Arab summit slams terror, mulls steps to end crises

2
Nation
17
Omani Scouts
mark Renaissance
Day in Finland
TUESDAY
JULY 26 2016
Sultanate
ranked 5th
in Mena
peace index
WASHINGTON
THE SULTANATE CAME
fifth in the Middle East and
North Africa (Mena) region
level in the Global Peace Index (GPI 2016)..
As per the GPI 2016,
the Sultanate came 74th on
the world level with 2.016
points. Iceland topped the
list, followed by Denmark,
Austria, New Zealand and
Portugal. As many as 81
countries in the world
became more peaceful as
shown by their improving
peace indices. But this positive impact is nullified by
79 countries that became
less peaceful or were struck
by war, terrorism or conflict
in the last year.
Agencies
21 SHAWWAL 1437
Business
21
Mideast M&A
steady in Q2 despite
fall in deals
Founder & Chairman: Mohammed Bin Suleiman Al Taie
Leisure
28
Cougar’s killer
instincts could
save human lives
Editor-in-Chief: Abdul Hamied Bin Suleiman Al Taie
Asa’ad leads Sultanate’s delegation at 22-nation meet
DISORDERS IN THE
circulatory system proved
most fatal, accounting for
26.2 per cent of the 3,751
deaths that occurred in government hospitals in 2015,
according to Health Facts
2015 brought out by the
Ministry of Health (MOH).
In 2014, deaths were
lower at 3,690, of which
diseases of the circulatory
MUSCAT His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said has
sent a cable of condolences to the Custodian of the
Two Holy Mosques King Salman Bin Abdulaziz
Al Saud of Saudi Arabia on the death of Princess
Noura Bint Mesa’ed Bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud.
In his cable, His Majesty expressed his condolences and sympathy, praying to the Almighty to
rest the deceased’s soul in peace.
Ithraa team begins UK visit
MUSCAT Reaffirming Oman’s excellent trade
relationship with the United Kingdom (UK), the
Public Authority for Investment Promotion and
Export Development (Ithraa) commenced its
business visit in London on Monday to meet government officials and key business leaders. PAGE 2
Ports see rise in vessel calls
MUSCAT Constant expansion of capacity with
various ship sizes and handling variety of goods
and bolstering the port sector’s competitive capabilities is being accorded prime importance, acPAGE 3
cording to the Ministry of Transport.
ONA
Asa’ad Bin Tariq Al Said attends the Arab League Summit in Nouakchott on Monday.
to ‘health reasons’, an Arab
League source said.
Opening the talks,
Egypt’s Prime Minister
Sherif Ismail called in
the name of Sisi for “an
Arab strategy of struggle
against terrorism”.
“We must recast the
religious language that terrorist elements exploit to
their own ends to sow terror, death and destruction,”
he said.
Terrorists were deflecting Islam’s message of
peace, he added.
Mauritania’s head of state
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz,
who is hosting the summit,
also slammed the ‘blind vio-
lence of terrorists’ as well as
foreign interventions that
feed instability in the Arab
world.
The summit, originally
scheduled for two full days,
Please turn to Page 12
accident deaths fell to 616
from 650.
Morbidity rates (per
10,000 population) caused
by communicable diseases
fell to 130 from 138, as per
MOH hospital discharges.
Airborne infections followed by contaminated
food and water were the
major causes of such diseases.
On the other hand,
illnesses caused by noncommunicable diseases
remained static at 315. Of
these, conditions of the digestive system, circulatory
system, genitourinary system and blood were major
causes.
According to the report,
the prevalence of diabetes
fell to 9 per 10,000 population from 11. Anemia
accounted for 25 and ischemic heart disease for 13.
Total cases of outpatient morbidity increased
to 8,892,743 from
8,501,276 in 2014.
The morbidity rates (per
10,000) due to communicable diseases fell to 6,762
from 6,992 and air borne
infection and contamination through food, water
and hands were major
causes.
Rates of outpatient morbidity caused by non-communicable diseases went up
to 10,172 from 9,783 and
diseases of the
Please turn to Page 12
WEATHER
PRAYER TIMING
Fajr
Sunrise
Dhohr
Asar
Maghrib
I’sha
04:10
05:34
12:18
03:41
06:58
08:16
MUSCAT
MAX
33˚C
MIN
27˚C
SALALAH
MAX
25˚C
MIN
24˚C
Scandal rocks Democrats
PHILADELPHIA
system accounted for 30.2
per cent.
The other principal
causes of deaths in 2015
included infectious parasitic diseases (15.8 per
cent) and diseases of the
respiratory system (11.7
per cent).
In the brought dead and
accident and emergency
deaths category, there
were 3,169 in 2015,
lower than the 3,337 the
previous year. Road traffic
His Majesty condoles
with king of S. Arabia
MUSCAT His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said has
sent a cable of greetings to Maldivian President
Abdulla Yameen on the occasion of his country’s
National Day. In his cable, His Majesty expressed
his greetings and best wishes to Yameen and the
Maldivian people further progress and prosperity.
Circulatory disorders top killer
JETA PILLAI
MUSCAT
VOL 12 ISSUE 232 28 PAGES 200 BAISAS
HM greets Maldives president
NOUAKCHOTT
(Mauritania)
A 22-NATION ARAB
summit tackling the region’s crises, despite splits
over Iran and Turkey, was
cut back to a single day
Monday due to the absence
of the heavyweight leaders
of Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Representing His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said,
HH Sayyid Asa’ad Bin Tariq
Al Said, participated in the
summit.
Mauritanian President
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz
opened the summit, which
discussed Arab political, security, economic and social
issues in light of the current
complex situations facing
several Arab countries,
such as Iraq, Yemen, Syria
and Libya.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi stayed at
home because of ‘a busy domestic schedule’ while the
Custodian of the Two Holy
Mosques King Salman Bin
Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi
Arabia’s no-show was due
India floor
West Indies
in first Test
www.omantribune.com
Arab summit slams terror,
mulls steps to end crises
Sports
US DEMOCRATS SCRAmbled on Sunday to contain
damaging revelations of an
insider effort to hobble Bernie Sanders’s presidential
campaign, with the party
boss abruptly announcing
her resignation on the eve
of the convention to officially nominate Hillary
Clinton.
Debbie
Wasserman
Schultz said she would step
down at the end of the con-
vention, a move that aimed
to put an end to the scandal
threatening an uneasy truce
within the fractured party.
Thousands of Democratic delegates were converging on Philadelphia, the
‘City of Brotherly Love,’
to elevate Clinton as the
party’s nominee who will
battle Republican Donald
Trump in the November
election.
After a hard-fought primary campaign, the party
had been heading to the
Democratic National Convention seeming far more
unified than the Republicans, whose fissures were
laid bare last week as they
confirmed brash billionaire
Trump as their flag-bearer.
Now, the Democrats are
struggling with the fallout
from a scandal that threatened to mushroom into a
major crisis just as the party
was supposed to coalesce
around its nominee.
Agence France-Presse
SEE PAGE 12
Wakan turns hotspot for Muscat dwellers Syrian dies after
STAFF REPORTER
MUSCAT
WAKAN VILLAGE, TUCked away in the Ghubrah
Bowl near Nakhal, turned
out to be a hotspot for
Muscat dwellers during the
weekend. Scores of people
headed to Nakhal town and
from there to this quaint
little village to escape the
heat of the plains.
The area is a geological
marvel with Wakan village
sitting on the summit of a
hill in the middle of a valley surrounded by a whirl
of taller hills giving the appearance of a bowl, hence
the name Ghubrah Bowl.
The drive to Wadi Mistal
from Nakhal en route
Wakan is by road that
weaves through scenic villages and valleys.
The final stretch of the
drive is a narrow gravel track
Tourist captures geological marvel of Wakan village.
that is a real grind as vehicles
crawl up and down the gradients. The crunch of loose
stones shifting under the
tyres reminds travellers of
the blessings of a four-wheel
drive vehicle. Patience is the
byword for negotiating the
stretch as one has to give
way to traffic from the other
side on narrow reaches that
allow a single car to pass at
a time.
A paved trekking trail
through the village is the
best part of the experience.
The path winds its way
through quaint houses,
mostly converted and upgraded mud houses. The
path is so narrow at places
that to give way to a passerby, one may have to step
over some house’s doormat.
The agricultural terraces
in Wakan village are nearing
harvest and the farms are ripe
with grapes, apricots, figs
and pomegranates. The
ancient falaj system of narrow canals that irrigate the
farms looks inviting to kids
who might be tempted to dip
their feet in the cool stream.
Six-year-old Sandy was so
thrilled with the flowing
water that her parents had a
tough time taking her away
from it. “We never thought
such a beautiful place existed
here,” said Mary Thomas,
trying to drag and prevent
her daughter from dipping
her feet once again in the
running water. “We have
been living in Muscat for 12
years and never once came
to this place. We think this
beautiful place could do with
a little bit more of publicity.”
And the trek to the top
observation point should
take just about 45 minutes. The view from the
top is worth the effort as
the village at the bottom
of the ‘bowl’ looks distant
and tiny. The surrounding
valleys offer a breathtaking
view of greenery peppered
with flowers and fruits and
roamed by nifty goats that
skip around the slopes of
loose stones.
“It is still so pristine.
Even there are no coffee
shops around and since we
had heard about this we did
carry some light food items
and sufficient water,” Vinod
Kumar, who was also visiting the place for the first
time.
More pictures on Page 2
setting off bomb
at German fest
BERLIN (Germany)
A 27-YEAR-OLD SYRian man denied asylum in
Germany a year ago died
on Sunday when he set off
a bomb outside a crowded
music festival in Bavaria,
an official said, in the fourth
violent attack in the country
in less than a week.
Police said a dozen people
were wounded, including
three seriously, in the attack in Ansbach, a town of
40,000 people southwest of
Nuremberg that is also home
to a US Army base.
The dead man had been
in treatment after twice before trying to kill himself,
though Sunday’s explosion
was more than just ‘a pure
suicide attempt’, Bavarian
Interior Minister Joachim
Herrmann said. A radical
link could not be ruled out,
he said earlier.
“It’s terrible ... that someone who came into our
country to seek shelter has
now committed such a heinous act and injured a large
number of people who are at
home here, some seriously,”
Herrmann said.
“It’s a further, horrific
attack that will increase the
already growing security
concerns of our citizens.
We must do everything possible to prevent the spread of
such violence in our country
by people who came here to
ask for asylum.”
SEE PAGE 11
2
NATION
OMAN TRIBUNE
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
Ithraa team visits UK to woo
waste management firms
Delegation to meet top government officials, business leaders
MUSCAT
REAFFIRMING OMAN’S
excellent trade relationship
with the United Kingdom
(UK), the Public Authority
for Investment Promotion
and Export Development
(Ithraa), the Sultanate’s inward investment and export
development agency, commenced its business visit in
London on Monday to meet
senior government officials
and key business leaders.
Capitalising on its strategic location, infrastructure,
regional ties and talent,
Oman is looking to lure
British waste management
and logistics companies to
set up offices in the Sultanate, helping them reach out
to the fast growing economies of the GCC, Iran and
East Africa.
The Sultanate’s political and economic stability
gives UK investors great
confidence. The strength
and warmth of the bilateral
relationship and the long
trading history also add
to the attraction. The Sultanate’s infrastructure and
development as a global logistics hub through ports,
air, rail and road construction and expansion coupled
with a choice of world-class
free trade zones, industrial
estates and tech parks offer a good mix for UK waste
management and logistics
companies.
Alya Bint Salim Al Hosniyah, Ithraa’s Director
of Industrial Investment,
said: “The UK trade visit
gives us an ideal opportunity to showcase the wideranging logistics and waste
management opportunities
on offer in Oman, as well
as building on the success
Visitors from various nations attended the celebration in Hameenlinna.
Renaissance Day marked
by Scouts in Finland
HELSINKI
The Sultanate’s political and economic stability gives British investors great confidence.
of the longstanding Oman
– UK trade relationship.
It also provides us the opportunity to meet the next
generation of UK companies looking to do business
in the Gulf and Asia. We
genuinely believe there is
no better place in the GCC
to establish a business than
in Oman. This is the message the team will be wanting to put across during our
visit”.
The Sultanate has been
successful in attracting
multinational investors in
industries, such as plastics,
aluminum and steel, methanol and fertilisers. It is now
diversifying into non-oil
industries that include logistics, tourism, fisheries,
food processing, minerals,
manufacturing and waste
management.
To date, the UK is the
Sultanate’s largest source
of foreign direct investment with over $7 billion
of investment, and one of
the Sultanate’s top trading partners with exports
of UK goods to Oman
doubling between 2007
and 2014.
“UK companies should
look at Oman as a strategic
location using it as a hub
for trade with the GCC,
Iran and East Africa, benefiting from the Sultanate’s
political and economic stability, infrastructure, multilingual workforce and
friendly and flexible laws,
which welcome foreign
investment,” remarked
Ithraa’s Director of Industrial Investment.
UK Trade & Investment based at the British
Embassy Muscat helped
over 750 UK companies
to do business in Oman in
2015, providing in-country expertise and business
guides, sign posting to
relevant local partners,
facilitating meetings, arranging visit programmes
and providing networking
opportunities.
“Trade promotion services form a central part of
what Ithraa does and we
are particularly proud of
our track-record of helping UK companies set-
up and export from the
Sultanate. We also offer
a range of inward investment services, advice and
market intelligence that
give UK clients interested
in setting up in Oman the
edge they need to compete in the Gulf’s highly
lucrative market. And we
understand that foreign
investment is a key driver of jobs and growth for
the Omani economy and
that is why the UK visit is
so important to us,” explained Al Hosniyah.
Founded in 1997, Ithraa
is a government-run, ISO
and Investor in people
certified inward investment and export promotion
agency. Ithraa provides a
range of support services
and information to help
domestic and international
investors set up in, and export from Oman.
THE DIRECTORATE
General of Heritage and
Culture in the Governorate of Dhofar organised
a poetry evening at the
Ubar Theatre to mark the
Blessed Renaissance Day
under the patronage of HE
Sheikh Khalid Bin Omar Al
Marhoon, Minister of Civil
Service.
Poets from across the
Sultanate, as well as from
the GCC countries took
part in the event, which
leges of Applied Sciences
in the camp, said that this
participation comes within
the framework of cultural
and civilised communication of the Sultanate’s
scouts with the world.
He added that it was a
real opportunity to promote the Sultanate and to
extend the hand of friendship and cooperation with
the scouts of the world, as
well as to introduce them
to the tourist and historic
potentials that abound in
the Sultanate.
Oman News Agency
PASTORAL CHARM
Oman News Agency
Poets celebrate
Renaissance Day
at Dhofar event
SALALAH
THE SCOUTS AND
Guides of Oman, who are
taking part in the World
Scout Jamboree in the
Finnish city of Hameenlinna from July 20 to 28,
celebrated the Blessed
Renaissance Day.
A large number of visitors from various countries
flocked to the headquarters
of the delegation to take
part in the festivities.
They were briefed on
the history and culture of
the Sultanate, its devel-
opmental and economic
achievements and natural
potentials. They also came
to experience the Omani
Scouts achievements and
saw pictures of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin
Said, the Sultanate’s Grand
Scout in the official attire.
The visitors expressed
admiration for the Sultanate, its people and its history, and congratulated
the scouts on all great
achievements made under
the Blessed Renaissance.
Ali Al Hajri, Commander
of the scouts of the Col-
was held on Sunday.
Ahmed Bin Salim Al
Hajri, Director General
of Heritage and Culture in
Dhofar, said, “The Sultanate celebrates the Glorious
July 23rd whose blessed
march has been led by His
Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin
Said. The celebration of
this occasion comes amidst
great achievements at all
levels. The Renaissance has
achieved what all Omanis
aspire for in the present and
future during the forty-six
years of the Renaissance.”
The evening was attended
by HE Dr Rasheed Bin Al
Safi Al Hraibi, Chairman
of the Tender Board, some
members of the State Council and Majlis A’Shura, officials and local residents.
Oman News Agency
Balmy weather, stunning countryside and lush green orchards welcome droves of
visitors to Wakan village in the Governorate of South Al Batinah.
NATION
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
3
OMAN TRIBUNE
PDO comes out with ‘Tell a Friend’
road safety campaign in Salalah
jured on the Sultanate’s
roads, and too many are
endangering themselves
and others by driving too
quickly, without seatbelts
or using their mobile
phones at the wheel.”
There is the need to do
all one can to keep the importance of safe driving in
the public spotlight, she
said, adding that the response so far has been
positive.
The five-year `Tell A
Friend’ campaign was
officially launched by
PDO in Muscat in January 2013 with the aim
of lowering the number
of road accidents across
various Governorates in
the Sultanate.
It targets important
areas of road safety such
as responsible driving,
speed management, vehicle maintenance and
proper seat belt usage.
STAFF REPORTER
SALALAH
Salalah port received 1,362 ships between January and May.
Ports see rise
in vessel calls
STAFF REPORTER
MUSCAT
CONSTANT EXPANSION
of capacity with various ship
sizes and handling variety
of goods and bolstering the
port sector’s competitive
capabilities is being accorded prime importance,
according to the Ministry of
Transport.
The strategy is paying off
as statistics available till the
end of the first half of the year
points to growth across the
various ports, according to
the Ministry of Transport.
It is also looking at expanding the cargo transporting
network by rail and initial
designs have been finalised.
All these will contribute to
better revenue and efficient
use of resources.
The strategic location of
the Sultanate and its proximity to the Arabian Sea, Indian
Ocean and the international
navigation routes makes the
includes designing the
northern water breakers,
services and tourism wharfs,
designing the expansion of
the southern water breaker,
dredging and reclamation
works as well awarding the
consultancy tender related
to the rehabilitation of the
old general cargo station.
As for Sohar port, all the
indicators point to growth in
ship calls and containers and
general cargo handling. Till
May, the port received 975
ships compared to 954 last
year. There was a 21 per
cent growth in the number
of containers handled during
the first half of the year and
general cargo received grew
by 68 per cent.
Port of Duqm crossed a
few important milestones
in the first half.
In February, a first
50,000-million tonne dolomite shipment was made
through the port’s commercial quay.
port sector play a leading role
in transport and commercial
exchange at the global level,
a ministry statement said.
The ministry looks to develop and manage the ports
to enhance and bolster
their role for the economic
development flow for the
fulfilment of Vision 2020.
The three main ports are
Salalah, Sohar and Duqm.
The Salalah port received
1,362 ships between January and May compared to
801 during the same period
in 2015, registering a 70 per
cent growth.
There was 26.7 per cent
growth in the handling of
containers which reached
1.3 million TEUs against
1.02 million last year. General cargo handled grew at
12 per cent to reach 5,933
tonnes. Plans are afoot to
expand the capacity from 5
million TEUs to more than
7 million through the third
phase of expansion which
SULTANATE OF OMAN
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
PETROLEUM DEVELOPment Oman’s (PDO) road
safety campaign, `Tell A
Friend’ is on at the Salalah tourism festival, as
part of the ongoing drive
to educate people across
the Sultanate on the importance of safe driving.
PDO is partnering with
the Ministry of Tourism
and Royal Oman Police
to run a stand for 11 days
till August 2 at various
locations around Salalah
during the day and at the
Salalah Gardens mall from
5pm to 9pm, according to
a statement.
Visitors will be offered
a free tyre check. Campaign volunteers will
also distribute free child
car seats and other gifts.
There will also be live
discussions with visitors,
Campaign volunteers will distribute child car seats for free and other gifts.
addressing their queries
and offering information
relating to safe driving.
Campaign co-ordinator
Munira Al Balushi said:
The Internal Tenders Committee at the Ministry of Manpower announces
the following tender:
Ministry of Civil Service is taking part in the event.
Civil service
manual in focus
at Saudi forum
RIYADH
SUBJECT
TENDER
NUMBER
LAST
DATE FOR
INQUIRIES
LAST DATE
TO OBTAIN
TENDER
TENDER
DOCUMENT
PRICE PER COPY
SUPPLY OF WORKSHOP TOOLS FOR
ADAM AIR FORCE BASE PROJECT
35/2016
09/08/2016
16/08/2016
114 rials
SUPPLY OF AIRCRAFT SUPPORT
EQUIPMENT FOR ADAM AIR FORCE
BASE PROJECT
36/2016
09/08/2016
16/08/2016
73 rials
Tender documents and terms may be obtained on payment from the office of the Secretary of the Tender Committee, gate No. 14 of MAM Camp between 0900 to 1300 hrs
on the working days.
Payment of Tender documents to be made by using of any Visa Electron Cards or “Visa
credit” Cards.
THE MINISTRY OF CIVIL
Service is representing the
Sultanate at the sixth meeting of the GCC Technical
Committee for Civil Service and Human Resources
Affairs, which commenced
its deliberations at the
GCC Secretariat General
in Riyadh on Monday.
The Sultanate’s delegation to the two-day meeting
is led by Khalfan Bin Nasser
Al Wahibi, Director General of Administrative Follow Up and Audit.
The meeting will dis-
cuss several items listed
on the agenda that include
a follow up report by specialists at the civil service
institutions and public
administration institutes
to prepare a manual on the
concepts and administrative terms.
The agenda also includes discussing challenges facing the GCC
civil service organisations
and the efforts made to
combat them.
The meeting approved
a proposal made by the
Diwan of Civil Service in
the Kingdom of Bahrain
on standardising the purchase of transactions for
human resources licenses
and systems at the GCC
states. Further, it also approved a proposal submitted by the Ministry of Civil
Service in the Sultanate
about honouring some outperforming administrative
competencies.
The meeting also discussed the circular prepared by the GCC Secretariat General on delegating
the Technical Committee
with the task of preparing
a standard GCC model for
quality and follow up of
the expertise secondment
programme among the
GCC states.
Oman News Agency
55K720UW
spread the message about
safe driving and engage
with motorists.
“Too many people are
still being killed and in-
TENDER
TENDER ANNOUNCEMENT
The Ministry of Defence invites MOD registered suppliers to participate in the
following tender:
“This is the third time
we have appeared at the
Salalah Khareef Festival,
an event which provides
us with a great platform to
Tender
no.
Tender name
Establishments
competent to
participate and
registered with
the tender
board
12/2016
Maintenance
works at labour
department in
Khaborah
2nd grade
Deadline
for
e-purchase
Deadline
for
submitting
bids
Copy
price
Tuesday
Sunday
16/8/2016 28/8/2016 RO 100
1.00pm
10.00am
Specialised companies can obtain tender documents through the following link: https://etendering.tenderboard.gov.om from Tuesday 26/7/2016,
8.00am.
Submit the bid online along with a copy of the bank guarantee. Submit
the original of the bank guranatee at the secretariat of internal tenders
committee in the ministry’s building (at Murtafa’at Al Matar) before the
deadline set above.
The envelopes will be opened at 11am of the abovementioned date.
The ministry is not obliged to accept the tenders with the least prices or any
other tenders.
#Announcement_of_Manpower
SULTANATE OF OMAN
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
TENDER ANNOUNCEMENT
The Ministry of Defence invites MOD registered suppliers to participate in the
following tender:
SUBJECT
TENDER
NUMBER
LAST
DATE FOR
INQUIRIES
LAST DATE
TO OBTAIN
TENDER
TENDER
DOCUMENT
PRICE PER COPY
SUPPLY AND INSTALLATION OF DIGITAL
RADIOGRAPHY SYSTEM FOR MC
AYDAM
32/2016
09/08/2016
16/08/2016
35 rials
SUPPLY & INSTALLATION OF MEDICAL
EQUIPMENT OF DIGITAL RADIOGRAPHY
MOBILE UNIT FOR AFH
33/2016
09/08/2016
16/08/2016
40 rials
Tender documents and terms may be obtained on payment from the office of the Secretary of the Tender Committee, gate No. 14 of MAM Camp between 0900 to 1300 hrs
on the working days.
Payment of Tender documents to be made by using of any Visa Electron Cards or “Visa
credit” Cards.
4
NATION
OMAN TRIBUNE
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
Meethaq opens state-of-the-art Omantel to provide telecom
branch in Muttrah Corniche solutions at My City Centre Sur
MUSCAT
MUSCAT
WIDENING ITS NETwork across the Sultanate, Meethaq opened a
state-of-the-art branch in
Muttrah Corniche. The
formal inauguration of the
14th branch was attended
by dignitaries and senior
bank officials, according
to a press release.
Sulaiman Al Harthy,
Deputy Chief Executive Officer –– Islamic Banking, said:
“Meethaq is proud to open
the new branch in Corniche
as part of its focus to expand
branch operations across the
Sultanate and thereby offer
world-class Islamic banking
experience to customers. The
banking sector in Oman is
witnessing the consolidation of Islamic banking and
the state-of-the-art branch
network reflects Meethaq’s
focus to redefine Islamic
banking operations in Oman.
The new branch is designed
to create a unique ambience
and banking environment in
line with the Meethaq brand
values of true Partnership,
Transparency and Trust.
Meethaq plans to expand
the branch network as well
as launch new products and
services to complement the
unique Islamic banking experience.”
OMANTEL HAS JOINED
hands with Majid Al Futtaim, Mena’s leading shopping mall, retail and leisure
pioneer to provide innovative telecom solutions for
the new My City Centre
Sur in the Al Sharqiyah
Governorate, which is due
to open in 2017, according
to a press release.
Under the terms of the
agreement, Omantel will
deliver a comprehensive
suite of fixed and mobile
services to the new Centre,
including mall-wide Wi-Fi
connectivity, improving the
visitor experience with the
easy availability of information and e-services, in addition to supporting local
businesses to enhance their
operations and customer
service.
Commenting on the
agreement, Todd Dick,
the Vice-President of
Corporate Business Unit
at Omantel said: “We are
very pleased to join hands
with My City Centre Sur
to provide a suite of services that will enhance operational efficiency in the
mall and in doing so serve
to strengthen the growing
retail and tourism sectors
in Sur. As the nation’s first
Bank officials at the opening of the Meethaq branch.
Meethaq strives to fulfil
the needs of customers with
innovative Sharia based
products and the extension
of the branch network is yet
another proof of its commitment and dedication to
meet customer expectations for Islamic banking.
Meethaq is the leading
Islamic financial services
provider in the Sultanate with many achievements contributing to the
growth and development
of the Sultanate’s economy.
Meethaq extends support
to all key economic sectors with innovative Sharia based products and is
well-positioned to provide
Islamic financial expertise
and thereby promote the
good of society as a whole.
Meethaq is focussed on
developing as a benchmark
Islamic financial institution
in Oman and the region.
Within just three years of
operations, Meethaq has
attained the leading position in the Islamic banking
industry in Oman in terms
of financing receivables,
branch network, products
and services, IT infrastructure and human resources
development. Meethaq not
only provides Islamic financial solutions to support
the country’s development
but also plays a key role in
raising awareness and educating people on important
aspects of Islamic banking.
Meethaq offers a full suite
of Islamic banking products
and services, including savings account, current account, home finance, auto
finance, credit card, mobile
banking and internet banking. The bank has invested in
staff, systems and controls to
ensure the service is delivered
in a professional, and fully
Sharia compliant manner.
Meethaq has adopted the
best practices in Islamic
banking and finance worldwide to combine a robust
model which protects customers and complements
the Islamic banking industry, the press release said.
Oman Tribune
Kim McInnes
Todd Dick
provider of telecommunications solutions, it is our
commitment to ensure all
services, including those
within the rapidly growing
tourism sector, can operate
at the highest standards so
we can ensure our swift
and persistent progress
together as a nation. It is
important to have the best
possible platform available
to enhance tourism operational efficiency and the
visitor experience as Oman
moves onto the world stage
as an emerging tourism
destination. At Omantel
we are pleased to do our
part in ensuring the vitality of Oman’s diversified
economy moving forward.”
“The Al Sharqiyah region including the city of
Sur is a fast-growing area
of interest for domestic and
international tourists alike.
It is important to have the
best possible supporting
infrastructure and technology in place to ensure
more visitors continue to
come to this beautiful part
of the Sultanate. At Omantel we are pleased to do our
part to support the rapidly
growing tourism and retail
sector, thus ensuring the
vitality of Oman’s diversified economy in the years
ahead.” added Todd Dick.
“At Omantel, we pride
ourselves on providing the
highest quality service and
innovative solutions for our
trusted partners. The fact
that Omantel is the chosen
partner for entities such as
Majid Al Futtaim underscores the confidence and
trust placed in the company by the market. We have
worked hard to establish
that trust and look forward
to continuing to provide exceptional service to the most
prominent brands and entities in the country,” added
Todd Dick.
Highlighting the wide
ranging agreement with
Omantel, Kim McInnes,
CEO of Shopping Malls at
Majid Al Futtaim – Properties, said: “Partnering
with Omantel to deliver a
comprehensive network of
fixed and mobile services at
My City Centre Sur highlights our commitment to
integratestate of the art
technology in our malls
to enhance the overall
shopping experience. At
Majid Al Futtaim we continuously seek to adopt
innovative solutions and
engage in astute partnerships to provide our retail
partners and mall visitors
with convenient and accessible services in line
with our founder’s vision
to create great moments
for everyone, everyday”
Investing in the future
of the nation, Omantel
connects even the most
remote communities of
the Sultanate to each other
and the rest of the world,
the press release said.
Oman Tribune
A’Saffa Foods’ eatery
big hit at Khareef fest
Alizz Islamic Bank holds Bushra draw
SALALAH
ALIZZ ISLAMIC BANK
recently held its Bushra
Savings Account quarterly cash prize draw during a gala event at Salalah
Gardens Mall, held under
the auspices of HE Shaikh
Salim Bin Aufit Al Shanfari, Chairman of Dhofar
Municipality, according
to a press release.
The draw for 50,000
rials was conducted by Al
Shanfari and a number of
Alizz Islamic Bank senior
management members.
Being the first Shariacompliant account of its kind
in the Sultanate, ‘Bushra’ is
approved by the Sharia Supervisory Board. The bank
offers a monthly 25,000-rial
prize to one winner and three
weekly 3,000-rial prizes to
three winners.
Launched to provide
customers with excellent
and innovative products
that are in line with the
Sharia principles, Bushra
Savings Account gives beneficiaries a chance to enter
weekly, monthly, quarterly
A’SAFFA FOODS IS OFfering its signature value
snacks to visitors at the Khareef festival in Salalah at the
Salalah Festival ground. The
brand has gained immense
popularity for its delicious
and appetising menu options
that comprise A’Saffa Zingle
Fillet sandwich, ‘Khayrat’
Beef Sheekh Kebab sandwich and ‘Khayrat’ Chapli
beef kebab sandwiches, to
name a few, that are available
at A’Saffa Foods’ restaurant
outlet at the festival, according to a press release.
A popular eating option,
the restaurant offers customers tasty, healthy and 100
per cent pure halal A’Saffa
snacks at great prices.
The restaurant’s fantastic offers have led to scores
of customers and tourists
lining up to buy A’Saffa’s
great value sandwiches over
the years, with the eatery
rapidly becoming one of
the most popular hangouts
at the festival grounds.
In addition to the restaurant, A’Saffa chicken is also
always sought after during the
Salalah Khareef Festival at it’s
traditional chicken barbeque
stand in “Iteen, Salalah” that
A’Saffa Foods’ popular restaurant at Khareef Festival venue in Salalah.
cook their chickens on hot
stones known as “Madbi”
using A’Saffa chicken.
Sidhartha Lenka, A’Saffa
Foods, Sales & Marketing Head, said: “We are
pleased be setting up our
special Khareef restaurant facility in Salalah year
on year, as it enables us to
reward our loyal customers and visitors from different places with great
tasty, great value snacks.
As an Omani company
with its main operations
in the Dhofar governorate
we are always keen to support the Khareef Festival
which is the region’s most
important and highly anticipated event each year.
All our customers can buy
with confidence at our restaurant knowing that our
chicken and beef products
are real halal and offer a
great tasting meal for them
and their families.”
A’Saffa Foods is also
leveraging their presence
at the festival to promote
their other products –
such as fresh fruit pulps,
as well as products under
the brand’s ‘Khayrat’ and
‘Taybat’ brands.
A’Saffa chickens are
raised at the company’s
largest fully integrated
poultry farms in Thumrait, and its processed food
state-of-the-art plant is located in Muscat, the press
release said.
Oman Tribune
MUSCAT
Sheikh Salim Bin Aufit Al Shanfari, Chairman of Dhofar Municipality, inaugurates the function.
and yearly cash prize draws.
The account is based
on the Sharia principle of
‘Mudaraba’ whereby the
bank invests customer savings in Sharia-compliant
financing in order to generate the best possible returns
and profits. The customer
acts as a capital provider
while the bank plays the
role of ‘Mudarib’ or entrepreneur. All customer funds
along with the bank’s own
capital will be pooled and
invested in Sharia-compliant modes of investment
and the resulting profit is
shared between the bank
and customers according
to predetermined ratios.
The weekly, monthly and
quarterly draw on ‘Bushra’
prizes took place simultaneously at the marketing
campaign titled ‘Majlis
Alizz’ conducted recently
by Alizz Islamic Bank at
Salalah Gardens Mall.
The two-day campaign
was held on July 20 and
21 from 10am to 1pm and
from 4pm to 9pm. During
the campaign, visitors to
the mall were introduced to
a number Sharia-compliant
services and products offered by Alizz Islamic Bank.
Various activities and con-
tests were also organised
with giveaways and prizes
handed out to the public.
Commenting on the marketing campaign and ‘Bushra’ draws, Moosa Al Jadidi,
Deputy General Manager
and Head of Retail Banking,
Alizz Islamic Bank, said: “We
are always keen to introduce
innovative products as part
of our efforts to get closer to
our customers,satisfy their
different needs and answer
their questions.”
“More importantly, we
constantly strive to provide
simple, fast and comfortable
services as well as transparent and trustworthy transactions using state-of-the-art
banking technology. This is
what customers search for in
any bank.”
‘Bushra’ is the first
Sharia-based account in
the country. It reflects the
bank’s keenness to offer
carefully selected products
that meet the needs of the
customers. The bank has
so far delivered over 24
Sharia-based products,
the press release said.
Oman Tribune
OLX Oman offers tips to trade safely
MUSCAT
OLX OMAN IS A PLATform that facilitates and
encourages fair trade in
Oman. People have the
right to trade freely, if they
wish to sell something that
they purchased because
they can no longer use it, it
is a choice. OLX has always
looked after its users’ safety
to ensure a safe and hassle
free buy and sell process,
therefore this article covers
tips and advises from OLX
to buy and sell safely, according to a press release.
“We care about our users and send them regular
reminders and communication to educate them on
how to deal with any kind of
suspicious activity. This advice is also available on our
website& other platforms.
We have a 24/7 customer
support team who are always monitoring all sorts
of listings, we are strict in
this regard and always aim
to protect our users; if we
detect any illegal activity we
are quick to delete the listing
and warn the user.” said Abdallah Touqan, Director PR,
Communications and Events
at OLX Arabia – Middle East
and North Africa.
Below are OLX’s tips
and advices on how to safe-
ly use OLX to buy and sell:
Make sure to inform
the buyer of any defects in
the item you are selling.
Use only simple payment
methods that you trust and
are familiar with, especially
cash payments. In any case,
do not send copies of your
documents, personal data
and most importantly financial information. Don’t
deal with buyers who keep
on constantly changing the
meeting place or calling from
different mobile numbers.
If you see the buyer
waiting for you in their car
and they want to check the
item, ask them kindly to
get out of the car to check
it outside; it is always better
in a public place you have
both chosen.
Always meet the seller at a
safe location such as public
transportation spots, shopping malls or any famous
meeting point. Don’t forget to inspect the item before purchasing. Following
this one rule will help you
avoid most scams. This also
applies for house rentals.
Trust your guts and
watch out for unrealistic
offers. If it appears too
good to be true, it probably is. Avoid items that
have suspiciously lower
prices than what is offered
in the market.
Don’t deal with buyers
who insist on asking for
your personal information
such as your full name, age,
bank account etc.
Never send an advance
partial or full payment, or
use a debit card to pay someone you do not know before
collecting your item.
Remember, it is recommended to purchase items
directly from the seller.
Never reveal your login
and password of your account. Think of a difficult
password, consisting of
minimum six characters,
including at least one
digit. For safety reasons
we do not recommend
storing the password in
the browser. If you feel
that someone knows your
password - change it to a
new one.
Be careful if the price of
the product is clearly undervalued. Pay special attention if the seller avoids
personal collection of the
product with respect to
your request on the site
or send COD. Be careful
when you are entering into
a transaction with the user
whose account was found
recently on the OLX site or
when it is written in a way
that seems like a template
or automatically translated.
Please contact OLX,
at Legal Issues if you suspect someone to be acting
fraudulently on OLX.
“We also encourage our
users to help us by reporting any suspicious listings
if they come across any of
them, by clicking on the
very obvious flag shaped
button that appears on the
bottom right on all our listings. However, OLX’s participation in the buying and
selling process ends once
the transaction takes place
and therefore we have no
involvement in any activity which takes place outside the platform.” Touqan
said, according to the press
release.
Oman Tribune
INTERNATIONAL
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
OMAN TRIBUNE
5
Africa’s democratic progress hobbled by rampant vote rigging
PARIS
IN AFRICA, MILITARY
coups and election violence
are becoming rarer but poll
rigging and manipulation
remain rife, hobbling the
continent’s democratic
progress, experts say.
“We have this paradox
where the number of elections is increasing but their
quality is decreasing,” said
Nic Cheeseman, an associate
professor of African studies
at Oxford University.
“Leaders are becoming more and more aware
of how they can rig elections, and they are better
and smarter at doing it,”
said the founder of journal
“African Affairs” and author
of “Democracy in Africa”.
Around 20 presidential
elections have been held
across the continent since
2015, with questions
hanging over half of them.
In contrast with the
bloody post-election crises in Kenya (2007) and
Ivory Coast (2010) in
which thousands died,
“there have been some advances as there has been
no election violence, even
though results have been
contested,” said Malian
general Siaka Sangare, an
electoral expert with the International Organisation of
La Francophonie.
“But there are big challenges” still, he admitted.
Clashes left 17 dead in
Congo Brazzaville after
the disputed reelection of
veteran leader Denis Sassou Nguesso in April, and
Burundi has been mired in
violence since President
Pierre Nkurunziza won a
controversial third term
last July.
Burkina Faso has also
lived through a period of
major instability, with a
coup overthrowing longtime strongman Blaise
Compaore in October
2014. Its transition government managed to survive
another putsch before Roch
Marc Christian Kabore was
finally elected president.
Nonetheless, Africa’s
most populous country, Nigeria, managed a
smooth electoral handover
of power as did neighbouring Benin, where the loser
immediately congratulated
newly elected leader, Patrice Talon.
In terms of democratic
progress, “we need to
move away from thinking
about Africa to thinking
about maybe two or three
Mugabe invites war veterans’ wrath
HARARE
ZIMBABWE’S WAR VETerans’ surprise attack on
President Robert Mugabe
signals the “beginning of
the end” for the long-time
leader, already buckling
under pressure from a restive population angry over
worsening economic woes.
In a rare public rebuke
to the world’s oldest president, war veterans decried
Mugabe’s
“dictatorial
tendencies” and vowed to
withdrawal their support
if he seeks re-election in
2018.
“This is the beginning of
the end for Mugabe,” said
Takavafira Zhou, a political scientist from Masvingo
State University.
“The war veterans have
realised Mugabe is sinking
and with him his government. They don’t want to
sink with the ship,” said
Zhou.
For decades, the war
veterans who fought in the
1972-1979 war of independence have propped
up Mugabe as the “heart and
soul” and “foot soldiers” of
the ruling Zanu-PF party,
said analyst Charles Laurie
of London-based risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft.
But during a meeting
last week, the war veterans said their relationship
with Mugabe, 92, was seri-
File photo
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe addresses the Zanu-PF party’s top decision
making body, the Politburo, in Harare.
ously damaged. “The relationship between us as war
veterans and the president
has broken down. He and
the party do not like us
anymore,” the war veterans’ political commissar
Francis Nhando said.
