FRIDAY | AUGUST 28, 2015 | DHUL QA’ADA 13, 1436 AH
VOL. 34 NO. 287 | PAGES 20 | BAISAS 200
P13 Strong US capital spending plans boost growth
P9 Scientists recreate bread ancestors
P20 Sprint sweep for brilliant Bolt in Beijing
Inside
Chief Executive Officer
DR IBRAHIM BIN AHMED AL KINDI
India set to build 98 Smart Cities Arrest warrant against ex-PM Gilani Palestinians to hold rare congress 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
OMAN
Boost to media
ties with Qatar
HM ORDER CONFERRED
SALALAH: Sayyid Mohammed bin
Sultan al Busaidy, Minister of State and
Governor of Dhofar, received at his
office Shaikh Abdul Rahman bin Hamad
al Thani, Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
of Qatar Media Corporation, and his
delegation. The two sides discussed
means of joint cooperation between
the Sultanate and the State of Qatar
in different media fields and the ways
to develop them. They also discussed
aspects related to exchange of media
teams and training programmes.
PICTURE ON P2
POSITIVE: Gulf stocks join global rally to cut heavy losses
INDIA
Troops patrol tense
Gujarat after riots
AHMEDABAD: A court in Gujarat
ordered a police inquiry on Thursday
after at least ten people died in the
worst violence to hit the Indian prime
minister’s home state in more than a
decade. Police opened fire on protesters
when rioting broke out following a mass
rally by members of the Patidar caste
to demand preferential treatment over
jobs and university places. One police
officer was also killed in the clashes with
demonstrators, which appear to have
been triggered by the brief detention of
protest leader Hardik Patel in the main
city of Ahmedabad.
SEE ALSO P4
WORLD
Nato opens training
centre in Georgia
TBILISI: Nato on Thursday opened a
training centre in Georgia as the exSoviet country eyes closer partnership
with the Western military alliance amid
tensions with Russia. Georgia has long
sought full Nato membership and hopes
to be invited to join a Membership
Action Plan, a formal step towards
membership, at a Nato summit in
Warsaw next year. But analysts doubt
that Nato will grant the small South
Caucasus country the membership plan
in 2016 for fear of infuriating Russia amid
tensions over Ukraine. REPORT ON P6
INSIDESTORIES
P3
KAZAKHSTAN SIGNS DEAL TO
HOST NUCLEAR FUEL BANK
P6
MIGRANTS SET TONE AT
EU-WEST BALKAN SUMMIT
GLOBAL MARKETS
STAGE SMART RALLY
MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos conferred Al Numan First Class Order on
Awadh Mohammed Ahmed Ibn Ouf, outgoing ambassador of the Republic of
Sudan to the Sultanate in appreciation of his good efforts in serving the fraternal
relations binding the two brotherly countries. The order was handed over to the
ambassador by HH Sayyid Haitham bin Tareq al Said when he received him at his
office yesterday.
Awareness can reduce
accidents in Sultanate
KABEER YOUSUF
MUSCAT
August 27: It is all-round awareness
and following precautions which can
reduce the number road accidents in
the country, especially on the road to
Salalah, according to an official from
the Royal Oman Police (ROP).
Motorists need to take extra caution
when they suspect something is not
right either with the road, vehicle or
with their driving attitude.
“One may be driving a brand new
4WD, but that doesn’t mean he cannot
meet with an accident. He or she needs
to exert extra caution while driving
and stop using mobile phone and take
a break when you feel tired,” a senior
official told the Observer.
“The positive results which we see
in Oman today are the outcome of
collective efforts of the government and
private entities and we need to have
more campaigns to this end.”
On the other hand, any awareness
programme will be futile if they are not
pursued and the motorists need to be
alert when they are on the road.
“One must turn his Internet data
package off so that getting busy on
social media and instant messaging
apps can be avoided, and he should
avoid making or receiving calls and if at
all if he wants to attend any emergency
call, it’s advisable to use a hands free.
“The idea is all about paying your
full attention on the road. Also avoid
driving longer distances alone as it
may be boring and hence you may lose
NEW YORK: Stock markets around the
world rallied on Thursday and crude
oil rebounded sharply after strong
US economic data and hints from a
US Federal Reserve policymaker that
a September interest rate hike was
unlikely.
All three major US indexes were up
almost 2 per cent and increased appetite
for risk sent government bond prices
and the Japanese yen down while the
dollar advanced.
Annual US gross domestic product
growth was revised to 3.7 per cent from
the 2.3 per cent rate reported last month
and last week’s jobless claims fell more
than expected.
New York Fed President William
Dudley had said on Wednesday that
arguments for a September rate increase
“seems less compelling” than only
weeks ago, given the threat posed
to the US economy by recent market
turmoil.
“People are re-evaluating the effect
of China’s slowdown on the rest of the
world. We had some moderately good
economic numbers this morning,”
said Giri Cherukuri, head trader
MSM general index
up by 34 points
MUSCAT: Muscat Securities
Market (MSM) general index
30 yesterday added 34.8 points
to close at 5,816.80 points,
compared to the last session,
which stood at 5,782.04 points.
The trading value stood at RO
4.26 million, a decline by 9.44 per
cent compared to the last session,
which stood at RO 4.70 million.
The report released by MSM
pointed out that the market value
rose by 0.94 per cent to reach
about RO 14.67 billion. The report
added that the value of shares
bought by non-Omani investors
reached RO 356,000. The value
of shares sold by non-Omani
investors reached RO 900,000.
and portfolio manager, at Oakbrook
Investments in Lisle, Illinois.
The Dow Jones industrial average
was up 282 points, or 1.73 per cent, at
16,567.51, the S&P 500 gained 36.96
points, or 1.9 per cent, to 1,977.47 and
OMAN ENTERS FINAL
FIRST
WHAT NOT TO DO ON ROAD
Action from the Oman’s semifinal against Qatar in the GCC Cup under-17
football championship at the Aspire Dome in Doha on Thursday. Oman beat
Qatar 3-2 to enter the final. REPORT ON P20
Oceans are warming and expanding much more rapidly than in the past
P7
ARAB COALITION POISED TO
RETAKE CAPITAL SANAA
WEATHER TODAY
MUSCAT
MAX: 380C
MIN: 310C
SALALAH
MAX: 300C
MIN: 250C
SUNRISE 05.45 AM
PRAYER TIMINGS
FAJR: 04:26
DHUHR: 12:08
ASR: 15:35
MAGHRIB: 18:29
ISHA: 19:59
NIZWA
MAX: 440C
MIN: 280C
Global sea levels climbed 3 inches since 1992
MIAMI: Sea levels are rising around
the world, and the latest satellite data
suggests that three feet (one metre) or
more is unavoidable in the next 100-200
years, Nasa scientists said.
Ice sheets in Greenland and
Antarctica are melting faster than ever,
and oceans are warming and expanding
much more rapidly than they have in
years past.
Rising seas will have “profound
impacts” around the world, said Michael
Freilich, Director of Nasa’s Earth Science
Division. “More than 150 million
people, most of them in Asia, live within
one metre of present sea level,” he said.
Low-lying US states such as Florida
are at risk of disappearing, as are some
of the world’s major cities such as
Singapore and Tokyo.
“It may entirely eliminate some
Pacific island nations,” he said.
There is no doubt that global
coastlines will look very different in
years to come, US space agency experts
told reporters on a conference call to
discuss the latest data on sea level rise.
“Right now we have committed to
probably more than three feet (one
metre) of sea level rise, just based on the
WOMAN
Anti-austerity
judge becomes
Greek PM
z Texting/talking on phone
z Driving when tired
z Avoid driving when not in proper
state of mind
z Multi-tasking
z Over speeding
z Driving with kids not in child seats
z Overtaking from wrong side
z Crossing shoulder lines
z Driving without seatbelts
attention. Likewise, one shouldn’t drive
when he is fatigued”, he added.
Reports say that on an average, at
least three people lose their lives in
various road accidents in the country
every day.
Fatalities and damages are also on
the rise, let alone the post-accident
trauma.
In the recent past, nearly a dozen
people were killed and several others
injured in road accidents during the Eid
al Fitr holidays which grabbed national
attention for triggering talks on better
planning for cutting accidents in the
TURN TO P2
country.
the Nasdaq Composite added 90.83
points, or 1.93 per cent, to 4,788.37.
Markets around the world plunged
earlier in the week as a slump in
Shanghai shares fuelled worries over
China’s economic health.
While Beijing moved to ease policy
late on Tuesday, stocks still ended weak
that day, but Wall Street staged a strong
comeback late on Wednesday and its
biggest daily gain in four years helped to
calm investor nerves overseas.
The two main Chinese indices
surged 5.3 per cent and 5.9 per cent on
Thursday, snapping a five-day losing
streak that had wiped around 20 per
cent in market value and sent tremors
around global financial markets.
US Treasuries prices fell with most
yields rising to one-week highs after the
government upgraded its reading on
second-quarter economic growth.
Dudley’s comments came amid
alarming market volatility and as
investors watch a annual meeting of the
world’s top central bankers in Jackson
Hole, Wyoming for clues on how the
turmoil may shake up policy plans.
— Agencies
A photo taken on Wednesday on the
beach in Vridi, the industrial
neighbourhood of Abidjan, shows the
ruins of a hotel which was destroyed by
the rise in the water levels. — AFP
warming we have had so far,” said Steve
Nerem of the University of Colorado,
Boulder and leader of Nasa’s sea level
rise team. “It will very likely get worse
in the future,” he told reporters. “The
biggest uncertainty is predicting how
quickly the polar ice sheets will melt.”
The last major predictions were
made in 2013 by the United Nations
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC). Based on a consensus
of international researchers, the IPCC
said global sea levels would likely rise
from one to three feet by the end of the
century.
— AFP
ATHENS: Greece has its first female
prime minister — if only for just over
three weeks. Top Supreme Court
judge Vassiliki Thanou, 65, was
sworn in on Thursday to head a
caretaker government that will lead
the country to elections expected on
September 20
A vocal anti-austerity advocate,
she made a name for herself as a judge
who openly battled against wage cuts
imposed on the Greek judiciary to
appease European and International
Monetary Fund lenders.
She argued that competitive
salaries were essential to uphold the
integrity of court officials and also
openly decried as illegal an unpopular
property tax first introduced in 2012
under the bailout programme.
Thanou’s main task as caretaker
prime minister will be to ensure
Greece is safely taken to elections
within roughly three weeks, leaving
her without any mandate to implement
the anti-austerity agenda that she has
openly espoused.
“The wrong economic policy
which was implemented in the past
five years, in line with the bailouts
that were imposed by the (lenders)
and failed, have led to a deeper
recession, unemployment and the
impoverishment of most of the Greek
people,” Thanou wrote in an open
letter to her European counterparts in
July.
In another letter to the president
of the European Commission in
February, Thanou — who was vicepresident of the Supreme Court at the
time — called on Jean-Claude Juncker
to help the “Greek people regain their
dignity”.
SEE ALSO P6
2
OMAN OIL PRICE RISES $1
F R I DAY l A U G U ST 2 8 l 2 0 1 5
Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME)
said that Oman oil price (October
delivery) reached $44.15. The DME
statement said that the price of
Oman oil rose $1.25 from the price of
Wednesday, which was $42.90. The
average price of Oman oil (September
Delivery 2015) has stabilised at $56
and 33 cents, thus $5.51 per barrel
lower than August delivery 2015.
OMAN
The Oil & Gas Year
Oman 2015 launched
MUSCAT: Energy report The Oil &
Gas Year Oman 2015 was launched at
the Intercontinental Hotel in Muscat,
on Thursday. The 152-page book was
launched in the presence of Salim bin
Nasser al Aufi, Under-Secretary of the
Ministry of Oil and Gas of the Sultanate
of Oman, in a ceremony organised by
the Ministry of Oil and Gas and the
Oman Society for Petroleum Services
(OPAL).
The event was attended by some of
the industry’s leaders and saw a number
of awards distributed to key individuals,
organisations and projects for their
achievements over the past year.
The Oil & Gas Year Oman 2015
places special focus on how the country
is using enhanced oil recovery to achieve
record production highs while building
up its infrastructure and downstream
sector to further these advances.
The book also explores Oman’s
approach to in-country
value through interviews
and a roundtable debate
with key players in the
country’s
localisation
initiative.
The Oil & Gas Year
published its fifth edition
in Oman produced in
collaboration with the
Ministry of Oil and Gas
and OPAL.
At the ceremony, The
Oil & Gas Year team
distributed six awards. Raoul Restucci,
Managing Director of Petroleum
Development Oman (PDO), was
selected as Man of the Year for his
leadership of Oman’s top oil producer.
Under Restucci, PDO has spearheaded
developments in enhanced oil recovery
and in-country value.
National Training Institute was
named Training Provider of the Year
for its role in fostering a local workforce
with the technical expertise needed
to tackle Oman’s complex oil and gas
developments. The award for Local
Company of the Year was given to Al
Sahari Oil Services, one of the five
super local community contractors
created under a PDO initiative to boost
Omani businesses. With a commitment
to sourcing new technology, Al Sahari
Oil Services has tripled its market value
since its creation. The Sohar Refinery
SAUDI PREACHER TO TALK IN SALALAH TODAY
Hamoud bin Ali al Aasri,
Assistant Secretary-General,
Sultan Qaboos Higher Centre for
Culture and Science, received
Saudi preacher Dr Khaled al
Jubeir (pictured) on Thursday
in Muscat. Al Jubeir will deliver
a lecture on Friday at Sultan
Qaboos Mosque in Salalah in
the evening.
DHOFAR GOVERNOR MEETS QATAR MEDIA CEO
Raoul Restucci, Managing
Director of Petroleum
Development Oman (PDO),
was selected as Man of the
Year for his leadership of
Oman’s top oil producer.
Improvement Project was honoured as
Project of the Year for its central role in
expanding Oman’s refining capacity.
The award for Contractor of the
Year went to Galfar Engineering
& Contracting. Oman’s largest
engineering and contracting firm has
recently secured key contracts for the
Khazzan Project and Duqm Refinery,
boosting a work backlog now valued at
$1.75 billion.
Intaj, a growing Omani integrated
oil and gas company, was named
Newcomer of the Year
following its award of
block 56 with partner
Medco in late 2014.
“This book is a sum
of leaders opinions
and information to let
the world know how
Oman has managed
to turn around its
production
decline,
and is today a world
centre of hydrocarbons
p r o d u c t i o n
innovation,” said Gilles Valentin,
managing partner of The Oil & Gas
Year.
Al Aufi congratulated the TOGY
team for their work and urged the
industry members present at the
ceremony to keep pressing on with
their efforts to increase production in
the sultanate.
He extended his congratulations
to the Omani oil and gas industry for
posting record-high production figures
in July 2015.
The Oil & Gas Year produces yearly
annual executive books and events on
more than 33 petroleum provinces that
are critical business tools for energy
investors, highlighting and promoting
key actors and opportunities. Global
circulation to a readership of 69,000
readers in 101 countries is audited by
BPA Worldwide.
Sayyid Mohammed bin Sultan al Busaidy, Minister of State and Governor of Dhofar, received on Thursday in Salalah Shaikh Abdul Rahman bin Hamad al Thani, Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) of Qatar Media Corporation and his accompanying delegation who are visiting the Sultanate. The two sides discussed means of joint cooperation
between the Sultanate and Qatar in different media fields and how to develop them. They also discussed aspects related to exchange of media teams and training
programmes. The CEO of Qatar Media Corporation hailed the Sultanate’s keenness, under the wise leadership of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos, to enhance relations with
the GCC countries. The meeting was attended by Ali bin Khalfan al Jabri, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Information, Salim bin Awadh al Najjar, Head of Media Office
in Dhofar Governorate and some media officials.
— ONA
EXPO ON HAJ BEGINS
ONA selected
best Arab
news agency for
tourism coverage
A five-day exhibition organised by the Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs began on Thursday at Sultan Qaboos Grand
Mosque in Bausher. It features exhibits and lectures in various languages on the performance of Haj and preparing for it. — ONA
A huge negative growth in Indo-Oman trade for the first quarter of 2015-16 compared to the same period last fiscal
Oman’s import from India exceeds its export
R A K SINGH
NEW DELHI
August 27: Despite the Indo-Oman
trade data for the first two months
of fiscal 2015-16 depicting a surge
in Omani exports to India, the latest
trade data for the first quarter (AprilJune) of the fiscal shows Oman’s
balance of trade with India in red.
The latest data also reveal a huge
negative growth in Indo-Oman
trade for the first quarter of 201516 compared to the corresponding
quarter of the last fiscal. The
provisional trade data for April June
2015 released early this week show
Oman incurring a negative Balance of
Trade of $31.48 million.
As per the data, while Oman
exported to India various merchandise
worth $396.48 million during AprilJune 2015, it imported goods worth
$427.95 million from India. This led to
Oman’s import from India exceeding
by $31.48 million.
After registering a negative balance
of trade in several of the last fiscals,
including that of 2014-15, Omani’s
export to India has exhibited green
shoots in the first two months of the
new fiscal 2015-16.
The Indo-Oman trade data
released earlier for the April and May
of 2015-16 had shown the net value
of Oman exports to India exceeding
its net import from India by nearly
$32 millions.
The data released by the Union
Ministry of Commerce and Industry
showed that for April and May of
2015, Oman had exported to India
various merchandise worth $ 311.21
million.
It had further shown that during
April-May 2015, Oman, however,
imported from India various goods
worth $279.43 million only.
This lower import by Oman from
India compared to its export to it
has resulted in a net balance of trade
(BOT) worth $31.78 million in favour
of the Sultanate.
Oman had been able to register a
positive BoT in its favour in the first
two months of the current fiscal after
turning negative
during 2014-15
during
which
the BoT had
gone in favour of
India due to the
Sultanate’s import
from
India
exceeding its net export. During the
fiscal 2014-15, Oman had imported
merchandise worth $2,379.46 million
from India, while it had been able
to export various goods worth USD
1,752.24 to it.
This implied that Oman’s net import
from India had exceeded its net export
by over $627 million, making the BoT
negative against the Sultanate.
A comparative analysis of IndoOman trade figures for last ten years
shows that the Sultanate has generally
been a net exporter to India, but of late
it had been betraying signs of turning
into a net importer from its traditional
trade partner with its imports from it
often exceeding its exports to it.
MUSCAT: Oman News Agency
(ONA) will receive the best Arab news
agency award for coverage on the local
and Arab tourism affairs.
The award is presented by the
Abu Dhabi-based Arab Centre for
Tourism Media (ACTM). The awardpresentation ceremony will be held at
Al Bustan Palace Hotel next Monday
under the patronage of Ahmed bin
Nasser al Mehrzi, Minister of Tourism.
The Supervisory Committee on
Tourism Media Awards for the current
year 2015 unanimously decided to
select ONA among the winners of
the ACTM annual awards, previously
announced in the Jordanian capital in
the presence of Jordanian Minister of
Tourism.
— ONA
Awareness can
reduce accidents
FROM PAGE 1
According to ROP statistics, there
have been 2,958 accidents this year
till this August, whereas it was 2,909
during the same period last year.
Fortunately, there is a fall in the
number of people who lost their lives
on roads. As many as 307 died till this
month, whereas 404 had lost their lives
in the same month last year. There has
been a decline in the number of people
injured in accidents.
Around 1,593 people were injured
in accidents, while it was 2,832 last
year. Statistics reveal that there is a
decline in the number of vehicles
registered with the Traffic Department
as well. Till August, only 50,802
vehicles were registered compared to
68,700 last year, a decline of 26.1 per
cent.
THAILAND SENDS ORANGUTANS TO INDONESIA
Fourteen Indonesian orangutans held in
Thailand for five years are finally to head
home, an official said on Thursday.
Thai authorities found 13 animals left in
cages by a roadside in Phuket in 2010,
apparently bound for a private zoo,
according to an official at the secretariat
of the Convention on International Trade
in Endangered Species, who requested
anonymity.
TOKYO HOSTS WOMEN’S MEET FROM TODAY
12 people arrested over
Tianjin blast, toll at 145
BEIJING: Chinese police have arrested
12 people over giant explosions that
killed at least 145 people and devastated
a swathe of a Chinese port city, state
media said on Thursday as prosecutors
probe 11 officials for neglecting their
duties.
The official Xinhua news agency
said the dozen formally held include
the chairman and senior managers of
the firm whose chemical storage facility
exploded in the northern city of Tianjin
two weeks ago, in the country’s highestprofile industrial accident in years.
Separately, the Supreme People’s
Procuratorate said on its website that
prosecutors in the city were probing
11 officials for “abuse of power” and
“dereliction of duty” over the blasts,
which also injured hundreds of people.
In China, formal arrest normally
comes after some time in police
detention and sees the case handed to
prosecutors, with trial and conviction
almost guaranteed.
The 12 arrested include owners of
Rui Hai International Logistics who
were shown on state television last
week, when they were already being
held by police, “confessing” to using
government connections to obtain
safety permits.
The huge explosions left a trail of
mangled buildings and burnt out cars
in their wake.
There are currently 495 troops
from the People’s Liberation Army
chemical defence unit and 66 chemical
defence experts assisting in disaster
relief operations, Chinese defence
ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said
on Thursday.
The toll rose to 145 people killed
with 28 still missing, according to
the Tianjin government’s official Sina
Weibo account, a Chinese version of
Twitter. The post also said 474 are in
hospital, including seven in critical
condition.
The incident sparked widespread
outrage over alleged safety violations by
Rui Hai and possible official collusion,
and fears of pollutants contaminating
the air and water of Tianjin, home to
about 15 million people.
Thousands of tonnes of hazardous
chemicals were stored at the site, officials
have said, including about 700 tonnes
of highly poisonous sodium cyanide, a
white powder or crystal which can give
off lethal hydrogen cyanide gas.
The warehouse was built within 600
metres (650 yards) of some residential
buildings, despite a regulation
mandating any hazardous material
storage facilities must be at least 1,000
metres away.
— AFP
Radio broadcaster shot
dead in southern Philippines
MANILA: A radio broadcaster
was shot dead on Thursday by an
unidentified gunman in the southern
Philippines, police said, the third
media professional to be killed in the
past two weeks.
Cosme Maestrado, 46, was shot
dead by a lone gunman near a
shopping centre in a busy street in
Ozamiz City, about 780 kilometres
south of Manila, according to a police
report. The victim was a hard-hitting
radio commentator in Ozamiz,
criticising corruption and other abuses
of government officials in the area.
F R I DAY l A U G U S T 2 8 l 2 0 1 5
Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf (L) is greeted by Japan’s Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on
Thursday. Sirleaf is in Tokyo to attend
the World Assembly for Women,
which runs from August 28 to 29. The
Women Assembly for Women brings
together 140 leaders from more than
40 countries and seven international
organisations.
Maestrado survived a previous attack
in November 2011, according to his
colleagues.
Investigators are still determining
the motive behind the attack.
Last week two media professionals
from the eastern province of Sorsogon
and the southern province of Davao
were killed by unidentified gunmen.
Maestrado was the sixth journalist
killed in the country this year, and the
30th since President Benigno Aquino
took office in 2010, according to the
National Union of Journalists of the
Philippines.
— dpa
ASIA
Kazakhstan signs deal to host
first global nuclear fuel bank
TO CURB PROLIFERATION: The $150-million bank, which will be run by International
Atomic Energy Agency and is expected to open in 2017, will contain low-enriched uranium
ASTANA: Kazakhstan and the
UN nuclear watchdog signed a
deal on Thursday to create the first
internationally-controlled
uranium
bank aimed at guaranteeing supplies
for power plants and curbing nuclear
proliferation.
The bank, which will be administered
by the International Atomic Energy
Agency and is expected to open in 2017,
will contain low-enriched uranium
(LEU). Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov
said the bank, to be based in the
northeast of the former Soviet state,
would provide IAEA member states
with “safe access to fuel for their nuclear
power plants”. The deal for the bank,
which costs $150 million, was signed
during a visit by IAEA chief Yukiya
Amano.
The IAEA has said it will contain up
to 90 tonnes of low enriched uranium
suitable to make fuel for a typical light
water reactor. “The LEU can be used
to make enough nuclear fuel to power
a large city for three years,” it said in a
fuelling peaceful power reactors should
they have difficulties securing such
material on the international market,” it
said in a statement on Wednesday.
It also recognised Kazakh President
Nursultan Nazarbayev’s “important
leadership on nonproliferation spanning
more than two decades.”
Kazakhstan portrays itself as a key
player in nuclear diplomacy, having
given up its own nuclear weapons
following the collapse of the Soviet
Union. Addressing the IAEA delegation
in Astana, 75-year-old Nazarbayev said:
“Our country has consistently pursued
a policy of non-proliferation of nuclear
weapons. I think our views in this regard
are similar.”
