is a drive to salalah too risky

SUNDAY | AUGUST 9, 2015 | SHAWWAL 23, 1436 AH
VOL. 34 NO. 268 | PAGES 32 | BAISAS 200
P19 Tata Motors cuts sales, production targets for JLR
P32 Everest is now safe for visitors
P25 England retain Ashes with stunning win
Inside
Chief Executive Officer
DR IBRAHIM BIN AHMED AL KINDI
A material unfit for the purpose Mali hotel siege ends, 12 killed Saudi identifies mosque bomber 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
HM greetings
to Singapore
MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos has
sent a cable of greetings to President
Dr Tony Tan, President of the Republic
of Singapore, on the occasion of the
National Day of his country. In his cable,
His Majesty the Sultan conveyed his
sincere greetings to Dr Tony Tan, and the
people of Singapore further progress
and prosperity.
EUROPE
EU sees progress
in Greek talks
BRUSSELS: Greece is on track to
complete a draft deal on a third bailout
by Tuesday and possibly get a first
disbursement by August 20 to meet
a key payment, sources familiar with
a conference call of senior EU finance
officials said. Athens is negotiating with
European Union institutions and the
International Monetary Fund for up to
86 billion euros in fresh loans to stave off
economic collapse and stay in the euro
zone. REPORT ON P14
INSIDESTORIES
TYPHOON KILLS FIVE IN
TAIWAN, HEADS TO CHINA
P6
DOZENS DIE IN WAVE OF
ATTACKS IN AFGHANISTAN
P7
P12
AUSTRALIA PROBES HOME
PURCHASES BY EXPATS
WEATHER TODAY
MUSCAT
MAX: 420C
MIN: 340C
SALALAH
MAX: 280C
MIN: 250C
NIZWA
MAX: 450C
MIN: 290C
SUNRISE 05.38 AM
[email protected]
IS A DRIVE
TO SALALAH
TOO RISKY
DEATH ON ROADS: Five foreign tourists
killed in accident during weekend
also has a single carriageway for most
part of travel it becomes an extremely
risky proposition,” said Mohammed, a
frequent traveller on this route.”
Seven people, including a three-yearold girl child died and more than 30
people were injured in a road accident
in Haima, around 500 km from Salalah,
in the wee hours of Saturday.
Adil al Balushi, who frequently
travels by bus to Salalah from Rusayl,
said, “It is a risk to travel by road
because of the long-stretch. Many times
a single driver is behind the wheel and
the lives of passengers heavily depend
on his alert level.”
He added that the dual carriage
project when completed may reduce
head-on collisions, but what about
drivers who tend to over-speed and
overtake throwing caution into wind.
Ramakrishna Menon, who travels
regularly to Salalah by road, said: “One
major problem is lack of good resthouses on the way to encourage drivers
to take short or even long break during
the journey.”
Taking serious note of the accidents
involving both citizens and foreign
nationals, the ROP has launched
awareness campaigns to reduce
accidents and minimise casualties.
TURN TO P3
August 8: Road accidents continue to
take toll of not only citizens and residents
in Oman, but also that of visitors coming
to the Sultanate for holidays. Going by
the trend, the killer road stretch has
been the Adam-Thumrait road on the
Muscat-Salalah route.
Last Friday, the Bahraini media
quoted the country’s foreign ministry
as saying that two Bahrainis were killed
and three others were injured in a car
crash in Oman. The foreign ministry
said the accident involved 18 people,
including the five Bahrainis who were
on a holiday.
On Thursday, an Emirati family of
five, including a nine-year-old child,
died after their vehicle collided with a
truck in Adam. According to the Royal
Oman Police, the reports said that the
driver of the vehicle lost control and
collided head-on with a water tanker.
The possible cause of the accident could
be fatigue and tiredness.
With the drive extending to over
10 hours, driver fatigue and tiredness
has been seen as the main reasons.
“Most of the travel is done during
night so that people can reach their
destinations on either side by early
morning. The fact that the section
FALL IN
ROAD ACCIDENTS
2014
2015
2,958
404
2,909
407
OMANIS: 208 EXPATS: 99
PRAYER TIMINGS
FAJR: 04:16
DHUHR: 12:12
ASR: 15:37
MAGHRIB: 18:44
ISHA: 20:14
1.7%
ROAD ACCIDENTS
24%
43.8%
DEATHS
INJURIES
Signs of a lake found on red planet
NEW YORK: Researchers have
discovered evidence of an ancient lake
on Mars that likely represents some of
the last potentially habitable surface
water ever to exist on the red planet.
Researchers at the University of
Colorado at Boulder, examined an
18-square-mile chloride salt deposit in
the planet’s Meridiani region near the
Mars Opportunity rover’s landing site.
Large-scale salt deposits are considered
to be evidence of evaporated bodies of
water.
“This was a long-lived lake, and
we were able to put a very good time
boundary on its maximum age,” said
Brian Hynek, a research associate at the
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space
Physics (LASP) at CU-Boulder and lead
STATISTICS SHOW THAT GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE FELL BY 5 PER CENT DUE TO
RATIONALISTAION IN RESPONSE TO FALL IN OIL REVENUES, WHICH CONTRIBUTES
84.3 PER CENT OF THE STATE’S REVENUES.
2014
2015
Public expenditure
5.06 billion
4.80 billion
Oman crude
$103.23
$59.3
Expenditure
15,171,800,000
13,949,500,000
in 2013
14.1 billion)
(Expenditure estimated at
Total revenues declined
6.04 billion
3.85 billion
Investment expenditure
1.12 billion
1.078 billion
Development expenditure
for civil ministries drop by
648.3 million
579.1 million
Subsidy and contributions
709.3 million
484.3 million
Captial expenditure
VINOD NAIR
MUSCAT
No. of accidents
No. of deaths
PUBLIC EXPENDITURE DROPS
A long-lived lake on Mars
author of the study.
“We can be pretty certain that this
is one of the last instances of a sizeable
lake on Mars,” Hynek emphsised.
Digital terrain mapping and
mineralogical analysis of the features
surrounding the deposit indicate that
this one-time lake bed is no older than
3.6 billion years old, well after the time
period when Mars is thought to have
been warm enough to sustain large
amounts of surface water planet-wide.
Planetary scientists believe that the
solar system was formed approximately
4.6 billion years ago.
Based on the extent and thickness
of the salt, the researchers estimate that
the lake was only about eight per cent as
salty as the Earth’s oceans and therefore
may have been hospitable to microbial
life.
“By salinity alone, it certainly seems
as though this lake would have been
habitable throughout much of its
existence,” Hynek dded. The study was
published in the journal, Geology.
— IANS
5%
43%
36.2%
4.1%
10.7%
31.7%
6.3%
8.9 million
CURRENT EXPENDITURE DECLINED
9.7%
6.6%
2.3
%
Civil Ministries
Defence and National security
REVENUES DECLINED
46.3%
0.1%
3.7%
Net Oil
Gas
Capital
Loan Interest
29.1%
30.3%
1.8%
Other
Custom
Income tax
REPORT ON P5
Banks vying
with low
interest rates
on loans
SAMUEL KUTTY
MUSCAT
August 8: In a race against time to
attract as much customers as possible,
local banks are vying to expand their
loan portfolio by offering low interest
rates to both public and private sector
employees. Some banks are offering
rates even less than 4 per cent to lure
more customers and overcome the
ever-increasing competition they are
facing from foreign banks operating in
the Sultanate.
“The trend of offering personal
loans at low rates has been set by the
foreign banks. This has led to loss of
our clientele base to a certain extent,”
said a manager of a leading bank.
He said that for those banks which
have limited branches and resources in
Oman, this is the only way to survive in
the competitive market in Oman.
“This has forced the local banks
to resort to offer loans at maximum
lowest rates as possible”, he added.
TURN TO P3
2
PALM TREES AND ITS MULTI USES
S U N DAY l A U G U ST 9 l 2 0 1 5
OMAN
The Governorate of Dhofar is unique
in terms of planting coconut palm
trees due to favourable climatic
condition for such trees. As per the
agricultural census of 2012-13, the
number of coconut palm trees is
estimated at 148,869 exclusive of
coconut palm trees in public parks
and places and private houses.
— Full report on page 4
BLOOD DONATION CAMP HELD
A blood donation camp was held at
Ibri Hospital conducted as part of an
awareness campaign organised by the
hospital. The campaign also helped
provide awareness on how dengue is
transmitted and ways to prevent it.
Response from various segments of
society and their understanding of the
importance of blood donation was also
highlighted.
Deal signed for contract survey to
extend limits of continental shelf
MUSCAT: The Sultanate has signed a
contract survey for projects to extend
the limits of the continental shelf with
Gardline CGG Pte Ltd, a joint venture
formed between Gardline and CGG.
The contract was signed on behalf
of the government and between
Continental Shelf and Maritime
Affairs at the Foreign Ministry with the
contract signed on behalf of Company
Maxim Ivan.
The agreement aims to prepare a
comprehensive file to complete the
extension of the limits of the shelf
procedures in accordance with Article
76 of the United Nations Convention
on the Law of the Sea in 1982.
It is worth mentioning that the
Sultanate had in 15 months in April
2009, extended the limits of the
continental shelf to the Commission on
Information Continental Shelf of the
United Nations.
It is intended to the continental
shelf and the actual natural extension
to the bottom of the earth within the
continental seas. The pact extends its
continental shelf for a total distance of
up to a maximum of 350 nautical miles
measured from the baseline.
The agreement aids exploration of
non-living resources (oil, gas, minerals)
in addition to scientific research and
configures a database freely. — ONA
Ithraa business
team begins
India visit
MUSCAT: An Omani
business delegation led
by Dr Salim bin Nassir
al Ismaeeli, Chairman of
the Public Authority for
Investment
Promotion
and Exports Development,
Ithraa heads to India today.
The visit comes within
the framework of Ithraa’s
efforts to strengthen the
trade relations between
the Sultanate and India
and enhancing the export
and investment sectors by
finding partnerships with
the Indian counterparts.
The
delegation
comprises
14
local
companies from various
sectors in the Sultanate.
The Omani delegation
will
organise
an
introductory
seminar
tomorrow to review the
investment and export
opportunities
in
the
Sultanate and highlighting
role of Ithraa.
The seminar will be
followed by a series of
bilateral meetings between
the importers, agents and
manufacturers in the Indian
and Omani companies
working in the field of
food, petrochemicals and
plastics.
The visit will promote
“The
Omani-Indian
Investment Forum”, which
will be organised by Ithraa
in Muscat during October
12, 13 in a bid to explore the
investment opportunities
in the Sultanate. — ONA
OMAN
S U N DAY
AUGUST 9 l 2015
Capital market finances over
RO 900m projects in 2014
BUOYANT: Despite the effects of the decline in oil prices on the performance of the sector,
it still plays an important role in its contribution to the growth of the national economy
MUSCAT: The capital market in the Sultanate
contributed to financing economically feasible
projects worth about RO 907 million. This reflects
the ability of the sector to provide the required
liquidity for the different sizes of projects.
Indicators published by the Capital Market
Authority (CMA) show that the capital market
sector can provide the same level of finance
provided by the banking sector and even higher as
it had been the case in 2012 and 2013.
The annual report published by CMA for 2014
pointed out that the size of the capital market
sector grew by 3 per cent to hit RO 14.56 billion
in 2014 compared to RO 14.16 billion in 2013.
This highlights the fact that the capital market is
considered one of the main pillars of the national
economy in the Sultanate.
The report points out that the size of the market
as of the end of 2014 may not represent the actual
size of the capital market sector of the Sultanate
because the economic conditions witnessed by
the world due to the decline in oil prices at the
third quarter of 2014 have great effect on the
performance of the market during the last quarter
of 2014. This made the size of the market records
slightly increase.
The size of the market also stood at about RO
15.61 billion at the third quarter of 2014 compared
to RO 13.46 billion at the same period in 2013; a
growth by 15 per cent.
This points out that despite the effects of
the decline in oil prices on the performance
of the sector, it still plays an important role in
its contribution to the growth of the national
economy. The sector represents 30 per cent of the
Sultanate’s GDP.
The number of IPOs at Muscat Securities
Market during last year stood at 4 worth of RO
74.76 million, which reflects the high liquidity of
the market and the ability of the sector to finance
major economic projects.
The dividends distributed by the public joint
stock companies on their shareholders stood at
about RO 450.18 million of which 92 per cent
were cash dividends and the remainder were stock
dividend or convertible bonds. These dividends
added new returns for shareholders.
The value of dividends was 5 per cent of the
total value of all listed companies and 55 per cent
of the unaudited gross net annual profits for 2014.
— ONA
Is drive to Salalah turning too risky?
FROM PAGE 1
It has been requesting motorists to
check the condition of their vehicles
before embarking on a long drive and
also urging them to strictly maintain
speed limits.
The Ministry of Transport and
Communications had signed two
agreements worth RO 201 million for
road projects in May this year for the
first phase of Adam-Thamrait dual
carriageway (120.4 km) and service
roads with a length of (20.35 km).
These two phases of the project is
expected to be ready in 2018.
Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed al
Futaisi, Minister of Transport and
Communications, had then said in a
statement that the implementation of
these projects comes as a continuation
of the parts that have been dualised,
which started from the Farq
roundabout in Nizwa to Adam with
a total length of about 62 km, adding
that the road is one of the roads that
link the governorates of Al Dakhiliyah,
Al Sharqiyah and Al Wusta with the
Governorate of Dhofar.
He said that the dualisation of the
two phases in this way will contribute
effectively to the smooth flow of traffic
and thus reduce as much as possible
road accidents, especially during the
khareef season, adding that the road
will, after completion, help improve
tourism in Dhofar.
Reports of road accidents involving
passengers travelling to and from
Salalah have come despite a recent
report on road accidents from
National Centre for Statistics and
Information (NCSI).
Banks vying with low interest rates
FROM PAGE 1
While one of the leading banks
has slashed interest rate for the first
six months of the loan period as low
as 3.95 per cent and 5.5 per cent for
the remaining instalments, another
bank has 4.25 per cent for the first
12 months and 5.75 for the balance
period.
“Apart from the benefit of low rates
this helps the customers get more loan
amount,” said the banker, who did
want to be identified.
The duration of the loan period also
varies with some banks offering even
up to 120 and 60 months for Omanis
and expatriates respectively.
“Topping up of loans can also be
availed after 24 months of satisfactory
repayment or any time when 50 per
cent of the total loan is repaid,” he said.
For the housing loans, he said the
rates averaged four per cent. Personal
loans including residential housing are
largely backed by salary assignments
and mortgages and this segment
remained the mainstay and key profit
driver for the local banks.
With regard to interest rate on
personal loans, ceilings have been
stipulated by Central Bank of Oman
(CBO) from time to time.
The ceiling rate has been reduced
over the years in line with the
prevailing trend and at present has
been fixed at six per cent per annum
for all loans extended from October 2,
2013.
Within the personal loan segment,
residential housing loans stood at
close to 7 per cent of bank’s total credit
portfolio in 2014.
Residential housing loans stood at
close to seven per cent of bank’s total
credit portfolio, well within the 15 per
cent ceiling stipulated by CBO.
The apex bank in its annual report
recently said that on an incremental
basis, the flow of credit to the personal
loans segment resulted in an additional
net disbursement of RO 574.6 million
during 2014 when compared to lesser
credit outlay of RO 276.5 million
during the previous year.
“Banks now have sufficient
flexibility to decide their deposit and
lending interest rate structure and
manage their assets and liabilities
profile, accordingly’’, the banking
regulator said.
However, it said that despite
the deregulated environment, the
free movement of market forces in
determining interest rates is partially
constrained by the prevalence of prize
money schemes in operation in local
banks as well as the personal loan
interest rate ceiling rendering the
pricing of risk by banks difficult.
omandailyobserver
3
4
OMAN
omandailyobserver
S U N DAY
AUGUST 9 l 2015
Multiple uses make palm trees in Dhofar popular
SALALAH: The Governorate of
Dhofar is unique on the Arab and
Gulf levels in terms of planting
coconut palm trees due to suitable
climate condition for such trees.
As per the agricultural census
2012-2013, the number of coconut
palm trees is estimated at 148,869,
exclusive of coconut palm trees in
public parks and places and private
houses.
As per the same census, there
are about 132,909 coconut palm
trees in Salalah and 5,463 in Taqah
agricultural plain, 37 km from
Salalah, and 10,489 coconut palm
trees in other wilayats of Dhofar.
The annual production of coconut
from coconut palm trees at about
1,455 feddans is 6,551 tonnes. The
fruit is the second in Salalah after
banana.
Salalah streets and tourist sites
are adorned with coconut palm
trees. Dhofar Municipality and the
Directorate-General of Agriculture
and Animal Wealth in Dhofar is
very keen on planting coconut
palm trees in the Governorate due
to its economic benefits, historic
importance and multiple uses in
daily life.
Coconut palm trees’ production is
used in extracting oil, butter and in
the production of pastries, cosmetics
(soap, shampoo, ointments and
beauty creams), ropes, mats, beds,
cleaning materials, wood and
furniture. The production is also
used as fodder.
Production of coconut differs
according to the region, the type of
tree and the climate condition, as
well as the care provided to coconut
palm trees. The average production
of one coconut palm tree in Salalah
is 75-120 fruits per year compared to
200 at the best places in the world.
The Governorate of Dhofar is also
known for its craft industries made
of coconut palm trees.
The Ministry of Agriculture and
Fisheries also develops the coconut
palm trees’ production by expanding
its genetic base and introducing
new types of the tree from Sri
Lanka. These trees are known for its
relatively short stature, which makes
the collection and pest control easier.
It should be noted that the
types imported from Sri Lanka and
planted in Dhofar gave good and
encouraging results. — ONA
NAHI opens
registration
from today
MUSCAT: The National Automotive
Higher Institute (NAHI) opens
today for registration in its various
programmes for Omani school
graduates until August 30.
Being the first institute of its kind
in the Sultanate, NAHI aims to supply
the automotive sector in Oman
with skilled and qualified national
technicians. The first semester will
commence its foundation programme
in September 2015.
NAHI offers Diploma and
Advanced Diploma Certificates and
provides state of the art educational
and training programmes that are
in line with latest international
technologies in the field of automotive.
The programmes offer theoretical
and practical technical education as
well as interpersonal skills required
for developing the workforce in the
automotive field. The institute will
award Diploma Programmes and
other educational programmes in the
form of training courses.
“We are pleased to invite those
interested in the automotive industry
to seize the opportunity to acquire the
skills and knowledge and register with
us to ensure professional success and
a promising career path,” says Haji bin
Faqeer al Balushi, General Manager
at the National Automotive Higher
Institute, commenting on the opening
of registration for the first batch of
students.
Registration applications can be
received through www.nahioman.com
or from the institute located in South
Mabelah, Wilayat Seeb.
Al Wusta topped with highest unloaded fishes
Fish output rises
12.8 pc in April
MUSCAT: The total quantity of the fishes
unloaded by fishing in the Sultanate
reached 78,145 tonnes by the end of
last April with a 12.8-per cent increase;
compared to the figures recorded during
the same period last year that reached
69,284 tonnes.
The total value of fishes unloaded by
artisan fishing during the same period
reached RO 62 million and 563 thousand
with a 1.4-per cent increase compared to
the figures recorded last year in which
the value of unloaded fishes reached RO
61 million and 683 thousand; according
to the statistics issued by the National
Centre for Statistics and Information
(NCSI) as per the preliminary data
released by the Ministry of Agriculture
and Fisheries.
The highest quantity of unloaded
fishes by artisan fishing was recorded
in the Governorate of Al Wusta with
a quantity of 22 thousand and 323
tonnes; followed by the Governorates of
North and South Al Sharqiyah with 21
thousand and 117 tonnes.
The Governorate of Dhofar came
third with 13 thousand and 202 tonnes;
while the Governorates of South and
North Al Batinah came fourth with
10 thousand and 354 tonnes. Seven
thousand and 65 tonnes of fishes
were unloaded in the Governorate
of Musandam; while the quantity of
unloaded fishes reached 4 thousand and
84 tonnes in Muscat Governorate. As for
the species, small pelagic fish had the
first position in terms of the quantity of
unloaded fish last April, which reached
30,328 tonnes, compared to 26,871
tonnes unloaded during the same month
of 2014 marking a 12.9-per cent increase.
Large pelagic fish landings increased
by 8.9 per cent to reach 19,673 tonnes
last April, compared to 18,058 tonnes
recorded in January 2014. In the third
position, demersal fish landings last
April reached 23,746 tonnes logging
a 16.5-per cent increase over 20,382
tonnes recorded during the same month
of 2014.
Sharks and Rays landings last April
increased by 14.8 per cent as it reached
3,032 tonnes compared to 2,641 tonnes
recorded during the same month of
2014.
331 tonnes of lobster, 18 tonnes of
shrimps and 611 tonnes of cuttlefish
were unloaded last April while no
landings were reported for abalones
in April because their fishing season
was not yet started. On the other hand,
the total fish landings by coastal and
commercial fishing methods reached
1,997,350 tonnes respectively in April
this year.
— ONA
OMAN
S U N DAY
AUGUST 9 l 2015
LEARNING PHOTOGRAPHY SKILLS
SALALAH: The Ministry of
Information in collaboration
with the Embassy of the
United States organised a
training course in
photography. The three-day
course aimed to use factors
affecting art of photography,
use of colours and images
linking and embedding the
event to be filmed in addition
to developing skills of
photographers. Prof Bruce
Strong, president of
multimedia imaging
department, Syracuse
University, New House Public
Communications, was the
chief lecturer. The course
included lectures on
theoretical framework as well
as field application. The
course was held as part of
Salalah Tourism Festival.
— ONA
Public expenditure declines
MUSCAT: Official statistics said that the
public expenditure of the government
declined at the first five months of this
year by 5 per cent due to rationalising
expenditure in response to the slump of
oil revenues, which contributes by 84.3
per cent of the state’s revenues.
National Centre for Statistics and
Information (NCSI) said that the public
expenditure during the first five months
of this year stood at RO 4.80 billion
compared to RO 5.06 billion in the
corresponding period in 2014.
The average price of Oman crude oil
barrel plunged by 43 per cent during
the first half of this year to reach $
59.3 compared to the corresponding
period last year when it recorded
$103.23. As per the official statistics,
the expenditure in 2014 budget stood
at RO 15,171,800,000 compared to RO
13,949,500,000 in 2013. The expenditure
is estimated at RO 14.1 billion.
NCSI pointed out that over the
past five months of this year, the total
revenues declined by 36.2 per cent to
hit RO 3.85 billion compared to RO
6.04 billion the corresponding period
last year. The monthly bulletin issued
by NCSI said that the investment
expenditure dropped by 4.1 per cent to
stay at RO 1.078 billion during the first
five months of the year compared to RO
1.12 billion during the same period last
year.
The
development
expenditure
for the civil ministries stood at RO
579.1 million, a drop by 10.7 per cent
compared to the corresponding period
last year, which recorded RO 648.3
million. The capital expenditure for
these ministries dropped by 6.3 per cent
to register RO 8.9 million.
The investment expenditure for oil
and gas production sectors stood at RO
490 million including RO 309.5 million
for oil production compared to RO 298.5
million during the first five months of
last year; an increase by 3.7 per cent. The
expenditure on gas production sector
stood at RO 180.5 million; an increase
by 7.3 per cent compared to the first five
months of last year.
The subsidy and contributions as
of the end of last May stood at RO
484.3 million; a decline by 31.7 per
cent compared to the corresponding
period, which stood at RO 709.3
million. The monthly statistical bulletin
said that the public expenditure in
current expenditure sector registered a
marginal increase by 0.6 per cent during
the first five months of this year due to
the increase in the current expenditure
of oil and gas production by 80.4 per
cent and 75.3 per cent respectively. The
current expenditure on defence and
national security, civil ministries and
loan interests declined by 6.6 per cent,
2.3 per cent and 9.7 per cent respectively.
The total current expenditure
as of the end of May 2015 stood at
RO 3,246,900,000 compared to RO
3,227,400,000 during the same period
last year including RO 1,265,400,000
for the defence and national security,
RO 1,628,100,000 for the civil service
ministers, RO 15.8 million loan interests,
RO 278 million current expenditure for
oil and gas production and RO 59.6
million current expenditure for gas
production.
The net oil revenues after transfers
to the reserve funds, the gas revenues,
capital revenues and other revenues
during the first five months of the
year declined by 46.3 per cent, 0.1 per
cent, 3.7 per cent and 29.1 per cent
respectively.
The net oil revenues stood at
RO 2,325,900,000 compared to RO
4,335,100,000 during the first five
months of the year.
The gas revenues stood at RO 594
million compared to RO 368.7 million
by income tax, RO 75.3 million by
custom duties, RO 5.2 million by
capital revenues and other revenues by
RO 489 million. The statistics pointed
out that the deficit at the end of the
first five months of the year stood at
RO 1,501,100,000 of which RO 296.9
million were financed including the net
local borrowing and aids. The deficit
stood at RO 1.20 billion.
— ONA
omandailyobserver
5
Exports of liquefied gas up
MUSCAT: The Ministry of Oil and Gas
said that the Sultanate’s total exports
of liquefied natural gas through Oman
LNG and Qalhat LNG at the first half
of this year stood at RO 3,809,051
metric tonnes including 2,423,300 MT
by Oman LNG and 1,386,021 MT by
Qalhat LNG.
The
statistics
published
by
the ministry point out that 60
consignments, 39 by Oman LNG and
21 by Qalhat LNG have been sent to
exporters. The exports by Oman LNG
also included 116,240,000 MT through
17 consignments.
Korea, Japan and Spain are the main
importers of Omani liquid gas through
Qalhat LNG. In 2014, Oman LNG
exports stood at 4,975,400 MT through
82 consignments. It also exported
245,700 MT of gas liquids through 38
consignments. During last year, Qalhat
LNG also exported 2,912,300 MT
through 44 consignments. — ONA
6
UK-JAPAN STRATEGIC TALKS
S U N DAY l A U G U ST 9 l 2 0 1 5
ASIA
MALAYSIAN PM SEEKS PARTY HELP
Japanese Foreign
Minister Fumio Kishida
and British Foreign
Secretary Philip
Hammond held a joint
news conference about
the 4th UK-Japan
Strategic Dialogue at
Iikura House in Tokyo
on Saturday.
Malaysia’s prime minister urged his party to
defend him against corruption allegations
on Saturday, saying that hundreds of
millions of dollars in his personal accounts
were donations received on behalf of
the party. Najib Razak lamented some
members of the ruling United Malays
National Organization (UMNO) “join in the
attacks against me” in spite of all that he
has done for them.
Typhoon kills five in Taiwan, heads to China
DESTRUCTION: The typhoon ripped up trees and triggered landslides in Taiwan, and knocked out power to 1.5 million homes
SHANGHAI: Typhoon Soudelor moved
towards China on Saturday, weaker but
still packing a punch, after killing at
least five people and leaving a trail of
destruction in Taiwan.
The typhoon ripped up trees and
triggered landslides in Taiwan, and
knocked out power to 1.5 million homes.
Rivers broke their banks under torrential
rain and towering waves pounded the
island’s coastline.
In mainland China, which faces
Taiwan across a narrow strait, at least
250,000 people have been evacuated
from the coastal provinces of Fujian and
Zhejiang ahead of the typhoon’s arrival
which was forecast for Saturday evening.
Already, strong winds and heavy rain
have cut off power and destroyed farm
crops along China’s eastern coast, state
media reported.
“The tap water has stopped. The
electricity is out. I’m hiding at home
and scared to go outside,” housewife Pan
Danyun, who lives in Fujian’s Fuzhou
city, said.
Taiwanese authorities said five
people had died in the storm including
a firefighter in southern Pintung county
and a man in the coastal town of Suao
who was hit by a falling billboard.
An eight-year-old girl and her mother
had become the first fatalities when they
were swept out to sea and died as the
storm approached on Thursday. The
dead girl’s twin was also missing in the
same incident, while another nine-yearold girl was injured but survived.
Dramatic images showed an elderly
man who was buried up to his waist in
another mudslide being hauled out by
emergency workers in the picturesque
hot spring area of Wulai, just outside the
capital Taipei.
Media reports said that he had
died, but authorities were unable to
immediately confirm his death.
There were also unconfirmed reports
of another death in southern Kaohsiung,
where a man was said to have been hit by
a falling tree.
A total of four people were missing
and more than 60 injured, Taiwan’s
Central Emergency Operation Center
said.
One mountain village in Taiwan’s
northern region of Taoyuan was left
almost submerged in mud.
“Flash mudslides surged into the
When it makes
landfall in Fujian, it
will be significantly
weaker, basically the
strength of a typhoon or
severe tropical storm
People look at
waves as typhoon
Soudelor
approaches China,
in Taizhou, Zhejiang
province, on
Saturday. — Reuters
QIAN CHUANHAI,
Chief Forecaster
A wind turbine damaged by strong
wind from Typhoon Soudelor lies on the
ground in Taichung, central Taiwan, on
Saturday. — Reuters
village. About 10 of the homes were
half buried but people were evacuated
last night and are in safe shelters,” a
spokesman for the Taoyuan fire agency
said.
Tatung township in eastern Yilan saw
the most rain, with more than a metre
falling since Thursday.
“I’ve never seen such a powerful
typhoon in my 60 years of life,” one
elderly woman in eastern Taitung told
Formosa TV.
China’s National Meteorological
Center (NMC) predicts Soudelor will
make landfall on Saturday evening in
Fujian, somewhere in a band roughly
between the cities of Fuzhou and
Xiamen.
Late Saturday afternoon, the typhoon
was still around 125 kilometres from
War widow
buried at sea in
Darwin Harbour
SYDNEY: The ashes of a Japanese war
widow were cast into the sea off the coast
of northern Australia on Saturday, 72 years
after her husband was shot down during
a World War II air raid over the Northern
Territory city of Darwin, broadcaster ABC
reported.
Before her death in 2014, the widow of
airman Shinji Kawahara, Miyoko Kawahara,
requested that her ashes be scattered in
waters off Darwin Harbour, near where her
husband’s plane crashed into the sea in 1943,
according to the report.
Kawahara’s husband was the pilot of a
reconnaissance aircraft during a bombing
raid on Darwin. He was killed when his
plane was shot down by Australian fighter
planes north-west of Darwin. His aircraft
and body were never found.
To honour Kawahara’s dying wish, family
members travelled to Darwin from Tokyo to
scatter her ashes in the sea.
“My mother had a difficult life after the
war and their marriage was very short,”
Kawahara’s 72-year-old daughter, Noriyo
Ito, told ABC.
“It’s been a pleasure and great honour for
me to see that my parents are together now.”
Northern Territory Cultural Affairs
Minister Peter Styles told the broadcaster the
government would be “more than happy” to
consider similar requests by other Japanese
families.
— dpa
Fujian, it said.
“When it makes landfall in Fujian, it
will be significantly weaker, basically the
strength of a typhoon or severe tropical
storm,” the government agency’s chief
forecaster Qian Chuanhai told state
television.
But Soudelor was still packing winds
of up to 144 km per hour as it crossed
the strait between Taiwan and mainland
China.
Tens of thousands of households
had lost power in Quanzhou city, state
broadcaster CCTV reported, as it showed
images of a devastated cucumber patch.
Billed as the biggest typhoon of the
year earlier in the week, Soudelor —
named after a legendary Micronesian
chief — has since weakened.
Although authorities had warned it
might strengthen before it hit Taiwan,
wind speeds near its centre remained at
173 km per hour as it made landfall early
on Saturday.
But Chinese authorities are taking no
chances. More than 300 trains linked to
Fujian have been cancelled, while China’s
three biggest airlines have also scrapped
more than 60 domestic flights.
Fujian and Zhejiang provinces had
ordered nearly 60,000 fishing boats to
return to port, according to local officials.
The typhoon has already dumped
more than 200 millimetres of rain in
just over 24 hours in some areas along
China’s eastern coast.
Chinese forecasts show it moving
inland to the central province of Jiangxi
after making landfall.
“Soudelor will continue to deteriorate
as it makes a final landfall in China,” the
US military’s Joint Typhoon Warning
Center said. “As the system tracks further
inland it will erode rapidly.”
— AFP
NAGASAKI ANNIVERSARY
Girls release dove-shaped balloons during an event commemorating the
70th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki, at the Nagasaki’s Peace Park
in Nagasaki, western Japan, on Saturday, on the eve of the anniversary.
— Reuters
SUBCONTINENT
S U N DAY
AUGUST 9 l 2015
omandailyobserver
7
Senate wants all 4 provinces
in state governance boards
ISLAMABAD: The Senate has unanimously
recommended reconstitution of boards
of all regulatory bodies, autonomous and
semi-autonomous corporations and major
state institutions in Pakistan, giving equal
representation to all its four provinces.
Officials said here on Saturday the
recommendation was made while approving
the report of the Special Committee on
Devolution Process constituted in May
to suggest steps to establish “oversight or
Afghans and foreigners inspect the site of an attack after an overnight battle outside a base in Kabul. — Reuters
Dozens killed as wave of
bomb attacks hits Kabul
KABUL: Fifteen more fatalities were confirmed
on Saturday from a barrage of bombings in Kabul,
taking the toll to 51 in the deadliest day in the
Afghan capital since the Nato combat mission
ended in December.
The explosions on Friday, which devastated
buildings and overwhelmed hospitals with
hundreds of casualties, were the first major militant
assaults on Kabul since the announcement of
Taliban leader Mullah Omar’s death.
The attacks underscored the volatile security
situation in Afghanistan amid a faltering peace
process and the potency of the Taliban insurgency
despite being riven by growing internal divisions.
In the first attack, a powerful truck bomb tore
through the centre of Kabul just after midnight
on Friday, killing 15 civilians and wounding 240
others.
Less than 24 hours later, 27 cadets and civilians
were killed when a suicide bomber dressed in
police uniform blew himself up at the entrance
of Kabul Police Academy. Explosions and gunfire
also erupted when Camp Integrity, a US special
forces base in Kabul, came under attack late on
Friday, killing nine people, including a Nato service
member.
The Taliban distanced themselves from the
truck bombing which struck near a Kabul military
base — as they usually do in attacks that result in
mass civilian casualties.
But they claimed responsibility for both other
The attacks underscored the volatile
security situation in Afghanistan
amid a faltering peace process
and the potency of the Taliban
insurgency despite being riven by
growing internal divisions
attacks, which marked a serious breach of security
at a premier training institute for Afghan forces
and a foreign coalition facility.
