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THURSDAY | MARCH 5, 2015 | JUMADA AL ULA 14, 1436 AH
P20 UK agrees sale of 40pc Eurostar stake
VOL. 34 NO. 111 | PAGES 32 | BAISAS 200
P32 Beauty of Oman captured on canvas
P25 Aussies run riot over Afghans by 275 runs
Inside
Chief Executive Officer
DR IBRAHIM BIN AHMED AL KINDI
Editor-in-Chief
ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI
Oman Establishment for Press, Publication and Advertising
PO Box 974, Postal Code 100, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
www.omanobserver.om
FOLLOW US ON:
editor@omanobserver.om
A PLUNGE FROM THE BRIDGE
OMAN
Give top priority to
national manpower
HM greetings
conveyed to Brunei
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: Sultan Haji
Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei Darussalam,
received at Istana Nurul Iman Palace
yesterday Sayyid Badr bin Hamad
al Busaidi, Secretary-General of the
Foreign Ministry, within his current visit
to Brunei. Sayyid Badr conveyed the
greetings of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos
to the Sultan of Brunei. On his turn,
Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah asked him
to convey his greetings to His Majesty
the Sultan.
REPORT ON P3
The Public Authority for Civil Aviation and Ambulance rescued an Omani citizen after his car plunged from the airport flyover
on Muscat Expressway, yesterday. A civil defence helicopter rushed to the accident site and airlifted the driver and transferred
him to Khoula Hospital where he is now receiving treatment.
Book prop gets
patent from US
MUSCAT: Sultan Qaboos University
(SQU) got the first patent registered
in the US Patent Office for invention
of an automatic book prop used
in the field of libraries by Yaqoub
bin Saif al Habsi from the main
library at the university. Al Habsi,
a staff at the Loan Department of
the main library of SQU, said that
the invention is a mechanical book
prop for libraries, in particular to
bookshelves in libraries, adding that
this prop includes a rechargeable
battery. He said that when a book is
removed from the shelf, an electrical
circuit automatically opens and the
prop moves to reposition the book
in the rack, and thus close the gap
between the books.
INSIDESTORIES
AS DELHI CHOKES,
PRESSURE FOR ACTION
P9
JAPAN MAY SEND TROOPS
FOR EU MISSIONS
P10
MH370 families in ambiguous loss China raises military spending EU to speed up migration reforms ARE SECTORAL BODIES
CUTTING OCCI’S ROLE?
CONCERN: Impact of rise in number of independent associations
LAKSHMI KOTHANETH
MUSCAT
March 4: Increasing number of sectorial
associations is having its impact on
Oman Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (OCCI). Oman Chamber
officials are of the opinion that the ever
expanding move towards independent
associations and societies conflict with
the role of the chamber as the only
representative of the private sector.
As per law every company in the
Sultanate has to register with the Oman
Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The chamber has had a strong role in the
past in looking after the welfare of the
private sector community, and being the
bridge between the public and private
sectors. The chamber is a self-funded
entity established by a Royal Decree in
1973.
The trend towards sectorial
associations and societies began in a big
way in 2011. To focus on the impact,
just two out of many examples are the
formation of Opal and Oman Society
of Contractors. Since the formation of
these two associations, the specialised
committees at the chamber were
dissolved, pointed out an official at the
OCCI.
The same has been in the case of
tourism, if not being dissolved it loses
its prominence as the members in
the committee decreases. “There are
incidents where individuals are in a
particular committee at the chamber
and they are also in the sector committee
elsewhere. Performances are definitely
affected,” added the official.
In regard to this concern the chamber
has written a letter to notify the Ministry
of Social Development. The associations
are established by registration issued
by the ministry. One of the concerns
have been that the laws are the same for
the associations of charity, non-profit
associations and sectorial associations.
“How can one rule apply to all these
associations? Some are for charity, while
others are representing commercial
organisations?” questions the official,
while adding, “Associations and
societies are meant for individuals or
professionals. Organisations forming
associations can lead to monopoly
somehow or the other as there could be
sense of controlling the market.”
Studying the region it can be noted
that there is a similar situation in Kuwait.
There are associations but they go
through the chamber to be represented
at the government level. In Oman, there
are many more requests for establishing
associations based on sectors.
Mining has been another sector
which has been wanting to have its
own association to which the chamber
has objected. Being in contact with
the Ministry of Social Development,
the body which issues permission for
formation of entities has come to an
understanding that they will consult
OCCI before giving the consent.
TURN TO P4
MUSCAT: His Highness Sayyid Fahd
bin Mahmood al Said, Deputy Prime
Minister for the Council of Ministers,
yesterday held a meeting at his office
with the chairman of Oman Chamber
of Commence and Industry (OCCI)
and the chairman of the General
Federation of Trade Union (GFTU) of
the Sultanate and their deputies. The
meeting was attended by a number of
ministers.
The meeting comes within the
efforts made to promote cooperation
among different sectors and enable
each sector to play its role in serving
the objectives outlined by His Majesty
Sultan Qaboos, namely ensuring
harmony among the state institutions
and sectors to enhance growth and
progress in the state, and to continue
in enhancing the work environment for
all employees in various sectors. These
policies aim at ensuring justice for all,
increasing production and creating an
investment-friendly environment.
At the beginning of the meeting, HH
Sayyid Fahd welcomed the attendees
and pointed out that the government
seeks to activate the role of OCCI and
GFTU.
He pointed out that achieving a
balance in the relationship among
the stakeholders comes on top of the
priorities of the government which
HH Sayyid Fahd during the meeting.
Photo by Mohamed al Rashdi
gives utmost care to ensure a dignified
life for citizens wherever they are.
HH Sayyid Fahd affirmed that it is
important for the private sector to urge
all companies operating in the Sultanate
to train the national manpower,
rehabilitate them and provide them
with the opportunity to take over
leading positions.
They should provide small and
medium enterprises (SMEs) with
business opportunities which enable
them to achieve their business goals.
He added that His Majesty is
following up all these issues, therefore
it is the responsibility of all parties to
remove any hindrance which hampers
achieving these aims. TURN TO P4
Artificial reef project
to boost fish stocks
BADER AL KIYUMI
MUSCAT
March 4: Around 95 per cent of the
fish is caught by Omanis who have
traditional boats. Fish exports are
considered one of the Sultanate’s
leading non-oil exports and the
country is exerting all efforts to
protect and maintain its marine
stocks by investing in a huge
artificial reef project; introducing
fishing seasons for fish and
seafood currently under threat;
encouraging fishermen to go for
new species and supporting deep
sea fishing.
This was stated yesterday
by Dr Hamad bin Said al Aufi,
Under-Secretary of the Ministry
of Agriculture and Fisheries for
Fisheries Wealth Affairs and
Deputy Commissioner-General
of the Sultanate Pavilion at Expo
Milan 2015, during a press
conference at the Ministry of
Commerce and Industry.
The expo which begins in
May will continue till October
end and will be held under the
theme ‘Feeding the Planet, Energy
for Life’. Mohsin bin Khamis al
Balushi, Adviser to the Ministry
of Commerce and Industry and
the Commissioner-General of the
Sultanate Pavilion at Expo Milan,
stated that the Sultanate will have
a national pavilion embodying the
human and cultural achievements
of the Sultanate,
TURN TO P2
Smartphone-controlled baby cameras and wearable tracking devices let you spy on your kids via your handset
Done your homework? How to track your children
P12
MANY MISSING AFTER
UKRAINE MINE BLAST
WEATHER TODAY
MUSCAT
MAX: 300C
MIN: 160C
SALALAH
MAX: 280C
MIN: 200C
SUNRISE 06.26 AM
PRAYER TIMINGS
FAJR: 05:11
DHUHR: 12:24
ASR: 15:45
MAGHRIB: 18:16
ISHA: 19:26
NIZWA
MAX: 280C
MIN: 120C
BARCELONA: Is your toddler being
mean to his baby sister while you’re
out of the room? Is your eight-year-old
making unauthorised detours to the
sweetshop after school? Chill.
Mobile entrepreneurs have got your
back, with smartphone-controlled
baby cameras and wristwatch tracking
devices that let you spy on your kids via
your handset.
Among countless new “wearable”
gadgets presented this week at the
Mobile World Congress trade fair in
Barcelona, several companies were
peddling brightly-coloured rubber
wristwatch devices for four to 11-yearolds.
The watches let parents track their
child’s movements on the screen of their
smartphone and receive alerts if the
child wanders outside a pre-set “safety
zone”.
Spanish phone firm Telefonica
announced the launch in Europe and
Latin America of the FiLIP, a wrist
device that has taken off in the United
States since 2013.
The watch lets the child talk via their
wrist to authorised adults who have the
app on their smartphone.
“The idea is before they have their
first smartphone, which is full of said Carla Becker, a project manager
“The idea is not to be able to track
dangers for a small child, to have a at Telefonica, presenting the FiLIP in them all the time. It is for when you
way of locating and contacting them,” Barcelona.
need it.” Other smaller companies trying
to market child trackers included B-On,
a multinational firm that presented a
purple prototype of its Amigo child
watch in Barcelona.
“There are more and more tracking
devices on the market, for kids, pets,
cars,” said B-On vice-president Ishay
Shani.
“Now is exactly the right time.
Tracking is growing and the product is
getting smaller.”
For those who miss their child while
away — or who just don’t trust the
babysitter — Taiwanese firm D-Link
showcased its latest home babymonitoring camera, the EyeOn Baby.
— AFP
T H U R S DAY
MARCH 5 l 2015
OMAN
omandailyobserver
Brunei Sultan
receives
Sayyid Badr
RO 10.3 million worth
tenders awarded
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: Sultan Haji Hassanal
Bolkiah of the Brunei
Darussalam received at
Istana Nurul Iman Palace
yesterday Sayyid Badr bin
Hamad al Busaidi, SecretaryGeneral of the Foreign
Ministry.
Secretary-General of the
Foreign Ministry conveyed
greetings of His Majesty
Sultan Qaboos to the Sultan
of Brunei. On his turn,
Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah
asked Sayyid Badr to convey
his greetings to His Majesty
the Sultan.
The meeting stressed the
importance of the strong
relations of the two countries
and to enhance them, as well
as exchanging expertise and
cooperation in various fields
to serve the joint interests.
MUSCAT: The Tender Board yesterday
awarded RO 10,392,277 worth of tenders for
the following projects:
1 - Provision of the consultancy services
for the quantity surveying through loaning
to Muscat International Airport and Salalah
Airport projects (RO 3,839,040).
for the rehabilitation and development of the
general cargo terminal at Salalah Port in the
Governorate of Dhofar (RO 2,899,317).
3 - Supply of consumable surgical supplies
for the Renal Dialysis Units (RO 349,995).
4 - Provision of the regular maintenance
services and supply of spare parts for the
medical system of the Royal Hospital (RO
181,980).
5 - Additional works for the supply of
medicine for the Ministry of Health (RO
2,382,566).
consultancy services for the design and
supervision for the construction of Sohar
Airport in the Governorate of North al Batinah
(RO 251,700).
3
7 - Additional works for the provision
of the consultancy services for the design
and supervision for the construction of an
additional jetty at the general cargo terminal
and liquid jetty (Methanol Salalah) at Salalah
Port (RO 189,400).
8 - Additional works for the provision of
maintenance team for the HQs’ of the Ministry
of Manpower in Airport Heights (RO 150,262).
9 - Additional works for the construction
of water supply network in the wilayat of Al
Duqm in the Governorate of Al Wosta (RO
137,953).
of the building of the Secretariat-General of
the Supreme Council for Planning (RO 9,700).
The Tender Board also opened bids for
DVB-T2 project for Oman TV and the supply
of diabetes medicine for the Ministry of
Health.
The meeting, held under the chairmanship
of Dr Rasheed bin al Safi al Huraibi, Chairman
of the Tender Board, also approved technical
bids for the ring road projects and its associated
— ONA
work at KOM and PEIE.
Credentials
copy
received
MUSCAT: Yusuf bin
Alawi
bin
Abdallah,
Minister Responsible for
Foreign Affairs, received
a copy of credentials of
Zuhair Abdullah al Nassor,
appointed-ambassador of
Jordan to the Sultanate.
Bin Alawi welcomed
the ambassador, wishing
him a pleasant stay and
success as his country’s
ambassador
to
the
Sultanate, and the good
relations between the
two brotherly countries
further progress. — ONA
T H U R S DAY
MARCH 5 l 2015
OMAN
omandailyobserver
Brunei Sultan
receives
Sayyid Badr
RO 10.3 million worth
tenders awarded
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: Sultan Haji Hassanal
Bolkiah of the Brunei
Darussalam received at
Istana Nurul Iman Palace
yesterday Sayyid Badr bin
Hamad al Busaidi, SecretaryGeneral of the Foreign
Ministry.
Secretary-General of the
Foreign Ministry conveyed
greetings of His Majesty
Sultan Qaboos to the Sultan
of Brunei. On his turn,
Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah
asked Sayyid Badr to convey
his greetings to His Majesty
the Sultan.
The meeting stressed the
importance of the strong
relations of the two countries
and to enhance them, as well
as exchanging expertise and
cooperation in various fields
to serve the joint interests.
MUSCAT: The Tender Board yesterday
awarded RO 10,392,277 worth of tenders for
the following projects:
for the quantity surveying through loaning
to Muscat International Airport and Salalah
Airport projects (RO 3,839,040).
for the rehabilitation and development of the
general cargo terminal at Salalah Port in the
Governorate of Dhofar (RO 2,899,317).
3 - Supply of consumable surgical supplies
for the Renal Dialysis Units (RO 349,995).
4 - Provision of the regular maintenance
services and supply of spare parts for the
medical system of the Royal Hospital (RO
181,980).
medicine for the Ministry of Health (RO
2,382,566).
consultancy services for the design and
supervision for the construction of Sohar
Airport in the Governorate of North al Batinah
(RO 251,700).
3
7 - Additional works for the provision
of the consultancy services for the design
and supervision for the construction of an
additional jetty at the general cargo terminal
and liquid jetty (Methanol Salalah) at Salalah
Port (RO 189,400).
8 - Additional works for the provision of
maintenance team for the HQs’ of the Ministry
of Manpower in Airport Heights (RO 150,262).
of water supply network in the wilayat of Al
Duqm in the Governorate of Al Wosta (RO
137,953).
of the building of the Secretariat-General of
the Supreme Council for Planning (RO 9,700).
The Tender Board also opened bids for
DVB-T2 project for Oman TV and the supply
of diabetes medicine for the Ministry of
Health.
The meeting, held under the chairmanship
of Dr Rasheed bin al Safi al Huraibi, Chairman
of the Tender Board, also approved technical
bids for the ring road projects and its associated
— ONA
work at KOM and PEIE.
Credentials
copy
received
MUSCAT: Yusuf bin
Alawi
bin
Abdallah,
Minister Responsible for
Foreign Affairs, received
a copy of credentials of
Zuhair Abdullah al Nassor,
appointed-ambassador of
Jordan to the Sultanate.
Bin Alawi welcomed
the ambassador, wishing
him a pleasant stay and
success as his country’s
ambassador
to
the
Sultanate, and the good
relations between the
two brotherly countries
further progress. — ONA
4
OMAN
omandailyobserver
T H U R S DAY
MARCH 5 l 2015
His Highness Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmood al Said, Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers, holds a meeting at his office with the chairman of Oman Chamber of Commence and industry (OCCI) and the chairman of the General Federation of Trade
Union (GFTU) of the Sultanate and their deputies. The meeting was attended by a number of ministers.
— PICTURE BY MOHAMED AL RASHDI
Private sector told to give prominence to national manpower
with other countries, to overcome the
negative effects of such developments
The meeting also discussed on growth rates by promoting
and
identifying
international economic situation and entrepreneurship
the Sultanate’s endeavours, together priority sectors to ensure the growth of
FROM PAGE 1
the Omani economy.
At the end of the meeting, which also
touched on issues which serve the phase
of development in the Sultanate, HH
Sayyid Fahd praised the efforts made by
Is OCCI role
shrinking?
FROM PAGE 1
“The
chamber
is
grateful for the good
response,
understanding
and cooperation extended
by the Ministry of Social
Development to OCCI,”
concluded the official.
The Observer has also
learned that there has been
meetings held at high level
in this regard yesterday.
Opal (Oman Society of
Petroleum Services), Oman
Society of Contractors,
Real
Estate
Owners
Association,
Oman
Insurance
Association,
Oman
Transport
Association are some of the
sectors which have become
independent. However the
latest development on the
regulation on weightage
had the members of the
private sector, representing
different companies that
are being effected by the
move from the Ministry
of Transportation and
Communications,
voice
their concern at the meeting
at chamber of commerce
and industry reinforcing
the importance of the role
of OCCI being the link
between the two sectors.
At the same time from the
sectors perspective to form
associations might be for the
need to have bigger focus.
Others are of the opinion too
that forming associations
facilitates mediation and
communication between the
companies in a particular
sector. Associations can
also help in developing best
practices and see progress
in human resources. Would
their focus be away from
commercial aspects of
the sector is yet another
question. But the end result
on formation of associations
representing
different
sectors of businesses in
Oman have begun to
hamper the role of Oman
Chamber of Commerce and
Industry because of lack of
sectorial representation in
the organisation.
GCC traffic week
from Sunday
MUSCAT: The 31st edition
of the GCC Traffic Week,
themed “Your Decision
Determines Your Fate,” will
kick off on Sunday. The
Sultanate, represented by
the Directorate General of
Traffic at the Royal Oman
Police (ROP), will take
part along with its GCC
counterparts in activities of
the Week.
OCCI and GFTU and wished them all
the best.
On their part, the chairmen of OCCI
and GFTU expressed their thanks for
having the meeting which will reflect
positivity on ensuring more cooperation
with the government to ensure the
success of plans and programmes.
They expressed their appreciation for
the constant support provided by His
Majesty the Sultan.
They raised some proposals which
enhances the national development
march and the mechanism being put in
place for this.
— ONA
Muscat Intl Airport renovation to
accommodate more passengers
KABEER YOUSUF
MUSCAT
March 4: Renovation works to the
Muscat International Airport passenger
and visitors areas is fast progressing and
will complete in target time, according
to the sources at the OAMC (Oman
Airport Management Company).
The current project, aimed at
expanding the present arrival and
departure areas will be able to
accommodate more passengers and
their relatives who come to bid farewell
or receive the travellers, the source
further said.
It majorly includes constructing an
exterior wall to the terminals, changing
the pavement from the old interlock
tiles to modern matt-finish floor and
the allied works. Al Rawdha LLC has
been assigned with the MEP works
which has a track record of value-added
engineering, construction and service
works.
“We are taking care of the MEP
works which we started a month back
and we are confident that the project
will be completed in a couple of months
as planned”, a source at the Al Rawdha
LLC told the Observer.
He further added that the present
half wall in front of the departure
terminal will be elevated and glassed to
give an aesthetic look, without losing
on the traditional designs at the airport,
upon completion.
OAMC has earlier signed an
agreement to construct a multi-storey
car park at a cost of RO 3 million on
an area of 19,000 square meters, which
is the largest of its kind in the world, at
Muscat International Airport.
Said Zadjali, acting CEO of OAMC,
and Anthony El Helou, CEO of United
Global Energy Company, signed the
agreement for the construction of a onefloor building of 650 parking spaces on
the land of the existing airport with
a period of 6 months. The company is
expected to finalise the designs and
maps within the next two months,
and work on the project will start
immediately thereafter.
“The establishment of this project
comes within the company’s efforts
to provide various basic services to
passengers and other users of Muscat
International Airport, most notably car
parks which are the one of the company’s
concerns in light of the rise in passenger
numbers”, Said Zadjali, acting CEO of
the company said.
Over 9.5 million passengers used the
airport by the end of last year, and the
number is likely to increase in the future
with the growing economic and tourist
movement in the Sultanate.
Zadjali pointed out that OAMC
is keen to keep up with the growing
movement at Muscat International
Airport and is therefore considering
all available options to provide various
services, from passenger gates and
check-in counters to coffee-shops,
restaurants and other services that
witnessed great expansion and
development over the past years.
OMAN
T H U R S DAY
MARCH 5 l 2015
FUTILE BID: Asian held for breaking bill payment machine
Attempt to smuggle pistols foiled
MUSCAT: Customs personnel arrested two Omani citizens in
connection with an attempt to smuggle in pistols and gunshots at the
Al Mazyouna land outlet in Dhofar Governorate.
On searching the vehicle at the checkpoint customs personnel
found seven Zoraki pistols and a number of gunshots hidden below
the car seat.
The Directorate of Inquiries and Criminal Investigation in North
Al Batinah Governorate in cooperation with the Saham Police Station
arrested an Asian national in connection with breaking a bill payment
machine and stealing cash, a police official said.
The Saham Police Station launched an investigation after receiving
a report about an unknown criminal who smashed the bill payment
machine and ran away with RO 7,000. The culprit was found to be a
cleaning worker employed by the same company.
In another development, the Royal Oman Police (ROP) rounded
up 56 infiltrators of different nationalities during campaigns carried
out last week in several governorates, an ROP official said.
Police also deported 187 others after taking legal action in
coordination with their countries’ embassies, the official said noting
that the ROP is exerting huge efforts to stem out the infiltration
phenomenon.
RESCUED
Coast Guard Police evacuated 150 passengers who were on board a ship that broke down at
the sea in the Khur Hafa in Musandam Governorate.
IN BRIEF
Career fair
at SQU
on Tuesday
MUSCAT: The 16th edition
of the Career & Training
Opportunities Fair (CTOF
2015), organised by the
Center for Career Guidance
(CCG) at the Sultan Qaboos
University (SQU) will be
opened at the SQU Cultural
Centre on Tuesday under the
auspices of Shaikh Abdullah
bin Nasser al Bakri, Minister
of Manpower.
The three-day fair aims
at providing jobs and
training opportunities for
SQU students and graduates
in order to enhance their
abilities, developing their
skills, and preparing them
for the labour market.
The fair is considered to
be an excellent opportunity
for students who are in
the stage of choosing their
academic
specialisations
to be exposed to the most
demanded ones in the
Omani labour market and
the career paths associated
with them.
The fair, also, helps the
participating institutions to
accelerate their Omanization
plans through direct contact
with more than 3000
graduates with various
educational backgrounds.
Doha Inst, SQU
explore ties
MUSCAT: An official
delegation from the Doha
Institute for Graduate
Studies, Qatar, consisting
of Abderrahim Benhadda,
Associate
Dean
and
Professor of History at the
School of Social Sciences
and Humanities, and Malik
Habayeb, Dean’s Office
Manager at the School of
Public Administration and
Development Economics,
visited Sultan Qaboos
University
yesterday
to explore avenues for
academic and research
collaboration between the
two institutions.
The delegation was
received by Dr Abdullah al
Kindi, Dean of the College
of Arts & Social Sciences at
SQU, and other officials.
omandailyobserver
5
Turkey offers UG, PG scholarships
MUSCAT: The Turkish Embassy, Muscat,
has announced that applicants for the Turkey
Scholarships Postgraduate and Undergraduate
Programmes can apply for full government
funded programmes, which are open for
successful international students from all
over the world, to take up undergraduate and
postgraduate studies in Turkey.
To apply and for further details go to www.
turkiyeburslari.gov.tr.
6
OMAN
omandailyobserver
FISHING HARBOUR IN MAHOUT
T H U R S DAY
MARCH 5 l 2015
THINK AND INVENT: Second Omani Innovation Expo to showcase extraordinary talents
Spreading a culture of innovation
MAI AL ABRIA
MUSCAT
Dr Fouad bin Jaafar al Sajwani, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries paid a visit
yesterday to the Wilayat Mahout in the Governorate of Al Wusta, during which he
met with a number of citizens, especially fishermen. The visit aims at choosing an
appropriate place to establish fishing harbour in the wilayat.
— ONA
March 4: The programmes of the second
Omani Innovation Expo, which will be
held from March 22 to 24, were unveiled
at a press conference yesterday under the
auspices of HH Sayyid Faisal bin Turki al
Said at the Ministry of Higher Education.
The exhibition aims at gathering
innovators and inventors under the
one roof to exchange expertise and to
provide appropriate solutions to the
difficulties they face and to enable them
to get in touch directly with government
and private institutions concerned with
innovation.
The exhibition is organised by
The Eastern Coast for Exhibitions
Organisation Co in cooperation with
Oman Innovators Campaign and the
official sponsor is the Ministry of Higher
Education.
Sayyid Faisal said “despite the
restriction of time, the organising
committee exerted its best to come up
with a better innovation exhibition
this year. Through this expo, we aim at
introducing the culture of innovation to
the community. We might have started
late at the field, but I still believe that better
late than never. Compared to many other
countries, we are way ahead and we will
continue to support the young innovators
to perform better. I truly consider the
abundance of innovation exhibitions as a
positive point to enable the private sector
support such initiatives.”
The purpose of this exhibition is
to develop innovators capabilities at
innovation prospects and scientific
research, spread the culture of innovation
and creativity, creating a data base
for innovators, deliver the innovators
Seminar focuses on challenges facing Omanisation
MUSCAT: A two-day seminar on
“Revision of Legislations Governing
the National Workforce in the Private
Sector” concluded yesterday. The seminar
was organised by the State Council and
continued for two days.
Saud bin Sulaiman al Habsi, Head
of Human Resources Development
Committee at the State Council and
Head of the Organising Committee of
the seminar, said in a statement, “The
seminar focused on two main themes,
namely employment of the national
workforce in the private sector and the
management of the national workforce in
the private sector.”
He explained that several discussion
sessions were held, consisted of five
working groups which discussed the
challenges and proposed several solutions
to overcome them, which was the first
step to making the final recommendation
to the results of the seminar, which will be
reviewed by the State Council, according
to its work mechanisms.
He pointed out that the seminar and
the accompanying sessions, working
papers and discussions, showed that
there are challenges in the field of
employment and management of the
national workforce in the private sector
which are similar challenges to a large
extent and being suffered by all the
MUSCAT: The 7th International
Conference on Health Issues in Arab
Communities concluded its activities
yesterday at Al Bustan Palace. The
scientific sessions of the conference
witnesses an enormous audience
from different international health
organisations.
Yesterday’s sessions started by
exploring vision for Organ Donation
and Transplantation. Last day of the
conference also includes a visit to an
exhibit area demonstrating management
of diabetic wounds along with oral
presentations of health topics.
The sessions emphasised on the
relation between people’s health and the
place they live in. It focused on metabolic
and cardiovascular diseases and the to major social stress and its impact regard to breast and endometrial cancer time held in Oman, gathered over 300
role of surgery in the treatment process. on health. On the other hand, issues and strategies for health promotion were health professionals from different parts
Moreover, papers consider the exposure in women medicine were viewed with identified in-depth. The conference, first of the world.
First-of-its-kind exhibition to be held on Saturday
Travel fest to present offers, packages
March 4: Coinciding with summer
vacation planning, Khimji’s House of
Travel announced yesterday the Khimji’s
Travel Fest 2015 will take place on
Saturday at the Crowne Plaza, Muscat.
The travel agency will offer customers
discounted shopping vouchers in
Europe, access to value added products
like sporting events, live concert tickets
from across the world. Special deals will
be available for children on Disneyland
Paris and Disney Cruises. Cruise lovers
can avail the expertise of our cruise
holiday experts at the Costa Cruise
stand.
“Swisstours” will be a one stop shop
for all clients interested in holidaying in
Switzerland.
Offering detailed itineraries to the Far
East, Europe, USA and Australia SOTC
is offering some exciting deals for the
day.
The one-day event is a First-ofits-kind ever to be organised by an
established private travel company on
which 20 of the world’s famous tourism
boards and hotel chains will offer the
public a chance to avail exclusive deals
and offers.
Focusing on customers satisfaction,
Nailesh Khimji, Director, Khimji
Ramdas, said “Khimji’s Travel Fest
2015 will be a landmark event not only
for our travel agency but also for the
travel management services and leisure
solutions in the country. Our aim is to
maximise customer satisfaction through
our dedicated service offerings and
professional approach.”
Tourism Board representatives from
the Seychelles, Hamburg, Malaysia
and Abu Dhabi; Luxury hotel chains
including Taj Group, Peninsula Group,
Jumeirah Group will also make their
presence felt. Minor group of hotels from
the Far East and the Steinberger group of
hotels from Germany will also be present
at the fest.
Speaking on the occasion, M C Jose,
CEO of KR Projects & Logistics Group,
said “Since our inception in 2009, we
have built strong partnerships with
corporate houses and customers alike to
offer a uniform, top-quality service on a
global scale. We will continue to delight
the people of Oman with many more
events in the future.
“We invite the people of Oman to
experience firsthand the exciting tourism
products, packages and attractions.”
Cashio Vettom, Sr Divisional
Manager, House of Travel, commented
“Khimji’s Travel Fest 2015 will offer value
and choice for those who are planning
their travel itinerary for summer or
winter holidays.
“A relaxing holiday starts with
choosing a right partner to plan your
dream vacation. If you are craving for
the best one off deals, save the date for a
rendezvous with us and travel the globe
in-style. Customers can dial KR tollfree
80075000 to get information on the
event.”
be running to discuss some issues related
to the field of innovations in addition
to some training workshops for the
voluntary campaign “think and invent... I
am here with you”.
There are 12 institutions participating
this year in the expo; the Ministry
of Higher Education, Sultan Qaboos
Higher Centre for Culture and Science,
the Ministry of Manpower, the Ministry
of Environment and Climate Affairs,
the Council of Scientific Research, the
Ministry of Heritage and Culture, the
Ministry of Commerce and Industry and
al Raffd Fund.
Tourism website ‘Wijhat’ launched
concerned parties, both government
bodies responsible for the development
of laws and regulations, and monitoring
their implementation or private
sector institutions responsible for the
application of those laws and regulations,
especially emerging small and medium
enterprises, or the Oman worker himself,
who has the responsibility for the
activation and implementation of laws.
— ONA
Conference explores impact of place, stress on health
ZAINAB AL NASSRI
MUSCAT
message to the community, Open
channels of communication between
innovators and innovation stakeholders,
help innovators to overcome the
difficulties they confront and to highlight
the role of government and private sector
at supporting innovation and innovators
in the Sultanate.
