Doha, September 01 (QNA) – Thanks to their third straight victory El-Jaish took the fifth place at the IHF Super Globe. The Qataris only had problems in the first 35 minutes to tame their Brazilian opponent Metodista, then the individual class of their European players decided the game. Placement match 5/6: Metodista Sao Bernardo (BRA)   El-Jaish (QAT) 23:31 (13:15)
Though all professional players from Europe were on the field in contrast to their first placement match against Sydney, El-Jaish were not able to dominate the first half and were away only with a two goal margin against the Brazilians. Intermediately the distance had been four goals. Metodista cleverly made their way through the El-Jaish defence, but the only problem they had was to stop the more experienced and more skillful attackers of the Qatari team.
The second half started tenacious, as both teams reduced the speed after five matches in six days. Both sides were tired, with El-Jaish using their professional players nearly all the time. But in the end the Qataris were more successful in man-against-man-actions, providing them with a quite comfortable 25:19 cushion in the middle of the second half. And when Nikola Manojlovic scored a double-strike to 27:20 the match had been decided in minute 50. Later the Qatari players of El-Jaish were able to their strength.
But finally their club   the army team of Qatar   was not satisfied with their final position. Two opening defeats against Madrid and Zamalek had eliminated the Qataris from the semifinal spot early. But finishing fifth with three straight final victories means something like a happy-end for coach Ivica Obrvan and his team. Metodista took one victory in the placement round against Mudhar and lost four matches   including two defeats against El-Jaish in the preliminary round and their final placement match.
For his part, Vladimir Jelcic, assistant coach El-Jaish: We are happy to finish this tournament with a victory. The key was that we had more powers than Metodista, as they had a much tougher match yesterday.
Lovren Sprem, player El-Jaish: A few days ago the preliminary round game against Metodista was tougher, but even today we had to give 100% to win. We have to be happy with the fifth place, as it was our goal to reach the semifinal   but we missed this objective against Zamalek.
Jose Ronaldo Nascimento, coach Metodista: Again this match was a good opportunity to face the best players of the world, but after five matches we are really tired, as me missed some rotation options due to injuries. Aside we had a very tough game yesterday to beat Mudhar.
Carlos Castillo, player Metodista: It was a tough game like the ones before. We did not play well in attack, so El-Jaish took the profit by a big number of counter-attack goals. In the end I am happy with the sixth place, even as our expectations before the tournament had been higher. But finally we are happy that we had the opportunity to learn and improve.(END)

Doha, September 01 (QNA) – Less than 24 hours after unluckily losing their semifinal against Madrid, Al-Sadd had recovered perfectly. Thanks to their clear victory against Zamalek they reached a podium place. Like in 2011, the African champions from Egypt missed the medals close, finishing fourth again.
Bronze final: Al-Sadd (QAT)   Al-Zamalek (EGY) 32:26 (16:11)
Seven goals of Mustafa Krad and nine strikes of overall tournament top scorer Dragan Gajic were the keys to a well-deserved bronze final victory for Al-Sadd, winning a prize money of 150.000 US Dollar. Aside goalkeeper Primoz Prost again was the tower of power with overall 17 saves. Even ten goals of Ahmed Mostafa were not enough for Zamalek to reach the podium.
Aside Issem Tej, who was suspended for four IHF club competitions matches after his red card against Madrid, Al-Sadd did not use their “mastermind” Nikola Karabatic. In defence the IHF Super Globe host tried to stop Zamalek top star Hussein Zaky with an early man-to-man defence. A measure that initially fit as Al-Sadd got way to 8:5. The Egyptians fought hard to level the game, but the host’s defence including strong goalkeeper Primoz Prost stood stronger and intercepted many balls to start their counter-attacks. And if they could not score by fast-breaks, they counted on the shots of William Accambray and later-on Krad. Even a goalkeeper change to superb Mahmoud Ibrahim did not stop the downswing of Zamalek, which were trailed by five goals at the break.
