MONDAY | APRIL 18, 2016 | RAJAB 10, 1437 AH
VOL. 35 NO. 156 | PAGES 32 | BAISAS 200
Editor-in-Chief
www.omanobserver.om
editor@omanobserver.om
ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI
Oman Establishment for Press,
ress
re
ss, Publication
P blica
and Advertising
PO Box 974, Postal Codee 100,
00, Muscat,
Muussccaat, SSultanate of Oman
CHINA TO SCRAP SOME SOPS TO REDUCE TRADE FRICTION WITH US P20
OMAN
HM greetings to
Zimbabwe leader
MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos has
sent a cable of greetings to President
Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe on the
occasion of his country’s Independence
Anniversary. In his cable, His Majesty
expressed his sincere greetings and best
wishes to President Mugabe and his
country’s friendly people. Meanwhile, His
Majesty has received a cable of thanks
from President Macky Sall of Senegal in
reply to His Majesty’s greetings cable on
the occasion of his country’s National
Day. In his cable, President Sall expressed
his utmost thanks and appreciation
for His Majesty’s greetings, wishing His
Majesty good health and success.
ULLOA RESCUES LEICESTER IN WEST HAM DRAW P25
NEPAL’S FEMALE CLIMBERS BLAZE GENDER TRAIL P31
Rejuvenating Ruwi
BRINGING BACK LIVELINESS: Architects
and urban planners suggest transforming
this place into a start-up zone
CONRAD PRABHU
MUSCAT
April 17: Concerned that the exodus of
major banks, ministries and other large
businesses from Ruwi’s Commercial
Business District (CBD) could cost
this once bustling business hub its
investment appeal, a group of Muscatbased architects and urban planning
enthusiasts have mooted the revamp of
this district into a dedicated zone for the
business start-ups of young Omanis.
The proposal emerged during a
workshop organised by the Netherlands
Embassy as part of a Business
Khabourah
enter HM
Cup final
Innovation
Forum held
in the city
recently.
The
event attracted a
multinational mix
of urban design
professionals who were invited to
brainstorm a strategy to reverse the
district’s perceived decline from its
preeminent status towards the end of
the 20th century as Muscat’s pulsating
commercial heart.
Traffic congestion issues, coupled
with a lack of amenities for leisure
and entertainment, has eroded its
once robust appeal as the city’s leading
address — a decline that has been
accelerated by the relocation of several
prominent banking organisations and
government ministries to more upscale
locations
such
as
Airport
Heights and
Al Athaiba.
Titled ‘Muscat Beyond Resilience’,
the workshop was conducted by
Xi
Architects
whose
Director,
Don Murphy, traced the dramatic
transformation of Muscat’s urban
landscape over the past decades. As the
city began developing in a linear fashion
along the coastline, it unwittingly
began neglecting some areas which are
beginning to have adverse ramifications
for the local economy and the urban
fabric, he said.
TURN TO P3
Doha oil talks end without any deal on freeze
MUSCAT: Al Khabourah edged
Salalah 1-0 to enter their maiden
final of the HM Cup football
championship on Sunday. At
the Sohar Sports Complex, the
hosts Salalah were undone by
a 64-minute goal by Thani al
Rushdi in the second leg of the
semifinal. The first leg ended in
a goalless draw.
INSIDESTORIES
JAPAN RESCUERS SEARCH QUAKE
RUBBLE FOR SURVIVORS
LATEST WORLD BATTLE TO
WIPE OUT POLIO BEGINS
YOUNG ENGINEER ENCOURAGES
KIDS TO MAKE ROBOTS
P6
P9
P10
WEATHER TODAY
MUSCAT
MAX: 310C
MIN: 250C
SALALAH
MAX: 370C
MIN: 270C
SUNRISE 05.43 AM
PRAYER TIMINGS
FAJR: 04:25
DHUHR: 12:11
ASR: 15:38
MAGHRIB: 18:34
ISHA: 19:47
NIZWA
MAX: 350C
MIN: 210C
DOHA: High-stake talks in Doha on
Sunday between major oil producing
countries to forge a deal on capping
production ended without agreement,
Qatar’s energy minister said.
Mohammed bin Saleh al Sada said
oil producers concluded after six hours
of negotiations that they needed “more
time”.
“The general conclusion was that
we need more time to consult among
ourselves in Opec and non-Opec
producers,” Sada said.
Three oil industry sources said the
producers failed to reach a deal to freeze
oil output.
Sources said Opec producers had told
non-Opec members they needed first to
reach a deal within Opec, possibly at a
June meeting.
Yemen factions
signal optimism
for peace talks
235 KILLED IN ECUADOR QUAKE
KUWAIT: Yemen’s warring parties are
sending conciliatory signals ahead of
UN-backed talks starting on Monday,
in a rare sign of mutual willingness to
end a year-old conflict that has caused
one of the world’s worst humanitarian
crises.
Air strikes and heavy combat
persist in many parts of the country,
while armed forces who could yet
play a spoiling role loom throughout
Yemen’s tangled political scene. Police
said they foiled two car bomb attacks
in the southern port of Aden on
Sunday.
In one case a policeman died when
a car exploded after police opened fire
on it rushing at a checkpoint at high
speed.
But the recent rhetoric of the main
combatants has been unusually mild.
“We are ready for a political
transition which excludes no one.
The world now looks to the Kuwait
consultations as a landmark of
peace for Yemenis, and we will give
everything we can to alleviate the
suffering of the people,” Foreign
Minister Abdel Malek al Mekhlafi,
from the Saudi-backed government
now based in Aden, told state news
agency Saba.
Mohammed
Abdul-Salam,
spokesman for the Houthi movement
which controls the capital Sanaa,
appeared conciliatory in an interview
with Kuwaiti newspaper Al Rai on
Saturday.
“There should be a consensus
authority during a definite transitional
phase to decide every political dispute,”
he was quoted as saying.
In a further sign of goodwill, he
said on his Facebook page that his
group had received 30 prisoners from
the government side. SEE ALSO P13
After that, the Organisation of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries will be
able to invite other producers to join.
Earlier, Saudi Arabia demanded
that Iran join a global deal on freezing
oil output, jeopardising the chances of
an agreement between Opec and nonOpec producers that was supposed to
prop up the price of crude.
Some 18 countries, including Russia,
met on Sunday to approve a deal — in
the making since February — to stabilise
output at January levels until October
2016.
Riyadh insisted on excluding Iran
from the talks because Tehran had
refused to stabilise production, seeking
to regain market share after the lifting of
Western sanctions against it in January.
— Agencies
Ruwi can be a hub for
young Omanis looking
to start their small and
medium businesses,
especially as rents
are expected to be
competitive in the wake
of the outflow of bigger
companies from the
district. It’s an opportunity
for building owners to
provide working space to
locals, as well as to lease
apartments on rent to
small Omani families.
SHAYA FALLAHI
Architect
RISK TO
LIFE
Fireworks to
attract stiff
fine of RO100
STAFF REPORTER
MUSCAT
April 17: The Royal Oman Police
(ROP) on Sunday released a list
including new fees and fines for
various services provided by the
department.
Taking into account the risk that
fireworks pose to human lives and
properties, the ROP has prohibited
fireworks both in public as well as
in sparsely populated or open areas.
Those violating these norms, will now
have to pay a penalty of RO 100.
For those possessing firearms
without licence and charges, penalties
are in the range of RO 40 to RO 100.
Fines for possessing white weapons
(weapons without explosive materials)
have been fixed at RO 40, for
possessing ammunition exceeding not
more than 50 bullets without licence,
fines will be RO 60.
TURN TO P3
New telecom
regulations
from today
A view of a fallen building after a 7.8-magnitude quake in Portoviejo, Ecuador, on Sunday. At least 235 people were killed
when a powerful earthquake struck Ecuador, destroying buildings and a bridge and sending terrified residents scrambling
from their homes, authorities said. REPORT ON P12
ROP urge the public to contact Buraimi Police Station or dial 9999
Parents of child yet to be identified
ZAINAB AL NASSRI
MUSCAT
April 17: The Royal Oman Police
(ROP) have denied reports circulating
on social media suggesting that the
parents of a two-year-old girl found
abandoned in a public park in Buraimi
on Friday, have been identified.
The identities of the child’s parents
are yet to be established, the ROP
said in a statement while also urging
social media users not to circulate
messages that are not validated by the
authorities concerned.
The child, who has been placed in
the care of the Social Development
Ministry’s Child Care Centre in the
Buraimi Governorate, was found
crying in Buraimi park. The ROP
has urged the public to contact the
Buraimi Police Station or dial the
helpline 9999 if they have any details
that could help trace the child’s
relatives.
Abdullah bin Salim al Maamari,
Director of Social Development
Department in Buraimi, confirmed
that the girl is in the directorate’s care.
He said the child is due to be shifted
to the ministry’s Child Care Centre in
Muscat with the cooperation of the
ROP.
TURN TO P3
HAMOOD AL MEHRIZI
MUSCAT
April 17: The Telecommunication
Regulatory Authority (TRA) has
banned authorised providers of
telecommunication services from
using superlatives such as ‘the lowest
price’ ‘the best network’ unless they
can prove it objectively.
The ban also includes describing a
service package as ‘unlimited’ when
the service (number of minutes, data
size…etc) is actually limited.
As per the TRA Retail Tariff
Regulation issued by Dr Mohammed
bin Hamad al Rumhi, Chairman of
TRA Board of Directors, and takes
effect from today, authorised telecom
companies should enable their
subscribers to calculate the amount
of money they have to pay for the
service.
Subscribers should also be
made aware of the conditions
regarding tariff application including
promotions.
TURN TO P5
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Arabic debating championship
OMANDAILYOBSERVER
The Sultanate gained 7th place in the 3rd International Schools
Arabic Debating Championship which was held in Doha.
The championship aims to promote the Arabic language.
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
GCC chiefs of staff meet in Riyadh
Lt Gen Ahmed bin Harith al Nabhani, Chief of Staff of the Sultan’s Armed Forces (SAF), took part in the consultative meeting of
the GCC Chiefs of Staff, which was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday.
Leadership forum RNO officer receives British
MUSCAT: Management and Supervision
Leadership Forum themed “Thought and
Empowerment” was opened at Shangri-La Barr
Al Jissah Resort and Spa on Sunday under the
auspices of Shaikh Khalid bin Omar al Marhoon,
Minister of Civil Service.
The three-day forum is organised by the
Human Resource Development Department
at the Directorate-General of Education in the
Governorate of Muscat.
The forum targets 250 educators, including
school principals and their assistants, and
administrators and educational supervisors
from Muscat Educational Governorate and
supervisors at the Directorate-General of
Human Resources Development in the Ministry
of Education.
The forum also includes the presentation of
several working papers submitted by a group
of administrators from within and outside the
Sultanate.
The opening ceremony was attended by
undersecretaries, members of Majlis Ash’shura
and educational officials. — ONA
Admiral Award
MUSCAT: Officer Cadet Abdullah bin
Suleiman al Rashdi of the Royal Navy
of Oman (RNO) received the British
Admiral Award (Queen’s Binoculars)
in recognition of his excellence
during the training period at the
Britannia Royal Naval College.
The award has been handed
over during a reception, which was
organised by the Britannia Royal
Naval College under the auspices of
Princess Anne.
5,000 visit
OPEX in
Ethiopia
MUSCAT:
Omani
Products
Exhibition (OPEX 2016) concluded
recently in the Ethiopian capital Addis
Ababa, recording a turnout of over
5,000 visitors representing various
segments of the Ethiopian business
society. The visitors were acquainted
with the Omani products through
interacting with the participating
companies, which exceeded 100
Omani firms representing different
sectors, in addition to government
bodies and SMEs.
Ayman bin Abdullah al Hassani,
Vice-Chairman for Economic and
Branches Affairs at Oman Chamber
of Commerce and Industry (OCCI),
and Chairman of OPEX Organising
Committee, noted that initial data
confirms the success of OPEX event
in Addis Ababa, where Omani firms
were able to sign agreements, agency
contracts, and import and export
contracts.
“Going beyond the borders of the
GCC area serves in gaining a new
experience for the companies and
choosing Addis Ababa as a destination
for OPEX 2016 was the right decision.
The exhibition shall boost trade
relations between the Sultanate and
Ethiopia, in addition to the other
African countries,” Al Hassani said.
He added: “Through coordinating
with related bodies, OPEX Organising
Committee will work to overcome any
challenges in order to push the Omani
products to the Ethiopian market in
terms of tax, customs among other
issues. — ONA
Conference sheds light on role
of humanities in Arab world
MUSCAT: Dr Abdulmunim bin Mansour al Hasani, Minister of
Information, opened the conference on “Humanities Research Centres
in the Arab World: Challenges, Opportunities and Prospects for
Cooperation” at the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) on Sunday. The
two-day conference is organised by the Humanities Research Centre at
SQU.
The Minister of Information said in a statement that the conference
comes at the level of Arab countries at this stage because there is a return
to the humanitarian sciences in general after productive sciences were
prevailing, and therefore has to be a big comeback in scientific studies
around the world and in the Arab world in general due to the importance
of humanities and the importance of the human and social system along
with the productive applied sciences.
The conference seeks to discuss the current situation of the humanities
research centres in the Arab world and highlight their interests, regional
and international orientations.
The conference is a means to get humanities research centres together
and to recognise the important developments in the humanities research
in order to exchange their knowledge and expertise.
The conference will enable researchers, academics and other
professionals in this area to benefit from the experiences of each other
in the research areas that some are highly respected in the Arab world.
The conference will discuss the roles and functions of the humanities
research centres in the Arab world in the current period, and to develop
policies that will lift up the scientific research in the field of humanities
at the Arab level.
The conference will also address the global and regional trends in
the fields of humanities research, and discuss the challenges facing the
scientific research in the field of humanities and come up with strategies
to overcome them. — ONA
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Special task police unit in Ibra
OMANDAILYOBSERVER
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
Segregate your email
addresses for security
3
PROTECTION: Maintaining two accounts one strictly for business
and other to sign up on websites may be a good idea
LAKSHMI KOTHANETH
MUSCAT
April 17: Phishing continues to be a
serious threat at individual, corporate
and even government levels for its
potential to unearth financial and
personal
information.
Globally,
the current situation sees people
becoming more aware than ever
before, yet attackers are finding new
ways to execute phishing attacks and
phishing scams continue to circulate.
The phishing trap is a particular
pattern: The entity sends text message
or email saying, “We are a financial
institution and we would like to
keep your records with us; therefore
please click on the link below.” Most
often the website could be bogus,
warn IT security officials. The website
would look a lot like one from the
banking sector. The attacker would
then request for log in credentials
and information such as date of
birth, security number, credit details,
pass word and sometimes even bank
account number as well as password.
“The attacker’s success story begins
with the victim clicking on the link
itself and provides inputs such as
username and password. By this itself
they have already taken your original
username and password. They can
now access your account online.
“However, they can go further by
requesting more information once
you log into bogus website and get
information such as the number of
the id card, date of birth and other
numbers as well information with
which the attacker can set up another
account or set up a fake website under
his name,” said Haitham al Hajry,
a Senior Cyber Security Specialist
from the Oman National Computer
Emergency
Readiness
Team
(OCERT).
Banks
and
other
financial
institutions are sending out alerts
saying that they will never request for
any update of financial information
Haitham al Hajry
via phone, text messages or e-mails.
The financial sector is saying do not
reply to any of these requests.
This is one of the messages that was
sent by a local bank in Oman — “Dear
Customer, please be alert and do not
respond to e-mails requesting your
personal or financial information.
Kindly report immediately to the
bank’s call centre.”
One of the challenges, Al Hajry
said, is that people are sometimes
being very trustworthy. “Sometimes
people want to do the right thing. They
think they are updating their financial
information. People are becoming
more aware that banks do not request
information through these channels.
But the fact is that victims continue to
fall for the tricks planned out by the
attackers,” added Al Hajry.
In case of an incident the individual
must immediately get in touch with
their respective bank and inform cert.
gov.om to report the crime. This way
the authorities will inform the others
about the link and share that this was
a Phishing attempt.
A national alert would not only
inform other organisations but also
aid the Internet provider to block the
website. Action can be further taken
by informing the host of the website
about its activity.
It is not just financial institutions
but with the popularity of
social media, being the lead
communication channel, youngsters
are also vulnerable. “Attackers can use
Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp or
any other tool to claim that they are
from a particular institution and need
to update information requesting the
individual to update the information
by logging into the website. Once the
person does it, the game is on,” warns
Al Hajry.
Yet another confusing situation is
when an individual receives the note
on line saying, “For subscription of
website or e-magazine, log in with the
username and password.”
“In this case we have to remember
that there are many bogus websites and
the legitimate ones too in the World
Wide Web. Some of the websites are
getting the information so they can
give it to other service providers or
even advertising agencies. But if it
is not a trustworthy website there is
every chance that they might misuse
your information.”
There is another danger looming
when parents share their email
account with their children to ensure
safety and to monitor their contacts.
“The advice and suggestion would
be to open another email account
for sharing with children, signing up
on websites and so forth. It should
not contain any information that
could turn dangerous. Even if this
account is phished the individual
is safe because they did not give
away any information. But most
people use one email and that email
is used for everything – or business,
communication with the loved ones
and financial deals etc.
The recommendation is to
segregate e-mails accounts — one
account for business, and the other
one to sign up on websites and share
with their children so that it could
help the parents to monitor. Because
you never know whom the children
are communicating with.
Parents of Plan to reverse Ruwi’s
abandoned perceived decline
child yet to
be identified
FROM PAGE 1
FROM PAGE 1
According to the official, a number
of families flocked to the centre
yesterday with offers to adopt the child.
However, given the stringent criteria
currently in force in the Sultanate, any
decision to give the child for adoption
will not be forthcoming anytime soon,
he noted.
The absence of any identification
on her person, as well her inability
to even communicate her name, has
stymied efforts to find her parents or
relatives, Al Maamari said. Her accent
however has led many to believe she
is most likely an Omani national, he
added.
Reports of the child’s discovery
have gone viral on social media with all
manner of experts and commentators
offering their perspectives on what
drives parents to abandon children
and the penalties that should be
imposed on such offenders.
In August 2014, two children —
a one-year-old toddler and a twoyear-old child thought to be siblings
because they sported identical outfits
— were found abandoned in Muscat’s
Qurum Natural Park.
The parents of the kids have never
been traced, although the pair were
adopted a few months ago.
Drawing parallels with Sloterdijk,
once a derelict Dutch town, Murphy
said the area had been gradually
abandoned by its inhabitants due to
economic stagnation and inadequate
infrastructure development.
It has since been refurbished into a
lively district.
The intention of the workshop was
to explore Muscat’s resilience and
to study its urban development and
vision, said the highly accomplished
architect. Cities around the world need
to become sustainable and develop in a
circular way, rather than continuously
renewing themselves elsewhere.
Cities must take advantage of their
own existing potential to rebuild
and redevelop on existing areas, he
explained.
Taking Ruwi as a case study,
the participants were invited to
undertake a Strength — Weaknesses
— Opportunities — Threats (SWOT)
analysis of the pros and cons of
rejuvenating this once teeming business
hub.
“The task was to try and understand
what has made Ruwi less desirable
over the years from its peak as the
centre for commerce in Muscat,” said
Shaya Fallahi, Architect — Director, Xi
Architects.
“The workshop also sought to
analyse the reasons why several
companies and local inhabitants started
to move away from Ruwi.”
There was broad consensus that
Ruwi does hold out much potential as
a commercial hub.
However, to re-energise and sustain
this turnaround of the business district,
the participants foresaw a major role
for young Omanis as drivers of this
revamp, Fallahi said.
“It was felt that Ruwi can be a hub
for young Omanis looking to start
their small and medium businesses,
especially as rents are expected to be
competitive in the wake of the outflow
of bigger companies from the district.
It’s an opportunity for building owners
to provide working spaces to locals, as
well as to lease apartments on rent to
small Omani families. Indeed, Ruwi
can be a great area for startups in every
sense — whether businesses or couples
starting out their lives.”
But for such a vision to gain traction,
the participants stressed the need for
improvements in local infrastructure.
They mooted the need for improved
public transport facilities and incentives
to attract visitors and tourists to the
district.
Better
connectivity
with
tourist attractions in the adjoining
neighbourhoods, such as Muttrah
Sea Road, Old Muscat and so on, are
imperative, the participants stressed.
In this regard, they underlined the
potential for cable car-style systems that
would allow for tourists and visitors to
be ferried from, say, over the mountains
from Muttrah, or from one end of the
district to the other.
IBRA: Royal Oman Police (ROP)
celebrated the inauguration of the
Special Task Police Unit and the
graduation of a new batch of police
recruits, yesterday.
The event was presided over the
Shaikh Al Fadhl bin Mohammed bin
Ahmed al Harthy, Secretary-General
of the Council of Ministers in the
presence of Lt Gen Hassan bin Mohsin
al Shraiqi, Inspector General of Police
and Customs.
The Special Task Police Unit
building comprises sports facilities, a
swimming pool, a clinic, a mosque,
accommodations for officers and
personnel and study halls.
— ONA
ROP releases new list of fines, fees
FROM PAGE 1
A fine of RO 100 will be charged for
possessing silencer/suppressor type of
firearms without authorisation.
Fees for handing over an unlicensed
weapon to another person will be
RO 50; individuals will be charged
RO 40 for not renewing the firearm
licence while shooting clubs will be
charged RO 150.
For not reporting the loss, theft or
damage of any firearm/ammunition,
penalties will be around RO 150 and
for possession of firearms exceeding
the permitted 50 numbers, the fine will
be RO 150.
For issuing good conduct certificates,
fees will be RO 10, certificates of noconviction to expatriates will now
cost RO 20, verifying fingerprints will
cost RO 10, while for issuing
authorisation cards to company
representatives for documentation
purposes will cost RO 10 and
the annual registration and renewal
by contractors, advisory offices in
exports, logistics, services, advisory
studies, technical work will be charged
RO 20.
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OMANDAILYOBSERVER
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
MoE launches new programmes at Comex
Ooredoo introduces
new Musafir
roaming bundles
DIGITAL: The new applications will help serve the learning process and help keep up with the technical development
for businesses
MUSCAT: Oman Ooredoo has
introduced Musafir Business facilitating
affordable and convenient Voice and
Data Roaming Bundles for Oman’s
business travellers.
Available from April 11, Musafir
Business offers a choice of roaming
bundles covering the top 42 countries
visited by Oman’s business population
with added attention given to those
travelling to the UAE being the top most
visited business destination.
Starting at RO 2 for the daily bundle
and reaching up to only RO 15 for
the weekly bundles, Musafir Business
bundles can be conveniently activated
by the user either before or upon arrival
at their destination.
These convenient and cost effective
roaming bundles are proof of Ooredoo’s
continuing commitment to give Omani
companies of all sizes the connectivity
and freedom to communicate wherever,
whenever and however they operate.
“Recognising that today’s enterprises
have no borders, we have designed this
value-packed Voice and Data Roaming
Bundle so Oman’s business community
can be more productive even while they
are out of Oman, be it to check their
email, do some online research, share
some quick information via WhatsApp or
a simple call to the office.
An added advantage of Musafir
Business is that it’s a fixed price plan,
removing all worries about unexpected
charges and avoiding any bill shock
for roaming charges at the end of the
month.
Furthermore, bearing in mind that
business travellers’ needs evolve rapidly,
Musafir Business can be activated or
renewed at any time or adjusted to
include more data should the need arise,
all of these from the users own handset,”
commented Said al Shanfari, Director of
Business Marketing at Ooredoo.
Musafir Business has bundles that
suit every need.
For the global businessperson,
Musafir World covering 42 countries in
one simple unbeatable plan, gives 1 GB
of data and 30 voice minutes for just RO
15 per week.
Business travellers staying closer to
home can avail Musafir GCC which gives
a choice of daily, two- day or weekly
plans. The daily option provides 50 MB
of data for just RO 2 while the two-day
plan has 200 MB of data and 10 voice
minutes for RO 5. Those travelling within
the GCC for a full week can enjoy 1GB of
data and 30 voice minutes for RO 10.
In addition, with Musafir UAE, the
selection includes double the data of
GCC with a one-day plan for RO 2 which
provides 100MB of data, a two-day
plan for RO5 with 10 voice minutes
and 400MB of data, and weekly plan
for RO10 with 30 voice minutes and a
staggering 2GB of data.
MUSCAT: Dr Hamoud al Harthy, UnderSecretary of Ministry of Education for
Education and Curriculum, inaugurated
new applications titled ‘Simple ways
to memorise Multiplication Table, and
Electronic Interactive English book
for Grade 4’ (Part 2), at the recently
concluded Telecommunication and
Information Technology, Comex 2016
exhibition.
Dr Al Harthy said: “We are proud
of such programmes that add to the
teaching and learning process, because
these programmes are produced by the
Ministry of Education staff. We always
repeat that we have great potentials that
should be utilised, and here we today
witness these energies and creativity.”
The official added: “It is sure that
the programmes would assist students
in their learning process. They also
help teachers perform their jobs fully
especially that we are now in the
technology and smart phones era.”
The under-secretary also noted that
the ministry is ready to provide the
necessary support to such beneficial
projects.
This software aims to simplify the
multiplication table for the second phase
students and to help them memorise
by using the fingers of the hand. The
software divides them into a number
of points calculated by student to reach
the result. As well, in the software
there is several games that encourage
students to try and train in an attractive
and interesting environment through
interactive content environment that
is dependent on multimedia such as
text, sound, image and movement
offered through electronic media that
can be downloaded on all tablets and
smartphones.
This software is produced by Content
and E-Learning Department at the
Directorate General for Curriculum
Development in order to serve the
learning process and to keep up with
the technical development in the field of
education.
The electronic book is produced
by the e-Content Department at the
Directorate General of Education in
the Governorate of South Al Batinah.
The e-book is a digital copy of the
paper book that has been enhanced
through interaction and add various
effects. It aims to encourage student on
self-learning through interaction and
receiving feedback, gaining experience
and different skills through attractive
and interesting ways .
The book covers many topics that
contain several lessons displayed in an
interactive way through a skill that is
required to be earned.
‘Researcher Connect’ workshop to LEAN lessons shared
with Royal Hospital
train 44 Omani postgraduates
MUSCAT: The Research Council
(TRC), in collaboration with the British
Council — Oman, is organising a fourday ‘Researcher Connect’ workshop
from April 17 to 20 at Park Inn Hotel
in Al Khuwair.
“Researcher Connect” workshop is
a professional development course that
focuses on the development of excellent
communication skills for international
multicultural contexts.
It aims at training 44 postgraduates
from across different government and
private higher education institutions in
Muscat the Sultanate on the scientific
ways of preparing research proposals.
The workshop that is considered a
launch for establishing joint research
activities and programmes between
TRC and the BC-Oman is delivered
by Dr Luke Freeman, Communication
Expert, Trainer and Anthropologist
from the University of London.
The 44 participants are divided into
two batches; the first batch was held
yesterday and today, while the second
one will be on April 19, 20. Each of the
batches will be trained over a period of
two days from 9 am to 5 pm.
The first day will be on “Know your
audience” and “Professional proposals”
while the second day will be dedicated
for training participants on the “Basics
of Writing for Publication”.
Delivering the welcoming address
of the workshop on behalf of TRC, Dr
Ali Al Shidhani, Research Director
for Information and Communication
Technology Sector at TRC, said “At
this Research Council, we are focusing
this year on capacity building through
providing workshops and training for
researchers to enhance their skills in
writing research proposals and research
papers.”
“Writing research papers is an art
and I think having a good research
proposal adds a lot of weight and
increases the chances of getting
funding,” he added.
According to Paul Hilder, Country
Director of the British Council in Oman,
“Researcher Connect” workshop is
part of a joint programme with TRC
and SQU that also included holding
a symposium connecting British
Researchers and Omani researches on
the subject of energy and water at SQU,
and a public talk on the subject of water
security in a café.
Dr Luke Freeman said, “With
research proposals, we will be looking
on why we are doing it, what is we are
trying to communicate and we will
also be looking at how to organise the
different sections of a research proposal.
We will also be looking at the
different levels of which we need to
convince, for example, on technical
level and ideological level, in addition
to addressing language and clarity of
research proposals.”
MUSCAT: Petroleum Development
Oman (PDO) yesterday hosted a highranking delegation from the Royal
Hospital to share best practice about
implementing LEAN business efficiency
Company experts gave the 18-strong
group, headed by Director General Dr
Qasem al Salmi, an overview of PDO’s
continuous business improvement
journey. The Royal Hospital is
considering implementing Lean in its
emergency response, operation theatre
and oncology departments and has
asked for PDO guidance and support.
LEAN originated with Toyota in
Japan as a means of stripping out waste
and driving productivity by making
small-scale changes and has since been
further refined into a system used by
businesses across the world aiming to
do more for less.
PDO first piloted the approach in
2009 and has since rolled it out across
all aspects of the business, streamlining
work procedures, reducing bureaucracy
and eliminating waste. PDO People and
Change Director Ibtisam al Riyami said:
“PDO has been successfully embedding
LEAN for a number of years so that
we can become a more efficient and
effective organisation.
“We gave our eminent visitors from
the Royal Hospital an outline of what
we have achieved, the challenges we
have faced, and the important role of
leadership in driving and sustaining
continuous business improvement.”
During the four-hour visit, the
delegates received presentations on how
PDO had applied LEAN in the areas of
Health, Safety and the Environment,
recruitment, contracting and shutdown
planning.
The fact-finding trip concluded with
a question and answer session involving
members of the Managing Director’s
Committee and the Company’s LEAN
specialists.
The mega event provided an opportunity to learn the basics of innovation and creativity from a totally different perspective
CAS festival ends with hopes to meet in Ibri
SUSHIL KUMAR SHARMA
SUR
April 17: The 16th CAS Annual Student
Festival comes to an end leaving its
unique impression on the minds of
thousands of attendees and participants.
The festival presented three days of
activities.
These activities include workshops,
seminars, radio talks, lectures, poetry
and song competitions, talks by experts
on issues related to innovation and
creativity.
On the last day of the festival, a
closing ceremony was organised under
the patronage of Dr Hamoud al Harthy,
under-secretary at the Ministry of
Education.
The ceremony began with the
national Anthem followed by the
recitation of holy Quran.
The winners of different categories
of completion among students were
rewarded with prizes. The guests were
also honored on the occasion.
Dr Ahmad bin Juma Al Riyami, Dean
of CAS Sur, presided over the function.
To grace the occasion present were
Dr Abdullah bin Mohammed Sarmi,
Under-Secretary at the Ministry of
Higher Education, Dr Abdullah bin
Ali al Shibli, Director-General of the
Colleges of Applied Sciences, along
with the deans of other CAS colleges,
officials from the ministry of higher
education, and dignitaries of local
community.
Students from different colleges
enjoyed the mega event.
“This festival provides us an
opportunity to learn the basics of
innovation and creativity from a
different perspective.
It boosted a huge confidence
in me and I look forward in life
with confidence & positive attitude,
says Yousuf Al Kaabi, a participant
at the festival.“It was a great experience
for me.
Our group staged the play called ‘Al
Domino’. which was appreciated a lot.
Sur College organised the festival very
well,” says, Haitam Saif Said Al Mawali,
a student who participated in theatre
group of the festival.
I learnt many skills from the
workshop organised in the festival.
Also it improved my interpersonal
skills and I knew about how to make
relationship with other students, says,
Mohammed Khamis Saleh al Shabibi, a
student from Sur College.
Next CAS student festival is
scheduled in Ibri College of Applied
Sciences.
inside
s deoman
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OMANDAILYOBSERVER
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
New telecom
regulations
FROM PAGE 1
Telecom service providers should
enable the subscribers to compare
tariffs and understand the billing
system. Newly applied tariff should be
announced by telecom companies and
a printed paper of tariff registration
should be made available to public at
the company’s main office.
Telecom companies should also
provide the subscribers with updated,
precise and easily understandable
information regarding tariffs and
services as well as information which
enables the subscribers to calculate the
cost of each service or the plan.
IGP fetes ROP champs
IBRA: On the sidelines
of opening the Royal
Oman Police’s (ROP)
Special Task Force
Complex in the Wilayat
of Ibra, Lt Gen Hassan
bin Mohsen al Shraiqi,
Inspector General of
Police and Customs
yesterday
honoured
Lt Said bin Mubarak
al Hassani who won
the second place in the
50 metres Free Pistol
contest and Corp.
Younis bin Rashid al Handhali who
won the gold medal and champion of
the Arab title in 50 Metre Prone Rifle in
the 12th Arab Shooting Championship
(ASC), which was held in the Arab
Republic of Egypt during March 24 to
April 14.
— ONA
SCOUTS ACTIVITY IN SCHOOLS
Sultanate
at higher
edu meet
RIYADH: The Sultanate,
represented by the Ministry
of Higher Education,
is taking part in the
preparatory meeting for
the 18th GCC Higher
Education and Scientific
Research
Ministers
Committee, which is being
held in Riyadh.
The
Sultanate’s
delegation is being led by Dr
Abdullah bin Mohammed
al Sarmi, Under-Secretary
of the Ministry of Higher
Education. The two-day
meeting discusses topics
of enhancing the GCC
joint work and the joint
investment in education,
as well as equality for the
GCC youth in terms of the
admission and treatment in
the government universities
and higher education
institutions. — ONA
Indian art
exhibition opens
AL MUDHAIBI: The local scouts and guides excellence committee began following up the scouting activities at the schools of
Wilayat of Al Mudhaibi. — ONA
MUSCAT: The Indian
Contemporary
Art
Exhibition
themed
“Beyond the Realm of
Beauty” opened at the
Omani Society for Fine
Arts of the Sultan Qaboos
Higher Centre for Culture
and Science (SQHCCS)
under
the
patronage
of Indra Mani Pandey,
Indian Ambassador to the
Sultanate. The exhibition
continues till April 20.
NCSI signs MoU with OBC
MUSCAT: National Centre for Statistics
and Information (NCSI) signed yesterday an
MoU with Oman Broadband Company.
The MoU was signed by Dr Khalifa bin
Abdullah al Barwani, CEO of the Centre and
Said bin Abdullah al Mantheri, CEO of the
Company. The MoU comes within the two
parties desire to cooperate with each other
to achieve their interests and benefit their
customers. As per the MoU, the two sides
will share information, spatial and meta data
and experiences available with both of them.
The two sides will also implement joint
training programs, spatial gate services and
national infrastructure for GIS services.
— ONA
A’soud Global School
Muscat to open in Sept
MUSCAT: English Education Management Company
(EEMC) announces its first school in the Sultanate.
A’soud Global School (AGS) Muscat will open in
September 2016 admitting pupils from Pre-KG to Grade 6
and in the successive years will grow to an Upper Prep and
Senior School preparing pupils for iGCSE’s and A-Levels.
Andrew Hurst, Principal - AGS Muscat, is enthusiastic
about the opening and highlights that the school will
nurture excellence while conserving culture and tradition in
line with all Al Najah schools in the MENA region.
He said, “AGS Muscat will offer its pupils a vibrant
and challenging learning environment, with a distinctive
British independent school style, that reflects the values and
dynamic culture of the Sultanate.
With a team of highly experienced British, International
and Arabic teaching and support staff, the school will
develop independent and enquiring minds, aiming to turn
out young men and women with the capability to achieve
their aspirations - both academically and morally.
This will ultimately enable our pupils to respond to the
rapidly changing world in which they will pursue further
Located next to the Seeb Souq in a purpose-built campus,
AGS Muscat will educate pupils aged 3-18 years within
state-of-the-art facilities including spacious and stimulating
classrooms, outdoor multi-games courts, swimming and
splash pools, football pitch, indoor multi-purpose sports
hall, library, ICT room, music room, art and drama room
and laboratories.
English Education Management Company is a joint
venture between Muscat Overseas Group and Al Najah
Education LLC to invest into and manage education
institutions in the Sultanate.
AGS Muscat is the second venture of EEMC after Horizon
Kids International Nursery located in Al Mouj, Muscat.
5
SQU academic wins ISA award
MUSCAT: Dr Jumana Saleh from the
Department of Biochemistry in the
College of Medicine and Health Sciences at
Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) won the
International Society of Antioxidants (ISA)
Award during the 16th World Antioxidants
Congress recently held in Dubai.