A group of events and activities
will take place during the days of the
exhibition. The second Omani innovators
contest in the field of science will include
students of schools and universities and
non-academic persons. At the sidelines
of exhibition, a three- day conference will
MUSCAT: Maitha bint Saif al
Mahrooqiya, Under-Secretary of
the Ministry of Tourism, yesterday
launched the website of ‘Wijhat’, the
first newspaper specialising in travel
and tourism at www.wejhatt.com.
During the launching ceremony,
she said that the tourism sector
plays an important role in the
diversification of income sources
and there is a need for a joint effort
between all institutions and society
to push this sector towards further
horizons.
She said ‘Wijhat’ website comes
as a part of the efforts being exerted
by the Omani media to contribute,
along with the efforts of the Ministry
of Tourism and other institutions,
to promote the Sultanate’s tourism
potentials.
— ONA
Oman ranks 7th in Global
Muslim Travel Index
MUSCAT: Oman has been named
seventh in the Global Muslim Travel
Index, the most comprehensive
research that has been released on the
sector.
The “MasterCard-CrescentRating
Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI)
2015” saw Oman come seventh on
the list behind Indonesia, Qatar,
Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey and
Malaysia who took the top spot for the
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
(OIC) destinations. It was one of five
destinations in the top 10 from the
Middle East region.
Singapore came first for the nonOIC destinations, which also saw
Thailand, UK, South Africa and France
make the top five.
The GMTI looks at in-depth data
covering 100 destinations, creating
an overall index, based on a number
of criteria. This is the first time such
thorough insights have been provided
into one of the fastest-growing tourism
sectors in the world today.
It
will
provide
travellers,
Governments, travel services and
investors comprehensive benchmarks
In 2014, Oman saw
670,000 Muslim arrivals
into the country which
accounts for 30 per cent of
the total arrivals.
across a number of important criteria
enabling them to track the health and
growth of this travel segment.
The study also revealed that in 2014,
this segment was worth $145 billion
with 108 million Muslim travellers
representing 10 per cent of the entire
travel economy. In 2014, Oman saw
670,000 Muslim arrivals into the
country which accounts for 30 per cent
of the total arrivals.
The Muslim travel market is
forecasted to grow to 150 million
visitors by 2020 and 11 per cent of the
entire segment with a value projected
to grow to $200 billion
“The MasterCard-CrescentRating
Global Muslim Travel Index has today
set a real precedent for the tourism
industry,” said Fazal Bahardeen, CEO
of CrescentRating and HalalTrip.
Marthoma Church marks 40 years
MUSCAT: The 40th parish day and
valedictory meeting of the 40th
anniversary celebrations will be held on
Friday at the St Thomas Church, Ruwi,
after the Holy Communion at 9.20 am.
Most Rev Dr Joseph Mar Thoma
Metropolitan and J S Mukul,
Ambassador of India, will be the chief
guests.
The meeting will be presided over
by Rt Rev Thomas Mar Timotheos
Episcopa of the ThiruvananthapuramKollam Diocese. Senior government
officials, first Vicar, Rev Mathew
Varghese and representatives of the
Christian community in Oman will
grace the occasion.
During its completion of 40 years,
in addition to the present vicars, Rev
Abraham Thomas and Rev Sunil Daniel,
21 priests have given their valuable
services to the parish. The parish is
referred to as the ‘mother parish’ of
the St Paul’s Church, Ghala and the St
Thomas Church, Sohar. The St Thomas
Church in Oman built in collaboration
with the sister parish, Mar Gregorios
Orthodox Maha Edavaka and is a true
symbol of ecumenism.
Various charitable programmes
have been organised as part of the 40th
anniversary celebrations which includes
supporting the Udumalpet Mission in
Tamil Nadu, India, marriage aid for the
poor, constructing houses for the needy
and educational assistance. The parish
is also extending support to various
charity projects in Oman.
OMAN
T H U R S DAY
MARCH 5 l 2015
Omani family firms to be
key driver of GCC growth
MUSCAT: A new research report finds
that family firms outperform nonfamily firms by an average of 15 per
cent. The unique strengths of Omani
family firms hold important insights for
economic forecasters, policy planners
and business leaders looking for growth.
Family firms represent around 75
percent of the private sector economy
in the GCC, so their continued success
is a vital contributor to overall GCC
growth.
Oxford Strategic Consulting (OSC)
research found that Omani family
firms possess particular advantages
that give them a unique competitive
edge. Firstly, 50 per cent of GCC family
owned firms are involved in more than
5 sectors, which means that they spread
risk, are more resilient to downturns in
one sector, and can rapidly move into
growth markets — although they can
be spread too thinly.
Omani family companies also
Omani family leadership
style focuses on
relationships and loyalty,
which positively impacts
employee engagement,
productivity and retention.
benefit from a distinctive leadership
style. OSC research found that this
leadership style focuses on relationships
and loyalty, which positively impacts
employee engagement, productivity
and retention.
The most successful family firms
are also unusually integrated with the
government and consequently more
aligned with their country’s objectives.
Much of their economic success is
related to providing stability and a
strong cohesive link between national
and private sector strategies and
objectives.
Yet Omani family firms do face
challenges. For example, a typical
family business in GCC must grow
at a rate of 18 per cent a year in order
to maintain the same family wealth
across generations. Family firms also
face difficulties when assessing family
members, which can be a touchy
subject, and ultimately determining a
successor.
It is clear that not all Omani family
firms follow strategies as they appear
in traditional business textbooks. A
family’s business strategy may, for
example, be more concerned with
preserving the family name rather than
generating profits.
It is precisely the unique qualities
of these family firms that enable
these companies to continue to defy
expectations and serve as key drivers of
regional growth.
omandailyobserver
7
Extreme Sailing Series returns to Muscat
MUSCAT: Act 2 of the award-winning
global Extreme Sailing Series™ 2015
returns to Muscat on Friday March 12
as two Omani boats, Oman Air and
The Wave, Muscat, prepare to face off
against each other and some of the
world’s best on home waters. The race
takes place at Almouj Golf at The Wave,
Muscat where the public Race Village,
open from 11 am until 6 pm each day,
provides an exciting onshore setting to
watch adrenaline-fuelled stadium style
racing.
Out on the water, The Wave, Muscat
and Oman Air, Oman Sail’s Extreme 40
teams, anticipate a rousing reception
from thousands of home supporters.
Omani athletes Nasser Al Mashari and
Ali Al Balushi, who last week became
the first ever winner of the Volvo Ocean
Race Rookie Award at EFG Sailing
Arabia - The Tour, will look to pull
out all the stops to scoop the Extreme
Sailing Series Muscat crown in front of
friends, family and sponsors.
Al Mashari, a member of the
triumphant The Wave, Muscat crew
in 2014, knows what it is like to win
in home waters. “This is a very special
event for us. All my brothers and
friends, in fact anyone who knows
Oman Sail’s hometown heroes go head to head
me, will be coming down to the beach
at Almouj Golf at The Wave, Muscat
to cheer us on and we will love that,
especially if we win as we did last year. It
will be a big challenge but performing in
front of Omani people will give us more
strength, more power and more pride. It
is exciting.”
Oman Sail will be offering Try
Sailing lessons to visitors inspired by the
race, while two Red Bull athletes will be
showing off their skills with a Red Bull
Wakeboarding Show. The Race Village
will also feature ‘Souq As-Sabt’, a pop up
market that offers a variety of food and
beverage options plus an exotic spread
of local handmade souvenirs. Other
attractions include family entertainment
from Circus Duo who will perform
juggling, stunts and unicycle acts, and
a Kids Zone with velcro wall game,
inflatable slide, bows and arrows, a hula
hoop toss and face painting. In addition,
Maktabati, Oman’s first mobile library
and an initiative of Dar Al Atta’s ‘Let’s
Read’ campaign, will be stationed onsite
over the weekend to give young visitors
an opportunity to embrace reading.
8
ANALYSIS
omandailyobserver
T H U R S DAY
MARCH 5 l 2015
MH370 FAMILIES IN
AMBIGUOUS LOSS
C
hinese businessman Li Hua suffered a stroke, has considered suicide, and his wife
has been hospitalised with heart trouble, all since their daughter went missing on
flight MH370.
A Amirtham, a retired Malaysian clinic worker, suffers fainting spells and a
lack of sleep and appetite over the disappearance of her only son Puspanathan.
Li Jiuying is tormented by the loss of her big brother Li Guohai and the burden
of lying to their elderly mother that he was not on the flight. The mother believes
he is tied up with a business dispute.
One year after the Malaysia Airlines jet vanished, next of kin are trapped inside
what one describes as a “black hole” of emotional and often physical suffering.
Li Hua, 58, who only recently recovered the full use of his left arm following
last year’s stroke, used to be a fitness buff. “Now I just feel sick,” he said, chainsmoking. “I have thought of suicide but... why? I need to stay alive for my wife and
fight for the truth.”
But the truth remains painfully elusive for families as the tragedy’s March 8
anniversary nears.
In one of aviation’s most baffling mysteries, the Boeing 777 with 239 people
aboard inexplicably detoured from its Kuala Lumpur-Beijing route, heading west
and south into the Indian Ocean and history.
A year-long search in that ocean’s remote southern reaches — now focussed on
high-tech sonar scanning of the seabed — has found nothing. The vanishing act is
not without some concrete outcomes.
World aviation authorities last month mandated minute-by-minute tracking
of aircraft in distress, beginning globally next year, to prevent a recurrence.
Last week, Australia said it also was conducting trials, with Malaysia and
Indonesia, of a system that increases the frequency with which planes are tracked
over remote oceans. But all of that is little
comfort now for MH370 families.
They endured an emotional trial of false A year-long search for
leads and dashed hopes during Malaysia’s the Malaysian airliner
chaotic initial response, which included its air
MH370 in the Indian
force’s failure to act despite tracking the plane
Ocean’s remote
shortly after it diverted.
Many are now incensed over the January 29
southern reaches,
declaration that all on board were presumed
now focussed on
dead and families should seek compensation.
Next of kin fear the move means the latest sonar scanning
Malaysian government and airline are poised of the seabed, has
to declare the matter closed without any
found nothing,
resolution.
“There is no closure for us,” said Grace reports DAN MARTIN
Subathirai, a Malaysian attorney whose
mother Anne Daisy was on board.
“It has totally changed our lives. Nothing can ever be the same.”
Malaysian authorities have revealed no new information for months, and said
in January the disappearance remains a mystery.
The government and airline insist they are being transparent and are committed
to the Australia-led search.
Both declined interview requests.
For many relatives, grief is compounded by the perceived callous attitude of
the Malaysians and suspicions that the full truth is not being told.
Among the hardest hit are families from China, whose nationals comprised
two-thirds of the passengers.
Many lost their sole offspring under China’s one-child policy.
Nearly two dozen Chinese relatives have been in Malaysia since last month to
press authorities for answers.
They say they have been rebuffed. Many complain of sleeplessness, appetite
loss, panic attacks and more serious ailments like hypertension and heart
problems. Several said they had not returned to their homes since last March 8.
“How can we go back? We would see his things. It is too painful,” said Wang
Rongxuan, 60, who lost her 37-year-old son Hou Bo.
Angrily rejecting the notion that he is dead, Wang burst into tears, insisting he
would return.
MH370 families are suffering what is called “ambiguous loss”, the disappearance
of loved ones with no clue to what happened, said Sarah Wayland, a Sydney-based
expert on counselling relatives of missing persons.
“People become frozen to the time that person went missing,” she said.
“The only way for many to survive is to accept that they may never know. That’s
incredibly difficult and can take years.”
A man reacts at a site hit by what activists said were air strikes by Syrian forces at Abtaa town in Deraa countryside. — Reuters
A blow to US hopes in Syria
T
Nusra overran the base and, according to the Syrian
he apparent disintegration of a key Syrian opposition group
has dealt a major blow to US efforts to build up a force of Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, seized
as many as 80 of the TOW missiles.
moderate fighters to take on the IS group.
Images circulated on social media showed Nusra
The Hazm movement was seen as a cornerstone of the
train-and-equip programme Washington hopes will bring fighters proudly brandishing their new weapons.
The next day, a statement from Hazm announced it was
thousands of non-extremist fighters to bear against IS in
Syria. But after suffering a devastating defeat at the hands of disbanding.
It was not possible to confirm independently the
Al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate last week, Hazm appears to have
disbanded, with many of its fighters reported to have joined statement’s authenticity but several fighters from the
movement said via social media that they would be joining
a coalition.
“The collapse of Hazm means that, in effect, there is the Shamiyah Front, a large coalition of groups in Aleppo
province.
no substantial and credible Western-backed ‘moderate’
“The collapse and self-dissolution of the Westernopposition throughout most of Syria,” intelligence
backed Harakat Hazm group is a dramatic end to a group
consultancy The Soufan Group said in a brief.
openly supported — to some degree
Mainly present in Idlib and Aleppo
— with Western military supplies and
provinces in northern Syria, the group,
The collapse of Hazm training,” The Soufan Group said.
known in Arabic as Harakat Hazm,
movement means
Washington downplayed the incident,
consisted of several thousand fighters
with a US military official telling that
and was last year cited by US Secretary
that, in effect, there
Hazm’s apparent disbanding was a
of State John Kerry as likely to receive US
is no substantial and reminder “that Syria is a fluid battlefield”.
arms and training.
credible moderate
The official said the United States was
Its formation was announced in
resolved to its effort with moderate rebels,
January last year as a coalition of a dozen
opposition in Syria,
which aims to train about 5,000 Syrian
rebel groups from the Free Syrian Army
writes MAYA GEBEILY fighters this year and roughly 15,000 over
that had taken up arms against the Syrian
three years.
regime. It was the first opposition group
The United States is fully aware that
to receive US-made TOW anti-tank
“there will be losses of equipment and personnel,” the
missiles from Western backers in April.
In recent months it had been coming under increasing official said, adding that former Hazm members would be
pressure from fighters including from Syrian Al Qaeda recruited for the programme, which is set to start in four to
six weeks in Turkey.
affiliate, which has dislodged Hazm from several areas.
“It’s a cautionary tale for all sides,” said Jeffrey White,
On Saturday, Nusra launched a major assault on Hazm’s
main operations centre — Base 46 in Aleppo province — defence fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East
which members of the group had seized from troops loyal Policy, a think tank in the US capital.
White said that both sides of the programme will be
to Syria in November 2012.
“Nusra kept pushing with heavy artillery and shelling spooked by Hazm’s disintegration and the snatching of its
for four to five hours,” Louay Meqdad, head of the Research weapons by Nusra.
“It demonstrates for the US the risk of backing any one
Centre for Free Syrian Army Affairs and former spokesman
of these major groups” out of fear that distributed weapons
for the FSA, said.
In one night alone, he said, 73 Hazm fighters were killed. will get into the hands of the fighters, White said.
In Putin’s Russia, West blamed for Boris Nemtsov murder
K
remlin opponent Boris Nemtsov’s blood
was barely dry on the Moscow sidewalk
before powerful Russians came up with a
startlingly clear conclusion: that the West
was to blame. The West stands accused
of an increasing number of outrages in
President Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
All-powerful state television networks,
cowed newspapers and a tame parliament
mean the Kremlin has no lack of
mouthpieces for a campaign to persuade
Russians that they are under attack —
by a Cold War-style enemy beyond
their borders and by what the media
regularly calls “traitors” and “fifth
columnists” within.
When Nemtsov, one of the last
outspoken opponents to Putin in public
life, was assassinated while strolling with
his girlfriend right next to Red Square last
Friday night, Putin quickly announced a
“provocation”.
That set the tone for what followed.
The investigative committee assigned
to Nemtsov’s case quickly issued a list of
possible motives.
Not surprisingly, the list did not include
the fear expressed by Nemtsov’s friends
and opposition colleagues that allies, or
at least followers, of Putin had ordered
him killed.
In fact, the top option offered by the
authorities was that Russia’s beleaguered
and poorly supported opposition had
itself killed Nemtsov in order to create a
scandal.
From there, Putin’s allies plunged into
ever more detailed theories.
The Kremlin-appointed leader of
Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov — a man
repeatedly accused of overseeing torture
and extrajudicial executions — announced
“there was no doubt” about Nemtsov’s
murder.
It “was organised by Western secret
services to provoke an internal conflict in
Russia,” said Kadyrov, one of Putin’s most
ardent supporters.
“First they take someone under their
wing, call that person ‘a friend of the United
States and Europe’ and then sacrifice him
to blame the local authorities,” he said.
The conspiracy theories recalled the
reaction to the shooting down of Malaysia
Airlines flight MH17 over rebel-controlled
eastern Ukraine in July 2014.
The murder ‘was organised
by Western secret services to
provoke an internal conflict in
Russia,’ said Ramzan Kadyrov,
one of President Putin’s
most ardent supporters,
notes NICOLAS MILETITCH
As allegations mounted that Moscowbacked rebels had shot down the plane by
mistake, Russian state media pushed back
with elaborate alternatives about how
Ukraine destroyed the plane — again, in
order to embarrass Russia.
One theory even suggested the airliner
was shot down because its logo resembled
the Russian flag and that Ukrainians
thought they were shooting at Putin’s
presidential jet.
Another theory was that the crash
was faked with bodies of people killed
elsewhere — as always, to mount a
provocation against Russia.
Communist lawmaker Ivan Melnikov
drew a specific parallel between Nemtsov
and MH17.
“If you look at the timing, all this
looks like a bloody provocation organised
with the same goal as the downing of the
Boeing,” he said.
The aim was “to invite unrest in the
country and unleash an anti-Russia
hysteria abroad,” he said.
That was a message repeated by a string
of personalities on state news channel
Rossiya 24.
“This is an operation in which we
can see the hand of the Western secret
services,” said the former speaker of
the Russian parliament’s lower house,
Gennady Seleznev.
President Vladimir Putin (C) during the launch of a gas-distribution station in the Far
Eastern city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in this March 19, 2011 file photo. — Reuters
ANALYSIS
T H U R S DAY
MARCH 5 l 2015
omandailyobserver
9
Oil price and the dilemma of workforce in Oman
U
HAIDER AL LAWATI
haiderdawood@hotmail.com
ntil now, there are no negative indicators showing
that there is a decline in the business of Omani
institutions and companies or in the private sector
activities due to decline in the world oil prices.
Later, if prices fall dramatically, there might be
some negative effect on the oil producing and
exporting countries and other sectors. However,
most indicators confirm that the Sultanate will
still move in the positive direction because it is
aware of these negative factors, and due to its
foresight in preparing its general budget to face any
emergency in this regard.
The officials concerned are not new to such
developments. The Sultanate has already seen even
worse crisis in the past and was able to overcome
them. All are trying to handle the current situation
and transform it into a positive one, utilising
the situation by focusing on developing non-oil
sectors and according more attention to other
sectors. These include tourism, industry, fisheries,
mining, trade, import and export, and focus on
others which might play greater roles in the Omani
economy during the next phase.
Omani companies are operating with the
required efficiency despite additional problems,
especially the need to recruit more expatriates due
to the expansion of the projects in the country.
They also focus on legislation and laws. This is country, especially in the construction sector.
normal in a country which considers its concerns This sector employs half the number of expatriate
from all angles and implements future vision for its workers due to its nature and requirements.
Certainly, many private sector projects require
citizens in a realistic manner.
male expatriate workforce to undertake the hard
However, the number of expatriate labour in
the Sultanate has increased within one month and difficult works particularly in construction,
contracting and other similar
by 5,166. This is not a small
projects. Expatriate workforce
number in a country which
in this sector constitutes
accords great attention to the
If oil prices fall further, about 44.4 per cent of the total
employment of its national
expatriate labour in the country.
workforce. The total workforce
there might be some
The number of male workers
in the country has exceeded
negative effect on
in the private sector currently
1.575 million by the end of
the oil producing and
stands at more than 1.327
January this year. In December
million, while the number of
2014, there were more than
exporting countries.
workers at 30,000. There
1.570
million
registered
However the Sultanate female
are also more than 242,000
workers, an increase of 0.3 per
will still move in the
expatriate workers of both sexes
cent during the month. This
employed in the household
suggests that the private sector
positive direction.
sector with families and
is continuing its services and
individuals. The government
implementing projects all over
sector employs about 60,000
the Sultanate. Naturally, the
expatriate workers of both sexes.
number of expatriate workers will not stay at that
Authorities in the Sultanate are keen to supply
level without having trained and qualified Omanis
private sector institutions and companies with
joining work in several private sector businesses.
Many observers believe that this is impracticable the necessary expatriate workforce. However,
to achieve in the Sultanate or in any other GCC they require these institutions to employ national
labour in some specialisations and occupations
that Omanis could perform.
According to the National Centre for Statistics
and Information, there is currently only one
Omani for every 10 expatriate workers employed
by the private sector. The annual growth rate in
the number of expatriate workers in the private
sector for the years (2009-2014) stood at 7.1 per
cent, while the annual growth rate of the national
employment in the private sector during the same
period was 3.5 per cent.
Majlis Ash’shura and the State Council accord
great attention to the employment of national
workforce in the private sector. The State Council
for example, is currently reviewing, through its
specialised committees, the legislation organising
the national workforce in the private sector. It
closely studies all the issues regarding this to find
appropriate mechanism which enables the national
workforce to join the private sector companies and
institutions. It is also keen that Omani workforce
attains high competitive capabilities and skills to
face the changing conditions of the job market.
It endeavours to diagnose the causes for the
reluctance of the national workforce in joining
the private sector, its volatility and high worker
turnover.
RAP ON KNUCKLES
CÉDRIC SIMON
A
top rights body said yesterday that France was in violation of a European
treaty because it did not fully ban the smacking of children, reigniting
debate over the divisive issue.
The Strasbourg-based Council of Europe said France’s laws on
corporal punishment for children were not “sufficiently clear, binding
and precise”.
France bans violence against children but does allow parents the
“right to discipline” them. However, French law does forbid corporal
punishment in schools or disciplinary establishments for children.
More than half of the 47 members of the Council of Europe,
including Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, have completely
banned smacking.
Other big European countries, such as Britain, either have similar
laws to France or have not adopted concrete regulations on the issue.
Worldwide, 17 other countries have a complete ban on corporal
punishment for children, notably in South America, Central America
and Africa.
The Council of Europe was ruling on a complaint lodged by the
Britain-based child protection charity Approach, which says that
French law violates part of the European Social Charter, a treaty first
adopted in 1961 and revised in 1996. France was one of seven countries
included in the complaint.
Rulings on the other six — Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic,
Slovenia, Italy and Ireland — are due in the coming months.
Even before the judgement, the controversy has been revived in
France, with the minister for the family, Laurence Rossignol calling for
a “collective debate” about “the usefulness of corporal punishment in
the education of children”.
However, this will “not be enshrined in the law”, Rossignol said.
“For abusive parents, we have a penal code. For those that
occasionally resort to corporal punishment, we need to help them do
things differently and not discredit them by saying ‘the judge is coming
to deal with that’,” the minister added.
Polls show widespread support in Britain and France for the right to
smack children.
The subject came to the fore in France in 2013 when a father was
fined 500 euros ($600) for smacking his nine-year-old son. Some people
lauded the ruling, others found it disproportionately harsh.
Pope Francis raised hackles earlier this year when he said good
fathers knew how to forgive but also to “correct with firmness”.
Motorists clog a highway as they travel the roads in the Indian capital New Delhi. — AFP
As Delhi chokes, pressure grows for action
T
orrents of thick black smoke billow up toward
the smoggy skies as Kunti Desai feeds a coalfired furnace to make tar for a Delhi road.
Desai, whose hands and face are blackened by
the soot, realises her job adds to the already
noxious air in the city, which often outdoes
Beijing as the most polluted in the world. But,
she says, “this smoke brings me money”.
“It is more important to feed and send
my kids to school than to worry about the
air,” adds the mother-of-two, who earns $40
a month.
Delhi’s air is a toxic cocktail made up of
dust and fumes from thousands of industrial
and construction sites and millions of
vehicles, which climate-change champion Al
Gore has called “a life or death issue”.
The skyline is covered in a haze due to
atmospheric dust blown in from deserts and
mass crop burning in neighbouring states, as
well as smoke from open fires lit by millions
like Kunti to keep warm or to cook food.
According to a joint study by Bostonbased Health Effects Institute and Delhi’s
Energy Resources Institute, at least 3,000
people die prematurely every year in India’s
capital because of high exposure to air
pollution.
Kunti’s life provides a snapshot of the
challenge Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi faces ahead of a climate conference in
Paris in December, where governments are
to make pledges on cutting Earth-warming
carbon emissions.
At a time when most homes and factories
suffer frequent blackouts, Modi is being urged
to cut India’s heavy reliance on coal. World
leaders have been steadily nudging India —
the third-largest source of greenhouse gases
— to announce its target, especially after
the two top emitters, China and the United
States, signed a pact in November.
US President Barack Obama added to
the pressure in January, saying the world did
not “stand a chance against climate change”
unless developing nations like India reduce
dependence on fossil fuels.
India has resisted committing itself to
major emissions cuts, fearing they would
compromise efforts to boost living standards
in a country where more than a quarter of its
1.2 billion people are poor.
The government argues the burden should
lie with industrialised countries, which
have been accused of hypocrisy in heaping
demands on poorer nations.
Arunabha Ghosh, head of the Delhibased Council on Energy, Environment and
Water, agreed India was not ready to set an
emissions target like China as it could hurt
the economy.
“The
government’s
development
dimension is not just rhetoric, it has real
content. Aggressive renewable energy targets
would make electricity unaffordable for the
bottom 20 per cent of households,” Ghosh
said. “It’s a dilemma that raises the question:
who will bear the burden of these high costs?”
India aims to have 100,000 megawatts
of solar power by 2022 from just
3,000 MW currently, and predicts the
renewable energy industry could generate
business opportunities worth $160 billion in
the next five years.
Modi has promised to provide electricity
According to a joint study by
Boston-based Health Effects
Institute and Delhi’s Energy
Resources Institute, at least
3,000 people die prematurely
every year in India’s capital,
reports ANNIE BANERJI
to more than 300 million Indians currently
without power through solar energy by 2019.
But he is also betting big on coal, a key source
of greenhouse gas emissions, with plans to
double production to one billion tonnes by
2019. Currently 60 per cent of the country’s
power comes from abundant coal, which
studies show kills up to 115,000 Indians a
year. More than half of India’s population
lives in areas where the average concentration
of small airborne particles, known as
PM 2.5, are much higher than considered
safe, causing increased rates of lung and heart
disease.
Residents of Delhi have grown accustomed
to waking up to smoggy skies while heated
debates over air quality are now a staple of
night-time television.
India has been embarrassed by
comparisons with China’s pollution levels,
with a 2014 Environmental Performance
Index report by the US’s Yale and Columbia
universities finding that New Delhi was on
par with Beijing.
Delhi authorities initially disputed a
World Health Organization study last year
that found the city had “the world’s worst
air quality,” but later admitted it was indeed
worse than the notoriously smoggy Chinese
capital. Modi, who has created one of Asia’s
biggest solar parks in his home state of
Gujarat, allocated $1.6 billion for climate
projects in last Saturday’s budget and hiked
taxes on fossil fuels.
But Vikram Mehta, head of Brookings
India, said the budget ignored “the conflictual
trade-off between the need for energy and the
imperative of environmental protection”.
Mehta wrote on the think-tank’s website:
“Other than the passing reference to a carbon
tax, his (Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s)
speech contained nothing to ameliorate the
concerns of environmentalists.”
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10
AFGHAN PRESIDENT ORDERS GRAFT PROBE
T H U R S DAY l M A R C H 5 l 2 0 1 5
SRI LANKA PROBES BRIBES TO US LAWMAKERS
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has
ordered a review of all military logistics
contracts after cancelling a $280 million
fuel supply deal over allegations the
bidding process was rigged, officials said.
Ghani has vowed to root out endemic
graft. Afghanistan was ranked as the
world’s fourth most corrupt country
last year by the watchdog Transparency
International.
ASIA
Sri Lanka is investigating claims that
unidentified US politicians had received
bribes to ensure Washington went soft on
the island’s dismal human rights record.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe
said the new government would probe
claims that large sums had been set aside
to pay congressmen and other politicians
by public relations firms hired by the
previous regime.
China military
budget to rise
by 10pc in 2015
ART PROTEST
$145 BILLION OUTLAY: Aircraft carriers, China: Nobel
submarines seen among China’s priorities
panel chairman’s
A woman wears a wedding dress decorated with 999 face masks for her performance art work ‘Marry the blue sky’. It is a part
of her art wok performance, protesting against air pollution.
— Reuters
Japan may dispatch troops
to EU missions for first time
TOKYO: Japan is considering sending
its military personnel for the first
time on international missions of the
European Union under a planned law
on its military deployments abroad, a
report said on Wednesday.
The plan is expected to be discussed
in a meeting between officials of the
Japanese foreign and defence ministries
with EU representatives in Tokyo next
week, the Kyodo News agency reported.
Japanese and EU officials are
expected to sort out legal issues on the
scope of Japanese troops’ operations
during their talks as Tokyo is working
out security legislation following a
Thousands flee
as Philippine
military hunts
for separatists
MANILA: About 45,000 people have
fled their homes in the impoverished
southern Philippines as the military
hunts militants, including a top terror
suspect wanted by the United States,
authorities said on Wednesday.
Soldiers have killed dozens of
members of the Bangsamoro Freedom
Fighters (BIFF), a rebel group fighting
for an independent homeland in
the south, since the operation began
last month, the military said. The
offensive, including attacks with
artillery and helicopter gunships, has
taken place in poor farming areas on
Mindanao island, where rebels have
for decades fought for independence.
About 45,000 people living in mostly
poor farming communities have fled,
fearing an expansion of the violence,
said an official of the region where the
fighting is raging.
She said the displaced had taken
refuge with relatives or were huddling
in schools, town halls and tents that the
government were using as evacuation
centres. “They are cramped. It is
raining in the evening and very hot
in the day. The farmers have even
brought their animals, their cattle with
them,” Alamia said.