In the second half first the goals of Dragan Gajic kept the distance by constant four or five goals, before a double-strike of Mustafa Krad pre-decided the game at 24:17 in minute 41.And Krad even extended the gap to nine goals at 30:21, then Al-Sadd decelerated and allowed the Egyptians to get a better final result.
Patrice Canayer, coach Al Sadd: Our strong defence with different tactics was the key to win the third place. We had to focus on defence, as we missed two strong attack players like Tej and Karabatic. In my opinion it was a successful experience to join the Qatar players and the Montpellier players. The local players really improved and it was my aim to create a harmony in the whole squad. In the future I would like to help to develop handball in Qatar.
Wissem Hmam, player Al-Sadd: I agree with our coach that defence and our goalkeeper Primoz Prost were the keys to success. It was a good match and we are happy to finish third.
Aslah Abdelhamied, assistant coach Zamalek: It was a real tough match against a very strong opponent. We had a good preparation, but our player were out of form, especially in attack, but also in defence we lacked concentration against a very good team with lots of professional players. We did not play any official match in the last 18 months due to the situation in Egypt. So we could not participate in any match inside or outside Egypt. So the fourth place is a big achievement for us, compared to the opponents we had to face. We don t know what will be the plan for the next season, we don t know how it works. In two months we play the African club championship, we don t know how we should pay our players.
Hesham Sanad, player Zamalek: We were less concentrated than before, this lack of concentration in the end of the match the key to lose this match.(END)

Doha, September 01 (QNA) – HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani crowned Atletico Madrid the winners of the IHF Super Globe after beating THW Kiel 28:23. Al-Sadd wins bronze medal after their clear victory against Zamalek, which finished fourth. Bronze final: Al-Sadd (QAT)   Al-Zamalek (EGY) 32:26 (16:11)
The crowning ceremony was attended by HE Qatar Olympic Committee Secretary General Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and  IHF President Dr Hassan Moustafa among others.
The Spaniards took revenge for the lost final in 2011 against THW Kiel and beat the German defending Super Globe champions by after a brilliant defence performance. It was not only the revenge for the 2011 IHF Super Globe defeat (25:28), but also for the lost EHF Champions League final in May 2012 (21:26). And one person wrote history: Coach Talant Dushebajews already took his fourth trophy after the tree vicotries with Atletico and the initial victory with Teaka Santander in 1997 as a player. Kiel missed their second trophy by a weak attacking performance after the break, scoring only ten goals in the second half.
Final: Atletico Madrid (ESP)   THW Kiel (GER) 28:23 (13:13)
Well-deserved final victory with a clear match winner: Goalkeeper and team captain Jose Javier Hombrados was the key to success. Especially after the break the 40-year-old veteran   combined with the defence   stood like a wall and caused confusion for the THW attackers by his overall 15 saves.
Top scorers of a defence-orientated match were Filip Jicha with seven goals for Kiel and Mariusz Jurkiewicz with five goals for Madrid.
The first half was absolutely equal in numbers: Both teams had 22 attacks each, both teams scored 13 goals each   and both teams focused more on defence than on attack. On THW side, newcomer Marko Vujin imprinted the first 30 minutes with five goals from six attempts; the Atletico team was well balanced in all areas with an intermediate strong period of left back Mariusz Jurkievicz.
After the break goalkeeper Jose Hombrados boosted the stability of the Madrid defence with his saves. And his team   especially strong line player Julen Aguinagalde   took the profit and extended the gap to 22:19   and even added two more goals after a THW time-out. But the downswing did not change, as the Germans fully lacked concentration against the powerful Spanish defence. Ten minutes before the end, Gislason took his second time-out within only five minutes, when the score was 19:26. From minute 44 to minute 54 the Germans did not score one single goal. They scored only ten times during the entire second half. (END)

Doha, September 01 (QNA) – Qatar Museums Authority (QMA) will organize an exhibition by Chinese artist Yan Pei-Ming from October 12 to January 12 2013, QMA said Saturday. This is the Chinese artist’s first major exhibition in Doha. It will be held under the patronage of HE Sheikha Al Mayassa Bint Hamad Al Thani.  Ming is one of the world’s most renowned artists and particularly famous for his “epic-sized” portraits of China’s communist leader Mao Zedong and Chinese actor Bruce Lee. QMA released a press statement today saying that the exhibition will highlight “the power of painting as a medium for recording historical events and portraying iconic figures.”
