hm presides over cabinet meeting

VOL. 34 NO. 146| PAGES 32 | BAISAS 200
THURSDAY | APRIL 9, 2015 | JUMADA AL THANIA 19, 1436 AH
P21 Currency swings: Firms unpick global production model
P31 The volcano that changed the world
P27 Benteke treble keeps Villa out of trouble
Inside
Chief Executive Officer
DR IBRAHIM BIN AHMED AL KINDI
Editor-in-Chief
ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI
Oman Establishment for Press, Publication and Advertising
PO Box 974, Postal Code 100, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
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HM PRESIDES OVER CABINET MEETING
MAJOR THRUST: His Majesty underscores the importance of global efforts aimed at establishing peace
MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan of development in safeguarding
Qaboos yesterday presided over a all aspects of relevance to citizens’
meeting of the Council of Ministers welfare, livelihood and the services.
His Majesty the Sultan pointed
at Bait Al Baraka.
At the outset of the meeting, His out to the significance of speeding
Majesty the Sultan gave thanks and up the preparation of plans
praise to the Almighty for the grace capable of realising economic
of health he has bestowed on him diversification, completing major
and for his return home safe and projects of public benefit, attracting
more investments, activating areas
sound.
His Majesty the Sultan expressed of partnership with the private
his deep thanks and appreciation sector and encouraging the setting
for all the noble citizens of this up of small and medium enterprises
country and residents “for the within the framework of available
institutional
and
sincere sentiments
financial capacities.
and faithful prayers,
HM wished
Regarding
which
had
a
all success in
regional
and
profound positive
promoting
international
effect, thanks to
developments, His
Allah”.
the march of
Majesty the Sultan
His Majesty the
prosperity and
underscored
the
Sultan gave praise to
progress for
importance
of
the Almighty for the
global efforts aimed
plentiful bounties
Oman and its
at
establishing
with which He has
noble people.
peace, stability and
endowed
Oman,
harmony in the
praying to Allah to
eternalise these riches for Oman region, and serve the common
interest of all its peoples.
and its people.
At the conclusion of the meeting,
Later, His Majesty the Sultan
reviewed local, regional and His Majesty the Sultan touched on
issues of concern to the country
international situation.
On the domestic front, His and the citizens, giving his Royal
Majesty the Sultan expressed his directives to all sectors and state
satisfaction over the comprehensive institutions to continue to exert
development
achieved
by efforts towards the attainment of
the Sultanate, and lauded the the desired objectives. His Majesty
commendable efforts of the wished all success in promoting the
government and other institutions march of prosperity and progress
of the state, reaffirming the for Oman and its noble people.
necessity of maintaining the pace
— ONA
„ HM expressed his deep thanks
and appreciation for all citizens
and residents for their sincere
sentiments and faithful prayers
„ Happy over comprehensive
development in the Sultanate,
and lauded the efforts of all
institutions of the state
„ Significance of speeding
up the preparation of plans
capable of realising economic
diversification
„ Activate areas of partnership
with private sector and promote
setting up of SMEs within the
framework of available capacities
„ Directives issued to all sectors
and state institutions to continue
to work hard towards the
attainment of desired objectives
PHOTOS BY MOHAMED MUSTAFA
Iran briefs Oman on nuclear talks
PRAYER TIMINGS
FAJR: 04:31
DHUHR: 12:08
ASR: 15:35
MAGHRIB: 18:25
ISHA: 19:55
MUSCAT: Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdallah,
Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs,
held an official session of talks with Dr
Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iranian Foreign
Minister, yesterday.
During the talks, they discussed
various aspects of the bilateral
cooperation between the two friendly
countries and means of enhancing them,
as well as exchanging viewpoints on a
number of regional and international
issues of common concern.
Alawi said that the visit by the Iranian
foreign minister to the Sultanate comes
after the signing of the framework
agreement regarding the Iranian nuclear
file, to explain and clarify the details of
the Iranian agreement with the world
powers. He said that Iran and the United
States are keen on briefing Oman on latest
developments regarding Iranian nuclear
negotiations.
Speaking to the media, Alawi said that
the negotiations faced some difficulties,
but the commitment from both the
parties has enabled them to reach a
framework agreement which will lead to
a final agreement. He hoped that all the
parties will succeed in finding a solution
to all issues.
Regarding the crisis in Yemen, Alawi
said that all parties are interested in
reaching a mechanism which can help in
finding a solution under the aegis of the
UN and other parties.
He added that all parties including
Oman
maintain
continuous
communication with the UN Secretariat
General and strive through the GCC
ambassadors and other parties, to bring
an end to the suffering in Yemen. He also
pointed out that priority should be given
to humanitarian aid.
International efforts in reaching
a truce in Yemen will enable relief
organisations to deliver the needed food
and other assistance to people, said
Alawi and added that the Sultanate is
in touch with International Red Cross
and other organisations in this regard.
The representatives of some of these
organisations can visit the Sultanate to
discuss ways of providing aid through the
Oman-Yemen border.
TURN TO P3
Budget surplus at RO 194 million
STAFF REPORTER
MUSCAT
April 8: The National Centre for
Statistics and Information (NCSI) has
released the first data of the state general
budget showing positive indicators as to
controlling current expenditure which
is considered as a major alternative to
make up for the slump in oil revenues.
The data shows that despite fall in
oil revenues there has been a surplus
of RO 194 million in January this
year compared to a surplus of RO 266
million during the same month a year
ago. Total general revenues recorded
RO 763 million in January, a drop of
17 per cent from the RO 973 million
recorded in January, 2014.
The data also shows that during
January, total expenditure fell 20 per cent
recording RO 562 million as compared
to RO 703 million during January last
year. In addition, the general revenues
exceeded spending by RO 200 million.
The drop in spending was mainly due to
a tangible cut in current expenditure by
17 per cent in January to RO 460 million
compared to RO 556 million during the
same period last year. Expenditure has
been slashed in defence and national
security allocations which was reduced
to RO 170 million from RO 270 million
during the same period last year.
The cost of oil production fell from
RO 30 million from RO 20 million,
while the current expenditure of civil
ministries grew 5.6 per cent to RO 267
million.
2
MSM LOSES 19.54 POINTS
T H U R S DAY l A P R I L 9 l 2 0 1 5
OMAN
OMAN OIL PRICE RISES 66 CENTS
Muscat Securities Market (MSM)
general index on Wednesday lost
(19.54) points, comprising a decline
by 0.31 per cent to close at 6,277.90
points, compared to the last session,
which stood at 6,297.44 points. The
trading value today stood at RO 5.43
million, comprising a decline by 1.45
per cent compared to the last session,
which stood at RO 5.51 million.
Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) said
that Oman oil price (June delivery) has
reached $56.33. The DME statement
on Wednesday said that the price
of Oman oil rose 66 cents from the
price of Tuesday, which was $55.67.
The average price of Oman oil (April
Delivery 2015) has stabilised at $56 and
21 cents, thus $9.48 per barrel higher
than March delivery 2015.
HIS MAJESTY PRESIDES OVER CABINET MEETING
PHOTOS BY MOHAMED MUSTAFA
LEADERS GREET HIS MAJESTY
MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos
has received cables of greetings from King
Almu’tasimu Billahi Abdul Halim Shah of
Malaysia, President Nursultan Abishuly
Nazarbayev of the Republic of Kazakhstan,
President Nicos Anastasiades of the
Republic of Cyprus and President Beji
Caid el Sebsi of the Republic of Tunisia on
the occasion of the return of His Majesty.
In their cables, the leaders expressed
their sincere greetings to His Majesty the
Sultan, wishing His Majesty good health
and well-being and the Omani people
further progress and prosperity.
They expressed the confidence that the
wise leadership of His Majesty will lead
the Sultanate towards a new stage in its
march of development to enhance its role
in the international arena.
The leaders also pointed out that the
relations between the Sultanate and their
countries are witnessing continuous
progress, stressing their keenness to
enhance them.
OMAN
T H U R S DAY
APRIL 9 l 2015
omandailyobserver
HM thanked by 2015 Food
Safety Conference delegates
Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdallah, Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs, with Dr Mohammad Javad Zarif, Minister of Foreign
Affairs of Iran. — ONA
MUSCAT: The Food Safety Conference
2015 concluded in Muscat on
Wednesday. The participants in the
conference thanked His Majesty Sultan
Qaboos and the people for hosting the
conference.
They also greeted His Majesty’s
for his return to the homeland after a
successful treatment trip, praying to
Allah the Almighty to give good health
and long life.
The conference was organised by
the Ministry of Regional Municipalities
and Water Resources in cooperation
with the concerned authorities for the
second year in a row as part of the
Food Safety Week, which was held this
year under the theme “ Food safety is
Everyone’s Responsibility”.
The
two-day
conference
recommended
increasing
the
efficiency of modern techniques used
in laboratory tests for the detection of
derivatives that are used in halal food.
The conference also recommended
to evaluate and develop the control
system of air pollution, water and
food in the Sultanate programmes and
increasing the level of awareness among
consumers with regard to aqueous
pollution and food poisoning.
The closing ceremony of the
conference was held under the
patronage of Hamad bin Suleiman
al Ghuraibi, Under-Secretary of the
Ministry of Regional Municipalities
and Water Resources for Regional
Municipalities, who stressed that
the Scientific Committee focused on
the choice of the recommendations
through scientific papers presented
at the conference, discussions
and interventions that continued
throughout two days.
— ONA
Iran briefs Oman on nuclear talks Sultanate and Pakistan
From page 1
The Iranian minister hailed the leading
role played by the Sultanate under the
wise leadership of His Majesty Sultan
Qaboos on various issues of the region,
especially the Iranian nuclear file.
He affirmed that the first stage of
the agreement on the Iranian nuclear
file started with the P5+1 negotiations,
which were facilitated and promoted
by the wisdom and directives of His
Majesty the Sultan and hoped that a
final agreement will be reached in June.
Hailing the strong bilateral relations
between the Sultanate and Iran, the
minister said “that is why Iran is keen on
consulting senior Omani officials and
updating them on the progress made
with regard to reaching an agreement
over the Iranian nuclear file.” He said
the talks focused apart from bilateral
relations, a number of issues in the
region, especially the crisis in Yemen.
The talks were attended by Dr Salim
bin Nasser al Ismaili, Chairman of
the Public Authority for Investment
Promotion and Export Development,
Shaikh Yahya bin Abdullah al Oraimi,
Head of the Economic Affairs Sector,
Iranian Ambassador to the Sultanate,
officials of the Foreign Ministry and the
delegation accompanying the guest.
Earlier on Wednesday, Iranian
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad
Zarif said that Pakistan and Iran should
cooperate to solve the crisis in Yemen.
“We need to work together to find a
political solution,” Zarif said during a
two-day visit to Islamabad in which he
was expected to urge Pakistan to reject a
Saudi request to join a military operation
against Houthi forces in Yemen. Some
of the Houthi rebels have links to Iran.
“The people of Yemen should not have
to face aerial bombardment,” he said,
referring to air strikes by the Saudi-led
coalition that started last month.
Zarif said he favoured a four-part
plan to impose a ceasefire in Yemen,
deliver humanitarian assistance and
then establish a broad-based dialogue
and finally a broad-based government.
He recommended this to Pakistani,
Turkish and Omani leaders, he said.
Pakistani members of parliament on
Wednesday spent a third day debating
the Saudi request, with all speakers so far
arguing against militarily involvement
in Yemen.
— ONA &Agencies
hold talks in Islamabad
ISLAMABAD: The 5th session of the
political consultations between the
Foreign Ministries of the Sultanate
and Pakistan was held at the Foreign
Ministry in Islamabad on Wednesday.
Ahmed bin Yousef al Harthy, UnderSecretary of the Foreign Ministry for
Diplomatic Affairs led the Omani side
and Izaz Ahmed Chowdhury, UnderSecretary of Pakistani Foreign Ministry
led the Pakistani side.
The session reviewed the existing
bilateral relations between the two
countries and means of strengthening
them to serve the common interests of
the two countries.
Ahmed bin Khamis al Jamri, Charge
D’affaires of the Sultanate’s Embassy in
Islamabad, also attended the meeting.
Sartaj Aziz, Adviser to the Prime
Minister on National Security and
Foreign Affairs received Ahmed bin
Yousef al Harthy, Under-Secretary of
the Foreign Ministry for Diplomatic
Affairs.
The Pakistani official expressed his
congratulations to the leadership and
the Omani people for the return of His
Majesty Sultan Qaboos to the homeland
in good health.
The two sides talked about the
bilateral relations and international and
regional issues of common interest.
— ONA
3
IN BRIEF
Second round
of Indian school
admissions in
April third week
The second draw for admissions to
Indian Schools in the capital area will
be held by the third week of April,
the Board of Directors announced
here on Wednesday. In a statement
it said that efforts are underway
to accommodate large number of
waitlisted children seeking admission
in classes ranging from KG 1 to Class
IX. More seats are added in the
afternoon shifts of some schools.
“As the entire admission process
is computer-based, the system is
being revamped to account for the
additional capacity created at various
schools.”
Parents will be informed by SMS
messages and e-mails to identify
their school preference. Allotment of
seats in the next draw will be based
on these preferences. Details are on
www.indianschoolsoman.com
RNO takes part in
Omani Maritime
Photo project
Royal Navy of Oman (RNO) ship Al
Daghas and the diving team took part
in the Omani Maritime Photography
project which began at the end of
March and concluded on Wednesday.
The project is supervised by the
Oman Under the Telescope team with
the participation of government and
private entities and 19 international
experts specialising in maritime
photography from 10 countries. The
project aims to explore and depict the
Omani maritime environment.
4
omandailyobserver
OMAN
PEIE seminar highlights efficient
marketing and branding for firms
MUSCAT: The Public Establishment for
Industrial Estates (PEIE), represented
by the Directorate General of Marketing
and Media, organised on Wednesday a
seminar highlighting how branding
and marketing help increase sales of
products and services.
The event, which was held at Crowne
Plaza Hotel Muscat, stressed the
importance of marketing and branding
of products for corporations, and how
they help generating awareness in the
market.
The seminar aimed at changing
perceptions to attract customers
and emphasised that branding and
marketing are not only for large
corporations but all businesses have to
make use of branding to win the hearts
and minds of the customers.
The seminar also underlined the
significance of the experience received
by customers that would persuade
them to buy and use the services of that
particular organisation.
Basim bin Ali al Nassri, Director
General of Marketing and Media at
PEIE, stressed that PEIE is undertaking
constant efforts to generate awareness
on the significance of the marketing of
products through various seminars and
workshops.
He also mentioned that PEIE has
introduced last year an initiative that
aims at improving and advancing the
packaging and designing of locally
manufactured products for the SMEs
and work is currently underway on
developing some companies’ products.
Basim bin Ali al-Nassri, Director
General of Marketing and Media at
PEIE, stressed that PEIE is undertaking
constant efforts to generate awareness
on the significance of the marketing of
products through various seminars and
workshops.
He also mentioned that PEIE has
introduced last year an initiative that
aims at improving and advancing the
packaging and designing of locally
manufactured products for the SMEs
and work is currently underway on
developing some companies’ products.
It is should be noted that the seminar
was held as part of Oman Manufacturing
Group 2015 series of seminars that aim
at underlining various areas related to
businessmen, employees and students
of higher education institutions in the
Sultanate.
— ONA
FRIENDSHIP THROUGH ART
More renewable energy
projects to go live soon
MAI AL ABRIA
MUSCAT
TOKYO: Princess Hisako Takamado opened an art exhibition entitled “Friendship through Art: Impressions of Japanese Artists of the
Arab world” at the Sultanate’s Embassy in Tokyo .The exhibition is organised by the Council of Arab Ambassadors in Japan and lasts
for seven days. The exhibition is part of the 7th Arab week in Japan, annually organised by the Council. Khalid bin Hashel al Maslahi,
Sultanate’s Ambassador to Japan said in his speech that the exhibition, which is held for the first time in Japan, reflects the rich
Arab culture from the perspective and vision of Japanese artists, adding that the exhibition contributes to strengthening the close
ties between Japan and the Arab world. A number of ambassadors, heads of diplomatic missions in Japan, officials and art lovers
attended the opening ceremony of the exhibition. — ONA
T H U R S DAY
APRIL 9 l 2015
April 8: Better technologies are
bringing down the production cost
of renewable energy. There are many
renewable energy projects that are more
efficient than cooking gas, said Dr Hilal
al Hinai, the Secretary-General of the
research council in the workshop of
the renewable energy strategic research
programme held yesterday.
“Through this workshop, we are
focusing on the ways to raising efficiency
of energy use. We need to design
buildings that consume less energy.
Later we will focus at the renewable
energy”, he said.
The workshop will present the
renewable energy strategic programme
to get feedback on the proposed research
themes from all stakeholders and to
facilitate a platform of collaboration
between local and international
researchers in the field. It also aims at
getting benefits from global experience
in renewable energy research and
applications.
The research programme aims at
conducting experimental research
and seeks real solutions for national
challenges of renewable energy
efficiency. These pilot researches
will enhance the capacity building,
knowledge transfer and will contribute
The research programme
aims at conducting
experimental research and
seeks real solutions for
renewable energy efficiency
to sustainable development in Oman.
“This workshop comes as part
of the accreditation of the strategic
programme for the renewable energy.
The final accreditation requires the
presentation of the programme in
such a workshop where it is intensively
discussed by international experts. This
process has been applied in strategy
programme of road accidents, palm
trees insect programme and the social
monitor programme”, says Dr Saif al
Hadabi, assistant secretary general for
research and programmes, TRC .
With the partnership of the Public
Authority for Electricity and Water,
SQU, and other related institutions, the
programme is open for any changes that
might maximise best utilisation of the
renewable energy.
This programme is designed to fill
the gaps in the current attempts on the
underway renewable energy projects.
“One of the main focus of the
programme is to use solar energy for air
conditioning in the Sultanate because
as it accounts for 80 per cent of the
total energy in the summer. The other
focus is on the use of renewable energy
in domestic water consumption.The
renewable energy sources are normally
low efficient and are supposed to be
implemented at high efficient grounds
in order to be exploited optimally.
The programme will also on
exploiting latent heat in the oceans and
producing electricity directly from the
renewable energy without the use of
solar cells.
There are some promising projects in
the field of renewable energy underway.
However they are still at the early stages
of operation like the joint project of
Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy
company and Oman’s Rural Areas
Electricity Company to produce 50
megawatt of energy by wind. PDO has
also a major project to produce steam by
solar energy used on oil production.
“There are a set of pilot projects in
this area, such as the solar energy project
in Al Mazyona, Dhofar that produces
about 300 kW. Another is wind power
project in Dhofar that produces 50
MW,” said Mohammed al Mahrouqi,
Chairman of the Public Authority for
Electricity and Water (PAEW).
Another project anticipated to see the
light by the end of 2016 is the generation
plant at SQU that aims at producing
cooling via renewable energy.
Training to focus on raising fitness levels and non-sailing skills
Oman Sail gears up for European season
MUSCAT: Oman Sail is gearing up for a
demanding European season that includes the
Rolex Fastnet and Middle Sea Races. Already, the
Omani offshore squad has departed Muscat for
Quiberon in France where they kicked off their
cold weather training at the 2015 curtain-raiser, Spi
Ouest France, last weekend.
Training in 2015 will revolve mainly around
raising fitness levels, building on the sailor’s power,
strength and stamina and also on developing the
non-sailing skills required for offshore racing,
including electrics and engineering.
“We have two priorities this year,” explained
team’s mentor Sidney Gavignet, French skipper of
the MOD70 Musandam-Oman Sail. “One of the
aims for the season is to make our Omani sailors
bigger and tougher so they can handle heavier loads
and keep working at full pace even when they are
exhausted. “The second one is to make them more
accomplished in technical skills like electronics
and mechanics. We want offshore sailors who can
turn their hands to anything whether they are
fixing heads, trimming sails, patching up holes, be used primarily as an offshore training platform
helming or doing running repairs. We have a big for the Omani offshore squad in 2015, although
programme this year with a lot of miles to sail, promoting the country as a high-end tourist
but the goal is to take a big step up as individuals
and work hard on looking after their bodies and
boats. By the end of the season, we want two or
SEASON CALENDAR
three guys who could sail on any professional boat
anywhere. In 2015, development is more important
Q 2-6 APRIL: SPI OUEST, FRANCE
than results.” Fahad al Hasni who is the longest
Q 1-10 MAY: GRAND PRIX GUYADER, FRANCE
standing Omani sailor on the MOD70 is set to
take on more responsibility in 2015 starting with
Q 8-10 MAY: TOUR DE BELLE ILE, FRANCE
skipper duties on the Oman Sail M34 at Normandy
Q 14-17 MAY: ARMEN RACE AND GRAND PRIX DE
Sailing Week from 10-14 June. He takes over from
L’ECOLE NATIONALE, FRANCE
Gavignet who will move into a coaching role for
Q 10-14 JUNE: NORMANDY SAILING WEEK, FRANCE
this campaign.
Gavignet will return to the helm of the MOD70
Q 20-28 JUNE: KIEL WEEK WELCOME RACE,
GERMANY
Musandam-Oman Sail which he raced singlehandedly in the Route du Rhum last November. It
Q 8-20 AUGUST: COWES WEEK, ARTEMIS AND
has had a major refit and will be launched in April
ROLEX FASTNET RACE, UK
ahead of a training session at the end of the month.
Q TBC — EVENTS IN SEPT-OCT
After a sensational year setting new records,
Q 12-20 OCTOBER: ROLEX MIDDLE SEA RACE
including the Round Britain and Ireland World
Record, the flagship of the Sultanate of Oman will
destination is also high on the agenda.
The programme starts with France’s season
openers, the GP Guyader, Round Belle Ile and
ARMEN regatta, then the MOD70 heads to
Germany for Kiel Week where they aim to improve
on their record time in last year’s Welcome
Race while ashore a new “Visit Oman” tourism
experience will be on display for Kiel Week visitors.
Oman Sail’s women’s team will compete
again in Europe with the aim of learning through
competition. A surge in interest in sailing among
women in Oman has given selectors the opportunity
to try out three new race team members, all of
whom have come from other sports and are keen
to learn fast.
“We saw in the recent EFG Sailing
Arabia — The Tour just how much the
women are improving and while these new
members have a lot to learn, we are excited that
their sporting backgrounds have given them a
good understanding of what it takes to win,” said
Mohsin al Busaidi who heads up Oman Sail’s
Women’s Sailing Programme.
OMAN
T H U R S DAY
APRIL 9 l 2015
5 held for smuggling Arabian Leopard
competent judicial authorities.
It is worth mentioning that trafficking
in endangered species across the border
is governed by the United Nations
Convention on the prevention of
trafficking in endangered species across
the border between the states “CITES”
as the Sultanate has already ratified that
convention.
— ONA
AL MAZYOUNA: The Royal Oman Police
(ROP) represented by Al Mazyouna police
station arrested five persons while trying
to smuggle the Arabian leopard from the
borders of the Republic of Yemen to the
Sultanate.
The accused were detained at
Al Mazyouna police station to finalise
interrogation before referring them to the
omandailyobserver
HM thanked by participants
MUSCAT: The 14th edition of the
development of jurisprudence science
seminar concluded on Wednesday
under the auspices of Ahmed bin Saud
al Siyabi, Secretary-General at the
Sultanate’s Grand Mufti Office. The
participants thanked to His Majesty
Sultan Qaboos Bin Said.
In their cable, they expressed their
utmost thanks and appreciation for
the care accorded by His Majesty the
Sultan’s to the science, and for the
warm reception and hospitality they
received.
They pointed out that the seminar
discussed a number of important
humanitarian, social and Quranic
issues.
It presented balanced visions towards
innovation, reform, Ijtihad and justice
system, civil peace, family and civil
status issues, as well as the modern
issues that were not present before. They
prayed to Allah the Almighty to grant Islamic legislation and the tools for
His Majesty good health, well-being and jurisprudence interpretation.
It also recommended activation of
a long life.
The
seminar
stressed
the the Ijtihad methodologies.
It also stressed the importance of
importance of updating the basis of
JOY OVER HM RETURN
— ONA
Al Hamra school children celebrate on Wednesday His Majesty’s return.
GCCAAO ANNUAL MEETING IN BAHRAIN
T
he GCC Accounting and
Auditing Organisation
(GCCAAO) will hold its annual
forum in Bahrain during May 6 and 7.
Salim bin Hameed al Khusaibi,
member of the GCCAAO board of
directors, said the forum will be
held under the title ‘The Scientific
China thanks
Oman for
evacuation
STAFF REPORTER
MUSCAT
April 8: The Sultanate has provided
passage facilities for 352 displaced
persons from different nationalities via
Sarfait and Al Mazyouna.
China has completed evacuating its
600 plus citizens stranded in the strifetorn Yemen and praised the Oman
government and Ministry of Foreign
Affairs for their quick response.
The last batch of Chinese nationals,
9 medical professionals in various
hospitals, along with hundreds of other
nationals, were rescued in a Chinese
warship from Sanaa via djbouti on
Wednesday.
All of them left Port of Salalah by
air to Beijing, according to You Filing,
Chinese ambassador to the Sultanate.
“We are highly grateful to the
Sultanate, its government represented
by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for
their timely and effective repatriation
documentation for all the Chinese
who transited Salalah on Wednesda”,
Ambassador told the Observer.
“The services of the Port Authorities
and the Royal Oman Police were of
great help”, he said.
There were more than 600 Chinese
nationals in mainland Yemen and its
islands working for hospitals, private
companies besides the diplomatic
mission. He further said that the ship
found it difficult to approach the islands
due to the prevailing situation and the
people had to be shuttled in small boats
and ships to the main ship.
Developments of the Accountancy
and Auditing Profession’ focus on
the international developments and
how they reflect on the accountancy
and auditing professions. It will
also concentrate on the role of
accountancy criterion and oversight
institutions in achieving transparency
and excellency in professional
performance. The forum will be
attended by a number experts and
specialists in the economic sector
in general and the auditing and
accounting sector in particular on
both regional and international
levels.
Call for more investment,
development in Dhofar
KAUSHALENDRA SINGH
SALALAH
April 8: Industrialists, businessmen,
administrative
officials,
Shura
members and company CEOs put
stress on creating an atmosphere for
development and investment in Dhofar
and called for concerted efforts from
public and private sectors to achieve
this goal.
They came out with important
recommendations
after
hectic
discussions
with
administrative
officials, Shura members and company
CEOs and chairpersons of several
establishments. The meeting titled
‘Raysut economy and development’ was
held on Wednesday at Crowne Plaza
Resort Salalah.
Organised jointly by the Middle East
Studies Centre and Salalah chapter of
Oman Chamber of Commerce and
Industries, the participants called for
the setting up of headquarters for
industrial incubators in Dhofar to
facilitate small and medium enterprises
(SMEs) with training, on the job
5
assistance and financial support in the
areas like outlets for spare parts, raw
materials and food processing units.
A major recommendation was setting
up of a technical service area for foreign
and domestic investments in the field of
information technology and relocation
of population from Manshet, Raysut
and Salalah Free Zone area to save them
from pollution likely to be caused by
industries coming in the near future.
The recommendation cited Liva area
in North Batinah Governorate as an
example for this suggestion.
Mohammed al Mashani, Chairman
of the Committee on Small and
Medium Enterprises Development at
OCCI Salalah, put emphasis on the
developmental of Salalah Free Zone
to promote investment in Dhofar
Governorate.
Ali bin Suhail Tabuk, CEO of the
Center for Middle East Consulting, the
organiser of the seminar, also laid stress
on the of developmental of free zones as
well as promotion of the Port of Salalah
in the region and far away countries.
Picture by Hamed al Khatiri
studying the renovating jurisprudence
models and benefiting from them.
It also called for highlighting the
scientists’ message towards achieving
unity, fraternity, development and
reform.
It also called for banning violence
and extremism and promoting the true
values of Islam, namely justice, mercy,
lenience and tolerance.
— ONA
6
BATTLING CHINA BLAZE
T H U R S DAY l A P R I L 9 l 2 0 1 5
ASIA
Firefighters battle a blaze following an
explosion at a plant producing paraxylene
— a chemical commonly known as PX
— in Zhangzhou, east China’s Fujian
province on Wednesday. More than 800
firefighters battled for almost 24 hours
to put out a vast fire at a controversial
chemical plant in the Chinese city of
Zhangzhou, state media said, the second
accident at the site in two years.
SAFETY THROWN TO THE WINDS
HONG KONG: The British father and
Filipina mother of a teenager in Hong
Kong have been arrested after she
plunged to her death from an upmarket
apartment block.
Police said there was “no suspicious
element” in the 15-year-old girl’s fatal
fall, but arrested both her parents on
suspicion of “ill-treatment or neglect of
a child or a young person”.
Her father, 58-year-old Nick Cousins,
is the managing director of the Hong
Kong office of British multinational
Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT), one of
the world’s leading insurance brokers.
The girl’s mother is a 53-year-old
Philippine national, the consulate in the
Hong Kong said, adding that they were
still ascertaining her identity.
She is a former domestic helper,
according to local media.
Cousins has been released on bail but
the teenager’s mother was still in police
custody on Wednesday afternoon.
The 15-year-old plunged from the
21-storey apartment block in Repulse
Bay early on Tuesday morning, police
said. Her younger sister was initially
taken to a children’s home, and the police
are seeking a protection order for her.
However, she was released back into
her family’s care late on Wednesday while
the social welfare department produces
an assessment report on the case.
“The child will be taken care of by her
family during the adjournment period,” a
department spokesperson said.
The teenager’s mother has also
Police said there was “no
suspicious element” in
the 15-year-old girl’s fatal
fall, but arrested both her
parents on suspicion of
“ill-treatment or neglect of a
child or a young person”.
been accused of overstaying her visa,
while Cousins was accused of aiding or
abetting the overstay. The couple were
not married, police said.
JLT confirmed Cousins had lost his
elder daughter “in tragic circumstances”.
“We are giving Nick our full support
through this difficult time and he will be
on extended compassionate leave until
further notice,” a statement said.
Police said the teenager was
pronounced dead at the scene after a
security guard heard a loud noise and she
was found lying on the ground.
“We learned that the subject was
probably upset about some daily life
issues,” a spokesman said. Local media
reported that she had locked herself in a
bathroom before her death.
Residents of the Repulse Bay
neighbourhood expressed their dismay.
“I was shocked because she (the
teenager) would always say ‘Hi’ to me.
She was friendly,” said a domestic helper
who works in the same building. — AFP
A member of Living History Society
acting as Philippine soldier re-enact a
scene of the “battle of the pockets” where
Philippine-US and Japanese soldiers
fought fiercely during World War II at a
memorial ceremony to remember fallen
heroes of the World War II in Balanga
City, Bataan province, north of Manila
on Wednesday, a day prior to the Day of
Valour memorial services.
Russia eyes military sales to
Thailand, rubber deals
Residents ride on top of an overcrowded ‘Jeepney’, a locally manufactured public transport, along a highway in Mogpog town on Marinduque island in central
Philippines on Wednesday. — Reuters
HK expats arrested after
daughter falls to her death
REMEMBERING FALLEN HEROES OF WWII
BANGKOK: Russia sees an opportunity
to sell Thailand military planes and other
defence equipment, Russia’s trade minister
said on Wednesday, as the two countries
facing Western opprobrium seek to boost
trade ties.
Thailand has stepped up engagement
with both Russia and China in response
to cooler relations with old ally the United
States and other Western countries since the
Thai military seized power from an elected
government last May.
The US scaled back military cooperation
with Thailand after the coup.
“We are feeling out the interest on the
Thai side to purchase military equipment,”
Russian Trade Minister Denis Manturov said
in Bangkok on Wednesday.
“Our friends from the Western part of the
world are ignoring Thailand.”
Manturov is part of a delegation
accompanying Russian Prime Minister
Dmitry Medvedev on an official visit.
Medvedev is the first Russian prime minister
to visit Thailand for 25 years.
Talks on defence-related sales were
focused on military aircraft and related
training and services, Manturov said. He
declined to give details of specific deals under
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (L)
speaks with his Thailand counterpart Prayuth
Chan-ocha during a news conference in
Bangkok on Wednesday. — Reuters
discussion.
As Thailand hosted those talks, it also
sent a high-level delegation to China to boost
military ties. Thai Defence Minister General
Prawit Wongsuwan told reporters he and
Thai army chief General Udomdej Sitabutr
would travel to China on Wednesday.
Russia also hopes to strike more deals
with Thailand in the civil aviation sector.
The Royal Thai Air force should take
delivery in late 2016 or early 2017 of the first
of three Sukhoi Superjet passenger aircraft,
Manturov said.
— Reuters
ASIA DISPUTES: Carter urges Beijing to exercise restraint in South China Sea
US defence chief warns against
militarisation of territorial rows
TOKYO: US Secretary of Defence Ash
Carter kicked off his first Asian tour on
Wednesday with a stern warning against
the militarisation of territorial rows in
a region where China is at odds with
several nations in the East and South
China Seas.
Carter’s visit to Japan coincides with
growing US concern over China’s land
reclamation in the Spratly archipelago
of the disputed South China Sea, where
Beijing has rival claims with several
countries including the Philippines and
Vietnam.
Tokyo and Beijing have a separate
row over Japanese-controlled islets in the US Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter (L) with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at
East China Sea.
the start of their meeting at Abe’s official residence in Tokyo. — Reuters
US and Philippine troops will take
It’s going to give
militarisation of these disputes,” Carter
part in annual military exercises this
month near the Spratlys in the largest
first of all Japan, but told a news conference after talks with
his Japanese counterpart, Defence
such drills since the allies resumed joint
also our alliance,
Minister Gen Nakatani.
activities in 2000. .