The Central Asian country hosted
an unsuccessful round of talks on Iran’s
nuclear programme in 2013. Iran and
six world powers — Britain, China,
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev (R) meets with Yukiya Amano, director
France, Germany, Russia and the United
general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in Astana on Thursday. — AFP
States — finally reached a landmark
statement. The White House lauded the states of the IAEA will be able to access agreement in July on limiting Tehran’s
— AFP
plan. “Through this initiative, member a ready reserve of nuclear material for nuclear drive.
Malaysia, Indonesia to fight soaring piracy
SINGAPORE: Malaysia and Indonesia
are deploying rapid reaction teams to
combat a soaring number of attacks
on merchant vessels in one of the
world’s busiest shipping chokepoints, a
Malaysian admiral said.
Over 70 ships have been attacked in
the Malacca and Singapore straits, on
the western side of the Malay Peninsula,
this year, the highest number since at
least 2008, including at least seven at the
end of last week, according to security
and anti-piracy groups.
“We have in general recommended
that vessels proceeding to Singapore
and passing Malaysian waters take
WESTERN LEADERS NOT TO ATTEND WORLD WAR EVENT
A paramilitary police officer in plain-clothes holding an umbrella keeps watch on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, on Thursday.
Major Western leaders will not attend a military parade in China next week to mark the end of World War Two, leaving
President Xi Jinping to stand with leaders and officials from Russia, Sudan, Venezuela and North Korea at his highest-profile
event of 2015. — Reuters
Over 70 ships have been
attacked in the Malacca and
Singapore straits this year,
the highest since 2008,
including at least seven at
the end of last week
appropriate security measures,” said
Michael Storgaard, spokesman for the
world’s biggest shipping firm Maersk
Line.
One of the ships attacked last week
was the 106,043 deadweight container
ship Maersk Lebu.
The surge of attacks has led the
Malaysian Maritime Enforcement
Agency (MMEA), or coastguard, to
deploy a helicopter-equipped special
task and rescue (STAR) team at
Johor Bharu, First Admiral Maritime
Zulkifili bin Abu Bakar, director of
maritime matters in the MMEA’s crime
investigations department, told Reuters.
The Malaysian and Indonesian navies
are forming a similar rapid reaction
force in the area, Zulkifili added.
While the MMEA force would
respond to robbery and hijacking
incidents team members would
sometimes be deployed on merchant
Three students charged for
Hong Kong democracy stir
HONG KONG: Three youth activists
who played key roles in the 79-day
protests last year in Hong Kong were
formally charged on Thursday some 11
months after the fact, said local reports.
Joshua Wong, leader of student
group Scholarism, was charged with
taking part in and inciting others to take
part in an unlawful assembly.
Federation of Students SecretaryGeneral Nathan Law Kwun-Chung and
former secretary-general Alex Chow
Yong-kang were charged with inciting
others to take part in illegal assembly
and taking part in an unlawful assembly
respectively, The South China Morning
Post reported.
They were part of a group of students
who broke into the courtyard of the
Hong Kong government headquarters
on September 26, 2014. Their actions
helped spark a protest that saw key
thoroughfares blocked by traffic
throughout Hong Kong, and tear gas
Student protesters Joshua Wong (L) and
Nathan Law (C) talk to the media in
Hong Kong on Thursday.
— AFP
and pepper spray used on demonstrators
protesting against China’s attempt to see
political candidates pre-selected by a
pro-Beijing committee. The proposal
ended up being voted down in the
city’s legislature by an alliance of prodemocracy lawmakers.
Wong told The Post as he entered
into police headquarters: “The break-in
was the best decision I’ve made in the
last four years.”
— dpa
South Korea to push family reunions in talks with North
SEOUL: Seoul plans to push for a
resumption of reunions of Korean
family members separated by the
decades-long division of the peninsula
when the next round of talks with
North Korea commences, an official
said on Thursday.
“For us, the family reunion issue
tops the agenda,” a presidential
spokesman said after a meeting of
senior officials on the topic.
Tensions between the rival
neighbours flared recently, only
coming under control after a sixpoint agreement was reached early on
Tuesday.
3
One of the points called for further,
wide-ranging negotiations soon.
Another was to work towards
restarting the family reunions.
The last round of such reunions was
conducted in February 2014 after a
three-year gap. “If the North wants to
show us they are taking the agreement
seriously, they can do so by solving
this issue first,” the spokesman said.
“Otherwise, we won’t be able to move
to other issues.” There is a sense of
urgency around the family reunions,
as around half of the 129,698 South
Koreans registered as separated from
their immediate family in the 1950-53
conflict have already died.
During the talks, Pyongyang was
also keen to discuss the possible lifting
of the South’s sanctions, as well as
the resumption of its aid programs,
unnamed government insiders were
quoted as saying by the South’s Yonhap
News Agency this week.
— dpa
ships
operated
by
Malaysian
government-linked firms, he said.
“The STAR team is in addition to
the other MMEA personnel tasked to
combat anti-piracy/sea robbery.
I can’t tell you the number of
personnel, but (it is) formidable
enough to undertake any anti-hijacking
operations,” the Admiral said.
Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia
already coordinate naval and police
patrols in the Malacca Strait and South
China Sea, but have been hampered by a
lack of resources, while sheltered coasts
and islands make it easy for robbers to
operate.
— Reuters
UIGHUR LINK
Thailand looks
into Turkish role
in Bangkok blast
BANGKOK: Thai police on Thursday
said they were looking at arrivals of
Turkish nationals in the days before
a Bangkok bomb attack that killed 20
people, but said they had not ruled out
any group or possibility.
Police and some security analysts
have raised the possibility of a
connection to the Uighurs — a Turkicspeaking Muslim minority from the
far west of China.
They complain of persecution
by Beijing. China’s treatment of the
Uighurs is an important issue for many
Turks, who see themselves as sharing
a common cultural and religious
background.
Last month more than 100 Uighurs
were deported from Thailand to China
— a move that prompted widespread
condemnation by rights groups and
sparked a protest outside Thailand’s
consulate in Istanbul.
National police spokesman Prawut
Thavornsiri told reporters police had
checked arrivals of Turkish nationals
who entered Thailand around two
weeks before the blast.
“There are probably more Turkish
coming into Thailand than that. We
investigated groups which may have
come into the country,” said Prawut,
in response to whether police had
investigated 15 Turkish nationals.
— AFP
4
INDIA
omandailyobserver
Centre announces list
of 98 ‘smart cities’
F R I DAY
AUGUST 28 l 2015
SELFIE FOR THE HARVEST FEST
HIGH QUALITY: Urban development projects, planning and
designing are high on the mission’s agenda
NEW DELHI: In a move aimed at
enhancing the quality of urban life, the
government on Thursday unveiled a list
of 98 cities in the country for the Smart
City Mission.
The central government proposes
to give financial support to the extent
of Rs 48,000 crore to these cities over
the next five years, Urban Development
Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said here.
Naidu said a population of 13 crore
across these cities will be covered under
the initiative. “There are 13 cities from
Uttar Pradesh, 12 from Tamil Nadu, 10
from Maharashtra, seven from Madhya
Pradesh and three each from Bihar and
Andhra Pradesh in the list,” Naidu told
the media here.
“Smart cities need smart people.
We need people’s cooperation to move
forward in our mission. Making them
smart will make them engines of
economic growth besides giving decent
life to the citizens,” he added.
The cities include 24 capitals of
states and union territories.
Some of the capital cities that were
not nominated include Itanagar, Patna,
Shimla, Bengaluru and Kolkata.
Isro to launch
a heavier US
satellite: Chief
SRIHARIKOTA: The Indian space
agency has already lined for putting
US NISAR (Nasa-Isro Synthetic
Aperture Radar) satellite into orbit
using its GSLV-Mk II rocket, its chief
said on Thursday.
“As a part of cooperation with the
US space agency Nasa, we will be
launching a satellite using GSLV-Mk
II in 2021,” Indian Space Research
Organisation (Isro) Chairman A S
Kiran Kumar told reporters here.
According to him, there is good
international market for launching
two tonne satellites which Isro would
be targeting.
Meanwhile,
Prime
Minister
Narendra Modi on Thursday
congratulated scientists at the Indian
Space Research Organisation for the
successful launch of GSAT-6, which
has several strategic applications.
— IANS
Smart cities need
smart people.
We need people’s
cooperation to move
forward in our mission.
people to go and live there,” Prabhu
pointed out.
In Maharashtra, the 10 nominated
Smart cities are Mumbai, Navi Mumbai,
Thane, Nashik, Kalyan-Dombivali,
Pune, Aurangabad, Solapur, Nagpur
and Amravati.
Chandigarh, a union territory that is
the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana
and is the country’s only planned city,
has also made it to the list.
“It is a moment of pride as the
collective efforts of the Chandigarh
administration and citizens have paid
off. The selection was done through
intra-city competition which evaluated
the various cities on parameters such as
service levels, financial and institutional
capacity, past track record and
reforms,” a Chandigarh administration
spokesman said.
From the region (comprising Punjab,
Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and
Chandigarh), seven cities have made
it to the list. Besides Chandigarh, these
are Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar
(in Punjab), Karnal and Faridabad (in
Haryana) and Dharamshala (Himachal
Pradesh). — IANS
M VENKAIAH NAIDU
Urban Development Minister
The minister said the prime motive
of the initiative was to enhance urban
life. “The mission is very practical and
realistic.”
Welcoming the centre’s plans for
100 Smart Cities project, Mumbaibased architect and urban planner
Chandrashekhar Prabhu said the
country actually needs 300 Smart
Cities.
“But merely giving some money will
not make these cities ‘smart’ since their
existing problems may not be resolved
so easily. The need is to take up urban
development project from scratch,
plan and design a Smart City, build it
with all the required infrastructure and
amenities that will voluntarily attract
Nation declared maternal
and neonatal tetanus-free
NEW DELHI: The World Health
Organisation has declared that mothers
and newborns in India are free from
tetanus at the time of birth, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi said here on
Thursday.
Inaugurating the Call to Action
Summit 2015, an initiative to reduce
child and maternal deaths across the
world, the prime minister said the
decisions taken during the conclave will
shape the world in the next 15 years.
“I am happy to share another major
milestone achieved by India.
India has eliminated maternal and
neonatal tetanus. The validation for this
has happened much before the global
target date of December 2015.
This gives us the confidence to
achieve other targets well before the
target date,” Modi said.
Maternal and neonatal tetanus
were among the most common lethal
consequences of unclean deliveries and
umbilical cord care practices.
When tetanus develops, mortality
rates are extremely high, especially
when appropriate medical care is not
available. The two-day conclave, being
hosted for the first time in India, is
being participated by over 600 delegates
from across the world.
The last two conclaves were
organised in the US. According to
WHO, there are 24 countries that
make up for 36 per cent of the global
population, and account for 70 per cent
of child and maternal deaths.
The world continues to lose about
289,000 mothers and 6.3 million
under-five children every year. Noting
that 52 per cent of India’s under-five
mortality is due to deaths of newborns
in the first month of life, Modi said
that under the national health mission,
the government was emphasising a
continuum of newborn care both at the
community and facility level. — IANS
FAITHFULLS WAIT
GREETINGS
President, V-P
greet people
on Onam
NEW DELHI: President Pranab
Mukherjee and Vice-President M
Hamid Ansari on Thursday greeted
people on the occasion of Onam,
celebrated most prominently in Kerala.
“On the joyous occasion of Onam,
I convey my heartfelt greetings to
all my sisters and brothers in Kerala
and abroad,” Mukherjee said in his
message.
He said that Onam was a unique
secular festival celebrated by the
people of Kerala “belonging to all
communities, irrespective of caste,
creed and economic standing”.
“It represents the spontaneous
celebrations of the common people
as they welcome their legendary King
Mahabali, who was loved by all for his
just and benevolent rule.
Coinciding with the harvest
season, Onam brings with it optimism
for the future and gratitude for nature’s
bounty,” the president added.
In his message, Vice-President
Ansari said: “I extend my warm
greetings and good wishes to
the people of our country on the
auspicious occasion of Onam.”
“Celebrated with traditional gaiety
and enthusiasm, this festival reflects
the central role of agriculture in Indian
society.
— IANS
Gujarat limps to normalcy
under army watch
AHMEDABAD: Ravaged by violence
since Tuesday, Gujarat limped back
to normalcy on Thursday even as the
army was moved into three more cities
to curb tensions following riots that
claimed nine lives, officials said.
Besides Ahmedabad, soldiers joined
paramilitary and state police in Surat,
Rajkot and Mehsana to patrol the cities.
Though there were no major
incidents of violence on Thursday, the
situation remained tense, and roads
were deserted in most major cities and
towns. Schools and colleges were shut,
and so were most shops, offices and
commercial establishments.
However, all government offices
as well as public and private banks
reported near normal operation on
Thursday.
Curfew imposed in certain areas of
Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot and other
cities since Tuesday was relaxed on
Thursday, enabling residents to go
out and buy essentials including milk,
vegetables and medicines.
But night curfew may continue
in the worst-hit cities and localities,
officials indicated.
While auto-rickshaws and taxis
started plying on Thursday, public
transport, which bore the brunt of
mobs in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara
and other cities, operated only partially.
The BRT system, in which buses and
stops were badly damaged, are expected
to resume normal operations only by
next week.
The Gujarat State Road Transport
Corp services also resumed partly after
many buses were attacked and burnt.
Rail tracks damaged by rioters were
being repaired, delaying intra-state and
inter-state services.
The two days of unrest figured
prominently in the Gujarat assembly
where
a
vociferous
Congress
demanded the resignation of Chief
Minister Anandiben Patel, forcing two
adjournment of the house.
The speaker suspended around 30
Congress legislators for the day after
they rushed towards him shouting
slogans against the government.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi
targeted Prime Minister Narendra
Modi for the violence in his home state.
“Modi’s ideology is of anger... which
is what is happening in Gujarat.
Anger helps no one except Modiji,”
Gandhi tweeted.
In Ahmedabad, Hardik Patel,
22, the convenor of Patel Anamat
Andolan Samiti (PAAS), denounced
the government for the police action on
Patidars on Tuesday which resulted in a
riotous Wednesday.
“Children and women were hurt.
Police officers responsible for this
should be suspended,” Patel said,
warning that essential supplies to
Ahmedabad would be stopped until the
guilty policemen were punished.
— IANS
The infant was suffering from a congenital urinary tract disorder
Devotees wait for the start of a
procession during Kumbh Mela or the
Pitcher Festival in Trimbakeshwar.
Hundreds of thousands of Hindus took
part in the religious gathering at the
banks of the Godavari River in Nashik at
the festival, which is held every 12 years
in different cities. — Reuters
Left farmers’ rally turns violent, many hurt
KOLKATA: A farmers’ rally called
by the opposition Left Front here on
Thursday turned violent with protesters
and the police engaging in pitched
battles and stone pelting leading to a
number of leaders and workers and
policemen getting injured.
Leader of Opposition and CPM state
secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra and Left
Front chairman and veteran Marxist
leader Biman Bose were caught in the
melee and claimed they were hit by
Students pose for a selfie as they celebrate the Onam Festival at a college campus in Chennai yesterday. — AFP
bricks as agitators and police engaged in
pitched battles.
CPM Rajya Sabha member Ritabrata
Banerjee claimed that over 100 people
were injured.
Led by the Communist Party of
India-Marxist -affiliated All India Kisan
Sabha (AIKS) and supported by other
Left Front affiliated peasant fronts, the
“Nabanna Abhiyan” — a march to the
state secretariat — was to press for their
17-point charter of demands including
issues such as farmer suicides and
rehabilitation of farmers ruined by the
recent floods in West Bengal.
Taken out from four spots, two
in the city — Rani Rashmoni Road
and Kidderpore — and two from
neighbouring Howrah district, the
rallies turned violent as police resorted
to baton-charging and used water
cannons to disperse the agitators who,
in their bid to march towards Nabanna,
broke police barricades.
— IANS
Outrage over newborn’s
death in Andhra hospital
GUNTUR: The death of a 10-dayold boy after he was bitten by rats at a
government-run hospital here sparked
outrage on Thursday with various
groups staging protests.
Activists of various opposition
parties and non-political groups staged
protest at Government General Hospital
(GGH), seeking stern action against the
officials responsible for the negligence
which led to the newborn’s death on
Wednesday.
Workers of main opposition YSR
Congress party tried to barge into the
hospital as they wanted to meet the
ministers who were present inside the
premises.
Activists of Communist Party of
India (CPI), Communist Party of
India-Marxist (CPM) and Madiga
Reservation Porata Samiti (MRPS) also
staged protests.
They demanded a compensation
of Rs 10 lakh for the family of the
newborn.
The 10-day-old baby was bit by
rodents twice in three days in NeoNatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
Chief Minister N
Chandrababu Naidu has
suspended three officials
and announced a probe by
the health secretary
The newborn’s mother C Lakshmi said
she noticed the injuries near left eye
and fingers on Sunday and again on
Wednesday and informed the doctors
but they did not respond.
The infant, born in Vijayawada, was
suffering from congenital urinary tract
disorder.
He was referred to GGH, Guntur and
was under observation for a week.
C Nagaraju, a daily wage earner,
and his wife Lakshmi had repeatedly
complained to the hospital staff
about the danger posed by rats in the
premises.
Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas
along with three other ministers and
Guntur MP Galla Jayadev visited the
hospital. The health minister told
reporters that stern action would be
taken against those found guilty.
He said action would also be taken
against those who failed to take action
despite complaint by Lakshmi, mother
of the newborn.
Terming the incident shameful, he
announced Rs 5 lakh compensation for
the family of the victim.
He said the incident would be probed
at three levels.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu
Naidu late on Wednesday suspended
three officials and announced a probe
by the health secretary.
The minister said police had booked
a case on the complaint by Lakshmi and
they would conduct an inquiry.
A judicial probe will also be
instituted. The health minister said
a special sanitation drive would be
launched at the hospital.
“The government will take all steps
to ensure that such incidents don’t
recur,” Srinivas said.
— IANS
SUBCONTINENT
F R I DAY
AUGUST 28 l 2015
Pakistan leases
2,000 acres to
China for Gwadar
Economic Zone
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has leased out
over 2,000 acres to China for 43 years
mainly belonging to the Pakistan Navy
and the provincial government in order
to construct the first Free Economic
Zone (FEZ) at Gwadar.
Under the much-hyped ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC),
both Beijing and Islamabad decided
to utilise $786 million for different
important physical projects related to
Gwadar, including the construction
of airport at an estimated cost of $230
million.
In addition, the Gwadar Coal
Power Project will be constructed at an
estimated cost of $360 million in order
to generate 300MW electricity.
So, Gwadar will have an overall
STOP MISUSE
Nepal Supreme
Court suspends
surrogacy
KATHMANDU: Nepal’s top court has
ordered a halt to commercial surrogacy
services in the Himalayan nation until
it rules on the legality of the practice,
an official said Wednesday.
Nepal has become a destination for
foreigners seeking to have children
through surrogate mothers.
The practice is controversial, with
critics saying it exploits the poverty of
women.
Although Nepal has no laws on
its books covering surrogacy, the
government last year allowed foreign
women to serve as surrogates in Nepal
but barred local women.
“There are no laws regarding
surrogacy...
it
raises
many
constitutional and legal questions,”
said Nahakul Subedi, spokesman for
the Supreme Court.
“So the court issued a stay order
on surrogacy services yesterday... until
the case is settled,” Subedi said.
Advocate Prabin Pandak, who
filed the original lawsuit against the
practice, said the court’s order would
put a stop to the registration of new
cases.
“Women should not be a subject of
trade, neither should a child,” Pandak
said.
“Nepali women are not allowed
to be surrogate mothers but they are
misrepresented as Indian and used for
surrogacy,” she said.
—AFP
investment of $1 billion under the
CPEC. The contract for the construction
of Gwadar airport is expected to be
awarded by September 15, 2015 and the
financial agreement is expected to be
finalised by October this year.
The mobilisation/ commencement
of work on the airport will begin by
November this year.
It is expected that the Gwadar airport
will be completed by the fiscal year
2017-18.
“Another 500 acres will be leased out
to China very soon to complete their
requirement for the construction of
the first SEZ at Gwadar, so 2,500 acres
will be provided to their companies,”
top economic officials of the Nawaz
government said here on Thursday.
When asked last week, Federal
Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal and
Federal Secretary Hassan Nawaz Tarar
had both confirmed that Pakistan had
leased out over 2,000 acres to Chinese
companies while another 500 acres
would be provided soon.
The FEZs at Gwadar will be
completed in the first phase.
According to official documents,
Pakistan and China would be utilising
$46.4 billion under the CPEC initiative
out of which $786 million would be
utilised for different development
projects at Gwadar.
For the construction of infrastructure
for the Free Economic Zone and
Economic Processing Zones port related
industries will cost $35 million.
The Eastbay Expressway project for
Gwadar would cost $140 million under
the CPEC initiative.
The construction of breakwaters will
cost $130 million.
The dredging of berthing areas and
channels will cost $27 million under the
CPEC over the next couple of years.
Necessary facilities of fresh water
treatment plant at Gwadar will cost $114
million under the CPEC over the next
few years.
One state-of-the-art hospital will be
constructed at Gwadar at an estimated
cost of $100 million.
Both the sides also decided to
establish a technical and vocational
institute at Gwadar at an estimated cost
of $10 million.
— Internews
omandailyobserver
5
Pakistan asks Iran to lift
rice, kinno import ban
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday
formally requested Iran to withdraw its
ban on imports of rice and kinno.
The ban has led to a drastic cut in
Pakistan’s exports to Iran, which fell to
mere $43 million in 2014 from $182
million in 2010, an official said.
Rice exports constitute 63 per cent of
the country’s total exports to Iran.
The issue, among others, was
raised during the two-day meeting of
Pakistan-Iran Joint Working Group
(JWG) on Trade.
Pakistan’s delegation was headed
by Additional Secretary Commerce
Robina Ather, while Iranian side was
led by Mojtaba Mousavian, DirectorGeneral (Asia-Pacific) Iranian Trade
Promotion Organisation.
A representative of Pakistan
Ministry of National Food Security and
Research informed the meeting that
Iran’s quarantine department inspectors
visited hot water treatment plants for
mangoes and approved 16 facilities,
while approval for another three was in
the process.
Pakistani side also informed
that they have provided a draft of
‘Agreement on Cooperation in the Field
of Veterinary and Animal Health’ to the
ministry concerned in Iran.
Both sides agreed to constitute a joint
working group for implementation of
electronic data interchange. Pakistan
also showed its interest to hold a singlecountry textile exhibition in Tehran in
Feb/March 2016.
Both the countries reiterated the
need for granting visa to businessmen
and truck drivers on a priority basis,
and agreed to implement the bilateral
Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) in
letter and spirit including strengthening
of transparency and prior notification
mechanisms.
Discussing freight train operations,
Pakistan proposed that till freight traffic
picks up, Iranian authorities may also
introduce concessional fares between
Zahedan-Quetta.
Regarding tax and charges imposed
on Pakistani vehicles, the Iranian
side informed that those taxes did
not constitute “para tariffs” and were
consistent with the PTA as per Article 2
on services charges.
The meeting discussed the draft of
‘Five Years Strategic Plan’ to enhance
bilateral trade.
Both sides agreed to consider
incorporating linkage of Iran with
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor,
strengthening
border
markets,
upgrading road and railway networks,
building warehouses and opening/
upgrading border crossing points into
the five-year plan.
It was agreed that both sides will
exchange soft data about their tariff
and trade regimes as per the format
provided by Pakistani side, within two
weeks of this JWG meeting.
— Internews
BOOST IN BILATERAL TIES
Pakistan presents its take at UN on NSA talks
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan this week
pressed on with its diplomatic offensive
at the United Nations headquarters
in New York in an attempt to explain
its stand on the cancelled meeting
between National Security Advisers
(NSAs) of India and Pakistan and to
pressure New Delhi on continued
ceasefire violations along the Line
of Control (LoC) and Working
Boundary.
A senior diplomat revealed that
immediately after cancellation of
the meeting between the two NSAs,
Pakistan’s permanent representative at
the UN Maleeha Lodhi was instructed to
contact the UN leadership to discuss the
rejection of dialogue by India.
The NSAs were scheduled to
meet last Monday in Delhi, but the
first talks between the two countries
on terrorism concerns at this level
(higher than previous dialogues on the
issue) had to be cancelled because of
Indian government’s objection to the
agenda proposed by Islamabad and
an invitation to the Kashmir’s Hurriyat
leadership to a reception at Pakistan’s
High Commission in Delhi in honour of
Adviser on Foreign Affairs and National
Security Sartaj Aziz.
