bonds to bridge ro 2.5 bn deficit

SUNDAY | MAY 17, 2015 | RAJAB 28, 1436 AH
VOL. 34 NO. 184 | PAGES 32 | BAISAS 200
P19 Greek PM says won’t back down from red lines
P31 Chef urges compulsory food lessons worldwide
P27 Mane’s record-breaking treble destroys Villa
Inside
Chief Executive Officer
DR IBRAHIM BIN AHMED AL KINDI
Malaysia seeks help on migrants Strong aftershock hits Nepal again Boston bomber sentenced to death Editor-in-Chief
ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI
Oman Establishment for Press, Publication and Advertising
PO Box 974, Postal Code 100, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
www.omanobserver.om
FOLLOW US ON:
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A TRIUMPHANT DANCE TROUPE
OMAN
HM greetings to
Norwegian king
MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos has
sent a cable of greetings to King Harald
V of Norway on the occasion of his
country’s National Day. In his cable His
Majesty the Sultan expressed his best
greetings to the King, wishing him good
health and happiness and the friendly
people of Norway further progress and
prosperity.
SUKUK: Islamic bonds likely to boost banking sector in Oman
ASIA
Manila to punish
factory owners
MANILA: The owners of a Philippine
factory where 72 people died in a fire
could face time in prison, a government
task force said yesterday, vowing to
punish anyone found responsible as
anger grows over the tragedy. The
special inter-agency task force, including
members from the national police, the
fire-fighting service, the justice and
health departments, have been given
two weeks to finish their investigation,
said spokesman Renato Marcial.
“Definitely, if someone deserves to be
punished, they will be punished,” he said.
REPORT ON P6
EUROPE
Scottish Labour
leader to quit
LONDON: The leader of Britain’s
centre-left Labour Party in Scotland said
yesterday he plans to step down after a
humiliating defeat to nationalists in this
month’s general election. Jim Murphy,
who lost his own seat on the outskirts
of Glasgow in the rout by the proindependence Scottish National Party,
will leave in June after just five months
in the job. The SNP won 56 out of 59
seats in Scotland in the May 7 vote, while
Labour slumped from having 41 seats
to just one in what was once one of its
strongholds. His decision to leave comes
as Labour nationally also searches for a
new leader.
REPORT ON P14
INSIDESTORIES
US, CHINA CLASH OVER
DISPUTED SOUTH CHINA SEA
P6
SOUTHEAST ASIA’S BIG MONEY
TRADE IN HUMANS
P9
BONDS TO BRIDGE
RO 2.5 BN DEFICIT
Mahmoud Reda Troupe from Egypt performs a passionate and highly skilled
dance at the Royal Opera House Muscat as the highly successful season
comes to an end.
DETAILS ON P32
MUSCAT: The Sultanate’s government
is making steady strides towards
bridging the estimated RO 2.5 billion
deficit in 2015 budget by maintaining
coordination among the Ministry of
Finance, the Central Bank of Oman
(CBO) and Muscat Securities Market
(MSM), to issue sovereign sukuk and
government bonds.
The
Ministry
of
Finance’s
announcement last week regarding the
issue of the first sovereign sukuk for the
Sultanate is an important step which
will ensure the development of the
sukuk sector in the Sultanate.
Moreover, it will provide an
investment tool for the Omani Islamic
banking institutions and serve as
alternative for the traditional financial
tools. The Sukuk Governmental
Committee, which was formed by the
Ministry of Finance to be in charge of
issuing sukuks, said that the subscription
will be opened soon for banking and
financial institutions and key investors
subject to a minimum subscription of
RO 500,000.
These sukuk aim to meet the
growing needs of the Islamic finance
sector in the Sultanate. The revenues
of most of the government sukuks will
be used in financing the development
Subscription will be
opened for banking
and financial
institutions and key
investors subject
to a minimum
of RO 500,000
or infrastructure projects to bring
benefits to the society and sukuk holders
as well.
They may also be used in bridging
the budget deficit as an alternative for
the costly foreign borrowing, especially
that the debt burden in the state budget
will be at the expense of the consumer
or capital expenditure of the state.
There is a growing demand for sharia
compatible sovereign Islamic sukuk by
Islamic and non-Islamic governments
to collect more national savings to meet
growing financing needs.
The sovereign sukuk play an
important role in the economic
Senior IS leader killed in Syria raid
WASHINGTON: American special
operations forces killed a senior IS
leader in a raid in Syria, US officials said
yesterday, an operation that appeared
to mark a departure from Washington’s
strategy of relying mostly on a bombing
campaign to target militant leaders
there.
President Barack Obama ordered
the overnight operation that killed Abu
Sayyaf, identified as an IS commander
who helped manage the group’s blackmarket sales of oil and gas to raise funds,
US officials said.
His wife, Umm Sayyaf, was captured
and was being held in Iraq.
It was the first known US special
forces operation inside Syria apart from
a failed secret effort to rescue a number
of US and other foreign hostages held by
IS in northeastern Syria last year.
Wary of the US getting pulled deeper
into Middle East conflicts, Obama has
promised not to commit major ground
forces in the fight against IS, which has
seized swathes of Syria and Iraq.
He has left open the prospects of
special forces raids, though it was not
immediately clear if the latest one
marked the start of a new chapter in
Syria. US special forces based in Iraq
flew by helicopter on a mission aimed
at capturing Abu Sayyaf in Al Amr in
eastern Syria, US officials said.
One official said the elite Delta Force
was used in the mission, and that UH60 Black Hawk helicopters and V-22
Osprey tiltrotor aircraft were involved.
“Abu Sayyaf was killed during
the course of the operation when he
engaged US forces,” Defence Secretary Smoke rises as clashes erupt in Al Hajez garages, near the Damascus countryside
Ash Carter said.
— AFP governorate, yesterday. — Reuters
If cars can ‘talk’ to each other, they can avoid lot of accidents on the roads
US pushes pedal on car-to-car communication
PHILADELPHIA TRAIN MAY HAVE
BEEN HIT BY PROJECTILE
P15
WEATHER TODAY
MUSCAT
MAX: 390C
MIN: 260C
SALALAH
MAX: 350C
MIN: 260C
SUNRISE 05.24 AM
PRAYER TIMINGS
FAJR: 04:01
DHUHR: 12:08
ASR: 15:31
MAGHRIB: 18:47
ISHA: 20:06
NIZWA
MAX: 420C
MIN: 280C
NEW YORK: Engineers have known
for some time that if cars could only
“talk” to each other, they could avoid a
lot of accidents. Vehicles could be driven
more safely with information about
another car, obstacle or pedestrian
around a blind curve, for example.
But the hurdles to implementing
these systems are numerous: they require
a legal framework and the allocation of
wireless spectrum to enable vehicle-tovehicle (V2V) communications.
The US administration announced
this month it was speeding up efforts
to promote V2V in a push for better
road safety and to help facilitate the selfdriving cars which are on the horizon.
Transportation Secretary Anthony
Foxx said during a visit to Silicon Valley
that he hopes to have regulations for
these technologies by the end of the year.
“We’re accelerating our timetable
on a proposed rule that would require
vehicle-to-vehicle — or V2V —
technology that allows cars to ‘talk’ to
one another,” Foxx said.
“And it is something that we believe
can have a huge impact on preventing
accidents from ever happening — and in
helping us eventually produce a car that
can drive itself better than a human can.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, which has been testing
V2V since 2012, said the technology
can accomplish a number of things such
as determining if a car can safely make
a left turn by calculating the speed of
oncoming vehicles, whether it is feasible
to overtake another car and if it is safe to
enter an intersection.
Researchers say systems which cost
around $350 per car can avoid 592,000
accidents and save 1,083 lives per year,
if the fleet of US cars is equipped with
the technology. But reaping benefits
will take time: Even if the technology is
mandated on new cars, it will take years
until older vehicles are replaced and for
infrastructure to be upgraded to be part
of the system.
— AFP
development of countries.
The investments in the vital strategic
projects add value to the national
income and help in addressing the
employment issue.
The political stability, strong
economy and social security of the
Sultanate help in attracting potential
sukuk and government bond investors.
The Sultanate also updates the legal
and administrative products to facilitate
access of foreign investments. Moreover,
the Omani economy is also witnessing
a remarkable growth supported by
improved performance of the stock
markets.
— ONA
NEW BONDING
China, India
sign $22 billion
in deals
SHANGHAI: China and India signed
26 business deals worth more than $22
billion in areas including renewable
energy, ports, financing and industrial
parks, an Indian Embassy official said
yesterday.
Namgya C Khampa, of the Indian
Embassy in Beijing, made the remarks
at the end of a three-day visit by
Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, during which he sought to
boost economic ties and quell anxiety
over a border dispute between the
neighbours.
“The agreements have a bilateral
commercial engagement in sectors like
renewable energy, industrial parks,
power, steel, logistics finance and
media and entertainment,” Khampa
said.
At the same event, Modi
encouraged Chinese companies
to embrace opportunities in India
in manufacturing, processing and
infrastructure, announcing “now
India is ready for business” with an
improved regulatory environment.
“You are the ‘factory of the world’
whereas we are the ‘back office of the
world’,” Modi said. “You give thrust on
production of hardware, while India
focuses on software and services.”
These 26 deals are in addition to 24
agreements signed on Friday between
the two countries.
China is interested in opportunities
in India’s $2 trillion economy.
During a visit to India last year by
Chinese President Xi Jinping, China
announced $20 billion in investments
over five years, including setting up
two industrial parks.
DETAILS ON P17
2
VALUE OF PRIVATE DEPOSITS UP BY 9.47PC
S U N DAY l M AY 1 7 l 2 0 1 5
OMAN
PAEDIATRICS CONFERENCE HELD IN SUR
The total value of private deposits at the
commercial banks in the Sultanate at the
end of February 2015 rose by 9.47 per
cent to RO 11,380.7 million compared to
RO 10,396.4 million in the corresponding
period in 2014. The gross value for these
deposits includes the time deposits at
RO 3,217.8 million, RO 4,156.5 million
saving deposits and RO 3,792.3 million on
demand deposits.
The Department of Paediatrics at
Sur Referral Hospital organised the
first National Pediatrics Conference
at Sur University College under the
auspices of Abdalla bin Salim al Mikhini,
representative of Sur at Majlis Ash’shura.
The conference targeted 150 participants
from all over the Sultanate and was
attended by paediatric specialists from
the Sultanate and India.
Sail ship Tarangini hosts ‘Day at Sea’ at Salalah Port
KAUSHALENDRA SINGH
SALALAH
May 16: The crew of INS Tarangini hosted
Omani dignitaries and members of the Indian
community on Saturday at a function titled ‘Day
at Sea’ on board. INS Tarangini, the sail training
ship, called Port of Salalah on Thursday and is to
leave for her next destination Jeddah on Sunday.
The ‘Day at Sea’ event was presided over by
J S Mukul, India’s Ambassador to Oman. Abdul
Qadir Ahmed al Haddad, Vice-President of
Dhofar Municipality, Ali Salim al Basrawi, Head
of Public Authority for Consumer Protection
in Dhofar, Naif Ahmed al Shanfai, Director of
Vocational Training, Ministry of Manpower, and
representatives from Ministry of Commerce and
Industry, Salalah Free Zone and Port of Salalah
were present
Commander Gaurav Gautam introduced the
ship to the visitors and explained normal course
of duty as well as challenges faced sometimes by
the ship’s crew. The ship’s 40 regular crew and 30
training cadets showcased some drills off Salalah
coast. The ships is powered most part of its
journey by sails.
“Hence we are on guard 24-hours and keep
on adjusting the sails as per the wind direction.
We are equally equipped with the latest sailing
technologies and equipment,” said Commander
Gaurav.
The visitors praised the skills showcased
by the crew and the cadets, particularly about
their endurance and perfection and rhythm of
work. “It is unique to see the discipline and team
spirit among the crew members,” said one of the
J S Mukul, India’s Ambassador to Oman, presents award to cadets on board INS Tarangini.
visitors.
The ship’s name Tarangini is derived from the
Hindi word ‘Tarang’ meaning ‘waves’. Tarangini
means ‘the one that rides the waves’, and she
provides an ideal setting for first-hand experience
of the natural elements for the young officers,
instilling in them their ‘sea legs’.
Ambassador Mukul expressed happiness over
the ship’s arrival in Salalah. “We are delighted
that INS Tarangini has arrived at Port of Salalah.
We are on board with our guests from Oman and
India. We saw the spirit, morale and competitive
team spirit among the crew members and the
cadets. The way they navigate and the way they
move reflect their courage, team spirit and
high morale. I would like to thank the Omani
authorities for their cooperation and wish the
ship crew members success, as they have to cover
many countries during this trip.”
Dhofar Municipality Vice-President Al
Haddad was happy to be the part of the sea
sortie. “It gave me an opportunity to witness the
INS Tarangini Commander Gaurav Gautam gives mementos to dignitaries.
endurance of the people working in navy and
their skills.”
INS Tarangini’s port call at Salalah is the first
stop on an eight-month long voyage through the
Gulf, Mediterranean and Europe to participate
in prestigious tall ship races and other events
organised under the aegis of Sail Training
International. During this eight-month-long
‘Lokayan 15’, the ship will travel approximately
17,000 miles under sails and visit 17 ports in 14
countries as a goodwill ambassador of India.
This year’s tall ship races will be conducted
primarily off the coast of United Kingdom,
Norway, Denmark, Germany and the
Netherlands.
About 300 sail ships of various sizes from all
over the world are expected to participate in this
year’s events. INS Tarangini belongs to Class A
sail ships, the largest of the sailing fleet.
During this long voyage, the Indian trainees
would also get an opportunity to sail on foreign
vessels.
Energy and water
exhibition, conference
to begin on Tuesday
SULTAN’S ARMED FORCES MUSEUM OPENS TOMORROW
Marking the International Museum Day (IMD) the Sultan’s Armed Forces Museum will be open to the public for one day from 8 am to 6 pm on Monday. The Sultan’s
Armed Forces Museum showcases military heritage showing the march and development of the Sultan’s Armed Forces through time as well the attention
accorded to it by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos, the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.
MUSCAT: Oman Energy and Water
Exhibition and Conference (OEWEC)
organised by the Public Authority
for Electricity and Water (PAEW),
in collaboration with Oman Expo,
will begin on Tuesday at Oman
International Exhibition Centre.
OEWEC is an international event
in the field of energy and water, such
as power generation, renewable and
alternative energy and transmission
and distribution, and water-related
industries.
It is also an ideal platform for
stakeholders to discuss real issues
and solutions to the energy and water
challenges and opportunities in Oman.
The conference will shed light on
the “Future Strategy 2040,” the aspect
related to the government plan to
supply energy, water, and the size of the
approved plans and programmes in the
national plan.
Several local and international
specialised energy and water companies
will take part in this conference in a bid
to enhance their presence in the region,
share knowledge and review the latest
services and technologies.
Additionally, several international
experts from the Sultanate and
The conference will shed
light on the “Future Strategy
2040,” the aspect related
to the government plan to
supply energy, water, and
the size of the approved
plans and programmes in
the national plan.
other countries will take part at the
conference.
The conference will also discuss
the national strategy for electricity
with emphasis on energy efficiency,
sustainability and the need to develop
plans and programmes for renewable
energy and sustainable development.
The conference will also present
many projects in the Sultanate, such
as construction of the biggest power
plant in the Sultanate, the water
treatment plant at Wadi Daiqah
Dam, the independent power plant in
Salalah, Qurayat water desalination
plant, Barka water desalination plant,
the development of Al Ghubra water
desalination plant, the underway
projects and the future plans. — ONA
The theme of this year is Telecommunications and Information Communication Technology: Drivers of Innovation
World Telecommunication and Information Society Day today
MUSCAT: The Sultanate will mark on Sunday,
along with the world countries, the World
Telecommunication and Information Society
Day (WTISD).
WTISD falls on May 17, the anniversary of
the International Telecommunication Union
(ITU) establishment and the signing of the first
Telegraph Convention in 1865.
The United Nations General Assembly
responded to the call of the World Summit on
the Information Society held in 2005.
May 17 of each year was declared as
WTISD in order to avail information and
communication technology for the service of
communities.
ITU adopts a theme each year in order to
focus the efforts on a specific topic.
The theme of 2015 is (Telecommunications
and Information Communication Technology:
Drivers of Innovation).
The government of His Majesty Sultan
Qaboos has paid, since the dawn of the
Renaissance, a great interest in this sector
because of its vital role in the field of economic
development.
The infrastructure launch for the
telecommunications sector in the Sultanate
began during the period from 1976-1980 and
as it was approved by by the Royal Decree No
(32/76).
During the period from 1996-2000, this
sector became a major influence on economic
development, productivity and competitiveness.
The sector developed to the extent that it
started providing international services.
The Telecommunications Regulatory Law
was issued during this period under the Royal
Decree No (30/2002). Telecommunications
Regulatory Authority (TRA) was established
and the second mobile operator license was
granted.
The telecommunication sector has witnessed
a significant growth in the light of rapid
development in policies and technologies.
The Royal Decree No 52/2006 was issued
to establish the Information Technology
Authority (ITA) as a body responsible for the
implementation of the national strategy for
Oman digital society and e-government.
The telecommunications sector is a key
driver for the wheel of economic and social
development in the Sultanate because of its
active role in raising the efficiency of the
economic sectors in general.
TRA, which was established in 2002,
regulates the telecommunications services in
the Sultanate according to the provisions of the
Telecommunications Regulation Law.
It also supervises and controls the providers
of telecommunications services to ensure the
application of the Sultanate regulatory policies
in the telecommunications sector.
ITA, in coordination with all major
categories of Digital Oman, implements a range
of projects and mechanisms aiming at raising
the level of efficiency and effectiveness of
government services and the promotion of the
business sector.
The major categories of Digital Oman
comprises government units the business sector
and individuals,
Marking WTISD with world countries is
an evidence of the Sultanate’s awareness of
the importance of this vital and important
sectors.
— ONA
OMAN
S U N DAY
M AY 1 7 l 2 0 1 5
JAALAN MARKS AL ISRA’ WAL MIRAJ
Traditional horse shows were held at the Ardha field in Jaalan Bani Bu Hassan to mark the holy occasion of Al Isra’ wal Miraj (Prophet’s Ascension).
Horsemen displayed their skills in what is locally known as Ardha, a traditional horse game usually performed during religious and national occasions. — ONA
Realty deals touch RO 1.6 billion
MUSCAT: The Sultanate saw real estate
transactions worth RO 1,638.9 million at the end
of April 2015, registering a growth of 68 per cent
compared to the same period last year, according
to the bulletin released by the National Centre for
Statistics and Information (NCSI).
The fees collected for these transactions stood
at RO 16.1 million, a growth of 12.6 per cent in
comparison with the last year.
The value of sale contracts fell by 0.9 per cent
to reach RO 391.7 million The number of sale
transactions witnessed a decline of 5.2 per cent
to 28,543 contracts compared to 30,093 contracts
during the same period last year. The value of
mortgage contracts also increased by 115 per cent
The number of title deeds issued
to GCC nationals till the end of
April 2015 fell by 27.2 per cent
to 996 contracts compared to
1,369 title deeds issued during
the same period in 2014.
to reach RO 1,241.1 million, compared to RO
577,300,000 during the corresponding period of
2014. The number of those transactions rose by 7.6
per cent to reach 7,452 transactions, compared to
6,928 contracts in the same period of 2014.
The value of swap contracts till the end of April
2015 was RO 6,100,000 with a rise by 190.5 per
cent in comparison with RO 2,100,000 in 2014.
The number of those contracts increased by 7.6
per cent to 469 contracts at the end of April 2015,
compared to 436 contracts in 2014.
A total of 85,346 title deeds were issued till the
end of April 2015 compared to 81,168 title deeds in
2014, witnessing a rise of 5.1 per cent in 2014.
The number of title deeds issued to GCC
nationals till the end of April 2015 fell by 27.2 per
cent to 996 contracts compared to 1,369 title deeds
issued during the same period in 2014.
— ONA
omandailyobserver
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omandailyobserver
OMAN
S U N DAY
M AY 1 7 l 2 0 1 5
Total value of
private deposits
rises by 9.47pc
Al Ghizin celebrates HM return and opening of Public Council
Residents of Al Ghizin village in the Wilayat of Al Khaboura organised a celebration on the occasion of His Majesty the Sultan’s homecoming and the inauguration of the village’s
Public Council. The event was presided over by Shaikh Khalid bin Hilal al Maawali, Chairman of Majlis Ash’shura in the presence of Majlis Ash’shura members and dignitaries.
MUSCAT: The total value of private
deposits at the commercial banks in the
Sultanate at the end of February 2015
rose by 9.47 per cent to RO 11,380.7
million compared to RO 10,396.4
million in the corresponding period in
2014.
The monthly statistical bulletin
published by the Central Bank of
Oman (CBO) pointed out that the
gross value for these deposits as of the
end of February 2015 includes the time
deposits stood at RO 3,217.8 million, RO
4,156.5 million saving deposits and RO
3,792.3 million on demand deposits.
The bulletin pointed out that the
total value for these deposits include RO
10,513.6 million and RO 867.1 million
in foreign currencies.
As for the banking indicators for
the commercial banks as at the end of
February 2015, the bulletin said that
the broad money and clearance to the
The gross value for these
deposits includes the time
deposits at RO 3,217.8
million, RO 4,156.5 million
saving deposits
deposits in Rials was 16.8 per cent. The
combined money and clearance to the
gross deposits was 14.9 per cent. The
total percentage of loans to deposits
was 97.5 per cent. The rate of foreign
currency deposits to the total deposits
was 11.2 per cent.
The rate of foreign assets to the total
loans was 15.2 per cent. The foreign
liability to the total liabilities was 10.4
per cent. The on-demand deposits to
the total private deposits was 33 per
cent. The capital and reserves to the total
deposits was 18.5 per cent. The rate of
allocations and the retained interests to
the total credit was 3.5 per cent. — ONA
SALALAH ATTRACTION
Representatives of German tourism agencies at A l Mughsayl in Salalah on Saturday. They took part in a 10-day forum
organized by the Ministry of Tourism to attract German tourists to Oman.
— ONA
PACI concludes participation in Bordeaux fair
Best students in Samayil honoured
The Sultanate, represented by the Public Authority for Craft Industries (PACI) concludes its participation at France’s Bordeaux
International Fair 2015 on Saturday. The PACI’s pavilion showcases silverware, pottery, earthenware and traditional perfumes.
The stall won the admiration of visitors who kept flocking the pavilion for 10 days. — ONA
SAMAYIL — The Parent’s Council in
the Wilayat of Samayil honoured the
outstanding students in a ceremony
that was presided over by Shaikha Aisha
bint Khalfan al Siyabiyah, Chairperson
of the Public Authority for Craft
Industries (PACI) and attended by
Shaikh Ahmed bin Abdalla al Kindi,
Wali of Samayil.
The honouring ceremony was held at
the Wali’s office and included a welcome
presented by girls of the Yanbei Al Ilm
Basic Education School and a visual
display of the activities and programmes
held by the Parents’ Council during the
academic year 2014-2015.
Other events included a folklore
show by girls from the Al Faiha Basic
Education School which was praised by
the attendees.
The chief guest then honoured
400 students from across the wilayat
who excelled in academics as well as
teachers, memorisers of Holy Quran
and members of the Parents’ Council.
Shaikha Aisha bint Khalfan al Siyabiyah, Chairperson of the Public Authority for
— ONA Craft Industries (PACI) honouring one of the best students in Samayil on Saturday.
Seeb is famous for Dama Fortress. It was a meeting place for scholars, writers in science, history, literature and poetry
Seeb a former garrison town with a tradition of farming
AL SEEB: Al Seeb is one of the wilayats of the
Governorate of Muscat. It is a wilayat with a long
history, previously known as Dama.
It is bordered to the north by the Wilayat of
Barka, and the south-west by the Wilayat of
Bidbid and on the southeastern by the Wilayat
Bausher. Seeb overlooks the Sea of Oman and has
a coastline of about 30 kilometres long.
Its population, according to the (2010)
census is more than (302,992) people, living in
59 villages. The residents of the Wilayat of Al
Seeb work in many professions, including trade,
agriculture, fishing, and livestock.
Shaikh Yahya bin Mohammed al Amri,
member of the Municipal Council of the
Governorate of Muscat, representative of
the Wilayat of Al Seeb, and a member of the
Municipal Affairs Committee in Al Seeb, says Al
Seeb means flow of water.
There are more than 45 government
institutions in Seeb, mostly service institutions.
The foremost of which include Sultan Qaboos
University (SQU), Command of the Sultan’s
Armed Forces (COSAF), Al Murtafa’ Camp, and
Muscat International Airport formerly named Al
Seeb International Airport.
Seeb has a special market for the sale of
dates, mango, lemon, quince, and bitter orange
and other agricultural crops. Seeb gained its
importance after it became garrison town in
Oman during the period (177 AH - 280 AH),
when Nizwa was the the capital.
Its importance increased in the era of Imam
Ghassan bin Abdullah (192 AH - 207 AH) when
Oman faced pirates. Imam Ghassan bin Abdullah
decided to build the first Omani naval fleet in the
Islamic history to repel pirates.
Historical evidence indicates that the
headquarters of this fleet was in the Wilayat of Al
Seeb. Seeb is famous for its Dama Fortress. It was
a meeting place for scholars, writers in science,
history, literature and poetry.
Salim bin Darwish al Hassani, Director of
Fisheries Development Department in Seeb, said
that 1,174 persons work in fishing in Seeb on 514
boats, and there are 197 vehicles in the wilayat
to transport and market fish inside and outside
the wilayat.
Salim bin Mohammed al Hemaimi, Director
of Agricultural Development Centre in Seeb, said
according to the Sultanate’s agricultural census
(2012-2013), Seeb has 1,500 farmers in 1,168
agricultural holdings that include 86,623 date
palm trees.
— ONA
6
CHINA BUS CRASH DEATH TOLL RISES TO 35
S U N DAY l M AY 1 7 l 2 0 1 5
PARTY CHIEF NOT TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT
The death toll from a bus crash in northwestern China rose to 35 on Saturday.
Eleven passengers remain in hospital, five
in critical condition, the Xinhua reported.
Twenty-five people died immediately
when a bus carrying 46 plunged 30
metres into a ravine in Shaanxi province.
Elsewhere on Friday, a van driver was
fined for carrying 51 people in a vehicle
designed to seat six.
ASIA
Taiwan’s ruling party chief said on
Saturday he would not run for the
president in January, raising the prospect
that an independence-leaning opposition
party might regain power and cast a
shadow over ties with political rival China.
Eric Chu, head of the China-friendly
Kuomintang, had been considered the
party’s most promising contender to run
against Tsai Ing-wen.
GROWING CONCERNS: Beijing’s rapid reclamation effort in the Spratly archipelago has alarmed other claimants
US, China clash over disputed South China Sea
BEIJING: The United States and China
clashed over a territorial dispute in the
South China Sea on Saturday, as China’s
foreign minister asserted its sovereignty
to reclaim reefs saying its determination
to protect its interests is “as hard as a
rock”.
After a private meeting with US
Secretary of State John Kerry, China’s
Foreign Minister Wang Yi showed no
sign of backing down despite Kerry
urging China to take action to reduce
tension in the South China Sea. “With
regard to construction on the Nansha
islands and reefs, this is fully within the
scope of China’s sovereignty,” Wang told
reporters, using the Chinese name for
the Spratly islands.
“I would like to reaffirm that
China’s determination to safeguard its
sovereignty and territorial integrity is as
hard as a rock,” he said. “It is the people’s
demand of the government and our
legitimate right.”
Wang made the comments at a joint
news conference with Kerry, who is
on a two-day visit to China likely to be
dominated by deepening concern about
Beijing’s ambitions in the South China
Sea. China claims about 90 per cent of
the 3.5 million sq km sea.
The Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia,
Brunei and Vietnam also claim large
parts of it.
China’s rapid reclamation effort
around seven reefs in the Spratly
archipelago of the South China Sea has
alarmed other claimants such as the
Philippines and Vietnam.
At the same time, China has
expressed its concern about a possible
US plan to send military aircraft and
ships to assert freedom of navigation in
the South China Sea.
Kerry did not respond when asked Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State John Kerry meet at a
to clarify whether the United States joint news conference following meetings at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in
intended to follow through on what a US Beijing yesterday. — Reuters
official on Tuesday said was a proposal
to send US military aircraft and ships around reclaimed land.
position on the rival territorial claims
within territorial limits China asserts
The United States does not take a in the South China Sea, but says
Govt to punish anyone
liable for deadly fire
MANILA: The owners of a Philippine
factory where 72 people died in a fire
could face time in prison, a government
task force said on Saturday, vowing to
punish anyone found responsible as
anger grows over the tragedy.
The special inter-agency task force,
including members from the national
police, the fire-fighting service, the
justice and health departments, have
been given two weeks to finish their
investigation, said spokesman Renato
Marcial. “Definitely, if someone
deserves to be punished, they will be
punished,” said. The blaze in a twostorey footwear factory in an industrial
suburb of the Philippine capital on
Wednesday has highlighted the unsafe
working conditions for many in this
poverty-stricken nation. The fire started
when sparks from a welder repairing a
metal gate apparently ignited nearby
chemicals.
Marcial said that the company,
Kentex Manufacturing, should have had
a special permit for such a dangerous
welding job and its owners could face
charges for safety lapses. This could
range from six months to six years
in jail — but, he said, the scale of the
fatalities could result in more stringent
punishment. He said the investigation
will be “complete, thorough and based
on scientific findings”.
Labour Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz,
who initially said the company had
followed regulations, has since branded
it “immoral” and accused it of a raft of
illegal labour practices such as using
unregistered “sub-contractors” to get
around paying workers the proper
amount.
Representatives of both Kentex and
the sub-contractor CJC Manpower
Services have been summoned to
a special meeting with the Labour
Department on Monday, Baldoz said.
Representatives for Kentex this
weekend gave out an initial 13,000
pesos ($295) to survivors and families
of the victims as assistance in the wake
of the fire.
However Rex Gatchalian, mayor
of the district where the fire occurred,
criticised the company, saying “Kentex
is giving them once again the shorter
(end) of the stick”.
“This goes to show what type of
employer Kentex is and how they treat
their employees. These are the same
people who gave their lives,” he said in a
statement.
— AFP
international law does not allow for
sovereignty to be “manufactured” by
building up underwater reefs.
Kerry said the United States had
stated its concerns about the pace and
scope of China’s land reclamation in the
sea.
“I urged China through Foreign
Minister Wang to take actions that will
join everybody in helping to reduce
tensions and increase the prospect of a
diplomatic solution,” he said.
He said he believed he and Wang
agreed the region needed “smart
diplomacy” in order to conclude a code
of conduct between the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations and China,
“and not outposts and military strips”
— an apparent reference to airstrips the
United States believes China is building
on reclaimed land. Kerry said the United
States and China had “a lot to accomplish
together...
as two of the world’s major powers
and largest economies” and that millions
of people around the world depended
on them to ensure “high standards of
behaviour and aspiration”.
Wang said that while both countries
had differences on the South China
Sea, they were committed to freedom
of navigation and peace and stability in
the area and added that China hoped
to continue a dialogue to improve
understanding on the issue.
The South China Sea dispute is the
latest source of friction between the
world’s two biggest economies, which
have sparred over everything from
trade and human rights to exchanges of
accusations of hacking.
Despite this, they cooperate in many
areas such as climate change, North
Korea and Iran. Recent satellite images
have shown that since about March
2014, China has conducted reclamation
work at seven sites in the Spratlys and is
constructing a military-sized air strip on
Fiery Cross Reef and possibly a second
— Reuters
on another reef.
AIMING TO SET A WORLD RECORD
Participants in cheongsams pose for photographs during a event aiming to set a world record of most people wearing cheongsams in different locations on the same
time, in Handan, Hebei province, yesterday. According to local media, Chinese Qipao (cheongsam in mandarin) Society organised nearly 150,000 women around the
world to wear cheongsam on the same time on Saturday. — Reuters
Malaysia seeks Myanmar help on migrant ‘catastrophe’
Controversial
method used in
dolphin hunt
cargo. A group of men pounced on
Afasaruddin and three of his teenage
friends while they were having breakfast.
“They beat us, tied us up and took
us onto the ship,” said, after he was
rescued of Aceh. “Before we could do
anything we were at sea with hundreds
of Bangladeshis and Rohingya.”
Nearly 600 migrants were already
sheltering in Sumatra’s Aceh province
after managing to get ashore in recent
days, while more than 1,100 had reached
Malaysia.
About 100 made it to a southern
Thai island, a local official said on
Friday, while a boat which was found
by journalists on Thursday continued
to drift between Thai and Malaysian
waters, its engine seemingly damaged.
Najib said he told UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-Moon the situation was
“a humanitarian catastrophe.”
The appalling scenes have triggered
global calls, including by the UN chief
and Washington, for Southeast Asia to
open its ports to boatpeople.
— AFP
TOKYO: Nearly half the dolphins in
Japan’s aquariums are caught using a
controversial fishing method that sees
dozens more slaughtered every year, a
newspaper reported on Saturday.
At least 18 of 33 Japanese aquariums
that are home to dolphins say their
stock were caught using the divisive
“drive fishing” method, while eight
declined to comment due to concerns
over “negative reactions,” the Yomiuri
Shimbun said.
Of 352 kept at the 33 facilities,
158 dolphins were caught after being
corralled into a bay or beach and
then snatched by fisherman to be sold
later, the top-selling newspaper
added, while others from their pods
were killed for meat. The southern
whaling town of Taiji is known for the
practice.
The Yomiuri Shimbun report did
not specify whether the dolphins came
from Taiji. Townsfolk say the hunt is
for dolphin meat, which they say is a
traditional part of their diet. — AFP
Asian countries have come under increasing pressure to rescue a wave of starving and helpless migrants
LANGSA, Indonesia: Malaysia’s prime
minister said on Saturday he would
seek help from Myanmar to address the
unfolding “humanitarian catastrophe”
involving a wave of boatpeople flooding
to Southeast Asia, thousands of whom
are ethnic Rohingya fleeing oppression.
Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand
have come under increasing pressure to
rescue a wave of starving and helpless
Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants
after triggering outrage by turning them
back out to sea with scarce food and
nowhere to go.
Prime Minister Najib Razak said
“we are liasing with the Myanmar
government to get their response,”
according to Malaysia’s official Bernama
news agency.
“I hope they will give a positive
response as the refugees were due
to internal problems that we cannot
interfere with, but we want to do
something before it gets worse,” he said.
Myanmar’s cooperation is deemed
vital to solving Southeast Asia’s biggest
Navy officers look at migrants on their boat being towed away from Thailand by a
Thai navy vessel, in waters near Koh Lipe island, yesterday. — Reuters
influx of boatpeople since the end of the
Vietnam War.
But its government — which denies
the Rohingya citizenship — has already
rejected a Thai call for a regional summit
on the issue on May 29, saying it was not
their problem.
The UN refugee agency has reported
a surge in departures from Bay of Bengal
ports in recent months.
Activists say 8,000 people may be
adrift on overcrowded vessels, with
starvation and disease claiming lives,
after a Thai crackdown crimped busy
human-trafficking routes and spurred
smugglers to abandon men, women and
children at sea.
In one of the grimmest episodes
yet, survivors of a boat that sank off the
east coast of Sumatra island — among
roughly 900 people rescued off Indonesia
on Friday — described a bloody struggle
for survival between Bangladeshis and
Rohingya on board.
“They were killing each other,
throwing people overboard,” said
Sunarya, police chief of the city of
Langsa near where they were rescued.
The packed boat had put to sea two
months ago but was deserted this week
by captain and crew, survivors said.
It was then turned away, first by
Indonesia and then Malaysia, as the
Rohingya won an onboard fight for
the remaining food, said Bangladeshi
survivor Muhammad Koyes.
“When we asked for food, they beat
us. The Bangladeshis were very weak, so
we could not fight back,” he said.
Another survivor Afsaruddin,
14, gave harrowing details of being
kidnapped in the Bangladeshi town
of Teknaf by traffickers determined to
fill the boat with their lucrative human
SUBCONTINENT
S U N DAY
M AY 1 7 l 2 0 1 5
omandailyobserver
7
UNHCR: Pakistan 6th
highest source country
of asylum seekers
A Nepalese mother and child participate in a “laughter yoga” session to help relieve trauma among survivors of two earthquakes which struck the country in less than
three weeks, in Kathmandu on Friday. Nearly 8,500 people have now been confirmed dead in the disaster, which destroyed more than half a million homes and left huge
numbers of people without shelter with just weeks to go until the monsoon rains. — AFP
Strong aftershock of 5.7 hits Nepal
SHAKE CONTINUES: Troops find bodies of all eight victims of a US helicopter crash
KATHMANDU: A magnitude 5.7
earthquake hit Nepal on Saturday, about
76 km east south east of the capital
Kathmandu, at a shallow depth of 10
km, the US Geological Survey said.
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck
on April 25, killing more than 8,000
people and there have been a series of
aftershocks since then.
The Nepalese army said on Saturday
troops had found the bodies of all
eight people from the wreckage of a
US helicopter which crashed while
delivering aid in the quake-devastated
country.
The UH-1Y Huey was carrying six
US Marines and two soldiers from the
Nepalese army when it went missing
during a relief flight in the mountainous
northeastern region on the same day
that a second quake hit the country.