Chinese reclamation work is well
Asked whether the beefed up USmuch greater scope
advanced on six reefs in the Spratlys,
Philippine exercises were a response to
to provide security in the
according to recently published satellite
China’s moves, Carter said Washington
photographs and Philippine officials.
and Manila had shared interests in the region, and for that matter
In addition, Manila has said Chinese
region, including a desire to ensure elsewhere outside of the
dredgers had started reclaiming a
there were no changes in the status quo
region”.
seventh.
by force or that territorial rows were
While the new islands won’t overturn
militarised.
ASHTON CARTER
US
military superiority in the region,
“We take a strong stance against the
US Secretary of Defence
Chinese workers are building ports and
fuel storage depots as well as possibly
two airstrips that experts have said would
allow Beijing to project power deep into
the maritime heart of Southeast Asia.
The commander of the US Pacific
Fleet, Harry Harris, told an Australian
think tank last week that China was using
dredges and bulldozers to create a “great
wall of sand” in the South China Sea.
Carter also welcomed progress
toward the first update in US-Japan
defence cooperation guidelines since
1997, a revision that will expand the
scope for interaction between the allies
in line with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s
push to ease the constraints of Japan’s
pacifist constitution on the nation’s
military.
“It’s going to give first of all Japan, but
also our alliance, much greater scope
to provide security in the region, and
for that matter elsewhere outside of the
region,” Carter said as the talks began.
Abe’s move to allow Tokyo to come
to the aid of an ally under attack would
pave the way for closer cooperation
between US and Japanese forces
across Asia, Admiral Robert Thomas,
commander of the US Seventh Fleet,
— Reuters
said last month.
Veloso’s parents and sister said a crime syndicate had deceived her and she did not know drugs had been sown into her suitcase
Death row Filipina’s family begs Indonesia for her life
MANILA: The family of a Filipina on
death row in Indonesia made a tearful
appeal for her life on Wednesday, insisting
that an international drug syndicate
duped the single mother of two.
Mary Jane Veloso, 30, has been in an
Indonesian jail for five years after being
caught at Yogyakarta airport with 2.6
kilogrammes of heroin, and is among
a batch of foreigners facing imminent
execution.
But in an interview in Manila, her
parents and sister said a crime syndicate
involving a friend had deceived her, and
she did not know the drugs had been
sown into her suitcase before flying from
Malaysia.
“Please don’t kill my sister. She is
innocent. If you kill her, you will have
blood on your hands,” Veloso’s elder sister
Marites Veloso-Laurente said in a plea to
Indonesian President Joko Widodo.
With tears streaming down his cheeks,
Veloso’s father said the syndicate that
used her as an unwitting drug mule had
pledged to kill all family members if they
reported the racket to authorities or went
to the media.
“Life’s been hard. We’ve been living in
fear. My daughter’s recruiters have been
threatening us... they threatened to kill
us one by one,” said 59-year-old Cesar
Veloso.
Family members of Mary Jane Veloso protest in front of the Indonesian Embassy in
The family is from a poor farming suburban Manila on Wednesday. — AFP
town about three hours’ drive north of
Manila, and Veloso had sought to provide
for her two young sons by working as a
maid overseas.
The single mother initially worked for
nine months in Dubai in 2009 but was
forced to come home, according to her
father. A family friend then offered Veloso
work as a maid in Malaysia.
When Veloso got to Malaysia she was
told the job was no longer available but
there was another one in Indonesia if she
flew there immediately, according to her
parents.
“My sister’s a loving person, she’s so
kind. But she trusts too much. We don’t
engage in vices or anything illegal, no
cigarettes, no alcohol,” her elder sister said.
When Veloso was arrested, her sons
were aged just one and seven and they too
have become victims.
“It’s as if they lost all hope... they are
worried about what would happen to
them if their mother never came back,”
the Veloso matriarch, Celia, said as her
two grandsons sat quietly next to her.
She said the eldest son, Mark Daniel
Candelaria, 12, was struggling at school
and may have to repeat eighth grade.
Veloso’s youngest, Mark Darren, 6,
copes by singing his mother’s favourite
song, a Filipino ballad called: “Just wait”,
which has become an anthem of hope for
the family.
— AFP
SUBCONTINENT
T H U R S DAY
APRIL 9 l 2015
omandailyobserver
7
Nato soldier dies as US,
Afghan troops clash
HOME ATLAST
DEADLY FIRING: The gunfight began as an Afghan soldier fired on
an American delegation outside the governor’s compound in Jalalabad
A girl, who was stranded with her family in Yemen, waves upon her arrival along with others at Karachi Port on Tuesday. At least
146 Pakistani and 36 foreign nationals who were stranded in Yemen, arrived after they were evacuated by Pakistan Navy ship
ASLAT, at Karachi Port.
— Reuters
KABUL: A Nato soldier was killed
on Wednesday in a firefight between
US and Afghan troops in eastern
Afghanistan, the first apparent insider
attack since Washington announced
a delay in troop withdrawals from the
country.
The gunfight erupted after an
Afghan soldier opened fire on an
American delegation outside the
governor’s compound in Jalalabad, the
capital of the militant-infested province
of Nangarhar.
“US soldiers returned fire, killing
the shooter and wounding two other
members of the Afghan National Army.
We are investigating to find out the
motive behind the shooting,” Nangarhar
police chief Fazel Ahmad Shirzad said.
A Nato soldier was also killed.
The “incident in Jalalabad today
resulted in the death of one Resolute
Support service member”, said a brief
statement from Resolute Support, the
new name for the Nato mission in
Afghanistan.
Following its usual policy, the
mission did not give the nationality of
the victim.
Monica Cummings, the US Embassy
spokeswoman, said the incident
occurred after a senior US official held
a meeting with the provincial governor
in Jalalabad.
So-called “green-on-blue” attacks
— when Afghan soldiers or police turn
their guns on international troops —
were a major problem during Nato’s
long years fighting alongside Afghan
forces.
But the rate of such incidents,
Afghan National Army soldiers arrive at the compound of a provincial governor’s
office in Jalalabad on Wednesday.
— Reuters
reflecting long-simmering tensions
between Afghan and foreign forces, has
dropped sharply in recent years.
Most Nato combat troops pulled
out of Afghanistan last year but a small
contingent remains, including roughly
10,000 American soldiers.
The US soldiers, along with other
Nato troops and private contractors,
are focusing on training Afghanistan’s
national security forces.
One of the worst insider attacks
took place last August when US Major
General Harold Greene was killed —
the most senior American military
officer to die in action overseas since the
Vietnam War.
Three American contractors were
killed in an apparent insider attack at
Kabul airport in January.
Nato troops have adopted special
security measures in recent years to try
to counter the threat.
President Barack Obama last month
reversed plans to shrink the US force in
Afghanistan this year by nearly half, an
overture to the country’s new reformminded leader, President Ashraf Ghani.
Hosting Ghani at the White House
for their first presidential head-to-head,
Obama agreed to keep the current level
of 9,800 US troops until the end of 2015.
The Taliban, waging a deadly
insurgency since they were ousted
from power in late 2001, warned that
the announcement would damage any
prospects of peace talks as they vowed
to continue fighting.
— AFP
Myanmar holds rare Pakistan, US close in on $1 bn chopper, arms deal
talks with Suu Kyi
NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar: Myanmar’s
President Thein Sein held rare talks
on Wednesday with influential allies
and rivals including Opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi as she intensifies
efforts to lift a constitutional ban on
her presidential bid. The long-awaited
talks in the capital Naypyidaw, which
follow a similar meeting of key political
figures in October, come as the country
braces for elections seen as a key test of
reforms in the former junta-run nation.
The closed-door talks — attended by
the president, Suu Kyi, parliamentary
speaker Shwe Mann and a few dozen
other political figures — touched on
a landmark draft ceasefire agreement
forged last week with several ethnic
armed groups, Myanmar’s Information
Minister Ye Htut told reporters.
Discussions will resume on Friday
and be whittled down to a smaller group
of six participants, including Thein Sein
and Suu Kyi, he added.
Changes to the constitution will
be on Friday’s agenda, “among many
issues” including the signing of a
binding nationwide ceasefire — a prized
aim of Thein Sein’s administration.
The NLD is expected to hoover up
votes in the election in November, the
first countrywide vote that the party
will have contested in 25 years.
Despite her star power, Suu Kyi
is banned from the top job under a
provision in the junta-era constitution
barring those with a foreign spouse
or children from the presidency. The
69-year-old’s two sons are British, as
was her late husband.
She has received a wide range of
support, including from US President
Barack Obama, for her move to
change the constitution — a charter
she has decried as “unjust” and written
specifically to keep her out of power.
But observers say she has accepted
that it is unlikely she will be able to
become president at this time.
Last year the NLD gained five
million signatures — around 10 per
cent of the population — in support of
its bid to change another constitutional
provision. This enshrines the military’s
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the
United States moved closer to a billion
dollar defence deal this week, after
US authorities notified Congress of
a proposal to supply helicopters and
missiles to sharpen up Pakistan’s
counter-terrorism efforts.
US ally Pakistan, a nuclear-armed
nation of 180 million people, is fighting
a Taliban insurgency in its northwest, a
separatist insurgency along its Iranian
border in the west, and has a heavily
militarised and disputed border with
arch rival India in the east.
The $952 million proposal involves
the United States supplying Pakistan
with 15 AH-1Z attack helicopters,
1,000 Hellfire missiles, engines,
targeting and positioning systems and
other equipment. But negotiations
are not complete. The helicopters
and weapon systems were designed
Aung San Suu Kyi
effective veto over any amendments to
the charter by reserving them a quarter
of parliamentary seats.
The army has indicated it will
oppose any efforts to significantly
change the constitution.
A military MP said limited
amendments were possible but would
not be made because of mounting
pressure. “Some people are saying
some (clauses) have to be changed...
maybe it’s OK if we don’t change them,”
Phay Kyaing said.
The NLD meanwhile has admitted
the military veto meant it could not win
a parliamentary vote on the issue.
The country’s powerful speaker,
Shwe Mann, last year ruled out any
major changes to the constitution before
the November polls, despite mooting a
possible referendum as early as May on
amendments approved by parliament.
Suu Kyi has previously pushed for
“four-party” talks on the democratic
transition, involving just Thein Sein, the
army chief Min Aung Hlaing and Shwe
Mann. The president has resisted those
calls, saying it would exclude ethnic
minorities.
The former general has set his sights
on an end to the ethnic insurgencies that
have plagued the country for around 60
years as a key goal of his tenure. — AFP
Pakistan requested a possible sale of AH-1Z Viper Attack
Helicopters, T-700 GE 401C Engines, Hellfire II Missiles,
H-1 Technical Refresh Mission computers, AN/AAQ-30
Target Sight Systems, Ultra High Frequency/Very High
Frequency Communication Systems, Embedded Global
Positioning System/Inertial Navigation Systems, etc
for counter-terrorism and counterinsurgency operations, especially in the
mountainous Taliban strongholds along
the Afghan border, the US Defence
Security Cooperation Agency said.
On Monday, the agency notified
Congress of the proposed sale, noting it
would “contribute to the foreign policy
and national security of the United
States by helping to improve the security
of a country vital to US foreign policy
and national security goals in South
Asia”.
The equipment “will not alter the
basic military balance in the region,” the
agency said.
Pakistani defence officials did not
reply to requests for comment. The
United States has been pushing Pakistan
to take action against the Taliban as it
withdraws most of its combat troops
from neighbouring Afghanistan, which
is facing its own Taliban insurgency.
James Hardy, the Asia-Pacific editor
for IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly, said
the helicopters would help modernise
Pakistan’s ageing fleet, some of
which had problems with spares and
maintenance.
“Attack helicopters give you ‘loiter’
capability — you can hang around, find
the target, knock it out,” he said. “Right
now Pakistan is using its fast jets for
counterinsurgency work.”
Pakistan is also trying to finalise
a deal to buy eight submarines from
China for a reported cost of between $4
billion to $5 billion.
China supplied 51 per cent of the
weapons Islamabad imported in 20102014, according to the Stockholm
International Peace Research Institute
(SIPRI), which tracks global arms sales.
This year’s budget allocated $7 billion
to the military. The police received $800
million.
— Reuters
CHILDREN EXPRESS... THEMSELVES
Pakistani children play near the Ravi river in Lahore on Tuesday.
— AFP
8
ANALYSIS
omandailyobserver
T H U R S DAY
APRIL 9 l 2015
TREADING A FINE
LINE IN TUNISIA
S
oon after militants gunned down 21 foreign tourists in Tunisia’s Bardo museum
last month, newspaper columnists, radio hosts and politicians swiftly called for a
merciless crackdown to save their young democracy.
In the cafes and mosques of working-class Tunis, fears are now emerging that
a campaign against militants may a spiral into repression like the old days of
Tunisia’s police state before the freedoms won in a 2011 revolt.
Tunisia has since been held up as a model of democratic transition, the only
country where an uprising during what came to be known as the “Arab Spring”
did not end in large scale violence or civil war.
But last month’s attack is testing Tunisia’s tricky balance between security and
the new liberties since the revolt, which removed Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Lawyers, opposition leaders and rights campaigners say they have seen more
arbitrary arrests and police harassment, and worry a proposed anti-terror law will
roll back freedoms as lawmakers yield to public opinion.
In poor Tunis quarters, some conservative
young men say they are shaving off their
Since its transition to
beards, eschewing traditional gowns and
limiting visits to avoid harassment from police democracy, Tunisia
who they fear will sweep up anyone who even has been praised by
looks militant.
the West as a symbol
“The atmosphere has changed. I shaved off
my beard because I don’t want to be watched of democratic hope
by the police,” said Moez, a conservative for a region where
salesman. “Even I am against terrorism or any
others are caught
extremism that damages Islam’s image.”
Four years after its revolt, Tunisia is unlikely up in division and
to slide back to the old days.
outright war, reports
It has free elections, a new constitution and
PATRICK MARKEY
a political environment that sees compromise
deal-making between secular and religious
politicians. But the Bardo attack complicates
already tricky questions over religious freedom.
“There are a lot of constraints on rights in this atmosphere of anger after the
attacks,” said Yamina Zoglami, a lawmaker from the moderate party Ennahda.
“Yes, Tunisia has been hit hard, but we can’t let that hurt our rights and freedoms.”
Since its transition to democracy, Tunisia has been praised by the West as a
symbol of democratic hope for a region where other “Arab Spring” nations are
caught up in division, intolerance and outright war.
But the small North African state has also struggled to define the role of religion
in politics, especially with the rise of ultra-conservatives and Salafist groups who
emerged with the new freedoms.
Security is key for Tunisia’s vital tourism industry. So far the government
estimates the impact of the Bardo attack on foreign visitor bookings appears
slight, though the summer season has yet to start.
Prime Minister Hadid Essib told parliament last week authorities would
increase their campaign to take back religious places controlled by extremists who
the government blames for helping recruit young men into militant groups.
“We respect freedoms, this is not about falling into a police state,” President
Beji Caid Essebsi told Le Monde newspaper. “But when someone comes to kill
you, and kill those around you, you have a state of legitimate defence.”
Human rights groups are worried.
“All these declarations are quite disturbing,” Amna Guellali director of the
Human Rights Watch Tunisia. “There will be some fallout in widening the net of
arrests, we don’t know whether this goes beyond that yet.”
One immediate concern is the newly proposed anti-terrorism law that will be
debated in the national assembly.
The draft extends some police powers such as pre-trial detention time, and lifts
a halt on death penalty.
Human Rights Watch has urged the government to revise the draft.
The rights group said the bill allows police to hold detainees for up to 15 days
before they go before a judge.
It also has a broad definition of “terrorist” activity, opening the way for abuses.
Fear of repression falls mostly on conservatives who were long oppressed by
earlier regimes.
In the tumultuous days after the 2011 uprising, Salafist hardliners attacked
theatres and art shows and other symbols.
Even before the Bardo attack, the government had begun a broad crackdown on
suspected militants and brought mosques back under the control of the ministry
of religion. That process has widened, say lawyers and rights campaigners.
A new style of First Lady?
F
ew would have believed that the taciturn, austere General city, Kano. Dressed in a cream-coloured tunic and an
Buhari had a soft, smiling and sweet woman at home, the orange and pink embroidered headscarf, Aisha Buhari
Vanguard daily said after the former military ruler was seemed calm and also relieved, despite the magnitude of
what had just happened and what was to come.
elected Nigeria’s next president.
“The long journey has come to an end,” she said,
Aisha Buhari remained in the shadows for most of the
election campaign but could now impose a very different referring to the election campaign.
But she admitted to “mixed feelings” about the campaign,
style from the current First Lady at the presidential villa
a low-key reference to the low blows and personal attacks
Aso Rock in Abuja.
Little is known for now about the First Lady elect other aimed at her husband from the ruling party.
Jonathan’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) accused
than a few details in the Nigerian media: she is 44, married
her 72-year-old husband in 1989 after he divorced his first Buhari, a northern Muslim, of supporting radicals, of
wife the previous year, and they have five children together. failing to secure his secondary school certificate and even
“I met Aisha Buhari three times, and she seems to be a having terminal cancer.
Aisha Buhari preferred instead to talk about the positive
very humble person, very friendly and a good listener,” said
aspects of the rollercoaster ride that had
lawyer Ebere Ifendu, head of the Women
led Nigeria to its first democratic transfer
in Politics Forum group in Abuja.
Till date, Aisha Buhari of power between parties at the ballot
The current First Lady, Patience
remained in the
box.
Jonathan, wife of the outgoing president
Nigeria had nothing to fear from her
Goodluck Jonathan, has a very different
shadows for most of
husband, she said.
public profile. She is well-known to
the election campaign
“I know him personally. Not as a
journalists and mimicked by comedians
for her boisterous public appearances as but could now impose leader of Nigeria. I know him as my
well as political and financial scandals.
a very different style, husband and I think Nigeria should feel
comfortable with him. He will get there,”
“Patience has been like a bull in a
writes BEN SIMON
she added.
china shop. No control whatsoever,”
Patience Jonathan for her part tended
said Yemisi Ransome-Kuti, head of the
to add fuel to the flames during the
Nigeria Network of NGOs. “We are very
hopeful that we will have a very different First Lady, who campaign, going as far as urging PDP supporters to “stone”
anyone shouting “change” — the APC campaign slogan.
will bring calm and harmony at the presidency.”
The comments sparked outrage in the APC and led to a
In the large house in a residential area of Abuja where
her husband Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives furious debate in the Nigerian media.
Patience Jonathan — who styled herself “Mama peace”
Congress (APC) was watching election results come
in, Aisha Buhari’s calm demeanour contrasted with the — is used to media scandals.
Even before the election of her husband as head of state
tumultuous scenes outside.
The official vote count was under way and the electoral in 2011, she was suspected by the Economic and Financial
commission was drip-feeding results for the presidential Crimes Commission in 2006 of having laundered a vast
election state by state until Buhari took an unassailable sum of money.
In 2012, she became “permanent secretary” of the oillead. The APC high command announced victory for
their candidate and the news spread around the country, producing southern state of Bayelsa, where Goodluck
sparking scenes of jubilation, notably in the north’s biggest Jonathan is from and was a former governor.
Lurking landmines threaten lives, livelihoods in Ukraine
A
s a tenuous ceasefire brings a lull to
Ukraine’s yearlong conflict between proRussian rebels and Ukrainian troops, the
lurking danger of landmines threatens lives
as well as economic recovery, particularly
on once rich agricultural lands.
“There are plenty of fields here where
it’s best not to walk, they’re peppered with
mines and unexploded shells,” said Nikolai
Utrimenko who runs a farm in Dmitrivka
in separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine.
The country was once known as
“Europe’s bread basket”, but sowing wheat,
maize or sunflowers has become lifethreatening for farm workers in this little
town of 5,000 people some 95 km from the
rebel stronghold of Donetsk.
Landmines were responsible last week
for one of the bloodiest days in recent
weeks, killing six soldiers in separate
incidents, adding to the war’s overall death
toll of more than 6,000.
As countries from Europe to Africa
to Asia toil to clear millions of mines in a
task the UN estimates will take more than
1,000 years, Human Rights Watch issued
a report this week underlining the danger
in Ukraine and urging all sides “to destroy
any antipersonnel mines they have seized
or acquired.”
The area around Dmitrivka, a few
kilometres, from the Russian border has
seen clashes in recent months between
government troops and pro-Russian rebels.
Gennadiy Moskal, the pro-Kiev
Lugansk regional governor, has ordered a
“temporary restriction” banning hunting
and fishing in areas near the border “to
prevent accidents due to unexploded
munitions”, his press office said yesterday.
The threat of mines and other devices is
visible even to the naked eye, with Russianmade GRAD missiles poking from the
earth along with side unexploded shells
and cluster bombs. Almost invisible are trip
wires attached to booby traps.
“We haven’t been able to clear all the
fields of mines,” said Utrimenko. “That’s
why we couldn’t harvest the wheat and
were only able to plant 500 hectares this
year instead of the normal 1,000.”
Even in fields supposedly cleared of
mines and other ordnance there can be
danger. One farm tractor blew up after
hitting a well-concealed anti-personnel
mine, he said. “Luckily because it was so
Landmines were responsible
for one of the bloodiest days
in recent weeks, killing six
soldiers in separate incidents,
adding to the war’s overall
death toll of more than 6,000,
notes NICOLAS MILETITCH
heavy, nobody died.”
One sapper sent to Dmitrivka was killed
in October trying to neutralise a device
that had been cunningly placed on top of
another, he said.
Alexander Zakharchenko, head of the
rebels’ self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s
Republic (DNR), last week said “almost a
third of the DNR’s arable land needs to be
cleared of mines, which has become the
number one problem” for local farmers.
But the DNR’s “economy minister”
Yevgenia Samokhina said it would take
as long as 20 years to clear two areas
close to the frontline — Novoazovsk and
Telmanovo.
Farming has also been hurt by lack of
fertilisers and farm machinery in the rebelheld region, which no longer trades with
the remainder of the country and so is
largely dependent on Russian aid.
Utrimenko said his farm was handed 40
tonnes of fertiliser by Russia, but needed
four times that much.
And in Dmitrivka, just three kilometres
from the Russian border, a score of combine
harvesters and other machinery were
destroyed when a shed was hit by shells.
In the small village of Petropavlivka
some 40 km away, one of its approximately
1,000 residents, 68-year-old Lida Antonova,
said “all of our farm machinery was burnt,
tractors, combines, the whole lot.”
A woman collects corn in a field near Petropavlivka. As a tenuous ceasefire brings a lull
to Ukraine’s yearlong conflict, the lurking danger of landmines threatens lives. — AFP
ANALYSIS
T H U R S DAY
APRIL 9 l 2015
omandailyobserver
9
Marginalisation provoked Kenya varsity massacre
K
enya’s government says the university massacre
of 148 people was a “surprise” that could
happen anywhere: but experts say decades
of marginalisation coupled with government
failings meant the attack was hardly unexpected.
The attack on the university in the
northeastern town of Garissa last Thursday was
Kenya’s deadliest since the 1998 bombing of the
US Embassy in Nairobi, and the bloodiest ever by
Somalia’s Al Qaeda-affiliated Shebab militants.
But experts say the anger that drove the
gunmen has a long and dark history in an
impoverished region — and they warn that
without concerted action, the attacks wont stop.
Kenya’s ethnic Somali northeastern region —
where Garissa is one of the main towns — is also
claimed by the Shehab as part of Somalia itself.
The region has long been lawless and was the
scene of the brutal secessionist 1963-1967 “Shifta
war”.
“Since independence, Kenya was built on
the principle of division of the country,” said
Benoit Hazard, from France’s National Centre for
Scientific Research (CNRS).
Interior Minster Joseph Nkaissery has said
the university attack was “one of those incidents
which can surprise any country.”
But a Shebab statement last Friday — warning President Uhuru Kenyatta said Kenya “is as safe
Kenyans of further bloodshed — said the gunmen as any country in the world”.
“There is no sure-fire prevention against
carried out the Garissa attack in revenge for the
terrorist attacks,” said Abdullahi Boru Halakhe,
“systematic persecutions in Kenya”.
Attacks cited include Kenya’s 1984 Wagalla an academic and expert on the region.
“But the scale of the Garissa attack, the prior
massacre, when Kenyan troops trying to put
warning and the regularity
down local conflict killed
with which these attacks
an unknown number of
people — officially less than a
The scale of the Garissa have been occurring, points
systemic state failure —
hundred, while others claims
attack, the prior warning to
and the buck stops with the
up to 5,000 people.
and the regularity with president,” he said.
“Kenyan security forces
Al
Jazeera
journalist
have a deeply troubling record which these attacks have
Mohammed Adow, a Kenyan
in northeast Kenya since
been occurring, points and an ethnic Somali,
the 1960s: killings, unlawful
to systemic state failure describes the challenges his
detention, torture, rape and
home region faces: poverty,
violence,” said Leslie Lefkow
— and the buck stops
high youth unemployment,
from Human Rights Watch.
with the president,
rapid population growth and
“Punishment of entire
reports AUDE GENET
general insecurity.
communities
has
been
“As a result of decades of
the routine response to
marginalisation, northeastern
insecurity.”
There has been growing criticism in the media Kenya — as well as parts of the coastal region
that critical intelligence warnings were missed, — lacks basic services such as paved roads,
while Western nations have issued a string of schools and hospitals,” Adow wrote in an analysis
following the Garissa attack.
foreign travel warnings.
“Resentment towards the government is high
Hours before the attack in Garissa began,
and radicals are able to exploit these factors.
Chronic youth unemployment, for example,
makes Al Shebab’s promise of some income
attractive.”
A $215,000 (200,000 euro) bounty has been
offered for alleged Shebab commander Mohamed
Mohamud, a former Kenyan teacher said to be
the mastermind behind the attack and believed
to now be in Somalia.
Authorities on Sunday named one of the four
gunmen killed as a fellow Kenyan, highlighting
the Shebab’s ability to recruit within the country.
The Shebab warned of a “long, gruesome war”
unless Kenya withdrew its troops from Somalia,
where troops crossed the long and porous border
in 2011 to fight the group.
But the troops inside Somalia — where Kenya
on Monday launched fresh air strikes on Shebab
bases — appear to have done little to help security
on the Kenyan side of the frontier.
Kenyatta himself, speaking to the nation after
the attacks, warned that the terrorist masterminds
were inside Kenya, not Somalia.
“The planners and financiers of this brutality
are deeply embedded in our communities”, he
said, warning that “radicalisation is happening
openly” in religious schools by preachers.
NEW CONTENDER
IVAN COURONNE
I
nstead of an American flag, Republican presidential hopeful Rand Paul
wears a red penny in his lapel, symbolising the core of his philosophy:
no more runaway debt and total submission to the US Constitution.
“We say they’ve taken all our money. We don’t have one red cent
more to send them in Washington.” the conservative Kentucky senator
said in 2010 shortly after a crushing poll win.
Paul’s launch of his presidential candidacy on Tuesday follows that of
Texan fellow senator Ted Cruz, who announced his own two weeks ago.
Both are appealing to conservative and libertarian Tea Party voters
for a ticket to next year’s race to the White House.
Paul lacks the charisma of some of his Republican rivals. He rarely
smiles, and often rushes his speech. But what he lacks in spark, he
makes up for with passionate supporters — full of zeal and younger
than the average Republican voter.
The 52-year-old doctor was sent to Washington by voters furious
with the national debt, and anxious over what Paul sees as government
zeal for war and encroachment on American civil liberties.
Now, with political ambitions extending beyond Congress, Paul
wants to translate his appeal to the national stage.
Only five years ago, barely a handful of Tea Party ultra-conservatives
had heard of the ophthalmologist from Bowling Green, Kentucky —
population 61,000 — who often challenged Republican Party orthodoxy.
His father Ron Paul is a firebrand former congressman from Texas,
himself a three-time White House aspirant and opponent of the welfare
state, and the man to whom the senator owes his political education.
“My dad has always been my dad and my political hero,” Paul wrote
in his 2011 book. “The Tea Party Goes to Washington.”
“I had been Tea Party before Tea Party was cool,” he wrote.
When he arrived in the Senate in January 2011, the freshman took
action that grabbed the attention of Washington watchers.
His political stock soared in March 2013 when he gave a 13-hour
Senate speech to block confirmation of the CIA director over the
Obama administration’s policy on aerial drones.
Supporters quickly exhorted others to “Stand with Rand” and
his opposition to abuses by the National Security Agency, a position
applauded by civil liberty defenders.
In foreign policy, he has long been in favour of US disengagement,
going as far as proposing an end to all US foreign aid. He deplores
the 2003 invasion of Iraq and has harsh words for the war’s neoconservative architects.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves to the crowd in New Delhi in this file photo. — AP
Modi out to woo investors on first Europe trip
P
rime Minister Narendra Modi will take his
push to turn thriving India into a major
manufacturing and investment hub to the
euro zone’s two biggest economies this week
on his maiden visit to the continent.
Modi flies out today to France, whose
government is desperate to save a troubled
$12 billion defence deal, before heading to
Germany to inaugurate one of the world’s
biggest trade fairs. He will end his trip in
Canada, home to a large Indian diaspora.
While New Delhi’s close ties with
Moscow may limit the areas of common
ground on geopolitical issues, the trip
represents a perfect opportunity for Modi to
tout India as a place to do business.
“I look forward to visit France to seek
greater French involvement in our Make in
India Programme, including in the defence
manufacturing sector,” the prime minister
wrote on Facebook before his departure.
Modi launched the “Make in India”
campaign last year as the centrepiece of a
project to rewrite the country’s reputation
as a tricky place to do business — beset by
bureaucracy, corruption and a stringent tax
regime. The government has already relaxed
rules for foreign investors, eager to create
work for the millions who enter India’s job
market each year.
But India is currently ranked 142nd out
of 189 countries in a World Bank “ease of
doing business” global league table. And
the continued uncertainty over a deal for
India to buy 126 Rafale fighter jets from the
French company Dassault Aviation is seen as
symptomatic of the challenges confronting
foreign companies.
Dassault won the right in 2012 to enter
exclusive negotiations to supply the jets,
with experts saying a final deal could be
worth more than $12 billion.
But after tortuous negotiations lasting
for over three years, there are now new
questions about its cost, although Dassault’s
boss Eric Trappier recently insisted the deal
was “95 per cent finalised”.
French President Francois Hollande
confirmed to reporters on Tuesday that he
and Modi “will have discussions” about the
Rafale deal while stressing he did not want
the issue to define their relationship.
There are also hopes the visit will revive
another delayed deal with French nuclear
giant Areva, still awaiting the go-ahead to
instal six reactors in India’s western state of
Maharashtra, five years after a bilateral civil
nuclear accord.
“It is really good if it happens during
this visit. If not, it will happen later,” French
Ambassador Francois Richier said.
Meanwhile, India has asked France’s
Dassault Aviation SA to stick to the original
price tag for fighter jets or risk losing one of
the world’s biggest military aircraft deals, a
report said on Tuesday.
Talks on the proposed purchase of 126
Rafale planes have been ongoing for more
than three years.
Modi then heads to Germany where he
and Chancellor Angela Merkel will jointly
inaugurate the giant Hannover Messe trade
fair on Sunday.
The following day, the two are due to
tour the fair in the northern city of Hanover
There are hopes that the visit
will revive delayed deal with
French nuclear giant Areva, still
awaiting the go-ahead to instal
six reactors in India’s western
state of Maharashtra, reports
ABHAYA SRIVASTAVA
before Merkel welcomes Modi with military
honours in Berlin on Tuesday.
Modi is also set to meet Economy
Minister Sigmar Gabriel and Foreign
Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Germany is India’s largest trading partner
in the European Union, with bilateral trade
amounting to some 16 billion euros ($17.4
billion) in 2014.
While Modi was quick to meet US
President Barack Obama and Asia’s top
leaders after his election in May, it has taken
him nearly a year to travel to Europe.
However K G Suresh of Delhi’s
Vivekananda International Foundation
think tank said it was significant Modi had
chosen to visit the EU’s powerhouses ahead
of Russia.
“Russia remains an old friend but
obviously (the trip) reflects the pragmatic
approach of the Modi government and its
economy-centred foreign policy,” Suresh
said.
“The ideals of the past are no longer the
guiding principles. The government’s vision
is to emerge as a powerful economy.”
Sujit Dutta, another Delhi-based analyst,
said the visit reflected Modi’s overriding
desire to fuel the resurgence of India’s
economy, which is forecast to grow more
than eight per cent this year.
“The principal goal for Modi is to
enhance the manufacturing base back home
and give impetus to growth,” said Dutta, a
Jamia Millia Islamia university professor.
Trade between India and the EU as a
whole has grown from 28.6 billion euros in
2003 to 72.7 billion euros in 2013, and both
sides are keen for the upswing to continue.
“India-Europe trade ties have been
fraught with differences in the past and the
two sides will look to smooth out the creases
this time around,” said Dutta.
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omandailyobserver
2G spectrum:
Court begins
examination of
defence witnesses
NEW DELHI: A court here on
Wednesday began recording the
statements of defence witnesses in
a money laundering case related to
2G spectrum allocation case against
former telecom minister A Raja
and others. CBI Special Judge O
P Saini recorded the statement of
two Kalaignar TV officials — vicepresident (operations) Humayun Ali
Ahamed and manager (finance) K
Uma Shankar.
Shankar told court that in October
2008, Kalaignar TV received Rs 200
crore as a loan from Cineyug Films.
