World may never see oil at $100

FRIDAY | NOVEMBER 6, 2015 | MUHARRAM 23, 1437 AH
VOL. 34 NO. 357 | PAGES 20 | BAISAS 200
1975
Two RNO naval vessels join service
Chief Executive Officer
DR IBRAHIM BIN AHMED AL KINDI
Editor-in-Chief
ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI
Oman Establishment for Press, Publication and Advertising
PO Box 974, Postal Code 100, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
www.omanobserver.om
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OMAN
HM thanked by
Pakistan President
MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos
has received a cable of thanks from
President Memnon Hussein of Pakistan
in reply to His Majesty’s congratulatory
cable on the occasion of his country’s
National Day. President Hussein
expressed his utmost thanks for His
Majesty’s congratulations, wishing His
Majesty good health and happiness
and the Omani people continuous
peace and prosperity. He stressed the
strong relations binding the two friendly
countries and peoples.
HM thanked by
culture ministers
MUSCAT: Members of the Islamic
Conference for Ministers of Culture,
which was held in Muscat from
November 2 to 4, thanked His Majesty
Sultan Qaboos. They thanked the
Sultanate for hosting the conference.
They also expressed their utmost
appreciation for His Majesty’s efforts to
preserve Islamic cultural and heritage.
They prayed to the Almighty to protect
His Majesty and grant him a good
health and well being and wished that
Sultanate remains a place for tolerance,
harmony and peace.
ASIA
I will be ‘above
president’: Suu Kyi
YANGON: Myanmar opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi said on Thursday
she would be “above the president”
if her party wins a historic election on
November 8, defying a constitutional
ban on becoming president herself.
Suu Kyi’s remarks could complicate
her already fraught relations with
Myanmar’s military, which drafted
the 2008 constitution to preserve its
power and effectively exclude her
from leading the country. Her National
League for Democracy (NLD) Party is the
frontrunner in the first general election
on Sunday.
PAGE 3
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Sultanate, Saudi Arabia review regional issues
MUSCAT:
His Highness
Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmood
al
Said,
Deputy
Prime
Minister for the Council of
Ministers received yesterday
Adel al Jubeir, Foreign Minister
of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
(KSA).
During the meeting, Al Jubeir
conveyed greetings of King
Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud of
the KSA to His Majesty Sultan
Qaboos along with his best wishes
of good health and a long life
to His Majesty and the Omani
people further progress and
prosperity.
After welcoming the guest and
his accompanying delegation,
HH Sayyid Fahd expressed the
Sultanate’s satisfaction with the
strong bilateral relations between
the two countries, and the care
attached to them from the wise
leadership in the two countries.
HH Sayyid Fahd, asked the guest
to convey greetings of His Majesty
the Sultan to King Salman along
with His Majesty’s best wishes of
continuous success to him and
the brotherly Saudi people further
progress.
In a statement, Al Jubeir said
that the talks have been fruitful
and constructive as the two sides
touched on a number of topics
of interest for both countries and
the region including the situation
in Syria and Yemen and how
to enhance cooperation among
the GCC countries to ensure
security, stability and peace in the
region.
The meeting was attended by
Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdallah,
Minister Responsible for Foreign
Affairs.
— ONA
IMPACT LESS
His Highness Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmood al Said, Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers with Adel al Jubeir, Foreign Minister of
Saudi Arabia in Muscat on Thursday. — Photo by Mohamed al Rashdi
World may never see oil at $100
After Chapala,
Arabian Sea sees PEAK DEMAND: Demand may plateau after shale oil boom, spread of renewable energery
Just as the energy industry
$200 billion of oil and gas projects to will consume less energy overall. On the
new low pressure LONDON:
has brushed aside concerns that the
cope with the sharp price drop.
contrary, global energy consumption is
MUSCAT: As Cyclone Chapala eased
into a depression after wreaking havoc
in parts of the war-torn Yemen, a new
low pressure system has formed in the
Arabian Sea.
The US Navy’s Joint Typhoon
Warning Centre (JTWC) has stated
the current wind speed of this new
system is 55 kilometres per hour,
which could change into a Tropical
Cyclone in 12 to 24 hours; the system
is tracking northwest, which could
place it on a path towards Oman or
Yemen. The JTWC places the lowpressure system 1,200 km, southwest
of Muscat and 1,118 km from Socotra
Island, further adding: “The potential
for the development of a significant
Tropical Cyclone within the next 24
hours is high.”
It may not have a direct impact
on the Sultanate’s coasts during the
next three days, according to a Public
Authority for Civil Aviation’s tweet.
world could run out of oil, industry
executives now say they believe it is
demand, rather than supply, that is
nearing its apex.
In 1985, Ian Taylor, today the chief
executive of the world’s largest oil trader
Vitol, was part of a team at Royal Dutch
Shell that forecast oil prices would rise
five fold to $125 a barrel in 2015 as
global reserves were expected to become
more scarce.
Now he says it is unlikely to ever
reach those levels again. Oil today stands
at around $50 a barrel, having more
than halved since June 2014 after global
supplies dramatically rose due in large
part to the US shale oil boom but also
due to the unlocking of huge offshore
reserves in Brazil, Africa and Asia.
“We all talk about ‘peak supply’ and
maybe with shale that is becoming
a disabused concept. I have begun
feeling that...we are coming to peak
demand towards 2030,” Taylor said on
MAX: 310C
MIN: 250C
SALALAH
MAX: 300C
MIN: 250C
SUNRISE 06.13 AM
PRAYER TIMINGS
FAJR: 04:56
DHUHR: 11:50
ASR: 15:01
MAGHRIB: 17:25
ISHA: 18:55
NIZWA
MAX: 330C
MIN: 200C
AL MESANAAH: The Royal Navy of
Oman (RNO) on Thursday celebrated the
arrival of Shinas, the second vessel of
Ufuq project, which includes the building
of four ships for RNO coastal patrols.
The reception ceremony for the
vessel at Said Bin Sultan Marine Base was
inaugurated by Lt Gen Ahmed bin Harith
bin Nasser al Nabhani, Chief of Staff of
the Sultan’s Armed Forces, who toured
the vessel accompanied by senior officers
Wednesday at The Economist Energy
Summit in London. “I believe we may
not see $100 (a barrel) ever again,” Taylor
said. Such forecasts come at a time when
oil companies have slashed billions off
their budgets and scrapped more than
Global food prices rise
3.9 pc in October: FAO
Welcome Shinas
WEATHER TODAY
MUSCAT
“Peak demand” does
not mean people will
consume less energy
overall. On the contrary,
energy consumption is
expected to soar in the
coming decades
Lower future demand for fossil fuels
could wreck the finances of producing
countries like Saudi Arabia, Russia and
Venezuela that depend on high oil prices
to fund public spending, but would be
an overall boon for the world.
The overwhelming majority of
people live in countries — whether rich
like the United States, middle-income
like China or poor like Bangladesh —
that consume more energy than they
produce. The United Nations believes
sharp reductions in fossil fuel use are
also necessary to protect the earth from
catastrophic effects of climate change.
Higher fuel efficiencies for cars
and the industry’s switch towards lesspolluting sources of energy such as gas,
biofuels, solar and wind power, mean
that oil demand could plateau in the
coming decades. With new exploration
and technology, the resources could leap
to a staggering 7.5 trillion boe, it said.
“Peak demand” does not mean people
and invitees. Lt Gen Al Nabhani said the
vessel will enhance the fleet’s operational
efficiency. The ceremony was attended by
Air Vice Marshal Matar bin Ali al Obaidani,
Commander of the Royal Air Force of
Oman, Rear Admiral Abdullah bin Khamis
al Raisi, Commander of the Royal Navy
of Oman, Shaikh Hilal bin Said al Hajri,
Governor of South Al Batinah, walis ,
senior officers from Sultan’s Armed Forces
and RNO personnel.
— ONA
ROME: World food prices rose in
October, spurred by weather-driven
concerns about sugar and palm oil
supplies, but remained well below their
equivalent level a year ago, the United
Nations food agency said on Thursday.
The
Food
and
Agriculture
Organization’s
(FAO)
food price index, which
measures
monthly
changes for a basket of
cereals, oil seeds, dairy,
meat and sugar, averaged
162 points in October
against 155.9 the month before.
The FAO said this was the sharpest
increase since July 2012, although food
on international markets in October
was still 16 per cent cheaper than a year
earlier.
The FAO’s sugar price index led
the rise, jumping 17.2 per cent from
September because of fears of heavy
rains in the main sugar-growing
regions of Brazil, as well as concerns of
drought in India and Thailand. Sugar
futures have risen sharply in recent
weeks as attention has turned away
from a current glut of the sweetener
to tighter supply expected next year,
when consumption is widely forecast to
exceed production for the first time in
six years. The vegetable oil price index
rose 6.2 per cent, partly on worries
the El Nino weather
phenomenon
would
hit Indonesian palm oil
supplies in 2016.
The FAO cut its
forecast for world cereal
output in 2015 to 2.530
billion tonnes — some
1.1 per cent below
last year’s record — from a previous
estimate of 2.534 billion tonnes given
last month.
“Half of the forecast cut reflected
dimmer expectations about maize
crops in India and Ukraine, mostly
due to adverse weather,” the FAO said
in a statement. However, the UN body
raised its world wheat output forecast
for 2015/16 to 736.2 million tonnes
from 734.8 million, saying this was
mainly because of a bigger harvest in
the European Union collected earlier
than anticipated.
— Reuters
expected to soar in the coming decades
as the planet’s population grows and
Asian and African economies develop.
But while the world’s total energy
consumption is set to increase by more
than one third from 2012 to 2040,
oil’s share is set to shrink from 31 per
cent to 26 per cent, according to the
International Energy Agency’s 2014
World Energy Outlook.
The IEA forecasts global oil demand
to rise modestly by around 0.5 per
cent per year through to 2040 to 103.9
million barrels per day, driven by nonOECD countries.
Eldar Saetre, Chief Executive Officer
of Norwegian oil compnay Statoil, sees
oil demand actually declining, although
oil companies will still have to invest to
replace existing capacity as it declines.
“In our scenario, we see much lower
oil consumption than we have today,”
he told reporters on the sidelines of the
conference.
— Reuters
3 million migrants
expected to arrive
in Europe by 2017
BRUSSELS: Three million migrants
are expected to arrive in Europe by
2017 as they flee war and poverty in
Syria and other conflict zones, the EU’s
executive arm said.
“Overall, an additional three
million persons is assumed to arrive
in the EU over the forecast period,”
the European Commission’s economic
forecast for 2015-2017 said, adding
that this could increase the bloc’s
population by 0.4 per cent.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNCHR)
estimated some 600,000 migrants
will travel from Turkey to Greece
and through the Balkans between
November and February, calling for
financial help to protect these people
as temperatures drop. “Harsh weather
conditions in the region are likely
to exacerbate the suffering of the
thousands of refugees and migrants
landing in Greece and travelling
through the Balkans, and may result in
further loss of life if adequate measures
are not taken urgently,” UNCHR said.
The UN agency asked international
donors for an additional $96 million
for winter-proof shelters, warm
clothing, food and transport. SEE P7
2
OMAN OIL PRICE DECLINES $1.53
F R I DAY l N O V E M B E R 6 l 2 0 1 5
DUBAI Mercantile Exchange (DME) said
that Oman oil price (January delivery)
reached $45.36. The DME statement on
Thursday said that the price of Oman
oil declined $ 1.53 from the price of
Wednesday, which was $ 46.89. The
average price of Oman oil (November
delivery 2015) has stabilised at $ 45.76,
thus $ 2.12 per barrel lower than October
delivery 2015.
OMAN
MSM LOSES 23 POINTS
MUSCAT Securities Market (MSM)
general index (30) on Thursday lost
23.0 points, comprising a decline
by 0.39 per cent to close at 5,918.61
points, compared to the last session,
which stood at 5,941.58 points. The
trading value on Thursday stood at RO
3.00 million, comprising a rise by 14.78
per cent compared to the last session,
which stood at RO 2.62 million.
Sayyid Fahd receives written message
from Sudanese First Vice-President
NHRC attends Universal
Periodic Review in Geneva
BOOST TO TIES: The discussion touched on cooperation between the two countries
MUSCAT: His Highness Sayyid Fahd bin
Mahmood al Said, Deputy Prime Minister
for the Council of Ministers on Thursday
received a written message from Attayib
Hassan Badawi, Minister of Culture in Sudan,
who delivered to him a written message from
Gen Bakri Hassan Saleh, First Vice-President
of Sudan, related to mutual cooperation.
During the meeting, he conveyed the
greetings of Field Marshall Omar Hassan
Ahmed al Bashir, President of Sudan and his
best wishes for His Majesty Sultan Qaboos
of further progress in the comprehensive
development march being witnessed by the
Sultanate. He also wished the Omani people
further progress and prosperity.
The two sides touched on cooperation
between the two countries and means of
enhancing it, especially in cultural fields
which plays an important role in maintaining
the cultural heritage and boosting ties and
bonds among peoples. The talks also covered
issues and developments in the region.
Sayyid Fahd requested the guest to convey
the greetings of His Majesty the Sultan to the
Sudanese President along with his best wishes
to him and for the friendly Sudanese people
further development and welfare.
The Sudanese Minister of Culture
expressed his appreciation for this visit to the
Sultanate, to which the Sudanese leadership
and people have full respect and appreciation
for the achievements made by the Sultanate.
Shaikh Ahmed bin Hilal al Ma’amari,
Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Heritage
and Culture and Abdul Daem Ali al Basheer,
Charge D’affaires of the Embassy of Sudan in
Muscat attended the meeting.
— ONA
GENEVA: The National Human Rights Commission
(NHRC) took part in the 23rd Human Rights Council
Universal Periodic Review Working Group in the Swiss
capital, Geneva.
Mohammed bin Abdullah al Riyami, Chairman of
NHRC, headed the commission delegation to the meeting,
along with Dr Obaid bin Said al Shaqsy, NHRC SecretaryGeneral, and Ahmed bin Nasser al Rashidi, Director of
Report and Documentation Department.
NHRC submitted an independent report, parallel to the
government report submitted by the Sultanate, and was
discussed in the Human Rights Council, in confirmation
of its independence and its role in the promotion and
protection of human rights in the Sultanate. The Sultanate
had presented its second report during this session. It
focused on recommendations, voluntary commitments
accepted by the Sultanate during the discussion of its first
national report in January of 2011.
— ONA
Sultanate, KSA hold official talks session Assigned by HM, Tourism Minister attends
swearing-in ceremony of Tanzanian President
Yusuf bin Alawi bin
Abdallah with Saudi
Minister Adil bin
Ahmed al Jubeir.
MUSCAT: An official session of talks
between the Sultanate and Saudi Arabia
was held at the Foreign Ministry’s
building on Thursday.
The Omani side was led by Yusuf
bin Alawi bin Abdallah, Minister
Responsible for Foreign Affairs,
while the Saudi side was led by Adil
bin Ahmed al Jubeir, Saudi Foreign
Minister, in the presence of a number of
officials at the Foreign Ministry and the
delegation accompanying the guest.
During the session, the two sides
reviewed the fraternal relations between
the two brotherly countries. The session
also dealt with a number of issues and
current developments at the regional
and international arenas.
— ONA
MUSCAT: Assigned by His
Majesty Sultan Qaboos, Ahmed
bin Nasser al Mehrzi, Minister of
Tourism, took part on Thursday
in the swearing-in ceremony of
President John Pombe Joseph
Magufuli of Tanzania for a new
presidential term.
The ceremony was held in Dar
el Salaam city with participation
of a number of international
leaders and delegates.
During the ceremony, Al
Mehrzi
was
accompanied
by Saud bin Ali al Raqishi,
Sultanate’s Ambassador to
Tanzania.
— ONA
It’s time to celebrate National
Day, but let us not violate rules
MAI AL ABRIA
MUSCAT
Nov 5: There is nothing like the
sparkle of lights to give the capital
city an instant festive makeover.
Muscat Municipality has already
decorated Sultan Qaboos Street. It is
just time to celebrate since we have
hardly two weeks to go for the big
celebration of the National Day.
Enthused
citizens
started
celebrating in their own ways. It is
common that Omanis decorate their
vehicles with stickers and posters for
the National Day, sports events and
other national occasions.
During such celebrations, people
look out for ways to show their
feeling of happiness and the car
accessories are the most convenient
and preferred ones.
Of course, it is recommended
to express happiness in a civilised
manner, without violating the
public law, causing harassment or
annoyance to others.
For flexibility causes and based
on the feeling of love for Oman,
motorists are allowed to decorate
their cars with stickers. However,
they should abide by the rules of
road safety and not endanger their
lives and the lives of others.
ROP always urges motorists
to comply with the following
guidelines: The stickers shall be
installed while making sure they
do not block the line of sight. The
motorists shall not install stickers
on the front and rear windshield, the
side windowpane, number plates,
rear-view mirrors and the head or
tail lights.
They should also avoid decorating
the hood of the car with fabrics
to prevent fire and not to hide the
colour of the vehicle.
ROP has warned motorists who
fail to comply with these guidelines
with legal action.
Scout Forum
opens
MUSCAT: The 18th International
Scout Forum for the Exchange of
Cultures and Familiarising with
Civilisations themed ‘Our Heritage:
Bridges of Understanding and
Building for the Future,’ was opened
at the theatre of the Ministry of
Education in Muscat on Thursday
under the auspices of Ali bin Khalfan
al Jabri, Under-Secretary of the
Ministry of Information.
As many as 100 participants from
27 countries of various regions around
the world take part in the forum,
which is being held till November 12.
— ONA
INDONESIA REOPENS BALI AIRPORT
Indonesian authorities on Thursday
reopened the main airport on the resort
island of Bali one day early after it was
closed because of ash from a volcanic
eruption. Bali’s Ngurah Rai International
Airport was officially reopened at 1:30
pm (0530 GMT) as ash from rumbling
Mount Rinjani on Lombokisland receded,
Transport Ministry spokesman Julius
Barata said.
SUPPORT FOR TYPHOON VICTIMS
ASIA
POST-POLL SCENARIO: ‘If we win, and NLD forms a govt, I will be above the president’
Xi arrives in Vietnam as
anger brews over visit
one of the placards held aloft by about
a dozen demonstrators in Hanoi, as
others carried pictures of Xi marked
with an “X”.
But unlike protests earlier this week,
they were quickly disbanded, witnesses
said, saying demonstrators in the capital
were funnelled into buses and driven
away. In Ho Chi Minh City social
media reports said around 20 people
were detained after a larger anti-China
protest with a video showing a bloodied
demonstrator following clashes with
police.
Rallies are rare in authoritarian
Vietnam but the ruling regime has
in recent years tolerated low levels of
dissent against its main ally China.
— AFP
Pentagon chief visits US carrier
in disputed South China Sea
ABOARD THE USS THEODORE
ROOSEVELT, South China Sea:
US Secretary of Defence Ash
Carter flew to a US aircraft carrier
transiting the disputed South China
Sea on Thursday and blamed China
for rising tension in the region on a
visit sure to infuriate Beijing.
Carter’s visit to the USS Theodore
Roosevelt with Malaysian Defence
Minister Hishammuddin Hussein
came just over a week after the USS
Lassen, a guided-missile destroyer,
challenged territorial limits around
one of China’s man-made islands
in the Spratly archipelago with a
so-called
freedom-of-navigation
patrol.
China claims most of the
South China Sea, through which
more than $5 trillion in global
trade passes every year. Vietnam,
Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines
and Taiwan have rival claims.
“Being here on the Theodore
Roosevelt in the South China Sea is a
3
Will be ‘above president’: Suu Kyi
China’s President
Xi Jinping (L)
with Vietnam’s
Prime Minister
Nguyen Tan
Dung before
their meeting at
the Government
Office in Hanoi
on Thursday.
— Reuters
HANOI: Chinese President Xi Jinping
arrived in Hanoi on Thursday for a visit
that has drawn the ire of Vietnamese
nationalists at a time of bubbling
conflict over disputed territory in the
South China Sea.
The communist neighbours have
long celebrated their political and
economic ties but in recent years
tensions have flared over a decadesold feud about island chains in the
contested waters.
Hours before Xi’s visit — the first
by a Chinese president to Vietnam in
10 years — anti-China activists staged
small but rare protests in the heart of
the Vietnamese capital and southern
Ho Chi Minh City.
“Protesting Xi Jinping’s visit”, said
F R I DAY l N O V E M B E R 6 l 2 0 1 5
Activists hold placards and
candles during a candlelight
protest calling on the
government to continue
support for victims ahead of
the second anniversary of the
devastating typhoon Haiyan,
inside a university campus in
Quezon city, Metro Manila,
on Thursday.
symbol and signifies the stabilising
presence that the United States has
had in this part of the world for
decades,” Carter told reporters as
the carrier sailed about 150 to 200
nautical miles from the southern tip
of the Spratlys and about 70 nautical
miles north of Malaysia.
Asked about the significance of
his visit at such a time, he said: “If
it’s being noted today in a special
way, it’s because of the tension in
this part of the world, mostly arising
from disputes over land features in
the South China Sea, and most of
the activity over the last year being
perpetrated by China.”
The warship was “conducting
routine operations while transiting
the South China Sea”, Carter said
on Wednesday after a meeting of
defence ministers from Southeast
Asia in Malaysia, a forum marred
by the US-China disagreements
over the sea lane.
— Reuters
YANGON: Myanmar opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi said on Thursday
she would be “above the president” if
her party wins a historic election on
November 8, defying a constitutional
ban on becoming president herself.
Suu Kyi’s remarks could complicate
her already fraught relations with
Myanmar’s military, which drafted the
2008 constitution to preserve its power
and effectively exclude her from leading
the country.
Her National League for Democracy
(NLD) Party is the frontrunner in
the first general election since a semicivilian government took power in
2011 after nearly 50 years of military
dictatorship.
“If we win, and the NLD forms
a government, I will be above the
president. It’s a very simple message,”
a relaxed and smiling Suu Kyi told
reporters at her lakeside home in
Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city.
When asked if this arrangement
violated the constitution, Suu Kyi
replied: “No. The constitution says
nothing about somebody being above
the president.”
The constitution however states that
the president “takes precedence over all
other persons” in Myanmar.
Suu Kyi’s remarks were rebutted
by Zaw Htay, a senior official at the
President’s Office, who said that
her comments were, “against the
constitutional provision.”
National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi speaks to media about
the upcoming general elections, during a news conference at her home in Yangon
on Thursday. — Reuters
The constitution also reserves a
quarter of all parliamentary seats for the
military and bars presidential candidates
with foreign spouses or children. Suu
Kyi had two sons with a late British
academic.
“While the constitution is far from
perfect, and understandably perceived
as a flawed document, it still serves
as the basis for Myanmar’s current
political system, including the elections
this weekend,” said Nyantha Maw
Lin, managing director at political
consultancy Vriens & Partners in
Yangon.
Suu Kyi said the NLD had already
chosen someone who was prepared to
act as president, but would not say who
it was.
According to speculation in
IN HARMONY WITH NATURE
Myanmar’s media, likely candidates
include the speaker of lower house, an
ageing NLD party patron and even Suu
Kyi’s personal physician.
Suu Kyi said reports of fraud,
intimidation and irregularities in
advance voting had marred what many
people hope will be Myanmar’s first
credible election since 1990, which the
NLD won by a landslide.
Meanwhile, Suu Kyi said it was
important not to “exaggerate” the plight
of the nation’s persecuted Rohingya,
hundreds of thousands of whom have
been barred from Sunday’s landmark
polls.
Suu Kyi has faced international
censure for not speaking out in
support of the Rohingya, a Muslim
minority who have been hardest hit by
deadly bouts of communal violence in
Buddhist-majority Myanmar at a time
of surging religious nationalism.
Also on Thursday, the junta
launched a crackdown on organised
crime, its latest effort to clean up the
country and improve the image of the
military government as it struggles to
get a sluggish economy on track.
Prime Minister Prayuth ChanOcha, ushered in a “clean up Thailand”
campaign shortly after he, as army
chief, took power from an elected
government in a 2014-coup, promising
to root out vice and corruption in
government and society in general.
— Reuters/AFP
Maldives House
impeaches V-P
Women practise yoga during a performance on a glass bridge at the Shiniuzhai National Geo-park in Pingjiang county, Hunan
province, China, on Thursday. About hundred yoga fans put on the show to promote the concept of green life and the idea of
harmony between human and nature, according to local media. — Reuters
MALE: The parliament in the Maldives
impeached the vice-president on
Thursday over his alleged role in a blast
on the president’s speedboat, a day
after the government declared a state
of emergency that was condemned by
the international community.
The
decree
has
deepened
turmoil engulfing the Indian Ocean
archipelago following the blast on
President Abdulla Yameen’s speedboat,
which the government said was an
assassination attempt.
Ahmed Adeeb, who was detained
in connection with the September
28 explosion, was impeached after
61 members of the 85-member
parliament voted in favour.
Home Minister Umar Naseer
said Adeeb would be removed from
office and Yameen can appoint a
replacement.
The move came as security was
tightened in the capital Male, with
troops patrolling the streets two days
before a planned protest planned by
the main opposition party.
— Reuters
Soldiers and rescuers in Lahore were carefully cutting through steel and using cranes to lift the debris of the building
Rescuers search for survivors of Pakistan factory collapse
LAHORE: Pakistani rescuers have
pulled more than 100 survivors from
the rubble of a collapsed factory and are
searching for dozens of others believed
still trapped in a disaster that has killed
at least 19, officials said on Thursday.
Soldiers and rescuers in Lahore were
carefully cutting through steel and using
cranes to lift the debris of the building
in a bid to find people still alive, with
survivors saying that many of the
workers had been children.
Medics had to amputate one man’s
leg on the site before rushing him to
hospital.
“One of his legs was trapped in such
a way that it was not possible to retrieve
him with both legs,” an official who did
not want to be named said. “We had no
other option.”
One worker still trapped in the rubble
Rescue services spokesman
Jam Sajjad Hussain said
it was “difficult” to give a
specific number, but said
workers had told officials
that around 200 people had
been inside at the time of
the collapse.
told SAMAA TV early on Thursday that
he is pinned under a girder, but alive and
feeling thirsty.
Families on the scene were struggling
to reach the site, crying and at times
scuffling with police and soldiers
holding them back. “I have to go there,
even if they are going to shoot me,” one Rescue workers search for survivors after a factory collapsed near Lahore on
Thursday. — Reuters
elderly man said.