The carnage highlighted the risk of a bloodier
insurgency under a new Taliban leadership as
Afghan forces face their first summer fighting
season without full Nato support.
Friday’s bombings were the first major attacks
since Mullah Akhtar Mansour was named as the
new Taliban chief last week in an acrimonious
power transition after the insurgents confirmed the
death of longtime leader Mullah Omar.
Experts say the escalating violence demonstrates
Mullah Mansour’s attempt to boost his image
among Taliban cadres and drive attention away
from internal rifts over his leadership.
“The new wave of attacks is a tactic by the
Taliban’s new leadership to show they are capable,
potent and operational,” said security analyst
Abdul Hadi Khaled.
“The demise of Mullah Omar divided the
Activists open
museum to mark
student uprising
YANGON: More than 200 democracy activists gathered
in Yangon on Saturday to launch a museum marking a
1988 uprising against military rule that ended in a bloody
crackdown as Myanmar prepares for its freest elections in
decades.
Dozens of members of the 88 Generation activist group
attended the opening to commemorate the start of mass
student-led protests 27 years ago which were brutally
crushed by the then-junta, leaving thousands dead.
The 8888 Memorial Hall, set across two storeys in a
building in the eastern outskirts of Yangon, showcased
archive photographs from the period as well as a
documentary about the students involved.
“This is the first museum to remember the democracy
movement,” Ant Bwe Kyaw, a key figure in the 1988 protests
and a leader of the 88 Generation, said adding that the group
aimed to open a larger venue in the future.
The 88 Generation also released a statement calling
for the ‘’unconditional release” of political prisoners still
languishing in jails before November’s polls as well as of the
dozens of activists detained over recent student-led protests
over education reform.
On August 8, 1988 Myanmar saw hundreds of thousands
take to the streets across the country in a call for democracy,
protests that came to a violent end the following month
in an army crackdown that killed more than 3,000. The
demonstrations also heralded the rise to prominence of
Aung San Suu Kyi and her NLD opposition party.
Suu Kyi, who was then living in London, returned to
Yangon in 1988 to nurse her sick mother but quickly adopted
a leading role in the democracy movement, delivering
speeches to the masses at the city’s Shwedagon Pagoda.
There has been huge speculation over whether
members of the 88 Generation will stand for elections for
the NLD in November 8 polls, which are seen as a key test
of Myanmar’s transition to democracy after decades of junta
rule. — AFP
movement and affected the morale of their ground
fighters. Hitting Kabul with a wave of powerful
attacks is a way of showcasing their strength.”
Mansour is seen as a pragmatist and a
proponent of peace talks, but he also has powerful
rivals within the Taliban who are strongly opposed
to negotiations with the Afghan government.
After 13 years of war US-led Nato forces ended
their combat mission in Afghanistan in December,
leaving behind a 13,000-strong residual force for
training and counter-terrorism operations.
Friday’s attacks marked Kabul’s deadliest day
since the end of that mission.
People wounded in the attacks were pouring
into city hospitals, officials said, with reports
emerging of blood shortages and urgent appeals
for donors circulating on social media.
In the deadliest attack, a suicide attacker
managed to place himself in a queue as police
trainees were waiting to be searched before
entering the academy, killing 27, two security
officials said.
Anguished relatives of cadets gathered near the
academy, which was cordoned off by heavily armed
security officials as ambulances with wailing sirens
rushed to the scene.
Four militants including a suicide car bomber
also launched an attack on Camp Integrity,
triggering explosions and an hours-long firefight,
with military jets heard flying over the centre of
Kabul. — AFP
review by the Senate regarding nominations
to various policy and administrative boards,
councils, envisaged under various acts of
parliament”.
The report says: “All boards, councils and
bodies should be reconstituted to ensure
equal representation of all provinces by
reviewing the laws or carrying out necessary
legislative amendments within a period of
three months.”
— Internews
8
ANALYSIS
omandailyobserver
S U N DAY
AUGUST 9 l 2015
KNOCK THE DOOR
OF OPPORTUNITY
ABDULAZIZ AL JAHDHAMI
[email protected]
A
s everyone knows and realises that having a job, from which we make a living, is
of high significance.
Though, getting a job is more difficult nowadays with the ongoing competition
between the skilled and experienced candidates in the market.
Although we all have been bestowed with distinctive characteristics, skills and
abilities, we will get the job we are looking for, and we will someday sooner or later.
Nobody misses his/her fate and luck; it is just a matter of getting it at the right time!
Regardless of the time we spend in getting the right job that makes us happy
and satisfied, we all get a number of opportunities until we get there.
When time comes, definitely we will get the job and grab it with both the hands.
Opportunities might take a bit of time to come our way, but it’s our decision to
seize the right opportunity at the right time; otherwise we unintentionally skip it
and let it go. Good opportunities might not return to you. Always bear in mind
that opportunities do not knock when they come, so you build a door for them.
Opportunities are never lost, but someone
will take the one you missed. Just catch the fish
Never undervalue
before it gets hooked by another person.
What you need to do is you spare no any opportunity that
effort looking for potential job opportunities; comes your way; just
approach organisations where you believe have
try as it might be a
jobs matching your qualifications, expertise
beginning for a better
and ambitions too.
Never undervalue any opportunity that one. We should be
comes your way; just try as it might be the start
confident that the
for a better one.
We all should be confident that the future future always belongs
always belongs to those who believe in the to those who believe
beauty of their dreams.
in the beauty of
As if you dream of something, you will
undoubtedly strive to make it come true. So as their dreams.
to get what we aim for we have to believe in
what Alexander Graham Bell said: “When one
door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the
closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”
Those who are aiming high will always make the best of any opportunity that
gets into their hands believing that great achievements start with simple and
humble beginnings.
Remember that step by step, the ladder will be climbed and with no pain, there
will be no gain. In view of this, people should take advantage of opportunities that
are offered to them and strive hard to make their living so that they can ensure a
decent living for their families.
If one is not getting himself into the real life and experiencing the challenges, he
will not get what he is looking to achieve.
Fulfilling our dreams and ambitions sometimes would not happen without
undergoing hard times and touching experiences.
In real life scenario, we see many young Omanis who stand as exemplary
models for sacrifice especially those working in private sector.
They are seen handling different tasks and positions ranging from clerks to
CEOs proving that they are competent, hard working and reliable.
Perhaps each and every one of them has had various opportunities of job
experience until he gets into what he is now. This has been proved by the increasing
number of Omanis joining the private sector everyday.
The recent number is over 206,054 till the end of June this year which is a 0.7
per cent rise compared to the figures in May.
It’s really impressive and reflects how young Omanis are grabbing every possible
opportunity presented by the private sector.
It’s just a matter of self-confidence and persistence that is needed of Omanis
not to underestimate any opportunity which comes in their way and allows them
to serve the country.
Real target in fight on terror
J
ust two months ago, Kurds took to the streets of Diyarbakir clout to make constitutional changes in order to secure
to celebrate the pro-Kurdish HDP’s election breakthrough his presidency in future. Violence escalated following the
with 13.1 per cent of the vote. Today the city, which is home Suruc bombings on July 20 which left 33 people dead.
The suicide attack was claimed by IS.
to Turkey’s largest Kurdish community, is plagued by fears
Ankara saw a PKK-claimed attack on two policeman
of a civil war.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sparked outrage two days later as an invitation to retaliate with further
among HDP supporters for his opportunistic attempts to violence. The majority of those arrested in subsequent raids
are PKK-supporters rather than suspected IS militias.
politically capitalise on violence in the region.
Turkish Air Force attacks have also concentrated mainly
Dozens gathered in Diyarbakir to mourn the death of
Ferit Oner, a 24-year-old Kurd who became a member of on areas of PKK support.
The Turkish government argues that it is fighting
the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) and joined his
counterparts in northern Syria — the YPG — in the fight terrorism from IS and from the PKK.
The European Union and the United States have warned
against IS. Oner was killed alongside 12 YPG members,
11 of whom were Turkish citizens. Relatives waited days Ankara to respond proportionally, but accept that the
Nato partners have to defend themselves
for Turkish authorities to okay the
against the PKK.
repatriation of the bodies.
Turkey has declared
The absurdity of the situation is that
“These 13 people were killed while
war on the IS, but
each strike against the PKK — which is
fighting IS,” the deceased’s father
Fahrettin Oner said.
many Kurds see the listed as a terrorist organisation in the EU
and US — weakens the YPG and the fight
“We had to wait 10 days in 50 degree
move as an indirect
against IS.
heat for the bodies of our children to be
attempt to eliminate
The YPG is supported militarily by the
returned.”
US despite the fact that it is an offshoot
None of the mourners for Oner
the Kurdish PKK,
of the PKK and consists mostly of its
believes the government’s claims that
writes CAN MEREY
fighters.
Turkey is joining the fight against IS.
This attitude is “paradoxical,” PKK
“They say they are attacking IS, but
leader Abdullah Ocalan’s lawyer Sinasi
they are attacking Kurdish people,” Oner’s
Tur says. He and his legal chamber are demanding that the
uncle Sukru Ari said.
“Erdogan is leading this country to war so that he can PKK be taken off the list of terrorist organisations.
They are also demanding an end to Ocalan’s isolation on
stay in power,” a man named Veysi added, who works
for Meya-Der, an organisation offering support to the Imrali prison island.
Since April, the government has denied delegations from
bereaved. “Erdogan has waged war on the Kurds.”
The HDP’s election breakthrough dashed Erdogan’s the HDP access to the PKK leader, fuelling speculation that
hopes of an absolute majority for the AKP. He is now Ankara is not interested in easing tensions.
For years, Ocalan has been an advocate for moderation
seeking to call a new election. If the conflict continues
to spread in Turkey, voters may be more likely to vote and peace, and nobody’s voice carries more weight with the
for stability, which would mean a return to AKP’s Kurds. Young PKK supporters are also demanding an end
one-party rule with Erdogan regaining some of the power to Ocalan’s isolation as they meet for lunch of cheese and
olives in an inner courtyard in the Lale Bey area of central
he lost in June.
An AKP majority would also lend Erdogan the necessary Diyarbakir, a PKK stronghold.
As Trump and Bush stumble, will Fiorina ride to the rescue?
D
onald Trump’s caustic confrontation with
Fox News Channel presenter Megyn Kelly
at Thursday’s Republican presidential debate
couldn’t have come at a less opportune time
for a party trying to increase its appeal to
women voters. Kelly, a debate moderator,
grilled Trump on his history of debasing
statements about women.
Trump appeared unapologetic, dismissing
the critique as “political correctness,” and
accused Kelly of mistreating him. Democrats
were quick to try and seize advantage.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the
chairwoman of the Democratic National
Committee, ripped Trump’s comments
as “disgusting and misogynistic” and
assailed those in the debate audience who
applauded him.
The negative attention given Trump’s
attitudes towards women came just as the
party was basking in the glow of former
Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina’s strong
performance at the earlier presidential
debate,
the
so-called
“undercard”
for candidates who failed to qualify for the
main contest.
Fiorina, the only woman in the field
of 17 Republican candidates, was almost
universally viewed as the winner of the early
debate, breathing new life into her campaign
in the process.
“She hit it out of the ballpark,” said
Penny Nance, the president and CEO
of Conservative Women for America, a
Republican advocacy group.
Nance was less kind to Trump, who
“clearly has a woman problem.”
Polls bear that out. A Reuters/Ipsos
survey conducted last month showed
that the billionaire’s base of support is
overwhelmingly male when compared to the
Republican electorate as a whole.
More than 60 per cent of Trump’s
supporters are men. By contrast, former
Florida Governor Jeb Bush attracts support
from both genders in equal amounts, the
survey found.
Trump was busy doing damage control
on Friday, telling ABC’s Good Morning
America that he didn’t agree with Kelly’s
assertions and calling her questions “unfair.”
Bush, too, had problems of his own in the
days before the debate, when he clumsily told
a conference that the US government was
spending too much on women’s health.
He said later he misspoke but the damage
Fiorina, the only woman in
the field of 17 Republican
candidates, was almost
viewed as the winner of
the early debate, breathing
new life into her campaign,
notes JAMES OLIPHANT
was already done.
The remark was tailor-made to buttress
the longstanding Democratic Party
argument that Republicans are tone deaf
when it comes to women’s issues.
After her debate on Thursday, Fiorina
said Bush’s comments were “foolish” and had
played into Democratic frontrunner Hillary
Clinton’s hands.
Democrats have been accusing
Republicans of conducting a so-called “war
on women” for years.
During the 2012 presidential campaign,
then-Representative Todd Akin of Missouri
made some comments on women. That
ignited a political brushfire that party leaders
struggled to extinguish.
In that election, women made up 53 per
cent of voters, casting 64 million ballots.
They went for President Barack Obama
over Republican nominee Mitt Romney by
12 percentage points.
Republican Party operatives have been
furiously trying to improve outreach to
women — particularly young, single women
— ever since.
The
controversy
over
videos
surreptitiously showing officials at women’s
health group and abortion provider Planned
Parenthood discussing the sale of foetal
organs has also given conservatives new hope
that they can use public outrage to blunt the
Democratic advantage with women voters.
Republican presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina speaks during the Republican presidential
primary debate at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
— Reuters
ANALYSIS
S U N DAY
AUGUST 9 l 2015
omandailyobserver
9
A material unfit for the purpose it is meant for
A
RAY PETERSEN
[email protected]
s I often do, while waiting for my haircut last
week, at my local barber shop, I picked up the only
‘magazine’ in English, to while away the time.
It was a publication by the Public Authority for
Consumer Protection (PACP), a most praiseworthy
quasi-government organisation formed to protect
the consumer from illegal, unhealthy, unsafe, and
unscrupulous business practices throughout the
Sultanate.
Volume 6, of the PACP publication was so
riddled with English language errors, it proved
very difficult to read, and appeared simply to have
been translated via Google translate, or some
similar translator.
The publication is half in Arabic, and half
English, so Omanis will still understand the
original Arabic text.
However my question is this.
Is it acceptable for a consumer organisation to
be producing material unfit for purpose?
Having made the decision to promote and
use English language as its second language,
the Sultanate does not appear to reconcile the
academic and ethical requirement for the language
to be correctly produced, whether in newspapers,
magazines, intra-organisational communications,
academically, or governmentally.
I have never said, or written, that English
is a superior language to any other, and
particularly Arabic.
as to wash the car, and not, for example, gouge a
The languages have, even in the most basic sense, great big scratch along the side of my car?
The car wash attendant? Well, I guess if he is/
different grammatical structures, pronunciation and
emphasis, so learning, speaking, reading and writing they are, properly trained in how to do their jobs,
and to maintain the machinery effectively, and they
each other’s languages is never going to be easy.
But the decision to utilise English in the do so, surely any issues are not their responsibility?
The manager/owner of the business? Well, yes,
academic and business worlds makes so much
you would think so.
sense from so many perspectives.
It’s his business, he employs
That said, shouldn’t it be
the staff, and advertises for
done right?
Having made the
customers. (Yes, that big sign
Also, here’s one for the
decision to promote
on the front of the building is
‘believe it or not’ file at the
and use English
advertising) It is his machine.
PACP.
Who else would be
I drove my car into one language, the Sultanate
responsible?
of those automated car wash
does not appear to
Then I thought.
machines the other day.
reconcile the academic
Wow, I’ve seen these signs in
While I was sitting there I
saw a sign on the wall next to and ethical requirement so many places.
Tyre fitting workshops,
me.
for the language to be motor
vehicle service centres,
It read: “The management
correctly produced.
and the like.
will not be responsible for any
Is this a “get out of jail free,”
damage to vehicles using this
card, so that if something goes
car wash.”
I thought, as you do, “Well I wonder who is wrong the owner/manager can simply point to the
sign and say, “Well, yes, your car did fall off my
responsible?” And ran through the possibilities.
Me: The driver, and owner of the vehicle? Then vehicle hoist and suffer thousands of rails worth of
I thought no, I have a reasonable expectation, damage, but it’s not my responsibility!”
I’m thinking I should check the next time I go
surely, that when I drive my car into a car wash, the
machine should be functioning in such a manner to the dentist.
Imagine if they pull out the wrong teeth? I’m
sitting there in a flood of tears, but thinking, “It’s
okay. The dentist will fix it.” Only to have the dentist
point to the same sign on the wall! Or, maybe to
have my right leg amputated at the hospital, when
it was my left that was ill? They point to the sign! At
the bank: RO 500 was withdrawn from my account
in error, and given to another customer? They
point to the sign! I get fined for speeding when I
wasn’t even in the country? They point to the sign!
I get all my hair cut off by mistake? They point to
the sign!
Yes, it could all get a bit ridiculous couldn’t it?
But I do think such signage should be checked,
and only permitted on a business premises if it is
legally, and practically applicable.
Surely businesses are all checked for health and
safety compliance, competency and qualification
certificate legitimacy, and consumer protection via
consumer rights posters and advice? In order for
an agency such as the PACP to function effectively
it must not only respond to customer complaints,
but be pro-active in its requirements of the business
community, on behalf of the consumer.
And talking of consumer issues, I love KFC
potato mash, but despite it being advertised at all
KFC outlets, I’ve not been able to buy it for over a
year. “If you’re not gonna sell it guys, please take it
off your menu!”
BONDED LABOUR
NITA BHALLA
F
An Afghan man is reflected on the window of a damaged shop near the site of an attack in Kabul.
rom her two-room concrete home nestled among the lush coconut
plantations of southern India, housewife Kavita has seen the region’s
textile industry flourish for a decade, thanks to the labour of poor,
women like herself.
Promising a better life, “agents” have for years visited these poor,
rural parts of Tamil Nadu and taken a steady stream of girls and women
to work in thousands of cotton spinning mills, part of a textile and
clothing industry that is one of India’s biggest employers.
The image of women from remote hamlets going to work, staying in
hostels and earning money spinning cotton as part of a booming global
garment supply chain, should be empowering in a country like India, an
emerging power still plagued by poverty and male domination.
But former workers in Tamil Nadu’s Erode district describe a system
of exploitation and bonded labour that has cast a dark shadow over
India’s long-established textile industry.
“I tell all the women I meet not to go and work in the mills. I know
what the agents promise and what is real. It is not the same,” said
23-year-old Kavita, sitting on a woven mat in her village home.
“For almost a year, I wasn’t allowed to leave the compound where the
hostel and mill was. They made me work double shifts. I only got out
because I lied and said my aunt had died and I had to attend the funeral.
I never went back.”
Just 13 at the time, Kavita was one of thousands of girls and
women employed under “marriage schemes” offered by mills which
mushroomed in Tamil Nadu when India’s economic liberalisation
began in the early 1990s.
The schemes draw in cheap labour — mainly young women from
poor, illiterate and low-caste communities — and offer lump sum
payments at the end of a three-year period. They are promoted as an easy
way to obtain the hefty dowries families need to marry off daughters.
Recruits are offered full board in hostels at the mills’ compounds,
holidays twice a year, outings such as picnics and temple visits, and
clean and safe working and living conditions.
But former workers and numerous studies by civil society groups
such as the Freedom Fund, Anti-Slavery International and the Centre
for Research on Multinational Companies say the women are kept in
closed hostels, overworked, underpaid and abused.
“The binding of workers in this way, where they cannot change
employers, is a form of bonded labour,” a 2014 study by the Freedom
Fund and the C&A Foundation said.
— Reuters
Taliban’s succession strife puts talks in doubt
A
fghanistan’s Taliban movement is facing
its largest internal threat of recent years,
with members and leaders divided over the
succession of late founder Mullah Omar.
Omar was confirmed this month to have
died two years ago, and the appointment of
Mullah Akhtar Mansoor to replace him has
not been smoothly accepted.
Omar’s purported recent support for
the peace talks has also been called into
question. The secretive movement has
seen several accusations and leaks, the
resignation of at least one top official,
physical attacks on leaders and defections of
mid-level commanders.
Mansoor appears to be trying to hold
the movement together as rivals openly
challenge his appointment in a rare instance
of defiance for the normally disciplined
organisation.
Analysts say the crisis could split the
movement, impact the nascent peace talks,
degrade relations between Afghanistan and
Pakistan, and even contribute to the rise of
the IS in the region.
Earlier last week, Tayyab Agha, chief of
the Taliban’s Qatar-based political office and
a close relative of Mullah Omar, stepped
down, highlighting the growing internal
discord. He called the decision to hold
Mansoor’s election outside Afghanistan, and
the timing of the announcement of Omar’s
death, “historic mistakes.”
Other Taliban share his irritation at
being kept in the dark about the death of the
supremo for two years.
“We are unhappy because the shura
(council) confirmed that he died in Pakistan,
and Mullah Mansoor was appointed in
Pakistan,” one insurgent commander from
Khost province said.
“This shows how the leadership is
dependent on Pakistan. It does not send a
good message to the people of Afghanistan,
and it demoralises the fighters who are dying
every day in Afghanistan.”
Pakistan is weighing in to reconcile the
movement, asking its own leaders to vouch
for Mansoor.
In the past week, many top Pakistani
clerics, including Sami ul Haq, who is
considered Omar’s former mentor, pledged
allegiance to newly chosen leader.
The leaking of Omar’s death “two days
before the second round of talks in Pakistan
shows that it was done by the people who do
not want talks to happen,” said one Pakistani
government official.
The planned July 31 restart of the talks
was cancelled after the news broke. Peace
negotiations had purportedly been endorsed
by Omar this year, including in a signed
message posted on the Taliban website on
the occasion of Eid.
Now that Mansoor cannot claim this
endorsement, he will find it difficult to unify
support for the talks from the movement’s
disparate elements, and indeed for his own
leadership.
His top commanders have pressured him
to back away from supporting the talks, two
Taliban sources said.
The lack of a coherent insurgent
leadership to negotiate with has also given
the government pause.
Taliban leader Mullah Omar’s
supposed blessing of peace
talks with the government
now rings hollow, making it
difficult for his successor to
pick up the process anew,
reports SUBEL BHANDARI
“Since the announcement of Mullah
Omar’s death and the emergence of a power
struggle within the Taliban, peace talks are
off the agenda,” Borhan Osman, a political
analyst at Afghan Analyst Network, wrote.
“It is difficult to see political negotiations
being held, whether under Pakistani duress
or freely, unless a clear leader of the Taliban
emerges who can regain internal coherence.”
That could take at least two months, the
Pakistani official said.
The main opposition to Mansoor is from
Mullah Omar’s son Yaqub, and brother,
Abdul Manan, according to the official and
Taliban sources.
Manan released an audio message asking
for the Ulema, a council of religious elders
and clerics, to choose another leader and
“resolve the internal differences instead of
taking sides.”
The Afghan Taliban brought together a
wide variety of factions through individual
pledges of allegiance to Omar.
Its central council, based in Quetta,
Pakistan, brings together autonomous
leaders of several fronts.
Garnering their support is Mansoor’s
main challenge, Taliban officials say.
Mansoor Dadullah, a commander and
the founder of the Dadullah Front, says
Mansoor’s appointment is opposed by many
of the factions.
He has also alleged that Omar was killed,
a view that is shared by some of the midlevel commanders.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman
close to Mansoor’s allies, dismissed the news
of dissent as “propaganda.”
“Enemies want to weaken our unity,” he
said. “In fact, after the death of the Amirul-Momineen [movement leader] almost all
the countrymen pledged allegiance to the
successor.”
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10
INDIA
omandailyobserver
4 accomplices
of insurgent
held in Valley
SRINAGAR: Four accomplices of a
terrorist captured after the August 5
Udhampur terror attack were arrested
from the Kashmir Valley on Saturday,
an official said.
The National Investigation Agency
(NIA) made the arrests after Usman
alias Qasim Khan was brought to the
valley to identify those who helped him
reach Udhampur where he was caught.
Usman, a member of the Pakistanbased Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror
group, was brought to the valley from
Jammu region by road.
“The NIA today arrested four people
from Pulwama district after Usman
identified them,” a police officer said
here.
“The NIA took Usman to Pulwama
and Kulgam districts following
disclosures by him. More arrests are
likely to take place following the leads
given by the accused,” he said.
The arrested people are Fayaz
Ahmed Wani and Javed Ahmed Wani
— both brothers — Md Altaf Wani and
Javed Ahmed Parray. All are rasidents
of Pulwama district.
Fayaz Ahmed Wani and Javed
Ahmed Wani were working as
carpenters for a contractor in the IAF
station in Awantipora while Md Altaf
Wani and Parray were a salesman and a
driver respectively.
Intelligence sources said the arrested
people were part of a LeT sleeper cell in
the Kashmir Valley.
In intelligence parlance, sleeper cells
are members of a terrorist group who
lie low and do not carry out any terror
attacks unless ordered to do so by their
handlers.
Terrorist Usman, from Faisalabad,
was overpowered by villagers after he
and a fellow terrorist shot dead two
The NIA took Usman
to Pulwama and
Kulgam districts
following disclosures by
him. More arrests are likely
to take place following the
leads given by the accused
POLICE OFFICER
Srinagar
Border Security Force (BSF) troopers
on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in
Udhampur district.
The captured Pakistani is now in the
custody of the NIA.
While NIA officials reached here
on Friday from Delhi, Usman has been
brought to establish the route he used
to reach Udhampur and to identify
accomplices who facilitated his passage
to Udhampur.
The NIA is also trying to know more
about the larger LeT network in Jammu
and Kashmir and elsewhere in India.
Two soldiers injured in LoC
gunfight: Two soldiers were injured in
a gunfight that broke out as they foiled
an infiltration bid on the LoC in Jammu
and Kashmir’s Kupwara district on
Saturday, a defence official said.
“A group of militants tried to sneak
into this side over the Line of Control
(LoC) but were challenged by our alert
jawans, triggering a gunfight at Kupaa
Gali area of Karnah in Kupwara,” a
defence spokesperson said here. The
exchange of fire was still continuing at
5.30 pm.
Two personnel of 21 Rashtriya Rifles
were injured and taken to a hospital for
treatment, he added.
— IANS
S U N DAY
AUGUST 9 l 2015
INDIGENOUS STEPS
IN BRIEF
Lok Adalat
awards
Rs 116 crore
to claimants
Lambadi tribal women dance during a performance in Hyderabad on the eve of International Day of the World’s Indigenous
Peoples on Saturday. The day is observed on August 9 every year. — AFP
Efforts on to bring back Gita
NEW DELHI: Gita, a 23-year-old
hearing and speech-impaired Indian
woman stranded in Pakistan for the
past 15 years, will be brought back
to India and efforts are on to locate
her family, External Affairs Minister
Sushma Swaraj said on Saturday.
In a series of tweets, Sushma Swaraj
said the government was completing
the “necessary formalities to bring Gita
back to India”.
Sushma Swaraj tweeted that during
the past few days, “four families from
Punjab, Bihar, Jharkhand and UP have
claimed Gita as their daughter” and that
she has requested the chief ministers
of the respective states to “verify and
report”.
“Gita conveyed to the Indian High
Commissioner by gestures that they
are seven brothers and sisters. She also
conveyed that she had visited a temple
with her father. Then she wrote down
‘Vaishno Devi’.”
“With these details, please help locate
Gita’s family,” the minister tweeted.
Gita’s story has the elements of
recent Bollywood blockbuster Bajrangi
Bhaijaan in which actor Salman Khan
crosses the border to escort a six-yearold mute Pakistani girl back to her
village.
Since her story hit the limelight
earlier this week, four families have
come forward to claim that Gita was
their long-lost daughter.
A family from Uttar Pradesh and
one from Jharkhand came forward on
Friday.
Ramraj and Anara Devi, who
hail from Dhamohan village in Uttar
Pradesh’s Pratapgarh district, claimed
Gita was their daughter Savita who went
missing from an ashram in Bihar 11
years ago, according to media reports.
The couple approached the
authorities after seeing TV news reports
and pictures of Gita, who they say is one
of their six children who went missing
at the age of nine.
A couple from Bokaro in Jharkhand
claimed Gita was their fourth child
Kokia Kumari who went missing more
than a decade ago.
Earlier, another couple from
Amritsar claimed Gita was their
daughter Pooja, who they used to call
Guddi.
Rajesh Kumar and Ram Dulari are
also hearing and speech-impaired. Ram
Dulari bears a strong resemblance to
Gita.
They said the girl went missing more
than a decade ago while they were out
begging at the Amritsar railway station.
But Gita denied the couple’s claim.
When a private TV channel in Pakistan
showed her a picture of the couple,
the girl couldn’t recognise them. She
said her mother used to wear sari, but
the woman in the picture was wearing
salwar kameez.
— IANS
Centre, Delhi govt
to clean Yamuna
The Yamuna originates from the Yamunotri Glacier, at 6,387 metres above sea level in the Himalayas.
NEW DELHI: The central and Delhi
governments have decided to come
together to clean up the Yamuna River
in the capital.
They will be using a Special Purpose
Vehicle for this purpose, a Delhi
government official said after a meeting
between Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal and union Water Resources
Minister Uma Bharti.
A blueprint will be prepared in 45
days, the official added.
Beautification of the Yamuna River
front also came up at the meeting, also
attended by Delhi Water Minister Kapil
Mishra.
The Yamuna, venerated by Hindus,
originates from the Yamunotri Glacier,
at 6,387 metres above sea level in
the Himalayas. It flows through
Uttarakhand, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh
(1,376 km) before merging with the
Ganges at Allahabad.
The river accounts for 70 per cent
of Delhi’s water needs. The Yamuna
is considered largely clean from
Yamunotri until Wazirabad in Delhi
when the polluted stretch starts.
Kejriwal said all concerned
ministries and departments would
have to work together for cleaning the
“historic river and reviving its past
glory”.
He requested Uma Bharti to convene
a meeting with Urban Development
Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and Road
Transport and Highways Minister Nitin
Gadkari on this issue.
— IANS
NEW DELHI: A total of 2,034
cases were disposed of and a
settlement amount of over Rs 116
crore was awarded to claimants by
various Delhi courts during the
sixth monthly National Lok Adalat
held on Saturday.
A Delhi State Legal Services
Authority (DLSA) spokesperson
said 62 benches were constituted
in which 1,606 cases were disposed
off pertaining to traffic challans,
recovery matter and a settlement
amount of Rs 7,51,74,361 was
awarded to claimants.
It was the sixth monthly Lok
Adalat organised in district
court complexes — Tis Hazari,
Karkardooma, Patiala House,
Saket, Rohini and Dwarka — under
the supervision of Delhi High
Court Chief Justice G Rohini.
A total of 352 cases related to
electricity issues were disposed off,
where the settlement amount was
approximately Rs 31,69,200.
Lok Adalats were also organised
in all the three Debt Recovery
Tribunals, in which 27 cases were
disposed of, where the settlement
amount was approximately Rs 107
crore.
Lok Adalats were also organised
in District Consumer Forums
in which four benches were
constituted where 49 cases were
settled and the settlement amount
was Rs 70,68,411.
Three held
for credit
card fraud
GURGAON: Three people have
been arrested in Haryana for
credit card fraud, officials said on
Saturday.
The Cyber Crime Cell arrested
the three from neighbouring
Faridabad district on charges of
using fake credit cards.
The three men live in Faridabad
and were attached to different
private banks. They were identified
as Sanjeev Kumar, 42, Manish Rao,
32, and Sachin, 24.
“They used to collect documents
of customers visiting banks for
loan, and obtained credit cards on
the basis of forged documents,” a
police officer said.
The arrests followed a complaint
in January by Hitesh Kumar, an
assistant manager at one of the
banks.
The
complainant
accused
unknown men of preparing and
using credit cards fradulently made
in the name of Bhushan Joshi.
“They purchased gold, LED TVs
and other items from Faridabad
by using the fake credit cards,” the
police officer said.
— IANS
‘No longer would countries like India have any interest or incentive to continue to enforce those sanctions against Iran’
India’s ‘substantial sacrifice’ helped seal Iran deal: US
WASHINGTON:
Acknowledging
India’s “substantial sacrifice” in backing
the sanctions regime against Iran, the
White House has again warned that if
the Republican-controlled Congress
unilaterally kills the Iran nuclear deal,
it would greatly damage America’s
standing.
“No longer would countries like
India, who have been making a
substantial sacrifice over the years, have
any interest or incentive to continue to
enforce those sanctions against Iran,”
White House Press Secretary Josh
Earnest told reporters on Friday.
Indian leaders had agreed to curtail
the import of oil from Iran making an
“economic sacrifice” and backed the
sanctions against Tehran to advance US
effort to prevent Iran from obtaining a
nuclear weapon through diplomacy, he
said. “In essence ...countries like India
had agreed that they would take these
steps, even at their own expense, to
try to reach this broader international
agreement,” he said.
Earnest recalled that when the
sanctions were originally put in place,
US officials travelled around the world
“including to India, sat down with the
Indian government and asked them to
curtail the amount of Iranian oil that
they imported into the country”.
“And we acknowledged in the context
of those discussions that this would be White House Press Secretary
an economic sacrifice that the people Josh Earnest said Indian
of India and that the economy of India
leaders had agreed to
would have to make,” he said.
“But Indian leaders agreed to it by curtail the import of oil from
saying that this is something that they Iran making an “economic
were willing to do if they can advance
sacrifice” and backed the
our effort to prevent Iran from obtaining
a nuclear weapon through diplomacy,” sanctions against Tehran
Earnest said.
to advance US effort to
“And the good news is that that
prevent Iran from obtaining
agreement has been reached. And it is
an agreement that is supported by the a nuclear weapon through
international community — 99 per cent diplomacy
of the world as the President (Barack
Obama) has described it,” Earnest said. damaging to the standing of the United
“And that’s why it would be so States for the United States Congress to
act unilaterally to kill this deal,” he said.
“No longer would countries like India,
who have been making a substantial
sacrifice over the years, have any interest
or incentive to continue to enforce those
sanctions against Iran,” Earnest said.
“There is no basis, there is no credible
claim for why they would be willing
to do that,” he said. “And there is no
denying the significant negative impact
on United States credibility for the
United States to be isolated in this way.”
“That’s why the President has said if
Congress were to move forward to kill
this deal or kill this agreement, it would,
in fact, yield a better deal for Iran,”
Earnest said.
“Because what we would see is that
Iran would get sanctions relief; they
would have the ability to sell oil to
India and get the proceeds of doing
so...without having to submit to the
most intrusive set of inspections that
have ever been imposed on a country’s
nuclear programme,” he said.
