WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 11, 2015 | RABEE AL THANI 21, 1436 AH P20 ϐ ̈́͵Ǥͷ VOL. 34 NO. 89 | PAGES 32 | BAISAS 200 P31 P25 Inside Chief Executive Officer DR IBRAHIM BIN AHMED AL KINDI Editor-in-Chief ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI Oman Establishment for Press, Publication and Advertising PO Box 974, Postal Code 100, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman www.omanobserver.om FOLLOW US ON: OMAN HM greetings to Iranian President MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos has sent a cable of greetings to President Dr Hassan Rouhani of Iran on the occasion of his country’s National Day. In his cable, His Majesty expressed his sincere greetings along with his best wishes of good health, happiness and long life to President Rouhani and the friendly people of Iran further progress and prosperity. Meanwhile, His Majesty has received a cable of thanks from President Beji Caid Essebsi of Tunisia in reply to His Majesty’s condolences cable on the death of his brother. SEE ALSO P2 ASIA India PM’s party mauled in Delhi NEW DELHI: India’s Narendra Modi yesterday suffered his first major election setback since becoming prime minister last May, as anti-corruption campaigner Arvind Kejriwal won a landslide victory in Delhi state polls. Modi’s party won just three of the 70 seats in the Delhi Assembly in elections held over the weekend, dealing a setback to his efforts to consolidate power and push through much-needed economic reforms. REPORT ON P10 REGION US to close embassy in Yemen today SANAA: The United States is closing its embassy in Yemen, embassy employees and a US official in Washington said yesterday. Employees of the embassy in Sanaa said the US mission had been getting rid of documents and weapons and staff had been leaving the capital over the past days with a view of closing down completely by today. Employees at the British, French and German embassies said their missions had also been getting rid of documents and have given local staff two months’ paid leave. SEE ALSO P13 INSIDESTORIES P6 HONG KONG WOMAN FOUND GUILTY OF TORTURE AN UNLIKELY STAR OF UKRAINE TALKS P8 CAMERON TELLS BUSINESSMEN TO BOOST PAY P15 WEATHER TODAY MUSCAT MAX: 260C MIN: 200C SALALAH MAX: 270C MIN: 190C SUNRISE 06.41 AM PRAYER TIMINGS FAJR: 05:23 DHUHR: 12:20 ASR: 15:35 MAGHRIB: 17:59 ISHA: 19:29 NIZWA MAX: 260C MIN: 110C Myanmar fighting pushes refugees Obama says American hostage is dead Neil Armstrong’s camera found editor@omanobserver.om Sultanate reports three new cases of Coronovirus Tourism sector to see $35 billion investments ALL-FEMALE CREW STAFF REPORTER MUSCAT Feb. 10: The Ministry of Health recorded three new cases of Coronavirus including one death and other two have almost recovered. The total number of cases recorded in the Sultanate since the discovery of the disease stood at five including three deaths. Around 18 HINI cases have been recorded and all of them recovered. Releasing a statement on the latest statistics about HIN1 and Middle East respiratory syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) during January, the Ministry of Health affirmed its close monitoring and combating of these diseases through effective epidemic control system. Around 502 laboratory samples were tested in various governorates to detect respiratory diseases. The ministry calls upon everyone to remain cautious when dealing with animals, especially camels. It also urged those suffering from respiratory symptoms, such as flu to adopt healthy practices while sneezing and coughing. It also advised them to maintain safe distance and avoid contact with others. Meanwhile, an official from the ministry said that health institutions in the Sultanate should adhere to strict compliance of infection control and lapse of an in-house policy should be avoided. The official said that millions of lives are lost due to infections in hospitals worldwide. STAFF REPORTER MUSCAT Team Al Thuraya hope to challenge for honours this year as the only all-female crew take on their male counterparts during EFG Sailing Arabia — The Tour 2015. Skipper Mary Rook, returning for her third tour, is fully aware of the strength of the opposition but the seven members of her team, a mix of Omani and international sailors, have agreed on one thing — they can compete with the very best. REPORT ON P2 OMAN EXPORTS TO 130 NATIONS POSITIVE OUTLOOK: Non-oil exports grew by 7.2 per cent to touch RO 3.3 billion ZAINAB AL NASSERI MUSCAT Feb. 10: The Public Authority for Investment Promotion and Export Development (Ithraa) yesterday unveiled the details of its annual plans for 2015. The plan includes a number of events, activities and initiatives aimed at promoting and attracting foreign investments to the Sultanate. During the press conference, Ithraa affirmed its endeavours to explore more export markets for Omani products by conducting more studies on the focus markets by ‘Ithraa’ in the coming period. Russia to build Egypt’s first nuclear plant CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi said yesterday that Russia had agreed to jointly build his country’s first nuclear power plant. A memorandum of understanding was signed in the presence of Sisi and visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin. At a joint press conference with Putin, Sisi said the nuclear power plant would be built in Dabaa in northwest Egypt on the Mediterranean coast. Egypt had laid the foundation for such a facility in Dabaa during the regime of Hosni Mubarak, but work was halted due to disputes with local residents. Sisi said Putin had agreed with him that “the challenge of terrorism that faces Egypt, and which Russia also faces, does not stop at any borders”. Putin, making his first state visit to Egypt in a decade, said they agreed on “reinforcing our efforts in combating terrorism”. He presented his host with a Russian-made Kalashnikov rifle, and Sisi handed him a plaque with a picture of Putin. REPORT ON P13 It will also avail electronic data and information on the Omani economy and corporate sector. Faris bin Nasser al Farsi, DirectorGeneral of Investment Promotion at Ithraa spoke on the major events which will be implemented by the directorate this year. The events include taking part in the emerging market centre meeting, scheduled to be held in Dubai this month and holding an investment promotion meeting. The plan also includes organising seminars in Iran and Italy under the theme ‘Invest in Oman’. It also includes holding of Omani-Brazilian investment seminar in Sohar, as well as the OmanIndia Investment seminar, Oman-Asian investment seminar and the Investment Promotion Plan Seminar in Muscat. In the field of export development, Talib bin Saif al Makhmari, Director of Export Facilities Department at the Directorate-General for Export Promotion, spoke about the plan of the directorate by organising a meeting with the export development work team, organising ‘Shiyameen’ exhibition for stone and marble, in addition to a number of seminars on promoting business practices. TURN TO P3 AGENDA FOR THE YEAR Q EXPLORE more export markets for Omani products Q SEMINARS in Iran, India and Brazil planned Q ITHRAA to organise mobile exhibitions Q ELECTRONIC data on Omani economy and corporate sector Feb.10: The Ministry of Tourism is about to launch new projects in various governorates with a view to boost tourism and generate investment opportunities for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). These include creating new heritage houses and exploiting old neighbourhoods in different wilayats as restaurants, guest houses and artifacts markets. This was stated by Ahmed bin Nasser al Mehrzi, Minister of Tourism, in an interview with Oman Arabic, sister daily of the Observer. He said that an agreement has been reached with Al Raffd Fund and other entities for funding of these projects. “The exploitation of heritage houses to accommodate tourists will encourage individuals to attach attention to old buildings and refurbish them for tourism purpose thereby encouraging small and medium enterprises to enter this field,” the minister said. “Among the new tourism projects envisaged by the ministry include setting up of guest houses in farms in accordance with the specifications and conditions required for obtaining licences. In other tourist sports which lack basic tourist facilities some houses will be used as guest houses for tourists,” Al Mehrzi said. The firm which will develop the projects is due to present its penultimate draft to the main ministerial committee on February 25, and that draft has been finalised with only small observations related to implementation mechanisms. There is a comprehensive and detailed strategy for all which is related to the development of tourism sector. In this stage the governorates of Al Dakhiliyah, Dhofar and Musandam have been considered as the best in terms of tourism potential to be developed in the current plan. The total volume of investment as part of Oman Tourism Strategy (2015-2040) is estimated at $35 billion including the cost of infrastructure. After 20 years court orders maternity clinic to pay $2.13 million French baby-swap families win damages GRASSE, France: Two French families whose babies were switched at birth more than 20 years ago won nearly two million euros in compensation yesterday. A court in the southern town of Grasse ordered the clinic at the centre of the mix-up in the French Riviera city of Cannes to pay 1.88 million euros ($2.13 million), six times less than what the families had called for. The clinic was ordered to pay 400,000 euros to each of the swapped babies — who are now adult women — and 300,000 euros to three parents concerned and 60,000 euros to three siblings. However, the court threw out a suit against doctors and obstetricians also brought by the family. One of the mothers, Sophie Serrano, 38, voiced her joy and “relief ” at the decision. “Finally, after so many years, the error has been recognised. Now, I’m cleared of everything. I’ve no reason any more to Manon Serrano (L), one of two women switched at birth more than 20 years ago, and her mother Sophie Serrano at their home in Grasse. — Reuters feel guilty for anything,” Serrano told French television channel iTele. Gilbert Collard, a lawyer for one of the families, said they were “completely satisfied with the decision” and there was no question of an appeal. The story began on July 4, 1994, when Sophie Serrano gave birth to little Manon at a clinic in Cannes. The baby suffered from jaundice and doctors put her in an incubator equipped with lights to treat the problem along with another affected newborn girl. An auxiliary nurse unwittingly switched them and although both mothers immediately expressed doubt about the babies, pointing to their different hair lengths, they were sent home anyway. Ten years later, troubled by the fact his daughter bore no resemblance to him with her darker skin, Manon’s father did a paternity test that revealed he was not her biological parent. Sophie Serrano then discovered she was not Manon’s mother either, prompting a probe to try to find the other family who had been handed their biological daughter. The investigation revealed that at the time of the births in 1994, three newborns suffered from jaundice — the two girls and a boy — and the clinic only had two incubators with the special lights. The girls were therefore put together in one incubator. The two sets of parents met their biological daughters for the first time when they were both 10 years old, but did not ask that they be switched back. — AFP 2 ROYAL GUARDS GET BATON TRAINING W E D N E S DAY l F E B R U A R Y 1 1 l 2 0 1 5 ENJOY OMANI MUSIC, CULTURE AT ROHM The Royal Guard of Oman celebrated the conclusion of a training course on the use of the baton for military music personnel under the auspices of Brigadier Ramis bin Jaman al Awira, Director General of Music at the Royal Guard of Oman at the Training Battalion. OMAN The Education and Outreach Area of the Royal Opera House Muscat is hosting the second ROHM Open House of the season at Opera Galleria, on February 14. It will feature family-friendly entertainment, including a variety of music and dance, as well as art exhibitions that celebrate traditional and contemporary Omani art. Tunisian President Majlis Ash’shura food, water security panel meets thanks HM MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos has received a cable of thanks from President Beji Caid Essebsi of the Republic of Tunisia in reply to His Majesty’s condolences cable on the death of his brother. In his cable, President Essebsi expressed his utmost thanks and gratitude for His Majesty’s good feelings, praying to Allah the Almighty to protect His Majesty the Sultan and the Omani people against all harm and grant His Majesty good health, well-being and a long life. — ONA KOM organises career fair MUSCAT: The working team of the Food and Water Security Committee at Majlis Ash’shura on Tuesday held its first regular meeting of the 4th annual sitting (2014 – 2015) of the 7th term under the chairmanship of Sultan bin Majid al Abri, Head of the Committee. The meeting took up several issues and topics related to food and water security in the Sultanate and the mechanism adopted by the competent departments to implement the strategic plans in relation to achieving food and water security in the Sultanate. The meeting also reviewed and discussed developments of the Committee’s study on achieving food and Food and Water Security Committee at Majlis Ash’shura met under the chairmanship of Sultan bin Majid al Abri, Head of the Committee in Muscat on Tuesday. — ONA water security in the Sultanate, data and information reached by the team to enrich the topic of the study that included reply of members of the Majlis on the request EFG SAILING ARABIA to provide information and data from each wilayat. The reply of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on mechanisms to achieve food and water security in the Sultanate that include information and several recommendations clarified by the Ministry within the reply was discussed as well. — ONA THE TOUR Al Thuraya women aim to beat the boys team MUSCAT: In line with the events held by the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (PEIE) to celebrate the Omani Industry Day, the technical arm of PEIE; Knowledge Oasis Muscat (KOM), on Tuesday organised a Career Open Day to showcase the services and job opportunities offered by the various companies based in the KOM. “This is a great opportunity for the companies to meet with prospective job seekers and perform first interviews, as well as collect resumes of potential candidates. Students from different universities and colleges in the Sultanate have an opportunity to meet with representatives from KOM tenants to answer their potential questions and get acquainted with the available vacancies,” said Mohamed al Maskari, DirectorGeneral of KOM. Al Maskari added that the open day comes in line with the belief that supporting young Omanis contributes to the development of the country’s economy. “We have received overwhelming feedbacks from KOM tenants once we announced the event. These feedbacks eventually confirm the interest and commitment of these companies in offering opportunities to the young generation in the country. On the other hand, the Open Day aimed at informing students and jobseekers of local market requirements in the field of information and communication technology,” he pointed out. More than 227,000 sqm of land has been leased in KOM and the occupancy rate has reached 39 per cent. Additionally, the number of operating companies in KOM has touched 148 by the end of the first half of 2014, marking an increase of 15 companies in comparison with the year 2013, and provided around 3,100 jobs by the end of the first half of 2014, marking an increase of 950 jobs, compared to the year 2013. The Omanisation rate in KOM has exceeded 52 per cent and the volume of private sector investment has touched RO 63.3 million, with an increase rate of RO 30.3 million from 2013. Opened in 2003, KOM is the Sultanate of Oman’s flagship technology park. Symbolising successful public-private partnership in nurturing knowledgebased businesses, KOM is committed to creating an environment in which budding entrepreneurs, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and established multi-nationals can coexist, innovate and flourish within a Middle East setting. KOM aims to enhance Oman’s position as the region’s leading centre of business excellence, innovation and entrepreneurship. Providing its tenants with innovative real estate solutions and excellent service, KOM is the ideal location for businesses starting or expanding in the Middle East. — ONA MUSCAT: Team Al Thuraya hope to challenge for honours this year as the only all-female crew take on their male counterparts during EFG Sailing Arabia — The Tour 2015. Skipper Mary Rook, returning for her third Tour, is fully aware of the strength of the opposition but the seven members of her team, a mix of Omani and international sailors, have agreed on one thing — they can compete with the very best. Mary said: “The field is looking very tough this year with lots of other good teams so it will be hard to put a number on where we hope to finish until we get started, but as ever we would love to beat the Omani Boys team! This year we have Ibtisam al Salmi, who has taken part in the tour with me once before and last summer became an expert trimmer on the J80 in France. She is the best female sailor we have on the programme.” She added: “Also in the team, we have Raiya al Habsi who was one of the first girls from the Oman Sail Women’s Sailing Programme to join the Tour and the first Omani woman ever to take part in the Rolex Fastnet Race. She is back again this year to keep us entertained and happy with her fun personality! We then have two more girls from the women’s programme who are completely new to competitive sailing as well as Annemeike Bes from Holland, a three time Olympian and a Silver medallist from Beijing who was a member of Team SCA’s training crew for the Volvo Ocean Race.” Ibtisam al Salmi “Lauren Eatwell did the tour last year and Hannah Morris from New Zealand raced with us last year and is a very accomplished offshore racer. Five of our team have done the race before and might have an idea of what to expect which is a great help. Two of the Omanis are brand new to sailing so we will be able to talk them all through it.” “As we are lighter we will be able to sail with eight people which will be useful have the extra few pairs of hands. We haven’t been sailing together for very long as a team but hopefully we will come together as the race progresses. Two of the new girls won’t have ever done an offshore race before so it will be quite an experience for them!” In 2015, the 760nm route has been reversed by Oman Sail with the boats starting in Muscat in Oman and finishing the race in Manama, Bahrain, completing six legs and visiting seven stopovers with two inshore races in Dubai and Doha scheduled along the way. These changes have repercussions for all the teams, says Rook. “The climate is going to get colder as we go along which is the opposite to normal and might pose an added difficulty especially with the Omanis who suffer with the cold! The first leg will be massively tough as the three times I have sailed the route, we have been becalmed for between 24 - 48 hours each time. So it will be interesting to see how that goes but we will be doing our best to make sure we are always fresh whatever the conditions.” The Young Round Square conference aimed to nurture students to make them better citizens, beyond the academic arena Young environmentalists from ISG attend Mumbai meet MUSCAT: A young and enthusiastic team of nine students, along with the YRS representative Ms Juthika from Indian School Al Ghubra attended the Young Round Square Conference South Asia and Gulf Region held at Singapore International School, Mumbai from January 29 to February 1. The theme of the conference was ‘Code Green — The Power of One to Make a Difference’. The conference focussed on the RS pillars of environmental stewardship and leadership. The chief guest at the conference was Papri Gosh, Principal, Regional Director of Round Square (South Asia and Gulf Region), Board Member and Trustee of Round Square. The YRS delegates were offered an exciting line up of workshops, activities to inspire them to find new channels for leading their generation in caring for our planet and its inhabitants. Delegations had stimulating Barazza sessions, camp fires, hands-on projects and challenging outdoor activities. There were very eminent speakers who have made a difference by contributing to the environment. To name the few of them: Diya Mirza, Irfan Khan, Agatha Sangama, Atul Sathe, Bittu Sehgal. The YRS ISG delegation comprised Uttkarsh, Kanupriya, Kaushik, Ambika, Dev, Raya, Suzanne, Abhiram and Kaushik with the student mentor Pavithra Ramesh. Pavithra Ramesh, the student mentor said: “Students collaborated in exploring and constructing paths to a brighter future. Togetherness can achieve wonders.” “The activities on carbon emission and waste management made us aware of the need to protect our environment,” said Uttkarsh, Kaushik, Abhiram and Dev. Suzanne, Raya, Ambika and Kanupriya said: “The hands-on projects on carbon footprints and ‘shift your shopping’ activities emphasised on new ideas and strategies on saving our environment.” The Young Round Square conference aimed to nurture students to make them better citizens, beyond the academic arena. Students were taken to Environmental expedition to the Essel World, Environmental Initiative Park and Reflective visit to Global Pagoda. It was indeed a very informative, memorable and enriching experience of a life time. OMAN W E D N E S DAY FEBRUARY 11 l 2015 Non-oil exports up 7.3 per cent Her Highness Dr Mona bint Fahd Al Said, SQU Assistant Vice Chancellor for International Cooperation, receiving books from Italian Ambassador Paola Amadei in Muscat on Tuesday. Italian books gifted to SQU MUSCAT: On behalf of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Paola Amadei, the Ambassador of Italy to the Sultanate of Oman, handed over a set of Italian books to Sultan Qaboos University on Tuesday. Her Highness Sayyidah Dr Mona bint Fahd Al Said, SQU Assistant Vice Chancellor for International Cooperation, received the books from the Ambassador. This initiative is linked to the introduction of the Italian language course launched in last October at SQU that is seeing the participation of many committed Omani students. The books included Italian classics, basic grammar books and workbooks for beginners in addition to audio CDs. Commenting on delivery of books to SQU, Paola Amadei said that Italian is one of the most studied and most spoken languages in the world, not only in the European Union but also in the United States, Canada, Latin America, North Africa and Horn of Africa, Australia, because of the presence of Italian communities in those countries. “Many of the terms of music, art, design, are from the Italian language. The demand for Italian is growing, due to the love for the most distinctive aspects of the Italian culture: from music to visual arts, from architecture to the Italian style and the “Made in Italy”, or simply because it is a beautiful, melodious language”, the Ambassador said. Paola Amadei further said that after the launch of the Italian language course at the SQU, a number of new initiatives are on the way to promote this language in the Sultanate of Oman. “There are more and more Omanis who speak Italian or who would like to learn it. More and more delegations from eminent Italian universities show interest in the Sultanate of Oman”. “The launch of the Italian course and the creation of an Italian literary and language section within SQU library is an excellent outcome of the strong cooperation between the Italian Embassy and the university. We strongly hope that the cooperation with SQU will continue. Works are always underway to finalise new agreements aimed to enhance academic exchanges and cooperation between Italian and Omani Universities and, of course, the study of the Italian language in Oman and Arabic in Italy. I am sure that the knowledge of the Italian language will contribute significantly to bring a greater number of Omani students to our universities where they can excel at the Italian language and at the same time attend major courses in various disciplines of interest to them”, Paola Amadei said. MUSCAT: The total value of Sultanate’s exports stood at RO 18.9 billion in 2014 which was down 4.8 per cent compared to the previous year’s figure of RO 19.8 billion. Total imports was lower at RO 10.3 billion as against the previous ǯ ϐ ͳʹǤʹ ǡ ȋȌǤ The Sultanate’s trade saw a 7.3 per cent increase in non-oil exports at the end of November, 2014 compared to the same period in 2013. The latest NCSI’s statistics showed the value of oil and gas exports stood at RO 12.4 billion to the end of November, 2014 down 5.3 per cent compared to same period of the previous year when the figure was RO 13.1 billion. Crude oil exports stood at RO 10.8 billion down 4.6 per cent compared with the previous year’s figure of RO 11.3 billion. The Sultanate’s exports of refined oil stood at RO 276.4 million down 2.6 per cent compared to the previous year when the figure was RO 283.7 million. The Sultanate’s exports of liquefied natural gas exports stood at RO 1.3 billion down 10.8 per cent from the previous year’s figure of RO 1.5 billion. Non-oil exports saw an increase of 7.3 per cent and recorded RO 3.7 billion compared to RO 3.5 billion. Of these, mining products stood at RO 1.1 billion, chemical products increased by 18.8 per cent over the previous year and recorded RO 858 million, rubber and plastics exports saw an increase of 26.6 per cent over the previous year and stood at 329.5 million. omandailyobserver 3 Omani products go to 130 countries FROM P1 Ǥ ǡ export week. Dz ǡ Ǥ Ͳ Ǥdz ǡ the non-oil Omani exports grew by Ǥʹ ʹͲͳͶ ͵Ǥ͵ ͵Ǥͺ ʹͲͳ͵Ǥ ʹͲͳͶǤ ͳ͵Ͳ ǡ bal market. ǡ Ǧ ǡ ǯ ʹͲͳͷ ǡ Ǥ Dz ǡ Ǥ ͶͲ ʹͲ ǡǤdz ǡ ǡ namely the investment system in ǡ ǡ Ǥ ǡ Ǧ ǡ ǡ ǡ ǯǦ Ǥ 4 omandailyobserver OMAN W E D N E S DAY FEBRUARY 11 l 2015 S&P’s Oman ratings declines on oil price concerns POSITIVE SIGNS: In addition to higher external borrowing, net inflows of foreign direct investment are expected to pick up to the equivalent of 1pc of GDP, which will help finance major projects such as the Duqm port and petrochemicals complex and the Khazzan gas project STAFF REPORTER MUSCAT Feb. 10: International ratings agency Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has lowered its foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on the Sultanate of Oman to ‘A-/A-2’ from ‘A/A-1’. The outlook is stable, the agency said, noting that it reflects the view that the deterioration in nominal GDP and the fiscal and external positions will not substantially exceed current expectations. S&P’s attributed its decision to the significant decline in the prices of crude oil in spot and futures markets, which have fallen by over 50 per cent since June 2014. “As a result, we have revised our oil price assumptions significantly downward for the period 2015-2018. When we last reviewed our ratings on Oman, in December 2014, we expected Brent oil prices to average $80 per barrel (/bbl) in 2015 and $84/bbl in 2015-2018. We now assume an average Brent oil price of $55/bbl in 2015 and $70/bbl in 2015-2018,” the agency said. In the Sultanate, oil accounts for just under half of GDP, slightly over half of exports, and three-quarters of government revenue. “Given the country’s high dependence on the commodity, we have revised our forecasts for economic growth and the fiscal and external positions to incorporate the lower expected oil prices. Since our December 2014 review of our ratings on Oman, we have reduced our real GDP growth forecasts for 2015-2017, to an average of 3.3 per cent a year from 3.6 per cent. Our forecasts for the current account balance saw a more significant revision; we now expect to see an average deficit equivalent to 3.7 per cent of GDP in 2015-2018. Furthermore, we now anticipate larger fiscal deficits, equivalent to 4 per cent of GDP in 2015 and 2 per cent on average in 2016-2018,” the agency said. In line with the weaker forecast fiscal position, S&P says it now expects bigger rises in government debt, averaging an equivalent of just under 1 per cent of GDP a year in 2015-2018. “Given our expectation that deficits will partly be financed by liquidating assets and partly by extra borrowing, we now forecast that the government’s net creditor position (its gross debt, less its significantly larger liquid assets) will be smaller than that we anticipated in December. However, it will still be substantial at 53 per cent of GDP in 2018.” S&P also anticipates slightly bigger government spending cuts than previously, given the lower oil revenue outlook. Nevertheless, it added that it still views the government’s room for manoeuvre as limited, given that nearly 50 per cent of spending relates to public-sector wages and subsidies and exemptions, which are typically hard to reduce. “We expect some cuts to outlays on subsidies, as well as postponement of some defence spending and lower priority capital expenditures, but the government currently plans to stick to its capital spending programme as budgeted,” the agency noted. The 2015 budget assumes an average price of $75/bbl for Omani crude in 2015, which is around $25/bbl higher than our current forecasts (assuming a $5 discount to Brent oil), the agency said, adding it could change its assumptions for the fiscal position and government debt should a revision of the 2015 budget occur later in the year. Factoring in lower oil price forecasts into its current account assumptions significantly, S&P says it expects a deficit in 2015 equivalent to nearly 5 per cent of GDP (compared with the small surplus we forecast in December). Oman’s net external creditor position — as measured by liquid external assets minus external debt — will remain a rating strength, but is nevertheless expected to decline sharply from an estimated 62 per cent of current account receipts (CARs) in 2014 to 30 per cent in 2018. The country’s gross external financing requirements are also expected to rise to 112 per cent of CARs and usable reserves in 2018 from 95 per cent in 2014, according to the agency. In addition to higher external borrowing, net inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) are expected to pick up to the equivalent of 1 per cent of GDP, which will help finance major projects such as the Duqm port and petrochemicals complex and the Khazzan gas project. “We have revised our real GDP growth forecasts down only slightly since we last reviewed the rating, in line with the outlook for lower oil prices. We now forecast annual average growth of 3.4 per cent a year in 2015-2018, chiefly based on large capital projects and consumption. We estimate trend growth in real GDP per capita as slightly negative, although this measure is complicated by volatile population data, given the large and variable proportion of expatriate workers,” the agency added. (OEPPA Business Development Dept) Ambassador of Poland visits PEIE Challenge 22 roadshow concludes in Oman STAFF REPORTER MUSCAT Polish Ambassador Witold Śmidowski with Musallam bin Mohammed Al Shehri, Assistant Chief Executive Officer of PEIE and other officials at Public Establishment for Industrial Estates on Tuesday. MUSCAT: With the aim of strengthening relations between the Sultanate of Oman and the Republic of Poland, the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (PEIE) received on Tuesday Witold Śmidowski, nonresident ambassador of the Republic of Poland to the Sultanate of Oman. The visit aimed at reinforcing cooperation between the two countries, promote investment opportunities and discuss opportunity of setting up joint ventures. The Polish ambassador was received by Musallam bin Mohammed Al Shehri, Assistant Chief Executive Officer of PEIE for operations, who briefed about the history of PEIE, its vision, mission and main services. The ambassador was also acquainted with the various industrial estates that come under the ambit of PEIE across the Sultanate in addition to the Knowledge Oasis Muscat and Al Mazunah Free Zone. Officials at PEIE highlighted the role played by PEIE in promoting Oman as a vibrant business destination and an active and leading centre of manufacturing, ICT, innovation and entrepreneurship excellence, locally, regionally and internationally. The officials also presented an overview on the types of investments in the various industrial estates which are supervised by PEIE. The two sides emphasised on the significance of boosting the bilateral relations between Oman and Poland in several areas including manufacturing, IT, among others. The ambassador of Poland expressed his admiration on the efforts made to advance the Omani industry and the outstanding infrastructure within the industrial estates. Feb. 10: The Challenge 22 Roadshow concluded its three-day visit to the Sultanate of Oman on February 9 as the exciting regional competition continued. Ahead of four information sessions in Muscat about the initiative, Fatma Al Nuaimi, Human and Social Legacy Manager at Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC), spoke about the team’s successful visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia when the roadshow was preparing for its latest stop in neighbouring Oman, starting on February 8: “We are very happy about the excitement we’ve seen from young innovators in Saudi Arabia, with hundreds of attendees per session, all of who were very excited to take part. We are sure to see the same interest from Oman.” The Challenge 22 roadshow continued with four sessions in Muscat, between Tawasul Global Connection Centre, Knowledge Oman and Sharakah. Al Nuaimi added: “We were delighted to be in Muscat and to work with our three partners on the information sessions. This is a great opportunity to reach out to the innovators and the brightest minds in the country to encourage them to apply.” Challenge 22 Ambassadors Mohammed Saeed Harib, founder of Distinguished groups from local performing arts scene will present a variety of programmes Enjoy Omani music, culture at ROHM MUSCAT: The Education and Outreach Area of the Royal Opera House Muscat is hosting the second ROHM Open House of the season at Opera Galleria, on February 14. It will feature familyfriendly entertainment, including a variety of music and dance, as well as art exhibitions that celebrate traditional and contemporary Omani art. The event offers Opera Galleria visitors an excellent opportunity to enjoy and engage with the arts. Many distinguished groups from the local performing arts scene will present a variety of international and Omani art forms designed to celebrate Oman’s cultural diversity. These include a ballet presentation by Muscat School of Ballet and Folklore Dance and a recital by two talented Omani flamenco guitarists, accompanied by percussion and a dancer. Moving from the west to the east, a talented classical dancer will perform an Odissi dance, demonstrating a classical Indian dance form. The finale will be traditional Omani music known as ‘Fann al Bar’a, from the city of Salalah in Dhofar province. The featured guest artist for this event is photographer Ahmad Al Shukaili, the recipient of the 2014 Sultan Qaboos Award for Culture, Arts and Literature. This is the first exhibition of Al Shukaili’s award winning portraits and landscapes of Oman. There will also be a special floor for traditional Omani handicrafts — pottery, woodwork, copperware, textiles, and frond crafts – provided by the Public Authority for Craft Industries. This is a free and family-friendly event! Children will have ample activities to engage with the arts. Besides a magic show and face painting there will be hands-on demonstrations on how to play musical instruments and the art of clapping using various rhythmic patterns. All are welcome to enjoy this enlightening and entertaining experience. Lammatra Production and creator of Freej, Mohammed Saadon Al Kuwari, popular sports TV presenter, and Areej Al Kharafi, Kuwaiti business entrepreneur, continued their tour during the visit to Oman and talked about their involvement with the initiative. Reflecting on her experience with Challenge 22 so far, Al Kharafi said: “I am blown away by the amount of interest I’ve seen. I think what’s different about the initiative is that it’s an opportunity for people in the GCC to share their ideas. We’d like to encourage more people to attend and find out how they can be part of Challenge 22.” Meanwhile, Al Kuwari pointed out: “This initiative stays true to the promise that was made during Qatar’s bid for the World Cup that this will be a regional tournament, and we are eager to see regional submissions for this innovation award. This will prove a lasting legacy past 2022.” Challenge 22 is seeking residents and applicants from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), with solution- based proposals related to three key themes