The offensive is aimed at killing
or capturing local extremist leader,
Abdel Basit Usman, who is on the US
list of most-wanted terrorists with a
$1-million bounty. Usman escaped a
police raid in Mindanao on January
25 in which another man on the US
government’s list of “most-wanted
terrorists”, Malaysian Zulkifli bin Hir,
was reported to have been killed.
—AFP
Abe’s cabinet decided to
allow a greater use of force
by the military abroad
by reinterpreting Japan’s
pacifist constitution
decision in July made by Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe’s cabinet, Kyodo reported.
The cabinet decided to allow a
greater use of force by the military
abroad by reinterpreting Japan’s pacifist
constitution. Article 9 of the charter
prohibits the use of force to settle
international disputes. Japan is mulling
sending its military personnel to troops
operating under the European Union’s
Common Security and Defence Policy
(CDSP) framework, the report said.
Japan and the European Union
agreed in May to “explore the scope for
strengthened Japanese collaboration
with the CSDP’s missions.”
— dpa
BEIJING: China’s defence budget
this year will rise about 10 per cent
compared with 2014, a top government
official said on Wednesday, outpacing
the slowing economy as the country
ramps up investment in high-tech
equipment such as submarines and
stealth jets.
Parliament spokeswoman Fu Ying
told reporters the actual figure would be
released on Thursday, when the annual
session of the largely rubber-stamp
National People’s Congress opens.
Last year, defence spending was
budgeted to rise 12.2 per cent to $130
billion, second only to the United
States. The official Xinhua news agency
said the 2015 target — which would put
defence outlays at around $145 billion
— would represent the slowest growth
in military spending in five years.
China has logged a nearly unbroken
two-decade run of double-digit budget
increases, though many experts think
the country’s real defence outlays are
larger than stated.
The military build-up has jangled
nerves around the region, particularly
as China has taken an increasingly
robust line on its territorial disputes in
the East and South China Seas.
Asked about China’s defence
spending, Japanese Chief Cabinet
Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Japan
was concerned the figure “lacks
transparency.” “It is true, regardless
of China’s defence spending, that
the security situation in the region
demotion won’t
warm Norway ties
The military build-up has
jangled nerves around the
region, particularly as China
has taken an increasingly
robust line on its territorial
disputes in the East and
South China Seas
surrounding Japan is severe for various
reasons,” he said. “On top of our own
efforts in the field of diplomacy and
defence, it is extremely important for
our country to strengthen the US-Japan
alliance.” India is working to narrow
the military gap with China, which
has unnerved New Delhi with forays
into the Indian Ocean. An Indian
defence official looking at regional
security issues said the double-digit
rise was no surprise. “There was some
talk it could slow down in view of the
economic slowdown, but our sense was
modernization will remain on track,”
the official said.
— Reuters
PASSENGERS SAFE
A Turkish Airlines plane lies on the field after it overshot the runway at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu on Wednesday. According to local media all
passengers were rescued.
— Reuters
BEIJING: The demotion of the Nobel
Peace Prize committee’s chairman will
not thaw Sino-Norway ties, Beijing
said Wednesday amid a diplomatic
deep freeze imposed by China after
a prominent dissident was given the
2010 award.
Tuesday’s removal of Nobel
committee chairman Thorbjoern
Jagland
(pictured)
from
his
post atop the high-profile panel
spurred speculation of a potential
rapprochement between Oslo and
Beijing after more than four years of
frosty ties.
Jagland, who will remain a
committee member, was at the helm
of the organisation when it awarded
the 2010 peace prize to jailed Chinese
activist Liu Xiaobo, a move that
enraged Beijing.
China later banned whole salmon
imports from Norway, supposedly
on safety grounds, and Norwegian
citizens have been excluded from a 72hour transit visa scheme.
Oslo’s ambassador — in post since
2007 — has reportedly been unable to
return home for fear that if he leaves,
his successor will not be granted
a visa. Chinese foreign ministry
spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that
Beijing’s position on the awarding of
the prize and China-Norway relations
is “subject to no change”.
“Our position on developing ties
with Norway is clear, which is also I
believe very clear to the Norwegian
side,” she told reporters at a regular
briefing, without elaborating.
Hua declined to say whether
Jagland’s departure had ever been a
subject of discussion between Oslo and
Beijing.
The
Nobel
committee
is
independent of the government,
although its members are chosen by
the Norwegian parliament.
Oslo’s attempts to normalise
political ties with the world’s second
largest economy have proved fruitless
as, according to analysts, Beijing
wants to set an example to deter other
countries.
In September Norwegian media
reported that in 2013 then-prime
minister Jens Stoltenberg had
considered — but ultimately decided
against —secretly apologising to
Beijing for Liu’s Nobel award.
China maintains that it is up to
Norway to make a gesture to normalise
ties.
— AFP
Historians likened the discovery, to finding Titanic; American warplanes sank Musashi in 1944 during second world war
US billionaire says Japanese warship found in Philippines
MANILA: Microsoft co-founder Paul
Allen said on Wednesday he had found
one of Japan’s biggest and most famous
battleships on a Philippine seabed,
some 70 years after American forces
sank it during World War II.
Excited historians likened the
discovery, if verified, to finding the
Titanic, as they hailed the American
billionaire for his high-tech mission
that apparently succeeded after so
many failed search attempts by others.
Allen posted photos and video
online of parts of what he said was
the battleship Musashi, found by his
M/Y Octopus exploration vessel one
kilometre (1.6 miles) deep on the floor
of the Sibuyan Sea.
“World War II battleship Musashi
sank 1944 is found,” Allen announced
in a Twitter post that has been retweeted close to 19,000 times.
“I am honoured to play a part in
finding this key vessel in naval history
and honouring the memory of the
incredible bravery of the men who
served aboard her,” Allen said.
Undersea footage on Allen’s website
showed what were described as a valve,
a catapult for planes, a gun turret and a
starboard anchor.
It also showed the space on
This is a unique feature of the three
biggest warships that Japan built during
World War II, according to Kazushige
Todaka, director of the Kure Maritime
Museum in Japan.
“I’m almost certain that what was
discovered is the battleship Musashi,”
he said. “There have been so many
efforts over the years to locate Musashi,
but they all failed. I feel like the warship
might have been destined to show
The bow of World War II battleship
itself this year — the 70th anniversary
Musashi after it was found in Sibuyan sea of the end of World War II,” Todaka
by Paul Aleen’s research team.
— AFP
said.
“With the memory of war slipping
the bow for the Japanese empire’s
further and further from people’s
Chrysanthemum seal.
minds, I hope this discovery will help
make the public think about history.”
Manolo Quezon, a prominent
historian in the Philippines and the
presidential communications undersecretary, also said the Musashi wreck
would be a “major” historical find if
verified.
“This would be like finding the
Titanic, because of the status of the
ship and the interest on the ship,”
Quezon said
The Musashi was one of a trio of
vessels built by Japan during the war
that, at 263 metres (863 feet) each, were
its biggest battleships ever.
—AFP
INDIA
T H U R S DAY
MARCH 5 l 2015
omandailyobserver
CHEAPER LOANS LIKELY: Rajan says growth recovering steadily; Shares hit record high but falls after profit taking
RBI surprises again with key policy rate cut
MUMBAI: India’s central bank
unexpectedly lowered its policy rate for
the second time this year on Wednesday,
backing a government that is pushing
to revive economic growth as inflation
cools.
Although markets had broadly
expected the Reserve Bank of India to
reduce rates again after a cut in January,
few had expected a move just days after
the government unveiled a budget that
took a slower path to lowering the fiscal
deficit.
After cutting the policy repo rate
by 25 basis points to 7.50 per cent, RBI
Governor Raghuram Rajan issued a
statement citing his reasons for making
the move a month before a scheduled
policy review.
“Given low capacity utilisation and
still-weak indicators of production and
credit off-take, it is appropriate for the
Reserve Bank to be pre-emptive in its
policy action,” he said.
The RBI embarked on an easing cycle
on January 15 with a quarter percentage
point reduction that had also caught
market off guard by taking place outside
of a scheduled review.
The benefits have still to pass through
A broker at a stock brokerage firm in Mumbai on Wednesday. — Reuters
to borrowers, however, as commercial
banks have been hesitant about lowering
their lending rates.
While seeing improvement in the
economy, Rajan doubted whether it was
doing as well as official gross domestic
product data suggested, after recent
changes to methodology showed India
outpacing China by growing 7.5 per cent
in the last quarter. “Nevertheless,” he
said, “the picture of a steadily recovering
economy appears right.”
Analysts said the latest rate reduction
showed the RBI’s trust in the 10-monthold government of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi to maintain fiscal
discipline even though it will take longer
to reach its deficit goals.
The budget laid out plans to reduce
the fiscal deficit to 3.9 per cent of gross
domestic product, in the 2015-16
financial year, and bring it down to 3 per
cent by 2017-18 — a year later than an
earlier road map had targeted.
FESTIVAL OF COLOURS
The boost for the government also
comes a week after it endorsed an RBIled change to monetary policy, formally
adopting inflation targeting.
India is expected to establish a
monetary policy committee, which
could give the government more
influence over decisions like interest
rate moves, but its size and composition
remain a matter of heated debate on
both sides. Indian bonds rose sharply
after the cut. The benchmark 10-year
bond yield dropped to as much as 7.61
per cent, its lowest level since July 2013.
Yet while Rajan signalled he was
optimistic inflation would remain
contained and analysts said they
continued to expect further monetary
easing, most cautioned that the prospect
of deep, fast cuts was now reduced.
Indian inflation has moderated
sharply as global oil prices have slumped
since last year.
India’s rate cut comes as a slew of
central banks across developed and
emerging economies cut interest rates,
including in Indonesia and China,
despite the prospect of rising US. interest
rates later this year.
Rajan’s statement noted that the
rupee’s relative strength added to
disinflationary pressures, but again
warned that global events could reverse
the trend.
The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex),
on Wednesday touched a new record
high of 30,024.74 points but closed the
day’s trade at 213 points or 0.72 per cent
down. The market was initially upbeat
after RBI cut its key lending rates by
25 basis points, expecting inflation
to soften further in the coming fiscal.
However, profit-booking during the fagend of the trading session wiped out the
day’s gains.
The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the
National Stock Exchange (NSE) also
touched an intra-day record high of
9,119.20 points. It closed the day’s trade
down 73.60 points or 0.82 per cent at
8,922.65 points.
The Sensex of the S&P Bombay
Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at
29,937.27 points, closed the day’s trade
at 29,380.73 points, down 213 points or
0.72 per cent from the previous day’s
close at 29,593.73 points. The Sensex
had touched a high of 30,024.74 points
and a low of 29,289.05 points in the
intra-day trade.
— Agencies
AAP sacks Bhushan,
Yadav from party’s
decision making body
Children celebrating Holi with coloured powder known as gulal in Siliguri on Wednesday. ‘Holi’, the festival of colours, is a
riotous celebration of the coming of spring and falls on the day after full moon annually in March. Revellers spray coloured
powder and water on each other with great gusto, whilst adults extend the hand of peace. —AFP
NEW DELHI: The AAP announced
Wednesday that it had ousted two
top leaders, Prashant Bhushan and
Yogendra Yadav, out of its decisionmaking Political Affairs Committee
(PAC). Party spokesman Kumar
Vishwas made the announcement after a
nearly six-hour meeting of the National
Executive that followed a virtual war
between the two leaders and loyalists of
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
“The National Executive passed a
resolution and it has been decided that
Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav
will not serve the PAC any more. They
will be given new responsibilities in the
party,” he said.
He underlined that the Aam
Aadmi Party remained a united force
and would do all it can to meet the
aspirations of the people of Delhi and
the country.
“Everyone (in the party) will
together take the party forward,” he
added. The National Executive also
rejected Kejriwal’s offer to resign as the
national convenor. The nine-member
PAC is the supreme body in the AAP,
which was formed in 2012 and which
stormed to power in Delhi last month
by sweeping 67 of the 70 seats in the
The National Executive also
rejected Delhi CM Arvind
Kejriwal’s offer to resign as
the national convenor
assembly.
Wednesday’s meeting was called
after Bhushan and Yadav were accused
by Kejriwal supporters of leading a
virtual rebellion against the AAP leader.
Earlier, Bhushan, a Supreme Court
lawyer and an AAP founder, told the
media: “We have been told that for the
time being we are no more in the PAC.”
He declined to elaborate and walked
away, looking somewhat shaken.
Speaking separately, Yadav, a known
political pundit, said the AAP decision
would be announced by the party and
he was no more authorised to make
announcements on behalf of the party.
“As a disciplined worker of the
party, I will try to fulfil whatever role
is assigned to me to the best of my
capacity.”
He added: “The AAP has been
formed with the sweat and labour of
people. It should never dash people’s
hopes.”
— IANS
11
Omani arrested
in Mumbai
freed on bail
R A K SINGH
NEW DELHI
March 4: An Omani national and a
Saudi Arabian who were arrested last
Thursday for allegedly misbehaving
with a 52-year-old American business
woman were released on bail by a
Mumbai court on Wednesday. The
court granted bail to the duo ruling
that their “detention is not required in
the case” till trial is over.
The bail was given is on a personal
bond of Rs 20,000 each. The court also
asked both the accused to arrange
within four weeks a person to stand
surety for each. The accused have been
told to report to Colaba police station
till the probe is over. The counsel for
the Omani national pleaded in the
court that his client was innocent and
the police had lodged a very weak
and flimsy case against him, which is
unlikely to result in his conviction.
British director’s
film showing
girl’s murderer
banned in India
NEW DELHI: India has banned
the broadcasting of a controversial
documentary in which one of the
men who gang-raped and murdered
a student is shown blaming the victim
— a move the film’s maker called
“arbitrary censorship”. Home Minister
Rajnath Singh told parliament on
Wednesday the comments of Mukesh
Singh, one of five men convicted over
the 2012 attack in New Delhi, were
“highly derogatory and an affront to
the dignity of women”.
“The government condemns it,”
he said of the documentary made by
award-winning British film-maker
Leslee Udwin (pictured), who won
rare access to New Delhi’s Tihar jail to
interview the prisoner on death row.
Udwin said she was heart-broken
by the ban on the documentary, in
which Mukesh Singh said the 23-yearold victim should not have been
“roam(ing) around at 9 o’clock at night”
and that “a girl is far more responsible
for rape than a boy”.
—Reuters
OVER A MINUTE
Good rains this year will help help the central bank continue reduce key interest rates; Prediction depends on EL Nino
Chennai student
breaks Rubik’s
Cube record
Met department expects better monsoon rains this year
NEW DELHI: A Chennai student
has set a new Rubik’s Cube record
by solving five of the puzzles in just
over a minute using only one hand,
organisers said on Wednesday.
Bhargav Narasimhan, 22, from
Chennai, achieved the feat in 1.23.93
minutes at an event in the city recently.
He broke the existing Guinness
World Record of 1.52 minutes set
in the category by Yumu Tabuchi of
Japan in 2010, said Gayathri Dinesh,
who organized the event. “I have
broken the previous record of solving
five cubes one handed by almost 30
seconds. Speedcubing is my passion
and I am addicted to it,” Narasimhan
said. Narasimhan, who pursuing a
doctorate in pharmacy, said he will
submit the video evidence and witness
statements to the Guinness World
Records, which will certify his time
after about a month.
— dpa
NEW DELHI: India expects higher
rainfall from the monsoon this year
after patchy rains affected farm output
last season, weather office sources told
Reuters.
If the outlook turns out correct,
it will be another shot in the arm for
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts
to revive the economy after the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) unexpectedly cut its
policy rate for the second time this year
on Wednesday.
Monsoon rains are vital because
India’s farm sector accounts for 14 per
cent of the $2 trillion economy, and
half of the country’s farmland lacks
irrigation.
Weak monsoon rains have cut farm
output in the past, stoking inflation.
Good rains this year could cause the
RBI to continue to take the axe to rates.
“If the inflation remains under
control and we get a good monsoon,
then we will definitely see more rate
cuts,” said Issac George, Chief Financial
Monsoon rains are vital because India’s farm sector accounts for 14 per cent of the
$2 trillion economy, and half of the country’s farmland lacks irrigation.
— Reuters
Officer of GVK Power & Infrastructure
Ltd in Andhra Pradesh state.
“The budget last week has provided a
framework for growth and the rate cuts
will help efforts in that direction.”
The monsoon prediction is based on
the fact that the El Nino weather pattern,
which is marked by the warming of
sea surface temperature on the Pacific
Ocean, is in a “neutral” phase, said the
sources at the India Meteorological
Department (IMD).
El Nino can lead to drought in
Southeast Asia and Australia and
heavy rains in South America, hitting
production of food such as rice, wheat
and sugar.
The Australian weather bureau on
Tuesday forecast that the chance of an El
Nino developing this year had risen to
about 50 per cent.
The IMD has already shared its
current outlook with the government
and is expected to come out with
another assessment of El Nino in April,
the sources said.
India’s monsoon was hit by an El
Nino in 2009 when the four-month long
season turned out to be the driest in
nearly four decades.
Large-scale deforestation could
cause Monsoon rains to shift south,
cutting rainfall in India by nearly a fifth,
scientists say.
Deforestation has long been known
to cause temperature increases in local
areas, but new research published on
Tuesday shows a potentially wider
impact on Monsoon rains.
While releasing carbon dioxide
into the atmosphere, deforestation
also causes changes in how much light
reflects off the earth’s surface and the
amount of moisture in the atmosphere
from plants transpiring.
Researchers from the Indian Institute
of Science in Bangalore used a model
simulating atmosphere circulation, as
well as photosynthesis, transpiration,
warming of the ocean surface and
ice melt. “We wanted to get a basic
understanding of the effects of largescale deforestation at different locations
on Monsoon rainfall,” the authors said
in a statement. They performed three
deforestation experiments, removing
all trees in tropical, temperate and highlatitude areas to look at the impacts.
Deforestation in temperate and high
latitudes caused changes in atmospheric
circulation resulting in a southward shift
in the Monsoon rains. —Reuters
12
DEAL ON SELLING ARMS
BOOST TO PEACE EFFORTS
French President Francois Hollande
sits in the cockpit of a Rafale fighter jet
at Dassault Aviation manufacturing
plant in Merignac, yesterday. The visit
took place after an agreement was
reached on February 12, to sell 5
billion euros worth of arms
(including 24 Rafale fighter
aircrafts) to Egypt.
WORLD
FARC-EP leftist
guerrilla commander
Joaquin Gomez
at the Convention
Palace in Havana
in the framework
of peace talks with
the Colombian
government
yesterday.
32 dead in Ukraine mine blast
German Chancellor Angela Merkel with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (R), European Commission
Vice-President Frans Timmermans (L) during a group photo at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels.
— AFP
Russia warned of sanctions
if ceasefire violated
BRUSSELS:
German Chancellor
Angela
Merkel
warned
Russia
Wednesday of new sanctions if the
Ukraine ceasefire accord is not fully
implemented, insisting that Kiev be
allowed to regain full control of its
eastern border.
“One thing is absolutely clear, if
the Minsk ceasefire accord does not
work then (EU) member states and
the European Commission are quite
prepared to move to new sanctions,”
Merkel said.
Speaking in Brussels after talks with
European Commission head JeanClaude Juncker, Merkel said they had
discussed the need to restore Ukraine’s
territorial integrity, a key part of the
Minsk agreements agreed by Kiev,
Moscow and the pro-Russian rebels in
the east.
On Tuesday Merkel had joined the
US, French, British, Italian and EU
leaders in video talks who agreed to
give a “strong reaction” to any major
violation of the truce.
Merkel and French President
FLOOD FURY
Death toll
in Tanzania
flooding hits 50
DAR ES SALAAM: At least 50
people died and dozens were hurt in
heavy rains and floods in Tanzania’s
northwest, a senior official said
Wednesday.
Torrential rains, hail and high
winds hit Kahama district in
Shinyanga region late on Tuesday,
injuring at least 82 people.
“At least 50 people are now
confirmed
dead,”
Shinyanga’s
regional
commissioner,
Ally
Rufunga, told AFP.
“More bodies of victims believed
to have been swept by floods were
found in the area and others died in
hospital while receiving treatment,”
he said, updating a previous death
toll of 38.
A statement from the office of
President Jakaya Kikwete expressed
his “shock and extreme grief ” at the
disaster.
Officials also said an estimated
3,500 people in the region, a poor
farming area south of Lake Victoria
and near the Serengeti game reserve,
had been affected by the flooding.
— AFP
Merkel says they had
discussed the need to
restore Ukraine’s territorial
integrity, a key part of the
Minsk agreements agreed
by Kiev, Moscow and the
pro-Russian rebels
in the east
Francois Hollande flew to the
Belarussian capital last month to broker
the ceasefire. “There is a link between
current sanctions and complete
implementation of Minsk so that
Ukraine officials will have access to their
own frontier,” Merkel said in Brussels.
“Territorial integrity can only be
restored if you have Ukraine officials on
the Russian border; that is what we are
working on.”
The United States and European
Union say Russia has backed the
rebels with troops, arms and technical
assistance to win control of the border
and large areas of eastern Ukraine.
Moscow denies any involvement in
the conflict which has cost some 6,000
lives over the past year.
The US and EU have imposed
steadily tougher sanctions against
Russia over the Ukraine crisis, including
costly restrictions on key sectors of the
struggling Russian economy such as the
banks and defence industries.
Merkel was initially very reluctant
to go too far for fear of damaging
Germany’s hugely important political
and economic ties with Moscow.
The shooting down in July of a
Malaysia Airlines plane over eastern
Ukraine with the loss of nearly 300 lives,
blamed on the rebels, changed Berlin’s
stance to support sectoral sanctions
but Merkel has been guarded in going
further.
“I continue to be of the view that
channels of communications should
not just be kept open but must be used
and that is what we are doing,” she said
Wednesday, while ruling out any chance
of an EU-Russia summit. — AFP
Boston bombing suspect
followed older brother’s lead
BOSTON:
Boston
Boston
Marathon
bombing
suspect
Dzhokhar
Tsarnaev
(pictured), was
following his older
brother Tamerlan’s lead
when he participated in
the bombings and the
violent manhunt that
ensued, says defence
lawyer
Judy Clarke during opening
statements.
“We do not and will not at any point
during this trial sidestep Dzhokhar’s
responsibility in this case,” Clarke
said. “Tamerlan became obsessed with
violent radicalism... it was Tamerlan
Tsarnaev who self-radicalised, it was
Dzhokhar who followed him.”
Clarke says the bombings were
“senseless, horrible, misguided acts
carried out by two brothers” that
“extinguished three lives” and changed
the lives of other for good.
“But (Tsarnaev) came to his role by
a very different path than suggested by
the prosecution - a path that was borne
by his brother, created by his brother
and paved by his brother.”
“He placed his bomb right next to a
row of children,” Weinreb says.
“Some bled to death on the pavement
while the defendant
ran away.”
He says Tsarnaev
had been radicalized
by extremist ideas
and though that he
was “earning his
place in paradise” by
killing US citizens in
order to stop the US
government
from
targeting
terrorists
abroad.
“While victims of the bombings
were lying in hospital waiting to see
whether their limbs would be chopped
off... he acted like he didn’t have a care
in the world,” the prosecutor said.”
Why he acted that way was because
he believed that what he had done was
something good.”
He told the jury that opening
statements are not evidence, but an
outline of the evidence that will be
presented during the trial,
saying “think of it as the picture
outside the jigsaw puzzle box — this is
how the picture should look when you
put together the pieces.”
O’Toole called on jurors that, in the
first phase of the trial, also known as the
guilt phase, they should concentrate on
deciding whether Tsarnaev was guilty
of the crimes.
— AFP
DONETSK: Thirty-two miners in
eastern Ukraine were missing and
feared dead Wednesday following an
explosion at a coal mine in the rebelheld city of Donetsk.
The blast took place at Zasyadko
mine in the separatist hub of Donetsk,
near the city’s war-wrecked airport.
The
chairman
of
Ukraine’s
parliament, Volodymyr Groysman,
announced 32 miners killed in what he
called a “terrible tragedy”.
“There are victims, currently
numbering 32,” Groysman told the
assembly, calling on lawmakers to
observe a minute’s silence.
Mykola Volynko, head of the Miners’
Union of Donbass, which covers the
eastern region, confirmed that figure.
“At the moment we know of 32
people dead. We don’t know how many
people are still in the mine,” he said.
But Grosyman later cast doubt on
the fate of the miners, telling MPs that,
“according to the latest information”, 32
miners were unaccounted for, but that
only one was confirmed killed.
A spokesman for the Trade Union of
Coal Miners in Ukraine told AFP that
two bodies had been brought to the
surface so far.
Rescue workers were trying to locate
a further approximately 45 miners, said
the spokesman who did not wish to be
named, adding the chances of finding
them alive were “practically zero”.
A spokeswoman for the ministry
of emergency situations of the selfproclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic
told AFP there were still scores of people
trapped in the shaft.
“At the moment there are still 70
people underground but the situation
is constantly changing as we bring
people to the surface,” spokeswoman
Miners arrive at the Zasyadko coal mine in Donetsk. — Reuters
Julia Bedilo said, blaming the blast on
trapped methane gas.
Donetsk has been the focus of a
nearly year-long conflict between
government forces and pro-Russian
rebels. The accident comes nearly three
weeks into a ceasefire deal.
Rebels overran the town of
Debaltseve in the wake of the ceasefire,
but the truce since then has largely held.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy
Yatsenyuk said he had ordered his
energy and emergencies ministries to
scramble rescue teams to the scene.
But the rebels “did not allow
Ukrainian rescue teams to reach the site
and help save people’s lives,” he told a
cabinet meeting.
President Petro Poroshenko sent
his condolences to the families of the
perished miners and demanded that the
rebels give Kiev-loyal authorities access
to the site.
“I demand that Ukrainian rescuers
and policemen are granted access to
the scene of the tragedy,” he wrote
on Twitter. Anxious family members
waited outside the mine for news of
their loved ones.
Valentina Dzuba, 72, told AFP she
had been waiting for seven hours for
news of her son Vladimir, aged 47.
“I heard the news on the TV,” she said
in tears.”We have no information.
I fear he’s dead.”
Ukraine’s coal mines are considered
among the world’s most dangerous,
with many of them poorly financed
and employing outdated Soviet-era
equipment.
Most of the country’s mine disasters
are caused by build-ups of methane gas.
Zasyadko mine, which is one of the
country’s biggest, was the scene of the
worst mining accident in the country’s
post-Soviet history in 2007, in which
101 people were killed.
The mine, which is owned by
Yukhym Zvyahilsky, a member of the
national parliament, lies on the outskirts
of Donetsk, just a few kilometres from
the frontline.
— AFP
AROUND THE GLOBE
Kosovan asylum seekers to Germany falls
Putin denounces
Nemtsov murder
as shameful
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir
Putin on Wednesday denounced as
shameful the killing of opposition
leader Boris Nemtsov, even as
allegations continued to swirl that the
Kremlin played a role in the death.
“We need to rid Russia of the sort
of shame and tragedy that we recently
experienced — I am referring to the
reckless murder of Boris Nemtsov
right in the centre of the capital,” Putin
said at a meeting with top Interior
Ministry officials.
Putin went on by demanding that
authorities should react immediately
to such crimes. “They should focus
on preventive measures,” he said,
according to an official transcript.
However, investigators on
Wednesday presented no new
evidence in the case Nemtsov was
gunned down on a bridge just next
to the Kremlin’s wall late on Friday,
when he was walking home with his
girlfriend Anna Duritskaya.
The Ukrainian model has said that
it took police 10 minutes to arrive at
the scene.
The killers escaped unharmed and
Russian investigators have shed little
light on how a high-profile murder
could happen on one of the country’s
most sensitive locations.
Asked on Wednesday if there are
any suspects in the case, Putin’s spy
chief, Federal Security Service director
Alexander Bortnikov, dryly replied
by saying “there always are,” Russian
news agencies reported.
Bortnikov added that the
investigation continues and that he
could not say more.
BERLIN: The number of asylum seekers from Kosovo arriving in Germany has fallen
after a spike in numbers earlier in the year, the Federal Office for Migration and
Refugees said Wednesday.
There has been a “definite relaxation” in the numbers arriving, office president
Manfred Schmidt said, adding that the number of Kosovars arriving in Germany had
dropped from 1,400 per day at the start of February to fewer than 200 per day now.
Schmidt said it seemed the measures the German government had taken to stem
the tide of refugees had worked.
German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere was due to meet his Kosovan
counterpart Wednesday in Berlin, where the number of refugees from the former
Yugoslav province was expected to be a topic of conversation.
Germany had sent 20 police officers to the Hungarian-Serbian border to try to
prevent Kosovars from entering the European Union there before heading on to
Germany.
The government also introduced a fast-tracked procedure for deciding asylum
claims from Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008.
— dpa
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (R) and her Chief of Staff Aluizio
Mercadante with leaders of allied parties in Congress at Planalto Palace in
Brasilia. Rousseff is having difficulties with the relation with parliament and
started an effort to normalize the situation and restore governance. — AFP
Ex-Berlin mayor makes debut as radio presenter
BERLIN: Berlin’s former mayor, Klaus Wowereit, 61, started a new career as a radio
presenter on the capital’s Spreeradio station on Wednesday morning.
Wowereit, who stepped down as mayor of Berlin in December after 13 years in
office, presented the first of his weekly Wowereits Woche, or Wowereit’s Week, talk
shows with traffic accidents occupying him this week. “I sometimes wonder why
some road users positively risk their lives with kamikaze actions,” he said in his first
programme. In 2014, there were 130,000 accidents on Berlin’s roads. Wowereit also
called for solidarity with debt-burdened Greece, and discussed Israel as a tourist
destination, describing it as a wonderful and fascinating country.
He said Israel could also be depressing as the Middle East conflict was reflected in
daily life. A few weeks ago, Wowereit of the left-leaning Social Democrat Party
(SPD) was made ambassador for the Berlin economy.