“That’s why I’ve long said that the
case before Congress is that Iran is going
to get sanctions relief,” Earnest said.
“The question is whether or not the
United States and the international
community is going to get anything
for it. And that is ultimately the choice
before members of Congress right now,”
he said. — IANS
INDIA
S U N DAY
AUGUST 9 l 2015
omandailyobserver
11
BJP clarifies on Naga accord after secrecy charges
TRANSPARENCY: Okram Ibobi Singh called on PM and sought a copy of the accord signed between the Centre and the NSCN-IM
NEW DELHI: In the line of opposition
fire for allegedly keeping the nation in
the dark about the Naga peace accord,
the BJP on Saturday said the Centre
had taken the Nagaland chief minister
onboard while firming up the accord
and assured that it will not impinge
on the interests of states bordering
Nagaland.
Manipur Chief Minister Okram
Ibobi Singh on Saturday called on
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and
Home Minister Rajnath Singh here,
and sought a copy of the accord signed
between the central government and the
National Socialist Council of NagalandIsak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) on August 3.
The Congress has accused the
Bharatiya Janata Party-led central
government of signing the peace
accord without taking any stakeholder
into confidence, and overlooking the
Constitution in doing so.
BJP leader and union minister
Nirmala Sitharaman said Nagaland
Chief Minister T R Zeliang was kept in
the loop and had met Modi two days
before the accord was inked.
“The chief minister has been
continuously in dialogue with the prime
minister and he met him even today
(Saturday),” she said.
Zeliang on Saturday met Modi and
said that states bordering Nagaland
need not worry about their territory,
but added that the content of the peace
accord was not yet out.
“I also do not know anything about
the accord. There is a need for the
government to solve the Naga issue and
it is doing it steadily,” Zeliang told a TV
channel after meeting Modi.
He said he will meet Naga peace talks
interlocuter R N Ravi on August 16 over
the issue.
In Guwahati, union Minister of State
for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju accused
the chief ministers of the Congressruled states of Assam, Manipur and
Arunachal Pradesh of having initially
welcomed the peace accord and later
backtracking.
“The chief ministers are making
contradictory statements on the
Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
direction of (Congress chief) Sonia
Gandhi which was not a good sign,”
Rijiju said and appealed to the Congress
not to politicise the issue.
Rijiju said the security scenario has
improved in the northeast but it needs
to be improved further.
“The central government wants to
develop the region as a commercial
hub with its neighbours and improved
security scenario is a prerequisite
for this. This peace accord will help
improve the security scenario in the
region further,” he said.
The three northeastern states
bordering Nagaland on Friday accused
Modi of not consulting them.
Manipur Chief Minister Ibobi Singh
on Saturday called on Modi at his 7,
Race Course Road residence in Delhi.
The prime minister assured the Manipur
chief minister that everything would
be discussed with the states concerned
before the accord is finalised.
Ibobi Singh then met Rajnath Singh
at his residence at 17, Akbar Road.
He sought a copy of the peace accord,
saying the people of Manipur were
anxious to know its details and had
apprehensions that it would affect the
territorial integrity of the state.
Rajnath Singh assured Ibobi Singh
that the accord was just a framework
and that it would not affect the territorial
boundary of the neighbouring states.
He said the central government
would invite the states for discussion
while working out the final shape of the
accord.
R N Ravi, the central government’s
interlocutor for the Naga peace talks,
was present during the meeting.
On Friday, Congress spokesman
Randeep Surjewala, addressing a
press conference attended by the chief
ministers of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh
and Manipur, said Modi “ignored the
basic principal of cooperative federalism
(by signing the accord on his own)”.
He said Modi did not even consult
any of the three seniormost chief
ministers — Tarun Gogoi of Assam,
Nabam Tuki of Arunachal Pradesh and
Ibobi Singh of Manipur.
Surjewala termed the government’s
contention that it had consulted Gogoi,
Tuki and Ibobi Singh on the accord as “a
blatant lie”.
The three chief ministers have
declared that they will not cede an inch
of land for the accord.
One of the NSCN-IM’s most
contentious demand has been the
creation of Nagalim or Greater Nagaland
comprising all Naga-inhabited areas
of the northeast, which according
to officials, had been “set aside for
now”.
— IANS
AS FLOOD WATERS RECEDE...
Five women beaten to death
in Jharkhand over witchcraft
RANCHI: Five women were beaten to death on the outskirts of Ranchi
on Saturday for allegedly practising witchcraft, Jharkhand Police said.
The incident took place at Mandar, around 40 km from here.
Over 20 people, including college students, were detained for
interrogation, a police officer said.
“Five women were beaten to death with sticks and rods by villagers,
mostly youth. The women were picked up from their houses on Friday
night. The villagers alleged that they were involved in practicing black
magic,” the officer said.
According to police sources, some of the detained youths admitted
to the crime.
Villagers said four children have died in the last six month due to
prolonged illness in Mandar.
The families of the children and villagers suspected foul play by
these women.
The villagers held a meeting and decided to teach a lesson to the
women.
On Friday, more than 30 people dragged the women from their
houses and started beating them up.
The bodies of the women, who were from different families, have
been sent for post-mortem examination.
According to official statistics, more than 750 women have been
killed over the years in Jharkhand after being branded as witches.
Chief Minister Raghubar Das condemned the incident. — IANS
Devotees walk through marshland to take a boat ride after flood waters receded at the Sangam area in Allahabad on Saturday. — AFP
New governors of Bihar, Himachal appointed
NEW DELHI: President Pranab Mukherjee
on Saturday appointed Ram Nath Kovind and
Acharya Dev Vrat as the governors of Bihar and
Himachal Pradesh respectively, an official statement
said.
West Bengal Governor Kesri Nath Tripathi and
Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh presently hold
additional charge of Bihar and Himachal Pradesh
respectively.
Kovind, who hails from Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur
and is a lawyer by profession, was the president of
the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Dalit Morcha and also a
two-time Rajya Sabha member (1994-2006).
Acharya Dev Vrat has been principal of
CBI files five new
FIRs in Vyapam scam
NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI) on Saturday registered five fresh FIRs in connection
with its ongoing probe into the Vyapam scam in Madhya
Pradesh.
A First Information Report (FIR) was registered
against three accused regarding alleged illegalities in the
Police Constable Recruitment Test 2012, the CBI said in a
statement.
The second FIR was registered against 30 accused people
regarding alleged illegalities in the Pre-Medical Test 2006
conducted by Vyapam.
The CBI registered the third case against two accused
regarding alleged illegalities in the Sub Inspector
Recruitment Test 2013.
The fourth FIR was registered against two accused
regarding alleged illegalities in Police Constable Recruitment
Test 2012.
The fifth case was against one accused regarding
alleged illegalities in the Police Constable Recruitment Test
2009.
The CBI has already registered 55 FIRs and launched 11
preliminary inquiries into the Vyapam scam.
The Supreme Court on July 9 handed over the Vyapam
cases to the central investigating agency.
Over 40 people linked with the scam have died under
mysterious circumstances or committed suicide.
Kurukshetra Gurukul since 1981.
Besides being a post graduate in history and
Hindi, he is a doctor in naturopathy and yogic
sciences.
The appointments of Kovind and Dev Vrat will
be effective from the date they take charge of their
respective offices, the statement added.
Police talk to villagers after five women were beaten to death on the
outskirts of Ranchi on Saturday for allegedly practising witchcraft — AFP
39 cities from southern states were declared among the top 100 followed by 27 from eastern states
Mysuru city tops Swachh Bharat rankings
NEW DELHI/CHENNAI: Mysuru in
Karnataka and Thiruchirapalli (Trichy) in
Tamil Nadu were ranked first and second
among 476 cities in the “Swachh Bharat”
rankings announced by the Union Urban
Development Ministry on Saturday.
Over all 39 cities from the southern states
of India were declared among the top 100
followed by 27 from the eastern states in the
Swachh Bharat Rankings.
Besides Mysuru and Thiruchirapalli,
other cities in the top 10 are Navi Mumbai,
Kochi, Hassan, Mandya and Bengaluru in
Karnataka, Thiruvananthapuram, Halisahar
in West Bengal and Gangtok, the ministry
said in a statement. Thiruchirapalli is around
350 km from Tamil Nadu capital Chennai,
which bagged the 20th position.
All the 476 Class-1 cities in 31 states and
union territories, each with a population of
above one lakh, were surveyed for assessing
total sanitation practices covering a set of
parameters.
Brindavan Garden in Mysuru. The city in Karnataka has topped the rankings of 476 cities.
The parameters included extent of
open defecation, solid waste management,
septage management, waste water treatment,
drinking water quality, surface water quality
of water bodies and mortality due to waterborne diseases.
“Thirty nine cities from the southern states
are among the top 100 followed by 27 from
the east, 15 from the west, 12 from the north
and seven from the north-eastern states,” the
ministry said in a release.
The survey conducted during 2014-15 was
commissioned by the ministry as required
under the National Sanitation Policy of 2008.
“Mysore (Mysuru) city in Karnataka
has topped the rankings of 476 cities in the
country with three more from the state
figuring in the top 10. West Bengal does well
with 25 cities/towns from the state finding a
place in the top 100 cities,” it added.
According to the rankings, 15 of the 27
capital cities surveyed figured among the top
100 performers while five were ranked beyond
300. Bengaluru leads the list of capitals at 7th
rank while Patna came at the bottom at 429.
Among the bottom 100 cities, 74 are from
the North, 21 from the East, 3 from the West
and 2 from the South.
Damoh (Madhya Pradesh) came at the
bottom of 476, preceded by Bhind (MP),
Palwal and Bhiwani, both in Haryana,
Chittorgarh (Rajasthan), Bulandshahar (UP),
Neemuch (MP), Rewari (Haryana), Hindaun
(Rajasthan) and Sambalpur in Odisha at
467th rank. — IANS
12
POST REPORTER BACK IN COURT ON MONDAY
S U N DAY l A U G U ST 9 l 2 0 1 5
The detained Washington Post reporter
Jason Rezaian will be back in court on
Monday on what could be the final
hearing in his trial for spying on Iran, his
lawyer said. “They told me that this will
be the last hearing, but I cannot be 100
per cent sure because there are always
unexpected matters,” Rezaian’s lawyer
Leila Ahsan told AFP by telephone on
Saturday.
WORLD
Jury split, US
cinema shooter
escapes death
CENTENNIAL, UNITED STATES:
The American gunman who stormed a
Batman movie premiere and killed 12
cinemagoers escaped the death penalty
on Friday but will spend the rest of his
life behind bars.
A Colorado jury failed to
unanimously agree on execution for
27-year-old former graduate student
James Holmes (pictured), obliging
the judge to impose a sentence of life
without parole.
Last month, the killer had been
convicted on 12 counts of murder in
the first degree and scores more charges
including murder, attempted murder
and explosives possession.
But defence counsel
argued he has a mental
illness and urged jurors
to show clemency,
an appeal apparently
heeded by at least one
of the panel of nine
women and three men.
On each of the 12
murder counts that
could have merited the
death penalty, the jury
said in a statement read to the court:
“We do not have a unanimous final
sentencing verdict on this count.”
District Judge Carlos Samour
thanked jurors for their service and
set August 24 to 26 as the dates for
Holmes’s formal sentencing.
Holmes attacked the packed
premiere of The Dark Knight Rises at the
Century 16 theater in Aurora on July
20, 2012, spraying bullets into the dark
auditorium.
Clad in body armour and with
peculiar dyed-orange hair, he fired
hundreds of rounds before police
halted a spree that left 12 people dead,
including a six-year-old child.
Three years later, in July of this year,
he was convicted on 165 charges, the
jury rejecting the defence’s argument
that he was not guilty because of his
mental illness.
Robert Sullivan, grandfather of
the youngest victim, Veronica MoserSullivan, criticised the jury.
“They didn’t buy his sanity... and
then they bailed at the end. No, I’m
sorry,” Sullivan said. “It’s not justice.
Our loved ones are still gone.”
The prosecution had argued that
Holmes should be executed through
lethal injection.
“He picked the time, manner and
method of their deaths. Does he
deserve a life sentence for that?” District
Attorney George Brauchler said in his
closing arguments on Thursday. “This is
about justice.”
But Assistant Public Defender
Tamar Brady disagreed, arguing before
the jurors began their deliberations
that “justice without mercy is raw
vengeance.”
She also objected to
Brauchler’s characterisation of the
defendant as “evil.” “It is easier to ask
you to kill a monster than to ask you to
kill someone who is mentally ill,” Brady
said. “This tragedy was born of disease.”
Twice previously in the 15-week
trial, jurors had rejected the mental
illness defence.
First they found
Holmes guilty rather
than not-guilty by
reason of insanity.
Then they found
that mental illness was
not a mitigating factor
in the shootings.
In the closing
hours of deliberations
the jury reviewed a
45-minute, silent video of the gruesome
crime scene — a theater auditorium
littered with bullets, bodies, popcorn,
blood and gore.
But finally they were unable to agree
a sentence.
Holmes, who was wearing khaki
pants and a blue shirt in court, looked
calm and had his hands in his pockets.
He showed no reaction to the
verdicts on Friday.
After a guilty verdict in Colorado
death penalty cases, jurors are asked
to deliberate three times as to whether
the appropriate punishment is death or
life in prison without the possibility of
parole.
During the guilt or innocence part
of the trial, jurors heard from several
of the 70 survivors who were injured in
the shootings.
Holmes was also found guilty on 140
counts of attempted murder and will
be sentenced on those charges at a later
date. Colorado has executed a prisoner
by lethal injection only once since 1977,
rapist and murderer Gary Lee Davis in
1997.
There are currently three people on
death row in the state, amid signs that
the official mood is moving against
capital punishment.
— Reuters
consulate and the boy’s grandmother
had flown from France and taken
custody of him on Thursday.
Otero County Sheriff Benny House
told local media that the family had
been traveling across the United States,
visiting national parks and monuments.
The officers who rescued the boy
found two empty 20 ounce (0.6 litre)
bottles with them.
The boy told the officers they had
been full of water when they set out at
White Sands.
“The father and mother would take
one drink while they made the child
take two swallows of water,” House told
the Alamogordo Daily News.
“It might have been why the child
fared so well due to his smaller stature,
plus he probably consumed more
water than they did,” House was quoted
as saying.
House said the boy told authorities
that his mother had headed back
towards the car after becoming ill on
the hike.
He carried on with his father.
House said temperatures had
been between 100 and 101 degrees
Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius),
The body of five-time Formula One
champion Juan Manuel Fangio was
exhumed on Friday in his native Argentina
to settle a paternity dispute two decades
after his death at age 84. Two men have
brought separate cases claiming Fangio
was their father and seeking a piece of the
estate he left to a foundation and museum
bearing his name. DNA results were
expected in 30 to 60 days.
UNITED IN BEATS
Soldiers wearing gala uniforms perform during the commemoration of the 196th anniversary of the Colombian Army, in Bogota, Colombia on Friday.
— Reuters
Mali hotel siege ends, 12 people killed
BAMAKO: Malian security forces on
Saturday stormed a hotel used by United
Nations staff and freed four hostages
held there by suspected militants during
a nearly 24-hour siege in which 12
people died.
The gunmen had seized the Byblos
Hotel in the town of Sevare, around
600 km (400 miles) northeast of the
west African nation’s capital Bamako,
early on Friday and held off troops who
quickly surrounded the building.
The attack, far to the south of the
militants’ traditional desert strongholds,
was the latest in what appears to be
a growing campaign against Malian
troops and UN personnel by remnants
of an aAl Qaeda-linked insurgency.
“(The siege) seems to be over and it
has ended well,” said a Malian defence
ministry spokesman, Colonel Diaran
Koné. “We freed the four hostages.
But unfortunately we also found three
bodies at the site.”
A spokeswoman for Mali’s UN
peacekeeping mission, MINUSMA,
said four UN contractors — two from
South Africa along with a Russian and a
Ukrainian — had been freed in the predawn raid by security forces.
“At no point were they discovered
French hikers die in US desert, son survives
WASHINGTON: A French couple died
while hiking in the New Mexico desert
but authorities rescued their nineyear-old son after finding photographs
of him on his dead mother’s camera,
officials said.
David Steiner, 42, and Ornella
Steiner, 51, both from the small town
of Bourgogne near Reims, had been
hiking in the White Sands National
Monument on Tuesday afternoon
when they apparently died from heat
exhaustion, Otero County Sheriff’s
Detective David Hunter said.
“They underestimated the
elements,” Hunter said on Friday,
adding that autopsy results were
still pending. Park rangers found the
mother first while on a routine patrol.
They checked her camera and saw
that she had been with two other
people, Hunter said.
Authorities followed her tracks and
found the body of the father, with the
son nearby.
He was dehydrated but responsive
and was taken to a local hospital for
treatment.
The New York Daily News said
authorities had contacted the French
F1 CHAMP EXHUMED IN PATERNITY ROW
according to the Alamogordo Daily
News.
National Parks spokesman Patrick
O’Driscoll told the newspaper there
was no shade or water along any of the
trails in the dune-filled White Sands
National Monument.
Prior to this, two people this century
have died of exposure while hiking
in the park, in 2009 and 2011, the
Alamogordo paper said.
Ornella Steiner had worked for
about 20 years for the mayor’s office in
Reims.
“She was a very involved person,
very vibrant, active and full of life,”
said deputy mayor Kim Duntze, who
worked with her.
The Steiner couple loved travelling
and had visited the southern United
States for 10 days in 2014.
“When they came back from that
trip, they often said: ‘We’ll go back
for a longer time,’” Duntze said. “They
were supposed to stay there for five
weeks this time, it was the trip of their
dreams.”
David Steiner was a business
manager in a communications agency.
— AFP
A spokeswoman for Mali’s
UN peacekeeping mission,
MINUSMA, said four UN
contractors — two from South
Africa along with a Russian
and a Ukrainian — had been
freed in the pre-dawn raid
by security forces
by the terrorists in the hotel. They were
hiding,” Radhia Achouri said, adding
that the mission was verifying whether
any other MINUSMA personnel were
present inside the hotel.
Three hostages died during the
ordeal, Malian government spokesman
Choguel Kokala Maiga said, adding
that authorities were still attempting to
confirm their nationalities.
Five soldiers and four gunmen,
including one who officials earlier said
was strapped with explosives, were also
killed, he said.
Seven suspects have been arrested in
connection with the attack, according to
a government statement released late on
Friday.
Ukraine and Russia had previously
confirmed that their citizens were
among the hostages. Russian news
agencies, citing a press attache at Russia
Embassy in Mali, said a Russian hostage
employed by the airline UTair was
among those freed on Saturday.
At least one French national was
also believed to have been staying at the
hotel, Malian military officials said on
Friday.
A French foreign ministry official
said Paris was attempting on Saturday
to verify whether any of its citizens had
been among the hostages.
A 2013 French-led military operation
drove back rebel fighters, who had taken
advantage of an ethnic Tuareg rebellion
and a military coup to seize territory in
the north a year earlier.
While the United Nations has
managed to broker a tenuous peace
agreement between the government and
Tuareg separatists, Islamist fighters left
out of the negotiations have mounted a
insurgency.
Former colonial ruler France and
other Western and regional nations fear
Islamist fighters could turn the remote
region into a launch pad for attacks
further afield if they regain power there.
Describing the security forces’
operation early on Saturday, a Sevare
resident living near the hotel told
Reuters: “The assault... took place
between 4 and 5 o’clock this morning
(0400-0500 GMT). We didn’t hear heavy
weapons this time. There was just some
small arms fire.”
On Friday Malian forces had used
heavy weapons, including rocketpropelled grenades, in a failed attempt
to dislodge the gunmen that then gave
way to the prolonged stand-off.
The resident and a Malian military
source said a special unit of the Malian
gendarmes had carried out Saturday’s
pre-dawn raid.
Koné,
the
defence ministry
spokesman, said that French forces had
backed the operation. But a French army
spokesman said French soldiers had not
been directly involved in the assault on
the hotel.
“We played a coordination role with
MINUSMA and the Malian armed
forces, but this is a normal role that we
play all the time,” the official said.
—Agencies
Australia probes hundreds of home
purchases by expats ahead of penalty
SYDNEY: Australia is cracking down
on foreigners who unlawfully own
residential properties, investigating
hundreds of cases ahead of the
introduction of tougher penalties,
Treasurer Joe Hockey said on Saturday.
The government announced in May
it would increase penalties for illegal
purchases to rigorously enforce rules
under which foreigners are only allowed
to buy new dwellings, and not existing
residential property.
Hockey said he had ordered the
sale of six properties illegally owned by
foreigners who had so far come forward
on their own, but officials were working
on hundreds more cases.
“Through the information provided
by the public together with our own
inquiries, we now have 462 cases under
investigation for breaches of the law
by foreign nationals in the purchase of
residential real estate,” he said.
“I expect more divestment
orders will be announced in the not-
too-distant future,” he told a press
conference in Sydney. Australian real
estate prices, particularly in Sydney and
Melbourne, have soared in recent years,
with concerns growing that cashed-up
foreigners, particularly from China,
have helped inflate the market.
Hockey said the majority of cases
being investigated came from New
South Wales and Victoria, the states of
which Sydney and Melbourne are the
respective capitals, as well as Western
Australia. “There is significant foreign
investment in residential real estate. It
has certainly increased over the last few
years,” the minister said.
“Australia wants foreign investment,
we need foreign investment, but we
need to make sure that foreign investors
comply with the laws.”
Hockey said he would introduce
legislation into parliament in the coming
weeks to ensure that the reporting
requirements, enforcement and penalty
regimes for foreign investors who broke
the rules were tougher.
As already announced, foreigners
who illegally buy Australian real estate
will face up to three years in jail or fines
of Aus$127,500 ($95,000) for individuals
and Aus$637,500 for companies.
In relation to civil penalties, investors
will lose whichever is the greatest of the
capital gain made on the property, 25
per cent of the purchase price or 25 per
cent of its market value.
— Reuters
REGION
S U N DAY
AUGUST 9 l 2015
Second arson death prompts
Hamas call to confront Israel
OUTRAGE: The July 31 attack in Duma led to angry Palestinian protests and global outcry
DUMA: The father of a Palestinian
toddler killed when their home was
firebombed by Jewish extremists last
week died on Saturday from injuries
he suffered in the attack, prompting a
Hamas call for “confrontation”.
The July 31 attack in the village of
Duma led to angry Palestinian protests
and an international outcry over Israel’s
failure to curb violence by hardline
Jewish settlers.
Saad Dawabsha died in hospital in
the southern Israeli city of Beersheba
where he was being treated for thirddegree burns for the past eight days,
Palestinian official Ghassan Daghlas
said.
The head of the hospital’s intensive
care unit said his prospects had been
slim from the outset.
“He arrived early on Friday a week
ago by helicopter in very bad condition,
critical,” Motti Klein told Israeli public
radio.
“With burns covering 80 per cent of
the body, chances of survival are very,
very slim, almost zero,” he said.
“He underwent a number of skin
grafts but, despite everything, his vital
systems collapsed.”
Dawabsha’s wife Riham and fouryear-old son Ahmed are still fighting
for their lives in another Israeli hospital,
near Tel Aviv, after the attack that killed
18-month-old Ali.
However, a doctor said Ahmed was
showing some encouraging signs.
“He is conscious at the moment,
communicating with relatives,” Marina
Rubinstein told the radio.
“Yesterday he was licking ice lollies
and was pleased with that.”
“His condition is still serious,” she
added. “He faces a large number of
operations and a very long period of
hospitalisation.”
The Dawabsha family’s small brick
and cement home was gutted by the fire.
“Nothing will stop these murderous
settler attacks and... we cannot wait until
they come into our villages and our
homes,” Hossam Badran, spokesman of
the Palestinian movement Hamas, wrote
on Facebook from his base in Qatar on
Saturday.
13
IN BRIEF
Riyadh says mosque
bomber was Saudi
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia said on
Saturday that the suicide bomber who
detonated an explosives-packed vest in
a mosque inside a police headquarters,
killing 15 people, was one of its own
citizens.
Thursday’s bombing of a mosque
frequented by members of a police
special weapons and tactics unit in the
southern city of Abha was claimed by
the IS group.
The Saudi interior ministry named
the bomber as Yussef bin Sleiman bin
Abdullah al Sleiman, aged 21.
A ministry spokesman, quoted by
El Ekhbariya state television, said 11 of
those killed were policemen and four
were Bangladeshis who worked at the
police compound.
IS affiliate “Al Hijaz Province” said in
an online statement that it was behind
the attack, the latest — and deadliest —
against security forces in Saudi Arabia
in recent weeks.
It had identified the bomber as Abu
Sinan al Najdi and vowed to carry out
fresh strikes in the coming days.
There was no explanation as to why
different names were given, but the one
published by IS appeared to be an alias.
IS, which controls swathes of
Syria and Iraq, has expanded across
the region, claiming responsibility
for attacks on two mosques in Saudi
Arabia in May and a third in Kuwait in
June. — AFP
IS advance triggers exodus in Syria
Palestinian women mourn during the funeral of Saad Dawabsha. — AFP
A protester burns tyres during clashes
with Israeli troops following the funeral
of Saad Dawabsha in Duma. — Reuters
“Our people in the West Bank have
only one choice: that of open and
comprehensive confrontation against
the occupation.”
Israeli media reported that the army
was on alert for possible unrest in the
occupied territory and for “Palestinian
revenge attacks.”
The United Nations has called for
restraint.
“Political, community and religious
leaders on all sides should work together
and not allow extremists to escalate the
situation and take control of the political
agenda,” wrote UN peace coordinator
Nickolay Mladenov.
“I reiterate the secretary-general’s
call for the perpetrators of this heinous
terrorist act, which was universally
condemned, to be brought swiftly to
justice,” he added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu has condemned the attack as
“terrorism in every respect”, and vowed
to spare no effort in catching those
responsible.
He ordered a crackdown on Jewish
extremism that has seen three people
‘The PKK must immediately remove its finger from the trigger’
Pro-Kurdish party leader
calls for steps to halt violence
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey: The leader of
Turkey’s pro-Kurdish HDP urged the
Kurdistan Workers Party on Saturday to
“remove its finger from the trigger” and
said the government should launch talks
to halt a surge in violence.
The PKK announced it was stepping
up attacks in mid-July, saying Turkish
forces were violating a 2013 ceasefire.
Turkey began an air campaign against
PKK camps in northern Iraq on July 24.
Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP)
leader Selahattin Demirtas told
reporters: “Today we call to both sides:
the PKK must immediately remove its
finger from the trigger and declare it will
observe the ceasefire.”
Speaking in the southeastern city of
Van, a day after six people were killed
in clashes between security forces
and militants in the mainly Kurdish
southeast, he said the government must
halt security operations and revive a
peace process launched with jailed PKK
leader Abdullah Ocalan in 2012.
Demirtas’ HDP won 13 per cent of
the vote in a June-7 election which has
yet to produce a coalition government.
He had regularly visited Ocalan in his
Imrali island jail south of Istanbul.
Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin
Akdogan said the state was continuing
talks with Ocalan but the HDP could
no longer visit him because it had
“betrayed” the process.
In comments to Milliyet newspaper
omandailyobserver
Kurdish people make the victory sign during the burial of three Kurdish civilians,
including a teenager, on Saturday in the district of Silopi in Sirnak. — AFP
published on Saturday, he said tactical
PKK declarations on halting violence
were unacceptable. “Their withdrawal
from Turkey and a complete halt to
activities is now a pre-requisite,” he said.
“A coalition may be formed or not
but peace is urgent. Mr Davutoglu, we
are not requesting this from you. You
are obliged to do it,” Demirtas said in
comments addressed to Prime Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu.
As well as PKK targets, Turkish jets
have hit IS positions in Syria. In a show
of support for the army, Davutoglu on
Saturday visited a border outpost in
Kilis province near where a soldier was
killed in clashes with IS militants on the
Syrian side of the border last month.
On Friday evening militants fired a
rocket at an armoured car in the town
of Cizre, killing a police officer and
wounding another, security sources
said.
Earlier that day, three people were
killed and seven wounded during
clashes between police and PKK in the
town of Silopi. Both towns are close to
Turkey’s borders with Syria and Iraq.
In Van and Agri provinces, militants
killed two soldiers, bringing the death
toll among Turkish security forces since
July 20 to at least 21. — Reuters
detained, but no one has so far been
accused of carrying out the firebombing.
As Saad Dawabsha was buried in
Duma on Saturday afternoon, a family
friend said Israeli authorities were
complicit in such violence.
“It’s a crime committed by the
settlers but with the agreement of the
occupation,” Anwar Dawabsha said.
“It isn’t possible that Israel with all
its army and its intelligence services still
has no information on this attack,” he
said.
Several thousand mourners turned
out to lay Dawabsha to rest, many
carrying Palestinian flags, others with
portraits of little Ali and the rest of the
family.
Earlier an autopsy was performed
on the body at An-Najah University
Hospital in the nearby city of Nablus.
A Palestinian official said the
pathologist’s report would be submitted
in evidence to back up a complaint to
the International Criminal Court in The
Hague. On Monday, the Palestinians
submitted a request to the ICC to
probe the firebombing and “settler
terrorism”. — AFP
BEIRUT: An advance by the IS
militia in central Syria has prompted
hundreds to flee the area, activists said
on Saturday.
Head of the Assyrian Network
for Human Rights in Syria, Ousama
Edward, said that many families were
leaving the town of Sadad for fear of a
takeover by the group.
On Wednesday, IS seized the town
of Al Qaryatain west of Sadad from
the government forces, expanding the
militants’ presence in the area.
The radical organisation also
seized 230 civilians in Al Qaryatain,
located near the IS-held historic city of
Palmyra.
The al Qaeda breakaway group has
since gained more ground in central
Syria, capturing the villages of Moheen
and Houreen from the Syrian army,
head of the Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman,
said.
“Now Sadad, which has a population
of 5,000 people, is in danger.”
He added that Sadad’s residents
were fleeing towards the governmentcontrolled areas in the central province
of Homs and the capital Damascus.
IS is notorious for mass abuses
against minority communities in Syria
and neighbouring Iraq where it rules
vast territory.
In Damascus, at least five civilians
were on Saturday killed and 40
wounded when rockets hit a central
district in the city, the Britain-based
Observatory reported. The rockets are
believed to have been fired by rebels
from areas under their control near
Damascus.
— dpa
Tunisia arrests 12 trying to enter Libya
TUNIS: Tunisia has arrested 12
people, one of them a woman, who
were trying to cross into lawless Libya
to join a “terrorist group”, the interior
ministry said.
After attacks on tourists by
militants, Tunisia is especially
concerned about those entering from
Libya. Chaos created by two rival
Libyan governments battling for
control has enabled IS to establish a
toehold there.
Security forces arrested the 12 at a
bus stop in the southern town of Ben
Guerdane near the border with Libya,
the ministry said in a statement late on
Friday.
“The suspects said that they had
been planning to cross into Libyan
territory with the help of a smuggler,”
it said.
— Reuters
ICRC head in Sanaa as pro-govt
forces launch Abyan offensive
SANAA: The head of the International
Committee of the Red Cross began a
three-day visit to Yemen on Saturday to
assess the dire humanitarian situation in
the war-torn country.
Peter Mauer flew into the capital
Sanaa where he was welcomed by
Houthi officials.
Mauer is to hold talks with Houthi
leaders and with their allies from the
General People’s Congress party of
ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The ICRC said in a statement ahead
of the visit that his trip would focus on
the “dire humanitarian situation” in
Yemen and that he would hold talks
with unidentified “leading officials”.
More than four months of ferocious
fighting in Yemen between the rebels
and loyalists of the exiled government
have devastated the impoverished
country.
The loyalists have been backed by air
strikes and an air and sea blockade by a
Saudi-led coalition.
The United Nations says that nearly
4,000 people have been killed, half of
them civilians, while 80 per cent of the
21 million people are in need of aid and
protection.
The ICRC says that 1.3 million
Yemenis have been displaced by the
conflict.
“The human cost of this conflict is
such that no family in Yemen today has
been left unaffected,” Mauer said in a
statement ahead of his visit.
“We are particularly concerned
about attacks on medical facilities and
personnel. Moreover, deliveries of food,
water and medicine must be facilitated
Peter Maurer (C), President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, is
welcomed upon his arrival at Sanaa International Airport on Saturday. — AFP
not hampered,” he added.
Meanwhile, pro-government forces
in Yemen strengthened by tanks newly
supplied by a Saudi-led coalition
launched an offensive on Saturday to
retake the rebel-held capital of Abyan
province, military sources said.
A two-pronged drive on the
southern province’s capital of Zinjibar
was launched from the north and south,
the sources said.
It came two days after tribal and
military sources said Saudi Arabia,
leading an Arab coalition air war on
the Houthis, had sent new military
equipment to Yemen.
The tanks were part of a package
including other armoured vehicles and
personnel carriers as well as hundreds
of Yemeni soldiers trained in kingdom,
a military source said.
This week has seen fierce fighting in
Zinjibar and heavy coalition air strikes
against positions of the 15th Army
Brigade allied to the Houthis.
UAE soldiers killed: The official
United Arab Emirates news agency on
Saturday reported the deaths of three
Emirati soldiers in Yemen.
Without saying where or when they
were killed, WAM said they died while
taking part in “the Arab coalition led by
Saudi Arabia to support the legitimate
government in Yemen”.
On August 3, the Saudi-owned Al
Hayat newspaper reported that a total
of 1,500 troops, most of them from the
UAE, had entered Aden.
— AFP
14
omandailyobserver
EUROPE
Russia finds helicopter
that crashed 10 months
ago with 14 people dead
SPAIN WILD FIRE FORCES MORE EVACUATION
A seaplane drops water near the village of Hoyos on Saturday as a wildfire that officials suspect was started deliberately forced the evacuation of a third town in western
Spain. Firefighters evacuated about 1,000 people from the town of Hoyos in the early hours of Saturday, a day after another 1,400 people were ordered to leave their
homes and campsites in two other nearby towns.
— AFP
AIR BALTIC FLIGHT
Pilot and crew
pulled off plane
after failing
breath test
OSLO: The Latvian pilot of an airBaltic
flight and three crew members were
pulled off the Greece-bound plane in
Oslo early on Saturday after failing
a breathalyser test before take-off,
Norwegian police said.
“Results of the breathalyser
tests confirmed that four of the five
crew members... were above the
legal alcohol limit of 0.2 promille,”
Romerike police prosecutor Edith Ek
Sorensen said.
