-ing at the farm.

“Currently, we are able to har-vest about 1,500kg of tomatoes and between 600kg and 700kg of cucum-bers at the farm every two days.”

By Raynald C Rivera

The Peninsula

DOHA: More than 4,000 Filipi-nos in Qatar have cast votes in the first week of month-long overseas absentee voting (OAV) for Philip-pine national elections.

With 24 more days to go for OAV to end, the number of voters has surpassed the turnout in the 2013 elections.

“After one week, over 4,000 voters have cast votes. They rep-resent more than 9 percent of the registered voters. We have exceeded the turnout in 2013 elec-tions,” Philippine Ambassador Wilfredo C Santos told The Penin-sula yesterday. “We are thankful and pleased with the turnout because it underscores the strong interest of overseas Filipinos in these very important elections.”

The last OAV saw very low turnout in many countries. In Qatar, 2,800 out of 23,260 reg-istered voters took part in the 2013 elections. There are over 44,000 registered voters in Qatar for this year’s elections which are expected to witness the highest turnout since OAV began in 2004.

Yesterday saw the highest number of voters during the week, with over 1,100 arriving at the embassy, prompting it to extend the process by two more hours to accommodate them, including some from far-off places.

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Philippine polls:

More than 4,000

cast vote in Qatar

in the first week

OIC reiterates support for Palestine State

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met Turkish Prime Minister Dr Ahmet Davutoglu on the sidelines of the 13th OIC Summit in Istanbul yesterday. They discussed relations between the two countries, means of enhancing them, regional and international issues and topics on the summit’s agenda. The Emir’s delegation was present.

QNA & Agencies

ISTANBUL: The 13th Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Summit ended yesterday with the adoption of a joint resolution on Palestine, OIC’s 2016-2025 action plan and an Istan-bul Declaration.

The summit hoped to strengthen unity and solidarity between Muslim countries in the fight against terrorism. Leaders also discussed the situation in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Azerbaijan, among others. The summit, chaired by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stressed the centrality of the cause of Palestine and Al Quds for the Muslims.

It reaffirmed its principled support for the right of the Palestinian people to regain their inalienable national rights, including the right to self-deter-mination and the establishment of an

independent and sovereign Palestinian state on the territory occupied since June 1967, with Al Quds as its capital.

It also reiterated the right of Pal-estinian refugees to return home in accordance with international laws and UN General Assembly Resolution 194 (III) adopted on December 11, 1948.

The summit stressed the need for an early international peace confer-ence to set mechanisms to provide global protection for the Palestinian people and end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories since 1967, including East Jerusalem, in implemen-tation of UN resolutions and the Arab peace initiative. It sought the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution to end Israeli occupation within a time-table and reaffirmed support for efforts of the State of Palestine to accede to global treaties and organisations. It called for a plan to develop Al Quds and urged OIC member states to pro-vide financial resources.

The summit renewed support to Lebanon to complete the liberation of its territories from Israeli occupation through legitimate means and stressed the need for Israel to withdraw from Shebaa Farms, Kfarchouba Hills and the Lebanese part of Al Ghajar. It sought full implementation of Res-olution 1701 (2016) and condemned continuing Israeli violations of Leb-anon’s sovereignty.

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Households prefer fresh local farm produce to imports

Reuters

CAIRO: Thousands of Egyptians angered by President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi’s decision to hand over two islands to Saudi Arabia yester-day called for the government to fall, chanting a slogan from the 2011 Arab Spring uprising.

Security forces detained some 50 protest-ers and police surrounded the Press Syndicate building in Cairo, the site of the biggest dem-onstration. Al Sisi’s government prompted an outcry in newspapers and on social media last week when it announced a maritime demar-cation accord that put the uninhabited Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir in Saudi waters.

“The people want the downfall of the regime!” protesters cried outside the syndicate,

using the signature chant of the 2011 revolt against then president Hosni Mubarak, who later stepped down.

They also chanted: “Sisi - Mubarak”; “We don’t want you, leave”; and “We own the land and you are agents who sold our land.” In other parts of Cairo, police fired tear gas at protest-ers, sources said. Saudi and Egyptian officials say the islands belong to the kingdom and were under Egyptian control because Riyadh had asked Cairo in 1950 to protect them.

In a tweet, former top auditor Hesham Geneina, sacked by Al Sisi last month, described the protests as the “purest, bravest and most noble demonstration of Egyptians” in decades.

In Alexandria, around 500 people protested near a railway station. Calls for protests have gathered thousands of supporters on Facebook, including from the outlawed Brotherhood.

By Sidi Mohamed

The Peninsula

DOHA: The number of travellers entering and departing the coun-try through Hamad International Airport increased by 14 percent last year due to ongoing construction boom, reflecting positively on the performance of the Airport Pass-ports Department, a senior officer at the airport has said.

Col. Mohammed Rashid Al Mazroui, Director of the depart-ment, said: “Earlier, there used to be a peak time of passenger arrival and departure and sometimes it dropped, but now the peak time is all the time.”

Travellers can complete pro-cedures fast which has also helped reduce long queues, which were sometimes because some people obtained visa on arrival, some were yet have their eyes scanned, others had exceeded the duration of stay abroad while some had their passports amended — all of which took a lot of time.

The department is working to cope with the increasing number of travellers by further developing entry and departure procedures. Work is also going on to use smart traveller programme, and provide more training for airport staff, he said, adding 1,077 employees attended training courses last year.

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HIA working on

smart traveller

programme

The 13th Summit ends with an action plan and Istanbul Declaration on Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Azerbaijan.

Egyptians protest islands deal

Egyptians chant slogans during a protest in front of the Press Syndicate building in Cairo.

Clouds hover over Doha sky as the sun sets yesterday. Pic: Kammutty / The Peninsula

Sunset amid clouds

HOME02 SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2016

QNA

ISTANBUL: Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met OIC Secre-tary-General Iyad bin Amin Madani and his delegation on the sidelines of the 13th OIC Summit in Istanbul yesterday.

Talks dealt with cooperation between Qatar and OIC, means of promoting it and topics on the sum-mit’s agenda. The Emir’s delegation was present.

The Emir also met Burkina Faso President Roch Marc Christian Kabore and his delegation. They dis-cussed relations between the two

countries, means of enhancing them and topics on the summit’s agenda.

The Emir met Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam and his del-egation. Salam renewed his thanks to the Emir for Qatar’s role and efforts of concerned entities in helping release Lebanese military personnel kid-napped in Jarrod Arsal.

They also discussed ties between the two brotherly countries and the latest regional developments, espe-cially in Lebanon.

Later, the Emir returned home. He and his delegation were seen off at Ataturk Airport by Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus, Istanbul Governor Vasic Shahin, Qatari Ambassador to Turkey Salim

bin Mubarak Al Shafi, other Turkish officials and Qatari embassy staff.

The Emir sent a cable to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, expressing thanks and appreciation for the warm reception and gener-ous hospitality accorded to him and his delegation.

The Emir praised Erdogan’s efforts which had a significant impact on the outcome of the summit to promote solidarity and cooperation among Islamic countries for the wel-fare and interests of their peoples.

The Emir wished Erdogan con-tinued good health, happiness and success and the brotherly Turk-ish people further progress and prosperity.

Emir meets officials in Istanbul

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani holds talks with OIC Secretary-General Iyad bin Amin Madani in Istanbul.

Continued from page 1

The summit demanded full Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Syr-ian Golan to the June 4, 1967 borders in accordance with Security Coun-cil Resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973), the principle of land for peace, the terms of reference of the Madrid Peace Conference and the Arab Peace Initiative adopted by the Arab Sum-mit in Beirut on March 28, 2002.

It reiterated its principled position on condemnation of the aggression by Armenia against Azerbaijan and stressed that acquisition of territory by use of force is inadmissible under the UN Charter and international law.

It called for strict implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions 822 (1993), 853 (1993), 874 (1993) and 884 (1993) and immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh region and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

It stressed the need for coopera-tion between Islamic states and Iran based on the principle of good neigh-bourliness, non-interference in their domestic affairs, respect for their independence and territorial sover-eignty, resolving differences through peaceful means in accordance with OIC and UN charters and the inter-national law, and refraining from the use or threat of force.

The summit condemned aggres-sions against Saudi missions in Tehran and Mashhad in Iran and rejected Iran’s inflammatory state-ments on the execution of judicial decisions against the perpetrators of terrorist crimes in Saudi Arabia, considering the statements a bla-tant interference in the kingdom’s

internal affairs and a contravention of UN and OIC charters and interna-tional coventions.

It also deplored Iran’s interfer-ence in the internal affairs of states in the region and OIC member states, including Bahrain, Yemen, Syria and Somalia, and Tehran’s continued sup-port to terrorism.

The summit stressed the need to preserve Syria’s unity, independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity and reaffirmed support for a politi-cal settlement to the conflict based on the Geneva Communique.

It supported the political process under the UN auspices to implement a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political transition that would allow building a new Syrian state based on a pluralist, non-sectarian, democratic and civilian system where the prin-ciples of equality before the law, rule of law and respect for human rights prevail.

The conference praised Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey for hosting Syrian refugees and other friendly states for supporting them.

It welcomed the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2259 on Libya outlining the transitional task of Libyan authorities; and the Libyan Political Agreement signed in Skhi-rat, Morocco, to form a Government of National Accord comprising the Presidency Council and Cabinet sup-ported by other institutions of state and the formation of the council and government.

It reaffirmed its support for the Afghan National Unity Government established following presidential polls in 2014 and Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconcil-iation efforts towards lasting peace

and stability in the country and the region.

It reaffirmed its principled sup-port for the people of Jammu and Kashmir for the realisation of their legitimate right to self-determination and aspirations in accordance with relevant UN resolutions. It stressed that Jammu and Kashmir is the core dispute between Pakistan and India and its resolution is indispensable for bringing peace to South Asia.

The conference reaffirmed its solidarity with the government and people of Bosnia and Herzegovina and OIC’s support to and cooper-ation with Kosovo and its people. It expressed concern over attacks on mosques and other properties belonging to Muslims and said the recent migrants’ flow from the Mid-dle East to Europe had exacerbated xenophobic and Islamophobic ten-dencies in European countries. The summit stressed the importance of not using Islamophobic and xenopho-bic tendencies in society as a tool for popular policies and welcomed the establishment of a Contact Group for Muslims in Europe.

For food sufficiency and secu-rity in the Muslim world, the summit supported the need for possible joint venture agro projects under commer-cial and government arrangements within OIC mechanism for the pro-duction of cereal grains and the development of food reserves and banks for the vulnerable segments of the population in the Muslim world. Distribution arrangements could also serve as humanitarian assistance to famine-stricken communities, dis-placed people and refugees and OIC member states suffering serious and chronic food deficit.

By Fazeena Saleem

The Peninsula

DUBAI: Jewellery industry experts at a high-end exhibition in Dubai see Qatar as a potential market and look forward to future ventures.

Some have an existence in Qatar’s jewellery market and see it giving them wide opportunities.

The second edition of Vicen-zaoro Dubai (VOD) at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) is showcas-ing everything from gemstones to diamonds and other unique pieces brought by about 400 exhibitors from 25 countries.

The Peninsula spoke to a cross section of exhibitors about their potential to enter the Qatari market and experiences of those working

with local partners. “I have been to Doha and it’s a very traditional mar-ket. But the country is opening to different types of developments. Many new malls and shops are opening up and give an opportunity to jewellers also to open business.

“With this, Qatar is a very poten-tial market for the jewellery industry,” said Piero Speggiorin, Export Man-ager, Maria Detoni from Italy.

Mustafa Kamar, owner of Roberto Bravo in Turkey, is making plans and working to enter the Qatari market, initially through the Doha jewellery exhibition.

“Qatar is a growing market. It’s a star in the Middle East. However, the market plays is bit difficult. There are some Turkish jewellers active in the Qatari market but not as brands as such,” he said.

“However, we are working to

participate in the Doha jewellery exhibition as entry to Qatar,” said Kamar, also a member of the Turk-ish jewellery exporters’ association.

Several other exhibitors at VOD have been part of the Doha jewellery exhibition and have a presence in the market with local partners.

“We have been at the Doha jew-ellery exhibition, which is a very vibrant platform. We are doing busi-ness with some partners in Doha, the opportunities there are increasing,” said Illaria Furlotti from Ferrari-Firenze in Italy.

KGK Diamonds and Jewellery sees the Qatari market with regard to two categories of demand.

“We are working with partners in Qatar. In Doha, there is a high- end market and the Indian jewellery sector is mushrooming. We find the jewellery market there very vibrant,”

said Ashish Garg, Head of Sales and Marketing, who has participated in Doha jewellery exhibition.

The four-day VOD is designed specifically to cater to the jewellery, gold, precious stones and diamond industries and mainly targets the B2B sector.

Its concluding day will be open to visitors to mark Jewellery Celebra-tion Day. The event is organised by DV Global Link, a joint venture between Fiera di Vicenza and DWTC.

A key highlight of the opening show was a presentation by Trend-vision Jewellery + Forecasting, Fiera di Vicenza’s independent think tank for trend forecasting, at Vicenzaoro Dubai Welcome Lounge.

Visitors were invited to consult the think tank’s editorial publica-tions — The Trendbooks; Consumer Profiles; and Product Directions.

Qatar ‘potential’ market for jewellers at Dubai expo

By Raynald C Rivera

The Peninsula

DOHA: Around 85 animal lovers from various nationalities took part in one of the biggest dog walking activities yesterday at the 2nd Chance Rescue-Qatar, one of the three ani-mal shelters in the country.

The activity was organised by HERO-Qatar (Helping, Empower-ing, Recognising OFWs in Qatar), a non-profit Filipino organisation, in collaboration with Alpha Kappa Rho, to raise awareness about animal shelters in Qatar and services they provide to the community.

Regular walking is essential to dogs’ health and over 150 dogs at the shelter were given a chance to walk around the animal farm during the

activity which also served as oppor-tunity for HERO-Qatar members and supporters to bond over worthwhile cause. The group also donated bags of dog food to the facility.

The activity was led by HERO-Qatar President Kentry Beltran Ayson, HERO-Qatar Founding Chairman Henry Dimaano and Akhro-Qatar Representative Daryl Jan Violenta. It received an over-whelming support from other community groups, including Filipino Fitness and Health in Qatar (FFHQ); Pag-Iribang Bikolnon-Qatar (PIBQ); Cavitenos sa Qatar; WeGo Qatar; D’Fri3ndz; and ILoveQatar. EVE House of Catering and Events spon-sored refreshments.

“We are glad to be able to put together this wonderful event which is a way of advocating the rights of animals. We are glad to support 2nd

Chance Rescue-Qatar in its noble cause. We are also thrilled to be able to volunteer our services to the facility,” said Ayson. 2nd Chance Res-cue-Qatar was established in 2009 as a rescue mission of Abdulla Al Naemi and later turned into a full-scale ani-mal shelter, now home to over 150 dogs and 50 cats.

“We are thankful to efforts of HERO-Qatar and other Filipino groups in bringing attention to what we do at the shelter. We look forward to continuous support of commu-nities to facilities like ours,” said Amy Redfern, Manager, 2nd Chance Rescue-Qatar.

2nd Chance Rescue-Qatar holds dog walking/Open Day on Satur-days from 3pm to 5pm. Those keen to visit the farm or donate dog food may email at 2ndchancerescuedoha.qatar@gmail.com

Continued from page 1

“When any forgery is discov-ered in the passport or other official documents of a traveller, he is black-listed and sent back to the country he has come from,” Col. Al Mazroui (pictured) told Police with you, a magazine issued by the Public Rela-tions Department at the Ministry of Interior.

He said in such cases, if a travel-ler is leaving Qatar, he is referred to the concerned authorities for inves-tigation because the forgery might have happened here. The process of checking travel documents is done through sophisticated devices such as travel documents reader and fraud revealer that can discover many types of forgery.

“We have modern devices to check travel documents and dis-cover forgery, for example, VSC 40,

in addition to technological devices that can discover the place of forgery in the passport,” he added.

Major Nasser Abdulkarim Al Humaidi, Head of Airport Passports Section, said some 140 eye scanners have been set up at HIA according to the highest international specifica-tions and 3,984,231 visas of all types were issued last year.

Continued from page 1

“Our challenge is to manage the flow of people because of the number. We expect the number to increase further, especially dur-ing weekends. We expect around 36 percent turnout at the end of the elections,” said Santos. Compared to other countries where OAV is being held, Filipino voters in Qatar are more engaged and their number is encouraging. On the third day of the elections, Doha ranked fifth among

82 Philippine posts overseas in terms of voter turnout. “Filipinos have strong interest in the elections and come out in great numbers to per-form their civic duty. This is a positive development as overseas Filipinos show great interest in choosing the next leaders to take the reins of the country,” added Santos.

Social media has played a major role in making overseas Filipinos more involved in the elections. “I think social media is a catalyst for this positive development, providing

the necessary platform for overseas Filipinos to be connected and know the platforms of the candidates at the same time to be more cognizant of the importance of this poll exercise,” he explained. During the elections, the embassy will be open every day to receive voters from 8am to 5pm from Sunday to Thursday and 9am to 5pm on Friday and Saturday. On the last day of OAV on May 9, votes can be cast from 7am to noon. To cast vote, a registered voter must present his passport or Qatar ID for verification.

OIC praises support to Syrian refugees

3,984,231 visas issued in 2015

Animal lovers take part in dog walkSome of the participants at the event.

Doha fifth among 82 posts in voter turnout

Egyptian protesters clash with a supporter of President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi (in green) during a demonstration against government’s decision to transfer two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, in front of the Press Syndicate in Cairo, yesterday.

Street clashes in Cairo

MIDDLE EAST 03 SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2016

AFP

BEIRUT: Fierce fighting raged yes-terday around Syria’s Aleppo as a surge in violence forced tens of thousands more to flee their homes, overshadowing the latest round of peace talks in Geneva.

The clashes on several fronts have put a strain on a fragile cease-fire in place since February 27, and left more than 200 fighters on all sides of the civil war dead in recent days.

The delegation representing President Bashar Al Assad’s regime arrived yesterday in Geneva for UN-brokered indirect talks between representatives of the government and opposition.

Syria’s main opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) said in Geneva yesterday it was willing to join a transitional government with diplomats and technocrats from Assad’s government.

“We cannot accept the partici-pation of the parties who committed crimes against the Syrian people in the transitional governing body,” HNC spokesman Salem Al Meslet said on the sidelines of the talks.

But the opposition could coop-erate with regime “diplomats and technocrats” provided they had

popular support, he said.The indirect talks resumed two

days after opposition representatives arrived and following legislative elections in regime-held areas on Wednesday. UN envoy Staffan de Mistura met the government dele-gation, with a second session set for Monday, and the HNC was holding its second meeting with him.

Assad’s role in a future transi-tional government, which De Mistura has said would be the focus of the talks, remains the key sticking point.

Damascus says that even dis-cussing the issue of his departure is off limits, while the opposition insists Assad must play no role in a future transition.

The fighting around Syria’s sec-ond city Aleppo has cast a shadow over international efforts to end the five-year war, which has left more than 270,000 people dead and forced millions to flee their homes.

Troops and militiamen loyal to the regime have fought Islamic State group fighters southeast of Aleppo city this week, the Syrian Observa-tory for Human Rights said.

They also battled jihadists from the Al Qaeda-affiliated Al Nusra Front and allied rebels in the flash-point area of Handarat north of Aleppo city, it said.

Meanwhile IS fought rebels near the Turkish border, the Britain-based monitor added.

“What is happening in Aleppo is a major violation of the cease-fire,” rebel commander Major Eyad Shamsi said in Geneva, blaming the regime.

“A big battle is being fought in Aleppo, and it will lead to a major disaster should the regime succeed” in severing the route linking rebel-held parts of Aleppo to the northern countryside, he said.

On one Aleppo front alone — pit-ting rebels against IS — fighting has forced about 30,000 civilians to flee, according to Human Rights Watch.

AFP

BAGHDAD: The United Nations warned yesterday that political tur-moil that has repeatedly delayed efforts to change the Iraqi cabinet is a threat to the country’s war against the Islamic State (IS) group.

Iraq is battling to retake more ground from IS, which seized large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, and Washington has also expressed concern that political dis-putes could distract from efforts to combat the jihadists.

Instead of voting on a new cab-inet lineup, lawmakers tried to sack the parliament speaker and his dep-uties on Thursday, while the two previous sessions ended in a sit-in and a fistfight among MPs.

“The only party that benefits

from the political divisions and chaos as well as the weakening of the state and its institutions is Daesh. We should not allow this to happen,” Gyorgy Busztin, the acting head of the UN Iraq mission, said in a statement, using an Arabic acro-nym for IS.

“The political leaders of Iraq should place the high national inter-est over any other consideration and work relentlessly to ensure the polit-ical process produces solutions that would lead Iraq out of its crisis and strengthen the state and its institu-tions. Only through unity can Iraq win,” Busztin said.

Abadi has called for the cabinet of party-affiliated ministers to be replaced by a government of tech-nocrats, but has faced significant resistance from the powerful par-ties that rely on control of ministries for patronage and funds.

On Thursday, MPs voted to sack parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi and his deputies, but the speaker says the session at which the vote was held lacked a quorum and was therefore invalid.

An “emergency” session on Wednesday ended with lawmak-ers shouting, shoving and throwing punches in the parliament chamber, leading Juburi to call a recess.

Abadi presented a first list of cab-inet nominees at the end of March, but the political blocs put forward their own candidates, and most of the premier’s original list was replaced on a second presented to MPs on Tuesday.

Some MPs demanded the oppor-tunity to vote on Abadi’s original list — from which at least two candi-dates had already withdrawn — but the session was adjourned Tuesday without a vote.

Reuters & AFP

TUNIS: Tunisian police fired tear gas in clashes with hundreds of unemployed youth in a southern town yesterday, after protesters burned a police station and cars during riots over jobs, officials and witnesses said.

Tunisia has been held up as a regional model for democratic transition since an uprising against autocratic leader Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, but many of its cit-izens remain frustrated over the lack of economic reform in the five years since.

Protests began late Thursday night in the town of Kerkannah, which lies on a small island off the coast, and escalated into rioting and clashes on Friday, witnesses said. “Police were chasing youths through the streets, arresting people and the protesters were chanting for jobs,” a local resident, Kamal Sahal, said by telephone. “Police responded with a lot of tear gas.”

The interior ministry said in a statement around 250 protest-ers attacked and burned a police station in Kerkannah’s port of Sidi Youssef, tossing homemade firebombs. Three vehicles were burned and another pushed into the dock. Since the 2011 uprising, protests have sporadically bro-ken out in Tunisia over economic conditions and reforms. Riots over jobs in several southern and cen-tral towns at the beginning of this year were the worst since the revolution.

AP

SANA’A: Yemeni government troops newly-trained by a Saudi-led coa-lition routed Al Qaeda militants yesterday from a city in the coun-try’s south and arrested dozens of militants, military officials said. The battles took place as Yemen’s Shia Houthi rebels organized a large rally denouncing breaches to Yemen’s frag-ile UN-brokered truce.

Tens of thousands of protesters chanted against the United Nations for what they claimed was the inter-national community turning a blind eye to continued coalition airstrikes after the April 10 start of the truce.

The internationally-recognized government, backed by the Saudi coalition, meanwhile, accuses the Houthis of continuing their shelling inside residential areas in disputed cities like Taiz.

Yesterday, officials said that the city of Al Houta, the capital of Lahj province, is now firmly under gov-ernment control. The officials said Al Qaeda militants fled the city on Fri-day to nearby towns and farms. Later in the day, security officials said that at least 48 suspected Al Qaeda mili-tants were arrested as security forces cordoned off the city from all direc-tions and conducted searches. They added that a total of five soldiers were killed in the four-hour operation.

All officials spoke on condition

of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

The assault came as coalition hel-icopters and US drones launched a series of airstrikes targeting Al Qaeda hideouts and strongholds across Yem-en’s southern region. The group has exploited the conflict between Shiite Houthi rebels and government forces to expand its foothold in Yemen.

This week, the coalition’s Apache helicopters launched airstrikes in the town of Koud in Abyan province, kill-ing at least 10 militants and wounding others. US drones also struck a sprawling training camp in the south-ern province of Hadramawt, killing more than 50 militants last week.

The Saudi-led coalition has waged an extensive air campaign

for a year against the Houthis and their allies, who control the capital, Sana’a, and forced the internation-ally recognized government to flee the country. Meanwhile government forces are also battling both Al Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates.

Al Qaeda in Yemen is seen by Washington as the group’s most dan-gerous offshoot after planning several foiled attacks on US soil. The group also claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on the office of satiri-cal French newspaper Charlie Hebdo in January 2015. The group has lost several top leaders in drone strikes in the past year, but has also seized con-trol of the city of Mukalla, the capital of Hadramawt province.

AP

WASHINGTON: A top Iranian offi-cial on Friday accused the US and the European Union of failing to honor last year’s nuclear deal by keeping Iran locked out of the international financial system.

The White House insisted Wash-ington is committed to fulfilling its part of the accord and said Tehran wants concessions that weren’t part of the deal. The historic accord took effect in January and envisions Iran curtailing its nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief.

The head of Iran’s central bank, Valiollah Seif ,said in a speech Fri-day that Iran’s counterparts have not lived up to their commitments and that “almost nothing” has been done

as part of the deal. “In general, we are not able to use our frozen funds abroad,” Seif said at the Council on Foreign Relations through a transla-tor. Seif was in Washington to attend the spring meetings of the Interna-tional Monetary Fund and the World Bank. “They (Iran’s partners) have not honoured their obligations.”

He urged Washington to do more to encourage international banks to do business with Iran and ease Iran’s access to US financial insti-tutions. Otherwise, he said, the deal “breaks up on its own terms.” He did not elaborate.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest insisted Friday that West-ern nations are doing their part. “The United States, along with the rest of the international community, is committed to living up to our end of the bargain,” he told reporters.

BENGHAZI: Two soldiers were killed and three wounded in a car bombing yesterday near the Libyan city of Benghazi, security sources said, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.

The car exploded close to Al Hawari cemetery, killing two soldiers of Libya’s internation-ally recognised government and wounding three, army spokesman Munzer Al Khartuch said.

The cemetery is around 10km from the centre of Benghazi, Lib-ya’s second city. IS said one of its militants blew up his explosives-laden vehicle in the middle of a group of soldiers, killing as many as 50 and destroying 15 vehicles.

Government forces have clashed with militants in the area since Thursday, when a military official said seven soldiers were killed near a cement factory.

Fighting has flared period-ically in Benghazi for the past two years as security forces try to wrest neighbourhoods from armed groups including IS and Ansar Al Sharia, which is close to Al Qaeda.

Aleppo battles cast shadow over peace talks

Families being evacuated from the recently recaptured city of Heet in western Iraq, yesterday. Iraqi security forces gained full control over the key city of Heet, capital province of Anbar, after days of fierce clashes with Islamic state group, a military source said.

UN warns Iraq political crisis a threat to fight against IS

Tunisian police fire teargas in clashes with jobless youth

Yemeni forces rout Qaeda in southern city

2 soldiers dead in IS car bomb in Benghazi

US and EU not honouring nuclear deal: Iran official

AFP

JERUSALEM: The European Union said yesterday it was “deeply con-cerned” by Israel’s construction of a new part of its controversial separation barrier in the occupied West Bank.

Cranes last week began erect-ing the fence in the Cremisan valley near the Palestinian town of Beit Jala south of Jerusalem after a legal battle.

The EU said in a statement it was “deeply concerned at the relaunch of works for the construc-tion of the separation barrier in the Cremisan valley.”

“Once built, the barrier will severely restrict access of almost 60 Palestinian families to their agricultural land and profoundly affect their livelihoods.”