When Wowereit was elected mayor in 2001, he was one of three openly gay
mayors of major European cities, with Bertrand Delanoe of Paris and Ole von Beust of
Hamburg. — dpa
REGION
T H U R S DAY
MARCH 5 l 2015
omandailyobserver
13
PINCER ATTACK: Tehran, rather than Washington, now playing a more important role in war against extremists
Iraq, Iran forces tighten noose around IS base Tikrit
KIRKUK: The Iraqi army said on Wednesday that
its strategy for retaking the IS stronghold of Tikrit
is to surround the city before launching an assault.
On Monday, the Iraqi security forces and
Iran-backed fighters launched the biggest ground
operation yet against the IS group in Iraq.
Backed by jets and helicopters, the
30,000-strong force is moving in from three
main directions, their progress slowed by suicide
bombers, sniper fire and booby traps.
A senior commander said operations were
currently focused on preventing IS from
launching more attacks and cutting supply
lines to stop reinforcements and weapons from
reaching Tikrit. The next step will be to “surround
the towns completely, suffocate them and then
pounce on them,” Lieutenant General Abdel
Amir al Zaidi said. Iraqi forces have yet to retake
Ad Dawr and Al Alam, towns south and north of
Tikrit respectively which command access to the
city. He said the operation launched on Monday
had already achieved results by securing areas
further out in Salahuddin province and forcing IS
fighters to regroup in urban areas.
“The first phase of the battle to liberate
Salahuddin was successfully completed — and in
record time — by clearing the areas in the east of
the province,” Zaidi said.
“Our forces are advancing gradually, although
slowed by roadside bombs and sniper fire,” another
lieutenant general involved in the operation said.
Baghdad has tried and failed several times to
retake Tikrit since IS fighters seized it in June
2014, as they swept through the country’s majority
heartland.
Observers say this operation is bigger and
Fighters fire a rocket during clashes with IS militants in Salahuddin province.
better coordinated. But there are concerns that deepening sectarian grievances.
the home town of executed president Saddam
civilians trapped in the city could be killed in
This week’s multi-pronged attack is the biggest Hussein, since the radical IS fighters seized it in
the fighting or in reprisal attacks by fighters, coordinated assault on the city, best known as June. It is also the clearest example of how Tehran,
WAR ENTERS 5TH YEAR
Demanding Iran’s capitulation is no
way to secure nuclear deal, says Kerry
People walk past a banner bearing a portrait of President Bashar al Assad in
Damascus on Wednesday. The war in Syria is entering its fifth year, in which at least
210,000 people have been killed and nearly 12 million displaced.
— AFP
MONTREUX: Simply demanding
Iran’s capitulation is no way to get a
nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic,
US Secretary of State John Kerry said on
Wednesday as he wrapped up three days
of talks with a veiled dig at Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Kerry said he and Iranian counterpart
Mohammad Jawad Zarif made some
progress in their negotiations in the
Swiss lakeside town of Montreux and
would resume them on March 15.
Kerry aides said many obstacles
If the basis of
remained before a late March deadline
these negotiations
for an outline accord between Iran and
six world powers.
is for increased
“There are still significant gaps
and important choices that need to be transparency, we will accept
made,” Kerry told reporters after more greater transparency...
than 10 hours of talks all told with Zarif.
But if the negotiations
On Tuesday, Netanyahu said in
a speech in the US Congress that are trying to prevent
Washington was negotiating a bad deal the people of Iran from
with Iran that could spark a “nuclear
(enjoying) their inalienable
nightmare,” drawing a rebuke from
President Barack Obama and exposing right...it is very natural
a deepening US-Israeli rift.
that Iran will not accept
Kerry said politics and external
factors would not distract from the such an understanding or
talks, which aim to constrain Iran with agreement
intrusive UN access and verification
JOHN KERRY
of its nuclear activity and lengthen the
US
Secretary
of State
“break-out” time needed for it to build
any nuclear weapon.
“No one has presented a more viable,
lasting alternative for how you actually that Iran capitulate is not a plan. And
prevent Iran from getting a nuclear nor would any of our P5+1 partners
weapon. So folks, simply demanding support us in that position.” The other
Rebel warplanes strike airport in
Libyan town, no runway damage
BENGHAZI:
Two
unidentified
warplanes on Wednesday bombed the
airport of the western Libyan town
of Zintan, allied with the country’s
internationally recognised government,
damaging electricity systems but not the
runway, a local official said.
Libya is caught in a conflict between
two rival governments and their armed
forces, who are battling for control four
years after the civil war that ousted
Muammar Gaddafi and which has
steadily tipped the North African state
into chaos. Zintan has been hit before
by forces from Libya Dawn, which
took over Tripoli during fighting in the
summer and set up its own self-declared
government.
— Reuters
rather than Washington, is now playing a more
important role on the battlefield in a war that sees
both Iran and the United States supporting the
same side against a common foe.
Unlike a rushed — and failed — Tikrit
offensive in July, this campaign appears to follow
the methodical military strategy honed by Iranian
advisers in neighbouring Syria, which helped
President Bashar al Assad regain some lost
territory. Iranian military commander Qassem
Soleimani, along with two Iraqi paramilitary
leaders, has overseen the eastern part of the Tikrit
campaign, whose religious overtones are borne
out in its operational title: ‘Here I am, Messenger
of God’.
Soleimani, a major general in Iran’s
Revolutionary Guards spotted on the battlefield
here, is the commander of Tehran’s elite
Quds force, which Washington considers a
banned terrorist organisation responsible
for training and arming militants across
the Middle East. At least 20,000 fighters are
involved in the Iraqi advance, mostly from militias
known as Hashid Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation)
units.
They are supported from the air by Iraqi jets,
although not directly by a US-led coalition which
has targeted IS positions elsewhere in Iraq and
Syria. Progress in the first three days of battle has
been steady, often delayed by snipers and bombs
on the road to Tikrit.
The advance has also been carefully prepared,
from the armoured bulldozers which dig berms
to protect advancing forces every evening, to the
sheikhs and “ideological guidance” units brought
along to raise morale.
— Agencies
P5+1 countries are Russia, China,
France, Britain and Germany, who
would all have to sign off on any deal.
Netanyahu has called for the powers
to insist Iran dismantle its nuclear
infrastructure and change what he
described as its “aggressive” regional
posture — an idea swiftly rejected by the
Obama administration as tantamount
to seeking “regime change” in Tehran.
Israel and Iran have been archenemies since 1979.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani,
elected in 2013 on a platform of
easing Iran’s isolation abroad through
diplomacy and a removal of sanctions
imposed on it, said Tehran was prepared
to accept greater nuclear scrutiny as part
of a deal.
“If the basis of these negotiations
is for increased transparency, we
will accept greater transparency,”
he said in a statement. “But if the
negotiations are trying to prevent
the people of Iran from (enjoying)
their inalienable right, in other words
advancement in science and technology,
it is very natural that Iran will
not accept such an understanding or
agreement.”
Kerry also sought to address the
concerns of Arab nations who fear that
a nuclear deal may simply leave Iran
with more cash and energy to pursue its
regional agenda, including supporting
Shi’ite Muslim groups in Yemen, Syria
and Lebanon’s political and militant
movement Hizbullah.
— Reuters
A military helicopter flies over clouds
of smoke as it tries to extinguish a fire
at Cairo International Convention
Centre on Wednesday. — Reuters
16 people injured
in fire at Cairo
convention centre
CAIRO: At least 16 people were
injured on Wednesday when a large
fire broke out at a convention centre in
a northeastern Cairo neighbourhood,
medical and security sources said.
The cause of the fire was not
immediately clear.
Firefighters spent more than two
hours battling the blaze, which state
media said earlier had reached the
main hall of the centre.
Health
Ministry
spokesman
Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said 16 people
were wounded in the fire.
Interior Ministry spokesman
Hani Abdellatif told state television
the initial investigation showed the
fire may have started in a closed
office and spread through central airconditioning vents.
— AFP
PITCH FOR JUSTICE
Algeria to host Libya crisis talks: UN
TRIPOLI: The United Nations said
on Wednesday that representatives
of Libyan leaders had been invited
for talks next week in Algeria as part
of efforts to resolve their country’s
conflict.
“The United Nations Support
Mission in Libya announces that a
meeting of representatives of Libyan
“Two MiG warplanes had targeted
the runway but they missed the target.
But they bombed the lighting system
which will force us to suspend all flights
after sunset, said an official. “The airport
is still working normally.” Fighting and
political leaders and activists will
convene early next week in Algeria,”
UNSMIL said.
“The mission continues to reach
out to leaders of armed groups to
work on reaching a ceasefire, and
urges all groups to constructively
engage with its efforts in this regard,”
it said in a statement. — AFP
air strikes have escalated even as the
UN prepares to restart negotiations
this week between the two factions in
an attempt to broker a ceasefire, form
a unity government and put Libya back
on track to stability.
— AFP
Members of civil society organisations protest against a controversial security bill in Ankara, on Wednesday. The ruling Justice
and Development Party (AKP) is seeking new ways to speed up legislation of the controversial homeland security package,
including plans to divide the 132-article bill into smaller pieces, amid strong resistance from the opposition.
— AFP
14
omandailyobserver
EUROPE
10 dead as migrant
boat capsizes off Sicily
T H U R S DAY
MARCH 5 l 2015
BOLSTERING IMAGE
IN BRIEF
Schoolchildren
build 5.4-metre
long paper boat
ONE-SIDED: Many of the passengers did not know how to swim
ROME: A boat capsized off Sicily when
the migrants aboard rushed to meet
rescuers, killing at least 10 people, the
Italian coastguard said on Wednesday.
“The migrants, as they frequently
do, all rushed to one side of the boat
which then capsised,” Italian coast guard
spokesman Filippo Marini told TV
station SkyTG24, adding many of the
passengers did not know how to swim.
Hundreds of people have died in
recent months as waves of migrants
from North Africa and Middle East
conflict zones attempt to reach Europe,
prompting criticism of rescue efforts.
The accident happened after a
tugboat for Libyan oil platforms
alerted authorities to the boat and an
Italian coast guard vessel — already
transporting 318 migrants who had
been rescued earlier — headed to the
scene.
Some 121 people were rescued after
the boat sank on Tuesday but at least 10
died.
Italy’s coastguard said it has carried
out seven rescue operations in less
than 24 hours, saving 941 migrants in
the Strait of Sicily, which separates the
Italian island from the North African
coast. Those rescued included more
than 30 children and about 50 women,
including one who was pregnant and
taken to hospital.
In January and February, around
7,900 migrants arrived on the Italian
coast, an increase of more than 43 per
cent over the same period last year,
according to figures from Italy’s interior
ministry.
An increasingly violent and chaotic
situation in Libya, a key jumping off
point for migrants, has prompted a hike
in the number of asylum seekers trying
to reach Europe.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR has
urged the European Union to do more
to save migrant lives after a string of
tragedies in the Mediterranean.
The deaths have highlighted the
limited means and scope of Triton, an
EU-run mission which took over in
November from the Italian navy’s Mare
Nostrum search and rescue operation.
HEARING FOR MURDER
Italy decided to scale back the
mission after its EU partners refused
to share running costs of around nine
million euros a month.
Triton, which comes under the
authority of the EU borders agency
Frontex, has a monthly budget of
2.9 million euros and its patrols are
generally restricted to the territorial
waters of EU member states.
UNHCR said at least 3,500 people
died out of more than 218,000 migrants
who crossed the Mediterranean, making
it the most deadly migrant route in the
world. People smuggling, however,
remains a lucrative business for the
traffickers who pack people onto vessels
of dubious quality for the dangerous
crossing. Some of the migrants rescued
in the Mediterranean in February told
UNHCR they had paid between $500$1,000 for their crossing in rubber
dinghies.
Boats routinely carry at least 100
people, which would mean $50,000$100,000 in cash paid to traffickers per
vessel. — AFP
MESSAGE
The elderly are
not aliens,
urges Pope
Ukrainian military pilot Nadezhda Savchenko (left) is escorted inside a court
building as she attends a hearing in Moscow. Savchenko, 33, was captured by proRussian forces and handed over eight months ago to Russia, where she was
imprisoned on charges of aiding the killing of two Russian journalists in east
Ukraine.
— Reuters
UKIP pledges to end
‘mass immigration’
LONDON: Britain’s anti-EU UK
Independence Party set out its
immigration policy on Wednesday
ahead of a national election on May 7,
dropping an idea to cap numbers but
saying it thought “the right number”
was less than 50,000 people a year.
UKIP, which has just two of 650 seats
in the lower house of parliament, hopes
to tap into public frustration about
rising immigration, which is currently
running at around 300,000 people net
per year despite a promise by Prime
Minister David Cameron to bring it
down to the “tens of thousands.”
UKIP leader Nigel Farage said his
party -- which threatens to split the
right-wing vote making it harder for
Cameron’s Conservatives to get reelected -- wanted to get the number of
immigrants coming to Britain back to
“normality.”
“Normality was what we had..right
up until nearly the year 2000 where we
had net migration into Britain running
at between 20,000 and 50,000 people a
year,” Farage told BBC radio.
“Since then we’ve gone mad.
In particular, we opened up the doors
to 10 former communist countries
and as a result of our European Union
membership we have absolutely zero
control over the numbers that come.
I’m going to bring it back to
normality.”
UKIP wanted to see an Australian-
UKIP leader Nigel Farage
said his party wants to get
the number of immigrants
coming to Britain
back to ‘normality’
style points system introduced, he
added, and to focus more on attracting
skilled immigrants as opposed to lowskilled ones.
UKIP would create a “migration
control commission” to oversee its
policy, increase border agency staff, and
stop new unskilled workers coming to
Britain for at least five years.
Cameron has promised but failed to
reduce net annual migration to the “tens
of thousands” by this year, denting his
Conservative Party’s credibility before
an unusually close election in which
immigration is a top voter concern.
UKIP is under pressure to flesh out
its policies after promising but failing to
unveil its manifesto last week.
Farage said the manifesto would
now be published in April.
UKIP’s decision not to cap annual net
migration at a specific level represents
a policy change which opponents said
sowed confusion about its stance.
“Nigel Farage seems to be making
it up as he goes along,” said George
Osborne, the Conservative finance
minister.
— AFP
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis urged
his followers at his weekly prayer on
Wednesday to show affection and
respect for the elderly, saying they
must not be treated as “aliens”.
“It’s a mortal sin to discard our
elderly,” said the pope, seen by his
supporters as a champion of the poor
and marginalised.
“The elderly are not aliens, we are
them, in a short or in a long while;
we are inevitably them, although we
choose not to think about it,” he told
12,000 followers gathered on Saint
Peter’s Square. “A society where the
elderly are discarded carries within it
the virus of death,” said the 78-yearold Argentinian pontiff.
The pope said that while life
expectancy has increased in recent
decades, old age is treated like “an
illness to be kept at arm’s length”.
He warned his followers: “If we do
not learn to look after and to respect
our elderly, we will be treated in the
same way.” Pope Francis, wearing
the mantle of a humble advocate for
the poor while defending Catholic
orthodoxy, rose from modest
beginnings to become, in 2013, the
first Latin American leader of the 1.2
billion-strong Church. — dpa
British Prime Minister David Cameron (L) greets Mexican President Enrique Pena
Nieto outside 10 Downing Street in central London. Mexican President Enrique
Pena Nieto vowed to strengthen the rule of law on Tuesday in a visit to Britain
aimed at bolstering a national image battered by crime and corruption.
— AFP
Ex-UK Royal Marine
killed fighting IS in Syria
LONDON: A former British Royal
Marine is believed to have become
the first Briton to be killed fighting
against IS fighters in Syria, his family
and a lawmaker said on Wednesday.
Erik Scurfield, 25, who went
to Syria on his own initiative as
a private citizen, died after being
hit by a mortar shell on Monday
fighting alongside Kurdish YPG
forces against IS fighters near Tal
Hamis in northeast Syria, a Kurdish
source close to YPG said.
“We are devastated to confirm the
death of our son Konstandinos Erik
Scurfield in Syria where he went to
support the forces opposing IS,” his
family said in a statement.
“His flame might have burned
briefly but it burned brightly with
love, courage, conviction and honour
and we are very proud of him.”
British parliamentarian Dan
Jarvis said the family, from Barnsley
in northern England, had come to
him a few weeks ago with concerns
about their son.
“Erik was an experienced former
Royal Marine who was horrified by
the atrocities being carried out by
ISIS,” Jarvis said in a statement.”
His family’s understanding was
that he travelled to Syria hoping to
provide medical and humanitarian
support as an expert in battlefield
Bulgaria’s
interior minister
resigns over spat
medicine.”
The Kurds, backed by US air
strikes and local rebel fighters, have
been pushing back IS in northern
Syria after the Al Qaeda offshoot
captured large tracts of land along
the border with Turkey.
Britain’s Foreign Office has
reiterated its warning for Britons not
to travel to the region.
“There is an issue that needs to
be addressed as Erik was certainly
not the first person to travel to
Syria to join forces resisting ISIS,”
said Jarvis.
Britain estimates some 600
British Muslims have travelled to the
region to join the conflict, including
Mohammed Emwazi, the Briton
revealed last week to be the masked
militant “John” who has fronted IS
videos of hostages being beheaded.
— Reuters
Moves on to curb dangerous, clandestine attempts to reach the EU
EU to speed up migration reforms
BRUSSELS:
The
European
Commission decided on Wednesday
to speed up work on a new migration
policy after a spate of tragedies in the
Mediterranean Sea, with a view in part
to improve legal migration and curb
dangerous, clandestine attempts to
reach the European Union.
Italy is struggling to cope with a
record influx of migrants.
Earlier on Wednesday, the coast
guard reported that ten people had
been found dead in the last 24 hours,
while 941 survivors were picked up in
rescue operations off the coast of Libya.
“Events
currently
in
the
Mediterranean really raise the sense
of urgency,” said commission VicePresident Frans Timmermans.
The new EU migration agenda is to
be presented in mid-May, two months
earlier than planned, he added.
It will focus on four priority areas,
Timmermans said: Improving the way
The new EU migration
agenda is to be presented
in mid-May, two months
earlier than planned, says
European Commission
Vice-President Frans
Timmermans
the current asylum system works; better
protecting EU borders; an “aggressive”
crackdown on illegal immigration and
human trafficking; and improving the
possibility of legal migration.
This also includes working with
migrants’ countries of origin and
transition, and ensuring that the rules
are applied by all member states, he
said.
“We need to put an end to
the blame game,” urged EU
BREMERHAVEN: A group of
German primary schoolchildren
are building a 5.4-metre boat with
a paper hull that they intend to sail,
an official at the German Seafaring
Museum revealed on Wednesday.
“Most paper boats are a maximum
of 3.2 metres long... and fall apart
after a week,” the museum’s head of
education Gero Klemke said of the
challenge he had set the children.
“Our boat is to last three years.”
The museum in the port of
Bremerhaven in the north of
Germany is advising the children
on the project, which they started
in September and which they hope
to complete for its maiden voyage in
June.
“Everyone has said that it won’t
work, but not the children,” Klemke
said.
Klemke had the idea and
persuaded his colleague and boatbuilder Axel Dohrmann to get on
board with the project.
Dohrmann
planned
and
calculated the structure of the boat
and gave the pupils advice on paper
and the appropriate glue to use.
The exterior of the boat will be
made from sheets of newspaper and
cardboard, not wood, which brings
certain challenges.
“We will build the paper boat like
a modern wooden boat,” Dohrmann
said. “Twenty-two layers would
actually be enough.
The paste will act like a coat of
lacquer.” When complete, the boat
will weigh 1.8 tonnes and be able to
carry a load of 750 kilograms. — dpa
Migration Commissioner Dimitris
Avramopoulos, adding that there are
limits to what the bloc can do.
Any new proposals will need the
sign-off of EU member states to come
into effect.
Migration is a touchy subject
however, amid fears that it could
put pressure on jobs at a time when
unemployment is high across much of
Europe.
Improving legal migration channels
and allowing people to apply for
asylum from their countries of origin
would not only help to combat illegal
smuggling, but could also benefit
Europe in the long run, according to
Avramopoulos.
“We certainly cannot ignore levels
of unemployment, but at the same time
we must also understand the needs of
our labour market,” the commissioner
said. “Europe is an ageing society and
we must not forget that.”
— dpa
SOFIA: Bulgaria’s interior minister
on Wednesday became the first
minister to resign from the country’s
four-month-old government after
a clash with Prime Minister Boyko
Borisov over top appointments.
Veselin Vuchkov’s (pictured),
resignation came hours before he
had been due to meet the US Federal
Bureau of Investigation head James
Comey, who is visiting Sofia to
discuss anti-terrorism and organised
crime measures.
Borisov opposed Vuchkov’s
plans to replace the chief of staff at
his ministry, the head of the state
security agency and a top technical
officer following allegations of
irregular wiretaps and information
leaks.
“The resignation was unexpected
but the premier Borisov accepted
it,” Rumyana Bachvarova, deputy
premier, told journalists.
The right-wing Borisov, who
took office in November seeking
to end several years of political
instability in the European Union’s
poorest country, is yet to name
Vuchkov’s successor, who will need
parliamentary approval.
Meanwhile, Bulgaria’s Deputy
Prime
Minister
Rumyana
Bachvarova has called the decision
of Interior Minister to resign
“unexpected”.
Commenting after a cabinet
meeting where Vuchkov surprisingly
stepped down, she declined to name
a potential successor to Vuchkov,
reminding this could only be in line
with the “quota” principle according
to which Bulgaria’s government was
composed last year.
— AFP
16
omandailyobserver
PANORAMA
T H U R S DAY
MARCH 5 l 2015
Hostesses from Sri Lanka’s stand pose at the International Tourism Trade Fair (ITB) in Berlin. The fair has over 10,000 exhibitors from around 190
countries. — Reuters
This picture shows the Nusa Kambangan island (back) from the air as Australians on death row Andrew Chan
and Myuran Sukumaran are placed at the maximum security prison in Cilacap in central Java island. The
Australian leader said his country was “revolted” by their looming deaths after frantic diplomatic efforts to
save them. — AFP
Rescuer Yulia Borisova (R) offers her hand to colleague and friend Alexander Savinich for a kiss during a rock climbing evacuation training session
on the Tsarskie Vorota (Tsar Gate) rock on the bank of the frozen Biryusa Bay of the Yenisei River near Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. Borisova, aged 44,
master of sports in alpinism and former Russian champion in mountaineering, is the only female member of the “Spasatel” (Rescuer) state
regional search and rescue service group. Dedicated and professional members of the service are trained to save people injured or aggrieved
by natural, technogenic and transport accidents on water, in mountains, caves, on rocks including earthquakes, avalanches, fires, explosions.
Millions of Russian men will acknowledge the women they love by presenting flowers and souvenirs to them on the International Women’s Day
marked on March 8. — Reuters
Blooming crocuses are pictured in Dresden, eastern Germany. — AFP
A combination photo shows the steering wheel movement from the left hand drive (top L) to the right hand drive (bottom R)
inside a Rinspeed Budii self-driving electric city car during the second press day ahead of the 85th International Motor Show in
Geneva. Mounted on a swivelling motorised arm the steering wheel can be used to drive from either side of the car. When not
in use the steering wheel rests in the middle of the dashboard (bottom R). — Reuters
French comedians Jeanne Piponnier, playing Barbarina (L) and Mounir Margoum playing l’Oiseau Vert
rehearse “l’Oiseau Vert” (The Green Bird) by Italian 18th Century author Carlo Gozzi, directed by French
Laurent Pelly, at the Theatre National de Toulouse. — AFP
Britain’s Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, paints a leaf on the back of an elephant sculpture with volunteers as he visits
the Wild Elephant Walkway in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan province. — Reuters
P19
P20
P21
Inside
Gulf Mushroom to double capacity UK agrees sale of 40pc Eurostar stake US mutual funds cut expenses FOLLOW US ON:
www.omanobserver.om
LSE LISTING: Topaz of Renaissance Services to be listed at the right time
Duqm PAC project to be
completed by mid-2016
VINOD NAIR
MUSCAT
Mar. 4: The 75 million Duqm
Permanent
Accommodation
for
Contractors (PAC) project, a joint
initiative by the Special Economic Zone
Authority (SEZAD) and Renaissance
Services, is on course to be completed
by mid-2016 with the remaining two
contracts to be awarded next month.
These include the one for the STB and
another for 11KV electricity substation,
both contracts to be worth around RO
2.5 million.
Stephen R Thomas OBE, CEO,
Renaissance Services, said that around
12 per cent of the work is complete
and when fully ready, the project will
bring additional RO 26 million to the
company. According to officials, the
employees residing here will be the key
human resources integral to the success
of the Duqm Special Economic Zone,
working on landmark projects such
as the oil refinery, port, dry dock and
international airport amongst others.
Renaissance Services is building safe,
attractive and modern staff residences
for the comfort and convenience
of workers, which will include
accommodation, a mosque, medical
clinics and retail outlets and will be
able to accommodate more than 16,000
employees. Duqm PAC’s permanent
accommodation, offers higher quality
than traditional temporary porta-cabins
at competitive costs through economies
of scale. The fully-developed complex
will be also maintained and operated by
Renaissance.
Renaissance has formed an SPV
company to own and develop the
project, Renaissance Duqm Holding
Company SAOC. Renaissance holds
51.9 per cent shares with the balance
48.1 per cent held by Royal Court
Affairs, Ministry of Defence Pension
Fund, Al Khonji Development and
Bank Muscat. The total investment for
the project is estimated at $195 million.
A spokesman for Renaissance said
“Through the Duqm PAC Project
Oman, and SEZAD, is showing the
world how it is possible to provide
world-class accommodation facilities
for
workforces,
at
unbeatable
competitive cost. We believe these
facilities shall provide dignified living
for our expatriate workforces, and
at the same time, provide quality
affordable accommodation to attract
TO PAGE 19
18
omandailyobserver
BUSINESS ALERT
EY conference focuses on significance of tax
OMAN
Association with the Khimji’s Watches will do justice to our masterpieces and
ensure us guaranteed performance”.
Kieninger clocks are a great combination of precious materials, exclusive
designs and technical precision. Says Anil Khimji, Director, Khimji Ramdas:
“State-of-the-art technology combined with selected woods, the finest materials
and the experience of more than 100 years in crafting clocks and clock movements
— Kieninger is truly a world class brand. Each Kieninger clock is a masterpiece
of horology. It has gained its well-deserved reputation due to hard work of its
owners. We look forward to a fruitful and lasting partnership with Kieninger”.
Geely cash-in promotion ends on March 14
MUSCAT: EY hosted a breakfast briefing session on the ‘Growing Significance
of Tax’ at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Muscat. The conference was attended by over
100 senior executives representing large businesses in Oman, and multinationals
from the US, Europe, Korea, Japan, China and several other countries.
The session featured discussions on the impact of falling oil prices on the
economic climate of Oman. It provided guidance on the future outlook of what
organisations should expect and how they should view taxation in the current
macroeconomic environment.
Ahmed al Esry, Office Managing Partner and Tax Partner at EY Oman, spoke
about the changes in Oman’s macroeconomic landscape, and the effects these
have on the evolving tax laws in the country.
Commenting about the session, Ahmed said: “With oil price being at a much
lower level than it was over the past few years, economic diversification and
reduction in oil dependence will have to be actively pursued. The Government
has nevertheless communicated its resolve to ensure that ongoing projects in the
country will not be affected, announcing its biggest ever budget-spend for 2015.”
The government is focusing on widening its revenue base. In line with this
objective, the 2015 budget tax revenue was increased by 25 per cent from RO
400 million to RO 500 million, despite no further increase in tax rates. This is
an indication of the Government’s confidence that the economy will continue
growing in 2015.
Ramesh Lakshminarayanan and Manjot Chug, Executive Tax Directors
at EY Oman, gave presentations on the expected developments in tax law and
practices in Oman such as tax compliance matters, withholding tax and transfer
pricing issues. Other topics discussed during the presentations included; the
current practices of the Secretariat General for Taxation (SGT) on issues related
to the filing of tax returns, the examinations of those returns, and the increasing
importance which the SGT is giving to withholding tax and transfer pricing
matters.
GEELY’S
cash-in
promotion that gives
you a guaranteed
cash gift of RO 1,000
on the Emgrand
X7 and Emgrand
8 models, RO 700
on the Emgrand 7
model, RO 651 on
the newly launched
GC7 model, RO 600
on the GX2 model and RO 500 on the GC2 model will end on March 14. This
offer is valid on Geely 2015 models with automatic transmission and empowers
you to buy a bigger and feature-rich car without stretching your budget.
A senior spokesperson of Towell Auto Centre (TAC), the sole distributors
of Geely range of vehicles in Oman explains: “Trusted quality, unbelievable
price, great value — this sum up the Geely’s ongoing cash-in offer. It is a perfect
opportunity to get feature loaded cars for yourself and your family. Businessmen
and employers can also use it to their advantage and add reliable and high
performance Geely cars to their fleet, without incurring any extra expenditure”.
By bringing the Geely range to the Sultanate, TAC has reinforced its
commitment to provide high-quality products and services to its customers in
Oman. With a network of 11 showrooms, 13 service outlets and 10 parts outlets
spread across Oman, TAC is one of the leading automobile distributors in the
region.
PAEW lauds Al Hassan Engineering
T H U R S DAY
MARCH 5 l 2015
support, quality and timely completion of the shutdown activities.
PAEW had awarded Al Hassan Engineering this significant contract in 2012
for the construction of phase 1 of the emergency water storage reservoirs project
in the Muscat Governorate as part of PAEWs contingency planning to increase
the water storage capacity to minimum 7 days for the Muscat Governorate.
Suzuki announces cash gift bonanza
SUZUKI announces amazingly
low price offer on all 2015 models
plus a generous cash gift bonanza
up to RO 1,500 making it a now
or never deal to all our valued
customers.
With the launch of this scheme,
buying a vehicle from the stables
of a trusted Japanese brand like
Suzuki has been made more affordable to all income groups according to Anil
Sethi, General Manager — Suzuki in Oman. The customers are getting far greater
value for money than ever before, Sethi further added. Easily, the best deals are on
the Suzuki Grand Vitara 2.4L 4WD AT (the most authentic 4X4 in its segment)
at a price offer starting from RO 8,395 only with a cash gift of RO 1,500, whilst
the SuzukiI Kizashi 2.4L AT (Sporty & Elegant Sedan) is priced from RO 7,895
only with a cash gift offer of RO 1,500, too. Likewise, your favourite SWIFT AT
is up for grabs from as low as RO 4,995 with a cash gift of RO 800 and the DZIRE
Sedan AT from as little as RO 4,695 with a cash gift offer of RO 800, too.