The pilot, co-pilot and two
stewardesses — all from Latvia and
employed by airBaltic — were taken
into police custody and escorted to
hospital for blood tests to confirm the
breathalyser exams.
Results were expected later.
Sorensen said police had acted after
receiving a tipoff from an anonymous
caller around 4:00 am (0200 GMT).
AirBaltic spokesman Janis Vanags said
the company had a “zero tolerance”
policy with regard to alcohol.
“Zero tolerance means no alcohol,”
Vanags said. “It’s very straightforward
- safety is our number one priority.”
“There has been an initial test and
that is being followed up with more
detailed tests.
— AFP
S U N DAY
AUGUST 9 l 2015
MOSCOW: Russian investigators
said on Saturday they had found the
wreckage of a helicopter that crashed
last October with 14 people on board
in a remote mountainous region of
Siberia.
Rescuers “confirmed information
that the Mi-8 helicopter of TuvaAvia
airline that went missing on October 10
was found in an isolated mountainous
area,” investigators said in a statement.
“According
to
provisional
information, there were 11 passengers
and 3 crew members on board.”
The helicopter was transporting
workers who were returning from a
hydroelectric project in the Siberian
Buddhist region of Tuva, which borders
Mongolia.
It crashed into a mountainside
amid low cloud and falling snow and
caught fire when it hit the ground, the
spokesman for the regional emergencies
ministry, Dmitry Kryzh, told TASS
news agency.
“There is a very steep slope — with a
EU officials see Greek deal soon
RELIEF BY TUESDAY: Negotiators drafting MoU for third bailout agreement
BRUSSELS/ATHENS: Greece is on
track to complete a draft deal on a third
bailout by Tuesday and possibly get a
first disbursement by August 20 to meet
a key payment, sources familiar with a
conference call of senior EU finance
officials late on Friday said.
Athens is negotiating with European
Union institutions and the International
Monetary Fund for up to 86 billion
euros ($94 billion) in fresh loans to stave
off economic collapse and stay in the
euro zone.
Senior EU officials assessed the
progress in talks between Athens and its
international creditors, with Germany
warning against haste.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras
has tried to force the pace of the talks,
keen to wrap up agreement on sensitive
economic reforms by mid-August, while
many Greeks are on holiday, and receive
an initial aid disbursement by August 20
in time to make a bond payment to the
European Central Bank.
The view of EU officials was that talks
are proceeding smoothly and may be
completed over the weekend, one source
said.
If a draft memorandum of
understanding and an updated debt
sustainability analysis are ready
as planned on Tuesday, the Greek
government and parliament would be
expected to approve them by Thursday.
This would open the way for euro
Greek Economy Minister George Stathakis arrives for a meeting with
representatives of the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission, the
European Central Bank and the euro zone’s rescue fund, European Stability
Mechanism, at a hotel in Athens on Saturday.
— Reuters
zone finance ministers to meet or hold
a teleconference on Friday to endorse
the up to 86 billion euro three-year loan
programme for Athens.
Greece would be expected to enact
another package of reform legislation
before August 20, in parallel with
national ratification procedures to
receive a first aid payment in time to
meet the ECB payment. “Everyone
is working on Plan A — a deal with
disbursement by August 20,” the source
said.
Negotiations began on July 20, a
week after euro zone leaders agreed at
an acrimonious all-night summit on
stringent conditions for opening talks
with Greece on a third bailout to save it
from bankruptcy and keep it in the euro
zone.
The source said no major differences
had emerged among creditor nations on
the one-hour call of the Economic and
Financial Committee of deputy finance
ministers, partly because there was
nothing immediate to decide.
Some countries, led by Germany,
were keen to nail down more specific
long-term reform commitments in
addition to the immediate actions to be
implemented, the source added.
Tsipras and French President
Francois Hollande agreed at a meeting
on Thursday that a new deal should be
concluded soon after August 15.
“The objective is for the negotiations
on the programme... to be concluded at
the end of August.
We know it’s difficult but we must
make sure that the conditions are met, in
a good spirit,” Hollande told reporters.
Talks were going “in the best of
directions,” he added.
The European Commission also has
said talks are moving “in a satisfactory
way” and is keen to wrap them up
soon, not least because of the political
sensitivity of arranging another bridge
loan for Athens if a deal is not ready in
time.
Earlier on Friday, commission
spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said
negotiations had begun on drafting a
memorandum of understanding on a
loan agreement.
Germany, keen on fiscal discipline
and far-reaching economic reforms, is
sceptical of any early deal and doubts a
multi-billion-euro bailout can be agreed
by mid-August.
“It remains completely open,” said
one politician from the ruling coalition
government, adding that Finance
Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was
taking a cautious view of comments by
commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker
on the chances of a deal.
—Reuters
gradient of around 45 degrees,” he said
of the crash scene.
He said the helicopter most likely
went undetected after the crash because
it was quickly covered with snow.
The wreckage was initially spotted
on Friday from the air by military
helicopter pilots.
Rescuers were still searching for the
helicopter’s black boxes which could
have been swept downhill by rock falls,
Kryzh said.
So far the remains of 10 people have
been found.
“Unfortunately the crew and the
passengers had no chance,” the leader
of Tuva, Sholban Kara-ool, said in a
statement.
It is not unknown for crashed aircraft
to lie undetected for months in Russia’s
sparsely populated countryside.
In 2013, a small plane was found in a
marsh 11 months after it crashed in the
Urals region of central Russia, killing all
13 on board.
— AFP
Russia destroys
more tonnes
of smuggled
Western food
MOSCOW: Russian officials on Friday
destroyed hundreds of tonnes of fruit
as they pushed on with a controversial
drive to eradicate smuggled Western
food.
Authorities
started
trashing
produce on Thursday after President
Vladimir Putin ordered the destruction
of food brought into the country in
breach of a year-old embargo imposed
in retaliation for Western sanctions
over the Ukraine conflict.
The decision to eliminate the food
sparked a rare outburst of public ire
as more than 300,000 people signed
a petition asking officials to give the
food to the rising number of poor in
the crisis-hit nation.
Russia’s food safety agency said it
destroyed around 180 tonnes of fruit
including peaches, nectarines, cherries
and grapes that crossed over the
border from Belarus and were “falsely”
marked as coming from Turkey.
Another 40 tonnes of fruit were
seized and destroyed at a landfill site
close to the border, the agency said in a
separate statement. About 319 tonnes
of food were destroyed on Thursday,
including some meat from Italy which
was burned in a garbage incinerator at
Saint Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport.
— AFP
Five suspects were arrested after witness said they sealed some 250 desperate passengers in the boat’s hull shortly before the accident
Migrant shipwreck survivors grieve kids swept from their arms
PALERMO: Their children slipped out of their
grasp as the boat overturned and were lost to the
waves.
Now, traumatised parents brought to safety
after a deadly Mediterranean shipwreck are being
given psychological support in Sicily.
The crossing was supposed to be the start of a
new life in Europe, but at the Caritas-run “Saint
Rosalia” centre in Palermo, grieving parents
plucked from the sea off Libya sit numbly,
watching those children that did survive and
asking what the future now holds.
Psychologists, cultural mediators, volunteers
and members of Doctors Without Borders (MSF)
do what they can to comfort the 367 survivors
brought to Sicily by the Irish patrol boat which
rescued them after Wednesday’s disaster.
On the patio, two veiled women are hugged
in turn by psychologist Anna Cullotta, who has
experience in helping migrant survivors.
Nearby, three children, still wearing the
plastic shoes handed out as they got off the boat
on Thursday, play a game of table football with a
volunteer.
“Wednesday’s shipwreck was the most tragic
and poignant of all, because among the recovered
bodies and missing people there were numerous
children,” Cullotta said.
A young Syrian mother, who had hoped
to join her husband in Sweden with their son,
instead saw him drown as the fishing boat went
down. “She set off with the idea of a future, full of
hope, then the tragedy.
She called her husband to tell him the news,
and she hasn’t spoken since,” Cullotta said.
Scenes of violence and fear in the moments
leading up to the tragedy were recounted by police
on Friday, who said survivors had described how
the traffickers slashed migrants with knives and
thrashed them with belts.
Five suspects from Libya, Algeria
and Tunisia were arrested after witness
said they sealed some 250 desperate passengers in
the boat’s hull shortly before the accident, giving
them no chance of escaping with their lives when
the vessel sank.
The survivors need help to “carry their
psychological and emotional burden”, Cullotta
added. Chiara Montaldo, an MSF coordinator
for Sicily, said “they need to speak, to vent”,
explaining how the aid organisation brought a
team of cultural mediators to the centre “who
speak the same language as them, who share the
same culture”.
“The most important thing is that people
feel listened to because they are completely
disorientated, they have lost their bearings in a
Migrants and refugees from Syria and Africa on a dinghy approach the Greek island of Kos after
crossing a part of the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece, on Saturday. The UN refugee agency, country they do not know, so having something
which reminds them of their culture, something
UNHCR, estimates that Greece has received more than 107,000 refugees and migrants this year,
more than double its 43,500 intake of 2014.
— Reuters familiar, is fundamental.”
Cullotta said they were suffering a double
blow. Added to the shipwreck is the loss of their
children — and all after the stress and trauma of
long, difficult and often dangerous journeys from
their homes to departure points in Libya.
“We need to be present, close to them, to help
them to share their suffering,” she said.
With children who have lost their brothers,
sisters or parents, the approach is different: “With
them, it’s about games, we need to distract them.
They play, and in doing so protect themselves
from something that’s bigger than them.”
If it is possible, they try to get relatives to
speak to the children on the telephone.
For the small children, a woman may pretend
to be their mother, a female voice on the other
end of the line often reassuring them.
The very youngest are not told their parent
has died: “We tell them mummy has gone to
work, that she is abroad.”
Cullotta says she tells the mothers “that they
are superwomen — they have an admirable
strength and courage, to be so attached to life
and the future.
They are certain their lives can get better.
“It’s a discovery and a lesson for all of us,” she said.
And such a future is symbolised by one survivor,
who lost three children to the Mediterranean
— only to discover when she arrived in Italy on
— AFP
Thursday that she is pregnant.
S U N DAY
AUGUST 9 l 2015
PANORAMA
omandailyobserver
15
Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron (R) and his wife Samantha at a harbour on holiday in Alvor, Portugal. — AFP
A volunteer releases a
flamingo chick at Fuente
de Piedra lake, 70
kilometres from Malaga,
during a tagging and
control operation of
flamingo chicks to
monitor the evolution of
the species. The lake,
which is the most
important breeding
ground for flamingos in
the Iberian Peninsula, is
also a nature reserve and
a haven for birds with
over 170 different
species. — AFP
Fireworks light the sky over the Croisette during the
Pyrotechnic Art Festival in Cannes. — AFP
Singapore Air Force’s
Black Knights
aerobatics team
performs a
manoeuvre during
an aerial display
ahead of Singapore’s
Golden Jubilee
celebrations along
the southern coast of
Singapore on
Saturday. Singapore
marks 50 years of
independence
today. — Reuters
Competitors take part in the “Descenso Internacional del Rio Sella 2015” a 20-km kayak and canoe race along the Sella River
between Arriondas and Ribadesella bridges in Asturias, Spain. — AFP
People use umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun in front of Colosseum during a hot summer day in Rome. — Reuters
SUNDAY | AUGUST 9, 2015 | SHAWWAL 23, 1436 AH
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Sohar Port keen to kickstart bulk minerals jetty project
GROWTH: The project promises to drive investment in mining and quarrying in resource-rich Batinah North and Dhahirah governorates
CONRAD PRABHU
MUSCAT
Aug 8: With demand for construction
aggregates set to soar in key Gulf markets
in the coming years, Sohar Port and
Freezone (SOHAR) is exploring ways
to get its ambitious Bulk Minerals Jetty
project back on track — a move that
promises to drive investment in mining
and quarrying in resource-rich Batinah
North and Dhahirah governorates of
Oman.
According to a senior port official,
talks are under way with a number of
parties with regard to the establishment
and operation of a proposed 10 million
tonnes per year capacity Bulk Minerals
Jetty equipped to handle exports of
aggregates and mineral ores via the
industrial port.
“We are continuously exploring
options to utilize the asset (earmarked)
for the export of aggregates, chrome
ore, and other minerals from Oman,
and we are still trying to find ways and
means to get this facility started,” said
Edwin Lammers (pictured), Executive
Commercial Manager — Sohar Port and
Freezone.
“Howe ve r,
we don’t yet
see
enough
aggregate
exporters
(operating
independently
or collectively)
with
the
volumes that justify the establishment
and operation of a complete jetty of
a capacity of 10 million tonnes per
annum,” he added in comments to the
Observer.
Nevertheless,
pending
the
implementation of a dedicated Bulk
Minerals Jetty at Sohar Port, exports of
aggregates and minerals ores are being
handled via the multipurpose, general
cargo terminal of C Steinweg Oman, he
stressed. “We are thankful to Steinweg for
honouring its commitments to handle
the requirements of aggregate exporters
using Sohar Port for their exports. In the
meanwhile, we are looking at all sorts of
alternatives, and are in discussions with
various parties on the potential use of
our asset (earmarked for bulk mineral
exports). But these discussions haven’t
progressed to an extent that we have
something concrete to announce with
regard to the operation of this facility,”
the official noted. The asset in question
is a roughly 220-metre length of the
1.4-kilometre-long deepwater jetty
currently operated by Vale Oman as part
of its massive iron ore pelletising plant
and distribution complex at Sohar Port.
Unemployment rate holds steady at 5.3 per cent
Solid US jobs report bolsters
case for Fed rate hike
WASHINGTON: US employment
rose at a solid clip in July and wages
rebounded after a surprise stall in the
prior month, signs of an improving
economy that opened the door wider to
a Federal Reserve interest rate increase
in September.
Nonfarm payrolls increased 215,000
last month as a pickup in construction
and manufacturing jobs offset further
declines in the mining sector, the
Labour Department said.
The unemployment rate held at a
seven-year low of 5.3 per cent.
Payrolls data for May and June
were revised to show 14,000 more jobs
created than previously reported.
In addition, the average workweek
increased to 34.6 hours, the most since
February, from 34.5 hours in June.
“We view this report as easily
clearing the hurdle needed to keep the
Fed on track for a September rate hike.
The bar for not moving now is much
higher,” said Rob Martin, an economist
at Barclays in New York. The Fed last
month upgraded its assessment of
the labour market, describing it as
continuing to “improve, with solid job
gains and declining unemployment.”
The US central bank said its policysetting committee anticipated it
would be appropriate to raise lending
rates when it has seen “some further
improvement” in the jobs market. It has
not raised rates since 2006. US stocks
fell after the jobs data as traders saw a
Job-seeker Tomaj Trenda (L) hands over papers to a company representative as he
looks for work at a career fair in San Francisco, California. — Reuters
greater chance of a rate hike next month.
The dollar rose to near a four-month
high against a basket of currencies
before weakening. Prices for longerdated US Treasuries were up.
Though hiring has slowed from last
year’s robust pace — mostly because
of job losses in the energy sector —
it remains at double the rate needed
to keep up with population growth.
Average hourly earnings increased five
cents, or 0.2 per cent, last month after
being flat in June.
That put them 2.1 per cent above the
year-ago level, but well shy of the 3.5 per
cent growth rate economists associate
with full employment.
Still, the gain supported views that
a sharp slowdown in compensation
growth in the second quarter and
consumer spending in June were
temporary. The aggregate weekly
payrolls index, a proxy for take-home
wages, rose 0.6 per cent in July and was
up 4.9 per cent from a year ago.
Economists had forecast nonfarm
payrolls increasing 223,000 last month
and wages rising 0.2 per cent. Wage
growth has been disappointingly slow.
But tightening labour market conditions
and decisions by several state and local
governments to raise their minimum
wage have fuelled expectations of a
pickup.
— Reuters
Under a long-standing plan of
the joint-venture Oman-Dutch port
management company, the 220-metre
jetty was proposed to be developed
into a dedicated terminal for primarily
exports — and some imports as well —
bulk minerals and aggregates.
In
2012,
an
Omani-Indian
consortium that had been awarded a
contract to develop and operate the
proposed terminal pulled out sometime
Coca-Cola near
deal for organic
juice firm Suja
NEW YORK: Coca-Cola Co is
nearing a deal to buy a minority stake
in US organic juice company Suja Life
LLC, people familiar with the matter
said on Friday, as the soft drink giant
tries to identify the next big hit with
consumers.
have
Carbonated
beverages
suffered from slow growth in recent
years as consumer sentiment shifts
towards healthier beverages.
Coca-Cola’s investment would
value Suja, a start-up that counts
Hollywood celebrities as investors, at
around $300 million, the sources said.
The deal, which gives Coca-Cola
the option to buy the remainder of
Suja in three years, would strengthen
the Atlanta-based company’s hold
on the cold-pressed juice sector and
better position it to compete against
PepsiCo Inc’s Naked Juice brands.
It would be Coca-Cola’s second
investment in the sector, following the
purchase of Odwalla in 2001.
The sources asked not to be
identified because the investment is
not yet public. Representatives for
Coca-Cola and Suja did not respond
to requests for comment. Based in
San Diego, Suja makes juices and
smoothies under cold pressure to
kill harmful bacteria and preserve
nutrients and taste.
— Reuters
thereafter, citing a weak uptake of its
facilities, which in turn, was on the
fledgling nature of the aggregate export
market, dominated by a multiplicity of
small players.
But with demand for aggregates in
markets, such as Qatar — venue of the
2022 Fifa World Cup, set to skyrocket,
Sohar Port says it is keen to smooth
the way for Omani exporters to pitch
for a stake of this immense market —
estimated at 200 million tonnes in Qatar
alone.
“Yes, it’s true that the demand for
aggregates is very high in Qatar, but as
we understand, the Qataris are primarily
stockpiling the material at the moment.
Nevertheless, once they start utilising the
material, it would need to be replenished
quickly. So the focus right now for them
is to identify new sources that can be
tapped over the next two years, when
demand is expected to peak,” said
Lammers.
With export prices currently too
low to pique the interest of potential
exporters, Omani quarry operators are
largely in holding mode as they wait
for the prices to improve on the back of
soaring demand, he said.
Furthermore, an anticipated uptick
in export prices is also expected to
encourage quarry owners to invest in
modern crushing equipment, export
facilities, and so on, which in turn would
enhance the overall economics of their
export business, and competitiveness of
their shipments, he explained.
Success in the Qatari market is also
predicated on Omani exporters forming
partnerships and consortiums that
would deliver aggregates in the volumes
that are required in Qatar, Lammers
pointed out.
“With a requirement of over
200 million tonnes, the Qataris are
interested in buying large volumes. In
the circumstances, they are not keen
to make deals with small players who
may offer 200,000 or 300,000 tonnes.
They are more likely to speak to people
capable of delivering 3, 4 or 5 million
tonnes.
Unfortunately, the current
operating capacities of quarry owners
here in Oman are not such that they can
meet these expectations.”
China exports, imports
drop in July amid
worry for economy
SHANGHAI: China’s foreign trade
performance worsened in July with
both exports and imports falling on an
annual basis, customs said on Saturday,
spelling more worry for the world’s
second largest economy.
Exports plunged 8.3 per cent yearon-year to $195.10 billion while imports
dropped 8.1 per cent to $152.07 billion,
it said in a statement on its website.
The country still recorded a trade
surplus of $43.03 billion, customs
said, but gave no comparative figure.
Separately, the agency said the trade
surplus in yuan currency terms
narrowed by 10 per cent on the year.
Exports are a key driver of China’s
economic growth, while falling imports
can indicate weak domestic demand.
“China’s trade slump deteriorated
further in July,” ANZ Banking Group
said in a research note. As global growth
moderates and commodity prices
remain depressed, he said, it will be
“unlikely” that China’s trade growth will
pick up significantly in the remainder of
the year.
“China’s exports will continue to
face strong headwinds,” the bank said.
The latest trade figures worsened
from June, when exports in US dollar
terms eked out a 2.8 per cent annual rise
and imports still fell but a lesser 6.1 per
cent, previous data showed.
A stronger yuan currency, which
makes Chinese goods more expensive
overseas, has hurt exports, analysts said.
“The yuan has been stronger against
the euro, and it’s hurting Chinese
exports to Europe,” Li Miaoxian, a
Beijing-based economist at Bocom
International Holdings Co, was quoted
by Bloomberg News as saying.
China’s economy, a key driver of
global growth, expanded 7.4 per cent
last year, its weakest since 1990, and
has slowed further this year, growing
7.0 per cent in each of the first two
quarters. The government has targeted
annual economic growth of around 7.0
per cent for all of 2015. The People’s
Bank of China, the central bank, in June
announced its latest cut in interest rates,
marking the fourth such move since
November to boost lending as a driver
for the economy.
Some analysts expect foreign trade
to remain weak for the overall third
quarter of this year, highlighting the
need for the government to take more
steps to boost the economy by further
monetary and fiscal loosening. “I
do believe the trade data in the third
quarter will have the same weakening
trend on-year as overall economic
growth, which we estimate will stand at
6.9 per cent (for the quarter),” Nomura
International’s China economist Wendy
Chen said.
— AFP
18
OMAN
omandailyobserver
S U N DAY
AUGUST 9 l 2015
ACFE joins hands with CBFS Bank Nizwa welcomes Khartoum
Stock Exchange delegation
to form Oman chapter
BUSINESS REPORTER
MUSCAT
Aug 8: The Association of Certified
Fraud Examiners (ACFE) has formed
a local chapter comprising over 90
members in the Sultanate.
The formalisation of ACFE Oman
chapter was done with the signing of
an agreement at the College of Banking
and Financial Studies (CBFS) in the
presence of Dr Ahmed Mohsin al
Ghassani, Dean of CBFS. The ceremony
was attended by senior representatives
of the Sultanate’s banking, financial and
corporate sectors.
Congratulating the ACFE Oman
chapter, Dr Ahmed al Ghassani
said: “CBFS is proud to support
the ACFE activities in Oman,
thereby strengthening co-operation
and coordination among various
stakeholders to adopt the best practices
for learning and exchange of knowledge
to check the spread of financial fraud
in all arenas. CBFS has been helping
the financial services industry in the
Sultanate for its various training needs
and will extend all support to ACFE to
complement government efforts aimed
at achieving financial stability and
security in the country.”
ACFE is an internationally reputed
anti-fraud organisation and provider
of anti-fraud training and education,
Dr Ahmed Al Ghassani
Thomas Totton
with its focus on reducing business
fraud worldwide and inspiring public
confidence in the integrity and
objectivity within the profession.
The CBFS will support and provide
its services for ensuring the smooth
functioning of the Oman chapter.
Thomas Totton, General Manager
— Internal Audit, Bank Muscat and
President of the Oman chapter of ACFE
said: “The Oman chapter of ACFE
is thankful to CBFS for facilitating a
unique opportunity for networking
of certified fraud examiners through
professional interaction and education,
raising the level of competence within
the profession.
The mission of ACFE is to reduce
the incidence of fraud and white collar
crimes, and to assist members in its
detection and deterrence.
At a time when financial crimes
are widespread around the world,
the strengthening of co-operation
and coordination among various
government, banking and financial
institutions is vital to prevent and
control crimes through the latest
technological applications and exchange
of expertise in this area.”
To accomplish its mission, the ACFE
provides bona fide qualifications for
certified fraud examiners through
administration of the CFE examination;
requires practitioners to adhere to a
strict code of professional conduct and
ethics; provides leadership to inspire
public confidence in the integrity,
objectivity and professionalism of
certified fraud examiners.
BUSINESS ALERT
Oman LNG partners with Al Noor
supporting the visually impaired
BUSINESS REPORTER
MUSCAT
Aug 8: With the aim of surveying
Oman’s progress in capital markets,
a delegation from the Khartoum
Stock Exchange visited Bank Nizwa’s
head office in Shatti Al Qurum for an
overview of the Islamic banking sector.
The visit comes as a result of Bank
Nizwa’s pioneering role and expertise
to date and was received by the bank’s
senior managers.
The visiting party attended
presentations organised by the bank’s
management team touching upon the
ongoing challenges and opportunities
of Islamic banking in Oman, as well as
the development of the country’s first
sovereign Sukuk, and the potential of
Islamic private investment Sukuk as a
new avenue of economic development.
The presentations also covered the
Bank’s Sharia compliant Trade Finance
products and its focus on ethical
conduct, in addition to a tour of day-today operations. The trip was organized
as a part of the delegation’s ongoing
tour of Oman, hosted by MSM.
Dr Jamil El Jaroudi, commented,
“The Islamic banking industry in
Oman is in its infancy, yet it has much
to offer.
“This visit provided a platform for
knowledge-exchange allowing us to
showcase the role Sharia compliant
banking plays in the economy, the
myriad of opportunities it brings and
the potential it holds in years to come.
“Sitting down with like-minded
industry professional, we were able
to share our journey over the past
two years, highlight our progression
and demonstrate how adaptable and
versatile Sharia compliant products
and services are to meet the evolving
needs of today’s globalised customer.”
He concluded, “As we strive to
cement our position as the forerunner
of Islamic banking in Oman, we
will continue to maintain open
communication with leading financial
institutions from around the world
learning from one another to improve
together.”
The visit is the second to Bank Nizwa
by an international financial delegation
this year, coming after the visit of the
Lord Mayor of London, Alderman
Roger Gifford, in January 2015. Both
collaborations underline the bank’s
ability to attract and empower global
business communities with its Islamic
Banking expertise.
Sultanate. Their showrooms are strategically located all across the country in TeO currently operates with its consumer product brand “Allo” and its endorsed
Muscat, Sohar, Sur, Salalah, Shinas, Samayil, Ibra, Ibri, Nizwa, Buraimi, Barka, brands “TeOGlobe” and “TeO Business”. More information on TeO is available at
Bahla, Jaalan Bani Bu Ali, Seeb, Mabella, Sinaw and Bidaya. This goes to show www.TeO.om.
that Nissan Oman has been successfully growing in operations and is consistently
spreading its network throughout the Sultanate of Oman.
Swarovski opens boutique at OVM
First House of Samsonite in ME launched
MUSCAT: In support of the local community, Oman LNG partnered with the
Al Noor Association for the Blind to provide education on visual impairment
and provided Braille device training from August 2 to 6 in Sur. Throughout the
week, participants unaccustomed to braille and in need of these devices joined
the training. Thursday, August 6, marks the close of the training where Oman
LNG will donate the braille devices to the participants who have been using the
devices throughout the week. Those attending the event are Shaikh Hamad bin
Sultan al Busaidi, Deputy Wali of Sur, Hilal bin Ali al Sinani, Corporate Social
Responsibility Manager Oman LNG and Sultan bin Ahmed al Sabahi, Deputy
Chairman of Al Noor Association for the Blind.
“We are proud to be partnering with Al Noor Association to contribute
to the society of Oman. This is a rewarding initiative and marks the start of a
great partnership”, said Khalid al Massan, the Chief Executive of Oman LNG
Development Foundation “Our aim is to serve our community and contribute to
all segments of society where we can. We feel privileged to be part of this journey
and to enhance the lives of the visually impaired in Sur”.
As part of its corporate social responsibility efforts, Oman LNG signed
agreements in May this year to assist the visually impaired by purchasing
numerous braille sense devices and provide training on braille. The agreement
was signed by Rashid bin Suliman al Farsi, Chairman of Al Noor Association for
the Blind in Sur.
Exciting offer on the stylish Nissan Sentra
AFTER gaining rave reviews
from auto enthusiasts, the
Sentra now comes in a new 1.6
SV CVT P26 from the house
Suhail Bahwan Automobiles
which is set to create another
milestone. The new Sentra
boasts of top of the range
options that focuses on classabove design standards inside
and out. Loaded with full
options, the Sentra 1.6 SV is an edge over competitors in its segment making it
an enticing option for patrons. With a special offer for grabs, customers can now
avail EMI rate starting from RO 96 on the Nissan Sentra.
Nissan customers can also avail easy financing option of a loan term up to 8
years with attractive interest rates from Bank Muscat. Flexible EMI’s can also be
tailor made for any individual requirement from in-house Auto Finance team.
The presence of the Nissan Sentra vehicles on the road is aptly supported by
Nissan Oman’s world-class service facilities and trained manpower. The Nissan
Sentra offers drivers the spaciousness and comfort of cars usually found in
the larger segment, as well as technology usually associated with much more
expensive cars.
Apart from Nissan Sentra 1.6 and 1.8L engine options, the Sentra 1.6 SV has
an engine capacity of 113hp, Dimensions (LxWxH) — 4615 x 1760 x 1495mm
and Xtronic CVT Transmission.
Suhail Bahwan Automobiles, the exclusive importers and distributors of
all Nissan vehicles in Oman, have their Nissan showrooms spread across the
THE Khimji Ramdas
Group
recently
opened its first ‘House
of Samsonite’ luggage
showroom at the
Oman Avenues Mall,
the new concept from
Samsonite is the only
one of its kind in the
entire Middle East
Region offering a wide
range of products to meet distinctive travel requirements. It features three brands
under the same roof — Samsonite, American Tourister and High Sierra.
Commenting on the new concept Vivek Pande, CEO, Lifestyle Group said,
“We are thrilled to be the first company in the entire region to launch the House
of Samsonite store. It was a vision shared between Samsonite and the Khimji
Ramdas Group to start a store that allows our valuable customers to choose from
a wide variety of products available at different price points.”
Customers will now have a wide array of travel worthy luggage to choose from
that ranges from business bags to rolling totes to backpacks and various other
travel accessories. “The store has been designed to meet various travel needs at
an accessible point of sale so that we can maximize customers’ convenience and
satisfaction. We take this opportunity to invite our patrons to visit the store and
share their valuable feedback,” said Rohit Shah, General Manager, Luxury and
Lifestyle Division.
THE Khimji Ramdas
Group has opened its
first exclusive Swarovski
boutique at the Oman
Avenues Mall (OVM).
Promising to be the
Sultanate’s new rave
shopping
destination
for all things that glitter.
Swarovski, the boutique
offers an exemplary
collection of crystals, necklaces, bangles, fashion accessories and curios. The new
showroom is located on the mall’s ground floor in the fashion exchange section.
Commenting on the brand’s allure Vivek Pande, CEO, Lifestyle Group said,
“Swarovski mixes light, sparkle, and glamour to create its signature style that
is instantly covetable. A brand synonymous with modernity, Swarovski caters
to today’s multifaceted woman who always wants to look her best at any given
moment.”
“Swarovski — Oman Avenues Mall is in line with our expansion plan and
gauging by the encouraging feedback from our loyal and new customers we have
decided to open another exclusive boutique in Muscat City Centre very soon,”
said Rohit Shah, General Manager, Luxury and Lifestyle Division.
Founded in 1895 in Austria, Swarovski designs, manufactures, and markets
high-quality crystals, genuine gemstones and created stones. Swarovski delivers
a diverse portfolio of unmatched quality, craftsmanship, and creativity that goes
beyond the manufacturing of crystal. In Oman, the brand is represented by
Khimji Ramdas. The new showroom at Avenues Mall follows the same concept of
KR’s other Swarovski showrooms at Qurum and Salalah, showcasing a wide range
of exquisite designs of brilliantly crafted crystal wear for the modern woman.
TeO starts hiring to prepare for
its mobile service launch
Toyota Prado — the outstanding performer
TELECOM Oman (TeO), a fast growing
telecom player in the country, is expanding
its workforce and hiring for various
positions ahead of its MVNO service launch
later this year.
Khalil al Balushi, Senior HR Manager
at TeO, explains: “At TeO, we are looking
to recruit dynamic individuals who are
motivated to perform well in the world
of telecommunications. We are having
multiple openings with exciting career
prospects, especially for Omani nationals.
As a company we are very supportive to the Omanisation objectives of the
Sultanate and committed to building an Omani company run by Omani nationals
at all levels. TeO’s Class I and Class II Omanisation rates are expected to reach 90
per cent before the end of the year”.
“Right from fresh graduates to professionals with work experience in related
fields, we welcome individuals to enhance their careers and grow with the
company. As a young and ambitious company, we are focused on development of
national resources, capabilities and competencies”, Khalil al Balushi adds.
TeO is looking for indigenous talent and has been regularly participating
at various career fairs and recruiting and training Omani nationals. Currently
there are 20 vacancies open for Omani nationals for the positions of Customer
Care/Call Centre Executives and Retail Outlet Executives. 10 vacancies for Sales
Executives/Merchandisers and 1 position for a Marketing Executive is also
available. Interested candidates can send their CVs to [email protected].
TeO is Oman’s first private Class I licensee international gateway operator,
a mobile services re-seller and a first of its kind international calling service
provider. It has a young, dynamic and a multi-cultural team in place with a vision
to create and offer integrated telecommunication experiences to its customers.
POWERFUL, tough
and stylish, Toyota’s
Prado has lived up to
its reputation of being
legendary. No wonder
its customer base has
continued to witness
rising numbers year
after year.
Born with the
Toyota Land Cruiser DNA in its bloodline, the Prado is superior in performance,
both on-road & off-road.
Indeed, the Prado stands apart — and looks quite bold doing so! An imposing
grille and bumper guard adorned with LED Headlamps and clearance lamps add
to its macho stance.
Toyota Prado’s thrilling power and performance are complemented by its class
leading-features These include display audio with 9 speakers, Steering-mounted
audio, Bluetooth and MID controls, Optitron meter with TFT info display and
Cruise control. Its safety features include a rear view camera and driver, passenger,
curtain, side (front) + knee (driver) airbags.
Packed with a host of high-end luxury features, the Prado features leather
upholstery, Woodgrain panelling, chrome-coloured side protection moulding;
muffler-cutter; chrome rear-lamp garnish and impressive alloy wheels.
P r a d o’s
interior is not
just refined but
also has plenty
of room to
accommodate
up to seven
occupants.
OMAN/INTERNATIONAL
S U N DAY
AUGUST 9 l 2015
omandailyobserver
19
Samsung Galaxy Tab S2: The world’s thinnest and lightest tablet
BUSINESS REPORTER
MUSCAT
Aug 8: Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd
announced the launch of the world’s
thinnest and lightest tablet, the Galaxy
Tab S2.
The next generation of Samsung’s
flagship series, the Galaxy Tab S2 is
not only packaged in the thinnest and
lightest metal frame of its size, but it
continuously delivers a stunning Super
AMOLED display that is perfectly
optimised for reading and viewing any
type of digital content.