About the meeting between Lodi
and Eliasson, the source said the deputy
UN chief was informed that it was India
that had reneged on the agreement
reached by the Pakistani and Indian
prime ministers in the Russian city of
Ufa on discussing all issues outstanding
between the two countries.
Eliasson was also informed that
Pakistan decided against sending Aziz
to Delhi because it found the Indian
condition of not inviting Kashmiri
leaders for consultations unacceptable.
— Internews
FESTIVAL EXCITEMENT
A girl jumps from the train window as people arrive to take part in the festival in Taungbyone village, around 20
kilometres from the central city of Mandalay, on Saturday. Waving their floral offerings in the air, devotees danced
through a temple to celebrate Myanmar’s biggest spirit festival. The six-day spirit or “nat” celebration draws
thousands of revellers each year in search of karmic reward as well as all-night parties.
— AFP
Ex-PM Gilani faces arrest for role in scam
KARACHI: A court here on Thursday
issued warrants for the arrest of Pakistan’s
former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
(pictured) and Pakistan Peoples Party
(PPP) leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim,
Dawn reported.
The order against the leaders was issued
after the Federal Investigation Agency
(FIA) presented a charge sheet in the court
with 12 cases — relating to a multi-millionrupee scandal in the Trade Development
Authority (TDAP) — registered against
the two. Cases against the two PPP leaders,
some former and serving senior officials
of the Trade Development Authority and
others were registered by FIA for their
alleged involvement in approving and
disbursing fraudulent trade subsidies of
millions of rupees to several fake companies
through fictitious claims and back-dated
cheques.
The anti-corruption court had issued
arrest warrants for both PPP leaders earlier
as well. However, they failed to appear
before the court. Approving the charge
sheet during Thursday’s hearing, the court
issued non-bailable arrest warrants for both
of them.
— IANS
Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov (L) and Afghan President
Ashraf Ghani look on during a press conference at the Presidential Palace in Kabul
on Thursday. Berdymukhamedov is on an official visit to Afghanistan. — AFP
6
REMOVING LANDMINES IN COLOMBIA
F R I DAY l A U G U ST 2 8 l 2 0 1 5
Colombian soldier Edward Avila, who lost
both legs when he stepped on a landmine
three months ago, attends his rehabilitation
session at the Heroes de Paramillo hospital
in Medellin, Antioquia department,
Colombia. The Colombian government and
the FARC guerrillas have recently agreed on
a programme to remove landmines from the
country.
WORLD
Migrants, Austrian deaths set
tone at EU-West Balkan summit
ENRTY POINT: The Balkans become stepping stones for migrants to enter west Europe
VIENNA: Europe’s migration crisis
dominated the agenda at a summit in
Vienna on Thursday, even as unfolding
events drive home the enormity of the
situation.
Ahead of the meeting between
representatives of the European Union
and six Western Balkan countries,
leaders were taking in the news of
the discovery of a truck full of dead
migrants in Austria and reports of yet
more migrants on their way from the
Greek island of Kos.
The steady flow of migrants to
Greece is exacerbating the problem of
the flow of migrants from the six Balkan
countries at the talks — Albania, Bosnia
and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro,
the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia and Serbia.
While those countries are seeing their
own outflow of migrants to Western
Europe, they have also become integral
stepping stones for groups of migrants
predominantly from the Middle East
and Asia who arrive in Greece and then
seek their way into more western parts
of Europe via the Balkans.
Driving the point home, another
1,288 refugees from the Middle East, the
vast majority of them Syrians, entered
Macedonia from Greece in a day,
according to Skopje authorities.
The refugees were registered and
issued documents that give them three
days to apply for asylum or leave the
country.
The problem is of particular concern
for the third consecutive day.
The refugee wave making it to
Hungary was surging despite a
protective fence the country has been
building along its 175-kilometre border
with Serbia.
The EU was represented at Thursday’s
summit by foreign policy chief Federica
Mogherini, European Commission
Vice-President Maros Sefcovic and EU
Neighbourhood Policy Commissioner
Johannes Hahn.
The summit was hosted by Austrian
Chancellor Werner Faymann, who
invited the prime ministers of the six
West Balkan nations.
The heads of government of
Germany, France, Italy, Croatia and
Slovenia were also invited to the event.
Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian
Kurz appealed for a fairer redistribution
of migrants ahead of the talks in an
interview with German broadcaster
ARD.
“The fact is, there are 18 countries
in the European Union that have less
refugees in total than Austria does.”
The situation facing Austria became
even clearer on Thursday with the grisly
discovery of a lorry full of dead migrants
near the Austrian town of Parndorf,
Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann (L) welcomes European Union Foreign Policy
Chief Federica Mogherini as she arrives for the Western Balkans Summit at Hofburg reported the Austrian news agency APA.
palace in Vienna, Austria. — Reuters
Authorities said there were at least
20, and perhaps as many as 50, bodies.
in Hungary, which has become the de a record high.
“It’s a truck full of corpses,” according
Hungarian police on registered 3,241
facto second entry point to the European
Union after the migrants first hit Greece. refugees, mostly Syrians, who crossed to an Interior Ministry spokesman.
An investigation of the crime scene is
The number of Middle Eastern over from Serbia.
— dpa
Their number rose to a record high under way.
refugees entering Hungary remained at
Thanou: The austerity cuts were “annihilating” the Greek people
Top judge as caretaker PM
ahead of Greek snap vote
Supreme Court judge Vassiliki Thanou addresses a parliamentary session on the
occasion of the International Women’s Day in Athens, Greece. — Reuters
ATHENS: Greece on Thursday named
its top judge as caretaker prime minister
to organise early elections expected next
month.
President Prokopis Pavlopoulos said
he had chosen Vassiliki Thanou, the
head of Greece’s Supreme Court and the
first woman to assume the post.
Thanou, 65, is known for firing
off an emotional letter to European
Commission chairman Jean-Claude
Juncker in February, protesting that
austerity cuts were “annihilating” the
Greek people.
“The people are not responsible
for the waste of public money by past
governments and for mistakes in tax
policy,” she wrote, adding that the
austerity measures “have failed as the
recession continues and as the rich
continue to evade taxes”. Thanou, who
holds a degree in European law from
France’s Sorbonne University, took
her oath of office on Thursday and her
administration will be sworn in today,
the president’s office said.
The date for Greece’s general election
is to be officially announced by the
end of the week, but it is likely to be
scheduled for September 20.
Outgoing Prime Minister Alexis
Tsipras has ruled out forming a national
unity government should he fail to win
a outright majority in the snap elections
triggered after he resigned last week.
Tsipras called for the fresh vote
on August 20 after suffering a major
rebellion in his hard-left Syriza party
over Greece’s huge new international
bailout, its third in five years.
However, he dismissed suggestions
he could work with the conservative
opposition New Democracy, the Pasok
socialists or the centre-right Potami if
FOOD DELIVERY IN OUTER SPACE
the election results were inconclusive.
“I will not become a prime minister
who cooperates with New Democracy,
Pasok or Potami,” Tsipras said in an
interview with the Alpha TV channel,
his first since resigning.
“If we do not have a majority, I will
not cooperate with (the parties that ran)
previous governments.”
Syriza stormed to election victory in
January on a wave of popular anger over
tough austerity measures demanded by
Greece’s creditors in exchange for two
previous bailouts since 2010.
But the party has been bitterly
divided over Tsipras’ decision to accept
more tough reforms in exchange for a
new 86 billion euro ($96 billion) rescue
package, with hard-left rebels accusing
him of capitulating to “blackmail” by the
creditors.
On August 21, Syriza rebels
announced the formation of a new
political grouping, Popular Unity, led
by Panagiotis Lafazanis, who has argued
that Greece can happily exist without
the euro. “We are the true continuation
of Syriza and its electoral pledges,”
Lafazanis said.
Tsipras remains popular, although in
the absence of recent opinion polls it is
difficult to know whether he could win
an absolute majority in the forthcoming
poll.
The 41-year-old leader’s opponents
had sought to delay the election, hoping
that voters will be less likely to vote for
Syriza once the new austerity measures
begin to bite in the autumn.
The EU has taken the snap ballot
decision in its stride, and debt rating
agency Moody’s has even called Tsipras’
resignation “credit positive,” arguing
that it could well create a more cohesive
government.
— AFP
This NASA obtained photo
shows austronaut Kjell
Lindgren corrals fresh
fruits that arrived on the
Kounotori 5H-II Transfer
Vehicle. Visiting cargo
ships often carry fresh
food for crew members
aboard the International
Space Station.
Rejecting Iran deal will
isolate Washington
UNITED
NATIONS:
Rejecting
the Iran nuclear deal would lead to
diplomatic isolation for the United
States and significantly undermine
Washington’s ability to achieve other
foreign policy goals, the US envoy to
the United Nations said on Thursday.
In an article published on the
Politico website, US Ambassador
Samantha Power said diplomats from
the 193 member states of the United
Nations are tracking the heated US
congressional debate over the deal “like
they tracked the World Cup soccer
pairings last year.”
“From this vantage point, I
believe that rejecting this deal would
significantly weaken our ability to
achieve our broader foreign policy
goals — most of which in 2015 require
us to mobilise broad international
coalitions,” Power wrote.
The White House says it is focused
on building enough support for the Iran
deal to keep Congress from “spoiling”
the agreement that was clinched
between Iran, the United States and five
major powers on July 14.
While President Barack Obama
appears to have enough support among
lawmakers to prevent Congress from
overriding a veto should he need to use
it, it is clear that most in the Republicandominated legislature oppose the
agreement.
Power said rejecting the agreement,
which calls for lifting most sanctions
against Iran in exchange for curbs on its
nuclear program that will be in place for
at least 10 years, would hurt the United
States more than its hurts Tehran.
“If the United States rejects this deal,
If we walk away,
there is no diplomatic
door number two. No
do over. No rewrite
of the deal on the table. We
would go from a situation
in which Iran is isolated, to
one in which the United
States is isolated.
SAMANTHA POWER
US envoy to the UN
we would instantly isolate ourselves
from the countries that spent nearly
two years working with American
negotiators to hammer out its toughest
provisions,” she said.
“If we walk away, there is no
diplomatic door number two,” Power
added. “No do over. No rewrite of the
deal on the table. We would go from
a situation in which Iran is isolated,
to one in which the United States is
isolated.”
Rejecting the deal, she warned,
would
also
likely
undermine
Washington’s ability to use sanctions in
other circumstances.
Critics of the deal in Washington
have accused the Obama administration
of giving Iran too much in exchange for
too little.
The
Obama
administration,
however, has said that support for
continued sanctions was waning and
this was the best agreement that could
be obtained.
— AFP
AROUND THE GLOBE
Left takes a lead in Canada elections: poll
Georgian servicemen in formation
during the opening ceremony of the
Georgia-Nato joint training and
evaluation centre.
— Reuters
Nato opens centre
in Georgia amid
Russia tensions
TBILISI: Nato on Thursday opened a
training centre in Georgia as the exSoviet country eyes closer partnership
with the Western military alliance
amid tensions with Russia.
The establishment of the Joint
Training and Evaluation Center, to be
based just outside the capital Tbilisi,
is aimed at buttressing the small
ex-Soviet country which fought a fiveday war with Russia in 2008.
“There is more Georgia in Nato
and more Nato in Georgia,” Nato
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg
said at a joint news conference
alongside Georgian Prime Minister
Irakli Garibashvili before the opening
ceremony.
Stoltenberg, who arrived in Tbilisi
on Wednesday, said the centre would
train both Georgian and Nato troops.
“This centre will help Georgia to
continue making its armed forces
more modern and more capable of
meeting 21st century challenges,”
Stontelberg said at the opening
ceremony in the Krtsanisi National
Training Center outside Tbilisi.
“It will be equally important in
training Allied and partner troops,” he
said in the presence of Georgia’s prime
minister, president and top officials.
Georgian Prime Minister
Garibashvili stressed for his part that
the centre would increase regional
stability and was not directed “against
any neighbouring countries.”
Georgia has long sought full Nato
membership and hopes to be invited
to join a Membership Action Plan, a
formal step towards membership, at a
Nato summit in Warsaw.
— AFP
OTTAWA: Canada’s leftist New Democrats took a giant leap ahead of rivals in an
election campaign in which the Tories are seeking a fourth mandate since 2006,
according to the latest poll on Thursday.
Thomas Mulcair’s New Democrats have the support of 40 per cent of Canadians
surveyed, enough to win a majority government, according to the Forum Research
poll. Backing for Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives, meanwhile, has
plummeted to 23 per cent, while the Liberals led by Justin Trudeau moved up to
second spot with 30 per cent support.
Earlier polling had the three parties neck and neck coming out of the gate.
According to Forum Research President Lorne Bozinoff, the polls reflect a slumping
economy, market turmoil and a Senate spending scandal playing out in court this
month with former senior Harper aides called to testify, hurt the Tories.
Bozinoff told the daily Toronto Star, “If this economy goes south it’s over for the
Tories. They’ve built a lot of their campaign around being great economic managers,”
he explained.
The survey of 1,440 Canadians was conducted on August 23 and 24, and is
considered accurate with a three-per cent margin of error.
— AFP
Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) campaigners hold banners as they walk during
a protest procession marking the 500th day since the abduction of girls in
Chibok, Lagos. The militant group Boko Haram kidnapped some 270 girls
and women from a school a year ago. More than 50 eventually escaped, but
at least 200 remain in captivity.
— Reuters
Tutu to return home from hospital
CAPE TOWN: Veteran South African anti-apartheid activist, Archbishop Desmond
Tutu, was responding well to a two-week intravenous antibiotic course and could be
discharged from hospital at the end of next week, Tutu’s daughter said on Thursday.
The 83-year-old, who used the pulpit to preach against apartheid, was admitted to
hospital for the second time in a month for treatment of an “inflammation”.
Tutu was released from hospital earlier in August after being treated for a recurring
infection unrelated to the prostate cancer he has been fighting for 18 years.
“The family remains concerned, obviously, and keen to see him home to rebuild his
strength.
We hope that he will be able to return home at the end of next week,” Reverend
Mpho Tutu told reporters.
Tutu, a Nobel peace laureate, retired from public life in 2010 but has kept speaking
out in a wide range of issues, including corruption among South Africa’s political elite.
— Reuters
REGION
F R I DAY
AUGUST 28 l 2015
omandailyobserver
Coalition forces poised to retake Sanaa
BLEAK PROSPECTS: The prospect of the return of exiled President Hadi remains distant
SANAA/RIYADH: Weeks after seizing
Yemen’s southern port, Aden, members
of a military coalition and the local fighters it supports say they are poised to oust
Houthi forces from the capital Sanaa.
But al Qaeda fighters appear to be
using the coalition’s gains against the
Houthis in the south to entrench their
position, as fractures start to show between local groups of fighters with the
departure of their common enemy.
The prospect of returning exiled
President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi
remains distant, five months after an
advance on his Aden bolthole by the
Houthis, who overran the capital a year
ago from their northern base, triggered
the intervention.
At stake is not just who will rule Yemen, which regional power will hold sway
and whether its persistent threat can be
ended, but its future as a single state after
centuries of tribal disputes and regional
divisions.
Saudi Arabia and its allies want to
maintain the state created in 1990 by
the merger of the old north and south
Yemen, say informed diplomats, but as
anger grows over the humanitarian cost,
the possibility of division appears to be
A boy looks through the window grills of a house that was damaged by a strike in
Yemen’s capital Sanaa. — Reuters
growing. “In the absence of a political
settlement the battle for Sanaa will be
long, brutal, and deadly with no obvious
winner.
A failure to retake Sanaa by Hadi’s
camp is likely to lead to a de facto partition of Yemen,” said Ibrahim Fraihat,
senior political analyst at Brookings
Doha Centre. Such a settlement still
looks elusive, with each side attempting
to escalate the fighting since the fall of
Aden.
In the north, the Houthis have
pounded the Saudi border, determined
to ensure coalition victories and continued air strikes come at a cost. In southern Taiz, fierce fighting, and the bombardment of civilians, continues.
Attention has increasingly turned
to Marib, a dry tribal region across the
arid hills east of Sanaa, where media and
local sources report a build-up of coalition-backed forces preparing for a concerted thrust towards Yemen’s capital.
The dozens of Emirati troops guarding Aden’s smashed-up airport and their
helicopters, tanks and armoured cars
lined up on the apron during a recent
Reuters visit to the city were ample evidence of the ground role played by Gulf
states.
It was the direct involvement of
ground forces, alongside Yemeni troops
trained in Saudi Arabia and equipped
with sophisticated heavy weapons that
allowed the coalition to break months of
stalemate to take Aden, informed diplomats say.
Some of the states say the Houthis
are a proxy, an accusation the movement
denies, countering that its advance is a
revolution against Western-backed officials it says are corrupt, as well as al
Qaeda fighters. The further coalition
forces move beyond areas where local
support is high, the harder it will be.
The most obvious launchpad for a
new coalition military push is Marib,
where local tribes have for months
fought back-and-forth battles against
the Houthis and Saleh’s forces, and beyond which lies a clear, safe supply route
to Saudi Arabia.
Leaders of the exiled government’s
army have been quoted in Saudi press
saying they are building up forces in the
Hizbullah, allies boycott cabinet meet
BEIRUT: The Lebanese group
Hizbullah and allied Christian politicians boycotted a cabinet meeting on
Thursday, a sign of rising political tensions that have paralysed Prime Minister Tammam Salam’s national unity
government.
Ministers from the Free Patriotic
Movement (FPM) led by Michel Aoun
shunned the meeting in protest at what
the party’s website described as Salam’s
usurping of powers reserved for the
president.
A Hizbullah minister said the group
had boycotted in solidarity with its allies.
The presidency, reserved for a Christian in Lebanon’s sectarian powersharing system, has been vacant since
last year when Michel Suleiman’s term
expired.
Aoun is a frontrunner for the post
but it cannot be filled without crossparty consensus, which he does not enjoy, and there is no sign of compromise.
Friction within Salam’s government,
formed last year, has escalated in recent
weeks over issues including a decision
to extend the term of army commander
General Jean Kahwaji.
Aoun has sought the appointment of
Brigadier-General Shamel Roukoz, his
son-in-law, as the next army chief.
The cabinet has spared Lebanon a
complete vacuum in government with
the presidency vacant, and political
sources say foreign governments with
A Lebanese national flag flutters atop of the government palace as seen through barbed wire in Beirut. — Reuters
influence in Lebanon are determined to
prevent it collapsing.
Grouping parties at opposite ends of
the political spectrum, Salam’s government has been largely crippled since it
took office, which back rival Lebanese
factions.
Discontent with the paralysis has
come to a head in recent weeks with a
crisis over waste disposal that has trig-
gered anti-government protests.
Dozens of people were injured at the
weekend when protests turned violent.
Protesters are calling another demonstration for Saturday.
The government has so far failed to
find a solution to the problem of where
to dispose of garbage from Beirut and
surrounding areas, leaving piles of rubbish to fester in the summer heat.
Both sides have decided to facilitate evacuation of the wounded
Warring sides in Syria agree
to extend local ceasefire
BEIRUT: Warring sides in Syria have
agreed to extend a ceasefire in a rebelheld town near the border with Lebanon
and two villages in the northwest, and
to evacuate wounded, sources close to
talks said.
The truce is the second in a month
in those areas between the Syrian army
and its Lebanese Hizbullah allies on one
side, and insurgents on the other.
It came into force at 6 am on Thursday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights, which monitors the conflict,
said there was “calm” in the areas early
on Thursday.
Sources close to negotiations on both
sides said later in the day the ceasefire
had been extended from two to three
days.
They said the sides had agreed to facilitate an evacuation of wounded people from the town of Zabadani and from
Sources close to negotiations on both sides said the
ceasefire had been extended
from two to three days
the villages of Kefraya and al Foua in the
province of Idlib, beginning on Friday.
A source close to the government
side said talks were continuing over
other matters including a withdrawal of
fighters from Zabadani and an evacuation of civilians from the villages.
In the meantime, wounded people
from Zabadani were to be taken to Idlib
province, which is mostly under rebel
control, that source said.
The wounded from Kefraya and Al
Foua would go to government-held
Latakia, in President Bashar al Assad’s
coastal heartland.
A source on the rebel side said the
wounded leaving the two villages would
travel under the protection of insurgent
group Ahrar al Sham.
The negotiations have been led on
the rebel side by Ahrar al Sham.
The ceasefires are in western Syria,
away from the main strongholds of IS.
A truce which began on August
12 broke down and fighting has raged
since.
That ceasefire was reached with the
help of Iran and Turkey, who back the
Syrian government and insurgents
respectively and was intended give a
chance for talks on a more lasting cessation of hostilities.
A government fighter in Zabadani
said clashes had intensified before the
latest ceasefire.
Zabadani has been the focus of an
offensive by Hizbullah and the Syrian
army against insurgent groups there.
— Reuters
Ministers from Hizbullah and
Aoun’s FPM walked out of a another
cabinet session on Tuesday, citing decrees signed without their approval as
the reason for the protest.
The Salam government groups
widely disparate parties including the
Future Movement led by politician
Saad al Hariri, as well as Christian rivals
to Aoun. — Reuters
province and are ready for a push on
Sanaa next month.
A local official told Reuters 130 armoured vehicles, 1,000 Yemeni troops
trained in Saudi Arabia and military
experts from the kingdom and the UAE
had arrived in recent days along with
engineers to allow its airstrip to import
materiel.
A renewed barrage of attacks on
Saudi border positions, including the
reported launch of a Scud missile at
the kingdom on Tuesday, showed the
Houthis and Saleh are determined to
make Gulf involvement in the conflict
hurt.
On Friday a Saudi Apache helicopter
came down on the border, killing both
pilots, while on Monday Houthi shells
killed Major General Abdulrahman alShahrani, commander of the 18th Brigade, and the kingdom’s highest ranking
casualty of the conflict.
While the Emirati soldiers did sentry duty by Aden’s runway or rested in
an upstairs terminal lounge, outside
the front entrance stood slight young
men with assault rifles slung over their
shoulders and curling hair falling across
bearded faces.
— Reuters
7
South Sudan
rebels question
peace deal
ADDIS ABABA: A peace deal aimed
at ending 20 months of civil war in
South Sudan was given a cautious
welcome on Thursday, but rebels condemned government reservations that
undermine fundamental parts of the
accord.
Facing the threat of international
sanctions, President Salva Kiir signed
the agreement on Wednesday at a ceremony in Juba, but he annexed a list of
reservations that he said would have to
be addressed for the deal to take hold
in the world’s newest nation.
The deal gives the rebels the post of
first vice-president, which means that
rebel chief Riek Machar would likely
return to the job from which he was
sacked in July 2013, an event which
put the country on the path to war
later that year.
But the 12-page government
document calls this a “humiliation”
and a “reward for rebellion”, and insists
the post of first vice-president must be
on equal footing with the current vicepresident, whose post remains.
It also criticises plans to demilitarise the capital, and objects to the powers of the foreign-led Monitoring and
Evaluation Commission. —AFP
Palestinians to hold rare
congress next month
RAMALLAH: Palestinian leaders will hold their first congress in
nearly 20 years on September 1516, an official said on Thursday, after President Mahmud Abbas announced his resignation as head
of a top executive body.
The meeting of the Palestine
National Council (PNC), a congress representing those in the
Palestinian territories and the diaspora, will take place in Ramallah
in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
“It has been decided to ask
the Palestine National Council to
convene for a session on the upcoming 15th and 16th September
in Ramallah,” senior Palestinian
official Azzam al Ahmad said.
“The council’s agenda includes
electing a new executive committee for the (Palestine Liberation
Organisation).”
Ahmad said the congress
would also discuss the stalemate
in peace talks with Israel, among
other issues.
Abbas’s allies say his recent
moves are part of efforts to inject new blood in the Palestinian
leadership. Critics, however, argue
that Abbas is manoeuvring to em-
power his allies and marginalise
opponents ahead of the 80-yearold’s eventual retirement.
Abbas’s Fatah party and
Hamas, the movement that runs
the Gaza Strip, remain deeply divided. Separate, indirect contacts
are said to have occurred recently
between Israel and Hamas on a
long-term truce.
Abbas resigned last week as
head of the Palestine Liberation
Organisation’s Executive Committee in a bid to force new elections for the top body.
His resignation along with
a number of others from the
18-member committee will only
take effect with a meeting of the
PNC.