Residents of Beit Jala fear the construction may lead to the expansion of the nearby Israeli set-tlements of Gilo and Har Gilo.

They have sought to campaign against it, but after a nine-year legal battle Israel’s high court ruled in July 2015 that the wall was legit-imate and allowed construction to resume.

Israel began building the bar-rier of walls and fences inside the occupied West Bank in 2002 at the height of the second Palestin-ian intifada (uprising), saying it was crucial for security. The Palestin-ians see it as a land grab aimed at stealing part of their future state.

In a non-binding decision, the International Court of Justice ruled in 2004 that construction of the barrier was illegal and, like the UN General Assembly, demanded it be dismantled.

Assad’s role in a future transitional government, which UN envoy De Mistura has said would be the focus of the talks, remains the key sticking point.

EU concerned by Israel’s new phase of separation wall

ASIA / PHILIPPINES04 SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2016

AFP

PHILIPPINES: US Defence Secre-tary Ashton Carter visited a warship close to flashpoint waters of the South China Sea yesterday, as Beijing reacted defiantly to an American mil-itary build-up in the area.

Carter’s trip to the USS John C Stennis was the latest effort by the United States to show its commit-ment to maintaining security in the hotly contested waters, where China has rattled nerves by building arti-ficial islands on islets and reefs claimed by some of its Southeast Asian neighbours.

“It is a message to the region that the US intends to continue to play a role in keeping peace and stability in this region,” Carter told reporters aboard the warship, a nuclear-pow-ered carrier that can carry about 75 planes and helicopters.

Before flying from Manila to visit the ship, Carter emphasised the United States would support the Phil-ippines and other allies as they faced “coercion and intimidation”.“We will continue to stand up for our safety and freedoms, for those of our friends and allies, and for the values, princi-ples, and rules-based order that has benefited so many for so long,” Carter said at a closing ceremony for annual US-Philippine war games.

The roughly two-hour visit to the

Stennis came after Carter announced on Thursday that the United States had launched joint naval patrols with the Philippines in the sea, as he spoke of growing concern about China’s “land reclamation” and “militarisa-tion” of the region.

He also said the United States would deploy hundreds of troops, as well as warplanes, to the Philippines.

China claims nearly all of the strategically vital sea, even waters close to its Southeast Asian neigh-bours, and has in recent years created the islands in an effort to assert what it insists are its sovereign rights.

The Philippines, Vietnam, Malay-sia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping claims to parts of the sea, which is home to some of the world’s most important shipping lanes and is believed to sit atop vast oil reserves.

China has constructed the islands on reefs in the Spratlys archipelago, which are close to the Philippines and Malaysia, as well as airstrips capable of accommodating military aircraft.

China in 2012 also took control of a rich fishing shoal just 220km from

the main Philippine landmass. The shoal is 650km from China’s near-est major landmass. Carter visited the Stennis after making a short flight to

the carrier from a military base on the southwestern Philippine island of Pal-awan, which is the closest landmass to the Spratlys.

AP

BEIJING: China will “resolutely defend” its interests in the face of stepped-up US-Philippine military cooperation, the Defense Ministry said, accusing the two allies of mil-itarising the region and harbouring a “Cold War mentality.”

The ministry’s comments came shortly after the announcement Thursday that the US would send troops and planes to the Philip-pines for more frequent rotations and will increase joint sea and air patrols with Philippine forces in the South China Sea. In a move likely to further anger Beijing, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter says he will be visiting an aircraft car-rier in the South China Sea during his current visit to the region that does not include a stop in China.

“The joint patrols between the United States and the Philip-pines in the South China Sea are militarizing the region and are non-beneficial to regional peace and stability,” said a statement posted to the ministry’s website late Thursday.

“The Chinese military will pay close attention to the situation, and resolutely defend China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime inter-ests,” it said.

China claims virtually the entire South China Sea as its ter-ritory and is building manmade islands there topped with air-strips and other infrastructure. The Philippines, Vietnam and others also claim territory con-trolled or claimed by China and increased military and coast guard deployments by all sides are seen as increasing the poten-tial for conflict. The statement also referenced China’s long-standing opposition to US military alliances in the region which it regards as a form of unwelcome interloping that challenges its desired status as the pre-eminent military power in the Asia-Pacific.

Supporters of Filipino presidential aspirant, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, display handbands with clenched fists during a political rally in Marikina city, east of Manila, yesterday.

Power for sure

Reuters

PHILIPPINES: Islamist militants in the Philippines yesterday announced a new deadline of April 25 for the execution of three foreign captives and a Filipino, but scaled back their ransom demand in a video posted on social media.

The captives - two Canadian men, a Norwegian man and a Fili-pino woman - were kidnapped from a beach resort on a southern island last September. They are believed to be held in the jungle on Jolo island, a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf group,

which is known for bombs, behead-ings and kidnappings. In the video, the captives, with machetes held to their necks, asked their families and governments to pay a ransom of 300m pesos ($6.51m) each, down from the figure of a billion pesos each that the militants demanded last year.

“This is already an ultimatum,” the masked militant leader said. “We will certainly behead one of these four,” he added, setting the execu-tion for 3pm on April 25. There was no explanation why the ransom was reduced or a new deadline set.

A spokesman for the Philippine military declined to comment, say-ing he had not seen the video. In the

nearly two-minute clip posted on Youtube, the foreigners appealed for the militants’ demands to be met.

“I am told to tell you that my ran-som is 300 million,” said one man, who identified himself as Robert Hall.

“My specific appeal is to the Canadian government, who, I know, have the capacity to get us out of here. I’m wondering what they’re waiting for.” The other Canadian and the Nor-wegian also made appeals, but the Filipino woman was not allowed to speak. The video was the fourth such appeal released by the militants. In their third clip last month, they set an April 8 deadline but no ransom was specified.

Chinese state TV airs confessions

by two Taiwan fraud suspects

Reuters

BEIJING: Chinese state television has aired confessions by two Taiwanese fraud suspects among dozens deported from Kenya to China, as Taiwan said it would send officials to China to talk about a case that has infuriated Taipei.

Taiwan has said China effectively kid-napped its nationals. Kenya, however, does not have official relations with the democratic, self-ruled island, and con-siders it part of “one China”, in line with the position of Communist Party lead-ers in Beijing.

Kenya said the 77 suspects, 45 of whom were from Taiwan, were in the country illegally and were being sent back to where they had come from.

Chinese state television aired video of two men in orange jump suits with blurred-out faces, confessing to imper-sonating police in telecoms fraud in China.

“I now know that carrying out these scams is wrong, and I will accept the punishment of the law,” said one suspect surnamed Jian. “I hope that the govern-ment will give me a chance.”

Asked by a woman off-camera what he wanted to say to his “mainland com-patriots”, Jian, who had a Taiwanese accent, said: “Sorry to the people of the mainland”.

China’s Ministry of Public Security

has said the group detained in Kenya had operated out of Nairobi and were sus-pected of cheating people out of millions of yuan across nine provinces and cit-ies in China. As most of the victims were in China, it said, they would be prose-cuted there.

The ministry has said China informed Taiwan of the situation and would invite its law enforcement officials to visit to dis-cuss how best to tackle such fraud. It did not respond to a Reuters request for com-ment on the confessions.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said it had received another letter from China inviting members to visit, and so will send a delegation on Monday to talk about the issue.

“We have not seen those suspects ourselves. We have not seen any evi-dence ourselves. We are not in a position to comment at this point,” the council’s secretary general, Jeff Yang, told Reuters when asked about the confessions.

The videos are the latest in a recent string of on-camera guilt admissions in China, which this time is likely to aggra-vate cross-Strait tensions.

Though such displays of contri-tion have long been part of China’s legal landscape, state media have increasingly used them, including in cases involving foreigners accused of crimes. That has prompted international criticism that the admissions could be made under duress and that the practice violates China’s own laws on due process.

Reuters

KUALA LUMPUR: Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said that a $681m deposit in Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s bank account

was a donation originating from Saudi Arabia, Malaysian state media reported, yesterday.

Najib has been facing allegations of graft after reports claimed that the funds found in his personal bank account originated from troubled state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad

(1MDB). Najib, however, has main-tained that the funds were a donation and did not originate from 1MDB.

“We are aware of the donation and it is a genuine donation with nothing expected in return. We are also fully aware that the Attorney-General of Malaysia has thoroughly

investigated the matter and found no wrongdoing,” Al-Jubeir was quoted telling reporters by state news agency Bernama at a summit of the Organ-isation of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul. “So, as far as we are con-cerned, the matter is closed,” he added.

Al-Jubeir was speaking to Malay-sian reporters after a meeting with Najib on the sidelines of the summit.

1MDB, whose advisory board is chaired by Najib, is under investi-gation in at least five countries for alleged graft and mismanagement.

Last week, a Malaysian

parliamentary inquiry slammed the board of 1MDB for being irresponsi-ble and urged a probe into its former chief, but stopped short of implicating the prime minister. In January, Malay-sia’s attorney-general cleared Najib of any wrongdoing or corruption in rela-tion to the funds.

Carter visits warship in South China Sea

Secretary of the Department of National Defence of the Philippines Voltair Gazmin (left) and US Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter arrive at Puerto Princesa in Palawan, yesterday.

China accuses US

& Philippines of

harbouring ‘Cold

War mentality’

Militants set new deadline to

execute 3 foreign captives

Saudi minister says donation to Malaysia’s Najib was genuine: State media

AP

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia deported 20 Taiwanese criminal suspects to Taiwan yesterday despite Beijing’s request that they be sent to China, amid an ongoing bat-tle over jurisdiction involving the self-ruled island. A Malaysia official said another 32 Taiwanese suspects sought by China also will be sent to Taiwan.

A Taiwanese Foreign Ministry statement said the 20 suspects, who were detained on suspicion of commit-ting wire fraud, had boarded a plane bound for Taiwan yesterday. Malaysian officials had delayed the flight, saying they were awaiting legal approval, but the Tai-wanese foreign ministry said the plane was allowed to take off late yesterday afternoon.

Taiwan’s statement yesterday evening said its offi-cials were actively engaged in talks to pressure Malaysia to allow another remaining 32 suspects to be deported to Taiwan for investigation.

A Malaysian government official said the country has decided “to send the suspects back to their respec-tive countries to be dealt with accordingly.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media.

The latest battle over Taiwanese deportations came after Kenya sent 45 Taiwanese suspects to China instead of Taiwan. Beijing wants to investigate them for defraud-ing victims in China by posing as police officers and insurance agents over the phone in order to obtain banking details.

China claims jurisdiction in such cases where the victims are Chinese, and says the perpetrators aren’t given due punishment when they are returned to Taiwan.

Malaysia will not send 20 Taiwan suspects to China

We will continue to stand up for our safety and freedoms, for those of our friends and allies, and for the values, principles, and rules-based order that has benefited so many for so long: Carter

ASIA / AFRICA 05SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2016

AFP

SEOUL: North Korea tried and failed yesterday to test-fire what appeared to be a medium-range missile on the birthday of founding leader Kim Il-Sung, the United States said, denouncing the move as another needless provocation.

The missile disappeared from sur-veillance radar a few seconds after its launch and is believed to have exploded midair, according to a Seoul intelligence official quoted by Yonhap news agency.

There had been widespread intel-ligence reports in recent days that the North was preparing for the first-ever flight test of its Musudan missile,

which is believed to be capable of striking US bases on the Pacific island of Guam.

The US and South Korean mili-taries both detected and tracked the early morning test. A US defence offi-cial said the missile was “presumably”

a Musudan. On board a US aircraft carrier in the South China Sea as part of a regional tour, US Defence Sec-retary Ashton Carter hit out at North Korea for raising tensions.

“The North Korean missile launch, which we assessed was unsuccessful, was nevertheless another provoca-tion by North Korea in a region that doesn’t need that kind of behaviour,” Carter told reporters.

The April 15 birthday of Kim Il-Sung -- the grandfather of current ruler Kim Jong-Un -- is a major pub-lic holiday in North Korea, where key political anniversaries are often marked with displays of military muscle.

The country is also gearing up for a rare and much-hyped ruling party congress next month, at which Kim

Jong-Un is expected to take credit for pushing the country’s nuclear weap-ons programme to new heights.

Pyongyang has hailed a series of achievements in recent months, including miniaturising a nuclear warhead to fit on a missile, devel-oping a warhead that can withstand atmospheric re-entry, and building a solid-fuel missile engine. Last week, it said it had successfully tested an engine designed for an inter-conti-nental ballistic missile (ICBM) that would “guarantee” an eventual nuclear strike on the US mainland.

Outside experts have treated a number of the claims with scepti-cism, while acknowledging that the North’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes have both made signif-icant strides. If yesterday’s failure is

confirmed as a Musudan test, it would mark a very unwelcome public failure and fuel doubts about just how far the North has gone in developing a relia-ble nuclear delivery system.

“We are monitoring and continu-ing to assess the situation,” another US official said, calling on North Korea to “refrain from actions that further raise tensions in the region.”

Anxiety has been high on the divided Korean peninsula since Pyongyang conducted its fourth nuclear test in January and a rocket launch a month later that was widely seen as a disguised ballistic mis-sile test. The UN Security Council responded with its toughest sanctions to date, angering the North, which has since made repeated threats of attacks targeting the South and the

US. Existing UN resolutions forbid North Korea from the use of any bal-listic missile-related technology.

But the North has defied the sanc-tions by test-firing nearly 20 short- or mid-range missiles off its east coast since early March, in a show of force against the South-US joint army drill that kicked off in the same month.

Pyongyang, with the series of provocations, is trying to prove that the UN sanctions are ineffective in curbing its weapons development, said Seoul’s unification ministry, which handles cross-border affairs.

“They are trying to divide opin-ions of the international community by pushing more people to think that we... need dialogue with the North,” ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-Hee said.

North Korea’s missile launch fails: USThe missile disappeared from surveillance radar a few seconds after its launch and is believed to have exploded midair: Report

Young military personnel leave after paying their respects to former leaders Kim Il-sung (left) and Kim Jong-il statues at Mansu Hill in Pyongyang, North Korea, yesterday. The ceremony was held as part of the celebrations to mark ‘Day of the Sun’, birth date of the country’s founder Kim Il-sung.

Day of Sun

AP

MASHIKI: A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.1 struck southern Japan early today, barely 24 hours after a smaller quake hit the same region and killed nine people.

Japanese broadcaster NHK said a number of calls were coming in from residents reporting people being trapped inside houses and buildings.

The quake shook the Kumamoto region at 1:25am today, and several aftershocks soon followed. Japan’s Meteorological Agency issued an advi-sory for a tsunami up to 1 metre high along the coast west of the epicenter in Kumamoto; the advisory was lifted less than an hour later.

Sirens of patrol vehicles were heard on the background as NHK reported from the hardest-hit town of Mashiki. The asphalt ground outside the town hall had a new crack, appar-ently made by the latest earthquake.

The Nuclear Regulation Author-ity said no abnormalities were found at the Sendai nuclear plant, where the only two of Japan’s 43 operable reac-tors are online.

Thursday’s weaker, magnitude 6.5

earthquake brought down buildings and injured about 800 people,

in addition to the nine deaths. The epicenter of yesterday’s earthquake was about 12km northwest of Thurs-day’s, and at a depth of about 10km. Yesterday’s quake was more shallow.

It hit residents who were still in shock from the previous night’s hor-rors and had suffered through more than 100 aftershocks in the interim.

On Friday, Yuichiro Yoshikado described the horror of the earthquake striking as he was taking a bath in his Mashiki apartment.

“I grabbed onto the sides of the bathtub, but the water in the tub, it was about 70 percent filled with water, was going like this,” he said, waving his arms, “and all the water splashed out.”

“It’s as if all control was lost. I thought I was going to die and I couldn’t bear it any longer.”

A bright spot broadcast repeatedly on television Friday was the overnight rescue of an apparently uninjured baby, wrapped in a blanket and carried out of the rubble of a collapsed home.

Police said Friday that concern about aftershocks was keeping many people from starting the huge task of cleaning up. Since Saturday’s quake was bigger.

Thursday’s was technically a

Yet another quake hits southern

Japan; some reported trapped

Reuters

ACCRA: Ghana and Togo are the next targets for Islamist militants follow-ing high-profile attacks this year in Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast, according to a memo from Ghana’s Immigration Service.

The memo calls for better bor-der protection in the latest sign of a heightened government response to the threat to West Africa by mil-itants based in northern Mali who have stepped up a campaign of vio-lence in the last year.

It says the National Security

Council Secretariat (NSCS) has evi-dence from neighbouring Ivory Coast from the interrogation of a man sus-pected of orchestrating an attack on March 13 in which 18 people were killed. “Intelligence gathered by the ... NSCS indicates a possible terrorist attack on the country is real. ... The choice of Ghana according to the report is to take away the percep-tion that only Francophone countries are the target,” said the memo, dated April 9 and published by Ghanaian media.

It ordered immigration agents on the northern border with Burkina Faso to be extra vigilant and said patrols should be stepped up along

informal routes between the two countries. Ghana is one of Africa’s most stable and peaceful democra-cies and has not suffered an attack by Islamist militants. Togo is the coun-try’s eastern neighbour.

President John Mahama spoke about the memo in an interview on state radio’s Sunrise FM on Thursday. He asked for public vigilance and said Ghana was also at risk from home grown militants, while noting that countries in the region share intel-ligence on militant threats.

Government spokesmen in the presidency and at the immigration ministry did not return calls request-ing comment.

Ghana warns of militant attack

Reuters

JOHANNESBURG: The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said yes-terday that it will begin relocating 10,000 Mozambican refugees to better facilities within Malawi, the neighbouring state they have fled to in a bid to escape renewed fight-ing in their homeland.

UNHCR said the Mozam-bicans began fleeing into Malawi in December and the exodus peaked in early March at over 250 peo-ple per day. “In southern Malawi, a major UNHCR-run relocation operation involving some 10,000 Mozambican asylum-seekers and aimed at improving the conditions in which they are living began earlier this morning,” the Geneva-based UNHCR said in a statement.

“On arrival, they will stay at a transit centre for up to two days until they are provided with a plot of land, food, shelter materials and household items,” it said.

In January, some refugees said they fled renewed fighting between Frelimo government forces and Renamo guerrillas in an escalation of a simmering con-flict between old foes who fought a civil war that ended in 1992.

The refugees said Frelimo forces were burning homes and killing civilians, charges denied by the government.

The official Mozambique news agency said a government mis-sion in March found no evidence of abuses by the military. Mozam-bique and Malawi are two of the world’s poorest countries and both have also been hit by a drought that has triggered crop failures and food shortages. It was a cause of serious concern.

Over 10,000

Mozambican

refugees to

be relocated

A Wildlife Service officer examines an ivory tusk at the KWS headquarters in Nairobi, yesterday. Containers loaded with ivory tusks from various parts of the country and other places arrived ahead of the ivory burning event on April 30, where 105 tonnes of ivory is set to be burned.

Ivory haul

Reuters

WASHINGTON: The US government agency charged with monitoring international religious freedoms called on Myanmar’s new govern-ment yesterday to do away with abusive policies against the coun-try’s minority Rohingya Muslims.

The US Commission on Interna-tional Religious Freedom (USCIRF) praised the government of de facto head of state Aung San Suu Kyi for releasing political prisoners after its November election victory.

But it said Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, needed to act to protect freedom of religion and end discrimination against

minorities. “One such step is Bur-ma’s government radically changing its abusive policies and practices in Rakhine state, which have harmed members of the ethnic communities who live there, especially Rohingya Muslims,” it said in statement.

The commission called on the government to do away with laws discriminating against ethnic and religious minorities, including Christians and Rohingya and other Muslims - notably the 1982 Citizen-ship Law. It said the government should ratify the International Cov-enant on Civil and Political Rights, improve access to humanitarian aid for displaced religious and ethnic minorities, and invite the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief to visit.

Myanmar urged to

end Rohingya abuses

foreshock. Yoshikado, whose building was undamaged despite the intense shaking, checked the damage at his aunt and uncle’s home nearby. Kitchenware was scattered on the floor, and a clock had stopped around 9:26pm the time of the earthquake. Power and water have yet to be restored, and many in the neighborhood have yet to return because of the aftershocks.

About 44,000 people stayed in shelters after Thursday’s quake.

The dead included five women and four men, the Fire and Disas-ter Management Agency said. One man was in his 20s, and the rest of the victims ranged from their 50s to one woman in her 90s. Eight of the nine victims were from Mashiki.

There were varying reports on the number of injured. The government’s chief spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, said at least 860 people had been injured, 53 seri-ously. Kumamoto prefecture tallied 784 injured.

Suga said 1,600 soldiers had joined the relief and rescue efforts. TV reports showed troops deliver-ing blankets and adult diapers to those in shelters.

With water service cut off in some areas, residents were haul-ing water from local offices to their homes to flush toilets.

Suga said there were no abnormalities at nearby nuclear facilities. The epicenter was 120km northeast of Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s Sendai nuclear plant, the only one operating in the country.

Most of Japan’s nuclear reac-tors remain offline following the meltdowns at the Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima plant in 2011 after a magnitude 9.0 earth-quake triggered a huge tsunami.

According to the Japan Meteor-ological Agency, Mashiki sits near two faults on Kyushu. The area is also near Mount Aso, a huge, active volcano. JMA officials said the quake was unusually strong for Kyushu.

Rescuers dramatically pulled a baby girl from a collapsed house yesterday early in the morning more than six hours after a swarm of powerful earthquakes rocked southwestern Japan.

People gathered at a safe location after the second quake in Japan, early today.

Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain boards a plane as he leaves Istanbul after attending the 13th Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Summit, yesterday

Afghans rally to protest what they call US interference in country’s internal affairs after a recent visit of US Secretary of State John Kerry, in Paktia, Afghanistan, yesterday.

President returns from Istanbul

Anti-US protest

PAKISTAN06 SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2016

Reuters

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: Pakistani forces battled yesterday to dislodge a criminal gang holding 24 hostages from its island hideout in the prosperous province of Punjab, with a top regional official saying it had at most 48 hours in which to surrender.

The operation involving more than 1,600 security forces is now in its tenth day, an unprecedented use of force by the powerful military in Punjab, which is the political power base of Prime Min-ister Nawaz Sharif. Television broadcast images of police and army commandos firing assault weapons at the 10km- long island in the centre of the Indus River, as an armoured personnel carrier drove by.

“The gang will not be allowed to get away,” Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah told reporters in televised

comments. “Political and military leaders agree that there will be no nego-tiations with these criminals, nor will we entertain any of their demands.”

He added, “They will either have to surrender or be eliminated within the coming 24 to 48 hours.”

While Pakistan’s attention has for years been focused on the Taliban and Al Qaeda threat on the Afghan border in the remote northwest, militants and criminals have quietly expanded their influence and won recruits in the coun-try’s heartland of Punjab.

At least six police officials have been killed in the battle for the island, launched in a sweeping crackdown after a Tali-ban suicide bombing killed 72 people in Lahore, the provincial capital, last month. It was unclear just how many members of the “Chotu Group”, blamed for hundreds of cases of kidnapping for ransom, mur-der and robbery, were trapped there, but police said their families were believed to be accompanying them.

Police spokeswoman Nabeela Ghaz-anfar said seven of the gang’s leaders had been killed by police and eight injured, while six police officials had died and seven were hurt in clashes. Policemen were among the 24 hostages, she added. The battle is taking place near Rajanpur, one of the poorest districts in Punjab, where the Panjnad River flows into the Indus, Pakistan’s lifeline.

Authorities said the gang was led by Ghulam Rasool, also known as Chotu, a longtime criminal active in the bor-der areas of the provinces of Punjab and Sindh. Previous military crack-downs have focused on the lawless tribal regions where the Taliban and other mil-itants are based.

KUNDUZ, AFGHANISTAN: Afghan security forces drove Tal-iban fighters back from Kunduz city yesterday, officials said, as the insurgents began the 2016 fighting season by targeting the northeast-ern provincial capital they briefly captured last year.

Fighting took place within city limits as well as in six pro-vincial districts, Kunduz governor Asadullah Omarkhil said in a video statement.

“Fortunately they have faced defeat by the Afghan security forces,” he said, adding that 30 insurgents were killed and 20 wounded within the city’s limits.

“At the moment, the security situation is absolutely normal,” he said. “They dreamed of capturing

the city of Kunduz, but they faced a jaw-breaking answer from Afghan forces.”

The Taliban left security forces reeling with their brief takeover of Kunduz late last year, their biggest victory since they were toppled from power in 2001.

On Tuesday the insurgents announced the start of the “spring offensive” even as the govern-ment in Kabul tries to bring them back to the negotiating table to end the drawn-out conflict. Shir Aziz Kamawal, a police commander in charge of Kunduz province, con-firmed that fighting had taken place in six districts Friday, saying the insurgents had “failed” but that fighting was ongoing.

A Taliban spokesman said

security forces had “fled” the dis-tricts. The insurgents are known to regularly exaggerate their battle-field claims.

The annual spring offen-sive normally marks the start of the “fighting season”, though this winter the lull was shorter and the Taliban continued to battle gov-ernment forces albeit with less intensity.

The Taliban’s resurgence has raised serious questions about Afghan forces’ capacity to hold their own, with an estimated 5,000 troops killed last year, the worst ever toll. Peace talks which began last summer were abruptly halted after it was revealed that Taliban leader Mullah Omar had been dead for two years.

AFP

WASHINGTON/KABUL: The Islamic State’s nascent presence in Afghan-istan has dwindled after the US military stepped up strikes on the mil-itants, a US general said, but warned they possess the ability to “catch fire” again.

In the first three months of the year, the US military conducted “just under” 100 counterterrorism strikes in Afghanistan, 70-80 of which tar-geted the IS group, Brigadier General Charles Cleveland said.

“The capacity of Daesh, we believe, has been lessened,” the Kabul-based general told reporters, using an Arabic abbreviation for the IS group, which overran large areas of Syria and Iraq in a brutal offensive and has attempted to make inroads in war-torn Afghanistan too.

“Their overall footprint in Nan-garhar we do believe has been lessened as well,” he said, referring

to a province in eastern Afghani-stan where IS fighters have focused attention on the regional capital Jalalabad. The US military estimates between 1,000 and 3,000 IS fighters are in Afghanistan. Cleveland said the number was likely on the “lower end” of that.

They comprise disaffected Paki-stani and Afghan Taliban, as well as Uzbek Islamists and locals, Cleve-land said.

The Obama administration in January approved new rules loos-ening when the US military could hit IS fighters. Previously, the Pentagon could only do so under limited cir-cumstances, such as for protecting local Afghan troops.

Despite recent successes against the IS group in Afghanistan Cleveland warned the jihadists could quickly rejuvenate.

“Just based on their past perform-ance they have got the ability to catch fire very quickly. So we do want to continue to have constant pressure on them,” he said in a video call.

Long-established Taliban mili-tants, however, remain a major force and this week announced a Spring offensive.

“We’ve seen them begin to

reestablish their presence in Helmand (in the south), and we see them on the offense, particularly trying to clear some areas on the eastern part of Hel-mand,” Cleveland said.

Also present in Afghanistan are 100-300 Al-Qaeda fighters, who are rivals of the IS group.

Cleveland earlier told AFP the US military is investigating air strikes it

conducted this month in Afghanistan.Kabul said the strikes killed 17

“insurgents” but local officials and witnesses insist they were civilians.

On April 6, “US forces conducted two counterterrorism strikes in Pak-tika” province, Cleveland said in a statement.

“Currently, there is no evidence of civilian casualties. However, we are conducting a thorough investigation into the strikes,” he added, without saying why they were carried out or the number of victims. Haji Hussain Khan, a tribal elder from Gomal dis-trict, said three drone strikes killed 17 people.