The ruling party this
week launched a project to
reward party loyalists with
housing plots, but excluded
war veterans who over the
years were given first priority in party and government
projects.
“We very angry with
what the president is doing,” Beta Guvheya, a war
veteran, said.
“There is no money in
this country not because
the country is poor... but
we don’t have a manager,”
said Guvheya.
“That is the reason we
are saying Mugabe must
go. Mugabe is not going
to win an election. No one
is interested in Mugabe’s
government now.”
Former war veterans
leader Jabulani Sibanda
said: “We have reached
rock bottom. People are
angry.”
Sibanda who was expelled
from Zanu-PF party for
warning over the excessive
influence of Mugabe’s wife
Grace, said the country’s
leadership “has lost touch
with reality”.
“By withdrawing support
for Mugabe, the war veterans have dealt a serious blow
to the embattled dictator,”
said Laurie, adding that
their “proclamation seems
to mark a decisive break
with Zanu-PF”.
Editor of the privatelyowned Zimbabwe Independent Dumisani Muleya said
the country was in unchartered territory.
“The war veterans’ historic stand against Mugabe
could be Zimbabwe’s political decisive moment. It
One in six people in HK
support independence
Nigeria pastor
arrested for
chaining son
LAGOS
HONG KONG
ABOUT ONE IN SIX
people in Hong Kong want
the special administrative
region of China to become
independent of the mainland, a university poll has
shown, although few think
it will ever happen.
According to the poll,
released late on Sunday,
17.4 per cent somewhat
supported or strongly
supported independence
for Hong Kong when its
50-year “one country, two
systems” agreement, under
which it is governed by Beijing, expires in 2047.
Another 22.9 per cent
were ambivalent, according to the poll, which was
conducted by The Chinese
University of Hong Kong’s
Centre for Communication
and Public Opinion Survey. Another 57.6 per cent
were somewhat or strongly
against the idea.
Hong Kong, a former
British colony, was handed
According to the
poll, 17.4pc
supported
independence
for Hong Kong
back to China in 1997 under an agreement that gave
ultimate control to Beijing
but promised Hong Kong
greater freedoms and separate laws for at least 50 years.
Tensions have grown
over the past two years,
with activists saying China is
failing to abide by its agreement while Beijing says the
activists are operating outside the law. The two sides
have clashed over monthslong pro-democracy street
demonstrations, flash riots
and government appointments viewed by some as
controversial.
A small but vocal minority of activists has also called
for outright independence
from China and has fielded
candidates for the election
to Hong Kong’s lawmaking
body in September.
City officials sparked a
row by saying candidates
who failed to sign a declaration that Hong Kong is an
“inalienable” part of China
and who promoted or advocated independence could
be deemed ineligible.
A NIGERIAN PASTOR
has been arrested after
chaining his nine-year-old
son in a room for several
weeks with a padlock and
denying him food, police
said Monday.
“We acted on a tip-off
that a boy had been locked
up in a room near a church
at Atan in Ogun state. We
forced the door open and
rescued him,” state police
spokesman Muyiwa Adejobi said.
He said the boy was
found chained to the
ground with a padlock in a
room on Friday.
He said the pastor, 40,
told investigators that he
locked up his son to perform a ritual intended to
stop him stealing.
Reuters
Agence France-Presse
Sea swallowing up Liberia slum
MONROVIA
THE FISHERMEN, HUSTLERS
and market traders of West Point have
survived two civil wars and an Ebola
epidemic, but this resilient Liberian
slum cannot hold back the ocean that
is slowly swallowing it.
The country’s biggest township is
being swallowed by the sea, tearing
the heart out of one of the capital’s
liveliest neighbourhoods and leaving
the government struggling to rehouse
thousands of displaced residents.
“Sometimes at 2am when you’re
sleeping the waves will go straight on
top of the house. Before you come to,
everybody is confused; you’re soaked
with water,” said Cecelia Nimley, 56, a
lifelong resident of West Point.
“The swell will just wipe away
things. I sent my grandchildren to
some friends and the big ones are on
their own,” she said, describing losing
her house and all her possessions to the
waves. The shacks are stacked together
any which way, built from a variety of
reclaimed materials.
Sitting on a peninsula, jutting into
the Atlantic Ocean, the slum is being
hit by rising seas – a consequence of
global warming – and coastal erosion,
say local officials.
West Point’s residents have long
battled poverty and drug addiction is
rife in the area. The community was
torn apart when the Ebola virus struck.
But the encroaching sea water is adding to the struggle to meet basic needs.
“When it comes, the water in the
wells gets salty, and we can no longer
use it for drinking or cooking,” said
Amie Myers, 33, a mother of six children.
Some 90,000 people live in West
Point, which covers just four square
km – a fraction bigger than New York’s
Central Park – and this area is shrinking by the day.
Some of the displaced have been liv-
ing in markets, on the roadside or in
the living rooms of friends for upwards
of a year.
Fishing has traditionally been the
main commercial activity in West
Point, but many are now having to
abandon their life on the sea.
Fisherman Amos Doe, 45, stood
by what remains of his house, now
smashed into two by the Atlantic.
“It makes me feel sad because you
know as a family man, living beside the
water, there is no guaranteed place that
will make you say ‘I got hope for my
lifetime’,” Doe said glumly.
The authorities said at least 4,000
people were made homeless in April
alone, and are allocating temporary
shelters to families further inland.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf visited the stricken community in May,
which was hit less than two years ago by
Ebola spreading like wildfire in a place
where everyone lives cheek-by-jowl.
Agence France-Presse
might be a turning point
of epoch-making proportions,” Muleya said.
Muleya warned that if the
war veterans joined forces
with the national resistance
movement driven by civic
groups, churches and opposition parties, Mugabe
“could soon face his Waterloo”.
The country has in recent
weeks been hit by protests
including a mass strike
called by an evangelical pastor Evan Mawarire, which
shut business earlier this
month.
“I am glad everyone
is standing up” (against
Mugabe), said Sibanda.
Authorities in Zimbabwe
on Saturday denounced the
war veterans’ statement as
“treasonable” and “traitorous” and said they were
investigating its origin and
threatened to prosecute the
authors.
Starting in 2000, the
war veterans led seizures
of white-owned commercial
farms in what Mugabe said
was a reversal of imbalances
from the colonial era.
Their statement came in
the wake of a surge of public
anger against Mugabe, triggered by an economic crisis
that has left banks short of
cash and the government
struggling to pay its workers.
Agence France-Presse
or four Africas,” Cheeseman said.
According to the annual
Economist intelligence
unit rankings, last year only
nine sub-Saharan countries
could be considered “democratic”: Botswana, Cape
Verde, Ghana, Mauritius,
Zambia, Lesotho, Namibia,
Senegal and South Africa.
More than a dozen others were said to be semidemocratic while more
than 20 regimes were classified as “authoritarian”.
In these countries, with
little in the way of opposition or checks and balances, leaders were able to use
state institutions to cement
their power.
“As time has gone on
some heads of state have
learned how to manage
the ‘democratic theatre’
of elections, and they have
dug themselves and their
clans into power,” said
Antoine Glaser, a French
Africa expert.
Among the most im-
moveable is Sassou
Nguesso, who has now led
the Republic of Congo for
32 years. He took 60 per
cent of the vote in the first
round of the election in
March, which the opposition branded an “abuse of
the system”.
In Equatorial Guinea,
Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who came to power
in a coup in 1979, was
“reelected” in April with
93.7 per cent of the vote.
Agence France-Presse
Former radicals
in talks to end
Niger Delta raids
Buhari ‘to find solution to insecurity’
YENAGOA (Nigeria)
A NIGERIAN FORMER
militant group said late on
Sunday it has been holding
talks with the government
to end a wave of attacks
on oil and gas facilities
in the Niger Delta which
has crippled the country’s
crude output.
On Thursday, the office
of President Muhammadu
Buhari said the government was using oil firms
and security agencies to
talk to the militants “to
find a lasting solution to
insecurity in the region”.
“The Movement for the
Emancipation of the Niger
Delta (MEND) wishes to
confirm that indeed it has
been in preliminary talks
with the Federal Government through oil companies and law-enforcement
agencies,” the group said
in a statement.
MEND is a major former militant group which
signed in 2009 an amnesty
in exchange for cash and
job training brokered by
the previous government.
It said the Niger Delta
Avengers, a militant group
that has claimed responsibility for a series of recent
attacks, would not be part
DIFFICULTY
Enforcing any
peace deal
would be
difficult as
the militant
scene is
divided into
small groups
of the dialogue.
“The Federal Government made it clear during
our meetings that a negotiation with criminals is out
of the question,” MEND
said. “The Niger Delta
Avengers... fall under this
category.”
The Niger Delta Avengers group had on Thursday said it was not aware
of any talks with the government.
Security sources have
linked the Avengers to
former commanders in
MEND. Both groups hail
from the same area.
Militants say they want a
greater share of Nigeria’s
oil wealth to go to the impoverished Delta region.
Crude sales make up about
70 per cent of national income and the vast majority
of that oil comes from the
southern swampland.
Nigeria, an Opec member, was Africa’s top oil
producer until the recent
spate of attacks pushed it
behind Angola.
Enforcing any peace
deal would be difficult as
the militant scene is divided into small groups where
leaders do not control the
unemployed youth they
recruit.
Reuters
6
COMMENT
OMAN TRIBUNE
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
A neoliberal twist
Vijayan’s pragmatism is evident in choosing US-based adviser
Safer roads
S
AFETY on and off the road is absolutely non-negotiable. Road
safety campaigns of Royal Oman Police (ROP) have been tuned to
drive home the primacy of road safety. The sharp fall in the number
of road accidents over the years has been a clear indication of the
success of such campaigns. What is disconcerting in road accidents
is the fact almost all such incidents could have been avoided with
a little bit more of care and patience. A road accident takes a huge
toll on the community to which its victim belongs. It need not
necessarily be death. Even the loss of limb or other injury could
take an enormous toll on the victims’ immediate and extended
families and even the whole community in which they live. A road
accident can cause excruciating trauma to the survivor and his
or her dependents. The human cost of road crashes is extremely
high. The sheer suddenness with which a fatal accident removes a
breadwinner from their midst can deal debilitating financial and
psychological blow to families. A global study on the human cost of
road accidents shows that 70.7 per cent of the disabled and 27.6
per cent of non-disabled crash survivors experience job loss. Some
67.9 per cent of the disabled and 24 per cent of the non-disabled
survivors remain without a job for
long periods of time once they loss
their means of living. A combination
of physical and psychological factors
deters the survivors from finding a job The human
or returning to jobs. This delay could cost of road
have financial implications not only crashes is
for the survivor but his or her family. A
extremely high
US study shows there is a huge income
disparity between victims of serious
road crashes and non-victims.
The Sultanate has hit upon the right priorities for improving road
safety. It is, therefore, no wonder that the nation has an enviable
road safety record when compared to most other countries of the
world. The Sultanate compares well even with other nations of the
region where similar road conditions prevail. Of course as long as
humans have a role in driving, the factor of human error cannot be
avoided. Therefore, ROP has been constantly trying to improve the
quality of human element in the traffic ecosystem. Road engineering
and vehicles of better condition do go a long way in improving the
safety standards. The Sultanate’s traffic managers have striven to
follow international best practices in ensuring better road engineering and vehicle fitness norms. The roads are bring rapidly upgraded
with an eye on safety, converting single-carriageway roads into
dual-carriageway ones. Any number of flyovers and intersections
has been built to reduce travel time, remove factors that cause
and exacerbate human error and improve overall driving experience so as to reduce stress on drivers. Long tailbacks result in
driver impatience that could result in accident proneness. Therefore, ROP’s road safety campaigns are important. The authorities
should continue to reach out to road users at all levels to drive
home messages of road safety, thus improving the quality of human
factor.
K
ERALA Chief Minister
Pinarayi Vijayan is considered a communist in
the classic mould. He is
not a theoretician like
the late EMS Namboodiripad or P.
Govinda Pillai. He does not quote
either Karl Marx or Deng Xiaoping while addressing public rallies
but he is credited with knowing the
pulse of the party cadres.
He is one who does not want to
draw much attention on himself.
Yet, three appointments he made
have been criticised for the wrong
reasons. They are of John Brittas as
his media adviser, MK Damodaran
as legal adviser and Gita Gopinath as
economic adviser. Both Brittas and
Damodaran were appointed without
any pay, though they were given the
status of principal secretary to the
government.
Brittas and Vijayan have been
close to each other as the former has
been heading Kairali TV the party
owns. Whether a person heading a
news channel should be the chief
minister’s media adviser is a question that should have been raised
but neither the Opposition nor the
ruling party leaders raised it. Who
wants to antagonise a channel head,
more so when he has a fan following?
In the case of Damodaran, the
chief minister came under fire as
he represented clients who fought
legal battles against the state government like an infamous lottery
dealer. The incongruity of advising the chief minister on a case and
then representing the rival party in
the court could not have been lost
on the general public. Thank goodness, he deemed it fit to abdicate his
responsibility as the legal adviser.
The spotlight is now on Gita
Gopinath. She has a highly impressive curriculum vitae, though few
in the state knew her when Vijayan
picked her for the job. What perhaps drew Vijayan to her was that
she originally belonged to Kannur
district to which he also belongs.
Gopinath never worked in Kerala.
She was the third woman to become
a professor at Harvard and the second Indian after Nobel-laureate Amartya Sen. A product of the Delhi
School of Economics, she did her
PhD from Princeton University.
For a while she taught at the University of Chicago’s Booth School
of Business, to which Reserve Bank
of India Governor Raghuram
Rajan would
return once his
term is over in
a couple of
months.
In
2011, she was
chosen as one
of the young
global leaders by the World Economic Forum. All in all, an impressive bio-data!
In India, economic adviser is not a
constitutional post. Prime Minister
Narendra Modi also has such an adviser in Arvind Subramanian. It is up
to the appointing authority to accept
or reject the advice tendered by the
adviser. However, her appointment
is questioned on political grounds.
For instance, many see Gopinath
as a neoliberal who believes that
monetary policies can determine the
well-being of a nation. As a political
party, the CPM has been opposed to
neoliberal economic policies of both
the Congress and the BJP.
She had once argued for privatising the public sector which the CPM
believes should hold the commanding heights of the economy. A prag-
INDIA FOCUS
AJ Philip
matist, Vijayan knows that old-world
communism has few takers in Kerala
where young men and women want
jobs, better infrastructure and better living conditions.
They would rather believe in
Deng Xiaoping’s famous observation that it did not matter whether
a cat was white or black as long as it
caught mice. A good adviser is one
who can proffer good advice, not
one who tailors his advice to please
the boss.
In other words, advisers are not
expected to be sycophants.
The success of China, which became a communist nation around
the time India became independent,
is a case in point. There, dogmatism
gave way to pragmatism and the
country became the world’s second
largest economy. In today’s Kerala if
any leader preaches utopian values
of communism — each according to
his ability and each according to his
needs — people will laugh at him.
Vijayan knows this more than
anyone else. It is nobody’s claim
that Gita Gopinath has the answers
to all the problems of Kerala but
there is no harm if the chief minister listens to her before taking a
decision. Criticising her merely on
the basis of her Wikipedia profile
is to be neither here nor there. She
needs to be shown the “welcome”
placard, not the “go back” one that
the communists in Kerala have been
known for holding.
About the author
AJ Philip is a New Delhi-based senior journalist.
In Reagan’s long shadow
Thought For The Day
Wear a smile and have friends; wear a scowl and have wrinkles.
George Eliot
Trump is very unlike 1980s president by whom he swears, Lou Cannon writes
T
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HE GOP presidential nominee quoted
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Thomas
Paine, the most radical of
the Founding Fathers. He
asked all Americans for their
support. “More than anything
else,” he said, “I want my candidacy to unify our country;
to renew the American spirit
and sense of purpose. I want
to carry our message to every
American, regardless of party
affiliation, who is a member
of this community of shared
values.”
This was Ronald Reagan,
accepting the nomination of
the Republican Party on July
17, 1980, at Joe Louis Arena
in Detroit with a speech that
in tone and much of the substance was the resonant opposite of the dark vision that
Donald Trump presented in
Cleveland. Reagan wanted to
govern. He believed as firmly
as Trump does now that the
Democratic administration
then in power had failed the
American people, but he
also realised he needed the
support of many Democrats
and independents – not just
to win but to have a successful
presidency.
Beyond tactical calculation, Reagan had an in-bred
distaste for the politics of
derogation that have become
a Trump hallmark. Reagan
would have been appalled
by Trump’s description of
opponents as “Lying Ted”
or “Crooked Hillary.” I covered Reagan’s two campaigns
for governor of California
and his four presidential
campaigns, and interviewed
him for books. I could count
on the fingers of one hand the
number of times he engaged
in personal put-downs.
When he did, he regretted it and sought to make
amends. Early in his governorship, Reagan blamed
several state problems on
his predecessor, Pat Brown.
An aide told Reagan it was
beneath him to put down
Brown, whom he’d defeated
by nearly a million votes.
Reagan agreed and never did
it again. Brown told me that
when he was in Washington
after Reagan became president, Reagan heard he was
in town and invited him to
the White House where they
reminisced for nearly an hour.
In 1980, Reagan ran
against President Jimmy
or an anonymous “they” who
were in various ways ruining
our lives.
“Politics ain’t beanbag,”
as Finley Peter Dunne’s fictional Mr Dooley famously
declared, and there were
personal attacks aplenty in
the 1980 campaign. Most
of them came from Carter,
who told a partisan audience, “You’ll determine
Reagan, who was winning, kept mostly to
the high road, with occasional lapses
Carter. The toughest assertion in Reagan’s acceptance speech, not really all
that harsh, was a claim that
“the Carter administration
lives in the world of makebelieve” on foreign policy.
Reagan made it less personal by adding the word
“administration.” That was
typical Reagan, whose usual
targets were “Washington”
whether or not this America
will be unified or, if I lose this
election, whether Americans
might be separated, black
from white, Jew from Christian, North from South, rural
from urban.” Reagan publicly said he was “saddened” by
these words.
Reagan, who was winning,
kept mostly to the high road,
with occasional lapses.
Nor did Reagan denigrate,
as Trump does, the contributions of immigrants who
arrive in the United States
without
authorisation.
Trump wants to deport them.
In 1986 Reagan proposed
and signed into law a bill
that provided amnesty to 3
million unauthorised immigrants. Reagan had foreshadowed his intentions during
a 1984 presidential debate
with Walter Mondale when
he said: “I believe in the
idea of amnesty for those
who have put down roots
and lived here, even though
sometime back they may have
entered illegally.”
WP-Bloomberg
About the author
Cannon, who covered the
1980 campaign and the
Reagan presidency for The
Post, is the author of President Reagan: The Role of a
Lifetime.
Rejection fails to make international law useless
World court’s decision on South China Sea dispute is revealing on scope and limits, Noah Feldman writes
A
N international court
rules that China broke
the law by building
islands in the South
China Sea. China doesn’t care.
Does that make international
law a joke? The answer is yes and
no.
International law isn’t the
command of a sovereign backed
by the threat of force. It usually
can’t force countries to obey
its dictates and decisions. That
makes it different from domestic
law.
But international law still
matters. The decision against
China by a Hague tribunal for
violating a treaty, the United Nations Convention on the Law of
the Sea, functions as a kind of
early warning sign for how other countries in the world think
about China’s militaristic expan-
sion. The decision is beneficial
not only to the Philippines,
which brought the case, but to
all the countries who have overlapping maritime interests with
China in the Pacific – including
the United States, which provides security to most of them.
Paradoxically, the decision
by the Permanent Court of Arbitration also helps China, even
though it lost. The judgment
helps the Chinese understand
that its efforts to create legal
arguments for regional expansion have failed. That probably
won’t convince China to stop
expanding. But it will give Chinese leaders a clearer sense of
the resistance they’re going to
face if they do so – and more information about the costs that
resistance will impose on them.
China isn’t alone in flouting
international tribunals that it
doesn’t like. In 1986, the US
refused to participate in a case
brought against it by Nicaragua in the International Court
of Justice for financing rebel
Nicaraguan contras. The US
first appeared before the international court to argue that
it had no authority to hear the
case. When the US lost that argument, it went home without
even mounting a defense. Then
it ignored the verdict.
Being ignored by a superpower didn’t rob the international
court of its authority. It simply
reminded observers that the tribunal’s capacities were limited.
Nor did the defeat delegitimise
the US in international proceedings. The US was simply too important, and the sanctions for
ignoring an international court
decision were too minimal, to
affect it meaningfully.
Similarly, ignoring the verdict
of a tribunal created pursuant to
the law-of-the-sea treaty won’t
So there will be
a limit to the
degree of criticism
that China faces
take China out of the broader
game of international law. China
participates in a wide variety of
international legal institutions,
and you can expect that participation to continue. Although
China will face criticism for
flouting international law, no
one wants China to opt out of the
international law system where
its participation is helpful, for
example in the World Trade
Organization. So there will be
a limit to the degree of criticism
that China faces.
The tribunal’s credibility
is not as high as it would have
been had China participated in
the case, to be sure. But the tribunal will still get respect insofar
as other countries in the Pacific
region can be expected to cite its
judgment repeatedly and loudly.
The value of the verdict is to
signal an international consensus that China’s island-building
can’t be taken seriously as part
of its broader claims to expanded maritime jurisdiction in the
South China Sea.
China has claimed sovereignty over all the seas included
within a line that appears on its
maps. The line’s history is telling as an exemplar international
claims. It was first created by
the Republic of China in 1947,
before China’s nationalists were
defeated by the Communists. At
the time, the claim would not
have troubled the US Now, of
course, assertions of broader
Chinese sovereignty bring
China into conflict with allies
whom the US has treaties promising protection.
The punchline of the tribunal’s judgment was a frank rejection of the legal significance
of the line. That tells China that
the rest of the international community isn’t going to budge.
Countries who claim territorial
waters that overlap with China’s
claims will use the tribunal’s
judgment in pressing the US to
defend them, and in defending
their own space.
China can continue to bluster
at these neighbours. It can even
keep building islands, unless
someone tries to stop the process. But China now knows that
there will be no softening of the
response from its neighbours –
or from the US.
International law is a mechanism for communicating information outside the use of force.
That’s valuable to all parties.
International law isn’t the
same thing as domestic law. But
talking is better than shooting.
WP-Bloomberg
About the author
Noah Feldman is a professor
of constitutional and international law at Harvard.
OPED
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
OMAN TRIBUNE
7
Miracle juicer that looks nice but won’t work
The fix-all Trump is like the wonder gadget in the television ads, Alexandra Petri writes
W
E have always been
at war with Eurasia.
Snowball the Bear is
responsible for everything that is wrong on the farm.
How fortunate we are to have Donald Trump.
Donald Trump is the miracle
product that will fix everything
that is wrong in your home. He is
also your father figure (put your
little hand in his), who will be your
preacher, teacher (everything you
had in mind). He’ll be your dream,
your wish, your fantasy, your hope,
your love, everything that you need.
He is the way, the truth and the
life. None shall be saved except
through him.
He will protect you. He will fix
your aching bones and your bad
hearing and when you walk home
at night you will know that nothing
can harm you, because Trump is
there. You will get a good-paying
job. The thing in the shadows that
frightens you will melt away as if it
were never real to begin with. (And
perhaps it wasn’t.)
He will also build a wall. It will be
as tall as you want it to be. If you want
the moon (Newt Gingrich does!) he
will throw a lasso around it and pull it
down for you. He will solve all your
problems.
Why should you believe that he
will do this? Listen, you’re awful
nosy, aren’t you? Isn’t the word of
Donald Trump’s children enough for
you? (I would say, “And the words of
his wife, Melania,” but those turned
out not to be her words.) They have
spent the last four days praising him
to the skies.
Say what you will about dictators,
royalty, mafia dons, supervillains and
Trumps, they have a well-defined aesthetic. You get an immense, Wonderful Wizard of Oz-scale picture
of your head, some flags, and then
you stand in front of it with your wellgroomed family, and they say that if
only people knew the real you, they
would admit that you were great.
Thus, Thursday night kicked off
with a long, rambling speech from
someone who had once seen Donald
Trump write a nice note to a young
boy in the middle of a Mike Tyson
fight. (This was the nicest story that
anyone who was not literally related
to Donald Trump could come up
with.)
His daughter Ivanka introduced
her father, saying that he had been
extremely kind to and supportive
of her. (If there is one thing we
learned this week, it is that Donald
Trump is very nice to his children.
But hear me out: What if Donald
Trump maybe treats his children differently than he does most people?
Could that be it?)
And then Donald Trump began
to do what he has meant to do this
whole time: talk about Donald
Trump.
If Barack Obama was supposed
to be your new bicycle, then Donald
Trump is your new miracle juicer.
He looks better on TV than he actually is. He is mostly plastic and
he probably won’t work when you
get him home. But the commercial
makes him sound like the solution
to everything that ails you.
In this case, he went on for 76
has to happen for a thing to be so is
for Donald Trump to say it. This is
certainly how all his statistics work.
Clear your mind of questions.
He will bring back law and order
and end lawlessness, but also he will
decrease regulations. We need more
law and order, but also we need fewer
laws and more freedom. Whatever is
And then Donald Trump began to do what he has
meant to do this whole time: talk about Donald Trump
(such a patriotic number!) minutes,
advertising himself.
“I love you,” Donald Trump said.
“I am your voice,” Donald Trump
said.
“Believe me,” Donald Trump said.
“Nobody knows the system better than me,” Donald Trump said,
“which is why I alone can fix it.”
How? There is no how. All that
wrong, Donald Trump will fix it, even
if it contradicts the thing he just fixed.
The truths of religion are not the
same as the truths of daily life. Faith
has to get you through the day with
the promise that things will improve.
It does not have to withstand strict
logical scrutiny. It can be an article
of faith that something is two contradictory things at once. There is
a hidden logic to its incoherence.
It coheres because it offers a single
system for fixing everything that ails
you. It answers all your woes. It fits
all complaints. Just like Donald
Trump. Everything he touches with
his hands -- which are the correct
size -- he cures, or at least turns to
gold-colored brass.
Donald Trump is selling America
a miracle juicer. The juicer is Donald Trump. It is orange and it will
never let you down. If you order
now, Donald Trump will send you
another one free.
Donald Trump will make America great again. “Great” is a vague
word. It means whatever you want it
to mean. Donald Trump will make
America that place you see when you
close your eyes.
And the crowd cheered, “Yes
you will!”
You love Donald Trump. He will
be a dear, dear leader.
WP-Bloomberg
Coolers are worsening heat wave
City dwellers are trapped in concrete-and-asphalt disasterscapes, Stan Cox writes
T
HE heat wave
that barbecued
the Midwest
this past week
is pressurecooking the East Coast
this weekend. With temperatures and humidity
indexes hitting triple digits,
city dwellers have no choice
but to keep thermostat
settings low and energy
consumption high. But
we need air conditioning
because we use air conditioning, and that circular
logic is getting worse as
global temperatures rise.
Over the past half-century, American cities have
taken on an unstable thermodynamic form, coming
to resemble collections
of boxes full of cool air
crowded onto concrete
heat islands. Turn off the
AC, and office buildings
would become uninhabitable, vehicles sitting in
traffic would become torture chambers, apartment
buildings would become
death traps.
How did this happen?
The technology was slow
to take off: In 1960, 12
per cent of US households
had air conditioning; by
1980, that had risen to
just 55 per cent; now it’s almost 90 per cent. But once
cooling technology became
more efficient and affordable after World War II,
it began transforming the
architecture of cities and
suburbs, as the historian
Gail Cooper shows in her
book “Air-Conditioning
America.” It ushered in the
glass office-block design
with deep, cheap-to-build
interior spaces that never
could have been comfortable in the summer without
artificial cooling. House
and apartment builders
could dispense with expensive warm-weather
features such as porches,
large eaves, high ceilings,
cross-ventilated designs,
transom windows, windows that open and attic
fans. That made homes
more widely affordable,
but buyers usually ended
up living in what Fortune
magazine called a “TVequipped hotbox” that was
livable in the summer only
with air conditioning.
With prosperity (and
summer temperatures)
increasing through the
1990s, builders and home
buyers could have gone
back to investing in warmweather architectural features, but instead they opted to spend their money on
more floor space. By 2006,
the average new house had
three times the square footage per occupant as it had
in 1950, increasing from
about 290 square feet per
family member to nearly
900 square feet each. Cooling demand soared accord-
ingly: Between 1993 and
2005, when the increase
in house size was reaching its zenith, total consumption of electricity for
residential air conditioning
nearly doubled, from 134
billion kilowatt-hours to
261 billion, according to
US Energy Information
Administration surveys.
The Energy Department
says air conditioners use
about 5 per cent of all the
electricity produced in the
country each year, costing
homeowners more than
$11 billion.
It’s not too late to reduce
our dependence on air
conditioning, especially
in rural areas, small towns
and leafy suburbs. Even
in big cities, homeowners
can plant shade trees and
other vegetation, install
whole-house fans, sleep in
the basement. On the other
hand, apartment dwellers
have far fewer options:
They can live with open
windows, fans and cold
showers up to a point, but
when heat waves like this
one arrive, it’s time to reach
for the thermostat.
Economically distressed
urban neighbourhoods will
face more than just discomfort this weekend. Decades
of research demonstrates
that heat-wave mortality is
highest in concrete-and-asphalt urban disasterscapes,
especially among elderly or
ill people who are socially
isolated, living behind
closed windows for fear of
crime (a factor in the 1995
Chicago heat wave, which
killed 739 people) or unable to afford the electricity required to run an air
conditioner or even a fan.
There, community cooling
centers become refuges of
last resort.
Air conditioning has
Getting used
to warmer
temperatures won’t
be as unpleasant as
it sounds
become a necessity but
not a solution. It’s like an
ice bath for a patient suffering an extreme fever,
treating the symptom
while leaving untouched
the underlying cause - in
this case, the one-two
punch of climate change
and the distorted physical
and social structure of our
cities. And by making our
world temporarily cooler,
air conditioning is making it permanently hotter,
thanks to the increases in
greenhouse gas emissions
from power plants, vehicle
fuel consumption and refrigerant production that
keep the cool air flowing.
I calculate, based on
figures from the Energy
Information Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency,
that the air conditioning of
America has a climate impact equivalent to 500 million tons of carbon dioxide – more than all industrial processes combined.
About three-fourths of the
impact is from generating the electricity to cool
buildings, and the rest is
split evenly between excess fuel consumption by
air-conditioned vehicles
and leakage of refrigerants used by all air conditioners.
So as temperatures rise
this weekend, it’s a good
time to question the prevailing assumption that
adapting to more frequent
heat waves in the future will
simply mean using even
more air conditioning.
That will be an exercise
in tail-chasing. It will do
nothing for the millions of
people who work outdoors
or in the many industrial
plants that are well out of
air conditioning’s reach.
Global warming will take
an especially harsh toll on
them.
Climate adaptation can
work only if it’s linked to
stopping global climate
disruption, and both require us to start digging
up root causes. Acute
problems should have priority. We must help the
most distressed urban hot
zones cool down again by
jackhammering concrete,
re-creating green space
and improving the quality
of housing. All that would
help fight the “urban heat
island” effect, which can
make cities as much as 22
degrees Fahrenheit warmer
than their surrounding areas.
Reducing air conditioning dependence in
urban areas will require
a serious overhaul: things
like steadily shrinking parking and driving
space, accompanied by
improvements in public
transportation; depaving
and revegetating the rescued space; retrofitting
large buildings with ventilation shafts to allow air
in when weather permits;
and mandating that all new
construction be designed
for non-air-conditioned
comfort at times of the year
when it’s achievable, with
features such as windows
that can open, better airflow within buildings and
building shapes that give
everyone an external window. For significant parts
of the year in much of the
country, air conditioning
systems are running to
keep temperatures at 70
or 72 when the outside
temperature is, say, 85.
With better ventilation
and building design and a
tolerance for only slightly
higher temperatures in-
doors, we wouldn’t need
artificial cooling.
According to analysts at
the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a crash
programme to maintain or
establish three shade trees
per building and and make
all roofs and pavement in
US cities reflective could
decrease national cooling
demand by a whopping
20 per cent by driving
temperatures lower. That
would directly reduce
electricity and vehicle fuel
consumption, and it would
also increase the number
of days per year when air
conditioning could safely
be switched off by making
buildings more comfortable without artificial climate control.
For US households, cutting energy use for cooling
will mean working with
the weather, not against
it. Rather than keeping
homes tightly sealed yearround while switching the
thermostat from “heat” to
“cool” in April and back
in October, we can open
up, use fans and enjoy the
fresh air on days when temperatures are warm but not
extreme.
Initiatives to wean society away from the overuse
of air conditioning will be
self-reinforcing. Extensive
exposure to air conditioning reduces the human
body’s capacity to tolerate heat; conversely, the
more we live with warm
weather, the more we are
able to tolerate it, according to Michal Horowitz of
the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem and many other
heat researchers. That’s
real adaptation.
Getting used to warmer
temperatures won’t be as
unpleasant as it sounds.
Studies in countries around
the world show that the
more warmth we have experienced in recent days
and weeks, the hotter the
temperatures in which we
feel comfortable. When
we’ve been exposed to
temperatures around 70,
we’re most comfortable
in the 70s when indoors.
When we’ve been exposed
to the low 90s, we prefer
the 80s.
That said, I would not
recommend this weekend as a good time to start
adapting. Go ahead - run
the AC. But unless we
start transforming our
society soon, indoors and
out, summers will eventually spin out of the control
of any thermostat.
WP-Bloomberg
8
INDIA
OMAN TRIBUNE
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
Woman gets nod
to end pregnancy
after 24 weeks
8 school
kids die as
train hits
van in UP
BHADOHI
tion regarding his overseas
movable and immovable assets as he was a non-resident
Indian (NRI) since 1988.
He had also claimed
that as an NRI, he was not
obliged to disclose his overseas assets, and added that
his three children, wife, all
US citizens, also need not
disclose their assets.
IN A TRAGIC INCIDENT,
eight children were killed
and 14 others injured
when a school van was hit
by a train at an unmanned
railway crossing on Monday morning due to alleged
negligence of the van driver
who ignored the warning.
The mini bus of Tenderheart school in Ghosiya
township, carrying students
of six villages in the age
group of six to 14 years, was
hit by Varanasi-Allahabad
passenger train at gate
number 26 between Katka
and Madhosingh railway stations, police said.
The van was thrown up in
the air due to the impact of
the crash and landed in an
agriculture field, police said.
A ‘gate mitra’ was available
at the time of accident but
sadly the van driver ignored
his warning which resulted
in this incident, federal Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu
said, while expressing grief
over the loss of lives.
According to the ‘gate
mitra’, he tried to show
a red flag to the driver to
warn him of the approaching train. Police said that the
driver, who had earphones
on, did not pay heed to the
warning. The children, who
survived the mishap, also
said that they tried to draw
the driver’s attention but
he was in a hurry to clear the
crossing, police said.
Seven children and the
driver who were injured
have been admitted to different hospitals. Those
suffering serious injuries
have been referred to BHU
hospital in Varanasi, police
said adding that senior administration and police officials were on the spot.
Superintendent of Police
Arvind Bhushan Pandey
said that a first information
report will be lodged against
the school management.
Chief Minister Akhilesh
Yadav has announced an
ex-gratia of Rs200,000
to the families of the deceased, District Magistrate
Prakash Vindu said. Prabhu
also announced ex-gratia
of Rs200,000 for the kin
of those kiled, Rs100,000
for those seriously injured
and Rs20,000 for those
with simple injuries.
Press Trust of India
Agencies
Rape victim has abnormal foetus
NEW DELHI
THE SUPREME COURT
on Monday granted liberty
to an alleged rape survivor
to terminate her 24-weekold abnormal foetus.
A bench of justices JS
Khehar and Arun Mishra
perused the report of the
medical board of a Mumbai
hospital stating that the
continuance of pregnancy
would gravely endanger the
physical and mental health
of the mother.
The bench considered
the report of the sevenmember medical board of
King Edward Memorial
College and Hospital at
Mumbai which said that
the foetus has multiple severe abnormalities.
It passed the order after taking assistance of
Attorney-General Mukul
Rohatgi who said that there
is a provision in the Medical
Termination of Pregnancy
Act, 1971 which allows the
termination of pregnancy
after 24 weeks if there is a
threat to the life of the mother. “We grant liberty to the
petitioner and if she desires
to terminate the pregnancy,
she is permitted,” the bench
said.
The bench further said
it is satisfied with the diagnosis of the medical board
which has opined that the
termination of pregnancy
can be done. The Supreme
Court had on July 22
asked the medical board
to examine the woman and
submit its report before it.
The court had earlier
sought reply from the federal government and the
Maharashtra government on
the plea of the alleged rape
survivor, who has also challenged the constitutional
validity of provisions of the
abortion law which prohibits termination of pregnancy
after 20 weeks even if there
DANGER
‘The
continuance
of pregnancy
would gravely
endanger the
physical and
mental health
of the mother’
is a fatal risk to the mother
and the foetus.
In her petition, the woman has alleged that she was
raped by her ex-fiance on
the false promise of marriage and became pregnant
and sought a direction to
quash section 3 (2)(b) of
the Medical Termination of
Pregnancy Act, 1971 to the
extent that it puts a ceiling of
20 weeks for an abortion as
it is ultra vires to Article 14
and 21 of the constitution.
Her plea has contended
that the ceiling is unreasonable, arbitrary, harsh,
discriminatory and violative of the right to life and
equality. The woman has
also sought an order for the
federal government to provide necessary directions to
hospitals for setting up an
expert panel of doctors to
assess the pregnancy and
offer medical termination of
pregnancy (MTP) at least to
those women and girls who
are survivors of sexual violence and have passed the
period of 20 weeks.
The woman, who is in
24th week of pregnancy,
has said she belongs to a
poor background and her
physical and mental health
have been put at risk due to
the 20 weeks limit for abortion as her foetus suffers
from anencephaly (a serious
birth defect in which a baby
is born without parts of the
brain and skull) but doctors
have refused to abort it.
She has said that the foetus has abnormalities and
will cause mental distress to
the mother and challenged
the constitutional validity of
section 3(2) of the Medical
Termination of Pregnancy
Act prescribing a ceiling of
20 weeks.
The plea also said the
expression “save the life
of the pregnant woman” in
Section 5 of the MTP Act,
should include “the protection of the mental and
physical health of the pregnant woman” and also incorporate situations where
serious abnormalities in the
foetus are detected after the
20th week of pregnancy.
Press Trust of India
PTI
People stand around a school van hit by a train at an unmanned railway crossing on Allahabad-Varanasi route,
in Bhadohi, Uttar Pradesh, on Monday.
Beijing takes umbrage at
Delhi over journalists’ visa
BEIJING
TAKING
UMBRAGE
at India’s refusal to extend
visas to three Chinese journalists, a state-run daily on
Monday warned of “serious consequences” if New
Delhi was “taking revenge”
for China’s refusal to back
its Nuclear Suppliers Group
(NSG) bid and sought “action to display reaction”.
Terming as “petty” the
denial of permission for
an extended stay to three
Chinese journalists based
in India, the Global Times
said “no official reason was
given for the rejection of the
visa renewals”.
“Speculation is swirling
that India is taking revenge
against China for the latter’s
opposition to India joining
the NSG... If New Delhi is
really taking revenge due
to the NSG membership
issue, there will be serious
consequences,” it said in
an editorial titled ‘India’s
expulsion of reporters is a
petty act’.
The three Chinese journalists, Delhi-based bureau chief Wu Qiang and
two reporters in Mumbai
- Tang Lu and Ma Qiang,
representing the state-run
Xinhua news agency were
denied permission for the
extended stay.