It was unclear how many people were
in the building when it collapsed or
how many — dead or alive — may still
be trapped. Officials have put the total
number of those involved at around
150-200.
Rescue services spokesman Jam
Sajjad Hussain said on Thursday it was
“difficult” to give a specific number,
but said workers had told officials that
around 200 people had been inside at
the time of the collapse, including the
owner, though that was unconfirmed.
“Rescue work is ongoing and I fear
that the death toll may increase,” he said.
Factory employee Mohammad Navid
said on Thursday that dozens of shift
workers may have been sleeping in a
part of the building that rescuers had not
yet reached, and that children as young
as 12 had been working in the factory.
Another employee, 18-year-old
Mohammad Irfan, said from his hospital
bed that the workers were “mostly” were
aged between 14 and 25.
Chief doctor Zia Ullah at Jinnah
Hospital, where some survivors were
taken, said on Wednesday that the
majority of the victims were young
workers, with many suffering head
injuries and fractured limbs.
Mohammad Usman, the top
administration official in Lahore who is
coordinating the response to the disaster,
said on Thursday that 102 people had
been rescued, and that the focus of
the operation remained the search for
survivors.
Rescuers were using audio and video
technology as they searched, he said.
Cranes and machinery provided by the
army were also being used. — AFP
4
omandailyobserver
INDIA
F R I DAY
NOVEMBER 6 l 2015
NECK-AND-NECK RACE: While 3 surveys predicted clear win for BJP, 5 polls forecast edge for Grand Alliance
IN BRIEF
BIHAR EXIT POLLS SPLIT ON OUTCOME
Rain, faulty
EVMs play
spoilsport in
Kerala polls
NEW DELHI: Bihar’s bitterly-contested
staggered elections ended on Thursday
evening, with exit polls sharply split
on who would get to rule the state: the
BJP-led alliance led by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi or Chief Minister Nitish
Kumar’s Grand Alliance.
While three of the nine surveys at the
end of five rounds of polling predicted a
clear win for the Bharatiya Janata Party
and another gave an upper hand to it,
five exit polls forecast a narrow or clear
majority in the 243-member house to
the Grand Alliance.
Despite the exit poll suspense,
leaders of both the BJP and the Grand
Alliance — the Janata Dal-United (JDU) of Nitish Kumar and the Rashtriya
Janata Dal (RJD) of Lalu Prasad —
claimed they were sure of victory.
“We are hopeful of getting a clear
majority,” said BJP spokesman Nalin
Kohli. “Although the (exit polls) ranges
are close, I won’t arrive at any hasty
assessment,” he said, indicating cautious
optimism in the BJP.
Former chief minister Lalu Prasad,
however, insisted that the Grand
Alliance, which also includes the
Congress, was poised to win 190 seats.
“The entire backward community
of Bihar has voted for us,” he told the
media in Patna. “We salute them for
this.”
None of the exit polls, however, gave
either alliance such a huge victory as
claimed by Lalu Prasad.
While Today’s Chanakya gave 155
of the 243 seats to the BJP and its three
allies, NewsX-CNX said the JD-U and
its allies would get 135 seats. It forecast a
WHO WILL RULE THE STATE: The BJP-led alliance led by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Chief Minister Nitish
Kumar’s Grand Alliance?
mere 83 seats to the JD-U, the RJD and
the Congress.
In contrast, NewsX said the BJP
and its allies — the Lok Janshakti Party
(LJP), the Hindustani Awam Morcha
(HAM) and the Rashtriya Lok Samata
Party (RLSP) — would win only 95
seats.
Other exit polls predicted a close
outcome.
Any party or combine would
need 122 seats to secure a wafer thin
majority in the 243-member assembly.
The millions of votes polled in the five
rounds of polling from October 12 —
about 60 per cent of the 66.8 million
electorate voted — will be counted on
Sunday.
An India Today-Cicero exit poll
predicted a hung assembly, with the
BJP-led alliance winning 120 seats to
117 by the Grand Alliance. It gave the
BJP alliance 113-127 seats and the
Grand Alliance 111-123 seats. Four to
eight seats could go to other parties.
A Dainik Jagran exit poll said the
BJP-led National Democratic Alliance
(NDA) would get a majority with 130
seats as compared to 97 for the Grand
Alliance.
The Times Now-CVoter survey gave
122 seats to the Grand Alliance and 111
to the NDA.
The ABP News gave the BJP and its
allies 130 seats compared to 108 to the
JD-U-RJD-Congress alliance.
News Nation also gave the JD-U and
its allies an edge, with 120-124 seats,
while the BJP and its allies could get
115-119 seats.
India TV-C Voter also predicted 111
seats to the BJP combine and 122 to the
Grand Alliance.
Even before the exit polls were
telecast, JD-U spokesman K C Tyagi
said in Patna that the Grand Alliance
was confident of winning a “stupendous
mandate”.
Neither Modi or BJP president Amit
Shah — who micro-managed the Bihar
election — nor Nitish Kumar spoke to
the media.
Earlier on Thursday, nearly 60
per cent of the 1.55 crore electorate
turned out to vote in the last of the
57 constituencies spread across seven
districts: Kishangaj, Purnea, Araria,
Katihar, Saharasa, Madhepura and
Supaul.
Despite widespread apprehensions,
the staggered election passed off
peacefully, even in areas considered
to be strongholds of Maoists who had
called for an election boycott.
The voter enthusiasm was evident on
Thursday too, with tens of thousands
queuing up at polling booths even
before they opened at 7 am A total of
827 candidates were in the fray.
Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi’s
Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM)
contested from six constituencies,
making its foray into Bihar.
Earlier on Thursday, the stock
market dipped over a possible lack of
clear mandate in Bihar.
— IANS
With ‘Uday’, nation expects MoU with China on water resources
new dawn for power sector
NEW DELHI: With the losses of
electricity distribution companies
in India touching a staggering Rs
3.8 trillion ($58 billion), the cabinet
on Thursday approved a major
restructuring and revival package
for the sector, with both checks
and incentives, to remove what is
considered the weakest link in the
government’s ambitious plan of power
for all by 2022.
At a crucial meeting of the cabinet,
presided over by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, the nod was given to
a fiscal turnaround and revival package
for electricity distribution companies,
hoping to help them break even in
two years time and wiping out all their
accumulated losses by 2019.
Termed Uday, or dawn in English,
the package is based on the premise
that initiatives towards 100 per cent
electrification in rural areas, full-time
power supply across the country and
the increasing use of clean energy
cannot be achieved without the discoms
performing to their full potential.
PM launches
‘Made in India’
gold coins
NEW DELHI: In a bid to put some
20,000 tonnes of idle gold to productive
use and cut imports worth $35-$45
billion annually, India today launched
three schemes related to the metal,
including domestically minted coins
with the images of Ashok Chakra and
Mahatma Gandhi.
The schemes launched by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi also included
one to convert jewellery and other
similar yellow metal assets with the
people into interest-bearing deposits,
as also sovereign bonds with an eightyear tenure but with an exit option
after five years.
Speaking about the schemes at an
event at his official 7, Race Course
Road residence, Modi said gold has
developed a tradition in the daily
lives of Indians towards women
empowerment. He also said with
India-minted coins people will no
longer have to depend on foreign
sources.
— IANS
“In addition to the impact it has on
the power sector, the default on bank
loans by financially-stressed discoms
also has the potential to seriously
impact the banking sector and the
economy at large,” Coal and Power
Minister Piyush Goyal said at a press
conference after the cabinet meet.
“Due to legacy issues, discoms are
trapped in a vicious cycle. Operational
losses are being funded by debt. The
outstanding debt of these discoms has
increased from about Rs 240,000 crore
in 2011-12 to about Rs 430,000 crore
in 2014-15 — with interest rates of
14-15 per cent,” the minister said. The
outstanding debt stands at Rs 380,000
crore.
Minister Goyal said based on the
the extensive discussions which his
ministry has been holding in recent
weeks and months, all stakeholders
— the discoms themselves, the states
governments, the regulators and
the lenders — were to be on board
regarding the proposed package.
— IANS
NEW DELHI: India and China will sign
two memorandums of understanding
(MoUs) on water resources and culture
during the ongoing visit of Chinese VicePresident Li Yuanchao, the external
affairs ministry said on Thursday.
“Vice-President of China Li
Yuanchao is on a visit to India from
November 3 to 7. This is the first visit
to India by a Chinese vice-president
in last 60-plus years,” the ministry’s
spokesperson Vikas Swarup said at a
media briefing here.
Li, who will arrive in New Delhi late
on Thursday, will hold a meeting with
Vice-President Hamid Ansari on Friday.
“Tomorrow he will have discussions
with Vice-President Hamid Ansari
followed by an agreement signing
ceremony where the two leaders will
witness the signing of MoUs in the fields
of water resources and culture,” Swarup
said.
“Vice-President Li will also call on
the prime minister and the president,”
he said.
According to the spokesperson, the
visit of the Chinese vice-president is
part of the intensification of high-level
Chinese Vice-President Li Yuanchao stands near the statue of poet Rabindranath
Tagore during his visit to Tagore’s ancestral house in Kolkata on Thursday. — Reuters
exchanges between India and China.
“Since the formation of the new
government in May 2014, Prime
Minister (Narendra) Modi has met
(Chinese) President Xi Jinping five
times and Premier Li Keqiang twice,”
Swarup said, adding that VicePresident Ansari paid a visit to China
in June last year.
Vice-President Li arrived in
Aurangabad on Tuesday and visited the
Ajanta Caves on Wednesday.
“Last evening, he travelled to Kolkata.
In Kolkata, he paid a visit to Jorashanko
Thakurbari which is the ancestral home
of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore,”
Swarup said.
— IANS
Arundhati Roy says she will return her 1989 National Award for Best Screenplay
24 writers, filmmakers return awards
MUMBAI: In a collective move to draw
the government’s attention to their fears
that the country’s “robust democracy
might be coming apart”, 24 filmmakers
and writers, including Arundhati
Roy, Saeed Mirza and Kundan Shah,
on Thursday returned their national
awards. Countering this, veteran actor
Anupam Kher has decided to lead a
march against such protests.
The 24 celebrities hoped their
“symbolic gesture” persuades the
government “to pay attention to our
fears, that the warp and weft of our
robust democracy might be coming
apart in the current atmosphere”.
Besides Roy, Mirza and Shah, others
who returned their awards on Thursday
were Virendra Saini, Ranjan Palit, Tapan
Bose, Shriprakash, Sanjay Kak, Pradip
Krishan, Tarun Bhartiya, Amitabh
Chakraborty, Madhusree Dutta, Anwar
Jamal, Ajay Raina, Irene Dhar Malik,
P.M. Satheesh, Satya Rai Nagpaul,
Manoj Lobo, Rafiq Ellias, Sudheer
Palsane, Vivek Sachidanand, Sudhakar
Reddy Yakkanti, Manoj Nitharwal and
Abhimanyu Dange.
These were also among the 190
signatories to the letter to the government
to pay heed to the “reasonable” demands
of the FTII students, who ended their
strike after a “protracted struggle of four
months”.
A statement released to the media on
Thursday stressed that this is their way
to protest the government’s handling of
the FTII issue.
The 24 signatories pointed out their
disappointment at “how the ruling
party’s leaders and supporters abused”
the 12 filmmakers who returned their
national honours earlier, and “belittled
their gesture”.
“This has been the consistent
response of the powers that be towards
the writers, academics, scientists,
historians, filmmakers and artists, who
have expressed their dismay over the
increasing climate of intolerance,” the
statement read.
As “concerned citizens of the country
whose work has been recognised by the
government of India”, they have said that
by returning their honours, they are “not
rejecting the recognition” and neither
are they “belittling the honour”.
“We are using the one possibility
of making you (the government) pay
attention to our plea, resolve the crisis
at FTII, ensure that our prestigious right
to Freedom of Speech is unambiguosly
protected,” they said.
In an article published in the Indian
Express, “The God of Small Things”
author Arundhati Roy said she was
returning her 1989 National Award for
Best Screenplay to protest “ideological
viciousness” in the country.
She said she was not shocked by what
was happening in the nation, and termed
the lynching of a man over beef-eating
rumour in Dadri in Uttar Pradesh as a
“deeper malaise”.
“These horrific murders are only a
symptom of a deeper malaise. Life is hell
for the living too. Whole populations —
millions of Dalits, adivasis, Muslims and
Christians — are being forced to live in
terror, unsure of when and from where
the assault will come,” she said.
After the Dadri incident, over 40
writers, artistes and 10 filmmakers
have returned their awards to record
their protest over the rising incidents of
intolerance in the country.
On Saturday, actor and BJP supporter
Anupam Kher has invited all Indians to
march with him to Rashtrapati Bhavan
to protest the voices that are being raised
over “intolerance” in the country. — IANS
T H I RU VA NA N T HA P U R A M :
Heavy rain and faulty electronic
voting machines (EVMs) played
the spoilsport during ballotting on
Thursday in the second and the final
phase of Kerala’s civic polls.
It rained heavily in districts of
Thrissur and Ernakulam but despite
that, people queued up in good
numbers to vote.
The EVMs developed problems
and voting was stopped in around
300 polling booths in parts of
Thrissur, Malappuram and Palakkad.
Poll authorities were working to
resolve the issues.
“I spoke to the SEC (State Election
Commissioner) and he has assured
all the things will be taken care. We
have been told that in around 170
booths, voting has commenced,
while in the other booths it is yet to
start again,” said CPM state secretary
Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.
State Home Minister Ramesh
Chennithala told reporters that if the
SEC asks for a probe to be conducted,
it will be done.
“The director-general of police
has told me that they are prepared to
conduct a probe. The SEC has said
that in case there is a stoppage of
more than three hours, then a repoll
would be held in such booths,” said
Chennithala.
Voting began at 7 am, and ended
at 5 pm.
Gujarat HC
dismisses plea
against Modi
AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat High
Court on Thursday dismissed a
petition that sought a review of a
lower court order rejecting the plea
for a case against Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on charge of breach
of electoral code of conduct in the
2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Modi
had
addressed
an
impromptu press conference and
clicked a selfie with his Bharatiya
Janata Party’s (BJP) lotus symbol after
casting vote in Ahmedabad in the last
general elections.
The review petition was filed
by AAP worker Nishant Verma
to challenge an order of Chief
Judicial Magistrate of Ahmedabad
Rural Court, S R Singh, who in
May dismissed the plea on the
basis of a closure report filed by the
Ahmedabad Crime Branch police
that gave a clean chit to Modi in the
case. Modi was then chief minister of
Gujarat. Verma said Modi had not
only addressed a press meet on April
30, a day of voting in the elections,
near a polling station in Ranip but
also took a selfie with his cell phone
while displaying the BJP’s election
symbol after exercising his franchise.
Chhota Rajan
to be brought
on Friday
MUMBAI: Long-absconding mafia
don Rajendra Nikhalje alias Chhota
Rajan will be brought to India from
Indonesia early on Friday, a senior
Maharashtra government official
said.
Additional Chief Secretary K P
Bakshi said at a press conference
here that Chhotan Rajan, who was
arrested by Indonesian Police on
October 26, was escorted amidst tight
security to the Bali airport for a flight
to india, which is scheduled to land
in New Delhi around 4 am on Friday.
In a surprise development, he said
all the cases pending against the mafia
don will be transferred to the Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which
will now probe them. — IANS
ANTI-GRAFT PROTEST IN HONDURAS
NATO SHOWS OFF FIREPOWER
F R I DAY l N O V E M B E R 6 l 2 0 1 5
An AH-64 Apache
helicopter flies over
smoke while taking part in
Exercise Trident Juncture
2015, Nato’s largest joint
and combined military
exercise in more than a
decade, at the San
Gregorio training grounds
outside Zaragoza, Spain.
Rock-hurling
students clashed
with riot police
firing tear gas and
water cannon in
Honduras’ capital
at a demonstration
seeking a UN
probe of alleged
government graft.
Trudeau sworn in as Canada’s
PM, pledges big changes
BOLD PLAN: New government vows to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees by year-end
OTTAWA: Canada’s new Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau promised
big changes after nearly a decade of
Conservative rule as he was sworn
into office on Wednesday, almost 50
years after his father took the job.
The 43-year-old former bartender
led his Liberal party to a landslide
victory on October 19, dealing a
crushing blow to Stephen Harper’s
Conservatives.
He is the second-youngest prime
minister in Canadian history.
He is also the son of the late Pierre
Trudeau, considered the father of
modern Canada, who served as
prime minister from 1968 to 1979,
and again from 1980 to 1984.
Trudeau smiled and mouthed
“Thank you” as applause erupted
in the flag-waving crowd gathered
outside Rideau Hall, the governor
general’s mansion, to watch on
giant screens as he took the oath as
Canada’s 23rd prime minister.
“We have an awful lot of work to
do in coming weeks, months and
years,” Trudeau said. “But I know that
Canadians expected us to... deliver on
the change, on the ambitious plan for
this country that the Liberal party ran
on, and that’s exactly what we’re going
to deliver.”
Canada’s youthful leader —
slammed as being too inexperienced
to govern in campaign attack ads —
faces a diverse set of challenges, from
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes a selfie as he greets the crowd outside Rideau Hall after being sworn in as Canada’s
23rd Prime Minister in Ottawa. — AFP
bolstering the country’s economy
to slashing carbon emissions and
ratifying a US-led Pacific free trade
pact.
The new Liberal government
also has pledged to resettle 25,000
Syrian refugees by year’s end, which
new Immigration Minister John
McCallum said “remains our firm
objective,” and to wind down Canada’s
combat mission against the IS group.
Trudeau unveiled a new-look
cabinet, equally split with 15 men and
15 women, featuring some political
veterans and some fresh faces.
Former native chief Jody WilsonRaybould was named Canada’s first
aboriginal justice minister, and is
expected to shepherd a key Liberal
election promise of holding a
public inquiry into the fate of more
than 1,000 missing and murdered
aboriginal women.
Businessman Bill Morneau will
manage the nation’s finances, while
decorated soldier Harjit Singh Sajjan
US House passes revised defence bill
WASHINGTON: The US House of Representatives
voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to pass a new
version of the National Defense Authorization Act
(NDAA) with $5 billion in spending cuts that were
not included in a version of the legislation vetoed last
month by President Barack Obama.
The vote was 370-58 for the measure authorising
more than $600 billion in defence spending.
The House’s Republican leaders had said they
would not attempt a vote to override Obama’s veto if
the measure passed.
The Senate is expected to vote on, and pass, the
revised NDAA as soon as next week.
Democratic lawmakers and aides said they
expect Obama will sign the revised bill if it passes
as expected, but the White House has not made his
intentions clear.
The spending cuts reflect a budget agreement
between the Obama administration and
congressional leaders that addressed the Democratic
president’s main concern about the NDAA, its
use of special war funds to let the Pentagon avoid
mandatory spending cuts.
However, the revised bill still contains stiff
restrictions on transfers of prisoners from the
detention centre at the US naval base at Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba.
Obama, who has vowed to close the controversial
prison, had said those restrictions were another
reason for his veto.
— Reuters
S Africa campuses face funding
shortage after tuition fee freeze
JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s
government is grappling with a
2.3 billion rand ($165 million)
shortfall at university campuses
after President Jacob Zuma gave in
to protesting students’ demands and
ruled out tuition fee increases next
year, officials said on Thursday.
Classes
and
examinations
have resumed after three weeks of
disruption, but the demonstrations
over the cost of university education
— prohibitive for many blacks —
highlighted frustration with the
inequalities that persist two decades
after the end of white-minority rule.
Some university students have
demanded free higher education,
saying Zuma’s action to freeze fee
increases for next year did not go
far enough, and their leaders have
warned that protests could flare up
again in the future.
The state plans to contribute the
lion’s share of 1.935 billion rand
next year to plug the shortfall, while
universities will contribute 394,727
million rand, the director-general of
the department of higher education,
Gwebinkundla Qonde, said. Theuns
Tredoux, the chief financial officer at
the same department, said a portion
of the shortfall will be covered
from the current budget and the
remainder from next year’s budget.
“All the money paid to institutions
to cover a portion of the zero per
cent fee increase will be paid out
from existing allocations. Additional
allocation would be applicable
for the 2016/2017 financial year,”
Tredoux told parliament.
Finance Minister Nhlanhla
Nene has said his next budget, due
in February, will take into account
the needs of universities, and that
a process to take money from other
skills development funds and move
them to universities was already
under way.
— Reuters
5
WORLD
TRUMP LASHES RIVALS
ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL
CONCORD: Republican White House
hopeful Donald Trump stepped up attacks
on his campaign rivals, insisting none of
them have the caliber to become the next
president of the United States.
The real estate tycoon was in particularly
strident form in New Hampshire, where he
officially filed to be on the ballot in the nation’s
first Republican state primary election.
This small northeastern state is typically
the first to organise its primary elections
for the presidential race, scheduled for next
February, and candidates court its voters
assiduously.
The candidate registering period
opened officially on Wednesday and runs
until November 20. But “Mr Trump,” as
his enthusiastic supporters call him, was
determined to demonstrate he is as strong as
ever as the latest poll put him neck and neck
with retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.
The Quinnipiac University survey
virtually tied Trump and Carson with 24
and 23 per cent of the Republican vote
respectively, trailed by Florida Senator Marco
Rubio at 14 per cent and Jeb Bush at four per
cent.
But for Trump — the softly spoken Carson,
who is as calm as Trump is brash, just doesn’t
have the requisite personality. “Ben Carson is
a super low energy person,” he said. Jeb, he
added “is a low energy person.”
“You need tremendous energy and
tremendous temperament... to succeed
against China... to succeed against India,”
explained the 69-year-old Trump.
“Ben cannot do the job,” he said. “It’s got to
be somebody with energy and temperament.”
He also laid into the ascendancy of
44-year-old Rubio pointing out that his
numbers were still far lower than his.
“He is so bad on immigration, when
people will find out, there is no way they will
vote for him,” he said, calling him a “disaster”
when it comes to personal finance.
When it came to Bush, he was scathing.
“He goes, ‘I’m not a good talker, I don’t
speak well, I don’t debate well, I don’t do
anything well... but you should vote for me.’
That’s Jeb Bush. Only Ted Cruz, the Texas
senator to the right of the party and at 13 per
cent in the latest poll, escaped his criticisms,
with Trump saying he had good relationship
with him.
— AFP
CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH LIZARD
will command the military.
Former astronaut Marc Garneau
takes over as transport minister, and
Catherine McKenna was appointed
environment and climate change
minister.
The cabinet also includes Maryam
Monsef, the youngest minister at age
30, who came to Canada as a refugee
from Afghanistan, and Amarjeet
Sohi, who once spent two years in an
Indian prison without being charged.
— Reuters
Carbon capture
projects worldwide
rise to 15
WASHINGTON: There are now 15
projects in operation worldwide that
have captured 28 million tonnes of
carbon dioxide emissions from coal and
industrial plants this year, a technology
that must be scaled-up to tackle climate
change, a report released on Thursday
said.
One new carbon capture and
storage (CCS) project in Canada and
one in Saudi Arabia started operations
this year, the report from the Global CCS
Institute said.
It said the number of projects
worldwide is now double the number of
projects that were in operation in 2010.
The Australia-based Institute’s
members include governments and
companies interested in CCS to slow
global warming.
With another seven projects due
to come online in Europe, the United
States and China in the next 18 months,
the amount of carbon emissions that
can be captured from coal plants using
the technology will rise to 40 million
tonnes per year.
The International Energy Agency
has said that by 2040, 4 billion tonnes
of carbon dioxide emissions must be
captured to keep global warming at
bay.
That is 100 times more than the total
that is expected to be online within the
next 18 months.
The report said CCS technology is
needed for countries to be able to meet
a collective goal to limit global warming
to a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6
degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial
levels by the year 2100.
Ahead of a two-week United Nations
climate change summit that will take
place in Paris from November 30, more
than 150 countries have submitted
national plans to cut or stem the growth
of greenhouse gas emissions, but those
plans would not achieve the 2-degree
limit.
“CCS has a vital role to play as part of
the overall technology mix required to
meet the internationally agreed goal of
limiting the impact of global warming
to 2 degrees,” said Brad Page, CEO of the
Institute. Page said global investment in
CCS has totalled $20 billion since 2007,
and needs more policy and financial
support for the technology to reach
commercial scale.
— Reuters
Britain’s Prince Charles handles a native tuatara lizard during a visit to the Orokonui Eco
sanctuary with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, near Dunedin, New Zealand. — Reuters
6
omandailyobserver
Egypt to import wider
range of foodstuffs
to lower prices
CAIRO: Egypt said it would import a
wider array of essential items, part of its
push to keep food prices down despite
a dollar shortage that has crippled
imports.
On Thursday the government
formed a working group to take “all
necessary measures to supply goods to
the market and control their prices,” a
cabinet statement said.
State buyer the General Authority
for Supply Commodities (GASC) said
it issued an international tender to buy
poultry for the first time.
The tender marks the start to an
expanded mandate for GASC to import
more essential food items, a source at
the supplies ministry said.
GASC’s expanded role importing
essential goods comes after President
Abdel Fattah al Sisi promised that the
state would intervene to correct rising
prices.
“Don’t ever think we are ignoring
rising prices... hopefully by the end of
this month the state will have completed
its intervention to lower prices in an
appropriate way that can provide people
with their essential goods,” said Sisi.
Egypt’s annual urban consumer
inflation jumped to 9.2 per cent in
September, largely driven by rising food
prices, according to data from the state’s
official statistics agency.
A crippling foreign currency crisis
has stifled import activity.
Some traders wondered how GASC
would source sufficient dollars to
import a broader basket of essential
goods.
“I’m surprised to see they will import
from abroad as I thought they would
save the dollars for wheat but perhaps
they want to make sure all subsidised
commodities are available,” a trader
said.
Sources at the ministry of supply
said that GASC is coordinating with
the central bank to ensure they have
the dollars needed to import poultry in
next week’s tender.
“It’s possible that the dollar problem
over the past few months contributed
to the rise in price for some goods,
especially essential ones, but hopefully
over the coming period these goods will
be provided at reduced costs,” said Sisi
in the speech.
Traders say the latest tender will
likely allow Egypt to get lower prices for
its poultry, but also questioned whether
GASC, which handles wheat imports,
was prepared for the move into an
entirely new area.
