VIOLATORS TO GET JAIL AND FINE Lithuania PM

TUESDAY | FEBRUARY 3, 2015 | RABEE AL THANI 13, 1436 AH
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VOL. 34 NO. 81 | PAGES 32 | BAISAS 200
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Chief Executive Officer
DR IBRAHIM BIN AHMED AL KINDI
Japan seeks active military role US pledges friendship with Lanka Obama to host Merkel next week Editor-in-Chief
ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI
Oman Establishment for Press, Publication and Advertising
PO Box 974, Postal Code 100, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
www.omanobserver.om
FOLLOW US ON:
OMAN
Oman oil price rises
by $3.65 per barrel
MUSCAT: Dubai Mercantile Exchange
(DME) said that Oman oil price for
April delivery has reached $49.63 per
barrel. The DME statement said that
the price of Oman oil rose $3.65 from
that of last Friday, which was $45.98. It
is worth mentioning that the average
price of Oman oil for February delivery
has stabilised at $61.01, thus $17.23
per barrel lower than January delivery.
Meanwhile, Muscat Securities Market
(MSM) general index 30 yesterday added
1.44 points, comprising a rise of 0.02 per
cent to close at 6,573.67 points.
ASIA
Pakistan test-fires
cruise missile
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan yesterday
test-fired a cruise missile capable of
carrying a nuclear warhead, just over
a week after India reached a new
civilian nuclear accord with the United
States. The military described the
domestically-developed Ra’ad as a “lowflying, terrain-hugging missile” which
can deliver nuclear or conventional
warheads to targets up to 350 km away
with “pinpoint accuracy”. The agreement
was reached during President Barack
Obama’s visit to New Delhi.
REPORT ON P6
INTERNATIONAL
Ebola vaccine
testing begins
INSIDESTORIES
TEACHERS ARM SELVES
AFTER SCHOOL MASSACRE
P6
DECIDING HOW TO
PREPARE FOR PRIMARY
P9
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UKRAINE REBELS VOW
TO ESCALATE CONFLICT
WEATHER TODAY
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MIN: 190C
SALALAH
MAX: 300C
MIN: 160C
FAJR: 05:27
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VIOLATORS TO GET JAIL AND FINE
TOUGH RULES: New Consumer Protection Law seeks upward shift in penalty
KABEER YOUSUF
MUSCAT
WHAT’S IN
Feb. 2: The new Consumer Protection
Law of Oman established by Royal
Decree No 66/2014 which stipulates
jail term along with heavy fines will
come into effect from March 1 and will
supersede the 2002 law to incorporate
modern business trends and the nature
of cases.
While the new law seeks an upward
shift in the present maximum fine of
RO 5,000 to RO 50,000, the offender
will also have to serve a jail term
which may vary from 10 days to 5
years depending upon the nature of
the offence. Additionally, the Public
Authority for Consumer Protection
(PACP) can directly issue fines to the
tune of up to RO 5,000 which was not
present in the earlier version of the law,
it is learnt.
The chairman of the PACP reserves
the right to slap the offending firm
with a fine of a maximum RO 10,000
in accordance with the provisions and
procedures of the same.
STORE
Increase in fine from
RO 5,000 to
RO 50,000
And Jail term up to
5 YEARS
The offender will also
be exposed in the
media with the case
details and photo.
The violating firm will
lose its Commercial
Licence if the offence
is repeated.
“Sultanate of Oman is committed
to protecting consumer interests and
in ensuring that quality products and
services are being delivered to the
consumers for the money they pay”,
Khalid Mohammed al Amri, Assistant
Director General of Consumer Services
and Market Control at the Public
Authority for Consumer Protection
(PACP), told the Observer.
With the new law, the offender will
also be exposed in the media with the
nature of the case and a photo.
“In future, if a shopkeeper is found
prima facie guilty in the court and no
provision for appeal was given, his
photo will be published in the media
along with the crime details in both
Arabic and English”, Al Amri added.
Additionally, the new law seeks
to close down the commercial
establishment through a court order
if the violation is of repeating nature
which was not there in the older version
of the law. The violating firm will lose
its Commercial Licence (CR) if the
consumer right violation is repeated, he
added.
In Oman, the Consumer Protection
Law was established by a Royal Decree
in 2002 and it was a part of the Ministry
of Commerce and Industry. Since then
various studies have been carried out to
update the same with due amendments
over a period of time and given shape to
the new law.
TURN TO P4
Lithuania PM
arrives on
3-day visit
MUSCAT: Algirdas Butkevicius,
Prime Minister of Lithuania, arrived
in the country yesterday on a threeday visit to the Sultanate.
The guest and his delegation
were greeted upon their arrival in
the country by Dr Ali bin Masoud
al Sunaidy, Minister of Commerce
and Industry, Head of the Mission
of Honor, Sayyid Badr bin Hamad
al Busaidi, Secretary-General of
the Foreign Ministry, Dr Salim bin
Nasser al Ismaili, Chairman of the
Public Authority for Investment
Promotion and Export Development,
Shaikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al
Hinai, Sultanate’s Ambassador to the
United Kingdom and non-resident
ambassador to Lithuania, and Asta
Skaisgiryte Liauskiene, accredited and
non-resident ambassador of Lithuania
to the Sultanate.
The prime minister is accompanied
by his wife and an official delegation
comprising Evaldas Gustas, Minister of
Economy, Asta Skaisgiryte Liauskiene,
and others. (PHOTO ON P2)
Unhygienic poultry farms a threat 1.570 million expatriate
ZAINAB AL NASSRI
MUSCAT
MONROVIA: Large-scale human testing
of two potential Ebola vaccines got
under way in Liberia’s capital yesterday,
part of a global effort to prevent a
repeat of the epidemic that has now
claimed nearly 9,000 lives in West
Africa. The studies in Liberia are taking
place after smaller tests determined
that the vaccines were safe for human
use. By comparing them now with a
dummy shot, scientists hope to learn
whether they can prevent people from
contracting the virus. REPORT ON P15
MUSCAT
[email protected]
Feb. 2: Negligence in maintaining
hygiene by workers at poultry farms is
posing a great threat to public health
and the problem is worsened when the
workers are either illegal residents or
employed by someone other than the
poultry owner.
A number of complaints were filed
by the public with the latest regarding
a worker trying to slaughter a brood
of hens which were already dead,
according to an eye-witness. When
the eye-witness inquired, the worker
nonchalantly informed him that the
meat was to be distributed in the
market after slaughtering and packing
them.
Local residents got furious after the
story went viral on social media, raising
concern over hygiene to be followed in
the poultry and packing centres run by
private companies.
Authorities said that strict laws are
in place to tackle such cases which
jeopardise public health.
“Poultry licences are issued with
specified terms and conditions. Any
farm should be far from residential
areas with distance set according to
the farm’s production capacity,” says
Muad bin Salem al Hinai, Director of
Veterinary Control at the Ministry of
Regional Municipalities and Water
Resources.
He insisted that people’s health is
always a priority and this is taken into
consideration when putting poultry on
regulations list.
“All ministerial terms were made
strict especially in the wake of the
recent communicable diseases such as
bird flu, H1N1 and others”.
The ministry had instructed retail
shops not to slaughter chicken inside
the shops in 2009. Likewise, Article
20 of the Law which regulates poultry
farms functioning in the country, states
that dead chicken shall be incinerated
at a designated place in the farm
before they are transported to the final
landfills allocated by the municipality.
TURN TO P4
FRESH AIR STRIKES
Residents reacts and gesture to the sky, during what activists said were seven air-strikes by Syrian forces in Duma
in Eastern Al Ghouta, near Damascus, yesterday. At least 32 people were killed in the raids, a monitoring group
said. — Reuters
New emergency unit at Khoula
STAFF REPORTER
MUSCAT
Feb. 2: A new emergency care unit
was opened at Khoula Hospital
yesterday by Dr Ahmed bin
Mohammed al Saeedi, Minister of
Health.
Constructed on a 10,000 sq
metre plot of land at a cost of
over RO 14 million, the project is
part of a long-term plan aimed at
developing Khoula Hospital.
Speaking at the inaugural
ceremony, Dr Al Saeedi said Khoula
Hospital which was started in 1974
with just 7 beds has now expanded
to house an emergency unit with
state-of-the-art medical equipment
and well-qualified and trained
staff which makes it possible to cut
wastage of time by 45 minutes.
The new emergency unit is
a two-storey building with 12
resuscitation beds, 11 beds for
inpatients, 2 rooms for fracture
treatment, 2 burn treatment rooms,
laboratory, x-ray and ultrasound
unit, tomography CT system.
The intensive care unit has been
expanded to 32 beds from existing
22, thereby enhancing the services
rendered to patients and cutting
wastage of time.
workers in Sultanate
STAFF REPORTER
MUSCAT
Feb. 2: The number of expatriate
workers in the Sultanate has reached
1.570 million, the majority of them
(1.270 million) are employed in the
private sector, while 59,759 work for
the government sector and 240,000
were registered in the domestic sector,
according to a report by National
Centre for Statistics and Information
(NCSI).
The report which covers the period
till end of December 2014 showed that
Indian nationals account for 603,000 of
the total number of expatriates working
in the Sultanate with Bangladeshi
nationals numbering 540,400 in the
second place and the Pakistani nationals
in the third place with 214,300. Of
these, holders of qualifications below
the secondary level account for over one
million, 234,200 of them are holders
of secondary certificate and 2,775 are
doctorate degree holders.
The
majority
of
expatriate
workforce (698,000) is based in Muscat
Governorate followed by Al Batinah
North Governorate which is home to
203,000 foreign workers.
The number of Omani nationals
employed in private sector and
registered at social insurance has
increased 8.6 per cent by the end of
December to touch 197,000 up from
the 181,000 registered by the end of
2013. The number of those who earn a
basic salary of RO 325 to RO 400 has
gone down from 118,000 in 2013 to
49,000 in 2014, a fall by 58.6 per cent.
2
RAILWAY SEMINAR IN SALALAH
T U E S DAY l F E B R U A R Y 3 l 2 0 1 5
A seminar on the railway project in the
Sultanate: its tracks and intersections in
Dhofar was held yesterday in Salalah. The
seminar included a presentation on the
objectives, vision and mission of ORC in
the implementation of the project. the
company has completed the design of the
railway track from Sohar to Al Buraimi and
the final design for all the tracks will be
completed by the end of this year.
OMAN
ELECTRICAL, ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS MEET
The 8th GCC Conference and Exhibition,
organized by SQU in collaboration with
Institute of Electrical and Electronic
Engineers opened at SQU yesterday.
A number of academician, engineers,
students and industrialists will discuss the
major challenges and developments in
the field of electricity, electronics and how
to improve the electricity system in light
of the high loads.
10pc increase in vehicles
TRAFFIC WOES: ROP and Muscat Municipality discuss proposals
to reduce rush hour period in the city
MUSCAT: A joint meeting between Muscat
Municipality and the Directorate General of
Traffic at the Royal Oman Police (ROP) was
held at Muscat Municipality yesterday to
discuss traffic aspects.
The meeting was chaired from the
municipality side by Mohsen bin Mohammed
al Shaikh, Chairman of Muscat Municipality,
while on the ROP side it was chaired from
by members of the Directorate General of
Traffic. The ROP Directorate General of
Traffic reviewed figures and statistics showing
Algirdas Butkevicius, Prime Minister of Lithuania, receives a warm welcome upon his arrival in Muscat last night.
— ONA
Oman participates in tourism conference
STAFF REPORTER
MUSCAT
Feb. 2: The Ministry of Tourism
and the Ministry of Heritage and
Culture will participate in the
World Conference on Tourism and
Culture in Cambodia from February
4-6.
This year, the delegation is headed
by Ahmed bin Nasser Al Mahrizi, the
Minister of Tourism.
For the first time, ministers of
tourism and culture from across the
globe will gather to discuss how to
build a new partnership between
tourism and culture.
The program will explore the
immense potential to work together
to contribute to inclusive economic
growth, social development and
heritage preservation.
The conference is expected to
receive 800 delegates including
national,
regional
and
local
government policy makers in
the areas of tourism and culture,
professionals from world heritage
sites and intangible cultural heritages,
non-governmental
organisations,
academic institutions, and private
sector stakeholders.
Gathering tourism and culture
stakeholders from all world regions in
Siem Reap, Cambodia, the conference
will address a wide range of topics,
including
governance
models,
the promotion, protection and
safeguarding of culture, innovation,
the role of creative industries and
urban regeneration as a vehicle
for sustainable development in
destinations worldwide.
Police
arrest drug
dealer in
Haima
HAIMA:
Personnel
from
Haima
Police
Station in cooperation
with the Department
for Combating Narcotic
Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances at the Al Wusta
Police Command arrested
an
individual
(Gulf
national) for smuggling
four bars of hashish.
The
accused
was
referred to the Public
Prosecution for legal
action.
ROP calls upon all
citizens and residents to
cooperate in combating
drugs and to inform
the police about any
information
which
will help in detection
of smugglers and drug
dealers.
the increasing number of vehicles in the
Sultanate for 2015 to reach more than 1.3
million vehicles, an increase by 10 percent
when compared with the previous year, while
the total length of paved roads stood at 32,606
km till 2013.
The meeting also discussed a proposal
of the Directorate General of Traffic to
implement ramps. It also discussed a proposal
of the Municipal Council to reduce rush hour
period allowed in the Governorate of Muscat
including wastewater trucks.
— ONA
CROWDED ROADS
No of vehicles
1.3M
Length of paved roads
32,606km
OMAN
T U E S DAY
FEBRUARY 3 l 2015
omandailyobserver
3
Military cooperation reviewed
MUSCAT: Sayyid Badr bin Saud al
Busaidy, Minister Responsible for
Defence Affairs, received in his Office
at Mu’askar Bait Al Falaj yesterday Gen
Paul J Selva, Commander of the US
Transportation Command, currently
visiting the Sultanate.
The meeting reviewed fields of
the military cooperation between the
two friendly countries and exchanged
viewpoints in a number of matters of
common concern.
Meanwhile, Lt Gen Ahmed
bin Harith al Nabhani, Chief
of Staff of the Sultan’s Armed Forces
(SAF), also separately received Gen
Selva in his office yesterday. The
meeting exchanged viewpoints in a
number of matters of common concern.
— ONA
RNO cruises ahead with
diving, hyperbaric medicine
Australian
envoy bids
farewell
SEA TREATMENT: Royal Navy of Oman opens international
conference on naval medicine
MUSCAT: Sayyid Badr
bin Hamad al Busaidi,
Secretary General of the
Foreign Ministry, yesterday
received Neil Hawkins,
Ambassador of Australia
to the Sultanate, who came
to bid him farewell at the
end of his tour of duties as
his country’s ambassador to
the Sultanate.
The meeting discussed
means of promoting the
bilateral relations between
the two countries and
issues of common concern.
Sayyid Badr wished the
ambassador success in his
future assignments.
The
meeting
was
attended
by
Sayyid
Mohammed bin Salim al
Said, Head of the Protocols
Department and Riyad bin
Mohammed bin Abdulnabi
Macki, Deputy Head of
the East Asia Department.
— ONA
MUSCAT:
The
four-day
2nd
International Conference for Naval
Medicine, hosted by the Sultanate
represented by the Royal Navy of Oman
(RNO) opened yesterday at the Al
Bustan Palace Hotel. The conference is
organised by the Armed Forces Medical
Services, in collaboration with World
Health Organisation (WHO), Oman
Medical Specialty Board (OMSB),
the Research Council and Oakland
University.
The conference was opened by Dr
Mubarak bin Saleh al Khadouri, Special
Adviser of His Majesty the Sultan, in
the presence of Rear Admiral Abdullah
bin Khamis al Raisi, Commander of
RNO, a number of specialists from the
Ministry of Defence, the Sultan’s Armed
Forces, other public organisations
and experts from a number friendly
countries.
Rear Admiral Abdullah bin Khamis
al Raisi, Commander of the RNO, in a
speech said that the RNO has started
providing maritime medical services,
hyperbaric medicine and oxygen
treatment in 1978. The services have
developed till the establishment of a
special unit for maritime medicine.
The five-day conference includes
a number of lectures and working
papers on naval medicine, diving and
hyperbaric medicine, treatment systems
used in it, the Sultanate’s strategy in
drafting the national health record
system, remote consultancy service in
the field of primary health care and other
topics related to maritime medicine.
There has been two lectures related
to treatment of diabetes in the Sultanate
and the relationship between treatment
and hyperbaric medicine.
After the opening speeches, the chief
guest opened the exhibition held on the
sidelines of the conference. The chief
guest and participants had a sea journey
onboard of ‘Shabab Oman’ vessel.
The ceremony was attended by Dr
Hilal bin Ali al Hinai, Secretary General
of The Research Council (TRC), Dr
Hamad bin Said al Oufi, Undersecretary
of the Ministry of Agriculture and
Fisheries for Fisheries, Najeeb bin Ali al
Rowas, Undersecretary of the Ministry
of Environment and Climate Affairs,
and a number of army, police and RNO
officers. — ONA
Symposium
on women’s
economic
empowerment
MUSCAT: The Oman
Chamber of Commerce
and Industry (OCCI) will
organise a symposium
on women’s economic
empowerment on February
22.
The event, organised
by the Arabian Women’s
Media company, aims to
shed light on women in the
economic field in order to
focus on their contribution
to the economic activity in
the Sultanate in light of the
growing Omani economy’s
dependence on oil.
Aziza al Habsi, CEO of
Arabian Woman Media,
said the symposium will
include workshops on
strategic planning for
commercial projects and
how to market production
projects, especially those
that are dominated by
women in Oman.
Beside success stories of
pioneering Omani women
will also be presented at the
symposium.
The stories will mainly
focus on how they
benefit from government
and
private
facilities
available to women for
self-employment
and
the development of their
businesses.
4
OMAN
omandailyobserver
Consumer law violators
to get jail and fine
FROM PAGE 1
Al Amri also shed light on the First
Competition and Monopoly Law which
came into effect on December 1, 2014
that stipulates that no entrepreneur
can hold more than 35 per cent of the
market share of a particular product so
that he is kept away from influencing
the market in any way.
“Although there have been some
provisions and Articles regarding
monopoly and competition, this
is the first time that the country is
promulgating an exclusive law for
the two aforesaid market practices
and will be further enhanced with
the establishment of a dedicated
department for dealing with the same”.
The PACP received some 32,000
cases in 2012 but it went up to 36,000 by
2013, an increase of more than 10 per
cent. But Al Amri agreed that there is a
substantial reduction in the number of
cases last year, thanks to the efforts of
the authority.
“We addressed 29,246 complaints
and confiscated more than 2.5 million
items under the consumer protection
laws from various governorates of the
Sultanate last year”.
The total number of complaints and
registered violations in Muscat reached
16,803, while 14,596 complaints at
other branches. Most complaint were
about cars services (378) mobile and
communication (218) and electronics
(185). Nearly RO 60,000 was collected
from erring companies during the third
quarter of 2014.
“To achieve our goals towards
consumer protection in the country,
we need an all-encompassing support
and cooperation from all the ministries
as well as private and public sector
companies along with the consumers as
well as the officials at the department”,
he added.
He said that the consumer
protection violations found by PACP
of late including the case of fake auto
parts haven’t affected the individual
consumers as much as the government
sector where some of these duplicate
auto parts were sold at RO 1,500 a piece,
Over 29,246 complaints
addressed and more than
2.5 million items were
confiscated under the
consumer protection
laws in various
governorates last year.
while the original price was not more
than RO 50 costing the government
millions of rials in losses. After the fake
auto parts case was brought to light
by PACP the armed forces discovered
similar cases of companies involved in
supplying duplicate auto parts, Al Amri
said.
Al Amri warned against rumours
concocted by rival traders against each
other as was the case with powder
milk which was claimed to be unfit for
consumption, but later it turned out to
be a rumour and similarly the Pringles
potato chips was wrongfully deemed
unsafe only to prove the opposite.
“There is need for suitably equipped
state-of-the-art laboratories for testing
multi-component commodities. The
consumer protection law slaps heavy
fines of up to RO 50,000 and up to fiveyear imprisonment in commercial fraud
cases and also in the event of causing
heath damage and the managers and
top executives of food companies can
also be held to account in accordance
with the law.”
“The PACP had prepared files for
traders who share the market among
themselves and monopolise trade of
some commodities,” Al Amri said,
pointing out that the market is suffering
from saturation which affects a number
of commodities and also results in
monopoly.
There are 400 employees who have
the judicial inspection status at the
Sultanate’s level and that makes up
only 40 per cent of the total number of
PACP employees and only those 400
inspectors are authorised to investigate
complaints, Al Amri said. (With inputs
by Zakaria Fikri)
T U E S DAY
FEBRUARY 3 l 2015
Engineers exchange expertise,
developments in energy, IT
SEEKING SMART SOLUTIONS: EEE GCC Conference and Exhibition opens at SQU
MUSCAT: Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed
al Futaisi, Minister of Transport and
Communications, presided over the
opening ceremony of the 8th biennial
succession of the IEEE GCC Conference
and Exhibition at Sultan Qaboos
University yesterday.
The event is jointly organized by
Sultan Qaboos University and the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) – Oman chapter.
This conference series is the most
prominent and premiere gathering of
Electrical, Electronics and Computer
Engineering professionals in the GCC
region.
This
internationally-recognized
conference, which has already been
held and organized in other GCC
states of UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and
Bahrain, aims to convene practitioners
and students alike all over the world
from various industries, academic and
research institutes on multidisciplinary
background.
The key objective of this gathering
is to present, discuss and review
the challenges and developments
confronting the dynamic world of
electrical and electronics engineering.
Tutorials, workshops and industrial
exhibitions on the theme “Towards
Sustainable Smart Solutions” will also be
showcased.
Delivering the speech on behalf of
the Conference Steering Committee, Dr
Amer al Hinai, said that in this in this
IEEE-GCC conference, the organizers
have further encouraged industry
participation by having more invited
industrial speakers.
“We have also welcomed special
contributions from the industry on
technology
applications.
Special
opportunities have also been offered
to industry to provide technological
tutorials for students, academics and
industry staff. These tutorials introduce
cutting-edge electrical engineering
tools and techniques for modern digital
analysis,” Dr Al Hinai said.
Dr Hassan al Nashash, Technical
Committee chair of the conference,
said that this conference is a forum for
professional engineers, scientists and
academics engaged in research and
development to convene and present
scholarly work and applications in
industry.
“This year, the technical program
includes 18 regular technical sessions
spanning important topics ranging
from electric power and energy,
control, communications and signal
processing, computer engineering and
IT, electronics and instrumentation to
engineering education.
In addition, we are privileged to have
five distinguished keynote speakers and
six invited speakers from government,
industry and academia. These speakers
will address state-of-the art topics
ranging from communications industry,
power and IT.
The technical program also includes
three tutorials in various areas of related
areas” Dr Al Nashash said.
The Technical Program Committee
received a total of 198 regular papers, 12
tutorials and 22 industry abstracts from
31 countries in Asia, Africa, Australia,
Europe, and North America. The review
process involved more than 100 experts
from all over the world.
Addressing
the
conference
participants, Mohammed al Mahrouqi,
Chairman of Public Authority for
Electricity and Water, and the honorary
chair of the conference, said that energy
in all its forms and sources occupies a
prominent position and it is the main
engine to the wheel of development in
the whole world.
“Therefore it is necessary to decisionmakers and specialists to consult,
discuss and provide creative ideas in
order to reach the best ways to raise
efficiency of energy and the find smart
and sustainable sources.
The
IEEE
conference
aims
to achieve several goals such as
exchange of experiences and modern
scientific experiments and followup of new research in the field of
telecommunications and energy. We
hope that the participants in this
conference will be able to find the
recommendations that would contribute
to control the quality of the electrical
devices,” he said.
Dr Saad al Barrak, Kuwaiti
entrepreneur and former CEO of the
Zain Group, gave the keynote address
on the topic “Leading Change”. He said
that change is the very essence of the
business leader’s job. “Sensing the need,
identifying the direction and magnitude
of change required, convincing and
inspiring the organization, blowing
away the obstacles — this is what real
leaders do. Most find it excruciatingly
difficult.”
Dr Al Barrk further said: “If the
mind is to survive the constant battle
with the unexpected, two qualities are
indispensable: first, an intellect that
even in this moment of intense darkness
retains some trace of the inner light
that will lead to truth, and second, the
courage to go where that faint light leads”.
According to Dr Al Barrak, uncertainty
is the very engine of transformation in
a business, a continuous source of new
opportunities.
The guest of honour, Dr Al Futaisi,
later opened the exhibition that included
exhibitors from industry as well as
students from the Gulf Cooperation
Council countries. The students have
come up with their projects and posters.
The conference will continue until
February 4.
IMCO students prepare
for Sailing Arabia debut
MUSCAT: The young novices on board
Team IMCO are preparing for the ride of
their lives in EFG Sailing Arabia — The
Tour 2015, but with just a few months
of sailing experience between them,
they have few expectations of toppling
the champions. Making their debut in
The Tour, Team IMCO, representing
the International Maritime College
Oman, is also playing host to the first
stopover of the new look 2015 race after
the fleet leave Muscat on February 15th.
The team is skippered by Mathijs
Wagemans, an experienced Dutch
sailor who doubles up as Head of
Port, Shipping and Transportation
Management Department at IMCO,
located in Sohar, 200kms north of
Muscat. Putting together a brand new
team has been an exciting project,
said Wagemans who will return to the
Netherlands the day after EFG Sailing
International Maritime
College Oman will host
the first stopover of
the new look 2015 race
after the fleet leaves
Muscat on February 15
Arabia - The Tour concludes, following
a four year assignment in Oman.
Wagemans has been helped in his
preparations by Mohsin Al Busaidi,
Oman Sail’s Keelboat and Women
Team Manager and the first Arab to
sail around the world non-stop, who
designed the selection programme and
put the raw recruits through their paces.
“We started in September with
Mohsin who introduced the guys
Unhygienic poultry farms a threat
FROM PAGE 1
to sailing. His emphasis from the
outset was not on winning but on
showing how commitment has a
direct relationship to achievement.
Our selection process began with 30
students who all completed their Oman
Sail Level 1 and 2 courses and we have
whittled the squad down to nine sailors
who have been undergoing intensive
training since November. Obviously, we
don’t expect to compete for the podium
so for the guys, this is all about enjoying
the experience. They will remember it
for the rest of their lives.”
EFG Sailing Arabia - The Tour is a
unique sailing challenge and the only
Pan-GCC offshore sailing race of its
kind in the region. It showcases four
different countries across a course of 760
nautical miles and 15 days, which, since
it was established in 2011, has appealed
to all types of sailors from some of the
highest profile offshore sailors in the
world to complete amateurs.
It is preferable to provide incinerators
at large farms. It also stipulates special
rooms allocated for workers to change
their clothes before entering and leaving
the farms. Besides, live chicken sold in
markets shall be not less than 40 days
old, and its weight not less than 1.25 kg.
The hygiene issue gets even worse
when the workers are employed illegally.
They presumably have no accountability
when anything goes wrong and more
often than not, it becomes difficult to
bring them to book.
“The practice of employing illegals is a
serious issue and a number of cases have
been registered by various inspection
squads of municipalities and the poultry
owner should make sure all employees
are legal to avoid legal complications,” Al
Hinai added.
He explained that there are licensed
farms and unlicensed farms. The
licensed ones which follow civic rules
and carry out regular checks in certain
schedules. There are also unlicensed
farms which flout all norms and laws
and they are subject to stricter punitive
actions.
“Such farms operate in the back yard
of a house or farmhouse and they will
be subject to actions under multiple
provisions”, he added.
He pointed that offenders will be
fined with up to RO 10,000 and a jail
sector is of high potential investments
while its playing a crucial role in
ensuring public health.
“The ministry has always been keen to
develop poultry sector as one of
the sectors attracting investors
continuously,” says Ahmed al Naabi,
Director of Livestock Production and
Extension at the Ministry of Agriculture
and Fisheries.
“This sector is an essential partner
in sustainable development through
integral projects. Because of this, the
ministry has certain quality standards in
place to organise it in order to provide
consumers with safe food,” he added.
The ministry has approved more
than 200 applications to establish
A public health inspector inspects frozen poultry products at a supermarket.
poultry farms between 2000 and 2015.
While most of these farms have high
production capacity that exceeds 36,000
birds per year, some are producing even
less than this.
According to the ministry statistics
for the year 2013, the Sultanate selfsufficiency of chicken reached almost
30 per cent, table eggs 45 per cent and
fertilised eggs produced in the big local
companies reached more than 60 per
cent.
Al Naabi confirmed that the current
annual production of these companies
Ahmed al Naabi
Muad al Hinai
exceeds 34 million eggs, and there are
term.
medical veterinary who conduct regular many more firms to come in the field
In Oman, there 25 technical observations, follow ups and detections of producing white meat, eggs, fertilised
veterinary specialists and 30 other of malpractices inside farms because this eggs and parent birds in the future.
OMAN
T U E S DAY
FEBRUARY 3 l 2015
Rail crucial for development
IMMENSE POTENTIAL: Each centre has the freedom to decide its own training
procedures and the ministry issued no instructions on targets
KAUSHALENDRA SINGH
SALALAH
Feb. 2: Rail network is crucial for
the development of resource rich
Salalah, as the network has direct
advantages of fast, accurate and cheap
transportation facilities. The network
can be of immense use for the
businesses being operated in Salalah
and has potential to give a boost to
certain sectors which are exclusive
only to Salalah.
This was stated by Abdul
Rahman bin Salim al Hatmi, CEO
of Oman Rail, during an interaction
with top administrative and civil
staff members of Dhofar. In his
presentation he tried to make them
understand the broader framework
of the Oman Rail project and sought
their cooperation in making the local
people understand the project, which
has evoked good response from all
the stakeholders.
The multi-billion 2,244-kilometre
project, according to him, “aims at
providing opportunities for setting up
new industries and services that serve
to contribute in the growth of the
GDP and creating job opportunities.
It also aims at integrating the marine,
railway, land and airport transport
sectors and building up a highly
competitive transportation system.”
“Our strategy in Salalah would
be making both Port of Salalah and
Oman Rail compatible to each other
so that both can benefit from the
upcoming facilities and there should
be speed and quality in delivering the
goods to designated destinations,” he
said.
Commenting Salalah’s richness
in resources, Al Hatmi said: “Salalah
is rich in mines, minerals and
agriculture products. The railway
would offer smooth transportation
of goods, which in turn would offer
business opportunity to local people
particularly the youths.”
Al Hatmi laid stress on the fact
that the priority of the project would
be to connect the ports of Duqm,
Salalah and Sohar with rail network
so that the ports get additional cargo
support for inbound and outbound
cargo movement.
The highlights of the project are
40 freight locomotives, 30 shunting
locomotives, 5 recovery locomotives,
30 diesel multiple units (DMU) for
passengers, 15 diesel locomotives
for passenger trains, 80 passenger
coaches, and 500 various freight
wagons.
The project would have railway
network from Al Sunainah to Sinaw;
Sinaw to Duqm; Duqm to Salalah;
Sohar to UAE border in Al Ain and
Sohar to Muscat. The network also
connects Thamrait to Al Mazyouna
and Sohar to Oman’s UAE border
touching UAE at at Khatmat Milahah.
Having a total of 245 flyovers
and underpasses and 98 pedestrian
crossings, the project would have
more wadi bridges than regular
bridges. As such it would have 39
km of rail bridges and 48-km of wadi
bridges. The total number of animal
crossings is 210 under the project.
Al Hatmi called upon businessmen
to be part of Oman Rail by registering
themselves as vendors of their
interest through online portal while
furnishing basic information about
the company.
Around 7,500
visit Salalah
tourist sites
SALALAH: The number
of visitors to the Al
Baleed and Samahram
Archaeological
Sites
during January 2015
stood at 7413 visitors,
according to statistics
from the Department
of
Frankincense
Land Sites at His Majesty
the Sultan’s Adviser’s
Office
for
Cultural
Affairs.
Al
Baleed
Archaeological
Park
and Frankincense Land
Museum received 4,469
visitors, while Samahram
Archaeological
Site
received 2,944 visitors.
Al
Baleed
Archaeological
Park
Samahram, Shasir Area
and Wadi Dokka are
registered sites on the
World
Heritage
list
under the name “Land
of Frankincense” sites.
— ONA
omandailyobserver
5
6
‘OPPOSED TO ANY COUNTRIES MEETING DALAI’
T U E S DAY l F E B R U A R Y 3 l 2 0 1 5
12,000 SKULLS EXHUMED AT KHMER ROUGE
China said on Monday it was opposed to
any country meeting the Dalai Lama “in
any form” after the White House said US
President Barack Obama would attend
an event in Washington with the exiled
Tibetan spiritual leader.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong
Lei also called on the United States to
handle the issue in accordance with the
interests of US-China relations.
ASIA
Cambodia’s UN-backed court on Monday
heard a former prisoner say he helped dig
up more than 12,000 skulls in mass graves
outside Phnom Penh, as the genocide trial
of Khmer Rouge leaders continued. Nuon
Chea, 88, known as “Brother Number
Two”, and former head of state Khieu
Samphan, 83, face charges over the killing
of ethnic Vietnamese and minorities,
forced marriage and rape.
COMMITTED TO FIGHT TERROR: Prime Minister Abe vowed to boost Japan’s humanitarian aid to the Middle East
Japan seeks more active military role
TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe said on Monday he wanted
to debate the possibility of Japan’s
military rescuing Japanese citizens
abroad, a day after IS militants said they
had beheaded a Japanese journalist.
The militants said on Sunday they
had beheaded Kenji Goto, a veteran
war reporter, after international efforts
to secure his release through a prisoner
swap failed.
They killed another Japanese hostage,
Haruna Yukawa, a week before.
Abe reiterated his denunciation of
the militants and said Japan was firmly
committed to fulfilling its responsibility
as a member of the global community in
fighting terrorism and that it needed to
be able to protect its citizens.
“Preserving the safety of Japanese
nationals is the responsibility of the
government, and I am the person who
holds the most responsibility,” Abe told
a parliamentary committee, adding that
he wanted to discuss a framework for
rescuing Japanese in danger.
The hardline group, which controls
large parts of Syria and Iraq, released a
video purporting to show the beheading
of Goto, 47, who was captured in late
October. The video was released a week
after footage was issued appearing to
show the beheaded body of Yukawa,
who the militants seized in August after
he went to Syria to launch a security
company.
The killings are fanning calls for
Japan’s long-constrained military to
be allowed to conduct overseas rescue
missions as part of Abe’s push for a more
muscular security posture.
Abe told a parliamentary panel that
Japan, whose military has long been
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
constrained by the post-World War Two
answers a question by an opposition
pacifist constitution, could not take part
lawmaker during the Upper House’s
in US-led air strikes on IS, nor would it
budget committee session at the
provide logistical support.
National Diet in Tokyo on Monday, one
Scope for the military to mount
day after a Japanese hostage was killed
by the IS group.