that address challenges faced by Qatar and the world, when hosting major sports events. The three themes for the inaugural launch of the award are Sustainability, Event Experience, and Sports and Health. Successful applicants have the opportunity to win a cash prize of $20,000 during Phase 1 of the competition and a grant to further develop their idea into a proof of concept during Phase 2 of the competition. The Challenge 22 Roadshow commenced on January 25 in Kuwait and will conclude on February 17 in the United Arab Emirates. The next stop on the Challenge 22 Roadshow will be in Bahrain for a two-day visit. For a full schedule of Challenge 22 activities and for more information about the award, please visit www.challenge22.qa. 15 films screened at Muscat Fest KABEER YOUSUF MUSCAT Feb 10: As many as fifteen short films were screened as part of the Muscat Festival film competition. There were two signature movies shown to the invitees out of which one was directed by Dr Khalid Zadjali. Fifteen directors from across the region made their presence felt at the screening which started on February 6 at the Oman Film Society (OFS) and Bayan College and a number of other venues across the country where majority of the movies were screened. Oman’s budding film makers Fatima al Mukhaini (Film: ‘Paradise of Capitals’) and Fatima al Salmiya (Film: ‘My Second Country’) won the Special Prize of the Judging Committee for their movies while Abdulla al Battashi won the Best Director for his movie ‘Muscat Beaches’; while the second prize went to Nasser al Jabri for his movie ‘Uncle Ali’); followed by Humaid al Amri for the film ‘Al Huqum’ the story based on the pigeons of Muscat. The prize for the best script went to Talib al Balushi for the movie ‘Tohfa’ and the second prize went to Sultan al Ahmed for his script on Assaidiya School. Essam al Balushi bagged Best cinematography award for his movie ‘Muscat from Sunrise to Sunset’ and Hamed al Wardhi’s work on ‘Birds in Ansab Lagoon’ fetched him the second prize. The judging committee comprised besides Oman’s Malalla Darwish al Balushi, Aladdin from Egypt, Mohammed Ameen from Tunis, Hamed Ash’shabi from Bahrain, and Khamis al Jidlani from Jordan. Meanwhile, the annual Oman Film Meet (OFM) will be held in March this year in Muscat, according to Dr Khalid al Zadjali. Anyone who has the talent in making short films, documentary or feature films can submit their works to the Society and there will be as many as six categories which include Best Director, Cinematography, Script, Actor, Actress and Best Jury Member to be decided by the participants. “Short films and documentaries should be of less than 20 minutes length while feature film should be of normally acceptable duration or below”, Dr Khalid added. Meanwhile, there have been overwhelming response from the Omani film makers for the film contest to be held as part of the Muscat Festival which is solely supported and guided by the Muscat Municipality. W E D N E S DAY FEBRUARY 11 l 2015 OMAN Course sheds light on cardiovascular risk MUSCAT: The International Atherosclerosis Society (IAS) and the Oman Society of Lipid and Atherosclerosis (OSLA), jointly organised a three-day course on “Lipid Metabolism and Cardiovascular Risk”. The course which concluded on Tuesday, was co-chaired by Prof Philip Barter (Australia), President of the International Atherosclerosis Society and Dr Khalid Al Rasadi (Oman), President of the Oman Society of Lipid and Atherosclerosis. According to Prof Barter, this meeting addressed one of the most important public health issues of the 21st century. “We should not forget that lipid disorders, such as high cholesterol and triglycerides to mention the most common ones, are major risk factors for cerebrovascular diseases that we know to be linked to the growing epidemics of obesity and diabetes worldwide and especially omandailyobserver 5 MSM declines by 59 points MUSCAT: Muscat Securities Market (MSM) general index 30 on Tuesday lost 59.47 points, comprising a decline by 0.89 per cent to close at 6,631.80 points, compared to the last session. The trading value stood at RO 8.28 million, comprising a decline by 9.61 per cent compared to the last session, which stood at RO 9.16 million. The report released by MSM pointed out that the market value declined by 0.46 per cent to reach about RO 14.94 billion. The report added that the value of shares bought by nonOmani investors reached RO 4,216,000 comprising 50.93 per cent. The value of shares sold by non-Omani investors reached RO 4,553,000 comprising 55 per cent. The net non-Omani investment declined by 4.07 to RO 337,000. Oman Oil price rises 5 cents Participants at the three-day course on lipid metabolism and cardiovascular risk that concluded on Tuesday. in the MENA region countries. Prevention of these diseases to be implemented thorough a healthier lifestyle and, when needed, a better adherence to lipid lowering treatment is one of the goals national health systems have to reach in order to have healthier populations.” This unique residential course increased the knowledge and experience of 31 early-to mid- career English-speaking practicing clinicians from 13 different countries in the MENA region interested in the management of lipid disorders through active and vibrant interaction with top level faculty of some of the most renown leaders worldwide. The benefits derived not only enhance the careers and reputations of the individuals and their respective institutions but more importantly will provide better care for patients, thus improving the healthcare of the MENA region. The International Atherosclerosis Society (IAS) is an international federation of 64 national and regional societies, representing 53 countries, whose basic missions are to promote the scientific understanding of the etiology, prevention, and treatment of atherosclerosis. Oman at Morocco meet MARRAKESH: The Sultanate, represented by the Ministry of Civil Service and the Institute of Public Administration, is currently taking part in the 3-day annual meeting and sixth annual conference of the Governance Institutes Forum for Training in the Middle East and North Africa — GIFT-MENA Network, Marrakesh, Morocco. Dr Hammad bin Hamad al Ghaferi, Ministry of Civil Service Advisor and Sayyid Zaki bin Hilal al Busaidi, Director-General of the Institute of Public Administration, represent the Sultanate in the conference and meeting. The conference addresses the constraints and opportunities that can promote a culture of cooperation in the South and deepen joint work culture and openness to the successful international experiences. The conference will discuss several issues, including the public sector in a time of crisis, the way to modernity in light of instability. Moving to a more participatory and transparent governance is among the priorities for the countries of the Middle East and North Africa besides cooperation prospects between the countries of the South in the Arab world. — ONA State Council hosts civic water resource official MUSCAT: The State Council’s Social Committee on Tuesday held a meeting with Dr Sheikha bint Salim al Musalamiyah, Chairperson of the Committee presiding and hosted Hamad al Ghuraibi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Need to raise public awareness and that it is the responsibility of everyone to care for the environment Resources (MRMWR) to familiarise with the efforts made by the Ministry to limit pollution and its effects on man and environment. The Undersecretary of the MRMWR highlighted the need to raise public awareness and that it is the responsibility of everyone to care for the environment. He affirmed the importance of having a law that regularise the measures taken to preserve environment. He pointed out that the Ministry regularised the sanitary drainage sector by issuing a number of decisions related to the reuse of drainage water and their discharge. It also regularised the construction of drainage tank. He added that the Ministry completed the development and drafting of the Sanitary Drainage Law which bans the discharge of superficial water and rain water at the sanitary drainage network. In a bid to protect environment, the Law also bans the discharge of sanitary drainage water into the water drainage or white lands. — ONA MUSCAT: Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) said that Oman oil price April delivery has reached $55.89. The DME statement on Tuesday said that the price of Oman oil rose 5 cents over Monday’s price which was $55.84. It is worth noting that the average price of Oman oil (February Delivery 2015) has stabilised at $61.1, thus $17.23 per barrel lower than January delivery 2015. — ONA 6 PM MUST HEED FRANK ASSESSMENT: DEPUTY W E D N E S DAY l F E B R U A R Y 1 1 l 2 0 1 5 ASIA ‘JAPAN CONTINUES TO SHOW IMPROVEMENT’ Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott must take onboard the “frank and blunt” assessment of his performance by a restive backbench if he wants to stay in the job, his deputy Julie Bishop warned on Tuesday. The unpopular Abbott survived a confidence vote on his leadership on Monday initiated by MPs from his conservative Liberal Party which was sparked by poor poll ratings, policy backflips and his perceived high-handed decision-making Japan’s economy continues to show gradual improvement with both employment and corporate earnings recovering, Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Monday. “There is no change in the Japanese economy’s trend of gradual improvement,” Aso told reporters on the sidelines of the G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bankers in Istanbul BACK TO PRISON: Conviction disqualifies him from political office and contesting the next election in 2018 IN BRIEF Anwar loses appeal, sent to jail for 5 years Taiwan’s China minister quits over spy row KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s highest court rejected on Tuesday an appeal by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim against an abuse conviction, sending the politician who poses the greatest threat to the long-ruling coalition back to prison for five years. The UN Human Rights office and Australia said they were disappointed by the ruling. Human Rights Watch condemned it as persecution and Amnesty International said it would have a chilling effect on freedom of expression. Anwar, the ruling party’s rising star in the mid-1990s before he fell out with then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, denied the charge that led to his second conviction as a fabrication aimed at ending his political career. “I will walk again for the third time into prison but rest assured that I will walk in with my head held high,” a defiant Anwar said in a statement he read out in court. I maintain my innocence.” Prime Minister Najib Razak’s government has rejected any suggestion of interference in the case. “Malaysia has an independent judiciary, and there have been many rulings against senior government figures,” the government said in a statement after the ruling. children and had a meal with them before being taken to the Sungai Buloh prison, about 30 km from Kuala Lumpur. A court found the 67-year old former deputy prime minister guilty in March last year of sodomising a former political aide. The conviction disqualifies him from political office and contesting the next election that must be held by 2018. Nurul Izzah, Anwar’s daughter who is also a political leader in his Parti Keadilan Rakyat, was also defiant. “This is not the end,” said told reporters outside the court. Anwar is head of a three-party opposition alliance that made stunning gains in a 2013 general election which for the first time raised the possibility of a genuine challenge for the coalition that has ruled Malaysia since independence in 1957. The decision against him raises the prospect of a fresh bout of political agitation which could make investors even more cautious about putting money into an economy so heavily Anwar Ibrahim arrives with wife Wan Azizah (L), for the verdict in his final appeal dependent on oil and gas revenues at a against a conviction for sodomy, at the federal court in Putrajaya. — Reuters time when global prices are so low. Anwar’s party and the opposition Anwar criticised the court saying that scruples in a sea of falsehood and in rejecting his appeal it was “bowing to subterfuge,” he told the judges who alliance plan protests against the verdict. Hundreds of his supporters outside walked out of the court as he spoke. the dictates of the political masters”. the court waved party flags and shouted “I will not surrender,” he said. “You chose to remain on the dark Anwar later comforted his wife and “Down with Barisan Nasional”, referring side and drown your morals and your Hong Kong warns over digital coins amid fraud HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s central bank has warned people against investing in virtual currencies amid local media reports that a bitcoin exchange may have run off with $387 million in client funds — making it potentially the biggest bitcoin scandal after last year’s bankruptcy at Tokyobased Mt.Gox. The South China Morning Post reported on Monday that clients of Hong Kong-based MyCoin had approached a local lawmaker alleging the company absconded with their money. An assistant for Legislative Council member Leung Yiu-chung said that Leung had received more than 15 complaints from MyCoin clients regarding the alleged fraud, and these would be passed on to the police on Wednesday. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said in a statement late on Monday that the case “may involve fraud or pyramid schemes,” adding: “Given the highly speculative nature of Bitcoin, we have all along urged the public to exercise extra caution when considering making transactions or investments with Bitcoin.” Calls to MyCoin in Hong Kong could not be connected. Calls to the company’s China customer service line were not answered. Bitcoins are created through a ‘mining’ process where a computer’s resources are used to perform millions of calculations. Advocates say the virtual currency is revolutionary as it’s not controlled by a central bank and has potential as an alternative means of online payment. But the rise of bitcoin, which is unregulated in many countries including Hong Kong, has stoked concerns it can be used as a vehicle to launder money and finance extremist groups. — AFP to the ruling coalition. “What has happened today is not fair but this has happened before...we will keep fighting,” said an Anwar supporter who identified herself as Salihah M, 36. Australia said it was disappointed and “deeply concerned” about Anwar’s sentence. Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, called the court ruling a “travesty of justice”. “Prime Minister Najib Razak’s government has persisted in its politically motivated prosecution of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim at the expense of democratic freedoms and the rights to non-discrimination and privacy for all Malaysians,” he said. The UN Human rights office said sodomy should not be a criminal offence. Anwar has for years been the greatest threat to Malaysia’s political establishment. His jailing could undermine the opposition’s unity and the challenge it poses but it could also galvanise dissent. His political career has been turbulent since he was sacked in 1998 after falling out with then premier Mahathir and then campaigned against corruption and nepotism and led a nationwide “reformasi” (reform) protest movement. — Reuters WATER SCOOTER China to build dam, roads in Afghanistan KABUL/BEIJING: China has promised to help build a hydroelectric power plant in a violent Afghan border region, as well as road and rail links to Pakistan, in the latest sign it is taking a more active role in Afghanistan. The assistance will include an unspecified amount of financing, an Afghan foreign ministry spokesman, Sirajul Haq Siraj, said on Tuesday, a day after senior Afghan, Chinese and Pakistani diplomats met in Kabul. “China agreed to support relevant initiatives for projects including the Kunar hydropower plant and strengthening road and rail connections between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing — Reuters in Beijing. A couple sitting on their motorcycle cross a flooded road on a cart in Jakarta on Tuesday. Heavy monsoon rains have flooded many sections of the Indonesian capital causing heavy traffic and leaving some commuters stranded. — AFP The 24-year-old maid was hospitalised after beating and keeping her prisoner in by mother-of-two Law Wan-tung Hong Kong woman guilty of Indonesian maid torture HONG KONG: A Hong Kong woman was convicted on Tuesday of beating and starving her Indonesian maid and keeping her prisoner in a case that sparked international outrage and highlighted the plight of migrant domestic workers. The verdict, read out to a packed courtroom, was met with cheers by activists and supporters of Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, a former domestic helper who has become the face of a campaign for improved workers’ rights in the financial hub. Pictures of the injuries sustained by the 24-year-old, who was admitted to hospital in her home country emaciated and in a critical condition after being abused by mother-of-two Law Wantung, fuelled anger in Indonesia and shocked Hong Kong. Sulistyaningsih hailed the ruling but called for reforms to ensure Hong Kong employers no longer treated domestic workers “like slaves”.She said that while TAIPEI: Taiwan’s China affairs minister Wang Yu-chi resigned on Tuesday after prosecutors decided not to indict a former deputy whom he had accused of spying for Beijing. Wang had alleged in August that Chang Hsien-yao, a deputy minister at the Mainland Affairs Council which handles relations between Taipei and Beijing, was leaking national secrets to China. Chang denied the allegations, but stepped down from his post in August of last year, and prosecutors launched an investigation into the claims. He was cleared on Tuesday after authorities said there was not enough evidence against him. “I disagree with the reasons of the prosecutors that enabled them to make the decision,” Wang, the council’s chairman, told reporters. He said however that he had to respect it, stating: “I would like to resign to take responsibility.” The government has yet to announce who will take over from Wang. — AFP Amanda Woodcock said, referring to Sulistyaningsih. “She was completely isolated, and (this) helps explain why this abuse could go on for so long without her retaliating or anyone knowing.” “When Erwiana left Hong Kong she was a shadow of her former self.” Law, 44, was found guilty of 18 of the 20 charges laid against her, including grievous bodily harm, assault, criminal intimidation and failure to pay wages. She lowered her head but appeared to be calm as the verdict was announced, while a jubilant Sulistyaningsih, clad in a black T-shirt with her face and the word “justice” emblazoned on it, hugged activists. Erwiana Sulistyaningsih (C) leaves the court of justice in Hong Kong on Tuesday after “I am happy that she was found her employer Law Wan-tung (inset) was convicted of beating and starving the guilty,” she said. Indonesian maid in a “torture” case that sparked international outrage and “Myself, I can forgive her. But Hong spotlighted the plight of migrant domestic workers in the Middle East and Asia. Kong has a justice system, because of that, justice must be upheld.” she forgave her abuser, she hoped Law on February 27. At a separate news conference, she would receive the maximum seven year “She was, for want of a better word, jail term when sentencing is announced a prisoner in those premises,” Judge called for reform in Hong Kong, and said her native Indonesia must not shirk its responsibilities to protect its citizens who travel abroad to work. “I hope they will start treating migrant workers as workers and human beings, and stop treating us like slaves,” she said. Sulistyaningsih said she hoped her former employer would receive the greatest possible sentence, “even though for me, that is still not enough compared to what she did to me and other victims”. During the six-week trial, prosecutors said Law turned household items such as a mop, a ruler and a clothes hanger into “weapons” against her maids. Sulistyaningsih described in vivid detail how she was “tortured”, starved, beaten and ritually humiliated by Law, with prosecutors saying she was treated as an “unpaid slave”. “It’s a victory for Erwiana,” Aaron Ceradoy, programme coordinator for the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants, said. — AFP Taiwan govt to indict Sunflower leaders for riots TAIPEI: The leaders of antiChina protests that roiled Taiwan’s legislature for weeks last spring will face charges of agitating the public and attacking police, officials said on Tuesday. Student leader Lin Fei-fan and noted legal scholar KC Huang are among 22 people named in a lawsuit by the Taipei District Prosecutors Office for offences committed during the three-week occupation of Taiwan’s parliament, which successfully blocked a controversial trade services pact with the mainland. Officials have not decided on what kind of punishment they will seek, though they did not exclude the prospect of jail. “We’ve submitted the suit to judges and are awaiting word from them on how to proceed,” said head prosecutor Chang Chieh-Chin. China regards Taiwan as a renegade province and has not ruled out the use of force to bring it under its control. The protests, nicknamed the Sunflower Movement, were the largest display of anti-China sentiment the island had seen in years. — Reuters W E D N E S DAY FEBRUARY 11l 2015 SUBCONTINENT omandailyobserver 7 Myanmar fighting pushes refugees across China border CAR BOMB ATTACK Smoke rises in the sky after a suicide car bomb attack in Kunduz province on Tuesday. Taliban insurgents launched an attack on a police headquarters in northern Afghanistan, provincial police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Hosseini said. — Reuters Afghan police station repels Taliban attack KUNDUZ, Afghanistan: Five Taliban fighters were killed when they attacked a police headquarters in northern Afghanistan on Tuesday, officials said. One attacker blew himself up at the entrance and four others were shot dead, said Sayed Sarwar Hussaini, police spokesman for Kunduz province. No police died, but “an officer and a woman passerby were injured,” he said. “The situation is under control now.” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack, saying “several police were killed.” Insurgents control some of Kunduz’s districts, from where they occasionally attack. BEIJING: China’s expressed concern on Tuesday about renewed fighting between Myanmar rebels and government forces which forced civilians to cross the border to seek refuge in China. The fighting flared up in the Kokang region of northeast Myanmar’s Shan State between rebels from a group called the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the army. “From yesterday until today, some Myanmar border residents, because of safety considerations, entered China. They have been looked after,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing, without giving a number. The rebels were formerly part of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB), a China-backed guerrilla force that battled the Myanmar government until the group fell apart in 1989. Hua said China would pay close attention to how the situation developed The fighting flared up in the Kokang region of northeast Myanmar’s Shan State between rebels from a group called the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the army and it would maintain peace and stability on the border. “We also believe that the Myanmar side should work hard for this,” she added. “We hope that relevant parties in northern Myanmar can resolve their differences via continuing to uphold peaceful talks and prevent the clashes from escalating and affecting border stability, especially from affecting security and order on the Chinese side.” The MNDAA signed a ceasefire agreement with the government in 1989, the first of about a dozen factions that formed after the CPB disintegrated. Despite such ceasefire agreements, clashes between government troops and guerrilla groups do break out from time to time. The state-backed Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said the fighting began on Monday between the army and “renegade troops of Kokang”. “They took over a police outpost. There were some casualties on both sides,” a Myanmar military officer based in the northeast said on condition of anonymity. “We’re planning to get it back after reinforcing our troops.” In December, Myanmar state media accused the group of killing seven soldiers and wounding 20. Fighting between the rebels and the army in 2009 pushed tens of thousands of refugees into southwestern China, angering the government in Beijing. — Reuters Climate change: Bhutan’s seed bank ensures food security THIMPU, Bhutan: Boasting of more than 300 local rice varieties that have withstood varying weather conditions over the ages, Bhutan is relying on its seed bank — a conserve of seeds and other genetic resources of indigenous plants — to tackle food security issues arising out of climate change. Nestled in the southern slopes of eastern Himalayas, Bhutan is the one of the world’s smallest countries, with 69 per cent of its population of just 760,000 people dependent on agriculture. Around 56 per cent are farmers, the community most aware of local symptoms of climate change that is perceived as a threat to the loss of on-farm agro-biodiversity, said Ugyen Tshewang, secretary of Bhutan’s National Environment Commission (NEC). “Our National Gene Bank will definitely play an important role for us in tackling climate change because it has all the indigenous seeds. For example, there are more than 300 varieties of rice and many varieties of corn and others staples,” Tshewang said. “The local varieties are more resilient because they have passed the test of time and are adapted to the local conditions they have passed through the cold weather, hot weather, frost and snow,” he added. Tshewang was speaking on the sidelines of the just-concluded APN Second Science-Policy Dialogue, South Asia on ‘Global Climate Change: Reducing Risk and Increasing Resilience’ here organised by AsiaPacific Network (APN) for Global Change Research in collaboration with the Bhutanese government. The essence of a gene bank is to preserve a diversity of seeds for posterity and for research, Tshewang explained. Established in 2005, it holds 1,268 accessions of cereals, legumes, oilseeds and vegetables. Rice, maize, wheat, barley, buckwheat and millets are the major staple cereals that are cultivated in Bhutan, which is opposed to the introduction of genetically modified crops/food, Tshewang informed. Officials estimate the presence of 350 landraces (locally adapted varieties) of rice, more than 40 of maize, 24 of wheat and 30 of barley in the country. “We have also developed eight climate resilient rice varieties in the wake of climate change,” Tenzin Drugyel, deputy chief of the ministry of agriculture and forests (MoAF), said. Some of the local symptoms of climate change that Bhutan has seen recently include floods from a glacial lake outburst (GLOF) and erratic monsoons. — IANS 8 ANALYSIS omandailyobserver W E D N E S DAY FEBRUARY 11 l 2015 MISTRUST THWARTS FIGHT ON EBOLA W hen Red Cross pickups crawl through the streets of the Guinean town of Lola in search of Ebola victims, crowds of women gather to shoo the medical workers away, young boys throw stones and angry men reach for their machetes. In the country where West Africa’s Ebola outbreak began, hostility towards aid workers - fuelled by ever more far-fetched rumours — is undermining efforts to contain the deadly virus. “People tell us if we don’t leave they’ll beat us up, or smash up the car,” said Paquile Zoglelemou, head of the Red Cross in Lola, a town set in thick, tropical jungle in the deep southeast of Guinea near the Liberian border. Concerns about violence directed at aid teams comes as the number of new cases of Ebola rose at the start of February in all three of West Africa’s worst-hit countries — Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone — ending previously encouraging declines. In Lola, a market town with houses of mud brick and tin roofs, a spate of new Ebola cases in recent weeks has stoked fear and mistrust. Despite government efforts to inform people about the virus, false rumours and conspiracy theories win out. One rumour holds that Western governments have planted the virus, another that spraying of disinfectants is actually a means of infecting others, and even that Ebola treatment centres are used for the extraction and trafficking of human organs. “The Red Cross wants to kill us,” said Lah Wiemou, an elder in the village of Ouye, near Lola. “They put the virus in the water and spray it around the village, or when they take away the sick, the medication they give them contains Ebola.” The Ebola epidemic has killed nearly 9,000 people in West Africa over the last year, more than 1,900 of them in Guinea. Resistance to aid efforts has made it hard to isolate and treat patients, trace their contacts and safely bury the dead, key to Resistance to aid preventing another flare up. “They set up barricades to stop us leaving. efforts has made Some threw large stones that broke the car it hard for Guinea windshield, and others ran home to get their to isolate and treat machetes,” said Saa Yola Tolno, the top local official in Lola, who accompanied a Red Cross patients, trace their convoy last week. contacts and safely Some communities still hide their sick bury the dead, key to and secretly bury their dead, despite high transmission risks during traditional funeral preventing another rites, which involve washing and preparing flare up, reports the body. Forecariah, a town southeast of MISHA HUSSAIN the capital Conakry, is another hotbed of resistance. Here, Red Cross teams drive unmarked cars, their iconic symbol viewed with suspicion by a fearful population. Responding to a tip-off via the national Ebola hotline, a team of eight Red Cross workers approaches a man lying motionless under a village water tower. A slight movement indicates he’s still alive, but barely. “We’ll take him to the Ebola transit centre in Forecariah,” said Alain Kapete, who leads the French Red Cross team in the town. “If he has Ebola, we’ll have to come back and trace everyone that came into contact with him.” The team’s presence draws attention. A crowd gathers. “They spray the virus in the village,” one man says.”That’s why we’re getting sick.” The dissenter is hushed by the village chief and the team gets to work. They kit up in full protective clothing, lift the man into an ambulance and disinfect the area. “We now prepare the disinfectant in front of them so they can see we are adding bleach,” said Kapete. Just the night before, the team had escaped an attack in the town of Sikhourou, near Forecariah, they said. Had it not been for the heavily armed escort of a minister passing through, things could have turned violent. Attitudes have changed little since Reuters first reported attacks on Ebola health workers 10 months ago in the southeastern town of Macenta. In Coyah in western Guinea locals attacked aid workers in January when they tried to spray disinfectant around a mosque, said the emergency evacuation service International SOS. The police used teargas to disperse the crowd, the organisation said in a memo to its members. In Kaback, south of the capital, residents attacked health workers when they tried to add disinfectants to wells, acting on rumours they had come to spread Ebola. The aid workers were badly beaten, said International SOS. Guinea’s government on January 10 set a 60-day target to completely eradicate the disease, but resistance to containment efforts paints a disturbing picture. This file photo shows Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko at a polling station in Minsk. — AFP An unlikely star of peace talks P olitical pariah turned would-be peacemaker, Belarussian sanctions,” said Dobrovolsky. “The idea to come to Minsk President Alexander Lukashenko will bask in the limelight emerged out of desperation.” Lukashenko, 60, has been in power for over two decades, this week when European leaders desperate to end the bringing Belarus to international isolation and increased Ukraine war are expected to gather in Minsk. Today’s planned summit of heads of state from France, dependance on Russia. But the crisis in neighbouring Germany, Russia and Ukraine is billed as a last-ditch chance Ukraine has also exposed complications in the ex-Soviet to prevent an irreversible breakdown in attempts to resolve republic’s relationship with Moscow. While Lukashenko met Putin in the Russian resort of peacefully the conflict between pro-Russian separatists and Sochi this week to discuss Ukraine, he has also switched his Ukrainian government forces. But the event is also a rare chance for Lukashenko — Russian defence minister for a Belarussian and amended shunned by the West over his human rights record — to the law on what his country considers a military threat — a move interpreted by many as a countermeasure against come in from out of the diplomatic cold. The arrival of Chancellor Angela Merkel, for example, possible Russian invasion. Although his domestic rights record is dismal, Lukashenko can seem moderate alongside would be the first visit to Belarus by a German leader since more radical Russian officials who have Adolf Hitler in World War II. Lukashenko called for occupying Kiev and made has been popularly branded in the West With Western veiled threats of using Russia’s nuclear as Europe’s last dictator. criticism now arsenal. But with Western criticism now “Russian ultra-patriots consider homing increasingly in on Russian increasingly on Putin, Belarus the next after Ukraine,” MoscowPresident Vladimir Putin, Lukashenko Lukashenko has based analyst Konstantin Kalachev said has won breathing space and a chance to won some breathing of growing calls for the “return” of eastern play a constructive role. “Though Belarus is not the focus of the space, writes TATIANA regions of Belarus to Russia. “Lukashenko is playing on two visit by European leaders, it is extremely KALINOVSKAYA chessboards” as the West criticises his significant for the country,” said historian rights record, while Moscow threatens to Igor Kuznetsov. “It is a great honour for swallow Belarus, he said. Minsk.” Having all but destroyed political opposition over the “Belarussian problems have gone on the back burner because of the war in Ukraine,” said former lawmaker and last five years, Lukashenko is likely to use his high-profile mediator status to his advantage ahead of presidential opposition politician Alexander Dobrovolsky. Lukashenko and many government officials are under elections in November, said observers and critics. “If Merkel and Hollande come to Minsk, they will have US and EU travel bans and financial sanctions imposed in to meet with Lukashenko, and that will be used by state response to brutal crackdowns on protests. In recent years Lukashenko expelled Swedish diplomats media to boost his image among the public,” said political after activists in Sweden airdropped hundreds of teddy analyst Andrei Fyodorov. “These Minsk talks will go down in history books,” he bears bearing pro-democracy slogans. In 2011 he arrested protesters for clapping at flash mob added. “Lukashenko will build the image of a peacemaker who rallies. All that makes Belarus an unusual site for hosting does not have problems with the international community,” international peace talks. “European leaders are forced to go to a country under said top opposition leader Anatoliy Lebedko. Greek finance minister tests EU’s ways of winning friends G reece’s new Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis heads to a Eurogroup finance ministers meeting today to ask for something almost no one there wants to give — at its most basic, a new debt agreement without the strings of austerity. His officials say he expects a tough time. The question is whether he will come out like one of his predecessors, Evangelos Venizelos, having been humiliated. Varoufakis is a charismatic type who is clearly enjoying a degree of European, if not global, celebrity. He has been dubbed “Superstar” by Greek media and even become something of a hearthrob in Germany’s media. But he has already upset some of the people he needs to convince, saying the euro zone was at risk of collapse, Italy’s debt is unsustainable and bringing up Germany’s Nazi past. He will need his counterparts onside if he is to get first a bridge agreement to cover immediate financing and then a renewed debt plan. “The best way to get a deal in the EU is by quietly building alliances behind closed doors and then trying to build consensus around compromises. Noisy confrontation usually leads to resistance and isolation,” a former diplomat in Brussels said. Greek officials have made it clear that they have some “red lines”, namely a refusal to run large primary budget