US to send special forces to Syria

P9
Cuban charm
and genius
come to Muscat
OCTOBER 31, 2015 | MUHARRAM 17, 1437 AH
P20
Hamilton happy
to wrestle with
Rosberg feud
P14
Tablet market
slumps as
buyers find
alternatives
Vol. 34 No. 351 | 200 baisas | 20 pages
www.omanobserver.om
editor@omanobserver.om
OMAN READY TO TAKE ON
SUPER CYCLONE CHAPALA
Dhofar, Yemen might get the equivalent of 8 years’ rains in 2 days; Majlis Ash’shura chairman election postponed
KABEER YOUSUF & VINOD NAIR
MUSCAT — The Royal Armed Forces, Royal
Oman Oolice, the National Committee for Civil
Defence (NCCD) and the Public Authority for
Civil Defence and Ambulances (PACDA) have
geared up to take on super cyclone Chapala
which is expected to hit Dhofar coast, Al Wusta
and Yemen on Monday midnight. They have
drawn up rescue and relief operations.
Suleiman al Jahdhami, senior meteorologist, told Oman TV that the the storm is likely
to bring in rains and thunderstorms in Dhofar
and Wusta. It may spare northern governorates
including Muscat but sea is likely to be rough
along Batinah coast, he said.
PACDA of icials said they have mobilised the
rescue team and evacuated people from Halaniyat to Shaleem. Chapala, categorised to be
grade four hurricane with possibilities to reach
category ive making it one of the strongest cyclones on record in the Arabian Sea.
After the landfall, the cyclone is expected to
bring in as many as 8 years’ of rains to Yemen
and the Sultanate in 48 hours, according to various media reports.
According to experts a narrow zone in the
far east of Yemen and just over the border into
Oman could see more than 500mm of rainfall
in a few days whereas Dhofar, which includes
Salalah, receives something around 100 to
130mm rainfall annually.
But the glad news amid the scary Chapala reports is that, as the storm approaches the coast
of Oman and Yemen, it will rapidly weaken, as
drier air gets drawn into the storm.
Cyclone Chapala is now brewing over the
warm waters of the Arabian Sea, with sustained
winds of 155mph and gusts of around 190 mph.
The reason for the storm developing so quickly
is the warmer than average sea water in this
region at the moment, which is 2 to 3C warmer
than normal in places. Warm waters fuel these
tropical storms.
Mussalam a citizen of Salalah said the conditions are normal with temperature in the
Inside...
‘Minor incident
could spark war’
BEIJING — China’s naval commander told his US counterpart
that a minor incident could spark
war in the South China Sea if the
United States did not stop its
“provocative acts” in the disputed
waterway, the Chinese navy said
on Friday. Admiral Wu Shengli
made the comments to US chief
of naval operations Admiral John
Richardson during a video teleconference on Thursday. The
two of icers held talks after a US
warship sailed within 12 nautical miles of one of Beijing’s manmade islands in the contested
Spratly archipelago on Tuesday.
 Report on page 4
IMRAN, WIFE PART WAYS
 Report on P4
Of icials track Chapala at the control centre in Muscat on Friday
mid-twenties. He said that it has been bright
all through the day and right now there are no
signs of the approaching cyclone.
Anson, another resident, too, said things are
normal despite weather warnings.
In a related development, the election of the
new chairman of the Majlis Ash’shura Council
on Sunday has been postponed due the weather
conditions in the Dhofar governorate.
The Public Authority for Civil Aviation
(PACA) advised the public to take precaution
and stay away from low lying areas. It is also
advised the ishermen and sea goers to avoid
going into the sea and follow updated weather
Tablet sales slump
12 per cent: IDC
ONA
bulletins. The ROP has warned people not to
forward or share information leading to confusion and panic. “ROP Cyber Cell is monitoring
the messages and any such canard spreading
will be unearthed and the culprits be brought to
books an ROP of icial said
He asked people not to panic and follow oficial media channels for accurate information
“Tropical cyclones are extremely rare over
the Arabian peninsula,” WMO spokeswoman
Clare Nullis told reporters, adding that the
storm might well be the irst of its kind to hit
Yemen. Nullis said the emergence of Chapala
was likely caused by a mix of warmer sea tem-
peratures and meteorological shifts.
She said it was “possible” climate change was
playing a role, but that it was impossible to attribute one particular cyclone to the warming
weather system.
But “with climate change, we’re really heading into unknown territory,” she said.
“We have to be prepared to face the unexpected.” The storm was caused by high sea temperatures and atmospheric conditions, but it
was not clear if it was also caused by the El Nino
weather phenomenon or by global warming,
and if such storms might recur in future, she
said.
— with agency reports
San FranciSco
Global sales
of tablet computers fell for a
fourth consecutive quarter, as buyers put off replacement or looked
to alternative devices, a survey
showed. The IDC report showed
a 12.6 per cent year-over-year
decline in tablet sales in the JulySeptember quarter, with 48.7 million devices shipped. IDC analysts
said tablet owners are not replacing the devices as frequently as in
the past.
 Report on page 14
US to send special forces to Syria
A Spanish lifeguard saves a migrant child as the boat he had
boarded with others sinks off the Greek island of Lesbos after
crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey on Friday. Greece rescued
144 refugees and recovered the bodies of 22, including four
infants and nine children, after their boats sank in two separate
incidents in the Aegean sea, the coastguard said on Friday.
FULL REPORT ON P7
Climate curbs will slow temperature: UN
OSLO/LONDON — Plans by about
150 countries to curb greenhouse gas
emissions will slow climate change this
century but they need to do more to
limit rising global temperatures to two
degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), the
United Nations said on Friday.
Scientists say warming must be
kept below 2 degrees by the end of the
century to stave of the worst efects of
climate change such as loods, droughts
and rising sea levels. National strategies
would restrict a rise in world emissions
to the equivalent of 56.7 billion tonnes
of carbon dioxide per year by 2030, four
billion less than expected without the
extra action, from 49.0 billion in 2010, it
said.
FULL REPORT ON P6
VIENNA WASHINGTON
US of icials disclosed plans on Friday to station the irst American boots on the
ground in Syria in the war against IS
ighters saying dozens of special forces troops would be sent as advisers to
groups ighting against the ultra religious terrorists.
The announcement of the small
ground force came as diplomats from
more than a dozen countries held
talks over Syria which for the irst
time in the 4-year civil war were attended by President Bashar al Assad’s
main ally Iran.
In a rare hint of diplomatic
progress, Tehran signalled it would
back a six-month political “transition”
period in Syria followed by elections
to decide Assad’s fate, although his
foes rejected the proposal as a trick to
keep the president in power.
US of icials said the small special forces contingent in Syria would
work with local “moderate rebel”
groups to ight against IS
Washington has targeted the
group with air strikes for more than a
year since ighters seized swathes of
eastern Syria and northern Iraq and
proclaimed a caliphate to rule over all
Muslims.
Russia’s decision a month ago to
join the con lict in Syria by bombing
Assad’s enemies has upended the
strategy of the United States and its
allies, who say Assad must go, as his
presence makes it harder to ight the
US Secretary of State John Kerry (C-L) and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov (C-R) chat before talks with 17 nations, the European Union and
United Nations at the Hotel Imperial on Friday in Vienna. — Reuters
radical .
A senior US administration of icial
said President Barack Obama had
authorised sending fewer than 50 US
Special Forces troops to northern Syria to work with local groups.
Washington has acknowledged
conducting special forces raids into
Syria in the past but has not stationed
troops there.
Its main friends in northern Syria
are Kurdish forces, who captured a
swathe of territory from IS along the
border with Turkey over the past
year with the aid of US air strikes.
Washington has been cautious
about publicly committing to helping
the Syrian Kurds, who are mistrusted
by US ally Turkey.
The measure would be part of a
package of other steps to beef up the
ight against IS including sending
more warplanes to the region and
discussing with Iraq the establish-
ment of a special forces task force
there. For Syria, it is part of what US
of icials call a two pronged strategy
of increasing aid to groups they describe as moderate rebels ighting
against IS, while also working on diplomacy to remove Assad from power.
Russia, which started bombing
a month ago, says it is only targetting IS, but the overwhelming majority of its strikes have been against
other groups ighting against Assad
including some that are supported
by US allies. For four years, Assad’s
closest ally Iran had been excluded
from international peace conferences
because it rejected a UN-backed proposal for a transition of power in Damascus.
However, Tehran appears to be adjusting its stance in ways that could
create more ground for compromise
with Western countries that are coming to accept that, as long as Assad is
backed by Moscow, he cannot be driven from power by force.
“Iran does not insist on keeping Assad in power forever,” Iranian
Deputy Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian, a member of Tehran’s delegation at the Syria talks on Friday, was
quoted by Iranian media as saying.
A senior of icial from the Middle
East familiar with the Iranian position said that could go as far as ending support for Assad after the transition period.
— Reuters
2
OMAN
S A T U R D A Y, O C T O B E R 3 1 , 2 0 1 5
SHABAB OMAN-II ARRIVES IN BAHRAIN
The Royal Navy’s Shabab Oman-II arrived at the Bahrain port where it will remain for three days. The Oman
Embassy celebrated its arrival at the port and the ship received tourists and visitors.
Third Omani Dates
Festival concludes
Defence forces prepare for storm
‘Make it easy’
campaign
concludes
By Amal al Riyami
NIZWA — The Third Omani Dates
Festival which was held for six days
in Nizwa concluded yesterday. The
day coincided with the Sultanate’s
celebration of the Day of the Tree,
which is held on October 31st each
year. In order to celebrate this occasion an exhibition was held to especially mark the event.
The festival honoured the participating farmers and the owners of
factories of dates, as well as government institutions that participated in
the festival.
The Third Omani Dates Festival is
an economic and heritage phenomenon that provides an opportunity
for visitors to select and purchase
date products. It also helps the people to learn about the latest that
modern industries have to offer in
the dates industry. The other important aspect is that it enabled the visitors to explain to their children the
importance of the palm as a heritage
that is linked to the lives of Omanis
since ancient times and get to know
the different traditional crafts made
from palm waste.
The festival highlighted the important facts about dates and their
relevance in the past well as the
present. It gave a message to all to
preserve the palm tree and address
the concerns of its industries and to
promote it socially and economically.
The festival included a variety of
events to de ine the importance of
upgrading dates of all kinds to the
highest quality standards.
The Omani Dates Festival, which
is organised on an annual basis, also
serves to exchange manufacturing and marketing expertise among
farmers.
The festival has seen a large
number of visitors from all segments
of society. It is organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in
cooperation with the Public Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises
during October 26-31.
Over 500 attend pharmacy conference
By Lara Ibrahim
MUSCAT — The two-day Oman Fifth
Pharmaceutics Conference concluded
at the Oman Medical College in Bausher
on Thursday. As many as 500 persons including pharmacists, assistant pharmacists, doctors and nurses from different
parts of the Sultanate, GCC countries and
around the world, participated in the
conference.
The conference titled ‘Newly-created role of pharmacists in healthcare
system’ was inaugurated by Dr Ali bin
Saud al Bimani, Vice-Chancellor of Sultan Qaboos University. Dr Abdullah bin
Mohammed al Sarmi, Under-Secretary
of the Ministry of Higher Education and
Shaikh Salim Saeed al Fannah al Arimi,
Head of Administration of Oman Medical
College graced the occasion.
The conference was organised to
reinforce and support the role of pharmacists in society. The development
of pharmacy skills will lead to a better
health care for patients, especially with
the regard to the mechanism of dispensing medicines at pharmacies.
As many as
scienti ic worksheets
were taken up for discussion on the irst
day of the conference by a group of distinguished international practitioners
in the ield of pharmacy They gave lectures about important topics like the role
of pharmacists in
providing the right
medicines for the
patients with the
suitable dose and
reducing errors.
On the second
day of the confer-
ence, 17 interactive workshops were
conducted.
As part of the Conference, students
organised an exhibition about the path
of development in the ield of medicine and the common medical errors.
The international conference attracted
representatives from the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Egypt and Lebanon, etc.
The global exchange of experiences enriched the conference and added to the
development in the ield of pharmacy in
Oman.
MUSCAT — The ‘Make it
easy’ campaign concluded yesterday evening.
The events were organised by a group from the
College of Arts and Social Sciences.
The campaign was
presided over by Dr
Naifeh Salim, Assistant
Dean for Training and
Community Service, College of Arts and Social
Sciences in the presence
of number of professors
from the Department of
Social Work.
The inal evening of
the campaign included
a number of diverse recreational events that enhanced the social values
in general.
“In fact, it was a wonderful evening and I am
honoured to preside
over it. I think that we
need to promote such
values as recommended
by the Prophet (peace
be upon him),” Dr Naifeh
said.
Dr Mona Bakri, the
former supervisor of social work group, pointed
out that the students
should strike a balance
between study and other
activities. “I think such a
campaign like this will
enhance students skills,”
she added.
“The campaign has
achieved the expected
goals according to the
audience response and
it has reinforced some
social values,” Ahmed
al Esei, leader of social
work group said.
3
REGION
S A T U R D A Y, O C T O B E R 3 1 , 2 0 1 5
Rockets kill 40 in Syrian suburb
A man rides a bicycle at a damaged site hit by
missiles on a busy marketplace in the Douma
neighbourhood of Damascus. — Reuters
BEIRUT — Forty people, including
a child, were killed on Friday when
rockets hit a market in a rebel-held
area outside Damascus, a monitor
said
The deaths came as top diplomats from 17 countries, including
Iran and Saudi Arabia, met for the
irst time in Vienna to seek a political
path out of the con lict
“There were 40 people killed and
at least 100 wounded in the centre of
Douma,” a town on the eastern edges
of the capital, Rami Abdel Rahman,
head of the Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights said
He added that one child was
among the dead
There is still heavy ire now with
both rockets and mortars,” he said,
adding that the toll was expected to
rise as people were still being pulled
out of damaged buildings
The opposition National Coalition,
citing its sources inside Douma, said
THE LATEST ATTACK HAPPENED AS RESIDENTS GATHERED AT A
MARKET, AND LEFT CORPSES PILED ON TOP OF EACH OTHER. IN
THE CHAOTIC AFTERMATH, A MAN IN HIS THIRTIES CRIED OVER
THE BODY OF A YOUNG BOY
the attacks were Russian air strikes
Rebel-held Douma is in Eastern Ghouta, the largest opposition
stronghold in Damascus province
The air strikes on Thursday also
hit a Douma market and a hospital,
killing at least nine people, the Observatory said
An AFP photographer said Thursday’s attack had wounded hospital
staff, limiting the treatment available
for Friday s wounded
He said the latest attack happened
as residents gathered at the market,
and left corpses piled on top of each
other
In the chaotic aftermath, a man
in his thirties cried over the body
of a young boy Since your father
was killed in the last massacre, your
mother has been telling you to stop
working in the market Why did you
go Why he cried
Corrugated metal rooftops, twisted and blown apart in the attack,
were left dangling over mangled bicycles and shredded signs
The Douma Coordination Committee, a local activist group, published a gruesome video of what it
said was the aftermath of more than
a dozen rockets hitting the market
Blood-soaked bodies lay crumpled underneath tables of food
and other goods, as men gathered
around the wounded A young boy in
a sky-blue sweater stood on the sidelines looking stunned
“Douma is one of the areas in
Syria where there are the highest
number of deaths since the beginning of the war Abdel Rahman said
Government forces regularly target the area with rocket ire shelling
and air raids, and opposition groups
there also launch rockets into the
capital
In August, 117 people were killed
in a single day of air strikes in the
town causing a global outcry
Also on Friday, air strikes on the
opposition-controlled
neighbourhood of Maghayir in the northern
city of Aleppo killed 15 civilians, including four children, Abdel Rahman
said
He said the air raids were believed to have been carried out by either Russian or regime aircraft, and
that dozens of people were wounded
and missing
AFP
Fresh knife attacks as
clashes erupt in W Bank
JERUSALEM — Jerusalem was shaken by its irst stabbing in two weeks
on Friday as violence intensi ied in
the occupied West Bank with fresh
clashes and knife attacks in a surge of
Palestinian unrest
A Palestinian stabbed and lightly
wounded an American tourist in Jerusalem, where the wave of violence
irst erupted a month ago over the Al
Aqsa mosque compound
The 23-year-old Palestinian was
shot and severely wounded, while a
bystander was injured when security
forces opened ire on the assailant
police said
Jerusalem had been calm in recent days as Israel clamped down
on weeks of unrest with a massive
boost of security forces and increased
checkpoints, but violence has shifted
to the occupied West Bank with daily
clashes and stabbings
In the city of Nablus, two Palestinians allegedly tried to stab members
of Israeli forces guarding a major
checkpoint, and were shot, police
said One died and the other was
wounded and arrested
Elsewhere in the West Bank, in the
volatile city of Hebron, hundreds of
youths lobbed stones irebombs and
burning tyres at Israeli soldiers who
hit back with tear gas and rubber bullets according to a journalist
Violent clashes also erupted in
Ramallah and Bethlehem as angry
youths protested Israeli occupation
amid a surge of unrest that has raised
fears of a third Palestinian uprising
Also in Ramallah a Palestinian
hurled a Molotov cocktail at border
guards and was shot and wounded,
police said
In the blockaded Gaza Strip, where
17 Palestinians have died in clashes
in recent weeks, protesters clashed
with Israeli forces along the northern
and eastern borders
Knife attacks shootings and protests have become near daily occurrences since simmering tensions
over the status of the Al Aqsa mosque
compound boiled over
The violence has left nine Israelis
dead
The death of the latest attacker
took the number of Palestinians
killed in the recent unrest to 63, including many shot in anti-Israeli protests
One Israeli Arab attacker has also
been shot dead
For the second week in a row no
restrictions were placed on those
heading to pray at the Al Aqsa compound in east Jerusalem
The recent unrest arose amid
renewed fears that Israel plans to
change the rules governing the site,
igniting long-simmering Palestinian
anger over decades of occupation and
stalled peace efforts
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu has insisted he will not
change the status quo
Many of the attackers who have
targeted Israeli forces come from the
Hebron
Dozens of protesters outside the
site, known as the Ibrahimi Mosque,
condemned restrictions on access
to the site imposed by Israel, which
has split it into a mosque and a synagogue
Hebron, a city of 200,000 Palestinians, has long been the commercial
heart of the occupied West Bank
But the presence of 500 Israelis
settlers near the city centre, protected by barbed wire, watchtowers and
a buffer zone patrolled by the Israeli
army, has helped make it a hotbed for
unrest
The Israeli army said on Thursday
it will put in place “several precautionary measures to contain potential attacks in the future and maintain
the safety and well-being of Israelis”
in the city
The Maariv newspaper reported
that more army checkpoints were being set up in Hebron at the entrances
and exits to Jewish areas, where Palestinians aged 15 to 25 will not be allowed to pass
AFP
YEMENI CHILD PRODIGY BADLY BURNT IN BOMBING
DUBAI — A child prodigy who once
dreamed of leading a Yemeni space
programme, 15-year-old Abdullah al
Sanabani may now lose his leg and
ingers after a suspected air strike on
a family wedding killed his relatives
and left him badly burned
Abdullah’s intellect shined a rare
bright light on desperately poor, wardamaged Yemen, where tragedies
like his are now routine for a generation struggling for a decent future
Six months of con lict has killed
at least 500 children, according to
the United Nations Countless others
have been forced to go hungry lee
home for their lives or join the ight
as child soldiers
The young scientist’s invention of
a solar-powered remote control car
that could lip over and become a
boat won him an international com-
petition in 2012 and a free visit to
Nasa the American space agency
Asked if he would stay focused on
his studies and advance science in
his now war-torn homeland, a tired
Abdullah, who is convalescing in a
Jordanian hospital said God willing
His uncle Hussam remembers
the boy tinkering with gadgets and
charging mobile phones with solar panels, but wonders anxiously
whether he will be able to enjoy his
passion He was so into life into
learning English and computers All
of his dreams and aspirations could
be lost now His future is now in the
hands of fate
A success story in the making,
Abdullah’s progress halted when a
wedding party he attended with extended family was hit by a missile in
central Yemen on October
“Three of my wife’s brothers were
all having a wedding At around
at night when the brides arrived to
the house, we heard the sound of the
Saudi airplanes attack it with missiles,” the boy’s father, Qais, said from
the burn unit ward in Amman King
Hussein hospital
A groom and a bride were killed
along with two of Abdullah’s grandparents, an aunt, two uncles and several young cousins In all at least
people were killed in the attack, including children
Residents and medics at the scene
blamed the explosion on an air strike
A Saudi military spokesman denied
this and said it was the work of the
Houthis, accusing them of trying to
divert attention away from military
losses elsewhere
“Around 45 per cent of his body
has second and third degree burns
The ive ingers on his right hand and
his left leg are burnt, and the doctors
are deciding whether to keep them
or take them off,” Abdullah’s father
Qais added
The incident follows a blast at
another wedding party last month
which killed
people Again residents blamed Saudi-led jets, which
the coalition denied
Over 5,400 people have died in
ground ighting and air strikes since
Gulf Arab forces intervened in a civil
war there in March to restore the
government ousted by the Houthi militia group which says it s ighting a
revolution
The contending justi ications for
the war mean little to its youngest
victims, from the half of Yemen’s population that is under
Reuters
A wounded Palestinian protester is evacuated during clashes near the
border between Israel and Central Gaza Strip. — Reuters
Trenches, tactics help dissidents survive Syria onslaught
BEIRUT/AMMAN — After the initial
shock of intensive Russian air strikes,
Syrian rebels on the receiving end of
a major offensive say better organisation and new tactics have helped them
to stem losses and ight back
A month of Russian air strikes in
support of government offensives
have cost the rebels in lives and supplies: commanders have been killed,
bases bombed and weapons depleted
This is the irst multi pronged attack of its kind in nearly ive years of
war that have diminished President
Bashar al Assad’s control to a quarter
or less of Syria
But while it may be too early to say
how this new phase of the war will
play out, analysts say modest government gains so far do not appear to
match the scale of its assault
Rebels have even regained some
positions and ighters on the government’s side are meanwhile being
killed in large numbers, according to
the Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights which tracks the war
Rebels interviewed say they are
learning to live with Russian air
strikes They are working more closely together and using different tactics
to ight back Knowledge of the terrain
is cited as a crucial advantage
“It’s a battle of ambushes, of surprise attacks,” said a former army
The offensives are
mostly targeting
areas of western
and northwestern
Syria held by an
array of rebels
including Free
Syrian Army groups
Fighters from the Free Syrian Army’s Al Rahman
legion walk in a trench on the frontline.
lieutenant-colonel who leads the Jabhat Sham group, a recipient of military
support from Assad’s foreign enemies
that ights under the banner of the
Free Syrian Army FSA
New supplies of weapons from
states have arrived, though not in the
quantities the rebels would like given
the scale of Russian intervention
Still a steady low of weapons including anti-tank missiles do appear
to be arriving via Turkey This may increase with Saudi Arabia and the United States promising to bolster support
to what they call the moderate Syrian
opposition
The offensives are mostly targeting
areas of western and northwestern
Syria held by an array of rebels including Free Syrian Army groups
A Syrian military source said operations were on track
“The progress is studied, and happening according to the plan This
plan includes hitting command and
communication headquarters, cutting
supply routes, thereby keeping the
groups in a state of siege,” the source
said He said rebels were waging a
propaganda war to maintain their
lagging morale
The war which has killed about
250,000 people and created more
than four million refugees causing crises in Europe and neighbouring countries
One of the biggest government offensives so far is south of the city of
Aleppo A rebel ighting with one of
the groups there, the Sham Revolutionary Brigades, said he had never
seen anything like the attack that began on October
“What changed for us was the
huge, abnormal size, and intensity of
the bombardment,” said Abu Ahmed,
and speaking via a web-based messaging system
His group, another FSA faction
which has received foreign military
support including US-made anti-tank,
or TOW missiles, lost its commander
in the ighting But one week on Abu
Ahmed said the situation had improved
“Yesterday there was a big Russian
air strike, but we organised ourselves,
with the rest of the factions We are
used to the new situation he said
We camou lage headquarters and
cars and dig trenches he said But
the main factor is counter-moves —
such as surprise attacks
Most of the ground offensives have
targeted northwestern and western
Syria, in Hama, Idlib and Latakia provinces, areas where rebel gains this
year posed a growing threat to Assad
While the government has captured some 13 villages, the rebels
have recovered three, the Observatory says More signi icantly an attack
by IS to the southeast of Aleppo — a
response to a government offensive
against the group — has threatened a
vital supply route
Reuters
4
S A T U R D A Y, O C T O B E R 3 1 , 2 0 1 5
ASIA
Minor incident could spark war: China naval chief
Admiral Wu Shengli
had talks with US chief
of naval operations
Admiral John
Richardson during a
video teleconference on
Thursday, according to a
Chinese naval statement.