District governor Shaista Khan corroborated the account, saying those killed included youths and elders of the Kakarzai tribe returning from a meeting over a land dispute.

“The 17 victims were all civilians,” he said.

But an Afghan official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the dead were “armed insurgents linked to Al Qaeda.”

Air strikes hurting IS group in Afghanistan: US

Pakistani forces struggle to capture criminal gang

Reuters

JALALABAD: Afghan aircraft killed more than 40 fighters loyal to Islamic State (IS) in a raid in the eastern province of Nangarhar, officials said yesterday.

Although casualty claims by all sides are difficult to verify, Thurs-day’s operation appears to have been an unusually large strike by Afghan-istan’s fledgling air force, which has been building up its capacity since the withdrawal of the Nato-led coa-lition from most combat operations

in 2014. “Based on our intelligence, the Afghan air force carried out the strike and killed more than 40 Daesh fighters,” Khogyani said. He said the militants had gathered to launch attacks in Nangarhar, bordering law-less areas of Pakistan.

The Afghan army public rela-tions directorate said 42 IS militants had been killed in a joint operation in Nangarhar and a training centre destroyed. It said the Afghan air force had carried out 83 fighting opera-tions around the country, causing heavy casualties to both the Tali-ban and IS. Forces inside Afghanistan allied to Islamic State, whose core

territory covers swathes of Syria and Iraq, have stepped up attacks against the much larger Afghan Taliban movement in pockets of the coun-try’s east. In the past few months, the US fighter planes have also struck against Islamic State fighters in Nan-garhar, forcing dozens to relocate to the rugged mountain terrain of the neighbouring province of Kunar.

A US military spokesman said the United States has carried out 70 to 80 air strikes against Islamic State in Afghanistan in the three months since the US forces were given broader authority to target militants in January.

Anti-IS air strike kills 40 in Nangarhar

Internews

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office rejected yesterday the notion that the peace process between Paki-stan and India was suspended, saying it remained engaged with Delhi.

“We need to look ahead and not think in terms of foreclos-ing any options. Both sides are in contact with each other,” FO spokesman Nafees Zakaria said at the weekly media briefing.

The spokesman was referring to media reports quoting Paki-stan’s High Commissioner in India Abdul Basit as having said that the peace process was “suspended”.

“Dialogue is the best option. Diplomacy is for interaction and engagement between countries,” Zakaria maintained.

Last December, the two coun-tries had agreed to restart the peace dialogue, which was named Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue.

It was agreed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise stopover in Lahore on Christmas Day that the foreign secretaries would meet to decide the sched-ule and other details of the first round of talks.

Govt told to explain cancellation of army officers’ plots

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court asked the federal govern-ment to explain the cancellation of plots belonging to two sen-ior army officers who had been court-martialled in Sept 1996 for their alleged role in a conspiracy to proclaim ‘Khilafat’ after assassi-nating then prime minister Benazir Bhutto and army chief Gen Abdul Waheed Kakar.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali had taken up a joint appeal of Col Azad Minhas and Col Inayatullah, who had been sentenced to four years each in prison by a military court on September 3, 1996.

Col Inayatullah had chal-lenged the sentence in the Supreme Court in 2000 and Col Minhas in the Lahore High Court which dis-missed his appeal in May last year.

In their appeal before the Supreme Court, they contended that the sentence was without jurisdic-tion and with mala fide intention as a consequence of which they had been removed from the military service and their properties and other privileges confiscated.

The two officers were arrested on Sept 26, 1995, along with Maj Gen Zaheerul Islam Abbasi, Brig Mustansir Billa and 38 other mil-itary officers on the charge of plotting to storm a corps com-manders meeting scheduled to be held on Sept 30 that year at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.

Reuters

WASHINGTON: Pakistan on Friday dismissed as preposterous reports that its intelligence agency helped fund a 2009 suicide bombing on a CIA outpost in Afghanistan that was one of the deadliest attacks in the US spy agency’s history.

A heavily redacted US govern-ment document, released under the Freedom of Information Act, said that an unidentified officer of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelli-gence directorate paid $200,000 to the Haqqani network to facilitate the bombing.

The attack, at a site known as Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan, killed seven and wounded six.

“Allegations in the media on

Pakistan’s involvement with HQN are preposterous,” a Pakistani For-eign Ministry spokesperson said in a statement, using an acronym for the Haqqani network, which the United States has designated as a terrorist organization.

“In fact, we were shocked and deeply saddened when precious American lives were lost at the Chapman facility in 2009 in an unfortunate attack that was later claimed by TTP in a publicly avail-able video, featuring the suicide bomber with the leader of the TTP,” the statement said.

The TTP, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, is the main Pakistani Tal-iban faction.

“Pakistan is determined to eradi-cate the scourge of terrorism and has taken action against all terrorist ele-ments, without discrimination,” the statement said.

Pakistan denies involvement in 2009 attack on CIA base

Taliban attack repelled in Kunduz

Pakistan says talks with India to go ahead

The operation involving more than 1,600 security forces is now in its tenth day, an unprecedented use of force by the powerful military in Punjab, which is the political power base of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

INDIA 07SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2016

IANS

SRINAGAR: A civilian was killed and five more were injured yesterday as angry residents clashed with secu-rity forces amid simmering anger over four similar deaths since Tuesday in a tense but curfewed Kashmir Valley.

A police officer said that the

protestors were demonstrating out-side an army camp in Natnusa village of border district Kupwara when sol-diers opened fire to stop them from marching in, taking the death toll to five in clashes that have continued for the fourth consecutive day, offi-cials said..

He confirmed the death, say-ing five other protesters with bullet wounds were sent to a hospital in the main city of Srinagar.

“The 19-year-old was brought to the hospital with bullet injuries but he could not be saved,” a doctor at a local hospital said, declining to be named. Police identified the deceased as Mohammed Aarif, a resident of the north Kashmir district which has been at the epicentre of fresh unrest in the valley.

The demonstrators were protest-ing against deaths of four civilians in firing and tear gas shelling by secu-rity forces since Tuesday.

Strict restrictions were imposed across the valley amid protests and shut-down call by separatist groups against the civilian killings, triggering

fresh unrest in Kashmir. Protests were also held in other parts of the valley even as the streets were patrolled by gun-toting police and paramili-tary personnel to ensure prohibitory orders were not violated and peace is maintained in more volatile parts of Srinagar, north and south of the valley.

As a precautionary measure and to prevent trouble-mongers from spreading rumours, cellphone inter-net connectivity remained snapped for the second day.

A senior district administration officer in Srinagar said the restrictions were put in place in parts of old Srina-gar city. Curfew was also imposed in the main business hub of Lal Chowk.

Restrictions were also imposed in Handwara and Kupwara towns of Kupwara district and Pulwama town in south Kashmir. Separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Yasin Malik, continued to be house arrested.

There was a near-total response to the shutdown call as shops, schools,

colleges, offices and other businesses in areas where restrictions had not been imposed remained closed. Pub-lic transport was also off the roads in the valley.

The latest unrest in the valley, which has been battling a separa-tist campaign since late 1980s, has thrown a challenge at the new BJP-PDP coalition government headed

by Mehbooba Mufti, the first woman chief minister of the state.

The trouble erupted after allega-tions that an army soldier molested a college girl in Handwara on Tuesday. The army has denied it.

Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti has warned officials over harming civilians while maintaining order fol-lowing the deaths. The army, police

and the local government have ini-tiated three separate inquirers into Tuesday’s shootings, promising pun-ishment if any soldier were found guilty.

But an emergency military law grants soldiers deployed in Kashmir immunity from prosecution in civilian courts unless specifically permitted by New Delhi.

IANS

NEW DELHI: Tightening its noose on beleaguered liquor baron Vijay Mallya (pictured), facing probe on charges of misappropriating a Rs.9,000 crore bank loan, the government yesterday suspended his diplomatic passport for four weeks.

The government gave Mallya a week’s time to respond to the notice failing which his travel document could be impounded. Mallya, who is in Britain, could face problems for his overseas stay in view of the suspen-sion of the passport, sources said.

“On the advise of the Enforce-ment Directorate, the passport issuing

authority in the Ministry of Exter-nal Affairs has today suspended the validity of Vijay Mallya’s diplomatic passport with immediate effect,” the Ministry of External Affairs spokes-person said in a statement.

Mallya has been asked to respond within one week as to why his pass-port should not be impounded or revoked under Section 10(3)(c) of the Passports Act, 1967.

“If he fails to respond within the stipulated time, it will be assumed that he has no response to offer and the MEA will go ahead with the rev-ocation,” the statement said.

On April 13, the Enforcement Directorate sought revocation of MallyaÂ’s diplomatic passport after he failed to appear before the probe

agency. He is being probed by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laun-dering Act (PMLA).

The Supreme Court on April 7

directed the liquor baron to disclose all his assets — movable and immovable, and tangible and intangible — and other shareholding and beneficial interests in India and abroad by April 21. An apex court bench comprising Justice Kurien Joseph and Justice Rohinton Fali Nar-iman asked Mallya to disclose all the assets held by his wife and children and indicate the date when he can appear before it in person.

Industry watchers say trouble for the sitting, independent Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka, known for his lavish lifestyle, had begun shortly after he launched Kingfisher Airlines in 2005 as the aviation indus-try slowly started dwindling. Mallya first took loans from IDBI bank in 2006 and again in 2009 got loans

from a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) for air-line. By 2007, he also had spent a huge amount to take over low-cost carrier Air Deccan.

But by 2010, the business tycoon had run into rough weather and ten-tatively had a debt of over Rs.7,000 crore — which only increased with the passage of time. In March 2016, the banks moved the Debt Recovery Tribunal over the loans. On March 2, Mallya left India for Britain.

However, on March 11, Mallya broke his silence from his overseas location. “I am an international busi-nessman. I travel to and from India frequently. I did not flee from India and neither am I an absconder. Rub-bish,” he tweeted then.

IANS

KOLKATA: Campaigning came to an end yesterday for the second phase of the West Bengal assembly elec-tions, involving 56 seats in seven districts including six in north Bengal where polling will be held on April 17.

The constituencies going to the polls are five in Alipurduar, seven in Jalpaiguri, nine in north Dinajpur, six each in Darjeeling and South Dinajpur and 12 in Malda. The only south Bnegal district to go the polls in this phase is Birbhum with 11 constituencies.

Nearly 1.22 crore (1,21,74,947) voters across 13,645 polling stations would decide the fate of 383 candi-dates — 33 of them female.

In this phase, Dabgram-Phulbari in Jalpaiguri is the largest assembly electorate wise while Darjeeling is the largest area wise. Balurghat seat in Birbhum is the smallest constitu-ency electorate wise.

Political big shots like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, CPI-M state secretary Surjyakanta Mishra, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee were among those who hit the campaign trail. Banerjee’s Trinamool, the Left Front-Congress combine and Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party are contest-ing all the seats while the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha is also in fray in Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri.

Among the major candidates in the fray in this phase include former Indian football superstar and Trina-mool nominee Baichung Bhutia, who is pitted against former state min-ister and CPI-M heavyweight Asok Bhattacharya in Siliguri.

Eyes will also be on Sujapur in

Malda district where relatives of late Congress stalwart A.B.A. Ghani Khan Choudhury are pitted against each other. Choudhury’s younger brother Abu Nasar Khan Choudhury, contesting the polls as Trinamool nominee, is contesting against his nephew Isha Khan Choudhury, rep-resenting the Congress.

Abu Nasar Khan Choudhury had won the 2011 polls as a Congress candidate but subsequently joined the Trinamool. ther major candidates includes North Development Minis-ter Gautam Deb (Dabgram-Pulbari), Food Processing Minister Krish-nendu Narayan Choudhury (English Bazar), and BJP’s actress candidate Locket Chatterjee (Mayureswar).

Meanwhile, the Election Com-mission is examining speeches made by West Bengal Chief Minis-ter Mamata Banerjee as reactions to the show-cause notice issued by the poll panel, an official said. “We have sent CDs of speeches made by Ban-erjee in reaction to the show-cause,” additional chief Electoral officer Dibyendu Sarkar told the media here.

Banerjee on Thursday went all guns blazing against the Commission which show-caused her for violation of the model code of conduct.

Barely minutes after Chief Elec-tion Commissioner Nasim Zaidi informed the media on Thursday about issuance of a show-cause notice to Banerjee over her announcement of making Asansol a district and other utterances, the Trinamool supremo thundered “peo-ple will show-cause the commission” on May 19 when results of the assem-bly polls will be declared.

Appearing unmoved, Banerjee said she stood by whatever she had said and lashed out against the poll panel.

IANS

NEW DELHI: After effecting two successive increases in prices of transport fuels, state-run oil retail-ers have cut the retail selling price of petrol by 74 paise per litre, and diesel by Rs1.30 per litre.

From the intervening midnight between April 15 and 16, petrol will cost Rs.61.13 per litre in the national capital, while diesel will retail at Rs.48.01 per litre. Previ-ously, petrol was costing Rs.61.87 per litre and diesel was retailing at Rs49.31 per litre.

“The current level of interna-tional product prices of petrol and diesel and rupee-dollar exchange rate warrant decrease in price of petrol and diesel, the impact of which is being passed on to the consumers with this price revision,” Indian Oil said in a statement.

“The movement of prices in the international oil market and rupee-dollar exchange rate shall continue to be monitored closely and developing trends of the mar-ket will be reflected in future price changes.”

On April 4, the oil retailer had hiked the prices of petrol by Rs2.19 a litre and diesel by 98 paise. Around a fortnight prior to that, the prices of the two transport fuels were hiked by Rs3.07 a litre and Rs1.90 a litre, respectively.

The Indian basket of crude, which is used by refineries here, represents a derived basket, com-prising of sour grade from Oman and Dubai, and Sweet grade of Brent in the ratio of roughly 72:28.

As on April 12, the latest period for which data is available, the Indian basket worked out to $40.60 per barrel, according to the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell of the petroleum and natural gas ministry.

11 of a family killed in road accident

UJJAIN: Eleven of a family, among them five women and two chil-dren, were killed when a jeep and a dumper collided head on in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain district, a police official said.

Those killed were travelling in the jeep. Angered over the deaths, which virtually wiped out a fam-ily, a mob set the dumper on fire.

The accident occurred on Ujjain-Aagar Malwa road near Palwa village. All the 11 were killed on the spot while one person was left seriously injured. All of them belonged to Mahidpur, the Ujjain police superintendent said, con-firming the toll.

One more dead in Kashmir firing; toll 5

AP

NEW DELHI: The New Delhi gov-ernment yesterday began a second round of two-week car restrictions to reduce air pollution that has made the Indian capital the world’s most polluted city.

The city’s top elected official Arvind Kejriwal said private cars will be allowed on the streets on alternate days from Friday until April 30 based on even or odd license plate numbers.

Yesterday was a holiday in India and traffic was a trickle compared to the usual gridlock that swamps the roads in the capital every day. Schools, colleges and government offices were shut. Traffic police and inspectors will be helped by more than 5,000 civil defence volunteers to enforce the two-week rule. Violators

will be fined $30. Over 700 people were fined in the first few hours after the restriction went into effect at 8 am, police said. The restrictions will be in place from 8am to 8pm from Monday to Saturday.

Residents said the impact of the traffic limitations would be evident only on Monday when people return to work. Similar restrictions in Janu-ary had led to a significant reduction in pollution levels after more than one-third of the city’s 3 million pri-vate cars went off the roads.

Many vehicles, especially trucks, run on highly polluting diesel. The air quality worsens during the win-ter months, when the combination of ash from crop waste burned in nearby farming areas, construction dust and the still wintry air all con-tribute to make it difficult to breathe. Air pollution contributes to more than 600,000 deaths each year in India.

Yesterday, while the skies were clear, fewer vehicles on the road meant traffic moved smoothly across the city. Emergency and police vehi-cles, ambulances, taxis, women drivers and motorcycles are exempt. The Delhi government had last year ordered all taxis to convert their engines to com-pressed natural gas by March 31 this year. That date has been extended by a couple more weeks, officials said.

Sunil Dahiya of the environ-ment group Greenpeace India said that more than the benefits from the decline in air pollution levels, the government’s decision to limit the number of cars on the roads had increased public awareness about the problem. Dahiya said that govern-ments of neighbouring states should come together and adopt a regional clean-air action plan or a national clean-air action plan for Delhi’s efforts to succeed.

Government suspends Vijay Mallya’s passport

The protestors were demonstrating outside an army camp in Natnusa village of border district Kupwara when soldiers opened fire to stop them from marching in.

Zamruda Habib (centre), Chairperson of Kashmir Tehreek-e-Khawateen, and others shout slogans during a protest against the killing of four civilians by security forces in Handwara, in Srinagar, yesterday.

Cars, mainly with licence plates ending in odd numbers, are seen during the first day of the implementation of the second phase of the odd-even scheme for vehicles in New Delhi, yesterday.

Delhi restricts cars to clear pollution

Bengal polls: Phase two campaigning ends

Petrol price slashed by 74 paise per litre

Scaffolding surrounding the ancient Colosseum arena is dismantled in Rome, Italy, yesterday. The landmark Roman era Colosseum arena underwent a major clean-up ahead of the main tourist season.

Colosseum cleaned up

EUROPE / UK08 SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2016

PARIS: France’s inte-rior minister yesterday ordered a crackdown on violent fringe demonstra-tors after they smashed shopfronts and cars on the edge of a bigger youth protest rally held overnight against labour law reforms.

Police used teargas and pepper gas to dis-perse mobile groups of mostly hooded youths who targeted cars, an auto showroom and a state job-search agency in central Paris. Violence was also reported in other French cities.

“There will be no let-up in the pursuit of these visionless people inspired solely by violence, no let-up in arresting them and bringing them to justice,” Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.

Hundreds of stu-dents and youths have organised a rolling pro-test against government plans to loosen protective labour laws, organising nightly sit-ins since March 31 in Paris and other cit-ies to vent frustration with the government.

Trial begins in

Cologne mayor’s

stabbing case

BERLIN: Germany yes-terday put on trial a man accused of stab-bing Cologne’s mayor in the neck in a suspected violent protest against her welcoming stance towards refugees.

Frank S, 44, has been in police custody since he was arrested at the scene of the assault on the eve of Henriette Rek-er’s election in October. The unemployed house painter stands accused of attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm.

Frank in the court detailed his participation in the right-wing scene in Bonn in the 1990s and described himself as a “rebel with conservative values,” but denied being a Nazi.

Prosecutors say the attack was motivated by his opposition to what he deemed the “wrong pol-icy” of government to take in large numbers of refugees.

Serbia arrests

49 people in

anti-graft sweep

BELGRADE: Serbian police detained 49 peo-ple, including officials from ministries and state-owned firms, on suspicion of corruption and abuse of office yesterday as part of an anti-graft drive that has gained momentum before this month’s elec-tion. Officials of Finance Ministry, tax adminis-tration, the EPS power utility, the Putevi Srbije road maintenance com-pany, the Post Office and 12 police officers were among those arrested across the country, Inte-rior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said.

“This is yet another demonstration that police will not stop ... Together with prosecutors, we will show Serbia can be a completely serious, hon-est and fair country,” the statement said.

France vows

crackdown on

violent protestersThe referendum is also being nervously watched in Washington and Brussels, where a British exit would add to a long list of EU crises.

AFP

LONDON: Activists hit the streets yesterday for the first official day of campaigning over Britain’s “Brexit” referendum, firing the starting pis-tol on a tense 10-week battle over the country’s future in Europe.

Opinion polls suggest the Brit-ish public is evenly split ahead of the June 23 vote, which could bring down Prime Minister David Cameron and plunge one of the world’s leading economies into uncertainty.

The referendum is also being

nervously watched in Washington and Brussels, where a British exit would add to a long list of EU crises.

“We think we’re going to win it,” Peter Reeve, a spokesman for UK Independence Party (UKIP), said as he campaigned in Peterborough in eastern England where influx of East European workers has angered many locals.

London Mayor Boris Johnson will lead a “Brexit blitz” with rallies today where he will try to persuade Britons that they could thrive if cut free from European Union red tape.

Johnson has compared leaving the EU to escaping from prison, saying the referendum was “like jailer has accidentally left the door of the jail open and people can see the sunlit lands beyond”.

In the “Remain” corner is Cam-eron, who says Britain has a “special status” within the EU thanks to a renegotiation he sealed in February, and that the country will be richer and stronger if it stays in.

Former finance minister Alistair Darling lashed out at Brexit backers accusing them of “playing with fire” and offering “Project Fantasy”.

“This is a very, very close vote. No one can predict with any cer-tainty what is likely to happen,” he

told a Britain Stronger In Europe event in London. In Covent Garden in the heart of rain-soaked London,

anti-Brexit volunteers were handing out leaflets to workers on their lunch breaks yesterday. “Financially, it

would be a disaster if we left the EU,” said Gael Simmonds, wearing an “I’M IN” t-shirt.

Reuters

DUBLIN: Ireland could have a gov-ernment in place by next week, a senior minister from acting prime minister Enda Kenny’s party said yes-terday after it made some progress towards breaking a prolonged polit-ical deadlock.

Kenny failed for the third time to be re-elected in a vote in parliament but removed one stumbling block when his party’s nearest rival, Fianna Fail, abandoned hopes of forming a minority administration of its own.

Kenny still has two more hurdles to clear to form a minority government that analysts fear could be unstable

and short-lived: gain the support of at least 6 more deputies outside his Fine Gael party and Fianna Fail’s consent to abstain in key votes.

“We need to get on with it, we need to work out what Fianna Fail need in order to do that,” Fine Gael minister Simon Coveney said. “If both sides approach it with a view to try to find a way of compromising, then we can have a government by the middle of next week. That’s the plan.”

The parties will resume talks on government parameters soon. The pool of 14 independent lawmakers from whom Kenny is seeking to win the required additional support have demanded a detailed plan is agreed before they make up their minds.

The independents also laid

down a new demand, saying any deal would have to last long enough to implement at least three annual budgets. Coveney said such an arrangement “would certainly be helpful.” He also appealed again to other smaller parties to join the pro-posed new government, including the two-person Green Party, which left negotiations last month, and outgo-ing junior coalition partner Labour, which suffered huge losses at the February 26 election.

“Fine Gael is inviting any party that wants to talk to us from a pol-icy perspective or in facilitating a minority government. The broader the base for government, the better and more stable it will be as far as I’m concerned,” Coveney said.

AFP

LONDON: Five people have been arrested for alleged terror offences in Britain—including one man stopped at an airport—in an investi-gation involving French and Belgian authorities, the police said yesterday.

Four of the arrests—three men aged 26, 40 and 59 and a 29-year-old woman—were in Birmingham in central England on Thursday, while a 26-year-old man was arrested at London Gatwick Airport yesterday, the police said.

“This action forms part of an extensive investigation by the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit, together with the wider counter terrorism network, MI5 and inter-national partners including Belgian and French authorities to address any associated threat to the United Kingdon following the attacks in Europe,” senior police officer Mar-cus Beale said in a statement issued to the media yesterday.

“The arrests were pre-planned and intelligence-led... There was no risk to the public at any time and there is no information to suggest an attack in the UK was being planned,” Beale said, adding that police were searching a number of properties in Birmingham.

The Daily Telegraph newspa-per quoted government ministry sources as saying that the arrests were “significant”.

When contacted, a police spokeswoman declined to comment further including on any possible link to attacks in Belgium last month and in France in November in which a total of 162 people were killed.

Belgium’s federal prosecutor’s office also declined to give further details on the investigation.

“The federal prosecution office wishes to emphasise the good collaboration with the British authorities,” it said.

Top Brussels and Paris attacks suspect Mohamed Abrini, who was arrested in Belgium earlier this month, was spotted in Birmingham last July, according to reports.

Abrini has confessed to being the “man in the hat” caught on video with suicide bombers at Brussels air-port on March 22 shortly before they detonated their devices.

Abrini is charged with “terror-ist murders”.

He is also linked to the Paris massacre after being caught on video at a motorway gas station with top suspect Salah Abdeslam, who is now awaiting extradition from Bel-gium to France.

The Wall Street Journal newspa-per cited unnamed Western officials last year saying several people with connections to the Paris attacks’ suspected planner Abdelhamid Abaaoud live in the Birmingham area.

Suicide bombings at Brussels’ airport and on a metro train killed 32 people last month, while jihadists killed 130 people in a bombing and shooting spree in Paris in November.

Both attacks were claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group.

Prosecutors in Belgium have already began a swoop against those suspected in the March 22 bomb-ings and made several arrests in raids conducted in various parts of the country. A number of European countries were on alert following bombings in Brussels.

AFP

BRUSSELS: Belgium’s transport minister resigned on yesterday after being accused of ignoring EU reports of security failings at the country’s airports ahead of last month’s sui-cide bombings.

The resignation of Jacqueline Galant (pictured) is the first politi-cal fallout from the attacks on March 22 that killed 32 people in Brussels, including 16 at the national airport.

Belgium, a notoriously complex country divided along linguistic and political lines, has been accused of a lax security apparatus that was also exposed by a foiled attack on the high-speed train connection to Paris last August. The little-experi-enced Galant was under fire after the damning EU reports were leaked to media. This followed resignation of a top transport official on Thursday who accused Galant of incompe-tence and “Gestapo-like” behaviour.

“Transport Minister Jacqueline Galant has offered her resignation to the king, which was accepted,” Prime Minister Charles Michel said after a cabinet meeting, according to a statement from the royal palace.

Two Islamic State attackers blew themselves up in the departure hall at Brussels airport in a first wave of coordinated attacks that also hit a metro station near European Union headquarters buildings.

The EU reports only covered areas of the airport beyond security checks, but they pointed to “serious deficiences” in security including an inadequate tracing of explosive devices. The latest report from April 2015 said Belgium was still “non-compliant, with serious deficiencies” in five areas based on spot checks at Antwerp airport.

Galant denied she was ever made aware of the reports that date back to 2008 and that also warn of

an alarming lack of staff and fund-ing at the airport authority.

But a top official said he had clearly notified Galant and her office and even provided separate exper-tise drawn up in January 2015 after the jihadist attacks on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine in Paris.

That report warned that a terror-ist attack on Belgium’s airports “was no longer hypothetical”.

“The fact that about a dozen Brussels airport employees with access to sensitive areas have been identified as either having left or leaving for Syria, must serve as a warning,” the report added.

Michel confirmed to lawmak-ers that the reports were indeed received by Galant’s staff, heaping pressure on her to step down.

“I could not accept that this precise detail was not shared with parliament,” Michel told reporters.

In announcing her decision, Galant strongly denounced what she described as a “media crusade” by her political enemies who were tak-ing advantage of the Brussels attacks to replace her.

“The well-orchestrated theatrics of the last 48 hours leave me unable to continue,” Galant added.

The European Commission, the EU regulator that drew up the reports, declined to comment on the specific Galant case, but said it stood by its case work.

Ex-radio presenter

Phil Sayer dies

LONDON: A former radio pre-senter, known to millions of London commuters and tourists from around the world as the voice of the “Mind the gap” announce-ments on the British capital’s underground system, died, his family said yesterday.

Phil Sayer, 62, recorded the automated warnings which are played across much of the London “tube” network to alert passengers to take care when stepping from platforms onto the trains.

“Phil Sayer—voice of rea-son, radio, and railways,” his wife Elinor Hamilton wrote on his Facebook page. “We are sorry to announce that this service ter-minates here.” Sayer worked as a presenter for BBC radio in Man-chester in the 1980s and also read regional television bulletins.

Brexit: Battle lines drawn in Britain

UKIP leader Nigel Farage (centre) with UKIP Deputy Chairman Diane James (left) and UKIP Mayoral candidate Peter Whittle, delivers a letter to Downing Street in London, in protest against a government pro-EU information leaflet, Britain, yesterday.