“Nepalese and US troops recovered
all eight bodies from the crash site
this morning,” major general Binoj
British aid helicopters turned back
London: Three British helicopters sent
to help with rescue efforts in Nepal
are to return without being used, the
British government said on Saturday.
“We are disappointed that our
Chinooks will not be supporting the
World Food Programme’s request for
help in distributing aid,” a government
spokesman said.
The three Royal Air Force Chinook
helicopters had not reached Nepal
but were stranded in Delhi, India, for a
Basnyat said. “None of the bodies are
recognisable,” Basnyat said. Nepalese
troops on Friday spotted the aircraft in a
remote forest around 70 kilometres (40
miles) northeast of Kathmandu, three
days after it disappeared from sight.
Teams from the US military and
the Nepal army were investigating the
week after being sent to bring supplies
and rescue stranded victims after the
first quake on April 25.
“All decisions on the relief effort
are ultimately for the government of
Nepal and they have advised that there
is no need for the Chinooks to remain
forward-based in Delhi,” the spokesman
said. The Nepalese government has
said it was overwhelmed by the scale of
the first earthquake, the deadliest to hit
the country in over eight decades.
wreckage to determine the cause of the
crash, Basnyat said.
Army helicopters and hundreds of
US and Nepalese ground troops had
been deployed to scour the mountainous
region where the chopper disappeared.
Relief teams from around the
world have been working for weeks to
On Friday, the United Nations
renewed calls for assistance to help
victims stranded in remote areas
accessible only by foot or helicopter,
saying the implications of not acting
quickly would be “severe”.
“We can only expect misery, a
crippling loss of dignity and the real
potential for more deaths, especially
in the rural and remote areas,”
Jamie McGoldrick, UN humanitarian
coordinator for Nepal, said. — AFP
provide water, food, shelter and medical
assistance to Nepal.
Nearly 8,500 people have now been
confirmed dead in the disaster, which
destroyed more than half a million
homes and left huge numbers of people
without shelter with just weeks to go
until the monsoon rains. — Agencies
ISLAMABAD: The number of asylum
seekers Pakistan has been producing
since 2010 has risen phenomenally.
Responding to a question by
Senator Muhammad Talha Mehmood
in the upper house of parliament, the
government on Tuesday shared with
the Senate members only the number of
Pakistanis who have sought asylum in
Germany, the United States and Serbia
during the last five years.
“The nature of asylum requests
restricts the host government from
sharing information.
As such, the full information on such
cases is not available,” the standard reply
given to the senators on behalf of the
minister of foreign affairs (who happens
to be Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif) and
posted on the Senate’s website stated.
The reasons given in the answer for
the increasing number of Pakistanis
leaving the country of their birth are
also quite sketchy.
It doesn’t acknowledge religious
persecution and growing violence and
attacks against non-Muslims and the
Shias as a factor, forcing hundreds of
families to flee the country for fear of
life. “It appears as if the government
wants to conceal rather than reveal
the true causes of this surging trend,”
notes an immigration lawyer. “Its
reluctance to dilate on the reasons is
understandable as no government
or country wants to be embarrassed
publicly on such matters.”
The spike in the number of Pakistani
asylum seekers is in line with the global
trend, confirms Asylum Trends 2014:
Levels and Trends in Industrialised
Countries, a study by the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees.
Globally, the number of asylum
applications recorded in the 44
industrialised countries rose to an
estimated 866,000 in 2014, up by 45
per cent from a year earlier.“This is the
fourth consecutive annual increase and
the second highest annual level since
the early 1980s. As such, the 2014 figure
is close to an all-time high of almost
900,000 applications recorded in the 44
industrialised countries in 1992.”
The UNHCR points out that Pakistan
was the “sixth highest source country
of asylum seekers in the industrialised
world” in 2014 after Syria, Iraq,
Afghanistan, Serbia and Eritrea.
Some 26,300 Pakistanis had applied
for asylum in 2014, the highest number
ever recorded, up marginally by four
per cent from 25,200 claims of the
previous year. “Nevertheless, this is
the fourth consecutive annual increase
and follows an annual average of
Even UNHCR data
on asylum seekers
from Pakistan does
not quite capture
the true picture because the
numbers given in it do not
take into account Pakistanis
fleeing to Sri Lanka
and Thailand and other
southeast Asian countries in
recent years
AN IMMIGRATION LAWYER
based in Islamabad
about 11,000 claims in 2009 and 2010,”
according to the UNHCR. The increase
was particularly significant in Italy,
where asylum levels more than doubled
from 3,200 in 2013 to almost 7,100 a
year later.
Germany and the United Kingdom
were the other important destination
countries with 4,000 and 3,900
applications, respectively.
Little wonder then that Australia’s
government had to place an
advertisement in Pakistani newspapers,
warning asylum seekers against entering
that country illegally, and Sri Lanka
suspending the facility of providing visit
visas to Pakistani travellers at airport.
“Even UNHCR data on asylum
seekers from Pakistan does not quite
capture the true picture because the
numbers given in it do not take into
account Pakistanis fleeing to Sri Lanka
and Thailand and other southeast
Asian countries in recent years,” the
lawyer explains. Pakistan’s immigration
officials in Lahore endorse him.
“More asylum seekers are going to
countries whose visa is easier to obtain.
It holds especially true for middleclass non-Muslim and Shia families,”
says an immigration official posted at
Lahore.
Some analysts hold economic
reasons responsible for the increasing
number of Pakistanis running away
from the country.
“The global trend also underscores
this fact. We see the surge in the number
of asylum seekers ever since economies
in the developing world started to slow
down in 2008,” says Shahid Zia, an
economic expert and financial analyst.
“As job opportunities in an economy
shrink, its people tend to leave for rich
and developed countries dreaming of
a better life. But it doesn’t mean other
factors — religious, social, etc — aren’t
working.”
— Internews
US raises pressure on Southeast Asian countries to open its ports to boat people
Bangladeshi, 14, kidnapped, forced into Asian migrant boat
LANGSA, INDONESIA: Snatched by people
traffickers in his native Bangladesh and forced
onto a migrant boat, 14-year-old Absaruddin
endured a weeks-long nightmare in which he
almost starved to death, saw his relatives killed
and was forced to jump overboard after being
attacked.
He lived to tell the tale after he and several
hundred other Bangladeshis and Rohingya from
Myanmar were plucked to safety Friday from
their sinking boat and the waters by Indonesian
fishermen.
“I want to go back to my home, I want to go
back to my mother,” he said, speaking from a
building where some of the migrants were being
housed in the city of Langsa, on the northeast
coast of Sumatra, after recounting an ordeal that
lasted almost two months.
The emaciated teenager, who comes from
a poor farming family, wept as he talked on a
mobile phone to his mother for the first time
since he left southern Bangladesh.
His mother could be heard weeping on the
other end of the line.
Those rescued from his vessel were among
900 migrants saved in one day alone in the same
area, the latest harrowing episode in Southeast
Asia’s migrant crisis that has been precipitated by
Thailand’s move to crack down on busy peoplesmuggling and -trafficking routes.
Huge numbers of migrants have arrived in
Malaysia and Indonesia in recent days, as they
are abandoned, and thousands more are thought
A Rohingya migrant who arrived in Indonesia by boat cries while speaking on a mobile phone with a
relative in Malaysia, at a temporary shelter Kuala Langsa in Indonesia’s Aceh Province on Saturday.
—AFP
to be stranded at sea. International pressure is emerged from Absaruddin’s boat.
building for swift action, with the United States
After weeks at sea, it was abandoned last week
joining calls for the region to open its ports.
by its crew and then pushed between Malaysia
Some of the grimmest tales so far have and Indonesia, whose navies were unwilling to let
it enter, a stark illustration of what Human Rights
Watch has called deadly “human ping pong”.
As supplies ran low, fierce fighting broke
out between the Bangladeshis and Rohingya, a
persecuted Muslim minority in predominantly
Buddhist Myanmar, with many being thrown
overboard or choosing to jump.
The vessel was sinking by the time fishermen
spotted it and came to its aid.
Several survivors have referred to many
people having drowned and been killed in the
violence on board.
The Rohingya and Bangladeshis, who are
being housed in separate buildings in Langsa,
both claim the other side started the fighting.
Absaruddin said among those believed
killed were two of his relatives, his young uncle
Mainuddin and another relative, Nobi Hossain,
who were also kidnapped.
After a starving Mainuddin, 16, begged for
more food, the crew instead started beating him,
and then started on Hossain, 18, when he tried
to intervene.
They then threw them into the sea. “I heard
them saying ‘Please save us’.We could not do
anything,” Absaruddin said.”I was too young to
protest, I cried and cried and prayed and prayed.”
For Absaruddin, one of six children, the ordeal
started when he went with his two relatives and a
friend from his village to the town of Teknaf, on
the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.
As they ate breakfast, they were asked by
some strangers to go to a garden, where they
were tied up with ropes, beaten and taken to the
overcrowded migrant boat.
At first they were given two meals a day of rice
and fresh water but then they were only given
biscuits and forced to drink sea water.
“I think about 100 people died of starvation
and their bodies were thrown out to sea,”
Absaruddin said.
He said that on Thursday, as they floated not
far off the coast of Indonesia’s Aceh province,
violence erupted and the Rohingya, armed with
weapons including guns and sharp objects,
turned on the Bangladeshis.
“They beat us and then many of us jumped
into the water for safety,” he said, adding that he
floated by clinging onto a plastic water container
until he was saved.
His friend who was on the boat was also
rescued but was now ill, he added.
However, Muhammad Tayoub Ali, a Rohingya
migrant, claimed the Bangladeshis tried to take
food from the Rohingya that was being saved for
babies and children and then began attacking
them. “The Bangladeshis threatened to kill us all,
then we jumped in the sea. There were also some
who were thrown into the sea,” said the 25-yearold, adding they were rescued five hours later.
Speaking from Bangladesh, Absaruddin’s
brother Jalaluddin confirmed he and the other
three had gone missing.
While the Rohingya are fleeing persecution,
the Bangladeshis are trying escape deep poverty.
— AFP
8
ANALYSIS
omandailyobserver
S U N DAY
M AY 1 7 l 2 0 1 5
AN INSPIRING MAN
FOR ONE AND ALL
ABDULAZIZ AL JAHDHAMI
[email protected]
H
ave you ever had the pleasure of inspiring a person to take a positive step forward
to a better life or to make his mind on a certain issue? Or has anyone inspired
you to overcome a significant struggle? Perhaps someone who could change your
life in a significant way that made you healthier, happier, successful or even satisfied?
If so, then definitely you realise the impact that positive inspiration can make in
people’s life.
Generally, life is about making impact, not making income; it isn’t about getting
and having, it’s about giving and being. That’s why inspiration is an urgent necessity
in different walks of people’s life. It awakens us to new possibilities by allowing us to
surpass our ordinary experiences and limitations. Inspiration drives a person from
lack of interest to possible opportunities and it changes the way we perceive our own
capabilities. In fact, it revives our hope in life and having a better tomorrow!
Inspiration is always powerful and good, but it’s not easy; not every public speaker
could be inspiring. Inspiration never been an easy art to have or get your hands on
even; only talented people can be inspiring and
role models for others. Today, the world’s most
Shaikh Khalfan was
successful people are renowned and regarded
celebrities for different things. Some are famous a world renowned
for their unique skills and talents while others scholar who spared
distinguished for their courage and profound
no effort to serve
impact on society.
The only thing which they all share is people in Oman and
the ability to inspire others by their various abroad. He was a
remarkable achievements, attitudes and values.
source of inspiration
Those people have made lasting contributions
towards creating a better world. It’s undoubtedly for many of us.
true that the things we do for ourselves are
gone when we are gone, but the things we do
for others remain as our legacy. People always
recall and value what we do instead of who we are!
Within this context, I believe we all recall the one of a kind inspiring man who
passed away just a few days ago, Shaikh Khalfan al Esry. He was a world renowned
inspiring Omani who spared no effort to serve people from within and outside the
country. He was a source of inspiration in different spheres of life for thousands of
people who love, respect and admire him for being a unique person in this world
indeed.
He served the nation and its people especially youth. Being a mechanical
engineering graduate, he served for over 20 years in the oil and gas field. In 2000,
he resigned and devoted himself to serve the society through different programmes
and plans. He started his own business which is mainly dedicated to human personal
and professional development. He was an inspiration for lot of people and attracted
people from all around the world with his talent of speaking multiple languages.
Due to his significant impact and inspiration on the society, he was honoured
to be a member of the State Council where he contributed notably with his
constructive initiatives and ideas to the government. Shaikh Khalfan was also
appointed as adviser when drafting and setting up strategies for small and medium
sized enterprises.
These are just a few deeds and merits which he did to the nation and the world
alike. In one of his inspiring speeches, he said: “Youth are the backbone of today and
the hope of future. My commitment is to educate youth, develop youth and lend
a hand of support to youth. Youth of Oman we are with you with our hearts and
bodies.”
As the news of his death spread, thousands of people from all over the country
gathered to attend his funeral. It was an incredible crowd of people, coming with
hearts full of pain, grief and sorrow for losing such a great man.
He was the hero who kindled the light for many people in the world; he set up
blazing torches in the dark streets of life for people to see by.
May Allah bless Shaikh Khalfan al Esry, and rest his soul in peace.
A lifeline for the desperate
D
The real estate businessman from the United Arab
warfed by warships and giant cargo vessels, the small wooden
boats that brave the dangerous crossing between the Horn of Emirates also ordered his company boats to rescue those
Africa and Yemen are a lifeline for the desperate thousands trying to escape the war. But the needs are huge: the injured
crowd into apartments, their wounds wrapped in bandages
fleeing war.
Each day they come from the Arabian Peninsula to soaked in blood.
Some have deep burns or severed limbs.
Djibouti, crossing the waters of the Bab al Mandeb strait —
Others, with scarred and mutilated faces, are testament to
the “Gate of Tears” in Arabic — the key shipping channel of
the intensity of the violence they fled.
the Gulf of Aden.
“We are told that Yemen is a country with problems! That
Djibouti, a tiny nation of over 800,000 people, is a haven
for Yemeni refugees fleeing the air strikes that have devastated we are Al Qaeda!” said refugee Mohamed al Said.
“If Arab countries do not help us now in this war, when
their country.
“Nobody wants to help us,” said Nasser Saleh, showing the will they help us?”
The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR has set up a
bullet wounds covering his body.
camp in the port city of Obock in Djibouti,
In late March, a coalition began air
but only 1,000 Yemenis have chosen to stay
strikes against Houthi rebels, after the
Fighting in Yemen
there.
insurgents, who are backed by ex-soldiers
has already sent
More are desperate to come.
loyal to Yemen’s former president Ali
“Many Yemenis want to leave, but the
Abdullah Saleh, seized control of large parts
thousands fleeing
blockade, the rebels firing on the boats, the
of the nation.
across the sea to
lack of boats and fuel keeps them in Yemen,”
While Yemen last week began a
Djibouti, with many said UNHCR spokesman Frederic Van
humanitarian truce, many remain fearful it
will not hold as the ceasefire is conditional more expected, notes Hamme.
“We know that there are also massive
on the rebels reciprocating and not
KARIM LEBHOUR
population movements within the country.”
exploiting it for military advantage.
The UN expects more than 15,000
“Where can we go? The only place left for
Yemenis will arrive in the next six months in Djibouti, where
us is the grave and death,” Saleh said.
At its narrowest point, there are only some 30 km between the government says it will offer them what support it can.
“Our borders remain open, they have always been,”
Yemen and Djibouti, a port that guards the entrance to the
Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh, who has led the
Red Sea and Suez Canal.
The fighting in Yemen has already sent thousands fleeing strategic former French colony since 1999, said.
At the Al Rahma hospital in the capital’s Balbala
across the sea to Djibouti, with many more expected to make
neighbourhood, doctors admit their helplessness in the face
the crossing.
His right arm has been operated on, his left is bound in of the severity and number of wounded.
Sitting on her bed was a little girl of seven called Farrah,
a makeshift splint. “I came here in transit, but I’ve been here
now for 16 days and I can’t leave as we need specialised who had been hospitalised for over two weeks with a bullet
lodged in her brain.
surgeons, but there are none here,” he said.
“Her condition may deteriorate at any time if it (the bullet)
Along with Saleh, hundreds of Yemenis have found refuge
is not taken out, but we have no neurosurgeon or MRI scanner
in a half-built residential development after its owner Ibrahim
here,” said head doctor Qassem Abdul Awwad.
Lootah offered what space he had to shelter those in need.
Are building codes strictly followed in quake-prone areas
A
big earthquake in Assam and in the
Himalayan region was expected ever
since I was a geophysics student at
Banaras Hindu University during 19741976. At that time, funding agencies
spent money for routine observations of
various parameters in the wake of a major
earthquake.
In the past, a few major earthquakes
have occurred in the Himalayan region:
the Bihar-Nepal earthquake of 1988,
Uttarkashi in 1991 and Chamoli in 1999.
They claimed many lives and many
houses collapsed, especially during the
Uttarkashi quake. The major damage to
buildings occurred because of the poor
quality of construction.
In the last three decades the population
has increased and the density of
buildings has also increased in the
Indo-Gangetic plain; many high rise
buildings have mushroomed in many
cities in this area.
In earthquakes, building collapses
claim human lives. Some of the
major cities in the Indo-Gangetic plain are
connected underground up to Himalayan
region.
If any major earthquake occurs in the
Himalayan region, the energy will be
transmitted to major cities — especially
Delhi and the surrounding. Can all the
houses and highrises sustain the ground
acceleration generated by any earthquake?
Taking the lead in this, IIT-Kanpur
emphasised, at a series of conferences
and workshops during 1988-2007, that
building codes must be strictly followed
in. But in India, it is difficult to follow
these building codes and most of the
buildings are built these only on the paper.
In India, we have the National Disaster
Management Authority (NDMA), whose
chairman is the prime minister. During
the earlier Congress regime, scientists
were involved and now Narendra Modi
has been criticised for removing many
scientific members and administrators.
I must appreciate Prime Minister
Modi’s action and his vision as some of the
members were enjoying their positions
without doing anything and never ever
participated or visited any areas prone to
natural hazards.
I would urge Modi to launch an outreach
programme on TV to warn people living
In earthquakes, building
collapses claim human lives.
Some of the major cities in
the Indo-Gangetic plain are
connected underground
up to Himalayan region,
notes RAMESH SINGH
in the Himalayan and Indo-Gangetic
plain areas to make their buildings safe by
following proper building codes and even
educate poor people how to make a cheap
and safe buildings so that human lives
can be saved if an earthquake occurs. We
must also educate school students about
the different kind of natural hazards
and their impact and how to save
themselves.
Earthquake prediction is a big challenge
before scientists and it is difficult to
expect any early warning. Scientists must
be involved in understanding earthquake
processes and develop building codes for
different regions.
The Ministry of Earth Sciences may
consider enhancing the GPS network in
the Himalayan region at intervals of 50100 km. Overall, NDMA must study how
to implement building codes to design
earthquake proof buildings since a big
earthquake may occur tomorrow or in a
week or in a month or in a year.
We should not forget 1923 Tokyo
earthquake of 7.9 magnitude, which killed
more than 148,000 people, with 50,000
going missing and thousands of buildings
collapsing.
These days, buildings are generally
intact with the same magnitude
earthquake in Japan since building codes
are strictly followed.
A woman speaks on her mobile phone as she stands with others after vacating their
office buildings following an earthquake in Kolkata, India, on May 12. — Reuters
ANALYSIS
S U N DAY
M AY 1 7 l 2 0 1 5
omandailyobserver
9
A discovery that has changed so many lives
S
RAY PETERSEN
[email protected]
omething we all take too much for granted is our
eyesight. If it starts to give us problems, we simply go
to one of the many opticians now available to us, and
are counselled as to which form of enhancement is the
most appropriate to us, given our lifestyle and budget.
I know just how much I rely on my own.
I’m as blind as a bat without them!
The human eye is a marvelous piece of machinery,
but it does break down somewhere along the line for
most of us.
The most common among eye conditions are
usually myopia (nearsightedness), hypermetropia
(farsightedness), astigmatism and presbyopia, which
is the deterioration in our eyesight due to aging.
On a whim, I thought I should find out a little more
about glasses, which historically, are relatively new to
us. Whether called ‘eyeglasses,’ ‘glasses,’ ‘spectacles,’ or
‘specs,’ they have been with us, for slightly more than
200 years.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca, a Roman philosopher,
playright and politician in biblical times, was said to
have read “all of the books in Rome,” through a glass
globe full of water, in the first recorded example of
glass being utilised to enhance eyesight.
There are occasional, references to glass use
throughout the Orient, but strangely, these were in the
form of eye protection, and not to actually enhance or
improve one’s eyesight.
In 1268, Roger Bacon, an English philosopher,
empiricist and scholar, wrote this visionary statement.
“If anyone examines letters or other minute objects bifocals, split-lens glasses that allowed people to see
through the medium of crystal or glass or other clearly at a distance through the top half of the glasses
transparent substance, if it be shaped like the lesser lens, while also being able to read small print through
segment of a sphere, with the convex side towards the the lower part of the lens.
Franklin wrote of his invention that “I am amazed.
eye, he will see the letters far better and they will seem
larger to him. For this reason such an instrument is My eyesight now is as good as it has ever been.” The
useful to all persons and to those with weak eyes for developments of the 18th century were therefore
they can see any letter, however small, if magnifier quite phenomenal, but glasses from then, until the
20th century though, were still
enough.”
treated with suspicion and with
Maybe the inventor, but
vanity being high on the level of
the architect of the first major
Lucius Annaeus Seneca importance for the wealthy, they
development was Edward
would not admit to poor eyesight
Scarlett, a London based
was said to have read
readily.
optician, who advertised in
“all of the books in
If one person made eyewear
1730 that he could, “Grindeth
Rome,” through a glass socially acceptable, it was
all manner of optick glasses, and
German born American, John
make fraymes approv’d as the
globe full of water,
Jacob Bausch, who with his
exactest way of fitting different
in the first recorded
partner, Henry Lomb, was to
eyes.” He pioneered frames and
example of glass being alter the use and perception of
sidepieces that were practical
and wearable.
used to enhance sight. eyewear forever.
He discovered that, by using
Then, 20 years later, James
vulcanite, a copper-based metal,
Ayscough came up with the
he could produce strong, light,
idea of hinging the sidepieces,
meaning that glasses could now, not only be much and reasonably flexible glasses frames, for a mere
more easily worn, but could be easily carried in a fraction of other products on the market.
Bausch and Lomb are still one of the largest optical
pocket or purse for use when required.
In 1780, one of the most famous of all inventors, companies in the world today.
In terms of technical development there have been
Benjamin Franklin, who was later to become the
President of the United States of America, invented many innovations.
Progressive lenses, photochromic (light to dark)
lenses, polarised and even digital lenses. I wear
progressive lenses which zonally, from top to bottom,
allow me greater vision at a distance, and then towards
the bottom are better for reading, but there is no
distinctive line of demarcation like with the older
bifocals.
I also have photochromic capability, which means
the lenses darken as the sunlight is greater, thus
protecting my eyes more, and digital lenses, offering
greater, clearer vision through more of my glass lenses.
So what of glasses in the future? Well, it seems that
as the world develops, so does the pressure on people
to read, be informed, and function academically more
often, the pressure on our eyes becomes more acute.
Also, socially, driven my consumer branding
pressures, young people want more from glasses.
Integrated music, video and photography are
already being explored by the google brains-trust,
however their social impact is already drawing
negative feedback due to personal privacy issues.
Personally, I would rather see a more philanthropic
perspective explored, and to see more research in
areas that would enable positive progress in achieving
some form of vision for the blind and partially sighted
people of the world.
You see, I can see, but cannot read without
glasses, and I can imagine how the lives of millions
of unsighted people would be improved if they could
only see, let alone read.
CIVIL WAR FEARS
FRED BUTEERA AND SINIKKA TARVAINEN
B
urundian President Pierre Nkurunziza appeared to have thwarted a
coup attempt last Friday, but analysts say that may not stop the East
African country from gradually sliding into chaos.
The coup attempt created a rift within the army that could herald
a civil war, they say. Former intelligence chief Godefroid Niyombare
attempted the takeover while Nkurunziza was in Tanzania. But the
president returned to Burundi, pro-government troops got the upper
hand and several of the mutineers were arrested.
The coup bid followed weeks of massive protests against Nkurunziza’s
decision to seek a third term in elections scheduled for June, despite the
constitution setting a two-term limit. More than 20 people were killed.
Many Burundians saw the army as siding with the demonstrators
and preventing the police from cracking down harder on them.
“We first thought it was a joke, because the order in Africa is that the
army protects dictators,” demonstrator Ruth Mukamurenze said.
Soldier Justin Nkubito said: “Burundi showed that armies, if they
stick to their professional ethic, can stop turmoil created by dictators.”
But Niyombare’s move led to a rapid escalation of violence, with
soldiers loyal to the government clashing with those supporting the
coup in the streets of Bujumbura.
Eventual reprisals against the coup leaders are expected to leave the
army divided and have sparked fears of ethnic conflict in a country that
has seen a string of such massacres since independence in 1962.
The 1993-2005 civil war pitting the traditionally dominant Tutsi
minority (14 per cent of the population) and Hutus (85 per cent)
claimed 300,000 lives.
The 2000 Arusha agreement that ended the war five years later
started healing the ethnic rift by setting power-sharing quotas that gave
the Tutsis a strong representation.
Nkurunziza’s attempts to secure a third term began to veer towards
an ethnic conflict as the Imbonerakure, the youth wing of the Hutudominated ruling party, was accused of killing government opponents
and especially Tutsis. More than 100,000 people — many of them Tutsis
— have fled to neighbouring Rwanda, Congo and Tanzania, according
to the United Nations.
“Factional fighting between rival ethnic groups in the military and
police is likely to erupt and increase the probability of a civil war,” said
Robert Besseling from the country economic risk analysis group IHS.
Other analysts, however, stress that Burundians demonstrated
against Nkurunziza across ethnic lines.
A migrant Rohingya from Myanmar breaks down at the new confinement area in the fishing town of Kuala Langsa in Aceh province. — AFP
Southeast Asia’s big money trade in humans
A
round $1,100 should have secured passage
for each of the Rohingya migrants who were
found adrift in the Andaman Sea — victims
of a dark trade in humans that pivots around
smuggling kingpins in Thailand’s south.
From the heaving bow of a wooden boat
packed with emaciated and bedraggled
fellow Rohingya, Mohammad Salim, 30,
said his brother had the 4,000 Malaysian
ringgit ($1,120) demanded by the brokers
— if he made it.
“I haven’t paid anything yet we just want
to get to Malaysia,” he said.
As ruthless trafficking networks have
splintered, the desperate migrants have been
left weak and starving on board the boat,
which AFP found several kilometres off the
southern Thai island of Koh Lipe.
Traffickers are also known to travel with
the boats. Provided with food and water,
and its engine fixed, the boat left Thai waters
early on Friday, in line with the kingdom’s
policy of stopping the migrants from settling
in Thailand.
Its location is now unknown.
The pay-on-arrival deal described by
Salim is favoured by some smuggling
networks which start in western Myanmar
— where the stateless Rohingya live in
desperate conditions — and the adjacent
poor coastal areas of Bangladesh. They reach
hundreds of kilometres down to the Thai
south and beyond.
In recent months, the gangs appear to
have adjusted their tactics to offer cheap, or
even free, sea transit south.
Rights groups say the real money is
made in southern Thailand, where brokers
hold the human cargo in jungle camps or
safe houses awaiting release payments of
around $2,000 from relatives or friends, or
sell them on in bulk to farms and businesses
in Malaysia.
A boatload of 400 people — recruited,
duped or even kidnapped — could be
worth up to $800,000, according to antitrafficking group Freeland Foundation,
which has helped Thai police investigate
the illicit industry. Salim and his fellow
passengers could not have known when they
set out from Myanmar for Malaysia that the
Thais were about to close many well-worn
smuggling routes through their territory.
The belated crackdown, which has seen
more than 60 arrest warrants issued and a
similar number of police transferred, was
sparked by the May 1 discovery of mass
graves on a forested hillside straddling the
Malaysian border.
The move appears to have set off a
chain reaction and traffickers have fled,
abandoning migrants by the hundreds at sea
or in jungle camps.
As the remains of migrants were dug
out from shallow graves in the full glare of
the media, Thai police came under intense
pressure to act.
Thai officials have long been accused of
turning a blind eye to human trafficking and
even taking a cut from the lucrative trade.
An influential former Satun province
official, Pajjuban Aungkachotephan —
better known as Ko Tong or ‘Big Brother
Tong’ — has fallen under suspicion.
Police are investigating whether Ko
Real money is made in
southern Thailand, where
brokers hold the human cargo
in jungle camps or safe houses
awaiting release payments of
around $2,000 from relatives,
reports PREETI JHA
Tong ran a major smuggling route through
a private island off Satun, onto the Thai
mainland where the mass graves were
found, and then into Malaysia.
“Every big business has to go through his
ears and eyes,” one businessman in Satun
said, requesting anonymity.
“I don’t know if he was involved or not
(in trafficking) but if anyone was doing
something illegal, he would know,” he added.
National
police
chief
Somyot
Poompanmoung on Friday said Ko Tong,
who is on the run, had contacted police with
an offer to surrender as long as he received
bail — a demand rejected as “unacceptable”.
Trafficking experts say Thailand is the
centre of a multi-million-dollar trade
run by competing transnational criminal
syndicates.
“Most traffickers from Myanmar and
Malaysia insist that Thai bosses are taking
the lion’s share of the profits from this trade,”
said Matthew Smith of advocacy group
Fortify Rights.
But the sums involved — which Smith
puts at $250 million since 2012 — means
“layers of people” have got rich, with ample
cash left over to grease palms where needed.
The money trail reaches back to the poor
departure countries.
In Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where
1.3 million Rohingya live stateless and
unwelcome, tens of thousands have joined
boats headed south, the majority since a
wave of deadly communal violence in 2012.
The UN says a record 25,000 Rohingya,
and poor migrants from neighbouring
Bangladesh, took to the sea through the
Bay of Bengal between January and March
this year. But the entire smuggling network
has been jolted since the Thai grave find,
which some observers link to the looming
publication of US rankings on trafficking.
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omandailyobserver
INDIA
S U N DAY
M AY 1 7 l 2 0 1 5
Modi’s Shanghai visit
recalls migrated Indians
Prime Minister Narendra Modi departs following the opening ceremony for the Centre for Gandhian and Indian Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai yesterday.
Modi is on a three-day visit to China. — AFP
1 million screened at 500
health camps on one day
AGRA: In what is perhaps a world
record, a million people across 100
cities in India were screened at 500
health camps on a single day and
provided tests and services worth Rs 15
crore ($2.5 million), an organiser said.
The camps were held ealier this week
and data relating to them has only now
been compiled, said Sheetal Kapoor, an
official of OXXY Swasth Bharat which
organised the initiative.
“Oxxy stands for Oxygen for the
next generation aims at making health
services transparent and making
people aware about services available at
various places in India and the
comparative costs for availing
of facilities,” the founder of the
organisation, which has four centres
across the country, said.
“The Oxxy concept began with
ideals rooted in a simple, yet pioneering
vision, to make medical services more
affordable by providing transparency in
healthcare,” he added.
“We decided to conduct these mega
500 camps in India for the benefit of
society. We believe in equality and
being healthy is a right for all.
This is just a try to give back to
society what we and our ancestors have
earned since long,” Gupta said.
These tests conducted included
blood sugar, TSH, BP, ECG, pulmonary
function, cholesterol, diagnostics,
dental, eye, skin, hair, fitness, and stress
relief.
The medical centres that were part
of this initiative included BLK Hospital,
Metro Hospital, Wellness Pathcare, Dr
Batra’s, Dr Khosla’s Dental Clinic and
My Family Dentist.
As part of the Swastha Bharat
initiative led by OXXY, free pick-anddrop services for any medical need
has been now started in New Delhi,
Mumbai, Pune, Jaipur, Kolkatta,
Chandigarh, Bangalore, Ahmedabad
and Kochi. The facility can be availed of
by dialing 09999-000-102.
— IANS
SHANGHAI: Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s visit to Shanghai
follows in the footsteps of a large
ethnic Indian population which lived
in the thriving port city before China’s
Communists took power in 1949.
Thousands of Indians worked in
Shanghai in jobs ranging from business
to law enforcement during the 19th
and early 20th centuries, when Britain
dominated the International Settlement
and India was part of the British Empire.
Around 2,800 Indians, mostly
Sikhs, were recruited into the Shanghai
Municipal Police (SMP) which kept
order in the concession, according to
one estimate, and a Sikh policeman
wearing a red turban remains a symbol
of the times, immortalised in a wax
figure at a city museum.
“Sikhs added colour to the Shanghai
landscape with their flame-red turbans
and soldierly appearance,” Meena
Vathyam wrote on her blog “Sikhs in
Shanghai”.
“The Parsees ran successful
businesses,” she said, referring to Indian
followers of the minority Zoroastrian
faith. “Sikhs, Parsees indeed were a
very important part of tumultuous
Shanghai city.” Many of the SMP
officers who opened fire on Chinese
protesters on the penultimate day of
May in 1925, triggering anti-foreigner
demonstrations and riots across China
known as the May 30th Movement,
were Sikhs.
The Indian population in the
International Settlement alone peaked
at around 2,400, according to the
research of Robert Bickers, a professor
at the University of Bristol.
Many more will have lived in the
wider city. Indians had their own
chamber of commerce, the Indian
Merchant Association, as well as sports
clubs for football and field hockey. The
Parsees had their own cricket club.
Besides police, common jobs
included being watchmen and traders,
but they faced racism from other
foreigners and the Chinese. Shanghai
natives gave the police the derogatory
nickname “Red Head Number Three”,
which entered local dialect as a
reference to Sikhs in general. — AFP
AAP, Delhi Lt Gov lock horns over
choice of acting chief secretary
ACCUSATIONS: The APP govt says Lt Governor acted unconstitutionally in appointment
NEW DELHI: A full-blown war
erupted between the Arvind Kejriwalled government and Lt Governor
Najeeb Jung over the appointment
of a bureaucrat as the chief secretary
in-charge who the former accused
of lobbying for power distribution
companies.
While the AAP government accused
Jung of acting unconstitutionally
by appointing Secretary (Services),
Shakuntala Gamlin, as the chief
secretary in-charge, Jung asserted that
he was “competent” to do so.
Jung on Friday gave Gamlin the
additional charge of chief secretary of
Delhi since incumbent Chief Secretary
K K Sharma is in the US for personal
work. Jung also expressed regret “that
Scores of Indian American students won awards in various categories
name of senior officer was being brought
in public domain in such a manner, that
too a lady officer and one belonging to
the northeast”.
The Delhi government said it had
“certain reservations” about Gamlin’s
conduct and was hesitant to give her
additional charge of the chief secretary
as she “was perceived to be extremely
close to electricity companies in Delhi
and was lobbying for their interests”.
“However, the lieutenant governor,
in a completely unconstitutional
manner appointed Shakuntala Gamlin,
to this position,” the government said in
a statement.
“The lieutenant governor by-passed
the elected government, the chief
minister and deputy chief minister
Jung on Friday gave Gamlin
the additional charge of
chief secretary of Delhi since
incumbent Chief Secretary
K K Sharma is in the US for
personal work
(who also acts as the minister in-charge
of services department),” the statement
said.
“The lieutenant governor does not
have the extra-ordinary powers under
the constitution to by-pass the elected
government and issue instructions
directly to the secretaries, whatever be
the provocation,” the statement said.
Responding to the charges, Jung said
that under the constitution’s article 239
AA, the Lt governor is the representative
of state authority in Delhi and “in
appointment of chief secretary, he is
competent to designate the officiating
chief secretary in consultation with the
chief minister”.
Jung said he “approved the name of
Gamlin as against the name proposed
by the chief minister considering she
was senior and has a proven track
record”.
“The name proposed by the chief
minister did not figure in the list
of names submitted by the services
department and the concerned officer
has not even been given a posting by the
Delhi government so far.
— IANS
ENHANCING TRADE RELATIONS WITH SWITZERLAND
9 Indian students win awards at
global science, engineering fair
NEW YORK: An Indian American
student won the prestigious Intel
Foundation Young Scientist Award on
Friday, while nine students from across
India won awards in various categories
and five US students were awarded
science trips to India at the Intel
International Science and Engineering
Fair (IISEF) in Pttsburgh. .
Many past winners have gone on to
win Nobel Prizes and other prestigious
awards. For his work on refining a
system to help protect the seas from
oil-drilling disasters, Karan Jerath, 18,
of Friendswood, Texas, received the
$50,000 Young Scientist Award, the
second highest prize at the IISEF.
Jerath was also one of the five
students selected for the Intel and IndoUS Science and Technology Forum
Visit to India Award.
They will receive a weeklong visit
to India to showcase their research
projects, visit research leading
institutions and interact with top
scientists.
Onkar Singh Gujral, 18, of La
Martiniere for Boys in Kolkata, won the
Association of Computing Machinery
first award and the second award in the
System software category for his entry
on image processing algorithms for
detecting nanomaterials.
The other Indian winners came
from Delhi, Kozhikode, Mangalore
and Panipat. An Indian American
foundation, gave ten awards at the Fair.