The two of icers held
talks after a US warship
sailed within 12 nautical
miles of one of Beijing’s
man-made islands in the
Spratly archipelago
BEIJING/WASHINGTON — China’s naval commander told his US counterpart
that a minor incident could spark war
in the South China Sea if the United
States did not stop its “provocative
acts” in the disputed waterway, the
Chinese navy said on Friday.
Admiral Wu Shengli made the comments to US chief of naval operations
Admiral John Richardson during a video teleconference on Thursday, according to a Chinese naval statement.
The two of icers held talks after a
US warship sailed within
nautical
miles of one of Beijing’s man-made
islands in the contested Spratly archipelago on Tuesday.
China has rebuked Washington
over the patrol the most signi icant US
challenge yet to territorial limits China
effectively claims around its seven ar-
US Navy s guided missile destroyer sails near one of Beijing s arti icial islands in the disputed South China
Sea. (Inset) Admiral Wu Shengli, China’s naval commander . — Reuters
ti icial islands in one of the world s
busiest sea lanes.
If the US continues with these
kinds of dangerous, provocative acts,
there could well be a seriously pressing situation between front line forces from both sides on the sea and
in the air, or even a minor incident
that sparks war,” the statement paraphrased Wu as saying.
I hope the US side cherishes the
good situation between the Chinese
and US navies that has not come easily and avoids these kinds of incidents
from happening again,” Wu said.
Speaking earlier a US of icial said
the naval chiefs agreed to maintain
dialogue and follow protocols to avoid
clashes.
Scheduled port visits by US and Chinese ships and planned visits to China
by senior US Navy of icers remained
on track the of icial said
“None of that is in jeopardy. Nothing
has been cancelled said the of icial
Both of icers agreed on the need to
stick to protocols established under
the Code for Unplanned Encounters at
Sea CUES
“They agreed that it’s very important that both sides continue to use the
protocols under the CUES agreement
when they’re operating close to keep
the chances for misunderstanding and
any kind of provocation from occurring the US of icial said
Indeed, Wu said he believed the Chinese and US navies had plenty of scope
for cooperation and should both “play
a positive role in maintaining peace
and stability in the South China Sea”.
A US Navy spokesman stressed
Washington s position that US freedom
of navigation operations were meant
to “protect the rights, freedoms, and
lawful uses of the sea and airspace
guaranteed to all nations under international law”.
Chinese warships followed the USS
Lassen, a guided-missile destroyer,
as it moved through the Spratlys on
Tuesday The US Navy is operating in
a maritime domain bristling with Chinese ships.
While the US Navy is expected to
keep its technological edge in Asia for
decades, China’s potential trump card
is sheer weight of numbers, with dozens of naval and coastguard vessels
routinely deployed in the South China
Sea, security experts say.
China has overlapping claims with
Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Tai-
wan and Brunei in the South China Sea,
through which $5 trillion in ship-borne
trade passes every year.
Next week, Chinese President Xi
Jinping will visit Vietnam and Singapore, while Chinese Defence Minister
Chang Wanquan will attend a meeting
of Southeast Asian defence ministers
in Malaysia that US Defence Secretary
Ash Carter is also due to attend.
Separately, China suffered a legal
setback on Thursday when an arbitration court in the Netherlands ruled it
had jurisdiction to hear some territorial claims the Philippines has iled
against Beijing over the South China
Sea.
The court said additional hearings
would be held to decide the merits of
the Philippines’ arguments. China has
not participated in the proceedings
Indonesia reviews land-burning laws to halt haze
JAKARTA — Indonesia is reviewing
laws that allow farmers to burn up to
ive acres forestry of icials said the
latest in so-far unsuccessful efforts
to halt ires that have sent choking
smoke across much of Southeast Asia.
Indonesia is also considering declaring a national emergency over the
ires which this week caused President Joko Widodo to cut short an oficial trip to the United States and
pushed the country’s greenhouse gas
emissions above the daily average
from all economic activity in the US
A 2009 law allows smallholder
farmers to use slash-and-burn practices to clear land for agricultural
purposes, and has been cited by green
groups and plantation irms as a key
cause of the annual ires when the
burning gets out of control.
“The problem is that some people
take advantage of this exception,” Indonesia’s Environment and Forestry Indonesian President Joko Widodo (C),
Minister, Siti Nurbaya Bakar, told re- accompanied by Minister for Human Development
and Culture Puan Maharani (L) and Health
porters when asked about the law.
“In our last cabinet meeting, the Minister Nila Djuwita F Moeloek (R) meets
president assigned us to review a reg- with residents displaced by smoke and haze in
ulation that allows land burning for Palembang, South Sumatra. — Reuters
two hectares.”
Forestry experts say the best way ods are more expensive and timeRevising the law may need parlia- ing that the government was therementary support which could delay fore considering an emergency regu- to clear forested areas is by tractors, consuming than ires
The haze has caused pollution levchainsaws or hand tools. These methchanges until 2016, said Bakar, add- lation.
els across the region to spike to unhealthy levels, and forced school closures and light cancellations
Warships are on standby to evacuate infants and other vulnerable residents of haze-hit areas, while other
countries have been asked for help to
tackle the ires
The ires often deliberately set by
plantation companies and smallholders, have been burning for weeks in
the forests and carbon-rich peat lands
of Sumatra and Kalimantan islands.
“We support our government’s initiative to revise the provisional laws
that allow small-holder farmers to
clear up to two hectares of forested
land by burning,” said Aida Greenbury, Managing Director of sustainability at Asia Pulp and Paper (APP).
“But a multi-stakeholder initiative to
support the local farmer and community must be initiated in parallel.
“The key here is to assist the farmers and the community in developing
their land responsibly without burning.”
Indonesia usually enters its wet
season in October and November,
and despite the El Nino dry conditions, rain has been reported in parts
of Sumatra and Kalimantan this week.
— Reuters
Myanmar oppn candidate hurt in sword attack on rally
YANGON — Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition called for calm on Friday after
a party MP was wounded by a swordwielding attacker while canvassing in
Yangon, as tensions rise in the days
ahead of key elections in Myanmar.
Naing Ngan Linn, a sitting MP for
the National League for Democracy,
suffered injuries to his head and arms
when he was set upon late on Thursday as his campaign group toured
Tharketa township in his constituency.
In a statement on the bloody assault, the NLD urged its members to
engage their campaigns with “continued momentum” as the party gears up
to contest nationwide elections for the
irst time in a quarter of a century on
November 8.
“We call on all NLD members
around the country not to respond in
any way to the violence in Tharketa to
ensure that the coming elections pass
peacefully,” the party’s election committee said in the release.
Naing Ngan Linn and another party
member continued to receive treatment late on Friday at Yangon General Hospital, where they were earlier
visited by Suu Kyi and other party oficials who have called the assault the
worst incident of the campaign.
Political tensions are high in Myanmar with the opposition likely to make
Political tensions
are high in with
the opposition
likely to make
major gains in the
vote, tipping the
balance of power
away from the
military and its
ruling party allies
Singers perform on a motorcade during a campaign rally by supporters
of the army-backed ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party in
Yangon. — AFP
major gains in the vote, potentially tipping the balance of power away from
the military and its ruling party allies
for the irst time in generations
Witnesses earlier described a terrifying attack on the NLD group by
a man who appeared drunk and
charged at the canvassers, brandishing
a sword.
“Naing Ngan Linn tried to stop
him... that’s why he sustained many
injuries,” said Thet Htar Nwe Win, another NLD candidate, who was present
during the incident.
He added that several other unarmed men had attacked the group
but it was not clear what motivated
the violence.
Thet Htar New Win said at least
two people had been arrested.
Khin Sandar Win, the injured MP’s
wife, said he suffered wounds on his
forehead, hands and wrists and had
undergone an operation on Thursday.
His condition was not life threatening.
“It happened in front of my eyes.
The man who attacked was shouting
abusive words against NLD when our
vehicle arrived,” she said.
Myanmar’s elections are set to
crown more than four years of reforms that have seen the nation open
its doors to the world under a quasi
civilian regime that replaced junta rule
in 2011.
Campaigning has largely been calm,
although the NLD has complained that
its rivals have used religion as a political tool.
Those concerns carry weight in a
nation that has seen waves of violence
in recent years.
The attack comes just days before
Suu Kyi is due to speak at a major rally
in Yangon at the culmination of weeks
of energetic campaigning around the
country by the veteran activist.
A spokesman for the party who was
overseeing preparations at the rally
site said there would be “normal” security for Sunday’s event.
Meanwhile, security concerns have
increased for Myanmar opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Five assailants including one armed
with a knife attacked members o her
National League for Democracy (NLD)
party during a campaign rally.
“He [Naing] is okay as the operation
yesterday night was successful,” said
Nan Khin Htwe Myint, an NLD spokeswoman.
Of icers were still searching for the
remaining assailants.
“We worry for Suu Kyi as her rallies always draw massive crowds,” Nan
Khin Htwe Myint said. — AFP/dpa
and does not recognise the court’s authority in the case.
Manila iled the case in
to seek
a ruling on its right to exploit the South
China Sea waters in its 200-nautical
mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ)
as allowed under the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea UNCLOS).
China, facing international legal
scrutiny for the irst time over its assertiveness in the South China Sea,
would neither participate in nor accept
the case at the arbitration court, ViceForeign Minister Liu Zhenmin said.
Liu told reporters the case would
not affect China’s sovereign claims in
the seas.
The Philippine government welcomed the court decision.
— Reuters
Imran Khan
divorces wife
of 10 months
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman
Imran Khan and wife Reham
Khan have divorced with mutual consent after 10 months
of marriage an of icial said on
Friday.
Six months in, rumours that
the marriage was falling apart
began to circulate, Dawn online
reported.
While the couple was seen
together on occasion, Imran
Khan, 62, last month tweeted
an apparent refutation of the
rumours: “I am shocked at a
TV channel making slanderous
statement about my marriage.
I strongly urge the media to
desist from such baseless statements.”
In a series of tweets, Imran
Khan wrote that the divorce is
painful for him, Reham, 42, and
their respective families and
requested everyone to respect
their privacy.
The PTI chairman and television journalist Reham Khan
had tied the knot in a simple
nikkah ceremony which took
place in January this year at his
private residence.
A source close to the PTI
chairman, said the two were
“just not getting along.”
“She wanted to get involved with politics and that is
not what Khan wanted at all.
She just did not want to sit at
home,” he said.
“There were teething problems as well over other issues
which were being resolved but
this was a major issue - she
wanted to get into politics and
was not ready to back down.”
Sources said Reham has left
Pakistan for London and is expected to address a conference
there. — IANS
5
S A T U R D A Y, O C T O B E R 3 1 , 2 0 1 5
INDIA
HC quashes discom audit Delhi govt
to appeal to Supreme Court
Women take a photograph with their mobile phone during celebrations of the Karva Chauth (Husband’s
Day) festival in Amritsar on Friday. Married women observe Karva Chauth by fasting and offering
prayers seeking welfare, prosperity and longevity of their husbands. — AFP
Govt seeks to make
air travel affordable
NEW DELHI
Incentives to ly to
small towns at affordable costs and
easing norms for domestic carriers to
operate services abroad are some of
the highlights of the new draft aviation policy released on Friday for inputs from stakeholders before inalisation.
The primary aim of the policy is
to ensure a tariff of no more than Rs
per ticket for each lying hour
with a host of incentives and other
bene its to both airport developers
and operators to make that happen
A lot of consultation has taken
place We invite suggestions from
stakeholders and public
since it
involves the people of India After all
those suggestions come in we will
look into it said Civil Aviation Minister Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju
The basic behind of National Civil
Aviation Policy is to take lying to the
masses said Civil Aviation Secretary
Rajiv Nayan Choubey adding that operators will get some doles to ly to
smaller towns with incentives linked
to fuel prices and in lation
The key to government s drive to
increase lying among the public is
the Regional Connectivity Scheme
while central to the RCS is the proposal to revive underserved airstrips and
build no frills airports
We currently have some
airstrips and airports But only around
in operation nearly
odd are
not being used This is a huge unused
asset These airports will form the
basis for enhancing our regional connectivity said Choubey
He said these will be upgraded
into a no frills airport at cost of Rs
crore each Besides to make operations in such airports feasible the security will be aircraft based so that
the airport is sanitised just around an
hour or two before the light
The policy dwells on upgrade of
airports better regional connectivity easing of norms for lying abroad
further liberalisation in open skies regime development of cargo business
chopper services attracting invest-
The basic behind of
National Civil Aviation
Policy is to take lying
to the masses, said Civil
Aviation Secretary Rajiv
Nayan Choubey, adding
that operators will
get some doles to ly
to smaller towns with
incentives linked to fuel
prices and in lation
ments in maintenance sector ground
handling and security
For an open skies regime the draft
policy proposes total liberalisation
in time bound manner but based on
a reciprocal arrangement from the
partner country
It has proposed three ways forward on allowing domestic airline
operators to ly abroad One to continue with the existing norm of ive
year operation with a
aircraft leet
Two to abolish this altogether Three
draft new set of norms under which
an operator must earn some minimum credit with domestic operations
before being allowed to ly abroad
Our aim is to create an ecosystem
that will enable
crore
million
domestic tickets per annum by
and
crore by
Similarly increase the international ticketing to
crore by
Choubey said
The policy calls for levy of per
cent cess on all domestic and international tickets on all routes other
than Cat IIA and RCS while proposing
to put service tax at zero to promote
Maintenance Repair and Overhaul facility
The government also proposes
hiking foreign direct insurance FDI
in domestic airlines to over
per
cent under the open skies policy
Indian carriers ferried
million domestic passengers in
to
register a growth of
per cent over
the
million in the previous year
In the irst nine months of this year
million passengers were ferried
to log a growth of
per cent
Indian industry was unanimous in
its praise for the draft aviation policy
This is a welcome step which was
long overdue It is a clear signal for
taking air travel to the masses and
promoting regional connectivity said
industry chamber FICCI s Secretary
General A Didar Singh in a statement
here
We welcome the proposal of exempting Service Tax on output services of MRO and granting infrastructure status to MRO ground handling
cargo and ATF infrastructure to avail
the iscal bene its under Section
IA of the Income Tax Act he added
IANS
BJP, Congress approach Election
Commission against each other
NEW DELHI
Leaders of the BJP
as well as the Congress JD U combine took their political battle to
the Election Commission on Friday
complaining against each other s
conduct in the ongoing Bihar assembly elections
The Congress and Janata Dal
United complained to the Election Commission that the BJP was
promoting lies false propaganda
and communal tension through
advertisements in the ongoing
Bihar elections The BJP hit back
blaming the grand alliance of JD U
Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress for attempting to disturb
communal harmony in Bihar
In the ongoing Bihar elections
the BJP has been promoting lies
false propaganda and communal
tension through advertisements
This has vitiated the electoral process by promoting communal tension said a memorandum submitted to Chief Election Commissioner
Nasim Zaidi by Congress leaders
Randeep Surjewala and Ajoy
Kumar and JD U s K C Tyagi
BJP president Amit Shah s
presence creates tension as he
makes problematic comments
Hence we have requested the Election Commission that he should be
kept away from campaigning Tyagi said after the meeting
Randeep Surjewala said We requested the EC to take steps against
the prime minister for his statements at BJP rallies
On the other hand the BJP
memorandum blamed Congress
Vice President Rahul Gandhi JD U s
Nitish Kumar and RJD s Lalu Prasad
for laring up communal sentiments in the state.
The RJD JD U Congress combine is trying to disturb communal
harmony in Bihar assembly elections for the last several days said
the BJP memorandum signed by
union minister Mukhtar Abbas
Naqvi and party leaders Arun
Singh Sudhanshu Trivedi Sambit
Patra and Siddharth Nath Singh
The letter quoted Rahul Gandhi
as saying in an election rally The
BJP wants to get votes by making
Hindus and Muslims ight each other
IANS
NEW DELHI
In a setback to the
Arvind Kejriwal government the Delhi High Court on Friday quashed the
executive decision to get the accounts
of the capital s three private power
distribution companies discoms
scrutinised by the CAG
Chief Minister Kejriwal however
said the setback was temporary
and that the Supreme Court will be
moved in appeal
A division bench of Chief Justice G
Rohini and Justice R S Endlaw said
There can be no other audit at the
instance of state government as
there is already a watchdog the Delhi
Electricity Regulatory Commission
DERC with powers to audit the accounts of discoms
All the power of state government
relating to electricity now stand vest-
ed in DERC it said slamming Kejriwal s decision to audit the discoms as
a misguided exercise
The high court order upheld the
plea of the three discoms
Tata
Power Delhi Distribution BSES Rajdhani Power and BSES Yamuna Power
contesting the Delhi government s
January
order to get their ac-
counts scrutinised by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India
They are private companies and
not government entities and as such
they do not come within the purview
of the CAG they maintained
The Delhi government instead of
strengthening the DERC we are constrained to observe has undertaken a
misguided exercise by issuing a direction to the CAG to audit the accounts
of the discoms when the report of
such audit would not have any sanctity in law for achieving the desired
result the high court verdict reads
We are unable to decipher anything which DERC cannot and which
CAG can unearth DERC is neither
found to be helpless nor dependent
on the balance sheet iled by the discoms it added
IANS
6
THE WORLD
S A T U R D A Y, O C T O B E R 3 1 , 2 0 1 5
Titan, the
robot created
by Cyberstein
Robots Ltd,
performs during
a promotional
event at
the Qwartz
shopping centre
in Villeneuve-laGarenne, near
Paris, France,
on Friday. —
Reuters
Climate pledges keep ‘door open’
to warming under 2C, says UN
BERLIN — Carbon-cutting pledges from
146 nations for a universal climate rescue
pact leave the “door open” to capping global warming below the danger threshold,
the United Nations said on Friday, a month
ahead of crunch talks in Paris.
But even if these 10-to-15 year plans
are ful illed humanity will have used up
three-quarters of its carbon “budget” by
2030 and must slash greenhouse gas output even more to avoid devastating climate
impacts, the UN’s Climate Change Secretariat warned.
“An unprecedented world-wide effort
is under way to combat climate change,
building con idence that nations can cost
effectively meet their stated objective of
keeping a global temperature rise to under
2 C,” it said in an assessment of the country
pledges.
“The national contributions are a game
changer, and distance us from the worst,”
said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who will host the year-end climate
talks.
At the same time, “much greater emissions reductions efforts... will be required”
to meet the two degrees Celsius target endorsed by the UN 195-nation climate body,
it said.
The longer we wait, the harder and
more expensive it will become to cut back
the fossil fuel emissions that drive climate
change.
The Secretariat’s 66-page review comes
exactly one month before the November
30 to December 11 meeting in the French
capital tasked with inalising a historic global pact.
As they stand, the pledges place the
world on track for warming of some 2.7 C
by 2100 — “by no means enough, but a lot
lower than the estimated four ive or more
degrees of warming” that would have otherwise take place, said UN climate chief
The national
contributions are a
game changer, and
distance us from
the worst, said
French Foreign
Minister Laurent
Fabius, who will
host the year-end
climate talks
A picture taken on Friday shows stickers of the COP21, in Paris, ahead of the
Climate Change Conference 2015. The COP21, organised by the French government
is being held from November 30 to December 11. — AFP
Christiana Figueres.
If countries commit in Paris to periodically revising ambition upward, the goal
stays within reach, she added.
The so-called Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, or INDCs, will be
a pillar of the Paris pact, which would be
the irst to bind all the world s nations in a
single action plan.