Ireland can have govt soon: Minister 5 arrested for ‘terror’ offences in Britain

Belgian minister quits over security failings

Flowers are arranged at a FloraHolland warehouse in Aalsmeer, the Netherlands, yesterday. Warehouses are not normally tourist stops, but Royal FloraHolland depot outside Amsterdam is an exception. The same tourists who flock to the flower barges in central Amsterdam get up at dawn and pay €7 to visit the warehouse, where some 20,000 different varieties of stems and plants are sold.

Flower land

EUROPE 09SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2016

Fears are running high in Italy that the country could be confronted with a surge in migrants.

AFP

ROME: Italian Prime Minister Mat-teo Renzi yesterday played down a spike in boat crossings from Libya which has resulted in 6,000 mainly African migrants landing in Italy this week, insisting: “we are not facing an invasion.”

Renzi told reporters after the fig-ures were released by International Organisation for Migration in Geneva that numbers arriving from Libya so far this year were broadly in line with the 2015 pattern.

Fears are running high in Italy that the country could be confronted with a surge in migrants trying to reach its southern shores as a result of EU moves to close routes through

the Greek Islands and the Balkans.Italian officials are also wary of

the possibility of neighbouring EU countries closing their borders, as France did temporarily last year and Austria is threatening to do now.

The interior ministry this week asked local authorities to find 15,000 extra beds to house asylum-seekers in anticipation of a possible increase in the numbers of people requiring accommodation.

“There is a problem that con-cerns our country but there is not an invasion underway,” Renzi said.

“We have taken certain ini-tiatives but we are not facing an invasion. It is a big problem but we have clear ideas about how to deal with it.” Renzi said the EU was work-ing on deals with African countries to stem the flow of migrants leav-ing for Europe and to prevent those who do from being allowed to pass through transit countries.

“I do not want to play it down but want to send a reassuring message. The numbers of boats are barely a few higher compared to last year.”

The IOM said that of the 6,021 migrants who have reached Europe by sea since Tuesday, only 174 had landed in Greece with the balance coming ashore in Italy.

Merkel authorises

criminal probe

against TV comic

AFP

BERLIN: Chancellor Angela Mer-kel yesterday authorised a Turkish demand for criminal proceedings against a German TV comedian over a crude satirical poem about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a bitter row over free speech.

“The government will give its authorisation in the case at hand,” Merkel told reporters, adding that it was up to the courts to decide on his guilt or innocence.

However, Merkel a lso announced that Germany would by 2018 scrap the rarely-enforced section 103 of the criminal code-under which the comic, Jan Boehmermann, has been accused.

A section 103 probe can only go forward with the approval of the federal government.

Ankara this month filed a for-mal request for a criminal inquiry to be launched in Germany against the popular Boehmermann for passing indecent remarks against Erdogan while gleefully admitting he was flouting Germany’s legal limits on free expression.

Merkel—who labelled the poem recited by Boehmermann “deliberately insulting”—had pledged Turkey’s request would be “very carefully” examined.

She said her government, after heated debate, had concluded that only judiciary should decide whether Boehmermann had com-mitted a criminal offence.

AFP

VIENNA: Austrian police said yes-terday they were hunting for far-right activists who stormed a Vienna stage during a play performed by refugees and sprayed fake blood on the audience.

The protest by the Identitaere movement took place after the start of Die Schutzbefohlenen (The Suppliants),

whose actors are asylum-seekers from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Around 30 demonstrators, ran on stage wav-ing flags and unfurled a large banner reading: “Hypocrites! Our resistance to your decadence.”

They also threw flyers saying “multiculturalism kills” and fake blood at the 700 spectators inside the thea-tre in Vienna, police said.

A short brawl ensued between audience members and the extremists

who were eventually pushed out of the auditorium and fled the scene.

Eight people have filed charges for bodily harm against the protest-ers, police said.

After the upheaval, the play con-tinued to the end under the watchful eye of several police officers.

Austrian Culture Minister Josef Ostermayer said the “shocking” inci-dent was the latest in a string of attacks by the Identitaere group.

Macedonia snap

polls on June 5

despite protests

AFP

SKOPJE: Macedonia confirmed yesterday it will hold snap polls on June 5, despite days of angry anti-government protests and opposition calls for a delay as the country grapples with a bitter political crisis.

The date was officially set after demonstrators took to the streets in protest at President Gjorge Ivanov’s decision to halt probes into more than 50 public figures, including top politicians, embroiled in a wire-tapping scandal.

“Based on my constitutional and legal authority... I today signed the decision to call early elec-tions... on June 5, 2016,” parliament speaker Trajko Veljanoski said.

The early elections, originally agreed for April 24 and then post-poned in February to June 5, are part of an EU-brokered agreement to solve the seething political feud.

Zoran Zaev, leader of the main opposition SDSM, has already said his party will boycott the election, claiming that conditions for a free and fair vote have not been met.

Thousands of people, mainly SDSM supporters, took to the streets in a peaceful protest, demanding Ivanov either revoke his decision or resign, as well call-ing for election to be postponed.

Macedonia’s political cri-sis kicked off last year when the SDSM accused then prime minis-ter Nikola Gruevski of wiretapping some 20,000 people, including politicians and journalists.

AFP

KIEV: Ukraine’s military prosecutors yesterday demanded 15-year jail terms for two suspected Russian surveillance soldiers who were captured in the war-torn separatist east last May.

Moscow argues that sergeant Ale-ksander Aleksandrov and captain Yevgeny Yerofeyev had delisted from the armed forces by the time they had crossed the Ukrainian border into the rebel province of Lugansk.

But Ukraine cites testimony the two men gave during their interroga-tion and in subsequent conversations with reporters where both acknowl-edged of being active members of Russia’s GRU military intelligence at the time. They recanted those state-ments during the trial.

Ukrainian military prosecutor Maksym Krym said yesterday that both men should be jailed for 15 years, stripped of their property and denied right to take part in military duty for three years.

Krym also asked the three-judge

panel to keep the men in custody until their sentence goes into effect.

Yerofeyev’s lawyer Oksana Sokolova told reporters that she would ask the court to “pardon and release” the suspects.

The court’s verdict is expected within the coming weeks.

The case has inflamed passions in both countries—their relations effec-tively frozen since Russia’s March 2014 annexation of Crimea and alleged backing of the rebel revolt.

Moscow denies direct involve-ment in the conflict and calls Russians

caught or spotted in the war zone as vacationing soldiers or volunteers.

Aleksandrov’s defence attorney Yuriy Grabovsky was murdered in March by two Ukrainian suspects whose motives still remain unclear.

And unknown assailants last week threw Molotov cocktails and set alight the Kiev office of a Ukrainian judge overseeing the case.

Ukrainian President Petro Poro-shenko has proposed swapping the soldiers for Nadiya Savchenko—a Kiev-born helicopter pilot who was sentenced in Russia to 22 years in

prison for her alleged involvement in the killing of two Moscow report-ers in the war zone.

But such an exchange is com-plicated by Savchenko’s continued denial of any wrongdoing. Russian law says that foreign convicts may only be sent home to serve their time there once they confess.

The two-year war that has now claimed nearly 9,200 lives was sparked two months after waves of pro-EU protests prompted parliament to impeach Ukraine’s Russian-backed president Viktor Yanukovych.

AFP

MOSCOW: The Kremlin yesterday apologised to German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung after Pres-ident Vladimir Putin (pictured) wrongly claimed it was owned by US bank Goldman Sachs as he sought to discredit leaks from the Panama Papers.

Putin on Thursday had said that US “masterminds” were behind the leak to the paper, which has shared millions of documents from Pana-manian law firm Mossack Fonseca with international media to shed light on how the rich and powerful hide money offshore, including the Russian president’s inner circle.

“Who is behind these provo-cations?” Putin had asked at his annual call-in session on national television.

“Sueddeutsche Zeitung is part of a media holding owned by US financial corporation Goldman Sachs, which means that the fin-gerprints of the masterminds are all over it.”

State media in Russia has broadly claimed that the US govern-ment is behind the Panama Papers leak, and Putin has said the goal of the reports is to destabilise Russia ahead of parliamentary elections in September.

However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, yesterday was forced to make a rare admission that Putin was wrong about the newspaper’s ownership.

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung is a subsidiary of Sueddeutscher Ver-lag, which is majority-owned by leading German media group

Suedwestdeutsche Medienholding.“It’s more our mistake, my mis-

take, the mistake of those who prepared the information about this (for Putin),” Peskov told journalists in Moscow yesterday.

“It really contained uncon-firmed information, we did not double-check it and handed it to the president... I mean, in terms of the ownership of Sueddeutsche Zei-tung ,” he said.

“We have offered our apologies, we are offering our apologies to the publication.”

Reports based on the Panama Papers revealed shady offshore deal-ings of Russian officials and linked Putin’s close friend, cellist Sergei Roldugin, to shell firms that shuffled at least $2bn and made money out of thin air from questionable deals with Russian state companies.

Putin on Thursday acknowl-edged that the leaks contained accurate information about offshore companies but backed his friend Roldugin, saying he spends all his money on musical instruments.

Reuters

PRAGUE: The Czech Republic’s lead-ers have chosen “Czechia” as the one-word alternative name of their country to make it easier for compa-nies, politicians and sportsmen to use on products, name tags and jerseys.

The choice, agreed by president, prime minister, heads of parliament and foreign and defence ministers, must win cabinet approval before the Foreign Ministry can lodge the name with United Nations and it becomes

the country’s official short name.The Czech Republic emerged,

along with Slovakia, from the peace-ful breakup of the old Czechoslovakia in 1993. But so far there has been no standardised one-word English name for the Czech Republic, unlike, say, France, the shortened version of the French Republic.

That has led to a lot of head-scratching. The largest part of the country is known as Bohemia (“Cechy” in Czech), but there are also other parts, Moravia and Silesia, so one name is needed that does not exclude those historic lands.

The Czech Republic’s adored ice hockey team has donned “Czech” on their jerseys, as have bottles of the country’s premium export beer, Pilsner Urquell. But “Czech” is an adjective and cannot be used as a one-word name for the country.

Supporters of “Czechia” say the term in English can be traced back to the 19th century and was codified by the Czech surveying and map-ping authority soon after 1993 split of Czechoslovakia as a possible one-word alternative.

But it never gained traction until now and it may not have an easy start

once it gains official status. Develop-ment Minister Karla Slechtova, think it is too close to “Chechnya”, making it prone to confusion.

Slechtova said that Czech Repub-lic had invested more than $40m in tourism promotion campaign using its full name, and should stick to it.

In some other languages, includ-ing French and German, the Czech Republic is already designated by a single name, but in Czech itself the name ‘Cesko’ has only made slow progress since 1993 and ‘Cechy’ —or Bohemia — is still commonly used to mean the whole country.

Italy insists ‘no invasion’ on migrant issue

Protesters storm refugee play in Vienna

Ukraine seeks 15 years jail for two Russian soldiers

Czech Republic might be named as ‘Czechia’

Kremlin apologies for Putin’s

remarks on Panama leak

People are seen under tents inside the Moria holding centre for refugees and migrants, on the Greek island of Lesbos, yesterday.

VIEWS10 SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2016

The political tussle in Iraq that has repeatedly delayed efforts to change the country’s cabinet now threatens to descend into a full-blown crisis that can destabilize the country. The turmoil comes at a critical time when the government forces are trying to retake

land from the Islamic State and the economy is in tatters due to rampant corruption and a huge plunge in oil prices. The United Nations, the US and the international community are concerned that political disputes can disrupt efforts to combat jihadists and bring stability to the country.

Iraqi ministries have for years been shared out between powerful political parties that run the ministries as their personal fiefdoms, doling out patronage and funds. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi wants a cabinet reshuffle as part of his anti-corruption drive but two voting sessions in parliament over the planned reshuffle was cancelled due to difference among the lawmakers. Tussles broke out on Wednesday, a day after the first attempted vote. In the second attempt, instead of voting on a new cabinet lineup, lawmakers tried to sack the parliament speaker and his deputies on Thursday. The conflict has crippled the parliament and threatens to weaken the government institutions which are responsible for running the country.

The Iraqi forces have made huge progress in the fight against militants. The IS has been retreating since December when

the Iraqi army recaptured Ramadi, the largest city in the western region. Extending the gains, earlier this week, the army took control of the nearby region of Hit, pushing the militants further north along the Euphrates valley.

As Gyorgy Busztin, the acting head of the UN Iraq mission, said, the only party that benefits from the political divisions and chaos as well as the weakening of the state and its institutions is Daesh. “We should not allow this to happen,” he said.

The crisis in Iraq is also seen as the fight for control between two religious power centres – one based in Najaf, Iraq, and the other in Qom, Iran. Ayatollah Ali Sistani the most revered figure among Iraq’s majority Shia sect

in Iraq, wants the government overhaul to improve governance and fight corruption. As Abadi struggles to impose his will, the leader he replaced in late 2014, Nouri Al Maliki, has been steadily reaccumulating power. Maliki is especially close to Iran and the Shia militias, who have been organised under the banner of the Popular Mobilisation Front (PMF), report to him.

The Iraqi leaders should place national interests above political and sectarian considerations and work tirelessly to produce solutions that will take the country out of the current crisis. Reforms are vital for the survival of Iraq and both Maliki and Abadi must unite on this issue.

Iraq turmoil

The political disputes in Iraq can disrupt efforts to combat jihadists and bring stability to the country.

Quote of the day

We expect presence, presence, presence. Presence of military troops from different Nato countries could be a symbol of determination to defend the eastern flank.

Witold Waszczykowski Poland Foreign Minister

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President Obama and Donald Trump rarely agree on for-eign policy. Yet they share one core belief: Our clos-

est allies in Europe are exploiting US military might.

Trump says Nato should be renegotiated: It is “obsolete” and “unfair . . . to the United States . . . because we pay a disproportion-ate share.”

Obama has criticized Trump’s stance. Yet for years the president has been conducting his own Nato renegotiation -- including demanding European leadership in the Libyan operation and tell-ing Prime Minister David Cameron that if Britain wants to maintain the Anglo-American “special rela-tionship,” it must increase defence spending to the recommended Nato minimum of 2 percent of gross domestic product. His explana-tion? “Free riders aggravate me.”

But Trump and Obama are both wrong. Although more foreign pol-icy spending is always welcome, Europe already assumes more than its fair share of the regional security burden. It invests not only in its military but also in crucial geo-economic and institutional instruments that the United States does not possess - but needs. In this respect, the United States freerides on European power.

Consider the facts. The US mil-itary commitment to European defence is surprisingly small. After the Cold War, almost 90 percent of American soldiers departed. Today only about 5 percent of total US active-duty personnel and a few hundred among thousands of US nuclear weapons are deployed there.

The primary purpose of this military presence is in any case not to defend Europe. It is to promote vital interests elsewhere. Without naval ports, air force bases, hospi-tals and command centres in Italy, Spain, Germany and Turkey, US military operations in the Middle

East, South Asia, the Mediterra-nean, Africa and the Arctic would be nearly impossible. In recent years, for example, 95 percent of people and materiel delivered to US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan crossed through Europe.

Trump singles out resistance to Russia as a prime example of US leadership. “Nobody else,” he said, “is fighting for the Ukraine.” Yet the slice of the United States’ $600bn defence budget directed to supporting Ukraine or deterring Russia in Europe is tiny. One-time allocations of $800 million this year and $3.4bn next year are earmarked for Nato “reassurance measures” in Eastern Europe.

Less than a billion more goes for military aid to Ukraine, where key Western governments have ruled out a direct military response. By contrast, Poland alone spends nearly $10bn annually on its mil-itary, and Nato Europe as a whole more than $250bn.

Is $250bn too little? Like Obama, the US foreign policy estab-lishment rejects Trump’s bluster yet almost unanimously embraces his underlying premise. A common complaint inside the Beltway is that European spending falls short (by roughly $75bn) of the 2 percent of GDP that Nato leaders have pledged to spend.

Yet all such criticism of low European defence spending rests on a misleadingly narrow conception of national security. When Ameri-cans think about global influence, they tend to calculate only military power. Yet in world politics, non-military instruments are often more effective. And Europe is the world’s preeminent civilian superpower.

Europe is the world’s largest trading bloc, provides two-thirds of the world’s economic aid and

dominates most international organizations. It has invested heav-ily in the European Union, which spreads peace and market eco-nomics across the continent, and permits Europeans to negotiate as a bloc.

Europe’s resulting clout is most obvious in the very area in which Trump believes the United States is being exploited the most. The primary external force helping Ukraine resist Russia today is not the US military but European geo-economic and diplomatic power.

No Western policy is more critical to keeping Russia at bay than Europe’s $9bn in annual eco-nomic aid and debt relief to Ukraine, without which the country would long since have collapsed. This is about 10 times more than the United States provides. Europe has a similar though smaller assist-ance program for other countries in Russia’s neighbourhood.

Brussels also recently signed a free-trade agreement with Ukraine, giving it an international lifeline in the face of Vladimir Putin’s tight-ening trade boycotts. Without this, the country would have no pros-pects to free itself from the Russian stranglehold and to achieve sus-tainable growth, since Europe is by far its largest trading partner.

Europe pays a high cost in lost trade to sustain Western sanctions against Russia: Some estimate the total loss at $50bn annually. This is again more than 10 times more than the United States, because European trade and investment are that much higher.

Russia’s policy options are limited also by its dependence on European energy markets. Today EU authorities are further under-mining the Kremlin’s leverage by clamping down on Russian energy

monopolies and spending bil-lions to diversify Europe’s energy imports. This includes rerouting the energy supply of Ukraine, which now imports more energy from Europe than from Russia.

Bolstered by Europe’s under-lying strength, leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Mer-kel have taken the diplomatic lead in negotiations over eastern Ukraine. Within the Minsk Proc-ess, in which the United States is not formally involved, they have per-suaded Putin to limit his territorial gains in eastern Ukraine, concede a cease-fire and withdraw heavy weapons under international over-sight - with further plans for local elections and eventual removal of Russian forces still under discus-sion. Although Ukraine is far from secure, even such modest gains mark a remarkable diplomatic achievement, given the strategic edge that Russia enjoys when pro-jecting power into its most culturally proximate and strategically vital Western neighbour.

The geo-economic and insti-tutional instruments of power that permit Europe to flex its muscles with regard to Russia are simply unavailable to the United States, with its low levels of foreign aid, antipathy to international legal commitments and secondary economic status in the former Soviet zone, as well as its military dependence on forward bases. And resisting Russia is only one of many regional and global issues in which Europe has taken the lead.

Portraying Europe as a conti-nent of slackers makes for rousing election-year rhetoric. But pulling back from a transatlantic partner-ship that benefits the United States at least as much as it does Europe would be self-defeating.

The US rides Europe’s coattails

By Andrew Moravcsik

The Washington Post

A boy leaves a tribute for the 96 victims of the Hillsborough disaster at Anfield in Liverpool, Britain, yesterday.

Latvian marines practise urban warfare in Nato exercises under instructions from US soldiers.

OPINION 11 SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2016

In Ukraine, expats and romantics are out

By Leonid Bershidsky

Bloomberg

The new Ukrainian cabinet, con-firmed by the parliament on Thursday, is more interesting for the people it doesn’t include than

for those it does. Ukraine’s experiment with bringing foreign reformers and private sector professionals into the government is now officially over, and it has failed.

President Petro Poroshenko tapped his long-time protege and ally, former par-liament speaker Volodymyr Hroisman to form the government. The result, for the most part, is a cabinet of Poroshenko loyalists; the unpopular businessman-president is consolidating power, much the way his hapless predecessor Viktor Yanukovych once did. Though, at sev-eral points in the negotiating process, Hroisman reportedly refused the prime minister’s job unless his conditions were met, these reports should be taken with a grain of salt: Poroshenko wants Hroisman to look independent, not least in the eyes of Washington politicians who have been wary of Poroshenko monopolising power.

Hroisman was a popular mayor in Vinnytsia, the base city of Poroshenko’s confectionery empire, Roshen. He fixed the roads, persuaded the Zurich city authorities to give Vinnytsia 100 perfectly

serviceable streetcars that the Swiss city was replacing, made the bureaucracy friendlier to city residents and got Poro-shenko to build a spectacular musical fountain in the middle of the Southern Bug, the river that flows through the city. But the Hroisman family also owns a large mall in Vinnytsia, built while Volodymyr already ran the city, and financed with debt the Hroismans never repaid. The new prime minister is a typical Ukrain-ian politician, wily and capable but at the same time always mindful of his personal interests.

The new cabinet includes some of his old co-workers from Vinnytsia: One as a deputy prime minister in charge of the secessionist regions of eastern Ukraine, another as social security minister. It also includes plenty of seasoned Ukrainian politicians and bureaucrats who did fine under all the previous regimes, as well as a couple of veterans from the 2014 “Revolu-tion of Dignity” and a few allies of former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk -- his reward for allowing Poroshenko to form a beholden cabinet and avoid an early par-liamentary election.

Gone, however, are the foreigners and investment bankers brought into Yat-senyuk’s government on the initiative of Poroshenko’s chief of staff Boris Lozhkin, a former publishing magnate (disclosure: I worked for Lozhkin in Kiev in 2011 and 2012, before he went into politics). The chief of staff used headhunters to locate suitable professionals, and Poroshenko granted them Ukrainian citizenship so they could take up top positions.

“It was indeed my idea to infect the government with a different life form,” Lozhkin told me in an interview a year ago. “They have to have a different genetic makeup to change the system.” Gone are Lithuanian-born asset manager Aivaras Abromavicius as economy minister and US-born venture capitalist Natalie Jaresko. The health minister, a Georgian, was also cut from the team.

Ivan Miklos, the former finance min-ister of Slovakia, might have been the only foreigner in the Hroisman cabinet. Poro-shenko’s team negotiated with him and a law was even initiated to allow him to keep his Slovak citizenship. Yet all Mik-los agreed to is an advisory role.

Some Ukrainian private sector stars who went into public service after the revolution are also notably miss-ing from Hroisman’s cabinet. Absent is former infrastructure minister, finan-cier Andrei Pivovarsky, who had been trying to reform Ukraine’s antiquated, corrupt transport industry and who resigned in December following unsuc-cessful efforts to secure living wages for his team. Dmitri Shymkiv, the former head of Microsoft’s Ukrainian operation

who is Lozhkin’s deputy on Poroshenko’s staff, was offered the job of deputy prime minister for reforms but refused, saying he’d join a technocratic cabinet but not a political one. Lozhkin himself decided not to move to a cabinet role, though he had been offered one.

The only true star with a private sec-tor background in the new cabinet is US-educated former McKinsey consult-ant Oleksandr Danilyuk, the new finance minister, who was another Lozhkin dep-uty before this appointment.

The period from late 2014 to early 2015 was a romantic time for people with West-ern degrees and backgrounds in Ukraine. Well-compensated professionals were willing to interrupt their private sector careers and work practically without pay, while playing for the highest stakes possible -- Ukraine’s future and their reputations. When I talked to the new

appointees soon after they moved into government offices, they were appalled at the quality of management and pervasive graft in Ukraine’s public sector, and they saw specific things they could improve.

Individually and collectively, they failed to change Ukraine’s rotten post-Soviet system. They learned that Ukraine is a country where the political and bureaucratic establishment know how to make a stranger look and feel stupid; they were no longer willing, or no longer able, to keep swimming against the current.

“There is not a single expat in the new government,” wrote legislator Mus-tafa Nayyem, who joined the parliament on the same romantic wave that swept the foreigners into the Ukrainian cabinet. “They were pushed out for not wanting to play by the old rules.”

Though he is optimistic that a dozen local public servants are now qualified

enough to pick up the romantics’ reform banner, I believe the optimism is misplaced.

Those who run post-Soviet systems such as Ukraine’s are no less smart or talented than the private-sector manag-ers who seek to change things; they just serve themselves first, not the public good. That’s such a powerful motivation that any reforms will backslide until selfless romantics constitute a majority in gov-ernment -- a difficult picture to imagine -- or more advanced countries intervene to a greater degree than they are doing in Ukraine today.

After the Hroisman cabinet was con-firmed, Poroshenko spoke on the phone with US Vice President Joe Biden, who assured him of continued US support. That support is now as misplaced as Rus-sian President Vladimir Putin’s backing of Yanukovych just before his ouster.

Though, at several points in the negotiating process, Hroisman reportedly refused the prime minister’s job unless his conditions were met, these reports should be taken with a grain of salt: Poroshenko wants Hroisman to look independent, not least in the eyes of Washington politicians who have been wary of Poroshenko monopolising power.

Newly-appointed Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman greets deputies at the parliament in Kiev, Ukraine.

India leads world in environmental conflictsBy Manupriya

IANS

There are more environmen-tal conflicts in India than any other country, and more clashes

are over water (27 percent) than any other cause, according to the recently released Global Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas).

India has 222 listed conflicts - in proportion to population, there are many more - followed by Colombia and Nigeria with 116 and 71 conflicts, respectively, according to the EJAt-las, an interactive map of 1,703 global ecological conflicts, categorised by cause, such as water management, waste management, fossil fuels and climate justice, and biodiversity conservation.

With India currently facing the worst crisis in a decade and on course to becoming “water-scare” within nine years, as IndiaSpend reported last month, the scale of the conflicts listed in the Atlas further indicate a worsening situation.

Most water conflicts in Himachal Pradesh, most over hydroelectric projects

The conflicts over water are most evident in Himachal Pradesh, and most are related to hydroelec-tric projects, often planned without considering the needs and consent of

local communities.Similar conflicts have been

recorded in Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Manipur, Mizoram, Orissa and Sikkim, among other states.

There are other kinds of water-management conflicts. In Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, locals objected to a municipal corporation partner-ship with a private company to build a pipeline and augment water sup-ply, because prices were to be decided by the company. Another example involves use of groundwater by Coca-Cola, involved in five conflicts with local communities protesting bottling plants (one each in Jaipur, Dehradun and Plachimada (Kerala), and two in Mehdiganj, near Varanasi.

Dams are persistent sites of con-flicts, especially when they are being built and commissioned, said Sailen Routray, an independent researcher based in Bhubaneshwar. He has worked extensively on water issues and conflicts.

Other environmental conflicts arise from an expanding economy

Most Indian conflicts listed in the EJAtlas appear to be a consequence of the country’s expanding economy.

For example, the raging under-ground fires in the Jharia coal mines in Jharkhand - an exclusive store-house of prime coking coal - were first seen a century ago, started spreading in the 1970s and, currently,

more than 70 mine fires are under-way, polluting the air, water and land and devastating the health of the locals.

Several conflicts centre around garbage dumping sites, such as Deonar in Mumbai, Sultanpur and Bandhwari villages near the national capital region, Kodungaiyur near Chennai, Eloor in Kerala and villages around Bangalore.

Across India, more than three mil-lion truckloads of garbage is dumped without being treated, as IndiaSpend has reported, a manifestation of growing urbanisation.

Conflicts have also erupted at construction sites of new airports, seaports and other big infrastruc-ture projects. The common theme running through most conflicts is loss of right to land or livelihoods of local communities.

More conflicts in India than the Atlas lists

Although the EJAtlas lists 220 environmental conflicts in India, there are many more.

“You should realise that 220 is in proportion to population,” said Joan Martinez-Alier, Professor of Eco-nomics and Economic History at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and director of the EJAtlas project. “India has more cases than any other country because good work has been done on the EJAtlas by our partners

at JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) and also obviously because India is the country with the largest popula-tion in the world.”

He attributed conflicts to a growth in “social metabolism”, prompted by economic expansion. “Materials and energy are extracted from new places and transported far away. Mining expands and reaches new frontiers. Hydroelectricity expands and reaches villages in the Himalaya,” said Martinez-Alier.

The high environmental costs in states that supply raw material

Environmental conflicts are global, but India differs from other developing countries in South Amer-ica or Africa on one crucial point: External trade.

