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omandailyobserver
VOL. 35 NO. 258 | PAGES 20 | BAISAS 200 FRIDAY | JULY 29, 2016 | SHAWWAL 24, 1437 AH Editor-in-Chief www.omanobserver.om [email protected] ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI Oman Establishment for Press, Publication and Advertising PO Box 974, Postal Code 100, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman US SHALE GAS SHAKING UP GLOBAL MARKETS P16 FLAMENCO QUEEN MARIN GOES FOR LANDMARK BADMINTON GOLD P17 JACKIE CHAN KEEPS DELIVERING HITS P12 OMAN Merkel stands by refugee policy despite attacks HM receives cable from Qatari Emir MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos has received a cable of thanks from Shaikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, Emir of Qatar, in reply to His Majesty’s congratulatory cable on the anniversary of him taking reins of power in the State of Qatar. In his cable, Shaikh Tamim expressed his utmost thanks for His Majesty’s feelings and best wishes. He prayed to Allah the Almighty to grant His Majesty good health and well-being and the Omani people further progress and prosperity under the wise leadership of His Majesty, and the fraternal relations between the two countries further progress and growth. — ONA REGION Houthis form body to run Yemen ADEN: The Houthis and their allies on Thursday formed a 10-member “supreme council” to run Yemen, in the latest sign of the failure of UN-brokered peace talks with the government. The Houthis and the General People’s Congress of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh have agreed to “form a supreme political council of 10 members”, according to a statement carried by a rebel-run news agency. Syria’s Assad offers amnesty to rebels DAMASCUS: Syrian President Bashar al Assad on Thursday offered an amnesty to armed rebels battling his forces if they surrender, the official SANA news agency reported. “Everyone carrying arms... and sought by justice... is excluded from full punishment if they hand themselves in and lay down their weapons,” SANA said, quoting a presidential decree on the three-month amnesty offer. The reprieve also includes any rebel who frees a hostage, according to the decree text. INSIDESTORIES 3 CHINA, RUSSIA TO HOLD JOINT EXERCISES IN SOUTH CHINA SEA P 4 PAKISTAN, IRAN CALL FOR JOINT COMMISSION P 6 FRANCE TO FORM NATIONAL GUARD TO HELP FIGHT TERROR P WEATHER TODAY MUSCAT MAX: 330C MIN: 260C SALALAH MAX: 260C MIN: 230C SUNRISE 05.36 AM PRAYER TIMINGS FAJR: 04:12 DHUHR: 12:18 ASR: 15:41 MAGHRIB: 18:56 ISHA: 20:14 NIZWA MAX: 360C MIN: 240C BITE BY BITE: The pioneering Mango Tree Encyclopedia will serve as a guide for growers, marketers and researchers in Oman and world over Boost to mango production LAKSHMI KOTHANETH MUSCAT July 28: Assigned by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos, Nasr bin Hamoud al Kindi, Secretary General of the Royal Court Affairs, officially launched the Mango Tree Encyclopedia (Al Anba) at Al Wahat Club in Muscat on Thursday. The pioneering encyclopedia will be an important addition to the libraries of the world, providing both a scientific reference for mango researchers and producers. It is presented as a guide to implement agricultural practices in mango cultivation and as an aid in identifying the pests and diseases that affect mango trees, as well as a scientific reference for students. It is also hoped that the encyclopedia will play a role in advancing the economy through the development of mango cultivation and the discovery of solutions to the obstacles that threaten and limit its expansion, both in Oman and elsewhere, which will have a direct impact on national income and state revenues. The Mango Tree Encyclopedia began in 2006 by executive committee and a technical ‘While we have about half a million mango trees in the Sultanate, we hope to plant and produce other types of mango’ team being formed to manage and execute the project. A consultative committee for the project was established in 2008 and included 8 specialists from different countries to take advantage of their expertise. In addition, the technical team visited the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Organization of Biodiversity (Biodiversity International) to benifit from their experience, thereby facilitating the planning of the encyclopedia. The work on the encyclopedia began in a major way in 2008 as per the instructions of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos to revive farming of the crop that has economic importance and to address current concerns about this fruit as well as to study all of its worldwide climatic and agricultural requirements, in order to conserve and improve this fruit, according to Dr Yahya al Hinai, Head of the technical Committee. In his presentation he highlighted the established mango varieties of Oman and threw light on the new varieties that have been defined and have been now named by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos. Observer spoke to Dr Fuad al Sajwani, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, at the launch as mango is considered as the second most important crop next to dates. TO PAGE 2 Critics want US regulator to rethink weight-loss device NEW YORK: Critics of a newly approved weight-loss device that uses a tube inserted into the stomach to drain food after a meal say it could lead to dangerous eating disorders. Advocates argue it’s a less invasive option to bariatric surgery and a powerful new weapon in the global fight against obesity. The device, made by Pennsylvania-based biomedical company AspireBariatrics, was approved for use in the United States in June. But critics are appealing to the FDA to reverse its approval arguing the device is dangerous because it mimics, promotes and could lead to eating disorders. The device comprises a tube that is inserted into the stomach during a 15-minute minimally invasive procedure. That tube connects to a small opening in the belly where a device that includes a water bag and draining tube is attached. The user squeezes water into the stomach and then drains it along with 1/3 of a recently eaten meal into a toilet bowl. In the United States alone, 35 per cent of the population is obese. It’s a condition connected to heart disease, strokes, certain cancers and type-2 diabetes. But critics led by the Academy of Eating Disorders say the device is a barbaric way to deal with obesity. The academy plans on submitting a formal letter to the FDA urging to reverse its approval next week. — Reuters The AspireAssist System, a weight-loss device. — Reuters BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday “firmly” rejected calls to reverse her welcoming stance towards refugees following a series of brutal attacks in the country. Merkel told reporters that the assailants “wanted to undermine our sense of community, our openness and our willingness to help people in need”. “We firmly reject this,” she said. Merkel, who interrupted a summer holiday at her cottage north of Berlin to face the media in the capital, told reporters that four brutal assaults within a week were “shocking, oppressive and depressing” but not a sign that authorities had lost control. “Taboos of civilisation are being broken,” she said, referring to a series of deadly The assailants wanted attacks in France, to undermine our Belgium, Turkey sense of community, and the US state of Florida as well as our openness and our Germany. “These willingness to help acts happened in people in need places where any of us could have ANGELA MERKEL been.” German Chancellor But she repeated her rallying cry from last year when she opened the borders to people fleeing war and persecution, many from Syria, which brought nearly 1.1 million migrants and refugees to the country in 2015. “I am still convinced today that ‘we can do it’ — it is our historic duty and this is a historic challenge in times of globalisation,” she said. “We have already achieved very, very much in the last 11 months.” Merkel was speaking after a axe rampage, a shooting spree, a knife attack and a suicide bombing stunned the country, leaving 13 dead, including three assailants, and dozens wounded. — AFP A refugee takes a selfie with German Chancellor Angela Merkel outside a refugee camp. — Reuters FIRST PASSENGER SHIP FROM KHASAB PORT REACHES QESHM ISLAND SAJJAD AMIRI TEHRAN July 28: The first passenger ship, carrying 66 people from the Khasab port in Sultanate, reached Qeshm Island’s free zone in Iran on Thursday. The passengers were welcomed by a group of officials. Farzeedan Hakdel, in charge of cultural, social and tourist activities at the free zone, said the shipping line will be inaugurated officially next week, adding that the regular voyage between Khasab port and Qeshm Island may be possible on Sundays and Thursdays from next week. He also said that a shipping line from Qeshm to Masqat and Qeshm to Sahar would be launched shortly. The officials from both countries are also considering the possibility of launching an aerial route from Shiraz to Qeshm and finally to Muscat. According to Hakdel, passengers between Qeshm and Khasab are able to bring their own vehicles while the visas would be issued on arrival in both countries. ACTION FROM HAMBURG LACK OF EXERCISE COSTS WORLD $67.5 BILLION PARIS: Health problems caused by a lack of daily physical exercise cost the world some $67.5 billion (61 billion euros) in 2013 — more than many countries’ GDP, researchers said on Thursday. The total was divided between $53.8 billion in healthcare spending and $13.7 billion in lost productivity, according to a study published. The research relied on economic and population data from 142 countries, representing 93 per cent of the world’s population, its authors said. But the figure was likely an underestimate as the data covered only five diseases — coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer and colon cancer — at least the percentage attributable to physical inactivity. DETAILS ON P9 SEE PAGE 20 insideoman oman 2 Oman crude at $40 OMANDAILYOBSERVER Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) said that Oman oil price (September delivery) reached $40.90. The DME statement said that the price of Oman oil declined 61 cents from the price of Wednesday, which was $41.51. F R I D A Y l J U LY 2 9 l 2 0 1 6 Mango encyclopaedia comprises five volumes FROM PAGE 1 “Omanis are very much associated with mangoes. We have many varieties in different parts of the country. We have also introduced other varieties from different countries. We do have challenges but now again the number of mango trees is increasing and it is almost touching half a million trees distributed in various parts of the country. The encyclopaedia will add to the knowledge and experience of the country in general, and most specifically of Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. So this is a big support for us and our efforts. We are proud of the conclusion of this project,” said Dr Al Sajwani. When asked if the content of the Mango Tree Encyclopaedia will reach the farmers the minister said, “It would open doors for everyone — scientists, academicians, researchers, appliers and the farmers of course. There is a lot of knowledge to be disseminated. It is a big beginning for us.” The Encyclopaedia is in four languages — Arabic, English, French and Spanish. The publisher, Dietritch Olms, Managing Director of Georg Olms Verlang, said the project was a challenge but they are now proud of being part of this successful publication. “As a publisher working for 60 years in the scientific field it was a very big challenge to have 88 volumes including the index volume, but we made it with our experience in editing and translation of scientific texts. We are very proud to have had the possibility to take part in this launch and to serve His Majesty Sultan Qaboos,” said Olms. The 10 years of experience has been amazing said Dr Fatma al Sakry pointing out that more 130 researchers and experts from 65 countries contributed to the study. “It has been a roller-coaster ride because we learnt a lot about the mango as well as about ourselves. I think the most unique aspect of the experience was that we could bring all these scientists together and this has made such a strong network and today Oman is a centre for Oman Research even though we are not one of the largest producers. People are looking at us as a resource for information.” ONA ADDS: Through this project many countries have contributed to the provision of data and execution of the research. The encyclopaedia comprises five volumes: Volume 1: Mango Production in the Sultanate This volume consists of one part with several chapters. The first chapters include an introduction to the encyclopaedia, and an introductory chapter on the Sultanate and its agriculture. The remaining chapters are Gulf Championship equestrian events continue for second day Individual, binary competition winners honoured at tent-pegging TAYMORA AL GHAWI MUSCAT July 28: The Gulf Championship for tent-pegging competitions continued for the second day and saw four rounds for individual competition of sword, and two rounds for tent-pegging and lemon. In units’ individual competition for sword, Dawood al Mashferi, from Mounted Police Unit, got the first position with a time of 5.31 seconds, Hisham al Bakri, from Sultan of Oman Armour Mounted Police, secured the second with a time of 5.40 seconds, and Esam Hobees, from Royal Footnote Mounted Police, came third with a time of 6.01 seconds. In the teams’ individual competition, Oman got the three top positions, where Ali al Balushi got the first position with a time of 6.25 seconds and 24 points, Safwan al Maamari got the second with a time 6.09 seconds and the 22 points, and Hilal al Balushi third with a time 5.72 seconds and 18 points. In units’ competition for tentpegging and two lemons, Saif al Ashkhari, from Royal Mounted Police, secured the first position with a time of 6.21 seconds and 36 points, Omar al Hasni, Royal Mounted Police, got the second position with a time of 5.06 seconds and 30 points, and Esam Hobees, from Royal Footnote Mounted Police, got the third with a time of 6.25 seconds and 30 points. In the teams’ competition at the same game, Oman Team won the first position with a time of 5.38 seconds and 36 points which was represented Hamed al Riyami, Saudi team got the second with a time of 6.59 seconds and 36 points, and Qatar team got the third with a time of 5.19 seconds and 32 points. Shaikh Salim al Shanfari, Chairman of Dhofar Municipality, and Chairman of the Organising Committee of Salalah festival 2016, the patron for the event, honoured the winners of both individual and binary competitions. Mohammed Juma al Malki, Assistant coach of Oman team, said: “We are proud of achievements of our team in tent-pegging competitions which saw competitive strength. We are comfortable with care of all competition’s organisers”. Dawood al Mashferi, who came first for the sword individual competition, said: “I am proud because I am able to raise the name of Royal Oman Police and Mounted Police Unit at the event.” dedicated to mango cultivation in Oman, including its history, geographical distribution, cultivation methods, production, economic importance, pests, diseases and other factors that affect its production and growth. The final chapters include descriptions of important mango cultivars in Oman, and a study of their genetic diversity. Volume 2: Mango Production and Utilization This volume comprises two parts, which contain scientific information and statistics related to mango cultivation. The chapters in this volume cover areas, such as history, world distribution, and climatic requirements. The chapters also More than 1.3 million cars in the Sultanate MUSCAT: The number of newly-registered vehicles in the Sultanate has risen to 52,674 vehicles by the end of June, a 0.6 increase compared to the same period last year, according to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI). The latest statistic of NCSI showed that the number of vehicles belonging to political authorities has jumped by a whopping 36.4 per cent at the same period. Total vehicle number stood at 1,334,776 by the end of June with 35,428 private vehicles registered during the May-June period. The number of newly-registered taxis stood at 81 by the end of June compared to 42 in May a decrease of 8.2 per cent. Rental cars registration dropped 14.1 per cent at 1,914 by the end of June. The statistic showed a gradual increase in the number of newly-registered vehicles from 10,815 in the month of June alone compared with 8,252 vehicles registered in May and 7,665 in April. deal with production practices, including irrigation, fertilisation, pruning, and propagation. The remaining chapters focus on modern production, development and post-harvest practices for mango, together with discussions of the economic importance of mango and future prospects of mango cultivation. Volume 3: Mango pests and diseases This volume has one part, which contains information about the most important pests and diseases that affect mango and methods for their control, together with some case studies of these problems and their solutions. This volume also contains a catalogue of the most important pests and diseases that affect mangoes, which facilitates access to related information and the diagnosis of pests and diseases. Volume 4: Mango production around the world This volume comprises two parts, which focus on specific mangoproducing countries, including detailed mango production information and statistics for each country, ie, production, area, rootstocks, cultivars and their geographical distribution, cultural practices, pests and diseases, postharvest management, marketing, related industries, current research, and the future prospects of the mango. Volume 5: Mango varieties around the world This volume comprises four parts and they provide thorough descriptions of the mango cultivars cultivated worldwide, including well-known export cultivars and the local selections grown in each country. This volume provides illustrations and description of all of these cultivars including the trees, leaves, fruits and flowers, thereby allowing the reader to distinguish between different cultivars. Appropriate information has been presented in tables in a clear and accessible style. Ensure workers do not migrate illegally: Oman advises India R A K SINGH NEW DELHI July 28: Oman has advised India to ensure that its migrant workforce visiting the Sultanate for employment do not resort to illegal migration under influence of unscrupulous recruitment agents in their own interests to enjoy a hassle and exploitation-free employment. Oman gave this friendly advice to India while assuring it that the Sultanate strictly follows the rule of law and strives its best to ensure that none of the workers and employees, whether migrants or natives, are exploited by employers in the country. While acceding to Oman’s friendly advice, India expressed its appreciation for largely safe, secure and fair working environment for migrant Indian workforce. India also assured the Omani delegation that it would further try to secure the loose end of its migration process, which has fairly improved after the introduction e-migration process, which has greatly eliminated the role of unscrupulous recruitment agents. Oman gave the friendly advice to India in the backdrop of its recent drive of detecting illegal migrants to the country during which quite a few illegal migrants from India were detected, but following Oman’s liberal policy of pardon, they were sent back to India after paying a nominal fine. Oman gave the friendly advice during the 5th Meeting the IndiaOman Joint Working Group on Manpower, held here on Tuesday during which the entire gamut of labour and manpower cooperation related issues between the two countries were discussed and reviewed. The Indian delegation was led by MEA Joint Secretary (OIA-I) Manish Gupta, while the Omani delegation was led by Oman’s Manpower Minister’s Adviser Saleh bin Ayil al Amri. The Omani delegation also paid a courtesy call to Additional Secretary (OIA/CPV) Dnyaneshwar. M Mulay, the statement said adding that India and Oman enjoy warm and friendly relations.” “The meeting provided an opportunity to discuss and review the entire gamut of labour and manpower cooperation related issues,” said the statement. The meeting gave an opportunity to deliberate upon the well-being and welfare of the Indian nationals in Oman, with particular focus on Indian workers, said well-placed MEA officials, privy to the deliberation of the meeting. asia asia CHINA, RUSSIA TO HOLD JOINT OMANDAILYOBSERVER F R I D A Y l J U LY 2 9 l 2 0 1 6 HK ‘milkshake murderer’ in fresh court bid EXERCISES IN SOUTH CHINA SEA stration of remorse and repentance, the respondent acted unreasonably,” the writ says, referring to the city’s Long Term Prison Sentences Review Board. The writ argued it was “highly unlikely” that Kissel would commit another offence and that she wished to be transferred to the US — a prospect more likely if her sentence was reduced. “The applicant is a foreign prisoner who is likely to be deported upon completion of any converted determinate sentence so that she and her family... have some idea as to what the future holds,” the writ said. The review board makes suggestions to Hong Kong’s chief executive about inmates it deems suitable to be released before the end of an imposed sentence. The Michigan-born mother-ofthree was first convicted of murder and handed a life sentence in 2005. The city’s top court overturned the conviction in February 2010, citing legal errors, and ordered a fresh hearing. But she was convicted again in 2011 and then lost the final appeal in 2014. At her 2011 retrial, Kissel sobbed as she told the jury she had endured physical and abuse at the hands of her husband. She maintained she acted in selfdefence and offered to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. Prosecutors accused Kissel of rolling up her husband’s body in a carpet and covering his head with plastic after killing him in their luxury home at the hillside Parkview apartment complex. — AFP Nancy Kissel HONG KONG: Dubbed the “milkshake murderer” for one of Hong Kong’s most notorious crimes, American Nancy Kissel has lodged a fresh bid to reduce her life sentence for murdering her banker husband in 2003. The 51-year-old lost an appeal in 2014 against her conviction for drugging her husband — a senior executive at US bank Merrill Lynch — with a sedative-laced strawberry drink before clubbing him to death with a lead ornament in their luxury home in the southern Chinese city. Her case gripped the former British colony, shining a spotlight on the elite expatriate community, and featuring sensational allegations of a heady mix of violence, spying, greed and enormous wealth. Kissel is currently serving out her life sentence at Hong Kong’s highsecurity Tai Lam Centre for Women. Her lawyers filed a writ to the city’s high court on Wednesday saying a government department that periodically reviews sentences of long-time inmates “wrongly” refused to shorten her sentence when it looked at her case in April. “Given... the applicant’s demon- DRILLS PLANNED: The exercises will see vessels from several of the world’s most powerful militaries BEIJING: China and Russia will hold joint naval exercises in the South China Sea in September, Beijing’s defence ministry said on Thursday, after an international tribunal invalidated the Asian giant’s extensive claims in the area. The drills will be carried out in the “relevant sea and air of the South China Sea”, defence ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told reporters at a monthly briefing. With international diplomatic tensions mounting and Washington regularly sending warships into the strategically vital area to assert the right to freedom of navigation, the move could see vessels from several of the world’s most powerful militaries in the same region at the same time. The drills aimed to “consolidate and develop” China and Russia’s comprehensive strategic partnership, and “enhance the capabilities of the two navies to jointly deal with maritime security threats” Yang said. The announcement comes after a tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that there was “no legal basis” to Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea, embodied in a “nine-dash line” dating from Chinese maps of the 1940s and extending almost to the coasts of other countries, which have competing claims. China has built a series of artificial islands on rocks and reefs in the area hosting facilities capable of supporting military operations, widely seen as an attempt to bolster its control of the waters. The tribunal ruling — in a case Vietnam struck by powerful storm HANOI: A powerful storm rolled across northern Vietnam on Thursday killing one person, delaying flights and felling hundreds of trees in the capital Hanoi. Tropical storm Mirinae, which barrelled across China’s Hainan island before surging into Vietnam in the early hours of Thursday, brought high winds and more than 280 millimetres of rain as it pushed inland. More than 32,000 people were evacuated ahead of the storm which struck six provinces and cities across the north, authorities said. In Hanoi, one person was killed and more than 500 trees were brought down, bringing