The UN reviewed 146 INDCs submitted by October 1, including all developed
nations and three-quarters of developing
ones. Collectively, they cover 86 per cent of
the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Many of the pledges from developing
countries are contingent on receiving i-
nancial support for cutting emissions and
adapting to climate impacts — drought,
sea level rise looding
already in the
pipeline.
Taken together, the carbon reduction
schemes would cause average per capita
emissions to decline by up to nine per cent
over the next 15 years.
If commitments are met, combined annual emissions in 2025 will be about 55.2
billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent
(GtCO2e) — a measure used to group different greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide — compared to some 50 GtCO2e today.
By
the igure will be
GtCO e
showing that global emissions — while
slowing — would still be on an upward
trajectory.
The UN Environment Programme has
previously estimated that emissions must
fall to about 32-44 GtCO2e by 2030 if we
are to have a better-than-even chance at
hitting the 2 C goal.
“As the report makes clear, to stay below 2 degrees — much less the 1.5 degrees
that many countries are calling for — the
Paris agreement must have meaningful
provisions designed to quickly ramp up
the level of ambition,” Alden Meyer, a climate analyst at the Union of Concerned
Scientists, said.
To stay under the 2 C threshold scientists estimate that humanity has a total
CO2 budget of about 1,000 gigatonnes.
Taking the INDCs into account, that allowance would be 54 per cent spent by
2025, and 75 per cent by 2030, the report
said.
Even if parties do not ramp up their
pledges until as late as 2030, the possibility of a 2-C limit “still remains,” said the report.
However, “this could be achieved only
at substantially higher annual emission
reduction rates and cost,” compared to action now.
Analysts have noted that many INDC
pledges are probably conservative, leaving
room for greater ambition.
“It’s very likely that China, for example,
can and will move faster than it has offered,” said Martin Kaiser, head of climate
politics at Greenpeace. “It’s already rapidly
getting out of coal and into renewables.”
But the emissions gap is large, and the
window of opportunity for action narrow.
The pledges going into the Paris summit “only take us from a 4-C catastrophe
to a 3-C disaster,” commented anti-poverty
NGO Oxfam. — AFP
US budget deal
heads to White
House after
Senate approval
WASHINGTON — The US Senate passed a twoyear budget deal on Friday that avoids a potentially drastic debt default — a compromise legislative
effort that President Barack Obama said should
help break the cycle of iscal crises
The bill passed the House of Representatives
earlier this week and now goes to Obama, who
said he would sign it as soon as it arrives on his
desk. The measure, which passed 64 votes to 35 in
the dead of night, provides lawmakers with some
iscal breathing room through the
presidential election after years of bruising spending
ights The plan suspends the statutory federal
borrowing cap until mid-March 2017 and averts
a damaging default.
It provides for a $50-billion spending increase
in iscal
split about equally between defense and domestic programmes — and $30 billion in iscal
The deal also adds $31 billion into an emergency war fund for the Pentagon, offset by tweaks to
some entitlement programmes.
“It will keep us safe by investing in our national
security” and protects seniors by avoiding deep
cuts to Medicare public healthcare and the Social
Security pension system, Obama said in a statement, applauding Democrats and Republicans
who “came together” to pass the budget agreement. “It locks in two years of funding and should
help break the cycle of shutdowns and manufactured crises that have harmed our economy,” he
added.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers fought
several battles over borrowings between 2011
and
that roiled inancial markets caused an
unprecedented downgrade of the country’s tripleA debt rating by Standard & Poor’s, and forced a
partial government shutdown for 16 days in 2013.
The deal is the result of weeks of secret negotiations between the White House and just-departed Republican speaker of the House John Boehner,
who sought to clear the decks of any iscal crises
before his successor took the gavel. — AFP
An employee poses with a cushion-shaped 16.08
carat vivid pink diamond at Christie’s auction
house in Geneva, Switzerland on Friday. The stone is
estimated to sell for $23-28 million when auctioned
during the Magni icent Jewels auction in Geneva
on November 10. The diamond is set as a ring, with
a double row of pave-set white diamonds which
surround and highlight the main stone, with a third
row of small pink diamonds underneath. — Reuters
Tanzania’s new leader calls for unity amid oppn fraud claims
DAR ES SALAAM — Tanzania’s new
leader John Magufuli called for unity
on Friday after winning hotly contested polls the opposition claimed
to have won, and amid tensions after
Zanzibar annulled polls.
“I promise to deliver my election
pledges, but we need to work together. Let us strive for peace and national unity Magufuli said in his irst
speech since being declared winner of
the country’s presidential poll.
Of icials announced on Thursday that Magufuli had won Sunday’s
presidential elections with over 58
per cent of votes, cementing the longrunning Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM)
party’s decades-long grip on power.
But the opposition claimed the
vote was rigged and also claimed victory.
“Let me express my profound gratitude to all Tanzanians, those in CCM,
the opposition and others who have
no political af iliation Magufuli said
after receiving an of icial certi icate of
his victory.
His running mate Samia Suluhu
Hassan, from the semi-autonomous
Zanzibar archipelago, becomes Tan-
John Pombe Magufuli salutes members of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi Party at the party s sub head of ice
on Lumumba road in Dar es Salaam on Friday. Right: Party supporters cheering the new leader. — Reuters
zania s irst ever female vice president.
While the CCM celebrated Magufuli’s win, it came at the cost of several veteran CCM ministers and
politicians, ousted from their parliamentary seats.
National Electoral Commission
(NEC) chief presented Magufuli and
Hassan with certi icates of appointment ahead of an of icial swearing in
ceremony on November 5.
Outgoing President Jakaya Kikwete
said Magufuli was the “right person”
for the job — and said he was “so
happy” to be leaving his job after a
decade in power, stepping aside after
serving his two-term limit.
Kikwete, who said he would go to
his home village of Msogo, dismissed
a question as to whether he would
miss the trappings of of ice
“Why should I be sad? You see I’m
so happy, I played my part,” Kikwete
said, who embraced Magufuli at the
ceremony.
“I was given the opportunity, and
for 10 years I worked to the best of
my ability to build our nation,” he
added. “Time has now come for me
to leave the country peacefully to the
next leader.”
Kikwete’s standing down comes
amid a wider controversy in Africa
over efforts by leaders to change constitutions in order to stay in of ice
But Tanzania’s vote was not without troubles. Magufuli, a former
chemistry teacher who celebrated his
56th birthday on Thursday as results
were announced, ran on an anti-corruption platform, and secured a convincing victory over his closest rival,
ex prime minister Edward Lowassa
who won 40 per cent.
Lowassa, a former CCM stalwart
turned opposition chief, rejected the
of icial results and accused the election body of falsifying tallies. Unlike
other losing candidates, he did not attend the certi icate ceremony held in
the economic capital Dar es Salaam.
Zanzibar’s decision to annul polls
has also caused concern, although the
islands were reported to be calm on
Friday, according to a reporter.
The archipelago — which also voted for its own president — annulled
polls over irregularities.
“Democracy, peace and unity in
Zanzibar are at stake,” said a statement by international election observers on Thursday, including teams
from the African Union, headed by
former Mozambican president Armando Guebuza, the Commonwealth,
headed by former Nigerian president
Goodluck Jonathan, and the European
Union.
Zanzibar’s electoral commission
said the islands’ vote — where the
500,000 registered electorate also
voted for Tanzania’s national president — must be carried out again, citing “violations of electoral law”.
The annulment came after a key
candidate, Seif Sharif Hamad from the
opposition Civic United Front (CUF),
declared himself the winner before
the results were of icially announced
— AFP
7
S A T U R D A Y, O C T O B E R 3 1 , 2 0 1 5
EUROPE
17 children die as refugees brave stormy seas
ATHENS — At least 17 children
drowned when three boats sank en
route from Turkey to Greece of icials
said on Friday, the latest tragedy to
strike migrants braving wintry seas to
seek asylum in Europe.
Nine adults also lost their lives when
the boats went down, with the drownings once again highlighting the human
cost as Europe struggles with its worst
migrant crisis since World War II.
Although rescue of icials in Greece
and Turkey managed to pull another 157 people from the water, such
drownings have become an almost
daily occurrence as thousands of people brave high seas and wintry weather
to make the crossing on limsy overloaded boats.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras
expressed “shame” over Europe’s failure to prevent yet another “humanitarian tragedy”, and said it was crucial to
prevent the Aegean Sea from becoming
a graveyard for people leeing war and
misery.
Most of the deaths occurred off the
Greek islands of Kalymnos and Rhodes,
where 22 people drowned, among
them 13 children, when two boats
went down overnight port of icials
said on Friday.
In total, 138 people were rescued
from the two boats, with the coastguard continuing its search for survivors.
To the north, a correspondent witnessed another boat foundering off
the island of Lesbos, with a group of
desperate people perched on the roof
screaming for help.
Another four young children, all of
them Syrian drowned when their limsy boat heading for Lesbos capsized
in bad weather, although the Turkish
coastguard rescued 19 other people,
the Dogan news agency reported.
The latest deaths came after 17 people drowned off Lesbos and Samos on
Wednesday, 11 of them children.
Despite worsening weather at the
onset of winter that has made the already hazardous sea voyage even more
Refugees, most of them Syrians, struggle to leave
a half-sunken catamaran carrying around 150
refugees as it arrives on the Greek island of Lesbos,
after crossing part of the Aegean sea from Turkey,
on Friday. — Reuters
dangerous, a record 48,000 refugees
and migrants arrived last week in
Greece, the International Organization
for Migration (IOM) said.
“As a European leader, I feel shame
over Europe’s inability to defend its
values,” Tsipras told the Greek parliament as news of the latest deaths
emerged.
Our irst duty is to save lives and
not to allow the Aegean to become a
cemetery.”
The Greek leader also underlined
the urgent need for Turkey to “respect
its commitments to halting the low
of people leaving its territory by boat
and stressing Athens’ willingness to be
“a link between the EU and Turkey” on
the matter.
With winter gales whipping up at
sea, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR)
said there was an “urgent need” to
strengthen search and rescue capacity
in the area.
“We have warned for weeks that
an already bad situation could get
even worse if desperate refugees and
migrants must continue to resort to
Last British resident in Bay released
LONDON — The last British resident
in Guantanamo Bay was on Friday
returning to London having been released after spending over 13 years
at the military prison in Cuba, Britain’s foreign minister said.
I can con irm that he is on his
way back to the UK now and he will
arrive in Britain later today,” Philip
Hammond said.
The United States accused
46-year-old Saudi national Shaker
Aamer (pictured) of acting as a recruiter inancier and ighter for al
Qaeda, as well as being a close associate of Osama Bin Laden, but never
charged him or put him on trial.
Prime Minister David Cameron’s
of ice said on Thursday there were
no plans to detain him on arrival.
“As soon as he is returned to the
UK he is no longer in detention. He
is free to be reunited with his family,”
said Cameron s of icial spokeswoman.
Cameron personally raised Aamer’s case with US President Barack
Obama when the pair met in January.
The father of four, who was twice
cleared for release from the camp in
2007 and 2009, denied the allegations and said he was in Afghanistan
working for a charity.
Aamer’s father-in-law Saeed Sid-
dique called it “a delightful day for all
of us.”
“It’s really a miracle,” he told the
BBC.
“Everybody is looking forward to
seeing him, especially after all this
time. But it won’t be necessarily today.”
Aamer’s US lawyer Cori Crider,
who is also strategic director at prisoners’ rights group Reprieve, said:
“We are, of course, delighted that
Shaker is on his way back to his home
and his family here in the UK.
“It is long, long past time. Shaker
now needs to see a doctor, and then
get to spend time alone with his family as soon as possible.”
“We hope... he gets the psychological and medical care that he needs
to be able to resume his life with his
family in London.”
According
to
light tracking
website FlightAware, a Gulfstream jet
departed Guantanamo Bay and was
due in London in the early afternoon.
Aamer was born in Saudi Arabia
in December 1968, and lived in the
United States before settling in Britain, where he married a British woman and, in 1996, became a resident.
In 2001, he took his family to Afghanistan, but sent them to Pakistan
after the September 11 attacks. He
said he was about to join them when
he was detained.
Aamer claims to have suffered
sleep deprivation, beatings and humiliation at the hands of American
troops while being held at the notorious Bagram Prison north of Kabul.
He
was
transferred
to
Guantanamo Bay on February 14,
2002 — the day his youngest child
was born — where he said the maltreatment continued, leading him to
become an advocate for prisoners’
rights and an organiser of hunger
strikes.
He remained on hunger strike as
Obama’s administration announced
last month that he was to be freed,
leading his family to fear they would
not see him again. —AFP
A tiger eats a pumpkin during Halloween celebrations at a zoo in Kiev, Ukraine, on Friday. — Reuters
smugglers who send them out to sea
despite the worsening weather,” the
UNHCR’s Alessandra Morelli said in a
statement Thursday.
“Our fears are now being realised.
Nearly every day now we are seeing
children, parents, the elderly and the
young dying as they try to reach Europe.”
In Spain, rescuers were searching
for at least 35 people who had been on
board a boat which ran into trouble after setting sail from northern Morocco
on Wednesday. Fifteen people had
Rival blasts
Merkel for party
in ighting
BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel came under ire on
Friday from her deputy leader for
in ighting within her conservative alliance over the country’s refugee inlux calling it simply irresponsible
Merkel’s open-door policy for
those leeing war and persecution
has led to a growing backlash in Germany, and among her sharpest critics is the leader of her conservative
CSU allies, Horst Seehofer.
The CSU chief has both blasted
Merkel for her stance and heaped
political threats against her, with
the latest salvo being that he would
“consider what other options we
have” if Berlin fails to accede to his
demand to control and limit the
number of asylum-seekers.
Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel,
leader of the co-ruling Social Democrats, said such behaviour within the
conservative bloc is “irresponsible,
because it does not assure people,
and it leads to rising fears that we
won’t be able to manage”.
The ight between Horst Seehofer’s CSU and the CDU leader Angela
Merkel would already seem strange
at a normal time,” he told Spiegel
news weekly.
“Given the big challenge that our
country is facing from the huge inlux of refugees the ighting between
CDU and CSU is also threatening the
government’s capacity to act,” said
Gabriel, who announced this week
his intention to seek the top job in
2017.
If the backbiting went on, it
would only serve to turn people off
politics, and allow far-right extremists to gain ground, warned Gabriel.
SPD General Secretary Yasmin
Fahimi also chided the CSU for what
she described as its churlish behaviour.
“The CSU must stop behaving
like a little child in the federal government and come to the table constructively,” she told public broadcaster ZDF.
Merkel and Seehofer are due to
hold talks on Saturday over the refugee in lux followed by a meeting
also with Gabriel on Sunday.
When asked by a reporter if the
German government was hamstrung
by the internal rows, a spokeswoman for Merkel, Christiane Wirtz, said:
“No.” — AFP
been rescued from the troubled vessel
on Thursday.
Since the start of the year, 560,000
migrants and refugees have arrived in
Greece by sea, out of over 700,000 who
have reached Europe via the Mediterranean, according to the International
Organization for Migration.
More than 3,200 have died during
the perilous crossings, the vast majority on the longer sea route from Libya
to Italy.
German admits to killing second
child: A German man suspected of
Nine adults also lost
their lives when the
boats went down,
with the drownings
once again
highlighting the
human cost as Europe
struggles with its
worst migrant crisis
since World War II
kidnapping and killing a four-year-old
Bosnian refugee has admitted to murdering another child, police said on
Friday.
“The man confessed overnight that
he had also killed Elias,” said Berlin police spokesman Stefan Redlich, referring to a six-year-old German boy who
has been missing since July.
Following the confession, Elias’
body was found in a garden allotment,
sources said.
Both children were victims of sex
crimes, German news agency dpa said
without citing its sources.
The man was arrested on Thursday
after his mother told police that he may
have been involved in the kidnapping
of the Bosnian boy, Mohamed.
Police also found in the suspect’s car
the body of a child which was packed
in cat litter and which appeared to have
been dead for some time.
Prosecutors had on Thursday said
the body, which was undergoing an autopsy, was likely to be that of Mohamed.
The boy had been missing since
October 1, when his mother took him
and his sisters to Berlin’s main refugee
registration centre known as Lageso
which receives hundreds of asylumseekers daily. — AFP
Polish court rejects Polanski
extradition to US in abuse case
Roman Polanski (right) and US writer and former actress
Samantha Geimer, known as the 13-year-old girl named as the
victim in the case. — AFP
KRAKOW Poland — A Polish court
on Friday ruled against extraditing
to the United States Oscar-winning
director Roman Polanski, who
pleaded guilty in 1977 to raping a
13-year-old girl but left the country
before sentencing.
The court ruled “inadmissibility
in extraditing Polish-French citizen
Roman Polanski to the US,” Judge
Dariusz Mazur said at the court in
the southern city of Krakow.
The decision in favour of the
82-year-old director of The Pianist, Chinatown and Rosemary’s Baby
can still be appealed, court spokeswoman Beata Gorszczyk said earlier on Friday.
“The case would then be sent to
a higher court, which could uphold
the regional court’s decision, overturn it or send it back for retrial,”
she said.
Polanski was in Krakow but did
not attend the open court hearing
“because of emotional reasons”, his
lawyer Jan Olszewski said earlier.
Local media reported that
Polanski had been waiting for the
verdict from aboard a plane at Krakow airport.
If the Polish prosecutor s of ice
— which is representing the US
side — decides to appeal and the
extradition is ultimately cleared at
the court level, then Poland’s justice ministry would still have the
inal say
A former justice minister and
close ally of Jaroslaw Kaczynski,
the leader of the conservative Law
and Justice (PiS) party that won
Sunday’s general election, said he
backed extraditing Polanski.
“Paedophilia is an evil that must
be pursued,” said Zbigniew Ziobro,
justice minister in the 2005-2007
PiS government.
“We should allow Polanski’s extradition. We can’t shield anyone
from taking responsibility for an act
as despicable as abusing a minor.”
Kaczynski himself said earlier
this month that he “rejected the
idea of pardoning someone simply
because he is an eminent, worldrenowned director.”
The Polish court has been involved in the case since the US attempted to have Polanski arrested
when he was in Warsaw for the
opening of a Jewish museum in October 2014.
The US then iled the extradition
request in January. Polanski faces
sentencing there for raping Samantha Geimer after a photo shoot in
Los Angeles when he was 43.
He pleaded guilty at the time to
unlawful sex with a minor, or statutory rape, avoiding a trial, but then
led the country fearing a hefty sentence. He now lives in France.
US of icials have regularly
pressed for his extradition, to no
avail, and tried to have him arrested
when he travelled to Warsaw for
the opening of a Jewish museum in
October 2014.
Polanski had said he doubted the
extradition application would be
granted but said he would comply
with the legal proceedings.
He testi ied for a marathon nine
hours at the irst closed door hearing on February 25. — AFP
8
S A T U R D A Y, O C T O B E R 3 1 , 2 0 1 5
ANALYSIS
Colombia’s emeralds
sparkle in a revamp
C
Girls take pictures of
themselves at a park in
front of the Pothonggang
Department Store in
central Pyongyang.