“Despite being a large country, India does not import or export too much,” said Martinez-Alier. “Most of the extraction of materials in India is for internal consumption. But there are conflicts between states. Sometimes, about water rights. And, sometimes because some states (like Odisha, Jharkhand) become provid-ers of raw materials for the rest of the country at very high internal social and environmental costs.”

A comparison of the states shows that some of them have indeed borne a larger share of environmental conflict.

The national green tribunal’s

successes aren’t enough to stem the tide

In recognition of rising environ-mental disputes, the government established a National Green Tribu-nal in 2010 to serve as a fast-track court for such disputes, but the tide of environmental conflicts is not ebbing.

“NGT has played a good role (in delivering environmental justice),” said Swapan Kumar Patra, one of the Indian contributors to the EJAt-las. In an unrelated paper, Patra and VV Krishna, professor at JNU and the other Indian contributor to EJAtlas wrote: “Since its inception, NGT has given many fast-track judgments in various cases and has passed several orders to the respective authorities like ban on illegal sand-mining, against noise pollution in Delhi, pres-ervation of biodiversity of Western Ghat Mountains, wildlife protec-tion in Kaziranga National Park in Assam, suspended many environ-mental clearance and so on.”

However, despite NGT’s inter-vention and rising participation from affected locals, environmental injus-tice in India is on the rise.

The question, however, is not how to avoid the conflicts, said Mar-tinez-Alier, but how to profit from the awareness of so many conflicts-“in order to move to an economy which is more sustainable and also more socially just”.

India has 222 listed conflicts - in proportion to population, there are many more - followed by Colombia and Nigeria with 116 and 71 conflicts, respectively, according to the EJAtlas, an interactive map of 1,703 global ecological conflicts, categorised by cause, such as water management, waste management, fossil fuels and climate justice, and biodiversity conservation.

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

AMERICAS12 SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2016

The Democratic senator from Vermont addressed a conference at the Vatican.

AP

VATICAN CITY: Bernie Sand-ers issued a global call to action at the Vatican yesterday to address “immoral and unsustainable” wealth inequality and poverty, using the high profile gathering to echo one of the central platforms of his presidential campaign.

The Democratic senator from Vermont cited Pope Francis and St. John Paul II repeatedly during his speech to the Vatican conference com-memorating the 25th anniversary of a landmark teaching document from John Paul on social and economic jus-tice after the Cold War.

Sanders arrived in Rome hours after wrapping up a debate in New York, saying the opportunity to address the Vatican conference was too meaningful to pass up. The roughly 24-hour visit precedes Tuesday’s crucial New York pri-mary, which Sanders must do well in to maintain any viable challenge against Democratic front-runner Hil-lary Clinton.

He told the audience of priests,

bishops, academics and two South American presidents that rather than a world economy that looks out for the common good, “we have been left with an economy operated for the top 1 percent, who get richer and richer as the working class, the young and the poor fall further and further behind.”

During a discussion later in the afternoon, Sanders was peppered with questions from academics and ecclesiastics at the conference, giv-ing the presidential hopeful a chance to expand on his core campaign messages about the need to reform banking regulations, campaign finance rules and higher education.

“We don’t choose to politicise the pope,” Sanders told attendees, “but his spirit and courage and the fact, if I may say so here, that his words have gone way, way, way beyond the Catholic Church.”

Earlier, Sanders warned that youth around the world are no longer satisfied with the status quo, which includes “corrupt and broken politics and an economy of stark inequality and injustice.”

“They are not satisfied with the destruction of our environment by a fossil fuel industry whose greed has put short term profits ahead of cli-mate change and the future of our planet,” he said. “They are calling out for a return to fairness; for an econ-omy that defends the common good by ensuring that every person, rich or poor, has access to quality health care, nutrition and education.”

He sat next to the other main guest of honour at the Vatican: Boliv-ian President Evo Morales, whose is renowned for his anti-imperialist,

socialist rhetoric.As he walked through Vatican City’s Perugino gate, Sanders was greeted about two dozen supporters, some of whom carried signs bearing Sanders’ name.

He told reporters that he was honoured to address the conference and admired Francis’ message on the economy and the environment.

“I know that it’s taking me away from the campaign trail for a day but when I received this informa-tion it was so moving to me that it was something that I could just sim-ply not refuse to attend,” he said.

Pope Francis apologised that he couldn’t personally greet participants at the Vatican conference. No meet-ing with Sanders was expected.

Sanders was accompanied on the trip by his wife, Jane Sanders, and 10 family members, including four grandchildren.

Back home, Clinton holds a significant delegate lead against Sanders, but the senator has vowed to stay in the campaign until the par-ty’s July convention. His message calling for a political revolution to address wealth inequality and the influence of Wall Street on US poli-tics has galvanised many Democrats and independents.

Despite being enmeshed in an increasingly bitter campaign against Clinton, Sanders aides said the trip was not aimed at appealing to Catho-lic voters who comprise a large share of Democratic electorate in New York and an upcoming contest in Pennsyl-vania. The Vatican has been loath to get involved in electoral campaigns and tries to avoid any perception of partisanship involving the pope.

Reuters

NEW YORK: Republican front-runner Donald Trump talked up “New York values” and urged his home state vot-ers to give him a big win next week, but his rivals warned nominating Trump could lead to disastrous losses to the Democrats in the November 8 election.

Trump is in danger of being forced to try to capture the Republi-can presidential nomination through a contested convention because oppo-sition from rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich is chipping away at his lead.

As protesters chanted outside and

waved signs against Trump, he told the New York state Republican Party’s gala that he needs the momentum that a victory in the state’s primary would bring next Tuesday.

“New York is so important,” Trump said, trying to regain the momentum he lost after Cruz defeated him in Wis-consin and captured all of Colorado’s delegates. Trump identified himself with “New York values” of hard work and compassion after Cruz charged Trump’s version of these values are basically Democratic positions.

Whether Trump can win the 1,237 delegates he needs for the nomination is an open question as both Cruz and Ohio Governor Kasich, try to block him

from getting enough delegates. They want to extend the fight to a contested convention in Cleveland when Repub-licans gather to formally choose their nominee in July.

In his speech to the group, Kasich tried to raise questions about Trump without mentioning his name. He said Republican candidates across the country would be at risk with a can-didate with a negative message at the top of the ballot.

Trump has drawn many pro-tests for policy positions that include building a wall along US border with Mexico, deporting 11 million illegal immigrants and banning Muslims tem-porarily from entering the US.

AP

BRASILIA, BRAZIL: The lower chamber of Brazil’s Congress yes-terday began a debate on whether to impeach President Dilma Rouss-eff, a question that underscores deep polarization in Latin America’s larg-est country.

The vote is slated for tomorrow on whether to send the measure to the Senate, where an impeachment trial would take place, prompting the president’s suspension from office.

The atmosphere in lower Cham-ber of Deputies was electric at the start of the session, as Rouss-eff’s critics festooned themselves with yellow and green ribbons and brandished placards reading “Impeachment Now!”

L a w m a k e r s b a c k i n g impeachment allege Rousseff’s administration violated fiscal rules, using sleight of hand accounting in a bid to shore up public support. However, many of those pushing for impeachment face grave accu-sations of corruption themselves, which government supporters are quick to brand as hypocrisy.

Rousseff’s defenders insist she did nothing illegal, and say similar accounting techniques were used by previous presidents.

Miguel Reale Junior, author of the

impeachment petition, said Rouss-eff’s maneuvering directly led to the ills plaguing the country today, such as high inflation and periodic deval-uations of the Brazilian real against the US dollar. “Are you going to tell me that isn’t a crime?” Junior told the body, adding that the impeachment push was not “a coup.”

Solicitor General Jose Eduardo Cardozo argued that lawmakers should only consider the actual accusations against Rousseff.

He warned that impeachment would constitute an act of “violence without precedent” against democ-racy and the Brazilian people.

Flanked by people holding signs showing constitution being ripped apart, Cardozo insisted the whole impeachment process was an act of personal vengeance against Rousseff by house Speaker Eduardo Cunha.

Cunha, Cardozo alleged, was striking out at Rousseff for refusing to help him avoid an ethics probe into allegations he received millions in bribes from the corruption scheme in the Petrobras oil company.

“Violence has been committed against the democratic state,” Car-dozo shouted, gesticulating wildly.

The political infighting has dragged on for months, hamstring-ing attempts to help jumpstart the economy and hanging up other measures observers say are crucial to getting the country back on track.

Venezuela creates

new holiday and

timezone

CARACAS: Venezuela’s leader Nicolas Maduro declared a pub-lic-sector holiday for Monday and vowed to change the nation’s timezone in the latest dramatic measures to cope with a crippling electricity shortage blamed on low water levels at hydroelectric dams.

Maduro last week gave the public sector every Friday off until June 6, shutting down the workforce in an emergency power-saving measure to battle a looming crisis at the nation’s 18 hydroelec-tric dams, which he said had been hard hit by drought.

“I am declaring Monday April 18 a non-working day and there will be no educational activity either,” Maduro told thousands of supporters.

He said his decision would create an “electricity-saving long weekend.” Maduro said he would change Venezuela’s tim-ezone, which is now GMT minus four-and-a-half hours, as of May 1 so as to save more electricity. The leader said he would provide details within days.

AFP

MEXICO CITY: Two Mexican federal police officers possibly participated in the disappearance of 43 students, the National Human Rights Commis-sion said, implicating national agents in the 2014 case for the first time.

The announcement adds a new twist to a probe that has come under fire from international human rights groups and independent investigators.

Jose Larrieta Carrasco, a com-mission official investigating the case, said the authorities should now look into a “new route in the disap-pearance” of the students.

The attorney general’s office said it would “deepen” this “line of inves-tigation” following the commission’s announcement.

A federal police statement said the allegations were not new and that all officers present in the region that night gave statements, but that “for the moment” no wrongdoing was

found against any agents.Prosecutors have already charged

municipal police officers in connec-tion with the mass abduction in the southern city of Iguala on Septem-ber 26-27, 2014. But the governmental rights commission said it found an eyewitness who saw two federal agents near Iguala’s courthouse, where municipal officers had stopped a bus with 15 to 20 students on board.

The commission also said another local police department, from the town of Huitzuco, had a previously unknown role in the dis-appearance. The bus was one of five that around 100 students had seized that night to use for a future protest. Iguala police officers opened fire on the buses before the students dis-appeared. The commission said the police fired on the tyres of the bus that stopped near the courthouse, prompting the students to toss rocks at the police.

The officers bundled the students into several patrol vehicles, includ-ing three from Huitzuco.

When the federal officers arrived,

they asked what was going on.An Iguala officer said the students

would be sent to Huitzuco, where “the boss”—possibly a drug cartel mem-ber—would “decide what to do with them,” the commission said.

The federal officers responded, “Ah, ok, that’s good,” and allowed the local police to take the students away.

Huitzuco would be a new location in the twisting saga, as authorities have maintained that suspects told investigators that the students were killed in the nearby town of Cocula.

The commission said there was enough evidence to “presume the participation of members of the Huitzuco municipal police and two federal police officers” in the disap-pearance, adding that it has the name of one of the two federal agents, which it gave to prosecutors.

The commission also said a sol-dier on a motorcycle took pictures of the incident and then left. Families of the victims have called for an investi-gation into whether the military had a role in the case, but the army denies any wrongdoing.

AFP

PASO CANOAS, PANAMA: Thou-sands of Cubans stranded in Panama, many increasingly des-perate demanded that borders closed to them in Central America be reo-pened to allow them to reach the United States.

A growing mass of around 3,000 Cubans on the Panama-Costa Rica border risk triggering another regional migration crisis, weeks after 8,000 compatriots were cleared out of Costa Rica on special flights to El Salvador or Mexico.

Nicaragua and Costa Rica have since late last year closed their fron-tiers to any more Cubans. But citizens of the Communist island keep com-ing, lured by America’s Cold War-era policy of guaranteeing them easy entry and a fast-track to residency.

About 1,200 migrants—most of them Cubans, but also some from

Africa and Asia—stormed the border, overwhelming officials and entering into Costa Rica. Within hours though, all but 120 of them were convinced to go back into Panama to await a new solution for them.

Panama and Costa Rica are both exasperated with the US policy which they say acts as a magnet.

Costa Rica accused Washington of maintaining a “perverse” stance in welcoming only Cubans. President Luis Guillermo Solis wrote a letter to US President Barack Obama com-plaining about the situation.

Panama’s security minister, Rodolfo Aguilera, said: “This isn’t a problem we’ve caused ourselves... We’re only a transit country.”

In Paso Canoas, a town on the Panama-Costa Rica border, the Cubans are sleeping in improvised shelters in shops and old buildings with no electricity or water. Some of them walked to the border to press their demand to be allowed through.

“We want to keep going,” they

yelled as around 20 Costa Rican police prevented them from passing through. Security has been tightened along the border.

One of the Cubans, a 60-year-old doctor named Ileana Bordonado, said that “we cannot continue in these inhuman conditions.”

Sanders blasts ‘immoral’ wealth inequality

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (centre) leaves the Vatican after a conference commemorating the 25th anniversary of ‘Centesimus Annus’, at the Vatican City, yesterday.

Trump talks up ‘New York values’

Mexico federal agents implicated in students’ disappearance

Brazil’s General Attorney Jose Eduardo Cardozo speaks at a session to review the request for President Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment at the Chamber of Deputies in Brasilia, Brazil, yesterday.

Brazil Congress begins impeachment debate

Cubans stranded in Panama demand passage to US

Cuban migrants protest in front of riot police at a border post with Panama in Paso Canoas.

Anand Mahindra, Chairman and Managing Director of Mahindra Group, posing beside a Mahindra e2o electric car during its launch in London, Britain, yesterday.

Mahindra e2o launched in Britain

Greek Premierblames IMF forbailout delay

PAGE | 14 PAGE | 15

G20 finance leaders under pressure

to boost growth

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AFP

NEW YORK: Citigroup joined the growing list of banks to boost reserves for bad energy loans yes-terday, but said it saw no signs the energy bust was spreading to the broader economy.

The US banking giant lifted its reserves for loan losses by $233m due to energy-related loans as com-pany officials signaled they expect further hits to results throughout 2016 from pain in the oil patch.

“I wouldn’t say that this quarter is going to be by far the largest quar-ter as yet,” said chief financial officer John Gerspach. But Gerspach said there is no evidence the oil bust is spreading to other sectors.

“We haven’t seen any credit dete-rioration in any of our books outside of that which is energy-related,” Ger-spach told reporters on a conference call. “We’re not seeing any migration of the energy-related issues into the consumer book at all.”

The remarks came as Citigroup reported a 26.6 percent decline in first-quarter earnings to $3.5bn, as revenues tumbled 11.4 percent to $17.6bn. Results were marred by a 27 percent drop in invest-ment banking revenue and lower revenues from several key trading divisions, including equity markets and fixed-income markets.

The bank’s “market-sensitive products clearly suffered from weak investor sentiment during the quar-ter,” said Chief Executive Michael Corbat. Still, results translated into

$1.10 per share, seven cents better than analyst expectations. Citigroup benefited from about a $360m reduc-tion in expenses and boasted of increased lending to core clients.

The bank’s set-asides for dodgy petroleum-related loans came on the heels of similar announcements ear-lier this week by JPMorgan Chase and other big banks as oil producers and contractors reel from the fall in oil prices above $100 a barrel in mid-2014 to roughly $35 a barrel in much of the first quarter.

Citigroup reclassified $730m in loans in its institutional clients group as “non-accrual,” or more likely to default, even though about two-thirds of this group are still performing, Gerspach said. About $500m of the $730m in the group is energy-related.

AFP

KUWAIT CITY: Major oil producers meet tomorrow to try to negotiate a production freeze to boost prices, but doubts remain about the likelihood of a deal with Iran refusing to sign up.

Tehran said its oil minister would skip the talks in Doha between around a dozen oil exporters, including heav-yweights Saudi Arabia and Russia. Iran’s governor at the Opec oil cartel will attend instead, it said, triggering a swift drop in oil prices on world markets.

Prices have rebounded sharply in recent weeks partly on expecta-tions of a deal that could, in theory at least, help to reduce a supply glut and repair producers’ battered public finances. Any agreement to freeze oil production would “likely give prices a

further short-term boost,” said Fawad Razaqzada, analyst at brokerage firm City Index.

Tehran, which is emerging from nuclear-related Western sanctions, will be seeking a waiver until its production reaches its pre-embargo levels. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan

Zanganeh will not attend the Doha talks himself, his ministry said yesterday.

“Iran already announced it can-not join the plan to stabilise oil prices” while its output is still below pre-sanction levels, it added. Saudi Arabia, however, has insisted it will not join an output freeze unless Iran, its regional rival, does so.

“We don’t see Saudi Arabia freezing production and ... accom-modating significant production rises by other producers,” Fahad Al Turki, head of research at Saudi Jadwa Investment, said.

If a substantive agreement is struck in Doha, however, that would help to build trust between key producers and pave the way for pro-duction cuts in the future, Turki said.

Qatar said on Thursday that there was an “atmosphere of optimism” that a deal would be struck, adding

that the number of countries due to attend had risen. Last month, Qatar said 12 nations including itself would be present at the talks.

The Doha meeting is a follow-up to talks in February between Opec members Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela plus Russia in which they first mooted the output freeze. The Organisation of Petroleum Export-ing Countries warned ahead of the tomorrow’s talks of worsening oversupply.

Opec also trimmed its forecast for global oil demand growth this year and said it might have to lower its pro-jection further.

A sharp rise in unconventional oil production, mainly US shale crude, and Opec’s reluctance to cut output triggered a collapse in oil prices from levels above $100 a barrel in 2014, costing exporters billions of dollars. After hitting 13-year lows of around

$27 a barrel in February, oil prices have since rebounded to above $40.

Yesterday, Brent crude futures were down 3 percent at $42.54 and US crude futures were down 3.1 per-cent, trading at $40.22.

On Thursday, the International Energy Agency warned against over-expectation for the Doha talks, saying the meeting would have only a “lim-ited” impact on supplies.

Jean-Francois Seznec, an oil expert at Georgetown University, believes Iran will not be the key prob-lem at the meeting as it is only capable of boosting output by 300,000 bar-rels per day (b/d) this year.

“I think the worry for the pro-ducers is not whether Iran freezes or not, but whether Russia would do so,” Seznec said.

Opec said on Wednesday that Iranian oil production in March was 3.3m b/d, up from 2.9m in January, but

still short of its pre-embargo level of around 4m. Opec said its members pumped 32.25m b/d in March — with Saudi Arabia accounting for nearly a third — up from an average of 31.85m b/d in 2015.

“The freeze talks between Opec and non-Opec will decide how quickly markets could get bal-anced and by how much oil prices would rise,” Abhishek Deshpande, an analyst at French investment bank Natixis, said.

A freeze agreement, if it includes Iran, could see “markets completely balanced” as early as in the third quarter this year, he added.

One of the main Opec goals by not cutting production was to drive high-cost supply, mainly US shale oil, out of the market. US shale production is now sliding but the conventional pro-ducers’ dilemma is that shale oil can respond quickly when prices increase.

Hopes high for output freeze deal at Doha talksThe Doha meeting is a follow-up to talks in February between Opec members Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela plus Russia in which they first mooted the output freeze.

AFP

WASHINGTON: The world’s lead-ing economies yesterday embraced a new crackdown on tax havens and the use of shell companies to hide money, as the Panama Papers scan-dal claimed another victim.

A draft communique from the G20 finance ministers meet-ing in Washington endorsed a plan that would rip away the shield of secrecy for companies and individ-uals stocking assets offshore behind anonymous companies, a dramatic move that could put a deep dent in tax evasion, money laundering and illicit finance.

Making the beneficial owners of companies, trusts and foundations transparent “is vital to protect the integrity of the international financial system,” the draft G20 communi-que said. The move came as Spain’s industry minister Jose Manuel Soria resigned over allegations he had links to offshore companies.

Files from the leaked document trove of Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca showed Soria was an admin-istrator of an offshore firm in 1992. He was just the latest in a number of powerful officials, including the leaders of Russia, Iceland, Britain and Argentina, linked by the Pan-ama Papers to offshore tax havens.

Soria stepped down admitting “mistakes” in explaining his alleged offshore interests and “the obvious harm that this situation is doing to the Spanish government,” which is one of the five European powers behind the new proposal to end anonym-ity for the beneficial owners of shell companies.

On Thursday, in the strongest reaction yet to the leaked Panama Papers, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain proposed a blacklist of havens like Panama if they failed

to share corporate registry data.And they proposed setting up

databases of the beneficiaries of shell companies for the use of tax and other authorities around the world.

In a joint statement during a meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, finance ministers of the five said: “The recent extensive leaks from Panama show the criti-cal importance of the fight against tax evasion, aggressive tax planning and money laundering.”

“Today we deal another ham-mer blow against those who hide their illegal tax evasion in the dark corners of the financial system,” Brit-ish Finance Minister George Osborne said in a statement.

Their proposal was to be weighed by the ministers of the entire G20, with expectations they will embrace it, even while some, including the United States, allow the creation of anonymous shell companies, trusts and foundations as part of normal business.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim (pictured) said the illicit finan-cial activities enabled by tax havens

undermined the fight against poverty.“When taxes are evaded, when

state assets are taken and put into these havens, all of these things can have a tremendous negative effect on our mission to end poverty and boost prosperity,” he said.

The Mossack Fonseca leak placed Panama in the spotlight as one of the leading havens that have not joined an agreement on shar-ing information on bank accounts and other assets.

Under pressure, Panama said on Thursday that it was ready to begin working together with the “Common Reporting Standard” (CRS) system on sharing information about assets and accounts. “Panama’s path to finan-cial transparency is irreversible,” Vice President Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado said in a statement.

German Finance Minister Wolf-gang Schaeuble applauded the statement. “This shows that our approach is promising, and we’ll continue to promote it with vigor,” he said. He said the new proposals will first take root in Europe. “Rapidly all Europeans will join in, and then we’ll soon exert pressure (to join) also on a global scale,” he said.

Meanwhile the G20 was under pressure to step up measures for growth amid warnings from the International Monetary Fund that the global economy is at the risk of stalling. Both the IMF and World Bank say the demand for financial support from struggling governments has risen to levels normally seen dur-ing crises.

“In the global economy, there are not many bright spots,” World Bank President Kim said. “The weaken-ing global economy threatens our progress toward ending extreme pov-erty by 2030.” “We are on alert, not alarm,” IMF chief Christine Lagarde said. “The current policy responses that we are seeing need to go faster and need to go deeper.”

G20 embraces crackdown on tax havens and shell companies

Citigroup hit by energy rout

BUSINESS14 SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2016

Engines at the Aircelle plant in Colomiers near Toulouse, Southwestern France, yesterday. Airbus Group SE formally accepted the first series-production Leap-1A engines built by CFM International for its A320neo narrow-body jet — a model that entered service this year using rival powerplants from Pratt & Whitney.

Chairman for Africa, Middle East and India region of Nissan Motor Corporation, Christian Mardrus, stands near the newly launched Datsun ‘redi-Go’ car at a function in New Delhi on Thursday.

Airbus gets first CFM engines

Datsun ‘redi-Go’ launched in India

Reuters

BEIJING: China posted its slowest economic growth since 2009 but a surge of new debt appears to be fueling a recovery in factory activity, investment and household spending in the world’s second largest econ-omy.

That’s good news in the near-term, economists say, but many worry it marks a return to the old playbook used during the financial crisis, when Beijing hand-cranked its economy out of a slowdown through massive stimulus, rather than struc-tural reform.

Official data yesterday showed China’s gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 6.7 percent in the first quarter of the year, eas-ing slightly from 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter as expected. However, other indicators released showed new loans, retail sales, industrial output and fixed asset investment were all better than forecast.

While analysts say the data is evidence of a bottoming out in the economy’s slowdown, some warn that the first quarter of 2015 got off to a similarly glowing start before a stock market crash later that year. “What this shows is a stabilisation of the old econ-omy,” said Raymond Yeung of ANZ, pointing to recovery in industrial pro-duction and fixed asset investment.

“I would still be a bit cautious about headline growth... last year’s 6.9 percent figure was underpinned by a massive contribution from finan-cial services, and the strong loan and credit growth recently and the recent resumption of IPO activity suggests this could still be a big contribution.”

The National Bureau of Statistics said in a press conference in Beijing on Friday that while main economic indicators showed positive changes, “downward pressure cannot be underestimated.”

It did not distribute quarterly GDP figures as it has in the past, saying it needed more time to calculate the figure. Global financial markets took the data in stride, but domestic stocks fell slightly, as analysts said the strong data implied the likelihood of a slower pace of monetary easing.

The CSI300 index of the largest listed firms in Shanghai and Shen-zhen closed 0.1 percent lower. Forex markets were largely flat with the offshore rate and the onshore rate trading around 6.5 per dollar.

Beijing hopes a recovery — even a credit-fueled one — can be sustained to avoid the need for more aggressive stimulus that could reinflate asset bubbles and make it more difficult to retrain Chinese firms to move up the value chain.

Chinese banks extended 1.37 tril-lion yuan ($211.23bn) in net new yuan loans in March, nearly double the previous month’s lending of 726.6bn

yuan, suggesting renewed appetite for investment among wary Chi-nese corporates. China’s retail sales growth quickened to 10.5 percent in March from 10.2 percent, slightly above forecasts, while fixed-asset investment growth rose to 10.7 per-cent year-on-year in the first quarter from 10.2 percent, beating market expectations of 10.3 percent.

Industrial output growth leapt up to 6.8 percent from 5.4 percent, sur-prising analysts who expected a rise of 5.9 percent on an annual basis.

The NBS also noted that official unemployment remained low in March, around 5.2 percent, despite moves to cut capacity in bloated industries like coal and steel.

Critics, however, point out that many laid-off workers from old-economy sectors have been shifted into lower-paying government jobs, cleaning up offices - good for politi-cal stability but bad for wage growth and consumer spending.

At the same time official retail spending figures capture a lot of gov-ernment purchases; elsewhere in the economy there are signs that ordi-nary consumption remains weak.

March export figures released earlier this week also staged an unexpected recovery, although some economists caution that seasonal effects from last year’s late Lunar New Year holiday could be a factor.

“Today’s released data ought not to distract from the fact that the structural issues facing China’s economy remain unresolved,” wrote Economist Intelligence Unit econo-mist Tom Rafferty in a research note.

“It has taken considerable mon-etary and fiscal policy loosening to stabilise economic growth at this level and this effort has distracted from the reform agenda that is fundamental to long-term economic sustainability.”

China economy shows signs of debt-fuelled recoveryOfficial data yesterday showed China’s gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 6.7 percent in the first quarter of the year, easing slightly from 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter as expected.

Reuters

DUBAI/LONDON: The African nation of Gabon wants to rejoin Opec after more than two decades, two OPEC sources said, becoming the second former member in a year to seek a return to the oil exporters’ group just as it is taking the first steps in years to prop up prices.

If it returned, Gabon would be the smallest producer in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and bring its ranks to 14 countries fol-lowing last year’s return of Indonesia, which had quit in 2008.

“They sent the request to Opec officially,” said one of the sources, an Opec delegate. An oil official in Gabon declined to comment.

Gabon joined Opec in 1975 and left in 1995 over the exporter group’s refusal to grant its request for reduced annual contributions in line with the country’s small produc-tion, news reports said at the time.

Gabon produces 200,000 bar-rels of oil per day (b/d) according to the International Energy Agency, and output is in decline. Last year, the government launched an off-shore licensing round in a bid to boost exploration.

Ecuador, which pumps 530,000

b/d, is currently the smallest Opec producer. The next step, the sources said, would be for Opec oil ministers to discuss Gabon’s request. They hold their next meeting in June.