He said the loan was used to repay
loans taken by Kalaignar TV from
banks, while Rs 81.77 crore was used
for purchasing movies.
As to how funds were generated for
repaying the amount, Shankar said:
“For this, we entered into contract
of bulk advertisements with India
Cements and United Spirits Limited
amounting to Rs 60 crore and Rs 24.5
crore, totalling Rs 84.5 crore.” He said
Rs 69.62 crore was received from a
subsidiary of Kalaignar TV while
Rs 30.41 crore was received as the
channel’s daily collection.
— IANS
T H U R S DAY
APRIL 9 l 2015
BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF SIKH GURU
HELPING HAND
Funds raised to
send Indian’s
body back from
New Zealand
A priest carries the Sikh holy book during a procession from the Sri Akal Takhat at the Sikh Shrine to the Golden Temple in Amritsar on Wednesday on the eve of the 394th
birth anniversary of the ninth Sikh Guru, Tegh Bahadur. Guru Tegh Bahadur, the youngest of five sons of Guru Hargobind, was born in Amritsar in 1621 and was executed
on the orders of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in Delhi in 1675. — AFP
New bank launched to fund micro units
RELIEF FOR RYOTS: The Prime Minister announced that farmers will get subsidy for 33 per cent crop damage
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra
Modi on Wednesday launched a bank
with a corpus of Rs 20,000 crore to
extend credit of up to Rs 10 lakh to small
businesses and regulate micro-finance
institutions, to promote their growth, add
to the country’s output and create jobs.
The move is aimed at benefiting
some 58 million small businesses in the
country, who account for a mere four
per cent of institutional funding, despite
employing over 120 million people, many
from unprivileged strata of society, the
officials said.
The prime minister also used the
forum to announce relief for farmers after
the recent rains that are feared to have
damaged some standing crops. The input
subsidy has not only been enhanced by 50
per cent, but it will also be extended even
if 33 per cent crops are destroyed against
50 per cent now.
On the new banking scheme, Modi
said he was delivering on a promise made.
“After ‘banking the un-banked’ with the
Jan Dhan Yojana, it’s time to ‘fund the
unfunded’,” he told the event to launch
what is formally called the Micro Units
Development and Refinance Agency —
Mudra.
“Mudra is our innovation of funding
The new bank aims to
benefit some 58 million
small businesses in the
country, who account
for a mere 4 per cent of
institutional funding,
despite employing over
120 million people.
the unfunded,” the prime minister said.
“Millions of common men and women
in this country, who run small businesses,
have almost remained outside the net of
formal institutional finance in spite of
their large contributions to the economy,”
he said at the event, attended among
others by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
“Providing access to institutional
finance to such micro and small business
units and enterprises will not only
help in improving the quality of life of
these entrepreneurs, but also turn them
into strong instruments of growth and
employment generation,” the finance
ministry said.
The initiative will also lay down the
norms for responsible financing practices
for micro-finance institutions so that the
A farmer stands in his wheat field, which was damaged by unseasonal rains, at Vaidi
village in Uttar Pradesh. — Reuters
small businesses do not face hardship
over indebtedness, while getting a fair
environment for repayment.
“The perception is: Big business
creates more wealth. But a closer look
presents a different kind of picture,” Modi
said “Big business provides work to only
1.25 crore people but the micro sector
towards which one hardly ever glances,
fill the stomachs of 12 crore people.”
Mudra bank, he said, was directed
at street vendors, tailors and roadside
mechanics, who make up the 5.77 crore
micro entrepreneurs, and that this new
measure had the potential to bring about
a major transformation. “In one year
our established banks will also adopt
the Mudra model.” The primary product
of Mudra bank will be refinance for
lending to micro businesses where initial
products and schemes have been divided
into three categories — “Shishu”, “Kishor”
Obama considers it a foreign policy priority to strengthen India-US relationship
Support for India as UNSC member
WASHINGTON: President Barack
Obama has reiterated US support for
India’s membership of a reformed UN
Security Council as he considers it a
foreign policy priority to continue to
strengthen India-US relationship.
“What the President said was that
he said in the context of a reformed
Security Council that the President
would support the inclusion of India
in that process,” White House press
secretary Josh Earnest told reporters
on Tuesday.
“So that continues to be our policy
and one that we are certainly aware
of,” he said when asked about Obama’s
declaration of US support for India’s
membership of the Security Council
during his November 2010 visit to
India.
“The President, as we’ve talked
about on a number of occasions,
genuinely enjoyed the visit that he had
to India back in January,” Earnest said
referring to Obama’s historic visit to be
the guest of honour at India’s Republic
Day this year.
He “takes very seriously the kind
of opportunities that exist in that
friendship between the United States
and the world’s largest democracy in
What the President
said was that he said
in the context of a
reformed Security
Council that the
President would support
the inclusion of India in that
process... So that continues
to be our policy and one that
we are certainly aware of.
JOSH EARNEST
White House press secretary
India,” he said.
“And this is a relationship that
continues to strengthen in a way that
has both national security benefits for
both countries, but also in a way that
has important economic benefits for
both countries,” Earnest said.
“And the President certainly
considers it a foreign policy priority
to continue to strengthen that
relationship,” he said.
Asked about the future of the illegal
immigrants after a US court stayed
the operation of Obama’s executive
action to temporarily protect from
deportation about five million
illegal
immigrants,
including
thousands of Indians, Earnest said
they were working through the legal
system.
“We continue to be working
through the legal system to appeal the
ruling of the district court judge that
prevented the implementation of some
aspects of the President’s immigration
executive actions,” he said.
“And that’s a legal process that’s
ongoing. We continue to have very
strong confidence in the legal strength
of those arguments.”
— IANS
and “Tarun”.
Accordingly, loans up to Rs 50,000 will
be given under the “Shishu” for units in
their formative years, between Rs 50,000
to Rs 500,000 under “Kishor” scheme for
enterprises in operation for a few years
and up to Rs 1,000,000 under “Tarun” for
established firms.
In his budget speech delivered on
February 28, the finance minister had
said that while are were 5.77 crore small
businesses in India, mostly individual
proprietorships, these bottom-of-thepyramid entrepreneurs found it difficult,
if not impossible, to access formal systems
of credit.
“I, therefore, propose to create a Micro
Units Development Refinance Agency
(Mudra) Bank, with a corpus of Rs 20,000
crore and a credit guarantee corpus of Rs
3,000 crore. Mudra Bank will refinance
micro-finance institutions through a
Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana,” he
added.
“These measures will greatly increase
the confidence of young, educated or
skilled workers who would now be able
to aspire to become first generation
entrepreneurs; existing small businesses,
too, will be able to expand their activities.”
— IANS
WELLINGTON: The body of an
Indian student who died here last
week after being pulled out from
the sea, will, after all, be sent back to
India with public donations worth
NZ$23,000 (nearly $17,500) having
been raised, the Dominion Post
reported on Wednesday.
Boobesh Palani, 26, was pulled
out from the waters off the suburb of
Easterbourne, near the Wellington
harbour when his cries were heard
from about 50 metres off the coast on
March 30.
He was taken to the Hutt Hospital
and then transferred to Wellington the
next day. It took three days to identify
him and his family in India was
subsequently contacted. Palani died
on April 3.
However, Palani’s body got stuck
in New Zealand as his family could
not afford the NZ$15,000 needed for
funeral and transportation costs, the
Dominion Post reported on Tuesday.
Friends and members of the Indian
community in Wellington heard of
the sad plight of Palani’s family and
decided set up a fund to help.
Three people of Indian origin —
Senthil Kumaran Kathiresan, Rama
Ramanathan and Moorthy Sukari —
raised NZ$3,800 towards the costs by
Monday, but were still well short of
their NZ$25,000 target.
But after news of their appeal
was published in the media, about
NZ$20,000 was raised overnight.
Ramanathan said on Wednesday
that the fund had reached NZ$23,000
and enough money was pledged to
make them confident of sending
Palani’s body home at the earliest
opportunity.
“It was amazing. I couldn’t believe
it,” Ramanathan said.
“It’s a tremendous response. We
didn’t think we would raise it all this
fast. We were thinking we would have
to do a sausage sizzle on a couple of
weekends or something,” he added.
Kathiresan, who was a good friend
of Palani, said he could not thank
people enough for donating.
He described Palani as a quiet,
soft-spoken man who loved cricket.
He said the family would do anything
to have their boy’s body back, but
that would probably mean going into
debt.
The Indian high commission in
Wellington said on Tuesday that it
was taking all steps to return Palani’s
body to India, but certain documents
were still needed. Once it had them, it
would also offer financial assistance to
— IANS
the family.
US regulator upgrades
India’s air safety rating
NEW DELHI: The United States
has upgraded India’s aviation safety
ranking, a senior official said on
Wednesday, in a boost for the country’s
international airlines following an
embarrassing downgrade last year.
During a visit to New Delhi, US
Transportation Secretary Anthony
Foxx said India has taken “corrective
action” to address safety issues and
comply with international standards.
The US Federal Aviation
Administration has given India a
category one rating following last
year’s downgrade to two that lumped
it with small countries such as
Barbados and Nicaragua.
“The United States Government
commends the Government of India
for taking corrective action to address
the safety oversight issues identified
during the IASA process,” Foxx said
in a statement after meeting India’s
Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi
Raju.
The FAA’s International Aviation
Safety Assessment (IASA) last year
found concerns including a lack of
independent and adequately trained
inspectors employed by India’s
regulator to carry out safety checks on
aircraft.
The upgrade by the US regulator
is expected to boost state-run Air
India and Jet Airways, which fly to the
United States.
Both carriers were unable to
increase the number of flights to
the US because of the category two
downgrade and faced extra safety
checks there.
Air India operates 21 flights to US
per week while Jet Airways flies seven.
India’s government last year
described the downgrade as
disappointing and surprising.
The civil aviation regulator has
been working to win back the higher
rating, including by hiring more
inspectors.
The country’s aviation sector has
grown at breakneck speed, thanks to a
rising middle class who can afford an
alternative to dilapidated roads and
railways.
But the sector has been hit by a
series of safety problems including
a scandal in 2011 over a number of
unqualified Indian pilots flying on
fake licences.
— AFP
INDIA
T H U R S DAY
APRIL 9 l 2015
omandailyobserver
India earns global gratitude and goodwill
GOOD SAMARITAN ACT IN YEMEN: Indian authorities have evacuated at least 232 nationals of 26 countries
R A K SINGH
NEW DELHI
April
8:
A
Thank-You-India
reverberation has been echoing
globally for the last few days for its
selfless act of rescuing citizens from
various countries from war-torn
Yemen, while evacuating its own
citizens from the bomb-battered Gulf
nation.
“India helped evacuate Germans
also out of Yemen. Thank You India,”
tweeted German Ambassador to
India Michael Steiner on Wednesday,
expressing his gratitude for flying
out his fellow citizens from Sanaa on
Tuesday.
Germany is not the sole country to
have thanked India for evacuation of
its citizens from Yemen. Sample the
word of thanks from Maldives.
“Thank you Excellency for
evacuating the stranded Maldivian
student Suhail Ali from Yemen,”
tweeted Abdulla Nazeer, the Maldivian
Minister of State for Education.
As per the last count, the Indian
Ministry of Eternal Affairs said on
Wednesday, India evacuated at least
232 nationals of at last 26 countries.
“232 people from 26 countries
evacuated by India from Yemen.
Efforts continuing,” tweeted MEA
spokesperson Syed Akbaruddn, while
also announcing the extension of
India’s Operation Raahat, launched on
March 28 for evacuation of Indians.
“Service to humanity knows
no borders. Glad we helped many
countries in evacuation from Yemen,”
said Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
encapsulating Indian’s ethos behind
its selfless act of helping one and all
trapped in the conflict zone of Yemen.
“The countries to receive India’s help
Pakistan High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit (CR), with Indian evacuees from Yemen who were transported to Karachi on a
Pakistan Navy ship, on their arrival at Indra Gandhi International airport in New Delhi on Wednesday. — AFP
included our neighbours Bangladesh,
Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan
and Sri Lanka,” added the Prime
Minister, while not forgetting to thank
Pakistan for evacuating 11 Indians
from Yemen.
“I welcome our 11 citizens who’ve
returned from Yemen with assistance
from Pakistan. Thank you Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif for your
humanitarian gesture,” said Modi.
The 26 countries whose nationals
India managed to evacuate from
Yemen included Bahrain, Bangladesh,
Canada, Djibouti, Egypt, France,
Hungry, Indonesia, Italy, Jordan,
I welcome our 11
citizens who’ve
returned from Yemen
with assistance from
Pakistan. Thank you Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif for
your humanitarian gesture
Kenya, Lebanon, Maldives, Morocco,
Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines,
Romania, Russia, Sri Lanka, Sweden,
Syria, Uganda, the UK and the US.
In fact, the US, which had suspended
its embassy operation and had closed
its embassy in Yemen on February
11 in the wake of trouble, virtually
banked on India for the evacuation of
its citizens from Yemen like one relying
on one’s closest friend.
NARENDRA MODI
“The Indian government has offered
Prime Minister
to assist US citizens who want to depart
Yemen for Djibouti. This potentially
includes flight out of Sanaa and ship
from Aden. The US citizens wishing
Over 30 animals rescued from
circus after torture reports
NEW DELHI/NANDED: Sixteen
exotic birds, including African parrots
and macaws, 13 dogs, five horses, four
elephants and a camel were rescued from
a circus in Nanded in a joint operation
by many animal rights organisations
after a report revealed its animals were
being exploited and tortured.
Moonlight
circus,
which
is
registered in Lakhimpur in Asom,
was derecognised by the Central Zoo
Authority (CZA) on October 14, 2014,
after investigation by the animal rights
groups revealed exploitation and torture
of its animals, People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals (PETA) said on
Wednesday.
The animals and birds were rescued
from the circus, currently camping in
Nanded, and have been relocated after
the Animal Welfare Board of India
(AWBI) and the CZA withdrew the
circus’ regulatory clearances.
PETA said it started rescuing animals
from the circus from February 2015
after the order and permission from
AWBI and state wildlife departments
were given.
The AWBI had authorised PETA to
conduct 16 inspections from November
2012 to July 2013.
The operation was carried out by the
Federation of Indian Animal Protection
Organization (FIAPO), People For
Animals (PFA) (from Hyderabad,
Pune, Uttarakhand, Wardha), PETA,
Resqink Association for Wildlife
Welfare (RAWW) in Thane, Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
(SPCA) and Wildlife SOS.
The four elephants were shifted to
Wildlife SOS Elephant Care Centre
for rehabilitation and the camel, birds,
horses and dogs have been housed at
PFA Wardha.
— IANS
Salman drunk at the time
of accident: Prosecution
MUMBAI: Attempting to further nail
Salman Khan in the 2002 hit-and-run
case, the prosecution on Wednesday
cited evidence to prove that the
Bollywood star was indeed under the
influence of alcohol and his Toyota
Land Cruiser vehicle did not have any
mechanical defects.
Public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat
had on Tuesday forcefully argued that
Salman and his friend Kamaal Khan
had fled from the accident site without
helping the victims on the night of
September 28, 2002.
Continuing his arguments on
Wednesday, Gharat told Additional
Sessions Judge D W Deshpande that
there was no tampering with the actor’s
blood samples.
He connected the evidence of four
prosecution witnesses — medico
Shashikant Pawar of Sir J J Hospital
who took the blood sample, Bandra
policemen Vijay Salunkhe who
accompanied Salman to the hospital,
and Sharad Gorade who carried
the sample to the Forensics Science
Laboratory and chemical analyst D
Balachander who analysed the blood
sample.
“Balachander has proved that the
accused (Salman) has consumed
alcohol. The analysis revealed the
presence of 62 mg alcohol in 100 ml
blood. There is no reason to doubt the
witness,” Gharat said, explaining the
procedure the chemical analyst had
adopted for checking the blood sample.
Gharat said that after Pawar took the
blood sample, he sealed it properly so
there was no possibility of tampering,
the police constable delivered it to the
Bandra police station’s then in-charge,
Senior Inspector Kishan Shengal, and
then it was taken by Gorade to chemical
analyst Balachander who received it
intact.
On the question of defence
arguments pointing at mechanical
defects in the vehicle leading to the
accident, Gharat cited the evidence of
investigation officer Rajendra Kadam
who had not touched the vehicle or
started the ignition and it was taken
to the police station, where a region
transport office inspector Rajendra
Keskar inspected it.
“The evidence on record shows that
the person driving the car was under
the influence of alcohol and could not
control it,” Gharat argued, referring
to the defence claims that stones and
rubble on the road could have made the
vehicle veer off the road.
However, Gharat made a strong
plea seeking re-examination of Keskar,
who he said answered all questions
during examination, but did not answer
properly during cross-examination.
— IANS
to take advantage of this opportunity
should contact first secretary Raj
Kopal at the Indian Embassy in Sanaa
at 00967734000657,” the US State
Department advised its citizens in
Yemen through micro blogging site
Twitter.
Its elaborate advise further added:
“You may be required to present a
valid US passport for boarding. The
next flight from Sanaa is scheduled to
depart early on April 7.”
While cautioning is citizens “to
carefully consider the risk of travelling
to or within Sanaa and Aden to
board evacuation transport, given the
security conditions in both cities”, the
US department added, “On February
11, due to the deteriorating security
situations in Sanaa, the Department of
State suspended embassy operations at
the US Embassy at Sanaa.”
In fact, India evacuated citizens of
many countries even without their
governments asking it, while there had
been a deluge of requests from various
other countries, who had either no
more citizens left there or they have
not been able to approach the Indian
Embassy in Sanaa or Indian officials in
Aden or Yemen’s other port cities for
help.
Such countries included Cuba,
Czech Republic, Iraq, Ireland,
Netherlands, Slovenia, Singapore,
Thailand, Turkey etc.
India, which on Tuesday announced
to call an end to its evacuation
operation by Wednesday, has extended
it by another day till Thursday in the
wake of calls from its own 140 more
nurses trapped in a Yemeni city.
India has been able to evacuate
around 4,500 people from Yemen,
bringing succour to almost 250 foreign
nationals.
Rights groups urge probe
into death of 20 loggers
NEW DELHI: Rights groups called on
Wednesday for a full investigation into
the death of 20 suspected illegal loggers,
killed when police opened fire in a
forest in southern India notorious for
sandalwood smuggling.
The head of the anti-smuggling task
force behind the killings has said his
officers acted in self-defence on Tuesday
after they were attacked by men armed
with axes, sticks and stones in the
remote forest of Chittoor in Andhra
Pradesh state.
But local activists have questioned
that account and accused police of
regularly using excessive force on wood-
cutters, many of whom are poor migrant
workers from the neighbouring state of
Tamil Nadu.
“The killing of 20 suspected red
sandalwood smugglers by the Andhra
Pradesh police must be investigated
in a swift, thorough, and independent
manner,” said Amnesty International in
a statement on Wednesday.
“If the killings are found to be
unlawful, those responsible should be
brought to justice.” The National Human
Rights Commission has demanded a
detailed report from the state, saying the
incident involved a “serious violation of
human rights”.
— AFP
11
IN BRIEF
44 dead in
Kashmir floods,
says minister
JAMMU: A total of 44 people were
killed and 25 injured in the recent
landslides and flash floods in Jammu
and Kashmir, the state government
said on Wednesday.
Landslides, flash floods and
avalanches triggered due to the
incessant rain caused severe loss of life
and property, Revenue Minister Javaid
Mustafa Mir told the state legislative
assembly.
A total of 12,565 structures were
damaged. As many as 862 cattle died
and 680 cowsheds were damaged,
he said. Many areas are still unsafe for
living due to landslides and cave-ins.
The minister said 211 camps have
been established in the state and
2,907 families evacuated to safer areas.
A total of 1,474 tents and 3,287
blankets have been provided to
families who have lost their homes.
AAP gets court
notice for
misusing emblem
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on
Wednesday issued notice to the AAP
and its legislator Rituraj Govind on a
plea seeking action against them for
allegedly distributing to volunteers
ID cards bearing the state emblem.
Justice Rajiv Shakdher also
restrained the Aam Aadmi Party
and the legislator from further
distributing ID cards bearing the
state emblem to volunteers.
The court sought a response from
the central government, the AAP,
the Delhi Police commissioner and
the legislator, elected from Kirari
constituency.
The plea filed by Pratyush Kanth
said the ID cards with the state
emblem printed on them creates
an impression that it relates to the
government or that it is an official
document of the government.
Shutdown hits
life in Kerala
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A strike
called by transporters, fishermen and
farmers’ unions affected normal life
in Kerala on Wednesday, with villages
and coastal areas the worst hit.
Shops and establishments did
not open across the state in response
to the 12-hour general strike that
ended at 6 pm. Few public vehicles
plied in cities. Most villages were cut
off due to lack of public transport in
the countryside, residents and police
reports said.
All university examinations
scheduled on Wednesday were
postponed. Most private offices were
closed and attendance in government
offices was well below normal. The
Transport Workers Union had called
the strike to protest against what
it says is the indiscriminate hike in
insurance premiums and fuel price.
The farmers union is furious over
falling prices of cash crops, especially
rubber. — IANS
AGAINST LAND ACQUISITION BILL
West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee greets party members as she takes part in a
rally organised to protest against the central government’s Land Acquisition Bill in Kolkata on Wednesday. — AFP
12
GUARDING AT SALON DES ARCADES
T H U R S DAY l A P R I L 9 l 2 0 1 5
DEMONSTRATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA
Republican
guards stand
inside the
Salon des
Arcades at the
Hotel de Ville,
city hall, in
Paris, during a
ceremony on
Wednesday.
WORLD
Rev. Arthur Prioleau of Goose
Creek, South Carolina, carries a
sign at a rally in South Carolina
on Wednesday. Demonstrators
rallied against what they
described as a culture of police
brutality in S. Carolina in the case
of white officer Michael Slager,
who was caught on video killing
Walter Scott, a 50-year-old black.
Kenya blocks fund flow to Somalia Mugabe lambasts West
CHOKING FUNDS: Top of the list was alleged Shebab commander Mohamed Mohamud,
said to be the mastermind behind the university massacre of almost 150 people last week
University students join a demonstration condemning the attack at the Garissa University campus, in the Kenyan coastal port
city of Mombasa on Wednesday. (Inset) Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed said Kenya needs more help from its US and
European allies with intelligence and security measures to help prevent further massacres by Somali militants. — Reuters
NAIROBI: Kenya froze key money
transfer companies vital for Somalia on
Wednesday after the police chief issued
a list of 85 people and businesses with
suspected links to the Al Qaeda-linked
Shebab.
Top of the list issued in an official
government gazette notice was alleged
Shebab
commander
Mohamed
Mohamud, said to be the mastermind
behind the university massacre of
almost 150 people last week.
But the list also included money
transfer companies that provide a crucial
way for relatives to send remittances
from abroad to war-torn Somalia,
including Dahabshiil, one of the most
important transfer companies across the
wider Horn of Africa region.
Their suspension in Kenya would
have major impact on money transfers,
with aid agencies warning in the past
their suspension would hit some of
poorest people the hardest.
With no formal banking system in
the impoverished country, diaspora
Somalis turn to money transfer services
to send money back home to support
their families, sending some $1.3 billion
each year, dwarfing foreign aid.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta
on Saturday warned Shebab fighters
his government will respond to their
killing of 148 people in the university in
Garissa in the “severest way” possible,
with warplanes on Monday attacking
NY woman gets 20 years for killing son with salt
WHITE PLAINS, NY: A suburban
New York mother who blogged about
motherhood was sentenced by a judge to
20 years to life in prison on Wednesday
for murdering her young son with a salt
overdose so she could bask in social
media attention about his mysterious
illness.
The sentence imposed on Lacey
Spears, 27, who chronicled her 5-yearold son’s illnesses on a personal
blog called “Garnett’s Journey” and
other social media, was less than the
maximum penalty of 25 years to life
requested by the prosecution.
“By not imposing the maximum,
I’m exhibiting something you didn’t
show your son — namely mercy,” said
Judge Robert Neary in the Westchester
County Courthouse in Valhalla.
A jury convicted Spears of seconddegree murder in Garnett’s 2014 death
at Westchester Medical Centre.
Assistant District Attorney Doreen
Lloyd described Garnett as a normal,
healthy child whose illnesses were
induced by his mother, who eventually
killed him by putting a lethal amount of
salt into the hospitalised boy’s feeding
tube, all the while blogging and posting
pictures to Facebook.
“She continued to portray him as a
sick child for her own bizarre need for
attention. She used that feeding tube as
a weapon to kill him,” Lloyd said.
— Reuters
1.5 per cent of adults have impulsive anger and agree to carrying guns
Nearly 10pc of Americans
have record of anger: study
WASHINGTON: Around nine per
cent of American adults who have a
record of impulsive and angry behaviour
have access to guns, says a study out on
Wednesday.
These researchers also reported that
1.5 per cent of adults acknowledge
feeling impulsive anger and carrying
guns outside their home.
These people are usually young or
middle aged men who sometimes lose
their temper, break things or get into
fights, said the study, co-authored by
psychiatrists at Duke, Harvard and
Columbia universities.
The study was published in the
journal Behavioural Sciences and the
Law.
“As we try to balance constitutional
rights and public safety regarding people
with mental illness, the traditional
legal approach has been to prohibit
firearms from involuntarily-committed
psychiatric patients,” said Jeffrey
Swanson, a professor in psychiatry and
behavioral sciences at Duke University
in North Carolina and lead author of the
study.
“But now we have more evidence
that current laws don’t necessarily keep
firearms out of the hands of a lot of
potentially dangerous individuals,” he
wrote.
The researchers looked at data
from 5,563 face-to-face interviews
conducted in the National Comorbidity
Study Replication, or NCS-R. This is
a nationally representative survey of
mental disorders in America that was
led by Harvard University in the early
2000s.
The study concluded there was
little overlap between participants with
serious mental illnesses and those with
a history of impulsive, angry behaviour
and access to firearms.
The researchers found that
anger-prone people with guns were
at higher risk for a range of fairly
common psychiatric conditions such
as personality disorders, alcohol abuse,
anxiety and post-traumatic stress. But
only a very small fraction suffered from
acute symptoms of major disorders such
as schizophrenia.
“Very few people in this concerning
group suffer from the kinds of
disorders that often lead to involuntary
commitment and which would legally
prohibit them from buying a gun,” said
Ronald Kessler, a professor of health
care policy at Harvard and principal
investigator of the NCS-R survey.
He and other co-authors argued
that a more effective way to prevent
gun violence would be to examine
a prospective gun buyer’s record
of
misdemeanour
convictions,
including violent offenses and multiple
convictions for impaired driving, rather
than screening based on mental health
treatment history.
In 2012, a total of 11,622 people were
killed by firearms in the United States,
according to federal statistics. — AFP
extremist bases in southern Somalia.
But Kenyatta also warned that the
masterminds behind last Thursday’s
attack were inside Kenya, not Somalia.
“The planners and financiers of this
brutality are deeply embedded in our
communities,” he said.
“We will not allow them to continue
their lives as normal, the full force of the
law will be brought to bear with even
greater intensity that has been the case
in previous years.”
The notice, issued under Kenya’s
prevention of terrorism act and which
gives the names listed 24 hours to
demonstrate why they “should not be
declared a specified entity,” was signed
by Kenya’s police chief Joseph Boinett.
There are huge flows of money both
ways between the neighbouring nations,
for trade and business, as well as in
lifeline remittances to war-torn Somalia
from relatives in the region.
The day-long seige at Garissa
University, situated near the border with
Somalia, claimed 148 lives, including
142 students, three police officers and
three soldiers. It was Kenya’s deadliest
attack since the 1998 bombing of the US
embassy in Nairobi.
“Actions taken are consistent with
the international law on financing
terrorism.... We produced a list of
persons and entities who may have
been involved in facilitating terrorism
activities,” said top treasury official
Kamau Thugge. Many of those listed
are individuals, but also include
transport companies and HAKI Africa,
a Mombasa-based civil society group.
— AFP
on visit to South Africa
South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma (front, right) and his wife Thobeka Mabhija
(back, right), and Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe (front, left) and his wife
Grace (back, left), arrive at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Wednesday. Mugabe
is on his first official state visit to South Africa since 1994, as he seeks to drum up
foreign investment to revive his nation’s moribund economy.
— AFP
PRETORIA: Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe on Wednesday
launched a wide-ranging attack on
Western colonisation in Africa and
recent intervention in the Arab world,
as he made his first state visit to South
Africa in 21 years. The veteran leader,
91, seized the opportunity of a televised
press conference with President Jacob
Zuma in Pretoria to lambast the United
Nations Security Council, the United
States and former colonial power
Britain.
“We want a political environment
in which we are not interfered with
by outsiders and we become masters
of ourselves in Africa,” Mugabe told
reporters.
“We don’t think we are getting a
fair deal at the United Nations. “The
five countries there who are permanent
members... control the entire system.”
Mugabe said the developing world
should stand together against the US,
France and Britain, who make up three
of five permanent members of the UN
security council.
“They disturb the Arab world and
leave (it) torn apart. Look at what they
did to Libya,” he said, adding that USled wars in Iraq revealed the “messy,
reckless, brutal approach of the West”.
Mugabe, who is often accused of
human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, said
his state visit to Pretoria represented
Africa’s victory over colonialists. — AFP
AROUND THE GLOBE
Chile President Bachelet shrugs off polls
Hundreds of flights
scrapped as French
ATCs strike work
PARIS: Hundreds of flights to and
from France were cancelled on
Wednesday as air traffic controllers
launched a two-day strike over
working conditions and the situation
was due to worsen on Thursday. The
civil aviation authority had asked
airlines to scrap around 40 per cent of
flights, warning of “disruption across
the whole country”, and it called
on companies to cancel even more
— half — on Thursday. Flag carrier
Air France warned of “very severe
disruption ” to its flight schedule.
Although it pledged to operate
“almost all” long-haul flights, medium
and short-haul services would be
badly affected, it said. “We cannot
rule out last-minute delays and
cancellations,” the airline added.
Low-cost operator Ryanair said it
had been forced to cancel more than
250 flights due to the industrial action.
“It’s grossly unfair that thousands of
European travellers will once again
have their travel plans disrupted by
the selfish actions of a tiny number
of French... workers,” the Irish airline
fumed. Passengers had been warned
well in advance and seemed to have
made other plans. The situation in
Paris terminals was relatively calm,
though the planes actually taking off
were delayed.
“The companies have done what
was needed. For the moment, there
are no difficulties,” one airport source
said. The strike was called by the main
air traffic union SNCTA, which wants
talks over the working conditions
of its members. A particular bone
of contention is the pushing back
of the retirement age for air traffic
controllers from 57 to 59.
The union insists that for the
past 10 years, talks over working
conditions have taken place outside
the formal structure for unionmanagement negotiations. — AFP
SANTIAGO: Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said her ambitious reform
drive would not be derailed by a recent run of natural and political storms that
have dragged her popularity to an all-time low, promising to continue with “key”
educational changes. The centre-left leader, who ran the top copper exporter
between 2006 and 2010 and then began a second term in March 2014, has seen her
approval ratings sink to their lowest ever levels in recent weeks. The political class
has been rocked by corruption scandals and questions over the access Bachelet’s
daughter-in-law had to a large bank loan, which forced her son to step down as head
of her charity. In addition, the country has been hit by a series of natural disasters,
including devastating floods in the north. “We have to confront (these issues) but at
the same time we have to advance and that’s why the reforms are going to continue,”
Bachelet told journalists at a meeting at the presidential palace on Wednesday. “It
makes it more complex, and much more expensive than calculated, but we will do all
that is necessary.” Reconstruction after the floods will cost at least $1.5 billion, she said.
Bachelet laughed off social media chatter that she might resign over the loan affair,
castigating the media for “getting their information from Twitter”. — Reuters
National Congress Party’s presidential candidate, Sudan’s President Omar
Hassan al Bashir waves to supporters during a campaign rally at Al Fashir in
North Darfur, ahead of the 2015 elections, on Wednesday. — Reuters
Boston attack: Jury starts day-2 trial
BOSTON: US jurors began a second day of deliberations in the Boston bombings trial
on Wednesday after asking questions about the need for a unanimous verdict and the
nature of conspiracy. Three people were killed and 264 others wounded in the twin
blasts at the city’s marathon in 2013, the worst attack in the United States since the
September 11, 2001 attacks on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. Government
prosecutors portrayed immigrant Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who became a US citizen in
2012, as a callous terrorist who carried out the April 15, 2013 bombings to punish the
United States. Tsarnaev’s lawyers admit that he planted one of the bombs hidden in
a backpack, but cast him as a feckless accomplice, bullied or manipulated into taking
part by his more radical elder brother. Tsarnaev, 21, sat in court wearing a dark blazer,
a blue V-neck sweater and a white T-shirt, fidgeting and occasionally flicking his eyes
toward the jury as Judge George O’Toole answered questions from jurors. The seven
women and five men must agree to a verdict on 30 separate counts — many of
which have multiple sub-clauses — over the attacks, the murder of a police officer, a
carjacking and a shootout while on the run.
— AFP
13
Aid trickles in to Yemen as fighting rages
REGION
T H U R S DAY
APRIL 9 l 2015
omandailyobserver
CIVILIAN CASUALTIES MOUNT: 22 people killed in tank and mortar shelling by rebel forces on residential areas in Aden
ADEN: Much-needed
aid
was
trickling into Yemen on Wednesday
as rebels fought fresh battles with progovernment forces backed by a Saudiled air campaign set to enter its third
week.
Washington said it had deepened its
involvement in the air war on rebels and
voiced fears Al Qaeda was exploiting the
power vacuum.