North Korea’s black market
becoming the new normal
W
hen North Korea’s late
“Dear Leader” Kim
Jong Il opened the Pothonggang Department Store in
December 2010, he called on it
to play “a big role” in improving
living standards in the capital
Pyongyang of icial media said
Five years later, judging by the
long lines inside the three-storey
store that sells everything from
electronic gadgets and cosmetics,
to food and household goods, the
Pothonggang is meeting Kim’s
expectations — at least for privileged Pyongyang residents
But the department store also
starkly illustrates the extent to
which the underground market
has become the new normal in
isolated North Korea
And that poses a dilemma to
the Kim family’s hereditary dictatorship, which up until now has
kept tight control of a Soviet-style
command economy, largely synonymous with rationing and material deprivation
Now that the black market
has become the new normal, Kim
Jong Un’s government has little
choice but to continue its ledgling efforts at economic reforms
that re lect market realities on
the ground or risk losing its grip
on power experts say
A Reuters reporter, allowed to
roam the store with a government
minder for a look at the North Korean consumer in action, noted
almost all the price tags were in
dollars as well as won
A Sharp TV was priced at
million won or
a
water pump at
million won
Beef was
won
a kilogramme
North Korean-made LED light
bulbs sold for
won
The exchange rate used in these
prices
won to the dollar
is
times higher than the oficial rate of
won to the dollar
At the of icial rate the TV
would cost over
the
light bulb
Shoppers openly slapped
down large stacks of US dollars at
the cashier s counter
They received change in dollars, Chinese yuan or North Korean won — at the black market
rate
The same was true elsewhere
in the capital: taxi drivers offered
change for fares at black market rates, as did other shops and
street stalls that Reuters visited
For the last twenty years,
North Korea has been undergoing economic changes, the
fruits of which are now more
visible than ever in the capital,
Pyongyang, where large North
Korean companies now produce
a diverse range of domestically
made goods to cater to this growing market of consumers
People are spending money
they once hid in their homes on
mobile phones, electric bicycles
and baby carriers
Despite keeping a tight
control of a Soviet-style
economy, largely synonymous
with rationing and material
deprivation, residents can
now buy anything they want
from the black market openly,
reports JAMES PEARSON
The latest sign that the workers’ paradise is going capitalist: cash cards from commercial
banks
Four months before Kim
opened the Pothonggang Department Store, the United States imposed sanctions on North Korea,
including its imports of luxury
goods, for torpedoing a South
Korean ship — a conclusion
Pyongyang rejected
Since then, the UN has imposed more sanctions on North
Korea for violating restrictions
on its nuclear and missile programmes
Demand for hard currency
surged after the bungled currency reform as more and more
merchants in the underground
markets required transactions to
be conducted in foreign currency
It triggered two years of hyperin lation But the government
of Kim Jong Un, who became
North Korea’s leader after his father’s death in December 2011,
has essentially accepted the ubiquity of the black market rate and
a widespread illicit economy,
North Korea experts say
“Under Kim Jong Un, not a single policy has been implemented
which would somehow damage
the interests and ef iciency of
private businesses,” said Andrei
Lankov, a North Korea expert at
Kookmin University in Seoul
“It’s a good time to be rich in
North Korea
Many of the goods inside the
Pothonggang Department Store,
a grey building nestled between
willow trees and a river of the
same name, are still beyond the
reach of many North Koreans
An air-conditioning unit sells
for
million won
which if paid in won would require a bag of
ive thousand
won notes, the highest denomination note in won
A growing middle class called
“donju”, meaning “masters of
money”, who made cash in the
unof icial economy are starting to
spend it on these new products,
along with the long established
elite of Humvee-owning individuals with powerful political connections
Only recently an elite item,
mobile phones are now common
in the capital, with nationwide
subscriber numbers topping
three million, an employee with
Koryolink, the cellular carrier
controlled by Egypt’s Orascom
Telecom told Reuters
The number has tripled since
2012 and indicates one in eight of
North Korea s
million people
now have a mobile phone
Energy-saving products are a
fast-growing sector of North Korea’s new consumer market and
were one of the hottest items in
the department store
Domestically produced LED
bulbs are ubiquitous in North Korea, where satellite images have
shown a country almost completely black at night
The watt bulb costs and is
a best-seller at the Pothonggang
store said a staff member
The energy-saving bulbs are
used inside homes and on street
lamps that now bask the formerly darkened streets of the
Pyongyang night in a dull, faint
glow
Solar panels with USB-enabled
inverters and batteries are available in the store alongside water
pumps and small generators —
exactly the kind of systems North
Koreans now use to take power
into their own hands
Baby products are another
booming consumer item
A large section of the department store is devoted to strollers
and baby carriers produced in
China and South Korea
Many residents of Pyongyang
can be seen riding Chinese-made
battery powered bicycles, which
only began to appear in the capital over the last year locals said
Some of these transactions are
done with the Narae Card, a cash
card run by North Korea’s Foreign Trade Bank — a designated
entity under US sanctions since
for the part it reportedly
played in nuclear weapons pro-
curement
Cash cards have been in the
hands of the few for the last several years but have recently become a new growth industry
They can also be used to top
up mobile phone accounts
Foreign investors can also
set up banks in North Korea and
are allowed to lend money and
provide credit based inancing
schemes to North Korean companies, according to a bilingual
book of North Korean law available to foreign investors
Ryugyong Commercial Bank,
for instance, offers shopping discounts as well as gold or silver
card options for its customers
After a
dollar taxi ride the
driver reluctantly handed the
change from a twenty dollar note
to a Reuters correspondent who
insisted on getting change in
North Korean won
Foreigners are not of icially
permitted to use the currency, so
the openness of the transaction
— in the presence of a government guide — was another sign
of the black market turning white
in north Korea
The driver’s reluctance to
hand over won was because of
its inconvenience, not because he
was afraid of being caught
“It’s a lot of notes in our money,” he grumbled, counting out
won from a large crumpled bundle of discoloured
won notes That note still the
highest denomination, once carried a smiling portrait of founding president Kim Il Sung but is
being gradually phased out by
a version with no portrait — an
indication a larger denomination
note may one day replace it to accommodate the widespread use
of black market pricing
That would also get around
the embarrassing problem that
the faces of American and Chinese leaders, not the Kims, adorn
much of the cash used in the
country now
For a regime that has cultivated a personality cult around the
Kim dynasty, it is quite literally
losing face on its own money
At a speech following a military parade marking the th anniversary of the ruling Workers
Party, Kim Jong Un promised to
introduce people irst politics
It remains unclear, however,
how committed he and his Workers Party — not to mention the
powerful military — are to market based reforms
But it’s only a matter of time
before the Kim regime formally
adopts a market-based economy
as China did
years ago under Deng Xiaoping, said Kookmin
University’s Lankov, who lived in
Pyonyang in the
s
“That’ll be a great day, but it’ll
be relatively meaningless in one
regard he said It ll be a formal
recognition of something which
has happened anyway
olombia is working to polish the
reputation of its emeralds, which
— much like Africa’s blood diamonds — have lost their luster due to
decades of violence surrounding the
treacherous gemstone trade
“The emerald’s image is linked to
that of Colombia, and Colombia is traditionally seen as being connected to war,
drugs traf icking said Corentin Quideau
a French jewellery expert
Considered the most beautiful in the
world, Colombia’s emeralds totalled
million in exports in
And over the years, they’ve accounted
for
to
per cent of total global production
But they’ve also been linked to bloodshed — including a “green war” in the
s that killed
people
Colombia’s emeralds were the focus of
a recent international symposium in the
capital Bogota the irst of its kind that
drew several hundred participants
The goal is to put the green gem back
on a pedestal said Quideau brand strategist for Colombia’s famous Muzo mine,
whose past experience includes stints at
big luxury labels such as Cartier, Boucheron and Louis Vuitton
Located in the heart of Colombia,
some
kilometres
miles north
of Bogota the Muzo mine was irst exploited by indigenous groups, followed
by Spanish conquistadors starting in the
th century
It’s here that the “Fura” was extracted
an
carat ive pound emerald
that wowed the public when it was displayed in
“The colour, the purity of these stones
make them unique,” said US expert Ronald Ringsrud, who speaks of Colombia’s
emeralds as if they were rare lowers
“They grow in sedimentary soil, a softer geological environment” that allows
the crystal to thrive better than in granite he said
For decades, the industry was dominated by Victor Carranza, a gun-toting
peasant-turned-billionaire who gained
control of the Muzo mine in the
s
and fought off all attempts to take it from
him — including by feared drug lord Pablo Escobar
The “emerald tsar” ran his operation
with few scruples and alleged ties to
right wing paramilitary groups
He de ied multiple attempts on his life
and inally died of cancer in
He passed the company to his sole
con idant American ex diplomat Charles
Burgess, who set about softening its image
He “set a goal of bringing the Colombian emerald to the same level as Colombian coffee: to turn it into a product
that all Colombians feel proud of,” said
Burgess
He brought out that slogan repeatedly at the recent symposium in Bogota,
where industry insiders discussed
putting the shine back on the country’s
emeralds
Proposals included launching a national brand, “Mothergem,” which Gabriel Angarita, the president of the Emerald
Exporters Association, said would “distinguish Colombian emeralds as a unique
gift of nature
The Colombian Emerald Federation
meanwhile proposed creating an International Emerald Committee to “promote
sustainable development and support
policies that favour the growth of the industry
They are the
most beautiful
in the world,
but like blood
diamonds of
Africa, emeralds
image was
tarnished by
decades of
violence, a
reputation some
are willing to
change inds
FLORENCE
PANOUSSIAN
Individual mines are also getting on
board including the storied Muzo
In the name of modernisation and
greater transparency, Burgess invested
more than
million in Muzo and suspended production for two years to upgrade mining techniques and personnel
management
“Muzo emeralds are structurally very
complex nearly perfect But when the
miners used dynamite it caused issures
in the stones,” said Dante Valencia, a master gem cutter at the company’s state-ofthe art workshop in Bogota
“This used to be the Wild West,” said
Quideau the French expert
But things are starting to change, he
said
At Muzo the
miners have gone
from a barbaric and archaic pay system
based on the consensual theft of emeralds to real contracts and salaries he
said Now mining irms need to ensure
the traceability of all gems from the mine
shaft to the retailer, he said, warning that
some “traditional forces” in the industry
are still resistant to change
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OCTOBER 31, 2015 | MUHARRAM 17, 1437 AH
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CUBAN CHARM AND GENIUS
COME TO MUSCAT
By Maurice Gent
I
t was all a very big surprise. I am
sure many others had come to see
another performance, but we all
got a very pleasant surprise. The Cuban ballet team had already arrived
in town and were more than willing to offer an extra performance for
the music and dance lovers of Muscat who are now becoming a much
larger and well-informed community
following performances of guaranteed excellence at the Royal Opera
House Muscat.
They had come to present Don
Quixote irst presented at the Bolshoi
Theatre in Moscow in 1869.
In Muscat 2015 it made its triumphant debut before an audience,
which highly appreciated the grace,
style and command of highly gifted
performers working in an easy moving style where one scene blended
into another.
The arrival of Cuban music and
culture back on the world scene is a
great gain for mankind and this exquisite performance of Don Quixote
was certainly to be imagined in the
darkest days of the Cold War.
Now so much more cultural and
artistic choice is possible, and note
the cultural world pro its greatly
Luis Valle, the principal dancer
spent his early formative years in ballet school in Cuba but now the whole
world of dance bene its by his skills
Premier Dancer Sadaise Arencibia
was also trained and educated in
Cuba, graduating from provincial to
ballet school. One important feature
of the ballet world was that international links continued to exist allowing the very best musicians to gain
international experience.
The overall growth of Cuba will of
course depend on many things but
this intense occupation in raising and
promoting music has been of great
value in broadening perceptions of
Cuba at the international level.
Many dancers have found international fame.
Anette Delgado, who sang in Muscat has won international acclaim
with medals on many occasions.
With the political changes in Cuba,
there will be more and more chance
to shine and show their skills at an
international level. It is an exciting
time for Cuba’s cultural and artistic
world and nobody can be quite sure
how great the impact of Cuba’s world
of music and dance will in luence the
overall world scene.
This visit to Muscat could however
have a real impact on new cultural
forces at work all over the world. The
message to Omani students that the
more cultural links with those who
are seriously trying to improve their
standards the better.
The young music and dance students in Oman have much greater
chances to widen their horizons and
visits like this top Cuban dancing
team help to raise both awareness
and excitement.
— Photo credit:
Khalid Al Busaidi, ROHM
Milan celebrates World Expo, critics doubt social impact
By Amelie Herenstein
D
edicated to the problem of feeding
the planet, the World Expo in Milan
winds up today amid celebrations
over visitor numbers but doubts regarding
its contributions to the global food debate.
Although preparations were riddled
with delays and corruption scandals and
May’s grand opening was overshadowed by
violent protests, over the months the Expo’s
popularity has increased and crowds have
locked
The number of visitors soared in recent
weeks leading to ive hour queues to enter
the most popular pavilions, including
Britain Italy Japan and Kazakhstan Some
Saturdays drew up to a quarter of a million
people.
The Expo has also played host to igures
such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel,
Russian President Vladimir Putin and US
First Lady Michelle Obama.
Italian PM Matteo Renzi has declared
it a “triumphant ride” to success after
organisers said they expected the goal of 20
million visitors to be met if not beaten.
For Giuseppe Sala, the Expo’s
commissioner, the end has come too soon:
I would be the irst to want to prolong the
Expo but technically its impossible,” he said
last week.
The last day is reluctantly con irmed
for October 31,” said Sala, whose success
with Expo has transformed him into a local
star now tipped as the favourite for Milan’s
mayoral elections next year.
Visitors are seen at the Expo
2015 global fair. — Reuters
SOCIALLY JUST OR SUPERFICIAL?
Milan has indeed felt the bene its the
number of tourists leaped 35 per cent in
September to 910,000, a trend that city
hall believes will continue thanks to the
increased exposure the Expo has brought to
Italy’s northern economic powerhouse.
In the short term, the country should
see an overall GDP gain of 0.1 per cent for
2015 and some six billion euros in tourism
revenue.
But there is a risk of serial bankruptcies
— between 1,000 and 3,000 companies
— in the most ‘expo-dependent’ sectors
such as construction, according to a report
by credit insurer Euler Hermes, one of the
Expo’s sponsors.
Renzi has promised the government
will help transform the one million-squaremetre (10.7-million-square-feet) venue
once its doors close.
Dismantling the pavilions is expected to
be completed by mid-2016, to make way for
a research and innovation quarter, including
the transfer of several scienti ic faculties
from the University of Milan and business
hubs.
But
beyond
the
crowd drawing
exhibitions, critics have questioned
whether the Expo — held under the slogan
“Feeding the planet, Energy for life” —
lived up to the lofty goals of promoting
sustainable and socially just food systems.
Italian Agriculture Minister Maurizio
Martina argued it helped “awaken the
interest, commitment and curiosity of
millions of people.”
Today, he said, they are “more aware
of their responsibilities and their duties
concerning the important democratic
questions about access to food”.
But detractors have complained it
pandered to the interests of multinational
sponsors and countries with a poor record
on the environment.
Carlo Petrini, head of the Slow Food
movement — which strives to protect local
ecosystems and promote clean and fair
food — described it as a “circus” and “a
lost opportunity”, saying “you cannot boast
opulence in a world where people are dying
of hunger”.
And international Catholic aid agency
Caritas criticised the Expo’s manifesto
as “lacking teeth” and offering “a limited
approach to global hunger”, with head
Michel Roy saying that “the voices of the
world’s poor are not heard”.
The Expo ‘torch’ now passes to
Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates,
the irst of which will organise a smaller
scale international exposition in Astana
in 2017, while the latter will host a World
Expo in Dubai in 2020. — AFP
10
SPOTLIGHT
OMAN DAILY OBSERVER
OCTOBER 31, 2015
EL NINO COVERS ARID
ATACAMA DESERT IN FLOWERS
By Jaime Esquivel
H
Unusual warming kills
Gulf of Maine cod
By Kerry Sheridan
U
nusual warming in the waters off the northeastern US has killed
off vast numbers of Atlantic cod, further endangering a valuable
and iconic ishery despite years of ishing restrictions researchers said on Thursday.
New England cod stocks are on the verge of collapse, numbering at
three to four per cent of what scientists say are sustainable levels.
The problem has been fuelled by over ishing and exacerbated by a
stark warming trend in the Gulf of Maine that is unparalleled on Earth
researchers said in the journal Science.
From 2004 to 2013, the rate of warming in that area was almost a
quarter degree Celsius (.41 Fahrenheit).
The Gulf of Maine had warmed faster than
per cent of the global ocean over that period,” said lead author Andrew Pershing, chief
scienti ic of icer of the Gulf
of Maine Research Institute
who studied records back
through the 1900s for com- ‘THE GULF OF MAINE COD, I
parison.
THINK, IS A WAKE-UP CALL
“It was a rate that few
large marine ecosystems had THAT WE NEED TO BRIDGE
ever encountered,” he said.
THE DISCONNECT THAT
The reasons for the spike
CURRENTLY EXISTS BETWEEN
include global warming and a
OCEANOGRAPHY, FISHERIES
shift in the Gulf Stream
For ish these warmer ECOLOGY AND STOCK
temperatures led to fewer
offspring and fewer juveniles ASSESSMENT SCIENCE’
surviving until adulthood.
Even a series of restrictions on cod ishing put in
place to try to save the population was too slow to keep up with the
fast-rising temperatures.
“The rate of changed outpaced the ability of people to make decisions about the ecosystem,” Pershing said.
Quotas kept falling meaning that ishermen were allowed to take
fewer ish but the models that helped managers make these decisions
“consistently overestimated the abundance of cod,” Pershing added.
Warming waters were making the Gulf of Maine less hospitable for
cod, and the management response was too slow to keep up with the
changes.”
Experts know that the warming climate is already forcing many
species to shift from their traditional habitats towards temperatures
that are more suited for their survival.
But rather than move north the struggling Gulf of Maine cod population — a species that prefers cold water — has actually shifted
southward over the past 45 years, researchers say.
A combination of both over ishing and reduced reproduction in
warming waters are to blame for this unfortunate migration, experts
say.
We often wonder if it is ishing or climate but it is both said Janet Nye from the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony
Brook University in New York. — AFP
ere’s a softer side to the disruptive weather phenomenon
known as El Nino: an enormous blanket of colourful lowers has
carpeted Chile’s Atacama desert, the
most arid in the world.
The cyclical warming of the central Paci ic may be causing droughts
and loods in various parts of the
world, but in the vast desert of northern Chile it has also caused a vibrant
explosion of thousands of species of
lowers with an intensity not seen in
decades.
Yellows, reds, purples and whites
have covered the normally stark
landscapes of the Atacama, where
temperatures top 40 degrees Celsius
(104 Fahrenheit) this time of year.
From violet-and-white Chilean
bell lowers or countryside sighs
(Nolana paradoxa), to red “lion claws”
(Bomarea ovallei), to yellow Rhodophiala rhodolirion they have illed
the normally pale desert valleys with
rivers of colour.
“This year has been particularly
special, because the amount of rainfall has made this perhaps the most
spectacular of the past 40 or 50
years,” said Raul Cespedes, a desert
specialist at the University of Atacama.
Flowers bloom at the Huasco region in the Atacama desert. — AFP
stems that grow horizontally — to
germinate.
“When you think of the desert, you
think of total dryness, but there’s a
latent ecosystem here just waiting for
certain conditions to arise,” said Cespedes.
The desert lowers are perhaps nature’s consolation for what has been a
devastating year for Atacama.
They irst bloomed in March after
heavy rains that caught the region by
surprise and caused massive loods
that killed more than 30 people.
They are now blooming for the
second time this year, at the outset of
the southern hemisphere summer.
SLEEPING BEAUTY
El Nino, which wreaks havoc on
world weather patterns every two to
seven years, has hit particularly hard
this year, causing unusually heavy
rainfall in the world’s driest desert.
That has caused dormant lower
bulbs and rhizomes — underground
TOURIST DRAWCARD
“This is a very unusual phenomenon Because of the loods in March
there was an exceptional winter
bloom, which had never before been
recorded... and then there was another bloom in spring,” said Daniel
Diaz, director of the National Tourism
Service for Atacama region.
Two lowerings a year is very
unusual in the most arid desert in the
world, and that’s something we’ve
been able to enjoy this spring, along
with people from all over the world.
There’s a lot of interest in seeing it,”
he said.
The region has seen a 40 per cent
increase in tourists since the lowers
began blooming.
“It is so unusual, yet so real,” said
British tourist Edward Zannahand,
who made a special stop in Atacama
on what he described as a road trip
around the world. — AFP
A gigantic mantle of multicoloured
lowers covers the Atacama desert
For climate talks, Paris site must be greener than green
By Dominique Schroeder
T
he organisers of the COP21 climate conference starting in Paris in a month’s time are faced
with an unenviable task as they prepare for an event that it is hoped will
produce a new road map to stop the
Earth warming.
They must welcome tens of thousands of participants to a site near
the French capital, house them, feed
and transport them, and do so in the
greenest conditions possible, with the
world’s media dissecting every aspect
of the event’s organisation.
With US President Barack Obama
and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping among more than 80 world leaders attending the 21st United Nations
Climate Change Conference — the
biggest international meet in France
since the Universal Declaration of Human rights was drawn up in 1948 —
security will also be tight when proceedings open on November 30.
But above all else, as world leaders come together aiming to reach
a single agreement on tackling climate change, with the goal of capping
Labourers work at the construction
site of the centre which will host
the UN climate conference outside
Paris. — AFP
AS WORLD LEADERS COME TOGETHER AIMING TO
REACH A SINGLE AGREEMENT ON TACKLING CLIMATE
CHANGE, WITH THE GOAL OF CAPPING WARMING AT TWO
DEGREES CELSIUS (3.6 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT) OVER PREINDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION LEVELS — THE CONFERENCE HAS
TO BE ECOLOGICALLY EXEMPLARY
warming at two degrees Celsius (3.6
degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels — the conference has to be ecologically exemplary.
This conference is “exceptional
in every way, because of its duration
(two weeks), the seriousness of what
is at stake which affects us all, and
because it brings together a great
number of participants,” said the
of icial in charge Pierre Henri Guignard.
A temporary town is being built
at Le Bourget near Paris to host the
event, with organisers claiming it has
been planned according to the principles of sustainable development.
The 40-acre site includes 60 buildings that house meeting rooms, restaurants shops a bank a post of ice
a 24-hour press centre for 3,000 journalists and medical facilities — and
through all of that runs a covered avenue.
The estimated 21,000 tonnes of
greenhouse gases expected to be
produced by the site will be offset after the conference by projects in the
Southern Hemisphere, the French
government says.
French company Engie is supplying a condensing boiler that recovers
the lost energy generated in the traditional combustion process, a technique the irm says delivers greatly
increased ef iciency
There will also be so-called “wind
trees” — effectively windmills —
while Ikea will supply furniture,
Google the computer screens and the
Renault-Nissan group are providing
200 electric cars.
The
trees sacri iced for the
wood in the giant room that will host
the plenary sessions for 2,000 delegates will be replanted.
“The materials we are using have
already been used, we are using them
again and they will be used once
again after the COP,” said Patrick Bazanan, of Decoral, the company building part of the site.
The collection of restaurants,
snack stands, cafes and food trucks
that will serve the delegates have
been ordered to cut down on wasteful
packaging.
By using biodegradable and returnable glasses and cups, two million
plastic cups will be saved from the
waste containers.
All cutlery will also be made from
biodegradable materials, said JeanFrancois Camarty from catering irm
Elior.