— AFP rescue missions is limited by law
In a show of defiance on Sunday, Abe but the government already plans to
vowed to boost Japan’s humanitarian aid submit revisions to parliament to ease
restrictions.
to the Middle East.
PRICE OF SIN
Pakistan test-fires
nuclear-capable
cruise missile
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday
test-fired a cruise missile capable of
carrying a nuclear warhead, just over a
week after its arch-rival India reached
a new civilian nuclear accord with the
United States.
The military described the
domestically-developed Ra’ad as
a
“low-flying,
terrain-hugging
missile” which can deliver nuclear or
conventional warheads to targets up to
350 kilometres (220 miles) away with
“pinpoint accuracy”. The agreement
reached during President Barack
Obama’s visit to New Delhi broke a
deadlock that stalled a civilian atomic
power agreement for years.
But it drew condemnation from
Pakistan, which said the deal could
destabilise South Asian security.
The US and India in 2008 signed a
landmark deal giving India access to
civilian nuclear technology. But it had
been held up since then by US concerns
over India’s strict laws on liability in
the event of a nuclear accident. India
and Pakistan are both nuclear-armed
in addition to operating civilian
atomic plants. They have fought three
wars since independence from Britain
in 1947.
— AFP
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide
Suga, speaking to reporters on Monday,
shrugged off speculation that Japan
was ready to pay a ransom, adding that
the government had no intention of
negotiating with the militants.
Goto’s wife, Rinko, who had appealed
for his release, said she and the rest of
the family were devastated.
“I remain extremely proud of my
husband, who reported the plight of
people in conflict areas like Iraq, Somalia
and Syria,” she said in a statement posted
on the Rory Peck Trust, a Londonbased organisation supporting freelance
journalists.
“It was his passion to highlight the
effects on ordinary people, especially
through the eyes of children, and to
inform the rest of us of the tragedies of
war.”
An opinion poll by Kyodo news
agency on January 25, just after
Yukawa was killed, found 61 per cent
of respondents supportive of the
government’s response.
— Reuters
Korean Air heiress
treated crew like ‘feudal
slaves’: chief purser
US citizens Tommy Schaefer (R) and his girlfriend Heather Mack (L), speak to embassy representatives at a court in Denpasar
on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali on Monday. Schaefer and Mack are accused of the murder of Heather’s mother Sheila
von Wiese-Mack in Bali last August.
— Reuters
RA’AD HOME MADE
Even some advocates of changes
to make rescues possible, however,
say Japan’s military faces difficulty in
acquiring the capacity to conduct such
missions.
Critics say sending troops overseas
would just increase the risk.
An internal briefing paper for top
government officials, seen by Reuters
last week, said cases like IS crisis did not
meet proposed conditions for Japan to
send troops to join allies in combat.
It dodged the question of whether
planned legal changes would allow
rescue missions in such cases, but a
Japanese defence official said it would
not.
Abe’s government had put high
priority on saving Goto, who was
captured when he went to Syria to try to
seek Yukawa’s release.
An IS State video was released on
January 20 appearing to show both
Japanese men and threatening to kill
them unless the group received $200
million in ransom.
SEOUL: A Korean Air chief
purser forced off a plane by
airline heiress Cho HyunAh (pictured) in a notorious
“nut rage” incident testified at
her trial on Monday that she
treated flight crew like “feudal
slaves”. Cho faces a maximum
10-year sentence if convicted
of air safety violations.
They stem from the incident in
December when she allegedly forced the
chief purser to leave a New York-Seoul
flight before it took off, compelling the
taxiing plane to return to the gate so
he could disembark. The 40-year-old,
who was a KAL vice president at the
time, took exception to being served
macadamia nuts for which she had
not asked — and in a bag, not a bowl.
The incident sparked public
outrage in South Korea. Cho
could also face another five
years in jail on charges of
coercing staff to give false
testimony and interfering in
the execution of their duty.
Chief purser Park ChangJin accused Cho of treating
flight attendants like “feudal slaves” and
urged her to reflect sincerely on her
“irrational and senseless” conduct.
“I think Cho did not show an ounce
of conscience, treating powerless people
like myself as feudal slaves and forcing
us to sacrifice unilaterally,” he said in a
tearful voice. “Like a beast that found
its prey gritting its teeth, she yelled and
became violent, never listening to what
I said,” he said.
— AFP
Pakistan govt
gets ready for
royal to hunt
protected birds
QUETTA:
Pakistani
authorities are finalising
arrangements for a Saudi
prince to visit its southwestern
desert region to hunt the
Houbara bustard, a bird
supposedly protected by law,
officials said on Monday.
An advance party has
already been reached the Yak
Much desert in the province of
Baluchistan along with falcons
which will be used to catch the
bustard, officials said.
Saudi Prince Fahd bin
Sultan bin Abdulaziz is
expected to join the group in
coming days.
He led a hunting party
to Baluchistan last year that
officials said killed more than
2,000 bustards.
The birds are listed as
“vulnerable” and declining in
numbers by the International
Union for Conservation
of Nature’s “Red List” of
threatened species.
Hunting them is banned in
Pakistan. But authorities issue
special permits to wealthy
visitors from Arab countries.
Permit holders are in
theory restricted to hunting
a maximum of 100 of the
protected birds over 10 days,
but only in certain areas.
Saifullah Zehri, district
forest officer for wildlife in
Chagai district of which
Yak Much is a part, said the
advance party arrived on
Sunday in a C-130 transport
plane.
“They were fully equipped
and had all the material which
is required for bird hunting,”
Zehri said. Arab sheikhs are
known as enthusiastic hunters,
travelling to Pakistan each
year to hunt the bird using the
traditional Arabian method.
They arrive by private
jets from the United Arab
Emirates, Saudi Arabia and
Kuwait.
— AFP
North West Frontier’s 65,000 police are stretched too thin to provide a first line of defense to nearly 50,000 schools
Teachers arm selves in wake of school massacre
PESHAWAR: When Pakistani Taliban
militants stormed a Peshawar school and
massacred 150 children and teachers,
nobody could fight back.
Shabnam Tabinda and some of her
fellow teachers want to change that
— and are practicing how to shoot
terrorists. Government authorities
in Pakistan’s northwest frontier have
given permission for teachers to carry
concealed firearms in response to the
December 16 attack in Peshawar that
became one of the deadliest terrorist
strikes in Pakistani history.
Many educators reject the idea
of arming teachers as reckless and
counterproductive, reflecting the kind
of arguments in US school systems
overshadowed by their own occasional
mass shootings.But for teachers like
37-year-old Tabinda, going to work
unarmed no longer feels like an option.
She and 10 other female teachers
at the Frontier College for Women
are taking pride in their newfound
marksmanship with handguns, and
plan to carry them to help protect their
students aged 16 to 21.
Asked whether she felt confident
of killing a terrorist at her school,
Tabinda was emphatic in reply: “Yes.
Whoever kills innocents, God willing I
will shoot them.” Mushtuq Ghani, the
Teachers attend a weapons training session with colleagues in Peshawar. — AP
higher education minister in the Khyber
Paktunkhwa provincial government
based in Peshawar, says its Cabinet
supports the arming of teachers as a
logical measure given the reality that the
region’s 65,000 police are stretched too
thin to provide a first line of defense to
nearly 50,000 schools.
Terrorists need to know that schools
aren’t defenseless, and armed teachers
could potentially hold off gunmen and
buy time for police reinforcements to
arrive, he said. Teachers would need
to provide their own legally licensed
firearms, which many already possess to
defend their homes.
Following the Peshawar attack,
the government increased military
operations in the tribal borderland
with Afghanistan where the militants
are based, reinstated the death penalty
for people convicted of terrorism,
and turned such prosecutions over
to military courts in a bid to stop
intimidation of witnesses and court
officials. Schools nationwide were closed
for several weeks following the Taliban
attack on the Army Public School,
when seven men disguised as Pakistani
soldiers scaled a perimeter wall and
opened fire on fleeing children, many of
them the sons and daughters of military
personnel.
When students returned this month,
many of their schools had beefed-up
security including heightened security
walls,
closed-circuit
surveillance
systems and privately contracted guards.
Some teachers licensed and trained
to carry firearms already have begun
bringing them into their classrooms. “I
carry my weapon, but I always keep it
hidden like this,” said Meenadar Khan,
a teacher at Government High School in
Peshawar, lifting his shirt to reveal the
holstered weapon beneath, a Pakistanimade semi-automatic with a sevenbullet clip. He said teachers at his school
met to discuss the government’s plan
and agreed it would be good to have
armed teachers in event of emergency to
“defend our school and kids.” But other
provinces have not followed Peshawar’s
plan to permit teachers to carry a
concealed gun, and most education
organisations say that’s the right call.
Muzammal
Khan,
provincial
president of the All Teachers
Association in Peshawar, said students
already were scared by the increased
security measures, and seeing their
teachers armed would increase anxiety
unnecessarily. He said government
authorities should take responsibility for
defending schools from terrorism.”Pens
belong in our hands, not guns,” Khan
said. Malik Khalid, president of
the association for primary schools
representing several thousand teachers,
said its members have voted against
permitting their schools’ teachers to
carry guns. The provincial government
is pressing ahead with firearms training
workshops for teachers, including a class
this week for teachers at a Peshawar
missionary institution for boys and girls,
Edward’s College.
Fresh from her own two-day course
learning to load, unload and fire Glock
9mm handguns, Tabinda said her
family had already suffered enough
from Taliban terrorism, including her
husband’s wounding in a suicide bomb
strike a few years ago.
He still is carrying shrapnel in his
stomach from that attack. When she
fired her first shot at a paper target,
Tabinda said her police instructor was
impressed that she hit the bull’s-eye,
depicting the chest of a human target.
Tabinda said she was visualising
the Taliban killers behind December’s
school slaughter as she fired.”I hit them
right in their hearts,” she said.
— AP
SUBCONTINENT
T U E S DAY
FEBRUARY 3 l 2015
US pledges friendship to
new Lanka government
COLOMBO: A top US diplomat yesterday
promised that Washington would be a friend
and partner of Colombo as she made the first
visit by a senior American official since the
toppling of Sri Lanka’s long-time strongman.
In the build-up to last month’s presidential
elections, a top lieutenant to then president
Mahinda Rajapakse accused the United States
of trying to bring about “regime change”,
marking a new low in bilateral relations.
But since Rajapakse was beaten at the
ballot box, the United States has moved
swiftly to rebuild ties with a country that has
become increasingly close to China over the
past decade.
Speaking on a visit to Colombo, Assistant
Secretary of State Nisha Biswal said the US
was ready to help Sri Lanka on a range of
issues, including its human rights record,
which was hugely contentious under
Rajapakse.
“I am indeed excited to be in Sri Lanka
and see for myself the energy that has the
world talking about Sri Lanka and about
Sri Lanka’s democracy and for all the right
reasons,” Biswal said.
“Sri Lanka can count on the US to be a
partner and a friend in the way forward,
whether it is on rebuilding the economy, on
preventing corruption, and advancing good
governance and ensuring human rights
and democratic participation for all of its
citizens.”
Spea king to reporters after talks with
Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera,
omandailyobserver
7
Bangladesh opposition chief
faces murder case probe
CRACKDOWN: Ntv station boss arrested on charges of arson attack on a vehicle
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil
Wickremesinghe welcomes Nisha Desai
Biswal, UN Assistant Secretary for South and
Central Asian Affairs, in Colombo.
— AP
Biswal stressed the new government could
count on US support to meet “difficult
challenges ahead”.
She did not directly refer to the pending
US-initiated probe into allegations that up
to 40,000 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed
by Sri Lankan forces while defeating Tamil
separatists in 2009.
However, she said Washington wanted
to work with Colombo to “find constructive
ways forward on all the areas of interest
between our two nations”.
Samaraweera said he would be travelling
to Washington for talks with Secretary of
State John Kerry next week.
“We want to raise the relationship between
our two countries to a new level of cordiality
and I hope to continue this dialogue in
Washington,” he said.
— AFP
DHAKA: A Bangladeshi court
yesterday ordered an investigation
into an allegation of murder against
opposition leader Khaleda Zia over
the death of dozens of people in petrol
bomb attacks during a continuing
transport blockade.
The order from a lower court in
the capital Dhaka comes after a progovernment activist, A B Siddiqi,
filed a private complaint against Zia,
the leader of the main opposition
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
“Metropolitan Magistrate Atiqur
Rahman ordered the Gulshan police
in Dhaka to investigate the complaint
and submit a report by March 1,”
Ashiqur Rahman, a court official,
said.
A lawyer for the plaintiff said Zia
was responsible for the death of 42
people killed after opposition activists
firebombed buses and trucks as part
of a new wave of anti-government
protests.
“She is to blame for the death of
42 innocent people as she ordered
her supporters to attack vehicles
with petrol bombs,” said lawyer
Roushonara Sikder Daizy.
Experts said it was extremely
unlikely that a private complaint
would result in a criminal
prosecution.
But they said the case was designed
to intimidate Zia, who launched the
blockade as part of her campaign to
topple the government.
The 69-year-old leader, who has
been holed up in her office since
January 3, has already been charged
Taliban kills 9
police officers
KABUL:
Taliban
insurgents, some likely
wearing police uniforms,
attacked checkpoints in
Afghanistan, killing at
least nine officers in their
latest assault, authorities
said yesterday.
The deadliest of the
two attacks targeting
a
checkpoint
in
Afghanistan’s southern
Kandahar
province,
the heartland of the
Taliban.
There,
gunmen
stormed the checkpoint in
Maiwand district, killing
at least five officers, police
spokesman Zia Durani
said. — AP
Bangladeshi shop owners protest against the nationwide strike called by the
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led alliance in Dhaka yesterday.
— AFP
by police with lesser crimes including
“abetting” and “instigating” the
firebombings.
Meanwhile, police yesterday
arrested the owner of a leading
Bangladeshi television station as
part of a wider crackdown on the
opposition.
Several
networks
broadcast
footage of a police officer getting
into the car of Mosaddek Ali Falu,
chairman of private station Ntv, after
he came out of the office of opposition
leader Khaleda Zia on Sunday night.
“He was arrested on charges of
arson attack on a vehicle,” Dhaka
police spokesman Masudur Rahman
said.
Falu has been one of the closest
aides of Zia and was her political
secretary when she was premier
from 2001-06. He owns an array of
businesses, including a new online
news portal which launched on
Sunday. Last month Abdus Salam,
the owner of Bangladesh’s oldest
private TV station, was arrested after
his channel aired a speech of Zia’s
fugitive son live from London. Salam
has since been charged with sedition,
which could see him sentenced to life
in jail for airing the speech.
Salam’s arrest came as the
government launched a massive
crackdown on the opposition in an
effort to quell its month-long protests.
More than 10,000 opposition
activists have been arrested, including
dozens of front-rank officials. Others
have gone into hiding.
Zia called the protests early last
month, urging supporters to enforce
a nationwide blockade of roads,
railways and waterways in an effort to
force Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina
to call new polls.
The protests have triggered
widespread violence that left at least
46 people dead — most victims of
firebombing attacks on buses and
lorries.
In the latest deaths, two activists
from the JI party were shot dead
by police, including a 23-year-old
student.
Suspected saboteurs, meanwhile,
removed clips from railway tracks,
forcing a packed train to derail as the
blockade entered a fifth week.
State-run Bangladesh Railway
officials said the locomotive and
two coaches came off the tracks in
the southeast, snapping the rail link
between the port city of Chittagong
and rest of the country.
— AFP
8
ANALYSIS
omandailyobserver
T U E S DAY
FEBRUARY 3 l 2015
FALLING RIGS JOLT
WORLD OIL PRICES
O
il prices surged 8 per cent on Friday as the market digested news another
94 rigs previously drilling for oil in the United States had been idled over the
previous week. It was the largest number of rigs de-activated in a single week since
at least 1987 and triggered the biggest one-day percentage increase in Brent prices
since 2009.
Yet there was nothing remotely surprising about either the continued fall in the
rig count — or the volatile market reaction. The number of rigs drilling for oil has
now fallen 24 per cent from 1,609 to just 1,223 since early October, according to
oilfield services company Baker Hughes.
But large declines had been reported in each of the previous seven weeks.
Several prominent forecasters have predicted the oil-directed rig count will fall
below 1,000 by the end of the first quarter.
Continental Resources, one of the largest drillers in North Dakota’s Bakken
shale, promised late last year it would cut the number of rigs it employs by 30 per
cent by the end of the first quarter and by an average of 40 per cent in 2015.
If those cuts were mirrored across the entire shale industry, which is a
reasonable assumption, the rig count would fall below 1,100 by the end of March
and average just 950 in 2015 as a whole.
Many market participants have ignored the falling rig count to focus on
continued production increases in the short term as a reason why oil prices
will fall further. For these bearish investors, the more relevant statistic is the
continued rise in production, which hit a new high of 9.213 million barrels per
day in the week ending on January 23, according to the latest edition of the Energy
Information Administration’s (EIA) Weekly Petroleum Status Report.
Goldman Sachs President Gary Cohn
said in an interview with CNBC last week oil
Many market
prices could go as low as $30 per barrel. Cohn’s
bearishness is typical of many oil analysts and participants in the
hedge funds. The problem with this view is US have ignored the
that it is inherently backward-looking.
falling rig counts to
Current production is a lagging indicator unlike rig counts which are a leading indicator. focus on continued
Focusing on current output numbers rather production increases
than rig counts is a bit like driving using the
in the short term
rear-view mirror to navigate the road ahead.
In practice, no one knows how much oil as a reason why oil
is being produced in the United States at the prices will fall furhter,
moment. Production data is collected by the
reports JOHN KEMP
states from reports filed by well operators, but
there is normally a lag of several months while
the reports come in, and only then are they
compiled and shared with federal statisticians.
North Dakota, for example, has provisional production data for November
2014 based on returns from some but not all wells, and it is likely to be substantially
revised as the last records are filed.
Provisional production data for December will not be published until the
middle of February and January’s numbers will not be available until mid-March.
Production data in the Weekly Petroleum Status Report are therefore estimates.
Extreme care should be taken in basing an argument upon them.
More accurate data based on state records is contained in the EIA’s monthly
publications, but the most recent data is for November, before most of the decline
in drilling. Rig counts, on the other hand, provide some information (albeit
imperfect) on what will happen to production in the months ahead. Based on the
rig counts, it is possible to argue about how much production will slow and when.
But the idling of almost a quarter of all the oil-drilling rigs in the country in
less than four months must have some negative impact on output in future.
In the meantime, investors are increasingly divided over the direction of
crude oil prices.
The existence of these large short positions, when oil prices have already fallen
by more than half since the middle of 2014, leaves the market very volatile in
the event of unexpected bullish news, such as a larger than anticipated fall in the
weekly rig count reported late on Friday.
Oil prices are unlikely to rebound to $100 any time soon, a point which has
been made by Saudi Oil Minister Ali al Naimi. But prices must recover to the level
needed to sustain enough drilling to keep shale production roughly constant in
the face of rapid declines on existing wells.
No one knows for certain exactly what oil price is needed to sustain replacement
drilling in the major US shale plays but it is almost certainly significantly above
current levels.
Britain’s Finance Minister George Osborne (R) with his Greek counterpart Yanis Varoufakis in London yesterday. — AFP
Barack Obama boosts Greece
G
reece’s new government won support from US President the International Monetary Fund, European Union and
Barack Obama as it seeks to build international support for European Central Bank (ECB).
“It’s not that we don’t need the money; we’re desperate,”
a renegotiation of its 240-billion-euro ($270-billion) bailout
he said at a press conference with French counterpart
despite German opposition.
As part of a European charm offensive, Finance Minister Michel Sapin. “What this government is all about is ending
Yanis Varoufakis met his British counterpart George this addiction.”
Although not in the euro zone, Britain is in the IMF and
Osborne in London yesterday while Prime Minister Alexis
Varoufakis is looking for as many allies as possible for any
Tsipras held talks in Cyprus.
Greek stocks, which have been volatile since the January future negotiations within the EU.
Varoufakis is also expected to meet key figures from
25 election won by Tsipras’s hard left Syriza party, jumped
over five per cent after Obama warned that imposing London’s vital financial sector, which is home to many
lenders exposed to Greek debt. Greece’s new anti-austerity
austerity on Greece could backfire on its creditors.
“You cannot keep on squeezing countries that are in the government has refused to work with international
inspectors charged with overseeing its painful fiscal
midst of depression,” Obama told CNN.
reforms, instead seeking direct contacts
“At some point, there has to be a
with creditors and governments.
growth strategy in order for them to pay
President Obama
Setting out a timetable for a revised
off their debts to eliminate some of their
said the Greek
debt deal, which has met strong German
deficits.”
opposition, Varoufakis said if Athens had
Obama said the Greek economy was
economy is in ‘dire
until the end of the month to come up
in “dire need” of reform but warned that
need’ of reform but
with detailed proposals, it could reach an
drastic changes were tough to implement
warned of drastic
agreement with international partners six
in a struggling economy.
weeks later.
In Cyprus on his first foreign trip since
changes, writes
Tsipras has tried to calm nerves by
coming to power, Tsipras said he had not
JAMES PHEBY
saying he did not intend to renege on
expected so much international support
commitments to the EU and IMF.
for his campaign and stressed that Greece
“It has never been our intention to act
wanted a wider debate about debt for “all
unilaterally on Greek debt,” Tsipras said in a statement.
the peoples of Europe”.
But the country “needs time to breathe and create our
Tsipras will travel to debt-laden Italy today and on to
Brussels tomorrow for talks with European Commission own medium-term recovery programme.”
Varoufakis told reporters in Paris that he also wanted to
President Jean-Claude Juncker.
Notably absent on the current itinerary is a visit to visit Germany, which has shouldered the bulk of Greece’s
European paymaster Germany, which has refused to loans. “It is essential that we meet,” Varoufakis said, referring
to German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.
consider any debt relief.
But the German finance ministry said it had not yet
Varoufakis was meeting Osborne after a stop on Sunday
in Paris where he said he wanted to reach a new debt deal received an official request for such a visit.
In Paris, Varoufakis also met EU Economic Affairs
within months to end a loan “addiction”, which was loading
Commissioner Pierre Moscovici — the first talks
more liabilities on Greece’s economy.
He said Greece did not want a promised loan tranche between the new government and the European Union’s
of 7.2 billion euros from the so-called “troika” of creditors, executive arm.
Right-wing firebrand shakes up cosy Swiss politics
A
s a child growing up near the Swiss
border with Germany in the early 1940s,
Christoph Blocher remembers soldiers
camping out in his family’s garden, ready
to defend the neutral nation against a
surprise attack from the Nazis.
The godfather of the right-wing Swiss
People’s Party (SVP), which has unnerved
investors with plans to cut immigration
and demote international law, says the
experience instilled a fierce desire to shield
Switzerland from external influences.
“That sort of experience makes quite
an impression on a four or five-year-old
boy, and it paints a distinct picture of
Switzerland’s strengths,” Blocher said in
his modest office building overlooking
a train station in Maennedorf, a lakeside
village outside Zurich.
Under the direction of the 74-year-old
billionaire, who speaks in a local dialect he
calls “farmer German”, the SVP has shaken
up the cosy, consensual system which has
governed the Alpine nation since the end
of the Second World War.
To his fans, Blocher is a heroic
defender of traditional Swiss values who
has grown a niche party of farmers and
small businessmen into Switzerland’s most
popular political party.
To his critics he is a divisive populist,
who has brought instability to a once safe
haven for companies and investors.
Yet the party won more than 26 per
cent of the vote in the last election, in 2011,
and, according to polling firm Vimentis,
is set to win more than 32 per cent in the
next one, in October.
In May, Blocher resigned from the
parliament in Berne so he could spend
more time furthering his policies through
popular initiatives or referendums, a
particular feature of Swiss politics.
Stopping “mass immigration” and
what he sees as Switzlerand’s drift towards
the European Union are at the top of his
priority list. “If you’re marginalised in
Berne, then you have to work with popular
initiatives,” he said.
The SVP was the driving force behind
a referendum last year which has forced
the government to introduce new limits
on immigration, threatening its ties to the
European Union.
In a “Save our Swiss gold” referendum
in November, the SVP tried and failed to
To his fans, Christoph
Blocher is a heroic defender
of traditional Swiss values
who has grown a niche
party of farmers and small
businessmen in the country,
notes CAROLINE COPLEY
force the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to
buy vast quantities of the precious metal,
despite warnings from the central bank
that it would cripple its monetary policy.
Such polarising moves have made
it hard for the SVP to forge alliances in
Berne, even though it is the largest party.
If it wins more than a third of the vote
in the election, blocking Blocher will
become harder, as it will strengthen the
SVP claim to a second seat in the sevenseat ruling council.
The son of a pastor, Blocher was born
in 1940 in a village on the Rhine river, the
seventh of eleven children.
He studied agriculture, and later law,
later buying EMS Chemie, a maker of
adhesives and coatings for the engineering
and automotive industries.
Blocher says he fell into politics by
chance following a local zoning dispute.
He has courted controversy ever since,
clashing with the polite, grey traditions of
Swiss politics.
Last Friday, Swiss media said two
high-ranking SVP officials face racial
discrimination charges for a poster used in
the anti-immigration campaign. Blocher
denies being a racist.
He also says he does not wish to
align with anti-immigrant, eurosceptic
politicians like Nigel Farage in Britain or
Marine Le Pen in France.
Former Swiss justice minister and right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) leader Christoph
Blocher during an interview in the village of Maennedorf. — Reuters
ANALYSIS
T U E S DAY
FEBRUARY 3 l 2015
omandailyobserver
9
Are societal norms challenged by new technology?
T
ALI AHMED AL RIYAMI
[email protected]
hose of us with children are well aware of how the
new information age is impacting the younger
generation, although there are those of the older
generation who are just as fascinated and whose
time is also much consumed with cyber data,
information and images.
Children can spend hours locked up in their
rooms roaming cyber space, checking out the
latest apps or spending virtual time, rather than
real time, with their friends.
Going outside to play, as children in the past
would spend hours doing — in playgrounds,
playing sports or just running around with friends
— is simply not their thing.
And with many of the older generation not
having the same level of sophistry as their children
have, then this is indeed one area that separates
them. In fact, many of the kids whose parents
aren’t so technologically savvy, are proud that
they can outdo their parents on something that is
second nature to them.
One has to wonder how this changes
relationships not only within the family, but also
within society as a whole.
In previous generations, products such as the
TV, radio, sound systems and the like were seen
by some as devices that also acted to separate the
generations. Although families can sit around and reassured and comfortable that matters urgent to
watch or listen to family programmes together, them have been, or are being, taken care of. These
some programmes are popular with children, kinds of situations certainly have their impact on
others by teenagers and others still by adults, society at large, changing traditional norms and
whilst older people have their own programmes cultural conventions.
The question is, just how much of an impact
that they prefer to watch — not forgetting certain
do they have? Some may argue
programmes that are favoured
that they diminish traditional
gender-wise.
values and norms that can lead
This, together with the
Children can spend
to loss of cultural values and
different timings that family
members return home from
hours locked up in their things held high in society.
While others do not find
school and employment, can
rooms roaming cyber
this so, seeing it more as
also work to breakdown the
space, checking out the complementing family and
family’s cohesiveness — where
individual members of the
latest apps or spending societal existence and in doing
make life all the more
family spend their own time
virtual time, rather than so
enjoyable.
watching and listening to
real time, with their
Is it a case of tradition
programmes.
versus modernity? Or is just
In turn, it has led to the
families and friends
natural development? I’m sure
problem of reduced quality
everyone has their own view of
family time, where all of
this, but we can all rest assured
the family members come
together as one unit, where problems can be aired that each generation, to a greater or lesser extent,
and solved, and where family and individual family looked down on the fads, fashions and way of life
of the upcoming generation.
member issues can be aired and discussed.
This cycle simply continues on from one cycle
It works in bonding the family unit and,
especially in the case of children, helps them to feel to the next and a good level of broadmindedness
is required to just accept different or differing
lifestyles.
This being said, there are very important
universal truths and values that parents can pass on
to their children and which society can encourage
— matters regarding faith and belief systems can,
and do, act as the rudder that steadies the boat, one
which will keep it and steer it away from storms,
rapids and other tempestuous conditions.
It is important to hold on to values and beliefs
that can see a person through the worst of times
and that can keep them from going over the edge
when the going is good.
Everyone cares for their families, which are
the building blocks of society, and this is why it is
important to instill good values, even when they
do run against the grain.
An old saying has it that ‘What is fashionable
in town is never wrong’, meaning that what is
generally accepted is okay — a law is only a law if
the majority of the people follow it; obviously, you
cannot put everyone in jail nor can you penalise
them all. What you can do is give the best of
advices, best of directions and best of care then
pray and hope that they suffice.
Over and beyond this is a matter of destiny, fate
and providence.
PROTEST FATIGUE
LAURA MANNERING/DENNIS CHONG
A
disappointing turnout at Hong Kong’s first democracy rally since the
end of mass street demonstrations shows the city is suffering from
“protest fatigue” and new longer-term strategies are needed to drive
reform, analysts say.
A procession of yellow umbrellas, the symbol of the democracy
movement, edged slowly through the centre of the city on Sunday
afternoon — the first time demonstrators had gathered after more
than two months of street blockades ended in December when protest
camps were cleared.
Organisers said that 13,000 people attended the march — with police
estimating 8,800 — far below the 50,000 hoped for and a fraction of the
100,000 who took to the streets at the height of the rallies.
China has pledged that Hong Kong can choose its own leader for the
first time in 2017, but says the candidates must be vetted by a loyalist
committee, which campaigners dismiss as “fake democracy”.
In the face of their failure to achieve any concessions over political
reform, some supporters are now questioning whether it’s worth taking
to the streets.
“Beijing has played the game quite smartly. They have convinced
most Hong Kong people that even if they were to replay Occupy Central,
that would not be sufficient to sway Beijing,” says political analyst Willy
Lam, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
The city is now divided over whether to accept Beijing’s version of
universal suffrage — which will go before Hong Kong lawmakers this
year — and hope for improvements later, or to veto the plans, said Lam,
who added that a “tangible roadmap” from the democracy camp could
help galvanise public support.
With little chance of a sudden change of mind from Beijing on
reforms, student activists and campaigners are advocating longer-term
strategies. The founders of the Occupy Central group have said they
are now pushing for greater education about the democracy movement
and a social charter. There is also a drive to get young voters to the polls
and student leaders elected.
“The movement should be done in a different way if going to the
streets to protest doesn’t work,” says 33-year-old computer programmer
Robert, who was a regular at the protest camps but who did not attend
Sunday’s march.
“We can try to make a difference within the system. Can student
activists try to influence others by joining lower level elections, then
make changes as they move up the ranks?”
Hillary Clinton speaks at a Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on January 21. — AP
Deciding how to prepare for a low-key primary
T
he challenge ahead for Hillary Rodham
Clinton is one faced by few White House
hopefuls: running a primary campaign in
which she faces little competition, if any at
all. Still not officially a candidate, the former
New York senator, secretary of state and
first lady sits far atop early polls against
a small field of potential rivals for the
Democratic nomination.
None of them seems to be in any hurry
to move into the race. Few Democrats see
an insurgent candidate on the horizon in
the mold of Barack Obama who defeated
Clinton for the 2008 nomination.
That raises the potential of a pedestrian
Democratic primary season with few
televised debates and little of the drama
expected from a crowded and likely
combative race on the Republican side.
“No one wants a complete coronation,
but it’s hard to see who a credible challenger
will be,” said Steve Westly, a Californiabased fundraiser for Obama’s campaigns
who is supporting Clinton. Clinton has
been meeting in New York with a group of
advisers that includes longtime loyalists and
veterans of Obama’s races.
But the work of campaign planning
involves trying to figure out when to get
into the race, how to avoid giving off a
sense of inevitability and how to generate
enthusiasm among the party’s base for the
general election without the benefit of a
spirited fight for the nomination.
“All indications are that she’s casting a
wide net, talking to smart people, and being
methodical about thinking through her next
steps,” said Donna Brazile, a Democratic
strategist and Clinton ally who was Al Gore’s
campaign manager in 2000.
“And having run a presidential campaign,
this is how you go about making this
decision and next steps.”
Clinton’s timeline for announcing her
candidacy remains a subject of debate
inside her team, according to Democrats
familiar with the discussions. Some advisers
are pushing the possibility of a springtime
announcement.
Others suggest she could wait until the
summer, giving her team more time to get
ready. Some insiders note that her husband,
Bill Clinton, did not launch his first
presidential campaign until October 1991, a
few months before the first primaries of the
1992 race.
In the already competitive Republican
field, the aggressive moves of former Florida
Governor Jeb Bush appear to have chased
Mitt Romney into and out of the race. But
the potential Democratic competition is not
putting any pressure on Clinton to move
quickly. Vice-President Joe Biden has said
he will not make a decision until the spring
or the summer.
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren,
a liberal favourite, insists she’s not running.
Others, such as ex-Maryland Governor
Martin O’Malley, former Virginia Senator
Jim Webb and independent Vermont
Senator Bernie Sanders are relatively
unknown nationally and are not expected
to decide until later in the spring. Clinton
appears in no rush.
She has a limited number of public
Some insiders note that her
husband, Bill Clinton, did not
launch his first presidential
campaign until October 1991,
a few months before the first
primaries of the 1992 race,
reports KEN THOMAS
appearances in the coming months, leaving
outside groups to fill the void. Ready for
Hillary, a pro-Clinton super political action
committee, has a number of low-dollar
fundraisers on the calendar.
In 2008, Clinton was hurt by sky-high
expectations and finished a disappointing
third in Iowa’s caucuses leading off the
state-by-state nominating contests, sparking
Obama’s ascent.
“If I were to decide to pursue it, I would
be working as hard as any underdog or any
newcomer because I don’t want to take
anything for granted if I decide to do it,”
Clinton said in a June interview. Clinton’s
main obstacles during a quiet primary
campaign could come from Republicans
and outside conservative groups, which
already are trying to discredit her record at
the State Department and tie her to Obama’s
policies.
“Hillary Clinton clearly feels she’s
entitled to the presidency and is taking the
race for granted like she did in 2008,” said
Republican National Committee chairman
Reince Priebus, reflecting the party’s intense
focus on Clinton. Such Republican criticism
could rile Clinton’s supporters.
But a low-key primary could limit her
campaign’s ability to test its organisational
strength and its opportunities to seize on
important moments — a primary night,
debate, major address — that often fuel
online fundraising and list-building.
Still, there are benefits to the lack of a
challenge.
Even with Republicans as the main foil,
a relatively uncontested primary would
give Clinton a clear path to raise millions of
dollars and build a campaign organisation, a
benefit normally bestowed to an incumbent
president, and perhaps keep her above the
political fray.
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omandailyobserver
INDIA
LESSONS SURVIVE ELEMENTS
Police free 9 caught in
Syria infiltration bid
Snow falls on a statue of Mahatma Gandhi on a winter morning in the Ariana Parc outside the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva on Monday.