surpluses (the balance before interest payments on debt) and that the debt must be restructured. The Greek approach to date has been to talk about negotiations but make strident and sometimes threatening demands, rationalised by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ anti-austerity sweep in popular elections. Some of Varoufakis’ performance may go further because of his economic expertise and practice in game theory. But despite the media delight at his persona — leather jacket, rugged looks, bluntness — Varoufakis’s attempts so far to get support in Europe have done little to improve Greece’s position in what is as of now an 18-to-1 euro zone standoff. Perhaps most damaging were comments on Italian television broadcast on Sunday. He said that the whole euro zone structure was teetering. “The euro is fragile, it’s like building a Finance Minister Varoufakis’s attempts so far to get support in Europe have done little to improve Greece’s position in what is as of now an 18-to-1 euro zone standoff, notes JEREMY GAUNT castle of cards, if you take out the Greek card the others will collapse,” he according to an Italian transcript. This is a threat to his partners and the last thing a currency union struggling with economic malaise needs to hear. He then went on to imply that other countries will be next if Greece is forced by the crisis to leave the euro zone, saying according to the transcript: “Let’s face it, Italy’s debt situation is unsustainable.” Italian Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan, who will be at today’s Eurogroup meeting to hear Varoufakis’s requests, said the remarks were “out of place” and that a European solution to Greece’s problems requires “mutual trust”. Varoufakis later said that Padoan had telephoned him and that he had told the Italian he had been taken out of context and was referring to past experience from 2010-11. In Brussels, officials who regard Varoufakis as a bit of a loose cannon console themselves with that fact he is not in charge. “He’ll only be implementing policy, not (be) the architect. Tsipras will give the signals,” said one EU official who has been watching Varoufakis closely. But that may be wishful thinking. Tsipras himself gave an unbending speech at the weekend, announcing the end of austerity and adding an unexpected demand for German war reparations. Greek Finance Minister Varoufakis and German Finance Minister Schaeuble during a news conference at the Finance Ministry in Berlin. — Reuters ANALYSIS W E D N E S DAY FEBRUARY 11 l 2015 omandailyobserver 9 Sultanate can learn a lot from Korean experience T HAIDER AL LAWATI haiderdawood@hotmail.com here are many reasons which have led to the development of South Korea during the past few decades. However, the most important for this is the quality of education received by children in this Asian country, which did not have a mention four centuries ago. Last year at Oman Fourth Economic Form 2014, we heard the former South Korean president Myung-bak Lee, speaking about these reasons. He said at the forum that education was the essence and foundation for this progress. He pointed out that Korean universities and educational institutions pay great attention to engineering, science and associated disciplines and other sciences, adding that there was significant cooperation between universities and institutes, as well Korean community at large in supplying the market and the people with all new developments, inventions and creations. He stressed the need for governments to fund universities to enable them achieve the hopes and aspirations of people. In response to questions posed to him at the forum, the former president noted that at the beginning of the renaissance in Korea, there were state-owned companies operating in various fields. However, he said at the start of the era of globalisation and the entry of global country. There were countries which depend on investments, many tangible changes took place in human efficiency, while there were others that depend on global energy resources that have had the development of companies. Privatisation of most public companies began a great contribution in their development. He realised that the Sultanate of Oman is and the Korean government was evaluating those experiences in order to rectify any errors which working hard to meet the post-oil age, and this is a good thing, saying that is might have take place in the especially important as the privatisation process. government accords great He believed that a number Former South Korean attention and interest to of countries began their economic experience with president reiterated the education. Nevertheless, he again on the need South Korea, including the importance of education focused to stress on education and Sultanate. Nevertheless, he as the cornerstone of economic vision and on thought that the prevailing learning from the experiences environment had much to development of any of others as well. do with the development and country, and said this In this regard, the former economic progress. However, is the secret behind his Korean president reiterated the environment in Korea was the importance of education different from that in Oman, country’s progress as the cornerstone of any for instance. development. He pointed At the beginning of the out that the secret of the seventies, he said the price of a barrel of oil was one dollar, but at the end of that renaissance and development of Korea and clearing itself from its problems lied on this decade, the price of oil hit $70 a barrel. This makes difficult to compare countries sector, adding that education was the direct cause in the field of economic development because of Korea getting rid of poverty and rising up to the needs of the people differ from country to achieve economic development. He praised the efforts of the Sultanate in the field of education and in achieving the integrated vision of Oman 2020 through its great focus on human resources development. In general, it is imperative to understand and accommodate the idea of benefiting from the Korean experience and other Asian experiences, especially in the educational sector. These countries had grown and developed because of their great attention to the models of basic education. That was the direct cause of their growth and development, and of what they achieve in sustainable development in economic and scientific comprehensive renaissance. The educational experience of Korea and some other Asian countries have contributed to the successful development of those countries. It also contributed in the generation of more jobs for their young people, enabling them to work in infrastructure projects. They also depended greatly on their local languages in education and work, on the local human element, and on the energy resources, they received from other countries. Korea and other Asian countries achieved their experiences of development and progress in a scientific manner. GREEN RISES IN UK NAOMI O’LEARY A surge in support has made the Green Party a potentially disruptive antiausterity political force in what is set to be Britain’s most unpredictable election, even if it wins only a few seats. As she spoke to voters in London, Australian-born party leader Natalie Bennett said the Greens had been boosted by the electoral triumph of Greece’s Syriza. “This could be the election where the future of British politics looks nothing like the past,” Bennett, a former journalist running for election to the Holborn and St Pancras constituency, said. The party’s support has steadily risen over the last year and broke into double figures in two January polls, drawing from mostly younger voters disillusioned with mainstream politics and angry at the government’s public spending cuts. Membership of the party, which holds a single seat in parliament, doubled to 51,000 in three months, overtaking junior coalition partner the Liberal Democrats and the antiEU UK Independence Party. But Britain’s voting system means even if smaller parties have significant support nationally, they will not win seats in parliament in May unless they dominate individual constituencies — something the Greens may lack the organisational power to do. The Greens could however play a key role by chipping away at Labour support in key constituencies, with the left-leaning party neck-and-neck against Prime Minister David Cameron’s centre-right Conservatives. Bennett said she would not join a coalition with either party, but would consider supporting Labour “on a vote-by-vote basis”. The Greens’ priority demands in any negotiations would be a reversal of austerity and the scrapping of Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons programme, she added. University of Manchester senior politics lecturer Robert Ford said the main impact of the Greens would be its effect on Labour, which is also facing pressure from the Scottish National Party and the antiEuropean Union UK Independence Party. “It’s such a close election that every one of these things count. If five seats tilt away from Labour because of the Greens that’s a big problem for Labour,” Ford said. London conservation worker Cia Marsh, 25, said she was inspired to join the Green Party following mass political engagement in the Scottish referendum in September, in which an 85 per cent turnout broke British records. “As a young person I’m very aware the government is failing me and that none of the other parties have any interest in my generation,” Marsh said. Supporters of Aam Aadmi Party take part in the celebrations outside the party office in New Delhi. — Reuters Congrats Kejri, but no repeat of old things! A win in 67 out of the 70 seats of the Delhi Assembly elections. That’s the Aam Aadmi Party’s performance, here and now — spectacular and mindboggling, defying not only all electoral logic, but AAP’s own expectations and calculations as well! Looks like they just had a magical broom to sweep Delhi polls! The Delhi poll results, out to catapult AAP beyond all expectations, have just rendered the poll pundits too breathless to delve into “the whys and hows” of it. You call him anarchists or “dhanrnebaaz” (sit-in expert), it’s the fate accompli now of New Delhi and its voters, thanks to the wisdom of the capital voters. But lest and before AAP and its leaders reach beyond the reach of common men like us and surpass the threshold after acquiring the what Rahul Gandhi once aspired to acquire for his Grand Old party — the obscure escape velocity, one would like to caution, nay just plead with, Arvind Kejriwal and his band of leaders, just not to do a few things that they were so keen and prone to do during their last term. Here are the few don’ts for Kejriwal – not prescribing any list of do’s as one is sure they would be doing almost anything that would suit their hyperactive whims and fancies. Among the first and foremost don’ts is indulging in policing — Don’t do personal policing please! This would perhaps be the first plea of the common men and women to Kejriwal and his companions. Politicians are politicians, not policemen as AAP erstwhile law minister Somanath Bharti apparently thought while raiding the residence of some African natives in middle of a fateful night to please some of his voters. In the process, they did not only violate some key Fundamental Rights of African natives — Bharti, a lawyer by profession must have known it that Indian Constitution grants some Fundamental Rights even to the foreigners, they also indulged in virtually a “tu-tu-main-main” (paw-paw) and fisticuffs with the policemen, refusing to obey them to do their biddings during the midnight swoop. It had posed a question mark on the maturity of the Indian democracy and its respect for the rule of law. Bharti should have known that politicians are not supposed to indulge in policing and resorting to “tu-tumain-main” (paw paw) with those very men in khakhi to whom he was elected to guide and direct, ask and tell, order and command and to observe and preserve the rule of law by issuing legal diktats. But what Bharati had resorted to was just the antithesis of the rule of law and slur on the maturity of Indian democracy. What he was doing was holding a jan-addalat (people’s court), or a kangaroo court, often reported to be held in the backwaters of Naxal-hit areas, where the rule of olaw has been supplanted by the rule of Maoists. But sure enough Kejriwal government was not that of Naxals. So that’s why Bharati or any of the Kejriwals minister or MLAs in his next government must not do what Bharati did a few months back. That is not the first and the last of the don’ts for the soon-to-be sworn Kejriwal Among the first and foremost don’ts is indulging in policing. Don’t do personal policing. This would perhaps be the first plea of the common man in Delhi to Kejriwal and his companions, reports R A K SINGH government. There is a second one as well. The second one is directly linked to Kejriwal himself — as the Delhi next chief minister, holding a constitutional position and arguably the most powerful post in the national Capital after that of the Prime Minister, powered directly by people’s power, must not resort to the wayward and childish sit-ins and dharnas, whatever may be the provocation. With the people having made him their chief minister, Kejriwal must know that he has now been empowered enough by the Constitution of this country, having a federal system of governance that he need not resort to any dharna or sit-ins to have his say for the welfare of the people. He must know and some of his “Mr All Know” journalist friends must let him know that as the chief minister of a state, he may talk to anybody and everybody, including the Prime Minister, on equal footing and terms and can resolve any problem — all that he should and must know is the skill of talking and holding dialogues. Democracy is all about holding dialogues. It’s not about stomping feet and throwing tantrums like a child and spread himself out on an open street corner, all wrapped in a blanket. The images of a chief minister of the state sleeping in an open street all wrapped in a blanket and smilingly peeping out of it projects the image of not a matured chief minister of a matured democracy. It reflects the image of either a pampered kid or a lunatic. Accordingly, Kejriwal, the next chief minister of Delhi, need to swear that he will neither do nor let any of his ministers do any such bizarre thing. The list of don’t for Kejriwal and his party is in fact a trifle long, but for now it’s more than enough. Best of Luck and good day, Mr next- Delhi CM! ESTABLISHED ON 15 NOVEMBER 1981 CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER: Dr Ibrahim bin Ahmed al Kindi EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Abdullah bin Salim al Shueili HEAD OFFICE ADVERTISING Tel: 24649444, 24649450, 24649451, 24604563, 24699437 Fax: 24699643 AL OMANEYA ADVERTISING & PUBLIC RELATIONS, P.O. Box 3303, P.C. 112, Ruwi, Sultanate of Oman Tel: SWITCHBOARD: 24649444 DIRECT: 24649430/24649437/24649401 Fax: 24649434 SALALAH OFFICE Tel: 23292633 Fax: 23293909 NIZWA OFFICE Tel: 25411099 P.O. Box 955, P.C. 611 Website: omanobserver.om DISTRIBUTION AGENT Al OMANEYA for Distribution & Marketing, P.O. Box 974, P.C. 100, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman Tel: 24649351/24649360 Fax: 24649379 e-mail: editor@omanobserver.om PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY: Oman Establishment for Press, Publication and Advertising P.O. Box 974, Postal Code 100, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman subscribe@omanobserver.om Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in these pages are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the opinion of the Observer. 10 INDIA omandailyobserver W E D N E S DAY FEBRUARY 11 l 2015 AAP again hero, BJP 3, Congress zero Modi mauled in Delhi poll after BJP had won a string of big states in recent months Aam Aadmi Party chief and its chief ministerial candidate for Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal (C) addresses his supporters in New Delhi after its landslide win on Tuesday. — Reuters NEW DELHI: An upstart antiestablishment party crushed India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in a Delhi state election on Tuesday, smashing an aura of invincibility built around Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he swept to power last year. With the vote of the main national opposition Congress party collapsing, the Aam Aadmi, or Common Man Party, was set to capture more than nine-tenths of the seats in the capital, in what Modi’s critics said was a warning against the partisan politics of Hindu hardliners in his fold. Winning power in India’s states is critical to control of the upper house of parliament, where Modi’s party lacks a majority and has been thwarted in its effort to pass reforms, including wider opening of the insurance sector. Delhi is a small state, but high profile, and such a comprehensive rout in the capital is a blow to the BJP’s ambitions to capture India’s second most populous state, Bihar, in an election later this year. “While Delhi is not very significant in electoral terms, a BJP loss there shatters the popular narrative around the BJP’s invincibility,” said Milan Vaishnav, an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “A loss in Delhi certainly signals an end to Modi’s honeymoon. Furthermore, because it is the capital city, an opposition government, especially one led by the confrontational AAP, would be a constant thorn in the Modi government’s side.” The Aam Aadmi, led by former tax inspector Arvind Kejriwal and campaigning on a platform of propoor polices and clean government, was set to win 67 seats out of 70 seats in the Delhi assembly, the biggest ever tally for any party in the capital. Congress, the BJP’s main nationwide challenger, failed to win a single seat, underlining how far the Gandhi dynasty has fallen since the party lost power federally in 2014. The BJP, seen as a party of traders and big business, had slumped to 3 seats, its worst showing ever, with its chief minister candidate and former cop Kiran Bedi losing her seat. Modi, who threw himself into the campaign, congratulated Kejriwal and said in a Twitter post he would work with him for the development of the mega-city of more than 15 million people. LAND SLIDE TOTAL SEATS 70 AAP 67 CONGRESS 3 0 Hundreds of supporters of the AAP swarmed into its office, wearing their trademark boatshaped white caps, and showered their leaders with flower petals. Congress had ruled Delhi for 15 years until 2014.”The Congress party is on its deathbed,” said Mohan Guruswamy of the Centre for Policy Alternatives.”Earlier it was in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. Now it is the intensive care unit. Epic to be retold on Twitter from Duryodhana’s viewpoint NEW DELHI: A lecturer based in Britain has reimagined an ancient Indian epic for Twitter audiences, spawning a book and spurring a second attempt, this time from the perspective of the main villain. Chindu Sreedharan began retelling the Mahabharata on the microblogging service in 2009, taking more than four years and nearly 2,700 tweets to finish “Epic Retold”, published in December as a book billed as India’s first Twitter fiction. The ancient Sanskrit epic, one of Hinduism’s crucial texts built of around 100,000 couplets, tells of a dynastic struggle for power and a cataclysmic war won by the righteous Pandava brothers. Sreedharan’s Twitter version is told from the point of view of Bhima, the strongest of the five Pandava warriors. Now the 41-year-old academic is reading up on Bhima’s cousin Duryodhana to present a shorter Twitter narrative from his point of view, turning the antagonist into an antihero. “It’s going to be challenging to write Duryodhana too, but there’s a quick end in sight,” Sreedharan said in an e-mail BJP interview from Bournemouth, where he teaches journalism. “I know where it will start and how it will end, much more clearly than when I began Epic Retold.” Such is the appeal of the Mahabharata that when it was first adapted for television in the 1980s, city streets emptied out on Sunday mornings, with most Indians glued to their TV sets. Even today, politicians fighting election campaigns often identify themselves with one of the heroic Pandava siblings, while characterising opponents as Duryodhana or one of his 99 depraved Kaurava brothers. Sreedharan’s narrative takes occasional liberties with the epic, annoying a few followers of the “Epic Retold” Twitter account with his portrayals of some Mahabharata characters. For example Yudhisthira, the eldest Pandava brother, and a traditional byword for integrity, proves to be less than honest. One of Sreedharan’s initial reasons for microblogging the Mahabharata was to make it palatable to British colleagues and see how Indians reacted to an epic reinterpreted for Twitter. — Reuters It has never been entirely wiped out like this.” India’s main stock exchange shrugged off the BJP’s defeat, rising more than 1 per cent, as traders turned their sights to a reform-friendly federal budget that the Modi government is expected to unveil later this month. Modi swept to power with the biggest national election victory in three decades last year, promising to revitalise India’s economy. His BJP has won a string of big states in recent months. While he has sought to fix governance and tried to push through reform legislation by executive decree after the opposition blocked him in parliament, corporate investment has yet to revive, waiting for structural reforms in the economy. Meanwhile, social tensions have risen as Hindu hardline groups tied to the BJP become more emboldened, rowing with Muslim minority groups over religious conversions. Christian groups have also sought greater police protection after a series of attacks on churches. Even President Barack Obama warned during a visit last month that India could only realise its full potential if it practised religious tolerance. —IANS END OF POLITICAL ROAD FOR KIRAN BEDI? NEW DELHI: “It is not my defeat, it is a defeat of the BJP.” With this telling statement following her humiliating defeat in the Delhi assembly election, the decorated police officer-turned-political debutante may well have written off her short-lived political flirtation — and probably burnt her political boats — that saw her being pitchforked surprisingly as the leader of the party’s campaign in Delhi to being roundly rejected by the people of the capital — all in the space of a heady fortnight. In a career spanning over three decades in policing, India’s first woman Indian Police Service officer Kiran Bedi faced many challenging tasks. But in her new political avatar of leading the country’s ruling party in the Delhi polls, she faced probably her life’s toughest test with the BJP banking on her ‘tough taskmaster’ image to win power in the capital that witnessed arguably the most interesting electoral battle since its first assembly election in 1993. But Bedi’s defeat has been all the more humiliating especially in her losing the BJP’s bastion of Krishna Nagar, considered a safe seat. The seat has been represented by Harsh Vardhan, who is now a union minister, since 1993. She lost by 2,277 votes. The winner is the virtually unknown Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) member SK Bagga, an advocate, who polled 65,919 votes to her 63,642 votes. Bagga, in his 60s, is described by his supporters as a soft-spoken, confident man. He pitched his battle against Kiran Bedi as an “insider vs outsider” contest. When BJP party president Amit Shah named Bedi as chief ministerial candidate, foisting her over the heads of the senior party workers who have toiled long years on the ground for the party, it triggered seething resentment in the ranks over her surprise entry. Bedi, 65, was viewed as an “outsider” in the party having never risen from the ranks. The election rallies by Bedi, known for her unconventional and outspoken ways, were mostly lacklustre events though the BJP top brass including Modi canvassed for her. Bedi, known for her no-nonsense ways as a top cop in New Delhi in the 1980s and 1990s, was called Delhi’s Iron Lady and Crane Bedi, for having reportedly towed away former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s car parked outside a shop in Connaught Circus on Aug 5, 1982. — IANS DELHI DEBACLE DENTS BRAND MODI the defeat, the facts are inescapable that the BJP — and Modi personally — has paid the price for putting his own image and reputation at stake in a provincial poll. In fact Kiran Bedi’s defeat in the Krishna Nagar constituency should be a personal defeat for Modi, who not only chose her in spite of her not even being a primary member of the party, but campaigned aggressively for her in ways no prime minister has done for a local poll. The BJP campaign bypassed local leaders and focussed solely on Modi’s supposedly personal charisma. It was obvious that Bedi as the chief ministerial candidate was just a proxy and Modi intended to exploit his own larger than life image in this election. Such was his hubris that Modi stuck his neck out and put himself loud and large in every advertisement of the party in the election - from bus shelters to billboards to newspapers. All posters and full page advertisements in newspapers even on the day of polling had full blown pictures of Modi with Bedi, the party’s chief ministerial candidate, occupying only inset space at the bottom. In a personal letter to voters on election day February 7, Modi promised a “world-class city” and said it was his undertaking that he would make Delhi a city that its citizens would be proud of. — IANS NEW DELHI: He campaigned like a local leader, handpicked his own chief ministerial candidate for Delhi and made it a personal referendum on his leadership. Yet Prime Minister Narendra Modi could not halt the AAP juggernaut in these assembly polls and in the process lost his first election since his winning streak began with the Gujarat assembly polls in 2002. Modi delivered Gujarat for his party for three consecutive terms in 2002, 2007 and 2012 after he was parachuted to the state from Delhi in 2001. His portrayal as the party’s prime ministerial candidate in the 2014 general election was a direct result of this winning spree and he managed to win yet again with the BJP for the first time getting a full majority in the Lok Sabha. Despite assiduous efforts by the party to firewall him from A group of nine Iranians who entered India on student visas set up shell companies to tap funds RBI tightens compliance rules after suspected $3.2 bn Iran export scam NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: India’s central bank has ordered banks to tighten monitoring of export finance deals after investigators uncovered an invoicing scam they suspect is part of a multibillion-dollar scheme to exploit Western financial sanctions against Iran. Although the Reserve Bank of India’s ruling made no mention of the scheme that targeted UCO Bank, an RBI source familiar with the matter said it was related to a probe into the suspected misuse of up to $3.2 billion in export advances paid out by the bank. “Banks should exercise proper due diligence and ensure compliance with KYC (know your customer) and AML (anti-money laundering) guidelines so that only bonafide export advances flow into India,” the RBI said in a circular to banks posted on its website on Monday. Under a provision in US sanctions law, Iran can accumulate oil export revenues with its Asian buyers and use Iran officially draws on the rupee balances to buy food, machinery, medicines and other goods not covered by sanctions the funds to buy essential imports. According to sources familiar with the investigation by the Enforcement Directorate, a group of nine Iranians who entered India on student visas set up shell companies in a provincial city to tap into these funds held at state-owned UCO Bank. Under Indian rules advances for exports, or for the re-export of goods imported into India, should be covered within 12 months by proof that an actual delivery is made. The shipments, which included purchases of diamonds for re-export to Iran, were never made. “Clearly, the export was not happening,” said one source with direct knowledge of the investigation by the Enforcement Directorate, an agency responsible for fighting financial crime. At this stage, the Enforcement Directorate is examining possible violations of India’s foreign exchange law and may widen its probe to include money laundering, the source said. Investigators have confirmed 9.25 billion rupees ($150 million) in suspect transactions involving eight firms. The real figure could be as high as 200 billion rupees ($3.2 billion), according to the RBI source. The news comes at a delicate moment for Iran, following the revival of sixpower talks on its nuclear programme that seek to bridge a rift with the West dating back to the Islamic revolution of 1979. US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, whose department oversees sanctions, is due to visit India on February 11-12 after attending a meeting of finance ministers from the Group of 20 nations in Istanbul. A US Treasury spokeswoman had no immediate comment. Refiners buy about 220,000 barrels of oil a day from Iran and deposit 45 per cent of the cost in rupees at UCO Bank on behalf of the National Iranian Oil Company. The rest is sent in dollar tranches to Iran, on the nod of the Western powers. Iran officially draws on the rupee balances to buy food, machinery, medicines and other goods not covered by sanctions. — Reuters INDIA W E D N E S DAY FEBRUARY 11 l 2015 omandailyobserver 11 Facebook launches free mobile Internet service MESSAGE OF SAFETY 7 LANGUAGES: The app, aimed at poor users, will offer free access via mobile phone to more than 30 pared-down web services School students participate during a traffic awareness campaign to celebrate `Road Safety Week` in Kolkata on Tuesday. — IANS BILATERAL BONDS ‘Iran, India are key partners for peace in the region ’ TEHRAN: Iran and India have played a significant role in establishing peace in the region, a top Iranian official said Tuesday. Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Supreme National Security Council, made the remarks during a meeting with India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval in Tehran, state-run IRNA news agency reported. Iran and India are two neighbours without joint borders and the two sides’ political leaders are determined to broaden cooperation in line with their national interests and maintain stability in the entire region, Shamkhani said. Referring to historical and civilisational commonalities, he welcomed investments by Indian companies in Iran’s development projects such as construction of ports and rail tracks along with transit of goods between the two sides. Implementation of economic agreements between the two countries will play a decisive role in expanding economic cooperation, which in turn will bring economic prosperity for both sides, he said. Doval, on his part, praised Iran’s brilliant role in fighting terrorism and its positive role in restoration of stability and security in West Asia and called for expansion of allout cooperation between the two countries. Referring to the significant roles of Iran and India in maintaining stability and security of the region, he said the two sides have always tried to broaden cooperation without leaving any negative impact on other countries. — IANS Nitish, legislators reach Delhi for show of strength PATNA/ NEW DELHI: Aiming to put pressure on Bihar Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi for inviting him to form the next government in the state, former chief minister Nitish Kumar reached New Delhi on Tuesday to parade the legislators supporting him at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday. Embattled Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi Tuesday sought to play the “reservation card” as his cabinet approved reservation for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes in all government contracts of road construction up to Rs.50 lakh and reservation for poor upper castes in government jobs. Earlier, Nitish Kumar and 130 legislators supporting him left for New Delhi in two batches, Janata Dal-United chief whip Shrawan Kumar said. “In the first batch, 60 legislators, and in second batch, 70 legislators along with Nitish Kumar left for Delhi,” he said in Patna. Party MP KC Tyagi said that Nitish Kumar had reached the national capital, and was likely to meet President Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday. He said the party would urge the president to ask the governor to invite Nitish Kumar to form the government as he has the majority. “Since we have not heard a decision from the governor, we have come to the president,” Tyagi said. Meanwhile, Manjhi, who insisted that he remained chief minister till he fails to prove his majority in the state assembly, had called a cabinet meeting Tuesday where it was speculated that he may recommend dissolution of the state assembly. It was in the meeting that the decision on the quotas was taken. A JD-U leader close to Manjhi, however, said he “may or may not recommend dissolution of the state assembly, but by holding a cabinet meeting, he wanted to send a strong message that he is still the chief minister”. Principal Secretary in the Cabinet Coordination Department B. Pradhan said the cabinet meeting approved reservation for SC/STs in all government contracts of Rs.50 lakh, as well as the proposal for reservation of poorest of the poor upper castes in government jobs. Nitish Kumar earlier Tuesday said he and the legislators would go to Delhi to meet the president as they did not receive any invitation from the governor a day after staking claim to form the next government. He, along with 130 legislators of his JD-U, the Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD), the Congress and the Communist Party of India (CPI) Monday went to Raj Bhavan in Patna to show his strength. Nitish Kumar has accused Manjhi, who was expelled from the JD-U on Monday, of trying to organise defections to stay in power. “It appears that Manjhi has got a horse-trading licence after he met Modi in Delhi,” he said, referring to the chief minister’s meeting in Delhi Sunday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Manjhi was hand-picked by then chief minister Nitish Kumar as his replacement when he quit last year following the JD-U’s rout in the Lok Sabha polls. In the 243-member assembly, the JD-U has 115 legislators — most of whom are reportedly with Nitish Kumar. — IANS MUMBAI: Facebook has tied up with Reliance Communications to provide basic internet services on mobile phones for free, making India the first country in Asia to get Facebook’s Internet.org service. The companies will first offer the app in seven of India’s 22 regions, or zones and it will then go nationwide in the next 90 days, Gurdeep Singh, chief executive of Reliance’s consumer business told reporters. The service is run by Internet.org, the non-profit organisation whose backers also include Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, Qualcomm and Opera Software, which has the declared aim of making basic Internet services available to the twothirds of the world’s population which is not yet connected. The app, aimed at low income and rural users, will offer free access via mobile phone to more than 30 pareddown web services, focused on job listings, agricultural information, healthcare and education sites in seven regional languages — as well as Facebook’s own social network and messaging services. It will be available to all of Reliance’s 106.3 million subscribers who have handsets capable of handling internet traffic. Singh declined to comment on who will bear the cost of carrying this data traffic for free. Mobile phones sales have been booming in India, the world’s secondbiggest mobile market, with smartphone sales surging 90 percent in the OctoberDecember quarter. A journalist checks Twitter during a joint news conference by Reliance Communications Ltd and Facebook Inc in Mumbai on Tuesday. — Reuters But less than 20 per cent of the country’s population can access the Internet — leaving over a billion people offline. Facebook said it had worked with Reliance Communications since last October to address barriers to connectivity. Both Reliance and Facebook said they also expected to benefit from the venture over the longer term. India has the world’s third-largest population of Internet users, and could take the number two spot this year. “It gives us a great lever in terms of our proposition differentiation at the point of sale... which will help us accelerate our acquisition journey of good quality, sticky customers,” Singh said. Singh said the company has beefed up infrastructure to meet the anticipated increase in data traffic, but did not give Two Indians jailed for role in Singapore riots SINGAPORE: Two more Indian nationals in Singapore were sent behind bars on Tuesday for their involvement in the December 2013 riots in the Little India area of this city state, media reported. Rajendran Mohan, 26, and Sathiyamoorthy Sivaraman, 27, were respectively awarded 