“They would be able to get the
chicken at the cheapest prices through
the tender but it is different than the
grain trade in terms of logistics so it will
be interesting to see how it plays out,”
said one trader. — Reuters
Cyclone Chapala kills 5,
injures 32 in Yemen
A Yemeni boy plays on a
fishing boat beached in
the southern port city of
Aden following a
tropical cyclone that has
slammed into the warracked country. — AFP
WORLD
F R I DAY
NOVEMBER 6 l 2015
Speculation over cause of Sinai
crash harming probe: Kremlin
CONSPIRACY THEORY: US, UK say bomb may have downed Russian plane
MOSCOW: The Kremlin on Thursday
dismissed any claims over the cause
of the passenger jet crash in Egypt as
“speculation” after Britain and the US
said a bomb may have downed the plane.
“Any sort of version of what
happened and the reasons for what
happened can only be put forward
by the investigation and we have not
heard any announcements from the
investigation yet,” Kremlin spokesman
Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
“Any other proposed explanations
seem like unverified information or
some sort of speculation.”
Peskov said that Moscow “cannot
rule out any version” of what might have
caused the crash but said no definitive
explanation had been presented.
Britain and Ireland have temporarily
suspended flights to and from the
Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el
Sheikh, where the plane took off from
on Saturday bound for Saint Petersburg
before crashing minutes later, killing all
224 people on board.
Peskov said that it was Britain’s
“sovereign right to fly or not fly
somewhere” but said that “Russian
planes are continuing to fly.”
British Prime Minister David
Cameron’s office said that authorities
had “become concerned that the plane
may well have been brought down by
an explosive device”. A US official also
said that the possibility that a bomb may
have caused the plane crash on Saturday
was “a highly possible scenario”.
The IS group claims it caused the
disaster.
Russia has dispatched investigators
to the crash site in the restive Sinai
peninsula to help the Egypt-led probe
into the tragedy.
A relative reacts during a funeral ceremony for Alexei Alexeev, a victim of a Russian airliner which crashed in Egypt, at the
Bogoslovskoye cemetery in St Petersburg on Thursday. — Reuters
Russian Transport Minister Maxim
Britain and Ireland have
Sokolov said on Thursday that the first
recording from the black box on-board temporarily suspended
data collectors had been “received” by flights to and from the
experts, news agencies reported.
Egyptian Red Sea resort
Sokolov also said that Russia had sent
Egyptian aviation authorities a proposal of Sharm el Sheikh
to conduct an “additional audit” into air
safety measures in the country.
Russian President Vladimir Putin
too told British Prime Minister David
Cameron that all sides should wait for people in Egypt last week.
investigators to report on the causes
Putin spoke to Cameron by telephone
of Russian plane crash that killed 224 “at the initiative of the British side,” the
Kremlin says, hours after Cameron said
Britain had suspended flights to Egypt’s
Sharm el Sheikh resort after intelligence
suggested the crash was “more likely
than not” caused by a bomb.
Meanwhile, Cameron welcomed the
Egyptian president to Downing Street
on a pre-planned trip — his first visit
to Britain since the overthrow of his
predecessor Mohamed Mursi in 2013.
Around 200 protestors staged a
demonstration against Sisi, some
temporarily blocking the entrance to
Downing Street.
— Agencies
Anti-aircraft missile systems deployed in Syria
SANAA: Five people have been
killed and 32 others wounded sofar
in the eastern Yemeni province of
Hadhramaut due to heavy rains from
Cyclone Chapala, which struck four
days ago, local medical sources said on
Thursday.
The cyclone has wreaked havoc in
the province, causing severe flooding,
destroying homes, blocking roads, and
damaging communication and power
lines, the sources said.
The rare cyclone hit the mainland
on Tuesday, two days after it lashed
the island of Socotra, which lies in the
Indian Ocean about 360 kilometres off
the Yemeni coast.
The UN Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said
on Wednesday that up to 1.1 million
people across Yemen may be directly
impacted by the cyclone.
More than 40,000 people have been
displaced in the country, OCHA said.
The organisation warned that the
impact would be most severe in the
southern provinces of Shabwah and
Hadhramaut, which have a combined
population of about 1.9 million people,
76 per cent of whom areal ready in need
of humanitarian assistance.
Yemen is not normally hit by
cyclones and its southern coast has an
arid climate.
As a result, its natural and manmade drainage systems are expected to
have difficulty coping with the expected
rainfall.
— dpa
MOSCOW: Russia has deployed
anti-aircraft missile systems in Syria
to defend against potential air strikes
against its forces, state news agency
TASS reported on Thursday, citing a
Russian general.
“We have considered all the
possible threats. We have deployed
not only fighter jets, attack aircraft,
bombers and helicopters, but also
surface-to-air missile systems because
there could be various kinds of forcemajeure situations,” Colonel General
Viktor Bondarev was quoted as
saying.
Russia has deployed Pantsir-S1 and
Buk-M2E missile systems at several
strategic locations in Syria, including
the Latakia province airbase where
Russia has stationed many of its jets
for its air campaign, the Interfax news
HEAVY RAIN FLOODS AMMAN
People look as workers on a loader attempt to clear floodwater from a tunnel in Amman. Heavy rains caused the closure of
main streets in the Jordanian capital and other cities on Thursday. — Reuters
A Russian SU-25 strike fighter at the Syrian
Hmeymim airbase, outside Latakia, Syria.
agency reported, citing an undisclosed
military diplomatic source.
The Syrian military also has
Russian-made Osa, S-125 and S-200
missile systems that it can use to
defend against enemy aircraft and
incoming missiles, much like Israel’s
Iron Dome battery, the report said.
Russia began a bombing campaign
in Syria in September to help that
country’s beleaguered military fight
extremist groups such as IS and the Al
Nusra Front. The Russian bombings
have also reportedly hit rebel groups
fighting against the government,
including hardline factions and some
groups backed by Western nations.
None of the militant groups fighting
the Syrian government are known to
have warplanes.
However, the anti-IS coalition led
by the United States uses warplanes to
launch air strikes against the extremist
group and some hardline factions.
Nato Secretary-General Jens
Stoltenberg warned on Thursday
that Russia’s military build-up in
Syria and the eastern Mediterranean
Sea is providing Moscow with what
is known as anti-access/area denial
capabilities, meaning that it could
prevent military forces from accessing
a particular area.
— dpa
Kurdish rebels ends ceasefire after
Erdogan vows their demise
ISTANBUL: Kurdish militants scrapped
a month-old ceasefire in Turkey on
Thursday, a day after President Tayyip
Erdogan vowed to “liquidate” them,
dashing hopes of any let-up in violence
in the wake of a national election.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)
rebel group said the ruling AK Party,
which won back its parliamentary
majority in Sunday’s election, had
shown it was on a war footing with
attacks launched this week.
“The unilateral halt to hostilities
has come to an end with the AKP’s war
policy and the latest attacks,” it said in
a statement carried by the Firat news
agency, which is close to the militant
group, based in the mountains of
northern Iraq.
Erdogan, who oversaw a peace
process with the PKK that collapsed in
July, vowed on Wednesday to continue
battling the group until every last fighter
was “liquidated”.
Twenty people were killed in clashes
with the military in the mainly Kurdish
southeast on Thursday, bringing this
week’s death toll to more than 40.
More than 40,000 people have been
killed in the insurgency since it began
in 1984.
The PKK’s latest declaration, on top
of the renewed surge in violence, was
a fresh source of concern for foreign
investors who broadly viewed Sunday’s
election as offering the potential for
increased stability in Nato-member
Turkey.
However, generally weaker Turkish
financial markets showed little
immediate reaction to the PKK move.
The PKK — designated a terrorist
group by Turkey, the United States
and the European Union — declared
the ceasefire on October 10, saying it
wanted to avoid violence that might
prevent a fair election.
The government dismissed it as an
electoral tactic.
On the day the ceasefire was
announced, more than 100 people were
killed in a double suicide bomb attack
targeting pro-Kurdish activists in the
capital Ankara, and the following day
Turkey launched air strikes against PKK
fighters.
“It is clear that a fresh halt to
hostilities can only be achieved with a
new will for a solution of the Kurdish
problem within the Turkish state and
talks aimed at such solution,” the PKK’s
statement said.
— Reuters
EUROPE
F R I DAY
NOVEMBER 6 l 2015
omandailyobserver
3 million migrants expected
to arrive in Europe by 2017
7
Ukraine must reform to
get EU visa-free travel
CRUNCH TALKS: German coalition optimistic on refugees deal as influx hits record
BRUSSELS: Three million migrants
are expected to arrive in Europe by
2017 as they flee war and poverty in
Syria and other conflict zones, the
EU’s executive arm said.
“Overall, an additional three million persons is assumed to arrive in
the EU over the forecast period,” the
European Commission’s economic
forecast for 2015-2017 said, adding
that this could increase the bloc’s
population by 0.4 per cent.
The forecast is based on the
number of people who have arrived
so far this year, assuming that the
level will remain high for the coming year and will gradually level off
in 2017.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNCHR) estimated some 600,000 migrants will travel from Turkey to
Greece and through the Balkans
between November and February,
calling for financial help to protect
these people as temperatures drop.
“Harsh weather conditions in the
region are likely to exacerbate the
suffering of the thousands of refugees and migrants landing in Greece
and travelling through the Balkans,
and may result in further loss of life
if adequate measures are not taken
urgently,” UNCHR said.
The UN agency asked international donors for an additional $96
million for winter-proof shelters,
warm clothing, food and transport.
Meanwhile in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has
taken the lead in European Union
efforts to master the bloc’s migration crisis,was bracing for a day of
political talks on Thursday aimed at
stemming the influx of thousands of
migrants via the Balkans.
Merkel, who heads Germany’s
conservative Christian Democratic
Union (CDU), is hoping to finalise
Refugees aboard a dinghy sail off for the Greek island of Chios yesterday. — Reuters
a plan for processing new arrivals
who have a slim chance of asylum,
first by meeting the two other party
chairs of her coalition government
before talks with state leaders.
Merkel has argued for the past
two months that the EU can cope
with migrant flows without stringent border closings or the construction of fences, vowing that
Germany would take in all proven
refugees but deport citizens of secure countries who do not qualify
for asylum.
Her tri-lateral talks with Social
Democratic (SPD) leader Sigmar
Gabriel and Christian Social Union
(CSU) leader Horst Seehofer center
on her conservative bloc’s proposal
of so-called transit zones, are as
where asylum seekers are processed
without officially entering Germany.
Gabriel’s SPD has bridled at the
plan, saying the sites would be tantamount to prison camps.
Unlikeliest rock star:
Pope releases record
VATICAN CITY: The Vatican presented on Thursday a new
record featuring the words of Pope Francis mixed with music composed by a 1970s prog-rock star and vocals from an
Italy-born monk who has embraced Indian asceticism.
Wake Up! was produced by an 80-year-old Italian priest,
Father Giulio Neroni, who works at Multimedia San Paolo
record company.
“Mine is a simple life, whose main ingredients are integrity, respect, honesty, priestly commitment and music... and
why not... rock’n roll,” Neroni said in a statement.
The 11-song album contains extracts from key papal
speeches and sermons in Spanish, Italian, English and Portuguese, backed by music in a mix of styles, ranging from
Latin hymns and Gregorian chants to pop rock and progressive.
Tony Pagliuca from Italian prog-rock group Le Orme, India-based singer and writer Giorgio Kriegsch and Giuseppe
Dati, songwriter for Italian pop star Laura Pausini, were
listed among the contributors to the project.
Part of sales proceeds are to be donated to a refugee support fund.
— dpa
Greek refugee island running
out of space to bury the dead
MYTILENE, Greece: Since the start of the summer, the Greek island
of Lesbos has assumed notoriety as the main gateway into Europe for
thousands of desperate refugees.
But as the lives lost in the risky Aegean Sea crossing relentlessly
rise, the island has a new challenge — finding space to bury the dead.
Nearly 500 people have died trying to cross the Aegean Sea from
neighbouring Turkey this year, many of them in the narrow but
treacherous stretch separating Lesbos from Turkey.
At least 80 drowned last month, many of them children.
The bodies of another five people including a woman and two
children were recovered on Wednesday, the Greek coastguard said.
Local municipal and church authorities have declared that the island’s cemetery was full, leaving them no option but to store dozens
of bodies in a refrigerated container.
“We hope that the authorities will be able to find a solution quickly,” said Effi Latsoudi, member of a local migrant support group. The
local bishop said efforts to develop a new burial ground could take
years.
— AFP
The talks on a compromise are
advanced within the coalition.
The leader of Gabriel’s legislators,
Christine Lambrecht, told ARD
breakfast television, “I am very optimistic that we’ll reach an accord.”
As the leader of Merkel’s CSU
sister party, Seehofer has won plaudits among Germany’s right for
spearheading the transit zone idea.
Merkel’s later meeting with Germany’s 16 state premiers will likely
centre on more state funding for migrants from Berlin.
Official forecasts say Germany
will take in 800,000 asylum-seekers
this year, but some officials say the
true number may exceed 1 million
as thousands arrive daily.
The Interior Ministry said
181,000 migrants arrived in Germany in October alone, a record for
a single month.
Merkel is a veteran of brinkmanship in party squabbles with Gabriel
and Seehofer and has kept her eye
on her bigger target: to prevent a
humanitarian crisis in eastern Europe if governments there try to
block refugee movement.
“We need cooperation with the
country from which the refugees
are embarking so we can organise
border protection jointly,” she told
an audience of industrialists in Dusseldorf. “That is why cooperation
with Turkey is of the essence.”
She called for a revision of EU
refugee law, saying the so-called
Dublin Rules, which provide for
migrants to be sent back to their
place of first EU landfall “has such
weaknesses that we must revise it in
any case.”
Aides said Christian Democratic
leader Merkel’s talks with the two
other party leaders might run into
the night.
— dpa
TRICOLOR ARROWS
The Italian Air Force aerobatic unit Frecce Tricolori (Tricolor Arrows) spreads smoke with the colours of the Italian flag over the
city of Rome during the Armed Forces Day marking the end of World War I for Italy. — AFP
People pass nearby a painted Antonov-24 plane at Zhulyany
airport in Kiev, Ukraine, yesterday. — Reuters
BRUSSELS: The European Union wants Ukraine to pass a
set of judiciary and human rights reforms before granting
Ukrainian citizens visa-free access to the 28 countries of the
bloc, the head of the EU Commission told Ukraine’s President in a letter on Thursday.
Grappling with pro-Russian separatists in the Eastern
part of the country and a shattered economy, Ukrainian
authorities are keen to obtain better terms in their relations
with the EU.
An agreement on visa-free travel for Ukrainian citizens
to the European Union is seen in Kiev as a key priority to
be achieved next year, when a free-trade pact with the EU
is expected to come into force despite Russian opposition.
“Progress in reforms in the area of the fight against corruption remains a key priority for achieving visa-free travel
to the EU for Ukrainian citizens,” EU Commission President
Jean-Claude Juncker said in the letter seen by Reuters.
EU visa-free travel agreements usually concern specific
groups of people who are more likely to travel, such as researchers, businessmen or students.
In the document, sent to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Juncker urges quick establishment of independent
anti-corruption bodies to reduce graft in the ex-Soviet state.
Ukraine should also amend labour legislation to prohibit
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and should
create an agency dedicated to recover assets confiscated
from, Juncker told Poroshenko.
— Reuters
ORGANISED CRIME
MAJOR MAFIA TRIAL
OPENS IN ROME
ROME: A one-eyed former neo-fascist gangster and 45 other defendants went on trial on Thursday accused of running
a mafia crime ring in Rome that skimmed millions of euros
off city hall contracts.
Prosecutors say their year-long investigation has laid bare
systematic corruption in the city as politicians, bureaucrats
and businessmen hooked up with mobsters to rig public tenders on everything from creating refugee centres to rubbish
collection.
Massimo Carminati, a one-time member of Rome’s notorious far-right Magliana Gang, and his sidekick Salvatore
Buzzi, a convicted murderer, are accused of running the
operation, which prosecutors say represented a new type of
mafia in Italy. Neither man will appear in court during the
trial but they will follow proceedings via video links from
the high security jails where they are being held.
They have denied they have links to the mafia, which
would bring them longer prison terms and tougher jail conditions than simple corruption convictions.
“In this whole story, the thing which has really annoyed
Carminati is the fact that his name has been associated with
the words ‘mafia’ and ‘drugs’. He has nothing to do with
the mafia,” said his lawyer Giosue Naso as he arrived at the
courthouse.
Buzzi’s lawyer said his client wanted to strike a plea bargain with prosecutors, looking for a maximum four-year
prison term. “That is reasonable, given that we deny any mafia involvement,” Alessandro Diddi told reporters on Thursday.
Prosecutors have some 36,000 hours of wiretaps to back
up their case, Italian media reported, as well as secretly
filmed video showing some of the accused receiving bribes
and discussing how they manipulated the system. — Reuters
Snooping law assault on freedom: Experts
LONDON: Britain has unveiled plans
for sweeping new surveillance powers,
including the right to find out which
websites people visit, measures ministers say are vital to keep the country safe
but which critics denounce as an assault
on freedoms.
Across the West, debate about how
to protect privacy while helping agencies operate in the digital age has raged
since former US intelligence contractor
Edward Snowden leaked details of mass
surveillance by British and US spies in
2013.
Experts say part of the new British
bill goes beyond the powers available to
security services in the United States.
The draft was watered down from
an earlier version dubbed a “snoopers’ charter” by critics who prevented it
reaching parliament.
Home Secretary Theresa May told
lawmakers the new document was unprecedented in detailing what spies
could do and how they would be monitored. “It will provide the strongest safeguards and world-leading oversight arrangements,” she said. “And it will give
the men and women of our security
and intelligence agencies and our law
enforcement agencies... the powers they
need to protect our country.”
They would be able to require communication service providers (CSPs) to
hold their customers’ web browsing data
for a year, which experts say is not available to their US counterparts.
“What the British are attempting to
do, and what the French have already
done post Charlie Hebdo, would never
have seen the light of day in the American political system,” Michael Hayden,
The bill would also place explicit obligations on service
providers to help intercept
data and hack suspects’ devices, which US experts said
might defeat any encryption
that remains, such as the
end-to-end encryption on
Apple’s iMessages
former director of the US National Security Agency and Central Intelligence
Agency, said. May said that many of the
new bill’s measures merely updated existing powers or spelled them out.
Police and spies’ access to web use
would be limited to “Internet connection
records” — which websites people had
visited but not the particular pages —
and not their full browsing history, she
said. An Internet connection record is
a record of the communications service
that a person has used — not a record of
every web page they have accessed,” May
said. “It is simply the modern equivalent
of an itemised phone bill.”
The Computer and Communications
Industry Association, a lobby group for
Internet and telecoms firms including
Google, Microsoft Corp and Facebook
Inc, said the proposals were a concern.
“The bill is a setback for privacy
rights and part of a worrisome trend
towards more governmental surveillance in Europe while the United States
is reforming its surveillance practices,”
CCIA Europe Director Christian Borggre said.
— Reuters
8
ANALYSIS
omandailyobserver
F R I DAY
NOVEMBER 6 l 2015
Russia plane crash hard blow to Egyptian tourism
T
he concerns raised by Britain and the United
States that a bomb may have downed a Russian
airliner in Egypt have cast a shadow over a once
popular holiday destination already hit by years
of political turmoil.
The Egyptian affiliate of IS has claimed responsibility for the crash, and on Wednesday the
United States and Britain said the mid-air disintegration of the Airbus A321 over the restive Sinai Peninsula — an IS bastion — could have been
caused by a bomb.
A string of major tour operators immediately
suspended all packages to the beach resorts of the
peninsula’s south coast and analysts warned of a
serious risk of lasting damage to a key sector of
the Egyptian economy.
“This really could represent a hard blow to the
Egyptian tourism industry already burdened by
years of political uncertainty,” said Fawaz Gerges,
professor at the London School of Economics.
“Would you go to Sharm el Sheikh is the question now?” On Wednesday, Britain and Ireland
suspended flights to and from the South Sinai
resort airport of Sharm el Sheikh, from where the
Saint Petersburg-bound airliner took off on Saturday before crashing 23 minutes later, killing all
224 people on board. Egypt has long promoted
the Red Sea resorts of Sharm el Sheikh and Hur-
gada as jewels of its tourism industry.
a mid-air disintegration of the aircraft.
Famed for their pristine beaches and scuba
“The damage is already done. Even if it was
diving, they have attracted millions of holidaypilot error or accident, people believe it was
makers, many of them Russians. Saturday’s plane a bomb,” Jacques Peter, manager at the Savoy
disaster was the latest in a series of blows to in- Group of luxury hotels in Sharm el Sheikh, said.
ternational confidence in tourist safety this year.
“There are no cancellations at the moment, but
In September, eight Mexican tourists were we are concerned for the medium and long term
mistakenly killed by Egyptian security forces in
— the reservations curve, which usually begins to
the vast Western Desert. In August, Egypt’s IS af- rise ahead of Christmas and New Year, is flat and
filiate claimed the beheading
that’s unusual.”
of a Croatian expatriate workTourism used to account
Years of instability and
er abducted outside Cairo.
for about 12 per cent of
The two incidents came a rising tide of terror
Egypt’s gross domestic prodjust months after police foiled attacks have kept many
uct and some 15 per cent of its
an attempted suicide bomb
foreign exchange earnings.
visitors away, damagattack near the famed KarBut the industry has falnak temple in Luxor — one of ing the economy and
tered since early 2011, when
Egypt’s most popular heritage sending Egypt’s forex
a popular uprising toppled
attractions.
longtime strongman Hosni
reserves plunging, says Mubarak after three decades
Tour operators say the latest disaster is the biggest blow JAY DESHMUKH
in power.
so far. “Tourism in Egypt will
Years of instability and a
simply die if it was a terrorist
rising tide of attacks claimed
attack that brought the plane down,” said Hama- by ultra religious terrorists have kept many
da Nagi, a tour operator from Hurgada.
would-be visitors away, damaging the economy
IS has so far not provided any details in its and sending Egypt’s foreign currency reserves
claim, but aviation experts say the fact that debris plunging. Last year, just under 10 million tourand bodies were strewn over a wide area points to ists visited, sharply down on the 15 million who
came in 2010, state media reported. On Saturday,
tour operators in Russia reported a sales drop
of 30 to 50 per cent in a “shock reaction” to the
crash, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported,
quoting a tourism official. “There have been cancellations in the first few days, but there aren’t
many of them,” Yury Barzykin, Vice-President
of the Russian Tour Industry Union, said. But “if
the version about a terrorist attack is confirmed,
that will raise more concern.” Every fifth Russian
tourist going abroad goes to Egypt, he said, adding that even the political turmoil and unrest that
followed the July 2013 ouster president Mohamed
Mursi failed to prompt a serious drop.
Sharm el Sheikh was hit by bombings in July
2005 that killed nearly 90 people, in one of the
deadliest attacks in Egypt. For many, Saturday’s
disaster was a reminder of such attacks. Russian
tourists in Hurgada were “still shocked and worried” after the crash, said tour operator Nagi, although some said that heightened security measures can cushion any long-term blow.
“If security steps are taken and widely announced, then there won’t be a critical drop,” said
Barzykin. “Egypt is the main destination for Russians, it has no competitors in the winter period,
due to its climate, the standard of service and
prices.”
Fruits of development
JAVED NAWAZ
O
man like other nations faces challenges to prepare young men and
women to compete in the international market by providing quality
education. “As long as society succeeds in raising, developing, qualifying, training, enhancing skills and diversifying the experience of its
human resources, success is guaranteed in building a modern state with
progress in all aspects of life” rightly emphasised His Majesty Sultan
Qaboos in his address on the National Day of 2005.
Under the directive of His Majesty, the Public Authority for SME
Development, Rafd Fund, National Business Centre and SAAS Programmes, strive to incubate start-up businesses. All these institutions
acknowledge the fact that SMEs in the Sultanate have the potential to
become engines of economic growth and that the Omani youth need to
seize new opportunities.
During his historic visit to Pakistan in 2001, His Majesty vehemently emphasised the need to transform cultural, religious, geographical
and historic relations into economic ties between the two brotherly
counters. Accordingly he approved the incorporation of Pak-Oman Investment Company that has performed well to strengthen economic
ties of the two countries.
Keeping an eye on the challenges faced to the region, under the directive of His Majesty, Oman is consistently pursuing the policy of food
security and has set up Food Investment Holding Company. While
Oman is importing rice, wheat, meat, milk, vegetables and fruits from
world over, at a great cost, the OFIC may seize opportunities available
in neighbouring Pakistan by setting rice mills, vegetable & fruit production, cattle breeding, wheat cultivation as joint ventures. This will
certainly be in fulfilment of the wishes of His Majesty to attain food
self-sufficiency and strengthen economic ties.
After living in Oman for over three decades, enjoying the fruits
of peace and development taken place under His Majesty’s dynamic
leadership, I can proudly say that Oman under his wise leadership has
earned a place of respect in the comity of nations. Oman remained neutral in the Iraq – Iran war and played a significant role to facilitate negotiations between the US and Iran in resolving disputes.
Oman took a very positive stance with neutrality while Gulf forces
under Saudi command intervened in Yemen. We solemnly pray for
health and long life of His Majesty to continue the pace of development
and attain the status of a welfare state, where young and old, rich and
poor, all live together to enjoy the fruits of peace and prosperity.
(This is the concluding article of a three-part series on how His Majesty
Sultan Qaboos turned Oman into a role model for other nations)
A woman walks past an election campaign billboard for the “Croatia forward” coalition led by Leader of Social Democrat Party of Zoran Milanovic in downtown
Zagreb. Croatia goes to the polls on November 8 to elect a new government at a time when its economy is among the weakest in the European Union. — AFP
Croatia votes as migrants rush, economy slumps
C
roatians vote in a general election on Sunday
as the nation faces an ongoing influx of refugees — a crisis that rival political camps have
tried to exploit, while lacking concrete policy pledges to kickstart the sluggish economy.
After four years of a centre-left coalition
government and six years of recession, the
right-wing opposition is bidding to return to
power in the country’s first general elections
since joining the European Union in 2013.
Polls show the conservative Patriotic Coalition led by the HDZ party just ahead, but
its comfortable lead has been erased in recent months by the ruling Croatia Is Growing alliance led by the Social Democrats
(SDP) and Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic.
Some say the arrival since mid-September of more than 300,000 migrants headed
for northern Europe has provided a welcome diversion for Milanovic after a disappointing term in which he failed to implement much hoped-for reforms.
“The government was lucky that ahead of
the elections a political issue emerged that
pushed everything else — namely resolving
economic issues — into the background,”
independent political consultant Davor
Gjenero said.