As you would expect, recycling
bins will be situated throughout the
site and electric-powered vehicles
will pick up the waste. — AFP
11
OMAN DAILY OBSERVER
OCTOBER 31, 2015
BOOKS
CRIME AND CRIME-SOLVING WITH Intrepid sepoys
‘CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS’
of the Raj — in
combat and life
By Vikas Datta
Enigma of China; by
Qiu Xiaolong; Publisher:
Mullholland Books; Pages: 289
hina today witnesses many strug
gles
between tradition and mo
dernity between industrial devel
opment and environmental protection
between socialism with Chinese charac
teristics and full capitalism but the tough
est is between conscience and conformity
or doing what is right and what is ordered
Who better demonstrates this dilemma than
a guardian of law and justice
especially
when the two don t coincide
A poet by training and inclination Chen
Cao has instead been posted to the police
where he has risen to head Shanghai s Special
Cases Bureau In his eighth outing the chief in
spector on the cusp of a signi icant promotion
inds himself in one of his most challenging and
potentially dangerous cases
Public exposure of the city housing authority
chief s corrupt activities has led to his removal
and shuanggui or a special party monitored de
tention but he is soon found hanging in his room
The authorities want it declared a suicide but both
Chen drawn in as adviser and the actual investi
gator suspect it is murder
But other agencies are carrying on parallel
probes and then the police of icer on the case is
killed in a freak hit and run accident Chen now
has to take crucial decisions
does he unthink
ingly follow the of icial line or rather follow his
convictions with the consequent hazards of going
against the establishment which will not balk at
any measures to silence dissent and non conform
ity
But even without the mystery and the predica
ment the book retains relevance with its incisive
image of Chinese society in tumultuous transition
and some surprising parallels it has with its
large south western neighbour
C
A lecture one of those controversial yet per
missible lectures which opens this book
and
gives it its title
is illuminating The enigma of
China What s that Well there s a popular political
catchphrase socialism with Chinese characteris
tics
which is indeed an umbrella term for many
enigmatic things Things that are called socialist
or communist in our Party s newspapers but are
in practice actually capitalistic primitive or crony
capitalistic and utterly materialistic And feudalis
tic in that the children of high cadres or princes
are themselves high cadres
Does the last sentence seem familiar
The lecturer goes on to list other many dif
ferent interpretations and de initions of China s
characteristics including a Beijing University
professor who tells his students not to come to
him if you don t make four hundred million by
the time you re forty while himself specialis
ing in real estate development advocating
high priced housing investments for referral
fees from developers For him and for his
students the only value in the world of red
dust is what shines in cash
In a reality show as participants are dis
cussing how one makes a marriage choice
a young girl says she would rather weep
in a BMW than laugh on a bike or seek a
rich husband who can provide her with
material luxuries
even if in a love
less marriage And then In a recent
drink driving case the accused actually
shouted at the cops My father is Zhang
Gang Zhang Gang is a high ranking
Party of icial in charge of the local
police bureau Sure enough the cops
were hesitant to arrest him but a pas
serby recorded the scene with his cell
phone and placed the clip on the In
ternet Sounds familiar too
It is this singular world
of re
stricted Internet access but crowd
sourced investigations by netizens
into abuse of power and more
that is portrayed by Qiu a poet lit
erary translator academician who
went to the US in
for research
but had to stay on in wake of the crackdown after
the Tiananmen Square protests though he fre
quently visits his homeland
His Chen Cao series are not only intricate who
dunnits or engaging police procedurals or a picture
of a changing China and its modern day faultlines
but the very soul of the country as revealed in its
social mores and interactions its cuisine and above
all in its poetry Savour the journey
IANS
John Grisham’s ‘Rogue Lawyer’
lands atop US bestsellers list
R
ogue Lawyer the latest thriller from au George RR Martin Bantam
thor John Grisham debuted at the top of
Go Set a Watchman Harper Lee
the US iction bestsellers chart on Thursday
Harper
Data released from independent online
and chain bookstores book wholesalers and Hardcover Non iction
independent distributors across the United
The Pioneer Woman Cooks Dinner
States is used to compile the weekly list
time
Ree Drummond Morrow
Killing Reagan O Reilly Dugard Holt
Hardcover Fiction Last week
Rogue Lawyer
John Grisham Dou
A More Perfect Union Ben Carson
bleday
Penguin Sentinel
See Me Nicholas Sparks Grand Cen
Binge
Tyler Oakley S S Gallery
tral
Career of Evil
Robert Galbraith LB
The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up
Mulholland
Marie
Kondo Ten Speed
The Survivor Vince Flynn Kyle Miss
The Power of I Am Joel Osteen Ha
Atria Bestler
Welcome to Night Vale
Joseph Fink chette FaithWords
Big Magic Elizabeth Gilbert Riverhead
Harper Perennial
The Murder House Patterson Ellis
Extreme Ownership
Willink Babin
Little Brown
St
Martin
s
The Lake House
Kate Morton Atria
Agents of Babylon David Jeremiah
Tyndale
The Girl in the Spider s Web David La
Humans of New York Stories Bran
gercrantz Knopf
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms don Stanton St Martin s
Reuters
The Sepoy; by Edmund Candler; Publisher: Life Span
Publishers and Distributors; Pages: 139
t was a splendid device of the British Raj to safeguard the Jewel
in the Crown as well as to serve imperial interests overseas The
Martial Races concept well served its purpose in creating the
world s largest voluntary army blooded not only on India s unfor
giving borderlands but in Africa s sandy wastes and hilly fastness
es Palestine s desert and Iraq s oases in Chinese ields Southeast
Asian jungles and the trenches of France earning honours which
two national armies still revere All this rested on the sepoy simple
but superlatively obedient and valiant
And he came from a wide spectrum
tall and short burly and
slight hillsmen and plains dwellers farmers and nomads tradition
al and pragmatic or in other words a colourful section of the bewil
dering mosaic that is the South Asian subcontinent But his exploits
especially in the First
World War make for
gripping reading and for
one ine overview we
are indebted to this Brit
ish author educator and
journalist
and those
who have reprinted this
classic work that is near
a century old
Spending almost half
his life in India Edmund
Candler
was rare for his time
sympathetic
towards
Indian nationalism and
with a keen understand
ing of India beyond the
of icial perspective like
Rudyard Kipling who he
consciously
imitated
though he was ultimate
ly disillusioned by grow
ing lack of trust from his
students He came as a
teacher but went on to
report one of the Raj s most audacious acts
Francis Younghus
band s
expedition into Tibet and then the Mesopotami
an campaign during World War I
The latter resulted in The Sepoy where his aim was without
going too deeply into origins and antecedents to give as accurate a
picture as possible of the different classes of sepoy listing
in
cluding those in supporting or non combatant roles
On expected lines he starts with the Gurkha Sikh including
the Mazhabis and Punjabi Mussalman actually several communi
ties including Arain Awan Tiwana and Gakhar and then goes on
to other familiar names the Pathan Dogra Mahratta Maratha
Jat Rajput and Brahman Brahmin Garhwali Khattak dealt dif
ferently from the Pathan for some reason and some unfamiliar
the Hazara Mer and Merat Hindu and Muslim respectively from the
hills around Ajmer the Ranghar Meena Jharwa from Assam s jun
gles Drabi and the Santal Labour Corps
It is a chequered tale of valour and of plentiful quirks but it
brings to life soldiers who without thought agreed to put their life at
risk for an alien master in a foreign clime
They include plucky Gurkhas sitting unconcerned through a
Turkish artillery barrage and amusing themselves with throw
ing stones on the tin roof of the signallers dugout to scare them of
Sikh soldier Waryam Singh who had pledged never to surrender
a promise he kept in France remaining in a surrounded position
where he was slain but he slew many of Punjabi Mussalman je
madar Ghulam Ali who though wounded himself built up a screen
of earth round his sahib when he was severely wounded at the wadi
stayed with him till dusk helped him back to better cover and then
returned to the iring line to bring in a lance naik on his shoulders
IANS
I
LAUGHTER ON THE PITCH AND PAVILLION: CRICKET IN ITS HUMOUR
By Vikas Datta
t now igures in iction for all the wrong reasons
now
controversies conspiracies crimes and even
worse distracting amorous dalliances but cricket
in the days when it was still a gentleman s game and
not a money spinning over analysed entertainment
spectacle had an honoured place in English literature
with some great authors and avid players writing about
it
some tickling the funny bone mercilessly while at
it
Humour did you think What role does it have in
a game chie ly requiring superlative skills agility and
power of an ability for inspired intricate stroke play or
dispatching thunderbolts at the batsman or beguiling
him with spin
An initial look is not promising
Charles Lamb William Hazlitt and Leigh Hunt played
the game but didn t write on it nor did it igure humor
ously in writings of J M Peter Pan Barrie and his team
comprising Jerome K
Jerome A E W Mason Arthur Conan Doyle E W Hor
nung whose gentleman criminal Raf les was an ace
cricketer H G Wells A A Winnie the Pooh Milne and P
G Wodehouse save maybe Picadilly Jim
Dorothy Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey actually solves a
crime during a game in Murder Must Advertise
I
and Douglas Adams The Rupa Laughter Omnibus
quintet has a most unsettling account
of its origins
Laughs also don t igure in more
recent works be it Anuja Chauhan s
The Zoya Factor
Joseph
O Neill s haunting Netherland
about a lonely Dutch business execu
tive in post
New York inding a
sense of belonging by joining a cricket
club Tarquin Hall s The Case of the
Deadly Butter Chicken
or
Timeri N Murari s The Taliban Cricket
Club
The Goat the Sofa
Mr Swami
R Chandrashekhar s matchless
synthesis of politics diplomacy bureauc
racy and cricket
which is what the
sport is now
does however succeed
with its riotous inale in a Delhi stadium
The irst humorous treat
ment is in Charles Dickens
rollicking voluminous debut
The Pickwick Papers
whose chapter seven sees the
Pickwickians at the Dingley
Dell Cricket Club vs All Muggle
ton game
Also introduced is the game s irst commentator
who
to give him credit
is ad
mirably succinct Capital game well
played some strokes admirable
Mr Jingle with his singular speech
has also played in the West Indies
Warm red hot scorching glowing
Played a match once single wick
et friend the colonel
Sir Thomas
Blazo
who should get the great
est number of runs
won the toss
irst innings seven o clock A M six
natives to look out went in kept in
heat intense natives all fainted taken
away fresh half dozen ordered faint
ed also Blazo bowling supported by
two natives couldn t bowl
me out fainted too cleared
away the colonel wouldn t
give in faithful attend
ant Quanko
Samba last
man left sun so hot bat
in blisters ball scorched
brown ive hundred and
seventy runs rather ex
hausted Quanko mustered
up last remaining strength bowled me out had a bath
and went out to dinner
Pune born Archibald Gordon AG Macdonell s ne
glected classic England Their England
has
also in its chapter seven a match pitting a London team
against locals in a Kentish village with a titanic contest
between a fast bowler and a soft looking but lusty hit
ting author and what happens when the bowler feels
compelled to make a supreme effort but the umpire
feels mischievous
It sadly is too long to it here but if you can t get the
book Ruskin Bond edited The Rupa Laughter Omni
bus has it But high levels of sportsmanship were not
always seen
A minor unlikable character in Thomas Hughes Tom
Brown s Schooldays where cricket plays a major part
arch cad Flashman who got his own series courtesy
author George MacDonald Fraser is once prevailed to
play for the alumni at Lords and performs the game s
irst hat trick
dismissing Nicholas Felix Fuller Pilch
the greatest batsman of his time and Alfred Mynn by
skill sheer luck and straight cheating
I m not sure that the sincerest tribute I got wasn t
Fuller Pilch s knitted brow and steady glare as he sat on
a bench with his tankard looking me up and down for a
full two minutes and never saying a word he records in
Flashman s Lady
12
ENTERTAINMENT
OMAN DAILY OBSERVER
OCTOBER 31, 2015
SUPERSTAR SHAHRUKH KHAN
STILL CHASING DREAMS AT 50
tends to Pakistan and Afghanistan
as well as Russia and Iran but not to
every critic even locally
rms spread wide hair gently
It s been in famously said that
ruf led by the breeze dimpled
Shahrukh Khan is the sum total of
smile and a song on his lips
ive expressions He s been accused
the trademark pose of Bollywood star
of overacting hamming ilm critic
Shahrukh Khan belies his
years as
Suparna Sharma wrote
he promises his millions of fans in InWhile that may be true Shahrukh
dia and abroad that there is more to
Khan is still a superstar He has the
come
power to connect with every member
I decided that from the age of
of the audience individually she said
I want to do
very nice ilms
in an email
and that will include popular ilms
He emotes yet he can make you
of beat ilms mad ilms and many
cry laugh and fall in love with a girl
more I want to do as many ilms as
He can make
possible before I die Khan was quotKuch Hota Hai Something Some- fans feel
ed as saying recently
thing Happens
and
A Delhi boy with a passion for actChennai Express
ing Khan landed in Mumbai like so
Khan s romantic ilms
many others hoping to make
often follow a boy meets
it in Bollywood and went
girl plot where the womon to become one of the
an s family is at irst unbiggest success stories of
happy but eventually won
India s hyperactive ilm
over by the charming
factory that churns out
hero
hundreds of movies anThe ilms are ofnually
ten partly set in India
After dabbling in
partly abroad and have
television serials in the
a large following at home
late
s Khan s irst
and overseas among the Inilm Deewana Crazy
dian diaspora and others
in Love was reKhan s popularity is evident
leased in
in the
million likes and daily
Stardom folexpressions of adulation by
lowed fast with
fans on his Facebook page
roles in a series of
His fan base exromantic ilms including the smash
hit Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (The
Brave hearted
Will
Take Away the Bride
which marked its
th year of continuous
shows in a Mumbai theatre
this year
In a period spanning more
than two decades Khan has acted
in over
ilms many of them runaway successes including Dil to Pagal
Hai The Heart is Mad
Kuch
By Sunrita Sen
A
Irish actress Sarah Greene poses as she arrives for the European
premiere of the ilm Burnt in Leicester Square central London
— AFP
ONE OF INDIA’S MOST
POPULAR ACTORS,
THE QUINTESSENTIAL
ROMANTIC HERO
SHAHRUKH KHAN, TURNS
50 ON NOVEMBER 2, BUT
HE IS FAR FROM DONE YET
Unfair to compare
Ranbir-Deepika pairing
with SRK and I: Kajol
ajol and Shahrukh Khan s on
screen pairing has been a hit
since Baazigar and their charm
has been hard to match
Deepika Padukone and Ranbir
Kapoor have come close to sharing a similar chemistry in ilms
but Kajol says it s unfair to draw
such comparisons
At an event in Mumbai Kajol
was asked if Ranbir and Deepika
could be the next SRK Kajol
To that she said Honestly I
don t think you can compare anybody to anybody I cannot be like
Deepika or she can t be like me
K
SANDRA BULLOCK, BRADLEY COOPER
VIE FOR TOP BOX-OFFICE SPOT
“
ur Brand is Crisis
and Burnt
two
new movies with
Sandra Bullock starring in
one and Bradley Cooper in
the other premiere in the US
this weekend though showbiz pundits predict that The
Martian and Goosebumps
will be the big box of ice
draws for another week
Our Brand is Crisis directed by David Gordon
Green is a political satire in
which Bullock plays a consultant charged with rolling
out a media campaign for a
presidential candidate in Bolivia
The ilm is based on the
like named
documentary
about the application of
American political campaign
strategies in the Bolivia of
when Gonzalo Sanchez
de Lozada beat Evo Morales
and was re elected president
Burnt by John Wells
tells how a chef Cooper
O
‘OUR BRAND IS
CRISIS’, DIRECTED
BY DAVID GORDON
GREEN, IS A POLITICAL
SATIRE IN WHICH
BULLOCK PLAYS A
CONSULTANT CHARGED
WITH ROLLING OUT
A MEDIA CAMPAIGN
FOR A PRESIDENTIAL
CANDIDATE IN BOLIVIA.
whose career was wrecked
by drug addiction and his in
your face attitude decides to
turn his life around and completely redeem himself as
head chef of one of London s
inest restaurants
The ilm brings Bradley
Cooper and Sienna Miller
back together on the big
screen a year after their big
hit American Sniper
Also making their debut are the terror comedies
Scouts Guide to the Zombie
Apocalypse and Freaks of
Nature
In Scouts Guide to the
Zombie
Apocalypse
by
Christopher Landon three
young explorers discover the
true meaning of friendship
when they try to save their
own town from a zombie
menace
In the cast are Tye
Sheridan Logan Miller and
Joey Morgan
Freaks of Nature by Robbie Pickering shows humans
vampires and zombies living
together peacefully in a town
called Dillford until some
extraterrestrials arrive and
plan to exterminate every last
one of them
Nicholas Braun Mackenzie Davis Josh Fadem and
Denis Leary star
or we SRK and I cannot be like
Deepika and Ranbir or vice versa
Together SRK and Kajol have
featured in ilms like Karan
Arjun Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge Kuch Kuch Hota Hai Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and My
Name Is Khan The on screen romantic couple is set to sweep audiences off their feet again with
their upcoming movie Dilwale
this Christmas
On the other hand Deepika
and Ranbir have done two ilms
together and are gearing up for
Tamasha
the intensity of love and longing facilitating the most vicarious role play
for two and a half hours
When Khan recently received an
honorary doctorate from a British
university a fan on Facebook wrote
Dil ke Doctor doctor of the heart
Whenever we feel sad frustrated
disgusted about our lives you ONLY
you can make us feel good
In an industry where most of the
successful actors of the past decade
are second generation Bollywood
kids Khan broke through without any
mentors and rose right to the top
He had several lops in the mid
s but resurrected himself and
has had six consecutive hits since
The domestic box of ice collections of his movies from
to
stand at Rs
billion about
million
Who is the world s biggest movie star Brad Will
Nah His name is Shahrukh
Khan and he s the king of
Bollywood
international
Newsweek magazine wrote
in
dpa
Kristen Stewart to star in
Lizzie Borden movie?
A
ctresses Kristen Stewart and Chloe
Sevigny are in talks to star in an
untitled ilm based on the life of Lizzie Borden who was infamously
accused of murdering her father
and stepmother in
While Sevigny will play Borden Stewart is attached to essay the role of Bordens live in
maid Bridget Sullivan who
might have been in the home
when the murders were committed
She testi ied at the trial for
the murders which ultimately
resulted in Borden s acquittal
reports hollywoodreportercom
The crime inspired children s
rhymes sung to the tune of the then
popular song Ta ra ra Boom de ay
The case also spawned several theories
about who committed the murders and why
One of the theories suggested that Borden and Sullivan were lovers
Pieter Van Hees will direct the psychological thriller which is slated
to release in
Katy Perry bags two RIAA
Digital Diamond Awards
ith hit singles Firework and
Dark horse in her kitty singer
Katy Perry is the irst female artist to have bagged two Recording
Industry Association of America
RIAA Digital Diamond Awards
In addition Perry was the
irst artist ever to exceed
million cumulative certi ications in the RIAAs Gold and
Platinum Digital Single programme and the ifth artist in
history to earn Diamond status for a digital song according
to a statement from Universal
Music
As the cherry on top the
year old s Roar has now
been certi ied as x Platinum
Prism her latest album debuted
at No on the Billboard
hit No
on iTunes in more than
countries
and has been certi ied quadruple Platinum in
the US
The Prismatic World Tour Live a concert ilm shot in Sydney during Perry s December
visit to Australia will be released worldwide
via Universal Music Group
W
P16
US smartphone use
surges, at expense of
other gadgets
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2015 MUHARRAM 17, 1437 AH
P14
P15
Tablet market
slumps as buyers ind
alternatives
www.omanobserver.om
Asian shares poised for best
month since Jan
editor@omanobserver.om
BoJ cuts growth, inflation view as economy stalls
TOKYO — The Bank of Japan (BoJ)
on Friday cut its growth outlook and
pushed back the timeline for a key
in lation target but held off fresh
easing even as Tokyo’s blueprint for
reviving the world’s number three
economy falters.
The central bank’s chief left the
door open to more stimulus, however, and said there was “no limit” to
what policymakers could do.
Japan is teetering on the edge
of recession in the face of slowing growth in China and shaky global economy while weak in lation
and consumer spending at home
have also helped slam the brakes on
growth.
Some analysts had predicted the
Bank of Japan would expand its massive 80 trillion yen ($665 billion) annual asset-buying scheme, launched
more than two years ago to kickstart
growth and drag prices out of a decades-long downward spiral.
But it stood pat on Friday — despite concerns the economy shrank
in the three months through September for the second consecutive quarter — and hours later underscored
the problems it faces by cutting its
growth and in lation predictions
The central bank said it now expected growth to come in at 1.2 per
cent in the iscal year to March
Japan is teetering on the edge of
recession in the face of slowing growth
in China and shaky global economy,
while weak in lation and consumer
spending at home have also helped
slam the brakes on growth
down from an earlier 1.7 per cent
projection.
It also forecast it would reach its
two per cent in lation target in the
six months ending March
half a year later than previously expected.
Some analysts said it was only a
matter of time before the BoJ has to
ramp up its stimulus again, possibly
at its next meeting in mid-November,
when of icial July October growth igures are published.
“They could move after the next
meeting — expectations for more
easing aren t going away said Mitsuo
Shimizu, deputy general manager of
Japan Asia Securities Group.
The BoJ’s fresh forecasts high-
light Japan’s fading prospects and underscore how the central bank’s war
on de lation has been tougher than
hoped.
The vast monetary easing is a cornerstone of Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe’s pro-spending growth blitz,
dubbed “Abenomics”, which has faltered after initially setting off a stock
market rally and weakening the yen,
giving a lift to corporate pro its
But Abe has struggled to cut red
tape and shake up the regulated
economy, with the wider impact of
his programme being limited.
Central bank chief Haruhiko
Kuroda has repeatedly insisted that
the plan is on course a year after the
bank shocked markets by expanding
Taiwan economy shrinks
for irst time in six years
Containers are seen stacked up at Keelung port, northern Taiwan yesterday. — Reuters
TAIPEI
Taiwan’s economy shrank
for the irst time in six years in the July-September quarter, dragged down
by worse-than-expected exports and
domestic spending, the government
said on Friday.
The drop of 1.01 per cent from a
year earlier missed forecasts by the
Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, which had
predicted GDP growth of 0.10 per
cent year-on-year in the third quarter.
It was also much steeper than
the 0.5 per cent decline forecast by a
Bloomberg survey of economists.
On the heels of the result, Taiwan
announced it would pour Tw$4.08
billion ($125.5 million) into the economy between November and February to boost consumer spending.
There will be subsidies for home
appliances and new mobile phones,
as well as promotions for Internet
shopping and domestic travel.
“The measures... encourage businesses to offer greater promotions
and discounts with help from the
government,” the executive yuan, or
cabinet, said in a statement.
It added the move was designed
to “improve people’s purchasing appetite” and spark a retail boom.
Taiwan has been struggling to
spur growth in its export-focused
economy, which has suffered with a
slow recovery from the global inancial crisis while also facing greater
competition in the key tech sector.
“The deterioration of the external
economic environment has started
to affect domestic demand, causing
consumer con idence and the employment rate to fall,” Claire Huang,
a Hong Kong- based economist at
Societe Generale AG, said before the
release.
However, Huang added a second
consecutive quarter of contraction
— meaning a technical recession —
was unlikely. “Continued recovery in
developed economies such as Europe
and the US should boost demand in
the fourth quarter,” she said.
The government said China’s domestic supply chain was “crowding
out” Taiwan in a statement on Friday.
Taiwan’s exports in the third
quarter plummeted 13.86 per cent,
including a 7.88 per cent decline in
electronics. The central bank cut interest rates in September the irst
time in four years, to bolster sluggish
demand, and in August authorities
slashed their growth forecast for the
full year to 1.56 per cent, from an earlier estimate of 3.28 per cent .
The weakness in Taiwan comes
as China’s economy suffers its worst
annual growth rates in a quarter of a
century.