Sanjana J Rane, 17, of Louisville,
Kentucky, received the first award for
work relating to renal fibrosis from
the Ashtavadhani Vidwan Ambati
Subbaraya Chetty Foundation based
in Georgia. Five American students
of Indian descent were among those
who received the foundations second
awards. About 1,700 students who
participated at the IISEF in Pittsburgh
were the top performers at 422 affiliated
fairs held in 75 countries. Seventeen
students from India were selected for
the IISEF from the National Science
Fair held by Initiative for Research and
Innovation in Science.
Maya Ajmera, who is Indian descent
and heads the Society for Science and
the Public that conducts the IISEF,
congratulated the winners and said, The
top prize, the $75,000 Gordon E Moore
Award, went to Raymond Wang, 17, of
Canada.
Scores of Indian American students
won awards in various categories,
five of them getting the first award in
their specialisations, biochemistry,
behavioral sciences, environmental
engineering, mathematics and energy
physics.
More than 200 Indian American
students were among the finalists
at the IISEF, having won regional
competitions across the US. In addition,
students of Indian descent came from
South Africa, Malaysia and Singapore.
These are the other winners from
schools in India:
* Mansi Aggarwal, 17, and Harshit
Jindal, 14, of Maharaja Agarsain Public
School, Delhi: Fourth Award in Plant
Sciences category for research on “An
Effective Herbal Ointment against
Enterobiasis”
* Ravi Pradip, 17, of Dayapuram
Residential School, Kozhikode, Kerala:
Third Place in Material Sciences for
work on “Plumeria Blooms for Organic
Electronics”
* Arsh Shah Dilbagi, 17, of DAV
Public School, Panipat, Haryana, Third
Award in Embedded Systems category
for developing “TALK-An AAC Device:
Converting Breath into Speech for the
Disabled”
* Mansi Aggarwal, 17, and Harshit
Jindal, 14, of Maharaja Agarsain Public
School, Delhi: Fourth Award in Plant
Sciences category for research on “An
Effective Herbal Ointment against
Enterobiasis”
* Aditya Bhargava, 16, and Komal S,
16, of Sharada Vidyanikethana Public
School, Mangalore, Karnataka: Fourth
Award in Material Sciences for work
on “Highly Sensitive Nano-Ferrite for
Detection of Carbon Monoxide in Air”
— IANS
President of Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Jyotsna Suri (R) and Immediate Past President of
FICCI and Chairman of Xpro India Limited, Sidharth Birla (L) chats with Minister of Economy Switzerland, Johann SchneiderAmmann during a meeting in New Delhi. FICCI organised an Interactive meeting with Swiss Minister of Economy and
accompanying Business Delegation on Friday. — AFP
Punjab to impart farm training to youth
CHANDIGARH: With farming no
longer being considered financially
viable, Punjab has proposed imparting
skills to unemployed youth in the
agriculture and allied sectors and
promoting existing farm practices on
scientific and modern lines to up-skill
farmers and farm labour.
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal
on Saturday announced the setting
up of a ‘State Advisory Council for
Agriculture Skills’ to coordinate with
the Agriculture Skill Council of India
(ASCI).
It will prepare a comprehensive timebound action programme for imparting
skills to the unemployed youth in the
agriculture sector. This was decided at a
meeting of the Punjab government, led
by the chief minister, with a delegation
of ASCI led by Chairman Sanjeev
Asthana here on Saturday.
“Upgradation of skills in the
agriculture and allied sectors is the need
of the hour and the state government
is all set to extend fulsome support
and cooperation to implement the
skill development programme in the
agrarian sector,” Badal said. Punjab, the
country’s ‘green revolution’ state, has led
on the agriculture front since the 1960s.
The state contributes over 50 per cent
of the food grains to the national kitty
despite having just 1.54 per cent of the
country’s geographical area.
Badal also gave approval to leading
farm mechanisation company John
Deere to set up a Centre of Excellence
(COE) in affordable farm mechanisation
to encourage farmers to adopt the latest
farm practices to enhance their yield.
— IANS
INDIA
S U N DAY
M AY 1 7 l 2 0 1 5
Only 8 pc projects stalled due
to land acquisition problems
OTHER REASONS: Some struck because of lack of funds or due to lack of promoters’ interest
NEW DELHI: Only eight per cent
of the 804 industrial projects across
India have been stalled because of land
acquisition problems, an RTI query has
revealed.
The findings debunk official claims
that many projects are in the limbo as
the Right to Fair Compensation and
Transparency in Land Acquisition,
Rehabilitation
and
Resettlement
(Amendments) Bill, 2015 has not been
enacted yet.
According to information received
by RTI activist Venkatesh Nayak, as of
February this year only 8.2 per cent or 66
of the total 804 projects have been halted
due to problems in acquiring land. Of
these, 29 are government projects and
37 are private.
The reason for stalling over 150
projects was marked as “others” in the
The Economic Survey 201415 presented in parliament
by Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley in February had
a complete list of stalled
projects — in the public and
private sector — across the
country.
RTI, not explaining what it means.
For over 120 other projects, data was
“not available”.
Around 95 or 11.8 per cent of the
projects were thwarted due to lack of
clearances (non-environmental), while
at least 97 or 12 per cent were stalled due
to unfavourable market conditions.
Around 85 or 10.5 per cent were
CM cracks whip on
Bengaluru civic officials
BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief
Minister Siddaramaiah warned officials
of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara
Palike (BBMP) of stern action if they
don’t improve the city’s civic amenities
and complete the various infrastructure
projects.
“I told the BBMP administration
to take up cleaning the filth on a warfooting, clear garbage dumps piling
up in almost every ward, fill pot holes,
check storm water drainage and
repair damaged footpaths to improver
the city’s image,” Siddaramaiah
told reporters after going through
the city and inspecting civic works in
progress.
In view of the ensuing monsoon and
civic body elections in 198 wards across
the extended city in July, as directed by
the Supreme Court on May 5, the chief
minister has decided to make surprise
visits and inspect civic works for their
timely execution.
“No official, however big or small,
will be spared from action if they
neglect duty to maintain the city of 10
million people, affected by civic woes
and inadequate infrastructure facilities.
They must not keep any project
pending for want of clearances or funds,
as both are made available,” he said.
The BBMP was expanded in 2007 by
including seven city municipal councils
and one town municipal council and
111 surrounding villages to increase
civic wards to 198 from 100.
The ruling Congress not only
superceded the civic body on April 18,
four days before its five-year term was
to lapse on April 22, but also passed
an amendment bill to the Karnataka
Municipal Corporations Act 2015 in
the state legislative assembly on April
20 to trifurcate the civic behemoth for
managing the city.
The bill has been referred to a
select committee of the state legislative
council. During his whirlwind tour of
the city, Siddaramaiah visited staterun Bowring Hospital in Shivajinagar,
inspected road and pavement works on
St Mark’s Road in the central business
district, Okalipuram area near the main
railway station and metro project on
Mysuru road in south-west suburb.
The chief minister’s trip across the
city with Home Minister K J George
and city in-charge minister Ramalinga
Reddy with dozen officials in an
entourage led to traffic snarls, as their
convoy blocked vehicular movement
on a working day and caused hardship
to thousands of commuters. — IANS
EARNING A LIVELIHOOD
struck because of lack of funds and over
90 or 11.1 per cent were delayed due to
lack of promoters’ interest.
The Economic Survey 2014-15
presented in parliament by Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley in February had
a complete list of stalled projects — in
the public and private sector — across
the country. Delhi-based activist Nayak
sought details of the reasons why the
projects were still hanging.
According to the response by the
finance ministry’s department of
economic affairs, the projects stalled due
to land acquisition problems are worth
over Rs 1,10,000 crore.
The data showed that merely around
30 projects were halted because of lack
of environmental clearances.
Fuel, feedstock, raw material supply
problem and natural calamities were
also cited as reasons for halting projects.
There seemed to be more projects for
the elite as compared to those dedicated
for the poor and marginalised.
Nayak said that 75 projects were
about building hotels and resorts,
34 about posh residences, 28 about
shopping malls and five were
about constructing multiplexes, among
others.
A road-widening project in
Bengaluru, four irrigation projects
in Jharkhand and a campus each
in Haryana and Delhi were among
those projects stalled due to land
acquisition issues.
Overall, the projects are about power
generation, airport construction or
expansion, road and railway expansion,
pharmaceuticals, textile and software
sectors, among others.
— IANS
omandailyobserver
11
Pachauri seeks court
nod to enter TERI
NEW DELHI: A court here on
Saturday fixed May 21 to hear the
plea of environmentalist R K Pachauri
seeking modification of an order that
bars him from entering The Energy and
Resources Institute (TERI). Additional
Sessions Judge Raj Kumar Tripathi
posted the matter for May 21 for further
hearing.
Pachauri, who is facing charges of
sexual harassment and currently is
on leave from TERI has requested a
modification of an earlier court order
and permission to resume work from
the office premises.
Pachauri said in his plea that the
complainant was not posted at TERI
premises and therefore there shall be
no occasion for him “contacting or
attempting to influence or threaten” the
individual.
Pachauri has moved the Delhi court
seeking modification of its March
21 order which had granted him
protection from arrest on the condition
that he would not enter the TERI office
till the investigation is complete.
“The complainant told court
that an application has filed against
Pachauri’s anticipatory bail in the Delhi
High Court and opposed the plea of
accused.
The Delhi police also opposed the
plea saying that investigation in the case
is still going on.
After the sexual harassment
complaint Pachauri had stepped
down as chairperson of the UN
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) in February and
proceeded on leave from TERI, where
he was the director general. — IANS
THE REFLECTIONS AFTER A HAILSTORM
People walk past a horse and owner reflected in a puddle after a hailstorm in the northern hill town of Shimla. — AFP
‘Act against magistrate who ordered search of Parrikar’s house’
PANAJI: Goa’s BJP-led coalition
government has demanded that Bombay
High Court should examine the conduct
of a trial court judge, who on April 22
directed the police to search the official
residence of Defence Minister Manohar
Parrikar (pictured) for a ‘missing’ convicted
ruling MLA.
A letter written by the state Chief
Secretary R K Srivastava to the Registrar of
the Bombay High Court has also described
the April 22 order by Judicial Magistrate
First Class (JMFC) Bosco Roberts,
instructing the police to search the 10,
Akbar Road residence of Parrikar, as
“illegal” and one having alleged “political
overtones”.
“This order seems to be an exercise
which smacks of over enthusiasm on the
part of the learned JMFC and has got
political overtones.
Accordingly this government desires
that the conduct of the aforesaid learned
JMFC should be investigated by the
Honourable High Court of Bombay for
taking appropriate action against him as
deemed fit,” says Srivastava’s letter.
While the letter was written by
Srivastava on May 5, it was available in the
public domain only on Saturday.
IANS has a copy of the letter.
On April 22, JMFC Roberts had issued
a warrant to
search 10,
Akbar road,
the official
residence
of Defence
Minister
Manohar
Parrikar, after an
activist-lawyer
Aires Rodrigues,
a petitioner in
the case alleged that Francisco Pacheco, a
ruling MLA and former Archives
and Archeaology minister, was hiding
there.
The search warrant was stayed later
that day, after the state government
appealed to the District and Sessions
Court arguing, that searching Parrikar’s
residence would cause embarrassment to
the country.
Pacheco has many criminal cases
registered against him dealing with
extortion, assault, bigamy, money
laundering and human trafficking.
He has been missing since April 9 this
year.
Police have been unable to serve an
arrest warrant on him, ever since the
Supreme Court last month upheld his
conviction in a 2006 assault case. — IANS
Local girls who attended ceremonies said they were hugely inspired by bride’s courage
Maharashtra bride takes a toilet as wedding gift!
An Indian farmer transports harvested paddy on a bullock-cart from a paddy field
at Burha Mayong village, on the outskirts of Guwahati, the capital city of
northeastern state of Assam, yesterday. — AFP
AKOLA (Maharashtra): A toilet stole
the show at a traditional Maharashtrian
marriage here. The prefabricated
toilet with a water closet, a wash-basin
and mirror standing around one foot
above the ground, was the considerate
wedding gift on Friday evening from
the bride’s parents since the bridegroom’s family did not have one in their
home.
A few weeks ago, when Akola resident
Chaitali D Galakhe’s marriage was fixed
with Devendra Makhode of Yavatmal,
she was alarmed to discover that her inlaws’ home lacked a toilet and the family
went in the open to attend their nature’s
call.
“At the time of finalising the marriage,
I had no idea, but later I found that my
in-laws home had no toilet.
I discussed the issue with my parents
and sisters in detail,” Chaitali told
mediapersons after her unique wedding
present was unveiled before the invitees
on Friday evening.
The farmer’s daughter, used to a
proper toilet at her home, made a onepoint demand to her family: “I am not
interested in a television, refrigerator or
a washing machine or gold jewellery as a
wedding gift... I only want a ready-made
toilet which I can carry to my in-laws
home.”
Initially her father Dilip Galakhe
found the demand ridiculous and
thought she had gone bonkers, but soon
he was convinced. It was decided to
“make her happy” by fulfilling her wish
before marriage.
A pre-fabricated toilet was ordered
for Chaitali from a local manufacturer
which would cost a hefty Rs 18,000 —
around the cost of a medium TV, fridge
or washer. When the manufacturer
casually enquired the need for the
pre-fabricated toilet, he was pleasantly
surprised.
A local volunteer for Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s Swachha Bharat
Abhiyaan, he decided to chip in — “I
have built it and given it to the family for
only Rs.12,000 — only recovering the
actual costs,” he told the media.
Though the Glakhes apprehended
ridicule by the villagers and scorn from
the in-laws’ side, the ‘toilet gift’ turned
out to be most admired present at the
wedding with the guests ‘oohing, aahing’
after inspecting it inside out.
Local girls who attended the
marriage ceremonies from both sides
(the girl’s and the boy’s) said they were
“hugely inspired” by Chaitali’s courage
in making the toilet demand.
“Several of us are planning to get
married soon and we shall enquire
whether the boy’s side have proper toilet
facilities...
If not, then this idea will help us,”
said one girl. Surrounded by the people
congratulating them, the smiling
bridegroom Devendra and the shy
Chaitali along with their families, kept
glancing at their coveted acquisition
which would be a ‘lifelong companion’.
— IANS
12
UGANDA BACK ON ALERT OVER NEW THREAT
S U N DAY l M AY 1 7 l 2 0 1 5
BURUNDI RADIO BOSS FLEES COUNTRY
Uganda said on Saturday it was boosting
security measures following fresh
threats against the east African nation by
Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels.
A statement by police said a new video
purportedly from the rebels and urging
attacks in Uganda and Burundi — nations
that both contribute troops to the African
Union’s AMISOM force in Somalia — has
been circulated online.
WORLD
The head of the prominent Burundian
independent radio station RPA has fled the
central African country amid a crackdown
by security forces loyal to President Pierre
Nkurunziza, a rights activist said on Saturday.
RPA boss Bob Rugurika was subject to threats
of jail and even death following a failed coup
attempt against President Nkurunziza and “has
had to seek shelter in another country,” said
Innocent Muhozi, head of the Burundian Press.
Boko Haram recaptures key Nigeria town
UNREST: Girl suicide bomber kills seven in northeast
Turkmenistan
pardons over
1,200 prisoners
MAIDUGURI: Boko Haram have
recaptured the strategic town of Marte
in northeastern Nigeria’s restive Borno
state, a regional official said early on
Saturday.
Also reports from Kano said a girl
about 12 years old carried out a suicide
attack at a bus station in the area.
“It is sad as we have been made
to understand that Marte has today
completely fallen under the control of
the insurgents, which to us is a very huge
setback,” said Mustapha Zannah, vice
governor of the Borno state.
The town, located along a strategic
trading route between Nigeria and
neighbouring Cameroon and Chad,
has traded hands between the terrorists
and government troops numerous times
since 2013.
A regional military coalition of
Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon
has claimed a series of major victories
against Boko Haram since launching
sweeping offensives against them in
February.
But the fighters, which recently
pledged allegiance to the IS who’ve
captured swathes of Iraq and Syria, have
been pushing back.
The fighters killed at least 55 people
in two raids on villages near Maiduguri,
the first assault on the northern city in
three months.
“Even if 90 per cent of our
communities have been liberated, the
war is not yet over,” Zannah cautioned.
Boko Haram’s six-year insurgency
has claimed some 15,000 lives and
displaced about 1.5 million people.
Meanwhile, reports from Kano
said a girl about 12 years old carried
ASHGABAT: The gas-rich former
Soviet state of Turkmenistan has
pardoned more than 1,200 prisoners
in an amnesty, state media reported on
Saturday, quoting strongman President
Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.
“Guided by the traditions of
charity and humanity that belonged
to our ancestors, our country regularly
conducts amnesties of prisoners
who were convicted of crimes,
but who have sincerely repented,”
Berdymukhamedov was quoted as
saying.
The amnesty saw 1,202 Turkmen
citizens and 13 foreigners walk free
ahead of the Central Asian state’s
Constitution Day on May 18, state
media reported.
Turkmenistan gave no details of
the non-nationals amnestied but they
are believed to be mostly citizens of
neighbouring countries arrested for
trafficking drugs.
The
amnesty
comes
after
Berdymukhamedov flew to Vienna
earlier this week to meet Austrian
President Heinz Fischer, who later
confirmed at a press briefing that he
had touched on widespread rights
abuses in the country.
Advocacy groups had appealed
to Fischer to press Turkmenistan
on its rights record which places
it close to the bottom of freedom
rankings conducted by international
organisations.
Turkmenistan is seen by Brussels
as key to diversifying from Russiasourced gas imports and EU energy
boss Maros Sefcovic visited the capital
Ashgabat at the end of April. — AFP
Army patrolling areas around Bama town.
out a suicide attack at a bus station in
northeastern Nigeria, killing seven
and injuring 31, witnesses said, shortly
after officials revealed that Boko Haram
had recaptured a strategic town in the
region.
“A girl aged about 12 detonated
an explosive under her clothes as she
approached the station’s perimeter
fence,” said Danbaba Nguru, a
shopkeeper who witnessed the attack in
the town of Damaturu.
The head of the local Sani Abacha
hospital, doctor Gara Fika, said six
bodies and 32 injured had arrived
there with one person dying after being
admitted.
The Damaturu bus station has
been repeatedly targeted in a string of
previous suicide attacks.
“I was in the station when I saw
the young girl arrive,” said bus driver
Coup leaders appear before a state prosecutor to face accusations
Musbahu Lawan.
“I think she noticed the guards
checking people at the gates and she
decided to detonate the explosives in the
middle of the crowd outside the gates.”
Nguru added: “The road leading to
the gates is always full of small traders. I
was lucky not to have been hit.”
No claim of responsibility for the
attack has been made but Boko Haram
has frequently used young girls to carry
AROUND THE GLOBE
Court orders school to pay bullying victim
Burundi accused of
crackdown after coup
BUJUMBURA: Burundi’s government
was on Saturday accused of launching
a campaign of repression against
independent media, the day after
loyalist troops defeated an attempted
coup against the central African nation’s
president.
Seventeen alleged coup plotters,
including a former defence minister
and two top police commissioners,
also appeared before a state prosecutor
to face accusations of “attempting
to overthrow the state”. Their lawyer
alleged they had been severely beaten.
Rights activist Innocent Muhozi
said journalists were being subjected to
threats of arrest and even death, and that
the head of the prominent independent
radio station RPA had been forced to
flee the country.
In a sign of ongoing tensions,
European aid groups also evacuated
their foreign staff, a diplomat said.
On Friday President Pierre
Nkurunziza thanked loyalist forces for
crushing the coup attempt and warned
demonstrators to end weeks of protests
against his controversial bid to seek a
third consecutive term in office.
After two days of heavy battles, the
attempt by high-ranking security and
defence figures to seize power ended in
failure as its leaders admitted defeat and
were arrested or forced to go on the run.
Chief coup plotter Godefroid
Niyombare, a general and former
intelligence chief, was said to be on the
run. The capital itself was largely calm
on Saturday, correspondents said.
“They want to break the journalists’
morale. There is harassment, phone
calls, threats, blacklists. Some have gone
into exile, others are in hiding,” said
Muhozi, head of the Burundian Press
Observatory.
Panama gripped
by ex-president’s
scandal
People wave branches and hold a portrait of the Burundian president as they
celebrate his return in the Kamenge quarter of Bujumbura. — AFP
He said African Public Radio
(RPA) boss Bob Rugurika had been
threatened and had fled abroad. There
was no immediate reaction from the
authorities.
Burundi’s main independent radio
stations were attacked and put off the
air by loyalist troops during the coup
attempt, which began on Wednesday
and ended on Friday morning after a
failed attempt by the plotters to seize
Burundi’s state broadcaster.
Authorities said 12 rebel soldiers
died in the fighting, although there
was no independent confirmation of
casualty figures.
General Niyombare had used an
independent radio station to announce
his bid to overthrow Nkurunziza, and
independent media have been accused
of stirring weeks of protests against
the president that have left around 25
people dead.
Among the 17 alleged coup plotters
who appeared before a prosecutor in
the capital on Saturday were General
Cyrille Ndayirukiye and top police
commissioners Zenon Ndabaneze and
Hermenegilde Nimenya.
“They were seriously beaten, in
particular General Ndayirukiye,” lawyer
Anatole Miburo said, adding that the
general had been forced to record a
confession for broadcast on state media.
Opposition and rights groups
insist that it is unconstitutional for
Nkurunziza, who has been in office
since 2005, to run for more than two
terms. He has also been accused of
intimidating opponents and failing to
lift the fortunes of the country.
The president, however, argues
his first term did not count as he was
elected by parliament, not directly by
the people. A former rebel leader from
the Hutu majority, Nkurunziza is also
a born-again Christian who believes he
ascended to the presidency with divine
backing. In his speech broadcast by
state media, in which he thanked loyal
security forces, Nkurunziza called for
an immediate end to what he called
“uprisings” against his third term.
— AFP
out suicide attacks.
In February, a woman suicide
bomber attacked the same bus station,
leaving seven dead and 32 injured.
The deputy governor in neighbouring
Borno state, Mustapha Zannah, that he
had seen a security report indicating
that Boko Haram has recruited several
suicide bombers to help counter a
regional military operation against
them.
— AFP
PANAMA CITY: When he ran for
office, Panama’s former president
Ricardo Martinelli (pictured)
promised graft-weary voters he would
never steal a cent: Why would he need
to, since he was already a millionaire?,
he asked.
Six years later, he is at the eye of a
swirling scandal that has taken down
several close allies, including two
former ministers jailed for stealing
public money.
The mounting accusations
of massive corruption during his
presidency (2009-2014) are now
closing in on Martinelli, a white-haired
supermarket magnate who is already
under investigation for skimming
money off the top of a school lunch
contract.
“It’s like a line of dominoes. They’re
knocking down the first ones to get to
Martinelli,” said political analyst Jaime
Porcell.
Martinelli, 63, disappeared from
the country in January.
His whereabouts are unknown,
but he keeps up an active presence
on Twitter, where he recently posted
a picture of himself with a palm-treelined beach in the background, with
the caption: “Watching a beautiful
sunset with two of my sisters.”
He also uses the platform to
taunt his successor and former ally,
President Juan Carlos Varela, whom
he accuses of “politically persecuting”
him. Varela once served as Martinelli’s
vice president and foreign minister,
but they had a nasty falling out in
2011, when Martinelli sacked Varela
from his cabinet, saying he was more
focused on preparing for the 2014
presidential election than on doing
his job.
MEXICO CITY: Mexico’s Supreme Court ordered a private school to give $33,000
in compensation to a seven-year-old boy who was bullied by other students with a
teacher’s approval.
It was the first time that the court ruled on bullying, an issue that turned into
national debate after a series of high-profile cases prompted President Enrique Pena
Nieto to vow action last year.
The court said in a statement that its ruling establishes “specific recommendations
for the government in order to identify, prevent and combat a phenomenon so
harmful as bullying, at the national level.”
Around 40 per cent of students reported being bullied in 2013, up from 30 per cent
in 2011, according to the National Human Rights Commission.
The court said in a statement that it ruled against a school in the central State of
Mexico “because one of its teachers incited the mistreatment” and for “negligence by
the school for not taking any measures to prevent and combat the harassment.”
The child has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. “While this disorder cannot be
clearly defined as a disability, children who suffer from it are in an especially vulnerable
situation, which requires reinforced protective measures,” the court said.
Soldiers take part in the international military pilgrimage in Lourdes, southern
France. The 2015 Warriors to Lourdes Pilgrimage for Wounded or Disabled
Military Personnel for the 57th Annual International Military Pilgrimage is
taking place from May 12-18, 2015. — AFP
6 bodies recovered in mine collapse
RIOSUCIO: Rescuers said they had found six bodies in a collapsed, unlicensed gold
mine on an indigenous reservation in a central Colombian town.
Another nine miners were believed to still be missing after the accident on
Wednesday in the northwestern town of Riosucio, where authorities are carrying out
an investigation of the mine.
Rescuers were working into the evening to retrieve the sixth miner’s remains, hours
after the recovery of a separate body sapped the hopes of anxious relatives that more
of the missing might still be found alive.
The first two bodies were spotted on Thursday, with rescuers finding two more
several hours later.
The workers are believed to be trapped in shafts 55 feet below ground.
The bodies were taken to the city of Pereira to be identified.
Search and rescue operations are due to be completed over the weekend,
according to government disaster relief agency UNGRD.
The mine collapse occurred after a power failure prevented the operation of the
pumps that drew water from the nearby Cauca River. — Agencies
REGION
S U N DAY
M AY 1 7 l 2 0 1 5
omandailyobserver
13
Ex-president Mursi, 100 others sentenced to death
FOUND GUILTY: Many of those sentenced yesterday were tried in absentia, including prominent cleric Yusuf al Qaradawi
Cairo: An Egyptian court on Saturday
sentenced deposed president Mohamed
Mursi (pictured) and more than 100
other people to death for their role in a
mass jailbreak during the 2011 uprising.
Hours after the ruling, gunmen shot
dead two judges, a prosecutor and their
driver in the strife-torn Sinai Peninsula,
in the first such attack on the judiciary
in the region.
Mursi, sitting in a caged dock in the
blue uniform of convicts after already
been sentenced to 20 years for inciting
violence, raised his fists defiantly when
the verdict was read. Judge Shabaan ElShamy handed down the same sentence
to more than 100 other defendants
including Brotherhood leader Mohamed
Badei, already sentenced to death in
another trial, and his deputy Khairat al
Shater.
Mursi, elected president in 2012
as the Brotherhood’s compromise
candidate after Shater was disqualified,
ruled for only a year before mass protests
spurred the military to overthrow him
in July 2013. He was among dozens of
leaders detained amid a crackdown that
left hundreds of Mursi supporters dead.
Many of those sentenced on Saturday
were tried in absentia, including
prominent Qatar-based cleric Yusuf al
Qaradawi. The court will pronounce
its final decision on June 2, since
under Egyptian law, death
sentences are referred to
the mufti. Defendants can
still appeal even after the
mufti’s recommendation.
“If he (Mursi) decides
that we appeal against the
verdict, then we will. If he
continues to not recognise
this court, then we won’t
appeal,”
said
defence
lawyer Abdel Moneim
Abdel Maksoud. Amnesty International
lashed out at Saturday’s verdict.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan condemned the death sentence,
saying the country was “turning back
into ancient Egypt”,
referring to Pharaonic
rule that ended more
than two millennia ago.
After Saturday’s
verdict was pronounced,
gunmen in the Sinai shot
dead two judges and a
prosecutor
travelling
to El-Arish for a court
hearing.
Their driver was
also killed and another prosecutor was
wounded, health ministry spokesman
Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said. Some
of Mursi’s fellow defendants included
militants from Sinai, where militants
often attack security forces. Mursi, 64,
has yet to be sentenced in the first of
two trials that concluded on Saturday, in
which the death penalty was given to 16
other defendants convicted of espionage.
They were all found guilty of
colluding with foreign powers.
The court will pronounce the
verdicts for Mursi and another 18
defendants in that trial on June 2. The
court then delivered its verdict in the
case in which Mursi and 128 defendants
were accused of plotting jailbreaks and
attacks on police during the uprising
that overthrew president Hosni
Mubarak in 2011. Mursi and more than
100 of them were sentenced to death.
Many of the defendants are Palestinians
alleged to have worked with Hamas in
neighbouring Gaza. They were tried in
absentia, as was a Hizbullah commander.
They were alleged to have colluded
with Mursi’s Brotherhood to carry out
attacks in Egypt in what prosecutors
allege was a vast conspiracy.
Condemning the verdict, Hamas said
that some of its members mentioned
in the proceedings were already dead
before the 2011 uprising, while some are
in Israeli prisons.
Morsi and other former opposition
members have now been condemned
for violence during the anti-Mubarak
— AFP
uprising.
Pope meets ‘angel of peace’
Abbas after treaty declaration
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis met
Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas
on Saturday, calling him “an angel of
peace,” days after the Vatican said it was
preparing to sign its first accord with
Palestine to the anger of Israel.
Abbas met the pontiff for about 20
minutes at a private audience, which
came a day before the head of the
Roman Catholic Church was due to
canonise two Palestinian nuns, who will
become the first Palestinian Arabs to
gain sainthood.
The Vatican said in a statement the
pope and Abbas discussed the peace
process with Israel and that “the hope
was expressed that direct negotiations
between the parties be resumed in order
to find a just and lasting solution to the
conflict”.
“To this end the wish was
reiterated that, with the support of
the international community, Israelis
and Palestinians may take with
determination courageous decisions to
promote peace,” it said. The two men
Abbas’s meeting with the
pope came a day before two
nuns who lived in Ottoman
Palestine during the 19th
century will be made saints
at a Vatican ceremony
also touched on other conflicts in the
Middle East and the need to combat
“terrorism”, it added.
They exchanged gifts with the pope
giving Abbas a medal with a figure of
the angel of peace “which destroys the
evil spirit of war”.
“I thought of you because you are
an angel of peace,” he told Abbas. On
Wednesday the Vatican announced that
it was preparing to sign its first treaty
with Palestine, two years after officially
recognising it as a state.
A bilateral commission is putting
the final touches to the agreement, on
the Catholic Church’s life and activities
in Palestine. The agreement would “be
signed in the near future”, the Vatican
statement said.
The news of the treaty drew ire from
Israel earlier this week. “Israel heard
with disappointment the decision of the
Holy See to agree a final formulation
of an agreement with the Palestinians
including the use of the term ‘Palestinian
State’,” said an Israeli foreign ministry
official.
“Such a development does not further
the peace process and distances the
Palestinian leadership from returning to
direct bilateral negotiations. Israel will
study the agreement and consider its
next step.”
The agreement, 15 years in the
making, expresses the Vatican’s “hope
for a solution to the Palestinian question
and the conflict between Israelis and
Palestinians according to the TwoState Solution,” Antoine Camilleri, the
Vatican’s deputy foreign minister, said
in an interview earlier this week.
— AFP
Pope Francis welcomes President Mahmud Abbas during a private audience yesterday in Vatican. — AFP
Shelling claims lives of
eight children in Benghazi
TRIPOLI: Shelling of residential areas
of Libya’s second city Benghazi killed at
least eight children this week, the United
Nations said, warning that such attacks
may amount to war crimes.
The UNSMIL mission to Libya, in a
statement posted on its website, did not
specify exactly when or where
the children were killed nor indicate
who may have been behind the deadly
attacks.
It condemned “in the strongest
possible terms” the targeting of
residential areas of Libyan cities that also
included Gharyan, south of Tripoli, and
Zawiya to the west of the capital.
UN envoy “Bernardino Leon strongly
deplores the death of at least eight
children and the injury of four more, as a
result of the shelling of residential areas
of Benghazi on two occasions this week,”
said the UNSMIL statement issued late
Friday.
“The artillery shelling of residential
neighbourhoods in the cities of Gharyan
and Zawiya are also a tragic reminder
of the heavy toll borne by the Libyan
people in this conflict.
“UNSMIL reminds all parties that
attacks against civilians are prohibited
under international humanitarian law
and can constitute war crimes.”
Libya’s internationally recognised
government said on its Facebook page
that seven children and one man were
killed in shelling that hit residential areas
of Benghazi on Tuesday night.
The government, which is based
in the east of the country, had already
announced on Facebook on Wednesday
that four other children from the same
family were killed the day before in
shelling of Benghazi.
It was unclear from the statement
if these four children were the same
that the UN mission said had been
wounded.
Libya plunged into lawlessness after
the 2011 Nato-backed uprising that
toppled dictator Moamer Kadhafi, with
armed groups battling for control of the
North African country’s oil wealth and
cities.
The chaos has been further
compounded with the country
politically divided, with rival
governments and parliaments vying for
power and the Islamic State group also
spreading its influence.
— AFP
Turkey says shot down helicopter,
while Syrian TV says it was drone
ISTANBUL/BEIRUT: Turkey said it shot
down a Syrian helicopter on Saturday
that had violated its airspace, while
Syrian state media said it was a remotely
controlled surveillance drone.
Nato member Turkey has a 900km border with Syria and frequently
scrambles jets to its frontier worried
about territorial violations.
Defence Minister Ismet Yilmaz said
military jets fired upon a Syrian helicopter
that had entered Turkish airspace shortly
after 2 pm(1100 GMT). It crossed over
for seven miles, over a period of five
minutes, before it was fired upon, he said,
according to the Anadolu News Agency’s
website.
But Syrian state TV denied Turkey
had taken out its aircraft and said it
was a surveillance drone that was shot
down. A Turkish military official said two
F-16 fighters flying out of Incirlik base
in southern Turkey had opened fire on a
target.
Eyewitnesses in Turkey’s Hatay
province, which borders Syria, reported
seeing an aircraft fired upon by jets and
break apart in the air. News channels said
it landed in Syria.
The Turkish military has stepped
up security in province at the border
following the incident, security sources
said. Turkey has taken in more than 1.7
million Syrian refugees. — Reuters
If Palmyra falls, it would expand IS control from Syria’s east and north to country’s heartland
IS advances on Palmyra; Iraqi govt
despatches Ramadi reinforcements
BEIRUT: IS fighters advanced on
Saturday on Syria’s ancient Palmyra
after executing dozens of civilians on
the city’s outskirts, as Iraq dispatched
reinforcements to prevent Ramadi from
falling into extremist hands.
Fierce clashes continued overnight
near Palmyra, with IS fighters gaining
ground east of the metropolis, renowned
for its colonnaded streets and elaborate
tombs. Situated in central Homs
province, Palmyra lies at the gateway
to Syria’s vast desert extending to IScontrolled territory in neighbouring
Iraq, making the ancient city a key
strategic target for the extremist group.
“IS wants to give the impression
that it is still expanding its control in
Syria and Iraq, despite the strikes by the
coalition,” said Rami Abdel Rahman,
director of the Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights, referring to US-led
bombing raids in both countries.
Homs province is largely under the
control of President Bashar al Assad’s
regime, but IS has stepped up attacks
there in recent months.
If Palmyra falls, it would expand IS
control from Syria’s east and north to the
country’s heartland.
The city is also key to IS’s propaganda
machine, as the group has destroyed
numerous pre-Islamic archeological
sites during its rampage across Iraq and
Syria. Fearing a similar fate for Palmyra,
known as Syria’s “pearl of the desert,”
Unesco has called on the UN Security
Council to act in order to save one of the
Middle East’s historic treasures.
In its brutal advance towards the
city, IS executed at least 49 civilians over
Iraqi security forces stand guard as residents from the city of Ramadi, who fled their homes yesterday as IS militants tightened
their siege on the last government positions in the capital of Anbar province. — AFP
the course of two days, the Observatory
said, including 26 on Thursday after
accusing them of “collaborating with
the regime.” Ten people were beheaded,
the monitor said. IS executed another 23
civilians, among them nine children, on
Friday northeast of Palmyra. “Among
the victims, there were displaced people
from other parts of Syria who were
seeking refuge in Palmyra, as well as the
families of local servants, a caretaker
and his wife,” Abdel Rahman said.
After a night of “very violent” clashes,
IS made gains to the city’s east, bringing
it ever closer to Palmyra’s treasured
remains, many of which are housed in
a museum. “IS had advanced east of
Palmyra after fierce fighting with regime
troops,” the Britain-based Observatory
said.
The monitoring group said both
sides were intensely shelling each other,
as Syria’s army bombarded the city’s
outskirts from military aircraft.
IS positions to Palmyra’s southwest
— where the artefacts and ruins are
located — held firm at one kilometre
from the city’s old Islamic citadel.
Both Syria’s opposition and regime
have demanded that the renowned site
not fall to the fighters.
In neighbouring Iraq, IS fighters
tightened their siege on the last
government positions in Ramadi, west
of Baghdad, a day after they seized the
city’s government headquarters. Taking
control of Ramadi would constitute
the group’s most important victory this
year in Iraq, and would give the fighters
control of the capitals of two of its largest
provinces.
Mosul, capital of Nineveh province,
has been under IS control since it
launched a lightning offensive in June
2014. Anbar province, of which Ramadi
is the capital, extends from the Syrian,
Jordanian, and Saudi borders to the
gates of Baghdad.