Opec rules state that a coun-try needs to have “a substantial net export of crude” in order to become a full member. Still, the ministers waived this requirement with the decision to welcome back Indone-sia, now a net oil importer. Whether Gabon’s return would be as straight-forward is not clear. Indonesia was deemed by Opec to have “suspended” its membership, while it calls Gabon’s departure a “termination” - implying a more formal severing of ties.

Gabon wants to rejoin Opec

Reuters

WASHINGTON: Financial leaders from the Group of 20 major econo-mies scrambled yesterday for a way to keep global growth from stall-ing amid concerns about a drop-off in international trade and the wan-ing effectiveness of loose monetary policy.

The G20 gathering, the highlight of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings in Washington, came amid growing pressure on richer nations to boost infrastructure spending, deregulate industries and spur employment.

Earlier this week the IMF cut its 2016 growth forecast for the world economy, the fourth such move in less than a year. In a statement to the G20 on Thursday night, Indian Finance

Minister Arun Jaitley (pictured) said governments could not continue rely-ing on central banks to take the lead in spurring growth and should con-sider boosting spending.

“We feel that the efficacy of mon-etary policy instruments has reached its limits and that its pass-through has not been seamless,” Jaitley said. “The

time is ripe for a re-evaluation of the fiscal policy space, with a greater focus placed on public investment.”

Although India is one of the bright-est stars of the world economy, with the IMF predicting 7.5 percent growth this year, Jaitley warned that the global recovery was fragile and could easily be derailed by weak demand, tighter financial markets, softening trade and volatile capital flows.

“We, therefore, need to articu-late an effective and tangible policy response to revive the trade engine of the global economy. Countries must avoid trade protectionist measures, and refrain from competitive deval-uations,” he said.

But Jaitley’s currency views appeared at odds with those of Japanese officials, who expressed concerns about increases in the value of the yen, which recently hit a 17-month high against the dollar.

Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso told reporters late on Thursday that he stressed those concerns in a meeting with US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, a sign that currency issues would be high on the list of the G20’s priorities. “I told (Lew) that excessive volatility and disorderly currency moves would have a negative impact on the economy. I also expressed deep concern over recent one-sided moves in the currency market,” Aso said.

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda also described the yen’s ascent so far this year as “excessive,” the first time he had referred to the currency move in such a way.

A US Treasury spokeswoman said that Lew, in a meeting on Thursday with Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei, emphasized the need for China to transition to a market-determined exchange rate and “to refrain from competitive currency devaluations.”

China’s economic slowdown has slashed demand for commodities and components worldwide, caus-ing spillovers to emerging markets and advanced economies alike. A shock devaluation of the yuan last August and further declines earlier this year sparked financial market turmoil and worries about further devaluations.

People’s Bank of China Dep-uty Governor Yi Gang on Thursday offered some reassuring words that Chinese economic growth would be in line with IMF estimates of 7.5 per-cent growth.

Apart from worries about China’s economy, policymakers this week also have expressed heightened fears that a potential exit by Britain from the European Union in a June refer-endum could derail Europe’s shaky economic recovery and cause a fur-ther slowdown in global growth.

BENGALURU: Indian software giant Infosys yesterday reported a 16 percent jump in fourth-quar-ter net profit, beating expectations after it won new clients for its IT services business.

Net profit in the three months to March 31 came in at Rs36bn ($540m), compared with Rs31bn in the same period last year. It beat analysts’ estimates of quar-terly profit of Rs35.2bn in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

A strong performance had been expected after the firm in January said it had managed to ride out deadly floods in Chennai at the end of last year that many feared would hurt earnings.

Revenues for the full year rose 17 percent to Rs624bn, Infosys said, as it added 325 new clients.

In January, chief operat-ing officer U B Pravin Rao said a “healthy pipeline” of potential deals worth $3bn would help the Bangalore-based firm achieve its growth projections.

AFP

FRANKFURT: Embattled Ger-man carmaker Volkswagen said yesterday that worldwide sales of its own-brand cars were down 1.3 percent in the first three months of this year, with gains seen only in the Asia-Pacific region and in cen-tral and eastern Europe.

Vol k s w a ge n , c u r re nt l y entrenched in a massive engine-rigging scandal, said in a statement that it sold 1.459 million VW-brand vehicles in the period from January to March, down from 1.479 million a year earlier. “Mixed regional market developments are reflected in our delivery figures,” said Juergen Stack-mann, head of sales at the VW brand.

“While Volkswagen Passenger Cars recorded the best delivery per-formance ever in China in the first quarter, the trend in South America in particular continues to decline,” Stackmann said.

In the group’s home market of Germany, VW delivered a total 138,700 of its own-brand cars to cus-tomers in the January-March period, 3.8 percent fewer than a year earlier.

VW, which owns 12 brands in all, from Audi and Porsche to Lam-borghini, Skoda and SEAT, was plunged into its deepest-ever cri-sis last September when it emerged it had installed emissions-cheat-ing software into 11 million diesel engines worldwide. It is currently battling to count the still incalcula-ble costs from the scandal.

And sales were down in almost all regions in the first quarter of 2016. Western European sales fell by 0.5 percent, North American sales were down by 6.5 percent and South Amer-ican sales plunged by as much as 31.3 percent in the three-month period, VW said. Only in eastern and cen-tral Europe and in the Asia-Pacific region was the group able to notch up gains of 2.1 percent and 4.8 per-cent respectively, with sales in China climbing by 6.5 percent.

G20 finance leaders under pressure to boost growth Infosys posts 16% risein Q4 profit

DUBAI: An oil refining joint ven-ture between national oil firm Saudi Aramco and China’s Sinopec has obtained a $4.7bn syndicated loan to refinance shareholder funds used for its construction, the venture said yesterday.

Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refin-ing Co (Yasref), owned 62.5 percent by Aramco and the rest by Sinopec, said the unsecured loan was obtained from 26 local, regional and international financial insti-tutions, and was oversubscribed.

The new loan includes a US dollar-denominated, seven-year term facility totalling $3.1bn from 17 regional and international insti-tutions, priced at a margin of 105 basis points over the London inter-bank offered rate, Yasref said. It also includes a seven-year term facility of SR6bn ($1.6bn) from nine local financial institutions, at a margin of 100 bps over the Saudi interbank offered rate.

VW says sales down1.3% in first quarter

Yasref refinery

gets $4.7bn loan

BUSINESS 15SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2016

A model poses with an Alfa Romeo car on display at the Indonesia International Motor Show in Jakarta.

An exhibitor operates a 3DR solo drone during a computer show in Taipei, Taiwan, yesterday. Numerous companies and businesses from around the world are taking advantage of the drone technology, not just for filming aerial footage but also trying to use the small aircrafts for light courier services.

Alfa Romeo at motor show

Drone technology

Reuters

WASHINGTON: China has agreed to scrap some export subsidies on a range of products from metals to agri-culture and textiles, the United States said, in a step by Beijing to reduce trade frictions with Washington.

China ended a programme which provided export subsidies of some $1bn over three years to Chinese com-panies in seven economic sectors, the US Trade Representative’s office said.

Some industry executives were sceptical about the deal’s impact given remaining disputes over other sup-port that China gives to its exporting industries. Steel has been a particu-lar flashpoint.

One source knowledgeable about the agreement said it was not com-prehensive enough to do much to help the US steel industry, given its focus was only on specialty steel products.

In part, the dropping of the subsi-dies is an effort by China to move away from labour-intensive production and emphasise more sophisticated indus-tries such as semiconductors.

“The Chinese want to become a high-tech country. They want to move up the value chain,” said James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Stra-tegic and International Studies.

Chinese agriculture products that will lose the subsidies include

apples, beef, mushrooms, tea, toma-toes, beans, ginseng, poultry, seaweed and garlic, the USTR said.

Candidates in the US presidential election, especially Republican front-runner Donald Trump, accuse China of treating the United States unfairly in trade. But White House spokes-man Josh Earnest said the accord “is an example of how committed this administration is to ensuring that we’re fighting in the international community for American businesses and American workers.”

The United States had complained to the World Trade Organisation about the programme, alleging unfair prac-tices by China. The Chinese industries that have received the subsidies under the programme include textiles, light industry, specialty chemicals, medi-cal products, hardware, agriculture and advanced materials and met-als, including specialty steel and aluminum products, the trade rep-resentative’s office said.

Since it joined the WTO in 2001, China has frequently drawn com-plaints that its exports are being “dumped,” or sold at unfairly cheap prices on foreign markets.

Chinese Embassy spokesman Zhu Haiquan said Beijing is com-mitted to WTO regulations.

“China has been firmly commit-ted to the WTO rules, continuously expanded its opening-up, deepened the reform of its foreign trade sys-tem, improved its foreign trade legal system, reduced trade barriers and administrative intervention,” Zhu said in an email.

US Steel Corp President and CEO Mario Longhi said he was cautious about the latest Chinese move.

“People can say whatever they want, and I think China has been say-ing a lot of things for the past couple of decades,” Longhi told reporters in Washington. “You need to ask yourself what, from a practical perspective, is really happening. We need to see the

proof in actions, not just in verbiage.”The US steel industry is under

huge pressure this year from cheap imports, a strong dollar, and falling oil prices, which have decimated demand for steel tubes used by the oil and gas industry. Experts in China down-played the significance of the deal.

Tu Xinquan, a WTO expert at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said it was not a big concession for Beijing, and officials in Washington may have “exaggerated their success”.

“It was a very small amount of money. The use of such projects was marginal,” Tu said.

In a sign of the obscurity of the program, officials from the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Associ-ation and the China Iron and Steel Association told Reuters separately that they were not previously aware of the programme and that aluminum and steel smelters and mills were not widely involved.

US says China to scrap some export subsidiesReuters

WASHINGTON: The Obama administration on Thursday unveiled new oil well control rules to prevent the kind of blowout that happened six years ago on a BP Plc rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement announced the final-ised regulations, which include more stringent design requirements and operational procedures for offshore oil and gas operations.

The new standards come nearly six years after a deadly explosion and fire on the Deepwa-ter Horizon oil rig off the cost of Louisiana, which led to the worst oil spill of all time. The Macondo well blowout and the fire on April 20,2010 killed 11 workers.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell told reporters the rule took six years to complete because the agency wanted to understand the root cause of the disaster. “There are a number of things that went wrong,” she said. “It was important that we understood those things and the evolution of technology.”

The Interior Department said it took into account industry and other stakeholder feedback since it first proposed the rule last April.

To improve the “culture of safety” on oil rigs and prevent future spills or blowouts, the new rule tightens requirements for blowout preventers, well design, well control casing, cementing and sub-sea containment.

It also calls for real-time monitoring, third party reviews of equipment, regular inspec-tions and safe drilling margin requirements.

The agency estimates the new rule would cost the industry $890m over a 10-year period, but would yield $1.5bn in benefits.

Republican Louisiana Sena-tor David Vitter slammed what he called an “overarching” rule that would “kick our oil and gas indus-try while it’s down”.

AFP

ATHENS: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (pictured) yesterday said the IMF should stop tinker-ing with the country’s latest bailout with European creditors, blam-ing the global lender for causing a delay in talks.

The IMF has worked with the EU on two previous Greek bailouts but said it would not participate in the latest plan without credible reforms and an EU agreement to ease Greece’s debt burden.

“Greece fails to understand why the IMF insists in chang-ing the design of the reforms in a way that leaves their yield and simplicity intact, but makes the reform significantly less pro-gressive,” Tsipras said in an article published in the Finan-cial Times.

“Delaying the conclusion of the first review of the ESM (European Stability Mechanism) programme by stubbornly insisting to ignore the let-ter and the spirit of the agreement does not serve the principles on which Europe has been thriving,” Tsipras said.

Leftist Tsipras has repeatedly lashed out at the Washington-based global lender, and the current talks have been clouded by allegations that senior IMF officials sought to engineer a Greek default.

A WikiLeaks report earlier this month said the IMF was looking for a crisis “event” to push Greece and European negotiators into accepting its fiscal targets, citing an intercepted

conversation between senior IMF officials.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde later dismissed this notion as “non-sense”. Lagarde on Thursday said the IMF had no intention of withdraw-ing from the programme, but hinted its role could change, without going into details.

“We will not walk away. Our form of participation may vary, depending on the commitments of Greece and the undertaking of the European partners. But we will not walk away,” Lagarde said.

The IMF chief said she agreed with Athens that the talks needed to move faster, but once again called into question forecasts on Greece’s economy not vetted by her own staff. To reach the bailout programme objectives of economic stability and sustaina-bility, she said, “there

has to be real and realistic numbers and sustainable measures”.

The review of Greece’s progress on the terms of the bailout agreed in July has dragged on for months, largely because of differences among its lenders over the country’s eco-nomic progress and resistance in Athens to unpopular measures.

Talks in Athens were unexpect-edly interrupted on Tuesday. Greece said they will resume immediately after the IMF’s spring meetings in Washington, which ends tomorrow.

Athens signed up to a new bailout worth up to €86bn ($98bn) last year, its third international rescue package since 2010. The IMF, European Com-mission, European Central Bank and the European Stability Mechanism make up the country’s lenders.

Reuters

WASHINGTON: US industrial pro-duction fell more than expected in March as manufacturing and mining production decreased, the latest indi-cation that economic growth braked sharply in the first quarter.

Industrial output declined 0.6 percent last month after a down-wardly revised 0.6 percent drop in February, the Federal Reserve said on Friday. Industrial production has fallen in six of the last seven months.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast industrial production

slipping only 0.1 percent last month after a previously reported 0.5 per-cent drop in February.

Industrial production fell at an annual rate of 2.2 percent in the first quarter after decreasing at a 3.3 percent pace in the fourth quar-ter. The report joined data on retail sales, business spending, trade and wholesale inventories in suggesting that economic growth slowed to crawl at the turn of the year.

Growth estimates for the first quarter are as low as a 0.2 percent annualised rate. The economy grew at a 1.4 percent rate in the fourth quarter. But given a buoyant labor market, the ebb in growth is likely to

be temporary. The industrial sector has been undermined by a slowing global economy and robust dollar, which have eroded demand for US manufactured goods. It is also being weighed down by lower oil prices that have undercut capital investment in the energy sector, as well as an inven-tory correction.

But there are signs the worst of the industrial sector downturn is over, with recent manufacturing surveys turning higher. In addition, the dol-lar’s rally has fizzled and oil prices appear to be stabilizing.

Last month, manufacturing output fell 0.3 percent, the biggest decline since February 2015, after

slipping 0.1 percent in February. Manufacturing was dragged down by motor vehicle and parts produc-tion, which plunged 1.6 percent after rising 0.8 percent the prior month.

For the first quarter, manufactur-ing output rose at a 0.6 percent rate. In March, there were also decreases in the output of electronic equipment, appliances and components.

Mining production tumbled 2.9 percent as oil and gas well drilling plummeted 8.5 percent after diving 15.8 percent in February.

Unseasonably warm weather in March hurt utilities production, which fell 1.2 percent after declining 3.6 per-cent in February.

Reuters

WASHINGTON: Argentina hopes it won’t have to tap international cap-ital markets again in 2016 after it sells up to $15bn in debt next week, its first such sale since the country’s 2002 default, Finance Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay said late on Thursday.

“We’re trying very hard for this issue to be the last issue of this year,” Pray-Gay said at an event on the side-lines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meet-ings in Washington.

He said the sale, expected to begin on Monday, resulted from a sea change in Argentina’s will to end a long-festering legal battle with mostly US creditors who refused to accept the payment terms after it defaulted on nearly $100bn in debt in 2002.

The new right-of-center gov-ernment in Buenos Aires recently negotiated a deal to settle the sov-ereign debt dispute with most of the holdout creditors.

The proceeds of next week’s debt sale will allow Argentina to pay off 90 percent who have agreed to settle.

Separately, Prat-Gay said in an appearance at the Atlantic Council think tank that he was not concerned the remaining holdouts would impact the sale.

He also said Argentina’s govern-ment is targeting an inflation rate no higher than 25 percent this year and is making the battle against rising prices its top priority.

“We’ve got a target and we’ve been clear about that target. And that target is a ceiling of 25 percent for this year. And it is a band of 20 to 25 percent,” Prat-Gay said.

Prat-Gay said Argentina’s dou-ble-digit inflation rate should start

showing signs of easing in the sec-ond half of the year, though he added that it would take time for it to come down to a more manage-able level.

Private economists expect con-sumer prices will rise 35 percent this year, but Prat-Gay said the govern-ment hoped to reduce inflation to 17 percent in 2017.

Argentina is desperate to con-vince financial markets that its low debt burden and economic reforms make it a good place for investors. It is particularly keen for investment to fund infrastructure projects.

“Most of the projects we are not very happy with. Some are ok, and we need to put our act together,” he said.

“There are so many things we can be but never quite are. But there are so many things we can be that there is no reason not to be optimistic about it,” Prat-Gay said.

Since it joined the WTO in 2001, China has frequently drawn complaints that its exports are being “dumped,” or sold at unfairly cheap prices on foreign markets.

US sets new offshore oil safety rules

Greek PM blames IMF for bailout delay

US industrial output falls 0.6% in March

Argentina hopes debt sale next week will be the last of 2016

BUSINESS VIEWS16 SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2016

Commodity slump pushes Africa back into IMF’s embraceBy Ed Stoddard

Reuters

FALLING commodity prices have pushed several African countries back into the embrace of the International Mone-tary Fund, which has an opportunity

to push for reforms and inject transparency into opaque economies.

Top of the list is Angola, Africa’s second big-gest crude producer and third largest economy, which has not borrowed from the IMF since 2009 and just a few years ago had the Fund all but turning a blind eye to missing billions.

It is hardly alone, with depressed prices for commodities ranging from oil to copper sapping the budgets of African governments and sending them to the IMF, the “lender of last resort” which typically imposes tough conditions for assistance.

Gas-rich Mozambique and gold and oil producer Ghana, hard hit by the sour commod-ity cycle, both inked financial arrangements with the IMF in 2015, their first in six years, according to the Fund’s website.

Ghana’s was a three-year, $918m assistance deal signed as its fiscal and current account deficits ballooned. Africa’s second-largest cop-per producer, Zambia, started talks in March on an aid programme. Lusaka last signed a financial arrangement with the IMF in 2008.

And the region’s most industrialised economy, South Africa, which is also a major producer of platinum, gold and coal, may be forced to turn to the IMF if its credit rating gets downgraded to junk.

China this week offered Nigeria a loan of $6bn to fund infrastructure projects but Afri-ca’s top oil producer is still expected to also seek assistance from the IMF for the first time in almost two decades.

A lot of the attention is focused on Angola, which relies on oil for over 95 percent of for-eign revenue and is emblematic of the IMF’s involvement in the region.

“The IMF should use the leverage it has to extract serious concessions and tangible reforms from the government. The last time (between 2009 and 2012) it merely gave this authoritarian government a free ride with-out any quid pro quo,” said Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, an Angola expert at Oxford University.

A 2011 IMF staff report found that $32bn, equal to 25 percent of GDP, could be not be accounted for between 2007 and 2010, but barely chided the government. “Bearing in mind the scale of the revenues that Angola has received in the 14 years since the end of its civil war, we are probably talking about half a trillion dollars. The IMF should be very cautious about who it lends money to and under what terms,” Soares de Oliveira said.

Angola, which opened talks with the IMF this week, has said it will work with the Fund on reforms aimed at improving fiscal disci-pline, simplifying taxes and increasing public finance transparency.

Finance Minister Armando Manuel said last week that Angola was not seeking a res-cue package from the IMF but the Fund said in a statement that it could lead to a three-year Extended Fund Facility, a lifeline for economies with serious balance of payments problems.

An EFF is significantly different than the Stand-By arrangement Luanda signed up for in 2009 as it has a stronger focus on struc-tural reforms and could force Angola to begin cleaning up its act.

“Angola is coming back to the IMF but the

global political climate has changed. There will be pressure on Angola on transparency,” said Tara O’Connor, executive director of Lon-don-based Africa Risk Consulting.

During the recent boom times with oil fetching over $100 a barrel, Angola was able to keep the IMF at arm’s length and sought oil-backed loans from China. But analysts say China, which has its own fiscal worries, has turned off the taps at a time when oil is closer to $40 a barrel. And Angola has found itself with less crude to sell as more of its oil flows to China for debt repayment.

Zimbabwe is also banging on the IMF’s door, seeking its first loan from the Fund in almost two decades as it runs out of money with nowhere to turn, including ally China. President Robert Mugabe, 92 and in power since 1980, last month agreed to major reforms including compensation for evicted white farmers and a big reduction in pub-lic sector wages as the government tries to woo back international lenders.

African economies that have already taken the IMF route are already showing positive results. Ghana for example, with an IMF deal behind it, is looking to soon launch a Eurobond.

By Stephen Jewkes

Reuters

IT IS people like 58-year-old bank clerk Silvio Doria who may save Italy’s oil industry. Referring to a referendum

tomorrow that will decide whether oil companies can continue to drill within 20km of Italy’s coastline, Doria said: “I’m not going to vote because I just don’t know the issues well enough.”

For the referendum to succeed, more than 50 percent of Italians must cast a ballot. Prime Minis-ter Matteo Renzi says a “yes” vote against drilling would hurt jobs at a time when the economy is strug-gling to grow and has called on people to shun the ballot.

An opinion poll last month suggests three-quarters of Ital-ians have scant knowledge of the referendum, which concerns a lit-tle-known industry mostly located off the east coast of Italy far from the major population centres. The ballot was proposed by a number of regional assemblies which object to drilling platforms because of worries about seismic stability and the environment, as well as the impact on their tourist industries.

Italy imports around 90 percent of its energy needs and has been trying for years to get around grass-roots opposition to boost domestic energy production and so reduce dependence on foreign suppliers such as Russia’s Gazprom.

But if the referendum succeeds, fields run by the likes of Eni and Edi-son within 12 miles of the coast will be shut down when their concessions expire. Should it fail, energy com-panies will be able to ask for further extensions until wells are depleted. Opponents of the vote say closing a subsea well with oil and gas still in it is a risky and costly business because of high pressure conditions.

“What worries me are the 11,000 jobs at risk,” Renzi said earlier this month when inviting Italians not to vote. Renzi has asked Italians to abstain, claiming the vote is point-less since the law has already been substantially changed. Asking people to vote no might also risk upsetting people inside his party where the issue is a sensitive one.

There are 69 exploration con-cessions in Italian waters, most of them gas, according to the indus-try ministry. Of these 44 could be affected by the referendum.

Earlier this year Shell gave up on a €2bn project in the Gulf of Taranto after the 12-mile limitation, previously lifted, was reintro-duced by the government for all new projects in an failed effort to head off the referendum.

Dublin-based oil explorer Proceltic International recently gave up on an exploration permit it was chasing while British-based Rockhopper Exploration is con-sidering suing Italy for damages after it was told a concession it has permits for would not be granted.

“Italy has the tightest regulations in Europe that don’t exist elsewhere and they’re frightening off inves-tors,” says Davide Tabarelli, head of energy think-tank Nomisma Energia.

Environmental watchdog Legambiente and other green groups say domestic oil and gas production is minimal and that continued focus on fossil fuels takes Italy further away from its renew-able energy and carbon targets.

Gas production from offshore fields inside the 12-mile area cur-rently accounts for around 3 percent of Italian consumption while oil output in the area just 1 percent. According to Mediobanca Securi-ties, the short-term impact of a “Yes” vote would be minimal since only 5,000 barrels per day comes from concessions inside the 12-mile limit.

But it will certainly have long-term implications as by 2027, 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day could be shut-in, which accounts for over 20 percent of Italy’s oil and gas production, says analyst Ales-sandro Pozzi. The referendum comes at an awkward time for the prime minister. An influence-peddling case centred on the country’s main land-locked oil producing area, where Total and Shell operate, triggered the resignation of the industry min-ister two weeks ago.

Political opponents are seeking to use the scandal to bring voters out on Sunday to test the government’s mettle as it gears up for a referen-dum on constitutional reform in October on which Renzi has staked the future of his government.

Former Prime Minister Bettino Craxi encouraged Italians to “go to the beach” instead of vote in a ref-erendum in 1991 that then reached a quorum promoting a change to the electoral system, a miscalcula-tion that hurt him politically.

For those tempted to answer Renzi’s call, Sunday’s weather forecast is mostly sunny, favour-ing perhaps a seaside outing.

Beachgoers and bank clerk may save Italy’s oil industry

Ikea finalising its biggest overhaul in decades

By Tom Bergin

Reuters

IN two medieval Dutch cities, Ikea’s most senior executives are finalising the biggest overhaul at the Swedish-born furniture empire in over 30 years. The aim is to help the world’s largest furniture seller better adapt to chang-

ing consumer tastes, manage its increasing size and avoid the fate of other dominant retailers overtaken by new market entrants.

However, some academics say the changes, which effectively involve breaking up the Ikea Group, could also disrupt the smooth running that makes Ikea so efficient.

The Ikea Group announced the plan to transfer ownership of some operating enti-

ties to a small Delft-based company which owns the Ikea brand last June. However, the 250-word statement attracted little attention. The decision to rip up an organisational blueprint drawn up by founder Ingvar Kamprad in the 1980s was taken at a secret meeting just outside Copenhagen in late 2014.

The meeting gath-ered the board of Inter Ikea, which is chaired by Kamprad’s youngest son Mathias and owned by a Liechtenstein foundation. The little known company currently plays a small operational role in the Ikea universe, employing 1,500 people, compared

to 160,000 at the Ikea Group, which is techni-cally a Leiden-based company called INGKA Holding. INGKA currently manages almost everything that most customers see as Ikea

— the stores, furniture design, manufactur-ing, procurement and logistics. But Inter Ikea owns the rights to the Ikea brand, patents and business processes — collectively con-sidered to be the Ikea ‘concept’.

It is responsible for developing the con-cept but its leaders acknowledge this hasn’t changed much in decades and former exec-utives said the unit’s main role was to reduce the overall Ikea tax bill by charging INGKA for the use of the Ikea brand.

At their 2014 meeting, the directors of Inter Ikea unanimously agreed to massively expand its role and take control of design, manufacturing, procurement and logistics from INGKA. Since it owned the rights to the IKEA concept, it could do this. The aim, it says, is to protect Ikea for the future.

“It has been a pretty static concept,” said Torbjorn Loof, Chief Executive of Inter Ikea Systems BV, the unit that will, in September this year, take on the design and other func-tions. “(There) is always also the risk that you keep that concept, you protect that and make it better and better and better, and things in the world around you happen, and suddenly you stand and say, you know what, this is maybe not relevant,” the Swedish-Italian executive told Reuters as his boss, Inter Ikea Group CEO, Soren Hansen looked on, nodding.

But the IKEA concept needs to change more fundamentally if it is to satisfy the growing number of customers who are requesting Ikea stores in city centres and the ability to buy online and pick up from drop-off points. Loof says he can’t redesign the business concept with-out control over key functions like logistics.

Getting it right is important. New low-margin market entrants and online players like Amazon.com are making life harder for

The aim is to help Ikea better adapt to changing consumer tastes, manage its increasing size and avoid the fate of other dominant retailers overtaken by new market entrants.

A lot of the attention is focused on Angola, which relies on oil for over 95 percent of foreign revenue and is emblematic of the IMF’s involvement in the region.

everyone in retail. “We have been a little bit protected in the home furnishing busi-ness, in margin pressure in my view, if I compare with supermarkets or do it your-self businesses,” said Loof.

Over the past five years, INGKA’s mar-gins have been 14 percent, and Inter IKEA’s have been even higher. Supermarket groups like Germany’s Metro AG and do-it-your-self groups like Home Retail Group and Kingfisher Plc have typically enjoyed mar-gins under 5 percent. Amazon’s margin has been under 2 percent.