Dr Jumana said that the conference
addressed a range of important issues
relating to the latest developments in the field
of antioxidant and dietary supplements, in
addition to stimulating the oxidation factors
in the human body and its relationship to
cancer, obesity and other chronic diseases.
The international conference was held in
different European capitals during the last
fifteen years and this is the first time that it is
held in an Arab country.
Leading scientists from France, Britain,
Sweden, Italy, Australia, the United States
and some Middle East countries, including
Oman and the UAE took part in the last
session of the conference.
The Sultanate has been involved with
several remarkable scientific papers that
received admiration of the conference’s
organisers.
— ONA
asia
asia
6
OMANDAILYOBSERVER
Indonesians protest land reclamation
A woman resident walks on reclaimed land
during a protest against land reclamation in
Jakarta Bay, Indonesia, on Sunday.
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
Airport protesters target HK leader
POWER MISUSE: Airport staff accused of breaching airport security to appease Hong Kong CEO’s daughter
HONG KONG: More than 1,000
people staged a protest at Hong
Kong airport on Sunday over an
alleged breach of aviation safety
rules involving the baggage of the
city leader’s daughter.
It was the latest controversy
to hit Beijing-backed Chief
Executive Leung Chun-ying since
he took office in 2012 in the semiautonomous Chinese city. His
popularity ratings are currently low.
Protesters — including cabin
crew, pilots and activists — staged
a sit-in at Chek Lap Kok airport’s
arrival hall, alleging special
treatment for Leung’s family.
They said they were annoyed by
an apparent special arrangement
which helped 23-year-old Leung
Chung-yan after she accidentally
left her hand baggage at the checkin counter last month.
Airport staff, it was rumoured,
brought it to her in the restricted
zone. Local media have reported
that the chief executive made a
phone call to relevant officers before
the bag was delivered to the 23-yearold. C Y Leung has admitted making
a call but denied pressuring staff.
Hundreds of airlines related staff and citizens protest against Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, who
allegedly put pressure on airport staff to help his daughter retrieve a bag left outside of restricted areas, during a
demonstration at the arrival hall of the Hong Kong Airport in Hong Kong on Sunday. — Reuters
Protesters alleged that Leung
misused his power and said the
incident could jeopardise aviation
safety.
“We are strongly against
privileges. We are stressed and
annoyed. We cannot stay silent,”
Carol Ng, of the Hong Kong Cabin
Crew Federation, one of the protest
organisers, said. Slogan-shouting
protesters held banners reading: “No
compromise on professionalism”
and “The sky with 100 per cent
safety”.
They ended the three-hour
demonstration by marching around
the busy airport terminal as curious
travellers recorded the scene with
smartphones.
Hong Kong was handed over
by Britain to China in 1997 under
a “One country, two systems”
arrangement which guarantees
its freedoms for 50 years. But
there are fears such freedoms are
being eroded due to the increasing
behind-the-scenes influence of
Beijing.
A government spokesman said
the bag of Leung’s daughter had
undergone a thorough security
check and aviation safety was not
affected by the incident.
As with previous leaders since
1997 Leung was picked by a
1,200-strong electoral committee
dominated by pro-Beijing elites.
Since then, he has faced several
controversies.
In 2012 he was embroiled
in a row stemming from illegal
structures at his luxury home.
In 2014 the former surveyor
was accused of taking a $7 million
payment from an Australian
company arising from his business
before he became the city’s leader.
He denied any wrongdoing.
— AFP
Rescuers race against landslides to reach quake victims
MINAMI-ASO, Japan:
Rescuers used
shovels to dig through mountains of soil on
Sunday as they raced against the threat of
more landslides to reach people still trapped
by two big earthquakes in Japan. At least 41
people are known to have died in the double
disaster and 11 are still missing, feared buried
in shattered houses or under torrents of mud.
Heavy rain forecast for the area around
Kumamoto did not materialise on Sunday,
offering some relief for officials who
cautioned more aftershocks might spark
further mudslides.
Tens of thousands of people had spent
the night in temporary accommodation, or
huddled in makeshift shelters as the rescue
effort stepped up a gear.
Up to 25,000 personnel fanned out through
stricken villages where scores of traditionalstyle houses were shattered by the quake, or
buried in the earth and rock that cascaded
down hillsides.
In badly hit Minami-Aso, dozens of
rescuers worked with hand-shovels in a
delicate operation to reach at least one person
dead with his dog, but his wife was missing.
Still visibly shaken, she spoke of her horror
as a torrent of muddy water from a nearby
reservoir gushed through her home.
“I could hear a rumbling sound soon after
the quake. It felt like only a few minutes before
the water came rushing through the ground
floor,” she said.
Eto scrambled to safety with her elderly
father, but has been left with nothing.
“I thought I might be able to find some
important things, like ID documents,” she
said as she scoured the ruins of her home.
“But I could only find old photo albums.”
In nearby Mashiki, few of the formerly
elegant wooden houses remained intact.
“I sleep in a car and stay in this tent
during the day,” 52-year-old Seiya Takamori
said, gesturing to a shelter made from a blue
Police officers conduct a search and rescue operation to a collapsed house at a landslide site
caused by earthquakes in Minamiaso town, Kumamoto prefecture, southern Japan, in this
plastic sheet. “We all knew there was an
photo taken by Kyodo, on Sunday. — Reuters
active fault running underneath the town of
who has not been seen since the 7 magnitude washed away by a tide of earth that swept Mashiki, but no one really cared about it. “We
always said to each other that a big quake
quake struck in the small hours of Saturday.
through the settlement.
Where four houses had once stood on
Yoko Eto, 38, said her neighbour, whom would hit at some point, but didn’t really take
a ridge, only three remained — the fourth she identified as Katashima, had been found it seriously.” — AFP
N Korea getting
ready for fifth
N-test: Report
SEOUL: A surge in activity at North Korea’s atomic
test site suggests preparations for a fifth nuclear test
are in their final stages, possibly before a key political
event in early May, South Korean media reported on
Sunday.
The frequency of vehicle, workforce and equipment
movements at the Punggye-ri site have “increased
two to threefold,” since last month, Yonhap news
agency said, citing multiple government sources.
Officials believe the trucks seen moving in and out
of the complex are likely carrying nuclear technicians.
“If they are signs of nuclear test preparations, it seems
the preparations are in the final stages,” Yonhap
quoted one government source as saying.
North Korea is gearing up for a rare and muchhyped ruling party congress early next month,
at which leader Kim Jong-Un is expected to take
credit for pushing the country’s nuclear weapons
programme to new heights.
Numerous analysts have suggested the regime
might carry out a fifth nuclear test as a display of
defiance and strength just before the congress opens.
A successful test might also go some way to erasing
the embarrassing failure on Friday of a mediumrange ballistic missile test meant to mark the birthday
of the nation’s founder Kim Il-Sung.
Pyongyang has claimed a series of achievements
in recent months, including miniaturising a nuclear
warhead to fit on a missile, developing a warhead that
can withstand atmospheric re-entry, and building a
solid-fuel missile engine.
Tension has been running high on the divided
peninsula since the North conducted its fourth
nuclear test in January and a rocket launch a month
later that was widely seen as a disguised ballistic
missile test.
The UN Security Council responded with its
toughest sanctions to date, angering the North. It has
since made repeated threats of attacks targeting Seoul
and Washington. — AFP
Five homemade bombs found
in Malaysia condo raid
KUALA LUMPUR: Police on Sunday found five homemade
bombs in a condominium unit in the outskirts of the Malaysian
capital, forcing the evacuation of about 200 residents, an official
said. Bomb-making equipment, including a coal powder and
several pipes and wires, were also seized during a raid on the
17th floor of a block in Damansara Perdana in Petaling Jaya,
according to police chief Mohamad Zani Che Din.
Two suspects escaped, Mohamad Zani said, adding the
bombs were safely detonated at a nearby quarry.
Aside from the bombs, police officers also seized illegal
drugs in the unit, he added.
Police have remained on heightened alert throughout
Malaysia following January bombings in the Indonesian capital
Jakarta that killed several people. — dpa
As mayor of Davao City, Rodrigo Duterte has been credited for transforming the metropolis into a bustling commercial hub in Mindanao
Philippine presidential candidate attacked over remark
MANILA:
Leading Philippine
presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte,
whose campaign promises a ruthless
war on crime, was angrily condemned
on Sunday after a video surfaced of him
joking about a murdered Australian
As mayor of Davao City, he has
MANILA:
Rodrigo Duterte, a
abused victim.
been credited for transforming the
Duterte, who promises mass killings
lawyer by training, has served the
metropolis of more than 1.4 million
of suspected criminals if elected next
most years of any mayor in the
people into a bustling commercial
month, appears in a video uploaded
Philippines, as head of Davao City
hub in the southern region of
on YouTube making the joke about
for a total of seven three-year terms.
Mindanao.
the female Australian missionary. The
In between, he was either vice mayor
He has won several leadership
missionary, who was ministering in
or a congressional representative of
awards for his work in Davao City,
the city.
a prison in Davao in the southern
where stories abound of his tough
Philippines, was abused and killed
He has four children by two
stance against criminal or even
during a riot by inmates in 1989.
women, and claims to have three
disorderly behaviour.
Duterte was the city mayor at the
girlfriends, prompting some critics
One story doing the rounds tells
time.
to call him a womaniser.
how he pushed a suspected drug
“They abused all of the women...
Duterte was born in the central
trafficker out of a helicopter, while
There was this Australian lay minister...
province of Southern Leyte, but
in another he forced a man to eat his
when they took them out... I saw her
was raised in Davao where his
cigarettes after lighting up in a noface and I thought, ‘What a pity... they
late father served as governor in
smoking restaurant.
abused her, they all lined up. I was mad
the 1950s. His late mother was a
Duterte has been linked to a
she was abused but she was so beautiful.
school teacher.
vigilante group called the Davao
I thought, the mayor should have been
According to stories about his
Death Squad, which has been
first,” Duterte is shown telling a crowd of
childhood, he was a tough kid
blamed for hundreds of murders.
despite being skinny, and frequently
laughing supporters at a campaign rally.
He has never confirmed or been
Duterte, who boasts of the extrain trouble. He was expelled from
formally charged with being behind
judicial killings of suspects by vigilantes
two high schools before finally
the squad. — dpa
during his time in Davao, is the preferred
graduating from a third.
candidate in the run-up to the May 9
election, according to the latest opinion
comments show “his lack of fitness for
Aquino, who under the constitution secretary Mar Roxas who trails Duterte
survey on April 3.
denounced his remarks.
Aquino’s the presidency” and his “utter lack of cannot seek a second term, is supporting in opinion surveys.
His rivals, women’s groups and
President
Benigno
another candidate, his former interior
Rival
presidential
candidate
commentators on social media quickly spokesman Herminio Coloma said the respect for women”.
Rodrigo Duterte, tough-talking favourite
Vice-President Jejomar Binay called
Duterte’s remarks “simply revolting”.
“You are a crazy maniac who doesn’t
respect women and doesn’t deserve to
be president,” Binay told Duterte in a
statement.
Another candidate Senator Grace
Poe, who is just behind Duterte in the
surveys, called his comment “distasteful
and unacceptable, and reflects his
disrespect for women”.
One Filipino remarked on Twitter:
“I broke down after watching Duterte’s
comment on the Aussie. I can’t fathom
how his followers can laugh at it.”
Women’s group Gabriela attacked
Duterte’s remarks, saying any form of
abuse was not a joke “nor something
to be trivialised in a joke”, especially by
someone seeking the presidency.
Many Filipinos have embraced
Duterte for his vulgarity-laced speeches,
his boasts of conquests and his promised
war on crime.
Even when he taunted Pope Francis
in a speech last November, his followers
in the devoutly Catholic nation quickly
forgave him.
Spokesmen for Duterte had no
immediate comment. Many of his
followers brushed off the controversy.
“We won’t apologise for he has done
nothing wrong, it was a clear joke for
God’s sake,” one Filipina supporter said
on Twitter. — AFP
subcontinent
subcontinent
i
OMANDAILYOBSERVER
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
Heavy fighting
rages in Afghan
city of Kunduz
KUNDUZ: Afghan forces fought back
a renewed series of attacks on Kunduz,
killing dozens of Taliban fighters,
officials said on Sunday as insurgent
forces stepped up their bid to retake
the northern city that they captured
briefly last year.
The attack on Kunduz, involving
hundreds of insurgent fighters, has
intensified just days after the Taliban
announced the start of their annual
spring offensive, aimed at driving out
the Western-backed government in
Kabul.
The Taliban’s brief capture of
Kunduz last year underlined both
their growing strength and the lack
of readiness of Afghan security forces
fighting largely on their own since the
Nato-led international coalition ended
its combat operation in 2014.
Attacks overnight appeared aimed
at cutting off Chardara district on
the southwest outskirts of the city,
which insurgents used as a base in last
year’s attack, with several checkpoints
targeted, Kunduz police chief Qasim
Jangalbagh said.
“They wanted to cut the road which
connects the district to Kunduz city
to stop us sending reinforcements,”
he said. In addition, he said a major
attack was driven back at Charkh Ab,
to the east of Kunduz, as Taliban forces
sought to stretch the city’s defences.
Casualty estimates provided by
Afghan officials varied slightly, with
Kunduz police saying 49 Taliban
fighters had been killed and another 61
wounded, while the defence ministry
said 38 were killed and 13 wounded
over the past 24 hours.
A police spokesman said four
members of the security forces were
killed and 11 wounded. — Reuters
7
Afghan child casualties
soar as urban warfare
intensifies, says UN
KABUL: Urban warfare has caused
a spike in deaths and injuries among
women and children in Afghanistan
this year as the Taliban intensifies
their campaign against the Kabul
government, the United Nations said
on Sunday.
In all, 161 children were killed from
January to March and 449 were injured,
a 29 percent rise over the first three
months of 2015, the United Nations
Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said.
“If the fighting persists near schools,
playgrounds, homes and clinics, and
parties continue to use explosive
weapons in those areas - particularly
mortars and IED tactics, these appalling
numbers of children killed and maimed
will continue,” UNAMA human
rights director Danielle Bell said in a
statement.
Overall civilian casualties in the
period reached 1,943, including 600
deaths and 1,343 injuries.
The number of deaths was down
13 percent from the first quarter of
2105 but the number of injuries was
11 percent higher. Almost a third of
casualties were children and there was a
five percent rise in women being killed
or injured, reflecting an increase in
fighting in built-up areas as the Taliban
has pressed its insurgency.
Fifty two women were killed and 143
injured during the period.
Although the report said most
casualties were caused by anti
government forces, it noted a jump in
those caused by security forces using
explosive weapons like mortars and
grenades and called on their use in
civilian areas to be restricted.
Afghan refugees
outpace those
returning
KABUL: The slow trickle of Afghan
refugees returning home is at historic
lows, dwarfed by the hundreds of
thousands being displaced by ongoing
fighting and economic problems,
according to United Nations officials.
So far this year about 2,200
refugees have returned to Afghanistan,
on track to match 2014, which saw
the lowest number of returnees since
the start of a voluntary repatriation
process in 2001.
“It is much lower than we would
have expected,” said UN Assistant High
Comissioner for Operations George
Okoth-Obbo, who visited Kabul on
Sunday as part of a regional trip.
About 2.4 million Afghan refugees
remain in foreign countries. More
than 200,000 Afghans fled to Europe
in 2015, according to UNHCR figures,
and untold others sought sanctuary in
Pakistan, Iran, and within Afghanistan
itself, Okoth-Obbo said.
The figures come days after the
Taliban announced the start of its
annual spring offensive and stepped up
attacks on Kunduz, the northern city
that fell briefly to the insurgents last
year.
There has also been heavy fighting
in the southern province of Helmand,
where the Taliban have pushed
government forces out of many areas
into smaller defensive positions around
the provincial capital Lashkar Gah and
other district centres.
— Agencies
NO LEGAL RESPITE
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Khaleda Zia waves as she leaves after a court appearance in Dhaka on Sunday. The
former prime minister appeared before Dhaka’s Special Judge’s Court in the case, which accuses her of embezzling
Bangladesh Taka 31.5 million ($396,000) from The Zia Charitable Trust.
— AFP
Pakistan rallies for
gender equality
LAHORE: The United Nations aims to ensure gender
equality across the world by 2030 in a bid to achieve
sustainable development goals.
Its ‘Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality’
asks governments to make national commitments to address
the challenges holding women and girls back from reaching
their full potential.
In Pakistan, Fiza Farhan, who is a member of the
first-ever High-Level Panel of the UN Secretary-General
on Women’s Economic Empowerment, has accepted
the task.
She has managed to form a committee in Punjab province
to work on legislation to ensure the gender equality in the
rural and urban economic settings.
“I am trying to engage multiple departments of the
Punjab government to establish a women empowerment
council, which will guide and protect the rights of urban as
well as rural women workforce,” Fiza says.
The Punjab chief minister has already formed a committee
ensuring fast-track implementation.“We are hopeful that
some framework will be shaped soon,” she says.
For Fiza, the key target is the informal labour force, which
in any case is contributing to Pakistan’s economy but is not
paid as deserved.
— Internews
A student activist
prays outside the
prison after he was
released by the
new government’s
general amnesty in
Yangon. — AFP
Myanmar president
pardons 83 prisoners
YANGON: Myanmar President Htin
Kyaw pardoned 83 political prisoners
on the country’s traditional New
Year Sunday, a spokesman from his
office said, as the fledgling civilianled administration seeks to cast off
the shackles of nearly half a century of
military rule.
The new government, steered by
veteran democracy activist Aung San
Suu Kyi, has spent its first weeks in
power freeing scores of political activists
prosecuted under the country’s former
military leaders.
“All of the 83 prisoners that the
president gave amnesty to today are
political prisoners and prisoners
concerned with political cases,” Zaw
Htay, the deputy director of the
president’s office, said.
A presidential pardon published
Sunday morning said the amnesty was
granted to “make people feel happy
and peaceful, and (promote) national
reconciliation during the New Year”.
The former junta’s routine jailing of
dissidents was one of many repressive
policies that garnered support for the
democracy struggle led by Suu Kyi and
her National League for Democracy
(NLD), which swept historic polls in
November.
The party is stacked with ex-political
prisoners who were jailed for their
activism under the former military
regime.
Suu Kyi, who spent some 15 years
under house arrest during the dark
junta days, oversaw her government’s
first amnesty push earlier this month,
when authorities dropped charges
The new government, has
spent its first weeks in power
freeing scores of political
activists prosecuted under
the former military leaders
against nearly 200 political activists
ahead of the New Year holiday.
The
former
quasi-civilian
government that replaced junta rule in
2011 also freed hundreds of political
detainees, but oversaw the detention of
scores more.
Local media aired joyful reunion
scenes as released prisoners left jails
across the country, carrying small bags
of belongings and joining loved ones in
song outside the prison gates.
Among those pardoned on Sunday
were five journalists handed 10-year
sentences in 2014 over a report accusing
the military of producing chemical
weapons — which the government
denied.
The journalists’ sentence, which
was later reduced to seven years,
was slammed by rights groups as
“outrageously harsh”.
“We have been looking forward
to hearing good news from this new
government,” Yarzar Oo, one of the
reporters from Unity Weekly News, said
after his release from Pakokku Prison in
Magway region.
The group was greeted with flowers
Monks, families remember Bhutan unifier
THIMPHU: Thousands of Bhutanese dressed in
traditional clothes and carrying their children
flocked to monasteries on the weekend
to commemorate the death of Ngawang
Namgyal, credited with unifying the remote
Himalayan nation.
Bhutan holds a national holiday every year
to honour the Tibetan Buddhist lama, who
is said to have brought together the region’s
various warring fiefdoms for the first time
before his death in 1651.
At the small Simtokha Dzong monastery
near the capital Thimphu, young, maroonrobed monks unfurled a giant, colourful
tapestry depicting Namgyal on Saturday.
Inside in the monastery, which Namgyal
built in 1629, about 60 monks seated on
cushions chanted during a prayer ceremony
that included bells, flutes, drums, traditional
trumpets and horns.
Mothers with children strapped to their
backs and the elderly gathered from early
morning to pay their respects and receive
blessings from the monks.
Most of the women wore traditional and
brightly coloured Kira or ankle-length dresses
and the men Gho, a knee-length robe, along
with scarves.
Many donated money or brought food
Students pray inside the Punakha Dzong on Sunday. — Reuters
offerings in this deeply religious country.
Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate
met with Bhutan’s king and queen during a
two-day visit to the kingdom that ended on
Friday.
Bhutan, famously the last country to get
television, is home to just 750,000 people.
It held its first elections in 2008 and is
known for pursuing a unique economic
development model of “Gross National
Happiness”, which aims to balance spiritual and
material wealth. — AFP
by their relatives, who gathered at the
prison the night before after learning of
their release, he said.
Others seen released in local
media reports included Htin Lin Oo,
a writer and former NLD information
officer, and Htin Kyaw, a well-known
democracy activist who shares the
president’s name and spent more than
a decade in and out of the country’s
notorious prisons.
“The release is welcome, but the
NLD needs to release more political
prisoners as soon as possible” said Bo
Kyi from the Assistance Association for
Political Prisoners (AAPP), a watchdog
group that tracks information about the
country’s prisoners of conscience.
There are still dozens of political
prisoners and hundreds of others facing
trial, he said.
In a New Year speech on Sunday,
President Htin Kyaw — an ally and
close friend of Suu Kyi — stressed his
administration’s determination to free
all political activists facing prosecution.
Suu Kyi is banned from the
presidency by a junta-era charter but is
guiding her party’s government through
her seats in the cabinet and a newlyfashioned role as state counsellor.
The novice administration is carrying
the hopes of millions of voters hungry
for greater freedoms and economic
rejuvenation after decades of military
strangulation.
But many challenges lie ahead,
including a deeply flawed legal system,
the military’s continuing clout, high
poverty rates and civil wars in several
ethnic minority states. — AFP
WTO’s IT pact may
cut into Pakistan
revenue earnings
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s highest
taxation authority, the Federal
Board of Revenue (FBR), has raised
concerns over the Federal Ministry
of Commerce’s move to ratify the
Information Technology Agreement
(ITA) under the World Trade
Organisation (WTO).
Joining the ITA will lead to removal
of duties on the import of over 200
hi-tech products such as desktops,
laptops, mobile phones among WTO
member countries.
The FBR, in a letter to the
commerce ministry estimates that the
country would lose Rs4.5 billion in
customs duties alone after accession to
the treaty in the first year.
Local taxation will also not benefit
from this because of inelastic demand,
the letter said. The tax department
analysed the map of local manufacturer
Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) equipment.
— Internews
analysis
analysis
l
8
OMANDAILYOBSERVER
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
SMES NEED SUPPORT
FROM COMMUNITY
ALI AL MATANI
ali.matani2@gmail.com
T
he Omani government exerts great efforts to support the small and medium
enterprises (SMEs) through many public and private entities. It pays considerable
attention to serious local entrepreneurs to enable them manage their own
enterprises. This support is of great important for such enterprises which would
grow big in the future.
However, it is necessary to ask the question: Does the local community support
SMEs in the same way as the government? Do the community members pay
considerable attention to buy local products, and hire the services of national
companies? Do they buy products and hire services of the competing expatriate
entrepreneurs and companies?
These are some important questions which came to our minds while observing
many contradictions in our community. The community members complain of
lack of support for the national products and companies. They also highlight the
challenges faced by such products and companies. At the same time, these members
do not support the SMEs as the government does.
The question that poses is: Do we support our compatriots by buying our
requirements from such national firms?
A lot of enterprises do get financial and moral support from government
authorities. The government provides
opportunities for these enterprises by granting
them soft loans.
On the other hand, such enterprises suffer
lack of support from the community members
who are reluctant to buy their products and Individuals and the
services. As a result, the sustainability of these
community should
enterprises is not ensured.
The government subsidy alone is not bear the responsibility
enough to survive, they need support by the in the same way they
community also.
hold other parties
Omani citizens should give preference
to buy national products as this support accountable sometimes.
ensures the sustainability of such enterprises Support is not
and increases economic feasibility of such
limited to the narrow
entrepreneurs.
The community should play a bigger role concept as deemed
in supporting the SMEs and it should be
by some people.
bigger than any government subsidy. This
encourages Omani entrepreneurs to start Rather, it should be
their own businesses.
comprehensive.
The community members should also
buy national products event if their prices are
slightly higher compared to imported products. This is one of our national duties
towards local entrepreneurs.
Omani citizen should ask himself about the services he provides for his
compatriot before considering the support rendered by individuals or authorities to
enhance the enterprises run by the youth and the private initiatives.
Individuals and the community should bear the responsibility in the same way
they hold other parties accountable sometimes. Support is not limited to the narrow
concept as deemed by some people. Rather, it should be comprehensive. It requires
everyone to encourage these young people so that the spirit of entrepreneurship
might be lifted in our dear country. As result, young entrepreneurs would achieve
desired success. Furthermore, their enterprises would be feasible and successful if
they are preferred by citizens.
Of course, this morale and financial support would have a positive effect on
young entrepreneurs who would exert their utmost efforts to ensure the success of
their enterprises. Do we work on achieving this, or we let our young entrepreneurs
face the challenge of survival alone?
They should seek to change their philosophy and purchase the products of serious
Omani entrepreneurs who exert great efforts to achieve success. The community
should also know that the success of these people depends on their encouragement.
Poland feels the pain of coal
AGNIESZKA BARTECZKO AND BARBARA LEWIS
F
“The talks are held on the highest level,” a government
or generations, the region of Silesia has been at the heart of source said, adding that the banks’ final decision is expected
Poland’s love affair with coal as a source of pride and heroism. early in the coming week.
Election to Poland’s top job has depended on maintaining
This was confirmed by another person. BZ WBK and
coal’s special national status and Prime Minister Beata
BGZ BNP Paribas declined to comment.
Szydlo, a coal miner’s daughter from Silesia, swept to office
Together, BZ WBK and BNP Paribas hold 150 million
in October on a promise she would ring-fence the industry’s zlotys of KW’s debt.
100,000 jobs.
Any exposure coal is considered financial risk and the
It is a pledge she is now under almost as much pressure European Union is considering “carbon stress-testing” its
to break as to keep. The energy ministry has said the nation’s financial firms. The trade unions at KW accept cost-cutting
biggest mining firm, headquartered in Silesia, risks running in principle, but refuse to agree to wage cuts or layoffs.
out of cash at the end of the month.
“Cuts in wages would be an
It is a familiar cry, and in the past,
act of self-destruction,” Boguslaw
funds somehow appeared. This time,
Hutek, the head of KW’s biggest
however, they may not.
trade union, said.
Coal miners became heroes in Part of Poland’s problem
“Now young people are thinking
Silesia when nine of them were shot
in a different way from the older
dead in 1981 in an anti-communist is the depth of the seams
generation. If they don’t get decent
protest against martial law. Now — up to 1,200 metres
earnings, they will go elsewhere.”
they are being asked to accept
Mining’s financial woes mean
compared to 465 metres
cuts in salaries that are among the
Silesian students are already switching
highest in Poland because of the on average in China,
to classes in solar and wind energy
dangers of the job.
and away from the mining studies
the world’s biggest coal
Energy
ministry
officials
that traditionally guaranteed a
supervising Kompania Weglowa producer and consumer.
job for life.
(KW), the European Union’s biggest
Poland’s pits have clocked up
coal mining company, say it cannot pay
losses of billions of zlotys as world
salaries in May if trade unions’ reject a
coal prices sunk to record lows.
plan to cut the company’s costs, more
It is not the only country affected:
than half of which go on staff.
Peabody, the world’s largest privately
The plan is a condition for other state-run companies owned coal producer, declared bankruptcy this month after
to inject 1.5 billion zlotys ($394.36 million) at the start of a debt-fuelled expansion into Australia.
May, a deal which could be questioned by the European
Part of Poland’s problem is the depth of the seams — up to
Commission if it looks like illegal state aid.
1,200 metres compared to 465 metres on average in China,
To pass muster, there needs to be a convincing business the world’s biggest coal producer and consumer.
plan showing the miner will start to make profits.
Deeper pits are more costly because more energy and
The government also wants KW’s creditors — including time is required to extract coal and cool the shafts to make
the Polish unit of Spain’s Banco Santander BZ WBK working conditions bearable.
and France’s BGZ BNP Paribas to convert their debt
Despite lower costs compared with Poland, the Chinese
into KW shares.
government has said it is shifting to cleaner fuel.
‘Francis gave us a new life’: Syrian refugees taken in by Vatican
LAURE BRUMONT
T
he Syrian refugees taken in by Pope Francis
following his visit to the Greek island of
Lesbos have hailed the pontiff as a “saviour”
for offering them a new life.
In a hugely symbolic move seen as a
lesson in solidarity for Europe, Francis,
who is himself the son of Italian migrants
in Argentina, on Saturday took 12 Syrians
from three home with him from Lesbos to
the Vatican.
“All refugees are children of God,” the
79-year-old pope said on the flight back to
Rome, adding that though his gesture was “a
drop in the ocean” he hoped “the ocean will
never be the same again”.
In an interview with Italian daily La
Stampa, the families, who spent their
first night in Rome at a Catholic charity,
expressed their gratitude to the pontiff for
his “gesture of hope”.
“We saw friends and relatives die in the
rubble, we fled Syria because we no longer
had any hope,” said Hasan, an engineer from
Damascus, who arrived in Italy with his wife
Nour and two-year-old son.
After fleeing to Turkey, Hasan and his
family joined the migrant trail to Europe,
piling into a rubber dinghy that set out
from the Turkish coast for Greece.”But it
was overloaded,” said Hasan, recalling the
pitch black of the sea at night and the waves
rocking the vessel.
“In Lesbos, we understood that we were
stuck in a place that we could not leave, (we
were) in a trap, a prison”, he said describing
the pope as “our saviour” for whisking them
off the island, where thousands of migrants
In a hugely symbolic move
seen as a lesson in solidarity
for Europe, Francis, who is
himself the son of Italian
migrants in Argentina, on
Saturday took 12 Syrians from
three home with him from
Lesbos to the Vatican.
risk being sent back to Turkey under a new
EU-Turkey deportation deal.
Wafa, who was also on the papal flight
from Lesbos with her husband Osama,
eight-year-old daughter Masa and six-yearold son Omar, together with her husband,
described the “constant bombardments” in
recent months around their home. “Since
then (my son) has barely spoken... he is
locked in an impenetrable silence,” she said.
Wafa said she and her husband, who are
from Damascus suburb of Zamalka, had
opted to cut ties with the past. “But we know
we took the right decision,” she said.
After their stay on Lesbos, which seemed
interminable, “Francis gave us a new life,”
she said. Ramy, a 51-year-old teacher from
the eastern IS-occupied city of Deir Ezzor,
fled Syria with his wife Suhila and three
children — sons Rashid, 18 and Abdelmajid,
16, and seven-year-old daughter Al Quds —
after their home was destroyed in the war.
“We discuss a lot and find it hard to
imagine what life will be like in the future:
we don’t know whether we will start over in
Europe or whether, one day, we will be able
to return to a Syria free of war and violence,”
he told La Stampa.
Pope Francis welcomes a group of Syrian refugees after landing at Ciampino airport in
Rome following a visit at the Moria refugee camp in the Greek island of Lesbos.
— AFP
a a ys s
analysis
analysis
i
UK employment remains high but confidence weak
OMANDAILYOBSERVER
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
B
ANDY JALIL
Foreign Correspondent
andyjalil@aol.com
ritain’s economic recovery has pushed employment
to a record high although the slow wage growth
still remains.
According to figures released the jobless rate
fell to 5.1 per cent and demand for jobs across the
country is at the strongest level since 2007.
However, the number of people on zero-hours
contract — in which there are no fixed hours and
employees are paid according to the hours worked
— rose as high as 801,000 at the end of 2015 from
697,000 the year before. The government might be
doing everything in its power to rid the country of
this unpopular contract but so far its efforts haven’t
had much effect.
Statistician, Nick Palmer, at the Office for
National Statistics said: “While the employment
rate continues to hit new highs and there are
more job vacancies than ever previously recorded,
earnings growth remains subdued and markedly
below the recent peak of mid-2015.” With the job
market looking strong, permanent placements
increased at their fastest rate for three months.
According to the Report on Jobs by Markit and
the Recruitment and Employment Confederation
(REC), just less than half (44.8 per cent) of
recruiters questioned said they had placed more
people into permanent positions in February than
they had in the previous month.
Salaries had not risen greatly for those seeking
out permanent employment but were fairly strong,
with 22.9 per cent of those questioned saying they
had seen average salaries increase compared with
the month before and 72.2 per cent saying that pay
packets had stayed roughly the same.
Chief executive of REC, Kevin Green remarked:
“The labour market is at a critical juncture.
Permanent hiring improved last month,
demand for staff remains strong, and pay is going
in the right direction but serious threats are
looming just around the corner.” He cautioned
that the introduction of the National Living Wage
which took place at the start of this month and
the EU referendum next month had created an
uncertain environment for employers.
With this uncertainty, British employers are
now starting to slow down on recruitment of
higher paid employees and graduates and are
offering 25 per cent more apprenticeships for this
year compared with last year while graduate jobs
are up by just two per cent over the same period,
according to a new report from the Association
of Graduate Recruiters (AGR). According to
AGR, the figures mark a significant slowdown
for graduate programmes compared with last
year, when employers raised their graduate intake
by 13 per cent. Chief Executive of AGR, Stephen
Isherwood said: “Apprenticeship policy is driving
many employers to ramp up their apprenticeships
on a much larger scale than we’d anticipated.
We don’t know what the long-term effects will
be, but this isn’t a case of employers cannibalising
their graduate schemes.” He added: “We’re hearing
that businesses view the two groups very separately
and that they are complementary.”
The government has pledged to support three
million apprenticeships by 2020.
Meanwhile the Chartered Institute of Taxation
pressed the government to rethink plans for a socalled apprenticeship levy, arguing that smaller
businesses may lose out under the new tax
structure.
With confidence waning, UK companies are
expected to hold back investment plans.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in
England and Wales (ICAEW) has slashed its
9
investment growth forecast from 6.4 per cent in
2015 to 5.2 per cent this year.
The group said the figures represent “another
ingredient to the cocktail of risks for Chancellor
George Osborne.”
Michael Izza, Chief Executive of ICAEW said
the outlook for businesses will undermine the
chancellor’s efforts to create surplus by 2020.“The
chancellor would have hoped for a more robust
economic picture.
A slowdown in the economic recovery, as we
are forecasting, will undermine the chancellor’s
public spending plans.” He added that the UK is
“too reliant on the mini-consumer boom” that will
fade as inflation rises.
Many of Britain’s finance chiefs are so nervous
of the possibility of the country leaving the EU
that it’s stopping them from taking on risks with
investment and employment.
According to the survey by Deloitte of over
100 finance bosses, three-quarters are now in
favour of Britain staying in the EU from a business
standpoint, up from 62 per cent when the same
question was asked by the professional services
firm three months ago.
LURE OF A DIASPORA
KARIN STROHECKER
A
A girl reacts as she receives polio vaccination drops during a house-to-house campaign in Yemen’s capital Sanaa.
growing roster of developing states are turning to their compatriots
abroad to raise cash by marketing “diaspora bonds”, a funding strategy
successfully pioneered by India but sometimes tricky to imitate.
Some 250 million people, around 3 per cent of the world population,
live outside their native countries, according to World Bank data from
2013. They are an important source of funding for their homelands: last
year they sent home around $440 billion — three times more than global
development aid. Cash raised by governments directly by marketing
securities to their overseas citizens represents just a tiny fraction of that,
but looks set to grow, judging by a number of recent announcements.
Egypt has announced debt certificates denominated in dollars and
euros to ease hard currency shortages.
Kosovo, which estimates a third of people of Kosovan descent live
abroad, proposed issuing bonds for expatriates last month.
Sri Lanka discussed such bonds last year, and Nigeria has tried to
revive plans for a diaspora issue after naming Goldman Sachs and
Stanbic as advisers on a proposal in 2014. But not all such efforts
succeed. Many countries overestimate the generosity of their natives
abroad. One high-profile example was Greece, which proved unable to
raise a hoped-for $3 billion from the million-strong Greek community
in the United States at the height of its debt crisis in 2011.
Ethiopia’s 2009 bond to fund a hydro-electric dam failed chiefly
because it could not convince investors it would repay the debt. Some
also objected to the project on environmental grounds.