The premier appears to have walked a
fine line between showing compassion and
defending national interests — first talking
tough with neighbour and former foe Serbia, but recently agreeing on a rare deal to
transport migrants across their shared border by train.
“Milanovic, who...six months ago looked
politically dead, now seems politically alive
to a certain extent,” Gjenero said.
Running a campaign rich in nationalist
rhetoric, the opposition, led by former spy
chief Tomislav Karamarko, has also weighed
in on the crisis — first calling for tighter
border controls, then criticising the government’s treatment of migrants.
With many in Croatia sympathising with
refugees after being displaced in their own
1990s war, the right-wing bloc appeared to
struggle over how best to approach the issue.
“It was really interesting to watch them
try to capitalise on the crisis but not truly
knowing what resonates with the population,” said Josip Glaurdic, an expert on
southeastern Europe at the University of
Cambridge.
At an SDP election rally in Zagreb on
Wednesday, as the crowd waved Croatian
flags and scarves in the party colour red, bystanders praised the government’s handling
of the migrant crisis, but thought it would
not be enough to swing votes.
An unemployed 57-year-old who gave
her name only as Vesna said the government
had shown “humanity” to refugees, but criticised it for lacking “decisiveness and courage” in other areas.
Jelena, a 31-year-old chef holding her
The arrival of more than
300,000 migrants headed for
northern Europe has provided
a welcome diversion for PM
Milanovic after a disappointing term in which he failed to
implement much hoped-for
reforms, say LAJLA VESELICA &
RACHEL O’BRIEN
two-year-old daughter Mia, said she was
mostly concerned for her children’s future.
“The key is to increase employment so
that young people do not run away from
Croatia,” she said, referring to the thousands
who move abroad in search of work each
year. Croatia’s economic struggles may not
strike a first-time visitor to Zagreb’s elegant
Habsburg streets, abuzz with trendy cafes.
But the problems are stark: Croatia is one
of the EU’s poorest-performing economies,
with public debt at nearly 90 per cent of
gross domestic product and unemployment
at 16.2 per cent in September — 43.1 per
cent among youths.
Although a return to growth of nearly
one per cent is expected this year, analysts
say the campaigns sorely lack solid reformist
pledges.
Instead they have traded bitter barbs,
with the left slamming the HDZ for corruption after a series of cases involving former
leader Ivo Sanader, and the right retorting
with jibes about the SDP’s “unpatriotic” past
owing to its communist roots in the ex-Yugoslavia.
“We had a clash between ‘those who
do not love Croatia’ and ‘those who looted
Croatia’,” said Berto Salaj, political science
professor at Zagreb University.
Smaller groups may end up playing kingmakers and weeks of negotiations could
ensue if neither camp wins an outright majority. When a government is finally formed,
“odds are about even” that it will face a serious threat of a debt default within two years,
Glaurdic warned.
“Whoever is in is going to have a really
tough time.”
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FRIDAY | NOVEMBER 6, 2015 | MUHARRAM 23, 1437 AH
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Inside
Beware! 3-D printers could be toxic Omega 3 supplements ineffective in depression SRK’s intolerance comment leaves Salman in a fix FOLLOW US ON:
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editor@omanobserver.om
Q JENNIE MATTHEW
A
n Asian collector
splurged
nearly
$43 million on an
Amadeo Modigliani
painting in New
York, scooping the
top prize in an otherwise lackluster
evening sale at Sotheby’s that kicked off
the autumn auction season.
The auction house sold $377 million
worth of art amassed by self-made
American billionaire Alfred Taubman, a
former Sotheby’s chairman who did jail
time for price fixing in 2002.
The two-and-a-half hour auction
saw strong bidding from America and
Europe as well, but Asia’s acquisition
of the Modigliani portrait underscores
increasing purchasing power in the
region.
The painting, one of Modigliani’s last
and dated 1919, went for $42.81 million
— far above pre-sale estimates in excess
of $25 million.
‘Paulette Jourdain’ depicts the maid
and later lover of his art dealer, Leopold
Zborowski. It came to the auction block
for the first time and attracted bidding
from five buyers, Sotheby’s said.
Sotheby’s identified the buyer as a
private Asian collector.
The second highest lot was a 1976
landscape by Dutch-American abstract
expressionist Willem de Kooning,
‘Untitled XXI,’ which sold for $24.89
million, scraping its lowest pre-sale
estimate of $25 million.
A Pablo Picasso portrait of his lover
Dora Maar, once owned by murdered
Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace,
sold slightly under budget at $20 million.
Sotheby’s had valued the oil painting,
‘Femme assise sur une chaise,’ at $25 to
$35 million before Wednesday’s auction.
Two other top lots did not sell
after failing to attract minimum bids
— ‘Femme Nue’ by Edgar Degas and
‘Disappearance I’ by American painter
Jasper Johns, which were both valued at
$15-20 million.
Simon Shaw, co-head of Sotheby’s
impressionist and modern art, said he
was “surprised” the Degas had not sold
and expected there would now be a lot
of competition to snap it up.
“That was one of the real jewels of
this collection. No question that’s the
best Degas pastel that has been on the
market in quite a significant time,” he
told reporters.
European collectors snapped up at
least five of the top 10 bids and three
went to private American collectors, the
auction house said.
“There’s a lot of liquidity out there
but people really want the right things.
And they’re quite careful about how
they spend their money, so it’s quite an
efficient marketplace I’d say,” Shaw said.
Among those in attendance were
Italian fashion designer Valentino and
Taubman’s family.
Born to Polish immigrants, Taubman
made a fortune by developing and
building shopping malls. He was a
prominent philanthropist, as well as
businessman, who built up a staggering
art collection.
Wednesday’s event also set a world
record price at auction for artist Frank
Sotheby’s had valued the Taubman being auctioned on Thursday.
Stella, whose “Delaware Crossing” sold collection at $375 million to $527
Taubman was convicted in a New
for $13.69 million.
million, before the sale. Other items are York federal court of colluding with a
THE AUCTION HOUSE SOLD $377
MILLION WORTH OF ART AMASSED
BY SELF-MADE AMERICAN
BILLIONAIRE ALFRED TAUBMAN,
A FORMER SOTHEBY’S CHAIRMAN
WHO DID JAIL TIME FOR PRICE
FIXING IN 2002
counterpart at Christie’s in a conspiracy
that US prosecutors said cheated
customers out of $100 million.
Taubman, who insisted on his
innocence, died in April aged 91.
Christie’s and Sotheby’s go head
to head in a week of auction sales six
months after the spring season smashed
a string of records and netted more than
$2.6 billion for the rival auction houses.
Fueled by rising demand from Asia
and the Gulf, the spring season saw
a new record for a work of art sold at
auction — $179.4 million for Picasso’s
“The Women of Algiers (Version 0).”
The most expensive lots this season
are a sumptuous nude by Modigliani
valued at $100 million, and a pop art
masterpiece from Roy Lichtenstein
estimated at $80 million, both to go
under the hammer at Christie’s. — AFP
ENVIRONMENT
Snow mounts in Antarctica but ice loss continues
A
Sea ice is one important aspect of both
the Arctic region and Antarctica.
nnual snowfall has mounted
30 per cent in West Antarctica
over the past century, but the
extra powder has not spelled good news
for the melting ice sheet, researchers
said on Wednesday.
Instead, the snow is likely a result of
heightened storm activity over warmer
ocean waters, which are in turn leading
to the ice loss, said the study in the
journal ‘Geophysical Research Letters’.
“In this region, the same storms that
have driven increased snowfall inland
have brought warmer ocean currents
into contact with West Antarctic’s ice
shelves, resulting in rapid thinning,” said
a statement by lead author Elizabeth
Thomas, a paleoclimatologist with the
British Antarctic Survey.
“Thus the increased snowfall we
report here has not led to thickening
of the ice sheet, but is in fact another
symptom of the changes that are driving
contemporary ice sheet loss.”
Using ice cores to examine snowfall as
far back as 1712 along West Antarctica’s
coast, researchers found a particularly
rapid acceleration of snowfall since the
1990s.
“In the last 30 years of the study, the
ice sheet gained nearly five meters (16
feet) more water than it did during the
first 30 years of the studied time period.”
From 1900 to 2010, annual snow
accumulation increased 30 per cent,
said the study.
Experts are closely watching the ice
melt in Antarctica because the rapidly
thinning ice sheet will play a key role
in global sea level rise in the coming
centuries.
Meanwhile, other studies have raised
alarm bells that the melting, brought
on by global warming and driven by
the burning of fossil fuels, may have
reached an irreversible point and will
likely produce a three-metre rise in sea
levels.
“Since the record is 300 years long,
we can see that the amount of snow that
has been accumulating in this region
since the 1990s is the highest we have
seen in the last 300 years,” said Thomas.
“The 20th century increases look
unusual.”
The study said that until 1899,
annual snow accumulation remained
steady, averaging 33 and 40 centimetres
(13 and 16 inches) of water, or melted
snow, each year at two locations.
Researchers believe the recent rise
in snow accumulation is due in part to
increased regional storm activity and
low pressure systems. — AFP
10
omandailyobserver
LIFESTYLE
EXPERTS ‘AMAZED’ BY TAPEWORM
THAT SPREAD TUMOURS
F R I DAY
NOVEMBER 6 l 2015
HEALTH FILE
Beware! 3-D printers
could be toxic
The dwarf
tapeworm, or
Hymenolepis nana
S
tunned scientists described
the first known case of a
man infected with tumour
by a common parasitic
tapeworm, raising concern
about more such infections
that may go undetected.
“We were amazed when we found
this new type of disease — tapeworms
growing inside a person essentially
getting cancer that spreads to the
person, causing tumours,” said Atis
Muehlenbachs, staff pathologist in
the US Centres for Disease Control
and Prevention’s Infectious Diseases
Pathology Branch.
“We think this type of event is rare.
However, this tapeworm is found
worldwide and millions of people
globally suffer from conditions like
HIV that weaken their immune system.
So there may be more cases that are
unrecognised,” added Muehlenbachs,
lead author of the study in the ‘New
England Journal of Medicine’.
The case involved a 41 year-old man
in Colombia. He was HIV-positive and
not been taking medications when in
2013, he went to his doctors with a
cough, fever and complaints of weakness
and weight loss.
A medical mystery involving a
man with strange lesions has
been solved — but the
explanation, involving a cancer
that spread from a parasite to
the patient, has astounded
scientists. — AFP
His doctors took biopsies from
his lymph nodes and lung tumours,
and appealed to the CDC for help in
diagnosing some bizarre-looking lesions
which looked like human cancer, but
initial lab tests showed they were not
human.
Puzzled, scientists kept searching for
the cause of the man’s disease.
“The growth pattern was decidedly
cancer like, with too many cells
crowded into small spaces and quickly
multiplying,” the CDC said in a statement.
“But the cells were tiny — about 10
times smaller than a normal human
cancer cell. The researchers also noticed
cells fusing together, which is rare for
human cells.” After dozens of tests, they
found DNA from Hymenolepis nana, the
dwarf tapeworm, in the man’s tumour in
mid-2013.
The man died soon after.
The dwarf tapeworm is the most
common tapeworm in humans, and
infects up to 75 million people at any
given time. People can get it by eating
food that has mouse feces on it, or
ingesting feces from an infected person.
It often affects children, and many
people show no symptoms.
“However, in people whose immune
systems are weak, including people who
have HIV or are taking steroids, the
tapeworm thrives,” the CDC said.
H. nana is the only one of some 3,000
known tapeworms that can complete
its entire life cycle from egg to adult
tapeworm in an individual’s small
intestine.
Rarely are infections of the tapeworm
found outside the small intestine, but
in the case of the Colombian man,
his weakened immune state may have
enabled the parasite’s cancer to spread
through his body.
“Malignant transformation of H. nana
may be misdiagnosed as human cancer,
particularly in underdeveloped countries
in which HIV and H. nana infections are
widespread,” said the study.
“The host-parasite interaction that
we report should stimulate deeper
exploration of the relationships between
infection and cancer.”
Ways to avoid infection include
washing hands with soap and warm water
and by washing, peeling, or cooking raw
vegetables and fruits before eating.
The CDC said it is unclear whether
human cancer treatments would help
in such cases, but urged physicians in
developing nations to “be aware of the
possibility of similar illnesses, especially
if they have patients with weakened
immune systems who have tumours.”
— AFP
NATURAL PHENOMENA
Supervolcanoes triggered by external mechanism
S
upervolcanoes with massive
eruptions with potential global
consequences become active when
the roof above them cracks or collapses,
not because of internal pressure building,
suggests new research.
Knowledge of triggering mechanisms
is crucial for monitoring supervolcano
systems, including ones that lie beneath
Yellowstone National Park and Long
Valley, California, US, the researchers
pointed out.
“If
we
want
to
monitor
supervolcanoes to determine if one is
progressing toward eruption, we need
better understanding of what triggers
a supereruption,” said lead researcher
Patricia Gregg, professor of geology at
University of Illinois.
“It is very likely that supereruptions mechanism, which makes them very
Considered five hundred times larger
must be triggered by an external different from the typical, smaller than a typical volcano, a supervolcano
mechanism and not an internal volcanoes that we monitor,” Gregg noted. is classed as more than 500 cubic
kilometres of erupted magma volume.
“Typically, when we think about how
a volcanic eruption is triggered, we are
taught that the pressure in the magma
chamber increases until it causes an
explosion and the volcano erupts,” Gregg
said.
“This is the prevailing hypothesis
for how eruptions are triggered. At
supervolcanic sites, however, we do not
see a lot of evidence for pressurisation,”
Gregg noted.
According to the new model that
the researchers developed, if a crack or
fault in the roof penetrates the magma
chamber, the magma uses the crack as a
vent to shoot to the surface. This could
trigger a chain reaction that “unzips” the
whole supervolcano.
The study was published in the
Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal
Research. — IANS
T
hey may appear fancy but some
objects produced by commercial
3D printers could be toxic to our
health and environment, suggests
new research.
“These 3D printers are like tiny
factories in a box,” said William
Grover, assistant professor of
bioengineering in Bourns College
of Engineering at University of
California - Riverside, US.
“We regulate factories. We would
never bring one into our home. Yet,
we are starting to bring these 3D
printers into our homes like they are
toasters,” Grover noted.
The researchers studied two
common types of 3D printers: one
that melts plastic to build a part, and
another that uses light to turn a liquid
into a solid part.
They found that parts from both
types of printers were measurably
toxic to zebrafish embryos, and parts
from the liquid-based printer were
the most toxic.
The research comes as the
popularity of 3D printers is soaring.
The value of the 3D printing
market grew from $288 million in
2012 to $2.5 billion in 2013 and is
projected to grow to $16.2 billion by
Same gender virtual avatar
can boost healthy behaviour
C
BEHAVIOUR
Curiosity is a drive state for information: Study
P
hilosopher Thomas Hobbes
called curiosity “the lust of the
mind” while former US first
lady Eleanor Roosevelt said it was
“the most useful gift”. Now, two
researchers from the University
of Rochester propose that it
is time to organise and focus
on
curiosity’s
function,
evolution, mechanism and
development.
“Curiosity is a long-standing problem
th
that is fascinating but has been difficult
to approach scientifically,” said study
co
co-author Benjamin Hayden, assistant
pr
professor of brain and cognitive sciences.
“But we felt that the field has recently
m
managed to develop new formal and
qu
quantifiable techniques for studying
cu
curiosity and that it’s worth getting the
w
word out,” he added.
Scientists have been taking notes
ab
about curiosity since the 19th century.
Over time, studies have tried to
di
differentiate curiosity by saying it
is entirely intrinsically motivated
(c
(compared to information-seeking and
ri
risk-seeking).
“But this type of definition runs into
pr
problems when determining the intrinsic
m
motivation of babies, primates and other
o
organisms that cannot communicate
their inner world,” the authors noted.
For their study, the authors used a
working definition of curiosity “as a
drive state for information” which
can be observed in organisms as
simple as nematode worms.
“When the information-seeking
becomes active, it’s reasonable to start
talking about it as a minimal form of
curiosity,” Hayden added.
“This definition will be hard for
some people to swallow. But by looking
at it from an evolutionary perspective,
scientists can make rapid progress,” he
noted.
One question still up for debate is
whether curiosity always carries benefits
— whether immediately or in the future.
“It’s agreed that information allows
for better choices, but curiosity can lead
animals to pursue stimuli that aren’t
necessarily useful,” the study said.
While increasing curiosity reduces
uncertainty and makes for better choices
on what to explore, the animals’ brains
are also wired to reward us for learning
new information, which can put us at
different risks. The authors also note
that the study of curiosity overlaps with
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) and other attentional disorders.
The paper was published in the
journal Neuron. — IANS
2018, according to a report by global
market analysis firm Canalys.
And, as the price of 3D printers
continues to drop, printers that use
melted plastic are currently available
for as little as $200, and the liquidbased printer used in this study can
be bought for less than $3,000, they
are moving beyond industry and
research labs to homes and small
businesses, the study pointed out.
While the embryos exposed to
parts from the plastic-melting printer
had slightly decreased average
survival rates compared to control
embryos, the embryos exposed to
parts from the liquid-resin printer
had significantly decreased survival
rates, with more than half of the
embryos dead by day three and all
dead by day seven.
And of the few zebrafish embryos
that hatched after exposure to
parts from the liquid-resin printer,
100 per cent of the hatchlings had
developmental abnormalities.
The results raise questions about
how to dispose of parts and waste
materials from 3D printers.
The findings appeared in the
Environmental Science & Technology
Letters. — IANS
reating an online persona to
better resemble its human user
may lead to improved health and
exercise behaviours, say researchers,
including one of Indian-origin.
“This study shows that even
individuals who are not normally
health-conscious are motivated
by customising a same-sex avatar
to better take care of their health,”
said one of the researchers S Shyam
Sundar from Pennsylvania State
University in the US.
The researchers recruited 132
students from a university to
customise an avatar in Second Life, a
popular virtual reality environment
that allows users to customise their
avatars in a number of ways.
The participants were then
assigned to build either a same-sex
avatar, or an opposite sex avatar.
Another group of participants could
see their own image on a small
separate screen as they customised
their avatar.
People who customised their
avatars to match their offline gender
— a task the researchers used to test
the similarity of the avatar — were
more likely to have better exercise
intentions and choose better health
behaviours than ones who created
an avatar of the opposite sex,
according to the researchers.
After customising their avatars,
both people who were already
health-conscious and those who
were less likely to think about health
chose healthier intentions, such as
selecting coupons for a fitness club
rather than coupons for a fast food
restaurant, as compensation for
customising their avatars.
The act of customising an
avatar seems to create a personal
connection between people and
their virtual alter egos and sticks
with them in real life, Sundar
explained.
“Perhaps
more
important,
there is the sense of agency we
get from being able to shape
our online persona. This agentic
feeling transfers over to our offline
motivations and actions,” he pointed
out.
The researchers believe that
online health and diet counsellors
could one day use this avatar
customisation
technique
to
reinforce advice and treatment for
their clients.
The findings appeared in the
journal Cyberpsychology, Behaviour
and Social Networking’ — IANS
LEISURE
F R I DAY
NOVEMBER 6 l 2015
omandailyobserver
LOVE MATH? Moderate anxiety
may improve performance
Omega 3 supplements
ineffective in depression
W
I
f you value math, a little
nervousness in relation to math
problems may actually improve
your performance, suggests new
research.
The researchers found that
a moderate level of math anxiety was
associated with high math performance
among students who reported high math
motivation —that is, among students
who reported that they valued math and
embraced math challenges.
For those who are low in this kind of
math motivation, however, high math
anxiety appears to be linked with low
math performance, the study said.
“Our findings show that the negative
association between math anxiety and
math learning is not universal,” said Zhe
Wang of Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University in the US.
“Math motivation can be an important
buffer to the negative influence of math
anxiety,” Wang noted.
While some children might be anxious
about math because it is extremely
difficult for them and they feel threatened
by it, others might be anxious about math
because they want to perform well.
The researchers hypothesised that
different underlying motivations for
these two groups may have different
consequences for math learning
behaviours and performance.
The researchers first looked at data
from 262 pairs of same-sex twins. The
ADAM @ HOME
children, about 12 years old on average,
completed measures of math anxiety and
math motivation.
They also completed six tasks aimed at
measuring math performance.
The results indicated that there were
no differences in math anxiety and math
motivation according to age, but they
did show that girls tended to have higher
math anxiety than boys.
When the researchers investigated
A MODERATE LEVEL OF
MATH ANXIETY WAS
ASSOCIATED WITH HIGH
MATH PERFORMANCE
AMONG STUDENTS WHO
REPORTED HIGH MATH
MOTIVATION
math anxiety and math motivation
together, a complex pattern of results
emerged.
For children who reported low levels
of math motivation, increases in math
anxiety were associated with poorer
performance.
For children who reported high math
motivation, performance increased
with anxiety, reaching peak levels with
moderate anxiety. — IANS
idely thought to be
essential for good
health, Omega 3 fatty
acid supplements may not be
of much help in treating major
depressive disorders, suggests new
research.
Omega 3 fatty acids have been
widely promoted globally and
are readily available
unter
over-the-counter
supplement.
These fatty
acids are
naturally
found in
fatty fish,
such
as
d
tuna, seafood
uts and
and some nuts
seeds.
“At present, we just do not have
enough high quality evidence to
determine the effects of Omega 3
fatty acids as a treatment for major
depressive disorder,” said study
lead author Katherine Appleton
from Bournemouth University in
England.
“It is important that people who
suffer from depression are aware
of this, so that they can make more
informed choices about treatment,”
Appleton pointed out.
Adults with major depressive
disorders are characterised by
depressed mood or a lack of
pleasure in previously enjoyed
activities for at least two weeks, in
the absence of any physical cause,
that impact on everyday life.
For the study, the researchers
gathered together data from 26
randomised trials involving a total
of 1,458 participants.
The trials investigated the
impact of giving an Omega 3 fatty
acid
supplement
in a capsule
fform and
compared
it to a
dummy
pill.
While
people
who were
giv
given
Omega
3
fatty
acids
reported lower symptom scores
than people with the dummy pill,
the effect was insignificant.
“We found a small-to-modest
positive effect of Omega 3 fatty
acids compared to placebo, but
the size of this effect is unlikely
to be meaningful to people with
depression, and we considered the
evidence to be of low or very low
quality,” Appleton noted.
The study was published in
Cochrane Library, a collection of
databases in medicine and other
healthcare specialities provided by
London-based Cochrane and other
organisations. — IANS
CHECKING POLLUTION
CARTOONS
by Brian Basset
CALVIN AND HOBBES
by Bill Watterson
GARFIELD
by Jim Davis
STONE SOUP
Hospitals
by Jan Eliot
Hospital . . .Board . . . . . .Emergency
Royal . . . . .24599000 . . .24590491
Health Services Department
‘ YOUR STARS ‘
Muttrah . . . . . 24797602
Quriyat . . . . . 24845001
SQH, Salalah 23211555
Police . . . . . . 24603988
Al Nahda. . . . 24831255
Ibn Sina . . . . 24876322
Nizwa . . . . . . 25439361
Al Rustaq . . . 26875055
Samayil. . . . . 25350055
Izki . . . . . . . . 25340033
IF IT’S YOUR
BIRTHDAY:
Long awaited
news will
eventually
materialise in
the coming year
and if you are
contemplating
a long journey
all the signs
are pointing
towards a most
successful trip.
It will put new
zest into your life
and you will feel
that your recent
struggle was all
worthwhile.
11
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
24845003
23211151
24603980
24837800
24877361
25425033
26877186
25350022
25340033
Haima. . . . . . 23436013
Sohar . . . . . . 26840022
Al Buraimi. . . 25650855
Sur . . . . . . . . 25440244
Tanam. . . . . . 25499011
Masirah. . . . . 25404018
Ibra . . . . . . . . 25470533
Adam . . . . . . 25434167
Bidiyah . . . . . 25483535
Ibri. . . . . . . . . 25491011
Saham . . . . . 26854427
Khasab . . . . . 26830187
Daba. . . . . . . 26836443
Bukha . . . . . . 26828397
Sinaw . . . . . . 25474338
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
SCORPIO
SAGITTARIUS
CAPRICORN
AQUARIUS
PISCES
ARIES
October 23November 21
November 22December 21
December 22January 20
January 21February 19
February 20March 20
March 21April 20
Your relationship with a new
acquaintance of the opposite
sex is very likely to remain on
a superficial level for a long
time.
Try to clear up any backlog of
work today so that you will be
free to start any new project immediately.
Bear in mind that a good way of
avoiding marital discord is to remain on friendly terms with your
partner’s relatives.
Don’t delay any longer the implementation of a well thought
out scheme by waiting for the
promised help, which may never
come.
Just because you live with a person
it doesn’t mean that he deserves
less consideration than others.
Apologise immediately if you are
in the wrong.
23436055
26840099
25652319
25461373
25499033
25404018
25470535
25434055
25483535
25491990
26855148
26830187
26836443
26828397
You would be doing two friends
a great favour if you could bring
them together and then leave them
alone for a time so that they can
sort out their differences.
TAURUS
GEMINI
CANCER
LEO
VIRGO
LIBRA
April 21May 20
May 21June 21
June 22July 21
July 22August 21
August 22September 22
September 23October 22
The contents of a letter from abroad
concerning a relative who may have
lost touch with the family may cause
some difference of opinion among
the people involved.
A meeting with a person of the opposite sex at a social gathering tonight will have a strong emotional
impact on you but it may not lead to
along-term relationship.
If you have made a fool of yourself
today resist the temptation to confide in a friend. You will feel better tomorrow if you have kept it to
yourself.
Even if someone you have always
trusted has done you an injury don’t
give into an impulse to have your revenge. Give the other person another
chance.
If you are about to take a rather
unconventional step you should
seriously consider the possible
consequences before making
your move.
Proceed very carefully if you
are contemplating a property
deal and make sure that you are
negotiating through a reliable
person.
12
ENTERTAINMENT
omandailyobserver
F R I DAY
NOVEMBER 6 l 2015
OSCAR CONTENDERS
in focus at AFI Fest
TINSELTOWN
Britney Spears is recording
a new album
S
inger Britney Spears says she is working
on
a
new album.
While multiple reports speculated
that Spears, 33, had new music in the
works, the singer did not officially
confirm the news of a complete
album until Tuesday, reports
people.com.
“Working hard and hardly
working…new
album…
wheeeee!”
Spears
tweeted,
attaching a photograph of herself
and friends.