27-month and 25-month jail sentences for their involvement in rioting, Today Online reported. Mohan pleaded guilty Tuesday while co-accused Sivaraman pleaded guilty in September last year. Mohan committed an offence of mischief against a motorbus. Rajendran joined a group of at least five others in committing violence against a motorbus on the road, by throwing objects such as a plastic crate at it, and inserting lighted The panchayats, through resolutions, are empowering the women to act against the violators objects in the fuel inlet. He also tried, in futility, to topple the bus by kicking and pushing it, before cajoling others in the unlawful assembly to join him, a district court heard. Rajendran was arrested at the scene and his acts identified through footage captured by the CCTV camera mounted on the side of the bus. Deputy Public Prosecutor Santhra Aiyyasamy said Rajendran had a clear intention to burn the bus and persistent disregard for authority. The maximum penalty for rioting is a jail term of seven years and caning. The riots were sparked off after an Indian, Sakthivel Kumaravel, was run over by a bus in Little India. This was the worst outbreak of violence in the country in more than four decades. — IANS details on the amount it had spent. “We address the affordability of data by having beneficial services and then we’ll make it scalable for our partners so that once these users want to use more, they just buy the regular (data) plan,” Markku Makelainen, Facebook’s director of Global Operator Partnerships, told Reuters. “One of our goals is to have a profitable partnership.” Facebook has partnered with more than 150 wireless providers over the past four years to offer free or discounted access to its social network, but the new Internet.org app is the first time the company has added services beyond its own website. The service comes to India following similar launches in Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana and Colombia. — Reuters Chandigarh to ban sale of loose cigarettes CHANDIGARH: The Chandigarh administration will soon ban the sale of loose cigarettes and other tobacco products in the union territory, an official spokesman said on Tuesday. “Sale of loose cigarettes and loose tobacco products is going to be prohibited in Chandigarh soon. This was discussed and decided at a meeting of Chandigarh Tobacco Control Cell,” the spokesman said. NGO Burning Brain Society chairman Hemant Goswami raised the point of smoking areas in hotels and restaurants to which the administration assured that these premises would be checked to ensure that all norms on smoking were being followed. Smoking is banned in public areas of the union territory, making it a smoke free city. — IANS FIRE AT THERMAL PLANT Where women take up cudgels to save forests KEYLONG: A movement that a handful of woman activists started in the early 1980s to save forests in the Himalayan terrain of the picturesque Lahaul Valley, populated mainly by Buddhists, has yielded the fruit of labour. It began in the panchayat of Kawaring, which has a population of 112, of whom 64 are women, according to the 2011 Census, and then was taken up in other parts of the valley located at an elevation ranging from 13,000 to 20,000 feet above the sea level. Currently, 139 ‘mahila mandals’ or women groups in 27 of the 28 panchayats in the valley have pledged to guard the forests. The latest addition is the Thirot panchayat, some 40 km from district headquarters of Keylong. “Two ‘mahila mandals’ in the Tindi panchayat are yet to pass a resolution to guard the forests,” Divisional Forest Officer Hira Lal Rana said. This is the last panchayat located adjoining Pangi in Chamba district. The ‘mahila mandal’ in the Thirot panchayat passed a resolution last month that if anyone was caught cutting trees, a fine of Rs 5,000 would be imposed. The offender will be even socially boycotted. Rana said the ‘mahila mandal’ in Thirot has also decided to fence the entire forest. Before this, three panchayats in the Miyar valley decided to protect the forests through community participation. “If the forest is saved, we will save the biodiversity. The fencing of the forests, which will be done in summer, will enable the native fauna to flourish,” octogenarian Dolma, a resident of Thirot, said. She said the colossal damage to the biodiversity with the upcoming hydropower projects in the Lahaul Valley can now be witnessed and it’s high time to save the biodiversity. Another villager Chokpa said the villagers have taken a pledge to safeguard the local flora and fauna. Severe winter in the higher reaches prompted wild animals to migrate to lower altitudes. “During the winter season, we remain alert as poachers are active. In summer, we will set out in batches to the nearby forests to guard it voluntarily,” Chokpa added. Wildlife officials said migration of the Asiatic ibex — a wild goat species — and the Himalayan blue sheep or ‘bharal’ in the valley is common during winters. Even the sighting of the red and the common fox goes up in the villages. Rana said in October every villager in the valley is allowed to collect salvage (fallen or dry standing trees) from the forests for 10 days. After that no extraction of the forest produce is allowed. There is also provision to provide firewood at subsidised rates to locals during winters. “A few years ago the demand for firewood at our Udaipur depot was around 4,000 quintals during winter. Now it’s over 7,000 quintals. T his shows that the locals are now banking more upon government supplied wood than on forests,” said an official. According to Rana, taking the help of villagers, especially the women, in protecting the forests has been a great success. The forest department has only a “supervisory role”. The panchayats, through resolutions, are empowering the women to act against the violators. — IANS Smoke billows out of one of the cooling towers after a fire broke out at a thermal power plant in Chanda of Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district (some 200 km away from Nagpur) on Monday. — IANS AMERICAS 12 OBAMA CALLS UKRAINE’S POROSHENKO W E D N E S DAY l F E B R U A R Y 1 1 l 2 0 1 5 WORLD PM PARTY LEGISLATOR JOINS OPPOSITION US President Barack Obama spoke to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Tuesday about the situation in Eastern Ukraine, the White House said on Twitter. The two leaders discussed ongoing work by US and European leaders to establish a ceasefire in the region and a peace deal with neighboring Russia, the White House said. HOMELESS SURVEY Canadian legislator Eve Adams left the governing Conservatives to join the opposition Liberal Party on Monday in a fresh blow to Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pictured) ahead of an election scheduled for this October. “The party no longer shares my values”. She also blasted what she called Harper’s mean-spirited leadership. IS hostage Mueller’s death confirmed by Obama, kin A volunteer for the Department of Homeless Services, speaks with a man at the Borough Hall subway station in New York on Tuesday. Thousands of volunteers fanned out across New York before dawn on Tuesday to conduct the city’s yearly homeless survey, trying to count the people who wander the sidewalks all night, sleep in subways for warmth or slip into the shadows to avoid being seen. — Reuters WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama on Tuesday confirmed the death of Kayla Mueller (pictured), a US aid worker who had been held hostage by IS militants, saying the United States would “find and bring to justice the terrorists who are responsible.” Mueller’s family also said in a statement that they were “heartbroken” to learn of her death and released a copy of a letter she had written in 2014 while in captivity. The comments by Obama and the family come four days after IS said Mueller, a 26-year-old humanitarian worker, was killed on Friday when Jordanian fighter jets bombed a building where she was being held, although Jordan expressed doubt about the militant group’s account of her death. Mueller was determined to have died after her IS captors reached out privately to her family over the weekend, a White House spokeswoman said. “Over the weekend, the family received a private message from Kayla’s IS Chile president’s Plane lost in Andes over family caught up 53 years ago discovered in loan scandal APRIL 3, 1961: 24 passengers including footballers were onboard SANTIAGO: Members of Chilean President Michelle Bachelet’s family were given privileged access to a bank loan, the government acknowledged this week, a revelation that threatens to weaken the government’s popularity and undermine scandal-weary Chileans’ trust in politicians. Bachelet’s daughter-in-law, Natalia Compagnon, obtained a loan worth around $10 million to buy land on behalf of the company in which she owns a 50 per cent stake, news magazine Que Pasa first reported last week. Compagnon clinched the loan during the 2013 election campaign after meeting with Banco de Chile vicepresident Andronico Luksic, one of Chile’s wealthiest men and a member of the family that controls the bank. Bachelet’s son, Sebastian Davalos, who serves as the president’s representative at the head of a charitable foundation, was also present at the meeting. The land in question is now being sold at a profit of about 3 billion pesos ($4.79 million). Although there is no indication that anything illegal took place, the claims have caused waves in Chile and triggered accusations from Bachelet’s daughter-inlaw, Natalia Compagnon, obtained privileged loans worth around $10 million to buy land on behalf of the company in which she owns a 50 per cent stake the opposition that Compagnon and Davalos took advantage of their family’s position to obtain credit and make money. The center-left government’s acting finance minister, Alejandro Micco, said in an interview with local radio station ADN that there was “nothing irregular” about the loan, but added: “Without doubt not everyone has access to the president of the bank”. —AFP SANTIAGO: After a gruelling journey up into the rarefied air of the Andes mountains, an expedition team announced it has discovered the fuselage of a passenger plane that went missing over a half century ago. The LAN Chile Douglas DC-3 twinpropeller aircraft was reported missing on April 3, 1961, near the city of Linares, some 300 kilometres south of the Chilean capital of Santiago. Eight players and the coach of the top-flight Green Cross soccer club as well as three referees were among the 24 passengers travelling aboard the plane. The group plans to return to the site with victims’ relatives. “They want to close a chapter in their lives. Some of them were children and never got to know their families,” he said. The airline, now part of Latam Airlines Group, the region’s largest carrier, was state-owned at the time of the accident. Rescuers found the tail end of the aircraft and some human remains a week after the crash, an official who asked not to be named said, but the recovery effort was abandoned near the snow-capped peaks due to its dangerous and remote location. The To get to the crash site at 3,000 meters (9,843 feet) above sea level, the nine-member mountaineering team travelled two days by horseback, traversing streams and ravines, and then spent another two days climbing deep into the mountains. It took another two days to get back down rediscovery of the plane is shedding new light on the tragedy, and rekindling the hopes of a long-awaited farewell for some of the passengers’ surviving family members. To get to the crash site at 3,000 meters (9,843 feet) above sea level, the nine-member mountaineering team travelled two days by horseback, traversing streams and ravines, and then spent another two days climbing deep into the mountains. It took another two days to get back down. For expedition team leader Lower Lopez, who unsuccessfully made two attempts last year to locate the plane, the third time was the charm. January to April is typically the best time of the year to climb in the Chilean Andes south of the capital. His team found pieces of the plane, including a propeller, scattered about a rocky slope. “We also found human remains,” Lopez said on Monday. Several family members want to make the journey to the site themselves to pay their final respects, he said. “They want to go up, close a chapter in their lives, see where the plane and the remains of their loved ones are,” said Lopez, adding that some family members had reached out to him personally. Efforts to contact family members for this story were unsuccessful. “If they aren’t physically able, I won’t go up with them... it’s too dangerous,” Lopez added. The accident occurred 11 years before another famous aviation tragedy in the Chilean Andes, the crash of a Uruguayan air force plane carrying 45 people including the members of a rugby team. —Agencies Some people suggested Lee was manipulated into releasing the decades-old manuscript of Go Set A Watchman Controversy rages over Harper Lee’s second novel NEW YORK: A week after HarperCollins stunned the literary world with news that Harper Lee is publishing a second novel, controversy rages about whether the reclusive, 88-year-old novelist is of sound mind. More than half a century after the mesmerising success of her book To Kill a Mockingbird, fans and writers were both delighted and taken aback to hear that Lee was releasing another novel. They were even more surprised to learn that it was a manuscript written 60 years ago and hidden away after an editor told the young novelist to recast the book into what become Mockingbird. Go Set a Watchman, finished in the mid-1950s, features many of the same But could Harper Lee, who had a stroke in 2007 and so often said she would never publish again, really be happy that a manuscript, long since discarded, was going to see the light of day? characters as Mockingbird and was discovered last year among her papers by lawyer Tonja Carter. But could Lee, who had a stroke in 2007 and so often said she would never publish again, really be happy that a manuscript, long since discarded, was going to see the light of day? Diane Roberts, an English professor at Florida State University who specialises in Southern culture, said the author probably never counted the manuscript when deciding against a second novel. And her insistence on absolute privacy — her refusal to play publicity games, appear on chat shows and do interviews — allows others to fill the void with their own, speculative ideas. “There’s just no way to judge it without talking to her,” Roberts said. “And no one’s going to talk to her because even when she was in her best health, she was very private.” It is well known that Lee has poor eye sight and is deaf. She has lived since 2007 in a nursing home in Monroeville, Alabama, where all requests for visits reportedly go through her lawyer. Gossip blog Gawker quoted Carter as saying last July that her client sometimes signed things “she did not understand.” Tongues started wagging and Carter has been on the defensive, telling The New York Times that Lee is “extremely hurt and humiliated” by allegations that she has been manipulated. “Instead, she is having to defend her own credibility and decision-making.” Last week, Carter released an earlier statement telling fans that Lee is “happy as hell” about the new book. US media has fallen on the story, quoting alleged friends and associates of Lee as attesting to her excitement and lucidity, or raising doubts and speculation. Lee, who rarely speaks to the media, said via HarperCollins that she was “humbled and amazed” the manuscript was to be published after so many years. Go Set a Watchman is already number one in the best-seller list at online bookstore Amazon, where the 304-page hardback is available for preorder ahead of its July release. —AFP captors containing a d d i t i o n a l i n f o r m a t i o n ,” N a t i o n a l Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said. “Once this information was authenticated by the intelligence community, they concluded that Kayla was deceased,” Meehan said. Neither Obama nor the family gave details of the circumstances of her death. Mueller was the lastknown American hostage held by IS, which controls wide areas of Syria and Iraq. She was taken hostage while leaving a hospital in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo in August 2013. “No matter how long it takes, the United States will find and bring to justice the terrorists who are responsible for Kayla’s captivity and death,” Obama said in a statement released by the White House. “IS is a hateful and abhorrent terrorist group whose actions stand in stark contrast to the spirit of people like Kayla,” Obama said. — Reuters US defence chief nominee clears key Senate hurdle WASHINGTON: A US Senate panel voted unanimously on Tuesday in support of Ashton Carter (pictured) to be the new secretary of defence, sending his nomination to a full chamber vote possibly this week. The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 25-0 to advance the nomination of Carter, a highlyregarded technocrat who is expected to be confirmed to replace outgoing Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel. Hagel resigned under pressure, criticised by some as too passive in the face of rapidly changing security developments, and as the United States prepares its next phase in the war against Islamic extremists. Senator John McCain, the panel’s chairman, is a fierce critic of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy, saying that as commander in chief Obama has failed drastically to show leadership in the midst of crises in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. But McCain praised Carter as an accomplished and intelligent defense overseer. “Hopefully we can get a vote perhaps even as early as tomorrow,” McCain told the committee after the vote. The US military that Carter would inherit finds itself in an air war against Islamic extremists in Iraq and Syria, a sharp reversal of course for an administration that had sought to bring home troops after 13 years of fighting. He must also oversee the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, as well as challenges posed by Iran’s nuclear programme and China’s growing military might. Carter served as deputy defence secretary, the Pentagon’s number two position, from 2011 to 2013. He was also the Defence Department’s chief weapons buyers from 2009-11 when he led a major restructuring of the F-35 fighter jet programme. — AFP REGION W E D N E S DAY FEBRUARY 11 l 2015 omandailyobserver Egypt, Russia sign trade, energy deals BOOST: Russian investment will mainly focus on the automobile and petrochemical industries CAIRO: Egypt and Russia Tuesday signed deals on investments and nuclear energy on the second and final day of President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Cairo. Putin and his host, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al Sissi, looked on as ministers signed the agreements, under which Russia is to help Egypt build a nuclear power station. The station would “open new domains for the Egyptian economy,” Putin told a subsequent press conference. Potential Russian investment in Egypt would focus on the automobile and petrochemical industries, he added. Al-Sissi said that Putin’s visit confirmed the growing relations between the two countries since the overthrow of former president Mohammed Morsi in mid-2013. The new Egyptian authorities have been eager to prove that they are not dependent on the United States, which suspended some of its annual 1.3 billion dollars of military aid after Morsi was deposed. In a reference to Cairo’s struggles against militants and Morsi’s Brotherhood, Al Sissi said the visit — which has been given wall to wall coverage by Egyptian television — also Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Cairo. showed Russia’s “solidarity with Egypt in its war against terrorism. “We agreed that the fight against terrorism cannot mean just confronting it in the security field, but must also reach its ideological roots,” the Egyptian president added. Putin also invited al-Sissi to Moscow for what would be his third visit to the Russian capital since, as head of the armed forces, he overthrew Morsi after mass demonstrations. Meanwhile, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Tuesday that — AFP Russia had agreed to jointly build his country’s first nuclear power plant. A memorandum of understanding was signed Tuesday in the presence of Sisi and visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin. At a joint press conference with Putin, Sisi said the nuclear power plant would be built in Dabaa in northwest Egypt on the Mediterranean coast. Egypt had laid the foundation for such a facility in Dabaa during the regime of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, but work was halted due to disputes with local residents. Putin was received with a guard of honour and a 21-gun salute, while posters of the Russian leader were plastered on Cairo’s main roads greeting him in Russian, Arabic and English. Russia hosted Sisi’s predecessor Morsi during his one-year presidency despite having banned the Brotherhood as a “terrorist group” in 2003. But Moscow was also one of the first countries to endorse Sisi’s presidency last year. Sisi visited Russia when he was defence minister soon after ousting Morsi — amid deteriorating relations with Washington — and he followed up with an August 2014 trip as president. At their meeting last summer at Putin’s summer residence in Sochi, the two discussed Russia supplying weapons to Egypt, which is fighting an insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula that has killed scores of policemen and soldiers. — Reuters 13 TERROR TARGET Qaeda suspects dead in Yemen drone strike ADEN: Four suspected Al-Qaeda fighters were killed on Tuesday in a drone strike in Hadramawt province in southeastern Yemen, a military source said. He said the drone, which only the United States operates in the region, targeted “a gathering of Al-Qaeda fighters” between the village of Qatan and the town of Shibam, killing four and wounding several others. It was the fourth drone strike since US President Barack Obama vowed on January 25 not to let up in Washington’s campaign against fighters in Yemen despite the country’s political turmoil. Fighters last month took control of key government buildings in Sanaa, prompting Western-backed President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to tender his resignation and the militia to take over the government. Al-Qaeda said on Thursday that Harith al-Nadhari, a senior figure who threatened more attacks on France after last month’s killings at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, had died in a US drone strike in Yemen. French Rafale fighter jet Syrian govt launches offensive against fighters sale to Egypt ‘imminent’ PARIS: France is close to selling Dassault Aviation-built Rafale fighter jets to Egypt, sources close to the matter said on Tuesday, as Cairo looks to upgrade its military hardware over fears the crisis in neighbouring Libya could spill over. France and Egypt have been negotiating since a November state visit by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi over 24 Rafale jets, a Fremm naval frigate and MBDA air-to-air missiles in a deal worth 5 billion to 6 billion euros ($5.65-$6.78 billion), two industrial sources told Reuters last week. “It’s imminent. For me the signature is certain,” a French source told Reuters on Tuesday. The source said one remaining issue was the delivery timeframe. Despite exclusive negotiations with India for the last three years, Dassault has not found a foreign buyer for its multi-role Rafale. Billed to be one of the most sophisticated fighter jets in the world, it is also one of the most expensive. The source said the French and Egyptian defence ministries, Dassault and other industrial firms, including Thales and Safran, were holding technical talks on Tuesday. Le Monde newspaper reported on Tuesday that Sisi had approved the deal and that the contract could be signed on Wednesday or Thursday. It did not identify its source. A second source, close to French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, said talks would conclude in “several days.” Egyptian army and government officials could not be reached for comment. Dassault declined to comment. Paris and Cairo have enjoyed close economic ties in the past but turmoil in the north African state since President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in 2011 left Western governments wary of signing contracts, especially in defence. “Egypt quickly needs planes,” Patricia Adam, president of the French parliamentary defence committee, said “They are especially worried by what’s happening in Libya.” She added that the deal could be financed through loans and by credit insurance firm Coface. France secured its first major military contract in Egypt in about 20 years in 2014 with a 1 billion euro deal for four naval frigates. Dassault is under increasing pressure to sell the jet overseas. The French government is slowing the pace at which it takes delivery of Rafale jets, taking 26 over the next five years instead of 11 a year. The Fremm is built by statecontrolled DCNS, 35 per cent owned by Thales. — Reuters BEIRUT: Syria’s army gained ground from fighterss in the south on Tuesday in what a monitoring group described as a large-scale offensive in the region backed by Hizbullah fighters against insurgents including al Qaeda’s Syrian wing. The south is one of the last remaining areas where mainstream, non-actiivst fighterss fighting President Bashar alAssad have a foothold. Just a short drive to Damascus, the area remains a risk to the Syrian leader, who has otherwise consolidated control ‘The operation started two over much of the west. “The operation started two days ago days ago and is very big,’ and is very big,” Rami Abdulrahman, Rami Abdulrahman, head of head of the Syrian Observatory for the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, said Human Rights monitoring on Tuesday. Abdulrahman said the offensive group, said aims to take a triangle of fighters-held territory from rural areas southwest of Damascus to Deraa city to Quneitra. Syrian media and fighters sources several areas of southern Syria. said on Tuesday that battles raged in Syrian troops had been on the TOUGH TIMES AHEAD Sweden and Palestine forge deeper ties with more aid, embassy Turkish riot police stand guard near the Istanbul Congress Center (ICC) where the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meet in Istanbul. The United States urged a meeting of the Group of 20 leading economies not to resort to currency devaluations to boost exports, while a draft communique gave a gloomy assessment of the outlook for global growth. The meeting of finance ministers and central bankers in Istanbul comes at a difficult time, with major economies running at different speeds, monetary policies diverging and Greece casting a new shadow over Europe. — Reuters Security guards prevented tankers from docking in a row over wage payments Libya’s reopens oil port, UN talks await TRIPOLI: Libya reopened its oil port of Hariga on Tuesday, ending a strike by guards that threatened to further cut the Opec country’s petroleum production that is already battered by factional fighting over two export terminals. The threat to shut down Hariga port illustrated the fragility of oil shipments from Libya, where two rival governments and their armed allies are locked in a scramble for control over the OPEC country and its petroleum wealth. Hariga reopened shortly before the United Nations was expected to hold talks to prevent a wider conflict that Western governments fear will turn Libya into a failed state just across the Mediterranean from Europe. Libya shut most operations at the Hariga terminal near Egypt’s border Hariga reopened shortly before the UN was expected to hold talks to prevent a wider conflict that Western govts fear will turn Libya into a failed state just across the Mediterranean from Europe — the last functioning land oil export terminal — on Saturday after security guards prevented a tanker from docking in a protest over wage payments. “An oil tanker was supposed to dock at the port this morning; but the weather was against this. We will wait until the weather allows us to go ahead,” said Omran Al-Zwie, a spokesman for the company operating Hariga. The North African country’s two largest oil ports, Es Sider and Ras Lanuf — with a combined capacity of around 600,000 barrels per day — have been closed by fighting between the two loose confederations of armed factions since December. Nearly four years after civil war toppled Muammar Gaddafi, Libya is caught in struggle between an internationally recognised government and a rival administration set up in Tripoli after an armed faction known as Libya Dawn took over the capital in the summer. Each faction claims legitimacy and is backed by brigades of former fighterss who once fought against each other against Gaddafi, but steadily turned on one another in internecine warfare over the country’s defensive in the south, losing control of large areas of countryside near Jordan as well as parts of the border along with Israel near the Golan Heights, according to regional military analysts and diplomats. The southern fighterss, often described as the best organised of the mainstream armed opposition, see themselves as the last hope for a fouryear-old uprising and civil war hijacked by militants, and are seeking a higher profile and more help. — Reuters oil and territory. Underlining the scale of the crisis, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday Libya’s oil production fell by 100,000 bpd in January to 340,000 bpd. Before the 2011 civil war, Libya produced around 1.6 million bpd. Hoping to bring the two sides to the negotiating table, the United Nations last month began a new round of talks in Geneva, which brought some of the warring factions together to discuss a unity government and a ceasefire. Representatives from both sides said those talks would restart in the Libyan town of Ghadames on Wednesday with delegates from the elected House of Representatives and from the rival General National Congress, the former parliament reinstated by Tripoli’s new rulers. — Reuters STOCKHOLM: The Palestinians will open an embassy in Stockholm on Tuesday night, cementing closer ties just months after Sweden became the first western European Union country to recognise Palestine as a state. Visiting Sweden for the first time since recognition in October, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on other countries to follow Sweden’s lead. “Your recognition...should push forward negotiations in the peace process,” Abbas said. Relations between Sweden and Israel have nose-dived since the initial announcement and Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom called off a visit to Israel in January. Israel temporarily recalled its ambassador. Palestinians seek statehood in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the blockaded Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as their capital. Israel seized the territories in the 1967 Middle East War and has built Jewish settlements in several areas despite international criticism, although it had pulled out of Gaza. Long-running peace talks collapsed nearly a year ago and the Palestinians forged ahead with an alternative strategy to achieve statehood. Most Western European countries have yet to give a Palestinian state official recognition, as has the United States, although the UN General Assembly approved de facto recognition in 2012. A total of 135 countries recognise Palestine, including several East European nations that did so before they joined the EU. Swedish Prime Minsiter Stefan Lofven said Palestine would open an embassy in Stockholm immediately. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas poses with Sweden’s King Carl Gustaf yesterday at the Royal Palace in Stockholm. — AFP In most Western European countries, Palestine has a diplomatic mission, not a full embassy. He promised more aid for Palestine but stressed he wanted progress on reform. “There are challenges: we must help one another to fight corruption, increase gender equality, improve respect for human rights and of course continue the state building process,” Lofven said. A deal signed by the two leaders will see Sweden raise aid to Palestine by 1.5 billion crowns ($179.74 million) over the next five years. Lofven used his inaugural address in parliament last year to fulfill a long-standing promise by his Social Democrat party to recognise a Palestinian state. Their resolution in the UN Security Council calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state had failed in December but they have also moved to join the International Criminal Court (ICC). — Reuters 14 UK PRESS DIGEST omandailyobserver W E D N E S DAY FEBRUARY 11 l 2015 May launches welfare review of migrants ANDY JALIL Foreign Correspondent andyjalil@aol.com T he Home Minister, Theresa May, announced a wideranging independent review of the welfare of immigrants held in detention centres or awaiting deportation. The review, led by Stephen Shaw, the prisons and probation ombudsman until 2010, came as May prepared to publish a highly critical but more narrowly drawn report on the mental health of detainees, prepared for her by the Tavistock Institute. She responds to the review’s damning findings by preparing guidelines for how mentally ill people must be treated in detention centres, and stressing the primacy of Department of Health advice. The system for detaining immigrants and asylum seekers awaiting decisions or deportation has been described as the harshest and most inhumane branch of the UK judicial administration. The Home Office has faced criticism over the welfare of detainees, following deaths, self-harm and abuse. Repeated court rulings have found Home Office practice unlawful. The implicit acknowledgement by May that the system needs reform contrasts with increasingly tough Tory statements on tightening UK immigration law. We’re furiously pro-business, Labour MP tells private sector A leading Labour MP described himself as “enormously enthusiastic” about business chiefs making healthy profits as he sought to steer his party out of a row with the private sector. Tristram Hunt echoed his political mentor Lord Mandelson — who once said that new Labour was “intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich” —by telling businesses that Labour was “on their side”. “I’m enormously enthusiastic about businessmen and women making money, about delivering shareholder return, about making profit,” The shadow education secretary said that Labour was a “furiously, passionately, aggressively pro-business party”. His comments stand in stark contrast to those of Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary, who said in an interview last week that new Labour had “got too close” to big business and claimed that the likes of Amazon, Google and Starbucks were “damaging the fabric of our life”. Labour pledge to double paid paternity leave N ew dads will get an extra two weeks’ paid paternity leave, Ed Miliband promised. He vowed to almost double the amount of time off for fathers to four weeks under a Labour government. And he will increase paternity pay to at least £260 a week — equivalent to the national minimum wage. The Labour leader said the “father’s month” would help an estimated 400,000 families a year to give their children “the best start in life”.Dads currently get up to two weeks off and £138.18 a week paternity pay, or 90 per cent of average weekly earnings. Miliband said the £150million proposal would be paid for by savings in tax credits by extending free childcare to 25 hours a week for working parents of three and four-year-olds. Gulf in London house prices just a Tube stop away T he huge gap in property values between the most affluent inner boroughs of London and the poorest peripheries has been underlined by new research based on house prices close to the capital’s tube stops. The townhouses and apartments that line the street surrounding Bond Street station, the most expensive residential area in London, cost £3million more than the houses and flats near Dagenham East, the cheapest stop on the capital’s underground network. Although these two points on the tube are only 15 miles apart, the average house price within a mile of Bond Street — which is located opposite Selfridges, the Oxford Street department store — is £3.2million compared to £194,000 in Dagenham East. six staff on the contracts, which do not have a set minimum number of hours. Other Labour MPs using casual contracts include election campaign co-ordinator Lucy Powell. Miliband has repeatedly blasted zero-hours contracts. Just last week he said: “If you are working regular hours then you should get a regular contract.” Zero hours contracts typically allow a company or employer to vary the number of hours a new recruit works each week or month between full-time and none at all. Both the Institute of Directors and CBI say zero-hours deals give employers greater flexibility. Older women next for three-parent IVF O lder women struggling to have children could soon be offered the controversial “three parent” IVF technique recently backed by MPs, a pioneering doctor hopes. One of the doctors who developed the technique has asked American regulators for permission to conduct trials of the procedure to treat age-related infertility. MPs last week overwhelmingly backed changing the law to allow doctors to use DNA from a “second mother” to fix faulty genetic material in those with a family history of diseases such as muscular dystrophy. Under the new rules, IVF (in-vitro fertilisation) clinics will be able to replace an egg’s defective mitochondrial DNA with healthy DNA from a female donor’s egg. It is controversial because it would result in babies having DNA from three people and, effectively two mothers. Smaller firms look on the bright side T he confidence of small firms is on the rise, according to a new survey of the sector. Almost half of decision makers are confident the economic situation will improve within the next year, compared to 34 per cent two years ago. More than one in five now sees the economic environment as one of the top three opportunities for their business, compared to 15 per cent in January 2013. The findings come from Zurich’s SME (small and medium enterprises) Risk Index. However the Zurich study also found regulation is still causing headaches for small firms. The top challenges for small firms at present are employment regulation (27 per cent), pension legislation (20 per cent), tax compliance (23 per cent) and health and safety (22 per cent). And despite a more optimistic economic outlook, profitability remains a serious concern. ED’s MPs zero in on jobs L abour MPs are employing staff on zero-hours contracts despite criticising bosses who use them. Figures from Parliament’s expenses watchdog show 36 Labour MPs employed staff on casual contracts in 2014. Karen Buck, one of Ed Miliband’s parliamentary private secretaries, has Nationalists plan to block English vote for EU exit E ach of the four parts of the United Kingdom should have a veto over a decision to leave the EU, the leader of Welsh nationalists said recently. Leanne Wood said she was in regular contact with Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, and they agreed on the plan which would give the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish the power to compel England to stay in the EU even if a majority of the English electorate voted for withdrawal. The plan will infuriate Eurosceptic Tories because there are almost 40 million people in England who would be entitled to vote in a referendum, compared with fewer than eight million in the other parts of the UK. Anti-EU sentiments run higher in England than in Scotland and Wales. Hold EU vote as soon as possible, Cameron warned D avid Cameron was urged to hold a European Union referendum as soon as possible after claims Downing Street was pondering a vote next year. The Prime Minister vows that if the Tories are elected in May he will renegotiate Britain’s EU membership terms and give the electorate a vote on whether to stay in or leave by the end of 2017. But he was urged to act next year by Tory Eurosceptic MP Peter Bone, who recently helped to organise a poll in Northamptonshire that found 80 per cent wanted to leave Europe. “We don’t need an unbelievable amount of time to renegotiate,” said Bone. “From a Conservative point of view it would be very nice to be able to go into May’s election saying the referendum will be next year. Governor to predict near zero inflation M ark Carney will slash the Bank of England’s inflation forecast near to zero when he publishes an updated outlook for the UK economy. The Bank’s governor has already said there is a strong chance that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation will turn negative this year. The latest figures show that the CPI fell to 0.5 per cent in December, equalling its lowest level on record, and meaning Carney must write a letter to the Chancellor to explain why it is more than one per cent off its two per cent target. It has been driven down by tumbling oil prices and the lower cost of petrol, as well as the supermarket price war. The letter, the first Carney has been obliged to write since he took the helm in the summer of 2013, will be published alongside the Bank’s inflation report on Thursday. Why turning 60 no longer means getting old T hese days retirement is said to be the start of a new lease of life. Now there is research which seems to prove it. Sixty-somethings can no longer be considered old because they are less likely to be afflicted by age-related illnesses. A study of health data has revealed the proportion of men and women in their 60s blighted by cancer, heart disease and other serious conditions has almost halved in a decade. Improvement in diet and lifestyle, reductions in smoking and the use of statins and other drugs designed to stave off ill health, are credited with bringing about the ‘dramatic’ upturn. The study which is the first of its kind found that 7.7 per cent of the 60 to 64 age group in England had dementia, cancer or Parkinson’s disease in 2012 or had suffered a heart attack or stroke. This is almost half of the 2002 figure of 13.8 per cent. INTERNATIONAL W E D N E S DAY FEBRUARY 11 l 2015 omandailyobserver 15 PEACE SUMMIT LIKELY: City shelled with Russian-made Tornado rockets, which have a range of up to 90 kilometres Ukraine fighting intensifies as truce talks planned KIEV/BERLIN: Fighting in eastern Ukraine escalated on Tuesday, as preparations for a peace summit in Belarus gathered steam. At least five people were killed and 26 injured in an artillery attack on Kramatorsk, Ukrainian authorities said. Most of the victims were civilians, but ten of those injured were soldiers stationed at the city’s airfield, the local administration said. The government-held city in the Donetsk region has served as the headquarters for Ukraine’s military operation in the east, and President Petro Poroshenko accused the separatists of the attack. “They hit the headquarters, but the second salvo hit a residential area,” Poroshenko said in parliament, according to the Interfax Ukraine news agency. Poroshenko said that the city was shelled with Russian-made Tornado rockets, which have a range of up to 90 kilometres. Kramatorsk is some 50 kilometres from the front line. The separatists denied responsibility. “In contrast to People look at a missile embedded in the street after shelling in eastern Ukrainian city of Kramotorsk. Kosovo,” a policewoman confirmed to AFP Tuesday. Most of them cross into EU member Hungary near the southern town of Szeged, on the Serbian border. However, their final destination is rarely Hungary, but other EU countries in Western Europe. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has repeatedly lashed out at economic migrants and his ruling Fidesz party has promised tougher measures to keep people out. A senior Fidesz lawmaker, Antal Rogan, meanwhile said on Tuesday that immigration rules should be amended so that illegal immigrants can be kept locked up until their application has been approved or rejected. In 2014, Hungary saw 43,000 asylum-seekers, compared to 2,200 in 2012, according to official data. — Reuters ‘Pink Panther’ jewel thieves arrested SELF PROMOTION Actress Charlotte Gainsbourg attends a news conference to promote the movie Every Thing Will Be Fine at the 65th Berlinale International Film Festival, in Berlin. — Reuters VIENNA: Police announced Tuesday they had arrested two Israelis, as well as a Serbian and a Belgian suspected of belonging to the notorious international “Pink Panther” group of jewel thieves. The four men, aged between 35 and 40, were arrested last Thursday in a Vienna hotel and jewellery and watches worth about 500,000 euros, as well as about 57,000 euros in cash were seized, police said. “This is the first time we’ve managed in Austria to crack a Pink Panther redistribution operation and identify and arrest the suspects,” Ewald Ebner from the criminal police said at a press conference. The seized loot included 18 luxury watches — including one valued at about 53,000 euros — that were stolen in January from a jewellery shop in Montreux, Switzerland. Syriza expected to have no trouble in winning the no confidence Greek govt seeks confidence vote ahead of Eurogroup meet ATHENS: Greece’s leftist-led coalition government, which has vowed to overturn a series of austerity measures that were a condition of its international bailout, will seek a confidence vote in parliament on Tuesday — two weeks after it was elected to power. The ruling Syriza government which has a 162-seat majority in the 300-seat parliament together with his junior coalition partner, the small right-wing Independent Greeks, is expected to have no trouble winning the confidence vote, scheduled for midnight. The vote comes less than 24-hours ahead of a crucial emergency meeting of Eurozone finance ministers on Wednesday and an EU summit on Thursday to discuss Greece’s financing needs. The plans by the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to end budget cuts and tax increases as part of its conditions for continued bailout aid have put it on a collision course with its The vote comes less than 24-hours ahead of a crucial emergency meeting of Eurozone finance ministers on Wednesday and an EU summit to discuss Greece’s financing needs European partners. Tsipras reportedly called Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, ahead of the meetings, Greek private Mega television said. Senior Greek finance ministry sources said the government plans to attend the Eurogroup summit with a proposal for a bridge programme to cover the government’s funding needs until it can negotiate a replacement for its bailout programme with creditors, which would come into force in Ukraine, we do not shoot at cities with a civilian population,” Donetsk militia leader Eduard Basurin told the Interfax news agency. Earlier on Tuesday, Ukrainian troops launched an attack on separatists east of the port city of Mariupol. National Guard units broke through their opponents’ defences, Ukraine’s National Security Council said, adding that council secretary Oleksandr Turchynov was in Mariupol to coordinate the fighting. The Azov volunteer battalion, which is part of the National Guard and has controlled the area since May, said its forces have taken a number of villages east of the city and would press on towards the town of Novoazovsk. Ukraine’s Security Council said that seven soldiers were killed and 24 injured in clashes during the past 24 hours. Authorities in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk city said two civilians were killed and 12 injured by artillery shelling during the same period. The attack east of Mariupol was the first time that Ukraine has said its troops are attacking since a ceasefire was declared in September. That truce has largely gone unheeded, but Germany and France are spearheading a new peace drive, and their talks with Ukraine and Russia are planned for Wednesday in the Belarussian capital, Minsk. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Wednesday’s summit will only take place if all parties agree to the details of the new truce, proposed last week by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Moscow’s Russian News Service radio station Tuesday that the summit’s preparations are ongoing. — dpa — AFP Nearly 8,000 Kosovo illegals detained BUDAPEST: Close to 8,000 migrants, mostly from poverty stricken Kosovo, have been detained in the past six days after crossing into Hungary illegally, police said on Tuesday amid a rising influx of asylum seekers. Since the beginning of February, over 1,000 illegal immigrants have been arrested every day. “Ninety-five percent of them are from Most of the victims were civilians, but ten of those injured were soldiers stationed at the city’s airfield, the local administration said September. The government’s proposal is in four parts, according to a finance ministry source. The first foresees keeping in place 70 per cent of the bailout conditions while 30 per cent of the memorandum would be scrapped and replaced with 10 new reforms which Greek officials are to agree with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The second proposal says Greece’s primary surplus target of 3 per cent of GDP for this year should be reduced to 1.5 per cent. The third proposal outlines the Greek government’s desire to reduce the country’s debt through a swap plan. Finally, the government wants the country’s humanitarian problems to be eased using measures outlined in its policy programme, which include gradually increasing the minimum wage and pensions and putting an end to tax increases. — dpa Moon objects found in Armstrong’s closet WASHINGTON: A treasure trove of objects that were supposed to have been left behind after the first moon landing have turned up in the closet of Neil Armstrong, the first man to step onto the lunar surface, the Smithsonian Institution has said. Armstrong died in August 2012 and his wife, Carol, found the items from the 1969 lunar landing as she was cleaning out one of his home closets in Cincinnati, Allan Needell, a space history curator at the National Air and Armstrong used one of the tethers to support his feet during his rest period on the moon, Needell said. The items were stashed in a white stowage bag informally known as a McDivitt Purse used aboard Eagle to store items. “Needless to say, for a curator of a collection of space artifacts, Space Museum, wrote in a recent blog. it is hard to imagine anything more Among the objects are a camera that exciting,” Needell wrote. The items were intended to be left was mounted in the window of the Eagle lunar module to record the landing and behind on the moon but were instead brought back. two waist tethers. AROUND THE GLOBE Picasso’s ex electrician accused of stealing art Cameron calls on businesses to boost worker pay LONDON: Businesses must share the rewards of Britain’s economic recovery by boosting pay, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Tuesday, as they in return called for an early referendum on membership of the European Union to help reduce damaging uncertainty. With the opposition Labour party threatening tougher regulation in several sectors and Cameron’s Conservatives promising a referendum by end-2017 which could see Britain leave the EU, business faces a difficult choice ahead of what is set to be a closely fought national election on May 7. Hoping to capitalise on their strong economic competence ratings, the Conservatives have put the economy at the centre of their campaign to remain in government. Last year, the British economy grew at its fastest rate since 2007. Official data showed the wages of British workers grew by more than inflation in November for a third month in a row, having previously lagged it for five years. But with earnings in real terms still well below pre-financial crisis levels, Labour have argued that many Britons are suffering from what it calls ‘a cost of living crisis’. “As the economy continues to grow it’s important that everyone benefits,” Cameron told the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) conference.” It’s time Britain had a pay rise,” he added. PARIS: A judge in the French city of Grasse is considering whether 271 works of art by Pablo Picasso stored for 37 years in the garage of an electrician who worked for the painter were stolen or legally acquired as a three-day trial got under way Tuesday. Pierre Le Guennec, who worked at Picasso’s villa near Cannes in the south of France, has said the works — including a few small oil paintings, drawings and lithographs — were given to him one evening around 1970. “He often invited me for cake, coffee; you talked about everything and nothing with the master,” Le Guennec said in 2010, referring to Picasso, who died in 1973. “One night when I left, the madame gave me a package, saying it was for me.” Picasso’s heirs dispute that recounting, and charges were filed against Le Guennec and his wife in 2011 for concealing goods acquired through theft. The trove became known when Le Guennec travelled to Paris in 2010 to obtain authentication certificates from the Picasso Administration, French media reported. The 40 years that have passed since the disputed incident complicates the case because many potential witnesses are no longer alive to provide testimony. Le Guennec and his wife, both in their 70s and retired, have not tried to sell the works, which are wide-ranging in style and were produced by Picasso from 1900 to 1932. Tourists take photos atop the Athens Acropolis during a snowstorm. The European Commission that it had low expectations that meetings of euro zone finance ministers and EU leaders this week would produce a final agreement on Greece, which wants a restructuring of its debt. — Reuters Tirana rocked by twin bomb blasts TIRANA: Albania’s capital was rocked Tuesday by two blasts targeting a pharmacy owned by a minister’s family and the apartment of a senior police officer. No one was injured in the pre-dawn explosions described by Prime Minister Edi Rama as “terrorist acts”. The first explosion heavily damaged the pharmacy owned by Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri’s family, a police statement said. The second blast, which followed shortly afterwards, rocked the apartment of a police official, also causing heavy damage, the statement said. Rama said the blasts were clearly aimed at intimidating Tahiri’s family. “The perpetrators will be found and brought to justice soon,” he vowed in a statement. Police also said they had defused a third explosive device around 0515 GMT, near a bus station just a few meters from the site of the first blast. Local prosecutors said a probe was underway. The explosion at the drug store of the minister’s father occurred close by the main office of the national secret intelligence police, while that of the third device close to the apartment of the prime minister’s mother. Prosecutor’s office also said in a statement they had started the investigation for “terrorist acts.” 16 omandailyobserver PANORAMA A zoo employee removes the snow leopard costume after a drill to practice what to do in the event of an animal escape at the Tama zoo in the western suburb of Tokyo. About 70 zookeepers participated in the annual drill. — AFP W E D N E S DAY FEBRUARY 11 l 2015 Students attending a balloon launching event to mark a three-year countdown to the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics, at the Alpensia resort in Pyeongchang. The Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics will be held between February 9-5, 2018. — AFP Fans pose next to a wax figure of US singer Taylor Swift unveiled at Madame Tussauds in London. —AFP Girls play at the “San Jose de la Vega” recreational park in Tegucigalpa. The park, which construction was ordered by the Honduran government, is guarded by the military in order to keep gang members at bay. — AFP Female members of the Palestinian presidential guard demonstrate their skills during a training session in the West Bank city of Jericho. — Reuters WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 11, 2015 | RABEE AL THANI 21, 1436 AH P18 P20 P21 Inside China January inflation plunges Nissan raises profit forecast to $3.5 bn Petrobras’ CEO seen as loyal footsoldier FOLLOW US ON: www.omanobserver.om editor@omanobserver.om RO 57m contract awarded for Oman Rail PMC package CONRAD PRABHU MUSCAT Feb. 10: Oman Rail’s prestigious Project Management Consultancy (PMC) contract — an issue that been hanging fire for over a year — has now been settled in favour of the consortium headed by Spanish-based international engineering and infrastructure contractor Técnicas Reunidas, the Observer has learnt. Earlier this week, the Government Tender Board, which has been overseeing the competitive tender on behalf of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, announced the winning bid at RO 57.470 million. The award brings to closure a contentious, year-long tussle for the eagerly sought-after package involving the two lowest bidding groups: one led by South Korea’s Dohwa Engineering Co Ltd (which quoted RO 34.297 million for Option 1 and RO 106.803 million for Option 2), and the other headed by Tecnicas Reunidas (which quoted RO 59.539 million for Option 1 and RO 165.086 million for Option 2). The announcement also ends speculation that the authorities would temporarily do away with a Project Management Consultant — at least for Segment 1 (Sohar–Buraimi) currently under tender — in order not to delay implementation of this key section, slated for completion by 2018. Now that a Project Management Consultant has been named, it is expected that the winning consortium will work alongside experts already recruited by Oman Rail and form an Integrated Project Management Team to help expedite the execution of Segment 1. As the principal interface between contractors and the client, the Project Management Consultant (PMC) has one of the most significant roles to play in ensuring the smooth, timely, and costeffective implementation of the multibillion dollar national railway project. The PMC is required to, among other things, undertake a complete review of the preliminary design work of the network already prepared by Italferr, the Preliminary Design Consultant for the Oman National Rail Project. Additionally, the PMC will review the contract process, extend contract management and construction supervision, and provide project management services. Part of its brief is to oversee the procurement of rolling stock and procurement of the services of a rail transport operator in coordination with the government. Also as part of its remit, the PMC will be responsible for testing and commissioning of the completed railway system of each segment planned for the Oman Railway project. Separately, a number of international contractors are competing for Oman Rail’s multi-billion dollar Design & Build contract covering the 207 km Segment 1 of the national rail network. Technical bids were submitted by January 18, with financial offers due in by March 1. Awaiting the successful bidder is a substantial package of works encompassing virtually all aspects of rail design, engineering, supply, construction, installation and commissioning. It requires the contractor to undertake, among other things, topographic and geotechnical site surveys; earthworks design; hydrology and drainage; design and construction of major and minor structures such as bridges, tunnels and viaducts; track works; stations; freight facilities and yards; and the provision of line maintenance facilities. Oman Rail hopes to announce an award for Segment 1 by around the middle of this year. 18 omandailyobserver OMAN/INTERNATIONAL MENA M&A to maintain healthy growth into 2015 ROBUST GROWTH: Q4 2014 ended with 150 deals with value of $16.2 bn BUSINESS REPORTER MUSCAT Feb. 10: Announced MENA M&A deals rose by 6 per cent in 2014 to 468 deals from 442 deals in 2013 on the back of strong market fundamentals, according to EY’s Q4 MENA M&A update. In 2014, announced deal value decreased from $50.7 bn in 2013 to $44.9 bn in 2014, a decrease of 11 per cent. Phil Gandier, MENA Head of Transaction Advisory Services, EY says: “The MENA M&A market performed very well in 2014. Deal value saw a slight dip compared to last year, as 2013 witnessed some large ticket consolidations. However the number of deals was 6 per cent higher as regional markets displayed resilience to oil price volatility. The growth of MENA M&A is expected to continue in 2015 at a normalised year on year growth rate of up to 10 per cent. The majority of MENA M&A transactions tend to occur in consumption-led sectors such as food and beverage, retail, healthcare and education, which have little correlation to economic activity and changes in oil price, so the positive trend is expected to continue.” Q4 2014 ended the year strongly with 150 deals with a value of $16.2 bn, the highest value and number of announced deals in 2014. Compared to the same quarter in 2013, Q4 announced deals doubled in value and increased by 26 per cent in number. Outbound announced deal value increased by 19 per cent from $18.5 bn in 2013 to $22.0 bn in 2014, signalling a return in the trend of outbound deals leading the MENA M&A market. Domestic and inbound announced deal values decreased by 31 per cent and 24 per cent respectively in 2014 compared with 2013. Anil Menon, MENA M&A and IPO Leader, EY, says: “We expect to see outbound M&A deals continue to lead the market into 2015. With the exception of 2013, which saw domestic deal value exceed outbound deal value, outbound deals have historically been the most popular option for MENA investors. We expect investors to continue looking outside the region for investment, particularly in sectors such as real estate and oil and gas.” The MENA M&A market will be led mainly by the GCC, namely the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The revival of Egypt’s M&A market in 2014 is expected to continue in 2015. “The UAE dominated as the target country with the largest number and value of inbound deals in MENA which points to the strong confidence of international investors in the UAE’s potential. Egypt also came back into the deal market with a vengeance in 2014 with many multinationals investing in Egypt. The return of investments into Egypt signals that international companies are willing to bet on the long term future of Egypt as they see stability improving. Saudi Arabia will see a number of local family businesses looking to reconfigure their investments to focus more on their core businesses,” comments Anil. In the private equity space, 90 SWF/ PE deals were announced in 2014, with December 2014 having the most activity of 18 deals followed by November with 11 deals. “The total number of MENA deals in 2015 are expected to range from 400-500, continuing the same trend that we’ve seen in the past few years. We expect to see a lot PE equity deals in particular as an increasing number of PE firms will be seeking exits for their investments,” concludes Phil. Bank Muscat SME workshop for women evokes good response MUSCAT: Bank Muscat, the flagship financial services provider in the Sultanate, hosted a 2-day workshop on ‘How to run and manage your business’ for women entrepreneurs at the bank’s head office on February 7 and 8. The workshop organised by al Wathbah, Bank Muscat’s SME department, as part of activities aimed at expanding and strengthening avenues for SME development in Oman, evoked good response from a large turn-out of existing and prospective women entrepreneurs. Expert trainers led the workshop which served as a platform for women entrepreneurs to familiarise themselves with the various aspects of running successful SME ventures. Topics covered included market analysis and marketing plan, operation plan, financial plan and writing a business plan etc. Ilham al Hamaid, AGM — SME Credit, Marketing and Regional Corporates, said: “Bank Muscat regularly organises workshops and seminars to facilitate unique learning opportunities to address the challenges faced by entrepreneurs and thereby create an environment favourable for SME success. Over the years, Bank Muscat has launched several initiatives as part of its commitment to SME development in Oman. Serving as building blocks for entrepreneurs, these initiatives assume importance in the backdrop of the priority accorded by the government to develop the SME sector in Oman. Aimed at strengthening the SME sector and creating a successful generation of entrepreneurs, al Wathbah is committed to facilitating such unique initiatives, especially for women entrepreneurs.” The bank has launched a series of initiatives, including Al Wathbah Businesswomen’s Forum, as part of a comprehensive strategy to support women entrepreneurs in Oman. The support to SMEs and women empowerment initiatives stem from the bank’s commitment to create self-employment opportunities for youth who constitute more than 50 per cent of the country’s population. In step with the directives of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos to support the SME sector and strengthen its role in the economic development of Oman, Bank Muscat has taken the lead to develop the SME sector in Oman. Aimed at strengthening the SME sector, Bank Muscat offers a comprehensive suite of tailormade finance solutions, including al Wathbah non-collateral finance. China inflation plunges BEIJING: China’s inflation plunged to a more than five-year low of 0.8 per cent in January, official data showed yesterday, fuelling fears the world’s second-largest economy is on the brink of a deflationary spiral. The rise in the consumer price index (CPI) was sharply down from the 1.5 per cent recorded in December, and was the weakest since 0.6 per cent recorded in November 2009, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. It was also short of the median forecast of 1.0 per cent in a survey of analysts by Bloomberg News and came despite a surprise interest rate cut in November. Moderate inflation can be a boon to consumption as it encourages consumers to buy before prices go up, while falling prices encourage shoppers to delay purchases and companies to put off investment, both of which can hurt growth. Analysts warned of deflation in the China, a key driver of global expansion, and urged Beijing to take more measures to boost the economy. “The weak inflation profile suggests that the deflation has become a real risk for China, thus paving way for further monetary policy easing,” ANZ economists Liu Ligang and Zhou Hao said in a research note. Liu Dongliang, an analyst with China Merchants Bank in Shanghai, noted that consumption may have started to be affected by China’s growth slowdown, as services and consumer goods prices slumped last month. “We should get vigilant about this sign and pay high attention to changes in the job market,” he said in a research note. “Consumption played a key role in stabilising economic growth last year. If consumption cools down while investment struggles to rebound, the economy will face even more trouble,” he said. China’s economy grew 7.4 per cent in 2014, its weakest for almost a quarter of a century, and — AFP slower than the 7.7 per cent in 2013. Customers select goods at a supermarket in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province. — Reuters Healthcare seminar MUSCAT: Waleed Pharmacy and Stores LLC, a leading Omzest group pharmaceutical establishment in Oman, is sponsoring the Lean in Healthcare seminar by Peter Willats on February 17 at Hormuz Grand Hotel. On the importance of Lean in healthcare, Dr Mahesh Karajgikar, CEO (pictured), Waleed Pharmacy, says: “Lean is a holistic approach to quality and process improvement. Looking at the present economic crisis in Europe and in the Middle East, where crude oil prices are on the decline, it becomes paramount for all organisations to incorporate processes to reduce wastages. Lean thinking begins with driving out waste so that the entire work is value oriented to serve customer who in healthcare sector happens to be a patient. We have to use Lean to improve safety, service and flow to the ultimate and utmost satisfaction of patients”. Dr Karajgikar feels this seminar will be highly beneficial to the country: “In Oman the prime focus is on healthcare and the Sultanate aims to become a strong hub for medical tourism in the coming years.” W E D N E S DAY FEBRUARY 11 l 2015 BUSINESS ALERT Ford Expedition earns highest vehicle safety rating MUSCAT: Family fun is always different in the Ford Expedition. And with the arrival of the All New 2015 model, enthusiasts have a lot more to look forward to. Space, Comfort, Power, Safety all score high in Ford’s latest introduction. The 2015 Expedition has also earned the highest score in National Highway Traffic Safety Administration awards in USA. The Expedition earned a five-star Overall Vehicle Score in its New Car Assessment Programme. The New Car Assessment Programme is the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s evaluation programme for new automobile designs. It was established to test for performance against safety threats. It includes tests for front and side impacts. The 2015 Ford Expedition offers drivers comprehensive safety systems that include AdvanceTrac® with Roll Stability Control™, Safety Canopy® side-curtain airbags, SOS Post-Crash Alert System, tyre pressure monitoring system and traction control. The 2015 Expedition now has driver-assist technology features that are new to the nameplate. These technology upgrades make Expedition the full-size utility vehicle for customers who want capability, style and modern conveniences. McDonald’s premium grand chicken spicy McDonald’s Oman announces a new addition to its core menu, the premium Grand Chicken Spicy. McDonald’s premium Grand Chicken Spicy beautifully brings together a combination of ingredients curated especially for this new spicy creation. The Grand Chicken Spicy patty, complemented with the delicate heat of the Dijon mustard, two melted slices of Emmental Cheese, fresh lettuce cuts, blush-red tomatoes, are all brought together in a tasty artisan bun. Commenting on the new premium offering from McDonald’s, said: “The new high quality product in our permanent menu comes in response to customers’ demand for additional spicy chicken sandwiches. At McDonald’s, we are committed to providing our loyal customers with favoured flavours using only quality ingredients, as they have come to expect from us.” McDonald’s is committed to serving the best ingredients in the quick-service restaurant sector, and food quality is considered a top priority. All products served at McDonald’s restaurants in the region are Halal certified, inspected and approved by local authorities and Halal officers at the countries of export and customs officials at the port of entry. All meat used in McDonald’s restaurants can be traced back to a trusted supplier that shares the company’s dedication to the highest quality standards. Oman Flour Mills showcases Dahabi products Oman Flour Mills Company SAOG is exhibiting its full range of Dahabi products for the second consecutive year at Gulf Food 2015 at the Dubai World Trade Centre. Oman Flour Mills was established in 1977 in Oman and is a major player in the food industry in the Middle East & Africa with diversified businesses in flour, poultry and bakery products. The Dahabi brand covers a wide range of flour varieties along with bakery products such as breads, buns, cakes, puffs, muffins, croissants and more. Gulf Food is the world’s biggest annual food service, hospitality and retail event, which provides a trading and sourcing platform to industry professionals. Entering its 20th year, Gulf Food is hosting over 120 national pavilions and has a participation of nearly 5,000 International exhibitors in the fiveday business extravaganza. Oman Flour Mills is currently showcasing their entire range of products and services at the Za’abeel Pavilion stall XE-74 with live baking and tantalising cooking demos. Participants and clients are pouring in to sample the high quality products made available by Oman Flour Mills and its Investment arm, Atyab Investments. Jaguar, LR announce partnership with Spectre Jaguar Land Rover has announced its line-up of vehicles set to feature in SPECTRE, the 24th James Bond adventure, from Albert R Broccoli’s EON Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, and Sony Pictures Entertainment. These will include; Jaguar C-X75s, Range Rover Sport SVRs and Defender Big Foots which have been provided by Jaguar Land Rover Special Operations. The Jaguar C-X75 will feature in a spectacular car chase sequence through Rome alongside the Aston Martin DB10. The C-X75 vehicles have been built in collaboration with Williams Advanced Engineering facility in Oxfordshire, England. Scenes including the heavily modified Land Rover Defenders & Range Rover Sport SVR have already been filmed in Austria. The Range Rover Sport SVR is the fastest and the most powerful Land Rover ever. The highly capable Big Foots were constructed by the Special Operations division with huge 37inch diameter off-road tyres to tackle the extreme terrain. They also feature bespoke suspension and enhanced body protection. Al Araimi’s shopping promotion Al Araimi Complex is giving avid shoppers the chance to win instant prizes under their ‘Happy 2015 shopping’ campaign that runs until February 28. Under the promotion, all one needs to do to have a chance to win, is shop from any of the outlets at Al Araimi for RO 50 or more, and get a scratch card that entails them to win instant prizes of diamond rings, dining vouchers and Al Araimi Complex vouchers, amongst several other exciting prizes. “As pioneers in the shopping malls business, we’re excited to be amongst the first shopping malls in the Sultanate to come up with a unique offer such as — ‘Happy 2015 shopping’,” said a spokesperson from Al Araimi Complex. Centrally located in Qurum, Al Araimi Complex is one of the most prominent shopping malls in the Sultanate. Having a parking space for over 1,100 cars, the mall has