In 2009 and 2010, Nepal raised a fraction of its target when it offered
yields below 10 per cent over five years on rupiah bonds — well below
local rates at the time.
Moldova also decided not to issue diaspora bonds, concluding that
Moldovans abroad who were willing to invest in its currency would
probably prefer local bank accounts that pay 25 per cent interest.
“Many governments need to really look at themselves in the mirror,
as to what has been their historic relationship with their diaspora
and use that reality in their calculation when they offer investments,”
said Liesl Riddle, a George Washington University Professor, who has
studied diaspora financing.
The lure of a diaspora as an investment pool is clear.
Investors with a personal link to a country are often happier
than other outsiders to take risks in the local currency, and at lower
yields, says Dilip Ratha, manager of the World Bank’s Migration and
Remittances Unit, who advises governments on diaspora funding.
— Reuters
Latest world battle to wipe out polio begins
KATE KELLAND
I
n a huge immunisation effort in 150 countries,
health teams began on Sunday launch what
they hope will be the final push against polio.
Stopping transmission of the contagious viral
disease that has infected millions is possible
within a year, experts say. And full, official,
global eradication could be declared by the
end of this decade.
First, however, the vaccine that has
successfully fought polio for more than 30
years needs to be switched for one that targets
the last few areas of risk.
It won’t be easy, or cheap, but the World
Health Organisation’s director of polio
eradication, Michel Zaffran, says failure
now — when there have only been 12
cases worldwide this year, in Pakistan and
Afghanistan — means the virus could spread
across borders again.
Success would make polio only the second
human disease to be eradicated since smallpox
was banished in 1980.
“Taking our foot off the pedal now could
mean polio will within a few years spread
straight back into large parts of the world and
create 100,000 or 200,000 cases,” Zaffran said.
“The job has not been done and will not be
done until we have fully eradicated the virus.”
For the endgame in polio to succeed, a
coordinated and complex vaccine switch is
crucial. Until now, many countries have been
using a shot that protects against the three
types of wild polio virus — type 1, type 2
and type 3 — but type 2 polio transmission
has been stopped since 1999, meaning
immunising against it now makes no sense.
In rare cases it also poses a risk that the
weakened type 2 virus in the vaccine can seep
into circulation and cause “vaccine-derived”
polio infections.
So from April 17 to May 1, some 150
countries will engage in a synchronised
switch to a bivalent, or two-strain,
vaccine that contains no type 2 virus but
targets types 1 and 3.
It’s a massive undertaking and a major
step towards eradication, says Zaffran.
“We’re entering into uncharted territory.
This has never been done before. But there’s
no going back now.”
In Pakistan and Afghanistan,
the last two countries where
polio currently remains
endemic, conflict and
propaganda have hampered
progress, and in the past
posed risks to others.
The campaign to eliminate
polio in Pakistan is fraught
with multiple risks.
That’s partly because polio vaccine
manufacturers — among them France’s Sanofi
Pasteur — have moved production to the
bivalent shot and would find it tricky, costly,
and time-consuming to reverse that move.
Anil Dutta, a vaccine expert at British
drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline, which also
makes polio shots, is looking beyond
eradication to 2019 or 2020, when all “live”
oral polio vaccines need to be discontinued.
Then the world will switch again, to
“inactivated” polio vaccine, or IPV, to further
reduce any risk of causing disease through
immunisation.
Scaling up IPV production to meet the
needs of the entire world takes years, he warns,
and work must start now to avoid potential
supply concerns.
But prediction has never been easy in the
fight to wipe out polio, and health authorities
have missed targets along the way. The Global
Polio Eradication Initiative, launched in 1988,
originally aimed to end all transmission of the
disease by 2000. And while there has been a
99 per cent reduction in cases worldwide since
the GPEI launch, fighting the last one per cent
of polio has been far tougher than expected.
In 2013, the GPEI said the global fight
against polio would require $5.5 billion in
funding, and more will be needed beyond that
to keep a lid on the disease.
The virus, which invades the nervous
system and can cause irreversible paralysis
within hours, spreads rapidly among children,
especially in unsanitary conditions in wartorn regions, refugee camps and areas where
healthcare is limited.
In Pakistan and Afghanistan, the last two
countries where polio currently remains
endemic, conflict and propaganda have
hampered progress, and in the past posed
risks to others.
The campaign to eliminate polio in
Pakistan is fraught with risk, with militants
attacking health teams they accuse
of being Western spies.
A polio worker was shot and wounded in
February and in January a suicide bomber
killed 15 people outside a polio eradication
centre in the city of Quetta.
In 2011, a polio virus from Pakistan reinfected China, which had been polio free for
more than a decade.
In 2013, the disease re-emerged in Syria
after a 14-year absence, prompting the need
for a vast and expensive regional emergency
vaccination campaign.
ESTABLISHED ON 15 NOVEMBER 1981
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OMANDAILYOBSERVER
Odisha seeks farm machinery training institute
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has requested the union government to establish a Central
Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institute in the state. The state will provide all kinds of
assistance required for the project including land, water etc.,” Patnaik told the media on Sunday.
Modi slams Mamata for rant against election body
POLITICAL ALIGNMENT: The prime minister alleges a nexus between the Left, the Congress and the Trinamool Congress in parliament
K R I S H NA NA G A R / KO L K ATA :
Ridiculing West Bengal Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee for her rant against
the Election Commission (EC), Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday
accused her of misusing the state
machinery.
On his third round of electioneering
for the state assembly polls, Modi
alleged a nexus between the Left, the
Congress and the Trinamool Congress
in parliament to save “leaders of Didi’s
(elder sister, as Banerjee is affectionately
called) party seen accepting money” in
the footage released by the Narada news
portal.
“In Bengal, the Left and the Congress
are in alliance. In Kerala, they are taking
on each other. But in Delhi, the Congress
and the Left are together. The happenings
in parliament over the past two years
prove this,” Modi said in Kolkata. He
said the Narada issue was handed to the
Lok Sabha ethics committee as the BJP
had majority there.
“But that did not happen in the Rajya
Sabha, because we are not in majority
there. Didi, Left and the Congress call
the shots there.”
“The issue was not handed over to
the Rajya Sabha ethics committee to save
those involved in the Narada scam.
“All these people are the same,” said
the prime minister.
Earlier, in Krishnanagar of Nadia
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses
an election campaign rally in Kolkata on
Sunday. — Reuters
Supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wave their party’s flags as they wait for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to
address an election campaign rally in Kolkata, on Sunday. — Reuters
district, Modi said the Trinamool was
on the brink of defeat in the polls.
“On the brink of defeat, the Trinamool
has lost its senses. Mamata and her party
have accepted defeat and that is why she
is not fighting with political parties, but
rather with the EC,” Modi said.
“Polls will come and go, but if these
institutions are destroyed, the country
will not be able to be run.
The EC gave notice to you and it was
your responsibility to put forth your
stand, your views but instead you are
saying, you will see the EC after May 19
(day of counting),” he said.
Over 70 per cent polling in Bengal second phase
KOLKATA:
Amid
allegations
of sporadic violence and voter
intimidation, over 70 per cent of about
1.22 crore voters exercised their right
to franchise across 56 constituencies
in the second phase of elections to the
West Bengal assembly on Sunday.
“At 3 pm, the overall polling
percentage was 70.82 per cent,” an
Election Commission official said.
Long queues of voters were seen
outside most polling booths despite
the sweltering heat and humidity, after
voting commenced at 7 am.
There are about 1.22 crore registered
voters, 383 candidates, including 33
women, and 13,645 polling stations.
Five of the constituencies are in
Alipurduar district, seven in Jalpaiguri,
nine in North Dinajpur, six each in
Darjeeling and South Dinajpur and 12
in Malda districts.
The only south Bengal district going
to the polls in this phase is Birbhum.
Of its 11 constituencies, seven —
Dubrajpur, Suri, Nalhati, Rampurhat,
Sainthia, Hansan and Murarai — have
Voters are supervised by a paramilitary soldier as they wait to cast their ballots in
the second phase of the state assembly elections at a polling station in Siliguri on
Sunday. — AFP
been classified as affected by Left-wing
extremism and polling in these areas
ended two hours earlier than elsewhere
at 4 pm. “Polling percentage at 3 pm
in Alipurduar was 73.65, Jalpaiguri
recorded 67.93, Darjeeling 66.73,
North Dinajpur 70.37, South Dinajpur
74.78, Malda 68.67 and Birbhum
73.59,” said the official.
There were allegations of false voting
in the presence of the presiding officer
in a booth in Malda’s English Bazar.
Following a complaint lodged by
the Communist Party of India-Marxist
(CPM), the officer was removed.
At Dumrut in Birbhum’s Bolpur
constituency, three people were
arrested following a clash between
Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya
Janata Party workers.
In the district’s Rampurhat, a section
of residents reportedly boycotted
the polls citing failure of the state
government to provide basic electricity
services.
In Nanoor, Trinamool activists
allegedly assaulted a polling agent of
the CPM. The BJP’s star candidate
Locket Chatterjee, contesting from
Mayureshwar, said the civic police
were spotted with central forces inside
a booth in the constituency.
A clash reportedly broke out
between Trinamool and CPM workers
outside a booth in Malda, in which two
people were injured.
Meanwhile, despite the Election
Commission’s constant surveillance,
the Trinamool’s Birbhum chief and
strongman Anubrata Mondal courted
fresh controversy as he cast his vote
by entering a booth sporting the party
symbol on his shirt.
While the EC has sought a report
about the incident, Mondal put
the onus of his “inadvertent” act of
displaying the party symbol in the
booth on the presiding officer, but
refused to say sorry. — IANS
He was referring to Banerjee’s April
14 outburst against the poll panel after
getting a show-cause notice for violation
of the model code of conduct.
Slamming Banerjee for “trying to
destroy” an independent institution like
the EC, Modi said: “The country runs on
laws and rules and if you want disobey
them, then clarify before the people
whether you have faith in democracy
or not, whether you have faith in the
country’s constitution or nor not.”
Pointing to the allegations that the
notice to Banerjee was replied to by the
state chief secretary, Modi charged her
with misusing the state machinery.
“I read somewhere that the reply to
Banerjee’s notice has been given by the
chief secretary. If this is true, then this is
the biggest flouting of poll rules.
‘NPCIL to get nuclear
liability policy soon’
CHENNAI: India’s atomic power
company, Nuclear Power Corporation of
India Ltd (NPCIL) is confident of getting
the public liability insurance policy in
10-15 days time, said a senior official.
Once the policy is received, then the
company can go ahead in full steam
to start its project in Haryana, said
the official, said on the condition of
anonymity.
“The negotiations as to the risk
coverage conditions with the insurers
are over and issues have been sorted out.
We are confident of getting the policy in
10-15 days time,” the official said.
He categorically said the policy would
be on reinstatement basis — that is the
coverage will be reinstated to the original
level on payment of same premium after
a claimable nuclear accident.
While the official declined to
comment on the premium to be paid to
get the policy to cover public liability up
to Rs 1,500 crore per year, per accident
‘RoboChamps’ is engaged in providing robotics and technology-based education to young minds
Young engineer encourages kids to make robots
CHANDIGARH: He is only 23 years
old but that has not stopped Akshay
Ahuja from guiding and training even
nine-year-olds with his engineering
skills and helping them create robots.
He’s even planning a mega-event
where 20,000 children will be part of the
country’s largest robotics show to create
technology marvels.
Ahuja, an engineer himself, through
his ‘Robotics Education World’ start-up,
wants to make science fun for children
and help them with robotics.
Having started his company in 2013
to train engineering students, Akshay
soon figured out that with a bit of
tweaking to suit the interests of young
minds, even school children could be
imparted engineering and technology
skills.
“The idea was to make things more
practical than theoretical. On doing
research, I realised that the education
system doesn’t encourage students to
explore how the theories are derived.
As a test of my observation, I trained
one student who happened to be cited
in India Book of Records for creating his
own robot,” Ahuja, who hails from the
industrial city of Ludhiana, said.
“Our company had only 29
The idea was to make
things more practical
than theoretical. On doing
research, I realised that the
education system doesn’t
encourage students to
explore how the theories
are derived.
AKSHAY AHUJA
Engineer
Akshay Ahuja poses for a picture with his nine-year-old students.
engineering students who joined
the workshops. It was during these
workshops that I realised that the
workshops, which were crafted for
engineering-level students, if modified a
bit, can also interest a school kid,” Ahuja
pointed out.
Having obtained his engineering
degree in 2015, Ahuja, who started
working on this project when he was
in his second year, now heads a team
of around 40 to fulfil the vision of
‘RoboChamps’ — to revolutionise the
education system.
“While working with college
students in 2013, I asked a nine-year-old
kid to join the same training that college
students are undergoing. At the end of
the training, which was of six months, I
found that the kid had learnt more than
engineers. I trained some more nineyear-old kids and they went to IIT-Delhi
and competed with engineers.
Out of 32 teams they stood third over
there,” Akshay excitedly pointed out.
“It was one of these youngsters
who, at nine years of age, figured in the
India Book of Records as the youngest
boy in the country who created a linefollowing robot using an Atmega 16
chip,” he said.
Ahuja does not want to stop at that.
He is working to hold the biggest
robotics event, Build Your Bot
The EC notice was sent to the
Trinamool chief and not the chef
minister. It was the responsibility of
Didi or her party or her party’s lawyer to
reply,” he said.
“I don’t know if he (chief secretary)
has done that, I’ve heard on my way
about it. But if it has happened, then it is
blatant misuse of the government. Didi,
Indira Gandhi lost her membership for
six years for misusing the government,”
said Modi referring to the Allahabad
High Court decision barring then prime
minister Gandhi from holding elected
office for six years in 1975.
He also attacked the Trinamool over
corruption issues and ridiculed the
Congress-Left Front tie-up.
Speaking at the Shahid Minar in
Kolkata, Modi said the same set of
people were involved in the Narada
sting footage, the multi-billion-rupee
Saradha scam and the collapse of the
Vivekananda Road flyover in Kolkata.
Modi urged the people to punish
those ruining the state.
“Punish them once, and every five
years they will be accountable, and they
will be forced to do some good work.”
He said the Congress, Left and the
Trinamool have made Kolkata “an old
age home”.
“Youths go elsewhere to earn their
living. The old parents are left behind.”
— IANS
(BYB), in July in which over 20,000
schoolchildren will participate in the
national capital New Delhi.
“There is also a social cause attached
to it as several hundred underprivileged
children from slums are being trained
free of cost by the ‘RoboChamps’ team
and would be a part of the recordbreaking event,” Ahuja said.
‘RoboChamps’ is engaged in
providing robotics and technologybased education to young minds
through the school education system.
“Over 500 children from other
countries, including Bhutan, China,
Nepal, Pakistan and the US, are also
expected to be a part of the event to
compete with students from across
India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will
be invited to be the chief guest,” he said.
“Students will start from scratch and
make their own line-following robot.
While making the robot, they
will come to know many concepts
practically rather than theoretically.
The idea is to enhance the
science, technology, engineering and
mathematics skills of the children,”
Ahuja, who is passionately working for
the mega-event, concluded. — IANS
industry sources had earlier said that it
will be around Rs 70 crore.
The proposed policy would cover the
liability towards public as a consequence
of any nuclear accident in the plants
covered under the policy and also the
right of recourse of NPCIL against
equipment suppliers.
The insurance coverage will be for all
the NPCIL’s plants — like a floater cover.
When a nuclear accident happens and
the Rs 1,500 crore cover is exhausted,
then there will not be any insurance
cover for subsequent accidents that
might occur during that policy year.
According to the NPCIL official
if such a situation occurs, then the
policy coverage will get automatically
reinstated to Rs 1,500 crore on payment
of premium. “The policy complies with
all the provisions of the Civil Liability
for Nuclear Damage Act (CLND) giving
the necessary comfort to the suppliers,”
the official added.
— IANS
KERALA FIRE
Disaster hit
temple opens
KOLLAM: The Puttingal Devi temple
here where a fireworks disaster killed
114 people opened on Sunday to
devotees for the first time after a week.
With devotees looking on, temple
priest Unnikrishnan Nampoothiri
opened the temple and offered the
customary prayers, residents said.
A huge pile of fireworks exploded
early on the morning of April 10 at the
temple in Paravur town here, killing
114 people and leaving more than 350
injured.
While a concrete building nearby
where the fireworks had been stored
came crashing down, the temple was
not affected in the disaster.
The re-opening on Sunday followed
a few rounds of talks that the elders in
the area held amongst themselves.
The
temple
administration
committee consists of 15 members, of
which seven are now in police custody.
The others are on the run since the
disaster.
The temple has become a must
visit spot not just for Kollam residents
but for many who pass through the
National Highway 47 nearby. — IANS
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OMANDAILYOBSERVER
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
No restrictions, shutdown in Srinagar
PRECAUTIONS: Restrictions will continue in Handwara and Kupwara towns to maintain law and order
SRINAGAR: Authorities on Sunday
said there would be no restrictions
in Srinagar city as the situation
limped back to normal here.
District magistrate Srinagar
Farooq Ahmad Lone said there
would be no restrictions in any area
of Srinagar city on Sunday.
However, as a precautionary
measure, restrictions will continue
in Handwara and Kupwara towns on
Sunday to maintain law and order,
the authorities said.
Despite restrictions in parts of
Srinagar city on Saturday, there was
a perceptible improvement in the
situation over the last three days
as skeletal transport operated and
some shops had opened for locals
to buy essentials in civil lines and
outskirts of the city.
District magistrate Kupwara
Kumar Rajiv Rajan said restrictions
would remain in force in Kupwara
and Handwara towns on Sunday
because of tension in the district.
Separatist leaders have also not
called for any shutdown or protests
on Sunday.
Parts of Srinagar city, including
old city areas, remained under
curfew-like restrictions during the
last four days following killings of
five civilians in firing by the security
forces in Handwara, Drugmulla and
Natnusa areas of Kupwara district.
There was a perceptible
improvement in the
situation over the last
three days as skeletal
transport operated and
some shops had opened
for locals to buy essentials
in civil lines and outskirts
of the city.
Activists of Jammu and Kashmir Libration Front (JKLF) scuffle with police during a protest in Srinagar over the
killing of four youths in Handwara. — AFP
Authorities have still not revoked
the suspension of mobile Internet
services which have remained
suspended in Kashmir valley for the
last five days.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief
Minister Mehbooba Mufti met the
family members of killed youth
during her visit to Kupwara district
on Saturday. Mufti met them at
Kupwara Dak Banglow where she
chaired a security meeting attended
by Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal
Singh, chief secretary B.R. Sharma
and police chief K. Rajendra Kumar.
Mufti condoled the bereaved
families and regretted that she had
to come to Kupwara for offering
condolences while she had planned
to visit there as the chief minister to
announce a special package for the
border district.
The chief minister told relatives
of the victims that anybody found
guilty of having violated the SOP
during crowd control in recent
incidents will have to face the law.
“I have spoken to the top officers
of the army and told them civilian
killings are not acceptable. Those
found guilty of using excessive force
against protesting civilians will be
punished,” she assured them.
She also ordered ex gratia relief
and other compensations to the
next of kin of those who lost lives
in Kupwara district due to firing by
security forces.
Meanwhile, the police late on
Saturday produced the minor girl
allegedly assaulted by a soldier in
Handwara on Tuesday before the
chief judicial magistrate under
directions of the state high court.
The girl made a statement before
the magistrate about the incident
that triggered widespread violence
in Handwara town on Tuesday.
The high court has directed the
police to declare the provisions of
law under which the minor girl was
being detained.
— IANS
Curfew imposed, Internet Three injured as concrete slab
services cut in Gujarat town of Lucknow Metro caves in
AHMENABAD: Curfew was imposed and
the Border Security Force (BSF) was deployed
in Mehsana town in Gujarat on Sunday after
pro-reservation Patidars turned violent,
leading to arson and clashes with police.
Authorities suspended Internet services
and mobile phone applications till Monday
morning in Mehsana and other north Gujarat
towns after the violence to prevent the spread
of incendiary information.
Similar action is likely to be taken in
Ahmedabad and certain cities of Saurashtra
region, informed sources said.
Police and paramilitary forces were
deployed in all north Gujarat towns, besides
Ahmedabad and Surat, which are known
strongholds of the pro-quota Patels.
More than 1,000 agitators from the
Patel community in Mehsana and over
500 in Surat were taken into preventive
custody as large crowds gathered near
the district jails in both places in defiance
of prohibitory orders .
Surat Police Commissioner Ashish Bhatia
told local TV channels that most of those
detained were from the Patel-dominated
Varachha area. Asserting that trouble-makers
would not be spared, Bhatia said: “This city
belongs to all and those creating mischief will
be dealt with strictly.”
Chief Minister Anandiben Patel said after
a government programme in south Gujarat’s
Valsad town: “Our government is for the
people and not for agitators.”
Speaking to Gujarati TV channels, state
BJP president Vijay Rupani asked the people
as well as the police to exercise retraint.
The agitators attacked the camp office of
Minister of State for Home Rajnikant Patel.
An FCI godown and a state government
building were set on fire in Mehsana.
The Patel mobs also torched a Sub
Divisional Magistrate’s vehicle and a state
transport bus. — IANS
A CALL FOR RESIGNATION
LUCKNOW: Three people were injured, one
critically, on Sunday when a concrete slab
being laid on the Lucknow Metro Rail route
caved in, police said.
The concrete slab collapsed at Sujanpura
near the Alambagh bus station, said the
police. The injured, said to be labourers, have
been admitted to a nearby hospital, where
condition of one is stated to be critical. Others
are being treated for non-life threatening
injuries.
District Magistrate of Lucknow Raj
Shekhar said that there were “no casualties
reported as of now,” meaning the accident
has not resulted in any loss of life.
Senior district and police officials are
at the accident site, overseeing rescue
operations. Shekhar said that 15 personnel
of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF)
have reached the accident site to help in Concrete slab collapses at Sujanpura near the
Alambagh bus station. — IANS
rescue operations. — IANS
11
India discusses with
Iran joining Ashgabat
Agreement
R A K SINGH
NEW DELHI/TEHRAN
April 17: India on Sunday said it values and appreciates
Oman’s support to its bid to join Ashgabat Agreement,
an existing international transport and transit corridor
facilitating transportation of goods between Central
Asia and the Arabian Gulf.
India expressed its appreciation to Oman, one of
the founding members of the Ashgabat Agreement,
to joining it while discussing the prospect with Iran,
another founding member of the agreement.
New Delhi and Tehran discussed the prospect of
joining the Agreement as External Affairs Minister
Sushma Swaraj, during her ongoing 2-day visit to the
Arabian Gulf, discussed a slew of issues, mostly related
top trade, investment and economy with her Iranian
counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif at Tehran.
Asked if India and Iran had any talk of Oman’s
interest during the Swaraj’s ongoing visit to Iran,
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup
told Oman Daily Observer on WhatsApp from Tehran,
“We did discuss India joining the Ashgabat Agreement
in which both Iran and Oman support India.”
“India appreciates and values Iran and Oman’s
support to its joining the Ashgabat agreement,” said
Swarup.
The Ashgabat Agreement has Oman, Iran,
Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan as founding members.
Kazakhstan has also joined this arrangement
subsequently. Accession to the Agreement would
enable India to utilise this existing transport and transit
corridor to facilitate trade and commercial interaction
with the Eurasian region.
It would also synchronise India’s efforts to
implement the International North South Transport
Corridor (INSTC) for enhanced connectivity. India
would become party to the Agreement upon consent of
the founding members.
During the talks, India and oil-rich Iran today
decided to significantly expand engagement in their
overall ties, particularly in boosting Indian investment
in joint ventures in oil and gas sectors in the Gulf nation
where foreign investors from major economic powers
are rushing in to get early footholds after lifting of
nuclear sanctions.
In talks between Swaraj and her Iranian counterpart
Zarif, the two sides agreed that agreements like
Preferential Trade Agreement, Double Taxation
Avoidance Agreement and Bilateral Investment
Treaty, which are pending for quite sometime, should
be concluded on a priority basis to spur trade and
investment.
Enhancing energy cooperation and development of
the Chabahar port were the centrepiece of talks which
was mostly dominated by economic issues that would
also directly or indirectly, wittingly or unwittingly
impact Oman and other Gulf nations, said other MEA
officials .
“The talks were very successful and would give new
energy to our centuries old ties with Iran. In particular,
the economic partnership will get considerable fillip as
a result of today’s forward looking talks,” said Swarup.
Despite spending Rs 26,000 crore, the water scenario in the state is far from rosy
Jharkhand’s water woes persist
NSUI activists shout slogans as they are being detained during a protest to demand
resignation of HRD Minister Smriti Irani against lathicharge on students of NIT Srinagar, in
New Delhi.
RANCHI: Over the past decade,
respective governments in Jharkhand
have spent more than Rs 26,000
crore ($4 billion) but, instead of
giving respite to the people, the water
scenario in the state is far from rosy
as ground water levels in most parts
of the state have sunk to an alarming
800-1500 feet.
Of the Rs 26,000 crore, more than
Rs 20,000 crore has been spent in the
rural areas and the remaining in the
urban areas.
Despite this, at the time the state
was created in 2000 from Bihar, the
number of wells that had stood at
75,000 declined to 10,000.
The number of ponds in the state
capital Ranchi alone declined from 40
to 28 while the four rivers that pass
through the capital have been all but
converted into drains.
This apart, there is the lack
of coordination among different
departments.
The drinking water department
only looks after projects in rural areas.
The urban areas are the
responsibility of the respective
municipal bodies, while the water
resources department is responsible
for conservation and maintenance
of dams, ponds and rivers. To be fair,
the water resources department has
initiated some steps to enhance the
water level in the reservoirs.
“A joint technical committee of
the water resources and drinking
water departments has been formed
to study how to enhance the supply of
drinking water to Ranchi,” Sukhdeo
Singh, principal secretary of the water
resources department, said.
The committee will study how to
enhance the water level of the existing
reservoirs.
The committee will also suggest
how to augment the water level by
recharging the reservoirs and creating
new reservoirs on the outskirts of
Ranchi in a periphery of 40 km to 100
km, he added.
Ranchi’s main source of water,
the Hatia Dam, is left with just about
enough water to quench the city’s
thirst for another 20 days.
Such is the bleak water scenario
in the state that warnings have been
issued that if underground sources
continue to be indiscriminately
tapped, these would run dry.
This apart, leave in the water
resources department has been
cancelled, control rooms have been
established and toll free numbers
activated to register complaints
regarding water crisis.
In the needy areas, water is also
being sent through tankers.
Experts have pointed out that
without proper planning, crores of
rupees have been spent on installing
hand-pumps while the bottling plant
industry too has been busy taking out
the ground water and supplying it in
the guise of mineral water.
The monthly sales of mineral
water in the state capital alone is
estimated at Rs10 crore.
The state government has failed
to take action against these bottling
plants as only 22 are operating with
proper licences while some 70 others
are illegal.
The state government has made
rainwater harvesting mandatory
for apartment blocks and other
highrises but typically, the municipal
corporation rarely ensures builders
stick to the rule.
The only saviour now seems to be
the monsoon and people across the
state say that predictions of above
average rain will come true. — IANS
t eworld
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OMANDAILYOBSERVER
First Air France flight in 8 years lands in Iran
The first Air France flight between Paris and Tehran for eight years landed in Teheran on
Sunday, bearing a government minister and a business delegation. The airline’s route had
been suspended since 2008 because of international sanctions. Flight AF738 from RoissyCharles de Gaulle touched down at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport.
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
235 perish in Ecuador earthquake
NATURAL CALAMITY: More than 1,500 people injured as disaster strikes coastal towns of the south America country
MANTA, Ecuador: The death toll from
Ecuador’s biggest earthquake in decades
soared to at least 235 on Sunday as
rescuers using tractors and bare hands
hunted desperately for survivors in
shattered coastal towns.
The 7.8 magnitude quake struck off
the Pacific coast on Saturday and was felt
around the Andean nation of 16 million
people, causing panic as far away as the
highland capital Quito and collapsing
buildings and roads in a swathe of
western towns.
President Rafael Correa, who was
rushing home from a trip to Italy, said the
confirmed number of fatalities rose on
Sunday to 235. “The immediate priority
is to rescue people in the rubble,” he said
via Tiwtter.
More than 1,500 people were injured,
authorities said.
Coastal areas nearest the quake were
worst affected, especially Pedernales,
a rustic tourist spot with beaches and
palm trees. Information was scant from
there due to poor communications
and transport chaos. “There are people
trapped in various places and we are
starting rescue operations,” Vice President
Jorge Glas said on Sunday morning
before boarding a plane to the area.
A state of emergency was declared in
six provinces.
“There are villages totally devastated,”
Pedernales’ mayor Gabriel Alcivar told
local radio, adding that “dozens and
dozens” had died in the rustic zone.
“What happened here in Pedernales is
catastrophic.”
Authorities said there were 135
aftershocks in the Pedernales area.
One photo on social media purporting
to be the entrance to Pedernales showed
a torn up road with a crushed car in the
middle and people standing behind.
Local TV station Televicentro broadcast
Police officers stand on debris after an
earthquake struck off Ecuador’s Pacific
coast, at Tarqui neighbourhood in Manta
on Sunday. — Reuters
View of a damaged building after a 7.8-magnitude quake in Portoviejo, Ecuador on Sunday. — AFP
images from Pedernales showing locals
using a small tractor to remove rubble
and also search with their hands for
people buried underneath. Women cried
after a corpse was pulled out. Locals said
children were trapped.
One man begged for help: “Pedernales
is destroyed.”
In Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city,
rubble lay in the streets and a bridge fell
on top of a car.
“It was terrifying, we were all scared
and we’re still out in the streets because
we’re worried about aftershocks,” said
Guayaquil security guard Fernando
Garcia. About 13,500 security force
personnel were mobilised to keep order
around Ecuador, and $600 million in
credit from multilateral lenders was
immediately activated for the emergency,
the government said.
Ramon Solorzano, 46, a car parts
merchant in the coastal city of Manta,
said he was leaving with his family.
Photos from Manta showed Red Cross
workers arriving, police hunting through
debris, a smashed sculpture and badlydamaged buildings.
“Most people are out in the streets
with backpacks on, heading for higher
Thousands of protesters take to the streets across Brazil
ground,” Solorzano said, speaking in a
trembling voice on a WhatsApp phone
call. “The streets are cracked. The power
is out and phones are down.”
Parts of the highland capital Quito
were without power or phone service for
several hours but the city government
said those services had been restored
and there were no reports of casualties
in the city. The government called it the
worst quake in the country since 1979. In
that disaster, 600 people were killed and
20,000 injured, according to the United
States Geological Survey.
Among international aid, Venezuela
AROUND THE GLOBE
UN, US condemn crackdown in Gambia
Divided Brazil draws battlelines
for Rousseff impeachment vote
Trump irrational
on trade, says
Chinese official
Activists supporting the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff take part in a protest in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Sunday. — Reuters
BRASILIA: Brazil’s lower house of
Congress was all set to decide on Sunday
whether to recommend impeaching
President Dilma Rousseff on charges of
manipulating budgetary accounts, in a
vote that could hasten the end of 13 years
of leftist Workers Party rule. The political
crisis, which comes amid Brazil’s worst
recession since the 1930s, has deeply
divided the South American country
and sparked a fight between Rousseff
and Vice President Michel Temer, who
would take over if she is dismissed.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters,
for and against, began to take the streets
of major cities across the country in
anticipation of the vote which starts at
2 pm and is expected to run into the
evening. Rousseff, who was seen out on
her habitual morning cycle on Sunday,
returned to her residence to lead lastminute deal-making talks along with
her charismatic predecessor, Luiz Inacio
Lula da Silva.
Party insiders said the tide was
turning and that Rousseff and Lula had
persuaded enough wavering lawmakers
to vote in their favour or abstain.
“Our latest calculations are that we
have the votes to block impeachment,”
José Guimarães, the Workers Party
leader in the lower house, told reporters
inside Congress. But surveys by leading
newspapers continue to show the
government lacks the one-third of votes
or abstentions needed in the 513-seat
lower house to avoid the president being
sent for trial in the Senate.
Furthermore, opposition forces
believe that once voting starts, the
momentum will be with them to easily
surpass the 342 votes needed to push
forward with impeachment.
Proand
anti-impeachment
protesters gathered in various parts
of the capital to make their way to the
grassy esplanade in front of Congress.
There a 2-metre high wall has been
erected stretching for more than 1 km
to separate both sides, a symbol of
the stark political divide in one of the
world’s most unequal societies. Buses
carrying some of the thousands of police
being deployed in the capital Brasilia
were arriving and officers getting into
position. Further protests are expected
in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
Polls suggest more than 60 per cent
of Brazil’s 200 million people support
impeaching Rousseff, whose inner circle
has been tainted by a vast corruption
scandal at state oil company Petrobras.
The Workers Party, however, still
musters strong support among millions
of working class Brazilians, who credit
its welfare programmes with pulling
their families out of poverty during the
last decade. In the car park of Brasilia’s
soccer stadium, some of these supporters
waved red flags and set off fire crackers,
as they prepared to march on Congress.
— Reuters
and Mexico were sending personnel and
supplies, the Correa government said.
A tsunami warning was lifted on
Saturday night but coastal residents were
urged to seek higher ground in case tides
rise.
“At first it was light, but it lasted a
long time and got stronger,” said Maria
Jaramillo, 36, a resident of Guayaquil,
describing windows breaking and pieces
falling off roofs.
“I was on the seventh floor and the
light went off in the whole sector, and we
evacuated. People were very anxious in
the street ... We left barefoot.”
The Opec member said oil production
was not affected, but closed its main
refinery of Esmeraldas, located near the
epicentre, as a precautionary measure.
The Ecuadorean quake followed
two large and deadly quakes that struck
Japan since Thursday. Both countries are
located on the seismically active “Ring of
Fire” that circles the Pacific, but according
to the US Geological Survey large quakes
separated by such long distances would
probably not be related.
“Even the earth’s rocky crust is not
rigid enough to transfer stress efficiently
over thousands of miles,” it said on its web
site. Quakes can cause other big quakes
within a range of hundreds of miles, but
can cause only small, brief quakes at a
distance of thousands of miles, it said.
— Reuters
WASHINGTON: Chinese Finance
Minister Lou Jiwei criticised
Republican presidential front-runner
Donald Trump, calling him “an
irrational type” due to the candidate’s
proposal that tariffs on imported
Chinese goods be increased to up
to 45 per cent. In an interview with
the Wall Street Journal published
on Sunday, Lou said, “Trump is an
irrational type. If he were to do this,
that would be in violation of the rules
set by the World Trade Organisation.”
Lou said that if the United States put
Trump’s proposal into effect, it “would
not be entitled to its position as the
world’s major power. The US needs to
recognise that the US and China are
mutually dependent on each other.
Our economic cycles are intertwined.”
He acknowledged that rhetoric in
a US presidential campaign can
become heated. Trump on Sunday
again asserted that China has waged
“economic war” against the US.
“They’ve taken our jobs, they’ve
taken our money,” the billionaire
businessman said at a campaign rally
in New York. “We can’t continue to be
ripped off like we’re being ripped off.”
At a Republican presidential
debate last month, Trump said
China will not allow free trade or US
manufacturers to compete freely. “The
45 per cent (tariff) is a threat that if
they don’t behave, if they don’t follow
the rules and regulations so that we
can have it equal on both sides, we
will tax you,” he said. Republican rival
Ted Cruz criticised the 45 per cent
tariff proposal, saying during the same
debate that it would be passed on to
US consumers.— Reuters
DAKAR: The United Nations on Sunday condemned a government crackdown in
Gambia that it said had led to the death of three opposition party members who
were arrested during protests on Thursday. In a statement echoed by the US state
department, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed “dismay” at reports that a
leading member of the United Democratic Party (UDP), Solo Sandeng, and two other
party members had died while in custody. Government officials were not immediately
reachable for comment.