The statue was given to the City of Geneva by India in 2007. — Reuters
19 prisoners in UP escape by
scaling walls with bedsheets
NEW DELHI: Scores of inmates
staged a mass breakout from an
young offenders detention centre on
Monday by tying bedsheets together
and then scaling down the walls of
the three-storey building, police said.
A total of 91 out of 135 inmates,
including several convicted
murderers, managed to flee the
facility in Meerut overnight, although
45 have since been recaptured, the
city’s superintendent of police Om
Prakash said.
“They removed an iron grill from
a window at the back of the building
while police were guarding the
front,” said Prakash. “This was done
so professionally that no one got a
whiff,” Prakash said.
Those still on the run include
inmates convicted of crimes such
as murder, rape, theft and banditry,
Prakash said. All are aged under
18. Police say the break-out was
staged some time between 1:00am
and 3:00am and the alarm was only
raised when officers patrolling near
the centre spotted some of the
fugitives trying to flag down public
transport. Prakash said that the local
authorities were confident that they
would recapture the others who
had escaped. “Even earlier inmates
from this facility have made several
attempts to escape.
Once in the past around 40 of
them even managed to escape,”
Prakash said. Inmates from the same
centre beat a policeman to death in
December after he objected to their
lewd behaviour with a woman during
a court hearing.
There are more than 31,000
inmates in India’s young offenders
institutes, according to the latest
official statistics, and there is an
ongoing debate about the treatment
of juveniles charged with serious
crimes like rape, murder and robbery.
Some argue that they need to be
treated the same as adult criminals
and sent to adult prisons that have a
much stricter security, while inmates
at juvenile facilities usually sleep in
dormitories rather than individual
cells. — AFP
RACE CRAZE
Villagers race horse carts during the 79th Kila Raipur Rural Sports Festival, also
known as the Rural Olympics, at Kila Raipur, some 20 km from Ludhiana on
Monday. — AFP
T U E S DAY
FEBRUARY 3 l 2015
BANGALORE: Indian authorities
have released nine people who had
been deported from Turkey after
allegedly trying to enter an area of Syria
controlled by the IS militant group,
police said on Monday.
Police in Bangalore said the nine
Indians were released on Sunday, after
they admitted during questioning
that they had planned to cross over to
territory controlled by IS but denied
being members of the organisation,
which is banned in India.
“We set them free as no incriminating
material or any evidence was found
against them,” Bangalore police chief
MN Reddi told reporters on Monday.
“No case was registered but they
were warned against making such
attempts in future,” he said.
Turkish authorities detained the
nine people — a family of seven and
two engineers who were in the country
on tourist visas — as they were trying to
enter Syria on Friday.
Police quoted the group as telling
their interrogators that they had only
wanted to help civilians who had
been affected by the fighting in Syria
and Iraq, large parts of which are also
controlled by IS.
Of those deported were 46-yearold Muhammed Abdul Ahad, his
During interrogation by
sleuths, the group members
admitted they planned to
engage in social activities
in Syria and other areas
controlled by the IS
wife and five children from Chennai,
24-year-old Javed Baba from
Khammam district of Telangana and
24-year-old Ibrahim Nowfal from
Hassan in Karnataka.
Ahad, who has a master’s degree
in computer science from KennedyWestern University in California,
worked in the US for over a decade,
while Javeed and Nowfal are
engineers.
Thousands of foreign extremists are
believed to have joined IS which has
seized swathes of territory in Iraq and
Syria, ruling with a brutal version of
Islamic law.
The group has murdered a number
of foreigners, including American,
British and Japanese hostages.
India banned the IS group in
December after police found a
sympathiser who was running a Twitter
account and was suspected of online
recruitment. — Agencies
Modi heads to China by May end
POSITIVE TALKS: President Xi meets Sushma, upbeat about growth of India-China ties
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi will visit China before
his first anniversary in government on
May 26, the foreign ministry said on
Monday, in the latest symbolic move by
the nationalist leader to cement India’s
ties with the world’s major powers.
The announcement came a week
after Modi received US President Barack
Obama in New Delhi, promising closer
cooperation to maintain free navigation
in the South China Sea, deeper defence
ties including work on aircraft carrier
technology and more civil nuclear
collaboration.
China had agreed that the visit would
be before the end of May, India’s foreign
ministry spokesman said, but the final
date has yet to be set.
“We want the visit to happen in the
first year of the government,” spokesman
Syed Akbaruddin said.
While Modi is keen to work more
closely with Washington than his
predecessors, he also wants to build
strong relations with other powers
including China, with whom India
shares $66 billion in annual trade but
has a long-running border dispute and
fought a brief war in 1962.
Modi’s travels since assuming office
have included trips to Japan, the United
States, Brazil and Australia. During a
trip to Beijing at the weekend, Foreign
Minister Sushma Swaraj promised “out
of the box” ideas to jump-start talks
about the disputed territory in the east
and west of the Himalayas, according to
media reports. Discussions have made
little progress in 17 rounds since 2003.
Chinese President Xi Jinping visited
India in September and promised some
$30 billion of investment, but the trip
was overshadowed by a standoff between
Chinese and India troops on the remote
Himalayan plateau of Ladakh.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on
Monday met External Affairs Minister
China hails India,
Russia ties
Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj (L) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) greet each
other before starting a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on
Monday. Russian and Indian foreign ministers are meeting in Beijing to boost
bilateral ties. — AFP
Sushma Swaraj here, and expressed
confidence in the growth of bilateral
relations during the year.
Xi met Sushma in the Great Hall of
the People, where the two sides agreed
to focus on a positive bilateral agenda
for the year. Xi observed that bilateral
ties had achieved a turnaround and
entered a “new phase” of partnership
after his visit to India in September
last year. “Since my visit to India, the
relations between our two countries
have entered a new phase. The positive
side of China-India relations has been
growing,” Xi said. He also said major
steps were being taken to implement the
agreements inked during his India visit.
“I have full confidence on the future
of China and India relations. I believe
the good process will be achieved in the
growth of bilateral relations.”
Xi also recalled his visit to
Ahmedabad where he was hosted by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the
Sabarmati riverfront.“I still cherish
the fresh memories in my mind about
the gracious hospitality extended to
me by the government and people and
particularly I cherish the fond memories
of my trip to Prime Minister Modi’s
hometown in Gujarat state,” he said.
Xi mentioned in particular the special
gesture shown by Modi in personally
accompanying him to the Sabarmati
BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping
on Monday hailed his country’s
relations with India and Russia as
Beijing looks to increase its heft on
the global diplomatic stage.
Beijing and Moscow, allies and
then adversaries during the Cold
War, have found common ground
internationally and often take similar
stands at the UN Security Council
where they have permanent veto
powers. They have also forged
increasingly closer economic ties
as China is hungry for the vast
hydrocarbon resources of Russia,
which is seeking stable markets amid
Western sanctions over its annexation
of Crimea and fighting in eastern
Ukraine.
“Over the past year, we have
together been advancing the
development of the overall strategic
relationship between China and
Russia,” Xi said. Twin visits by foreign
minister Sushma Swaraj and Sergei
Lavrov from Moscow come on the
heels of a high-profile trip to India by
US President Barack Obama last week.
ashram and also walking together with
him along the riverfront. The external
affairs minister’s Beijing visit comes
days after the visit of US President
Barack Obama to India that saw both
sides announce a joint strategic vision
for Asia-Pacific and the Indian Ocean.
Sushma Swaraj’s visit is also aimed to
lay the ground work for Modi’s visit to
China, set to take place in May. She also
held talks with her Chinese counterpart
Wang Yi on a range of issues including
Modi’s upcoming visit. The minister
also appreciated China’s decision to
open an additional pilgrimage route for
the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra through
Nathula.
— Agencies
The party recently re-wrote its constitution to say no office-bearer should get three terms in succession
Kerala cadres to elect new CPM state secretary this month
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
For
With Vijayan (pictured) now
the first time since 1998, the CPM will
consolidating his position in the
elect a new ‘captain’ in Kerala, one of the
district committees, all eyes are on
communists’ last bastions.
This will happen when the
who the next state secretary will be.
Communist Party of India-Marxist
The leading contenders appear to be
elects a secretary of the Kerala unit
Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and MA Baby
during its state conference February 2023 — a powerful post in the party.
The party recently re-wrote its
As a result, Pinarayi Vijayan, who has
CPM insiders say that Vijayan can
constitution to say no office-bearer been at the helm of party affairs in Kerala take credit for putting an end to the
should get three terms in succession.
since 1998, will bow out this month.
factionalism that plagued the party for a
long time when he was pitted against his
arch rival and former chief minister VS
Achuthanandan. Both have clashed
openly on numerous occasions, often
embarrassing the party. Achuthanandan’s
clout has been weakened considerably.
Vijayan has been able not only to
dominate the 14 district units of the
party in Kerala but also push out from
the district committees leaders who owe
their allegiance to Achuthanandan.
With Vijayan now consolidating his
position in the district committees by
removing Achuthanandan supporters,
all eyes are on who the next state
secretary will be. The leading contenders
appear to be legislators Kodiyeri
Balakrishnan and MA Baby, who are
also politburo members.
The others are Elamaram Kareem,
a legislator and a former minister, and
EP Jayarajan. Over the years, apart
from the Vijayan and Achuthanandan
factions, the party also had a Kannur
lobby. Kannur has been the CPM
citadel.
Vijayan and Balakrishnan
are from Kannur. Kareem hails from
neighbouring Kozhikode district.
The fortunes of Baby, often seen as a
moderate in the party, plunged after he
was routed by his former state cabinet
colleague N K Premachandran in the
2014 Lok Sabha polls. Vijayan, who
nurses the ambition of becoming chief
minister, is expected now on to make his
moves cautiously.
— IANS
INDIA
T U E S DAY
FEBRUARY 3 l 2015
omandailyobserver
11
Lawyers vandalise Bedi’s
office, 3 workers injured
RELIEF FROM SNOW
1988 RETURNS: When she was the Delhi Police deputy
commissioner , a group of protesting lawyers were caned on her orders
People warm themselves by a bonfire as it snows in Srinagar on Monday. Temperatures in Srinagar on Monday dipped to -1
degree Celsius , according to meteorological department. — Reuters
NEW DELHI: A group of around 150
lawyers Monday vandalised the office of
BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Kiran
Bedi in her Delhi assembly constituency
of Krishna Nagar, in which three party
workers were injured, police said.
According to police, the incident
took place around 4.30 pm., when the
lawyers — protesting the announcement
of Bedi as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s
chief ministerial candidate for Delhi
— marched towards her office raising
slogans against her and the party.
Due to the commotion, around 25
workers inside Bedi’s office came out
and a heated argument ensued between
the two groups that led to a clash.
Three BJP workers — Harihar, Kapil
and Manoj, all in their early 30s — were
injured and later hospitalised, police
said. The lawyers then entered Bedi’s
office and broke some furniture, a party
leader said.
Police said the lawyers were
protesting against Bedi ever since
she was named the chief ministerial
candidate, because in 1988 when she was
the Delhi Police deputy commissioner, a
group of protesting lawyers were caned
on her orders.
Joint Commissioner of Police Sanjay
Beniwal told IANS that a probe would
be ordered into the incident as soon as
police receive a written complaint.
Bedi visited the injured workers
in hospital and said their statements
have been recorded. Bedi, in a series of
tweets, said: “My BJP constituency office
SC warns CPM leader on using Rebels accuse AAP
of getting funds from
courts for political agenda
bogus companies
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on
Monday frowned at former Kerala chief
minister VS Achuthanandan (pictured)
for using judicial forums to drag on
his fight against his political rivals. The
court warned of imposing exemplary
costs if it found that the matter being
raised before it was devoid of merits
and he was using judicial forums for
political agenda.
“Have you made any allegation of
corruption against the present chief
minister (Oommen Chandy of Kerala)?
You are not taking any responsibility.
Are you fishing in troubled water?”
said the apex court bench of Justice TS
Thakur and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel
as Achuthanandan’s counsel sought the
adjournment of the hearing.
Asking Achuthanandan’s counsel if
his client was ready to file an affidavit
alleging corruption against Chandy, the
court said it would impose heavy costs if
it found him to be using judicial forums
for political agenda.
Achuthanandan’s counsel wanted to
take instruction on this count. Noting
that Achuthanandan was a former
chief minister and the present leader of
opposition in the Kerala assembly, the
court said, “You will not let this issue
rest. You want this matter in press. You
want to keep it alive.
You want to take political mileage.”
Noting that even the Kerala High
Court had said that Achuthanandan
Have you made
any allegation of
corruption against
the present chief
minister ? You are not taking
any responsibility.
Are you fishing in troubled
water?
SUPREME COURT
asks VS Achuthanandan
was only dragging on the matter, the
court said: “High court says that you
are only dragging on. You get political
mileage in keeping the issue alive.”
Giving Achuthanandan’s lawyer
two weeks’ time to place before it the
judgment of the high court which was
pronounced Jan 30, the court said: “You
argue it on next date. We will not allow
you to drag it. We will not allow you to
use judicial forums for settling political
scores.”
Having said this, court made it clear
that if it was not persuaded about the
contention for further investigation
in the palm oil import scam being
sought by CPM leader Achuthanandan,
it would impose a “heavy cost”.
Achuthanandan’s
counsel
wanted
to place before the apex court the
Kerala High Court judgment rejecting
Achuthanandan’s plea challenging the
Kerala government order of September
13, 2013, withdrawing prosecution in
the alleged corruption in import of
palmolein oil during 1991-92.
While dismissing Achuthanandan’s
plea, the high court held that since
the application for the withdrawal of
prosecution by the state government
had already been declined by the
vigilance court and the same order
had been upheld by the high court
Jan 8, the Kerala government order of
September 13, 2013, for withdrawing
prosecution in palm oil case was of no
consequence.
The case relates to import of
palm oil during 1991-92 at “inflated”
price by the then Congressgovernment
headed
by
late
K Karunakaran, from a Malaysian firm,
allegedly causing a loss of Rs 2.33 crore
to the state exchequer. Chandy was then
finance minister.
— IANS
NEW DELHI: A breakaway group of
the AAP on Monday accused the party
of receiving donations worth Rs 2 crore
from bogus companies.
The BJP questioned the funding
but the AAP rejected the allegation
as “malicious and false propaganda”
unleashed by “mysterious fronts”
created by the BJP.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Yogendra
Yadav, at a press conference late
Monday evening, said the Bharatiya
Janata Party’s raking up an eightmonth-old issue just before the Delhi
assembly polls showed that the BJP was
“nervous”.
“They had these files for a long
time. Why are they raking up this issue
now,” he asked. With assembly polls in
Delhi less than a week away, the AAP
also challenged the BJP-led central
government to probe the source of
funding which, it said, has already been
investigated twice earlier.
Gopal Goyal, a member of the AAP
Volunteer Action Manch (AVAM)
breakaway group, on Monday said
there were four donations each of Rs
50 lakh by four bogus companies to
the AAP. He claimed that the funds
were received April 5 at midnight and
the companies that made the donations
were bogus. The AVAM was formed
by then AAP members in 2014 over
the demand of decentralisation of
power in the party. Addressing a press
conference here, Goyal said none of the
donor companies had earned even a
single rupee, but donated such a huge
amount. “Where do they get their
money from,” asked Goyal, saying he
was ready to face punishment if his
charges were found to be false.
The AAP said in a statement that
it was the only political party in India
whose entire donations were in public
domain and fully transparent. It said
every rupee donated to the party was
declared on its website for public
scrutiny. “It has been wrongly alleged
that the AAP has accepted funds from
dubious sources on 5 April 2014,” the
statement said. Describing the BJP as
“frustrated and desperate”, the AAP
said it was spreading lies. “The BJP
and some mysterious fronts created
by it close to the Delhi assembly
elections have unleashed a malicious
and false propaganda on the funding
of the AAP,” the statement said. “Since
Monday morning, a defamatory
smear campaign is being run against
the AAP to confuse the people and
divert attention from important issues
concerning the people of Delhi,” the
AAP statement said.
— IANS
in Krishna Nagar am informed has been
attacked. Informed some injured too.
Cutting short Rallies, rushing back.”
“Met the injured. Their statements
recorded. Will give all evidence to the
police and await the findings of police
investigation.
“Thanked all our BJP volunteers
who bore the assault and did not get
provoked! Appealed to them to remain
calm, civil and peaceful,” she said in
another tweet. BJP’s Delhi unit president
Satish Upadhyay “strongly” condemned
the attack and accused “some activists”
of the Aam Aadmi Party of being behind
the attack. “We strongly condemn the
attack. This is a repetition of the attack
on the BJP national headquarters by
AAP activists before the 2014 Lok Sabha
elections,” he said.
“Before the birth of the AAP, there
was no place for violence or abusive
misconduct in the politics of Delhi.
It is up to the people of Delhi now to
totally reject the politics of anarchism,”
Upadhyay said.
— IANS
AAP, BJP to
take caste issue
to poll panel
NEW DELHI: The row over Arvind
Kejriwal being shown of “upadravi
gotra” — or destructive subcaste —
has led the AAP and the BJP locking
horns, with both parties gearing up to
lodge complaints against each other
with the Election Commission.
Aam Aadmi Party chief Kejriwal
said he, while following social activist
Anna Hazare’s ideals that one must
have the capacity to tolerate insult,
ignored many insulting acts of the
Bharatiya Janata Party but they
“crossed limits” and his party will now
approach the poll panel. “What has
happened to the BJP, first they targeted
my children, but I tolerated it. Annaji
has said we must have capacity to
tolerate insult,” Kejriwal tweeted. “In
social life, I never complained against
personal insult. But this advertisement
crosses the limit. They are calling the
whole Agrawal caste destructive. They
say I belong to a destructive subcaste.”
The BJP denied having made
any caste reference in an election
advertisement
that
mocked
Kejriwal and accused the AAP
of giving it a religious and casteist
connotation. “It is extremely sad that
certain political parties are trying
to convert a political statement. An
expression, used to represent that
political party’s ideology, has been
sought to be converted on religious
ground,” a BJP leader said. — IANS
SUFI SUTRA
Maharashtra netball player
dies during National Games
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Tragedy
struck the 35th National Games
when a young netball player from
Maharashtra suddenly collapsed and
died during a practice session here on
Monday.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen
Chandy said his state will bear all
expenses for airlifting the body to the
player’s home state.
Mayuresh Pawar, 21, become dizzy
and fell unconscious around 1 p.m.
His teammates immediately
rushed him to a hospital but by that
time, he had passed away, according
to an official.
A Games official told IANS that
Pawar’s team had played against
Chandigarh in the morning.
“Chandigarh won the match and
they left the venue.
The incident occurred when the
Maharashtra team arrived at the
practice court close to noon, where
he fell ill suddenly,” said the official,
who did not wish to be identified.
However, there were conflicting
reports about the cause of death.
Though the official said the player
died following cardiac arrest, doctors
who conducted the autopsy at the
Thiruvananthapuram Medical College
and Hospital certified that death was
due to drowning.
The team, after completing their
morning match, had reached the
seaside near the Thiruvananthapuram
domestic airport and it is believed
that the team had waded into the sea
and the net ball player had fallen in
the water.
Chandy Monday evening gave
directions to the Games organisers
to airlift the body to Maharashtra,
an official said. National Games
Secretariat CEO Jacob Punnoose told
IANS that when he came to know
about the incident, he immediately
directed the officials to see that an
autopsy be conducted. — IANS
Amer Refaat Touny Mohamed along with his troupe performs during the `Sufi Sutra, an International Festival of Sufi and Traditional Music at Kala Academy in Panaji on
Monday. — IANS
AMERICAS
12
GM IGNITION FAULT: TOLL RISES TO 51
T U E S DAY l F E B R U A R Y 3 l 2 0 1 5
DETROIT: At least 51 families will get
payments from General Motors due to
fatal crashes caused by faulty small-car
ignition switches, and that number is
almost certain to rise. The deadline to
file claims with compensation expert
Kenneth Feinberg was on Saturday.
Camille Biros, deputy administrator of
the compensation plan, says 77 injured
people also will get payments.
WORLD
VENEZUELA DRUG STORE CHAIN UNDER PROBE
Venezuela’s largest drugstore chain
says it’s under investigation by
price-control authorities and the
intelligence service, presumably
on suspicion of aggravating the
country’s chronic shortages. A
statement by the Farmatodo
company says several executives
are being questioned by the
intelligence agency.
Obama sending $4trillion
budget plan to Congress
OUT IN THE COLD
SNAP SHOT: The president is releasing his budget as the economy
improves, the federal deficit drops and his poll numbers climb higher
A woman walks in falling snow and sleet down Broadway in the New York City suburb of Nyack yesterday. — Reuters
Obama to host Merkel on February 9
WASHINGTON: German Chancellor
Angela Merkel will meet President
Barack Obama in Washington on
February 9, the White House said
yesterday, with a fresh spasm of violence
in Ukraine high on the agenda.
The German leader will hold an Oval
Office meeting with her US host, as the
West prepares further sanctions against
Russia for its role in stoking the unrest.
“The two leaders will discuss a range
of issues, including Ukraine, Russia,
counterterrorism, ISIL, Afghanistan
and Iran,” the White House said in a
statement.
Western governments and Ukraine
have accused Russia of sending regular
troops and arms to bolster the rebels
and spearhead the latest offensive —
claims Moscow has repeatedly denied.
The rebels are equipped with the
heavy weaponry of a regular army,
hardware they claim to have captured
from fleeing Ukrainian forces.
While some European countries
remain reluctant to put in place tough
new measures against Moscow, the
United States is said to be considering
supplying arms to out-gunned Ukraine.
Also on the agenda at the February
Angela Merkel
9 meeting will be “economic growth,
international trade, climate change and
Germany’s plans for hosting the G-7
Summit in June” the White House said.
In Berlin, government spokeswoman
Christiane Wirtz said Merkel would
leave Germany on Sunday, and would
visit Canada for talks with Prime
Minister Stephen Harper ahead of a G7
summit she will host in June.
While in Washington, the German
chancellor will meet with other
high-ranking political leaders and
businessmen to discuss the “global
economy,” Wirtz said.
Efforts to push through the world’s
biggest-ever free trade deal, known as
the Transatlantic Trade and Investment
Pact (TTIP), are expected to figure
prominently during the three-day tour.
US and EU negotiators began their
eighth round of talks on the pact in
Brussels yesterday, which after nearly
two years remain bogged down by
public opposition.
The fate of debt-mired Greece is also
expected to play a major role in the talks.
The election of leftist Prime Minister
Alexis Tsipras has thrown into doubt a
carefully brokered German-led bailout
that has been a point of contention
between Washington and Berlin.
Obama’s
administration
has
repeatedly called on Germany not to
impose a too strict regimen of budget
cuts in exchange for assistance.
Obama recently said the Greek
economy was in “dire need” of reform
but warned that drastic changes were
tough to implement in a struggling
economy.
“You cannot keep on squeezing
countries that are in the midst of
depression,” Obama told CNN. — AFP
Rafael Correa creates website, Twitter account to neutralise smear campaign
Ecuador president takes on
opponents via social media
QUITO: Far from laughing along with
those who poke fun at him on social
media, President Rafael Correa has
created a website and Twitter account
to marshal digital counterattacks by his
supporters against the “defamers.”
“For every lying tweet that they
send out, we will send 10,000 that are
truthful,” Correa said on Saturday in his
weekly TV appearance. To critics, the
campaign is simply the latest salvo in
the war on freedom of expression by a
president they see as thin-skinned and
whom human rights groups criticise as
intolerant.
Since 2012, Correa has secured a $42
million criminal libel award against the
country’s main opposition newspaper,
forced top political cartoonist Javier
Bonilla to “correct” his work and
secured passage of a new media law that
made a government panel the arbiter of
journalistic fairness.
Cesar Ricuarte, director of the
Fundamedios press freedom watchdog,
said Correa has anointed himself “the
owner of humor,” by trying to “tell
Ecuadoreans what should make us
laugh.”
Correa’s decision to move
decisively against satirical “memes”
— images that become instant online
sensations — was a reaction in part to
Rafael Correa
an online satirist who goes by Crudo
Ecuador. Last week, he became a first
target of the new government website,
www.somosmas.ec , meaning “We are
more,” and its affiliated Twitter account.
In jabs at Correa, Crudo Ecuador
had posted on Facebook: A photo of
the leftist president holding a shopping
bag at a “luxury” European mall just
as Ecuadoreans face potential belttightening over the plunge in price of
oil, their main export.
In another image, Correa stands
beside the giant presidential portrait
bestowed on him January 6 in China,
where he obtained $7.5 billion in badly
needed loans. In the image’s “Part II,” the
portrait has changed. Correa, pictured
from chest to knees, turns out empty
pants pockets. The title is “Ecuador’s
Current Economic Situation.”
Correa was not amused.
Crudo Ecuador is participating in a
“systematic, coordinated and financed
attack” by right-wing opponents, Correa
alleged late last month in announcing
the social media counterattack. He also
publicly identified three Twitter users
who he said were spreading falsehoods.
Crudo Ecuador’s author denies the
president’s claim that he’s a hired gun of
one of Correa’s opponents. “I’ve been a
jokester all my life,” he said. “If I were
getting paid, I wouldn’t have credit card
debts.”
He said he’s voted for the leftist
economist, who is highly popular for his
social welfare spending, and thinks he’ll
vote for him again.
“He’s the least bad of Ecuador’s
politicians,” said the man, who spoke
on condition of anonymity out of fear
for his safety, preferring the nickname
Crudo, which translates as “raw.” Crudo,
who says he works in advertising, said
he isn’t afraid of the president. (He
had 36,900 Twitter followers yesterday
versus 5,000 for @somosmasec). It’s
Correa fanatics who worry him. — AP
WASHINGTON: President Barack
Obama was setting up another clash
with Republicans by sending Congress
a $4 trillion budget yesterday that seeks
to raise taxes on wealthier Americans
and corporations and increase domestic
spending.
Republicans, who now control all
of Congress, accused the president
of seeking to revert to tax-and-spend
policies that will harm the economy while
failing to do anything about the budget’s
biggest problem — soaring spending on
government benefit programmes. The
Obama administration said the budget
represented a strategy to strengthen
the middle class and help “hardworking families get ahead in a time of
relentless economic and technological
change.” Obama’s budget emphasises
the same themes as his State of the
Union address last month, when he
challenged Congress to work with him
on narrowing the income gap between
the very wealthy and everyone else.
“This country’s better off than it was
four years ago, but what we also know
is that wages and incomes for middle
class families are just now ticking up,”
Obama said in an interview broadcast
on yesterday’s “Today Show” on NBC.
“They haven’t been keeping pace over
the last 30 years compared to, you know,
corporate profits and what’s happening
to folks in the very top.”
Obama is releasing his budget as the
Eric Chalmers, a staff assistant with the US Senate Budget Committee, unboxes
copies of US President Barack Obama’s Fiscal Year 2016 Budget proposal to
distribute to staff on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, yesterday. — AFP
economy improves, the federal deficit
drops and his poll numbers climb
higher.
Obama’s new budget offers an array
of spending programmes and tax
increases on the wealthy that Republican
lawmakers have already rejected. But
it puts Republicans in the politically
awkward position of rejecting tax cuts
for middle-class families.
The president also wants to give a huge
boost to spending on infrastructure,
funded by a one-time tax on profits
US companies have amassed overseas.
Obama would ease tight budget
constraints imposed on the military and
domestic programmes back in 2011,
when attempts at a bipartisan budget
deal failed. His budget will propose
easing those painful, automatic cuts
to the military and domestic agencies
with a 7 per cent increase in annual
appropriations.
— AP
IN BRIEF
Obama reconsidering lethal aid to Ukraine
US consumer
spending declines
in December
WASHINGTON: US consumer
spending fell in December in the
midst of the key year-end holiday
shopping season, while their incomes
continued to grow, Commerce
Department data released yesterday
showed. Consumer spending, which
accounts for about 70 per cent of the
economy’s activity, fell 0.3 per cent
from November, the first decline of
the year. The last time it fell was in
December 2013.
The decline came after a sharp 0.5
per cent rise in November, a month
marked by aggressive price cuts and
sales promotions ahead of the yearend holiday shopping season.
Personal income, as well as
disposable personal income, rose
0.3 per cent for the second straight
month in December. Wages and
salaries, the largest part of income,
edged up only 0.1 per cent in
December after a 0.6 per cent rise in
November.
For all of 2014, consumer spending
grew 3.9 per cent, picking up from the
3.6 per cent pace the prior year.
Personal income rose 3.9 per cent
last year from a 2 per cent gain in
2013.
“Looking ahead, further big real
income gains and soaring confidence
point to serious strength in spending,”
said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist
at Pantheon Macroeconomics, in a
research note. “We would not be
surprised to see gains approaching 5
per cent annualised in the spring.”
As income rose in December,
Americans socked more away,
pushing the personal saving rate up
to 4.9 per cent from 4.3 per cent in
November. — AFP
WASHINGTON: A senior administration official says President Barack Obama is
considering sending lethal assistance to Ukraine’s besieged military. The official
says Obama continues to have concerns about taking that step, including the risks
of starting a proxy war with Russia and the Ukrainian military’s capacity for using
US-supplied weaponry. The official says Obama is also concerned that no amount of
arming the Ukrainians would put them on par with Russia’s military.
Still, the official says the White House is willing to take a fresh look at the matter
given the recent escalation of violence between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists.
The New York Times first reported the new Obama administration deliberations. The
official confirmed the discussions on the condition of anonymity because this person
wasn’t authorised to discuss the internal deliberations publicly. — AP
US spend on construction up 0.4 per cent
WASHINGTON: US construction spending accelerated in December as building
activity increased for new houses and government-backed highways. The Commerce
Department said yesterday that construction spending rose 0.4 per cent in December.
Total construction spending in 2014 increased 5.6 per cent to $961 billion, with the
gains slightly below the pace of 5.7 per cent in 2013. Spending on single-family houses
rose 1.2 per cent in December from the prior month. Highway and street construction
grew by 2.1 per cent and factory-building by 1.9 per cent. Construction of schools and
commercial centres fell in December. Over the course of 2014, spending on offices,
power plants, factories and lodgings climbed significantly, potentially signalling
broader economic growth in 2015 that could further boost residential construction.
Sales of new home sales climbed 11.6 per cent in December to a seasonally adjusted
annual rate of 481,000, the Commerce Department said in a recent report. That
represents a marked improvement from the total sales of 435,000 for all of 2014. Solid
job growth should spillover into construction. Employers added nearly 3 million jobs in
2014, the most since 1999. — AP
REGION
T U E S DAY
FEBRUARY 3 l 2015
omandailyobserver
13
Egypt confirms death
penalty for cop killings
VERDICT SLAMMED: 183 men convicted of killing 13 policemen
Juris Greste (L), the father of Australian journalist Peter Greste, Peter’s brother Andrew Greste (C) and his mother Lois Greste (R)
smile after holding a press conference in Brisbane after Cairo deported Peter, the award-winning correspondent for Al-Jazeera
English television, on Monday. — AFP
Relief to be free, like a ‘rebirth,
says Jazeera journalist Greste
DOHA: Journalist Peter Greste said on
Monday it was a great relief to be freed
from prison in Egypt but that he felt
“incredible angst” about leaving two
colleagues behind in prison.
Al Jazeera journalist Greste was
released on Sunday after 400 days in a
Cairo jail.
He had been sentenced to seven
years on charges that included aiding a
terrorist group, security officials said.
“This (release) has been like a
rebirth,” he said in an interview on Al
Jazeera, his first public remarks since
he was freed. He is in Cyprus for a few
days until he travels home to Australia.
Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy
and Egyptian national Baher Mohamed
remain in prison. They were jailed for
between seven and 10 years on charges
including spreading lies to help a
terrorist organisation — a reference to
the outlawed Brotherhood. Egyptian
authorities accuse Al Jazeera of being a
mouthpiece of the Muslim Brotherhood,
the Qatar-backed movement which
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi toppled
in 2013 when he was Egypt’s army chief.
I wasn’t expecting it
at all... I can’t tell you
the real sense of that
mix of emotion, between
a real sense of relief and
excitement, and also real
stress in having to say
goodbye to my colleagues..
I hope Egypt keeps going
down this path and releases
the others
PETER GRESTE
Al Jazeera Journalist
Egypt’s Interior Ministry said on its
Facebook page that Sisi released Greste
under a decree issued in November
authorising him to approve the
deportation of foreign prisoners.
Greste said if it was appropriate for
him to be free, it was right for his two
colleagues to be free, adding that he
had only found out about this release
order an hour before he was allowed
to leave prison.
“I wasn’t expecting it at all... I can’t
tell you the real sense of that mix of
emotion, between a real sense of relief
and excitement, and also real stress in
having to say goodbye to my colleagues,”
said Greste, who described the two men
as “family”. He called for the release
Fahmy and Mohamed, who he said had
suffered the most in prison because he
had missed the birth of his child.
A security source said on Sunday
Fahmy was expected to be released and
deported to Canada within days.
“For Egypt, this has been a big step
forward, I hope Egypt keeps going
down this path and releases the others,”
Greste said. Asked what he would most
like to do now, he said: “Watching a few
sunsets. I haven’t seen one of those at all
for a very long time, watching the stars,
feeling the sand under my toes.
The little things.” “You realise it is
those little beautiful moments of life
that are really precious, and spending
time with my family of course. That’s
what’s important, not the big issues.”
— AFP
Who they were working for not clear, neither the origin of servers
CAIRO: An Egyptian court on Monday
confirmed death sentences against 183
men convicted of killing 13 policemen,
in a verdict slammed as “outrageous” by
rights group Amnesty International.
The verdict came as another court
announced that deposed president
Mohamed Morsi would stand trial on
February 15 in an espionage case — the
fourth trial he is facing.
The policemen were killed in an
attack on a police station in Kerdasa,
a town on the outskirts of Cairo, on
August 14, 2013.
The attack took place on the same
day that security forces killed hundreds
of demonstrators in clashes as they
dismantled two massive protest camps
in Cairo supporting Morsi.
The court had in December issued
a preliminary verdict against 188
defendants in a mass trial, of whom two
were acquitted on Monday while one,
a minor, was sentenced to 10 years in
prison. Charges against the remaining
two were dropped after the court found
that they were dead.
Monday’s verdict, which can
be appealed, came after the initial
sentences were sent to the grand mufti
for ratification.
Since the army deposed Morsi on
July 3, 2013, at least 1,400 people have
been killed in a police crackdown on
protests, mostly extremists supporting
the ousted leader.
Hundreds of his supporters have
been sentenced to death in swift mass
trials which the United Nations says
were “unprecedented in recent history”.
In a statement after Monday’s verdict
Amnesty International said the court’s
Brotherhood supporters convicted of playing a role in the killings of 13 policemen
in August 2013 during the upheaval that followed the army’s ouster of president
Mohamed Mursi, stand behind bars during their trial in Cairo on Monday. — AFP
decision was “outrageous” and “an
example of the bias of the Egyptian
criminal justice system”.