At least 22 people were killed on
Wednesday in tank and mortar shelling
by rebel forces on residential areas in
Aden, a medic and a local official said.
“Twenty-two dead and more than
70 wounded have been transferred to
several hospitals in Aden,” a medical
official said, adding that most of the
casualties were civilians.
A local official confirmed that Houthi
rebels and troops loyal to ex-president
Ali Abdullah Saleh “randomly shelled...
civilian homes” in Mualla and Crater
districts of Aden.
The same sources said that clashes
between local militias, known as
“popular committees” and Houthis left
several fighters dead on Wednesday but
could not immediately provide a toll.
A military source said that 11 people
were killed in Aden overnight in clashes
between rebels and forces loyal to fugitive
President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.
The World Health Organization
meanwhile said more than 640 people
had died and over 2,200 been injured in
the violence since March 19, calling the
humanitarian situation “critical”.
Aid groups have been struggling to
get help into the country, where a Saudiled coalition last month launched air
strikes against Houthi rebels challenging
Hadi.
Aid agency Doctors Without
Borders (MSF) said on Wednesday it
had managed to bring a boat carrying
2.5 tonnes of medical aid to the main
southern city of Aden, the scene of
A girl runs for shelter during an air strike in Sanaa on Wednesday. — Reuters
heavy fighting between rebels and progovernment forces.
The International Committee of
the Red Cross also said a “small boat”
carrying medical supplies and staff was
en route from Djibouti to Aden.
But a planned cargo flight of aid was
not yet able to travel to Yemen due to a
“logistical problem”, ICRC spokeswoman
Sitara Jabeen said in Geneva.
Fighting has intensified in recent
days in Aden, Hadi’s former stronghold
which he fled for Saudi Arabia last
month.
200 Yazidis freed
by IS in Iraq; ICC
won’t prosecute
BEIRUT: The IS extremist group in Iraq
released 216 Yazidis who had been held
captive since last year, the Al Sumaria
news portal reported on Wednesday.
The report cited Kurdish officials
as saying the group released largely
consisted of women, children and the
elderly.
The IS group attacked the Yazidi
minority last year, taking hundreds
of people hostage, including women
allegedly used as sex slaves.
The chief prosecutor of the
International Criminal Court, Fatou
Bensouda, said she does not have
the jurisdiction to investigate the IS
extremists because Iraq and Syria are
not members of the court.
Bensouda
said
crimes
of
“unspeakable cruelty” are reported to
have been committed by the group,
which may amount to crimes against
humanity.
In northern Syria, the IS militia set
off twin blasts which killed 32 people,
mostly rebels from rival groups,
including the Al Qaeda-linked Al Nusra
Front.
The attacks near Marea, north of
Aleppo, killed several key militia leaders.
However, outside of Damascus, in
the south of Syria, Palestinian groups
continued to allege that Al Nusra Front
members were helping IS fighters take
over the Yarmouk refugee camp.
Prior to the outbreak of the Syrian
civil war, the camp had a population
of about 150,000 Palestinians, refugees
from the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, who are
locked in exile.
The camp now is home to only about
16,000 people as many have fled.
The
Palestine
Liberation
Organization in the West Bank sent an
envoy to Damascus to hold talks with
the Syrian government and Palestinian
groups about the situation in the
camp, where the UN reports a total
breakdown of food, water and medical
supplies.
— dpa
Members of the minority Yazidi sect who were newly released embrace each other
on the outskirts of Kirkuk on Wednesday. — Reuters
Rebels shelled the city’s central Crater The World Health
district from surrounding hills on
Organization said more than
Wednesday, a local government official
640 people had died and
said.
Witnesses said bodies could be seen over 2,200 been injured in
on city streets and mosques were calling
the violence since March 19,
through loudspeakers for aid to the city.
Saudi-led warplanes also carried out calling the humanitarian
further strikes, hitting rebel positions situation “critical”.
at Aden’s international airport and the
huge Al Anad air base to its north, a
Yemeni military source said.
The Houthis have seized control capital Sanaa and joined forces with
of large parts of Yemen including the security forces who have remained loyal
NEW OFFENSIVE
to longtime strongman Ali Abdullah
Saleh, forced from power in 2012 after
a year-long, Arab Spring-inspired
uprising.
Washington has backed the coalition
and US Deputy Secretary of State Antony
Blinken said late on Tuesday that it was
stepping up weapons deliveries and
intelligence sharing in support of the
effort.
“Saudi Arabia is sending a strong
message to the Houthis and their allies
that they cannot overrun Yemen by
force,” Blinken told reporters in the
Saudi capital.
“In support of that effort we have
expedited weapons deliveries,” he said.
A US defence official said that
Washington was sending primarily
precision-guided munitions.
Yemen has been a longstanding US
ally, allowing Washington to carry out a
drone war against Al Qaeda’s powerful
local branch.
Last week, Al Qaeda seized much of
Hadramawt provincial capital Mukalla in
Yemen and on Tuesday they attacked one
of the last loyalist strongholds in the city.
US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter
acknowledged on Wednesday that
Al Qaeda was making gains and the
fighting in Yemen was complicating
Washington’s counter-terrorism efforts
but vowed they would go on regardless.
“Obviously it’s always easier to
conduct CT ops when there is a stable
government willing to cooperate,” he
said.
“That circumstance now obviously
doesn’t exist in Yemen but that doesn’t
mean that we don’t continue to take steps
to protect ourselves. We have to do it in a
different way, but we do and we are.”
Concerns over the country’s growing
humanitarian crisis have spread beyond
its borders and aid agencies said on
Wednesday that refugees were arriving
in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti.
A total of 238 refugees from Yemen
have registered in Djibouti in recent
weeks, the UN refugee agency UNHCR
said, and preparations were being made
for many more.
The ICRC also said it was scaling up
its presence in Djibouti “in anticipation
of a possible increase in the number
of people who may flee the southern
regions of Yemen in search of safe haven
from the fighting.”
A sea channel only 30 kilometres
wide at its narrowest point separates
Djibouti and Yemen.
RACE TO RAISE AWARENESS
Iraqi forces
move against
IS in Anbar
BAGHDAD: Iraqi security forces
launched a new offensive against IS
insurgents in Anbar on Wednesday,
seeking to build on a victory over the
militant group last week in the city of
Tikrit.
Fighting began in the western
province’s desert terrain as Prime
Minister Haidar al Abadi was touring
Anbar, visiting Iraqi army units and
pro-government sections, his office
said. Abadi was expected to address the
nation from Anbar later in the day.
“Our next stand and battle will be
from Anbar to liberate it entirely,” Abadi
said in a post on his official Facebook
page. “We will prevail in Anbar as we
prevailed in Tikrit.”
Army officers said IS militants
were driven back on Wednesday in the
Sijariya area east of the Anbar capital
Ramadi and Falluja — the region’s two
key cities.
IS was retreating from Sijariya,
trading mortar fire with government
forces, military sources said.
A senior Iraqi officer in Ramadi said
the purpose of clearing Sijariya was
to secure supply routes to the nearby
Habbaniya air base and to weaken the
militants’ grip on territory connecting
Ramadi and Falluja.
Large parts of Anbar had slipped
from the government’s grasp even
before IS overran the northern city of
Mosul last June and surged through
several areas of Iraq. Security forces
and paramilitaries have since regained
some ground, although core territories
remain under IS control.
Militias have played a leading
role in reversing the insurgents’
advances, but officials from Anbar have
expressed reservations about a role for
paramilitary forces on the battlefield.
At a news conference in Jordan, Iraq’s
defence minister said Abadi would
oversee the distribution of weapons to
tribal fighters in Anbar on Wednesday,
“They will play an important role,”
Khaled al Obaidi said.
— Reuters
Disabled Palestinians participate in a race during an event organised by United Nations at a UN-run training centre in Khan Younis
in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. The event was aimed at raising awareness on the impact of Explosive Remnants of
War (ERW), officials said.
— Reuters
August 2013 sit-ins were broken up with lethal force
Egypt to try another 379
Brotherhood members
CAIRO: Egypt’s public prosecutor
referred a further 379 alleged members
of the banned Brotherhood to court on
Wednesday over sit-ins in August 2013
that were broken up by security forces
who killed hundreds of protesters.
The 379 are accused of causing
the deaths of two policemen at Al
Nahda Square in Giza, one of two sites
where supporters of ousted president
Mohamed Mursi gathered in the weeks
following his overthrow by the military.
They face charges including murder and
vandalism.
The government accuses the
Brotherhood
of
fomenting
an
insurgency since Mursi’s removal.
Militant attacks have killed hundreds of
Egyptians, mostly soldiers and police.
Security forces have killed hundreds
and detained thousands of members of
the group, which says it is committed
to political change through peaceful
They are accused of causing
the deaths of two policemen
at Al Nahda Square in Giza,
one of two sites where
supporters of ousted
president Mohamed Mursi
gathered in the weeks
following his overthrow
by the military.
means only.
Prosecutor Hisham Barakat said in
a statement that two police officers had
also been referred to court, accused of
torturing a lawyer to death at a Cairo
police station last month.
Prosecutions against members of
the security forces are rare in Egypt
where the police have reasserted powers
eroded since the 2011 popular uprising
that ousted ruler Hosni Mubarak. Critics
say the police now act with impunity, an
accusation the Interior Ministry denies.
Four policemen were charged last
month in separate cases involving
the deaths of a female protester and a
suspected Brotherhood member.
Foreign governments and rights
groups have condemned the use of force
to disperse demonstrations at Nahda
and Rabaa squares, the bloodiest event
in Egypt’s recent history.
Cairo has defended its actions, saying
it had given protesters the opportunity
to leave peacefully and that armed
elements within the Brotherhood
initiated the violence.
Barakat also ordered a former
provincial governor to stand trial for
violating a strict protest law that has
landed many of the leaders of the 2011
uprising behind bars.
— Reuters
14
omandailyobserver
EUROPE
T H U R S DAY
APRIL 9 l 2015
Nationalist landslide in Scotland is key to UK vote
ADVANTAGE SNP: Labour won 41 out of 59 seats in Scotland in 2010, but polls suggest the majority of these will pass to the SNP
EDINBURGH: Scottish nationalists are
preparing for landslide election gains at
the expense of Labour next month but
also holding out the offer of a pact that
could put the centre-left party in power.
“Scotland’s voice at Westminster has
always been very quiet, in fact it’s been
completely muted because the strings
have been pulled by UK Labour,” said
Carol Monaghan, an Scottish National
Party (SNP) candidate in Glasgow.
“People don’t want that any more,” she
added.
Labour won 41 out of 59 seats in
Scotland in the 2010 vote, but polls
suggest the majority of these will pass to
the pro-independence SNP on May 7.
Without big wins in Scotland, Labour
has little chance of winning a majority in
Britain’s 650-seat House of Commons —
but neither does Prime Minister David
Cameron’s Conservative Party, leaving
the election wide open. “If Labour weren’t
losing ground in Scotland... it would be
pretty obvious that they were the only
party capable of forming a government,”
said John Curtice, professor of politics at
Strathclyde University.
“The fact that they are at risk of losing
heavily in Scotland is what’s helping to
turn this election into such an uncertain
and unpredictable contest.”
But the SNP surge could improve,
not hinder Labour leader Ed Miliband’s
chances as the party has indicated it could
support a minority Labour government
to keep Cameron out.
“I don’t want David Cameron to
be prime minister, I’m offering to help
make Ed Miliband prime minister,”
Sturgeon said in a televised debate on
Tuesday. In the central Scottish town
of Cumbernauld, Labour MP Gregg
McClymont won 57 per cent of the vote
at the last election but is fighting to keep
his seat amid polls showing a major swing
to the SNP.
“It’s certainly going to be a tight
contest, there’s no denying it,” he said,
pushing leaflets through doors on a
Health Service, and McClymont remains
upbeat. But there is still resentment
against Labour, which was in government
in Britain between 1997 and 2010.
The party has been demonised by
the SNP as being too similar to the
Conservatives and was widely blamed for
the financial crash of 2008.
The SNP has in recent years pitched
beyond its nationalist base to traditional
Labour voters with a message of a fairer,
more equal Scotland in charge of its own
affairs — with significant success.
The party has run the devolved
government in Edinburgh since 2007,
and in the 2011 Scottish parliamentary
elections won an impressive 45 per cent
of ballots cast.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon campaigns at Castlegate, Aberdeen,
The “Yes” campaign secured a similar
Scotland, on Wednesday.
— Reuters
proportion of the vote in September’s
independence referendum, and that
enthusiasm now looks set to translate into
housing estate during a spring hail storm. flower bed.
The grey, low-rise houses here are built in
Many voters seem receptive to SNP success at Westminster.
Glasgow has long been solid Labour
a warren of alleys strewn with discarded Labour’s policies on the key issues of
shopping trolleys and the odd forlorn education and the state-run National territory but the party could be set to
TRAPPED IN ICE
Britain starts exit
checks on passports
Freighters trapped in ice are shown in this aerial photo near Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior northwest of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario on Tuesday. The biggest ice cover on the
Great Lakes in decades is backing up shipments of everything from Canadian grain to US iron and steel in one of North America’s most important economic regions. — Reuters
UK boy tried to obtain deadly poison
LONDON: A 16-year-old boy was
arrested by anti-terrorism police after
placing an order on the “dark web” for
a powerful poison regarded as 30 times
more toxic than ricin, a court heard on
Wednesday. The boy, from Tameside,
Greater Manchester, pleaded guilty to
trying to acquire a biological toxin or
agent contrary to the Criminal Attempts
Act and the Biological Weapons Act.
Manchester Youth Court heard that
police were told in January that the
teenager, who cannot be named for
legal reasons, had shown an interest in
obtaining the substance, abrin. He told
detectives he had wanted to buy it to
commit suicide.
“(He) showed awareness of the drug’s
toxicity and the potential for it to be
used to cause considerable harm,” police
said in a statement.
In February, he had tried to place
an order on the “dark web” — a large,
murky area of the World Wide Web
where sites hide their identity — and
also suggested he would make future
purchases in larger quantities.
“Abrin is a natural poison found in
the seeds of a plant called the rosary
pea or jequirity and is considered 30
times more toxic than ricin,” the police
statement added.
A 16-year-old girl was also arrested
as part of the investigation but later
released without charge. The boy will be
sentenced on April 20.
— Reuters
UK police seek gang behind
£200 million robbery
LONDON: British police were hunting
for a gang on Wednesday who raided
safety deposit boxes in London’s major
jewellery business district, making off
with cash and gems in what local media
said could be the country’s biggest-ever
heist.
The Metropolitan Police said the
thieves used heavy cutting equipment
to get into the vault at the officially
unnamed deposit business in Hatton
Garden, home to almost 300 diamond,
gold and gem dealers and more than 50
shops, where they broke into the safety
boxes. According to the Sun newspaper,
the gang are thought to have tunnelled
their way in through one wall to access
a lift shaft at the Hatton Garden Safe
Deposit Ltd building on Friday, while
businesses were closed for the Easter
holidays.
They then abseiled down to the
vault and smashed their way in, an
unnamed source told the paper. Other
media reported that 300 boxes had been
raided. Police gave no details of what
was stolen but the Sun said the haul
could be as much as 200 million pounds
($300 million), dwarfing the amounts
taken in Britain’s previous biggest heists.
“Robbery at one of the biggest safe
deposits in Hatton Garden over the
lose all but one of its seats, according to
polling.
In the north-west of the city,
Monaghan — a physics teacher moved
to enter politics after the referendum —
looks set to overturn a Labour majority
of 19,000.
It helps the SNP’s campaign
that Labour campaigned with the
Conservatives against independence
— the Tories are deeply unpopular in
Scotland, and have just one MP here.
“I think having a stronger SNP voice
in Westminster is generally a good thing
to shake up the big, larger parties,” said
Stewart Cunningham, a 33-year-old PhD
student who is switching from Labour to
the SNP.
Labour has declined to say whether it
would take up its old enemies the SNP’s
offer to do some kind of post-election
deal, only ruling out a formal coalition
and saying there would be no SNP
ministers in a Labour government.
— AFP
Easter weekend,” London gemologist
Thelma West wrote on Twitter. “The loss
is Huge.” She said a lot of jewellers and
dealers leave their stock in safe deposits
over holiday periods. Diamond expert
Lewis Malka, who owns a business in
Hatton Garden, tweeted: “Big robbery
at one of the safe deposits in Hatton
Garden over the Easter weekend. Not
good news for a lot of dealers.”
On its website, Hatton Garden Safe
Deposit Ltd said it was founded in 1954
and was one of the first companies in
Britain to offer safe deposit boxes.
“We are currently one of London’s
most successful and leading safe deposit
companies aiming to provide our clients
a secure and cost-effective solution
to store and protect important and
irreplaceable personal belongings,” it
said. There was no immediate answer to
phone calls or e-mails from the business.
Britain’s record heist was carried out
at a Securitas cash depot in Tonbridge,
southeast of London in 2006 when
robbers stole almost 53 million pounds
in cash. In 2000, police foiled a daring
attempt to steal 350 million pounds
worth of diamonds from a display at
London’s Millennium Dome in what
would have been the world’s biggest ever
robbery.
— Reuters
LONDON:
Britain launched exit
checks on passports at borders from
Wednesday, saying the move would
help to fight illegal immigration and
track the movements of suspected
terrorists.
“Exit checks will provide us with
vital information that confirms a
person’s exit from the UK,” said James
Brokenshire, minister for security and
immigration.
The checks are “predominately
an immigration and data tool” but
will “improve national security by
helping the police and security services
track the movements of known or
suspected criminals and terrorists,” the
government said.
Critics of the new checks, which will
be phased in over two months, have
warned that they could cause delays at
some ports, rail terminals and airports.
The government says gradual
introduction will ensure that border
staff have time to implement them
while minimising disruption.
About 25 per cent of passports will
be checked in the first month, rising to
100 per cent by mid-June.
The move follows a series of highly
publicised cases in which British
citizens, including several teenagers,
left the country intending to fight for or
against the IS group in Syria. — dpa
IN BRIEF
UK Museum director quits, heads to Berlin
France’s far right National Front party
leader Marine Le Pen hugs her father
Jean-Marie Le Pen, France’s National
Front political party founder, during a
campaign rally before the European
Parliament elections in Marseille in
this file picture. — Reuters
LONDON: The head of London’s British Museum will step down at the end of this year
and is to work on a major new cultural project in Berlin, it said on Wednesday.
Neil MacGregor, who has been in charge since 2002, will leave in December to
work on part-time projects including advising German Culture Minister Monika
Gruetters on the development of the Humboldt Forum. MacGregor organised a
popular exhibition on German history last year at the British Museum, which is the
most visited tourist attraction in Britain.
The Humboldt Forum, a new museum due to open in 2019, is described by
Gruetters as “our most ambitious cultural project” and will be housed in a former
imperial palace in Berlin. Media reports suggest that MacGregor could eventually be
a candidate to run it. After leaving the British Museum, he will also work alongside the
CSMVS Museum in Mumbai — India’s most prestigious — and on a new series for BBC
radio. During his time at the British Museum, MacGregor defended its right to keep its
most controversial artefacts, the Elgin Marbles. The museum’s loan of part of the Elgin
Marbles to the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg last year drew an angry response
from Greece, which wants the return of the sculptures which were once part of the
— AFP
Parthenon temple on the Acropolis in Athens.
French far-right
party leader
jettisons father
PARIS: France’s far-right was in disarray
on Wednesday after National Front
leader Marine Le Pen openly split with
her father and party founder after gas
chamber comments she described as
“political suicide”. Jean-Marie Le Pen,
the outspoken 86-year-old founder of
the FN party, has dominated headlines
in recent days, repeating his view
that Nazi gas chambers were a “detail
of history” and defending war-time
French leader Petain, who collaborated
with Hitler’s regime. His sorties
appear to have been the last straw for
daughter Marine, who has been trying
to clean up the party’s anti-Semitic
and racist image since she took over
in 2011, a move that has seen it soar in
opinion polls.
Jean-Marie Le Pen is veering
between “political suicide” and
“a scorched earth strategy”, his
daughter said in a statement. “His
status of honorary president does
not allow him to take the National
Front hostage, to make such crass
provocations that appear aimed at
harming me but which unfortunately
hit the entire movement, its officials,
candidates, members and voters very
hard,” she added. Marine Le Pen said
she would oppose his standing in
regional elections in December in what
deputy party leader Florian Philippot
described as a “total and definitive”
split between father and daughter.
Danish Queen Margrethe waves to the attendees from the balcony at Aarhus
City Hall on Wednesday as a prelude to the celebration of Queen Margrethe’s
75th birthday on April 16.
— AFP
Spain arrests 10 over alleged IS links
MADRID: Spanish police arrested 10 people in the Catalonia region on Wednesday
suspected of links to the IS group, authorities said, the latest such raids as European
nations seek to stop recruitment by the rebel organisation. The operation included
raids in the Barcelona and Tarragona areas and those arrested are suspected of crimes
“linked to terrorism, particularly to the IS,” police said in a statement.
Authorities in Europe are seeking to stop young people travelling to Iraq and Syria
to fight with the violent extremist group. Authorities in Spain have raided a number
of alleged recruitment cells, most of them in the country’s North African territories of
Ceuta and Melilla as well as a number in Catalonia. On April 1, a Moroccan living in
Catalonia was remanded in custody after allegedly seeking to send her 16-year-old
twins to fight with the rebels in Syria, a year after another of her sons died in that
country. “It would be outrageous to say that mosques in Catalonia are preaching
this” radical message, Catalonia’s regional interior minister Ramon Espadaler said on
Wednesday.
— AFP
16
PANORAMA
omandailyobserver
T H U R S DAY
APRIL 9 l 2015
An 8-year-old acrobat (right) walks on a
tightrope away from a traditional Chinese
building during a performance for visitors
at a tourist attraction in Hefei, Anhui
province on Wednesday. — Reuters
A person walks on Tuesday as the Alps
are seen in Buching, Germany. — AFP
A woman sits near the ‘Marilyn’ print by American pop artist Andy Warhol before the opening of the Pop Art Forum exhibition
at the The Square of the Peace Museum Centre in the Russian Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, on Wednesday. Creations of world
classics of the Pop Art including well-known US artists Warhol, Roy Fox Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns and others brought from
foreign private collections will be on show, according to organisers. — Reuters
H’mong women carrying firewood to their homes in Meo
Vac district in the northern mountainous province of Ha
Giang in the Northeast region of Vietnam. — AFP
Two men try to push a car out of floodwaters after a storm
swept Changsha, central China’s Hunan province on
Tuesday. — AFP
An Afghan labourer pull his carts loaded with plastic chairs along a street in Kabul on Wednesday. — AFP
A hot-air balloon flies above the Russian Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. — Reuters
A horse grazes at the archaeological site of the ancient
Greek city of Cyrene, a colony of the Greeks of Thera
(Santorini) and a principal city in the Hellenic world founded
in 630 BC, located in the suburbs of the Libyan eastern town
of Shahat, east of Benghazi, on Tuesday. — AFP
Two women take a selfie before a fashion show on the streets during the Shanghai Fashion Week in Shanghai on
Wednesday. — AFP
THURSDAY | APRIL 9, 2015 | JUMADA AL THANIA 19, 1436 AH
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Oman, GCC plan commercial Shell agrees £47 bn deal for BG Group
power trading trials
PILOT PROJECT: It will help Sultanate develop required capabilities to
trade in electricity, as well as assess overall benefits of potential resource
CONRAD PRABHU
MUSCAT
April 8: Oman’s electricity authorities
plan to participate in a pilot project
that promises to open the way for
commercial power trading for the first
time between the member states of the
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) bloc.
The trials, planned to take place this
year, will help the Sultanate develop
the required capabilities to trade in
electricity, as well as assess the overall
benefits of this potential resource,
according to Oman Power and Water
Procurement Company (OPWP),
the sole procurer of all new power
generation and water desalination
capacity in the Sultanate.
Oman’s Main Interconnected System
(MIS), the principal electricity grid
serving much of the northern half of the
Sultanate, is currently interconnected
with the power system of the Emirate
of Abu Dhabi via a 220kV link at
Mahdha. This interconnection, which
was commissioned in 2011 and brought
into operation six months later, ensures
reliability of electricity supply on either
side through the sharing of surplus
generation capacity.
Furthermore,
the
Sultanate’s
membership
of
the
GCC
Interconnection Authority (GCCIA),
which was formalised last December,
also enables access to the power systems
of other GCC member states via the
UAE interconnect.
“GCCIA membership provides
access to generation and operating
reserves, with tangible benefits to Oman
both for planning and operations,” said
OPWP. “The GCCIA is also developing
mechanisms for commercial power
trading among Member States. OPWP
intends to participate in pilot trades in
2015 toward developing capabilities and
assessing the benefits of this prospective
resource,” the utility added in its newly
released 7-year (2015-2021) Outlook
Statement for the power and water
sector.
Significantly, the double circuit link
between Oman and the UAE currently
supports reliable transfers of up to
400 MW, but is technically capable of
carrying up to 800 MW in emergencies,
says OPWP. The link has been actively
utilised to provide emergency reserves
support not only for the benefit of Oman
and the UAE, but and other GCCIA
member countries as well, it noted.
TO PAGE 19
LONDON: Energy titan Royal Dutch
Shell on Wednesday announced a mega
takeover of British rival BG Group
worth £47 billion, consolidating their
positions in a sector battered by sliding
oil prices.
The cash and shares deal, approved
by the BG board and worth the
equivalent of $70 billion or 64 billion
euros, will help Shell to boost its flagging
output thanks to BG’s strong position in
liquefied natural gas (LNG), a cleaner
alternative to energy types such as coal
and nuclear.
The new company will be worth
twice the value of BP and overtake
US energy giant Chevron Corp on
finalising the sector’s biggest deal in a
decade, according to Bloomberg News.
BG’s share price, which has tumbled
over the past year on plunging oil prices,
soared by almost 40 per cent in reaction
to Wednesday’s announcement.
“The boards of Shell and BG are
pleased to announce that they have
reached agreement on the terms of a
recommended.
TO PAGE 19
18
OMAN
omandailyobserver
T H U R S DAY
APRIL 9 l 2015
Ethiopia Trade Mission a major success: Ithraa
BUSINESS REPORTER
MUSCAT
April 8: Dr Salem ben Nasser al Ismaily,
Chairman of Ithraa, Oman’s inward
investment and export promotion
agency, concluded a successful
manufacturing-focused trade and
investment mission to fast-growing
Ethiopia last week —Ithraa’s first mission
to Africa in 2015. Dr Al Ismaily was
accompanied by representatives from
over 20 companies and organisations
drawn from across Oman.
“Opening new markets to increase
Omani exports is at the heart of what
Ithraa does and is key to creating jobs,
growth and long-term prosperity for
Oman,” said Dr Al Ismaily.
“Our trade missions focus on specific
sectors where Omani businesses have
established expertise and where there’s
the greatest chance for success. Ethiopia’s
a pioneering market and its missions
such as this one to Addis Ababa that are
helping Omani firms take full advantage
of the outstanding opportunities on
offer in Sub-Saharan African markets,”
added Ithraa’s Chairman.
Commenting on the Addis Abba
mission, Mahmood Jafar al Ajmi, Sales
Manager of Al Waqia Shoes Company,
headquartered on Rusayl Industrial
estate said:
“Ithraa provides an
invaluable service to Omani exporters
like Al Waqia Shoes Company as we
evaluate and enter new markets around
the world. Making sense of today’s
fast-moving global economy can be
a challenge for many local exporters,
but with Ithraa’s support we’re able to
succeed. Indeed, their international
trade insight is invaluable.”
With a population of over 90 million,
Ethiopia has registered growth rates in
excess of 10 per cent for several years
and is attracting significant interest
from international investors. It is already
the third largest coffee producer in the
world and boasts the largest livestock
population in Africa. It is also the fourth
largest sesame exporter in the world,
second largest horticulture exporter
in Africa, and one of the largest honey
and beeswax producing countries in the
world.
“Working with Ithraa, we aim to
increase our activity in Sub-Saharan
Africa since it’s a key market,” stated
Ibrahim Salim al Hoqani, Managing
Director of Nizwa Food Industries
“Participating on trade missions is a
crucial part of helping us strengthen
our global presence, particularly on
a continent with such tremendous
potential.”
Commenting on the Ethiopia trade
visit, Nasima al Balushi, Ithraa’s Director
General for Export Development
explained: “We offer tailor-made
services to Omani companies looking
to expand operations internationally.
My team is passionate about helping our
private sector harness economic growth
wherever in the world it is taking place.
This means supporting local businesses
and ensuring they can compete in
an increasingly competitive global
marketplace.
This means strengthening our
relationships in Africa, deepening our
understanding and working together
to seize the opportunities this vast
continent presents. This is why we
organised the Ethiopia mission.”
Nasima went on to explain that
Ethiopia has a growing interest in
construction, energy, food processing,
tourism, health, education and agritechnology, sectors where Oman has
expertise. “I see an economy on the
move, one that offers huge potential for
Oman’s private sector,” said the Ithraa
Director General.
Protiviti concludes its annual leadership forum
MUSCAT:
The Oman office of
Protiviti organised its fourth Annual
Forum ‘Leadership in the Digital Age’
under the auspices of Dr Salim al
Ruzaiqi, CEO of ITA, recently.
The theme was “Disruptive
Leadership by Design” and several
speakers shared their success stories,
engaged in thought provoking
debates on challenges around strategy,
governance, growth, security, social
impact, innovation and talent crunch
in the digital age. This forum delivered
untold insights on emerging trends
and highlighted pragmatic solutions
to embrace disruptive leadership and
support sustainable business growth
by adopting competitive advantages
in today’s dynamic and fast paced
environment.
The speakers at the event included
CEOs of Orpic, Nama Group, Miracle’,
Safety Technical Services as well
as other speakers from Omantel,
German University Tech, Oman Data
Park, Cosmic Surrounding, Ooredoo,
Zubair SEC and others who exchanged
views on how disruptive technologies
BUSINESS ALERT
Now! Toyota is ‘Olympic TOP Partner’
MUSCAT:
Toyota
Motor
Corporation (TMC) has entered into
a sponsorship agreement with the
International Olympic Committee
(IOC) to become part of ‘The
Olympic Partner (TOP) programme’.
The agreement runs through to the
end of 2024 in the mobility category,
which includes vehicles, mobility
services and mobility solutions. The announcement was marked by a ceremony
in Tokyo, attended by IOC President Thomas Bach, IOC Marketing Commission
Chairman Tsunekazu Takeda (Japanese Olympic Committee President), The
Tokyo Organising Committee of Olympic and Paralympic Games President
Yoshiro Mori, TMC President Akio Toyoda and other dignitaries.
Toyota’s relationship with the Olympic Games and the Olympic Movement is
effective immediately, with Toyota granted sponsorship rights in Japan through
2016. Toyota’s rights will extend globally beginning 2017. The product categories
covered by the Toyota sponsorship are: vehicles (including passenger cars, urban
mobility vehicles and commercial vehicles), mobility services (including vehicle
and road safety and transportation support systems and services) and certain
transportation and mobility support products.
Commenting on the sponsorship, Akio Toyoda said: “We will do everything
possible to fulfil our new role in The Olympic Partner programme, and justify
the trust the IOC has placed in us. The addition of a mobility category to the
TOP Partner field is an important recognition for our entire industry. Under this
Olympic flag, let us today reaffirm the power of sports to bring people together.
And let us dedicate ourselves to creating a better world by promoting sports in
the Olympic spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.”
Toyota will be one of 11 companies with exclusive worldwide marketing rights
under The Olympic Partner, or TOP, programme. Toyota will be the world’s first
automaker as a top-tier Olympic sponsor and the third Japanese TOP partner.
strongly influences and reshapes
businesses,
human
behaviour,
governance, and ethics.
“I attended all four of Protiviti’s
annual forums and the growing
interest of the audience has definitely
evolved on this subject. I would like to
encourage the younger generation to
actively participate at such events and
foster the spirit of ethical leadership
in the digital age but I would like to
also remind them that they have been
granted with countless opportunities
to work together and make us proud
that this Nation continues to excel
and innovate,” said Naashiah bint
Saud al Kharusi, Member of The State
Council.
The Renaissance Senior Management Team held a meeting with
shareholders, analysts, investors and members of the press to discuss the
performance of the company.
Rich Pick Up was specially designed for the small and medium level businessmen
The elegantly designed all new Chery E5, the first of the E series cars is
who need reliable and affordable Pick Ups for their day to day activities. We are equipped with advanced technological applications, offering both the driver and
sure this guaranteed cash back offer would have benefitted them immensely. the passenger, driving pleasure and comfort on the road. Its spacious passenger
And now only last few days are left to take advantage of this offer”.
compartment offers optimum comfort in a quiet environment.
Meet the New Alfa Romeo and Fiat 500!
Al Hayat Hospital’s Training Programme
THEY’RE here. Alfa Romeo,
with its captivating mix of
progressive technology, raceinspired performance, and Fiat,
with its fun, funky, versatile
and distinctive personality
have come ashore to thrill
performance enthusiasts and
car connoisseurs alike. Born in Italy, the unique spirit of both brands have taken
years in the making, and can now be experienced at the display arena from April
9-11 at Muscat Grand Mall (MGM) and from April 23 to 25 at Muscat City
Centre, Seeb.
The showcase will give guests the opportunity to feast their eyes and get close
and personal with the Alfa Romeo and Fiat 500. Representatives from Dhofar
Automotive, exclusive dealers of the Alfa Romeo and Fiat range in Oman will
be providing information on the models that are on display. Not just this, an
exciting Instagram Selfie contest is in the offing too.