Their visas are expiring
at the end of this month and
all the three had sought extension by a few months till
their successors arrive.
India’s act was described
as an “expulsion” by some
foreign media, the editorial
said. “No official reason was
given for the rejection of the
visa renewals. Some Indian
media claimed that the three
journalists are suspected of
impersonating other people
to access several restricted
departments in Delhi and
Mumbai with fake names.
“India has a suspicious
mind. No matter whether
Chinese reporters apply
for a long-term or a temporary journalist visa, they will
come across many troubles.
Complaints about difficulties of acquiring an Indian
visa have also been heard
from other Chinese who
deal with India. In contrast,
it’s much easier for Indians
to get a Chinese visa.
“On the visa issue this
time, we should take action
to display our reaction. We
at least should make a few
Indians feel Chinese visas
are also not easy to get,”
it said. Quoting its former
Indian correspondent Lu
Pengfei, the newspaper
said there is “absolutely no
need” for Chinese journalists in India to conduct interviews under fake names
and it is completely normal
for reporters to request
interviews with the Dalai
Lama group.
“The act has sent negative messages and media
communications between
China and India will inevitably be negatively impacted,”
the editorial said.
It claimed that by opposing India’s NSG membership, China was not being
disrespectful because it
was obeying the rule that all
NSG members are required
to be signatories to the NonProliferation Treaty (NPT).
Press Trust of India
Supreme Court issues notice to Mallya on banks’ plea
NEW DELHI
VIJAY MALLYA HAS
not disclosed his full assets,
including $45 million received by him from a British firm, Attorney-General
Mukul Rohatgi on Monday
told the Supreme Court
which issued notice to the
liquor baron.
The attorney-general
said that Mallya has not
disclosed full details of his
assets and he is accountable
to the public money. “This
gentleman (Mallya) has not
complied fully with the orders of the court and he has
not disclosed all the details
about his assets. He has also
not disclosed the amount
of $45 million received by
him from Diageo (British li-
Cops beat rice mill
owner to death
RAMPUR
A RICE MILL OWNER
was battered to death here
allegedly by seven police
personnel, including two
sub-inspectors who had
raided the premises over
suspicion of gambling,
prompting authorities to
order a magisterial probe.
Jalal Ahmad, 40, was
killed by the seven police
personnel who punched
and assaulted him with rifle
butts, according to a police
complaint filed at the Kemri
police station, about 40km
from here, in Uttar Pradesh.
Ahmad’s family alleged
that the seven policemen entered the mill and
started abusing him late on
Saturday. They demanded
Rs100,000, saying they
could implicate him in a
false case. When Ahmad
refused, the policemen
mercilessly thrashed him,
causing severe injuries to
him, his family said.
He was rushed to a nearby
hospital where doctors declared him brought dead.
The accused policemen
have been taken off active
duty and sent to the police
lines by Rampur Superintendent of Police (SP) Sanjeev Tyagi. Acting collector
Madan Singh Garbial has ordered a magisterial inquiry
into the incident, police
sources said on Monday.
The incident sparked
protests in the area as
scores of residents gathered
and started raising slogans
against the accused. As tensions prevailed, authorities
deployed a large contingent
of police to bring the situation under control.
Press Trust of India
quor major),” Rohatgi told
a bench of justices Kurian
Joseph and RF Nariman.
The Supreme Court, after
noting the submissions by
attorney-general, issued notice to Mallya and asked him
to respond within four weeks
on the plea of consortium
of banks led by State Bank
of India seeking initiation
of contempt proceedings
against him. On July 14, Rohatgi claimed that Mallya had
provided wrong details of his
assets in a sealed cover to the
Supreme Court. He further
said a lot of information had
also been concealed, including a cash transaction to the
tune of Rs25 billion, which
amounted to contempt of
court.
Earlier, the court had
sought details of assets from
Mallya in a sealed cover.
Recently, the consortium
of banks had alleged that
Mallya was not cooperating
in the investigation of cases
against him and was averse
to disclosing his foreign
assets.
In a rejoinder affidavit to
Mallya’s reply, the banks
had said that disclosure of
overseas assets by him and
his family was significant for
recovering the dues.
Rohatgi had earlier said
that the beleagured businessman has also not agreed
to deposit “substantial
amount” as part of Rs94
billion loan due on him to
establish his bonafide”.
Mallya had said the banks
had no right over informa-
Salman Khan
acquitted
of poaching
HIGHWAY FLOODED
JODHPUR
PTI
Indo-Bhutan Asian highway is seen flooded in Banarhat, Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal, on Sunday. A flood
alert has been issued in the district following heavy rain in the upper reaches of the Teesta river. Rail traffic
has also been affected with many trains passing through the area running late. Schools, colleges and offices
are also shut.
Oldest Kerala elephant set to enter Guinness
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
AT 86, DAKSHAYANI SHOWS
no signs of ageing and looks absolutely fit as she gets all set to enter
the Guinness World Records as
the oldest living elephant.
The Travancore Devasom
Board (TDB), the owner of the
elephant, has already written to
the Guinness authorities staking claim to Dakshayani being
the oldest living elephant in the
world.
The TDB owns 1,250 temples
in south Kerala districts, including the famed Sabarimala temple.
They have 33 elephants which
take part in the festivals of their
temples.
Addressing reporters here on
Monday TDB president Prayar
Gopalakrishnan said that records
available with them, including
of the Kerala forest department,
show that Dakshayani is the oldest.
“As a first step to enter the
Guinness, we are honouring
her on Wednesday, and we will
be working towards this. On the
day a special postal cover of Dakshayani from the Kerala Circle
Postal Service would be issued,”
added the TDB president.
As per the TDB, the oldest living elephant, which was 85 years
old, died in 2003 in Taiwan.
“Dakshayani and another elephant, are the only ones of the 10
that have been there with the TDB
since its inception in 1949, which
are alive now. She was gifted to
the TDB by the erstwhile Travancore Royal family,” said the TDB
president.
He also said on the same day
three mahouts who tended to
Dakshayani and are now retired
would be honoured, along with
the two mahouts who take care of
her presently.
“On the same day we will bring
out a directory of the 33 elephants
that are owned by us and would
include the entire history of every
elephant,” said Gopalakrishnan,
and added that nowadays there
are scientific ways to determine
the age of an elephant.
Indo-Asian News Service
BOLLYWOOD ACTOR
Salman Khan was on Monday acquitted by the Rajasthan High Court in two
cases related to poaching
of chinkaras, also known as
Indian gazelle, in Jodhpur
in 1998.
The court held that the
pellets recovered from the
chinkaras were not fired
from Khan’s licensed gun.
The driver of the jeep that
was used by Khan and his
co-stars on their alleged
hunting mission has been
missing, weakening the
prosecution’s case against
the movie star.
Khan, 50, was jailed in
2007 for nearly a week for
shooting an endangered
gazelle in 1998. Appeals of
Khan against sentence in the
two cases relating to poaching of chinkaras in Bhawad
and Mathania was allowed by
the high court which acquitted him in both the cases.
Justice Nirmal Jit Kaur
rejected the plea of the state
government against the
actor. Two separate cases
had been registered against
Khan under section 51 of
Wildlife Protection Act for
poaching of two chinkaras
in village Bhawad on 26-27
September, 1998 and one
chinkara in Mathania on 28-
29 September, 1998. The
trial court (CJM) had convicted him in both the cases
sentencing him to one year
and 5 year imprisonment
on February 17, 2006 and
April 10, 2006 respectively.
The convictions were
challenged by Khan in the
sessions court, which dismissed appeal in Mathania’s
case and transferred appeal
to high court in Bhawad’s
case, where already two appeals by the state government had been pending.
Hearing on both these
petition in high court
had begun on November
16, 2015 and were completed on May 13, 2016,
after which justice Nirmal
Jit Kaur had reserved her
judgement.
While arguing the case
in the high court, defence
counsel Mahesh Bora had
contended that Khan had
been falsely implicated in
these cases, merely on the
statements of a key witness
Harish Dulani, the driver
of the vehicle, which was
allegedly used in poaching
in both these cases.
Bora argued that Dulani
was never available to them
for cross examination and
hence his statements could
not be relied upon in conviction of Khan.
Press Trust of India
INDIA
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
OMAN TRIBUNE
9
Don’t send kids to Pak schools, Delhi tells diplomats in Islamabad
NEW DELHI
AMIDST GROWING
strain in Indo-Pak ties,
India on Monday advised
its diplomats and officials
posted in its high commission in Islamabad to
make arrangements for
education of their wards
outside Pakistan from this
academic session, virtually
downgrading it as a “nonschool-going station”.
The
announcement
came after a government’s
review of staffing and related policies for their
diplomatic missions as also
prevailing circumstances
at the station.
External Affairs Minis-
try Spokesperson Vikas
Swarup said: “It is a normal practice for all countries to review staffing and
related policies for their
diplomatic missions, including in view of prevailing circumstances at those
stations.
“With effect from this
academic session, officials
Dozens hurt as
cops stop rebels’
march in J&K
posted in the High Commission of India in Islamabad have been advised to
make arrangements for
education of their wards
outside Pakistan, till further notice.”
According to officials, there are about 50
schoolgoing children of
Indian officials, who are
currently posted in Indian
mission in Islamabad. This
development amounts to
“downgrade” of Pakistan
as a “non-school-going
station”, an official said.
India and Pakistan are
witnessing growing bitterness after Pakistan and
its Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif made provocative
statements on the Kashmir situation in the wake
of Burhan Wani’s killing
on July 8.
Wani was a wanted terrorist commander of the
banned terrorist organisation Hizbul Mujahideen.
Not only did Sharif
praise Wani but he also
remarked that “Kashmir
will one day become Pakistan”, a comment which
evoked a sharp reaction
from External Affairs
Minister Sushma Swaraj,
who said his dream of the
state becoming a part of
his country “will not be
realised even at the end of
eternity”.
Last week, India had
DOZENS WERE INJURED
in fresh protests in the
Kashmir Valley as authorities on Monday foiled an
attempt by separatists to
march to Anantnag town
from here by taking their
leaders Syed Ali Shah
Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar
Farooq into custody even
as protesters made a bid at
over a dozen places across
Kashmir to defy curfew.
Curfew remained in force
in the five districts of Anantnag, Kulgam, Pulwama,
Shopian and Baramulla
and 11 police station areas
of the city as a preventive
measure to thwart the separatists’ plans to take out the
protest march.
A police official said
there were attempts at over
a dozen places across the
Valley to defy curfew but
law enforcing agencies
chased the protesters away
by resorting to baton charge
and firing tear smoke shells.
Reports of brief clashes
between security forces and
protesters were received
from Natipora in the city,
Arwani, Bijbehara, Anchidora, Batengo, Achabal
(in Anantnag), Opmora,
Choon (in Budgam district)
and Safapora in Ganderbal
district, the official said.
The government had
tightened security across
the valley to thwart the Anantnag march, fearing an
outbreak of violent protests
if people came out in large
numbers to reach south
Kashmir - the worst hit in
the days of unrest that has
left nearly 50 people dead
and thousands injured.
The sources said police
and paramilitary forces baton
charged and fired pellets to
chase away the protesters
marching towards Anantnag
square where separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani
and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq
had planned to address public rallies and offer prayers in
absentia for the dead.
PROTEST
‘Police and
paramilitary
forces baton
charged and
fired pellets
to chase away
the protesters’
Both Geelani and the
Mirwaiz were taken into
preventive custody as they
defied prohibitory orders.
Geelani, who has been in
detention at his residence
in the upscale Hyderpora
neighbourhood, came out
despite a tight security cordon around his house. But
policemen outside stopped
him and drove him away in
a bullet proof armoured
vehicle to the nearby Humhama police station, an officer said.
The Mirwaiz was also
dOther separatist leaders including Shabir Shah
have also been detained
while Yaseen Malik of the
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front has been lodged
in a Srinagar lockup since
violent protests erupted
across the Kashmir Valley
following the July 8 killing
of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.
But police said in a statement that the “situation
throughout the Kashmir
Valley remained peaceful
and under control although
some stray stone pelting incidents were reported from
some places”.
The separatists have extended their protest shutdown call till July 29.
Reminiscent of the 2008
and 2010 unrest, separatists have issued weekly
protest calendars in the
valley asking people when
to open or shut their shops
and come out on the streets
for demonstrations.
Meanwhile, another youth
injured in the street protests,
Sameer Ahmad Wani, succumbed on Sunday, increasing the death toll to 49 in the
current unrest.
The summer vacation for
schools and colleges in the
valley officially ended on
Sunday. Education Minister
Naeem Akhtar confirmed
the end of the vacations.
But most educational institutes in the valley remained
closed on Monday due to
restrictions and separatistcalled shutdown.
In Srinagar, shops and
businesses remained closed
for the 17th day in a row.
Employee attendance in offices was negligible even as
the government has ordered
everyone to report for work,
an official in Srinagar’s civil
secretariat said.
Agencies
Press Trust of India
BJP told
me to keep
off Punjab,
says Sidhu
KARGIL VICTORY DAY MARKED
NEW DELHI
Separately, a notice for
a privilege motion against
Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and Renuka
Choudhury was submitted
by the Shiromani Akali Dal
(SAD) in the Rajya Sabha on
Monday, accusing them of
misbehaving with federal
minister Harsimrat Kaur
Badal.
SAD’s Rajya Sabha MP
Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa
submitted the privilege
notice and also took up the
issue in the upper house on
Monday.
Meanwhile, the Lok
Sabha expressed concern
over the disappearance
of the Indian Air Force’s
AN-32 aircraft which went
missing on Friday with 29
people on board.
A WEEK AFTER HE
quit Rajya Sabha, Navjot
Singh Sidhu on Monday
broke his silence and targeted the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) for asking him
to stay away from Punjab to
serve ‘personal interests’ but
continued to keep everyone
guessing on his next move,
including whether he will
join Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
In a brief interaction with
media, he asserted that he
will choose to serve Punjab
“hundred times” above any
party or family. The cricketer-turned-politician, who
made clear his displeasure
with BJP, parried queries on
whether he would join Aam
Aadmi Party, saying he will
be standing wherever the interests of Punjab are served.
Sidhu alleged that he
was told to keep away from
Punjab to “serve personal
interests,” apparently suggesting that the BJP was acting under its ally Shiromani
Akali Dal’s pressure.
Targeting BJP, Sidhu said
he delivered the prestigious
Amritsar seat to the party
during adverse circumstances but was “drowned in the
Modi wave” in 2014, when
he was asked to shift from
the constituency.
“It happened three or
four times,” he said referring to the party’s suggestion that he keep away from
the state’s politics. This, he
said, cannot be “tolerated”
even once as “no party in the
world is bigger than Punjab
for me. I am willing to accept
any loss for that.”
“Navjot Singh Sidhu had
Asked if he wanted to be the
chief ministerial candidate
in the next year’s assembly
elections, he said he always
wanted to serve Punjab.
Agencies
Agencies
Separatist leaders taken into custody
SRINAGAR
asked Pakistan to ensure
full safety and security of
Indian officials and their
families there in view of
the threats of marches
and protests at the high
commission after the observance of ‘Kashmir’s Accession to Pakistan Day”
and ‘Black Day’ last week.
PTI
School students celebrate ‘Kargil Vijay Diwas’ in Jalandhar, Punjab, on Monday. The country is celebrating
the 17th Kargil victory day.
House panel set up to probe
AAP lawmaker’s video row
NEW DELHI
LOK SABHA SPEAKER
Sumitra Mahajan on Monday set up a nine-member
panel dominated by the
Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) to probe the alleged
breach of Parliament security by Aam Aadmi Party’s
(AAP) Bhagwant Mann and
‘advised’ him not to attend
the House till the issue is
resolved.
Upset by the decision,
Mann and the AAP termed
it a “political conspiracy”
to malign the AAP’s image. Mann said Prime
Minister Narendra Modi
should also be asked to appear before the committee
as he allowed Pakistan’s
intelligence agency ISI to
probe the terror attack on
the Indian Air Force base
at Pathankot.
Addressing the Lok Sabha as soon as it met after a
weekend break, Sumitra
said taking audio video
footage of security zones
in Parliament by Punjab’s
Sangrur MP Mann on July
21 and putting it up on social networking sites put the
“security of the Parliament
in peril”.
“I have decided to constitute a nine-member inquiry
committee to probe this incident and submit its report.
The committee shall inquire
into the serious security
implications and related
aspects arising out of the
conduct of the audio visual
recording,” she said.
Mann has been asked
to appear before the panel
by 10.30am on July 26
and make his submission.
The speaker said the panel
should submit its report by
August 3 and till then Mann
was “advised” not to attend
the session.
“The committee is requested to examine the
matter expeditiously and
is authorised to follow its
own procedure. The report of the committee will
be presented to the House
for consideration,” Sumitra
said. Describing Parliament
as the “sanctum sanctorum”
of democracy, Mahajan recalled that on December
13, 2001 security personnel had sacrificed their lives
for protecting Parliament
and after that the entire security system was reviewed
and overhauled.
INSIDE INDIA
2 held for raping
Israeli woman
SHIMLA
POLICE ON MONDAY ARrested two men suspected of
raping a 25-year-old Israeli
tourist in Himalayan resort
town of Manali, local officers said.
The arrests were made
following a complaint by
the woman that she was attacked on Sunday after flagging down what she thought
was a taxi and asking for a lift
to a nearby town.
“Two of the six accused
of raping an Israeli national
have been arrested. Both the
men are locals,” said Sanjay
Kumar, the police chief of
Himachal Pradesh.
“A search operation is
on to arrest the remaining
four accused. The vehicle
involved in the crime has
also been recovered,” Kumar added. Police superintendent Padam Chand said
the woman had alleged that
there were six people in the
car, two of whom raped her
before fleeing. The woman
had been trying to meet up
with friends who had already
left for the nearby town of
Keylong after they all arrived
in Manali a few days earlier.
Police viewed CCTV
footage of the streets of
Manali, popular both with
holidaying foreigners and
Indians, to help identify
the suspects.
The woman was being
treated in hospital after she
reported the attack, which
took place around 3am, at
the Manali police station
later on Sunday.
Agencies
NEW RULES RESENT LAWYERS
TDB won’t allow entry of
women into Sabarimala
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM The Travancore
Devasom Board (TDB) that looks after the affairs of the famed Sabarimala temple is firm on
its stand that it does not wish to allow entry of
females in the age group of 10 to 50 into the
temple. TDB president Prayar Gopalakrishnan
said the custom of the temple for the past 800
years is that women in this age group are not
allowed and we do not wish to change that.
2 NDFB militants killed in Asom
GUWAHATI Security forces killed two NDFB
militants in Asom’s Kokrajhar district, police
said. Additional Director-General of Police LR
Bishnoi said the two were shot dead in Jharbari
Diglipara area. A grenade and two locally made
pistols were recovered from the National Democratic Front of Bodoland militants.
Warrant out against Dayashankar
PTI
Tamil Nadu lawyers stage a protest in front of Madras High Court demanding the withdrawal of new disciplinary rules, in Chennai, on Monday.
LUCKNOW A city court issued a non-bailable
warrant against former state Bharatiya Janata
Party vice-president Dayashankar Singh for
his derogatory remark against Bahujan Samaj
Party chief Mayawati. Police had procured
a warrant against the former BJP leader and
informed that they are working to arrest him
as soon as possible.
Lawmaker remanded in custody
No trace of missing IAF plane, search goes on
CHENNAI/NEW DELHI
HOPES OF FINDING ALIVE THE 29 PERSonnel on board the missing AN 32 aircraft in
the Bay of Bengal receded on Monday as no
survivor or debris have been located despite a
massive search and rescue operation launched
four days ago.
A matter of “concern” is that the Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) on the aircraft
did not function which has made the search
operation very tough. “It is very unfortunate
that we have not been able to trace the missing
aircraft and the personnel on board. It is a very
difficult moment for all of us and we share the
concerns of the distraught family members,”
Indian Air Force Air Chief Marshal Arup
Raha said in New Delhi.
The AN-32 aircraft which went off radar
16 minutes after taking off from nearby Tambaram airbase on its way to Port Blair on July
22. Amid criticism in some quarters about the
existing over 100 AN 32 aircraft and how they
have outrun their life, Raha sought to defend
it saying in the last three decades of its operations, IAF has exploited the capabilities of this
aircraft as the workhorse of the force.
Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba said in
New Delhi that 13 ships from the navy and
four Coast Guard ships along with 18 aircraft,
which have done a total of over 250 hours of
sorties, are engaged in the search and rescue
operation. Coast Guard Commander (East)
Inspector-General Rajan Bargotra said in
Chennai that they have not been able to locate debris or survivor in the sea. Bargotra
said that during the last four days, the area
of search operation had been extended and
“we are looking on all directions.”
Stating that a linear search was conducted
side by side, he said: “We are picking up some
items but they don’t belong to the aircraft.
Presently the search is continuous.”
Referring to absence of beacons from the
ELT of the aircraft, Bargotra said signals from
it would have made the rescue task much easier. “It has so happened that in last couple of
aircraft accidents which have happened over
sea, in none of them ELT has operated.
Several agencies, including National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) and Indian National Centre for Ocean Information
Services, were coordinating in the search operations and if needed vessel of NIOT ‘Sagar
Nidhi’ which is on its way from Mauritius will
be used for search operations, he said.
Agencies
MALERKOTLA Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA
Naresh Yadav was remanded in police custody
for two days by a local court in connection
with an incident of alleged sacrilege here last
month, a day after the Delhi legislator was
arrested in the case by Punjab police.
Pact on KNPP units likely by Nov.
MOSCOW The General Framework Agreement
for setting up units 5 and 6 of the Kudankulam
Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) is likely to be
signed by November 2016, according to a top
Russian official. Sergei Kiriyenko, head of
Russian State Corporation for Atomic Energy
Rosatom, said in Moscow: “The work is in progress. We can sign it this year in autumn.”
10
ASIA
OMAN TRIBUNE
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
Civilian casualties in Afghanistan soar to record high, says UN
KABUL
CIVILIAN CASUALTIES
in Afghanistan soared to a
record high in the first
half of 2016, the UN said
Monday, with children in
particular paying a heavy
price for growing insecurity as the conflict escalates.
The UN report, which
comes days after the deadliest attack in Kabul since
the Taliban were ousted
from power in 2001, cited
increasing ground combat
around heavily populated
areas as the leading cause
of casualties.
Between January and
June, 1,601 civilians were
killed and 3,565 were
wounded -- a four per cent
increase in casualties compared to the same period
last year, the United Nations Assistance Mission in
Afghanistan (Unama) said.
The casualties have
reached their highest level
since the UN began issuing
its authoritative reports
in 2009. “Every single
casualty documented in
this report -- people killed
while praying, working,
studying, fetching water,
recovering in hospitals -every civilian casualty represents a failure of commitment and should be a call
to action for parties to the
conflict to take meaningful
steps to reduce suffering,”
Unama chief Tadamichi
Yamamoto said.
“Platitudes not backed
by meaningful action ring
hollow over time.” The casualties include 1,509 children -- roughly one-third of
the total -- a figure the UN
described as “alarming
and shameful”. It was the
highest toll ever recorded
by the UN over a six-month
period.
The statistics are a grim
indicator of growing insecurity in Afghanistan as
the Taliban step up their
nationwide insurgency
and the Islamic State
group seeks to expand their
foothold in the east of the
country.
The UN report said insurgent groups including
the Taliban were responsible for the majority -- 60
per cent -- of civilian casualties.
But it also reported a
47 per cent increase in
the number of casualties
caused by pro-government
forces, compared to the
same period last year.
“The testimony of victims and their families
brings into agonising focus the tragedy of... this
protracted conflict since
2009,” said Zeid Ra’ad
Al Hussein, the UN High
Commissioner for Human
Rights.
“The family that lost a
breadwinner, forcing the
children to leave school
and struggle to make ends
meet; the driver who lost
his limbs, depriving him
of his livelihood; the man
who went to the bazaar to
shop for his children only
to return home to find them
dead.” The report comes
after the deadliest attack
for 15 years in Kabul on
Saturday killed 80 people
and left hundreds maimed,
an assault claimed by IS.
The twin bombings tore
through crowds of minority Shiite Hazaras as they
gathered to demand that
a
multi-million-dollar
power line pass through
their electricity-starved
province of Bamiyan, one
of the most deprived areas
MANILA
will very likely disturb and
undermine this steady momentum of our military-tomilitary relationship,” he
warned.
Rice noted that “risks of
unintended consequences” of the two countries’
forces operating in evercloser proximity had been
reduced thanks to better
communication and other
confidence-building measures. But despite progress, “we have challenges
and differences to discuss
and to manage”, she said.
Rice stated that the US
viewed its relationship
with China as “the most
consequential in the world
today”.
NEW PHILIPPINE PREsident Rodrigo Duterte
will lay out his goals for his
six-year term on Monday
and has set a simple tone
for his inaugural national
address by ordering the
event stripped of its trademark swank and opulence.
For years the State of
the Nation Address has
been one of the top events
on the social calendar of
the country’s political and
showbiz elite, but Duterte
has scaled back its budget
and told guests to dress
down, and leave the posh
gowns and designer clothes
at home.
The Sona, as it is known
in the Philippines, attracts
a similar kind of attention
on a domestic level as its
equivalent in the United
States, but with activities
on the red carpet usually
overshadowing the presidents’ messages.
Filipinos are keen to
hear what Duterte wider
plans and priorities are,
having elected him to office largely on his anticrime platform. He has yet
to elaborate on his plans to
tackle poverty and boost
infrastructure, and he has
been unusually quiet in the
wake of the country’s victory in an arbitration case
against China over the
South China Sea.
The firebrand former
city mayor, dubbed “the
punisher”, is known less
for his rousing speeches
and more for entertaining
and profane remarks.
Agence France-Presse
Reuters
Beijing slams Seoul over Thaad
SOUTHEAST ASIAN
nations Monday ducked
direct criticism of China
over its claims to the South
China Sea, in a diluted
statement produced after
days of disagreement that
gives the superpower a
diplomatic victory.
The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (Asean) avoided
mention of a ruling by a
UN-backed tribunal which
had rejected China’s claims
and infuriated Beijing.
Instead, Asean repeated
that it was ‘seriously concerned’ by ‘land reclamations and escalation of
activities’ and called for
‘self-restraint’ in the strategic waterway.
The contested sea,
through which some $5
trillion in shipping passes
annually, has been a source
of increasing tension between China and its Southeast Asian neighbours as
well as the United States.
Regional
diplomats
are gathered in the Laos
capital Vientiane for an
Asean summit that has been
dogged by the flashpoint issue of territorial claims.
It is the first time key
players -- including US
Secretary of State John
Kerry and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi -have met en masse since a
UN-backed tribunal a fortnight ago rejected Beijing’s
claims to vast stretches of
the sea.
Asean’s leading envoys
have spent days wrangling
over how to respond to
the ruling amid splits, acrimony and fears the bloc
is faltering in its response
to the major security chalMELLOW MOVE
Asean avoided
mention of a
ruling by the
top tribunal
which rejected
China claims
and infuriated
Beijing
lenge of the day.
Staunch Beijing ally
Cambodia has been accused of scuppering efforts by the bloc to unite in
a call for China to abide by
the tribunal’s verdict.
Four Asean members -Vietnam, the Philippines,
Malaysia and Brunei -- have
competing claims with Beijing over parts of the South
China Sea. Most members
want to keep pressure on
China over its campaign of
island-building.
But Asean operates on a
tradition of consensus diplomacy, meaning a single
nation can have an effective
veto if it disagrees.
A statement was finally
released on Monday after
hours of last-minute talks
finally cut through the impasse -- but it tacked away
from criticism of Beijing.
“We just averted another
potential debacle,” one
Southeast Asian diplomat
said, referring to a 2012
summit in Cambodia at
which the bloc for the first
time failed to issue a joint
statement because of disagreements on the South
China Sea.
Earlier China’s Foreign
Minister Wang heaped
praise on Cambodia -- to
whom it ladles out aid and
loans -- for holding out
against fellow members.
State-run Xinhua news
agency said Wang “highly
appreciates Cambodia’s
efforts to uphold justice
over the South China Sea
issue”. China has blamed
South Korea for damaging ‘mutual trust’ with its
planned deployment of
an advanced US missile
defence system in the face
of Beijing’s opposition,
Yonhap news agency said.
Seoul and Washington
announced earlier this
month their decision to
deploy the Terminal High
Altitude Area Defense
(Thaad) system in the
South.
Agencies
Agence France-Presse
Duterte sets
simple tone
for state of
nation speech
China dodges
Asean rebuke
over sea row
VIENTIANE
of Afghanistan. Those figures are not included in the
UN report.
But the assault illustrates the report’s finding
that suicide bombings and
complex attacks are now
hurting more civilians than
roadside bombs.
“Parties to the conflict
must cease the deliberate
targeting of civilians and
the use of heavy weaponry
in civilian-populated areas,” Zeid said.
Jason Lee/Reuters
China’s Central Military Commission Vice-Chairman Fan Changlong and US National Security Advisor Susan
Rice attend a meeting in Beijing.
Sensitive issues could upset
ties with US military: China
BEIJING
FAILURE TO PROPERLY
handle sensitive issues between the US and China
could ‘very likely disturb
and undermine’ their military-to-military relations, a
top Chinese official told US
National Security Advisor
Susan Rice Monday.
Rice is the highest-level
US official to visit the capital since an international
tribunal this month rejected China’s vast territorial
claims in the South China
Sea -- infuriating Beijing
and fuelling tensions with
Washington.
Her trip is intended to
prepare for a visit by President Barack Obama to a
G20 summit in the city of
Hangzhou in September.
The Permanent Court of
Arbitration in The Hague
on July 12 denied the legal
basis for Beijing’s claim to
nearly all of the sea, parts
of which are also claimed
by neighbouring nations.
In recent months Washington has sent naval vessels close to reefs and outcrops claimed by Beijing
to assert the principle of
freedom of navigation,
sparking anger in China
which has built a series of
artificial islands in the area
capable of supporting military operations.
President Xi Jinping told
Rice at a meeting Monday
that China was “strongly
committed” to building
good relations with the US
based upon the ideas of “no
conflict, no confrontation,
mutual respect and win-win
cooperation”.
Top Chinese official Fan
Changlong, vice chairman
of the Central Military
Commission warned that
ties between the two powers could easily fray.
“We should be honest
with ourselves that deep
down in this relationship
we’re still faced with obstacles and challenges,”
he said, adding that military
ties had been “impacted
by some complicated and
some sensitive factors”.
“If we do not properly
handle these factors it
INSIDE ASIA
N. Korea curbs
irk aid groups
PYONGYANG
RAMPED-UP INTERNAtional sanctions on North
Korea have inadvertently
disrupted the already challenging work of aid agencies there, those in the field
say, with risk-averse banks
refusing to transfer funds
needed
Aid shipments have also
been held up or blocked
indefinitely at Chinese
customs in confusion
over what is covered by
the significantly upgraded
UN sanctions imposed in
March following Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear test
earlier in the year.
“Importing
goods
-- medicines, humanitarian supplies, materials for
QUIETLY SHE COMES
8 die, 20 go missing in
Malaysia boat accident
KUALA LUMPUR Malaysia’s coast guard said
Monday they had retrieved eight bodies after
a boat capsized off the southern state of Johor at the weekend with another 20 people
believed to be missing. Local media reported
that the boat carrying 62 people -- all Indonesians and thought to be illegal immigrants
-- capsized due to strong waves late on Saturday night. So far, 34 passengers have been
rescued and a search was ongoing, an coast
guard official told reporters. “I could not save
her although she was sitting on my lap at the
time of the incident,” a rescued man who lost
his pregnant wife told the ‘The Star’.
water and sanitation infrastructure -- has become
very difficult,” said an official from an international
humanitarian group.
“What would happen if
there were major floods tomorrow?” said the official,
who declined to be identified because of the political
sensitivity of the issue.
Five UN agencies -FAO, UNFPA, Unicef,
WFP and WHO -- and four
international NGOs including Save the Children have
humanitarian programmes
in North Korea. The International Federation of the
Red Cross and the Swiss
Agency for Development
and Cooperation are
among others present.
Agencies
China jails ex-military officer
BEIJING A military court in China on Monday
jailed for life a former top military officer for
corruption, state media said. Guo Boxiong
was a vice chairman of the powerful Central
Military Commission until he stepped down
in 2012. Last year, the government said it
would prosecute him for graft.
Bobby Yip/Reuters
A container ship sails past barges during foggy conditions at Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour.
Singapore to name and shame errant banks
SINGAPORE
SINGAPORE’S
CENTRAL
bank chief vowed on Monday
to name and shame other banks
engaged in money-laundering
after a scandal involving Malaysian state fund 1MDB hurt the
city-state’s financial reputation.
The money-laundering lapses
uncovered during a 15-month investigation into fund flows linked
to 1MDB are “simply unacceptable”, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) managing director
Ravi Menon told a press briefing.
“There is no doubt that the
recent findings have made a dent
on our reputation as a clean and
trusted financial centre,” he said.
At the time of the transactions,
it was not apparent to financial
regulators worldwide that the
fund flows were illicit, he said,
adding that clues only started to
emerge in 2014 .
MAS began investigations in
2015, Menon said, declining
to comment further because of
continuing probes.
The MAS, which regulates the
financial sector and also functions
as Singapore’s central bank, said
it would be stepping up enforcement.
While previous regulatory
dealings with errant financial
institutions were kept confidential, Menon said some of them
would now be named in public,
especially in areas concerning
money-laundering and terrorism financing.
“We are beginning to take a
different tack because I think
naming and shaming hurts them
more than financial penalties,”
he said.
In a joint statement with the
police and the Attorney-General’s Chambers last week, the
MAS revealed it had seized nearly
$180 million in assets through
investigations into 1MDB. Half
of these were linked to Low Taek
Jho, a Malaysian businessman and
a close family friend of embattled
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib
Razak. It came one day after the
US Justice Department moved to
seize more than $1 billion in assets allegedly bought with money
stolen from 1MDB.
Singapore in May kicked out
Switzerland’s BSI Bank over
“gross misconduct” linked to
1MDB. Singapore authorities
last week also said investigations
found that Singapore-based DBS
Bank, Standard Chartered Bank’s
Singapore Branch and Swissbased UBS had exhibited “undue
delay in detecting and reporting
suspicious transactions”.
Agence France-Presse
Romanian trekker dies in Nepal
KATHMANDU A 26-year-old Romanian has
been found dead in Nepal after going missing
a week ago while trekking alone in the popular Annapurna region, a police officer said
on Monday. The unnamed woman was apparently swept away by a swollen river she was
trying to cross in the western district of Kaski
at an altitude of nearly 2,000 metres.
Bangladesh to probe kid death
DHAKA Police in Bangladesh are investigating the death of a 10-year-old boy at a textile
mill who was killed after co-workers inserted
the nozzle of a high-pressure air pump in his
rectum and turned it on.
Primates defy Thai junta ban
BANGKOK A gang of 100 marauding monkeys
have become the latest saboteurs to target a
referendum trumpeted by the Thai junta as a
cure for the nation’s political crisis, after they
tore down voter lists.
EUROPE
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
OMAN TRIBUNE
11
Turkey issues warrants for 42 scribes in new crackdown
ANKARA
TURKISH AUTHORIties on Monday issued arrest
warrants for over 40 journalists in a new phase of a
controversial legal crackdown after the failed coup
against President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan that has
alarmed the West.
With Erdogan seeking
to rally national cross-party
support for his rule 10 days
after defeating the attempted putsch, he hosted two
top opposition leaders for
an unprecedented meeting
at his presidential palace.
Istanbul
anti-terror
prosecutors issued arrest
warrants for 42 journalists
as part of the coup investiga-
tion, the state-run Anadolu
news agency said.
Among those targeted
were prominent journalist
Nazli Ilicak who was fired
from the pro-government
Sabah daily in 2013 for
criticising ministers caught
up in a corruption scandal,
it added.
Five people have been detained so far although 11 of
the suspects are believed to
already be outside the country, the Dogan news agency
said.
Other prominent journalists hit with warrants
include the commentator
Bulent Mumay and the news
editor of Fox TV in Turkey,
Ercan Gun.
The French foreign ministry said Turkey’s response
to the coup “should not
compromise the rule of law
and fundamental liberties
like freedom of the press”.
In new raids on Monday,
police detained some 40
people at the army’s military
academy in Istanbul.
Meanwhile, 31 academics, including professors,
were detained in an operation in Istanbul over alleged
links to US-based Islamic
cleric Fethullah Gulen,
Dogan said.
Amnesty International
claimed it had “credible evidence” of the beating, rape
and torture of post-coup
detainees but a Turkish official vehemently denied the
accusations.
Chief of staff Hulusi
Akar, who resisted the
coup and was held hostage
by the plotters, told investigators in a statement that
rebel generals had offered
to speak personally with
Gulen if he joined them. “I
told them ‘you are on the
wrong path’. I said ‘don’t
do it, don’t spill blood’,”
he was quoted as saying
“But (rebel General)
Mehmet Disli said ‘we have
taken that path. There is no
going back’.”
Turkish Foreign Minister
Mevlut Cavusoglu on Monday said ties with Washington will be impacted if the
United States does not
extradite Gulen, adding he
would meet with US officials
on the topic during a coming visit.
Agencies
Germany warns
of backlash
against migrants
Iraqi charged
with having
‘trace’ of
explosives
in Poland
Syrian attacker ‘was mentally ill’
sitions of the national police
which I had not seen on the
screen,” she was quoted as
saying.
On Thursday, the leftleaning Liberation daily
reported that only one local
police car was barring the
entry to the pedestrianised
seafront when Mohamed
Lahouaiej Bouhlel forced
his lorry onto the Promenade des Anglais, mowing
down families.
Since the carnage 10 days
ago -- the third major attack
in France in 18 months -Cazeneuve has also been
locked in an escalating row
with the right-wing leaders of the Riviera city over
claims of slack security.
AN IRAQI MAN HAS
been charged with possessing trace amounts of explosive material in Poland, officials said on Monday, days
ahead of the pope’s visit for a
huge Catholic youth festival.
Poland has upped security
ahead of the World Youth
Day event that will draw hundreds of thousands of people
from around the world to the
southern city of Krakow this
week.
The Iraqi man was
charged in the central city
of Lodz and remanded in
custody for two months, local court spokesman Pawel
Urbaniak said.
“National prosecutors
have launched an investigation,” he added.
Prosecutor Beata Marczak
added that the man was detained last week and charged
on Sunday with “possessing
trace amounts of explosive
material,” which could result in up to eight years in jail.
“That does not mean we
found enough explosive
material to cause an explosion,” she said, adding that
currently “there are no
grounds for charging him
with participating in terrorist activity.”
Private news channel
Polsat News reported that
the explosive traces were
found on the man’s luggage
and clothes at hotels in Lodz
and Krakow.
It added that the man had
been detained at the hotel
in Lodz on Sunday and had
been in possession of notes
on preparing terrorist acts
against French supermarkets in Poland.
Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse
ANSBACH (Germany)
GERMANY WARNED
on Monday of a potential
backlash against migrants
after a Syrian asylum seeker
blew himself up outside a
music festival, capping a
week of attacks that has
shaken the country.
The 27-year-old attacker
wounded more than a dozen people in the southern
city of Ansbach on Sunday
night and had spent time
in a psychiatric facility,
regional authorities said.
Berlin said there was as
yet “no credible evidence”
of a link to extremism.
Europe’s economic powerhouse was already reeling
after nine people died in a
shopping centre shooting
rampage in Munich on Friday and four people were
wounded in an axe attack
on a train in Wuerzburg
on July 18.
All three assaults were
in Bavaria which has
been a gateway for tens
of thousands of refugees
under Chancellor Angela
Merkel’s liberal asylum
policy.
Merkel’s deputy spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer expressed the government’s
“shock” after the rash of
attacks but also warned
against branding all refugees a security threat.