Stylish designed, the Galaxy Tab S2
packs powerful performance features to
offer enhanced usability, empowering
users with new and improved choices in
productivity and multitasking.
Commenting on the latest flagship
launch, Hayssam Yassine, Head of IT
and Mobile Team commented, “We have
developed the most advanced personal
visual device that will undoubtedly set
the new standard in immersive viewing
and ultimate mobility.
Backed by an integrated office
experience, the Galaxy Tab S2 will be a
constant companion for a range of users
who value high-quality finishing and
cutting-edge innovation.”
Newly Optimised Super AMOLED
Display for the Best Content Viewing
At just 5.6mm thin and only 389g (9.7
-inch) and 265g (8.0-inch) weight*, the
Galaxy Tab S2 is perfectly designed for
reading and consuming content due to
its stunning Super AMOLED Display.
By recreating the same viewing
experience of browsing through
traditional print media, the Galaxy
Tab S2 also makes it comfortable to
read digital content, including e-books,
magazines, webpages and newsfeeds.
This reading-optimised ratio allows
the user to enjoy a seamless reading
experience
without
unnecessary
scrolling.
The tablet also emits deeper contrast
and more precise detail to provide a
best-in-class reading experience.
The Super AMOLED display delivers
94 per cent of natural tones to show
true-to-life colours (Adobe RGB colour
standard).Users can also enjoy galleries
of vividly detailed photos and effortlessly
shop online while viewing the most
accurate images on the Galaxy Tab S2.
In addition, the Galaxy Tab S2
continually displays bright and natural
content for a more comfortable visual
experience thanks to its advanced screen
technology.
The ‘Adaptive Display’ function
Bank Sohar Al Mumayaz 19th
weekly draw held at Saham
BUSINESS REPORTER
MUSCAT
Aug 8: Bank Sohar conducted its 19th
weekly draw at the Saham branch under
the auspices of Shaikh Ali Abdullah al
Badi, a Member of the Shura Council,
and was attended by Khamis Masoud
al Rahbi, the AGM of Branches at Bank
Sohar, Redha al Lawatia, the Senior
Chief Manager of Liabilities and Sales
at Bank Sohar, and Ibrahim Abdullah
al Balushi, Branch Manager of the
Bank Sohar Saham Branch, in addition
to other members of the senior staff
from Bank Sohar and the bank’s VIP
customers.
Continuing to offer more chances,
more winners and more prizes for
its customers as part of the 2015 Al
Mumayaz Saving Scheme, the bank’s
draws included the RO 5,000 Weekly
Draw and the specific branch wise draw
of RO 1,000. The lucky winner of the
latest RO 5,000 draw was J B S of the
Salalah Branch, while the RO 1,000
prize went to Salim Mohammed of the
Saham Branch.
The event was inaugurated with
a welcome speech followed by an
overview of the 2015 Al Mumayaz
Savings Scheme by Redha al Lawatia.
Following the presentation, the Chief
Guest announced the names of the two
winners. The event concluded with the
handover of a token of appreciation to
Shaikh Ali Abdullah al Badi on behalf of
the bank.
Commenting on the response the
bank has received for the Al Mumayaz
Savings Scheme Draws, R Narasimhan,
DGM and Head of Retail Banking said,
“We at Bank Sohar are committed to
providing excellent services and best
banking practices while at the same
time finding better ways to encourage
the habit of savings in our customers
and the community at large. With the
Al Mumayaz Savings Scheme 2014, we
can do just that. We continually receive
positive feedback from our customers
with many appreciating the increased
number of winners and chances to win
at both; our weekly and monthly draws.
Many also expressed their appreciation
for the new dedicated Branch draws that
ensures we have winners spread across
our branch network”
Following the popularity of last
year’s Savings Scheme, the bank has
revised this year’s Scheme to provide
even better incentives to save by offering
significantly more chances, more
winners, and more prizes. In addition
to continuing with its hourly prize
draws of RO 1,000 each from Sunday
to Wednesday; the bank is undertaking
a branch-wide tour conducting the
weekly draw at each of its branches
throughout the year; where one winner
will win RO 5,000 per draw in addition
to a dedicated branch draw worth RO
1,000 specifically for customers of the
branch in which the weekly draw event
is held. In total the weekly draws will see
more than 70 winners before the end of
the year.
To cut price of China-made Range Rover Evoque by 5-6 per cent
Tata Motors cuts sales, production
targets for JLR in China
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: India’s Tata
Motors Ltd has cut prices, sales and
production targets at its luxury Jaguar
Land Rover (JLR) arm in China, a top
executive said, as it struggles with high
inventories in a slowing market.
Economic growth in China,
the world’s biggest car market, has
slowed to a 25 year low and a drop in
consumer confidence is hurting sales
of automakers from BMW to General
Motors.
“Production and sales targets (for
JLR in China) have been adjusted to
reflect the slowing market,” Tata Motors
Finance Chief C Ramakrishnan said
on Friday after the group posted a near
halving of quarterly profit. He did not
elaborate on the extent of cuts.
Tata Motors has also cut the price of
JLR’s locally-made Range Rover Evoque
sport-utility vehicle (SUV) by up to 6
per cent, and lowered the launch price
of its Jaguar XE compact sedan, he said,
but did not give price details.
The cut in price and targets for JLR
comes weeks after automakers such
as BMW, GM and Ford Motor Co
announced price cuts on their Chinese
models to combat weak sales growth.
China’s automakers association has
cut its 2015 sales growth forecast to 3
Showroom attendants polish a vehicle under a Jaguar logo at a Jaguar Land Rover
showroom in Mumbai. — Reuters
per cent from 7 per cent.
JLR should see a return to sales
growth from the December quarter
driven by new launches and as
management improves brand awareness
for the China-made Evoque, said auto
analyst Nitesh Sharma at brokerage
Phillip Capital.
Tata Motors’ net profit for the AprilJune quarter fell 49 per cent to Rs 27.69
billion ($434 million), compared with
the same period a year ago.
Analysts on average expected profit
to be Rs 34.59 billion, according to
Thomson Reuters data. Net sales fell 6
per cent to Rs 601.8 billion.
JLR’s sales in China fell by a third
to 21,920 vehicles during the quarter,
pulling down total sales at the luxury
carmaker by 1 per cent to 114,905.
Sales in Europe rose 28 per cent to
28,878 vehicles.
The company, which began local
production of its Range Rover Evoque
SUV in China in October, has been
criticised for pricing it too high and was
also forced to recall some vehicles over
quality issues.
— Reuters
intelligently adjusts gamma, saturation,
and sharpness based on the application,
the colour temperature of the viewing
environment and ambient lighting.
Also, ‘Reading Mode’ modifies the
screen’s brightness level to help users
read content for longer periods of time
without straining their eyes.
Built with the world thinnest and
lightest metal tablet frame of its size,
the Galaxy Tab S2 is portable enough to
carry around all day.
Also, the fashionable and stylish
design is suitable for any purpose or
setting, so user can enjoy the best
viewing experience anywhere, anytime.
The tablet comes fully equipped
and pre-loaded with Microsoft Office
Solutions for ultimate productivity on
the road, such as creating and editing
documents, while conveniently storing
up to 100GB of files on the cloud via
OneDrive for two years for free.
Also, it’s compatible with the
advanced ‘Book Cover Keyboard’ that
delivers the same convenience of a
standard PC keyboard with a built-in
trackpad for executing tasks on-the-go.
For enhanced manageability, the
Galaxy Tab S2 is built with a touchenabled ‘Fingerprint Scanner’ for hasslefree authentication.
A built-in advanced security sensor
now offers easy access to the personal
device with a simple press against the
home key. For the most streamlined
device management options, the
Galaxy Tab S2 features ‘Smart Manager,’
which displays the device’s settings
automatically, including battery power
levels, storage and RAM availability for
users to efficiently manage their devices.
It is also pre-installed with antimalware for an extra layer of protection.
In addition, the Galaxy Tab S2
comes equipped with ‘Multitasking,’
allowing users to view and run two apps
simultaneously, while ‘Pop-Up Window,’
allows users to easily navigate between
multiple apps at once.
The Galaxy Tab S2 also provides an
improved storage structure that makes
locating files simpler than ever.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 will
come in a variety of connectivity, storage
and size options: 9.7-inch and 8.0-inch
versions with Wi-Fi and LTE, available
in 32 GB with MicroSD up to 128GB.
Both Wi-Fi and LTE versions will be
available at major retailers in Oman for
RO 169.90 (8.0-inch version) and RO
209.90 (9.7-inch version) and for RO
189.90 (8.0-inch version) and RO 229.90
(9.7-inch version) respectively.
Berkshire profit falls on investment slump
NEW YORK: Warren Buffett’s
Berkshire Hathaway Inc said secondquarter profit fell 37 per cent, reflecting
a significant decline in investment
gains and an underwriting loss from
insurance.
Net income for the Omaha,
Nebraska-based
insurance
and
investment company fell to $4.01
billion, or $2,442 per Class A share,
from $6.4 billion, or $3,889 per share, a
year earlier.
Quarterly operating profit fell well
below analysts’ forecasts, declining 10
per cent to $3.89 billion, or $2,367 per
share, from $4.33 billion, or $2,634 per
share.
Analysts on average expected
operating profit of about $3,038 per
share, according to Thomson Reuters
I/B/E/S.
Revenue rose 3 per cent to $51.37
billion.
Book value per share, Buffett’s
preferred measure of growth, rose 2 per
cent from the end of March to $149,735.
Net investment and derivative
gains plummeted 94 per cent to $123
million from $2.06 billion a year earlier,
when Berkshire shed its 40-year stake
in former Washington Post publisher
Graham Holdings Co.
Accounting rules require Berkshire
to report investment and derivative
gains and losses with earnings.
Buffett considers the amounts
in any given quarter irrelevant, and
not reflective of Berkshire’s business
performance.
Profit from insurance, Berkshire’s
best-known operating sector, fell 39 per
cent to $939 million, and included a $38
million underwriting loss.
Much of that weakening stemmed
from the Geico car insurance business.
Its pretax underwriting gain fell
87 per cent to $53 million from
$393 million, as it paid out a higher
percentage of premiums to cover claims.
Berkshire said it is boosting premium
rates “as needed” as a result.
Meanwhile, a Berkshire business
that insures against major catastrophes
suffered a $411 million pretax
underwriting loss, reflecting currency
fluctuations and a storm loss in
Australia.
— Reuters
BIZ BRIEF
Honest Company in new fundraising round
Fitch upgrades
Ireland outlook to
‘positive’
WASHINGTON: Rating firm Fitch
raised its outlook on Ireland to
‘positive’ from ‘stable’, citing the
euro zone country’s strengthening
economy after exiting an international
bailout in 2013.
Fitch highlighted that tax
revenues increased by 11.7 per cent
in the first half of 2015 compared with
the same period a year ago, notably
on strong corporate tax receipts.
Revenues from VAT and personal
income tax grew 8.0 per cent and 6.0
per cent, respectively.
Ireland also benefited from a
low interest rate environment which
has allowed it to make ahead of
schedule an 18 billion euro ($19.7
billion) repayment of its International
Monetary Fund loan, resulting in
interest savings, the rating firm said.
“The economic recovery has
broadened since our last rating review
in February,” Fitch said. Household
consumption has “strengthened
significantly” and consumer
confidence, employment growth and
other data support the view of the
rebound.
Fitch said it was increasingly
confident that Ireland’s budget deficit
will fall below 3.0 per cent of gross
domestic product this year and the
country will reach its first primary
surplus — government spending less
tax revenues and excluding interest
paid on debt — since 2007.
The country also was benefiting
from the European Union’s assetpurchase programme, a weaker euro
and lower oil prices, it said. Debt was
expected to drop from 107.6 per cent
of gross domestic product at the end
of 2014 to below 100 per cent of GDP
by 2018. Fitch forecast economic
growth would slow from 4.3 per cent
in 2015 to 2.4 per cent in 2016 and 2.2
per cent in 2017, near what it sees as
the Irish economy’s growth potential
around 2.0 per cent in the medium— AFP
term.
NEW YORK: The Honest Company, maker of eco-friendly diapers co-founded by
actress Jessica Alba, has launched a new private fundraising round that could value it
at between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
The fundraising is another step in the company’s path towards an initial public
offering that is currently expected as soon as the second half of 2016, the people said
this week. The Honest Company could use the money it raises in the latest fundraising
round to fund growth initiatives that include the launch of its newly announced makeup line, pop-up shops, kiosks and new hires, the people added.
The sources asked not to be identified because the fundraising is not public.
An Honest Company spokeswoman had no immediate comment.
The Honest Company was launched in 2012 by the 34-year-old Alba, children’s nonprofit veteran Christopher Gavigan, serial entrepreneur Brian Lee and former executive
at Pricegrabber Sean Kane.
Its products include diapers, nursing pillows, vitamins and non-toxic household
products. These are sold on Honest.com and in more than 2,500 retail locations in the
United States and Canada.
— Reuters
A motorcyclist rides past the entrance of the headquarters of Hon Hai, which
is also known by its trading name Foxconn, in Tucheng, New Taipei city.
Taiwan’s Foxconn, the trade name for Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd,
yesterday signed a pact with India’s Maharashtra state to invest $5 billion over
five years on a new electronic manufacturing facility. — Reuters
Inflation in Brazil reaches 9.56 per cent
RIO DE JANEIRO: Inflation in the 12 months through July reached 9.56 per cent, the
state-run Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) said.
This is the highest 12-month inflation rate in Brazil since a rate of 11.02 per cent in
November 2003. Between July 2013-July 2014, prices rose 8.89 per cent.
The latest 12-month rate more than doubles the Brazilian government’s 2015
inflation target of 4.5 per cent. Since January, prices are up 6.83 per cent, compared to
3.76 per cent in the first seven months of 2014. Experts from more than 100 financial
firms that the Brazilian central bank consults on a weekly basis had estimated on
Monday that the inflation rate would be 9.25 per cent for the 2015 calendar year,
which would be Brazil’s highest annual inflation rate since 2003, when it reached 9.3
per cent. A survey that the private Datafolha institute published showed that 66 per
cent of Brazilians favour the removal of President Dilma Rousseff.
The poll showed a further decline in support for Rousseff, with 71 per cent of
respondents disapproving her administration amid high inflation and a massive
corruption scandal involving the state-controlled oil giant Petrobras, which has led to
the arrests of several former officials of her Workers’ Party.
Only 8 per cent of respondents currently regard Rousseff’s administration as “good
or very good.” Rousseff won re-election in October with 51 per cent of the vote, and
her second-term started in January.
— AFP
20
DIGITAL
omandailyobserver
PERSPECTIVE
S U N DAY
AUGUST 9 l 2015
CURRENCY
Bitcoin start-ups lure quant whizzes from Wall St
A
rmed
with
a
doctorate in financial
engineering, 34-yearold Timo Schlaefer
was on his way to a
promising career at
Goldman Sachs in London.
Previously with the bank’s mergers
and acquisitions team, he became an
executive director of credit quantitative
modelling at Goldman, where quants
like Schlaefer are highly valued.
In February he gave that up, and
launched a company called Crypto
Facilities Ltd, a bitcoin derivatives
trading platform, which now has six
employees.
For now, the platform trades
bitcoin forwards, which are directly
linked to the price of bitcoin, but it’s
also developing other digital currency
derivative products.
“This is uncharted territory,” said
Schlaefer. ‘‘It’s an exciting opportunity to
participate in a new area of technology
that has massive potential.”
Bitcoin is a virtual or online currency
created through a “mining” process
where a computer’s resources are used to
perform millions of calculations.
Once mined, bitcoins can be stored
in an online wallet, traded in an online
exchange, or used to buy goods and
services.
Once the province of small-time
investors driven by their distrust of
government-backed currencies, now
Wall Street bankers and traders are
leaving high-paying jobs to join bitcoin
start-ups, while big firms hire in-house
to get their arms around bitcoin and the
related ‘blockchain’ technology.
“A lot of people are entering the
bitcoin space as the sector has reached
an overall level of funding that’s hard to
ignore,” said Jaron Lukasiewicz, Founder
and Chief Executive officer at New Yorkbased bitcoin exchange Coinsetter.
Lukasiewicz, 29, moved to the bitcoin
world in late 2012, having left behind a
six-figure salary in private equity at The
CapStreet Group in New York.
Bitcoin is not backed by a government
and its value fluctuates.
On Thursday, it was trading at
$278 BTC=BTSP, making the value of
outstanding bitcoin worth about $4
billion.
It has had a volatile history, with a
rapid rally in 2013 that boosted its value
to more than $1,150 per bitcoin at one
point.
Right now, Crypto Facilities’ Schlaefer
probably won’t make anywhere near the
kind of money that he would potentially
earn at Goldman.
But it’s less about the compensation
for Schlaefer and more about being
part of the growth in bitcoin and its
underlying technology, the blockchain.
The blockchain — a ledger or list of
all of a digital currency’s transactions —
is viewed as bitcoin’s main technological
innovation, allowing users to make
payments anonymously, instantly, and
without government regulation.
Software engineers have started
developing multiple applications for the
blockchain, including a land title record
system in Honduras to the clearing of
trades in financial markets.
Meanwhile, Wall Street firms are
doing their own hiring in the crypto
currency realm.
A Bitcoin logo is displayed at the Bitcoin Center New York City in New York’s financial district. — Reuters
In June, online bitcoin job ads surged
to a record high of 306, according to data
from Wanted Analytics, with demand
coming from banks such as Capital One
and tech companies such as Intel and
Amazon.
In previous months, Citigroup and
TD Canada Trust posted bitcoin job ads
as well.
RISKY BUSINESS: For 31-year-old
Paul Chou, Founder and Chief Executive
Officer of Ledger X, an institutional
trading and clearing platform for bitcoin
options, moving into the digital currency
space represents what he hopes results in
lucrative profits down the road.
Once mined, bitcoins can
be stored in an online
wallet, traded in an online
exchange, or used to buy
goods and services.
But there are other reasons for his
shift.
LedgerX is awaiting regulatory
approval from the Commodity Futures
Trading Commission to trade and clear
options on bitcoin.
Chou said the firm hopes to operate
the first regulated exchange and
FACE TO FACE — PART I
Mike Edelhart: From writer to
successful entrepreneur
STEFANO VIRGILLI
The author had an exclusive interview
recently with Mike Edelhart from the
Social Starts Fund, USA. Mike is one of
the most successful Venture Capitalist
in the world. In the first part of this
interview he narrates how he grew from
writer to entrepreneur and materialised
his first investment into a $2 billion deal.
Excerpts:
Mike: My past is as a journalist,
primarily a technical and science
journalist and executive in media
companies, digital media companies...
and a wide range of start-ups and several
stands as a Venture Capitalist.
My present is as the lead partner
for Social Starts, a small but very
active venture fund in social mobile
technology... and my future, I hope is
continuing to run this fund and be part
of helping teams create the future for as
long as I can sit up straight in a chair,
talk and listen.
Stefano: [laugh]... Excellent. You have
published many books. Would you like
to mention some of them, which one do
you think would be the most important
to read?
Mike: Uh, well. Sure, I have written
many books, but they were many years
ago... so I wrote books during my early
career as a journalist... about 24, I guess.
Stefano: Wow...
Mike: Books of various sorts, and
essentially in 3 different groups; I did a
series of books following myself through
my 20s. So a book called College
Knowledge, about going to college in
the US — which is useless now because
it was written in the late 1970s — Living
on a shoestring, Breaking through the
job barrier, Getting from 20 to 30. I
basically financed each part of my 20s
by writing about the previous part.
Stefano: [laugh]
Mike: And then I did a number of
general journalism books. Then science
books...
Stefano: Really impressive
Mike: ...my most successful book
back in those days was a book I co-wrote
with the discoverer of interferon. And
interferon is a unique protein that was
viewed for a time as a potential universal
cure for cancer. It turned out to be a
partial cure for some kinds of cancer.
But at the time there was a lot of interest
in it, and the book was translated lots of
languages.
The book’s title is “Interferon: New
Cure for Cancer?”.
When I got involved with computing,
I did quite a few computer books. Serious
computer books. The first book on the
programming language, turbo pascal. A
book about how to effectively set up and
run networks. One of the earliest local
area networks and the things that are, in
computing terms now, quite antiques,
but were, you know, rather central back
in the 80’s.
Stefano: Interesting. Mike, what
have brought you to start-ups,
entrepreneurship? What was the first
investment you made, and what made
you decide that would have been your
career?
Mike: That’s a great question... I think
you heard me speak (at PODIM in
Slovenia during the start-up conference
in May 2015), I’ve said this many times
that I view entrepreneurship as a socially
acceptable form of mania... and, if you are
a driven entrepreneur, you just can’t stop
yourself, because, creating things, trying
to turn ideas into reality, building teams,
testing your thinking against the market
is something you simply can’t not do.
And I was that kind of person... My boss
and my mentor for a lot of my career said
about me that he felt that the only reason
I wrote books earlier in my career was so
clearinghouse to list and clear fullycollateralised, physically-settled bitcoin
options for the institutional market.
“I took a very large salary pay cut to
do this, in return for equity in a start-up
that can be worth a lot someday,” Chou
said.
Before LedgerX, Chou worked at
Goldman Sachs in New York as a quant
equity trader after graduating from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
with degrees in computer science and
mathematics.
Chou said his hours are much longer
as an entrepreneur — he’s constantly
refining ideas for strategy and thinking
ECONOMY
Fed’s forecasts for
jobless rate look out
of step with history
M
“I view entrepreneurship as
a socially acceptable form
of mania... and, if you are
a driven entrepreneur, you
just can’t stop yourself,
because, creating things,
trying to turn ideas into
reality, building teams,
testing your thinking against
the market is something you
simply can’t not do. And I
was that kind of person...”
that I had something to sell... And then
I had to write the books to justify the
opportunity to sell another book.
So I think it was just my very deep
instinct to create things, always has been.
And I’ve been fascinated with science,
scientific concepts, since I was a little boy,
and under other circumstances, might
have become a scientist.
But, uh, so the translating science for
a non-scientist would be an interesting
thing to do, and I just happened to have
the good fortune to have that idea at a
time when a whole lot more people on
earth started to be interested in science
through computing. And so, I got to be
in a position where what I was interested
in happened to be popular, value creating
and there were lots of businesses created
in that area.
My first investment, I don’t know if
that qualifies as a traditional investment
because it was a privately held company,
Ziff Davis, and took no outside capital.
But, my current business partner and I
are part of the group that really started
Ziff Davis Publishing. So in 1983, there
was no Ziff Davis Computer Publishing
Company, and in 1994, we sold the
company that we had started 12 years
before for more than two billion dollars...
Stefano: Fantastic!
Mike: It was a big success. And
that was the first experience I’d had of
starting something from scratch and
seeing it become very valuable.
And I think really what set me on this
current path, because I’d started many
other component parts of that company
and liked starting them and saw them
become valuable, and I just wanted to
keep on doing it, and I’ve been doing it
in one form or another ever since.
(To be continued)
which areas to focus on.
“The domain expertise, relationships,
and career equity I’ve built are things
I never could have done while at
Goldman,” Chou said.”As a former
trader, I’m glad I made this trade-off at
the stage of my career that I did.”
It’s a risky move, however.
There are already several tales
of bitcoin company failures and
mismanagement.
USbitcoin marketplace Buttercoin,
for instance, shuttered its operations
in April this year despite raising $1.3
million in funding.
Bitcoin exchange MyCoin closed its
doors in February of 2015, leaving about
3,000 investors out of pocket.
Tokyo-based Mt Gox, once one of
the most dominant bitcoin exchanges,
closed its doors without warning in
February last year, filing for bankruptcy
and leaving investors approximately
$500 million in the red.
Total investments in bitcoin
companies for the first half of 2015 —
totalling $375.4 million — have already
exceeded 2014’s total of $339.4 million,
data from CB Insights showed.
Last year’s venture capital funding of
bitcoin start-ups grew roughly 280 per
cent from 2013.
The number of bitcoin start-ups has
increased by more than 80 per cent from
last year.
As of end-July, there were 814 startup digital currency companies, up from
444 a year earlier, according to Angel
List, an online marketplace for startups seeking to raise money from angel
investors.
— Reuters
ost Federal Reserve policymakers expect the US jobless
rate will stop plunging and stabilise right around its
long-term normal level, a risky forecast given that this
apparently hasn’t happened in at least a half century.
Across decades of economic records as the economy healed after
recessions, the rate dipped well below what analysts consider normal, the
so-called “natural rate” of unemployment.
After the 2001 recession unemployment spiked to 6.3 per cent in 2003
and then turned downward. By mid 2005 it was around its long-run
normal rate, estimated at the time to be 5 per cent or a little higher.
It kept dropping and by December 2006 had hit 4.4 per cent.
Fed policymakers are betting history will unfold differently this time.
If they get their call wrong and unemployment keeps falling sharply
in coming months, they could face pressure to hike interest rates more
aggressively than they would like, delivering a potential shock to the
economy and financial markets.
“They’re taking some big
risks,” said Jesse Edgerton,
a former Fed economist
now at JP Morgan, one of
several big banks that see
the jobless rate dropping
more than the Fed expects.
The Fed’s outlook will be put
to the test by government
employment data for July
due on Friday and by
subsequent job reports over
the next year.
The potential for a The United States Federal Reserve Board
misstep hinges on the building is shown in Washington.
natural unemployment rate,
which is an estimate of the Goldilocks level at which the labour market
is neither overheating nor underperforming. The long-run normal rate
cannot be measured directly and economists can only estimate its level,
which they presume shifts over time. Across six decades of economic
expansions, the jobless rate regularly drove past leading historical estimates
of the natural rate calculated by the Congressional Budget Office.
It’s unclear why most Fed policymakers expect this time it will flatten
abruptly and hover close to the natural rate, a path evident in details of
their forecasts made in June and released on July 8.
One possible reason rests on the Fed’s expectation of faster productivity
growth after years of sluggishness.
More productive workers help businesses meet rising demand without
hiring more people and could slow the fall in the jobless rate.
Another possibility draws from the Fed’s belief that a stronger economy
will lead discouraged, jobless Americans to rekindle job searches. Because
they didn’t technically count as unemployed when not hunting, getting
back in the game puts upward pressure on the jobless rate.
— Reuters
TECHNOLOGY
S U N DAY
AUGUST 9 l 2015
AVIATION
omandailyobserver
21
LEGOROBOT
Simple sound waves can
knock a drone out of the sky
SCIENTISTS at the Korea Advanced Institute of
Science and Technology have found an easier and
more efficient way to deactivate drones in the air
— target their gyroscopes with sound waves. Every
drone makes use of a gyroscope to track its orientation
and tilt, allowing it to make movements while in the
air. If that gyroscope, however, is deactivated, the
drone can’t remain in the air for long.
The idea is similar to when someone runs his or
her finger along a wine glass, producing a sound,
which is created when the glass resonates at a
certain frequency. In the same way, sound waves
can make other things resonate. In fact, electronics
like the gyroscope in the drone are designed to
resonate at high frequencies so that they are not
affected by everyday sound. Many drones, however,
actually use cheaper gyroscopes that will resonate
when they are exposed to a certain frequency of
sound.
When a gyroscope is exposed to this specific
frequency, it will overcompensate and make
adjustments to the speed of its rotors, quickly
sending the drone crashing to the ground.
Of course, sending a drone to the ground isn’t
as easy as simply cranking your home stereo.
The sound waves must be very intense and loud
to achieve the outcome of the drone crashing.
In the tests conducted, researchers mounted a
speaker directly to the housing of the drone, but
in a situation where there is a drone in the sky
that needs to be taken out, it obviously won’t have
speakers attached to it.
Despite this, researchers did say that it might be
possible to knock a drone out from afar. According
to researchers, it would take around 140 decibels
to take out an aircraft that is up to 130 feet away.
Not only that, but military and law enforcement
are developing non-lethal weapons that use sound
waves to take out a target from 5.5 miles away.
Microduino mCookie:
The smallest electronic
modules on LEGO
ASSEMBLING a LEGO masterpiece sparks the imagination,
and creative thinkers can now bring their LEGO robots to life by
assembling and programming these magnetic electronic modules
from Microduino Studio.
Ideal for kids, teachers, makers, designers and engineers,
Microduino’s mCookies are the smallest electronic modules that will
power up your LEGOs.
Founded in 2012, Microduino has seen success on two Kickstarter
campaigns, enabling the company to develop over 50 blocks and over
30 sensors. And now, the next generation, mCookie, allows thinkers
and inventors of all ages to create and build open-source projects.
The mCookies are small and stackable modules that are
compatible with the open-source
hardware Arduino. The modules
include coloured shells that make
it easy to distinguish whether the
specific module is a core, extension,
function or communication piece.
The module allows inventors to
add a motor, audio, GPS, Wi-Fi,
Bluetooth and other functions to
power up their designs.
The small electronic modules can be stacked with all LEGO series
products — think LEGO car controlled via smartphone — making it
a great tool to get students interested in making their own electronics.
To add functionality, the quarter-sized pieces snap together with
four magnets — one on each corner. The modules will reject each
other if they are not aligned correctly, making for easy assembly.
Creative thinkers can build their dream machines and power them
up using Arduino IDE, writing their own programs and transmitting
the code via USB to the hardware. Beginners can also use Scratch, an
open-source program that allows users to drag and drop to bring their
creation to life. Items such as a BLE light have been made using the
mCookie CoreUSB, BM, LED color and Hub modules. A mCookie
music box can be constructed with the CoreUSB, RTC, BM, Hub,
Amplifier, Audio and Crash. Finally, an mCookie robot car control
unit can be produced with the CoreUSB, BM, BLE4.0, Hub, Motor
and Servo modules. More advanced inventions can also be made —
such a quadcopter controlled with a joypad, a Wi-Fi weather station,
a smart garden and a bicycle PGS tracker. There is no limit to what the
imagination can bring to life.
GADGET
Toaster charges smartphones, tablets simultaneously
IMAGINE dropping your smartphones into a
toaster as if they were breakfast. The thought
obviously crossed the mind of the maker of the
Foaster, a new toaster that charges cell phones and
tablets in one convenient docking station. The
Foaster, from Covena Design, allows either four
smartphones or a combination of two smartphones
and two tablets to be charged at the same time at up
to 2.4 amps each. Feeling all charged up yet?
The Foaster accommodates the iPhone 6 and
Samsung Galaxy S5 and most of their respective
older models before. Apple’s old 30-pin connector,
lighting ports and microUSB can all be used to
connect older devices. For any devices that don‘t
work with the unit, Foaster will offer adaptive cables.
The design is nifty in the sense that two
smartphones can fit right into the main loading
slots, but by simply pushing down on the docking
station‘s lever, the unit splits apart, offering two
more charging spots. Those extra slots are ideally
meant for larger smartphones or phablets or simply
two tablets.
While charging, smartphones stick out enough
that users can still read incoming text messages,
alerts and reminders. Since it’s one unit, users will
also avoid their kitchen counters, living rooms or
bedrooms turning into a wired-entangled mess. The
product’s website doesn’t reveal a release date as of
press time, but does vow that the “Foaster is coming
soon.”
AUTOMOBILE
Mini launches updated
Countryman in India
BMW has brought the Mini Countryman to India and will now be offering four
different variants in their Mini Range. The Countryman will be brought to India
as a CBU (Complete-Build-Unit). BMW India President, Philipp von Sahr said,
“Selective design modifications for the exterior and interior along with
innovative equipment features contribute to the more mature charisma and
increased appeal of the new MINI Countryman.“ The Mini Countryman will be
available for Rs 36.5 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) and sports six airbags, dynamic
traction control and flat tyre indicator among a host of stuff you can hope to
find on a Mini. The Mini brand has four exclusive outlets in India. The other Mini
models present in the country currently are the Mini 3-door, the Mini 5-door
and the Mini Convertible.
NOTEBOOK
Acer India launches new Windows 10 notebooks
ACER India has launched two new PCs
that come preloaded with Windows 10. The
devices include Aspire E5-573, Aspire V
Nitro-Black Edition gaming and the Aspire
R 13 that comes with Acer’s Ezel Aero Hinge
that allows the six different modes of usage.
The Aspire E5-573 notebook comes in
a number of colour options in 14-inch and
15.6-inch displays.
Powered by 5th-Gen Intel Core
processors, up to Nvidia GeForce 920M
series graphics with up too 16GB dedicated
DDR3 VRAM, and up to 1TB HDD storage
options, the Aspire E5 573 comes with Skype
certification. The notebook models include
TrueHarmony audio technology optimized
for use with the new Cortana voice assistant
that‘s part of Windows 10.
The Aspire V Nitro-Black Edition is a
gaming notebook that comes with a 15inch screen size and features a design that
features sharp angles, slim profiles and
patterned covers made with soft touch NIL
(Nano Imprint Lithography) technology.
It is powered by 4th-Gen Intel Core i7
processor with Nvidia GeForce GTX960M
graphics. The notebook sports a 4K UHD
display with IPS Technology that Acer
claims, provides wide viewing angles,
allowing users to share their multimedia
experience. The Audio experience is also
enhanced using Dolby Digital Plus Home
Theatre with 4 speakers.
Aspire R 13 — Intelligent Construction
and Smart Features Enhance Work and Play
The Aspire R 13 is less than 17.95mm
thin and weighs just over 1.5 kg. The device
incorporates the Acer Ezel Aero Hinge. The
13.3-inch display is affixed to this special
hinge at the sides, which allows the screen
to rotate 180-degrees so it can be used in six
different ways including in Notebook mode,
Ezel mode, Stand mode, Pad mode, Tent
mode and Display mode.
22
LEISURE/CLASSIFIEDS
omandailyobserver
S U N DAY
AUGUST 9 l 2015
For Sale
USED portacabin (5
Nos) for sale. Interested
parties may contact Mr
Arif on GSM No
99259157/ 92332088 at
NTS Ghala Camp for
inspection. Sealed offers
should be submitted on
or before 17.03.2015.
DELUXE fast food
restaurant in
Prime location in
Muscat.
99363883.
·····
LAND (Residence) in
Qantab - Muscat
RESIDENTIAL land in Al governorate (first row on
Hajir - Wilayat Al Amerat the beach) 303 m2 - square (3) plot No. (219), number 413, final
area of 600 square metre
price 280,000
price RO 6800.
(900 Omani Rial per
94056332/ 24702522.
square metre).
·····
94056332/ 24702522.