The three opposition party members were held after a small demonstration
near the capital Banjul on Thursday in which they demanded electoral reform and
protection of free speech in the tiny West African country. The clampdown continued
on Saturday when security forces arrested senior opposition members including the
head of the UDP Ousainu Darboe, whose home was raided by police. The identities
of the two other party members were not released and their deaths could not be
immediately verified by Reuters, though the UDP said in a statement on Sunday that
three of its members had been killed. Amnesty International had said on Saturday
that one detained UDP member, Fatoumata Jawara, was believed to be suffering from
serious injuries. — Reuters
Buddhist monks and devotees pray in Yangon on Sunday during special
prayers celebrating Myanmar’s traditional New Year following the Thingyan
water festival. — AFP
Local Zika outbreaks in US likely
WASHINGTON: The United States is likely to see outbreaks of the Zika virus, with
perhaps dozens or scores of people affected, said Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the
US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on Sunday. The United States
has seen more than 350 cases of people who were infected abroad and then returned
to the country but has yet to confirm a case where someone was infected within its
borders. That is likely to change, said Fauci. “It is likely we will have what is called a local
outbreak,” he said on Fox News on Sunday with Chris Wallace.
The Zika outbreak was first detected in Brazil last year and is spreading through
the Americas. It has been linked to thousands of cases of microcephaly, a typically rare
birth defect marked by unusually small head size which often indicates poor brain
development. The World Health Organization declared a global health emergency in
February. Zika, which is spread by mosquitos and through sexual contact, can give
adults the paralysing Guillain-Barre syndrome. The Aedes aegypti mosquito, which
primarily transmits disease, is present in about 30 US states. — Reuters
region
o
region
i
Hollande visits Syrian refugee kids in Lebanon
French President Francois Hollande met with Syrian refugee children in eastern
Lebanon on Sunday before he was to head to Egypt as part of a four-day regional
tour. The French leader travelled to an informal settlement in Lebanon’s Bekaa
valley that is home to some 600 Syrian refugees, mostly women and children.
OMANDAILYOBSERVER
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
13
Demonstrators
in Iraq demand
reforms again
Yemen factions optimistic over peace talks
BAGHDAD:
Several
hundred
demonstrators took part in a renewed
sit-in in central Baghdad on Sunday to
call for reforms, following another that
lasted for two weeks last month.
The protesters began gathering at
Baghdad’s Tahrir Square on Saturday
following the failure of a parliamentary
session aimed at selecting a
replacement for the speaker.
Iraq has been hit by weeks of
political turmoil surrounding Prime
Minister Haider al Abadi’s efforts to
replace the cabinet of party-affiliated
ministers with a government of
technocrats.
“Our sit-in aims to end the
political quotas,” said Mohammed
Khayoun, one of the participants in
the demonstration, referring to senior
government positions being shared
out among parties.
Imad Shaeet, another participant,
said that: “Our demands are for reform
aimed at securing our future and the
future of our children.”
Security forces closed streets
around the sit-in site, causing major
traffic jams in the area.
Powerful cleric Moqtada al Sadr
organised a two-week sit-in in March
outside Baghdad’s heavily-fortified
Green Zone, where the government
is headquartered, but called it off after
Abadi presented a new cabinet lineup
to parliament. — AFP
KUWAIT: Yemen’s warring parties are
sending conciliatory signals ahead of
UN-backed talks starting on Monday, in
a rare sign of mutual willingness to end
a year-old conflict that has caused one of
the world’s worst humanitarian crises. A
deal may help defuse tensions between
Iran and Saudi Arabia, who are allied
to opposing sides in Yemen and whose
rivalry has helped fuel wars and political
struggles across the Middle East.
Air strikes and heavy combat persist
in many parts of the country, while
armed forces who could yet play a
spoiling role loom throughout Yemen’s
tangled political scene. Police said
they foiled two car bomb attacks in the
southern port of Aden on Sunday. In
one incident a policeman died when a
car exploded after police opened fire on
it rushing at a checkpoint at high speed.
But the recent rhetoric of the main
combatants has been unusually mild.
“We are ready for a political transition
which excludes no one ... The world now
looks to the Kuwait consultations as a
landmark of peace for Yemenis, and we
will give everything we can to alleviate
the suffering of the people,” Foreign
Minister Abdel Malek al Mekhlafi told
state news agency Saba.
Mohammed
Abdul
Salam,
spokesman for the Houthi movement
which controls the capital Sanaa
appeared conciliatory in an interview
with Kuwaiti newspaper Al Rai on
RECONCILIATION PATH: Talks to begin today in Kuwait to find a solution to the country torn apart by faction war
Tribesmen loyal to the Houthi movement attend a gathering in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, on Sunday. — Reuters
Saturday.
“There should be a consensus
authority during a definite transitional
phase to decide every political dispute,”
he was quoted as saying. “Iran does not
have any role in our sovereign decisions
and we are not tools in anyone’s hands.”
Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies
joined the war on March 26 of last year
to back Yemen’s government after it was
pushed into exile by the Houthis.
UN talks in June and December
failed to end the war that has killed
about 6,200 people, about half of them
civilians. The war has allowed Al Qaeda
fighters to seize territory and opened a
path for IS militants to gain a foothold.
A partial naval blockade imposed
Iran shows off Russian S-300 defence system
DUBAI: Iran showed off parts of its new
Russian S-300 missile defence system
during National Army Day on Sunday,
where President Hassan Rouhani said
the country’s armed forces were no
threat to neighbouring countries.
Every year, Iran’s armed forces hold
parades across the country to mark Army
Day. In a ceremony in Tehran, broadcast
live on state television, trucks carrying
the missiles drove past a podium where
Rouhani and military commanders
were standing. Soldiers also marched
passed the podium and fighter jets and
bombers took part in an air display.
“The power of our armed forces is not
aimed at any of our neighbours ... Its
purpose is to defend Iran and act as an
active deterrent,” Rouhani was quoted as
saying by the state news agency Irna, in a
speech at the Army Day ceremony.
Russia delivered the first part of the
S-300 missile defence system to Iran last
week, one of the most advanced systems
of its kind that can engage multiple
aircraft and ballistic missiles around 150
km away.
Russia has said it cancelled a contract
to deliver S-300s to Iran in 2010 under
pressure from the West. President
Vladimir Putin lifted the ban in April
2015, after an interim agreement that
paved the way for July’s full nuclear
deal with Iran that ended international
sanctions.
Since then, Iran has upset the
United States by carrying out four
ballistic missile tests, which the
United States and its European
allies said were in defiance of
the United Nations resolution adopted
in July.
Rouhani said on Sunday that during
the nuclear talks Iranian negotiators
also aimed to maintain and boost the
country’s military capabilities.
Iran has two armies, a regular one
which operates as a national defensive
force, and the Revolutionary Guard
Corps that was created after the
Revolution to protect the Republic
against both internal and external
adversaries.
The army has the biggest ground
force in Iran and IRGC is in control of
growing arsenal of ballistic missiles.
In its first overseas operation since the
Revolution, the regular army said earlier
this month that it had deployed some
of its special forces and commandos to
Syria to help President Bashar al Assad
in the civil war there. — Reuters
by the Arab coalition has caused food
shortages and prices for necessities to
skyrocket in the Gulf region’s poorest
country.
An unprecedented calm achieved
between the two main antagonists
beginning in March suggests that
exhaustion over costs and casualties may
be mounting. The Houthis agreed with
Saudi Arabia to reduce attacks on the
kingdom in exchange for a halt to Saudiled air strikes on Sanaa, and the two
sides carried out a prisoner exchange.
“This represents the best opportunity
to end the war since it started — real
progress has been made,” said Adam
Baron, a visiting fellow at the European
Council on Foreign Relations.
The fate of Ali Abdullah Saleh,
Yemen’s president of 33 years, who was
ousted in 2012 and who has formed
an alliance with the Houthis, remains
unclear and could complicate transition
plans. While Saleh’s party will take
part in the talks, the former leader has
refused to depart Yemen’s political
scene. The spread of al Qaeda and IS in
the south also makes it more difficult to
resolve the conflict. “There are a slew of
potential spoilers. The past year has seen
a proliferation of warlords whose power
is tied to the conflict continuing,” added
Baron.
Hailing from a sect that ruled a
thousand-year kingdom in northern
Yemen until 1962, the Houthis said
they were leading a revolution against
corruption. They pushed President Abd
Rabbu Mansour Hadi from power in
September 2014 and formed an alliance
with his predecessor Saleh.
Regional Arab countries accuse the
group of a power-grab which would
benefit their Iran, and have fought to
restore Hadi’s government. — Reuters
Assad party wins majority
in Syria parliamentary vote
DAMASCUS: Syria’s ruling Baath
party and its allies won a majority
of seats in parliamentary elections
last week across government-held
parts of the country, the national
electoral commission announced
late Saturday.
In a widely expected victory in
polls labelled a “farce” by Syria’s
opposition, President Bashar al
Assad’s Baath movement and its
allies ran under the “National
Unity” coalition and won 200 of
the parliament’s 250 seats.
Syria’s
national
electoral
commission published the names
of all candidates who had won seats
in the April 13 vote, according to
Syria’s state news agency Sana.
Every candidate on the
200-strong “National Unity” list
had won. “Out of 8,834,994 eligible
voters, more than five million cast
their votes,” commission head
Hisham al Shaar was quote as
saying.
A record 11,341 candidates
initially sought to run in the
elections. But about 3,500
candidates remained after the rest
withdrew “saying they had no
chance of winning,” Al Shaar said.
The ruling Baath party has
governed Syria with an iron first
for the past half-century. The vote
is the second parliamentary ballot
since the beginning of the war in
2011 — but the UN says it will not
recognise the election.
More than 270,000 people have
died since Syria’s conflict broke
out, and millions more have been
forced to flee their homes. The
country’s economy has all but
collapsed and swathes of territory
remain out of government control.
Syria’s
government
and
opposition are in Geneva this week
for UN-backed peace talks to put
an end to the violence. — AFP
Libyan authorities arrest 200 UN urges backing for Libya unity
government
on
eve
of
key
vote
African migrants in Tripoli
TRIPOLI: Libyan authorities said
on Sunday they had arrested 203
African migrants in the capital who
were preparing to make a perilous sea
crossing to Europe. An alleged people
smuggler was also detained.
An early morning raid by forces
battling clandestine migration targeted
a house in eastern Tripoli’s Al Hashan
district and netted several dozen people,
an AFP journalist said. Armed and
masked members of the authorities
in bullet-proof vests rounded up the
migrants and put them on vehicles to be
driven to a detention centre.
Dozens more were detained in
another raid on a house in the same
neighbourhood.
No force was used in either operation
and there was no resistance. “After a tipoff about a people smuggler preparing
a crossing to Europe by clandestine
migrants the raids were carried out in a
Tripoli suburb,” a security official said.
“We arrested 203 illegal migrants
from different nationalities. They were
Illegal migrants sit huddled at a hideout after Libyan security forces conducted a
raid in Tripoli, Libya, on Sunday. — Reuters
with there with their smuggler,” he said.
Libya has long been a stepping stone
for migrants seeking a better life in
Europe, with Italy some 300 kms away
across the Mediterranean.
Smugglers have stepped up their
lucrative business in the chaos that has
followed the 2011 ouster of longtime
dictator Muammar Ghaddafi.
The interior ministry in Rome put
migrant arrivals in Italy at 23,739 since
the start of the year as of Thursday
morning, compared with 19,589 by
April 14 last year.
On Friday, the International
Organisation of Migration said nearly
6,000 migrants had reached Italy by sea
in the space of four days. — AFP
TRIPOLI: The United Nations’ Libya
envoy urged lawmakers to back a unity
government as he landed in Tripoli
on Sunday on the eve of a crucial
confidence vote. Libya’s recognised
parliament is set to vote on Monday on
the UN-backed Government of National
Accord, supported by the international
community in a bid to end years of
chaos in the North African nation.
“It is always with open arms that
I arrive in Tripoli. Thank you to all
Libyans: you make me feel at home,”
Martin Kobler said on Twitter after
landing in a UN aircraft. The envoy said
he had met with Libyan political figures
ahead of Monday’s session of the House
of Representatives, the internationally
recognised legislature based in the
country’s east.
“We shared the sense of urgency:
House of Reps should vote now on Govt
of National Accord,” he tweeted.
The legislature’s endorsement would
be a key step for the unity government
of prime minister-designate Fayez al
Sarraj, which has been working to assert
The legislature’s endorsement
would be a key step for
the unity government of
prime minister-designate
Fayez al Sarraj, which has
been working to assert its
authority in the war-torn
nation
its authority in the war-torn nation.
has
had
two
rival
Libya
administrations since mid-2014 when
a militia alliance took over Tripoli,
setting up its own authority and forcing
the recognised parliament to flee to the
remote east.
Sarraj’s government was formed
under a UN-backed power-sharing deal
agreed in December and supported by
some lawmakers from both sides.
The unity cabinet has been steadily
winning support from local officials and
state institutions, though the head of the
Tripoli-based administration, Khalifa
Ghweil, has refused to recognise its
authority.
Kobler visited Tripoli earlier this
month shortly after Sarraj’s government
arrived in the capital under naval escort.
It was the start of a flurry of diplomatic
trips to back the unity government,
including a visit on Saturday by French
Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and
his German counterpart Frank-Walter
Steinmeier.
The first clashes since Sarraj’s arrival
broke out several hours after their visit,
but had subsided by early Sunday.
Gunfire and small explosions were
heard overnight as two armed groups
clashed in the Hay el-Andalous district
north of the capital, an upmarket area
housing embassies and home to many
politicians, an AFP correspondent said.
No information was immediately
available on the cause or extent of the
clashes or whether there had been any
casualties. — AFP
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Viral Today
Do you have what it takes
To be a UN Secretary-General?
It’s more intense than you imagine
Florent has devoted himself exclusively on
photography and art direction with strong
interest on still life in 2013.
F
I
s it your dream to become a United Nations
Secretary-General? A bit of a challenging news for
you if it’s your dream job. Passing the job interview
may be a little bit intense than the usual.
Last week, the interviews to those who wants to be
the head of the UN started. But unlike the regular
interviews with maybe a panel of interviewer giving the
questions, the applicants were interviewed in front of
the entire UN General Assembly as it is being streamed
live all over the world.
Each applicant is given a 10-minute vision speech,
followed by a two-hour question and answer segment
starting with questions from the member states, to the
president of the General Assembly and finally to the
global public through social media.
As reported by The Daily Beast, it will be fortunate if
the interview and process is completed by Thursday of
this week.
or his latest project, French photographer and art
director currently based in Paris, Florent Tanet
is exploring balance and stability using everyday
objects sans Photoshop.
The fun of Florent’s work is in the anticipation that the
objects on the photograph can fall at any time and how he
achieve them, is on itself, already an art. The images did
not undergo any digital manipulation, so what you see is
actually how he staged them.
Florent has devoted himself exclusively on photoraphy
and art direction with strong interest on still life in 2013.
On his blog, he wrote that he’s into multidisciplinary
discipline and he works at the intersection of art, sculpture,
graphic design and photography.
Florent’s website added, “His photos make ordinary
scenes and objects into something complex and remarkable.
Florent takes complete freedom with the objects and use
them as material to create his compositions.
To check out more of Florent’s work, visit: http://www.
florenttanet.fr.
Images © Florent Tanet
Saudi Arabia demanded on Sunday that Iran join a global
deal on freezing oil output, jeopardizing the chances of an
agreement between Opec and non-Opec producers that
was supposed to prop up the price of crude.
Editor’s Pick
facebook.com/omanobserver
Letters to the Editor
editor@omanobserver.om
RELATIVES OF ABANDONED BURAIMI GIRL
UNTRACED (APRIL 17, 2016)
It’s hard to imagine what could have happened
for this little girl to be left on her own. If it wasn’t
intentional, her parents would have been worried
sick trying to figure out where she has been.
The worst part is that if the parents are currently
travelling and they do not have access to television or
social media, then it will be more difficult for them
to know that their child is safe in the hands of the
authorities.
Let’s all share this story as much as we can in the
social media to help find the parents of this child
faster. I hope this will not cause trauma to the child.
Keeping positive and praying that things will end up
well.
Rithika MS, via email
eu ope
eur
Belgium names new transport minister
The Belgian government on Sunday appointed a new transport minister in
a reshuffle sparked by allegations of lax security at Brussels airport, one of
two targets hit by suicide bombers last month.
ECB defends
autonomy amid
German fire
RAISING THE PITCH
europe
OMANDAILYOBSERVER
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
Russia denies
flight of jet that
intercepted US
fighter ‘unsafe’
ECB’s decision to slash
interest rates to zero,
blamed for political unrest
in Europe’s biggest economy
and aiding the rise of an
anti-euro, anti-immigrant
party, the AfD.
FRANKFURT: The European Central
Bank, increasingly under fire in
Germany over its ultra-loose monetary
policies, will likely go out of its way to
defend its independence at next week’s
governing council meeting, analysts
said.
ECB president Mario Draghi “will
respond to German politicians’ recent
criticism...
by
reiterating
the
bank’s
independence and stressing that
more support is still possible,” said
Capital Economics economist Jennifer
McKeown.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang
Schaeuble has been unusually frank
about his growing displeasure at the
ECB’s decision to slash interest rates
to zero, suggesting that the policies
were helping foment political unrest in
Europe’s biggest economy and aiding
the rise of an anti-euro, anti-immigrant
party, the AfD.
German
governments
have
traditionally steered away from
commenting on ECB decisions so as not
to be perceived to be trying to meddle
with the central bank’s independence.
But record low interest rates are
squeezing German banks’ profits and
also hurting the country’s savers, and
political figures are now speaking out.
Last week, Schaeuble was quoted
in media reports as saying: “I told
Mario Draghi: be very proud -- you
can attribute 50 percent of the results
of a party that seems to be new and
successful in Germany to the design of
this (monetary) policy.”
The AfD party was originally
launched as an anti-euro platform, but
has subsequently adopted a populist
xenophobic message, on the back of
which it made large gains in regional
elections last month.
The ECB is battling to push up the
rate of inflation in the single currency
area to levels it considers compatible
with healthy economic growth and
insists its mandate must only take into
account the single currency area as a
whole, not individual countries.
The spat has led some unexpected
allies to rally around Draghi. French
Finance Minister Michel Sapin leapt to
the central bank’s defence.
“France has learned, with difficulty,
that the ECB’s independence must be
respected absolutely and completely,” he
said, urging Germany to show the same
restraint it had so frequently preached
to it and other countries in the past.
“The Germans mustn’t lose their
good habits,” Sapin said.”Our German
friends” should remember that they
themselves had always stressed the
need for the ECB to be independent, he
added.
Even Bundesbank president Jens
Weidmann, also an outspoken critic of
the ECB’s policies, joined in the fray.
“It’s not unusual for politicians to
have opinions on monetary policy, but
we are independent,” he said.
“The ECB has to deliver on its
price stability mandate and thus an
expansionary monetary policy stance
is appropriate at this juncture regardless
of different views about specific
measures.”
Weidmann, who has himself often
been at loggerheads with Draghi over
the ECB’s response to the threat of
deflation in the euro area, argued that
the debate in Germany focused too
narrowly on the consequences of low
interest rates for savers.
“The debate does not focus enough
on the broader macroeconomic
consequences of monetary policy.
People are not just savers: they’re
also employees, taxpayers, and debtors,
as such benefiting from the low level of
interest rates,” the Bundesbank chief
said. ECB watchers said Draghi, never
one to allow himself to be put under
pressure, would use the news conference
to assert the bank’s independence.
“We doubt very much that the ECB
will be swayed by political pressure,”
said McKeown at Capital Economics.
Draghi would “fiercely defend ECB
independence. — AFP
UNITED AGAINST TERROR
A girl lays a flower on a street memorial during a rally called “The march against
the fear, Tous Ensemble, Samen Een, All Together” in memory for the bomb attack
victims in Brussels on Sunday. — AFP
A campaigner with the “Britain Stronger In Europe” hands out leaflets in Brixton, south London on Tuesday. Polling day where
Britain will vote to leave or remain in the European Union will take place on 23 June.
— AFP
‘Scotland should hold new referendum if forced out of EU’
LONDON: Scotland should have the
right to hold a new referendum on
independence if the country is taken
out of the European Union “against our
will”, the leader of the Scottish National
Party (SNP) said on Sunday.
Facing a British referendum on
whether to stay in the European Union
on June 23, Nicola Sturgeon used her
party’s manifesto before the election
Italians go to
polls in drilling
referendum PM
did not want
ROME: Italians were voting in a
referendum on Sunday on oil and gas
drilling concessions which brings to a
head a heated debate fraught with risk
for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and
fuelled by anger over a government
corruption scandal.
Campaigning
has
pitted
environmentalists
against
the
government and big business.
Italians are deciding whether they
want to repeal a law, passed in January,
that says existing concessions within
12 miles (19 kilometres) of the coast
should remain valid until the fields
are depleted, infuriating campaigners
for renewable energy. Renzi’s centreleft Democratic Party (PD), keen to
be seen as pro-business, has called
on Italians not to vote in the hope the
quorum will not be met — sparking a
backlash from opposition parties and
deepening a split within his own camp.
Under Italy’s referendum rules, the
outcome of a popular vote is only valid
if at least 50 per cent of the registered
electorate cast ballots.
At 12.30 pm (1030 GMT) turnout
was around eight per cent, according
to provisional figures from the Interior
Ministry. Environmentalists claim
platforms near the shore present risks
to health and protected habitats.
They insist a “Yes” to reversing
the law would send a clear signal the
country wants to go green and put a
stop to “dirty deals” which benefit oil
companies.
Polling stations opened at 7 am
(0500 GMT) and are scheduled to close
at 11 pm (2100 GMT), with nearly 47
million Italians eligible to vote. “It’s a
hoax referendum, they say it’s about
renewable energy, but actually it would
mean shutting down working rigs with
the loss of 11,000 jobs,” Renzi said this
week, with several leading political
figures slamming him as a liar and
criminal. A recent scandal in Italy that
saw a top minister resign over alleged
favours to French oil giant Total has
spread concerns the law was changed
“as a present to oil companies” such as
Italian giant Eni.
— Reuters
15
for the Scottish parliament next month
to make clear that she wanted another
independence vote in Scotland.
There should be such a referendum,
she said, “if there is clear and sustained
evidence that independence has
become the preferred option of a
majority of the Scottish people”.
“Or if there is a significant and
material change in the circumstances
that prevailed in 2014, such as Scotland
being taken out of the EU against our
will,” Sturgeon, who leads Scotland’s
devolved government, said.
Scots voted 55-45 per cent against
independence in a referendum in
2014, but Sturgeon’s party then won a
sweeping victory in a British election in
May, taking all but three of Scotland’s
59 seats in the parliament. — Reuters
MOSCOW: Russia’s defence ministry
denied on Sunday that a Russian jet
that intercepted a US Air Force plane
earlier this week had acted unsafely,
dismissing the Pentagon’s criticism.
The Pentagon said on Saturday
that a Russian SU-27 had flown
in an “unsafe and unprofessional”
manner while intercepting a US Air
Force reconnaissance plane above
the Baltic Sea on April 14.“The
entire flight of the Russian plane was
conducted in strict compliance with
international rules on the use of air
space,” defence ministry spokesman
Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.
“There were no emergency situations.”
Moscow said the SU-27 had been
dispatched to identify an “aerial target
travelling toward the Russian border
at high speed.” The aircraft detected
by Russia was an American RC-135
plane, which the Pentagon said was
conducting a routine flight. When the
RC-135 established visual contact with
the Russian jet, the American plane
“changed its flight route away from the
Russian border,” Konashenkov said.
Pentagon spokeswoman Laura Seal
said on Saturday that the US aircraft
had “at no time crossed into Russian
territory.” The incident came shortly
after Russian aircraft repeatedly
buzzed the USS Donald Cook this past
week, including an incident Tuesday
in which a Russian Su-24 flew 30 feet
(nine meters) above the war ship in a
“simulated attack profile,” according to
the US military’s European Command.
— Reuters
world
o dinpictures
p ctu es
panorama
16
OMANDAILYOBSERVER
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
SCENT OF SPRING: A woman looks at flowers on a sunny day in Regent’s Park in
London. — Reuters
NOVEL PROTEST: A woman plays with a rooster during a protest against Brazilian
President Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment in Rio de Janeiro. — Reuters
MUD MADNESS: Competitors take part in a obstacle race at Portadown in Northern Ireland on Sunday. Competitors take on two
laps of a muddy 4.5-km course strewn with obstacles. — AFP
PLAY TIME: Young monks play inside the Punakha Dzong, Bhutan, on Sunday.
RIOT OF COLOURS: People participate in the “Colour Run 2016” in Paris. The Colour Run is a five kilometres paint race without winners nor prizes, while runners are showered
with colored powder at stations along the run. — AFP
ART GOES TURTLE: Military officers stand next to a damaged sculpture after an earthquake struck off Ecuador’s Pacific coast, at
the Eloy Alfaro airport in Manta, on Sunday. — Reuters
BULL RUN: Spanish matador Juan Jose Padilla performs a pass to a bull during a
bullfight at The Maestranza bullring in the Andalusian capital of Seville, southern
Spain. — Reuters
CINDERELLA MOMENT: A model presents a dress at an international bridal fashion
trade show in Paris. — AFP
NICE TRY! A snowboarder, wearing a costume of a Russian Interior Ministry officer, falls down in an attempt to cross a pool of
water at the foot of a ski slope at the Bobrovy Log ski resort on the suburbs of the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia. Skiers
and snowboarders took part in the annual “Gornoluzhnik” amateur event marking the end of the ski season at the Siberian
resort. — Reuters
MONDAY | APRIL 18, 2016 | RAJAB 10, 1437 AH
business
OMAN AIR OFFERS MOTORSPORTS HOLIDAY PACKAGES FOR FANS P18
US SAYS CHINA TO SCRAP SOME EXPORT SUBSIDIES P20
Russia, Saudi approve
oil freeze deal: Rumhy
DOHA: Saudi Arabia and Russia have
approved a deal to freeze crude output
until October 1 at January levels and
other producers are expected to do so,
Dr Mohammed bin Hamed al Rumhy,
Minister of Oil and Gas, said in an
interview in Doha.
However, the freeze agreement has
no enforcement mechanism, Dr Al
Rumhy said, though he said he expects
everyone to stick to it. The pact is open
for other producers to join, he said.
At least 16 nations representing
about half the world’s oil output are
gathering on Sunday in the Qatari
capital to discuss the proposal, aimed
at stabilising the oil market. Prior to
the meeting, Saudi Arabia’s Deputy
Crown Prince said the nation wouldn’t
agree to restrain its production unless
other producers, including Iran, agree
to freeze. Iran decided not to attend the
meeting.
The comments from the world’s
largest oil exporter cast doubt on the
outcome of Sunday’s summit. Crude
oil has rallied more than 30 per cent
since an agreement was first mooted
in February. If the group were to fail
to reach an agreement it would lead to
a “severe” drop in prices, Citigroup Inc
predicted before the meeting.
Everybody is “optimistic” Kuwait’s
Acting Oil Minister Anas al Saleh said
before the meeting, adding that a deal
would “hopefully happen.”
share at about 10.3 million to 10.4
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest million barrels a day, if other producers
crude exporter, would cap its market agreed to the freeze, Prince Mohammed
Crude oil has rallied
more than 30 pc since
an agreement was first
mooted in February. If the
group were to fail to reach
an agreement it would
lead to a ‘severe’ drop in
prices.
bin Salman said during an interview
April 14 at King Salman’s private farm
in Diriyah. Iran’s oil minister, Bijan
Namdar Zanganeh, said Saturday he
won’t attend the Doha talks and won’t
be a signatory to any deal as it would
amount to self-imposed sanctions on
the country which is restoring crude
production after the removal of a ban
on its shipments.
“If all major producers don’t
freeze production, we will not freeze
production,” said Prince Mohammed,
30, who has emerged as Saudi Arabia’s
leading economic force. “If we
don’t freeze, then we will sell at any
opportunity we get.”
RUSSIAN OUTLOOK: A Russian
official said Saturday that it was possible
TURN TO P18
Saudi Arabia leads Gulf
stock markets drop
DUBAI: Saudi Arabian stocks led declines across
most Gulf Arab equity markets as investors await
the outcome of a gathering of major oil producing nations
in Doha.
The Tadawul All Share Index dropped 1.1 per cent to
6,439.85 at 2:15 pm local time.
Dubai’s DFM General Index lost 0.7 per cent as the
Bloomberg GCC 200 Index, which tracks the largest and
most liquid shares across the six-nation Gulf Cooperation
Council, retreated 0.6 per cent.
Abu Dhabi’s ADX General Index extended gains a
seventh day, adding 0.5 per cent.
Equities in the GCC are tied closely to the price of oil,
which generates the bulk of government revenue in the
region.
Abu Dhabi’s gauge posted the longest winning streak in
more than a month as trading volumes jumped to 46 per
cent above the 20-day average.
More than half of those shares, 95 million, were in Dana
Gas PJSC, which advanced 3.6 per cent.
The shares have gained 12 per cent this month as the
company said it’s receiving payments in Iraq and after
reports its partner and main shareholders are in talks to start
receiving gas from Iran.
Kuwait’s SE Price Index added 0.3 per cent, even as about
40 per cent of oil workers in the country went on strike,
CNBC Arabia reported, citing the head of the country’s oil
workers union.
Qatar’s QE Index lost 0.5 per cent and Bahrain’s BB All
Share Index was little changed. — Bloomberg
www.omanobserver.om
editor@omanobserver.om
COMMODITY SLUMP PUSHES AFRICA BACK INTO IMF’S EMBRACE P21
Oman LNG 2015 revenue at $2.6bn
CONRAD PRABHU
MUSCAT
April 17: Majority government owned
Oman LNG, which operates a threetrain natural gas liquefaction plant at
Sur, has announced revenues of $2.612
billion for 2015, down from the previous
year’s figure of $4.074 billion — a decline
attributed primarily to the collapse in
international oil and gas prices, as well
as a shortfall in LNG production.
The slump in revenues was the
steepest in the last five years, reflective
of the devastating impact that the oil
price crash continues to wreak upon
energy producing economies, such as
Oman. It compares with record high
revenues of $4.491 billion achieved in
2013, up from $4.342 billion in 2012,
and $3.963 billion in 2011.
Net income after tax (NIAT) also
plummeted to $965 million in 2015,
down from $1.768 billion a year earlier,
the company said in its 2015 Annual
Report.
Summing up the impact on the
company’s performance in 2015 and
the outlook for the current year, Dr
Mohammed bin Hamed al Rumhy,
Chairman of the Board of Directors of
Oman LNG, said: “We enter 2016 with
oil and gas prices still languishing at
Oman LNG revenues vs Net Income After Tax (NIAT) over the 2011 – 2015 timeframe
values more than two thirds below their
mid-2014 high. To say that this does
not present challenges to our company
would be to deny the undeniable.
The company has shown wisdom in
responding to this challenge; as we
have had to initiate some serious cost
optimisation and take measures to
create more efficiencies in all areas of
our business.”
Harib al Kitani, Oman LNG Chief
Executive Officer, commented: “Despite
some encouraging signs early this year,
the time has not yet arrived to declare
a reversal of the oil and gas price trend.
It is expected to come in due course,
and in the meantime several budgetary
restraints will continue in the oil and
gas industry, including Oman LNG.
This has not undermined the health of
either our balance sheet or our company
strategic objectives.”
LNG production slumped to 7.91
million tonnes in 2015 — the lowest
since 2011 — as natural gas was diverted
TURN TO P18
insideoman
business
b
i
Oman Air offers motorsports
18
Bank Dhofar Q1 net profit rises 15.1 pc
OMANDAILYOBSERVER
Bank Dhofar, the second-largest lender in the sultanate by assets, posted a 15.1
per cent rise in first-quarter net profit on Sunday. The lender made a profit of RO
13.56 million ($35.26 million) in the three months to March 31, versus RO 11.78
million in the same period of last year, the company said in a bourse statement.
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
holiday packages for fans
MUSCAT: Oman Air Holidays is
offering two very special packages for
motorsports fans, who are invited to
watch superstar Omani driver Ahmad
al Harthy race at two of Europe’s most
iconic circuits.
With prices starting from just RO
464, the packages have been designed
to celebrate the Oman Racing Team’s
eagerly-anticipated participation in the
Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup
at Monza in Italy, and Silverstone in
the UK. Oman Air is a major sponsor
of the Oman Racing Team and Ahmad
al Harthy is a brand ambassador for the
airline.
Each package includes return flights
from Muscat, return airport transfers,
accommodation for four nights on a
twin share basis, daily buffet breakfasts,
day return transfers from the hotel to
the racing circuit and tickets to the race.
Motorsports fans who wish to
attend the Monza race can choose
from Business Class or Economy Class
packages. The Business Class option
includes airport lounge access, return
flight to Milan in Oman Air’s exclusive
Business Class cabin — which offers
fully lie-flat seating and a la carte
inflight dining — and accommodation
at the luxurious five-star Boscolo
Milano Autograph Collection hotel
BUSINESS REPORTER
MUSCAT
in Milan. The Economy Class option
offers accommodation at the stylish NH
Milano Touring Hotel in Milan.
Business Class packages to Monza
cost as little as RO 1,175 per person and
Economy Class packages are available at
just RO 464 per person.
The UK packages include return
flights from Muscat to London on
either of the airline’s two daily services.
Accommodation for Business Class
customers is offered at the top-of-therange Hilton, Park Lane in London,
whilst Economy Class customers will
enjoy the four-star Hilton London
Paddington.
Business
Class
packages
to
Silverstone are available at RO 1.695
and Economy Class packages cost just
RO 636.
Russia, Saudi approve oil freeze deal
FROM P17
to reach a deal, regardless of Iran
whose crude shipments have risen by
more than 600,000 barrels a day this
month. That increase has added to the
pressure on producer nations to reach
an agreement to prop up prices as
economies from Venezuela to Nigeria
reel from the market rout.
“A no-show by the Iranians is
actually positive for the Doha talks as
all know that they wouldn’t agree at this
stage,” said John Sfakianakis, director of
economics research at the Gulf Research
Centre. “A deal can be reached even if
Iran for now is absent. The sentiment
is still positive as global supply is
falling. The Iranian participation
issue is not significant and will be
reconsidered down the road. There is
enough momentum with the rest of the
members now.” The meeting in Doha
is only relevant if no deal is reached,
prompting a sharp sell-off in the
markets, according to Ed Morse, head of
commodities research at Citigroup Inc.
The recent rebound in oil futures
suggests that the 20-month sell-off
could be hitting a bottom, amid efforts
to reduce the supply glut, OPEC
Secretary General Abdulla El-Badri
said in a statement posted on Saturday
on the website of the International
Monetary Fund.
The credit ratings of more than 10
oil-producing nations in the developing
world were placed on review in March
for a downgrade by Moody’s Investors
Service, which cited the shock of
depressed prices on these economies.
The list includes Russia, Kazakhstan,
Nigeria, Angola, Gabon and five of the
six Gulf Cooperation Council nations
— Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United
Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Qatar,
according to Moody’s.
— Bloomberg
MUSCAT SECURITIES MARKET
MSM Daily Bulletin As on 17/04/2016
Regular Market
Security Name
ISIN
Volume
Turnover
Trades
Open Price
High
Low
Close
Pr.
Prev.