— AFP
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EUROPE
LEADERSHIP FRONTRUNNER: Labour needs to rebuild economic credibility
Head of Scottish Labour set
to resign after poll defeat
LONDON: The leader of Scotland’s
Labour Party, Jim Murphy, announced
on Saturday he will resign, the latest highprofile British political leader to fall victim
to the surprise outright Conservative
election win last week.
Murphy’s Scottish Labour suffered
a crushing defeat at the polls, losing all
but one of its 41 parliamentary seats in
Scotland and contributing to Labour’s
wider failure.
Murphy, one of the many Labour
lawmakers who failed to keep his seat
last week, said he would hand in his
resignation at a party meeting next
month, bearing the consequences of
Labour’s defeat in Scotland after only five
months in the job.
“I will be standing down at the next
meeting of the Scottish Labour Party’s
executive,” Murphy told journalists in
Glasgow. Minutes earlier, Murphy had
survived a tight no-confidence vote
within his own party, with 17 votes of
Scottish Labour’s executive going in his
favour and 14 votes against him.
Murphy’s resignation came after
Labour’s Ed Miliband and the Liberal
Democrats’ Nick Clegg stepped down
and UK Independence Party leader Nigel
Farage resigned for three days.
“I want my successor in place over
the summer and to be able to start
campaigning for 2016 and beyond,” he
said. Murphy said he would table a plan
at next month’s party meeting on how
to win back Scottish voters and what
challenges the party was facing.
Opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband (R) sits with Scottish Labour Party leader
Jim Murphy (L) at a Labour Party general election campaign rally in Glasgow. — AFP
Pressure from within the party for
Murphy to resign had grown in recent
days as some argued fresh leadership
was needed to rebuild Scottish Labour
following the disastrous election
performance.
Miliband, in announcing his
resignation, took personal responsibility
for the left-leaning party’s failed bid to
enter government.
“As a cabinet minister and leader of his
party in Scotland, Jim has been a hugely
important figure in the Labour Party,”
said Harriet Harman, acting leader of the
Labour Party, in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party, which
suffered a crushing defeat in last week’s
election, must rebuild its economic
credibility and become more supportive
of the business world to return to power,
said Andy Burnham, the frontrunner in
Labour’s leadership race.
Labour’s failure to enter the British
government after the May 7 election cost
party leader Ed Miliband his job, paving
the way for a new face to lead one of
major parties in British politics.
The Conservative Party sealed its win
by promising economic stability against
Labour Party policies that were largely
seen as anti-business.
Andy Burnham, leading betting shops’
odds to become the Labour Party’s next
leader, said at a conference in London
on Saturday the party had to overcome
several obstacles.
“Number one: economic credibility.
We have to get that back. Number two:
our relationship with business. We must
be a pro-business party,” he said.
Burnham, the party’s health
spokesman, is vying for the leadership
position next to Labour’s home affairs
spokeswoman Yvette Cooper, Liz
Kendall, also a health spokeswoman,
and Mary Creagh, a spokeswoman for
international development.
Tristram Hunt, education spokesman,
said at the same conference he would be
making an announcement regarding his
candidacy ambitions next week.
The closely fought race to replace
Miliband has already produced
unexpected results. Previous frontrunner
Chuka Umunna, the party’s shadow
business secretary, withdrew his
candidacy on Friday, saying he was
uncomfortable with the increased
scrutiny of his private life.
“What I’m focusing on now is we’ve
got a Queen’s Speech coming up. There’s
going to be a budget on July 8, that is
going to have a tremendous impact on
the people in this community,” Umunna
told Sky News.
Finance Minister George Osborne
announced late on Friday he would take
the unusual step of a second annual
budget in order to spell out how he will
make further public spending cuts and
boost the country’s economic prospects.
— Reuters
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Ukrainian soldier killed, 3
wounded in war-torn east
KIEV: A Ukrainian soldier was killed
and three were wounded in fighting
between government forces and
separatists in eastern Ukraine, the
armed forces said on Saturday.
On a visit to Kiev, US diplomat
Victoria Nuland urged the sides to
respect the terms of a February ceasefire
agreement reached in Minsk.
“It’s now important that all sides
walk the walk, not just talk the talk,”
said Nuland, the Assistant Secretary of
State for European and Eurasian Affairs.
Military spokesman Oleksandr
Motuzyanyk told a press briefing: “The
situation in the anti-terrorist operation
zone remains tense. The armed rebels
regularly breach the ceasefire.”
He also charged that separatist
“bandits” were building up “military
equipment, ammunition and manpower
along the frontline” while “the
Ukrainian soldiers are strengthening
their line of defence.”
Pro-Russian separatists have in turn
reported violations of the ceasefire by
Ukrainian forces.
“In 24 hours, we have recorded
no less than 19 incidents of firing by
Ukrainian forces on the territory of
the people’s republic of Donetsk,” the
“defence minister” of the breakaway
region was quoted as saying by its
official agency.
The Ukrainian army has been
battling pro-Russian separatists for
more than a year in the country’s east,
in a conflict in which more than 6,100
people have been killed.
A truce that remains fragile was
agreed in February in Minsk at talks
mediated by France and Germany and
attended by Russian President Vladimir
Putin.
Speaking in Kiev, Nuland insisted on
the necessity of meeting all the terms of
the truce and said the United States was
US Assistant Secretary of State for
European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria
Nuland. — AFP
Military spokesman
Oleksandr Motuzyanyk
told a press briefing: ‘The
situation in the anti-terrorist
operation zone remains
tense. The armed rebels
regularly breach
the ceasefire
ready to become more involved in the
process.
“We are eager to deepen our
involvement in helping the parties
achieve the full implementation,” she
said.
Nuland, who met President Petro
Poroshenko on Friday, said she was
leaving Ukraine “with a renewed sense
of optimism.”
“We know that reforms are painful,
but you are on a right course to a more
democratic, cleaner, more European
country,” she said.
— AFP
Russia loses Mexican satellite after rocket failure
Moscow helps block
export curbs on asbestos
GENEVA: Four countries have blocked
a bid to add chrysotile asbestos to a
list of dangerous substances subject
to export restrictions during a UN
meeting in Geneva that concluded early
on Saturday, participants said.
Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and
Zimbawe opposed listing the mineral
also known as white asbestos, which
health experts say causes cancer, on the
Rotterdam Convention list, according to
groups attending the Geneva meeting.
The 1998 Rotterdam Convention
restricts trade in chemicals by obliging
exporters to ensure that destination
countries have been fully informed
about the risks involved and have given
an explicit green light for imports.
Civil society groups and unions
calling for chrysotile’s inclusion on the
list voiced outrage that the fifth attempt
in a decade to do so had been blocked.
“The failure to list chrysotile asbestos
means millions of exposed workers will
stay ignorant of its deadly dangers,” said
Brian Kohler, Head of Health, Security
and Sustainable Development for the
IndustriALL Global Union.
“Countries that support the listing
must be more aggressive in preventing
the Rotterdam Convention from
remaining a farce,” he said in an e-mail
on Friday.
The Rotterdam Convention requires
full consensus by all signatory members,
meaning a single country can block a
bid to list a new substance.
The Geneva meeting did manage
to add the insecticide methamidophos
to the list, according to conference
organisers, but failed to list a range of
other chemicals, including the pesticide
paraquat, which studies have linked to
Parkinson’s disease.
— AFP
MOSCOW: Russia on Saturday lost a
Mexican satellite on launch just hours
after a glitch with a manoeuvre involving
the International Space Station, the
latest in a string of embarrassing failures
for its troubled space programme.
Russia’s Roscosmos space agency
said the Proton-M rocket carrying a
Mexican MexSat-1 satellite fell back to
Earth and burnt up in the atmosphere
after suffering an engine problem on
launch.
Just over eight minutes after launch,
an “emergency situation was recorded
with the engines of the third stage of the
carrier rocket”, the space agency said.
The accident took place at an altitude
of 161 km, high enough for the rocket
to burn up as it plunged back to Earth,
it said.
“The third stage rocket, the upper
stage and the satellite almost completely
burnt up in the atmosphere,” it said. “At
the moment there have been no reports
of falling non-combusted fragments.”
Fragments of the carrier rocket,
which contained several tonnes of toxic
fuel, fell back to Earth over Siberia’s
Chita region, space industry sources
said, while Russia’s emergencies ministry
said there was no damage or injuries on
the ground.
A commission involving various
space industry bodies will look at the
reasons for the accident and “take the
corresponding decisions,” the space
agency said.
The accident commission was due
to meet on Sunday morning at 10 am
to discuss the failed launch, a space
industry source told Interfax news
agency.
Russian President Vladimir Putin
“naturally was informed” of the satellite
failure, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov
told journalists, cited by Interfax,
declining further comment.
Russia last year reacted to previous
space failures by sacking the head of the
space agency.
A file picture shows a Russian-built
Proton rocket blasting off from a
launch pad in Kazakhstan’s Baikonur
cosmodrome. — AFP
Russia’s space programme has
experienced a troubling number of
accidents in recent weeks.
The failed satellite launch came just
hours after a separate glitch in which a
Russian Progress spacecraft docked to
the ISS failed to switch on its engines
at the command of mission control in a
planned manoeuvre to shift the ISS into
a higher orbit.
The Progress space freighter was to
have lifted the ISS’s orbit in preparation
for the next astronauts’ return to Earth
set for early June.
— AFP
Westerwald-Taunus Tunnel could divert traffic away from a Unesco World Heritage Site
Train tunnel beneath the Rhine Valley could make it a quieter place
KOBLENZ: It is a bold vision, but also
undeniably expensive: 118 kilometres
of train tunnels beneath the Westerwald
and Taunus hills regions could free the
residents of Germany’s Middle Rhine
Valley of the noise of hundreds of freight
trains that now thunder every day along
the banks of the river.
The Westerwald-Taunus Tunnel
could divert the freight traffic away
from the valley — which is a Unesco
World Heritage Site — and take it below
ground. The gigantic project idea is that
of construction engineer Rolf Niemeyer,
and he has the support of people fed up
with the train noise.
Whether it might one day be realised
now depends on whether the German
Transportation Ministry adds it to its
Federal Traffic Route Plan (BVWP)
for 2015. “There is a great amount of
backing from political people who say
that it is a sensible and practical project,” Main feeds into the Rhine some 15
says Niemeyer, a resident of Bonn.
kilometres west of Frankfurt.
His plan foresees a tunnel starting at
For the next 47 km, the trains would
Bischofsheim, a town where the River run beneath the Taunus hills region,
then cross through the Lahn region,
both above and below ground. Finally,
the trains would run underground for a
further 71 km beneath the Westerwald
euros ($11.5 billion). “There has been a
slow, but steadily rising interest” in the
idea, which he first submitted at the end
of 2012, he says. Niemeyer says that he
himself is disturbed by the noise of the
trains passing by his home in Bonn.
If the project is accepted into the
BVWP, it could one day become a
reality. Based on those plans the federal
government earmarks its funding
for new road, rail and water traffic
infrastructure.
At the moment, 406 rail projects are
awaiting acceptance into the federal
plans. The Transportation Ministry only
says the projects are under study, but has
not indicated what the outcome may
be. After further study, a draft BVWP
project list will be submitted to the
Train steaming across the cabinet in Berlin.
Glenfinnan Viaduct
Opponents of the train noise support
Niemeyer. “We have been pushing the
region before emerging in daylight again Westerwald-Taunus Tunnel for years
at Sankt Augustin, near Bonn.
now,” says Willi Pusch, a member of
Niemeyer estimates the cost of a local citizens’ anti-noise-pollution
construction at upwards of 10 billion initiative. He says he is confident. “The
economy needs a freight transportation
route in the heart of Europe,” he says,
and believes that financing the project is
doable.
At the Transportation Ministry of the
state of Rhineland Palatinate in Mainz, a
spokesman only says: “The state supports
the project in principle, if it is feasible
and can be financed.”
Jonas Krause-Heiber of the nature
preservation organisation Nabu, is a bit
reserved in his backing of the tunnel
project. “On the face of it, the idea
is interesting,” he says. But without
specific planning one cannot exactly
forecast what the possible effects on the
environment might be. But he is certain
of one thing.
“Such a construction project will in
any case be accompanied by some strong
impairment of nature,” says KrauseHeiber. Depending on exactly where
excavation work takes place, some of the
Westerwald’s old trees, green areas rich
in flora and fauna, and waterways could
be affected.
— dpa
AMERICAS
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15
Philadelphia train may have been hit by projectile before wreck
PHILADELPHIA: The Amtrak train
that derailed in Philadelphia and a
separate commuter train in the vicinity
may have been hit by projectiles of
some kind shortly before the wreck,
a US transportation official said, after
investigators interviewed members of
the Amtrak crew.
But when questioned for the first
time about the crash on Tuesday night,
the Amtrak engineer who was driving
the train said he had no memory of
anything that happened shortly before
the wreck, which killed eight people
and injured more than 200 others,
said Robert Sumwalt, a member of the
National Transportation Safety Board
(NTSB).
The Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) was called in to examine a remnant
of the Amtrak locomotive’s shattered
windshield with a circular damage
pattern, Sumwalt said.
The revelation that Amtrak train
No 188 might have been struck by a
bullet, rock or other object added an
unexpected twist to a crash probe that
initially focused on why the train had
accelerated to over 160 km per hour
in the minute before it barreled into
a curved track segment where the
authorised speed limit was just 80 kph.
An assistant conductor told NTSB
investigators that the train run that
day had been unremarkable until
a few minutes after pulling out of
Philadelphia’s 30th Street station, the last
stop before the accident, Sumwalt said.
At that point, she heard the engineer,
32-year-old Brandon Bostian, talking by
radio with the driver of another train
from the Southeastern Pennsylvania
Transportation Authority (Septa).
The other driver, according to her
account, said he had reported to a train
dispatcher that his windshield had been
cracked by a projectile that he believed
was either fired from a gun or thrown
at his train, and that he had made an
emergency stop as a result, Sumwalt
said.
The conductor told investigators that
Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman speaking at a press conference two days after a
passenger train derailed in Philadelphia. — Reuters
Bostian then replied that he believed his
own New York-bound Amtrak train had
been similarly struck, Sumwalt said.
It was moments later that the Amtrak
train began to round the curved section
of track at twice the authorised speed
and derailed in the city’s Port Richmond
neighbourhood along the Delaware
River, according to her account.
Sumwalt said FBI agents would arrive
to examine a portion of the lower lefthand corner of the locomotive’s battered
windshield that appeared to have been
cracked by a flying object of some type.
BOSTON MARATHON BOMBINGS: Most high-profile attacks since Sept 11, 2001
Tsarnaev sentenced to death
BOSTON: A US jury has sentenced
21-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death
for his role in the 2013 Boston Marathon
bombings, one of the worst assaults on
American soil since the September 11,
2001 attacks.
It took the jury more than 14
hours to choose death rather than life
imprisonment for the ex pot-smoking
college student of Chechen descent, who
came to the United States as a child and
took citizenship in 2012.
The death penalty decision on six of
17 counts handed a stinging defeat to
the defence, who argued for a “lost kid”
who would never have committed such
horrors without being manipulated by
his older brother.
The double bombing carried out by
the brothers killed three people and
wounded 264 others, including 17 who
lost limbs, near the finish line at the
northeastern city’s popular marathon.
Tsarnaev went on the run and was
arrested four days later, hiding and
injured in a grounded boat on which
he had scrawled a bloody message
defending the attacks as a means to
avenge US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He showed no emotion as the court
clerk took 20 minutes to read out the
verdict form that culminated in the
death penalty verdict. He stood hands
clasped before him, wearing an opennecked shirt and a dark blazer.
The decision caps a 12-week trial
that relived the horror of the attacks
through grisly videos and heartbreaking
testimony from those who lost limbs
and loved ones.
US Attorney General Loretta
Lynch called the sentence a “fitting
punishment,” while prosecutors and law
enforcement in Boston said they were
satisfied, but urged commemoration
rather than celebration.
The death sentence was possible
only under federal law. The state
of Massachusetts outlawed capital
Liz Norden (R), mother of two Boston Marathon bombing survivors, is comforted by fire lieutenant Mike Ward (2nd L) after
speaking to the news media at the federal courthouse in Boston. — Reuters
punishment in 1947 and opinion polls
had suggested residents favoured a life
sentence for Tsarnaev.
Some survivors, including the
parents of the youngest victim, Martin
Richard, also publicly opposed the
death penalty, worried that years, if not
decades of prospective appeals would
dredge up their agony.
There was complete silence in the
court, packed with victims and survivors
including the Richard parents, law
enforcement and journalists. The clerk
had warned that any outburst would be
treated as contempt.
The 24-page verdict form showed
overwhelmingly that the jury rejected
the defence’s arguments that Tsarnaev
was bullied by his 26-year-old brother
Tamerlan, who was shot dead by police
It took the jury more than 14
hours to choose death rather
than life imprisonment for
the ex pot-smoking college
student of Chechen descent,
who came to the United
States as a child and took
citizenship in 2012.
while he was on the run.
Only three out of 12 said he acted
under Tamerlan’s influence or that
Tamerlan directed the bombings.
Just one juror determined that he
was unlikely to commit or incite acts of
violence in the future while serving a life
sentence.
Neither did they accept as strong
mitigating factors his chaotic family life,
with a mentally ill father and his parents
returning to Russia in 2012.
Crucially, the six death counts all
relate to the pressure cooker bomb that
Tsarnaev himself planted. His brother
planted the other.
Judge George O’Toole will formally
sentence Tsarnaev at a hearing expected
to be held later in the year, when the
defendant will be given a chance to
speak and victims can make impact
statements.
Tsarnaev will then be flown to either
America’s only “super-max” prison,
ADX Florence, in Colorado or to the
penitentiary at Terre Haute, Indiana
where male inmates sit on federal death
row.
— AFP
The ‘Philadelphia Inquirer’ and other
media outlets reported that a third train,
an Amtrak Acela, had also been hit by
an unidentified projectile that cracked
a window on one of the cars about five
minutes before it entered the 30th Street
station, citing an account of a passenger.
CBS News cited federal safety
investigators as saying they were aware
of the report of a third train being hit.
The Wall Street Journal, citing
anonymous sources, reported that
the Federal Railroad Administration
has ordered Amtrak to modify its
current signal system to guard against
overspeeding at several curves along the
Northeast Corridor, including the site of
Tuesday’s derailment.
Sumwalt said investigators still have
no explanation for why the train was
going as fast as it was, and why it had
accelerated from 70 mph to 100-plus
mph in the 65 seconds before the crash,
as was shown on video footage taken by
a camera mounted on the locomotive.
The engineer had slammed on the
CANADA PLEDGE ON
CLIMATE CHANGE
WASHINGTON: Canada formally
declared its carbon reduction
goals, joining the United States,
Russia and the European Union
in the global push against climate
change.
Canada said it would reduce
greenhouse gas emissions by 30
per cent below 2005 levels by 2030,
calling it a “substantial” reduction
given the country’s growing
population
and
expanding
economy.
The goal fell short of what some
experts had expected.
The
World
Resources
Institute (WRI) said the goal was
“significantly lower” than the EU
and US, which submitted their
goals more than a month ago, based
on the annual rate of reduction.
David Waskow, WRI’s Director
of International Climate issue,
called on Canada to reconsider its
“lacklustre” proposal.
WRI said Canada’s commitment
equalled an annual reduction of
about 1.7 per cent, compared to
annual 2.8-per-cent reductions by
the US and EU and a likely 2.5 per
cent by Japan.
Japan, which has not yet
formally submitted, has indicated
it would cut emissions by 26 per
cent below 2013 levels by 2030.
A report by the Japan-based
Institute for Global Environmental
Strategies (IGES) found even
without nuclear power, Japan could
stretch its reductions to 25 per cent
below 1990 levels by scaling up
generation of renewable power to
35 per cent of total production.
The declarations from the 196
members of the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) will form the core of a
Prior service could be seen as a major plus for her presidential credentials
Hillary will do a good job on foreign policy: Poll
WASHINGTON: Americans are more
likely to say Hillary Clinton would do
a good job handling foreign affairs as
president, but they believe her greatest
strength would be race relations,
according to a new poll.
The former first lady, who is the
leading hopeful for Democratic
nomination for the 2016 race to the
White House, also gets generally mixed
reviews of her tenure as secretary of state
under her 2008 rival President Barack
Obama in the latest Gallup poll.
Given her background including
four years as America’s top diplomat,
along with eight years as a US senator
and eight years as first lady in the White
House, Clinton’s prior service could be
seen as a major plus for her presidential
credentials, the opinion poll agency
Americans give Clinton a net
rating on foreign affairs of
+13, which is roughly the
same as healthcare and the
economy, but behind the
+22 rating she receives for
her potential to deal with
race relations. Her ratings on
handling terrorism are just
behind these others.
said.
Republicans and others, however,
have assailed aspects of her tenure at the
State Department, a time that involved
her handling of the terrorist attacks at
the Benghazi consulate and her handling
of emails while secretary, it noted.
Americans give Clinton a net rating
on foreign affairs (percentage good job
minus percentage bad job) of +13, which
is roughly the same as healthcare and the
economy, but behind the +22 rating she
receives for her potential to deal with
race relations.
Her ratings on handling terrorism
are just behind these others.
Americans are least positive about
the job Clinton would do in handling
two broad issues: the way government
in Washington operates and the
distribution of income and wealth in the
US.
There are also large differences in
how Republicans, independents and
Democrats think Clinton would handle
various issues as president.
Democrats generally expect her to
perform well in all of the different areas,
Republicans expect her to do poorly in
all areas and independents have mixed
emergency breaking system seconds
before the wreck, investigators said.
Sumwalt said that Bostian told them
he had no recollection of doing that, or
of anything else after ringing the train’s
signal bell as it rolled through the North
Philadelphia station — about midway
between the 30th Street stop and the
crash site.
Otherwise, Bostian reported no
difficulties during what he remembers of
the run, telling investigators he did not
feel fatigued or have any illness before
the accident, Sumwalt said. He said
Bostian was accompanied by his lawyer
but was “extremely cooperative” during
the 90-minute interview.
Experts said the train’s speed in the
moments before the crash raised several
questions: Could a technical glitch have
caused the locomotive to speed up so
rapidly? Would it take a deliberate action
by the engineer? Or could human error,
a medical issue, or some other factor like
clumsiness explain the sudden burst of
— Reuters
speed?
views.
Both Democrats and Republicans
rate foreign affairs near the top of their
respective rank-ordered lists, but with
vastly different absolute ratings.
Democrats’ net rating of her potential
ability to handle foreign policy is +62,
independents is +2, and Republicans is
-44.
Americans are somewhat mixed in
their evaluations of Clinton’s four years as
secretary of state, with more Americans
rating her tenure as outstanding or above
average than rating it below average or
poor.
The positive group consists of 38 per
cent of Americans, while the negative
group represents 27 per cent, with the
rest saying her job performance was
average.
— IANS
new climate agreement to be sealed
in December in Paris. Greenhouse
gasses including carbon dioxide
are blamed for global warming.
Only a few countries still adhere
to the expiring Kyoto Agreement,
and negotiators are working on a
plan for post-2020.
Canada’s
was
the
10th
submission to the UNFCC.
The rest so far are from the
US, the 28-country EU, Russia,
Switzerland, Norway, Mexico,
Gabon, Lichtenstein and Andorra.
China, the largest emitter of
overall greenhouse gases, accounts
for about 25 per cent of global
carbon
dioxide
production,
followed by the United States at 16
per cent, according to the Union of
Concerned Scientists.
Russia, India and Japan follow
with from 3 to 5 per cent each.
China has not yet made its
formal submission to the UNFCCC
but said in November during a visit
by US President Barack Obama
that it aimed to peak its carbon
dioxide emissions by 2030.
It was the first overture by China
on carbon reductions.
The fact that China and Mexico
are coming forth with climate
commitments
is
significant
because the Kyoto protocol
exempted all developing countries
from reducing their emissions.
Climate scientists have reached
a global consensus that by the end
of the 21st century, the world must
limit the temperature from rising
a total of 2 degrees Celsius above
pre-industrial levels or face drastic
consequences of flooding, polar
melt and rising sea levels.
Temperatures have already risen
0.8 degrees C since 1880.
— dpa
Killings mar
Mexico poll
campaigns
MEXICO CITY: The murders of
mayoral and city council candidates
caused outrage in Mexico ahead of
next month’s regional and federal
election.
“The election climate must
not become more tense,” Miguel
Sandoval, the leader of the new leftist
party Morena in the western state of
Michoacan, told radio Formula.
Morena’s candidate for mayor of
Yurecuaro, Enrique Hernandez, was
killed at a campaign rally on Thursday.
That same day, a candidate for city
council of Huimanguillo, in the southeastern state of Tabasco, was shot
dead, according to his Institutional
Revolutionary Party (PRI).
There had been other acts of
election-related violence in recent
weeks.
— dpa
16
omandailyobserver
PANORAMA
S U N DAY
M AY 1 7 l 2 0 1 5
A boy surfs on a surfboard made from plastic bottles as part of an environmental
recyclying project, in Lima. The ‘ECOSURF’ project, aimed at promoting
environmental awareness through the respect of the ocean, consists in giving surf
lessons with surfboards made of disposable plastic bottles. — AFP
A Palestinian artist draws a mural on the rubble of a building following a march to mark the 67th anniversary of the ‘Nakba’, in al Tufah, in the east of Gaza City. — AFP
People sit in a jeep as part of a promotional event on the Croisette during the Film
Festival in Cannes. — Reuters
People march with a dragonshaped lantern during a lotus
lantern parade in celebration of
the upcoming birthday of Buddha
in Seoul, South Korea. — Reuters
A raindrop-covered damselfly rests on a flower at a garden
in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong province. — AFP
British pilot Nigel Lamb
of the Breitling Racing
Team flies during
training session at the
Red Bull Air Race Chiba,
in Makuhari, Chiba
prefecture, Japan. — AFP
A man walks in front of residential apartments in Hong Kong. — AFP
Participants take part in a ‘zombie walk’ at a park in Tokyo. Zombie maniacs flocked to a park for an annual gathering, dressing
in ‘bloodstained’ costumes with grisly gore makeup. — AFP
Nuns perform a traditional dance during a special audience with Pope Francis in Paul VI hall at the Vatican. — Reuters
SUNDAY | MAY 17, 2015 | RAJAB 28, 1436 AH
P18
P20
P21
Inside
S&P downgrades Sharp to ‘CCC-’ US capital spending seen falling Selfie-taking camera drone FOLLOW US ON:
BIZ BUZZ
FBI probes buyout
bid for Avon
www.omanobserver.om
[email protected]
Indian, Chinese firms
ink deals worth $22bn
ECONOMIC BOOST: Prime Minister Modi says India is ready for business
NEW YORK: The Federal Bureau of
Investigation is probing the suspicious
buyout bid for cosmetics company Avon
Products Inc by purported acquirer PTG
Capital Partners, an agency official said.
The news was earlier reported by the
Wall Street Journal, which said the FBI
review was in its preliminary stages.
The US Securities and Exchange
Commission, which was running
a separate civil probe, has shared
information with the FBI, the report said.
The apparently non-existent firm on
Thursday offered to buy Avon for almost
thrice its market valuation. PTG Capital
Partners said in an SEC filing on Thursday
that it would pay $18.75 per Avon share,
sending the company’s stock up as
much as 20 per cent.
— Reuters
Fitch keeps Greece’s
high-risk rating
WASHINGTON: Ratings firm Fitch
kept Greece’s high-risk credit rating
unchanged, saying the risk that the euro
zone country would default on its debt
was a “real possibility.”
Fitch Ratings affirmed the “CCC”
rating it gave the debt-riddled euro zone
country in late March in a two-notch
downgrade from “B.”
“Lack of market access, uncertain
prospects of timely disbursement from
official institutions, and tight liquidity
conditions in the domestic banking
sector are putting extreme pressure on
Greek government funding,” Fitch said.
The ratings firm forecast zero growth in
the economy this year, with risks “heavily
tilted” towards a contraction.
— AFP
Wal-Mart tests fee
based unlimited
US home deliveries
NEW YORK: Retail behemoth WalMart Stores will test a US programme
to provide unlimited delivery of goods
for $50 a year in the coming months,
challenging Amazon’s similar service.
Under the programme, Wal-Mart
will ensure delivery of clothing,
appliances, toys and other offerings
within three days for online
customers. The service will not
include perishable groceries, Ravi
Jariwala, a spokesman for the US
retailer, said in an interview. The
service will be available by invitation,
Jariwala said. He declined to say how
the long the trial will last. — AFP
SHANGHAI: Indian and Chinese firms
signed 21 agreements officials said were
worth a total of more than $22 billion
in Shanghai on Saturday, witnessed by
visiting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Let us work together in mutual
interests,” Modi told executives from
200 Chinese and Indian companies at
the signing ceremony. “Now India is
ready for business.”
Modi was on the final day of a threeday trip to his fellow Asian giant, as the
two jockey for regional influence and
India’s trade deficit with China balloons.
Despite his hardline reputation
Modi has moved to engage with Beijing
since his election last year, and he was
looking for an economic boost from
the visit, seeking to deliver on election
promises for foreign investment.
China is India’s biggest trading
partner with two-way commerce
totalling $71 billion in 2014. But India’s
trade deficit with China has soared from
just $1 billion in 2001-02 to more than
$38 billion last year, Indian figures show.
Indian Embassy trade counsellor
Namgya Khanpa said the agreements
signed at the Shanghai event were
“worth over $22 billion”, with another
five exchanged earlier.
A list circulated by Indian officials
showed many of the contracts were for
Chinese banks to finance Indian firms,
and also included deals in the telecom,
steel, solar energy and film sectors.
The two countries have followed
significantly different economic paths
in recent decades, with China rising
to become the world’s second-largest
economy while India has lagged behind,
although Modi’s election raised hopes
for reform among investors.
“I strongly believe that this century
belongs to Asia,” he told a business
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends the India-China Business Forum in
Shanghai yesterday. — Reuters
forum ahead of the signing, as he sought
to stress historical links between the two
countries.
He welcomed Chinese investment
in sectors including housing, renewable
energy, high-speed rail, metro, ports
and airports, adding that India was
eager to draw on China’s expertise in
mass manufacturing.
“We are keen to develop areas in
which China is strong,” he said. “We
need your involvement.”
Earlier during Modi’s visit Chinese
President Xi Jinping welcomed him in
Xian, the capital of his ancestral home
province Shaanxi, in what his host said
was an unprecedented gesture.
But relations between the world’s
two most populous nations are soured
by a long-running border dispute that
saw them fight a brief war in 1962,
and on Friday Modi told Chinese
Premier Li Keqiang that Beijing needs
to “reconsider its approach” to their ties.
“Our relationship has been complex
in recent decades,” Modi said, adding
there were issues that “trouble smooth
development of our relations”.
His comments stood out from the
usual public declarations by diplomatic
visitors to Beijing, who normally stick
to uninterrupted pledges of friendship
and good relations. Both countries are
members of the BRICS grouping of
major emerging economies, but Beijing
has vowed to pour investment into
India’s arch-rival Pakistan, as it rolls out
infrastructure development plans across
Asia, much of which bypass India.
Chinese contracts to build or
manage Indian Ocean ports have raised
concerns it is seeking to establish a
“string of pearls” in the region.
Li acknowledged on Friday that
“we do not deny that there are some
disagreements between us”, but added:
“We have far more common interests
than differences.”
— AFP
Alibaba sued in US
by luxury brands over
counterfeit goods
NEW YORK: A group of luxury goods
makers sued Alibaba Group Holding
Ltd on Friday, contending the Chinese
online shopping giant had knowingly
made it possible for counterfeiters to sell
their products throughout the world.
The lawsuit was filed in Manhattan
federal court by Gucci, Yves Saint
Laurent and other brands owned by
Paris-based Kering SA seeking damages
and an injunction for alleged violations
of trademark and racketeering laws.
The lawsuit alleged that Alibaba had
conspired to manufacture, offer for
sale and traffic in counterfeit products
bearing their trademarks without their
permission.
A spokesman for Alibaba declined to
comment.
Concerns over fake products on
Alibaba’s platforms, including online
marketplace Taobao, have dogged
it for years, although the US Trade
Representative removed Taobao from
its list of “notorious markets” in 2012 in
light of progress made.
Friday’s lawsuit marked the second
time in less than a year that the Kering
brands had sued Alibaba over the
alleged sale of counterfeit products.
An earlier lawsuit was filed in
July only to be withdrawn the same
month with the ability to refile it while
the Kering units worked towards a
resolution with Alibaba, according to
court records.
The lawsuit alleged that Alibaba
and its related entities “provide the
marketplace advertising and other
essential services necessary for
counterfeiters to sell their counterfeit
products to customers in the United
States.”
The lawsuit cited, for example, an
alleged fake Gucci bag offered for $2
to $5 each by a Chinese merchant to
buyers seeking at least 2,000 units.
The authentic Gucci bag retails for
$795, the complaint said.
Alibaba has allowed for counterfeit
sales to continue even when it had been
expressly informed that merchants were
selling fake products, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit seeks a court order
that, among other things, would block
Alibaba from offering or facilitating
the sale of counterfeit products and
unspecified damages that could include
$2 per counterfeit item under a statutory
regime.
— Reuters
The logo of the Alibaba Group is seen inside the company’s headquarters in
Hangzhou
EBRD’s investments pledged to Greece will depend on the outcome of Athens’ talks with its creditors
EBRD to invest more in C Europe, ex-USSR, Greece
TBILISI: The European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development
(EBRD) promised more funds for exSoviet countries, Central Europe, and
Greece, but ruled out new investments
in Russia due to Western economic
sanctions over Ukraine.
“We have the potential to expand
our investment levels beyond what we
are currently doing and we should use
this opportunity where there is real
need and where there is real reform,” the
EBRD’s President Suma Chakrabarti
said during the bank’s annual meeting
held in the Georgian capital Tbilisi.
He said the terms of EBRD’s
investments pledged to Greece will
depend on the outcome of Athens’ talks
with its creditors. “How much we can
“We have the potential to
expand our investment
levels beyond what we are
currently doing and we
should use this opportunity
where there is real need and
where there is real reform”
— EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti
do, how many projects, what sectors we
can operate in” would depend on the
economic policy agreed to between the
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s radical
leftist government and its creditors,
Chakrabarti added.
“The need (for investments) is
there and that is why Greece became
a country of operations for the EBRD
this year,” he said, adding that the bank
has so far “started in a very small way.”
At Athens’ request, the Londonbased institution announced in March
the launch of a five-year investment
programme in Greece, without
specifying the volume of funds pledged.
On Thursday, the EBRD issued
its first ever economic forecast for
Greece, warning the country of another
“major recession” if talks fail with the
International Monetary Fund and the
European Union on a minimum set of
reforms required to unlock the bailout
loan’s last tranche of 7.2 billion euros
($8.2 billion). It said that the Greek
economy, which grew by 0.8 per cent
in 2014, would post zero growth this
year and expand by two per cent in
2016, provided the negotiations prove
successful.
Chakrabarti also said his bank
was ready for more investments in
the wide swathe of countries suffering
the aftershocks of Russia’s economic
and financial crisis. “What has been
happening in the Russian economy has
affected the Caucasus, but also Central
Asia quite deeply, so I’d expect us to
invest more,” he said.
“I’d expect us to be investing more
in Central Europe and the Baltics.”
On Thursday, the EBRD revised
growth forecasts downwards for almost
all ex-Soviet countries that have been
hard hit by the Russian crisis.
A consequence of Western
economic sanctions and falling oil
prices, Russia’s economic dive “is
having larger-than-expected negative
spill-over effects on countries with
which it has strong economic links,” the
EBRD said.
— AFP
18
omandailyobserver
OMAN/INTERNATIONAL
S U N DAY
M AY 1 7 l 2 0 1 5
Development of Oman’s securities market —
an indicator of sustainable economic growth
AL MAHA RESEARCH TEAM
T
HE onset and evolution of
the Securities Market in
Oman started soon post the
Renaissance with the floatation of the
first joint stock company, Oman Hotels
in the early 1970s. Thus began the first
phase of the development that continued
until 1989 by the end of which number
of joint stock companies reached close
to 70 with shareholders’ equity of RO
269.9 million together held by 17,000
shareholders.
Throughout this first phase, dealing
in securities was not very popular
owing to the challenges relating to
information flow to investors. Thus the
Muscat Securities Market (MSM) was
established in 1989 as the organised
capital market marking the beginning
of the second phase in the development
process. This phase saw various
important milestones including the
move from manual trading to electronic
trading in 1997 as the first Arab stock
exchange to apply electronic dealings.
However, as investor’s participation
and trading volumes grew, the much
needed restructuring and separation
of the regulatory body from the stock
exchange took place in the year 1998.
This allowed the establishment of three
separate bodies, namely the Capital
Market Authority (CMA), the Muscat
Securities Market and the Muscat
Clearance and Depository Company
(MCDC).
The MSM was then assigned with the
supervision of the executive duties and
over the years has witnessed tremendous
growth in terms of systems and
procedures, administrative mechanisms
and legislations in addition to the
number of listed companies, trading
volumes and price index. Thus, the
Omani capital market is built on a strong
foundation that was laid over decades
and today has over 150 listed securities
with a total market capitalisation of
RO 14.73 billion and an average daily
trading turnover of RO 6.63 million as
of the end of the first quarter of this year.