widespread traffic delays. “Many trees have come down onto people’s houses and cars,” said Hanoi resident Tran Dai Thang. Photos of the downed trees — an unusual politically touchy subject in communist Vietnam — spread across People look at a car damaged by a fallen tree on a street following the passage of typhoon Mirinae which pounded northern Vietnam, in Hanoi. — AFP social media on Thursday. Plans by city authorities to cut down many of the city’s trees sparked protests last year and a rare u-turn by the government in a country where environmental destruction has fuelled public anger in the past. National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines said it had to delay more than twenty flights to and from Hanoi because of bad weather. — AFP File picture shows crew members of China’s South Sea Fleet taking part in a drill in the Xisha Islands, or the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. — AFP brought by the Philippines — infuriated Beijing, which rejected it as “waste paper” and reiterated its right to declare an Air Defence Identification Zone controlling flights over the area. China and Russia have close military and diplomatic ties, often in opposition to the West, particularly the United States, and their leaders Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin enjoy a tight relationship. The two sides hold joint drills regularly “on land and sea”, Yang said, which “contribute to peace and stability.” September’s exercise was “routine” TAIPEI: Taiwan on Thursday ordered almost half the tour buses inspected after a recent bus inferno — which killed dozens of Chinese tourists — off the road after they failed new safety checks. Twenty-four Chinese tourists and two Taiwanese nationals died in the fire earlier this month, the worst road accident ever to hit mainland visitors to the island — raising major safety questions. Nine of 20 buses of the model which caught fire have been taken off the road due to problems with circuit fuses and storage batteries, highway department officials said on Thursday. Three more such buses had minor issues, which authorities have ordered be repaired. The bus, operated by the Mei Kui N Korean seeks refuge in S Korean consulate North and South Korea remain technically at war, and the reports of a possible defection are bound to exacerbate tensions. Uniformed and plainclothes police were patrolling around the office building near the heart of Hong Kong’s financial centre where the South Korean consulate is located. Scores of reporters thronged the building. “We are aware of the report,” a spokeswoman from the Hong Kong police said, declining to comment further. The 57th International Mathematical Olympiad was held at the HKUST on July 11-12. An all-male team of six took part from North Korea, according to the contest website. The team finished in 6th place. South Korea’s foreign ministry declined comment on the media reports in Hong Kong. A ministry official said the South Korean government’s position was not to make any com- Uniformed and plainclothes police were patrolling around the office building near the heart of Hong Kong’s financial centre where the South Korean consulate is located ments related to North Korean defectors, keeping in mind their safety and diplomatic relations with relevant countries. China’s Foreign Ministry in Beijing also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tensions between North and South Korea have been particularly and “does not target any third party”, he added. Last August, the two powers — who were allies then rivals during the Soviet era — carried out military exercises in the waters and airspace of the Peter the Great Gulf, south of the Russian Pacific city of Vladivostok, involving 22 vessels, up to 20 aircraft and more than 500 marines. In May last year, they conducted their first joint naval exercises in European waters in the Black Sea and Mediterranean, China’s farthest-ever Taiwan orders faulty buses off road after deadly fire The reports of a possible defection between North, South Korea are bound to exacerbate tensions HONG KONG: Security was tightened at the South Korean consulate in Hong Kong on Thursday after media reports that a North Korean, possibly a student, had sought refuge there. The North Korean is understood to be a member of a delegation that attended an academic competition at a Hong Kong university two weeks ago, the South China Morning Post said, citing government sources in the Chinese-ruled city. A student who assisted at a maths olympiad held at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) said the organising committee of the competition asked for help on July 16 to track down an 18-year-old North Korean who had gone missing after the contest. The student declined to be identified due to the sensitive nature of the issue. The organising committee declined comment. The university could not be reached for comment. 3 high since the North’s fourth nuclear test in January. After an announcement by the South in April that 13 workers at a restaurant in China run by the North had sought asylum, Pyongyang said they were abducted by agents from the South. Hong Kong is ruled by China under a “one country, two systems” formula that accords the former British colony a degree of autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed in mainland China. In the early 2000s, there was a rash of cases of North Koreans seeking asylum at foreign missions in China, mostly in Beijing, where in some cases they scaled embassy walls and forced their way in. North Korean defectors mostly come from the poorest parts of the destitute state and usually flee over the traditionally quite porous border with China. — Reuters Shih Transportation Company, caught fire and smashed through an expressway barrier last week, just a few kilometres from Taipei’s Taoyuan airport. Taiwanese prosecutors are probing the exact cause of the disaster and say the fire started at the front of the bus, near the driver’s seat. Questions have also been raised over the driver’s mental state after five bottles of gasoline were found in the bus — despite regulations banning inflammable substances in a vehicle. “We have twice searched residences of the driver and looked into his medical records to clarify his mental state prior to the accident,” said Wang Yi-wen, a spokesman for the Taoyuan district prosecutors’ office. The driver’s relatives and coworkers are also being questioned, he added. — AFP drills from its home waters. Xi and Putin meet frequently and their countries, both permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, often take similar stances there on divisive issues such as the conflict in Syria. In response to Beijing’s increased activity in the South China Sea, the US began a series of “freedom of navigation” operations in the area, sailing naval vessels within 12 nautical miles — the normal territorial limit around natural land — of reefs in the region. — AFP Japan to review mental health system TOKYO: Japan is reviewing its mental health system to see how a man who was hospitalised after making violent threats came to be released after just 12 days and was later able to kill 19 people. Satoshi Uematsu, 26, has admitted to carrying out the country’s worst mass killing in decades on Tuesday when he stabbed to death 19 people and wounded 26 others at a care centre for the mentally disabled west of Tokyo. A former employee of the centre, Uematsu left his job in February and was forcibly hospitalised by city authorities for evaluation after having made verbal and written threats to kill the mentally disabled, including those at the centre. His release from hospital 12 days later, after it was decided he posed no threat, has raised questions about the decision to discharge him as well as his follow-up monitoring. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has now met with relevant officials and ordered a review into the mental healthcare. system. — AFP subcontinent 4 subcontinent OMANDAILYOBSERVER F R I D A Y l J U LY 2 9 l 2 0 1 6 Boosting bilateral ties Canadian Foreign Minister Stephane Dion gestures next to Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe during their meeting, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Pakistan, Iran call for joint commission BORDER SECURITY: The two countries call for restablishing institutional mechanism to oversee the security ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Iran on Thursday cited the need to establish institutional mechanisms to oversee border security in addition to fighting against the common threat posed by Da’ish, the Arabic acronym of IS. This was stated in a joint statement by National Security Adviser Lt Gen Nasser Janjua and Iran’s Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani as the former concluded his three-day trip to Tehran. “They noted the need for establishing institutional mechanism to oversee the border security, including Joint Commission, and agreed to continue further discussions,” the joint statement read about border security issues discussed between the two countries. The statement also called for unity among the Muslim Ummah through early resolution of all differences while calling for the “need for fighting against the common threat posed by IS, which was not only posing a grave threat to the stability of the Muslim countries but also giving a bad name to Islam — a religion of peace.” Pakistan in the past attempted to mediate between the two key Islamic countries but with little success. Islamabad is trying to follow a delicate path as it neither wants to spoil ties with Iran nor turn its back towards Saudi Arabia with whom the country has longstanding strategic partnership. Meanwhile, the NSA’s visit to Iran comes at a time when Islamabad and Kabul are poised to discuss a mechanism to keep in check illegal cross-border movement on the Pakistan, Afghanistan border. Pakistan introduced a new mechanism from June 1, making it obligatory Adviser to Prime Minister on National Security Lt Gen (retd) Nasser Khan Janjua for every Afghan citizen to carry legal with his Iranian counterpart Ali Shamkhani in Tehran. AWARENESS WALK Pakistan ruling party’s state minister from Sindh resigns Minister of State for National Health Services and Coordination, Saira Afzal Tarar taking part in awareness walk on the occasion of World Hepatitis Day in Islamabad. Myanmar cops detained after drugs found at police post YANGON: Myanmar police have detained seven colleagues from a border unit after nearly 300,000 methamphetamine tablets were found hidden at their camp, a senior official told Reuters on Thursday. Acting on a tip-off, police raided a Border Police camp in a remote area near the frontier with Bangladesh and found the drugs buried in the camp kitchen. “The police found a total of 292,500 stimulant tablets hidden in the ground inside the kitchen,” Soe Linn Aye, a senior officer at national police headquarters in the capital, Naypyitaw, said. The haul was estimated to be worth 580 million kyat ($490,000), he said. Myanmar has for decades been a major producer of opium and its refined form, heroin, and in more recent years it has also become a major supplier of the stimulant methamphetamine. travel documents for entering into the Pakistani territory. Earlier, thousands of Afghans, living near the border, would enter Pakistan without passport and visas. Pakistani officials insist that the militants would take advantage of the loose border control and would move on either sides of the border for carrying out terrorist activities. Afghanistan had complained that Pakistan introduced the new system without consulting it. Both sides had last month involved in border clashes over the construction of a gate on the Pakistani side of the border at Torkham. Later, the two countries agreed on a ceasefire and a joint committee to address to the border disputes. Pakistan and Afghanistan have a nearly 2,600 km-long border, mostly porous. — Internews Narcotics pose a major headache for the government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, which governs the large, impoverished and fractious country after winning a landslide election victory in November. Most drugs are produced in border areas controlled by ethnic minority rebels or by militias allied with the military. Myanmar’s western border with India and Bangladesh is an important route used to smuggle chemicals for the production of methamphetamines into Myanmar. The manufactured drugs are then smuggled back the other way, into South Asia, experts say. Drugs from Myanmar also flow north into China and east into Southeast Asia. Experts fear that Myanmar could soon see an explosion in methamphetamine use. The drug is already widely used in different parts of Asia. — Reuters ISLAMABAD: The ruling party’s only MNA from Sindh, Abdul Hakeem Baloch who is awaiting approval of his resignation from the portfolio of state minister for communication has asked the National Assembly speaker for the perks and privileges of an MNA as he has relinquished his ministerial job. In a letter, Baloch requested the speaker for allotment of apartment in the Parliament Lodges and restoration of salary, allowances and privileges which a Member of the National Assembly is entitled to. “Your kind attention is invited towards the matter of my resignation from portfolio of state minister for communications which has been discussed time and again with your good self. I was waiting for positive response from the honourable prime minister but did not receive any response,” says the letter. Baloch resubmitted resignation to the PM on May 26, this year. “Now it is requested to kindly fulfil my above mentioned plea and oblige, I, hereby, surrender all facilities provided to me as a state minister, looking forward to an immediate response from your good self.” When contacted, Baloch said he had tendered his resignation from the post of state minister after he was highly disappointed by the PML-N and that he now wanted to revert to his actual position. — Internews HOME COMING An Afghan refugee family arrives at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) repatriation centre on the outskirts of Peshawar, as they prepare to return to her home country after fleeing civil war and Taliban rule. — AFP 15 Lankan students awarded Chinese scholarships COLOMBO: Fifteen Sri Lankan students have been awarded Chinese government scholarships, an official said on Thursday. The students, selected from at least 1,000 applicants, were nominated to receive post-graduate or undergraduate scholarships in the fields of science, arts, management, medicine and engineering, an official from the Sri Lankan Higher Education & Highways Ministry said at a ceremony held at the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka. According to the official, these students will spend over five years in China on average in Peking University, Zhejiang University and others, Xinhua news agency reported. “I would like to mention here that the selection process was done in a fair and transparent way and the selected candidates are the most suitable and qualified people among the applicants,” the official said. Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Yi Xianliang also attended the ceremony and jointly awarded scholarships to the students. China will extend full support to Sri Lanka in all fields including education, Yi said. — IANS 18 militants killed in Afghanistan KABUL: At least 18 militants were killed and 17 others injured when security forces raided Taliban positions in Afghanistan’s Dasht-e-Archi district, an official said on Thursday. According to the official, the security forces backed by aircrafts attacked Taliban hideouts on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported. Over 20 militants were also arrested in Saripul Province, the official added. Meanwhile, Afghan forces backed by US airstrikes on Tuesday ramped up an offensive against the IS group in their eastern stronghold, days after the extremists claimed the deadliest attack for 15 years in the capital Kabul. Afghan troops seized large parts of the mountainous district of Kot in Nangarhar province, a key IS stronghold where the fighters set up sharia courts and training camps displaying their own trademark black flag. “They have been taught a lesson for their crimes. We will wipe out IS from Nangarhar,” said defence ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish. The offensive follows the twin bombings on Saturday that tore through crowds of minority as they protested over a major power line in Kabul, killing 80 people and leaving hundreds of others maimed. — Agencies Workers in Darra Adamkhel are so skilled that they can copy any weapon they are shown and have sold large numbers with zero complaints Guns cheaper than smartphones in Pakistani tribal town A Pakistani arms seller picks an assault rifle from a shelf at his shop in the tribal area of Darra Adamkhel. — AFP DARRA ADAMKHEL: Gunfire echoes through a dusty northwest tribal town, the soundtrack to Pakistan’s biggest arms black market, where Kalashnikovs welded from scrap metal are cheaper than smartphones and sold on an industrial scale. Darra Adamkhel, a town surrounded by hills some 35 kilometres south of the city of Peshawar, was a hub of criminal activity for decades. People smugglers and drug runners were common and everything from stolen cars to fake university degrees could be procured. This generations-old trade in the illicit boomed in the 1980s: The mujahideen began buying weapons there for Afghanistan’s battle against the Soviets, over the porous border. Later, the town became a stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, who enforced their strict rules and parallel system of justice — infamously beheading Polish engineer Piotr Stanczak there in 2009. Now Darra is clean of all but the arms, yet the gunsmiths in the bazaar say the region’s improved security and authorities’ growing intolerance for illegal weaponry are withering an industry that sustained them for decades. “(The) Nawaz Sharif government has established checkpoints everywhere, business is stopped,” said Khitab Gul, 45. Gul is known in Darra for his replicas of Turkish and Bulgarian-made MP5 submachine guns, one of the most popular weapons in the world, widely used by organisations such as America’s FBI SWAT teams. The MP5 can retail for thousands of dollars. Gul’s version, which comes with a one-year guarantee, costs roughly 7,000 rupees, or $67 — and, he claims, it works perfectly. Gul then puts on a demonstration, test-firing his MP5 in the small outer yard of his workshop — first the single shot mode, then firing in a burst. A Darra-made Kalashnikov, Gul says, can sell for as little as $125, cheaper than most smartphones. “The workers here are so skilled that they can copy any weapon they are shown,” he explains. “In past 10 years I have sold 10,000 guns, and had zero complaints,” he claims. In Gul’s sweltering workshop, employees shout over the roar of electrical generators as they expertly cut and drill through metal brought from the shipyards of Karachi, far to the south on the Arabian Sea. The main bazaar which cuts through the town used to hold nothing but tiny gun shops crammed together, their gleaming wares displayed openly on racks as customers test-fired into the air above. Trade was illegal, unlicensed and unregulated, but long tolerated by authorities with little power in the tribal areas between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where militants once operated with impunity. — AFP Rajnath Singh to visit Pakistan for Saarc meet Amid tension over violence in Kashmir, Home Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to travel to Pakistan to attend the Saarc Home/Interior Ministers Conference in August, official sources confirmed on Thursday. — IANS CONSPIRACY: There were a total of 22 accused who were charged with procuring a huge amount of explosives, arms and ammunition MAROONED india india OMANDAILYOBSERVER F R I D A Y l J U LY 2 9 l 2 0 1 6 5 Aurangabad arms haul: 12 guilty, 8 acquitted MUMBAI: A Special MCOCA Court on Thursday found 12 accused, including LeT operative and 26/11 plotter Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, guilty and acquitted eight others in the sensational 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case. Special MCOCA Judge S L Anekar also upheld the prosecution’s plea that the case was part of a larger post-2002 Gujarat communal riots conspiracy to eliminate then Chief Minister (now Prime Minister) Narendra Modi and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Praveen Togadia. Special Judge Anekar will start hearing the arguments on the quantum of punishment for the convicts from Friday between the lawyers of the convicts and the Special Public Prosecutor Vaibhav Bagade and lawyer Abhijee Mantri. There were a total of 22 accused who were charged with procuring a huge amount of explosives, arms and ammunition, and allegedly planned to target various political leaders for their role in the 2002 Gujarat riots. The trial, which had resumed in 2013 after the arrest of Abu Jundal, had concluded in March this year before the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act Special Court here. The 12 found guilty are: Abu Jundal, Aslam Kashmiri, Faisal Ataur-Rehman Shaikh, Afroz Khan Shahid Pathan, Sayyed Akif S Jafruddin, Bilal Ahmed Abdul Razaq, medico M Sharif Shabbir In all, a total of 16 AK47 army assault rifles, 3,200 live cartridges, 43 kg of RDX and 50 hand grenades were sized from Khultabad, Yeola and Malegaon areas on two separate occasions by the ATS. Ahmed, Afzal K Nabi Khan, Mushtaq Ahmed M Isaf Shaikh, Javed A Abdul Majid, M Muzafar Mohammed Tanveer and Mohammed Amir Shakil Ahmed. The eight acquitted on various grounds, including lack of evidence, are: Mohammed Juber Sayyed Anwar, Abdul Azim Abdul Jalil, Riyaz Ahmed M Ramzan, Khatib Imran Akil Ahmed, Vikar Ahmed Nisar Shaikh, Abdul Samad Shamsher Khan, Mohammed Akil Ismail Momin and Firoz Tajuddin Deshmukh. The trial of two other accused — an absconder Shaikh Abdul Naim, and an approver-turned hostile witness Mehmud Sayyed — shall be conducted separately in the case. Following a tip-off, the Maharashtra Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) teams chased a speeding Tata Indica and a Tata Sumo on the Chandwad-Manmad highway near Aurangabad on May 8, 2006. They apprehended three suspects from the Tata Sumo — Mohammed Aamir Shakil Ahmed, Juber Sayed Anwar and Abdulazeem Abduljameel Shaikh — while the Tata Indica, allegedly driven by Abu Jundal, managed to give the slip. In all, a total of 16 AK47 army assault rifles, 3,200 live cartridges, 43 kg of RDX and 50 hand grenades were sized from Khultabad, Yeola and Malegaon areas on two separate occasions by the ATS. After escaping the police team, Jundal dumped the vehicle with another associate in Malegaon in Nashik district and fled to Bangladesh and then to Pakistan on a forged passport. A native of Beed in Maharashtra, he was arrested after his deportation from Saudi Arabia in June 2012. He then revealed to the ATS another hideout from where they recovered 13 kg RDX, 1,200 cartridges, 50 hand grenades and 22 magazine rounds. In 2013 the ATS filed its chargesheet against all the 22 accused, including Jundal, for conspiring in various terror cases since 2006. Earlier, the trial had been stayed by the Supreme Court after one of the accused had challenged the constitutional validity of certain provisions in the MCOCA invoked on the accused but the stay was lifted in 2009. — IANS Defamation law can’t be used by government to stifle criticism: SC NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday said defamation laws cannot be used by the government to stifle criticism. In an obvious reference to several defamation cases filed by the Tamil Nadu government of J Jayalalithaa against her critics, the apex court said such action amounts to curbing of free speech. The bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Rohinton Faliman said such defamation cases against the lawmakers and those who criticise government policies have a “chilling effect”. “It amounts to curbing of free speech. There has to be tolerance for criticism. The defamation law cannot be used as a political counter weapon,” the bench said. “For any criticism like corruption in the government or that one is not fit to run the government, you can’t slap The bench stayed the nonbailable warrants issued against DMDK leader Captain Vijaykanth and his wife Premalatha that were issued by a trial court at Tirupur in Tamil Nadu. defamation cases,” the bench observed. The apex court bench also sought a list of defamation cases filed by the law officers of the Jayalalithaa government. Referring to its judgement upholding the defamation law under the Indian Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure, the bench said it was its duty to protect the people against whom defamation cases were filed if it found that there was “continuous effort and deliberate design” to use the public prosecutors to institute cases. The apex court by its May 13, 2016, judgement had rejected the challenge to the constitutional validity of penal provisions for criminal defamation. The court had then said “it is extremely difficult to subscribe to the view that criminal defamation has a chilling effect on the freedom of speech and expression”. The bench stayed the non-bailable warrants issued against DMDK leader Captain Vijaykanth and his wife Premalatha that were issued by a trial court at Tirupur in Tamil Nadu. Vijaykanth and his wife had attracted the defamation case for criticising the Tamil Nadu government policy and describing it as corrupt. — IANS Uttarakhand to hunt for ‘life-saving’ mythical plant NEW DELHI: Northern state Uttarakhand will soon begin a multimillion dollar search in the Himalayas for a mythical plant believed to hold lifesaving properties, a local minister said on Thursday. Uttarakhand will spend Rs 250 million ($37 million) of state money hunting the herb Sanjeevani Booti, which is credited in the ancient Hindu text Ramayana. While many wild plants with medicinal properties grow in the Himalayas, there is scant evidence that the plant ever existed, with sages and modern researchers failing for centuries to find it. “We have to try and it will never go to waste. If we are determined we will certainly find it,” Surendra Singh Negi, the state’s minister for alternative medicine, said. The minister said the search will focus on the Dronagiri range of Himalayas near the Chinese border, one mountain of which is mentioned in the epic Ramayana as being the site where the magical herb grows. “We have set an initial budget of Rs 250 million ($37 million) for the project,” Negi said. Scientists will start work in August, the minister said, adding that the central government has refused to fund the project. Ancient texts say the plant has liferestoring properties, grows in the high mountains of the Himalayas and glows in the dark. India’s 5,000-year-old medicine system Ayurveda uses herbs to cure ailments and has seen a revival under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. — AFP A forest ranger sits at the front of a vessel as it approaches a ranger’s building through floodwaters in The Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Morigoan district, some 70 kms from Guwahati, in the north-eastern state of Assam on Thursday. Floods in Assam are affecting some 1.25 million people as the annual monsoon continues to cross the Indian sub-continent. — AFP Goa suspends bus services to Karnataka over river dispute PANAJI: Following reports of anti-Goa protests in northern Karnataka over the Mhadei Water tribunal ruling, the Goa government on Thursday suspended bus services to the neighbouring state for two days. Goa’s Transport Minister Sudin Dhavalikar told reporters here that the suspension order was issued as a “precautionary measure”. “The Karnataka bandh is for the state of Karnataka only, not for Goa. We have won the Mhadei dispute issue yesterday. The Karnataka government should solve its problem. “Though bus operators here are ready to go to Karnataka, I have ordered them not to go there for two days. Right now there are no bus services for Karnataka,” Dhavalikar said. The cities and towns of Karnataka are a major trade as well as passenger destination for Goa and over 100 interstate buses, operated by both private and public operators, ply between the two states every day. Wednesday and Thursday saw a string of protests in northern Karnataka, along the Goa border, after the New Delhi-based Mhadei Water disputes tribunal on Wednesday, in an interim ruling, directed the Karnataka government not to divert 7.56 TMC water from Mhadei river to Malaprabha basin until final orders. Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said that people from both states should respect law and order and the order of the tribunal and resolve issues in a “cultured” way instead of staging protests. “We are an educated state. Karnataka is also an educated state and educated people must respect the country’s constitution, laws and should listen to what the judiciary says. If it can be challenged, they are free to do it,” Parsekar said. — IANS Eminent writer Mahasweta Devi dead KOLKATA: Eminent writer and social activist Mahasweta Devi, a crusader for the rights of tribals and the oppressed, died at a city nursing home on Thursday following prolonged old-age complications. She was 90. “She passed away at 3.16 pm following a cardiac arrest and multi-organ failure,” an attending doctor confirmed. The Ramon Magsaysay winner is survived by her daughter-in-law and grandchild. Mahasweta Devi’s son pre-deceased her two years back. The Jnanpith and Padma Vibhushan awardee was undergoing treatment for age-related illnesses and renal problems at the private clinic for over two months. In a six-decade literary career, she authored over 120 books, comprising 20 collections of short stories and around 100 novels, and contributed innumerable articles and columns to newspapers and magazines, a large number of them woven around tribal life. Adopting a simple style laced with colloquial words and expressions, Mahasweta blended oral histories with contemporary events to portray the sufferings of the tribals in the hands of upper-caste landlords, money lenders and government servants. The novel Aranyer Adhikar (The Occupation of the Forest), dwelling on Birsa Munda’s revolt against the British, fetched Mahasweta the Sahitya Akademi award in 1979. Choti Munda evam Tar Tir (Choti Munda and His Arrow), Bashai Tudu, Titu Mir, are among other masterpieces. Her short story collections RISKY FROLICKING A boy jumps from one pontoon to another as he plays on the banks of the river Ganges in Allahabad on Thursday. — Reuters including Imaginary Maps and Breast Stories, Of Women, Outcasts, Peasants, and Rebels, and short stories Dhowli and Rudali also deal with tribal life. Another famous novel published in 1975 — Hajar Churashir Maa (Mother of 1,084) — inspired by Maxim Gorky’s Mother, has the backdrop of the Maoist movement. Born in 1926 at Dhaka, presently capital of Bangladesh, into a family of poets, writers, and artists, Mahasweta Devi was moulded as a child in the rich milieu of Bengali high culture. Her father poet-novelist Manish Ghatak and mother writer-social activist Dharitri Devi shaped her liberal outlook. She cleared her graduation with English honours at Rabindranath Tagore-founded Visva Bharati at Santiniketan, and later got her M A degree from Calcutta University. Her Magsaysay award citation says, alongside her creative writing, “Devi bombarded the government with complaint letters and published a profusion of articles documenting abuses by police, landlords, politicians, and officials against tribal communities. — IANS Couple hacked to death over 15-rupee debt NEW DELHI: An axe-wielding shopkeeper hacked a couple to death in northern India on Thursday after they failed to pay a debt of rupees 15, police said. The middle-aged couple from the lowest Dalit caste in Uttar Pradesh state were on their way to work early on Thursday when the grocery store owner asked them to pay their 15-rupee debt. “The shopkeeper demanded money but they pleaded to be able to pay it later. He became enraged and attacked them with an axe,” Arun Kumar, the investigating officer in Mainpuri district, said. The officer said the couple had bought goods from the shop last week with a promise to pay the 60-year-old owner within a few days. “Their refusal to pay made him angry and he killed them,” Kumar said. The owner was arrested soon after the incident and the murder weapon recovered, the officer said. — AFP theworld world 6 OMANDAILYOBSERVER F R I D A Y l J U LY 2 9 l 2 0 1 6 S Sudan on the brink of abyss: UN chief South Sudan stands on the brink of an abyss, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday after a fresh flareup in fighting unleashed a wave of sexual violence. Ban told the Security Council that he was “appalled by the scale of sexual violence.” FRESH MOVE: The president said the new force made up of volunteers from police and military will be operational by early autumn France to form National Guard to help fight terror PARIS: President Francois Hollande on Thursday confirmed plans to set up a National Guard drawn from existing reserves to help security forces combat terror attacks on French soil. A “defence council” to be held early next month will hammer out the force’s hierarchy and command structure, Hollande’s office said in a statement. Parliamentary consultations will follow in September in the hope that “this force can be created as fast as possible to protect the French”. The announcement came after France suffered two attacks in less than a fortnight this month — in a bloody series that began with the January 2015 Charlie Hebdo killings — and the government has come under fierce criticism for alleged security lapses. Calls arose for the National Guard following the November 13 massacre in Paris that claimed 130 lives. The president said he hopes the guard, made up of volunteers from the police, paramilitary police and military, will be operational by early autumn. Hollande had previously considered boosting existing reserves among the three groups. In this framework, some 15,000 operational reservists should be available by the end of the month “to ensure security for various events of the summer,” Hollande said while on a visit to southwestern France. Earlier this month he said the defence ministry would call up 28,000 reservists for the coming weeks, while the paramilitary police will tap an extra 10,000 men and women who retired less than two years ago. In January he called for the number of army reserves to be boosted from the current 28,000 to 40,000 by 2019. France has not had a national guard since 1872. Members of the very first one, formed in 1789 at the outset of the French Revolution over fears of a royalist coup, wore a blue, white and red rosette on The French government has said that everything possible is being done to protect citizens, while warning that more terror attacks are inevitable, after three major strikes and several smaller attacks in the past 18 months. The prosecutor’s office named the assailant as 19-year-old Abdel Malik Petitjean, who was listed in June on A man walks past floral tributes and a note including a picture of French priest France’s “Fiche S” of people posing a Jacques Hamel killed in the church in front of Jhis house on Thursday in SaintEtienne-du-Rouvray, northern France. — AFP potential threat to national security after trying to reach Syria from Turkey. Petitjean, whose face was disfigured their hats — the origin of the French in the brutal killing of an elderly priest, national colours. as calls mounted for the prime minister after being shot dead by police, had French prosecutors on Thursday and interior minister to resign after the been harder to identify than his accomplice Adel Kermiche, also 19, and identified the second extremist involved latest terror attack. Pope Francis falls in Poland, escapes injury CZESTOCHOWA: Pope Francis fell on Thursday after stumbling on an altar step during a visit to Poland but quickly got back to his feet, without injury. The 79-year-old Argentine pontiff stumbled, then fell down out of view before being helped to his feet by altar servers. Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said “the pope is fine” after Francis delivered a homily and said mass at the revered Jasna Gora monastery in Czestochowa, southern Poland. It is home to the Black Madonna, an icon which Catholic faithful believe has miraculous qualities. Security was tight at the hill-top shrine following a series of attacks in Europe, with a highly visible police and army presence on the roads leading into the city. Francis, 79, hopped in an open-topped popemobile for a tour through the cheering crowds. “We slept so little, but it’s worth it, what an atmosphere!” said pilgrim Kate Tor, whose young sons were among the thousands of children who had camped out on the sweeping avenue leading to the monastery. Teenagers still wrapped in sleeping bags, elderly couples perched on folding chairs outside tents and families with Francis-themed balloons were serenaded by the Argentine pope’s favourite tango music before his Pope Francis is helped onto his feet after falling on the stairs during a mass at the Jasna Gora Monastery in Czestochowa on Thursday. — AFP arrival. Ambulances and fire-engines were on standby with Polish officials taking no chances with security following the murder of a priest in a French church on the eve of the pope’s five-day trip to celebrate the 2016 World Youth Day. Shortly after touching down in Poland, Francis said the world was at war but argued that religion was not the cause, insisting the way for people to “overcome fear” was to provide asylum to those fleeing conflict. Francis left Czestochowa on Thursday by helicopter, heading back to Krakow where he will be presented with the keys to the city, before jumping on to a tram which will whisk him to the sprawling Blonia meadow for his first big WYD event. At his first meeting with youngsters on Wednesday evening at the window of the archbishop’s palace in Krakow, he encouraged the thousands gathered below to party. “Now go and do your duty, make noise all night long!” he finished with a grin. — AFP Spanish parties stick to guns in talks with king as stalemate drags on MADRID: Major parties holding the balance of power in Spain declined to support plans for a conservative-led government in talks with the King on Thursday, dashing hopes of a quick end to a seven-month political stalemate. National elections in December and June both resulted in hung parliaments, forcing the parties to try to negotiate their way to a viable coalition — so far without success. Party heads were meeting individually with King Felipe on Thursday — the fourth such set of talks this year — as they seek a consensus candidate to lead the next government. Insiders were hoping a deadline to pass a budget for 2017 by the end of September will concentrate minds. But the left-leaning parties, the second-placed Socialists and Unidos Podemos (“Together We Can”), reiterated after the talks with the King that they would oppose Rajoy. Liberal party Ciudadanos (“Citizens”), which came fourth in the June 26 election, said it would abstain in a confidence vote. Elephant poaching in Africa down, but still far too high, says CITES OSLO: The illegal killing of African elephants for their ivory seems to have fallen from record peaks but poaching of the animal is still far too high, an international report said on Thursday. More patrols in wildlife parks, better forensic techniques for tracking the origin of tusks, and a crackdown on corruption by China, the main market for ivory, were among factors helping to limit the slaughter. “There are elements of good news, but we are nowhere near the success we need to turn the trends around,” John Scanlon, Secretary-General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), said of CITES findings. About 60 per cent of the elephants found dead in the wild in 2015 had been killed by poachers for their ivory rather than having died of natural causes, down from almost 80 per cent at a peak in 2011, it said. A CITES index tracking the illegal ivory trade dipped in 2014, the latest year for which data are available, from peaks in 2012 and 2013 that were the highest since international commercial trade in ivory was banned in 1989. Taken together, the data indicated that poaching was declining or had at least stabilised after a surge that began a decade ago, CITES said. But rates A bird flies over a family of elephants walking in the Amboseli National Park, southeast of Kenya’s capital Nairobi. — Reuters file photo were still far too high to enable depleted populations of the world’s largest land animal to recover. Scanlon said that best estimates were that illegal killings peaked at around 30,000 in 2011 and were still in the “low tens of thousands” a year. “In some parts of the African continent we are confronting potential local extinctions, in particular in central and western Africa,” he said. Southern Africa had the lowest rates of poaching. Africa now has only about 500,000 elephants, down from 1.2 million in the 1970s. Ivory is prized in everything from bracelets and buttons to carved ornaments. CITES, with about 180 member governments, will meet in Johannesburg in September to discuss how to protect wildlife. Kenya will lead calls for stronger investigators confirmed his identity after a DNA match with his mother. The two were shown pledging allegiance to the IS group in a video made before they stormed a church in the Normandy town of Saint-Etiennedu-Rouvray on Tuesday and slit the 86-year-old priest’s throat at the altar. The attack came as the government was already facing a firestorm of criticism over alleged security failings after the Bastille Day truck massacre that left 84 people dead two weeks ago. A brief show of political unity at a mass attended by different faiths in Paris Wednesday quickly dissolved as Prime Minister Manuel Valls and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve faced fresh calls to resign. The French government has said that everything possible is being done to protect citizens, while warning that more terror attacks are inevitable, after three major strikes and several smaller attacks in the past 18 months. — AFP bans on the ivory trade and torched thousands of elephant tusks and rhino horns from a government stockpile in April. By contrast, Zimbabwe says the best way to raise funds to help protect its 83,000 elephants is by allowing it to sell ivory stockpiles. The last legal sales of African ivory from stockpiles, to China and Japan, ended in 2009. — Reuters Spanish Socialist party (PSOE) leader Pedro Sanchez (R) and Spanish King Felipe VI seen before a meeting at La Zarzuela Palace in Madrid on Thursday. — AFP “We want to change Rajoy’s government and this is why we will vote ‘no’ in a confidence vote,” Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez told journalists. Without backing or at least an abstention from the Socialists, Rajoy would find it almost impossible to secure a majority for a second term in office. Other smaller regional parties had previously all said they would vote against Rajoy as well, leaving his People’s Party with 137 seats, well short of the 176 needed for an absolute majority in Spain’s lower house. Rajoy’s PP was the only one of the four main parties to win more seats in June than in December. He was scheduled to meet the monarch later, but the latest round of talks could well end with no candidate for prime minister emerging. — Reuters Heart hazard for Apollo astronauts: Reveals study PARIS: Nasa’s Apollo astronauts, the only humans to have travelled beyond Earth’s protective magnetosphere, die disproportionately of heart and blood vessel diseases, researchers said on Thursday, blaming radiation. This raises health concerns for all humans with dreams of travelling to the Moon, Mars or beyond, as space agencies and private companies vie to expand humankind’s extraterrestrial footprint. “We know very little about the effects of deep space radiation on human health, particularly on the cardiovascular system,” said Michael Delp of the Florida State University. “This gives us the first glimpse into its adverse effects on humans.” Of seven Apollo astronauts to have died to date, three (43 per cent) succumbed to cardiovascular disease — a group of ailments that includes heart attacks, brain aneurysms and strokes. This was “four to five times higher” than for trained astronauts who never left Earth (nine per cent), and those like the International Space Station crews who stayed closer to home in low-Earth orbit (11 per cent). The findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports. “These data suggest that human travel into deep space may be more hazardous to cardiovascular health than previously estimated,” the researchers wrote. Nasa’s Apollo programme sent 11 manned flights into space between 1968 and 1972. Of the 24 men who flew beyond Astronaut Edwin E Aldrin Jr walks on the surface of the moon near the leg of the Lunar Module (LM) “Eagle” during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity (EVA) in this July 20, 1969 Nasa handout photo. — Reuters Earth orbit into deep space, eight have died to date. The eighth, Edgar Mitchell, passed away this year, after the data had been analysed, and was not included in the study. Beyond the magnetosphere, a magnetic “bubble” which shields Earth and its occupants, the Apollo astronauts were exposed to unprecedented levels of particle radiation, said the study. The ISS, by comparison, orbits Earth within the magnetosphere. Energetic particles from galactic radiation can be dangerous to humans as they pass right through the skin and can damage cells or DNA, according to Nasa. — AFP region region OMANDAILYOBSERVER F R I D A Y l J U LY 2 9 l 2 0 1 6 RELIEF: Russian minister said three humanitarian corridors were being opened 7 Russia announces aid operation for Syria’s besieged Aleppo Syrian army soldiers patrol the area around the entrance of Bani Zeid after taking control of the previously rebel-held district of Leramun, on the northwest outskirts of Aleppo, on Thursday. — AFP ALEPPO: Syria ally Russia on Thursday announced a “large-scale” aid operation to allow civilians and fighters to flee besieged Aleppo, as the president offered an amnesty to rebels who surrender. Government forces have surrounded rebel-held districts in eastern Aleppo since July 17, sparking fears for at least 200,000 people who live there. Residents have reported food short- Egypt’s former anti-graft head gets jail term for exaggerating corruption CAIRO: Egypt’s former anticorruption chief was sentenced on Thursday to one year in prison on charges of having exaggerated the impact of graft on the country. Hisham Geneina, head of the Central Auditing Authority until his dismissal in March by President Abdel Fattah al Sisi, was also ordered to pay a fine of 20,000 Egyptian pounds (around $2,000). The retired judge’s troubles began after he quoted a study by the authority based on 20122015 reports that calculated the cost of corruption at about 600 billion pounds ($66 billion). The study highlighted the allegedly illegal acquisition of state-owned land by senior officials and businessmen from the tenure of toppled president Hosni Mubarak. Ahead of his trial in June, Geneina, 32, said he was convinced that his sacking was based on an erroneous media report suggesting he attributed the 600-billion figure to 2015 alone. On Thursday, a Cairo court sentenced him to jail, accusing him of “spreading false information aimed at disrupting public peace and order”, a judicial source said. Geneina was also ordered to post bail of 10,000 pounds pending an appeal hearing. The retired judge faced an intense media campaign accusing him and his family of tarnishing Egypt’s image and of membership of the banned opposition. In the trial that opened in June, the prosecution accused Geneina of “spreading false news with the goal of harming public interest” and of using “baseless calculations” to exaggerate the cost of corruption. — AFP ages and spiralling prices in rebel districts since regime forces cut off the opposition’s main supply route into the northern city earlier this month. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said three humanitarian corridors were being opened “to aid civilians held hostage by terrorists and for fighters wishing to lay down their arms”. He told Russian news agencies that a fourth corridor would be opened to the north of Aleppo for rebels to flee with their weapons. Medical and food assistance would be provided along the routes for civilians and fighters who lay down their weapons, Shoigu said, adding the operation would get underway later on Thursday. President Bashar al Assad, mean- while, issued a decree offering an amnesty to rebels who surrender over the next three months, the official SANA news agency reported. “Everyone carrying arms... and sought by justice... is excluded from full punishment if they hand themselves in and lay down their weapons,” SANA reported. Syria’s state broadcaster also announced “the opening of three passages to allow citizens out of eastern districts” of Aleppo. But an AFP correspondent who went to see one of the corridors said it remained closed and saw no movement of residents nearby. Regime planes on Thursday dropped flyers showing a map with the location of these humanitarian passages, he said, as well as small aid packages. As Russia made the announcement, France and Britain renewed demands for an end to the regime’s “disastrous” siege of eastern Aleppo. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and his British counterpart Boris Johnson, in a joint statement, said the consequences of the siege, “including the bombardment of civilians and medical facilities, are already disastrous and could generate further refugees”. Also on Thursday, Syrian government forces drove rebels from the neighbourhood of Bani Zeid, on Aleppo’s northern outskirts, after heavy overnight fighting, a monitor said. — AFP Iraqi women and children who fled the towns of Al Shirqat and Qayyarah during the reported fighting between Iraqi government forces and IS group are transferred to a camp for displaced people. — AFP US forces help Iraqis build bridge on way to Mosul WASHINGTON: A small group of US troops helped Iraqi forces build a bridge across the Tigris River last week that will support Iraq’s campaign to retake Mosul from the militant group IS, a US military spokesman said. This was the first time American forces accompanied the Iraqi army closer to the front lines of battle since US Defence Secretary Ash Carter said in April that they would be allowed to do so. Previously, advisers were limited to larger divisions further back from battlefields. Colonel Chris Garver, the US military spokesman in Iraq, said the operation involved fewer than 10 US troops. The American engineering team was sent on July 20 to assist a battalion of Iraqi soldiers install a floating bridge over the Tigris near Qayyara air base, recently retaken from IS by Iraqi forces, Garver said. The United States has conducted similar lower-level missions with Iraqi special operations forces and Kurdish peshmerga, but this was the first such mission with the Iraqi army, Garver said. “The use of the bridge connecting the west and east sides of the Tigris... will greatly improve manouverability and shorten lines of communication for the ISF (Iraqi security forces) as they prepare for the eventual assault to liberate Mosul,” Garver said. The bridge is the second to be installed by Iraqi security forces in their battle against IS. The first was in Ramadi last year. The United States has escalated its military role in Iraq and Syria over the past year to capitalise on gains against the militant group. — Reuters Turkey reshuffles military after half of generals fired ANKARA: Turkey’s top military commanders met on Thursday to replace almost half of their generals in a radical shake-up after the failed coup, as authorities shut down dozens of media outlets in a widening crackdown. The hastily-convened meeting came after the government ordered the discharge of 149 generals — nearly half of the armed forces’ entire contingent of 358 — for alleged complicity in the putsch bid. Separately, a total of 131 newspapers, TV channels and other media outlets were being shut down under the threemonth state of emergency declared in the wake of the coup. The July 15 rebellion saw plotters bomb Ankara from warplanes and wreak havoc with tanks on the streets of Istanbul in a bid to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But it sparked a backlash affecting all aspects of Turkish life. So far almost 16,000 people have been detained in a crackdown — the magnitude of which had caused international alarm. “My concern has to do with the fact that the actions here are very tough and the principle of proportionality is not Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim (3rd R) and members of Turkish Supreme Military Council pose for a photo during their visit at Anitkabir, mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in Ankara, on Thursday. — AFP always central,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Berlin. The meeting of the Supreme Military Council (YAS), lasting more than five hours, brought together Prime Minister Binali Yildirim with top military figures untarnished by the coup. Yildirim then left for the presidential palace to discuss the outcome with Erdogan. A statement was expected later. In a possible move to pre-empt its decisions, two of Turkey’s top ranking generals — Land Forces Chief of Staff General Ihsan Uyar and Training and Doctrine Command head General Kamil Basoglu — esigned just before the meeting, the Dogan news agency said. Lower-ranking officers were expected to be fast-tracked to fill gaps in top positions. The purge saw 1,099 officers and 436 junior officers receive a dishonourable discharge as well as the 149 generals. In a symbol of the military’s waning power, the meeting was held at the Cankaya Palace of the Turkish premier in Ankara and not, as is customary, at military headquarters. — AFP Palestinian leaders and UN condemned plans for 770 new homes that would expand Gilo settlement ‘New Israeli settlement plans provocative and counterproductive’ WASHINGTON: The United States has slammed as “provocative” Israeli plans to build hundreds of new settlement homes in annexed east Jerusalem, saying they seriously undermined the prospect of peace with the Palestinians. “We are deeply concerned by reports today that the government of Israel has published tenders for 323 units in east Jerusalem settlements,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement on Wednesday. “This follows Monday’s announcement of plans for 770 units in the settlement of Gilo.” “These steps by Israeli authorities are the latest examples of what appears to be a steady acceleration of settlement activity that is systematically undermining the prospects for a twostate solution,” Kirby said. “We remain troubled that Israel continues this pattern of provocative and counterproductive action, which raises serious questions about Israel’s ultimate commitment to a peaceful, negotiated settlement with the Palestinians.” Palestinian leaders and the United Nations joined in condemning plans advanced this week for 770 new homes that would expand the Gilo settlement on the southern perimeter of east Jerusalem. They are part of a larger Israeli plan for around 1,200 units approved some three years ago, according to Ir Amim, an NGO that monitors Israeli settlement activity. On Wednesday, tenders for 323 settlement homes in four areas of east Jerusalem were published, Ir Amim and A recent report by the diplomatic Quartet said settlement expansion was eroding the possibility of a two-state solution to the conflict. Israeli NGO Peace Now said. The tenders in at least three of the areas had been previously published but the homes were not built for unclear reasons. They are now being relaunched, Peace Now said. “On the one hand, the government does not allow for Palestinian construction, and on the other hand it promotes massive construction for Israelis,” Peace Now said in a statement. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “decided to repudiate the Quartet report and to prove, yet again, that it has no intention to promote a peace agreement based on a two-state solution.” A recent report by the diplomatic Quartet — the United States, European Union, Russia and the UN — said settlement expansion was eroding the possibility of a two-state solution to the conflict. Israeli settlements in east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank are viewed as illegal under international law. Kirby also voiced concern about increased demolitions of Palestinian structures in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. “More than 650 Palestinian structures have been demolished this year, with more Palestinian structures demolished in the West Bank and east Jerusalem thus far than in all of 2015,” he said. “As the recent Quartet report highlighted, this is part of an ongoing process of land seizures, settlement expansion, legalisations of outposts, and denial of Palestinian development that risk entrenching a one-state reality of perpetual occupation and conflict.” Israel occupied the West Bank and east Jerusalem in 1967. It later annexed east Jerusalem, which Palestinians view as their future capital. — AFP analysis analysis 8 OMANDAILYOBSERVER F R I D A Y l J U LY 2 9 l 2 0 1 6 Media war: Indian prime time needs a ceasefire SANJEEV SRIVASTAVA T wo of the biggest stars of Indian News TV — Barkha Dutt and Arnab Goswami — are now fighting in full public glare. The gloves are off. And how! That this would happen — sooner or later — was inevitable. The signs were there for anyone who cared to see. And not many viewers of prime time news were oblivious to these almost impossible-to-miss the signals. These were the not-so-subtle innuendos, the in-your-face suggestions, mocking not just the style of journalism and presentation of the other, but also questioning each other’s motives and ideology. Prime time news became an obsession with a section of the English elite. It became a heady cocktail which combined pain and pleasure, ecstasy and agony in equal measure. News became secondary. So did the debates. As star anchors became gladiators, the viewers began to behave more like spectators in a Roman arena; baying for blood and constantly looking for their evening fix of adrenaline rather than reasoned, well-articulated arguments. So the writing was on the wall. But that the ic and emotion. But she lost out on public percepcookie would crumble in this manner, with such tion and there’s no fighting that. And here’s my disclaimer. As somebody who viciousness, I, at least, did not anticipate. has been a reporter/ediBut more on that later. tor for a better part of his Let’s get the background career, I will admit that if out of the way first. my phone was being thus It all began with the tapped one could have also second term of the United As star anchors became chanced upon conversations Progressive Alliance govgladiators, the viewers with some politician friends ernment (UPA-II). Times that could have been misNow was climbing the rat- began to behave more construed without knowing ings charts on the back of like spectators in a Roman proper context. By the its coverage of the 26/11 arena; baying for blood and the way, there is a conversation Mumbai terror attack. And in those tapes where Niira then — out of nowhere — constantly looking for their Radia is criticising me for came the Radia Tapes. In evening fix of adrenaline being a “show off and a loud the controversy that folmouth”. lowed, Barkha Dutt’s cred- rather than reasoned, wellMeanwhile, Arnab was ibility took a hit. She has articulated arguments. emerging as the knight in never fully recovered from shining armour in the colthe episode. Those were difficult times for her. The more lective consciousness of Indian chattering classes. she tried to defend herself, the more she tied her- Raising issues of corruption in UPA-II, he was unsparing and clearly partisan. But he was riding self in knots. She argued well, with an equal measure of log- on the common man’s disgust with the govern- ment, was on the right side of public perception and soon created an almost embarrassing gap between himself and others in the ratings game. He did not always follow journalism ethics and enjoyed tossing out — from the NewsHour windows — rules of fair play and balance. Others in the TV news genre either followed him or did not change. Both sets fell by the wayside as the Arnab juggernaut rolled on, ruthless, remorseless and relentless. Already smarting under the Radia Tapes controversy, Barkha also lost out because she was — and rightly so — seen as an apologist for status quo, ie UPA. Not so much because she supported the Congress and the UPA but because she was seen as a die-hard Modi critic, an enemy in the eyes of Modi bhakts. To be fair (or am I being unfair here) Barkha never did hide her opposition to Modi. On the other hand and largely thanks to his anti-establishment image and his relentless campaign against the UPA — which interestingly continued even after the Congress lost the 2014 elections — Arnab is now perceived as a supporter of the Modi government. Swiss-EU ties in turmoil MICHAEL SHIELDS AND PHILIP BLENKINSOP E uropean Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has let negotiators pursue a deal on curbing an influx of foreigners to Switzerland, diplomats said, keeping alive Swiss hopes of avoiding a rupture with its most important trading partner. The talks are crucial for Switzerland, which has threatened to impose unilateral curbs on immigration from the EU next year, but will also be scrutinised for potential hints of what Britain might expect after it voted last month to quit the bloc. Some diplomats had believed the Brexit referendum would kill off the EU-Swiss discussions as negotiations with London would shunt aside consideration with non-EU member Switzerland. But after Switzerland made concrete proposals on immigration directly after the British vote, it appears a window for a deal may stretch to mid-December, likely to be before Britain triggers the start of its exit talks and in time for the Swiss parliament to act. The seismic shift in Swiss-EU relations came after its own binding referendum in 2014 demanding quotas on immigration, including from the EU which has had access to Switzerland through a series of bilateral political and economic agreements. The accords that guarantee free movement and enhanced access to the common market stand or fall together, so eliminating one means the other is also curtailed — a point that will be central to Britain’s recalibrating of its ties with the bloc. While it is still too early to predict how the Swiss talks will pan out, diplomats say, the fact that they continue at all after the Brexit vote and ahead of a Swiss-EU presidential meeting in September has encouraged Swiss officials. EU officials paint the talks as more a matter of leaving the door to a deal open a crack. “He (Juncker) gave a prudent green light to go forward which we are now working on. The sense in Brussels and certainly in the capitals of the neighbouring countries is that waiting for clarification on the Brexit front is not the solution,” one senior Swiss diplomat said. Working out future EU relations with Britain is likely to take at least two years. Switzerland needs a deal this year. The EU is discouraging Switzerland from pushing through legislation quickly, which could derail the delicate talks. But the clock is ticking. Switzerland must amend its constitution by February to reflect the 2014 referendum outcome, which has scared many companies that rely on foreign expertise. US President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton wave to the crowd at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Who’s behind DNC email breach? JOHN WALCOTT, JOSEPH MENN AND MARK HOSENBALL S ome US intelligence officials suspect that Russian hackers who broke into Democratic Party computers may have deliberately left digital fingerprints to show Moscow is a “cyberpower” that Washington should respect. Three officials, all speaking on condition of anonymity, said the breaches of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) were less sophisticated than other cyber intrusions that have been traced to Russian intelligence agencies or criminals. For example, said one official, the hackers used some Cyrillic characters, worked during Russian government business hours but not on Russian religious or political holidays. “Either these guys were incredibly sloppy, in which case it’s not clear that they could have gotten as far as they did without being detected, or they wanted us to know they were Russian,” said the official. Private sector cyber security experts agreed that the evidence clearly points to Russian hackers but dismissed the idea that they intentionally left evidence of their identities. These experts — who said they have examined the breach in detail — said the Cyrillic characters were buried in metadata and in an error message. Other giveaways, such as a tainted Internet protocol address, also were difficult to find. Russian hacking campaigns have traditionally been harder to track than China’s but not impossible to decipher, private sector experts said. But the Russians have become more aggressive and easier to detect in the past two years, security experts said, especially when they are trying to move quickly. False flags have grown more common, but the government and private experts do not believe that is involved in the DNC case. The two groups of hackers involved are adept at concealing their intrusions, said Laura Galante, head of global threat intelligence at FireEye, whose Mandiant subsidiary conducted forensic analysis of the attack and corroborated the findings of another cyber company, CrowdStrike. Russian officials have dismissed the allegations of Moscow’s involvement as absurd. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in his only response to reporters, said: “I don’t want to use four-letter words.” While private cyber experts and the government were aware of the political party’s hacking months ago, embarrassing emails were leaked last weekend by the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy group just as the Democratic Party prepared to anoint Hillary Clinton as its presidential candidate for the November 8 election. DNC chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, resigned after the leaked emails showed party leaders favouring Clinton over her rival in the campaign for the nomination, US Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. The committee is supposed to be neutral. The US intelligence officials conceded The breaches of the Democratic National Committee were less sophisticated than other cyber intrusions that have been traced to Russian intelligence agencies or criminals. that they had based their views on deductive reasoning and not conclusive evidence, but suggested Russia’s aim probably was much broader than simply undermining Clinton’s campaign. They said the hack fit a pattern of Russian President Vladimir Putin pushing back on what he sees as the United States and its European allies trying to weaken Russia. “Call it the cyber equivalent of buzzing NATO ships and planes using fighters with Russian flags on their tails,” said one official. Two sources familiar with Democratic Party investigations into the hacking said the private email accounts of Democratic Party officials were targeted as well as servers. They said that the FBI had advised the DNC that it was looking into the hacking of the individual officials’ private accounts. They also said the FBI also requested additional information identifying the personal email accounts of certain party officials. The DNC hired CrowdStrike to investigate the hack. It spent about six weeks, from late April to about June 11 or 12, monitoring the systems and watching while the hackers — who they believed were Russian — operated inside the systems, one of the sources said. What actions, if any, the Obama administration will take are unclear and could depend on what diplomatic considerations may ultimately be involved, a former White House cyber security official said. In past cases, administration officials have decided to publicly blame North Korea and indict members of China’s military for hacking because the administration decided that the net benefit of public shaming — and increased awareness brought to cyber security — outweighed potential risks, the former official said. ESTABLISHED ON 15 NOVEMBER 1981 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Abdullah bin Salim al Shueili HEAD OFFICE ADVERTISING Tel: 24649444, 24649450, 24649451, 24604563, 24699437 Fax: 24699643 AL OMANEYA ADVERTISING & PUBLIC RELATIONS, P.O. Box 3303, P.C. 112, Ruwi, Sultanate of Oman Tel: SWITCHBOARD: 24649444 DIRECT: 24649430/24649437/24649401 Fax: 24649434 SALALAH OFFICE Tel: 23292633 Fax: 23293909 NIZWA OFFICE Tel: 25411099 P.O. Box 955, P.C. 611 Website: omanobserver.om DISTRIBUTION AGENT Al OMANEYA for Distribution & Marketing, P.O. Box 974, P.C. 100, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman Tel: 24649351/24649360 Fax: 24649379 e-mail: [email protected] PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY: Oman Establishment for Press, Publication and Advertising P.O. Box 974, Postal Code 100, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman [email protected] Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this page are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the opinion of the Observer. FRIDAY | JULY 29, 2016 | SHAWWAL 24, 1437 AH www.omanobserver.om [email protected] ROBOTS AIDING SURGEONS Within five years, one in three US surgeries — more than double current levels — is expected to be performed with robotic systems, with surgeons sitting at computer consoles guiding mechanical arms. Companies developing new robots also plan to expand their use in India, China and other emerging markets. Read more about robotic surgery...P10 LACK OF EXERCISE RUNS UP $67.5BN ANNUAL HEALTH TAB H ealth problems caused by a lack of daily physical exercise cost the world some $67.5 billion in 2013 — more than many countries’ GDP, researchers said on Thursday. The total was divided between $53.8 billion in healthcare spending and $13.7 billion in lost productivity, according to a study published in The Lancet medical journal. The research relied on economic and population data from 142 countries, representing 93 per cent of the world’s population, its authors said. But the figure was likely an underestimate as the data covered only five diseases — coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer and colon cancer — at least the percentage attributable to physical inactivity. The “cost calculations are based on conservative estimates, and the true cost may be even higher,” said a statement. The paper was the first to estimate the monetary cost of the global “pandemic” of inactivity, and was part of a special series timed for release ahead of the August 5 opening of the Rio Olympic Games. Living a sedentary lifestyle is associated with more than five million deaths in the world every year, the researchers said. Of the total estimated cost, $31.2 billion was tax revenue lost to public healthcare spending, $12.9 billion in spending by the private sector, including health insurance companies, and $9.7 billion in direct medical costs for households. The amounts were listed in “international dollars” — the equivalent of what an American dollar could buy in the United States in any given year. The burden for rich countries was proportionally higher in money terms, while for poor and middle-income countries the cost was mainly in disease and premature death, the study found. “Generally, poorer countries don’t have their health needs met due to less developed health and economic systems,” said Melody Ding from the University of Sydney, who led the research. As these countries develop economically, “so too will the consequent economic burden, if the pandemic of physical inactivity spreads as expected,” she said. A second study in the series said people who sit for eight hours a day may cancel out the increased risk of death this carries by doing at least an hour of exercise per day. The World Health Organization advises 150 minutes or more of physical activity per week — much less than the daily 60 minutes recommended by the study, which analysed data from over a million people. — AFP international features @ 10 OMANDAILYOBSERVER F R I D A Y l J U LY 2 9 l 2 0 1 6 @ healthwatch medicaltech An hour of exercise a day may help you live longer I ROBOTS AIDING SURGEONS A new crop of robots vie for space in the operating room QSUSAN KELLY SURGICAL ROBOTS ARE USED IN HERNIA REPAIR, BARIATRIC SURGERY, HYSTERECTOMIES AND THE VAST MAJORITY OF PROSTATE REMOVALS IN THE UNITED STATES, ACCORDING TO INTUITIVE SURGICAL DATA. DOCTORS SAY THEY REDUCE FATIGUE AND GIVE THEM GREATER PRECISION. The integrated operating table, introduced earlier this year, engineered to move in sync with the da Vinci robot, allowing the surgeon to find the best working angle without the need to stop and reposition the robot’s arms is shown in this image taken in Sunnyvale, California, US in 2015. — Reuters E ven though many doctors see need for improvement, surgical robots are poised for big gains in operating rooms around the world. Within five years, one in three US surgeries — more than double current levels — is expected to be performed with robotic systems, with surgeons sitting at computer consoles guiding mechanical arms. Companies developing new robots also plan to expand their use in India, China and other emerging markets. Robotic surgery has been long dominated by pioneer Intuitive Surgical Inc, which has more than 3,600 of its da Vinci machines in hospitals worldwide and said last week the number of procedures that used them jumped by 16 per cent in the second quarter compared to a year earlier. The anticipated future growth — and perceived weaknesses of the current generation of robots - is attracting deeppocketed rivals, including Medtronic Inc and a startup backed by Johnson & Johnson and Google. Developers of the next wave aim to make the robots less expensive, more nimble and capable of performing more types of procedures, company executives and surgeons said. Although surgical robots run an average of $1.5 million and entail ongoing maintenance expenses, insurers pay no more for surgeries that utilise the systems than for other types of minimally-invasive procedures, such as laparoscopy. Still, most top US hospitals for cancer treatment, urology, gynaecology and gastroenterology have made the investment. The robots are featured prominently in hospital marketing campaigns aimed at attracting patients, and new doctors are routinely trained in their use. Surgical robots are used in hernia repair, bariatric surgery, hysterectomies and the vast majority of prostate removals in the United States, according to Intuitive Surgical data. Doctors say they reduce fatigue and give them greater precision. But robot-assisted surgery can take more of the surgeon’s time than traditional procedures, reducing the number of operations doctors can perform. That’s turned off some like Dr Helmuth Billy. Billy was an early adopter of Intuitive’s da Vinci system 15 years ago. But equipping its arms with instruments slowed him down. He rarely uses it now. “I like to do five operations a day,” Billy said. “If I have to constantly dock and undock da Vinci, it becomes cumbersome.” To gain an edge, new robots will need to outperform laparoscopic surgery, said Dr Dmitry Oleynikov, who heads a robotics task