Close
Diff
(RO)
Diff %
Last
Pr
Last
Bid
Last
Offer
Market Cap
Par
Value
OM0000001160
NATIONAL GAS
261,820
85,391
67
0.324
0.330
0.320
0.326
0.300
0.026
8.667
0.326
0.326
0.328
17,930,000
0.100
OM0000003224
RENAISSANCE SERVICES
503,859
117,205
36
0.220
0.240
0.220
0.233
0.222
0.011
4.955
0.230
0.224
0.230
67,721,688
0.100
OM0000002176
AL JAZEERA STEEL PRODUCTS
OM0000002440
AL SHARQIA INVESTMENT HOLDING
OM0000001087
OM0000001707
561,099
95,937
51
0.181
0.181
0.169
0.171
0.166
0.005
3.012
0.169
0.161
0.169
21,357,551
0.100
2,196,077
262,202
124
0.118
0.123
0.117
0.119
0.116
0.003
2.586
0.117
0.116
0.117
10,710,000
0.100
OMAN UNITED INSURANCE
532,000
144,281
31
0.275
0.275
0.262
0.271
0.268
0.003
1.119
0.262
0.262
0.265
27,100,000
0.100
OMAN CABLES INDUSTRY
28,098
47,955
4
1.710
1.710
1.680
1.705
1.695
0.010
0.590
1.680
0.000
1.680
152,938,500
0.100
OM0000001418
RAYSUT CEMENT
13,001
13,916
7
1.070
1.100
1.065
1.070
1.065
0.005
0.469
1.065
1.065
1.100
214,000,000
0.100
OM0000001483
NATIONAL BANK OF OMAN
2,000
540
1
0.270
0.270
0.270
0.271
0.271
0.000
0.000
0.270
0.250
0.269
399,665,726
0.100
OM0000001517
HSBC BANK OMAN
435,000
44,370
16
0.102
0.102
0.102
0.102
0.102
0.000
0.000
0.102
0.102
0.105
204,031,905
0.100
OM0000001749
OMAN CEMENT
1,800
881
2
0.490
0.490
0.488
0.480
0.480
0.000
0.000
0.488
0.486
0.488
158,818,901
0.100
OM0000002168
AL ANWAR CERAMIC TILES
333,000
93,573
9
0.281
0.281
0.281
0.281
0.281
0.000
0.000
0.281
0.266
0.280
83,236,045
0.100
OM0000002200
AHLI BANK
466,908
84,977
4
0.182
0.182
0.182
0.182
0.182
0.000
0.000
0.182
0.170
0.182
259,356,578
0.100
OM0000002366
AL BATINAH DEV. INV. HOLDING
90,700
7,781
6
0.086
0.086
0.085
0.086
0.086
0.000
0.000
0.085
0.085
0.086
2,580,000
0.100
OM0000002549
BANK DHOFAR
124,000
31,620
4
0.255
0.255
0.255
0.255
0.255
0.000
0.000
0.255
0.255
0.256
433,296,357
0.100
OM0000002796
BANK MUSCAT
788,377
313,776
51
0.400
0.400
0.398
0.398
0.398
0.000
0.000
0.398
0.394
0.398
993,507,603
0.100
OM0000003125
GLOBAL FINANCIAL INVESTMENT
4,000
496
1
0.124
0.124
0.124
0.131
0.131
0.000
0.000
0.124
0.120
0.124
26,200,000
0.100
OM0000003711
SOHAR POWER
50
17
1
0.330
0.330
0.330
0.352
0.352
0.000
0.000
0.330
0.318
0.330
77,795,520
0.100
OM0000003968
OOREDOO
328,600
243,136
43
0.740
0.740
0.736
0.740
0.740
0.000
0.000
0.736
0.736
0.792
481,698,730
0.100
OM0000004768
AL MADINA TAKAFUL
19,000
1,412
3
0.075
0.075
0.074
0.074
0.074
0.000
0.000
0.074
0.073
0.074
12,950,000
0.100
OM0000005005
ALMAHA CERAMICS
2,050
820
2
0.400
0.400
0.400
0.404
0.404
0.000
0.000
0.400
0.400
0.404
21,210,000
0.100
OM0000002028
GULF INTERNATIONAL CHEMICALS
373,657
100,863
61
0.274
0.274
0.268
0.270
0.271
-0.001
-0.369
0.268
0.268
0.270
5,670,000
0.100
OM0000003026
OMAN TELECOMMUNICATION
149,889
236,917
25
1.590
1.590
1.550
1.580
1.590
-0.010
-0.629
1.550
1.550
1.580
1,185,000,000
0.100
OM0000001772
AL ANWAR HOLDING
625,792
136,471
67
0.217
0.220
0.217
0.218
0.220
-0.002
-0.909
0.217
0.217
0.219
32,716,350
0.100
OM0000001525
OMAN INVESTMENT AND FINANCE
242,500
51,045
8
0.213
0.213
0.210
0.210
0.213
-0.003
-1.408
0.210
0.202
0.210
42,000,000
0.100
OM0000001533
OMINVEST
400,000
200,000
5
0.500
0.500
0.500
0.500
0.508
-0.008
-1.575
0.500
0.486
0.500
317,895,444
0.100
OM0000002226
AL JAZEERA SERVICES
21,470
5,689
3
0.268
0.268
0.258
0.265
0.271
-0.006
-2.214
0.258
0.244
0.257
16,219,132
0.100
OM0000003398
BANK SOHAR
2,334,906
369,397
30
0.158
0.161
0.157
0.158
0.163
-0.005
-3.067
0.158
0.158
0.160
250,522,272
0.100
OM0000003521
GALFAR ENGINEERING AND CON.
3,964,967
366,867
168
0.097
0.097
0.090
0.093
0.096
-0.003
-3.125
0.091
0.090
0.092
26,968,199
0.100
OM0000001145
PORT SERVICES CORPORATION
306,000
69,265
30
0.230
0.230
0.221
0.226
0.234
-0.008
-3.419
0.222
0.222
0.224
21,479,040
0.100
OM0000001681
OMAN AND EMIRATES INV. HOLDING
446,500
55,289
19
0.125
0.127
0.120
0.124
0.130
-0.006
-4.615
0.120
0.117
0.120
15,112,500
0.100
OM0000003661
VOLTAMP ENERGY
10,000
4,200
5
0.420
0.420
0.420
0.420
0.442
-0.022
-4.977
0.420
0.400
0.420
25,410,000
0.100
OM0000001962
AL MADINA INVESTMENT
616,022
38,051
37
0.061
0.063
0.061
0.062
0.066
-0.004
-6.061
0.062
0.061
0.062
12,843,386
0.100
921
Market Cap
Par
Value
Sum:
CMA attends IFSB meetings in Cairo
16,183,142
3,224,338
Traded Sec.
32
Volume
Turnover
Trades
Open Price
High
Low
Close
Pr.
Prev.
Close
Diff
(RO)
Diff %
Last
Pr
Last
Bid
Last
Offer
3,735,327
279,671
193
0.075
0.077
0.073
0.075
0.073
0.002
2.740
0.074
0.073
0.074
9,375,000
0.100
23,000
2,839
6
0.123
0.125
0.123
0.123
0.120
0.003
2.500
0.125
0.115
0.128
12,300,000
0.100
668
349
1
0.522
0.522
0.522
0.522
0.522
0.000
0.000
0.522
0.470
0.000
1,566,000
1.000
April 17: The Sultanate of Oman
represented by the Capital Market
Authority (CMA) had participated in
the 2016 Islamic Financial Services
Board (IFSB) Annual Meetings in
Cairo, hosted by the Central Bank of
Egypt from April 2016 10 to 12.
The CMA was represented by
Mohamed Said al Abri, DirectorGeneral, Directorate of Issues &
Disclosures at the CMA and Kemal
Rizadi Arbi, Expert/Advisor at the
CMA.
The IFSB is an international standard-
setting organisation that promotes and
enhances the soundness and stability of
the Islamic financial services industry
by issuing global prudential standards
and guiding principles for the industry
which includes banking, capital markets
and insurance sectors.
The IFSB also conducts research
and coordinates initiatives on industry
related issues, as well as organises
roundtables, seminars and conferences
for regulators and industry stakeholders.
During the meeting, the IFSB
Council which was chaired by the
Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt,
Tarek Amer, had resolved to approve the
adoption of a new standard on Guiding
Principles for Retakaful (Islamic
Reinsurance) (IFSB-18).
This new standard aims to provide
the regulatory and supervisory
authorities and market players of the
Takaful industry guidance relating to
Retakaful. In addition, the IFSB Council
had resolved to approve the admission
of 2 organisations into the IFSB
membership.
These include one supervisory
authority, Bank of Tanzania, as an
Associate Member, and one financial
institution, Sohar Islamic Oman, as an
Observer Member.
Oman LNG 2015 revenue at $2.6 bn
FROM P17
by the government primarily to meet
burgeoning demand from the power
generation and water desalination. This
led to the underutilisation of Oman
LNG’s capacity by 2.49 million tonnes
per annum (mtpa) last year, equating
to around 15 per cent of the integrated
3-train plant’s total capacity of 10.4
mtpa.
However, to help offset part of
the impact of market volatility on its
revenue objectives, Oman LNG resorted
to cargo swaps and diversions to
optimise earnings — a strategy that has
been aided by Oman LNG’s integration
with sister firm Qalhat LNG in 2013, the
CEO noted.
A total of 126 cargoes (83 from
Oman LNG and 43 from Qalhat LNG)
were loaded from the integrated Sur
plant in 2015.
Meanwhile, production of natural
gas liquids (NGL) — a byproduct of gas
liquefaction — also suffered its biggest
fall in five years to 241,185 metric tonnes
last year, down from 145,711 metric
tonnes in 2014. NGLs are typically lifted
by state-owned Oman Oil Refineries
and Petroleum Industries Company
(Orpic) for processing into fuel and
other refined petroleum products.
Qalhat LNG revenues at $870m
Revenues generated by Qalhat LNG
as its share of gross earnings from
the integrated three-train LNG plant
amounted to $870 million in 2015.
Qalhat LNG owns the third of the
three liquefactions trains, although
all three trains are operated by Oman
LNG. The Omani government (with a
46.84 per cent stake) and Oman LNG
(with a 36.8 per cent share) are the main
shareholders in Qalhat LNG.
Qalhat LNG has three long-term
sale and purchase agreements (SPAs)
for a total contracted volume of
approximately 3.3 mtpa. The agreements
to supply LNG include a 20-year SPA
with Spain’s Union Fenosa Gas (1.65
mtpa), a 17-year SPA with Japan’s Osaka
Gas (0.8 mtpa) and a 15-year SPA with
Mitsubishi Japan (0.8 mtpa).
BUSINESS ALERT
Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth & Queen Mary 2 calling at Muscat and
Salalah this week
MUSCAT: Khimji Ramdas Shipping, market leaders for
cruise vessel handling in Oman, had a busy and successful
year with approximately 275,000 passengers visiting different
ports in Oman from various brands of cruise ships. The
cruise ships visited Muscat, Salalah and Khasab. The tourists
were thoroughly impressed by the authentic Arab hospitality,
Arab architecture and superior hygiene. The last vessel for the
season would be CS Sea Princess on June 6, 2016, in Muscat
and Seabourn Sojourn on May 10, 2016 in Salalah.
The highlight of the season will be the port calls of Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary 2 in Muscat and Salalah.
MC Jose, CEO of Khimji Ramdas Projects & Logistics Group said that these port calls coincide with the 90th birthday
celebration of H-M Queen Elizabeth II and we are delighted that the British Embassy in Muscat will be celebrating this
event in Muscat with a party alongside the cruise ship Queen Elizabeth during her call in Port Sultan Qaboos. Queen
Elizabeth is scheduled to arrive in Muscat on April 19, 2016 at 0800hrs and sail at 1800hrs on the same day. This will be
followed by the port call of the Queen Mary 2 on April 20, 2016 at 0800hrs. The ocean liner will sail at 2000hrs. These
port calls in Muscat offer a great opportunity for Muscat residents and their children to watch these impressive ships from
Muscat Corniche at 1700 hrs as they turn and set sail to the next port.
2016 Nissan Sentra achieves
Top Safety Pick Plus rating
THE Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS)
upgraded the 2016 Nissan Sentra to its highest rating
of “Top Safety Pick Plus” when equipped with optional
Forward Emergency Braking technology. The Sentra had
previously held the agency’s Top Safety Pick designation
prior to IIHS confirmation of the required front crash
prevention technology performance.
For this year, IIHS has tightened its standards by
requiring a “Good” or better rating in all five of the
crashworthiness categories to earn a “Top Safety Pick”
and making an available front crash prevention system
mandatory for all awards. To earn the IIHS “Top Safety Pick
Plus” designation, a vehicle must earn a “Good” or better
on all five crashworthiness categories and also receive an
“Advanced” or “Superior” rating for front crash prevention.
“Nissan is proud to have another of our core vehicles
recognized by IIHS for vehicle safety,” said Michael Bunce,
vice president, Product Strategy and Planning, Nissan
North America, Inc (NNA). “Nissan has the safety and
security of Nissan vehicle owners and their passengers as its
top priority, so we are glad to see our long-term investment
in safety showing results in these latest IIHS tests.”
Sentra joins the 2016 Altima, Maxima and Murano
in earning the IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus rating. Forward
Emergency Braking is available on 2016 Sentra SR and SL
models equipped with the optional Technology Package.
Parallel Market
Security Name
ISIN
OM0000001566
OMAN FISHERIES
OM0000004776
TAKAFUL OMAN INSURANCE
OM0000001046
PACKAGING CO. LTD
OM0000001053
OMAN TEXTILE HOLDING
4,021
1,287
2
0.320
0.320
0.320
0.320
0.320
0.000
0.000
0.320
0.320
0.352
1,920,000
1.000
OM0000001368
CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS IND.
140,000
4,880
10
0.035
0.035
0.034
0.035
0.035
0.000
0.000
0.034
0.034
0.035
2,975,000
0.100
OM0000001590
MUSCAT FINANCE
128,950
15,180
16
0.118
0.118
0.116
0.118
0.118
0.000
0.000
0.118
0.117
0.118
31,472,438
0.100
OM0000005963
PHOENIX POWER
413,935
62,090
14
0.150
0.150
0.150
0.150
0.150
0.000
0.000
0.150
0.150
0.152
219,390,219
0.100
OM0000004511
ALIZZ ISLAMIC BANK
1,194,800
71,618
17
0.060
0.061
0.059
0.060
0.062
-0.002
-3.226
0.060
0.059
0.060
60,000,000
0.100
OM0000004420
BANK NIZWA
1,403,761
105,392
67
0.077
0.077
0.073
0.075
0.078
-0.003
-3.846
0.074
0.074
0.075
112,500,000
0.100
OM0000002564
AL HASSAN ENGINEERING
77,000
6,111
11
0.080
0.080
0.077
0.079
0.084
-0.005
-5.952
0.077
0.076
0.077
5,941,432
0.100
7,121,462
549,417
337
Traded Sec.
10
Sum:
Trading Summary
9ROXPH
7XUQRYHU
7UDGHV
0DUNHW&DS
8S
'RZQ
(TXDO
6HF7UDGHG
23,304,604
3,773,754
1,258
16,746,194,018
9
15
18
42
+LJK
/RZ
9DOXH
3UHY
9DOXH
'LII
'LII
Nationality
Buy %
Volume
Buy %
Value
Sell %
Volume
Sell %
Value
Indecies
Nationalities Trading
,QGH[
MSM30 Index
5,760.25
5,735.15
5,735.15
5,760.48
-25.33
-0.44
OMANIS
89.34 %
79.81 %
84.59 %
75.99 %
Financial Index
7,395.82
7,326.31
7,326.31
7,388.21
-61.90
-0.84
GCC
5.13 %
9.11 %
2.34 %
3.92 %
Industrial Index
7,003.43
6,953.04
6,953.04
6,978.88
-25.84
-0.37
ARABS
2.85 %
2.15 %
5.25 %
2.79 %
Services Index
3,199.76
3,189.60
3,195.54
3,186.32
9.22
0.29
OTHERS
2.67 %
8.93 %
7.82 %
17.30 %
MSM SHARIAH INDEX
865.68
863.39
863.39
866.89
-3.50
-0.40
Renault Safrane comes with unlimited benefits
THE Renault Safrane from the house of Suhail Bahwan
Automobiles has become synonymous with quality, durability
and performance. With the next generation Safrane, there is a
growing buzz and excitement around the Renault range as the
Safrane is a generously-dimensioned saloon car. It is nicely
balanced proportions, fluid and elegant lines sweeping over
the broad shoulders denote a powerful presence.
Offer highlights on the Renault Safrane
Customers will be entitled to receive assured cash gift of
RO 1000 on Renault Safrane 2.0L/2.5L/3.5L along with other benefits that include free registration, 6 years unlimited
mileage warranty and 2 years/ 30,000 kms free service (whichever is earlier). Customers will also receive free AAA/
Road Assistance card for the first year only and as supported by AAA Oman. The scheme is applicable for all customers
purchasing Renault vehicles for personal use only. A carefully engineered blend of comfort and performance, and a choice
of modern engines, the Safrane has an efficient new chassis including the Nissan multi-link rear suspension arrangement
for enhanced ride comfort and driving pleasure. The Renault Safrane V6 fitted with an automatic six-speed transmission
comes equipped with the Carminat TomTom® navigation system, a solution as efficient as it is easy to update and use, with
the intuitive joystick. The hands-free card allows you to open and close the doors as well as start the engine, without even
leaving your pocket. Bluetooth® technology allows you to make calls in perfect safety.
advertorial
r
business
siness
OMANDAILYOBSERVER
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
Bank Muscat sets benchmark in Premier
banking with customer-centric strategy
MUSCAT: Bank Muscat, the flagship financial
services provider in the Sultanate, has redefined
Premier banking service with global banking
solutions, exclusive benefits and rewards.
Providing personalised service catering to the
complex financial needs of clients, the Premier
banking segmentation reflects the customercentric vision of the bank.
Abdulnasir al Raisi, DGM — Premier
Banking, said: “Marking a long-standing
and strong relationship with clients, the
Premier banking strategy is a step into the
future banking in Oman, reflecting the bank’s
commitment to expand innovative services
to clients and remain the nation’s bank of
first choice. With global financial expertise,
the bank has adopted smarter strategies to
stay ahead in business and provide a distinct
experience for Premier banking clients.”
Al Raisi added: “Aimed at elevating Premier
banking service to unparalleled heights,
the bank serves all Premier customers of
the bank — Private, asalah Priority and al
Jawhar Privilege banking — through one
department. Committed to further enhancing
banking services to the premier segment, the
bank’s strategy focuses on customer service
and benefits with dedicated Relationship
Managers, exclusive centres and online
services. The differentiated and specialised
banking experience distinguishes Premier
banking clients from competitors.”
Bank Muscat, through Private Banking,
is one of the few banks in the Sultanate
catering to the needs of High Net-worth
Individual / Ultra High Net-worth Individual
segment, offering exclusive banking and
investment services. As the HNI segment is
becoming more sophisticated and global in
its requirements, the Private Banking team
constantly endeavours to remain a cut above
the regional banks and match up to its global
peers.
Along with the best of banking services,
including exclusive debit card, credit card,
cheque book, which are unmatched in the
Sultanate, Private Banking provides an
exceptional breadth and depth of wealth
management solutions. The investment
offerings provide exposure to most global
markets and asset classes, through a robust
execution platform and administered through
experienced dedicated Relationship Managers.
The wealth management solutions span
across most developed and emerging markets,
not restricted to the US, the UK, Europe,
China, India, South East Asia, Latin America
and the GCC. Clients can take exposure to
most markets through the Private Banking
platform by investing in different financial
instruments like bonds, equities, Exchange
Traded Funds, Mutual Funds and Alternates.
The segment has tie-ups with reputed global
private banks to provide tailored investment
solutions for more financially savvy investors.
The bank also facilitates the best of real estate
offerings from destinations of choice for clients
19
Bank Muscat Abdul Nasir al Raisi
— DGM Premier banking
Asala
h De
bit C
ard
to invest through tie-ups with global counter
parties of repute.
Besides addressing the regular investment
needs of clients, the segment addresses wealth
protection, which is another important aspect
of Private Banking, by offering exclusive
insurance products covering property,
jewellery, artefacts and household items.
Ensuring complete client confidentiality at all
times, the wealth management solutions are
offered to clients as per their risk appetite and
comfort.
Asalah Priority Banking provides a
differentiated and specialised banking
experience characterised by a profound
understanding of clients’ preferences. Forming
a strong franchise that distinguishes it from
competitors, asalah Priority Banking meets the
requirements of the rapidly growing customer
segment with focus on Recognition, Rewards
and Solutions which have set a benchmark for
personal and relationship based banking in
Oman.
Asalah customers are served by qualified
Relationship Managers (RM) at exclusive
asalah Priority Banking centres in select
branches across the Sultanate. Leveraging its
unmatched nation-wide branch presence,
Bank Muscat offers asalah Priority Banking
services across all regions through the largest
network of 27 asalah centres.
The asalah relationship platform draws
its strength from proximity to customers,
commitment to delivering outstanding service
and dedication of Relationship Managers
trained to deliver the right solutions. The bank
has placed its Relationship Manager talent
pool at the very heart of asalah strategy.
The asalah membership comes with Bank
Muscat’s commitment to delivering value.
Personalised premium products and upgraded
services come with preferential pricing, thereby
multiplying the value of asalah membership
and reducing the cost of transactions.
Benefits include exclusive asalah Platinum
debit card, unlimited and complementary
international airport lounge access, asalah
Entertainer app featuring amazing deals on
fine dining, travel, leisure, entertainment,
beauty and numerous ‘buy one get one free’
offers / e-vouchers plus new and monthly
offers throughout the year covering hundreds
of world class brands in over 15 countries.
asalah clients are also entitled to personal
accident insurance, airport transfer in
Muscat, preferential rates, competitive foreign
exchange rates, fee waivers and discounts
Bank Muscat Premier Banking event at head office
on a range of transactions like remittances,
standing instructions and pay orders. The bank
also offers Oman’s first and exclusive premium
Visa Signature credit card for asalah Priority
Banking customers.
In the vibrant world of privilege banking,
the distinctive identity says it all as al Jawhar
Privilege Banking was introduced recently
to serve the bank’s core customer segment.
Designed around the unique lifestyle and
banking requirements of the largest customer
segment, al Jawhar is the first-of-its-kind
privilege banking service in Oman.
Al Jawhar value proposition is based on
three pillars of commitment to customers —
Recognition, Convenience and Experience —
that form the imprint of premium products
and services. al Jawhar clients are entitled to
express service at select branches and more
than 100 upcoming discount offers on al Jawhar
cards covering retail outlets, restaurants etc.
The value proposition of recognition places
al Jawhar customers in a league of their own.
Notably, al Jawhar Platinum debit card is the
key to a world of exclusive services. Adding
value, al Jawhar credit card benefits include
airport lounge access and free travel insurance.
Premier Banking maintains close relations
and reaches out to clients with a monthly
newsletter covering the latest global, regional
and local economy updates in addition to all
important developments in the bank.
Card
ebit
D
e
t
a
Bank Muscat has lined up exclusive high Priv
value al Mazyona monthly, quarterly and yearend prizes for the Premier banking segment.
The Private Banking clients are eligible for
all al Mazyona prize draws. The exclusive
prizes earmarked for asalah Priority banking
customers include two monthly prizes of RO
50,000 each, two quarterly prizes of RO 250,000
each and the year-end jackpot prize of RO
500,000 for one customer. The bank also offers
special prizes to Al Jawhar Privilege Banking
customers, including two monthly prizes of
RO 25,000 each and two quarterly prizes of
RO 50,000 each. Premier banking customers
can participate in all other al Mazyona weekly, Al Jawhar cards
monthly, quarterly and special prize draws
offering a total prize money of RO 10 million.
Al Raisi said: “Bank Muscat Premier
banking pays much attention to customer
service excellence with world class products
and services. The bank will continue to focus
on providing customers across Oman with
special banking facilities and services that
meet their personalised needs, aspirations and
goals.”
Priva
te ca
rd
Asala
h Vis
a Sig
natu
re
international
business
20
OMANDAILYOBSERVER
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
Apple may cut iPhone SE production
Technology giant Apple is reportedly not planning to produce a large volume of
the iPhone SE that it released last month to offset the slump of its flagship series.
Apple would continue its reduced production of iPhones in the April-June
period in light of sluggish sales, a report in Japan’s Nikkei business daily said.
US STOCKS: Apple off after report on output cuts * Financials snap 5-day winning streak * Indexes down: Dow 0.16pc, S&P 0.1pc, Nasdaq 0.16pc
Investors look for trough in profit downturn
WALL STREET
WEEK AHEAD
NEW YORK: As earnings season shifts
into high gear next week in what is
expected to be the weakest US quarterly
results reporting period since 2009, the
hope among some is that this is as bad as
it’s going to get.
The US earnings recession that began
in the third quarter of 2015 is expected
to continue until the second quarter,
with profits slated to fall 2.2 per cent —
not as bad as the nearly 8 per cent drop
expected in the first quarter.
Reporting ramps up next week, with
results from top tech names Alphabet
International Business Machines and
Intel, as well as a host of consumer
names including Starbucks, Yum Brands
and Coca-Cola Co.
Cautiously optimistic strategists are
pointing to the modest rebound in oil
and other commodity prices, a softening
dollar and slow-but-steady growth in
the US economy as reasons to expect an
improvement in earnings.
The first quarter, should it come in
as expected, would mark a third straight
quarterly decline in earnings and a fifth
straight fall in revenue. Going forward,
year-over-year comparisons should
improve, said Richard Bernstein, Chief
Executive and Chief Investment Officer
at Richard Bernstein Advisors in New
York.
We don’t believe we’re
likely to see an inflection
in earnings (in the second
quarter), but the overall rate
of change is more likely to
moderate.
ERIC WIEGAND,
Senior Portfolio Manager,
US Bank’s Private Client Reserve
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. — Reuters
“All it takes is you just don’t replay
2015,” said Bernstein, who thinks the
low point of the profit downturn may
have been at the end of last year, based
on trailing four-quarter data. He is
overweight sectors he considers sensitive
to the profit cycle — energy, materials,
financials and technology.
US oil prices, at around $40 a barrel,
are well off their mid-February lows
near $26, while the US dollar index is
down 3.7 per cent from a year ago and
US unemployment is now near an eightyear low.
A turnaround in profits would blunt
one of investors’ biggest worries, an
ongoing weak earnings cycle. The S&P
500 has recovered from a sharp earlyyear sell-off and is up 1.8 per cent year to
date, while its price-to-earnings ratio is
More rate cuts if monsoon is good: RBI
WASHINGTON: Reserve Bank of India
Governor Raghuram Rajan (pictured)
said more rate cut decisions by the apex
bank will depend on the inflation and
monsoon rains in the country.
“We’re looking at inflation. If it
continues on a downward path, that
would create room. We’re looking for
signs of a good monsoon. Unfortunately,
India is still somewhat sensitive to
monsoons, though people find it hard
to see a link between monsoon and food
prices,” Rajan said in an interview to The
Wall Street Journal.
Explaining the difference between
good and bad monsoon and its impact
on the economy, Rajan said: “The last
two years have been drought years,
which is typically 15 per cent below
long-period average. So this year the
forecasts are El Niño is going to weaken,
La Niña is going to strengthen. That’s
good for the monsoon. All the forecasts
are it’s going to be good. So I’m crossing
fingers, hoping it works out.”
Earlier this month, the Reserve Bank
of India (RBI) had cut its key lending
rate by 25 basis points.
The repurchase rate, or the shortterm lending rate for commercial banks
on loans taken from the RBI, stands
lowered at 6.5 per cent from 6.75 per
cent. The reverse repurchase rate, or the
short-term borrowing rate, has been
adjusted upward to 6 per cent from 5.75
per cent.
The changes were carried out in the
monetary policy for the current fiscal
announced by Rajan. — IANS
It is an effort to move away from labour-intensive production
China to scrap some export subsidies
to reduce trade friction with US
WASHINGTON: China has agreed to
scrap some export subsidies on a range
of products from metals to agriculture
and textiles, the United States said, in a
step by Beijing to reduce trade frictions
with Washington.
China ended a programme which
provided export subsidies of some
$1 billion over three years to Chinese
companies in seven economic sectors,
the US Trade Representative’s office said.
Some industry executives were
sceptical about the deal’s impact given
remaining disputes over other support
that China gives to its exporting
industries. Steel has been a particular
flashpoint.
One source knowledgeable about the
agreement said it was not comprehensive
enough to do much to help the US steel
industry, given its focus was only on
specialty steel products.
In part, the dropping of the subsidies
is an effort by China to move away
from labour-intensive production
and emphasise more sophisticated
industries such as semiconductors.
“The Chinese want to become a
high-tech country. They want to move
up the value chain,” said James Lewis, a
senior fellow at the Centre for Strategic
and International Studies.
Chinese agriculture products that
will lose the subsidies include apples,
beef, mushrooms, pork, tea, tomatoes,
beans, ginseng, poultry, seaweed and
garlic, the USTR said.
Candidates in the US presidential
election, especially Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, accuse China
of treating the United States unfairly in
trade.
But White House spokesman Josh
Earnest said the accord “is an example
of how committed this administration
is to ensuring that we’re fighting in the
international community for American
businesses and American workers.”
The United States had complained to
the World Trade Organization about the
programme, alleging unfair practises by
China.
The Chinese industries that have
received the subsidies under the
programme include textiles, light
industry, specialty chemicals, medical
products,
hardware,
agriculture
and advanced materials and metals,
including specialty steel and aluminium
products, the trade representative’s
office said.
Since it joined the WTO in 2001,
China has frequently drawn complaints
that its exports are being “dumped,” or
sold at unfairly cheap prices on foreign
markets.
Chinese Embassy spokesman Zhu
Haiquan said Beijing is committed to
WTO regulations. — Reuters
above its long-term average.
Still, the market is 2.5 per cent below
its May 2015 high, and there are plenty
of concerns keeping investors from
becoming too upbeat at this point. Just
28 per cent of investors surveyed this
week by the American Association of
Individual Investors expect higher stock
prices in the next six months, below the
long-term average of 39 per cent.
BIZ BRIEF
China blocks
online publishing
site Medium
BEIJING: A US-based online
publishing platform, Medium, has
been blocked in China, the company
said, the latest service to be affected
as Beijing exerts greater control over
the Internet.
Medium, which allows users,
including companies and media
outlets, to post blogs that readers can
annotate, has been inaccessible since
at least early this week, according to
Internet users in China and tests by
Reuters using tools developed by anticensorship watchdog GreatFire.org.
A representative of San Franciscobased Medium said in an email: “We
are aware of the block and we don’t
have definitive knowledge why the
block has occurred.”
China’s Internet regulator did
not respond to a faxed request for
comment.
Last week, a Medium post about
the Panama Papers leak, detailing the
offshore wealth of various countries’
leaders and their relatives, including
China’s, was widely shared on Chinese
social media.
China has moved to limit access
to coverage of the matter and has
censored online reports about it.
Also last week, Medium said
more than a dozen media outlets
would start publishing on its site, an
arrangement that would have allowed
publications whose websites are
blocked in China to reach users in the
country. Medium joins a range of sites
already blocked in China, including
the blogging platforms WordPress
and Google’s Blogger.
The websites of several major
media outlets are also blocked,
including those of the Economist and
Time, which both become inaccessible
last week after they ran articles critical
of President Xi Jinping.
Under Xi, the government has
tightened control on the Internet and
sought to codify that policy in the law.
Officials say Internet restrictions are
needed to ensure security in the face
of rising terrorism threats. — Reuters
Analysts currently project a 7.8 per
cent decline in first-quarter earnings,
according to Thomson Reuters data, and
Goldman Sachs analysts say forecasts are
still too optimistic.
“Company guidance for Q2 is likely
to be negative, leading to lower EPS
forecast,” they wrote in a research note.
They noted that about 20 per cent of
S&P 500 companies tend to report
forward guidance, and the percentage
of companies lowering expectations has
increased over time, hitting 83 per cent
during the final three months of 2015.
“We expect negative 2016 fullyear EPS revisions will continue as
managements once again issue negative
warnings guidance for the new quarter,”
they wrote.
Also worrying some investors, cash
flow has declined for S&P 500 companies
in the past year, making it harder for
them to buy back shares. Buybacks help
boost earnings numbers on a per-share
basis.
One narrow bit of optimism:
Analysts’ negative revisions in estimates
may be bottoming out. Estimates for the
first quarter dropped by 3.1 percentage
points from the beginning of December
to mid-January, but estimates for the
second quarter fell just 0.9 points from
March 1 to now, Thomson Reuters data
shows.
“We don’t believe we’re likely to see
an inflection in earnings (in the second
quarter), but the overall rate of change
is more likely to moderate,” said Eric
Wiegand, Senior Portfolio Manager at
US Bank’s Private Client Reserve.
Wall Street dipped on Friday as oil
price declines weighed on energy shares
and Apple dragged on the market, but
major indexes still posted gains for the
week.
Energy was the worst performing
sector, ending down 1.3 per cent.
Oil prices fell as traders and analysts
anticipate a weekend meeting of major
oil exporters will do little to clear global
oversupply quickly.
Apple shares dropped 2 per cent,
the biggest drag on the S&P 500 and
Nasdaq. The Nikkei business daily
reported that the company will continue
its reduced production of iPhones in
light of sluggish sales.
— Reuters
AMAC to impose new rules on hedge funds
SHANGHAI: China’s hedge fund operators can expect more stringent regulation from
their self-regulatory industry body in an intensifying crackdown on “Wild East” fraud
and illegal money raising, the Asset Management Association of China (AMAC) said.
AMAC, the self-regulatory body that oversees private funds, said the new rules
were intended to further protect investors’ legal rights and to regulate the private fund
management industry, described by some insiders as a “Wild East” rife with fraud.
Hedge funds have attracted increased scrutiny in China amid fears the relaxed
registration-based licensing regime has allowed fraudsters and shadow-lenders to
proliferate.
The government has adopted a range of measures to clean up unqualified funds,
online financial investment platforms and privately run exchanges.
The new rules, which will officially take effect in July, require fund managers to
fully disclose their investment risks, review the identities of investors, and set up
special accounts to manage capital. China’s regulators will also step up supervision
and punish fund managers who fail to comply. Private fund registrations more than
doubled in 2015 to reach more than 25,000, according to AMAC data.
While many “phantom” funds may have done nothing illegal, the AMAC licence,
a legal requirement for operating a hedge fund, has often been used as cover for
fraudulent peer-to-peer lending platforms, industry insiders say. Some fraudsters also
raise money upfront for bogus funds that are never launched. — Reuters
The Renault Twizy is seen in Montreal, Canada. After 25 years absent from the
North American market, the French automaker launched its small electric car
Twizy. In the next 18 months, at least 600 Twizy will be commercialised in
Canada by Renault partner, the Canadian group Azra. — AFP
Argentina, IMF restore annual fiscal check-ups after decade
WASHINGTON: Argentina will resume annual fiscal check-ups with the International
Monetary Fund this year after a 10-year hiatus, an IMF official said.
The move marks a repairing of relations that soured in the wake of the country’s
default on $100 billion in debt in 2001. Ties between the two hit rock-bottom when
the IMF censured Buenos Aires in 2013 for not meeting an IMF requirement that
members must provide reliable, basic economic statistics.
“It looks like we are going to go for two weeks in September,” said Nigel Chalk, the
Fund’s Deputy Director for the Americas.
The Fund will restart its Article IV missions, in which it assesses the strengths and
weaknesses of the economies of each member country every year.
“It’s a very normal process that we do with every other country,” Chalk said.
The team “will discuss with the central bank, the government, also with civil society
and the private sector to see what is going on.” The shift comes after the sweeping
economic policy changes of President Mauricio Macri, who took office in December
after a long period of IMF-hostile Argentine governments.
Macri has moved to repay defaulted debt and implement market-friendly reforms,
as well as replacing the country’s statistics chief with someone more credible.
Under the previous government of Cristina Kirchner, the government regularly
issued data that showed economic growth far higher and inflation far lower than
mainstream economists believed. — AFP
p
pers
p
pective
business
OMANDAILYOBSERVER
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
21
*Commodity slump pushes Africa back into IMF’s hold
OPAQUE ECONOMY
F
alling commodity prices
have pushed several
African countries back
into the embrace of the
International Monetary
Fund, which has an
opportunity to push for reforms and
inject transparency into opaque
economies.
Top of the list is Angola, Africa’s
second biggest crude producer and
third largest economy, which has not
borrowed from the IMF since 2009 and
just a few years ago had the Fund all but
turning a blind eye to missing billions.
It is hardly alone, with depressed
prices for commodities ranging from oil
to copper sapping the budgets of African
governments and sending them to the
IMF, the “lender of last resort” which
typically imposes tough conditions for
assistance.
Gas-rich Mozambique and gold and
oil producer Ghana, hard hit by the sour
commodity cycle, both inked financial
arrangements with the IMF in 2015,
their first in six years, according to the
Fund’s website.
Ghana’s was a three-year, $918
million assistance deal signed as its fiscal
and current account deficits ballooned.
Africa’s second-largest copper
producer, Zambia, started talks in
March on an aid programme. Lusaka
last signed a financial arrangement with
the IMF in 2008.
And the region’s most industrialised
economy, South Africa, which is also a
major producer of platinum, gold and
coal, may be forced to turn to the IMF
if its credit rating gets downgraded to
junk.
China last week offered Nigeria a
loan of $6 billion to fund infrastructure
projects but Africa’s top oil producer
is still expected to also seek assistance
from the IMF for the first time in almost
two decades.