“Issuing mass death sentences
whenever the case involves the killing of
police officers now appears to be nearroutine policy, regardless of facts and
with no attempt to establish individual
responsibility,” said Amnesty’s Hassiba
Hadj Sahraoui. Rights groups and critics
of President Abdel Fattah al Sisi, the
former army chief who ousted Morsi,
say authorities are using the judiciary as
an arm to repress any form of dissent,
including from secular activists.
Morsi and several top leaders of his
blacklisted Brotherhood are in custody
and facing several trials on charges
punishable by death.
Egypt’s first freely elected president
is already facing three trials and the
fourth will open on February 15 for
allegedly leaking “classified documents”
to Qatar and the Doha-based Al-Jazeera
network.
Last week an Egyptian court set May
16 for a verdict in another espionage
case in which Morsi and 35 others are
accused of allegedly conspiring with
foreign powers.
Separately, another court is to deliver
a verdict on April 21 in the trial of Morsi
and 14 others for inciting the killing
of protesters in clashes outside the
presidential palace in December 2012.
He is also on trial over a jailbreak
and attacks on police stations during
the 2011 uprising that ousted president
Hosni Mubarak.
Also on Monday, an appeals court
ordered a retrial in a case involving
the murder of a police officer during a
firefight with extremists in Kerdasa in
September 2013 when security forces
stormed the town to flush out radicals
who had taken control of it.
—AFP
Jordan jails Syrians over plot to kidnap US aid worker
AMMAN: Jordan on Monday sentenced two Syrians to three
years in jail each after they were charged with plotting to
kidnap a US aid worker for ransom last year.
The state security court, a military tribunal, accused them
of “terrorist activity” and sentenced them to three years’ hard
labour.
At the start of the trial in December, one defendant,
Ibrahim al Bekai, admitted that he had plotted with his
associate Tareq al Omar to abduct the American who
worked with Syrian refugees in Jordan. The men were
arrested in September before they were able to kidnap the
aid worker who was not identified in court.
Bekai had told a hearing in December that the plan was
hatched in cooperation with a third man who lives in Syria
and whom he described as a member of Al-Nusra Front, AlQaeda’s Syria affiliate. — AFP
KHUBBAZ RETAKEN
‘Honey trap’ hackers stole
Syria rebel plans: US firm
BEIRUT: Hackers targeted Syrian
opposition members with online “honey
traps,” posing as female supporters to
steal battle plans and the identity of
defectors, a security firm said in a report
Monday.
The report, by US cybersecurity firm
FireEye, tracked hacking operations in
late 2013 and early 2014 that targeted
Syrian opposition fighters, media
activists and humanitarian aid workers.
FireEye said it was unclear whether
the information stolen from the Syrian
opposition had been passed onto the
Syrian government and who the hackers
were working for. But the hacked
material included a detailed opposition
military plan for an attack in 2013 on the
town of Khirbet Ghazaleh, strategically
located in southern Daraa province.
The town had been under rebel
control but was seized by regime troops
in May 2013. Rebels have been unable to
recapture it since.
“The hackers stole a cache of critical
documents and Skype conversations
revealing the Syrian opposition’s strategy,
tactical battle plans, supply needs, and
troves of personal information and chat
sessions,” the report said.
The hacking provided “actionable
military intelligence for an immediate
battlefield advantage” in the case of the
planned Khirbet Ghazaleh attack. It
captured “the type of insight that can
thwart a vital supply route, reveal a
planned ambush and identify and track
key individuals.” Despite the high-tech
tools used in the attack, the hackers also
The hackers also used other
tactics, including creating
fake social media accounts
and Syrian opposition
websites that encouraged
visitors to click on links that
would infect computers.
relied on a well-worn tactic: the “honey
trap.” Targets were contacted on the
chat and online phone service Skype
by hackers posing as pro-opposition
women.
They would ask the target whether
they were on a smartphone or computer,
apparently in a bid to tailor their attacks.
Then they would send their victim
a photo of themselves loaded with
malware that penetrated their personal
files and stole information.
The method was particularly effective
because Syrian opposition members
were often sharing computers, meaning
one machine yielded information from
multiple victims. The material stolen
covered extraordinary levels of detail,
including the blood types of fighters
and the timing of a handover of antitank missiles. But not all of it related
to warfare, with information about
refugees, opposition media strategy
and the inner workings of opposition
political structures also included.
Most of the stolen material was
created between May 2013 and
December 2013, though some of it dated
back to 2012 and as recently as January
2014. The hackers also used other
tactics, including creating fake social
media accounts and Syrian opposition
websites that encouraged visitors to
click on links that would infect their
computers.
The report’s revelations are just the
latest evidence of the stealth cyberwar
that has accompanied the fighting in
Syria’s bloody conflict.
Pro-government hackers identifying
themselves as the Syrian Electronic
Army have carried out high-profile
attacks against the websites and social
media accounts of media outlets and
politicians.
And in 2012, a British newspaper
published what it said were 3,000 emails
sent by President Bashar al Assad and
his wife, obtained by opposition hackers
with the help of a government mole.
Sami Saleh, an opposition activist
and hacker using a pseudonym, said
such examples were rare because the
opposition was generally too poorlyequipped and -backed to carry out
major hacking operations.
“We mostly carry out defensive
operations,” he said, describing multiple
cases where opposition commanders
and politicians were targeted by hackers.
In one case, a commander
in northwestern Idlib province
downloaded a file meant to
contain military maps, accidentally
compromising his computer.
“The cyber-war is about half the war,
without exaggeration,” Saleh said.
—AFP
A member of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces walks at the Khubbaz oil field, some 25 km west of the northern city of Kirkuk, as
smoke billows in the background on Monday, a fews days after Peshmerga forces and police retook the area from IS group. —
Peshmerga forces and Iraqi police retook the Khubbaz oil field and eight villages on January 31, and also freed 24 workers
who had been taken captive. — AFP
14
omandailyobserver
EUROPE
Ukraine separatists vow
to escalate conflict
BATTLELINES DRAWN: Pro-Russian fighters vow to mobilise 100,000 troops for offensive
Ukrainian soldiers carry the coffin bearing the body of Vadym Zherebylo, a member of self-defence battalion ‘Aydar’, who was
killed in the fighting in Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine, during a funeral ceremony at Independence Square in central Kiev
yesterday. — Reuters
DONESK:
Pro-Russian separatists
vowed yesterday to mobilise up to
100,000 fighters for their latest east
Ukraine offensive as the US mulled
sending weapons to Kiev’s out-gunned
forces after the latest truce bid collapsed.
The ambitious pledge to dramatically
escalate a nine-month conflict that has
already left at least 5,100 people dead
came as the rebels battled to encircle
beleaguered transport hub Debaltseve.
“There will be general mobilisation
in the (separatist) Donetsk People’s
Republic in 10 days’ time, we plan on
mobilising up to 100,000 men,” rebel
leader Alexander Zakharchenko told
the separatist news agency DAN.
Fighting in Ukraine’s industrial
heartland has intensified in recent days,
with Kiev officials and local authorities
saying yesterday that five Ukrainian
soldiers and three civilians had been
killed in the last 24 hours. Fighting in
east Ukraine claimed around 50 lives
over the weekend, as the latest attempt
at truce talks collapsed in acrimony in
Minsk on Saturday.
Ukrainian military spokesman
EU Parliament evacuated as
police check suspicious car
BRUSSELS: Belgian police have
evacuated hundreds of people
from the European Parliament
after a suspicious vehicle was
spotted nearby.
Parliament spokesman Jaume
Duch Guillot said yesterday
that “police evacuated three
of the parliament’s buildings”
in Brussels and cordoned off a
suspicious car.
Belgian media showed a
photograph of a police robot
moving toward a vehicle in a
nearby street.
Duch Guillot said about 500
people were evacuated but two
of the three buildings, used only
for administrative purposes,
have since been declared safe.
Belgium has been on high
alert since the January 7 - 9
Paris terror attacks and a series
of police raids on suspected
foreign fighters in Belgium and
France last month. — AP
Volodymyr Polyovyi in Kiev said on
Sunday that “constant battles” were
going on around railway hub Debaltseve
but pledged that government forces
would not give up control of the last
remaining road into the town.
The surge in fighting comes as
Washington and Nato’s military
commander appear to be moving
towards supplying arms to Ukrainian
forces, The New York Times reported
on Sunday. President Barack Obama’s
administration was reviewing whether
to provide “lethal assistance”, in addition
to non-lethal aid such as body armour
and medical equipment which it already
supplies to Kiev, it said.
“A comprehensive approach is
warranted, and we agree that defensive
equipment and weapons should be part
of that discussion,” a Pentagon official
told the Times.
US Secretary of State John Kerry is
set to jet into Kiev on Thursday to pledge
Washington’s support during talks with
President Petro Poroshenko and Prime
Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
Western governments and Ukraine
have accused Russia of sending regular
troops and arms to bolster the rebels and
spearhead the latest offensive — claims
Moscow has repeatedly denied.
The rebels, however, are equipped
with the heavy weaponry of a regular
army, hardware they claim to have
captured from fleeing Ukrainian forces.
French President Francois Hollande,
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko,
speaking by phone on Sunday, expressed
their regret for “the failure of the talks”
in the Belarussian capital Minsk.
The three leaders again called for “an
immediate ceasefire”, according to the
French presidency.
Mediators
and
Ukrainian
representatives accused the separatists
of scuppering Saturday’s truce talks
despite growing international pressure
to end a surge in violence in recent days.
The Organisation for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),
which is involved in the talks along
with Russia, said that rebel negotiators
in Minsk “were not even prepared to
discuss implementation of a ceasefire
and withdrawal of heavy weapons”.
— AFP
T U E S DAY
FEBRUARY 3 l 2015
IN BRIEF
Court sentences
Romanian judge
to 22 years in prison
for bribery
BUCHAREST: A court has sentenced a
judge to 22 years in prison on charges
that he took bribes to rule favourably in
several cases involving one of Romania’s
richest businessmen. The Bucharest
Appeals Court also confiscated a luxury
car and money from Mircea Moldovan.
The ruling is not yet final.
Businessman Dan Adamescu was also
sentenced to four years and four months
while judge Elena Roventa received
five years and 10 months. Two other
judges were also sentenced to prison.
Adamescu was convicted of instructing
his lawyer — who threw himself under
a train after the judges were arrested
— to bribe the judges 20,000 euros in
December 2013 to rule in his favour
in several insolvency cases involving
his companies. Adamescu denies
wrongdoing.
— AP
2 bronzes may
be Michelangelo:
Museum
LONDON: Scholars in Britain say new
evidence has emerged that two male
bronzes attributed to other sculptors may
be the work of Michelangelo. Experts
from the Fitzwilliam Museum and the
University of Cambridge say the evidence
suggests the figures riding panthers were
made after Michelangelo completed
the marble David and as he was about
to embark on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
The museum says in a statement that if
the attribution is correct, the sculptures
would be the only surviving Michelangelo
bronzes in the world. The sculptures were
previously attributed to Michelangelo
when they appeared in Adolphe de
Rothschild’s collection in the 19th
century. But they were unsigned and this
attribution was dismissed. Scholars reexamined them after they were included
in the 2012 Royal Academy of Arts bronze
exhibition.
— AP
Berlo gets
community
service relief
ROME: Silvio Berlusconi, the disgraced
former Italian prime minister, will not
have to serve the final 45 days of a
one-year community service order he
received for tax fraud, a judge ruled
yesterday. Media tycoon Berlusconi, 78,
has been serving the order by helping out
with Alzheimer’s patients at the Cesano
Boscone care home near Milan every
Friday since last May. The judge’s decision
to trim the sentence on good behaviour
grounds means he will be freed from
those duties on March 8. He will also
then regain his freedom of movement,
which was restricted under the order,
enabling him to resume a higher-profile
role in national politics despite still
being banned from public office. After a
series of appeals, Berlusconi was finally
convicted of tax fraud in August 2013.
But for his advanced age, he would have
been sent to prison. He was allowed to
retain the leadership of his Forza Italia
party. The centre right grouping retains
considerable influence in parliament but
has slipped badly in the opinion polls
over the time Berlusconi has been making
his visits to the care home.
— AP
‘Extremism rising in EU’
RIGA: A senior European commissioner
warned yesterday about rising levels
of extremism and intolerance across
the 28-nation bloc, targeting different
communities and even women.
“There is rising Islamophobia,
there is rising homophobia,” Frans
Timmermans, deputy to European
Commission President Jean-Claude
Juncker told parliamentarians from EU
states meeting in Latvia’s capital Riga.
“There are people who are actually
challenging the position of women in
European society,” said Timmermans,
who was visiting the Baltic state in
connection with its six-month stint as
EU president. “This cannot happen.
We need to put the rule of law front
and centre in our European discussions
because if we don’t have that, we have
nothing. “If people in this Europe
cannot feel at home, Europe is finished. If
they believe their future is not in Europe,
Europe has no future. And this applies
to all alike — and to other minorities. If
people think they have to go back into
the closet, we have no future for Europe,”
he added. The number of anti-Muslim
incidents in France has soared since
the Paris attacks, with 128 such acts
registered over two weeks, almost the
same amount as all 2014, according the
French National Observatory Against
Islamophobia.
— AFP
A file picture shows visitors looking at the Lincoln Cathedral Magna Carta during
the opening of an exhibition celebrating the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta
at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.
— AFP
4 surviving Magna Cartas brought together
LONDON: You can’t exactly call it a reunion — the four surviving Magna Cartas had
never before been in the same place. So the British Library called it a “unification
event” yesterday when the priceless documents seen by many as providing the
foundation for democratic governance were put on display together for the first time.
The event marks the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, which established the
timeless principle that no individual, even a monarch, is above the law. The original
Magna Carta manuscripts were written and sealed in late June and early July 1215, and
sent individually throughout the country. Officials said the three-day unification will
give some lucky members of the public as well as constitutional scholars and medieval
manuscript experts a chance to compare the documents.
— AP
The once-dazzling politician and economist now in the dock for immoral behaviour
Strauss-Kahn: a powerful man undone by scandals
PARIS:
Power can be a heady
aphrodisiac and Dominique StraussKahn, when chief of the International
Monetary Fund and about to run for
French president, had plenty of it.
But eventually his inappropriate
appetite would prove his undoing.
“Yes, I like women, so what?” the
silver-haired Strauss-Kahn told the
Liberation newspaper in April 2011,
just weeks before his high-flying career
imploded over accusations he abused
a New York hotel maid. After settling
the case in a civil suit Strauss-Kahn
admitted “a moral failing”, but the next
scandal was just around the corner when
he became a key suspect in a probe into a
women abuse ring.
The once-dazzling politician and
economist, known as DSK in France,
is now in the dock for “aggravated
pimping” over his role in initiating
parties attended by immoral women in
France, Belgium and Washington.
The court is likely to hear sleazy
details about the dark side of the man
who once jetted around the world
The court is likely to hear
sleazy details about the dark
side of the man who once
jetted around the world
steering the International
Monetary Fund through the
global financial crisis. He
denies knowing the women
at the parties
Journalists gather outside the Lille courthouse, northern France, yesterday on the first day of the so-called “Carlton Case” trial.
The ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn come under the spotlight again .
— AFP
steering the International Monetary
Fund through the global financial crisis.
He denies knowing the women at
the parties. Strauss-Kahn was born in
the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine in
1949 and spent part of his childhood in
Morocco.
He racked up diplomas at the elite
Paris universities Sciences-Po and HEC,
marrying a woman two years his senior
at the tender age of 18.
He joined the Socialist Party in 1976
and within a decade underwent a total
makeover, marrying a second time,
shaving off his beard and ditching his
thick glasses. Skilled at explaining
complex economic issues in simple
terms, he soared through the ranks of
the party, entering parliament in 1986
and later becoming mayor of a Parisian
suburb.
Strauss-Kahn’s third marriage, to
famous French television journalist and
wealthy heiress Anne Sinclair, made him
part of a slick power couple.
In 1997 he became finance minister,
taking part in negotiations on the
creation of the euro currency and
winning respect across the continent.
After winning the French presidency
in 2007, conservative Nicolas Sarkozy
put Strauss-Kahn forward as France’s
candidate to head the IMF, a move seen
as a bid to neutralise one of the Socialists’
most prominent leaders.
Rumours of DSK’s dalliances had
lurked in the background for years,
making few waves in France where
attitudes have traditionally been more
relaxed and privacy issues are sacrosanct.
His first scandal erupted in 2008: an
affair with a married Hungarian IMF
economist who said she felt coerced into
the fling.
An IMF probe concluded he had not
exerted pressure on her, but had made
an error of judgement.
Then in 2011, hotel maid Nafissatou
Diallo accused him of assaulting her in
his luxury suite in New York.
The charges were described as a
“thunderbolt” by fellow Socialists,
dumbstruck at seeing their likely
presidential candidate paraded in
handcuffs before the world’s media.
He was forced to quit the IMF and
abandon what was seen as a promising
presidential challenge to Sarkozy.
Criminal charges were dropped after
Diallo was found to be an unreliable
witness. But whatever really happened
in that hotel room, more allegations
of DSK’s excesses awaited him on his
— AFP
return to France.
INTERNATIONAL
T U E S DAY
FEBRUARY 3 l 2015
omandailyobserver
Ebola vaccines testing starts in Liberia
GOOD RESPONSE: Up to 600 volunteers taking part in the first phase. Organisers say 27,000 may join in eventually
MONROVIA: Large-scale human
testing of two potential Ebola vaccines
got under way in Liberia’s capital
yesterday, part of a global effort to
prevent a repeat of the epidemic that has
now claimed nearly 9,000 lives in West
Africa.
The studies in Liberia are taking
place after smaller tests determined
that the vaccines were safe for human
use. By comparing them now with a
dummy shot, scientists hope to learn
whether they can prevent people from
contracting the ghastly virus that
has killed some 60 per cent of those
hospitalised.
Yet despite the vaccine study’s
promise, authorities still must combat
fear and suspicion that people could
become infected by taking part. Each
vaccine uses a different virus to carry
non-infectious Ebola genetic material
into the body and spark an immune
response. On Sunday in one densely
populated neighbourhood of Monrovia,
musicians sang songs explaining the
purpose and intent of the trial in a bid
to dispel fears.
B Emmanuel Lansana, 43, a
physician’s assistant, was the first to
receive doses yesterday. Two shots were
administered at different points on
his right arm. His wife had expressed
will increase as we go along,” Wissedi
Sio Njoh, director of operation with the
vaccination campaign, said.
The World Health Organisation
says the Ebola epidemic has infected
more than 22,000 people and claimed
more than 8,900 lives over the past year.
Without a vaccine, officials have fought
the outbreak with old-fashioned public
health measures, including isolating the
sick, tracking and quarantining those
who had contact with them, and setting
up teams to safely bury bodies.
Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the
US National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases, has said that both
experimental vaccines showed promise
in first-stage human safety tests. One
was developed by the National Institutes
of Health and is being manufactured
by GlaxoSmithKline. The other was
developed by Canadian health officials
and is licensed to two US companies,
NewLink Genetics and Merck.
The vaccine trials come as the three
most affected countries — Guinea,
Sierra Leone and Liberia — appear to
A woman is injected by a health care worker as she takes part in a Ebola virus vaccine trial at one of the largest hospital’s
Redemption hospital in Monrovia, Liberia, yesterday.
— AP be making strides against the Ebola
epidemic first identified last March. The
apprehension about the vaccine trial, but doubts were cleared,” he said in a room trial organisers have said eventually as UN health agency said last week that the
Lansana said he still wanted to take part. where he was being observed for 30 many as 27,000 people could take part. countries had reported fewer than 100
“From the counselling, all of the minutes afterward. Up to 600 volunteers
“We are targeting about 12 persons cases in the past week, for the first time
reservations I have were explained, my are taking part in the first phase, and for today and hopefully the number since June.
— AP
Uganda to cooperate with ICC in rebel case
KAMPALA: Uganda has assured the
International Criminal Court of “full
cooperation” on the case of a Ugandan
rebel commander who faces trial at
the international court, the country’s
attorney general said yesterday.
Uganda’s
government
would
help with investigations as well as
identifying potential witnesses for
Dominic Ongwen’s case, Peter Nyombi
told reporters in the Ugandan capital,
Kampala. A team from The Hague
is travelling to Uganda next week to
consult with officials, he said.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni
has been critical of the international
court, calling it an imperialist tool of
the West and urging African countries
to stage a mass exit from the court
over allegations it has unfairly targeted
Africans over the years. Nyombi said,
however, that Uganda believes it’s “more
convenient” for the ICC to try Ongwen.
“The ICC may want us to assist them
in accessing certain witnesses .... We are
establishing a technical committee for
that purpose,” he said.
The ICC has set August 24 as the
date for a hearing to assess if evidence is
strong enough to merit a full trial.
Ongwen faces charges of war crimes
and crimes against humanity, including
murder, pillage and enslavement for
his alleged role in a reign of terror by
warlord Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance
Army that has spanned more than 25
years in central Africa’s Great Lakes
region.
The armed group originated in
Uganda in the 1980s as a popular tribal
uprising against the government but
has often taken advantage of porous
borders across the region to hide and
regroup amid an international hunt for
its fugitive leaders.
— AP
Boko Haram attacks rising
even as elections approach
LAGOS: Nigeria yesterday braced for
fresh Boko Haram attacks ahead of this
month’s elections, with the key city of
Maiduguri in the firing line and forces
from Chad and Cameroon joining the
regional fight. A weekend of violence
saw the Borno state capital, Maiduguri,
hit for the second Sunday in a row,
but Nigerian Army soldiers, helped by
civilian vigilantes, managed to keep the
militants at bay.
The border town of Gamboru, on
Borno’s eastern fringe, meanwhile was
pounded by artillery fire and from the
air by Chadian jets, as troops massed
in Cameroon for a possible ground
offensive.
The increase in both militant and
military activity reflects growing fears
over the fighters’ threat to regional
security and crucial elections scheduled
for February 14.
Security analysts believe Maiduguri,
the birthplace of Boko Haram, will likely
be hit again before polling day, given its
symbolism for the group and because it
would undermine the vote, which it sees
as “un-Islamic”.
“The
insurgents
had
long
denounced elections as a pagan practice
incompatible with their religion and
they had vowed they would never allow
democracy to thrive in the region,” said
Nnamdi Obasi, from the International
Crisis Group.
“So, it was predictable they would
step up attacks to pre-empt the coming
elections, particularly in Maiduguri,
and we may not have seen the end yet,”
he said.
Boko Haram was founded in 2002
in Maiduguri, which is currently home
to hundreds of thousands of people
displaced by violence elsewhere in
Nigeria’s far northeast in the last six
years.
The militants are in control of
most of the state and have effectively
A family, that escaped Boko Haram attacks in both Michika and Cameroon, seek
shelter in an incompleted house in Adamawa.
— Reuters
surrounded the city, which is seen as
one of the few places left in Borno where
voting could feasibly still take place.
Turn-out could be affected if large
numbers desert the city, which with
other areas in the northeast is a main
opposition stronghold.
Capturing Maiduguri would not
only be a morale-booster for the rebels
but also likely sink President Goodluck
Jonathan’s re-election bid once and for
all, said Obasi.
Chad’s offensive comes after the
African Union and United Nations last
week backed a new 7,500-strong, fivenation force to tackle Boko Haram.
Nigeria’s military maintains that
N’Djamena’s involvement is part of
the existing agreement with Chad and
Niger for their troops to assist in the
counter-insurgency.
Chad and Niger had withdrawn
their troops from the multi-national
base at Baga, in northern Borno, last
year, leaving only Nigerian soldiers to
defend the town when it was attacked
on January 3.
That led some to assume the existing
force was dead in the water but the
devastating strike on Baga, in which
hundreds or more were feared killed,
appears to have jolted it into action.
Chadian jets last week bombed the
Boko Haram-controlled town of Malam
Fatori, near the border with Niger.
Jonathan, who has been criticised
for failing to end the violence, could be
hoping for a political bounce from any
military successes in the tight election
campaign, even at this late stage.
But Mark Schroeder, from security
and political analysts Stratfor, believes
that allowing foreign forces to operate
on Nigerian soil would be counterproductive to him and the country.
“This is essentially absolving Nigeria
of its long-standing geopolitical strength
as the region’s hegemon able to assist
internal and pan-West African security
stability,” he said.
Schroeder, the group’s vice-president
for Africa analysis, also considered
Nigerian Army operations no more
than “forays”, adding that a sustained
effort was needed to claw back territory.
— AFP
15
Reopening
of schools
postponed
MONROVIA: Liberia has postponed
the reopening of schools closed due
to an Ebola outbreak that has killed
more than 8,600 people over the past
13 months, the education ministry
said yesterday. Initially planned for
Monday, the reopening was postponed
by two weeks to February 16, education
ministry spokesman Maxim Bleetan
said.
“Schools have yet to get health and
sanitation kits, like hand-washing
buckets and thermometres to test
temperature,” said Bleetan. “We want to
ensure a safe learning environment for
our children.”
Neighbouring Guinea, where the
outbreak started in December 2013,
reopened schools on January 19
after the number of new infections
slowed substantially and a national
Ebola commission published security
guidelines to protect children and
teenagers from infection.
Liberia has been one of the countries
hardest hit by the Ebola outbreak,
with 8,478 reported cases and 3,605
deaths, according to the World Health
Organisation (WHO).
The number of people who have
become infected with Ebola in the last 13
months has reached 21,724 worldwide,
according to WHO. — dpa
South Sudan’s warring factions
sign another peace agreement
ADDIS ABABA: South Sudan’s warring factions early
yesterday signed another peace deal in the latest effort to end
hostilities that have raged for more than a year, but analysts
expressed doubt about whether it will hold.
The government and rebels have previously signed at least
three peace deals which were broken quickly. South Sudan
rebels’ military spokesman, Lul Koang, said keeping the
agreement depends on both sides.
“If the government respects the deal, then there will
definitely be a decrease in the level of violence. But if they
remain in the same mood, it is not going to stop the fight,” Lul
said. Leaders of the regional bloc overseeing the talks, IGAD,
will take severe action against anyone who breaks this latest
agreement and report them to the African Union and UN
Security Council, said mediator Seyoum Mesfin. Both have
threatened sanctions against those undermining peace in
South Sudan, the world’s newest nation, rich in oil.
President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar, the
former vice president, were asked to honour what they had
signed after four days of intense negotiations.
April, May and June have been set as a pre-transition
period, and a transitional government of national unity will
start functioning July 9, mediators said. Some sticking points
still remain, they said, including the allocation of power.
“In the absence of the promised regime of regional travel
bans and asset freezes, the warring parties see no reason
to adjust their behaviour,” said Justine Fleischner, Enough
project analyst. Fleischner criticised the mediators saying
that competing regional economic interests and business ties
mean sanctions won’t be imposed. “Meanwhile, the cost of
war is being paid by the people of South Sudan.”
— AP
16
omandailyobserver
PANORAMA
T U E S DAY
FEBRUARY 3 l 2015
The Senate gown of Queen Amidala, (center), is seen with handmaiden gowns on display as
part of an exhibit on the costumes of Star Wars at Seattle.
— AP
A woman looks at a toy sheep at a shop in downtown
Shanghai, yesterday. The Chinese Lunar New Year on
February 19, will welcome the Year of the Goat.
— Reuters
A contestant for Child Queen of the Santa Cruz carnival performs on the main stage in Santa
Cruz de Tenerife on the Spanish Canary island of Tenerife on Sunday. Costumes can be up to
three metres high. The over one-month-long event began on January 21 and ends on March
8 with orchestras playing Caribbean and Brazilian rhythms throughout the festivities that
range from elections for the Carnival Queen, the Junior Queen and the Senior Queen,
children and adult murgas (satirical street bands), comparsas (dance groups) to performances
on the streets.
— AFP
Children perform at a ceremony to mark the 85th foundation of the Communist Party of Vietnam in Hanoi yesterday. Vietnam celebrated the anniversary of its
ruling party, which the late revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh founded in Hong Kong on February 3, 1930.
— Reuters
The Sleeping Beauty Castle is seen during the premiere of the new Disney Dreams show as
part of the 20th anniversary celebrations of Disneyland Paris Resort in Marne-la-Vallee, outside
Paris, in this file photo.
— Reuters
TUESDAY | FEBRUARY 3, 2015 | RABEE AL THANI 13, 1436 AH
P20
P19
P21
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Work on Duqm Liquids Terminal to start in Q4 2015
CONRAD PRABHU
MUSCAT
Feb 2: The Special Economic Zone
Authority at Duqm (SEZAD), which
is overseeing the development of a
world-scale industrial and maritime
hub on Oman’s Wusta coast, has invited
international engineering firms to
prequalify for its contract to design
and build a major Bulk Liquid Berths
Terminal at the Port of Duqm.
The facility will be suitably equipped
to handle liquid volumes, comprising
mainly refined petroleum commodities,
chemicals and petrochemicals, that will
be generated when a major refinery,
as well as other petrochemical plants,
come on stream at the adjoining Special
Economic Zone.
International
engineering
consultancy services firm WorleyParsons
is currently undertaking the frontend engineering design (FEED) of
the Bulk Liquid Berths project, at the
heart of which is a refinery products
terminal with six liquid berths, and a
Pet Coke berth. Along with the FEED,
WorleyParsons’ remit also covers
the Project Definition, and project
management and supervision services
during the construction phase.
According
to
SEZAD,
the
prequalification exercise marks the start
of a competitive process leading to the
appointment of a competent engineering
firm to carry out the Detailed Design,
Procurement and Construction of
the new bulk liquid berths terminal.
Preference will be given to major
contractors and joint venture companies
in light of the multi-disciplinary nature
of the work scope, the Authority said.
In addition to the construction of
the jetty, the project also includes a
significant dredging and reclamation
component, while topside facilities will
include product storage tanks, dry bulk
facilities, pipelines, buildings, road and
other infrastructure.
Bidders
that
meet
SEZAD’s
prequalification criteria will be invited
For illustration only
to tender for the main EPC package in
Q2 2015, with construction work on the
project slated to commence before the
end of the year.
A dedicated area along the Northern
Lee Breakwater has been earmarked
for the development of a number of
terminals designed to the handle the
SEZ’s substantial component of liquid
cargoes.
The first of these terminals will be
built on behalf of Duqm Petroleum
Terminal Company (DPTC), which is
a partnership of Oman Oil Company
(90 per cent) and Port of Duqm (10
per cent). DPTC’s facilities will handle
all of the volumes flowing into and out
of the refinery, as well as other related
petrochemical investments at the SEZ.
The company intends to build a 1 million
cubic metres tank storage terminal to
support the jetty’s operations at the Port
of Duqm.
The Bulk Liquids Terminal project is
scheduled to be handed over to DPTC
in Q4, 2018 ahead of the start-up of the
proposed Duqm Refinery project in
2019.
(OEPPA Business Development Dept)
18
OMAN
omandailyobserver
T U E S DAY
FEBRUARY 3 l 2015
ALL-NEW SUBARU LEGACY 2015
arrives in Oman
The all-new 2015 Subaru Legacy is
designed to offer drivers sportiness,
value and excellent drive comfort in
all situations
Customers will always remain
as our first and foremost
priority
YASUSHI ENAMI,
General Manager
(Europe, Middle East & Africa Sales & Marketing)
Fuji Heavy Industries, Japan
O
TE Group & Fuji
Heavy Industries
Ltd, Japan — the
manufacturer
of
Subaru
automobiles,
recently launched the all-new 2015
Legacy, the Sixth generation of its
flagship model in the Sultanate.
The New Legacy is designed to give
universal appeal as a true sports sedan
providing trust-inspiring driving
excitement and value.
All New Legacy was unveiled
by His Excellency George Hisaeda,
Ambassador of Japan to Oman, Shaikh
Saad Suhail Bahwan, Chairman, OTE
Group, Mr. Yasushi Enami, General
Manager (Europe, Middle East &
Africa Sales & Marketing), Fuji Heavy
Industries - Japan, Mr. Anil Dua,
Managing Director, OTE Group and
other officials from FHI and OTE Group.
The first generation Subaru Legacy
was first launched in the year 1989 and
has completed over 25 years now. Since
its inception, the Legacy has continued
to consistently offer drivers sportiness
with value. This makes the Legacy more
enjoyable to drive in all situations and
gives drivers the exhilarating ability to
direct the car exactly where they want.
The Subaru Legacy, completely redesigned for 2015, is available with
both 4-cylinder and 6-cylinder BOXER
engines. Legacy features improved fuel
economy, all-wheel drive as standard,
a much upgraded interior, sharper
styling and the largest cabin in its
class. The new Legacy is also more
SHAIKH SAAD BAHWAN,
Chairman, OTE Group
OTE Group
consistently strives
to offer quality
customer care and
best-in-class ownership
experience to Subaru fans
ANIL DUA,
Managing Director, OTE Group
conventionally appealing and spacious
than its contemporaries in the mid-size
car segment.
“A shared universal value among the
past models of the Legacy is the strong,
unwavering trust built up between
driver and car. Over the course of
the past quarter century, Subaru has
consistently sought out a presence and
value commensurate with its flagship
model. We have purely focused on
developing the kind of vehicle that acts
as a partner to enrich its owners’ lives”
said Mr. Yasushi Enami.
“Complementing Subaru’s efforts,
OTE Group as partners have constantly
strived to contribute to the propagation
and growth of Subaru brand by offering
excellent After-Sales Service” added
Shaikh Saad Suhail Bahwan.
“OTE Group has been constantly
striving to provide quality customer care
and best-in-class ownership experience
to Subaru Fans through a nationwide
network” added Mr. Anil Dua.
Developed with the overall concept
‘The Fusion of Design and Engineering
at a High Level’ Legacy will not only
continue to offer drivers the sportiness
in addition to sharpening the basic
performance, but also make it more
enjoyable to drive and offer exhilarating
ability to direct the car exactly where the
driver wants.
While developing the interiors
‘Muscularity with Agility’ was adopted
as the design theme to create sportier
and more refined styling for the Subaru
flagship sedan. Maintaining the design
for the spacious, comfortable cabin
space the Legacy is known for, the styling
focuses on a sculptured body evoking a
sense of safety and a strong base which
grips the road with AWD.
The Legacy features a bodyintegrated hexagonal grille and hawkeye headlights, which are the new face
of Subaru. Also, the dynamic character
lines on the body side and tight,
expressive body surface further raise the
class for an already classy sport sedan.
The rear combination lamps have the
same design motif as the front in pursuit
of a fearless image, front to back. Also,
LED lamps are employed for the tail
and brake lamps to help enhance fuel
economy, and optimal light distribution
has improved night visibility.
While developing the interior,
‘Comfortable and Sporty’ was adopted
as the design theme to dramatically
improve quality and comfort, while
creating a next-generation interior
offering a sportier driver’s area and
an infotainment system for a more
enjoyable in-car experience.
The cabin is configured for a
comfortable long driving, striking a
balance between openness and secure
feeling with adequate forward space.
Also, the wide dashboard has horizontal
highlights to give an even wider feel.
The gauge cluster features a dual-dial
layout with a three-dimensional feel
and integrated colour LCDs for greater
presence and sporty impact. Blue-ring
illumination of the meters in the topgrade models emphasises the sporty feel.