Suzuki Grand Vitara makes a perfect blend of an authentic 4X4 and a
dependable SUV providing enough family comfort & safety among the mid-size
4WD segment due to its Japanese origin and a 4-mode Drive Select 4WD system
plus LSCD (Limited Slip Centre Differential) feature, making it suitable and safe
for most kinds of off-road experiences & thrill. Moreover, even the base model is
equipped with ample safety and convenience features like the Dual Airbags, ABS/
EBD/BA, Full power options, Cruise Control, Alloy Wheels, etc, thus making it
an uncompromising 4x4 when it comes to family comforts and aspirations. Also
available on special offer are the Special Edition and Premium Models with more
luxury features to satiate your ultimate driving passion.
TRC holds workshop on business incubators
Khimji’s Watches brings ‘Kieninger’ to Oman
KHIMJI’S Watches, the one-stop destination for luxury, brings yet another
masterpiece in Oman straight from Germany — Kieninger clocks.
Founded in 1912 in the Black Forest Germany by Joseph Kieninger, Kieninger
is the eldest existing manufacturer of mechanical movements for grandfather
clocks, wall and mantel clocks in the world. A mechanical movement is one of the
most powerful engines of the world — it works full 24 hours without any break
and on every day of the year compared to other engines that have shorter lives.
Kieninger clocks excel with a high level of design and manufacturing quality.
Michael F Schutz, Managing Director, Kieninger is delighted. “We are
extremely happy with our tie-up with Khimji’s Watches. Kieninger clocks are
known for their high level of elegance, craftsmanship and reliability. To uphold
these values, Khimji’s Watches is the right choice for us — their brands, their
showroom and their level of services and professionalism is outstanding.
THE water supply in many areas of Muscat got affected from February 12 to 14 as
Public Authority for Electricity and Water (PAEW) embarked on the installation
of a new water transmission pipeline in the capital. The recent shutdown was
of particular significance for PAEW as it had never planned a long duration
combined shutdown of this scale before.
The shutdown also included Al Hassan Engineering Company’s (AHEC)
Emergency Water Reservoir Project’s ( EWR) five tie-in connections, three at the
Qurum site and two at the Ruwi site to connect with PAEWs system.
The team led by Muzammil Naqvi of Al Hassan started work at the designated
sites on February 12, at 11:30 am and were able to complete all its 5 Tie-ins on
the same day and the associated civil works on early morning of February 13,
that is well before its allocated time and to the entire satisfaction of PAEW and
consultants Sogreah. PAEW has in particular appreciated AHEC’s arrangements,
THE Research Council, represented by the science parks department of the
Innovation Park Muscat (IPM) project inaugurated on Tuesday a three-day
workshop on business incubators and science parks management organised in
cooperation with the Isfahan Science & Technology Town (ISTT) at Hormuz
Grand Muscat Hotel.
The workshop that is being held from March 3-6 under the auspices of
Dr Hilal bin Ali al Hinai, Secretary-General of the Council, and with broad
participation of officials and specialists from several destinations in the Sultanate,
aims at introducing speakers from the Islamic Republic of Iran, to take advantage
of their expertise and experience in the field of business incubators and scientific
areas management, as well as familiarising the participants with the experience of
Isfahan City for Science and Technology as one of the largest and oldest, located
in Iran’s scientific cities and how to use them and in line with the visions and
aspirations Oman, as well as the exchange of experiences and information on
how to implement such incubators successfully, with participants from the local
authorities.
It also addresses the workshop shed light on the business incubators that focus
their efforts to embrace innovation and scientific ideas, and the mechanism that
should be followed to provide appropriate support and help innovators to turn
ideas into real products are displayed in the market and to the benefit of rewarding
the individual and society and thus contribute to the sustainable development of
the Sultanate through the shift towards knowledge-based economy, and open
prospects for integration with the private sector enterprises and attract them
specialists in manufacturing and production.
Bank Muscat’s biometric ID system
enhances customer service
SECURE SERVICE: The NID enables accurate data capture during
banking transactions, especially when opening new accounts
BUSINESS REPORTER
MUSCAT
Mar. 4: A state-of-the-art biometric
identification system launched by Bank
Muscat in collaboration with the Royal
Oman Police (ROP) has evoked high
appreciation in view of enhancing
customer service in branch transactions.
The biometric system compatible
with
the
Sultanate’s
national
identification card (NID) is the first of
its kind in the banking sector in Oman.
The unique biometric identification
system available across the bank’s
network of 139 branches provides the
latest solution in national identity for
banking services.
Aimed at improving efficiency and
speed of transaction processing, the
NID enables accurate data capture
during banking transactions, especially
when opening new accounts.
The facility enhances customer
experience with a one-touch customer
identification
and
transaction
authentication process.
In line with the e-governance
initiative of the government, the new
facility is faster, convenient and risk free
for secure banking transactions.
Bank Muscat collaborated with
the ROP in introducing the biometric
system in all branches, aimed at
enhancing secure service to customers
and the general public.
The facility underscores the bank’s
commitment to investment in latest
technologies to provide innovative
services.
Saleh al Maaini, Senior Regional
Manager — North & West Muscat, South
Batinah & Dhahirah governorates,
said: “As the flagship bank in Oman,
Bank Muscat is focused on introducing
innovative systems defining new trends
in banking services and improving
customer experience.
The biometric system reflects our
commitment to provide the ‘best in
class’ service as Bank Muscat continues
to invest in cutting edge technology and
IT infrastructure.
It is this dedication and commitment
to service that has made Bank Muscat
the flagship bank in Oman.
Our ability and flexibility to adapt,
innovate and provide customised
solutions have made us unique in the
market.
The bank’s dynamic ‘Let’s Do
More’ vision reflects the readiness to
leverage on investments in state-ofthe-art technology and services to
further increase efficiency and improve
customer service.
Bank Muscat enjoys an edge in hitech products and services in tune
with the country moving towards
e-governance.”
To authenticate banking transactions
at Bank Muscat branches, the national
identification card is required to be
inserted in the biometric machine and
customers have to validate their identity
by scanning their finger print on the
machine.
The one-touch process is convenient,
faster and risk-free for secure
transactions.
The unique facility is available across
the entire network of Bank Muscat
branches in the Sultanate.
Bank Muscat remains committed
to excellence in providing innovative
banking solutions.
OMAN
T H U R S DAY
MARCH 5 l 2015
omandailyobserver
19
EXPANSION PLAN: The construction of new mushroom growing capacity is in the design and approval stages
Gulf Mushroom to double production capacity
CONRAD PRABHU
MUSCAT
Mar. 4: Oman’s Gulf Mushroom
Products Co SAOG, which operates the
largest high-tech mushroom farming
facility in the Middle East, plans to
double its capacity on the back of strong
exports and burgeoning domestic
demand for its fresh produce.
The company is moving ahead with
a strategy envisaging investments in
a new compost manufacturing plant
at Thamrait in Dhofar Governorate,
as well as the construction of new
mushroom growing rooms alongside
its existing facilities in Barka. The goal,
according to the Chairman of the Board
of Directors, is to boost the company’s
mushroom production capacity by 100
per cent.
Khamis bin Mubarak al Kiyumi
said in the Directors’ report of the
company’s 2014 performance that a
number of steps have already been
initiated in driving Gulf Mushroom’s
expansion plans. Suitable land for the
compost plant has been allocated by the
government in Thamrait, with contracts
already in place with reputed vendors
for the supply of plant machinery.
“Construction of new mushroom and approval stages. The company and clearances will be received and
growing capacity is in the design believes that the remaining approvals construction of the new compost plant
Duqm PAC project to be
completed by mid-2016
FROM PAGE 17
Omani employees to the great job
opportunities that will arise in Duqm.”
The Duqm PAC will be a key enabler
and infrastructure for all investors and
projects in Duqm who can be assured
that employees are taken care of to
international standards so that they in
turn can focus on their core activities.
Thomas said that the project has
been developed with a long-term
strategy and any shortfall in demand
due to prevailing circumstances like the
falling oil prices will not have a major
impact on the sustainability of the
Duqm PAC. He said the company is in
talks with major projects like the Duqm
Refinery that are coming up to offer
affordable accommodation to their
employees. The room rates will range
from RO 4.620 per day (Sharing) to
RO 9.240. There will be single and
executive options.
Earlier, Yahya bin Said al Jabri,
Chairman, Special Economic Authority
at Duqm (SEZAD), visited and
reviewed the progress of Duqm PAC.
Meanwhile, the group company
Topaz will be listed probably in
the London stock exchange at the
appropriate time over a period ranging
next two to three years.
Omani stone, marble producers
to participate in China fair
BUSINESS REPORTER
MUSCAT
Mar. 4: Global construction is expected
to rise by more than 70 per cent to $15
trillion or 13.5 per cent of global GDP
by 2025 and China will account for a
quarter of that.
In an effort to capitalise on this
construction boom, Ithraa is taking a
group of six Omani marble and stone
producers to exhibit at the Xiamen
International Stone Fair in China,
March 6-9, 2015. The four-day fair is
expected to bring together over 2,000 of
the world’s leading stone suppliers.
Nasima al Balushi (pictured),
Ithraa’s Director General of Export
Development, said: “If Omani stone
and marble producers want to get a
strong foothold in Asia, then Xiamen
is the right trade show to achieve that.
It is estimated that by 2030 more than
55 per cent of Asia’s population will live
in cities. The building industry in these
emerging markets is growing and we
want our producers to get a slice of that
business.”
Fuelled by a revival in the demand
for natural stone over the past ten years,
the industry has seen sharp rises in
output production..
Joining Ithraa in Xiamen will be
representatives from Al Rawas Stone &
Granite; Al Turki Enterprises; Hamood
Al Rashidi & Bros Trading Company;
Gulf Mining Materials Company; Al
Shanfari Marble Company; and Al
Zerabi Trading Establishment.
“Participating in Xiamen gives us
an extraordinary opportunity to tap
into one of the world’s fastest growing
markets, meet with existing clients as
well as forge ties with new customers.
From a marketing perspective, it is a
highly important trade show and we
have every intention of maximising
our participation and winning new
business,” remarked Bernardo Garcia,
Marketing Manager, Al Rawas Marble
& Granite.
In September 2014, the Sultanate
participated at the 49th annual
International Trade Fair for Stone
Design and Technology (Marmomacc)
held in Verona, Italy, where local
companies secured over export 100
orders. The agreements each worth
between $7,000 and $12,000 saw
Omani marble exported to Denmark,
Italy, Tunisia, Spain and Egypt.
and growing rooms will be completed in
due course,” the Chairman stated.
Established
in
1997,
Gulf
Mushroom’s Barka facilities currently
produce around nine tonnes daily
of its mainstay Champignon de
Paris mushrooms alongside some
quantities of giant white, brown button,
portabella and baby white button
mushrooms. Cultivation of premium
oyster mushroom was also trialled
during 2014. Significantly, around 90
per cent of Gulf Mushroom’s output is
exported, primarily to countries in the
Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions.
Production totalled 3,358 metric tonnes
in 2014, up 3 per cent from 3,260 metric
tonnes during the previous year.
Exports generated RO 5.5 million in
sales revenues for the company in 2014,
up from RO 5.311 million a year earlier.
Total revenue for the year climbed 4
per cent to RO 6.139 million, from
RO 5.902 million in 2013. Net profit
after tax however fell 36 per cent to RO
326,000, from the previous year’s net
earnings of RO 511,000 — a decline
attributed to the higher cost of sourcing
compost from the market in the wake
of the government-mandated closure
of its existing compost making facility
in 2013.
MUSCAT SECURITIES MARKET
20
omandailyobserver
OMAN/INTERNATIONAL
T H U R S DAY
MARCH 5 l 2015
All-new Kia ‘Hawk-eyed Sorento SUV’ launched
3G: The third-generation Sorento is a unique blend of style, confidence and practical technology
MUSCAT: At a specially organised event
at Muscat, the all-new, third generation
Kia Sorento 7-seater SUV was formally
launched in Oman.
Speaking on the occasion SM Kim,
Deputy General Manager, Kia Middle
East and Africa remarked, “Kia Motors
continues to cement its position as one
of the world’s fastest growing auto brand.
Kia plans to leverage its strong Dynamic
and Stylish product identity with the
exciting features in their cars to realise
its vision to become the Most Desirable
Brand”.
Earlier during the day, representatives
from various reputed magazines and
newspaper publications took part in
the local journalists test drive event for
new Sorento organised on the route
to Sidab — Shangrila’s Barr Al Jissah.
This was followed by the launch event
at Kia showroom in the evening where
esteemed customers of Kia were invited
to get a first look of the new Sorento.
The third-generation version of
Sorento, Kia’s popular SUV is a unique
blend of style, confidence and practical
technology. Its smoother, swept-back
profile and deeply sculpted surfaces
introduce a greater level of sophistication.
The cabin has a ‘Premium’ feel with space
for up to seven occupants and numerous
innovative features.
The designers of the Kia Sorento
named their inspiration for the new
car as ‘Streetwolf ’. Although the
styling changes are evolutionary, they
subtly alter the character of the new
Sorento, highlighting its sleek, sinuous
profile, while creating a sophisticated
appearance and ensuring the new model
has a bolder on-the-road presence. It
comes with class leading 19” chrome
alloy wheels in its top grade.
The styling of the cabin follows a
‘modern and wide’ theme. This is evident
through the horizontal layout of the
instrument cluster, interior trim and the
wrap-around dashboard, which extends
into the door trims. A higher proportion
of soft-touch materials and leather
creates a modern luxury feel to the cabin
and gives the new Sorento the ambience
of a genuinely premium interior space.
This 7-seater AWD also has class leading
space bigger than its competitors.
One of the most distinctive
interior styling features is the Swiss
watch-inspired user interface, which
UK agrees sale of 40pc Eurostar stake
to British and Canadian funds
LONDON: Britain agreed to sell its 40
per cent stake in the Eurostar rail link
for £585 million ($899.79 million) to a
consortium comprising the Canadian
public pension fund Caisse de Depot du
Placement du Quebec (CDPQ) and the
British asset manager Hermes.
The government announced the deal
for its stake in the high-speed rail link
between Britain and continental Europe
on Wednesday following a competitive
sale process begun in October by
Finance Minister George Osborne.
Osborne said the price tag had
“exceeded expectations”. According
to 2013/14 government accounts, the
share capital value of the stake was £325
million. Investment bank UBS advised
the government on the sale.
The deal is part of a trend for
institutional investors such as pension
funds and insurers to push into
infrastructure projects as they are
squeezed by low interest rates globally.
Such investments are high-yielding
and match the long-term liabilities in
pension and savings schemes, but a
lack of attractive schemes has pushed
up prices. The finance ministry said it
expected the deal to be completed by the
second quarter of 2015.
The consortium, Patina Rail LLP,
will result in CDPQ, which has an
infrastructure investment portfolio
valued at more than C$10 billion ($8.02
billion), owning a 30 per cent stake in
Eurostar. Hermes Infrastructure, part of
British-based fund Hermes Investment
Management, will take a 10 per cent
stake.
The sale is part of a national plan to
raise £20 billion by selling off publicly
owned assets to pay down Britain’s
national debts and help rebalance the
country’s books.
The deal will generate an additional
£172 million for the UK. Treasury
upon completion because Eurostar has
agreed to redeem the government’s
preference shares, a finance ministry
statement said.
The remaining 60 per cent of
Eurostar is held by French rail operator
SNCF, which has a 55 per cent stake, and
Belgian national rail operator SNCB,
which has a 5 per cent stake. — Reuters
US plans will encompass traditional advertising and online promotion
Huawei plans big push to sell its
phones, wearable devices in US
SAN FRANCISCO/BEIJING: Two
years after US legislators branded
it a national security threat, China’s
Huawei Technologies Co Ltd is
planning a campaign to win over US
consumers, rolling out new mobile
phones and wearable devices backed
by a marketing effort. China’s secondlargest smartphone maker, already with
more than $40 billion in annual revenue
from a wide range of telecom gear and
products, is preparing to introduce
Americans to several of its smartphones
and wearable devices this year, including
its youth-oriented “Honor” phone,
Huawei officials said.
The company’s 2015 US plans, which
have not been previously reported,
will encompass traditional advertising,
online promotion and sports team
sponsorships, said Huawei’s US
spokesman Bill Plummer.
Huawei is changing its approach to
marketing as it tries to shed its image
as a purveyor of cheap technology
products — a common perception issue
for many Chinese companies.
It’s an important shift for a company
that for years had been single-mindedly
focused on engineering and relatively
dismissive of consumer branding.
In December, it touted its new Honor
6 Plus phone on a billboard in New
York’s Times Square. Plummer said that
was “a sign of things to come.”
He declined to say how much
Huawei will spend on its new marketing
campaign or what sports team, or teams,
it had in mind.
It already sponsors London soccer
club Arsenal, cricket teams in India and
rugby clubs in Australia. At the Mobile
World Congress over the weekend in
Barcelona, Huawei took the wraps off a
smartwatch that will be sold in over 20
countries including the US Huawei now
intends to appeal directly to consumers
with several new phone models, both
low-end and high-end.
It hopes to secure deals with carriers,
selling online through marketplaces,
such as the one operated by Amazon.
com, and on its own fledgling gethuawei.
com US direct-sales website.
It’s unclear how open the carriers,
who dominate US sales, would be to
carrying phones from Huawei, a brand
that remains unknown to the majority
of American smartphone users.
Reviews of its high-end phones,
which can cost hundreds of dollars
without a plan, have been generally
positive.
Still, the US market is dominated by
Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics.
None of the four biggest US carriers
— Verizon, AT&T, Sprint or T-Mobile
— currently sell Huawei phones on their
websites and all declined to say whether
they have had talks with the Chinese
company. Huawei said in 2013 it would
focus on other markets after its products
were labelled a national security risk in
a US Congressional report, which said
Beijing could use Huawei equipment for
spying.
— Reuters
incorporates Kia’s latest HMI (humanmachine
interface)
technologies,
surrounded by a new silver-look frame.
The Smart Power Tailgate automatically
opens when the key is ‘sensed’ in close
proximity to the trunk, so owners can
load their shopping bags or heavy
objects straight into the vehicle. The
rear tailgate opens automatically when
the Smart Key is detected nearby for
3 seconds or more and closes with a
simple push of a button. A new 7-inch
colour TFT LCD screen, with an electroluminescent instrument cluster and
digital speedometer, further improves
the modern form and function of the
interior while displaying all relevant
journey information which the driver
can select from the multi-function
steering wheel. Arabic language interface
in the supervision cluster can be chosen
by the driver for better localisation.
Two engines are available with the
new Sorento, offering power outputs
ranging from 169 to 267 hp including
2.4-litre and 3.3-litre multi-point
injection (MPI) engines. The all-new
Sorento is designed to offer greater midand low-range torque, providing the
smooth operation that drivers would
expect from an SUV.
The all-new Sorento’s Vehicle
Stability Management (VSM) system
helps ensure the car remains stable when
simultaneously braking and cornering,
particularly on low-grip surfaces, by
carefully controlling both the Electronic
Stability Control (ESC) and R-MDPS.
Both systems are activated as soon as
the car’s sensors detect a loss in traction,
helping the driver to remain safely in
control of the vehicle. The Sorento offers
BIZ BRIEF
Apple edges out
Samsung, retakes
smartphone
throne
WASHINGTON: Apple overtook
Samsung to regain the top position in
global smartphone sales in the fourth
quarter, a market tracker said.
The survey by Gartner found
Apple grabbed a 20.4 per cent share of
smartphone sales to end users, boosted
by the introduction of its large-screen
iPhones. The California giant sold some
74.8 million handsets, the survey found.
South Korea’s Samsung meanwhile
saw its share tumble to 19.9 per cent,
as its smartphone sales dropped to 73
million units.
Other surveys showed Apple and
Samsung in a virtual tie, but Gartner
showed a clear lead for the US firm.
“Samsung continues to struggle
to control its falling smartphone
share, which was at its highest in the
third quarter of 2013. This downward
trend shows that Samsung’s share
of profitable premium smartphone
users has come under significant
pressure,” said Gartner analyst Anshul
Gupta. Gartner analyst Roberta
Cozza said Apple is dominating
the premium phone market and
Chinese manufacturers gaining an
increasing share of the market for
low-cost handsets. Cozza added that
Samsung needs “a solid ecosystem of
apps, content and services unique to
Samsung devices” to gain loyalty and
make inroads in the higher end.
Samsung this week unveiled its new
Galaxy S6, its flagship device aimed at
competing with the iPhone 6, as well
as a new S6 Edge “phablet” which takes
aim at the iPhone 6 Plus.
Gartner reported global
smartphone sales rose 28.4 per
cent in 2014 to 1.2 billion units, and
represented two-thirds of global mobile
phone sales. China’s Lenovo — which
acquired US-based Motorola last year
— was the third largest vendor both in
the fourth quarter and the full year, with
fellow Chinese maker Huawei in fourth
place.
China’s Xioami grabbed the number
five spot in the final three months of
the year, but South Korea’s LG held that
position for full-year sales.
— AFP
6 air bags — driver, front passenger, two
front-side and two side-curtain airbags
to help protect occupants and potentially
reduce injuries in the event of collision.
The Sorento uses more than 53 per
cent Advanced High Strength Steel
(AHSS). This exceptional steel reinforces
the front, rear and sides as well as High
stress points throughout the body. AHSS
having much higher tensile strength
greatly improves the collision safety
ratings, very low cabin noise, longer
durability along with considerable
weight reduction.
The third generation Sorento has a
wealth of ‘active’ safety technologies;
BSD (Blind-Spot Detection); Adaptive
Front Lighting System (AFLS) which
steer headlamps in the direction of the
steering for making improved night time
viewing; and RCTA (Rear Cross-Traffic
Alert), which warns against other cars
driving behind the Sorento in car parks.
The all-new Kia Sorento has been
awarded a ‘Top Safety Pick’ rating by the
USA’s Insurance Institute for Highway
Safety (IIHS) — an independent,
nonprofit scientific and educational
organisation dedicated to road safety.
The all-new Sorento has already been
awarded the maximum five-star crash
safety rating by Euro NCAP.
ITV to return £250m via special dividend
LONDON: British broadcaster ITV plans
to return £250 million ($383.5 million) to
shareholders via a special dividend after
posting a better-than-expected 2014
profit and seeing strong demand from
advertisers in the first quarter.
The home of Downton Abbey said it
had started 2015 well, with net advertising
revenue now forecast to be up 11 per cent
in the first quarter, and up 4-7 per cent in
April. That compares to the 6 per cent net
advertising growth it recorded in 2014.
ITV, which has sought to develop
its production capabilities and nonadvertising revenue sources to avoid
being at the mercy of ad markets, said its
non-ad based revenue was now up 10
per cent to make up 45 per cent of total
revenue.
The one weakness within the results
however was the group’s share of viewing,
which has dragged this year.
It fell 5 per cent in 2014, compared
with a 4 per cent rise in 2013, and ITV said
this was in large part due to a weaker
performance from its main ITV1 channel.
It said it would increase investment in
the programme schedule to reverse this
trend. Full-year pre-tax profit was up 23
per cent to £712 million, compared with
a forecast of £681 million according to
Thomson Reuters data.
It also increased its full-year dividend
by 34 per cent.
“ITV delivered another strong
performance in 2014 as we continue
to rebalance the business, drive new
revenue streams and invest in our future
growth,” ITV Chief Executive Adam Crozier
said.
— Reuters
An exhibitor arranges jewellery behind a window display at the Hong Kong
International Jewellery Show yesterday. More than 4,300 exhibitors from 52
countries and regions are taking part in the show which began yesterday and
will end on March 8, according to the organisers.
— Reuters
Ryanair open to offer for Aer Lingus stake
DUBLIN: Ryanair said it will consider any
offer for its stake in Aer Lingus, which is
currently being pursued for a takeover by
British Airways owner IAG.
London-listed International Airlines
Group is drumming up support for its 1.35
billion euro ($1.51billion) bid for Aer Lingus
but needs the support of Ryanair, which
holds almost 30 per cent of the former Irish
national carrier.
IAG is also looking to convince the
Irish government to sell its 25.1 per
cent stake, with Dublin stating it needs
further commitments on connectivity and
employment.
Ryanair Chief Executive Michael
O’Leary said on Tuesday that the group
had not been approached directly by IAG
about selling its stake — but indicated it
was open to an offer. “We’ve always said
the stake is for sale. What would comprise
an offer that’s acceptable to the board of
Ryanair, I can’t comment on,” O’Leary told
reporters at a press conference in London.
“Our position is: Our stake is available
for sale, if someone comes up with the
right offer that the board considers to be
acceptable.”
Back in January, the Aer Lingus board
said it was “willing to recommend” a
takeover approach worth 2.55 euros per
share — subject to certain conditions.
O’Leary added on Tuesday that
Ryanair would also be seeking assurances
over IAG’s future plans for Aer Lingus —
particularly on the issue of competition.
Ryanair had previously made three
separate bids for Irish rival Aer Lingus, all of
which failed on competition grounds. “One
of the big areas of discussion between
ourselves and IAG will be what kind of
competition remedies will IAG have to offer
up to the European Commission in order to
allow a takeover to take place,” said O’Leary.
PERSPECTIVE
T H U R S DAY
MARCH 5 l 2015
EURO
omandailyobserver
21
SURVIVAL
Despite Greece, euro zone is turning the corner
T
he latest episode of
Greece’s debt crisis has
revived doubts about
the long-term survival
of the euro, nowhere
more so than in
London, Europe’s main financial centre
and a hotbed of Euro scepticism.
The heightened risk of a Greek
default and/or exit comes just as there
are signs that the euro zone is turning
the corner after seven years of financial
and economic crisis and that its perilous
internal imbalances may be starting to
diminish.
To sceptics, the election of a radical
leftist-led government in Athens
committed to tearing up Greece’s bailout
looks like the start of an unravelling
of the 19-nation currency area, with
southern countries rebelling against
austerity while EU paymaster Germany
rebels against further aid.
A last-ditch deal to extend Greece’s
bailout for four months after much
kicking and screaming between Athens
and Berlin did little to ease fears that
the euro zone’s weakest link may end
up defaulting on its official European
creditors.
US economist Milton Friedman’s
aphorism — “What is unsustainable will
not be sustained” — is cited frequently
by those who believe market forces will
eventually overwhelm the political will
that holds the euro together.
Countries that share a single currency
cannot devalue when their economies
lose competitiveness, as occurred in
southern Europe in the first decade of
the euro’s existence.
There is no mechanism for large fiscal
transfers between member states.
So the only option has been a
wrenching “internal devaluation” by
countries on the periphery of the euro
area, involving real wage, pension
and public spending cuts and mass
unemployment that has caused deep
social distress.
Austerity has fuelled radical forces of
political protest and may be running out
of democratic road — not just in Greece
— but none of the alternative ways out
of the euro zone’s economic divergence
dilemma looks remotely plausible.
“The history of the gold standard
tells us that an asymmetric adjustment
process involving internal devaluation in
debtor countries, with no corresponding
inflation in the core, is unlikely to be
economically or politically sustainable,”
economic historians Kevin O’Rourke
and Alan Taylor wrote in the Journal of
Economic Perspectives in 2013.
“What is desirable for the euro zone
may not be feasible.”
Germany has so far been unwilling
to see either higher inflation, debt
forgiveness, issuing common euro zone
bonds or cross-border fiscal transfers.
There is scant support anywhere for
closer political and economic integration
of the euro area.
“The strategy of the euro zone has
been to wait for something to turn
up,” says a senior figure in the British
financial establishment, who observed
the euro zone crisis from close up but
outside.
“In the 1930s, World War Two turned
up. Maybe something else will turn
up,” he said, speaking on condition of
anonymity.
A man walks past a graffito in Athens referring to the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, calling him the “Great”, and reading
“God Save the Drachma Mein Merkel”. — AFP
The European Central Bank has acted
at key moments to hold the euro zone
together, vowing in 2012 to do “whatever
it takes” to save the currency and now
launching a massive programme of
buying government bonds to spur the
economy and avert deflation.
ECB action can only buy time for
governments to implement structural
economic reforms that could close the
competitiveness gap by raising potential
growth over time.
But countries like France and Italy
largely failed to use that breathing space
in 2013-14 to shake up labour markets,
pension and welfare systems.
Yet things can go right as well as
wrong.
“The strategy of the euro
zone has been to wait for
something to turn up.
In the 1930s, World War
Two turned up. Maybe
something else will turn up.”
A nascent cyclical recovery in the
euro zone, aided by lower oil prices, a
weaker euro and ECB money-printing,
may narrow the imbalances that have led
sceptics to predict the euro’s demise.
Ireland and Spain, which have
been through the wringer of austerity
programmes and structural reforms in
return for European assistance, are now
INVESTMENT
TECH ECONOMY
US mutual funds cut expenses by
shifting billions to trusts
M
utual
fund
companies, including
No
2
Fidelity
Investments,
have
slashed fees on their
most popular funds by shifting billions of
dollars into collective trusts not regulated
by the US Securities and Exchange
Commission.
The growing shift to collective trusts
could prove a weapon for actively
managed mutual funds losing out to
low cost passive investment products
such as the exchange-traded funds
offered by rivals such as Vanguard
Group, the biggest mutual fund
company.
For investors, one drawback is
less transparency about the risks and
performances of their holdings.
“CITs are more opaque to the
outside world because reporting
requirements are not as stringent,” said
Michael Rawson, Manager of Research
at Morningstar Inc.
Retirement plans sponsored by
Delta Air Lines Inc cut fees by 23 per
cent last year when they shifted an
estimated $1 billion in assets managed
by Fidelity’s Contrafund into a
collective investment trust (CIT).
“The lower the expense of a fund,
the less money taken out of overall
earnings, which can translate into
better returns for investors,” Delta said
in a letter to employees. The airline
declined further comment.