Hamas belongs to neither the
PLO nor the 740-member PNC,
the top legislative body of the Palestinians which has not met since
1996.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu
Zuhri called on Palestinian factions to boycott the congress,
which he labelled a “farce”. He said
in a statement that the congress
represented “an insistence on acting unilaterally”.
— AFP
Iraqi commanders killed in attack
ANBAR: Two Iraqi army commanders were killed on Thursday in a suicide attack claimed by IS in the volatile
western province of Anbar, where the
extremist militia controls extensive territory.
The officers killed were Major General Abdel Rahman Abu Regheef, the
deputy commander of Anbar Military
Operations, and Brigadier Sefeen Abdel Majeed, chief of the 10th Army Division.
There were conflicting reports about
how the attack was carried out.
Azal al Fahdawi, a member of the
Anbar local council, said a suicide
bomber rammed an explosives-packed
car into a motorcade of the two commanders, killing them and an unspecified number of other soldiers north of
IS State-held Ramadi, Anbar’s capital.
However, the self-styled IS in Anbar Province claimed in an online
statement that six of its “martyrdom
knights” drove four car bombs into a
military command building north of
Ramadi, killing dozens of troops, including the two commanders.
Prime Minister Haider al Abadi
said the deaths “will just increase our
resolve and determination to rout the
enemy.”
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al Abadi and Defence Minister Khaled al Obeidi (C-R)
attending the funeral in Baghdad of the deputy head of the Anbar Operations
Command, Staff Major General Abdel Rahman Abu Regheef, and 10th Division
commander Staff Brigadier General Sefeen Abdul Majeed, after they were both
killed in a attack in the Anbar province. — AFP
His government, backed by USled air strikes and paramilitaries, has
stepped up its fight in recent months to
dislodge IS from its strongholds in the
country’s mostly west and north.
IS in May overran Ramadi, 110 kilometres north of Baghdad, marking the
militant group’s biggest victory in Iraq
in a year.
Denmark, a partner in the US-led
air coalition against IS in Iraq, said on
Thursday that it will temporarily pull
back seven F-16 fighter jets.
They have taken part in air strikes
for almost a year against the radical
group, but they are ageing and have required many repairs.
“We aim to redeploy them in 2016,”
Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen said
in Copenhagen.
The jets have been based in Kuwait
and only operated in Iraqi airspace.
IS also controls large amounts of
territory in Syria. The al Qaeda splinter group has captured five villages in
northern Syria near the border with
Turkey from rival rebels, a monitoring
group reported on Thursday. — dpa
8
ANALYSIS
omandailyobserver
F R I DAY
AUGUST 28 l 2015
German cops struggle to meet Balkan Route rush
T
he radio report comes in at 1:30 am. Strangers
have turned up at a fuel station in the eastern
German town of Pirna, close to the Czech border,
seeking shelter from the rain.
Federal police officers Patrick Thomas and
Torsten Bastian realise immediately that they can
only be refugees.
The people smugglers briefly left the PragueDresden motorway to drop their human cargo in
Pirna before making off again. It’s a common pattern, though sometimes the refugees are simply
dumped on the motorway.
The two officers leave their observation post
along the motorway — which their colleagues
have nicknamed the Balkan Route — to find
three Syrian families with a total of eight children.
One of the girls coughs perpetually.
The others appear half-starved and exhausted,
but happy. One of the fathers, who speaks a little
English, relates that two of the families are from
Aleppo and the third from Kobane.
A policewoman can barely take her eyes off
the group. “It certainly affects me as a mother, but
I’ve gotten used to it,” she says.
The fact that the group has broken German
law is of secondary importance to the need to
look after them.
They are taken to a federal police centre in
Berggiesshuebel, where they eat and shower be- On occasion the smugglers drive for two days
fore being offered camp beds. Once all their de- without stopping, with no breaks to use the lavatails have been taken, they are taken to the city tory or to eat. Speed is of the essence and stops
of Chemnitz.
increase the risk of discovery.
Returning to their post on the motorway, Tho“These large-scale operations didn’t happen
mas and Bastian say they are unhappy they were two years ago,” Thomas says. “In the 1990s we
unable to catch the smugglers.
were still walking through the woods, and the
“They simply throw the
refugees were crossing the
people out and leave them to
border on foot over the green
their fate,” Thomas says.
border.”
Refugees are crossing
He tells of refugees who
Now the asylum-seekers
Germany’s borders,
have spent all their savings on
arrive in small vans. So those
providing lucrative
the journey, even getting into
are the vehicles upon which
debt. The smugglers are for
Thomas and Bastian focus
takings for criminal
the most part the “little fish,”
during their border stints.
gangs. Those making
but catching them could lead
They first check the number
it across the border are plates. Vans with darkened
on to the criminal organisations behind the smuggling.
windows are particularly susoften relieved once
Bastian expresses anger at the
picious. Vehicles from Eastern
the police find them,
way “money is being earned
European countries draw atreports JOERG SCHURIG tention.
from human misery.”
The German federal police
But there are also Swedes
are increasingly having to deal
operating as smugglers, takwith large-scale smuggling operations in which ing their illegal passengers all the way to Scandi30 people and more are illegally brought across navia. Other times, the refugees are well-dressed
the border. The conditions sometimes recall slave
passengers in comfortable cars.
transports of centuries past. Recently 81 people
Before the Syrians arrived, the officers checked
were found crammed onto a loading platform. a long-distance coach from Prague, whose driver
told them that there were frequently a couple of
refugees on board, but that he had no right to
check passports. “We’re only interested in the
ticket,” he says.
But this time there are no “hits” on the bus and
the officers wish the passengers a pleasant journey. Later, 10 Mongolians travelling in a van are
checked.
They have residence permits for the Czech Republic and are on their way to Paris for a week’s
holiday.
While the routine checks are all part of the
night’s work, finding groups of refugees raises
stress levels. “If you let it get to you, it will finish
you off,” says Thomas.
The officers wear bullet-proof vests and carry
pistols, riot sticks, pepper spray and handcuffs,
but these are rarely needed.
“They are happy to be here. There is basically
no aggression,” says Stefan Ehrlich, a police liaison officer in Breitenau.
Over the course of this year, the federal police
in Pirna have recorded more than 3,000 illegals
and detained 200 smugglers, almost as many as
in the whole of last year. The price of the trip is
at least 500 euros ($550), earning the smugglers a
couple of thousand for every trip with their vans,
a lot of money in Eastern Europe.
PORTRAIT OF RAGE
SHAHZAD ABDUL
W
Army soldiers patrol after clashes between police and protesters in Ahmedabad.
as it a response to the Charleston massacre? The self-described “human
powder keg” said racial discrimination motivated his brutal killing of
two young television journalists during a live broadcast.
Shortly after executing his former colleagues in Virginia on Wednesday, Vester Lee Flanagan posted online a video of the attack, his gun
seen in the bottom of the screen pointed at his unsuspecting victims.
On Twitter, he claimed that WDBJ television reporter Alison Parker,
24, had made “racist comments” and that a complaint had been filed
with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
“They hired her after that???” Flanagan, who worked under the
name Bryce Williams, wrote using the handle @bryce_williams7.
“Adam went to (human resources) after working with me one
time!!!” Flanagan said, referring to his other victim, 27-year-old cameraman Adam Ward.
His Twitter and Facebook accounts were subsequently removed.
Flanagan drew a troubled portrait of rage and instability in tweets
after their deaths and in a rambling 23-page manifesto sent to ABC
News. The 41-year-old African American died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after fleeing the scene. In his manifesto, Flanagan said a recent deadly church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, where nine
black parishioners died, drove him over the edge.
“The church shooting was the tipping point... but my anger has been
building steadily,” he said.
“As for Dylann Roof? You (deleted)! You want a race war (deleted)?”
Flanagan said, referring to the accused gunman in that attack.
He said he bought his gun on June 19, just two days after the Charleston shooting. Born in 1973, the San Francisco State University graduate and Oakland native said he had suffered throughout his career from
discrimination against his status as a black man.
In the manifesto, which Flanagan termed a “Suicide Note for Friends
and Family,” he claimed that both black men and white women had attacked him, and that he had suffered from racial discrimination, harassment and bullying at work.
“Vester was an unhappy man. We employed him as a reporter and he
had some talent in that respect and some experience,” WDBJ’s General
Manager Jeffrey Marks said.
Flanagan joined the station in March 2012 and was dismissed
in February 2013, escorted by force out the door by police. Marks
remembered him as having both “some talent” as a reporter and being
“difficult to work with.”
— Reuters
Why a prosperous community wants quotas?
M
embers of the economically prosperous,
politically powerful and socially elite Patel
community in the western Indian state of
Gujarat have been on the streets since July,
demanding eligibility for affirmative action
programmes.
Their agitation drew over 300,000 mostly
young people to a rally in Gujarat’s capital Ahmedabad on Tuesday, where a police crackdown spiralled into violence and
prompted Prime Minister Narendra Modi
to appeal for calm in his home state.
So why does a community that has six
ministers in the Gujarat government, runs
the state’s diamond-cutting trade and has
cash crop farms, real estate businesses, thousands of small trading operations and is at
the top of Gujarat’s social hierarchy feel
short-charged?
Hardik Patel, the 21-year-old who is
spearheading the agitation, says that eligibility for quotas in government jobs and
state-run educational centres would see off
disadvantages caused by decades of affirmative action in favour of lower castes that was
later widened to include “other backward
classes” (OBCs).
“We are not against any community. We
are fighting for our rights,” Patel told an
audience of thousands at the Ahmedabad
rally. “This agitation will end only when the
government indicates it is willing to give us
reservation.”
India’s decades-old affirmative action
programme has come under fire in recent
years, with critics arguing that political pressure from different communities has caused
leaders to expand it, sometimes to include
the not-so-well-deserving.
Quotas for OBCs and other Scheduled
Castes and tribes stand at about 50.5 per
cent of federal government jobs and 49 per
cent in state-run colleges. The quotas vary
from state to state.
In Andhra Pradesh there is an additional
quota of 4 per cent for Muslims and in several north eastern Indian states reservation
for Scheduled Tribes stands at 80 per cent
for government jobs.
Scheduled refers to tribes or castes listed
as deserving special privileges in the constitution and its amendments.
The Patels have also argued that the community has been affected by a slowdown in
small and medium-sized trading businesses,
which means that there are less employment
opportunities.
“Things are not very good in our small
business,” said Ashish Patel, a 22-year-old
supporter of the Patidar Anamat Andolan
Samiti (PAAS), the organisation spearheading the agitation.
Patel graduated a year ago and is looking
for a job.
“All businesses are slow, our small trading businesses cannot provide additional incomes for young people, even the diamondcutting trade is in difficulties. We also need
government jobs. All Patels are not rich,”
Ashish Patel said.
Shravan Patel, 18, said he could not get a
place in the medical college of his choice despite scoring 90 per cent in his school’s final
exams, adding that those eligible under the
The patels control India’s
diamond-cutting industry, run
motels across the world, grow
cash crops and dabble in real
estate, yet Gujarat’s Patel
community are demanding
quotas in jobs and education,
reports SUNRITA SEN
quota system received only 70 per cent.
“What is the point of all my hard work,”
he said.
Over the past decade, India has seen a
series of agitations by community groups
vying for quotas.
The Gujjar community of the northern
states of Rajasthan and Haryana have been
disrupting rail and road traffic intermittently for several years.
The expansion of quotas has become a
powerful political tool, according to political scientist Vidhu Verma.
She gives the example of the Indian National Congress party-led federal government’s introduction of quotas for the Jats —
another influential community in northern
India — months before a general election.
The move was later overturned by India’s
Supreme Court.
“It is time to take a (another) look at
reservations — keep it for those who really
need it and weed out the others,” Congress
party politician Manish Tiwari said.
Despite advocating for a review of the
quota system, Verma says the Patels’ chances
of being granted affirmative action and classification as OBCs are slim.
“How will they provide evidence that
they are backward? And where are these
jobs they hope they will get?” Verma says.
“This agitation possibly has some deeper political implications that are not yet evident.”
The unrest may be a result of a slowing
domestic economy and its incompatibility
with the aspirations of a growing middle
class that looks to the government to ensure
the availability of education and jobs.
Security forces were on alert and schools
were closed in the state on Thursday after
the death toll rose to eight in recent protests
by the Patel community, officials and news
reports said.
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FRIDAY | AUGUST 28, 2015 | DHUL QA’ADA 13, 1436 AH
P10
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Inside
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editor@omanobserver.om
Ice villages are melting away
Q VALERIE HAMILTON
Kivalina sits behind a stone seawall
built to temporarily curb erosion
W
Aerial photograph showing a section of sea ice. The
lighter blue areas are melt ponds
ALASKA’S CLIMATE IS WARMING AT A
RATE TWICE THAT OF GLOBAL AVERAGES.
AS PERMAFROST AND SEA ICE MELT,
COMMUNITIES DEPENDENT ON THE COLD
MUST RELOCATE, OR PERISH
Water and sewer
systems in communities
across Alaska are
threatened by flooding
and erosion due to
climate change
Seawall constructions in Kivalina
hen autumn
s t o r m s
thunder in
to Kivalina,
Alaska,
lifelong
resident Colleen Swan says, “it gets
very bad.” Violent winds batter the tiny
barrier island along Alaska’s north-west
coast, slamming walls of icy water into
a fragile shore.
Just 4 metres above the level of the
Chukchi Sea, the island floods easily,
and when rough weather cuts off air
and sea travel, there’s often no way out.
It used to be that by the time the
storms came, the sea’s surface would be
frozen, and ice would buffer the brunt
of the waves. But as the climate has
warmed, the ice now forms too late in
the year to protect Kivalina. Pounded
for years by wind and water, the
island and the village on it are literally
crumbling into the sea — leaving its
about 400 mostly Inupiaq Eskimo
residents no choice but to leave.
Swan, a member of the village
government who is leading the
community’s relocation efforts, told dpa
that climate change has made Kivalina
too dangerous to stay.
“There are no other options,” she
said. “We do have to get off the island.
It’s not a choice anymore.”
Alaskans live at the “front lines” of
climate change, US President Barack
Obama said, in a video announcing his
three-day visit to the state starting on
Monday.
Alaska’s climate is warming twice as
quickly as global averages, with winter
temperatures up nearly 3.5 degrees
centigrade since the 1950s.
Shrinking glaciers, melting sea
ice and disappearing wildlife aren’t
just headlines here — they’re tangible
changes that impact the homes and
livelihoods of rural people who hunt
and fish to survive in an icy climate.
Their plight is a “preview of what
will happen to the rest of us if we don’t
take action,” Obama said in the video.
“It’s a wake-up call.”
Kivalina has become something
of a poster child for climate change in
Alaska, drawing a visit in February from
Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell.
Although Obama isn’t scheduled
to visit Kivalina — Swan said his
advance team had problems with the
airstrip — residents hope to meet him
in the regional hub of Kotzebue, which
the White House said he will visit on
Tuesday.
Alaskan native people have lived
on the mainland near Kivalina for
centuries, subsistence hunters who
migrated between dozens of seasonal
camps in pursuit of wild harvest and
game.
But a century ago, the US Bureau of
Indian Affairs built a school on Kivalina
— chosen because it had easy water
access — and required parents to settle
there so their children could attend.
Now, as frozen seas turn slushy and
permafrost melts to mud, Kivalina and
other Alaska communities built on a
foundation of ice find themselves on
unsteady ground.
US government studies have
identified
184
Alaskan
native
communities threatened by climate
change, and singled out 12, including
Kivalina, for urgent relocation,
according to a 2013 research paper
published by the Brookings Institution,
a Washington-based think-tank.
But relocating an entire community
is as hard as it sounds.
It will cost more than $100 million
just to build a new, safer Kivalina and
the roads to get there. Local, state,
federal and tribal authorities disagree
over the best way to do it, and who
should foot the bill.
“They’re the ones who put us here,
so they should probably move us,” Swan
said.
In the meantime, efforts to engineer
the island back to safety have faltered.
Rock revetments built to shore up
the coastline have a lifespan of just
10 to 15 years. A 2006 storm severely
damaged a brand-new multimilliondollar seawall before the town even had
a chance to inaugurate it, according to
a media account cited in the Brookings
research.
Even moved to safety on the
mainland, Kivalina residents will
continue to be affected by climate
change. They told Jewell melting sea ice
affects the hunt for bowhead whale and
walrus and wild meat spoils in warming
ice cellars, according to the ‘Alaska
Dispatch News’.
Colleen Swan hopes to have the
chance to meet with Obama to tell him
about her concerns, and appreciates his
efforts to slow global warming.
“It’s good that they’re talking about
long-term solutions,” like cutting
carbon emissions, she said.
But in Kivalina and communities
like it, she said the long term is already
too late.
“It’s so far gone that the situation is
going to get worse before it gets better,”
she said. “We’re going to leave this
problem to our children if we don’t
solve this problem now.” — dpa
PREHISTORIC
Scientists recreate bread ancestors relished 12,500 years ago
A
n international team of researchers
has recreated a pre-historic mouthwatering bread that our ancestors
savoured over 12,500 years ago. The barleyprocessing “facilities” found at Huzuq Musa
in Jordan Valley indicate that stone-utensilproduced flour could have been a significant
part of the local Natufian people’s diet.
Curious, a group of intrepid researchers
went back to the dawn of the Stone Age to
make lunch for themselves.
Using 12,500-year-old ancient tools
like conical mortars carved into bedrock,
the researchers reconstructed how their
ancestors processed wild barley to produce
groat meals and “proto-pita” — small loaves
of coal-baked, unleavened bread. The results
was a yummy, pre-historic cuisine.
Huzuq Musa is estimated to have had a
population of about a hundred people.
“The four large threshing floors
discovered near the site — and its
accompanying tools — could have produced
a sufficient quantity of processed barley for
its estimated inhabitants,” said professor
Mordechai Kislev, expert in archaeo-botony.
The findings show that wild-grain-based
nutrition emerged some 2,000 to 3,000
years before our hunter-gatherer forefathers
established
the
sedentary
farming
communities which were the hallmark of the
“Neolithic Revolution”.
“This Natufian advance was a bridge to
the Neolithic revolution, when sedentary
farmers developed the discipline needed
to plan for the successful planting — and
reaping — of domesticated grains,” the
authors commented. The fresh experiment
began by collecting spikelets — the coated
grains of a cereal ear — from wild barley.
After ripening on the ground to prevent
them from scattering in the wind, the grains
were then separated from the stalks.
After de-husking, the grain was scooped
out of the conical mortar by hand then
placed into a small cup cut in the adjacent
bedrock.
From there, it was transferred for filtering
in a small-gauge sieve.
“This was a kind of labour-saving device,
making it easier to transfer the grain and
waste material to a sieve or other vessel,”
added archaeologist Dr David Eitam.
The discovery of this sophisticated
agro-technological system indicates that
Natufian society made the shift from
hunting-gathering to an agriculture-based
economy, which was possibly extant 3,000
years before the domestication of cereal, he
informed. — IANS
10
LIFESTYLE
omandailyobserver
F R I DAY
AUGUST 28 l 2015
HEALTHFILE
Purple potatoes
may prevent
colon cancer
‘ONAM SADYA’ I
is the buzz in town
Losing weight as
easy as drinking
a glass of water!
S
limming can’t get any easier than
this! Researchers have shown
that drinking 500ml of water
half-an-hour before eating the three
main meals of the day may help you
lose weight.
“Just drinking a pint of water,
three times a day, before your main
meals may help reduce your weight,”
said Helen Parretti, a lecturer at the
University of Birmingham.
For the study, obese adult
participants were recruited from
general practices and monitored over
a 12-week period.
Each of the participants were given
a weight management consultation,
where they were advised on how to
adapt their lifestyle and improve their
diet and levels of physical activity.
While half of them (41 adults) of
those recruited were asked to preload
with water, the other half ( 43 adults)
were advised to imagine that they had
a full stomach before eating.
Those in the group who were
instructed to ‘preload’ with water lost,
on average, 1.3 kg more than those in
the control group.
Those who reported preloading
before all three main meals in the
day reported a loss of 4.3 kg over the
12 weeks, whereas those who only
preloaded once, or not at all, only lost
an average of 0.8kg.
“When combined with brief
instructions on how to increase your
amount of physical activity and on a
healthy diet, this seems to help people
to achieve some extra weight loss — at
a moderate and healthy rate,” Parretti
pointed out.
“It is something that does not take
much work to integrate into our busy
everyday lives,” Parretti said.
The study was published in the
journal ‘Obesity’. — IANS
F
or the next few days,
the
mouth-watering,
vegetarian, 26-dish platter
‘Onam Sadya’ would
be part of practically
every Kerala household.
Popularly called the harvest festival
of the state, Onam is perhaps the only
festival that’s celebrated irrespective of
the religion one practises.
The three important days in the
festival starts with first Onam, followed
by the most important day ‘Thiru Onam’
which is on Friday and third Onam on
Saturday.
On all the three days, the major
meal of the day is Onam Sadya which is
consumed on a plantain leaf.
“Gone are the days when the Onam
Sadya was prepared at home. Today
nobody has the time or patience,
caterers and hotels have come into play
a lot more,” said 80-year-old retired
teacher Lekhsmi Nair, whose daughter
has placed an order for sadya with a
caterer.
“What I am told is that one could
obtain an Onam lunch ranging from Rs
199 to more than Rs 1,000 depending
on the quality.”
The lunch includes chips, papads
(disc-shaped food made from dough),
various preparations of vegetables, a
number of pickles, both sweet and sour,
the traditional aviyal (thick mixture of
vegetables and coconut), sambar (lentils
served along with a small quantity
of ghee), rasam (soup), two different
preparations of butter milk, a chutney
powder prepared from grated coconut
and not to mention ‘payasam’ (pudding)
eaten either straight or mixed with a
small, ripe plantain.
“We are not going by the number
of dishes. We are making all the major
dishes. I still can’t digest the fact that an
Onam Sadya has to be purchased from
a hotel,” said Subadra Amma, a 70-yearold homemaker and a widow, who will
be celebrating with her daughter and
grandchildren.
Meanwhile, all hotels irrespective of
THE THREE IMPORTANT
DAYS IN THE FESTIVAL
STARTS WITH FIRST
ONAM, FOLLOWED BY
THE MOST IMPORTANT
DAY ‘THIRU ONAM’
WHICH IS ON FRIDAY
AND THIRD ONAM ON
SATURDAY
their ratings, have announced that they
will be taking orders for Onam Sadya on
the three important days.
“Even though we are Muslims, our
daughters for the past few days are
asking us about the Onam Sadya. They
have got to know about it from their
classmates. We have placed an order
for a 5-day Onam Sadya lunch package
with a hotel,” said a Muslim doctor
couple. — IANS
ncluding purple potatoes in your daily diet can help prevent cancer
as researchers, including one of Indian-origin, have discovered that
compounds found in purple potatoes help kill colon cancer stem cells and
limit the spread of the deadly disease.
Attacking stem cells is an effective way to counter cancer, explained Jairam
Vanamala, associate professor of food sciences at Pennsylvania State University
in the US.
“You might want to compare cancer stem cells to roots of the weeds,”
Vanamala, an alumnus of Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI), New
Delhi, said.
“You may cut the weed, but as long as the roots are still there, the weeds will
keep growing back and, likewise, if the cancer stem cells are still present, the
cancer can still grow and spread,” he noted.
The researchers used a baked purple potato for the research as they wanted
to make sure the vegetables maintained their anti-cancer properties even after
cooking.
In the initial laboratory study, the researchers found that the baked potato
extract suppressed the spread of colon cancer stem cells while increasing their
deaths.
Researchers then tested the effect of whole baked purple potatoes on mice
with colon cancer and found similar results.
The portion size for a human would be about the same as eating a medium
size purple-fleshed potato for lunch and dinner, or one large purple-fleshed
potato per day.
According to the researchers, there may be several substances in purple
potatoes that work simultaneously on multiple pathways to help kill the colon
cancer stem cells, including anthocyanins and chlorogenic acid, and resistant
starch.
In addition to resistant starch, the same colour compounds that give
potatoes, as well as other fruits and vegetables, a rainbow of vibrant colours
may be effective in suppressing cancer growth, Vanamala explained.
Purple potatoes could be potentially used in both primary and secondary
prevention strategies for cancer, Vanamala suggested.
Primary prevention is aimed at stopping the initial attack of cancer, while
secondary prevention refers to helping patients in remission remain cancerfree.
The findings were detailed online in the ‘Journal of Nutritional
Biochemistry’.