“Most of the terrorists
who carried out attacks
in recent months in Europe were not refugees,”
she said. “The terrorism
threat (among refugees) is
not larger or smaller than
in the population at large.”
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere also warned
against placing refugees
“under general suspicion”,
despite “individual cases
that are under investigation”.
Police said the man intended to target the openair festival but was turned
away as he did not have a
ticket, and detonated the
THREAT
The terrorism
threat (among
refugees) is
not larger
or smaller
than in the
population
at large’
device outside a nearby
cafe.
“If he had made it inside,
there would certainly have
been more victims,” a police spokesman said.
The explosion went off in
the centre of the city of Ansbach, not far from where
more than 2,500 people
had gathered for the concert, at around 10 pm.
The perpetrator was
killed in the blast and 15
people were wounded, four
of them seriously.
Ansbach deputy police
chief Roman Fertinger
said there were “indications” pieces of metal had
been added to the explosive
device. The attacker, who
came to Germany two years
ago but had his asylum
claim rejected after a year,
had tried to kill himself
twice in the past and had
spent time in a psychiatric
clinic, authorities said.
He was facing imminent
deportation to Bulgaria,
where he was first registered within the European
Union as an asylum seeker,
a German interior ministry
spokesman said.
The assailant, who lived
in Ansbach, was already
known to police, having
been linked to a drug-related offence.
However a social worker
who knew him, Reinhold
Eschenbacher, described
him as “friendly, inconspicuous and nice” when he
came to his office pick up
his welfare benefits, DPA
news agency reported.
Stephan Mayer, a deputy
from Merkel’s conservative
bloc, insisted that it was
“completely wrong” to
blame the government’s
refugee policy for the recent rash of attacks.
But Mayer told the BBC
that the 1.1 million migrants and refugees Germany let in last year represented a “big challenge”
for law enforcement, even
as the influx has dwindled
in recent months. “We
were not able to register
and control all the migrants
that crossed the German
border,” said Mayer.
Agencies
WARSAW
Daniel Roland/AFP
Police at the crime scene in Ansbach, Germany, on Monday. A Syrian migrant set off an explosive device near an
open-air music festival in southern Germany that killed himself and wounded a dozen others, authorities said.
Policewoman was ‘pressured
to alter Nice security report’
PARIS
A NEW CRISIS HIT
France’s government on
Sunday when a senior policewoman claimed the interior ministry pressured her
to alter a report into security
at the Nice fireworks display
where 84 were killed when
a man rammed a lorry into
the crowd.
The interior minister,
Bernard Cazeneuve -whose account of police
deployments on the night
of July 14 celebrations has
already faced questions -has been the lightning rod
for criticism over alleged
security failures.
Having resisted calls for
his resignation from the far
right, who are strong in the
Riviera city, the Socialist hit
back at the “grave accusations” made by the policewoman, saying he would sue
for defamation.
He later told France 2
television that he would
counter “a villainous campaign” of lies against him
from opposition politicians
in Nice “blow for blow”.
Prime Minister Manuel
Valls said he had full confidence in Cazeneuve.
“This has to stop, there
can be no room for doubt in
the fight against terrorism,”
Valls told BFM TV. “I don’t
have any doubts about Bernard Cazeneuve.”
Sandra Bertin, who is
in charge of Nice’s system
INSIDE EUROPE
May rules out return of
N. Ireland border control
BELFAST
BRITAIN DOES NOT
want a return to border
controls in Northern Ireland, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday
on her first visit to the British province following the
United Kingdom’s vote to
leave the European Union.
“We had a common travel area between the United
Kingdom and the Republic
of Ireland many years before either country was a
member of the European
Union. Nobody wants to
return to the borders of the
past,” May said, referring
to the freedom of movement that has existed between the countries since
the 1920s.
“What we do want to do
is to find a way through this
that is going to work, deliver a practical solution for
everybody to ensure that
we come out of this with
‘What we want to
do is find a way
that is going to
work, deliver a
practical solution
for everybody’
a deal which is in the best
interests of the whole of the
United Kingdom.”
May was speaking after
she met the province’s
leader, Arlene Foster, who
campaigned for Britain to
leave the EU, and Deputy
First Minister Martin McGuinness, a former Irish
Republican Army commander who campaigned
to remain.
McGuinness, who has
demanded a referendum
to split Northern Ireland
from the United Kingdom
so it can remain in the European Union as part of a
united Ireland, said he had
a frank exchange with May
emphasising the wishes of
the Northern Irish voters.
“I speak for the people
of the North, who are
Unionist and Nationalist, and have made it clear
that they see their future in
Europe ... There is no good
news whatsoever in Brexit
for anybody in the North,”
said McGuinness.
Reuters
Ai Weiwei shows life in
jail at Spanish exhibition
CUENCA (Spain) Artist Ai Weiwei has reproduced scenes of his incarceration for a new art
installation, a series of almost life-size dioramas - encased in steel boxes - showing his life
in jail. Visitors to the exhibition, in a cathedral in central Spain, have to peer through
peep-holes in the stark, grey boxes to see the
3D scenes, which show Ai watched by two
uniformed guards as he eats, sleeps, showers
and uses the toilet in his tiny cell.
Munich gunman’s friend held
MUNICH German police said on Sunday they
had arrested a 16-year-old Afghan friend of
the gunman who killed nine people in a rampage at a shopping centre in Munich. “We
suspect that this boy aged 16 years could
have been aware of the act,” police said in a
statement following Friday’s shooting spree
after which the 18-year-old German-Iranian
attacker, David Ali Sonboly, killed himself.
The arrest is the first in the investigation.
Golders Green station reopens
LONDON London’s Golders Green underground train station reopened on Monday
after an abandoned vehicle was cleared of posing a security threat.
Berezovsky estate ‘hopelessly insolvent’
LONDON
THE ESTATE OF LATE RUSsian oligarch Boris Berezovsky,
who helped broker Vladimir Putin’s rise to the Kremlin’s top job
only to become his sworn enemy,
is hopelessly insolvent, a British
judge has said.
A fast-talking former mathematician who scaled the heights of
the ruthless world of post-Soviet
business and politics, Berezovsky
clashed with Putin soon after his
election in 2000 and fled to Britain
where he became his most vociferous enemy.
Once cast as the ‘godfather of
the Kremlin’ by foes and admirers alike, Berezovsky was humiliated in 2012 when he lost a legal
battle with former partner Roman
Abramovich, over shares in Russia’s fourth biggest oil company.
Berezovsky, at one point ranked
as a billionaire by Forbes, made his
fortune in cars, airlines, metals and
oil. He was found dead in 2013 in
a locked bathroom at his home in
England. He was 67.
Judge Richard Arnold said about
34 million pounds ($45 million)
remained in Berezovsky’s estate
but that creditors’ claims run into
hundreds of millions of pounds, the
Press Association reported.
“About £34 million remains,
subject to the payment of bankruptcy and administration ex-
penses, including legal costs, out
of this sum,” Arnold was quoted
as saying in the ruling. “This sum
is currently the estate’s only substantial asset. “Since the estate has
substantial creditors running into
hundreds of millions of pounds, it
is hopelessly insolvent,” he said.
The ruling was made as part of
litigation involving insolvency
trustees and Berezovsky’s former
partner Elena Gorbunova.
Reuters
of security cameras, told
the Journal du Dimanche
newspaper she had been
“harassed for an hour” by an
unnamed interior ministry
official on the phone after
a “commissioner” came
to see her the day after the
attack.
She said she had been
told to detail the presence
of the local police at the Bastille Day fireworks event and
also to report “that the national police had also been
deployed at two points”.
“The national police
were perhaps there, but I
couldn’t see them on the
video,” Bertin told the
newspaper.
“He ordered me to put in
(the report) the specific po-
12
AMERICAS
OMAN TRIBUNE
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
Obama kin
to vote for
Trump in
US election
Democrats push
unity as email
row hits party
NAIROBI
Sanders supporters reject Clinton
PHILADELPHIA
THE DEMOCRATIC PARty kicks off its national convention Monday to anoint
Hillary Clinton its presidential nominee, as a row
over leaked emails showing party leaders sought to
undermine campaign rival
Bernie Sanders threatened
to upstage the gathering.
Sanders lost the primary
race but he has endorsed his
bitter rival, and in a show of
unity he has been offered a
prime speaking slot on day
one of the four-day confab.
Sanders will stress that
the party mission is to elect
Clinton in November and
prevent Republican Donald Trump from becoming
the 45th president of the
United States.
The brash billionaire,
who was formally nominated the Republican Party’s
flagbearer in Cleveland last
week, topped Clinton 48
to 45 per cent in a two-way
matchup CNN poll out o on
Monday. The figure represents a drastic six-point
convention bounce.
While the former secretary of state is set to make
history as the first female
flagbearer of any major
American political party,
the process has fallen under
a cloud that Trump has been
all too eager to exploit.
Anti-secrecy website
WikiLeaks during the
weekend released nearly
20,000 emails from between January 2015 and
May 2016, gleaned by
hackers who apparently
raided the accounts of seven
Democratic National Committee leaders.
At least two of the messages showed senior committee members were keen
to undermine the Sanders
campaign by seeking to
raise questions about Sanders’s faith and heritage.
Amid efforts to draw a
line under the damage that
threatened to revive tensions with Sanders followers, the Democratic Party’s
chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz abruptly
announced her resigna-
STEPS DOWN
Democratic
Party
chairwoman
Wasserman
Schultz abruptly
announced her
resignation
tion, effective at the end of
the convention.
After a hard-fought primary campaign, the party had
been heading to the convention seeming far more unified than the Republicans,
whose fissures were laid bare
in Cleveland last week.
Now the Democrats are
struggling with the fallout
from a scandal that threatened to mushroom into a
major crisis just as the party
was supposed to coalesce
around its nominee.
“The Democrats are in
a total meltdown,” Trump
taunted on Twitter. “Emails say the rigged system
is alive & well!”
Wasserman Schultz’s
announcement came after
Sanders on Sunday repeated
calls for her to go, with her
leadership already under fire
and her impartiality called
into question by the leaks.
Shortly after she resigned, Sanders said in a
statement that Wasserman
Schultz “has made the right
decision for the future of the
Democratic Party.”
Despite the swirling political chaos, Sanders made
clear he would not make an
insurgent bid for the nomination.
“We’ve got to elect Clinton,” he told NBC’s “Meet
the Press.”
Die-hard Bernie Sanders supporters descended
on Philadelphia, many so
irate with party flagbearer
Hillary Clinton that they are
prepared to contemplate the
once-inconceivable alternative: Trump.
Many in the Sanders
camp have also voiced
disappointment
with
Clinton’s choice of a
center-left running mate,
Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, instead of a more liberal firebrand like Senator
Elizabeth Warren.
“Tim is an extremely
bright guy, a very nice guy.
Are his political views different than mine, yeah, they
are,” Sanders told CNN’s
State of the Union, adding
that “he’s a 100 times better
than Trump will ever be.”
Agencies
Adrees Latif/Reuters
Supporters of US Senator Bernie Sanders take part in a protest march ahead of the 2016 Democratic National
Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
Two killed, 14 wounded in
Florida nightclub shooting
PRESIDENT BARACK
Obama’s half-brother, Malik Obama, says he will vote
for Republican nominee
Donald Trump in the US
election in November because he likes the candidate
and he is unhappy with his
brother’s leadership.
Malik, who is in his 50s,
said by phone from Obama’s
ancestral home of Kogelo in
western Kenya that he supports Trump’s policies, especially his focus on security.
“He appeals to me and
also I think that he is down to
earth and he speaks from the
heart and he is not trying to be
politically correct. He’s just
straight-forward,” he said.
Malik, a US citizen, has
lived in Washington since
1985 where he worked
with various firms before
becoming an independent
financial consultant.
Reuters
MIAMI
AT LEAST TWO PEOPLE
were killed and 14 others
wounded in a shooting
early Monday at a Florida
nightclub, police said, in
an incident that reportedly occurred at a party for
teenagers.
The attack comes just six
weeks after an attack at a
gay club in the state left 49
dead in the worst massacre
on US soil since 9/11.
Officers have detained
one “person of interest”
and two other individuals for
questioning over the latest
shooting, which happened
at Club Blu in Fort Myers.
The venue was holding a party for teens at
the time, according to the
local CBS affiliate. The
Fort Myers Police Department reported that while
two individuals were fatally shot, “at least 14-16”
more sustained minor to
life-threatening wounds
during the episode, which
occurred at approximately
12:30am (0430 GMT) in
the club’s parking lot.
A nearby home and ve-
canvassing the area looking for other persons who
may be involved in this incident,” although the area
had been deemed safe.
An attack on a nightclub in
Orlando, Florida on June 12
left 49 dead in the worst gun
massacre in recent US history.
Officers are ‘actively canvassing the area
looking for other persons who may be involved’
hicles were also shot at,
resulting in one minor injury, the department said
in a statement.
“At this time the scene
is still very active as investigators and crime scene
personnel attempt to determine what had occurred,”
the statement said.
Officers are “actively
Police killed the gunman,
Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old
US citizen of Afghan origin,
after a three-hour standoff.
Daish claimed responsibility for that attack, calling
the Mateen “one of the soldiers of the caliphate.” US
authorities have said he was
apparently radicalised after
watching propaganda online.
That rampage and other
recent shootings have renewed debate about gun
laws in the United States.
After the incident, the
White House denounced
the “cowardice” of US
senators who failed to pass
gun control legislation.
President Barack Obama
has repeatedly called for Republicans to realise the cost of
their opposition to gun control and spending on mental
health and drug treatment.
“We refuse to fund drug
treatment and mental health
programmes. We flood
communities with so many
guns that it is easier for a
teenager to buy a Glock
than get his hands on a
computer or even a book,”
he said at a recent memorial service for five police
officers shot in Dallas.
Agence France-Presse
3,751 deaths
in hospitals
in 2015
Continued from Page 1
digestive system and of the
musculoskeletal system and
connective tissues were major causes.
The report also gives
the status of Principal Notifiable Diseases of which
chicken pox increased
to 21,028 cases from
18,376. Malaria was next
with cases dropping to
822 from 1001, followed
by mumps with cases going
down to 588 from 703.
Instances of HIV/AIDS
among nationals went up to
142 from 112, the report
said.
Thousands of firefighters tackle wildfire near Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES
MORE THAN 1,600 FIREfighters battled on Monday
to contain a fast-spreading
wildfire that has forced hundreds of evacuations in the
drought-parched canyons
north of Los Angeles, destroying 18 homes, killing
at least one person and closing a highway.
Authorities said the Sand
Fire had grown to more than
13,300 hectares by early
Monday, or more than 130
sq.km. fuelled by high winds
and parched conditions after
years of drought.
It was threatening a string
of small communities near
Santa Clarita, just outside
the Angeles National Forest, the Los Angeles county
Arab summit
slams terror
Continued from Page 1
is to focus primarily on security and on plans for a joint
force across a region fraught
with tension, notably in Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Syria and
the Palestinian territories.
Separately, Asa’ad received
Fayez Al Sarraj, Chairman of
the Libyan Presidential Council, Prime Minister of the Government of National Accord.
The two sides discussed
the bilateral relations. The
meeting was attended by
members of the Omani and
Libyan delegations.
In Nouakchott for the
talks was Omar Al Bashir,
the Sudanese president
wanted for genocide, war
crimes and crimes against
humanity by the International Criminal Court.
Also present were the
heads of state of Qatar, Kuwait, Yemen, Comoros and
Djibouti as well as the premiers of Lebanon and Libya.
The Mauritanian president
also called for fresh efforts to
end the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, saying that regional
instability would continue
until the issue was settled.
Arab foreign ministers
meeting ahead of the summit
on Saturday urged a “definitive solution” to the conflict
and welcomed a French and
Egyptian initiative to help
revive dormant Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
It is the first Arab League
summit hosted by Mauritania since it joined the organisation in 1973.
Agencies
sheriff’s department said.
“This is the fifth year of an
ongoing drought, so we have
very extreme fire behaviour,”
the fire department chief,
Daryl Osby told a Sunday
news conference. “These
are not normal times.”
A 4,155-hectare fire was
also burning in a coastal area
of Monterey county, 300
miles (480 km) northwest
of Santa Clarita, prompting
authorities to widen evacuation orders to several communities on Sunday, a Cal
Fire spokeswoman said.
One person suffered nonlife-threatening injuries
and one structure was destroyed, the spokeswoman,
Amber Anderson, said.
The fire near Santa Clarita, first reported on Friday
afternoon, has forced at least
1,500 residents to evacuate
their homes and destroyed
at least 18 homes, the Los
Angeles county fire department said in a statement.
All the affected communities, about 65km northwest of Los Angeles, are
in or around the San Gabriel Mountains, which is
dotted with multimillion-
dollar homes.
About 100 commercial
buildings in the path of the
fire have been ordered to
evacuate, fire officials said.
An “unexpected wind
event” forced officials to
cancel plans for residents
to return to some areas, fire
officials said on social media
network Twitter on Sunday.
“All evacuations will re-
DESCENDANTS OF ESCOBAR’S PETS
HAVANA
Raul Arboleda/AFP
A hippo at the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch, in Doradal, Antioquia department, Colombia. More than 20 years after the drug lord died in a
gunfight with police, a strange legacy survives him: his pet hippos. Escobar bought four hippos from a zoo in
California and flew them to his ranch in the early 1980s. Left to themselves on his Napoles Estate, they bred
to become supposedly the biggest wild hippo herd outside Africa.
THE CREATOR OF THE WILDly popular Pokemon Go gaming
app received the celebrity treatment on Sunday at the final day of
San Diego’s annual Comic-Con,
as he discussed the viral popularity
and future of the game.
John Hanke, founder of Niantic
Labs and developer of Pokemon
Go,waswelcomedwithloudapplause
from more than 6,500 fans on a stage
usually reserved for star-studded presentations from movie studios.
Hanke said the global popularity of
the game, which incorporates colourful animated creatures from Nintendo’s Pokemon universe into the real
world using augmented reality (AR)
andGoogle mappingtechnology,had
been “mind-blowing.”
The game, released on July 6, was
evolved from an earlier Niantic Labs
AR app game called Ingress, which
Hanke said has also gained in popularity after the release of Pokemon Go.
Pokemon Go has captivated fans
around the world, with 21 million active US users in under two weeks of
its launch. Stock prices for Nintendo
soared after the game’s launch.
Hanke said updates and new
features would be rolled out in the
coming months as the game grows
to include more creatures and ele-
ments of the vast Pokemon universe.
During a question-and-answer
session with the audience, Hanke
said the team was aware and fixing
the glitches and bugs in the game
and took fans’ suggestions on what
to add, such as possible functions to
breed Pokemon.
He said they were working
on enhancing the functions of
“pokestops” and “gyms,” located at various landmarks within a
fire officials said.
Extreme heat, strong
winds and parched rugged terrain will continue
to hamper firefighters, the
officials said, adding that
they were still trying to
pinpoint the cause of the
wildfire, which had been
only 10 percent contained
by early on Monday.
Reuters
Anime, manga
comics take
Cuba by storm
6,500 fans cheer Pokemon Go creator
SAN DIEGO (US)
main in place,” they added.
The 14 Freeway was
closed to traffic because
of the fire threat, the California Highway Patrol said
on Twitter.
The remains of an unidentified person were
found late on Saturday in a
charred vehicle in the path
of the blaze. The cause of
death had yet to be decided,
user’s neighborhood, and unveiled
the identities of the three virtual
leaders of the teams - Blanche for
Team Mystic, Spark for Team Instinct and Candela for Team Valor.
The developer said AR “can enhance the things we already do to
get out of the house,” and wanted
Pokemon Go to encourage people
to go outdoors, be active and meet
new people.
Reuters
CUBA MAY BE ONE OF
the world’s least connected
countries but that is not
stopping the Japanese subculture of animated movies,
manga comics and video
games from spreading feverishly among its youth.
More than a thousand
“Otakus,” or fans of such
fantasy worlds, descended
on Havana this week for the
country’s third Otaku festival, defying the sweltering
heat to sport the costumes
of their favourite characters.
Some performed scenes
from animation movies on
stage, while others belted
out songs in Japanese with
Spanish subtitles projected in the background.
Still others did role playing
dance choreographies. A
prize was awarded for best
cosplay, or role playing
in costume, and for best
manga drawing.
“Every day, the Otaku
community is growing in
this country,” said festival
participant Juliette Fernandez, who was dressed
up as the digital pop princess Hatsune Miku with
turquoise pigtails down to
her thighs.
The 17-year old, who
is learning Japanese and
dreams of creating comics,
said she started getting seriously into the subculture
a year ago.
“We started making the
costumes, finding the wigs,
designing choreographies
and even trying to imitate
the characters’ voices,”
said Fernandez, whose
Otaku group will perform
a concert in September.
Some Cubans said the
role playing offered them
an escape and the science
fiction heroes encouraged
them to overcome their
own difficulties.
“The anime heroes are
people we can identify
with, who have problems
but manage to overcome
them,” said Yoel Pagola, 24.
Otakus face challenges
pursuing their hobby in
Cuba. Internet access in the
Communist-ruled island is
restricted, meaning fans
can not easily look up series and mangas on the web.
“It’s really thanks to ‘El
Paquete’ that we’re able to
watch anime here,” said
participant Jose Cruz, 20,
referring to packages of
media on USB sticks that
can be purchased across
Cuba each week.
Reuters
NEWS FEATURE
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
OMAN TRIBUNE
13
Ukraine becomes trove for arms trade
Weapons are getting into hands of criminals and being spirited to buyers well beyond conflict zone
SLOVIANSK (Ukraine)/
MOSCOW
ON FEBRUARY 12 LAST
year, the same day that a
ceasefire ended the worst
of the fighting in eastern
Ukraine between rebels
and government forces, a
former rebel fighter seized
a chance to turn his inside
knowledge of the conflict
into hard cash.
He travelled to a spot
on the Russian-Ukrainian
border where he retrieved
a cache of weapons hidden
there earlier by his comrades in the pro-Russian
rebel movement.
Four days later, shortly
before 6pm, he and a friend
showed up in a taxi at a fuel
station in western Russia
where they had arranged
to meet a contact ready to
buy the arms, according to
Russian court documents.
He and the friend opened
the trunk of the taxi, and began transferring the cargo
into the buyer’s vehicle.
Concealed in a sports bag
and a rucksack were three
automatic weapons, 1,258
bullets, 20 grenades, and 20
detonators for the grenades.
The buyer was an undercover police officer and the
former rebel, identified in
the court documents as YV
Mikhailov, was sentenced
this year to two and a half
years in jail.
The fighting in eastern
Ukraine between the Moscow-backed separatists
and Ukraine’s pro-western
government killed hundreds of people, displaced
thousands of residents and
created a Cold War-style
standoff between Moscow
in the West.
It also had another consequence that is less visible
but could in time prove
equally dangerous: the
conflict took huge amounts
of arms out of government
arsenals and put them in
the hands of irregular units
unable to properly control
them.
Now the fighting has subsided, according to security
officials and experts on the
arms trade, the weapons
are getting into the hands
of criminals and being spirited to buyers well beyond
the conflict zone.
Interviews by Reuters
with security officials and
Reuters/Files
Servicemen check cars at a checkpoint near Slaviansk in Donetsk region, Ukraine. Irregular pro-government units set up private weapons caches to avoid surrendering their arms to the authorities in Kiev.
rebels, as well as study of law
enforcement data and court
documents have shown that
weapons are being channelled out of the conflict
zone in eastern Ukraine
in significant numbers, in
some cases as part of an organised underground trade.
“Of course, they have
moved arms across, and
they’re moving them across
now,” Igor, a fighter with a
pro-Russian rebel unit in
eastern Ukraine said in an
interview. “Mainly they take
Kalashnikovs,” he said.
When, in the spring of
2014, the armed rebellion started in Ukraine’s
Russian-speaking regions
of Donetsk and Luhansk,
police and soldiers abandoned their bases.
That left the rebel militias
to pillage the stores where
Ukraine – one of the world’s
biggest arms manufacturers
– kept its sizable arsenal.
Meanwhile on the proUkrainian side, because the
army was in near-collapse,
irregular militias were
formed, some of them only
loosely part of the chain of
command, and they were
given, or scavenged, weapons from official supplies.
While the fighting raged,
the weapons stayed in the
conflict zone. In February 2015, the sides in the
conflict agreed a ceasefire.
The fighting did not stop,
but the intensity subsided,
and weapons started leaking
out of the battlefield.
Official data is patchy
but what figures there are
indicate the problem is getting worse. The number of
prosecutions for weapons
offences so far this year
in Ukraine is double the
amount for the whole of
2015, according to the
general prosecutor’s office.
In many cases, the cause
is negligence. Irregular units
often do not keep proper
control of the weapons in
their inventories or fail to
make soldiers surrender
their guns when they go on
leave. “It’s mostly people
taking them home for the
sake of it,” said Serhiy Alyoshin, the chief of police in
the town of Sloviansk, which
is on the edge of the conflict
zone and controlled by Kiev.
“Some say ‘I forgot’,
some say ‘It’s for fishing’ or
‘It’s a present for a friend’
and then we hear about
rendering their arms to the
authorities in Kiev, whom
they do not trust.
In March this year, the
police force in Sloviansk uncovered a cache of weapons
and explosives in the back
of a garage filled with cardboard boxes and household
junk.
In police footage, officers
laid the weapons and explosives out on the ground.
OFFENCES
The number of prosecutions for weapons
offences so far this year is double the
amount for the whole of 2015
these things blowing up in
apartments, in yards and
on the street. It’s a threat to
national security.”
In some cases, Ukrainian security officials said,
irregular pro-government
units set up private weapons caches to avoid sur-
There were at least three
anti-tank rocket launchers,
several rockets, hundreds
of bullets, around 15 hand
grenades and two anti-tank
mines.
But there is evidence too
of criminal intent to smuggle weapons out for sale to
Mozambique nears offshore gas deal
JOHANNESBURG
MOZAMBIQUE’S LONGdelayed offshore gas project
with Italy’s Eni could be
approved within months,
sources close to the deal
said, sparking investments
with the potential to transform one of the world’s
poorest countries into a
major energy player.
Mozambique made one of
the world’s biggest gas finds
in a decade in 2010 but negotiations with operators
Eni and US firm Anadarko
have dragged on for years
due to disputes over terms
and concerns about falling energy prices. But Eni
has in recent weeks struck
deals with contractors and
Mozambique’s government
which could help it to make
a final investment decision
(FID) on October 31, industry sources said.
Eni declined to comment.
The company’s Mozambique
concession is split between
two huge gas fields, called
Coral and Mamba. Eni has
previously said it expects to
make FID on Coral this year
and Mamba in 2017.
Reserves in Mozambique’s Rovuma Basin
amount to some 85 trillion cubic feet – enough to
supply Germany, Britain,
France and Italy for nearly
two decades. It is likely to
take at least five years after
FID before gas production
begins.
Samsung Heavy said last
week it was in exclusive talks
Reuters/Files
Traditional fishing boats sail beneath Maputo’s skyline in Mozambique.
with Eni to provide a floating liquefied natural gas
(LNG) platform as part of
a consortium with Technip
and Japan’s JGC, in a contract worth around $5.4
billion.
General Electric has also
been approved as a contractor, two sources said.
Negotiations with government over tax terms and
the funding of the Mozambique national gas company
have also made moved forward in the last two months,
the sources said.
Eni has already reached
a deal to sell the gas to BP.
“There has been significant
progress in the last few
weeks. It’s making investors a lot more optimistic
FID isn’t too far away,”
one banker involved in the
deal said.
The last major sticking
point is how Eni will finance
the $11 billion development, the sources said.
Eni is expected to raise
several billion dollars by
splitting its concession in
two and selling up to 20 per
cent of its Mamba gas field,
and the operating rights,
to Exxon Mobil, sources
involved said.
Any sale by Eni would
provide a much-needed
capital gains tax windfall
for the Mozambican government during a period
of economic crisis and as
it struggles to make repayments on $1.35 billion in
controversial foreign loans.
The International Monetary Fund suspended aid
to Mozambique in April
because of the hidden debt.
“There’s definitely been
more urgency on the government side to get these
gas deals moving,” one
industry source said.
While Eni will drill and
process gas from floating
offshore platforms, Anadarko is building sprawling
LNG facilities on the northern Mozambican mainland,
causing complications due
to local residents who will
need to be relocated.
Anadarko submitted a
plan to resettle thousands
of mostly farmers and
fishermen who will be dis-
placed by the LNG project
last month, one of the last
hurdles to jump before getting the go-ahead on a $24
billion project, two sources
said.
Mitch Ingram, who was
previously with BG, was
hired by Anadarko last year
to head its LNG business.
Ingram’s experience has
given investors more confidence about Anadarko’s
ability to raise financing,
the sources said.
Anadarko’s project is
expected to lag Eni’s and
its final investment decision is unlikely this year,
the sources said. Anadarko
did not respond to request
for comment.
Reuters
organised crime groups.
“Of course, anyone who
has the will and the means
can get into the business –
organised criminal groups
have always traded weapons,” said Olena Hitlyanska, a spokeswoman for
Ukraine’s State Security
service, or SBU. “Now the
channel for buying these
illegal weapons has widened,” she said.
“In past years we seized
pistols and rifles that people
had in their own collections
or for hunting. Now grenade launchers are seized,
and blocks of TNT.”
Igor, the rebel fighter,
said there was now a wellorganised trade in illegal
weapons from eastern
Ukraine into Russia.
“If before they shipped
whatever came to hand,
now it happens in a more
orderly fashion, practically
by appointment,” said Igor,
who asked to be identified
only by his first name for
fear of reprisals for speaking about the trade.
In one rebel unit “they
practically keep a list of who
will take the iron across the
border and when,” he said,
using a slang term for weapons. He said the weapons
were smuggled from rebelcontrolled eastern Ukraine
into Russia via illegal border
crossings.
He said much of the
smuggling was done by rebel fighters from Chechnya
and Ingushetia, in Russia’s
volatile North Caucasus region, who ship the weapons
back home.
A spokesman for the rebel administration in eastern
Ukraine’s Donetsk region,
Eduard Basurin, said about
arms smuggling: “Maybe at
one point it was present, but
that this is being done in an
orchestrated way, that’s
rubbish.”
So far, there is little
evidence of where the
weapons smuggled out of
the Ukraine conflict zone
end up.
In May, Ukrainian border guards detained a
25-year-old Frenchman
with ties to far-right groups
in France who was trying to
cross from Ukraine into Poland with weapons including rocket launchers and
Kalashnikov assault rifles
in his Renault van.
Ukraine’s SBU said the
man had made contact with
armed militias in Ukraine
and inquired about buying
arms from them. When they
found out about this, the
SBU said its agents sold the
man deactivated weapons.
But that case appears
to be an outlier. The illegal arms trade in western
Europe – where the items
most in demand are small
quantities of light firearms
– is dominated by supplies
from ex-Yugoslavia, and it is
unlikely Ukrainian weapons
would be able to break into
that market.
Instead, most of the
weapons from Ukraine will
be destined for other conflict zones in places such as
Iraq, Syria and Libya where
there is a demand for heavy
weapons in large enough
quantities to make it worthwhile for black market arms
dealers.
Mark Galeotti, an expert
on ex-Soviet organised
crime, said some of those
Ukrainian weapons would
be transported through
the Ukrainian Black Sea
port of Odessa, then into
the Mediterranean, some
south through the Balkans,
and some through Russia’s
North Caucasus region.
“Usually it is relatively
easy to get a pistol or
anything up to an assault
rifle,” said Galeotti, senior
research fellow at the Institute of International Relations Prague.
“But it is much harder
to get an RPG (rocketpropelled grenade) or a
machine gun or the boring things like spare parts
for the above. You actually
need to have a proper war
for these sorts of things to
become available and, lo and
behold, you have a proper
war,” he said. “At the moment you have, from the
criminals’ point of view, a
wonderful opportunity.”
Reuters
14
OMAN TRIBUNE
KALEIDOSCOPE
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
BOOK LOVERS’ PARADISE
Ralph D. Freso/Files/Reuters
A worker gathers items for delivery from the warehouse floor at Amazon’s distribution centre in Phoenix, Arizona.
COOL RESPITE
DONE FOR THE DAY!
Kristina Barker/Reuters
The sun sets over a stretch of the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway west of Gillette, Wyoming as an empty coal train
is seen leaving the city.
AERO SHOWER
Joshua Roberts/Reuters
Children play in a fountain during a heat wave in Washington.
FLORAL PROMENADE
Eloy Alonso/Reuters
Two helicopters of the Asturias Fire Service fly over San Lorenzo beach during an aerial exhibition in Gijon,
northern Spain.
Michaela Rehle/Reuters
Flowers in full bloom in Ansbach near Nuremberg, Germany.
SPORTS
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
OMAN TRIBUNE
15
Vegas seals second PGA Tour win
US Open champion Johnson finishes one stroke off pace for three-way second place tie
OAKVILLE (Ontario)
Wolfgang Niersbach
VENEZUELAN JHONAttan Vegas closed with
three straight birdies for a
one-stroke win at the Canadian Open late on Sunday,
earning redemption after
a nightmarish finish in his
previous event.
Vegas, who blew a sixshot halfway lead at the
Barbasol Championship
last weekend, closing
in style this time with an
eight-under-par 64 at Glen
Abbey.
He finished at 12-under
276 to edge Spanish tour
rookie Jon Rahm (67), Scot
Martin Laird (67) and US
Open champion Dustin
Johnson (69).
Vegas began the final
round five shots behind
overnight leader Brandt
Snedeker, teeing off in the
ninth from last pairing, 80
minutes before the final
group.
“We had Dustin Johnson, Brandt Snedeker,
a bunch of guys, really
close,” Vegas said. “Great
players. If I got lucky, it was
going to be a playoff. Super
surprised when nobody got
to 12.
“I had a six-shot lead going into the weekend (last
week) and lost by three. I
was five back starting today
and won by one. It’s a crazy
sport.”
The 31-year-old Vegas
recorded his second PGA
Tour victory, his previous
success coming in his second career event, the Bob
Hope Classic in 2011.
His victory earned him a
last-minute spot in the final
major of the year, the PGA
Championship starting at
Baltusrol in New Jersey on
Thursday.
Vegas started strongly
with five straight birdies,
Fifa panel
bans German
FA ex-chief
for one year
ZURICH
Eric Bolte/US Today Sports/Reuters
Jhonattan Vegas with the champions trophy after winning the RBC Canadian Open golf tournament at Glen Abbey Golf Club.
beginning at the second
hole, to set himself up for
his fantastic finish.
Several players had a
chance to force a playoff,
including Johnson and
fellow American Steve
Wheatcroft (69).
Johnson needed an eagle
at the par-five 18th, but had
to settle for birdie after his
second shot covered the
pin but carried 20 feet beyond the hole and over the
green.
Wheatcroft needed a
closing birdie but made a
bogey after thinning his
third shot from a greenside
bunker into a water hazard,
a shot he blamed on a lack
of sand underneath his ball.
“I hit it kind of right
where I wanted to and the
club absolutely bounced off
the sand. There was nothing in there,” he said.
Snedeker, the 2013
winner, managed only a
71 to finish in a tie for fifth
at 10-under with German
Alex Cejka (69), American Ricky Barnes (68) and
Wheatcroft.
“I put myself in a posi-
tion to win a golf tournament and to play the way I
did today is disheartening,”
Snedeker said.
Jared du Toit (71), a
21-year-old
Canadian
amateur who began the
day one shot behind Snedeker, faded to finish equal
ninth as the local drought
Aurier double
lifts PSG to
3-1 victory
over Inter
LOS ANGELES
SERGE AURIER’S TWO
goals lifted Paris SaintGermain to a 3-1 victory
over Inter Milan late on
Sunday in an International
Champions Cup friendly in
Eugene, Oregon.
Layvin Kurzawa also
scored for the French
champions, while Stevan
Jovetic converted a penalty
for the Italian outfit in firsthalf injury time.
The International Champions Cup is an exhibition
tournament involving 17
clubs playing on four different continents, all tuning
up for their league seasons.
Sunday’s match was
played on a grass pitch laid
over the artificial turf at
Autzen Stadium, home of
the University of Oregon’s
gridiron Ducks team.
PSG, under new manager Unai Emery, displayed
a lively attack and went
ahead in the 15th minute
when Hatem Ben Arfa’s
free kick was lost by Inter
keeper Samir Handanovic
and Aurier tapped it in.
Inter pulled level by
halftime thanks to Jovetic’s
blast from the spot after a
penalty awarded for a handball in the area.
PSG regained the lead in
the 61st minute through
Kurzawa, and Aurier
sealed the win when he
rose to head home a cross
from Alec Georgen in the
87th.
Agence France-Presse
MANCHESTER
(United Kingdom)
ENGLAND BEAT PAKIstan by 330 runs to win the
second Test at Old Trafford
on Monday and so level the
four-match series at 1-1.
Pakistan, set a mammoth
565 to win, were bowled out
for 234 in their second innings with more than a day
left in the match.
England, who lost the
first Test at Lord’s by 75
runs, bounced back with a
huge first-innings total of
589 for eight declared.
Joe Root made a Testbest 254 and England captain Alastair Cook 105, his
29th Test century.
Pakistan managed just
198 in reply, captain Misbah ul Haq top-scoring with
52 and England all-rounder
Chris Woakes taking four
for 67. Despite a firstinnings lead of 391, Cook
opted against enforcing the
follow-on.
Instead Cook (76 not
out) and Root (71 not out)
inflicted further punishment
on Pakistan’s attack before
the skipper declared England’s second innings at
173 for one on Monday
morning.
The scale of Pakistan’s
task could be seen from the
fact that no side have made
more to win in the fourth
innings of a Test than the
West Indies’ 418 for seven
against Australia at St John’s
in 2003.
No Pakistan batsman
made a fifty in their second
innings, with three England
bowlers – James Anderson,
Chris Woakes and Moeen
Ali – all taking three wickets
apiece.
The third Test at Edgbaston starts on August 3.
Agence France-Presse
BRIEF SCORES
England first innings 5898 dec (J Root 254, A Cook
105, C Woakes 58, J Bairstow 58; Wahab Riaz 3-106)
Pakistan first innings
198 (Misbah ul Haq 52; C
Woakes 4-67)
England second innings
173-1 dec (A Cook 76 no, J
Root 71 no)
Pakistan second innings
234 (J Anderson 3-41, C
Woakes 3-41, M Ali 3-88)
Series: Four-match series
level at 1-1
Reuters
SCORES
Final round (US unless stated, adenotes amateur, par 72):
276 - Jhonattan Vegas (VEN) 7369-70-64
277 - Jon Rahm (ESP) 67-71-7267, Martin Laird (SCO) 73-69-6867, Dustin Johnson 66-71-71-69
278 - Ricky Barnes 71-68-71-68,
Alex Cejka (GER) 71-69-69-69,
Steve Wheatcroft 68-77-64-69,
Brandt Snedeker 68-73-66-71
279 - Geoff Ogilvy (AUS) 73-7172-63, Ben Crane 69-70-73-67,
Matt Kuchar 69-71-70-69, a-Jared
du Toit (CAN) 67-71-70-71
280 - Jim Furyk 70-71-71-68
281 - Luke List 66-71-77-67,
Chris Kirk 72-73-69-67, Jason Day
(AUS) 69-76-69-67, Chez Reavie
69-71-73-68, Jimmy Walker
70-72-71-68, Spencer Levin 72-
70-71-68, Michael Thompson
72-74-66-69, Hudson Swafford
72-72-67-70, Cameron Tringale
68-73-69-71
282 - Brian Harman 75-71-73-63,
John Senden (AUS) 73-72-70-67,
Kim Si-Woo (KOR) 69-77-67-69
Reuters
England beat
Pakistan to
level series
Serge Aurier
extended another year.
No Canadian has won the
Canadian Open since Pat
Fletcher in 1954.