China is Taiwan’s biggest export
market, accounting for 25 per cent
of products shipped, while exports to
the United States make up just 11.1
per cent of the total, according to
Moody s Analytics
“The biggest factor pushing down
exports is weak Chinese demand,”
Moody s economist Emily Dabbs said
“Taiwan’s inability to sign trade
agreements with countries such as
the US is hurting its export competitiveness.” — AFP
Governor of the Bank of Japan (BoJ) Haruhiko Kuroda speaks during a
press conference at the BoJ headquarters in Tokyo yesterday. — AFP
the programme to its current level.
On Friday, he acknowledged that
salaries were not rising as much as
expected, but insisted that a plunge
in crude oil prices was the main culprit slowing down the BoJ s in lation
Nokia signs
deals worth
910m euros
with China
Mobile
HELSINKI — Finnish telecoms
group Nokia on Friday announced
it had inked a slew of deals worth a
billion dollars (910 million euros)
to sell equipment and services to
China Mobile
The Finnish irm s contract with
the world’s largest mobile operator
includes an agreement to roll out a
fourth generation wireless network
as well as provide infrastructure,
maintenance, network planning and
software solutions.
The contracts were signed late
on Thursday in Beijing by Li Huidi,
executive vice-president of China
Mobile and Nokia counterpart
Hans-Juergen Bill in the presence of
Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang
and visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel
The accords foresee Finland’s
high-speed mobile networks maker rolling out the next phase of its
Time Division Long-Term Evolution
advanced technology.
China Mobile one of three Chinese state operators, is seeking to
install a million relay stations by
year’s end which would make its
fourth generation wireless network
the world’s largest.
Nokia said its network infrastructure capabilities and technical
expertise would help China Mobile
drive the evolution of China’s Internet of Things ecosystem by offering
connectivity for healthcare, connected cars and other applications.
Nokia on Thursday raised its fullyear outlook after posting betterthan-expected third quarter earnings, especially in its networks unit,
sending its share price soaring by
over eight per cent .
At a time when operators are
postponing or cutting investments
in the roll-out of 4G networks amid
a challenging economic climate,
Nokia has seen strong sales growth
in China which has compensated in
part for declines in North America
and Europe. — AFP
goals.
“We’ll adjust policy without hesitation with additional easing or whatever else — I don’t see any limit to
our policy options,” he told reporters.
Also on Friday, government data
showed core consumer prices — excluding food — contracted 0.1 per
cent in September from a year ago,
the month after posting its irst price
decline since 2013.
While falling or stagnant prices
may seem like a good thing for consumers, they tend to put people off
buying goods and that, in turn, hurts
irms which roll back their new investment and hiring.
Household spending also fell last
month, in a sign that efforts to turn
around Japan s so called de lationary mindset” were struggling.
“The BoJ’s monetary accommodation over the past two and a half
years has had only a limited impact
on Japan s growth and in lation said
Kiichi Murashima chief economist at
Citigroup in Japan.
“Policymakers had expected a
much larger impact on the economy...
And the deterioration in the global
economic outlook, including developments in China, will likely make Japanese companies more cautious about
expanding business investment and
raising wages,” he added.
A sales tax rise last year — aimed
at taming Japan’s huge national debt
— also hammered consumer spending, denting demand for products
made by irms that are also facing
slowing growth overseas. — AFP
Airbus ramps up A
output as pro its climb
PARIS
European aircraft maker
Airbus announced on Friday it will
ramp up production of its best-selling A
jet as overall pro its climb
sharply.
Airbus, like its main rival Boeing,
is enjoying strong sales in a “healthy”
international market. In a sign of
Airbus con idence in its inancial
position, the group also revealed it is
launching a 1 billion euro ($1.2 billion) buyback of its own shares.
Citing a robust commercial aircraft market, Airbus said it was increasing monthly output of the popular single-aisle A320 family to 60 in
mid-2019 from just over 42 now.
The Airbus prediction eclipses
that of Boeing, which aims to raise
monthly output of its single-aisle 737
from 42 now to 52 in 2017.
The news came a day after stateowned China Aviation Supplies Holding Group signed a deal to buy 100
A320 aircraft, worth $9.7 billion at
list prices.
Airbus has also signed a letter of
intent in a 750 million euro ($800
million) deal to sell 100 of its versatile H135 twin-engined helicopters,
often used in medical emergencies,
to China, a source close to the matter said on Friday. Airbus said group
net pro it rose
per cent from a
year earlier to 376 million euros in
the three months to September 30 as
it reaped the bene it of strong sales
and a irm dollar
The Toulouse, France-based group
said sales rose six per cent to 14.1
billion euros ($15.5 billion) in the
three months The igure is still substantially less than the $25.85 billion
in sales reported by Boeing in the
Airbus has also signed
a letter of intent in a
750 million euro ($800
million) deal to sell 100
of its versatile H135
twin-engined helicopters, often used in
medical emergencies, to
China
same period. “We again increased
revenues pro itability and cash generation due to a good operational
performance,” chief executive Tom
Enders said in a statement.
Airbus’ board had decided to
start the one-billion-euro share buyback immediately, he said, prompted
by progress in the business, divestments and the company’s cash position. The share buyback should be
complete by June 30 next year, Enders said. New airplane orders over
the irst nine months of the year
soared 42 per cent to 112 billion
euros, the group said.
Airbus is also pushing up production of its new twin-aisle A350,
which it said was “challenging”.
The group said it expects to break
even on the double-decker A380
superjumbo this year. Airbus predicted the world economy and air
traf ic would grow this year with no
major disruptions. “Airbus deliveries should be slightly higher than in
2014 and the commercial aircraft order book is again expected to grow,”
it said. — AFP
14
S A T U R D A Y, O C T O B E R 3 1 , 2 0 1 5
Tablet market slumps as
buyers find alternatives
SAN FRANCISCO — Global sales of
tablet computers fell for a fourth
consecutive quarter, as buyers put off
replacement or looked to alternative
devices, a survey showed.
The report by market tracker IDC
showed a 12.6 per cent year-overyear decline in tablet sales in the July-September quarter, with 48.7 million devices shipped.
IDC analysts said tablet owners are not replacing the devices as
frequently as in the past. And some
are shifting to large smartphones,
or “phablets,” or to lightweight PCs,
some of which have detachable keyboards. “We continue to get feedback
that tablet users are holding onto devices upwards of four years,” said IDC
analyst Ryan Reith.
“We believe the traditional slate
tablet has a place in the personal
computing world. However, as the
smartphone installed base continues to grow and the devices get bigger and more capable, the need for
smaller form factor slate tablets becomes less clear. With shipment volumes slowing over four consecutive
quarters, the market appears to be in
transition.”
Apple, which effectively created
the market with its iPad in 2010, led
all vendors even though its market
share slipped to 20.3 per cent and
the number of iPads sold slumped
19.7 per cent , IDC said.
South Korea’s Samsung held
the number two spot with a 16.5
per cent market share, even as the
number of units sold slid 17 per cent
to eight million.
Apple, which effectively
created the market
with its iPad in 2010,
led all vendors even
though its market
share slipped to 20.3
per cent and the
number of iPads sold
slumped 19.7 per cent ,
IDC said
IDC said the global installed base
of tablets at the end of last year was
581.9 million — up 36 per cent from
2013 but slowing.
“With mature markets like North
America, Western Europe, and Asia/
Paci ic well past
million active
tablets per region, the opportunities
for growth are getting fewer,” the IDC
report said.
Apple is seeking to carve out a
new niche in the tablet market with
the iPad Pro, which has a detachable
keyboard and is expected to go on
sale next month, while Samsung has
a similar device called the Tab S2.
After the two big vendors, China’s
Lenovo was in third place with a 6.3
per cent market share, followed by
Taiwan’s Asus (four per cent ) and
China’s Huawei (3.7 per cent ), IDC
igures showed
AFP
RWE inds partners for
bn offshore wind park
FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF — German utility RWE has found three
partners to inance the
billion
($2.3 billion) Galloper wind park to
be built off the British coast, it said
on Friday, expanding the renewables
business critics said it neglected for
too long.
Most upfront inancing for offshore wind parks usually comes
from power producers, but the high
price tag of at least a billion euros
per park, as well as tight budget restraints in the crisis-ridden utilities
sector, mean that outside money is
crucial.
RWE, Germany’s worst-performing blue-chip company this year, is
grappling with 25.6 billion euros
($28.1 billion) of net debt and falling earnings at its coal and gas ired
power plants as they face increasing
competition from solar and wind capacity.
The company said that Britain’s
Green Investment Bank (GIB), German engineering group Siemens and
Australian bank Macquarie would
join the 336 megawatt (MW) project,
with each partner holding a 25 per
cent stake.
“The partnerships are crucial
to us. It enables us to realise our
projects,” Hans Buenting, chief executive of RWE’s Innogy renewables
unit, said.
Construction of the wind farm,
which will be located about 27 km
off the coast of Suffolk in eastern
England and produce power for up
to 336,000 homes, will begin in November, with operations expected to
start in March 2018.
Siemens will supply 56 of its 6
MW-class turbines and also will have
a 15-year service contract, it said in a
separate statement.
Buenting said that 30 per cent of
the project’s costs were shouldered
by the four partners, with the rest
being inanced by banks translating
to a direct investment of about
million for RWE.
Galloper will create 700 jobs during construction and 90 permanent
roles once it is operational, RWE
said, further boosting Britain’s burgeoning offshore sector.
Despite deep cuts to renewables
subsidies, Britain’s conservative government remains committed to offshore wind projects, hoping this will
help to bridge a looming supply gap
in the country’s power supplies as
older coal plants close.
Planning permission has been
granted for British offshore wind
projects capable of generating about
11 gigawatts of electricity. If built,
these would meet about 20 per cent
of the country’s peak electricity demand. — Reuters
OMAN/INTERNATIONAL
MUSCAT SECURITIES MARKET
15
S A T U R D A Y, O C T O B E R 3 1 , 2 0 1 5
INTERNATIONAL
Asian shares poised for best month since Jan 2012
Japan Post trading debut, US
data in focus for investors
TOKYO
Japan Post s trading debut next week will be in focus for
Tokyo investors as markets also
look to fresh US data after the Federal Reserve moves closer to a rate
hike.
The postal and banking giant
raised
billion in a long anticipated initial public offering and
its shares are to start trading on
Wednesday in Tokyo.
It is on track to be the biggest share sale this year and the
large since Chinese online giant
Alibaba s record
billion IPO in
Stock market operator Euronext’s universal analysts work in the market services surveillance room centre at the new Euronext headquarters at La
Defence business and inancial district in Courbevoie near Paris France yesterday World shares rose on Friday and were on course for their best
month in four years led by Europe s best month in over six years as global central banks kept stimulus policies intact and many hinted at further
steps to re energise their economies
Reuters
TOKYO — Asian shares edged higher
on Friday and were on track for their
biggest monthly rise since January
as global central banks kept
stimulative policies intact and many
hinted at further steps to re-energise
their economies.
That has helped soothe investors’
fears of the prospect of higher borrowing costs in the United States as
the Federal Reserve prepares to tighten rates, possibly by year-end.
European shares were set to open
on the bright side with inancial
spreadbetters expecting Britain’s
FTSE
to open as much as
per
cent higher Germany s DAX
per
cent and France s CAC
per cent
.
MSCI s broadest index of Asia Paci ic shares outside Japan was up
per cent poised to lose
per cent
for the week but gain more than per
cent for October.
The Nikkei stock index slipped
brie ly after the Bank of Japan BoJ
stood pat and then regained its composure to end up
per cent at a
more than two-month high, buoyed
by a media report that the government is considering a supplementary
budget of over
billion
The Nikkei rose 1.4 per cent for the
week and jumped
per cent for the
month, the best monthly gain in two
years.
The BoJ s decision to keep monetary policy steady was in line with
most expectations, but some investors had speculated the central bank
would deliver some additional steps
to support Japan s economy The BoJ
also trimmed its price and growth
forecasts on Friday, and many still expect it to eventually deliver more easing.
China search giant Baidu
sees lift from travel deal
SAN FRANCISCO — Chinese
search giant Baidu said it expects
a new travel services partnership
to help drive future revenue as
the country’s middle class grows,
after it reported better-than-expected third quarter earnings.
Nasdaq-listed Baidu, often
portrayed as the equivalent of
Google, dominates search in China and is looking to move into
online to of line services such
as food delivery and movie ticket booking Net pro it slumped
per cent
year on year to
million
billion yuan for the quarter ending in September, according to a statement.
But adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.43, beating the median
forecast of
in a poll of analysts by Bloomberg News
In the third quarter Baidu s revenue increased by
per cent to
billion, in line with market expectations, helped by its core search advertising
business. The results drove Baidu shares up around seven per cent in afterhours trade.
As part of the drive to build a new Baidu, the company this week announced a deal which saw it take a
per cent voting interest in Chinese
travel website Ctrip in exchange for a
per cent stake in its own Qunar
unit, which also offers plane ticket and hotel bookings.
“We see tremendous potential ahead for the industry and remain very
committed to the online travel space,” Baidu chief executive Robin Li said on
a conference call.
“This opens up a lot more travel products and services to Baidu users.”
Steady, though now slowing, economic growth in China has created a travel boom as a growing middle class seeks to spend new-found income.
Analysts said the Ctrip deal would also lessen the impact from moneylosing Qunar and reduce Baidu s investment costs as the two travel players
coordinate marketing.
The equity swap allows Baidu to own equity stakes in Ctrip and Qunar
the two largest online travel service platforms in China,” Moody’s Investors
Service vice-president Lina Choi said in a statement on Wednesday.
Baidu chief inancial of icer Jennifer Li played down the impact of slowing
Chinese growth.
Search serves a very diversi ied customer base and I think we are quite
resilient in good times and bad,” she told analysts on the conference call. China logged its worst economic performance since the global inancial crisis in
the third quarter with gross domestic product rising just
per cent
its
lowest level in six years.
Baidu forecasts fourth quarter revenue to be between
billion and
billion
AFP
Markets in China edged higher while
shares of baby goods related companies
outperformed after China s ruling
Communist Party said on Thursday it would
ease family planning restrictions to allow
two children for all couples
The BOJ will probably wait to see
whether the Fed may move in December, before deciding to ease further,” said Hiromachi Shirakawa, chief
economist at Credit Suisse Securities
Japan
“As such I expect further easing by
the BoJ may come in January at the
earliest but it will more likely to happen in April.
On Wall Street overnight, US indexes posted losses but were still on
track for their best monthly performance in four years.
US data released overnight showed
US gross domestic product in July
September increased at a
per cent
annual rate, just shy of the consensus
forecast for
per cent growth and
slowing from a
per cent rise in the
If Japan Post s huge IPO goes
smoothly, it will boost market sentiment,” said Hiroaki Hiwata, strategist at Toyo Securities.
US employment and trade igures are also on tap, after the Federal Reserve on Wednesday suggested it would raise US interest
rates before the end of
That confounded expectations it
would delay a move until the new
year owing to a weak global outlook.
On Friday, Tokyo’s Nikkei
index closed
per cent
higher, as investors jumped back
into equities after the Bank of
Japan
BoJ
cleared uncertainty
clouding
the
market
by
announcing
it
second quarter. But solid consumer
spending kept alive the possibility
that the Fed could deliver an interest
rate increase in December.
The US central bank held policy
steady on Wednesday and left the
door open to hike interest rates for
the irst time since
at its December
meeting
That signal comes amid growing
anxiety over a slowdown in global
growth, with signs of waning momentum in China in particular stoking
volatility in global markets in recent
months.
Markets in China edged higher,
while shares of baby goods-related
companies outperformed after China s ruling Communist Party said on
Thursday it would ease family planning restrictions to allow two children for all couples.
would stand pat on fresh
monetary stimulus.
The BoJ said it would hold
steady on its record
trillion yen
billion annual asset buying
scheme, dousing expectations it
could unleash another wave of easing to counter slowing growth in
the world’s number three economy.
Hours later, the central bank
cut its growth forecast for the iscal year through March
to
per cent from
per cent and
pushed back its timeline for boosting in lation in a fresh sign its bid
to kick start the economy is loundering.
The benchmark Nikkei, which
opened lat ahead of the decision
rose
points to close at
The index rose
per
cent over the week.
The Topix index of all irst section shares was up
per cent
gaining
points to
It was up
per cent over the
week.
Sony shares climbed
per
cent to
yen while Panasonic
jumped
per cent to
yen
after the electronics giants both reported rising pro its a day before
in a sign that efforts to ix their tattered balance sheets were inally
paying off
AFP
China’s rate cut last week has also
supported sentiment at home and
aboard as Beijing steps up efforts to
shore up a faltering economy.
The dollar extended losses after
the BoJ policy decision slipping to an
intraday low of
and was last
down about
per cent at
yen But it was still up about
per
cent for the month against the backdrop of divergent monetary policy expectations.
The euro’s trend was similar, with
the single currency up abut
per
cent against the dollar at
but down about
per cent for the
month in which European Central
Bank chief Mario Draghi took a surprisingly dovish stance that suggested
further monetary easing steps were
possible in December. — Reuters
Hope fades that trade pact could
melt Japan butter shortage
TOKYO — Hopes look set to be dashed that a regional trade pact could end a butter shortage in
Japan which has left shelves in some supermarkets empty and prompted others to ration customers to one pack per visit.
The Transpaci ic Partnership TPP deal
agreed this month between Japan and other Paci ic Rim governments does not do enough to
loosen curbs on butter imports, with Tokyo wary
of upsetting farmers the controls were designed
to protect said industry of icials and analysts
The butter shortage, which typically intensiies towards year end as people make cookies
and cakes for Halloween and Christmas, has been
fuelled by a chronic lack of dairy farmers as the
population ages and younger people move away
from the countryside.
“I came here to buy butter to make Halloween
cupcakes as I couldn t ind any at another store
Yumi Kano, a mother of two small children, said
at a supermarket in central Tokyo.
“Since last year, I’ve been trying to keep two
packs of butter in our refrigerator.”
A prolonged butter shortage would be an embarrassment to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe s government which has been touting the bene its of
TPP saying it would allow consumers to buy diverse products from around the world at cheaper
prices.
The latest butter de icit has already lasted
around two years, with industry data showing
consumers have been forking out roughly up to
four times more than buyers abroad, while commercial users have been paying the highest prices in about three decades A
gram pack cost
about
yen
this week in Tokyo
And the shortage could prompt the government to repeat emergency imports, after
it shipped in a total of around
tonnes
of such supplies this year and last. That could
be good news in the short term for key dairy
exporters such as New Zealand and the Netherlands.
Boxes of butter are seen on the shelves of a Japanese supermarket in Singapore
Japan the United States and
other Paci ic
Rim countries reached the most ambitious trade
pact in a generation earlier in October, aiming to
liberalise commerce in
per cent of the world s
economy.
The deal allows Japan to keep its complex
import quota system under which about
tonnes of butter have been shipped in annually
over the past three years at a low-duty rate, but
adds a new quota of up to about
tonnes at
a lower tariff still.
However, the new quota only represents
about per cent of local consumption Outside
the quotas, the duty is so hefty that butter typically becomes too expensive for private buyers to
import.
“Given the small volume of the new quota, the
Reuters
butter shortage won’t go away completely and
the price impact will be limited said an of icial
at a major dairy irm who declined to be identiied due to the sensitivity of the issue
An agriculture ministry of icial said Tokyo
would adjust supply and demand of butter
through emergency imports.
But many butter buyers say Japan must do
more to secure stable supply and bring down
prices.
“Even after the government’s emergency
imports, small businesses like us can’t secure
enough butter when needed,” said Hironobu
Takemura, owner of a cafe in Tokyo that serves
waf les
“We all know the state-controlled system
doesn’t work. We want free trade.” — Reuters
Sharp posts big loss on
restructuring costs
Sharp President Kozo Takahashi announces the company s inancial results during a press brie ing in Tokyo yesterday
AFP
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S A T U R D A Y, O C T O B E R 3 1 , 2 0 1 5
Business Briefs
16
INTERNATIONAL
US smartphone use surges,
at expense of other gadgets
TOKYO
Japanese electronics giant Sharp on Friday posted a
whopping six-month net loss of nearly $700 million, hit by restructuring costs and a slump in demand for its smartphone screens.
The liquid-crystal display giant, which is key supplier to Apple
and other mobile phone makers, singled out a downturn in smartphone-screen demand in China for its latest set of poor results.
Sharp warned of the loss this week, reigniting concerns about
the future of the Aquos-brand maker, which has repeatedly appeared on the brink of bankruptcy in recent years as it trudged
ahead with a painful restructuring.
“The situation surrounding Sharp is still severe — they have
strong technology but their inances are extremely weak said
Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Research institute in Tokyo.
Sharp posted an 83.6 billion yen net loss in the half-year
through September down from a small pro it a year earlier while
revenue fell 3.6 per cent to 1.28 trillion yen. Earlier this year, Sharp
said it was cutting 10 per cent of its 49,000 global workforce as
part of a turnaround plan intended to keep it a loat after posting a
bigger-than-expected $1.86 billion annual loss. — AFP
Starbucks stock loses
steam: Lukewarm forecast
LOS ANGELES — Global coffee shop giant Starbucks posted record
fourth-quarter earnings, but investors lost their appetite for its
stock after a lukewarm outlook for the upcoming holiday season.
The company’s net earnings for the three months to the end of
September rose 11 per cent year-on-year to $653 million. Worldwide retail sales grew 8 per cent, beating the company’s own expectations. Chief executive Howard Schultz said the results validated Starbucks’ strategic expansion from coffee and sweets to a
wider menu of food and beverages and investments in technology
like mobile order and payment systems.
Starbucks operates more than 23,000 stores in 68 countries. It
has been aggressively expanding in Asia, and announced plans to
open its irst location in Cambodia its th regional market by the
end of 2015.
But the company s growth in the combined China Asia Paci ic
region has slowed, with sales in the region up 6 per cent in the
fourth quarter, compared to an increase of 11 per cent in the third
quarter. The Seattle-based chain also served up a lukewarm forecast for the next quarter. Analysts had expected earnings per share
of 47 cents, but the company forecast just 44 to 45 cents per share.