ANGOLA OIL BLUES: A lot of the
attention is focused on Angola, which
relies on oil for over 95 per cent of
foreign revenue and is emblematic of the
IMF’s involvement in the region.
“The IMF should use the leverage it
has to extract serious concessions and
tangible reforms from the government.
The last time (between 2009 and
2012) it merely gave this authoritarian
government a free ride without any
quid pro quo,” said Ricardo Soares de
Oliveira, an Angola expert at Oxford
University.
A 2011 IMF staff report found that
$32 billion, equal to 25 per cent of GDP,
could be not be accounted for between
2007 and 2010, but barely chided the
government.
“Bearing in mind the scale of the
revenues that Angola has received in the
14 years since the end of its civil war, we
are probably talking about half a trillion
dollars. The IMF should be very cautious
about who it lends money to and under
what terms,” Soares de Oliveira said.
Angola, which opened talks with the
IMF this week, has said it will work with
the Fund on reforms aimed at improving
fiscal discipline, simplifying taxes and
The region’s most
industrialised economy,
South Africa, which is also a
major producer of platinum,
gold and coal, may be forced
to turn to the IMF if its credit
rating gets downgraded to
junk.
increasing public finance transparency.
Finance Minister Armando Manuel
said last week that Angola was not
seeking a rescue package from the IMF
but the Fund said in a statement that
it could lead to a three-year Extended
Fund Facility, a lifeline for economies
with serious balance of payments
problems.
An EFF is significantly different
than the Stand-By arrangement Luanda
signed up for in 2009 as it has a stronger
focus on structural reforms and could
force Angola to begin cleaning up its act.
“Angola is coming back to the
IMF but the global political climate
has changed. There will be pressure
on Angola on transparency,” said
Tara O’Connor, Executive Director of
London-based Africa Risk Consulting.
Asked for comment about its dealing
with Angola, an IMF spokesman
directed Reuters to the Fund’s statements
on its talks.
During the recent boom times with
oil fetching over $100 a barrel, Angola
was able to keep the IMF at arm’s length
and sought oil-backed loans from
China. But analysts say China, which
has its own fiscal worries, has turned off
the taps at a time when oil is closer to
$40 a barrel.
And Angola has found itself with less
crude to sell as more of its oil flows to
China for debt repayment.
Zimbabwe is also banging on the
IMF’s door, seeking its first loan from
the Fund in almost two decades as it
runs out of money with nowhere to turn,
including ally China.
“The Chinese have become impatient
with Zimbabwe because we owe them a
lot of money and we keep agreeing to pay
them and then failing to repay. They are
tired of us now,” said John Robertson, a
Harare-based economist.
Borrowing from China, which critics
say ties financial assistance in Africa to
access to resources, is often an opaque
process that gives other donors pause.
By contrast, dealing with the IMF opens
other doors.
“The IMF stamp of approval
becomes very important. But the IMF
should follow through with the reform
demands. We have to reduce the size of
the government,” said Robertson.
— Reuters
*Home furnishing group IKEA finalising *Corporate lobbying
CONCEPT OVERHAUL
LOBBYING
its biggest revamp in decades
spending at its
stagnation in US
I
n two medieval Dutch cities,
IKEA’s most senior executives
are finalising the biggest
overhaul at the Swedish-born
furniture empire in over 30
years.
The aim is to help the world’s
largest furniture seller better adapt to
changing consumer tastes, manage its
increasing size and avoid the fate of
other dominant retailers overtaken by
new market entrants.
However, some academics say
the changes, which effectively involve
breaking up the IKEA Group, could
also disrupt the smooth running that
makes IKEA so efficient.
The IKEA Group announced the
plan to transfer ownership of some
operating entities to a small Delftbased company which owns the IKEA
brand last June. However, the 250-word
statement attracted little attention.
The decision to rip up an
organisational blueprint drawn up by
founder Ingvar Kamprad in the 1980s
was taken at a secret meeting just
outside Copenhagen in late 2014.
The meeting gathered the board
of Inter IKEA, which is chaired by
Kamprad’s youngest son Mathias and
owned by a Liechtenstein foundation.
The little known company currently
plays a small operational role in the
IKEA universe, employing 1,500
people, compared to 160,000 at the
IKEA Group, which is technically a
Leiden-based company called INGKA
Holding.
INGKA currently manages almost
everything that most customers see as
IKEA — the stores, furniture design,
manufacturing, procurement and
logistics. But Inter IKEA owns the rights
to the IKEA brand, patents and business
processes — collectively considered to
be the IKEA ‘concept’.
It is responsible for developing the
concept but its leaders acknowledge this
hasn’t changed much in decades and
former executives said the unit’s main
role was to reduce the overall IKEA tax
bill by charging INGKA for the use of
L
the IKEA brand.
At their 2014 meeting, the directors
of Inter IKEA unanimously agreed
to massively expand its role and take
control of design, manufacturing,
procurement and logistics from
INGKA. Since it owned the rights to the
IKEA concept, it could do this. The aim,
it says, is to protect IKEA for the future.
“It has been a pretty static concept,”
said Torbjorn Loof, Chief Executive of
Inter IKEA Systems BV, the unit that
will, in September this year, take on the
design and other functions.
“(There) is always also the risk that
you keep that concept, you protect that
and make it better and better and better,
and things in the world around you
happen, and suddenly you stand and
say, you know what, this is maybe not
relevant,” the Swedish-Italian executive
said as his boss, Inter IKEA Group CEO,
Soren Hansen looked on, nodding.
The executives were speaking at the
New low-margin market
entrants and online players
like Amazon.com are making
life harder for everyone in
retail.
IKEA “Concept Center” in Delft which
combines an office wing housing Inter
IKEA’S headquarters, and an IKEA
store, all clad in familiar blue and yellow
corrugated metal sheeting. Inter IKEA
uses the store, the only one its runs,
to test new ideas such as the high-end
bakery recently installed at the exit.
But the IKEA concept needs to
change more fundamentally if it is
to satisfy the growing number of
customers who are requesting IKEA
stores in city centres and the ability to
buy online and pick up from drop-off
points. Loof says he can’t redesign the
business concept without control over
key functions like logistics.
Getting it right is important. New
low-margin market entrants and online
players like Amazon.com are making
life harder for everyone in retail.
“We have been a little bit protected
in the home furnishing business,
in margin pressure in my view, if I
compare with supermarkets or do it
yourself businesses,” said Loof, known
to colleagues as ‘Tobbe’.
Over the past five years, INGKA’s
margins have been 14 per cent, and
Inter IKEA’s have been even higher.
Supermarket groups like Germany’s
Metro AG and do-it-yourself groups
like Home Retail Group and Kingfisher
Plc have typically enjoyed margins
under 5 per cent. Amazon’s margin has
been under 2 per cent. — Reuters
obbying spending in the United States has stagnated at a little
over $3 billion a year ever since the 2008 financial crisis (thanks in
part to changes in lobbying rules). But the rankings of lobbying’s
big spenders have shifted, according to data from the Centre for
Responsive Politics, a non-profit research group.
For example, Google, now Alphabet, spent just $180,000 on lobbying
when it went public in 2004, putting it at 1,892 in the national lobbying
rankings. Now it’s in twelfth place, with a $16.7 million tab in 2015. Within
Corporate America, Internet-related entities, retail and real estate have
seen the biggest jumps in lobbying spending over the past five years.
The tech industry, once known for its aversion to government wheelgreasing, now embraces its inner lobbyist. It has nearly tripled its lobbying
spending since 2010. Copyright, patent and trademark issues remain top
priorities for the tech industry, along with business battles with telecoms.
Tech companies’ lobbying efforts also seek to shape public policy on
everything
from
the laws governing
Uber’s drivers to
those
affecting
Google’s driverless
cars.
Retail lobbying
jumped 31 per cent
to $58.1 million
from $44.4 million
between 2010 and
2015, with spending
led by CVS ($15.2
million), Wal-Mart
($6.7 million) and an industry advocacy group, the National Retail
Federation ($6.5 million). Among other things, retailers are challenging
unions, a national minimum wage, and corporate tax rates.
Real estate lobbying spending jumped 19 per cent to $77.4 million from
$65.1 million between 2010 and 2015, led by the National Association
of Realtors. The NAR wants to lower Federal Housing Administration
mortgage insurance premiums and end life-of-loan mortgage insurance
requirements, among other issues.
Here are the top issues for industries that have increased their lobbying
spending the most over the last five years:
The pharmaceutical industry has spent the most of any industry on
lobbying since 1999 (in part because of the industry’s deep involvement
with government programs like Medicare and Medicaid, as well as with
federal agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration). Pfizer was
the second biggest corporate spender on lobbying in the pharmaceutical
industry last year, at $9.4 million. Pfizer has the same concerns as others
in the industry, such as potential price controls and patent protection. But
it also lobbied on tax policy while pursuing a merger with Allergan — a
deal that has since fallen apart over inversions.
— Bloomberg
MONDAY l APRIL 18, 2016 l RAJAB 10, 1437 AH
editor@omanobserver.om
www.omanobserver.om
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·····
Accounting
VILLA for rent in Al
Ansab consist of 3 rooms
with its facilities, RO500.
94664635/95850345.
WE now offer discount
of 60% for Auditing,
Accounting, Balance
Sheets, feasibility studies,
taxation services and free
advice. Hurry pay your
–ƒš‡•–‘ƒ˜‘‹†Žƒ–‡ϐ‹‡•Ǥ
94652276
·····
·····
·····
FREE
INFORMATION
ABOUT ISLAM
If you would like
to know more
about
Islam, please
call:
Tel : 99425598,
99250777,
99353988,
99253818,
99341395,
99379133, For
ladies: 99415818,
99321360, 99730723
Or visit:
www.11coman.om
www.islamfact.com
·····
VILLA for rent behind
Bausher Suq. 2 bedrooms +
majlis. RO 350. 96963034,
24592042
·····
FLAT for rent near
Church Darsait + NIIT
new building.
92107267.
·····
·····
·····
CLASSIFIED SECTION:
AII HP, Epson, Canon,
Lexmark, Samsung
AIR-conditioned and
spacious apartment in
South Al Maabela consists
of 3 bedrooms and majlis
with toilets for each room
+ sitting room and kitchen,
close to public water.
99760908
2 BEDROOMS with toilets,
one sitting room with toilet.
Contact. 993803465.
·····
on UNBEATABLE prices
·····
RENT for family offered
by the owner. Apartment,
2 bedrooms + majlis. Near
Al Ghubra Health Centre
at RO 350. 99346417,
95548774
·····
All Cartridges also
available
GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!!
VILLA in North Al Hail
consists of 4 bedrooms
with toilet for each room
+ sitting room, kitchen
with airconditioner and
car parking.
99700408.
ELFAYED for sedative
investment in Salalah
introduces the best price
and utilities, for rent:
—’‡”ˆ—”‹•Š‡†ϐŽƒ–•ǡ
daily, monthly and yearly.
98035135/ 96177304/
91788999.
RO 10.900 only
comsuply@omantel.net.om
For Rent
NEW villa in
Al Khoudh 6 is offered for
rent. The premise
comprises 6 bedrooms,
male majlis, female
majlis, a split unit airconditioned family living
room and 8 toilets.
99668686.
3 in 1 Printer
Ruwi: 24792-792
·····
·····
HP2130
ȍ͵
VILLAS for sale/
rents KABIR/AL
),
ȋŠ‘’•Ȁ‘ˆϐ‹…‡•
for rent/ Al
Khuwair)
(Flats for rent/
Wadi Kabir).
ͻ͸ͷͻ͸͵ͶͺǤ
COMPUTER SUPPLIES
For Rent
SHOWROOM in Al
Khoudh Market for rent.
94887300.
For Sale/Rent
GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!!
GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!!
SPECIAL Rates on
New Cars & 4 WDs
PEST CONTROL
OMAN CO. LLC.
GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!!
Rent a Car
Ali al Maashari: 99639264 ali.almashari@omandaily.om
Mohammed al Rashdi: 99841230 m.alrahdi86@yahoo.com
94501166
DIRECT: 24649595 — FAX : 24649590
c ass fieds
classi
eds
CLASSIFIEDS
OMANDAILYOBSERVER
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
Situation Wanted
Situation Vacant
URGENTLY required
experienced MEP
Engineers and
Estimators. Contact
95229608, 93214092
or gulfemaar@gmail.com
·····
WANTED A Bilingual
Sales Executive, with
3 to 4 years experience
& driving licence.
Should be dynamic and
capable of planning
sales forecast, calls
and reports. Fluency in
Arabic must. Email CV to
vijay@bigllcoman.com
LOOKING for
Accountant
for cosmetic
industry having
experience in retail
and inventory
24704636,
email: saadest@
omantel.net.om
·····
LOOKING for a lady
marketing in publicity
and advertising. Visa
available. Contact
93946622 or mail:
Ali.matani2@gmail.com
PROJECT Manager/ civil
engineer wanted!
Wanted civil engineer for
a reputed construction
company, minimum 10
years of experience in
civil and valid licence
required. 95739143,
email: admin@
omanihome.com
·····
·····
·····
REQUIRED: 1. A/C
Technicians,
2. Carpenters,
3. Electricians,
4. Plumbers,
5. Painters,
6. General Helpers.
Contact No: 94147874,
24504281. E-mail:
globalaccessunited@gmail.
com
·····
PRIVATE driver required
99332463.
·····
URGENTLY required
Expatriate Heavy Duty
Drivers, JCB Operators
with valid Omani licence.
Send your CV to gdsoman@
gdsoman.com. Contact:
99890076, 93894018,
Fax: 24590866.
·····
SUBCONTRACTORS
required: SME contractors
interested in telecom side
— civil and underground
telephone cable
laying work — may contact
Mr S Ravi 99424605
or Mr Sayed.99358733
of National Telephone
Services Co LLC.
·····
A COMPANY specialised
in pest control seeks to
hire Omani chartered
accountants and
receptionists
with a command in English
language. 99015218.
·····
JOB opportunity in
engineering consultancy
‘ˆϐ‹…‡ˆ‘”ǣ
- Architect engineer
- Civil/ structural
engineer
- Civil/ supervision
engineer
Experience: 3 years
and more, e-mail CV to:
hr.oman.eng@gmail.com
·····
FIBER Glass workers
wanted!
Urgently required
experienced forman
and 3 workersˆ‘”ϐ‹„‡”
glass work, for a reputed
construction company.
95739143, email:
admin@omanihome.com
·····
HIGH Pressure Trading
ǡ›†”‘ϐŽ‘™ǡ
looking for Accounts
Clerk and PRO with one
or two years experience
in Sohar kindly send your
CV with expected salary
ƒ–ǣƒŽœ—Žϐ‹̷‡‹Ǥƒ‡
·····
A NEW medical complex
in Izki required medical
staff:
- 2 General doctors.
- 1 Specialist
obstetrician and
gynaecologist.
- 2 Paediatrician and
specialist.
- 1 Dermatologist.
- 1 Spec phys
otorhinolaryngology.
- 2 X-Ray technicians.
- 2 LAB technicians.
- 2 Pharmacists.
94359172.
·····
A LEADING international
‘’ƒ›‹–Š‡ϐ‹‡Ž†‘ˆ
information technology
headquarter in Ruwi
seeks an Omani female
(secretary) holder
of general diploma
‡”–‹ϐ‹…ƒ–‡ƒ†ƒ”‡•‹†‡–
of Wilayat Muttrah.
The CV is emailed to
rm.allawaty@gmail.com
10 YEARS experience in
Procurement, Tenders,
Importing, marketing and
Sales, Organising Events.
Have car. NOC available.
Contact 94123939
·····
OMAN experienced
Indian Lawyer, (35) BA,
Arabic, LLB, MBA. Knows
English, Arabic. Looking
for suitable position in
Ž‡‰ƒŽϐ‹”‘”…‘’ƒ›Ǥ
Presently working as
a legal adviser. NOC
available. 97351649.
E-mail: advocatesharaf@
gmail.com
·····
INDIAN male, 42, MBA, Sr
Material Controller with 12
years experience in Oman
with reputed companies.
Having Omani driving
licence, seeks suitable
replacement immediately.
NOC available. Contact
92944026, email:
charanjeet35@yahoo.co.in
·····
INDIAN male, 12 years
experience in printing
and advt production and
Marketing, seeks suitable
placement. 92972898.
·····
INDIAN, male, BE in
Electrical and electronics
with Post Graduate
Diploma in Power
Systems (Transmission
and distribution), seeks
placement. Presently in
Oman on visit. Contact
94669679. E-mail:
prsabarish@gmail.com
·····
INDIAN male, 23 years, BBM
graduate with computer
knowledge, having 2 years
experience in accountancy
looking for accounts, admin,
stores or sales. Currently on
visit visa 95356512.
·····
LOOKING for job. Electrical
Engineer from India having
5 years of experience in the
ϐ‹‡Ž†‘ˆ•ƒŽ‡•ǡƒ”‡–‹‰ǡ
brand management,
business development and
also having experience on
events and exhibitions.
Currently in Muscat on
family visit visa. Abhishek
Ganguly. 91912078.
E-mail: ganguly1508@gmail.
com
·····
URGENTLY required
Building Technician.
98111363.
LOOKING for job. MBA
Finance from pakistan
with 3 years and 9 months
experience in accounts
ƒ†ϐ‹ƒ…‡†‡’ƒ”–‡–Ǥ
Currently in Muscat
on Family visit visa.
Muhammad Numar Aslam.
90590037
·····
·····
·····
8-YEARS experience as
a telecommunication
engineer in installation,
maintenance and
management. Contact
95626998.
·····
INDIAN male, 29 years,
BSc graduate with Omani
driving licence and 7 years
of sales experience in home
appliances, IT products,
‘„‹Ž‡ƒ†–”ƒˆϐ‹…•ƒˆ‡–›
equipment. Currently
working on employment
visa, NOC available, seeking
for suitable placement
immediately. 97890607.
Email: ashrafambar@gmail.
com
·····
INDIAN male (23)
commerce graduate, 1 year
experience holding Omani
licence, looking for suitable
placement in marketing,
sales, admin and accountant.
97433177, 99723207.
Email: agharakv@gmail.com
·····
STP OPERATOR, 20 years
experience. 93089468,
93550661.
·····
AN MBA with more than 10
years of sales & marketing
experience in Gulf and 1.6
years in Oman in electronics
& appliances division.
Having Omani driving
licence, NOC available.
91298641
·····
INDIAN male, 23 years
PG Dip in Petroleum
Engineering and B.Tech in
Mechanical Engineering
Holding UAE driving licence,
seeks suitable placement
immediately. 95880127,
95084905, vijith2573459@
gmail.com
Situation Wanted
CIVIL Engineer, 14 years
of experience, 8 years
at GCC at Dar alhndasah
Consultant, Al Raghe
Construction building
and infrastructure
culverts, bridges, road.
93068195. E-mail:
hamadamans2007@
yahoo.com
BATCHING Plant Operator,
15 years experience in UAE
and Qatar, seeks immediate
placement in Oman. Contact
for details: 99264294
Mohanan.
·····
ACCOUNTANT
(Indian female, 30 years),
well experienced, B.Com
with computerised
accounting packages,
presently on family visa,
looking for a job in Salalah.
Contact. 99087175.
·····
INDIAN male 23, BCom,
IATA (Cargo), 1 year
experience, good computer
skills, looking for suitable
position in cargo/
admin/accounts/back
‘ˆϐ‹…‡Œ‘„Ǥ97826180,
nihalsiddheeque@gmail.
com
·····
MBA, HR Marketing (male
26), 3 years experience in
Noor Islamic Bank (UAE),
1 year HR Coordinator
looking for suitable
placement. 901462412,
mabeenkottekaran@gmail.
com
·····
25 years experienced
supervisor in plumbing
ƒ†ϐ‹”‡ϐ‹‰Š–‹‰ǡƒ˜ƒ‹Žƒ„Ž‡
NOC and driving licence.
95912720.
·····
INDIAN male, B.Com,
ϐ‹ƒ…‡ƒ†Ǥ
Diploma in logistics
looking for suitable
position. 92501866,
sirajudheenkm.22@gmail.
com
GULF experienced Indian
graphic
designer, familiar in
Photoshop, Illustrator,
InDesign, Coral Draw
looking for immediate
placement. Contact
96397486., www.
karloanthony.portfoliobox.
net
INDIAN Commerce graduate
with MBA Finance, having
9 years experience seeks
suitable placement. Contact
0096893655079,
00919916317946
·····
INDIAN male 25, 2 years
experience in UAE. B.Com,
good computer skills,
looking for suitable position
·····
in auto spare parts/sales.
Knows all catalogues like
3 years experienced
Pakistani driver looking for a Toyota, Nissan, Suzuki
etc. Currently on visit.
job. 95776320.
909694804. e-mail: fahu.
·····
fahadkc56@gmail.com
MBA marketing and
ϐ‹ƒ…‡ǡ†‹ƒˆ‡ƒŽ‡ǡ
10 years business and IT
experience in sales and
marketing, consulting,
product management rules
in banking and sustainability
currently on visit visa,
Ž‘‘‹‰ˆ‘”•—‹–ƒ„Ž‡’”‘ϐ‹Ž‡Ǥ
95431357.
·····
INDIAN female BTech civil
engineer with 3 years
experience. Having sound
knowledge of Revit Stad
software on family visa.
Looking for suitable post.
94537638.
·····
INDIAN female, IT graduate,
BE (Hons) Systems
Administration with 2 years
experience in teaching,
seeks suitable position
in education/training
industry, communication.
96447091. fatimahaq24@
outlook.com
INDIAN female, MBA (25)
seeking job in marketing,
ϐ‹ƒ…‡ǡƒ†‹‹•–”ƒ–‹‘ǡ
knowledge of Tally ERP 9,
having 1 year marketing
experience. Contact
95910427. E-mail:
ritashivprasad111@gmail.com
·····
Required
·····
·····
·····
23
····
EDUCATIONAL Institution
interested in hiring trainer
specialist in teaching
English language and
must be native English. To
Scheduling an interview
please send your CV to
alomani_institute1990@
yahoo.com
·····
ASSISTANT purchase
manager, 9 years experience
in Oman in construction
companies. Computer
skills driving licence
marketing experience.
98894178.
·····
INDIAN female with nearly
10 years of experience
in administration and
HR, seeking for a suitable
placement. NOC available.
99242841.
CERTIFIED Fumigator
who can handle all
types of fumigation
services for a reputed
Trading Company in
Muscat. Should have
relevant educational
“—ƒŽ‹ϐ‹…ƒ–‹‘ǡ
‡”–‹ϐ‹…ƒ–‡•ǡ‡š’‡”‹‡…‡
in fumigation service,
good co-ordination
skills and having
driving licence.
Interested candidates
may forward their
CV with copies of
‡†—…ƒ–‹‘ƒŽ…‡”–‹ϐ‹…ƒ–‡•
and work experience
within 10 days to:
almarooj@omnatel.
net.om
·····
Manpower
WE provide cleaning and
loading staff. MODERN
SPARKLE LLC.
+968 95367541.
·····
F O R
USED cars - Saloon cars, SUV 4WD, Mini Bus,
Water Tanker and Pick-ups - for sale on as-iswhere-is basis. Further, used protacabin (10
Nos) and steel scrap also available for sale.
These can be inspected at NTs Camp in Ghala.
Interested parties may contact on 99259157/
93891398. Sealed offers with vehiclewise/ item number-wise quotes should be
submitted on or before 25th April 2016 with
security deposit.
FRIENDS MANPOWER:
Filipino housemaids
and all kinds of workers.
24489268 Tel:/Fax:
24478153, 92462496.
·····
KHALIFA Al-Sinani
Manpower — labourers
& housemaid from
Indonesia, Kenya, Uganda
and other countries. Al
Suwaiq. To communicate
26713500, 26713600.
·····
Missing Certificate
PRABHU Prasad, diploma
in civil engineering, board
of Technical Education,
UP, serial No: 009591, roll
No: 1063, year of passing:
1994. 93086235,
23211477.
·····
SHANKO K, degree of
bachelor of engineering
in civil engineering,
Anna University
Chennai, Register
No: 11704103033,
year of passing: 2010.
97829942, 23211477.
For Sale
SHOP FOR SALE
Tiles & sanitary wares
showroom, Rustaq
Sanaiya (before Jabreen
Showroom). 97844477,
97844474.
·····
COROLLA 2009 offered for
sale by the owner. Drove
67,000 km only at RO 3,200.
99346417, 95534693.
·····
MAHMAD Abdul Shaikh
has lost Indian passport
No K0755626. Finder
please handover to ROP.
·····
RAJEB Khamis Rajeb has
lost Tanzanian passport No
AB540726. Finder please
handover to ROP.
·····
MOHAMMED Jahangir
Alam has lost Bangladeshi
passport No RO948731.
Finder please handover
to ROP.
RESTAURANT in an
excellent location in Salalah
with equipment and
workers. 93397812.
·····
ͳȎ
behind GUtech is
offered for sale. The
land enjoys a permit for
twin-villa.
2) A LAND is for sale in
Al Maabela 8 owner.
95959166.
·····
FROM owner, land in wilayat
USED prop jacks and
of Qurayat in Bamma near
health Centre, 1124 sqm2.
Scaffolding. 99433260,
92173113, 99631363.
98027800.
·····
·····
A SHOWROOM in Al Qurum
in strategic location with
extravagant interior design
on 280 sqm is offered for
sale at
RO 25,000. 92470024.
Flat for sale
3 rooms + living room +
kitchen + 3 bathrooms, Al
Amerat, Phase 6 115m2,
ϐ‹”•–ϐŽ‘‘”Ǥ͵͸ǡͻͲͲ
92509363.
·····
·····
Services
·····
Lost
S A L E
1. AC maintenance and
servicing.
2. Fridge, washing
machine and dish
washer repairing.
3. Painting and cleaning
services. 4. Electrical,
plumbing and carpentry
work 97014234,
99447257, 24504281.
·····
WE offer you the Business
Services: Maintenance of
buildings and villas for
paint and carpentry and
decoration works and
installation of material water
proof and cleaning services
building management and
leasing of real estate (Out
motto is to provide quality
in all our business). Muscat
Renaissance Development
and Investment.
99070093.
MAINTENANCE: 1. AC
Maintenance & Servicing;
2. Fridge, Washing Machine
& Dish washer repairing; 3.
Painting & cleaning services;
4. Electrical & Plumbing
Carpentry work. Contact:
99447257, 97014234,
24504281.
·····
PROVIDES all kinds of legal
works, LLC registration,
agreements, contracts.
Takes all kinds of cases of
companies.97351649.
·····
Wanted
INDIAN graduate civil
engineer from Muscat
College in 2015 with D/L,
seeks suitable placement
with employment visa.
93121505.
INDIAN male, 26 years
accountant, 3 years
experience in Oman with
Omani driving licence, NOC
available seeking for suitable
position. 94282980.
E-mail: msjob4578@gmail.
com
AFSHAR Sheikh has lost
Bangladeshi passport No
AG5708714. Finder please
handover to ROP.
·····
LEGAL Translation.
91169990.
MEDICAL cader general
physicians, dentists, nurses,
lab technicians, pharmacists
and gynaecologists. All the
professions are for both males
and females to work at a
medical complex in Wilayat
Al Amerat in the Muscat
Governorate provided that they
have a practise licence from
the Ministry of Health. It is also
requested female receptionists
with good command of English
language and computer skills.
90280003, 99270775.
·····
·····
·····
·····
·····
·····
· · · ··
·····
MOHAMMED Sumon has
lost Bangladeshi passport
No AB4390429. Finder
please handover to ROP.
·····
international
business
b
i
24
India’s forex reserves up at $359.91 bn
OMANDAILYOBSERVER
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
China denounces
ratings firms
for `bias‘ after
outlook cuts
WASHINGTON: China’s finance minister accused
international credit-rating companies of “bias” against
the country after Standard & Poor’s Rating Services
and Moody’s Investors Service lowered their sovereign
outlooks on the world’s second-largest economy.
“Historically, the market performance of most of
China’s sovereign debt was higher than the assessment
of the credit-rating agencies,” Lou Jiwei said on Friday
at a press briefing in Washington after a Group of 20
meeting.“That means there’s bias.” Lou was responding to
a question from China’s official Xinhua News Agency.
The March downgrades didn’t reflect China’s “economic
reality,” and the first quarter’s 6.7 per cent growth rate was
still very high, Lou said.
While the pace was slower than last year, it was
expected and in line with China’s target range of 6.5 per
cent to 7 per cent, according to Lou.
China is also taking measures to control the increase
and size of local government debt, a concern cited by
Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, he said.
Lou’s comments were China’s strongest against the
credit-rating agencies, after the ministry last month said
they underestimated the country’s ability to handle any
economic risks.
Standard & Poor’s reduced the outlook for China’s AAlong-term credit rating to negative from stable in March,
following a similar move by Moody’s earlier in the month.
Increased Support China’s economic officials have
repeatedly tried to calm investors’ concerns over the
nation’s outlook and flagged that there’s room to act with
increased fiscal and monetary support.
Lou previously said in March that the nation’s leaders
“didn’t care that much” about the Moody’s cut, because
the move had little market impact.
At the same time, the minister said on Friday that
China’s economy is facing headwinds, mainly from an
increasingly aging population.
The country is taking on strong measures and reforms
to tackle the “downward pressure,” he said.
“I’m afraid the credit rating agencies are not familiar
with these reforms, so I don’t blame them,” Lou said, citing
a debt-to-equity swap program for which the government
hasn’t released a detailed plan yet.
Olayinka Fadahunsi, a spokesman for S&P, and Michael
Adler, a Moody’s spokesman, said on Saturday that their
firms declined to comment on Lou’s remarks.
Credit Surge China’s economy stabilised last quarter
and gathered pace in March as a surge in new credit
helped the property sector rebound while raising fresh
questions over the sustainability of the debt-fueled
expansion, data showed earlier Friday.
China’s transformation to a consumer-led economy
may be a “rocky” experience, International Monetary Fund
First Deputy Managing Director David Lipton said on
Friday on Bloomberg Television.
While the IMF upgraded its China growth forecasts
by 0.2 percentage points for this year and next, it was
concerned about the quality of China’s growth.
“The IMF only sees the measures we recently adopted
on the demand side, but we have different views on the
supply-side reforms,” Lou said.“I don’t want to comment on
their forecast.
They have their own logic.”
— Bloomberg
India’s foreign exchange reserves increased marginally to $359.91 billion as
on April 8, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said. According to RBI’s forex
data, the reserves stood at $359.91 billion as on April 8 against
$359.75 billion for the week ended April 1, 2016.
GLOBAL ECONOMY
Economic slump worries as IMF,
World Bank pledge action
WASHINGTON: World finance ministers
IMF Managing Director Christine
pledged to boost growth at IMF and World
Lagarde poses for a group photo
Bank Spring Meetings tainted by lingering
prior to the IMFC Plenary Session
worries about the dragging global economy
during the IMF and World Bank
Group 2016 Spring Meetings in
and hints of discord.
Washington, DC. — AFP
Pounding home the message that each
country needs to take action to ramp up
growth, and following another week of
relative calm in financial markets, the IMF
leadership said they were “positive” about the
outlook, even as they warned of high risks.
Yet with a rising number of developing
countries approaching the two powerful
institutions for support to deal with the
plunge in commodity markets and tighter
credit, there was no clear response to calls
to organise an international backup plan if
growth begins to stall again.
“The IMF is alert but not alarmed,” said
Agustin Carstens, chairman of the IMF’s
steering committee, as the meetings wound
up in Washington.
Fund members had agreed on the need to
quickly take “mutually reinforcing” actions to
support global growth, he added.
The IMF began the week announcing it
had slashed its outlook for global growth this
year to a low 3.2 per cent.
It warned that refugee flows, more
volatility in financial markets, a surge in
corporate defaults and “Brexit” — Britain’s
threatened pullout from the European Union
— were all serious threats to the precarious
global economy.
But after dozens of meetings with Fund The United States cannot and
members large and small, IMF Managing
Director Christine Lagarde was more must not be the only engine of
growth, nor the importer of first
optimistic at the close.
She characterised the week as “a bit of and last resort for the global
collective therapy, to move from the negative
situation that we are facing, and the challenges economy
on the horizon, to a positive approach in
JACOB LEW
order to identify the solutions.”
US
Treasury
Secretary
“You don’t make any progress unless you
have a positive attitude,” she quipped.
At the same time, she added, “Clearly the
question is, how much is going to get done?” up growth remained vague — another sign of
The commitments of each country to the concern for experts.
lender’s “three-pronged approach” to firing
The Fund has called for countries to act
with monetary policy, fiscal spending and
structural reform to boost economic activity.
But with a number of top central banks
having already taken their interest rates
negative and others at ultra-low level, many
fear the further impact of monetary policy is
limited. And many countries lack the surplus
financial resources to increase spending to
spur growth.
The United States, enjoying the strongest
growth of any of the top developed countries,
and pressured to spend more on things like
infrastructure, said it was already doing its
part.
“The United States cannot and must not be
the only engine of growth, nor the importer of
first and last resort for the global economy,”
said US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, his
words hinting at looming discord should the
rest not pull their weight.
“All major economies need to deploy a full
toolkit of economic policy measures.”
Germany, another of the countries pressed
most to deploy its surpluses to spur growth,
says the answer is for others to reform their
economies.
“Repeated downward revisions of global
growth over the last years highlight that
structural factors are at play,” said German
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble in a
policy statement to the IMF.
“Monetary policy is no substitute for
sound and sustainable fiscal policy and
structural reforms.” Moreover, he continued,
“The limitations and negative side-effects
of expansionary macroeconomic policies
become more visible the longer they are
applied.”
— AFP
Japan gets little G-20 support for possible yen intervention
TOKYO: Japan has won little sympathy from
its Group of 20 counterparts for the pain
being caused by a stronger yen, signaling
opposition to shielding the country’s fragile
economy via intervention to curb the
currency’s strength.
During a G-20 meeting in Washington
on Thursday and Friday, Japanese Finance
Minister Taro Aso said he re-confirmed with
his counterparts, including US
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, that
disorderly currency movements aren’t
desirable.
But within 24 hours, Lew had bluntly
said that Japan needs to focus on domestic
demand and called foreign-exchange market
moves “orderly” — a clear warning that
the US doesn’t view yen intervention as
warranted.
“There’s a broad consensus that we should
avert as a global financial system any kind of
competitive devaluation cycle,” said Mexican
Finance Minister Luis Videgaray.“So I
don’t think that it is likely that would be a
possibility in Japan or any other place,” he
told Bloomberg in Washington.
G-20 finance chiefs on Friday reiterated
a pledge to refrain from weakening their
currencies to gain a trade edge over rivals,
while stating that “disorderly movements” in
exchange rates can be harmful.
The yen has risen about 11 per cent this
year against the dollar.
“No one suffers from an appreciation
of the yen except Japan,” said Hiromichi
Shirakawa, chief Japan economist at Credit
Suisse Group AG in Tokyo.“Almost all
nations are struggling with a weak growth
and they have little tolerance with Japan after
allowing the yen to weaken in the past three
years.”
Tepid Growth The International
Monetary Fund has cut its global growth
forecast to 3.2 per cent this year from 3.4 per
cent, highlighting the lack of momentum in
the world economy and why there is such
little scope for any nation to poach demand
from abroad by cheapening the value of its
currency.
The IMF has halved its forecast for
Japanese growth this year to 0.5 per cent and
forecast the economy would shrink 0.1 per
cent in 2017.
— Bloomberg
Jordan says SNB can fight strong franc with interventions, rates
FRANKFURT: The Swiss National Bank
has room to cut interest rates further
below zero and is willing to increase
the size of its balance sheet through
currency intervention to prevent an
already “significantly overvalued” franc
from strengthening, President Thomas
Jordan said.
“There’s a willingness to intervene if
necessary, and we can use our balance
sheet if it makes sense,” Jordan said in
an interview with Bloomberg Television
in Washington on Saturday, where he
attended the spring meetings of the
International Monetary Fund and the
World Bank. The SNB already “went
quite far” with its deposit rate “but
there is still more room to go,” he said,
declining to be more specific.
The SNB has relied on a two-pillar
strategy of pledged interventions and
negative interest rates for more than a
year to keep in check a currency that
serves as haven for investors in times
of crises. While the franc has weakened
0.4 per cent since the start of the year, at
1.09,229 per euro, it is still above the 1.20
threshold the SNB defended between
2011 and early last year.