Over the 25 years since its inception,
the MSM’s quantum leap in market
capitalisation has been supported with
growth in corporate performance,
improving business sentiment and
Indonesia posts $450 million trade
surplus but growth outlook bleak
JAKARTA: Indonesia posted a trade
surplus for the fifth consecutive month
in April, official data showed, but
economists warned there were signs that
growth momentum was weakening.
The $450 million surplus in
Southeast Asia’s biggest economy was
well down from the revised $1.03 billion
surplus enjoyed in March as exports
and, particularly, imports, have fallen
significantly.
Imports plunged 22.31 per cent to
$12.63 billion year on year in April,
according to the Statistics Agency, while
exports fell 8.46 per cent to $13.08
billion.
The fall in imports comes despite
the start next month of the Muslim
festival
of
Ramadhan,
which
usually sees demand peak. Indonesia
is the world’s most populous Muslim
country.
However, Citi’s economist Helmi
Arman said the soft readings were “a
sign of continued weakness in GDP
growth going into the second quarter,
following disappointing growth in the
Trucks carrying commodities pass down a highway amongst other vehicles in
Jakarta. — AFP
first quarter and continued shortfalls in
tax collection”.
Arman added that the central Bank
Indonesia could cut interest rates again
when it holds a meeting next week.
“We expect BI to cut rates 25 basis
points in May, earlier than our previous
expectation (of) June,” Arman said.
The bank cut rates in February, by 25
basis points, for the first time in three
years in a bid to boost the economy as
inflation slowed on the back of falling
fuel prices.
Economic growth came in at 4.71 per
cent year-on-year in January-March, its
slowest pace since the start of 2009 and
well below the government’s target of
5.7 per cent for this year.
— AFP
Russia’s economy has been hit hard by plunging oil prices and sanctions
Russian Q1 economic contraction
less than feared at 1.9 per cent
MOSCOW: Russia’s economy shrank
1.9 per cent in the first quarter under
pressure from low oil prices and Western
sanctions, the state statistics agency said
on Friday, a smaller contraction than
had been feared.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry
Medvedev last month estimated that the
economy had shrunk by two per cent
year-on-year in the first quarter while
Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev
projected the contraction had reached
2.2 per cent.
Many economists had released even
more pessimistic forecasts.
Citing preliminary data, the state
statistics service said that Russia’s gross
domestic product contracted 1.9 per
cent in the first quarter year-on-year
after an expansion of 0.4 per cent in the
last three months of 2014.
Russia’s economy has been hit hard
by plunging oil prices and several
rounds of Western sanctions over
Moscow’s meddling in Ukraine.
But after shock falls in the rouble last
year, the currency has bounced back
somewhat in recent months.
President Vladimir Putin has said the
worst is over for the Russian economy
and the government expects the
country’s economy to return to growth
next year. But many economists say
the Russian government’s predictions
appear too sanguine.
Andrei Yakovlev, director at the
Institute for Industrial and Market
Studies at the Moscow-based Higher
School of Economics, said the economy
was adapting to the burden of sanctions
but political uncertainty was high.
“This is an adaptation at a micro level
but unfortunately this does not give
any reasons to be optimistic about the
future,” Yakovlev said.
Consumers have been hit hard by the
crisis but a devalued rouble buttressed
domestic industries like metallurgy and
agriculture.
“The big question now is, what
to do with that money: invest it in
development or convert and take it
abroad?” said Yakovlev.
Capital Economics, a UK-based
consultancy said that even though
the financial market had stabilised,
vulnerabilities remained.
“The growing confidence among
policy makers that the economy will
return to growth over the coming
months looks overdone,” it said.
“The best that can be said about
Q1 GDP data from Russia is that the
economy has avoided outright collapse
and is, instead, merely on the cusp of
recession.”
The consultancy estimated the
economy would contract by around
2.5 per cent in 2015, revising down its
earlier forecast of 5 per cent. “Although
the seeds are slowly being sown for an
eventual recovery, the year-over-year
rate of Russian real GDP growth likely
will remain in negative territory for
most of the year,” added Jay Bryson,
global economist at Wells Fargo.
The
European
Bank
for
Reconstruction and Development
predicted on Thursday that Russian
output would shrink 4.5 per cent this
year and 1.8 per cent in 2016.
The West and Kiev have accused
Russia of supporting separatist rebels
fighting the government in eastern
Ukraine.
The United States said this week that
biting sanctions could be rolled back, “if
and when” the terms of a shaky Ukraine
ceasefire agreed in February are fully
met.
— AFP
increasing
investor
participation.
Listed securities have been long term
value creators for investors and during
the last ten years, the market has also
given numerous attractive investment
opportunities by way of various
attractive initial public offers (IPO) by
banks, insurance, telecommunication
and power companies. The government
and regulators consistently encourage
participation in securities by raising
awareness among public and enforcing
high levels of transparency and
corporate governance for protecting
investor interest. It also attracts more
joint stock companies to the market with
feasible listing requirements.
IPOs on the MSM have an impressive
track record of offering considerable
listing gains and long-term capital
appreciation along with consistent
cash return in the way of dividends.
Irrespective of the market cycles,
companies listed over the last ten years
have together created value to the tune
of RO 700 million besides paying cash
dividends. The dividend yield of MSM
is also one of the highest in the region.
Considering the tremendous growth
the market has achieved, the World
Federation of Exchanges granted MSM
full membership to the federation in
2012 further exemplifying its operational
excellence since inception.
Thus Oman’s capital markets have
come a long way and continue to develop
and grow with the steady support and
The Omani capital market is
built on a strong foundation
that was laid over decades
and today has over 150
listed securities with a total
market capitalisation of RO
14.73 billion and an average
daily trading turnover of
RO 6.63 million as of the
end of the first quarter of
this year.
focused efforts of the government
towards a vision to create a sustainable
source of economic growth and wealth
creation.
(Disclaimer: The views and
opinions expressed in this article
are solely those of the authors
and do not reflect the opinion
of the Oman Daily Observer)
Cameroon cocoa farmgate prices fall
YAOUNDE: Farmgate cocoa prices
fell across Cameroon’s cocoa growing
regions in May compared with the
previous months as few buyers entered
the market at the start of the mid-crop
harvest, authorities said.
Farmers said most buyers stayed
away because only small quantities of
cocoa were available for sale.
A kilogram of cocoa, the main
ingredient in chocolate manufacture,
sold for 1,100 CFA francs ($1.92) in
Sangmelima in the South Region this
month, compared with 1,225 CFA
francs in April, said Moise Edou, a
grower and cooperative head.
In Bafia in the Centre Region, one of
Cameroon’s top growing areas, prices
were 1,240 to 1,290 CFA francs per
kilogramme,
compared with 1,300 CFA francs
in April, said Emmanuel Nguile of
Cameroon’s Cocoa and Coffee Farmers’
Association.
The cocoa season in Cameroon
runs from August 1 to July 31,
with the main harvest period from
October to January/February and the
light mid-crop harvest from April/May
to June/July. — Reuters
BIZ BRIEF
Dutch govt talks with unions break down
S&P downgrades
Sharp to ‘CCC-’
TOKYO: Ratings agency Standard
& Poor’s downgraded Japanese
electronics maker Sharp’s credit
rating by two notches to “CCC-”, citing
the firm’s decision to accept a bank
bailout. The downgrade came after
the troubled firm announced it was
taking a multi-billion-dollar bailout
and laying off about 10 per cent of
its 49,000-strong global workforce to
deal with huge losses.
“Sharp entered into a subscription
agreement with its two main lender
banks to issue preferred securities to
repay borrowings from each bank,”
S&P said in a statement. “We regard
this transaction as a de facto debt-forequity swap, which we define as ‘SD’
(selective default),” it said.
Sharp has been working to move
past years of gaping deficits, partly
caused by steep losses in its television
unit, which has been hammered by
competition from lower-cost rivals
particularly in South Korea and
Taiwan.
The embattled Aquos-brand
maker said on Thursday it posted a
bigger-than-expected $1.86 billion
annual loss for the year to March.
Sharp — a major Apple supplier
and leader in screens for smartphones
and tablets — said it would issue 200
billion yen worth of new shares with
no voting rights to Mizuho Bank and
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ as part
of its bid to repair a badly damaged
balance sheet. Along with the global
job cuts, the company said it would
sell the building that houses its Osaka
headquarters to raise cash, roll out
unspecified pay cuts, and launch a
drastic capital reduction plan to wipe
away huge losses.
On Monday, the company lost
more than a quarter of its market
value following media reports that
it was planning a drastic capital
reduction and the sale of preferred
shares, spooking investors who
worried about their holdings being
diluted. — AFP
AMSTERDAM: Hundreds of thousands of Dutch workers will begin several weeks
of protests and work disruptions after talks with the government about pay and
conditions broke down, the largest trade union federation said on Saturday.
The FNV said negotiations on behalf of 700,000 workers, including police and
ambulance staff, metal workers, and civil servants stalled over wage demands and a
deadline set for the government had lapsed.
“The limit has been reached at the negotiating table,” Ton Heerts, head of the
FNV, said in a statement. ”Employers keep coming to the table with worse terms for
collective labour agreements, while people have been giving up salary for years.”
Under the Dutch labour system, large scale employers, including the government
and private sector companies, negotiate long-term, collective labour agreements
with trade unions. Those negotiations have now broken down, which could lead to
widespread strikes if a deal is not brokered in coming weeks.
More than a month of work disruptions and protests will begin on Tuesday with a
demonstration by ambulance workers. It will be broadened to strikes in various sectors
in the coming weeks, a spokeswoman for the FNV said.
— AFP
A specialist walks past pipes from Latvijas Gaze’s underground gas storage
facility in Incukalns, Latvia. A stake in Latvia’s major energy asset a giant Soviet
era gas storage site buried beneath an impermeable layer of clay deep in the
birch forests outside the capital Riga is up for sale and political uncertainty is
ruining the price. Beginning in June, the Latvian parliament will start debating
its draft law to split storage operator Latvijas Gaze into two, bringing the
company in line with EU liberalisation law and reducing Russia’s dominance
of the region. — Reuters
TPG buys majority stake in Poundworld
LONDON: Britain’s Poundworld, a rival discount chain to Poundland, has sold a
majority stake to US private equity firm TPG, securing new funds to speed-up store
expansion. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed, but local media reports
valued TPG’s purchase at £150 million ($237 million).
Poundworld, which started in 1974 as a market stall in Wakefield in West Yorkshire,
has grown to over 280 UK stores, as well as 50 multi-priced Bargain Buys shops, on rising
demand for discounters that has also supported the likes of supermarkets Aldi and
Lidl. TPG will inject new equity capital to fund a quicker store rollout and invest in new
distribution facilities, Poundworld said, adding its founder and boss Christopher Edwards
and other senior executives would retain a minority stake in the firm. “I began this business
as a market trader and we now have millions of customers from all corners of the nation
and all walks of life. Still, there is so much more for us to achieve,” Edwards said. — Reuters
INTERNATIONAL
S U N DAY
M AY 1 7 l 2 0 1 5
omandailyobserver
19
Weak US data point to modest Q2 economic rebound
MODEST PACE: Manufacturing production unchanged; machinery output down * Consumer confidence hits seven-month low in early May
WASHINGTON:
US
industrial
production unexpectedly fell for a fifth
straight month in April due in part to
a further decline in oil and gas drilling,
suggesting that the economy is growing
at only a modest pace in the second
quarter.
The economy’s struggle to pick up
steam after a dismal first quarter was
underscored by other data on Friday
showing a drop in consumer confidence
to a seven-month low in early May and
only a mild rebound in factory activity
in New York state.
Coming on the heels of weak retail
sales and producer inflation data this
week, the reports suggest the Federal
Reserve will probably not raise interest
rates anytime soon.
“It means in the next month or so we
are unlikely to see a massive rebound in
growth momentum.
These are not the numbers that
would inspire confidence in the Fed to
tighten policy,” said Millan Mulraine,
deputy chief economist at TD Securities
in New York.
Industrial output slipped 0.3 per cent
after a similar decline in March, the Fed
said.
Economists had expected a 0.1 per
cent gain.
A plunge of 14.5 per cent in oil and gas
well drilling pushed mining production
down 0.8 per cent last month.
It was the fourth straight monthly
decline in mining output.
Crude oil prices have fallen by about
50 per cent since last June, resulting in a
sharp drop in well drilling activity.
Companies like Schlumberger, the
world’s No 1 oilfield services provider,
and Halliburton have slashed their
capital spending budgets for this year.
Caterpillar Inc has cut its 2015 profit
outlook and warned that lower oil
prices would hurt its energy equipment
business.
Oil and gas drilling is down 46.5 per
cent over the year and there is no relief
in sight despite the recent stabilisation of
crude oil prices.
Oil rig counts continued to decline
early in the second quarter.
“We see a further drop in mining
investment over the next few quarters
and are not convinced that business
investment ex-mining will be strong
enough to sufficiently offset this drag,”
said Michelle Meyer, a senior economist
A worker assembles a pinball machine at Stern Pinball in Melrose Park, just outside
Chicago, Illinois.
at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in
New York.
SENTIMENT SOURS: In a separate
report, the University of Michigan said
its consumer sentiment index fell to 88.6
early this month, the lowest reading
since October, from 95.9 in April.
There were slight declines in
consumers’ attitudes towards purchases
of motor vehicles and homes.
While economists noted the weak
relationship
between
consumer
confidence and consumer spending,
they nevertheless saw May’s decline as
unfavourable.
Many of them believe that consumer
spending will accelerate in the second
quarter as households start drawing
on their savings from relatively cheap
gasoline prices.
“All things considered, the decline
in confidence means that the potential
for a pick-up in consumption growth
over the next few months is probably
smaller than we previously anticipated,”
said Paul Ashworth, chief economist at
Capital Economics in Toronto.
The economy was slammed earlier in
the year by bad weather, port disruptions,
a strong dollar and deep spending cuts
by energy firms.
The government reported last month
that GDP expanded at a 0.2 per cent
annual pace in the first quarter.
But trade and inventory data
published after the GDP snapshot
suggested the economy actually
contracted.
Second-quarter growth estimates are
currently hovering around a 2.5 per cent
pace, well below the 4.6 per cent pace in
the same period last year.
US stocks were marginally weaker,
while prices for longer-dated US
government bonds rose.
The dollar slipped against a basket of
currencies.
Last month, utilities production
tumbled 1.3 per cent, also contributing
to the weakness in industrial output.
Manufacturing production was
unchanged after gaining 0.3 per cent in
March.
It was restrained by a 0.9 per cent
drop in machinery, though motor
vehicle production rose.
Manufacturing, which accounts for
about 12 per cent of the economy, has
been dampened by the dollar.
Even as the greenback rally fades,
factory activity is unlikely to rebound
strongly.
In a separate report, the New York
Fed said its Empire State general
business conditions index rose to 3.09
in May from -1.19 in April. A reading
above zero indicates expansion.
While new orders rebounded this
month, order books remained depressed
and inventories swelled.
Labour market indicators also
weakened a bit.
“They suggest any pick-up in
manufacturing activity will be muted, at
best,” said Jesse Hurwitz, an economist
at Barclays in New York.
— Reuters
France and China aim to win Greek PM says won’t back down from
developing markets: Fabius red lines in EU and IMF talks
BEIJING: France and China are
interested in expanding their cooperation
to win markets in Africa or Asia, French
Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said
as he confirmed Chinese Premier Li
Keqiang’s upcoming visit to Paris.
“It is taken for granted that (Li) will
travel to Paris and Toulouse at the end of
June, start of July,” the French minister
said during his 10th visit to China.
Fabius met Li in Beijing on Friday in
the Zhongnanhai government enclave,
near the Forbidden City, to discuss topics
for the Chinese leader’s trip.
It would in particular include “the
development of joint projects in third
markets, be they Asian or African
markets,” said Fabius. China faces serious
industrial overcapacity and slowing
domestic demand, which are pushing
its companies to expand their markets.
It could benefit from the expertise of
French groups in markets where they
are long-established. The two countries
also intend to strengthen cooperation
in “food, health, services, finance,” the
minister said.
French investment in China jumped
29.8 per cent year-on-year in the first four
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) shares a light moment with French Foreign
Minister Laurent Fabius during a meeting at the Zhongnanhai leadership
compound in Beijing. — Reuters
months of 2015, Beijing said on Friday,
and Chinese investment in France has
thrived, as evidenced by the acquisition
of the iconic Club Med by Chinese
conglomerate Fosun. “The volume of
trade has also grown,” said Fabius.
France, however, still has a colossal
trade deficit of around 26 billion euros
($30 billion) a year, “it is obviously
necessary to gradually reduce it”, he said.
In a meeting on Friday with Commerce
Minister Gao Hucheng, Fabius also
“recalled French expectations in aviation
cooperation,” according to an official
source. European aircraft manufacturer
Airbus, based in Toulouse, has a Chinese
medium-haul A320 assembly plant and
has discussed with its Chinese partners an
expansion of their industrial cooperation
on the long-haul A330.
—AFP
ATHENS: Greek Prime Minister Alexis
Tsipras said his government would
not back down from its red lines in
negotiations with its foreign lenders
but said a deal must be reached soon
following months of talks.
Athens is fast running out of cash
and talks with European Union and
IMF lenders on more aid have been
deadlocked over their demands for
Greece to implement reforms, including
pension cuts and labour market
liberalisation.
Tsipras said the two sides had largely
agreed on fiscal targets and VAT rates,
but disagreed on labour issues and
pension reform.
He said an accord should include low
primary budget surplus targets for 201516 and a debt restructuring.
“The deal must close there is no doubt
about it,” Tsipras told a conference.”
However, some cannot have in the back
of their minds the idea that, as time goes
by, the Greek side’s resilience will be
tested and its red lines will fade out.
“If some people have it in the back of
their minds, they should forget it.”
Athens has depended on money
from its 240 billion euro ($275 billion)
EU/IMF bailout to keep paying its bills
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (2nd L) gestures prior to delivering a speech
during the Economist conference entitled “Europe: The comeback ? Greece: How
resilient?” in Athens. — AFP
since 2010. It has not received any loan
tranches since last August.
Earlier on Friday, the finance ministry
said Greece had paid public sector wages
due in mid-May, confirming scheduled
payments as the country struggles to stay
solvent, although it may find it harder to
meet wage and pension commitments
later this month as well as debt payments
due in June. For months, the government
has been borrowing from different parts of
the state administration to pay the wages
and pensions of public sector workers.
Tsipras, who came to power in January
on promises to end belt-tightening,
said the government would not agree
to further cuts to wages and pensions, a
highly sensitive issue in Greece after a sixyear austerity-induced recession, rising
poverty and joblessness.
— Reuters
The government would develop new rules for natural gas-fired electricity generation and to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector
Canada sets 30 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions
WINNIPEG/OTTAWA:
Canada,
under fire for its environmental record,
pledged
to slash greenhouse gas
emissions by 30 per cent below 2005
levels by 2030 but gave very few details
of what Ottawa acknowledged was an
ambitious plan.
Critics dismissed the pledge, noting
Canada has no chance of meeting its
existing 2020 target for cutting the
output of gases widely blamed for global
warming.
Canada’s right-of-centre ruling
Conservatives say they will tackle
climate change while avoiding measures
that might kill jobs.
The party has deep political roots in
the west, where emissions are soaring as
the oil-rich tar sands are developed.
As part of Friday’s announcement,
Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq
said the government would develop new
rules for natural gas-fired electricity
generation and to cut methane emissions
from the oil and gas sector.
“We will continue to reduce
Canada’s emissions while protecting the
economy,” she told a news conference in
Winnipeg.
Although Canada is currently
committed to cutting output of
greenhouse gases by 17 per cent below
2005 levels by 2020, data show it has no
chance of meeting that target.
“Until today’s announcement is
backed by a commitment to enacting is written on,” said Keith Stewart of Stephen Harper must do more to tackle
policies that can actually achieve this Greenpeace Canada.
climate change, in part by cutting
new target, it isn’t worth the paper it
Green activists say Prime Minister emissions from the oil and gas sector.
Harper says he will only do so in
coordination with the United States and
has ruled out the idea of a carbon tax.
Aglukkaq, who did not answer
directly when asked about the likely
failure to meet the 2020 targets,
announced the new goal in the run-up
to a United Nations summit in Paris
in December to agree on reductions
beyond 2020.
The United States says it plans
emissions cuts of up to 28 per cent below
2005 levels by 2025.
“The targets that we have set for
Canada are very much in line with
the industrialised countries,” said
Aglukkaq.
The New Democrats, the largest
opposition party, said the government
“The targets that we have set
for Canada are very much in
line with the industrialised
countries”
had no intention of meeting the 2030
target.
“If we’re going to see a reduction in
greenhouse gas emissions, we need a
hard cap on emissions in the oil and gas
sector,” said Megan Leslie, the party’s
environment spokeswoman.
Aglukkaq also said Ottawa would
introduce regulations for the production
of chemicals and nitrogen fertilizers.
— Reuters
20
omandailyobserver
CORPORATE
PERSPECTIVE
S U N DAY
M AY 1 7 l 2 0 1 5
SPENDING
US capital spending seen falling to four-year low
“The new worry cropping
up in the first-quarter
earnings season is
the concern of a more
pervasive slowdown
across industrial markets”
U
S
corporate
spending on capital
projects could fall
this year to the
lowest level since
2011, with steep
reductions by the energy industry and
companies in other sectors cutting
spending amid broad concerns about
global growth.
Among the S&P sectors, only the
materials and financials sectors expect
to spend more in 2015 than they did last
year, according to a Thomson Reuters
analysis of spending outlooks from
the 255 S&P 500 companies that have
offered guidance on their capex for the
year.
Analyst projections for all S&P 500
companies point in the same direction: a
grim year for capital expenditures.
The numbers suggest that corporate
bosses across many sectors are less
confident in the economy than they had
been in recent years.
“They’re not spending at a pace that
would suggest a global recovery,” said
Peter Cardillo, chief market economist
at Rockwell Global Capital in New York.
That could translate to lower job
growth and weakness in the technology
and industrial companies that typically
benefit from capital spending.
“The new worry cropping up in the
first-quarter earnings season is the
concern of a more pervasive slowdown
across industrial markets,” RBC Capital
Markets analysts wrote in a recent note.
Analyst estimates show total S&P 500
capex spending could dip 11 per cent to
$641.6 billion in 2015 from actual 2014
spending of $718.1 billion, marking the
The US flag is displayed at Tesoro’s Los Angeles oil refinery in Los Angeles, California. — Reuters
lowest level since 2011’s $591.5 billion,
according to Thomson Reuters data.
That would break the recent trend
of increasing S&P 500 capital spending
every year since at least 2009, the data
shows.
Companies themselves are projecting
a similar decline from 2014 levels,
with total spending from 255 S&P 500
companies projected at $410.2 billion
this year, down from actual spending by
those same firms of $459.2 billion last
year.
As expected, S&P 500 energy
companies account for the biggest fall in
projected spending levels.
As a group, their capex plans are
down by $21.4 billion, or 14.1 per
cent from a year ago, according to the
Thomson Reuters analysis.
US oil prices are down more than 43
per cent from mid-June of last year.
There are a few bright spots,
including International Paper (IP.N),
which expects to spend $1.5 billion on
capex this year compared with $1.4
billion in 2014.
S&P 500 technology, industrial
and consumer discretionaries also are
showing sizeable declines in spending
plans.
Chip maker Intel (INTC.O), which
expects to spend $8.7 billion in 2015,
down from $10.2 billion in 2014, said
last month the dip reflected greater
efficiency in manufacturing, more re-
SOLAR ENERGY
use of its existing production machinery
and lower demand for PC chips.
“I’d characterise this as being an
unusually low level of capex, relative
to the size of the business, because we
are driving efficiency at a faster rate,
and we are getting more re-use than
we expected,” Intel Chief Financial
Officer Stacy Smith told analysts on a
conference call.
Even with projected cuts, energy
companies still account for roughly
32 per cent of total capex plans, down
from roughly 33 per cent of last year’s
spending levels.
ConocoPhillips
(COP.N),
for
example, expects $11.5 billion in capex
this year, down from $17.1 billion last
year.
“This could go on into 2016, barring a
meaningful recovery in the oil price.
I think the trend continues for lower
capital spending,” said Fadel Gheit,
managing director and senior analyst at
Oppenheimer & Co.
RECORD
CASH
NOT
TRANSLATING TO CAPEX: S&P 500
companies still have record levels of cash
on their balance sheets, and spending on
buybacks and dividend payments has
come at the expense of capex for many
companies.
“Companies have been more
interested in share buybacks than capex,”
said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at
Prudential Financial, which is based in
Newark, New Jersey.
Railroad Kansas City Southern
(KSU.N), which has forecast reduced
capex this year and said in April it was
delaying some capacity expansion
projects related to energy, on Thursday
announced a share buyback programme
of up to $500 million.
— Reuters
MARKET FORECAST
Conservative push for solar power
is backed by usual green advocates
Tokyo investors look
to economy after
earnings season
W
J
HEN
Debbie
Dooley, a Tea
Party firebrand
from Woodstock
Georgia, makes
the case for solar power, she doesn’t
rely on the usual environmental talking
points.
She speaks of property rights,
national security and free market
competition.
Former Republican Congressman
Barry Goldwater, Jr casts his support
for solar energy as a conservative stance
against monopoly power utilities that
“want to limit energy choice.”
Dooley and Goldwater, along with
the right-leaning pro-solar groups
they founded, have been widely
hailed in media reports as proof that
conservatives are beginning to embrace
renewable energy.
But public records and interviews
show the groups’ support among
conservative donors is thin, and
the money behind them comes
almost entirely from liberal-leaning
environmental groups and the solar
industry itself.
Floridians for Solar Choice, a group
Dooley helped found to qualify a rooftop
solar initiative for the 2016 Florida
ballot, has received about 95 per cent
of its funding — more than $360,000
— from the Southern Alliance For
Clean Energy (SACE) and its political
arm the SACE Action Fund, traditional
environmental groups with long records
of climate change activism.
Goldwater’s group, Tell Utilities Solar
Won’t Be Killed (TUSK), received more
than $450,000 — the bulk of its funding
during a recent campaign in Arizona
— from SolarCity, America’s largest
provider of rooftop solar installations.
The large donations have helped
the renewable energy technology gain
a foothold in parts of the country
traditionally hostile to environmental
activism.
But they have come despite some
significant philosophical gaps between
funders and recipients.
Stephen A Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, speaks at a news conference in Tallahassee,
Florida. — Reuters
The SACE Action Fund, for example,
describes itself as “striving to make clean
energy solutions to climate change a
top priority.” When asked by a reporter
for her views on global warming,
Dooley responded: “That’s not
something I am thinking about or
taking a position on.”
“You start talking about climate
change and global warming and people
will tune you out,” she said. “But you talk
about monopolies and competition and
the need for security against a terrorist
attack, they will listen.”
The
website
of
Goldwater’s
organisation casts the fight for solar as
a battle against the “socialist control” of
the “monopoly utilities.”
Some traditional environmental
groups have been wary of making
alliances with the new conservative
groups.
Frank Jackalone, Florida staff
director of the Sierra Club, said that
when someone in his organisation first
advanced the idea of working with Tea
Party supporters he was sceptical.
“We have been on opposite sides with
the Tea Party on so many issues,” he said.
“You start talking about
climate change and global
warming and people will
tune you out. But you
talk about monopolies
and competition and the
need for security against
a terrorist attack, they will
listen.”
Eventually, however, the Sierra Club
and other environmental organisations
joined forces with Dooley’s groups,
which also include the Green Tea
Coalition and Conservatives for Energy
Freedom, to promote the Florida
initiative.
Dooley is hopeful that she can rally
broad support among Republicans
for her message. “Conservatives are
very receptive to solar when the right
messenger delivers the right message,”
she said.
But her task won’t be easy.
Polling by the PEW Research
Center in 2014 found that while 65
per cent of Americans overall support
the development of wind, solar and
hydrogen power, about 65 per cent of
conservatives oppose it.
Utilities and traditional conservative
organisations, including the Koch
brothers-backed
Americans
For
Prosperity and the American Legislative
Exchange Council, have fought to block
states from passing pro-solar bills that
would make it easier for homeowners to
go solar.
“That has been the challenge: to reengineer the politics of solar on the
right,” said Jason Rose, a spokesman for
TUSK.
The conservative push for solar had
some of its earliest success in Georgia,
where Dooley’s Green Tea Coalition and
others critical of utility Georgia Power’s
control of the electricity market first
began to lobby for “energy choice.”
Jason Rooks, a lobbyist for Georgia’s
solar industry trade group, had spent
years trying to advance solar power’s
prospects in the state before hiring
conservative communications strategist
Derrick Dickey last year.
— Reuters
APANESE growth data and a central bank meeting will be in focus
for Tokyo investors next week, as the country wraps up its latest
earnings season.
Kicking off the week, machinery orders — a leading indicator
of capital spending — will be released on Monday while January-March
gross domestic product figures are due on Wednesday, after Japan limped
out of a brief recession in the last three months of 2014.
The Bank of Japan (BoJ) is also holding a two-day meeting with
governor Haruhiko Kuroda slated to meet the press on Friday as investors
look for more clues about another round of expansion to the BoJ’s
monetary easing plan.
Speculation has been rising that a weak economy including tepid
inflation would force policymakers to further ease policy, with the latest
data showing consumer confidence remained weak in April.
“The focus of the Tokyo
market is likely to move to
economic fundamentals from
corporate earnings,” Daiwa
Securities said in a note.
“January-March GDP to
be released on Wednesday will
likely provide a key focus,” it
added. On Friday, the Nikkei
225 stock index at the Tokyo
Stock Exchange rose 0.83 per
cent or 162.68 points to finish at
19,732.92, for a weekly gain of
1.82 per cent.
A businessman walks past an electronic
The Topix index of all first- quotation board flashing the Nikkei key
section shares climbed 0.98 per index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange
(TSE) in front of a securities company in
cent, or 15.62 points, to 1,607.11. Tokyo. — AFP
It rose 1.21 per cent over the
week. The rise came as Japan
finishes a relatively upbeat reporting season and after Wall Street supplied
a strong lead, with the broad-based S&P 500 bolting to a fresh recordhigh close on Thursday, led by strong gains in Apple, Facebook and other
technology stocks.
It rose 1.08 per cent to end at 2,121.10. The Dow gained 1.06 per cent
and the Nasdaq jumped 1.39 per cent.
In Tokyo on Friday, Toyota rose 1.43 per cent to 8,296.0 yen and Sony
climbed 1.99 per cent to 3,892.0 yen.
Chipmaker Renesas jumped 2.93 per cent to 972 yen — after soaring
as much as 12 per cent in early trade — on a report that US-based Avago
was eyeing it as a potential acquisition target.
However, camera giant Nikon dropped 10.96 per cent to 1,527 yen as it
cut its operating profit forecast.
Sharp tumbled 7 per cent to 186 yen after the struggling firm
announced it took a 200 billion yen bailout from its banks and will slash
its global workforce by about 10 per cent in a bid to stay afloat.
On currency markets, the dollar ticked up to 119.45 yen from 119.19
yen in New York.
— AFP
PERSPECTIVE
S U N DAY
M AY 1 7 l 2 0 1 5
omandailyobserver
21
MEMRISTOR
FLYING CAMERA
Selfie-taking camera drone
A new drone called The Lily, which is essentially a flying, family-oriented camera, has been released. The device allows the user to have the drone take off, after
which they don‘t have to do anything except smile for the camera.
THE drone market is steadily growing in popularity.
A number of companies have entered the space
with different types of consumer drones.
Lately, drones are being positioned in the market as
flying cameras, and these have started becoming more
popular. One such drone, called The Lily, allows the
user to simply throw the drone in the air, after which
they can leave it alone and have it follow them.
“Cameras right now are limited by the skill of
the human operator. Most of the time that means
non-professionals getting less than ideal shots,”
said Henry Bradlow, one of the creators of The Lily.
“With a flying camera, you can get amazing shots
and angles regardless of who is using it.”
The Lily was created to try to mimic the
functionality of an action camera, and includes a
polycarbonate shell that is able to withstand crashes.
The technology certainly goes behind making it
easier to take selfies. It is easy to imagine a family
buying a drone for family vacations or gatherings
in order to prevent the problem of having someone
left out of the photo to take it.
In fact, this seems to be the market that The Lily
is pursuing. The goal is to build a family-friendly
device. It can currently capture stills of 12MP and
video at 1080p and 60 frames per second or 720p at
120 frames per second. Of course, the camera itself
is not the main feature with which the company is
trying to differentiate itself. The real kicker is how
easy it is to use. The drone launches into the air
then orbits the user. Not only that, but the device
is also waterproof, making it usable around things
like pools and lakes. The device can only currently
fly for 20 minutes on a single charge. Of course, in
order to know where to go, the device has a small
remote, which serves as a location beacon.
“We want to be in the GoPro space, not the
drone space,” said Antoine Balaresque, co-creator
of the device.
Researchers create chip
with human-like memory
ENGINEERS at the University of California, Santa Cruz made what
researchers called a “small, but important step” forward for artificial
intelligence. A circuit of roughly 100 artificial synapses was proved it
had the ability to classify images.
Researchers in UC Santa Barbara‘s Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering last week announced they have managed
to create a circuit of about 100 artificial synapses able to perform a
simple human task: classifying an image.
“It‘s a small, but important step,” Dmitri Strukov, a professor
of electrical and computer engineering said in a statement. The
researchers say that with time and further advancements, the
circuitry may eventually
be scaled to rival a human‘s
brain, which has upwards
of one quadrillion synaptic
connections.
The
researchers
explained that the brain
can accomplish certain
functions — such as
classifying the shapes of
letters, and their relative
positions to each other
to derive meaning as you
read this — in a fraction
of a second. It would take
a computer far more time
and energy to perform these same tasks.
In the researcher‘s demonstration, a circuit with an artificial neural
network was able to classify the letters Z, V, and N by their images. It
correctly classified the images even when the letters were stylised in
different ways and saturated with “noise,” similar to how us humans
can pick our friends out from a crowd, or find the right key from a
ring with similar keys.
“While the circuit was very small compared to practical networks,
it is big enough to prove the concept of practicality,” researcher
Merrikh-Bayat, said in a statement. “As more solutions to the
technological challenges are proposed the technology will be able to
make it to the market sooner.”
The key to this technology is a so-called memristor, or a
combination of “memory” and “resistor.” This is an electronic
component whose resistance changes depending on the direction
of the flow of the electrical charge. Unlike traditional transistors,
memristors work based on iconic movement, similar to the way
human neural cells generate electronic signals.
LIGHT BULB SPEAKER
Sony’s new LED light bulb is also a Bluetooth speaker
SONY is launching a new LED bulb that combines
the technology of producing 360 lumens of light while
playing music through a built-in speaker.
It‘s not always practical or cost-effective to have a
sound system in every room of your home. If your light
bulbs could play music, however, it would kill two birds
with one stone.
Well, Sony Japan has unveiled precisely that: an LED
light bulb with a built-in Bluetooth speaker.
The LSPX-100E26J has a standard E26 cap screw
fitting and is designed for use in ceiling light fittings or
lamps.
It is installed in the same way as a standard bulb
and pairs via Bluetooth with an accompanying iOS or
Android app.
The app allows users to control the audio output of
the bulb, including the EQ settings. A remote control is
also provided from which users can adjust the volume
and brightness of the bulb and can control a sleep
function.
Sony explains that it has employed what it
calls “optical lens Glove” technology, which is
said to help minimise any shadow cast by the
speaker mechanism within the bulb. The luminaire
itself consumes about 7 W of power and the speaker
about 2 W.
Sony‘s light bulb speaker will be available in Japan
from May 23 and is listed at 24,000 yen (about$200) on
the firm‘s website. There is no word yet on when or if the
bulbs will be made available elsewhere.
AUTOMOBILE
All-new Volvo XC90
redefines luxury SUV
Months of speculation ended after Volvo Auto India revealed its all-new Volvo
XC90 last week, delivering on its promise to introduce a visually striking,
premium quality seven-seat SUV with world leading safety features, new
powertrain technologies, an unrivalled combination of power and fuel
efficiency and a superlative interior finish. The new XC90 will be available in D5
Inscription and Momentum trims, 2.0L 4 Cylinder, automatic 8-Speed AWD with
225HP and a whopping 470Nm torque. Priced at Rs 77.9 lakh (Ex-showroom,
Delhi without Octroi) for Inscription and at Rs 64.9 lakh (Ex-showroom, Delhi
without Octroi) for Momentum, the Volvo New XC90 can be pre-ordered.
Deliveries will commence in September 2015. Tomas Ernberg, Managing
Director, Volvo Auto India said, “The wait is finally over now. With all-new Volvo
XC90, we are not just launching a car, but re-launching our brand.”
LAPTOP
Asus launches world’s slimmest laptop ZenBook UX305
TAIWANESE device maker Asus has
launched the ZenBook UX305, which the
company claims is the world‘s slimmest
13.3-inch QHD+ ultraportable laptop at
12.3mm. The device has been priced in India
at Rs 49,999 and will be available online at
Flipkart and offline through Asus Exclusive
Stores starting May 15, 2015.