revolutionised shopping and family entertainment since its inception in 1994; and attracts leisure-seekers and customers for its several multi-brand and product shopping outlets and eateries. OMAN/INTERNATIONAL W E D N E S DAY FEBRUARY 11 l 2015 Hassad Food acquires equity interest in A’Saffa Foods Right to Left Nasser al Hajri. Mohamed bin Obaid al Mazrouei, Chairman, Arab Authority For Agricultural Investment & Development. MUSCAT: Hassad Food, Qatar’s premier investor in the food and agriculture sectors, has acquired a minority equity interest in A’Saffa. The transaction which was recently announced here in Muscat was concluded and signed by the Chairman of Hassad Food, Nasser al Hajri, and Mohamed bin Obaid al Mazrouei, Chairman, Arab Authority For Agricultural Investment & Development. A’Saffa Foods SAOG (formerly A’Saffa Poultry Farms, SAOG) was established in 2001 and is the largest integrated poultry project in the Sultanate of Oman with an over a 40 square kilometre farm area is situated in Thumrait, Southern Oman. The state-of-the-art project facilities produces high quality fresh and frozen poultry meat products and its 100 per cent owned subsidiary produces value added processed meat products. On the occasion Al Hajri said: “We are very excited about this acquisition which is a strong testament that Hassad Food is on the right track towards achieving its vision in becoming a leading global provider of high quality food products.” “Hassad’s mission is to invest in efficient, profitable, growth-oriented global brands, contributing to the welfare of Qatar and the region by providing high quality products while using the latest technology, in harmony with the environment and adhering to the highest standards of corporate social responsibility. I am confident that this partnership is in line with what we are trying to achieve in supporting the economic development and integration with the GCC market.” A’Saffa chickens are fed with 100 per cent natural feed, produced in a highly equipped feed mill and slaughtered according to Islamic law (Sharia). Company plans are to expand its existing poultry operations and diversify into other parts of the value chain that complements its business over the next three to five years. Saleh bin Mohammed al Shanfari, Chairman A’Saffa Foods stated: “We are very happy with the deal. A’Saffa Foods has managed to establish its presence regionally and now it has become amongst the top respected food companies in the GCC. Cheaper robots could replace more factory workers — study NEW YORK: The falling cost of industrial robots will allow manufacturers to use them to replace more factory workers over the next decade while lowering labour costs, according to new research. Robots now perform roughly 10 per cent of manufacturing tasks that can be done by machines, according to the Boston Consulting Group. The management consulting firm projected that to rise to about 25 per cent of such “automatable” tasks by 2025. In turn, labour costs stand to drop by 16 per cent on average globally over that time, according to the research. The shift will mean an increasing demand for skilled workers who can operate the machines, said Hal Sirkin, a senior partner at Boston Consulting. Factory workers “will be higher paid but there will be fewer of them,” Sirkin said. The research found a tipping point for installing robots: Companies tend to start thinking about replacing workers when the costs of owning and operating a system come at a 15 per cent discount to employing a human counterpart. For example, in the US automotive industry, which is predicted to be one of the more aggressive adopters of robots, a spotwelding machine costs $8 an hour versus $25 an hour for a worker. A robot that can perform certain repetitive tasks costs about one-tenth as much as it did more than 10 years ago, Sirkin said. Costs tied to one commonly used robotics system, a spot welder, are expected to fall 22 per cent between now and 2025. — Reuters omandailyobserver 19 MUSCAT SECURITIES MARKET 20 INTERNATIONAL omandailyobserver W E D N E S DAY FEBRUARY 11 l 2015 Asia stocks hit by Greek fears; Shanghai rallies HONG KONG: Asian markets slipped yesterday on renewed fears Greece will default on its debt obligations, but Shanghai rallied on fresh easing hopes after Chinese data showed inflation at its lowest level in more than five years. Investors took their cue from New York and Europe as the new antiausterity government in Athens refused to back down on demands to renegotiate its bailout, putting it on a collision course with its creditors. Tokyo slipped 0.33 per cent, or 59.25 points, to 17,652.68, Seoul shed 0.57 per cent, or 11.14 points, to 1,935.86 and Sydney eased 0.25 per cent, or 14.36 points, to 5,800.57. In late trade Hong Kong was 0.10 per cent lower but Shanghai jumped 0.98 per cent. Greece’s newly elected far-left leaders have pledged to stick by their demands for a renegotiation of the country’s stringent bailout demands, which they describe as “toxic”. Ahead of a European Union summit on Thursday, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis are asking for bridging loans so they can come up with an austerityfree reform deal to run from September 1. But European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker warned he did not expect any new deal to be reached at the meeting in Brussels, despite Tsipras saying he was “optimistic that we can reach a compromise”. German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday pressed Greece to present a “sustainable” finance plan, as Athens’ insistence sparked fresh fears of a euro exit. On Wall Street, the Dow fell 0.53 DEBT CONCERNS: Greece has pledged to stick by its demands for a renegotiation of bailout demands Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. — Reuters per cent, the S&P 500 dropped 0.42 per cent and the Nasdaq eased 0.39 per cent. Earlier, key markets in London, Frankfurt and Paris ended lower, while Athens ended down almost five per cent. The euro managed to hold up, buying $1.1330 and 134.32 yen, compared with $1.1325 and 134.35 yen in New York. The dollar was at 118.55 yen against 118.64 yen. Shanghai advanced on hopes for more monetary easing after data showed inflation in China had tumbled to 0.8 per cent in January, well down from 1.5 per cent in December and the lowest since November 2009. The figures, which come despite an interest rate cut in November, are the latest to highlight problems in the world’s number two economy and raise the spectre of possible deflation. Mainland traders are hoping they will spur more easing measures by US West Coast port operations resume after partial shutdown LOS ANGELES: US West Coast port operations has resumed in full after shipping companies halted loading and unloading of freighters for the weekend, citing chronic cargo backups that shippers and dockworkers have blamed on each other during months of labour tensions. But a planned resumption of federally mediated contract talks was pushed back until today without explanation, even as the White House joined retailers and manufacturers in urging the sides to redouble efforts to settle a dispute that has rippled through the US commercial supply chain. Shippers and terminal operators announced last week they would suspend cargo crane operations for container vessels at the ports on Saturday and Sunday because of mounting congestion that they said had brought the docks to virtual gridlock. Still, work continued in the terminal yards through the weekend to clear cargo containers stacking up on the waterfronts, at least at the five busiest ports — Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma, according to management spokesman Steve Getzug. Both sides said full port operations were restored on Monday as planned. The 29 ports affected handle nearly half of all US maritime trade and more than 70 per cent of Asian imports. The companies have accused the International Longshore and Warehouse Union of instigating work slowdowns since October to gain leverage for 20,000 dockworkers whose contract talks with the Pacific Maritime Association have dragged on for nine months. The union faults the carriers for worsening congestion, citing changes in shipping practices. Union officials have said a settlement is near, and characterised the shippers’ weekend move as posturing aimed at exaggerating the magnitude of the crisis. The companies have said they remained at odds with the union over several issues, including the system for binding arbitration of contract disputes. Port slowdowns have trickled through the US distribution chain, disrupting shipments of a wide range of goods affecting agriculture, manufacturing, transportation and retail. — Reuters Fine is biggest ever in China; could have been higher Qualcomm to pay $975m to resolve antitrust dispute SAN FRANCISCO/BEIJING: Qualcomm Inc has agreed to pay a fine of $975 million, the largest in China’s corporate history, ending a 14-month government investigation into anticompetitive practices. The deal — the details of which were first reported by Reuters on Monday — also requires Qualcomm to lower its royalty rates on patents used in China, likely helping local smartphone makers such as Xiaomi Technology Co Ltd and Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. Qualcomm said the agreement removes a major source of concern for its investors, sending shares of the San Diego-based chipmaker up 2.8 per cent to $69 in after-hours trading. China’s expanding high-speed 4G network is driving demand for smartphones with leadingedge technology, but Qualcomm’s opportunities have been clouded by the antitrust probe, which has also contributed to problems in collecting royalty payments from device makers. Qualcomm said in a statement A Qualcomm sign is pictured in front of one of its many buildings in San Diego, California. — Reuters on Monday it would not contest the National Development and Reform Commission’s (NDRC) finding that it violated an antitrust law. Asked whether the resolution in China could affect the outcome of ongoing antitrust probes into Qualcomm in Europe and the United States, Qualcomm President Derek Aberle said, “We fully respect their authority, but we don’t believe it’s likely that other agencies will necessarily meet similar conclusions.” The US firm cut its full-year earnings estimate, putting the cost of the fine at about 58 cents per share, but it raised the lower end of its revenue forecast slightly. “It removes a significant source of uncertainly from our business and positions our licensing group to really participate in the full growth of the wireless market in China,” CEO Steve Mollenkopf said in a phone interview. ‘‘It’s something we’re happy is over.” Discussions in Beijing over one of the most contentious cases under China’s 2008 anti-monopoly law had intensified in recent weeks, culminating in meetings between Qualcomm senior executives and the NDRC on Friday. Xu Kunlin, head of the NDRC’s antimonopoly bureau, said the $975 million fine — equal to 8 per cent of Qualcomm’s 2013 sales in China — was less than the 10 per cent of sales maximum allowed under Chinese law because Qualcomm fully cooperated with investigators. “Issuing the fine was not our primary purpose,” Xu told reporters on Tuesday, according to a Sina.com live-blog of his remarks. — Reuters Beijing. “The rising deflation risks require further monetary policy easing,” Liu Li-Gang and Zhou Hao at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group wrote in a note before the data, according to Bloomberg News. “We believe this is just a beginning of an effective policy easing cycle.” Oil prices retreated after enjoying another day of strong gains on Monday that came after the Opec cartel forecast BIZ BRIEF Wang Jianlin (L) with Philippe Blatter after a signing ceremony in Beijing yesterday. — AFP Wanda buys sports group Infront for 1.05 bn euros BEIJING: China’s Wanda Group has agreed to buy Infront — the Swiss sports marketing group headed by Sepp Blatter’s nephew and which holds some broadcasting rights to the World Cup — for 1.05 billion euros ($1.2 billion), the two firms said yesterday. The Chinese property and entertainment conglomerate is looking to increase its influence in the global sports business, as Beijing bids for the 2022 Winter Olympics while rumours swirl that it could seek to host the 2026 football World Cup. Wanda Chairman Wang Jianlin said in a joint statement that Infront “is best positioned to actively support China in its bidding efforts for major sports events”. At a news conference following the announcement, he also cited Chinese President Xi Jinping’s threestep plan for developing football in China: “To qualify for a World Cup, to host a World Cup and to win a World Cup.” Wang said he planned to take Infront public, but did not say when or where he would list the company. The deal puts Wang — who recently bought 20 per cent of Spanish football champions Atletico Madrid — and his company firmly in the front row of the global sports business. Infront Sports and Media, based in Zug, Switzerland, and directed by Philippe Blatter, handles the media and marketing rights for many international sports events. It is expected to rake in several hundred million dollars on the next two football World Cups alone. The company, which counts some 600 employees across 12 countries, is also heavily present in all aspects of sports marketing, with sponsoring activities including advertising around sports halls and stadiums. Philippe Blatter said in the statement: “We are looking forward to jointly tackle a variety of major expansion projects with the aim to strengthen our leading position in the global sports market.” — AFP Anite: Q3 trading ahead of expectations LONDON: Anite Plc, which tests handsets and telecom networks, said trading in the third quarter ended on January 31 was ahead of its expectations as positive trends from the first half continued. Shares in the company rose as much as 6.1 per cent. The company said trading in the traditionally “quiet quarter” was helped in part by the integration of Xceed, the US-based wireless network data analytics software company it acquired in October last year. The update indicates continuing healthy order intake momentum, with strong growth in Asia-Pacific, particularly China, Jefferies analysts said in a note. “The company is progressively returning to consistent growth now that the disruption created by large-scale telecoms industry consolidation is out of the way,” non-Opec supply growth in 2015 would be lower than its previous estimate, and would be led by a cut in US output. On Tuesday, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for March delivery fell 75 cents to $52.11, while Brent crude for March eased 77 cents to $57.57. Jefferies analysts said and kept their “buy” rating on the stock. “We have entered the seasonally important final trading quarter with a larger pipeline of sales opportunities than at the same time last year and improved confidence in the outlook for the year as a whole,” Chief Executive Christopher Humphrey said in a statement. Anite had said in July that it expected the financial year ending April 30 to be a recovery period, expecting profitability to rebound. Jefferies analysts expect Anite’s handset-testing unit to grow 8.6 per cent in the current financial year, with a network testing organic growth forecast of 5.6 per cent. Analysts were expecting fullyear pre-tax profit of £21.78 million for the year, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine smart estimates. — Reuters However, the IEA said prices would only partially recover after their recent sharp falls of more than 50 per cent since June. Citing a major shake-up in the oil markets, it said in its five-year forecast that crude prices will climb to around $73 per barrel by 2020. — AFP Nissan raises profit forecast to $3.5 bn TOKYO: Nissan said it had raised its full-year net profit forecast to $3.5 billion, thanks to cost cutting efforts and a cheaper yen, while booming US and European sales offset a plunge in Japan caused by last April’s sales tax hike. The Japanese automaker said on Monday it expected to make a profit of 420 billion yen ($3.5 billion) in the year to March 31, up from an earlier forecast of 405 billion yen. Nissan’s announcement came as it said net profit for the nine months to December rose 23.6 per cent year on year to 338.8 billion yen. Operating profit for the term jumped 39.0 per cent to 417.9 billion yen on sales of 8.09 trillion yen, up 11.1 per cent from the previous year. For the year to March, the company is expecting to earn an operating profit of 570 billion yen on sales of 11.15 trillion yen, also marking increases from earlier projections for 535 billion yen and 10.80 trillion yen respectively. Solid US sales, cost-cutting programmes and favourable currency movements contributed to the robust earnings, said Nissan President and Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn. “Nissan delivered solid financial results in the first nine months of the fiscal year, reflecting rising US sales of our latest models and a normalising yen-dollar exchange rate,” he said in a statement. “We anticipate good full-year results as our product offensive and positive momentum in North America and Western Europe offsets volatility in other markets. — AFP A Chinese visitor asks for the price of a canned infant formula at a store, in Hong Kong. Visitors departing the territory are only allowed to take two cans of such milk powders, to stop cross-border traders. — Reuters Gold miner Randgold hikes dividend LONDON: Africa-focused miner Randgold Resources Ltd said it would raise its final dividend to 60 cents per share from 50 cents as a fall in cash costs and a rise in its cash pile acted as a buffer against lower gold prices. The gold miner has proven more resilient than most of its peers to a falling gold price, having calculated its reserves using a $1,000 benchmark even as the yellow metal tumbled to a more than four-year low in November. Gold prices slipped about 1 per cent in 2014 to as low as $1,137.40 an ounce, compounding a 28 per cent fall in 2013, forcing many miners to scrap dividends, halt projects and shut mines in an attempt to survive. But, Randgold said on Monday gold production rose 26 per cent in 2014, while total cash costs fell 2 per cent. The company ended the year with no borrowings, while cash and cash equivalents more than doubled to $82.8 million. “The now rising cash pile has resulted in a nice rise in dividends, which we would expect to remain strong going forward if Randgold finds no other use for it”, Oriel Securities analyst Nick Chalmers said in a note. The prolonged period of low gold prices might be an opportunity for Randgold to buy assets, Chief Executive Mark Bristow has said, a stance he reiterated on Monday saying, “we are closely monitoring this situation”. However, the tumble in gold prices pulled the company’s profit for the year down nearly 17 per cent to $271.2 million. Randgold said it expects to produce between 1.20 and 1.26 million gold ounces in 2015, up from 1.15 million in 2014, as production at its Kibali mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo continues to ramp up. — Reuters OMAN/INTERNATIONAL W E D N E S DAY FEBRUARY 11 l 2015 omandailyobserver 21 More chances, more winners & more prizes with Bank Sohar 2015 Al Mumayaz savings scheme MUSCAT: At a press conference held yesterday at the Grand Hyatt Hotel-Muscat, Bank Sohar unveiled the latest edition of the Al Mumayaz Savings Scheme for the year 2015. Following the resounding success of last year’s campaign, and based on the overwhelming response from customers, the bank has comprehensively revamped the Al Mumayaz Savings Scheme for the year 2015 to offer more chances, more winners and more prizes with hourly, weekly, monthly, half yearly, year-end and special Branch Draws. The conference commenced with a welcome speech and a reveal of the 2015 Al Mumayaz Savings Scheme. The gathered journalists and media professionals were then addressed by the Acting CEO of Bank Sohar, Rashad Ali al Musafir. Joining him were other members of the bank’s senior management including R Narasimhan, DGM and Head of Retail Banking, Munira Abdulnabi Macki, DGM of Human Resource and Corporate Support; Salim Khamis al Maskeri, Senior AGM of Branches; Mazin Mahmood al Raisi, AGM and Head of Marketing and Publicity; and Khamis Masoud al Rahbi, AGM of Branches. Other Senior Managers together with Branch Managers and members of the bank’s liabilities team also attended the launch ceremony. Addressing the Press Conference, Rashad Ali al Musafir, highlighted the efforts put in by the bank to develop the new scheme with innovative features which directly benefit savers and encourage people to develop a habit of saving to achieve future goals. He noted, “At Bank Sohar we consider the satisfaction of our valued customers as our highest priority. We always keep their best interests in mind as we continue to explore opportunities which enhance their financial health over the long -term. We strive to provide them with the best possible banking services and tailor our banking solutions to fit each client’s personal needs. It is also their collective feedback that forms the basis of every product we develop and bring to market, and is also the key driver behind the evolution of Al Mumayaz Savings Scheme each year.” “In fact, our 2014 Al Mumayaz Savings Scheme was one of our greatest success stories of last year; significantly growing in popularity and earning itself a reputation as ‘the’ scheme of choice with the greatest chance to win within the market. For 2015 we are building on that success by not only increasing the number of prizes but also adding entirely new Branch-specific prizes as part of weekly and year-end draws,” he added. Following the introductory address by Acting CEO, was a speech by R Narasimhan, who touched upon the many achievements of Bank Sohar’s retail business and especially the Saving Scheme over the past year. He recalled that in the year 2014, in order to spread the message of Savings across the Sultanate, the weekly, monthly, halfyearly and annual draws were scheduled at different branches by inviting key clients; thereby enhancing the visibility of the campaign. The bank also took the opportunity to take direct customer feedback at such gatherings, not only on the prize draw scheme, but also on the other range of products and services offered. Shortly after, a documentary video was played showcasing the journey of the 2014 Al Mumayaz Saving Scheme together with its highlights and various weekly and monthly draws, as well as the Year-end Grand Draw event which took place last month. A comprehensive overview of the features of the new scheme was then provided by the Head of Liabilities, Redha al Lawatia, who sȩ(OURLYȩ$RAWSȩMOREȩTHANȩȩ WINNERSȩOFȩ2/ȩ sȩ7EEKLYȩ$RAWSȩMOREȩTHANȩȩ WINNERSȩOFȩ2/ȩȩȩ.EWȩ WEEKLYȩ$RAWȩFORȩBRANCHESȩ2/ȩ sȩ-ONTHLYȩ$RAWSȩMOREȩTHANȩ ȩWINNERSȩOFȩ2/ȩȩȩFORȩ MINORȩ2/ȩȩ sȩ(ALFȩnYEARLYȩ$RAWSȩȩWINNERSȩ OFȩMOREȩTHANȩ2/ȩ sȩ9EARENDȩ$RAWSȩMOREȩTHANȩȩ WINNERSȩOFȩOVERȩ(ALFȩAȩMILLIONȩ RIALS highlighted the main improvements in the new scheme compared to 2014 saving scheme and other value added advantages. This was followed by a Q&A session. Al Mumayaz Savings Scheme 2015 will continue with its hourly prize draws of RO 1,000 each from Sunday to Wednesday; totalling more than 900 winners. As with 2014, the bank will once again undertake a branch-wide tour conducting the weekly draw at each of its branches throughout the year. In addition, the bank will also conduct a special branch draw worth RO 1,000 specifically for customers of the branch in which the weekly draw event is held. In total the weekly draws will see more than 70 winners before the end of the year. The monthly draw will witness over 80 winners throughout the year; where each month five winners will each receive RO 10,000, while five minor account holders will win RO 1,000 each. Furthermore, the bank is also proud to announce its half yearly prize draw worth over RO 150,000 where two winners will receive RO 50,000 each, one minor account will receive RO 5,000, and one exclusive draw winner will receive RO 50,000. Meanwhile, the Yearend Prize Draw boasts a prize pool of over half a million rials for more than 30 winners, with one lucky saver winning RO 450,000, one exclusive winner receiving RO 50,000 and one lucky minor receiving RO 5,000. In addition, as part of the Year-end Prize Draw, the bank will also be conducting a special branch-wide draw for the first time where one lucky winner from each of the bank’s branches will win RO 5,000. With more chances, more winners and more prizes, the Al Mumayaz Savings Scheme is another great way to increase savings as it provides customers with a fair chance to win exciting cash prizes. The Hourly and Weekly Draws require customers to maintain a minimum average balance of only RO 100 for the previous 30 days and minimum balance of RO 100 on the day preceding the draw. All minor draws and the newly introduced branch draws, including those in the monthly, half-yearly and year-end draws, require the customer to maintain a minimum monthly average balance of only RO 100. ENERGY Australian windfarms face $13 bn wipeout from political impasse Petrobras’ CEO seen as loyal govt footsoldier A A ustralia faces a A$17 billion ($13.3 billion) exodus of investment from its windfarm industry because of a political deadlock, threatening to deal the country a major economic blow and kill hopes of meeting a self-imposed clean energy target. Some 44 Australian windfarm projects, about half overseas-funded, have been shelved since a new conservative government said it wanted to cut state support for the industry a year ago, with investors and operators saying they are considering either downscaling or leaving the country altogether if it succeeds. Even Australian windfarm companies such as Infigen and Pacific Hydro have effectively shelved their Australian operations, with Infigen saying it plans to pour all its financial muscle into the more amenable US market. “It’s a difficult time at the moment, and the policy uncertainty is the main cause of it,” said Shaq Mohajerani, an Australian spokesman for wind farm company Union Fenosa, owned by Spanish energy giant Gas Natural. “We’re still considering all options on how to proceed. The parent company will provide us with the strategy.” A Gas Natural spokesperson said the firm had an “attractive backlog” in Australia but “we are waiting for the whole development of the new framework for renewable energy and hope our presence... in the country can be maintained”. Wind power in Australia is not the only renewable energy sector to be affected by uncertainty over government subsidies or actual cuts. In Europe, Germany has scaled back support for solar power over the past few years, leading to a flood of insolvency filings by solar firms and a shrunken market. Italy’s plans to cut subsidies for solar NEWSMAKER Low rain clouds pass over wind turbines operating near Tarago, north of Australia’s capital, Canberra, in this file photo. — Reuters power firms have prompted an investor exodus. Retroactive solar subsidy cuts have also happened in Spain, Greece, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic over the past couple of years, putting off new investors as governments try to rein in energy costs and cut debt. Windfarms are Australia’s No 2 renewable energy source, behind hydropower but ahead of solar, providing a quarter of the country’s clean energy and 4 per cent of its total energy demand. But while households can collect rebates for installing their own rooftop solar panels, windfarms rely on “certificates”, or tradeable securities handed out by the government, to offset costs. That support hit a roadblock a year ago when new conservative prime minister Tony Abbott ordered a review of the country’s target for clean energy use by 2020, which ultimately recommended slashing it by a third, in line with falling overall energy demand. A lower target would mean a lower certificate price. The Australian arm of Spanish infrastructure group Acciona , the world’s largest renewable energy firm, has frozen about A$750 million of windfarm projects because of the stalemate. The centre-left Labor opposition, whose support the government needs to lower the target, refused to budge on the higher target it set when in power in 2009, resulting in an impasse that has effectively seen the industry grind to a halt. A spokeswoman for US-owned GE Australia & New Zealand, which has stakes in several renewable energy projects, said further investment “will only occur once investor confidence in the policy environment is restored. For this to happen, bipartisan support regarding the future of the renewable energy target is essential.” The Australian arm of Spanish infrastructure group Acciona, the world’s largest renewable energy firm, has frozen about A$750 million of windfarm projects because of the stalemate, said local Managing Director Andrew Thomson. “When you’re a subsidiary (of a global business), you’re competing for capital, you’re competing for your budget allocation next year,” he said. “If the parent company can’t see that there’s a stable environment it becomes really difficult to get traction. For us at the moment it’s a really difficult sell.” If the renewable energy target is cut, “it’s the type of jolt to industry that basically would create such an upheaval that you would have a mass exodus”, said Alex Hewitt, managing director of Bulgarian-Polish-US-backed windfarm operator CWP Renewables, which has A$1.5 billion of projects on ice. “I can’t say whether we’d completely exit the country, but you would be looking at such a level of reduction in the level of investment into people in the company that it would be very significant,” Hewitt said. — Reuters ldemir Bendine (pictured), the new chief of Brazil’s embattled oil company Petrobras, spent recent years dutifully pushing the leftist government’s economic agenda while also pleasing private shareholders — a tricky balance that will be key to his survival in a much tougher job. While many investors had hoped for a more independent figure, President Dilma Rousseff opted instead on Friday to choose a loyal footsoldier who has worked at the country’s largest bank by assets, Banco do Brasil from the age of 15, eventually becoming its CEO. Like Petrobras, Banco do Brasil is a hybrid — run by the government, but also accountable to private-sector shareholders. Under Bendine’s leadership, the bank appealed to both groups, expanding loans to support the economy in the wake of the global financial crisis, while its shares soared about 90 per cent. Asked why Rousseff picked Bendine, an official close to her told Reuters: “Maybe because he (made) big profits while he was CEO?”. The official noted the bank likely made about 12 billion reais ($4.4 billion) last year, up from 10.4 billion in 2013. However, Petrobras will be an entirely different challenge for the 51-year-old of Italian descent, who worked his way up after starting as an intern, in part due to strong connections to Rousseff and her predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Petrobras is ensnared in a huge graft and bribery scheme, with former executives accused of conspiring with construction and engineering firms to overcharge for projects and then kick money back to political parties, including Rousseff ’s own Workers Party. Critics worry that Bendine’s background and loyalty to Rousseff will make him less likely to push back against the heavy-handed government intervention many blame for the company’s woes in recent years. “His mission at Banco do Brasil was to carry out the wishes of the government,” said John Forman, a consultant and former executive at oil regulator ANP. “He probably won’t have the necessary independence to be a counterweight to government ideas of what should be done (at Petrobras),” said Forman, who does not know Bendine personally. Bendine did not respond to requests for an interview on Friday. Others say, however, that Bendine should not be seen as a mere government yes-man. He took the top job at Banco do Brasil in 2009 after then CEO Antonio Lima was pushed aside after reportedly refusing to follow government instructions to lower borrowing costs to help pull Brazil out of recession. Yet, under Bendine’s leadership, the bank was often more rigorous than some other state-run institutions. — Reuters 22 LEISURE omandailyobserver W E D N E S DAY FEBRUARY 11 l 2015 Online Editor’s Choice CRYPTIC PUZZLE CARTOONS CR O SSW O R D ACROSS ADAM @ HOME 9 Admitted, he’s not well (2-7) 10 Having reached your destination, have to be picked up? (4,4) 12 Blinking, set to work with the needle (4) 13 Strive for variety (6) 14 Return and change it to a later date (3,4) 15 Don’t worry about the tough guys recuperating (2,3,4) 17 The lucky period doesn’t last long — one doesn’t have enough (4,5) 18 Gets fed up and now interrupts the long speeches (7) 20 Roughly only, as one provides for (4,2) 21 For the hunger, give it a little cheese (4) 24 Came back and were caught in a sand-storm (8) 26 Gave, when one had the money to give (8) 28 Someone binding and creating a row (4) 29 An attempt, during a depression, to get food (6) 31 An about turn in the jobs advertisements (7) 34 Yes; given a mere twinkling, the spy pocketed it (9) 36 Doesn’t stop to get the papers one’s ordered (7,2) 38 The brave man having a G and T outside (7) 39 He is, having taken the tram back, at home (6) 40 Take it for the animal (4) 41 A really good figure: a heavenly body (4-4) 42 Explain the clue I compiled to the girlfriend (9) DOWN 1 Learns — to phone before calling on you? (5,3) 2 What’s in the bottle? That’s immaterial (6) 3 Lacking support, is jittery (8) 4 Leave just a wisp (6) 5 Hurt a boy in the aquarium (8) 6 Removing roughly when fleecing (7,3) 7 Try to disprove — and do try (7) by Brian Basset CALVIN AND HOBBES by Bill Watterson GARFIELD by Jim Davis STONE SOUP 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 11 16 19 20 22 23 25 26 27 30 31 32 33 35 36 37 YESTERDAY’S CRYPTIC SOLUTIONS 8 United in song, perhaps (6) 11 Roughly drawn small boat: a very little yacht (7) 16 Gives a party that gets into the news, unfortunately (6) 19 Big area of open land to wander about in (5) 20 The boy is a little smaller than the woman (3) 22 Among those present at that point (5) 23 Levers gently and it comes up (6) 25 Not those American houses you fantasise about buying? (4,6) 26 Painting a man (3) 27 “19” is, by the way, odd (7) 30 Get the better of, forcing us to take to market (8) 31 It’s in need of insurance, my love (8) 32 Heat has a parching effect on various things (8) 33 Restores and finds another duplicate for (7) 35 Hurry up — it’s not a spray (4-2) 36 Hotel worker having a drink (6) 37 Look at, saying “Children will like this” (6) 9 10 12 13 14 15 17 18 20 21 24 26 28 29 31 34 36 38 39 40 41 42 ACROSS: 4, Pa-tch-y 7, All the go 8, Small-S 10, S-t-eam 13, Tea-M 14, Earn 15, B-urn 16, Bet 17, Deer 19, Thud 21, Seven-ties 23, P-is-a 24, Oast 26, Can 27, D-rum 29, Trim 32, H-eat 33, Kyoto 34, Breast 35, Ever-more 36, Stages. EASY PUZZLE ACROSS Butt in (9) Linoleum (8) Small branch (4) Deed (6) Ask to marry (7) Large dog (5,4) Accord (9) Prickly plant (7) Kidnapper’s payment (6) Caution (4) Aromatic herb (8) Pullovers (8) Second-hand (4) Type of lottery (6) Light shoes (7) Turf accountant (9) Golf building (9) Planet (7) Freewheels (6) Fastener (4) Restaurant worker (8) Large hairy spider (9) DOWN: 1, Ca-u-se 2, Alter 3, Chum 4, Poser 5, Tram 6, Hal-Ted 9, Mantis 11, Tap 12, An-Des 13, Turn-out 15, Be-e 16, Bus 18, Eva-Des 20, Hetty 21, Sin 22, Tam 23, Par-rot 25, Bit 28, Rates 30, R-obot 31, Mode-L 32, Hang 33, Kirk. YESTERDAY’S EASY SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 4, Aspect 7, Heptagon 8, Gloves 10, Tribe 13, Peer 14, Saga 15, Earn 16, Pro 17, Sari 19, Tray 21, Financial 23, List 24, Talc 26, Rat 27, Leer 29, Edit 32, Dear 33, Aside 34, Resort 35, Ecstatic 36, Stamen. DOWN: 1, Shots 2, Sprig 3, Game 4, Anger 5, Poor 6, Cherry 9, Lentil 11, Ray 12, Basis 13, Painter 15, Era 16, Pal 18, Antler 20, Races 21, Fit 22, Car 23, Latent 25, Lid 28, Eaten 30, Ditto 31, Teach 32, Doom 33, Alto. Hospitals by Jan Eliot Hospital. . . . . Board . . . . . . . Emergency Royal . . . . . . . 24599000 . . . 24590491 Health Services Department YO UR STARS Muttrah . . . . . . . 24797602 Quriyat . . . . . . . 24845001 . . . . 24845003 SQH, Salalah. . . 23211555 . . . . 23211151 Police. . . . . . . . . 24603988 . . . . 24603980 Al Nahda . . . . . . 24831255 . . . . 24837800 Ibn Sina. . . . . . . 24876322 . . . . 24877361 Nizwa. . . . . . . . . 25439361 . . . . 25425033 Al Rustaq. . . . . . 26875055 . . . . 26877186 Sumayil. . . . . . . 25350055 . . . . 25350022 Izki . . . . . . . . . . . 25340033 . . . . 25340033 IF IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY: This year could prove to be a very profitable one if you choose your partner with care and make sure that you hold the reins. It would only take one self-centred member of the team to upset the balance and put a damper on what should be a moneyspinner. DOWN Wait patiently (3,5) Try extremely hard (6) Buy (8) Clothes, garments (6) K2, say (8) Useful for many things (3-7) Loaf type (7) Touch lightly (6) Fate (7) Teachers (6) Mental picture (5) Manage (3) Major artery (5) Stink (6) Goalie (10) Diocese (3) Spouse (7) A prediction (8) Strolls (8) Motorcycle sport (8) Quantities (7) Child without living parents (6) Shrewd, cunning (6) False or incorrect (6) Haima . . . . . . . . 