Organisational change has been dis-cussed before at Ikea. The current plan follows a 2011 report Inter Ikea commis-sioned from a French consultancy that highlighted how the structure made it harder for Ikea to adapt to changing market con-ditions, than comparable businesses.

Under the new regime, INGKA will essentially only manage the stores. “We will continue to handle the interface with our customers,” said Peter Agnefjall, INGKA Holding’s CEO. Angefjall has been the most public face of Ikea since his appointment in 2013. He says he is untroubled at los-ing control of what academics say are the functions most central to IKEA’s success.

“I have a big responsibility today and I will have a big responsibility (in future),” he said.

Loof says the planned changes at Ikea are driven by strategy. Still, lawyers say that shifting activities and value to Inter Ikea from INGKA could, in theory, have finan-cial benefits for the Kamprad family, who on paper at least gave ownership of IKEA to the Dutch and Liechtenstein foundations decades ago. The restructuring also brings operational risks. The business relation-ship Inter IKEA sees in future with INGKA is that of franchiser to franchisee. If other such relations are a model, this could lead to new tensions in the IKEA system.

CLASSIFIEDS 17SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2016

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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.

MEDIUM SUDOKU

A. Raised the alarm (7)

A. Fervid (6)

B. One under par in golf

(6)

C. Prisoner (6)

C. Talons (5)

D. Resist (4)

E. Catch sight of (4)

F. Conflict (4)

G. Collection (5)

H. Tool (6)

I. Hinder (6)

I. Inactivity (7)

K. Marsupial (8)

M. Arbitrate (7)

N. Planet (7)

N. Female relative (5)

O. Forces out (5)

P. Treaty (4)

P. Enjoyment (8)

P. Go before (7)

R. Saved from danger (7)

S. Screenplay (6)

S. Appeared (6)

S. Artist’s workroom (6)

T. Topic (5)

T. Levels (5)

Z. Strong eagerness (4)

Z. Region (4)

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE

EASY SUDOKU CROSSWORD

Easy Sudoku Puzzles: Place a digit from

1 to 9 in each empty cell so every row, every

column and every 3x3 box contains all the

digits 1 to 9.

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MACRINUS, MARCUS AURELIUS, NERO, NERVA, OTHO, PERTINAX,

TIBERIUS, TITUS FLAVIUS, TRAJAN, VESPASIAN, VITELLIUS.

TV LISTINGS

10:00 News10:30 Inside Story11:00 News11:30 The Listening

Post12:00 News12:30 Counting the Cost13:00 NEWSHOUR14:00 News14:30 Inside Story15:00 Drone 16:00 NEWSHOUR17:00 News17:30 UpFront18:00 NEWSHOUR19:00 News19:30 People & Power20:00 News20:30 Inside Story21:00 NEWSHOUR22:00 News22:30 The Listening

Post23:00 Al Jazeera World

13:10 Austin & Ally12:45 Jessie13:10 Austin & Ally13:35 Best Friends

Whenever14:00 Gravity Falls14:25 Descendants

Wicked World14:30 Alex And Co14:55 Dog With A Blog15:20 Gravity Falls15:45 Gravity Falls17:50 Violetta Recipes18:00 Twitches19:30 Gravity Falls19:55 Evermoor

Chronciles20:20 Evermoor

Chronciles21:35 H2O22:00 Binny And The

Ghost22:25 Sabrina Secrets

Of A Teenage

08:15 Treehouse Masters

09:10 Treehouse Masters

10:05 Treehouse Masters

11:00 Dog TV11:55 In Search Of The

Giant Anaconda12:50 Killer Iq: Lion vs

Hyena13:45 Killer Iq: Lion vs

Hyena14:40 Mutant Planet15:35 Animal Cops

South Africa17:00 Shamwari: A Wild

Life17:25 Killer Iq: Lion vs

Hyena18:20 Rugged Justice19:15 Gator Boys20:10 Australia

Doesn’t Just

08:55 Swamp People09:45 Lost In

Transmission10:35 Leepu And Pitbull11:25 Alone12:15 The Curse Of Oak

Island17:40 Leepu And Pitbull18:30 Pawn Stars18:55 Pawn Stars

Australia19:20 American Pickers20:10 Fifth Gear21:00 Alone21:50 Ax Men22:40 Lost Worlds23:30 Mankind The

Story Of All Of Us

10:40 Don’t Tell My Mother

11:10 I Wouldn’t Go In There

12:05 Mega Factories13:00 Supercar

Megabuild14:00 Billy The Kid:

New Evidence16:00 Danger Decoded16:30 Danger Decoded17:00 Brain Games18:00 Taboo19:00 Supercar

Megabuild20:00 Danger Decoded20:25 Danger Decoded20:50 Brain Games21:40 Taboo

10:10 Gold Rush09:20 Fast N’ Loud10:10 Gold Rush11:00 Curse Of The

Frozen Gold11:50 Alaska: Battle On

The Bay12:40 Storage Wars

Canada13:05 Storage Wars

Canada13:30 Storage Wars

Canada13:55 Storage Wars

Canada14:20 Storage Wars

Canada14:45 Auction Hunters16:50 Edge Of Alaska17:40 Ice Lake Rebels18:30 You Have Been

Warned19:20 Troy20:10 The Carbonaro

05:00 Streetdance: All Stars

07:00 Still Alice09:00 Big Game10:45 Divergent13:15 Insurgent15:15 So Undercover17:00 Drumline: A New

Beat19:00 Pitch Perfect 221:00 A Royal Night Out23:00 The November Man

06:00 Zarafa08:00 Bamse And The City

Of Thieves10:00 Baby Geniuses And

The Space Baby11:30 Jungle Shuffle13:00 Echo Planet14:30 Columbus In The

Last Journey16:00 Yellowbird18:00 Baby Geniuses And

The Space Baby20:00 Heart Of The Oak22:00 Columbus In The

Last Journey

BREAK TIME 19SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2016

The Jungle Book (Drama) 2D 10:00am, 2:20, 6:40 & 11:00pm 3D 12:10, 4:30 & 8:50pmFan (2D/Hindi) 11:00am, 2:00, 5:00, 8:00 & 11:00pmCriminal (2D/Action) 10:00, 11:00am, 12:00noon, 1:20, 2:20, 2:40, 3:40, 4:40 5:00, 6:00, 7:00, 8:20, 9:20, 11:40pm Zootropolis(2D/Animation) 10:00am & 12:10pmBatman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (2D/Action) 2:30, 5:30, 8:30 & 11:30pmThe Boss (2D/Comedy) 10:00am, 12:00noon, 2:00, 4:00, 6:00, 8:00, 10:00pm & 12:00midnightThe Dead Room (2D/Horror) 10:00am, 1:40, 5:20 & 9:00pmBefore I Wake (2D/Thriller) 11:40am, 3:20, 7:00 & 11:00pmMr. Right (2D/Comedy) 11:00am, 1:00, 3:00, 5:00, 9:40 & 11:40pm Bennesbeh Labokra Chou (Arabic) 7:00pmBatman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (3D IMAX/Action) 11:00am, 1:10, 3:20, 5:30, 7:40, 9:50 & 11:55pm

Theri (Tamil) 12:30, 1:00, 3:15, 4:00, 6:15, 7:00, 9:15 & 10:00pm & 12:15am

Fan (Hindi) 3:15, 6:00, 8:45 & 11:30

Fan (2D/Hindi) 11:00am 2:00, 5:00, 8:00 & 11:00pm The Jungle Book (2D/Drama) 11:00am 1:00, 3:00 & 5:00pmBatman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (2D/Action) 1:00, 9:00 & 11:00pmKung Fu Panda 3 (2D/Animation) 11:30am 3:45 & 5:30pmCriminal (2D/Action) 7:00, 9:00 & 11:30pm

Fan (Hindi) 11:15am, 2:15, 5:15, 8:15 & 11:15pm Theri (Tamil) 11:30am, 2:30, 5:30, 8:30 & 11:30pmThe Jungle Book (2D/Drama) 12:00noon, 2:15, 4:30, 6:45, 9:00 & 11:15pmBatman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (2D/Action) 1:00, 9:00 & 11:00pm

Fan (2D/Hindi) 11:30am, 2:30, 5:30, 8:15 & 11:15pm The Jungle Book (2D/Drama) 11:30am, 1:30, 3:30 & 5:30pmCriminal (2D/Action) 7:30, 9:30 & 11:30pmTheri (2D/Tamil) 11:00am, 2:00 & 10:45pm Kung Fu Panda 3 (2D/Animation) 5:00 & 6:30pmBatman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (2D/Action) 8:00pm

SPORTS20 SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2016

Murray faces Nadal in semi-final

AFP

MONTE CARLO: Andy Murray will play for a place in his first Monte Carlo Masters final today when he takes on resurgent clay king Rafael Nadal.

The Scotsman will put his tennis to the test on the dirt against Nadal, after crushing an under-done Milos Raonic 6-2, 6-0 yesterday in their quarter-final.

Fifth seed Nadal, who has struggled for form in the last 18 months, looked back to his best as he beat French Open champion Stan Wawrinka 6-1, 6-4.

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga brought the injury-comeback week for Roger Federer to a screeching halt as the eighth seed rallied past the Swiss 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.

Tsonga will face a semi-final against colourful 13th-seeded com-patriot Gael Monfils, who beat Marcel Granollers 6-2, 6-4.

Federer, out for more than two months after a knee operation, was unable to overcome Tsonga after easing

through his first two matches of the week.

The Swiss was not pleased in defeat, but said that the knee, which under-went surgery in early February, had so far held up well as he returned from a two-and-a-half-month absence.

“It was a good match. It was nice to play an intense match. I’m happy how the body reacted. So many good things this week. It’s all positive for me.

“I need to spend more hours on the court. It’s better than other begin-nings of the clay-court season. It’s good after an injury.”

Nadal, winner of eight straight

Monte Carlo titles from 2005-2012, holds the edge over the second-seeded Murray, having beaten him in the 2009 and 2011 semi-finals. “Every day is a different story,” Nadal said.

“The last three games of the first set was the only moment Stan didn’t play well. Obviously he played with too many mistakes.

“But the beginning of the match and the second set was a good match. Both of us played good points. He had more mistakes than me.”

Nadal raced to victory in 77 min-utes against the 2014 winner.

The disappointed fourth seed ended with 29 unforced errors while drop-ping serve four times.

“It was not a good day, I rushed at the beginning and I wasn’t able to put my game into place,” Wawrinka said.

“I really need to work on two or three things that I want to improve.”

The match with Murray will be a re-run of the Madrid final from last May, when the Briton shocked the 14-time major champion.

“Andy played a great match today, I need to be ready to play the way I am playing the last two matches. If I am able to do it, I hope to have my chances,” Nadal said.

“I lost a lot of matches before the final last year. Was not a low point. Was a good tournament for me last year in Madrid. I was able to play at a very good level for some matches.

“I’m going to try to my best to play the right level.”

Murray was always in command against Raonic, who has been suffer-ing with the return of a right leg injury

which troubled him at the Australian Open two months ago.

Raonic, playing a third consecutive Monte Carlo quarter-final, was never in the match, failing to find a single ace in his 66-minute defeat.

Murray said that while his win might not have been pretty, it still gave him confidence after struggling through his first two contests this week.

“I’ve played a lot of tennis, though it has all not been of the highest qual-ity,” said the 28-year-old.

“I’ve been able to learn from my previous matches. Today I served one of my best matches. I’m looking for-ward to the semi-finals.”

Murray’s win improved his head-to-head record against Raonic to 5-3 as he backed up a semi-final win over the Canadian in Melbourne.

Rafael Nadal of Spain returns the ball to Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland during their quarter-final at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters in Roquebrune Cap Martin, France, yesterday. RIGHT: Andy Murray of Great Britain celebrates his win against Milos Raonic of Canada

Scotsman downs injured Raonic while Spaniard crushes Wawrinka as Federer makes exit

QUARTER-FINALSRESULTSQuarter-finals

Andy Murray (GBR x2) bt Milos Raonic

(CAN x10) 6-2, 6-0

Rafael Nadal (ESP x5) bt Stan Wawrinka

(SUI x4) 6-1, 6-4

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA x8) bt Roger

Federer (SUI x3) 3-6, 6-2, 7-5

Gael Monfils (FRA x13) bt Marcel Granollers

(ESP) 6-2, 6-4

TENNIS: MONTE CARLO MASTERS

KING XI PUNJABM Vijay (run out) 1

M Vohra b Mishra 32

S E Marsh st de Kock b Mishra 13

D A Miller lbw Mishra 9

G J Maxwell c Brathwaite b Mishra 0

A R Patel c Negi b Yadav 11

W P Saha (run out) 3

M G Johnson b Morris 4

M M Sharma c Morris b Khan 15

P Sahu (not out) 18

Sandeep Sharma (not out) 1

Extras (LB-1, W-3) 4

Total (for 9 wkts in 20 overs) 111Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-37, 3-52, 4-52,

5-59, 6-65, 7-73, 8-90, 9-99.

Bowling: Z Khan 4-1-14-1; P Negi 1-0-

10-0; C H Morris 4-0-19-1 (1w); C R

Brathwaite 4-0-33-0; A Mishra 3-0-11-4

(1w); J Yadav 4-0-23-1 (1w).

DELHI DAREDEVILSQ de Kock (not out) 59

S S Iyer c Saha b S Sharma 3

S V Samson b Patel 33

P Negi (not out) 8

Extras (B-4, LB-2, W-4) 10

Total (for 2 wkts in 13.3 overs) 113Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-100.

Bowling: Sandeep Sharma 2-1-6-1; M G

Johnson 3-0-28-0; M M Sharma 2-0-10-0

(1w); A R Patel 3-0-25-1; P Sahu 2.3-0-27-

0 (1w); G J Maxwell 1-0-11-0 (1w).

SCOREBOARD

Mishra steals

show as Delhi

thrash Punjab

IANS

NEW DELHI: Leg-spinner Amit Mishra’s 4-11 proved crucial as Delhi Daredevils thrashed Kings XI Pun-jab by eight wickets in an Indian Premier League (IPL) contest at the Ferozeshah Kotla here yesterday.

After Delhi won the toss and opted to field, Mishra, coming in to bowl in the seventh over, rocked Punjab’s boat.

When he started his spell, they were 37 for one in six overs, and at the end of his three-over haul, the visiting side was 59 for five in 11 overs.

His victims included Shaun Marsh (13), David Miller (9), Glenn Maxwell (0) and Manan Vohra (32).

Punjab batsmen showed lack of intent and discipline and fell one after another. Opening batsman Vohra was the only one who showed the will for a fight even as his team was restricted to 111/9 in 20 overs.

In pursuit of the low total, Delhi were led by South African opener Quinton de Kock (59 not out), who shared a 91-run stand for the second wicket with Sanju Samson (33) in 10.4 overs, as the hosts overhauled the target with 6.3 overs and eight wickets to spare. De Kock milked nine fours and a six of the 42 deliv-eries he faced. It was Delhi’s first win in two matches, while Punjab suf-fered their second loss on the trot.

In the match between the teams who have lost their first matches, Punjab failed to gather any momen-tum right from the start.

During the chase too, Delhi were in control, thanks to de Kock. At the start, he went through some anx-ious moments.

He not only lost his partner Shre-yas Iyer (3) early but also survived following a dropped catch at square leg by Vijay when the left-hander was at seven in the fifth over bowled by left-arm spinner Axar Patel.

De Kock tried to forge a part-nership with Samson and they were successful in doing so. They scored at a decent pace and took their total to 28 for one in six overs.

Growing in confidence, the duo put out their attacking shots and reaped a lot of runs - highlighted by three fours hit off Patel in the eighth over.

Samson took confidence from his partner and hit leg-spinner Pra-deep Sahu for a maximum, before thrashing Maxell with two consec-utive fours. By this time, Delhi were 79/1 in 11 overs.

Knowing, they are very much in control, de Kock turned the heat on Punjab’s pace spearhead Mitch-ell Johnson, who went for two fours and a huge six, which completed the South African’s fifty in 38 deliveries.

Later, Samson was bowled by Patel but it was a matter of just 12 runs and de Kock and Negi made it with ease.

Chinese GP: Raikkonen, Vettel star as

Ferrari spring surprise on Mercedes AFP

SHANGHAI: Ferrari struck a psycho-logical blow ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix as Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel pipped the dominant Mercedes in yesterday’s second free practice in Shanghai.

Raikkonen blazed to a fastest lap of one minute, 36.896 seconds, edg-ing Vettel by 0.109, as Ferrari bared their teeth after some indifferent form in the season’s first two races.

Nico Rosberg, who won in Australia and Bahrain, went third quickest in 1:37.133 after posting the fastest time in the morning, while world cham-pion Lewis Hamilton was fourth in the Shanghai haze.

Fernando Alonso, who fractured ribs after a terrifying crash in the sea-son-opening race, was formally cleared to compete by medics after clocking the 12th-fastest time in the morning. The Spaniard inched up to 11th in the second session.

Though lacking, perhaps, the drama of Friday practice 12 months ago, when a Chinese fan vaulted the

pitlane wall and demanded to test drive a Ferrari, there were plenty of thrills in the morning with two red flags after a series of blown tyres.

The jousting between Mercedes and Ferrari in the yesterday afternoon was no less absorbing, Rosberg and Hamilton flexing their muscles early on before Ferrari’s two former world champions put in their blistering qual-ifying simulation times on super-soft tyres.

Raikkonen, who finished runner-up to Rosberg in Bahrain two weeks ago, had not been happy at all before setting his fast lap, snapping over the radio: “Do you really want me to keep going? Because it’s absolutely shit!”

Four-time world champion Vettel placed third in last month’s Austral-ian Grand Prix as Raikkonen’s engine caught fire, but in Bahrain the anguish was Vettel’s as his engine blew on the out lap. Mercedes were the ones battling

gremlins on Friday but Vettel cau-tioned against over-optimism. “We had a decent day but it’s only Friday so I wouldn’t stress or put too much importance on the times today,” said the German.

“One lap is good for qualifying but in a race ideally you want to have a lot of good laps in a row.”

But yesterday’s form at least the omens look good for Ferrari, the most successful team in China with four vic-tories -- including the last of Michael Schumacher’s record 91 race wins 10 years ago.

Mercedes for once didn’t have things all their own way, with Ros-berg’s car suffering ignition problems and Hamilton, who has been hit with a five-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race after a gearbox change, twice spinning off at turn 11.

“Something’s up, I keep having this locking into turn 11,” complained

Hamilton after his second mishap at the hard-braking left turn. The Briton, who has won a record four times in China, including the last two years, added afterwards: “It wasn’t a bad day, but it wasn’t a spectacular day. Ferrari are quick, which means we’re going to have a race and that’s exciting.”

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff added: “Ferrari are pushing us very hard. You have seen today that it is raw performance. They made a big step from 2015 to 16 and they are really pushing us.”

Felipe Massa set the tone for a bizarre morning by skidding off at turn four with a punctured left rear tyre -- before astonishingly shred-ding another Pirelli on the same wheel.

“Something is broke on the car,” the Brazilian observed with wry under-statement, before Renault’s Kevin Magnussen limped back to the pits on ruined rubbers, also to his left rear.

SECOND FREEPRACTICE TIMES

Top Ten

1. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Ferrari 1:36.896,

2. Sebastian Vettel (GER) Ferrari 1:37.005,

3. Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes-AMG

1:37.133, 4. Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mer-

cedes-AMG 1:37.329, 5. Daniel Ricciardo

(AUS) Red Bull 1:38.143, 6. Max Verstap-

pen (NED) Toro Rosso 1:38.268, 7. Nico

Hulkenberg (GER) Force India 1:38.527, 8.

Carlos Sainz (ESP) Toro Rosso 1:38.542, 9.

Sergio Perez (MEX) Force India 1:38.569,

10. Valtteri Bottas (FIN) Williams 1:38.723

IPL organisers

line up Bangalore

as venue for final

AFP

NEW DELHI: Indian Premier League organisers have announced plans to switch the final from Mumbai to Bangalore following the Bombay High Court’s order of shifting matches from the drought-hit western state of Maharashtra.

The cities of Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur were under question after the judges said all matches due to be held after April 30 must be moved out of the state.

IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla and representatives of the Rising Pune Supergiants and Mumbai Indians met in New Delhi yesterday to pro-pose the venue for the final, which will need ratification by the league’s governing council.

“We will propose before the Governing Council that Final and Qualifier 1 be shifted to Bangalore while Qualifier 2 and Eliminator to Kolkata,” Shukla told reporters.

Supergiants have listed Visa-khapatnam as their alternative venue, though the franchise requested that they play one match in Pune on May 1 due to a short turn-around. They also play at home on April 29.

Mumbai will decide on their alternative venue tomorrow from their available options of Jaipur, Raipur and Kanpur.

“After speaking to the fran-chises, we have given them four options: Raipur, Jaipur, Kanpur and Visakhapatnam. Mumbai Indians have asked for time till day after tomorrow (to give their preference),” Shukla said.

“Pune has given Visakhapat-nam as its preference. We will put the proposal of Pune team before the governing council.”

The court order followed a peti-tion filed by a non-profit group challenging the liberal watering of pitches at a time when the state is reeling under a severe drought.

Finnish Formula One driver Kimi

Raikkonen of Scuderia Ferrari

during the practice session at the Shanghai

International Circuit in Shanghai, China,

yesterday.

SPORT 21 SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2016

Real Madrid ‘favourites’ as Champions League semi-finals draw revealed

AFP

NYON, Switzerland: Pep Guardiola avoided his future employers as Man-chester City were yesterday drawn to play Real Madrid in the semi-finals of the Champions League while Atletico Madrid will face the Spaniard’s Bay-ern Munich.

Guardiola takes over as City boss next season after three years at Bayern in which he has steered the Bavarian giants to the last four in Europe on each of his three years in charge.

“Spanish teams are always strong in the Champions League and I have seen in the last few years how strong Atletico are in the Spanish league,” Guardiola said.

“They have a good mentality under their coach (Diego) Simeone and have good players going forward in (Fernando) Torres and (Antoine) Griezmann. Simeone is one of the best coaches in the world and his team is one of the best in Europe.”

Atletico, winners over defending champions Barcelona in the quar-ter-finals, and Bayern have met once before in European action, in the 1974 final. The Bundesliga side ran out 4-0 winners in the replay following an initial 1-1 draw.

B ayer n s t r i ker Rob er t

Lewandowski said the Bundesliga team would be wary of Atletico.

Bayern’s Spain international Javi Martinez added: “That will be a diffi-cult game against a strong opponent.”

Clemente Villaverde, Atletico’s director of football, called on his team to “maintain that reliability we have shown all season”.

For outgoing Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini, the semi-final will be a return to the club he managed in 2009-10.

City’s only games against Real, unbeaten in their last eight games against English clubs and in the semi-finals for a record sixth succes-sive time, were in the 2012-13 group stage. They drew 1-1 at home and lost 3-2 away. City’s sporting direc-tor Txiki Begiristain said: “It’s a great tie against the team that has won the competition the most times.

“But we have got this far and we want to keep dreaming.”

Begiristain added: “They have shown that in the second leg at the Bernabeu they can be unstoppable.

“We need to be solid defensively, as we have been in the Champions League recently against Dinamo Kiev and PSG. Clearly they (Real) are (favourites), this is their 26th semi-final, their sixth in a row, but we are very capable. PSG are having a great season and we were able to knock them out.

“We are optimistic, but I repeat the key is solidity.”

Emilio Butragueno, Real’s direc-tor of institutional relations, said City would be very motivated given they had never made the last-four before.

“In the semi-finals any oppo-nent will be a great team and we are speaking about players of the high-est quality that can settle a game themselves in (David) Silva, (Kevin) De Bruyne and (Sergio) Aguero,” Butragueno told BeIN Sports Spain.

“We need to play two games at a very high level if we want to get to the final in Milan.”

Asked whether it was the best draw possible for Real, Butragueno said: “I remember being here exactly a year ago and everyone said after-wards we had been very lucky to

avoud Bayern and Barca, but Juven-tus ended up eliminating us.

“The two games will be very evenly balanced. We can think play-ing at the Bernabeu gives us a certain advantage.”

“But this is our sixth consecutive semi-final and in the five previous

to this we have played away first three times and never made it to the final.”

The first leg of the semi-finals will be played on April 26-27, with the sec-ond leg scheduled for May 3-4. The final will take place at Milan’s San Siro stadium on May 28.

Guardiola enjoys his third appearance in top-four as Real set for 26th semi-final, their sixth in a row

Carlo Tavecchio (right), President of the Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) and Giuliano Pisapia, Mayor of Milan, pose with the UEFA Champions League trophy after the draw ceremony for the semi-final matches of the UEFA Champions League 2015/16 season at the UEFA Headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland yesterday.

Bayern wary of ‘monsters of passion’ AtleticoAFP

BERLIN: Pep Guardiola and Xabi Alonso think Bay-ern Munich will have their work cut out when they face ‘monsters of passion’ Atletico Madrid away in their Cham-pions League semi-final, first leg.

Madrid host the first leg at their cauldron-like Vice-nte Calderon stadium on April 27 before the return leg at Munich’s Allianz Arena on May 3.

“The atmosphere there is the best in Europe,” Bayern’s Guardiola said of the Atletico ground in a press conference in Munich.

“I am very curious about this game, it will be big expe-rience for all the players and the fans there will support their team for the full 90 min-utes,” added Guardiola.

He has a perfect record of seven Champions League semi-final appearances in seven years with both Bar-celona (from 2008-2012) and Bayern (2013-16).

But Guardiola was full of praise for Atletico’s Argen-tinian coach Diego Simeone, who steered his team to the 2014 Champions League final and knocked Barcelona out in the quarter-finals.

While Atletico’s forwards Fernando Torres and Anto-ine Griezmann tend to grab the headlines, Guadiola said Madrid’s Uruguay defender Diego Godin and Slovenian goalkeeper Jan Oblak are the reasons they concede few goals.

Guardiola praised Sime-one, who took charge in 2011, for turning Atletico from Spanish league also-rans to the team which humbled Champions League holders Barcelona.

“I never trained with him or played against him (during my career), I don’t know him and I’ve spoken to him per-haps twice,” said Guardiola.

“But his players do exactly what he wants and they follow him without any doubts.

“He’s perhaps one of the best coaches in the world.

“Over ten years Atletico didn’t beat Real Madrid, then Simeone arrived and changed all that.”

Bayern’s veteran Spain international midfielder Alonso said the Germans can expect a tough test in Madrid and only a good performance will silence the local support.

“Like Pep, Simeone has a lot of passion. He’s a good coach, but we’ll have to blend all of that out and focus on ourselves,” said Alonso.

“If we play well, then the atmosphere won’t be a decid-ing factor.

“They don’t concede many goals and there is always an unbelievable atmosphere for home matches.

“We want to make sure we get a good result from the first leg.”

Sammer says Bayern will face two ‘monsters of passion’ in Atletico and Simeone.

Bayern host Schalke on Saturday in the Bundesliga holding a seven point lead over second-placed Borus-sia Dortmund.

Champions League semi-final fixtures

First Leg

April 26: Manchester City (ENG)

v Real Madrid (ESP)

April 27: Atletico Madrid (ESP)

v Bayern Munich (GER)

Second leg

May 3: Bayern Munich (GER)

v Atletico Madrid (ESP)

May 4: Real Madrid (ESP)

v Manchester City (ENG)

The final will take place at Milan’s San Siro

stadium on May 28.

Lovren scores a heart-stopper as Liverpool sinks Dortmund in Europa League thrillerAFP

LIVERPOOL: Dejan Lovren scored a heart-stopping stoppage-time header as Liverpool completed an astonishing comeback to beat Borussia Dortmund 4-3 on Thursday and reach the Europa League semi-finals.