Overall, the cabin has been made
more comfortable with more breathing
room. Visibility, cabin space and
Subaru’s world-class safety have been
kept in a highly efficient package with
strong, sporty styling and a bright,
spacious feel.
The chassis, steering, suspension and
brakes were totally revamped to offer
best in-class performance. Reduced
suspension operating friction plus
improved efficiency due to a basic layout
that enhances stabiliser efficiency help
achieve higher quality ride, a rank above
its class.
The new Legacy comes with a choice
of 2.5-litre, DOHC, HorizontallyOpposed, 4-cylinder or a 3.6-litre,
DOHC,
Horizontally-Opposed,
6-cylinder engine, coupled with a
Lineartronic Continuously Variable
Transmission with fully automatic
electronic control, designed to offer an
enjoyable sport driving experience.
Like all Subaru vehicles, the new
Legacy is built on a strong body
frame base and is loaded with a
host of advanced active and passive
safety features, designed to offer an
omnidirectional safety performance.
Subaru is a very unique auto maker
which has received international acclaim
for demonstrating originality and
presenting characteristic technologies
such as horizontally opposed Boxer
engine and symmetrical all wheel drive.
Also, Subaru vehicles provide high safety
and confidence in driving to customers.
Most Subaru models have been awarded
top safety ratings across the globe.
Subaru believes that cars are more
than just a means of transportation. Cars
bring dreams, freedom and fantastic
moments to life. With this comes an
overriding responsibility: safeguarding
the lives of not only the driver and
passengers, but of everyone and there
can never be an end to the pursuit and
enhancement of safety. Subaru safety is
centered on people and develops in all
directions. OTE Group is the exclusive
dealer for Subaru in Oman offering
excellent sales & after-sales service
support on par with global standards
with a nationwide network. For more
details please call 800 – 77007.
T U E S DAY
FEBRUARY 3 l 2015
OMAN
BUSINESS ALERT
Toyota Avalon: All-round
sophistication
MUSCAT:
The
Toyota Avalon is a
world-class sedan
with an elegant and
refined design. One
of the most upscale
cars in the class, the
redesigned Toyota
Avalon has the
reviewers raving. Avalon’s exterior lighting complements
the design lines. The industry-first Quadrabeam™ headlight
cluster utilises a sleek and compact double-eye PES headlight
design with two square glass condenser lenses that have been
adopted for the low beams and offer outstanding lighting
performance. A stronger, more expressive front-fascia design
with larger grille opening creates an aggressive appearance.
The Avalon’s interior elaborates on the exterior’s elegant,
refined theme to create a premium interior experience that
combines high technology and craftsmanship with an artistic
level of sculpted surfaces. This panel is covered in supple,
hand-stitched premium soft-touch material with the seam
adding some creative flair as it goes across the dash panel.
The driver is engaged by an Optitron-type combination
meter, which produces a sharp, high quality display and 3.5inch Thin-film Transistor (TFT) color multi-information
display. Furthermore, the Avalon’s interior surfaces are
finished in premium materials such as soft-touch materials
for the dash panel, unique smoke chrome trim surrounding
the centre panel, and high-quality glossy panel trim around
the shifter. All of this attention to detail to touch surfaces and
subtle enhancements to texture and visual appeal are aimed
at elevating the overall interior experience for driver and
passengers.
Mazda Cup a huge success
THE inaugural Mazda Professional Cup successfully
concluded on January 29 with Fanja defeating Dhofar in a
nail biting match which ended with a penalty shootout at
the Seeb Sports Stadium. At a grand ceremony, Riyadh Ali
Sultan, Director of Towell Auto Centre and Oman Football
Association Chairman Sayyid Khalid al Busaidy handed over
the Mazda Cup trophy to the winner.
The Mazda Professional Cup was launched in November
last year by the Oman Football Association (OFA); Mazda
Oman is the official automotive partner of the OFA and the
owner of the prestigious Cup.
A senior spokesperson of TAC, the sole distributors
of Mazda range of vehicles in Oman, comments: “We are
delighted that the first season of the Mazda Professional
Cup went off smoothly and was such a success. We profusely
thank everyone who was associated with it. We hope to make
the Mazda Cup much more popular and reward the talent
more when we return with the second season. We pledge
to keep supporting the game and rededicate ourselves to
constantly take steps for further growth of football talent in
the country”.
The Mazda Professional Cup was a three-month
long tournament, in which all the 14 local football clubs
participated. Total 49 matches were played during this period.
TAC has already handed over 14 Mazda2 cars to the
14 clubs, which will be used by the clubs for their smooth
functioning.
Infiniti ME launches ‘Chromatic’
INFINITI Middle East announced the launch of ‘Chromatic’,
an audio composition and animation made entirely from the
sounds and shapes of the Infiniti range. Both video and track
are set to be distributed, globally by Universal Music Group.
Ideated in April 2014, with agency TBWA-Raad, Infiniti
sought to create a library of sound generated by elements of
19
Al Jenaibi level product training
the cars themselves; brakes, tyre spins, gear shifts, seat belt
clicks, exhaust roars and internal alerts.
“This is the first time an automotive maker in this region
has created a track purely for general release to live and
breathe as artistic testament to our brand’s values; inspired
performance” said Francesca Ciaudano, Deputy General
Manager, Marketing and PR, Infiniti Middle East.
The vehicles used to create this ‘Inspired Performance’
included the QX80, QX70, QX60 and the Q50 sedan.
Megadon Betamax, a respected global producer and
composer was approached to bring the piece to life. A
classically trained musician, popular DJ and founder of
Voyeur Rhythm Records, Betamax worked from scratch to
deliver a piece that was contemporary, bold, enjoyable and
shareable.
Infiniti and TBWA-Raad approached talented animator
and videographer Misha Shyukin to create the complex
visuals, designed to illustrate each beat and note. These
visuals were to be created using the designs of the Infiniti cars
while utilising the theme of arabesque patterns of Middle
Eastern Art, its intricate patterns, symmetry and shapes.
Petrogas E&P supports breast
cancer testing programme
Audi sales certification awarded
LAST month a new milestone was reached at Audi Oman
when a sales executive — Younis al Wahaibi successfully
completed training and assessment in Dubai to become the
first GCC National Audi certified sales personnel in Oman.
“Being the first Omani sales staff member to receive this
certification is a career high for me and I am really proud to
now be able to share my knowledge with other sales staff.
I look forward to continuing my professional development
and serving our growing base of Audi customers in Oman,”
said Younis al Wahaibi.
By leading the industry in initiatives such as this, Audi
demonstrates its commitment to offering all customers
the best possible ownership experience. This encompasses
providing professional development and technical
certification opportunities to dealer staff, and maintaining a
full spare parts supply, using the latest diagnostic equipment
and service tools.
omandailyobserver
AS part of its ongoing efforts to aid scientific research and
development which in turn will benefit the Omani society,
Petrogas E&P, the exploration & production arm of MB
Holding Group lent its support to the recently established
National Breast Cancer Genetic Testing Programme at Royal
Hospital.
Through this programme, the hospital aims to improve
breast cancer treatment & management, screening & risk
management strategies of breast associated mutations as
well as decrease genetic costs associated with international
laboratories. The contribution by Petrogas E&P will be
utilised to purchase reagent kits and consumables required
to carry out genetic tests on up to 50 patients with young age
and/or strong history of breast cancer.
On the occasion of unveiling the programme, Iman al
Barwani, Manager — Corporate Communications & CSR,
Petrogas E&P, said, “One of the best ways to beat cancer
is early detection & diagnosis coupled with personalised
medical management. The National Genetic Testing Centre
intends to do the same thereby reducing the overall cost of
the national healthcare system. It will also give women who
are genetically predisposed a chance to early detection and
cure.”
Established in 1999, Petrogas E&P is the holding
company for MB Group’s Exploration and Production (E&P)
assets in Oman, India and Egypt. Petrogas E&P subsidiaries
are engaged in the full range of Oil & Gas activities from
exploration through appraisal, development and production.
AL Jenaibi International Automobiles LLC, part of Bahwan
International Group Holding, is the authorised distributor
for BT Warehouse Equipment in Oman. BT Warehouse
Equipment is part of Toyota Material Handling Group.
Bahwan International Group’s philosophy of continuous
learning is in consonance with BT’s philosophy of “Motivate
and Educate”.
As part of this convergence Al Jenaibi organised a 2-day
Product Training on January 12-13 at their Management
Development Centre in Al Amerat.
A total of nine participants from five countries including
Oman underwent the product training covering topics
on Order Picking solutions and Very Narrow Aisle truck
application studies.
Bengt Sjoberg, General Manager, TMHI Dubai along
with Matthieu Bureau, Regional Manager, TMHI Dubai
conducted the training sessions.
The participants expressed their appreciation of insight
gained from the knowledge shared by Bengt from his vast
experience spanning more than 3 decades in the field of
warehousing solutions.
20
omandailyobserver
INTERNATIONAL
T U E S DAY
FEBRUARY 3 l 2015
Asian shares decline as China data disappoints
STRONGER CURRENCIES: Euro took back some lost ground after touching a one-week low of 130.11, and was last up 0.3 per cent at 132.99
TOKYO:
Asian shares languished
yesterday, after the latest gauge of
China’s factory sector activity raised
concerns about the world’s secondlargest economy.
Financial spreadbetters expected
European bourses to follow suit, with
Britain’s FTSE 100 seen opening flat to
6 points lower, or down as much as 0.1
per cent; Germany’s DAX seen opening
27 to 36 points lower, or down as much
as 0.3 per cent; and France’s CAC 40
expected to open 1 to 4 points lower, or
down as much as 0.1 per cent.
“Ahead of the European open we
are calling the major bourses mildly
weaker,” said Melbourne-based IG
Markets strategist Stan Shamu.
“Greek negotiations are likely to
remain a dominant theme and, while
new Prime Minister Tsipras has said
negotiations have been constructive,
traders are likely to take this with a grain
of salt,” Shamu said in a note to clients.
Greece’s new leftist government
began its drive to persuade a sceptical
Europe to accept a new debt agreement
while it starts to roll back on austerity
measures imposed under its existing
bailout agreement.
It seeks to end the existing
arrangement with the European
Union, the European Central Bank
and International Monetary Fund
“troika” when its aid deadline expires on
February 28.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific
shares outside Japan was down about
0.1 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei stock
average dropped 0.7 per cent.
A board showing currency exchange rates is seen in central Moscow yesterday. The Russian rouble weakened of yesterday, with
market players still reacting negatively to the central bank’s unexpected decision on Friday to cut rates, and a decline in oil
prices weighing on the currency.
— Reuters
The Shanghai Composite Index
skidded 2.4 per cent in the wake of the
downbeat China figures.
The final HSBC/Markit Purchasing
Managers’ Index (PMI) for January came
in at 49.7 on a seasonally adjusted basis,
just below the 50.0 level that separates
growth from contraction.
The figure released yesterday was
slightly lower than a preliminary “flash”
reading of 49.8.
The official PMI released on Sunday
fell to 49.8 in January, a low last seen in
September 2012 and below the 50-point
level.
The unexpected contraction was the
first in nearly 21/2 years, and firms see
more gloom ahead.
The latest batch of disappointing
data added to the debate over how and
Euro zone deflation at record low
BRUSSEL: Euro zone consumer prices
fell by a record 0.6 per cent in January,
EU data showed, confirming deflation
could be taking hold and putting
pressure on a historic bond-buying plan
by the ECB to deliver.
The drop from minus 0.2 per cent
in December appears to back the
European Central Bank’s decision last
week to launch a bond-buying spree to
drive up prices.
Plummeting world oil prices were
largely to blame for the fall in the
19-country euro zone, already beset
by weak economic growth and high
unemployment, the EU’s data agency
Eurostat said. “The ECB was thus more
than justified in taking aggressive action
earlier this month,” said Christian
Schulz of Berenberg Bank.
The -0.6 inflation rate matches the
same record drop in prices the euro
zone set in July 2009 at the worst of
the global financial crisis. But the
Unemployment in Germany
remained at a super low 4.8
per cent, with Austria just
behind with 4.9 per cent.
European Commission cautioned that
core inflation, which strips out highly
fluctuating components like energy, still
remained in positive territory.
“If you look at core inflation, which
we consider to be a better measure of
the underlying price pressure, that still
remains positive at 0.6 per cent,” said
commission spokeswoman Annika
Breidthardt at a news conference.
But even at the level, core inflation
remained well below the ECB’s official
inflation target of near two per cent.
“Falling prices today and alarmingly
pessimistic expectations of where prices
are heading in the future proves beyond
all reasonable doubt it was high time (for
the ECB) to act,” Richard Barwell, senior
European economist at Royal Bank of
Scotland Group told Bloomberg.
With fears of deflation increasing,
the ECB last week finally decided
to embark on a quantitative easing
programme involving the purchase of
1.14 trillion euros ($1.29-trillion) in
sovereign bonds.
In a deflationary spiral, businesses
and households delay purchases,
throttling demand, triggering recession
and causing companies to lay off
workers.
The move comes as the euro zone
faces renewed worries from Greece,
after the anti-austerity Syriza party came
to power in elections with a promise to
renegotiate the country’s debts.
Energy prices in the euro zone,
which added Lithuania on January 1,
sank a huge 8.9 per cent in December,
greater than an already steep fall of 6.3
per cent a month earlier.
—AFP
Shack’s New York roots are also likely driving demand for the stock
Shake Shack shares more
than double in market debut
NEW YORK: Investors seem to be
craving burgers and crinkle-cut fries.
Shares of Shake Shack Inc, a burger
chain that started as a New York City
hot dog cart, more than doubled in their
stock market debut last week.
Shake Shack, created by restaurateur
Danny
Meyer’s
Union
Square
Hospitality Group, is the latest “fastcasual” chain to attract investors. Many
Americans are ditching fast-food chains,
such as McDonald’s, for restaurants that
tout fresh ingredients. Shake Shack
cooks its burgers to order and promotes
its use of natural ingredients, including
hormone- and antibiotic-free beef.
Shake Shack’s New York roots are
also likely driving demand for the
stock. “There isn’t anyone on Wall
Street who hasn’t tried their burgers and
shakes,” says Kathleen Smith, principal
at Renaissance Capital, an exchangetraded fund manager that focuses on
IPOs. “It’s a local favourite.”
Shake Shack raised $105 million, on
Thursday selling 5 million shares at $21
per share. It had initially forecast that its
Danny Meyer, centre, Founder & CEO of
Union Square Hospitality Group, waits
for the Shake Shack IPO to begin
trading, on the floor of the New York
Stock Exchange.
— AP
shares would fetch $14 to $16 per share
from investors, and raised that forecast
to $17 to $19 per share tomorrow as
demand grew.
Shares began trading on Friday,
and were up 130 per cent, or $27.40, to
$48.40 in the afternoon — suggesting
that the company could have sold its
stock for a higher price in its IPO and
raised more money.
The company and the banks that
priced the IPO may have been surprised
by how much demand there was for
Shake Shack’s shares, Smith said.
It has 63 locations in nine countries,
but most of them are along the East
Coast. Others are in Las Vegas, Chicago,
London and Istanbul. Shake Shack
plans to use some of the money raised
to open restaurants in new markets. The
company said it expects to eventually
have 450 locations.
The stock’s pop on Friday follows
IPOs of other fast-casual restaurants
in 2014 that have had big first-day
gains, including Mediterranean-style
restaurant chain Zoe’s Kitchen Inc,
chicken chain El Pollo Loco Holdings
Inc and burger chain The Habit
Restaurants Inc. As for Shake Shack,
its stock is trading under the ticker
symbol “SHAK” on the New York Stock
Exchange.
It took about 14 years for Shake
Shack to go from the hot dog cart in
Manhattan’s Madison Square Park to
Wall Street.
— AP
whether Beijing could accelerate policy
easing, with most bank economists
calling for a combination of rate cuts and
increased liquidity.
“The November policy rate cut was
preceded by complaints by Premier
Li about the lack of credit flow to
businesses and we will be looking for
similar hints to gauge the likelihood of
a bazooka stimulus,” said Tim Condon
BIZ BRIEF
Pilots at American
and US Airways
approve joint
contract
DALLAS: Pilots at American Airlines
and US Airways have approved a
single labour contract, a step towards
combining workforces at the two
carriers, which merged in December
2013. The multiyear deal gives the
carriers’ 15,000 pilots a 23 per cent pay
raise retroactive to December 2.
The Allied Pilots Association said
on Friday that the contract was
approved 66 per cent to 34 per cent,
with 95 per cent of eligible pilots
casting a vote. The outcome could
help American avoid some of the
labour-integration issues that have
dogged other airlines after mergers.
United Airlines has a joint contract
with pilots but not with mechanics
or flight attendants. The pilots at
US Airways did not approve a joint
contract after the 2005 merger with
America West Airlines, forcing the
combined carrier to operate with
separate crews. Pilots at American
and US Airways will get the retroactive
pay raises plus annual raises of 3 per
cent through 2019. The contract does
not include profit-sharing, which
pilots get at United, Delta Air Lines
and Southwest Airlines.
Keith Wilson, president of the
union, said American and US Airways
pilots will still trail Delta pilots in total
compensation but will benefit from
higher pay. “In effect, the pilots of
American Airlines made a business
decision,” he said.
American Airlines Group Inc
reported this week that it earned
$597 million in the fourth quarter and
$2.9 billion for all of 2014, helped by
cheaper jet fuel and higher fares. The
company says it could save another
$5 billion on fuel this year, thanks to
the recent plunge in oil prices. But
labour costs are heading higher.
American estimated this week that if
approved, the pilot contract would
add $600 million to its costs this year.
If pilots had rejected the deal, the
dispute would have gone to binding
arbitration, which likely would have
resulted in no increase in costs,
according to the company. — AP
at ING, adding that he didn’t consider
the sub-50 official reading particularly
surprising given seasonal factors and
wider economic trends.
The Chinese figures came on the heels
of the fourth-quarter US gross domestic
product report on Friday that showed
growth slowed sharply as weak business
spending and a wider trade deficit offset
a surge in consumer spending.
On Wall Street on Friday, major US
stock indexes posted losses for the week
and month, driven in part by concern
about weak overseas demand.
The S&P 500 was down 3.1 per cent
for January, its biggest monthly slide in
a year.
The euro also took back some lost
ground after touching a one-week low
of 130.11, and was last up 0.3 per cent at
132.99 yen. Against the dollar, the euro
edged up 0.2 per cent to $1.1306.
Sagging US Treasury yields also
undermined the greenback’s appeal, as
investors sought the safety of US fixedincome assets.
The benchmark 10-year yield was at
1.667 per cent in Asian trading, down
from its US close of 1.680 per cent on
Friday, when it fell as low as 1.646 per
cent, a level not seen since May 2013.
Oil prices skidded after the weak
economic data raised concern about
demand, giving back some of Friday’s
gains after a record weekly drop in US oil
drilling triggered a short-covering rally
on the final trading day of the month.
Brent fell 2.1 per cent to $51.86 a
barrel while and US crude tumbled 2.5
per cent to $47.05.
The dollar struggled as US economic
growth and Chinese manufacturing
figures disappointed markets, while
the euro picked up after falling on fears
about the new Greek government’s testy
talks with international creditors.
The US commerce Department said
on Friday that the world’s top economy
expanded at an annual rate of 2.6 per
cent in the fourth quarter, well below
the 5.0 per cent in the previous three
months.
— Reuters/AFP
US authorities recall two million cars
again over airbag defect
WASHINGTON: US transport authorities have recalled more than two million
Toyota, Chrysler and Honda vehicles for a second time over faulty airbags that may
inadvertently inflate while the car is running. The US National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration said on Saturday the recall was issued following the unexpected
deployment of airbags in about 40 cars that had already been fixed under a previous
recall.
All 2.12 million vehicles involved in the latest warning were already under recall
for an airbag default. “This is unfortunately a complicated issue for consumers, who
may have to return to their dealer more than once,” said NHTSA administrator Mark
Rosekind. “This is an urgent safety issue, and all consumers with vehicles covered by
the previous recalls should have that remedy installed,” he added.
About one million Toyota and Honda vehicles in the latest warning are also subject
to related recalls involving Takata airbags, which may unexpectedly inflate and cause
serious injury or death.
The new recall involves Acura MDX, Dodge Viper, Jeep Grand Cherokee and Liberty,
Honda Odyssey, Pontiac Vibe, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Matrix and Toyota Avalon models
made in the early 2000s. About 20 million vehicles produced by some of the world’s
biggest automakers have been recalled due to the risk their Takata-made airbags
could deploy with excessive explosive power, spraying potentially-fatal shrapnel into
the vehicle. — AFP
Workers from the United Steelworkers (USW) union walk a picket line outside
the Lyondell-Basell refinery in Houston, Texas. The USW called strikes at nine
US refineries on Sunday to bring about a new national agreement that covers
workers at 63 refineries, accounting for two-thirds of US refining capacity, said
a source familiar with the union’s plans. — Reuters
Budget airline Easyjet says would fly from
expanded Heathrow airport
LONDON: British budget airline easyJet has backed Heathrow in London’s runway
expansion race and said it would start flying from the capital’s largest airport if the
government chooses to increase its capacity.
British lawmakers and business leaders agree Britain needs new runways to
remain economically competitive. A government-commissioned taskforce is assessing
whether a new or expanded runway should be built at Heathrow, or Gatwick south of
the capital.
“We can say with great confidence that easyJet would operate from Heathrow if a
new runway is built,” the airline said in a report submitted to the taskforce as part of a
consultation.
The airline, based at the smaller Luton Airport north of London, does not offer
flights from Heathrow which is typically more expensive to operate from.
Potential easyJet flights from Heathrow would provide 19 new destinations from
the airport and lower fares, the airline said, adding that its tickets are typically 40 per
cent cheaper than those of incumbent operators.
EasyJet said expanding Heathrow airport would provide the greatest benefits for
passengers and Britain’s economy.
Heathrow Airport said it was “delighted” by the news, while Gatwick Airport
slammed easyJet’s backing of Heathrow as a decision based on “its own narrow
commercial interests”. — Reuters
PERSPECTIVE
T U E S DAY
FEBRUARY 3 l 2015
omandailyobserver
21
AGRICULTURE
Japan farming reforms a stiff test of Abe’s resolve
J
apan farming reforms a stiff
test of Abe’s resolve After
December’s
landslide
reelection,
Japanese
Prime
Minister
Shinzo
Abe’s
programme to revive the
nation’s economy is set to meet
perhaps its stiffest challenge, the nation’s
sclerotic farming industry.
He will soon submit legislation to
reform agriculture, a sector where a
dwindling band of aging farmers works
tiny plots, while conducting gruelling
negotiations to sign up for the TransPacific Partnership (TPP), which would
cut towering import tariffs that shield
domestic farmers.
Standing in his way is Japan
Agriculture (JA), a lobby group that
controls most aspects of pricing and
distribution through its network of
about 700 farming cooperatives, and
also supplies feed and machinery.
It doesn’t like Abe’s plans to clip its
wings, nor the TPP.
And the JA, which has long had
close ties to his Liberal Democratic
Party (LDP), has financial clout — its
banking business had nearly 91.5 trillion
yen ($780 billion) in deposits in March
2014 — and a large membership, which
give it influence over lawmakers in rural
constituencies.
In January its members campaigned
against and helped defeat the LDP’s
candidate for governor of Saga, a
prefecture in farm-heavy southwestern
Japan.
Though agriculture is only about 1
per cent of Japan’s economy, that defeat
worries those who fear the government
could temper what Koichi Kurose,
chief economist at Resona Bank, calls
“a symbolic part of Abe’s structural
reforms” ahead of nationwide local
elections in April.
“If they pull back from that to win
elections, they can pull back from the
whole Abenomics reforms,” he said.
“Foreign investors are also watching
closely whether or not Abe can carry out
agricultural reforms, which will affect
their evaluations of Abenomics,” said
Chizu Hori, senior research officer at
Mizuho Research Institute Ltd.
At home, farmers hurt by another
plank of Abenomics — loose money
and a weaker yen — are also watching
closely.
Hiroyasu Sugiura, 67, whose dairy lies
in the shadow of Toyota Motor factories
in central Japan, says he is desperate.
The tumbling yen helps exporters like
Toyota but has led to a sharp rise in feed
costs, which now swallow nearly 80 per
cent of Sugiura’s dairy revenue.
“The weaker yen... may have given
Toyota Motor trillions of yen in profit,
but we are getting squeezed by the same
national policy,” said Sugiura, who is also
the head of the Aichi Dairy Cooperative.
‘‘We want the government to protect us.”
For the consumer, however, high
prices and a recent butter shortage
are the pitfalls of a closed market for
milk and dairy products, where output
volume and sales prices are set by the
state and a few designated groups under
the JA, while imports are under effective
state control.
Raw milk production was 7.45 million
tonnes in the year through March 2014,
Farmer Junichi Furukawa, 23, works in his field in Yachimata, east of Tokyo in this file photo. After December’s landslide
re-election, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s programme to revive the nation’s economy is set to meet perhaps its stiffest
challenge, the nation’s sclerotic farming industry.
— Reuters
down from 8.66 million in 1997, while
the number of dairy farmers has fallen
to 18,600 in 2014 from 160,100 in 1975.
Cow numbers have fallen by a third
from their peak.
Meanwhile, Japan imposes a 360 per
cent tariff on butter imports to protect
domestic farmers while maintaining an
import quota as a condition for such
high tariffs under international rules of
trade.
Abe wants to break that system to give
local farmers or cooperatives autonomy
so they become more productive and
ENERGY
Difficult transition ahead as China’s
coal consumption declines
C
HINA, the world’s largest
consumer of coal has seen
a drop in consumption
for the first time in this century, as
environmental policies start to put
significant constraints on its coal
industry.
Green groups are celebrating the new
data, but experts warn about a tough
transition and economic uncertainty
ahead with an unwieldy oversupply of
coal against a weakening demand.
China’s coal consumption decreased
in 2014, with production falling 2.5 per
cent year-on-year and imports falling
by 10.9 per cent compared to 2013,
according to China’s National Coal
Association.
“An already grim situation is made
worse by weak demand, overcapacity
and a large amount of imports,”
Association Vice President Jiang
Zhimin said.
Ratings agency Fitch also said 2014
was a difficult year for China’s coal
industry, with prices sliding by about
20 per cent due to factors such as new
import duties and the government’s ban
of domestic production and imports of
low-quality coal.
China has the world’s third-largest
known coal reserves, but lacks gas and
oil resources.
Nearly 70 per cent of the country’s
energy still comes from coal, with the
population of 1.3 billion burning as
much as the rest of the world combined.
Yet coal production growth has
been slowing since 2012, affected by
the slower rate of economic growth and
efforts to shift the country’s economy
from a reliance on heavy industry to
sectors such as service and tourism.
Rapid development in renewable
energy technology is also a factor, with
higher than average rainfall last year
benefiting hydropower generation.
Local governments have been under
orders since last year to gradually shut
down smaller-scale coal mines with
annual production capacity of less than
90,000 metric tonnes.
That has helped to eliminate highly
polluting mines but took a toll on
mining jobs and salaries.
“Two years ago, it was very easy to
get by on my monthly salary... Now
with wages falling it may be time to go
home,” a miner for Kailuan Group said
in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
“The end of China’s coal boom
is evident,” Greenpeace East Asia
Local governments have
been under orders since last
year to gradually shut down
smaller-scale coal mines
with annual production
capacity of less than 90,000
metric tonnes.
spokeswoman Fang Yuan said. ‘‘The
global coal industry should brace for
impact.”
Qi Ye, Director of the Low Carbon
Development Policy Research Centre
of Tsinghua University, said the drop in
coal consumption can lead to a decrease
in carbon emissions, and mixed
economic consequences.
“Industries which rely on coal
production and coal transportation will
suffer,” said Qi. ‘‘And there is another
potential impact. When coal prices
go down, the costs for its downstream
industries will also be decreased. So coal
may end up enjoying a price advantage
compared with renewable and nonfossil fuel energy,” he said.
Consistently lower prices could
make coal more attractive than cleaner
energy sources, he said.
Yang Fuqiang, senior adviser on
energy environment and climate
Change for the National Resources
Defence Council, praised efforts to
make coal production more efficient
but said the government should step
back to allow the overcapacity situation
to regulate itself.
“Let the market fully control and
enhance competition. The government,
especially local governments, intervene
too much,” he said, “and this is the main
reason for overcapacity.”
Economist Yao Jingyuan said China
can do more to make coal production
cleaner and more efficient. “China’s
energy structure would stay the same
for a long time.
We don’t have enough alternative
energy sources and can’t just abandon
coal but we are constrained by
environmental challenges, and need
to learn from other countries to make
smarter use of coal,” he said.
Greenpeace said China should
consider amending its targets for peak
coal production in light of the new data.
The government’s current guidelines
aim to ensure that coal burning reaches
no higher than 4.2 billion tonnes per
year by 2020.
profitable.
Other reforms include a scheme to
encourage land transactions so farms
can expand.
The average Japanese farm is only
two hectares (five acres), or 1 per cent of
the size of the average US farm and 0.07
per cent of Australian farms.
“One of the most important elements
Abe needs to tackle is to make farms
grow bigger to be more productive,” said
Mizuho Research’s Hori.
Structural reform is critical ahead of
the TPP, which would link 12 countries
covering nearly 40 per cent of the world
economy.
Disagreement between the United
States and Japan, the two biggest, over
how widely Japan will open up has
delayed progress, though more talks
are scheduled this week to try to get
agreement this year.
Japan imposes high tariffs on dairy
produce, rice, wheat, beef, pork and
sugar to protect local farmers, but
under the TPP it would have to cut or
remove some, and allow higher imports,
putting more pressure on its beleaguered
farmers.
Some, however, are already removing
themselves from the suffocating
umbrella of JA.
One cooperative in Hamanaka, a
small town on the northern island of
Hokkaido, now buys cheaper feed from
trading houses, instead of JA, while
recruiting young couples by offering a
paid training programme and financial
and technological help so they can take
over land from retiring farmers.
“We have no idle farm lands in
Hamanaka. Five couples are on our
waiting list,” said Shigenori Ishibashi, the
co-op head, adding milk output in the
town had risen 25 per cent since 1983.
“We’re not afraid of TPP or the weak
yen,” Ishibashi said.
— Reuters
STRATEGY
Traders battle with
Internet sites online
M
A R K U S
Kuhnke has
just served
a particularly welcome
customer.
A local businessman
formally
introduced
himself at the counter
to order Christmas
presents for his entire
staff.
Kuhnke’s family business in the mid-sized western German city of
Wuppertal sells handmade chocolates, pralines, fine wines and liqueurs to
a discerning public.
This was a large order by their standards.
“Before he would never have found us,” Kuhnke said. ‘‘Before” refers
here to the time before the city set up OnlineCity Wuppertal, its Internet
outlet on which 45 small traders have joined forces to boost turnover via
the Internet.
That was how the businessman found Kuhnke.
Wuppertal is a frontrunner in attempts to revive ailing inner cities in
Germany.
The city’s name comes up at conferences where the talk is of how to
halt the decline of traditional high streets in the face of the rise in online
shopping. Flower shops, pet shops, opticians and kitchen speciality shops
have all combined to present their wares, coordinated by the local business
development agency.
Orders placed before 5 pm are filled the same day.
Or the customer comes to the shop to collect.
Kuhnke has had his shop on the website since November, seeing
turnover rise by 10 per cent within a month. He has been in business for
25 years, and this is the sharpest rise yet. “It’s much more fun if you are
successful,” he says.
A recent survey of some 33,000 people in German inner cities has
revealed that 20 per cent of them go shopping on conventional shopping
streets less often than before — because they meet their needs online.
Boris Hedde, head of the Cologne-based IFH commercial research
agency that conducted the poll, has predicted that high street commerce
will undergo more rapid change over the coming five years than it has in
the previous 40.
This is the case even though previous decades have already seen the
corner shop disappear and the emergence of the huge discount chains to
take on traditional supermarkets.
Germans spend close to 10 per cent of their outgoings online, and by
2020 that figure is set to rise to 25 per cent, according Werner Reinartz, a
researcher at the University of Cologne. German traders see 10 per cent of
the 500,000 shops disappearing over the next five to six years.
“When the big department stores and their branches leave the inner
cities, they can call in the bulldozers and flatten everything,” says Lovro
Mandac, Chief Executive of Galeria-Kaufhof, one of Germany’s largest
department chains.
The German government has thus far turned down suggestions for even
longer shopping hours and allowing the shops to open on Sundays in order
to compete with 24-hours-a-day/7-days-a-week online shops. — dpa
22
LEISURE
omandailyobserver
T U E S DAY
FEBRUARY 3 l 2015
Online Editor’s Choice
CARTOONS
4
ADAM @ HOME
by Brian Basset
7
8
10
13
14
15
16
17
19
21
23
CALVIN AND HOBBES
by Bill Watterson
24
26
27
29
32
33
34
35
36
GARFIELD
1
2
3
by Jim Davis
4
5
6
9
11
12
13
15
16
STONE SOUP
CRYPTIC PUZZLE
ACROSS
Wrongly copy out a number, as a
rule (6)
An arm of the sea? (8)
Fair mixture of mud and ink
favoured down under (6)
High as the attic? (5)
A swish form of punishment? (4)
Biography in the form of a file (4)
Powder used in dental clinics (4)
A dashed dotty means of getting
help (3)
Put your foot in the paste pot (4)
Does it mean women get robbed?
(4)
Met pater’s difficulty with a plan
(6,3)
A soft word of agreement can cost
you plenty! (4)
An actress dear to the French (4)
Back in the pavilion, how can you
be here? (3)
Not a high sounding plant! (4)
Turns and leaves (4)
On the farm - is bossy? (4)
Poetry of the silver sea (5)
The endless corrosion may be
penetrative (6)
Part of the city where set ideas are
upset (4,4)
At table or at play, they aren’t a full
course (6)
DOWN
Nevertheless, a picture (5)
In its box, it can be put out (5)
It means a lot to a chap at journey’s
end (4)
Push that bike! (5)
Only a colonel has it (4)
One cut out to be a winner,
hopefully? (6)
Something nice no mice can spoil
(6)
It can gush with some violence,
possibly (3)
Of a trying disposition (5)
In America, South African fish?
(4,3)
Peg’s supportive (3)
Little man given 30 days (3)
5
6
9
11
12
13
15
16
18
20
21
22
23
25
28
30
31
32
33
CR O SSW O R D
YESTERDAY’S CRYPTIC
SOLUTIONS
ACROSS: 1, B-rakes 7, Head-line 8,
Kiwi 10, Driven 11, Camper 14, Net
16, Lions 17, Ends 19, Mould 21,
Horsy 22, Lit-re 23, So-Rt. 26, DepO-t. 28, Pun 29, Al-lots 30, D-EP-uty
31, Iris 32, Com-press 33, Credit.
