Sydney International: Final-round jitters get the better of Aisam-Bopanna

Aisam and Bopanna chose to keep their spirits up despite their final-round loss in the ATP 250 event. PHOTO: AFP

KARACHI: 

Aisamul Haq Qureshi and India’s Rohan Bopanna lost to former world number one doubles duo Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic 7-6, 7-6 in the Sydney International final on Saturday.

Despite an impressive semi-final win against Czech Republic’s Lukas Rosol and Portugal’s Joao Sousa, the third seeds failed to tame Nestor and Zimonjic in the decisive round.

Aisam and Bopanna fought hard from the beginning, but lost the first set 7-6 (7/3) on a tie break. Unseeded Nestor and Zimonjic then exhausted the duo in the second set to seal the win 7-6 (7/3) in an hour and 35 minutes.

After taking the runners-up trophies, the duo vowed to continue working hard and looking for improvement as the year progresses.

This was the Indo-Pak Express’ second tournament together this year. They played the Chennai Open earlier this month where they lost in the quarter-finals. Their next event will be the Australian Open, starting Monday.

The duo played their best tennis together and rose to fame after reaching the final of the 2010 US Open.

Del Potro overpowers Tomic in singles final

Juan Martin del Potro bludgeoned Bernard Tomic with his powerful forehand to win a lopsided final on Saturday.

The Argentine world number five took just 53 minutes to master the Australian defending champion 6-3, 6-1.

It was Del Potro’s 18th career title and he became the first Argentine to win in Sydney since David Nalbandian in 2009.

“Finals are never easy, but I was surprised at my level of play,” said Del Potro. “I think I played great. My forehand was perfect. I made a lot of winners, many aces.

“To start the year in this way is very positive; looking forward for the rest of the season. I need to keep working in the same conditions and the same way.”

It was Del Potro’s second win over the 52nd-ranked Tomic, who was defending his title after beating South African Kevin Anderson in last year’s final.

“I think Bernard was a little frustrated after seeing me very focused on the match and hitting the ball so well,” said the Argentine.

“He is still young, but he has everything to win titles, and he will reach more finals very soon.

F1 reveals numbers for 2014 drivers

FIA, the sport’s governing body, gave drivers a choice of numbers between 2 and 99 with the number one reserved for the defending world champion. PHOTO: AFP /FILE

PARIS: 

Formula One drivers revealed their car numbers for the forthcoming season as well as the rest of their careers.

FIA, the sport’s governing body, gave drivers a choice of numbers between 2 and 99 with the number one reserved for the defending world champion, currently Germany’s Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel will opt for the number five in 2015 should he lose his quadruple world title.

The decision to add permanent numbers to the vehicles was taken to boost the sport’s marketing possibilities.

McLaren’s Jenson Button chose 22, which he had on his Brawn F1 car when he won his world title in 2009.

Lewis Hamilton will sport 44 on his Mercedes, the same number he used when he started out as a kart driver.

Kimi Raikkonen has gone for number 7 on his return to Ferrari, where he was world champion in 2007, while teammate Fernando Alonso plumped for 14.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2014.

2nd Test: Misbah leads Pakistan’s resistance

Misbah added 129 for the fourth wicket with Younus Khan, 52 for the fifth with Asad Shafiq and 45 for the sixth with Sarfraz Ahmed. PHOTO: AFP

DUBAI: 

Captain Misbahul Haq led Pakistan’s resistance with a gritty 97 to thwart Sri Lanka’s victory bids on the fourth day of the second Test in Dubai on Saturday.

Misbah missed his sixth Test hundred by a mere three runs but a career-best 70 not out by Sarfraz Ahmed and a defiant 32 by Bilawal Bhatti kept Pakistan’s fight to take them to 330 for seven at close on a cloudy day.

When bad light and drizzle ended play 15 overs before schedule, Saeed Ajmal was on seven and Pakistan were leading by 107 runs with a full day’s play remaining.

Sarfraz added an invaluable 67 runs for the seventh wicket with Bhatti to frustrate the Sri Lanka bowlers who bowled with discipline and patience on a pitch which had little response for bowlers.

Sri Lanka will look for an early wrap up of Pakistan’s second innings to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series after the first Test ended in a draw in Abu Dhabi last week.

The third and final Test will be played in Sharjah from Thursday.

Sarfraz said he felt more responsibility after Misbah’s fall.

“When I was playing with Misbah, he was guiding me,” said Sarfraz. “But when he got out I felt more responsibility and I will continue to fight on Sunday and if we add another 100 then we can win this match.”