The $107 billion Contrafund, a
staple offering in 401(k) and other
US retirement plans, still manages
the money, but the Delta assets are no
longer regulated by the SEC.
Instead, the primary regulator is
the state banking commissioner of
Massachusetts, where the Fidelity
Management Trust Company is
chartered.
As with other CITs, investors do not
receive an SEC-required prospectus,
a lengthy document that spells out
investment objectives and risk.
Ticker symbols and ratings from
independent research firms such as
the fastest growing economies in the
currency bloc.
Portugal too is perking up.
German wages are rising faster than
prices, giving a boost to consumer
spending and raising the prospect that
inflation in the bloc’s biggest economy
may outpace the rate in southern Europe
for several years.
That would make economic
adjustment more symmetrical, and less
agonising for the south.
There are also signs that France and
Italy, the euro zone’s second and third
largest economies, are finally tackling
some of the economic reforms that
politicians long feared to touch, albeit at
a slow and gradual pace.
French President Francois Hollande’s
government has just rammed through a
bill to loosen some shackles on business
such as Sunday trading and plans new
steps to ease labour regulation.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi
has introduced a jobs act to ease hiring
and firing and is making progress on
reform to streamline parliament and the
electoral system.
“Spain shows that reform is possible
to create a growth environment and
significant job creation,” said Luigi
Speranza, co-head of European
economics at BNP Paribas bank in
London. ‘‘The return of growth could
make it easier for Renzi to make reforms
in Italy, and Hollande in France.”
The European Commission’s budget
leniency for Paris and Rome may assist
that process by rewarding them for
planned growth-enhancing reforms
with more time to cut their deficits and
debt.
Another encouraging sign is that
lending to businesses in Italy and Spain
is picking up following last year’s ECB
stress tests of European banks and their
interest rates are falling, narrowing the
gap with the euro zone core.
“What worries me is that some of
the factors behind the rebound are
temporary,” Speranza said. ‘‘Structural
reforms could make that more
sustainable and build confidence.”
A Greek default or exit from the
euro zone — whether by “Grexident” or
intention — could shatter that returning
trust, even though Athens accounts for
just two per cent of the bloc’s economy.
So Greece’s fate remains entwined
— Reuters
with the euro’s survival.
“The lower the expense of a
fund, the less money taken
out of overall earnings,
which can translate into
better returns for investors.”
Morningstar also are not generally
available, according to analysts.
And the regulator for one CIT can
differ from another, depending on
where the trust is chartered, meaning
they could be subject to different law.
Invesco’s is the Texas banking
commission, for example, and
BlackRock’s is the Office of the
Comptroller of the Currency, a bureau
of the US Treasury Department.
Assets in CITs are surging because
they can have significantly lower
overhead costs than the average mutual
fund.
CITs can only be offered to qualified
retirement plans such as 401(k)s
and analysts say their less stringent
reporting requirements translate into
lower operating expenses for fund
companies.
Meanwhile, there has been a rash
of lawsuits in which employees accuse
their employers of charging excessive
fees in their 401(k) retirement plans.
Late last month, for example, the
US Supreme Court appeared set to
revive certain claims in a class-action
lawsuit against Edison International
by employees who accused the utility
of favouring higher-cost mutual funds
over-lower cost ones in its retirement
plan.
“These excessive fee cases will drive
more retirement plan sponsors to look
at collective investment trusts,” said
Kevin Lyman, assistant general counsel
at Invesco Ltd, which manages about
$61 billion in CIT assets.
In recent years, research firms have
estimated that CIT assets would top $2
trillion in 2015.
But a Reuters analysis of disclosures
by trust banks, including ones operated
by BlackRock Inc, State Street Inc and
Wellington Management, reveal that
figure was easily surpassed in 2014.
BlackRock and State Street’s trust
banks alone reported a combined
$2.22 trillion in CIT-related assets at
the end of 2014, according to banking
disclosures.
Fidelity’s latest disclosure, the end
of March 2014, showed $43.3 billion
in CIT assets, up nearly $8 billion from
the end of 2013.
Indeed, 60 per cent of defined
contribution plans offered collective
trusts in 2014, up from 52 per cent
the previous year, according to a study
by Callan Associates Inc, a consultant
to institutional investors. To be sure,
mutual funds remain the staple
investment in defined contribution
retirement plans such as 401(k)s.
“But large-cap equity managers
have the most pressure to lower fees,”
said John Akkerman, head of global
distribution at MacKay Shields, an
investment management company
and unit of New York Life Insurance
Company.
Invesco’s Lyman said regulation
of collective trusts may get a slightly
lighter touch because retirement plan
sponsors serve as fiduciaries, offering a
layer of oversight to participants.
“Like SEC regulation of a
hedge fund, there’s an element of a
sophisticated investor being involved,
the retirement plan,” Lyman said.
The US Department of Labour
and the Internal Revenue Service also
provide oversight, he said.
CITs have been around since the
1920s, but actively managed mutual
funds have a renewed sense of urgency
in using them because each year for the
past several years they have lost tens of
billions of dollars in assets to passive
index funds.
In 2014, for example, investors made
net withdrawals of $98 billion from
actively managed stock funds while
pumping $167 billion into passive stock
investments such as exchange-traded
funds, according to Morningstar Inc.
— Reuters
Old-economy sectors
are now tech, too
F
orget about old economy and new economy. Everything is
now part of the tech economy, a prominent US research panel
said. New technologies ranging from cloud computing to data
analytics are transforming virtually all industries, including
old-economy sectors like manufacturing, said the report by the National
Academy of Engineering.
Manufacturing can no longer be considered separate from the system
of technological innovation used in new economy sectors, said the
report by the NAE, part of the National Academy of Sciences, a research
organisation created by Congress. “Technological developments, reengineered operations, and economic forces are changing the way products
and
services
are
conceived,
designed,
made, distributed, and
supported,” it said.
“Developments in data
collection and analytics,
digital manufacturing,
and
crowd-sourcing
have opened up a
wealth of possibilities
for companies and
entrepreneurs to better
understand customer
needs and desires, optimise design and production processes, discover
new market opportunities, and acquire new investment funds.”
The pharmaceutical sector, the report said, is being affected by apps
and services to help people take their medicine on schedule.
The automotive industry, meanwhile, is changing with new software
and services ranging from entertainment and apps to vehicle maintenance
monitoring. For some US companies, this new paradigm has led to
moving some manufacturing operations back onshore to better integrate
research and new product development, the report said.
The nature of jobs is changing as well, the researchers said, with
repetitive manual jobs consisting of repetitive tasks “largely disappearing,”
according to the report. “Factory work in the United States is shifting to
favour specialty skills in areas such as robotics-controlled maintenance,
advanced composites, and radio-frequency identification of parts.”
At Boeing’s factory in the state of Washington, for example, workers
control high-tech machines that use indoor GPS and laser-positioning
systems to assemble components of the 787 aircraft.
The report said some estimates indicate almost 50 per cent of US jobs
are at risk for “disruption” by technological change.
It noted that an automobile manufacturing plant can now be run by
one-third as many people as in 1965, even with huge improvements in the
quality and sophistication of products.
US manufacturing employment dropped from 19 million in 1980 to
11.5 million in 2010, according to government statistics.
But the study said there is a “mismatch” of the skills available by many
worked and those needed: many high-paying jobs require engineering and
computer programming, and not enough people are acquiring these skills.
The new environment requires companies to adapt with new emphasis
on technology research, along with better training for employees.
Government programmes and higher education need to change as well,
the report noted.
— AFP
22
LEISURE
omandailyobserver
T H U R S DAY
MARCH 5 l 2015
Online Editor’s Choice
CARTOONS
1
ADAM @ HOME
by Brian Basset
6
9
10
11
12
13
15
17
18
CALVIN AND HOBBES
19
20
22
by Bill Watterson
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
GARFIELD
2
by Jim Davis
3
4
5
6
7
8
12
13
14
15
STONE SOUP
CRYPTIC PUZZLE
ACROSS
Dozens and dozens — an
excessive figure? (5)
The subject of new hats at end of
term (5)
When you seem too tired for
Saturday or Sunday? (7)
Mum’s not saying a word (5)
The seaman’s decoration? (5)
School fees? (5)
One slow to wrap up his water
pipes? (7)
Little Derek, led astray (3)
Responsibility for possibly failing
to reach a sound conclusion? (4)
Charm that makes everybody
turn about (6)
Possibly hellish clangers? (5)
Flying nurses? (6)
Rescue a number in a stormy sea
(4)
One pork pie of many, that is (3)
As used for pounding that
nuisance Leslie? (7)
Mark two (5)
Started to appeal to the United
Nations (5)
At a dead end, the new idea
helped (5)
It’s simply unexciting when you
leave the main road (4-3)
It’s sweet and may be golden (5)
Does he need a towelling? (5)
DOWN
President stirred to anger about
an African leader (6)
Their pleasure is pendulous (6)
Getting fixed is all you need (3)
Hit up, as at cricket (5)
They live on milk initially (7)
They’re of one accord (4)
Her tea is spilt on the radiator
(6)
Goes for one’s shots (5)
Not the travellers’ pub (5)
Sticky mess, perhaps, but only
part of it is no good (5)
Claud, becoming a nobleman?
(5)
7
8
12
13
14
15
16
18
19
21
22
23
25
26
28
CR O SSW O R D
YESTERDAY’S CRYPTIC
SOLUTIONS
ACROSS: 3, Flags 8, Basic 10, NotCh. 11, Cos 12, Clean 13, HolIda-y 15, Water 18, Bit 19, Cerise
21, P-leased 22, Lu-RE 23, Alto 24,
F-antas-y 26, Sp-OK-en 29, Rip 31,
Safer 32, Seminal 34, Armed 35, Rot
36, Plate 37, P-itch 38, Stall.
16 In East Sussex, a number of
sheep (5)
18 A new line in movies? (5)
19 Enlarged to the point of
destruction? (5,2)
21 Well, it could be a princely part!
(6)
22 If in a state of rest, it means
trouble (6)
23 That skin-deep beauty (6)
25 Joanna, to the Cockney, may be
grand (5)
26 A skirt in matching halves (4)
28 One foot nearer the stern (3)
1
6
9
10
11
EASY PUZZLE
ACROSS
Routine (5)
Feeling (5)
Found (7)
Continental (5)
Zodiac sign (5)
12
13
15
17
18
19
20
22
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
2
3
4
5
6
DOWN: 1, MA-con 2, Risible 4,
Lily 5, Gnawed 6, Sonar 7, Aches
9, Sol 12, Cat-Alan 14, Die 16, Tilly
17, Repot 19, Centred 20, Class 21,
P-roof 23, Aspirin 24, Fe-rr-et 25,
A-I’m 27, Pa-LL-y 28, Keats 30,
Match 32, Sea-L 33, Not.
Thing of value (5)
Esteem (7)
Guided (3)
Minerals (4)
Procession (6)
Ordeal (5)
Biblical strongman (6)
Fairy (4)
Attempt (3)
Furniture item (7)
Cutlery item (5)
Demon (5)
Keen (5)
Fall (7)
War-horse (5)
Dissuade (5)
YESTERDAY’S EASY
SOLUTIONS
ACROSS: 3, Beast 8, Roger 10,
Timid 11, Rat 12, Heron 13, Angular
15, Refer 18, Rob 19, Reside 21,
Enticed 22, Lass 23, Band 24, Capital
26, Ararat 29, Tan 31, Rayon 32,
Tardily 34, Vigil 35, Ace 36, Seven
37, Agent 38, Delta.
DOWN: 1, Corny 2, Returns 4,
Ewer 5, Stored 6, Tines 7, Sired 9,
Gag 12, Habitat 14, Lot 16, Final 17,
Ready 19, Recital 20, Clear 21, Essay
23, Bandage 24, Canine 25, Tar 27,
Raven 28, Roved 30, Blend 32, Tilt
33, Ice.
DOWN
Reply (6)
Vices (6)
Age (3)
Middle (5)
Many (7)
Hospitals
by Jan Eliot
Hospital. . . . . Board . . . . . . . Emergency
Royal . . . . . . . 24599000 . . . 24590491
Health Services Department
YO UR STARS
Muttrah . . . . . . . 24797602
Quriyat . . . . . . . 24845001 . . . . 24845003
SQH, Salalah. . . 23211555 . . . . 23211151
Police. . . . . . . . . 24603988 . . . . 24603980
Al Nahda . . . . . . 24831255 . . . . 24837800
Ibn Sina. . . . . . . 24876322 . . . . 24877361
Nizwa. . . . . . . . . 25439361 . . . . 25425033
Al Rustaq. . . . . . 26875055 . . . . 26877186
Sumayil. . . . . . . 25350055 . . . . 25350022
Izki . . . . . . . . . . . 25340033 . . . . 25340033
IF IT’S
YOUR
BIRTHDAY:
You will be able
to increase
your income
in the coming
year through
your own efforts
and through
the generosity
of a relative
who has
always been
anxious to see
you making a
success of your
career. New
opportunities
will open up
for you and
you will be
surprised at
the options
available.
Revise (4)
Drooped (6)
Oak fruit (5)
Cook in the oven (5)
Sordid (5)
Loaded (5)
Subtract (5)
Heathen (5)
Fell over (7)
Apprehend (6)
Corsair (6)
Draw back (6)
Shell (5)
Team (4)
Finish (3)
Haima . . . . . . . . 23436013 . . . . 23436055
Sohar . . . . . . . . . 26840022 . . . . 26840099
Al Buraimi. . . . . 25650855 . . . . 25652319
Sur . . . . . . . . . . . 25440244 . . . . 25461373
Tanam . . . . . . . . 25499011 . . . . 25499033
Masirah . . . . . . . 25404018 . . . . 25404018
Ibra. . . . . . . . . . . 25470533 . . . . 25470535
Adam. . . . . . . . . 25434167 . . . . 25434055
Bidiya . . . . . . . . 25483535 . . . . 25483535
Ibri . . . . . . . . . . . 25491011 . . . . 25491990
Saham . . . . . . . . 26854427 . . . . 26855148
Khasab . . . . . . . 26830187 . . . . 26830187
Dibba. . . . . . . . . 26836443 . . . . 26836443
Burkha. . . . . . . . 26828397 . . . . 26828397
Sinaw. . . . . . . . . 25474338
PISCES
ARIES
TAURUS
GEMINI
CANCER
LEO
February 20March 20
March 21April 20
April 21May 20
May 21June 21
June 22July 21
July 22August 21
A small source of income is about
to dry up. However, this may well
have become a burden and you
will now be left free to look for
easier, more lucrative work.
A business proposition will be put to
you, which could lead to a substantial increase in your income. Learn
the hidden snags before you decide
whether to take it up.
You will feel greatly relieved when
you get a letter concerning the improved health of someone near and
dear to you, about whom you have
been worrying of late.
You may be asked to do some extra work in the evenings, but being
conscientious by nature you will do
it quite cheerfully since you have no
urgent commitments.
Some people’s conduct may at times
seem strange to you but by meeting
different types you will soon get a
better understanding of peculiarities of human nature.
Follow your impulse to submit a
sound idea to the person who could
help you put it into practice. Some
modification may be necessary but
you may have found a winner.
VIRGO
LIBRA
SCORPIO
SAGITTARIUS
CAPRICORN
AQUARIUS
August 22September 22
September 23October 22
October 23November 21
November 22December 21
December 22January 20
January 21February 19
Don’t let unsettled conditions
at work worry you unduly. The
people in charge are well aware of
them and it is up to them to find
a way out.
With the right attitude, you will be Protect yourself with a white lie if
able to enlist the help of a certain you feel your good nature is being exploited, although a more
person who is unlikely to come to straightforward statement would
have a lasting effect.
your aid without being asked.
Faced with a difficulty not of
your own making, you should
try to investigate its cause and
thus be able to prevent it occurring again.
After a long period of steady
hard work you need to relax completely in your leisure time, so
don’t plan too many activities for
a while.
Your nervous energy will only
be wasted if you try to make a
good impression on a set of people you are not likely to see ever
again.
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T H U R S DAY
MARCH 5 l 2 0 1 5
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CARNAGE: The home team made 417-6 at the Waca led by opener David Warner’s 178-run blitz
AUSSIES
BEST
QUOTE
It seems the only way they
cannot score 400 runs is
(we) win the toss and bat
RUN RIOT OVER
AFGHANS BY
— MOHAMMED TAUQIR,
UAE CAPTAIN, HIS ONLY WAY OF
STOPPING SOUTH AFRICA FROM
PILING UP THEIR THIRD 400-PLUS
WORLD CUP TOTAL.
275 RUNS
PERTH,
Australia: Australia hit
the highest World Cup
score in tournament
history on Wednesday
as
they
thrashed
Afghanistan by a record
275 runs, a result which
was also the greatest
winning margin in
tournament history.
The home team made
417-6 at the Waca led by
opener David Warner’s
178-run blitz, his fourth
one-day international century
and his country’s
highest individual
World Cup score
as the four-time
champions went past the
previous best of 413-5 made
by India against Bermuda in
2007.
BEST BATTING
178
David Warner for
Australia against
Afghanistan
BEST BOWLING
It was the third 400-plus total at this World Cup
after South Africa twice went through the barrier —
408-5 against the West Indies and 411-4 in the game
with Ireland.
In reply, Afghanistan could manage just 142 from
37.3 overs, although Nawroz Mangal, who top-scored
with 33, gave their smattering of fans at the ground
something to cheer about when he hit Mitchell Marsh
for successive sixes.
Johnson did much of the damage to claim 4-22
from 7.3 overs.
Fellow left-armer Mitchell Starc continued his
amazing vein of World Cup form with 2-18 and has
10 wickets in the World Cup at just 9.3 runs apiece.
Australia were sent in to bat by Afghanistan
captain Mohammad Nabi, a decision greeted by a
chorus of cheers from the crowd, and then tormented
the minnows. There was a surprise at the toss, with
experienced all-rounder Shane Watson dropped to
allow James Faulkner to return after a side strain, but
the onslaught that followed was extremely predictable.
The dashing Warner led the way and accelerated
markedly after reaching three figures from 92 balls.
Dropped on 114, the left-hander seemed set to
compound Watson’s misery by passing his Australian
ODI record of 185 not out against Bangladesh in
Dhaka in 2011 only to sky a delivery to mid-on from
the bowling of Shapoor Zadran (2-89). He had faced
133 balls, hitting 19 fours and five sixes.
Warner’s assault on the hapless Afghan bowlers
brought back memories of Matthew Hayden
plundering a weak Zimbabwe attack for an Australian
Test record 380 at the same venue in 2003.
Although Warner fell shy of the overall ODI
individual record, he passed the previous mark for
the highest innings by an Australian at the Waca,
which previously belonged to Damien Martyn for his
144 against Zimbabwe in 2001.
Warner and Steve Smith, who made 95, also set a
new benchmark for an Australian partnership in ODI
cricket with their 260-run second-wicket stand from
209 balls.
The pair passed the previous record of 252 set by
Watson and Ricky Ponting against England in South
Africa in 2009.
All-rounder Glenn Maxwell then chimed in with a
quickfire 88 off 39 balls, including seven sixes, before
being well caught at mid-off from the bowling of
Dawlat Zadran (2-101) in the 48th over.
Australia face Sri Lanka at the SCG in their next
match on Sunday, while things don’t get any easier for
Afghanistan as they face unbeaten New Zealand on
the same day at Napier in a bid to add to their lone
win against Scotland. — AFP
SCOREBOARD
4-22
AUSTRALIA
D Warner c Nabi b Shapoor ...................178
A Finch c Nawroz b Dawlat ........................ 4
S Smith c Najib b Shapoor ...................... 95
G Maxwell c Nabi b Dawlat ..................... 88
J Faulkner b Hassan .................................. 7
M Marsh c Najib b Nawroz ........................ 8
B Haddin not out .................................... 20
Extras (b2, lb5, w7, nb3) ........................ 17
Total (for 6 wickets, 50 overs) ....... 417
Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-274, 3-339, 4-382,
5-390, 6-417
Mitchell
Johnson for
Australia against
Afghanistan
HIGHEST TEAM TOTALS IN ONE-DAY INTERNATIONALS
HIGHEST TEAM TOTALS IN ONE-DAY INTERNATIONALS
AFTER AUSTRALIA MADE 417-6 AGAINST AFGHANISTAN ON
WEDNESDAY, SEVENTH OVERALL AND THE BIGGEST TOTAL IN A
WORLD CUP MATCH
SCORE
TEAM OPPOSITION
VENUE
DATE
443-9
439-2
438-9
434-4
418-5
418-5
417-6
414-7
413-5
411-8
411-4
408-5
404-5
402-2
401-3
Sri Lanka v Netherlands
South Africa v West Indies
South Africa v Australia
Australia v South Africa
South Africa v Zimababwe
India v West Indies
Australia v Afghanistan
India v Sri Lanka
India v Bermuda
Sri Lanka v India
South Africa v Ireland
South Africa v West Indies
India v Sri Lanka
New Zealand v Ireland
India v South Africa
Amstelveen
Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Potchefstroom
Indore
Perth
Rajkot
Port of Spain
Rajkot
Canberra
Sydney
Kolkata
Aberdeen
Gwalior
2006
2015
2006
2006
2006
2011
2015 (WC)
2009
2007 (WC)
2009
2015 (WC)
2015 (WC)
2014
2008
2010
Bowling: Dawlat 10-1-101-2, Shapoor 100-89-2, Hassan 10-0-70-1, Nabi 10-0-84-0,
Samiullah 5-0-34-0, Javed 4-0-18-0, Nawroz
1-0-14-1
AFGHANISTAN
Javed Ahmadi c Clarke b Hazlewood ...... 13
Usman Ghani c Faulkner b Johnson ....... 12
Nawroz Mangal c Finch b Johnson ......... 33
Asghar Stanikzai c Smith b Johnson ......... 4
Samiullah Shenwari c Johnson b Clarke 17
Mohammad Nabi c Clarke b Maxwell ....... 2
Najib Zadran b Starc ................................ 24
Afsar Zazai c Haddin b Hazlewood .......... 10
Dawlat Zadran b Starc ............................... 0
Hamid Hassan c Warner b Johnson .......... 7
Shapoor Zadran not out ............................ 0
Extras (b4, lb5, w10, nb1) ..................... 20
Total (all out, 37.3 overs) .............. 142
Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-32, 3-46, 4-94,
5-94, 6-103, 7-131, 8-131, 9-140
Bowling: Starc 6-0-18-2, Hazlewood 8-125-2, Johnson 7.3-0-22-4, Clarke 5-0-14-1,
Marsh 3-0-25-0, Faulkner 4-0-8-0, Maxwell
4-1-21-1
Tendulkar calls for 25-team World Cup
SYDNEY: Indian superstar Sachin
Tendulkar on Wednesday blasted
proposals to slash the 2019 World
Cup to just 10 nations, describing it as
“a backward step” and suggesting the
tournament be expanded to 25 teams.
Tendulkar, an ambassador for the
World Cup on behalf of the International
Cricket Council said the ICC should be
expanding the frontiers of the game
with Test teams encouraged to pit their
‘A’ sides against Associate nations such
as Afghanistan and Ireland.
“I found out the next World Cup
would only be ten teams which is
disappointing because as a cricketer I
want the game to be globalised as much
as possible and, according to me, this
is a backwards step,” Tendulkar told a
private dinner in Sydney in remarks
reported by www.espncricinfo.com.
“We’ve got to find ways of
encouraging the lesser teams.”
He added: “Why not get Australia
A, England A, New Zealand A, South
Africa A, New Zealand A, India A,
everyone, to go and visit these countries
and play them on a regular basis.
“And see, not just 14 teams, but how
can we get to 25 teams participating in
the next World Cup?”
“It is not just about the top six or
seven sides. If we are to globalise this
game we have to get more and more
people excited about cricket and the fan
following only follows the result.”
Tendulkar argued that it was
impossible for second-tier Associate
nations to be consistently competitive
throughout a World Cup under the
current system because they are not s i d e s .
exposed to top-level experience in the
four years between tournaments.
From the 2011 World Cup to the
current event, Ireland played only 11
ODIs against Full Member nations.
“Right now, they get up after four
years on the cricket
world’s
biggest
p l at f o r m
and
they’re
expected
to play and
compete with
the likes of
Australia, South
Africa,
India,
New
Zealand,
West Indies, Sri
Lanka, so many top
It’s unfair to them,” said
Tendulkar. — AFP
T H U R S DAY M A R C H 5 l 2 0 1 5
26
iN BRIEFS
FEBRUARY 14 TO MARCH 29
AUSTRALIA &
NEW ZEALAND
Clinical Pakistan march on with UAE win
MISSES MARK: Opener Ahmed Shehzad fell seven short of his maiden World Cup hundred
SCOREBOARD
PAKISTAN
Nasir Jamshed c Khan b Guruge ..............4
Ahmed Shehzad run out .........................93
Haris Sohail c Anwar b Naveed ...............70
Sohaib Maqsood c Mustafa b Guruge ....45
Misbah-ul-Haq c Mustafa b Guruge ........65
Umar Akmal c Ali b Guruge .....................19
Shahid Afridi not out ...............................21
Wahab Riaz not out ...................................6
Extras (lb3, nb1, w12) ...........................16
Total (for six wkts; 50 overs) .........339
Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-170, 3-176, 4-251,
5-312, 6-312
Bowling: Naveed 10-0-50-1, Guruge 8-056-4, Javed 9-0-76-0, Tauqir 10-0-52-0,
Khan 3-0-21-0, Chandran 8-0-58-0, Mustafa
2-0-23-0
UAE
Amjad Ali b Rahat Ali ..............................14
A Berenger c Akmal b Khan ......................2
K Chandran c Akmal b Khan .....................0
Khurram Khan c Riaz b Maqsood ...........43
Shaiman Anwar c Jamshed b Afridi ........62
S Patil b Riaz ...........................................36
Rohan Mustafa c Shehzad b Afridi ............0
Amjad Javed c Khan b Riaz .....................40
Mohammad Naveed not out ....................0
Mohammed Tauqir not out .......................0
Extras (lb1, w112) ..................................13
Total (for eight wkts; 50 overs) .....210
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-19, 3-25, 4-108,
5-140, 6-140, 7-208, 8-210
Bowling: Irfan 3-1-2-0, Khan 9-2-54-2,
Rahat 10-0-30-1, Riaz 10-1-54-2, Afridi 101-35-2, Maqsood 5-0-16-1, Sohail 3-0-18-0
Kohli faces media
backlash following
reporter spat
MUMBAI: Virat Kohli has delighted
Indian fans with his exploits in the
middle but reports of an ugly spat with
a journalist at the World Cup will only
enhance his reputation within the press
corps of being volatile and tetchy.
As the team’s media manager
moved quickly to limit the damage of
an embarrassing encounter involving
India’s Test skipper, a contradictory view
of events in Perth was emerging from
the nation’s cricket journalists.
The incident took place at the
Murdoch Oval, where India were training
ahead of Friday’s Pool B match against
the West Indies at the Waca.
After finishing his net session, the
26-year-old batsman started swearing
at an Indian national daily reporter over
a story about the cricketer’s private life,
according to reports from journalists
covering the World Cup.
Kohli, currently India’s best batsman
across all formats, later realised it was a
case of mistaken identity and apologised
to the target of his abuse through
another journalist.
“There was a misunderstanding and
no abusive language was used, Virat has
spoken to the concerned gentlemen
immediately and that ends the matter,”
the team’s media manager RN Baba said
in a statement on Wednesday.
In a column published in the
Hindustan Times, the journalist subjected
to Kohli’s tirade said he was still in
“shock”.
“Go and tell him that he is an
international player and he should learn
how to behave,” Jasvinder Sidhu told
the intermediary to inform Kohli after
receiving the apology.
“How can he abuse and intimidate
someone?
“I would like to add that Kohli did not
apologise to me directly.”
Kohli has often polarised opinion
over his regular run-ins with opposition
players and was fined half of his match
fee in 2012 for responding to barracking
from the crowd by gesturing at them
with his middle finger during a Sydney
test. There were also multiple reports of
him having a dressing-room spat with
team-mate Shikhar Dhawan during the
recent test series in Australia after he had
to bat at short notice following an injury
to the opener. — Reuters
Zimbabwe skipper
Chigumbura out of
Ireland clash
HOBART, Australia: Zimbabwe captain
Elton Chigumbura has been ruled out
of Saturday’s make-or-break World Cup
clash against Ireland with a thigh injury,
the team announced on Wednesday.
The 28-year-old all-rounder was hurt
in Sunday’s 20-run loss to Pakistan in
Brisbane when he tripped and fell while
chasing a ball in the Gabba outfield.
“A MRI scan showed that Chigumbura
suffered a third grade tear of his
quadriceps muscle — a large muscle
group on the front of the thigh,” said a
Zimbabwe team statement.
“Because of the severity of the injury,
Chigumbura will not be available for
selection for Zimbabwe’s fifth Group B
match, which is against Ireland at the
Bellerive Oval in Hobart this Saturday.”
Zimbabwe have just two points in
four Pool B games after a win over the
UAE and three defeats to South Africa,
West Indies and Pakistan. After Saturday’s
game, they will complete their pool
fixtures against defending champions
India in Auckland on March 14. — AFP
Pakistan’s Ahmed Shehzad plays a shot as UAE
wicketkeeper Swapnil Patil looks on in Napier. — AFP
NAPIER, New Zealand: Pakistan
continued their revival in the World
Cup with a professional batting and
bowling performance in a 129-run win
against United Arab Emirates (UAE) in
Napier on Wednesday.
Opener Ahmed Shehzad fell seven
short of his maiden World Cup hundred
while Haris Sohail (70) and skipper
Misbah-ul-Haq chipped in with 65
which helped Pakistan to post a big 3396 on a flat McLean Park pitch. They then
restricted the UAE to 210-8 in their 50
overs with Shaiman Anwar continuing
his brilliant form with the bat by scoring
62. The win gives Pakistan four points in
as many games as they continued their
fight for a place in the quarterfinals.
The top four teams from each of
the two pools of seven will reach the
quarterfinals. “That was a much needed
win for us. We won by a margin so we
can relax now. We have a good net run
rate now also,” said Misbah.