LOCAL SCENE
PSC conducts I-Day
musical programme
P
akistan Social Club (PSC)
Oman’s youth talent wing
organised a colourful musical
evening in connection with their
69th Independence day, at Majan
Hotel Continental, recently. Ayaz
Hussain, Ambassador of Pakistan to
the Sultanate, was the chief guest at
this function.
Mian
Muhammad
Munir,
chairman and A H Raja, vice
chairman, Muhammad Zaeem
Akhtar, general secretary, Ch
Muhammad
Abbas,
Finance
secretary and other directors of
PSC Oman, Muhammad Adnan
Shahzad, chairman of PSMs, BoDs
and prominent Omani businessman
Syed Fayyaz Ali Shah were also
present.
The programme began with
Qari Sanaullah reciting verses
from the Quran and Abid Mughal
presenting a ‘na’at’. Usman Majeed
sang a national song while Umair
Mahmood
highlighted
the
importance of the day.
Imran
Fazal
played
a
documentary
about
Pakistan.
Imran Sheikh and Rana Shaukat
Ali presented a musical programme
that was highly appreciated.
Safdar Hussain and Saqib Usman
conducted a quiz programme.
Shields were presented to the
performing artists and certificates
were given to the youth talent wing
team. A H Raja, vice chairman of
PSC, was honoured with the title of
role model for the youth.
The event was sponsored by
Ittfaq Travel & Tourism, Syed
Fayyaz Group of Companies, Al
Liusie Trading Establishment,
Hotpot Restaurant, PIA, Meerath
Restaurant,
Rahat
Computer
Services, Karwan International LLC,
Al Ravi Restaurant, Inspire Travel
& Tourism, Pakistan Spicy Village
Restaurant, Pakistan Restaurant and
Fazli Wadood Company.
ISG students attend Harvard
Model UN India 2015
I
SG students were eager participants
at the prestigious Harvard Model
United Nations India 2015. Students
Arvindakshan Rajesh and Sachit Anand were
selected to interact with Raghuram Rajan,
the Governor of RBI.
It was a momentous occasion as they
dined at the Dialogue in the Dark where
the students were served dinner in complete
darkness by visually impaired staff.
The conference, which was held from
August 11 to August 18, witnessed the
participation of students from more than 200
schools across 28 cities and towns in India
and over 11 countries. ISG delegates took an
active lead as diplomats and representatives
from Cote d’Ivoire and Dominican Republic.
They discussed and debated international
issues from the point of view of their chosen
countries. Their well-researched position
papers and active participation in resolution
making and debate were commended by all.
The group spent two nights at The Will’s
Camp where they took up activities like
trekking in the mountains in pitch dark,
river crossing, rappelling and learning about
various knots to build a small bamboo hut.
This was an exposure to life skills which
helped the students imbibe the core values of
leadership, responsibility and confidence.
“Participating in the HMUN conference
has instilled confidence and has helped
us overcome our fear to speak in a large
gathering. We have also realised that we need
to adapt to the emerging challenges that we
face today,” remarked the delegates.
INFORMATION/LEISURE
F R I DAY
AUGUST 28 l 2015
omandailyobserver
11
Social media yet to replace Screen exposure
e-mails among teenagers hampers sleep
RESEARCH
D
espite the emergence
of new social media
tools and various
online ways to
connect with people,
members of the
young generation are still hooked to
emails and keep checking it round-theclock no matter where they are or what
they are doing, a new survey has revealed.
According to the campaign team
at global software company Adobe,
millennials (those born after 1980) are
more frequent users of email than any
other age group.
“Millennials are more likely to check
work email outside of normal work hours.
One-third are comfortable using emojis
to communicate with a direct manager or
senior executive,” wrote Kristin Naragon,
director of e-mail solutions at Adobe in
a blog post.
The Adobe team surveyed more than
400 US-based workers, 18 and older,
about their use of email.
The findings challenge conventional
views of email as a tried, over-saturated
medium for engaging consumers.
The team found that people are
practically addicted to email. “In fact,
more than half of millennials check email
from the bathroom,” the survey revealed.
On average, survey respondents
report using email six hours a day, or
ADAM @ HOME
E
over 30 hours a week.
Nine of 10 respondents say they check
personal email at work and work email
from home.
More than one-third report having
multiple personal accounts.
“Thirty-five per cent say they prefer
communicating with colleagues via
email, putting it on par with face-to-face
collaboration,” Naragon noted.
Outside of work, Americans most
commonly check their email while
watching TV (70 per cent), from bed
(52 per cent), on vacation (50 per cent),
while on the phone (43 per cent), from
the bathroom (42 per cent) and even,
most dangerously, while driving (18 per
cent). Although people are using email
more than ever, many also experience
email fatigue.
Twenty-four per cent of respondents
believe they check email “way too much”.
Thirty-four per cent report having
had to create a new email address due to
an overwhelming amount of spam.
“Most tellingly, four out of 10 report
professor of psychiatry and human
behaviour.
Students who have tablets or TVs
or computers — even an ‘old-school’
flashlight under the covers to read —
are pushing their circadian clocks to a
later timing.
“This makes it harder to go to
sleep and wake up at times early
the next morning for school,”
Carskadon noted. Children and
their parents should limit use of
screens at bedtime, the authors
noted in a paper appeared online in
the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology
and Metabolism. — IANS
ven an hour of night-time
light exposure — like from a
smartphone, a TV or a tablet
— can hamper the release of the sleep
hormone in young teenagers, a new
study warns.
Researchsers from Rhode Island’s
Brown University found that the sleep
biology of boys and girls aged nine to
15 and in the earlier stages of puberty
were especially sensitive to light at
night compared to older teenagers.
In lab experiments, researchers
found that bright screens at night
suppressed the production of the
sleep-timing hormone melatonin
significantly more in in young
teenagers than the same light
exposure did for teenagers aged 11 to
16 who were farther into puberty.
The brighter the light in the
experiments, the more melatonin was
suppressed.
The effects were the
same for boys and
girls.
“Small
amounts
of light at night, such
as light from screens,
can be enough to affect
sleep patterns,” said senior
study author Mary Carskadon,
going on self-imposed ‘email detox’
programmes, avoiding their inboxes
for an average of five days,” the findings
showed.
The results suggest that marketers
should re-invest in email as part of a
coordinated cross-channel strategy.
“With the right planning, the right
tools and the right understanding of
their customers, marketers can overcome
the love-hate relationship and make
email the most powerful part of their
campaign,” the blog suggested. — IANS
ATTENTION DISORDER
CARTOONS
by Brian Basset
Self-control may weaken memory
O
CALVIN AND HOBBES
by Bill Watterson
GARFIELD
by Jim Davis
STONE SOUP
ur ability to inhibit an action
or override an inclination
while doing another task may
affect memory and attention, suggests
new research.
The study by researchers from Duke
University in North Carolina, US, found
that inhibiting response or cancelling an
intended action suppresses activities in
areas of brain linked to memory.
The findings may eventually lead to
new therapies for disorders characterised
by difficulty inhibiting actions, such as
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) and addiction.
In an earlier study, the researchers
tested how response inhibition affected
memory.
In
that
study,
participants
completed a computer-based task in
which they were asked to press a button
if they saw a male face but withhold a
response if they saw a female face.
(Some participants were asked to do
the reverse.) They looked at a total of
120 different faces.
After five minutes of a filler task
that had nothing to do with faces, the
participants were then given a surprise
inhibit their responses.
In the latest study, the researchers
saw the same results.
One potential reason people were
forgetting the faces was that withholding
a response was siphoning off their
attention.
The researchers found that brain
areas that are known to be active when
a person is committing something to
memory were suppressed on those trials
in which the participants had to inhibit
their responses strongly.
The study was published in the
Journal of Neuroscience. — IANS
memory test in which they viewed faces
and were asked to indicate whether a
face was new or familiar from the earlier
task.
“We didn’t really know which way that
would go,” said one of the researchers
Tobias Egner, assistant professor of
psychology and neuroscience at Duke.
“You could argue quite easily that
cancelling a response to a stimulus
might actually make that stimulus more
memorable,” Egner noted.
However, they found the exact
opposite: Memory was a little worse on
the faces for which participants had to
Hospitals
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Hospital . . .Board . . . . . .Emergency
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IF IT’S YOUR
BIRTHDAY:
You will no doubt
have profited from
the experiences
of the last few
months and are
convinced that
there is nothing
to be gained by
continuing an
association, which
has gone wrong.
There will be an
opportunity to put
the relationship
on a more stable
footing quite soon,
and happier times
are ahead.
..
..
..
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..
24845003
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Haima. . . . . . 23436013 . .
Sohar . . . . . . 26840022 . .
Al Buraimi. . . 25650855 . .
Sur . . . . . . . . 25440244 . .
Tanam. . . . . . 25499011 . .
Masirah. . . . . 25404018 . .
Ibra . . . . . . . . 25470533 . .
Adam . . . . . . 25434167 . .
Bidiya . . . . . . 25483535 . .
Ibri. . . . . . . . . 25491011 . .
Saham . . . . . 26854427 . .
Khasab . . . . . 26830187 . .
Dibba . . . . . . 26836443 . .
Burkha . . . . . 26828397 . .
Sinaw . . . . . . 25474338
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VIRGO
LIBRA
SCORPIO
SAGITTARIUS
CAPRICORN
AQUARIUS
August 22September 22
September 23October 22
October 23November 21
November 22December 21
December 22January 20
January 21February 19
It may earn extra effort on
your part, but don’t let any
of your colleagues get ahead
of you through lack of initiative.
If you really want the sincere
advice of a friend you must not
withhold any pertinent facts or
be angry or upset if he speaks
the truth as he sees it.
If a friend realises that you
could do with his help on a certain household job, don’t read
an ulterior motive behind his
offer of assistance.
You will be pleased to learn that a
suggestion submitted some time
ago has been accepted, and you
will get full credit for its application.
Look out today for the person
with a sunny disposition who
will be bringing joy and happiness to your life in the immediate future.
A trip with a friend today will
have to be postponed leaving you
with a few hours to fill. Catch up
with some correspondence while
you have the time.
PISCES
ARIES
TAURUS
GEMINI
CANCER
LEO
February 20March 20
March 21April 20
April 21May 20
May 21June 21
June 22July 21
July 22August 21
Make allowances for a friend’s
pre-occupation with his own
pressing problems, and don’t expect his individual attention at the
moment.
If you are offered a position in a
very large organisation, you will
have to weigh the disadvantages
against the prestige the appointment will bring.
It may be difficult to terminate the
visit of a long-winded visitor. If you
want to avoid hurting him with your
candid remarks, you will just have to
put up with it.
If you are feeling irritable today, you
may as well warn the people close to
you that your bad temper is coming
from within you and not caused by
them.
A contact you made a great many
months ago and from which you
expected very little may suddenly be
remembered by you and prove most
useful in your present predicament.
Your interest in a person of the opposite sex will be put to the test by a
separation of a few weeks. You will
then both be able to decide which
course the affair should take.
12
ENTERTAINMENT
omandailyobserver
F R I DAY
AUGUST 28 l 2015
Katti Batti is an
intense film,
says Kangana
W
PAYAL, MY CHARACTER IN THE FILM, IS GOING TO BE A
REVELATION FOR ME. THIS CHARACTER HAS CHANGED
ME FOREVER, SAYS KANGANA
Tannishtha’s
films to screen at
Toronto, Venice
film festivals
A
ctress Tannishtha
Chatterjee
is
delighted
that
her films are enjoying
international spotlight,
having been selected for
film festivals in Toronto and
Venice.
“I’m going to Toronto and Venice
with many of my films. My film, ‘Parched’
is in the Special Presentations at the
Toronto International film Festival. And
another film, ‘Angry Indian Goddesses’ is
seeing substantial media coverage recently.
And for Venice a film called ‘Island City’
has been selected,” she told media persons
at the store of designer Anita Dongre who
has designed her for all these films.
‘Parched’, co-produced by Ajay Devgn,
and ‘Angry Indian Goddesses’ are both
Hindi films.
“And I’ve done an Australian film
‘Unindian’ with Brett Lee, which will release
in October. So many projects are going to
release soon,” she added. ‘Unindian’ is the
debut film for cricketer Brett Lee.
Tannishtha was recently seen in the
biopic ‘Gaur Hari Daastan’ starring
Vinay Pathak and Konkona Sen Sharma.
She was also seen in the internationally
acclaimed film, ‘Jal’ which had won a
National Award and was screened at
film festivals around the world.
hile
many
w e r e
expecting
a n o t h e r
romantic
comedy from
Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut
(pictured) after the hugely successful
‘Tanu Weds Manu Returns’, she says
her forthcoming film ‘Katti Batti’ is an
“intense” film, which does not focus on
“live-in relationships at all”.
“‘Katti Batti’ is not based on live-in
relationships at all. People are assuming
many things about this film. ‘Live in’ is
one of the stages that the lead pair are
going through and probably it is a part
of the film for three minutes that too is
through a song. So, ‘Katti Batti’ is not
about live-in and I myself don’t know
anything about live-in so it’s better I
shouldn’t say anything on it,” Kangana,
who was in Mumbai on Thursday to
promote the film, said.
The actress also said that she played
the “most intense character” of her career
in the Nikhil Advani directorial.
“This has been the most intense
character I have ever played. The promos
and songs of ‘Katti Batti’ don’t give the
idea about the intensity that the film
carries. I suggested to the makers if we
can take out promos that can tell the kind
of depth and intensity that ‘Katti Batti’
holds, but they didn’t take any of my
advice and everything looks happy go
lucky. But ‘Katti Batti’ is a very intense
film,” she said.
The actress also said that her
character in the film is a “revelation”.
“Payal, my character in the film
is going to be a revelation for me.
This character has changed me forever.
I’ll never get to play such type of an
intense character in my whole life,” she
added.
The film, which marks the return
of actor Imran Khan after a hiatus of
almost two years, is based on new age
relationships. The story of the film starts
like a romantic comedy but turns into
a thriller with a mystery element and a
mature love story.
“‘Katti Batti’ is going to be very
cathartic for people who like larger than
life love stories like ‘The Notebook’, ‘Kal
Ho Naa Ho’ or ‘Titanic’, which leaves
you lost but doesn’t leave you with the
feeling of lost,” Kangana, who received
a National Award for her lead role in
‘Queen’ earlier this year, said.
‘Katti Batti’ is slated to release on
September 18.
Zarina praises Salman: Actress
Zarina Wahab, mother of actor Sooraj
Pancholi, has said that Salman Khan
deserves sole credit for whatever her son
has accomplished in life.
Sooraj’s debut film ‘Hero’, which is a
remake of the successful film directed by
Subhash Ghai, is co-produced by Salman
and also marks the debut of Suniel
Shetty’s daughter Athiya Shetty.
“It’s a great feeling. Of course, the
credit goes to Salman. My mother would
always say that whenever there is any
difficulty in life, never complain to the
Almighty about it. He will give you great
returns in some way or the other. And
similarly as returns, we have got Salman
Khan. I can say one thing, that whatever
he (Sooraj) is, it’s because of Salman. I’m
really grateful to him,” said Zarina at the
cover launch of ‘Stardust’ magazine’s
September issue, which features Sooraj
and Salman.
Zarina also gushed about the cover
terming it “fantastic” and said that
Salman and Sooraj looked “rocking”. She
even quipped that Salman looked better
than Sooraj on the cover.
Asked if she was excited about
her son’s debut, Zarina replied in
affirmative.
“Yes, of course, I am excited.
Maybe I’ll whistle in the theatre. I
wish him all the best, he has worked
really hard,” she added. Sooraj got
dragged into the case related to the
suicide of actress Jiah Khan, which was
a difficult period for him. The actor, who
was allegedly in a live-in relationship
with the actress-model, was arrested on
June 10, 2013 for abetting her suicide on
June 3, 2013.
Asked about the incident, Zarina
remarked that since everyone knows
about it, there is no point repeating it.
“After every night, comes the morning.
And in our lives too, there was a morning
in the form of Salman. Every person has
to go through good times and bad times,
but you just need to have the capability
to tackle it,” she said. — IANS
TINSELTOWN
Esha was not
‘approached’
for ‘Housefull 3’
A
ctress Esha Gupta, who made her Bollywood
debut with the film ‘Jannat 2’, says she has not
been “approached” for ‘Housefull 3’.
She also shared that she is not a part of the upcoming
film ‘Size Zero’.
Esha took to micro-blogging website Twitter, where
she announced that she will not be a part of both the
films.
“Some papers need to calm down. I was never
‘approached’ for ‘Housefull 3’ and ‘Size Zero’,” she
tweeted on Thursday.
‘Housefull 3’ is directed by writer-turned-director
duo Sajid-Farhad ‘Housefull 3’ and is the third
instalment of the comedy franchise ‘Housefull’, which
also stars actors Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh and
Abhishek Bachchan.
FASHION TALK
My personal style is cool, comfortable: Nimrat Kaur
T
alented Indian actor Nimrat Kaur,
who impressed many with her
red carpet looks internationally
since her internationally acclaimed and
BAFTA-nominated film ‘The Lunchbox’
and American TV series ‘Homeland’, says
that she prefers “cool, comfortable and
graceful” clothing in her life.
“My personal style is cool, comfortable
and graceful,” she said on the sidelines
of Lakme Fashion Week Winter-Festive
2015 where she walked for designer Payal
Singhal as a showstopper on Wednesday.
Singhal showcased a collection titled
‘Mayaa’ that drew inspiration from
the ancient design heritage of Mayan,
Sumerian and Egyptian civilisations.
The designer took geometric and
structured elements from old beaten
gold ornaments and translated them into
running patterned motifs. Embroidery
done in zardosi, pita kora, mukaish and
leather applique were the high points of
the show.
The silhouettes were clean and simple
with relaxed fit kurtas with dhotis,
cropped palazzos, capes, lehengas and
sarees in a varied variety of colour palettes
that varied from ecru, stone, ice-grey and
salmon.
Kajol makes S
songs look
like magic
Nimrat, who walked the ramp in red
and gold Lehenga, says that she is a huge
fan of designer clothes.
“I love her clothes. I love the fact that
she does something unexpected with
Indian clothes every time. Her clothes
are easy to wear and yet make you feel
glamorous and I like such outfits,” said
Nimrat.
The five-day fashion extravaganza
started in Mumbai on Wednesday at
Hotel Palladium.
Aishwarya on working with Irrfan:
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who is going
to make her comeback on the big screen
with Sanjay Gupta’s directorial ‘Jazbaa’,
says working with her co-star Irrfan
Khan made “working days very natural”.
“Working with an actor like Irrfan
made every working day very natural
as I never felt I’m at work. Irrfan makes
the working atmosphere very relaxed.
Talking about our director Sanjay, it
uperstar Shah Rukh Khan,
who is currently shooting
a song with actress Kajol
in Iceland for his upcoming film
‘Dilwale’, says the actress makes his
songs “look like magic” and not just
another song.
SRK and Kajol are shooting for a
song choreographed by Farah Khan
and the trio is all set to recreate the
magic and chemistry, which the duo
shared on screen in their films.
The ‘Happy New Year’ took to
was wonderful that he always brought
and evoked the energy in us during the
shoot, even during intense and emotional
moments, which just makes working
together effortless, added the diva.”
Talking about the team from the
movie, the ‘Guru’ actress has called it a
“dream cast”.
“The people with whom I have worked
with in ‘Jazbaa’, is no doubt a dream cast
for me,” she added.
In the film, Aishwarya is seen essaying
the role of a lawyer named Anuradha
Verma and Irrfan will be seen playing the
role of a suspended cop.
Produced by Essel Vision, White
Feather Films and Viking Entertainment,
the film also has established actors Atul
Kulkarni, Jackie Shroff, Chandan Roy
Sanyal and Shabana Azmi along with
Aishwarya.
‘Jazbaa’ is slated to release on October
9. — IANS
micro-blogging website, where he
said that Kajol adds that extra
magic to all the songs they are in.
“’Kaali kaali aankhen’ to
‘Tere naina’ and song we are
shooting for ‘Dilwale’...my
friend @KajolAtUN makes
them look like magic and
not just another song,” he
tweeted.
‘Dilwale’ which also stars
Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon
is all set for release. — IANS
FRIDAY | AUGUST 28, 2015 | DHUL QA’ADA 13, 1436 AH
P14
P15
P16
Inside
China energy giants’ H1 profits fall Asian stocks cheered by Wall St rally ‘Bad bank’ path looks steep for Greece FOLLOW US ON:
BIZ BUZZ
Tata Steel to
mothball UK plant
www.omanobserver.om
editor@omanobserver.om
Oman’s fiscal deficit projected at
12pc of GDP in 2015-16: Moody’s
Q2
GDP
STABILITY: Oman’s low government indebtedness — at around 5 per cent of GDP in 2014 —
gives it room to increase debt issuance to finance budget deficits
BUSINESS REPORTER
MUSCAT
LONDON: Tata Steel, Britain’s largest
steelmaker, said it will mothball a plant
in south Wales as tough markets persist,
forcing the company to focus on highervalue products.
Europe’s second-largest steelmaker
after Arcelor Mittal said it will redeploy
employees at the plant in Llanwern,
Newport, which makes strip products
used in autos, construction, domestic
goods and packaging, although British
press reports said the company will cut
250 jobs.
The move comes only a month after
Tata said it may cut up to 720 British
jobs, mainly at Rotherham in northern
England, in a revamp of its speciality
and bar business, which has been hit by
cheap imports and high energy costs.
— Reuters
China’s ICBC reports
flat H1 profit
SHANGHAI: The Industrial and
Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the
country’s biggest bank, on Thursday
reported a less than one per cent yearon-year rise in net profit for the first half,
affected by the slowing economy.
Net profit was 149.02 billion yuan
($23.28 billion) for the six months
ended June 30, up from 148.10 billion
yuan from the same period a year ago.
“In the first half of 2015, the bank
proactively adapted to the economic
‘new normal’ amidst a complicated
macroeconomic environment,” said ICBC,
one of China’s “Big Four” state-owned
banks, adding profit was “relatively
stable” for the period. — AFP
African cement
giant in $4bn deal
with China builder
LAGOS: Nigeria’s Dangote Cement
has announced a $4.34 billion deal
with Chinese construction company
Sinoma International Engineering to
build plants across Africa.
The project is expected to add 25
million tonnes of capacity across 11
African countries and Nepal, Dangote
said in a statement on Wednesday,
according to Bloomberg News.
Dangote Cement, controlled by
Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote,
has been expanding outside of
Nigeria in recent years, signalling the
company’s increasingly international
ambitions.
The new plants will increase
capacity to around 71 million tonnes
and Dangote is targeting further
gains to about 100 million tonnes
by 2020, Dangote said in a speech in
Lagos, according to Bloomberg.
“We are progressing very
aggressively. Africa will not lack
cement,” it quoted the billionaire as
saying.
Speaking at a ceremony to
inaugurate a $400 million plant in
Zambia earlier this month, Dangote
said cement production was a
“symbol of African development.”
— AFP
Aug 27: While solid economic growth
continues to support Oman (A1
negative), its very high economic and
fiscal reliance on the oil and gas sector
and limited scope for fiscal reforms will
add pressure to public finances in 201516, says Moody’s Investors Service in a
report recently published.
“We expect Oman’s fiscal deficits
to widen from 2015 onwards, as
hydrocarbon-related
government
revenues drop by more than 40 per
cent this year. However, Oman’s low
government indebtedness — at around
5 per cent of GDP in 2014 — gives
it room to increase debt issuance to
finance budget deficits,” says Steffen
Dyck, a senior analyst at Moody’s.
Moody’s projects that Oman will
report substantial fiscal deficits in 2015
and 2016, at around 12 per cent of
GDP, as government revenues will be
negatively impacted by lower oil prices.
Moody’s estimates Oman’s fiscal
breakeven oil price — the price of oil at
which the budget can be balanced — at
$105 per barrel (p/b) in 2015. This is
high compared to its peers, and almost
double Moody’s base case projection
of $55 p/b for Brent in the same year,
and $57 p/b in 2016, suggesting fiscal
deterioration if oil prices remain
subdued.
The rating agency forecasts that
Oman’s GDP growth will slow to around
3 per cent over 2015-2016, down from
the 4.9 per cent average between 200514, owing to pressure on the oil and
gas sector. The latter accounted for 48
per cent of nominal GDP on average
between 2005-14.
According to Moody’s, Oman’s high
levels of current government spending
are not sustainable under a multiyear, low oil price scenario. However,
Moody’s notes that Oman has sizeable
financial buffers which the rating agency
estimates at 82 per cent of 2014 GDP.