Visit the Alfa Romeo and Fiat pavilion showcasing the Alfa Romeo 4C
and Giulietta, and the Fiat 500 at MGM and Muscat City Centre in Seeb over
the two-weekends; as there is a lot to make it worth your time. You can also
capture a special moment by clicking a Selfie at the brands’ Instagram Booth,
share it on your Instagram Account with the hashtag - #MyStyleMyFiat; and
tag @OmanFiat. The Selfie with the most number of ‘likes’ will win a two-week
test-drive of the Fiat 500. To participate you have to be 18 years and hold a
valid Omani Driving Licence, do visit the Alfa Romeo and Fiat arena for more
information.
.
AL Hayat International Hospital,
the leading private sector
hospital in Oman, recently
conducted a training programme
to help Omani and expatriate
medical graduates to successfully
clear the MRCP examinations.
Led by the chairman and chief
cardiologist of Al Hayat, Dr K
P Raman, the panel consisted
of highly experienced and well known senior consultant physicians of Oman
including Dr Prashanth, Dr Salim al Harthy and Dr Jaber al Kaboori.
Being conducted for the fourth consecutive year in Al Hayat, this year’s
MRCP PACES (Practical Assessment of Clinical Examination Skills) programme
witnessed the participation of a number of candidates from different countries.
Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP), UK, is a postgraduate
medical diploma in internal medicine obtained through written, oral and clinical
examinations, following a basic medical degree like MBBS and MBCHB.
Statistics indicate that hardly 20 per cent of candidates in overseas countries
clear this exam, with a number of reasons for failure, ranging from inadequate
preparation for the clinical examination, to incorrect method of approach to a
patient, as well as failure to adequately address the concerns of the patient.
Cash back on ZNA Rich Pick Ups
Peace of mind with every Chery car
THE guaranteed cash back offer
on Zhengzhou Nissan Automobile
(ZNA) Rich Pick Ups will soon end.
The offer of guaranteed cash gift of
RO 450 will last till April 14 on all
2015 models of the very sturdy and
reliable ZNA Rich Pick Ups. There
is in addition free 24 hours AAA
roadside assistance package on its
purchase. The starting price of these
models is RO 4,799 only.
A proven workhorse, a reliable partner delivering an awesome combination
of power, utility and efficiency, ZNA Rich Pick Up is equipped to meet varying
business needs and is complete value for money. Dependable for a wide variety of
activities, the 2015 models are available in single cabin 2 door and double cabin 4
door configurations with new enhanced interiors. The 2.4 litre 4 cylinder engine
is powerful enough for a long drive to a faraway destination or for hauling heavy
loads. The adjustable and compressible steering column, independent double
wishbone suspension along with the plush interiors and a CD + USB + SD card
enabled audio system makes sure each drive is a comfortable one.
A senior spokesperson from Towell Auto Centre (TAC), the sole distributor
of ZNA range of vehicles in Oman said: “At TAC, it is our constant endeavour to
provide our customers with exciting promotions. The cash back offer on ZNA
THE current promotion from
Chery is designed to offer
customers ‘peace of mind’ for years
to come. As part of the ongoing
promotion, Chery cars come with
5 years unlimited mileage warranty
and a host of freebies that include:
Free Insurance, Free Registration,
Free Service for 2 years/30,000
kms, whichever comes earlier etc,
exact details of the promotion can be checked out at any of the Chery showrooms
closer to you.
Chery Automobile Co Ltd, founded in 1997, one of China’s largest
automakers, has rolled out more than 4 million vehicles since then. At present
Chery is exported to more than 80 countries spread across Eastern Europe,
South America, Southern Asia, Middle East and Africa. Chery has also overseas
production / CKD assembly facilities in about 15 countries including Russia,
Ukraine, Egypt, Thailand and Uruguay. Current Chery models in Oman are All
New Chery E5 sedan & New Tiggo SUV CHERY E5, a pioneering model in E
series, is positioned as a ‘city sedan’ — which is intended to be practical model
for families. The New Tiggo is a New Concept Vehicle (NCV) that integrates the
strong elements of SUVs ie, flexibility and spaciousness, which can best satisfy
car owners requirement during weekend excursions, leisure, and relaxation.
KR Group observes World Earth Hour
THE Khimji Ramdas Group
was once again at the forefront
of World Earth Hour initiatives
organised by the Environment
Society of Oman (ESO). As part
of this drive, the conglomerate
turned off all non-essential
electrical lights for one whole
hour. The entire corporate wing
of the KR Group including
its various divisions as well
as The Bollywood Restaurant, The Indus Restaurant and Café Vergnano1882
participated in the event.
“At the KR Group, we are committed to environment conservation and
protection. We fully participate in events that create awareness on matters of the
environment and also ensure that the message percolates down to every member
of our management and staff. So an event like earth hour receives our full and
complete support, especially when we can motivate other corporates to follow
suit and spread the message,” said Nailesh Khimji, Director, KR Group.
He added that the company followed firm policies on environment
conservation, sustainability and preservation. As an extra step, the company
also advocates the cause on its website and also through its wide range of ecoconscious bath and sanitary ware fixtures.
Earth Hour is a global movement organised by the World Wide Fund for
Nature (WWF), where participating individuals and companies switch off nonessential lights for an hour, as a demonstration of their commitment towards
saving the planet by conserving its natural resources.
OMAN/INTERNATIONAL
T H U R S DAY
APRIL 9l 2015
Rebound in UK
services points
to Q1 GDP boost
LONDON: Growth in Britain’s services
sector rose sharply last month, pointing
to a speeding up of overall economic
growth in the first three months of
2015, financial data company Markit
said.
Adding to a run of positive economic
news before a May 7 national election,
the Markit/CIPS services purchasing
managers’ index (PMI) staged its
biggest gain in more than a year to hit
an eight-month high of 58.9 in March.
The index had stood at 56.7 in
February. “The UK economy moved up
a gear in March,” said Chris Williamson,
chief economist at Markit. ‘‘Faster
growth of new business and improved
expectations of prospects for the year
ahead also bode well for the upturn to
retain strong momentum as we move
through the spring.”
Britain’s gross domestic product
probably rose by a quarterly 0.7 per cent
in the first three months of 2015 — up
from 0.6 per cent growth late last year,
Williamson said.
That forecast matched one from
the Confederation of British Industry
published earlier on Tuesday.
Official first-quarter GDP figures are
due out the week before the election,
and an acceleration of growth could
boost Prime Minister David Cameron
as he tries to convince voters that
only his Conservative Party can bring
prosperity.
The Markit and CBI forecasts
contrast with the gloomier assessment
of some private-sector economists who
last week warned of a likely slowdown
in growth following a fall in the official
measure of services output for January.
The rise in March’s services PMI
beat economists’ forecasts in a Reuters
poll, which called for a much more
modest rise to 57.0, and followed
a strong reading on the equivalent
manufacturing survey last week.
Markit said the optimism of firms
in its survey — which does not include
retailers or public-sector services —
was the highest since May last year.
— Reuters
Power trading trials
FROM PAGE 17
Other benefits that can be realised
from the interconnector and GCCIA
membership include: (i) Reduced
Planning
Reserve
Requirements,
potentially allowing the MIS to maintain
a lower reserve margin over peak
demand to meet its statutory reliability
standard; (2) Reduced Operating Reserve
Requirements, allowing fewer units to
be in standby operation or maintaining
spinning reserves and thus allowing the
power system to operate more efficiently
in dispatch; and (3) Firm support during
emergencies up to 6 hours for each
incident and up to 18 hours in a year.
Equally promising is the potential
for electricity trading across the bloc,
stressed OPWP. “Opportunities for
trading power with other member
states, including firm capacity
contracts, (…) may be considered for
example as an alternative to temporary
diesel generation. There may also
be opportunities for firm capacity
exchanges, exploiting differences in
seasonal peak periods between Oman
and the other member states,” the utility
stated.
In fact, a projected deficit in domestic
generation capacity anticipated during
the 2016-17 timeframe is proposed to
be met possibly through commercial
imports via the interconnector. “OPWP
expects to address the deficit either by
import of firm capacity from a GCCIA
member state or by procurement of
temporary rental diesel generation. For
this reason, OPWP plans a trial import
or exchange with a GCCIA partner in
2015, in order to confirm procedures
for transmission access and contractual
arrangements, as well as operating
arrangements,” the procurer said.
“OPWP and OETC also plan to
cooperate in 2015 towards developing
generation dispatch procedures that
take full advantage of both GCCIA
operating reserves and the newer
generation plants while honouring
the network security constraints that
assure reliable power supply. OETC
is in the process of developing a 400
kv transmission backbone and new
dispatch control technology that
together will support more efficient
dispatch, while OPWP will contribute
advanced system simulation to support
economic dispatch decision-making,”
the company further added.
Shell-BG Group deal
FROM PAGE 17
cash and share offer to be made
by Shell for the entire issued and to
be issued share capital of BG,” said a
statement issued by the Anglo-Dutch
group. The offer represents a premium
of about 50 per cent compared with BG’s
closing share price on Tuesday, costing
Shell “approximately £47.0 billion” for
its rival, the statement added.
“The result will be a more
competitive, stronger company for
both sets of shareholders in today’s
volatile oil price world,” Shell chairman
Jorma Ollila said in the release. BG
Chief Executive Helge Lund said the
deal “delivers attractive returns to
shareholders and has strong strategic
logic”. He added: “BG’s deep water
positions and strengths in exploration...
will combine well with Shell’s scale,
development expertise and financial
strength.”
The tie-up will improve Shell’s
proved oil and gas reserves by a quarter
and lift output by a fifth, while delivering
“enhanced positions in competitive
new oil and gas projects, particularly in
Australia LNG and Brazil deep water”,
— AFP
the statement added.
omandailyobserver
19
MUSCAT SECURITIES MARKET
20
omandailyobserver
INTERNATIONAL
T H U R S DAY
APRIL 9 l 2015
Asian shares rise, Hong Kong at 7-year high
OIL RETREATS: Oil prices ticked lower on profit-taking in Asia after climbing on Tuesday to their highest level of 2015
HONG KONG: Asian markets rallied
on Wednesday, led by Hong Kong on
its first post-holiday trading day as
it reacted to weak US jobs data that
reduced the chances of a rate rise any
time soon.
The Japanese central bank’s decision
to delay any new easing measures
pushed the yen up against the dollar,
while investors await the release of
minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest
policy meeting.
Tokyo stocks rose 0.76 per cent
to close at a fresh 15-year high on
Wednesday although gains were curbed
by a stronger yen after the Bank of Japan
refused to unveil any fresh stimulus
measures.
The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo
stock Exchange added 149.27 points to
19,789.81, its highest finish since April
2000, while the Topix index of all firstsection issues was up 0.63 per cent, or
9.92 points, at 1,588.47.
The yen advanced after the central
bank abstained from further easing
measures at the end of a two-day policy
meeting, despite a recent string of poor
data and flat lining inflation.
Export shares trimmed gains on the
yen’s rise but the broader market rose
on expectations for higher corporate
earnings.
“The effects from wage increases
will only become visible from April, so
the BoJ will first want to see that very
carefully before acting,” said Seiichiro
Iwamoto at Mizuho Asset Management.
“The rush of demand last year ahead
of the April sales-tax hike has been
distorting the year-on-year comparisons
of recent economic data as well, so we’ll
have to see the situation in April and
thereafter,” he told Bloomberg News.
Energy shares led gains as crude oil
prices rose, with Inpex climbing 2.23 per
cent to 1,417.5 yen and Japan Petroleum
Exploration up 3.18 per cent at 4,380.0
yen.
Dentsu jumped 6.05 per cent to
5,780.0 yen after the advertising agency
announced smooth monthly sales
growth. Sony gained 1.00 per cent to
3,525.0 yen after saying it will boost
production of camera sensors.
Oil prices ticked lower on profittaking in Asia after climbing on Tuesday
to their highest level of 2015.
In late afternoon Hong Kong, which
last traded on Thursday, soared 2.58 per
cent to levels not seen since 2008.
Shanghai ended 0.84 per cent, or
33.43 points higher at 3,994.81 and
Tokyo added 0.76 per cent, or 149.27
points, to 19,789.81. Sydney rose 0.59
per cent, or 34.7 points, to 5,960.7 and
Seoul advanced 0.60 per cent, or 12.23
points, to end at 2,059.26.
Last week’s Labour Department data
showing that the US economy created
fewer jobs in March than it had for more
than a year raised expectations that rates
will be kept low through summer.
The next focal point is the release
later of minutes from the last Fed
meeting, with dealers poring over them
for clues about when the bank plans to
announce a rise.
In currency trading the
dollar edged down after
the Bank of Japan stood
pat on monetary policy
even though the country
is struggling to overcome
anaemic price growth.
Marco Sala (3rd R), CEO of International Game Technology PLC, along with company executives rings the opening bell at the
New York Stock Exchange. International Game Technology PLC (IGT) celebrated the merger between GTECH S.p.A. and
International Game Technology to form the new company which began trading on April 7. — Reuters
In currency trading the dollar edged
down after the Bank of Japan stood
pat on monetary policy even though
the country is struggling to overcome
anaemic price growth.
The dollar bought 119.85 yen,
down from 120.32 yen in New York on
Tuesday but well above the low-119 yen
range seen in Tokyo at the start of the
week soon after the US jobs data.
“There’s still a little bit of doubt in
German factory orders slip again in Feb
BERLIN: German industrial orders,
a key measure of demand for goods
in Europe’s top economy, fell again in
February, the economy ministry said on
Wednesday, disappointing analysts who
had hoped for a rebound.
Provisional official data showed a
0.9 per cent month-on-month decline,
following a sharp 2.6 per cent drop in
January, according to revised figures.
Analysts polled by financial services
firm FactSet had pencilled in growth of
1.5 per cent for February.
For the three-month period covering
December, January and February, which
economists say provides a more accurate
picture, factory orders rose 0.5 per cent
compared to the previous three months.
However “momentum has slowed
compared to the previous months,
in particular in terms of orders from
abroad. It is mainly orders from
For the three-month period
covering December, January
and February, which
economists say provides
a more accurate picture,
factory orders rose 0.5
per cent compared to the
previous three months.
Germany providing the positive effect,”
the economy said in a statement.
It added the number of bulk orders
had declined compared to the end of
2014.
“But as a whole, the trend in German
industry remains one of modest
growth,” the ministry added, pointing
to strong confidence indicators.
Christian Schulz of Berenberg bank
in London said the data did “not pose
a serious risk” to its forecast of 0.6 per
cent gross domestic product growth in
Germany for the first quarter.
“German manufacturers benefit
from the firming demand in the euro
zone and the weak euro elsewhere, as
well as the aggressive ECB easing and
fading risks,” he said.
“But the strongest growth driver at
the moment is domestic demand and
especially cheap-oil-fuelled private
consumption.” Economist Carsten
Brzeski of ING-DiBa called the data an
“unexpected disappointment”.
“Compared with the start of last
year, the industry is still treading water,”
he said. However the weak euro and
brimming order books should provide
a boost in the coming months. “If
past performances are any guide for
the future, German exporters can start
rubbing their hands,” he said. — AFP
BHP says it uses the hub as it is close to customers and markets
Australia chases BHP, Rio Tinto
on Singapore tax shelter: AFR
MELBOURNE: Australia is pursuing
global miners BHP Billiton and Rio
Tinto for shifting billions of dollars
in iron ore profits through marketing
hubs in Singapore that pay almost no
tax, the Australian Financial Review
reported. The Australian Taxation Office
was chasing multi-billion dollar claims
against each company, the newspaper
said, citing a source with direct
knowledge of the disputes.
The Singapore arrangements save the
two companies more than A$750 million
($569 million) a year in Australian tax,
it said.
BHP did not comment on whether
it received a tax bill tied to its Singapore
hub, but said in an emailed statement it
“already pays income tax in Australia
on a substantial portion of the revenue
earned by the Marketing Operations as
required under Australian tax law”.
Rio Tinto told the Financial Review
it had not received a tax bill. It declined
to comment beyond what it told the
newspaper.
Both companies say their Singapore
operations were not set up to cut tax but
to be closer to their customers.
BHP Billiton said it employs around
400 people in its marketing team in
Singapore. “As an important trading hub
with proximity to the majority of our
customers and relevant markets, our base
in Singapore also provides important
intelligence on commodity outlook and
national and international economic
trends that shape our investment
decision-making,” the company said.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO)
did not comment on whether BHP and
Rio Tinto were being targeted as part of
its clampdown on what it considers tax
avoidance. “We currently have 15 audits
of marketing hubs underway with more
ready to go and at this stage expect to
raise tax liabilities of around $1 billion,”
an ATO spokesman said in an email to
Reuters.
BHP said its transfer pricing was
consistent with internationally accepted
guidelines and highlighted that it is
Australia’s largest tax payer.
It paid $7.8 billion in taxes and
royalties in Australia in the 2014 financial
year.
— Reuters
the market as to really where the US
economy is, and more importantly, how
the Fed perceives the US economy,”
Raiko Shareef, a markets strategist in
Wellington at Bank of New Zealand,
told Bloomberg News. The dollar is “in
a little bit of a holding pattern”, he added.
The euro rose to $1.0852 in Tokyo
from $1.0813 in New York but dipped to
130.06 yen from 130.11 yen.
The single currency is struggling
BIZ BRIEF
Rosneft’s Sakhalin
LNG plant delayed
for at least 2 years
MOSCOW: Russian energy
producer Rosneft may have to delay
development of its liquefied natural
gas (LNG) plant on the Pacific island of
Sakhalin for at least two years, sources
said, after prices fell and financing
all but dried up due to Western
sanctions.
The delay is the latest blow to
Rosneft, which has also been forced
to suspend drilling at an oil project
in the Arctic after sanctions imposed
on Russia by the West over the
Ukraine crisis halted cooperation
with ExxonMobil. Rosneft, which
has spearheaded President Vladimir
Putin’s drive to increase oil and gas
output and secure Russia’s energy
dominance, signed an agreement
with Exxon in 2013 that aimed at
starting production of 5 million
tonnes per year of LNG from 2018 at
Sakhalin.
Russia is the world’s largest
exporter of natural gas but mostly
exports it by pipeline to customers in
Europe.
Once liquefied, natural gas can be
transported by ship to customers in
Asia, helping fulfil the Kremlin’s goal
of finding new markets.
Two sources with direct
knowledge of the project said the
2018 target was no longer realistic.
A source at Rosneft, who declined
to be named because he was not
authorised to speak to the media,
said the plant would most probably
“be postponed for three to five years
because of lack of funds and low fuel
prices”.
A second source said it could be
delayed for two years.
“This is not a surprise,” the source
said. ‘‘The year 2018 had never been
seen as the final deadline.
All the stuff that’s happening — a
decline in LNG prices, a slump in
demand, the economic crisis — only
confirms that.”
A Rosneft company spokesman
said there had been no change
to the project’s timeline: “Rosneft
has not revised the terms for the
implementation of the far east LNG
project.” — Reuters
as Greece faces a Thursday deadline
for its next bailout repayment to the
International Monetary Fund. Euro
zone deputy finance ministers will meet
on Wednesday and Thursday to seek
agreement on Athens’s reforms needed
to unlock the last tranche of its multibillion dollar bailout and avert a default.
On Wall Street Tuesday the Dow
edged down 0.03 per cent, the S&P 500
dropped 0.21 per cent and the Nasdaq
fell 0.14 per cent.
Oil prices retreated from their
2015 highs which were prompted by
an easing of fears that Iranian crude
would soon flood the market after last
week’s nuclear deal with the West. Also
providing support was news that Saudi
Arabia had raised prices for Asia, citing
increased demand. US benchmark West
Texas Intermediate for May delivery fell
96 cents to $53.02 a barrel in afternoon
Asian trade and Brent crude for May
dropped 60 cents to $58.50.
On Tuesday WTI rose $1.84 and
Brent was up 98 cents.
Gold fetched $1,210.31 against
$1,212.72 late on Tuesday.
In other markets:
Taipei fell 0.73 per cent, or
69.93 points, to 9,571.97. Taiwan
Semiconductor Manufacturing Co sank
2.05 per cent to T$143.0 while Hon Hai
eased 0.11 per cent to Tw$93.7.
Wellington was flat, edging up 4.28
points to 5,859.71. Spark New Zealand
sank 2.77 per cent to NZ$2.98 while Air
New Zealand added 1.29 per cent to
— AFP
NZ$2.75.
Rare earth producers’ profit declines
BEIJING: Two of China’s major rare earth producers reported steep profit slumps on
Friday amid sluggish demand and weak prices, the country’s official Xinhua news
agency reported. China accounts for more than 90 per cent of the global production of
rare earths, which are key materials for making electronics, cars or medical equipment.
The materials, which include tungsten and molybdenum, are also used in making
clean energy products such as hybrid car batteries, wind turbines and energy-efficient
lighting.
In 2014 the operating revenue of rare earth diggers REHT and China Minmetals
Rare Earth Co plummeted by 31 per cent and 64.8 per cent year respectively. REHT saw
net profits drop by 57 per cent year on year to 643 million yuan ($103 million) last year
while China Minmetals Rare Earth Co posted a 55.8 million yuan drop in net profits.
China last year established six major rare earth groups: REHT, China Minmetals Rare
Earth Co, Xiamen Tungsten Co, Aluminium Corporation of China, Guangdong Rare
Earth Co and China Southern Rare Earth Group.
The rare earth branch of Xiamen Tungsten Co also suffered losses in 2014,
according to Xinhua. The remaining three firms have yet to report their performance
in the rare earth business, the report said. China agreed to scrap its quota system for
exports of rare earth minerals in January after a World Trade Organization ruling last
year said the restrictions hampered free trade. In the Ministry of Commerce’s revised
trade guidelines for 2015 exports of rare earths will require a licence issued according
to trade contracts but there will be no restriction on amounts sold abroad. — dpa
This picture released from Japan’s auto giant Honda Motor yesterday shows
Honda Motor’s aviation subsidiary Honda Aircraft’s business jet Hondajet
during a test flight in the United States. Honda announced yesterday that the
company’s new aircraft will embark on a world tour from this month to more
than 13 countries for the promotion. — AFP
China sees first default on bond principal
SHANGHAI: A Chinese technology firm said it cannot meet a 241 million yuan ($39
million) debt repayment, making it the first company to default on corporate bond
principal in modern China. Cloud Live Tech Group said in a statement to the Shenzhen
stock exchange it was unable to pay principal and interest on a five-year, 480 million
yuan bond issue sold in 2012. Investors had an option to be repaid their principal after
three years.
Solar company Chaori last year became China’s first-ever to default on a domestic
corporate bond after it was unable to make full interest payments of 89.8 million yuan.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang last month signalled that Beijing was willing to accept
some debt defaults, saying individual cases are “hardly avoidable” under economic
restructuring. Analysts say such defaults could benefit the market in the long-term by
raising awareness of risk and making investors more selective.
But in the past authorities have stepped in to ensure that most debt holders in
failing firms are paid off, and investors poured into Cloud Live shares on Tuesday,
with the stock surging its 10 per cent daily limit to 8.40 yuan as reports said it could
be taken over and restructured. “The company might have some behind-the-scenes
actions or measures, plus the market environment is hot,” Central China Securities
strategist Zhang Gang said, referring to a recent stock rally.
The official Xinhua news agency called the Cloud Live default a “precedent-setting”
case. Beijing-based Cloud Live was previously a restaurant chain serving up cuisine
from the provinces of Hunan, Guangxi and Guangdong before switching to big data
services last year, media reports said. — AFP
PERSPECTIVE
T H U R S DAY
APRIL 9 l 2015
omandailyobserver
21
MANUFACTURING
Currency swings: Firms unpick global production model
A
dramatic fall in the
euro has created
an
opportunity
for
European
manufacturers
to
enjoy
cheap
production costs at the bases from which
they can supply world markets.
But after months of sharp shifts
in foreign currencies, many of these
companies
are
simultaneously
reworking strategy in the hope that by
the time of the next sudden tilt they
will be operating in more diverse local
markets around the world. Sweden’s
Volvo Cars is one such firm embracing
regionalisation.
Last month it announced plans to
build a $500 million plant in the United
States, looking past the dollar’s current
strength to build in a longer-term
protection.
“We’re
eliminating
short-term
currency fluctuations, which are never
good for long-term commitment
to customers in different regions,
and we’re creating a natural hedge,”
explained Volvo Chief Executive Hakan
Samuelsson.
“Natural hedges” occur when a
business’s structure protects it from
exchange rate volatility, such as when
suppliers, factories and customers
operate in the same currency. That
kind of model is typical for makers of
perishable food and drinks that need
production bases close to their delivery
addresses, but it’s less common for
manufacturers of more durable goods
like automobiles, electronics or clothing
that often prioritise cheap labour and
economies of scale — at least until
recently.
In recent months their model has
been challenged by big moves in the
euro and the dollar as the European
Union and the United States’ economic
outlooks diverged sharply. Last October
the US Federal Reserve announced it
would halt the massive bond-buying
programme launched five years ago to
prop up its battered financial system,
because an economic recovery was
on track. But in January the European
Central Bank kicked off its own
programme of so-called quantitative
easing in an attempt to revitalise the
zone’s moribund economy.
As a result the dollar and euro
currencies sharply diverged too, and in
the last nine months the cost of hedging
against future volatility between them
has roughly tripled. While that means
far more players in the $5 trillion a day
market have been actively guarding
against swings in currencies, it also
shows it is three times more expensive
to do so.
“When an exchange rate is
particularly volatile it can become too
expensive to hedge financially,” said
Brandon Leigh, chief financial officer of
soap manufacturer PZ Cussons.
Cussons’ biggest market is Nigeria,
where the naira has lost 18 per cent of
its value over the past nine months as a
result of a plunge in crude oil prices that
hammered Africa’s biggest oil producer.
Thus, while “natural” hedging has
long been popular in some areas of
business, “clearly with more volatility
in FX markets it makes even more
sense now than ever,” said Robert
Waldschmidt, a consumer goods equity
British online fashion
retailer Asos, which has
been hurt by the strong
pound, said this month it
had decided to start sourcing
garments for the euro zone
in euros and those for the
United States in dollars.
analyst at Liberum.
British online fashion retailer Asos,
which has been hurt by the strong
pound, said this month it had decided
to start sourcing garments for the euro
zone in euros and those for the United
States in dollars. “Our ultimate aim
here is to capture the maximum natural
hedge available to the business,” said
Asos Chief Operating Officer Nick
Beighton. ‘‘Our panacea would be to
match currency receipts, currency
outflows, hold product in that currency
and price in that currency.”
Sourcing locally has other benefits,
especially in emerging markets like
Africa, where using local suppliers can
fuel economic development — and
buying power — of the communities
in which manufacturers operate. Food
and drink makers including Nestle,
SABMiller and Unilever have all worked
to develop local suppliers, which
also helps to secure supply and make
products more affordable.
Nestle Russia CEO Maurizio
Patarnello cited local sourcing as part
of the reason his business was only
FORECAST
Ukraine’s exhausted economy
to rely on agriculture in Q2
A
seasonal recovery in
agriculture should
ease the contraction
of Ukraine’s war-torn
economy to 10 per
cent
year-on-year
in the second quarter from 13 per cent
in the first quarter, a Reuters survey
showed.
Fourteen banks and brokerages
polled by Reuters said this year’s
relatively good grain harvest, expected
to reach 50.5 million tonnes, would keep
2015’s gross domestic product from
shrinking more than 7.0 per cent.
“Positive performance in the agrarian
sector will become a supportive factor
for Ukraine’s economy in the second
quarter and beyond”, said analyst Olga
Shubina of Credit-Rating. However,
the gains will not be enough to offset a
12.0 per cent contraction of Ukraine’s
industrial production, which has been
damaged by fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Consequently, the government forecasts
the economy will shrink by 5.5 per cent
in 2015 compared with a 6.8 per cent fall
in 2014. “Although positive performance
in some sectors is possible,
GDP will remain negative in all
quarters”, said Oleksander Zholud of the
International Centre for Policy Studies.
About 70 per cent of Ukraine’s
territory is used for farming, and the
country is one of the world’s top five
grain exporters.
It produces enough food for its
population of 43 million.
Agriculture’s contribution to the
economy rises from April to October,
months of peak activity on Ukraine’s
farms.
Its percentage of GDP rises to 5 per
cent in the second quarter and to 18 per
cent in the third from less than 1 per
cent in the first quarter.
Industry’s share remains largely
stable at 20 to 21 per cent throughout
the year.
In 2014, despite a 2.8 per cent
expansion in agriculture, Ukraine’s
GDP shrank 6.8 per cent as industrial
output contracted 10.1 per cent because
A policeman stands guard in front of a branch of Russian Sberbank, where sappers neutralised a suspicious object, in Kiev
recently. — Reuters
of the conflict between Kiev and proRussian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Since it began last April, the fighting has
destroyed about 20 per cent of Ukraine’s
industrial capacity and killed more than
6,000 people.
Since February, Kiev and the
separatists have struggled to maintain
a fragile ceasefire accord, but new
casualties are reported almost daily.
“The Ukrainian economy continues
to suffer from the direct and indirect
effects of hostilities.
The final resolution of the conflict
remains uncertain”, said Olena Bilan of
Dragon Capital.
The conflict between Ukraine’s
army and the pro-Russian separatists
Fourteen banks and
brokerages polled by
Reuters said this year’s
relatively good grain
harvest, expected to reach
50.5 million tonnes, would
keep 2015’s gross domestic
product from shrinking more
than 7.0 per cent.
has directly affected less than 10 per
cent of the country’s territory, but the
government has failed to encourage the
creation of new businesses and jobs in
other regions. The number of people in
the workforce decreased to 19.9 million
in 2014 from 20.8 million in 2013.
Even far from the front lines, many
businesses are struggling from high
taxation, a weakening currency and
rocketing inflation.
The hryvnia has lost 30 per cent of its
value against the dollar since the start of
the year, after a 50 per cent decline last
year. Ukraine’s average monthly wage
shrank to $150 in February 2015 from
$320 in the same month last year.
This hit people’s purchasing power
and, according to the State Statistics
Service data, the volume of retail trade
fell by 11.2 per cent year-on-year in
January-February 2015.
— Reuters
minimally impacted by last year’s ban
on imports of many Western goods in
retaliation for sanctions over the crisis
in Ukraine.
“Of course there are certain things
that we will never be able to localise,
like coffee or cocoa,” Patarnello told
reporters last month. ‘‘For the rest, there
is a continuous effort to develop new
suppliers.”
Local sourcing may be driven by
operational concerns but its additional
advantage of helping firms to circumvent
foreign exchange rates makes company
treasuries “the happy beneficiaries from
a risk management perspective,” said
SABMiller’s head of risk and funding,
Philip Learoyd.
He added that SABMiller, the
world’s second-largest brewer, would
keep looking for opportunities to offset
exposure to currency volatility.
The company already also protects
against swings in raw material costs
with financial hedges and keeps its debt
denominated in currencies broadly
proportionate to operations to avoid
swings between amounts received and
owed.
Over at Dutch electronics firm
Philips, emerging markets account for
some 35 per cent of revenue but only
very little production.
As a result the company’s profit
margins were squeezed last year by
adverse swings in various emerging
market currencies, most notably the
Russian ruble and the Argentinean peso.
“A natural hedge is of course the holy
grail because then you’re less exposed,”
said Philips Chief Executive Frans van
Houten.
— Reuters
AVIATION
Long-haul jets: Boeing
clings to lead over Airbus
B
oeing is fighting tough efforts by rival Airbus to score big gains
in the market for long-haul jets, a segment of the massive aircraft
market that the US giant has dominated. Neck-and-neck with
Boeing in sales of single-aisle, 150-200 passenger jets, Airbus
has badly lagged its US archrival in wide-body aircraft with 250-450 seats.
But Airbus has high hopes for its new A350, which it says is “setting
a new standard of efficiency in its class” with a lightweight, carbon fibre
composition that can save up to 25 per cent in fuel consumption. Airbus
believes the A350 can compete with Boeing’s classic 777 aircraft as well
as the its heavily-touted 787 Dreamliner, which also boasts carbon fibre
construction to cut weight.
But Boeing executives say they are confident the US company’s lead
will stick. Airbus “still don’t have the market coverage we do, especially on
the upper end of the market,” said Boeing marketing vice president Randy
Tinseth. “You see it with the orders. You see it with the market share. They
are just not doing that well.”
Tinseth said Airbus would need to develop a new version of its A350
with 450 seats to compete with the Boeing 777-9X.
But some analysts see a more competitive landscape than Boeing is
letting on.
“If you
exclude the 777-9X,
the other models can
run the same routes
with the same capacity
and a similar level of
performance,”
said
Michel
Merluzeau,
an analyst at Frost &
Sullivan.
Airbus has “got a foot in the market of the 787 and a foot in the market
of the 777,” Merluzeau added. The appeal of long-haul aircraft is the same
for both of the world-leading aircraft makers: greater profits.
Whereas Boeing’s smaller 737 line sells for $78-$113 million, the 787 is
listed at $218-$297 million and the 777 at $269-$388 million.
A new round of jumbo plane orders is expected from carriers seeking
to cut their fuel costs. Demand for the bigger planes will reach 7,800 units
worth about $1 trillion in the coming 20 years, according to Airbus.
Boeing currently leads with about 55 per cent of the market. It has
logged 1,105 orders for the 787 against 780 for the Airbus 350, according
to the most recent figures.