18 Handles central heating at varying
rates (6)
20 Fat lady? (5)
21 Was supported as chairman (3)
22 Article heartening to mothers and
fathers (3)
23 Drug peddler an infant can handle
(6)
25 The French boy? (3)
28 Are they less loud than flutes? (5)
30 All round, it’s an astronomical
distance (5)
31 Figure Victor’s checked out (5)
32 Bound up with the States again (4)
33 A block vote possibly? (4)
4
7
8
10
EASY PUZZLE
ACROSS
Headwear item (3,3)
Witness (8)
Diagonally (6)
Thong (5)
13
14
15
16
17
19
21
23
24
26
27
29
32
33
34
35
36
1
2
3
4
Filth (4)
Office worker (4)
Ritual (4)
Weep (3)
Bucket (4)
Horse’s gait (4)
Philistine (9)
Seasoning (4)
Shade (4)
Sever (3)
Frozen (4)
Thing (4)
Second-hand (4)
Smithy (5)
Ancient Greek city (6)
Rep (8)
Light wind (6)
DOWN
Lift (5)
Panic (5)
Circuit (4)
Characteristic (5)
DOWN: 1, Bundle 2, Kni-ve-s 3,
S-H-in 4, Ideally 5, Hippo 6, Peers 8,
Kin-d 9, We-t 12, MID 13, E-nter 15,
Lorry 18, Nobel 19, MOT 20, Use 21,
Hitters 22, L-OO (table) 23, S-U-pine
24, On-us 25, Try out 26, Da-N-ce 27,
P-lump 28, Per 30, D-is-C.
YESTERDAY’S EASY SOLUTIONS
ACROSS: 1, Append 7, Adherent 8,
Edam 10, Entire 11, Rebate 14, One
16, Vital 17, Rang 19, Digit 21, Hovel
22, Latin 23, Shed 26, Peril 28, Tie
29, Erotic 30, Tallow 31, Oral 32,
Carousel 33, Dredge.
DOWN: 1, Appear 2, Ending 3, Dame
4, Bedevil 5, Resat 6, Steel 8, Eton 9,
Are 12, Bit 13, Table 15, Civic 18,
Amber 19, Dot 20, Gen 21, Halibut
22, Lit 23, Silage 24, Hell 25, Dawdle
26, Pence 27, Roars 28, Tar 30, Told.
Hospitals
by Jan Eliot
Hospital. . . . . Board . . . . . . . Emergency
Royal . . . . . . . 24599000 . . . 24590491
Health Services Department
‘YO UR STARS ‘
Muttrah . . . . . . . 24797602
Quriyat . . . . . . . 24845001 . . . . 24845003
SQH, Salalah. . . 23211555 . . . . 23211151
Police. . . . . . . . . 24603988 . . . . 24603980
Al Nahda . . . . . . 24831255 . . . . 24837800
Ibn Sina. . . . . . . 24876322 . . . . 24877361
Nizwa. . . . . . . . . 25439361 . . . . 25425033
Al Rustaq. . . . . . 26875055 . . . . 26877186
Sumayil. . . . . . . 25350055 . . . . 25350022
Izki . . . . . . . . . . . 25340033 . . . . 25340033
IF IT’S YOUR
BIRTHDAY:
If a partner
does not seem
as ready to
cooperate as
you are entitled
to expect
there may be
underlying
uneasiness
which will
have to be
brought out
into the open
for discussion.
You will both
soon begin to
feel better about
things and life
will resume
its usual easy
going contented
way.
Saucy (4)
Declare (6)
Idiot (6)
Number (3)
Horrify (5)
Widened (7)
Chest bone (3)
Deceive (3)
Painter (6)
Proportion (5)
Racket (3)
Free (3)
Meal (6)
Implore (3)
Stop (5)
Vagrant (5)
Wherewithal (5)
Desire (4)
Worry (4)
Haima . . . . . . . . 23436013 . . . . 23436055
Sohar . . . . . . . . . 26840022 . . . . 26840099
Al Buraimi. . . . . 25650855 . . . . 25652319
Sur . . . . . . . . . . . 25440244 . . . . 25461373
Tanam . . . . . . . . 25499011 . . . . 25499033
Masirah . . . . . . . 25404018 . . . . 25404018
Ibra. . . . . . . . . . . 25470533 . . . . 25470535
Adam. . . . . . . . . 25434167 . . . . 25434055
Bidiya . . . . . . . . 25483535 . . . . 25483535
Ibri . . . . . . . . . . . 25491011 . . . . 25491990
Saham . . . . . . . . 26854427 . . . . 26855148
Khasab . . . . . . . 26830187 . . . . 26830187
Dibba. . . . . . . . . 26836443 . . . . 26836443
Burkha. . . . . . . . 26828397 . . . . 26828397
Sinaw. . . . . . . . . 25474338
AQUARIUS
PISCES
ARIES
TAURUS
GEMINI
CANCER
January 21February 19
February 20March 20
March 21April 20
April 21May 20
May 21June 21
June 22July 21
Your daily travelling may
be upset by the mechanical breakdown of your usual
transport. Try not to let it
spoil y our day.
If you are in the habit of telling
certain people your troubles let
them know when there is good
news and they will be happy for
you.
You may find yourself planning to
make changes to your garden in the
spring and designing flower beds or
a fishpond. It will make a pleasurable
hobby for you.
See if you can bring a little pleasure into the life of an elderly person today. A small effort on your
part could brighten up a rather
dull day for that person.
A rumour about a friend which
you dismissed as fantastic when
you first heard it might surprise
you by turning out to be true after
all.
Something will hit your life with a
bang today. Try not to let it upset
you. It won’t have any lasting effects
and you will have forgotten about it
by the time January comes.
LEO
VIRGO
LIBRA
SCORPIO
SAGITTARIUS
CAPRICORN
July 22August 21
August 22September 22
September 23October 22
October 23November 21
November 22December 21
December 22January 20
Don’t bore your friend with your
ideas for the ‘new you’. Get on with
putting theory into practice and
show everybody you can do it. Success equals action.
An old friend of long ago will
cross your path. Be pleasant but
be sure not to confide too much as
his present interests lie elsewhere
now.
You may have to make some
last minute changes to your domestic arrangements because
of the unexpected visit of a
relative.
Don’t be resentful if a superior
suggests some way of improving
your work but be ready to learn
from his much wider experience.
In a family dispute it would
be wise to respect the opinion of an older relative and
not to insist on having the
last word.
It will work out to your decided advantage in a business
deal if you are patient and
wait for the other party to
make the next move.
CLASSIFIEDS
T U E S DAY
FEBRUARY 3 l 2 0 1 5
23
omandailyobserver
Situation Vacant
PRIVATE bilingual
school at Muscat
needs a Specialist
and experienced
Teachers (Chemistry,
Physics, Maths,
English). Email:
cps20102011@
hotmail.com
93005900
·····
REQUIRED experienced
Indian Driver for
Sewage Tanker.
Contact: 95339249.
·····
SYRIAN Mashavi Cook
and Moroccan Lady
Cook for Qurum Beach
Hotel.24704994 or
99238012.
·····
WANTED experienced
accountant with
administration
experience in
Aluminium, Glass sales.
Call to 99705023.
E-mail: remmaj2014@
gmail.com.
·····
Situation Wanted
INDIAN male, Video
Editor, excellent
knowledge of computers
including MS Office and
computer software
namely Final Cut Pro,
Adobe After Effects,
Photoshop &
Combustion seeks
suitable job. Contact
94562989
·····
PAKISTANI male, 26,
MBA with 1 year
experience in accounts/
Admin, 3 months
experience in FFC,
working knowledge with
Peachtree, quickbooks,
fluent in English, good
computer skills, on
family visit till 2nd
March, seeks suitable
position. Contact
91795092, e-mail:
[email protected]
·····
INDIAN male QA/QC
Engineer-Civil (BE,
ACQE) in Oman on
visit visa, overall 10
years of experience in
Š‹‰Š”‹•‡–‘™‡”ǡ‘ˆϐ‹…‡
building and
residential
construction project
in Qatar and UAE,
holding valid GCC
driving licence
00968 93958533,
e-mail: sheikhnavid@
yahoo.com
·····
LOOKING to recruit
ƒ“—ƒŽ‹ϐ‹‡†Interior
Designer (preferably
female). Please forward
your CV to: idesigner.
[email protected].
·····
ȅ
manicure, pedicure,
skincare, threading,
hair-straightening,
hairdressing, and
henna treatment. Call
to 94499020.
·····
JOB
OPPORTUNITIES
"5FDIOJDBMUSBJOJOH*OTUJUVUFJOWJUFTBQQMJDBUJPOTGPS
GPMMPXJOHQPTJUJPOTOMANI NATIONALS PREFERRED
CIVIL TRAINERS (Steel Fixing, Shuttering Carpentry, Scaffolding)
t .JO&OHJOFFSJOH(SBEVBUFTXJUITPVOELOPXMFEHFPG&OHJOFFSJOHQSJODJQMFT
t "UMFBTUUISFFZFBSTJOUFBDIJOHBOEQSFGFSBCMZUXPZFBSTFYQFSJFODFJOJOEVTUSZ
1SPöDJFODZJO&OHMJTI-BOHVBHFJTFTTFOUJBM
HSE ADVISOR CUM TRAINER
t .JO%JQMPNB)PMEFSTJO)4&TQFDJBMJ[BUJPOXJUIBUMFBTUZFBSTPGUFBDIJOHFYQFSJFODF
ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS
t .JO#BDIFMPS%FHSFFJO&OHMJTI-JUFSBUVSF"UMFBTUZFBSTUFBDIJOHFYQFSJFODF
t
t
t
Tours
DOLPHIN
WATCHING
TOUR. Every Day
8 am and 10 am.
For booking
94110088/
91162534.
E-mail:
coraloceantours@
gmail.com Web:
www.
coraloceantours.
com.
·····
5SBJOJOH-PDBUJPOTIBMMCFBTQFS*OTUJUVUFSFRVJSFNFOUT
&YDFMMFOU$PNNVOJDBUJPO0SHBOJTBUJPOTLJMMTBOEBHPPEXPSLJOHLOPXMFEHFPG
$PNQVUFSTFTTFOUJBMGPSBMMQPTJUJPOT
1PTU"QQMJFEGPSTIPVMECFNFOUJPOFEJOUIF46#+&$5PGUIFFNBJMPSTBNFXJMMOPU
CFDPOTJEFSFE
0OMZ$BOEJEBUFTXIPNFFUUIFBCPWFSFRVJSFNFOUTNBZBQQMZUP
[email protected]
Lost
MDSER Akpaal has lost Pakistani Passport No
JC1332651. Finder please handover to ROP
·····
CASTRO Leody Dufale has lost Filipino Passport
No XX4503592. Finder please handover to ROP
·····
Situation Wanted
INDIAN male BE
mechanical engineer
with 3-month
…‡”–‹ϐ‹…ƒ–‡…‘—”•‡‹
QA/QC, pipeline and
NDT. In Oman on visit
visa, seeks suitable
placement. Contact
95803035, E-mail:
jittenvjacob@gmail.
com
INDIAN IT prof, MCA 5+
yrs exp in Hardware,
Networking, PHP, CSS,
HTML, Java Script, Sql.
NOC available, seeks
suitable job.
97496998. E-mail:
[email protected]
24 YEARS Oman
experienced can handle
accounts upto
finalisation, banking,
preparation of job
costing receivable/
payable, age-wise
analysis and timely
follow-ups, preparation
of BRS and other
required MIS, having
Omani driving licence,
can join immediately.
Contact: 94070799
·····
·····
TELECOMMUNICATION
Technician having 3
years exp in software
programming (PABX,
CCTV...) and marketing
looking for a job in
technical area or
HR, Admin, sales,
marketing. Contact:
91706132. E-mail:
[email protected]
SENIOR Mechanical
Power Engineer,
Egyptian, 7 years
experience in (oil &
‰ƒ•Ȍϐ‹‡Ž†•‘Ȁ‘ˆˆ
shore in Agiba
Petroleum Co.
94249022. E-mail:
mohab_206@yahoo.
com
·····
·····
CHEF with 7 years
experience in tandoor,
Chinese & Indian food,
available 95924771
·····
INDIAN male with
10-year Oman
experience in sales with
Omani driving licence
looking for sales/driving
job 95067844.
E-mail: sawood668@
gmail.com
BSC Civil Engineer
(degree 4 years hons)
with GCC driving
licence, about one
year Gulf experience
seeks suitable job.
93929310.
·····
SUDANESE male, BSc in
Chemical Engineering
honours degree from
U of K, fresh graduate,
looking for suitable job
·····
‹‹†—•–”‹ƒŽϐ‹‡Ž†ǡ‰‘‘†
CIVIL engineer
in project evaluation.
experience in Oman with Contact: 92647250.
Omani driving licence
·····
91102892
INDIAN male, 2 years
·····
experience in Oil
INDIAN male, 22 years,
accounting, oil supply
BE Mechanical Engineer, chain management and
seeks suitable placement. ϐ‹ƒŽ‹•ƒ–‹‘‘ˆƒ……‘—–•ǡ
Contact: 95020044.
looking for a suitable
e-mail: sameemsm2009
position. Contact:
@gmail.com
96534120. E-mail:
[email protected]
·····
INDIAN male, 24 years,
MBA, having 2 years of
‡š’‡”‹‡…‡‹ϐ‹ƒ…‹ƒŽ
ƒ……‘—–‹‰ϐ‹ƒŽ‹•ƒ–‹‘ǡ
knowledge of Tally ERP,
Focus, Wings, Peachtree,
MS-Excel, currently on
visit visa, seeks suitable
placement. Available
immediately. Contact
91058205, E-mail:
aslammohammed10@
gmail.com
·····
INDIAN male, 27 years,
B Tech Mechanical,
having 1 year pipeline
experience, seeking
job in any mechanical
ϐ‹‡Ž†ǤŠ‡„‡Ž‘™
mentioned points need
attention: 1 NOC is
available, 2. Available in
Oman till 31st January.
Contact 95982207.
E-mail: rahman.taus@
gmail.com
·····
·····
CIVIL Engineer, 14 years
experience, 5 years in
Oman, valid driving
licence, NOC release
available Contact:
91101892.
·····
IT assistant, BSc
computer science with 4
years experience, MCP,
MCITP. 95874315.
·····
INDIAN male, BE
wireless networks,
CCNA & MCSE trained,
3 years experience as
IT support assistant
at a leading higher
education institution in
Oman seeking a position
as network/ systems
engineer. 96008737.
E-mail: m.anas365@
outlook.com
·····
Wanted
WANTED a transporter
for a female student
who lives in Al
Mawaleh from and to
Shatti al Qurum School
99371313.
·····
Situation Wanted
MCOM, 4 years
experience in marketing
& sales, 2 years
experience in Oman
having Omani driving
Ž‹…‡…‡ǡ’”‘ϐ‹…‹‡…›‹
Arabic, seeks sales job.
Contact: 95116991.
E-mail: faizhaneefa1@
gmail.com
·····
INDIAN male, BTech-E&I,
10 years experience in
Sales, Procurement and
Business Development. 6
years Oman experience
in Oil & Gas Sector,
having Omani driving
licence, NOC available,
seeks suitable placement.
Contact: 97233074.
·····
INDIAN male, with 10
years Oman experience
in sales with Omani
driving licence, looking
for suitable job. Contact:
95067844. E-mail:
[email protected]
·····
INDIAN male, 29 years
old, engineering diploma
holder, 4 year’s
experience in Oman, 2
years in PDO Road
Division, looking for
placement. NOC
available. 99352822.
·····
CIVIL Draughtsman:
Indian male, 23 years
with 3 years experience
in AutoCad, 2D & 3D,
MEP, HVAC, 3DSMAX and
Photoshop, looking for
suitable position,
presently in Muscat on
visit visa. Contact:
91764358.
mohdsiraj02@
yahoo.com
·····
A TUTOR, holder of
Bachelor in English
language and a Bachelor
degree in Education.
Contact: 98599631.
·····
CIVIL Engineer (BE),
7 years experience in
execution & skilled
with MS-Word, Excel,
AutoCad, seeking for
a suitable placement,
currently on employment
visa & available in
Muscat.98499008.
E-mail: saadkhan1331@
gmail.com
·····
INDIAN male, 25
years, Bachelor of
Business Management,
‘™Ž‡†‰‡‹ˆϐ‹…‡ǡ
2 years experience as a
Merchandiser, showroom
sales with NOC, now
on visit visa. Contact:
98659980.
·····
MBA (SCM), 1 year
‡š’‡”‹‡…‡‹ϐ‹ƒ…‡ƒ•
Accounts Assistant,
”‡Žƒ–‡†ϐ‹‡Ž†ǣƒ……‘—–•
and warehouse. Contact:
91795092. e-mail:
[email protected]
DOCTOR (general
practice) is looking
for job, prefer thiese
areas near the Al
Khuwair, Wattayah and
·····
Al Qurum, passed the
promertic exam. Contact: FEMALE, MBA, looking
96363153
for work part/full-time
job. With prior
·····
experience of HR Domain
INDIAN male, MBA,
in Muscat. 98460262.
Bcom. Having 7
·····
years experience in
ϐ‹ƒ…‡‡’–ȋ”ƒ†‹‰
INDIAN male, 24 years,
BE Electrical and
of Logistics) with
electronics having 15
knowledge in ERP &
months experience,
Tally, and valid Omani
seeking suitable
D/L. NOC is available
placement. Now available
looking for suitable
in Oman. Contact:
position.
92453891, e-mail:
Contact:
jestinjose007@gmail.
99279626
com
·····
·····
INDIAN male, BTech
INDIAN male, 43 years,
in electronics and
Sales Executive, 11 years
communication and
experience in Oman with
…‡”–‹ϐ‹‡†
watches, perfumes and
engineer, looking for
electronic items. Contact:
a suitable position in
99167361.
telecom sector or in
·····
‡Ž‡…–”‘‹…•ϐ‹‡Ž†Ǥ
Contact 91611341.
CIVIL Engineer (BTech),
·····
INDIAN male 30, DCP,
B Com, having total 12
yrs exp and 7 years exp
in Oman construction
procurement, Civil and
MEP, interior decoration
& waterline division
looking for suitable
placement. 98653189.
·····
INDIAN male 24
years, having Omani
driving licence, MS in
Biotechnology from
USA, seeks suitable
job in management/
ƒ”‡–‹‰ϐ‹‡Ž†ǤƒŽŽ
96246621/95738937.
INDIAN mechanical
engineer, B Tech, 2 years
experience in mechanical
maintenance at leading
tyre manufacturing
company. Contact:
95910749, e-mail:
[email protected]
·····
·· · · · ·
Indian male, 24 years
with 1+years Indian
‡š’‡”‹‡…‡ȋ…‡”–‹ϐ‹‡†‹
Quantity Survey/
Primavera/AutoCad).
Looking for a suitable
position. Available in
Sultanate of Oman
(Muscat) on visit visa.
Contact:
91303860. e-mail:
mdayubmak@
gmail.com
·····
INDIAN male, BCom
with 2 years experience
in purchase section in
Oman (studied in Oman),
currently on visit visa
seeks suitable position in
capital region in Oman.
95902965.
Ȉ
Ȉ
Ȉ
Ȉ
Ȉ
Ȉ
ƒ”•ˆ‘”•ƒŽ‡
‘””‡–
‘„ƒ’’Ž‹…ƒ–‹‘
Šƒ”‹‰”‡•‹†‡…‡
”ƒ•’‘”–…ƒ”•
‡ƒŽ•–ƒ–‡ȋ•ƒŽ‡Ǧ
”‡–Ǧ‹˜‡•–‡–•
Ȉ ƒŒŒƒ†”ƒ
Ȉ •‡†ˆ—”‹–—”‡ˆ‘”•ƒŽ‡
Ȉ ƒ—…Š…‡”‡‘‹‡•‘ˆȋ”‡•–ƒ—”ƒ–•Ǧ
•Š‘’•Ǧ…Ž‹‹…•Ȍ
Ȉ ‘„ƒ†•
Ȉ ‡ƒ…Š‹‰†”‹˜‹‰
Ȉ ‘—•‡•…Ž‡ƒ‹‰Ǧ•‡”˜‹…‡•ƒ†’‡•–
…‘–”‘Ž
For information, please call:
99841230-95919344
92721879 - 99639264
Tel: 24649597, Fax: 24649590
BankMuscat account: 0397003776610011
Bank Dhofar account: 01040141195001
E-mail: [email protected]
TUESDAY l FEBRUARY 3, 2015 l RABEE AL THANI 13, 1436 AH
[email protected]
www.omanobserver.om
RENT A CAR
z Low Rates
z Wide Range of Cars
z Excellent Service
Contact:
Muscat 24489248,
24489648.
Salalah: 23296246.
E-mail: [email protected]
SPECIAL Rates on
New Cars & 4 WDs
RENTING & LEASING
Tours and Airport Transfer
Tel: 24582663
GSM: 95859497,
Fax: 24582664,
[email protected]
For Sale
INDUSTRIAL area
land in Rusayil,
ͷǡͲͲͲ“Ǥ–ƒ†
„—‹Ž†‹‰™‹–Šͺ
•Š‘’•Ǥ‘–ƒ…–
ͻͷͶͻͲͺͶʹǡ
ͻʹ͹ͲʹͺͻͳǤ
·····
s only:
PLOTS ȋͶǤͷȀͻ…‡–•Ȍ
ȋ•ͷǤͷŽƒ…•Ȁ…‡–Ȍ
and villas near Aluwa
‡–”‘–ƒ–‹‘ȋ‡”ƒŽƒȌ
for sale. Contact
ͻͺͻ͵Ͷ͹ͲͷǤǦƒ‹Žǣ
•’”‡ƒŽ–‘”̷›ƒŠ‘‘Ǥ
com
·····
ˆ”‘–‘Ž‹†ƒ›
‘‡ˆ—ŽŽ›ˆ—”‹•Š‡†
ˆ‘”•ƒŽ‡‹Š‘’‘Ž‹
͸ͺ•ƒ™ƒ›ˆ”‘
ƒ•Š‹ǡƒ˜‹—„ƒ‹
Contact
ͻͳͶ͹ͺͲͺͺǡ
ͻ͵ͶͲ͹ͳ͵͸
Ǧƒ‹Žǣƒ›ƒ”‹͹ͺ͸̷
gmail.com
·····
͵ˆŽƒ–ˆ‘”
•ƒŽ‡‹ƒ„‡Žƒ‘—–ŠǤ
Aliͻͻͺ͵Ͳ͵͵ͳ
·····
RESTAURANT for sale
in an excellent
Ž‘…ƒ–‹‘‹ƒŽƒŽƒŠǤ
Call ͻͻͶͺͳ͵͵͹
·····
TWO twin villas in Al
Š—™ƒ‹”͵͵Ǥ‘–ƒŽ„—‹Ž–
ƒ”‡ƒͷʹ͸ʹ.
ͳ͹ͺǡͲͲͲȋˆ‘”„‘–ŠȌǤ
‡‰‘–‹ƒ„Ž‡ǡˆ”‘–Š‡
owner. ͻͻͶͳͶ͹͸͹Ǥ
·····
Guest House
ʹͶͷ͸ͶͲ͹ͲǤ
·····
Supply
of
Pesticides,
Gel (Cockroaches),
Public Health
chemicals,
Agriculture
chemicals,
Snake repellent, Rodent
baits
and
other insect
repellent from
Agropharm
Ltd UK.
PROFESSIONALS
in Pest Control Service,
Bedbug Treatment, Rodent
Treatment, Snake Treatment
and Termite Treatment
(Pre and Post Construction).
Tel: 24787606 / 24787503
Fax: 24787607
E-mail: [email protected]
P. O. Box: 565, Wadi Kabir,
Postal Code: 117,
SULTANATE OF OMAN
Good News
AYURVEDIC
Treatment, Yoga
Massage &
•Ž‹‹‰Ǥ‡„
address: www.
•‹††Šƒ›—”Ǥ…‘
ͻʹͷͲͶͻͺͲȀ
ʹͶͶ͹ͷʹͺͲǤ
·····
Announcement
ƒ™Šƒ”ƒŠŽ
ƒ•›‹ƒŠƒ–‹‘ƒŽ
ȋƒ”–‡”•Š‹’Ȍ
”‡‰‹•–‡”‡†ƒ––Š‡
Commercial
‡‰‹•–‡”‘ˆ–Š‡
Commerce and
Industry Ministry
‘ͳͳ͹͵ʹͲͻ–ƒ‡•
to your attention
–Šƒ–‹–ǯ•
transforming its
legal form from
ƒ”–‡”•Š‹’
company to Limited
ƒ”–‡”•Š‹’
…‘’ƒ›ƒ•’‡”–Š‡
ƒ”–‹…Ž‡ȋͳ͵Ȍ„‹•‘ˆ
–Š‡‘‡”…‹ƒŽ
Companies Law No
ͶȀ͹Ͷƒ†‹–•
ƒ‡†‡–•ǤŠ‘•‡
™Š‘ƒ”‡‘„Œ‡…–‹‰
–Š‡–”ƒ•ˆ‘”ƒ–‹‘
•ŠƒŽŽˆ‹Ž‡”‡ƒ•‘•‘ˆ
‘„Œ‡…–‹‘ƒ––Š‡
‡…”‡–ƒ”‹ƒ–‘ˆ–Š‡
Commercial
‡‰‹•–‡”‘ˆ–Š‡
Ministry of
Commerce and
†—•–”›™‹–Š‹ʹ
‘–Š•‘ˆ
’—„Ž‹•Š‹‰–Š‹•
advertisement.
·····
Tourism
ARE you looking for
ƒ˜‘›ƒ‰‡™‹–Š›‘—”
family on a legacy„‘ƒ–ǡ‹…Ž—†‹‰
„—ˆˆ‡–ǫŽ›™‹–Š
ͳͷȀǦǤ‘”‘”‡
info@
alainaintourism.
com ͻʹͺͲͺ͸͵͸Ǥ
·····
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centre
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P26
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Inside
Neymar, Messi lead Barca fightback Koepka wins Phoenix Open title Abdullah al Barwani wins bronze FOLLOW US ON:
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Asia confident of continental shift at WC
Taisei wins under-14 BOUNCY WICKETS: Asian sides are vulnerable in seaming wickets as Aussies, Kiwis and SA are strong contenders
title at ISC Open
Boys U-14 champion Taisei Nishino
(right) and runner-up Eyad al Khanjari.
MUSCAT: Talented Japanese teenager
Taisei Nishino justified his top seeding
with victory in the final to capture the
boys under-14 singles crown at the ISCMuscat Pharmacy Open Junior Tennis
Tournament organised by the Indian
Social Club Muscat.
In the final of the boys under-14
singles, Taisei demolished the challenge
of Eyad Al Khanjari with a 6-1, 6-1 victory
to win the title.
Top seed Muneer Al-Rawahi and third
seed Ayaan Malhotra were scheduled
to clash in the boys under-12 singles
final. Muneer advanced to the pennant
clash after two brilliant victories. In
the quarter final, he battered Kapil
Mansinghani 8-0 and in the semifinal, he
beat fourth seed Vivek Kolluru 7-5, 6-1.
Third seed Ayaan Malhotra put in a
gutsy performance to edge past Sanskar
Dubey with a fighting 7-6 (7-2), 6-4
victory to enter the final.
Abdullah, Drar
in semifinals
NEW DELHI: Conventional wisdom
says Asian teams usually succumb on
the bouncy wickets of Australia or
the seaming pitches in New Zealand,
making them vulnerable and rank
outsiders for the World Cup.
Co-hosts Australia and New Zealand,
alongside the mighty South Africa, are
the bookmakers’ favourites to win oneday cricket’s biggest prize, with Asian
teams way down in the pecking order.
But those already writing off Asia’s
big three — India, Pakistan and Sri
Lanka — will do so at their own peril.
And not just because of the
unpredictable nature of the limitedovers game. The only other time the
tournament was held Down Under, in
1992, it was Pakistan which won the title
beating England by 22 runs in the final
at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Australia did not even make the
knock-out rounds, while the Kiwis, like
the South Africans, crashed out in the
semifinals.
Home advantage clearly does not
count for much.
Defending champions India are the
only team to have won the World Cup
on home soil, while Sri Lanka won it in
Pakistan as co-hosts of the 1996 event.
Barring major upsets, like in 2007
when India and Pakistan were knocked
out in the first round, Asia should have
three teams — even more if Bangladesh,
Afghanistan or the United Arab Emirates
cause an upset — in the quarterfinals.
After that, three victories will ensure
a team the title — a task easier said
than done but one that gives the eight
qualifiers a reasonable shot at the title.
Kapil Dev, under whom India won
its first World Cup in 1983 by shocking
overwhelming favourites West Indies
Australia’s Mitchell Johnson celebrates after dismissing England’s James Taylor during their ODI final in Perth on Sunday. — AP
at Lord’s, said picking a winner was not
easy. “Once you enter the quarterfinals,
anything can happen,” Dev said.
“Every team has a chance, including
the ones from Asia. It all depends on
how you play on that day.
“But if a side has to have an off-day,
it better be during the first round where
one can recover. Can’t afford that in the
knock-outs.”
In 2011, India and Sri Lanka finished
second in their respective groups and
yet entered the final as pool A winners
Pakistan fell in the semifinals and pool
B leaders South Africa went out in the
quarterfinals.
While India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka
have the batting to take on the rest,
much will depend on how their meagre
bowling resources are able to contain the
opposition. Sri Lanka, finalists on the
last two occasions, boast the top three
run-getters in one-day cricket among
those still playing in Kumar Sangakkara,
Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne
Dilshan.
Sangakkara
and
Jayawardene,
members of an exclusive club of five
batsmen with more than 12,000 one-day
runs, are in top form to raise hopes of
making their last World Cup appearance
a memorable one.
World
bowling
record-holder
Muttiah Muralitharan believes this
could be Sri Lanka’s World Cup after
coming so near in 2007 and 2011.
“We have been just about the
most consistent side around in major
tournaments over the past decade,
regularly reaching semifinals and finals,”
Muralitharan told the tournament’s
official website. “I have faith this group
of players can achieve the dream again
and I hope they have that faith too.”
Pakistan, faced with bowling
suspensions of Saeed Ajmal and
Mohammad Hafeez due to faulty actions,
will look to make amends through their
batting which includes captain Misbahul Haq, Younis Khan and Shahid Afridi.
“If we play to our potential, we
can win,” said Misbah, whose 56-ball
hundred against Australia last year
equalled Viv Richards’ record for the
fastest Test century.
In Rohit Sharma, the only batsman
with two 200s in one-day internationals,
Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and skipper
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India possess
destructive batting firepower to tame
the best attacks. “Never write India
off, they will always be formidable in
one-day cricket,” said former skipper
Sourav Ganguly. “This side is capable of
repeating 2011.”
— AFP
Beatriz Leyva and Shanaz Patel.
MUSCAT: Drar Antar and Abdulrahman
al Hajri made it to the last-four stage
of their respective categories at the
second Oman Arab Bank (OAB) tennis
tournament organised by Al Hayat
Tennis Centre at their courts.
In Sunday’s action, Drar Antar
defeated Amr Hassan in straight sets
6-1, 6-2 to book a place in the semifinals
of the Men’s A Singles. In the last-four
stage, Drar Antar awaits the winner of
the match between Bruno Van Begin
and Nashat Helal.
In the men’s B singles, Abdulrahman
al Harji overcame a stiff challenge from
Waleed al Naamani to advance to last
four with a 7-5, 6-4 victory.
In a first round match of the same
event, Mohammed Reza received a
walkover from Amin Husseini.
In the women’s singles, Beatriz Leyva
made it the semifinals with a straight
sets 6-1, 6-4 victory over Shanaz Patel.
Beatriz will clash with Isabella Yvonne for
a place in the summit clash.
In the bottom half of the draw, Marla
Valdez and Nilourfar Sanei recorded
hard fought victories to reach the
second round.
Marla came from behind to defeat
Maryam Tahouri 3-6, 6-1 (10-1) while
Niloufar won 6-4, 7-6 (10-5) against
Debbie Williams.
In the Boys Under-12 Competition,
Ayvret Van Waveren stormed into the
semifinals after defeating Zaid Husseini
9-1. Sultan Musa made it to the last four
of the boys under-16 category.
Handball: a 5th world title for France
Quarter finals
Semi finals
January 28
January 30
Croatia
Poland
22
24
Poland
Qatar
Qatar
Germany
29
31
Nikola
Karabatic
(FRA)
26
3rd place
24
February 1
Denmark
Spain
24
25
Poland
Spain
February 1
29
28
Qatar 22
France 25
(in extra time)
France
Spain
Slovenia
France
FINAL
26
22
23
32
Source: IHB
Huth joins Leicester on
sleepy deadline day
LONDON: German centre-back Robert
Huth joined Leicester City on a short-term
loan from Stoke City on Monday, in a lowkey start to transfer deadline day for Premier
League clubs.
Huth, 30, has fallen out of favour at Stoke
after injury problems and he now follows
goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer and striker
Andrej Kramaric in joining bottom club
Leicester during the January transfer window.
“I’m not expecting to walk in the team.
I have to prove my worth,” Huth told the
Leicester website.
“I have watched enough Leicester games
to be happy to come here, certainly the 5-3
win against Manchester United. And they
beat Stoke at home, which was an upset for
Stoke.”
The final day of the transfer window has
become a major event in the British football
calendar due to a number of headlinegrabbing last-minute deals in recent years.
Robinho, Fernando Torres, Mesut Ozil
and Radamel Falcao are among the players
to have completed spectacular deadlineday moves, but the current transfer period
has bucked the trend. Wilfried Bony’s move
from Swansea City to Manchester City for
a reported initial fee of £25 million ($37.6
million, 33.2 million euros) is the biggest deal
to have been completed so far.
Prior to Monday’s final day of transfer
business, English top-flight teams had spent
£15 million less on new players than at the
same stage last year, according to financial
analysts Deloitte. But total spending over
the entirety of the 2014-15 campaign already
represents a new record.
“While the summer window saw a record
level of transfer spending, so far we have
seen spending in January being slightly more
reserved,” said Dan Jones from Deloitte’s
Sports Business Group. “However, 2014-15
is still a record season for Premier League
spending, with clubs having spent over £900
million, significantly ahead of the previous
record of £760 million.”
Brazilian
midfielder
Anderson’s
underwhelming seven-and-a-half-year spell
at United appears to be at an end, after teammate Juan Mata revealed that the 26-year-old
is returning to his homeland.
— AFP
26
SPORT
omandailyobserver
T U E S DAY
FEBRUARY 3 l 2015
AFRICAN NATIONS CUP: Christian Atsu and Wilfried Bony help Ghana and ‘The Elephants’ complete the semifinal line-up
Premier League duo star for Ghana, Ivorians
MALABO, EQUATORIAL GUINEA:
Premier League stars Christian Atsu
and Wilfried Bony both scored twice
on Sunday to help Ghana and the Ivory
Coast complete the semifinal line-up at
the Africa Cup of Nations.
Atsu got his brace in Ghana’s ruthless
3-0 win against Guinea before Bony
netted two headers as the Ivorians won
3-1 in a heavyweight showdown with
Algeria that completed a double-header
at the Estadio de Malabo.