23436013 . . . . 23436055 Sohar . . . . . . . . . 26840022 . . . . 26840099 Al Buraimi. . . . . 25650855 . . . . 25652319 Sur . . . . . . . . . . . 25440244 . . . . 25461373 Tanam . . . . . . . . 25499011 . . . . 25499033 Masirah . . . . . . . 25404018 . . . . 25404018 Ibra. . . . . . . . . . . 25470533 . . . . 25470535 Adam. . . . . . . . . 25434167 . . . . 25434055 Bidiya . . . . . . . . 25483535 . . . . 25483535 Ibri . . . . . . . . . . . 25491011 . . . . 25491990 Saham . . . . . . . . 26854427 . . . . 26855148 Khasab . . . . . . . 26830187 . . . . 26830187 Dibba. . . . . . . . . 26836443 . . . . 26836443 Burkha. . . . . . . . 26828397 . . . . 26828397 Sinaw. . . . . . . . . 25474338 AQUARIUS PISCES ARIES TAURUS GEMINI CANCER January 21February 19 February 20March 20 March 21April 20 April 21May 20 May 21June 21 June 22July 21 If you invite a business associate to your home you will have a far better chance of developing a pleasant working relationship. A chance remark made by a very experienced colleague will point to an efficient method of handling some of your work. A sudden responsibility, which will keep you at home for a while, may prevent you from accepting an invitation which you were anticipating with enjoyment. A person on whose co-operation you confidently counted may have second thoughts for no obvious reason and refuse to get involved. You need to rid yourself quickly of the influence of a domineering person before he succeeds in robbing you of all your initiative. Tangible proof today that you are moving in the right direction in your business will give you the incentive to double your efforts in the coming year. LEO VIRGO LIBRA SCORPIO SAGITTARIUS CAPRICORN July 22August 21 August 22September 22 September 23October 22 October 23November 21 November 22December 21 December 22January 20 This is not a good day to make any important decisions it would be far wiser to sleep on it and see if you feel the same way tomorrow. A financial matter concerning some essential economies may cause some friction in the family and you will have to try to settle it in a friendly way. A business offer, which you once regarded as being beyond your capacity, may be worth considering now in the light of recently changed conditions. You ought to show a certain amount of pride in your accomplishments and talk about them to make others aware of them. A highly confidential business matter ought to be kept strictly to yourself even your best friend should not be taken into your confidence. A person of the opposite sex may be waiting for you to make the first move before expressing a particular interest in you. CLASSIFIEDS W E D N E S DAY FEBRUARY 11 l 2 0 1 5 omandailyobserver Tours SALE OF VEHICLE/EQUIPMENT DOLPHIN WATCHING TOUR. Every Day 8 am and 10 am. For booking 94110088/ 91162534. E-mail: coraloceantours@ gmail.com Web: www. coraloceantours. com. Leading construction company in Oman intends to dispose off their used vehicles and equipment in ‘is where is’ Ǥϐ are presently located at their Muscat Misfah Camp of the company and will be offered for inspection to the public on 8, 9 and 10 February 2015 between 08:00 am to 12:00 pm and 02:00 to 05:00 pm. Situation Vacant PRIVATE bilingual school at Muscat needs a Specialist and experienced Teachers (Chemistry, Physics, Maths, English). Email: cps20102011@ hotmail.com 93005900 SYRIAN Mashavi Cook and Moroccan Lady Cook for Qurum Beach Hotel.24704994 or 99238012. WANTED a transporter for a female student who lives in Al Mawaleh from and to Shatti al Qurum School 99371313. ····· ····· ····· REQUIRED experienced Indian Driver for Sewage Tanker. Contact: 95339249. ····· WANTED experienced accountant with administration experience in Aluminium, Glass sales. Call to 99705023. E-mail: remmaj2014@ gmail.com. ····· SENIOR Mechanical Power Engineer, Egyptian, 7 years experience in (oil & ȌϐȀ shore in Agiba Petroleum Co. 94249022. E-mail: mohab_206@yahoo. com ····· INDIAN male, Video Editor, excellent knowledge of computers including MS Office and computer software namely Final Cut Pro, Adobe After Effects, Photoshop & Combustion seeks suitable job. Contact 94569289 ····· PAKISTANI male, 26, MBA with 1 year experience in accounts/ Admin, 3 months experience in FFC, working knowledge with Peachtree, quickbooks, fluent in English, good computer skills, on family visit till 2nd March, seeks suitable position. Contact 91795092, e-mail: jameel6345@ gmail.com ····· INDIAN IT prof, MCA 5+ yrs exp in Hardware, Networking, PHP, CSS, HTML, Java Script, Sql. NOC available, seeks suitable job. 97496998. E-mail: e.mustafa@live.com ····· 24 YEARS Oman experienced can handle accounts upto finalisation, banking, preparation of job costing receivable/ payable, age-wise analysis and timely follow-ups, preparation of BRS and other required MIS, having Omani driving licence, can join immediately. Contact: 94070799 ····· CIVIL engineer experience in Oman with Omani driving licence 91102892 ····· INDIAN male QA/QC Engineer-Civil (BE, ACQE) in Oman on visit visa, overall 10 years of experience in ǡϐ building and residential construction project in Qatar and UAE, holding valid GCC driving licence 00968 93958533, e-mail: sheikhnavid@ yahoo.com ····· TELECOMMUNICATION Technician having 3 years exp in software programming (PABX, CCTV...) and marketing looking for a job in technical area or HR, Admin, sales, marketing. Contact: 91706132. E-mail: mbousaad@gmail.com ····· INDIAN male with 10-year Oman experience in sales with Omani driving licence looking for sales/driving job 95067844. E-mail: sawood668@ gmail.com ····· INDIAN male, 22 years, BE Mechanical Engineer, seeks suitable placement. Contact: 95020044. e-mail: sameemsm2009 @gmail.com ····· INDIAN male, 24 years, MBA, having 2 years of ϐ ϐǡ knowledge of Tally ERP, Focus, Wings, Peachtree, MS-Excel, currently on visit visa, seeks suitable placement. Available immediately. Contact 91058205, E-mail: aslammohammed10@ gmail.com ····· CIVIL Engineer, 14 years experience, 5 years in Oman, valid driving licence, NOC release available Contact: 91101892. ····· Situation Wanted CHARTERED Accountant, 9 years ϐ ǡ consolidation as per IFRS, Treasury, Budget, Investments, taxation, AP/AR currently ϐ position in Oman. Joining immediate NOC available. 95489269. E-mail: prds1406@gmail.com. ····· Situation Wanted LOOKING to recruit ϐInterior Designer (preferably female). Please forward your CV to: idesigner. Oman@gmail.com. ····· ····· INDIAN male, BTech-E&I, 10 years experience in Sales, Procurement and Business Development. 6 years Oman experience in Oil & Gas Sector, having Omani driving licence, NOC available, seeks suitable placement. Contact: 97233074. ····· M COM, 4 years experience in marketing & sales, 2 years experience in Oman having Omani driving ǡϐ Arabic, seeks sales job. Contact: 95116991. E-mail: faizhaneefa1@ gmail.com ····· INDIAN male, 29 years old, engineering diploma holder, 4 year’s experience in Oman, 2 years in PDO Road Division, looking for placement. NOC available. 99352822. ····· URGENTLY REQUIRED Expatriate Heavy duty drivers and Forklift operators with PDO licenses. Services ····· ····· Interested parties may contact: Tel.: (+968) 91372796 CONTACT: 99465358/99348352 INDIAN male, with 10 years Oman experience in sales with Omani driving licence, looking for suitable job. Contact: 95067844. E-mail: sawood668@gmail.com SMART professional, excellent English, communication, highly ϐǡͳͳ Oman exp in Admin management, operations, credit & collection, procurement, business development, customer relations, commercial, Ǥǡϐǡ analytical thinking. Quick joining, NOC. 91229392. Wanted If you would like to know more about Islam, please call: Tel : 99425598, 96050000, 99353988, 99253818, 99341395, 99379133, For ladies: 99415818, 99321360, 99730723 Or visit: www.islamfact.com 1. HOOPOE SMART CARD SERVICES 2. AL FAHAD TRANSLATION SERVICES STOP!!! Good News to all our dear customers: Our PRO will visit your ϐ Ȁ documents for typing or clearing and will deliver the same on completion. Our services include typing all forms related to Ministry of Manpower, Immigration, e.g., visas, renewal of visas, all services related to Ministry of Commerce & Industry, e.g., reservation of commercial names, amendment of activities of the company and all services related to Royal Oman Police; Cancellation of Visas at the Muscat International Airport for repatriation of employees; Directorate ϐ Ǣ Oman Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Translation of legal documents. Medical reports, commercial agency agreements, literature, catalogues (Languages: Arabic, English, French, Spanish & Italian) Our Address: Ruwi, Adjacent to Gulf Transport Co. (GTC). Telephones: 24793331 /24794286 GSM: 99231500 /96777170/ 95959838 Managed by: Salim Khalfan al Hadi (33 years of experience in management) INDIAN male BE mechanical engineer with 3-month ϐ QA/QC, pipeline and NDT. In Oman on visit visa, seeks suitable placement. Contact 95803035, E-mail: jittenvjacob@gmail. com ····· FREE INFORMATION ABOUT ISLAM Situation Wanted INDIAN male, 27 years, B Tech Mechanical, having 1 year pipeline experience, seeking job in any mechanical ϐǤ mentioned points need attention: 1 NOC is available, 2. Available in Oman till 31st January. Contact 95982207. E-mail: rahman.taus@ gmail.com ····· BSC Civil Engineer (degree 4 years hons) with GCC driving licence, about one year Gulf experience seeks suitable job. 93929310. ····· CHEF with 7 years experience in tandoor, Chinese & Indian food, available 95924771 ····· SUDANESE male, BSc in Chemical Engineering honours degree from U of K, fresh graduate, looking for suitable job ϐǡ in project evaluation. Contact: 92647250. ····· INDIAN male, 2 years experience in Oil accounting, oil supply chain management and ϐ ǡ looking for a suitable position. Contact: 96534120. E-mail: miruknuddin@gmail.com ····· INDIAN male, BE wireless networks, CCNA & MCSE trained, 3 years experience as IT support assistant at a leading higher education institution in Oman seeking a position as network/ systems engineer. 96008737. E-mail: m.anas365@ outlook.com ····· INDIAN male, 25 years, ϐ ǡͻ months experience in ϐ knowledge in Tally ERP and MS-Excel, looking for suitable job, available immediately. 97483234. E-mail: anjalruk@gmail.com ····· 23 yPROPERTIES for sale and rent yBuildings cleaning yDocuments processing, clearance. Contact Ali: 99830331, Nasser: 99325183. ····· 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. ····· SERVICE of photocopier (all brands), sales of copier & printers (new & refurbished) & rental of photocopier. 93256831, 91712204, 91712203. ····· Investment HERE is the company named ‘Oman National Factory for the Manufacture of Rubber’. This company is all set with the papers and all that stuff what we need to launch. I just need a good partner to open this company together. E-mail: samiya2@ gmail.com Contact: 92491105, 99382802, 92354169 — Abdullah al Saadi ·· · · · · LOOKING for an investor for a fullequipped existing medical complex as soon as possible in Wilayat of Haima, Governorate of Al Wusta. 92212557, 99242249. ····· Tourism For Sale/Rent ARE you looking for a voyage with your family on a legacyboat, including buffet? Only with RO 15/-. For more info@ alainaintourism. com 92808636. ȍ͵ VILLAS for sale/ rents WADI KABIR/AL KHUWAIR), ȋȀϐ rent/ Al Khuwair) (Flats for rent/ Wadi Kabir). 96596348. ····· ····· Umrah/Haj AL Hikmani for HAJ and UMRAH — With a host of services including the following: Hiring luxurious coaches, arranging weekly trips, preparing visas for expats at cost-effective price, including transport, housing, meals and visits to shrine locations. Land and air trips weekly. (99311310, 24566016, 99361982, 99707248, 99322124. ····· Vehicle sale TOYOTA Innova, model 2012. Contact: 92282533. ····· CLASSIFIED SECTION RUWI : 24785668 Behind Royal Oman Police Adjacent to Dhofar Building, Ruwi Announcement AL Jawharah Al Masyiah National (Partnership) registered at the Commercial Register of the Commerce and Industry Ministry No 1173209 takes to your attention that it’s transforming its legal form from Partnership company to Limited Partnership company as per the article (13) bis of the Commercial Companies Law No 4/74 and its amendments. Those who are objecting the transformation shall file reasons of objection at the Secretariat of the Commercial Register of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry within 2 months of publishing this advertisement. ····· AHMED bin Abdullah bin Salim al-Mamari and his son Trading (recommendation), register No. 1087786 announces that it is intending to change its name to Kanoz Hafeet Trade (recommendation). ϐ be informed of the changes. ····· Ȉ Ȉ Ȉ Ȉ Ȉ Ȉ ȋǦ Ǧ Ȉ Ȉ Ȉ ȋǦ Ǧ Ȍ Ȉ Ȉ Ȉ Ǧ For information, please call: 99841230-95919344 92721879 - 99639264 Tel: 24649597, Fax: 24649590 BankMuscat account: 0397003776610011 Bank Dhofar account: 01040141195001 E-mail: a.almashari@omandaily.om WEDNESDAY l FEBRUARY 11, 2015 l RABEE AL THANI 21, 1436 AH editor@omanobserver.om www.omanobserver.om RENT A CAR z Low Rates z Wide Range of Cars z Excellent Service Contact: Muscat 24489248, 24489648. Salalah: 23296246. E-mail: INFO@ahoman.com SPECIAL Rates on New Cars & 4 WDs RENTING & LEASING Tours and Airport Transfer Tel: 24582663 GSM: 95859497, Fax: 24582664, abcrent@omantel.net.om Supply of Pesticides, Gel (Cockroaches), Public Health chemicals, Agriculture chemicals, Snake repellent, Rodent baits and other insect repellent from Agropharm Ltd UK. PROFESSIONALS in Pest Control Service, Bedbug Treatment, Rodent Treatment, Snake Treatment and Termite Treatment (Pre and Post Construction). Tel: 24787606 / 24787503 Fax: 24787607 INDUSTRIAL area land in Rusayil, 5,000 Sq.mt and building with 8 shops. Contact 95490842, 92702891. ····· RIVER front Holiday Home fully furnished for sale in Khopoli 68 kms away from Vashi, Navi Mumbai Contact 91478088, 93407136 E-mail: nayari786@ gmail.com ····· FOR sale restaurant/ Coffee shop equipment 3 X Casio cash registers 3 X 4 Insert bain maries 1 X Berjaya pastry chiller 1 X Berjaya display chiller 45 X Blue banquet chairs 16 X 4 Seater tables 150 Cups, saucers 25 X Coffee mugs 160 X Knives, forks, spoons All new . 96470912/ 96768838 ····· FOR sale Miscellanous 1 X Walker - brand new 1 X Ladies bicycle - brand new 1 X Bench press - brand new Camera lenses Surveyor’s equipment Home theatre system . 96470912/ 96768838 ····· For back or neck pain / discomfort due to injury, illness, stress or computer overuse, Let us help you restore your body and Get you back on track. For more information contact our coordinators at P. O. Box: 565, Wadi Kabir, Postal Code: 117, SULTANATE OF OMAN For Sale A BLACKSMITH workshop with equipment for sale. The facility has 3 workers and situated in Al Maabela Industrial, Street 7 96353779. ····· 3 BEDROOMS flat for sale in Maabela South. Ali99830331 ····· TWO twin villas in Al Khuwair 33. Total built area 526m2. RO 178,000 (for both). Negotiable, from the owner. 99414767. ····· Good News AYURVEDIC Treatment, Yoga Massage & slimming. Web address: www. siddhayur.com 92504980/ 24475280. ····· Sale and Buy OFFICE & Household furniture and electronics items. 99834373, 97102699. ····· AUTO REPAIR CENTRE Available on UNBEATABLE prices E-mail: pcomctom@omantel.net.om For Sale al-haditha centre GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!! al-haditha LLC PEST CONTROL OMAN CO. LLC. +968 22094265 Guest House QURUM BEACH HOTEL24564070. ····· FLATS and shops for rent 93009999. ····· SHOP for rent, 200 sq m in Maabela Industrial. Call: 97314122, 99349878. ····· A 735 Sq M2 store in Bausher, Al Misfah Industrial is offered for rent. The premise is built in accordance to high standards. A 3-5 year lease contract is required 99332902, 99047584. ····· VILLA in Bausher (Al Awabi) consists of majlis, 5 bedrooms, 5 toilets, 2 living rooms and external kitchen 99364586. ····· For Rent THREE bedroom and hall with kitchen available near Indian School in Darsait. Contact Mr Khamis 92211050 CLASSIFIED SECTION: For Rent INDUSTRIAL land in Misfah for rent. 93009999. ····· COMPANY accommodation on lease available in Ghala for long term from March 2015. Facilities — Total number of rooms 30, total no of bathrooms 16, 8 rooms are bath attached, 8 common toilets and bathrooms. This accommodation can accommodate 100 workers. Rent RO 4000/- per month. For more information please call 98826915, 95665522 ····· Cartridges also available GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!! 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Finder please handover to ROP. ····· Ali al Maashari: 99639264 ali.almashari@omandaily.om e-mail: classified@omandaily.om Mohammed al Rashdi: 99841230 m.alrahdi86@yahoo.com DIRECT: 24649595 — FAX : 24649590 WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 11, 2015 | RABEE AL THANI 21, 1436 AH P26 P27 P28 Inside Scotland thrash Ireland in warm-up Fabregas returns to boost Chelsea Sultanate’s sports stars honoured FOLLOW US ON: SHORT TAKES Simon, Chardy advance in Rotterdam ROTTERDAM: French eighth seed Gilles Simon overcame a slow start to defeat Joao Sousa 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 at the ATP Rotterdam World Tennis tournament on Tuesday. The French number two, a semifinalist at the Ahoy Stadium in 2008 and 2013, was joined in the second round by his compatriot Jeremy Chardy, who advanced as another countryman Julien Benneteau retired 3-3 with a leg injury. Simon wore down the resistance of Portugal’s Sousa in just under two-anda-half hours. The Frenchman saved eight break points and fired eight aces in a laboured victory. “It was a really difficult match,” said the 19th-ranked winner, who rode a roller-coaster of match momentum against a dangerous number 46 opponent. “I got on top of him in the first set, but he came back to win the set (from 5-2 down). “In the second set I had to come from a break down. I was not particularly happy with my game, but my only solution was to fight as much as possible. “Finally, I got through this one.” Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky reached the second round over Spaniard Marcel Granollers 6-2, 7-6 (9/7) while Canadian Vasek Pospisil spent just an hour in a winning debut with a defeat of German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-2. Pospisil, the reigning Wimbledon doubles champion, broke Kohlschreiber three times on the way to his fourth win of 2015. The Canadian broke the German twice in the second set in what he called a perfect performance. “I played a flawless match, I did everything well,” said the ATP number 59.”My forehand and return were both working. I didn’t do much wrong today.” Pospisil will next face the winner form top seed Andy Murray, who plays on Wednesday against France’s Nicolas Mahut. — AFP Hisham, Saeed star in Musannah win over Suwaiq MUSCAT: Goals from Hisham Al Rashidi (20th) and Saeed al Dhaboni (86th) helped Al Musannah edge past Al Suwaiq 2-1 in the Omantel Professional League (OPL) match at the Seeb Sports Stadium on Monday. Abdullah Kofi had taken the lead for Al Suwaiq in the 14th minute before Hisham and Al Dhaboni rallied for Musannah. In other matches, Dhofar drew 1-1 with Al Seeb. Basin Abdullah scored in the 39th minute for Dhofar after which Mazin A’ Saadi struck in the first minute of stoppage time for Al Seeb. Sohar beat Al Khabourah 1-0 riding on a goal from Abdul Aziz al Hosni in the 82nd minute. Results: Dhofar: 1 (Basin Abdullah 39th) drew Al Seeb: 1 (Mazin A’Saadi 90+1); Sohar: 1 (Abdul Aziz al Hosni 82nd) bt Al Khabourah: 0; Al Musannah: 2 (Hisham 20th, Saeed al Dhaboni 86th) bt Suwaiq: 1 (Kofi 14th). www.omanobserver.om editor@omanobserver.om India break Aussie tour duck with victory RELIEF: India finally celebrated success in Australia with a 153-run win against minnows Afghanistan SYDNEY: India finally celebrated a first win on their marathon Australia tour on Tuesday with a resounding 153-run victory over outclassed Afghanistan in a World Cup warm-up. The defending World Cup champions piled up 364-5 in their 50 overs at the Adelaide Oval with record-breaking batsman Rohit Sharma making 150 with 12 fours and seven sixes. He was well-supported by Ajinkya Rahane’s 88 not out with Suresh Raina hitting a stylish 75. Afghanistan, who will be playing in their first World Cup when the tournament starts on Saturday, batted their full 50 overs but managed just 2118. Nawroz Mangol was the only batsman to make an impression with 56. There had been some early encouraging signs for the Asian minnows when they had India struggling on 16-2 after Hamid Hassan and Dawlat Zadran got rid of Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli. But once Sharma and Raina had put on 158 for the third wicket, there was no way back for Afghanistan who opted for team and their batting is quite long,” said Nabi. “We started well when we batted but then the ball began to skid and we struggled. We played out the 50 overs, that was a plus point.” At Sydney’s Olympic Park, meanwhile, Scotland clinched an impressive 179-run win over Ireland, the strongest of the Associate nations who stunned England and Bangladesh at the 2011 World Cup. Matt Machan made 103 for the Scots with skipper Preston Mommsen (56) and Richie Berrington (52) also in the runs. In reply, Ireland skipper William Porterfield (23) and Paul Stirling (37) put on 57 for the first wicket inside 12 overs. But medium pace bowler Alasdair Evans then dismissed both openers as well as Ed Joyce and Niall O’Brien to finish with 4-17 off five overs. Indian players celebrate the wicket of Afghanistan’s Nawroz Mangal during the World Cup warm-up match in Adelaide. — AFP Ireland lost nine wickets for just 60 runs with only Gary Wilson (15) batting practice rather than chase down good,” said India skipper Mahendra on the solid foundation given them by managing to join Porterfield and Stirling in double figures. the opening pair. the total. “I’m not a big fan of practice Singh Dhoni. The Irish side were all out by the 27th Afghanistan captain Mohammad “The bowlers couldn’t put ball in the games, but a bit more time in the middle does help. Overall it has been quite Nabi admitted his bowlers couldn’t build right place, but India are a champion over. — AFP I’ve no problem with Djokovic, says Murray ROTTERDAM, Netherlands: Australian Open finalist Andy Murray says there is no need for Novak Djokovic to explain himself after their controversial Australian Open final. Djokovic struggled through to an eighth Grand Slam title eight days ago — looking beaten physically but pulling through for a four-set victory at the expense of a furious Murray, who came close to accusing him of theatrics on court. “Everything has been made out to be much bigger than what is was,” said the number four Scot on Monday at the Rotterdam World Tennis. “That happens all the time these days.” “In reality, you can go through periods of being very tired, then get better. You can get a second wind. “As the finishing line gets closer, you can feel better. If Novak feels he has something to explain, I’d be pleased to speak with him, But I don’t feel he really needs to explain anything.” Murray added that while media may try and beat up the story of his own anger at losing the Melbourne final for a fourth time into a feud, he and Djkoivic remain on excellent terms. Last year’s Australian Open winner Stan Wawrinka meanwhile said he is happy to shake up his February schedule as he makes a return to Rotterdam for the first time in a decade. The Swiss 29-year-old was to have played here 12 months ago, but a combination of injury plus the sheer shock of lifting a first Grand Slam title kept him away. Now, Wawrinka, whose ranking has slipped to ninth after going out in the Melbourne semifinals to Djokovic, has come good on his vow to shake up his scheduling. “I haven’t played indoor in February for 10 years,” said Wawrinka, who lost in the 2005 second round here to Roger Federer. “I used to play in South America and the last few years I haven’t played in February. “I’m excited to be back. I feel good. It’s important for me to come to play here. It is a great tournament, a good indoor court.” Wawrinka said that after arriving on Sunday afternoon, he has already had two training sessions at the Ahoy Stadium. He said mixing and matching his calendar serves a good purpose. “It’s good to change a bit, to see some new tournaments. Even if I played here before, it was so long ago. It’s also good to stay mentally fresh.” Wawrinka, who stands behind Murray, Milos Raonic and holder Tomas Berdych in the seedings, will open in the first round against Dutch number 250 Jesse Huta Galung, whose best showing at home was reaching the second round three years ago. “I’ve seen him around for many years, but I’ve never played or practised with him. I’ll watch a few videos and talk to my coach. The Dutch always play well here. “He will be pumped for the first match - he’ll be ready and dangerous. “Everything this week depends on how I’m gonna start. If I play my best tennis I can do some good results. It’s indoors, so you have to be ready for the first match, I’m feeling great so we will see.” — AFP 26 SPORT omandailyobserver W E D N E S DAY FEBRUARY 11 l 2015 Pakistan’s Maqsood wants to do an Inzy ‘92 encore SYDNEY: Pakistan’s newest batting star Sohaib Maqsood Tuesday said he hoped to emulate the heroics of his fellow Multan native Inzamam-ul Haq by playing a key role at the World Cup. Maqsood, who hit an unbeaten 93 in Monday’s three-wicket warm-up win over Bangladesh, said he still watched footage on YouTube of Inzamam smashing Pakistan to victory in 1992. “Inzamam was a great player and if I come close to what he did in 1992 I would be a proud man,” said Maqsood. “I grew up watching him as a great batsman,” he added. “I still watch his World Cup knocks on YouTube IN whenever I get time and it always inspires me to match his knocks. “Inzamam was a great player, an icon in Pakistan and it’s my desire to do what he did in his career, especially in the 1992 World Cup.” In 1992 Inzamam, then 22, blazed a match-turning, 37-ball 60 to help Pakistan beat New Zealand in the semifinals of the World Cup, also held in Australia and New Zealand. He then chipped in with another whirlwind, 35-ball 42 in the final against England in Melbourne to finish as one of the stars of Pakistan’s only World Cup win. Maqsood, 27, showed similar “My goal is clear and that is to win matches for Pakistan and for that I am doing extra hard work,” he said. “We are working on playing more back-foot shots as we are used to playing front-foot shots in our part of the world.” He added that Pakistan’s first match, against arch-rivals and defending champions India in Adelaide on Sunday, was important for their chances. “It’s a crucial game for us and if we win that it will be an ideal start for us,” qualities in Monday’s win when his said Maqsood. Pakistan will also play undefeated knock helped Pakistan the West Indies, Zimbabwe, United overcome early jitters and overhaul their Arab Emirates, South Africa and Ireland 247-run target in Sydney. in Group B. — AFP ‘Inzamam was a great player and if I come close to what he did in 1992 I would be a proud man. I grew up watching him as a great batsman. I still watch his World Cup knocks on Youtube’ Pakistan’s Sohaib Maqsood plays a shot as Bangladesh wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim looks on in Sydney. — AFP POOR RUN: ’It’s just a matter of time before their batting clicks’ FOCUS India will get into WC groove, says Hazlewood Australia’s Josh Hazelwood bowls (right) during the one-day international against India in Adelaide. — AFP This file photo shows Bangladesh batsman Tamim Iqbal playing a shot during a one-day international warm-up match against Pakistan at Blacktown Sports Park in Sydney. — AFP Fit-again Tamim delighted with recovery SYDNEY: Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal says he was delighted with his recovery from knee surgery after hitting 81 in the narrow World Cup warm-up loss to Pakistan. The 25-year-old left-hander showed no ill effects from last month’s operation during a 168-run stand for the third wicket with Mohammad Mahmudullah (83) on Monday.”It’s quite satisfying to be back after knee surgery and perform well,” said Iqbal. “My goal is to help Bangladesh win as many games as possible.” “I am quite happy that I could start well on my return. I needed this confidence ahead of a major tournament,” he added. Despite Iqbal’s efforts, Pakistan surpassed Bangladesh’s total of 246 in the penultimate over and the Tigers will now target a win in Friday’s final warmup against Ireland. They will then turn their attention to their February 18 World Cup opener against Afghanistan, a chance for revenge after their shock defeat at last year’s Asia Cup. “We could take a lot of positives from this practice match. If we can win the next one, everyone will enter the tournament with much confidence,” Iqbal said. “We have been preparing well and have learnt our lessons of the defeat against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup,” he added. — AFP MELBOURNE: Australia paceman Josh Hazlewood has played down India’s 106-run drubbing in a World Cup warm-up against the co-hosts on Sunday, saying it was a matter of time before the champions clicked. Australia dominated India in batting, bowling and fielding in the Adelaide match to bolster their status as favourites to win the global showpiece which starts on Saturday. India have been in wretched form Down Under, however, going winless from their three matches in the triseries against England and Australia in recent weeks. “It’s just a matter of time until their batting order clicks,” Hazlewood told reporters in Melbourne on Tuesday. “They’ve got some outstanding players and they’ve all got great records. I think it’s just a matter of time before they get going. “They’re a very dangerous side.” Australia have been in ominous form in the lead-up, going undefeated to win the tri-series despite missing injured captain Clarke, who is nonetheless expected to play in the team’s warm-up match on Wednesday against United Arab Emirates at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. James Faulkner’s side strain has been the only major fly in the ointment and Hazlewood underscored the fast bowling all-rounder’s value as “an edge” over the 13 other teams who will compete at the World Cup. “I think it’s just that batting edge, probably especially when Faulks (Faulkner) is in that team, to have him at eight at full strength is probably the key,” he said. “Where other teams probably have bowlers who can bat a bit, we’ve got Jimmy down there who can finish it off. “I think our quicks as well (are an edge). We’ve got great depth in our quicks. “Probably those two things are... above the other teams.” With Mitchell Johnson to lead the attack and Faulkner almost certain to be included if fit, Hazlewood will compete with left-armer Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins for the remaining pace spots. Though one of the junior members of the pace battery, Hazlewood has been impressive in his eight one-day matches and said he would have no problem being picked for “death bowling” duties during the World Cup. “Yeah, definitely,” he said. “All the bowlers want to have that opportunity to win the game for Australia whether you’re bowling the start, the middle or the end. “I think the end’s obviously crucial. We’ve seen Starc and Faulkner do the job in previous games but everyone wants that opportunity to prove themselves.” — Reuters Machan, Evans shine as Scotland thrash Ireland SYDNEY: Matt Machan scored a century and Alasdair Evans took four for 17 as Scotland romped to a 179run victory over Ireland in a World Cup warm-up match at Blacktown Oval on Tuesday. Ireland have caused huge upsets at both their previous World Cups but it was Scotland, who have yet to taste victory in two tournaments, who won the battle of the Celtic minnows with 23 overs to spare. Scotland won the toss and chose to bat but made a faltering start when they lost their top batsman and skipper for the day Kyle Coetzer for a duck in the second over. They slumped to 2-42 when Hamish Gardner became paceman Max Sorensen’s (3-55) second victim in the eighth over but that brought Machan to the crease. The young lefthander formed partnerships of 44 with Calum MacLeod (41), 96 with Preston Mommsen (56) and 98 with Richie Berrington, who hit his 52 off 40 balls as Scotland accelerated the scoring rate in their final 10 overs. Machan was finally bowled by Craig Young having blasted six fours and four sixes in his 108-ball knock but the Scots were already well on their way to an imposing score of 296 for six. Ireland started their run chase with a solid opening stand of 57 between skipper William Porterfield and Paul Stirling (37) before Evans struck with a threewicket blitz in two overs. The right-arm seamer returned to remove Porterfield for 23 and the Irish were really on the ropes at 77-5 when Andrew Balbirnie followed for eight in the following over. Ireland’s tail were only able to eke out another 40 runs as experienced off-spinner Majid Haq (3-9) and seamer Josh Davey (2-36) got among the wickets to secure a handsome victory. Ireland get their World Cup campaign underway against West Indies in Nelson next Monday, while the Scots face co-hosts New Zealand in their opener in Dunedin the following day. — Reuters Scotland captain Preston Mommsen speaks at a press conference in Sydney. — AFP Richardson says players with already poor records of on-field behaviour could face immediate match bans if found guilty of a single breach Sledgers to face match bans at the quadrennial event MELBOURNE: The International Cricket Council will crack down on excessive sledging between players at the World Cup, saying first offenders can expect heavier fines while repeat offenders face suspension from matches. ICC chief executive David Richardson also said players with already poor records of on-field behaviour could face immediate match bans if found guilty of a single breach of the ICC’s code of conduct during the February. 