But Airbus has had some major wins of late. In November, US carrier
Delta Air Lines announced a firm order for 25 new A350 wide bodies.
“You can’t debate the fact that it is a massive endorsement of your
product line,” said Airbus chief operating officer for customers, John Leahy.
Airbus chief executive Fabrice Bregier has set a goal of winning more
than half the global market.
To win market share, it is offering aggressive commercial terms to
carriers, as suggested by Airbus accounts: in 2014, Boeing had a profit
margin of 10.7 per cent per order compared with six per cent at Airbus.
Boeing remains a step ahead in the race for delivering large planes,
producing ten 787s per month since the middle of 2014 with plans to reach
12 per month in 2016.
Airbus plans to produce 15 of the A350 in 2015 with output reaching
10 per month in 2018. “Boeing should be able to maintain its market share
through the end of this decade,” said an analyst note from Trefis. — AFP
22
LEISURE
omandailyobserver
T H U R S DAY
APRIL 9 l 2015
Online Editor’s Choice
CRYPTIC PUZZLE
CARTOONS
CR O SSW O R D
ACROSS
ADAM @ HOME
9 Claim you support (8)
10 The vehicle is reversed in advance
(3)
11 I went through the magazine to
find the herb’s name (6)
12 He rules the roost in a small
warehouse on the outskirts (6)
13 There’s a container in here for
plants (7)
14 Think, wrongly, the H is missing
from ‘heal’ (4)
15 Not coming out in the rain (6-4)
17 Is it no longer the done thing for
usurers? (8)
18 Storing in a cask - treated pine (7)
19 So concerned with back leave (4)
21 Stagger when walking and he puts
two and two together (6)
24 Having retired, becoming restless
(7, 3, 7)
27 And in a sale, reduced by a quarter,
summer wear (6)
29 Pay what you owe when you run
into (4)
30 Fancying to be not all there (7)
33 Cheer up when you shed more
light on (8)
35 To be more blunt, darn nonsense!
(10)
36 Surprise in a most unfortunate way
(4)
37 Know to be true seers, you say (7)
38 Come into your mind and take
root (6)
40 Manage to tell you how to get to
(6)
41 A point repeated for someone
who’s not intelligent (3)
42 How one made the speech at the
handing over? (8)
by Brian Basset
CALVIN AND HOBBES
by Bill Watterson
GARFIELD
by Jim Davis
DOWN
1 Woke up before the others landed
(4,2,4)
2 A picture showing game (4)
3 Very strong, hurled the club at
(4-4)
4 Then, throwing a right and a left,
delight (7)
5 The flight path? (6,5)
6 He predicts the author will do a
tour of California (10)
7 Pass with a little sign showing it’s
STONE SOUP
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
10
16
20
22
23
25
26
28
31
32
34
35
39
YESTERDAY’S CRYPTIC
SOLUTIONS
OK? (6)
8 A singer, British: a tenor I trained
(8)
10 Split when there’s a sudden volley
of fire (5)
16 Adopted an attitude at work that
was hostile to (7)
20 Managed to get a little time off in
the mountains (5)
22 Cheated and the weight’s up - diet’s
been tampered with (7)
23 Simply mad about me! (11)
25 I shall say it again. An ignoramus
(10)
26 Suitable attire for Daisy? (5,5)
28 Gives one’s views on the flight and
the runway (8)
31 In an antagonistic way, says
‘Cathedral city’ (8)
32 By that time having a woman again
in occupation (7)
34 What kind of bird is a dekko? (6)
35 It’s simply heaven for Sir Arthur (5)
39 Are locking a few inside that sound
mad (4)
ACROSS: 4, Apache 7, M-ill-iner 8,
Spears 10, Slush 13, Hood 14, Har-p
15, Pans 16, O’er 17, Omar 19, Tar-T
21, Field-fare 23, C-all 24, Halo 26,
B-ox 27, That 29, Scat 32, B-o-a-t 33,
Der-N-a 34, Barons 35, Take-away 36,
Store-y.
EASY PUZZLE
ACROSS
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
17
18
19
21
24
27
29
30
33
35
36
37
38
40
41
42
Romantic song (8)
Fuss (3)
Lifts (6)
Sunglasses, slang (6)
Tall mammal (7)
Christmas (4)
Output (10)
Incivility (8)
Trailblazer (7)
Unconscious state (4)
Funeral car (6)
Move very fast (2,4,3,8)
Small cupboard (6)
Not any (4)
Eight-sided figure (7)
Handcuffs (8)
Certainly (2,3,5)
Yes votes (4)
Perennial plants (7)
Temperament (6)
Rich cake (6)
Single number (3)
Intelligently (8)
DOWN: 1, Sma-sh 2, F-L-our 3, Wit-H
4, Ar-son 5, A-we-d. 6, Hornet 9, PostAl 11, Lap 12, Sp-o-il 13, Hard hat 15,
Pal 16, Ore 18, Melt-on 20, A-Rose 21,
Fax 22, Fat 23, Cob-a-Lt. 25, (Isle of)
Man 28, Ha-St.-y 30, Crow-D 31, Tanya 32, B-oar 33, Drew.
YESTERDAY’S EASY SOLUTIONS
ACROSS: 4, Gather 7, Airliner 8,
Etudes 10, Cabin 13, Sere 14, Eden
15, Aide 16, Bet 17, Fawn 19, Amid
21, Relegated 23, Dirt 24, List 26, Bag
27, Ewer 29, Acid 32, Ores 33, Slope
34,Valise 35, Dampness 36, Jersey.
DOWN: 1, Farce 2, Tribe 3, Mien 4,
Greed 5, True 6, Evened 9, Treats 11,
Ado 12, Infer 13, Singles 15, Awe 16,
Bid 18, Alters 20, Metal 21, Rig 22,
Air 23, Damage 25, Rip 28, Weedy 30,
Cower 31, Dense 32, Oils 33, Sips.
Hospitals
by Jan Eliot
Hospital. . . . . Board . . . . . . . Emergency
Royal . . . . . . . 24599000 . . . 24590491
Health Services Department
‘YO UR STARS ‘
Muttrah . . . . . . . 24797602
Quriyat . . . . . . . 24845001 . . . . 24845003
SQH, Salalah. . . 23211555 . . . . 23211151
Police. . . . . . . . . 24603988 . . . . 24603980
Al Nahda . . . . . . 24831255 . . . . 24837800
Ibn Sina. . . . . . . 24876322 . . . . 24877361
Nizwa. . . . . . . . . 25439361 . . . . 25425033
Al Rustaq. . . . . . 26875055 . . . . 26877186
Sumayil. . . . . . . 25350055 . . . . 25350022
Izki . . . . . . . . . . . 25340033 . . . . 25340033
IF IT’S YOUR
BIRTHDAY:
Family matters
will occupy a
great deal of
your time in the
coming year and
there may be
some unpleasant
moments in
discussing
money matters.
Everybody
must be made
to understand
the situation
and contribute
towards its
solution. Later
on there will
be mutual
consideration
and co-operation
all round.
DOWN
Misleading clue (3,7)
Require (4)
Slaughter (8)
Flightless bird (7)
At ease (11)
Amity (10)
Register as unemployed (4,2)
Lets go (8)
Pinafore (5)
Hangs freely (7)
Pacific, say (5)
Medium (7)
Short distance (6,5)
Percussion instrument (10)
Blackguards (10)
366 days (4,4)
Perforated pan (8)
Plunder (7)
A reply to a question (6)
Pickling solution (5)
Golf pegs (4)
Haima . . . . . . . . 23436013 . . . . 23436055
Sohar . . . . . . . . . 26840022 . . . . 26840099
Al Buraimi. . . . . 25650855 . . . . 25652319
Sur . . . . . . . . . . . 25440244 . . . . 25461373
Tanam . . . . . . . . 25499011 . . . . 25499033
Masirah . . . . . . . 25404018 . . . . 25404018
Ibra. . . . . . . . . . . 25470533 . . . . 25470535
Adam. . . . . . . . . 25434167 . . . . 25434055
Bidiya . . . . . . . . 25483535 . . . . 25483535
Ibri . . . . . . . . . . . 25491011 . . . . 25491990
Saham . . . . . . . . 26854427 . . . . 26855148
Khasab . . . . . . . 26830187 . . . . 26830187
Dibba. . . . . . . . . 26836443 . . . . 26836443
Burkha. . . . . . . . 26828397 . . . . 26828397
Sinaw. . . . . . . . . 25474338
ARIES
TAURUS
GEMINI
CANCER
LEO
VIRGO
March 21April 20
April 21May 20
May 21June 21
June 22July 21
July 22August 21
August 22September 22
A new responsibility may involve
a number of people and pose
some serious problems, but with
your experience you will soon get
on top of it.
You may encounter a very awkward moment at a forthcoming
social occasion, but with your
usual diplomacy you will be able
to over come it.
Your brilliant idea should be brought
to the attention of the person most
able to assist you in its promotion so
that you can get due credit for your
efforts.
There may be demands for you to
come to a decision quite quickly on
a particular matter, but you must
take the time to consider all aspects
before you take any action.
Be very diplomatic at work today if
your boss seems short tempered and
out of sorts. You may not know the
reason but must trust that the atmosphere will improve quite soon.
Your partner’s loyal support will
give you the necessary strength
you will need to cope with a rather difficult situation which is confronting you.
LIBRA
SCORPIO
SAGITTARIUS
CAPRICORN
AQUARIUS
PISCES
September 23October 22
October 23November 21
November 22December 21
December 22January 20
January 21February 19
February 20March 20
A hobby involving an artistic
activity would give you a great
deal of pleasure even if you don’t
think that you could attain professional status.
A financial matter connected with
property may cause you some
worry. Seek expert advice and
you ought to work out a satisfactory solution.
Your tenacity in sticking to an
awkward job until it is satisfactorily completed will eventually bring you a well-earned
reward.
A piece of equipment or machinery will probably let you down today. It won’t cause much expense,
but it will certainly be most inconvenient.
Learn from the start not to magnify trifles or spend too long
talking about them, if you want
to lead a harmonious married
life.
The mild depression you feel
today is only temporary. Why not
cheer up yourself by going out
and buying yourself something
nice.
CLASSIFIEDS
T H U R S DAY
APRIL 9 l 2 0 1 5
omandailyobserver
23
Situation Vacant
URGENTLY required
IT Teacher male or
female for a school in
Oman. 24696254,
24491912,
99547714.
·····
SENIOR marketing
executive required
for leading shopping
complex is Salalah
for immediate
appointment.
Experience in same
ϐ‹‡Ž†’”‡ˆ‡””‡†Ǥ
Contact: E-mail:
[email protected]
·····
WANTED
1. Expert in marketing
lab equipment.
2. Pathologist for
managing lab referral
service.
™ Males only.
™ Driving Licence.
Send CV with photo to:
[email protected].
·····
REQUIRED Chief
welder - minimum 4
years experience. Fax:
25437122.
·····
WANTED Professional
Trainer for soft skills.
Send your CV to eetco@
yahoo.com
Situation Wanted
MANAGEMENT
professional, results oreinted with strategic
thinking, integrity.
11 years Oman
experience. Excellent
track record in EPC/
Media/ Services/
Health Care handling
admin, operations,
Credit, management,
international
procurement, etc.
Immediate, release.
Contact: 98179887.
·····
HOUSEMAID with release
letter.99648654.
·····
INDIAN female, MCA, 3
years teaching experience
in IT. Seeking immediate
placement in Teachining
in IT or in Management
like customer service
executive, front desk
HR/Admin executive.
95887051. E-mail:
ashwininakod@gmail.
com
·····
AN Iraqi electrical
engineer experienced
in construction works
and factory maintenance
and third party
inspector looking for
suitable replacement.
98959043.
Situation Wanted
INDIAN male, 27
years, Electronics
& Instrumentation
Engineer, with 5
years experience
in Oman on visit
visa seeks suitable
placement. Contact:
95483064, e-mail:
nishanthkarottu@
hotmail.com.
BANGLADESHI male,
25 years old, 4 years
experience in Muscat,
Oman, having Omani
driving licence, 2 years
and 5 months driving
experience in Oman seeks
placement as driver.
Fluent in Arabic and
English. 94116029.
·····
·····
INDIAN male, 32, MBA
with 9 years of marketing
HSE, 10 years in Oman
experience in Qatar
logistic operation with
valid Qatar licence is an
D/L.92825053.
advantage now in visit
·····
visa, seeking suitable
INDIAN female MBA (HR) placement. 93011814.
having 3 years experience E-mail: shajusr@yahoo.
com.
in retail admin. looking
for a job (family visa).
96140588/ 99214913. · · · · ·
MSc, 4+ years experience
·····
from France and India in
INSTRUMENTATION
Hardware, Networking,
engineer, Indian male,
Image Processing,
30 years having 5-6
Statistical analysis, Data
years experience in EPC
projects currently on visit Mining. On family visit till
visa, looking for a suitable June 19. 98898781,
[email protected].
placement.99027974.
·····
·····
SRI Lankan housemaid,
looking for job.
93623629.
·····
INDIAN male, 26 years,
Accountant, MBA,
BCom with computer
application, 2 years
experience, currently
working in Oman.
Contact: 94282980.
e-mail: shirasvelliyath@
gmail.com
Situation Wanted
Tourism
INDIAN male, 4 years
experience in Accounts.
Currently on visit visa.
94516185.
ARE you looking for a
voyage with your
family on a legacyboat, including
buffet? Only with RO
15/-. For more info@
alainaintourism.
com 92808636.
·····
HARDWARE and
Networking
Technician with
6 years experience,
familiar with
Security System and
Cabling. seeks suitable
placement. Contact:
96365220
·····
INDIAN male, 9+
years experience in
hard core Sales and
Customer Service,
having driving licence
from Dubai and Oman.
Looking for better
opportunity in Oman.
Experience in various
industries, shipping,
banking, (PPE), safety
products. Preffering for
Sales, Documentation
and Operations,
Customer Services.
Contact: 97132606.
remmiejoseph78@
gmail.com
·····
INDIAN male, 24 years,
graduate in Bsc Botany,
Diploma in information
technology, 2 years
experience as logistics
assistant in India, seeking
for a suitable job now
in Oman on visit visa.
96068692/ 94193100.
ACCOUNTANT, a well
experienced Indian
male, M Com, having
more than 20 years
experience in accounting
·····
ϐ‹‡Ž†„‘–Š†‹ƒƒ†
INDIAN male, 29 years
looking for a job as an
Civil Engineer diploma
accountant or accounts
holder, 4 years experience manager in Oman. Presin Oman, 2 years in road
·····
ently in India and ready
division, looking for
to join immediately.
27 YEARS Indian
placement, NOC available.
male, diploma in Civil
99087175
93298395.
Engineering, 6 years
·····
experience, 3 years in GCC · · · · ·
as a site engineer. Now on
EGYPTIAN Chemist
visiting visa, seek suitable IT Professional,
with 6 years experience
25
years,
Sri
Lankan,
placement. Contact
‹†›‡‹‰ϐ‹‡Ž†Š‹‰ŠŽ›
Ǥ‡…ŠǦϐ‹ƒŽǡǡ
96626725, e-mail:
…‡”–‹ϐ‹…ƒ–‡†‹•…‹‡…‡
MCP, CCNA, Linux
[email protected].
having 4 years experience chemistry and
·····
physics department.
including MNC, looking
Contact: 98832095,
for
suitable
position.
PHARMACIST with
00201114640946.
(Visit visa). Contact:
MoH licence, 6 years
e-mail: zoomaman88@
93354526. e-mail:
experience, seeks job.
gmail.com
[email protected]
93878153.
·····
·····
·····
FEMALE with B.Tech
Ƭȋϐ‹ƒ…‡ƒ†
marketing) one and half
years experience as Bank
‘ˆϐ‹…‡”‹†‹ƒǤ‡‡•
suitable opportunities in
reputed organisations.
98157892/ 91358676.
E-mail: manooprocky@
gmail.com.
·····
FEMALE, 27 years,
‘ǡˆϐ‹…‡ǡš…‡Žǡ
and Tally. 3 years work
experience in an auditing
ϐ‹”ǡ•‡‡‹‰•—‹–ƒ„Ž‡
placement. Contact
94298075. e-mail:
nisha_mohanj@yahoo.
co.in
·····
·····
·····
Lost
KAMALA Kumart has
lost Nepali passport
No 3820564. Finder
please handover to
ROP.
·····
NAZAM Najaf
Mohammed has lost
Pakistani passport
No AA9586191.
Finder please
handover to ROP.
·····
HARMESH Kumar
has lost Indian
passport No
L4995510. Finder
please handover to
ROP.
·····
MOHAMMED Haris
has lost Bangladeshi
passport No
B0262527. Finder
please handover to
ROP.
·····
Situation Wanted
FEMALE, 27 years,
‘ǡˆϐ‹…‡ǡš…‡Žǡ
and Tally. 3 years
work experience in an
ƒ—†‹–‹‰ϐ‹”ǡ•‡‡‹‰
suitable placement.
Contact 94298075.
e-mail: nisha_mohanj@
yahoo.co.in
·····
BANGLADESHI male,
27 years, electrician
Ƭ‘ˆϐ‹…‡„‘›ǡ‘™‹‰
English, Arabic, Hindi,
seeks suitable job.
Contact:98942025.
·····
For Sale
USED portacabin (5
Nos) for sale.
Interested parties may
contact Mr Arif on
GSM No 99259157/
92332088 at NTS
Ghala Camp for
inspection. Sealed
offers should be
submitted on or
before 17.03.2015.
·····
SHOP vacant for sale in
Muscat City Centre
Seeb (MCC) 52 sq
metres. Best for
restuarant, Cafe, Juices,
price is negotiable for
any further quires.
99886656.
·····
BICYCLE stocks
clarance sales to be
brands of bicycles in
Sohar. 99416824.
·····
2 PRIME Movers
Man 2008 with 40
ton pertrol tank
each working at the
moment in Al Maha.
Price RO 35,000,000
each. 97000155 or
92688692.
·····
23, 886 sq mtrs
agriculture land with
water well in Al Salwa,
Barka, RO 260,000,000.
99333479 or
95215360.
·····
3 FLOOR building in
Muttrah behind police,
generating income
of RO 18,000,000
annually, neat and
well maintained.
Built on 197 sq m
land. 2 tailor shops
‘‰”‘—†ϐŽ‘‘”ƒ†͸
ϐŽƒ–•ǡʹ͹ͲǡͲͲͲǡͲͲͲǤ
99333479 or
95215360.
·····
REQUIRED
Salesman cum
Hardware Engineer
for Computer
Shop at Ruwi with
minimum 2 years
experience. E-mail:
strns1@gmail.
com 98825805/
98825806.
·····
NEW International School
in Oman begins in Sept
2015. The announced
vacancies are as follows:
1. Principal, 2, Early
Years & Foundation Stage
and Cambridge Primary
Teachers (Homeroom
and Co-teachers), 3.
Operational Manager,
4. Parents Relationship
Manager, 5. Admission
Manager. Please submit
a resume/CV and open
letters of references to:
[email protected]
[email protected].
kw or contact us on:
0069555789779/
0096894665998.
·····
FILIPINA Housemaid,
with release required
for a family in Medinat
Al Alam. 24704994,
99238012.
·····
REQUIRED Salesman
ˆ‘”‘‹Žϐ‹‡Ž†•…‘’ƒ›ǡ
·····
must have experience
REQUIRED (M/F) waiters ‘‘‹Žϐ‹‡Ž†•ƒ††”‹˜‹‰
and a captain with Gulf
licence. Contact:
experience. If in Oman,
alkhatwa2009@hotmail.
local NOC required.
com
Contact 95339249.
·····
·····
REQUIRED family driver
1. WANTED an
with valid Omani driving
experienced Window
licence. Accommodation
Tint and body paint
will be provided.
protection installer to
92230282.
work for a well known
brand.
·····
2. Wanted an experienced
Manager and Marketing REQUIRED Public
‡Žƒ–‹‘ˆϐ‹…‡” with
employee to work for
7 years experience.
a well known window
95955041.
tinting business.
3. Wanted an
·····
experienced Engineer to
CIVIL Engineer min 4
manage a new elevator
yrs experience. Send CV:
installation
[email protected]
and maintenance
99194949.
business. Call:
93332224. e-mail:
·····
abdullah.alhinai86@
gmail.com.
SYRIAN Mashavi Cook
and Moroccan Lady
·····
Cook for Qurum Beach
WANTED Sales Manager, Hotel.24704994 or
for a leading Interior
99238012.
Fitout and Furniture
Supply Company in Oman. · · · · ·
Experience:
WE need HSE personal,
7+ years, preferably in
Salesman and Electrical
Oman. Salary:
Supervisor with Omani
negotiable.
Driving licence. Apply to:
Preference for Omani
grandmuscat@yahoo.
nationals. Interested
com Contact No: 00968
candidates may please
95714746.
forward their resume to
e-mail id: recruitment.
[email protected]
·····
URGENTLY required
Accountant/Accounts
Executive with 7 to 10
years experience. Send
the CV to hr-gdm@
outlook.com
SALESPERSON with
‘—–†‘‘”Ȁϐ‹‡Ž†‡š’‡”‹‡…‡ǡ
minimum 5 years
in building material
industry, having valid
Omani driving licence.
Contact 99467248,
99232901
·····
·····
VACANCY — Light driver
(1), Heavy driver (1), and
a diploma holder in Civil
Engineering. Interested
in the vacancies may call .
97299373.
SALES Manager of
Medical device, GCC
experience driving
licence, preferably
pharmaceutical based.
·····
Biomedical Technician
with sales experience
in medical diveices,
WANTED: 1. A/C
Mechanic; 2. Electrician GCC experience,
driving licence.
plumber; 3. Computer
Contact 24520056.
headwear Tec.
Contact No. 99447257/ E-mail: info@
khalidmedicalsupplies.
97014234 mansur75@
com
hotmail.co.uk.
·····
·····
·····
Ȉ
Ȉ
Ȉ
Ȉ
Ȉ
Ȉ
ƒ”•ˆ‘”•ƒŽ‡
‘””‡–
‘„ƒ’’Ž‹…ƒ–‹‘
Šƒ”‹‰”‡•‹†‡…‡
”ƒ•’‘”–…ƒ”•
‡ƒŽ•–ƒ–‡ȋ•ƒŽ‡Ǧ
”‡–Ǧ‹˜‡•–‡–•
Ȉ ƒŒŒƒ†”ƒ
Ȉ •‡†ˆ—”‹–—”‡ˆ‘”•ƒŽ‡
Ȉ ƒ—…Š…‡”‡‘‹‡•‘ˆȋ”‡•–ƒ—”ƒ–•Ǧ
•Š‘’•Ǧ…Ž‹‹…•Ȍ
Ȉ ‘„ƒ†•
Ȉ ‡ƒ…Š‹‰†”‹˜‹‰
Ȉ ‘—•‡•…Ž‡ƒ‹‰Ǧ•‡”˜‹…‡•ƒ†’‡•–
…‘–”‘Ž
For information, please call:
99841230-95919344
92721879 - 99639264
Tel: 24649597, Fax: 24649590
BankMuscat account: 0397003776610011
Bank Dhofar account: 01040141195001
E-mail: [email protected]
THURSDAY l APRIL 9, 2015 l JUMADA AL THANIA 19, 1436 AH
[email protected]
www.omanobserver.om
RENT A CAR
z Low Rates
z Wide Range of Cars
z Excellent Service
Contact:
Muscat 24489248,
24489648.
Salalah: 23296246.
E-mail: [email protected]
SPECIAL Rates on
New Cars & 4 WDs
RENTING & LEASING
Tours and Airport Transfer
Tel: 24582663
GSM: 95859497,
Fax: 24582664,
[email protected]
Rent a Car
AHAD 2000 for rent car.
93203481, 93204595.
·····
Car for Sale
BMW 745i, 2002, silver
with black, very good
condition, good price.
99328280.
·····
Sale and Buy
OFFICE & Household
furniture and
electronics items.
99834373,
97102699.
·····
For Sale/Rent
Supply
of
Pesticides,
Gel (Cockroaches),
Public Health
chemicals,
Agriculture
chemicals,
Snake repellent, Rodent
baits
and
other insect
repellent from
Agropharm
Ltd UK.
PROFESSIONALS
in Pest Control Service,
Bedbug Treatment, Rodent
Treatment, Snake Treatment
and Termite Treatment
(Pre and Post Construction).
Tel: 24787606 / 24787503
Fax: 24787607
E-mail: [email protected]
P. O. Box: 565, Wadi Kabir,
Postal Code: 117,
SULTANATE OF OMAN
CAR FOR SALE
As-is-where-is the condition.
Vehicles can be inspected from
Sunday 3.30pm and 6.00pm at
OIG Head Office Building, Wattayah.
Telephone toll free 80076900.
Interested parties may submit quotation
in a Sealed envelope with payment of
RO 50 which will be reimbursed.
Reimbursed conditions apply.
Investment
FREE INFORMATION
ABOUT ISLAM
If you would like to know
more about
Islam, please call:
Tel : 99425598, 96050000,
99353988, 99253818,
99341395, 99379133, For
ladies: 99415818, 99321360,
99730723
Or visit: www.islamfact.com
Good News
FOR back or neck pain/
discomfort due to injury,
illness, stress or
computer overuse; let
us help you restore your
body & get you back on
track. For more
information contact our
coordinators at:
22094265.
·····
INVESTOR required.
New project under
process. Gourmet
sweet brand. Call:
91131398.
·····
EXPATRIATE partner
(Omani partner is
already available)
required to establish
a LLC Company
(Expatriate investors’
LLC Company). Please
contact on 99332510.
·····
LOOKING for an
investor for a fullequipped existing
medical complex as
soon as possible in
Wilayat of Haima,
Governorate of Al
Wusta. 92212557,
99242249.
·····
Announcement
All Cartridges also available
on UNBEATABLE prices
AII HP, Epson, Canon,
Lexmark, Samsung
Cartridges also available
[email protected]
QURUM BEACH
HOTEL24564070.
·····
GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!!
For Rent
For Rent
NEW 2 BHK flat with
split A/C Ground floor
behind Khimjimart
Darsait. RO 400. One
BHK at Ruwi Opp police
station RO 300. Details
Tel Office. 24790449 or
email: infoajest@gmail.
com
1 BEDROOM, 2
bedroom +
showroom, 18
November road, Al
Athaiba.
999565364,
99617786.
·····
VILLA in Al
Ansab consists
of 6 bedrooms, 6
toilets and a large
kitchen is for rent.
99363504.
·····
·····
300 sqmts available in
Wadi Kabir. Suitable for
workshop or warehouse.
96001855.
·····
BEDROOM furniture
villa at Maabela 5. For
more details pls call
99382752.
1 B/R available in Rex
Road, Ruwi.
99889590.
·····
SANDOS of Babel
Transport Trading
And Contacting
(recommendation),
announces that
it is intending to
convert its name
to Line Spectrum
International L.L.C.
(recommendation).
Beneficiaries should
be informed of the
changes.
·····
·····
·····
·····
·····
CCTV & IT solution
CCTV, Time
Attendance,
LAN, Wan, DSL,
PABX Exchange
installation, Laptop,
Printers and Copiers
repairing. Contact
99161542,
96092925.
A 1,500 M2 commercialresidential plot is
offered for rent or
investment in Al
Maabela. Interested,
please call 95646045.
·····
LIVING room & utilities
in Al Hail, 3 bedrooms,
sitting room
92817777.
·····
ǧfloor house
behind German
University of Technology
in Halban is offered for
rent. The house contains
4 bedrooms, living
room, a kitchen and 3
toilets.91239119.
ͳǤ AC maintenance
and servicing.
ʹǤFridge, washing
machine and dish
washer repairing.
͵ǤPainting and
cleaning services. ͶǤ
Electrical, plumbing
and carpentry
work 97014234,
99447257,
24504281.
·····
MAINTENANCE: 1.
A/C Maintenance &
Servicing; 2. Fridge,
Washing Machine
& Dish washer
repairing; 3. Painting
& cleaning services; 4.
Electrical & Plumbing
Carpentry work.
Contact: 99447257,
97014234, 24504281.
·····
FLATS for rent 1 BHK in
Al Khuwair 33.
99800494.
A FLAT for rent, 2
bedrooms, 2 bathrooms,
1 sitting room, kitchen
for RO 350. Location: At
Al Ghubrah North, near
to Al Ghubrah Health
Centre. 92277043/
95347854.
·····
·····
·····
·····
·····
2 BEDROOM flat in Al
Ghubra near Oman Oil
18 November Street, RO
330 monthly.
99333479 or
95215360.
·····
Telephone: 24595951/1414, Fax: 24597979.
Manpower
FRIENDS
MANPOWER: Filipino
housemaids and all
kinds of workers.
24489268 Tel:/Fax:
24478153, 92462496.
·····
KHALIFA AlSinani Manpower
— labourers &
housemaid from
Indonesia, Kenya,
Uganda and other
countries. Al Suwaiq.
To communicate
26713500,
26713600.
·····
Required
Services
WE offer you the
Business Services:
Maintenance of
buildings and
villas for paint
and carpentry and
decoration works
and installation of
material water proof
and cleaning services
building management
and leasing of real
estate (Out motto is
to provide quality
in all our business).
Muscat Renaissance
Development
and Investment.
99070093.
FURNISHED flat in
South Al Maabela. 3
bedrooms + living room
+ kitchen + 3
bathrooms. Area 185
sqm, Price: RO 400.
99354052.
CLASSIFIED SECTION:
(ROP approved Grade A Workshop)
Ruwi: 24792-792
DOES your family
member require full
time Medical help?
Dedicated to chronic
care and physical
rehabilitation from
injury or illness;
Rochester Wellness
offers specialised
medical recovery
services. For more
information contact
our coordinators at
22094265.
CLASSIFIED
SECTION
RUWI
: 24785668
1510 Printer
RO 11.000 only
HP
Quality Repairs & Maintenance of all
types of Cars and Heavy vehicles
COMPUTER SUPPLIES
Guest House
ȍ͵
VILLAS for sale/
rents WADI
KABIR/AL
KHUWAIR),
ȋŠ‘’•Ȁ‘ˆϐ‹…‡•ˆ‘”
rent/ Al Khuwair)
(Flats for rent/
Wadi Kabir).
ͻ͸ͷͻ͸͵ͶͺǤ
AYURVEDIC
Treatment, Yoga
Massage &
slimming. Web
address: www.
siddhayur.com
92504980/
24475280.
·····
AUTO REPAIR
CENTRE
Available on UNBEATABLE prices
GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!!
al-haditha LLC
al-haditha
centre
GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!!
PEST CONTROL
OMAN CO. LLC.
GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!!
Rent-A-Car
ͳǤ
ʹǤ
!!!
Good News to all our dear
customers: Our PRO will
˜‹•‹–›‘—”‘ˆϐ‹…‡ȀŠ‘—•‡
to collect documents for
typing or clearing and
will deliver the same on
completion.
Our services include
typing all forms related
to Ministry of Manpower,
Immigration, e.g., visas,
renewal of visas, all
services related to
Ministry of Commerce &
Industry, e.g., reservation
of commercial names,
amendment of activities
of the company and all
services related to Royal
Oman Police; Cancellation
of Visas at the Muscat
International Airport for
repatriation of employees;
Directorate General of
”ƒˆϐ‹…Ǣƒ†ƒŠƒ„‡”
of Commerce & Industry.
Translation of legal
documents. Medical
reports, commercial agency
agreements, literature,
catalogues (Languages:
Arabic, English, French,
Spanish & Italian)
Our Address: Ruwi,
Adjacent to Gulf Transport
Co. (GTC).
Telephones: 24793331
/24794286
GSM: 99231500
/96777170/ 95959838
Managed by: Salim
Khalfan al Hadi (33
years of experience in
management)
·····
Reputed engineering
consultancy firm in
Muscat looking for
following placement:
1. Omani Secretary
(Female)
2. Autocad Technician
(Omani female)
3. Civil Engineer min 5
years experience
having driving
licence
4. Electrical Engineer
degree/diploma min
3 years experience.
E-mail: alfurjar06@
gmail.com/ hope4u99@
icloud.com
·····
Umrah/Haj
AL Hikmani for
HAJ and UMRAH
— With a host of
services including
the following: Hiring
luxurious coaches,
arranging weekly
trips, preparing
visas for expats
at cost-effective
price, including
transport, housing,
meals and visits to
shrine locations.
Land and air trips
weekly. (99311310,
24566016,
99361982,
99707248,
99322124.
·····
Ali al Maashari: 99639264 [email protected]
e-mail: [email protected]
Mohammed al Rashdi: 99841230 [email protected]
DIRECT: 24649595 — FAX : 24649590
THURSDAY | APRIL 9, 2015 | JUMADA AL THANIA 19, 1436 AH
P26
P27
P28
Inside
World Cup heartache fades as IPL begins Atletico too good for Sociedad
Career slam on Kaymer’s mind at Masters www.omanobserver.om
FOLLOW US ON:
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GCC GAMES: Oman football team kept their title hopes alive beating Bahrain 4-3
Oman beach volleyball,
handball teams excel
MUSCAT: The Omani team
continues its participation in the
second GCC beach games being held
in Doha, Qatar during April 2-9.
Beach volleyball championships
concluded with the Oman A and
B teams winning silver and bronze
medals while Oman beach handball
team ended runners-up.
As part of its efforts to keep their
title hopes alive, the Oman football
team beat Bahrain 4-3. Omani
swimmers are readying to clinch the
10-km and 5-km swimming races.