UAE captain Mohammad Tauqir
admitted chasing such a huge score was
always going to be beyond them.
“340 was a big total for us, but we
batted 50 overs and we are happy with
this effort. Anwar is very confident and
in great form,” said Tauqir.
A required rate of six-plus an over
was always beyond UAE’s reach but
after losing their first three wickets with
just 25 on the board — two to paceman
Sohail Khan — Anwar and Khurram
Khan took the fight to the Pakistan
bowlers adding 83 for the fourth wicket.
Anwar hit four boundaries and two
sixes during his 88-ball knock and with
270 runs in four matches became the
top run-getter in the tournament. Khan
hit three fours and a six off 54 deliveries.
Pakistan’s bowling was hampered by
the absence of spearhead Mohammad
Irfan who hurt his hip during a fall in
the field and could bowl only three
overs.
The team said Irfan’s injury was
not serious and he was held back as
precaution. Wahab Riaz, Khan and
Shahid Afridi took two wickets apiece.
Shehzad and Sohail restored Pakistan
during their second wicket stand of
160 after they lost out of form Nasir
Jamshed for four in the fourth over.
AFRIDI JOINS 8,000 RUN CLUB
NAPIER, New Zealand: Swashbuckling
Pakistani all-rounder Shahid Afridi
joined the 8,000 one-day run club
during his 21 not out against the United
Arab Emirates in the World Cup at
Napier on Wednesday.
The 35-year-old became the fourth
Pakistani after Inzamam-ul Haq,
Mohammad Yousuf and Saeed Anwar
to make 8,000 one-day runs and the
27th of all time.
Afridi, who also took 2-35 in the
129-run win, needs five more wickets to
complete 400 one-day wickets.
If he takes those five wickets, he will
become the only allrounder to score
more than 8,000 runs and take 400
wickets.
Batsmen who have scored 8,000 or
more runs in one-day international
cricket (player, country, runs).
S Tendulkar
India
18,426
K Sangakkara
Sri Lanka
13,961
R Ponting
Australia
13,704
S Jayasuriya
Sri Lanka
13,430
M Jayawardene Sri Lanka
12,625
Inzamam-ul Haq Pakistan
11,739
J Kallis
South Africa 11,579
S Ganguly
India
11,363
R Dravid
India
10,889
B Lara
West Indies
10,405
M Yousuf
Pakistan
9720
T Dilshan
Sri Lanka
9620
A Gilchrist
M Azharuddin
A de Silva
C Gayle
Saeed Anwar
S Chanderpaul
D Haynes
M Atapattu
M Waugh
Y Singh
M Dhoni
V Sehwag
H Gibbs
S Fleming
Shahid Afridi
Australia
India
Sri Lanka
West Indies
Pakistan
West Indies
West Indies
Sri Lanka
Australia
India
India
India
South Africa
New Zealand
Pakistan
9619
9378
9284
9139
8824
8778
8648
8529
8500
8329
8298
8273
8094
8037
8019
WORLD CUP STANDINGS
STANDINGS (PLAYED, WON, LOST, TIED, N/R, POINTS, RUN RATE)
POOL A
New Zealand
Sri Lanka
Australia
Bangladesh
England
Afghanistan
Scotland
4
4
4
3
4
4
3
4
3
2
1
1
1
0
0
1
1
1
3
3
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
8
6
5
3
2
2
0
+3.589
+0.128
+1.804
+0.130
-1.201
-1.953
-1.735
POOL B
India
South Africa
West Indies
Pakistan
Ireland
Zimbabwe
UAE
NOTE: Top four in each group qualify for quarterfinals
3
4
4
4
3
4
4
3
3
2
2
2
1
0
0
1
2
2
1
3
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
6
6
4
4
4
2
0
+2.630
+1.950
-0.313
-0.385
-1.137
-0.723
-1.691
Guruge could have had Shehzad in
his fourth over but Khurram dropped a
sharp chance when the batsman was on
eight and three runs later Shehzad got
another life off Mohammad Naveed.
Shehzad hit eight boundaries and a
six off 105 balls but ran himself out while
taking a sharp single. Sohail clubbed five
boundaries and a six.
Maqsood helped Misbah add another
rapid 75 for the fourth wicket, hitting
four boundaries and two towering sixes
during his 31-ball 45. Misbah reached
his 41st ODI half-century off just 39
balls. He hit four boundaries and two
sixes before holing out off Guruge.
Shahid Afridi hit two sixes and a four
in his seven-ball 21 not out and when
on two became the fourth Pakistani,
and 27th batsman, in the world to cross
8,000 runs. Guruge was the pick of UAE
bowlers with a career best 4-56.
Pakistan next play South Africa in
Auckland (March 7) and Ireland in
Adelaide (March 15) while UAE face
South Africa in Wellington (March 12)
and the West Indies in Napier (March
15).
— AFP
We need to beat
SA, says Waqar
NAPIER, New Zealand: Pakistan
coach Waqar Younis on Wednesday
targeted big-hitting South Africa,
saying his team must beat a strong
outfit to prove they belong at
the World Cup. They play South
Africa in Auckland on Saturday
in a crunch match in which their
qualification for the quarterfinals
will largely depend.
Waqar said the two wins after two
losses — the first win was against
Zimbabwe on Sunday — gave the
team much-needed confidence.
“Look it (win) definitely changed
the body language of the players
because a win always make you feel
comfortable and confident, but I
still feel that we need to win against
a bigger team like South Africa to
tell the world that we are around,”
said Waqar.
Waqar agreed Pakistan were not
looking as commanding as South
Africa who have posted back-toback 400-plus totals in their last
two wins. “Maybe you might be
thinking that we are not playing
well but we are missing two of our
key players,” said Waqar of Saeed
Ajmal and Mohammad Hafeez —
both suspended for illegal bowling
actions.
Hafeez also injured his calf
before the World Cup and returned
home to be replaced by Nasir
Jamshed. “The tournament will
get tougher and tougher and we
should be ready for that,” added
Waqar. “Of course we can, we have
done it in the past, it’s not asking
too much and we have beaten
South Africa in South Africa,” said
Waqar, of Pakistan’s 2-1 one-day
series win over the Proteas in late
2013.
“I think the crucial game will
be against South Africa not only
for qualifying but also for a morale
booster. We need to beat a top team
to get our confidence back.”
— AFP
RECORD ODI WINNING MARGINS
BIGGEST ONE-DAY INTERNATIONAL WINNING MARGINS IN TERMS
OF RUNS AFTER AUSTRALIA BEAT AFGHANISTAN IN A WORLD
CUP POOL A MATCH AT THE WACA IN PERTH ON WEDNESDAY
MARGIN TEAM OPPOSITION
VENUE
DATE
290
New Zealand v Ireland
Aberdeen
Jul 01 2008
275
Australia v Afghanistan (WC),
Perth
Mar 04 2015
272
South Africa v Zimbabwe
Benoni
Oct 22 2010
258
South Africa v Sri Lanka
Paarl
Jan 11 2012
257
India v Bermuda (WC)
Port-of-Spain
Mar 19 2007
257
South Africa v West Indies (WC)
Sydney
Feb 27 2015
256
Australia v Namibia (WC)
Potchefstroom
Feb 27 2003
256
India v Hong Kong
Karachi
Jun 25 2008
245
Sri Lanka v India
Sharjah
Oct 29 2000
243
Sri Lanka v Bermuda (WC)
Port-of-Spain
Mar 15 2007
NOTE: WC=World Cup
Beach-combing Scots back
themselves against Bangladesh
NELSON: Scotland spent two days
cruising New Zealand coasts to
escape cricket after their hopes of a
maiden World Cup win were crushed
by Afghanistan but have returned
determined to break their duck against
Bangladesh.
The Scots needed just one wicket
in the Dunedin cliffhanger but
Afghanistan’s tail-enders reeled in
the final 19 runs to condemn their
opponents to an 11th straight loss at
World Cups.
The brave defeat was of little comfort
to captain Preston Mommsen and his
men, who packed their gear up and
hit the road as Afghans danced on the
streets of Kabul to celebrate the team’s
first win at their maiden tournament.
“That Afghanistan game was very
difficult to get over,” Mommsen told
reporters on Wednesday, a day before
their Bangladesh clash in Nelson.
“To lose that game was very
disappointing for all the 15 players, but
we’ve had a good couple of days’ break,
clean break from cricket.
“Some of the boys have gone up
north, seen some of the beautiful
beaches in Nelson and just taken their
minds off cricket, came back to training
yesterday nice and refreshed, and the
boys are ready to go for tomorrow.”
Bangladesh will be the non-test
playing nation’s biggest chance of a
long-awaited win, with tough matches
against Sri Lanka and Australia to close
their pool round.
With that in mind, they have left
no stone unturned and hired former
Scotland bowler Richie
Berrington (right) celebrates
with team-mate Preston
Mommsen after dismissing
Afghanistan’s Afsar Zazai in
Dunedin. — AFP
Bangladesh coach Shane Jurgensen as
a consultant to help prepare. “It’s been
good to have Shane on board with
the team. He obviously knows all the
Bangladeshi players,” Mommsen said.
“He’s fully aware of the way that they
like to play and the things they do and
don’t like on the field.
— Reuters
SPORT
T H U R S DAY
MARCH 5 l 2015
omandailyobserver
Benteke’s late penalty lifts Aston Villa
GERMAN
27
CUP
RELIEF: Villa ended a seven-match losing run to jump to 17th place, 3 points clear of the drop
Borussia Dortmund’s Ciro Immobile celebrates his goal
against Dynamo Dresden in Dresden. — Reuters
Immobile brace
puts Dortmund
in Cup last eight
Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish in action against West Bromwich Albion. — Reuters
LONDON: Christian Benteke’s
stoppage-time penalty gave Aston
Villa a 2-1 win over West Brom on
Tuesday night that moved them out
of the relegation zone.
Villa ended a seven-match losing
run in the league to jump up to 17th
place, three points clear of the drop.
They also stopped a 12-match
winless run in the league and gave
new manager Tim Sherwood is first
victory.
“This will give us confidence,”
striker Gabriel Agbonlahor told
BT Sport.”We haven’t had luck all
season, we got that luck today.
“Any point is crucial at the
moment and to get three points
today, everyone is buzzing in that
changing room.”
Agbonlahor gave Villa the lead in
the 22nd minute but Saido Berahino
equalised in the second half.
It looked as though the points
would be shared until stoppage time
when Foster brought down Matthew
Lowton and Benteke converted from
the spot.
“We kept at it and someone
was looking down on us today,”
Sherwood said.”We hadn’t won in 12
Premier League games and had to
buck that trend.
“When you are at the bottom you
have to grind out results.
Southampton moved up to fifth
place with a 1-0 win over Crystal
Palace.
Sadio Mane scored seven minutes
from time to give Southampton their
first win in four games.
It was the Saints’ first goal at
home in over six hours and moved
them within a point of Manchester
United.
“Finally, it is three points that
makes the situation a little more
comfortable,” manager Ronald
Koeman said.”It was crucial to win
today. I hope they will get confidence
back and play like we did before.”
Salman set to win AFC presidency unopposed
SINGAPORE: Shaikh Salman Bin
Ebrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain
is poised to retain his position
as head of Asian football for
another four years after no-one
decided to oppose him at
next month’s Asian Football
Confederation (AFC) elections.
Along with the AFC
presidency, Sheikh Salman will
also secure himself a term as
vice-president of soccer’s world
governing body Fifa, replacing
Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, who is
challenging Sepp Blatter for the
Fifa presidency.
Sheikh Salman was elected
AFC president two years ago,
replacing Qatari Mohamed Bin
Hammam, who was banned for
life by soccer’s world governing
body in 2011 amid allegations of
trying to buy votes.
The next AFC elections will
take place in Bahrain on April
30 but Sheikh Salman is already
assured of the top job after he
was the only candidate when
the AFC announced their final
nominations on Wednesday.
A more interesting battle is
looming for the AFC’s three Fifa
executive committee members.
There are seven candidates,
including two of the
incumbents, Thailand’s Worawi
Makudi and China’s Zhang
Jilong.
The others include Saud
al Mohannadi, the vicepresident of the Qatar Football
Association, which is making
another attempt to get an
official elected onto Fifa’s allpowerful executive committee
ahead of their hosting of the
2022 World Cup.
Qatar have suffered relentless
criticism since being awarded
the right to host the World Cup
for the first time in a 2010 vote
and having a voice at Fifa’s top
table could help quieten the
backlash.
Shaikh Ahmad al Fahad
al Sabah, one of the most
influential figures in world sport,
is also in the running.
The Kuwaiti is the head of the
Olympic Council of Asia and the
Association of National Olympic
Committees but does not have a
formal role with the AFC or Fifa.
If successful, Shaikh Ahmad,
a strong supporter of Blatter
and International Olympic
Committee president Thomas
Bach, would emerge as a key link
between the two organisations
with Blatter set to lose his IOC
position in 2016 when he turns
80. — Reuters
“I’m old fashioned. What happens
Jack Rodwell’s goal earned
Sunderland a 1-1 draw at Hull, on the pitch stays on the pitch.”
Hull remains 15th in the table,
who took the lead through Dame
one point ahead of Sunderland in
N’Doye.
Sunderland manager Gus Poyet 16th place.
— dpa
was sent to the stands in the first half
for reacting to a yellow card given to
RESULTS
Rodwell for simulation.
ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
He then walked across to
RESULTS
Hull manager Steve Bruce, who
Aston Villa 2 (Agbonlahor 22,
responded with anger and had to be
Benteke 90-pen) West Brom 1
restrained by his coaches.
(Berahino 66)
“In football things happen,” Poyet
Hull 1 (N’Doye 15) Sunderland 1
(Rodwell 77)
said.”I have no regrets whatsoever.
Southampton 1 (Mane 83) Crystal
“If that is a bad image for football
Palace 0
I am sorry but I don’t think it’s
something to worry about.
Bayern’s Boateng
reveals Barcelona offer
BERLIN: Bayern Munich’s Germany
defender Jerome Boateng turned
down an offer to join Barcelona before
the start of the current season, he has
revealed.
“I don’t know the details of how
much Barcelona offered for me, but
it is true that I received an offer,” the
26-year-old centre-back told Bild.
“When a club like Barca shows
an interest, that is of course a huge
honour,” he said.
“At the time I was already preparing
for the new season with Bayern.
“These days you don’t have to leave
Bayern to join Barcelona if you want
to win the Champions League,” he
added.
With 50 caps for Germany, Boateng
was a key part of the squad which
won last year’s World Cup and has a
contract in Munich until June 2018.
He also lifted the Champions
League title with Bayern in 2013 when
they become the first German side to
win the treble of European, league and
cup titles in the same season.
Boateng, who played for Hertha
Berlin, Hamburg and Manchester
City before joining Bayern in 2011 for
13.5 million euros ($15m), is currently
rated the world’s most expensive
defender with an estimated market
value of 40 million euros — which he
dismisses as vastly over-inflated.
“I also find this sum, which has
sky-rocketed in the few years, crazy,”
he said. — AFP
BERLIN: Borussia Dortmund’s Ciro Immobile struck
twice in the second half to secure a 2-0 victory at third
tier Dynamo Dresden and a place in the German Cup
quarterfinals on Tuesday.
The Italian, criticised for a lack of Bundesliga
goals this season, pounced on a cross-field pass
from Dynamo’s Michael Hefele to snatch the lead
five minutes after the break on a bumpy pitch that
resembled a ploughed field in parts.
Dortmund, last season’s finalists, struggled to play
the flowing game that has won their last four league
matches and Mats Hummels almost gifted Dynamo an
equaliser when his backpass bounced awkwardly and
was intercepted before keeper Mitch Langerak cleared.
“You cannot expect to play good football on a
pitch like that,” Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp told
reporters.”This pitch is quite something and we had to
play very simple football on it.”
Dortmund’s substitute striker Adrian Ramos
almost got a second but his shot squeezed past a
defender and hit
the near post before Bayer Leverkusen’s
rolling along the line Hakan Calhanoglu
and being cleared.
rescued his side from
However, Immobile,
who suffered a facial embarrassment with
injury in the first half a sensational free
from Hefele’s elbow,
scored again when kick to steer them
he slotted in from a to a 2-0 extra-time
Jakub Blaszczykowski win over second tier
cutback in the box
near the final whistle. Kaiserslautern
Dortmund winger
Marco Reus, who
missed much of 2014 with a string of ankle injuries,
limped off midway through the first half, though his
injury may not be too serious. “I was told it may just be
a knock on the leg. But I don’t know if he will be fit for
the league at the weekend,” Klopp said.
LEVERKUSEN RESCUED
Earlier, Bayer Leverkusen’s Hakan Calhanoglu
rescued his side from embarrassment with a
sensational free kick to steer them to a 2-0 extra-time
win over second tier Kaiserslautern.
The Turkey international fired a shot around the
wall from 25 metres past keeper Marius Mueller
towards the end of the first half of extra-time to break
the visitors’ resistance.
Stefan Kiessling added a second goal 10 minutes
later after Leverkusen struggled for most of the game.
Fellow Bundesliga club Hoffenheim had a much
easier task against second division Aalen with Eugen
Polanski and Germany international Kevin Volland on
the score sheet. In the all-Bundesliga clash, Freiburg
got two goals in two minutes early in the first half to
win 2-1 at home Cologne. — Reuters
It was only the Wanderers’ second loss at home in the ACL, following their 1-3 defeat to South Korea’s Ulsan Hyundai last year
Goulart’s hat-trick secures epic victory for Guangzhou
SYDNEY: A hat-trick from record signing
Ricardo Goulart held off strong-finishing
defending champions Western Sydney
Wanderers and gave Guangzhou Evergrande
a 3-2 win in the AFC Champions League on
Wednesday.
Goulart was the difference for new boss
Fabio Cannavaro’s big-spending Chinese
Super League champions, who looked set
for a comfortable win with a 3-1 lead and 25
minutes left in Sydney.
But a lengthy delay to treat stricken
goalkeeper Zeng Cheng added 17 minutes’
stoppage time to the game and gave the
home side a chance to hit back.
A goal in stoppage time by Dutch
substitute Romeo Castelen gave the
Wanderers a chance to snatch a last-ditch
draw.
But the tiring Guangzhou players hung
on for a significant away victory to keep
them unbeaten and at the top of the Group H
standings. It was only the Wanderers’ second
loss at home in the ACL, following their 1-3
defeat to South Korea’s Ulsan Hyundai in last
year’s championship season.
Goulart put Guangzhou Evergrande
ahead in the 19th minute after neat lead-up
work from fellow Brazilian Elkeson and Gao
Lin.
Goulart, who scored the winner for the
2013 ACL champions last week over FC
Seoul, drilled home after Elkeson’s back
header and a pass from Gao.
There was lingering feeling from the last
time the two teams met in a 2-1 Wanderers
win in Sydney in the quarterfinals last year.
Iacopo La Rocca made a heavy challenge
on Zou Zheng, who fell to the ground
clutching his ankle.
La Rocca equalised for the home side 12
minutes after the resumption with a nearpost header off a corner, but within a minute
Goulart put Guangzhou back in front with
his second goal.
Goulart’s slick finish off Gao Lin’s
cross punished Wanderers for a lack of
concentration immediately after their
equaliser.
Wanderers paid for more slack defending
when Gao’s cross was only played into the
path of Goulart, who rammed home for his
hat-trick on 65 minutes.
Guangzhou lost goalkeeper Zeng Cheng
after a sickening head clash with South
Korean teammate Kim Young-Gwon, and
there was a delay of 15 minutes before
Cheng was stretchered off the field in a neck
brace. He was later reported to have suffered
a broken cheekbone. The match spilt over
into extended stoppage time because of the
Cheng injury delay.
Castelen pulled a goal back in the fourth
minute of stoppage time with a free header
inside the box to fire up the home supporters.
But Guangzhou held firm to stay unbeaten
in the Asian competition. — AFP
AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RESULTS
On Wednesday:
Group C: Lokomotiv (UZB) 1 (Zoteev 7) Foolad Khouzestan
(IRI) 1 (Jamaati 32)
Group G: Urawa Red Diamonds (JPN) 0 Brisbane Roar
(AUS) 1 (Borrello 2); Beijing Guoan (CHN) 1 (Demjanovic
65) Suwon Samsung FC (KOR) 0
Group H: Western Sydney Wanderers (AUS) 2 (La Rocca 57,
Castelen 90+4) Guangzhou Evergrande (CHN) 3 (Goulart
19, 58, 65) ; FC Seoul (KOR) 1 (Kim Jin-Kyu 66) Kashima
Antlers (JPN) 0
Dejan Damjanovic (right) of China’s Beijing Guoan tussles for the
ball against Jo Sungjin of South Korea’s Suwon Samsung FC
during the AFC Champions League in Beijing.
— AFP
28
SPORT
omandailyobserver
T H U R S DAY
MARCH 5 l 2015
COMEBACK: Teague and Al Horford led the scoring as Atlanta stormed from 15 down in final quarter for a 104-96 home-court win
Hawks finish with a flurry, storm past Rockets
LOS ANGELES: The Atlanta Hawks
needed three quarters before finally
figuring it out.
Jeff Teague scored 25 points, Al
Horford added 18, including the tiebreaking jumper down the stretch, and
the Hawks stormed from 15 down in
the final quarter for a 104-96 homecourt victory on Tuesday over the James
Harden-less Houston Rockets.
“I think we figured out a way for us
to play better in the fourth quarter,” said
Horford after the league-best Hawks
(48-12) outscored their guests 32-15.
“We struggled in the first half, the third
was better and we really did a good job
in the fourth.”
Harden, the league’s top scorer, was
serving a one-game suspension for
kicking Cleveland’s LeBron James in the
groin on Sunday.
“Without their best player other
guys wanted to step up,” said Hawks big
man Paul Millsap, who finished with 16
points and 14 rebounds.
“Some of their guys did a good job,
but we stayed with it, kept our focus and
won it.”
Jason Terry had a season-high 21
points, and Terrence Jones added 18
for Houston (41-19), which had its five
game winning streak snapped.
“We came out and played inspired
basketball but down the stretch we have
to be able to execute better,” said Rockets
forward Josh Smith, who finished with
14 points against his former team. “We
have to do a better job of getting stops.”
The Rockets didn’t seem to miss
Harden, leading by as many as 18 in the
opening half, and 87-72 just 90 seconds
into the fourth quarter after Smith and
Pablo Prigioni opened with 3-pointers.
But the Hawks clamped down on the
defensive end and went on a 26-6 blitz
capped by Horford’s 18-foot baseline
jumper to take a 98-96 lead with 1:46
left.
After Jones missed a pair of free
Atlanta Hawks’ Paul Millsap (right) blocks the shot of Houston Rockets guard Corey Brewer (centre) during the fourth quarter.
throws, Millsap, Teague and Germany’s
Dennis Schroder (16 points) made two
apiece from the stripe, and the Hawks
became the first team to clinch a play-off
spot.
“A lot of credit to our players for
finding a way to come back a couple
different times tonight,” said Hawks
coach Mike Budenholzer.
“It seems we were constantly trying
to dig ourselves out of a hole. But they
found a way to make one more run and
get over the hump. They’re very resilient
and have a lot of character.”
At Denver, the Denver Nuggets
prevailed over Milwaukee Bucks 106-95.
Danilo Gallinari scored a season-best
26 points, Ty Lawson added 16 with 10
assists, and the struggling Nuggets (2139) bounced the visiting Bucks to snap
a six-game slide, hours after assistant
Melvin Hunt replaced fired coach Brian
Shaw, who compiled a 56-85 record in
1.5 seasons.
Ersan Ilyasova scored 21 points while
Khris Middleton added 20 for the Bucks
(32-28), who have lost five of their last
six games.
At Cleveland, the Cleveland Cavaliers
thrashed Boston Celtics 110-79. LeBron
the visiting Utah Jazz (24-35) tamed
the Memphis Grizzlies 93-82 for a third
straight win.
Courtney Lee tossed in 18 points for
short-handed Memphis (42-17), playing
without starting forward Zach Randolph
(illness) and Tony Allen was suspended
for the game due to a violation of team
policy.
At Chicago, the Chicago Bulls
beat Washington Wizards 97-92.
Montenegrin rookie Nikola Mirotic
scored 23, Spaniard Pau Gasol made two
free throws with 8.5 seconds left to cap
a 20-point, 10-rebound effort, and the
undermanned Bulls (38-23) handed the
visiting Wizards (34-27) their seventh
loss in eight games.
Chicago was without former MVP
Derrick Rose (right knee surgery),
all-star Jimmy Butler (left elbow) and
reserve forward Taj Gibson (left ankle
sprain).
At New York, the Sacramento Kings
thumped New York Knicks 124-86.
Rudy Gay scored 25 points, DeMarcus
Cousins had 22 with 10 rebounds and
the visiting Kings (21-37) sent the
league-worst Knicks (12-47) to their
most-lopsided loss of the season.
At Charlotte, the Charlotte Hornets
defeated LA Lakers 104-103. Al
Jefferson had 21 points and 16 rebounds,
Mo Williams netted eight of his 20 in
the final minute with 13 assists, and
the Hornets (25-33) stung the visiting
Lakers for their third win in four games.
Jeremy Lin scored 23 for the Lakers
— USA Today Sports
(16-43), losers in nine of their last 12
James netted 27 points to move into contests.
— dpa
21st on the NBA’s career scoring list,
NBA RESULTS
and the Cavs (38-24) won for the 19th
time in the last 23 games after sending
Sacramento bt NY Knicks 124-86
Charlotte bt LA Lakers 104-103
the visiting Celtics (23-35) to their worst
Cleveland bt Boston 110-79
loss of the season.
Atlanta bt Houston 104-96
At Memphis, Gordon Hayward and
Chicago bt Washington 97-92
Derrick Favors scored 21 points apiece,
Utah bt Memphis 93-82
while Frenchman Rudy Gobert netted
Denver bt Milwaukee 106-95
15 with a career-high 24 rebounds, as
SEEB POST FIRST WIN IN GCC CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP
Bank Muscat
to support
HM Cup soccer
Seeb edged past Qatar’s Al Arabi 2-1 for their first victory in the GCC Club Championship at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Bausher on Tuesday. Mirwa Rajvi put for Al Arabi in the 14th minute. Osama
Hadeed found the equaliser for the home team in the 32nd minute and Khalid al Hamdani netted the winner in the 80th minute. After the win, Seeb are second with four points from three matches in the Group B,
which is led by Al Shabaab of the UAE with six points from two outings. Al Arabi have a point in the three-team group. Seeb will play their last group match against Al Shabaab on March 17 in an away match. The
Omani club will have to win the match to progress to the next round.
— Khalid al Ruzaiqi
Wie knows the competition will be tough for 4 slots from US but remains hopeful that she can play in Brazil
Wie targets American Dream at Rio Olympics
Michelle Wie of the US plays a shot during the third round of the Honda LPGA
Thailand 2015 tournament in Pattaya.
— AFP
SINGAPORE: Michelle Wie enjoyed
a breakthrough year in 2014 when she
captured her first Major title and the
American will spend the next 18 months
chasing another dream — competing at
a Summer Olympics.
A teen prodigy, Wie was thrust into
the limelight a decade ago when she
competed against the men on several
PGA Tour events but missed the cut in
all of them and struggled to make an
impact on the ladies tour after turning
professional in 2005.
The 25-year-old finally fulfilled her
potential with a first LPGA Tour title in
2009 and steady improvement over the
years culminated in a two-shot US Open
triumph at Pinehurst last June.
Wie is targeting more Major success
this season but her main goal will be
to tee off at the Rio Games in 2016,
competing at an event she helped
ensure become a reality as part of the
team lobbying for golf ’s inclusion as an
Olympic sport six years ago. “Oh, yeah, I
was actually in Copenhagen with the golf
committee... people associated with the
golf associations and we worked hard to
get golf into the Olympics and we were
very successful,” Wie told reporters in
Singapore on Tuesday ahead of this week’s
HSBC Women’s Champions event.
“So since then, I’ve been working
really hard and it’s definitely a big goal of
mine to make the US Team.”
The top 60 players in the world, with
a maximum of four per country, on July
11, 2016 will be eligible to compete in
Rio and with Wie currently sixth in
the global rankings, the Hawaiian is on
target to qualify for Brazil.
However, fellow Americans Stacy
Lewis, Lexi Thompson, Brittany
Lincicome, Cristie Kerr, Jessica Korda,
Angela Stanford and Paula Creamer
are all ranked in the top 30 and will
be gunning for one of the few spots
available. Wie knows the competition
will be tough but remains hopeful that
she can play at an event she, as a child,
never thought would be possible.
“Growing up, I always watched the
Olympics and thought it would be so cool
to represent my country but I was also
very sad because I would never have the
opportunity,” she added. “Now that I have
the opportunity it’s definitely one of my
biggest goals, one of my biggest dreams
is to compete in Rio. So I’m going to be
working hard and hopefully I’ll get it.”
Creamer, the defending champion in
Singapore, is also driven to make the US
Team and regards it as her “number one
goal”. “That is everything that I have ever
wanted, to represent my country in the
Olympics,” she said. “I have a little bit
over a year to kind of get my butt back
into shape and get into that — make that
team.”
— Reuters
MUSCAT: Bank Muscat has come on
board as the presenting partner for His
Majesty’s Cup for the 2014-15 season,
according to the Oman Football
Association (OFA) on Wednesday.
His Majesty’s Cup is the prime
Cup competition for the football
clubs of Oman and the HM Cup final
is now established in the football
calendar as the final game of the
season with huge crowds expected to
witness two teams battle it out for the
ultimate prize.
Bank Muscat have been a strong
supporter of Oman football in the past
and Sultan al Zadjali, the OFA General
Secretary, is excited to have a formal
partnership now in place.
“It is great news to have Oman’s
premiere bank as the partner for
Oman’s premier football cup. We
have worked well together in the past,
and we are
very happy to
welcome Bank
Muscat as a
partner for the
OFA. There are
a number of
great initiatives
planned for the
OFFICIAL SPONSOR
remainder of
the season, and
we look forward
to promoting
these to all fans of the HM Cup.”