The second encounter had the
potential to be one of the games of
the tournament so far and it didn’t
disappoint.
The Elephants were looking for
revenge for their dramatic defeat to
Algeria after extra time at the same
stage of the 2010 tournament in Angola
and, after Serge Aurier headed off the
woodwork, it was they who opened the
scoring.
To the gentle rhythm of the drums
coming from the swaying Ivorian fans,
all clad in orange, Max-Alain Gradel
swung a pinpoint cross from the right
towards the far post and Bony headed
home his first goal of the competition.
Algeria, Africa’s top side according
to the FIFA rankings, were level six
minutes after the interval when Hilal
Soudani netted from inside the area.
However, Bony headed home a freekick from his new City colleague Yaya
Toure to put the Ivorians back in front
and Gervinho wrapped up the win at the
death.
“I think we have beaten the best team
in the tournament,” said Ivory Coast
coach Herve Renard.
“In terms of football and ball
control they were better than us but we
countered them with players like Gradel
and Gervinho and with the support of
Bony.”
Algeria coach Christian Gourcuff
replied: “It was not the best team that
won. I can’t reproach the players for
anything. If we played the same game 10
times we wouldn’t lose it 10 times.”
While Algeria go home, the Ivorians
will now prepare for a semi-final against
DR Congo in Bata on Wednesday as
they continue their quest for a first Cup
of Nations crown since 1992.
STUNNING STRIKE
Ghana’s Black Stars can look forward
to a semi-final in Equatorial Guinea’s
capital Malabo on Thursday against the
host nation after destroying the Cup of
Nations dream of Guinea on a typically
warm and humid afternoon.
They needed just four minutes to
open the scoring courtesy of Atsu, the
Ghana’s Christian Atsu (second left) celebrates with team-mates after scoring against Guinea in their quarterfinal match of the
2015 African Cup of Nations in Malabo.
— Reuters
winger who is on loan at Everton from
their English rivals Chelsea.
Kwesi Appiah, who belongs to
Crystal Palace but has been on loan at
lower-league English side Cambridge
United, then made it 2-0 just before the
break after pouncing on poor defending.
But Atsu saved the best for last, with
a stunning strike from wide on the right
just after the hour mark that dipped
under the bar and into the net at the far
post.
That killed off the contest, and a
miserable day for Guinea was completed
when their goalkeeper Naby Yattara was
Neymar, Messi lead Barca fightback against Villarreal
MADRID: Barcelona moved back to within a
point of La Liga leaders Real Madrid as they
twice came from behind to beat Villarreal 3-2
in a thrilling encounter on Sunday.
Madrid loanee Denis Cheryshev put
Villarreal ahead against the run of play after
half an hour only for the in-form Neymar to
level just before the break.
A crazy four-minute spell early in the
second-half then yielded three goals as
Luciano Vietto put Villarreal back in front,
but Rafinha quickly equalised before Lionel
Messi struck a memorable winner from the
edge of the box.
Victory takes Barca back three points clear
of third-placed Atletico Madrid, but Real can
regain their four-point lead at the top when
they host Sevilla in their game in hand on
Wednesday.
“For us it is a pleasure to have players that
can change the game and they are in special
form,” Barca boss Luis Enrique said of Messi
and Neymar, who have now scored 17 goals
between them in their last seven outings.
However, Villarreal boss Marcelino
lamented his side’s inability to put the
pressure on Barca by conserving their leads
for a prolonged period of time.
Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (centre) celebrates his goal against Villarreal with team-mates Neymar
(second right) and Andres Iniesta (right) during their Spanish first division match at Nou Camp
stadium in Barcelona.
— Reuters
“We played a great match and competed
with them using our own strengths. The
goal they scored 30 seconds before half-time
damaged us. Then within two minutes of
going 2-1 in front they scored two.
“That is Barca. They have the best players
in the world in attack and punish any error
you make.” Barcelona started brightly but Luis
Suarez’s struggles in front of goal continued
as the Uruguayan failed to hit the target twice
when well-placed inside the area, as well as
seeing a fine strike from the edge of the area
turned behind by Sergio Asenjo.
The hosts were then punished for the
former Liverpool man’s profligacy when
Villarreal broke and Mario Gaspar’s wayward
effort was deflected beyond Claudio Bravo by
Cheryshev.
Crucially Barca managed to get on level
terms a minute before the break when Asenjo
again parried from Rafinha’s curling effort,
but Neymar was on hand to continue his
scoring streak with his 22nd of the season.
Enrique’s men were caught out once more
at the start of the second-half, though, as a
former Barca favourite Giovani dos Santos
galloped in behind the Catalans’ defence and
squared for Vietto to apply a simple finish.
However, again Villarreal couldn’t hold
onto their lead for long as just two minutes
later Suarez squared for Messi and when his
headed effort was blocked, Rafinha pounced
to rattle home from close range.
Suarez then teed up Messi once more as
Barca turned the game on its head moments
later when the Argentine fired high past
Asenjo on his weaker right foot from outside
the box. Villarreal refused to give in and
briefly thought they were level when Mateo
Musacchio bundled home from close range
only to be denied by an offside flag.
From the resulting free-kick Barca sped
upfield and Neymar was unlucky not to win
a penalty when he was wiped out by Asenjo
before Suarez failed to turn Dani Alves’s
driven cross on target. — AFP
As it stands team-mate Clemens Schmid takes a slender 10-point lead while Al Harthy lies at eighth
Al Harthy looks to maintain rhythm for Round 4
MUSCAT: Oman’s Ahmed al
Harthy will be hoping to maintain
his impressive rhythm as he readies
himself for another exciting edition
under the bright lights of Losail
International Circuit for Round 4
of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge
Middle East.
Al Harthy showed exactly why
Al Nabooda are lucky to have him
racing up against the region’s finest
drivers as he went toe to toe with
the front runners of the series in
the most recent outing, Round 3.
Eventually finishing seventh in Race
2 of Round 3, Al Harthy’s consistency
guaranteed his team precious points
as the battle for supremacy in Season
6 enters its pivotal stages.
After reaching the half way
mark in the championship at Losail
International Circuit two weeks ago
following three rounds and six races,
Round 4 represents the start of the
second half of the season with Al
Harthy on the home straight and
both the drivers’ title and team titles
still hanging in the balance.
As it stands, Season 4 champion
and fellow team-mate Clemens
Schmid (144 points) of Al Nabooda
Racing takes a slender 10-point
lead into this weekend’s night races
with Al Harthy currently lying in
eighth (72 points), 10 points off the
Ahmed Al Harthy
— Porsche GT3
Cup Challange
Middle East in
Qatar.
top six places in the series. In the
team standings, it’s even closer in a
two-battle for supremacy with only
9 points separating Skydive Dubai
Falcons (225 points) and defending
champions Al Nabooda Racing (216
points).
With Round 5 set to take place
at Dubai Autodrome Circuit before
a final showdown in Bahrain which
will act as support race to the official
Bahrain Grand Prix weekend in
April, Al Harthy knows that he is
entering the most crucial part of the
season. Every lap, every qualifying,
position and point counts as the
race for the championship heats up
starting with Round 4 in Qatar this
weekend.
Al Harthy will return to the
scene of his last race that saw him
take extremely positive strides in
ensuring he will finish the series on
a high and he will take nothing for
granted as he hopes to make another
measured an calculated contribution
to the series.
Speaking ahead of Round 4,
the Omani driver said: “Round
3 was much better for me and I
had a better performance
overall compared to in the
previous rounds. I had
the same pace as the
cars ahead of me and
was waiting for a mistake
but everybody drove very well. With
them performances I feel more
confident in the car and now, having
raced in this car at all of the circuits,
I can look forward to the second half
of the season. Each track has its own
characteristics; I am learning them
and have a good platform to build
upon. I am already looking forward
to coming back to Doha to improve
further.”
“For Al Nabooda Racing it’s all
about the team trophy, I have a job
to do and I believe I am doing that
job and working hard for the team,”
he added.
The region’s leading drivers will
line-up in the Porsche 911 GT3
Cup again as the star attractions at
Losail International Circuit for Race
1 Round 4 on February 5 and 6, on
Thursday (8pm) and Friday.
OVERALL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
AFTER ROUND 3 – TOP 6
(Name, country, team, points)
1. Clemens Schmid
(UAE) Al Nabooda Racing — 144
2. Zaid Ashkanani
(Kuwait) BuzaidGT — 134
3. Hasher al Maktoum
(UAE) Skydive Dubai Falcons — 118
4. Charlie Frijns
(NED) Team Frijns — 110
5. Saeed Al Mehairi
(UAE) Skydive Dubai Falcons — 107
6. Raed Raffii
(BAH) Team Bahrain — 82
sent off for bringing down Asamoah
Gyan on the edge of the box in stoppage
time.
“Our first goal was very good and
the third goal was fantastic from Atsu. I
don’t know if he meant it,” joked Ghana
coach Avram Grant after the Black Stars
made it through to their fifth consecutive
semi-final at the Cup of Nations as they
look to win the trophy for the first time
since 1982.
“We are on the right way to being
even better than today. Expectations of
this team were not high but that doesn’t
matter.”
His opposite number Michel
Dussuyer was gracious in defeat, saying:
“We know Ghana have players who
can make the difference, and when you
concede a second goal just before halftime it becomes nearly impossible.
“We didn’t play as we hoped, but let’s
look to the future and think about the
work we need to do to compete with the
best teams in Africa.”
Organisers will be relieved that all
the headlines on Sunday were made
on the pitch after events of Saturday,
when Tunisian players tried to attack
the Mauritian referee who awarded
a contentious penalty that helped
Equatorial Guinea come from behind to
beat the Carthage Eagles.
— AFP
SURGING
AHEAD
Ivory Coast’s forward Gervinho (left) is congratulated by
team-mates after scoring a goal during the African Cup of
Nations quarterfinal against Algeria in Malabo.
— AFP
Ivory Coast
improvement
ominous for rivals
MALABO, EQUATORIAL GUINEA: After a clinical
performance in beating the pre-tournament favourites on
Sunday, an improving Ivory Coast now have a first Africa
Cup of Nations title in almost a quarter of a century within
grasp.
The Elephants’ coach Herve Renard described Algeria as
“the best team in the tournament” immediately after his side
beat them 3-1 in Malabo to clinch a place in the last four,
where they will face DR Congo on Wednesday.
But Renard also showed that he is surely the competition’s
most tactically astute coach as he extended his own
impressive unbeaten run in the Cup of Nations.
The Frenchman has suffered just one defeat in his last
15 Cup of Nations games, and that came on penalties at the
hands of Nigeria when he was in charge of Zambia in 2010.
Ivory Coast captain Yaya Toure, the continent’s leading
player, has yet to perform for Renard at this tournament as
brilliantly as he so often does for Manchester City.
He has also constantly played down his side’s prospects
despite their undoubted quality on paper, but his pragmatic
approach worked for Zambia when they so memorably won
the Cup of Nations in 2012
at the expense of the Ivory ‘When I played with
Coast, and now it is starting Zambia against the
to pay off with a better
Ivory Coast, they
team.
Some
outstanding were much better
performances from his than us, but we
young defence, the energy
battled with the
of Serey Die in midfield and
the decisive contributions weapons we had
of Max-Alain Gradel have and won on
played their part in taking
penalties. That is
the Ivory Coast to the last
four, while on Sunday how football is’
Wilfried Bony stepped
forward with a brace of
headers against the Algerians.
“When I played with Zambia against the Ivory Coast,
they were much better than us, but we battled with the
weapons we had and won on penalties. That is how football
is,” said Renard.
“You need to be realistic and try to put the best tactics in
place to beat your opponent.”
A three-man central defence marshalled by Kolo Toure
wavered for a spell in the second half up against the pace and
technical ability of the Algerians, but there has been a vast
improvement since the qualifying campaign, when they let
in 11 goals in six games. —AFP
SPORT
T U E S DAY
FEBRUARY 3 l 2015
omandailyobserver
27
DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC: The Northern Irishman tallied 22-under par 266 matching the lowest winning score in the tournament’s history
McIlroy dominates to claim second Dubai crown
DUBAI: World number one Rory
McIlroy produced a masterclass of how
to protect a lead on the final day as he
won his second Dubai Desert Classic title
on Sunday, matching the lowest winning
score in the history of the tournament.
At the Majlis course of Emirates Golf
Club on Sunday, the Northern Irishman
was solid in his final-round two-under
par 70. And even though it was his worst
round in four days, it was enough for
his 10th European Tour title. It was his
fourth win in his last seven starts on the
European Tour. The other three finishes
were second places.
McIlroy tallied 22-under par 266,
matching the four-day efforts of Thomas
Bjorn in beating Tiger Woods in 2001
and Stephen Gallacher in 2013.
Starting the day four shots ahead,
McIlroy finally won by three shots over
Sweden’s Alexander Noren (65), who is
on a medical exemption after playing just
two tournaments in 2014 because of a
tendonitis of wrist.
Gallacher made a spirited defence
of his title, eventually finishing third at
16-under par, while there was a fiveway tie for fourth place at 273, including
world number 12 Martin Kaymer and
France’s Gary Stal, the man who took full
advantage of the German’s final round
collapse in Abu Dhabi a couple of weeks
ago.
McIlroy, who is now expected to
take to the stands in a Dublin court next
week in his ongoing legal battle with his
former management company, did not let
anything waver his focus.
His only mistake of the day came on
the par-3 seventh hole, where he pulled
his tee shot left of the green, and then hit
a poor chip 15 feet short of the hole and
missed the putt.
CRUISE CONTROL
But apart from that, the world number
one never got into much trouble, kept his
ball in play and one solid par followed the
other.
“It was a bit of a cruise control out
there. I knew if I just went out there and
played a solid round of golf, especially
getting here today and seeing that the
breeze was up, it was going to be difficult
for anyone to really put together a low
score, especially on that front nine,” said
McIlroy, who was even par through the
front nine.
“So, I just wanted to keep my ball in
play and not really make any mistakes
and try and pick off some birdies when I
could on the par 5s and stuck to my game
plan very well. Made good, committed,
aggressive swings to where I wanted to
hit it.” The victory is expected to take
McIlroy to 11.66 points on top of the
world rankings, and would extend his
lead over second-placed Henrik Stenson
by almost four average points.
Noren was absolutely thrilled with his
performance, which comes at the back of
a ninth place finish in Doha last week.
“I started well but didn’t really play
that well around nine. And then I got a
birdie on 10, which felt nice. A little bit
slower after that but then really got it
going. So it was just a lovely day, lovely
finish and lovely start,” said Noren, who
closed with three birdies in his last four
holes.
— AFP Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland and his parents, Rose and Gerry, pose with the trophy after Mcllroy won the final round of the Dubai Desert Classic.
Koepka triumphs in fight for first US title
PHOENIX: American Brooks Koepka
won his first US PGA title by holding
off Hideki Matsuyama, Martin Laird
and Masters champion Bubba Watson
over Sunday’s final holes to win the $6.3
million Phoenix Open.
Koepka fired a bogey-free 66, fiveunder par, to finish 72 holes on 15-under
269, one stroke in front of Watson, fellow
American Ryan Palmer and Japan’s
22-year-old Matsuyama, who missed an
18-foot birdie putt on the final hole to
ensure 24-year-old Koepka’s triumph.
“It feels amazing,” Koepka said. “I
had quite a few scares but it was a fun
day. Me and Hideki will be battling for
quite a while. I hope we’re doing it for a
few more years.”
Koepka, ranked 33rd, shared fourth
at last year’s US Open and won his first
European Tour title last November at
the Turkish Airlines Open.
“The last few weks I’ve put in a lot of
hard work, changed my putting stroke
completely,” Koepka said. “It paid off.”
Scotsman Laird, the 54-hole leader,
stumbled at the finish with a bogey at
17 and a closing double-bogey to share
fifth with Spanish amateur Jon Rahm
on 272.
Watson made an early charge with
three birdies in a row starting at the
second hole, then closed the front nine
with a birdie and added birdies at the
‘It feels amazing. I had quite
a few scares but it was a fun
day. Me and Hideki will be
battling for quite a while.
The last few weeks I’ve
put in a lot of hard work,
changed my putting stroke
completely. It paid off’
PHOENIX OPEN
Brooks Koepka (centre) celebrates with the Phoenix Thunderbirds after his victory
during the final round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale.
— USA Today Sports
par-3 12th and par-4 13th. He posted
the target score in the clubhouse and it
nearly paid off.
“A couple shots here and there,”
Watson said. “On 17, 3-putted but I
had an 80 footer, then the par-5 (15th)
I didn’t hit my tee shot good enough. It
was a great day. It was a good challenge.
I’ll accept it at the end of the week.”
Laird, Matsuyama and Koepka
battled in the final group.
Koepka birdied six and seven, the
13th as well and sank a 50-foot eagle
putt at par-5 15th.
Laird, who opened with a birdie,
followed with 13 pars until two-putting
from 28 feet for birdie at 15 to top
Koepka and match him for the lead at
15-under.
Matsuyama opened by making an
eagle out of a sand-filled fairway divot,
birdied the third, fourth and 13th but
stumbled by missing a six-foot par putt
at 14 to stand one off the lead.
At 17, Laird missed an eight-foot par
putt to join Matsuyama one off Koepka’s
pace as the trio headed for the 18th tee.
Laird found water with his first shot
to doom his title bid and Matsuyama
found a fairway bunker but blasted his
approach 18 feet from the pin.
Koepka, who never missed a backnine green over the weekend, put his
approach 20 feet from the cup and rolled
his birdie putt inches from the cup. After
Matsuyama missed, Koepka tapped in
for the victory.
— AFP
NBA
— Reuters
ROUND-UP
Whiteside shines in
Heat victory Celtics
BOSTON: Hassan Whiteside, the
center Miami rescued from basketball
oblivion, continued his rebirth as he
led the Heat to a 83-75 road win over
Boston on Sunday.
The 25-year-old 7-footer, who has
toiled in the D-League and overseas,
scored six straight points to start the
fourth quarter to help the Heat recover
from blowing an earlier 15-point lead.
Miami, playing without injured
Dwyane Wade and Luol Deng — as
well as the departed LeBron James
and Ray Allen — got 20 points, nine
rebounds and three blocks from
Whiteside. He was coming off a
16-point, 24-rebound game in Friday
night’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
Over the last four games, Whiteside,
who came off the bench to block 12
shots in the first of those four games,
has 66 points and 59 rebounds.
KNICKS WIN
The New York Knicks won for the
fifth time in their last seven games,
defeating the Los Angeles Lakers at
Madison Square Garden.
Forward Carmelo Anthony topped
the Knicks (10-38) with 31 points and
eight rebounds, and guard Langston
Galloway tossed in 13 points.
Forward Lou Amundson grabbed a
season-high 13 rebounds, one off his
career best.
The Lakers were paced by forward
Carlos Boozer and guard Jordan
Clarkson, who each scored 19 points.
RONDO TO MISS GAME
Dallas Mavericks point guard Rajon
Rondo reportedly will not play against
the Minnesota Timberwolves due to
a facial injury. League sources told
ESPN that Rondo, who suffered the
injury in the first quarter of Saturday
night’s win in Orlando, was scheduled
to be evaluated on Sunday by the
Mavericks’ medical staff to establish
how long he will be sidelined.
The injury occurred when Rondo
tripped and was accidentally kneed
in the face by teammate Richard
Jefferson. Jefferson did not see Rondo
on the floor as he started to sprint
down the court on a fast break.
Results: New York: 94 bt LA Lakers
80; Boston: 75 bt Miami: 83
AFC vice-president Prince Ali bin Al Hussein, ex-Portugal player Luis Figo and Dutch football chief Michael van Praag are the other contenders
Three rivals take on veteran Blatter for Fifa presidency
Fifa president Sepp Blatter (left) and AFC president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al
Khalifa clap during the prize distribution ceremony at the end of the AFC Asian
Cup in Sydney.
— AFP
LAUSANNE:
Football’s
world
governing body Fifa announced on
Monday that four candidates are bidding
to become its president, including longtime incumbent Sepp Blatter.
The three others who have thrown
their hat into the ring are Asian Football
Confederation vice-president Prince
Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan, former
Portugal international Luis Figo and
Dutch football chief Michael van Praag.
Two others who had been
considering making bids — former
France international forward David
Ginola and ex-Fifa executive official
Jerome Champagne — both failed to get
the necessary backing from five national
associations.
A Fifa statement said that the
candidature dossiers would next go
before the investigatory chamber of an
independent Ethics Committee to carry
out integrity checks on the four men
within ten days.
“Upon receipt of the results of the
integrity checks, the (Fifa) Ad-hoc
Electoral Committee will reconvene in
order to review all of the submissions
and validate their compliance with the
applicable Fifa regulatory provisions.
“Following this process, the Ad-hoc
Electoral Committee will formally admit
and declare the candidates who are
eligible for the office of Fifa President.”
After that the Fifa executive
committee will meet in Zurich on May
29 and decide if Blatter will get a fifth
term as president or bring in a new man.
The 78-year-old Swiss bureaucrat is
seen as an outstanding favourite to win a
new term despite a storm of protest over
the way he runs the organisation.
His reign has notably been tarnished
by accusations of corruption stemming
from the bidding process for the 2018 and
2022 World Cups, which were awarded
to Russia and Qatar respectively. The
controversies have seriously eroded his
support and tarnished his reputation
in European strongholds like England,
Germany and the Netherlands, but he
still enjoys wide support in Asia, Africa
and Oceania.
On top of that the success of last
summer’s World Cup in Brazil, despite
earlier fears over the state of the
organisation, has further boosted his
status.
Champagne, a former Fifa deputy
general secretary, was for a long time
the only man to declare his intention to
challenge Blatter for the post.
But on Monday he announced
his withdrawal from the contest in a
letter to national associations where
he blamed European-governing body
UEFA and the “institutions” mobilising
to eliminate him. He said he had secured
three nominations but other associations
feared reprisals if they backed him.
“The reasons were numerous.
Because they feared reprisals from
their confederations having issued
“recommendations”.
“Because their federations were
candidates
to
host
continental
competitions. Because they relied too
heavily on the financial support. Because
they were committed to defend a united
continental front.”
— AFP
28
omandailyobserver
SPORT
T U E S DAY
FEBRUARY 3 l 2015
SETTING THE PACE: South African Olympic hopeful James Reid continues to set the pace after three consecutive stage victories
Riders pushed to limit on day 3 of Trans Hajar race
MUSCAT: Challenging terrain and
intense racing conditions tripped up
even the most experienced cyclists,
with many riders falling victim to the
conditions on Day Three of the Trans
Hajar Mountain Bike stage race.
In a supreme test of the riders’
endurance, the stage began with the
hardest climb of the race, an ascent of
750m, and while a straight downhill
single-track section of hard rock
provided brief respite, the energysapping soft ground of the plantations
and abandoned villages of Al Hamra
leading to a final 410m climb and quick
descent to the finish line pushed both
man and machine to the limit.
After the dust had settled, South
African Team RECM rider, James
Reid, emerged victorious for the third
consecutive stage, although today’s
victory proved far from easy after he
broke a wheel spoke on the first descent.
Team TIB Insurance rider, fellow South
African Andrew Hill, almost took
advantage of Reid’s misfortune, but a
wandering goat halted his attempts.
Hill’s collision ended with a broken front
wheel and an early retirement, leaving
Kevin Evans and Max Knox, also from
South Africa, to battle it out for second
place, with only one second separating
the two in the overall standings.
Although disappointed with today’s
result, Andrew Hill has found the
Trans Hajar Mountain Bike Stage Race
a fantastic adventure. He said, “It’s
been an amazing experience - the stage
racing calendar in South Africa is really
saturated and I think around the world
guys are really upping their game in
terms of what they can offer. The Trans
Hajar in Oman has given us everything
and more – the vistas, the terrain, the
rocks, the dust, the thorny trees and the
goats! It has been a brilliant experience.”
The 75 riders set out on another challenge. The race goes deep inside the towns of the Sultanate.
Stage three also proved challenging
for the Omani riders. Only three of the
seven competitors completed the course
with Mousab al Rashidi leading the way.
He ended the day in 22nd place with a
time of 3:52.00, while Hatim al Boshri
finished 10 minutes behind him in
24th and a time of 4:02.46 and Mishari
al Khalili took 27th place in a time of
MCCC ‘A’ post 171-run
win; Kimberly sizzles
MUSCAT: Muscat Cricket Coaching
Centre ‘A’ (MCCC ‘A’) registered a
massive 171-run win against OCT Al
Amerat in a Khimji Ramdas sponsored
‘B’ Division 30 overs a side match
during the weekend at the Ministry
Ground No.1 at Al Amerat.
Opting to bat after winning the
toss, MCCC ‘A’ piled up a mammoth
309 for 8 wickets in 30 overs. Major
contributions came from Aadil Abbas
Ali 96 (51b, 12x4), opener Ivan Manjila
89 (52b, 10x4) and skipper Karan
Pandya 36 (29b, 4x4). Nasser al Balushi
was the pick of the bowlers ending with
figures of 4 for 46 in 6 overs.
In reply, OCT Al Amerat were
bowled out for 138 off 23.2 overs.
Brief scores: MCCC ‘A’ – 309 for 8 in 30 overs
(Aadil Abbas Ali 96, Ivan Manjila 89, Karan Pandya
36, Shaijad Yunus 31; Nasser al Balushi 4-46) bt
OCT Al Amerat – 138 all out in 23.2 overs (Samir
al Balushi 30, Faisal al Sabri 29; Ivan Manjila 2-16,
Karan Pandya 2-18); Points: MCCC ‘A’ - 2 (6 games –
6), OCT Al Amerat - 0 (6 games – 0)
20 overs (Rajesh Ayyavu 57 n.o., Ragunath M 40
n.o.) lost to Future Oilfield – 155 for 1 in 11.3
overs (Ali Murtaza 81 n.o., Muzaffar Nasim 52 n.o.);
Points: Future Oilfield - 2 (7 games – 9), Rukun Al
Yaqeen - 0 (6 games – 0)
ABDUL GHANI EXCELS
Abdul Ghani Rahim Bakhsh al
Balushi made an brilliant unbeaten 75
(56b, 1x6, 7x4) and thereafter bagged
3 wickets conceding 20 runs in 4 overs
to help Majees register a thrilling 7
runs win against Oasis Water in the ‘F’
Division T20 match in Seeb.
Brief scores: Majees – 172 for 6 in 20 overs
(Abdul Ghani Rahim Bakhsh al Balushi 75 n.o.,
Aneeq Jassim 36, Mohsin Abbas 21; Shaiju S 3-36,
Kannan P 2-32) bt Oasis Water – 165 for 7 in 20
overs (Kannan P 47, Rohan Kurian 44; Abdul Ghani
3-20); Points: Majees - 2 (6 games – 4), Oasis Water
- 0 (5 games – 4)
MARH POST 16-RUN WIN
In another ‘F’ Division T20 match,
Moosa Abdul Rahman Hassan
(MARH) recorded a 16-run win against
Atkins.
Brief scores: MARH – 184 for 5 in 20 overs (Jijo
Abraham 55, Khalid Moosa 45, Mohammed Rizwan
R 41, Muhammad Ayaz 20; V Giridharan 3-39) bt
Atkins – 168 for 9 in 20 overs (Mohammed
Amir 29, Sajeev Thamarath 27, Ateef Yousuf Pir
Mohammed al Balushi 25; Khalid Moosa 3-32,
Muhammad Ayaz 2-14, Anwar ul Haq 2-25);
Points: MARH - 2 (6 games – 5), Atkins - 0 (6 games
– 5)
KIMBERLY STARS IN Z-AXIS WIN
Kimberley
G
Bentick
with
tantalising bowling figures of 6 for 27
in 4 overs including 4 wickets in an
over helped Z-Axis Media record a
HILLARY BOWLS MSE TO WIN
thumping 101-run win against Uday
Hillary D’Souza with bowling figures
Khimji International in the Al Ansari
Group of Companies sponsored ‘C’ of 5 for 21 in 4 overs helped Mustafa
Division T20 match.
Sultan Enterprises (MSE) to a 8-wicket
Brief scores: Z-Axis Media – 200 for 6 in 20 win against Caledonian College in an ‘I’
overs (Vijeesh C Velunni 45, Waseem al Balushi Division T20 match at the University
39 n.o., Melwin Mathew 29, Sajith Gopalakrishnan
24; Usman Asghar 2-46) bt Uday Khimji Grounds at Al Khoud. Deciding to bat,
International – 99 all out in 15.1 overs (Derick Caledonian College were restricted to
W George 40; Kimberley G Bentick 6-27, Nowfal
138 for 9 wickets in 20 overs.
Raymarakkar 2-8, Sujith Kumar Rajagopalan 2-23);
Points: Z-Axis Media - 2 (5 games – 10), Uday Khimji
International - 0 (5 games – 2).
GHAZANFAR TAKES 5 WICKETS
Ghazanfar Iqbal with bowling
figures of 5 for 22 off 4 overs helped Al
Faisal register a 7-wicket win against
FAP UTSC in a Raha Poly Products
sponsored ‘D’ Division T20 match.
Brief scores: FAP UTSC – 86 all out in 14.1 overs
(Faleel Thaikankandy 30; Ghazanfar Iqbal 5-22,
Muhammad Sufyan 3-14) lost to Al Faisal – 89 for
3 in 6.4 overs (Muhammad Ihsan 40, Muhammad
Amjad 30 n.o., Wazir Ali 2-14); Points: Al Faisal - 2
points (7 games – 13), FAP UTSC - 0 (6 games – 0)
FUTURE OILFIELD BEAT RAY
In an ‘H’ Division T20 match, Future
Oilfield trounced Rukun Al Yaqeen
(RAY) by nine wickets.
Brief scores: Rukun Al Yaqeen – 152 for 4 in
Brief scores: Caledonian College – 138 for 9
in 20 overs (Hamza Yunus 42, Shoyeb Yunus 34,
Mohammed Shafeeq 28; Hillary D’Souza 5-21) lost
to MSE – 139 for 2 in 16.1 overs (Mohammed
Adnan 53, Abdulla Alam 40 n.o., Anumodh Nair 20);
Points: MSE - 2 (7 games – 9), Caledonian College 0 (6 games –10).
4:16.23. Reflecting on his experience
so far, Mousab explained it has been
a difficult test but he’s enjoying every
minute. He said, “This has been a great
opportunity to compete against some
of the best international professional
riders and gauge my progress early in
the season. Our training only began
two months ago and the maximum
distance we have trained over so far is
90 kilometres. I enjoyed the time trial
on the first day of the race and although
day two was tough, I managed to cross
the finishing line just after the elite riders
on day three. This will be an invaluable
learning experience in preparation
for local and GCC races later in the
season, as well as next year’s Trans Hajar
Mountain Bike Race.”
In the Open Female Category,
Catherine Williamson (GBR) followed
yesterday’s stunning performance with
another stage win. She now leads the field
by a commanding 12 minutes 2 seconds
from Hannele Steyn (RSA) and Eszter
Dosa (HUN) in third. Michelle Guerin
(NZL) and Reinette Schulze (RSA) are
LOCAL FLAVOUR
Oman’s Abdullah al Barwani wins bronze medal at GCC Cup
MUSCAT: The Oman under-14 and
under-18 tennis teams participated in
the GCC Cup for Under 18 and under 14
categories in Kuwait from January 24
and 30.
The under-18 team included Younis
al Rawahi, Abdullah al Barwani and Amar
al Khanjari. The under-14 team included
Moneer al Rawahi, Eyad al Khanjari,
Abdullah al Raissi and Ali al Sarhani.
Oman’s Abdullah al Barwani, seeded
sixth in the draw, beat Kuwait’s Hussein
Ali Jamal 6-1, 7-5 followed by the win
over UAE’s Fahd al Janahi 6-1, 6-1 and
then lost the semifinal match against
Saudi Arabia’s Omar Ahmad 6-1, 3-6, 0-6.
The delegation and teams comprised
of Saeed al Barmani (head of delegation),
Ahmad al Balushi (administrative
official) and Abdallah al Yahyaee
(accompanied official) and Arjay Canoza
(coach).
On the other hand, remaining Omani
players gained experience in these
matches.
Saudi Arabia’s Ammar al Hakbani
won the gold in the under-18 section,
while compatriot Omar Ahmad took the
silver medal.
Oman’s Abdullah al Barwani and
Saudi Arabia’s Faisal al Rabdi shared the
bronze medal.
In the under-18 doubles, KSA’s
Ammar al Hakbani and Omar Ahmad
clinched the gold medal leaving the
silver for Qatar duo of Issa Shanan and
Abdullah al Jufeiri and the bronze medal
was shared by UAE’s Fares and Fahd al
Janahi with Qatar’s Abdullah Shaanan
and Jasem al Zeyarah.
In the under-14 section, KSA’s Saoud
al Hakbani clinched the gold, while the
runner-up silver medal went to Kuwait’s
Issa Kabazard with Kuwaitis Fahd al
Dossari and Rayan al Jufeiri sharing the
third place.
OHI Open golf evokes overwhelming response
MUSCAT: The second edition of
the OHI Open Golf tournament
was held at the Ghala Valley Golf
Club on January 23.
With stellar performances by
talented golfers from across the
Sultanate, this year’s tournament
received overwhelming support
from players and spectators alike.
The number of participants rose
to a record 130 golfers.
Organised and sponsored by
the OHI Group of Companies, the
tournament was well received
and served as a platform for both
professionals and amateurs to
test their skills against the best in
the game, while being a day of
networking and interaction with
peers.
Dr Mohammed bin Hamad
al Rumhy, the Minister of Oil
and Gas, presided over the prize
distribution ceremony as the
chief guest.
Hamed al Rumhy held his
nerve in a tense play-off to
Hamed al Rumhy receives the winner’s trophy.
become the OHI Golf 2015
Champion with a gross overall
score of 79. The runners up were
Ali Hameed and Tenzin Tsarong.
The best overall net winner was
SJ Prakash with a score of 65.
The OHI Open revolving
trophy along was handed
over to the 2015 Champion
by Mohammed al Rumhy and
Maqbool Hameed al Saleh,
Chairman of OHI Group of
Companies. It was a welldeserved victory for Hamed al
Rumhy who had been working
hard to improve his game.
Speaking on the occasion,
Maqbool Hameed said: “As
expected the second edition
of the tournament was indeed
a grand success. It was very
well received by the golfing
enthusiasts in Oman and once
again the venue provided a
great backdrop for an exciting
tournament. Ghala Valley Golf
Club was the perfect venue for
the tournament. I would like to
congratulate the tournament
champion and other winners.”
KAJA SHINES FOR DOUGLAS
Kaja Mohaideen with bowling
figures of 5 for 16 in 4 overs helped
Douglas OHI record a 26-run win
against ISC Kutchi Wing in a ‘J’
Division T20 match.