The Oman beach volleyball teams
A and B won silver and bronze in the
volleyball finals. Team A played Qatar
team B in the third place. Oman was
represented by Badr al Sabhi and
Mazin al Hashmi who showed an
excellent performance in a strong
match that ended 2-0 for Oman (21-
17 and 22-21). Oman volleyball team
B comprising Ahmed al Hosani and
Haitham al Shuraiqi played against
champion’s favorite Qatar A in the
final match which ended 2-0 for
Qatar (21-17 and 21-18) Oman beach
handball emerged runners-up after a
2-1 win against Bahrain. In the first
half of the match Bahrain led 20-15
before the Oman staged a comeback
and beat Bahrain 22-19 in the second
half to win the penalty kicks 10-4.
Nigeria, Egypt paired in Nations Cup draw
JOHANNESBURG:
Nigeria
and
Egypt were drawn together and so
were Cameroon and South Africa
in the highlights of the 2017 Africa
Cup of Nations qualifying draw made
Wednesday in Cairo.
The Nigerians and Egyptians are
in Group G with Tanzania and Chad,
and the Cameroonians and South
Africans in Group M with Gambia and
Mauritania.
Egypt have won the biennial Cup
of Nations tournament a record seven
times, Cameroon four times, Nigeria
three times and South Africa once.
Only the 13 group winners are
guaranteed places at the JanuaryFebruary 2017 tournament in Gabon
with just the best two runners-up also
going through.
Nigeria and Egypt are more
accustomed to playing at the finals,
but a dramatic fall from power by the
Pharaohs meant they were only among
the second seeds.
After winning three consecutive titles
in 2006, 2008 and 2010, Egypt failed to
qualify for the next three tournaments.
The Arab Spring political upheaval
in Egypt and related security problems
severely affected domestic football with
many matches cancelled and other
fixtures played held in spectator-less
stadiums.
Retirements of stars like midfielders
Mohamed Abou Trika and Mohamed
Barakat and defender Wael Gomaa
and the ageing of goalkeeper Essam ElHadary also diluted the power of the
Pharaohs.
The
countries
last
clashed
competitively at the 2010 Cup of Nations
with Egypt winning a group game 3-1 in
Angola.
South Africa were also second
seeds, and are a far lesser force than in
1996 when they trounced Cameroon
3-0 in the opening match en route to
conquering Africa.
Defending champions Ivory Coast
face Sudan and Sierra Leone in Group I,
which also includes Gabon.
However, matches against automatic
qualifiers Gabon count as friendlies
with no points awarded.
Ivory Coast lifted a trophy that
symbolises African national-team
supremacy for the second time two
months ago by edging Ghana 9-8 in a
penalty shootout.
— AFP
Qatar 2022
attracts huge
number of
workers
DOHA:
Qatar’s
population reached a
record 2.35 million in
February, boosted by new
foreign workers needed
for the massive investment
linked to the Gulf state
hosting the 2022 football
World Cup, figures showed
Wednesday
Just 10 years ago, less
than one million people
lived in Qatar, and the need
for even more workers
means the tiny country
will break even this new
record in the very near
future, the Qatar National
Bank said.
Put in context, growth
from a year ago was a
whopping 9.5 per cent,
figures
according
to
contained in the QNB’s
“Monthly Monitor.”
— AFP
26
SPORT
omandailyobserver
T H U R S DAY
APRIL 9 l 2015
INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE: All the eight franchises have a revamped look after conducting brisk business with 67 players overall
World Cup heartache fades as IPL innings begin
NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: The dust is
yet to settle over the disappointment of
India’s flop World Cup title defence but
deluge of more action is about to start as
the Indian Premier League (IPL), with
its heady cocktail of cricket, money and
glamour, begins its eighth edition on
Wednesday.
All the eight franchises have a
revamped look after conducting brisk
business with 67 players sold overall at
Rs 876,000,000 — 24 among them being
foreigners.
Last season’s wooden-spooners Delhi
Daredevils made the biggest noise in
bidding when they bagged Indian team
discard Yuvraj Singh for a whopping
Rs 16 crore.
They backed up the acquisition with
expensive buys of seasoned star Sri
Lankan Angelo Mathews and Indian
bowling duo of Zaheer Khan and Amit
Mishra.
But other franchises were not too far
behind in spending, even though they
weren’t as desperate to overhaul their
line-up as the Daredevils, who finished
at the bottom of the standings last
season.
Royal
Challengers
Bangalore,
another team yet to win the tournament,
dished out Rs 10.5 crore to bag wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik addiing
more meat to the rampaging batting trio
of Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de
Villiers.
Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai
Indians and Kings Xi Punjab also
splashed cash to bring aboard New
Zealander Trent Boult, Australian
Aaron Finch and Kings Xi Punjab’s
Murali Vijay.
Hyderabad, however, will be
considerably weakened after the
untimely pull-out of Kevin Pietersen,
with the former England batsman
deciding to play English county cricket
to salvage his international career.
All eyes will be on defending
champions Kolkata Knight Riders
(KKR), who will kickstart their title
defence against the formidable Mumbai
Indians in the tournament opener at the
Eden Gardens here on the morrow.
The final is slated for May 24.
The title holders’ build-up to
the tournament was marred by a
controversy surrounding the availability
of their premier spinner West Indies’
Sunil Narine.
They had to wait till the 11th hour to
confirm the availability of the bowler,
who was till recently suspended from
bowling by the International Cricket
Council (ICC) due to a suspect bowling
action and had to undergo a biomechanical test, on the insistence of
the BCCI, before being given the green
light to play. Two-time champions
Chennai Super Kings have re-signed
veteran Australian batsman Michael
Hussey, who spent six seasons there
before moving to Mumbai for a season.
But a lot of attenton will be on Kiwi
Brendon McCullum, particularly after
his stupendous World Cup form.
India batsman Rohit Sharma-led
Mumbai Indians, one of only two
sides to have achieved the IPL-andChampions League Twenty20 double,
Chris Gayle
possess a squad rich on experience with
proven performers like West Indian
Kieron Pollard, India’s Harbhajan Singh,
Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga and
Australia’s World Cup-winning hero
Aaron Finch.
Kings XI Punjab also have experience
in plenty with batting dashers Virender
Sehwag, Glenn Maxwell and pace
spearhead Mitchell Johnson, each
capable of singlehandedly winning
matches.
Rajasthan Royals’ penchant for
turning the heat on their more fancied
opponents remains their strength.
They have, true to their wont, silently
Narine the man of IPL, says Ganguly
IPL
KOLKATA: Former India captain
Sourav Ganguly praised the BCCI for
making the Indian Premier League
(IPL) a success, and singled out Kolkata
Knight Riders (KKR) star spinner Sunil
Narine as “the man” of the IPL.
Ahead of this year’s inaugural
ceremony at the Salt Lake stadium here
on Tuesday, Ganguly observed that
the IPL has done “wonders” for Indian
cricket.
“It’s done wonders for Indian cricket.
The BCCI deservers accolades for
setting up the tournament and making it
successful. You can set up a tournament
but to make it successful like this you
need special efforts,” said the southpaw.
Even as he picked quite a few teams
as his favourite, Ganguly said KKR will
always remain special.
“While there are quite a few favourite
teams, KKR is special as I captained the
side for two years,” said Ganguly, who
led the city franchise in 2008 and 2009.
Sunil Narine
Talking about outstanding talents,
the former India opener singled out
The first year threw up some domestic
Narine and said he was waiting see the Sehwag in action.
“There have been quite a few talents as Rajasthan Royal set the stage
Kings XI Punjab batting trio of Glenn
Maxwell, David Miller and Virender outstanding talents over the years. out.
‘It’s done wonders for Indian
cricket. The BCCI deserves
accolades for setting up the
tournament and making it
successful. You can set up a
tournament but to make it
successful like this you need
special efforts’
“But I think Sunil Narine, he has been
the man of the IPL. His impact for the
last 3-4 seasons has been unbelievable,”
Ganguly said about the spinner who has
67 wickets so far from 47 outings in the
tournament.
“The best thing about the IPL in the
last two seasons is that the difference
between the teams has not been much
and that is why it has been more
exciting.
“While Chennai have been consistent,
we have the Royal Challengers Bangalore
having Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB
de Villiers. Then there is the MaxwellMiller-Sehwag factor for the Kings XI,”
— IANS
he said.
assembled a strong team boasting of
three members of the Australian World
Cup winning side — skipper Shane
Watson, Steven Smith and all-rounder
James Faulkner — as also New Zealand
pacer Tim Southee.
While the wisdom of holding a
gruelling 46-day tournament just on
T20
the heels of a punishing World Cup
campaign can be questioned, the
cricketers (both home-grown and
overseas) as well as the Board of Control
in India (BCCI) administrators are
certainly not averse to making mega
bucks by milking the cash cow in a
frenzied atmosphere.
— AFP
TIME
IPL fan parks at Agra,
Nagpur venues
MUMBAI: The Board of Control for
Cricket in India (BCCI) has organised
fan parks for the first weekend of the
new Indian Premier League (IPL)
season on April 11 and 12.
The double-header weekend games
will be screened live at Agra and Nagpur.
More than 10,000 fans are expected to
attend the event in the two cities.
“Apart from the live action on
the mega screen, fans will enjoy a
complete weekend entertainment
package consisting of a separate kids
play area and a host of other fun-filled
activities like face painting, music,
food and beverages and cricket centre
to develop batting and bowling skills,”
BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said on
Wednesday.
Agra College Ground and Resham
Baug Ground, Nagpur, are the two
venues where the gates will open at
‘Apart from the live action
on the mega screen, fans
will enjoy a complete
weekend entertainment
package consisting of a
separate kids area and host
of other fun filled activities’
2 pm for guests on a first-come-firstserve basis.
April 11 has two matches. At 4 pm
Chennai Super Kings will take on
Sunrisers Hyderabad which will be
followed by the Kolkata Knight Riders
vs Royal Challengers Bangalore game at
8 pm.
On April 12, it will be Delhi
Daredevils against Rajasthan Royals at
4 pm followed by Mumbai Indians vs
Kings XI Punjab at 8 pm.
Editor Lawrence Booth was stinging in his criticism of the England and Wales Cricket Board for their mishandling of the Pietersen affair
Wisden lauds Sangakkara, Lanning’s performances
Kumar Sangakkara
LONDON: Sri Lanka great Kumar
Sangakkara has been named as the
Leading Cricketer in the World in the
2015 Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.
Meanwhile Australia’s Meg Lanning
has been chosen as the cricket ‘bible’s’
inaugural Leading Woman Cricketer in
the World — the first time the Englandbased annual has bestowed such an
award in 152 editions of continuous
publication dating back to 1864.
But editor Lawrence Booth was
stinging in his criticism of the England
and Wales Cricket Board for their
“mishandling” of the Kevin Pietersen
affair that saw the star batsman axed
from the England set-up.
Sangakkara joined India’s Virender
Sehwag as the only two players to be
named as Wisden’s Leading Cricketer in
the World for a second occasion.
The 37-year-old left-handed batsman
and wicketkeeper won the award after a
stellar 2014 that saw Sangakkara score
an all-time record 2,868 international
runs in the calendar year, including a
triple century. His feats, which added
to an already brilliant career, included
a man-of-the-match performance in Sri
Lanka’s World Twenty20 final win over
India last year.
Sangakkara also scored his first Test
hundred at Lord’s last season, a century
which came during Sri Lanka’s Test
series win over England.
He later confirmed Wisden’s
judgment by scoring a record four
successive hundreds at the recent World
Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
In a tribute to Sangakkara, set to retire
from all international cricket later this
year, Booth said: “Choosing (him) just
felt natural. And his four consecutive
hundreds at the World Cup confirmed
we’d chosen the right man.
“We’ll miss him when he’s gone.”
Lanning, who at the age of 21
became the youngest person ever to
Sangakkara joined India’s
Virender Sehwag as
the only two players to
be named as Wisden’s
Leading Cricketer in the
World for a second occasion
captain Australia, led her side to the
World Twenty20 title and finished 2014
at the top of both the women’s one-day
international and Twenty20 batting
rankings. Wisden’s Five Cricketers of
the Year is an award dating back to
1889 and is generally based on a player’s
performances in the preceding English
season.
By tradition, it can only be won once
in a career and the 2015 list included
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews,
England rising stars Moeen Ali and
Gary Ballance and two notable county
players in Adam Lyth and Jeetan Patel.
Booth’s critique of the ECB was
broad and scathing, the Wisden
editor writing: “A few wins might have
deflected attention from a charge sheet
that would include the mishandling of
the Kevin Pietersen affair, worrying Test
attendances outside London, a head-inthe-sand attitude to the one-day team,
and — not yet a decade after the 2005
Ashes had presented English cricket
with a golden chance to attract a new
generation to the sport — a fall in the
number of recreational players.
“National selector James Whitaker
had called (Alastair) Cook ‘our
exceptional leader’; Paul Downton, the
ECB’s new managing director, hailed
[Peter] Moores as the ‘outstanding
coach of his generation’; chairman Giles
Clarke trumpeted Downton as a ‘man
of great judgment’. It was a nexus of
self-preservation — yet, as the wagons
circled, the wheels kept threatening to
come off.”
— AFP
SPORT
T H U R S DAY
APRIL 9 l 2015
omandailyobserver
27
LA LIGA: Sevilla moved level with Valencia in fourth, just four points adrift of Atletico, with a 2-1 win at Levante thanks to first-half goals
Atletico too good for Moyes’s Real Sociedad
MADRID: Atletico Madrid moved
to within six points of La Liga leaders
Barcelona thanks to a comfortable 2-0
win over David Moyes’s Real Sociedad
on Tuesday.
The champions never looked
in danger from the moment Mikel
Gonzalez headed into his own net after
just two minutes.
Antoine Griezmann then doubled
the hosts’ advantage against his former
club shortly afterwards to end the game
as a contest inside the first 10 minutes.
Sevilla moved level with Valencia in
fourth, just four points adrift of Atletico,
with a 2-1 win at Levante thanks to firsthalf goals from Kevin Gameiro and Jose
Antonio Reyes.
Barcelona can regain their nine-point
lead over Atletico when they and closest
challengers Real Madrid are in action
against Almeria and Rayo Vallecano
respectively on Wednesday.
“Both the goals are down to mistakes
we made,” lamented Moyes.
“I don’t think it is a free-kick on the
first goal, but we have to defend it and we
didn’t. We made mistakes and we made
mistakes for the second goal as well.”
Defeat all but ends Sociedad’s outside
hopes of qualifying for the Europa
League, but the former Manchester
United boss insisted he never thought
that was a realistic target having taken
over the Basque outfit with the remit of
avoiding relegation.
“I’ve aways felt like it would be too
difficult to make Europe. The distance to
make up was too far,” Moyes added.
We’ve been on a very good run. We’ve
had two difficult away games and I think
the players have done a lot of good
things.”
Sociedad beat Atletico 2-1 when the
sides met back in November and came
into the game having lost just one of
their last eight La Liga games, but were
on the back foot straight away as Arda
Turan volleyed against the post inside 60
seconds.
The visitors managed to scramble the
rebound behind but from the resulting
corner, Gonzalez could only flick Koke’s
in-swinging delivery into the far corner.
Eight minutes later it was 2-0 as
Geronimo Rulli could only parry Koke’s
fierce drive into the path of Griezmann,
who slammed the ball high into the net
but refused to celebrate out of respect to
the club he spent nine years with prior
to his big money move to Atletico last
summer.
“They gave me a lot and I am here
thanks to them,” said Griezmann.
“We are playing well and now have
the consistency that we need to continue
with. It is normal that in the course of
a season you have a dip but we are now
fighting for the Champions League
places.”
Griezmann came close to inflicting
more pain on his former employers as
he was denied by a last-ditch tackle from
Gonzalez before nodding just wide from
another dangerous corner.
Sociedad gradually grew into the
game, but only seriously threatened
Jan Oblak’s goal when Chory Castro’s
powerful shot forced the Slovenian into
a smart save. Atletico took the sting out
of the game in the second-half with next
week’s Champions League quarter-final
against Real Madrid in mind.
However,
they
were
still
characteristically solid at the back to
secure a fifth consecutive clean sheet.
At the other end of the table minnows
Eibar ended an 11-game winless run
to ease their relegation fears with a 1-0 Atletico Madrid’s Guilherme Siqueira (right) vies with Real Sociedad’s defender Joseba Zaldua during the Spanish league match at the Vicente Calderon stadium in Madrid.
— AFP
victory over Malaga. — AFP
Benteke treble keeps Villa out of trouble
BIRMINGHAM,
UK:
Christian
Benteke scored a potentially priceless
hat-trick as Aston Villa avoided slipping
into the Premier League relegation zone
by drawing 3-3 at home to Queens Park
Rangers on Tuesday.
After Matt Phillips put QPR ahead,
a Benteke brace gave Villa control, only
for second-half goals from Clint Hill
and Charlie Austin to leave QPR on the
brink of a win that would have taken
them out of the bottom three at their
opponents’ expense.
But Benteke completed his treble
with an inch-perfect 83rd-minute freekick to take the Belgian striker’s tally to
seven goals in five games and leave Tim
Sherwood’s side three points above the
bottom three.
“Christian Benteke was very
good. The second goal especially was
excellent,” said Villa manager Sherwood.
“We need him between now and
the end of the season, but it was
disappointing to give away scruffy goals.
“It might be a very important point.
Only time will tell, but we need to win
games. It is a point in the right direction
though.”
Chris Ramsey’s QPR moved above
Burnley on goal difference, but they
are now two points from safety having
played a game more than fourth-bottom
Hull City. “The point was better for
them,” said Ramsey, who worked as
Sherwood’s assistant at Tottenham
Hotspur last season.
“We would have loved to have won
the game and been above the line. Based
on the performance in the second half,
we are disappointed we have not got
three points.”
Christian Benteke scores the third goal for Aston Villa from a free kick to complete his hat trick. — Reuters
Villa started brightly at Villa Park, but
it was QPR who took a seventh-minute
lead when Bobby Zamora’s feathered
cross was headed in by Phillips.
However, Villa quickly forced the
visitors back and drew level just three
minutes later when Benteke was allowed
to drift infield from the left and curled
a shot past QPR goalkeeper Rob Green.
Green saved twice from 19-year-old
midfielder Jack Grealish, making his
first league start for Villa, and Sandro
blocked from Ron Vlaar before Benteke
put the home side ahead in the 33rd
minute.
Gabriel Agbonlahor beat Sandro to
the ball and freed Benteke, who eluded
Hill and scored with his right foot.
Agbonlahor headed just wide from
Leandro Bacuna’s cross shortly before
half-time and with Villa continuing
to dominate early in the second half,
Ramsey took action by introducing Karl
Henry and Armand Traore.
The changes had an immediate effect
as within three minutes the visitors were
level, with 36-year-old Hill claiming his
first Premier League goal by heading in
Phillips’s corner.
Twelve minutes from time, Phillips
turned creator again, wriggling past
Kieran Richardson and crossing for
Austin to slam home his 17th goal of the
league campaign.
But Benteke had the final say by
bending a free-kick over the QPR wall
and in off the post past the despairing
dive of Green.
— AFP
Dortmund set to lose
next star as Hummels
mulls future
BERLIN: Borussia Dortmund are
facing the prospect of losing a star
player for the third year running with
Germany defender Mats Hummels
waxing lyrical about a possible transfer
abroad.
Barcelona, Chelsea and Manchester
United are reported to be interested
in signing the 26-year-old, who has
a market-value of around 35 million
euros (£25.5m, $ 37.9m), on the back of
outstanding performances at last year’s
World Cup. Having seen stars Mario
Goetze, then Robert Lewandowski leave
for Bayern Munich in recent seasons,
Dortmund could sell Hummels to the
highest bidder as his current contract
runs until 2017.
The centre-back’s future is a hot topic
in the German media, especially after
he reportedly told Bild: “it’s Man Utd or
no-one” should he leave Dortmund.
“You know what I am like: I just say
what is going around in my head,” he
told Sky Sports after Dortmund’s 1-0
home defeat to Bayern on Saturday.
“That doesn’t mean that I am leaving,
it just means I’m considering things.
“There’s no particular tendency one
way or the other. “It’s just thoughts
going through my mind and it’s nothing
that those in charge here don’t already
know. “It will all become clearer in the
coming weeks.”
Dortmund insist Hummels will not
be leaving anytime soon.
“We are planning further with him,”
Dortmund’s director of sport Michael
Zorc told German magazine Kicker.
“We will have another talk with Mats
to see how we can go about working
together further.” As Dortmund CEO
Hans-Joachim Watzke bluntly put it:
“The decision as to where Mats plays
next season is, of course, only down to
Borussia Dortmund”.
Having joined Dortmund from
Bayern in 2007 after one league
appearance for the Bavarian giants,
Hummels has blossomed under
Borussia’s charismatic coach Jurgen
Klopp, who saw enough promise
to thrust the then 19-year-old into
his starting line-up. Under Klopp,
Dortmund improved year-on-year
until briefly usurping Bayern as
Germany’s top team by winning the
2011 Bundesliga title.
— AFP
Bhutan praying for dream Japan tie in World Cup
THIMPHU: When the second round
draw for Asian World Cup qualifying
takes place in Kuala Lumpur next week,
fans, players and officials in the tiny
Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan will be
praying for one outcome.
“The people here want Japan
because most of the youth out here are
fans of Kagawa because he played for
Manchester United,” Bhutan Football
Federation official Phutsho Wangdi said.
“Japan would be the first choice and
especially our players too. They said if
we play them, its like a dream come true
for them because they are their heroes.
We grew up watching them.”
There is another reason to want Shinji
Kagawa, Keisuke Honda and the rest of
the record four-times Asian champion’s
squad to play at the picturesque
Changlimithang Stadium - money.
The world’s worst side at 209th in
the Fifa rankings, Bhutan received no
funding from the government and
played only two matches in two years.
Those matches, though, were against
Sri Lanka in the first round of qualifying
for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, which
resulted in a miraculous 3-1 aggregate
win on their tournament debut. Only
their fourth and fifth victories ever.
They now await Tuesday’s draw where
40 teams, including Asian champions
Australia and Japan, will be drawn
into groups of five guaranteeing eight
matches. “If we get Australia or Japan
or maybe South Korea, we will get the
TV guys coming from there and we will
make some money,” said Wangdi, who
oversees marketing at the federation.
Mario Goetze of Bayern Munich is sandwiched by Borussia Dortmund Mats
Hummels (left) and Neven Subotic during their German first division match.
— Reuters
28
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omandailyobserver
T H U R S DAY
APRIL 9 l 2015
Career slam possibility in mind
of Kaymer ahead of Masters
SWINGING
AWAY
AUGUSTA MASTERS: Aged 30
, Kaymer still has several years in hi
s prime to come
as he attempts to finish the slam an
d become the complete player
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA: While the golfing
world eyes Augusta wondering if Rory McIlroy
can complete a historic career grand slam of all
four majors by winning this weekend’s Masters,
Germany’s
Martin Kaymer is also aware he could achieve
the remarkable accomplishment - one day.
“Halfway sounds close, but it’s still far away,”
Kaymer joked after a practice round early in
the week. With the US Open (2014) and PGA
Championship (2010) titles won, it is the Masters
and the Open missing from his collection.
“ It ’s
a career goal, it’s a long way, so
Rory is a lot closer than
me,” he said. “I wish
him the best. I hope
I can do it.
“If he doesn’t
do it this week, I
hope he’s
going to do it in his career. I think it will complete
you more as a player, like for yourself.”
Aged 30, Kaymer still has several years in his
prime to come as he attempts to finish the slam
and become the complete player.
His first major was won in a tense three-hole
play-off against Bubba Watson but at Pinehurst last
year he mastered the infamously difficult number
two course and destroyed the field.
Devastating rounds of 65-65 gave him a US
Open record total of 130 at the halfway mark for a
six-shot lead to set up a weekend formality.
He won at nine-under in a tournament when
only another two men broke par.
But though Kaymer has a top-10 Open finish
to his name, Augusta National has simply not
worked out for him. Last year was his best effort
from seven visits but was still no better than a tie
for 31st.
“The first couple years, the
first three or four years where
I missed the cut, I wasn’t
really able to play the
golf course the way
it was supposed
to be played,” he
said. “And then I
adjusted a few
things,
and
then the last
two years I
was playing
it really well, but I
struggled a little on the greens.
“So if I can put those things together, the
putting from the first three or four years and the
playing from the last couple years, I’ll be okay.”
Length and accuracy from the tee is key at
Augusta, not because of punitive rough for missing
fairways but the lightning quick greens must be
approached from the optimal position - otherwise
birdies become impossible and par a struggle.
With increased length, Kaymer says he can take
three or four clubs off his approach to the long parfour 10th and the par-five 13th provides an eagle
chance now he can reach the green in two.
“Now it’s a lot different,” he said. “I stand on the
first tee, and on certain tee shots that I really didn’t
fancy in the past, now they are not my favourites.
“It’s a little bit against the natural but I can make
it work. At least I have an option, I know how to
hit the shot.”
Kaymer has been drawing on the inspiration
and advice of compatriot Bernhard Langer, a
two-time Masters champion. As a former winner,
Langer has a lifetime invitation to enter the event
and the pair practiced together on Tuesday.
“It would take a long time to discuss (Langer’s
advice on playing the course,” Kaymer joked. “But
it’s more about angles, about positions.
“In general, playing with him, can be quite
frustrating sometimes because you think you
should be hitting the ball a lot longer; you should
do certain things better because you are younger,
but you are not. This is very, very impressive to
see.” — dpa
It’s a career goal, it’s a
long way away, so Rory
is a lot closer than me.
I wish him the best. I hope I
can do it
MARTIN KAYMER
US Open champion
Martin Kaymer of Germany chips onto
the tenth green during his practice roun
d ahead of the 2015 Masters at
the Augusta National Golf Course in Augu
sta, Georgia.
— Reuters
Bank Muscat extends
support to traditional
shooting competition
MUSCAT:
Bank
Muscat, the flagship
financial
services
provider
in
the
Sultanate, as part
of its commitment
to promoting the
heritage and culture
of Oman, extended
support
to
the
traditional shooting
competitions which
concluded in the
Wilayat of Nakhal Saleh Al Maaini
under the auspices of
Shaikh Saad bin Mohammed Al Mardouf Alsaadi, Minister
of Sports Affairs.
The support to the event comes within the bank’s strategy
to promote and preserve the country’s traditions, heritage
and culture. As the nation’s leading financial institution,
Bank Muscat seeks to utilise all opportunities in reaching
out to people and familiarising them with the country’s
heritage and traditions.
Saleh al Maaini, Senior Regional Manager — North
West Muscat, South al Batinah & al Dhahirah, said:
“True to its commitment to supporting varied traditional
sporting activities in the country, Bank Muscat remains at
the forefront in offering the required encouragement and
support to various segments of society. The bank seeks
to set an example by complementing government efforts
in preserving and showcasing the country’s heritage and
culture, thereby promoting the Sultanate’s tourism potential.”
Amidst the country’s modernisation, the heritage and
culture remain a major attraction for tourists visiting the
country. Traditional sporting activities like shooting, which
reflect the deep-rooted Omani heritage, are major tourist
attractions, offering an opportunity for visitors to experience
the country’s vibrant heritage and culture.
Rickie Fowler of the US hits on the 11th fairway during his practice round ahead of
the 2015 Masters at Augusta National Golf Course in Augusta. — Reuters
Fowler happy in the
shadows at Masters
AUGUSTA, UNITED STATES: Rickie
Fowler is flying way under the radar in
the buildup to the 79th Masters and it
bothers him not in the least.
Long touted as the best US player to
emerge since Tiger Woods, the 26-yearold Californian had a superb 2014 with
top five finishes in the four majors —
just the third man to achieve that feat
after Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
But he ended the year still without
a major title win to his name and like
many before him the question marks
over his ability to close out the big wins
are starting to be raised.
On top of that, Fowler, on his own
admission, has had a poor season to date
with just the one top-10 finish in seven
tournaments.
Hence the lack of backing for him to
finally win a major later this week.
“Thats fine with me,” he said of his
lack of support.
“I haven’t played particularly well
to start out the year. I haven’t had the
performance that I would have liked. I
haven’t had very good finishes.
“But I’m excited for this week. Doesn’t
matter what the odds are or favourites or
anything like that.
“A couple more practice sessions,
maybe go play nine in the morning, and
I’ll be ready to go. I don’t care if I’m a
favourite or not or if the odds are with
me or against me. “I’m going to go out
there and try to win myself a major.”
MCILROY IN THE WAY
One of main onstacles standing in his
way will one again be close friend Rory
McIlroy.
McIlroy it was who denied Fowler in
the last two majors — the British Open
and the PGA Championship — and who
then handed him a 5 and 4 drubbing in
the final-day singles at the Ryder Cup.
And McIlroy it is who will start the
tournament as a strong favourite to
make it three wins in a row in the majors.
“He’s obviously the best player in the
world for a reason,” said Fowler.
“I know he struggled a bit for a year
or so. But the year he put together last
year, winning two, it’s tough to do.
“I was in a position where I had a
chance in a couple, but they are hard to
win.
“He’s obviously playing well and he
has shown that he can play well here at
Augusta, and I know he’s just as ready as
anyone else to go out and play well this
week.
“He’s going to be tough to beat if
he’s on top of his game. But I don’t
think no one is going to lay down by
any means.”
Fowler will play alongside Jason Day
and Sergio Garcia in a final grouping on
Thursday that looks sure to draw a big
crowd.
“Really looking forward to the pairing
... see if we can get some momentum
going,” he said.
“I know the three of us can play well
around here. It’s fun to be able to feed off
each other and play with guys that you
like.”
— AFP
Watson hoping for a stronger defence
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA: With two
Masters wins from the last three
years, Bubba Watson is a strong
contender when the first major of the
season begins on Thursday but hopes
to make a better defence of his title
than in 2013.
Returning to Augusta with the
green jacket seemed a distraction for
Watson as he tried to defend his 2012
victory - only to finish a lowly 50th.
“I think if it’s your first time
winning, like I did in ‘12, in ‘13, I
didn’t know what to expect,” he said
on Tuesday.
“I was scared to death of the
Champions Dinner in ‘13 because
you’re talking about great champions
across the board, old and young, and
now I’m getting to sit and have dinner
with them and I’m making sure they
like the food I picked out.
“The media attention, the
atmosphere; even a year later, you’re
excited about your win. Sometimes
you get away from your routine or
you just use your energy in a different
way.
“So this time I know what to
expect. Doesn’t mean I’m going
to play better, just I know what to
expect, I know how to save some
energy. I know how things are going
to happen in the Champions Dinner
now.”
In 2013 Watson was never in
contention and on Sunday his
miserable weekend was completed
with a 10 at the par-three 12th.
But he is not alone in struggling
to cope with the weight which the
Bubba Watson of the
US watches his shot
off the 12th tee
during his practice
round ahead of the
2015 Masters at
Augusta National
Golf Course in
Augusta, Georgia.
— Reuters
reigning champion must carry on his
shoulders returning to Augusta.
Only three men (Jack Nicklaus,
Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods) have
successfully defended the title in the
long history of the competition.
This time, Watson is seeking to
retain the title he won in emphatic
fashion in 2014. While 2012 came
down to a play-off, his second green
jacket was earned by three shots — the
final hole was the golfing equivalent of
a valedictory lap.
“I knew how to deal with the
pressure (in 2014),” he said. “I knew
what the pressure was. So last year
(that) helped me a lot, knowing what I
went through in 2012. So I could deal
with it a little bit.
“And so obviously feeling the
pressure at Augusta, at a major, and
winning it, I know that I can do it.
“You’re still nervous. You’re still
scared. But at least I have a little bit of
help knowing that I have won a major
a couple times, so I think it will help a
little bit if I have a chance on Sunday.
“You know, we are all good golfers,
so the other guys might be better than
me that day, but at least it will help a
little bit.”
And there is one modern duty for
the Masters champion Watson seems
to relish more than anything else —
handing out prizes to the winners of
the pre-tournament ‘Drive, chip and
putt’ event for children.
“Sometimes in our job, even
playing golf for a living, it gets stale, it
gets boring,” he said. “And so for me,
it’s inspiring.”
— dpa
ENTERTAINMENT
T H U R S DAY
APRIL 9 l 2015
Who will
enjoy the
sun at
Cannes?
Charlize Theron stars in ‘Mad Max’ which will be screened at Cannes. — AFP
Q MARC BURLEIGH
CANNES’S
ORGANISERS
JEALOUSLY
GUARD THEIR
SELECTIONS
FOR THE
COMPETITION
LINE-UP AND
THE OUT-OFCOMPETITION
PROGRAMME
UNTIL A
MONTH
BEFORE THE
FILM FEST
OPENS
W
ith the Cannes
Film Festival set
to open in just
over a month’s
time, speculation
is swirling over
which films — and which top directors and
actors — could be getting their moment
under the French Riviera sun.
Woody Allen is seen as more than likely
to be walking the red carpet with his new
flick, ‘Irrational Man’, starring Joaquin
Phoenix.
Cate Blanchett might also be along for
her movie ‘Carol’. And fellow Oscar-winner
Matthew McConaughey could appear for
‘The Sea of Trees’ the latest film by director
Gus Van Sant, which also stars Naomi
Watts.
Cannes’s organisers jealously guard their
selections for the competition line-up and
the out-of-competition programme until a
month before the film fest opens.
This year, the movies to be shown at
Cannes will be announced on April 16, and
the festival will run from May 13 to 24.
The organisers have a dizzying task
in choosing which movies make the cut,
wading through some 1,800 films to
winnow them down to short lists.