Jordan acknowledged that negative
interest rates pose “many many problems”
for life insurers and pension funds, an
issue not limited to Switzerland.“This
is a global environment,” it is an issue
“in the euro zone, in the US but also in
Japan,” he said.
In Switzerland, “so far, the banking
system copes quite well with the negative
rates,” he said.
The SNB currently charges banks
Under the current
threshold, 73 per cent of
domestic sight deposits
are exempt from the
deposit charge, according
to Credit Suisse Group AG
calculations
0.75 per cent interest for sight deposits,
with an exemption threshold of 20 times
their minimum-reserve requirements.
“For the time being there is no plan to
change the exemption threshold,” Jordan
said.“This could also be potentially a
policy instrument.”
He said he believes banks can
cope with yet deeper negative rates,
but “obviously, we have to analyse
that exactly, and see under what
circumstances we have also to make
adjustments in that case to the system.“
Under the current threshold, 73
per cent of domestic sight deposits
are exempt from the deposit charge,
according to Credit Suisse Group AG
calculations.
SNB policy makers have said in
recent weeks that any additional policy
move would need to be weighed with a
view to its potential risk.
According to Bloomberg’s most
recent survey of economists, the SNB
can take its deposit rate to minus 1.25
per cent before people begin to hoard
cash to circumvent the charge.
Because of the strong franc, Swiss
consumer prices declined the most in
six decades in 2015 and are set to remain
for some time well below what the
central bank considers price stability —
inflation close to 2 per cent. Economic
growth has also suffered, with output
increasing just 0.9 per cent in 2015.
It’s set to accelerate this year, with
the SNB predicting an increase of 1 per
cent to 1.5 per cent. “We depend a lot on
the global economy,” Jordan said.“The
exchange rate is important, of course,
but also the global business cycle.”
The IMF cut its 2016 forecast for
world growth to 3.2 per cent last
week from 3.4 per cent projected in
January, as weak exports and slowing
investment dim prospects in the US,
a consumption-tax hike saps growth
in Japan, and a slump in the price of
everything from oil to wheat continues
to hobble commodities producers. The
Washington-based lender sees 2017
growth at 3.5 per cent. —Bloomberg
MONDAY | APRIL 18, 2016 | RAJAB 10, 1437 AH
sport
ROSBERG SWEEPS TO HAT-TRICK WIN IN CHINA P26
SPORTS BRIEFS
Shat Al Arab win
Sohar leg
MUSCAT: The Omanoil Beach Soccer
Cup concluded it’s Sohar leg yesterday
as the Shat Al Arab team took away the
winners trophy.
The winners were crowned after
emerging top of the league of 4 teams,
which were the top 4 teams after the
group stages. They were on the verge
of being out of the competition at one
stage but such was the competitiveness
of the tournament that they fought back
and emerged as champions.
The tournament was held at the
beach near the Sohar corniche and
attracted a lot of attention from beach
goers as people gathered around to see
the players stake their claim to the Beach
Soccer National team.
In terms of selection of players,
coach Talib Hilal deemed as many as 6
players good enough to attend the next
national beach soccer preparatory camp
for the Asian Beach Games later this year.
The next leg of the Omanoil Beach
Soccer Cup will be in Salalah on 23rd
April. Those interested in registering
for the same can contact the OFA via
Whatsapp on +968-90158158.
Sri Lanka’s Herath
quits ODI, T20
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan veteran bowler
Rangana Herath on Sunday announced
his retirement from the two shortest
forms of cricket, saying he wanted to
focus on Test matches.
“Every cricketer has to stop at the
right time,” Herath said in a statement
issued through Sri Lanka Cricket.
“I feel it’s time to make room for fresh
talent to be groomed with the 2019
World Cup in view.”
The 38-year-old, left-arm off spinner
said Test cricket was his “personal
passion,” on which he wanted to
concentrate for the remainder of his
playing career.
Herath has suffered from knee
injuries in recent years and has largely
only played limited-overs cricket at the
major tournaments. Herath was one
of the stand-outs for Sri Lanka in 2014
when they lifted the World Twenty20
trophy, including taking five for three in
the semi-final against New Zealand.
www.omanobserver.om
editor@omanobserver.om
TOTTI RESCUES ROMA AT ATALANTA P27
WARRIORS CRUSH ROCKETS TO OPEN PLAY-OFFS P28
EPL: Star striker Vardy sent off for league leaders, Sturridge stars for Liverpool against Bournemouth
Ulloa rescues Leicester in West Ham draw
LEICESTER,
United
Kingdom:
Leicester’s Premier League title challenge
was plunged into chaos as Leonardo
Ulloa rescued a dramatic 2-2 draw
against West Ham after Jamie Vardy was
controversially sent off on Sunday.
Claudio Ranieri’s leaders looked
destined for a damaging defeat at the
King Power Stadium after late goals
from Andy Carroll and Aaron Cresswell
put the Hammers ahead following
Vardy’s dismissal for diving.
Referee Jonathan Moss’s decision to
give Vardy, who had opened the scoring
in the first half, a second booking
incensed the Leicester fans and they
were even more irate when he awarded
West Ham the penalty that Carroll
converted to equalise.
But with just seconds remaining,
Moss made another crucial decision and
this time it went Leicester’s way as he
gave a soft penalty that substitute Ulloa
drilled home to leave the Foxes eight
points clear of second placed Tottenham.
It summed up the astonishing nature
of the finale that Moss was still booed off
despite his late gift to Leicester, whose
lead at the top will be cut to five points
with four games remaining if Tottenham
win at Stoke on Monday.
Vardy’s suspension next week against
Swansea just adds another twist to an
incredible title race.
Right from the opening minutes it
was clear Leicester’s astonishing march
towards the title was about to become
even more enthralling.
When Cheikhou Kouyate met
Dimitri Payet’s free-kick with a powerful
header, a goal seemed certain, yet Kasper
Schmeichel somehow got a fingertip on
the ball to push it onto a post.
It then bounced along the goal-line
before rebounding off the other post and
back in the grateful arms of the Leicester
goalkeeper.
FRENZIED
If Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp
has patented his brand of ‘heavy
metal’ football, then it can’t be long
before Leicester’s frenzied approach,
undoubtedly effective but at times as
subtle as hardcore techno, gets a label of
its own.
Thundering into tackles and moving
the ball at breakneck speed, Leicester
embarked on a blistering counter to take
the lead in the 18th minute.
Schmeichel caught the ball from a
West Ham attack and within seconds
had launched a throw out to Riyad
Mahrez on the right flank.
Mahrez quickly shifted possession
onto N’Golo Kante and, with West Ham
Leicester’s Leonardo Ulloa in action with West Ham’s Winston Reid. — Reuters
left hopelessly out of position by the
speed of the break, the France midfielder
measured a pass to Vardy, who took one
touch just inside the penalty area before
driving into the far corner for his 22nd
league goal.
But for virtually the first time all
season, Leicester’s fortunes took a turn
for the worse in the 56th minute when
Vardy chased a through-ball into the
penalty area and appeared to deliberately
nudge his legs into Angelo Ogbonna
before throwing himself to the turf in
pursuit of a penalty.
Moss saw it as a dive and gave Vardy
a second booking to the disbelief of the
forward.
Suddenly, there was a genuine sense
of anxiety in the stands as Ranieri’s men
were penned deep inside their own half.
They seemed to have weathered the
storm until the 83rd minute when Moss
once again took centre stage.
As they contested a corner, captain
Wes Morgan needlessly bundled over
Winston Reid and Moss pointed to the
spot for a penalty that substitute Carroll
crashed by Schmeichel.
If they were nervous before that,
there was no mistaking the panic as
Leicester were confronted by a serious
test of their mettle and they cracked in
the 86th minute.
Michail Antonio was allowed to get
to the byline and deliver a cross that
was only partially cleared to Cresswell,
who had been left unmarked to bend a
sublime strike into the top corner.
Several of Ranieri’s players fell to their
knees, with Danny Simpson burying his
head in frustration, but the drama wasn’t
over.
After spending the afternoon as public
enemy number one to the Leicester fans,
Moss atoned for his perceived mistakes
in stoppage-time when he awarded a
soft penalty for Carroll’s challenge on
Jeffrey Schlupp and Ulloa held his nerve
to rifle home the spot-kick.
STURRIDGE SHINES
Daniel Sturridge provided more
evidence his fitness problems are behind
him after an injury-scarred season,
setting up Roberto Firmino’s opening
goal before adding the second in
Liverpool’s 2-1 victory at Bournemouth
on Sunday.
The England striker proved to be
the difference with Sturridge’s header in
first-half added-time putting Liverpool
in control five minutes after Firmino
had opened the scoring.
That allowed Jurgen Klopp’s side
to survive a late Bournemouth rally
after Joshua King’s stoppage-time reply
towards full-time.
Sturridge was starting his fourth
successive Premier League game for the
first time in four years.
After struggling with muscle and hip
problems this season, the forward looks
as though he is nearing his best, news
which will be welcomed by England
coach Roy Hodgson.
The striker had started on the bench
in Thursday’s dramatic Europa League
win over Borussia Dortmund and was
handed a starting chance as Klopp
rang the changes, with the manager’s
team selection reflecting Liverpool’s
demanding week.
Of the starting eleven that lined
up against the Bundesliga side, only
Firmino retained his place as former
Dortmund manager Klopp drew on
the fringes of his squad to protect the
legs of some of his senior players while
Emre Can was ruled out with an ankle
injury that will keep him sidelined for
four weeks.
Danny Ward, the 22-year-old
goalkeeper, came in for Simon Mignolet
while youngsters Brad Smith, Connor
Randall, Kevin Stewart and Sheyi Ojo
also started.
Klopp’s side were hoping to maintain
the momentum generated by successive
victories and a run that had brought just
one defeat in the previous 15 games in
all competitions.
Bournemouth, meanwhile, came
into the game safe in the knowledge
they had long since erased any concerns
they might get drawn into the relegation
battle and having won four of their
previous six games.
— AFP
Nadal sees off Monfils to end four-year Monaco title wait
Spain’s Rafael Nadal celebrates after defeating France’s Gael Monfils during the final at the
Monte-Carlo ATP Masters Series tournament in Monaco. — AFP
MONTE CARLO, Principality of
Monaco: Rafael Nadal needed nearly
three hours to defeat Gael Monfils
7-5, 5-7, 6-0 on Sunday and win a
record ninth title at the Monte Carlo
It’s great to win a Masters
Masters.
The Spaniard claimed his first title again. I had a tough
trophy in the Principality since 2012 season last years. But I’ve
as he played in his 100th final and
had better preparation
tenth in Monte Carlo.
Nadal’s win pulled him level with this year, even with a
ATP leader Novak Djokovic on 28
tough start to the season
trophies at the Masters 1000 level.
Nadal improved to 12-2 over
RAFAEL NADAL
Monfils as he won a first Masters
honour since Madrid in May, 2014.
Nadal and Monfils were both
plagued by unforced errors in the
tight contest, with the winner striking break points, with Nadal converting
36 while Monfils made more than 50. on eight of 21 while Monfils managed
The match was also riddled with 34 five of 13.
“It’s great to win a Masters title
again,” Nadal said.
“I had a tough season last years.
But I’ve had better preparation this
year, even with a tough start to the
season.”
“I hope this week will help me a
lot,” the Spaniard said as he prepared
to move onto his home clay of
Barcelona next week.
Nadal now owns 68 titles and will
carry on in the run-up to the French
Open with renewed confidence;
Monfils can take small consolation
after winning his first-ever set against
Nadal on clay.
The opening set took almost an
hour and a quarter and set the stage
for the second, which at one point
featured three consecutive breaks of
serve out to 4-4.
Monfils moved into winning
position with a break for 6-5 and kept
the struggle alive as he won the set for
one apiece.
But the third was all Nadal as the
Spanish fifth seed swept to a love
finish to win his eighth clay match
against the Frenchman without a
defeat.
Nadal improved his superlative
tournament record to 58-4 after
winning eight straight titles from
2005-2012.
His last finals appearance here
was in 2013 when he lost to Novak
Djokovic.
Nadal’s specialist record on his
favoured clay is all but untouchable,
with the 14-time Grand Slam winner
standing 48-8 in clay finals.
— AFP
formula 1/tennis
ffootball
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26
OMANDAILYOBSERVER
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
FED
romps to hat-trick in China
Hamilton began from the back of the Shanghai grid after a
mechanical failure on his Mercedes sabotaged qualifying
SHANGHAI: Nico Rosberg stormed to victory in a
chaotic Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday, methodically
completing a hat-trick of wins to extend his perfect start
to the 2016 Formula One season.
The German’s Mercedes was jumped at the start by
Daniel Ricciardo.
But after avoiding the first-corner mayhem unfolding
behind the front two, he quickly caught the Red Bull and
romped home to win by a whopping 38 seconds from
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton began
from the back of the Shanghai grid after a mechanical
failure on his Mercedes sabotaged qualifying for the
Briton on Saturday.
But he roared back to take seventh,
despite pitting early to replace
a damaged front wing.
“It’s too early to
make any premature
conclusions,” insisted
Rosberg
after
stretching his
championship lead to 36 points.
“Lewis is not many points behind —
30 points is not much, it’s a race and
a bit and he will never give up.”
Ferrari’s
wretched
fortunes
continued after Vettel and
Kimi Raikkonen collided
at the first turn,
allowing
Daniil
Kvyat’s Red Bull to
slip past into third,
which is where the
Russian finished.
Vettel carved
his way back
through the
field from
15th but
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg of Germany crosses the
checkered flag to win the Chinese Grand Prix. — Reuters
blamed Kvyat for driving “like a madman” in a furious
rant over the team radio. “Kvyat’s attack was suicidal,”
fumed the German, who was still squabbling with Kvyat
as Rosberg made his victory speech.
“You came in like a torpedo!” Vettel barked at Kvyat
before they stepped out to the podium, to which Kvyat
shrugged: “That’s racing.”
The four-time world champion admitted he was
fortunate even to finish the race.
“I was very lucky to continue,” said Vettel.”It was a big
hit with Kimi. I feel very sorry for Kimi but I was a bit
in a sandwich between Kimi and Daniil and there was
nothing I could do.”
SUPERB DRIVE
Rosberg rammed home his advantage with a
superb drive, becoming only the fourth driver to win
six consecutive races — joining Vettel (nine), Alberto
Ascari (seven) and Michael Schumacher (six) — after
winning the last three of 2015.
Rosberg’s 17th career victory underlined how far
momentum has shifted since Hamilton captured
his third world title in Texas last October — the
last time he won a Grand Prix.
Hamilton last started a race from the back
of the grid in Hungary two years ago when he
stormed back to take third.
After an engine change, Hamilton made a brave
attempt to repeat his 2014 heroics but lightning never
looked like striking twice, especially after he mangled his
front wing in the early skirmishes.
“It’s not a great feeling,” admitted Hamilton.”But I
can take some positives from the race: I got a good start,
finally — from dead last. I know we will recover from
this at some point.”
Rosberg, though, was unstoppable once he had
blown past Ricciardo at the exact
moment the Australian’s left
rear tyre shredded off and
landed in strips on the track,
bringing out the safety car to
throw Hamilton and Raikkonen
a lifeline after their troubled
starts.
Ricciardo
finished
a
creditable
fourth
after
recovering from his puncture
with a swashbuckling drive,
while Raikkonen fought back
for fifth with Felipe Massa’s
Williams sixth in front of
Hamilton. — AFP
It’s too early to make any premature conclusions. Lewis is
not many points behind — 30 points is not much, it’s a race
and a bit and he will never give up.
CUP
France’s Caroline Garcia reacts after winning against
Netherland’s Arantxa Rus during the Fed Cup World
Group second round semifinal in Trelaze, France. — AFP
Below-strength
United States
beat Australia
BRISBANE, Australia: A below-strength United
States booked a place in the Fed Cup World Group in
2017 when Coco Vandeweghe came from a set down
to beat Australia’s Samantha Stosur on Sunday.
Vandeweghe’s 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 win in the first of the
reverse singles gave the Americans an unassailable 3-0
lead in their World Group play-off match on Pat Rafter
Arena in Brisbane.
The Americans later made it a clean sweep when
Vandeweghe teamed with Bethanie Mattek-Sands
to down Australian pair Daria Gavrilova and Arina
Rodionova 6-1, 6-4 in the doubles.
The US came to
Australia without their
three best players, Serena
and Venus Williams, and
Sloane Stephens, but won
both opening singles
matches on Saturday as
BUCHAREST: Andrea
Madison Keys downed
Petkovic battled back
Gavrilova and Christina
from surviving two
McHale outlasted Stosur.
match points against
US captain Mary
her to give Germany an
Joe Fernandez said
unassailable 3-1 lead
the American team
over Romania in the
had stepped up in the
Fed Cup World Group
play-off on Sunday.
absence of the Williams
The 28-year-old
sisters and Stephens.
showed
an iron will
“It’s a team effort and
after being demolished
everybody worked really
in the first set, then
hard all week with each
held her nerve to win
other, supporting each
the second-set tieother,” Fernandez said.
breaker and claim a 0-6,
7-6(7/1), 6-3 win over
Fernandez said it was
Monica Niculescu.
important to give some
“With these
of the lower-ranked
emotions and the
players experience in the
support of this team,
Fed Cup environment.
anything is possible,”
“The
more
you
said Petkovic. — AFP
put yourself in these
positions, the more
comfortable you get in them,” she said. “Experience
helps so it’s good to put everybody out there as much
as possible so when that pressure moment comes
they’re ready.”
MUGURUZA SEALS SPAIN’S SPOT
World number four Garbine Muguruza ensured
Spain’s place back in the World Group of the Fed Cup
with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Roberta Vinci in Lleida on
Sunday. Muguruza’s second victory of the tie gave Spain
an unassailable 3-0 lead after she overcame Francesca
Schiavone and Carla Suarez Navarro eased past US
Open finalist Vinci on Saturday. Spain, captained by
former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez,
return to the World Group for the first time since losing
to eventual winners Czech Republic in 2014. — AFP
Petkovic digs
deep to seal
German win
IPL: Impressive bowling and Aaron Finch’s 67 kept Gujarat Lions’ winning run intact at Wankhede Stadium
Gujarat Lions outclass Mumbai Indians at home
MUMBAI: Riding on a superb bowling
performance followed by Aaron Finch’s
unbeaten 67, Gujarat Lions outplayed
Mumbai Indians by three wickets at the
Wankhede Stadium here on Saturday
to keep their winning run intact in the
ninth edition of the Indian Premier
League (IPL).
Batting first, Mumbai lost wickets at
regular intervals and could manage only
143/8 in 20 overs. Parthiv Patel (34) was
the top scorer for the hosts.
In reply, in-form Finch showed
his class yet again as he struck seven
boundaries and one six in his 54-ball
innings as Lions chased down the target
comfortably posting 147/7 in 20 overs
to register their third straight win of the
season.
Mitchell McClenaghan (4-20) was
the pick of the bowlers for Mumbai.
Chasing a challenging target of 144,
Lions lost hard-hitting opener Brendon
McCullum (6) in the second over itself
but his opening partner Finch and
incoming batsman skipper Suresh Raina
(27) played sensibly from there on
without losing any more wickets to take
the team to 42/1 after the completion of
powerplay.
The duo brought up their 50-run
partnership for the second wicket in just
38 balls to keep the team on track for
their third win of the season.
But the 53-run partnership came
to an end when McClenaghan brought
the much needed breakthrough to keep
Mumbai in the game as he dismissed
Raina in the ninth over to have Lions
at 65/2. Soon after the wicket of Raina,
Lions suffered two successive blows with
Dinesh Karthik (9) and Dwayne Bravo
end, opener Finch held on sensibly to
keep alive Gujarat’s hopes of chasing the
target down.
Akshdeep Nath (12) after hitting one
boundary too fell cheaply in the 17th
over to put Mumbai back into the game.
But Finch didn’t panic in the pressure
situation as he brought up his halfcentury in 46 balls.
McClenaghan came up with two
quick wickets in the 19th over, dismissing
James Faulkner (7) and Praveen Kumar
(0) to keep hopes alive.
Finch, however, held on along with
Dhawal Kulkarni (6 not out) to take the
(2) getting out in the 12th and the 13th team over the victory line.
Earlier put into bat, Mumbai Indians
over to put Mumbai back into the game.
lost skipper Rohit Sharma (7) cheaply in
Gujarat were 83/4 then.
Despite wickets falling at the other the second over itself to have the hosts
on the back foot.
Hardik Pandya (2), who was yet again
sent into bat at number three, failed to
make an impact as he got out to have
Mumbai struggling at 19/2 in 3.3 overs.
However, Rohit’s opening partner
Parthiv and incoming batsman Jos
Buttler (16) held on to help the team
reach 31 for the loss of two wickets in the
powerplay. But as Buttler was looking set
after striking three boundaries, his stay
at the crease was cut short by off-spinner
Jakati as the Englishman was stumped
easily by Dinesh Karthik to have the
team at 51/3 in the ninth over. — IANS
Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians 143/8 in 20 overs
(Parthiv Patel 34; Pravin Tambe 2-12, Dhawal
Kulkarni 2-19, Dwayne Bravo 2-39) vs Gujarat Lions
147/7 in 20 overs (Aaron Finch 67 not out; Mitchell
McClenaghan 4-21, Jasprit Bumrah 2-32)
football
ootba /local
/ oca
sport
Late sub Drogba makes Impact happy
OMANDAILYOBSERVER
Didier Drogba scored his first goal of the Major League Soccer season on a clever
backheel shot as the Montreal Impact snapped the Fire’s four-game unbeaten streak
with a 2-1 win in Chicago on Saturday. Drogba’s 56th-minute strike levelled the
score at 1-1. Ignacio Piatti grabbed the game-winner in the stoppage time.
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
TOTTI RESCUES AS ROMA AT ATALANTA
THIRD: With five games remaining, Mancini’s Inter side are only four points behind Roma in fourth
AS Roma’s Francesco Totti fights for the ball with Atalanta’s Maximiliano Moralez during the Italian Serie A match at the Azzuri
d’Italia stadium in Bergamo. — AFP
MILAN: Francesco Totti came
off the bench to hit a late,
precious leveller as Champions
League-chasing Roma dropped
two points in a thrilling 3-3
draw away to Atalanta on
Sunday.
Roma travelled to Bergamo
feeling the pressure after Inter
Milan stunned Napoli 2-0 on
Saturday to close the gap on
third place to three points.
But despite taking a 2-0
lead by the 27th minute with
goals from Lucas Digne and
Radja Nainggolan, Luciano
Spalletti’s visitors let their guard
slip, allowing an enterprising
Atalanta back into the game.
Marco
D’Alessandro
reduced arrears on 33 minutes
and Roma reject Marco
Borriello returned to haunt his
old club by hitting a brace that
gave Atalanta a 3-2 lead by the
57th minute. Totti replaced
Daniele De Rossi on 78 minutes
and eight minutes later the
39-year-old club icon slammed
the ball through traffic and past
Marco Sportiello to secure a
share of the spoils.
Although Roma remain in
third place, 11 points behind
Juventus ahead of their home
game against Palermo later on
Sunday and five points behind
Napoli, Inter are closing in.
With five games remaining,
Roberto Mancini’s Inter side
are only four points behind
Roma in fourth as they bid to
end a five-year wait to return
to Europe’s premier club
competition. “At 2-0 up, we
should have put the match
beyond reach,” Roma coach
Luciano Spalletti told Mediaset.
“But we lost focus at certain
points, we took our foot off
the pedal, lost our shape and
allowed them back into it.
“When that happens, your
opponents obviously want to
capitalise and that’s what they
did.”
It was a scrappy affair at the
Atleti Azzurri d’Italia stadium,
although French left-back
Digne settled Roma nerves on
23 minutes when he finished
off a well-worked move to
roll a right-footed shot past
Sportiello at his far post.
Roma looked to be cruising
when Belgian international
Nainggolan chipped Mohamed
Salah’s cut-back past Sportiello
on 27 minutes.
But Atalanta fought back
valiantly, Alejandro Gomez
sprinting down the left to
collect a long ball from
midfield and fire in a cross
for D’Alessandro to bundle
past Wojciech Szczesny on 33
minutes.
Roma’s defence really
should have done better on that
occasion, and Szczesny had
more reason to complain when
Borriello rose above De Rossi
and Kostas Manolas at a corner
to level with a powerful header
four minutes later.
Roma could have put the
match beyond reach soon after,
but Edin Dzeko ballooned over
from eight yards and minutes
later the Bosnian’s crisp volley
was tipped over by Sportiello at
full stretch. — AFP
Al Bashaer, Nizwa dominate OTA inter-club junior tourney
SPORTS REPORTER
MUSCAT
April 17: The Oman Tennis
Association (OTA) conducted the
first inter-club junior tennis final
championship 2016 at the Wilayat of
Manah Recreation Centre on April
15 and 16.
In the individual category, Al
Abdili Mohammed al Abdili of Al
Bashaer Club beat Fayad Mahmoud
al Khrousi of Nizwa Club 10-5 to
win the under-10 boys title.
In under-12 boys section, Ahmed
Ismael al Tobi of Al Bashaer beat Saif
Ahmed al Khrousi 10-8 to emerge
champion.
In under-14 boys, Nubras
Mohammed al Abdili of Al Bashaer
edged Yahya Abdullah al Rajhi 11-9
to claim the top honours.
In team events, Majees Club
clinched the under-10 boys crown.
The Majees team consists of
Abdulrahman al Balushi, Ahmed al
Farsi and Khamis al Jabri. The Nizwa
team of Mohammed al Hashmi,
Fayad al Khrousi and Ahmed al
Hashmi finished runner-ups. Al
Abdili Mohammed al Abdili took the
Khrousi.
Al Bashaer’s Ahmed al Tobi and
Al Abdili al Abdili took the second
spot. Majees Club’s Abdulrahman
al Balushi, Mohammed al Barmani
and Moaadh al Zadjali claimed the
bronze.
In the under-14 boys category,
Nizwa consisting of Yahya al Rajhi,
Qusai al Hadidi, Saif al Kharousi and
Yaseen Yahya emerged champions.
Quriyat Club finished second
in the category. The team includes
Qusai al Busafi, Nasser al Soti,
Muayed al Battashi and Hussein al
bronze for Al Bashaer Club.
Batashi.
In under-12 boys section, Nizwa
Al Bashaer consisting of Nibras
won the title.
al Abdali, Yaqub al Tobi, Faisal
The team consisted of Yassen al Masrouri and Abdullah al Hadrami
Khrousi, Taha al Khrousi and Saif al were third.
27
HAT-TRICKHERO
Aguero’s lack
of honours
baffles coach
Sergio Aguero celebrates after scoring the second
goal for Manchester City. — Reuters
LONDON: Manuel Pellegrini said it was “strange”
Sergio Aguero has never been player of the year in
England after the Manchester City star’s hat-trick
secured a 3-0 win at Chelsea on Saturday.
Despite being one of the Premier League’s most
consistent goalscorers in recent seasons, Aguero has
yet to win either the Football Writers’ player of the
year award or the equivalent honour from his peers in
England’s Professional Footballers’ Association.
Aguero failed to make this week’s shortlist for the
2016 PFA award.
It didn’t seem to bother him as counter-attacking
strikes either side of half-time, plus a penalty 10
minutes from the finish at Stamford Bridge after
Chelsea goalkeeper Thibault Courtois was sent off for
a foul on Fernandinho, took the Argentina striker’s
tally to 21 league goals so far this season. “It’s very
strange that Sergio has played so many years here and
has never been the best Premier League player here,”
said Pellegrini after a win that saw City stay four points
clear of local rivals Manchester United in the race for a
place in next season’s Champions League.
“I think here, in the Premier League, we have very
good players but without doubt Sergio is one of the
best and so important,” he added Kevin de Bruyne
was central to all of City’s best moves, setting up the
first goal in what was his first league appearance at
Stamford Bridge since Chelsea sold him to Wolfsburg
in January 2014. But rather than de Bruyne, who scored
in the midweek Champions League quarterfinal win
over Paris St Germain wanting revenge, Pellegrini said
City were keen to atone for their 5-1 FA Cup defeat
by Chelsea in February when he effectively fielded a
youth team.
“He (de Bruyne) played very well, but when you
have all your best players playing together, the team’s
performance is better... We wanted revenge for the FA
Cup, losing 5-1 here.
“He left Chelsea because he wanted to play in
Germany, but seeing him play like that shows why we
got him here.”
Chelsea caretaker boss Guus Hiddink was equally
impressed with de Bruyne, saying: “He’s a beautiful
player to see. He’s very keen to play between the lines.
All their (City’s) players are.”
The Blues’ hopes of mounting a successful defence
of the Premier League title had evaporated when
Hiddink was summoned for his second temporary
spell in charge of the London club in December
following the sacking of Jose Mourinho. — AFP
Young guns Arnav Dixit, Shams al Noumani, Faris al Busaidi, Fahad al Adawi and Victor Nordberg stole the show in various age-group categories
Youngsters impress at first ever OGC Junior Open
MUSCAT: Youngsters produced a
sparkling show on a breezy Friday at
the Almouj Golf course as the Oman
Golf Committee (OGC) conducted the
country’s first ever OGC Junior Open
golf championship with a grand success.
Young guns Arnav Dixit, Shams al
Noumani, Faris al Busaidi, Fahad al
Adawi and Victor Nordberg stole the
show in various age-group categories
in the competition. The one-day
championship was organised by the
OGC in association with Oman LNG,
which has been supporting Oman’s
junior development program yearround over the past few years, and event
partner Trowers & Hamlins.
The OGC had initially kept a cut-off
of 54 players, but later expanded the field
of play to 58 entries as organisers got a
roaring response from the country’s ever
enthusiastic young golfing community.
The field was open to both Omani
citizens as well as expatriates, and they
played in the following 5 categories:
above 10 years (long tee), above 10 years
(medium tee), Under-9 years (long tee),
Under-9 years (medium tee), Under-9
years (short tee).
Arnav was elated with his win in
the above 10 long tee category, saying:
“It feels nice to win this trophy. The
competition was good. The conditions
out there were also quite good today. I
have been playing golf for a few years,
and I like playing the sport. It’s been a
nice experience for me.”
Arnav produced a score of 36, with
Cameron Henderson finishing runner-
up with 39 in the above 10 long tee
category. In the above 10 medium tee
category, Shams al Noumani scored 57
and won on countback ahead of runnerup Ayman al Muhrouqi with 57.
Shams who has been training only
for last 8 weeks in Ras Al Hamra Golf
Club was not expecting to win, “I
am surprised. This my first ever golf
competition in life. I was little nervous
when going out in the course but
eventually started playing well. I was
playing 5 or 6 holes, first time I played a
9 hole game. In the last 3 holes I did well
and won.”
In the Under-9 long tee event, winner
Faris al Busaidi scored 16, ahead of
runner-up Adam al Barwani with 18.
In the Under-9 medium tee category,
Fahad al Adawi won on countback with
a score of 20, ahead of runner-up Jake
Sanderson with 20. In the Under-9 short
tee event, Victor Nordberg won with a
score of 19, ahead of runner-up Riley
Dunn with 22.
OGC Chairman Al Barwani said,
“I must thank all the parents first for
coming forward and pushing their kids
to take part in this event and to turn it
into a big success. It has been a lovely
sight, to see so many youngsters taking
to the course and contesting hard. We
hope to produce more such competitive
golfing opportunities for youngsters in
Oman.”
Trophies were handed over to the
winners in various categories and medals
were awarded to all the participants at a
bright prize distribution ceremony that
was held at the club house of the Almouj
Golf.
The function was attended by guests
of honour Rashid Abdullah al Nasri,
Executive Vice-President of Oman
LNG Development Foundation, OGC
Chairman Mundhir al Barwani, OGC
Vice-Chairman Ahmed al Jahdhmy,
OGC Board Member and representative
of event partner Trowers & Hamlins
Majid Al Toky and other top officials.
Al Nasri of Oman LNG observed:
“This is a great occasion and we are
charmed by the wonderful response
from the children and their parents. The
success of today’s event and the players’
enthusiasm quite clearly show the huge
potential that is there for continued golf
development in the Sultanate. I wish
everyone more success in the future.”
The 5 category winners apart, the
competition also witnessed a Holein-One taking place. Jachym Sedek
achieved while playing in the Under-9
long tee category and he was given a
special prize for the rare feat.
Al Toky congratulated the winners,
adding: “An event like this is a very
important occasion for golf development
in Oman. All over the world where golf
is a successful sport, it all began at the
grassroot level. Here too, these agegroups of 9-10 years are the foundation
for building the sport in Oman.”
INDIVIDUAL WINNERS: Above 10 years (long tee):
Arnav Dixit, above 10 years (medium tee): Shams al
Noumani, Under-9 years (long tee): Faris al Busaidi,
Under-9 years (medium tee): Fahad al Adawi, Under-9
years (short tee): Victor Nordberg, Hole-in-One:
Jachym Sedek.
nba
ba/local
/ oca
sport
28
Lorenzo-Vera targets debut EPGA title
OMANDAILYOBSERVER
Mike Lorenzo-Vera holds a one-shot lead after Saturday’s third round at the Spanish
Open in his quest for a first European Tour title. With conditions testing, the only
players recording under par rounds were Joost Luiten and Alex Noren. The Biarritzborn Lorenzo-Vera’s level par round of 71 left him at one over par.
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
Warriors crush Rockets to open play-offs
INJURY SCARE: Curry sent a tremor of tension when he twisted his right ankle defending Rockets star Harden
OAKLAND, United States: The
streaking Golden State Warriors shook
off an ankle injury to superstar Stephen
Curry to thrash the Houston Rockets
104-78 on Saturday in their NBA
Western Conference play-off opener.
The reigning champions Warriors
picked up where they left off in their
record-setting 73-win regular-season
campaign, bolting to a 33-15 lead
through one quarter and carrying on
relentlessly from there.
Reigning NBA Most Valuable Player
Curry sent a tremor of tension through
Oracle Arena when he twisted his right
ankle defending Rockets star James
Harden late in the second quarter.
Curry went to the locker room for
treatment and played briefly early in
the third period before coach Steve Kerr
called a timeout and took him out of the
contest. Curry visited the locker room
again, and though he returned to the
bench for the fourth quarter he didn’t
play again.
Kerr said he didn’t know the
severity of the injury, calling Curry
“questionable” for game two on Monday,
saying he wouldn’t take chances with his
star with the championship finals still a
long way away in June.
Team-mate Klay Thompson thought
Kerr’s caution was overdone.
“He’ll be all right,” Thompson said
of Curry.”We expect him out here on
Monday.”
Curry inflicted significant damage
before his departure. His 24 points
included 16 in the first quarter.
In a rematch of last season’s Western
Conference finals, Golden State harried
Houston from tip-off, with frustrated
Rockets point guard Patrick Beverly
scuffling with Curry less than six
minutes into the contest.
“That’s to be expected,” Kerr said.”It’s
the play-offs. Both guys are competitive.
Beverly is a good defender, that’s what he
does, he tries to get under your skin. He’s
just doing his job.”
The Warriors answered with two
Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson (11) passes the basketball against Houston Rockets’ Dwight Howard (12, centre) as Warriors’ Andrew Bogut (12, left) looks on
during the third quarter in game one of the first round of the NBA Play-offs at Oracle Arena. — USA Today Sports
three-pointers from Curry in a 14-6
scoring run, limiting Houston to sixof-20 shooting in the opening frame.
The Warriors led 60-33 by halftime,
and held Harden to four points before
the break.
Harden, second to Curry in regularseason scoring with an average 29 points
per game, perked up after the interval,
hitting three three-pointers to finish
with 17 points, but he didn’t get to the
free-throw line once.
“Very satisfied,” Kerr said.”I thought
our defence was excellent. We made
them earn every point.”
Draymond Green, who had 12 points
and 10 rebounds for the Warriors,
received the third technical foul of the
contest in the fourth quarter for pulling
Rockets big man Donata Motiejunas
Hydrotech emerge champions of J division after beating Ideal
Al Nahdha post 8-wicket win
OMAN CRICKET
LEAGUE
MUSCAT: Al Nahdha thrashed PDO
by 8 wickets in the Al Ansari group of
companies sponsored ‘B’ division match
at the Municipality 2 ground on April
The ‘J’ division champions Hydrotech International.
15.