Brief scores: Douglas OHI – 131 all out in 18.1
overs (Ramsheela Prasad 20, Jubin K Thomas 20;
Sagar Trantukar 3-20, Ashish Jethwa 2-10, Sachin
Mamnani 2-27, Asif Khan 2-27) bt ISC Kutchi Wing
– 105 all out in 16.2 overs (Mohammed Ahmed
36, Hardik Limbani 22; Kaja Mohaideen 5-16,
Santosh Kumar 2-24); Points: Douglas OHI - 2 (7
games – 8), ISC Kutchi Wing - 0 (7 games – 0).
more than two hours behind in fourth
and fifth, and Gill Sparrow (GBR) is
currently sixth. Now with an overall lead
of 7 minutes 8 seconds James Reid will
be looking to build on this gap as the
international field of pro and amateur
riders prepare for steep gradient climbs
of 10 per cent to 20 per cent in the
penultimate stage on Monday.
The Oman Football Association (OFA) organised the first Musandam Festival for different age groups
during January 29 to 31 at the Khasab Club in the Wilayat of Khasab, Musandam Governorate under
the auspices of Sayyid Khalid bin Hamad al Busaidy, Chairman of OFA. The festival included physical
fitness tests for all the participating players and football matches.
In the doubles, Saoud al Hakbani and
Abdullah Tawfik won the gold medal.
KSA’s Kasem Mohammed and Hussein
Abdul Ghani won the silver medal,
while the third place was shared by
Issa Kabazard and Husseinj Abdulatif of
Kuwait and Qatar’s Rayan al Jufeiri and
Ali al Mahmoud.
Oman Auto X racing team
shines in Sharjah tourney
MUSCAT: The Oman
Auto X team has put
up an impressive
show in the first round
of the 2015 Auto X
Championship in
Sharjah, UAE.
The team consisted
of four drivers Mazin
and Nabeel al Shaibani,
Mannan al Rawahi and
Al Salt al Kharusi.
The first round saw around 25 cars taking part from across
the region with four from Oman.
The track for the first round was the tightest and narrowest
Auto X track to date in these championship as the margin of
error was very less.
Manann driving his Ford Focus ST was in the FWD class
stock category and managed to finish third in this class with
just less then a second between him and the first place.
Manann also manged to get into the top 10 best drivers of
the day and managed to finish seventh overall with a time of
1:35:1.
Salt driving his Subaru STI was in the AWD stock category
and clinched a first-place finish in his class to enter the top 10
and finished fifth with a time of 1:29:8.
Mazin and Nabeel sharing the Mistubishi Evo 6 were in the
AWD race category.
Mazin finished second in his class with a time of 1:29:4
and his brother Nabeel took the top spot in the same class
with a time of 1:27:6. They also manged to get into the top 10
and Nabeel finished third overall and Mazin finished fourth
overall. This was Nabeel’s first race after more than a year of
absence from the sport. Nabeel said he was delighted with
the results and hoped to top this one with another podium
for the next round.
It was a great day for Oman as all of the four drivers taking
part managed to get into the top 10 and three drivers got
into the top 5 of this event. The team spirits are high after the
results and the team drivers are hoping to continue the same
form for the next round on the February 26.
ENTERTAINMENT
T U E S DAY
FEBRUARY 3 l 2015
omandailyobserver
29
TINSELTOWN
Nimrat was thrilled to
share red carpet with idols
“
T
PERRY STALKED INTO
THE UNIVERSITY OF
PHOENIX STADIUM FIELD
IN GLENDALE, ARIZONA
RIDING THE HUGE, FIERYEYED LION AS SHE SANG
HER MEGAHIT “ROAR”
WHILE WEARING A FLAMEFESTOONED DRESS.
THE 30-YEAR-OLD STAR
PERFORMED A BRIEF
DUET WITH ROCK LEGEND
LENNY KRAVITZ
S
inger Katy Perry dazzled
at Sunday’s Super Bowl
halftime show in a
spectacular performance
featuring dancing sharks, a
prowling metallic lion and
a levitating star that shot fireworks into
the night sky.
Perry stalked into the University
of Phoenix Stadium field in Glendale,
Arizona riding the huge, fiery-eyed lion
as she sang her megahit “Roar” while
wearing a flame-festooned dress.
The 30-year-old star performed
a brief duet with rock legend Lenny
Kravitz, and the pair sung “I Kissed A
Girl,” one of Perry’s first big hits in 2008,
during a brief but raunchy performance.
KATY PERRY DAZZLES
at Super Bowl halftime show
The crowd cheered during the next
segment that saw Perry perform on a
desert island set — complete with palm
trees, dancers dressed up to look like
goofy sharks and beach balls, as the star
sang “California Gurls.”
The Super Bowl’s halftime show has
become a must-see event in the middle
of the NFL’s championship extravaganza.
Halftime performances generate
massive ratings and, sometimes,
unexpected controversy such as when
Janet Jackson inadvertently suffered a
“wardrobe malfunction” that saw much
of her breast exposed in 2004, or Prince’s
2007 show that featured a strangely
shaped guitar that cast an obscene
shadow.
Mallika tired of getting
glamorous roles
A
Perry’s 12.5-minute performance did
not generate any such controversy and
the reaction on social media appeared
overwhelmingly positive, with many
users praising her live singing, her
dancers and her three quick costume
changes. Actress Anna Kendrick hailed
the pop star’s performance, sending her
compliments via Twitter.
“It’s official. Katy Perry is magic,” she
wrote.
“All jokes aside, @katyperry your
voice tonight was actually unreal.”
Rapper Snoop Dogg chimed in too,
tweeting: “If you were wondering that
was me in the Shark costume!!”
Missy Elliott was the star guest of the
performance, making a foggy entrance
BIGGEST GROSS
A
merican
Sniper”
shot
down another box office
record: Its $31.9 million is
the biggest Super Bowl weekend gross
ever. According to studio estimates
on Sunday, the Clint Eastwood film
narrowly surpassed the previous top
Super Bowl weekend draw at the North
American box office.
The concert film “Hannah Montana/
Miley Cyrus: The Best of Both Worlds
Concert Tour” opened with $31.1
million against the NFL’s big game
in 2008. Hollywood often avoids
competing with the Super Bowl as
to sing hits including “Get Ur Freak
On” and “Work It.” The newly-svelte
rap diva’s high-energy number “Lose
Control” was a crowd pleaser.
Perry’s grand finale was a spectacular
rendition of her huge hit “Firework.”
She climbed onto a star-shaped
platform and elevated above the
football field, cruising around the
stadium as fireworks burst around her,
to enthusiastic cheers and applause
from the crowd. The Super Bowl
was expected to draw a whopping 15
million viewers — or about one third of
all Americans — many of whom look
forward to the highly-anticipated halftime show and much-buzzed about
commercials.
— AFP
ctress Mallika Sherawat
says she is flooded with
offers of glamorous roles
in Bollywood.
Asked why is she choosy with
her scripts, Mallika said: “Yes, I am
a little choosy. Usually the roles
that I get from Bollywood are very
glamorous roles. I want to do roles
where I can act and I don’t want to
do just one song and dance.”
“My character has to be
different. If you are constantly
being offered only glamorous
roles, you will not do it. ‘Dirty
Politics’ is a platform to show my
talent,” said the actress, currently busy promoting her film “Dirty Politics”,
which also stars Om Puri.
The “Murder” star also shared that she doesn’t believe in camps.
“I don’t believe in camps. All these things are not important for me. I want
to be an independent woman who can take care of herself. I have never been
part of any groups,” said the actress who has worked with film-makers like
Anurag Basu, Mani Ratnam and Satish Kaushik.
— IANS
CO-STAR’S GESTURE
‘Sniper’ shoots down Super Bowl
weekend record with $31.9m
“
he Lunchbox” actress Nimrat Kaur is ecstatic about having attended
the Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles and living her
“favourite dream” of rubbing shoulders with some of her biggest
childhood idols.
“It was like a
dream,”
Nimrat
said.
“I
was
standing on the
same carpet as
Meryl Streep, Julia
Roberts, Jennifer
Aniston and Ethan
Hawke. It was as if I
had walked into my
favourite dream.”
Nimrat says she
was too shy to speak
to anyone, except
Ethan Hawke.
“When I saw
him on the red
carpet, I had to tell
him that ‘Great Expectations’ was one of my favourite films. I blurted it out
nervously. He was very nice to me. But to go and speak to Meryl Streep or
Julia Roberts was beyond me,” she said.
She admits “The Lunchbox” and now her stint on the American series
“Homeland” have brought her global recognition.
Call her the female Irrfan Khan, and she says: “That’s a very high
compliment indeed. To be bracketed with someone who has done Indian
cinema proud all over the world is very gratifying. But I’m a long away
from achieving that. Yes, ‘The Lunchbox’ and ‘Homeland’ have got me some
recognition outside India.”
In India, now Nimrat will be busy with her first full-fledged mainstream
commercial film.
“It’s a thriller called ‘Air Lift’ and I am cast opposite Akshay Kumar. He is
an actor known to be supportive of newcomers. The producers (Crouching
Tiger) are also progressive and practical. So I don’t feel nervous.”
movie-going falls dramatically on
Sunday, but “American Sniper” has
proven an unlikely sensation.
It has now made $248.9 million in
six weeks (and only three weeks of wide
release), making it the most lucrative war
movie without adjusting for inflation.
(The distinction was previously held
by Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private
Ryan.”) The competition was thin, as
Hollywood held off any high-profile
releases, effectively ceding the weekend
to football. The Weinstein Co
animated adaptation “Paddington”
came in a distant second with $8.5
million in its third weekend.
In a virtual tie with it was Paramount’s
found-footage, time-travelling thriller
“Project Almanac.” Made by Michael
Bay’s production company, Platinum
Dunes, “Project Almanac” led a trio
of new releases with modest box office
ambitions. “Black or White,” a raciallycharged custody drama that reteams
Kevin Costner with “The Upside of
Anger” director Mike Binder, opened in
fourth with $6.5 million.
Costner put up his own money to
help finance the film, which Relativity
Media distributed. Open Road’s “The
Loft,” a much-delayed remake of a 2008
Dutch thriller directed by its original
film-maker, Erik Van Looy, attracted
little interest.
It made just $2.9 million. That wasn’t
much more than the $1.5 million pulled
in by a package of TV reruns.
The HBO series “Game of Thrones”
earned that in 205 Imax theatres by
showing previously aired episodes ahead
of the April debut of the show’s fifth
season. Estimated ticket sales for Friday
through Sunday at US and Canadian
theatres, according to Rentrak. — AP
Ajith’s gift is appreciation for my
work: Parvathy Nair
A
ctress Parvathy Nair, who
has received a life-size
photograph of herself from
her “Yennai Arindhaal” co-star
Ajith Kumar, considers the gift as
appreciation for her work.
“Ajith is a great photographer and
he likes to click pictures between
shoots. He captured me in a very
candid pose and I didn’t even realise
it. He got the black-and-white picture
printed, framed and gifted it to
me. I think the picture is a gesture
of appreciation for my work. It
definitely means a lot coming from
him,” Parvathy said. She has hung the
photograph on the wall of her house.
Directed by Gautham Vasudev
Menon, “Yennai Arindhaal”, a
forthcoming Tamil action-thriller,
releases in cinemas on Thursday.
“It was the most comfortable team
I’ve worked with. Everybody made
me feel like family and I was so excited
to go and shoot every day. On the last
day of the shoot, I felt so bad to leave
the place. The shooting environment
was so much serene and fun,” said
Parvathy, who is currently a bundle
of nerves.
The film is Parvathy’s big ticket
in Tamil filmdom. When she was
approached for the project, she
had no clue about her role or
its length but she placed her
faith in Gautham.
“He’s known to portray
women in films in strong
roles and make them
stand out. That’s precisely
why I didn’t have any
second thoughts about
being part of the project,”
she said.
The film also features
Arun Vijay, Trisha Krishnan
and Anushka Shetty in
important roles. Parvathy
is also awaiting the release of
Kamal Haasan-starrer Tamil
comedy “Uttama Villain”, in
which she essays an
important
role.
30
LIFESTYLE
omandailyobserver
T U E S DAY
FEBRUARY 3 l 2015
HEALTH
Diabetes drug
may up cancer
risk in smokers
D
HUMBLE SNACK GOES GOURMET
QANNA CUENCA
L
ong taken for granted
as a mere snack, Spain’s
humble
tapas
has
graduated from the
neighbourhood
cafe
to the realm of haute
cuisine.
Inspired by its simplicity and
versatility, top Michelin-starred chefs
are taking on the traditional finger-food
to whet the appetite, or making a meal of
it with tapas-only restaurants.
“Tapas used to be considered
something common and almost secondrate,” says Angel Moreton, head of the
International School of Gastronomy in
Valladolid.
“But in recent years there has been a
boom and now we are seeing some real
marvels.”
His school holds an annual tapas
competition for visiting chefs from a
dozen countries.
The rise of tapas was part of the
Spanish food revolution of the late
1990s, driven by legendary Catalan chef
Ferran Adria and his prize-winning
eatery El Bulli, which closed in 2011.
Adria and his brother Albert opened
a tapas restaurant in Barcelona, which
still serves El Bulli treats such as tomato
tartare, cod with avocado or octopus
and squid crisps.
Other chefs have followed their lead
in opening restaurants exclusively for
SPAIN’S TAPAS HAS
GRADUATED FROM THE
NEIGHBOURHOOD CAFE
TO THE REALM OF HAUTE
CUISINE. TAPAS USED
TO BE CONSIDERED
SOMETHING COMMON
AND ALMOST SECONDRATE. BUT IN RECENT
YEARS THERE HAS BEEN
A BOOM, LARGELY
THANKS TO THE SPANISH
FOOD REVOLUTION OF
THE LATE 1990S
tapas, bringing gourmet nibbles to the
street at affordable prices.
“That has been the great revolution
in Spanish cooking over recent years,”
said Moreton. ‘‘You find such creativity
now even in small neighbourhood food
joints.” The word tapa means “lid”, and
the culinary term is thought to date to
the Middle Ages.
To this day tapas are served free
with beverages in Spain: often a simple
slice of bread topped with ham, cheese,
tortilla or whatever else is to hand.
Their versatility encourages creativity,
says Sergi Arola, a Spanish chef with two
Michelin stars.
“A tapa is not intended necessarily
as a starter nor as a main course, nor a
dessert,” he said.
Among Arola’s tapas creations
are Portobello mushroom carpaccio
marinated in white truffle oil, chicken
wings with kimchi sauce, and his own
take on a Spanish classic, patatas bravas
— potatoes in spicy sauce.
The essence of tapas, Spaniards say, is
above all in the way they are eaten: with
the fingers, standing up and sharing.
In Madrid’s trendy San Miguel food
market, locals and tourists stand elbow
to elbow, tapas in one hand and a glass
of beverage in the other.
“Eating tapas is all about the
atmosphere,” says Maripaz Sanchez, a
retired secretary of 72, sharing a table
in the market with her sister and two
young strangers.
“We have made many friends this
way,” says her sister, Merche, 74.
Nearby, US tourist Clare Dreyer, 33,
leans at a restaurant with her fiance,
Jared Hendee, 36, in rapture at the range
of gourmet tapas.
“This is an experience all on its own,”
says Dreyer. ‘‘We’re going to have tapas
at our wedding reception.”
The boom has caught on, with
“creative tapas” workshops — such as
the sell-out one at the De Olla y Sarten
cooking school in Madrid.
In class, journalist Marta Morales,
31, learns to make filo pastry stuffed
with spinach and miniature baskets of
parmesan cheese with corn salad and
salmon.
“Since you have to prepare more
recipes than in a normal menu, you
end up with more ideas and you can
experiment more,” she says. Top chef
Arola revels in the spreading trend.
“There is a risk,” he warns, however.
“That they start serving tapas in fast
food restaurants and it ends up getting
discredited.”
— AFP
Nanowire clothes to soon
keep you warm
A
team of US scientists has
developed a novel nanowire
coating for clothes that can
both generate heat and trap the heat
from our bodies better than regular
clothes.
“The technology can help us reduce
our reliance on conventional energy
sources,” said lead researcher Yi Cui
from Stanford University in California.
Cui and team developed lightweight,
breathable mesh materials that are
flexible enough to coat normal clothes.
When compared to regular clothing
material, the special nanowire cloth
trapped body heat far more effectively.
Because the coatings are made out
of conductive materials, they can also
be actively warmed with an electricity
source to further crank up the heat.
The researchers calculated that their
thermal textiles could save about 1,000
kilowatt hours per person every year
— that is about how much electricity
an average US home consumes in one
month.
Scientists and policymakers the
world over are trying to reduce the
impact of indoor heating by improving
insulation and construction materials
to keep fuel-generated warmth inside.
The paper appeared in the ACS
journal Nano Letters. — IANS
epending on their smoking
history, a drug may have
contrary effects on people
suffering from diabetes — reducing
lung cancer risk among nonsmokers
and increasing the risk among
smokers. Among nonsmokers who
had diabetes, those who took the
diabetes drug metformin had a
decrease in lung cancer risk, the
findings showed.
“Our results suggest that risk
might differ by smoking history, with
metformin decreasing risk among
nonsmokers and increasing risk
among current smokers,” said Lori
Sakoda, research scientist at Kaiser
Permanente Division of Research
in Oakland, California. The study
involved 47,351 diabetic patients (54
per cent men), 40 years or older, who
completed a health-related survey
between 1994 and 1996. During 15
years of follow-up, 747 patients were
diagnosed with lung cancer.
Metformin use was not associated
with lower lung cancer risk overall;
however, the risk was 43 per cent
lower among diabetic patients who
had never smoked, and the risk
appeared to decrease with longer use.
Metformin use for five or more
years was associated with a 31
per cent decrease in the risk for
adenocarcinoma, the most common
type of lung cancer diagnosed in
nonsmokers, and an 82 per cent
increase in the risk for small-cell
carcinoma, a type of lung cancer
often diagnosed in smokers. The
study appeared in the journal Cancer
Prevention Research.
Why humans are
affected less by
retroviral infections
C
ompared to other mammals,
the proportion of humans
infected with retroviruses
is less and we have fewer remnants
of viral DNA in our genes, a new
research has found.
This could be because of reduced
exposure to blood-borne viruses as
humans evolved to use tools rather
than biting during violent conflict
and the hunting of animals, the
researchers noted.
“One reason for the reduction
in retroviral incorporation into the
human genome might be a change
in behaviour as humans evolved,”
the study noted. “Fewer bloody
fights and less exposure to infected
meat meant that compared to other
animals, our ancestors became
less likely to encounter blood, a
major route for viral infection,” the
researchers explained.
“Considering us simply as a primate
species, the proportion of human
individuals that are infected with
retroviruses is much less than among
our relatives such as chimpanzees,”
said Robert Belshaw from Plymouth
University in Britain.
— IANS
LOCAL VARIANT
‘Spewing buffalos’: Understanding Uganda’s ‘Uglish’
Bernard Sabiiti,
the author of the
first Uglish
dictionary, posing
with his book at
his office in
Kampala. — AFP
QAMY FALLON
A
“detoother” or a “dentist” is a golddigger looking for a wealthy partner,
while “spewing out buffalos” means
you can’t speak proper English. And a “sidedish” isn’t served by a waiter.
Those and other terms are articles in
Uganda’s strange, often funny locally-adapted
English known as “Uglish,” which is now
published for the first time in dictionary form.
“It is so entrenched right now that, even
when you think you cannot use it, you
actually find yourself speaking Uglish,”
Bernard Sabiiti, the author of the first Uglish
dictionary, said. “Even as I was researching, I
was surprised that these words are not English
because they were the only ones I knew. A
word like a ‘campuser’ — a university student
— I used to think was an English word.”
“Uglish: A Dictionary of Ugandan
English,” which went on sale in bookshops
across the east African country late last year,
contains hundreds of popular Uglish terms,
some coined by Ugandans as far back as the
colonial period.
Sabiiti, 32, said the informal patois was
greatly influenced by the local Luganda
language, and is a “symptom of a serious
problem with our education system” that he
claims has been deteriorating since the 1990s.
Uglish is largely dependent on sentences
being literally translated, word for word, from
local dialects with little regard for context,
while vocabulary used is derived from
standard English. Meantime, Sabiiti says,
influence from the Internet, local media and
musicians have seen additional words and
phrases created and slowly enter the lexicon.
The result is colourful but at times
confounding expressions. If you haven’t seen
someone for a while, for example, you’re “lost”,
while if you “design well”, you are snappy
dresser. Today, Uglish is used by people from
all walks of life, but particularly popular with
youths. English is the working language in
Uganda, and it remains the only medium of
instruction in schools and in official business.
But Sabiiti said everyone from the president
to simple farmers speak at least some Uglish,
which varies according to region, tribe and
gender, and is regularly seen on signposts.
“MPs are almost notorious at using Uglish,
you see it in parliamentary debates,” said
Sabiiti. But it wasn’t until 2011, a year after
the term Uglish — pronounced “You-glish”
— had been coined on social media, that
Sabiiti began keeping newspaper cuttings,
conducting interviews and searching online
for material for his book.
— AFP
SPOTLIGHT
T U E S DAY
FEBRUARY 3 l 2015
omandailyobserver
31
DR RAJAN PHILIPS
[email protected]
Heroes and Heroines
With a Difference
A
Camels, cartoon characters enthral
CAMELS AND CARTOON CHARACTERS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN POPULAR
WITH CHILDREN. MUSCAT FESTIVAL HAS BROUGHT THESE ENTHRALLING
PLAYERS TO AL AMERAT AND NASEEM GARDEN AS YOU’VE NEVER SEEN
THEM BEFORE – UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL
QHASAN KAMOONPURI
T
he ongoing 15th edition of
Muscat Festival 2015 is providing
world-class, never-seen before
family entertainment in the
form of camel, horse and donkey
rides and daily cartoon character
interactions, roaring dinosaurs, circus, magic and
scintillating stage shows.
Children like the very sight of camels, horses
and cartoon characters, which provide memorable
moments for them and their families as they click
pictures and make short videos with the walking
and talking life-sized cartoon characters such as
Tom, Jerry, a Smurf, Barney, Shrek, Ninja Turtles
or Po the Panda.
A number of boys from different Omani
schools are gracefully playing around 14 cartoon
characters and clowns. They say while it is fun to
see kids running to shake hands, sometimes it is
annoying when small boys pull their tail or hands.
Female children are much more caring than the
boys, they say and that explains why they prefer to
pose with small girls.
Camels and cartoon characters have always
been popular with children, but these days being
up close with them, they get a chance to see them
from close quarters. Muscat Festival has brought
these enthralling players to Al Amerat and Naseem
Garden as you’ve never seen them before — up
close and personal, say visitors.
It is both fun and learning opportunity for the
kids when they come to know interesting facts
RED AND DEAD
about the camels doing rides at Al Amerat and
Naseem Garden: that Arabian camels (also called
Dromedary Camels) have only one hump and
they weigh between 650-1,300 pounds measure 7
feet tall from the top of their hump to their feet.
Camels are sometimes called “ship of the desert.”
This is because they hold a lot of items to transport
through the desert. Camels can run at speeds up to
40 miles per hour for short periods of time.
They usually travel 25 miles a day at 3 miles
per hour. Camels are herbivores, meaning they eat
mostly greens and vegetation such as grass, grains,
seeds, twigs and even plants with thorns. Camels
have thick lips which allow them to eat the thorny
plants without getting hurt. Camels have three sets
of eyelids with two rows of eyelashes, which help
keep the desert sand and dust out of their eyes.
The camel’s lifespan is between 40 and 50 years.
A camel can drink up to 40 gallons of water at
one time. Some people eat camel meat and drink
camel’s milk. If you want to see and ride on camels
visit Al Amerat and Naseem Gardens.
Camels are friendly, so kids like to touch them
and ride on them in Al Amerat and Naseem
Garden, both the venues are providing great family
entertainment, say the visitors.
As a family entertainment destination, Muscat
Festival always strives to provide an environment
that is filled with joy and surprises.
This year, because of the 45th anniversary of
the Omani Renaissance, in particular the festival
is one of the ways of ensuring that the kids and
their parents get a memorable experience at all the
venues of Muscat Festival.
dversity, they say, brings out the best out of people
of character. Like fire tests the purity of gold, such
brave hearts refuse to yield when faced with trying
circumstances. Often they reveal extraordinary mental
toughness to surmount the hurdles and provide hope
and motivation to the faint-hearted.
What could be more daunting than to confront an advanced stage of
a potentially terminal illness like cancer and doctors conclude that your
days on earth are numbered?
Cancer has been a dreaded word, but the World Cancer Day, observed
annually on February 4, aims to create public awareness about its causes
and effective treatment through early diagnosis. It is in this context that we
need to view the lives of gallant cancer victims and survivors who showed
the world how to battle the odds with determination and contribute to
cancer awareness programmes.
Christina Applegate, an American actress and dancer, was a breast
cancer patient who underwent a double mastectomy. She has started her
own cancer foundation.
Lance Armstrong, the ace cyclist, was diagnosed with testicular cancer
in 1996 that spread to his brain and lungs. Doctors gave him little chance
of survival, but he not only went on to win the battle against cancer, but
also won the prestigious Tour de France seven times! Later revelations of
his use of performance enhancing drugs may have cast a shadow on his
reputation as a top athlete, but his successful fight against cancer proved a
great source of inspiration for cancer victims.
Olivia Newton John, a British-born Australian singer, songwriter and
actress, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996. She survived and now
donates large part of her earnings to cancer organisations.
But the most inspiring example probably is the exciting and poignant
story of the Canadian star Terry Fox. As a teenager, he was good at many
sports, but in 1977 at 18, he was diagnosed with bone cancer and his right
leg had to be amputated 15 centimetres above the knee and was fitted
with an artificial limb made of fibreglass and steel. Yet, he refused to be
shattered by the woeful turn of events.
Even as he lay in hospital he was more moved by the suffering of other
cancer patients, particularly very young children. He resolved straightaway
to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research.
That was the birth of the now internationally acclaimed Terry Fox
Run concept that he originally called the Marathon of Hope. He trained
over a period of 18 months by running over 5,000 kilometres braving the
elements of nature. Then he began the momentous run across Canada,
from St John’s, Newfoundland, on April 12, 1980. He ran close to 42
kilometres a day.
Gradually, public support grew and the money collected for the cause
swelled. After traversing over 5,373 km across the provinces of Quebec
and Ontario in 143 days, he had to stop due to bad health. Terry died in
hospital on June 28, 1981 at the age 22. But he had shown incredible and
selfless courage and set in motion a great movement.
Over $650 million has been raised worldwide for cancer research in
Terry’s name through the annual Terry Fox Run, held across Canada and
around the world, including Oman. He won numerous awards even as he
lay in hospital fighting for his life, and later posthumously.
The continued popularity of the Terry Fox Run will surely keep his
name alive for posterity. And can there be better time than the World
Cancer Day to pay homage to such incredible heroes?
A few Terry Fox quotes:
¾ I believe in miracles. I have to.
¾ It took cancer to make me realise that being self-centred is not the
way to live.
RISE TO THE TOP
Why some galaxies die young FIRAS AL HINAI wins Red Bull Local Hero for second year
F
S
ome galaxies die early because
they expel the gas needed to make
new stars early, suggests a study.
There are two main types of
galaxies, ‘blue’ galaxies that are still
actively making new stars and ‘red’
galaxies that have stopped growing,
said astrophysicist Ivy Wong from the
University of Western Australia.
Most galaxies transition from blue
to ‘red and dead’ slowly after two billion
years or more, but some transition
suddenly after less than a billion years
— young in cosmic terms.
The researchers looked for the first
time at four galaxies on the cusp of their
star formation shutting down, each at a
different stage in the transition.
Galaxies approaching the end
of their star formation phase had
expelled most of their gas, the findings
showed.
It is unclear why the gas was being
expelled. “One possibility is that it
could be blown out by the galaxy’s
supermassive black hole,” Wong noted.
“Another possibility is that the gas
could be ripped out by a neighbouring
galaxy, although the galaxies in the pilot
project are all isolated and don’t appear
to have others nearby,” she added.
The study appeared in the
journal Monthly Notices of the Royal
Astronomical Society.
— IANS
or the second consecutive year,
Firas al Hinai claimed first
place at the Red Bull Local Hero
Tour 2015 after battling amongst the
best local skateboarders. The Omani
Local Hero showed his diverse range
of technical tricks, all pulled with a
distinctively smooth, laid-back style, to
finish first. He was followed by runner
up Haitham al Wahaibi in second place
and Khidir Amirrudin in third place.
After being announced as the
winner, Al Hinai said: “I feel good
and really happy about winning
again especially since there was much
stronger competition this year and
everyone has improved a lot. I skate
as much as I can every day and so it’s a
great feeling to come first.”
The technical aspects of the
competition were supervised by
Red Bull athlete and International
skateboarder Gavin Adams, also
known as ‘Moses’, who flew in from
South Africa especially to judge the
event.
The judging process was done on the
degree of difficult and consistency of
tricks. Adams explained the technical
standards on which he relied to make
his final decision, saying “the point
system is out of 10 and we score
them depending on the difficulty and
complexity of each trick. The level here
is definitely progressing.”
Talking about his experience in
Oman, Adams said: “Oman is an
awesome place and the experience has
been great so far. It was exactly how
I imaged it to be and the architecture
is unique and very different to back
home.”
Skateboarders
participated
in
a workshop held the previous day
before competing in the competition.
A specially designed skate park at
Tanuf Warehouse brought out the best
skating techniques and tricks by the
skateboarders. Talking about the layout
of the skate park, Adams said: “I think
the setup is good, it’s very different and
the ramps have been built well. I think
the location of the warehouse creates a
real underground theme.”
TUESDAY | FEBRUARY 3, 2015 | RABEE AL THANI 13, 1436 AH
P29
P30
P31
Inside
Firas wins Red Bull Local Hero for second year Nanowire clothes to soon keep you warm Nimrat was thrilled to share red carpet with idols FOLLOW US ON:
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QMELANIE HELD
A
s part of Bait Muzna’s
15th
anniversary,
Iraq born artist Sabah
Arbilli has come up
with an exhibition
of over 20 art pieces,
which will be on show until February 23,
under the title ‘15/15’.
The exhibition’s title has special
meaning to both the gallery and Sabah
himself as they both are celebrating 15
years of art in their own way.
For Bait Muzna, HH Sayyida Susan al
Said looked back at when the building first
took on its artistic look, and since then
has grown to
become
a
Art with a message
‘15 YEARS OF SHARING AND 15 YEARS OF CREATIVITY’
AS AN ARTIST I LIKE TO BE FREE IN TERMS OF USING COLOUR. THE
NATURE OF MY WORK IS LAYERS ON TOP OF ONE ANOTHER, SO I HAVE TO
BE CAREFUL HOW I USE THE COLOURS IN HARMONY, SAYS
IRAQ BORN ARTIST SABAH ARBILLI, WHOSE ARTWORKS ARE ON
SHOW AT BAIT MUZNA
“wonderful
house
of
art.” She continues and
shares the vision of Bait Muzna as it is a
house that looks to “give to the community
and support the local artists.”
“It was 15 years ago that I started my
degree as an artist and I left my engineering
behind and began concentrating on art,”
says Sabah Arbilli.
As for Sabah Arbilli, the transition he
made between the two different fields
was one that he found to be simple.
Always into art and the creative side of
the world, Sabah found that becoming
an artist opened up a new world to him,
for it was then that he was able to “share
(his) thoughts and creativity with others.”
Being able to relate and communicate
with people non-verbally is important to
any artist. “Art as you know is an amazing
platform to communicate with people
on different levels. I can talk about me,
my culture, then stuff that I know with
other people through my art”, he
added.
“As an artist, I like to
be free in terms of using
colour. The nature of my
work is layers on top of
one another so I have
to be careful how I use
the colours in harmony,”
explained Sabah.
Talking briefly about
Sabah’s art work, Christine
O’Donnell, Art Director of
Bait Muzna, explained: “He
focuses on Arabic calligraphy,
his letters are his tools of communication.”
Adding to this, Sabah explained that “in
my art I always think deep, so it always
takes me back to my origins because the
nature of my work is inspired by Arabic
letters, by the Arabic alphabet.”
Explaining how he comes up with his
work and the thought process that goes
with it, Sabah said that “I sit with myself
and think ‘what am I going to do?’”
“I am absolutely useless without a text.
Without having the text in front of me I
cannot get inspired. Sometimes these
texts take me to, I say ‘a 3D world’ which
takes me to the root of its meaning and
then I can start painting straight away,” he
added.
On each of his works of art, may it
be clear or not upon first sight, “there is
always a text and a message” in all of them.
“I used words from the Quran or words of
wisdom, but I don’t take the literal words,
I take the meaning behind it, the way I
see it. I translate the meaning into my
own vision — it’s an expression,” he
added.
With each wall on the top floor
incorporating some of his work,
Sabah explained some of this works
to his guests, one of which was the 15
round art pieces.
“The 15 paintings represent the
15 years I have been in the art world,”
he explained. Each one of them, once
again containing a message, but as Sahab
further explains, “the whole letter cannot
be seen, part of it is hidden away” as if to
say that sometimes in life we don’t always
receive the full message, even though it is
right in front of us.”
“It was a beautiful building with
calligraphy writing all over it and all you
can see is the calligraphy writing all burnt
down.”
Sabah’s work does not only consist of
painted art pieces, but also of installations.
These pieces are works that are inspired
by a “beautiful building in Mosul, Iraq,”
that is now burnt down. In honour of
this Sabah has made these burnt wooden
pieces as his replication of what it has
become now.
From an engineer to an internationally
recognised artist and from a house to an
exquisite art galley, the past 15 years for
both Sabah Arbilli and the Bait Muzna
Gallery have shown that art can be in all
of us.
READING THE MIND
Even infants can follow complex social situations
O
ne-year-old babies can
make sense of complex
social situations, taking
into account who knows what
about whom, says a study.
“Our findings show that
13-month-olds can make sense
of social situations using their
understanding about others’ minds
and social evaluation skills,” said
psychological scientists and study
authors You-jung Choi and Yuyan
Luo from University of Missouri.
For the study, the researchers
brought 48 infants, who were
around one-year-old, into the lab
for their experiment.
Two puppets (A and B) appeared
on stage and clapped their hands or
hopped around together, allowing
the infants to familiarise themselves
with the characters and learn that A
and B were friendly with each other.
Then, the infants were presented
with a particular social scenario.
In one, the infants saw a third
puppet, C, approached and get
deliberately knocked down by B, as
A looked on from the side.
In another scenario, B knocked
down C, but A was not present.
And in a third scenario, C was
accidentally knocked down as A
looked on.
The researchers found that the
infants responded to outcomes
in the three scenarios differently,
in accordance with the social
implications of each scenario.
Infants cannot tell us what they
expect to happen, so the researchers
turned to looking time as a way of
getting at infants’ expectations.
Things that were normal or
expected were relatively boring
and infants quickly looked away,
but things that were unusual
or unexpected, however, were
interesting and infants spent more
time looking at the novel thing.
So, if A was a witness to the
deliberate hit, the infants seemed to
expect A to shun B.
“This to us indicates infants have
strong feelings about how people
should deal with a character who
hits others,” the researchers noted.
The study appeared in the
journal Psychological Science.
— IANS