The director of the festival, Thierry
Fremaux, said last week that “there is
no more than a third of the selection
definitively decided”. He added that he and
his selection committee “watch the movies
right to the end”.
Cannes mixes international arthouse
cinema,
Hollywood
blockbusters,
extravagant parties, industry wheeling and
dealing, and eye-catching publicity stunts in
a potent cocktail that has made it the preeminent global showcase for movies.
So far the only movie confirmed to be
screened is ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’. The
dystopian sci-fi movie, the fourth in the
high-action ‘Mad Max’ franchise and the
first to star British actor Tom Hardy in the
title role, will be shown out of competition
on May 14 just before its worldwide release.
‘Fury Road’ co-stars Charlize Theron,
who is expected to saunter up the redcarpeted steps. She could put on another
dress and put in another appearance for
‘The Last Face’, a film she is in that is directed
by Sean Penn and also stars Javier Bardem.
‘Harry Potter’ actress Emma Watson
and ‘Boyhood’ star Ethan Hawke might be
along if ‘Regression’, by Spanish director
Alejandro Amenabar (who made ‘The
Others’, ‘The Sea Inside’) is selected.
Then there’s Colin Farrell and Rachel
Weisz in the ‘The Lobster’, a sci-fi tale
financed with Irish money and directed
by Greece’s Yorgos Lanthimos. Or Jesse
Eisenberg, Gabriel Byrne and Isabelle
Huppert in “Louder Than Bombs” by
Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier.
Italy’s flag could flutter over ‘Mia Madre’,
the most recent picture by Nanni Moretti
who won Cannes’s top prize the Palme d’Or
in 2001, or maybe ‘La Giovinezza’ by Paolo
Sorrentino, whose ‘Grande Bellezza’ (‘The
Great Beauty’) won a foreign picture Oscar
last year.
Asia, as always, is expected to be well
represented.
Thailand’s Apichatpong Weerasethakul
has just completed a romance, ‘Love in
Khon Kaen’, which might screen. Taiwan’s
Hou Hsiao-hsien, a competition veteran,
has a good chance with martial arts picture
‘The Assassin’.
Finally, of course, Cannes always has a
soft spot for French productions.
While directors Jacques Audiard or
Arnaud Desplechin might screen their
latest films, much attention is being thrown
on ‘The Little Prince’, a big-budget French
animation directed by US film-maker Mark
Osborne that adapts the famous novel by
Antoine de Saint-Exupery. — AFP
Kidman ad: Airways denies claims
A
campaign for the airlines, saying that
they had treated women employees
badly.
However,
the
airlines
has
emphasised that it sticks to rules and
regulation of the General Civil Aviation
Authority (GCAA).
“Etihad fully supports its cabin
crew during and after their pregnancy.
When a cabin crew member informs
fter Association of Professional
Flight Attendants (APFA)
urged Oscar-winning actress
Nicole Kidman to cut her ties with
Etihad Airways citing its anti-feminist
policies, the airlines issued a statement
that it supports its employees through
thick and thin.
APFA had criticised Kidman
for featuring in an advertisement
Etihad of a pregnancy, she is provided
with appropriate ground duties for
the duration of pregnancy,” the airline
said.
“Cabin crew are also entitled to paid
maternity leave if they have completed
more than one year’s service. Our cabin
crew are then able to return to their
flying role at the end of their maternity
leave period,’ they added. — IANS
omandailyobserver
29
TINSELTOWN
Lilly James flaunts
galactic style
A
ctress Lily James
flaunted her galactic
style at a photocall in
Tokyo. The ‘Cindrella’ actress
wore a chic mini-dress printed
with stars, moons and planets
across the midnight blue
fabric, reports dailymail.co.uk.
James added some height
to her lithe legs in a pair of
T-bar and gold sandals as she
joined the ‘Cinderella’ director
Kenneth Branagh to talk about
the Disney movie in Japan.
Lily played the role of
Korrina in the Warner Brothers
film ‘Wrath of the Titans’ and
starred in ‘Fast Girls’, written by
Noel Clarke, centred around a
group of young female athletes
competing in the World
Championships. Her television
credits include Ethel Brown
in the 2010 BBC production
of Richmal Crompton’s ‘Just
William’, Poppy in the fourth
series of ITV’s ‘Secret Diary of
a Call Girl’, and the rebellious
Lady Rose in the last episode
of series three of ‘Downton
Abbey’.
James played the title
character in the 2015 liveaction Disney film ‘Cinderella’
in which she was photographed by Annie Leibovitz, in the blue gown that she
wears to the ball, for the December 2014 issue of ‘Vogue’.
Stewart ignores Pattinson’s
engagement
A
ctress
Kristen
Stewart moved on
from her failed
romance with co-star Robert
Pattinson and doesn’t even
care about his engagement
to singer FKA Twigs.
A source close to the
actress told eonline.com
that “she doesn’t care about
the engagement, there isn’t
hostility but she has moved
on and is in a really great
place right now,” reports
aceshowbiz.com.
“This has been one of
the better times for her
personally, she is just doing
her own thing,” said another
source.
The ‘Twilight’ actress
herself never personally
commented on Pattinson
and
twigs’
recent Kristen Stewart and Nikki Reed Promote
“Twilight” at Hot Topic i
engagement.
In a recent interview with
hollywoodreporter.com, the 24-year-old actress opened up about how hard
it was for her to avoid rumours on news media that often exaggerated her
personal life.
“I’m not the winner!’ I’m not gonna be let down when I don’t get the pat
on the back,” she said.
“It has taken serious adjusting time, there’s just nothing that I can really do
about that. If you think about the source of it all, which is really the big, big,
big green monster of cash, there’s just no way that that’s stopping,” she added.
STRAIGHTFORWORD
Don’t want to be a pigeonholed film-maker: MAHESH
I
n his four-decade career, Mahesh Bhatt
has never shied away from showing the
elements of his real life in films like ‘Woh
Lamhe’. The veteran film-maker says there is
“nothing personal about any human being”.
From his linkup to late Bollywood star
Parveen Babi to his inebriated past, Bhatt
has never hesitated in sourcing ideas for
films from his real life. The 66-year-old says
he has no problems in showcasing his real
life on screen as what one goes through is
“pathetically close to somebody else”.
“There are two streams in me. One is the
stream which makes films out of the real
material called life and make inspiring tales
out of that. There is a particular section of
society which loves that kind of cinema,”
Bhatt, who was in the capital to promote his
forthcoming production venture ‘Mr. X’, said
in an interview.
“Then, there is another section which
loves my other kind of cinema like ‘Sadak’,
‘Dil Hai ki Manta Nahin’ or ‘Raaz’ and
‘Mr. X’ also fits into that type. So I have no
problem in oscillating between the two. I
have no problem in shifting from one genre
to the other.
“I do not want myself to be restricted to
a pigeonholed kind of film-maker. I choose
to speak in the language the person is
comfortable with. There is nothing personal
about any human being. Whatever one goes
through is pathetically close to somebody
else,” he added.
Talking about ‘Mr. X’, which stars his
nephew and actor Emraan Hashmi, Bhatt
says that “It’s the first 3D family film with
those state-of-the-art special effects which
are indigenously created in our own
country.”
“It’s a film which is made within the
attention span that young people have or
viewers have for films nowadays. ‘Mr. X’
has the kind of pulse of the time we live in
because it’s getting progressively difficult
to bring people to cinema halls. They have
tremendous variety available to them. So
‘Mr. X’ is unique, distinct and special in
terms of its visual texture. It will appeal to
the large section of people which wants to
have a good time”.
Although Bhatt admitted that the
invisible concept is not new to the film
industry, he said: “There is a child in every
man and that’s why larger than life stories
which have a fairly tale component will
work.”
“People love miracles; they love stories
which break through adversities. That’s
what ‘Mr. X’ gives to them. There is nothing
real about Spiderman or Superman. Filmmaking is unreal business. It’s all about
storytelling,” he said.
“With larger than life films you are lifted
from your mundane ordinary life because
you empathise with the hero and people
see themselves in him. That’s why stories
with characters like Superman, Batman,
Spiderman, Krrish or Mr. X work in a very
big way universally,” he added.
So what he’ll do if he get’s a chance to
be ‘Mr. X’? Bhatt said: “I would unmask
all those self proclaimed saints and good
people who pretend to the world through
their media manipulation that they are
spotless and reveal their real face.”
“I would love to unmask them to the real
world to let people know that these people
pretend to them what they are, but actually
they are not because they are innumerable.
Such people are a curse to mankind.”
Directed by Vikram Bhatt, ‘Mr. X’ also
stars Amyra Dastur and Arunoday Singh
and is set to release on April 17. — IANS
FROM HIS
LINKUP TO LATE
BOLLYWOOD
STAR PARVEEN
BABI TO HIS
INEBRIATED
PAST, BHATT
HAS NEVER
HESITATED IN
SOURCING IDEAS
FOR FILMS FROM
HIS REAL LIFE
30
LIFESTYLE
omandailyobserver
T H U R S DAY
APRIL 9 l 2015
MOHAMMED AL BALUSHI
Omani students enthral at Arabesque event
QSTAFF REPORTER
A
rabesque
International
organised the first of Muscat
Chamber Music Series
workshops, which was
conducted by musicians
from Grammy award
winning Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra,
who arrived last weekend here.
Agatha Laima Daraskaite, violin, Peteris
Sokolovskis, cello and Andrii Pushkarov,
vibraphone, toured some of Muscat’s private
and public schools including Wattaya School,
American British Academy (ABA), and the
French School.
Arabesque witnessed large participation
from young Omani students, artists, musicians
and professors, who were passionate to
get master classes from the world famous
celebrities.
The workshops do not require any musical
background and are specially designed for
students of schools, colleges and universities.
Students in Wattaya School enriched the
workshops by playing Omani traditional folk
songs and amazed the musicians on how
eager they are about music. The workshop for
the Oud Association, where young Omani
musicians demonstrated their musical skills
that were improvised through Omani melodies
mixed with western tunes.
“Creativity, access and availability lead to
the creation and development of individual
skills. Research has shown that the study of
music contribute to the absorption of the
other areas and the development of individual
skills such as the ability to focus, developing
logical thinking and communications skills,”
the GM of Arabesque International, Ahmed
Abouzahra, said.
Arabesque International LLC is an
international performing arts promoter and
event organiser with its head office in Muscat.
Founded in 2012 by Ahmed Abouzahra, an
accomplished master pianist, the company’s
vision is to be recognised in Oman and in the
MENA region as a leading cultural organisation
with a focus on raising awareness and education
though quality art performances by bringing
world famous musicians, performers and
ensembles to the Arab world and by promoting
Arab artists in the western world.
Experience, learn Michelin gourmet dining
F
rom April 14 to 18, Shangri-La’s Barr
Al Jissah Resort & Spa will welcome
back the Michelin-starred Italian chef,
Alfredo Russo, to serve an exclusive Michelin
dining experience at Capri Court.
Back by popular demand after a
successful promotion in 2014, Michelinstarred chef Alfredo Russo will once again
amaze food connoisseurs’ palate with his
exquisite dishes from April 14 to 18 at
the resort’s Italian fine-dining restaurant,
Capri Court. Founded on absolute
respect for the Italian — and specifically
Piedmontese cooking — Alfredo Russo’s
cuisine is a constant search for culinary
innovation and purity of taste. Apart from
his prestigious Dolce Stil Novo Restaurant
in Turin, Italy, he has recently opened
the Vivaldi Restaurant at Sheraton Dubai
Creek Hotel & Towers.
Diners are invited to join Chef Alfredo’s
extraordinary culinary journey in Capri
Court — the resort’s contemporary stylish
Italian restaurant located in Al Bandar Hotel
— featuring his sumptuous signature a la carte
menu which includes dishes such as warm
lobster with fennel, oranges and red onion ice
cream; beef tortellini filled with lentil sauce
and olive oil and vanilla cream with raspberry
ragout. For those who are interested to learn
how to cook like a Michelin star chef, Alfredo
Russo will also conduct a cooking class on
April 17 at Capri Court at 12 noon. Guests
can interact directly with Chef Alfredo, learn
“I am delighted to welcome back Alfredo not an easy accomplishment to achieve but
his recipes, get an autographed cook book Russo to Shangri-La Muscat this April. As a one that Alfredo seems to have mastered,”
and enjoy a special lunch.
trained chef myself, I appreciate that this is commented Mark Kirk, General Manager.
A night in Sur
“
I
am not sure, it may be around eighty
thousand,” the young guy answered me when
I asked him about the population of Sur. The
sun was not in the middle of the sky, the time was
not yet 1 pm and students had not come out from
their schools, when I was crossing one of the small
wadis of Sur to enter its beautiful city. An old man
with a full beard was seen selling watermelons on the
road enthusiastically. He was surrounded by tourists
from different nationalities. Another old man with
forked beard was seen sitting inside his pick-up
and selling vegetables. The two old men must be
farmers, I thought. I felt good that these hardworking
farmers produce different fruits and vegetables and
bring them to the market for selling. Though it’s a
traditional business it really makes the marketplace
active and motivates the farmers. The traditional and
face-to-face businesses have their own tastes and
economic impacts. There still was around 5 kms to
reach my hotel. On the way, I heard ‘Allah O Akbar
— Azan’, it’s pray time, now I said to myself.
“Good afternoon, how can I help you sir,” the
receptionist politely welcomed me. “Good afternoon,
I have a booking and this is my ID,” I said. “Your room
number is 409 and have a good stay,” the receptionist
wished me.
In a discussion with some young guys I found
that most of them ambitious and willing to accept
challenges in life. “I am engaged in real estate
business as a source of income,” one of them said.
“This is a good business and people can make good
money, land prices differ from one area to the other,
in some areas the prices have reached RO 20,000 and
in some RO 10,000 and RO 15,000,” he added.
“Stock market is another market where people
can make good money and it can also make the
investors bankrupt,” a young man said. “I am not able
to understand what makes share prices go high and
low,” he added, eager to know more about the same.
“There are some forces and elements which lead the
stock market either to be dull or active,” someone
from the group added. “It must be understood that
there are some sharp and smart investors in this
field who can easily make the market take different
shapes. Therefore, new investors must follow the
local and international stock markets every day and
finally he or she must read relevant books, articles,
cases on the field,” he said.
After having such a wonderful and beneficial
discussion, I did not know where to go next. “I am
in Sur, is it possible to see you?” I rang one of my
friends. “Sure, just give me five minutes I will come
to the hotel to pick you up,” he said. I did not believe
that he could so punctual. Usually, most people are
not punctual in this part of the world. “Meet my
cousin Mehraj,” my friend Bakhtyar introduced.
Though I was not visiting Sur for the first time now I
saw it with different eyes and ideas. “This is the oldest
resident area of Sur and that is the old market. Now
let me take you to Sur bridge and the seaside. People
of Sur are very friendly and respectful,” Bakhtyar
said. “This is the most famous restaurant in Sur and
it has delicious food, let us have the dinner here,” he
said. Half of the restaurant was full of tourists.
It was with a matter of contentment that I noticed
a signboard at the roundabout which read: ‘Sur
public library’. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance
to visit it.
LOCAL SCENE
Tyagaraja Music Festival on April 24
K
alabhavan School of Music & Arts, the
franchisee of Kochin Kalabhavan, will
be celebrating Tyagaraja Music Festival
on April 24, 2015 at Al Maasa Hall, Ruwi, to pay
homage to the great saint Tyagaraja who was an
inspired composer. The chief guest will be Wilson
V George, Chairman, Board of Directors of Indian
Schools in Oman.
Tyagaraja’s contributions to Carnatic music
are immense. His compositions are very popular
among South Indian classical music lovers. He had
composed several ‘kritis’ in various ‘ragaas’. The
Pancharatna Kritis are the most representative of
Tyagaraja’s art as a composer.
Kalabhavan has been conducting Tyagaraja
Music Festival in Oman for the past eight years.
Kalabhavan’s vocal and carnatic instrumental
students from Al Ghubra, Al Hail and Ruwi
branches will be participating in the programme.
The event, which is scheduled to start at 6 pm, is
open to all the music lovers.
Kalabhavan gives regular coaching in carnatic
music, Indian classical dance, cinematic dance,
keyboard, tabala, mridangam, drums and other
instruments in addition to art and craft and
karate.
QHASAN KAMOONPURI
P
akistan
School
Sohar
celebrated its 23rd Annual
Day function recently at new
its school building, located on Wadi
Al Hibi road.
The programme began with the
recitation of the Quran, followed by
prayers for His Majesty.
The occasion was marked by
eye-catching performances by the
students. Omani dignitaries along
with prominent Pakistanis enjoyed
the spectacular event.
Two students, Ayesha Khadim
and Omer Khadim who secured
second position in the final Board
Exam 2015 in grade VIII and V
respectively, were honoured for their
achievements.
The principal announced the
Annual Day Results while the chief
guest, Chaudhary Muhammad
Aslam, founder-chairman of the
school, appreciated the contribution
of the community towards making
the school building a reality.
The students securing positions
were awarded medals and trophies
by the chief guest and the guests of
honour Khadim Hussain Jhakker
and Fiaz Hussain.
Pakistan School Sohar
celebrates Annual Day
T H U R S DAY
APRIL 9 l 2015
SPOTLIGHT
omandailyobserver
31
NIZAR AL MUSALMY
[email protected]
The blood type diets
A
The volcano that changed the world
THE INDONESIAN ISLAND
OF SUMBAWA IS NOW BEST
KNOWN AS A SURFER’S
PARADISE. TWO HUNDRED
YEARS AGO IT WAS THE
SCENE OF THE MOST VIOLENT
NATURAL CATASTROPHE
IN HISTORY, A VOLCANIC
ERUPTION THAT AFFECTED
THE CLIMATE AROUND THE
WORLD
Q CHRISTIANE OELRICH
S
umbawa is haunted, the locals say. The ghost
of a long-dead king stalks the Indonesian
island, luring young people into the jungle
who never see the light of day again.
According to the tales, the king has
been unable to rest since Mount Tambora
erupted 200 years ago, destroying his fabled empire of
gold and other treasures.
While the existence of the ghost may be debatable,
the volcanic eruption is documented history. The
unprecedented explosion took place on April 10, 1815,
following several days of smaller eruptions.
The upper 1,300 metres of the mountain peak blew
up, and tens of thousands of people were killed by
magma and rock raining down on them.
Villages on Sumbawa were buried under metres of
ash. The ensuing tsunami devastated the coastline along
hundreds of kilometres. Estimates put the total human
death toll at 100,000.
Ash particles and 400 million tonnes of sulphurous
gases were hurled into the atmosphere, spreading round
the world to cause major climate change.
The following year, 1816, is known as “the year
without a summer” with dense clouds obscuring the
sun. As harvests failed and crops rotted in the fields,
famine broke out across Europe.
Shortly afterwards, American farmers launched their
mass migration westwards in response to deteriorating
weather conditions in the east.
The Tambora eruption was the worst natural
catastrophe of the modern era.
Initially no one knew what the cause was. The
telegraph had yet to be invented, and news of the
eruption reached Europe only months later.
Even people in Asia were ignorant. “The explosions
could be heard 1,500 kilometres to the west on Sumatra,”
a British geologist wrote in 1850, citing the governor of
British Java at the time, Sir Stamford Raffles.
Those who heard them thought they were cannon fire
and prepared for an attack. Things were very different
when Krakatoa erupted almost 70 years later in 1883,
also in Indonesia. The global effects were less severe, but
the climate all round the world was affected.
The world knew about the explosion soon after it
happened, and this eruption is to this day the better
known.
The fabled kingdom’s existence remains in doubt,
although in 2004 the geologists Haraldur Sigurdsson
and Lewis Abrams found the remains of a village on the
volcano 3 metres under the surface.
“It may well be that Tambora will become the
Pompeii of the East,” Sigurdsson said at the time. The
two geologists found the charred body of a woman still
holding a knife in her hand, as Abrams reported in the
magazine ‘Current Science’.
Bronze bowls and pottery shards were among the
other finds. These were the sorts of finds made at
Pompeii, which was buried under ash in 79 AD after
Vesuvius erupted near Naples, and was only uncovered
in the 18th century.
There is little evidence of wealth on Sumbawa today.
Most of its 1.5 million inhabitants live from hand to
mouth as farmers or fisher folk.
Tourists bypass the island. Sailing excursions from
Bali and Sumbawa’s neighbouring island of Lombok
usually carry visitors straight to the nearby Komodo
National Park in search of the Komodo dragon, the
world’s largest lizard.
Sumbawa was briefly in the news last year, when a
boat carrying more than 20 tourists sank on the way to
the Komodo islands. Most of them were able to keep
themselves afloat for 40 hours until they were rescued
and brought to Bima on Sumbawa.
The Indonesian tourist authority describes the island
as a paradise for those seeking adventure and authentic
local culture, as well as wide beaches and excellent waves
for surfers.
There are excursions from Lombok, culminating in
a hike up the 2,851 metre volcano. “Up at midnight and
watch the sunrise five hours later on the crater edge,” one
company advertises. — dpa
s you might know the mother of junior has a tendency of bringing
up different types of issues time after time. This week she came
up with ‘The blood type diets’. It all started when she visited a
bookshop and bought a book about the Blood Type diet by one writer
whose name I don’t remember. In short, the book was all about diet based
on the belief that you should eat certain foods and avoid others based on
your blood group.
The father of junior, being neither a nutritionist nor a medical person,
believes that human beings should eat any food that nature provides
within the habitat that he/she lives as long as it is ‘halal’. But the mother of
junior, in her belief of living a healthy life and in her endeavour to promote
being healthy by maintaining an overall positive feeling of healthiness both
physical and mental, completely disagrees with me on eating anything –
courtesy the book she bought. For the whole of last weekend she embarked
on a mission to convince her husband to go on a specific diet based on his
blood group. She even went on to open some pages of the book to backup
her argument.
The sophisticated lady has all the qualities of the art and practice of
conducting negotiations and I always would wonder why up to now she
is not yet appointed to become an ambassador. Through her individual
character of diplomacy with regards to any issue, this lady deserves to be
accredited to another sovereign state.
Nevertheless and as a result of her pursuance, I was obliged to show
interest and hear more about the Blood Type diet. While I knew nothing
about this type of diet, and as she continued to talk about it, I felt it was
too extreme to follow every day. And all of a sudden I asked her what my
blood type says I should eat.
To my surprise I saw it written in the book that I should mostly be a
vegetarian. It’s not something I really wanted to hear, but I thought it might
just be good for me. Since then till now, I’ve been on it and despite eating
more than I normally do, just by following a vegetarian diet; already I have
a feeling that I am losing some weight. She is also determined to put junior
on a specific diet of eating a high-protein diet heavy on lean meat, poultry,
fish and vegetables and light on grains, beans and dairy just because he is
a ‘O’ blood type. She told me that junior’s sister who happens to be a type
‘A’ must eat a meat-free diet based on fresh and organic fruits, vegetables,
beans, legumes and whole grains.
Since the beginning of this week, she has been busy popularising the
said book of eating right based on the blood type to all our neighbours;
asking them to go for it and see for themselves “how minor changes start
to turn your health around”.
Such is the kind of determination and commitment possessed by the
mother of junior to humankind. Her aim is building relationships by
improving the people’s wellness. She is calling upon all to come forward
and indulge in this “simple and yet effective” method of dieting whereby
they will enjoy a good health and be in a position to march forward for
their development and advancement.
GLITTERING GALA
Celebrities to grace dance
school anniversary
SCIENTIFIC STUDY
Brontosaurus’ good name restored
P
alaeontologists are restoring the good name
of Brontosaurus more than a century after
it was deemed scientifically invalid and the
famous dinosaur was reclassified as another genus
called Apatosaurus.
They unveiled on Tuesday an exhaustive
analysis of Brontosaurus remains, first unearthed
in the 1870s, and those of closely related dinosaurs,
determining that the immense, long-necked planteater was not an Apatosaurus and deserved its old
name back.
Palaeontologist Emanuel Tschopp of Portugal’s
‘Universidade Nova de Lisboa’ cited important
anatomical differences including Apatosaurus
possessing a wider neck than Brontosaurus and
being even more massively built.
“The differences between Apatosaurus and
Brontosaurus are numerous enough to revive
Brontosaurus as a separate genus from
Apatosaurus,” Tschopp said.
Brontosaurus, which lived in North America
around 150 million years ago in the Jurassic
Period, was about 72 feet long and weighed about
40 tonnes.
“Brontosaurus and T rex are the two most
popular dinosaur names ever,” said Universidade
Nova de Lisboa palaeontologist Octávio Mateus.
“Even 112 years after palaeontologists considered
it invalid, the name Brontosaurus still echoes
in the popular culture. It was indeed a very cool
dinosaur name.”
“This will be like recovering Pluto as a planet
again,” Mateus added, referring to astronomers’
2006 decision to downgrade Pluto from a fullfledged planet to a dwarf planet.
After his team excavated fossils of two huge
long-necked dinosaurs, prolific 19th century
palaeontologist Othniel Charles Marsh named
the first one Apatosaurus (‘deceptive lizard’) in
1877 and the second one Brontosaurus (‘thunder
lizard’) in 1879.
In 1903, palaeontologist Elmer Riggs declared
that
Brontosaurus
and
Apatosaurus
were
too similar for each to be considered a separate
genus. Because Apatosaurus was named first,
under the rules of scientific naming it supplanted
Brontosaurus.
But the name was so popular it survived its
burial, with ‘Brontosaurus’ and things like ‘Bronto
Burgers’ appearing in numerous books, cartoons,
movies and elsewhere.
Brontosaurus belonged to a group of dinosaurs
with long necks and tails and pillar-like legs
called sauropods that included Earth’s largest
land animals ever. This study, published in the
scientific journal ‘PeerJ’, focused on the anatomy
and relationships among a category of sauropods
called diplodocids, which includes Brontosaurus,
Apatosaurus, Diplodocus and
others.
“I
remember
finding out that
Brontosaurus
was
actually called Apatosaurus
as a child,” University of Oxford
palaeontologist Roger Benson said. “It
didn’t seem right, and I think a lot of people
will secretly be pleased that Bronto is back
again.” — Reuters
Q KABEER YOUSUF
L
eading singers, actresses and
dancers will perform during
the 10th anniversary of Rajesh
Master Dance Institute in MBD to be
held at the Qurum Amphitheatre on
May 1, 2015.
Actors like Sreya Saran, Sija Jose,
playback singers Ranjini Jose, Vidhu
Pratap, acclaimed violinist Manoj
George who is the only Roland brand
endorser, music director Ronny Raphel,
and dancers coached by Daksha Sheth
will be performing.
“It will be a star-studded show and a
platform for experiments in dance and
music for nearly two hours,” Rajesh’s
wife Ranjini said.
Started at a very young age when
his cousins from Bangalore performed,
Rajesh developed a passion towards
dance and music. Today, he invents and
reinvents himself and his style regularly
by studying newer styles and steps.
Ranjini is a classical dance trainer.
Rajesh
has
choreographed
for a number of movies like
‘Snehapoorvam Anna’, ‘Chirikkudukka’,
‘Annyar’,
‘SeethaKalyanam’,
‘Nakshathrakkannulla Rajakumaran’
(Assistant) bagged him many awards.
Started with just three students some
ten years ago, the ‘Strings’ and now ‘RDI’
(Rajesh Master’s Dance Institute) boasts
of having more than 250 disciples.
Rajesh Master and wife Ranjini,
along with their two kids conduct the
classes from morning till evening.
Their children Ryan and Rachana have
already performed on various stages
and TV shows.
A number of their students have
been conferred with various accolades
across the globe for their performances,
however, they feel that skill without
discipline will be of no use and they pay
more attention to qualities and values.
“Teaching discipline in whatever
style of dance or music you choose is
the most important and we aim to instil
professional discipline in whatever we
do. We aim at moulding a complete
dancer”, Rajesh said
Rajesh and Ranjini have also
attempted fusion of different styles.
THURSDAY | APRIL 9, 2015 | JUMADA AL THANIA 19, 1436 AH
P29
P30
P31
Inside
Who will enjoy the sun at Cannes? Omani students enthral at Arabesque event The volcano that changed the world FOLLOW US ON:
www.omanobserver.om
[email protected]
SYMPTOMS OF CCHF
IS NOT APPARENT IN
ANIMALS, UNLIKE
HUMANS. THIS IS
WHAT MAKES PEOPLE
SUSPICIOUS ABOUT
THEIR ANIMALS,
AS TO WEATHER
THEY ARE REALLY
INFECTED OR NOT.
THE ONLY SOLUTION
IS TO BRING THE
ANIMAL DOWN TO THE
SLAUGHTERHOUSE
TO MAKE SURE IT
IS CLEAR OF ANY
INFECTION
Save your life... check your food
Q ZAINAB AL NASSRI
he explained. He adviced everybody to
follow the safety instructions and make
sure that food comes from totally secure
sources, saying: “I also strongly advice
people to bring their animals to have
them examined before slaughtering.”
He concluded by saying that
“awareness is there. We have noticed an
increase in the number of people who
came forward to ask questions when
they see any kind of abnormal signs on
their domestic cattle. So either we do
partial destruction of the known organ
or complete destruction to prevent the
infection
from
reaching
humans”.
A
joint
agreement
reached
between
doctors, vets and
the general public
who
participated
in the food safety
week which concluded on Wednesday
in Al Bustan Palace Hotel, stated that
awareness level in the Omani society
regarding health issues has increased.
After the outbreak of many illnesses
lately, especially those transmitted
through animals in a number of
countries, people have become more
conscious about their food habits and
lifestyle. For example, the appearance
of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever
(CCHF) in the Sultanate, which caused
one death and six other infections,
according to latest data released by
the Ministry of Health, has awaken
consumers of the need to check their
food sources and make sure that it
comes from safe sources.
Dr Mohammed Galeb, a veterinary
at Mudhaibi Municipality in Sharqiyah
North, said that the main part of their
job is to protect the consumers from
eating non-valid meat. “There are many
diseases that are transferred from
animals to human beings like viral and
bacterial, which are the most dangerous
than other kinds because there is no cure
for them till now.”
Talking about diseases spread
through viruses, Congo for example,
he said: “The problem is that symptoms
of CCHF is not apparent in animals,
unlike humans. This is what makes
people suspicious about their animals,
as to weather they are really infected
or not. The only solution is to bring the
animal down to the slaughterhouse to
make sure it is clear of any infection.
Usually, infected animals have ticks
on them which only a veterinary or a
specialised person could detect. I have
come across two particular cases in
the slaughterhouse in Sharqiyah where
two local bullocks were affected. They
were later sent to the Directorate of
Agriculture to undergo the necessary
procedures.”
Usually, infected cases are restrained
and sprayed with pesticides to get rid
of ticks. After two or three weeks, if the
ticks were totally killed, the animals can
be slaughtered and consumed normally.
“Licensed cattle farms are being
inspected periodically by the Ministry
veterinaries. As far as the home-raised
cattle is concerned it’s their owner’s
responsibility to have them checked
before slaughtering. However, we call
upon people to take their animals to
the slaughterhouse to make sure they
are clean and there is no harm in eating
their meat,” he added.
He also indicated another disease
which is spread widely in
Oman which is rabies. “It is
transferred from animals
like dogs and foxes to
humans, either directly
or via an intermediate
host. It is another disease
whose symptoms are
not apparent. Usually an
animal diagnosed with
this disease shows signs
of spasms, lingual saliva,
open eyes and paralysed jaw,”
RISING YIELDS
Farmers dream of resurrecting Asia’s rice bowl
D
A farmer works at his paddy field on the outskirts of Yangon. — AFP
ressed in Chelsea football shorts
and a wide-brimmed hat, Than Tun
toils away in his paddy field on the
outskirts of Yangon, sweat pouring down his
sinewy arms.
Gruelling work that once helped
Myanmar become the world’s largest rice
exporter is today a Herculean and often
lonely job for farmers striving to return the
impoverished nation to its former grain
prowess.
“No one comes here and asks about the
difficulties we face,” the 40-year-old tells
during his break, citing voracious insects,
crumbling irrigation channels and greedy
middlemen as just some of the challenges
preventing him making a profit.
For much of the early 20th century
Myanmar was Asia’s rice bowl. Decades of
mismanagement shattered the agriculture
industry in a nation where 70 per cent of
inhabitants still live in the countryside.
Rotting stocks, creaking infrastructure,
heavily indebted farmers and minimal
foreign investment are among the hurdles it
faces.
Yet many economists believe helping
farmers like Than Tun offers Myanmar one
of the fastest ways to both alleviate poverty
and turn around the country’s fortunes.
“Improvements in agriculture are one of
the genuine ‘low hanging fruit’ of reforms
that could do much, remarkably quickly,”
said Sean Turnell, an expert on Myanmar’s
economy at Australia’s Macquarie University.
“This is not just theory — we can see
Vietnam as a wonderful example of what is
possible. A country that could barely feed
itself in the 1980s now dominates various
food and commodity categories,” he added.
Sergiy Zorya, a Bangkok-based expert on
rice production at the World Bank, agrees it
is high time Myanmar and the international
community did more to invest in rice
farmers.
“A significant increase in rice productivity
and yields over the next decade would offer
a major opportunity to drive GDP growth,
increase farming incomes, increase exports
and reduce poverty,” he said.
Rice is a good poverty alleviation tool,
he explains, because money actually filters
down to poor farmers rather than resting in
the hands of corporations or middlemen.
He points to Cambodia, which has heavily
invested in improving rice production and
exports. Over the past 10 years each one
percent increase in GDP has resulted in
reducing the country’s poverty rate by 5.2
per cent. — AFP