Last week, she had tweeted that
she had just finished recording one
song and used the hashtag ‘B9’, sending
fans into frenzy about the possibility of a
new
album.
“Just finished recording some vox. Love this song. It makes me smile, and I
hope it will make you smile too…#B9,” the tweet read.
The mother-of-two didn’t give any information regarding an album release
date, but recording new music won’t be the only thing keeping her busy. In
September Spears announced that she was extending her Vegas residency for
another two years.
T
he American Film
Institute kicks off
its annual festival
on Thursday with
a handful of hotlyanticipated
world
premieres as Hollywood’s awards season
picks up pace in the run-up to the
Oscars.
Angelina Jolie’s ‘By the Sea,’ the NFL
drama ‘Concussion’ starring Will Smith
and ‘The Big Short’ — about the credit
and housing bubble collapse of the mid2000s — are all debuting at the 29th AFI
Fest, which runs through November 12.
Films that have already premiered
elsewhere — like harrowing drama
‘Room’ and 1950s love story ‘Carol’ —
will also be screened, as studios look
to further build support for their Oscar
campaigns.
The event plays a crucial role in the
competition for the coveted golden
statuettes, Tom O’Neil, the founder
of show business awards prediction
website Goldderby.com said.
“It’s the perfect time on the calendar
to spotlight contenders to the industry
in a highly celebrated way,” he said.
The Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences announces Oscar
nominations in mid-January, ahead of
the ceremony on February 28.
The AFI Fest is “important because
there is no frontrunner at the moment
for the best picture,” said Tom Nunan, a
TV and film producer, and professor at
the UCLA School of Theater, Film and
Television.
For festival director Jacqueline
Lyanga, “it’s really exciting to be a part
of that conversation and to know that
maybe there was an Academy member
who was there and had the chance to see
the movie.”
Last year’s AFI Fest included such
movies as ‘Selma’ and ‘American Sniper’
— both of which were nominated for
Best Picture.
In past years, the festival showcased
Athiya Shetty lauds style
icon Sonam
Will Smith accepts the Hollywood Actor Award for ‘Concussion’ during the 19th Annual Hollywood Film Awards at The Beverly
Hilton Hotel recently. — AFP
such Oscar winners as ‘Silver Linings
Playbook,’ ‘Lincoln’ and ‘The Fighter.’
This year, AFI Fest opens with the
world premiere of ‘By the Sea,’ directed
by Jolie, and in which she stars with
her husband Brad Pitt. The pair portray
a married couple whose relationship
appears to be nearing collapse.
“They shot the movie during
their honeymoon, which is horribly
romantic,” Lyanga said.
O’Neil said that after last year’s
“big disappointment” for Jolie with
‘Unbroken,’ which got middling reviews
and no major Oscar nominations, ‘By
the Sea’ needs a good showing at the AFI
to get into awards contention.
“The early buzz on ‘By the Sea’ is
good, but it doesn’t have Oscar buzz,” he
said.
‘Concussion,’ which stars Oscar
ANGELINA JOLIE’S ‘BY
THE SEA,’ STARRING WILL
SMITH AND ‘THE BIG
SHORT’, ABOUT THE CREDIT
AND HOUSING BUBBLE
COLLAPSE OF THE MID2000S, ARE ALL DEBUTING
AT THE 29TH AFI FEST,
WHICH RUNS THROUGH
NOVEMBER 12
nominee Smith as the doctor who
lifted the lid on brain trauma suffered
by American football players, and ‘The
Big Short’ are also expected to generate
awards buzz.
‘The Big Short,’ starring Pitt, Christian
Bale, Ryan Gosling and Steve Carell, has
a “really great ensemble and also a great
story about the financial crisis which has
been so devastating for so many people,”
Lyanga said.
“Having these movies and these
premieres is really reminiscent of old
Hollywood,” she said.
‘Carol,’ starring Rooney Mara and
Cate Blanchett, got rave reviews at the
Cannes film festival in the spring and
has a strong Oscar buzz for the lead
actresses.
Also being screened at AFI Fest
are ‘Spotlight,’ about journalists
investigating the Catholic Church’s
child sex scandal in Boston, and ‘Room’
—both of which open on Friday in the
United States.
Richa Chadha on jury of
Marrakech Film Festival 2015
A
ctress Richa Chadha says she is “very excited” about
heading to Morocco for the Marrakech Film Festival
2015, where she will be part of a jury, headed by
American film director, producer and screenwriter Francis
Ford Coppola who will be the jury president.
A five-time Academy Award winner, Coppola is best known
for directing “The Godfather” trilogy and “Apocalypse Now.
An actress who has received critical acclaim for her powerpacked performances in films like ‘Gangs Of Wasseypur’ and
‘Masaan’, Richa is looking forward to discuss cinema with an
icon like him.
“I am very excited to be a part of the 15th Marrakech Film
Festival as jury member. When I got to know I have been
selected to represent India as the jury, I felt humbled and
grateful. Coppola will be presiding over the jury and it is such
an honour for me to be able to share and discuss cinema with
him,” the actress said in a statement.
The festival will be held from December 4-12.
Earlier, ‘The Lunchbox’ director Ritesh Batra and Anurag
Kashyap have been part of the jury at the gala.
Nargis Fakhri opens new Reebok store; It was a moment
of ‘Phata poster Nikla Hero’ when Nargis Fakhri launched the
BITTERSWEET RELATIONSHIP
re in the Greater Kailash M
new store of Reebok store
lhi.
block market in New Delhi.
The actress not only entertained the
spectators with some of the combat training
routine but also tore through a Reebok
backdrop and revealed the new store to
nthusiasts gathered
fans and fellow fitness enthusiasts
around.
itment to women
Reinforcing its commitment
sition as a leading
and strengthening its position
try, Reebok India
fitness player in the country,
ed the launch of its
on Wednesday announced
tore. The store was
latest ‘Fit-Hub’ concept store.
inaugurated by Reebok Brand ambassador
Nargis Fakhri, along with Dave Thomas,
ok & adidas India.
managing director, Reebok
Kick-starting with a big-bang and amidst
n the busy GK 1, M Block
high-levels of curiosity in
Market, Nargis Fakhri joined Reebok trainers
outine, as unsuspecting and
in a combat training routine,
ed
surprised shoppers looked
on. — IANS
A
ctress Athiya Shetty, (pictured) who
made her Bollywood debut with
Salman Khan’s production ‘Hero’, finds
his ‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo’ co-star
Sonam Kapoor the best style icon,
and thinks that nobody can be
compared to her.
“Sonam is the best style icon
in Bollywood. Nobody can
be compared to her,” Athiya,
daughter of Suniel Shetty, said at
Shoppers Stop ‘Femina Flaunt’
fashion launch. When asked about
being compared to Sonam Kapoor
on style statement, she said: “Sonam
has made mark of her own, she is
beautiful and one of the most talented
actresses we have today.”
Athiya says her own style is very
“simplistic”.
“I’m a simple
person. I am happy to wear whatever is comfortable
for me. I don’t necessarily wear everything which is in style, but something which
suits the body type. One should wear clothes which flatter you and make you feel
comfortable and confident,” she said. As of now, she is focussed on working hard
towards success.
“I have just made an entry in Bollywood and have many more things to learn,”
she said, adding that her New Year resolution would be “hard work and patience”.
Kendall Jenner buys
classic car
M
odel and reality TV
personality
Kendall
Jenner bought herself a 1957
Corvette
Stingray
worth
$100,000 for her birthday.
Alex Manos, owner of
the Beverly Hills Car Club,
described the highly-coveted
car as a “great example” of
its era, noting it was in good
condition and hasn’t been
customised.
“This particular model 1957
Chevrolet Corvette Convertible
comes in a Cascade Green with beige
coves
and white shoreline beige interior and Beige
soft top. It’s a
4-speed car and should come with the spare tyre, jack tools and trunk mat.
“The tires are the original white walls. This is a great example of the first
generation Corvette,” Manos told eonline.com.
Kendall, 20, was spotted behind the wheel of her new car, with close friend
Hailey Baldwin in the passenger seat.
The brunette model celebrated her birthday on Monday at the Nice Guy
Club in West Hollywood, with her mother Kris Jenner and half-sisters Khloe
Kardashian and Kim Kardashian West among those in attendance. — IANS
SRK’s intolerance comment leaves Salman in a fix
S
uperstar Salman Khan says he is always
left in a position to “explain” whenever
his colleague Shah Rukh Khan gets
involved in any controversy.
Shah Rukh’s comment on “extreme
intolerance” in India earlier this week landed
him in a soup, leading BJP MP Yogi Adityanath
to compare the actor to Pakistani Hafiz Saeed,
and another Hindutva proponent, Sadhvi
Prachi dubbing the actor a “Pakistani agent”.
Asked to comment on it, Salman quipped:
“SRK says something and leaves, then I come
into picture. He says something and then I
have to come and explain.”
Salman expressed his views during a
promotional visit for his forthcoming film
‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo’ — releasing on
November 12 — in the city on Wednesday.
He was accompanied by his co-star Sonam
Kapoor.
The ‘Kick’ star first tried to evade the
question about the political furore as he
emphasised that he was not “aware” of Shah
Rukh’s remarks on intolerance.
“We hugged each other, but I don’t know
what he has said,” Salman said, referring to a
photograph that Shah Rukh shared after his
50th birthday.
Salman had gone to wish Shah Rukh on
November 2 on his special day. Then, SRK
took to Twitter to share a candid moment of
the meeting, in which the duo can be seen
embracing each other.
SRK and Salman are known for their
SRK AND SALMAN ARE
KNOWN FOR THEIR
BITTERSWEET BOND OFFSCREEN, BUT ON THE BIG
SCREEN, THEY HAVE SHARED
THE FRAME IN SEVERAL
FILMS. FOR SOME TIME
NOW, IT SEEMS THEY ARE
WRITING A NEW CHAPTER OF
HEALTHY COMPETITION IN
BOLLYWOOD
bittersweet bond off-screen, but on the big
screen, they have shared the frame in films like
‘Karan Arjun’, ‘Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam’
and ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’.
For some time now, it seems they are
writing a new chapter of healthy competition
in Bollywood as Shah Rukh unveiled the first
look of ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’, and Salman has
maintained that there will be ‘double dhamaal’
with his ‘Sultan’ and Shah Rukh’s ‘Raees’
releasing on Eid in 2016.
Meanwhile, Salman Khan, whose portrayal
as an innocent Lord Hanuman devotee in
‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ won the audience’s heart,
says his forthcoming film ‘Prem Ratan Dhan
Payo’ is the “most beautiful” film he has done
in his over two decade-old career. — IANS
FRIDAY | NOVEMBER 6, 2015 | MUHARRAM 23, 1437 AH
P15
P14
P16
Inside
Pacific trade pact details released Energy efficient cars, fridges seen aiding GDP The art of finding profitable solutions FOLLOW US ON:
BIZ BUZZ
M&S ups non-food
margin forecast
LONDON: British retailer Marks &
Spencer raised its annual forecast for
non-food profit margins, its strategic
priority, despite reporting another dip
in quarterly underlying sales in the
troubled division. The 131-year-old firm
also beat forecasts for first half profit and
increased its dividend.
M&S said sales of general
merchandise, spanning clothing,
footwear and homeware, at stores open
over a year, fell 1.9 per cent in the 13
weeks to September 26, its fiscal second
quarter.
That compares to analysts’ forecasts
in a range of flat to down 2.0 per cent ,
with a consensus of down 1.2 per cent
, and a first quarter fall of 0.4 per cent .
The sales outcome reflected unseasonal
conditions and a decision to focus on full
price sales, M&S said. M&S’s non-food
division increased its gross margin by a
greater than expected 2.85 percentage
points in the first half. — Reuters
Axel Springer posts
higher Q3 profits
BERLIN: German media giant Axel
Springer said that profits grew strongly
in the third quarter, boosted by the
group’s fast-growing digital business
and windfall gains from divestments.
Axel Springer, which publishes the masscirculation daily Bild, said in a statement
that its net profit soared by 68 per cent
to 147 million euros ($160 million) in the
period from July to September.
Gains from the sale of the fitness
app developer Runtastic helped drive
the company’s bottom line higher, the
group said. Underlying or operating
profit was up 32 per cent at 129 million
euros on a seven-per cent increase in
revenues to 795 million euros.
At the end of September, Axel
Springer announced it had agreed to
buy the US website Business Insider for
around 300 million euros. — AFP
www.omanobserver.om
editor@omanobserver.om
Deutsche Bank to pay $258m
for violating US sanctions
WASHINGTON: German banking
giant Deutsche Bank will pay $258
million in fines for doing business with
US-sanctioned entities and countries,
US regulators said.
“The firm did not have sufficient
policies and procedures to ensure that
activities conducted at its offices outside
of the United States complied with
US sanctions laws,” said the Federal
Reserve, which announced the penalties
on Wednesday along with the New York
State Department of Financial Services.
Deutsche Bank will pay $200 million
to the NYDFS and $58 million to the
Federal Reserve. In addition, Germany’s
largest bank will install an independent
monitor and fire six employees who
were involved in the sanctions-evasion
scheme, and bar three other employees
from any work involving the company’s
US operations.
From at least 1999 through 2006,
Deutsche Bank disguised 27,200 dollar-
clearing transactions valued at more
than $10.86 billion to skirt US sanctions,
the authorities said.
The customers involved in the
transactions included Iranian, Libyan,
Myanmar, Syrian and Sudanese entities.
Deutsche Bank decided to pursue
a “lucrative” US dollar business for
sanctioned customers, the NYDFS said.
To disguise the transactions, the bank
altered the information included on the
payment message, a method known as
wire stripping, before the message was
passed to the correspondent clearing
bank in the US.
Deutsche Bank told sanctioned
customers it was crucial to note “Do
not mention our bank’s name” in the
message for payments that may involve
the US to avoid raising a red flag.
“Otherwise it is possible that the
(payment) instruction would be sent
immediately to the USA with your full
details,” the bank said, according to the
New York regulator. Another bank
instruction said: “Important: no Iranian
names to be mentioned when making
payment to New York.”
Deutsche Bank also concealed
the true nature of the transactions by
splitting an incoming payment message
into two: one that included all the details,
sent to the beneficiary’s bank, and a
second that excluded details about the
underlying parties to the transaction,
sent to Deutsche Bank New York or
another clearing bank in the US.
Anthony Albanese, acting chief of
NYDFS, said the US authorities were
“pleased” that Deutsche Bank had
worked with them to resolve the matter
and take action against employees who
engaged in the misconduct.
— AFP
Toyota’s net
profit jumps
to $10.35 bn
TOKYO: Toyota said on Thursday its
half-year net profit jumped again as it
moves to cut costs and squeeze more
productivity out of its plants, as unit
sales in most regions declined.
The world’s top automaker said its
net profit was up nearly 12 per cent to
1.258 trillion yen ($10.35 billion) in
its fiscal first half through September,
with a weak yen also helping boost its
bottom line.
The Corolla sedan and Prius hybrid
maker’s revenue for the period rose
almost nine per cent from a year ago
to 14.09 trillion yen.
While the firm sold slightly fewer
cars globally at 4.97 million units, it
boosted its full fiscal year sales target.
A steep slide in the yen has helped
make Japan’s automakers more
competitive overseas and inflated the
value of repatriated overseas profits.
Toyota has been focusing on
squeezing out productivity gains and
better using existing plants — it put on
hold building new factories for several
years. — AFP
Facebook rides mobile
wave to boost profits
SAN FRANCISCO:
Facebook said
surging mobile advertising lifted its
profits and revenues as the world’s
biggest social network grew to over 1.5
billion people.
Net profit in the third quarter jumped
11 per cent from a year ago to $891
million as revenues leapt 41 per cent to
$4.5 billion, despite the negative impact
of a strong dollar.
The vast majority was from
advertising, and mobile accounted for 78
per cent of ad revenues in the quarter,
compared with 66 per cent a year
earlier. “This was another good quarter
and we continue to grow the size and
engagement of our community,” said
chief executive Mark Zuckerberg on a
conference call.
“More than one billion people use
Facebook every day.” Facebook said the
number of monthly active users of the
network hit 1.55 billion, up 14 per cent
from a year earlier. And it counted some
1.39 billion of its members using mobile
devices such as smartphones or tablets.
The stronger-than-expected earnings
report sparked a gain of 3.7 per cent in
Facebook shares in after-hours trade to
$107.73.
Analysts say Facebook has become
an online advertising juggernaut as it
leverages its huge base to expand into
other applications such as Instagram
and WhatsApp, and delve into virtual
reality projects through its acquisition of
Oculus.
Zuckerberg said that “with Oculus
we’re in a great position to deliver a
new generation of shared immersive
experiences” and noted that its Rift
headset would be on sale early next year.
“Virtual reality has the potential to
be the next computing platform that
changes all of our lives,” he added.
— AFP
Workers carry plastic pipes at a construction site in Jakarta yesterday. Higher government spending helped Indonesia’s
struggling economy grow slightly faster in the third quarter, but not enough to show a real turnaround has begun. — Reuters
VW has lost nearly 40 per cent in market capitalisation since September, when the cheating revelations broke
‘Brexit would see
UK growth slow to
1pc, stocks lag’
LONDON: British growth would
plunge to 1 per cent and stocks
would under-perform by as much as
20 per cent if voters opted to leave
the European Union, US investment
bank Morgan Stanley said in a report.
The bank puts the chances of
“Brexit” at 35 per cent , with its base
case a “close call” that would still
see significant market uncertainty
and volatility in the lead-up to the
referendum but ultimately a vote to
stay in the EU.
Prime Minister David Cameron
has promised to renegotiate Britain’s
EU ties and then hold a referendum
by the end of 2017 on whether to
remain a member. Most observers
believe the ballot will come next
year, with Morgan Stanley betting on
autumn 2016.
Economic growth would sink to
just 1 per cent the following year on
the heightened uncertainty.
— Reuters
Moody’s downgrades VW as toll from scandal grows
FRANKFURT: Embattled Volkswagen’s
credit rating was cut by Moody’s as the
toll on the German automaker grew
over its cheating on emissions.
Moody’s cut the rating by one notch
to A3 after the newest allegations that
Volkswagen included illegal defeat
devices to hide poisonous nitrogen
oxide pollution on its luxury diesel cars
including Porsches.
In addition, Moody’s cited the
company’s acknowledgement
on
Tuesday that it had under-reported
CO2 emissions levels in another 800,000
vehicles, including, for the first time
in the burgeoning scandal, cars with
gasoline engines.
While Moody’s said Volkswagen had
the financial strength to survive what
could cost the company many billions of
dollars in fines and compensation, it said
the company’s reputation and earnings
were at risk.
After the US Environmental
The sign reading ‘Sales’ is pictured above the VW logo at a car shop in Bad Honnef
near Bonn, Germany. — Reuters
Protection Agency accused the company
of also including the defeat devices on its
3.0 litre diesel engines — used by larger,
more expensive VW and Audi models
and the Porsche Cayenne SUV — the
company halted sales of those models in
the United States.
Moody’s noted that those
premium cars “are top contributors to
Volkswagen’s profitability.” Shares in the
world’s second largest automaker took a
fresh battering on Wednesday, losing 9.5
per cent to 100.45 euros ($109.13) on
the Frankfurt stock exchange.
That plunge was driven by the
revelation that the emissions scandal,
heretofore confined to the company’s
diesel-engined cars, also involved some
of its gasoline or petrol engines as well.
German Transport Minister
Alexander Dobrindt told parliament
that among the 800,000 VWs in which
the carbon dioxide emissions were
higher than Volkswagen had originally
reported, 98,000 ran on gasoline.
VW has lost nearly 40 per cent in
market capitalisation since September,
when the cheating revelations broke.
Until now, the scandal had centred
on so-called defeat devices, sophisticated
software fitted into diesel engines to
skew the results of tests for emissions
of nitrogen oxide, a pollutant associated
with respiratory problems.
VW had admitted the devices were
on 11 million smaller-sized diesel
engines. So far it has contested the EPA
claim that they are on the larger engines
as well. The CO2 emissions issue
widened the scandal in another way. The
greenhouse gas traps heat from the sun
and is blamed for man-made climate
change, and so cars in Europe are often
taxed according to their CO2 emissions.
The new revelations outraged many.
“When will this litany of lies end?” asked
Greenpeace campaigner Daniel Moser.
Moser called on governments
and regulators to “end this continued
deception and ensure Volkswagen
upholds emissions standards.”
In Berlin, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s
spokesman said the government
“believes the accusations are serious
and that Volkswagen has a duty to
transparently and fully clear them up.
Volkswagen has made this promise.”
— AFP
14
omandailyobserver
INTERNATIONAL
F R I DAY
NOVEMBER 6l 2015
MENA healthcare spend to reach $144 bn by 2020
BUSINESS REPORTER
MUSCAT
Nov 5: Healthcare spending in the Middle
East and North Africa region is on its
growth track to reach approximately
$144 billion by 2020, following
enormous development witnessed over
the last 10 years, according to estimates
by Al Masah Capital. Crossing $95.8
billion in 2013, government spending in
healthcare across the region tripled from
just around $30.4 billion in 2003.
The Dubai-based alternative asset
management company also noted that
GCC nations, which account for about
52 per cent of the healthcare expenditure
of the region, kept pace, clocking
healthcare spend of $49.8 billion in
2013 versus $15.5 billion in 2003, and
economic indicators point towards even
brighter prospects for the sector.
Healthcare in MENA has emerged
as one of the most promising sectors
supported by strong demand and
supply factors. A robust healthcare
sector would help the region’s efforts at
economic diversification by creating new
employment opportunities and will also
arrest outbound medical tourism, which
is currently a significant burden on the
state. Moreover, it would also incentivise
Over the last decade,
multiple factors have
contributed to the rapid
growth of healthcare sector
in the MENA region.
investments in higher medical education
and research, and help the region take
giant strides towards becoming a global
hub for medical tourism.
Despite this steep rise, healthcare
spending in MENA is below par
considering the global average. The
region spends only 4 per cent of its GDP
on healthcare compared to 12 per cent
in high-income nations and a world
average of 10 per cent. On a per capita
basis, the GCC spending on healthcare
was $1,022, comparable with the world
average of $1,062. However, the MENA
region has a much lower per capita
spend of around $415.
“The healthcare sector, accounting
for about 10 per cent of the world’s GDP,
has been critical to global economic
growth over the years. Global spending
on healthcare increased to roughly $7.6
trillion in 2013 from ~$3.9 trillion in
2003. However, the healthcare spending
pattern across the globe has been uneven
with high-income countries spending a
large share of their GDP on healthcare
while developing countries gradually
increasing their healthcare spend,”
Shailesh Dash, founder and CEO of Al
Masah Capital, explained.
This means that while the MENA
region is below par in terms of GDP
share for healthcare spending, a trend
towards increasing budgets for the sector
is evident and further growth is forecast
in the healthcare sector, especially on the
back of steady economic performance
witnessed in the region.
The MENA economy put up a steady
performance in 2014, growing at 2.4 per
cent compared to 2.3 per cent in 2013.
Despite the sharp fall in oil prices in H2
2014, most economies performed well,
supported by the robust performance of
the non-oil sector and large government
spending. In 2015, the MENA economy
is expected to grow 2.7 per cent. While
growth in major oil exporting countries
is expected to remain steady at 2.4 per
cent in 2015, the major oil importing
nations are expected to receive an
economic push due to lower oil prices
and may clock an average growth rate of
4 per cent in 2015, up from 3 per cent
in 2014.
Over the last decade, multiple
factors have contributed to the rapid
growth of healthcare sector in the
MENA region. The steady increase
in elderly population, rise in income
levels, improvement in life expectancy,
lower infant mortality rates, and the
prevalence of lifestyle-related diseases
have ensured strong demand for
healthcare in the region. On the supply
front, the high levels of government
spending on healthcare and regulations
to improve insurance penetration have
incentivised higher investments in
healthcare in the region.
“The healthcare sector in MENA,
despite great prospects for future growth,
faces stiff challenges. The healthcare
infrastructure in the region is quite
inadequate, and the region would have
to almost double its current hospital bed
capacity by 2020 to be at par with the
developed nations.
“Additionally, the sector faces an
acute scarcity of medical healthcare
personnel. Moreover, the relatively high
cost of treatment, low participation of
the private sector, and poor regulatory
framework with inconsistent quality
standards have weighed on the growth
of the sector in the past. Although the
regional governments are making efforts
to ensure continuous development of
infrastructure, nurturing management
skills, increasing the share of private
sector through public private partnership
(PPP) models and utilising IT skills to
spread the reach and range of healthcare
services, the overall healthcare services
in the region have a long way to go,”
Dash further commented.
Some of the upcoming trends in
the MENA healthcare sector include
increasing public private partnerships
to attract private sector investment,
better deployment of IT to streamline
processes and reduce costs, development
of specialised healthcare centres, and
rising demand for cosmetic and wellness
centres augur well for the overall growth
of the sector.
Pacific trade pact details released
WASHINGTON/SYDNEY: The longawaited text of a landmark US-backed
Pacific trade deal was released on
Thursday, revealing the details of a pact
aimed at freeing up commerce in 40
per cent of the world’s economy but
criticised for its opacity.
If ratified, the Trans-Pacific
Partnership (TPP) will be a legacydefining achievement for US President
Barack Obama and his administration’s
pivot to Asia, aimed at countering
China’s rising economic and political
influence.
China has responded with its own
Regional Comprehensive Economic
Partnership (RCEP), a proposed
16-nation free-trade area including India
that would be the world’s biggest such
bloc, encompassing 3.4 billion people.
But TPP, which will set common
standards on issues ranging from
workers’ rights to intellectual property
protection in 12 Pacific nations, was kept
largely from public scrutiny, angering
transparency advocates concerned over
its broad implications.
The deal does not include measures
demanded by some US lawmakers to
punish currency manipulation with
trade sanctions or set monopoly periods
for next-generation biologic drugs at 12
years. Agreement on the pact, which
was more than five years in the making,
was trumpeted a month ago after intense
talks in Atlanta broke a deadlock over
trade in dairy products, pharmaceuticals
and autos.
The fine print will be important.
Details on local content thresholds
for the auto industry are sketchy, for
example, and US footwear importers are
waiting to see how long duties will stay.