·····
Driving School
For Sale/Rent
For Sale
Driving school for
(Male and Female)
Darsait Branch
24781123
Al Ghubra Branch
24399951.
Al Khoudh Branch
24536348.
Sohar Branch
26844412.
·····
ȍ͵
for sale/
rents Ȁ
),
ȋŠ‘’•Ȁ‘ˆϐ‹…‡•ˆ‘”
”‡–ȀŽŠ—™ƒ‹”Ȍ
(Flats for rent/
ƒ†‹ƒ„‹”ȌǤ
ͻ͸ͷͻ͸͵ͶͺǤ
RESIDENTIAL
commercial plot at Seeb
Souq (first line on the
main road) area 309m2
No. 157, open corner
from four sides. Permit
for ground floor + 3
levels + penthouse.
Final Price 280,000
OMR (approx. 900
OMR per metre).
94056332/ 24702522.
RESIDENTIAL land in
Yanqul, Bowirdah area,
first line on the main
road. No 79. Area 37,947
m2 the land is near
Yanqul, Buraimi, Sohar
and Ibri crossroad.
Preliminary approval for
division into 51 plots
including 8 commercial
and 43 residential. In the
process of transferring it
into one commercial plot.
Price 240,000 OMR.
Approx. 6 OMR per
metre. 94056332/
24702522.
·····
·····
1
6
9
10
11
12
13
15
17
18
19
20
22
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
12
13
14
15
CRYPTIC PUZZLE
ACROSS
Comes down on three points,
perhaps (5)
In France, I appear in a new role
(5)
Recover by a miracle (7)
Rush, out of breath, to get the
carbon (5)
Involves rebuilding the manse
(5)
To start with, Ben accepts Joe (5)
In liberal use, one feels it’s
understandable (7)
Obviously fishy deception (3)
A rain check? (4)
Get to live by invitation? (6)
Multiply, naturally (5)
Such work has its point (6)
The car for mum, at least? (4)
Like a man’s beard as the
traveller’s joy (3)
A hard bed (7)
An enlightening thing for the
arsonist to do? (5)
The chap to take people on? (5)
All arms and legs? (5)
Flier manoeuvering in place (7)
Encouragement by a leader,
perhaps (5)
Is his horse about to growl? (5)
DOWN
Where Jack may get nothing to
share out? (6)
Call in the fall? (4,2)
Fixed the telly? (3)
Edward, writer of a question
about Virginia Woolf (5)
Restricted to keeping a child in
cover (7)
Does it mean ring me on the
first of November? (4)
You can fire at it, but never hit it
(6)
Sound angry — like Tony? (5)
He may possibly burn with love
(5)
Ventilated the view that the
wrong idea is about right (5)
Be punished by the police? (3,2)
·····
5
6
7
8
12
13
14
15
16
18
19
21
22
23
25
26
28
CR O S S W OR D
16 Tough stuff raised where mined
(5)
18 One avoids giving someone a
wide one! (5)
19 The baker’s blunder? (7)
21 Charming but mischievous (6)
22 Girl possibly arm in arm with a
marine (6)
23 Several times less sensitive? (6)
25 An issue of financial interest (5)
26 Red maybe, but it’s apt to be
brown as recorded (4)
28 Not much of a place for the
working chemist (3)
1
6
9
10
EASY PUZZLE
ACROSS
Transparent (5)
Cook in the oven (5)
Conveyed (7)
Prize (5)
·····
·····
PRIME location in Shatti
Qurum for Sale. Ideal for
restaurant/
Coffee Shop/ Fast Food.
97890657/ 96426312.
E-mail: tess29.cayman29@
gmail.com
·····
RESTAURANT in an
excellent location in
Salalah with
equipment and workers.
93397812.
Sound of pain (5)
Entourage (7)
Norse god (4)
Keyboard instrument (6)
Yielded (5)
Bully (5)
Singer (5)
Bowl (5)
Class (5)
Considered (5)
Dwelt (7)
Jacket part (6)
Character (6)
Agreement (6)
Frogman (5)
Bait (4)
Drink daintily (3)
Easily frightened (5)
Ship’s room (5)
Signify (7)
Implore (3)
Paradise (4)
Transform (6)
Sketch show (5)
Gained a point (6)
Fibber (4)
Hill (3)
Protection (7)
Furious (5)
Obscure (5)
Bend (5)
Dream (7)
Avarice (5)
Conceit (5)
DOWN
2 Plundered (6)
3 Deed (6)
4 Beam (3)
Health Services Department
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
Samayil . . . . . . . 25350055 . . . . 25350022
Izki . . . . . . . . . . . 25340033 . . . . 25340033
‘YO UR STARS ‘
SANKARA Narayanan
‘†ƒ‰‹Ž Šƒ•Ž‘•–†‹ƒ
’ƒ••’‘”–‘ͷͶͲ͵Ͳ͸ͺǤ
‹†‡”’Ž‡ƒ•‡Šƒ†‘˜‡”
–‘Ǥ
····
MIR Žƒ‹” has
Ž‘•–ƒ‹•–ƒ‹’ƒ••’‘”–
‘ͳ͹ͷͷͶ͹ͳǤ‹†‡”
’Ž‡ƒ•‡Šƒ†‘˜‡”–‘Ǥ
····
····
SURINDER ‹‰Š has
Ž‘•–†‹ƒ’ƒ••’‘”–‘
ͲͲ͹ͺͶ͹ʹǤ‹†‡”’Ž‡ƒ•‡
Šƒ†‘˜‡”–‘Ǥ
PEYARA Begum has lost
ƒ‰Žƒ†‡•Š‹’ƒ••’‘”–
‘Ͳͷͻͳ͵ͶͷǤ‹†‡”
’Ž‡ƒ•‡Šƒ†‘˜‡”–‘Ǥ
····
····
RUWI
: 24785668
Behind Royal
Oman Police
Adjacent to
Dhofar
Building,
Ruwi
by Brian Basset
CALVIN AND HOBBES
by Bill Watterson
GARFIELD
by Jim Davis
THURSDAY’S EASY SOLUTIONS
ACROSS: 3, Skirt 8, Funny 10, Eider
11, Bit 12, Spilt 13, Halibut 15, Algae
18, Cub 19, Steals 21, Respite 22, Eros
23, Inca 24, Content 26, Cravat 29, Tat
31, Tuner 32, Heretic 34, Spoor 35, Gun
36, Abate 37, Begun 38, Atone.
DOWN: 1, Cuban 2, Entices 4, Kept
5, Relate 6, Title 7, Medal 9, Nil 12,
Subplot 14, Bus 16, Gaunt 17, Essay 19,
Stutter 20, React 21, Rowan 23, Integer
24, Carpet 25, Ear 27, Rugby 28, Vesta
30, Minus 32, Horn 33, Tug.
Hospital. . . . . Board . . . . . . . Emergency
Royal . . . . . . . 24599000 . . . 24590491
There are
changes in
your domestic
life and you
will be making
careful plans to
ensure a smooth
changeover.
One part of
your life will be
closing and
another opening.
These things are
inevitable and
you must make
the most of the
opportunities
arising. Good
luck is on its way
to you.
····
MAMUN ”ƒ•‹†
Šƒ•Ž‘•–ƒ‰Žƒ†‡•Š‹
’ƒ••’‘”–‘ͳ͵ͳͳ͵ͺͺǤ
‹†‡”’Ž‡ƒ•‡Šƒ†‘˜‡”
–‘Ǥ
ADAM @ HOME
STONE SOUP
Hospitals
IF IT’S YOUR
BIRTHDAY:
SEADA ‡Ž‡–‡‹— has
Ž‘•–†‘‡•‹ƒ’ƒ••’‘”–
‘ͳͶͳ͹ʹʹ͵Ǥ‹†‡”
’Ž‡ƒ•‡Šƒ†‘˜‡”–‘Ǥ
CARTOONS
THURSDAY’S CRYPTIC
SOLUTIONS
ACROSS: 3, Watch 8, Me-tre 10,
Lap up 11, Lou 12, Steel 13, Forsyte
15, V-alid 18, Hae 19, Re-late 21,
Templar 22, Lois 23, Feet 24,
Medical 26, Sweden 29, Dot 31, Tired 32, Bloater 34, All-oy 35, Lot 36,
Koala 37, Alter 38, Trunk.
DOWN: 1, Helot 2, B-rushes 4,
Ante (room) 5, CL-ever 6, Hal-Al 7,
Quoit 9, To-r 12, Stephen 14, Yam
16, L-Abel 17, Delta 19, Rap-idly 20,
B-last 21, Tiger 23, Fat-ally 24, Medlar 25, Co.-O 27, W-I’d-ow 28, Dealt
30, Peter 32, Born 33, Tot.
11
12
13
15
17
18
19
20
22
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Lost
by Jan Eliot
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
Daba . . . . . . . . . 26836443 . . . . 26836443
Bukha . . . . . . . . 26828397 . . . . 26828397
Sinaw. . . . . . . . . 25474338
LEO
VIRGO
LIBRA
SCORPIO
SAGITTARIUS
CAPRICORN
July 22August 21
August 22September 22
September 23October 22
October 23November 21
November 22December 21
December 22January 20
If you are trying to give up a bad
habit, give yourself a pat on the back
for the effort you have made and
continue your efforts with renewed
determination.
Double check all your work
today and make sure that you
have got everything just right.
The slightest mistake could
cause a great deal of trouble.
An older relation is becoming too dependent on you and
ought to be encouraged to do
a bit more for himself without
your assistance.
You should think more serious- Your tendency to scatter your
ly about your future instead of efforts in many directions at
the same time could be a seriwasting your precious time and ous handicap to your successful progress.
energy on trivial pursuits.
Don’t let the natural timidity of
older relations keep you from
pursuing a plan which seems quite
sound, and which you would in
any case find most enjoyable.
AQUARIUS
PISCES
ARIES
TAURUS
GEMINI
CANCER
January 21February 19
February 20March 20
March 21April 20
April 21May 20
May 21June 21
June 22July 21
If you feel your determination to
reach a certain goal weakening, make
sure that you are aiming in the right
direction. There may be better ways
to be successful.
Your obvious devotion and
considerate attitude to an ageing
relative may be his greatest
source of contentment in the
last years of his life.
your Don’t be too critical of a subordi- Waiting for good luck to arrive
employer with a request if you nate in the presence of others. It may be a waste of time. Better results can be achieved by going out
feel that you are fully entitled to could destroy his confidence or and working to make your dreams
come true.
you could lose his loyalty.
make it.
Don’t hesitate to approach
You may still be wondering
whether you took a wise decision
over a private and personal matter, but time will prove that you
took the only possible course.
S U N DAY
AUGUST 9 l 2015
omandailyobserver
Services
Tours
1. AC maintenance
and servicing.
2. ”‹†‰‡ǡ™ƒ•Š‹‰
machine and dish
washer repairing.
3. Painting and
cleaning services. 4.
Ž‡…–”‹…ƒŽǡ’Ž—„‹‰
and carpentry
work ͻ͹ͲͳͶʹ͵Ͷǡ
ͻͻͶͶ͹ʹͷ͹ǡ
24504281.
Dolphin
Watching Tour.
Every Day 8 am
and 10 am. For
booking
94110088/
91162534. E-mail:
coraloceantours@
gmail.com Web:
www.
coraloceantours.
com
·····
Situation Vacant
A BIG company works
in construction and
roads and is based in
Muscat Governorate
would like to contract
with brokers,
engineers and
…‘•—Ž–ƒ…›‘ˆϐ‹…‡•
to arrange works
and projects in those
ϐ‹‡Ž†•ǡ™Š‡–Š‡”’—„Ž‹…
or private. Engineers
with expertise are
also Wanted. Contact
99223235/
92255610. E-mail:
[email protected]
·····
SALES Manager of
Medical Deviceǡ
‡š’‡”‹‡…‡ǡ†”‹˜‹‰
Ž‹…‡…‡ǡ’”‡ˆ‡”ƒ„Ž›
pharmaceutical
„ƒ•‡†Ǥ‡Ǧƒ‹Žǣ‹ˆ‘̷
khalidmedicalsupplies.
com 24540056.
·····
BIOMEDICAL
Technicianǡ™‹–Š
sales experience in
‡†‹…ƒŽ†‡˜‹…‡•ǡ
‡š’‡”‹‡…‡ǡ†”‹˜‹‰
Ž‹…‡…‡Ǥ‡Ǧƒ‹Žǣ‹ˆ‘̷
khalidmedicalsupplies.
com 24540056.
·····
A SPECIALIST in
maintaining swimming
pools. Attractive salary.
99807771.
·····
Required
INDIAN Building
Materials Salesman
holding required
experience.
97299373.
·····
Indian
Heavy licence driver.
97299373.
·····
engineering
…‘•—Ž–ƒ…›ˆ‹”‹
—•…ƒ–Ž‘‘‹‰ˆ‘”
ˆ‘ŽŽ‘™‹‰’Žƒ…‡‡–ǣ
1. Omani Secretary
(Female)
2. Autocad Technician
ȋƒ‹ˆ‡ƒŽ‡Ȍ
3. Civil Engineer: Min
5 years experience
having driving
licence
4. Electrical Engineer
†‡‰”‡‡Ȁ†‹’Ž‘ƒǡ‹
3 years experience.
Ǧƒ‹ŽǣƒŽˆ—”Œƒ”Ͳ͸̷
gmail.com/
[email protected]
·····
required: SME
contractors interested
in telecom side — civil
and underground
telephone cable laying
work — may contact Mr
S Ravi 99424605 or
Mr Sayed .99358733
‘ˆƒ–‹‘ƒŽ‡Ž‡’Š‘‡
Services Co LLC
·····
VACANCY lab
technician ˆ‘”
inquiry or send CV.
24571094. Fax:
24571097. E-mail:
zmczahara@yahoo.
com
·····
housemaid
”‡“—‹”‡†ˆ‘”ƒˆƒ‹Ž›
in Madinat Al Ilam.
99238012/
24704994.
·····
BARƒ‹†ˆ‘”
Qurum Beach Hotel.
99238012/
24704994.
·····
For Rent
A FLAT ˆ‘””‡–‹Ž
Š—„”ƒŠ‘”–Šǡ
adjoined to Masjid
ǯƒˆƒȄ‘—–•–ƒ†‹‰
Ž‘…ƒ–‹‘ǤŠ‡ˆŽƒ–ƒˆ–‡”
–Š‡…”‘••”‘ƒ†‘ˆ–Š‡
Indian School towards
Ž–Šƒ‹„ƒǤŠ‡ˆŽƒ–ǡ
™Š‹…Š‹•‘–Š‡ˆ‹”•–
ˆŽ‘‘”ǡ…‘•‹•–•‘ˆʹ˜ƒ•–
rooms — each with its
–‘‹Ž‡–•ǡ™‹†‡Ȁ„‹‰
majlis/living room with
attached toilet. The
ƒ”‡ƒƒ†ˆŽ‘‘”‘ˆ–Š‡
building is clean and
Ž—š—”‹‘—•ǤŽ›ˆ‘”
ˆƒ‹Ž‹‡•Ǥ”‹…‡ǣ͵ͷͲȀǦǤ
99343996.
·····
NEW 2 „‡†”‘‘ˆŽƒ–Ǧ
Mumtaz - Ruwi.
99319482.
·····
FLATSˆ‘””‡–ƒ–
Darsait near to
‹‹•–”›‘ˆ’‘”–•
interested candidates
please contact:
92225523.
·····
AN apartment consists
‘ˆ–™‘„‡†”‘‘•ǡ–™‘
–‘‹Ž‡–•ǡƒ‹–…Š‡ƒ†ƒ
Ž‹˜‹‰”‘‘‹•‘ˆˆ‡”‡†
ˆ‘””‡–‹‹†ƒ„
ͻͻͶͷͷ͵ͻ͹ǡ
99181929.
·····
FLATS ‹Ž
Š—„”ƒǡʹ
„‡†”‘‘•ǡŠƒŽŽǡ‡ƒ”
†‹ƒ…Š‘‘Žǡƒ›‘Ǥ
ͶͲ͵ͻǡ„—‹Ž†‹‰‘Ǥ
4250. Contact
ͻͻ͵Ͷͳͳ͵ͺǡ
98003444.
·····
·····
FREE INFORMATION
ABOUT ISLAM
If you would like to
know more about
Islam, please call:
Tel : 99425598, 96050000,
99353988, 99253818,
99341395, 99379133, For
ladies: 99415818,
99321360, 99730723
Or visit:
www.islamfact.com
DRINKING WATER
TANKERS
™ͳͲǡͲͲͲ
ƒŽŽ‘•
™ͷǡͲͲͲ
ƒŽŽ‘•
ƒ‹Ž›ǡ…‘–”ƒ…–Ƭ
Lease ͻͶͶͶͻ͵͹ʹǡ
96114982.
·····
‘ˆˆ‡”›‘—–Š‡
Business Services:
ƒ‹–‡ƒ…‡‘ˆ„—‹Ž†‹‰•
ƒ†˜‹ŽŽƒ•ˆ‘”’ƒ‹–
and carpentry and
decoration works and
‹•–ƒŽŽƒ–‹‘‘ˆƒ–‡”‹ƒŽ
™ƒ–‡”’”‘‘ˆƒ†…Ž‡ƒ‹‰
services building
management and leasing
‘ˆ”‡ƒŽ‡•–ƒ–‡ȋ—–‘––‘
is to provide quality
in all our business).
Muscat Renaissance
Development and
Investment.99070093.
·····
ONE STOP SHOP
BUSINESS SERVICES
Public relation Services
ȋȌǡ—†‹–‹‰ǡ
Formation New
‘’ƒ‹‡•ǡ‘”‡‹‰
˜‡•–‘”•‹•ƒǡ‡‰ƒŽ
Services. Contact Saleh:
96723485.
·····
Buying
household and
‘ˆˆ‹…‡ˆ—”‹–—”‡ƒ†
electronics
itemsͻͻͺ͵Ͷ͵͹͵ǡ
96642500.
·····
Situation Wanted
ǡȋ‹ƒ…‡
Manager) more than
8 years experience
ȋƒǡƒ†
†‹ƒȌ‹ƒ……‘—–•ǡ
ƒ—†‹–ϐ‹ƒ…‡ǡ
seeking a suitable
senior position in
—•…ƒ–ǡ…ƒŒ‘‹
‹‡†‹ƒ–‡Ž›ǡ
available. Contact:
98707434. E-mail:
casmart007@gmail.
com.
INDIAN ƒŽ‡ǡ
mechanical
‡‰‹‡‡”‹‰ǡʹ
years experience
‹ˆƒ„”‹…ƒ–‹‘ƒ†
‡”‡…–‹‘‘ˆŠ‡ƒ˜›
structures as a
project engineer now
on visit visa seeks
suitable placement.
92151818. E-mail:
krishnakumarkkq@
gmail.com
·····
·····
INDIANƒŽ‡ǡ
ǡŠƒ˜‹‰ʹ
years experience in
Accounting seeking
suitable job opportunity
in Muscat. Can join
immediately. E-mail:
ˆƒŽ”—̷‰ƒ‹ŽǤ…‘
Contact.94676974.
·····
Indian
male B.Com with 2
›‡ƒ”•‘ˆ‡š’‡”‹‡…‡Ǥ
Currently on visit
˜‹•ƒǡ•‡‡••—‹–ƒ„Ž‡
placements. Contact.
94649272. E-mail:
sherin.am01@gmail.
com
10 YEARS in HSE
‘’‡”ƒ–‹‘•ǡŽ‘‰‹•–‹…••‹–‡
management. Also HSE
…‘•—Ž–ƒ…›ǡ•‡‡‹‰
’Žƒ…‡‡–ǡ˜ƒŽ‹†ƒ‹
driving licence and
’‡”‹–Ǥ‘–ƒ…–Ǥ
92565093.
·····
MAINTENANCE: 1.
A/C Maintenance &
‡”˜‹…‹‰ǢʹǤ”‹†‰‡ǡ
Washing Machine &
Dish washer repairing;
3. Painting & cleaning
services; 4. Electrical
& Plumbing Carpentry
work. Contact:
ͻͻͶͶ͹ʹͷ͹ǡͻ͹ͲͳͶʹ͵Ͷǡ
24504281.
Ȉ ƒ”•ˆ‘”•ƒŽ‡
Ȉ ‘””‡–
Ȉ ‘„ƒ’’Ž‹…ƒ–‹‘
Ȉ Šƒ”‹‰”‡•‹†‡…‡
Ȉ ”ƒ•’‘”–…ƒ”•
Ȉ ‡ƒŽ•–ƒ–‡ȋ•ƒŽ‡Ǧ
”‡–Ǧ‹˜‡•–‡–•
INDIAN ƒŽ‡ǡʹͺ›‡ƒ”•
wanted opportunity in
‡”–‹ˆ‹‡†‹”‡†Šƒ–
linux (RHCE) and oracle
ǡŠƒ˜‡͵›‡ƒ”•‘ˆ
hand on experience in
‡–™‘”‹‰ǡŽ‹•…‘
”‘—–‡”•ƒ†•™‹–Š…‡•ǡ
—–Ž‘‘ǡȀ
Installations. Contact
95406864. E-mail:
[email protected]
·····
·····
CSIT Computer
Engineering B-Tech
presently working as
a Network & System
Engineer Having
excellent experience
Ž‘‘‹‰ˆ‘”ƒ’Žƒ…‡‡–
968 91006851
Mohd Nadeem
ŽŽƒŠŠƒǤǦƒ‹Žǣ
nadeemkhan126@
yahoo.com
INDIAN ƒŽ‡ʹͷ›‡ƒ”•ǡ
BSc graduate currently
working as supervisor.
Valid driving licence.
‘™•‰Ž‹•Šǡ‹†‹
and Malayalam. Seeks
suitable placement as
sales and marketing
ϐ‹‡Ž†Ǥ
‘‘†…‘—‹…ƒ–‹‘••‹ŽŽ•Ǥ‘™•ƒŽŽ›
™‘”†ǡ
Excel and powerpoint.
ƒ˜ƒ‹Žƒ„Ž‡Ǥ‘–ƒ…–
98730659. E-mail:
[email protected]
·····
CIVIL engineer
diploma 5 years
experience building
construction
ƒ†”‹˜‹‰Ž‹…‡…‡
ƒǤ‘–ƒ…–
95419648.
·····
·····
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
Sit Wanted
For information, please call:
ǡǡ
and ACS “—ƒŽ‹ˆ‹‡†™‹–Š
rich experience in
ˆ‹ƒ…‡ƒ†ƒ……‘—–ǡ
more than 14 years in
—Žˆǡ•‡‡••—‹–ƒ„Ž‡
opening. 95591523.
anush123@hotmail.
com
99841230-95919344
92721879 - 99639264
Tel: 24649597, Fax: 24649590
BankMuscat account: 0397003776610011
Bank Dhofar account: 01040141195001
E-mail: [email protected]
·····
BE …‘’—–‡”•…‹‡…‡ǡ
†‹ƒƒŽ‡ǡŽ‘‘‹‰ˆ‘”
•—‹–ƒ„Ž‡Œ‘„‹–Š‡ˆ‹‡Ž†
‘ˆ•‘ˆ–™ƒ”‡‘”‹
‹ˆ‘”ƒ–‹‘–‡…Š‘Ž‘‰›
having good knowledge
‹ƒ˜ƒǡ‡–ǡMSSLLǡ
MS word. Contact
91986191.
dileep2468.a@gmail.
com
B TECH mechanical
‡‰‹‡‡”ǡ†‹ƒǡ‘‡
year experience in
ȋȌǡƒ˜ƒ‹Žƒ„Ž‡
in Muscat on visit
˜‹•ƒǡ•‡‡••—‹–ƒ„Ž‡
placement. Contact
ͻ͵͸͹ͲʹͺͲǡƒ‹Žǣ
[email protected]
·····
·····
·····
Ǧ
ˆŽƒ–•ˆ‘”ˆƒ‹Ž‹‡•‘Ž›
‹ŽŠ—™ƒ‹”͵͵
93371020
Situation Wanted
·····
23
Umrah/Haj
AL ‹ƒ‹ˆ‘”
HAJ and UMRAH
Ȅ‹–ŠƒŠ‘•–‘ˆ
services including
–Š‡ˆ‘ŽŽ‘™‹‰ǣ
Hiring luxurious
coachesǡƒ””ƒ‰‹‰
™‡‡Ž›–”‹’•ǡ
preparing visas
ˆ‘”‡š’ƒ–•ƒ–…‘•–Ǧ
‡ˆˆ‡…–‹˜‡’”‹…‡ǡ
‹…Ž—†‹‰–”ƒ•’‘”–ǡ
Š‘—•‹‰ǡ‡ƒŽ•
and visits to shrine
locations. Land and
air trips weekly.
ͻͻ͵ͳͳ͵ͳͲǡ
ʹͶͷ͸͸Ͳͳ͸ǡ
ͻͻ͵͸ͳͻͺʹǡ
ͻͻ͹Ͳ͹ʹͶͺǡ
99322124.
·····
Good News
”‡ƒ–‡–ǡ‘‰ƒ
Massage &
slimming. Web
address: www.
siddhayur.com
92504980/
24475280.
·····
CLASSIFIED SECTION
Ruwi : 24785668
Ȉ
Ȉ
Ȉ
Ȉ
Ȉ
Ȉ
ƒ”•ˆ‘”•ƒŽ‡
‘””‡–
‘„ƒ’’Ž‹…ƒ–‹‘
Šƒ”‹‰”‡•‹†‡…‡
”ƒ•’‘”–…ƒ”•
‡ƒŽ•–ƒ–‡ȋ•ƒŽ‡Ǧ
”‡–Ǧ‹˜‡•–‡–•
Ȉ ƒŒŒƒ†”ƒ
Ȉ •‡†ˆ—”‹–—”‡ˆ‘”•ƒŽ‡
Ȉ ƒ—…Š…‡”‡‘‹‡•‘ˆȋ”‡•–ƒ—”ƒ–•Ǧ
•Š‘’•Ǧ…Ž‹‹…•Ȍ
Ȉ ‘„ƒ†•
Ȉ ‡ƒ…Š‹‰†”‹˜‹‰
Ȉ ‘—•‡•…Ž‡ƒ‹‰Ǧ•‡”˜‹…‡•ƒ†’‡•–
…‘–”‘Ž
For information, please call:
99841230-95919344
92721879 - 99639264
Tel: 24649597, Fax: 24649590
BankMuscat account: 0397003776610011
Bank Dhofar account: 01040141195001
E-mail: [email protected]
SUNDAY l AUGUST 9, 2015 l SHAWWAL 23, 1436 AH
[email protected]
www.omanobserver.om
RENTING & LEASING
Tours and Airport Transfer
Tel: 24582663
GSM: 95859497,
Fax: 24582664,
[email protected]
Manpower
ILYA MANPOWER:
We provide Filipino
housemaids and
all skilled workers.
22050086/
96087664. E-mail:
ilyamanpower@gmail.
com.
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).
E-mail: [email protected]
P. O. Box: 565, Wadi Kabir,
Postal Code: 117,
SULTANATE OF OMAN
FOR ENQUIRIES:
Please Call: 99310269 OR 99344304
·····
KHALIFA
Al-Sinani Manpower
— labourers &
housemaid from
Indonesia, Kenya,
Uganda and other
countries. Al Suwaiq.
To communicate
26713500,
26713600.
·····
For Rent
FLAT for rent in
Maabela 3 master
rooms.
96088926.
·····
APARTMENTS in a
new building in Al
Hamriya (bedroom +
dining room + living
room + kitchen +
toilet) Price RO 240.
94056333/
24702522.
Printer
RO 10.800 only
All Cartridge also
available
on UNBEATABLE prices
AII HP, Epson, Canon,
Lexmark, Samsung
Cartridges also available
For Rent
2 BHK at Rex Road
behind Muscat
Bakery RO 400/One BHK at Ruwi
opp. Police station.
RO 300/- 3 BHK
behind Technical
College RO 400/and 2 BHK
Wattayah near the
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24790449.
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99459342.
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DIRECT: 24649595 — FAX : 24649590
SUNDAY | AUGUST 9, 2015 | SHAWWAL 23, 1436 AH
P26
P27
P28
Inside
Clarke to quit after fifth Ashes Test Walker own-goal gifts United win Al Saadi to attend Oman Cricket gala FOLLOW US ON:
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SPORT BRIEFS
Lanka pick rookie
pacer for India series
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s selectors on
Friday named uncapped fast bowler
Vishwa Fernando in a 16-man squad
for the three-Test series against India
starting next week, the cricket board
announced.
Fernando, 23, who has taken 98
wickets in 34 first-class matches,
dismissed India’s Rohit Sharma and
Wriddhiman Saha while playing for the
Sri Lanka Board President’s XI in the
ongoing tour match in Colombo.
Opening batsman Kusal Perera, a
veteran of 48 one-day internationals and
20 Twenty20 matches, was the other
player without Test experience to be
picked in the squad.
Perera replaces middle-order
batsman Kithuruwan Vithanage and
Fernando comes in for seamer Suranga
Lakmal from the squad that lost to
Pakistan 2-1 in the recent Test series at
home.
Fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera
has been retained subject to his
recovery from a side strain suffered
during the Pakistan series.
The first Test opens in the
southwestern city of Galle next
Wednesday, followed by the second
match at the P Sara Oval in Colombo
from August 20.
The third will be held at the Sinhalese
Sports Club in the Sri Lankan capital
from August 28.
— AFP
F1 driver Button
burgled in France
NICE, France: French police have
launched a probe after British Formula
One driver Jenson Button and his wife
Jessica were burgled on the French
Riviera, but authorities cast doubt on
suspicions that sleeping gas was used in
the robbery.
The couple were in a rented villa in
the glitzy resort of Saint-Tropez with
friends when the thieves made off with
Jessica’s engagement ring and other
valuables worth £300,000 ($465,000,
426,000 euros) on Monday evening, a
source close to the probe said.
“Two men broke into the property
whilst they all slept and stole a number
of items of jewellery including, most
upsettingly, Jessica’s engagement ring,”
said a spokesman for Button, the 2009
world champion. The thieves may have
operated by pumping sleeping gas into
the house through the air-conditioning,
he added. “Whilst unharmed, everyone
involved is unsurprisingly shaken by the
events.”
— AFP
Coaching resumes
at Indian Social Club
MUSCAT: After the summer break,
coaching at the Indian Social
Club Muscat resumed under the
supervision of professional coaches
and trainers.
The Club is providing coaching
in cricket, badminton, table tennis,
karate and tennis all under one roof
at its facilities in Darsait. Further
details on the Club’s coaching
programmes can be obtained from
the Indian Social Club in Darsait
(Tel. 24701347/24797921 or e-mail :
[email protected].
The club’s busy sports calendar
will continue with the Annual Table
Tennis and the Junior Table Tennis
League which will commence soon.
Open tournaments in tennis and
table tennis are in the pipeline.
England players celebrate as Australia’s Nathan Lyon (left) reacts after losing his wicket, the final Australian wicket as England wrap up the game on the third day of the fourth Ashes Test at Trent Bridge. — AFP
ENGLAND REGAIN ASHES WITH INNINGS WIN
FEAT: Cook became only the third England captain after Grace and Brearley to win two Ashes series in England
FROM ANDY JALIL AT TRENT BRIDGE
NOTTINGHAM: It took just 40
minutes for England to mop up the
Australia innings and regain the coveted
Ashes. In one of the shortest Ashes
Tests played — lasting only two days
and 40 minutes — Australia lost their
three remaining overnight wickets in
10.2 overs on the third morning and
meekly surrendered the ‘little urn’ in the
presence of yet another sell-out crowd
with all 14 days of the series having seen
such a turn-out.
Having won the last home series in
2013, Alastair Cook became only the
third England captain after the legendary
Dr WG Grace and Mike Brearley to win
two Ashes series in England. A delighted
Cook praised his opposite number, the
Australia captain, Michael Clarke: “He is
a fantastic player and a fantastic leader.
It’s obviously a tough moment for him
but he should be remembered as a great
captain and a fantastic cricketer, so
congratulations to him.”
When told it’s 599 days since England
handed the Ashes over, Cook said: “I can’t
believe what we’ve achieved in the last 18
months (since losing 5-0 in Australia)
and in these three days. I am incredibly
proud of the lads and all support staff.
You see the talent in the country, young
guys have come in and done incredibly
well. Ben Stokes in the second innings
was absolutely fantastic. Joe Root has
gone from strength to strength.”
“Moeen Ali having come into the
side, they have driven this side forward.
As captain I’m very lucky to have a group
of senior players. Broad (player of the
match) stepped up and did something
special with 8 for 15. We said at the
beginning of the New Zealand series we
wanted to show our talent as a side and
we had to be led from the front so I had
to take a big step as captain.”
Resuming on the overnight score of
241 for seven and needing 90 runs to
make England bat again, Australia had
added just one run before Stokes added
to his five wickets of the previous day
when he had Ian Bell at second slip take
a shoulder high catch as Mitchell Starc
edged an in-swinger that straightened
late. Another run later, Mark Wood
yorked Josh Hazelwood on the middle
stump and Adam Voges, 48 overnight
and having added a run, seeing the last
man in, scampered a single to reach his
first Test half century.
Finally, on 253, Nathan Lyon, dragged
a ball from Wood on to his off stump and it
was all over, leaving England triumphant
England’s Ben Stokes (up) and England players celebrates as England wrap up the game and retain the Ashes on the third day of the fourth Ashes Test. — AFP
SCOREBOARD
Australia first innings 60
England first innings 391-9 dec
Australia second innings (overnight: 241-7)
C Rogers c Root b Stokes ---------------------------------- 52
D Warner c Broad b Stokes ------------------------------- 64
S Smith c Stokes b Broad ------------------------------------ 5
S Marsh c Root b Stokes ------------------------------------- 2
M Clarke c Bell b Wood ------------------------------------ 13
A Voges not out ------------------------------------------------ 51
P Nevill lbw b Stokes ---------------------------------------- 17
by an innings and 78 runs and with an
unassailable 3-1 lead. It is 30 years since
Australia suffered an innings defeat in
England. Voges remained unbeaten with
51 having defied the England attack for
three hours and 10 minutes. Stokes’ six
for 36 were his best Test figures beating
his previous best effort of six for 99.