Held 1-1 in last week’s first leg at the Westfalenstadion, Dortmund scored twice in nine minutes through Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubam-eyang to take a firm grip on the tie.

After Divock Origi had given Liver-pool a foothold, Marco Reus struck again for the visitors, but goals from Philippe Coutinho and Mamadou Sakho levelled the tie before Lovren headed home in the 91st minute to give former Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp the biggest win of his Anfield tenure.

Liverpool’s stirring rally took them

into a continental semi-final for the first time since 2010 and kept Klopp on course to end his first season at the club with a trophy.

His successor at Dortmund, Thomas Tuchel, could only look on in disbelief at the final whistle as the 5-4 aggre-gate scoreline condemned his side to defeat, four days on from a 2-2 draw with Schalke that left his men seven points adrift of leaders Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga.

An early Aubameyang effort that curled wide gave Klopp’s side a warning and when the ball next found its way into the hosts’ box, after a Liverpool attack broke down high on the left flank, there was no reprieve.

Gonzalo Castro’s flighted cross picked out Aubameyang and although his close-range volley was alertly parried by Simon Mignolet, Mkhitaryan tucked in the rebound.

Sakho had played both Dortmund

attackers onside and he was also at fault for the second goal as Aubameyang ran in behind him to collect Reus’s delicately threaded pass and slam a shot into the top-right corner.

Klopp had been bold in his team selection, bringing in Roberto Firmino for the injured Jordan Henderson, and while it left Liverpool light in central midfield, after the early shock had sub-sided they began to make chances.

Origi, preferred up front to Daniel Sturridge, had a shot blocked and flicked a half-volley wide, Alberto Moreno mis-cued a volley, Adam Lallana produced an embarrassing air-kick and Firmino steered a header wide, while Coutinho saw a drilled effort deflect behind.

Liverpool needed an early goal in the second half and they got it in the 48th minute, Emre Can exchang-ing passes with first James Milner and then Firmino before releasing Origi to prod his fourth goal in three games past

Roman Weidenfeller. No sooner had the hosts closed in than Dortmund accel-erated again, Mats Hummels taking Liverpool right-back Nathaniel Clyne out of the game with an exquisite pass and Reus nervelessly beating Mignolet.

Coutinho reduced the arrears again with a low strike into the bottom-right corner before Sakho atoned for his ear-lier misdemeanours by bludgeoning a header into the net from Coutinho’s corner.

It set up a breathless climax that cul-minated in Croatian centre-back Lovren climbing at the back post to nod in Mil-ner’s cross from the right and set the seal on an unforgettable Anfield night.

City slickers aim to build on Euro momentumAFP

LONDON: When Manchester City go to Stamford Bridge today on a high as newly-qualified Champions League semi-finalists, opponents Chelsea may well be thinking ‘what might have been?’.

While Chelsea went out of the Champions League in the last 16 to Paris Saint-Germain to confirm a trophy-less season for the defend-ing Premier League champions, City knocked out the French club in midweek to reach the last four for the first time in their history.

And key to City’s success was Kevin De Bruyne -- a player Chel-sea sold in 2014 after barely giving the Belgium international a chance in London.

De Bruyne was signed by Chel-sea from Genk in January 2012 but played just three Premier League games under former manager Jose Mourinho before being sold to Wolfsburg two years later following loan spells back at Genk and with Werder Bremen.

After starring in the Bundesliga, where he was player of the year in 2014-15, City paid a club record £54 million ($76 million, 67 mil-lion euros) to sign De Bruyne last year and, with the possible excep-tion of Sergio Aguero, he has been their outstanding player so far this season.

Despite spending more than two months out with a knee injury, the 24-year-old has scored 15 goals and created 13 others, with his stunning finish against PSG on Tuesday giving City a 1-0 sec-ond-leg win to secure their place in Friday’s draw for the Champi-ons League last four.

Had De Bruyne avoided injury, City would certainly have put up a better challenge for the Premier League title, rather than finding themselves in fourth place and 15 points behind leaders Leicester City.

Manuel Pellegrini’s side there-fore need to stay focused on domestic duties before they resume their pursuit of European glory at the end of April. “We are waiting for the draw but now we have to play three games for the Premier League,” Pellegrini said.

SOCCER-EUROPA LEAGUE

SEMI-FINAL DRAW

Shakhtar Donetsk vs Sevilla

Villarreal vs Liverpool

Liverpool’s Dejan Lovren scores their fourth goal during their UEFA Europa League Quarter-Final Second Leg match against Borussia Dortmund at Anfield in Liverpool, England on Thursday. Liverpool completed an astonishing comeback to beat Borussia Dortmund 4-3 and reach the Europa League semi-finals.

The Qatar’s national boxing team poses for a picture at Hamad International Airport before their departure to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia yesterday. The boxers will take part in the 3rd GCC Boxing Championship which will take place from April 16 to 20. Hassan Al Mohannadi is the head the delegation to Saudi Arabia which includes six boxers and coach Carlos. Jamal Mubarek and Mohammad Gamber will represent the national team for the first time. The other boxers are Hozam Nabaa, Hakan, Abdulateef and Telasi.

Qatar’s pugilists leave for Riyadh

SPORT22 SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2016

Doha set to host top Asian cueists

By Armstrong Vas

The Peninsula

DOHA: Eight Qatari players will be seen in action at the Asian Snooker Championship which kicks off at the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federa-tion (QBSF) Academy here today.

Ahmed Saif, Ali Alobaidli, Mohsin Al Abdulrahman, Mohsen Bukshaisha, Mhanaa Alobaidli, Bashar Abdul-majeed, Khalid Alsalem, Abdulatif Alfawal will represent the host nation.

Around 60 players from 20 coun-tries are participating in the biggest snooker event in Asia, organis-ers of the event told the media here yesterday.

The players have been divided into 12 groups for the preliminary rounds.

“The winner of this championship will be eligible to represent his coun-try in the Pro Circuit,” informed an official of QBSF.

Last year, Hamza Akbar of Paki-stan won the event and is now part of

the Pro Circuit. Last year’s runner-up Pankaj Advani of India is top seed of the championship.

Advani, the holder of 15 world titles across Billiards and Snooker, is aiming to add the Asian Snooker Championship title to his collection.

The Indian has won the world title in both the long and short format of the game but the Asian Snooker title is a trophy which is missing from his cabinet.

Last year, Advani lost to Akbar in a closely contested final match with a close 6-7 score-line,

Advani said the challenge of winning the Asian Snooker title for the first time would be tough, yet extremely exciting.

“This is my first snooker tour-nament of the year and as the only cueist who plays both billiards and snooker over the last five years now, it is still often not the smoothest transition,” the veteran Indian cue-ist commented.

“Getting into the mind-space for

snooker has required a mental tran-sition over the last one month, which I consciously have worked on. Every competition in all formats of the sport has always presented its own chal-lenges and competition and it’s the excitement in conquering those chal-lenges that keeps me going,” he added.

Advani will face a tough challenge from former amateur world champion Mohammad Asif of Pakistan, the sec-ond seed. Asif, won the world amateur champion in 2012.

The other three Pakistani cueists, Mohammad Bilal, Sohail Shahzad and Mohammad Sajjad, feature in Groups C, D and J, respectively.

All the league matches up to the pre-quarters stage will be best of 7 frames while the quarter-finals and the semi-finals will be best of 9 frames.

The final will be played on April 23 at 11:00 am and will be a best of 11 frames affair.

The winner of the event will get

$3,500 and the runner-up $1,750. The losing semi-finalists will col-

lect $500 each. The organisers have also have line

up cash awards for the highest break and maximum break.

The cueman with the high-est break (over 100 pts) will pocket $500 and those with maximum break (above 147) is set to go home with $1,750. Today’s action begins at 10.00am and while the day’s action ends with the 7.00pm clashes.

PRIZE MONEY1st prize: $ 3,500 cash (plus challenge

trophy +replica) +($ 3,500 from ACBS).

2nd prize: $1,750 cash (plus replica tro-

phy) + ($ 1,750 from ACBS)

Losing semi-finalists $ 500 cash (plus

replica trophy) each + ($ 500 from ACBS)

Last Eight $250 cash (plus replica tro-

phy) each from ACBS.

Highest break (over 100 pts) $ 500

cash (plus replica trophy) + ($ 500 from

ACBS)

Maximum Break 147-$1,750 cash plus

certificate + ($ 1,750 from ACBS)

QATARI PLAYERSAhmed Saif, Ali Alobaidli, Mohsin Al

Abdulrahman, Mohsen Bukshaisha,

Mhanaa Alobaidli, Bashar Abdulmajeed,

Khalid Alsalem, Abdulatif Alfawal

India’s Advani top seed as eight Qatari players ready to showcase skills in continental event

Former amateur world champion Mohammad Asif of Pakistan is expected to give tough fight to India’s top seed Pankaj Advani (right) at the Asian Snooker Championship starting today in Doha.

Asian Rugby tri-nations

Division III begins todayThe Peninsula

DOHA: The 2016 Asian Rugby tri-nations Division III Championship will kick off today at the Aspire warm-up and purpose built rugby track. The championship is hosted by Qatar Rugby Federation and the other matches will be held on April 19 and 22 .

This will be the first Asia Rugby Championship in Doha since it changed its name from the Asia Five Nation (A5N) in 2015.

“The QRF is delighted at the opportunity to host the Asia Rugby Championship and welcoming Iran and Lebanon’s national rugby teams to Doha. I hope they will enjoy our city and the international playing facilities provided by Aspire,” said Qatar Rugby Federation President Yousef Al Kuwari.

The Asian Rugby Championship will provide the newly-appointed federation with the biggest chal-lenge so far.

Kuwari said: “This is Qatar’s chance to display to the world how far we have developed with rugby in particular over the last eight months.

As much as it may be a challenge in hosting the rugby championship, it’s equally exciting for the federation. Asia and World rugby have so many rules and stipulations but we will not fail in our performance.”

The QRF General-Secretary Ali Al Malki said: “This will be a perfect opportunity for Qatar to join hands and expose our talents both on and off the field. I encourage every Qatari and sports fan to attend the matches at Aspire and barrack for our national team.”

Al Malki continued: “I also extend an invite to all expats to help create an atmosphere that only rugby can achieve. I call on in particular the

two communities of Iran and Leb-anon to attend and cheer on their home teams”.

The Qatar Rugby Federation,

the Qatar Olympic Committee and Asia Rugby (AR) have all endorsed and sanctioned the Asia Rugby Championship.

DMAS South Racing prepare to run Ford Ranger at Sealine The Peninsula

DOHA: DMAS South Racing are pre-paring to run a Ford Ranger at next week’s Sealine Cross-Country Rally, Qatar’s third round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, which starts out of the Losail International Circuit on Monday.

The team that has run Ford Rang-ers on the last three Dakar rallies for Lucio Alvarez and the former WRC duo of Federico Villagra and Xavier Pons, has entered the all-Chilean crew of Hernan Garces and Juan Pablo Vinagre in Qatar.

Garces has tackled the Dakar Rally on two occasions, but this is his first foray into the Middle East. He also won last year’s Atacama Rally in South America, a round of the CODESUR South American Championship.

“This is a superb opportunity for Hernan and Juan Pablo to take part in the Sealine event for the first time and give everyone at DMAS South Racing another superb opportunity to continue the development of the Ford Ranger,” said South Racing’s managing director Scott Abraham.

“It is a long and difficult rally. The

navigation is very tricky and the ter-rain is varied. It will be a good test for the whole team.”

Less than two weeks ago, the Germany-based team reached the finish of the gruelling five-day Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. Spanish driver Fernando Alva-rez and his Argentinean navigator Luciano Gennoni finished 17th in the Conarpesa-backed vehicle and the Venezuelan duo of Nunzio Cof-faro and Daniel Meneses steered the Team Azimut Venezuela car to 16th.

Teams will tackle five selective sections in the Qatar deserts over demanding off-road terrain that spans the length and breadth of the

gas-rich Middle Eastern state. The first section starts out of Al Zubara, to the very north of the peninsula, and runs for 229.53km on Monday.

Tuesday’s second stage begins at Al-Kharrara and finishes close to the bivouac in Losail after 345.39km. Stage three, on Wednesday, April 20, starts from Sealine - to the south of Doha – and is the longest of all the stages at 355.69km.

The fourth selective section runs for 354.56km between Al-Shabana and Sealine on Thursday and the final section of 348.21km starts out of Rawdat Rashid and runs to a fin-ish close to the bivouac at Sealine the following day.

Asia Rugby Championship

Division III FixturesToday

Qatar vs Iran, 6.00pm

April 19Iran vs Lebanon, 6.00pm

April 22Qatar vs Lebanon, 6.00pm

Venue: Aspire Zone

Qatar national team training at Aspire Zone ahead of the Asian Rugby tri-nations Division III Championship. Besides hosts Qatar, Iran and Lebanon are the other teams taking part in the championship.

Chile’s Hernan Garces

is taking part in the

Sealine Cross-

Country Rally in a

DMAS South Racing Ford

Ranger.Action from the

Qatar Rugby Sevens Cup

finale between Camels 1 and Hurricanes.

QRF is taking good steps to promote the sport in the

country.

ASIAN SNOOKER CHAMPIONSHIP

Qatar Volleyball Association League champions Al Arabi skipper holding the winners’ trophy after receiving the same from QVA President Khalid Ali Al Mawlawi (front row, fourth from left) during the presentation ceremony held at Al Arabi Sports Complex yesterday. Picture by: Kammutty VP/The Peninsula

Al Arabi QVA League champions

PAGE | 20 PAGE | 21

Murray faces Nadal in Monte Carlo

Masters semi-final

SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2016 • 9 Rajab 1437

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

@peninsulaqatar @peninsula_qatarthepeninsulaqatar

Al Attiyah chases fourth Sealine Rally victory

The Peninsula

DOHA: Qatar’s racing icon Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah will be the one to watch among a strong line-up of 45 cars when Overdrive Racing contin-ues its hectic Middle Eastern tour in next week’s Sealine Cross-Country Rally, round three of the 2016 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies.

Fresh from claiming a stunning victory with the Belgium-based team

at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge two weeks ago, the Qatari star will drive one of the three Toyota Hiluxes which will compete against renowned drivers from 29 nations during the five-day event which starts on Mon-day and finishes on April 22.

Al Attiyah and his French naviga-tor Matthieu Baumel were in superb form in the United Arab Emirates and took advantage of the strength and reliability of the Overdrive Toyota Hilux to beat their nearest rivals by an impressive 32min 13sec. That suc-cess has given Al Attiyah the outright lead in the FIA World Cup standings and he is confident that a fourth vic-tory on the Sealine event in five years will strengthen his position at the top of the points’ standings.

“This event is very special to me and it’s important that I achieve a good result,” said Al Attiyah. “The team did a superb job in Abu Dhabi and I enjoyed driving the car very much. This is a different rally alto-gether, far more technical, and there is far more responsibility on

Matthieu with the navigation.”Overdrive Racing won the Sea-

line event in 2012 with Al Attiyah and Spanish navigator Lucas Cruz Senra and are chasing their second outright success. Last year, Reinaldo Varela and Marek Dabrowski brought their Toyota Hiluxes to the finish in third and fifth overall.

Dabrowski and Jacek Czachor crew a second Overdrive Racing Toy-ota Hilux in Orlen Team colours in this year’s event. They finished eighth overall at the Abu Dhabi Desert Chal-lenge, after running inside the top five early on. The Poles will be chasing the podium on this occasion.

Qatar’s Khalifa Al Attiya and his French navigator Jean Michel Polato crew a third Overdrive Toyota Hilux.

“Everyone in the team is look-ing forward to the challenge of the Sealine Rally immensely,” said Over-drive Racing’s CEO Jean Marc Fortin. “Nasser will be competed at home and we are confident that the team can earn a second major win in three weeks. The competition is strong, of

course, but Nasser knows the deserts well in Qatar and has an impressive record here, both at the Sealine Rally and in the special stage events in the regional rally championship.”

Competitors tackle five selective sections in the Qatar deserts over demanding off-road terrain across the length and breadth of the gas-rich Middle Eastern state. The first stage starts out of Al Zubara, to the very north of the peninsula, and runs for 229.53km on Monday.

Tuesday’s second special of 345.39km begins at Al Kharrara and finishes close to the Losail bivouac. Stage three, on Wednesday, April 20, starts from Sealine and is the longest of all the stages at 355.69km.

The fourth runs for 354.56km between Al Shabana and Sealine on Thursday, April 21 and the final sec-tion of 348.21km starts out of Rawdat Rashid and runs to a finish close to the bivouac at Sealine on Friday, April 22. This precedes the ceremonial fin-ish and post-event press conference at the Losail Circuit on Friday afternoon.

Overdrive Racing’s FIA World Cup leader and his French navigator Matthieu Baumel ready to take on a star-studded line-up in Qatar

The Peninsula

DOHA: FIFA President Gianni Infantino (pictured) will visit the 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar on April 20.

The newly elected chief of world football, Infantino will visit both Russia and Qatar next week, the hosts for the next two World Cups, football’s world governing body announced yesterday.

“The Fifa President will begin his two-day stay in Russia on April 19 with a visit to Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium, venue of the opening match and final of the 2018 Fifa World Cup,” Zurich-based Fifa said in a statement.

He leaves on April 20 for Doha, where he will meet senior board members of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy and officials of the Qatari government, it added.

Earlier in February, Infantino had backed the 2022 World Cup after being elected President of FIFA, saying they the 2018 and 2022 tournaments has to be the ‘best in history’.

Speaking after an informal match with FIFA employees and guests, Infantino said: “It’s now necessary to organise the best World Cup in history in Russia in 2018 and in 2022 in Qatar.”

Russia and Qatar won the right to host the tournaments in a vote in Zurich in December 2010.

FIFA President Infantino to visit 2022 hosts Qatar

QSL: Qatar SC relegated as Kharaitiyat stay up The Peninsula

DOHA: Al Kharaitiyat retained their status by the finest of margins despite a final-day defeat to Umm Salal in the final day of the Qatar Stars League yesterday.

Al Kharaitiyat lost 3-2 at Al Khor Stadium but stayed up after Qatar Sports Club failed to win their match against Al Wakrah.

Amar Osim’s men went into the game with a one-point lead and superior goal difference over the Kings. Kharaitiyat’s early season form proved just enough to claim 12th place and another year in the top division.

They stayed up by virtue of their superior goal difference over QSC.

Salal took the lead in the 14th minute through a

free-kick when Brazilian defender Welinton hammered the ball low into the bottom corner. On the stroke of half-time Salal doubled their lead through Mounir El Hamdaoui. Sanzhar Tursunov’s cross was flicked forward by Ilyas – over the head of defender Moham-med Abdurahman – and El Hamdaoui slotted the ball home for his seventh of the season. Ismail Mardanli put Salal 3-0 up after a smart turn and shot in the penalty area.

Kharaitiyat looked down and out but were granted a life-line in the 65th minute.

Yahia Kebe scored with a

penalty to make it 3-1. Kebe scored another penalty in the 89th minute.

Qatar Spots Club were dropped to the Qatar Gas league for the first time in their history following a 1-1 draw with Al Wakrah yesterday.

Wakrah’s Mouhcine Mou-touali saw the Blue Waves take the lead on the 51st minute with a swift turn of pace saw the Moroccan attacker breeze past three Kings defenders before a composed finish past stopper Mohammed Mubarak.

Qatar SC sprang into action, and grabbed an equal-izer just two minutes later. A superb cross from Vecchio was met by the head of Carrando as the game marched towards the one all stalemate.

In other matches of the day, Al Sadd drew with El Jaish 2-2, Al Khor beat Al Gharafa 1-0 and Lekhwiya beat Mesaimeer 2-1.

QSL RESULTS

Al Sadd drew with El Jaish 2-1

Al Khor beat Al Gharafa 1-0

Lekhwiya beat Mesaimeer 2-1

Al Kharaitiyat 2-3 Umm Salal

Al Wakrah drew with Qatar SC 1-1

Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah. RIGHT: A file photo of Al Attiyah and his Overdrive Racing partner, French navigator Matthieu Baumel in action.

21

om

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Liverpool sinks Dortmund in Europa League thriller

MORNING BREAK24 SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2016

FAJR

SHOROOK

ZUHR

ASR

MAGHRIB

ISHA

03.52 am05.11 am

11.34 am03.03 pm

05.59 pm07.29 pm

Minimum: 22o C Maximum: 32o C

HIGH TIDE 00:30 - 14:00LOW TIDE 08:30 - 18:00

Strong wind and high

seas. Slight dust.

PRAYER TIMINGS WEATHER

ONLINE CHART BUSTwww.thepeninsulaqatar.com

French members of the R2 Builders Club pose with their own replica R2 robot from the Star Wars universe on display at the Paris Comics Expo at the Parc Floral in Paris, France, yesterday.

Paris Comics Expo

AFP

PARIS: Replacing animal fat in the human diet with vegetable oil seems not to lower heart disease risk, and might even boost it, according to a study published Wednesday that challenges a cornerstone of dietary advice.

Switching from saturated to unsatu-rated Omega-6 fats did result in lower blood cholesterol in a trial with nearly 10,000 participants, it said, but not the expected reduction in heart disease deaths. In fact, those with a greater reduc-tion in cholesterol “had a higher rather than a lower risk of death,” according to the research published by The medical journal BMJ. For 50-odd years, animal fat in meat, butter, cheese and cream has been the bad boy of the diet world -- blamed for boosting artery-clogging cholesterol linked to heart disease and stroke. In 1961, the American Hearth Association recom-mended vegetable oils replace saturated fats -- a position it still holds even as some research has started to challenge that hypothesis.

The World Health Organization also advises that saturated fats should com-prise less than 10 percent of total energy intake. For decades now, the world has viewed full-fat milk and bacon with sus-picion and replaced pork with chicken, and butter with plant-based margarines and cooking oils. But in the past few years, researchers have started poking holes in the “fat is bad” hypothesis. This is a type of experiment -- generally considered highly reliable -- in which people are randomly divided into groups to receive, or not, the treatment being studied.

Vegetable fat

not the route

to a healthy

heart: Study

AFP

HONG KONG: He first stunned the auction world by snapping up hugely expensive Chinese antiquities, but now taxi driver turned tycoon Liu Yiqian is targeting Western mas-terpieces, saying it is his “social responsibility” to show them to Chi-na’s younger generation.

Liu has become China’s highest profile art collector, hitting headlines with record-breaking buys and an irreverent approach. His acquisi-tions have mainly been of Chinese heritage, most famously the tiny Ming

Dynasty “Chicken Cup” for which he paid $36m in 2014 at Sotheby’s before drinking tea from it, causing a social media meltdown.

But in a departure from his Chi-nese collecting spree, last year Liu splashed out on Modigliani’s “Nu Couche” or “Reclining Nude” for more than $170m at Christie’s, the second highest price ever paid at auction for a work of art.

Liu says he hopes the museum he founded in Shanghai, the Long Museum, where much of his col-lection is on display across two branches, will increasingly become a showcase for Western art as well as Chinese classics. The Modigliani

is due to go on show at the museum next year. “The world is globalised...our collection is mainly Chinese tra-ditional works of art, (but) we are going to expand into Western and Asian works. I hope in my life time I can collect more from both China and the West,” he told AFP in an recent interview at Christie’s regional head-quarters in Hong Kong.

Liu said he felt a “social responsi-bility” to enable Chinese youngsters to experience Western masters. “Other than Chinese traditional and contemporary works of art, younger generations in China have devel-oped deeper recognition of Western works,” he said.

More western art for Chinese tycoon Liu

Reuters

BENGALURU: The movie Barber-shop: a Manhattan judge ruled on Thursday as he denied an injunction sought by a New York playwright to block the fourth of a series of com-edies that he claims ripped off his stage play “Scissors.”

Ronald Dickerson, a writer, actor and film director also known as JD Lawrence, had filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking the injunction and $20m in damages from Time Warner Inc , Warner Brothers Pictures,

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc and Showtime Networks Inc.

A representative for Dickerson was not immediately available for comment on the ruling by US dis-trict court Judge Laura Taylor Swain.

“We are pleased that Judge Swain saw through this thinly-veiled attempt to extort the companies that have invested over 14 years and mil-lions of dollars to bring the beloved “Barbershop” franchise to audiences worldwide,” Warner Bros and MGM jointly said in an emailed statement.

A pre-trial conference on the lawsuit is scheduled for July 15. The lawsuit claims that the plot, themes,

characters and situation of the movie bear an overwhelming resemblance to those of “Scissors,” which toured the United States from 1998-2001.

“Barbershop: The Next Cut,” which stars Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer, Eve and Nicki Minaj, is the latest film in a series about the owners of a Chicago barbershop and an Atlanta beauty salon, their employees and neighborhood prob-lems such as gangs and gentrification.

The case is Ronald Dickerson aka JD Lawrence vs Time Warner Inc. et al, US District Court, South-ern District Court Of New York, No. 16-02695.

New York playwright fails to block

opening of new Barbershop movie

A scene from the movie Barbershop.

AFP

SYDNEY: An Australian couple had a close encounter with one of the most dangerous birds in the world when a giant flightless cassowary wandered into their home, send-ing them running for cover.

Peter and Sue Leach were in their house at Wongaling Beach in far north Queensland state earlier this week when the bird -- which can grow up to two metres (6ft 6ins) tall -- sauntered in.

“My husband said, ‘look, we’ve got a visitor!’ and there he was walking into the house through the garage,” Sue Leach said yesterday.

“My husband quickly ran over behind the dining table and I went outside and stood on the driveway next to the car. At the same time, I was saying to my husband -- get the camera!”

Leach said the cassowary, nicknamed “Peanut” by a neigh-bour, walked through the neighbourhood regularly as it was near a rainforest, but this was the first time she knew of it entering a home.

“He didn’t bump anything or look for food or the fruit bowl, which was good, and we didn’t spook him at all, because they’re still a wild animal and they’re spooked by dogs and things like that,” she said, adding that it was “very calm”.“It’s a very unusual experience.” The southern cas-sowary -- an endangered species found only in the tropical rain-forests of northeast Queensland, Papua New Guinea and some sur-rounding islands.

Close living

room encounter

with cassowary

Reuters

NEWYORK: The rapper Kendrick Lamar was sued on Thursday for allegedly copying the music from the 1975 Bill Withers song “Don’t You Want To Stay” for his song “I Do This” without permission.

According to a complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court, Lamar added his own lyrics to a “direct and complete copy” of Withers’ music to create “I Do This,” resulting in cop-yright infringement.

Lamar, whose “untitled unmas-tered” topped the Billboard 200 album chart in March, has ignored demands to stop exploiting Withers’ music, and “admitted” to copying it “with a thumb to the nose, catch me if you can attitude,” the complaint said.The lawsuit was filed by Golden Withers Music and Musidex Music,

which said they hold the copyright to “Don’t You Want to Stay.”

Withers sang and co-wrote the song, which appears on his album “Making Music.” Lamar’s “I Do This” appears on a self-titled extended-play album from 2009.

The lawsuit seeks a halt to the alleged infringement and unspec-ified damages. A lawyer for Lamar did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Other defend-ants include a unit of Lamar’s record label Top Dawg and a publishing unit of Warner Music Group. They did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit was filed in the same court where a jury in March 2015 awarded singer Marvin Gaye’s family close to $7.4 million after finding that the Robin Thicke and Pharrell Wil-liams 2013 smash hit “Blurred Lines” copied parts of Gaye’s 1977 song “Got to Give It Up.”

Kendrick Lamar accused of

copying Bill Withers’ song

A technician views 453 Vienna Bronzes from The Franz Bergman Foundry as part of Sotheby’s press preview of A Millennium of Middle Eastern Art unveiled in London, yesterday.

Middle Eastern Art

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