Director of Public Art at Qatar Museums Authority Jean Paul Engelen said that Ming used painting to give “a deeper meaning” to photographs of famous people and events that have influenced modern history. Engelen said that what set Ming’s paintings apart was that it stimulates the mind to think about history differently.
QMA said that the exhibition will consist of three sectors. The first one was dedicated to the modern history of Arab culture. More than a 100 portraits of influential political and artistic figures will be on display. Lebanese singer Fairuz and Egyptian leader Gamal Abul Nasser will be two of the many figures portrayed by Ming.
The second section will focus on Western history; with a triptych of Jean Louis David’s “The Death of Marat” on display. The Death of Marat represents the death of French revolutionary leader Marat, after he was stabbed to death in his bath tub.
The last section builds on “The Death of Marat”; where Ming will paint a number of assassinated political leaders in modern history, including Gandhi and Che Guevara. (QNA)

Doha, September 01 (QNA) – Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar (VCU Qatar) celebrates this year its 15th anniversary of innovative undergraduate and graduate programmes that meet the needs of Qatar’s cultural and professional infrastructures.
As the first university established in Education City through a partnership with Qatar Foundation and most recently Hamad bin Khalifa University, VCUQatar has developed a rich legacy of creative endeavour and leadership in art and design education and research, the university said Saturday.
VCUQatar Dean Allyson Vanstone said, “As we celebrate this 15 year milestone, the university looks forward to preparing the first art historians from within the country to step into significant positions in the new galleries and museums in Qatar and the region.
“We anticipate our new graduates from the painting and printmaking programme to share their vision of art from within Qatar outward to the world. We will see outcomes from our first Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) National Priorities Research Programme (NPRP) funded research projects and the expanding impact of our emphasis on collaborative and creative research from our faculty, alumni and student.”
VCUQatar opened its doors in 1998 as the Shaqab College of Design Arts with 33 bright young women, six pioneering faculty members and three degree programmes.
This fall semester, VCUQatar welcomes the first group of students into the new BA Art History programme. This is the first non-studio degree, and the fifth undergraduate degree, offered by the branch campus and is intended to support the development of the cultural infrastructure in Qatar.
All VCUQatar programmes recognize the regional development in the visual arts and innovative industries and align with the vision of Qatar Foundation and the Qatar National Vision 2030.
VCUQatar started the 2012-2013 academic year with Dean Allyson Vanstone, Joseph Seipel, dean of the School of the Arts, VCU Richmond and David Prior, executive vice president and provost, Hamad bin Khalifa University welcoming all new and returning faculty and staff to an all-day retreat.
An awards ceremony, recognizing individuals who distinguished themselves over a period of years in service to the school and community was held in the afternoon.
Assistant Professor in the Foundation programme Jesse Payne, Director of the Liberal Arts and Sciences programme Byrad Yyelland and Assistant Professor of Art History Jochen Sokoly were honoured with the Faculty Distinguished Achievements Awards, the university said. (QNA)

Doha, September 01(QNA)- Some Egyptian and Arab economic experts and senior officials have highly appreciated the Gulf investments in general and the Qatari ones in consolidating and enhancing up the Arab economies with a special emphasis on the Egyptian economy in the coming stage and highly evaluated the role Qatar plays for supporting and shoring up the Egyptian economy and pushing it forward.
They also highlighted in their respective interviews with Qatar News Agency (QNA) Saturday, the key and significant step taken by Qatar when it provides Egypt with a us dollars two billion loan in the form of treasury bonds deposited in the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to support the economy, which suffers much of late.