The TPP would be a boon for factory
and export economies like Malaysia and
Vietnam. Anticipated tariff perks are
already luring record foreign investment
into Vietnamese manufacturing and
both countries are expected to see
increased demand for their key exports,
from palm oil and rubber to electronics,
seafood and textiles. That could put
pressure on several of Asia’s major
developing economies, including the
Philippines and Indonesia, which have
recently expressed interest in signing up
to the pact. Thailand said it was studying
the deal and may consider joining.
Japan has pledged to ease trade
barriers on imported French fries and
butter — products which have been in
short supply in the Asian market - while
Malaysia will eliminate tariffs on all
imported alcohol for the first time in a
trade agreement.
Other firsts cited by the partners
—Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile,
Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand,
Peru, Singapore, the United States
and Vietnam — include the first
commitments to discourage imports
of goods produced by forced labor and
to adopt laws on acceptable working
conditions, and the first prohibition on
harmful fisheries subsidies. — Reuters
US economic data seen
Tesla to speed up electric cars production supporting December
interest rate hike
Sees lower capex in 2016, higher spending in third quarter of 2015
SAN FRANCISCO: Tesla Motors Inc
promised to speed up production of
its electric cars after a strong rollout of
its Model X SUV, lifting its stock this
week by more than 9 per cent even as
it posted its biggest loss in 10 quarters.
Orders are accelerating for both
the luxury crossover Model X and the
3-year-old Model S sedan, the company
said this week. It estimated shipping
17,000 to 19,000 vehicles in the current
quarter, up from 11,603 in the third
quarter.
“We don’t see any fundamental
obstacle to achieving the production
rate of several hundred (vehicles) per
week sometime next month,” Chief
Executive Elon Musk said.
Investors were relieved that orders
of the X were not cutting into those of
the S, said analyst Ivan Feinseth, chief
investment officer of Tigress Financial
Partners.
“The X is selling well. It’s not a
cannibalising car,” he said. “This year the
stock still has a cult following, people
who love the man and the cars and the
company.”
The stock rose to $227.40 in extended
trading, after ending 2.5 per cent lower
at $208.35. As of the close, it was down
26 per cent from a 12-month peak of
$282.26 on July 20.
Tesla said economies of scale, lower
material costs and other factors would
help them improve gross margin to
over 30 per cent on the S and X models
within 18 months.
But Tesla lowered the range of
vehicles it expected to deliver this year,
to 50,000-52,000, from the 50,00055,000 it projected last quarter.
Tesla started delivering the Model X
An employee covers a Tesla Model S car during the media day at the Frankfurt Motor Show in Frankfurt, Germany in this file
photo. — Reuters
Signature series, a premium version of
the SUV, late in September. The Model
3, a mass-market vehicle expected to
be priced at about $35,000, is due to
be unveiled in March, but may take
about two years to be in production, the
company said.
Tesla will tweak its trial autopilot
feature in the wake of online videos
showing drivers doing things like
reading a newspaper while using the
system.
“I do want to emphasise we discourage
the crazy videos on YouTube,” Musk told
analysts on a conference call. “We will
be putting some additional constraints
on when autopilot can be activated to
minimise the possibility of people doing
crazy things with that.”
Tesla’s net loss widened to $229.9
million, or $1.78 per share, in the
quarter ended September 30 from $74.7
million, or 60 cents per share, a year
earlier. (http://bit.ly/1HpuA9R)
Total revenue rose 10 per cent to
$936.8 million.
Excluding items, Tesla had a loss
of 58 cents per share, more than the
50 cents estimated by analysts in a
Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S poll.
Tesla said Chief Financial Officer
Deepak Ahuja, who announced his
retirement earlier this year, will be
replaced by former Google Inc executive
Jason Wheeler.
Capital expenditures will be lower in
2016 after this year’s intense spending to
develop the Model X and build Tesla’s
sprawling Gigafactory battery plant
in Nevada, it said. But in the fourth
quarter, the company plans to invest
about $500 million in the factory and
other manufacturing activities, more
than the $394 million in the third
quarter. — Reuters
WASHINGTON: US private employers
maintained a steady pace of hiring in
October and a jump in new orders
buoyed activity in the services sector,
suggesting the economy was strong
enough to support an interest rate hike
from the Federal Reserve in December.
The economic outlook was further
brightened by another report on
Wednesday showing the trade deficit
hit a seven-month low in September
as exports rebounded, a tentative sign
the worst of the drag from the stronger
dollar may be over.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen told
lawmakers on Wednesday the US
economy is “performing well” and a
December rate hike could be justified.
“You have a set of data thus far that
tells the Fed that things are in good
shape going into the fourth quarter and
is giving them the green light to go,” said
Jacob Oubina, senior US economist at
RBC Capital Markets in New York.
The ADP National Employment
Report showed private payrolls
increased 182,000 last month on top of
the 190,000 jobs added in September.
Job gains last month were broad-based,
though manufacturing lost 2,000
positions.
The ADP report, which is jointly
developed with Moody’s Analytics,
was released ahead of the Labour
Department’s more comprehensive
employment report on Friday.
According to a Reuters survey of
economists, nonfarm payrolls increased
180,000 in October, well above the
average gain of 139,000 jobs for August
and September.
Economists say the expected
October job gains would be seen
as sufficient for the Fed to raise its
benchmark overnight interest rate from
near zero at its December 15-16 policy
meeting. The unemployment rate is
forecast to be steady at 5.1 per cent .
In a separate report, the Institute
for Supply Management said its nonmanufacturing index rose to 59.1
last month from a reading of 56.9 in
September. A reading above 50 indicates
expansion in the sector, which accounts
for more than two-thirds of the US
economy.
A gauge of new orders received by
services industries rose a sturdy 5.3
percentage points to 62 and employment
increased to 59.2 per cent from a reading
of 58.3 in September. Fourteen services
industries reported growth last month.
Only mining reported a contraction.
“It suggests that the service sector
has hardly skipped a beat despite
signs of weakness in other parts of the
economy,” said Millan Mulraine, deputy
chief economist at TD Securities in New
York. “The US economic recovery is
off to a very strong start in the fourth
quarter after the subpar performance in
the third quarter.”
The economy expanded at a 1.5 per
cent annual rate in the July-September
period, hurt by a slow pace of inventory
accumulation and ongoing spending
cuts by energy firms.
The dollar rose against a basket
of currencies on Wednesday, getting
an additional boost from Yellen’s
comments. US stocks and prices for
Treasury debt fell. — Reuters
INTERNATIONAL
F R I DAY
NOVEMBER 6 l 2015
Asian markets largely defy
negative Wall Street lead
HONG KONG: Major Asian markets
mostly shrugged off a negative lead
from Wall Street on Thursday, with
Shanghai performing especially strongly
and Japan Post shares soaring again in
Tokyo.
The
benchmark
Shanghai
Composite index closed at a 10-week
high, extending gains from the previous
day when the market rallied more than
four per cent on hopes for economic
reforms.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index at
the Tokyo Stock Exchange closed 1.00
per cent up, while the Hang Seng Index
in Hong Kong was flat at the finish.
China’s ruling Communist Party
issued guidelines for its 2016-2020
development plan on Tuesday, including
calling for liberalisation in its capital
markets and foreign exchange regime,
following a high-level meeting last week.
“The government has successfully
clamped down on short selling,” said
Francis Cheung, a senior strategist at
brokerage CLSA in Hong Kong, told
Bloomberg News.
“So it is easier for (the) market
to go up, especially with anticipation
that China will cut rates and do more
stimulus.”
Wall Street had dropped Wednesday
after Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen
kept the possibility of an increase to US
interest rates in December on the table.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
fell 0.28 per cent, while the S&P 500
lost 0.35 per cent and the Nasdaq edged
A woman walks next to a board showing currency exchange rates in Almaty, Kazakhstan, yesterday. The Kazakh tenge hit an alltime intraday low of 301.00 per dollar on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange on Thursday, falling beneath its mid-September low
of 300.00 per dollar. — Reuters
down 0.05 per cent.
In Tokyo, Japan Post stocks
skyrocketed for a second day, as investors
scrambled to get their hands on one of
Japan’s best-known companies, with its
insurance unit especially in demand.
Toyota said Thursday its half-year
net profit jumped 12 per cent as it moves
to cut costs and raise productivity, but
troubled conglomerate Toshiba was
expected to announce a huge operating
loss for the six months to September.
Crisis-hit airbag supplier Takata
continued its downward spiral in Tokyo,
with its share price plummeting 25 per
cent to 889 yen ($7.32) at the close to a
fresh low for this year.
“There’s very little chance for
Takata to survive,” Amir Anvarzadeh,
Singapore-based global head of Japan
equity sales at BGC Capital Partners,
told Bloomberg.
“It’s a safety equipment maker killing
people and lying about their issue.”
Clients say CMC has made refund
offer over Swiss franc losses
LONDON: Online trading firm CMC
Markets has offered to refund clients
for all of the losses resulting from the
company’s repricing of losing trades
in the Swiss franc’s surge in January,
members of a client group fighting the
company said.
CMC Markets declined to
comment except to say that it does not
discuss issues relating to individual
client accounts.
Two CMC clients said separately
that the company had called or
contacted at least six customers who
were fighting it over losses from the
removal of Switzerland’s cap on the
franc on January 15.
An initial opinion from Britain’s
Financial Ombudsman (FOS) last
month, seen by Reuters, ruled against
CMC, which plans to float its shares in
a public offer next year, on a complaint
over one client’s losses.
The decision ruled CMC must
rescind changes it had made to the
detriment of customers in the pricing
of their trades on the day and gave the
company until November 3 to respond.
One of the clients said in an e-mail
to Reuters: “In the communication (to
us) they said that although they don’t
agree with the initial FOS adjudication
... due to the length of time its taken to
resolve, CMC are offering to reverse
the cash adjustment they made on the
15 January and make a small credit to
each account.”
CMC Markets, owned chiefly
by businessman Peter Cruddas,
declined to confirm those details
or to say whether it objected to any
of the Ombudsman’s decisions. A
spokesman also declined to say how
many clients were involved or how
much the company stood to lose from
the changes. One of the clients said he
was part of a group of at least 15-20
individuals fighting the company on
the issue.
Investors who had leveraged bets
on the euro and other currencies
against the franc lost billions when it
appreciated up to 40 per cent in a few
minutes after the removal of the cap,
the biggest market moves in a major
currency in modern times.
Some brokers and banks repriced
trades, which had initially been
confirmed as completed at better rates,
later that day. — Reuters
Strike aims go far beyond a call for an 18 per cent salary increase
Worst Petrobras strike in 20
years hurts Brazil oil output
RIO DE JANEIRO: A four-day strike
at Petrobras gathered steam, cutting
crude and natural gas output from the
No. 2 South American oil producer
and threatening to become the most
disruptive walkout at the state-run oil
company in 20 years.
On Wednesday, Petroleo Brasileiro
SA, as Petrobras is formally known, said
in a securities filing late on Wednesday
that oil output in Brazil was about
140,000 barrels a day, or 6.5 per cent
below pre-strike levels of about 2.1
million barrels a day.
Using contingency plans management
restored production that was cut by as
much as 273,000 barrels a day, or 13 per
cent below pre-strike levels on Monday,
and by 178,000 barrels a day on Tuesday,
or 8.5 per cent below levels before the
strike began on Sunday, Petrobras said.
The strike is having a “significant”
financial impact on Petrobras a company
source said late on Wednesday adding
that output cuts had not changed
significantly from Tuesday.
The cuts have already caused the
biggest strike-induced hit to Petrobras’
crude output since a 32-day strike in
1995 that led to lines at gas stations
and military occupation of refineries.
The latest strike is also likely to increase
pressure on a company hobbled by a
corruption scandal and struggling under
$130 billion of debt, the largest in the
world oil industry.
“This is serious because it is
happening in the midst of Brazil’s worst
economic crisis in decades and in the
middle of Petrobras’ worst crisis ever,”
said Adriano Pires, head of the Brazilian
Infrastructure Institute, a Rio de Janeiro
energy research company.
“It’s like the unions are saying, ‘Hey,
Petrobras is in intensive care. Let’s pull
the plug!’” Pires said.
Members of Brazil’s national
oilworkers federation said on Wednesday
that Petrobras was underestimating
output losses. In a statement late on
Wednesday, Brazil’s biggest oil union
federation said production cuts are as
much as a quarter of Petrobras Brazilian
output, or just over 500,000 barrels a day.
— Reuters
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index
closed down 0.94 per cent, dragged
down by banking and mining stocks,
while Seoul’s benchmark KOSPI index
declined 0.16 per cent on concerns of
the possible Fed rate hike.
The US dollar continued to
strengthen Thursday after Yellen’s
comments that if the economy was
“performing well” and, if conditions
warrant, a rate hike in December “would
be a live possibility”. — AFP
BIZ BRIEF
Groupon takes
fresh hit as new CEO
outlines strategy
SAN FRANCISCO: Take another
discount on the stock price: Groupon
fell hard as the company’s new chief
executive laid out his strategy in the
face of a weakening sales.
In midday trade on Wednesday,
the daily deals group Groupon traded
down 27 per cent at $2.93 — after
already tumbling some 75 per cent
over the past two years
Groupon on Tuesday named Rich
Williams as its new CEO, replacing cofounder Eric Lefkofsky as the company
reported a loss of $27.6 million in
the past quarter and offered a weak
outlook for the next three months.
Williams said Groupon “will
renew our investment in customer
acquisition to introduce more new
customers to our marketplace and
accelerate growth.” He also said
the company would streamline
international operations “to ensure we
are operating as lean and efficiently as
possible.” And he said Groupon would
shift to retail categories “with stronger
margins.”
Groupon went public in 2011
amid enthusiasm over its model
of offering deals on a variety of
products and services. But it has been
struggling amid consumer fatigue in
the “daily deals” category.
In its quarterly results, Groupon
said its loss widened to $27.6 million
from $21.2 million a year earlier,
with revenues essentially flat at $714
million. Significantly, its revenue
outlook for the fourth quarter of
between $815 million and $865
million was weaker than expected.
Groupon said a factor was the strong
dollar, which cuts into revenues
earned overseas. In September, Group
said it was cutting some 1,100 jobs
over the coming months and ending
operations in several markets around
the world including Morocco, Panama,
the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Taiwan,
Thailand and Uruguay.
Groupon is now in 36 countries
compared with 45 at its peak. It claims
25.2 million active users. Williams said
Groupon may be further reorganising
its international operations. — AFP
omandailyobserver
15
Energy efficient cars,
fridges seen aiding GDP
OSLO: Tougher energy efficiency
standards ranging from cars to fridges
could cut annual world greenhouse gas
emissions by about a tenth by 2030 while
also spurring economic growth, an
international report said on Thursday.
The study, by the Global Commission
on the Economy and Climate, urged
the Group of 20 to do more to improve
the energy use of vehicles, buildings,
factories, power plants and household
appliances as a way to limit global
warming.
The Commission, led by former
heads of government, business leaders,
economists and other experts, argues
that measures to combat climate change
can help lift economic growth, rather
than depress it as many governments
fear.
“Energy
efficiency
really
contributes economically and it is also
important in terms of climate change,”
Russell Bishop, who led the study that
included everything from lightbulbs to
building insulation, said.
The report estimated that new
voluntary energy efficiency measures,
that could vary by country, could cut
annual greenhouse gas emissions by the
equivalent of between 4.5 and 6.9 billion
tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2030.
By
contrast,
annual
world
greenhouse gas emissions are now
around the equivalent of 50 billion
tonnes of carbon dioxide, according to
the UN’s panel of climate scientists.
Group of 20 leaders will meet
in mid-November in Turkey, while
almost 200 nations will meet in Paris
from November 30 to December 11 to
try to agree measures to rein in global
warming. The United Nations says
The International Energy
Agency has estimated
that investments in
energy efficiency could
boost cumulative
economic output by $18
billion by 2035.
government plans so far are too weak
to limit warming to a UN target of 2
degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) over
pre-industrial times to limit extinctions
of animals and plants, droughts, floods
and rising sea levels.
Energy efficiency could fill a big
part of the gap to get towards 2C,
along with a stronger shift to cleaner
wind and solar power from fossil fuels,
Bishop said. The International Energy
Agency has estimated that investments
in energy efficiency could boost
cumulative economic output by $18
billion by 2035. Some measures, such as
insulating home roofs in cold climates,
quickly pay for themselves via lower
heating bills. Such savings can free up
cash for more productive investments,
lifting growth, and also reduce harmful
air pollution from burning fossil fuels.
Bishop said that improved efficiency
measures should not be too ambitious
and should avoid choking industry
with red tape. Volkswagen’s cheating
on emissions data from diesel engines
highlighted a need for proper oversight,
he said. — Reuters
Alstom in big share buyback after GE deal
PARIS: The French industrial group Alstom said it planned to stage a 3.2 billion-euro
($3.47-billion) share buyout following the sale of its energy assets to General Electric.
Under the offer, 91.5 million shares, amounting to 29.5 per cent of capital, will be
repurchased at 35 euros apiece and then cancelled under a strategy to refocus the
company, it said in a statement.
The offer price is a 17.6 per cent premium over Tuesday’s market close, and 21.8
per cent higher than the weighted average for the previous month, it said.
Bouygues, which currently owns around 29.2 per cent of Alstom’s capital, will add
a number of shares to the proposal so that its current stake is maintained at a similar
level, Alstom said.
On Monday, GE said it had finalised a 9.7 billion-euro deal to acquire the energy
assets of the French engineering group, best known as the maker of the high-speed
TGV train.
The agreement includes the cost of creating three new joint ventures covering
renewable energy, electricity grids and nuclear power The deal’s closure comes after
it received approval in over 20 countries and regions, including the European Union,
United States, China, India, Japan and Brazil.
GE also announced that it had sold a rail signalling business to Alstom for $800
million — part of GE’s efforts to focus more directly on its energy portfolio. Alstom will
now focus on railway transport. — AFP
Bombardier Inc’s Global 7000 business jet flight test vehicle is shown on the
floor of the company’s assembly line in Toronto, Ontario. Bombardier Inc is
confident its all new jet will meet the target for entering service in the seond
half of 2018, the head of its business aircraft unit, David Coleal, said. — Reuters
Expedia unveils deal for HomeAway
SAN FRANCISCO: US online travel booking giant said on Wednesday it agreed to
acquire the vacation marketplace HomeAway for $3.9 billion.
The deal comes weeks after Expedia concluded a takeover of online rival Orbitz,
which won approval by antitrust regulators despite objections from some consumer
groups and hotel operators.
The new acquisition would boost Expedia’s efforts to compete with online travel
aggregators like Kayak and the fast-growing Airbnb, which allows property dwellers to
rent a room or an entire residence for short-term stays.
HomeAway, founded in 2005, has more than one million vacation listings including
many from property owners under its own brand and VRBO, which stands for vacation
rental by owner.
“We have long had our eyes on the fast growing $100 billion alternative
accommodations space and have been building on our partnership with HomeAway,
a global leader in vacation rentals, for two years,” said Expedia chief executive Dara
Khosrowshahi.
“Bringing HomeAway into the Expedia, Inc. family and adding its leading brands to
our portfolio of the most trusted brands in travel is a logical next step.”
The companies said they hope to close the deal in early 2016.
The Expedia-Orbitz tie-up faced criticism because it gave the group up to 75 per
cent of the market for traditional hotel bookings.
But defenders of the deal said competition is coming from sites which scan online
travel deals like Hipmunk and review websites like TripAdvisor. — AFP
16
LABOUR
omandailyobserver
PERSPECTIVE
F R I DAY
NOVEMBER 6 l 2015
MARKET
US Federal Reserve faces patchwork recovery
A
s gleaming new
factories turn out
Airbus aircraft and
Hyundai cars in
Alabama’s
urban
centres, this small
town that once was home to Russell
Athletics shows the dilemma now faced
by US policymakers.
Economic recovery has spread wide,
with 34 states reaching new employment
highs this year and thousands of
counties now close to unemployment
rates of the boom years earlier this
decade, according to a Reuters analysis
of federal data.
The US Federal Reserve has played
a central role in engineering that
recovery and has become progressively
less worried about the nation’s job
market, interpreting the slowdown in
payrolls’ growth as a sign of near-full
employment.
But Russell’s abandoned headquarters
in Alexander City stands as a reminder
of forces the Fed’s massive easy money
campaign is ill-equipped to confront.
What is needed now is more akin to
hand-to-hand combat, state and local
officials say.
What Alexander City could use,
for example, is a $4 million rail spur
to connect its industrial parks with the
nearby rail line, or more state help in
paying the grading and utility connection
costs to entice would-be investors, says
former mayor Don McClellan.
Or perhaps, he suggests, programmes
to boost the community college’s
retraining of mid-career workers among
thousands who lost jobs as Russell’s
operations wound down for good after
a 2006 takeover by Berkshire Hathaway.
“It is much harder to recruit
here,” says McClellan, now regional
development chief. “When the state
lands white collar jobs, it is in the metro
areas.”
As 2016 presidential candidates from
billionaire Donald Trump to Bernie
Sanders square off over the economy,
the debate is not just about the number
of jobs. The contenders and Fed officials
alike also fret about sluggish wage
growth, low productivity and the quality
of positions being created.
Yet Fed officials, who discuss whether
to raise rates for the first time in a
decade, recognise that for all their power
they may lack the tools to address such
concerns.“An interest rate hike is not
going to affect job training in Macon
County, Georgia,” said David Wiczer,
an economist at the St Louis Fed who
studies labour market issues.
HEALING SCARS AND DARK
SPOTS: US state and county statistics
show the spread of recovery, allaying
some of the fears about permanent scars
from the crisis. But they also show some
persistent spots of high unemployment.
Among more than 800 large counties
surveyed annually by the US Census,
nearly 700 had by last year virtually
returned to 2007 unemployment rates a group that has most likely grown given
a steady climb in payrolls this year.
Some states, however, continue
to struggle, whether with legacies
of uneven development and racial
segregation, or longer-term changes in
the US and global economies. Alabama
and nine other states, accounting for just
Among more than 800
over 16 per cent of national economic
output both have yet to return to pre- large counties surveyed
crisis employment levels and have annually by the US Census,
above-average unemployment rates.
nearly 700 had by last year
In West Virginia, coal mine closures
have weighed on employment for virtually returned to 2007
more than three decades; in Illinois unemployment rates - a
and Pennsylvania the decline of heavy
group that has most likely
manufacturing has left its mark. In
Alabama, the loss of textile jobs has grown given a steady climb
swelled unemployment rolls, while in payrolls this year.
jobless rates in a dozen or so heavily
African American “Black Belt” counties
remain in the teens.
too and its adult population growing
As of September, the state had about slower than the country as a whole.
57,000 fewer jobs than in 2007, a 3 per
Alexander City is a case in point. That
cent shortfall. Its labour force is down this town of less than 15,000 ended up
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
The art of finding profitable solutions
with an 85,000 square foot Fortune 500
headquarters, with an atrium waterfall
and apartments for visiting executives,
was an accident of history.
What later became Russell Athletics
began as a small sewing operation that
rose to national prominence making
team-branded sports jerseys. The
company began shifting jobs overseas in
the late 1990s and closed its headquarters
in 2010, leaving only a token presence.
“When Russell started downsizing ...
we did not have big brother to take care
of us anymore,” says McClellan.
To fill that void one needs welltargeted investments that would not
just create jobs in the near-term, but
improve productivity in the long run,
INDUSTRY
BUMPER US AUTO
SALES IN OCTOBER
S
STEFANO VIRGILLI
vs.voxlab.net@gmail.com
E
ntrepreneurship is the
art of finding profitable
solutions to problems.
Every
successful
entrepreneur,
every
successful
businessman, is the person who has been able
to identify a problem and came up with
a solution to it, and got paid for it. In
entrepreneurship, money is the goal. The
goal is to make money and any action
that moves people towards making
money is entrepreneurial; and any action
that takes people away from making
money is non-entrepreneurial.
This is the definition of a business,
‘selling things for profit.’ Indeed, ‘the
only evil thing is a business that does not
make profit’. Entrepreneurs are business
people. An entrepreneur is hence a
businessperson. A business is an activity
that involves people selling a product
and earning.
The product can be either a good
or service. There are several types of
entrepreneurs, grouped as below:
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR:
A social entrepreneur is motivated by
a desire to help, improve and transform
social, environmental, educational and
economic conditions. Key traits and
characteristics of highly effective social
entrepreneurs include ambition and
a lack of acceptance of the status quo
or accepting the world ‘as it is’. Social
entrepreneurs seek to develop innovative
solutions to global problems that can be
copied by others to enact change. Their
main aim is to help offer a better service
improving the community as a whole
and are predominantly run as non-profit
schemes.
SERIAL ENTREPRENEUR: A serial
entrepreneur is one who continuously
comes up with new ideas and starts
new businesses. The serial entrepreneur
possesses a higher propensity for
risk, innovation and achievement.
Serial entrepreneurs are more likely to
experience repeated entrepreneurial
success. They are more likely to take risks
and recover from business failure.
LIFESTYLE
ENTREPRENEUR:
A lifestyle entrepreneur places passion
before profit when launching a business
in order to combine personal interests
and talent with the ability to earn a
living. He or she needs to be passionate
about the content of the business. Put it
this way, ‘If you don’t have passion, you
don’t have energy, and if you don’t have
energy, you have nothing.’ Unless one
desperately wants to succeed, he or she
never will.
Many entrepreneurs may be primarily
motivated by the intention to make their
business profitable in order to sell to
shareholders.
In contrast, a lifestyle entrepreneur
intentionally chooses a business model
in a field where they have a particular
interest, passion, talent, knowledge or
high degree of expertise.
A lifestyle entrepreneur combines
a hobby with a profession. This leads
to earning a living doing something
that they love, earning a living in a
way that facilitates self-employment,
achieving a good work/life balance and
owning a business without shareholders.
Lifestyle entrepreneur deliberately
and consciously choose to keep their
venture fully within their own control.
Many entrepreneurs may be primarily motivated
by the intention to make their business profitable
in order to sell to shareholders. In contrast, a
lifestyle entrepreneur intentionally chooses a
business model in a field where they have a
particular interest, passion, talent, knowledge or
high degree of expertise.
Lifestyle entrepreneurship is becoming
increasingly popular as technology
provides small business owners with the
digital platforms needed to reach a large
global market.
INFOPRENEUR: An infopreneur
is an entrepreneur who makes money
selling information on the Internetelectronic information. This term is
derived from the words ‘information’
and ‘entrepreneur‘. Before the explosive
popularity of the Internet, at the turn
of the millennium, such an occupation
already existed.