FIFA’S ETHICS COMmittee has banned Wolfgang Niersbach, the former president of the German Football Association,
for one year for failing to
report potential misconduct surrounding the
award of the 2006 soccer
World Cup in Germany.
The adjudicatory chamber of Fifa’s Ethics Committee barred Niersbach
from all football-related
activity, it said on Monday. Fifa investigators had
sought a two-year ban.
“The present case did
not look into possible
breaches of the Fifa code
of ethics in relation to possible acts of bribery and/
or corruption with regards
to the award of the 2006
Fifa World Cup, but only
evaluated Mr Niersbach’s
awareness of the said incidents and his failure to
report them to the Ethics
Committee in a timely
manner,” the panel said
in a statement.
Niersbach, who still
sits on the world soccer
body’s Council as well
as Europe’s Uefa Executive Committee, resigned
from the DFB presidency
in November after he was
unable to explain a 6.7 million euro ($7.4 million)
payment from the German
World Cup organisers to
Fifa.
Aussies name
2 spinners for
Lanka opener
PALLEKELE (Sri Lanka)
Ameen of Ericsson was declared man of the tournament.
Ericsson clinch Al Hail
T10 Summer Cup
MUSCAT
ERICSSON CLINCHED
the Al Hail T10 Summer
Cup Hardball Cricket
Tournament title with an
emphatic
eight-wicket
win over Rahil Xl on Friday.
The tournament was organised by Al Hail Cricket
Team.
In the final match held
at the Al Hail cricket
ground, Rahil Xl captain
Ahmed won the toss and
selected to bat first. Rahil
Xl went on to score 104
runs in the stipulated 10
overs for the loss of seven
wickets.
Gulu Bhat top scored
with 49 runs and other useful contribution came from
Warhon with 15 runs. For
Ericsson, Aftab took two
wickets giving away 12
runs, a press release said
on Monday.
In reply, Ericsson
achieved the victory target
of 105 at the end of 8 overs
losing only two wickets in
the process.
Jhanjeb was the top
scorer with 61 runs while
Lakmalh from Rahil Xl took
two wickets. Jhanjeb was
declared man of the match
for his match winning 61
runs while Ameen of Eric-
sson was declared as man of
the tournament. Deepak of
Ericsson was adjudged as
Best bowler of the tournament while Jhanjeb of Ericsson was declared as best
Batsman.
Moula Balushi and Azhar
Aftab senior board members of Al Hail CT presided as the chief guest at the
final match and presented
the award awards.
The tournament organisers thanked the main sponsor Cricket Cottage Oman
for their valuable support in
successfully completing the
tournament.
Oman Tribune
AUSTRALIAN CAPTAin Steve Smith named spin
twins Nathan Lyon and
Steve O’Keefe in his lineup on Monday for the series
opener against Sri Lanka as
the newly-crowned kings of
Test cricket look to cement
their supremacy.
On the day that Australia
were presented with the
mace as the world number
one side, Smith took the
unusual move of naming
his starting XI a day before
the start of the first Test in
Pallekele, near Kandy.
Australia’s rise up the
rankings has been based
in large part on the perfor-
mance of their fast bowlers
such as Mitchell Starc and
Josh Hazlewood and they
rarely field more than one
spinner.
But after taking 10 wickets in a warm-up last week,
O’Keefe has been picked
to play only his third Test
alongside the more experienced Nathan Lyon – his
close friend and Sheffield
Shield teammate. “Both
our spinners bowled well
in the practice game. They
have played lot of games for
New South Wales and they
are close friends. It’s going
to be exciting,” Smith said
in Pallekele, on the outskirts
of Kandy.
Agence France-Presse
Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP
Australian cricket captain Steven Smith poses with
the ICC Test Championship mace in Kandy on Monday.
AIBA denies accusations to take over sport
SHANGHAI
AFP
Managing Director of YunFeng Capital Xia Xiaoyan,
AIBA President Wu Ching-kuo and Alisports CEO
Zhang Dazhong, during a press conference.
THE INTERNATIONAL
Boxing Association (AIBA)
on Monday denied accusations it is trying to take
over the sport, following a
controversial decision to let
professional boxers fight at
the Rio Olympics.
At an AIBA congress in
Lausanne in Switzerland
last month, 95 per cent of
delegates voted to allow
professional boxers for the
first time ever to enter the
competition.
The decision was met
with widespread derision
in the boxing world, with
many making their views
clear even before the change
was made.
AIBA president Wu
Ching-kuo said the organisation had no plans to take
over the sport and allowing
professionals to compete in
Olympic boxing was a great
step forward for it.
The official, who is Taiwanese, made the comments
at a press conference to announce a joint venture to
promote boxing between
AIBA and Alisports, an
arm of Chinese Internet giant Alibaba which is owned
by entrepreneur Jack Ma.
“We never said we want
to take over boxing. We
just want to open the door
because no one can stop
athletes from going to the
Olympics, that is a funda-
mental concept,” Wu said.
“If the athlete says ‘My
dream is to go to the Olympics’, then we just want to
open the door.”
In May legendary boxing
promoter Bob Arum said
the plan to introduce professional boxers was “total
madness” and would result
in “serious injuries”.
Arum believed the decision was commercially orientated, with AIBA seeing
more lucrative opportu-
nities, and part of a wider
power grab by the association. But Wu rejected the
charges saying that “only the
best AIBA boxers” would be
facing professional fighters.
Speaking about the new
relationship with Alibaba,
Wu predicted a bright future
for boxing in China, which he
described as a “noble sport”
that could “prepare youth for
the challenges which they
face in society”.
Agence France-Presse
16
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
21 SHAWWAL 1437
Solar Impulse 2
nears end of
epic world tour
Malaria
drug may
help in
cancer fight
LONDON
lapsed building.
In recent weeks, government forces seized parts of
the only remaining supply
route into the city›s east,
severing opposition neighbourhoods from the outside
world and prompting food
shortages and spiralling
prices.
The Observatory said at
least three civilians had been
killed in rebel fire on western
Aleppo on Monday.
Sana said the dead were
a pregnant woman and her
child. More than 280,000
people have been killed in
Syria since the conflict began, and more than half the
country has been displaced.
AN OFF-PATENT MALAria drug could help to destroy
cancer cells by making them
more susceptible to radiotherapy, according to early
work that has prompted British scientists to start a clinical
trial.
Researchers reported on
Monday that atovaquone
boosted oxygen levels in tumour cells in mice, making
radiotherapy more effective
against a range of cancer
types, including lung, bowel, brain and head and neck
cancer.
Cancer cells with low oxygen levels are more difficult
to treat with radiotherapy
and are more likely to spread
to other parts of the body.
“We have now started a
clinical trial ...to see if we
can show the same results in
cancer patients,” said lead
researcher Gillies McKenna
of the Cancer Research UK
Radiation Research Centre
in Oxford.
“We hope that this existing low-cost drug will mean
that resistant tumours can be
re-sensitised to radiotherapy. And we’re using a drug
that we already know is safe.”
His team’s findings were
published in the journal
Nature Communications.
The idea of repurposing existing drugs to fight cancer is
gaining traction as scientists
realise that older medicines
can sometimes complement
other therapies. Such drugs
are already off patent means
they are cheap, but the lack
of patent protection is also a
potential problem
Agence France-Presse
Reuters
Plane to land in Abu Dhabi today
ABU DHABI
SOLAR IMPULSE 2
was on Monday approaching the end of its epic bid
to become the first sunpowered airplane to circle
the globe without a drop of
fuel to promote renewable
energy.
When the experimental aircraft touches down
in Abu Dhabi in the early
hours of Tuesday it will cap
a remarkable 42,000-km
journey across four continents, two oceans and
three seas.
With Swiss explorer and
project director Bertrand
Piccard in the cockpit, the
plane is due to land at Al
Bateen Executive Airport
in the UAE capital where it
launched its tour on March
9, 2015.
On Monday, Solar Impulse 2 was flying over the
Saudi desert north of Riyadh, heading towards the
Gulf.
“After a turbulent night
from extreme high temperatures, the sun rose above a
desert of sand dunes above
#SaudiArabia,” Piccard said
on Twitter.
Dubbed the ‘paper
plane’, Solar Impulse 2 is
circumnavigating the globe
in stages, with Piccard, 58,
and his compatriot Andre
Borschberg taking turns at
the controls of the singleseat aircraft.
It took off from Cairo on
its final leg early on Sunday,
having previously crossed
Asia, North America, Europe, and North Africa.
Borschberg, 63, smashed
the record for the longest
uninterrupted journey in
aviation history with the
8,924-km flight between
Nagoya, Japan and Hawaii
that lasted 118 hours.
OVER S. ARABIA
The plane,
equipped with
a parachute
and life raft
in case of an
accident, flew
over Saudi
Arabia on
Sunday
No heavier than a car but
with the wingspan of a Boeing 747, the four-engine
battery-powered aircraft
relies on around 17,000
solar cells embedded in its
wings.
Its broad wings and light
weight make it particularly
sensitive to turbulence.
The plane has clocked
an average speed of 80km
an hour.
The pilots use oxygen
tanks to breathe while at
high altitude and wear suits
specially designed to cope
with the extreme conditions.
They must withstand
temperatures inside the
tiny cockpit ranging from
minus 20 degrees C to plus
35 degrees C.
The plane, equipped with
a parachute and life raft in
case of an accident, flew at
an altitude exceeding 9,144
metres over Saudi Arabia on
Sunday.
Piccard has said he
launched the project in
2003 to show that renewable energy “can achieve the
impossible”.
His dream looks set to
come true but it took much
longer than planned.
The bid was initially expected to last five months,
including 25 days of actual
flying.
But the aircraft was
grounded in July last year
when its solar-powered
batteries suffered problems
halfway through the trip.
The project has also been
beset by bad weather conditions and illness which
forced Piccard to delay the
final leg.
While in the air, the pilot
is constantly in contact with
the mission control centre
in Monaco, where a team of
weathermen, mathematicians and engineers monitor
the route and prepare flight
strategies.
Agence France-Presse
AFP
Solar Impulse 2, piloted by Swiss Bertrand Piccard, taking off from Cairo’s International Airport in Egypt on
Sunday as it heads to Abu Dhabi on the final leg of its world tour.
Air raids, rebel fire kill 19 in Syria
BEIRUT
AIR STRIKES AND BARrel bomb attacks killed 16
civilians in rebel-held parts
of Aleppo province on
Monday, with rebel rocket
fire onto government areas
killing three more, a monitor said.
The Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights said 10
civilians had been killed in
multiple air strikes on the
town of rebel-held Atareb
in Aleppo province.
The group said the strikes
in the early hours of Monday morning were believed
to have been carried out by
Russian warplanes, and hit
several locations including
Australia plans to detain
terrorists indefinitely
SYDNEY
HIGH-RISK TERROR
offenders may be kept in jail
after their sentences finish,
Australian officials said on
Monday as they move to
tighten security laws following attacks in the US
and Europe.
Prime Minister Malcolm
Turnbull said the proposed
changes were prompted
by an increase in the frequency and severity of attacks around the world as
he noted the recent mass
shooting in Orlando and a
lorry attack in Nice, France.
“In the wake of Orlando,
Nice, and other terrorist
incidents, as well as our
own experience... we cannot afford for a moment to
be complacent,” Turnbull
said.
In response to the evolving threat, he said Australia, which has already
ramped up security laws
since 2014, would move
to keep high-risk terrorists in detention beyond
the completion of their
sentences.
“This legislation will
enable additional periods
of imprisonment for terrorist offenders who have
served their sentences but
are still judged to present
an unacceptable risk to the
community,” he said.
The proposal, to be discussed with state and territory officials who must then
pass legislation, is similar
to arrangements already in
place for sex offenders and
extremely violent individuals in some states.
Attorney-General
George Brandis said the extension of detention would
be a court supervised process with regular reviews
and reassessments.
“It will of course only
apply to individuals who,
as they approach the end
of a sentence of imprisonment, continue to pose an
unacceptably high risk to
the community because of
their failure to be rehabilitated as a result of a penal
sentence,” he said.
Brandis said the government would also move
to lower the age at which
people can be subject to
a control order -- which
aims to prevent a terror attack by limiting a person’s
movements, communications and activities -- from
16 to 14.
It would also legislate to
introduce a new offence
of advocacy of genocide
targeting those preaching
hate, he added.
The prime minister said
the steps were necessary
but proportionate.
“They balance the need
to keep the community safe
with our commitment to
privacy and the rights of the
individual,” Turnbull said,
stressing that ultimately it
was vitally important Islamic State insurgents be
defeated in the field.
But in moving to ramp up
legislation, he said authorities still faced the difficulty
of finding offenders who
were under the radar, with
no known reason for their
radicalisation, and tackling
this required strong intelligence.
Agence France-Presse
a market area. The Observatory says it determines
what planes carried out
raids according to their
type, location, flight patterns and the munitions
involved.
In Aleppo city, six civilians
were killed in barrel bomb attacks on eastern rebel-held
neighbourhoods, the Obser-
injuries and still trapped
under rubble.
A witness at the scene of
one of the attacks in the Al
Mashhad neighbourhood
said civil defence workers
were struggling to retrieve
survivours who were trapped
under heavy pieces of debris.
He said rescuers had managed to pull one boy alive
The Observatory said 10 civilians had
been killed in multiple air strikes
vatory said.
It said the toll was expected to rise because of
the number of people with
from the rubble, but the
rest of his family members
were dead and still trapped
beneath the remains of a col-
Daish car
bomber kills
14 in Iraq
279,000 kids out of
school in Libya: UN
BAGHDAD
TRIPOLI
A SUICIDE CAR BOMber killed 14 people, including women and children,
packed into a minibus at a
checkpoint outside a central Iraqi town on Monday
morning, police and hospital
sources said.
A police officer at the
scene said most of the victims
died inside their vehicles
while waiting to enter Khalis.
The blast at the entrance
to the town of Khales also
wounded 37, according
to Diyala province police
spokesman Colonel Ghalib
Al Attiyah and health department spokesman Faris
Al Azzawi. Attiyah said the
checkpoint was crowded,
and that a number of them
were burned in the blast.
THE UNITED NATIONS
warned on Monday that
the Libya conflict was preventing some 279,000
children from attending
school across the war-torn
country.
“Recently released data
from Libya’s Ministry
of Education paints an
alarming picture of education access,” the UN’s Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) said.
“A total of 558 schools
across various regions of
Libya (were) classed as
nonfunctional, affecting
approximately 279,000
school-age
children,”
OCHA said in a report.
“Schools had closed due
to partial or complete dam-
Agencies
age as a result of conflict
and fighting,” it said.
In some cities including Libya’s second city
of Benghazi, “a number
of schools have become
shelters for the displaced,
preventing children from
accessing them,” it added.
For more than two years,
the eastern city has been
rocked by fighting between
forces loyal to the internationally-recognised parliament and armed groups
including Daish group.
The violence has forced
most schools in Benghazi
to close in mid-2014, with
only about a third reopening in December last year.
To the west, the coastal
city of Sirte has lost more
than three quarters of its
total population after Daish
overran it in June last year,
OCHA said.
It said that since April
and May, 35,000 people
fled Sirte as forces loyal to
Libya’s UN-backed unity
government launched an
offensive to retake the city
from the radicals.
“Host communities are
struggling to provide assistance as increasingly more
people flee Sirte, putting a
burden on infrastructure,”
OCHA said.
“Water and sanitation
conditions... are deteriorating rapidly and hospitals face shortages of beds
and medical supplies to
aid growing numbers of
patients.” Rival militias in
Libya have been vying for
power since the overthrow
of Muammar Gaddafi in
2011.
Agence France-Presse
Printed at Al Watan Al Omaneya Printing Press
17
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
21 SHAWWAL 1437
Sukuk issuance Mideast M&A steady in Q2
rises 11% in first despite fall in global deals
half of this year
DUBAI
BIZ BYTES
Gazprom,
Gail set to
rework deal
NEW DELHI Gail India
is in talks with Russia’s
Gazprom to delay and
renegotiate a 20-year
gas purchase deal
undercut by low spot
prices, sources say, as
weak demand at home
forces it to stall
some contracted
supply.
Page 18
Japan June
exports fall
Japan’s exports
fell less than expected
in June in a tentative
sign that overseas demand could be recovering from persistent
weakness that set in
last year.
Page 19
TOKYO
Huawei revenue
rises 40% in H1
SHANGHAI Chinese
telecom equipment
giant Huawei said that
revenue surged 40
per cent year-on-year
in the first half of
2016.
Page 20
New issuance picks up to $21.74b
STAFF REPORTER
MUSCAT
SUKUK
ISSUANCE
from key markets in the first
half of 2016 rose by 11per
cent compared to the same
period last year, according
to Fitch Ratings’ analysis.
This underlines expectations for gradually increasing issuance over the
long-term as more countries
create supportive legal
frameworks, it said.
Sukuk as a proportion
of total issuance in the
Gulf Cooperation Council, Malaysia, Indonesia,
Turkey and Pakistan were
also slightly ahead of the
same period a year ago, but
could not maintain the first
quarter’s very strong market
share due to the return of
sovereign issuance of conventional bonds by GCC
members in recent months.
Total new Sukuk issuance
(with maturity of more than
18 months) in these key
markets rose to $21.74
billion in the first half of the
year from $19.54 billion in
the same period last year.
Issuance was evenly
spread across the first half
of the year, with $11.07 billion in the first quarter and
$10.67 billion in the second quarter. We only look
at longer-term issuance because frequently rolled-over
short-term debt can distort
underlying trends, the rating agency said in its report.
It was recently that
Moody’s Investors Service
assigned a rating of Baa1
to the US dollar certificates
issued by Oman Sovereign
Sukuk, a special purpose
vehicle wholly owned by the
Sultanate. The Government
through Oman Sovereign
Sukuk priced 500 million
of trust certificates with a
profit rate of 3.5 per cent
per annum, payable semiannually. The tenor is six
years with maturity date of
July 14, 2022. The principal will be repaid in three
equal repayments at the end
of the 48th, 60th and 72nd
month from the issue date
of July 14, 2016.
According to Fitch, Sukuk
represented 30 per cent of
total issuance in these countries in the first half, up from
28 per cent in 2015. The
proportion would have been
even higher, but for the return of Abu Dhabi and Qatar
to the sovereign bond market
with issues of $5 billion and
$9 billion, respectively. Both
sovereigns probably opted
for bond financing to help attract international investors.
Among other sovereigns
that could come to the market are Kuwait and Saudi
Arabia, which are considering capital market funding.
The decision whether to issue bonds or Sukuk, or a mix,
depends on factors including
the target investor and funding base (international or
regional and local), the existence of a Sukuk structure
and Islamic finance strategy,
and the needs and size of the
Islamic finance industry, because Islamic banks are not
allowed to invest in traditional bonds.
THE MIDDLE EAST
merger and acquisition
(M&A) activity remained
steady during the second
quarter (Q2) of 2016,
despite a drop of 33 per
cent in global cross-border
deals compared to the same
period of 2015, according
to a report.
The Middle East saw an
increase in both inbound
and outbound cross-regional M&A activity in the first
half of 2016, despite subdued global cross-border
volume and values, according to global law firm Baker
& McKenzie’s quarterly
Cross-Border M&A Index.
Hesitancy persisted as
global markets remained
volatile, and consequently,
the Index, which tracks
quarterly deal activity using a baseline score of 100,
dropped to 176, down 33
per cent from Q2 2015’s
total of 263, the lowest Index result since Q3 2013.
Buyers announced 1,320
cross-border deals worth
$214 billion, a 4 per cent
drop in volume and a 45
per cent drop in value compared to Q2 2015. Although
North America was the largest cross-regional outbound
market by volume, the EU
File
Boehringer Ingelheim logo outside the company’s headquarters in Danbury, the
US. Boehringer Ingelheim’s $12.56 billion acquisition of Merial was the largest
deal in terms of value in the second quarter of 2016.
and North America experienced the largest reductions
in deal values. The drop can
be attributed, at least in part,
to fewer megadeals – those
above $5 billion in value –
in the first half of the year.
While there were 21 megadeals struck in the first half
of 2015 with a total value of
$296 billion, the 18 thus
far in 2016 are worth 23
per cent less at $228 billion. Only three of those occurred in Q2 2016 (worth
$29 billion).
On the sector side, in-
dustrials topped the volume
charts with 199 deals, while
the pharmaceuticals sector
produced the highest-value
Q2 deal: Boehringer Ingelheim’s $12.56 billion
acquisition of Merial.
The Middle East Index
increased from its Q1
2016 position of 141 to
437 in the second quarter
of the year, signifying the
strength of cross-border
M&A activity in the region,
with the UAE standing out
as the most active country
in the region in respect of
both inbound and outbound
investment. The volume
and value of deals targeting
the Middle East increased
from six deals worth $349
million in Q1 2016 to 10
deals worth $1.4 billion.
The Energy & Utilities
sector was the busiest in Q2
2016 by both deal volume
and value, with three deals
valued at $1.37 billion. The
volume of outbound M&A
from the Middle East in H1
2016 was slightly up on H1
2015.
Agencies
INDICATORS
Major Indices
Nikkei 16,620.29
-6.96
Hang Seng 21,993.44 +29.17
Asian Indices
BSE
28,095.34
NSE
8,635.65
Karachi 39,017.32
Dubai
3,555.35
+292.10
+94.45
-134.46
+37.97
Draft Rates
Indian Rs
Pakistani Rs
Bangladeshi Takaa
Philippine Peso
174.80
272.05
203.50
122.10
Source: Oman & UAE Exchange
Gold Rates
Gold (London)
$1,316.91
Lower oil prices hurt Abu Dhabi property market
ABU DHABI
THE IMPACT OF A SUBdued oil market on economic growth in Abu Dhabi is
showing in the emirate’s real
estate market as job cuts and
lower government spending
feed through to rent and sale
prices, two consultancies
said on Monday.
Like some other Gulf
states, the oil-rich capital
of the UAE is laying off
thousands at state-linked
companies.
That has drastically impacted demand levels, even
with supply of new properties at an all-time low in the
emirate, with just 400 units
handed over to owners in
the second quarter according to JLL.
After 18 months of relatively stable conditions,
initial signs of price declines were evident in the
three months to June 30,
the consultancy said.
Verizon to buy
HSBC to sell
Lebanese unit Yahoo business
DUBAI
HSBC BANK MIDDLE
East, a wholly-owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings,
said on Monday it was in discussions to sell its Lebanese
business to Lebanon’s Blom
Bank.
There was no certainty
about whether a binding
transaction would result
from the discussions but
HSBC would make further
disclosures if appropriate,
it said in an emailed statement. HSBC has been
seeking to divest businesses, including in Brazil
to Turkey, as part of chief
executive Stuart Gulliver’s
HSBC is
planning to divest
businesses in
countries like
Brazil, Turkey
plan to boost profitability
and pay higher dividends
to shareholders.
Agencies
SAN FRANCISCO
YAHOO HAS AGREED
to sell its core business to
telecom giant Verizon for
$4.8 billion, ending a 20year run by the internet
pioneer as an independent
company.
Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam said Yahoo would be
integrated into its recently
acquired AOL unit to create
“a top global mobile media
company, and help accelerate our revenue stream in
digital advertising.”
The acquisition, expected
to close in early 2017, will
exclude Yahoo’s cash, certain patent holdings, and its
big share in Alibaba Group
and stake in Yahoo Japan.
The deal will however
turn over the popular Yahoo News, Mail and other
online services used by
more than a billion people
worldwide.
Yahoo will be left as a
separate investment company that will change its
name after the transaction.
The deal comes with Yahoo struggling to keep up
with rivals like Google and
Facebook.
SEE PAGE 19
That was particularly notable at the top end of the
market, previously a staple
for oil sector employees,
with average prime sale
prices down 5 per cent on
the first quarter.
The rental market was
also impacted, with a nominal decrease of around 2
per cent during the second
quarter - the first decline
in three years, according
to David Dudley, international director & head of
JLL’s Abu Dhabi office.
The fall was likely to be
bigger in the third quarter
as families who left at the
end of the school year in
late-June either move into
smaller properties or fail
to return altogether, JLL’s
report added. Consultancy
CBRE also reported declines at the high end of
the market, while rental
and sales prices for more
affordable property remained steady as there was
still a large body of expatriate workers within this income segment. In the commercial office space, CBRE
said rents outside the central
business district fell 2 per
cent from the first quarter,
taking year-on-year declines
at end-June to 13 per cent.
Reuters
18
BUSINESS
OMAN TRIBUNE
GM puts India
car platform
plan on hold
NEW DELHI
GENERAL MOTORS IS
re-evaluating its planned $1
billion investment in India
and has put on hold moves
to bring a new car platform
to India as it re-assesses
its strategy in the country,
according to company officials.
The rethink comes as
GM’s India sales have
fallen nearly 40 per cent in
the year to end-March, and
its share of the domestic
passenger vehicle market
is now below 1 per cent.
Sagging sales and a regulatory crackdown on dieselpowered vehicles are now
forcing GM to redraw plans.
In 2015, the US automaker had committed to
investing $1 billion in India
to boost its domestic market
share and make the country
a global export hub by improving its manufacturing
base and launching strategic
products.
“The billion dollars was
committed based on a certain product portfolio,”
Jack Uppal, vice president,
marketing at GM India told
Reuters. “As the product
program could change, the
amounts that are required to
invest would also change.”
GM’s original $1 billion
plan included, among other
things, the launch of a multipurpose vehicle Spin and a
new modular platform, designed to build low-cost cars
for emerging markets.
“We are conducting a
full review of our future
product program in India,” Swati Bhattacharya, a
spokeswoman at GM India
told Reuters in an emailed
statement. “As a result, we
are also putting on hold future investment in our allnew vehicle family in India
SPEED BREAKERS
In 2015, the
US automaker
had committed
to investing $1
billion
in India to
boost its
domestic
market share
until we firm our product
portfolio plan.”
The new platform would
have helped GM price cars
competitively in a market
like India where buyers prefer low-cost cars and which
is dominated by Maruti
Suzuki India and Hyundai
Motor.
Instead of launching the
Spin MPV, GM is focused
on bringing a compact SUV
to India soon, said Uppal,
adding GM still plans to
launch small cars like the
Beat Activ hatchback and
Essentia compact sedan in
2017, as it attempts to bolster sales.
Reuters
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
Gail, Gazprom to rework deal
Weak gas demand forces Indian firm to stall some contracted supply
NEW DELHI/MILAN/
LONDON
GAIL INDIA IS IN TALKS
with Russia’s Gazprom to
delay and renegotiate a 20year gas purchase deal undercut by low spot prices,
sources familiar with the
matter say, as weak demand
at home forces it to stall
some contracted supply.
Shipments under the
deal, initially expected to
start in 2018/2019, are
linked to crude oil prices
which are rising while gas
prices are expected to stay
subdued for longer as major new production plants
in Australia and the US
start up. The price mismatch is injecting tensions
into long-term LNG agreements, driving a wedge between buyers and sellers
such as Gail and Gazprom’s
Marketing & Trading, industry sources say.
Gail is also trying to
juggle a rapidly expanded
LNG book after embarking
on a buying spree between
2011 and 2013 when the
fuel was scarce and prices
kept hitting new peaks.
Gail is seeking a meeting with Gazprom officials
to discuss in greater detail
delaying the deal and revising its oil-linked price,
a source with knowledge of
the matter said.
By exploiting what Gail
sees as an inconsistency in
its contract with Gazprom,
Gail hopes to revise key
terms under the 2.5 million
File
A board with the logo of Gazprom Neft oil company at a fuel station in Moscow. Gail India is in talks with Gazprom to delay and renegotiate a 20-year gas purchase deal.
tonne/year deal, according
to industry sources.
Under the 20-year accord, signed in 2012, Gazprom said it would source
its supply from the nowcancelled Shtokman LNG
export plant in the Barents
Sea, the sources said.
The Gazprom subsidiary
now aims to source supply
from its global portfolio,
including a share in the
forthcoming Yamal LNG
project in the Arctic peninsula, which Gail claims
constitutes breach of con-
tract, industry sources said.
A Gazprom source adds
that Gail is not proposing
scrapping the entire deal.
“The Indians are looking to postpone most
deliveries and this is what
talks are focusing on,” the
Gazprom source said adding that Gazprom gas is
not the most expensive in
Gail’s supply mix. “They
have over committed,” the
Gazprom source said.
At current oil prices,
Gazprom’s LNG will cost
more than $7 per mmBtu
while spot cargoes fetch
around $5 per mmBtu, a
big difference in a pricesensitive market like India,
sources said.
Apart from a deal with
Gazprom, Gail is also saddled with about 5.8 million
tonnes of LNG a year from
the US which is expected
to begin ramping up within
the next two years.
The cost of liquefying
gas and exporting it as LNG
from the US to India currently turns out at $4.62
per mmBtu this winter, a
still attractive level for Indian buyers, but analysts
say the trade could be lossmaking later this decade.
The Indian firm has thus
far managed to sell 2 million tonnes annually from
its US portfolio, part of
which went to Royal Dutch
Shell, Gail Chairman BC
Tripathi has said, as Indian customers struggle
to absorb or afford LNG
from the US.
Gail did not respond to
an email seeking comment.
Gazprom declined immedi-
ate comment. Cheap spot
cargoes are streaming into
India at an unprecedented
rate - overall LNG imports
are up 40 per cent on last
year, helping displace demand for inflexible longterm deals.
India wants to migrate
gradually to a gas-based
economy and lift share of
the cleaner-burning fuel
in its energy mix closer to
the world average of 23.8
per cent from a current 6.5
per cent.
Last year India renegotiated a long-term LNG supply deal with Qatar’s Rasgas, nearly halving the price
and avoiding a $1.5 billion
penalty fee for lifting less
gas than agreed as customers preferred cheaper spot
supplies.
It showed how tumbling
oil prices and a global gas
glut are compelling exporters to offer better deals to
retain their share in global
energy trade.
India’s biggest LNG
importer Petronet is also
seeking to renegotiate its
costliest import deal with
ExxonMobil for 1.4 million tonnes annually from
the Gorgon project in Australia, industry sources say.
That deal, which is due
to start in the first quarter
of 2017, is also oil-linked
at an indexation level of
14.5 per cent to a barrel
of crude, or over $7 per
mmBtu - a hefty premium
to current spot prices.
Reuters
India set to start ICICI, Axis Bank join Swift’s Capital infusion
NBCC share sale global payments initiative
to help IOB,
Central Bank
NEW DELHI
THE INDIAN GOVERNment has kick started the
process to sell 15 per cent
stake in NBCC and has invited merchant bankers to
manage the share sale.
The government will appoint up to three merchant
bankers for the share issue,
which could fetch about
Rs22 billion to the exchequer at the current market
price. Earlier this month
the Cabinet had cleared
15 per cent stake sale of
NBCC through an offer
for sale (OFS).
The government is
also considering allotting
shares to eligible NBCC
employees at a discount
of 5 per cent to the issue
price up to a maximum of
0.75 per cent of the OFS
size. The employees will be
eligible to apply for shares
up to Rs200,000.
The merchant bankers
will have to put in their
bids with the Department
Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM)
by August 16.
Shares of NBCC were
quoting at Rs249.45,
down 0.62 per cent on the
BSE. At the current market
price, sale of 15 per cent
stake could fetch around
Rs 2,200 crore to the exchequer.
Agencies
MUMBAI
GLOBAL PAYMENTS
leader SWIFT on Monday
said ICICI Bank and Axis
Bank have become the first
domestic lenders to sign up
for its global payments innovation initiative, which
already has over 70 other
leading banks globally.
The initiative aims to
enhance cross-border payments by leveraging Swift’s
messaging platform and
global reach and in the first
phase, the initiative will focus on business-to-business
payments. Designed to help
corporates grow their international business, improve
supplier relationships, and
File
A private security personnel stands guard outside an
ICICI Bank branch in Kolkata.
achieve greater treasury efficiencies, the new service
will enable corporates to
receive an enhanced payments service directly from
their banks. The service
offers key features such as
the same day use of funds,
transparency and predictability of fees, end-to-end
payments tracking, and
transfer of rich payment
information.
Kiran Shetty, head of
India and Subcontinent at
Swift said, “by being the
first domestic banks to join
the global payments innovation initiative, ICICI Bank
and Axis Bank reiterate
their commitment to offering greater speed, transparency and predictability to
their clients when it comes
to cross-border payments.”
On the partnership, ICICI Bank’s Ajay Gupta said
the association will help it
to add value to its corporate
clients. The Belgium-based
Swift is a global memberowned cooperative and a
leading provider of secure
financial messaging services.
Agencies
India coffee output likely to fall 8% this year
NEW DELHI
INDIA’S COFFEE PROduction is likely to decline
by 8 per cent in the current
financial year mainly due to
lack of timely rains, government said on Monday.
“It has been estimated
that there is a likelihood
of decline in coffee production in 2016-17 by 8
per cent compared to that
in 2015-16 due to lack
of timely rains and high
temperature during the
crucial flowering stage,”
Commerce and Industry
Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha.
Coffee Board is providing focussed support for
water augmentation and extension activities to coffee
growers. Besides, coffee
growers are given compensation for crop losses due
to erratic rainfall under the
Rainfall Insurance Scheme
for Coffee, she said.
The main buyers of Indian coffee are Italy, Rus-
sian Federation, Germany,
Belgium and Turkey which
account for over 50 per cent
of coffee exports from India.
During Question Hour, she
also said the Coffee Exporters Association have
represented before the
Department of Commerce
for adding green coffee
beans to the exempted list
in the proposed Goods and
Services Tax (GST). “The
matter is under consideration,” she noted.
Agencies
NEW DELHI
INDIAN OVERSEAS BAnk and Central Bank of
India will benefit from the
government’s recent capital infusion as they have got
a higher share as a proportion of their share capital,
Moody’s said on Monday.
“The capital infusion will
improve their capitalisation
at a time when asset quality
pressure and elevated provisioning costs have negatively affected their financial
performance,” it said in its
credit outlook titled, ‘Indian
Overseas Bank and Central Bank of India benefit
from government’s capital
infusion’. Last week, the
government announced a
Rs229.15 billion ($3.41
billion) capital infusion
into 13 state banks. Of this,
IOB received Rs31.01 billion and Central Bank got
Rs17.29 billion.
The capital infusion is
positive for weaker banks
such as the Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) and Central Bank of India, which
received a higher share of
the capital allocation as a
proportion of their share
capital, Moody’s said.
Indian banks continue to
recognise non-performing
loans (NPLs) from larger
leveraged corporates, especially in the steel and power
sectors, pressurizing their
asset quality. Also, slippages
from the restructured loan
book will contribute to the
rise in NPLs.
“As a result, provisioning
expenses are likely to remain elevated, constraining
profitability and limiting the
banks’ internal capital generation. In this context, the
capital infusion will provide
some respite to the recipient banks, especially those
with weak capitalisation,”
Moody’s said.
Hence, they have a greater dependence on government infusions for capital
support. This timely round
of capital infusion augments
their capitalization, aiming
to improve their ability to
raise equity capital from
public markets, Moody’s
added.
Agencies
BUSINESS
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
Japan exports fall less
than expected in June
TOKYO
JAPAN’S
EXPORTS
fell less than expected in
June in a tentative sign that
overseas demand could be
recovering from persistent weakness that set in
last year.
Slowing decline in exports could ease concerns
for Japan’s policymakers as
they try to revive growth via
stimulus spending on infrastructure after their structural reform plans failed to
deliver hoped-for results.
“Exports are showing signs that they have
stopped deteriorating,”
said Norio Miyagawa, senior economist at Mizuho
Securities.
“The US economy is a
bright spot and should help
Japan’s exports recover.
The (Japanese) government’s stimulus plan is
designed to help domestic demand, but without
broader reforms they are
just buying time.”
In its monthly economic
report, the government
said business sentiment
has worsened, suggesting
a much-awaited rebound
in domestic demand is not
guaranteed as companies
may delay investment due
to worries about overseas
economies.
The 7.4 per cent annual
decline in exports in June
was less than the median
estimate for an 11.6 per
cent annual decline seen
in a Reuters poll of economists, although it was the
ninth consecutive monthly
fall.
In volume terms, exports
rose 2.9 per cent in June
from the same period a year
earlier, the first increase in
four months.
The trade balance hit a
surplus of 692.8 billion
yen versus a 494.8 billion
yen surplus seen in the poll.
Exports fell in June on
declines in shipments of
cars and steel, the data
showed. On a positive
note, Japan’s exports of
TRADE FLOW
The trade
balance hit a
surplus of 692.8
billion yen versus
a 494.8 billion
yen surplus seen
in the poll
food, medicines and finished metal products rose
in June from a year ago.
Exports to China - Japan’s largest trading partner - fell an annual 10.0 per
cent in June due to falling
shipments of chemicals and
metal processing equipment.
That was less than a 14.9
per cent annual decline in
the previous month as an
increase in shipments of
cars to China helped offset
a decline in other exports.
US-bound shipments
fell 6.5 per cent year-onyear, considerably less
than the 10.7 per cent annual decline of the previous
month due to a pick-up in
food exports.
Japanese shipments to
the European Union fell
0.4 per cent year-on-year
in June, less than a 4 per
cent annual decline in May.
Exports to Britain rose
3.7 per cent annually in
June, versus a 0.7 per cent
annual decline in the previous month, although there
are worries that Brexit
could yet disrupt international trade. Japan’s imports were down 18.8 per
cent year-on-year versus a
forecast for a 19.7 per cent
annual decline.
The yen has risen around
13 per cent versus the dollar so far this year, and
some Japanese policymakers are worried about
further gains that would
severely erode exporters’
earnings and increase deflationary pressure by lowering import prices.
The government kept its
assessment of the economy
unchanged in its monthly
economic report released
earlier on Monday but
said business sentiment
had worsened. The Bank
of Japan’s tankan survey
found the corporate mood
stagnated in April-June due
to a strengthening yen.
The government is
crafting a 20 trillion yen
($187.93 billion) spending package to stimulate
the economy, three government sources said last
week. The BOJ is expected
to ease monetary policy at
a meeting ending on July
29, a Reuters poll of economists found, to boost anemic inflation.
Reuters
OMAN TRIBUNE
19
Verizon to acquire Yahoo
Internet assets for $4.8b
Deal could close in Q1 of 2017, IT major to be integrated with AOL
SAN FRANCISCO
YAHOO AGREED TO
sell its core assets to telecom giant Verizon for $4.8
billion, ending a 20-year
run by the internet pioneer
as an independent company, the firms announced
Monday.
Verizon chief executive
Lowell McAdam said Yahoo would be integrated
into its recently acquired
AOL unit to create “a top
global mobile media company, and help accelerate
our revenue stream in digital advertising.”
The acquisition, expected to close in early 2017,
will exclude Yahoo’s cash,
certain patent holdings,
and its big share in China’s
Alibaba Group and stake in
Yahoo Japan.
The deal will leave Yahoo
as a separate investment
company that will change its
name after the transaction.
Goldman, Sachs, JP Morgan Securities and PJT Partners are acting as financial
advisors to Yahoo board and
its strategic review committee.
Marissa Mayer, CEO of
Yahoo, said in a statement:
“Yahoo is a company that
has changed the world,
and will continue to do so
through this combination
with Verizon and AOL.”
She added that the deal
separates the core Yahoo
business from its Asian as-
File
A Yahoo logo in front of a building in Rolle near Geneva. The deal will leave Yahoo as a separate investment
company that will change its name after the transaction.
set equity stakes, and “is an
important step in our plan
to unlock shareholder value
for Yahoo.”
The deal comes with
Yahoo, a onetime leader
in the online space, struggling to keep up with rivals
like Google and Facebook.
Sale does not include Yahoo’s cash, Alibaba shares,
Yahoo Japan shares, Yahoo’s convertible notes,
certain minority investments, non-core patents.