Sarfraz improved on his highest Test score of 40 he made against South Africa at Centurion earlier this year by posting his maiden half century. He has so far hit seven boundaries during his 123-ball stay.

Sri Lanka had a good chance of dismissing Sarfraz at 51 but paceman Suranga Lakmal dropped a regulation caught and bowled chance to add to his team’s woes after Misbah foiled them for nearly two sessions.

Misbah’s valiant effort helped Pakistan avoid their first-ever innings defeat against Sri Lanka before his 412-minute resistance ended.

The veteran batsman hit eight boundaries and a six under difficult circumstances.

He added an invaluable 129 for the fourth wicket with Younus Khan (77), 52 with Asad Shafiq (23) for the fifth and 45 for the sixth with Sarfraz to help Pakistan avoid innings defeat, but finally succumbed to some persistent effort from Rangana Herath who has figures of two for 124.

Left-arm spinner Herath said Sri Lanka will look for early wickets.

“The pitch is still 50-50 so if we can get them for another 50 more we can win,” said Herath.

Paceman Nuwan Pradeep had the best figures of two for 50 while Eranga took two 70.

Pakistan resumed on 132 for three and needed Younus and Misbah to dig deep but Younus tried to drive a slightly wide delivery from Lakmal, managing only to edge it to wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene, who held his eighth catch of the match.

Sri Lanka took the second new ball with the score at 198 for four and were instantly rewarded in the second over when Eranga had Shafiq caught in the slip.

Both Misbah and Sarfraz survived confident leg-before appeals — with the skipper reverting umpire Sundaram Ravi’s decision on 78 to add to Sri Lanka’s day-long frustration. 

2014 report: Pakistan 'most improved' in nuclear security, India not so

A map depicting the overall score of 25 countries in terms of security of nuclear materials. IMAGE SOURCE: NTIINDEX.ORG

A US study released on January 9, 2014, on worldwide nuclear material security described Pakistan as the ‘most improved’ country among nine nuclear-armed states, and a state better at safeguarding its nuclear materials than arch-rivals India after having boosted physical protection of nuclear material and weapons.

Among 25 countries with weapons-grade nuclear materials, Pakistan was ranked 22 (46 points out of 100) where as India ranked 23 (41 points out of 100).

“Pakistan, which improved its score by three points compared with 2012,” the NTI report says, “demonstrated the largest improvement of any nuclear-armed state. Pakistan is taking steps to update its nuclear security regulations and to implement nuclear security best practices.”

The country’s score benefited primarily from increased physical protection and stringent regulation of licences and on-site security reviews.

India registered an improvement of one point since 2012.

Army chief satisfied with nuke defence

On Friday, Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif visited the Strategic Planning Division and was briefed on the strategic programme of the country.

According to an Inter-services Public Relations release, Gen Sharif said that Pakistan’s nuclear programme was of central importance to the country’s defence programme.

He expressed satisfaction over the robust nuclear command and control structure and security controls guarding the nation’s strategic assets.

Nuclear Materials Security Index — Methodology

The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) — founded by US Senator Sam Nunn and CNN founder Ted Turnder — describes itself as “a non-profit, non-partisan organisation with a mission to strengthen global security by reducing the risk of use and preventing the spread of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.”

“The 2014 Nuclear Threat Initiative Nuclear Materials Security Index is the second edition of a unique public assessment of nuclear materials security conditions around the world.”

“It assesses states in five categories: (a) Quantities and Sites, (b) Security and Control Measures, (c) Global Norms, (d) Domestic Commitments and Capacity, and (e) Risk Environment.”

Global rankings

The report highlighted positive developments in a host in terms of (a) decreasing quantities of materials; (b) strengthening physical protection measures; and (c) passing new domestic laws and regulations aimed at better securing materials at facilities and during transport.

The overall rankings for security of weapons-usable materials put Australia at the top (same as in 2012); United States and United Kingdom tied on the 11th; Russia on 18th, and China, Israel, Pakistan and India stacked together near the bottom, where sat North Korea (same as in 2012).

Pakistan

Source: Ntiindex.org

NTI’s Pakistan profile said “Pakistan’s score increased by three points compared to 2012.”

“Pakistan’s improvement is primarily due to an increased score for on-site physical protection resulting from new laws and regulations requiring licensees to provide physical protection to nuclear sites and on-site reviews of security.”

It added, however, that:

“Pakistan’s nuclear materials security conditions also remain adversely affected due to political instability, high levels of corruption among public officials, and the presence and capability on its territory of criminal or terrorist groups interested in illicitly acquiring nuclear materials.”