Stock fell nearly 4 per cent in after-hours trading. — dpa
Bayer stands by full-year
targets after strong Q3
FRANKFURT — German chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant Bayer, maker of Aspirin painkiller, said it is sticking to its forecast of
higher full year sales and pro its after a strong third quarter
Our group forecast for
is con irmed said chief executive
Marijn Dekkers. “The Bayer group made further strategic progress
and posted strong earnings growth in the third quarter he said
In the period from July to September, Bayer clocked up net profit of 999 million euros ($1.1 billion), an increase of 20.9 per cent
on the year and better than analysts had expected.
Underlying or operating pro it grew by
per cent to
billion euros on a 10.7 per cent increase in sales to 11.036 billion
euros.
One of the key events for the group in the three-month period
was the stock exchange listing of its polymers division, Covestro.
While Bayer had been compelled to scale back its ambitions
for the proceeds from the initial public offering (IPO) to 1.5 billion
euros from 2.5 billion euros originally targeted, the move would
support the group’s aim to be “a leading life science company and
put us in an even stronger position vis a vis our competitors
Dekkers said. — AFP
WASHINGTON
The smartphone has been the
tech story for Americans in recent years, with the
market surging at the expense of other gadgetry,
a study showed.
A Pew Research Center report found 68 per
cent of Americans use a smartphone, compared
with
per cent in
But the igures are
much higher or near saturation levels for some
groups such as those between 18 and 29 years
old (86 per cent), those between 30 and 45 (83
per cent) and people earning at least $75,000 annually (87 per cent).
Increased smartphone adoption has come
amid little or no growth in many other electronics categories such as desktop computers,
gaming consoles, MP3 players and e-readers,
Pew found. The tablet market has been expanding — with 45 per cent of US adults saying they
own a tablet computer, up from four per cent in
2010 — but growth has cooled over the past two
years, Pew researchers found.
Global surveys have shown the smartphone
market is still growing, led by emerging markets,
while tablet sales are in decline.
The igures appear to con irm that the
smartphone is now the preferred tech gadget
for many Americans, who can use it as a mobile
computer, mapping device and a way to stay connected on social networks, even if the phone itself is less important than in the past.
“We don’t ask people why they do not use a
particular device, but these data suggest how
the rise of smartphones has been a major story in the universe of connected gadgetry said
Lee Rainie, who heads Internet and technology research at Pew. “These changes in device
ownership are all taking place in a world where
smartphones are transforming into all-purpose
devices that perform many of the same functions
of specialised technology, such as music players,
e book readers or even gaming devices
The researchers write that the rise of the
smartphone “has had a major social, political and
cultural impact and has changed the way people reach their friends, obtain data and media,
and share their lives
Overall, 92 per cent of US adults said they
Global surveys
have shown the
smartphone market
is still growing, led by
emerging markets,
while tablet sales are
in decline
owned some type of cell or mobile phone, little
changed from a year ago, but they are increasingly shifting to smartphones, Pew found.
The Pew study found 73 per cent of American
adults said they owned a desktop or laptop computer little changed from the
per cent igure
in 2004 and down from a high of 80 per cent in
2012. Forty per cent reported having a gaming
console a number that has not changed in ive
years and the same percentage said they owned
an MP3 player, down from a 2010 high of 47 per
cent .
Just 14 per cent said they own a portable
game device, similar to 2009 levels, and the percentage of e-reader owners fell to 19 per cent
this year from 32 per cent in 2014.
For tablet computers, the 2015 ownership
igure of
per cent is statistically the same
as the 2014 level of 42 per cent , the report said,
noting decelerating growth since tablets became
popular a few years ago.
Pew found that younger adults and those
from more af luent backgrounds are more likely
to own tablets, including 62 per cent of college
graduates and 67 per cent of those earnings
$75,000 or more. The report was based on two
surveys: one conducted among 1,907 adults from
March 17 through April 12 and a second survey
from June 10 through July 12 of 2,001 adults. The
margin of error for the full sample was estimated
at 2.6 percentage points, and higher from some
subgroups. — AFP
Air France-KLM to pursue cost-cuts
despite higher third quarter pro it
PARIS
Air France KLM pro its took off in the
third quarter, boosted by low fuel prices and
heavy summer travel, but the airline said it will
continue on its cost-cutting course despite protests by employees. The airline group posted a
net pro it in the July September period of
million euros ($526.5 million) compared with 86
million euros a year earlier when results suffered
from a pilots’ strike, it said in a statement.
“A favourable environment, principally characterised by lower fuel prices and strong demand
over the summer, resulted in an improvement of
Air France-KLM’s results during the third quarter
and irst nine months of
said the group s
board chairmen Alexandre de Juniac.
Quarterly revenues were 7.4 billion euros, up
4.2 per cent compared with a year ago excluding
the impact of the strike impact, and down 2.4 per
cent on a like-for-like basis.
De Juniac stressed, however, that the results
were not suf icient to close the competitiveness
gap and promote growth so the airline intends
continue with its restructuring plan.
“The implementation of the Perform 2020
plan is therefore vital since unit cost reduction is
Air France-KLM’s main lever enabling the group
to return to a pro itable growth path in a highly
competitive environment he said calling on
“union representatives to resume negotiations as
soon as possible
The struggling airline’s restructuring plan
made headlines around the world earlier this
month when executives were manhandled by
furious workers, sparking concerns that the violence was just one of the symptoms of France’s
overall economic and social malaise.
In a bid to mitigate the damage to the airline’s
image, Human resources chief Xavier Broseta,
who was featured on front pages after he was
forced to scale a fence, naked from the waist up,
to escape angry union militants, has appeared in
a video produced by the company saying “What
you saw (in that incident) was not the real face of
Air France
Another executive, Pierre Plissonnier, also had
his shirt and jacket ripped in the rowdy scenes.
Five employees at the airline — which merged
with Dutch national carrier KLM in 2004 — were
detained and will face trial on December 2 for
their alleged role in the violence.
But the employees’ protests have continued
with just last week thousands joining demonstrations across France after the airline con irmed it
would axe 1,000 workers next year.
French President Francois Hollande said lay-
offs at the airline could still be avoided “if pilots
do what is needed, if management makes proposals, if the ground personnel wakes up to certain realities
On Thursday unions were quick to react.
“Management is always saying there is still not
enough... we are being endlessly squeezed, there
is no view towards maintaining employment
said Miguel Fortea, head of the CGT union at Air
France, urging a meeting between the airline, the
unions and the French government.
Analysts said investors remain cautious about
the airline s mixed outlook given its failure to
date to reduce costs apart from its efforts to negotiate a deal with the unions representing airline employees. — AFP
17
S A T U R D A Y, O C T O B E R 3 1 , 2 0 1 5
SPORT
McIlroy in the mix as Van Zyl catches fire
BELEK, Turkey — Rory McIlroy made
a ine start in his attempt to defend his
European number one crown with a
bogey free round of ive under par
in Thursday s opening round of the
seven million dollar Turkish Airlines
Open
In the irst of the European Tour s
four event Final Series and as good as
McIlroy s round was he was still six
shots behind the leader with South
African Jaco van Zyl coming home in
seven under
England s Lee Westwood who put
together an exhibition of ball striking
was in second place at eight under par
while his compatriot Chris Wood
was in third place on
Van Zyl s round was the lowest in
the three year history of the tour
nament but won t be considered a
course record at Montgomerie Maxx
Royal as the players were playing pre
ferred lies
McIlroy s round included a left
handed chip out after pulling his tee
shot against a tree on the th hole
his ninth but he made a battling par
there He chipped in for his irst birdie
on the
th hole and after making
the turn at one under par added four
more birdies on his back nine
I thought it was good I felt like my
game came together a lot more on our
back nine which is the front nine of
this course said McIlroy
I was sort of trying to ind my
rhythm a little bit for the irst few
holes and then I actually made a good
par save on
which gave me some
momentum going into the front nine
I hit a lot of quality shots on the front
nine and gave myself a lot of looks and
held some putts
Van Zyl who is ranked st in the
Race to Dubai and
nd in the world
made the most of the excellent scoring
conditions with an eagle on the th
hole and nine birdies He was seven
under par for his last eight holes pars
on th and th being the two holes
where he deviated from making bird
ies
I ve had lower scores but obvi
ously not on a calibre golf course like
this Greens are really good but there s
a lot of grain around the greens You
hit fairways and greens and it seems
very easy But as soon as you re a little
bit off you re going to get busy It was
really nice Had a really good score and
putting round Hopefully we can con
tinue
Six players were tied at fourth place
on
along with McIlroy
Spain s
Rafael Cabrera Bello Paraguay s Fab
rizio Zanotti England s Richard Bland
Thailand s Kiradech Aphibarnrat
Frenchman Julien Quesne and Aus
tria s Bernd Wiesberger
Ian Poulter was going well at ive
under par after
holes when he was
undone by a triple bogey six on the
par
ifth where his tee shot found
the water guarding the front of the
green He closed with a three under
par
AFP
Rory McIlroy
Thomas misses 59 but grabs lead
KUALA LUMPUR
American Justin
Thomas came close to joining golf s
exclusive
club after a spectacular
birdie blitz in Malaysia on Friday but
instead had to make do with the half
way lead at the PGA Tour s CIMB Clas
sic
The
year old from Kentucky in
his second year on Tour after a solid
rookie season looked set to achieve
golf s magical mark when he reached
under after
holes of his second
round at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and
Country Club
But he could only par the remain
ing three including the generous par
ive last to miss out on becoming the
seventh player to shoot a
on the
PGA Tour and irst since American
Jim Furyk two years ago at the BMW
Championship
It was obviously a great day It
was one of those days when you kind
of get unconscious and get rolling out
there They don t happen too often
the world number told reporters
I would say after I birdied
I knew I just needed to get two of
my last three They re all pretty easy
holes They re all wedge holes
So it was obviously unfortunate
not to get that number but I m sure
I ll have many more chances in my ca
reer
Still Thomas who ired nine bird
ies and an eagle will take a one shot
lead into the weekend after posting
a tournament record
under
tally at the
million co sanctioned
Asian Tour event the third of the new
PGA Tour season
The in form American is chasing
his irst PGA Tour win He achieved
Justin Thomas of the US plays a shot during the second round of the CIMB Classic at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and
Country Club.
— AFP
his best inish of tied third two weeks
ago at the season opening Frys com
championships
Obviously it s a great position to
be in but there s a lot of golf left I just
need to keep iring he said
American Brendan Steele led the
chasing pack after a bogey free nine
under
left him at
under and in
sight of only his second PGA Tour title
and irst in more than four years
Overnight leader Scott Piercy fell
down the ield into a share of third
after a modest
with two bo
geys halting his progress left him at
under
I think the heat got to me a little
bit today and I made some mistakes
the American said
The
under mark was matched
by Japan s Hideki Matsuyama who
followed up his opening
with a
on Friday to sit level with American
Spencer Levin
The event in its sixth year has al
ways provided a bounty of birdies
for the ield and the
edition has
proved no different with only
of
the
players over par after the sec
ond round
Reuters
Pettersen sole woman
in the 60s at Blue Bay
BEIJInG
norway s Suzann Pet
tersen stormed into contention at the
halfway stage of the Blue Bay LPGA
with the only sub
round on a sec
ond day of strong winds and high
scores in China
Pettersen who was accused of
showing a lack of sportsmanship af
ter a putt concession row at the Sol
heim Cup last month ired four bird
ies in a three under par
round to
sit second on one under one off the
pace
South Korea s Kim Sei Young was
out in front after a birdie at the last
gave her a level par
round and
two under
total on the lengthy
Jian Lake Blue Bay course at Hainan
Island where blustering winds and
undulating greens have proved a
tough test for the ield
Kim
has proven herself to be
a lover of the tough windy condi
tions landing two titles this year in
the blustering Bahamas and gusty
Hawaii
I like playing in the wind the
world number said
I like the windy weather because
I m using a lot of skills and low cut
shots Very interesting
Pettersen the world number
who is looking for a th career win
shared second with Taiwan s Candie
Kung
and American duo Ryann
O Toole
and Austin Ernst
The quintet were the only players
under par at the halfway stage of the
million event the penultimate leg
of the Asia swing
Roma at San Siro, ailing Juventus in derby test
MILAn
Roma seek to consolidate
their summit spot at Inter Milan on
Saturday as sleeping Serie A giants Ju
ventus need a much needed pick me
up in their derby clash with Torino
Roma arrive at the San Siro on
a six match winning streak after
Wednesday s Maicon inspired
success over Udinese
That lifted them back into the Se
rie A lead two points clear of napoli
Fiorentina and Inter who saw off Bo
logna hours earlier
Roma s Greek international Kos
tas Manolas who set up Gervinho for
the third goal against Udinese says
the mood is buoyant at the Stadio Ol
impico
We have a great side here we re
getting more and more con ident We
have to carry on like this but we need
to work even more next up is Inter
and we want to win that game
Brazilian star Maicon who scored
one and set up another on Wednes
day says despite Roma s surge to the
summit it was too soon to start con
templating a irst Scudetto title since
It s too early I ve won many titles
and I know it doesn t work like that
We ve got a long way to go but
we re on the right track and we have
to keep on moving in this direction
Roberto Mancini s Inter snapped
a four game winless run in midweek
to put them in an improved frame of
mind for their top of the table clash
Whatever the outcome Inter s
Slovenia keeper Samir Handanovic
can expect to put in a busier shift on
Saturday than the one against Bolo
gna
The team is lying right now
We ve got another match coming up
on Saturday and we need to recover
before then plain and simple Roma
will be a big test in our home stadi
um he said
While Roma and Inter s stars are
in the ascendancy Juve s appears on
the wane
Wednesday s
loss
at Sampdoria leaving the defending
champions in a lowly th position
adrift of Roma
Coach Massimiliano Allegri did
not mince his words about what he
wanted from himself and his under
achieving titleholders
Speaking after the Sampdoria loss
he said There was no need for us to
be tense and commit fouls near our
area There s absolutely no excuse
for it we must grow quickly and take
responsibility We are Juventus and
our approach needs to be different
We need to get through this by
working and preparing for Saturday s
derby then we ve got the Champions
League
Everyone needs to take the blame
for tonight and I m the irst to hold
my hands up We must do better
Sunday s action sees napoli in sec
ond on goal difference at Genoa and
third placed Fiorentina hosting strug
glers Frosinone
Maurizio Sarri s high lying na
poli extended their winning run in all
competitions to seven with a
de
feat of Palermo in midweek
AFP
AS Roma’s Radja
Nainggolan (left)
challenges Udinese’s
Andrade Edenilson
during their Serie
A match at Olympic
stadium in Rome.
— Reuters
‘I like playing in
the wind. I like the
windy weather
because I’m using
a lot of skills and
low cut shots. Very
interesting’
Overnight leader Lin Xi Yu started
her second round brightly with two
birdies in the irst three holes to
reach seven under but her second
round unravelled with seven bogeys
as she carded a
That left her at level par alongside
ive others including world number
three Stacy Lewis
of the United
States
World number one Lydia Ko en
dured another tough day in China
iring a three over
to sit at eight
over for the championships
World number two Park In Bee
did not even make it onto the course
on Friday withdrawing from the ield
with a inger caused injury
Park s injury could hinder her
chances of lifting the LPGAs Race to
the Globe title with only three tour
naments left on the
calendar
after this week
Reuters
18
SPORT
S A T U R D A Y, O C T O B E R 3 1 , 2 0 1 5
Arsenal look to rebound from woes
SWANSEA, United Kingdom — Arsenal will bid to erase the painful memory of their embarrassing League Cup
exit against Shef ield on Wednesday
when they return to Premier League
action at Swansea City on Saturday.
Arsene Wenger’s side have endured a frustrating week after the
high of hitting the head of the Premier League table last Saturday by
beating Everton.
The Gunners’ stint at the top lasted
just 24 hours but they will attempt
to maintain the pressure on leaders
Manchester City when they travel to
the Liberty Stadium.
However, Wenger’s side will head
to south Wales still smarting from
a dismal 3-0 League Cup exit at the
hands of second-tier on Wednesday
in midweek.
The pain of that defeat was compounded by the loss of Alex OxladeChamberlain (hamstring) and Theo
Walcott (calf) to injury, with both
players out until the coming international break which means they will
also miss next week’s Champions
League visit to Bayern Munich.
With Aaron Ramsey also sidelined,
Wenger will be forced to turn to his
fringe players including Alex Iwobi,
who is in contention to make his Premier League debut on the right lank
Wenger is keen not to move Santi
Cazorla from the centre of mid ield
following the Spaniard’s impressive
run alongside Francis Coquelin.
The 30-year-old admits he is enjoying the switch to a deeper position.
“It’s a position I really like, though
of course it means I’m further away
from the opposing area so I have fewer chances to score,” Cazorla said.
I m inding my best form and I m
really enjoying the new position,” he
told Arsenal’s website.
“You have different responsibilities. In terms of defence, you have to
defend more and you have to help the
team more in terms of making sure
you’re well-positioned to ensure the
players in attack can stay fresh.”
RENEWED CONFIDENCE
Mesut Ozil will be expected to
Arsenal’s Per Mertesacker looks dejected after the game.
maintain the form that has seen
the Germany international provide
more assists than any other Premier
League player this season.
And former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry believes Ozil is inally
demonstrating the form that persuaded his old club to pay £42 million
($64.3m, 58.6m euros) for the player
two years ago.
For me he has inally started to
deliver on a consistent basis. We all
know his quality; he is a World Cup
winner; his touch is second to none;
Remy backs Mourinho
to halt Chelsea s slide
LONDON — Loic Remy insists beleaguered Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho
remains the right man to halt the
spluttering champions’ slide down
the Premier League table.
Just ive months after leading
Chelsea to the title, Mourinho is
ighting to save his job and the ixture list offers little respite for the
under ire Portuguese coach with
Liverpool’s visit to Stamford Bridge
on Saturday looming as another potential landmine.
With ive defeats from their irst
league matches Chelsea ind
themselves languishing nine points
adrift of the top four in 15th place
and, to make matters worse, they
slumped out of the League Cup in
midweek after a penalty shoot-out
loss at Stoke City.
Amid reports of a dressing room
mutiny against Mourinho from players unhappy with his stern manmanagement, the Blues have won
only one of their last seven matches
and Mourinho has cut an increasingly troubled and tetchy igure
But, despite different reports surfacing that claim a number of senior players at Chelsea want Mourinho to go, French striker Remy says
the boss still has the support of his
squad.
“It’s important for him to stay and
we don’t want to give up,” Remy said.
“We were champions together
only last season and he is a really
great manager. Of course I don’t want
him to leave. I think all the players
don’t want that.
“I’m really sure that Saturday will
be a big game, but we can still be in
the top four of the league if we win
games.”
Remy has started just one league
game this season, but he is in contention to face Liverpool after Diego
Costa was taken to hospital with a rib
injury sustained at Stoke.
While Mourinho’s future remains
uncertain, Liverpool manager Jurgen
Klopp, who famously stunned Mourinho’s Real Madrid in the Champions League semi inals when he was
in charge of Borussia Dortmund, is
looking forward to a bright future at
An ield after securing the irst win of
his reign in midweek.
The 1-0 League Cup victory over
Bournemouth was a irst for Klopp in
four matches since he took over from
Brendan Rodgers and the German
hopes it will be the catalyst for a signi icant improvement in results
“I saw in the eyes of all the players
they wanted to win. I think the players understood better how to win.
They want to do what I say,” he said.
“They think about football and not
pressure and I think they know why
they won.”
— AFP
he has vision; he shares... everything
is there,” Henry told Sky Sports.
“The only thing you can say, in all
fairness, is that before he wasn’t doing it on a consistent basis.
“Now, he looks like he’s doing
it every game so you have to give
him credit.” Swansea will welcome
Wenger s side with renewed con idence following their 2-1 victory at
Aston Villa last weekend their irst
win seven games.
And Swansea boss Garry Monk insists there was never any panic dur-
— Reuters
ing that run.
“Each team will have a period
where they will suffer and it’s about
how you deal with that. Winning
games obviously breeds con idence
but this group is very strong,” Monk
said. “Our effort and commitment is
always there and it’s about continuing to do the right things and working
hard on the training ground.
“We know that when we are at
our best we can give anyone a game
in this league and we’ll need to be at
that level on Saturday.
“If we do that we are in with a
chance of getting the result we want.”
Monk, meanwhile, insists his players were not responsible for the tunnel fracas that followed the win at Villa Park and led to Villa captain Micah
Richards facing an improper conduct
charge.
“In terms of my players, and I’ve
spoken to them, there was nothing
at all from our side. I can’t speak for
Aston Villa but everything from the
Swansea side was ine Monk said
— AFP
Las Palmas
keen to avoid
repeat Madrid
mauling
MADRID — Las Palmas make their
irst visit to the Santiago Bernabeu
for 13 years on Saturday hoping to
avoid the same punishment they
received in a 7-0 thrashing on their
last trip to the capital.
The Canary Islanders have already changed their coach just nine
games into their return to the top
light as Paco Herrera was sacked
despite guiding them to promotion.
Quique Setien got off to a promising start with a 0-0 draw at home
to Villarreal last weekend, which at
least moved Las Palmas off the bottom on goal difference, but is aware
of the dauting task that faces his
side at the Bernabeu. “Real Madrid
are a team that doesn’t need to play
well to win,” he said on Thursday.
“They have the players to resolve
a game in any moment. It will be a
dif icult game but during this season we have seen other teams cause
them problems and have chances to
take something from the game.”
Rafael Benitez remains unbeaten
as Madrid boss 12 games into his
tenure and should have the luxury
of welcoming back a host of injured
stars who have been absent in recent weeks. James Rodriguez, Karim
Benzema and Pepe could all feature
having returned to training this
week, but Gareth Bale misses out
once more due to a calf problem.
With Madrid and Barcelona tied
on 21 points at the top of the table,
a Real victory can take them clear
for a few hours at least before Barca
face Getafe later on Saturday.
The Catalans only managed a 0-0
draw at the Alfonso Perez Coliseum
last season and are again debilitated
by injuries and suspensions.
Javier Mascherano joins injured
Argentine international team-mate
Lionel Messi on the sidelines due to
a two-game ban for being sent-off
against Eibar last weekend. — AFP
Scholes takes aim at mis iring United
LONDON — Manchester United face
a dif icult visit to Crystal Palace on
Saturday with their legendary former
mid ielder Paul Scholes the latest
high pro ile igure to question Louis
van Gaal’s tactical approach.