The aforesaid experts and economists demanded the Gulf states to play their expected role to help countries which economies are experiencing of major crises having seen a change in their political regimes as a result of the of the “Arab Spring” revolutions .
These experts and senior officials have called upon the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC)   member states to support the Arab economy and work to enhance inter-Arab trade in the hope of establishing a common Arab market, stressing meantime that the Gulf states could be the locomotive that pay the Arab economy forward to achieve real development through pumping new investments but under legislations that could create an appropriate and new atmosphere attractive to investment.
For his part, Dr. Mohammad Al-Rabeia , the Secretary General of the Council of Arab Economic Unity (CAEU) has highly appreciated the qatari pioneering position when HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, has pledged support for the Egyptian economy, represented in the deposit Qatar has initiated by a $ 500 million as a down payment to fulfill the promise, and expressed confidence that Qatar will continue to provide such a financial  support because this is a policy approach of Qatar.
Dr. Mohammad Al-Rabeia said in an exclusive interview with QNA that HH the Emir is one of the great Arab leaders who are always seeking to achieve communication and contact with all Arab countries, and to make a direct contribution to solving the problems of most Arab countries, whether economic or political.
The CAEU Secretary General referred to the Doha Forum, held at the end of last May and which HH the Emir addressed and talked about a number of challenges facing the Arab world. Dr. Mohammad Al-Rabeia noted that the speech of HH the Emir was successful, and came in line with the difficult economic conditions that have occurred in the Arab countries, especially after the outbreak of the “Arab Spring ” revolutions.
He highly praised the due keenness of Qatar for achieving economic integration between Doha and the Arab countries, the matter which much contributes to the support of the entire Arab economy and however called upon the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC)  to push forward the Arab locomotive of the economy more in the coming period.

Meanwhile Egypt’s Ambassador accredited to Qatar HE Mohamed Morsi Awad in a similar statement to Qatar News Agency (QNA) , has voiced ample appreciation and evaluation to the attitude of HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani supporting Egypt and its revolution which broke out in 25th of Jan., asserting that such a step reflected and interpreted the interrelation and in-depth of relations between the two countries.
”Relations between Doha and Cairo would witness further growth in the coming period to serve interests of the peoples of the two countries,  HE Morsi Awad told QNA.
For his part, economist and financil expert Rizq Ahmed Rizq , who is the adviser at the finance and taxes society in Egypt said in similar statements to QNA the the deposit Qatar has lodged in the CBE has recaptured confidence in the Egyptian economy and supported egypt’s monetary reserves following the acute decrease such a reserve suffered over the past one and a half year ago and hoped meantime that such a Qatari deposit is expected to contribute much to attract the gulf and arab investments into Egypt during the coming period.
Asked about the timing of the Qatari deposit, Rizq said the deposit came surly in time since Egypt has passed through a very critical stage in view of the state of destability and lack of security , the deep decline in monetary reserve and the departure of the arab and foreign investments owing to fear and fright the investors feel towards their future activities in Egypt in particular and the investment in the Egyptian Market in general.
The fruits of Qatar’s deposit was also the state of optimism sent by the credit rating agency “Standard & Poor’s,” which issued a report recently referring to the raising of the  long term sovereign credit rating for Egypt to put “under review” and to maintain the classification degree to ( B), Ahmed Rizq told QNA.
The Egyptian financial and economic expert, while highly praising the diversification of the Qatari investments in Egypt, especially in the fields of agriculture, real estate and tourism, said: “We aspire such Qatari investments would mainly focus on infrastructure projects, and we are aware of long-term returns of such projects.
Elaborating Ahmed Rizq said, ” We know well how much Qatar is duly keen to support Egypt and its infrastructure projects, especially in the current phase, the Egyptian economy is now going through.”