force for the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons. Surgeons said they want robots to provide a way to feel the body’s tissue remotely, called haptic sensing, and better camera image quality. New systems also will need to be priced low enough to entice hospitals and outpatient surgical centres that have not yet invested in a da Vinci, as well as convince those with established robotic programmes to consider a second vendor or switching suppliers altogether. “That is where competitors can differentiate,” said Vik Srinivasan of the Advisory Board Co, a research and consulting firm that advises hospitals. Developers say they are paying attention. Verb Surgical, the J&J-Google venture that is investing about $250 million in its project, said creating a faster and easier-to-use system is a priority. Verb also envisions a system that is “always there, always on,” enabling the surgeon to use the robot for parts of a procedure as needed, said Chief Executive Scott Huennekens. Intuitive said it too is looking to improve technology at a reasonable cost, but newcomers will face the same challenges. “As competitors come in, they are going to have to work within that same framework,” CEO Gary Guthart said in an interview. Device maker Medtronic has said it expects to launch its surgical robot before mid-2018 and will start in India. Others developing surgical robots include TransEnterix Inc and Canada’s Titan Medical Inc. An RBC Capital Markets survey found that US surgeons expect about 35 per cent of operations will involve robots in five years, up from 15 per cent today. J&J, which hopes to be second to market with a product from Verb, has said it sees robotics as a multibilliondollar market opportunity. Huennekens said Verb’s surgical robot will differ from another Google robotics effort, the driverless car, in one important aspect. “There will always be a surgeon there,” he said. — Reuters ndulging in physical activities such as brisk walking or cycling for at least an hour each day may eliminate the increased risk of death associated with sitting for eight hours or more hours a day, suggests a study. Physical inactivity is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes as well as some cancers and is associated with more than 5 million deaths per year, the researchers said. For many people there is no way to escape sitting — whether at work, home or commuting — for prolonged periods of time. However, “an hour of physical activity per day is the ideal, but if this is unmanageable, then at least doing some exercise each day can help reduce the risk,” said Ulf Ekelund, Professor at the University of Cambridge. The findings showed that people who sat for eight hours a day but were physically active had a much lower risk of death compared to people who sat for fewer hours a day, but were not physically active. This suggests that physical activity is particularly important, no matter how many hours a day are spent sitting. In fact, the increased risk of death associated with sitting for eight hours a day was eliminated for people who did a minimum of one hour physical activity per day. Individuals who were physically inactive were between 28 per cent and 59 per cent more likely to die early — a similar risk to that associated with smoking and obesity. “Our message is that it is possible to reduce — or even eliminate — these risks if we are active enough, even without having to take up sports or go to the gym,” Ekelund added in the work published in the journal The Lancet. Further, 60 to 75 minutes of moderate intensity exercise — defined as equating to walking at 3.5 miles/hour or cycling at 10 miles/hour — per day were also found to be sufficient to eliminate the increased risk of early death associated with sitting for over eight hours per day. However, as many as three out of four people in the study failed to reach this level of daily activity. For the study, an international team of researchers analysed 16 studies, which included data from more than one million men and women. — IANS Novel eye scan may detect Alzheimer’s disease early R esearchers have developed new type of non-invasive eye scan that can identify Alzheimer’s disease long before the onset of symptoms. The new eye scan uses polarised light to highlight deposits called amyloid proteins found at the back of patients’ retinas decades before they experience cognitive decline. “Polarisation imaging is promising for noninvasive imaging of retinal amyloid deposits as a biomarker of Alzheimer’s,” said Melanie Campbell, professor at University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. The new method would give a less expensive, more available alternative to expensive positron emission tomography (PET), the researchers said. “The ability to detect amyloid deposits in the retina prior to disease symptoms may be an essential tool for the development of preventative strategies for Alzheimer’s and other dementias,” Campbell added. The study, conducted in both human and an animal model, showed that polarised light scans are as sensitive as other more established methods and can be done cost-effectively without using irritating dyes, making it potentially useful as an in-office screening tool. Amyloid proteins are made up of protein fibres with different refractive indices along and across the fibres. Amyloid beta protein deposits in the brain have been proven to be present in patients decades before they experience symptoms of the disease. Although the reasons this protein appears are still being debated, the fact that it also deposits in the retina, an extension of the brain, means these deposits can be used as a biomarker for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease long before symptoms appear, the researchers explained. “Early diagnosis is important, especially since treatment options are more limited later in the disease,” Campbell noted. In order to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, doctors currently rely on either a combination of late-stage symptoms and expensive PET brain scans or tests on the brain after death. “Widely available, inexpensive, early detection of amyloid would help researchers develop more effective treatments before the onset of symptoms,” Campbell suggested. The results were presented at the 2016 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) in Toronto, recently. — IANS lifestyle features New drug may treat diabetes, bone loss OMANDAILYOBSERVER Researchers have developed a new class of compound that has shown promise in treating both diabetes and bone disease. In addition to its more obvious ills, Type-2 diabetes is a condition closely associated with bone fractures, increasing the risk of fractures twofold. F R I D A Y l J U LY 2 9 l 2 0 1 6 @ leisure/gaming 11 Mario eyeing a Mickey Mouse makeover NINTENDO AIMS TO MAKE MORE FROM MARKETING POPULAR CHARACTERS SUCH AS SUPER MARIO, TAKING A LEAF FROM THE WALT DISNEY PLAYBOOK WHERE MICKEY MOUSE AND FRIENDS BRING IN BILLIONS OF MERCHANDISING DOLLARS EACH YEAR F A figure depicting ‘Mario’, a character in Nintendo’s ‘Mario Bros’ video games, is displayed at the company showroom in Tokyo, Japan. — Reuters lush with the stunning popularity of the Pokemon GO mobile game, Nintendo aims to make more from marketing popular characters such as Super Mario, taking a leaf from the Walt Disney playbook where Mickey Mouse and friends bring in billions of merchandising dollars each year. But, where Disney’s animated characters often earn more than the films they star in, Super Mario, Pokemon and other Nintendo franchises have languished amid the Japanese firm’s reluctance to push them beyond its struggling game console platform. The success of Pokemon GO — created by Nintendo, Pokemon Company and Niantic, a Google spinoff — may signal that Nintendo’s move to let its characters roam beyond that console universe could help revitalise a company that had grown from a card game maker in nineteenth century Kyoto to the world’s top computer game and console maker. “We are now expanding how we leverage Nintendo IP in various ways beyond our traditional use of them predominantly within the dedicated video game platform business,” Tatsumi Kimishima, the company’s president, wrote in a message to investors. It could be sitting on a goldmine. “We believe the value of Nintendo intellectual property is enormous and will eventually be unlocked over a 3-5 year period,” Jefferies analyst Atul Goyal wrote in a Monday research note. A spokesman for Japanese toymaker Takara Tomy said: “We are seeing a resurgence of interest in Pokemon toys after the launch of Pokemon GO.” Nintendo, which on Wednesday partly blamed a strengthening yen for its AprilJune operating loss, is said to be doing more to expand the reach of its popular franchise characters, which also include The Legend of Zelda. “Nintendo used to have only few people in its licensing business and deal only with a limited number of merchandising companies,” said a toy company official, who asked not to be named as he is not authorised to talk to the media. “That’s gradually changing as the company has made it clear it will boost its IP business.” Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of the puppet-inspired Super Mario, has indicated Nintendo has more appetite now to allow its franchise characters to spread beyond console gaming, and into revenue generating licensing agreements. “These projects will take time to bear fruit, but they are something to look forward to,” Miyamoto told Nintendo’s shareholder meeting late last month, adding Nintendo had started licensing characters for attractions at Universal Studios theme parks and was working to expand Nintendo products. Since its Wii game console boom faded four years ago and its successor, the Wii U, flopped, Nintendo has been buffeted by losses that have more than halved its cash pile to around $5 billion. Nintendo sold almost 100 million of its Wii consoles between its late-2006 launch and end2011, the year before the Wii U was released. Subsequent sales of the Wii U have added only 13 million units. As casual gaming has shifted from the living room to the smartphone, sales of its handheld 3DS video game system are just a third of the older DS model. Wary of losing focus on its ailing console business, Nintendo has largely steered clear from producing games for other platforms or agreeing lucrative licensing agreements. In the year to end-March, the company’s licensing revenue was just 5.7 billion yen ($54.2 million) — around 1 per cent of overall sales, and a tiny fraction of what Disney earns from the likes of Mickey Mouse, Toy Story, Winnie the Pooh and, more recently, Star Wars. Disney’s revenue from consumer products — from Mickey Mouse tea pots and tie clips to books, magazines and even English language schools in China — totalled $4.5 billion in its last full business year — around 9 per cent of its total sales. It was Disney’s fastest growing business segment in the year to October 3, 2015, with operating profit up 29 per cent from a year earlier. While the Toy Story 3 movie, released in 2010, earned Disney $1.7 billion at cinemas and from TV broadcasts, the franchise’s licensed toys, books and a smartphone app have brought in $7.3 billion. That’s a merchandising masterclass that some investors reckon Nintendo will struggle to match. “Monetising IP is a whole different thing from selling games,” said a fund manager at a Japanese asset management firm which owns Nintendo shares. “They say they’re going to sell a wrist watch, but it’s adults who are playing Pokemon GO ... and are they going to wear a Pokemon GO Plus watch?” — Reuters Harry Potter, James Bond studios to be sold for £323m Gradual decline in enthusiasm for Facebook, Twitter: Study M B ritain’s Pinewood Studios, where Harry Potter and James Bond movies were filmed, could be sold to a property company for £323 million ($426 million) under a draft deal revealed on Thursday. Pinewood “announces that it has reached agreement... on key terms of a possible cash offer for Pinewood by Venus Grafton,” a subsidiary of PW Real Estate Fund, Pinewood Group said in a statement. Pinewood owns television and film studios around the world including in the US and Canada, but the jewel in its crown is the original Pinewood Studios. Built west of London in the 1930s, they became famous as the setting for British cinema classics. More recently, parts of the latest “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” were filmed there. Hollywood star Harrison Ford could have been killed when a door from the Millenium Falcon spaceship set fell on him during filming in 2014, a court heard earlier this week in a health and safety case. The actor suffered a broken leg in the incident. The 007 Stage at Pinewood was built for the Bond film “The Spy Who Loved Me” and has since been used for numerous productions including “Lara Croft Tomb Raider” and “The Da Vinci Code”. Pinewood had appointed Rothschild investment bank in February to prepare a possible sale of the company. The shareholder register is “tightly held, which has continued to stifle liquidity in the shares and has prevented the company from achieving its aim of obtaining a main market listing”, Pinewood Group said. Pinewood shareholders would receive 560 pence in cash for each share plus a final dividend of 3.2 pence per share, according to the terms of the draft deal. Pinewood Group said it would recommend a firm offer to shareholders. The company’s share price was down 5.17 per cent at 550 pence by 10:20 GMT after the announcement. — AFP ore and more people are gradually viewing social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter and enterprise social media LinkedIn negatively than in the past, an interesting study has revealed. The team from American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ASCI) which tracks opinions of search engines, news outlets, social media sites and other ‘e-businesses’ found that consumers view Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn more negatively than in years past, bizjournals.com reported. Facebook and Twitter saw the largest declines — at nine per cent and eight per cent, respectively. An increase in restless user base on some of the largest social media sites is forcing advertisers and the businesses who run them to put their money elsewhere. The declines are driven in part by the presence of advertising on services that are still regarded as “free”, the report said. “Consumers have not fully accepted advertising as a necessary cost for online services they have come to expect as free,” Claes Fornell, ASCI chairman, was quoted as saying. “There is little companies can do to change that perception beyond making sure that those advertisements are relevant and non-disruptive,” he added. Facebook was mired in controversy over “curated” news where it was accused of political bias in its “trending news” section after news broke that stories from politically conservative sources were sidelined. However, the company denied such a bias. Earlier this year, reports said that Twitter irked many users when it tweaked its newsfeed from a chronological system to a new algorithm based system. It has also failed to keep pace with ever-evolving social apps including Snapchat, Imgur and Instagram. “It’s impossible for global brands with massive user bases to like Facebook and Twitter to keep everyone happy,” ACSI managing director David VanAmburg added. — IANS entertainment features @ 12 OMANDAILYOBSERVER F R I D A Y l J U LY 2 9 l 2 0 1 6 Pierce Brosnan to star in soccer thriller Actor Pierce Brosnan is set to star in filmmaker Scott Mann’s soccer thriller “Final Score” opposite Dave Bautista, Alexandra Dinu and Julian Cheung. Signature Entertainment’s Marc Goldberg is producing the film alongside The Fyzz Facility’s Robert Jones, James Harris, Mark Lane, and Wayne Marc Godfrey, reports variety. starchat Anushka GRHVQ·WWDNHVXFFHVVWRKHU KHDGRUIDLOXUHWRKHUKHDUW QDURGA CHAKRAVARTY I n her eight-year-long journey in the Hindi film industry so far, Anushka Sharma has tasted success with commercial hits like “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi”, “PK” and the latest, “Sultan” — and also faced failure with “Bombay Velvet” and “Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola”. But the actress-producer says neither success nor failure affects her dedication. “ ‘Bombay Velvet’ was a big disaster I have faced. But the kind of person I am, I don’t take success to my head or failure to my heart. I feel that is important because I feel in an industry which is so fickle, you realise that soon,” Anushka said over the phone from Mumbai. She is all of 28, but she believes she is a very “aware kind of person” and “practical about things”. “When you realise that something in this industry is such a fickle thing — you don’t hold too strongly to anything. So I feel because of that, I have managed to stay above the surface. “It is important to have that sense of reality (that) you will have successes and you will have failures and you will have to lie somewhere in between,” she added. Anushka is currently riding high on the success of her latest release “Sultan”, which saw her share screen space with superstar Salman Khan. Salman is the third big Khan of Bollywood that Anushka has worked with. She had made her debut with the Shah Rukh Khan starrer “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi” and later starred with Aamir Khan in “PK”. How has it been to work with the three superstars — a feat that not many actresses achieve? “I have never really thought about all these things happening to me. I never thought about ‘I’ll get to work with all the three Khans’. It really wasn’t something that ever occurred to me in my mind. But I feel humbled and happy... The contributions that I have had in the films is what makes it special for me,” Anushka said. She also feels “fortunate” because they are huge superstars of the country and have phenomenal reach, which helps her work to get through to other people. “Their reach is phenomenal and because of their reach and their fan following, my work gets through to so many other people... So I feel happy, humbled and loved by the people for the appreciation I am getting for Aarfa’s character (in ‘Sultan’),” she said. Anushka has also worked with some formidable directors during her career. From being a part of late legend Yash Chopra’s last film “Jab Tak Hain Jaan” to working with Karan Johar, who has directed her in her forthcoming “Ae Dil Hain Mushkil”, she has also worked under the direction of names like Rajkumar Hirani, Zoya Akhtar and Ali Abbas Zafar. She says her journey has always been about her own choices — “whether it means producing a film at the age of 25 or it means not doing that many films”. Blake Lively thinks ‘Gossip Girl’ reunion would be fun “Somewhere in my life, I have always been a bit of risk-taker in that I have never listened to things people have told me or things that have preceded in terms of what other people have done, what are other actresses doing or what is the right way of following the career. “I have not paid much attention to those things,” added the actress, who turned producer with the gritty drama “NH10”. Whatever she does, she follows her gut. “I feel sometimes when you follow your gut and instinct and you don’t feel afraid, I think God blesses you... It is said that luck follows those who follow their instincts and I have just followed my instincts.” Coming from an army background, Anushka had absolutely no Bollywood backing. She wasn’t even dreaming about being an actress when she landed a role in a Shah Rukh Khan starrer, produced by Yash Raj Films. She also credits filmmaker Aditya Chopra for making her one of the top actresses today. Being an outsider turned out to be an advantage for Anushka, who feels she didn’t come with any “pre-conceived notions about the way you have to do things”. — IANS DELIVERING HITS Actor Jackie Chan with Nana Ou-Yang (L) and Erica Xia-Hou in Sydney at the announcement of the beginning of production for the science fiction action film ‘Bleeding Steel’, which has been billed by producers as the biggest budget Chinese film ever shot in Australia on Thursday. — Reuters A ctress Blake Lively thinks it would be fun to bring back the hit American TV show “Gossip Girl”. The 28-year-old became popular after playing Serena van der Woodsen in the drama series, which ended in 2012, and she believes her former cast-mates would enjoy a reunion series, reports eonline.com. “I don’t know, it would be fun. We had such a great time doing that that I think we all would really enjoy that,” she said. Lively, who is expecting her second child, a sibling for 19-month-old daughter James, with husband Ryan Reynolds, said she misses the show. “I miss it sometimes, too,” she said. Meanwhile, “Gossip Girl” executive producer Josh Schwarz said he hasn’t even considered the possibility of bringing back the show, which ran for 12 seasons. “We haven’t really explored some of those conversations. Maybe, I don’t know. We haven’t really thought about it,” he said. — IANS NEW MUSIC BY GEORGE HARRISON TO BE RELEASED Previously-unheard music by the late English guitarist and singer-songwriter George Harrison is set to be released. The Beatles legend left behind a lot of unfinished material before his death aged 58 in 2001. His widow Olivia and their 37-year-old musician son Dhani are keen to get the tracks completed and released for his fans to hear, reports billboard.com. “There are a lot of songs that are unfinished. I think there’s a project there. I just need time to get to it,” Olivia said. It won’t be the first time Dhani has assisted with his father’s music. As an accomplished musician himself, he helped to record George’s final album “Brainwashed”, which was released posthumously in 2002. — IANS FRIDAY | JULY 29, 2016 | SHAWWAL 24, 1437 AH business CRUDE OIL PRICE Oman Crude ---------------$ 40.90 Brent Crude -----------------$ 42.88 Light Crude -----------------$ 41.66 SOURCE: REUTERS BIZ BUZZ Shell 2nd quarter net profit tumbles LONDON: Royal Dutch Shell’s net profit collapsed in the second quarter on low oil prices, weak refining margins and production outages, the British energy giant said on Thursday. Net profits sank 71 per cent to $1.175 billion in the three months to June, compared with $3.986 billion in the same part of 2015, Shell announced in a results statement. Profit on a current cost-of-supplies (CCS) basis — which strips out changes to the value of its oil and gas inventories — slid 72 per cent to $1.045 billion in the reporting period. That was almost half of market expectations for CCS profit of $2.16 billion, according to Bloomberg News. — AFP Adidas lifts profit forecast for 3rd time GOLD PRICES Oman 24 Kt per gram --------------------------RO 17.05 Oman 22 Kt per gram --------------------------RO 16.35 UAE 24 Kt per gram -------------------------AED 162.00 UAE 22 Kt per gram -------------------------AED 152.25 Pressure for BoJ easing intensifies TOKYO: Political pressure on the Bank of Japan to expand stimulus on Friday is intensifying with the economy minister calling on the bank to work with the government to boost economic growth. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a “powerful message” by announcing a 28 trillion yen ($267 billion) stimulus package on Wednesday, Economy Minister Nobuteru Ishihara was quoted as saying by Japanese media hours after the announcement. The figure was larger than markets had expected. “I think people at the BOJ will take that into account and make an appropriate decision. I think (BoJ Governor Haruhiko) Kuroda understands that the world is watching,” he said in a television appearance on Wednesday evening, the Kyodo news agency reported. The remarks suggest the earlierthan-expected announcement of Abe’s economic package was an attempt by the government to pressure the BoJ into expanding stimulus at a two-day rate review ending on Friday. “Abe’s announcement is a squeeze play on the BoJ. The BoJ has to move now. It is unavoidable,” said Hiroaki Muto, an economist at Tokai Tokyo Research Center. — Reuters US Dollar------------------------------------------------ 2.60 Euro --------------------------------------------------------2.34 British Pounds ----------------------------------------1.97 Indian Rupee ------------------------------------- 174.47 Pakistan Rupee ---------------------------------- 272.66 Philippine Peso --------------------------------- 122.51 SOURCE: MALABAR GOLD AND DIAMONDS GULF STOCK MARKET Muscat ------------------------------------------------- 5,854.39 Abu Dhabi-------------------------------------------- 4,593.58 Dubai --------------------------------------------------- 3,519.29 Qatar -------------------------------------------------- 10,604.77 Kuwait ------------------------------------------------- 5,461.90 Bahrain ------------------------------------------------ 1,157.69 Saudi --------------------------------------------------- 6,337.14 Brexit shockwaves hit British consumers BREXIT IMPACT: Companies are preparing for a Brexit-related slowdown, new car registrations likely to decline LONDON: Shockwaves from Britain’s vote to leave the European Union are reverberating through the economy, with surveys published on Thursday showing a dive in consumer confidence and a slowdown in construction. Preparing for a Brexit-related slowdown, Lloyds Banking Group said it would cut 3,000 jobs and one of Britain’s biggest car dealerships, Inchcape, predicted growth in new car registrations would slow. Just over a month after the referendum, the latest signals of an economic slowdown are likely to fuel expectations of action from the Bank of England on August 4, when many economists believe it will cut interest rates and might start buying bonds again. An index of consumer confidence plunged nearly five points to 106.6 in July — matching its biggest fall in six years and hitting its lowest level since 2013, polling firm YouGov and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) said. “The public are still absorbing the EU referendum result but it is clear that consumer confidence has taken a significant and clear dive,” Stephen Harmston, Head of YouGov Pedestrians and shoppers cross Regent Street, one of London’s premier shopping streets. UK consumer confidence fell steeply in the wake of the vote to leave the European Union. — Bloomberg Reports, said. People are particularly worried about what will happen to the value of their homes, the survey found. House price growth edged up in July but the data might not yet reflect any impact from the referendum because of Fed leaves rates unchanged but says US economy improving FRANKFURT: German sporting goods brand Adidas lifted its profit forecast for the third time in six months on Thursday after better-than-expected preliminary results in the second quarter. The firm said it had earned a net profit of 291 million euros ($322.7 million) in the three months to June — 99 per cent more than the same period in 2015. Increased profits came on the back of a 13 per cent leap in sales to 4.4 billion euros in the second quarter. “Management now projects currency-neutral sales to grow at a rate in the high teens” over the whole year, rather than the 15 per cent previously expected, the Bavaria-based company said in a statement. — AFP CURRENCY RATES (RO 1) www.omanobserver.om [email protected] WASHINGTON: The Federal Reserve left key interest rates untouched but acknowledged improved economic performance, suggesting a rate increase may still be on the horizon in 2016. Policy makers had not been expected to raise rates, out of concern that a hike could stifle fragile growth. Their improving view on economic conditions left open the possibility of an increase in the benchmark federal funds rate, currently at 0.25-0.50 per cent, by December. Putting behind the surprise sharp downturn in job creation in May that had raised worries about the economy, the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets the monetary policy, said employment and economic growth had grown moderately since their mid-June meeting. They also appeared to see less threat to US growth from Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, which took place a week after the last FOMC meeting. “Near-term risks to the economic outlook have diminished,” the FOMC said in announcing the outcome of the closely watched two-day meeting in Washington. — AFP BUILDERS, RETAILERS UNDER COSH: In construction, growth in activity slowed after the vote, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said. Contributors to a RICS survey predicted a 1 per cent rise in workloads over the next 12 months, down from a lag, mortgage lender Nationwide said. Economists say spending by consumers offers the best hope that Britain can avoid a Brexit-related recession. But retailers said sales fell sharply after the referendum, according to a survey published on Wednesday. growth of 2.8 per cent that they had foreseen in the first quarter. Britain’s property market has been one of the worst hit sectors since the referendum with house-builders seeing their market values plunge while investors pulled out cash from commercial funds, forcing many to be suspended. Construction firms cut back their forecasts for hiring, mirroring moves by British retailers who reported the fastest fall in full-time equivalent employment in two years in the second quarter, as the referendum approached. But a survey by the British Retail Consortium showed 93 per cent of retailers intended to keep staffing levels unchanged in the next three months compared with 83 per cent in the second quarter of last year. A third survey published on Thursday showed pay awards in Britain stuck in a slow gear. Median pay settlements in the three months to the end of June were worth 1.8 per cent for a third month in a row after a two-year run during which increases of 2 per cent had become the norm, according to XpertHR, an online human resources firm. — Reuters China legalises ridesharing services BEIJING: China on Thursday announced new rules governing ridesharing services, making clear for the first time that they are now legal in a giant market where US-based Uber is at loggerheads with local rival Didi Chuxing. China has become the world’s largest online car-hailing market, vice transport minister Liu Xiaoming told a briefing. “The legitimacy of Internet ridebooking services are clarified” in new regulations on taxi industry reforms and regulations on car-hailing apps, Liu said. Didi Chuxing said it was “the first time” any government had legalised online car-booking services at the national level, hailing the move as a “milestone”. Beijing’s stance on the sector had been ambivalent because while the apps have won public support, they threaten old-style taxis, — which often generates income for local authorities — and have been met with protests by cab drivers. The services have been banned in some cities. Liu said the new rules will support the development of online car-booking platforms, adding that private cars were encouraged to provide ridesharing services to “promote the sharing economy” and “ease traffic jams in cities and reduce air pollution”. Under the rules, the provinces where ridesharing apps are registered can issue them with a licence valid nationwide. Unlike traditional taxis, ridesharing cars are not subject to an eight-year service limit but can operate until they have accumulated 600,000 kilometres (372,822 miles) apparently addressing concerns of part-time drivers. — AFP Core capital goods orders rise 0.2pc * Core capital goods shipments fall 0.4pc * Durable goods orders tumble 4pc US durable goods orders data points to weak spending WASHINGTON: New orders for US manufactured capital goods rose less than expected in June amid weak demand for machinery, suggesting an ongoing downturn in business spending. Business investment remains soft despite data ranging from retail sales to housing suggesting that US economic growth has regained speed after growth almost stalled early in the year. The Commerce Department said on Wednesday non-defence capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, increased 0.2 per cent last month after decreasing 0.5 per cent in May. “Up is nice, but there doesn’t seem to be a major drive on the part of the companies to invest heavily,” said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pennsylvania. Weak business spending was acknowledged by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday, as the US central bank kept interest rates unchanged because concerns over inflation, even though it described the near-term risks to the economic outlook as having “diminished.” Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the so-called core capital goods orders rising 0.3 per cent last month. Prices for US government bonds rose on the data and the Fed’s interest rate decision, while the US dollar was little changed against a basket of currencies. US stocks were trading marginally lower later afternoon. Overall orders for durable goods, items ranging from toasters to aircraft that are meant to last three years or more, tumbled 4.0 per cent last month, the biggest drop since August 2014, after declining 2.8 per cent in May. Business spending has weakened since late 2015, in part as lower oil prices squeezed profits in the energy sector, forcing companies to cut capital spending budgets. Uncertainty over global demand and the upcoming US presidential election are also making companies cautious about spending, economists said. Prospects for a pick-up in business spending are less encouraging against the backdrop of lackluster corporate profits. “The bad news is not over. Everything conspiring against the durables sector in 2015 will remain working against it for at least the balance of 2016,” said Michael Montgomery, a US economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts. “The hope for 2017 is that the adjustment processes start to wind down and produce less drag and token recovery, but that feels like a vampire drinking your blood slower.” Shipments of core capital goods, which are used to calculate equipment spending in the government’s gross domestic product measurement, fell 0.4 per cent last month after sliding 0.5 per cent in May, suggesting business spending probably fell again in the second quarter. Should spending on equipment drop in the second quarter US GDP data due on Friday, that would be the first time since the 2007-2009 recession that outlays would have contracted for three straight quarters. According to a Reuters survey of economists, the government will likely report on Friday that GDP increased at a 2.6 per cent annual rate in the second quarter after rising at a 1.1 per cent pace in the January-March period. — Reuters omaninternational business 14 OMANDAILYOBSERVER F R I D A Y l J U LY 2 9 l 2 0 1 6 Nomura first quarter profit skids 32 pc Nomura Holdings Inc, Japan’s largest brokerage, said its first-quarter profit fell nearly a third as investors held onto savings rather than bet on assets like stocks and bonds, hit by uncertain global markets and negative interest rates. Nomura said on Thursday its April-June net profit dropped to 46.8 billion yen ($447 million) from 68.7 billion yen in the same period a year earlier. Lloyds to slash 3,000 jobs, close more branches LONDON: Lloyds Banking Group said on Thursday it would step up its cost cutting plans to help to offset a more testing economic environment caused by Britain’s vote to quit the European Union. Britain’s largest retail bank aims to save 400 million pounds ($528.56 million) by end-2017 by axing a further 3,000 jobs and closing an additional 200 branches to protect its earnings and dividends against the effects of lowerfor-longer interest rates. Lloyds, rescued in a 20.5 billion pound taxpayer bail-out during the financial crisis, is the first major British bank to report results since the referendum and is the most exposed to any downturn in the British economy. Chief Executive Officer Antonio Horta-Osório is searching for ways to prop up Lloyds’ dividend, one of its key attractions, and sustain profit growth in its main UK consumer and commercial lending market, still reeling from the Brexit result on June 24. “While the business will remain highly capital generative, it is possible that this capital generation may be somewhat lower in future years than previously guided,” the bank said in a statement. So far this year, Lloyds has already said it would cut about 4,000 positions from its 75,000-strong workforce and has closed nearly 100 branches this year. The bank also said it would look to streamline its non-branch property portfolio by around 30 per cent by the end of 2018. “Lloyds remains a no growth bank,” Ian Gordon, an analyst at Investec, said. “Its revenue outlook is flattish, hence its costs need to fall faster.” Smartphone sales drive Samsung Q2 profit SEOUL: Solid sales of its flagship smartphone and an aggressive costcutting drive saw Samsung Electronics on Thursday post a better-thanexpected gain in net profit for the second quarter. The giant South Korean conglomerate said its key mobile division enjoyed “substantial earnings improvement” in the April-June period led by expanded sales of its high-end Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge phones. Industry trackers estimate that the world’s largest smartphone maker has sold about 26 million units of the S7 since it hit stores in March ahead of launches by competitors, including arch-rival Apple. The mobile division accounts for the lion’s share of Samsung’s business, but it has been increasingly squeezed by competition both from Apple’s iPhone and by lowerend devices from Chinese rivals such as Huawei. Samsung’s overall net profit for the second quarter stood at 5.85 trillion won ($5.2 billion), up 1.7 per cent from the previous year and slightly above analyst estimates. Operating profit was up nearly 18 per cent at 8.1 trillion won, Samsung said in an earnings statement, reflecting a sizeable cut in mobile marketing costs — partly due to the underwhelming performance of the iPhone. The Samsung earnings came two days after Apple announced a 27 per cent second quarter profit slump on a sharp drop in sales of its iconic handset. Television and component sales were also strong in the April-June period, Samsung said, with increased profits among premium product ranges. “Looking ahead to the second half of 2016, the company expects its solid performance to continue... mainly driven by earnings increase in the component business due to sales growth in high value-added products,” the statement said. It also flagged a likely rise in mobile division marketing costs with the launch of its latest outsized Galaxy Note smartphone next week. The Note series has never had as much of a sales impact as the S-series smartphone, and there will be increased competition with a new iPhone set for release later in the year. — AFP Facebook trounces Wall St estimates NEW YORK: Facebook Inc provided more evidence that it can turn eyeballs into profit as the maker of the world’s most popular app and social website trounced Wall Street’s estimates, sending its shares to an all-time high. The leading social media company’s mobile app and push into video attracted new advertisers and encouraged existing ones to spend more. It now has more than 1.7 billion monthly users, well ahead of any rivals. Its shares were up 5.4 per cent in after-hours trading at $130.01, after hitting their highest since the company went public in 2012. “Facebook has shown that you can be a giant and you can be innovative,” said analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy. “What is working very well is their very quick shift from desktop to mobility. This was their biggest issue when they went public.” Facebook is adapting better to the shift towards mobile and video than social media rival Twitter Inc, which reported its slowest quarterly revenue growth in three years on Wednesday. Mobile advertising revenue accounted for 84 per cent of the company’s total advertising revenue, compared with 76 per cent a year earlier. Total advertising revenue surged 63 per cent to $6.24 billion, beating the average analyst estimate of $5.80 billion, according to market research firm FactSet StreetAccount. The company also saw strong growth in monthly active users, now boasting 1.71 billion as of June 30, up from 1.49 billion a year earlier. Time spent on its suite of apps, including the main Facebook app, Instagram and Messenger, increased “double digit percentages,” Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said. David Wehner, Facebook’s chief financial officer, pointed to Asia-Pacific, especially India, as one of the most promising areas for continued user growth. The region “has been a consistently good performer for us over the last several quarters and we will continue to invest our global sales resources to drive opportunities there,” Wehner said in an interview. — Reuters Lloyds’ shares were down 2.5 per cent at 54.36 pence by 07:49 GMT partly in response to its cautious tone on future capital generation and its possible impact on dividends. PROFIT Britain’s vote to leave the EU came at the end of the bank’s fiscal first half, so the likely impact on lending volumes will not become clear until the third quarter and beyond. Horta-Osorio said the bank’s strategy to grow revenues in a low rate environment would involve expanding in car finance, credit cards and insurance. Finance Director George Culmer declined to comment on speculation that Lloyds would make a bid for MBNA, Bank of America’s credit card business. Lloyds reported a forecast-beating first-half statutory pretax profit of 2.45 billion pounds ($3.3 billion) in the six months to June 30, more than double the sum achieved in the same period last year. Income for the first half of the year came in at 8.9 billion pounds, just below the 2015 figure. The bank said its net interest margin — a key performance measure — had widened to 2.74 per cent over the period. It affirmed previous guidance of about 2.7 per cent for the full financial year. But a rise in troubled loans by almost a third to 254 million pounds took the shine off the profit beat and robust net interest margin performance and offered MUSCAT SECURITIES MARKET * 200 branches to close amid tough economic outlook * First-half pretax profit £2.45 bn a glimpse of tougher times that might lie ahead. Lloyds said it would pay an interim dividend of 0.85 pence, up 13 per cent on last year. The government has put on hold plans to sell its remaining stake in Lloyds in the aftermath of the EU vote, according to people familiar with the process. Lloyds’ shares have lost about a quarter of their value since the vote. international business siness Asia stock markets head for October high after Fed Avnet offers to buy UK’s Premier Farnell US electric component distributor Avnet Inc agreed to buy Britain’s Premier Farnell Plc for £691 million ($910.7 million) in cash, becoming the second suitor for the mini-computer maker. The 185-pence pershare offer represents a premium of 12.5 per cent to the Raspberry Pi maker’s closing price on Wednesday. Switzerland’s Daetwyler Holding had offered to buy Farnell for about £792 in cash on June 14. A woman uses a mobile phone in front of an electronic stock indicator of a securities firm in Tokyo. TOKYO: Asian stocks rose toward a nine-month high after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged and signalled a gradual approach to tightening. The stronger yen drove Tokyo shares lower as investors awaited the Bank of Japan’s policy decision on Friday. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.2 per cent to 135.02 as of 4:10 pm in Hong Kong, its fourth day of increases. The gauge had fluctuated between gains and losses at least four times. Japan’s Topix index declined 1.1 per cent, erasing on Wednesday’s advance. The BoJ is widely expected to add to stimulus at the end of a two-day meeting. Global equities have been volatile before this week’s central bank policy meetings. “The Fed’s decisions were expected,” Mitsushige Akino, a Tokyo-based executive officer at Ichiyoshi Asset Management Co. “There’ll be a tug of war between selling on expectations the BoJ will disappoint, and short-covering for individual shares that will push the market up.” The Fed said risks to the US economy have subsided as the central bank takes stock in the wake of the UK’s vote to leave the European Union. Chair Janet Yellen has repeatedly stated that the Fed is likely to raise borrowing costs gradually. In Japan, traders are looking to the monetary policy review, after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced a fiscalstimulus package exceeding 28 trillion yen ($265 billion) in a bid to jump-start Asia’s second-largest economy. “We’ve got the fiscal spending package out of the way and that seems to be in line with the sort of upper end of expectations, but we don’t see it being a huge catalyst for markets to move materially higher on the back of that,” said Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG Ltd in Melbourne. “I think the move down in dollar yen is VW says net profit falls 57pc in Q2 FRANKFURT: Scandal-struck car manufacturer Volkswagen said on Thursday that its profits fell in the second quarter by 57 per cent to 1.15 billion euros ($1.3 billion). Second-quarter profits were weighed down by almost 2.5 billion euros of special items, mostly related to 2015’s diesel emissions cheating scandal. “Further enormous feats of strength will be needed to contain the high costs of the diesel question,” finance director Frank Witter said in a statement. The group obtained provisional approval in July for a $14.7 billion settlement to US buyers of some Audi and Volkswagen diesel vehicles, putting one important element of the fallout behind it. But risks remain from other legal cases dragging on in the US and Germany, where prosecutors have broadened their investigation into the diesel emissions cheating. VW shares fell by just over two per cent in early trading on the Frankfurt stock exchange in response to the result. The full second-quarter figures come one week after a provisional release of better-than expected results for the first six months of 2016. Thursday’s figures were boosted by higher unit sales of luxury models from Audi and Porsche and mid-range Skoda over the first half of the year. But the group’s core Volkswagenbranded vehicles saw a decline of almost one per cent in sales in the six months from January to June compared with the same period in 2015. Across the whole group, unit sales took a seven-per cent blow in the United States over the first half of the year but rose by almost the same amount in China, while western Europe saw a more modest increment of 2.5 per cent. — AFP Spanish jobless rate close to six-year low as tourism booms MADRID: Spain’s unemployment rate fell to its lowest in nearly six years in the second quarter, fuelled by a tourism boom and underpinned by three years of solid economic growth. But much of the jobs recovery has been built on short-term contracts, emphasising the need for labour reforms that have been delayed by a seven-month political stalemate. The jobless rate fell to 20 per cent of the workforce in the April to June period, the National Statistics’ Institute (INE) said on Thursday, its lowest level since the third quarter of 2010 and down from 21 per cent in the previous quarter. The overall number of unemployed stood at 4.57 million in the second quarter, INE said, a low not reached since the end of 2009. The economic recovery, following a deep recession that wiped out millions of jobs, has driven a steady turnaround in the labour market, though Spain’s unemployment rate remains the second-highest in Europe after Greece. A buoyant tourism industry has helped jobs return, as restaurants, hotels and resorts take on extra staff. Visitors have flocked to Spain in preference to many Mediterranean destinations further east, where security concerns have become increasingly acute. JOBS AND POLITICS: But Spain’s labour market still relies more heavily than many across Europe on shortterm contracts, storing up problems for the economy at a time of political deadlock following two inconclusive parliamentary elections. Spanish parties have been unable to agree on a new government since a December ballot that delivered a hung parliament, with a re-run in June producing a similar result. High unemployment, the abundance of seasonal work and of jobs in lowerpaid, low-skilled sectors have sapped contributions to Spain’s social security system, leaving it short of revenues to foot payouts on pensions. The welfare shortfall has scuppered efforts to tackle an excessive public deficit, pushing the European Commission to grant Spain a further two-year extension to bring it under a recommended threshold of 3 per cent. Political leaders jockeying for power have pushed for a further crackdown on abusive temporary contracts and reforms to improve workforce training, while many agree that the social security pot’s funding model needs an overhaul. But in the absence of a government, those reforms are on the backburner, at a time when they may be more urgently required than ever after Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, some analysts argue. — Reuters probably the bigger issue for Japanese markets today.” Chinese stocks staged an afternoon recovery to edge higher amid speculation a sell-off that sent the benchmark equity gauge to its steepest loss in six weeks was excessive. The Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.1 per cent higher, reversing earlier losses of as much as 0.8 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.2 per cent. Chinese equities sank on concern regulators will restrict investments in equities. The China Banking Regulatory Commission is said to be planning a crackdown on the $3.5 trillion wealth management product market. The initial draft states that cash from “mass market” wealth products can only be invested in money or bond markets, and not in domestically listed shares, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index added 0.3 per cent to the highest close since August 2015. Economists expect the nation’s central bank to cut interest rates next week as consumer-price growth in the country remained subdued in the second quarter. New Zealand’s S&P/ NZX 50 Index gained 0.1 per cent. India’s S&P BSE Sensex climbed 0.4 per cent, heading for the highest close since August 2015, as the Cabinet eased rules that would clear the way for passing the national sales tax bill in parliament. Japan’s Topix index declined as the yen strengthened 0.8 per cent to 104.59 against the dollar. The currency sank 0.7 per cent on