Clarke, who announced that he will
retire from international cricket after the
next Test starting in 12 days’ time, said:
“Alastair Cook and the England team
deserve a lot of credit, they showed us
how to execute good swing and seam
bowling in these conditions and they
also batted well so it wasn’t for lack of
M Johnson c Cook b Stokes -------------------------------- 5
M Starc c Bell b Stokes ---------------------------------------- 0
J Hazlewood b Wood ------------------------------------------ 0
N Lyon b Wood --------------------------------------------------- 4
Extras (b20, lb16, w1, nb3) ----------------------------- 40
Total (all out, 72.4 overs, 319 mins) 253
Fall of wickets: 1-113, 2-130, 3-136, 4-136,
5-174, 6-224, 7-236, 8-242, 9-243
Bowling: Broad 16-5-36-1, Wood 17.4-3-69-3,
Finn 12-4-42-0, Stokes 21-8-36-6, Ali 6-0-34-0
trying, the Australian boys worked
hard and gave it our best but we’ve been
beaten by a better team.”
He went on to say: “England have
had their moments and they’ve grabbed
them with both hands and made the
most of it and they showed their class in
this Test match. I’ll always hold myself
accountable as captain of the team, my
performances were nowhere near the
level and standard they need to be to
be an Australian cricketer and captain
so I don’t blame anyone. As a team we
haven’t performed as we needed to and
as captain I certainly haven’t led from
the front.”
Victory ends England’s
inconsistent run
NOTTINGHAM, United Kingdom:
England rid themselves of an
unwanted record with their innings
and 78-run win in the fourth Ashes Test
against Australia at Trent Bridge on
Saturday.
Since drawing their series opener
against the West Indies at Antigua in
April, England’s next seven Tests have
seen them alternate between winning
and losing. Prior to their Trent Bridge
triumph, which saw them take an
unbeatable 3-1 lead in the five-match
Ashes series, England captain Alastair
Cook’s team had been unable to string
two Test wins together in 2015.
And there were those who thought
the absence of James Anderson,
England’s all-time leading wicket-taker,
with a side injury would damage their
chances of a back-to-back success in
Nottingham. But Stuart Broad, on his
Nottinghamshire home ground, took
eight for 15 as Australia were dismissed
for just 60 in their first innings to ensure
England did not miss his longtime
new-ball partner.
— AFP
ENGLAND TEST RESULTS
START DATE, VENUE
Apr 13, Antigua:
Apr 21, Grenada:
May 01, Barbados:
May 21, Lord’s:
May 29, Headingley:
Jul 08, Cardiff:
Jul 16, Lord’s:
Jul 29, Edgbaston:
Aug 06, Trent Bridge
OPPONENT
v WIS
v WIS
v WIS
v NZL
v NZL
v AUS
v AUS
v AUS
v AUS
RESULT
Drawn
Won 9 wkts
Lost 5 wkts
Won 124 runs
Lost 199 runs
Won 169 runs
Lost 405 runs
Won 8 wkts
Won inngs
omandailyobserver
HARIDEV PUSHPARAJ
MUSCAT
W
hen a 14-year-old boy from the
northern Indian city of Ludhiana
landed in Muscat in 2003, little did
he realise that history was waiting
for him.
The rise of Jatinder Singh,
Oman’s star bat and highest run-getter (213 runs from seven
matches) at the recently concluded ICC World T20 Qualifiers
in Ireland and Scotland, has run parallel to the Sultanate’s
development into a force to reckon with among emerging
associate nations.
That rewarding journey has probably started with Oman’s
historic qualification for the 2016 ICC World T20 to be held
in India.
“The Kohli of Oman’’ as he is popularly known among
friends was all praise for Oman Cricket’s meticulous planning
to detail when it came to preparation.
“It was an amazing experience. The credit goes to the
board. They sent us 15 days in advance to Ireland and we won
all the four warm-ups,’’ he said.
“The whole credit goes to preparation. The fact that
we got to acclimatise was a big advantage. The main thing
was adjusting to the weather there and we got used to the
conditions well,’’ Jatinder added.
The 26-year-old accumulated his runs at a healthy average
of 35.50 and had an impressive strike rate of 95.94.
“My main aim during the tournament was to stay at the
wicket and achieve small targets and take it from there. I was
told to work on this by our technical adviser Derek Pringle,
coach Duleep Mendis and assistant coach Mazhar Saleem
Khan,’’ he added.
Jatinder’s standout knock of the qualifiers was the
swashbuckling 65 off 56 balls against the fancied The
Netherlands.
The Indian School Muscat (ISM) alumni rated that innings
as his most satisfying as it came against a team that was a cut
or two above them and had players like the seasoned Roelof
van der Merwe, who has switched loyalties from South Africa.
“It was a tremendous game. Playing and winning against a
team that had IPL stars like Van Der Merwe, who has played
for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils, was a
big boost for us,’’ explained Jatinder.
The strong, lanky Sardar works at the retail division of
Khimji Ramdas and credits all the success he has achieved to
the support of his parents and teachers.
“Without the blessings
and support of my teachers
in ISM and my parents, I
would not have been able to
achieve these things.
In school, I was not
known for my academics
and had red marks all the
time. I used to get blasted by
Singh is
King
IN A NUTSHELL
NAME:
JATINDER SINGH
DoB: 05-03-1989
PLACE OF BIRTH: Ludhiana,
Punjab, India
FIRST CLUB: Al Siddique
CURRENT CLUB: Muscat Cricket
Team (Khimji Ramdas)
QUALIFIERS LOWDOWN
RUNS SCORED: 213
MATCHES: 7
AVERAGE: 35.50
STRIKE RATE: 95.94
HS: 65* against The Netherlands
I WILL GO WITH THE FLOW,
WE MAY UPSET ONE OF
THE BIG TEAMS,’’ SAYS
JATINDER, WHEN ASKED
ABOUT HIS THOUGHTS FOR
THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED
ENTRY OF OMAN AT NEXT
YEAR’S ICC WORLD T20 IN
INDIA
Clarke to retire after final Ashes Test
NOTTINGHAM:
Australia
captain
Michael Clarke, described by Cricket
Australia (CA) as one of the “all-time greats”,
will retire after the final Ashes test against
England this month.
Clarke announced his decision to quit
international cricket after England won the
fourth test at Trent Bridge by an innings and
78 runs on Saturday to regain the Ashes.
“I want to play the last test at The Oval
and give it one more crack. The time is right,”
said the 34-year-old, who stepped down
from one-day internationals in March.
“You never want to walk away. My
performances over the past 12 months
have not been acceptable to me. “Test
cricket is about the Ashes.
We tried our best,
I certainly
tried
my best, but we got outplayed.”
Clarke has played 114 tests and scored
over 8,000 runs, including 28 centuries.
“I certainly don’t want to jump ship and
leave the boys now,” he said. “I pride myself
on leading from the front so (my form has)
been disappointing.
“One-day cricket is about the World
Cup, test cricket is about the Ashes. We got
outplayed, we got beaten.
“It’s time for the next generation of
players, the next captain, to have his
opportunity to try to build the team again
and get them ready for the next Ashes
series.”
Clarke revealed that he made the decision
to retire from Test cricket on Friday evening.
“I felt my performances weren’t as good
as I wanted them to be,” he said.
“The decision is never easy. I started
playing this great game at six years of age.
I’m 34. I wish I could play for
another 30 years.”
COOK TRIBUTE
been a thoroughly professional player, a
England captain Alastair Cook paid brave and daring leader who has given his
tribute to his Australian counterpart.
all for our country.”
“To Michael from the England team
Edwards praised Clarke’s
you were a fantastic player, fantastic
handling of the death of
leader,” Cook said.
his close friend and
“You should be
former team-mate
remembered as a
Phillip Hughes last
great captain.”
year after he was
CA chairman
struck on the head
Wally
Edwards
while batting in a
acknowledged
domestic match.
Clarke’s contribution to
— Reuters
the team.
“When Michael made
his stunning test debut in
Bangalore back in 2004,
Australian cricket knew it had
found a very special talent,” Edwards
said in an Australian Cricket Board
statement.
“He was earmarked as a future
leader and as his reputation
grew it was clear that he
was the right man to one
day captain Australia.
“Throughout
his
captaincy, he
has
S U N DAY
AUGUST 9 l 2015
all the teachers but now they are all very proud of me and send
me messages after my performances. It is very humbling,’’ the
Punjabi lad reminisces.
Jatinder also rolled back the years to talk about his entry
into the Oman national team. Al Siddique was his first club
team.
“In the 2010-2011 season, I was playing for Passage for
India and scored 129 in a losing cause against Al Raha but that
knock got me noticed. When I got the call-up, I have no words
to describe my feelings then, it was simply a dream come true.’’
Elaborating on the early days, Jatinder said he was out
for a duck in his debut against Italy in the ICC Division 3
tournament in Hong Kong.
When told the highly decorated Indian great Mahendra
Singh Dhoni too started his career with a duck, Jatinder
erupted in laughter.
“I know there are many players who have made it big after
scoring a duck on debut, so it’s not a bad start that I had,’’ he
added, punctuated by a grin.
Cricket fans in the Sultanate have big hopes and great
expectations from the son of Gurmail Singh, who has been
working as carpenter with the Royal Oman Police (ROP)
since 1975, and homemaker Paramjit Kaur.
Jatinder’s brothers Amandeep Singh and Jaspreet Singh
would be keenly following his fortunes, so would be his sister
Kirandeep Kaur, who is settled back home in India.
Both the brothers have a cricketing background with
elder brother Amandeep playing for the Indian Social Club
and the younger Jaspreet featuring for the National Youth
Development Team (NYDT).
Jaspreet also made it to the probables list of the national
team in 2013 for a ICC Division 3 tournament.
Ask Jatinder about his biggest inspiration in the game. He
has a ready answer: Adnan Ilyas, the former Oman batsman.
“I have learnt a lot from him. He was someone I looked
upto when I broke into the team and being in the same team I
benefited,’’ he added. In Jatinder’s view, the biggest takeaway
for Oman from the qualifiers is the recognition.
“Earlier, we had an identity crisis if we said we are from
Oman. They would ask us where is Oman?... we would say it
is near Dubai. But now, we can say we are in the World Cup,’’
Jatinder revealed.
Talking about the ICC World T20 next year, Jatinder is
cautiously optimistic of making an impression.
“I will just go with the flow and play my game. We might
upset one big team, I feel. The format of T20 is such that it
all depends on how you play
during that period, so anything
is possible,’’ he added.
The story of Jatinder Singh
has just begun and so has that
of Oman cricket.
This may just be the
trailer before an epic movie
unfolds. Both for player and
country.
FACTBOX MICHAEL CLARKE
FACTBOX ON AUSTRALIA CAPTAIN MICHAEL CLARKE WHO
ANNOUNCED ON SATURDAY HE WAS RETIRING FROM
INTERNATIONAL CRICKET AFTER THE FINAL ASHES TEST.
„ Born on April 2, 1981 at Liverpool, New South Wales
„ Nickname: Pup, Clarkey
„ Made his Test debut against India at Bangalore in 2004,
hitting a century in the match.
„ Has played 114 Tests, scoring 8628 runs with 28 centuries
and 27 half-centuries and averaging just under 50
„ His highest Test score of 329 not out came against India in
Sydney in 2012
„ A brilliant slip fielder, Clarke has taken 131 catches in Tests
and 106 in ODIs.
„ Groomed as a future leader, Clarke took over as Australia
captain after Ricky Ponting quit after the 2011 World Cup.
„ One of the best players of spin bowling, Clarke has often
held together Australia’s innings.
„ Made his ODI debut against England in Adelaide in 2003
„ Ended ODI career after leading Australia to World
Cup victory in March.
„ Scored 7,981 runs from 245 ODI matches with
eight centuries and 58 half-centuries
„ Clarke averaged more than 44 in ODIs
and his highest score of 130 came against
India at Bangalore in 2007
„ A part-time left-arm spinner, Clarke has
taken 31 Test wickets and 57 in ODIs.
„ His best bowling figures, six
wickets for nine runs, were also
against India, in Mumbai in 2004.
„ Also played 34 Twenty20
Internationals, before quitting
that format in 2011 to focus
on the longer versions of the
game.
JATINDER SINGH JATINDER SINGH JATINDER SINGH JATINDER SINGH JATINDER SINGH JATINDER SINGH JATINDER SINGH
JATINDER SINGH JATINDER SINGH JATINDER SINGH JATINDER SINGH JATINDER SINGH JATINDER SINGH JATINDER SINGH
26
SPORT
SPORT
S U N DAY
AUGUST 9 l 2015
omandailyobserver
27
SWIMMING WORLDS: Australia’s Cate Campbell, fresh from losing her 100m freestyle crown to sister Bronte, topped the 50m freestyle
Sun progresses, Ledecky pursues sweep
KAZAN, Russia: China’s Sun Yang
moved serenely into the final of the
1,500m freestyle on Saturday at the
world swimming championships in
Kazan while American Katie Ledecky
prepares a bid to make history.
Sun, who has already retained the
400m and 800m free titles, qualified
third for Sunday’s final behind Italian
Gregorio Paltrinieri and American
Connor Jaeger.
Australia’s Cate Campbell, fresh
from losing her 100m freestyle crown
to sister Bronte on Friday, topped the
heats in the women’s 50m free.
Bronte qualified seventh with
Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom, who took
silver in the 100m, third.
Bahrain’s Alzain Tareq, the youngest
ever worlds competitor at age 10,
finished third in her heat and ended up
105th out of 113 entrants.
In the men’s 50m backstroke,
defending champion Camille Lacourt
of France progressed first to the
semifinals with Aussie Mitch Larkin,
winner of the 100m and 200m events,
fourth.
Lithuanian Ruta Meilutyte, who lost
out to Russian Yuliya Efimova in the
women’s 100m breaststroke, finished
top of the 50m heats.
Efimova was down the field in fifth.
The United States won the heats in
the 4×100m mixed freestyle relay and
are top seeds for the later final ahead of
Russia and Italy.
Before that Ledecky enters the final Katie Ledecky of the US swims in a women’s 800m freestyle heat at the Aquatics World Championships in Kazan, Russia.
Bullish Wenger talks up Arsenal’s title chances
LONDON: Arsene Wenger has warned
Arsenal’s title rivals that his resurgent
side are finally strong enough to end the
club’s 12-year wait to win the Premier
League.
Wenger’s team kick off the new
campaign against West Ham on Sunday
and the mood at the Emirates Stadium
will be one of unbridled optimism in
the aftermath of a pair of Wembley
victories that are being hailed around
north London as the foundations of a
sustained title challenge.
After producing a swaggering FA
Cup final demolition of Aston Villa at
Wembley in May, the Gunners returned
to the English national stadium last
weekend to secure a 1-0 victory over
Chelsea in the Community Shield.
While the eye-catching Cup final
performance showcased Arsenal’s array
of attacking talent, it was the mature way
his players defended the lead against the
Premier League champions on Sunday
that provided most encouragement to
Wenger.
Despite finishing 12 points behind
Chelsea in third place last term, Arsenal
have the feel of a team on the rise and
Wenger is so confident in his squad that
the signing of Petr Cech, the veteran
goalkeeper lured across London from
Stamford Bridge, was his only major
pre-season signing.
Asked on the eve of the new season
if he feels Arsenal can win the title for
the first time since 2004, the usually
conservative Wenger cast caution to the
wind as he said: “I believe yes, all going
well, and us maintaining our game.
“That’s important as well — that we
develop what we do well and do not
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger (right) and his players celebrate with the trophy after beating Chelsea in the FA Community
Shield at Wembley Stadium in north London. Arsenal won the game 1-0.
— AFP
stand still. “That means we develop
our cohesion, our passing game. If we
are capable to keep the cohesion and
the solidarity we have at the moment
through the 38 games, we have a good
chance.”
SPLUTTERING START
Wenger did concede that Chelsea
will start as the title favourites and the
Frenchman highlighted the importance
of making a strong start after spluttering
early form left them out of the race well
before Christmas last season.
“Chelsea won it by a margin last year
so they are the favourites,” he said. “After
that let’s see how it goes. After 15 games
you will know more about that.
“Last year after 12 games we were 15
points behind Chelsea, and in the next
26 we took 58 points and Chelsea 55, so
that means we missed our start to the
season because it was after the World
Cup.
“So let’s start strong this season and I
believe we have the needed ingredients.”
Amid such positive vibes, the only
immediate concern for Wenger is the
fitness of England internationals Jack
Wilshere and Danny Welbeck and the
physical condition of Alexis Sanchez.
Chile forward Sanchez has recently
returned to training after helping his
country win the Copa America in the
close-season and will miss the London
derby against West Ham.
Wilshere suffered a hairline fracture
to his left fibula earlier this month, but
Wenger believes the midfielder could
be back in action in four weeks, while
former Manchester United striker
Welbeck is still recovering from a knee
injury. — AFP
Bahrain’s Alzain Tareq,
the youngest ever Worlds
competitor at age 10,
finished third in her heat
and ended up 105th out of
113 entrants
— Reuters
of the 800-metre freestyle aiming to
complete a sweep in the discipline from
200m up.
Never before has a swimmer won
the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1,500m at
the same worlds.
With three of four titles in the bag
already, Ledecky is on the brink of
another major landmark.
Jaz Carlin of Britain and Australia’s
Jessica Ashwood are likely to lead the
charge for silver in a race Ledecky is
expected to dominate.
Home hopes rest on the broad
shoulders of Vladimir Morozov, who is
targeting the title of fastest man in the
world in the 50m free.
Defending champion Cesar Cielo
has gone home injured but Florent
Manaudou, who won the 50m butterfly,
and top seeded American Nathan
Adrian are strong threats to the Russian.
Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh is looking to
double up in the 100m fly, having won
the 200m event.
There is a similar story in the
women’s 50m fly with Sjostrom looking
to add to her 100m title. — dpa
PREMIER LEAGUE
Walker own-goal
gifts United victory
LONDON: The Premier League kicked
off in unique fashion on Saturday as an
own goal by Tottenham Hotspur’s Kyle
Walker gave Manchester United a 1-0
victory in an undistinguished season
opener at Old Trafford.
Never before had the competition
begun with a player scoring into his own
goal until full back Walker inadvertently
prodded the ball past Michel Vorm
in the 22nd minute when desperately
trying to dispossess Wayne Rooney.
Tottenham had dominated until then
but the goal helped United, with five
expensive debutants in their ranks, relax
as the Londoners’ verve deserted them
until a late attacking flurry was repelled
by the hosts’ new Argentine keeper
Sergio Romero.
Even if the fare was mediocre, three
points on a warm, muggy lunchtime
was the ideal start for manager Louis
van Gaal after a huge close season
investment took United’s spending to
about £230 million ($356.39 million) in
his 12 months at the helm.
Romero made three important late
saves while Italian defender Matteo
Darmian, French midfielder Morgan
Schneiderlin and Dutch striker
Memphis Depay also made useful first
starts. Germany’s World Cup winner
Bastian
Schweinsteiger,
United’s
highest-profile summer recruit, also
gave a robust half-hour cameo in which
he received a booking for a foul.
On last season’s opening day, United
lost at home to Swansea City, prompting
a poor start to the campaign, and a noisy
Old Trafford was demanding a quicker
break from the blocks from a new team
assembled to seek a 21st English title.
United started nervously as, for 20
minutes, Spurs, who finished fifth last
season, one place behind United, were
firmly in control until Nabil Bentaleb
carelessly gave away possession in
midfield allowing United to rampage
down the right flank.
Ashley Young’s cross looked to have
put Rooney in at point blank range only
for Walker to dash back madly to rescue
the situation before his attempt to rob
the United captain saw him nudge the
ball into the corner of his own net.
United did get better but not a great
deal more threatening as they only had
one shot on target all match and when
Spurs finally awoke from their stupor,
Romero proved his international quality
with a series of fine stops.
His performance delighted Van
Gaal, who had dropped his number one
keeper David De Gea because he felt the
Spaniard’s mind could not have been
on the job amid speculation about his
possible move to Real Madrid.
— Reuters
Indian bowlers impress in drawn game
India’s Ishant
Sharma (right)
celebrates after
dismissing Sri
Lanka Board
President’s XI’s
Kaushal Silva.
— AFP
COLOMBO: The Indian cricket
team played out a draw against
Sri Lanka Board President’s
XI here on Saturday after
dominating the three-day warmup game.
The Indians came close to
victory, taking six second innings
wickets of the home team, but
they batted dourly in the closing
stages to end the day at 200/6, in
reply to a target of 411 runs.
India’s
top
off-spinner
Ravichandran Ashwin (3/38),
along with his spin partners
Harbhajan Singh (1/26) and
Amit Mishra (1/42) bowled well
in tandem to pose a threat for the
President’s XI.
For the hosts, opener Kaushal
Silva (83) and experienced
middle order batsman Upul
Tharanga (52) impressed.
But what will put creases on
the forehead of India’s skipper
Virat Kohli will be the patchy
form of his team’s batsmen who
once again failed in the second
innings, getting out for a paltry
180.
The Indians began from their
overnight score of 112/3 but both
the unbeaten batsmen KL Rahul
(47) and Cheteshwar Pujara (31)
got out to give the lower order
some batting practice.
But that sparked a series
of dismissals as Ashwin (0),
Harbhajan (4), Amit Mishra (7)
and Varun Aaron (2) were all out
cheaply.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar added
37 runs for the final wicket with
Umesh Yadav (17 not out) before
he was last man dismissed.
But the bowlers kept up their
impressive form to paper over
the deficiencies of the batsmen
and got some valuable match
practice.
India play a three-match Test
series against Sri Lanka with the
first match beginning on August
12 at Galle.
Brief scores: Indians 351 and 180 (K L
Rahul 47, Cheteshwar Pujara 31)
Sri Lanka President’s XI 121 and 200/6
(Kaushal Silva 83, Upul Tharanga 52)
Tottenham’s Kyle Walker in action with Manchester United’s Sergio Romero.
— Reuters
28
omandailyobserver
SPORT
S U N DAY
AUGUST 9 l 2015
WASHINGTON OPEN: US eighth seed John Isner will take on compatriot Steve Johnson in second semifinal
Nishikori, Cilic book US Open final rematch
WASHINGTON: Japan’s fifth-ranked
Kei Nishikori and Croatia’s eighthranked Marin Cilic will meet in a
rematch of last year’s US Open final after
advancing on Friday to the ATP and
WTA Washington Open semifinals.
And Nishikori made it clear he seeks
a measure of revenge on Saturday for
Cilic denying his bid to become the first
Asian man to win a Grand Slam title.
“It’s going to be great motivation for
me,” Nishikori said. “I think it’s going to
be very interesting.”
Reigning US Open champion Cilic
defeated German teen Alexander Zverev
7-5, 7-6 (7/3) while Nishikori, the top
remaining seed after Britain’s Andy
Murray crashed out, ousted Australia’s
Sam Groth 6-4, 6-4 in quarterfinal
matches.
That set up their first meeting since
Cilic downed Nishikori 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, at
Arthur Ashe Stadium in September for
his first Grand Slam crown.
“To play Kei again is for sure going to
be an entertaining and exciting match,”
Cilic said.
“I wouldn’t say I’m at the same form
as I was at the US Open. Emotion-wise,
it’s going to be extremely different.
Before the Slam final we were both
nervous.”
“For sure I’m going to take some
things out of that match to get the win.”
Nishikori, who has a 5-3 edge on
Cilic in their all-time rivalry, said he
recalls not being at his best for the
biggest moment of his career thus far
and welcomes another chance at the
man who frustrated his dream.
“I was really nervous and I wasn’t
really into the match,” Nishikori said.
“Physically I wasn’t 100 per cent.”
“I’m a better player than last year. I’m
a little more solid baseline player. I’m
a more aggressive player than before. I
think I’m getting better. It’s going to be a
good match.”
US eighth seed John Isner, coming off
his 10th career title last week in Atlanta,
fired 20 aces in a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 win over
Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis to grab
a spot in the other semifinal against
compatriot Steve Johnson, who beat
American Jack Sock 7-6 (7/5), 6-1.
Bouchard splits
with another
coach after
poor run
MELBOURNE: Eugenie Bouchard’s
coaching merry-go-round will take
another turn after the Canadian
announced on Friday she had split
with Sam Sumyk following six months
blighted by injury and a succession of
early exits from tournaments.
The 21-year-old will be coached
temporarily by Serbian Marko Dragic
at the Roger’s Cup in Toronto as she
seeks to rebound from her first-round
loss at Wimbledon.
Bouchard parted ways with longtime coach Nick Saviano in November,
ending a partnership which saw her
reach the semifinals of three of the
four Grand Slams during last year’s
break-out season, including a maiden
final appearance at Wimbledon.
But since a run to the quarterfinals
at this year’s Australian Open, the
former world number five’s ranking
has slumped to 25 and she has been
beaten in opening matches at eight
tournaments, including the French
Open. “I just feel like I haven’t been
quite myself, my confident, aggressive
game lately and that’s something that
I’ve been working on very hard in
practice,” Bouchard told reporters at a
pre-tournament media conference.
“I have the belief and I know my
skills are still there and nothing can
just vanish... It’s just about working
hard to getting back on track.”
Bouchard said she had no plans
in place for a permanent coaching
appointment. “I’m looking for someone
who can help me improve all areas of
my game,” she said. “I think it’s very
important to be able to address the
technical side, the tactical side, the
mental side and the physical side.”
— Reuters
Japan’s Kei Nishikori hits a volley against Australia’s Sam Groth at the 2015 Citi Open in Washington. — USA Today Sports
NOT EASY FOR NISHIKORI
Nishikori, 25, chases his third title of
2015 after Memphis and Barcelona and
the 10th of his career.
Nishikori took advantage of his
fifth break chance in the seventh game,
grabbing a 4-3 lead when Groth hit a
forehand drop volley wide, and held
twice more for the first set.
Groth, ranked a career-best 62nd,
double faulted to gift Nishikori a break
for a 3-2 edge in the second.
Nishikori denied Groth on two break
points in the eighth game and held at
love to end matters after 86 minutes.
“It wasn’t easy,” Nishikori said. “He
has a great serve. It’s never easy to face
someone new but I thought I handled it
well.”
Cilic, 26, broke in the last game of
the first set and the second game of the
second set and served for the match
before Zverev broke back.
Cilic took the last three points of the
tie-breaker, reaching only his second
semifinal of the year when Zverev netted
a forehand.
“Luckily I played solid at the end,”
Cilic said.
On the women’s side, Australian
second seed Samantha Stosur advanced
4-0 when Romania’s Monica Niculescu
retired with a left abdominal strain.
Stosur plays American Sloane
Stephens next in a shock 10-match
win run for the Aussie after a July clay
title in Austria. “Probably a little bit
surprised,” Stosur said. “Started hitting
on hardcourts last Thursday. Didn’t feel
ready to play in a lot of ways. I’ve been
able to adapt really well.”
Russian top seed Ekaterina
Makarova plays compatriot Anastasia
Pavlyuchenkova in the other semifinal.
— AFP
PSM honours Oman team for
qualifying to World Twenty20
RESULTS
WASHINGTON OPEN
Men (quarterfinals)
Kei Nishikori (JPN x2) bt Sam Groth (AUS) 6-4,
6-4; Marin Cilic (CRO x3) bt Alexander Zverev
(GER) 7-5, 7-6 (7/3); John Isner (USA x8) bt
Ricardas Berankis (LTU) 6-3, 5-7, 6-3; Steve
Johnson (USA) bt Jack Sock (USA) 7-6 (7/5), 6-1
Women (quarterfinals)
Samantha Stosur (AUS x2) bt Monica Niculescu
(ROM) 4-0, retired, left abdominal strain
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) bt Christina
McHale (USA) 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7/5); Sloane
Stephens (USA) bt Louisa Chirico (USA) 6-4,
6-4; Ekaterina Makarova (RUS x1) bt IrinaCamelia Begu (ROM x6) 6-4, 2-6, 6-1
GREAT
SEASON
Djokovic
makes return
in Montreal
MONTREAL: A month after winning
Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic will pick
up a racquet once again as the world
number one plays as top seed in the
Montreal Masters, which begins on
Monday.
The Serb, who won the first of
his three Canadian titles in 2007 in
Montreal, also added another in 2011
and a 2012 honour in Toronto to his
list of North American success stories.
Since beating Roger Federer — who
will not compete next week but will save
his energies for the Cincinnati Masters
and US Open to follow — Djokovic has
seemingly done everything possible to
keep his distance from tennis.
He missed the Davis Cup
quarterfinals last month to rest and
was seen on holiday with the family
and on the golf course in and around
his base of Monte Carlo.
The 28-year-old had said following
Wimbledon that he would be
decompressing after a tough first
half of the ATP Tour season which
yielded four Masters 1000 titles and a
third Wimbledon. “There is no reason
not to be satisfied with what I have
achieved. In contrary, I’m thrilled and
very proud with all the success that I
had so far in the career, everything I
reached,” Djokovic said after his All
England Club success.
“If you would ask me as a 14-yearold back in Serbia trying to find my
way, that this is how I’m going to end
up at 28, of course I would sign the
deal and take it right away.”
The Serb and the remainder of the
leading seeds benefit from first-round
byes in the Quebec City whose tennis
stadium was carved from what was
originally a baseball pitch.
With world number two Federer
missing, Andy Murray takes the
second seeding, with the Scot trying
to put aside an embarrassing openingmatch loss in the Washington Open.
He won back-to-back Canadian
trophies in 2009 and 2010 but has not
been past the quarters since. — AFP
LOCAL FLAVOUR
Al Saadi to attend Oman Cricket gala
MUSCAT: Shaikh Saad bin Mohammed
al Saadi, Minister of Sports Affairs, will
preside over Oman Cricket annual
awards ceremony on September 16.
The Oman Cricket (OC) 36th
Annual Prize Distribution for 2014-15
is scheduled to be held at the Le Grand
Hall, Al Falaj Hotel commencing at 7 pm.
Shaikh Saad al Saadi will be the
chief guest and will distribute the
awards. The other guests attending
the ceremony will include members
of diplomatic missions, dignitaries,
heads of corporates, well wishers and
cricketers. Prizes will be awarded to the
winning teams, runners-up and other
outstanding individuals.
Shaikh Saad al Saadi
Bank Muscat extends lead support to
Salalah chess championship
The Oman cricket team members with the Pakistan School Muscat students and officials in Muscat.
MUSCAT: Pakistan School Muscat
(PSM) hosted a special ceremony at Dr
AQ Khan Hall to honour and celebrate
the achievement of Oman Cricket Team
to qualify for the World T20.
The cricket team delegation included
players and the captain accompanied by
the coach, the manager and the physio.
Pakistan Ambassador to the
Sultanate Ayaz Hussain was the chief
guest for the function. Ahmad Hassan
Mohammad al Yahmadi, Director of
Quality Organisations Department,
Ministry of Sports, was the guest of
honour.
PSM Chairman of Board of
Directors Adnan Shahzad, members of
the Board, Senior Principal Attaullah
Niazi, Principal Khalid Jadoon, embassy
officers, dignitaries, cricket teams of
PSM and the students were present on
the occasion.
As a gesture of warm welcome,
Sultan Ahmad, the captain of Oman
team, was presented with the bouquets
by two students from the Junior School.
The Senior Principal Attaullah Niazi
conveyed his heartening commendation
to the Oman team for their efforts. In
his note, he hailed the Omani cricketers
as today’s trend setters and tomorrow’s
table turners.
The budding stars of Pakistan School
Muscat welcomed the heroes of Oman
cricket through a dance performance.
Jamil Zaidi, the manager of Oman
team, expressed his views with great
pride. He grooved this long time venture
of the team since 2001 to 2015 with
efforts of making Oman cricket team’s
presence in the international cricket.
He acknowledged the contribution
of every player for achieving the
qualification for the World Twenty20
2016 in India.
The whole cricket squad was
presented with gifts.
A souvenir was also presented to
the manager of the team from Pakistan
School System.
S Ayaz Hussain congratulated
the team members for their brilliant
performance in ICC Twenty20 Qualifier
2015 in Ireland and Scotland.
He expressed his aspiration that the
team would keep working with the same
spirit, training and vision to forge their
path in the long journey of success and
make Oman known globally as a proud
country in the world of cricket.
MUSCAT: Bank Muscat as part of its
commitment to promoting sports
and games, extended lead support
to Salalah International Chess
Championship hosted by the Oman
Chess Committee (OCC).
As the nation’s leading financial
institution, Bank Muscat aims to
strongly convey the message of support
to varied sporting activities so as to
encourage a healthy lifestyle covering
both body and mind and provide the
required impetus for the country to
excel in sports and games. The bank
seeks to motivate others to follow suit
and provide the required support vital
for developing a sporting nation.
The rapid chess tournament
held from August 3 to 6 as part of
Salalah Festival attracted over 80
participants, including enthusiasts
from the neighbouring Gulf countries.
Supported by the Ministry of Sports
Affairs, the tournament came within
the framework of OCC’s efforts to
promote the game of chess in the
Sultanate. The Salalah event was
recognised by FIDE, the world body of
chess.
Bank Muscat attaches great
importance to initiatives aimed at
contributing to the country’s progress
and development in all arenas,
including sports and games. The bank
has adopted a series of measures
to support sporting activities and
develop the potential of youth. Notable
among the bank’s support to sports
The rapid chess
tournament held from
August 3 to 6 as part of
Salalah Festival attracted
over 80 participants,
including enthusiasts
from the neighbouring
Gulf countries
activities is the Green Sports CSR
initiative, which is an ongoing project
aimed at developing a sporting nation
and supporting Oman’s youth who
represent the future of Oman.
The partnership with Salalah
Festival is an earnest attempt by Bank
Muscat to propagate the core family
values held dear by Omanis. As main
sponsor of the annual festival, Bank
Muscat aims to unite citizens, residents
and visitors in sharing the good times.
ENTERTAINMENT
S U N DAY
AUGUST 9 l 2015
TV industry sees
digital threats rising
AFTER THE LATEST QUARTERLY
UPDATES FROM MAJOR TELEVISION
GROUPS, WALL STREET INVESTORS
APPEARED TO BE PANICKING OVER
THE FUTURE OF THE INDUSTRY
panicking over the future of the industry.
Disney — which owns the
broadcast ABC network,
and several cable
channels such as
sports TV group
ESPN, saw its shares
take an unprecedented
nine per cent dive
a ft e r
Q SOPHIE ESTIENNE
I
s it time for big television to start
worrying about digital?
For years, the threats to traditional
television have been present, but the
digital revolution now appears to be
gathering momentum, raising the
prospect of shifts in viewing habits
which could devastate an industry
that has been lucrative for years.