Liontree Advisors, Allen & Company, Bank Of
America Merrill Lynch,
Guggenheim Securities are
acting as financial advisors
to Verizon.
Yahoo has been in restructuring mode for nearly four years under chief
executive Marissa Mayer,
who came from Google in
an effort to help the internet pioneer regain its past
glory.
The deal would allow
Yahoo to separate its main
assets from its holdings in
Chinese internet giant Alibaba, which accounts for
most of Yahoo’s $37 billion
market value.
Yahoo remains a major force online, but has
lagged its rivals in its ability to “monetize” its audience through advertising
that is linked to customers’
browsing and other online
activities.
Several other bidders
have been in talks, according to reports, including
Quicken Loans founder
Dan Gilbert, who is being
backed by billionaire Warren Buffett. But Verizon
appeared to be the leading
candidate, because of its
ability to integrate AOL’s
advertising technology into
Yahoo services.
“We continue to believe
Verizon is the most sensible buyer, to combine with
AOL, cut costs and leverage proprietary first-party
data,” said Daniel Salmon
at BMO Capital Markets in
a research note.
Yahoo earlier this month
reported a $440 million
quarterly loss, in part because of writedowns on the
value of some assets.
Mayer declined to comment on any bids at the time
but said the company would
pursue its reorganization at
the same time it negotiates
with bidders.
Agencies
Chevrolet Malibu tops in JD Power study German businesses
shrug off Brexit woes
MUSCAT
FOR THE SECOND
year in a row, the Chevrolet
Maliburanked highest in its
segment in the JD Power Vehicle Dependability Study.
The model was named the
most dependable vehicle in
the highly-competitive Midsize Car segment.
“We are proud that, for
the second year running, the
Malibu has led its segment
in this study,” said Abdallah
Madhoun, Regional Sales
and Marketing Manager for
Chevrolet, GM Middle East.
“The Midsize Car category is
particularly competitive. The
fact that the Malibu topped
the ranking is a testament
to our customers’ satisfaction and Chevrolet’s ability
to meet their dependability
needs. Most importantly,
this award demonstrates
how Chevrolet is a brand that
customers across the Middle
East can truly rely on.”
Chevrolet Malibu is the
industry’s longest-running
midsize passenger car nameplate, spanning eight gener-
ations. The 2016 Malibu is
refined and efficient execution of one of the industry’s
most competitive midsize
sedans. Customer-focused
technologies contribute to
greater connectivity and
enhanced crash-avoidance
capability. The MyLink sys-
tem allows users to engage
their smartphone functions
hands-free, while the Side
Blind Zone Alert and Rear
Cross Traffic Alert join
Malibu’s roster of advanced,
active safety features.
Chevrolet ranked above
industry average ranking
sixth respectively.
The 2016 US Vehicle
Dependability Study is based
on responses from 33,560
original owners of 2013
model-year vehicles after
three years of ownership.
The study was fielded from
October through December
2015.
The study, now in its 27th
year, examines problems experienced during the past 12
months by original owners of
2013 model-year vehicles.
Overall dependability is determined by the number of
problems experienced per
100 vehicles (PP100), with
a lower score reflecting higher quality. The study covers
177 specific problem symptoms grouped into eight major vehicle categories.
Oman Tribune
BERLIN
GERMAN BUSINESS
morale fell only slightly in
July, a benchmark survey
showed, suggesting Europe’s largest economy has
weathered the immediate
storm from Britain’s vote to
leave the European Union.
But fallout from Brexit, as
well as strains to the social
fabric caused by four highprofile acts of violence on
German soil in the past
week, could take their toll
on sentiment in coming
months, economists said.
The Munich-based Ifo
economic institute said on
Monday its business climate
index, based on a monthly
survey of some 7,000 firms,
fell to 108.3 in July from
108.7 in June.
The headline figure beat
the Reuters consensus
forecast of 107.5 and was
the second highest reading
this year. But it also marked
the first fall in three months.
“This was due to far less
optimistic business expectations on the part of companies. Assessments of the
current business situation,
by contrast, improved
slightly,” Ifo chief Clemens
Fuest said, adding: “The
German economy proves
resilient.”
Sentiment in manufacturing, trade and industry
and wholesaling fell, while
retailing and construction
improved.
Some German companies are holding off making
investments in Britain until
they know more about the
relationship the country
will forge with the rest of
Europe following the Brexit
vote. A similarly mixed picture emerged from soundings on what the Ifo numbers said about the impact
of the June 23 referendum.
VP Bank Group economist Thomas Gitzel said
German firms were reacting
relatively calmly. “It could
have been far worse. The Ifo
index proves the theory that
the Brexit vote will not leave
deep dampening effects on
the German economy,” he
said.
Agencies
20
BUSINESS
OMAN TRIBUNE
Oversupply
hurts global
LPG market
The emerging glut, the
latest product to be hit by
oversupply, comes amid a
wave of supplies from the
United States, where LPG
is a byproduct of fracking.
“The global LPG market
has generally become longer, ever since the US started ramping up LPG exports
in 2011,” said Yanyu He,
Director of NGL research at
consulting firm IHS.
“Nonetheless, it is amazing to see how oversupplied
the market has developed in
the past few weeks.”
US LPG exports to Asia
hit a high of 1.5 million
tonnes in May, breaking a
previous record of 1.1 million tonnes in February,
IHS data showed.
Although slipping to
around 870,000 tonnes in
June, this was still sharply
above the monthly average of 495,000 tonnes for
2015.
US exports have triggered a price war with traditional Middle Eastern sellers
like Saudi Arabia, and also
Iran, which is returning to
the market after sanctions
against it were lifted in
January.
Last month, Saudi Aramco set its July 2016
propane contract price at
$295 a tonne, down $100
from a year ago. LPG is also
referred to as propane or
butane.
It now cost at most $320
a tonne to deliver a propane
cargo to Japan from the Middle East versus up to $350
for a US cargo, said an LPG
buyer in North Asia.
Chinese buyers, mostly in
the petrochemical business,
are now cancelling deals or
trying to renegotiate prices.
SINGAPORE
LAST YEAR, LIQUEFIED
petroleum gas (LPG) supplied to Asia was being
snapped up by petrochemical makers. Now, after a
flood of US exports into the
region, the market is awash
with LPG and supplies are
being stored in ships anchored off Singapore.
At least four Very Large
Gas Carriers (VLGCs) are
parked off Singapore, including the “BW Carina”
and “Berge Nantong”, both
of which have been there for
at least a week, shipping
data carried on Thomson
CAUSE
The emerging
glut comes
amid a wave of
supplies from
the US where
LPG is
a byproduct
of fracking’
Reuters Eikon showed.
Some of the vessels are
expected to stay until September, traders said.
Middle East supply is also
high with at least four other
vessels, of between 53,000
and 59,000 deadweight
tonnage,
provisionally
booked to load LPG from
Qatar, Yanbu and Ras
Tanura, according to shipping sources.
There are options for
the ships to be floating
storage, at an average cost
of $16,000 a day, the
sources said, with the LPG
likely to be stored around
Singapore.
Reuters
Huawei H1 revenue surges
40% on smartphone sales
Audi plans
3 electric
car models
by 2020
Company to sustain its pace of investment in research
BERLIN
TOP
OPEN
HIGH
CHINESE TELECOMS
equipment giant Huawei
said on Monday that revenue
surged 40 per cent year-onyear in the first half of 2016,
boosted by steady growth in
smartphone sales.
Total sales revenue
reached 245.5 billion yuan
($36.7 billion) in JanuaryJune, audited results released in a company statement showed.
The company did not
provide a breakdown of the
figures.
“We are confident that
Huawei will maintain its current momentum, and round
out the full year in a positive
financial position backed by
sound ongoing operations,”
Huawei chief financial officer Sabrina Meng said.
Huawei is one of the largest providers of network
infrastructure globally, but
its consumer products are
less well-known outside of
China.
Its consumer business,
including smartphone sales,
has strongly supported the
company’s performance,
soaring 73 per cent to 129.1
billion yuan last year.
Huawei had more than
eight per cent of the world
smartphone market last
year, putting it in third place
behind Samsung and Apple,
International Data Corporation (IDC) said in a report
this year.
Huawei said in the statement that its consumer business in the first half “maintained steady growth globally”. It is set to release sales
figures for its smartphone
business later this week.
The firm said net profit
rose 33 per cent year-onyear in 2015, reaching
36.9 billion yuan, adding
that revenue for the year was
395 billion yuan, a year-onyear increase of 37 per cent.
Huawei is not listed on
any stock exchange but it
releases financial information in the interest of transparency.
US officials view Huawei
as a security threat due to
perceived close links to the
Chinese government, which
the company denies.
Founded in 1987 by
former army engineer Ren
Zhengfei, Huawei has
sprung to the vanguard of a
crop of Chinese smartphone
vendors trying to compete
LOW
BEST BID BEST ASK TRADES VOLUME
PRICE VOLUME PRICE VOLUME
0.190 0.002(1.08%)
0.190
9,904
0.191
13,833
75
0.184
0(0%)
0.180
35,000
0.184
25,000
3
300,000
ALMADINATAK..(AMAT)
0.072 0.001(1.37%)
0.072
41,673
0.073
5,900
7
65,495
4,721 0.073 0.072 0.073 0.073 0.072
ALMADINAINV..(AMII)
0.061
0.060
71,500
0.061
31,632
4
32,000
1,952 0.061 0.061 0.061 0.061 0.061
992,946 187,083 0.186 0.188 0.186 0.190 0.186
120,454
28,307 0.235 0.235 0.235 0.235 0.235
55,200 0.184 0.184 0.184 0.184 0.184
BANKDHOFAR(BKDB)
0.235
0(0%)
0.235
289,841
0.254
8,085
4
BANKMUSCAT(BKMB)
0.380
0(0%)
0.380
50,157
0.382
65,000
501
BANKSOHAR(BKSB)
0.187 0.001(0.53%)
0.182
150,000
0.186
73,942
3
110,000
ALBATINAHDE..(DBIH)
0.088 0.002(2.33%)
0.088
300
0.089
10,000
1
11,700
1,030 0.088 0.088 0.086 0.088 0.088
GULFINVESTME..(GISI)
0.114
0(0%)
0.114
900
0.118
2,700
7
77,800
8,817 0.113 0.113 0.113 0.114 0.113
HSBCBANKOMA..(HBMO)
0.099
0(0%)
0.098
75,000
0.099
186,000
7
324,000
32,076 0.099 0.099 0.099 0.099 0.099
NATIONALBANK..(NBOB)
0.252
0(0%)
0.252
28,575
0.256
112,573
1
4,000
1,008 0.252 0.256 0.256 0.252 0.252
OMANANDEMIR..(OEIO)
0.134
0(0%)
0.134
3,900
0.135
2,000
11
38,217
5,143 0.135 0.135 0.135 0.135 0.134
ALSHARQIAIN..(SIHC)
0.141 0.001(0.71%)
0.140
180,840
0.142
8,000
17
173,910
24,382 0.140 0.140 0.141 0.141 0.140
UNITEDFINANC..(UFCI)
0.151
0(0%)
0.151
1,081
0.162
53,851
3
36,937
5,575 0.150 0.151 0.151 0.151 0.150
644
The firm said
net profit rose
33 per cent
year-on-year in
2015, reaching
36.9 billion yuan
an expansion into premium
phones, becoming China’s
biggest mobile label last
year. It plans to sustain its
pace of investment in re-
NEW YORK
AHLIBANK(ABOB)
with global leaders Samsung Electronics Co. and
Apple Inc. The company
used its business of selling
networking gear to bankroll
3,542,175 1,346,077 0.380 0.380 0.380 0.382 0.378
20,545 0.186 0.187 0.188 0.187 0.186
5,829,634 1,721,914
search as carriers prepare
to build fifth-generation
broadband networks in coming years.
Competition, however,
is weighing on profitability.
Huawei’s operating margin
came to 12 per cent in the
first half, narrowing from 18
per cent in the same period
last year.
Global
smartphone
vendors are scrambling to
safeguard their share of a
market going through its
worst downturn on record,
as Western markets mature
and China, the biggest by
users, flatlines after years of
industry-supporting growth.
Huawei is “one of the few
vendors that we’re expecting to grow, at least in the
Reuters
Allianz chief wants closer Pimco ties
TURNOVER LAST P.CLOSE CLOSE NET %
ALANWARHOLD..(AAIT)
Total Agencies
Tyrone Siu/Reuters
The logo of the Huawei Technologies outside its headquarters in Shenzhen, Guangdong province,China.
REGULAR MARKET
FINANCIAL SECTOR
0(0%)
smartphone space, quite
significantly this year,” said
Bryan Ma, vice-president of
client devices research at
IDC, told Bloomberg Television. But “there is quite a
bit of competition. You’ve
got local vendors in China,
Oppo and Vivo, being examples of local vendors that
are arguably even more aggressive than they are.”
Huawei didn’t break out
the performance of individual units of a business that also
encompasses cloud computing and enterprise services.
Its Consumer Business
Group, which sells phones,
watches and laptops, is
scheduled to announce results on Tuesday.
AUDI AIMS TO HAVE
three electric car models
by 2020 and for electric
vehicles to account for 25
to 30 per cent of its sales by
2025, chief executive Rupert Stadler told a German
newspaper.
Audi’s electric cars push,
reported by Reuters earlier
this week, is part of a strategic overhaul following the
emissions scandal at parent
Volkswagen.
Under the plan, which
Stadler presented to Audi
managers this week, the
group will focus more resources on electric cars,
digital services and autonomous driving.
Stadler told daily Heilbronner Stimme that Audi’s
offering of electric cars
would also include small
vehicles in the A-segment.
The company also plans
to set up a subsidiary, to be
called SDS Company, to
develop an autonomous car.
“This is about a robot car that
may not even need a steering
wheel or pedals, so it’s ideal
for urban traffic,” he said,
adding Audi was still looking for joint venture partners who would help with
the technology.
In return for stepping up
its focus on electric vehicles,
autonomous driving and digital services, Audi will seek to
reduce complexity in other
areas, Stadler said.
“We have discussed what
would happen if we dropped
the two-door version of the
A3. I think we would barely
lose any customers. We’d
rather invest the money that
is freed up in new models and
other derivatives,” Stadler
said.
SHANGHAI
MUSCAT SECURITIES MARKET
COMPANY
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
A NEW TOP EXECUTIVE
at German insurer Allianz
wants to forge closer ties
with its US asset management business, Pimco,
according to the Financial
Times.
A report in Monday’s editions of the newspaper quoted Jackie Hunt, Allianz’s
new asset management
chief, as saying Pimco and
Europe’s biggest insurer
both saw a need for a closer
relationship. “You’ll see Allianz being more involved in
the asset management businesses than in the past,”
Hunt told the FT.
Hunt started her new
role earlier this month.
She oversees asset managers at Pimco and Allianz
Global Investors, as well as
Allianz’s US life insurance
business.
Last week, Pimco appointed a new chief executive officer, Manny Roman.
It has faced turmoil following significant investor
outflows in recent years
and the departure of key
executives, including its
founder and former chief
investment officer Bill
Gross in 2014.
Pimco, which manages
$1.5tn, has had a turbulent
few years. Investors have
MUSCAT
0.252 0.004(1.64%)
0.250
1,620
0.252
21,650
58
706,880 175,104 0.242 0.248 0.244 0.252 0.242
GALFARENGINE..(GECS)
0.103 0.001(0.96%)
0.103
348,582
0.104
89,100
20
340,418
35,164 0.104 0.103 0.104 0.104 0.103
GULFINTERNAT..(GICI)
0.251 0.002(0.81%)
0.250
21,263
0.251
1,981
11
107,756
26,952 0.250 0.250 0.248 0.251 0.250
NATIONALALU..(NAPI)
0.225 0.005(2.17%)
0.220
15,000
0.225
27,084
2
6,600
1,485 0.225 0.225 0.230 0.225 0.225
RAYSUTCEMENT(RCCI)
1.375
0(0%)
1.350
1,000
1.375
13,503
5
56,497
77,683 1.375 1.375 1.375 1.375 1.375
VOLTAMPENERG..(VOES)
0.450
0(0%)
0.450
12,448
0.460
5,650
1
552
248 0.450 0.450 0.450 0.450 0.450
97
Total 1,218,703 316,637
SERVICES SECTOR
ALJAZEERASE..(AJSS)
0.212
0(0%)
0.208
10,000
0.212
8,174
1
10,000
NATIONALGAS(NGCI)
0.624
0(0%)
0.616
32,500
0.620
4,500
1
500
312 0.624 0.620 0.620 0.624 0.624
OMANINVESTME..(OIFC)
0.200 0.001(0.51%)
0.198
8,000
0.200
19,000
4
160,948
31,712 0.197 0.197 0.196 0.200 0.197
OMANOILMARK..(OOMS)
1.880
0(0%)
0.000
0
1.880
19,500
1
13,000
24,440 1.880 1.880 1.880 1.880 1.880
OOREDOO(ORDS)
0.744
0(0%)
0.740
31,622
0.744
5,490
9
125,500
93,372 0.744 0.744 0.744 0.744 0.744
OMANTELECOMM..(OTEL)
1.650
0.02(1.21%)
1.640
12,525
1.650
9,710
9
10,156
16,621 1.635 1.635 1.655 1.650 1.635
PORTSERVICES..(PSCS)
0.240
0(0%)
0.239
20,000
0.240
5,000
35
347,140
83,319 0.240 0.240 0.240 0.241 0.240
RENAISSANCES..(RNSS)
0.267 0.003(1.11%)
0.260
10,000
0.266
25,000
6
50,000
13,350 0.267 0.267 0.270 0.267 0.267
SOHARPOWER(SHPS)
0.290
0(0%)
0.290
1,330
0.295
4,000
2
2,030
589 0.299 0.299 0.299 0.299 0.290
SEMBCORPSALA..(SSPW)
0.240
0(0%)
0.240
15,530
0.260
15,000
4
16,470
3,953 0.240 0.240 0.240 0.240 0.240
72
0.057
6,557
0.058
173,000
3
18,000
1,026 0.057 0.057 0.056 0.057 0.057
18,236 0.075 0.076 0.075 0.076 0.075
Total 2,120 0.212 0.212 0.212 0.212 0.212
735,744 269,787
PARALLEL MARKET
FINANCIAL SECTOR
ALIZZISLAMIC..(BKIZ)
0.057 0.001(1.79%)
BANKNIZWA(BKNZ)
0.076 0.001(1.33%)
0.076
580
0.077
470,024
11
240,190
MUSCATNATION..(MNHI)
1.790
0.01(0.56%)
0.000
0
1.780
8,121
1
1,200
15
259,390
Total 2,148 1.790 1.790 1.800 1.790 1.790
21,410
INDUSTRIAL SECTOR
ALHASSANENG..(HECI)
0.074 0.001(1.33%)
0.073
35,000
0.074
40
10
61,514
4,572 0.075 0.074 0.075 0.075 0.074
OMANFISHERIE..(OFCI)
0.061
0(0%)
0.060
87,510
0.061
5,500
7
51,973
3,170 0.061 0.061 0.061 0.061 0.061
17
113,487
0.156
0(0%)
0.154
Total 7,742
SERVICES SECTOR
PHOENIXPOWER(PHPC)
Total 12,500
0.156
120,000
3
400,000
62,400 0.156 0.156 0.156 0.156 0.156
3
400,000
62,400
20,000 0.100 0.100 0.100 0.100 0.100
BONDS MARKET
BONDS_SUKUK
B.MUSCATCOMP..(BMCC)
0.100
0(0%)
0.098
1,000
0.103
200,000
1
200,000
MUSCATFINANC..(MFCB)
1.005
0.005(0.5%)
0.000
0
0.000
0
3
595,000 597,975 1.005 1.005 1.000 1.005 1.005
4
Total MARKET SUMMARY
795,000 617,975
852
9,351,958 3,017,866
Agencies
Lexus promotion to end soon
INDUSTRIAL SECTOR
ALJAZEERAST..(ATMI)
been pulling money out
of its flagship fund and its
former chief investment officer, Bill Gross, departed in
acrimonious circumstances.
Allianz has owned Pimco
since 2000. In the past it
has allowed the business,
whose Newport Beach,
California base is nearly
6000 miles from Allianz’s
Munich
headquarters,
plenty of autonomy.
LEXUS’ HUGELY POPular promotion is making
great waves among enthusiasts, according to a press
release.
With offers like Free Service for 6 years/60,000kms
(1 year/10,000kms service
interval), 6 years unlimited
mileage protection and
free registration, this offer
is perfect for those who wish
to experience a Lexus and
enjoy the ownership period
for a long time.
The exclusive 60-day offer from Lexus will end on
August 4. Lexus encourages enthusiasts to make the
most of the perfect time to
own a Lexus, now.
Lexus has built a strong
reputation for manufacturing some of the most sought
after luxury models in the
industry. Many have even
been awarded year on year
for their various aspects like
technology, design, performance and safety.
“Lexus vehicles are
among the few luxury vehicles dedicated to offering
customers unique ownership experiences.
Right from the quality of
engineering to after sales
support, Lexus has made
a huge mark on its customers across the world,” said
a spokesperson from Lexus
Oman. “As you can see with
an offer as irresistible as
this, it is only wise for any
Lexus enthusiast to make
the most of this offer and
enjoy experiencing a Lexus
for a long time.
You
have
6
years/60,000kms
(1
year/10,000kms service
interval) to take care of your
peace of mind; 6 years unlimited mileage protection
to keep you smiling longer
and free registration to give
you a trouble free start to an
exceptional ownership period,” he concluded.
In Oman Lexus has 12
vehicles for enthusiasts to
choose from. The pulsating
Lexus IS200t is powerful.
Powered by a new 2.0-litre
petrol turbo engine – with
innovative D-4ST fuel injection technology for both
fuel economy and instantaneous torque.
The Lexus ES is
equipped with a lot that
many would want out of
their luxury vehicle. The
GS200t sports an exceptionally smooth 2.0-litre
turbocharged teamed with
an eight-speed automatic
transmission.
The GS F is a four door
sports sedan. A near perfect blend of distinctive luxury with sports car values,
the Lexus GS F has a 5.0L
V8 Engine, unique bodywork and a chassis tuned
for high performance.
LS is complemented
with many exceptional
improvements including
three world firsts, no less
than 15 Lexus firsts, and
a host of technical innovations and features.
The CT200h broke
new ground for Lexus,
introducing the brand to
a younger generation of
highly discerning customers.
The turbocharged NX
combines the expertise of
racers within the engineering team and the impeccable touch of Lexus luxury
through an exciting and
sporty design to set a new
benchmark in the automotive world.
The five-seat Lexus
RX350 is a midsize luxury
crossover SUV. It is powered by a 3.5-litre engine
that produces 296 hp and
37.7 kg.m. of torque.
The Lexus GX460 is perfect for families who seek a
no-holds-barred adventure
on their days off, yet also
desire an easy-driving, comfortable and versatile luxury
SUV for the work week.
The LX570 possesses
under its hood a 5.7-litre
V8 engine that delivers the
punch and towing power
demanded in this segment.
The RC is truly a unique
high-performance machine
that emphasises the attraction of a luxury two-door
vehicle.
In Oman every Lexus
vehicle comes with special
benefits and privileges such
as 6 years unlimited extended mileage protection and
Lexus Prestige Club Card
that offers 24 hours on-road
assistance from AAA.
Oman Tribune
The sippers’ delight
— PAGE 22
The comic side of the Iraq war
21
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
— PAGE 23
21 SHAWWAL 1437
The torrid
zone is here
and now
Two Middle East locations
hit 129 degrees Farenheit
a record in Eastern
Hemisphere writes
Jason Samenow
T
Mountain lions or cougars, like
this one in the Santa Monica
Mountains of Los Angeles, rely on
deer as their main source of food.
Plus side of the cougar
I
The reason mountain lions’ killer instincts could save human lives, writes Karin Brulliard
N 1921, an article in
the quarterly journal
of the California Department of Fish and
Wildlife made plain
the prevailing feeling about
one native inhabitant of the
state: “The one predatory
animal for which practically
no good can be said is the
mountain lion,” it began.
The big cats’ main crime?
Having caused a “heavy
natural drain on the deer
supply.”
Nearly 100 years later,
researchers have made a
case in another journal,
Conservation Letters, that
mountain lions’ deer-killing
skills could be lifesaving to
people on the other side of
the country, where vehicles
regularly crash into highwayhopping deer. If mountain
lions returned to their Eastern US range, the study
found, they could prevent
708,600 deer-vehicle collisions, 155 human deaths
and 21,400 human injuries
over 30 years. That would
save at least $2.13 billion,
the authors said.
The mountain lions’
return to the East, where
people long ago killed them
off, is certainly possible.
The lions - also known as
cougars, pumas or panthers - once lived across the
entire hemisphere. While
they’re now mostly in the
West, crowding is causing
them to expand their range.
There are now breeding
populations in Nebraska and
South Dakota, for example,
and one male cougar even
made it to Connecticut in
recent years.
In most of the eastern half
of the country, deer have
proliferated in the absence
of cougars, destroying vegetation and contributing
to so many car crashes that
they’re the most dangerous
large mammal to humans in
North America. To control
them, officials have resorted
to culling and more expensive efforts like contraception and special highway
crossings.
Laura Prugh, a wildlife
ecologist at the University
of Washington, said she
and her co-authors wanted to
bring a consumer-friendly,
“Freakonomics kind of
thing” to her research on
large carnivores’ roles in
ecosystems. To carry out
this study, she said, they examined well-established data
Two bucks and a doe stand in a field under a flock of Canada geese in Huntingtown, Meryland; because they eat so
many deer, cougars could reduce deer-vehicle collisions dramatically, a study says.
on deer-vehicle collisions,
cougar predation on deer,
available cougar habitat
and deer populations in 19
eastern states. They assumed
each cougar would kill 259
deer over an average six-year
life span; to be conservative,
she said, they assumed about
75 per cent of those ungu-
lates would have died anyway
from other causes such as
starvation, which is happening more often as deer strip
eastern vegetation.
To backstop their findings, they looked at South
Dakota, where about half
the counties on one side of
the Missouri River have been
recolonised by cougars in
recent decades. Before the
cougar repopulation, deervehicle collisions were
increasing at a steady rate
each year. But in the counties where cougars set up
shop, Prugh said there was
a “very dramatic change”
within eight years: Deer-
vehicle collisions dropped
by 9 per cent, preventing
158 such collisions that cost
$1.1 million every year.
During that time, Prugh
said, there was no big change
in vegetation that might have
led to a deer population decline, and deer hunting actually decreased, which might
have led to a rise in collisions
- if not for the cougars.
“That was very striking,”
she said. “When I looked at
it, I was like, that looks like
made-up data.”
Michelle LaRue, a University of Minnesota wildlife
ecologist who is executive
director of the Cougar Network, which tracks cougar
recolonisation in the Midwest, said she thought the
study was “a really interesting step forward in understanding the benefits that we
don’t think about when we
think about mountain lions.”
At the rate they’re spreading, however, LaRue said she
doesn’t expect cougars to
repopulate the East anytime
soon. Young males, which
need to find their own territory to avoid being killed by
other males, are the pioneers
moving east more rapidly, she
said. But females typically migrate in a slower “steppingstone” pattern, moving to the
next open patch and settling
down there. You need both
genders, of course, to get a
self-sustaining cougar population.
Washington Post-Bloomberg
INFERNAL FURY
Jonathan Alcorn/ Reuters
Crews battle the so-called Sand Fire in the Angeles National Forest near Los Angeles, California, US.
HE temperature in Mitribah,
Kuwait, surged Thursday to
a blistering 129.2 degrees
(54 Celsius). And on Friday
in Basra, Iraq, the mercury
soared to 129.0 degrees (53.9 Celsius).
If confirmed, these incredible measurements would represent the two hottest
temperatures ever recorded in the Eastern Hemisphere, according to Weather
Underground meteorologist Jeff Masters and weather historian Christopher
Burt, who broke the news.
It’s also possible that Mitribah’s
129.2-degree reading matches the hottest ever reliably measured anywhere in
the world. Both Mitribah and Basra’s
readings are likely the highest ever recorded outside of Death Valley, Calif.
Death Valley currently holds the
record for the world’s hottest temperature of 134.1 degrees (56.7 Celsius), set July 10, 1913. But Weather
Underground’s Burt does not believe
it is a credible measurement.
“The record has been scrutinised
perhaps more than any other in the
United States,” Burt wrote. “I don’t
have much more to add to the debate
aside from my belief it is most likely
not a valid reading when one looks at
all the evidence.”
If you discard the Death Valley re-
Basra, the city of 1.5 million
about 75 miles northwest
of the Arabian Gulf, has
registered historic heat
on two straight days. On
Thursday, it hit 128 degrees
(53.6 Celsius), the highest
temperature ever recorded
in Iraq
cord from 1913, the 129.2-degree
reading from Mitribah Thursday
would tie the world’s highest known
temperature, also observed in Death
Valley on June 30, 2013, and in Tirat
Tsvi, Israel, on June 22, 1942. But
Masters says the Israeli measurement
is controversial.
Basra, the city of 1.5 million about
75 miles northwest of the Arabian
Gulf, has registered historic heat on
two straight days. On Thursday, it hit
128 degrees (53.6 Celsius), the highest temperature ever recorded in Iraq,
which it then surpassed on Friday, rising to 129.
While the Middle East’s highest temperatures have occurred in arid, landlocked locations, locations along the
much more sultry Arabian Gulf and Gulf
of Oman have faced the most oppressive
combination of heat and humidity. Air
temperatures of about 100 degrees (38
Celsius) combined with astronomical
humidity levels have pushed heat index values, which reflect how hot the
air feels, literally off the charts.
In Fujairah, on the east coast of the
United Arab Emirates, the dew point
-- a measure of humidity -- reached
90 degrees (32 Celsius) at 4 p.m.
local time Thursday. The 90-degree
dew point, combined with the air temperature of 97 degrees (36 Celsius),
computes to a heat index of over 140
degrees (60 Celsius). But this combination of temperature and humidity is
so extreme that it’s beyond levels the
heat index is designed to measure. The
index, developed by R.G. Steadman in
1979, is intended to compute values
up to only about 136 degrees.
In Bandar Mahshahr, Iran, on Thursday, the air temperature soared to 106
degrees (41 Celsius), which, combined
with a dew point of 86 (30 Celsius),
would produce a heat index over 140
(60 Celsius), also over the limit. These
conditions were only slightly less extreme than July 31 last year, when Bandar Mahshahr posted an air temperature of 115 degrees (46 Celsius) and
dew point of 90 (32 Celsius), which
resulted in an over-the-limit heat index
of 165 degrees (74 Celsius). Bandar
Mahshahr sits adjacent to the Arabian
Gulf in southwest Iran.
Washington Post-Bloomberg
22
FOOD
OMAN TRIBUNE
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
Ditch the yogurt spoon, and drink up all its goodness, writes Cheryl Sternman Rule
I
STILL remember my first sip
of ayran, the salty yogurt drink
popular throughout Turkey.
It was a beautiful spring day
in 2007, and a friend and I
were having lunch on the patio of a
Turkish restaurant in Menlo Park,
Calif. I have a wide-ranging palate,
so I ordered the ayran casually, sure
that I’d like it. But as the yogurt hit
my tongue, I winced, my eyes bulged
wide, and I pushed the glass to the
far edge of the table. “I can’t drink
that,” I said simply. While I loved
the whole sea bass, the lahmacun
(charred flatbread topped with
ground lamb) and the extra-smoky
baba ghanouj, I couldn’t brook the
drink’s unfamiliar salinity.
Oh, but how things change.
Today, I love ayran’s tang and its
unapologetically salty bite. As do
so many others: Our collective exposure to the way the rest of world
eats yogurt also includes the way the
world drinks yogurt. We’re moving
beyond ultra-thick, milkshakey, berry-based smoothies to more globally
inspired flavours and textures. Some
are still sweet, but others paint with
a broader palette, folding complex
spices, invigorating fizz and, yes,
even salt into the mix.
Companies such as Dahlicious
Lassi in Leominster, Mass., and
Dash of Masala in Austin, maker
of Sassy Lassi, bring classic Indian
flavours to the booming American
yogurt drink market. Dahlicious focuses on Ayurvedic spices popular
in Indian cuisine, offering fruit
flavours such as mango along with
spice-forward choices such as golden turmeric and banana masala, the
latter spiked with cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and black
peppercorn. Does the world really
need another peach or vanilla?
Cucumber Doogh
Nazli Piskin’s Ayran
Matcha Yogurt Cooler
Dash of Masala’s line of Indianinspired sippers includes such
flavours as celery and rose. A few
months ago, the company (whose
founder, Jaya Shrivastava, hails
from the South Indian city of
Chennai) introduced a plain flavour with no added sugar, which
echoes a trend in the “cup” yogurt
category as well.
You might not think of booze as a
lassi add-in, but yogurt and alcohol
are partnering up more often these
days. Mixologists, who are often the
first to go rogue with creative drink
ingredients, have been tapping yogurt’s tangy, creamy properties for
a while, and the trend seems to be
holding. In their recently published
book “The New Cocktail Hour,”
food writers (and siblings) Andre
and Tenaya Darlington include
a recipe for Flutterby Lassi, an
absinthe-and-yogurt cocktail with
cucumber, dill and lime. It’s an adaptation of the original, created at
London restaurant Gymkhana.
Cucumber and dill also feature
prominently in Persian cuisine,
so it wasn’t a huge surprise that
San Francisco chef Hoss Zare uses
those ingredients in his take on
doogh. Doogh, which Zaré calls
“basically a mixture of yogurt and
water, especially if the yogurt is left
out for a few days and gets a little
more sour,” is a beverage staple
in his native Iran. It always has salt
and sometimes has pepper, and
although carbonated versions are
common throughout Iran (Zare
says kebab houses give diners an
option of still or sparkling), fizzy
doogh was never popular among
Zare’s American customers at his
Fly Trap restaurant, which he recently sold to his business partner.
But great chefs are leaders, not
followers, prone to colouring both
outside and within the lines. One of
Zare’s favourite cold Persian yogurt
soups uses cucumbers, walnuts,
mint, raisins and rose petals. It became the blueprint for his favourite
doogh twist. Instead of serving it
in a bowl, he says, on special occasions, “I pour it in a big beer glass!”
Doogh version 2.0, in other words.
While traditional yogurt drinks
such as lassi and doogh are finding
wider audiences, perhaps no other
cultured dairy drink has won more
recent converts or made greater inroads into the US market than kefir.
The probiotic yogurt cousin, made
with live bacterial cultures and kefir
grains (a form of yeast), is earning
fresh fans and muscling its way
more aggressively onto grocery
store shelves.
Hailing from the Caucasus and
enjoyed for centuries throughout
the world, kefir is prized for its
many health benefits. Though it’s
hardly a new beverage, even here
on US shores - Nancy’s, the Oregonbased dairy brand made by Springfield Creamery, has been selling
it since 1975 - kefir has recently
surged in popularity, thanks in
part to our better understanding of
gut health and the foods and drinks
that seem to improve it. While kefir is commonly made from cow’s,
goat’s or sheep’s milk, a Southern
California company called Desert
Farms makes it from camel’s milk.
Back to the ayran. Since my first
ill-fated sip back in 2007, I’ve
learned to appreciate not just the
flavour - that alchemy of salt, water
and yogurt - but also the cultural significance of the drink. Turkish food
writer and culinary historian Nazli
Piskin explains that ayran’s three
main ingredients, which are “available in each and every kitchen,” are
especially prized for their ability to
cool and refresh during “hot summer days in Anatolia.”
“No matter if you are working at a
farm at noon or come home late and
are in a hurry to prepare a simple
but nutritious dinner for the whole
family, including the kids, ayran
will be a real time saver,” she says. In
Turkey, Piskin says, it’s the perfect
accompaniment to borek (savoury
stuffed-phyllo pastries), pasta, rice,
bulgur or even just good bread, in
the tradition of the country’s shepherds.
Think of it in terms of flexible
ratios, changing them to suit your
taste and the thickness of your yogurt. Piskin favors a 2-1 ratio of
yogurt to water and whisks them to
bring forth plenty of foamy bubbles.
Whether you’re in Turkey, California, Washington or somewhere
entirely different, ayran - like
doogh, lassi, kefir or the many iterations of drinkable yogurt popular
throughout the world - shows that
even when you ditch your spoon,
hot weather and cool yogurt still
go hand in hand.
Washington Post-Bloomberg
Flutterby Lassi
ENTERTAINMENT
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
CELEB TALK
Aniston wants women to go
beyond beauty, selfies
OMAN TRIBUNE
23
The comic side of the Iraq war
Tom King turned five months in Iraq into a Vertigo Comics hit, writes David Betancourt
F
ACTRESS Jennifer Aniston, who was presented with
a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Giffoni Film
Fest in Italy, spoke about women empowerment and
emphasised on the need to have conversations. When
asked how Hollywood can work to tell the stories
of women, Aniston encouraged the young writers
in the room to get to work and start writing those
stories, reports hollywoodreporter.com. “I think
we need to empower women to not just be about
dresses and beauty and selfies. We need to start having conversations and put our phones down and get
out of social media, take social media brakes,” Aniston said. “That is why we are not seeing the right
stories being told, because everyone is stuck in their
phones,” she added.
Alicia Vikander mistaken
for tourist in Las Vegas
ALICIA Vikander has shared that while shooting for
“Jason Bourne” here, a cab driver thought that the
Academy Award winning actress was a tourist. Vikander will be seen playing the role of a prodigy hacker
in the Matt Damon-starrer. Recalling the incident
during an interview on the “Today” show, Vikander
said: “I got in a cab and the cab driver thought that
I probably had just arrived in Vegas so he turned
around and said, ‘You know they have closed down
the Strip to shoot an amazing action sequence for
the new Bourne movie. You could be lucky. You
might just see Matt Damon’.” For “Jason Bourne”,
Damon and Vikander are joined by Vincent Cassel
and Tommy Lee Jones.
Lohan accuses fiance of
trying to strangle her
OR Tom King, writing
about superheroes in
impossible situations
comes easy. But sifting
through his memories
of his time in Iraq and finding a
story to tell would prove much
more difficult.
King, a Washington, D.C.area native who most recently had
the challenging task of becoming
DC Comics’ new Batman writer
following Scott Snyder’s popular
run, finally wrote about his time
in the war-torn country 10 years
after leaving it. He only spent five
months of his seven-year CIA
career there, but it took him a
decade to feel ready.
King’s thoughts kept returning to the Green Zone, an
American base of operations in
Iraq where he spent most of his
time in the country.
“(The Green Zone) was this
sort of Casablanca atmosphere
of a place trying to hold itself together while it is falling apart,”
King told The Washington Post.
King decided to make a warstory pitch to Vertigo Comics (a
mature imprint of DC Comics,
and where he had interned years
earlier) after fondly remembering
scanning pages of the Vertigo hit
“Preacher.”
Vertigo liked the idea of a
fictional Iraq war story told by
someone who was actually there,
which led to the publication of
“The Sheriff of Babylon” last
December. It is now a monthly
series that is being collected in
its first volume, which contains
the first six issues.
“Sheriff of Babylon” revolves
around three main characters:
a former police officer named
Christopher who is a contractor
in Iraq, training their new police
force; an Iraqi woman, Sofia,
who was raised in the United
States and is now working with
both the American and Iraqi
governments, always dealing in
her best interests; and Nassir, a
former police officer under the
regime of Saddam Hussein, who
is an investigator with a dark past.
A murder brings these three
characters together.
“(They) come together to
solve a (case) that seems simple
and easy, just like the war seemed
simple and easy at one point. And
then everything goes wrong, just
like the war did,” King said. King
describes plotting “Sheriff of
Babylon” as “PSTD-riffic,”
saying one particular issue that
featured torture was very difficult
to look at when he received the
pages.
“It’s hard to write,” King said.