Wednesday. South Korea’s Kospi index lost 0.2 per cent and Singapore’s Straits Times Index dropped BIZ BRIEF BAE Systems says profits boosted by defence demand LONDON: BAE Systems, the British maker of military equipment, posted a modest increase in first-half profits on Thursday on the back of rebounding demand from governments worldwide. Net profits rose almost five per cent to £408 million ($536 million, 487 million euros) in the six months to the end of June, compared with £390 million a year earlier, BAE said in a results statement. “Despite economic and political uncertainties, governments in our major markets continue to prioritise national security, with strong demand for our capabilities,” said chief executive Ian King. “In the United States, we are seeing encouraging signs of a return to growth in defence budgets and improved prospects for our core franchises.” The maker of Astute submarines and Eurofighter warplanes is gaining new orders as mounting tensions between its main government clients in NATO and China and Russia prompt a reversal of military-budget cuts that followed the 2008 global recession. BAE is also seeking customers in new countries and more revenue from outside the defence area through acquisitions in recent years to bolster its cyber-security business. The company will meanwhile win an earnings boost after Britain’s parliament gave the green light last week to replace the ageing submarines that carry the nation’s nuclear arsenal. British lawmakers approved the construction of four new submarines to carry the Trident missile system and their nuclear warheads. An order that the company’s Italian partner in Eurofighter, Leonardo-Finmeccanica SpA, signed in April to supply 28 of the jets to Kuwait, will provide £1 billion worth of work for BAE, it added on Thursday. — AFP OMANDAILYOBSERVER F R I D A Y l J U LY 2 9 l 2 0 1 6 15 Oil slightly higher after five-day slump SINGAPORE: Oil prices edged up in Asia on Thursday after slumping for five-straight sessions to a three-month low after a surprise jump in US stockpiles built on increasing worries about a global supply glut. US energy department data showed on Wednesday that inventories were 13.4 per cent higher on-year, while gasoline stocks were up 11.8 per cent, indicating demand remains weak as the peak holiday driving season comes to a close. The news sent Brent tumbling three per cent and West Texas Intermediate more than two per cent down to sit at levels not seen since April, with both contracts now down about a fifth from their 2016 highs above $50 early last month. On Thursday bargain-buyers moved in, helped by a weaker dollar after the Federal Reserve indicated any US interest rate increase would be slow and measured. At about 0320 GMT, US Benchmark West Texas Intermediate was up eight cents to $42.00 a barrel while North Sea Brent was up six cents at $43.53. “There is still a surplus and the oil price is going to have difficulty sustaining any rally because of that,” David Lennox, an analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney, told Bloomberg News. “We’re now heading toward the end of the drive season and the market is probably going to weaken further. The $40 a barrel level looks like the base at the moment.” Prices fell to near 13-year lows below $30 a barrel in February, hit by an oversupply, tepid global growth, low demand and worries over China’s slowing economy. — AFP 0.9 per cent. Rio Tinto Ltd climbed 2.1 per cent in Sydney, pacing gains among mining companies as copper and iron ore advanced. Hitachi High-Technologies Corp surged 13 per cent in Tokyo after the electronics maker boosted its firsthalf profit forecast. Fujifilm Holdings Corp slumped 9.9 per cent after posting first-quarter net income that missed analyst expectations. Futures on the S&P 500 Index rose 0.2 per cent. The US equity benchmark index slipped 0.1 per cent on Wednesday following the Fed’s policy decision, with earnings and the price of crude largely setting the tone for individual shares. — Bloomberg SoftBank profit jumps 19pc on Alibaba sale TOKYO: Japan’s SoftBank said on Thursday net profit jumped 19 per cent in its fiscal first quarter owing to gains from selling some of its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, offsetting losses at US mobile unit Sprint. The company, which also pointed to upbeat results in its domestic business, reported a 254.16 billion yen ($2.4 billion) net profit in April-June. The profit largely came from booking some of its partial sale of Chinese commerce giant Alibaba. Softbank is looking to cut its stake in Alibaba from 32.2 per cent to about 28 per cent, which it expects to rake in about $10 billion. Alibaba — often described as China’s equivalent to eBay — dominates online commerce in the country. SoftBank, which said its revenue in the quarter rose three per cent to 2.13 trillion yen, surprised markets this month when it announced the whopping $32 billion purchase of British iPhone chip designer ARM Holdings. But its stock took a hammering as the huge deal aggravated concerns about SoftBank’s balance sheet after a string of earlier acquisitions — including the $21.6 billion purchase of still-unprofitable Sprint several years ago. “The ARM acquisition will have a major balance sheet impact in the short term and there has yet to be a satisfactory explanation of how and when it will become a core business for SoftBank,” Tomohisa Nonomura, an analyst at Toyo Securities, said. SoftBank has been selling off some assets, including a stake in Finnish game-maker Supercell, creator of “Clash of Clans”, to China’s Tencent, as it looks to pay down more than $100 billion in debt. — AFP People shop at a supemarket in Bangkok.— Reuters Carrefour profits plunge 40pc to $143m PARIS: French supermarket group Carrefour said on Thursday its half-year net profit tumbled due to one-off items and as low fuel prices and currency rates ate away at sales. It said net profits for the period were 129 million euros ($143 million), down 40.8 per cent and just below analysts’ forecasts. Excluding exceptional items linked to restructuring costs, profits were up slightly at 235 million euros. Second-quarter sales slid 4.1 per cent to 20.5 billion euros, also slightly lower than analysts’ forecasts. The retailer said that adverse exchange rate fluctuations had a six percentage point impact on sales and operating earnings in the first half of the year, while low fuel prices had a 1 per cent impact. The retailer operates filling stations at its shops in numerous countries. In the second quarter, sales rose by 2.6 per cent when stripped of currency changes and number of stores. That was lower than the 3.8 per cent organic growth in sales in the first quarter of the year, however. The retailer described the sales as resilient given the “more difficult consumption environment, notably marked by unfavourable weather conditions” in France and Europe. It noted very strong growth in emerging markets, in particular in Latin America and Taiwan. — AFP perspective business 16 OMANDAILYOBSERVER F R I D A Y l J U LY 2 9 l 2 0 1 6 *US shale gas shaking up global markets OIL GLUT S HALE drillers from Pennsylvania to Texas flooded the US with so much natural gas over the past decade that prices slid to a 17-year low. Now they’re going global, with the potential to upset markets from London to Tokyo. The US began shale gas exports by sea this year and is projected by the International Energy Agency to become the world’s third-largest liquefied natural gas supplier in five years. Gas will challenge coal at European power plants and become affordable in emerging markets, where prices have been high and supplies limited, according to the IEA and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. LNG became the world’s second most traded commodity after oil last year and demand will keep growing, Goldman said. US gas is adding to the global glut triggered by new Australian supply and weakening Asian consumption. Shale is having an outsized impact on how LNG is sold, prompting spot trading in lieu of long-term contracts. “The US clearly changed the picture,” Costanza Jacazio, a senior gas analyst with the Paris-based IEA, said in a phone interview. “It’s going basically from zero to the third-largest LNG capacity holder in the space of five years and it brings a new flexible dimension to the LNG market.” With supplies growing, some Asian nations like Japan are contracted to buy more than they can consume, leaving surpluses to be sold. That’s lured major traders into the LNG market in recent years, including Vitol Group, Trafigura Group, Koch Industries Inc., Gunvor US gas is adding to the global glut triggered by new Australian supply and weakening Asian consumption. Shale is having an outsized impact on how LNG is sold, prompting spot trading in lieu of long-term contracts. Group Ltd and Noble Group, the IEA said. The annual capacity of liquefaction plants, where gas is chilled and compressed for shipping, grew to 415 billion cubic meters in 2015 and will expand to 595 billion by 2021, according to the energy agency. Cheniere Energy Inc has sent 19 tankers of the liquefied gas abroad from its Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana. By 2020, five terminals will be operating on the US Gulf Coast and in Maryland. Global export capacity will surge 45 per cent and the US’s share will jump to 14 per cent from nothing, according to Energy Aspects Ltd. While US supply is still relatively small, it’s having an impact because the American contracts are flexible. Australian and other foreign processors conclude long-term agreements to send gas to specific countries such as Japan and China. Asian buyers have contracted for more than half of the US supply, but they have the freedom to ship the fuel to anywhere in the world, encouraging spot trading. Global Prices The change will weigh on already low global LNG prices. The WGI Northeast Asia spot LNG price has averaged just $5 per million British thermal units this year, a premium of $2.86 over benchmark US prices. Two years ago, the gap was about $11. The premium for UK futures to the US narrowed by about half to $2. The widening of the Panama Canal is going to have an impact as well. It’s now able to handle most of the world’s LNG tankers and will reduce time and costs for US cargoes to destinations such as Chile and Japan. This week, Maran Gas Apollonia became the first LNG tanker to pass through the newly enlarged Panama Canal after picking up a cargo at Cheniere’s terminal in Louisiana. It’s carrying the shale gas to the Far East, according to an official at Maran Gas Maritime Inc. By 2021, the US may dispatch as many as 550 tankers a year through the waterway, the US Energy Information Administration forecasts. Most of Cheniere’s cargoes so far have gone to South America buyers in Brazil, Argentina and Chile. Costs to ship to Chile will plunge with the canal expansion, the EIA said. Creating Competition Shale gas created intense competition between coal and gas in the US, and now US LNG may fuel European gas plants that are operating at about 20 per cent of capacity on average, Christian Lel ong, a New York-based analyst with Goldman, said in a phone interview. Last year, LNG trade reached about $120 billion, making it the secondlargest commodity traded globally, surpassing iron ore, he said. Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan and Poland all became LNG importers last year for the first time. Indonesia’s Arun terminal, which started producing LNG in 1977, has been converted for imports, according to the IEA. In emerging markets, smaller and cheaper floating import vessels have become popular. They cost $200 million to $300 million compared with $1 billion or more for larger onshore plants. Egypt got its first two floating units last year and has been operating them at maximum capacity, said Jason Feer, head of business intelligence with ship brokerage Poten & Partners in Houston. There are 19 operating worldwide, with plans for as many as 15 more, he said. “There are markets like Bangladesh and Pakistan where traditionally they would have gone with coal but now gas can be the cheaper option once you include the cost of new infrastructure,” LeLong of Goldman said. “You are seeing these energy poor countries often with poor credit ratings turning to LNG.” — Bloomberg *Inequality is key to making sense *Venezuela roils WIDENING WEALTH DISPARITY BOLIVAR PLUNGE of Russian consumer plight R USSIAN consumer numbers don’t add up. A record slide in retail sales for 18 months has been immune to gains in employment and wages, improving confidence and inflation at less than half last year’s level. Widening wealth disparity may be the key to the unprecedented collapse in demand, according to Alfa Bank and VTB Capital. “We attribute the muddled household data to rising inequality of income distribution,” Natalia Orlova, chief economist at Alfa Bank in Moscow, said in a report. “Heightened inequality is the result of the freeze on public sector salaries since 2015.” While growing inequality has dogged Russia since the Soviet collapse a quarter century ago, enough wealth trickled down during the oil boom years to double the middle class to more than 60 per cent of the population and turn consumer demand into the engine of the economy. Much of that has been undone by the fallout of the crash in crude prices. The widening wealth divide is an issue animating politics and policy from the UK to the US The recovery in the US since the financial crisis has not been felt by all parts of society, fuelling support for populist candidates in its presidential election campaign. Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane said in a speech last month that the uneven nature of the economic rebound in the UK — across regions as well as income and age groups — is one reason why improvements in spending, prices and wages have been “modest.” As millions sank into poverty in Russia last year, it’s the top earners — more prone to saving and with smaller propensity to spend — who are primarily benefiting from higher incomes. While household deposits jumped 1.1 per corporate profits around the globe U S companies operating in Venezuela have escalated the use of an accounting manoeuvre to insulate themselves from a worsening economic crisis in the South American country that has erased more than $10 billion in profits over the past cent in May from the previous month, growth in retail loans has been negative or near zero for a year, according to the central bank. To the extent that the wealthiest do spend, they are a boon to companies like Apple Inc, which said on Tuesday that its sales in Russia doubled from a year earlier. MD Medical Group Investments Plc, which runs Russia’s largest chain of maternity centres, reported that total deliveries rose 24 per cent in the second quarter from a year earlier. Etalon Group Ltd, a developer with a focus on middle-class residential real estate, has said that the crisis is over as demand for apartments picks up. Private industries are driving the acceleration in pay, while workers in the public sector, which employs as much as a quarter of the total labour force, are only seeing increases of 4 per cent to 6 per cent, according to Alfa Bank. Federal Statistics Service data show As millions sank into poverty in Russia last year, it’s the top earners — more prone to saving and with smaller propensity to spend — who are primarily benefiting from higher incomes. nominal wages surged 9 per cent last month from a year earlier after a gain of 8.4 per cent in May. The “tight” historical link between the growth pace of retail trade and real wages no longer holds, according to VTB Capital. Although salaries adjusted for inflation have grown in four of the past five months, a contraction in retail sales has stayed near or below 5 per cent all year. Meanwhile, the World Bank predicts the poverty rate will increase to 14.2 per cent in 2016 from 13.4 per cent in 2015, returning it to levels last seen in 2007. The number of Russians considered poor already grew by 3.1 million to 19.2 million last year, the most since 2006. The plight of households is playing out in the market, with the Micex Consumer Goods and Services Index of nine stocks falling 0.2 per cent this year. The broader Micex Index is up more than 10 per cent. While higher oil prices ushered in an unprecedented increase in living standards over the past decade, inequality has grown since Vladimir Putin took power, as measured by the Gini coefficient. The top decile of the richest Russians controls 87 per cent of all household wealth in the country, a share that’s “significantly higher” than in any other major economic power, Credit Suisse Group AG said in its latest Global Wealth Report last year. — Bloomberg 18 months. A growing number of US companies, including Colgate-Palmolive, Procter & Gamble and PepsiCo , began deconsolidating the financial results of their Venezuelan operations in 2015 because of the plunging value of the country’s bolivar currency and their inability to set prices on products such as shampoo and laundry detergent. The OPEC nation’s unprecedented economic collapse has caused massive shortages, forcing tens of thousands of Venezuelans to stream across the border for basic goods. Deconsolidation means that Venezuela operations can largely no longer hurt or benefit a US parent company’s financial results. Often companies are taking a big one-time charge against earnings so that they can ring-fence what is left in Venezuela. Avon Products Inc took an after-tax loss of about $120 million in the first quarter as part of its deconsolidation move. Meanwhile, companies around the globe that have not deconsolidated their Venezuela operations are suffering hits to their income statements. Or they have signalled future write-downs if the country’s economy remains in severe distress. At the start of 2015, many companies valued their assets using the then-official exchange rate of 6.3 bolivars per dollar. But getting that most favourable rate under a multi-tier currency system was unrealistic amid a severe shortage of dollars. In March, Venezuela announced the creation of two new exchange rates. The so-called Dipro rate of 10 bolivars per dollar is mainly for priority food and medicines. The other is a floating rate that adjusts based on supply and demand. It has weakened to 641 bolivars per dollar. And on the black market, one dollar costs Venezuelans more than 1,000 bolivars, according to currency website dolartoday.com. Several US, European and Asian drug companies have reduced shipments of medicine because they are not able to exchange bolivars for dollars. Pfizer Inc has disclosed in regulatory filings that it may not be able to operate in Venezuela as it has historically. Automaker General Motors Co said its Venezuelan operations may need additional financial support, but no decision has been made to provide it. — Reuters badminton/olympics sport OMANDAILYOBSERVER F R I D A Y l J U LY 2 9 l 2 0 1 6 Flamenco queen Marin goes for landmark badminton gold I danced flamenco and thanks to a friend I got to know badminton. They are very different, but there are some movements in dancing flamenco, above all the fluidity of my body, which helps me play badminton. MADRID: Inspired by a love of flamenco dancing and sporting hero Rafael Nadal, Spain’s Carolina Marin dreams of becoming the first European woman to win a badminton Olympic gold in Rio. Marin’s ambitions are lofty but realistic. She is a two-time world champion in a sport normally dominated by Asia. She is also ranked number one in the world and has blazed the trail for badminton in Spain where minority sports struggle for funding and attention in the shadows of the nation’s star-studded football teams. “It is an obsession and an ambitious objective,” said Marin at the end of another day’s training at the performance centre in Madrid she describes as “home.” “It will be more difficult than the world championships because there is more pressure, the expectations from the press and the people are very different to a world or European championship. But I am desperate for it to come and, above all, enjoy the Olympic games.” Marin was dumped out in the first round in London four years ago as a 19-year-old by gold medal winner Li Xuerui of China, but much has changed since winning the world championships for the first time two years ago. She retained her world title in Indonesia last year and won the European championships for a second time in May to consolidate her place as world number one and the only European player in the top 10. “The secret of all this is in the work we have done. Many hours in this centre, which is my home. It is the fundamental key to my climb up the rankings.” Yet, another key to the unexpected rise of a girl from Huelva on Spain’s sunny southwest coast to world number one was her love of flamenco as a youngster. “I danced flamenco and thanks to a friend I got to know badminton. “They are very different, but there are some movements in dancing flamenco, above all the fluidity of my body, which helps me play badminton.” Marin will follow Nadal as Spain’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony on August 5. Yet, despite speaking of the 14time tennis grand slam champion in reverential terms, she admitted she has Day, McIlroy among early starters as PGA begins SPRINGFIELD: World number one Jason Day, four-time major champion Rory McIlroy and five-time major winner Phil Mickelson were poised to make morning charges at Baltusrol as the 98th PGA Championship began Thursday. Sunny skies greeted the early starters from the field of 156, the strongest lineup of talent in any event based on world rankings since their 1986 creation. The 7,428-yard, par-70 layout features only two par-5 holes, those at 17 and 18 to ensure drama and eagle chances to the end. Defending champion Day has struggled in the run-up to the year’s final major tournament with only a Wednesday practice round, an illness and a hospital trip after his wife Ellie suffered an allergic reaction after the Champions Dinner on Tuesday. “I really don’t look at it as a title defence,” Day said after having taken his first major title last year at Whistling Straits. “I really look at it as I need to come back in, try and execute a game plan and try and win the tournament. I won it last year. That was fantastic and I need to focus on what I need to do this year to win the Wanamaker Trophy again.” McIlroy, playing alongside Day, won the Irish Open and has nine other top10 showings in US and European Tour events this year, including a share of fifth at the British Open two weeks ago. “I feel like my game is in good shape,” McIlroy said. “Everything is straight out in front of you. There’s no real hidden secrets to it. That’s what really let’s me excel. I feel like I can play my game in PGA Championships. I can hit driver off the tee and from there, if I drive it well, I feel like I have a big advantage.” — AFP READY FOR SHOWDOWN Lee unfazed by possible last-four clash with Lin LONDON: World number one Lee Chong Wei is not ready to dwell on the prospect of facing arch-rival Lin Dan of China in the Rio Olympics semi-finals, after both shuttlers were drawn in the same half for the Games. Lee, who will play in his fourth Olympics next month, will be looking to end his long wait for an elusive Olympic gold at the Riocentro venue, after losing out to double Olympic champion Lin in the finals of the Beijing and London Games. The Malaysian said he was happy with the draw handed to him, despite being in the same half with his Chinese nemesis. “The draw is okay for me compared to others, but I want to take it one match at a time,” Lee told Malaysian media. “I know Lin Dan is in the same half with me, but I don’t want to think until the semis yet. “This is the Olympics and everyone will give his best to win. When I’m playing him (Lin) then I’ll deal with him,” The 33-year-old hoped that his experience would give him an edge over his competitors in his last Games appearance. “I hope I can do well in my fourth and last Olympics. I’ve learnt over the years how to deal with pressure,” Lee added. “I will fight in every match and, if I lose after giving my best, it’s perhaps fated.” The badminton competition at the Rio Olympics will take place from August 11-20. — AFP Great haul of China not assured at Rio MELBOURNE: World badminton will hope a more open field and a European resurgence can inject more excitement at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics and help banish memories of London’s scandalplagued tournament where China swept all titles. The genteel racquet sport suffered its greatest Olympic humiliation at London where four pairs in the women’s doubles were disqualified for deliberately trying to lose pool matches to secure more favourable draws in the knockout phase. The scandal, which cast a pall over China and two other top Asian teams, prompted a change to the Games format to ensure there can be no repeat of the chaotic scenes at Wembley Arena where spectators jeered and hurled abuse as players dumped successive already done more for badminton in her homeland than even Nadal has for tennis. “Before Nadal we had already discovered tennis. Manolo Santana was the one that opened tennis to Spain. shots into the net. If it’s possible to win glory and infamy in one tournament, China managed it as they shrugged off the disqualification of their world champion women’s pair Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli to clinch all five gold medals. In all, the Chinese won eight of the 15 medals on offer, six more than second-placed Denmark. At the Riocentro venue, all of China’s singles and doubles contenders could easily grab podium places but the days of gold medal deciders fought exclusively by shuttlers in identical red shirts may be gone for good. Nations are now limited to two entrants in each event, down from the three at London and previous Games, a move intended to increase However, I am the one who has opened badminton to Spain. “I feel very proud and fortunate to have done so. Hopefully in the future we will have more Spanish champions.” 