The HM Cup quarterfinals are
taking place next week with two
games on March 11 and two games on
March 14. Eight teams remain in the
competition — Ahli Sidab, Al Seeb, Al
Khabourah, Al Nasr, Al Nahdha, Sur,
Al Arouba, and Al Mudhaibi — with
the final taking place at the end of May.
Last year’s winners Fanja were
beaten in the last round by Sur (on
penalties) with Sur now set to take on
last year’s beaten finalists Al Nahdha in
the quarterfinals.
A new logo was revealed for the
tournament, with full details of the
partnership to be announced next
week ahead of the quarterfinals.
ENTERTAINMENT
T H U R S DAY
MARCH 5 l 2015
Conductor Rattle going
home to lead Britain’s LSO
omandailyobserver
29
TINSELTOWN
Kate Winslet’s a legend:
Ansel Elgort
Q KATHERINE HADDON
O
ne of classical
music’s
biggest
names,
British
conductor Simon
Rattle, is going
home to lead the
London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), he
said on Tuesday, following news of his
departure from the Berlin Philharmonic.
The shaggy-haired 60-year-old will
become music director at the LSO in
September 2017, succeeding Russia’s
Valery Gergiev, who is currently
principal conductor.
Critics said the move would shake
up the often stuffy world of classical
music in Britain — and may even lead
to the construction of a new concert hall
in London.
During a critically acclaimed series
of shows in the British capital with the
Berlin Philharmonic last month, Rattle
complained that it lacked a hall with
acoustics good enough for world-class
performances.
“You have no idea how great the
London Symphony Orchestra can
sound in a great concert hall,” he told the
BBC in an interview.
That prompted British Finance
Minister George Osborne to launch
a feasibility study into building a new
venue which will issue its findings later
this year.
The LSO is the resident orchestra at
London’s Barbican Centre, which Rattle
described as merely “serviceable”, while
the capital also has a string of older
venues such as the Royal Albert Hall,
home of the annual Proms concert
season.
Rattle stressed that his move was
not dependent on London getting a new
Gaga’s love
advice for
Taylor Swift
S
inger Lady Gaga has
told Taylor Swift that her
“Prince Charming will
come” after the “Blank space”
hitmaker congratulated the
former on her engagement.
Swift tweeted about Gaga,
praising her for “fully LIVING
right now” after the 28-year-old
pop star, recently got engaged to
actor Taylor Kinney, performed
at the Oscars and secured a role
in “American Horror Story”,
reports femalefirst.co.uk.
Swift wrote: “Is it just me or
is Lady Gaga, like, fully LIVING
right now?!? #goals (sic)”
The friendly message caught
the eye of Gaga, who decided to
reply to the 25-year-old pop star,
calling her a “sweetheart” and
telling her she will also find love
sometime soon. Gaga tweeted:
“Wow you’re a sweetheart! Life
is friends, family, and love! We
all see that in you, your prince
charming will come.”
The
heart-warming
exchange follows comments
made by Swift in which she
confessed she believes she will
be single for at least the next five
years because potential partners
don’t want to be involved with
her level of fame.
symphony hall at a press conference
where his move was confirmed.
“The feasibility study has been
announced which is a wonderful thing
because what I wanted to do was at least
be able to kick-start the conversation
about the possibility of a change,” he
said. “We wait with real interest.”
Making classical music accessible
Rattle first performed with the
LSO when he was 22 and conducted
the orchestra at the opening ceremony
for the 2012 London Olympics,
accompanied by comedian Rowan
Atkinson as Mr Bean on keyboards.
The LSO has an august pedigree,
boasting figures such as Edward Elgar
and Andre Previn as previous principal
conductors.
But critics are hopeful that Rattle’s
arrival could breathe new life into the
often conservative world of orchestras
and concert halls in Britain.
“Rattle’s appointment is precisely
the seismic, creative shock that classical
music needs,” wrote critic Tom Service
in the Guardian.
“His presence at the top of Britain’s
most acclaimed ensemble has the
potential to be the catalyst for a
revitalisation of classical music, from
schools and music hubs to conservatoires
and concert halls.”
The conductor himself said he hoped
to make the genre more accessible
during his time at the LSO by creating
a situation in which “performing,
teaching and learning are indivisible”.
“I cannot imagine a more inspiring
way to spend my next years,” he added
in a statement.
Rattle’s contract at the Berlin
Philharmonic, where he has been chief
conductor since 2002, ends in 2018, the
year after he is due to move to London.
The Liverpudlian intends to work
with both orchestras during the
overlapping year.
Rattle has described his relationship
with the Berlin Philharmonic as
sometimes turbulent but never
destructively so.
During his time in Germany, he
has reorganised the orchestra into a
foundation, giving members more
control over its activities and decreasing
the say of politicians, while championing
contemporary music.
Before taking up the baton in Berlin,
Rattle was at the City of Birmingham
Symphony Orchestra from 1980 to 1998,
raising its profile significantly. — AFP
Wearing heavy jewellery tough for Alka
A
ctress Alka Kaushal, who is
currently playing the role
of disciplined and strict
Parvati Gadodia in Colors’ latest show
“Swarigini”, says she finds it
hard to manage all the heavy
jewellery that her character
wears on screen for long
durations.
Parvati is seen wearing
maang tika, heavy
earrings,
bangles
and neck pieces
in the show, and
the actress says
that she hardly
wears
such
accessories in
real life.
“ I t ’s
d i ffi c u l t
to wear
them
for 13
to 14
hours a day while shooting. I don’t even
get so decked up for weddings,” she said
when asked that how does it feel to be
decked up all the time in such shows.
Her character
in the series,
that
talks
a b o u t
cultural
conflicts
between
a
Marwari
a n d
Bengali
family,
is
a
strong,
rooted woman and has a clear
differentiation of right and wrong with
her own set of guidelines.
The Gadodia family is traditional and
believes in customs and rituals. They are
pure vegetarians and cannot stand the
stench or sight of meat. Parvati hates the
Bengalis next door.
She is bitter and does not leave any
stone unturned to look down upon
them.
When asked that what made her give
nod to this show, she said: “I have never
done such a role before. Fortunately
or unfortunately, I was only getting
negative roles so far, so I think this
is one opportunity where I am given
opportunity of not being negative.”
“Swaragini” also features Helly Shah
and Tejaswi Prakash Wayangankar,
who play Swara Bose and Ragini
Gadodia respectively along
with Shobha Bose played by
Tanima Sen, Sharmishtha
Bose
played
by
Parinita Borthakur
and
Shekhar
Gadodia played
by Sachin Tyagi.
A
nsel Elgort relished the opportunity to act with talents like Shailene
Woodley and Kate Winslet in “The Divergent Series: Insurgent”. He
considers the “Titanic” star a legend.
“Shai and I have worked together recently on the ‘Divergent’ movies and
‘The Fault in Our Stars’. She is the best young actress around right now, so I
couldn’t be happier.
And Kate Winslet’s obviously a legend,” Elgort said.
“The Divergent Series: Insurgent” will release on March 20 worldwide.
Beckham praises ‘beautiful
wife’ Victoria
R
etired English footballer David
Beckham treated his wife
Victoria Beckham to a date
night in London and praised her for
being so “beautiful”. David took the
40-year-old wife along to a new popup bar on Sunday and later posted
a picture of the pair both looking
effortlessly elegant in black outfits,
reports femalefirst.co.uk.
In a caption appended with his
Facebook post he wrote: “Great
to have my beautiful wife in attendance at my Haig Club London
dinner.#HaigClubLondon (sic).” The couple have children — Brooklyn, 15;
Romeo, 12; Cruz, 9; and three-year-old Harper.
Timberlake adores his wife
A
ctress Jessica Biel’s “huz” Justin
Timberlake has expressed how
much he adores his wife.
To toast the actress’ 33rd birthday on
Tuesday, Timberlake took to Instagram to
post a photo of himself and the “7th Heaven”
star, reports people.com.
“Happy Bday to the sweetest, most
GORGEOUS, goofiest, most BAD-A**
ch**k I know.
You make me smile ‘til it hurts.
I love you like crazy,” the “Suit & Tie”
hitmaker wrote, signing it, “Your Huz.”
VYING FOR AWARDS
Tribeca Film Festival announces competition films
F
eature films from 31 countries,
many of them about the
struggles of everyday life and
featuring stars such as Richard Gere,
James Franco and Dakota Fanning will
be screened at the 14th Tribeca Film
Festival.
More than 6,200 films, from
countries ranging from Costa Rica and
Iceland to Albania and South Africa,
were submitted for the festival, which
runs from April 15 to 26.
Half of its slate of 97 featurelength films, including selections for
the world narrative and documentary
feature competitions and entries for its
“Viewpoints” section, were announced
by organisers on Tuesday.
“We were inspired by, and really
admire the ambition and risk-taking
of the film-makers who are striving to
capture the emotion and complexities of
everyday life in this year’s submissions,”
Frederic Boyer, artistic director of the
festival, said in a statement.
In “Franny,” from director/writer
Andrew Renzi, Gere is a rich eccentric
who gets involved in the lives of the
daughter of a dead friend, played by
Fanning, and her husband.
Franco is a novelist suffering from
writer’s block in the crime thriller, “The
Adderall Diaries,” which also stars
Amber Heard and Cynthia Nixon and
is based on the best-selling memoir of
the same name by Stephen Elliott.
“Meadowland,” with Olivia Wilde
and Luke Wilson, follows the strained
relationship of a couple whose son goes
missing.
This year’s festival will open with
the world premiere of “Live from
New York!,” about the NBC late night
comedy sketch show “Saturday Night
Live.”
Films in the documentary
competition include “Havana Motor
Club,” about drag racers preparing for
a race in Cuba, and “In Transit,” which
travels America’s busiest long-distance
train route from Chicago to Seattle.
“Autism in Love” tells the story of
adults with the disorder and “Thank
You for Playing” details a couple’s efforts
to make a video game about their son’s
fight against cancer.
The Tribeca Film Festival was
founded in 2001 by actor Robert De
Niro, film producer Jane Rosenthal and
investor Craig Hatkoff to revitalise the
downtown New York neighbourhood
following the September 11 attacks on
the World Trade Centre.
— Reuters Richard Gere at the set of Franny
omandailyobserver
omandailyo
observer
30
READING
maketh a full man
Q MAI AL ABRIA
M
u s c a t
International
Book Fair is
one of the
largest annual
events in the
Sultanate of Oman that gathers book
fans under the same roof. Readers
wishing to update their libraries with
new books and attend cultural events
will enjoy their search among the
diverse books exhibited this year and
the participation from GCC countries
and the Arab world.
Before visiting the exhibition in
order to save your time, searching for
the favourite author and tile, visitors
can reach the list of the books from the
website of the exhibition.
It helps the readers to know in
advance which book to purchase. The
web search engine in the exhibition
will help later to find the place of the
intended book and the visitor in this
way helps to reduce the congestion to
allow others to enjoy their search as well.
Dr Abdulmunim al Hasani, Minister
of Information, launched the book “A
Rose for the Road”, a series of audio
albums reflecting some humanitarian
and cultural themes as part of the
participation of the National Youth
Committee (NYC).
Some poets and writers signed the
launch of their books like Shmaisa al
Numani who launched her “Let’s plant
love in the world” and Bushra Khalfan
who launched her book “To Earth we
Return, Come with Me”.
The NYC continued its support for
young writers. This year it supported
around 20 writers from different age
groups who enriched the exhibition
with valuable books in arts, law, history
and other subjects.
As part of the programme of NYC,
the committee has included “We Still
Remember Them” activity which aims
to review the achievements of eight late
writers and poets who have left a rich art
heritage.
This year Shaikh Awadh al Amri, Ali
al Kahali, Dr Mahdi Jafaar, Mohammed
al Moqbali, Rabee al Alawi, Faiza al
Yaqoobi, Humood al Shukaili and Yahya
al Bahlani were remembered as part of
the programme.
The National Records and Archives
Authority has also participated in the
exhibition with a number of books
including Research and Surveys in
National and International Archives
from part 1 to part 5 entitled: Islamic
Civilization and the Omani Role in
the Historical, Political, Economic and
Social dimensions in East Africa, Islamic
Civilization and Culture, and the Omani
role in the Countries of the Africa Great
Lakes region research Themes, Omani
and Othman political, Military and
economic Relationship, Oman-East
Africa Historical relationship at the
Busaidi Era, and the Role of Omanis at
promoting Agriculture at Zanzibar and
the Political, Economic and Cultural
Results.
One of the English books displayed
in the exhibition is “Nothing New” by
Khawla al Hosni, in which she gathered
a number of articles discussing some
cultural themes. There is also “Oman:
an Illustrated History” by researcher
Khalfan al Busaidi, a book that carries
you along in the journey of Oman’s
history.
The stalls for children’s books are
attracting large number of mothers as
they are truly considerate to instil the
love of reading in their kids. Books
have the power to benefit toddlers and
preschoolers in a countless ways. As a
parent, reading to your child is one of
the most important things you can do to
prepare him or her with a foundation
for academic excellence. Some parents
believe that early reading for toddlers
helps them view books as an indulgence,
not a chore. Kids who are exposed to
reading are much more likely to choose
books over video games, television, and
other forms of entertainment as they
grow older because they grew up on the
idea that reading is fun.
The vast mass of knowledge in the
world can only be gained by reading,
and if parents want their children to
be smart, they have to acquire the love
for reading. This reading habit can be
developed in children in the early age by
reading to them.
The reading contest held within the
activities of the exhibition received
a huge turn out from the target age
category from 12 to 18 last year and
hopefully would perform the same
this year as the target readers are the
university students.
The contest is all about reading a
book carefully, comprehend it and later
compete with some rivals to answer
some questions on the content.
Such competition urges youth not
only to obtain books and save them in
their libraries, but also to read them and
get benefit of the content.
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IN-DEPTH COVERAGE ON MUSCAT
INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR
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SPOTLIGHT
T H U R S DAY
MARCH 5 l 2015
RESIDENTS GASP FOR FRESH
AIR IN THE CITY OF SMOG
Air pollution can
hamper your
kids’ memory
A boy looks at an air purifier
at the indoor playground in
Beijing. — Reuters
F
or years, Liu Ruiqiang put
up with chronic smog in
China’s capital of Beijing,
but he didn’t want to take
any chances when his
daughter was born.
The salesman now carries a handheld
pollution sensor everywhere. On days
when air pollution reaches hazardous
levels, his toddler daughter is confined
to their home, where a pair of constantly
whirring air purifiers make it safer to
breathe.
Liu, who says he’s a lower-middle
class Beijinger, estimates he has spent
more than $6,375 in the past couple of
years to counter the effects of pollution
on little Yunshu.
“If we don’t think of a way to balance
it out or find some basic ways to help
us recover, eventually our health will be
destroyed,” the 37-year-old said.
Like millions of Chinese, Liu and his
family are paying the price for decades of
red-hot economic growth that have lifted
hundreds of millions out of poverty, but
have taken a toll on the environment due
to rapid industrialisation.
Over the past seven years, levels of
particulate matter in Beijing’s air smaller
than 2.5 micrometres in diameter
(PM2.5) averaged nearly five times the
recommended daily level set by the
World Health Organization, according to
data from a monitoring station at the US
Embassy.
The medical implications of
sustained exposure are sobering. A study
by Greenpeace and scientists at Peking
University-based on 2013 data attributed
more than 257,000 premature deaths in
31 Chinese cities to PM2.5, making it a
bigger killer than smoking.
Awareness of the dangers of Beijing’s
skies is on the rise, thanks to growing
data on its air quality. Anyone can
monitor pollution using apps providing
hourly updates of PM2.5 levels, based on
government or US Embassy readings.
Sales of air purifiers are expected to
see annual growth of 33 per cent over
the next five years, according to TechSci
Research, but they don’t come cheap.
Some expatriates are considering
leaving China for good. J Kim, a Korean
who has worked there for more than
10 years, said he developed rhinitis and
asthma during his most recent stint
in Beijing, as a result of breathing its
polluted air.
When pollution levels reached a
record in January 2013, a phenomenon
dubbed the “airpocalypse”, Kim decided
to leave. He sent his children to South
Korea last year and will join them as
soon as his company, a maker of electric
vehicles, finds him a suitable post back
home. “In China, what we need is
wide participation from society, and
monitoring from the public to make sure
the laws are implemented,” said Ma Jun,
founder of the Institute of Public and
Environmental Affairs.
For now, Liu sees no silver lining in
Beijing’s toxic cloud. “It’s very unlikely
we’ll see the pollution issue being solved
in the next 10 years,” he said. “It’s not
realistic.”
— Reuters
Admitting your kids to schools
located near busy roads or in areas
with high levels of air pollution
could hamper their intellectual
development, new research suggests.
Attendance at schools exposed
to high levels of traffic-related air
pollution is linked to slower cognitive
development among seven to
10-year-old children, the findings
showed.
“Children attending schools with
higher traffic-related air pollution
had a smaller improvement in
cognitive development,” said Jordi
Sunyer from the Centre for Research
in Environmental Epidemiology
(CREAL), Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
The findings suggest that the
developing brain may be vulnerable
to traffic-related air pollution well
into middle childhood, a conclusion
that has implications for the design of
air pollution regulations and for the
location of new schools.
The researchers measured
three cognitive outcomes (working
memory, superior working memory,
and attentiveness) every three
months over a 12-month period
in 2,715 primary schoolchildren
attending 39 schools in Barcelona.
The increase in cognitive
development over time among
children attending highly polluted
schools was less than among
children attending school exposed
to low levels of pollution, even after
adjusting for additional factors that
affect cognitive development, the
findings showed.
Thus, for example, there was an
11.5 per cent increase in working
memory in a year at the lowlypolluted schools but only a 7.4 per
cent 12-month increase in working
memory at the highly-polluted
schools.
ISWK BIDS FAREWELL TO GRADUATING STUDENTS
I
ndian School Wadi Kabir held a
valediction ceremony recently to
bid adieu to the outgoing batch of
Class XII.
Binay Shukla, Executive Audit
Director with Assurance Services of
Ernst and Young, Middle East Practice,
Muscat was the Chief Guest. Harshendu
Shah, Honorary President, along with
the Members of the School Management
Committee, parents and teachers of the
graduating students graced the occasion
with their presence.
The programme commenced with
the lighting of the lamp symbolising
the light of knowledge that they need
to carry forward in their future
endeavours.
This was followed by a floral tribute
when the outgoing students presented
flowers to their teachers and parents
as a mark of respect and to seek their
blessings.
The Chief Guest, in his inspirational
speech, exhorted the students to visualise,
focus and follow their dreams. He also
urged them to believe in themselves
and to do their best in whatever they
Writers
and their
motivation
drives
MOHAMMED AL BALUSHI
do. Quoting Deepak Chopra, he said
that the future is not one, but it is several
probable entities. He also told them not
to hesitate from seeking help when they
needed it. Harshendu Shah, Leo Lobo,
the Academic Director also blessed the
students and wished them all the best.
D N Rao, the Principal, in his speech
reminded the students to remain focused
and put in their best in order to achieve
success in their Board examinations.
In her valedictory address, Gaadha
Jayaprakash, the Head Girl fondly
recalled her years spent at school and
the Head Boy, Alen Antony Pathil
offered rich tributes to his teachers and
mentors as he nostalgically remembered
the good times and how each experience
transformed him into a strong
individual. Gaadha Jayaprakash of the
Science Stream and Maitri Uday Asher
of the Commerce Stream were declared
the ‘Ideal ISWK’ students.
‘The Achiever of the Year’ Award
was shared by Abhishek Chandrashekar
Pavanje of the Commerce Stream and
Amanda Jane Fernandes of the Science
Stream.
E
very year, around 2.2 million
books are being published
worldwide. However, it has
been recorded that, in 2013 US has
published 304,912 books and within
the same period China has published
440, 000 new titles and re-editions.
United Kingdom has published 149,800
new books in 2011. In 2004 India has
published 82,537 in total from which
21,370 were in Hindi language, 18,752
were in English language, and the
remaining 42,415 had been published in
other languages spoken in India. Brazil
published 20,792 in 2012. It is a matter
of sadness that in Arab countries there
are no good numbers. For instances,
in 2005 Lebanon published 3,686 new
books. In 1996 Saudi Arabia published
3,900, Oman published 7 new books;
omandailyobserver
NIZAR AL MUSALMY
nizar.nmh.musalmy@gmail.com
Hard to say by the boss
I
f, by any chance, you are not a boss; you should consider yourself
lucky because record shows that managing people is a no simple
matter. In case you don’t know most bosses worldwide are failures and
most of them, in their inner hearts, testify to it. Despite the fact that all
bosses aspire to be exceptional bosses, most of them fail miserably. Firstly,
because there’s a lot they don’t know about their employees and secondly,
there’s also a lot employees don’t know about them. Consequently these
bosses find themselves placed in a situation whereby they cannot say many
things to their subordinates — things they wish they could say to their
employees... but they never do.
Many bosses wish to tell their employees that it is okay for them to
have fun at their offices. But somehow the words fail to come out from
their mouths. Bosses always want to say: — “You don’t have to pretend to
be working really hard when I walk in”. Many bosses would want to utter
words to indicate that it’s possible to perform at a high level and have a
little fun at the same time. They also would wish to confess that they also
used to work and have fun too. Every time they try to say such things they
fall short. Bosses fully understand that they do not know everything and
that they are not all-powerful. But it is very hard for them to say so in front
of their subordinates. Each boss would love to be considered as the best
in the country. He/she would very much like to increase your salary very
highly. But they can’t, mostly due to financial constraints and or intrigued
policies and procedures. The sad thing is that they will not say it. Someday,
if you become a boss you’ll understand.
I know this will come as a surprise to some of you but bosses crave
to be liked by their juniors. Your boss really does care that you like him.
Sometimes he may come off real hard on you or out of the blue decide
to care less about your opinions, it’s mostly because of insecurity or
uncertainty in terms of authority. But he wants you to like your job and
definitely wants you to like him — whether it seems like it or not. But again
the problem is that he cannot stand and say so. One of the other things
that your boss finds hard to say to you is his wish to work for him forever.
When you are good enough, they see you as a non-disposable part. When
you leave, it hurts and makes them feel like they have failed. Bosses tend to
want to run the kind of business people hope to retire from. Another point
is that most bosses prefer to leave their staff to lead their own ways. They
don’t like to micromanage — they want staff to feel trusted. They want
their staff to understand this theme but the challenge for them is how tell
them — words just refuse to come out from the mouth.
So next time you see your boss thinking deeply, understand that he
is trying to figure out how to say things that he wants to say. Even when
he is worried, distracted, tense, irritable or short-tempered because of
something else, he cannot even say that it’s not your fault. No matter how
he tries, and even though you two are really friends; still there are some
things he just can’t say you. Some of the times he is busy worrying about
whether he can fulfil the trust you place in him as your boss. Unfortunately
this is going to continue because many bosses tend to concentrate on
developing their strengths, and not work on their weaknesses.
‘High-salt diet may boost
immune response’
H
igh-salt diet is bad for health,
say numerous studies, but
a significant research now
reveals that dietary salt could have a
biological advantage — defending the
body against invading bacteria.
They found that a high-salt diet
increased sodium accumulation in the
skin of mice, thereby boosting their
immune response to a skin-infecting
parasite.
The findings suggest that dietary
salt could have therapeutic potential to
promote host defence against microbial
infections.
Till now, high-salt is clearly known
to be detrimental for cardiovascular
diseases and stroke.
“Our study challenges this one-sided
view and suggests that increasing salt
accumulation at the site of infections
might be an ancient strategy to ward off
Bahrain published 84 new books, and
Palestine has published 114 new titles
and re-editions in the same year.
Have ever readers noticed what
motivate those writers to write different
kinds of books? Are writers free for
writing? How much they are really
struggling for finishing one book in
six-month period? One of the most
essential parts to be acknowledged is
that, how much money those writers
are making? Most writers don’t really
make good money and there is no
money in writing. If there is no money
in writing, what are those elements
which still force them to write? There
may be different opinions from different
individuals. Well, writing comes from
person’s hobbies and that always make
them to be motivated. On the other
hand writing is a beautiful search where
the writers make themselves busy in
searching different stories and work
hard for fictions and non-fictions.
Many suggested that you can’t be a good
writer unless you are a good reader. By
reading different books, the new writers
gain good experience, whenever, they
plan to begin writing their first book.
Some writers suggested that, it is not
necessary to be a good reader to become
a good writer.
The thing is not about how much
someone struggles as a writer. The
writer should always keep the point in
his or her mind that, how the readership
to be increased. It is significant to know
the interest of readers. Have ever writers
asked themselves why their books and
articles are not read and appreciated?
31
It is very simple because readers don’t
see their maps in those published books
or articles. Are readers free to read any
published books? Of course, in the age
of information and technology no one
has free time to browse and read every
book and articles which are published
in different channels. Readers became
very selective, they know who to be
read and why.
Readers or people in general should
not be blamed for not reading certain
authors’ books. It is indeed, the fault of
writers who did not succeed to gain the
interest of readers in their published
books. It is not about not having readers,
but it is all about not having good books
or books of interest of readers.
Since it was recorded that Oman
has published 7 books in 1996, today
infections, long before antibiotics were
invented,” explained first study author
Jonathan Jantsch, microbiologist at
Universitatsklinikum Regensburg and
Universitat Regensburg in Germany.
A clue to this mystery came when the
team noticed an unusually high amount
of sodium in the infected skin of mice
that had been bitten by cage mates.
Intrigued by this observation, they
examined the link between infection
and salt accumulation in the skin.
The team found that infected areas
in patients with bacterial skin infections
also showed remarkably high salt
accumulation.
Moreover, experiments in mice
showed that a high-salt diet boosted
the activity of immune cells called
macrophages, thereby promoting the
healing of feet that were infected with a
protozoan parasite.
the number of published books in
Oman must be higher than of 1996.
How Omani writers can be motivated
in writing more books. Though, there
are good writers in Arabic, but what
make them not to write in English.
Since English language has become the
universal language, it can be a good
idea if some Omani writers to focus
in writing novels in English language
or some good Arabic novels to be
translated in English.
Sometimes writers need to go for
self-motivation and bring some positive
revolutions in the field of writing.
Every year Oman organise the
Muscat International Book Fair. It is a
good opportunity to find out a number
of Omani writers and most importantly
to know about their fans.
P29
P30
P31
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BEAUTY OF OMAN
captured on canvas
JAYNE’S WORKS TRULY REFLECT THE
BEAUTY OF OMAN RANGING FROM HAJAR
MOUNTAINS TO NIZWA, FLOWERS THAT GROW
ON THE LAND TO THE WATERS THAT FEED IT
Q MELANIE HELD
“
A
ll of the striking
contrast with
the buildings
and
the
mountains, I
just find all that
on many levels as Oman has something
appealing to me.”
“Illuminate — Oman Retrospective”
is the name Jayne Hodgson gave her
art exhibition which was opened in
the lobby of Homruz Grand Hotel on
Tuesday. “I genuinely love this country,
I guess it’s because it’s different from my
country,” says Jayne.
“Australia is a relatively new country
so we don’t really have the strong
tradition and culture that is present
here,” she added.
Dr Ibrahim bin Ahmed al Kindi,
Chief Executive Officer of Oman
Establishment of Press Publication and
Advertising, inaugurated the exhibition
which will be open to the public until
March 8.
“A lot of people living in Muscat are
from the countryside,” explained Dr
Ibrahim bin Ahmed al Kindi. “We still
belong to these places and area. This is
the reason we can see ourselves in the
paintings with the mountains, wadis and
falajs,” he added.
As images of different wadis, Rimal
al Sharqiya (formerly known as Wahiba
Sands), the Hajar Mountains, Ras al
Jinz and many more filled the lobby of
the Homruz Grand Hotel, in different
canvas sizes, people were able to see
places of Oman through the strokes and
colours of Jayne’s art pieces. Her works
made people to draw more closer to the
works not only to admire them and
her style but also to see and get a better
understanding of what Jayne, herself
saw.
Talking about her art pieces and how
she picks her subjects, Jayne said, “I’ve
got many ideas in my head, it is really
just, ‘what do I want to paint today?’ and
so the first thing that comes up, I paint.”
While looking at her work, one can
see that she has truly captured the beauty
of Oman, may it be in natural landscape
or through the people who have called
this place their home. By using bright
and bold colours Jayne created a mood
and setting that depicts Oman in its
purest sense.
“I don’t think in those terms,’ she
explained. “I don’t think in dark colours,
even in a night scene I will still use bright
colours for a night scene,” she added.
About the title “Illuminate — Oman
Retrospective,” Jayne explained that
“retrospective” came from her looking
back when she lived here before. “I was
always looking back thinking about the
towns and places I went to when I was
here. For example, this time I haven’t
been to Nizwa but I had been there
many times before. As for the word
“Illuminate,” it comes from “the light
and bright colours” that are in her and
in all of her works.
The opening night was not only
for art lovers coming to find a piece of
Jayne’s work to enrich their homes, it
was also a night of giving to others. With
two pieces up for auction, — ‘Green
Mountains’ and ‘Village in the Hajar
Mountains’ — guests had a chance to
bid on these paintings, the proceeds of
which would go to the Al Amaal School
for Deaf.
As the bidding came to an end, two
lucky bidders walked away with two of
Jayne’s art pieces and in return, gave the
Al Amaal School for Deaf an amount of
RO 600.
Talking about the exhibition and
the art work that was purchased in the
auction, Dr Ibrahim bin Ahmed al Kindi
said: “I love art because of the aspect of
‘reflection’.
The reflection of the artist’s ideas
of a country’s culture, customs and
traditions.
How they see the geography and
demography of the country and its
culture; for me this is what Jayne has
done. She understands our customs and
heritage and depicted it beautifully in
these paintings.”
“Even if I am in Muscat I can still
see where I am from!” Looking at the
art work Dr Ibrahim al Kindi had just
purchased in the auction, he said, “I like
the nature of this painting. It is a place
that I visit regularly as we are a part of
that place, for it is where my family is
from.”
With paintings that display the
beauty of Oman, ranging from Hajar
Mountains to Nizwa, from flowers that
grow on the land to the waters that feed
it, Jayne Hodges’s works truly reflect the
beauty of Oman.