Batting first, PDO put on 123-7
in 20 overs. Aaqib Aslam scored 35.
Arif Hussain claimed 3 wickets for Al
Nahdha. In reply, Al Nahdha scored
128-2 in 11.2 overs with Babar Malik
hitting 53 to enable the bonus point win.
Brief scores: PDO 123-7 in 20 overs (Aaqib Aslam
35; Arif Hussain 3-21-3) lost to Al Nahdha 128-2 in
11.2 overs (Babar Malik 53); Points: Al Nahdha – 3
(BP) ; PDO – 0
Al Nahdha thrashed PDO by 8 wickets in ‘B’ division.
51-RUN WIN FOR MABELLAH
In ‘G’ division, OCT Mabellah beat
RK Group by 51 runs at the Municipality
3 ground.
Batting first, OCT Mabellah
scored 132-8 in 20 overs with Asad
Mohammed scoring 36. Jeel claimed
3 wickets for RK Group. In reply, RK
Group were bundled out for 81 in 14.5
overs as Mabellah posted a bonus point
win. Sharif Pindook claimed 3 wickets OCT Mabellah beat RK Group by 51 runs in ‘G’ division.
for Mabellah.
overs (Mainuddin Abul 50; Romail David 4-25-3) bt
Brief scores: OCT Mabellah 132 all out in 20 153 in 20 overs. Mohammed Asad (3Mani’s Azad 174-9 in 20 overs (Abrar Hussain 48;
overs (Asad Mohammed 36; Jeel 4-30-3) bt RK
Nadeem Abdul 4-33-3); Points: Techno Elevators – 2
Group 81 all out in 14.5 overs (Sharif Pindook 20) and Khurram (3-22) were the pick
; Mani’s Azad – 0
4-19-3); Points: OCT Mabellah – 3 (BP) ; RK Group – 0 of bowlers for Hydrotech.
HYDROTECH CHAMPS
9-WICKET WIN FOR NBO
TECHNO ELEVATORS WIN
Hydrotech International became
In ‘H’ division, NBO thumped MSE
Also in ‘J’ division, Techno Elevators
champions of ‘J’ division with an beat Mani’s Azad by 22 runs.
by nine wickets at the Municipality 2
emphatic win over Ideal International
Batting first, Techno Elevators scored Ground. Batting first, MSE scored 115-9
by 30 runs.
196-9 in 20 overs. Mainuddin Abul top- in 20 overs. Baiju Gopal hit 50. Sidharth
Put into bat, Hydrotech scored 183 scored with 50. Romail David claimed 3 Oza claimed 3 wickets for NBO. In
in 20 overs with Khurram Rashid top- wickets for Mani’s Azad.
reply, NBO scored 118/1 in 10.5 overs
scoring with 39-ball 55 runs. Sadhik
In reply, Mani’s Azad scored 174-9 in to enable the bonus point. Samuel Kett
scored 24 from 22 balls, Sandeep hit 22 20 overs. Abrar Hussain hit 48. Nadeem top-scored with 59.
from 14 and Mohsin with 25 from 14 Abdul claimed 3 wickets for Techno Brief scores: MSE 115-9 in 20 overs (Baiju Gopal
50; Sidharth Oza 3-15-3) lost to NBO 181-1 in 10.5
balls were the scorers.
Elevators.
overs (Samuel Kett 59); Points: MSE – 0 ; NBO – 3
In reply, Ideal could only manage Brief scores: Techno Elevators 196-9 in 20 (BP)
down from behind. “It’s the play-offs,”
Kerr said again.
The winner of the best-of-seven
series face either the Los Angeles
Clippers or Portland Trail Blazers in the
second round.
Western
Conference
action
continued later Saturday with the thirdseeded Oklahoma City Thunder hosting
the Dallas Mavericks. — AFP
Donald regains
Heritage lead,
Day plunges
LOS ANGELES: Former world
number one Luke Donald will try to
end his run of near-misses at the RBC
Heritage when he takes a one-shot
lead into Sunday’s final round.
Donald carded a two-under par
69 over Harbour Town Golf Links
in Hilton Head, South Carolina, on
Saturday to lead Americans Jason
Kokrak and Charley Hoffman by one
stroke.
Seven players are within three shots
of the lead, but that doesn’t include
current world number one Jason Day.
The overnight co-leader opened with
a bogey and things went downhill
from there. In a round that included a
double-bogey at the third, he made six
of his eight bogeys on the back nine en
route to a 79 that left him tied for 40th.
Day said that when he knew he
had shot himself out of contention,
he concentrated on not distracting
playing partner Kevin Chappell, who
is seeking a first PGA Tour title.
“I really wanted to stay out of
Kevin’s way,” Day said.”I know that he
really wants to win a tournament. He’s
had two second-place finishes already
this year. And my bad play, I just felt
like it may have affected him.”
Indeed Chappell carded a four-over
75 that included two double-bogeys
on the back nine to fall five shots
off the pace. He’ll have work to do
with Donald and his closest pursuers
setting their sights on what has proved
an elusive title.
Donald has five top-three finishes
without a victory at Harbour Town.
Hoffman let a 54-hole lead get away in
2013. “I haven’t been in this position
as much as I would have liked the last
couple of years,” said Donald,who
hasn’t won on the US or European
Tour since 2012. — AFP
NBA RESULTS
Play-off (series best-of-seven):
Eastern Conference (At Toronto)
Indiana 100 Toronto 90 (Indiana lead 1-0)
At Atlanta
Atlanta 102 Boston 101
(Atlanta leads series 1-0)
Western Conference
At Oakland, California
Golden State 104 Houston 78
(Golden State lead series 1-0)
LOTTE
TOURNEY
Aussie Lee
rallies to
capture crown
LOS ANGELES: Australian teenager
Min-Jee Lee saved her best for last
Saturday by fashioning a 10-shot
improvement in the fourth round to
claim her second career LPGA Tour
victory.
The 19-year-old from Perth closed
with a bogey free eight-under par 64,
just 24 hours after shooting a two-over
74 at the Lotte Championship.
“I had a not-so-great round
yesterday,” Lee said.”I just came out
with a fresh mindset.”
She finished at 16-under 272 to
beat South Korea’s Chun In-Gee and
American Katie Burnett by one stroke
at the Kapolei, Hawaii golf course.
Burnett was the lone American
golfer in the top six.
Thailand’s Moriya Jutanugarn, 21,
finished in sole possession of fourth at
14-under after firing a 68 on Saturday.
Jan Su-Yeon of South Korea
rounded out the top five at 13 under
after posting a final-round 71.
Lee chipped in for eagle on the
par-five 13th hole and had six birdies
during a seven-hole run that launched
her up the leaderboard.
She rolled in a birdie putt on the
par-four 17th hole and saved par with
an up and down from off the green
at No 18 to claim her second North
American win to go with a victory at
the 2015 Kingsmill Championship.
“I eagled the 13th hole and that was
kind of the turning point,” Lee said.
“I made that eagle then followed it
with two birdies.”
Lee became the fifth player to win
twice before her 20th birthday, joining
Lydia Ko, Lexi Thompson, Marlene
Hagge and Sandra Haynie.
She also finished in the top 10 (tied
for ninth) at last year’s Women’s British
Open.
The red-hot Chun could have
finished in a tie at the top but missed
a 20-foot birdie putt on No 18. — AFP
LOCAL FLAVOUR
FRiENDi Cup cricket from May 6
FRiENDi mobile’s Adnan Alawi, COO, Alex Bennett, CEO, Eugen Comendant,
Marketing Director, Joseph Rajan, Brand Manager, and Vaishali Jesrani,
woman’s coordinator of Oman Cricket unveiling the Summer Cup.
MUSCAT: The Jazz Boys Cricket Club
does their little bit for cricket lovers
and the 19th edition of the FRiENDi
mobile Summer Cup will kick off on
May 6 for a period of 2 weekends at
the Ghubrah Power plant lush green
grounds. The tournament will be of
two categories, men — 16 teams and
ladies — 8 teams.
The popular tournament is mainly
sponsored by FRiENDi mobile, Al
Hajiry Group, Strabag Oman, Tile
Marine, Khurshid Trading and The Body
Shop. The draw for the tournament
for both ladies and gents will be
conducted on May 30 at the Palm
Restaurant, Al Khuwair at 8 pm, in
the presence of all the team captains,
managers and sponsors. Teams (men)
who have registered in the FRiENDi
mobile Summer Cup are Rain Riders,
Ruwi Kings, Asfandyar XI, Royal
Challengers, Future Oilfield, Klair
XI, OEC, Global Money Exchange,
Rahil XI, New Mangloreans, Masters
XI, Khurshid Beatrice, Cheers XI, Al
Dasser Friends, Sialkot Stallions and
Mangalore United Muscat. Ladies team
names are yet to be officially declared.
The tournament organisers have
declared a lot of attractive prizes such
as champions trophy, cash award and
gift hampers for all players, runners-up
trophy, cash award and gift hampers
for all players, plus many individual
prizes.
Al Hail CT to attend Oman Sports expo
MUSCAT: The Al Hail Cricket Team will participate in the upcoming Oman
Sports Exhibition & Conference 2016, to be held from April 18 to 21 at the Oman
International Exhibition Centre. This is the second year running that Al Hail Cricket
Team had the invitation by the Ministry of Sports to take part in the exhibition.
“Al Hail CT’s participation is important to bring the sport of cricket into
limelight, specifically from the point of view of Omani players. With our
participation, we hope to rebrand our team and academy that we have already
started, and also help encourage new players to take up this glorious sport,” said
Moula Bakhsh al Balushi, manager of Al Hail CT.
The exhibition timings will be 10 am to 1 pm (morning session) and 4 pm to 9
pm (evening session).
“Every person that visits the exhibition will help develop the sporting spirit
which will encourage the ministry to organise such events at regular intervals. It
will also help us to achieve our goal to build a credible pool of talented Omani/
expatriate cricketers who will be able to serve the best interests of cricket in
Oman in the future and bring glory to the Sultanate,” Moula Bakhsh added.
First African-American actor won Oscar
This day in 1964, at the Academy Awards, Sidney Poitier becomes the first AfricanAmerican male to win the Best Actor award for the 1963 film Lilies of the Field.
*
destinationoman
international
features
OMANDAILYOBSERVER
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
29
Barka after Dark
Q MOHAMMED ANWAR AL BALUSHI
I
It’s hard to find empty shops in
Barka these days. Despite the dip
in oil prices, the traders in this side
of the country are not that worried.
While other traders are afraid of the
unknown future, here, in the evenings,
is the evidence that it’s consistently
growing.
*
t was just before sunset when I found myself in front of abandoned houses
somewhere in Barka. As I drive my car along this long stretch of road, to my
left, I noticed there were a number of them looking morose under the light
of the setting sun. This sad scene was temporarily interrupted by a beautiful
mosque, which to my estimation was Persian-inspired.
As the darkness took over, the shift from sun light to street lights was noticeable.
Gone was the reddish haze of the sun and in the darkness, the colourful flicker of
yellow, red and green light became dominant.
There was nothing surprising about Barka except perhaps the modern
buildings with classic designs and structure. The city is noticeably progressing but
for some quaint reasons, it has not lost its classic touch of beauty.
The long pave streets, empty as the starless evening sky, and the dozens of
houses unlit at that time of the evening, offered a great time for self-reflection. In
this side of the city, close to the beach, the scene is surreal — as if these lightless
houses were waiting patiently for someone to arrive. Anyone.
From here, the city looked vibrant with all its faked lights. And for some reason,
it occurred to me that the city is comparable to a coin — one side is colourful, the
other side morosely black and white providing visitors of this city and option —
to go where the lights are or choose the silence of the darkness on this side by the
beach.
From the massive information available online, economically, there is an
estimated RO 5 billion in new construction currently taking place in Barka. The
beautiful beach, old bazaars and traditional houses had been attracting a lot of
tourists. Oman has been known for its delicious halwa and Barka is at the centre
where this Omani delight is being distributed locally and internationally.
Without a doubt, Ruwi, Nizwa, Sur, Salalah, Seeb, Ibra, Buraimi and Ibri are
on a lot of people’s list as the top most beautiful cities of Oman. Barka is actually
starting to belong to that list.
For the sleepless, Barka has something to offer. Late in the evening, the
sellers and buyers continue with their trades and a number of families had been
frequenting newly opened shops on big malls.
The city has not only become about shopping but nights in Barka are just as
fascinating as anywhere else. The fresh air on the beach near the old bazaar is on
its own, truly remarkable.
It’s hard to find empty shops in Barka these days. Despite the dip in oil prices,
the traders in this side of the country are not that worried. While other traders
are afraid of the unknown future, here, in the evenings, is the evidence that it’s
consistently growing. More or less, Barka is going to be future “Blue City.”
And I’m sure it’s going to be one of the tourists’ destinations in the country as
well.
literaryworld
Rare Shakespeare first folio found on Scottish island
A
*
nearly 400-year-old copy of a first edition of William
Shakespeare’s collected plays has been found in a vast
aristocratic house on the Isle of Bute, off the western coast
of Scotland.
Published in 1623, the First Folio contains Shakespeare’s
36 plays, including several that had never been published
before and might have been lost without it, such as Macbeth, The Tempest and
As You Like It.
The discovery at Mount Stuart, grand neo-Gothic home of the Marquesses of
Bute, brings the total of known surviving copies of the First Folio in the world to
234. Most others are in libraries and accessible only to scholars.
It is usually a single volume that would have to be read sitting at a desk, but
the Bute copy was split in the past for ease of reading into three leather-bound
volumes, one each for comedies, histories and tragedies.
“This is something that you could take to the fireside and enjoy,” Emma Smith,
a professor of Shakespeare Studies at Oxford University who authenticated the
Bute Folio, told the BBC.
“It’s a book we most likely now see... in a glass case, and one of the things
that this copy... shows us is a time when people just really used this book, they
enjoyed it, they scribbled on it, they spilt their wine on it, their pet cats jumped
on it.”
Worth an estimated £2 to £2.5 million ($2.8 to $3.5 million) according to
Smith, the Folio is not up for sale and will be on public display at Mount Stuart
until October.
It was found in the home’s library, which houses a collection of artworks and
artefacts acquired by the Stuart family over the centuries.
“The collection’s managers were in touch to say they thought they had a
Shakespeare First Folio, and I must say I thought right, yeah, sure you do. But on
much closer inspection they turned out to be right,” said Smith.
Inside the first page is an inscription from an 18th century editor of
Shakespeare called Isaac Reed, describing how he acquired the book in 1786.
The Folio also includes annotations by Reed that suggest he used it as a working
document.
It was authenticated by a variety of methods, including painstaking, word-byword checks to make sure the well-documented quirks and idiosyncracies of the
genuine 1623 First Folio were present.
Britain has been holding commemorations this year to mark the 400th
anniversary of Shakespeare’s death on April 23, 1616. —Reuters
crossword
CRYPTIC PUZZLE
ACROSS
4 Secret means of hard-hearted
corporal punishment (6)
7 Name a proclamation after a
Scottish mountain (8)
8 Run the master ragged! (6)
10 In which to struggle with a
canoe? (5)
13 Set out one’s stall? (4)
14 A frightful act? (4)
15 Make the ears burn! (4)
16 Cut two ways to Southend (3)
17 Wide boy with a starting price
to figure (4)
19 Unresponsive? Absolutely (4)
21 Taking a turn at controlling
the market? (9)
23 Ena’s back safe and sound! (4)
24 A colourful Peter Ustinov part
(4)
26 A record in mountaineering?
(3)
27 See something topping and
talk about it! (4)
29 Regards as a key agreement
(4)
32 Two persons, one face (4)
33 Less than meagre attendance,
nevertheless fine (5)
34 Modify just for the present?
(6)
35 Talk backwardly? (8)
36 We halt the production of
abundance (6)
DOWN
1 Bighead in a boat, perhaps;
but he’s a top man (5)
2 A shot that can bring nine
runs? (5)
3 That brooding deity? (4)
4 Sailing into confusion and
difficulty? (2,3)
5 In nicer terminology, a sure
thing (4)
6 Got close to the desired end
(6)
9 Maybe I’d star in Dr Who’s
place (6)
11 Hecuba’s offspring (3)
12 One young fellow who sailed
round the world (5)
13 Quite a number will cut a
corner (7)
15 Ursine fault? (3)
16 A witch, but she’s no charmer
(3)
18 Summary of prices? (6)
20 To get in, you need a key as
on the side (6)
25 Wild ape one may have shot
when young (3)
28 Design headgear for church
(5)
30 Long, yes, to have service (5)
31 Keep a car on the road (5)
32 Expected money for a fight
(4)
33 Yield to pressure to donate?
(4)
well as the new rent (5)
21 In America, possibly worn
with a gown (3)
22 Its monotony can bring
lengthy depression (3)
23 Vehicle with a small number
EASY PUZZLE
ACROSS
4 Shade of red (6)
7 Comfort (8)
8 Clergyman (6)
10 Iron (5)
13 Body part (4)
14 Canvas shelter (4)
15 Castle (4)
16 Wager (3)
17 Genuine (4)
19 Egyptian goddess (4)
21 Wound (9)
23 Pulls (4)
24 Afresh (4)
26 Sphere (3)
27 Related (4)
29 Cupid (4)
32 Percussion instrument (4)
33 Coarse (5)
34 Agreement (6)
35 Qualified (8)
36 Money-lender (6)
DOWN
1 Sneaked (5)
2 Refuge (5)
3 Enquires (4)
4 Tree (5)
5 Street (4)
6 Pebbles (6)
9 Whole (6)
11 Colour (3)
12 Scatter (5)
13 Bag (7)
15 Adherent (3)
16 Offer (3)
18 Religious festival (6)
20 Drain (5)
21 Unruly crowd (3)
22 Finish (3)
23 Deceptions (6)
25 Fish (3)
28 Senior (5)
30 Dance (5)
31 Cut (5)
32 Wild pig (4)
33 Enclosure (4)
YESTERDAY’S CRYPTIC
SOLUTIONS
ACROSS: 1, B-light 7, Romances
8, Far-O 10, He-ated 11, Unsur-E
14, Ted 16, Da-re-d 17, Rued 19,
Start 21, Golly 22, Canal 23, Dis-H
26, Moral 28, Per(-son) 29, ENable 30, Put out 31, Ob-an 32,
Explorer 33, Tonnes.
DOWN: 1, Bother 2, G-rated 3,
Trod 4, Laun-dry 5, Scour 6, Asked 8, Fat-E 9, Red 12, Sat. 13,
Reims 15, Atlas 18, Union 19, So-n
20, All 21, Gal-Leon 22, C-AB 23,
Detain 24, Iron 25, Hotels 26, Metes 27, Ralph 28, Pu-b 30, Port.
YESTERDAY’S EASY
SOLUTIONS
ACROSS: 1, Tongue 7, Decanter 8,
Lice 10, Prison 11, Senile 14, Sly
16, Mines 17, Espy 19, Fatal 21,
Liken 22, Siren 23, Rind 26, Aides
28, Per 29, Grotto 30, Manage 31,
Elan 32, Nosiness 33, Swerve.
DOWN: 1, Topple 2, Grisly 3,
Eden 4, Caveman 5, Stain 6, Tries
8, Lisp 9, Coy 12, Nil 13, Learn 15,
Maker 18, Stair 19, Fir 20, Ten 21,
Listens 22, Set 23, Rename 24, Iran
25, Dredge 26, Agony 27, Douse
28, Pal 30, Mess.
lifestyle
oman
@
30
OMANDAILYOBSERVER
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
Vienna Convention adopted
This day in 1961, the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, a
cornerstone of modern international relations, is adopted. The convention
forms the legal basis for diplomatic immunity.
summercare
Q SHAHNAZ HUSAIN
A facial scrub helps to remove dead
cells and provides deep cleansing of the
skin. It brightens and refines the skin.
Protect your
SKIN, HAIR
during harsh
SUMMER
At work fussing with the
hair is most distracting.
Put it up in a roll or pin
it up. It can also be tied
back in a pony tail.
Braids (plaits) may also
look nice for work
C
leansing is of great
importance
for
the
working woman who
leaves home to get to
work, battling traffic
and exposing herself to
the grime and pollutants in the air. Always
cleanse the skin at night, before going to
bed, so that you can remove make-up, stale
sweat and oil deposits, as well as dirt and
pollutants.
A tulsi neem face wash would be ideal for
summer.
It would help to remove impurities and
soothe and protect the skin from eruptions
and rashes.
After cleansing, tone the skin with chilled
rose water or a rose-based skin tonic.
It not only refreshes and cools the skin,
but also helps to stimulate blood circulation
to the skin surface and add a glow.
A matte moisturizer is ideal if the weather
is hot and humid.
For dry skins, spray on a moisture mist.
If your work entails travelling, apply a
sunscreen.
For oily skin, oil-free sunscreen is
available. Use a facial scrub two or three
times a week.
A facial scrub helps to remove dead cells
and provides deep cleansing of the skin. It
brightens and refines the skin.
If your skin is dry, nourish it at night,
after cleansing.
Apply a nourishing cream and massage it
into the skin, using circular strokes.
The pressure should be more as you go
upwards and slightly outwards.
Wipe it off after three to four minutes of
massage.
Twice a week use a face mask.
Apply it on the face, avoiding the lips and
area around eyes. Wash it off when it is dry.
To refresh your make-up, you need to
carry a few items in your handbag.
During summer, fragrant wet tissues can
be most refreshing.
They are easily available.
Use them to cleanse the skin and remove
grease and sweat.
A powder compact of pressed powder is
also handy.
It helps to get rid of that oily look in
summer.
First wipe with the tissues and then dab
the powder.
You also need a lipstick to touch-up after
lunch.
Apply powder on the lips and then apply
lipstick.
Remember to carry a small bottle of
cologne, or your favourite deodorant.
Hair: Although long hair is in fashion,
avoid keeping it loose while you are at work.
This is more so in summer. Fussing with
the hair is most distracting. Put it up in a roll
or pin it up.
It can also be tied back in a pony tail.
Actually, pony tails are in fashion.
You can have a high or low pony tail, tied
back with ribbons.
In fact, match the ribbon with the colour
of your outfit.
Or, use a hair accessory.
Many kinds of clips and other attractive
hair accessories are available.
But they should not be too decorative for
work.
You can even curl the ends of the hair
with curlers and then tie them in a pony tail,
or pin then up with a clip.
Braids (plaits) may also look nice for
work, although it may take time.
Braids for work hairstyle can be done on
long and medium length hair.
Divide your hair into three parts and
intertwine it like a rope.
Towards the end of the braid, use
elastic band or a ribbon to tie it up.
Braids look neat on young working
women.
As far as the new trends are
concerned, the more natural look in
hair is making its way in, with a look
of ease. Keep the hair away from the
face.
If you have short hair, wear it softly
and naturally layered. Even in hair
colour, use subtle colours with natural
ingredients. — IANS
A tulsi neem face wash would be ideal for
summer. It would help to remove impurities
and soothe and protect the skin from
eruptions and rashes
At night, after cleansing, apply a nourishing cream and massage it into the skin, using circular strokes
@ hollywoodauction
Marilyn Monroe’s dress, jewellery to be auctioned
A
collection of Marilyn Monroe film
costumes valued in the millions
of dollars goes under the hammer
later this year, a California auction house
announced last week.
Julien’s Auctions said a private collector,
David Gainsborough-Roberts, is auctioning
the haul — including the iconic cocktail dress
worn by the film legend in “Some Like It Hot.”
The collection includes Monroe’s
costumes, personal gowns and clothing and
jewellery, and is valued at some $3 million.
The Los Angeles-based auction house
described it as “undoubtedly the most
important Marilyn Monroe archive of
combined professional and personal
property to hit the collecting market in
decades.”
A gown worn in the
film “There’s No
“Marilyn Monroe is one of the
Business Like Show
biggest and most endearing screen icons
Business”. — Reuters
of our time,” said Darren Julien, the
company’s founder and
CEO.
“We are so
honoured
to
be
working with David
Gainsborough-Roberts
with his incredible
collection of Marilyn
Monroe
artefacts.
He has meticulously
archived so many
important aspects of
Marilyn’s career and
personal life.”
Highlights include
the sheer beaded cocktail dress Monroe wore
as she sung “I’m Through With Love” atop a
grand piano in “Some Like it Hot,” expected
to sell for up to $400,000.
Released in 1959 and considered one
of the greatest comedies ever, the film won
Monroe a Golden Globe
for her portrayal of Sugar
Kane, one of her most
famous roles.
The collection also
features the elaborate
costume she wore as she
sang “After You Get What
You Want, You Don’t Want
It” in the 1953 comedy
“There’s No Business
Like Show Business.” It is
expected to sell for up to
$200,000.
Monroe, one of the
world’s most bankable stars before her death
aged just 36 in Los Angeles in 1962, remains
at the top of the list for collectors of celebrity
memorabilia.
Five years ago, the billowing frock she
wore on a subway grate in “The Seven Year
Itch” that turned her into a screen icon sold
for a record $5.5m.
“More than half a century after her death,
the world remains fascinated by Marilyn
Monroe’s beauty and talent,” said Martin
Nolan, Executive Director of Julien’s Auctions.
There are also costumes from “Gentlemen
Prefer Blondes,” “Let’s Make Love,” and
“The Misfits,” as well as a pair of rhinestone
earrings worn by Monroe in “How To Marry
A Millionaire.”
Additional highlights include evening
gloves, jewellery, shoes, household itemsand
Monroe’s Detroit Free Press “New Faces
Award” from 1952.
The collection will be exhibited on a
worldwide tour prior to the November 19
auction in Los Angeles. — AFP
A sheer black cocktail dress worn in
the film “Some Like It Hot”. — Reuters
international
Greco-Turkish war declared
This day in 1897, the Greco-Turkish War or also called the Thirty Day’s War, was
declared between Greece and the Ottoman Empire. It’s immediate cause was
the question over the status of the Ottoman province of Crete.
@ chaplinmuseum
features
OMANDAILYOBSERVER
M O N DAY l A P R I L 1 8 l 2 0 1 6
31
Nepal’s female climbers blaze
trails for their gender
Q AMMU KANNAMPILLY
W
Visitors look at family pictures
Charlie Chaplin museum springs to life
An extract of the silent film “The
Great Dictator”. — Reuters
A wax figure of Italian actress Sofia Loren with other actor’s portraits at ‘Chaplin’s World’ museum. — Reuters
Q NINA LARSON
I
magine moving along the cogs within giant
machinery like Charlie Chaplin in “Modern
Times”, or tumbling inside a cabin teetering
on the edge of a cliff as he did in “Gold Rush”.
That will be possible when an ambitious,
immersive museum showcasing the life and
works of the groundbreaking film-maker opens in
Switzerland.
Chaplin’s World, 15 years in the planning,
premiere in the picturesque village of Corsier-surVevey on Lake Geneva yesterday, one day after what
would have been the British screen legend’s 127th
birthday.
“He wanted people to remember him. That’s why
he did the films and he did it in such a perfectionist
way,” Chaplin’s 62-year-old son Eugene said, adding:
“I think he would be pleased.”
The museum is set on the vast estate of Manoir
de Ban, about 26 kilometres from Lausanne, where
Chaplin spent the last 25 years of his life until his
death in 1977 at age 88.
He had moved to Switzerland after being barred
from the United States in the 1950s over suspicions
that he had communist sympathies, at the height of
paranoia about Soviet infiltration.
On the Swiss Riviera overlooking the lake with
a view of the Alps in the distance, the large manor
where Chaplin lived with his wife Oona and their
eight children forms half of the museum, retracing
the film-maker’s private life.
‘Like Downton Abbey’
Chaplin’s 70-year-old son Michael recalled what it
was like living in the mansion, with around a dozen
servants.
“It was like Downton Abbey, on a reduced level.
For a child it was wonderful,” he said, recalling all the
great hiding places.
A separate building has been built nearby as a
large mock-up of a Hollywood studio dedicated to
Chaplin’s on screen work which began around 1914.
Visitors can also catch a glimpse of the artist’s
humble beginnings in London and his spectacular
rise to become one of the biggest, most influential
movie legends in Hollywood history.
With clips from his iconic films flickering from
a multitude of screens, visitors can walk down
“Easy Street”, visit the barber shop from “The Great
Dictator” and the restaurant where he ate his shoe in
“The Immigrant”.
“What really touched me is how they managed
to make his films come alive again by inserting clips
into decors,” Michael Chaplin said, recalling how his
father “was always in movement, and that part of the
museum is in total movement, which is beautiful.”
Chaplin’s World is also dotted with more than 30
wax figures created by the Grevin wax museum in
Paris.
The lifelike figures portray Chaplin as different
characters, his wife Oona, actors and actresses from
his films, friends and people who mattered to him like
Albert Einstein, as well as artists inspired by his work
like Michael Jackson and Woody Allen. “We worked
very hard to make a museum that would be as true
as possible,” curator Yves Durand said ahead of the
opening.
“We are there to tell a story about a real life that
was Charlie Chaplin’s life, and about a fictional life
that was his work,” he said.
Bowler hat and cane
In a narrow room resembling a Swiss bank vault,
one can find some of the iconic objects associated with
Chaplin’s work, including his bowler hat and cane of
his Little Tramp persona, and the ripped trousers and
patched shoes he wore in “The Kid”.
“This is the first time I’ve seen the costume, or the
cane or the hat or the shoes,” Michael Chaplin said
as he helped unpack the items before the museum
opening.
“I’ve never actually really seen an original one
before, so it’s quite moving to see that,” he said.
In one glass showcase there is the certificate signed
by Queen Elizabeth II when Chaplin was knighted in
1975.
And in another is the Oscar he won for the score
of his film “Limelight”. However, he didn’t win the
Oscar until 1973, since the film was barred for release
in the United States when it first came out in 1952.
The museum project has faced numerous
stumbling blocks over more than 15 years of drawnout negotiations.
It took seven years to get a building permit, and
before that organisers had to wait five years to settle
a lawsuit brought by a neighbour worried about the
implications of the project.
Eugene Chaplin admitted the transformation of
Manoir de Ban, where he was born in 1953 and lived
until 2008, was difficult and said he had stayed away
while the work was being done.
“I didn’t want to see the bulldozers digging into
the grass. It’s a lot of memories,” he said. But he was
thrilled with the final result.
“This is the perfect place to show my father’s films,
to remember his work, and his life, in a place where
he was so happy,” he said. — AFP
hen a deadly avalanche
hit Mount Everest a
year ago, Pasang Lhamu
Sherpa Akita, one of the few Nepali
women with expertise in climbing the
world’s highest peaks, headed straight
there to help. A gifted mountaineer
who had summited Everest by the age
of 22, she is part of a new generation
of Sherpa women who are climbing
peaks that have traditionally only
been scaled by their men.
“People think mountaineering
is a man’s job, but I think we need
more women in the mountains,” the
31-year-old said.
Generations of men from
Nepal’s famed Sherpa community
have climbed the Himalayas, while
their wives and daughters have
traditionally kept the home fires
burning.
But in a sign of changing times,
a string of Sherpa women are now
breaking records themselves, not
only on 8,848-metre high Everest but
other dangerous peaks.
Some are now planning new
summits during Nepal’s spring
climbing season, which started this
month.
“Sherpa men train their sons
to climb, not their daughters,
they are expected to stay home,”
mountaineering expert Elizabeth
Hawley said.
“These female climbers are
certainly breaking tradition, which
takes some courage.”
In the year since Nepal’s massive
earthquake,
which
triggered
avalanches and landslides that killed
almost 9,000 people, they have also
led rescue and relief efforts.
“Everyone told me to stay behind,
they said Everest base camp is gone,
but I had to go,” said Sherpa Akita,
who was in a nearby village when the
disaster hit.
Orphaned at 15
Raised in the Himalayan town
of Lukla, known as the gateway to
Everest, she had long wanted to climb
the mountain, inspired by the late
Pasang Lhamu Sherpa — the first
Nepali woman to summit the peak
in 1993.
After her parents died, leaving
her orphaned at 15, she worked on
trekking expeditions to earn money.
In 2004, she signed up for a local
mountaineering course, where she
was one of only two women in a
class of dozens of men. Sherpa Akita
soon won a scholarship to train in the
French Alps before returning to climb
Everest. She also joined two Sherpa
women and together they became
the first female team to summit K2,
the world’s second-highest mountain,
in 2014.
But her toughest test came when
the 7.8-magnitude quake ripped
through her country on April 25.
Sherpa Akita lost a friend in the
subsequent Everest avalanche, her
Kathmandu home suffered damage,
and the sight of thousands of Nepalis
huddling under tarps for shelter
broke her heart.
She spent the next few months
raising funds and travelling to remote
villages to deliver emergency supplies
and help run medical camps.
National Geographic magazine
Generations of men from
Nepal’s famed Sherpa
community have climbed
the Himalayas, while their
wives and daughters have
traditionally kept the
home fires burning. But in
a sign of changing times,
a string of Sherpa women
are now breaking records
themselves, not only on
8,848-metre high Everest
but other dangerous peaks
named her 2016’s “Adventurer of the
Year” for her efforts, the first Nepali
woman to win the accolade.
World records
Although Sherpa women have
faced a long wait for their turn in the
mountaineering spotlight, they are
making up for it by snatching world
records.
In 2012, Chhurim Sherpa became
the first woman to scale Everest
twice in one week, while 42-year-old
Lhakpa Sherpa holds a record for the
most Everest summits by a woman,
with six.
The daughter of a yak herder,
Lhakpa Sherpa worked as a porter
and kitchen hand on trekking and
mountaineering expeditions when
she was young, before climbing solo.
“I felt free up there, I found
ordinary life much more difficult,”
she said, referring to a years-long
violent relationship that saw her
eventually retire from climbing.
The mother-of-three is now
preparing a comeback — 16 years
after she first scaled Everest —
determined to summit the mountain
twice in a single season.
Eventually, she wants to beat the
record held by male climber Apa
Sherpa of 21 total summits.
Despite such feats, women say
they continue to face an uphill
battle in a male-dominated industry,
including securing funding for their
expeditions.
They have made 33 attempts to
scale Everest, compared to 2,923
bids by Sherpa men, according to the
authoritative Himalayan Database.
More than a year after Pema Diki
Sherpa and her team became the
first all-female expedition to summit
the highest mountains on all seven
continents, they still need to pay back
a Rs 10 million ($95,000) loan.
Like others, the 28-year-old has
temporarily set aside her climbing
ambitions and financial concerns
and thrown herself into relief work in
Nepal, monitoring aid distribution in
devastated Dolakha district.
“People had no food, nowhere
to live, no access to roads because of
landslides. It was very sad,” she said.
But they plan to return to the
peaks, if not this climbing season,
then the next. “Once you begin
climbing, you can’t stop. The
mountains are an addiction,” Sherpa
Akita said. — AFP
Pema Diki
Sherpa looks
at an ice axe
Pasang Lhamu Sherpa Akita
prepares her equipment in
Kathmandu. — AFP
Lakpa Sherpa
prepares her
equipment
MONDAY | APRIL 18, 2016 | RAJAB 10, 1437 AH
www.omanobserver.om
editor@omanobserver.om
Charlie
Chaplin
museum springs to life
In a narrow room
resembling a Swiss bank
vault, one can find some
of the iconic objects
associated with Chaplin’s
work, including his
bowler hat and cane of
his Little Tramp persona,
and the ripped trousers
and patched shoes he
wore in “The Kid”... P31
@editor’spick
aroundtown
happeningsoon
charityevent
ladiesonly
GLOBAL HIGHER EDUCATION
EXHIBITION IN MUSCAT
ZUMBATHON CHARITY EVENT
APRIL 23, 2016
APRIL 19-21, 2016
Ladies in Muscat, 16-year-old and
above, are invited to participate in
this charity event called, Zumbathon.
Happening on April 23, 2016 from
3:00 to 6:00 pm at the Muscat
College Sports Hall, the proceeds will
be donated to the Oman Cancer
Association.
Global Higher Education Exhibition is
happening on April 19, 2016 at Oman
Convention & Exhibition Centre
(OCEC) Muscat, Oman. Its a premier
event in Education & Training industry.
Event details may change at any time,
always check with the event organiser
when planning to attend this event or
purchase tickets.
Britain’s Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (R) and Catherine, Duchess of
Cambridge, pose at The Taj Mahal in Agra on April 16, 2016, recreating Princess
Diana’s pose when she visited India nearly a quarter of a century ago. — AFP