The Asus ZenBook UX305, weighs
1.2kg and features an in-plane switching
(IPS) anti-glare display with 3200x1800p
resolution and a touch panel. The display
has 300cd/m2 brightness, a contrast ratio
of 770:1 and an anti-glare coating, in
addition to the wide colour gamut (72 per
cent NTSC) for accurate colours. ZenBook
UX305 has a new wedge-shaped design,
made from aluminium, featuring diamondcut highlights. It is available in two colours
— Obsidian Stone and Ceramic Alloy.
Powered by the Intel Core M-5Y10
processor and up to 8GB of RAM, the laptop
features an up to 512GB solid-state disk.
Asus claims the device offers a battery life of
up to 10 hours.
Asus has used its new advanced thermal
management design to remove the need for
cooling fans, making the laptop silent. The
new ZenBook also features Asus IceCool
technology to ensure that the palm-rest area
remains below body temperature at all times.
It has a full-size ergonomic keyboard,
which Asus claims, has an improved layout
for comfortable and accurate typing in
any lighting conditions. Its large touchpad
supports Smart Gestures for control of
Windows 8.1, adds Asus. The ZenBook
UX305 sports three SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports
with one of the USB ports supporting Asus
Charger+ technology for rapid recharging of
mobile devices. A USB-to-Ethernet adapter
is bundled with UX305, along with a mini
DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter for connecting
to an external monitor.
22
LEISURE/CLASSIFIEDS
omandailyobserver
SITUATION WANTED
INDIAN female, 27, BE
ƒ†…‡”–‹ϐ‹‡†Ǥ
5 years experience
in SAP and Quality
Assurance. Seeking
suitable opportunities
in reputed companies.
Contact 91728060,
E-mail: bergs_
[email protected].
·····
SITUATION VACANT
WE are looking for the sales & marketing executive
and receptionist for one of the new insurance
brokerage located in Mawaleh, Sultanate of Oman.
He/she has minimum 2 to 6 years experience in
an insurance brokerage/insurance companies in
Oman and vacancy is open for both expatriate and
Omani Nationality.
Please contact or forward the CV to
[email protected] or +969-96910054
Lost
ABDUL Momen has lost
Bangladeshi passport
No AE 0540038.
Finder please handover
to ROP.
MOHAMMAD Anaam
has lost Bangladeshi
passport No C1546671.
Finder please handover
to ROP.
····
····
For Sale
ALI Ahmed Ali has lost
Yemeni passport
No 05975326.
Finder please handover
to ROP.
····
PRIME location in Shatty
Qurum for Sale. Ideal for
restaurant/ Coffee Shop/
Fast Food. 97890657/
96426312. E-mail: tess29.
[email protected]
·····
INDIAN male, 6 years
experience in accounts &
purchase with valid
Omani driving licence,
looking for a suitable
post. Contact
98851980.
·····
EXPERIENCED,
Egyptian
Telecommunications
Engineer, Cisco
‡”–‹ϐ‹‡†‡–™‘”
Associate, Cisco
‡”–‹ϐ‹‡†‡–™‘”
Professional,
‹…”‘•‘ˆ–‡”–‹ϐ‹‡†
Professional, Forefront
TMG Firewall 2010
and Studying Red hat
Enterprise Linux /
RHCE seeks suitable
job. Please call
99789361 or E_mail:
minaragaie66@gmail.
com
·····
S U N DAY
M AY 1 7 l 2 0 1 5
For Rent
A BUILDING in Seeb
near LuLu Hypermarket
is offered for rent the
premise conrains 11
shops and 8 flats.
99417541/ 99212224.
·····
FOR serious poeple for
rent flats in Mumtaz, 2
bedroom, hall way No
3352 building No 3774
and 3668. 99341138/
98003444.
·····
NEW villa in Al Khoud
6 is offered for rent. The
premise comprises 6
bedrooms, male majlis,
female majlis, a split
unit air-conditioned
family living room and 8
toilets. 99668686.
3 INDUSTRIAL
lands 92702891,
95490842.
·····
FLATS in a new
residential building in Al
Hamriya. AC, 1 room +
small hall + kitchen + 1
toilet, RO 190. Contact.
94056333, 24702522.
·····
BUILDING of 2 floors in
Al Hail each 3 bedroom,
3 bathrooms,
sittingroom, lounge
kitchen, store.
92817777.
·····
FLATS in a new
residential building in
Al Hamriya. AC, 2
rooms + small hall +
kitchen + 2 toilets, RO
220. Contact.
94056333, 24702522.
A FURNISHED
house in Al Maabelah
contains two bedrooms,
kitchen, a living room and
3 toilets. 99357404.
·····
A FLAT for rent (family
only) — two bedrooms,
majlis, living room and
three toilets, ground floor
in Al Hail Al Shamaliyah,
behind Al Nakheel
Hypermarket, RO 400
99889798
·····
2-STOREY villa in Al
Maabelah contains two
majlis with toilets, 2 living
rooms and 3 bedrooms
with toilets and it situates
in nearby place in Al Maabelah. Connected to Water
Network. 99357404.
·····
·····
·····
VILLA in Al Khuwair
and Seeb. 99119699,
92125648.
·····
FAMILY flats in Wadi
Kabir, Ruwi, Muttrah, Al
Khuwair and Al Hail.
95250300, 92125648.
·····
Required
RUWI :
24785668
QURUM BEACH
HOTEL24564070.
·····
CALVIN AND HOBBES
by Bill Watterson
GARFIELD
by Jim Davis
STONE SOUP
·····
·····
4
5
6
7
8
12
13
14
15
16
18
19
21
22
23
25
26
28
CR O SSW O R D
ACROSS: 3, F-E-ast 8, Fraud 10, Hired 11, Arc 12, B-read 13, Octo-pus
15, Va.-let 18, L-en 19, Feline 21, Pink
gin 22, Ch.-ic 23, Seat 24, Pressed 26,
Unites 29, Tea 31, Rated 32, Blanket
34, Slily 35, CID 36, Balsa 37, Medal
38, Arde-n.
penny (5)
14 It’s strange, my game (5)
15 Sort of fight that can lead to
littering at the ringside (5)
16 Tearful, a little, over extremes of
poverty (5)
18 What a farmer can produce in the
wood? (5)
19 They could have been spent in
Spain (7)
21 She needs but half an hour to get
Saul mad (6)
22 Beethoven’s Ninth, at church, is
spoken! (6)
23 Protection from a Romeo in love
(6)
25 Being feeble, fail outright (5)
26 An “off the cuff ” connection? (4)
28 Doubly good and great (3)
EASY PUZZLE
ACROSS
1 Crate (5)
6
9
10
11
12
13
15
17
18
19
20
22
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
2
3
DOWN: 1, Crack 2, Buc-O-L-ic 4,
Ears 5, S-have-N 6, Tidal 7, Ye-men
9, Art 12, Bunkers 14, Pen 16, Lived
17, Teeth 19, Firstly 20, O-C.C.-ur 21,
Pip-it 23, Seances 24, Pedla-R 25, Sea
27, Nat-Al 28, Tessa 30, C-Ed-ar 32,
Blue 33, K-I’d.
Elegance (5)
Check (7)
Undress (5)
Majestic (5)
Northern Britons (5)
Protection (7)
Number (3)
Dry (4)
Sullen (6)
Gas (5)
Throaty (6)
Yield (4)
Everything (3)
Alike (7)
Shotgun (5)
Exclude (5)
Trite (5)
Esteemed (7)
War-horse (5)
Judge’s hammer (5)
DOWN
Less cold (6)
Grinned (6)
THURSDAY’S EASY SOLUTIONS
ACROSS: 3, Usher 8, Decoy 10, Local
11, Pan 12, Straw 13, Concept 15,
Tepid 18, Ore 19, Merino 21, Tracked
22, Loud 23, Boss 24, Parapet 26,
Chisel 29, Tar 31, Taper 32, Dowager
34, Asian 35, Tea 36, Ditto 37, Genre
38, Snipe.
DOWN: 1, Depot 2, Concord 4, Sett
5, Elated 6, Rower 7, Cabin 9, Can
12, Special 14, Era 16, Pilot 17, Douse
19, Megaton 20, Elect 21, Tulip 23,
Berated 24, Person 25, Paw 27, Habit
28, Seats 30, Learn 32, Damp 33, Gen.
Hospitals
by Jan Eliot
Muttrah . . . . . . . 24797602
Quriyat . . . . . . . 24845001 . . . . 24845003
SQH, Salalah. . . 23211555 . . . . 23211151
Police. . . . . . . . . 24603988 . . . . 24603980
Al Nahda . . . . . . 24831255 . . . . 24837800
Ibn Sina. . . . . . . 24876322 . . . . 24877361
Nizwa. . . . . . . . . 25439361 . . . . 25425033
Al Rustaq. . . . . . 26875055 . . . . 26877186
Sumayil. . . . . . . 25350055 . . . . 25350022
Izki . . . . . . . . . . . 25340033 . . . . 25340033
‘YO UR STARS ‘
Summit (3)
Walk affectedly (5)
Segment (7)
Minerals (4)
Addicts (6)
Frighten (5)
Russian villa (5)
Last (5)
Drying cloth (5)
At no time (5)
Film (5)
Hoped (7)
Most senior (6)
Insect (6)
Injury (6)
Slumber (5)
Unusual (4)
Implore (3)
THURSDAY’S CRYPTIC
SOLUTIONS
Health Services Department
Your domestic
set-up will
need some
reorganisation
in the coming
year and
although minor
differences
will arise, your
endeavours
to do right by
everybody will
soon get over
any trouble.
Your financial
affairs will take
a turn for the
better and you
will be able to
realise some of
your dreams.
·····
E-mail: alfurjar06@gmail.
com/ hope4u99@icloud.
com
Hospital. . . . . Board . . . . . . . Emergency
Royal . . . . . . . 24599000 . . . 24590491
IF IT’S YOUR
BIRTHDAY:
REQUIRED experienced
suitable person to
take care of two infant
children and household.
Visa available
.99320187.
SUBCONTRACTORS
required: SME
contractors interested
in telecom side — civil
and underground
telephone cable laying
work — may contact Mr
S Ravi 99424605 or
Mr Sayed .99358733
of National Telephone
Services Co LLC
3. Civil Engineer: Min 5
years experience having
driving licence
Guest House
1 Drink one for excitement (5)
6 Gathers various pears (5)
9 To a certain measure hardened to
being blamed (7)
10 A blue one may go to a woman’s
head (5)
11 Be a round peg? (3,2)
12 Concerning taking a seaman away
(5)
13 Yes, an Italian name for a hot
wind (7)
15 Pull out of town (3)
17 For a spell, it’s a change from
Canute (4)
18 Girl coming in during playing (6)
19 Has she handled a revolver? (5)
20 Shocked by the number not
exactly correct? (6)
22 Applaud a ham at a certain
junction (4)
24 A score that could test one’s
patience? (3)
25 Where, in a heated situation,
there’s a hush when you make a
catch? (7)
26 Discover what money you
deserve? (5)
27 An old army measure known to
Noah (5)
28 Put up with not hot running water
(5)
29 African territory where the main
difficulty is a lot of bias? (7)
30 Supporters’ cards? (5)
31 Old name for the Stars and Stripes
(5)
DOWN
2 Though dried, is in water (6)
3 Might seem lucky to a masterly
clansman (6)
4 A shot, excellent in placement (3)
5 Nominally, is famously
unforgetful (5)
6 Denial of a small official
American figure (7)
7 For publication, cook up a diet?
(4)
8 Perhaps the reason why you can
smell a really bad rat? (6)
12 Longed for a slice of cheddar (5)
13 Family in the street without a
by Brian Basset
2. Autocad Technician
(Omani female)
4. Electrical Engineer
degree/diploma, min 3
years experience.
ACROSS
ADAM @ HOME
1. Omani Secretary
(Female)
Behind Royal
Oman Police
Adjacent to
Dhofar
Building,
Ruwi
CRYPTIC PUZZLE
CARTOONS
REPUTED engineering
consultancy firm in
Muscat looking for
following placement:
Haima . . . . . . . . 23436013 . . . . 23436055
Sohar . . . . . . . . . 26840022 . . . . 26840099
Al Buraimi. . . . . 25650855 . . . . 25652319
Sur . . . . . . . . . . . 25440244 . . . . 25461373
Tanam . . . . . . . . 25499011 . . . . 25499033
Masirah . . . . . . . 25404018 . . . . 25404018
Ibra. . . . . . . . . . . 25470533 . . . . 25470535
Adam. . . . . . . . . 25434167 . . . . 25434055
Bidiya . . . . . . . . 25483535 . . . . 25483535
Ibri . . . . . . . . . . . 25491011 . . . . 25491990
Saham . . . . . . . . 26854427 . . . . 26855148
Khasab . . . . . . . 26830187 . . . . 26830187
Dibba. . . . . . . . . 26836443 . . . . 26836443
Burkha. . . . . . . . 26828397 . . . . 26828397
Sinaw. . . . . . . . . 25474338
TAURUS
GEMINI
CANCER
LEO
VIRGO
LIBRA
April 21May 20
May 21June 21
June 22July 21
July 22August 21
August 22September 22
September 23October 22
An urgent letter may precipitate a
course of action today which you
were not anticipating. You will be
wise to follow it through as the outcome is of some importance.
A business trip which you had
planned may have to be postponed
for a while and you will be glad of the
opportunity to catch up with some
of your social commitments.
Scrutinise an important document
with extra care before putting your
signature to it. If the meaning is
unclear consult a professional expert.
Be careful not to spoil a smoothly run- Don’t take it upon yourself to Rectify an error due to your own
ning relationship by making occasional make a far-reaching decision negligence as soon as possible so
reminders of a less happy period in the without everybody who may have that you can enjoy complete peace
history of the friendship.
the slightest connection with it.
of mind in your future activities.
SCORPIO
SAGITTARIUS
CAPRICORN
AQUARIUS
PISCES
ARIES
October 23November 21
November 22December 21
December 22January 20
January 21February 19
February 20March 20
March 21April 20
A business transaction with
someone living abroad must
be approached very carefully.
Make sure you know who you
are dealing with, and demand
full details at all times.
Delay for a while your acceptance
of an invitation to join a new social circle. Your mind should be
on your career, and your present
social obligations keep you well
occupied.
Since you feel a strong attraction
to great works of art, a close study
of the subject may induce you
to devote the major part of your
spare time to it.
Don’t be too complacent just
because things are running
smoothly now. It is essential
that you maintain your efforts or you may fall behind.
A cash gift from a wealthy relation may enable you to pay off a
debt. Don’t squander it on useless
trifles. You will feel better if you
use it to pay the money owing.
A newcomer may be trying too hard
and making unnecessary mistakes.
Don’t be too critical of his aggressive
attitude and try to understand how
he feels.
CLASSIFIEDS
S U N DAY
M AY 1 7 l 2 0 1 5
Ȉ ƒ”•ˆ‘”•ƒŽ‡
Ȉ ‘””‡–
Ȉ ‘„ƒ’’Ž‹…ƒ–‹‘
Ȉ Šƒ”‹‰”‡•‹†‡…‡
Ȉ ”ƒ•’‘”–…ƒ”•
Ȉ ‡ƒŽ•–ƒ–‡ȋ•ƒŽ‡Ǧ
”‡–Ǧ‹˜‡•–‡–•
omandailyobserver
23
Ȉ ƒŒŒƒ†”ƒ
Ȉ •‡†ˆ—”‹–—”‡ˆ‘”•ƒŽ‡
Ȉ ƒ—…Š…‡”‡‘‹‡•‘ˆȋ”‡•–ƒ—”ƒ–•Ǧ
•Š‘’•Ǧ…Ž‹‹…•Ȍ
Ȉ ‘„ƒ†•
Ȉ ‡ƒ…Š‹‰†”‹˜‹‰
Ȉ ‘—•‡•…Ž‡ƒ‹‰Ǧ•‡”˜‹…‡•ƒ†’‡•–
…‘–”‘Ž
For information, please call:
99841230-95919344
92721879 - 99639264
Tel: 24649597, Fax: 24649590
BankMuscat account: 0397003776610011
Bank Dhofar account: 01040141195001
E-mail: [email protected]
Situation Vacant
REQUIRED urgently —
Pharmacists (male):
Pharmacy graduates with
minimum 3 years experience as Pharmacist. Prefers Ministry of Health
licence holders. Medical
Sales Representatives
(male): Pharmacy Graduates, minimum 3 years
experience in a reputed
national/multinational
pharmaceutical company
and excellent communication skills in English.
Omani driving licence
holders preferred. Salary commensurate with
–Š‡“—ƒŽ‹ϐ‹…ƒ–‹‘ƒ†
experience. Send CV with
photograph & copies
‘ˆ…‡”–‹ϐ‹…ƒ–‡•–‘ǣƒšǣ
24708671 or E-mail: [email protected]
·····
URGENTLY
required a
qualified female
Nurse of Indian
or Philippines
origin to work at
residence from
8 am to 8 pm
from Saturday
to Thursday for
a period of two
to four weeks.
Remuneration
for this service
is negotiable
with individual
experience.
Candidate
meeting the above
requirements call
at. 99880712 or
99440935.
A LARGE IT & Telecom
company, belonging to
the country's Premier
Business Group requires
Network Engineers
(Electronics &
Communication/IT)
™‹–Š‹•…‘‡”–‹ϐ‹…ƒ–‹‘
immediately. Candidates
with relevant experience
and Omani driving licence
will be preferred.
We are also looking for
Omani nationals with
‹•…‘‡”–‹ϐ‹…ƒ–‹‘•
willing to work on parttime basis.
Attractive package will
be offered to the right
candidates. Mail your
resume immediately to
[email protected]
1. WANTED an
experienced Window
Tint and body paint
protection installer to
work for a well known
brand.
2. Wanted an experienced
Manager and Marketing
employee to work for
a well known window
tinting business.
3. Wanted an experienced
Engineer to manage a
new elevator installation
and maintenance
business. Call:
93332224. e-mail:
abdullah.alhinai86@
gmail.com.
·····
CIVILCO requires urgently
highly experienced: AC
Technician (diploma).
Forward CV with attested
…‡”–‹ϐ‹…ƒ–‡ƒ†’ƒ••’‘”–
copy to hr.civilco@
gmail.com with salary
expectations.
·····
LOOKING for an Indian
Legal Adviser (Ghanim
al Saidi Advocates and
‡‰ƒŽ†˜‹•‘”•ˆϐ‹…‡Ȍ
97283490, 95555393.
·····
URGENTLY required
Accountant/Accounts
Executive with 7 to 10
years experience. Send CV
to [email protected]
·····
LOOKING for a male
or female Nurse
twice a day in
morning and evening
to look after an
Asian elderly person.
99249920.
·····
CIVIL Engineer, min 4
yrs experience. Send CV:
[email protected]
99194949.
·····
A FEMALE is required
for Marketing a shop
’”‘˜‹†‹‰ϐ‹–‘—–•ƒ†
accessories of beauty
salon. 99374023.
·····
NEW International School
in Oman begins in Sept
2015. The announced
vacancies are as follows:
1. Principal, 2, Early
Years & Foundation Stage
and Cambridge Primary
Teachers (Homeroom
and Co-teachers), 3.
Operational Manager,
4. Parents Relationship
Manager, 5. Admission
Manager. Please submit
a resume/CV and open
letters of references to:
[email protected]
[email protected].
kw or contact us on:
0069555789779/
0096894665998.
REQUIRED family driver
with valid Omani driving
licence. Accommodation
will be provided.
92230282.
·····
VACANCY — Light driver
(1), Heavy driver (1), and
a diploma holder in
Civil Engineering.
Interested in the
vacancies may call .
97299373.
AN Iraqi electrical
engineer long experience
in construction works
and factory maintenance
and third party
inspector. Looking for
suitable replacement.
98959043.
·····
·····
WANTED: 1. A/C
Mechanic; 2. Electrician
plumber; 3. Computer
hardware Tec. Contact
No. 99447257/
97014234 mansur75@
hotmail.co.uk.
PAKISTAN Civil Diploma,
3 years experience in
1. Expert in marketing lab
Oman as a building Site
equipment.
Engineer, shop drawing,
2. Pathologist for
building quantity,
managing lab referral
building layouting,
service.
maintenance dumpy
™ Males only.
levelling. Having driving
™ Driving Licence.
licence, seeks suitable
Send CV with photo to:
job.99012590.
[email protected].
·····
·····
·····
For Sale
Situation Vacant
WANTED
·····
RUWI : 24785668
Behind Royal Oman
Police
Situation Wanted
SITUATION VACANT
AGRICULTURE
Engineers for a
reputed Agriculture
Trading Company
in Muscat. Should
have Agriculture
degree with relevant
experience. Good
communication, liaison
and coordination skills
with agricultural farms,
various ministries
and government
departments. Should
have valid driving
license. Interested
candidates may
forward their CV with
copies of educational
…‡”–‹ϐ‹…ƒ–‡•ƒ†™‘”
experience within 10
days to: almarooj@
omnatel.net.om.
Services
1. AC maintenance
and servicing.
2. Fridge, washing
machine and dish
washer repairing.
3. Painting and
cleaning services. 4.
Electrical, plumbing
and carpentry
work 97014234,
99447257,
24504281.
·····
WE offer you the
Business Services:
Maintenance of
buildings and
villas for paint
and carpentry and
decoration works
and installation of
material water proof
and cleaning services
building management
and leasing of real
estate (Out motto is
to provide quality
in all our business).
Muscat Renaissance
Development
and Investment.
99070093.
·····
ONE STOP SHOP
BUSINESS SERVICES
Public relation
Services (PRO),
Auditing, Formation
New Companies,
Foreign Investors
Visa, Legal Services.
Contact Saleh:
96723485.
·····
MAINTENANCE: 1.
A/C Maintenance &
Servicing; 2. Fridge,
Washing Machine
& Dish washer
repairing; 3. Painting
& cleaning services; 4.
Electrical & Plumbing
Carpentry work.
Contact: 99447257,
97014234, 24504281.
·····
SRI LANKAN male,
Quantity Surveyor, 3
years experience in
…‘•–”—…–‹‘ϐ‹‡Ž†ƒ•
a quantity surveyor,
seriously seeking
for a job in Oman.
98959312, e-mail:
[email protected]
·····
BS Civil, 6 years of
experience in Oil and
Gas, site & design,
…‡”–‹ϐ‹‡†ǡ
looking for a job. NOC
available. Contact:
99843287, e-mail:
Babar-Uz-Zaman@
hotmail.com
·····
INDIAN male, BE
maintenance/facility
engineer, having 7
years exp (5 years
esp in international
airports), seeks
job. E-mail:
sageerabbas84@gmail.
com 92637346.
·····
BSC degree civil
engineer, looking for a
suitable job with one
year experience and
GCC driving licence
NOC is available.
Contact 93929310.
·····
INDIAN male 26 years,
B-Tech ECE having 4
years experience (2
years in Oman). Seeks
suitable placement NOC
available and can join
immediately. Contact
99486839. E-mail:
[email protected].
·····
FREELANCE translator
from English to Arabic
and vice versa. Contact
94232988.
·····
MANAGEMENT
professional, resultsoriented with strategic
thinking, integrity.
11 years Oman
experience. Excellent
track record in EPC/
Media/ Services/
Health Care handling
admin, operations,
Credit, management,
international
procurement, etc.
Immediate, release.
Contact: 98179887.
·····
INDIAN male,
mechanical
engineering, 2
years experience in
fabrication and erection
of heavy structures
as a project engineer
now on visit visa seeks
suitable placement.
92151818. E-mail:
krishnakumarkkq@
gmail.com
·····
INDIAN CA, (Finance
Manager) more than
8 years experience
(Oman, UAE and
India) in accounts,
ƒ—†‹–ϐ‹ƒ…‡ǡ•‡‡‹‰
a suitable senior
position in Muscat,
can join immediately,
NOC available. Contact:
98707434. E-mail:
casmart007@gmail.
com.
·····
SUDANESE Petroleum
Engineer, with 4 years
experience in Production
and Distribution,
looking for a job. Contact
96039290.
·····
INDIAN female, Ayurvedic
doctor (BAMS) with 7
years experience, looking
for job. Now in family visa.
Contact 94051242,
[email protected]
·····
TELECOM engineer,
3 years experience
looking for a job. Contact
97638535.
·····
CSIT Computer Engineering
B-Tech presently working
as a Network & System
Engineer Having excellent experience looking
for a placement 968
91006851 Mohd Nadeem
Ullah Khan. E-mail: [email protected]
·····
EXPERIENCED, Egyptian
Telecommunications
‰‹‡‡”ǡ‹•…‘‡”–‹ϐ‹‡†
Network Associate,
‹•…‘‡”–‹ϐ‹‡†‡–™‘”
Professional, Microsoft
‡”–‹ϐ‹‡†”‘ˆ‡••‹‘ƒŽǡ
Forefront TMG Firewall
2010 and Studying Red
hat Enterprise Linux /
RHCE seeks suitable job.
Please call 99789361 or
[email protected]
·····
AN Omani looks for
getting a Public Relation
ˆϐ‹…‡”ǡŒ‘„˜ƒ…ƒ…›‹
Muscat.91321655
·····
EXPERIENCED Graphic
Designer, worked for
magazines and other
publications. Done
Bachelor of Computer
Application, familiar
with C, C++, Java, VB,
vb.net, HTML, XHTML,
Php, IndesignCS3, CS4,
CS5, CS6, Illustrator CS5,
DBMS, Tally and CSS.
Looking for immediate
opening.92927187.
INDIAN male, 27
years, Electronics
& Instrumentation
Engineer, with 5 years
experience in Oman on
visit visa seeks suitable
placement. Contact:
95483064, e-mail:
nishanthkarottu@
hotmail.com.
·····
INSTRUMENTATION
B-Tech Indian Engineer,
4 years experience in
various production
companies Automation
work. (Steel plant,
Fertilizer, Chemical,
‡ϐ‹‡”›ǡ’‘™‡”’Žƒ–
Project) in coordination
with Honeywell,
Yokagawa etc. In India
and Middle East project.
Excellent skill in PLC,
DCS site commissioning
work, looking for good
opportunity. Contact
93670890. E-mail:
mojin.a.kabeer@gmail.
com
ACCOUNTANT cum
HR/Admin Manager,
Indian, male, BCom,
MBA, 26 years. Having
good experience.
NOC available, with
Omani Driving Licence.
Immediate joining.
Contact: 94282980,
Email : shirasvelliyath@
gmail.com
MALE, 19 years of
‡š’‡”‹‡…‡‹ϐ‹ƒ…‡ƒ†
administration, currently
on visit visa, seeks suitable
placement. Contact
ͻͻ͹ʹͲͳ͵ʹƒ„‹†”ƒϐ‹͵͵̷
homtaiil.com
·····
WORKING, 8 years
experience in Kuwait
I know to make Thai,
Italian, Arabian and
Chinese food. Contact
98854305.
·····
FEMALE, 27 years, BCom,
ˆϐ‹…‡ǡš…‡Žǡƒ†ƒŽŽ›Ǥ
3 years work experience in
ƒƒ—†‹–‹‰ϐ‹”ǡ•‡‡‹‰
suitable placement.
Contact 94298075.
e-mail: nisha_mohanj@
yahoo.co.in
·····
CHIEF Accountant/
Accounts Manager, Indian
male (34 years) MBA/
M.Com, more than 10
years of experience (7
years, Oman) with D/L,
NOC available, seeks
suitable placement.
96915438
·····
INDIAN female, post
graduate, 3 years
experience in accounts
assisting & operations,
currently on family
status, looking for a
·····
suitable post. Contact
CIVIL engineer (DCE,
98211924.
Indian male with 20 years
·····
experience, ten years
in Oman, worked with
INDIAN male graduate
reputed companies as RE, with DCA having
PE, PM and did projects
4 years experience in
for MoD and PDO, seeks
accounts, looking for
suitable position. Contact suitable placement.
93251720
94516185.
·····
·····
USED portacabin (5
Nos) for sale.
Interested parties may
contact Mr Arif on GSM
No 99259157/
92332088 at NTS
Ghala Camp for
inspection. Sealed
offers should be
submitted on or before
17.03.2015.
2 PRIME Movers
Man 2008 with
40 ton petrol tank
each working at the
moment in Al Maha.
Price RO 35,000,000
each. 97000155 or
92688692.
·····
23, 886 sq metres
agriculture land
with water well in
Al Salwa, Barka,
RO 260,000,000.
99333479 or
95215360.
·····
3 FLOOR building in
Muttrah behind police,
generating income
of RO 18,000,000
annually, neat and
well maintained.
Built on 197 sq m
land. 2 tailor shops
‘‰”‘—†ϐŽ‘‘”ƒ†͸
ϐŽƒ–•ǡʹ͹ͲǡͲͲͲǡͲͲͲǤ
99333479 or
95215360.
·····
Situation Wanted
MECHANICAL Engineer
graduate with honours
from Malaysia’s best
engineering university,
seeking a challenging position within an innova–‹˜‡ϐ‹”Ǥ92110518. email: ahmed.om.omer@
gmail.com
·····
TELEPHONE and data
structural cabling
technician, with 2 years
experience and driving
licence, with NOC,
looking for a suitable
vacancy on permanent
basis 96027516.
·····
ELECTRONIC engineer
with SAP, ABAP
…‡”–‹ϐ‹…ƒ–‡ǡͷ›‡ƒ”•
experience at SAP, seeks
job in a prominent
company. 91728060.
E-mail: bergs_palsngals@
yahoo.com
·····
INDIAN male with
light driving licence,
looking for job. Contact
99207033.
·····
PAKISTANI, need for
driving job. Contact
95776320/
93804176.
·····
4.7 years experienced
electronics &
Telecommunication
graduate + MBA
seeking job, presently
in Oman on visit
visa.98017278/
99058196.
·····
Ȉ
Ȉ
Ȉ
Ȉ
Ȉ
Ȉ
ƒ”•ˆ‘”•ƒŽ‡
‘””‡–
‘„ƒ’’Ž‹…ƒ–‹‘
Šƒ”‹‰”‡•‹†‡…‡
”ƒ•’‘”–…ƒ”•
‡ƒŽ•–ƒ–‡ȋ•ƒŽ‡Ǧ
”‡–Ǧ‹˜‡•–‡–•
Ȉ ƒŒŒƒ†”ƒ
Ȉ •‡†ˆ—”‹–—”‡ˆ‘”•ƒŽ‡
Ȉ ƒ—…Š…‡”‡‘‹‡•‘ˆȋ”‡•–ƒ—”ƒ–•Ǧ
•Š‘’•Ǧ…Ž‹‹…•Ȍ
Ȉ ‘„ƒ†•
Ȉ ‡ƒ…Š‹‰†”‹˜‹‰
Ȉ ‘—•‡•…Ž‡ƒ‹‰Ǧ•‡”˜‹…‡•ƒ†’‡•–
…‘–”‘Ž
For information, please call:
99841230-95919344
92721879 - 99639264
Tel: 24649597, Fax: 24649590
BankMuscat account: 0397003776610011
Bank Dhofar account: 01040141195001
E-mail: [email protected]
SUNDAY l MAY 17, 2015 l RAJAB 28, 1436 AH
[email protected]
www.omanobserver.om
RENTING & LEASING
Tours and Airport Transfer
Tel: 24582663
GSM: 95859497,
Fax: 24582664,
[email protected]
·····
AHAD 2000 for rent car.
93203481, 93204595.
·····
Manpower
FRIENDS
MANPOWER: Filipino
housemaids and all
kinds of workers.
24489268 Tel:/Fax:
24478153, 92462496.
·····
KHALIFA
Al-Sinani Manpower
— labourers &
housemaid from
Indonesia, Kenya,
Uganda and other
countries. Al Suwaiq.
To communicate
26713500,
26713600.
·····
Umrah/Haj
AL Hikmani for
HAJ and UMRAH
— With a host of
services including
the following: Hiring
luxurious coaches,
arranging weekly
trips, preparing
visas for expats
at cost-effective
price, including
transport, housing,
meals and visits to
shrine locations.
Land and air trips
weekly. (99311310,
24566016,
99361982,
99707248,
99322124.
·····
Tourism
ARE you looking for a
voyage with your
family on a legacyboat, including
buffet? Only with RO
15/-. For more info@
ƒŽƒ‹ƒ‹–‘—”‹•Ǥ
com 92808636.
·····
Supply
of
Pesticides,
Gel (Cockroaches),
Public Health
chemicals,
Agriculture
chemicals,
Snake repellent, Rodent
baits
and
other insect
repellent from
Agropharm
Ltd UK.
PROFESSIONALS
in Pest Control Service,
Bedbug Treatment, Rodent
Treatment, Snake Treatment
and Termite Treatment
(Pre and Post Construction).
Tel: 24787606 / 24787503
Fax: 24787607
E-mail: [email protected]
P. O. Box: 565, Wadi Kabir,
Postal Code: 117,
SULTANATE OF OMAN
GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!!
For Sale/Rent
Available on very GOOD prices
ȍ͵
VILLAS for sale/
rents WADI KABIR/
AL KHUWAIR),
ȋŠ‘’•Ȁ‘ˆϐ‹…‡•ˆ‘”
rent/ Al Khuwair)
(Flats for rent/
Wadi Kabir).
ͻ͸ͷͻ͸͵ͶͺǤ
·····
COMEX 2015
VISIT US
GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!!
SPECIAL Rates on
New Cars & 4 WDs
PEST CONTROL
OMAN CO. LLC.
FOR RENT
OFFICE SPACE — 660 sq meters
on one floor at Al Ghubra
House Building, behind Porsche
Showroom, opposite Bangladesh
School.
FOR ENQUIRIES:
Please Call: 99310269 OR 99344304
AT STALL
NO: 1631
PRINTERS,
Laptops & PC’s
CD’s, DVD’s & Flash Drives
& Cartridges
AII HP, Epson, Canon,
Lexmark, Samsung
GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!!
Rent a Car
Cartridges also available
COMPUTER SUPPLIES
Ruwi: 24792-792
FREE INFORMATION
ABOUT ISLAM
GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!!
If you would like to know
more about
Islam, please call:
For Rent
Tel : 99425598, 96050000,
99353988, 99253818,
99341395, 99379133, For
ladies: 99415818, 99321360,
99730723
Or visit: www.islamfact.com
VILLA for rent: 3
bedrooms, 1 setting
room in Wattayah.
99071071.
·····
Good News
FOR back or neck pain/
discomfort due to injury,
illness, stress or
computer overuse; let
us help you restore your
body & get you back on
track. For more
information contact our
coordinators at:
22094265.
·····
DOES your family
member require full
time Medical help?
Dedicated to
chronic care and
physical
rehabilitation from
injury or illness;
Rochester Wellness
offers specialised
medical recovery
services. For more
information contact
our coordinators at
22094265.
·····
Scrap Business Sale
RUNNING Scrap
Business Sale with
60 Ton weigh bridge,
press machine and
cutting sets, cylinders
etc. 92295780.
e-mail: abh67@Live.
com
·····
FOR NRIs
NEW 2 BHK flat
at Poonkunnam,
Trichur, 1 km from
Swaraj Round. Rs
3,000 per sqf, Area:
750 sqf. Detail call
99332668
·····
Investment
INVESTOR required.
New project under
process. Gourmet
sweet brand. Call:
91131398.
·····
EXPATRIATE partner
(Omani partner is
already available)
required to establish
a LLC Company
(Expatriate investors’
LLC Company). Please
contact on 99332510.
·····
LOOKING for an investor
for a full-equipped
existing medical
complex as soon as
possible in Wilayat of
Haima, Governorate of
Al Wusta. 92212557,
99242249.
·····
AYURVEDIC
Treatment, Yoga
Massage &
slimming. Web
address: www.
siddhayur.com
92504980/
24475280.
·····
CLASSIFIED SECTION:
HOUSE for rent in Al
Wadi Al Kabir, 3
bedrooms + sitting
room + living area,
two bathrooms.
Apartment for rent
in Darsait, 3
bedrooms + two
bathrooms.
99459342.
FLATS in Al Ghubrah,
2 bedrooms, hall, near
Indian School, Way No.
4039, building No. 4250.
Contact 99341138,
98003444.
·····
A FLAT for rent in Al
Ghubrah North, adjoined
to Masjid A’Safa —
outstanding location. The
flat after the crossroad of
the Indian School
towards Al Athaiba. The
flat, which is on the first
floor, consists of 2 vast
rooms — each with its
toilets, wide/big majlis/
living room with attached
toilet. The area and floor
of the building is clean
and luxurious. Only for
families. Price: 350/-.
99343996.
·····
TWO bedrooms with
toilet and kitchen in a
good condition at
Bausher. 95874075.
·····
FLAT for rent 3 bedroom,
1 sitting, nearest to
Indian School North Al
Ghubrah. 99766103
·····
For Rent
4-BEDROOM villa at
Madinat Al Alam, RO
1,100. New 2 BHK flat
with split AC, G floor,
behind Khimjimart
Darsait, RO 400. One
BHK at Ruwi, opp
Police Station, RO 300.
Details Office:
24790449 or
E-mail: infoajest@
gmail.com
2 FLOOR house at Al Hail
North. Each floor: 3
bedrooms, 3 bathrooms,
kitchen, store, 1 sitting
room. 92133551,
95067585
·····
NEW villa in Al Khoud 6
is offered for rent. The
premise comprises 6
bedrooms, male majlis,
female majlis, a split unit
air-conditioned family
living room and 8 toilets.
99668686.
·····
SEMI furnished 2 & 3
BHK flats at Bausher near Atlas Hospital.