The decades-old model for
the industry has been built
around cable and satellite TV
offering high-priced “bundles” to
consumers, and sharing revenue
with the operators of cable and
broadcast channels.
But viewers today have
increasing choices through the
Internet. They can subscribe to
Netflix, Hulu or Amazon video,
pick and choose subscriptions to
individual channels like HBO or
Showtime, or get slimmed-down
packages of channels through new
service providers.
Some viewers also watch free
programmes streamed over YouTube
or other websites.
The big threat to the industry is
from “cord cutting,” which has been
modest until now. If it accelerates,
that could unravel the model which has worked for the
industry for years.
After the latest quarterly updates from major
television groups, Wall Street investors appeared to be
Hilary Duff
fights ‘mum
bullying’
reporting earnings.
While Disney reported a
“modest” number of subscriber losses,
some investors saw red.
“Investors are reacting to a growing sense
of the risk,” said Brian Wieser, analyst at Pivotal
Research Group.
“The negative perspective is suggesting that
the whole bundle, the whole business model is
falling apart.”
Wieser said these fears are “overstated” but that
did not stop a bloodbath in media stocks over the past
week, with only a modest uptick at the end of the week.
Viacom and 21st Century Fox, which have
prominent cable channels, each saw a 17 per cent
plunge over two days. Time Warner, owner of cable
channels like TBS and TNT, saw a 10 per cent drop.
Neil Macker at the research firm Morningstar said
it is not time to panic.
“While we share the concerns around cord-cutting,
we note that 96 per cent of sports viewing is done live,
providing some defence to the linear channel,” he said
in a note to clients.
The big question for the industry is how fast the
landscape changes.
A study by Deloitte found more than half of
American viewers watched films or television
programmes on streaming video, but only three per
cent had cancelled pay TV subscription over the
past year and seven per cent were considering such a
change.
While sports appears to be anchoring the pay TV
model, other segments such as children’s channels and
programmes appear vulnerable.
“The challenges facing linear ad-supported kids
networks are greater than in other network genres,”
said Morgan Stanley analysts in a research note.
“Aggregating kids channels across Viacom, Disney,
Time Warner and Discovery, we estimate relevant
demo viewership is down 30 per cent from mid-2013
to today versus 12 per cent for broader TV (ex-kids).”
Fears appear greatest for Viacom, which owns the
Nickelodeon channel known for kid programming like
‘Dora the Explorer’ and ‘Spongebob Squarepants.’
“Viacom has long been considered one of the most
exposed to risks around the future of the cable bundle,”
said BMO Capital Markets analyst Daniel Salmon in a
research note.
“Viacom’s more youth-oriented audience and
lack of major sports rights makes its networks more
vulnerable to being excluded from a lower-tiered
bundle.”
The television companies are not sitting still amid
the changes. Many are investing heavily in content to
make their channels more attractive, or joining the
move to streaming.
— AFP
Working with veterans a
learning experience: John
S
B
ollywood actor John Abraham
(pictured), who has worked
with the likes of Nana Patekar,
Paresh Rawal and Naseeruddin Shah
in ‘Welcome Back’, says that working
with such veterans was great learning
experience for him.
John and his other co-stars including
Anil Kapoor and Nana were present at
the film’s press meet in Mumbai where
he stated that he never felt any pressure
during the shoot of the film.
“I felt great working in ‘Welcome
Back’. I never felt any nervousness or
pressure shooting for the film, as I’m
happy that the film is a sequel, and
working with talented and experienced
actors like Nana, Paresh, Anil and
Naseeruddin among others was very
29
TINSELTOWN
Natalie Imbruglia
needed tutor to pass
UK citizenship test
S
inger
Natalie
Imbruglia has revealed
that she needed a
tutor to pass her British
citizenship test after failing it
the first time around.
The ‘Torn’ hitmaker has
revealed she passed the
exam, but had to employ a
personal teacher after failing
the first time she took it
despite the fact she has lived
in Britain for the past two
decades.
“It’s so exciting! I had to
take an exam. There were
lots of questions about the
suffragette movement. But I
failed the first time and had
to get a tutor,” Imbruglia was
quoted as saying by ‘Evening
Standard’ magazine, reports femalefirst.co.uk.
Now she has passed the exam, the 40-year-old star — who originally hails
from Sydney, Australia — has insisted her new nationality is extremely special
to her, and so much so that she almost began sobbing at a ceremony when she
had to pledge allegiance to the nation.
“I got really emotional. I choked. I couldn’t believe it. I thought, ‘I really,
really care about this. It’s a really big deal. I have lived here for more than 20
years and this is a big part of me’,” she said.
The ‘Johnny English’ actress confessed it was especially poignant because
she was almost forced to return to Sydney shortly after arriving in London
because she struggled so desperately for work and almost ran out of money.
“You can see why that ceremony made me feel really secure. Like I was
home,” she said.
North West is Olivier’s ‘little muse’
ACTING JITTERS
‘WORKING WITH
TALENTED AND
EXPERIENCED ACTORS
LIKE NANA, PARESH,
ANIL AND NASEERUDDIN
AMONG OTHERS WAS
VERY GREAT LEARNING
EXPERIENCE’
inger-actress Hilary Duff wants
to stop ‘mom bullying’ — a
concept where mothers judge
one another on how they deal with
motherhood.
The ‘Lizzie McGuire’ star, who has
three-year-old son Luca with estranged
husband Mike Comrie, thinks being
a new mom can be “isolating” and is
keen to stop mothers from “judging”
one another.
“Even before you have your baby,
you can start feeling the judgement.
And, you know, becoming a mother
and that whole process is so special
and so magical really, but it’s also very
isolating,” she was quoted as saying
by Entertainment Tonight, reports
femalefirst.co.uk.
“The biggest things that stand
out for me was choosing to have an
epidural. I felt very judged by some
people. Also, once I had breastfed
for a certain amount of time and I
was starting to work and starting to
supplement with formula, I felt judged
then,” she added. — IANS
omandailyobserver
great learning experience,” said John.
Directed by Anees Bazmee, the
film also stars Shruti Hassan, Dimple
Kapadia and Ankita Srivastav and will
release on September 4.
Sonam’s bridal avatar: After a few
hiccups due to rain prior to designer
duo Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla’s
show at the BMW India Bridal Fashion
Week (IBFW), actress Sonam Kapoor,
in a golden gown that trailed across
the ramp, opened the show to a packed
audience.
The show by Jani and Khosla,
known as the masters of ‘revival and
reinvention’,
having
transformed
‘chikankari’, ‘zardozi’ and mirror-work
into their signature contemporary
style of classical elegance, featured an
elaborate theatrical set that recreated
the Varanasi ghats.
Their collection showcased the rich
legacy of silks, brocades, gold and silver
thread work and carpet weaving.
The designer duo, for whom India
has always been their muse, presented
their bridal collection titled ‘Varanasi’,
which paid homage to the city.
The palette too reflected the different
moods and unique spirit of the city.
Colours like white, yellow, saffron and
orange and a riot of Holi hues were
used in abundance, even for menswear
that consisted of sheer vest, dhotis, long
jackets and more.
“Varanasi has always left a deep
impression upon us. Its history, energy,
spirituality and symbolism as well as its
astonishing legacy of craftsmanship.
“We’ve worked with weaves
indigenous to the city over the years. But
there is always a moment... a time when
those impressions are translated into a
solid and dedicated expression. This is
that moment for us. And the collection
is the result.
“It is an ode to everything we hold
dear about the city and its indestructible
soul,” Jani said. — IANS
K
im Kardashian’s daugther North West has inspired Olivier Rousteing,
the creative director of fashion house Balmain, if the reality TV star
is to be believed.
Kim, who received three customised jackets especially for the toddler,
from the designer, wrote on photo-sharing website Instagram about it,
reports femalefirst.co.uk.
“Baby Balmain! Thank you so much @olivier_rousteing &@balmainparis
for making North these one of a kind jackets! I’m so honoured that Northie is
your little muse! Can’t wait for her to wear them!,” she wrote.
Rousteing had earlier gushed about North and said he sees the West family
as representing a “new world”.
Speaking about the family in March, he had said: “I don’t think about them
as big stars. Whether people like them or not, it’s a new world and people
need to embrace it. I think Kim is one of the most impressive business women
I’ve ever met. She’s got an amazing career, husband and beautiful kid. She’s so
powerful, but at the same time really humble with good values.
“When I was a teenager I had no reference of any mixed race couples. Kim
and Kanye are one of the most famous couples in the world and the fact that
Kanye is black American and Kim is white Armenian-American mix offers a
great example of diversity. They are what I guess a modern couple looks like
today.
“Today they are among the most talked-about people, and North is one of
the most beautiful babies on the planet.”
Pernia flattered by Helen’s praise
‘
J
aanisaar’
actress
Pernia
Qureshi’s dance moves have
impressed dancing icon Helen,
whose praise for Pernia has left the
latter flattered.
“The best compliment that I
received today was from Helenji. She
had come for the screening and she
told me that she liked my dance a lot.
And that is a big compliment because
I’m a huge fan of her. No dancer in
Bollywood was better than her. So,
when she says something like this, it
is a big achievement for me. That was
really sweet,” Pernia told media at a
special screening of her film which
was released on Friday.
Pernia is playing a courtesan in the
film, thereby making dance a crucial
component of her performance, while Helen was renowned for her dance
moves for almost four decades.
Sonam Kapoor, Sasha Agha, Javed Jaffrey and Dia Mirza were some of the
other attendees of the screening and all of them were applauding the work of
director Muzaffar Ali and of the actors Imran Abbas and Pernia.
The film is set two decades post the famous 1857 revolt in India with the
love story between king Imran and Pernia flourishing. — IANS
30
LIFESTYLE
omandailyobserver
S U N DAY
AUGUST 9 l 2015
SAYEH WOODMAN
[email protected]
Late sun escapes!
A
Partial view of the hill ‘Las Palmitas’ in Pachuca
Massive mural transforms
poor neighbourhood
Q SYLVAIN ESTIBAL
P
almitas, a hardscrabble neighbourhood
in the Mexican city of Pachuca, used
to have a reputation as a battleground
where gangs fought deadly turf wars.
But recently the bloodshed on the
hillside slum’s narrow streets has fallen
dramatically and it has gained a far more welcome
kind of attention.
A Mexican artists’ collective called German Crew
has painted a giant mural across the shantytown’s
houses, working with residents to transform their
crumbling walls into a vibrant artwork.
Viewed at a distance, the entire neighbourhood
now forms a bright, rainbow-coloured wave that has
brought new pride for residents and opened new
horizons for local youths.
Viewed up close, the giant mural contains still more
mini-murals that interact playfully with the overall
design.
The artists repainted some 20,000 square metres
of gray walls across more than 200 houses to create
what the city government bills as the largest mural in
Mexico.
The project was launched in 2012 with the goal of
using art to repair the neighbourhood’s tattered social
fabric and reduce crime.
Funded by the Mexican government, it cost
$310,000 and employed 20 local painters.
A MEXICAN ARTISTS’
COLLECTIVE PAINTED
GIANT MURAL ACROSS THE
SHANTYTOWN’S HOUSES,
WORKING WITH RESIDENTS
TO TRANSFORM THEIR
CRUMBLING WALLS INTO A
VIBRANT ARTWORK
“We had to convince residents to let us repaint their
houses,” said Ana Estefania Garcia, the head of city
planning for Pachuca, a two-hour drive northeast of
Mexico City.
“First the neighbourhood was repainted in white, as
if to say, ‘We’re starting from scratch.’ That was a shock
for them.”
The city meanwhile cleaned the neighbourhood’s
streets, removed the rusted-out remains of junked
cars and installed new streetlights and eight security
cameras.
The sprawling artwork was then painted across this
new facade, relaunching the tradition of the Mexican
mural, brought to world fame by artists such as Diego
Rivera (1886-1957).
City officials credit the project with a dramatic drop
in crime.
“Crime has gone down by 35 per cent since the
project was launched in 2012,” said Garcia.
“Members of rival gangs worked together on the
project. They got to know each other.”
The gangs still exist, but today they “eat, paint and
get along,” she said.
“They’re not best friends, but they know they can
work together to take care of their community.”
That view is echoed by Roberto Robles, a 36-yearold graffiti artist and member of German Crew.
“Art makes a big difference. Colours change people’s
mood. Gray immerses them in monotony,” he said.
“One boy told me that since we painted his house,
he feels like going to school more because he’s happier.”
Some are sceptical, however, including the lone
resident to resist the mural project.
“The cameras are the main thing that reduced the
violence. A thug stays a thug, no matter what colour
the walls are,” said Adante Lopez, who initially refused
to have his house repainted before finally giving in.
But the mural has not been touched by graffiti or
vandalism since its completion.
German Crew is now working on more detailed
individual paintings on the walls telling the story of
the neighbourhood and its residents.
— AFP
s the summer draws to an end here in the UK, it is typical that the
British like to moan at any given opportunity, and what better topic
to moan about than the British weather. We moan when its too
cold and wet, when is summer coming, then when it comes round, we moan
about it being too hot to handle.
We’ve had a few weeks here and there of extremely hot weather and even
though I’m a hat and scarf girl, the weather has been lovely — reminds me
of Muscat, and how much I actually loved sweating it out. But temperatures
have no way soured it out to even compete with such temperatures like in
Muscat.
But those sunny days are drawing to a close, as well over half the year is
done and dusted now. Perhaps rather than like us here in the UK, wanting
to escape to get more sun, perhaps you want to escape from Muscat to
experience a more pleasurable sun.
So a late escape to the sun might be what you need. I was so excited to
read up about the top places to go too in the world. Muscat, Oman was in
at number one this time round! Being only seven hours away direct from
the UK, and has all year round sunshine, the stunning scenery, historical
sites, and also the sea with excellent diving opportunities to experience. It is
a real taste of Arabia, away from skyscrapers of neighbouring Dubai, and it’s
becoming a unique treasure for relaxing and enjoyable holidays. It’s now the
place to visit.
Other places to escape to are, Cape Town, South Africa. With the time
difference being minimal you can immediately make the most of your time,
and what’s more, the current exchange rate makes it very affordable when
you are there. There’s so much going on in Cape Town, its really a year round
destination too, like Muscat. But the dry summers season from November
to March, is the most pleasant time to browse the markets. Hike up Table
Mountain, and enjoy the beaches. It can get quite crowded with local tourists,
especially around the Winelands region during the peak summer season, so
if you’d like to avoid the crowds aim for September to November and March
to April.
Another good place for a quick getaway is beautiful Morocco on the
Atlantic. The whitewashed town of Essaouira. It has retained much of its
character, which lured rock stars like Jimi Hendrix during the 60s. Now it
is a centre for kite surfers, and you won’t be surprised when the breeze is
blowing, it becomes a beach sports paradise.
So, short and sweet of it, whatever sun you desire and crave for, it’s not too
late to escape! Sssh!
HEALTHY EATING
Cooked carbs made
humans smarter
GROWING TREND
Sunburn tattoos increase risk of skin cancer
Q ANTONIA LANGE
S
unburn tattoos are a growing
trend this summer: Hundreds
of sunbathers have taken to
social media websites like Twitter
and Instagram to post pictures of the
stenciled burns on their bodies under
the hashtag #sunburnart.
The
trend
has
prompted
dermatologists to warn that the practice
increases the risk of skin cancer.
The US-based Healthline website,
this week posted a tweet on its feed
warning: It’s Not #SunburnArt, It’s Skin
Cancer!
This has not stopped people from
getting sunburn tattoos, from hearts to
Batman symbols, and posting their “art”
online.
German dermatologist Thomas
Dirschka says the trend becomes
clear when walking along the beach in
Mallorca, Spain.
“You see more and more people trying
to apply a permanent pigmentation to
their skin through sunburn,” he said.
Stencils from online retailers such as
‘Funtantattoo’ are available in dozens of
IT’S THE TREND MAKING
DOCTORS SEE RED.
SUNBATHERS ARE
PLACING STENCILS
ON THEIR SKIN AND
DELIBERATELY GETTING
SUNBURNT. BUT IS IT
BODY ART OR A HEALTH
HAZARD?
countries.
“Looks cool,” a young woman said
in Berlin. “I’ve tried it before myself
but it doesn’t last very long, so I don’t
really see the point.” She would rather
have a real tattoo. Dirschka says that
severe sunburn can often lead to genetic
mutations, which makes it it difficult
for the skin to react to tumours and
increases the risk of skin cancer.
“Many say that they only do it on
areas of their body that have not yet
seen a lot of sun,” Dirschka said. The
skin on parts like the underarms and
the buttocks is particularly sensitive,
increasing the risk of cancer.
Not everyone is impressed by this
new form of body art. One young man
in Berlin said: “I can’t understand why
anyone would do that to themselves.”
The dangers diminish if sunbathers
apply sunscreen before placing the
stencil on their skin. Still Dirschka
advises people to avoid sunburns.
People with darker skin may be able to
sit all day in the sun without much harm,
he said, but even they are not immune to
the dangers of the sun. — dpa
E
ating meat may have kick-started the evolution of bigger brains, but
carbohydrate consumption, particularly in the form of cooked starchy
foods together with evolution of genes that increased our ability to digest
starch made us smarter, says new research.
Up until now, there has been a heavy focus on the role of animal protein and
cooking in the development of the human brain over the last two million years,
and the importance of carbohydrate, particular in form of starch-rich plant foods,
has been largely overlooked.
In this new study, Karen Hardy from Autonomous University of Barcelona in
Spain and her team brought together data to argue that carbohydrate consumption
was critical for the accelerated expansion of the human brain over the last million
years. Our digestive system transforms carbohydrates into glucose which is then
used as energy.
The human brain uses up to 25 per cent of the body’s energy budget and up
to 60 per cent of blood glucose. While synthesis of glucose from other sources
is possible, it is not the most efficient way, and these high glucose demands are
unlikely to have been met on a low carbohydrate diet, the study noted.
Moreover, human pregnancy and lactation place additional demands on the
body’s glucose budget and low maternal blood glucose levels compromise the
health of both the mother and her offspring, the authors argued.
They pointed out that starches would have been readily available to ancestral
populations and that while raw starches are often only poorly digested in humans,
when cooked they become far more easily digested.
The increase in the amount of salivary amylase genes in humans also increased
our ability to digest starch.
While the exact date when salivary amylase genes multiplied remains uncertain,
genetic evidence suggests it was at some point in the last one million years, said the
study published in the journal ‘The Quarterly Review of Biology’.
— IANS
SPOTLIGHT
S U N DAY
AUGUST 9 l 2015
omandailyobserver
31
LIVING IN SPACE
ISS astronauts set to
taste ‘outredgeous’
food grown in space
I
Marchenko
works on a
portrait of
Putin in her
studio in
Kiev
n a pioneering feat that will help astronauts on long-duration space missions
like Mars, the crew members on board the International Space Station (ISS)
are set to eat fresh food grown in the microgravity environment of space for
the first time.
Expedition 44 crew members, including Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly, are ready
to sample the fruits of their labour after harvesting a crop of “Outredgeous” red
romaine lettuce from the “veggie plant” growth system on the orbiting laboratory.
The astronauts will clean the leafy greens with citric acid-based, food safe
sanitising wipes before consuming them.
They will eat half of the space bounty, setting aside the other half to be packaged
and frozen on the station until it can be returned to Earth for scientific analysis.
Fresh foods such as tomatoes, blueberries and red lettuce are a good source of
antioxidants.
A portrait with bullet shells
Q OLGA SHYLENKO
A
young Ukrainian artist has captured
global media attention by creating
a striking portrait of Russian
President Vladimir Putin out of
5,000 bullet shells collected in the
east.
Daria Marchenko’s ‘The Face of War’ — a
remarkably realistic and politically tinged depiction of
Putin in a dark suit and red tie — stands more than
two metres (nearly seven feet) tall and dominates the
artist’s studio apartment.
“Sleeping in the same room with him was a bit
scary at first,” says the 33-year-old artist and graphics
designer. “But I got used to it.”
She draws the window curtains and picks up a
hand-held lamp to reveal how the 62-year-old Russian
leader’s face changes expression under different light.
His deep-set eyes turn from gloomy to more
lighthearted as Marchenko — her own right eyebrow
pierced and fingers weighed down by heavy metal
rings — shines the lamp around her unusual work.
“He can be proud, confused or serious,” says the
artist. “He can look like a person on a Soviet poster or
he can be Superman.”
Her story has been covered by Britain’s top media
outlets as well as major European and Australian
papers and television channels.
But the artist has received barely a mention in
Russia — Ukraine’s giant neighbour where Putin’s
approval rating is huge and denial of any involvement
in the 16-month conflict is ever-present in the statedominated media.
Only Russia’s popular Moskovsky Komsomolets
broadsheet broke ranks by devoting a two-sentence
paragraph to Marchneko’s work last month.
Marchenko does not conceal her deep-seated
suspicion that Putin personally instigated a conflict
that has killed nearly 7,000 people since breaking out
after Kiev’s ouster of a Kremlin-backed president.
“When people see his expression change, it reveals
certain things. To me, this war is different from all
others because it is built on a lie”.
Buckets and wooden crates filled with bullet cases
occupy the centre of the artist’s small room.
Her first handful of shells came from her boyfriend
— an active member of the Euromaidan movement
MARCHENKO DRAWS THE
WINDOW CURTAINS AND
PICKS UP A HAND-HELD LAMP
TO REVEAL HOW THE
62-YEAR-OLD RUSSIAN
LEADER’S FACE CHANGES
EXPRESSION UNDER
DIFFERENT LIGHT
that toppled the corruption-stained and deeply
unpopular president Viktor Yanukovych and forced
him into self-imposed Russian exile.
But her peculiar art supplies now come from friends
fighting across the war zone in eastern Ukraine’s
industrial heartland.
Applying the finishing touch
“A bullet shell is a symbol of an interrupted life,” she
says gravely.
“The world does not realise just how much my
country has lost. So this desire to work with more and
more shells came naturally.”
Putin’s portrait is the first in a series entitled ‘The
Five Elements of War’. Two others — to be possibly
constructed out of weapons or other battle remnants
from the devastated front — will be dedicated to the
“heart and spirit” of warfare, Marchenko says.
Another might be called ‘The Brains Behind the
War’ but she says the final work’s title is still a secret.
“Unfortunately, war gives artists like me a lot of
material to work with,” she says.
Putin often denies paying much attention to the
media or thinking about his historic legacy.
But Marchenko is certain that the Russian leader —
more and more portrayed as a hero in Moscow’s art
galleries — has already seen images of her work.
“I might be too naive, but I do hope that he at least
thinks about it and asks himself whether this is how he
would like to be remembered,” she says.
— AFP
‘Outredgeous’ red
romaine lettuce
grown in the
orbiting lab
“Having fresh food like these available in space could have a positive impact on
people’s moods and also could provide some protection against radiation in space,”
said Dr Ray Wheeler, head of advanced life support activities at Nasa’s Kennedy
Space Center in Florida.
Nasa’s plant experiment, called Veg-01, is being used to study the in-orbit
function and performance of the plant growth facility and its rooting “pillows”
which contain the seeds.
The first “pillows” were activated, watered and cared for by Expedition 39 flight
engineer Steve Swanson in May 2014.
After 33 days of growth, the plants were harvested and returned to Earth in
October 2014.
At Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the plants underwent food safety
analysis.
The second “Veg-01 plant pillows” were activated by Kelly on July 8 and grew
again for 33 days before being harvested.
The seeds had been on the station for 15 months before being activated.
The veggie unit features a flat panel light bank that includes red, blue and green
LEDs for plant growth and crew observation.
“Using LED lights to grow plants was an idea that originated with Nasa as far
back as the late 1990s,” Dr Wheeler noted.
The purple/pinkish hue surrounding the plants is the result of a combination
of the red and blue lights which by design emit more light than the green LEDs.
Green LEDS were added so the plants look like edible food rather than weird
purple plants.
Besides the nutritional benefits, growing fresh produce in space may also
provide a psychological benefit to astronauts.
The farther and longer humans go away from Earth, the greater the need to
be able to grow plants for food, atmosphere recycling and psychological benefits.
“I think that plant systems will become important components of any longduration exploration scenario,” informed Dr Gioia Massa, payload scientist for
Veggie system at Kennedy.
The Veggie unit can also be used by astronauts for recreational gardening
activities during deeper space missions. — IANS
STREET ART PROJECT
Snowden bust kicks off New York art festival
Q JENNIE MATTHEW
A
cement bust of America’s mostwanted whistleblower Edward
Snowden, once famously
confiscated by police, returned to public
display in New York to kick off a street
art festival.
The 45-kilo likeness stands proud
on a plinth in Manhattan’s touristclogged Little Italy neighbourhood, to
be guarded round the clock until the
weekend Lo Man Art Festival closes.
“If any shenanigans begin they
(volunteers) find our security guards
and we make sure we keep everyone
safe,” says comedy manager Wayne
Rada, who founded the festival and
Little Italy Street Art Project.
Coming four months after it hit
the headlines for being erected on a
war memorial without permission,
organisers hope it’ll help put the small
art festival on the map.
The bust takes up pride of place on
empty ground nicknamed “temper tot
lot” for two towering depictions of angry
COMING FOUR
MONTHS AFTER IT HIT
THE HEADLINES FOR
BEING ERECTED ON
A WAR MEMORIAL
WITHOUT PERMISSION,
ORGANISERS HOPE
SNOWDEN’S BUST WILL
HELP PUT THE SMALL ART
FESTIVAL ON THE MAP
toddlers by artist Ron English.
“If there’s a little bit of talk or eyebrow
raising that’s not a bad thing,” says Rada.
“All they (the artists) want to do is
show off the Snowden bust and create
a discussion — whether you agree or
disagree, that really doesn’t matter.”
Artists Jeff Greenspan and Andrew
Tider say they erected the bust on an
The 32-year-old former contractor
at the US National Security Agency,
has lived in exile in Russia since 2013
after revealing the extent of mass spying
programmes by the United States and its
allies. Rada says he set up the festival to
relive the glory days of street art, which
in the 70s and 80s cemented New York’s
status as world capital of sub-culture and
coolest place on the planet.
Two dozen acclaimed mural artists
from around the world have been
invited to create original work across
Lower Manhattan.
Organisers hope that up to 60,000
people will visit the 21 odd pieces of art
on display around the area, film events
and children’s activities.
Rising rents have forced out many
artists and musicians, and it has become
trendy to dismiss Manhattan as a mecca
The bust of Edward Snowden is displayed in New York
to corporate money-making, where the
American Revolution war memorial in
“It would be a dishonour to those subculture scene is on the skids.
Brooklyn last April “to highlight those memorialised here to not laud those
“I think we can keep it relevant but
who sacrifice their safety in the fight who protect the ideals they fought for, as we have to fight for it,” Rada said. It took
against modern-day tyranies.
Edward Snowden has,” they said.
“a lot of fist-shaking” to convince people
that street murals would be a good idea,
he added.
“I tried to explain to them that New
York City is the nexus of the universe
for art and culture, so we should do
something that reflects that.”
English painted his pink temper tot
specially for the festival. It depicts his
daughter Zephyr and is pair to son Mars,
in green, which was painted the day
before Hurricane Sandy struck in 2012.
The paintings are three stories high,
as if the toddlers were swept into the air
out of their control — but with bulging
muscles to reflect the terror that young
tots can inspire. “This is the big summer
of the return of street art,” says English.
He now lives in Beacon, an art
community in the Hudson Valley, and
says he was one of the first pushed out of
Manhattan by rent hikes.
“The thing that makes all the
wealthy people want to be here is the
art and the culture, and if you squeeze
that out, then they’re going to leave too,”
he said.
— AFP
SUNDAY | AUGUST 9, 2015 | SHAWWAL 23, 1436 AH
P29
P30
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The essence
of Omani
jewellery
design
Q STAFF REPORTER
S
hadya al Ismailiya, Oman’s budding
and talented designer and owner of
Deema Oman, began her journey
in designing jewellery as a hobby
back in 2008. Shadya had the
opportunity to attend specialised
courses in designing and manufacturing
jewellery at Birmingham City University, and
today she is recognised as an experienced and
professional designer in the Sultanate with a
lineup of awards and recognitions both locally
and internationally. Late 2014, her daughter
Suad al Riyami joined the journey bringing
a wealth of legal experience with her into the
business. Incubated at the National Business
Centre (NBC) which falls under the umbrella of
the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates
(PEIE), Deema Oman is the first Omani brand
for high-end jewellery.
The National Business Centre is playing a
pivotal role in offering cutting-edge services and
facilities for Deema Oman, Shadya commented.
“The NBC is undertaking major efforts to market
and promote Deema Oman, especially among
decision makers in government entities as well
as in semi-government and private bodies.
Other than that, we are receiving advisory
services which pose a substantial importance
for any entrepreneur. These services focus on
major aspects comprising business management
and development, and the opportunities
available for the projects. All these services play
a dynamic role towards the development of
human resources, and in identifying methods to
tackle administrative, technical and marketing
challenges that are faced by the entrepreneurs
during the foundation phase,” she pointed out.
“However, the centre requires an innovation
department that would be concerned in
updating the incubated companies on the latest
innovations that are triggered in other countries
in the field of SMEs. In addition, the department
has to do research or even share the published
studies in the field across the region. This will
ultimately result in developing the products and
THE NBC IS UNDERTAKING
MAJOR EFFORTS TO MARKET
AND PROMOTE ENTREPRENEURS.
THEIR SERVICES FOCUS ON
MAJOR ASPECTS OF BUSINESS
MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT,
AND THE OPPORTUNITIES
AVAILABLE FOR THE PROJECTS
services of the incubated companies in one way
or another,” she added.
On the challenges facing entrepreneurship
and SMEs in the Sultanate, Shadya said: “The
lack of confidence of the market towards the
performance of the SMEs is one of the most vital
issues that we are facing. Therefore, these SMEs
will not have the opportunity to prove that they
can deliver efficient services to the market. I
should not generalise in this matter because there
are few institutions that are offering great support
for the SMEs. Moreover, the issue of high rents is
another struggle that foils the ability to establish
a headquarters for a project. On the other hand,
high rents leads to a significant financial burden
that would slow down the growth of the project.
In addition, the market lacks workshops that
are based on global standards of production
processes, which makes some entrepreneurs
Shadya al Ismailiya
depend on factories
based
outside
the
Sultanate. This, of course, would
result in raising production
cost on the one hand and slowing
production process on the other hand.”
in
any
The government has made significant efforts
to support entrepreneurs in terms of funding field is impossible without a clear vision, a
proper research and a comprehensive plan.
Entrepreneurs should not give up easily. Starting
a business requires sacrifices. If you are not able to
find proper ingredients for a successful business,
make them. You should never give up as we have
to learn from our own mistakes,” Shadya added.
Deema Oman is currently planning for
expansion. “An e-commerce website will be
launched soon to attract more customers locally
and globally, and an outlet will be initiated so
that we can deal with customers face-to-face
and they will be able to view and evaluate the
products’ personally. There will also be a new
production line for the project; more details will
be announced soon,” she informed.
It should be noted that Deema Oman was
offered the role of
‘Ambassador of Innovation’ by
The Research Council (TRC) in
2014 and it received ‘Women Award of
Excellency’ in 2013. It was also spotlighted
on ‘Jawharat Oman’ Book for its outstanding
efforts in 2012. Deema Oman was chosen in
2012 to represent designers of the Middle East
region in the celebration of 150 years anniversary
of life and legacy of Sir Henry Royce. Moreover,
it was short-listed amongst 15 designers selected
worldwide to attend 110 years anniversary of
manufacturing Rolls Royce cars.
The National Business Centre is an initiative
launched by the Public Establishment for
Industrial Estates (PEIE) at the Knowledge
Oasis Muscat to offer promising Omani
entrepreneurs a platform to develop their
business ideas and advance them into growing
ventures. The centre offers a premier platform
for Omani entrepreneurs by providing business
development support and guidance, training
and mentoring, access to markets and industry
experts, and state-of-the-art and fully equipped
office space, meeting rooms and presentation
facilities.
initiatives, Shadya emphasises. However, she
believes that the private sector should have a
more active role in this matter. “Developing
projects should not be carried out solely
by the government and few private
institutions. There should be investors
to support Omani entrepreneurs
which would eventually contribute
to the advancement of the national
economy. For instance, Al Raffd
Fund alone will not be able to
achieve the aspirations of such
projects. Deema Oman has definitely
benefited from Al Raffd Fund, yet the
funding was not enough to finance such a
project that relies on expensive raw materials
including gold and gemstones,” she pointed out.
“Since I worked in both public and private
sectors, I must say that achieving one’s aspirations
TOURISM
EVEREST IS NOW SAFE FOR VISITORS
T
The Annapurna hiking circuit
he Everest region suffered little
infrastructure damage and
is safe for visitors, according
to a study that examined the impact
of recent earthquakes on the hiking
and climbing region, whose tourism
industry has been struggling since the
disasters.
“A majority of the accommodations
and houses along the trails and the
trekking routes have suffered minimal
damage,” said Kit Miyamoto, a postearthquake assessment expert from
Miyamoto International, a Japanbased structural and earthquake
engineering firm that conducted the
study. “Many houses and trails are
being rebuilt.”
The report said 15 market areas
and 800 hotels and 590 houses around
Mount Everest were safe. They make
up 83 per cent of the infrastructure in
the region.
All the bridges connecting the
Lukla region, where the airport is
located, to the Everest Base Camp
were also declared safe.
The assessment, commissioned
by the government, was carried out
after two earthquakes struck Nepal in
April and May, killing 8,856 people,
according to government figures.
Recent landslides caused by
monsoon rains on soil loosened by
the quakes have killed 90 people in the
past two months, the Home Ministry
said. In April, 20 people also died in an
avalanche at the Everest Base Camp.
Miyamoto said all the infrastructure
in the area was fit enough to provide
services to travellers, but he advised
another assessment be conducted at
the end of the monsoon.
The study was conducted with
support from the World Bank and
Britain’s Department for International
Development. It was conducted on
foot as well as aerially.
“It is raining right now, so repair
work is difficult, but by September,
work will be completed,” said Tulasi
Gautam, Director General of the
Nepal Tourism Board. “We want
to advise those who travel to those
regions immediately to adopt safety
measures.”
Last
month,
Miyamoto
International also conducted a study
of the Annapurna hiking circuit and
concluded it was safe for hikers. — dpa