Making recommendations for further strengthening nuclear security, the NTI said:

“In the future, Pakistan’s nuclear materials security conditions could be further improved by strengthening its laws and regulations for physical security of material during transport to reflect the latest IAEA nuclear security guidelines, and for mitigating the insider threat, particularly by requiring personnel to report suspicious behavior and requiring constant surveillance of areas of facilities where nuclear material is located.”

Versus India

Breaking down the scores, the report has India scoring higher than Pakistan on international legal commitments because of having adopted treaties which Pakistan has yet to ratify.

Pakistan, however, scored higher in the following areas: existence of an independent regulatory agency; an invitation of peer review of its nuclear security arrangements; and having security and other personnel with access to nuclear materials subjected to additional vetting.

In addition, the report favours Pakistan for having an operational Center of Excellence (COE), whereas the foundation of India’s Global Center for Nuclear Energy Partnership was only recently laid on January 3, 2014.

Source: Ntiindex.org

Tech giants battle for control of the car at CES

Conference attendees take photographs of the Audi Sport Quattro laserlight concept car, featuring laser headlights, at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada January 9, 2014. REUTERS

LAS VEGAS: 

As the car becomes a connected Internet device, the titans of the tech sector are battling for control of the wheel.

The war is shaping up a lot like the computer sector, with Google, Apple and Microsoft and others fighting to be in control of the vehicle’s “operating system” to deliver apps, navigation and other services.

Some of those battles were played out this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which included a record nine auto manufacturers and scores of equipment makers, including software and related tech companies.

“People want consumer apps in their cars, they want to connect to their smartphones, they want to connect to the cloud,” says Grant Courville, director of product management at QNX, which makes the on-board systems used on tens of millions of cars.

But the battlefield is wide open because “there’s no clear dominant app ecosystem in automotive,” Courville said from the CES floor.

At CES, Canadian-based QNX unveiled a partnership with Qualcomm to support the chipmaker’s new automotive platform, which connects to smartphones and offers apps for maps, speech recognition, geolocation, and vehicle analytics.

At the same time, Google unveiled a partnership with General Motors, Audi, Honda and Hyundai in a new partnership to bring the Android mobile system to vehicles in a new Open Automotive Alliance.

The moves come with Microsoft in a longstanding partnership with Ford, and Apple widely expected to expand its system for connecting the iPhone with automotive electronics systems

Hekmatyar’s move to boost democratic process

Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. PHOTO: AFP

ISLAMABAD: 

In a surprise move, Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whose militant outfit Hizb-e-Islami is fighting US-led Nato forces in Afghanistan, recently asked party members to take part in the upcoming polls. Hekmatyar had previously opposed elections in the presence of foreign troops.

Hekmtayar’s decision is likely to boost the democratic process in the insurgency-torn country as it will define the future political role of his party, which is also the second major armed resistance group. Hizb-e-Islami’s political role is also being seen as a key to the reconciliation process ahead of the Nato troops withdrawal this year.

This is the first time Hekmatyar has formally instructed his party leadership to convey to members inside Afghanistan to vote in the elections, scheduled for the first week of April.

“Convey to Hizb-e-Islami members to take part in the provincial councils’ elections and support those candidates who are either related to us or have a positive view about the party,” Hekmatyar said in a letter addressed to members of the party’s councils in the country.

“Defeat and prevent bad people from entering the assemblies,” the letter stated, a Pashto copy of which was also received by The Express Tribune. The letter was forwarded to Hizb leaders in all 34 provinces after it was presented in the central “Shura” (consultative body).

The letter only mentions the provincial councils’ elections but a senior party leader told The Express Tribune the “Ameer’s instructions could also be assumed for presidential elections.”

“Hizb-e-Islami is not directly taking part in the elections due to the presence of occupation forces but will exercise the right of vote to get those candidates elected who are close to our party and ideology,” a Hizb leader said.

The move is considered a major change from the party’s previous stance and analysts believe it is designed to seek a future political role for Hizb-e-Islami.  “Publicly he may still not support the 2014 election,” said former minister and writer Dr Farouq Azam.

Dozens of the party’s members are part of Karzai’s government at present and members of parliament but the leadership has never owned them publicly. However, Hizb members in Kabul have never publicly parted ways with the party and display Hekmatyar’s photographs in political gatherings.

Hekmatyar’s decision could pave way for the victory of some Hizb leaders in the provincial councils who elect 68 senators of the 100-member senate or “Masharano Jirga”, the upper house of parliament. The move could ensure a role for Hizb-e-Islami in legislation. Other members of the senate are nominated by the President.