Inforpreneurs sold their information
in other mediums such as audio tapes,
audio CDs, CD-ROMs, videos, talk
shows, and conferences. There are
generally two kinds of infopreneurs:
those that sell information they have
amassed on their own and those
that earn commissions from selling
information that they know nothing
about. The latter may be considered more
of an ‘information trafficker’. Unlike in
traditional print media, the infopreneur
puts down, in electronic form, what she
knows from experience or what she
learned and passes them on to the world
through publishing on websites, blogs,
eBooks, e-mails, Ad sense ads, affiliate
links, referrals and leads, etc. They make
money out of information.
EVENT ENTREPRENEUR: This is
an entrepreneur that holds events once
in a while to make money. Whereas
most business opportunities are oriented
around day-to-day operations, many
new business opportunities are linked to
events, either once-off trade events, such
as music concerts or trade conventions,
or the American billionaire, business
magnate, real estate investor, and
socialite, Donald Trump, says, ‘You do
not have to be an entrepreneur; there is
nothing wrong with a job, so long as it is
a great job, and if it is not great, you get
another job
local officials say. Yet, unlike the Fed,
which used its virtually unlimited
firepower to churn out trillions of dollars
in monetary stimulus, local, state and
federal governments lack such leeway.
Political battles over the nation’s
debt ceiling hamper federal spending
while local authorities face hard budget
constraints. A budget shortfall made
Alabama dip into its education fund
this year to pay other expenses, while
financial summaries show the state’s $1.3
billion transportation budget consumed
mostly with maintaining existing roads
and bridges.
That leaves small-bore initiatives,
such as $11.5 million in training, small
business support, investment incentives
and other projects announced last
month for the “Black Belt” counties.
Further to the north, in Alexander
City, McClellan said the region
was expanding community college
programmes to retrain older workers,
and has recruited auto parts suppliers for
the Hyundai plant in Montgomery and a
Kia Motors Corp factory just across the
Georgia state line.
Spencer Lucker, spokesman for
the Delta Regional Authority, a small
federal rural development agency for the
Mississippi Delta region, says Alabama’s
problems are typical — with pockets of
high unemployment where most new
jobs are created by small business startups.
“It is a general pattern across most of
our states,” Lucker says. “What we have
been focused on, is building out pockets
of entrepreneurship (and) it is a slow
process.” — Reuters
hoppers flocked to US car dealerships in October, with most automakers
reporting strong sales gains, but the emissions scandal plaguing
Volkswagen took its toll. With most of their new 2016 models out on
the lots, General Motors, Ford and the US arm of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles,
FCA US, all reported their best October in at least 11 years, while Toyota,
number three in US sales, registered an all-time record for the month.
But while each of the big four showed double-digit gains in the world’s
hottest car market, Volkswagen model sales were flat from a year ago, with
the company acknowledging the challenge it faces after it was shown to have
placed software on its diesel cars to cheat US emissions regulations.
“We would like to again thank our customers for their patience and
loyalty,” Mark McNabb, chief operating officer of Volkswagen of America,
said in a statement. “Volkswagen is committed to making things right and
actively working to restore trust.” Sport utility vehicles and crossovers
continued to lead the way in the US market, from Toyota’s entry-level RAV4
to Cadillac’s pricey Escalade and SRX SUVs.
“October was a huge month for the industry, smashing expectations and
continuing its hot streak,” said Bill Fay, Toyota group vice president.
GM, the US market leader, said sales came in just shy of 263,000 cars
and trucks in the month, up 15.9 per cent from October 2014. Sales of
Silverado pickups, Chevrolet Equinox and the lower-priced Malibu sedan
were strongest. GM’s Cadillac luxury sedans continued to suffer, but SUVs
kept the division growing.
“The redesign of our full-size trucks and SUVs, and our move into the
small crossover and mid-size pickup segments were smart bets and our
timing couldn’t be better with industry sales at record levels,” said Kurt
McNeil, GM’s US vice president of sales operations.
Ford sales rose 13.4 per cent year-on-year to 214,000 cars and trucks,
helped by strong gains in the compact Focus and the full-sized Explorer SUV.
Sales of Ford’s industry-leading F series pickup trucks though grew only a
modest 3.3 per cent, and for the first 10 months of the year were only 1.5
per cent higher, as the company promotes its lighter, more fuel-efficient
aluminium-bodied F-150 in a market awash in cheap gasoline.
Toyota meanwhile held onto third place in the market, ahead of FCA
US. The world’s largest automaker topped 200,000 units led by the RAV4
and Toyota Highlander SUVs. FCA US’s Jeep division sales, with the hit
Cherokee SUV, led the way for the company’s 14.7 per cent year-on-year
gain, with 195,545 vehicles sold last month. Jeep division sales jumped 33 per
cent from a year ago as they continue to anchor total sales for Italian parent
Fiat Chrysler. Industry research house Edmunds.com was predicting a total
of 1.42 million cars and trucks sold in the US market for October, up 11.5
per cent year-on-year and putting the industry at a hot annual pace of 17.8
million units. — AFP
SPORT
F R I DAY
NOVEMBER 6 l 2015
omandailyobserver
17
LATE RESCUE: Frustrated LeBron James takes over late by scoring 23 to lift Cleveland Cavaliers over New York Knicks
Curry scores 31 as Warriors edge past Clippers
LOS ANGELES: The last team standing
in the playoffs last season is also the
last team standing among the Western
Conference unbeaten teams this season.
The Golden State Warriors can thank
their most valuable player — both this
year and last — for that.
Stephen Curry hit his seventh threepointer with 1:08 remaining to produce
the 17th and final lead change of the
night, and the Warriors outlasted the
Los Angeles Clippers 112-108 in a battle
of the West’s last two unbeaten teams.
“Nothing’s going to come easy this
year,” said Curry, the game’s leading
scorer with 31 points.
“We’ve been through this before.
There were some emotions on the bench.
That’s what we needed — a little fire. You
can tell this meant something to us.”
Curry scored 13 consecutive Warriors’
points late in the game, including his
straightaway three-pointer that turned
a one-point deficit into a 108-106
lead. Curry and backcourt mate Klay
Thompson added two last-minute free
throws apiece as the Warriors (5-0)
recorded their eighth consecutive home
win over their Southern California rivals.
Golden State had won their first four
games by a record total of 100 points.
“The guys kept their poise out there,”
Warriors interim coach Luke Walton
said. “They’re obviously battle-tested.”
A majority of Curry’s points came
on seven-for-11 accuracy from threepoint range. “You don’t get better
than that,” Walton said of Curry, who
overcame early foul trouble and fourfor-12 shooting in the first three periods.
“When we really needed him the most,
he stepped up for us and made huge
plays. He’s a winner. He showed why he’s
the MVP of the league right now.”
Chris Paul had 24 points and nine
assists for the Clippers (4-1), and
Blake Griffin contributed 23 points
and 10 rebounds. “It would have been
encouraging if we won,” said Clippers
shooting guard JJ Redick, who buried
Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James dunks in the fourth quarter against the New York Knicks at Quicken Loans Arena. — USA Today Sports
three three-pointers on a 13-point night.
“We are not the ‘Bad News Bears.’
We are a team that has championship
aspirations, and for us to do that, we
have to win.”
Playing just their second road game
of the season, the Clippers trailed by
as many as 17 in the first half before
rallying into a 97-87 lead on a follow
shot by Jamal Crawford with 7:56 to play.
Barnes then caught fire for the
Warriors, dropping in four consecutive
hoops, including back-to-back threes, in
a personal 10-1 run that closed the gap
LOCAL FLAVOUR
Schoolchildren get a taste of
golf on sidelines of NBO Classic
Kevin Carpenter teaches a trick shot.
MUSCAT: It was fun for all at Almouj Golf, Muscat, on Thursday
when 41 schoolchildren were treated to a trip to the NBO Golf
Classic Grand Final and an entertaining show by the world
famous Trick Shot Boys, at the invitation of National Bank of
Oman.
Twenty boys from Al Tafani School, grade 1-4, along with
21 pupils from Thuraya Mohammed Al Busaidi all girls School,
grade 5-6, enjoyed a great day out at the tournament, which
is the season-ending finale of the European Challenge Tour
season. The youngsters, aged between 8-15 from the Oman
government schools, were taken on a short tour of the Almouj
course to watch the action on the second day of the fourday event before joining the fun on the driving range with
Geoff Swain and Kevin Carpenter, the Trick Shot Boys, who
demonstrated the many comical ways of hitting a golf ball.
The schoolchildren were delighted to take part in some of
the trick shots, which brought cheers from their school friends.
Marcus Casey, Almouj Golf’s head teaching professional who
also coaches the Oman national golf team, said: “It’s great for
the youngsters to enjoy an unusual, entertaining golf show like
this. Our professionals at Almouj have been taking the game of
golf to the schools and it’s good for the schoolchildren to come
to the course and see a world-class golf tournament like the
NBO Golf Classic Grand Final actually taking place.”
“Junior golf is steadily progressing in Oman and the more
that the schoolchildren can see that golf is a game to be
enjoyed, where they can have some fun, the more it will help
to encourage them to take up the game.”
National Bank of Oman has been a major supporter of
junior golf in the Sultanate and they have arranged a series of
school visits during the tournament.
The Trick Shot Boys will be performing each day of the
tournament, which concludes on Saturday afternoon. There
are numerous activities for children in the public village,
including a putting course, practice nets, football challenge
racing simulators and games consoles, and families are invited
to come along and join in the fun.
to 98-97. Curry’s sixth three-pointer
helped the Warriors go up by as much as
103-99, but Griffin and Paul countered
with hoops that produced a 103-all tie
with 3:28 left.
The Clippers took a brief 106-105
lead on a free throw by centre DeAndre
Jordan (11 points, 13 rebounds) with
1:17 to go. However, Curry’s seventh
three-pointer with 1:08 remaining put
Golden State ahead for good.
“That’s what makes it a rivalry,”
Walton said of the tightness of the game.
“That was great basketball tonight.”
At Houston, LeBron James first tore
open his shirt, then tore open the game.
James scored 23 points and grabbed
five rebounds, but more importantly
took over the fourth quarter of the
Cleveland Cavaliers’ 96-86 win over the
New York Knicks on Wednesday.
Frustrated by his play and his tough
shooting night, James tore open the
sleeves on his jersey in the midst of a
four of 11 shooting half.
It was not his first battle with the
sleeved look. James openly complained
about them in March 2014 when he first
wore them with the Miami Heat. This
time, however, he took the blame for his
tough night.
“I was just frustrated with myself a
lot,” he said. “I was just off rhythm a lot.
The jersey was the only thing I could go
to. I couldn’t do nothing to my face.”
James did not shoot the ball any
better in the second half, but he took
over the game in the fourth quarter.
Mo Williams scored 22 points, Kevin
Love scored 11 and grabbed 12 rebounds
and Tristan Thompson had 10 points
and 13 rebounds for the Cavs.
Grace took lead as World No 2 Spieth matched McIlroy’s 68 as did 13 others
McIlroy defies sickness at WGC
SHANGHAI: Former world number one
Rory McIlroy shook off a bout of food
poisoning to shoot a four-under par 68 in the
first round of the World Golf ChampionshipsHSBC Champions in Shanghai on Thursday.
McIlroy, who had been in bed for most of
the past two days, said the illness had caused
him to lose 10 pounds in weight (4.5kg), but
he still managed to rattle in six birdies.
A double bogey at the tough par-four 15th
was the only blemish on his card at Sheshan
Golf Club. “I’ve lost 10 pounds since being
here. I can’t remember the last time I was this
light,” McIlroy said after his round.” Looking
forward to a good dinner tonight — hopefully
it will stay inside my body.”
It left the Northern Irish four-time major
champion five shots behind leader Branden
Grace of South Africa who carded a 63 in
windless, soft conditions that saw a raft of lowscoring as 59 of the 78-man field went under
par. “It’s probably a little better than I was
expecting out there to be honest,” said McIlroy.
“But one of the hardest things was I had been in
bed for basically two days, so whenever I got on
to the (practice) range, I was stiff, really, really
stiff. So I had to loosen up quite well. I still feel
a little stiff actually.”
World number two Jordan Spieth matched
McIlroy’s 68 as did 13 other players in the
world-class field including former Major
champions Bubba Watson, Louis Oosthuizen
and Charl Schwartzel. Masters and US Open
champion Spieth was pleased to shake off
some rust, having not played competitive
golf since the Presidents Cup a month ago. “I
hit some shots that looked like we were just
continuing the end of the season and I hit
some that looked like I took some time off,” he
said. “It was a bit of both.”
DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE
McIlroy, who missed a large part of the
season after tearing ankle ligaments, holds
a slim lead in the European Tour’s Race to
Dubai standings with just three events to go.
But second-placed Danny Willett of England
got off to a perfect start in his quest to chase
down McIlroy by shooting one of the rounds
of the day, a seven-under par 65 despite a
bogey at his final hole, the ninth.
Three players are tied for second on
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland hits the ball on the 14th hole during the first round of the
WGC-HSBC Champions golf tournament in Shanghai. — Reuters
eight-under par — Kevin Kisner of the US,
Australia’s Steven Bowditch and Denmark’s
Thorbjorn Olesen.
Kisner was especially pleased with his 64
because a recurrence of a back injury had meant
he, like McIlroy, had kept the European Tour’s
on-site doctor busy and had not managed to hit
a shot in anger before today. Dustin Johnson,
the 2013 champion in this event, and fellow US
Ryder Cup player Patrick Reed also shot sevenunder rounds of 65. — AFP
LEADING FIRST ROUND SCORES:
63 - Branden Grace (RSA); 64 - Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN),
Steven Bowditch (AUS), Kevin Kisner (USA); 65 - Dustin
Johnson (USA), Danny Willett (ENG), Patrick Reed (USA);
66 - Li Haotong (CHN); 67 - Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), Trevor
Fisher Jnr (RSA), Russell Knox (SCO), Harris English (USA),
Thomas Pieters (BEL), Paul Casey (ENG), Zhang Xinjun
(CHN); 68 - Charl Schwartzel (RSA), Hunter Mahan (USA),
Chris Wood (ENG), Richard T Lee (CAN), Scott Hend (AUS),
Louis Oosthuizen (RSA), Soren Kjeldsen (DEN), Jordan
Spieth (USA), Bubba Watson (USA), Daniel Berger (USA),
Rory McIlroy (NIR), Rickie Fowler (USA), Sergio Garcia (ESP),
Daniel Summerhays (USA), Matthew Fitzpatrick (ENG);
69 - SSP. Chawrasia (IND), James Morrison (ENG), Martin
Kaymer (GER), Ross Fisher (ENG), Marc Leishman (AUS),
Emiliano Grillo (ARG), Wu Ashun (CHN), An Byeong-Hun
(KOR), Gary Woodland (USA), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA),
Henrik Stenson (SWE); Selected: 70 - Anirban Lahiri (IND);
71 - Luke Donald (ENG); 72 - Lee Westwood (ENG), Ian
Poulter (ENG), Thongchai Jaidee (THA); 74 - Shane Lowry
(IRE); 75 - Adam Scott (AUS).
Carmelo Anthony scored 17 points
and grabbed 12 rebounds and rookie
forward Kristaps Porzingis scored 13
points for the Knicks. James scored 11
points in the fourth quarter, including
six straight. His three-pointer with four
minutes left — just his second of the
season — extended the Cavs’ lead to
87-79. James was one of 16 on threepointers this year prior to that basket.
At one point in the third quarter,
the Cavs were shooting 12 per cent on
three-pointers and 50 per cent from
the free-throw line, yet the Knicks’ lead
was only six. “We just don’t understand
quite yet how to win collectively as a
group,” Knicks coach Derek Fisher said.
“Playing from behind on the road after
getting off to a good start, we weren’t
able to compete.”
The Knicks did not trail until the
final minute of the third quarter. The
Cavs took their first lead on Matthew
Dellavedova’s lob to Thompson to give
them a 70-69 lead.
“We didn’t have our fastball tonight,”
Cavs coach David Blatt said. “Sometimes
you have to win it with the curve or the
change-up. We had to fight through
some frustration, some good play from
the Knicks. We didn’t shoot it well at all.
But we did find the pitches, we did find
the way to win the game.”
Sleeved jerseys were introduced to
the NBA two years ago, but this was the
Cavs’ first time wearing them. James
grumbled that the shirt was pulling
under his arm when he was forced
to wear it two years ago, but blamed
himself this time and said he would be
fine wearing it again if the fans like them.
— Reuters
NBA RESULTS
Indiana bt Boston 100-98
Washington bt San Antonio 102-99
Atlanta bt Brooklyn 101-87
Cleveland bt NY Knicks 96-86
Houston bt Orlando 119-114 (OT)
Milwaukee bt Philadelphia 91-87
Toronto bt Oklahoma City 103-98
Phoenix bt Sacramento 118-97
Portland bt Utah 108-92
Golden State bt LA Clippers 112-108
8-YEAR PARTNERSHIP
Mickelson
splits with
swing coach
Harmon
LOS ANGELES: Phil Mickelson
and swing coach Butch Harmon
announced on Wednesday they have
decided to part ways after an eightyear partnership that brought two
Majors among 12 PGA Tour victories.
Mickelson, 45, has slipped to 25th
in the world after back-to-back winless
seasons. He said in a statement released
to golf.com that he had improved a
great deal after working with one of
the sport’s greatest teachers but that he
was looking for a fresh approach.
“I’ve learned a great deal from him
in our eight years together. It’s just
that at the moment I need to hear new
ideas from a different perspective,”
said Mickelson, who last recorded a
victory at the 2013 British Open.
Mickelson linked up with Harmon
in 2007 and notched up 12 PGA
victories including the 2010 Masters
and the 2013 Open. The change comes
after two consecutive winless seasons,
the longest drought of a professional
career that includes 42 PGA Tour
wins.
Mickelson said Harmon deserved
a place among the greats of the game.
“Butch is one of the great teachers
in the history of the game, and I
believe he deserves to be in the World
Golf Hall of Fame,” he said.
The 72-year-old Harmon, who has
coached some of golf ’s biggest names
including Tiger Woods and currently
has the likes of Dustin Johnson and
Rickie Fowler on his books, said there
were no hard feelings about the split.
“Helping him win the Open
Championship in 2013 was one of the
pinnacles of my career,” Harmon said.
“I see nothing wrong with him seeking
advice from another source. We’re
great friends and always will be.”
— Reuters
18
SPORT
omandailyobserver
F R I DAY
NOVEMBER 6 l 2015
Pakistan thump England for series win
SOLID
START
SPIN TRIO: Spinners Malik, Shah and Babar shared nine wickets as England fell short by 127 runs
Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik celebrates the wicket of England’s Alastair Cook during the fifth day of the third Test at Sharjah Cricket Stadium. — Reuters
SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates:
Spin trio of Shoaib Malik, Yasir
Shah and Zulfiqar Babar shared
nine wickets between them to help
Pakistan beat England by a big 127run margin in the third and final
Test in Sharjah on Thursday.
Shah finished with 4-44, Malik
— playing his last Test — took 3-26
and Babar grabbed 2-31 to bundle
England out for 156 soon after lunch
on the fifth and final day for a 2-0
series win at Sharjah stadium.
England, set 284 to win, were
always on the back foot on a turning
pitch as only skipper Alastair Cook
showed some resistance during his
241-minute fight, scoring 63 with
four boundaries. It was Malik who
gave Pakistan the prized wicket of
Cook, stumped by wicket-keeper
Sarfraz Ahmed, to finish with seven
wickets in the match.
Shah had Ben Stokes stumped
in the next over for 12 to spark
celebrations in the field as Pakistan
players embraced each other.
The victory lifts Pakistan to an
equal highest ever number two
in the ICC (International Cricket
Council) Test rankings, a spot which
they previously attained only for a
few days in August 2006.
Pakistan won the second Test by
178 runs in Dubai.
Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq
attributed teamwork for the win.
“We finally managed to win and
credit to England for fighting well,”
said Misbah, who praised man-ofthe-series Shah.
“If you look back at the series
everyone contributed, especially
Shah, who won us both the games
and was outstanding,” said Misbah.
Shah finished with 15 wickets in
two matches after missing the first
through injury.
Misbah said he will take time
before making a decision on
retirement.
“I will think (about retiring from
Tests) because our next series is
seven months away so I will decide
whether I want to continue or not.”
Alastair Cook’s team fought well
throughout the three Tests and was
unlucky not to win the first Test in
Abu Dhabi, forced into a draw due
to bad light with just 24 needed for
victory.
England are now pushed to sixth
from their pre-series third in the
Test rankings.
Cook said playing Pakistan in the
United Arab Emirates was always
tough.
“We competed really well in all
three of the games but at critical
moments we couldn’t dominate
Pakistan,” said Cook.
“Had we grabbed our chances on
the fourth day it would have been
different.”
England were in danger of losing
the match before lunch but Adil
Rashid (22) helped add 49 for the
seventh wicket with Cook to delay
Pakistan’s win.
Cook punched paceman Rahat
Ali for a single to reach his 46th halfcentury in Tests.
When the final day began
England were rocked right at the
start, losing four wickets in the space
of 31 balls after resuming at 46-2.
Shah trapped Joe Root in the
second over with a delivery that kept
low and caught the batsman in front
of the stumps before he had added to
his overnight score of six.
James Taylor survived nine
deliveries to score two before Babar
spun one across his bat for Younis
Khan to take the edge in the slip.
In the next over, Shah trapped
Jonny Bairstow leg-before for
nought. It became 59-6 when Samit
Patel was leg-before in Babar’s next
over, leaving England in fear of being
bowled out for their lowest total
of 72 against Pakistan when they
crumbled in Abu Dhabi in 2012.
But the Rashid-Cook stand got
England past the 100-mark before
Rahat bowled Rashid with 15
minutes to go before lunch. — AFP
SCOREBOARD
Pakistan 1st innings 234
England 1st innings 306
Pakistan 2nd innings 355
England 2nd innings (overnight 46-2)
Moeen Ali lbw Malik.................................... 22
A Cook st Ahmed b Malik............................. 63
I Bell b Malik...................................................0
J Root lbw Shah ............................................. 6
J Taylor c Younis b Babar ................................ 2
J Bairstow lbw Shah ...................................... 0
S Patel lbw Babar ........................................... 0
Adil Rashid b Rahat ..................................... 22
S Broad c Malik b Shah ................................ 20
B Stokes st Ahmed b Shah ........................... 12
J Anderson not out ........................................ 0
Extras: (b7, nb1, w1) .................................... 9
Total: (all out; 60.3 overs) ................ 156
Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-34, 3-48, 4-57, 5-58,
6-59, 7-108, 8-138, 9-150
Bowling: Rahat 5-1-23-1, Riaz 5-0-25-0, Babar
18-5-31-2, Malik 15-4-26-3, Shah 17.3-2-44-4
Perera shines as Lanka thrash Windies
COLOMBO: Opener Kusal Perera fell just
one run short of a century as he guided
Sri Lanka to an eight-wicket win against
the West Indies in the second one-day
international on Wednesday.
Perera, 25, hit four sixes and six fours
in his 92-ball knock before being dismissed
for 99 in the rain-curtailed day-night game
at the Premadasa stadium in Colombo.
The victory helped the hosts take an
unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match
series after having won the opener by one
wicket at the same venue on Sunday.
Perera, who was troubled by cramps,
shared a 156-run partnership for the
second wicket with Lahiru Thirimanne
who chipped in with an unbeaten 81.
“It (cramps) has rarely happened to me
but I kept the (wickets) in the first innings
so maybe that was it,” Perera, named man
of the match, said after the game.
“(Tillakaratne) Dilshan and I had a
good start and when Lahiru (Thirimanne)
came, I decided to rotate the strike and
take calculated risks.”
SCOREBOARD
WEST INDIES
J Charles lbw Siriwardana ..................................... 83
A Fletcher c Perera b Malinga .................................. 0
J Blackwood c Siriwardana b Senanayake ............... 9
D Bravo c Dilshan b Siriwardana............................ 21
M Samuels run out ................................................ 63
J Carter b Lakmal ..................................................... 5
J Mohammed c Chandimal b Malinga .................... 4
C Brathwaite run out.............................................. 17
J Taylor run out ........................................................ 1
S Narine run out ...................................................... 0
R Rampaul not out................................................... 1
Extras: (lb6, w3, nb1) ........................................... 10
Total (all out, 37.4 overs) .......................... 214
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-29, 3-99, 4-139, 5-152,
Set a revised Duckworth-Lewis target
of 225 in 38 overs after rain interrupted
play for more than three hours, Sri Lanka
cantered to the emphatic win with nine
balls to spare.
The third and final one-dayer will
be played on Saturday followed by two
Twenty20 games. Sri Lanka swept the
preceding Test series 2-0.
Perera, dropped on 62, ran out of luck
6-169, 7-211, 8-212, 9-213
Bowling: Malinga 7.4-0-43-2, Lakmal 7-0-51-1,
Senanayake 6-0-25-1, Mendis 7-0-44-0, Jayasuriya
2-0-11-0, Siriwardana 7-1-27-2, Dilshan 1-0-7-0
SRI LANKA
K Perera c Brathwaite b Rampaul .......................... 99
T Dilshan b Narine ................................................. 17
L Thirimanne not out ............................................. 81
D Chandimal not out ............................................. 15
Extras: (lb6, w6, nb1) ........................................... 13
Total (for 2 wkts, 36.3 overs) ..................... 225
Fall of wickets: 1-40, 2-196
Bowling: Rampaul 6-0-39-1, Taylor 5-0-47-0, Narine
8-0-27-1, Samuels 5.3-0-34-0, Mohammed 6-0-25-0,
Brathwaite 4-0-35-0, Carter 2-0-12-0
when he holed out to Carlos Brathwaite at
short fine leg off paceman Ravi Rampaul,
much to the disappointment of the home
crowd.
Earlier, West Indies opener Johnson
Charles top-scored with 83 after the
visitors elected to bat.
Stand-in captain Marlon Samuels
scored a quickfire 61-ball 63 before being
run out in the penultimate over. — AFP
Sri Lanka’s Kusal Perera plays a shot during the second
ODI against West Indies in Colombo. — Reuters
Australia’s David Warner (left) and Usman Khawaja run
during the first Test against New Zealand. — Reuters
Warner’s 163
puts Australia
in charge
BRISBANE: Opener David Warner put New Zealand’s
bowlers to the sword with a masterful 163 and Usman
Khawaja scored his maiden Test century as Australia
dominated the opening day of the first Test at the
Gabba on Thursday.