99348493/
93200424/ 24502254.
·····
FLAT in Darsait, 2
bedroom, sitting room,
kitchen, 1 toilet, RO
230/-. 91709793.
·····
EXECUTIVE 3 bedroom
flat all attached
bathroom with aircondition, curtains,
sitting room and big
veranda Athaiba
round-about behind
Bank Muscat Sohar
building way No 4216
House No 1067. Call
owner 99331413/
99105169.
·····
Ali al Maashari: 99639264 [email protected]
Mohammed al Rashdi: 99841230 [email protected]
Car for Sale
4WD Chevrolet
Suburban 2013 is
offered for sale by the
owner. Only instalment
payment is required.
Contact.96778877.
·····
BMW 745i, 2002, silver
with black, very good
condition, good price.
99328280.
·····
For Rent
WE have some
companies for rent
with the following
activities: Press
Publishing &
Advertising,
Information
Consultancy,
Organizing Event
Management &
Conference, Real
Estate, Landscaping,
Maintenance etc.
Please call
93946622 &
91408005.
·····
2 STOREY villa
encompasses 2 majlis
along with toilets, 2 living
rooms and 3 bedrooms
along with toilets and
located in a nearby place
in Maabela supplied with
water service. Contact
99357404.
·····
2 BEDROOM flat in Al
Ghubra near Oman Oil
18 November Street, RO
330 monthly.
99333479 or
95215360.
·····
FLATS for rent in Wadi
Adai, new building.
Contact 99377249.
·····
2 BEDROOM flat in Wadi
Kabir, new building
99313274.
·····
ǧfloor house
behind German
University of Technology
in Halban is offered for
rent. The house contains
4 bedrooms, living room,
a kitchen and 3 toilets.
91239119.
·····
FAMILY flats in Wadi
Kabir, MBD, Ruwi,
Muttrah, Al Khuwair, Al
Hail and Seeb.
96055889/
95250300/ 92125648.
·····
A FLAT in Al Maabela
encompasses 3
bedrooms, majlis, living
room, kitchen (spacious)
and 4 toilets. Contact
99357404.
·····
A ǧhouse in Al
Maabela encompasses 2
bedrooms, kitchen, living
room, and 3 toilets.
Contact 99357404.
·····
APARTMENT in Al
Khuwair-33 with 1
room, 2 bathrooms, 1
kitchen and living room,
maintained and has new
ACs, rent include water
& electricity.
99486805/
99580484.
·····
A FLAT for rent, 2
bedrooms, 2 bathrooms,
1 sitting room, kitchen
for RO 350. Location: At
Al Ghubrah North, near
to Al Ghubrah Health
Centre. 92277043/
95347854.
·····
NEW air-conditioned
room with parking on
the main road in Al
Muhaj, Amerat
92787863.
·····
GROUND + mezzanine
floor, suitable for A
grade restaurant, next to
Pizza Hut, MBD.
24714625, 94460790.
·····
94501166
DIRECT: 24649595 — FAX : 24649590
SUNDAY | MAY 17, 2015 | RAJAB 28 , 1436 AH
P26
P27
P28
Inside
Kohli blitzkrieg gives RCB victory Mane’s record-breaking treble destroys Villa Mcllroy poised to strike as Simpson, Streb shine FOLLOW US ON:
www.omanobserver.om
[email protected]
BUNDESLIGA: The loss at Freiburg followed their cup defeat at Dortmund and league losses against Leverkusen and Augsburg
Bayern suffer fifth defeat in six games
BERLIN: Bayern Munich suffered their
fifth loss in six games on Saturday as
their ex-striker Nils Petersen scored
an 89th-minute winner for relegationthreatened Freiburg to claim a shock 2-1
victory.
Having been knocked out of the
Champions League’s semi-finals by
Barcelona 5-3 on aggregate, despite a
3-2 home win against Barca on Tuesday,
Bayern’s bad week continued.
The loss at Freiburg followed
their cup defeat at Dortmund and
league losses against Leverkusen and
Augsburg, plus the away defeat at
Barca in Bayern’s nightmare threeweek period since winning their 25th
German league title.
Bayern took an early lead in Freiburg
when right winger Mitchell Weiser’s
cross was hammered home by Germany
captain Bastian Schweinsteiger, who was
making his 500th Bundesliga apparence,
with 11 minutes gone.
But to the delight of the Freiburg
crowd, the hosts drew level thanks to
a superb goal when midfielder Admir
Mehmedi hit the bottom left-hand
corner on 33 minutes.
Freiburg were unlucky not to be
awarded a penalty after Bayern defender
Rafinha fouled Mehmedi in the area early
in the second half, while Schweinsteiger
hit the crossbar with a free-kick with 20
minutes left.
But ex-Bayern striker Petersen hit
the winner just three minutes after
coming off the bench to give Freiburg
their first win over his former employers
in 19 years when he converted Karim
Guede’s pin-point accurate cross on 89
minutes.
The result lifted Freiburg out of the
relegation places up to 14th, but with
one match left things remain tight at the
bottom with just four points separating
bottom six sides of Paderborn,
Hamburg, Stuttgart, Hanover, Freiburg
and Hertha Berlin.
Hamburg dropped back to 17th with
a 2-1 defeat at VfB Stuttgart who climbed
off the bottom to 16th as Hamburg’s
midfielder Gojko Kacar scored his
third goal in three games with an early
header, but Stuttgart roared as Christian
Gentner and Martin Harnik netted firsthalf goals.
Paderborn
defender
Uwe
Huenemeier suffered the nightmare of
heading into his own net to seal his side’s
1-0 defeat at Schalke which put them
bottom of the table.
Ten-man Hanover 96 boosted
their survival chances with a first win
since December with a 2-1 victory at
Augsburg, captain Lars Stindl scoring
twice to hoist his team up to 15th on 34
points.
Hertha Berlin have 35 points after
being held to a goalless draw at home to
Eintracht Frankfurt, and are hovering
just above the bottom three.
Third-placed
Borussia
Moenchengladbach’s 2-0 win at Werder
Bremen confirmed Lucien Favre’s side
direct qualification into the Champions
League thanks to Raffael’s second-half
goals.
Freiburg’s forward Nils Petersen (second left) celebrates scoring the winner with teammates during the Bundesliga match against Bayern Munich in Freiburg, southern
Bayer Leverkusen will finish fourth,
Germany.
— AFP
and go into the qualifier for a place in the
Champions League’s group-stage, after
Mitchell Langerak four minutes into the
Wolfsburg enjoyed a 2-1 win at home home, but Borussia drew level when gone.
their 2-0 home win against Hoffenheim
The hosts restored their lead when second half for the winning goal.
as free-kick specialist Hakan Calhanoglu to Borussia Dortmund in the German Kevin Kampl was fouled in the area by
The two sides will meet again at
home goalkeeper Diego Benaglio and Brazil defender Naldo took a speculative
curled one in just before the half-time Cup final dress rehearsal.
Wolves’ took the lead on 41 seconds Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang converted swing at a Ivan Perisic header and Berlin’s Olympic Stadium on May 30 in
whistle before Stefan Kiessling added
— AFP
when midfielder Daniel Caligiuri tapped the resulting penalty with 11 minutes the shot beat Dortmund goalkeeper the cup final.
Bayer’s second.
NBA eyes India as part of global drive
NEW YORK: The NBA is forging
ahead with plans for world domination,
hoping that India will be the next Asian
power to be seduced by hoop dreams
after already captivating China.
The landmark appearance of Sim
Bhullar for the Sacramento Kings last
month, the first player of Indian descent
to score in the NBA, gave a fresh jolt to
the league’s bid to win over the cricketmad nation of 1.3 billion. The NBA
opened an office in Mumbai in 2011,
part of a sophisticated international
operation that has spread to all corners of
the globe at a time when the league itself
is becoming increasingly cosmopolitan.
“We see significant long-term
opportunity,” in India, said Sal LaRocca,
the NBA’s president of global operations.
A record 14 live NBA games are
being screened in India each week this
season, while more than 50 million
viewers tuned in to NBA programming
during the 2013-2014 season.
The NBA in April announced its first
game in Africa, an August exhibition
pitting a “Team Africa” consisting of
first- and second-generation NBA stars
from Africa against “Team World,”
composed of players from other regions.
In the 2015-16 season, NBA stars will
also venture to Brazil, China and Mexico
for exhibition or regular season play.
The 2014-5 itinerary included Turkey,
Germany and Britain.
The prospect of an NBA game held in
India is also on the league’s radar.
“We’re still a ways away from having
a game in India, but there is a large
appetite for us to play a game there,”
LaRocca said. The league’s basketball
clinics reached more than 200,000
NBA
In this photograph taken on April 25, 2015, a young Indian child is helped toward a
hoop by a coach at a basketball camp at the Don Bosco School in Mumbai. — AFP
children in 13 countries in 2014, and
the NBA now has an unprecedented
number of foreign-born players (101)
competing in games broadcast to almost
every country on the planet.
PLAYERS, SPONSORS WIN TOO
The overseas push has been a boon to
the personal brand of NBA players and
to the league’s corporate sponsors and
partners.
In China, the league’s biggest overseas
market, more than a dozen players have
at least one million followers on Weibo,
the Chinese version of Twitter.
The Spanish bank BBVA, the official
bank of the league and the title sponsor
of NBA games in Spain and Turkey, sees
strong consumer interest not only at
home, but in key international growth
markets, like Mexico, Argentina and
Colombia, where fans are embracing
basketball along with football.
Passion for basketball is “especially
strong in a demographic we’re very
interested in, which is younger, more
urban consumers that will be more
and more the customers of the future,”
said Carlos Ricardo, BBVA’s head
of global marketing. The Anschutz
Entertainment Group has opened state-
of-the-art stadiums over the last decade
that have hosted NBA games in London
and Berlin, and runs arenas in Beijing
and Istanbul also used for games.
BIGGER THAN FOOTBALL?
Sports business consultant David
Carter said the NBA had been smart in
choosing its targets for overseas growth.
Basketball was popular in China long
before the first game involving NBA
stars in 1979. Other overseas markets,
including Germany, Spain and Brazil,
have national professional basketball
leagues, some stretching back decades.
“They’ve taken a distinct advantage
and made sure that they’ve exploited it
to the fullest,” Carter said.
Still, he added, the NBA has “a long
way to go” before basketball overtakes
football (soccer), a sport with the most
popular global team event, the World
Cup. The NBA’s LaRocca said the World
Cup is an “unbelievable global event,”
but dismissed the idea that an equivalent
success in basketball was “essential” to
fulfilling the NBA’s goals.
The NBA’s growth rests on building
the sport in new markets on the grassroots level, he said. Just last week,
Bhullar won a hero’s welcome as he led
junior NBA programs in two cities in
northern India. “If the game is played on
a global basis, the talent pool for players
at the most elite level will continue to
grow and that will continue to stimulate
interest in the game,” LaRocca said.
The 7-foot-5 Bhullar has been likened
to former NBA superstar Yao Ming,
who helped fuel the basketball boom in
China. But LaRocca said foreign players
do not need Yao’s prowess on the court
to make a difference off of it. — AFP
ASIAN
QUALIFIERS
Asian zonal qualifiers
chess starts today
MUSCAT: The Asian Zonal Qualifiers
for the World Cup Chess, 2015 kicks
off today under the auspices of Shaikh
Saad bin Mohammed al Saadi, Minister
of Sports Affairs.
Running till May, 25 the qualifiers
will see participation of 16 female chess
players and 10 male players from Arab
countries.
The opening ceremony will see
varied events including a visual display
to showcase the activities of the Oman
Chess Committee (OCC).
On the sidelines of the event
the Asian Chess Federation will
organise special course for new chess
referees aimed at qualifying them to
officiate local and international chess
championships.
— ONA
26
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omandailyobserver
S U N DAY
M AY 1 7 l 2 0 1 5
IPL: Chris Gayle smashed a 10-ball-35 and helped his side climb to second spot on the league table with 15 points from 13 games
Kohli blitzkrieg gives Royal Challengers victory
HYDERABAD: Virat Kohli’s late blitz
of 44 runs from 19 balls and Chris
Gayle’s cameo helped Royal Challengers
Bangalore beat Sunrisers Hyderabad in
a rain-curtailed Indian Premier League
(IPL) encounter at the Rajiv Gandhi
International Stadium here on Friday.
Gayle smashed a 10 ball 35 and
helped his side climb to second spot
on the league table with 15 points from
13 games, while the Sunrisers drop to
the fifth spot with 14 points from 13
matches. Chasing a revised target of 81
runs from six over, the Challengers got
over the line with a ball to spare and with
six wickets in hand.
It was a tailor-made situation for
the hefty Jamaican who relishes such
challenges as he plundered 41 in the
first two overs with Dale Steyn giving
away 17 and Bhuvneshwar Kumar being
belted for 24 runs. However, it was allrounder Moises Henriques for SRH who
got the hosts back into the contest as
Gayle pulled one of his slower deliveries
into the hands of the man at deep midwicket. South African skipper followed
AB de Villiers fell off the very next
delivery after lofting one to long on. The
over produced just three as the visitors
were reduced to 44/2 after three overs.
But it was Kohli who swung the
pendulum in favour of RCB again
belting Karn Sharma for 14 and then
getting 10 of a Praveen Kumar over.
Needing 13 of the last over, it was
Kohli who hit the winning runs lofting
Bhuvneshwar for a straight six.
Earlier in the day, even though the
hosts lost swashbuckling opener Shikhar
Dhawan (8) early, David Warner and
Moises Henriques kept on the pressure
on the RCB bowlers clubbing them to
the ropes frequently. Yuzvendra Chahal
was hit for 17 in the 5th over which
brought up the team’s 50. The next over
from pacer Ashok Dinda yielded 18
runs as some wayward bowling helped
Henriques put the leather into the
stands. Henriques went berserk against
Harshal Patel, after being dropped in the
opening delivery of the seventh over. 20
runs came off the over.
SRH reached the triple figure mark
with three overs to spare as Warner kept
playing second fiddle and giving the
strike to his partner at the end who was
having a gala time in the middle.
But Henriques soon fell after
completing his half-century edging one
to the wicket-keeper. RCB pulled things
back in the last few over but by then the
damage had been done.
SCOREBOARD: Sunrisers Hyderabad: D Warner (not
out) 52, S Dhawan c Dinda b Wiese 8, M Henriques
c Karthik b Wiese 57, E Morgan c Mandeep Singh b
Starc 11. Extras (LB-2, W-3, NB-2) 7. Total (For 3 wkts,
11 overs) 135.
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-122, 3-135.
Bowling: M Starc 3-0-26-1, H Patel 2-0-30-0, D Wiese
2-0-20-2, A Dinda 2-0-23-0, YS Chahal 2-0-34-0.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: C Gayle c Dhawan b
Henriques 35, V Kohli (not out) 44, AB de Villiers c
Steyn b Henriques 0, Mandeep Singh c Morgan b P
Kumar 1, D Karthik (run out) 2, SN Khan (not out) 0.
Extras (W-1) 1. Total (For 4 wkts, 5.5 overs) 83.
Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-43, 3-58, 4-69.
Bowling: D Steyn 1-0-17-0, B Kumar 1.5-0-39-0, M
Henriques 1-0-3-2, K Sharma 1-0-14-0, P Kumar 1-010-1
Virat Kohli
Rodgers wants to send off Gerrard well
LONDON: Brendan Rodgers has called
on Liverpool’s players to give Steven
Gerrard the perfect Anfield farewell
present with a victory against Crystal
Palace on Saturday.
Emotions will be running high when
Gerrard makes his final appearance in
a Liverpool shirt on home turf before
joining LA Galaxy in the close-season
and Reds boss Rodgers would dearly
love to send the club captain off to
California with one last memorable
Anfield moment.
The 34-year-old midfielder is already
well established as a Liverpool legend
after 17 seasons with the team he
supported as a boy, but Rodgers hopes
there is still room in his storybook
career for a fairytale departure in the
style of Ian Rush, another Anfield
icon who scored a late winner against
Watford in his final home appearance
before joining Juventus in 1987.
“In terms of trying to control emotion
it has been very simple. The attitude of
all the players has been first class, Steven
in particular,” Rodgers said.
“We are concentrating on winning
the game as I am sure Steven will want
to go out with a win. The players are not
on holiday at all.
“Steven doesn’t like the focus and
attention but it is brought on because of
his star quality.”
Elsewhere on Saturday, several clubs
will be looking to avoid joining alreadyrelegated Burnley and Queens Park
Rangers in English football’s second-tier
next term.
Hull currently occupy the one
remaining relegation place but can do
themselves a power of good, if not make
absolutely certain of their top-flight
status, with a win away to a Tottenham
side who have not scored in five of their
last eight games.
The Tigers lost 1-0 to Burnley last
weekend and manager Steve Bruce
has demanded a much-improved
performance from his side against Spurs.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers catches the ball on the touchline during the English Premier League match against
Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in London.
— AFP
“My main concern is we haven’t got
anywhere near the level we’re capable of
and I take responsibility for that,” Bruce
said.
Newcastle and Sunderland are the
next two clubs in line, with the northeast rivals both on 36 points, although
Sunderland do have a game in hand,
against Arsenal, next week.
This weekend sees Newcastle away
to QPR while Sunderland face Leicester,
just a point and a place above them, in
what promises to be a classic relegation
“six-pointer”.
Last week’s 1-1 draw with West Brom
ended Newcastle’s run of eight straight
defeats, their worst for 38 years, and left
them two points above the relegation
zone with two games to play.
HURT PRIDE
Victory at Loftus Road, allied to a
Hull failure to win, would see Newcastle
stay up but Magpies’ caretaker boss John
Carver, desperate to be the manager of
his hometown club come next season,
said he wanted more than that.
“My pride has been hurt by the run
of results. I want to do something about
it. If that means winning the next two
games, that will make me feel a little bit
better,” Carver said.
Sunderland welcome Leicester to the
Stadium of Light buoyed by a moraleboosting 2-0 victory at Everton.
But although Sunderland manager
Dick Advocaat has taken 10 points from
six games since his arrival, his new club
are still not out of danger.
“We thought that with six points,
we had enough, and now we have 10
points and we still need three points, so
hopefully we can do that on Saturday,”
Advocaat said.
Leicester, however, are currently on
a brilliant run of six wins in their last
seven matches which has seen the Foxes
give themselves a remarkable lifeline
after being bottom of the table for 140
days this season.
Meanwhile, Sunday should help
decide which clubs join alreadycrowned champions Chelsea among the
top three guaranteed direct entry into
the Champions League.
Manchester City, currently second,
travel to Swansea, while fourth and
third meet when Manchester United
face Arsenal at Old Trafford.
Chelsea are at West Bromwich
Albion on Monday.
— AFP
PREMIER LEAGUE
Pellegrini backs himself
to help City narrow gap
MANCHESTER,
UNITED
KINGDOM: Manchester City manager
Manuel Pellegrini remains convinced
about his future at the club and believes
the gap between his side and Premier
League champions Chelsea can be
bridged next season.
City travel to Swansea on Sunday
with a degree of uncertainty over
whether Pellegrini will be in charge at
Eastlands beyond the end of the current
campaign.
Pellegrini, who is in the second year
of a three-year contract, guided City to
the Premier League title and English
League Cup in his first year in the
job, but will finish the 2014-15 season
without a trophy to his name.
City, who head into the weekend in
second place, were also knocked out of
the Champions League by Barcelona in
the last 16, having just scraped through
the group stage.
But despite a season without
silverware, Pellegrini remains confident
he will stay in charge and has no plans
to seek assurances from City owner
Sheikh Mansour about his future.
“I don’t have to talk about it,”
Pellegrini said of a potential meeting
to discuss his future. “I have my own
future so clear, so many years ago, so it
doesn’t matter,” the Chilean added.
Pellegrini, who will have midfielder
Yaya Toure and captain Vincent
Kompany available for the match at
the Liberty Stadium, believes the gap
between City and Chelsea is not that
great.
“Next year, we must make some
changes,” he said.
“I don’t think we are very far from
Chelsea or from other teams, and in the
games we play against Chelsea we didn’t
see a better team than our team, but
they were more consistent during the
whole year.
— AFP
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers catches the ball on the touchline during
the English Premier League match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge
in London. — AFP
Raffael double hands Gladbach first Champions League spot
BERLIN: Borussia Moenchengladbach
secured a Champions League group
stage place for the first time after two
goals from Raffael secured a 2-0 win
over Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga
on Saturday.
With one game left, third-placed
Gladbach cannot be caught by the team
below them Bayer Leverkusen.
Brazilian Raffael scrambled in the
opener from Max Kruse’s cutback in the
53rd minute and added a second five
minutes from time to lift Gladbach to
66 points with Bayer Leverkusen on 61
after beating Hoffenheim 2-0.
Schalke 04 made sure of European
football next season after an 88th
minute own goal by Paderborn’s Uwe
Huenemeier put them through to the
Europa League and left Paderborn
rooted to the foot of the table.
Last season’s runners-up Borussia
Dortmund lost 2-1 to second-placed VfL
Wolfsburg and will now need at least a
draw to hold on to seventh place and
Europa League participation.
Dortmund can also qualify if they
beat Wolfsburg in the German Cup final
later this month.
Champions Bayern suffered a shock
2-1 loss at strugglers Freiburg after
former Bayern player Nils Petersen, who
had come off the bench, struck against
the run of play in the 89th minute.
It was the Bavarians’ third straight
loss in the league, their worst run since
1998, and comes hot on the heels of
their midweek Champions League exit
to Barcelona. Freiburg took a huge step
to safety, moving up to 34 points in 14th
place, as many as Hanover 96 in 15th,
who beat Augsburg 2-1 with their first
win of the year.
Augsburg ended the game with
nine players after Paul Verhaegh and
Raul Bobadilla were sent off in the 90th
minute while Hanover’s Hiroki Sakai
got his marching orders with a second
booking in the 77th.
Former champions VfB Stuttgart
came from a goal down to beat fellow
relegation candidates Hamburg SV 2-1
to grab a lifeline as they climbed out of
last place and up to 16th.
— Reuters
SPORT
S U N DAY
M AY 1 7 l 2 0 1 5
omandailyobserver
27
EPL: The 23-year-old also set a new mark for the quickest post-war English top-flight treble as Villa’s defence parted with alarming ease
Mane’s record-breaking treble destroys Villa
SOUTHAMPTON, UNITED KINGDOM:
Southampton’s Sadio Mane scored the
fastest hat-trick in Premier League history
as the Senegal winger’s astonishing spree
condemned dismal Aston Villa to a 6-1
defeat on Saturday.
Mane took just two minutes and 56
seconds to demolish Villa at St Mary’s and
surpass the previous record of four minutes
and 33 seconds set by Liverpool striker
Robbie Fowler against Arsenal in 1994.
The 23-year-old also set a new mark for
the quickest post-war English top-flight
treble as Villa’s defence parted with alarming
ease.
Although Mane made Premier League
history, he couldn’t break the record for the
fastest ever hat-trick in English football,
which was set by James Hayter when he
scored three times in two minutes and 20
seconds after coming on as an 84th-minute
substitute for Bournemouth in their thirdtier match against Wrexham in 2004.
Irish striker Shane Long netted twice after
Mane’s treble to leave shell-shocked Villa
trailing by five goals only 38 minutes into the
match.
Graziano Pelle made it six late on and
Southampton’s scintillating display keeps
them firmly in the hunt for a place in next
season’s Europa League.
Christian Benteke got one back for Villa
in first-half stoppage time, but it was no
consolation for Tim Sherwood’s players,
whose woeful capitulation cost them a chance
to guarantee their Premier League survival.
FA Cup finalists Villa remain four points
above the bottom three and will have to rely
on other results if they are to be certain of
staying up before the season’s final round
of fixtures next weekend. Ronald Koeman’s
team were on course for their first win in five
matches from the moment Mane struck in
the 13th minute.
Mane, a £10 million ($15.7m) signing
from Red Bull Salzburg last year, latched onto
Pelle’s flick and held off the weak challenges
from two Villa defenders before slotting into
the net after a lucky rebound off goalkeeper
Shay Given.
Just 84 seconds later he scored again after
Ron Vlaar’s sloppy backpass fell to Long,
who helped the ball on for Mane to tap in.
Fittingly, Mane’s hat-trick was completed in
more eye-catching style as he curled home
from just inside the penalty area in the 16th
minute.
Mane was involved again when Long
made it four in the 26th minute, playing a
defence-splitting pass to Pelle, who fed his
strike partner for an easy finish.
With Villa in complete disarray, the fifth
goal arrived in the 38th minute as Ashley
Westwood conceded possession to Long and
he caught Given off his line with a brilliant
long-range strike.
Belgian striker Benteke headed home
from Leandro Bacuna’s cross in first-half
stoppage time, but there was hardly a sign
of celebration from Sherwood and his
embarrassed players.
Inevitably, the second half had far less
drama, but Southampton put the seal on
a memorable day in the 81st minute when
Italian international Pelle fired into the roof
of the net from Mane’s cross.
— AFP
Southampton midfielder Sadio Mane scores his third goal during the English Premier League match at St Mary’s Stadium in Southampton,
southern England. — AFP
Celtic held by Europe-chasing St Johnstone
GLASGOW: A much-changed Celtic
were held to a goalless draw by Europechasing St Johnstone in an entertaining
match at McDiarmid Park on Friday.
The Glasgow giants, who wrapped
up the Scottish Premiership title on May
2, made six changes for the match as
they looked for revenge against the only
side to have beaten them in the league in
2015. However, it was St Johnstone who
had the best of the chances in the first
half with the Scottish champions having
stand-in keeper Lukasz Zaluska to thank
for keeping the score level with a host of
superb saves.
James McFadden and Murray
Davidson both hit the post for St
Johnstone after the break and Celtic
winger James Forrest incredibly fired
wide with an open goal gapping as the
game somehow ended goalless. The
point means Celtic hold a 15-point lead
at the top of the table while St Johnstone
move up into fourth spot as they chase
a Europa League spot. “I think we were
far too open today. It was a game where
both teams had a lot of chances and I
don’t like it when games are like that,”
Celtic manager Ronny Deila said.
“We had two good goalkeepers and
some finishing that could have been
better so I think a draw was okay.”
St Johnstone manager Tommy
Wright refused to blame bad finishing
for failing to find a winner.
“I think there was some good
goalkeeping, good defending in terms
of clearing off the line and a bit of bad
luck as we hit the post,” the St Johnstone
manager said. “We created 23 attempts
against the best side in the country and
St Johnstone’s Murray Davidson and Celtic’s Adam Matthews in action. — Reuters
tonight I think we showed a side of us
that often gets overlooked.”
At McDiarmid Park, 17-year-old
Kieran Tierney was handed his first
start for Celtic as manager Deila rung
the changes from Sunday’s win over
Aberdeen.
Zaluska was handed a rare start in
goal for Celtic and he showed his worth
in the 12th minute when he made a
superb one-handed save to tip over a
vicious strike from Davidson.
St Johnstone came even closer to
finding the opener in the 22nd minute
when Gary Miller’s header from a corner
was cleared off the line by Ambrose.
Former Celtic youth player Michael
O’Halloran was then guilty of missing a
header from close range after getting on
the end of Steven Anderson’s cross.
— AFP
Rampant Middlesbrough sweep into play-off final
LONDON: Middlesbrough booked
their place in the Championship play-off
final in emphatic fashion with a 3-0 rout
of Brentford in the semi-final second leg
on Friday.
Aitor Karanka’s team had taken a
significant step towards a Wembley
showdown with Norwich or Ipswich
after snatching a late 2-1 win at
Brentford in the first leg last week and
they finished the job with a dominant
display at the Riverside Stadium.
Lee Tomlin’s goal put the hosts in
control in the first half before Kike and
Albert Adomah netted after the interval
to seal a 5-1 aggregate success.
Middlesbrough are now one win
away from returning to the Premier
Lee Tomlin’s goal put the
hosts in control in the
first half before Kike and
Albert Adomah netted after
the interval to seal a 5-1
aggregate success
League for the first time since
their relegation from the top-flight in
2009.
While Middlesbrough can look
forward to taking on Norwich or
Ipswich, who play the second leg of their
semi-final on Saturday, unheralded
Brentford’s surprise run to the play-offs
ends with the team facing an uncertain
future following widespread reports
that manager Mark Warburton will be
dismissed after a dispute with the club’s
owners.
Fourth placed Middlesbrough had
finished seven points ahead of fifth
placed Brentford in the second tier table
and their extra quality shone through
in the 23rd minute to the delight of the
raucous 33,266 crowd.
Adam Clayton sent a raking crossfield
ball out to Adomah, who cut inside Jake
Bidwell before squaring for Tomlin to
clip a shot past keeper David Button
with the help of a slight deflection off
Harlee Dean.
Spanish forward Kike added the
second in the 55th minute, making no
mistake with his finish after the ball had
ricocheted into his path following Jelle
Vossen’s surging run into the penalty
area.
Middlesbrough have played some
eye-catching football under the astute
leadership of Karanka, who worked
as Jose Mourinho’s assistant at Real
Madrid, and they put the seal on their
victory in typically flamboyant style in
the 78th minute.
Adomah exchanged passes with
Tomlin, who clipped a perfectlyweighted first-time ball through to
the winger and the Ghana winger
blasted home off the underside of the
crossbar.
— AFP
EPL
NEWS
Livermore suspended
amid drug reports
LONDON: Hull midfielder Jake
Livermore was suspended by the
Premier League club and the Football
Association on Friday amid reports
the England international had tested
positive for cocaine.
The Tigers released a statement
confirming Livermore’s suspension after
numerous reports circulated earlier in
the day that he had failed a drugs test.
Although
the
club
didn’t
acknowledge the reports, the Daily
Telegraph claimed Livermore failed a
post-match drug test after Hull’s 2-0 win
over Crystal Palace on April 25.
The 25-year-old played for Steve
Bruce’s struggling side in their 1-0
defeat against relegation rivals Burnley
last weekend, but the Telegraph said
“the club had no choice but to ban him
once they were informed of the test
result”.
The Hull statement read: “The
Football Association has suspended
Hull midfielder Jake Livermore.
“Following suspension by the FA
the club has subsequently suspended
Jake Livermore pending further
investigations to be made by the FA
and our own internal disciplinary
procedures.
“The club is unable to make any
further comment during this process.”
The FA followed by releasing a
statement announcing a player, who it
did not name, had failed a drugs test.
Brent Livermore
“In line with its anti-doping
regulations the FA can confirm it has
issued a provisional suspension to a
participant following a positive test
for a prohibited substance. The FA will
make no further comment until it has
completed its investigations into this
matter,” the statement read.
The Telegraph reported that
Livermore could face a six-month ban if
the test results are confirmed.
Livermore would be the highest
profile player to be banned for taking
cocaine since Chelsea’s Romanian
striker Adrian Mutu, who was
suspended by the FA and sacked by his
club after failing a drug test in 2004.
Australian
goalkeeper
Mark
Bosnich, then playing for Chelsea, was
suspended for nine months and sacked
by his club after testing positive for
cocaine in December 2002.
Livermore, who won his only
England cap in the friendly against Italy
in 2012, has played in 35 of the Tigers’
36 games this season.
He joined Hull on a season-long
loan from Spurs in 2013 and completed
a permanent £8 million move in June
last year.
Hull, who play at Spurs on Saturday
before finishing their campaign with
a home match against Manchester
United, are currently in the relegation
zone and lie two points from safety.
— AFP
28
SPORT
omandailyobserver
S U N DAY
M AY 1 7 l 2 0 1 5
QUAIL HOLLOW: Webb Simpson’s second straight 67 gave him a 10-under total of 134, tied with first-round leader Streb, who carded 69
McIlroy poised to strike as Simpson, Streb shine
CHARLOTTE: Webb Simpson fired
seven birdies in a five-under 67 to grab
a share of the lead alongside Robert
Streb on Friday at Quail Hollow, where
world number one Rory McIlroy was
poised for a weekend push.
Simpson’s second straight 67 gave
him a 10-under total of 134, tied with
first-round leader Streb, who carded a
69.
They were two strokes in front of
Americans Martin Flores and Patrick
Rodgers, Flores posting a 67 and
Rodgers a 68 for eight-under 136.
McIlroy, meanwhile, made the most
of his good breaks, firing five birdies
without a bogey in a 67 that left him
tied for fifth on 137 alongside five-time
major champion Phil Mickelson (66)
and Will MacKenzie (68).
McIlroy opened his round with an
impressive birdie at the par-five 10th,
where he rolled in a 30-foot birdie putt
from off the green.
“It’s always nice to start the day with
a putt like that,” said McIlroy, who
missed five fairways but found the
green at each of those holes.
“Thankfully, it went my way today,”
said McIlroy, who captured his first
US PGA Tour title at Quail Hollow in
2010.
McIlroy thought his score could
have been even better, but he wasn’t
complaining.
“I think I’ve gotten a lot better at
staying patient,” he said. “The way I
hit it today, I felt like I could have shot
63 or 64, but (I’m) realizing 67 is still
a good score and puts me in a great
position going into the weekend.”
McIlroy’s easy confidence could be
bad news for the players in front of him.
Simpson, a local favorite who is
enjoying some extra time with family
that comes from playing at home,
grabbed his share of the lead with the
help of two chip-in birdies, at the parfour ninth and at the tough par-three
17th.
“They were different,” Simpson said
of the birdie chips. “At nine I had a kind
of bad lie in the rough and I chunked it
out of there and it released for me.
“At 17 I had a tight lie. It’s a tough
shot but it came out just right — that
was a fun atmosphere at 17.”
Streb, who is seeking a second
title of the season after winning the
McGladrey Classic in October, made
his first bogey of the week at the parfour 16th, but clung to a share of the
lead with two pars to finish.
“It’s been going good,” Streb said.
“My misses haven’t got me in too much
trouble with the exception of 16.
“I’m just kind of hanging around,
making some putts. Hopefully I’ll hit
it nice and solid over the weekend and
keep the putter going.”
— AFP
Webb Simpson looks over his line on number five during second round play at Quail Hollow Club.
Bayern keen to keep Pep despite media fury
‘It has registered with
me that there is a clear
anti-Guardiola trend in a
few media outlets at the
moment. But that has
nothing to do with the
atmosphere in the club. We
are very happy with this
man’
CHAMPS LEAGUE
MUNICH,
GERMANY:
Bayern
Munich
chairman
Karl-Heinz
Rummenigge insists he is keen to extend
coach Pep Guardiola’s contract past June
2016 despite criticism of the Spaniard in
the German media.
Guardiola, whose existing deal
expires at the end of this season, has won
five titles in two seasons at Bayern.
The club have won a third straight
Bundesliga title this season, but bowed
out of both the German Cup and the
Champions League at the semi-final
stage. Rummenigge said he had detected
an anti-Guardiola trend in the media,
with some reporters critical of his failure
to reach the Champions League final in
either of his two seasons at the club.
“It has registered with me that
there is a clear anti-Guardiola trend in
a few media outlets at the moment,”
Rummenigge
told
Munich-based
newspaper the Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
“But that has nothing to do with the
atmosphere in the club. We are very
happy with this man!
“I’m in constant discussions with
our key players and they confirm my
opinion from the first day, which is
Bayern need to work hard to keep a
coach who previously won 14 titles in
four years at Barcelona.
“It is no accident that Guardiola is
one of the world’s most coveted coaches,”
said Rummenigge.
“If at some point he says ‘I’m going to
do something new’, there will be at least
15 top clubs forming a queue.
“Don’t forget that he has won five
titles here in two years, which I believe
Bayern Munich head coach Pep Guardiola (left) and Barcelona coach Luis Enrique
hug after the UEFA Champions League semifinal second leg in Munich.
— AFP is a club record. “We have agreed that we
will talk about his future in the second
half of this year, which is how things still
stand. And he knows my opinion: I want
that we happily value a coach who has
“The team is very happy with him.”
— AFP
a precise plan.
But Rummenigge acknowledges him to stay.”
Assarain ‘A’
record thrilling
victory
Rookie Alison Lee leads in
search for first LPGA title
MUSCAT: Assarain ‘A’ recorded a
thrilling 2 run win against Enhance
in a low scoring Khimji Ramdas
sponsored T20 Premier Cup knockout tournament match played in the
morning session on Friday at the
MOS turf grounds at Al Amerat.
Opting to bat after winning the
toss the current ‘A’ Division League
champs Assarain ‘A’ from a healthy
78 for the loss of 2 wickets off 11.2
overs slumped to 131 for the loss
of 9 wickets off their 20 stipulated
overs. Skipper Arif Hussain top
scored with a well compiled 46 (33b,
2x6 and 3x4) and none of the other
batters made any noteworthy
contributions.
Khawar Ali with figures of 3 for 13
off 2 overs was the pick of the bowlers
with support from Mazhar Alam 2
for 18, Nester Dhamba 2 for 28 and
Fayyaz Butt 2 for 29 off 4 overs each.
WILLIAMSBURG,
UNITED
STATES: American rookie Alison Lee,
vying to continue the youth movement
on the LPGA tour this season, fired a
four-under par 67 on Friday to take
the halfway lead in the Kingsmill
Championship.
Lee’s nine-under total of 133 gave her
a two-stroke lead over another LPGA
rookie, Australian Lee Min-jee, and
France’s Perrine Delacour.
Lee Min-jee carded a 67 highlighted
by an eagle at the par-five third hole,
while Delacour posted a 68 for 135.