17 competition. The rule change has coincided with a European resurgence which has raised hopes of a more open tournament. Long China’s exclusive domain, the women’s top ranking is now held by a Spaniard in world champion Carolina Marin, while a pair of Danes in Viktor Axelsen and Jan Jorgensen round out the men’s top five. Devoted fans will be salivating at the prospect of another Olympic showdown between Chinese champion Lin Dan and Malaysian world number one Lee Chong Wei in the men’s singles. Lin, badminton’s answer to tennis’s Roger Federer, defeated Lee in both gold medal matches at Beijing and London but his Malaysian arch-rival has found form at the right time. — Reuters Gone are the days when she says taxi drivers used to ask her what badminton was when she arrived back from international competitions with racket in hand. “After the first world championship nobody asked me ‘what is badminton?’ People recognise me in the streets, when I get into a taxi they congratulate me and say they are honoured to give me a lift, so things have changed a lot in Spain.” Gold on August 19 could see Marin catapulted even further into the media spotlight if she can see off the likes of Chinese world number two Wang Yihan, defending champion Li and Indonesia’s Ratchanok Intanon, who has been cleared of an anti-doping violation, to take part. And unlike many tennis and golf stars, Marin insisted she won’t let fears of the Zika virus ruin her dreams of Olympic gold. “When I heard about the mosquito problem I was worried more than anything because you could get ill during the Olympics. “To think that after all the preparation we have done to get there and then you could get ill when you are there. “But for sure we will have the means to avoid that.” “The doctors will take all the precautions and in the end the player has to trust in the doctors, physios and team that surrounds them.” — AFP cricket sport 18 OMANDAILYOBSERVER F R I D A Y l J U LY 2 9 l 2 0 1 6 Saqlain set for another stint as England spin guru Magnificent Mendis revives Sri Lanka with maiden ton Kusal Mendis plays a shot during the third day of the opening Test match between Sri Lanka and Australia in Pallekele on Thursday. — AFP PALLEKELE: Sri Lankan Kusal Mendis struck a majestic maiden test century on day three of the first test against Australia to leave the bowler-dominated contest evenly poised at Pallekele on Thursday. The 21-year-old was unbeaten on 169 — 52 runs more than his team managed in the first innings — when rain forced the players off the ground 10 overs after tea with Sri Lanka on 282-6. Dilruwan Perera was on five with Sri Lanka leading by 196 runs with four wickets in hand as rain continued to plague the test which has already seen the final sessions of the first two days washed out. Resuming on six for one, Sri Lanka lost Dimuth Karunaratne Oman unveils national cricket ‘A’ team MUSCAT: Oman Cricket unveiled its national ‘A’ squad for the first time in its history. The aim of the A squad is to recognise the emerging players with the Oman domestic leagues who fall under the 2-4 year category, and groom them for national honors. The A side will serve as a feeder team for the national squad. The players were picked based on their season 201516 performance. The squad will be picked on a year basis dependent on domestic performance. Coach Duleep Mendis said, “The A side will train separately and will be closely monitored by the national team coaches and selection panel. The A team will undertake development tours in the future in order to gain more exposure and improve the standard of Cricket in Oman.” Team: Twinkal Bhandari, Jay Odedra, Jayesh Odedra, Jaspreet Singh, Sudeep Chavan, Badal Singh, Sindo Mical, Ram Kumar, Fayaz al Hassan, Kaleem Ullah, Asif Pathan, Jaymin Taylor and Nestor Dhamba. Ireland trio set for Pakistan ODI return LONDON: Ireland are set to welcome back Niall O’Brien, Craig Young and Boyd Rankin for their forthcoming one-day international series against Pakistan. The trio all missed the recent drawn series against Afghanistan but will be available for next month’s two ODIs with at Malahide, near Dublin. O’Brien, who struck 72 in Ireland’s 2007 World Cup win over Pakistan, is fit following a calf problem, while Young is back after an elbow injury. — AFP to Mitchell Starc in the third delivery of the day. Steve O’Keefe dismissed Kaushal Silva and his spin partner Nathan Lyon sent back home captain Angelo Mathews (nine) to reduce Sri Lanka to 86-4. Mendis then forged two important partnerships to rebuild the Sri Lankan innings, raising 117 runs — comfortably the highest of the match so far — with Dinesh Chandimal (42) and 71 with Dhananjaya de Silva (36) to haul his team back into the contest. In a match where no other batsman has managed a fifty, Mendis brought up his maiden hundred in style, slogsweeping O’Keefe over midwicket for six. Lyon dismissed de Silva for his 200th test wicket but Mendis was unfazed at the other end, sweeping the spinners and cutting the pacemen with equal ease. With Mendis on song, Sri Lanka completely dominated the post-lunch session, adding 137 runs at a four-plus run rate for the loss of Chandimal’s wicket. Mendis hit 20 boundaries, including a couple of glorious cover drives, in his 243-ball masterclass and had contributed nearly 60 per cent of the team score in the second innings. The visitors’ woes were compounded when spinner O’Keefe hobbled off the ground, Cricket Australia later confirming in a tweet that he has a “right hamstring issue”. — Reuters Australia’s Lyon enters 200 wicket-club PALLEKELE: Australia’s Nathan Lyon on Thursday became the country’s first off-spinner to bag 200 Test wickets, during his team’s first Test against Sri Lanka in Pallekele. Lyon claimed Sri Lanka’s Dhananjaya de Silva, who was caught at midoff, to reach the milestone in the second session of the third day’s play, triggering celebrations in the Aussie camp. Lyon, who had already passed former Australian off-spinner Hugh Trumble’s tally of 141 wickets, has now picked up five wickets in the game which looks evenly balanced. Lyon, playing in his 55th Test, made his debut in 2011 in Sri Lanka’s Galle, the venue for the next match in the series. — AFP LONDON: Pakistan off-spin great Saqlain Mushtaq is set for another spell as an England coaching consultant, highlighting how fluid national allegiances can become when a cricketer’s playing days are over. Saqlain was brought in by England ahead of the recent second Test against Pakistan at Old Trafford. In the build-up he found himself working with both off-spinner Moeen Ali and leg-break bowler Adil Rashid, although only Ali of the pair made it into the XI that won by 330 runs with more than a day to spare to level the four-match series at 1-1. Saqlain’s former Pakistan teammate Mushtaq Ahmed, is carrying out a similar role with the tourists in more of a permanent capacity. Prior to taking up his Pakistan role, former leg-spinner Mushtaq was England’s spin-bowling coach. Off-spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan, Test cricket’s all-time leading wicket-taker, has come under fire for working with Australia in their ongoing series in his native Sri Lanka. By contrast the atmosphere between English and Pakistani officials has been far more cordial. That’s partly because, as this is Pakistan’s first tour of England since their infamous 2010 spot-fixing debacle at Lord’s, both sides are desperate to let their cricket do the talking. It is also a reflection of their multi-national backroom staffs, with England head coach Trevor Bayliss an Australian and his Pakistan counterpart, Mickey Arthur, a South African. Added to all that, Pakistan fielding coach Steve Rixon, the former Australia wicket-keeper, and Bayliss —- who made his name internationally as Sri Lanka coach — were once teammates in the same New South Wales side. Meanwhile Bayliss was in no doubt about the impact someone like the 39-year-old Saqlain, who took 208 Test wickets at under 30 apiece in 49 matches, could make, even in a parttime role. — AFP Wagner on song with 5-wicket haul as Zimbabwe wilt BULAWAYO: Neil Wagner claimed a five-wicket haul from a fiery spell of fast bowling as New Zealand reduced hosts Zimbabwe to 120 for eight at tea on day one of the first test at Queen’s Sports Club on Thursday. Wagner took three wickets in an over to trigger Zimbabwe’s middle-order collapse, and at tea had figures of five for 31 from 16 overs after finding life in what is a good batting track. A patient unbeaten 48-run ninth-wicket stand between debutant Prince Masvaure (20 not out) and Donald Tiripano (28 not out) got the home side past the hundred mark, but it was slow going with the run-rate barely above two an over. Zimbabwe had won the toss and elected to bat, but lost Brian Chari (four) to the second ball of the innings as he edged Tim Southee to Martin Guptill at second slip. Left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner (2-12) had Hamilton Masakadza (15) caught and bowled, before Craig Ervine (13) came down the wicket and was stumped by wicketkeeper BJ Watling. But it was South African-born Wagner who had the batsmen hopping on the crease with a succession of welldirected bouncers. Debutant opener Chamu Chibhabha (15) tried a pull, but succeeded only in picking out Tom Latham at midwicket, before Sean Williams (one) lobbed a catch to Ish Sodhi. He was convinced the ball had come off his helmet and not the bat, but with no review system for this series had to accept the decision of Australian umpire Paul Reiffel. And then came that explosive 33rd over as Wagner tore through the middle-order to leave the Zimbabwe innings in tatters. He had Sikandar Raza (22) caught, also at mid-wicket, by Latham and Regis Chakabva (0) caught behind, and he forced captain Graeme Cremer to edge a rising delivery to short leg Henry Nicholls for a first-ball duck. — Reuters SCOREBOARD ZIMBABWE B Chari c Guptill b Southee -----------------------------------------------------------------------4 C Chibhabha c Latham b Wagner------------------------------------------------------------ 15 H Masakadza c and b Santner -----------------------------------------------------------------15 C Ervine st Watling b Santner ------------------------------------------------------------------13 S Williams c Sodhi b Wagner --------------------------------------------------------------------1 Sikandar Raza c Latham b Wagner ----------------------------------------------------------22 P Masvaure not out ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------20 R Chakabva c Watling b Wagner ---------------------------------------------------------------0 G Cremer c Nicholls b Wagner ------------------------------------------------------------------0 D Tiripano not out -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------28 Extras: (21b) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2 Total: ((8 wkts, 55 overs) ------------------------------------------------------------120 Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-35, 3-35, 4-36, 5-72, 6-72, 7-72, 8-72 Bowling: Southee 13-6-26-1, Boult 11-5-23-0, Santner 7-1-12-2, Wagner 16-6-31-5, Sodhi 8-2-26-0 Zimbabwe batsman Hamilton Masakadza runs past bowler Neil Wagner during the first day of the first test match in a series of two tests between New Zealand and hosts Zimbabwe at Queens Sports Club, in Bulawayo on Thursday. — AFP olympics/football sport OMANDAILYOBSERVER F R I D A Y l J U LY 2 9 l 2 0 1 6 Cahill vows to fight for England future under Allardyce LONDON: Defender Gary Cahill has said he is ready to prove his worth to new England manager Sam Allardyce to retain his place in the national team. The 30-year-old, who has 47 caps for England, was regularly picked by former manager Roy Hodgson and was part of the squad that suffered an embarrassing defeat by Iceland in the last 16 of the Euro 2016. “I’m looking to keep involved and keep that shirt. I am excited to be working under Sam,” Cahill told British media. ‘‘I’m looking to impress him at the start of the season and also if I’m fortunate enough to be involved in the squad. “It’s going to be interesting to work under him. It’s down to me to play well and make sure I hit the ground running so that I am in the squad.” Allardyce is known to impose a very direct and combative brand of football on his teams, which led to then-Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho labelling the style of play as ‘19thcentury football’ when the pair clashed two years ago. — Reuters Klopp sent Sakho back for lack of respect LONDON: Mamadou Sakho (pictured) was sent back from Liverpool’s pre-season tour of the United States because of a lack of respect towards rules but the defender’s actions were not serious enough to warrant more punishment, manager Jurgen Klopp has said. The France international, who was recently cleared by UEFA after allegations of a failed drugs test, is currently nursing an Achilles injury and is expected to miss the start of the Premier League season, which begins on August 13. Klopp said Sakho broke rules during the tour. “He missed the departure of the plane, he missed a session and then was late for a meal,” Klopp told British media. “I have to build a group here, I have to start anew, so I thought it maybe made sense that he flew home to Liverpool and after eight days, when we come back, we can talk about it. “But it’s not that serious. It is how I said, we have some rules and we have to respect them. If somebody doesn’t respect it, or somebody gives me the feeling he is not respecting it, then I have to react, that’s all.” Klopp said there was no falling out with Sakho and it was unlikely the club will fine the 26-yaer-old. “We had no argument. I spoke. You cannot argue when only one person is speaking, that’s all,” the former Borussia Dortmund manager said. “Always it is the same with every group. I don’t like fining. Sometimes it’s funny, when the fine is bullshit. Come on, pay for it, that’s nice. But mistakes, fining never helps.” Liverpool, who finished eighth in the league last season, will start their campaign with a trip to Arsenal on August 13. — Reuters 19 GUARDIOLA GAINS FIRST WIN AS MANAGER IN PENALTY SHOOTOUT Manchester City’s Fernandinho Luiz Rozain (L) fights for the ball with Borussia Dortmund’s Ousmane Dembele (R) during the 2016 International Champions Cup football match between Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund in Shenzhen, south China’s Guangdong province. City goalkeeper Angus Gunn, 20, saved from Mikel Morino to ensure a 6-5 victory on spot-kicks after a 1-1 draw in Shenzhen’s Longgang Stadium on Thursday. — AFP Half a century on, Germans still dispute THAT goal GOLDEN JUBILEE OF 1966 FINAL: Hurst’s arguably the most controversial goal in international football history HAMBURG: Fifty years after THAT goal at Wembley, West Germany captain Uwe Seeler still insists England’s Geoff Hurst’s controversial shot never crossed the line in the 1966 World Cup final. Hurst’s second goal in the 101st minute of extra time — which put England 3-2 ahead after the match had finished 2-2 over 90 minutes — is arguably the most controversial goal in international football history. England went on to claim a 4-2 win over West Germany with Hurst becoming the only player to score a hattrick in a World Cup final. But whether or not the ball bounced behind the line from Hurst’s shot for England’s third goal has been debated for half a century with Saturday marking the 50th anniversary of the 1966 final. Swiss referee Gottfried Dienst awarded the goal after consulting with his linesman, Azerbaijan’s Tofiq Bahramov, of the then USSR. Some modern studies, using film analysis and computer simulation, German Wolfgang Weber and England’s Martin Peters jumping for the ball. A hat-trick from Geoff Hurst and another goal from suggest the ball never crossed the line, Peters helped England to their finest hour. something Seeler has been insisting on for half a century. “I was standing at the 79-year-old Seeler. Hurst’s shot beat West bounced on the line before being headed baffled the Germans and their skipper back of the box and saw exactly that Germany goalkeeper Hans Tilkowski, away by defender Wolfgang Weber. Seeler. “We were all in a state of the ball didn’t cross the line,” said the the ball hit the underside of the crossbar, But Dienst’s decision has always commotion, none of us knew what was Some modern studies, using film analysis and computer simulation, suggest the ball never crossed the line, something German captain Seeler has been insisting on for half a century going on,” said Seeler. “No one (in the West Germany team) could understand why the goal was given.” While the 1966 final remains England’s only World Cup triumph, the Germans’ victory at the 2014 Brazil finals was their fourth world title and Seeler says it is time to put the 1966 controversy to bed. “I believe all the players have now well digested the events,” he said. “Even if it was a defining moment, sport is sometimes like that. You have to absorb it and put it away.” Up until his death in 1998, Dienst admitted he had no idea whether the ball ever fully crossed the line and, in his autobiography “1966 And All That”, even Geoff Hurst has said the Germans were probably right. And Seeler joked about the incident whenever he met members of England’s 1966 side. “When Geoff or Bobby (Moore) or Jackie (Charlton) were here, we’d have a laugh together about it,” said Seeler. “They knew alright that the ball wasn’t in. They saw it.” And Seeler said he is pleased goalline technology in the modern game means there will be no such repeat of the events 50 years ago. “Today football has become pure business,” said Seeler. “So it’s necessary to under take certain measures to prevent such decisions. “Of course, there are mistakes from time to time, but that’s just part of football.” The match and THAT goal is even the subject of a special exhibition at the German Football Museum in Dortmund under the title “50 years Wembley — the myths in snapshots” which runs from Saturday until January 15. — AFP Nadal’s injury situation delicate, says Ferrer LONDON: Rafa Nadal’s injury situation is “delicate” ahead of the Rio Olympics, according to Spanish team mate David Ferrer. Nadal, a 14-time grand slam champion, has not played a competitive match since May 27 when a left wrist injury forced him to pull out of the French Open after the second round and miss Wimbledon. World number four Nadal won gold in Beijing eight years ago and will be Spain’s flag bearer in Rio. “I will travel with Rafa on Sunday to Rio,” Ferrer told Spanish radio Cadena Ser. “His situation is more delicate. It’s never easy to come back after an injury. We will see how he feels.” Roger Federer has pulled out of the Games due to a knee injury and Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic and others are skipping the event due to concerns about the Zika virus. “At the Olympics, you want to see all the players compete so it’s a shame,” Ferrer said.”But our calendar is very tight and then there is the Zika issue.” — Reuters FRIDAY | JULY 29, 2016 | SHAWWAL 24, 1437 AH sport LEE UNFAZED BY POSSIBLE LAST-FOUR CLASH WITH LIN P17 www.omanobserver.om [email protected] MAGNIFICENT MENDIS REVIVES SRI LANKA WITH TON P18 Oman sailors ready for Hamburg challenge HALF A CENTURY ON, GERMANS STILL DISPUTE THAT GOAL P19 Skippers vow not to repeat mistakes STAFF REPORTER HAMBURG HARIDEV PUSHPARAJ HAMBURG, GERMANY July 28: In a candid interaction before the start of the Extreme Sailing Series’ third act commencing at the historic River Elbe in Hamburg, Oman Air skipper Morgan Larson exuded nervous optimism. Larson shared his excitement about working with the Oman Air sailing team comprising Pete Greenhalgh, Nasser al Mashari, Ed Smyth and James Wiezerbowski Bowman. “It is really an honour to be here with the team. It’s wonderful to race with a team like this because they are so good.’’ The American also delved into the obvious challenges that the unit will face in the course of four days of racing. “The weather, the conditions and the elements will be very challenging. We don’t know what to expect, the course location is such. We have prepared well, but we are a little nervous. It is also my first time here in Hamburg,’’ he said. Larson felt the factor of a new venue has its pluses and minuses. “It can be good too, because we can race with an open mind. But again the flip side is that you cannot say which direction the wind is coming from since there is shore on both sides. Usually we read the water and the wind. But here we will go with the feels, blind sailing is what we will end up doing,’’ the captain said. Larson also felt the race is very important from a championship winning perspective. “It is an interesting time in the season. This is a really good time for us to take a grip over things. If we put up a good show here, we can It can be good too, because we can race with an open mind. But again the ÁLSVLGHLVWKDW\RXFDQQRWVD\ZKLFK direction the wind is coming from since there is shore on both sides. 8VXDOO\ZHUHDGWKHZDWHUDQGWKH wind. But here we will go with the feels, blind sailing is what we will end up doing: Oman Air skipper Morgan Larson Skippers of teams addressing the media in Hamburg on Thursday. Larson shared his excitement about working with the Oman Air sailing team comprising Pete Greenhalgh, Nasser al Mashari, Ed Smyth and James Wiezerbowski Bowman Nasser al Mashari have a great season,’’ he said. The nervous sailor in Larson was quite apparent although the team is leading the eight-act series by three points with 35 points to their credit. Red Bull are second placed with 32 points and Alinghi in third with 30. “Things can change very quickly and any team can win here, it’s that kind of a venue,’’ he added. Talking about the team’s preparations, Larson focused on all aspects. “Mentally and physically we are ready. It’s just about being relaxed. We have made a few changes to adjusting the foils and who makes the adjustments. Hoping we can move forward with it,’’ he said. In terms of the competition that they can expect, Larson mentioned SAP and China One as tough rivals and not leaving out Alinghi either. “SAP are a good team and the Chinese will be very competitive too. Alinghi could push hard as well,’’ the skipper said. July 28: Ahead of the Extreme Sailing Series Hamburg leg, the skippers spoke about their plans and challenges. Rasmus Kostner of SAP Extreme Sailing Team, who are at the second spot behind Oman’s very own Oman Air Sailing Team, focused on avoiding mistakes from last season. “After watching last year’s capsize video... we have good memories of Hamburg but also some tough ones. That capsize was a good example of what not to do when you are leading the regatta. That time we pushed it too hard and that’s what happens.’’ Alinghi skipper Arnaud Psaroghis felt his team will be more determined to succeed this time around as compared to last year. “We won in Qingdao but in Cardiff we didn’t sail at our best, we made too many mistakes and the other teams were stronger. Here, we think we have found what we did wrong and will improve on those points and push hard,’’ he added. Taylor Canfield of China One expressed his excitement of being part of the Extreme Sailing Series considering they are relative newbies. “We are happy to be competing in one of the highest level multihull circuits that exist and we are growing as a team. We are new to the game this year and trying figure out the boats and the foiling,’’ he added. “We have been rotating through a few crew trying to find the right combo and we are getting to that point now, so we can focus more on the tactics and not just the boat handling side. We hope to go up to 13 podiums we got in Cardiff this week,’’ Canfield said.’’ Neil Hunter from the Land Rover BAR Academy said the learning experience from the previous races would be put to good use here. “Generally from Cardiff we learnt so much and at this event we have a complete Academy team, on board — it’s just the youngsters here. We’ve been working hard in the gym and on our boat handling and I think we are ready to mix it up with the top teams here in Hamburg,’’ he added. Probably, the most inexperienced of all the teams Sail Portugal — Visit Madeira are looking to pick up the tricks of the trade this season. Skipper Diego Cayolla was humble in his expectations for the race. “The Sail Portugal — Visit Madeira project is a long term project. This year is a learning year, we want to rotate our crew members so that next year we can stabilize the crew.’’
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