In addition, Oman’s high domestic
savings and healthy banking sector
will continue to provide stable funding
for the government, says Moody’s. As
a result, liquidity risk is unlikely to
significantly affect government debt
sustainability. Moody’s notes that
regional geo-political events pose lowprobability but high-impact risks for
Oman. However, these risks are to some
degree mitigated by Oman’s position as a
neutral, mediating nation in the region,
as well as its close relations with major
global powers.
Monsanto drops pursuit of agribusiness rival Syngenta
NEW YORK: US agribusiness leader
Monsanto Co on Wednesday abandoned
pursuit of Swiss rival Syngenta AG,
which had rejected a recently sweetened
$47 billion offer.
Syngenta shares fell more than 18
per cent on the news, while Monsanto
shares jumped more than 7 per cent.
The Swiss agrichemicals group said
its board unanimously rejected the offer,
which it said “significantly undervalued
the company.” Monsanto, the world’s
largest seed company, said it still believes
in the value of a combination.
It will focus on building its core
business and meeting long-term growth
objectives and also said it was resuming
a share buyback programme.
Some farmers had feared that a
combined company would have too
Flowers grow in front of Swiss agrochemicals maker Syngenta’s logo at the
company’s headquarters in Basel. — Reuters
much power to raise prices for seeds and
herbicides.
Both companies had acknowledged
that a deal would face antitrust scrutiny
in several countries.
Syngenta Chairman Michel Demaré
said the company had engaged with
Monsanto in good faith and would
prosper without the deal.
“Our board is confident that
Syngenta’s long-term prospects remain
very attractive with a leading portfolio
and a promising pipeline of new
products and technologies.
We are committed to accelerate
shareholder value creation,” he said in a
statement.
Still, some Syngenta shareholders
expressed disappointment over the
scuttled deal and questioned Syngenta’s
ability to improve its financial fortunes.
“They have to justify to their
shareholders that they can create the
value that they have just turned down,”
said Pauline McPherson, co-fund
manager of Kames Capital’s global
equity fund, which holds Syngenta
stock.
Billionaire hedge fund manager John
Paulson, whose Paulson & Co had taken
a stake in Syngenta, had no comment.
— Reuters
Philippine growth
quickens to 5.6pc
MANILA: Philippine economic
growth quickened in the second
quarter, the government said on
Thursday, placing the country in a
better position to weather the global
fallout from China’s economic woes.
Officials credited the growth to
“prudent fiscal management” and
policies pursued by President Benigno
Aquino, which has helped transform
the country into one of the fastestgrowing economies in the region.
Boosted by higher government
spending, the April to June gross
domestic product (GDP) grew 5.6 per
cent, outpacing the 5 per cent growth
in the previous quarter, which was
the lowest in three years, Economic
Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan
said. Despite the rebound, Balisacan
said the economy was likely to grow
from 6 to 6.5 per cent for the full year,
below the government’s 7 to 8 per cent
target.
Second quarter growth was also
slower than 6.7 per cent during the
same period last year, data showed.
Balisacan and other officials
stressed that the growth showed the
country could weather the global
financial turmoil.
“Our economic fundamentals are
still strong. We have to make sure we
are mindful of the challenges we are
facing,” Balisacan told reporters.
“The quality and the rate of growth
of the Philippine economy gives some
assurance that with greater vigilance...
we can withstand the volatile markets
overseas,” he added.
— AFP
Core capital goods orders increase 2.2 per cent Ì Durable goods orders rise 2 per cent
Strong US capital spending plans boost growth
WASHINGTON: A gauge of US
business investment plans recorded its
largest increase in just over a year in
July, suggesting the United States was
in good shape to withstand growing
strains in the global economy.
The Commerce Department said on
Wednesday non-defence capital goods
orders excluding aircraft, a closely
watched proxy for business spending
plans, increased 2.2 per cent last month,
the biggest rise since June last year.
“The economy had a tailwind
heading into the recent market rout.
That tailwind will help to carry
us through the turbulent waters that
lie ahead,” said Diane Swonk, chief
economist at Mesirow Financial in
Chicago.
July’s increase in the so-called core
capital goods orders was on top of an
upwardly revised 1.4 per cent increase
in June and marked two straight
months of hefty gains.
Economists had forecast only a 0.4
per cent rise in July after a previously
reported 0.9 per cent increase in June.
The report added to employment,
industrial production, retail sales,
housing and consumer spending data
in highlighting the US economy’s
resilience. The string of upbeat reports
suggests the Federal Reserve could still
raise interest rates this year despite a
global markets sell-off, triggered by
worries over China’s slowing economy,
and policymakers’ concerns about low
inflation.
New York Fed President William
Dudley said on Wednesday prospects
of a September rate hike “seems less
compelling to me than it was a few
weeks ago.”
Stocks on Wall Street rallied, with all
major indices trading more than 1 per
cent higher. Prices for US government
debt fell, while the dollar rose against a
basket of currencies.
A strong dollar and deep spending
cuts in the energy sector have undercut
business investment.
Schlumberger Ltd, the world’s No
1 oilfield services provider and rival
Halliburton have slashed their capital
expenditure budgets for this year
following a more than 60 per cent
plunge in crude oil since June last year.
While Wednesday’s report and
recent data on oil drilling suggest the
spending cuts in the energy sector
were ebbing, renewed weakness in oil
prices suggest a turnaround in business
investment will only be gradual.
In addition, the dollar’s 16.8 per
cent gain versus the currencies of the
United States’ main trading partners
since June 2014 remains a challenge
for multinational corporations such as
Whirlpool Corp and Procter & Gamble
Co.
Still, the surge in core capital goods
orders in July bodes well for economic
growth prospects in the third quarter.
“It points to a sharp acceleration in
the pace of business capital investment
activity in the third quarter and
provides some upside risks to our
expectation for growth,” said Millan
Mulraine, deputy chief economist at
TD Securities in New York.
Shipments of core capital goods,
which are used to calculate equipment
spending in the government’s gross
domestic
product
measurement,
rose 0.6 per cent last month after an
upwardly revised 0.9 per cent increase
in June.
Core capital goods shipments were
previously reported to have risen 0.3 per
cent in June and the upward revision
suggests second-quarter GDP could
be bumped up when the government
publishes it second estimate on Thursday.
June data on business inventories and
construction spending have already
suggested second-quarter growth could
be revised to as high as a 3.4 per cent
annualised pace from the 2.3 per cent rate
reported last month. — Reuters
14
omandailyobserver
China energy giants’
half-yearly profits
fall on low oil prices
Domestic demand for crude
oil and natural gas also
slowed in the first half.
SHANGHAI: Two of China’s biggest
energy companies, Sinopec and
CNOOC, saw their first half net profits
slump as low international oil prices
and a weak global economy hit the
bottom line, they said.
Refiner Sinopec’s net profit for the
first six months slumped 22.3 per cent
to 24.43 billion yuan ($3.81 billion), it
said late on Wednesday in a statement
to the Hong Kong stock exchange,
where it is listed.
“In the first half of 2015, the global
economic recovery remained slow,”
Sinopec chairman Wang Yupu said in
the statement. “International crude oil
prices plunged in the second half of last
year and fluctuated at low level in the
first half.”
Oil prices hit their lowest levels
since early 2009 this week over
concerns China’s slowing economy will
curb demand for the commodities that
have helped drive its growth over the
past three decades.
Sinopec said domestic demand for
crude oil and natural gas also slowed in
the first half.
China’s economy grew 7 per cent in
each of the first two quarters, slowing
from a 7.4 per cent expansion last year,
which was its weakest since 1990.
Sinopec’s revenue dropped 23.3 per
cent year-on-year to 1.04 trillion yuan
in the January-June period.
“Looking into the second half, with
a general over-supply situation of (the)
international crude oil market, the oil
price is expected to fluctuate at a low
level,” Wang said.
Separately, China’s main offshore oil
and gas producer, CNOOC, reported a
56.1 per cent year-on-year plunge in net
profit to 14.73 billion yuan in the first
half, the company said in a statement to
the Hong Kong stock exchange late on
Wednesday.
“Economic growth in China
stabilised from slowing down and
saw signs of bottoming out, while
international oil prices continued to
hover at low levels,” CNOOC chairman
Yang Hua said in the statement.
Its revenue also fell sharply by 35.5
per cent year-on-year to 89.59 billion
yuan in the first half, according to the
statement. CNOOC warned there was
little to hope for in the second half.
“There is little optimism in the
world’s macro-economic environment;
international oil prices are expected to
remain at a low level,” Yang said.
But investors ignored the results.
Sinopec gained 1.75 per cent in
Shanghai and rose 1.41 per cent
in Hong Kong by midday, while
CNOOC jumped 14.52 per cent in
Hong Kong. — AFP
Nationwide warns slowdown might not last
UK annual house price
growth lowest since 2013
LONDON: British house prices rose
this month at the slowest annual pace
in more than two years, according to
mortgage lender Nationwide, although
it warned the slowdown might not
persist unless house-building picks up
significantly.
House prices rose 3.2 per cent yearon-year in August, the weakest annual
rate since June 2013, compared with a
3.5 per cent rise in July.
Economists polled by Reuters had
expected the rate of growth would fall
to 3.1 per cent this month.
On a monthly basis, house prices rose
0.3 per cent, in line with expectations
and down slightly from a 0.4 per cent
increase in July.
Nationwide said the figures were
further evidence that annual house
price growth may be stabilising close
to the pace of earnings growth, with
regular pay excluding bonuses at just
under 3 per cent during the second
quarter.
“However, survey evidence cautions
that this trend may not be maintained
unless construction activity accelerates,”
said Robert Gardner, chief economist at
Nationwide.
“Surveyors reported the lowest ever
number of properties on their books in
July — on data extending back to the
late 1970s — whilst new buyer enquiries
picked up.”
Gardner added that a significant
increase in construction activity
would be needed to avoid affordability
becoming further stretched in the years
ahead.
The government last month
announced a plan to remove obstacles
to building new houses after it helped
cause a surge in house prices in 2013 by
backing subsidies for people trying to
get on the property ladder.
Data from rival mortgage lender
Halifax has pointed to a stronger pace
of annual house price growth, although
it too has slowed recently.
But there have been signs activity
is picking up, after the introduction of
tougher rules on lending slowed the
market through most of 2014.
The British Bankers’ Association
said mortgage approvals rose in July to
their highest level since February 2014.
Official figures from the Bank of
England also show mortgage approvals
have risen in most months this year.
BoE Deputy Governor Ben
Broadbent said earlier this month he
didn’t view the housing market “with
great alarm”.
A Reuters poll of economists on
Wednesday suggested house price
growth is likely to slow next year.
— Reuters
OMAN/INTERNATIONAL
F R I DAY
AUGUST 28 l 2015
MUSCAT SECURITIES MARKET
INTERNATIONAL
F R I DAY
AUGUST 28 l 2015
omandailyobserver
15
Asian stock markets cheered by Wall Street rally
A pedestrian looks at an electronic board showing the stock market indices of various countries outside a brokerage in Tokyo,
Japan. — Reuters
HONG KONG: Asian stocks rose on
Thursday, with Shanghai leading the
gains after a rally on Wall Street cheered
investors and eased fears of a deep and
lasting global market rout.
Comments from a senior US Federal
Reserve official that the case for a rate
rise in September had weakened and
upbeat durable goods data also boosted
sentiment, pushing up the dollar.
Shanghai led the charge, closing
up 5.34 per cent, or 156.30 points, at
3,083.59, while Hong Kong gained 3.60
per cent, or 758.15 points, to close at
21,838.54.
Tokyo stocks closed up 1.08 per cent,
or 197.61 points, to finish at 18,574.44,
while Seoul gained 0.73 per cent, or 13.91
points, to 1,908 and Sydney rose 1.17 per
cent, or 60.53 points, to 5,233.30.
Wall Street finished sharply higher
on Wednesday, ending a six-day losing
streak after fears for China’s stalling
economy wiped some $8 trillion from
global share markets.
Asian shares had ended the day
mixed after a volatile session that saw
Shanghai veer wildly between losses
and gains as dealers weighed news that
China’s central bank had cut its key rates
and moved to free up cash for banks.
Thursday’s rises came after William
Dudley, the head of the New York branch
of the Fed, said the reasons for a rate hike
in September had been dampened by
the turmoil gripping financial markets.
A better-than-expected official US
manufacturing report showing orders
for durable goods — products expected
to last at least three years — jumped
2.0 per cent in July also added to the
optimism.
“Strong durable goods numbers out
of the US and tempting valuations saw a
phenomenal bounce in all US equities,”
said Angus Nicholson at IG Markets.
“William Dudley’s speech seemingly
put to bed any prospect of September
rate hikes... I think the market will
largely be looking towards December as
the most likely date if a rate hike happens
Windows 10 spreads to more than 75m devices
SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft said that
Windows 10 has spread to more than 75
million devices since the new operating
system was released less than a month
ago. The US software colossus is intent
on seeing the new-generation operating
system aimed at computers, mobile
and other devices running on a billion
gadgets.
Windows 10 is powering more
than 90,000 different computer and
tablet models, including some that
date back to the year 2007, Microsoft’s
corporate vice-president of marketing
for Windows and devices, Yusuf Mehdi,
said in a series of tweets.
More than 75 million devices now
run the software, with the number
“growing every day,” he said.
Some 14 million people installed the
Windows 10 operating system in the
first 24 hours following its release on
July 29 in what Microsoft touted as an
“overwhelmingly positive” debut.
The stakes are high for Microsoft
as it pushes out the new operating
system for both traditional computers
and mobile devices such as tablets and
smartphones.
The company is hoping the new
system can help it gain traction in the
mobile sector, where it lags behind
Google Android and Apple iOS, and in
emerging technologies for computing.
Windows 10 — to which Microsoft
skipped directly from Windows 8
which got a lackluster response — is
being offered as a free upgrade for
most devices, making it possible to be
available quickly on billions of devices.
It will allow for voice, pen and
gesture input, and in some cases
biometric identification for improved
security.
Word of the spread of Windows
10 to devices in 192 countries came
as market tracker International Data
Corporation forecast that worldwide
personal computer shipments will fall
by 8.7 per cent this year and continue to
slide through next year.
“Although the shortcomings of the
PC business are obvious, a silver lining is
that the industry has continued to refine
the more mobile aspects of personal
computers — contributing to higher
growth in Convertible and Ultraslim
Notebooks,” said IDC senior research
analyst Jay Chou. — AFP
The move reflects Wal-Mart’s desire to get a head start on holiday season
Wal-Mart boosts holiday layaway,
eyeing Star Wars toy launch
NEW YORK: Wal-Mart Stores Inc said
it will bring forward its holiday layaway
programme by two weeks, as the world’s
largest retailer hopes to get a jump on
year-end demand and fuel sales of soonto-be-launched Star Wars toys.
The company will kick off the
programme that allows shoppers to pay
for holiday gifts and other products in
installments, on August 28, two weeks
earlier than last year, Anne Marie
Kehoe, vice-president of toys, said in a
briefing.
It will make 40,000 items available
under the payment plan, roughly a fifth
more than last year.
The move reflects Wal-Mart’s desire
to get a head start on a holiday season
that is sure to be highly competitive.
Toys are an especially big focus
for retailers this year, ahead of the
December release of “Star Wars: The
Force Awakens” — the first in a new
“Star Wars” trilogy being produced by
Walt Disney Co.
Wal-Mart said it will have 500
new Star Wars products in stores on
September 4, as part of a global roll-out
of movie-related merchandise at various
retailers.
Wal-Mart will make thousands more
items, including apparel, grocery and
People talk outside a Wal-Mart Pickup-Grocery test store in Bentonville. — Reuters
health products, available online.
Wal-Mart hopes the layaway
programme will ease purchases of Star
Wars items, as well as other toys featured
during a week-long toy promotion.
Besides starting layaway earlier, it is
reducing the minimum price for eligible
items to $10 from $15 on a minimum
basket of $50.
“In the five years we’ve been offering
this holiday layaway programme we’ve
discovered that customers use it for
a whole host of reasons, from being
able to better budget their money and
avoiding credit card fees,” Kehoe said.
Layaway programmes can have a
sizeable impact on a retailer’s sales.
Retail consultant Burt Flickinger
estimates layaway can account for as
much as 10 to 15 per cent of holiday
revenues at Wal-Mart stores in poorer
areas. Wal-Mart said it would hold
midnight Star Wars events at 2,900
stores on September 4 and family
events at the same number of stores the
following day. Kehoe said she expected
strong demand for toys from collectors,
besides children. — Reuters
this year.”
In currency markets, the dollar
gained and dealers sold the yen — seen
as a safe haven during times of market
turmoil — as risk aversion eased.
In Tokyo trading, the dollar bought
120.21 yen, up from 119.98 yen in New
York. This week it touched a six-month
low of 116.18 yen.
The euro traded at 135.81 from
135.72 yen, and fetched $1.1296,
compared to $1.1312 in US trade.
Gold, also seen as a safe haven when
markets are going haywire, gave up
gains as sentiment improved to trade at
$1,127.40, down from $1,131.80 late on
Wednesday. Oil rose in Asia as dealers
digested a mixed US energy report
showing a dip in crude inventories,
but barely any decline in production
despite sinking prices. US benchmark
West Texas Intermediate was trading at
$39.68, compared to $38.60, while Brent
crude was at $44.28, from $43.14.
In other markets:
„ Mumbai rose 2.01 per cent, or
516.53 points, to 26,231.19.
Housing Development Finance
Corporation soared 8.41 per cent to Rs
1,195.20 but Bharat Heavy Electricals
fell 3.54 per cent to Rs 231.70.
„ Bangkok rose 2.87 per cent, or
37.95 points, to 1,358.03.
Coal producer Banpu gained 3.02 per
cent to 20.50 baht while Bangkok Bank
added 3.08 per cent to 167.50 baht.
„ Kuala Lumpur rose 1.35 per cent or
21.33 points to close at 1,601.70.
Telekom Malaysia added 0.31 per
cent to 6.50 ringgit, Tenaga Nasional
gained 1.63 per cent to 11.20 while Sime
Darby flat at 7.45 ringgit.
„ Jakarta ended up 4.55 per cent at
192.90 points or 4,430.63.
BIZ BRIEF
Panasonic to shut
battery factory in
Beijing, cut jobs
TOKYO: Japanese electronics giant
Panasonic Corp on Thursday said it
will stop making lithium-ion batteries
at its factory in Beijing this month,
cutting 1,300 jobs as part of a move to
focus on higher-margin products such
as electric car batteries.
The 15-year-old plant produces
batteries for simple mobile phones
and digital cameras, both of which
are being increasingly overtaken by
smartphones in popularity.
“The global market for these
products has been shrinking,”
Panasonic spokeswoman Yayoi
Watanabe said, adding the closure
was more about global technology
trends rather than the recent turmoil
that has battered Chinese markets.
Employees were informed of the
closure in late July, she said.
Finland’s Nokia, which sold its
mobile phone business to Microsoft
in 2014, was the main customer of the
plant in its early days, according to the
Nikkei business daily.
Panasonic took over the plant from
Sanyo Electric, a leading maker of
lithium-ion batteries and solar panels
which it acquired in 2010.
The deal failed to bring in much
growth due to the emergence of
South Korean manufacturers, analysts
say, and the Japanese firm has since
sold several Sanyo operations.
The plant closure comes as
Panasonic restructures to focus on
electric car batteries and energysaving home systems rather than
consumer electronics such as plasma
TVs and smartphones, where it faces
stiff competition from Asian rivals.
In June, it said it would invest
about 60 billion yen ($499.83 million)
in the fiscal year through March in
its automotive business, including
making lithium-ion batteries for
Tesla Motors Inc. Panasonic is due
to shoulder 30 to 40 per cent of the
cost of Tesla’s $5 billion Gigafactory
plant in Nevada, a key facility in the
automaker’s plans to ramp up sales.
The company’s shares were up 0.5
per cent in afternoon trade compared
with a 1.6 per cent rise in the Nikkei
225 average. — Reuters
China sets yuan rate at
4-year low against dollar
SHANGHAI: China’s central bank on Thursday set its central rate for the
yuan currency at a four-year low against the US dollar, a move analysts said
reflected reduced expectations for the unit following a devaluation.
The yuan was fixed at 6.4085 to the greenback, according to the China
Foreign Exchange Trade System, just 0.07 per cent weaker from the previous
day. But it was the lowest since August 2011, the Shanghai Securities News
said on its website.
The move follows an interest rate cut announced on Tuesday and a
slumping stock market, which has fallen more than 40 per cent since
peaking in mid-June.
“The yuan depreciated as growing market expectations for yuan
depreciation have been gradually fulfilled after the one-off devaluation on
August 11,” Liu Dongliang, a senior analyst at China Merchants Bank in
Shenzhen, said.
The central bank on August 11 devalued the yuan by nearly two per cent,
saying the decision was aimed at moving towards a more flexible exchange
rate though the market interpreted it as a sign of economic weakness. It fell
further in the following days.
The yuan is restricted to trading up or down two per cent from the daily
rate on the national foreign exchange market. — AFP
Drugmaker Kalbe Farma gained
7.47 per cent to 1,655 rupiah while
automotive distributor Tunas Ridean
Tbk fell 1.90 per cent to 515 rupiah.
„ Singapore surged 2.52 per cent, or
72.43 points to close at 2,945.43.
Casino operator Genting Singapore
rose 1.33 per cent to Sg$0.76 and
Oversea-Chinese
Banking
Corp
advanced 3.15 per cent to Sg$9.17.
„ Taipei rose 1.41 per cent, or 108.96
points, to 7,824.55.
Taiwan
Semiconductor
Manufacturing Co added 1.22 per cent
to Tw$124 while Hon Hai Precision
Industry closed 1.32 per cent higher at
Tw$84.6.
„ Wellington closed up 1.02 per cent,
or 57.17 points, at 5,634.95.
Spark rose 3.37 per cent to NZ$3.225
and Warehouse Group lifted 0.78 per
cent to NZ$2.60.
„ Manila rose 2.25 per cent, or 154.17
points, to 7,022.09. Top-traded Ayala
Land Inc. gained 1.16 per cent to 34.80
pesos while BDO Unibank Inc rose 4.30
per cent to 97 pesos.
— AFP
Goldman Sachs on hiring spree in Warsaw
WARSAW: Goldman Sachs will hire “several hundred” employees for its Warsaw-based
technology and operations units over the next three years, the US bank said on
Thursday. The decision follows moves by Swiss banking giants UBS and Credit Suisse
to expand their operation centres in Poland, seeking to benefit from the country’s
relatively inexpensive and skilled labour force.
“In a strategic decision, the firm will now expand its footprint in Warsaw,” said
Goldman Sachs spokesman for central and eastern Europe, Adib Sisani.
“The expansion will be realised in a phased approach over the next three years to
an office size of several hundred employees,” he said.
Goldman Sachs technology units are providing services for clients to support their
sales, trading, banking, investment management and investment research operations,
the bank said. The units also support Goldman’s own legal, compliance and human
resources management.
Poland, an European Union member since 2004, is central and eastern Europe
largest economy.
The country has enjoyed uninterrupted economic growth over the last two
decades, but the average corporate wage is less than a third of its equivalent in
Germany.
Goldman Sachs has had an office in Warsaw since 2011, including a small
technology unit. — Reuters
Workers arrange sacks of cement, which will be transported to Indonesia’s
Sumatra island, at Sunda Kelapa harbour in Jakarta. Indonesia’s statecontrolled cement maker PT Semen Indonesia said it plans to buy back up to
1 trillion rupiah ($70.85 million) of its shares as their market value fell, but
some other state firms said they have yet to decide whether to buy back their
shares or not. — Reuters
Gap to end ‘on-call’ shifts for workers
NEW YORK: Apparel retailer Gap Inc said it would end on-call shifts at all of its stores
and improve scheduling policies to provide employees with at least 10-14 days’ notice.
The decision follows an inquiry by New York State attorney general Eric
Schneiderman’s office into the legality of on-call shifts at 13 retailers, including Gap,
Target Corp, JC Penney Co Inc , Abercrombie & Fitch Co and TJX Cos Inc. On-call shifts
require workers to be on call for shifts that may be cancelled with little notice.
The system allows retailers to adjust staffing based on store traffic forecasts made
by scheduling software.
Companies can then reduce over-staffing and under-staffing.
Each of Gap’s five brands were aligned to phase out on-call shifts by the end of
September and had committed to phase in the new schedules by early 2016, Gap
spokeswoman Laura Wilkinson said in an email.
When Schneiderman began the inquiry in April he said on-call shifts might violate
New York law which calls for employees to be paid for at least four hours at the basic
minimum hourly wage for any scheduled shift they report for.
“I commend Gap for taking an important step to make their employees’ schedules
fairer and more predictable,” Schneiderman said in a statement on Wednesday, which
made no further comment on the findings of the inquiry.