The hosts finished on 389 for two with Khawaja,
who was 102 not out, and new skipper Steve Smith,
unbeaten on 41, set to resume their 78-run partnership
on the second day of the three-Test series.
Warner, now one of Australia’s senior players after
the retirement of a string of seasoned internationals,
displayed patience as well as his trademark aggression
in his second highest Test innings.
The 29-year-old had reached the half century mark
in seven of his eight Tests in 2015 but not been able
to get to the century mark since he achieved the feat
for the 12th time against India in Sydney in January. “I
was a little bit more focused than I used to be, I really
wanted to cash in and score a big one,” Warner said.
“Today, to get that one, and get the monkey off the
back at the start of the summer, just feels fantastic.” His
leap into the air after tucking the ball through cover
point for two runs was ample illustration of what the
century meant to him, but he was by no means done.
His second Test 150 was brought up with his 19th
four and he had perhaps earned the right to a loose
swipe after 314 minutes at the crease when he got a
thick edge on a James Neesham delivery, which Ross
Taylor caught brilliantly in the slips.
Joe Burns, playing on his home ground in only his
third Test, had provided able support in a 161-run
opening stand before he was caught behind off Tim
Southee for 71 soon after lunch.
TOUGH DAY
That brought Khawaja to the crease and he quickly
showed that more than two years in the Test wilderness
had not diminished his elegant stroke-play.
The 28-year-old got within one run of his third Test
half century with a sumptuous six and a single off the
60th ball he faced got him to the milestone. Better was
to come a few overs before the close, however,when he
smashed his 10th four down to long-on to score a first
Test ton that many thought would come years sooner.
The Black Caps conceded more runs than any
side on the first day of a Test at the Gabba and Doug
Bracewell (0-79), spinner Mark Craig (0-96) and Boult
(0-90) will all want to forget the experience as quickly
as possible. — Reuters
SCOREBOARD
Australia 1st innings
J Burns c Watling b Southee ............................................................. 71
D Warner c Taylor b Neesham .......................................................... 163
U Khawaja not out ........................................................................... 102
S Smith not out.................................................................................. 41
Extras (6lb, 3w, 3nb)......................................................................... 12
Total (2 wickets; 88 overs) ................................................. 389
Fall of wickets: 1-161, 2-311
Bowling: Southee 19-5-63-1, Boult 19-2-90-0, Bracewell 18-2-79-0,
Craig 21-3-96-0, Neesham 7-1-36-1, Williamson 4-0-19-0
Vijay makes 75 for hosts in first innings total of 201, South Africa struggle at 28-2 on first day of the first Test in Mohali
India left in a spin by Proteas part-time bowler Elgar
South Africa’s Dean Elgar (right) celebrates with his team-mate
Stiaan van Zyl after dismissing India’s Cheteshwar Pujara (not
pictured) on the first day of their first Test in Mohali, India. — Reuters
MOHALI, India: Part-time spinner Dean
Elgar ripped through India’s batting line-up
with four wickets as South Africa made the
hosts rue their decision to bat first on the
opening day of the first Test on Thursday.
India captain Virat Kohli said he felt
Thursday would be the best day for batting
on the spin friendly Mohali track but his
side failed to capitalise as they were bundled
out for 201 after tea to make it an unhappy
26th birthday for the skipper.
South Africa did not fare much better
with the bat as India’s spinners picked up
two quick wickets to leave the touring side
in a spot of bother at 28-2 at stumps.
Opener Stiaan van Zyl was out leg before
when he shouldered arms to Ravichandran
Ashwin, while Faf du Plessis was bowled by
left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja with the
ball hitting his off-stump after he had left it.
Elgar (13) and captain Hashim Amla
(nine) were at the crease at the close of play.
Earlier, paceman Vernon Philander
sent back opener Shikhar Dhawan (zero)
before India had even got on the scoreboard
when he edged one to Amla at slip in the
second over of the day. India recovered
from the early jolt through a second-wicket
stand of 63 between Murali Vijay (75) and
Cheteshwar Pujara (31), forcing Amla to
make a bowling change with Elgar.
The left-armer, who had never taken
more than one wicket in an innings before,
made an immediate impact by dismissing
Pujara leg before with his fourth delivery.
The dismissal brought Kohli to the crease
but debutant fast bowler Kagiso Rabada, 20,
made it a birthday to forget for the batsman
when he had him caught at short cover off a
leading edge for his first wicket in Tests.
Vijay and Ajinkya Rahane (15) added 37
for the fourth wicket to give India hopes of
a fightback before the latter became Elgar’s
second victim. Elgar returned in his next
over to dismiss wicketkeeper Wriddhiman
Saha for a first ball duck before Jadeja (38)
saw off the hat-trick delivery.
Vijay looked the most comfortable among
the Indian batsmen at the crease and brought
up his 12th fifty in Tests before getting out
lbw to off-spinner Simon Harmer.
Amit Mishra (six) fell to Elgar after an
injudicious attacking shot as the bowler
finished with career-best figures of 4-22.
Jadeja, returning to the side after an
absence of almost 15 months, and Ashwin
added a crucial 42 for the eighth wicket.
Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron had no clue
how to deal with leg-spinner Imran Tahir’s
googly and were both bowled out in the
same over to end the innings. — Reuters
SCOREBOARD
India 1st innings
M Vijay lbw Harmer ...................................................... 75
S Dhawan c Amla b Philander ........................................ 0
C Pujara lbw Elgar......................................................... 31
V Kohli c Elgar b Rabada ................................................. 1
A Rahane c Amla b Elgar ............................................... 15
W Saha c Amla b Elgar .................................................... 0
R Jadeja lbw Philander................................................. 38
A Mishra c Steyn b Elgar ................................................. 6
R Ashwin not out .......................................................... 20
U Yadav b Tahir................................................................ 5
V Aaron b Tahir ................................................................ 0
Extras: (b6, lb1, nb3) ................................................... 10
Total (all out, 68 overs) ................................... 201
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-63, 3-65, 4-102, 5-102, 6-140,
7-154, 8-196, 9-201
Bowling: Steyn 11-3-30-0, Philander 15-5-38-2, Harmer
14-1-51-1, Rabada 10-0-30-1, Elgar 8-1-22-4, Tahir 10-323-2
SPORT
F R I DAY
NOVEMBER 6 l 2015
19
omandailyobserver
BARCA ON SONG: Barcelona edged closer towards qualification after strolling past BATE Borisov 3-0; Roma edge Leverkusen
Bayern hammer Arsenal, Chelsea revive campaign
PARIS: Arsenal’s hopes of reaching
the Champions League knockout
phase were left hanging by a thread on
Wednesday after they were thrashed
5-1 by Bayern Munich, while Chelsea
revived their faltering campaign with a
nervy 2-1 victory over Dynamo Kiev.
Zenit St Petersburg became the
third team to reach the last 16 of the
competition as the Russian champions
maintained their 100 per cent record
with a 2-0 win at Lyon, while Barcelona
edged closer towards qualification after
strolling past BATE Borisov 3-0.
Bayern’s unbeaten start to the season
was ended by a 2-0 defeat at Arsenal a
fortnight ago but Pep Guardiola’s side
exacted revenge and then some at the
Allianz Arena.
Robert Lewandowski headed Bayern
into a 10th-minute lead as Arsenal’s
attempt to catch the Poland striker
offside backfired.
Thomas Mueller added a second just
before the half hour as his shot deflected
off Per Mertesacker and crept in at Petr
Cech’s near post.
David Alaba effectively put the game
beyond reach just before the break as
the Austrian curled home a third after
stealing the ball from Santi Cazorla on
the edge of the area.
Substitute Arjen Robben then
smashed home an Alaba cutback early
in the second half while Olivier Giroud’s
acrobatic effort pulled one back for the
Gunners.
But Mueller compounded Arsenal’s
misery a minute from time to condemn
the Gunners to their joint-heaviest
European defeat, equalling the 4-0
drubbing at AC Milan in the last 16 of
the 2011/12 edition.
A chastening evening for the
Londoners was made all the more
damaging as Olympiakos recovered
from a goal down to beat Dinamo
Zagreb 2-1, leaving Arsenal six points
behind the Greeks, and Bayern, with two
games to play.
WILLIAN TO THE RESCUE
Meanwhile, beleaguered Chelsea
coach Jose Mourinho was a muchrelieved man after Willian helped
steer the Blues past their Ukrainian
opponents.
Chelsea took a first-half lead at
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RESULTS
On Wednesday:
Group E
At Barcelona, Spain: Barcelona (ESP) 3
(Neymar 30-pen, 83, Suarez 60) BATE Borisov
(BLR) 0
At Rome: Roma (ITA) 3 (Salah 2 Dzeko 29,
Pjanic 81-pen) Bayer Leverkusen (GER) 2
(Mehmedi 46, Hernandez 51)
Group F
At Munich, Germany: Bayern Munich (GER)
5 (Lewandowski 10, Mueller 29, 89, Alaba 44,
Robben 55) Arsenal (ENG) 1 (Giroud 69)
At Piraeus, Greece: Olympiakos (GRE) 2
(Pardo 65, 90) Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) 1 (Hodzic
21)
Group G
At Haifa, Israel: Maccabi Tel Aviv (ISR) 1
(Zehavy 75-pen) FC Porto 3 (Tello 19, André 49,
Layun 72)
At London: Chelsea (ENG) 2 (Dragovic 34-og,
Willian 83) Dynamo Kiev (UKR) 1 (Dragovic 78)
Group H
At Lyon, France: Lyon (FRA) 0 Zenit St
Petersburg (RUS) 2 (Dzyuba 25, 57)
At Ghent, Belgium: Gent (BEL) 1 (Kums 49pen) Valencia (ESP) 0
Dynamo Kiev’s Antunes
(right) clears the ball past
Chelsea’s Willian. — AFP
POINT TABLES AFTER TUESDAY’S MATCHES
(PLAYED, WON, DRAWN, LOST, GOALS FOR, GOALS AGAINST, POINTS)
Bayern Munich’s Thomas Mueller (right) celebrates after scoring with Brazilian midfielder Douglas Costa during the Uefa
Champions League Group F second-leg match in Munich, southern Germany. — AFP
Stamford Bridge when Willian’s rightwing cross was headed into his own net
by Aleksandar Dragovic, only for the
Austrian to atone with a 78th-minute
equaliser.
But Willian curled in a superb freekick seven minutes from time to hand
the hosts all three points and bump
them up to second in Group G, two
points above Kiev.
Porto remain top of the section after
easing to a 3-1 win away to bottom side
Maccabi Tel-Aviv — Cristian Tello,
Andre Andre and Miguel Layun all on
target for the Portuguese outfit in Israel.
Neymar netted a 31st-minute penalty
and added a late second with Luis Suarez
also grabbing a goal at the Camp Nou as
Barcelona cruised past BATE Borisov to
leave the holders five points clear atop
Group E.
Roma prevented Barca from
qualifying with two games to spare as
the Italians recovered from letting a twogoal lead slip to beat Bayer Leverkusen
3-2 and climb to second.
First-half strikes from Mohamed
Group E
Barcelona
Roma
Bayer
BATE
4
4
4
4
3
1
1
1
1
2
1
0
0 8 2 10
1 10 10 5
2 11 10 4
3 4 11 3
Group G
FC Porto
Chelsea
Kiev
Maccabi
4
4
4
4
3
2
1
0
1
1
2
0
0
1
1
4
Group F
Bayern
Olympiakos
Dinamo
Arsenal
4
4
4
4
3
3
1
1
0
0
0
0
1 13 3 9
1 6 6 9
3 3 9 3
3 6 10 3
Group H
Zenit (Q)
Valencia
Ghent
Lyon
4
4
4
4
4
2
1
0
0
0
1
1
0 10 4 12
2 5 5 6
2 4 5 4
3 2 7 1
9
7
5
1
4 10
3 7
4 5
1 0
NOTE: Top two teams in each group qualify for last 16
Third-placed teams qualify for Europa League last 32. Q for qualified.
Salah and Edin Dzeko put Roma in
control at the Stadio Olimpico but,
just like in their previous meeting in
Germany, Leverkusen fought back with
goals from Admir Mehmedi and Javier
Hernandez just after half-time.
Miralem Pjanic’s penalty 10 minutes
from the end proved the difference
though as Rudi Garcia’s side picked up
their first victory of the campaign.
Artem Dzyuba netted twice to
power Zenit past a listless Lyon at the
Stade Gerland as the Russians joined
Real Madrid and Manchester City
in the last 16, while Gent kept their
qualification dreams alive in Group H
with a 1-0 home victory over secondplaced Valencia.
— AFP
Mourinho has been under attack for his side’s woeful run which put him on verge of sacking
Mourinho pays tribute to Chelsea fans
Barcelona’s Neymar celebrates a goal against Bate Borisov at Camp Nou
Stadium in Barcelona, Spain. — Reuters
Neymar enjoying spotlight
in Messi’s absence
BARCELONA: Brazilian striker Neymar
said he is in the form of his life after
netting twice as Barcelona eased past
BATE Borisov 3-0 in the Champions
League on Wednesday.
Neymar also set up Barca’s other
goal on the night for Luis Suarez as the
defending champions moved to within
a point of sealing their place in the
last 16. Suarez and Neymar have now
combined for 18 of Barca’s last 21 goals
since four-time World Player of the Year
Lionel Messi suffered knee ligament
damage nearly six weeks ago.
Barca remain hopeful Messi could
be fit to face Real Madrid in just over
two weeks’ time. But Neymar admitted
he is enjoying sharing the responsibility
of leading the Catalans along with
Suarez in Messi’s absence.
“It is clear we miss Messi, but I am
in the form of my life and I hope to
continue like this,” he told beIN Sports.
Neymar opened the scoring from the
penalty spot before teeing up Suarez
to double the advantage on the hour
mark. The Uruguayan then returned the
favour as his unselfish pass presented
Neymar with an open goal for his
second of the night and 11th of the
season 7 minutes from time.
“Half the goal belongs to Suarez. He
is a star and in great form.”
The South American duo’s hot
streak of late has wiped away early
season fears of Barca’s lack of killer
instinct in front of goal.
However, coach Luis Enrique
insisted he never doubted his star
forward line would come good.
“We never doubted we would get
our killer touch back given the profile
of the players we have up front,”
he said. “Given their quality and the
chances the team creates, it was never
in doubt.”
Victory extends Barca’s advantage at
the top of Group E as they lead secondplaced Roma by five points with two
games remaining.
The Italians visit the Camp Nou in
three weeks’ time and Barca may not
even need a point to qualify if Bayer
Leverkusen fail to win away at BATE.
“We are playing against Roma and
we will try to win the game as Barca do
in every match.”
The one setback of the evening
for the hosts was another injury to a
midfield player as Ivan Rakitic hobbled
off after 20 minutes. Tests revealed a
minor tear in his right calf which will
keep him out of Sunday’s clash at home
to Villarreal. — AFP
LONDON: Jose Mourinho paid an
emotional tribute to Chelsea’s loyal
fans as the beleaguered Blues boss
savoured the dramatic 2-1 win over
Dynamo Kiev that earned him a stay of
execution.
Mourinho has been under siege
from critics who claim his side’s woeful
run has left him on the verge of the
sack.
And with Chelsea’s defence of the
Premier League title in tatters amid
rumours of a dressing room mutiny
against his leadership, Mourinho
looked a dead man walking when
Dynamo’s
Aleksandar
Dragovic
cancelled out his earlier own goal in
the closing stages on Wednesday’s
Champions League tie.
But Brazil winger Willian came to
Mourinho’s rescue when he unleashed
his latest fabulous free-kick in the
83rd minute to secure a vital
victory that put Chelsea’s bid
to reach the last 16 back
in their own hands with
two Group G fixtures
remaining.
W i l l i a n ’s
wonder
strike
w a s
greeted with unrestrained glee in the
Stamford Bridge stands as the Chelsea
supporters who had spent the entire
match chanting “Stand up for the
Special One” and singing Mourinho’s
name over and over were rewarded for
their faith in the 52-year-old.
“This is my moment. When I came
back to this club and we played
the first match against Hull,
the way the stadium
welcomed me was
amazing, but it is not
comparable to today,”
Mourinho said.
“This comes at a
moment when the
results are
not
good and you (the media) are asking
for my head. The fans read newspapers,
they watch TV, they listen to pundits’,
commentators’ opinions, they read
blogs and it’s quite unbelievable what
they tried to say today.”
“They tried to say, ‘we want you
here’ and probably they also want to
say to all of you ‘we want him,
let him work’.
“It’s a fantastic
feeling. To support
the manager shows
respect and passion
for the club. It’s
amazing.”
“With Chelsea
this is my moment.
The club has to be
very proud of their
fans.”
“I don’t have
another way to thank
them other than
to give everything,
which I have always
done and always will
do.”
SMALL MERCIES
Although Chelsea
were still well
short of the
dominant
form that
grateful for small mercies after their
second win in nine games.
For once his players didn’t fold
under duress and the Chelsea chief
took heart from the way they refused
to settle for a draw which would have
pushed him closer to an unwanted exit.
“It was acceptable to draw but the
team showed it wanted to win and
emerged from a negative moment,”
Mourinho said.
“From a mental point of view it was
important. When the negative moment
arrived in the past the team feels it too
much.”
“Today was the perfect situation.
We conceded with 15 minutes left and
the team emerged. We wanted to win
and felt confident to do that.”
“I spoke a lot with the players.
When the difficult moment arrives,
face the difficult moment, don’t
crumble. And they did. They were
fantastic.”
Chelsea are now up to second in
the group and Mourinho challenged
them to catch leaders Porto by
winning their final two matches.
“Now we can still finish first in the
group. That is not the most important
thing, which is to qualify, but we can
still finish first,” he added.
Dynamo
manager
Sergei
Rebrov refused to give up hope of
overhauling Chelsea’s two-point
lead over them in the race to reach
the last 16.
“This is the most prestigious
tournament. It is very
important for the players to be
in it,” Rebrov said.
“Of course the situation isn’t great
made
them Premier League champions just for, but we will be fighting to stay in
six months ago, Mourinho has to be the competition.” — AFP
FRIDAY | NOVEMBER 6, 2015 | MUHARRAM 23 , 1437 AH
P17
P18
P19
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NBO GOLF CLASSIC: Rankings leader Ricardo Gouveia and Englishman Max Orrin, who won on this course last year, are in close pursuit
Hansen retains half-way lead at Almouj Golf
MUSCAT: Joachim B Hansen retained
the lead of the NBO Golf Classic Grand
Final at the halfway point after a five
under par second round of 67 but Road
to Oman Rankings leader Ricardo
Gouveia and Englishman Max Orrin
— who won on this course last year
— are in close pursuit in the European
Challenge Tour’s season finale.
Hansen made six birdies in the
Omani sunshine as he built on his
opening round of 66 to move up into
fourth position in the projected Road
to Oman Rankings, having started the
week in 17th spot — just outside the top
15 who will win European Tour cards at
the end of this week.
The Dane played on The European
Tour for the last two seasons after
graduating from the Challenge Tour
in 2012 and is happy with his form as
he hunts a maiden victory at Muscat’s
Almouj Golf, The Wave.
“My swing feels very comfortable
right now,” said the 25-year-old. “There
are a few shots going left but I just need
to get the rhythm and the arms through
it and I’ll be fine. I kept the ball in play
and hit a lot of greens. I didn’t really putt
as well as I did yesterday but it was still
pretty good. I’m looking forward to the
next few days and hopefully getting that
top 15 spot, so it’s going to be fun.”
“I definitely feel like I’m back at the
level I was at in 2012. My game has
developed a lot since that time, but, like
I did in Kazakhstan in the first round,
when I get the ball in play sometime the
putter just holes everything.”
“The two years on The European
Tour gave me a lot of experience, to see
how good the players are and how you
have to play. You don’t have to hit the
golden shot every time, just stick to your
game and hole the putts.”
“I just stick to my own game and
don’t look at what anybody else is doing
but it was good to play with Ricardo. He’s
a very steady player and strikes the ball
really well. I just have to try get by every
day and see where we are at the end.”
Azaan takes lead at Amateur
MUSCAT: Oman’s amateur golfers
also got the 36-hole NBO Oman
Amateur Final under way playing on
the same course as the professionals
with Azaan al Rumhy taking the
lead with a round of 81 to move
eight shots clear of nearest rival Ali
Hameed.
“It’s a great experience for us
to play on the same course as the
professionals this week,” said Azaan.
“It’s the first time there has been
an event only for Omanis and we
must thank NBO, the Oman Golf
Committee and Almouj Golf for
Joachim B Hansen in action during the NBO Golf Classic Grand Final at Almouj Golf in Muscat.
Gouveia, whose stellar season has
earned his caddie the right to wear a
golden bib, reflective of the Portuguese
star’s Number One position in the
Rankings, credited his putter for his
good scoring in the opening rounds.
“I played well again, hit the ball OK,”
said the 24-year-old. “I hit the ball better
yesterday but I holed some important
putts today. I’ve only made one bogey in
two rounds, which is pretty good, and I
just want to keep it going.”
“I’m striking the ball well and I’m
putting better which makes a lot of
difference to my scores. This week I
haven’t actually hit much better than
the rest of the season but I’ve holed
some important putts and that’s why I’ve
scored well. I check the leaderboards all
the time because I like to see where I’m
at. There’s always some pressure, because
I want to win the event, but just playing
well and being confident like I am takes
a bit of pressure off.”
“Knowing I’ve secured my European
Tour card helps a lot as well, but there’s
always a bit of pressure, just not too
much.”
Behind the leading pair is Max Orrin,
the Englishman who took victory when
the Challenge Tour visited Oman 12
months ago and who needs a good finish
to climb into the top 15 this week.
The 21-year-old’s round of 66 was the
lowest of the day and leaves him on eight
under par overall, in third place on his
own, at the midway point.
“I played very solid all day today,” he
said. “I don’t think I missed a single green
giving us this opportunity,” the top
Omani golfer said.
Fifteen-year-old Fahad Al Kitani,
the youngest of the six players taking
part in the NBO Oman Amateur
Final, impressed with a round
of 94 off the Championship tees
while former Oman National Team
Member Mohammed Mawly, the
oldest of the bunch shot 99.
He joked: “It’s been a long time
since I’ve walked 18 holes of a golf
course so I’m a little tired but I’m
looking forward to doing it all again
tomorrow.”
(From left) Azaan al Rumhy, Hamad al Rumhy and Ali Hameed.
all round and it was much the same as
yesterday, just keep trying to hit good
shots and keep it in the present. There’s
a lot going on which I try not to think
about too much, but just concentrate on
playing golf.”
“It’s tough to put to the back of your
mind how much is at stake this week,
with those 15 European Tour cards there
to be won. As much as you try to ignore
it all there’s reminders everywhere and
people talking about it.”
“I’m trying to push my way up
and into the top 15, and each day I get
closer to finishing there so it’s definitely
something that keeps pushing me on
and keeps me focused.”
Bjorn Akesson is one shot further
back on seven under par, with Daniel
Im, James Robinson and Jeff Winther
behind him in a tie for fifth place.
Dominic Foos’ tidy round of 67 has
moved the German youngster into the
top ten on five under par where he sits
alongside Jens Dantorp, Nacho Elvira,
Ryan Evans and Daan Huizing.
Abu Dhabi Racing Team’s Khalid al Qassimi took second with 2:20.8, Abdulaziz al Kuwairi finished third and Salah Bin Eden finished fourth
Al Attiyah off to flyer with super special stage victory
SPORTS REPORTER
MUSCAT: Qatar’s Nasser al Attiyah stormed
to lead the Oman International Rally with
the opening super special stage (spectator’s
stage) win by a timing of 2:18.0 at The Wave,
Muscat.
Abu Dhabi Racing Team’s Shaikh Khalid
al Qassimi took the second spot with 2:20.8.
Young Qatari driver Abdulaziz al
Kuwairi finished third, while Kuwait’s Salah
Bin Eden took the fourth spot.
For Oman, Saif al Harthy and Salim al
Abri were impressive for OVT Rally Team
with a seventh-place finish.
On Friday, the second day, the start of the
rally will take place at the Oman Automobile
Association (drift area) 9 am.
The 121 km leg 1 will take place in Rusayl,
For Oman, Saif al Harthy and
Salim al Abri were impressive
for OVT Rally Team with a
seventh-place finish on the
opening day of the Oman
International Rally
Misfah, Saal and leg 2 (125 km) will be
staged in Al Khoudh old village, Murayrat
and Misfah north.
The Oman Rally is running as part of
the Middle East Rally Championship after
getting the approval from MERC after
staging candidate race last year.
OMAN INTERNATIONAL RALLY RESULTS
SS1 Muscat Wave Spectator Stage SS - 3 km
POSITION, DRIVER-CO-DRIVER
1. Nasser al Attiyah-Baumel Matthieu
2. Khalid al Qassimi-Patterson Chris
3. Abdulaziz al Kuwari-Clarke M
4. Salah bin Eidan-Ošlaj Viljem
5. Al Suwaidi K-Bernacchini G
6. Al Naimi Rashid-Arena Nicola
7. Al Harthy Saif-Al Abri Salim
8. Bintowq Saeed-Harryman
9. Saif Ahmed Zakariya-Al Hinai Saif
10. Al Minji Khalid Saleh-Al Aisri S
11. Al Thefiri Meshari-Soomar Taha
12. Al Aufi Z-Al Balushi A
13. Weiss Edith-Majd Hamad
14. Al Rashidi F-Al Rashidi W
15. Al Zadjali Qassim-Al Raisi Nooh
16. Al Zadjali Haitham-Al Swordi Issa
17. Al Qassimi Hamed-Al Mazroui M
18. Al Zadjali Ehab-Al Naamani Khalid
19. Bel Helei M-Al Kendi K
CAR
(Ford Fiesta RRC)
(Citroën DS3 RRC)
(Ford Fiesta RRC)
(Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X)
(Ford Fiesta RRC)
(Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX)
(Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X)
Allan (Citroën DS3 R3T)
(Subaru Impreza)
(Subaru Impreza RC2)
(Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X)
(Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX)
(Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X)
(Subaru Impreza)
(Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII)
(Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII)
(Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII)
(Toyota Yaris)
(Citroën DS3 R3T)
TIMING
2:18.0
2:20.8
2:22.2
2:28.2
2:32.3
2:34.9
2:41.0
2:41.7
2:43.4
2:43.5
2:43.9
2:44.3
2:50.8
2:51.0
2:53.5
2:55.4
2:57.3
3:00.3
4:54.9