He called the Qatari investments to focus as well on fields of agriculture and processing and food industries, and attributed this to the great census of Egypt, which exceeds 85 million, is able to absorb any production, and thus be payoff of these investments, on the Qatari and gulf investor in view of the high and larege purchasing power in the market. 
Meanwhile, Egyptian Association for Economy and Legislation board member Hamdy Abdel Azim, who is also vice president of Egypt’s Al-Nahda (Renaissance) University told QNA  that investment in Egypt hit a low after the uprising, but, after 18 months, it has shown signs of revival recently as a new president was freely and democratically elected and the settlement of legislative and economic issues.
Abdel Azim pointed to Arab countries as the closest to Egypt, highlighting the Qatari deposit in the Central Bank of Egypt that started with $500 million, which, he said, will help install the Egyptian pound against foreign currencies, and have a positive impact on the Egyptian Stock Exchange.
The Egyptian Association for Economy and Legislation board member further said that what distinguishes the Qatar deposit is that it is a soft one, has a grace period, and the interest is after three years according to world prices, which supports the cash reserve that rose at some point to more than $15 billion during the time of Kamal el-Ganzouri’s government, but saw a decline to less than $14 billion after that.
The Qatari deposit, the ‘yellow remittances’ from Iraq, and the flow of remittances from Egyptian expats, have all helped reserves rise up to $14.5 billion, Abdel Azim said, adding that he expects reserves to see another rise over the coming period.
The economic expert added that the deposit would better be invested in the areas of electricity, energy and small and medium-sized enterprises because of their vital role in decreasing unemployment.
He also advised Qatari investors to invest in the industries of cement, steel, fertilizers, aluminum, mining, food products, information technology and chips, petrochemicals, and ceramics because, he explained, the large population of Egypt would then be able to create a purchasing power capable of absorbing these products and exporting abroad, yielding profit in short time. (END)

Doha, September 01 (QNA) – HE the Minister of Energy and Industry  Dr. Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada whos is also Chairman and Managing Director of Qatar Petroleum (QP) will preside over the formal announcement of winners of the Qatar Oil and Gas Industry Safety Excellence and Innovation Awards 2011 which will be held Monday here at The Ritz-Carlton.
The awards recognize companies that are implementing outstanding programmes and initiatives to effectively manage the range of safety risks in their day-to-day operations, QP said in a press release issued here on Saturday.
Launched in 2010 and administered by the Corporate Health, Safety, Environment (HSE) Department of QP, the Safety Excellence and Innovation Awards aim to promote a culture of safety among QP’s joint venture companies, contractors, and other players in the local oil & gas industry.
The awards will further spur safety consciousness among the industry’s workers and promote the safety standards and performance of companies.
Seven firms from QP’s joint venture companies and contractors will be named as winners at the awards ceremony. The winners from each section will be categorized as gold, silver or bronze awardees and they will all receive Certificates of Safety Excellence from the minister.
Senior QP officials, the top management of oil and gas companies operating in Qatar, industry professionals and other guests will attend the event.
An exhibition featuring the safety programmes and policies of 13 companies will also be held alongside the event, and it will be open from 9 am to 8pm. All professionals working for oil and gas companies are encouraged to visit the exhibition for them to learn about safety best practices in the industry. (QNA)

Vienna, September 01 (QNA) – The United Nations has named HE Dr. Ali Bin Fetais Al Marri, the Attorney General of the State of Qatar, as the UN Special Advocate on Stolen Asset Recovery.The announcement was made by Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) while addressing the 6th meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group on Asset Recovery (Vienna, 30-31 August 2012).
One of the most important reasons for this choice is the effort being exerted by the State of Qatar to combat corruption as well as its leading role during the Third Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption held in Doha on 9-13 November 2009, explained Fedotov.
The session agreed to a mechanism to monitor implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption. Under the new mechanism, all states will be monitored every five years to see how they are living up to their obligations. Findings, based on self-assessments and peer reviews by experts, will be compiled in country review reports.
Princess Maxima of the Netherlands was the first dignitary to be appointed as UN Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development.   (QNA)