Abercrombie & Fitch said this month that it would end the practice for all workers
paid by the hour, while lingerie retailer Victoria’s Secret, owned by L Brands Inc said in
June it would end on-call shifts for workers. — Reuters
16
omandailyobserver
NON-PERFORMING
PERSPECTIVE
F R I DAY
AUGUST 28 l 2015
LOANS
‘Bad bank’ path model looks steep for Greece
G
REECE is under
growing pressure to
take care of banks’
problem loans so
they are free to lend
again, but the depth
and complexity of its crisis will make it
tough to replicate the comprehensive
“bad bank” models set up in Ireland and
Spain.
Deciding how to deal with more
than 100 billion euros ($115 billion) of
non-performing loans held by banks is
a central part of Greece’s recovery plan
— and one of the biggest headaches for
policymakers.
Ireland and Spain’s big, state-backed
‘bad banks’, or asset management
companies, bought bad loans from banks
at knock-down prices and are managing
and selling them on to investors, who
can renegotiate terms to claw back as
much as possible.
Setting up such a structure can
be risky, and the Irish and Spanish
models have not been trouble-free, but
politicians and analysts say they have
helped put both euro zone countries on
the recovery path.
“It is needed (in Greece), but it is not
the easiest place to have a bad bank,”
said Oliver Ellingham, a board member
at NAMA, Ireland’s bad bank, and a
former executive at BNP Paribas.
A senior Greek banker said there was
no appetite among the local banks to
form a unified vehicle like NAMA, and
reservations go wider than that.
Greece’s deep economic recession,
political
turbulence,
inadequate
insolvency laws and problem loans
spanning residential mortgages, small
businesses and big companies all make
carving out non-performing loans
(NPLs) difficult and could deter investors
from buying them, several restructuring
advisers and investors said.
As a result, two of the advisers said
although a full-scale bad bank would be
Greece’s best option, officials in Athens
and at the European Central Bank in
Frankfurt, which now supervises euro
zone banks, were likely to opt for more
limited plans that would be easier and
quicker to implement.
They said that could mean sticking
with the individual “troubled loan” units
being set up within each of the four big
lenders — National Bank of Greece,
Piraeus, Alpha Bank and Eurobank.
Alternatively, a vehicle could be
created that takes each bank’s worst
corporate loans, the restructuring
sources said.
Economy Minister George Stathakis
said on Wednesday the government had
not committed to a particular option.
“A bad bank could restructure those
loans using more balanced criteria that
would take into account the economic
and social consequences,” he told a news
conference.
“This was one proposal that we put on
the table and it is part of the discussions.
There are other solutions.”
PROS AND CONS: Bad bank
supporters say they speed up dealing
with bad loans, which could otherwise
take decades to run down and paralyse
credit supply.
“It’s more aggressive, but a quicker
and cleaner way to solve the problem
of non-performing loans (NPLs) and
makes the remaining core banks more
“A bad bank could
restructure those loans using
more balanced criteria that
would take into account
the economic and social
consequences”
investable,” said Christy Hajiloizou,
credit analyst at Barclays in London.
A bad bank can also be more clinical
with unpopular decisions, such as
liquidating companies or repossessing
homes, and more efficient at collecting
money from borrowers.
Banks can be slow to accept they
made lending mistakes, especially if
they still have a relationship with the
borrower.
“There’s a completely different
mindset to resolving NPLs, which
involves treating people with respect
but can mean being incredibly tough on
customers,” Ellingham said.
Critics of bad banks say they burden
taxpayers with losses as banks often
take a big capital hit when the loans
are transferred at knock-down prices.
A state may spend billions of euros
buying the assets and recapitalising
banks at the same time, hoping to
recoup its outlay over many years of
sales.
Bad banks can also cost millions in
set-up and advisory fees, and if assets
are mispriced, they can allow hedge
MARKET REFORM
VALUATION
China market chaos blamed on
exodus of regulatory ‘turtles’
A
T the height of the 2008
financial crisis, as Wall
Street slashed jobs,
Beijing took advantage
of the disarray to
poach top Chinese financial talent
from overseas to help reform its stock
markets.
By summer 2015, China’s Securities
Regulatory Commission (CSRC) needed
them more than ever; a year-long market
boom had imploded in a few weeks, and
the government was desperate to keep
the crisis from widening.
But the best and brightest returnees,
known in China as “sea turtles”, had
already left for the private sector,
disillusioned and disappointed.
A former official at the CSRC, one
of a group of 20 high-profile returnees,
recalled the CSRC’s appeal to make
“sacrifices for the motherland”. “We
moved our families back to China and
gave up high-paying jobs, because we
wanted to contribute,” he said.
He said the group was sent for special
training at Jinggangshan, a former
revolutionary base used by Mao Zedong
during the Chinese civil war.
Their idealism soon turned to
cynicism. Their pay was a fraction of
what they could earn in the private
sector, and the CSRC didn’t seem to
value them.
“Several years passed, and none of us
got promoted,” said the official. “Some
of us didn’t even obtain a concrete
position.”
“Just at the time they needed people
with both domestic and international
experience, those most internationally
experienced people were forced out,”
said Liu Li-Gang, China economist
at ANZ. The CSRC did not reply to
requests for comment.
BRAIN DRAIN: Those who
left include Tang Xiaodong, former
head of ABN AMRO’s exotic credit
derivatives, who served various roles
at CSRC including driving reforms to
foreign investor access programmes;
Li Bingtao from J P Morgan Chase’s
global treasury department, who joined
the CSRC planning committee; and
funds to reap the rewards of a recovery.
US BARGAIN HUNTERS: The
influential group of euro zone finance
ministers this month said Greece
had to explore “the possibility of a
bad bank” given the scale of its NPL
problem.
The leftist Syriza party included a
plan for a bad bank when it was elected
in January but did not get the necessary
funding when it negotiated a third
bailout with creditors.
If Athens does opt for a bad bank,
it will need to show it would be an
independent body able to clear up the
mess and be free of bureaucracy and
cronyism, restructuring advisers said.
They said with elections expected
on September 20, a review of banks’
assets due by mid-October and a
recapitalisation of banks targeted by the
end of the year, the timeframe is tight
and external advisers are being pulled in
to consider options.
Greece has pledged to tackle its NPL
problem with or without a bad bank, and
change insolvency laws, improve judicial
staff and insolvency administration
and open the market for servicing and
disposing loans.
The aim is to lure the US private
equity, hedge fund and other specialists
who are the biggest buyers of distressed
assets in Europe.
At NAMA, which six years ago
paid 32 billion euros to buy loans with
a face value of 74 billion euros from
Ireland’s stricken banks, about 90 per
cent of assets sold so far have gone to US
investors.
And decision-makers in Athens and
Frankfurt will have taken note: NAMA
says it expects to make up to 1 billion
euros in profit when it completes the
rundown of its assets by the end of the
decade. — Reuters
An investor looks at an electronic board showing stock information at a brokerage house in Beijing. — Reuters
Luo Dengpan, former student of Nobel
Prize-winning economist Robert Shiller,
who took charge of CSRC’s institutional
innovation department.
None of them replied to requests for
comment. Insiders who spoke to Reuters
point to a rising wave of resignations
within the regulatory apparatus over the
last 12 months, just when sound advice
was most needed.
“Nearly every week, there are people
submitting resignation letters,” said an
official at the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
“And the pace of people leaving appears
to be accelerating.”
Chinese fund managers say the
exodus left Chinese markets in the
hands of people who don’t understand
markets.
“They don’t have the same level of
expertise as they did in recent years,”
said a senior Chinese derivatives trader
at a foreign bank in Hong Kong.
That led, he said, to misguided,
counter-productive
policies
like
the crackdown on derivatives and
“malicious” short-selling that some say
only accelerated the selloff.
“Just at the time they
needed people with both
domestic and international
experience, those most
internationally experienced
people were forced out”
“It’s not that they aren’t smart,”
said an executive at a major fund who
communicates regularly with the
CSRC.” The difference is they don’t have
financial expertise.”
An official still at the CSRC said
regulators failed to grasp the significance
of the surge in margin finance used for
stock speculation that many warned was
destabilising the markets.
It’s also criticised for botching reform
of the IPO market.
It re-opened the market in early 2014
after a year’s suspension, but under new
pricing guidelines that inadvertently
made IPOs a one-way bet that sucked
funds from the wider market.
After a surge in summer IPOs was
partly blamed for setting off the crash,
the CSRC suspended them again,
indefinitely.
Such failures have hammered
government’s credibility, not least with
investors who trusted Beijing to rescue
the market in July and bought back in.
Government directed 900 billion
yuan ($140 billion) into stocks, but
indexes continued to fall after a brief
hiatus, wiping out all the year’s gains,
and more than $4.5 trillion in market
value — more than Germany’s gross
domestic product.
The heavy-handed intervention
also damaged the credibility of China’s
public commitment to financial reform.
Analysts were not surprised when
global stock index compiler MSCI
delayed including Chinese shares in its
benchmark emerging markets index, a
move that might have brought billions
of foreign dollars to China’s markets.
Former officials said most of the
returnees left due to frustration over
their lack of influence over policy,
limited opportunities for promotion,
and low pay. — Reuters
Wall St is for sale —
but is it cheap?
D
URING more than a week of stock market sell-offs, investors
have been exhorted to use declines to pick up bargains — and
with a 7.7 per cent drop on the S&P 500 since August 17,
stocks have certainly gotten less expensive.
To determine how cheap they are, investment pros look at yields,
earnings and more.
By several of those metrics, the bottom line is this: US stocks are not
wildly expensive, but they are not the screaming bargains that might pull
value-minded investors back into the market.
“We are not getting to a point where it’s attractive, it’s just not as
expensive,” said Michael O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading
in Greenwich, Connecticut. That is because investors are willing to pay
more for companies that are expecting strong earnings growth.
But with Chinese demand weakening, oil prices slipping and the dollar
remaining strong even after slipping a bit in the last few days, analyst
expectations now are that S&P 500 earnings will fall 3.3 per cent from a
year ago in the third quarter, according to Thomson Reuters data.
And that makes even less-expensive stocks still pricey. Here are a few
ways to look at stock
prices now.
Earnings — Even
after
Wednesday’s
buying spree, the S&P
500 stock index was
selling at roughly 15.8
times its expected
earnings for the next
12 months.
That is lower than
this year’s peak of
17.8 but not far from
the average of about
16 since January 2000, and well above the 10.5 per cent hit during the last
market correction in August 2011.
“Low interest rates have juiced equity valuations to levels more
consistent with a rapidly growing global economy than one still stuck in
first gear,” Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at Convergex in New
York, wrote in an overnight note to clients.
On a 14-times earnings scenario, a multiple more in line with slow
earnings growth, the S&P 500 should be closer to 1,700 — more than 10
per cent lower than Wednesday’s close — a level that would drag the index
into a bear market. Dividend yields — For some, the argument that there
is no other asset besides stocks to invest in due to rock bottom yields in US
government debt continues to hold.
The S&P 500’s dividend yield of 2.57 per cent recently ticked above the
10-year yield according to data from Thomson Reuters Datastream and
Fathom Consulting. This was the case on and off since the start of 2015
until April, and the norm between late 2011 and mid 2013 — a period of
strong gains for the stock index.
But it has only happened one other time in the last 20 years, between
December 2008 and April 2009. Earnings yield — At above 6 per cent,
the earnings yield on the S&P 500 compares favourably with the 10-year
Treasury note yield, now just under 2.2 per cent.
Analysts say that when the earnings yield is more than twice the yield of
the Treasury benchmark it historically augurs gains for stocks. — Reuters
SPORT
F R I DAY
AUGUST 28 l 2015
omandailyobserver
ASIAN TOUR: Kerr said details of the new tour could be announced very soon as talks were at an advanced stage
‘Europe merger will be game-changer’
HONG KONG: The merger of two of
the world’s major golf tours will see
the largest shake-up of the professional
game since the European Tour was
created more than 40 years ago, Asian
Tour CEO Mike Kerr said.
The European and Asian tours
declared last week that they intend to
combine their playing memberships
and business dealings into a mega-tour
that will stretch from the Atlantic coast
of Ireland to the shores of the Pacific in
the Far East. “I can’t think of anything
bigger,” Kerr said in a phone interview,
when asked whether it was golf ’s most
important development since the
European Tour’s creation in 1972.
Kerr said details of the new tour
could be announced very soon as talks
to hammer out the details were already
at an advanced stage.
“We are working through this as fast
as we can,” he said. “I don’t envisage it will
be a protracted and prolonged process.
“In some way we’ve been through at
least some of the tough discussions and
negotiations between us and now it’s
about coming together and making this
a reality.
“When we get further details that we
are able to deliver I think we will do that.
There’s no reason for us to hold back.”
Kerr
said
discussions
were
“confidential” but did confirm that there
would in future be just one tour with
a single membership comprising the
current players on the European and
Asia Tours.
“This will involve the merger of the
memberships and the merger of the
business,” he said.
“You can make that leap, yes, to say
there will be a single membership.
“It will be based on merit and the
Asian Tour members will effectively
get access to the entire schedule of
tournaments that would be included in
any future tour.”
Kerr says ultimately the tours are
there to benefit their members — the
players — and the merger will ensure
LIGUE
long-term stability in a sport which has
seen some events disappear from the
calendar in recent years.
“I don’t think that we would have
embarked on this had we not believed
that actually it would satisfy our core
purpose, to deliver more earnings
and more opportunities for all of our
members,” he said.
‘FRACTURED SCENE’
He said that the announcement had
been well received within the game and
it now was a case of talking to the players
and ensuring they understood the plan
and were comfortable with it.
“We are now starting that process on
both sides. Everything that I have heard,
either through the media, through
partners, sponsors or from players has
been very positive. Quite honestly there
has been no negativity whatsoever.
“Most importantly we need to
get to our members, to ensure they
understand these details, to ensure
they’re comfortable with them and
effectively approve them going forward.”
He would not be drawn on whether
this would mean the end of their
struggling rivals, the OneAsia Tour,
which has staged just six tournaments so
far in 2015.
“You will have to ask them,” he said,
but added the merger would start to
mend Asia’s “fractured” golf scene.
“One of things that has retarded
the growth of golf in Asia has been the
fractured nature of it,” Kerr said.
“If you look at the map of the world
to the left you’ve got the Americas
dominated by the PGA Tour. In the
middle you’ve got the European Tour.
But if you look to the right it’s whole
mishmash of everybody involved.
“So when we talk about consolidating
it’s not about making things smaller, it’s
about making things clearer.
“It’s about the long term. It’s about
sustainability. It’s about scale. And
that’s what we will achieve — long-term
stability. It’s a fantastic opportunity.”
— AFP
1
PSG face suffering
Monaco as Marseille
look to build
PARIS: Defending champions Paris
Saint-Germain face their stiffest
challenge of the early season away to
Monaco in Ligue 1 on Sunday while
Marseille will seek to continue their
revival under new coach Michel at
Guingamp on Friday.
Laurent Blanc’s treble winners PSG
have yet to put a foot wrong on the way
to a trio of victories that sees them two
points clear of an unusual threesome of
followers that includes Bastia, promoted
Angers and former French champions
Nantes.
Monaco meanwhile must overcome
a Champions League hangover after
being knocked out of the competition at
the last qualifying stage on Wednesday
by Valencia, despite reaching the
quarterfinals last season.
Marseille began life without Marcelo
Bielsa, who dropped a bombshell by
resigning after an opening day defeat
against Caen, by showing signs of an
immediate resurrection under Madridborn Michel when they destroyed
Troyes 6-0 last weekend.
The hugely popular south-coast club
will try to make it two wins from two
when they head up to Brittany and a
Friday evening date with Guingamp.
But they will still have to do without
former France international Abou
Diaby, whom they signed from Arsenal,
who is not yet match-fit.
“I have spoken with him and he is
full of motivation,” said Michel. “I think
in two or three weeks he will be ready
to reintegrate into the squad,” added the
52-year-old former Spain international.
PSG will know their Champions
League group phase opponents on
Thursday when the draw is made
in Switzerland and the top prize in
European football remains a prime goal
for the Qatari-backed capital side.
“To win the Champions League
is our objective,” confided Brazilian
defender David Luiz.
“It will not only depend on our
preparation but also the luck or bad luck
we get with the draw,” said the former
Chelsea centre-back.
Bastia will travel to Saint-Etienne on
Sunday as the ‘Greens’ look to recover
from Europa League duty at home
to Moldovan outsiders Milsami on
Thursday.
Angers, from the northwest of
France, toasted their finest hour in
1957 when they were beaten 6-3 by
Toulouse in the French Cup final, but
under former player Stephane Moulin
they have garnered two wins and a draw
from their first three top flight outings
as they host Nice on Saturday.
Nantes meanwhile are off to a fine
start of their own and the eight-time
French champions, who last lifted the
title in 2001, travel to winless Bordeaux.
Former French player of the year
Yoann Gourcuff, who has fallen from
grace following a series of injuries that
marred his time at Lyon, is back in the
news and on the verge of signing with
Rennes. The son of current Algeria
coach Christian Gourcuff is unlikely to
make his debut in time to face Toulouse
at home on Saturday but his signature
is imminent and will be a huge boost to
the two-time French Cup winners.
Elsewhere, last year’s runners-up
Lyon travel to Caen with four points
from three matches, while Reims await
Lorient, Troyes are at home to 2012
champions Montpellier and Herve
Renard’s Lille entertain GFC Ajaccio.
— AFP
This file photo taken on May 4, 2014 shows CEO of the Asian Tour, Mike Kerr, attending the trophy presentation during the
Championship at Laguna National in Singapore.
— AFP
17
Kazakh fans
revel in historic
Champions
League success
ASTANA, Kazakhstan: Bars spilled
joyous supporters into the streets of
oil-rich Kazakhstan’s capital Astana
early on Thursday after the Central
Asian country’s leading football
club became its first to make the
Champions League group stages.
FC Astana overcame the more
fancied Apoel Nicosia in a dramatic
game in the Cypriot capital on
Wednesday night to make their
mark on the history of club football’s
most prestigious tournament, which
is regularly dominated by the likes of
Spain’s Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Leading 1-0 from the home
leg, Astana fell behind to Apoel
in Cyprus after an hour and had
goalkeeper Nerad Erich to thank for
keeping them in the game with two
smart stops. But midfielder Nemanja
Maksimovich equalised with six
minutes of normal time remaining
to give Astana the lead on aggregate
and secure the right to rub shoulders
with European football’s major
powers. “It is difficult to describe
how important last night’s match
was to the development of football
and sport as a whole in Kazakhstan,”
Darhan Kaletaev, chairman of
Astana’s board of trustees said by
telephone on Thursday.
“This victory was achieved thanks
to the hard work of the coaching staff,
the football-loving people of Astana,
and the support of the President of
Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev.”
Astana’s emergence from obscurity
into the elite of European football
is reminiscent of the rise of the
600,000-strong city that hosts its
30,000 capacity stadium.
Astana was little more than a
sleepy northern steppe town in 1997
when septuagenarian President
Nursultan Nazarbayev made it the
country’s capital over Almaty, a city
of more than 1.5 million people
some 1,000 kilometres away. — AFP
Balotelli ready to fulfil dying father’s wish
MILAN: Liverpool misfit Mario
Balotelli claims he has left his childish
ways behind and is ready to knuckle
down at AC Milan as he bids to fulfil his
dying father’s wish of playing for Italy
again.
Balotelli’s return to the Rossoneri on
a one-season loan deal has been met
with derision in Italy, with pundits and
most fans opposed to the striker’s return
to the club he left only a year ago.
Balotelli
spectacularly
underperformed
at
Anfield,
instead
embellishing his reputation as a
“liability” — the view of former Reds
legend Graeme Souness, among others.
Against his own expectations, the
25-year-old has been given a second
chance by Milan. But he knows it could
be his last with a top club.
Coach Sinisa Mihajlovic and Milan
have instigated a special code of conduct
for Balotelli, a player who in the past has
riled fans and clubs with his off-field
antics, outrageous hairstyles and outings
to nightclubs where he has enjoyed the
odd cigarette.
Balotelli has pledged to comply —
and with good reason. His adoptive
father Francesco, whose dying wish was
to see Balotelli don the Italy shirt again,
died last month. He is also close to his
two-year-old daughter Pia, born to exgirlfriend Raffaella Fico, who is based in
Italy.
Like a neo-professional who has just
signed his first contract, Balotelli has it
all to prove again on and off the field.
But in an interview with Gazzetta
dello Sport he said: “I feel like a player
who’s just finished the first half of his
career. I played and lived like a kid. It
hasn’t always gone well, I’ve wasted a
lot of opportunities. “But the game’s not
over, I still have a second half to play.
Now, I’ll play it like a man.”
‘CAN’T MESS UP’
A poll on the popular ‘Processo del
Lunedi’ sports programme on Monday
showed 62 per cent of fans opposed his
return. Last week, respected pundit and
former Milan great Zvonimir Boban
called Balotelli’s intended move “absurd”.
“I know a lot of people don’t believe
in my comeback, it’s up to me to prove
them wrong,” added Balotelli.
“Milan have taken a gamble, but I’ve
made a promise to myself, and all the
people who support me... I’m starting
from zero and know I can’t mess this
one up. “I will follow every rule. I know
I’ll only be given my chance if I deserve
it, but I haven’t forgotten how to play
football.”
Born to parents of Ghanaian origin,
Balotelli was fostered by a white family,
the Balotelli’s, when he was three years
old and eventually adopted.
When he scored the goals for Italy
that sent the Azzurri to the final of Euro
2012, Balotelli rushed over to embrace
his adoptive mother Silvia as she wept
after the win.
But it is his father who is on Balotelli’s
mind.
“Seeing me back in the Azzurri shirt
was one of his dreams before he died. I
owe it to him,” said Balotelli.
Milan host Empoli in their first home
game of the season this weekend, but
fans hoping to see the Balotelli of old —
showing arrogance and reacting to the
provocation of fans and rival players —
could be disappointed.
“I will no longer respond to any
provocation and will show respect to
everyone, from opponents, referees and
rival fans,” he said.
Even in the event of racist chanting?
“It’s really up to the referees to
intervene in these moments, and I will
keep my mouth shut. But then in the
press conference I will go crazy,” he
added.
“You need respect. Fans who racially
abuse me when I’m playing against their
club are the same ones who shout for me
to score when I’m playing for Italy.
“But the day I don’t get whistled at is
the day I have to start worrying: that’s
when you’re no longer a threat.” — AFP
18
omandailyobserver
SPORT
F R I DAY
AUGUST 28 l 2015
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Rooney’s treble was also a timely return to form for the England striker, who had gone 10 games without a goal
Rooney fires United, Lazio dumped out
PARIS: A Wayne Rooney hat-trick
fired Manchester United back into the
group stage of the Champions League
with a 4-0 win, 7-1 on aggregate, in
their play-off second leg at Club Brugge
on Wednesday as Lazio crashed 3-0 at
Bayer Leverkusen, 3-1 on aggregate.
Rooney’s treble was also a timely
return to form for the England striker,
who had gone 10 games without a goal
for United prior to Wednesday.
United — who missed out on
Champions League football last season
— will discover their group opponents
in Thursday’s draw in Monaco.
“To go through to the group stage
after being out of it last year is a great
result. We look forward to the draw now
tomorrow,” said Rooney.
“It was a big disappointment last year
not to challenge in it. We didn’t think it
would be as comfortable as it was, but it
was vital we went through any way we
could.
“Over the two legs we deserved that.
We’ll enjoy the draw and it is nice to be
back in there again.”
In Germany, Lazio had gone to
Bayer Leverkusen hoping to defend
a one-goal advantage and reach the
main draw for the first time since the
2007/08 season.
But the Italians were trailing
following goals from Hakan Calhanoglu
(40) and Admir Mehmedi (48) and faced
an uphill battle as they played the last 20
minutes with ten men when Brazilian
Maurício was sent off for a second
yellow card.
Karim Bellarabi put the result beyond
any doubt for the Germans when he
finished into an empty net two minutes
from time after good work from Julian
Brandt.
ASTANA MAKE HISTORY
Astana made history as they became
the first Kazakh team to qualify for the
main competition with a 1-1 draw at
Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney controls the ball next to Club Brugge’s Claudemir during the UEFA Champions League playoff match at
Jan Breydel Stadium in Bruges. — AFP
Cypriot side Apoel in a 2-1 aggregate
victory.
The Kazakh club had taken a 1-0 lead
to the Cypriot capital Nicosia for their
second leg against 2012 quarterfinalists
APOEL.