Both Alison and Lee Min-jee are
hoping to follow the example of South
Korean rookie Kim Sei-Young, who has
already won twice this season.
The American said she liked testing
herself against other young players.
“It’s great competition,” the 20-yearold said. “It adds the fuel to the fire for
me. Since I see all these other rookies
playing well, I want to, too. And I want
to make a name for myself. I think it’s
really awesome that all the rookies this
year are playing really well.”
The leader had five birdies, her only
miscue a three-putt bogey at the sixth —
Brief scores: Assarain ‘A’ – 131 for the loss of 9
wickets off 20 overs (Arif Hussain 46; Khawar Ali
3/13, Mazhar Alam 2/18, Nester Dhamba 2/28
and Fayyaz Butt 2/29)
Enhance – 129 for the loss of 6 wickets off 20
overs (Mehran Khan 36, Vishnu P.M. 35 N.O. and
Ravi Baradkane 25)
INTL
— USA TODAY Sports
GOLF
Australian Norris
takes third-round lead
SEOUL —
Australian
veteran
Jason Norris shot a par 72 to head
the leaderboard Saturday after the
third round of OneAsia’s GS Caltex
Maekyung Open near Seoul.
Birdies at the third and 14th holes
cancelled out bogeys at the fifth and
seventh and kept the 42-year-old on an
even keel, as his fellow overnight leader,
South Korean Moon Kyong-Jun, fired a
74 to drop to second place.
New Zealand lefthander Gareth
Paddison shot a 70 to sit in sole
possession of third while defending
champion Park Jun-Won was a stroke
further back after carding a 69.
South Korean amateur star Kim
Young-Woong, aged just 16 and the first
round leader, came in with a 75 which
left him in eighth spot.
“It has been a while since I led after
three rounds,” said Norris, who is
bidding to become the first foreigner
to win the tournament in a decade. “I
didn’t play quite as well today. I wasn’t
tired or nervous, just didn’t quite hit it as
well,” the Australian said. — AFP
Leading third-round scores (South Korean
unless stated, “A” denotes amateur):
209 - Jason Norris (AUS) 68-69-72
211 - Moon Kyong-Jun 71-66-74
212 - Gareth Paddison (NZL) 69-73-70
213 - Park Jun-Won 69-75-69
214 - Ryan Fox 73-73-68
215 - Lee Tae-Hee 71-72-72, Choi Jin-Ho 72-70-73
216 - Kim Young-Woong (A) 67-74-75
217 - Hyun Jeong-Hyup 73-73-71, Kim Do-Hoon
76-67-73, Kim Woo-Chan 70-74-73, Kim Tae-Hoon
71-73-73, Lee Jae-Kyeoung (A) 73-70-74
This handout photo taken and released on May 16, 2015 shows Jason Norris of
Australia in action during the third round of the GS Caltex Maekyung Open at the
Namseoul Country Club near Seoul.
— AFP
‘Barcelona not seeking
revenge at Atletico’
Alison Lee
her 15th hole of the day after teeing off
on 10. She bounced back with a birdie to
stretch her lead.
“It was kind of a little bit of fatigue,”
she said of the bogey. “It was getting
kind of late in the day and I was ready
for the round to be over. So I told myself
to stay in it because it wasn’t over yet,
and I still had a couple of tricky holes
coming down and a couple of birdie
chances also to extend the lead.”
Lee Min-jee, the 18-year-old Aussie
who turned pro in September after an
outstanding amateur career, began the
day tied for ninth, but grabbed the early
clubhouse lead with her four-under
effort, which also included a near-hole
out for eagle at the par-five seventh,
where she settled for one of her three
birdies.
— AFP
MADRID: Barcelona coach Luis
Enrique insisted revenge will not fuel
his side’s thirst to win La Liga when
they travel to face Atletico Madrid on
Sunday.
The match comes exactly a year to
the day since Atletico won the league
on Barca’s home pitch on the final day
of last season.
A 23rd Liga title would also be the
first trophy of a potential treble for
Barca as they face Athletic Bilbao in
the Copa del Rey final and reached the
Champions League final in midweek
with a 5-3 aggregate win over Bayern
Munich.
“I haven’t seen any desire for revenge
among my players. Atletico had a great
season last year and were deserved
champions,” said Enrique.
— AFP
ENTERTAINMENT
S U N DAY
M AY 1 7 l 2 0 1 5
omandailyobserver
People want to adopt me:
Deepika on ‘Piku’ success
TINSELTOWN
Life is very hard:
Selena Gomez
Q UMA RAMASUBRAMANIAN
H
er act as a selfless daughter, who spends more time listening to
her father’s constipation tales than on her professional or marital
pursuits in “Piku”, has garnered an “overwhelming” response for
actress Deepika Padukone.
But the most heartening has been the response from people who
have expressed a wish to “adopt” her.
Directed by Shoojit Sircar, “Piku” is an endearing father-daughter tale, with megastar
Amitabh Bachchan essaying the role of Deepika’s onscreen dad.
Their chemistry is natural, relatable and pleasing despite being one full of arguments.
What also stands out is Deepika’s subdued and subtle camaraderie with Irrfan Khan
in the film.
“The response has been overwhelming,” Deepika said in an interview post the
film’s release.
Her character is independent and free-spirited.
“I think we had all thought that it’s a sweet film and that people will connect with
it, but none of us had expected it to become this big.
It’s gone beyond our own control. The biggest compliment for me has been I
know it may sound funny, but a lot of people want to adopt me,” said the 29-yearold.
She says it’s been the “biggest compliment”.
“Multiple people have told me that they want to adopt me after watching ‘Piku’,
and that’s very overwhelming,” said Deepika, who in real life, is the daughter of
former badminton ace Prakash Padukone.
Deepika, who also features in a brand’s emotional advertisement about a
daughter’s love towards her mother, says her biggest critic is her family.
But even they were speechless after watching “Piku”.
“My family is my biggest critic. They always watch my films, but they
would always say ‘This could have been a little better’. But, for the first
time, after watching this film (‘Piku’), there was an absolute silence when
they called me.
“They were so overwhelmed by what they had seen that they were just
lost for words,” she added.
The success of “Piku” also shows how a movie can work even without
extensive multi-city promotions, skin show, a lip-lock scene or the song-anddance formula.
“It depends on the story and what the characters are trying to convey. ‘Piku’ is
a story of a daughter and her journey and how she tries to be perfect in every role.
She is trying to do so many things and do them all perfectly. ‘Piku’ is different
and didn’t require all of that,” she said.
Considering that Deepika has had quite a winning streak with movies like
“Cocktail”, “Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela”, “Chennai Express” and “Happy
New Year”, how does she choose her films?
“There is no formula. If I find a script and if I feel the director can justify it, I
go ahead and do it.
I follow my heart and my gut feeling,” she said.
“The reaction that ‘Piku’ has got, the kind of scripts that I am getting and
with the kind of actors I am getting to work with, it’s a very exciting time for me
right now,” added the actress, who will next be seen in films like “Tamasha” with
Ranbir Kapoor and “Bajirao Mastani” with Ranveer Singh.
Cannes “Lobster” film suggests crustacean could be you
Q MICHAEL RODDY
I
n the warped world of Greek
film-maker Yorgos Lanthimos’s
“Lobster”, society has decreed that
single people or those who have lost
their mates must find someone during a
hotel “dating game” or be turned into an
animal of their choice.
The film, in competition at the
Cannes film festival where it was shown
on Friday, features a somewhat bloatedlooking Colin Farrell as an architect
whose wife has left him.
He decides upon arrival at the luxury
hotel, which is actually in southwest
Ireland, that if he fails to find a mate
within the 45-day deadline he will
become a lobster because it lives 100
years and has blue, as in royal, blood.
The hotel manager applauds him on
his choice because most people choose
The cast of “The Lobster” at the 68th Cannes Film Festival. — AFP
to become dogs.
A critique of the straitjacket of social
convention? The director would not be
drawn on the film’s meaning and the
lead actors seemed unsure as to what it
was all about.
“We really just want to ask the
questions and make people consider
how we organise our ways of life and,
you know, if all the rules that we follow
29
make sense, should we rebel against
some, should we make new ones, all
these kinds of questions,” Lanthimos
said.
One of his previous films, “Dogtooth”,
was about a mother and father who
brought up their children to adulthood
without letting them see the world
beyond the walls of their compound.
Farrell, who said he was thrilled the
film was made in his native Ireland,
added: “I have no clue what it’s about
except a sense of the deep loneliness that
permeates (modern life).”
British actress Rachel Weisz, who
plays the woman Farrell’s character
eventually links up with, though in
circumstances far removed from the
hotel dating game, said she felt the film
was deeply romantic despite its absurdist
trappings. — Reuters
S
inger Selena Gomez thinks life is “very
hard” and insists nothing has come
“super easy” to her.
“If I’m not enjoying what I’m doing,
then I’m doing something wrong.
I think life is very, very, very hard
and I’ve never had anything come
super easy to me no matter what
people may think, and I continue to
be the best I can be and I just want
to enjoy it.
We only have one life and it is very
precious, there’s a lot that we can do and
there’s a lot that we should do.
If you’re good and you’re kind to other
people and you work hard and you’re actually
doing something with your life, I think that’s so
fulfilling,” when asked what she thinks is the meaning of life, the 22-year-old
singer told fans in a Google Hangout session, reports femalefirst.co.uk.
The “Come and get it” hitmaker, who credits her mother Mandy for helping
her to stay grounded, is currently working on her fourth studio album and
can’t wait for people to hear her new music.
Why wait for a boy to buy you
jewellery: Huma
B
ollywood actress Huma
Qureshi feels that every
girl should gift jewellery to
herself and not wait for a man
to buy it for her.
The “Gangs of Wasseypur”
actress unveiled a collection
of diamond jewellery
designed by SRS Jewells
crafted with diamond on
Friday.
“Buying a diamond for
that special girl in your
life, goes a long way. In
fact every girl should buy
some jewellery for herself,
why wait for some guy to
gift you something,” Huma
said during the launch of the
collection.
“I like jewellery that catches your
eye and of course my mother’s jewellery
is my personal favourite,” she said.
Shruti Haasan joins ‘Singam 3’
A
ctress Shruti Haasan has
reportedly been roped in for
the third instalment of
the “Singam” franchise.
The film, which will
be
helmed
by
Hari
Gopalakrishnan,
also
features
Suriya
and
Anushka Shetty in the lead
roles.
“Shruti is most likely to
play the second lead.
While she agreed to
be part of the project, the
paperwork is still pending.
She’s expected to sign on
the dotted line soon,” a source
from the film’s unit said.
Director Hari had planned to
include Shruti in “Singam 3” after he
was impressed with her work in their
last Tamil outing “Poojai”.
“The film is expected to go on the floors in September.
STEALING THE LIMELIGHT
Woody Allen, the New Yorker who wants to be European
Q JENNIE MATTHEW
W
Woody Allen with his wife Soon-Yi at the 68th Cannes Film Festival. — AFP
oody Allen premiered his
latest film at the Cannes Film
Festival on Friday, finding
comfort and adulation in Europe away
from controversies that have tarnished his
name in the United States.
The famed American director, who
has produced more than 50 movies, is
best known for a film career that has
concentrated on his life-long love affair
with New York, the city of his birth.
But the 79-year-old, who has sneered
at Hollywood and generated almost as
much newsprint about running off with
his former lover’s adopted child as for his
work, has found in Europe something of a
latter-day renaissance.
He has shot eight of his last 11 films
on the old continent — in London, Paris,
Rome, Barcelona and the south of France
— and spoke last year of his dream of
emulating the greats of European cinema.
“From the beginning, I dreamed of
being Godard, Fellini, Truffaut or Resnais.
Together with Bergman and Antonioni,
these are the film-makers who made me
want to do this job.
“I am part of a generation of directors
who were not looking to Hollywood. We
wanted to be Europeans!” he confessed in
an interview with French weekly Nouvel
Observateur published in October.
“My dream has come true: to become
European — or nearly,” he said.
Showered with accolades
Born in the Bronx and raised in
Brooklyn, Allen came from a Jewish family
and his grandparents on both sides had
emigrated from Europe.
His latest film, “Irrational Man,” is
filmed in Rhode Island and stars Joaquin
Phoenix and Emma Stone.
Alongside his four Oscars and 24
Academy nominations, he won a lifetime
achievement award at Cannes, the world’s
top film festival, in 2002.
He has been showered with awards in
Britain, Germany, France, Spain and Italy,
including a lifetime achievement award
from the Venice Film Festival.
In Barcelona, there are even plans by
production company Mediapro to open a
museum dedicated to the life and work of
Allen. The president of Mediapro, Jaume
Roures, is a friend and has produced three
of his films, including “Vicky Cristina
Barcelona”.
German critic Jan Schulz-Ojala of Berlin
daily Der Tagesspiegel says Europeans
appreciate his specifically Jewish and East
Coast outlook on modern, urban life.
“His basic and non-destructible
lightness in speaking about deep troubles
relieves us and reconciles us with our own
‘old European’ melancholy,” Schulz-Ojala
said in an email.
But if setting his recent films in some of
Europe’s most beautiful locales underlines
his attachment to the continent, “too much
postcard and pastiche” has cost Allen some
of his originality, Schulz-Ojala said.
Allen has made no bones about making a
film anywhere no-strings-attached finance
is available and in 2012 he told British
newspaper The Telegraph that Europeans
had given “very, very generously” without
interfering.
“I always wanted to be a foreign filmmaker,” he told The Telegraph at that point,
after having made seven films in Europe in
seven years.
‘Polanski-Allen syndrome’
“But I’m from Brooklyn so I couldn’t
be because I wasn’t foreign. But all of a
sudden, through happy accidents, I’ve
become one, to such a degree that I’m even
writing subtitles. So I’m thrilled with that.”
30
LIFESTYLE
omandailyobserver
S U N DAY
M AY 1 7 l 2 0 1 5
SAYEH WOODMAN
[email protected]
Home bound
I
Tips for overcoming
BAD HABITS
C
hanging your behaviour to break
a bad habit can be challenging,
but what if there was some help?
Hypnotherapist and NLP (neurolinguistic programming) master
practitioner Jasmine Piran shares
her top tips and tricks for moving away from any bad
habit.
Piran is also a consultant for Rokfri, a unique stop
smoking programme which understands that every
smoker and smoking habit is different, and provides
one with a personalised holistic approach to stop
smoking, reports femalefirst.co.uk.
Here are a few tips that will come in handy:
* Set yourself a date when you want to start your new
behaviour and keep to it. Many people start a new
routine on a Monday, after a birthday, in the New
Year, whatever you choose just make sure it is a
realistic and practical date that works for you.
behaviour by logging your thoughts. See what may
* Think carefully about who you want to tell about
trigger certain responses and understand what may
your plan to stop smoking. Some people find it very
cause your reactions. Keep a cravings log and see
useful to have other people involved in these types
how they link to specific situations, times or people
of behaviour change, while others find that people
in your life.
knowing about their aims adds pressure or stress to
their journey. Do whatever works best for you and * Keep track of your results so you can have a clear
idea of your journey and experiences to date. This
put your own needs first.
can help you see how far you have come, obstacles
* Make a list of the positive reasons why you want to
you have faced, and work out how to manoeuvre
change your behaviour and keep it with you at all
around these in the future.
times. Whenever you are feeling challenged you can
look at this list and remind yourself of your reasons * Keep rewarding yourself for your achievements and
remember these rewards at times when you are
for making this change in your life.
feeling challenged. If you’re restraining your mind
* Be kind and patient with yourself. Small positive
and behaviour around a habit such as smoking, a
daily steps will gradually amount to a big positive
celebration could be using the money you’ve saved
change. Congratulate yourself for every success
to book a treat such as a day out.
along the way, no matter how small, and allow
yourself sufficient time to achieve your desired end * Persist with this new ritual. Stick with it and you
will find that things get easier with every day that
result.
passes. — IANS
* Understand your emotional drivers behind your
LIFESTYLE
Prepare yourself to overcome jetlag in jiffy
H
t was nice to return home, glowing in every aspect. I had a nice tan, my
mind was refreshed, and I’d actually lost weight — you usually put on
weight when you go on holidays! It was a break well needed, and how
much I miss Muscat what used to be my home. Yes, I do repeat myself, yes I
do go on, but it’s such a wonderful place that only a few appreciate how lovely
life is when they live there, others realise when it’s too late and have left and
reflect back. If I don’t return back to work and live one day soon, then that’s
my holiday destination sorted every year — not sure my amazing mates are
aware of me inviting myself back!
So, last time I mentioned about the Wave having come on leaps and
bounds, a totally unrecognisable place a year ago, quite impressive. Other
progressive areas, but not yet complete, is the new development stories and
plans for the area of the InterContinental. How this area will expand to a
complex of hotels under one roof. That’s why some areas have been shut down
and not accessible at the hotel. The car park area will soon become a hotel
for touring companies, visiting the Royal Opera House for performances.
There will be a bridge going over the road to link the hotel and Opera House
together. So that’s another area I look forward to seeing when I return back.
It is a shame to still see the Opera House mall pretty much empty in
terms of the hustle and bustle of visitors and locals that I thought it would
be and portray. Shops still left empty. Even to see a popular restaurant had
been closed down, which I thought once did well, was surprising. I always
thought the concept was slightly wrong to be honest. I appreciate the high end
market and feel, in keeping with the Opera House and the décor, aesthetics,
but what I think would make the mall a thriving place, rather than still and
empty would be shops that had classy souvenirs to purchase from, based
on the resurrection and history of the Opera House, touring companies
paraphernalia. Unique gifts. Music and postcard shops. The whole area would
be different. I do hope this changes and to see progression on my next visit.
Overall, it was exciting to be back and to see progression and growth in the
country. I just hope that the growth doesn’t overrule the natural beauty that
Oman has, and to become cluttered and close. I guess there are areas outside
Muscat that you can visit for peace and quiet, but I hope it doesn’t become
too saturated. It’s nice now to walk into a travel agency in the UK, and ask
for details and a brochure on Muscat, Oman, and for them to actually know
where I’m on about, rather than it being a secret. This didn’t happen 4 years
ago.
30 minutes of exercise is
key to health in old age
* Don’t take medication to help you sleep
on the plane.
It may seem like a good idea, but you run
the risk of rebound insomnia the next
night.
* Take a good book. Reading takes more
effort than watching the in-flight
movies and you’ll get a better quality
of sleep on board when you’re more
tired.
* Take advantage of the in-flight
hospitality.
Having said that, try to moderate the
wine.
It goes to your head more quickly in
the air and you don’t want to arrive with
a hangover.
Eat a full meal at the local lunch or
dinnertime. Your body will adjust much
more quickly.
One of the worst parts of jetlag is
waking up hungry in the small hours of
the morning.
ydrate yourself well and eat
light for a day or two before you
take a long flight to ensure that
you arrive at your destination fabulously
fresh.
Author and PR guru Lady Terry
Robinson
shares her top tips on
overcoming jetlag, reports femalefirst.
co.uk:
* Hydrate and eat lightly for a day or two
before you travel.
Part of that horrible jetlagged feeling is
caused by water retention from sitting
down too long.
Walk around the cabin every hour if
possible.
That way your feet won’t swell and you’ll
still fit your clothes when you land.
* A few days before you fly, try switching
your bedtime closer to your new time
zone.
For a long haul, take evening flights so that
you can have a nap in the afternoon.
Pay more attention to your health in summer
Q KABEER YOUSUF
I
t is summer here again and the
mercury is soaring by the day. One
needs to follow certain ways in
order to keep fit as the sweltering heat
can dehydrate and pave way for diseases
galore, medical experts say.
Summer events can pose some
challenges for people with various
medical conditions.
Doctors and medical specialists
advise some general tips to keep you safe
during this summer:
1) Prevent dehydration. Hot weather
can cause dehydration. Water is the
best. Keep hydrated. The humidity
also causes the body to sweat.
“Extreme sweating can result in
dehydration. If the patients are not
taking enough water, this will cause
the water composition in the blood
to reduce and will produce ketones”,
says Dr Thashli Thankachen at the
Dr Thashli
Lifeline Hospital Ruwi.
for people with various medical
This will lead to bad breath and can be
conditions and /or medications.
aggravated through dehydration.
Steer clear of aerated drinks, caffeine 3) Protect your vision both at work
and play. Wear protective sunglasses
and fruit juices (except berry juices
which block 99 per cent of UV rays.
which are rich in antioxidants).
2) Avoid alcohol. Alcohol can increase 4) Sleep well. Try to go to bed preferably
around the same time daily. Resist
the risk of dehydration especially
5)
6)
7)
8)
the urge to stay up late as it would
cause body exhaustion.
Plan exercise and outdoor activities.
Take walks late in the evening and
choose a path that’s sheltered by trees
and shades. Can consider walking in
a shopping malls or department store.
Exercise in a cool place such as an
air-conditioned gym, or early in the
morning or later in the evening when
temperatures may be moderate. Stay
cool.
Dress appropriately. When humidity
is high, your sweat can’t evaporate as
well. Wear clothing that allows sweat
to evaporate easily.
When outdoors, use strong sun
protective creams.
Hot and humid conditions make your
skin easily susceptible to various skin
infections such as carbuncles, boils,
abscesses, furuncle, which range
in its severity. Men tend to develop
fungal infection around their groin
and women, are prone to urinary
tract infection.
9) Take a bath twice a day as it can
prevent bacteria from growing on the
skin. Avoid synthetic clothing and
stick to only lose breathable cotton
clothes. Keep yourself clean.
Heat exhaustion symptoms
Doctor sounded a word of caution
as to observe for some heat exhaustion
symptoms on a regular basis.
“When exposed to high temperatures
for a long time and don’t replace the
fluids you lose, body produces more heat
than it can release and diabetes increases
risk of heat exhaustion”, Dr Thashli adds.
Common signs of heat exhaustion
are cool and moist skin, heavy sweating,
dizziness, fatigue, weak and rapid pulse,
low blood pressure upon standing,
muscle cramps, nausea or vomiting,
headache, fainting, and paleness.
“When such symptoms start
propping up, it is always advisable to
seek medical assistance at the earliest”,
Dr Thashli further said.
E
lderly men who do 30 minutes of
physical activity six days a week
are likely to have a 40 per cent
lower risk of death compared to couchpotato counterparts, researchers said
on Friday.
For men in this age group, just a
small amount of regular exercise —
regardless of intensity — is as beneficial
as giving up smoking, they said.
The evidence comes from a major
project in Norway called the Oslo Study.
In it, doctors enrolled thousands
of men born between 1923 and 1932,
who were given health checkups and
volunteered information about their
lifestyle and physical activity.
The initiative was launched in 19723 with a first survey among nearly
15,000 men.
In 2000, the survey was repeated
among the same group, of whom 12,700
had survived.
Of these 5,700 were able or willing
to continue in the research. By 2011,
deaths reduced this total to just under
3,600.
The researchers were struck by the
impact of regular physical exercise
during the 2000-2011 period, when the
volunteers were aged in their seventies
or eighties.
“A mortality reduction of 40 per cent
was associated with a moderate use
of time (30 minutes, six days a week)
irrespective of whether the activity was
light or vigorous,” their study said.
Among those who exercised
vigorously — defined as hard training
several times a week — the lifespan
was a whopping five years longer than
among those who were sedentary.
The study, led by Ingar Holme, a
professor at the Norwegian School of
Sports Sciences, is published online in
the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Volunteers who took part in the
study after the relaunch in 2000 were
the healthiest survivors of the original
batch, which potentially skews some of
the data.
But even when this is taken into
account, the benefits of regular exercise
were clear, the authors said.
“Physical activity should be targeted
to the same extent as smoking with
respect to public health prevention
efforts in the elderly,” they said. — AFP
SPOTLIGHT
S U N DAY
M AY 1 7 l 2 0 1 5
Maria and Cornelia play as their grandmother watches them at their home in a village near Craiova, Romania. — AFP
omandailyobserver
31
Calin Goia (2L), the leader and singer of Romanian band “Voltaj” rehearses with the band in Bucharest. — AFP
Eurovision gives voice to Romania’s lonely kids
Q ANCA TEODORESCU
W
ith just days
to go before
they perform
at
the
Eu r ov i s i o n
song contest,
the Romanian pop-rock group Voltaj are
rehearsing their hearts out.
For them, the competition is not just
about representing their country but
also about giving voice to thousands of
children who grow up alone in Romania,
with parents forced to go West to find
work.
The five-member band is well
established in the ex-communist state,
now the European Union’s secondpoorest after Bulgaria, and home to
some 20 million people.
Their ballad “All Over Again” draws
attention to an oft-ignored flipside of
European migration — the youngsters
left behind.
The problem affects “whole
generations of children” who face
“severe, long-term trauma” because
they are forced to make it through
their formative years without parents’
support, Voltaj singer Calin Goia said.
“I’ve been asked whether I think the
subject matter will interest a foreign
audience. And I think it will, because
the topic of child-parent relationships is
universal,” he said.
To hit home the message, the group
will sing the last refrain in English: “If
the sky clouds over, with darkness never
gone/ If the sun stays hidden, not waking
in the dawn/ You will be the reason, you
will be the reason to start/ To start all
over again.”
“If I were British and had my child
close to me, I’m sure I’d be able to
understand how parents forced to leave
their children behind might feel,” Goia
added.
Some 350,000 Romanian children —
almost 10 per cent of the country’s total
child population — have at least one
parent living abroad, according to Save
the Children and Alternative Sociale,
another NGO.
The government puts the figure much
SOME 350,000 ROMANIAN CHILDREN —
ALMOST 10 PER CENT OF THE COUNTRY’S
TOTAL CHILD POPULATION — HAVE AT
LEAST ONE PARENT LIVING ABROAD
lower at 82,339.
In neighbouring Bulgaria, 267,000
children share their lot, according to a
recent study by the Partners Bulgaria
foundation.
The children are cared for by
grandparents or aunts and uncles,
though some live in state-run households
as they wait for their parents to return.
Charities that work with these
youngsters warn they often feel
abandoned, making them vulnerable to
depression.
“My friend Gabi tells me he misses
his mother a lot.
The end of the school year is coming,
and there is no one here (but his
grandmother) to celebrate his results,”
nine-year-old Cornelia says.
And while Cornelia now lives with
her mother, she too suffered alone for
four years.
Jobless and homeless, both her
parents had no choice but to emigrate.
They found work in agriculture in
Greece, Germany and Serbia.
‘Mummy, mummy’
“Cornelia was a year and 10 months
old when we left. I would hear her cry
‘mummy, mummy’ on the phone, and I
would burst into tears,” said 29-year-old
Dana, who also has another daughter,
now aged four.
Dana’s husband is still working in
Belgium, but she returned home to a
village in southern Romania to raise her
daughters.
They live in a house that is still under
construction and whose walls have yet
to be plastered and painted.
The family’s chickens run around
inside the dining room, which has no
doors or windows.
Some three million Romanians
emigrated to the West in two waves.
One came after the fall of communist
rule under Ceausescu in 1989, the
second after Romania joined the EU in
2007.
Most of the migrants work in
Spain and Italy, and in 2014, they sent
home 2.5 billion euros ($2.8 billion) in
remittences.
Every summer, some 60 per cent of
the adults living in Cornelia’s village go
abroad for seasonal work, said Elisabeta
Vieru, a social worker at World Vision
Romania, a charity that helps the
families.
But Vieru believes the families’
difficulties can also have a positive
impact.
“Parents have realised it’s not so easy
to make it out without an education, so
they encourage their children to study
hard,” she said.
For Cornelia, the answer is clear.
When she grows up, she wants to
become a music teacher in her home
country.
“I want to work in Romania, to make
my mother, sister and father happy, and
so that we never have to separate,” she
beamed.
Voltaj will perform in the May 19
semifinal of Eurovision, an annual
televised glitzy pop fest now in its 60th
year that pits hopefuls against each other
in their quest to follow in the footsteps of
ABBA and other past winners.
The grand finale will be held in
Vienna on May 23.
After releasing the song, Voltaj set
up an online project to provide support
to children whose parents are working
abroad. — AFP
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Chef urges compulsory food lessons worldwide
IT’S NOT LAW THAT
EVERY CHILD IS
TAUGHT ABOUT
FOOD, WHERE IT
COMES FROM AND
HOW IT AFFECTS
THEIR BODY, AND
THAT IS COMPLETELY
RESPONSIBLE
Q ALEX DOBUZINSKIS
T
Q JACQUES KLOPP
A
board an open-top London bus
circling Britain’s parliament,
celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is
educating children about healthy eating,
and revealing plans to take his campaign
to the home of the gourmets.
“The most dangerous thing for our
communities is when children don’t
know what a potato is, or a tomato, and
that exists all over Europe,” he explained
on board the red battle bus.
His audience of schoolchildren,
some dressed as onions and bananas,
lapped up the message and vocally
backed the chef ’s petition calling on all
G20 countries to make food education
compulsory, chanting “sign it, share it!”
The petition, signed by over 1.2
million people from around the world,
is part of “Food Revolution Day”, set
up by Oliver four years ago to tackle
the growing problem of diet-related
diseases.
“It’s a global day of action,” he said.
“It’s about the broken food system, about
farming and about junk food, about how
we are killing our children.
I’m just a messenger.”
The 39-year-old has enlisted the
help of celebrity pals including sprinter
Usain Bolt and singers Paul McCartney
and Ed Sheeran in pushing “to put
Nasa finds Antarctic ice shelf a
few years from disintegration
Jamie poses with schoolchildren in front of the Houses of Parliament during an open-top bus tour of London.
Jamie Oliver gestures during an interview while visiting a North London school in
London to promote Food Revolution Day. — AFP
compulsory food education on the
school curriculum.”
He has already successfully lobbied to
improve the standard of Britain’s school
meals and now has his sights set on
France, despite its rich culinary history.
“France is an example for the rest of
the world but there are also some angry
patterns and statistics that are not good,
France should also be worried,” warned
Oliver, star of the TV series “Naked
Chef ”.
“It’s not law that every child is taught
about food, where it comes from and
how it affects their body, and that is
completely responsible.
“France has thousands of years of
expertise in food, but the power of junk
food and big fooding is big enough
to fight that culture,” he added. Oliver
slammed cereal manufacturers, saying
they had “brainwashed us that they are
great and we know it’s all rubbish.
“The bad people in the food industry
will even brainwash French people,” the
chef said.
Oliver advocated teaching children
“how to put seed in the ground, grow
something, pick it, cook it and eat it in
a group.
“That’s my wish today: that France
gets behind a funny little English boy
on a red double decker bus with a lot of
English kids,” Oliver said.
Britain, he added, was in “a lot of
trouble”, but could learn from France’s
introduction of a tax on sugary drinks.
“I would like to come to France and
talk to your ministers about that sugar
tax, why they did it and where the
money goes,” he said.
More than 42 million children
worldwide under the age of five are
overweight or obese, according to World
Health Authority statistics. — AFP
he last intact section of one of Antarctica’s mammoth ice shelves is
weakening fast and will likely disintegrate completely in the next few years,
contributing further to rising sea levels, according to a Nasa study released
on Thursday.
The research focused on a remnant of the so-called Larsen B Ice Shelf, which
has existed for at least 10,000 years but partially collapsed in 2002.
What is left covers about 625 square miles (1,600 square km), about half the
size of Rhode Island.
Antarctica has dozens of ice shelves — massive, glacier-fed floating platforms
of ice that hang over the sea at the edge of the continent’s coast line.
The largest is roughly the size of France.
Larsen B is located in the Antarctic Peninsula, which extends towards the
southern tip of South America and is one of two principal areas of the continent
where scientists have documented the thinning of such ice formations.
“This study of the Antarctic Peninsula glaciers provides insights about how ice
shelves farther south, which hold much more land ice, will react to a warming
climate,” said Eric Rignot, co-author of the study and a glaciologist at Nasa’s Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
Almost 200 countries have agreed to negotiate a United Nations pact by the end
of 2015 to combat global climate change, which most scientists expect will bring
about more flooding, droughts, heat waves and higher seas.
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has cited a probability
of at least 95 per cent that accelerated warming of the planet has been triggered
by human activities, led by atmospheric emissions of greenhouse gases from the
burning of fossil fuels.
The study, published online in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters,
was based on airborne surveys and radar data.
The study’s lead scientist, Ala Khazendar, said analysis of the data reveals that
a widening rift in Larsen B will eventually break it apart completely, probably
around the year 2020.
Once that happens, glaciers held in place by the ice shelf will slip into the ocean
at a faster rate and contribute to rising sea levels, scientists say.
The study also found Leppard and Flask, two main tributary glaciers of the
ice shelf, have thinned by between 65 and 72 feet in recent years, and the pace of
their shrinking has accelerated since the immediate aftermath of the 2002 partial
collapse of the ice shelf. — Reuters
SUNDAY | MAY 17, 2015 | RAJAB 28, 1436 AH
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Egypt’s Triumphant Dance Troupe
Q MAURICE GENT
A
s a highly successful
season was winding
to its end, an evening
of passionate and
highly skilled dancing
was provided by the
famous Mahmoud Reda Performance
Troupe at the Royal Opera House Muscat.
It was colourful, full of energy and
joy and the dancers responded with
enthusiasm to an audience of many
different age groups from the young to
the decidedly ancient. The mood was
caught at the beginning as audience and
dancers immediately established a close
relationship.
Mahmoud Reda has rightly been
much praised in Egypt for his pioneering
work, and the road to success has often
not been easy. But his perseverance and
skills have led to the powerful presence
in which Egypt and indeed the whole
Arab World can be truly proud of.
Mahmoud Reda’s talents go far beyond
the Egyptian scene. He has gained
inspiration from watching the music
and dancing of performers practicing
far away from his native Egypt. He can
watch and catch rhythmic flows and
movements practiced many miles from
his native Egypt. He has thus become in
the creation of his rhythms and dances;
the creator of a style of music stretching
far across the Arab world and beyond.
The Royal Opera House Muscat has
invited many groups which have a wide
cultural range with links across many
forms of music and so it was with the
Mahmoud Reda Performance Troupe.
Mahmoud Reda has indeed had a
MAHMOUD REDA HAS
RIGHTLY BEEN MUCH
PRAISED IN EGYPT FOR HIS
PIONEERING WORK, AND
THE ROAD TO SUCCESS HAS
OFTEN NOT BEEN EASY. BUT
HIS PERSEVERANCE AND
SKILLS HAVE LED TO THE
POWERFUL PRESENCE IN
WHICH EGYPT AND INDEED
THE WHOLE ARAB WORLD
CAN BE TRULY PROUD OF.
remarkable career which clearly signals
initiative and imagination as well
as a high level of musical skills. His
passion and energy have been evident
throughout the span of a long career
which is still growing very strongly.
When trips abroad were being
organised Mahmoud Reda purposely
chose different travelling companions
so a large number of the group could
benefit from the experience of practicing
their music in many lands.
The performances given at the
ROHM benefited greatly from this.
The dancers were skilled, poised and
possessed a confident grace that swept
the performance along. Mahmoud Reda
is known in Egypt as the pioneer of
theatrical dance in Egypt and it is a title
he well deserves.
Certainly the dancers who celebrated
their skills at the ROHM owe him much.
— Photos by Khalid al Busaidi, ROHM
ENVIRONMENT
Earth’s capacity to absorb CO2 has gone up: Study
T
here are some good and bad news for
climate change enthusiasts.
Researchers have found that along
with the rise in carbon emissions, the Earth’s
capacity to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2)
from the atmosphere has also gone up. But
there is no guarantee that it would continue.
About half of the emissions of CO2 each
year remain in the atmosphere; the other half
is taken up by the ecosystems on land and the
oceans, and the rates of CO2 absorption by
Earth have so far increased in proportion to
emissions, the study noted.
“Since the emissions today are three
times higher than they were in the 1960s,
this increased uptake by land and ocean is
not only surprising; it is good news,” said
study co-author Richard Houghton, senior
scientist at Woods Hole Research Center at
Massachusetts in the US.
“Without it, the concentration of CO2 in
the atmosphere would be twice what it is, and
climate change would be much farther along.
But, there is no guarantee that it will
continue,” Houghton cautioned.
Since 1956, when the monitoring of
atmospheric CO2 concentrations began at
Mauna Loa Observatory (MLO) on the island
of Hawaii, many more stations have been
added to measure the amount of carbon in
the atmosphere and how it varies seasonally
and geographically.
“There is no question that land and
oceans have, for at least the last five and half
decades, been taking up about half of the
carbon emitted each year,” Houghton said.
“Most of the processes responsible for
that uptake would be expected to slow down
as the Earth warms, but we have not seen
it yet,” Houghton noted. The researchers
conclude that the greater certainty in
atmospheric carbon measurements has led
to an increased certainty in the calculated
rate of carbon uptake by land and oceans.
Monitoring that uptake year by year is
critical for understanding the carbon cycle
and for knowing how to deal with it. The study
was published in the journal Biogeosciences.
ABOUT HALF OF THE
EMISSIONS OF CO2 EACH YEAR
REMAIN IN THE ATMOSPHERE;
THE OTHER HALF IS TAKEN UP
BY THE ECOSYSTEMS ON LAND
AND THE OCEANS, AND THE
RATES OF CO2 ABSORPTION
BY EARTH HAVE SO FAR
INCREASED IN PROPORTION
TO EMISSIONS.