King said his brain absorbs
the memories of his time in Iraq
differently than it does other mo-
ments of everyday life.
“It’s like all the adrenaline
that’s running through you (when
in Iraq) makes your brain process
what happens to you every day. I
can remember exactly what the
steak sauce tasted like back in
Iraq, but I can’t remember what
I had for dinner last night,” King
said. “It’s very easy to go back to
(Iraq), but you kind of don’t want
to at the same time. It’s a confus-
ing process. Hopefully it’s a little
therapeutic for myself and for the
audience as well -- to read something from a guy that was there.”
Despite having enough memories to create a fictional war
story, King says there are some
moments that are off-limits and
will never be seen in the comics’
pages.
“There are experiences I
have that I won’t touch because
I know they’re classified. There
are things that have happened to
me that I can’t tell my wife about,
much less the audience of comics,” King said. “I’ll never write
about sources or methods of how
I use things. I would never write
about specific people I met because when I met those people,
the reason they were willing to
meet me is because I promised
them (confidentiality), and I’m
gonna keep that promise.”
King collaborated with artist Mitch Gerads on “Sheriff of
Babylon,” whom he says has the
perfect style to bring the gritty
realism of the series to visual life.
“I followed (Mitch) for years
and I knew that he was one of
the best modern military comic
artists,” King said. “(Mitch has)
made this (series) his own and
he’ll make it something special.”
The duo are approaching the
production of the comic like a
television series.
“We’re trying to bring in
this idea of how good television
is nowadays with ‘The Wire,’
‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Breaking
Bad,’ (and bring that) kind of energy into the comic,” King said.
The first “season” of “Sheriff of
Babylon,” according to King,
will be 12 issues -- No. 8 was released July 6 -- and will conclude
the mystery that began with the
first issue. King hopes that what
follows will be in the tradition of
many Vertigo series that lasted
for years.
“We’re open for a bunch of follow-up seasons,” King said. “Every creator wants to do these long
Vertigo runs, like ‘Preacher,’ ‘Y:
The Last Man,’ ‘Scalped’ -- these
60-, 70-issue Vertigo runs. It’s
my ambition to do one of those
with this concept.”
Another war story King wrote
garnered him a nomination for an
Eisner Award this year heading
into San Diego Comic-Con.
With “Black Death in America,”
King and artist John Paul Leon
told the tale of a black World War
I soldier nicknamed Black Death,
who almost single-handedly took
on a group of German soldiers,
came out of the attack alive, and
came back to a United States not
ready to honor a black man as a
hero.
Washington Post-Bloomberg
Scientists find way to
give you Dory
ACTRESS Lindsay Lohan has reportedly accused
her fiance Egor Tarabasov of trying to strangle her
during an argument at her residence here. Police
smashed her front door open, which showed signs of
damage, after calls for help were heard by neighbours
as she ranted at the 23-year-old Russian millionaire
on the morning of July 23, reports dailymail.co.uk.
In a video, which was filmed by a neighbour and obtained by The Sun newspaper, Lohan shouted her
name and address.
Salman’s sister happy
with his acquittal
After ‘Finding
Dory,’ scientists
have been able
to breed the Blue
Tang in captivity,
writes Rachel
Premack
HEN “Finding
Dory” hit the
big screen last
month, researchers worried how that might hike
sales of Pacific blue tangs. Blue
tangs like Dory can only be captured in the wild, often using
methods that are environmentally harmful, like infusing cyanide into the sea.
But if people want blue tangs,
there may be another way to get
them. For years, researchers
have tried to replicate the cerulean species’ complex mating,
hatching and growing behavior. They finally succeeded this
month.
On Tuesday, researchers at
the University of Florida announced that they have been successful in breeding Pacific blue
tangs. Craig Watson, director
of the UF Tropical Aquaculture
Lab, led the endeavor, partnered
W
SUPERSTAR Salman Khan’s sister Arpita Khan is
happy that her brother was on Monday acquitted in
the 18-year-old chinkara poaching cases. She has
thanked his fans and well-wishers for standing by
the family during the tough period. “Thank you god
for always showering us with your grace and blessings. Today is a big day for us... Salman Khan. Thank
you to all bhais and the family’s well-wishers for your
prayers, support, love and best wishes. This wouldn’t
have been possible without you,” Arpita posted on
her Twitter page. The Rajasthan High Court on Monday acquitted Salman in two 18-year-old chinkara
poaching cases. Salman had appealed before the
Jodhpur bench of the high court challenging a lower
court verdict in 2006.
with Rising Tide Conservation
and the SeaWorld-Busch Gardens Conservation Fund.
Judy St. Leger, vice president
of research at Seaworld, called
this “the most difficult fish” in
a UF press release. Only 12.5
to 15 percent of aquarium creatures can be bred in captivity,
CORAL Magazine reported in
Dec. Expanding that number
is a priority for some scientists,
because there’s growing concern
on how fish like blue tangs end
up in pet stores or aquariums.
Currently, the only way is to
gather them in the wild. Blue
tangs aren’t going extinct, National Geographic reported on
Tuesday. They reproduce in
huge amounts and live in reefs
all over the world -- near East Africa, Japan, Samoa and the Great
Barrier Reef, to name a few. The
reefs themselves are what concerns researchers.
The vast majority of saltwater aquarium fishes come from
the Philippines and Indonesia.
Fishers there often gather blue
tangs and other aquatic critters
through practices that damage or
kill their coral and invertebrate
neighbors. Most worrisome is
ground cyanide, which, as the
Miami Herald said on Thursday,
is widely used in Southeast Asia.
Fishing also displaces populations, causing them to shift from
location to location.
Researchers have not yet estimated how damaging these practices have been, but coral reefs
are already in grave danger from
a variety of sources, including
climate change. One-quarter of
coral reefs are damaged beyond
repair and two-thirds are considered to be in “serious threat,”
according to the World Wildlife
Fund. More than a third of the
treasured Great Barrier Reef has
been severely damaged.
That’s why biologists were
uneasy to see the release of Finding Dory. “When you make an
animal charismatic, adorable and
just as cute as it is with Ellen DeGeneres’ voice on there, there’s
nothing you can do to stop people from wanting to know more
about that animal and then wanting to be able basically to keep
that as a pet,” marine biologist
Andy Rhyne of Roger Williams
University told Marketplace in
May. He was part of the UF team
that bred blue tangs.
Look at Finding Nemo. It
drove sales of clownfish by as
much as 40 percent in the early
2000s, Canadian publication
Hakai Magazine reported in
May. That spike in demand was
easy to satisfy because clownfish
have long been bred in captivity; hobbyists even can do it at
home. But it’s not at all the case
for most marine ornamentals
-- the type of fish you stock a
saltwater aquarium with.
With up to 150,000 imported every year, blue tangs
are already the 10th most
imported aquatic fish in the
United States. Emphasizing
that that sort of rise in demand
for at-home Dories could have
only inflicted further damage
on reefs worldwide, a Care2
petition was even launched to
urge Disney to warn Finding
Dory viewers against buying a
blue tang.
Thanks to this month’s
breakthrough, it soon may be
ethical to buy a Dory. In 2012,
two years after UF’s Watson was
approached with the idea, had
gathered his research team and
began developing plans, the UF
lab had its first potential brood
in a greenhouse.
Washington Post-Bloomberg
24
TRIVIA
OMAN TRIBUNE
THE MIDDLETONS By Ralph Dunagin & Dana Summers
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
BOUND & GAGGED By Dana Summers
SUDOKU
Yesterday’s Solution
How to solve
the puzzle:
The number grid
should be filled up with
numbers 1-9. Each
column and row should
contain the numbers
1-9. No digit should be
repeated within a row
or column. Also, in the
box, there should be no
repetition of numbers
from 1 to 9.
ANIMAL CRACKERS By Fred Wagner
BROOM HILDA By Russell Myers
BLISS By Harry Bliss
GASOLINE ALLEY By Jim Scancarelli
HALF FULL By Maria Scrivan
TODAY IN HISTORY
STAR GAZING
July 26
1956
July 26, 1956
President Nasser of Egypt
nationalised the British and
French-owned Suez Canal, leading
to confrontation with Britain,
France, and Israel
711: The Moorish domination of Spain
began following the battle of Xeres
2001: Scientists concluded that the
5,300-year-old “iceman” found in the
Alps was killed by an arrow wound
2006: Fragments of an early Irish
Christian prayer book from around
AD800, were discovered in a bog
2010: Plastiki, a ship made of plastic
bottles, arrived in Sydney after
crossing the Pacific Ocean to raise
awareness of environmental issues
Picture: Newscom
© GRAPHIC NEWS
Hoy en la Historia
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Thunder 0120 Junkyard
Empire 0210 Diamond
River Hunters 0300 Venom
Hunters 0350 Dive Wars
Australia 0440 Extreme
Collectors 0505 Auction
Hunters 0530 Dallas Car
Sharks
OSN MOVIES KIDS 0515
Jingle All The Way 2 0700
The Heart Of The Oak 0900
Memory Loss 1100 The
Three Dogateers
1230
Blackie And Kanuto 1400
Mamma Moo And Crow
1530 Daddy I’m A Zombie
1700 Harriet The Spy 1900
The Three Dogateers 2100
Blue Elephant 2 2300 Daddy
I’m A Zombie 0030 Harriet
The Spy 0215 Memory Loss
0345 Blue Elephant 2
MOVIES
ACTION
TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20)
Step into the spotlight today
and tomorrow. Go ahead and
strut. You’ve got the energy and
confidence to pull off whatever you
attempt. Check your course, and
then full speed ahead.
GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20)
Enjoy peaceful alone time over
the next two days. Hide out
behind closed doors. Catch up and
recharge. Consider big questions
and
unanswerable
mysteries.
Flights of nostalgia inspire retro
style.
CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22)
Consider accepting a challenge if it
pays well. Discuss with your team,
and slow down to avoid mistakes.
Don’t get talked out of what you
want. Compromise so that everyone
wins a little.
LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22) Your past
work speaks well for you. Share
your expertise. Take leadership in
your profession over the next few
days. An opportunity for a rise in
status or influence presents itself.
VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22) Plan
a vacation or trip over the next few
days. Study your options and plot
the route. Consider a seminar or
class. Spend on experiences rather
than souvenirs. Find incredible
views. Take pictures.
LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22)
Proceed with caution, or risk
breakage. Clear clutter to make
space for a work flurry today and
tomorrow. Find small efficiencies
that add up. Maintain financial
plans as scheduled. Prioritize
practical tasks.
SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21)
You’re growing more interested
in someone else over the next
few days. A creative spark ignites.
Teach as you learn. Compromise on
activities and direction. Create an
exciting collaboration.
SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC.
21) There’s plenty of work today
and tomorrow. Avoid lending
and borrowing. Focus on one
assignment at a time. You won’t
have to defer gratification forever.
Wait until you’ve got bills paid off.
CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN.
19) Love is the priority today
and tomorrow. Relax, and choose
family. Accept a child’s suggestion.
Enjoy your favorite games together
(no ball sports in the house). Slow
down, especially around corners.
AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18)
Domestic renovations captivate
your imagination over the next
two days. Come upon a great deal
and use it to inspire a functional
improvement. Conserve resources
by eating food prepared at home.
PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20)
-- Today is a 7 -- Write down your
theories and ideas. You’re sharp as
a tack for the next few days. By
discussing it, you stumble upon a
solution. Use your persuasive arts
to motivate participation.
CINEMAS
ANIMAL PLANET 0602
Treehouse Masters 0649
From Pound Pups To Dog
Stars
0736
Swamp
Brothers 0825 Too Cute!
0915 From Pound Pups To
Dog Stars 1010 Treehouse
Masters 1105 Tanked 1200
Too Cute! 1255 Bondi Vet
1350 From Pound Pups To
Dog Stars 1445 Gator Boys
1540 Treehouse Masters
1635 Tanked 1730 Wildest
Africa 1825 Big Fish Man
1920 Woodfellas 2015
Tanked 2110 Wildest Africa
2205 Treehouse Masters
2300 Woodfellas 2355
Gator Boys 0050 Big Fish
Man 0145 Human Prey
0240 Woodfellas 0335
Tanked 0425 Wildest Africa
0515 Gator Boys
OSN
ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19)
Satisfaction comes from being
of service to others. This can get
especially profitable over the next
few days. Develop your hottest
ideas down to the details. Choose
what’s best for family.
OSN MOVIES DRAMA
0630 The French Minister
0830 The Melancholy 1000
A Valentine’s Date 1200
The French Minister 1400
Foreverland 1600 Shanghai
Calling 1800 A Valentine’s
Date
2000
The Wee
Man 2200 The Returned
0000
Jayne Mansfield’s
Car 0215 A Valentine’s
Date
OSN MOVIES
0600
Tomorrowland
0815
Boychoir 1000 Step Up
All In 1200 Jack And The
Cuckoo Clock Heart 1345
Transcendence 1600 Miss
Julie 1815 Barely Lethal
2000 Infinitely Polar Bear
2200
American Sniper
0015 Top Five 0200 A
Birder’s Guide To Everything
0330 Barely Lethal
OSN MOVIES
0600
Tomorrowland
0815
Boychoir 1000 Step Up
All In 1200 Jack And The
Cuckoo Clock Heart 1345
Transcendence 1600 Miss
Julie 1815 Barely Lethal
2000 Infinitely Polar Bear
2200
American Sniper
0015 Top Five 0200 A
Birder’s Guide To Everything
0330 Barely Lethal 0530
Transcendence
AL BAHJA
CINEMA
CITY CINEMA, GRAND MALL
TEL: 22020002
FINDING DORY - (3D) (Animation |
Adventure | Comedy) (PG), Cast: Ellen
DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Ed O’Neill,
Timings: 12:30PM,5:00pm
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE (Action)
(12+), Cast: Dwayne Johnson and Kevin
Hart., Timings: 03:00PM & 09:30PM
ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING
GLASS (2016) (PG12), Cast: Mia
Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Timings: 2:30PM,7:15PM
& 9:15PM
THE CONJURING 2 (2016) (15+), Cast:
Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Madison
Wolfe, Timings: 04:45PM,11:45PM
THE CONJURING 2 (2016) (15+)
Gold Class, Cast: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Madison Wolfe, Timings:
06:15PM,11:15PM
STAR TREK BEYOND (2016) (PG12),
Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl
Urban, Timings: 12:45PM,7:00PM &
11.30PM
STAR TREK BEYOND (2016) (PG12)
Gold Class, Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Timings:
03:30PM,08:45PM
CITY CINEMA, AL SHATTI
Tel: 24692656 (after 2pm)
FINDING DORY – 3D (PG) Animation |
Adventure | Comedy, Cast: Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Ed O’Neill, Timing
: 05:00 PM
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE – 2D (12+)
Action | Comedy | Crime, Cast: Dwayne
Johnson, Kevin Hart, Danielle Nicolet,
Timing: 04:45, 11:45 PM
THE CONJURING 2 – 2D (15+) Horror
| Mystery | Thriller, Cast: Vera Farmiga,
Patrick Wilson, Madison Wolfe, Timing:
02:30, 06:15, 09:00, 11:55 PM
STAR TREK BEYOND – 3D (PG12)
Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi, Cast: Chris
Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Timing: 02:30, 07:00, 11:30 PM
KABALI (Tamil) – 2D (12+) Tamil
| Crime | Drama, Cast: Rajinikanth,
Winston Chao, Radhika Apte, Timing:
09:00 PM
ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING
GLASS – 3D (PG12) Adventure | Family
| Fantasy, Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny
Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Timing:
03:00, 06:45, 09:15 PM
Cast : – Irrfan Khan, Jimmy Shergill,
Vishesh Bansal, Timing: 7.00 PM
SCREEN 3
SULTAN (2D) (Action, Drama, Sport)
–PG12, Cast : – Marko Zaror, Salman
Khan, Anushka Sharma, Timing: 3.15,
6.30, 9.45 PM
CITY CINEMA, SOHAR
Tel: 26840312 /26843510
STAR TREK BEYOND – 3D (Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi) (PG12), Cast: Chris Pine,
Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Timings:
3:45, 6:15, 8:45, 11:30PM
ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING
GLASS– 3D (Adventure/Family/Fantasy)
(PG12), Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny
Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Timings:
3:00, 7:15, 9:15PM
THE CONJURING 2 – 2D (Horror/Mystery/Thriller) (15+), Cast: Vera Farmiga,
Patrick Wilson, Madison Wolfe, Timings:
3:30, 6:00, 11:45PM
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE-2D (Action/
Comedy/Crime) (12+), Cast: Dwayne
Johnson, Kevin Hart, Danielle Nicolet,
Timings: 6:45, 11:45PM
SILAH EL TALAMIZ – 2D (Comedy)
(PG12), Cast: Eman El Sayed, Mourad
Fikri, Timings: 5:15PM
KABALI-2D (Crime/Drama) (12+), Cast:
Rajinikanth, Winston Chao, Radhika Apte,
Timings: 8:45PM
SULTAN -2D (Hindi/ Action) (PG12),
Cast: Salman Khan, Marko Zaror,
Anushka Sharma,
Timings: 3:30, 8:30PM
MADAARI - 2D (Social/Thriller) (PG),
Cast Irrfan Khan, Jimmy Shergill,
Vishesh Bansal, Timings: 11:15PM
CITY CINEMA, SUR
MARAUDERS ( Action ) ( 12+ ) CP#,
Cast : Bruce Willis, Christopher Meloni,
Dave Bautista., Timing: 3:00, 6:30,
11:45 PM.
SULTAN (Hindi) ( Action ) ( PG12
) CP#, Cast : Salman Khan, Anushka
Sharma, Marko Zaror., Timing: 3:15,
8:30, 11:30 PM.
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE ( Action
| Crime | Comedy ) (12+) CP#, Cast :
Dwayne Johonson, Kevin Hart, Danielle
Nicolet, Timing: 5:00, 9:00 PM.
SHAJAHANUM - PAREEKITTIYUM (
Malayalam | Romance | Comedy ) ( PG )
CP#, Cast : Kunchako Boban, Jayasurya,
Amala Paul, Timing: 7:00 PM.
CITY CINEMA, RUWI
Tel: 24831809
CITY CINEMA, BURAIMI
SCREEN 1
MADAARI (PG) (Thriller, Drama) –PG,
Cast : – Irrfan Khan, Jimmy Shergill,
Vishesh Bansal, Timing: 3.30, 9.30 PM
KABALI TAMIL (Thriller, Drama) –12+,
Cast : – Rajinikanth, Winston Chao,
Radhika Apte, Timing: 6.30 PM
SCREEN 2
KABALI TAMIL (Thriller, Drama) –12+,
Cast : – Rajinikanth, Winston Chao,
Radhika Apte, Timing: 3.45, 9.45 PM
MADAARI (PG) (Thriller, Drama) –PG,
KABALI 12+ (Tamil) (Crime | Drama),
Cast: Rajinikanth, Winston Chao, Radhika
Apte, Timing: 9:00 PM
THE CONJURING 2 15+ (Horror |
Mystery | Thriller), Cast: Vera Farmiga,
Patrick Wilson, Madison Wolfe, Timing:
3.45, 6.15 & 11.30
STAR TREK BEYOND (3D) PG12
(Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi), Cast: Chris
Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Timing: 4.45 & 9.15 PM
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE 12+ (Ac-
tion | Comedy | Crime), Cast: Dwayne
Johnson, Kevin Hart, Danielle Nicolet,
Timing: 7.00 PM
FREE STATE OF JONES TBC (Action |
Biography | Drama), Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali, Timing: 3.30, 8.45 & 11:45 PM
SULTAN PG12 (Hindi) (Action), Cast:
Salman Khan, Marko Zaror, Anushka
Sharma, Timing: 6.15 PM
MADAARI PG (Hindi) (Social | Thriller),
Cast: Irrfan Khan, Jimmy Shergill,
Vishesh Bansal, Timing: 11.15 PM
CITY CINEMA, PANORAMA MALL
THE CONJURING 2 - (2D) (Horror |
Mystery | Thriller) (15+) VIP LOUNGE,
Cast: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson,
Madison Wolfe, Timings: 06:15PM &
11:30PM
THE CONJURING 2 - (2D) (Horror
| Mystery | Thriller) (15+), Cast: Vera
Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Madison
Wolfe, Timings: 03:30PM, 09:15PM &
11:45PM
ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING
GLASS - (3D) (Adventure | Family |
Fantasy) (PG12), VIP LOUNGE, Cast:
Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena
Bonham Carter, Timings: 03:45PM
ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING
GLASS - (4D) (Adventure |
Family | Fantasy) (PG12), MX4D,
Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny
Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Timings: 03:00PM, 05:00PM, 07:15PM,
09:30PM
ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING
GLASS - (3D) (Adventure | Family |
Fantasy) (PG12), Cast: Mia Wasikowska,
Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter,
Timings: 06:15PM
KABALI - (2D) (Tamil | Crime | Drama)
(12+) VIP LOUNGE, Cast: Rajinikanth,
Winston Chao, Radhika Apte, Timings:
08:45PM
KABALI - (2D) (Tamil | Crime | Drama)
(12+), Cast: Rajinikanth, Winston Chao,
Radhika Apte, Timings: 06:15PM &
08:30PM
STAR TREK BEYOND - (3D)
(Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi) (PG12),
Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl
Urban, Timings: 03:45PM, 09:00PM &
11:45PM
FREE STATE OF JONES - (2D) (Action
| Biography | Drama) (12+), Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw,
Mahershala Ali, Timings: 03:45PM,
06:45PM, 11:30PM
MADAARI - (2D) (Hindi| Social |
Thriller) (PG), Cast: Irrfan Khan,
Jimmy Shergill, Vishesh Bansal, Timings:
11:15PM
CITY CINEMA, AZAIBA MALL
KABALI (Tamil) (2D) (Crime | Drama)
(12+) CP#, Cast: Rajinikanth, Winston
Chao, Radhika Apte, Timing: 02:00,
06:15, 07:20, 08:45, 09:00, 11:30 PM
STAR TREK BEYOND (3D) (Action |
Sci-Fi | Adventure) (PG12) CP#, Cast:
Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban,
Timing: 04:00, 06:30, 11:45 PM
SULTAN (Hindi) (2D) (Action) (PG12)
CP#, Cast: Salman Khan, Anushka Sharma, Timing: 02:45, 06:00, 10:15 PM
MADAARI (Hindi) (2D) (Social | Thriller) (PG) CP#, Cast: Irrfan Khan, Jimmy
Shergill, Vishesh Bansal, Timing: 02:45,
09:05, 11:35 PM
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLESOUT OF THE SHADOWS (3D) (Action |
Adventure | Comedy) (PG12) CP#, Cast:
Megan Fox, Will Arnett, Tyler Perry,
Timing: 05:15 PM
MONKEY KING: HERO IS BACK (2D)
(Animation) (PG12) CP#, Cast: Jackie
Chan, Nickie Bryar, Feodor Chin, Timing:
03:15, 04:45 PM
THE CONJURING 2: ( Horror/ Mystery/
Thriller ) :Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson,
Showtime: 1.30 p.m., 4.00 p.m., 9.30 p.m. &
11.55 p.m., CP NO : 1924 ( 15+ )
STAR TREK BEYOND : (Action/ Adventure
) : Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban,
Showtime: 3.15 pm, 7.30 p.m., 9.45. p.m &
11.55 p.m., CPNO : 1926 (PG12 )
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE: ( Action/Comedy/Crime ) : Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart,
Danielle Nicolet , Showtime: 5.30 p.m.,CP
NO : 1910 (12+)
CITY CINEMA, SALALAH
THE CONJURING 2 (2D) (15+) (Horror
| Mystery | Thriller), Cast: Vera Farmiga,
Patrick Wilson, Madison Wolfe, Timings:
02:00/09:10/11:55PM
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE (2D) (12+)
(Action | Comedy | Crime), Cast: Dwayne
Johnson, Kevin Hart, Danielle Nicolet,
Timings: 12:00/04:15/11:45PM
STAR TREK BEYOND (3D) (PG12)
(Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi), Cast: Chris
Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Timings: 02:00/06:10PM
SULTAN (2D) (PG12) (Action), Cast:
Salman Khan, Marko Zaror, Anushka
Sharma, Timings: 03:00/11:15PM
FREE STATE OF JONES (2D) (12+)
(Action | Biography | Drama),
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Gugu
Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali, Timings:
12:15/8:30PM
MADAARI (2D) (PG) (Hindi) (Social |
Thriller), Cast: Irfan Khan, Jimmy Shergill, Vishesh Bansal, Timings: 06:25PM
KABALI (2D) (12+) (Tamil)
(Crime | Drama), Cast: Rajinikanth,
Winston Chao, Radhika Apte, Timings:
06:15/08:55PM
SILAH EL TALAMIZ (2D) (PG12)
(Arabic) (Comedy)Cast: Eman El Sayed
, Mourad Fikri, Timings: 04:30PM
SULTAN : (Action/Drama/Sport) Salman
Khan, Anushka Sharma, Showtime :6.30 p.m.,
CP NO : 1868 (PG 12)
MONKEY KING:HERO IS BACK :
(Animation) : Jackie Chan, Nicky Byrar,
Feodor Chinm, Showtime: 1.30 p.m., CP NO:
1925 (PG12)
FILM INFORMATION
Tel: 24540856 Fax: 24541231
Reservation: 24540855.
E-mail:[email protected]
Website:www.albahjacinema.net
STARS CINEMA
STARS CINEMA 1
KABALI ( TAMIL) ( ACTION)
Cast : Rajanikanth & Radika Apte
Show Time : 3.30, 6.30, 9.30 pm
CINEMA 2
SULTAN ( HINDI) ( ACT\SPORTS)
Cast : Salman Khan & Anushka Shama
Show Time : 3.30 , 6.30, 9.30pm
CINEMA 3
FILM CITY, QURUM
Telephone: Ruwi: 24831152
ENGLISH MOVIES (DVD)
Prince of Persia
Titanic When in
Rome Tooth Fairy
Clash of the Titans
Cop out The Young
Victoria
HINDI MOVIES (DVD)
No One Killed
Jessica Dil
Toh Bacha
Hai Ji Band
Baja Baarath
Guzaarish Jhootha
Hi Sahi Toonpur
Ka Superhero
Rakth Charitra 2
Mirch Tees Mar
Khan Golmaal
3 Rakth Charitra
Action Replay
Godfather Ramaa
Peepli Live
Lamhaa Crook
Anjaana Anjaani
Aisha Tere Bin
Laden Help
Housefull We Are
Family Emotional
Atyachar
Dabaang
SHAHJAHANUM PAREEKUTTIYAM (
Mal)
(Comedy\ Romance)
Cast : Kunchacko Boban , Jayasurya, Amala
Paul
Show Time : 3.45, 6.45, 9.45pm
CINEMA 4
KAMMATI PADDAM( MAL) ( ACT)
Cast : Dulquer Salman & Anjali Aneesh
Show Time : 3.45, 6.45, 9.45 pm
INFORMATION:
Tel: 24791641, 24786776, 24789032
Website: www.isurf.com
NEXT CHANGE
ANURAGA KARIKKIN VELLAM
(MAL)
25
SIT. VACANT
Job vacancies:- Accountants - 3 nos.
-Bread maker- 15 nos.
- Cake/ sweet maker- 15 nos.
All candidates from India,
Nepal and Philippines are
preferred. All CVs send to
Al Kawther Modern Bakery
Sultanate of Oman Email:
[email protected]
Contact: 00968- 90444409
Microsoft certified trainer
Database- programming
training manager. Tel:
98850637
Supermarket manager with
10 years experience. Tel:
98802258
Required: gynecology &
obstetrics specialists, a
pediatrician, a dentist and a lab
technician for a polyclinic in
Sohar. Tel: 92000070
Urgent requirement for a
Diploma holder in civil for
scaffolding purposes.
Contact (Abdul Malik)
[email protected]
quantity surveyor diploma in civil
engineering or quantity surveying
with 15 years experience (10
years in road construction) Send
CV to [email protected]
Required employees hairdressing
to work in a beauty center in
Muscat. Tel: 99267187
Experienced and trained
kindergarten teacher for well
reputed bilingual school in
Mabela area Muscat. Interested
and suitable candidates must
reply to Email: anitasuresh11@
yahoo.com
Design agency looking for
graphic designer with gulf
experienced with proficiency in
Adobe suites is desired. Those
interested kindly send sample
portfolio & contact to
[email protected]
Jordanian accountant, 8 years
experience in accounting with
NOC. Tel: 92432015
F OR RENT
A new flat for rent at Darsait
Al Sahel. 99777351
Villa in Sur Al Hadid on the
Corniche near Dreams resort.
Tel: 99112262, 92125648
Flat for rent in North Ghubrah
2BHK, hall, 2 toilets and balcony.
Tel: 92775386, 96699223
Finder hand over to ROP
P P LOST
2BHK in Darsait. Tel: 95311488
An open showroom for rent
at Maabela. Area: 713m2.
Price: 04.000 OMR per
meter (negotiable). The
showroom includes offices &
toilets. Tel: 99822112
Flat for rent in Wadi Al
Kabir. Tel: 94016100
2 flats, 2 showrooms and
shops in Mabelah next to
Said bin Taimur Mosque.
Tel: 96991161
FOR SALE
An industrial plot at Rusayl,
super corner. Area: 1,000m2.
First line. Price: 140,000
OMR. Tel: 93500188
A fully equipped garage
(1,500m2) in Sohar, registered
in all rent companies staffed with
skilled Indian workers, with at
least 1,500 OMR income. Price:
40,000 OMR. Tel: 94040080
Muscat Driving school
Price list for Drums & Slope
Contract for 10 hours (OMR 7)70 RO
Contract for 15 hours (OMR 6)90 RO
Contract for 20 hours (OMR 5)100 RO
Contract for 30 hours (OMR 4.5)1350 RO
NOTE: Test 30 RO for vehicle+ 5 RO
for police & all payment in advance.
To inquire direct: 94085688
Premannda Mallik
Nationality: Bangladeshi
Passport No. : BH 0213755
Finder hand over to ROP
Hamad Akbar Hussain
Nationality: Bangladeshi
Passport No. : AC 1424441
Finder hand over to ROP
Faruque Miah
Nationality: Bangladeshi
Passport No. : C 1428171
Finder hand over to ROP
Ploynin Thoarsa
Nationality: Thai
Passport No. : AA 6357836
Finder hand over to ROP
SERVICES
Miss Ananya Wanta
Nationality: Thai
Passport No. : AA 5858474
Finder hand over to ROP
A youth having a car ready to
transport person within Muscat
& the airport. Tel: 98988014
Azeem Ismail
Nationality: Moroccan
Passport No. : AR 4276456
Project cleanliness of the
premises by 8 workers. Tel:
97730779
FREE INFORMATION ABOUT
ISLAM
If you want to know more about
Islam, please call: 99425598,
99250777, 99353988, 99253818,
99341395 and 99379133. For
ladies: 99415818, 99321360,
99730723
or visit: www.islamfact.com
www.iicoman.om
SIT.WANTED
Syrian architect 10 years
experience in the field of
engineering consulting firms and
major contracting companies in
Abu Dhabi, very good knowledge
of AutoCad, MAX, Photoshop
and customers interview.
Experience in supervision and
implementation. Tel: 93705069
[email protected]
Bangladeshi housemaid with
NOC, 38, has experience in
Oman, cooking, cleaning and
looking after children. Required
salary of 80/- OMR per month.
Tel: 97452633
Immediate requirement of
Resident 20 years in Oman, 10
Shatti Al Qurum Medical Center
looking for a female nurse with
MOH licence minimum two years
experience. Tel: 99848212,
years experience in procurement,
Omani government tenders, setup
marketing plans and strategies,
importing, organising events and
projects, holding British passport,
enable for quick travel to finalise
businesses, have driving licence
and NOC. Tel: 94123939
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
INFORMATION
FLIGHT TIMINGS
WEATHER FORECAST
Departures
WEATHER FORECAST
26-07-2016
SERVICES
Royal Oman Police
Emergencies and inquiries
9999
General Directorate of
Passport and Residence
24569603
Directorate General of Customs 24521109
Traffic violations inquiries
24510228,
24510227
Public Relations Admin
24560099
Royal Oman Police online
address
www.ropoman.net, www.
[email protected]
OMANTEL
Directory Information 1318
GSM Service
1234
Muscat Ruwi
24633233
Qurum
24633316
Al Khuwair
24632099
Seeb
24537300
Al Khoudh
24537300
Nizwa
25410123
Sumail
25351288
Rustaq
26875123
Sohar Industrial
26751939
Sohar
26840123
Shinas
26748424
Suwaiq
26714172
Barka
26883454
Sur
25546663
Ibra
25570000
Masirah
25504123
Jaalan Bani Bu Ali
25554123
Al KamIl
25557003
Buraimi
25650123
Ibri
25690998
Mirbat
23268424
Airport
24521174
Dibba
26836660
Khasab
26730166
AIRPORT INFORMATION
Inquiries
24519456
24519223
Domestic Flights
24519230
Enquiry
24600100
Ministry of Commerce 24817013
PHARMACIES
WEATHER: Cloudy skies over the coastal areas of Dhofar Governorate and
adjoining mountains with intermittent drizzle and partly cloudy skies over the
coastal areas of Sea of Oman with chances of light isolated rain and mainly
clear skies over rest of the Sultanate with chances of convective clouds development with isolated rain occasionally thundershowers over Al- Hajar
Mountains and adjacent willayat during afternoon and there are chances of
dust rising wind over deserts and open areas. Also there are chances of late
night to early morning low level clouds along most of coastal areas may give
light rain along Arabian sea.
EXPECTED WINDS: Along the coastal areas of Oman Sea wind will be
easterly to northeasterly light to moderate and occasionally fresh, and it will
be southwesterly moderate to fresh along coastal areas of Arabian Sea, while
over rest of the Sultanate it will be southerly to southeasterly light to moderate occasionally fresh.
SEA STATE: Rough sea along the Arabian Sea coasts with maximum wave
height of 4.0 meters and moderate to rough along Oman sea coast and Musandam coasts with maximum wave height of 2.5 meters.
CAUTIONS: The continuous raise in sea conditions along most the coastal
areas of Sultanate.
TEMPERATURE: Muscat maximum 33˚C & minimum 27˚C. Salalah maximum 25˚C & minimum 24˚C.
RELATIVE HUMIDITY: Muscat 60 to 87 per cent & Salalah 90 to 100
per cent.
TIDE: Muscat High Tide: 01:05pm. & 01:39am. Low Tide: 07:48pm. &
07:30am. Salalah: High Tide: 12:51pm & 01:04am. Low Tide: 07:37pm.&
06:26am.
HELPLINE
TEMPERATURES
24 HOURS BRANCHES OF Muscat PHARMACY
Ruwi Main 24702542, 24794186
Al Sarooj, Sarooj Filling 24695536
Al Khuwair, Souq 24485740, 24487980
Al Ghubrah, Al Maha Filling 24497264
Al Mawelah, Al Maha Filling 24537080
Sohar, Old Souq 26840211, 26842703
Salalah 23291635
Al Hail 245359770
Hamriya 24833323
Carrefour, City Centre 24558704
Al Shatti, Qurum 24695477
24 HOURS ATLAS PHARMACY, GHUBRA 24503585
Duty hours Pharmacies Tel. No.
8pm – 8am Scientific, Al Qurum, Bausher 24566601
8pm – 8am Al Hashar, Ruwi, Muttrah 24833115
8pm – 8am Ahmed, Al Hail north 24541856
8pm – 8am Al Salam, Al Mabilah, Al Seeb
24451092
1pm – 4pm Al Nabhani, Ghala, Bausher 24591454
1pm – 4pm Muscat, Al Hamriyah, Muttrah 24833323
1pm – 4pm Al Jabri, Al Mawaleh south 24544824
1pm – 4pm Belqees, Al Mabilah south 24454624
8pm – 1am Al Murshid, near Al Rustaq Hosp 26875561
8pm – 1am Barka, Al Souk, Barka 26882140
8pm – 1am Al Shifaa, Al Souk, Saham 26854997
8pm – 1am Badr Al Jashmi, Al Souk, 25524533
8pm – 1am Al Lamaa, Alayat Ibra, Ibra 25571860
8pm – 8am Al Ruwdha, Al Souk, Sur 25546454
1pm – 4pm Sur, Al Souk, Sur 25540669
8pm – 8am Zahrat Al Buraimi, Al Sara St, 693504-050
8pm –8am Al Shamsi, Al Sara St 25650452
8pm – 8pm Al Ziyanah, Al Iraqi 25694458
1pm – 4pm Al Aryaf 2, Al Souk, Ibri, 25691389
8pm – 8am Muscat, Al Souk, Sohar 26840211
1pm –4am Ahmed Al Sa’adi, Sohar 26842242
8pm – 8am Al Hazfa, Marfa Dares, Nizwa 25426102
1pm – 4pm Al Qala’a, Farq, Nizwa 25431666
8pm – 8am Muscat, Oqad, Salalah 23210635
1pm – 4pm Naïf, Al Salam St, Salalah 23299466
HOSPITALS
Hospital Board Emergency
Royal 24599000
Health Services Dpt
Muttrah 24797602
Quriyat 24845001 24845003
SQH,
Salalah
Police
23211555
24603988
23211151
24603980
Khoula
Al Nahda
Ibn Sina
Nizwa
Al Rostaq
Sumayil
Izki
Haima
Al Buraimi
24560455
24831255
24876322
25439361
26875055
25350055
25340033
23436013
25650855
24563625
24837800
24877361
25425033
26877186
25350022
25340033
23436055
25652319
Sur
Tanam
Masirah
Ibra
Adam
Bidiya
Ibri
Saham
Khasab
25440244
25499011
25404018
25470533
25434167
25483535
25491011
26854427
26830187
25461373
25499033
25404018
25470535
25434055
25483535
25491990
26855148
26830187
Dibba
26836443
26836443
Burkha
26828397
26828397
Sinaw
25474338
Intensive Care Unit at Khoula Hospital:
Very limited visiting of ICU patients
from 3pm-4pm daily Burns Unit: 4pm6pm on week days. 10am-12noon and
4pm-6pm on weekends and holidays.
Special Care Baby Unit: Parents may
visit at any time.
City
Max Min
Seeb
Khasab
Dibba
Madha
Buraimi
Yanqul
Ibri
Fahud
Sohar
Suwaiq
Rustaq
Samail
Nizwa
Saiq
Jabal Shams
Bahia
Adam
Mudhebi
Ibra
Sur
Ras Al-Hadd
Masirah
Duqm
Haima
Marmul
Mhout
Thumrait
Salalah
Qairoon Hairiti
Salalah Port
AL-Halaniyat
Jabal Samhan
Jabal AlQamar
Al Amerat
33
40
35
35
42
39
42
43
34
34
37
38
40
30
24
41
41
40
38
34
28
30
32
41
42
35
35
26
21
25
25
20
21
35
29
36
30
32
35
30
30
30
30
30
30
28
30
24
18
30
29
28
30
28
24
24
23
26
26
24
25
24
20
24
23
18
19
30
Departures
Arrivals
Arrivals
Flight No.
To/Via
STD
Flight No.
To/Via
STD
Flight No.
To/Via
STD
Flight No.