Semir Stilic’s superb free-kick put
the Cypriots ahead after 60 minutes
but six minutes from time Nemanja
Maksimovic tapped in the winner from
close range.
In Serbia, Belarussian champions
BATE Borisov reached the group stages
for the fourth time in five years on away
goals after a 2-1 loss at Partizan Belgrade,
having won the first leg 1-0.
Igor Stasevich put BATE ahead after
25 minutes after the ball bounced into
Van Gaal hails United hat-trick hero
BRUGES,
Belgium:
Manchester
United manager Louis van Gaal praised
Wayne Rooney’s “mentality” after the
captain’s hat-trick in a 4-0 win against
Club Brugge helped his side secure a
Champions League place.
United will go into the hat in
Thursday’s group-stage draw after
their victory in Bruges on Wednesday
completed a 7-1 aggregate win in the
competition’s play-off round.
Rooney had previously gone 10
club games without scoring, prompting
suggestions he was unsuited to the role
of lone striker in Van Gaal’s single-striker
system, but the Dutchman said he never
doubted that the England captain would
rediscover the path to goal.
“I have given him always the
confidence that a player needs, but I
think Wayne has a very strong mentality
and with his level he always shall come
back,” Van Gaal said.
“And he proved that this evening
(Wednesday). But still it’s a long way for
him and also for Manchester United it’s
not so easy. Of course I’m very happy
for him.” All three of Rooney’s goals
were pleasing on the eye, as he applied
assured one-touch finishes to passes
from Memphis Depay, Ander Herrera
and Juan Mata.
Herrera stroked in United’s fourth
goal in the 63rd minute at Jan Breydel
Stadium, having been moved forward
into a number 10 role following the
half-time introduction of Bastian
Schweinsteiger.
Herrera had struggled in the game’s
early stages, misplacing passes and
earning a booking for an untidy foul on
Victor Vazquez, and Van Gaal admitted
afterwards that he had contemplated
taking him off.
“He started not so good. He had a lot
of ball losses and also a yellow card, so
at that moment I wanted to change him,
but then I saw he was coming back,” said
Van Gaal, who also saw substitute Javier
Hernandez miss a late penalty.
“And after that moment he plays a
good match on the ‘double six’ position,
but later on (at) 10 he was better. So I’m
very pleased also for him.”
Van Gaal won the Champions
League with an exciting young Ajax
Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal looks on during the UEFA Champions League play-off round second leg match
against Club Brugge at Jan Breydel Stadium in Bruges, Belgium. — AFP
team in 1995 and took Bayern Munich
to the final in 2010, but he has not led a
team in the competition since 2011.
‘THEY HAVE EVERYTHING’
Asked how the tournament had
changed during his absence, he replied:
“I cannot judge because (for) three years
I was not a participant.
“Of course I’ve seen the matches
on television. I think it is the highest
podium, and it was also 10 years ago and
20 years ago.
“It is the highest podium that you
can show yourself or your team and it’s
fantastic to be a participant.”
The 2014-15 season was the first time
United had not graced the Champions
League in 19 years, the legacy of a
disastrous seventh-place finish under
Van Gaal’s hapless predecessor David
Moyes.
Holders Barcelona, Bayern, Juventus
and Paris Saint-Germain are among
the teams who could be drawn to face
United, but Van Gaal said that he would
not be watching the draw.
“I don’t know the teams who are
participating, but I think I cannot have
any influence on the draw,” he said.
“There was also a lady who asked
me what am I going to do tomorrow
(Thursday) during the draw. I said I
shall watch the second team against Ajax
because that’s more important for me.
“I cannot influence the draw, so it’s
better to hear afterwards.”
Club
Brugge
coach
Michel
Preud’homme had said before the game
that his side required a “miracle” to
qualify and he felt that the outcome of
the tie was logical.
“This team has everything —
technical quality, physical quality in
power and endurance, and of course
they have the mentality,” said the former
Belgium goalkeeper, who was missing
several key players through injury and
suspension.
“It’s a top team and they are top
players. They have everything. We are
Wayne Rooney celebrates the fourth
goal for Manchester United. — Reuters
there to learn something and I hope
we can learn a lot from these two
confrontations.”
— AFP
his path, only for Partizan to level after
74 minutes via an own goal from BATE’s
Maksim Zhavnerchik.
An injury-time Ivan Saponjic goal
proved academic in the end as Partizan
earned a hollow victory on the night.
WC
2010 quarterfinalists CSKA Moscow
also advanced after a come-from-behind
3-1 success against Sporting Lisbon —
4-3 on aggregate — to add to their record
of seven wins out of seven in Russia this
season.
Portuguese giants Sporting had taken
a 2-1 advantage to Moscow and Teofilo
Gutierrez scored an away goal after 36
minutes before a second half double
from CSKA’s Ivorian striker Seydou
Doumbia on 49 and 72 minutes left the
tie level.
Nigerian striker Ahmed Musa got
the winner for the Russians five minutes
from time as they qualify for the main
draw for the third straight season.
On a superb night for Louis Van
Gaal’s Manchester United in Belgium,
Dutch midfielder Memphis Depay had
a role in Rooney’s first two goals on 20
and 49 minutes, with a Juan Mata cross
eight minutes later allowing the United
captain complete his hat-trick.
Spaniard
Ander
Herrera
compounded a night of misery for the
Belgian club after 63 minutes following
a Bastian Schweinsteiger cross to put the
three-time winners of the Champions
League through in style, despite
substitute Javier Hernandez missing a
late penalty.
Manchester United — winners in
1968, 1999 and 2008 — didn’t feature
in the competition last season but had
previously reached the group stages for
18 years in succession.
Brugge have not made the group
stages since the 2005/06 season and
coach Michel Preud’homme admitted
the outcome was logical.
“It’s a top team and they are top
players. They have everything,” said
Preud’homme of the English club.
“We are there to learn something and
I hope we can learn a lot from these two
confrontations.”
— AFP
QUALIFIER
Bangladesh hoping to
keep Australia to three
PERTH: Bangladesh are just hoping
to lose by no more than three goals
when they take on Asian champions
Australia for the first time in next
week’s highly-anticipated World Cup
qualifier in Perth.
The Bengal Tigers, ranked 170th by
Fifa and who fell to a 3-1 home defeat
by Kyrgyzstan in their opening qualifier
in June, are nonetheless desperately
keen for the September 3 clash even if
a landslide loss is expected.
“Everybody is excited. 160 million
are excited,” Bangladesh Football
Federation technical director Nipu
Bayazid Alam Zubair said in a recent
interview.
“We are going to play against
Australia in a World Cup match. Yes,
definitely (Australia were who we
wanted to be play before the draw).
This is as big as it gets.”
Zubair said his young team, under
the guidance of new Dutch coach
Lodewijk de Kruif, would aim to do
better than the last time they faced one
of Asia’s heavyweights, Japan, at this
level.
That was back in 1993, when Japan
roasted Bangladesh 8-1 in Tokyo before
winning the return in the United Arab
Emirates 4-1.
“We are looking forward to playing
with Australia and how many goals we
can concede,” Zubair said.
“Because Australia are a much
better team than us. We played Japan
last time a few years ago and conceded
four goals, we are looking for our
defence not to concede as many.”
Zubair was in Kuala Lumpur
last week for the Asian Football
Confederation’s
first
coaching
conference where he sat next to
Socceroos boss Ange Postecoglou,
who went on stage to give insight to all
on the Asian Cup triumph in January.
Such aspirations remain far off for
Bangladesh, whose biggest soccer
success came in 2003 when they beat
the Maldives on penalties to win the
South Asian championship for the first
and only time.
They almost beat Tajikistan in their
second Group B qualifier in June but
conceded a late equaliser to draw 1-1
in Dhaka, where they will host Jordan
on September 8.
A top three finish would keep their
hopes alive of qualifying for a first
Asian Cup since 1980, though they lost
all four games and conceded 17 goals
in Kuwait.
Zubair said that soccer, once the
most popular sport, had dipped
behind cricket at home as fans
flock to watch the ever-improving
national side compete in World Cups
and test matches against regional
powers.
“Once upon a time football was
number one,” he bemoaned.
“Football is a little bit behind.’’
“But still football is popular in my
country. If you go, just not Dhaka
but outside, it is still much more
(popular).”
Interest, however, is reserved mainly
for Argentina and their skipper Lionel
Messi, who was mobbed by supporters
when he visited the country to play a
friendly in 2011 against Nigeria.
Zubair said he hoped improving
the professionalism of domestic
soccer might attract more fans to the
local game.
“The pro league has been going
for eight years now. We are looking
at (improving) professionalism in our
country but problem is that no club is
up to the mark,” he said.
“Our president is trying to
improve things. We are going better
than before.
“We need better facilities and
better coach education, club licensing.
Professionalism in every club.”
— Reuters
SPORT
F R I DAY
AUGUST 28 l 2015
omandailyobserver
19
FINAL TEST: The series is tied 1-1 after Sri Lanka won the opening Test in Galle by 63 runs and India drew level in the second at Colombo
New-look pitch leaves India, SL guessing
COLOMBO: India and Sri Lanka
were left to ponder the behaviour of
an unusually greenish wicket as they
delayed naming their line-ups for the
decisive final Test starting in Colombo
on Friday.
The traditionally high-scoring pitch
at the Sinhalese sports club (SSC)
has undergone a dramatic change in
appearance from a brown, flat track to
a moisture-laden one that sports a tinge
of grass.
Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews
refused to hazard a guess on the relaid
pitch even though the last time the hosts
played a Test at the SSC a year ago, they
swamped Pakistan by 105 runs to break
a sequence of four successive draws
since 2009.
“After being relaid the wicket has a bit
more carry,” he said. “As of now, there’s a
bit of grass on the wicket. You can’t really
predict a wicket 100 per cent. We just
have to play it by the ear.
“It looks a sporting wicket. We just
have to play positive cricket. The batters
have to look to score runs, bowlers have
to take wickets. We have to get the basics
right.”
The series is tied 1-1 after Sri Lanka
won the opening Test in Galle by 63 runs
and India drew level with a thumping
278-run win in the second match at the
P. Sara Oval in Colombo on Monday.
NEW ERA IN SL CRICKET
The Test marks the start of a new
era in Sri Lankan cricket following
the retirement of batting great Kumar
Sangakkara from international cricket
after the second Test.
Mathews confirmed that the 134-Test
veteran Sangakkara will be replaced by
another left-hander Upul Tharanga,
who has played 20 Tests, but admitted
Sri Lanka were undecided on the rest of
the team.
“We still have not found the best
combination,” the Sri Lankan captain
told reporters on Thursday. “With
Sangakkara now retired, we’ve got
an opportunity to test our players in
different positions.”
A finger injury sustained by offspinner Tharindu Kaushal in the second
Test has compounded Sri Lanka’s worries
with Mathews indicating he will wait till
Friday morning to finalise the team.
India, seeking their first series win in
Sri Lanka in 22 years, will also not reveal
their playing 11 till they had assessed
the wicket before the toss, team director
Ravi Shastri said.
“It’s far from being a finished
product yet,” Shastri told reporters after
inspecting the pitch before practice on
Thursday.
“WE PLAY TO WIN’’
“There is still quite a bit of grass on
it, but there could be another cutting of
grass. Only then can we decide who to
play.”
India, who have not won a Test series
on the island since 1993, will be without
the injured trio of regular openers
Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan, plus
wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha.
Shastri admitted the injuries had set
the tourists back, but insisted India will
continue to play positive cricket like they
had done throughout the series.
“Fitness issues always hurt but
nothing has changed from day one,”
he said. “We play to win. We have got
ourselves in a position now where if
Indian captain Virat Kohli catches a ball during a practice session at the Sinhalease Sports Club (SSC) Ground in Colombo.
we win this Test, we will win the series
which is massive.
“There’s no point being shy of going
for a win. At the same time, it’s not a case
of being over-confident. We have got to
India are likely to bring in Cheteshwar
Uncapped 32-year-old Naman Ojha,
have the right balance and play proper Pujara for the first time in the series to a wicketkeeper-batsman who reinforced
cricket like we did in the last Test over open the innings with Lokesh Rahul in the injury-hit touring squad on Monday,
five days.”
the absence of Dhawan and Vijay.
is set to replace Saha.
— AFP
De Villiers stars as Proteas win decider
DURBAN, South Africa: AB de Villiers
hit a rapid 64 which provided the
momentum for South Africa to gain
a series-clinching 62-run win in the
third and final one-day international
against New Zealand on Kingsmead on
Wednesday.
The win enabled South Africa to
leapfrog New Zealand into third place
in the world one-day rankings, behind
Australia and India.
It also provided a measure of revenge
for their heartbreaking defeat to the
Kiwis in the World Cup semifinal earlier
this year.
De Villiers hit his runs off 48 balls
to enable South Africa to reach 283
for seven on a pitch which offered
some assistance to the seam bowlers
throughout the match.
New Zealand were bowled out for
221 in reply.
New Zealand lost key batsman
Martin Guptill early, caught behind off
Dale Steyn, but a partnership of 84 off
118 balls between Tom Latham and
captain Kane Williamson kept them in
contention.
Both batsmen, however, were
dismissed in the space of 15 deliveries.
Williamson was bowled for 39 when
he charged down the pitch and missed
a straight ball from leg-spinner Imran
Tahir.
Latham completed his third
successive half-century but was run out
for 54 by a direct hit from backward
square leg by David Miller.
With the required run rate climbing,
New Zealand lost wickets at regular
intervals. Medium-pacer David Wiese
took three for 58.
“The first two games were rollercoaster rides but we showed our
commitment and resilience tonight,”
said De Villiers.
“We had to work hard to get our runs
and all the bowlers did really well.”
Williamson said his team’s bowling
effort had been ‘steady’.
“The
batting
never
gained
momentum and we never got ahead of
the game at any stage.”
New Zealand were missing several
of their leading players during the tour,
— AFP
‘The first two games were
roller coaster rides but we
showed our commitment
and resilience tonight. We
had to work hard to get our
runs and all the bowlers did
really well’
making a solid start as Morne van Wyk
(58) and Hashim Amla (44) put on 89
for the first wicket.
But the scoring rate was languishing
until De Villiers and David Miller (36)
put on 86 off 65 balls for the fourth
wicket.
Farhaan Behardien kept the
scoreboard moving, hitting 40 off 28
balls before he was caught off the last
ball of the innings.
Left-arm opening bowler Ben
Wheeler took three for 71 but mediumpacer Grant Elliott was the pick of the
New Zealand bowlers, taking two for 41
in an unbroken ten-over spell. — AFP
SCOREBOARD
South Africa
M van Wyk c Latham b Elliott.................................58
H Amla c and b Elliott ............................................44
R Rossouw c Latham b Wheeler............................... 6
A De Villiers b Bracewell ........................................64
D Miller c Ronchi b Milne ......................................36
F Behardien c Williamson b Wheeler ....................40
D Wiese c Sodhi b Wheeler ...................................12
K Abbott (not out) .................................................... 3
Extras (B-4, LB-3, W-13)..........................................20
Total (for 7 wkts, 50 overs) ........................283
Fall of wickets: 1-89, 2-96, 3-134, 4-221, 5-232,
6-258, 7-283.
Bowling: Wheeler 10-0-71-3, Milne 10-1-44-1,
Bracewell 10-1-54-1, Sodhi 8-0-55-0, Elliott 10-0-412, Munro 2-0-11-0.
TEAM
NEWS
SL name Tharanga to
replace Sangakkara
COLOMBO: Left-handed batsman
Upul Tharanga will replace retired Sri
Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara for the
third and final test against India, captain
Angelo Mathews said on Thursday.
Sangakkara, arguably the greatest Sri
Lankan batsman, finished his 134-test
career last week during the second test
in Colombo which India won to tie the
series at 1-1.
The 30-year-old Tharanga played the
final test of the series against Pakistan
but made way for Sangakkara for the
first two matches against India.
“In his last match he hit a couple
of 45s. He went out only because
Sangakkara came in,” Mathews told
reporters ahead of the test starting on
Friday. Off-spinner Tharindu Kaushal,
the most successful bowler for the hosts
with 12 wickets, was doubtful for the
third test with a thumb injury on his
bowling hand, Mathews said.
But paceman Nuwan Pradeep, who
missed the second test with a hamstring
injury, was fit and available for selection.
With the retirement of Sangakkara,
Mathews said Sri Lanka were still
undecided on their batting order.
“We’re trying to get our combination
right to see who is best in what position,”
Mathews said. “We’ll have to give it a bit
more time for that, and then try and
stick to a combination.
“In the past two series we’ve not
made too many changes in our batting
line up, but with Kumar Sangakkara
retiring now, we’ve got an opportunity to
test those players in different positions.”
India are also poised to make
changes to the line-up that won the
second test convincingly in Colombo
with opener Murali Vijay and
wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha ruled
out with injuries. Team director Ravi
Shastri said India were also not rigid
on their batting order, having promoted
Ajinkya Rahane to number three at the
expense of the struggling Rohit Sharma
in the second test.
— Reuters
New Zealand
South Africa’s AB de Villiers celebrates scoring a half century during the third ODI
M Guptill c Van Wyk b Steyn..................................10
against New Zealand in Durban.
— Reuters T Latham (run out) .................................................54
which also encompassed one-day and
Twenty20 series in Zimbabwe.
“Overall this tour has been of great
benefit,” said Williamson.
“A bunch of individuals got a lot out
of it.”
De Villiers, who hurried to a halfcentury off 38 balls, hit eight fours and
a six.
When he was on 19 he reached
DR IBRAHIM BIN AHMED AL KINDI Chief Executive Officer
ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI Editor-in-Chief
8,000 runs in one-day internationals in
his 182nd innings — the fastest to the
milestone.
The previous record was held by
Sourav Ganguly of India, who took 200
innings.
After a poor batting performance
in the second match in Potchefstroom,
where they were bowled out for 204,
South Africa fulfilled their objective of
K Williamson b I Tahir ............................................39
G Worker b Wiese ..................................................21
G Elliott c Rabada b Wiese .....................................20
C Munro b Wiese ...................................................35
L Ronchi c Amla b Rabada........................................ 1
D Bracewell c Amla b I Tahir ...................................13
A Milne c Miller b Rabada........................................ 4
B Wheeler (not out) ...............................................13
I Sodhi c Rossouw b Abbott ..................................... 5
Extras (LB-1, W-5) ..................................................... 6
Total (all out, 49.2 overs) ..........................221
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-102, 3-114, 4-141, 5-152,
6-156, 7-187, 8-201, 9-201.
Bowling: Steyn 10-0-41-1, Rabada 10-1-33-2, Wiese
9-0-58-3, Abbott 9.2-0-43-1, Imran Tahir 10-0-36-2,
Behardien 1-0-9-0.
Sri Lanka’s Upul Tharanga plays a shot during a practice session ahead of their
third and final Test against India in Colombo.
— Reuters
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WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: The Olympic champion clinched the record fourth straight 200m world title in a smashing 19.55 seconds
Sprint sweep for brilliant Bolt in Beijing
BEIJING: Usain Bolt delivered when
it mattered again on Thursday when
he scorched the fastest time of the year
to win a record fourth straight world
200 metres title in 19.55 seconds and
sweep the individual sprints at a global
championships for a fifth time.
Five days after beating Justin Gatlin
to win the 100 metres, the 29-year-old
Olympic champion and world record
holder again proved too strong for inform American, who finished second in
19.74.
“Well done Usain,” Bolt told reporters.
“I am just happy, I told you guys I would
do it. There was no doubt. I was not
really focused on time. I knew I was not
in the shape for a world record.”
Bolt, who had run only one race at the
distance coming into the championships
after an injury-disrupted season, was in
control from the start.
The 29-year-old got out of the blocks
quicker than the usually explosive Gatlin
on his inside and was ahead halfway
round the bend before the American
picked up speed and briefly looked like
he might threaten the champion.
Puffing his cheeks out and swinging
his arms high, though, Bolt pulled away
down the home straight for an ultimately
comfortable victory, thumping his chest
with his fists as he crossed the line.
“When it comes to the 200 metres, I
am a different person,” Bolt said.
“My four world championship gold
medals in the 200 metres, this a big deal,
a great accomplishment.”
The victory gave Bolt a recordextending 10th world championship
was 19.861 and Edward 19.863.
“I just told myself that I was going to
try for the best,” said Jobodwana, whose
time was a South African record.
“It always gives you energy running
against (Bolt).”
Bolt and Gatlin had faced each other
only once before in a 200 metres race,
at the 2005 world championships in
Helsinki where the American claimed
his first world title in the event and
teenager Bolt finished last.
That was the year before Gatlin,
having just matched the 100m world
record, tested positive for a banned
substance for a second time and was
suspended for four years.
Gatlin, 33, had gone unbeaten since
2013 in both sprints coming to Beijing
and his was the world leading time that
Bolt bettered to take the title.
“I’m the oldest man in the field and
still running, running pretty well,”
said Gatlin. “It feels good to go against
him(Bolt). I’m just going to prepare
myself for next year, for the Olympics
and come out even stronger.”
Britain’s Zharnel Hughes, who
finished fifth in a personal best time of
20.02 at his first major championships,
said: “Usain Bolt’s a legend, man.
“I even doubted him a bit but Bolt
is phenomenal. He knows what to do
when it comes to major championships.
All credit to him.”
Jamaica’s Usain Bolt celebrates as he wins the final of the men’s 200 metres event at the 2015 IAAF World Championships at the Bird’s Nest National Stadium
Turkey’s Ramil Guliyevs (20.11) was
in Beijing. — AFP
sixth ahead of Femi Ogunode of Qatar
(20.27) with Bolt’s compatriot Nickel
gold medal and he could yet win an 11th team on Saturday.
19.87 for South Africa ahead of Panama’s same time but lost out on a medal by two Ashmeade bringing up the rear in 20.33.
— Reuters
as part of Jamaica’s 4x100 metre relay
Anasco Jobodwana took bronze in Alonso Edward, who was awarded the 1,000ths of a second. Jobodwana’s time
Al Hudaifi header powers Oman into final
DOHA: Oman colts played a pulsating
game of football to edge out hosts
Qatar 3-2 and enter the final of the
GCC Cup U-17 football championship
at the Aspire Dome here on Thursday.
The Sultanate’s goals came through
Mohammad al Khamisi (4th),
Mutasim al Bakri (10th) and Yahya al
Hudaifi (90+2).
Oman led 2-1 at half-time after
scoring two goals in the first ten
minutes of the match.
After Qatar found the equaliser
in the second half and as the match
looked to be heading towards extra
time, Al Hudaifi pulled the rat out of
the bag as he struck a plunging header
off a corner kick to send the Omani
bench into delirium.
The Sultanate’s goals came
through Mohammad al
Khamisi (4th), Mutasim al
Bakri (10th) and Yahya al
Hudhaifi (90+2)
Oman led 2-1 at half-time
Herrera happy to plug
gaps for Man United
BRUGES, Belgium: Ander Herrera
says he is willing to play in any position
for Manchester United, despite having
struggled in a midfield holding role
in their Champions League play-off
against Club Brugge.
Manager Louis van Gaal admitted
that he had considered taking Herrera
off after the Spaniard played a succession
of loose passes and picked up an early
booking in Wednesday’s play-off round
second leg in Bruges.
The 26-year-old improved in the
second half after being moved into a
central playmaking role, teeing up the
second goal of Wayne Rooney’s hattrick and scoring United’s fourth goal in
a 4-0 win, but he said he would happily
fill in as a defensive midfielder again.
“I am not selfish. I think about the
team and this is how I play,” Herrera
told reporters at Jan Breydel Stadium
after his side completed a 7-1 aggregate
victory that qualified them for the group
phase. “I am happier playing. If I have to
play holding midfielder, I will do.
“Last season, I played more as a
holding midfielder than as a number
10, but if I have to play as a number 10,
then I want to help my team by scoring
and assisting.”
Popular with the club’s supporters,
Herrera signed from Athletic Bilbao last
year for a reported fee of £29 million
($44.7 million, 39.7 million euros),
which makes him United’s fifth most
expensive signing.
It took him time to earn Van
Gaal’s trust, but despite a strong end
to last season, the recent signings of
Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian
Schweinsteiger have seen him drop
down the pecking order again.
However, he does not believe that
focusing on one position would aid his
chances of holding down a first-team
place.
ROONEY’S ‘GREAT GESTURE’
“I think it is dependable on the
opposition,” Herrera added. “Against an
attacking opponent, maybe it is better
to play as a number 10.
“But if it is a team waiting for you,
maybe best as a holding midfielder. But
I always say the same: I will play where
the manager wants me to play.” — AFP