The Hizb chief reportedly changed his mind over the issue after party leaders and supporters asked him to do so as they did not want the political space to be filled by others.

Senior Hizb leader Qutbuddin Hilal, an independent candidate, is among the 11 presidential candidates but has not disassociated himself from the party.

Hekmatyar’s decision will further isolate the Taliban whose chief Mullah Omar rejected the elections as a waste of time in his last Eid message. Hizb’s participation is also likely to have a positive impact on voter turnout, especially in areas where it has some influence.

Despite serious security concerns, Afghans hope to see the first democratic transition of presidential power in the country’s history.

President Hamid Karzai’s ongoing tensions with the US over a controversial security pact that will allow some American presence post-2014 have overshadowed the elections. However, electioneering is gradually gaining momentum and the country’s election panel will allow candidates to formally begin campaigning in a few weeks.

Earlier this month, Karzai had invited all the presidential candidates for a meeting and assured  them of transparent polls.

Police, tribes retake territory as UN backs Iraq

Muslims leave the mosque after Friday prayers in Ramadi, 3 January 2014. PHOTO: REUTERS

RAMADI: Gunmen held crucial territory on Baghdad’s doorstep Saturday despite tribesmen and police retaking militant-held areas west of the capital, as the UN Security Council backed Iraq’s efforts against al-Qaeda-linked extremists.

Battles in Anbar provincial capital Ramadi saw al-Qaeda-linked fighters cede control of two neighbourhoods, but the former insurgent bastion of Fallujah, where US forces fought some of their bloodiest battles since the Vietnam War, remained in militant hands.

The United Nations and NGOs have said civilians lack access to essential supplies such as food and fuel because of the crisis, while Washington has piled pressure on Baghdad to focus on political reconciliation, in addition to ongoing military operations.

Gunmen seized all of Fallujah, just 60 kilometres from Baghdad, and parts of Ramadi last week, the first time militants have exercised such open control in major cities since the insurgency that followed the 2003 US-led invasion.

Both cities lie in Anbar province, a sprawling desert region in west Iraq bordering Syria where US and Iraqi officials have warned for months that militants have been able to establish training camps and rear bases.

On Friday, tribesmen and local police retook the Malaab and Fursan areas of Ramadi from al-Qaeda-linked militants, tribal military commander Mohammed Khamis Abu Risha told AFP.

“We fought ISIL alongside our sons from the local police forces and returned them to their stations,” Abu Risha said, referring to the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group.

“They only control 10 percent of Ramadi territory,” he said of ISIL.

ISIL has been active in the Anbar fighting, but so have anti-government tribes.

At the same time, security forces have recruited their own tribal allies in the fighting that has raged in Anbar for more than 10 days.

An AFP journalist in Ramadi also saw tribesmen and police apparently in control of the two areas.

Two civilians were killed and four others were wounded in violence in the city, according to a doctor, while eight militants also suffered injuries.

In Fallujah, which remained in the control of gunmen, a prayer leader called for provincial sheikhs to intervene to resolve the crisis in the city, but warned the government “should not use the army for internal fighting in the cities”.

Sheikh Abdulhamid Jadua also urged people during Friday prayers not to “make Fallujah a place that attracts killing and blood”.

The UN Security Council, meanwhile, gave strong backing to an Iraqi government campaign to retake the two cities, amid mounting concern over the battle for Anbar.

The recent crisis, along with a months-long surge in bloodshed nationwide, come just months ahead of national elections and are among the biggest ever challenges to face Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during his eight years in office.

The council condemned attacks by ISIL militants and praised the “great courage” of the Iraqi security forces in Anbar.

“The Security Council expresses its strong support for the continued efforts of the Iraqi government to help meet the security needs of the entire population of Iraq,” said the statement.

The council urged “Iraqi tribes, local leaders, and Iraqi security forces in Anbar province, to continue, expand and strengthen their cooperation against violence and terror and it stresses the critical importance of continued national dialogue and unity.”

The Iraqi Red Crescent said it had provided humanitarian assistance to more than 8,000 families across Anbar but that upwards of 13,000 had fled, while the UN special envoy has warned of a dire humanitarian situation.

A senior US official has said the crisis could take weeks to resolve.

Fighting erupted in the Ramadi area on December 30, when security forces cleared a year-old Sunni Arab protest camp.

The violence spread to Fallujah, and militants moved in and seized the city and parts of Ramadi after security forces withdrew.