Two home games in the space of
four days saw United record consecutive goalless draws against Manchester City and Middlesbrough in
the League Cup, the latter leading to
a penalty shoot-out which saw them
exit the competition 3-1.
Wayne Rooney the irst of three
United players to miss kicks in the
shoot-out, has come in for particularly ierce criticism
But his former team- mate Scholes,
now a television pundit, believes the
fault lies with United manager van
Gaal rather than the record-breaking
England forward and concedes he
would not enjoy playing in the current side.
“There’s a lack of creativity and
risk,” Scholes told BBC Manchester.
“It’s a team now you wouldn’t want
to play against because they’re tightly
organised.
“But it seems he doesn’t want players to beat men and it’s probably not
a team I’d have enjoyed playing in.
“The hardest thing to coach is
scoring goals and creativity.
“I was at the derby and Rooney’s
movement was brilliant but when
he’s playing in that team there’s no
one prepared to pass to him. I think
Paul Scholes
after 20 minutes you’d be tearing you
hair out.
“I played with some brilliant centre forwards and I don’t think they
could play in this team — the likes
of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Andy Cole,
Dwight Yorke, Teddy Sheringham.
“You don’t get crosses into the box
or mid ielders looking for runs
QUICK RESPONSE
Van Gaal made nine changes be-
tween the Manchester derby and the
cup tie, although forward James Wilson making his irst start of the season, picked up a muscle injury against
Middlesbrough and will not be in
consideration at Palace.
The United manager must therefore decide whether to persist with
the unproductive Rooney as a lone
forward or bring in promising teenager Anthony Martial from a wide to
central position.
In any case, defender Chris Smalling admits United players need a
quick response to the Middlesbrough
defeat.
Everyone s very lat in the dressing room,” said Smalling. “We need
to turn our attentions immediately
to Saturday, because it’s another big
game, an away game, and we need a
response.”
— AFP
Pellegrini vows City won t ditch attacking principles
MANCHESTER, United Kingdom —
Manuel Pellegrini vows Manchester
City will aim for another goal glut as
the most proli ic side in the Premier
League set their sights on struggling
Norwich City on Saturday.
The Premier League leaders suffered a rare blank last Sunday when
they ground out a 0-0 draw against
arch rivals Manchester United at Old
Trafford.
That was the irst time City had
failed to score this season and, despite picking up a useful point away
to one of their title rivals, their conservative tactics drew criticism from
some quarters.
However, City manager Pellegrini
has made it clear he doesn’t expect a
repeat against Norwich after normal
service was resumed in midweek
when a 5-1 win over Crystal Palace
took City into the League Cup quarter inals
“It is the way we normally play.
Maybe it was an accident on Sunday
that especially in the second half we
couldn’t create chances,” Pellegrini
said. “But it is not our style, so it was
very important for the team to return
to score goals.”
City have scored 18 goals in their
last four games at Eastlands across
four different competitions.
The last three of those games
didn’t involve leading scorer Sergio
Aguero, who remains sidelined with a
hamstring injury.
However mid ielders David Silva
and Samir Nasri could both return
and Norwich, who lost 6-2 in their
last away game and have kept only
one clean sheet all season, may have
to face new striking prospect Kelechi
Iheanacho.
The Nigerian
marked his irst
start for City with a goal and two assists against Palace and is highly rated
at the club after emerging from the
Elite Development Squad.
STIFF COMPETITION
Iheanacho, who was signed by City
after inishing as top scorer in the
2013 under-17 World Cup, faces stiff
competition to gain a regular starting spot with Aguero and Ivory Coast
international Wilfried Bony ahead
of him. But he hopes to learn enough
from them to help him eventually
make the grade.
“They talk to me and tell me to
work hard every day so I am happy
staying with them and training with
them,” he said.
It s quite dif icult because they
are professional (senior) players who
have played in a lot of competitions
and a lot of games. “I am just coming
up so I need to work hard every day
and hopefully I will break in.”
Norwich didn’t progress in the
League Cup but as frustrating as their
exit on penalties at Everton was, Alex
Neil’s side will welcome the opportunity to concentrate their focus solely
on the Premier League until the turn
of the year.
A return of just two points from
their last ive league games has taken
the edge off a reasonable start for the
promoted side who travel to Eastlands in 16th place, two places and
three points above the relegation
zone.
Few people will give them a chance
of getting anything from their trip to
City, particularly with the memory of
the 6-2 thrashing at Newcastle United
still fresh in the memory.
Yet while Neil’s side have appeared
vulnerable at the back, the manager
believes he has suf icient strength
up front despite sanctioning the loan
move of Gary Hooper to Championship out it Shef ield on Wednesday
this week.
— AFP
19
S A T U R D A Y, O C T O B E R 3 1 , 2 0 1 5
SPORT
All Blacks aim for place among rugby greats
New Zealand’s Dan Carter during kicking practice.
Carter has un inished
World Cup business
TWICKENHAM, United Kingdom —
At his fourth World Cup, with a world
record haul of points in the bag, Dan
Carter has one inal piece of business
to attend to.
In his
th Test the celebrated
New Zealand ly half will inally will
get to contest a World Cup inal when
he bows out of international rugby
against Australia on Saturday.
“There were moments when I
thought it might be the end, but I
had to ight through that to be where
I am today Carter said on Friday as
he polished off kicking practice at
Twickenham It s the love of the All
Blacks jersey It s something I ve always wanted to do. I got a taste for it
in
for the irst time and never
wanted it to end.”
The
year old Carter goes into
the inale playing some of the best
rugby of his career, reminiscent of
his golden performances against the
British and Irish Lions
His game breaking displays have
been recognised by his nomination
for world player of the year, an award
he has won twice before.
Carter is desperate to sign off with
World Cup success after a tournament history littered with frustration
and injury.
In the All Blacks victorious
campaign, he only played two games
before a groin injury ended his tournament. New Zealand did not reach
the inal in
and
But the rugby gods have smiled on
Carter this year and he goes into Saturday s inal injury free before heading to France to end his playing days
with Racing
Over the past four years he has
suffered multiple injuries and while
there were days when he doubted
his body would hold together enough
for him to make the World Cup Carter never lost the desire.
What keeps you playing at the
highest level is if your mind is willing
to do it and you are prepared to do
anything to keep at that level
In the build up to the inal Carter
has refused to discuss the showdown
with the Wallabies as his inal Test
saying “the team” performance was
the sole focus.
But the accolades have been lowing Wallabies backs coach Stephen
Larkham rates Carter
clearly
number one in the pantheon of ly
halves Former Scotland international Gregor Townsend described Carter
as the Roger Federer of rugby and
to All Blacks coach Steve Hansen he
is “a special player” who doggedly
battled his way back to form
It s a mark of the guy how he s
come through that. A lot of people
might have just said enough’s enough
and chucked it in Hansen said
He stuck with it and the big thing
this season he’s had the ability to
play game after game after game.
Con idence is a massive thing in
sport and you get that from playing
out on the pitch and playing well.”
CARTER GETS
Despite his illustrious
years
in the black jersey the unassuming
playmaker has never had fame and
records as a motivating factor.
“It’s not about me playing well to
try to keep other people happy he
said. “I don’t go out there saying to
myself that I have to keep the public
happy It s about me knowing that
when I inish playing the game I have
to be satis ied within myself
Carter burst on to the international scene in
playing at inside
centre and immediately put his scoring talents on display.
He contributed
points in the
All Blacks
thrashing of Wales
with a try six conversions and a penalty
AFP
— Reuters
TWICKENHAM, United Kingdom
— Richie McCaw and Dan Carter
will lead New Zealand’s charge for a
place among rugby’s all-time greats
on Saturday when they battle Australia in the World Cup inal at Twickenham.
A convincing win over Michael
Cheika s reborn Wallabies to become
the irst country to win two straight
world titles —and three in all —
could see the All Blacks acclaimed as
the best of all time.
A titanic battle is guaranteed for
the 80,000-plus crowd who will witness the irst inal between two sides
who have dominated rugby’s showpiece since it started in 1987.
At least one of them has been in
every inal except
Never together though.
Cheika is sure it will be another
big chapter in punishing duels at
this World Cup. The Australian coach
paid tribute to the All Blacks powerful game.
“It’s pretty much their modus operandi, they have got great leg drive
and I love that style of play Cheika
said at Twickenham on Friday
“We want to bring physicality to
the game too,” he added.
New Zealand coach Steve Hansen
is banking on the experience of McCaw ly half great Carter and their
fellow Test centurion Ma’a Nonu.
McCaw is at his fourth World Cup
and led New Zealand to their narrow
win over France in the
inal
“He’s probably the greatest player
we’ve had play the game, certainly
from New Zealand anyway,” the
coach said.
Carter, who has a world record
1,579 Test points, will be in his
fourth World Cup but in his irst inal
RECORDS AT STAKE
The match has been billed as
the battle of the breakdown McCaw leading the All Black marauders against Australia s jackals David
Pocock and Michael Hooper
Cheika has played up the underdogs tag. But he has aces up his
sleeve with Pocock a hot contender
for player of the tournament.
A running game is in the of ing
from two of the world s best attacking sides.
“The boys are feeling fresh and
energised,” said Hansen. “I couldn’t
be happier with where we are at.
We ll be looking to put in a performance all of us can be proud of.”
Australia have taken a tough road
to the inal
beating Wales England, Scotland and Argentina — but
Cheika there is still have lots of
scope to improve.”
And with his usual gritty determination, he added: “We want to be
proud of what we do on Saturday
and make Australians even more
proud of us, by giving everything
we’ve got on Saturday.”
If the breakdown is going to be
decisive, it is on the wings where the
action will be.
All Blacks left wing Julian Savea is
the leading try-scorer in the tournament with eight, needing one more
to set a World Cup record.
Adam Ashley Cooper tasked with
stopping the giant New Zealander,
scored a hat trick in the Wallabies
semi inal win over Argentina
Wallabies left wing Drew Mitchell needs one more try to equal the
World Cup total record of 15 held
by former All Black Jonah Lomu and
South Africa’s Bryan Habana.
Mitchell marks Nehe Milner
Skudder a irst year All Black who is
one of three inalists for the breakthrough player of the year” award.
Mitchell, who has returned to the
Wallaby side after a three year exile
because he is based abroad, said Australia must now show the defending
champions too much respect.
“They have achieved a lot not just
for New Zealand,” said Mitchell.
“We will give them due respect,
but at the same time we want to go
out there and perform. We will congratulate them afterwards but there
will not be any of that before the
game.”
New Zealand and Australia have a
unique relationship where they are
brothers in arms everywhere except
the sports ield where they are the
iercest of rivals
There is a need to settle the score
this year where they have one win
each, and the need to see which side
will be the irst to win a third World
Cup.
“There’s nothing more competitive than Australia versus New Zealand. No matter what code, what occasion Cricket football you name it
Ashley Cooper said before the
semi inal which New Zealand won
New Zealand’s two World Cups
have both been on home soil in 1987
and
Australia won in
at
Twickenham and in
in Cardiff
—AFP
Australia s Cheika predicts extremely
physical inal against New Zealand
TWICKENHAM, United Kingdom —
Australia go into their World Cup
inal clash against arch rivals New
Zealand with coach Michael Cheika
believing it will be a hyper-physical
battle but one his side can dominate.
The 48-year-old — who has transformed the Wallabies in just a year
in charge
said at Twickenham on
Friday that past results including
their win over the All Blacks this year
were irrelevant.
“I have got a lot of belief in the
team said Cheika on the eve of the
inal We had a short space of time
between the Rugby Championship
and this We know it s going to be
extremely physical and we have prepared accordingly.”
Cheika whose exploits have
earned him a nomination for World
Rugby coach of the year, used typically colourful terms to dismiss the
history between the two teams.
They say if you look backwards
you are only going to get a sore neck
said Cheika
“It really means nothing. What’s
important is what happens in the
next couple of days and the
minutes ahead of us. You see where you
are and then see how the cards fall.”
Cheika the only coach to have
guided teams to the Northern and
Southern Hemisphere continental
club titles in Leinster and NSW Waratahs respectively, said he admired
the All Blacks love of the physical
confrontation.
“It’s pretty much their modus operandi, they have got great leg drive
and I love that style of play,” said
Cheika
“We want to bring physicality to
the game too. It is also how you bring
it technically and why you are doing
it. It will be an interesting part of the
game.”
However the Wallaby taskmaster
sees room for improvement in one of
the departments which has earned
glowing reviews throughout the
tournament the backrow
I still think there is room for
them
lankers Scott Fardy and
Michael Hooper and No 8 David
Pocock to get better said Cheika
DEMANDING IMPROVEMENT
“They haven’t played that much
together and they can still improve.”
Cheika was not sure whether he
would get a good night’s sleep ahead
of the inal
You never know Some nights
you re ine and sometimes before a
game I’m edgy and I need to stay up,”
said Cheika
It s not going to make a difference if I don t get any sleep I want
to enjoy the build-up. It’s an opportunity to take
Drew Mitchell — created the decisive try for the Australians to seal
a semi inal victory over Argentina
said it had been a boost to ind
that the Australian Rugby Union had
lown back two players who dropped
out of the squad earlier in the tournament because of injury and had
returned to Australia.
“It was a really nice surprise when
we went into breakfast to see Big
Will Skelton and Cliff Wycliff Palu
down there,” said Mitchell, who along
with Toulon team-mate Matt Giteau
bene ited from the relaxation of the
ARU rule which opened the way allowing players with over
caps
playing abroad to be selected once
again.
“There has been a real family feel
about the team
AFP
Australia head coach Michael Cheika during training.
— Reuters
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2015 | MUHARRAM 17, 1437 AH
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McIlroy in the mix as
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All Blacks aim for place
among rugby greats
editor@omanobserver.om
Hamilton happy to wrestle with Rosberg feud
MEXICO CITY — Lewis Hamilton admits he hasn’t spoken to Mercedes
team-mate Nico Rosberg following
their bitter clash in Texas, preferring
instead to soak up the adulation of
being a three-time world champion.
The British driver secured the
2015 Formula One title with victory
at the United States Grand Prix last
Sunday, emulating childhood hero
Ayrton Senna as a triple champion.
But it didn’t come without controversy as Rosberg blasted Hamilton for
his driving tactics on the irst turn at
the Circuit of the Americas.
The glum-faced German in turn
attracted criticism for his petulance
when he threw a cap at his team-mate
as the two men waited for the presentation ceremony.
The incident has already been
dubbed “Capgate”.
“We haven’t spoken and I don’t
think we really need to. The reason
for me is I am very easy going, so I
never have any problems,” said Hamilton.
“(Team boss) Toto Wolff feels that
he needs to perhaps sit with Nico to
see where his head is at, because we
don’t want tension in the team.
“Generally we do come together
and keep it transparent. I don’t have
anything to say about it, but I am sure
we will sit down and see what Nico is
feeling and whatever emotion he has,
then try to dilute them and move on.”
Hamilton also dismissed suggestions that he would now race to support Rosberg s bid to inish second in
the championship, ahead of four-time
champion Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari.
“No-one has asked me to do that,
but we can see what Toto wants us to
do,” he said.
And with a broad grin, he also
laughed when asked about the tensions betrayed when Rosberg threw
the podium ceremony cap back at
him last Sunday.
Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto (right) smiles with Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton during a track visit before the Mexican F1 Grand Prix at
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City.
— Reuters
“The cap thing? That was pretty
funny,” he said. “I don’t really have
much else to say about it.... I will keep
pushing.”
Meanwhile, Hamilton remains the
focus of great attention in Mexico City
ahead of Sunday’s Mexican Grand
Prix.
BODY-SLAM
A stroll round the city had to mean
the 30-year-old was photographed
wearing a sombrero and a neckerchief in green, white and orange colours of the Mexican lag as the coun-
try prepares to host an F1 race for the
irst time since
If that was almost an expected
photo-opportunity for the man at the
centre of a global media frenzy this
week, his visit and participation in a
local wrestling event on Wednesday
Muguruza marches into WTA semis
SINGAPORE — Garbine Muguruza
reached the WTA Finals last four unbeaten on Friday after a tough win
over Petra Kvitova — who also qualiied for the semis with help from her
fellow Czech Lucie Safarova.
On a rollercoaster last day of group
play, Muguruza and Kvitova shared
15 service breaks in a see-sawing
three-setter before the increasingly
impressive Spaniard won 6-4, 4-6,
7-5. Kvitova’s hopes were hanging by
a thread but she went through when
her friend and Fed Cup team-mate
Safarova beat Angelique Kerber 6-4,
stopping the German inishing
second in White Group.
Already-eliminated Safarova said
she met a delighted Kvitova in the
locker room and “she said she might
buy me some beers”.
Muguruza will play Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska in Saturday’s
semi inals while Kvitova will meet
Maria Sharapova, who like Muguruza
has swept through all three of her
group matches.
The semi inals line up raises the
possibility of a title clash between
fast-rising star Muguruza and Russia’s Sharapova, the established force
with ive Grand Slam titles to her
name.
“You know to be here for me is a
great pay-off after the whole year, and
hopefully I can continue winning and
playing like this,” said Muguruza, who
is also into the doubles semi inals
Safarova, who was already eliminated and playing for little more than
personal and national pride, was delighted to keep Kvitova’s hopes alive
with her win over Kerber.
“Teamwork! Well, I’m happy for
her that she went through to the
semis, I’m happy for my win as well,”
she said.
The two will lead defending champions Czech Republic at the Fed Cup
inal in Prague next month against a
Russian team spearheaded by Sharapova. “After Fed Cup we can celebrate,” Safarova said.
DOUBLES DUTY
In Friday s irst match Muguruza
didn’t have it easy against two-time
Wimbledon winner Kvitova and she
had to dig deep in a messy irst encounter with the Czech.
With ive breaks in the inal set
alone, Muguruza grabbed the crucial break for 6-5 and it took her four
match points before she closed it out
with a lunging volley.
Kerber, who needed to win only
one set to qualify, did not mask her
disappointment and indicated she
was distracted by people audibly cal-
Spain’s Garbine Muguruza celebrates winning her round robin match.
—Reuters
culating her match progress during a
changeover.
“They were counting. ‘Okay she
won one set, now you must win just
one set,’” she said.
“I was not feeling good. From the
irst point I couldn t ind my rhythm I
was actually not there,” she added.
“I was tight and I was not playing
my tennis. Lucie played a good match
for sure, but for sure it was not my
best match today.”
Muguruza is bracing herself for a
very demanding Saturday as she will
also play the doubles semi with compatriot Carla Suarez Navarro against
Czechs Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie
Hradecka.
“It’s going to be a challenge for me
to see how much my body can handle,
because now I don’t have a day off,”
said Muguruza, 22.
— AFP
evening was de initely a surprise
Hamilton obviously enjoyed himself and smiled at the recollection
of his bout in a tag-team event with
a 32-year-old Mexican, Luis Ignacio
Urive Alvirde, who had previous experience in WWE.
In his brief appearance, Hamilton
delivered a running body slam to the
delight of the local audience.
Back at the day job, however, Hamilton pledged to continue his aggressive style at the high-altitude Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
“Since my karting days, I have always been ighting through packs
said Hamilton as he recalled his rollercoaster US Grand Prix.
“I was struggling at the beginning,
skating all over the place, and I fell
back to fourth. Then I was back in
second, then I was leading for a while,
then I came back and Nico was ten
seconds ahead.
“So, for me, the most testing thing
is that I never gave up. I kept believing I could win it and that is what I
have had since I was a kid. Even if I
started last, I believed that the potential was there.”
After emulating the three championships won by Senna, he admitted
his immediate goal was ful illed
But, he said, he remained motivated and would always race to win,
including this weekend’s Mexican
race in which there is likely to be a ferocious ‘no holds barred’ contest between the Mercedes men with Ferrari
in close attendance.
“For me, the motivation part is really easy,” added Hamilton.
“I was born with it, so it doesn’t go
away. I don’t feel any worries about
that, winning is winning, it never gets
old.
“Obviously, I still have the motivation for the next race. I want to win it
— and it just rolls over. Everything I
compete in, I want to win.
“I don’t feel the need to go search
for motivation at all. Niki (Lauda) told
me about the day that he didn’t enjoy
it any more — so, until that happens, I
guess I will keep going. I don’t feel like
this is it (the end). I feel like this is the
beginning.”
— AFP
Kerber unhappy after
Singapore exit
SINGAPORE — Germany’s Angelique Kerber criticised the format
of the WTA Finals after she became
distracted by qualifying permutations and exited the lucrative end-ofseason event following a straight sets
defeat by Lucie Safarova.
The world number seven had the
advantage of knowing she only needed to take a set off the already eliminated Czech to reach the semis after
watching Spain’s Garbine Muguruza
beat Petra Kvitova 6-4 4-6 7-5 in the
penultimate White Group contest.
Yet the German looked unsettled
and offered her worst display of the
week as she was well beaten 6-4 6-3
at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on
Friday.
“I think it’s not fair, because I
think it’s like in the football. Like
when it’s really counting for something, you should play like the same
time,” the 27-year-old German told
reporters.
“I was actually trying to be in
my tunnel and just focusing on my
match. I told everybody I’m not
counting. I will go out and play my
match. They were counting. ‘Okay,
she won one set, now you must win
just one set’.” Final round matches in
soccer tournaments are played at the
same time to ensure all teams chase
the win, while avoiding the possibility of opponents making pacts to
guarantee quali ication
Soccer’s world governing body
Fifa adopted the policy after West
Germany beat Austria 1-0 at the
World Cup which meant both
sides went through at the expense of
Algeria.
“I think it’s fairer like in football
if you play in the same time,” Kerber
said. However, the Singapore Indoor
Stadium in its second year of a ive
year deal to host the elite eight-woman WTA Finals, only has space for
one court.
Kerber, who won four titles this
year, said she understood the limitations but felt the idea should be
considered. The German, who beat
Kvitova earlier in the week but lost to
Muguruza, was more frustrated with
her failure to deliver when it was
needed most.
“I mean, you have days like that.
I will just try to forget the match as
soon as possible,” she said.
— Reuters