To/Via
STD
AI986
9W539
SG062
WY643
WY637
WY657
WY281
WY235
FZ132
WY201
WY685
WY251
WY345
WY271
WY601
WY341
WY371
WY431
WY123
WY325
WY241
WY901
WY667
WY383
NL769
TK775
WY331
PK282
ET625
EK867
QR1133
EY385
MS931
FZ042
4H584
GF561
WY917
WY3301
WY633
WY603
WY903
RG126
WY669
WY323
WY651
FZ044
WY291
PK192
WY373
WY823
WY215
WY815
IX818
WY263
WY385
G9842
WY843
G9115
WY231
WY905
WY605
WY203
WY641
WY245
EK863
WY717
WY337
QR1129
WY919
EY383
WY311
Bombay
Bombay
Ahmedabad
Kuwait
Abu Dhabi
Bahrain
Banglore
Hyderabad
Dubai
Bombay
Riyadh
Madras
Islam Abbad
Jaipur
Dubai
Lahore
Colombo
Tehran
Munich
Karachi
Delhi
Salalah
Doha
Male
Lahore
Istanbul
Kathmandu
Sialkot
Addis Ababa
Dubai
Doha
Abu Dhabi
Cairo
Dubai
Dacca
Bahrain
Khasab
Mukhaizna
Abu Dhabi
Dubai
Salalah
Abu Dhabi
Doha
Karachi
Bahrain
Dubai
Calicut
Gwadur
Colombo
Kuala Lumpur-Sgapore
Trivandrum
Bangkok
Mangalore
Lucknow
Male
Ras Al Khaima
Manila
Sharjah
Hyderabad
Salalah
Dubai
Bombay
Kuwait
Delhi
Dubai
Zanzibar-Daresslam
Kathmandu
Doha
Khasab
Abu Dhabi
Chittagong
0020
0020
0030
0050
0105
0110
0110
0110
0115
0115
0115
0120
0125
0135
0145
0145
0155
0155
0200
0210
0215
0220
0225
0230
0230
0230
0245
0325
0435
0450
0500
0500
0510
0510
0700
0715
0715
0730
0750
0750
0750
0815
0835
0835
0840
0845
0845
0855
0900
0900
0900
0905
0940
0940
0945
0945
0955
0955
1000
1020
1020
1025
1040
1040
1045
1050
1050
1100
1100
1105
1135
9W533
WY223
GF563
FZ038
WY631
IX350
WY253
WY113
WY655
WY693
WY3303
WY663
WY131
WY143
WY645
WY405
WY101
WY907
BG024
WY927
WY609
WY675
FZ046
WY671
WY613
QR1127
EY387
WY3901
WY3909
WY623
WY681
WY647
WY3907
WY909
GF565
WY3913
EK865
WY695
WY3905
WY661
WY653
G9117
WY913
SV535
TG508
WY915
WY635
FZ048
WY611
FZ050
WY411
WY817
9W529
6.00E+82
AI908
UL206
AI974
LX243
GF567
QR1135
BA072
WY673
LH617
EY381
Cochin
Cochin
Bahrain
Dubai
Abu Dhabi
Calicut
Madras
Frankfurt
Bahrain
Dammam
Mukhaizna
Doha
Paris
Malpensa
Kuwait
Cairo
London Heathrow
Salalah
Chittagong-Dacca
Salalah
Dubai
Jeddah
Dubai
Medina
Dubai
Doha
Abu Dhabi
Salalah
Salalah
Dubai
Riyadh
Kuwait
Salalah
Salalah
Bahrain
Salalah
Dubai
Dammam
Salalah
Doha
Bahrain
Sharjah
Salalah
Riyadh
Karachi-Bangkok
Salalah
Abu Dhabi
Dubai
Dubai
Dubai
Amman
Bangkok
Trivandrum
Bombay
Madras
Colombo
Delhi
Dubai-Zurich
Bahrain
Doha
Abu Dhabi-Heathrow
Jeddah
Doha-Frankfurt
Abu Dhabi
1145
1215
1215
1225
1250
1255
1255
1320
1325
1330
1330
1330
1345
1350
1350
1350
1400
1400
1400
1430
1445
1615
1620
1705
1710
1745
1750
1750
1810
1840
1840
1845
1850
1850
1855
1905
1910
1915
1920
1920
1920
1955
2000
2000
2005
2015
2015
2025
2035
2145
2205
2225
2230
2245
2300
2305
2310
2325
2325
2330
2330
2350
2355
2355
WY676
WY717
WY682
WY648
WY914
FZ131
WY916
WY636
NL768
TK774
PK281
GF560
ET624
EK866
QR1132
EY384
MS930
FZ041
WY114
WY638
4H583
WY658
WY902
WY326
WY644
WY686
WY154
WY144
WY678
WY668
RG125
WY132
WY674
WY102
FZ043
WY408
WY422
WY602
WY432
PK191
WY346
WY342
WY272
WY202
IX817
G9841
WY236
G9114
WY282
EK862
WY242
WY252
QR1128
EY382
WY918
WY844
9W530
WY3302
WY634
WY604
GF562
WY372
FZ037
IX337
WY332
WY384
WY705
WY818
WY824
WY652
BG023
Jeddah
Zanzibar-Daresslam
Riyadh
Kuwait
Salalah
Dubai
Salalah
Abu Dhabi
Lahore
Istanbul
Islam Abbad-Sialkot
Bahrain
Addis Ababa
Dubai
Doha
Abu Dhabi
Cairo
Dubai
Frankfurt
Abu Dhabi
Dacca
Bahrain
Salalah
Karachi
Kuwait
Riyadh
Zurich
Malpensa
Medina
Doha
Abu Dhabi
Paris
Jeddah
London Heathrow
Dubai
Cairo
Beirut
Dubai
Tehran
Gwadur
Islam Abbad
Lahore
Jaipur
Bombay
Mangalore
Ras Al Khaima
Hyderabad
Sharjah
Banglore
Dubai
Delhi
Madras
Doha
Abu Dhabi
Khasab
Manila
Trivandrum
Mukhaizna
Abu Dhabi
Dubai
Bahrain
Colombo
Dubai
Calicut
Kathmandu
Male
Daresslam-Zanzibar
Bangkok
Siapore-Kuala Lumpur
Bahrain
Dacca-Chittagong
0005
0005
0010
0015
0020
0030
0035
0040
0130
0135
0225
0325
0335
0350
0355
0400
0410
0415
0515
0555
0600
0635
0640
0650
0650
0655
0700
0705
0710
0715
0730
0735
0735
0740
0800
0800
0805
0805
0805
0810
0815
0825
0830
0835
0840
0855
0900
0905
0910
0930
0935
0955
1000
1010
1015
1025
1045
1100
1110
1115
1130
1140
1140
1155
1205
1210
1215
1220
1220
1230
1230
WY904
WY670
WY324
WY606
WY920
WY906
FZ045
WY632
WY642
WY292
EY386
QR1126
WY204
WY3304
WY264
WY664
WY216
EK864
WY246
WY232
WY656
WY610
WY694
GF564
WY908
TG507
SV534
G9116
WY374
WY646
FZ047
WY386
WY224
WY614
WY338
FZ049
WY124
9W534
AI973
6.00E+81
WY254
BA073
WY624
UL205
AI907
WY312
LX242
QR1134
WY3910
WY3902
GF566
LH616
EY388
WY910
WY3908
9W540
AI985
WY3914
WY406
WY662
WY3906
WY636
WY654
WY928
WY816
WY612
WY696
Salalah
Doha
Karachi
Dubai
Khasab
Salalah
Dubai
Abu Dhabi
Kuwait
Calicut
Abu Dhabi
Doha
Bombay
Mukhaizna
Lucknow
Doha
Trivandrum
Dubai
Delhi
Hyderabad
Bahrain
Dubai
Dammam
Bahrain
Salalah
Bangkok-Karachi
Riyadh
Sharjah
Colombo
Kuwait
Dubai
Male
Cochin
Dubai
Kathmandu
Dubai
Munich
Cochin
Delhi
Bombay
Madras
Heathrow-Abu Dhabi
Dubai
Colombo
Madras
Chittagong
Zurich-Dubai
Doha
Salalah
Salalah
Bahrain
Frankfurt-Doha
Abu Dhabi
Salalah
Salalah
Bombay
Bombay
Salalah
Cairo
Doha
Salalah
Abu Dhabi
Bahrain
Salalah
Bangkok
Dubai
Dammam
1230
1250
1300
1340
1400
1440
1535
1615
1625
1640
1645
1645
1655
1700
1740
1745
1745
1745
1750
1750
1750
1800
1805
1810
1820
1900
1900
1905
1915
1920
1940
2020
2025
2025
2040
2100
2105
2115
2125
2130
2135
2140
2150
2155
2200
2210
2225
2225
2230
2235
2240
2245
2300
2310
2310
2315
2325
2325
2330
2335
2340
2340
2340
2345
2350
2355
2355
A320
B737-8
B737-8
B737-900
E175AR
E175AR
B737-800
B737-800
B737-8
B737-800
B737-800
B737-800
B737-800
B737-800
E175AR
B737-900
B737-800
B737-700
A330-300
B737-800
B737-800
E175AR
B737-900
B737-800
A320
B737-8
B737-800
A320
B737-8
A330
B777
A320
B737-800
B737-8
MD83
A320
ATR42-50
E175AR
B737-800
B737-900
A330-300
ERJ145
B737-900
B737-900
E175AR
B737-8
B737-800
ATR72-60
B737-800
A330-300
B737-800
A330-300
B737-8
B737-800
B737-800
A320
A330-200
A320
B737-800
B737-900
E175AR
B737-800
B737-700
B737-800
A330
B737-800
B737-800
A320
ATR42-50
A320
B737-800
B737-8
B737-800
A320
B737-8
E175AR
B737-8
B737-800
A330-300
B737-800
B737-800
E175AR
B737-900
A330-200
A330-200
B737-900
B737-800
A330-300
B737-900
B777-3ER
E175AR
E175AR
A330-300
B737-8
B737-900
E175AR
A320
A320
E175AR
B737-800
B737-700
B737-800
B737-900
B737-800
E175AR
A320
B737-800
A330
B737-800
B737-900
B737-800
B737-800
A320
B737-800
EMB170
A330
B737-800
B737-800
B737-8
B737-900
B737-8
B737-800
A330-300
B737-8
A320
A320
A320
A320
A330-300
A320
B777
B777-2ER
B737-800
A330-300
A320
B737-900
B737-800
B737-800
B737-800
B737-800
B737-8
B737-800
E175AR
A320
B737-8
A320
A320
B737-8
A330
B777
A320
B737-800
B737-8
A330-300
E175AR
MD83
E175AR
E175AR
B737-800
B737-900
B737-800
A330-200
A330-200
B737-800
B737-900
ERJ145
A330-300
B737-900
A330-300
B737-8
B737-800
B737-800
E175AR
B737-700
ATR72-60
B737-800
B737-900
B737-800
B737-800
B737-8
A320
B737-800
A320
B737-800
A330
B737-800
B737-800
A320
A320
ATR42-50
A330-300
B737-8
E175AR
B737-800
B737-900
A320
B737-800
B737-8
B737-8
B737-800
B737-800
B737-800
A330-200
A330-300
E175AR
B777-3ER
A330-300
B737-900
B737-900
E175AR
ATR42-50
B737-900
B737-8
E175AR
B737-700
B737-800
A320
A320
B737-800
E175AR
B737-800
B737-900
B737-800
A330
B737-800
B737-800
B737-800
E175AR
B737-800
A320
B737-900
A330
EMB170
A320
B737-800
B737-900
B737-8
B737-800
B737-800
E175AR
B737-800
B737-8
A330-300
B737-8
A320
A320
B737-800
B777-2ER
B737-700
A320
A320
B737-800
A330-300
B777
B737-800
E175AR
A320
A330-300
A320
E175AR
B737-800
B737-8
A320
B737-800
B737-800
B737-800
B737-900
B737-800
B737-800
E175AR
A330-300
B737-900
B737-800
26
SPORTS
OMAN TRIBUNE
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
Monfils ends title drought in style
Frenchman survives 27 aces from Karlovic to seal sixth career ATP title in Washington
WASHINGTON
FRANCE’S GAEL MONfils saved a match point
and battled back to capture his sixth career ATP
title, defeating Ivo Karlovic 5-7, 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 in
late Sunday’s Washington
Open final.
The 29-year-old Frenchman, who had not won
a crown since 2014 at
Montpellier, took his first
ATP title outside of Europe
and his first outdoor trophy
since Sopot in 2005 as well
as claiming the top prize
of $348,200 (317,266
euro) on the US capital
hardcourts.
Monfils withstood a barrage of 27 aces from the
37-year-old Croatian, firing back 16 of his own. He
ended Karlovic’s streak of
70 unbroken service games
when the Croatian served
for the match in the 10th
game of the second set.
Flamboyant Monfils denied Karlovic on a match
point in the second-set tiebreaker as well, broke him
again in the third game of
the final set and held from
there to win in two hours
and 13 minutes.
Monfils became the third
French player to win the
Washington crown after
Yannick Noah in 1985 and
Arnaud Clement in 2006.
“This tournament means
a lot to me,” said Monfils.
“When I first came here I
saw the (champion) names
-- Arthur Ashe, Yannick
Noah -- and they have been
inspirations for me. I’m
very proud and very happy
to have my name next to
them.”
Monfils improved to
6-19 in ATP finals, including a 2011 Washington fi-
Matt Hazlett/AFP
Gael Monfils of France returns a shot during the Citi Open at Rock Creek Tennis Centre in Washington.
nal loss to Radek Stepanek.
Monfils had dropped his
prior three finals in a row,
including in February at
Rotterdam and April at
Monte Carlo, and eight of
his past nine finals since
2011.
Karlovic, who fell to
7-9 in ATP finals, won his
seventh career title last
week on Newport grass
to become the oldest tour
singles champion since
1979.
“Congratulations to
Gael,” Karlovic said. “Well
done.”
Monfils, who will jump
from 17th to 14th in the
world rankings, was the
week’s best at breaking
serves and overcame Karlovic’s powerful ball bashing in sweltering heat and
humidity.
Karlovic, ranked 35th,
had not dropped a service
game in Washington entering the final and averaged
more than 20 aces a match
this week. Monfils double
faulted away a break in the
11th game of the first set,
then squandered three
break points in the 12th
game after moving closer
to the baseline to counter
Karlovic’s serves.
Karlovic blasted a 141mph ace with his hardest
serve of the match to save
the last break point, then
after Monfils sent a back-
hand wide, Karlovic followed with an overhead
smash to claim the first set.
Karlovic broke on an
overhead smash for a 5-4
lead in the second set,
but again handed Monfils
triple break point only to
save them all, this time
with an overhead smash,
a second-serve ace and a
backhand volley winner.
But Monfils responded
with a forehand volley
winner and Karlovic sent a
forehand long to surrender
a break after having held
in 70 consecutive service
games, including all 53
prior at Washington.
In the tie-breaker, Karlovic hit a service winner
Manchester derby in China called off over bad weather
BEIJING
MANCHESTER UNITED’S
showpiece pre-season derby
against Manchester City was
cancelled just hours before
kick-off Monday after recent
“extreme” rain made the Beijing pitch unsafe.
“The rain has made it totally unsafe to play on this
pitch,” said Manchester
City CEO Ferran Soriano
in a statement.
Organisers of the International Challenge Cup
tournament, which also features Borussia Dortmund,
confirmed the match had
been called off on grounds
of player safety.
“The conditions experi-
enced in Beijing on July 19
and July 20 were reported
as being some of the most
extreme weather conditions the capital of China
has experienced in recent
history,” organisers said.
“The committee and
both teams make the decision together in the interest of player safety.”
Both managers, Jose
Mourinho of United and
Pep Guardiola of City,
had told reporters Sunday
they were worried about
the state of the pitch at
the 2008 Olympic venue
following flooding in and
around the Chinese capital.
Mourinho had hinted 24
hours earlier that the match
might be called off after
training was switched from
the Bird’s Nest to another
ground.
“The pitch and the conditions of my players are
more important than results in pre-season,” said
Mourinho Sunday.
“It is almost the end and
we can go home and train in
conditions where the players are safe.”
Guardiola was similarly
blunt when asked what he
wanted from the match.
“No injuries,” he replied.
Manchester United vicechairman Ed Woodward
said Monday he was sad
to have the club’s Chinese
fans lose a rare opportu-
nity to see their heroes in
the flesh.
“It’s extremely disappointing not to be able to
play the game in this amazing stadium but the recent
torrential rain would have
caused problems anywhere
in the world,” Woodward
said in a statement.
LOS ANGELES
Agence France-Presse
Reuters
Nick Turchiaro/Reuters
Novak Djokovic of Serbia (left) battles for the ball with Felix Auger Aliassime of
Canada (right) during the Rogers Cup Sportsnet Ball Hockey Challenge during
qualifying of the Rogers Cup tennis tournament at the Aviva Centre.
“I don’t expect anything, I just want to try
and get ready to perform
as best I can,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to
the tournament.
“I have a good history
here. I want to play well
and get as many hours on
the court as possible.”
Japanese third seed Kei
Nishikori said that staying
healthy after a Wimbledon
abdominal injury is his
most immediate concern.
“It’s not an easy schedule, there are three big
events (Toronto, Rio,
Cincinnati) and then the
US Open,” said Asia’s top
Wright-Phillips
brace secures
Red Bulls
4-1 victory
player. “My main hope is
to remain healthy and stay
strong.
“I was in the gym last
week, I’m feeling healthy.
This is a great opportunity for me to have a good
event here and carry the
good confidence into the
Olympics.”
Nishikori said he does
not look too closely at
his ranking, preferring to
concentrate on his weekly
form. “I want to stay top
right for the Grand Slams.
But I’m aiming for London
(ATP Tour Finals) at the
end of the season.”
Agence France-Presse
TORONTO (Canada)
Toronto marks the start
of an extra busy spell for
Djokovic, who is also eyeing Rio and the Cincinnati
Masters before the final
Grand Slam of the year,
the US Open, starts on
August 29.
A host of other top players opted out of Toronto to
rest up for Rio, including
Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, reigning champion Andy
Murray and former winner
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Djokovic, a three-time
winner of the Canadian
title, said he wouldn’t be
putting any pressure on
himself.
Agence France-Presse
THE RED BULLS WON
the battle of New York 4-1
late on Sunday with Bradley
Wright-Phillips netting twice
to continue his rich scoring
form against NYC FC.
In six career games
against New York City FC,
Wright-Phillips has scored
eight goals. NYC FC have
scored just five against the
Red Bulls over that stretch.
“I said it before the first
time we ever played them, I
want to be the first to score
in this game. It just means
so much more to me when
I’m out there,” WrightPhillips told reporters.
“I want it. I want to get
goals and I want to be remembered in the derby.
“I’ve grown up watching
derbies and I get nervous
before them,” he added.
“It’s a different feeling.”
NYC’s David Villa is
Major League Soccer’s
top scorer with 13 this season but just one has come
against the Red Bulls.
Wright-Phillips, who is
closing in on Villa with 11,
opened the scoring with his
right foot in the 20th minute and closed it with his
left in the 70th.
In between, Ronald
Zubar and Sacha Kljestan,
from the penalty spot, also
scored for the home side.
New York City, who had
Ethan White sent off in the
89th minute after picking
up a second yellow card,
scored two minutes before
half-time through Thomas
McNamara. The win saw
the Red Bulls climb to
within two points of Eastern Conference-leading
New York City.
In Sunday’s other
MLS match, Dom Dwyer
scored twice as Sporting
Kansas City blanked the
Seattle Sounders 3-0. Jacob Peterson also scored
for Sporting.
Djokovic puts Wimbledon loss
behind ahead of hardcourt ties
NOVAK DJOKOVIC
said it took him only hours
to digest his early Wimbledon defeat, and his hopes
are high heading into a
hardcourt season that
this year includes the Rio
Olympics.
Serbia’s world number
one insisted his thirdround loss to Sam Querrey at the All England Club
-- which ended his hopes
of going on to secure a rare
calendar Grand Slam -- was
behind him.
“I trust that everything
happens for a reason,” said
Djokovic, who will have a
first-round bye at the Toronto Masters before taking the court for the first
time since that shocking
upset.
“I didn’t enjoy losing in
the first week of a Grand
Slam, but the next day it
was already behind me.
“I had so much to do in
my private life, being a father and husband. I didn’t
think too much about it.
But I know you can always
learn more from your losses than your wins.
“The Wimbledon loss
cannot overshadow the
results that I’ve had in
the past 15 months,” said
Djokovic, whose defeat at
Wimbledon was his earliest at a Grand Slam in
seven years. “Now, it’s a
new beginning.”
to reach match point at
6-5 but Monfils answered
with two service winners of
his own and Karlovic then
netted a forehand volley to
surrender the set.
Monfils broke for a 2-1
lead in the deciding set
when Karlovic flicked a
backhand long.
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
OMAN TRIBUNE
27
US sink China in basketball friendly
Durant comes off bench to lead team with 19 points; America eye third straight Olympic gold
LOS ANGELES
THE US, WARMING UP
for a run at their third
straight Olympic men’s
basketball gold, romped
to a 106-57 friendly victory
over China late on Sunday.
The game at Staples
Centre, home of the
NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers, was a preview of the
teams’ scheduled August
6 clash in Rio de Janeiro,
in the first-round opener
for each.
Kevin Durant, the
erstwhile Oklahoma City
Thunder star who rocked
the NBA with his recent
decision to depart for
rivals Golden State via
free agency, came off the
bench to lead the US with
19 points. Warriors sharpshooter Klay Thompson
contributed 17.
“We should have won,
but the way we won was
excellent,” said US coach
Mike Krzyzewski. “We’re
really growing together as
a group.”
Yi Jianlian, now plying
his trade in the Chinese
Basketball Association after playing for four teams
in five NBA seasons, led
China with 18 points and
seven rebounds.
Yi earned most valuable
player honors in the Asia
Championship last October, leading China to a victory over the Philippines in
the final that secured their
Olympic berth.
Guo Ailun, another key
piece of that unbeaten
Asia Championship team,
scored five points and
pulled down five rebounds.
Zhou Qi, the towering
2.17m (7ft 1in) 20-yearold drafted in June by the
Record 292
women in
US squad
NEW YORK
Gary A. Vasquez/Reuters
DeAndre Jordan of the US defends against China’s Wang Zhelin (No. 31) in the second half during an exhibition game at Staples Centre late on Sunday.
Houston Rockets, was
limited to two points in
just under 19 minutes off
the bench.
“They all impressed me
because I like when people
play hard and they play together,” Krzyzewski said.
“They didn’t have a guy out
there who didn’t play hard
and together.”
But Sunday’s result
showed how much work
China have left to do -and how heavily favored
the United States must be
to capture another Olympic
crown. The United States
seized control from the
opening tip and led 55-29
at halftime.
China connected on just
30.9 per cent of their shots,
and 26 Chinese turnovers
led to 36 US points. DeMar
DeRozan scored 13 points
for the US and DeMarcus
Cousins added 12 points
and seven rebounds.
The Clippers’ DeAndre
Jordan chipped in a dozen
points and blocked three
shots -- including a block
on China’s first possession.
The game was the second of five exhibitions
scheduled over 11 days
prior to Team USA’s departure for Rio.
They cruised past Argentina 111-74 on Friday.
“We got better today,”
said Krzyzewski, who is
fashioning a team after
some of the NBA’s biggest
stars -- including LeBron
James and Stephen Curry
-- opted out of the Games.
“Our defense was there
pretty much the whole
game. We shared the ball
even better.
“They’re two different
teams,” he said of Argentina and China.
The United States will
take on China again on
Tuesday in Oakland,
California, before playing
Venezuela in Chicago and
Nigeria in Houston.
Venezuela is also in the
first-round group with
the US, China, Australia,
France and Serbia.
A RECORD CONtingent of 292 women
will be part of a powerful 555-strong United
States team at next
month’s Rio Olympics.
The team, announced on Saturday
by the US Olympic
Committee (USOC),
will contest 244 of 306
medal events.
The
Americans
topped the gold medal
(46) and overall medal
(104) table at London
2012.
The record number
of women on the US
team tops the previous mark of 289 by
China in 2008. It is
the second time the
American roster has
featured more females
than males.
“I am especially excited for the historic
achievement of our
women’s delegation
which is a true testament to the strength
and growing number of
women’s sport opportunities in the United
States,” USOC CEO
Scott Blackmun said.
The American team
includes 191 returning
Olympians. Equestrian
rider Phillip Dutton
and shooters Emil Milev and Kim Rhode are
heading to their sixth
Games.
Reuters
Agence France-Presse
Japan teen swimmer Phelps aims
set to make big splash to bow out on
his own terms
TOKYO
JAPANESE SCHOOLgirl Rikako Ikee, who
melted the hearts of a nation when she burst into
tears on qualifying for the
Olympics, is set to make a
big splash in Rio.
Having just turned 16,
the butterfly and freestyle
specialist will compete
in seven events at next
month’s Olympics after
bursting onto the scene at
last year’s junior worlds in
Singapore by completing a
double in the 50 and 100
metres butterfly.
Ikee backed that up by
becoming the first Japanese woman to break the
54-second barrier in the
100m freestyle earlier
this year before her emotions bubbled over at the
national championships,
which doubled up as the
country’s Olympic trials.
The Tokyo native, who
has been tearing up records
for fun over the past year,
added the final touches to
her Rio preparations by setting a new Japanese best in
the 50m fly last weekend.
“I really wanted that record,” said Ikee, who will
swim the 50m, 100m and
LOS ANGELES
Reuters/Files
Rikako Ikee to swim the 50m, 100m and 200m
freestyle along with the 100m butterfly and all three
relays in Brazil.
200m freestyle along with
the 100m butterfly and all
three relays in Brazil. “I’m
gradually getting to feel
ready for the Olympics.”
Kyoko Iwasaki famously
became an overnight media
darling in Japan after the
pint-sized breaststroker won
gold at the 1992 Barcelona
Games six days after her 14th
birthday. Asked about her
own whirlwind rise to fame,
Ikee insisted she was close
to top form after suffering
something of a let-down after
sealing qualification for the
Olympics.
“I felt a bit tired after
qualifying,” she told reporters. “But my times have
started creeping back up. I
want to make sure I get to
Rio in peak condition.”
Ikee won legions of admirers for sobbing uncontrollably at the national
trials, lifting Japanese
fans after swim king Kosuke Kitajima had failed to
qualify, signalling the end
of his storied career.
“I don’t know if I’ll be in
the position in Rio to feel
that happy or not,” Ikee
said. “I can’t imagine yet
what it will be like there.”
Agence France-Presse
MICHAEL PHELPS IS
giving himself one last
chance to get his Olympic
farewell right having fallen in love with swimming
again,
It seems an odd aim for
the owner of a record 22
Olympic medals, 18 of
them gold.
Four gold medals and two
silver in London in 2012
seemed a fitting enough finale to a career that peaked
with Phelps’s stunning
eight-gold performance in
Beijing.
But Phelps knew deep
down that he could have
done more four years ago,
and that “haunted” feeling
made it impossible for his
post-London retirement
to stick.
“I never wanted to have
that ‘what if,’” Phelps said
of his decision to mount a
fifth Olympic campaign in
Rio de Janeiro, at the age
of 31.
“This journey has been
incredible. Being able to fall
in love with the sport again
is something that I’ve always
wanted to do, and I did it on
my terms.”
However, his comeback
has been far from smooth -disrupted by a drink-driving
arrest that sparked a painful
period of self-examination.
Phelps has emerged
stronger, his renewed relationship with his estranged
father resonating even more
after the birth of his own
son, Boomer, with fiancee
Nicole Johnson in May.
“It’s a cool thing for Nicole and I, for where we are
in our lives,” Phelps said.
His relationship with
long-time coach Bob Bowman endures, with Phelps
voicing absolute trust in
Bowman’s ability to prepare him for his last Olympic hurrah. He has a chance
to make more history as he
seeks a fourth straight gold
in the 100m butterfly and
200m individual medley.
The only Olympians to
win four consecutive titles
in the same individual event
are athletes Al Oerter in the
discus (1956-68) and Carl
Lewis in the long jump
(1984-96).
Agence France-Presse
Ricardo Moraes
Athletes’ accommodation at the 2016 Rio Olympics Village in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Olympic Village is not
safe or ready: Australia
RIO DE JANEIRO
THE OFFICIAL OPENing of the Olympic Village
in Rio turned to fiasco late
on Sunday with the discovery of blocked toilets and
leaky pipes, prompting
Australia to call the facility
“not safe or ready.”
Even Brazilian athletes
who were meant to have
started taking up lodgings
in the brand-new complex
from Sunday were being
kept in hotels instead.
Britain’s delegation said it,
too, had encountered some
“maintenance difficulties,”
but added it was staying in
the Village as planned.
Rio’s Olympic organisers
said such teething problems
plagued all Olympic Games.
They promised that “adjustments” were being made to
resolve the problems.
The Olympic Games -the first to be held in South
America -- are to open on
August 5, less than two
weeks away. The lack of
preparedness in the Olympic Village was another
embarrassing blow for host
Brazil, which is struggling to
show all will be well with the
Olympiad.
It is already facing low
ticket sales, general public
apathy amid a deep recession, fears over the Zika
virus, and a spike in street
crime as police complain of
lack of resources.
Australia’s delegation
highlighted the poor state
of the Village, 31-building
complex located in the Barra
da Tijuca district in the west
of Rio de Janeiro designed
to house more than 18,000
athletes and coaching staff
over the coming weeks.
“Problems
include
blocked toilets, leaking
pipes, exposed wiring,
darkened stairwells and
dirty floors in need of a
massive clean,” the head of
the Australian team, Kitty
Chiller, said.
Agence France-Presse
IOC ruling on Russia leaves sports leaders divided
LAUSANNE
THE
INTERNATIONAL
Olympic Committee’s decision
not to ban Russia from the Rio
Games over state-run doping
left international sports leaders divided on Monday, less than
two weeks before the opening
ceremony.
Seeking to justify Sunday’s
decision, IOC president
Thomas Bach said an outright
ban would trample the rights
of clean Russian athletes who
are hoping to compete at the
upcoming Games.
Individual sports federations
will have primary responsibility
for determining every Russian
athlete’s eligibility for Rio, the
IOC executive said.
The World Anti-Doping
Agency last week called for Russia to be banned after detailing
how Russia’s sports ministry
had directed a massive cheating
programme with help from the
FSB state intelligence agency.
United States anti-doping
chief Travis Tygart -- one of
many who urged a total ban
against Russia -- accused the
IOC of creating “a confusing
mess” with its decision.
“In response to the most
important moment for clean
athletes and the integrity of
the Olympic Games, the IOC
has refused to take decisive
leadership,” the USADA boss
said in a statement.
Drug Free Sport New Zealand chief executive Graeme
Steel also criticised the IOC’s
decision to “pass the hot potato
to international federations”.
“The fight against doping in
sport requires strong international leadership, none more
so in this case, where the integrity of an entire Olympic and
Paralympic Games is at stake,”
added Australian Sports Minister Sussan Ley.
Wada officials said they were
“disappointed” with the IOC’s
decision, which director general
Olivier Niggli said would “inevitably lead to a lack of harmonisation, potential challenges
and lesser protection for clean
athletes”.
The cheating affected 30
sports, including at the 2014
Sochi Winter Olympics and
other major events, Wada said,
in revelations that widened the
worst drug scandal in Olympic
history.
Russia’s entire track and field
squad has already been barred
from Rio following a similar
Wada report on “state-supported” doping in that sport.
Fourteen national anti-dop-
ing agencies -- including the
US, Germany and Japan -- as
well as several national Olympic committees had demanded
Russia’s exclusion from Rio.
But others, including the
global governing body for swimming Fina, opposed a blanket
ban, as did countries such as
Italy and others closer to Russia.
Pat Hickey, president of the
European Olympic Committees, said the group “completely
supports” the IOC decision
which will “enable the participation of clean Russian athletes at
the Rio 2016 Olympic Games,
just days away”.
The Association of National
Olympic Committees also
backed the IOC, with ANOC
president Sheikh Ahmad Al
Fahad Al Sabah saying an allout ban “would have unfairly
punished many clean athletes”.
“ANOC commends the IOC
for favouring individual justice
over collective responsibility
and giving international federations responsibility to ensure
clean competitions in their
sports at Rio 2016,” he said.
Bach said the IOC decision
considered the severity of the
misconduct while also sending
“a message of encouragement
to clean Russian athletes.”
“This result is one which is
respecting the rules of justice
and all the clean athletes all over
the world,” he said.
Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko -- a key player in
the Wada report who has been
banned from Rio -- hailed the
IOC’s “objective” decision.
Separately, an IOC ethics
commission ruled that 800m
runner Yuliya Stepanova, who
turned whistleblower on doping in Russian athletics, could
not go to Rio even as a neutral
-- a decision that both Wada and
USADA denounced as likely to
discourage others from coming
forward.
Agence France-Presse
28
TUESDAY JULY 26 2016
21 SHAWWAL 1437
India floor West Indies in first Test
Ashwin takes 7-83 in second innings as home side collapses at 231 after being forced to follow-on
It’s good to
have winning
habit, says
skipper Kohli
NORTH SOUND (Antigua)
INDIA CAPTAIN VIRAT
Kohli lauded a “complete
performance” by his team
after they thrashed West
Indies by an innings and
92 runs inside four days in
the first Test in Antigua late
on Sunday.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin collected
7-83 in the second innings
as the home team collapsed
to 231 all out after being
forced to follow-on at the
Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound.
It was Ashwin’s third career seven-wicket haul, his
first outside India. He had
not picked up any wickets
in the first innings.
“The fast bowlers bowled
really well in the first (innings) and I wasn’t really
finding my rhythm to be
very honest,” Ashwin, who
also scored a century, said
in an on-field interview
after being named man-ofthe-match.
“I got a good long spell
after lunch today. Rhythm is
the most important thing for
me. I wasn’t quite comfortable yesterday. Today was
very different.”
Carlos Brathwaite, batting at number nine, top
scored for West Indies with
51 not out, while Marlon
Samuels (50) and Devendra
Bishoo (45) tried to frustrate the visitors but they
only delayed the inevitable.
India ensured they would
not lose with a first-innings
total of 566 for eight declared, and they will take
even greater heart from
the way their balanced fivepronged bowling attack
-- three pacemen and two
spinners -- rattled through
the Windies twice in less
than six sessions. Pacemen
Mohammed Shami and
Umesh Yadav did the damage in the first innings with
four wickets each, before
Ashwin took over on Sunday.
“It was a complete performance,” said India captain
Virat Kohli, who played
NORTH SOUND (Antigua)
PTI
India’s bowler Ravichandran Ashwin (centre) celebrates with teammates after he bowled out West Indies’ Marlon Samuels during day four of their first Test at the Sir
Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua, late on Sunday.
no small part in the victory
with his first career double
century.
“We’re very happy with
the way we executed our
plan. We just need to be
confident but not complacent and not overconfident.”
West Indies, a lowly
eighth in the International
Cricket Council Test rank-
ings, started the four-Test
series as big underdogs,
but their inability to make a
contest of the first Test will
raise further concerns about
the future of the Caribbean
team in the five-day format.
“We didn’t really bowl
well in the first innings. It
was a daunting task, trying to
chase 560-odd,” said West
Indies captain Jason Holder.
“We obviously need to
bowl a bit better. Shannon
(Gabriel) bowled extremely
well, Bishoo was decent.
We just need to string
together some more dot
balls, some more pressure
deliveries.”
The second Test starts
in Kingston, Jamaica, on
Saturday.
SCOREBOARD
India 1st innings 566 for 8 decl (V Kohli 200,
R Ashwin 113, S Dhawan 84, A Mishra 53)
West Indies 1st innings 243 (K Brathwaite 74,
S Dowrich 57no; U Yadav 4-41, M Shami 4-66)
West Indies 2nd innings (Overnight: 21-1)
K Brathwaite lbw b I Sharma - - - - - - 2
R Chandrika c Saha b R Ashwin - - - - 31
Da. Bravo c Rahane b U Yadav - - - - - 10
M Samuels b R Ashwin - - - - - - - - - - 50
J Blackwood c Kohli b R Ashwin - - - - 0
R Chase c sub b R Ashwin - - - - - - - - - 8
S Dowrich lbw b Mishra - - - - - - - - - - 9
J Holder b R Ashwin - - - - - - - - - - - - 16
C Brathwaite not out - - - - - - - - - - - - 51
D Bishoo c Pujara b R Ashwin - - - - - 45
S Gabriel b R Ashwin- - - - - - - - - - - - - 4
Extras (nb-5) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 5
Total (all out, 78 overs) - - - - - - - - 231
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-21, 3-88, 4-92, 5-101,
6-106, 7-120, 8-132, 9-227, 10-231
Bowling: I Sharma 11-2-27-1; M Shami 10-326-0; U Yadav 13-4-34-1; R Ashwin 25-8-83-7;
A Mishra 19-3-61-1
Reuters
WINNING IS “CONTAgious” and Indian Test
captain Virat Kohli feels
that it is a “good habit”
that his boys can create in
order to become a formidable Test team anywhere
in the world.
“We want to create winning habits, good habits.
And you know, winning
is contagious. If we learn
to win Test matches, then
we’ll learn how to win
Tests everywhere. We will
learn how to play in different
situations and we will know
exactly what to do when a
certain situation is going a
certain way,” Kohli told mediapersons after a thumping
victory against the hosts.
“We want to be consistent side, we need to set
ourselves goals and look
to execute that rather than
looking at the opposition
which I think this team is
willing to do,” said Kohli
after the win.
“That for me is a very
pleasing thing as a captain
and for the team as well.
Everyone understands the
way we want to play on the
field - where we need to bat,
how we need to bowl, etc.
We need to be comfortable
with what the team requires
and I think that’s the most
important for this team going forward.”
It was an all-round effort
from the bowlers with pacers Mohammed Shami and
Umesh Yadav snaring eight
scalps among themselves in
the first innings and premier
spinner Ravichandran Ashwin with his 7 for 83 singlehandedly decimating the
opposition in the second
innings.
Press Trust of India
Lanka lodges complaint against Murali
COLOMBO
SRI LANKA’S CRICKET
board lodged a complaint
on Monday with the visiting Australians after their
bowling consultant and
local legend Muttiah Muralitharan was involved in
a bust-up with his former
colleagues.
On the eve of the first of
three Tests, board president Thilanga Sumathipala
accused Muralitharan of
insulting Sri Lanka team
manager Charith Senanayake in a row over the Australians’ use of a practice
pitch in Colombo.
“Muralitharan’s behaviour is unacceptable and
we have brought this to
the notice of the Australian team management,”
Sumathipala told reporters.
“It should not have happened. We are very disappointed.”
Sumathipala said Muralitharan had bullied
groundsmen at the Pallekele Stadium on Saturday
into allowing the Australians to practise there
when it was theoretically
off limits to both teams.
“He rode roughshod
over the groundsmen and
got his (Australian) players to practise in violation
of the time stipulations,”
Sumathipala said. “He
later confronted our team
manager (Senanayake) and
abused him.”
Muralitharan is a national hero in Sri Lanka after
taking 800 Test wickets,
Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP
Australia’s bowling consultant and former Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan (right) speaks with Australia’s Stephen O’Keefe
during a practice session at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Pallekele on Saturday.
still a world record some six
years after his retirement.
But his decision to lend
his local expertise to the
tourists has raised eyebrows, not least because
the 44-year-old was once
labelled a “chucker” by
Australia’s then-prime
minister John Howard.
Stung by criticism on
social media, Muralitharan
recently posted a video on
YouTube in which he defended his decision to help
the Australians as a freelance bowling consultant.
“I am doing a professional job,” said the 44-yearold former spinner.
“I am not a traitor. Sri
Lanka has not tried to make
use of my services, so I am
helping the Australians
who value my contributions.”
Senanayake
refused
to comment but a source
close to the team said the
manager and Muralitharan
had exchanged words on
Saturday at Pallekele stadium, on the outskirts of
Kandy, which is hosting
the first Test.
Sri Lanka cricket chief
Sumathipala said it was
ironic that Muralitharan
was coaching a team from
Australia given his history.
“Professionally it is
okay for Murali to coach
any foreign team, but the
irony is that he is supporting Australia which tried
to get him out of cricket,”
Sumathipala said.
“He is creating long-
term damage for himself
among his fans.”
During an 18-year
Test career, Muralitharan -- who was born with
a partially deformed elbow -- was twice cited by
Australian umpires for a
suspect action but he was
cleared both times by the
game’s governing body.
Agence France-Presse