14 - March 29 tournament. “That issue has been addressed at all the pre-event team briefings,” Richardson told reporters in Melbourne on Tuesday. “I suppose it started a few months back already that the behaviour in some That issue has been matches by some players was deemed to addressed at all be unacceptable and not a good example to young fans watching the game. the pre-event team “I think there’s been something like briefings. I suppose 12-13 code of conduct charges laid in the it started a few months back last few months in bilateral series. “So the crackdown had already already that the behaviour started. I think the teams are going to be told that the umpires intend to remains in some matches was firm, that the penalties handed out by the deemed unacceptable match referees will be perhaps a little bit DAVE RICHARDSON more serious or higher than before but ICC chief executive that hopefully everyone will be treated equally and fairly. “For a first offence, you’ll likely end handing back most of his match fee. “But up with a fine which no players likes, certainly a repeat offence, not only in this tournament but some players already sitting with offences behind their name, will be punished with a suspension.” The crackdown may give Australia opening batsman David Warner some pause before charging into a verbal altercation given he has been found guilty of breaching the code of conduct twice in two months. India batsmen Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli were also fined for conduct breaches in December during the occasionally ill-tempered test series with Australia. Pundits have suggested a soccer-style yellow and red card system to better stamp out poor on-field behaviour but Richardson said cricket would continue to rely on post-match reviews with onfield umpires and off-field referees to analyse incidents and lay charges where necessary. “That idea has been debated at a number of previous cricket committee meetings that I’ve attended and probably will be debated again,” he said. “We don’t necessarily want to follow the way that football goes. A lot of these decisions are taken after a measured response by match officials reviewing footage of the match afterwards. “That obviously cannot happen when you are brandishing a red or a yellow card on the spur of the moment.” — Reuters SPORT W E D N E S DAY FEBRUARY 11 l 2015 omandailyobserver 27 EPL: City have slipped to seven points behind leaders Chelsea with 14 matches left to play, the first of which is against Stoke City today Toure has faith Manchester City can clinch title MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM: Yaya Toure believes Manchester City can win all of their remaining Premier League fixtures and successfully defend their title. Manuel Pellegrini’s team have slipped to seven points behind leaders Chelsea with 14 matches left to play, the first of which is against Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium on Wednesday. City have failed to win in their last five matches, a run that has coincided with Toure’s absence due to Africa Cup of Nations commitments with Ivory Coast. Toure helped his country win the continental competition on Sunday with a penalty shootout victory over Ghana in the final and is due back in Britain this week. However, Pellegrini has said it would be “impossible” for Toure or compatriot Wilfried Bony to feature against Stoke and that their return to the Premier League is likely to come against Newcastle United on February 21. After triumphing with his country, Toure, 31, is ready to inspire his club to glory. “With my confidence I know football is not about one game or two games, especially in the Premier League,” he said. “We have 38 games and if we want to achieve it (winning the title) we have to win all the games. “I know it is difficult but now I have to go back and do my duty again.” After being held by Hull, Manchester City are unlikely to take the prospect of facing Stoke lightly, especially after Mark Hughes’s team enjoyed a surprising 1-0 victory when the teams met at the Etihad Stadium in August. Jesus Navas says Pellegrini’s team can ill afford any similar slips. “Stoke are a team who are very well organised and very disciplined,” said Navas. “As we saw in the first game, if you are not focused and even momentarily lose concentration, they can hurt you - just as they did at the Etihad. “We were disappointing that day but Stoke played very well and won a game they perhaps weren’t expected to win. They are playing very well at the moment and unless we have to be at our best from start to finish. “We know from experience that playing at Stoke can be similar in many ways, especially if their fans are behind them throughout so we have to try and get on top early and perhaps quieten the home support.” The Potters have lost just one of the last nine games in all competitions, while victory over Queens Park Rangers on January 31 extended an unbeaten record on home soil to four games. “We’re looking forward to it and it’s important that we keep our impressive run going,” Hughes said. “We are playing really well at the moment and I am pleased with the form we are showing so we need to keep it going. “It won’t be easy, Manchester City are a little bit of a wounded animal at the moment and have got a little bit of criticism for their home form. “We need to be ready for them, but we’re playing very well at the moment so bring it on.” Stoke salvaged a point against Newcastle United on Sunday thanks to Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara holds the African Nations Cup trophy as he walks with captain of Ivory Coast’s soccer team Yaya Toure at the Felix Houphouet Boigny International airport in Abidjan. — Reuters Of the 34-year-old’s 22 league Peter Crouch’s late header. It was the former England striker’s appearances, nine have come as a fifth Premier League goal of the season, substitute. “He’s understandably been a little during which he has been used sparingly disappointed of late because he hasn’t by his manager. Mata warns United can’t afford another slip MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM: Juan Mata has warned his Manchester United team-mates they can’t afford another slip-up when they face Burnley at Old Trafford on Wednesday. United have not lost at home to Burnley since 1962 and nothing less than victory will do in their quest to qualify for the Champions League via a top-four finish in the Premier League. The Clarets, who are just one place above the relegation zone, will once again be massive underdogs when they take on Louis van Gaal’s fourth placed side. But, after taking just one point from a 1-1 draw at West Ham on Sunday, and that thanks only to a stoppage-time goal from Daley Blind, Spanish midfielder Mata knows United can’t afford another lacklustre performance. “We must win this one because the race for the Champions League spots is now very close,” Mata said. “We have to get the three points at home, we know that, and that’s what we are working for. I’m sure we will make it with our people’s help.” United slipped a place to fourth following the weekend’s results and could be overhauled, temporarily at least, by the north London duo of Tottenham and Arsenal. Tottenham face a tough trip to seventh-placed Liverpool but Arsenal will expect to beat bottom FIFA ‘We must win this one because the race for the Champions League spots is now very close. We have to get three points at home, we know that, and that’s what we are working for’ FOOTBALL Manchester United’s Juan Mata (third right) scores the opening goal of the FA Cup fourth round replay match against Cambridge United at Old Trafford in Manchester. — AFP club Leicester at home. That leaves United with no margin for error and defender Phil Jones is determined to make up for what he saw as a missed opportunity to close the gap on second-placed Manchester City by failing to win at West Ham. “Ultimately, we are disappointed. We needed to win and it was a big game for us. We could have gained some ground,” Jones said. “But it was not to be. We have got another big game on Wednesday night now and we need to win that one. “The manager said in the dressing room after the game that he couldn’t fault our spirit. If we had shown that more in the first half then we might have started games, but he came on and games or comes off the bench. “Again that’s a credit to him because invariably made a massive impact for it shows he is fully engaged and readily us,” Hughes said. “That’s the type of player he is. He’s prepared for every game he plays in.” — AFP a solid professional whether he starts come away with a victory. We need to address and evaluate this and move on to the Burnley game.” BATTLING BURNLEY Burnley have won just once away from home all season and, after letting slip a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at home to West Bromwich Albion last Sunday, have tasted victory only once in their last eight league games. But Sean Dyche’s side are renowned fighters, coming back from 2-0 down to draw at Manchester City over Christmas. And after holding United to a 0-0 draw at Turf Moor earlier in the season, midfielder David Jones, who started his career at Old Trafford, believes they can again cause van Gaal’s side problems. “We are looking to get something from the game and it’s a big one for us,” Jones said. “Personally, I’ve been back to Old Trafford a few times with my previous clubs and it’s always good to go back to a ground such as that and see people. — AFP REFORMS FIFA reformers to keep plugging away ZUG, SWITZERLAND: The pressure group campaigning for reform of Fifa has uncovered a reluctance within football to publicly back the organisation even though many support its motives, one of its founding members has said. Jaimie Fuller, an Australian businessman who previously led the “Change Cycling Now” lobby group following a series of doping scandals, said there was a reticence to speak out against world soccer’s ruling body. “I had some conversations and the response was, privately, ‘We love what you’re doing but publicly we can’t get involved with you politically’,” said Fuller, the chairman of the Swiss-based sportswear company SKINS. “Whether you talk about players’ representation, or supporters’ representation, or national associations, or about sponsors in particular, I have a degree of empathy for the position many find themselves in,” he added. Fuller’s company values state that “athletes should handle themselves with honesty and integrity at all times. They should play hard and fair — be determined and driven with the ‘true spirit of competition’.” So it is not hard to see why its chairman should find himself part of the “New Fifa Now” pressure group which believes there is little honesty or integrity at Fifa, which has been discredited by a number of scandals over the last two decades. New Fifa Now was launched in Brussels on Jan. 21 with Fuller on the top table and an abundance of politicians and disenchanted sports officials in attendance. But Fuller said he was disappointed that FIFPro, the world players’ union and various supporters’ groups were absent. “One of our key criticisms is that there is a lack of player and fan engagement within Fifa, so we really wanted to try and get that going with those groups,” he said. “We were very disappointed that FIFPro said they wouldn’t attend and likewise with the supporter groups. (Perhaps) they are in the midst of some delicate negotiations in Fifa,” he added. — Reuters Mourinho has been handed a major fitness boost with the return of the Spain star who came off during the League Cup win over Liverpool Fabregas returns to boost Chelsea’s title charge In a file photo, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales meets Chelsea and Spain footballer Cesc Fabregas (left) at the British Asian Trust dinner in central London. — AFP LONDON: Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has been handed a major fitness boost after revealing Cesc Fabregas will be back in his side for the visit of Everton on Wednesday. Spain star Fabregas came off during the Blues’ League Cup semi-final victory over Liverpool with a hamstring injury and missed the draw with Manchester City and Saturday’s win at Aston Villa. But Mourinho confirmed Fabregas will be back in midfield for the showdown at Stamford Bridge as the Blues aim to maintain their seven-point lead over City at the top of the table. “I think he (Fabregas) plays Wednesday because on Saturday it was a decision to protect him,” Mourinho said. “We didn’t want to risk two players at the same time. We risked with Willian and to start two players with a risk is a big gamble and we gambled with only one.” In the absence of Fabregas, Ramires had been selected in midfield, alongside Nemanja Matic, following his own return to full fitness and Mourinho admitted it was a great help to have such quality back-up. “The best Ramires is back and the best Ramires played against Liverpool, Man City and Aston Villa,” Mourinho added. “He is a different profile of player (compared with Fabregas) but he is a fantastic player for us.” Mourinho also hailed Branislav Ivanovic following his superb winning goal in the 2-1 success at Villa. “Every striker in the world would be proud to score that magnificent goal,” he added. “For a right-back whose left foot is not his best one it is an amazing goal, especially when it is the winning goal. If you score that goal and it is 3-0 or 4-0 it is a different thing. “I am very happy because he is a great guy and what he is doing for us is unbelievable with the foot injury he had against Liverpool when he played the rest of the game, and he played against Man City and Aston Villa. “He is one of the best signings. He came immediately after I left Chelsea and after that he made a fantastic contribution for this club.” OVIEDO OPTIMISTIC Everton have not won in the league at Stamford Bridge since November 1994, but defender Bryan Oviedo believes Roberto Martinez’s side can defy recent history and end that barren run. One win in eight league games doesn’t suggest an upset is on the cards with Everton 12th in the table and only seven points above the relegation places. — AFP 28 omandailyobserver SPORT W E D N E S DAY FEBRUARY 11 l 2015 SULTANATE’S SPORTS ACHIEVERS FETED The Ministry of Sports Affairs honoured a total of 320 sportspersons during its annual awards ceremony for the year 2014 at Hotel Grand Hyatt late on Monday. The sportspersons were given cash prizes and certificates. Shaikh Saad bin Mohammed al Saadi was the chief guest for the event. Spurs’ Popovich picks up 1,000th victory MILTESTONE: With the win, Popovich became just the ninth coach in league history to reach the mark LOS ANGELES: Marco Belinelli’s heroics gave San Antonio Spurs coach Greg Popovich entry into an elite NBA fraternity. Belinelli buried the go-ahead baseline jumper with 2.1 seconds left on Monday, and the Spurs rallied from 14 down in the final quarter to pull out a dramatic 95-93 road victory over the Indiana Pacers. With the win, Popovich earned his 1,000 career victory (1,000-462) and became just the ninth coach in league history to reach the milestone. Popovich, who has guided the Spurs for 19 seasons, also joined former Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan as the only ones to win 1,000 games with one team. Frenchman Tony Parker tossed in 19 points, Tim Duncan added 15 for the reigning league champions (33-19), who outscored Indiana Pacers 30-14 in the decisive final frame for their 14th win in the last 18 outings. Rodney Stuckey scored 18 for the Pacers (20-33), whose season-best three-game winning streak ended. At Philadelphia, the Golden State Warriors prevailed over Philadelphia 76ers 89-84.Stephen Curry scored 20 points, “Brazilain Blur” Leandro Barbosa added 16 off the bench, and the leaguebest Warriors (41-9) stopped the Sixers’ (12-41) four-game home success despite Robert Covington’s game-high 21. In Washington, the Washington Wizards got the better of Orlando Magic 96-80. Marcin Gortat had 14 points with Greg Popovich Atlanta Hawks’ Jeff Teague passes the ball past Minnesota Timberwolves’ Thaddeus Young as he drives to the basket. as many rebounds, John Wall added nine with 10 assists and 10 rebounds, and the Wizards (33-20) sent the visiting Magic (16-39) to its 12th loss in the last 13 games, including 1-2 under interim coach James Borrego. At Minnesota, the Atlanta Hawks beat Minnesota Timberwoplves 117105. Al Horford scored a season-high 28 points, DeMarre Carroll added a careerbest 26, and the Eastern Conference- ISG record 10-wicket win over AHSC MUSCAT: Indian School Al Ghubra (ISG) recorded a massive 10-wicket win against Al Hail School of Cricket (AHSC) in an Al Turki Enterprises sponsored 25 overs a side Under-16 match during the weekend at the Municipality Ground No. 2 in Al Amerat. Opting to field, ISG did well to bowl out a 10-member AHSC team for 71 runs in 22.4 overs. Ali Asger took 3 wickets for 19, while Harith Raghuram picked up 2 for 1 run in 4 overs including 3 maiden overs and Shivam Saraf ended with 2 for 6 in 2.4 overs. ISG in reply got to their target scoring 72 for no loss in 5.1 overs. Brief scores: AHSC – 71 all out in 22.4 overs (Ali Asger 3-19, Harith Raghuram 2-1, Shivam Saraf 2-6) lost to ISG – 72 for no loss in 5.1 overs (Mohammed Salman 29 n.o., Ali Asger 28 n.o.); Points: ISG - 2 (10 games – 9), AHSC - 0 (10 games – 3) ISM ‘B’ BEAT BDSM In a Junior League T20 Under-13 match at Ground No.3 in Al Amerat, Indian School Muscat ‘B’ (ISM ‘B’) defeated Bangladesh School Muscat (BDSM) by 120 runs. ISM ‘B’ batting first scored 193 for 3 wickets in 20 overs with a top score of 76 (54b, 7x4) from opener Smit H. Asher. Other contributors were skipper Mohsin Ali Varya 50 (36b, 4x4) and opening batsman Bharat Srinivas 35 (30b). BDSM in their turn were bundled out for 73 in 14 overs. Mohsin Ali Varya took 4 wickets for 19 in 4 overs. Brief scores: ISM ‘B’– 193 for 3 in 20 overs (Smit H. Asher 76, Mohsin Ali Varya 50, Bharat Srinivas 35) Smit Hemang Asher of ISM ‘B’. bt BDSM – 73 all out in 14 overs (Mohsin Ali Varya 4-19, Shitikshu S 2-9, Bharat Srinivas 2-17); Points: ISM ‘B’ - 2 (9 games – 9), BDSM - 0 (10 games – 11) BOC REGISTER WIN Bosher Olympic Centre (BOC) registered a 21-run win against Muscat Cricket Coaching Centre (MCCC) in another Al Turki Enterprises sponsored Junior League Under 16 match. Brief scores: BOC – 154 for 8 in 25 overs (Kevin Mathew 37, Vikram Nabira 26; Mohit Zanwar 3-28, Prathyush Sivakumar 2-22) bt MCCC – 133 all out in 22.5 overs (Anish Rane 30; Akinjay Jha 4-30, Santosh Narayan 2-12, Aswin Unnikrishnan 2-16); Points: BOC – 2 (10 games – 12) MCCC – 0 (10 games – 7) ISWK ROUT BOC In an Under-13 T20 match at Ground No.4 in Al Amerat, Indian School Wadi Kabir (ISWK) routed Bosher Olympic Centre (BOC) by 7 wickets. Batting first after winning the toss BOC scored 133 for 8 wickets in 20 overs. ISWK replied with 134 for 3 in 14.1 overs. Brief scores: BOC – 133 for 8 in 20 overs (Ayman Bijili 36, Rushil Dadwal 24; Vishnu Goplakrishnan 3-20) lost to ISWK – 134 for 3 in 14.2 overs (Shah Nouman 34, Vishnu Gopalakrishnan 33, Amanpreet Singh Siram 24, Joshin 20 n.o.); Points: ISWK – 2 (8 games – 13), BOC – 0 (8 games – 0) best Hawks (43-10) trimmed the leagueworst T-Wolves (11-41) for their 21st win in the last 23 decisions. Kevin Martin scored 21 points for hosting Minnesota, which had its season-high three-game success stopped. At Dallas, the LA Clippers thrashed Dallas Mavericks 115-98. DeAndre Jordan collected 22 points, a careerhigh and NBA-season-best 27 rebounds, Chris Paul netted 25 and 13 assists, and the visiting Clippers (34-19)- minus star forward Blake Griffin (right elbow staff infection) snapped a four-game slide after dropping the Mavericks. Charlie Villanueva scored a seasonhigh 26 points for Dallas (35-19), which lost starters Monta Ellis (left hip) and Tyson Chandler (left ankle) early in the contest. — dpa — USA Today Sports NBA RESULTS San Antonio bt Indiana 95-93 Golden State bt Philadelphia 89-84 Washington bt Orlando 96-80 Miami bt NY Knicks 109-95 Milwaukee bt Brooklyn 103-97 Atlanta bt Minnesota 117-105 Utah bt New Orleans 100-96 LA Clippers bt Dallas 115-98 Oklahoma City bt Denver 124-114 MEMPHIS OPEN Young ousts French seed Mannarino MEMPHIS: American Donald Young upset French eighth seed Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 7-6 (11/9) on Monday in the opening round of the ATP Memphis Open. In a 90-minute showdown of left-handers who both went out in the second round at the Australian Open last month, 67th-ranked Young booked a second-round match against a qualifier by downing the 40thranked Frenchman. Young won the only break point of the first set, then took a 3-2 lead as the rivals exchanged five breaks of serve to begin the second set. Mannarino broke back to 4-4 and they fought out a tense tie-breaker that the American finally claimed, having fired seven of his nine aces in the second set. Mannarino, 26, reached a careerhigh ranking of 36th last month after a run to his first ATP final at Auckland, where he lost to Czech Jiri Vesely. Young, 25, lost to Vesely in the Auckland quarterfinals. Croatian Ivan Dodig, ranked 86th, advanced with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over 72nd-ranked Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili. Dodig will meet US third seed John Isner, who had a first-round bye. Top seed Kei Nishikori of Japan, South African second seed Kevin Anderson and Ukrainian fourth seed Alexandr Dolgopolov also received first-round byes. — AFP LOCAL FLAVOUR Gutsy Abdullah beats Nevil for double crown in ISC junior tennis MUSCAT: The clash of the junior titans, Nevil Philips and Abdullah al Barwani not only signalled the conclusion of the highly successful ISC-Muscat Pharmacy Open Junior tennis tournament organised by the Indian Social Club Muscat but also lived up to its reputation and provided the spectators with tennis of a high order. Curtains came down on the twoweek long tournament which has been dominated by brilliant performances by talented Omani players. In the grand final of the boys under-18 singles, Oman’s top junior player, Abdullah bin Hamdi al Barwani stole the limelight with a gutsy performance to defeat top seed and defending champion Nevil Philips 6-4, 5-7, 10-4 to win a double crown. Chief Guest Gloria Gangte, Charge d’Affairs a.i. of the Embassy of India was all praise for the high standard of tennis exhibited by the two talented finalists. Also present at the final were ISC Chairman, Dr Satish Nambiar, Eng. Mohammed al Balushi, Secretary General of Oman Tennis Association, representatives of the sponsors, ISC office bearers and a packed gathering of tennis enthusiasts. In the first game, Nevil squandered a 40-15 advantage as Abdullah scored brilliant forehand winners and after six deuces, broke Nevil. Nevil broke back in the second and fourth games, held at love and dominated to take a 4-1 lead as Abdullah struggled to match up to to the defending champion’s play. Abdullah regained his composure, broke Nevil in the seventh game and saved three break points to level at four-games-all. Nevil suddenly lost his way as Abdullah played with renewed energy and broke Nevil again and served out the first set leaving Nevil stranded at four games. Abdullah drew first blood in the second set. Scores went neck-and-neck with Nevil looking for the crucial break which he gained in the tenth game for five-all. Abdullah took his chances and scored brilliant cross court and down the line winners to race to a 5-1 lead before Nevil staged a minor recovery but could not catch up as Abdullah romped home to win the boys’ under-18 singles title to add to the junior doubles which he won with partner Younis al Rawahi. The tournament was sponsored by Muscat Pharmacy & Stores LLC, powered by Horlicks and Pocari Sweat and cosponsored by Supa Sportsman LLC, Khimji Ramdas Watches and Hindustan University. Assarain beat CCC Builders to enter FMB-Filcosoc basketball final MUSCAT: The Assarain basketball team proved once again that they belong in the final after surviving a tough challenge from a wellconditioned and determined CCC Builders team in the second game of their semifinal contest in the ongoing Filcosoc/FMB Winter Basketball Tournament. CCC Builders won Game 1 negating the twice to win advantage of Assarain, but unlike in Game 1, the Assarain Team played with a sense of urgency in Game 2. Defending, hustling and attacking the basket consistently. A 10-0 blast turned a close game into a 12-point lead for Assarain midway through the second quarter. However, CCC’s prolific scoring tandem Sherwin Solano and Jerry Abelgas proved too much to handle pushing CCC into the drivers’ seat with pure hustle and energy. The third quarter ended with CCC on top 49-47. The fourth quarter saw Assarain surge with an 8-3 scoring run to regain the lead. However, the Builders continued to make it a tight contest behind Solano’s 11 points. With under a minute left, and Assarain were comfortably ahead by 4 points by 71-67, Solano hit a huge 3 point shot to keep it close 71-70. The final score was 72-70. Assarain were top-scored by Roel Capati (19 points and 6 rebounds) and Jayson Cortez (13 points, 17 rebounds), Mark Anthony Sta Juana, the reigning MVP. Assarain will now face the undefeated Sayarti sponsored, Barangay Ginebra Oman Team in the Championship Round on February 13 at the Oman Club. PDO 3-on-3 basketball MUSCAT: The PDO 3-on-3 basketball will begin on Friday, February 20 at the Ras Al Hamra Recreation Club from 8 am to 4 pm. There will be three categories under the following: (1) Men above 19 (2) Boys below 18 (3) Girls above 13. There are some more slots for grabs and registration is still open. For further enquiries regarding registration the nos to be contacted are 99364656 or 99335292. ENTERTAINMENT W E D N E S DAY FEBRUARY 11 l 2015 omandailyobserver 29 TINSELTOWN JLo reuniting with former beau? S (L to R) Director Simon Curtis, actors Max Irons, Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds and Daniel Bruehl during a photocall for “Woman in Gold” in Berlin. — AFP Emotional Mirren brings ‘Woman in Gold’ to Berlin fest Q DEBORAH COLE O scar winner Helen Mirren presented her new movie about Nazi-looted art in Berlin on Monday, saying Germany and Austria should not rest until all the works are returned. The 69-year-old British actress stars in US-British co-production “Woman in Gold”, premiering at the 65th Berlin film festival. Mirren plays Maria Altmann, who fought the Austrian government for years to secure the return of five Gustav Klimt paintings stolen by the Nazis from her family during World War II. They include two stunning portraits of Altmann’s aunt Adele Bloch-Bauer, completed with gold leaf, as well as three landscapes. Altmann finally won her battle in 2006 and died five years later aged 94. She “was such a remarkable, wonderful, funny, sexy, witty, humane... a great, great woman,” said Mirren, who picked up an Academy Award for her portrayal of Elizabeth II in 2006’s “The Queen”. “I didn’t know if I’d be able to do her justice, because she deserved it,” she said of Altmann. The case brought to light the issue of the Nazis’ systematic plundering of cultural treasures, an estimated 100,000 of which are in the possession of the world’s great museums, hidden away in private collections or lost forever. Asked about the progress made by Germany and Austria in coming to terms with the issue, Mirren said she saw progress but added: “We mustn’t ever feel that we’ve come to the end of that particular human journey.” ‘Story in one image’ In the film, directed by Simon Curtis, Mirren plays Altmann as an elderly MIRREN PLAYS MARIA ALTMANN, WHO FOUGHT THE AUSTRIAN GOVERNMENT FOR YEARS TO SECURE THE RETURN OF FIVE GUSTAV KLIMT PAINTINGS STOLEN BY THE NAZIS FROM HER FAMILY DURING WORLD WAR II woman living in Los Angeles who enlists the grandson of Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg, a California lawyer played by Ryan Reynolds, to accompany her back to Vienna to take on the Austrian authorities. The story is also told in lushly shot flashbacks beginning with Klimt, played by German actor Moritz Bleibtreu, painting Adele, until Altmann was forced to flee Austria after Hitler annexed the country in 1938. The present-day Austrian officials implore Altmann to drop the case, calling “Woman in Gold”, hanging in Vienna’s Belvedere museum, “Austria’s Mona Lisa”. Mirren said she visited the Belvedere during the shoot and discovered the haunting, unfinished Klimt painting of Amalie Zuckerkandl, who was later killed at the extermination camp Belzec. “In a way I found that just the most emotional thing to see,” Mirren said, fighting back tears. “To me that brings all of the whole story together in one image.” Mirren, who was previously unfamiliar with the Altmann case, said that now, almost a decade on, understood its moral Austria implications. — AFP inger-actress Jennifer Lopez has fuelled reconciliation rumours with her former boyfriend Casper Smart after the duo was spotted together at rapper Big Sean’s concert In a video, Lopez is seen enjoying Kanye West and Sean’s performance while standing next to Smart at the balcony of a restaurant, reports aceshowbiz.com. Lopez, 45, and the 27-year-old dancer and choreographer are seen enjoying the music while dancing together. At one moment, West is seen shouting out Lopez’s name while rapping onstage. After the show, Lopez shared on Instagram some photographs of her with other celebrities, but not with Smart. The “On the Floor” hitmaker posed for a group image with West, Sean, Chris Brown, Justin Bieber and Kendall Jenner. She also took a photograph with Demi Lovato. Lopez first sparked reconciliation rumours with Smart after they were spotted together outside the Hotel Cafe last week. At that time, Smart was seen wrapping his hand around Lopez’s waist. Miranda Kerr happy being single M odel Miranda Kerr doesn’t want to date anyone at the moment so that she can focus on herself for a while. The 31-year-old model has been romantically linked to a string of men since splitting from husband Orlando Bloom in October 2013. But for now she’s happy in her own company, reports femalefirst.co.uk. “For the record, I’m single. What I’m trying to do right now, as I’ve always been the girl with the boyfriend, is to find that comfort within myself. Because it’s quite easy to always look to other people to lift us up or make us feel better about ourselves. “At the end of the day, it’s really important to be comfortable with your own company and to feel good about that and not have to rely on anyone else,” Kerr told Australia’s Harper’s Bazaar magazine in its March 2015 issue. Anna Kendrick to perform at Oscars Delevingne keen to interview the Queen M odel-actress Cara Delevingne, who tried her hand at journalism when she interviewed reality TV star Kim Kardashian for the latest issue of LOVE magazine, says she’d love to have a oneon-one with comedian Stephen Fry and Queen Elizabeth II. Asked who she’d like to interview, Delevingne told Sunday Times newspaper: “Stephen Fry. When you interview someone, you want it to be published because you want it to be out there. “But in a way, I’d like to interview him and it not be (published). Because knowing it’s going to be is always in the back of your mind when you’re answering questions. I just want to get as close to the truth of possible.” Delevingne, who was previously rumoured to have dated the Queen’s grandson Prince Harry further added: “Oh, and the Queen. I’d love to interview the Queen. She would be the best.” The 22-year-old also defended the Kardashians, with whom she’s grown up as a close friend, insisting people’s ideas of celebrities would change if they could get to know them, reports femalefirst. co.uk. “Everyone has a particular idea of them (the Kardashians), often negative. Yet they don’t even know them. I wanted to crack that. I wanted to do a completely honest interview,” she said. “With every single famous person, you have preconceived ideas. Usually, if you don’t like them, it’s just because you don’t know them,” she added. A ctress Anna Kendrick will perform at the 87th Academy Awards here on February 22. The 29-year-old took to her Twitter account to announce her special appearance at the annual show, reports aceshowbiz.com. “Excited to announce @ TheAcademy has invited me to be part of a special performance at the #Oscars on Feb 22nd,” she tweeted. The announcement was confirmed by the show’s producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who said in a joint statement: “Out of the woods and on to the Oscar stage, Anna will be performing something special that is sure to be an ‘Only on the Oscars’ moment.” TECHNICAL WIZARDS Hollywood’s movie tech wizards honoured Q TIM REID F rom the team who made it possible to digitally curl and trim outrageous hair in “The Hobbit” trilogy to the inventors of a high-speed car chase camera used in James Bond film “Casino Royale”, some of the most ingenious behind-the-scenes innovators were celebrated at a pre-Oscars ceremony on Saturday night. Two weeks before the Oscars, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences handed out its Scientific and Technical Achievement Awards to the visual effects, sound and technical wizards whose work behind the camera is a vital but often unheralded part of making movies. While the Academy Awards on February 22 will present Oscars to actors, directors and others who worked on films released in 2014, the yearly scientific and technical awards honour those who have contributed to the process of film making over a longer period of time, sometimes decades. Presenting the awards were a pair who have had recent breakthrough roles in front of the camera: Margot Robbie, in “The Wolf of Wolf Street”, and Miles Teller, the star of “Whiplash”, a current best picture nominee. Robbie thanked the audience for making movies “stunning”. The Beverly Hills event gave awards to 58 individuals for 21 scientific and technical achievements. These usually consist of plaques or certificates but on Saturday two Oscar statuettes were presented, one to veteran sound engineer and Dolby Laboratories executive David W Gray for his ground breaking work on movie sound. Gray, whose statuette came with the Gordon E Sawyer lifetime technical achievement award, has dozens of film credits, including sound work on the 1983 hit “Flashdance” and the 1988 action blockbuster “Die Hard” starring Bruce Willis. He thanked his children “for understanding that dad’s a geek and a complete workaholic.” Also receiving an award was a team that developed SpeedTree, a software that creates virtual vegetation and has been used in the movies “Avatar” and “The Great Gatsby”. Other honorees were the inventors of the MOVA Facial Performance Capture system that records every movement of an actor’s face, enabling facial movements to be reproduced or altered. It has been used in movies including “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” in 2008 for Brad Pitt’s ageing facial effects. That film won the visual effects Oscar. “They wouldn’t watch movies without us,” said Richard Edlund, a multi-Academy Award winning special effects cinematographer, summing up the collective work of the audience. — Reuters 30 omandailyobserver LIFESTYLE Warm welcome for Queen of Indipop ahead of Feb 14 concert C elebrated Indian playback singer Asha Bhosle arrived in Muscat on Monday night ahead of Saturday’s (February 14) eagerly awaited concert at the City Amphitheatre, Qurum. The legendary artiste was accorded a warm welcome upon her arrival at Muscat International Airport by representatives of the concert’s Muscatbased organisers Light and Shadow Enterprises and Hi FM, both of which have been associated with some of the biggest Bollywood and Western style musical shows held in the Sultanate. Asha’s arrival in Muscat — a full five days before the event — will afford the iconic star and her large entourage of musicians and performers ample time to acclimatise and rehearse ahead of what is expected to be a blockbuster show. Adding to the epic nature of this month’s concert is the attendance of The Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra (ROSO), the Sultanate’s very own national orchestra founded by His Majesty the Sultan. The coming together of these icons from Oman and India symbolises the strength of relations between the two countries. Indeed, the February 14 concert is one of a series of activities planned during the course of this year to mark the Diamond Jubilee of diplomatic ties between Oman and India. Additionally, it will also serve as a finale to the ongoing Muscat Festival extravaganza. “Hi FM is proud to be bringing Asha Bhosle to Oman, and the pairing with the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra W E D N E S DAY FEBRUARY 11 l 2015 NADA ALI nada.ali5@hotmail.com Emotional Intelligence R Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra Asha Bhosle with aides pictured on her arrival at Muscat International Airport firmly cements this as a once in a lifetime event, and we are thrilled to be part of this,” said Darren Shortt, Head Of Operations, Hi FM. Asha Bhosle is undoubtedly one of the greatest playback singers in Bollywood history having recorded over 10,000 songs for over 800 movies. Although every class (ghazals, pop etc) of song was within her vocal range, her specialty was in sensual songs or Western-styled songs — she had an uncanny knack for making every actor for whom she sang, from Zeenat Aman to Urmila Matondkar, smoulder on the screen. In the 90s she experimented with peppy numbers and produced hits like Tanha Tanha, Yaire, Kambakth Ishq, Chori Pe Chori etc, she also has a number of pop albums to her credit and has acquired international by singing with artists like Boy George, Black Eyed Peas and cricketer Brett Lee. She has many awards including eight Filmfare awards and two National Awards apart from numerous other accolades. Orchestral music for Asha Bhosle’s renditions during the February 14 concert will be provided by Oman’s very own ROSO. Members of ROSO are young Omani musicians who began their musical training under the instruction and directives of professional musicians from different parts of the world. To date, ROSO has performed over 100 public and private, both inside and outside the Sultanate. There have been many landmarks in the history of ROSO including their appearance in 1996 with Lord Menuhin and in 2005 with Dr Subramaniam, both world famous violinists. BENEVOLENT ACT ROHM to hold blood donation campaign C elebrating the precious gift of life, the Royal Opera House Muscat in association with a medical team from the Blood Bank will organise the second blood donation campaign on Sunday, February 15. Aiming to revive the noble humanitarian values and stressing the paramount importance of blood donation to provide help to patients in need, the Royal Opera House Muscat underlines its mission in rendering to the community. Royal Opera House Muscat’s “Celebrate Life, Donate Blood” campaign will be held from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at the South Porch Hall (Southern Entrance of ROHM). Open to public including Omani nationals and all residents, in addition to staff members are welcome to contribute in this generous act of giving the gift of life and helping the needs of people. The volunteers will be tested by the medical team from the blood bank, to check the level of haemoglobin, blood pressure and the type of blood. ROHM launched its first blood donation campaign The whole blood donation process takes about 45 minutes, whereas the procedure of drawing blood takes last year successfully, where it witnessed big numbers from 10 to 20 minutes. Since blood donation is useful of generous donors from different nationalities and for an individual and the community, blood donors are ages who supported those in need of blood. The collected blood from the campaign was able to donate blood for several times a year. provided to patients who are in urgent need of blood transfusion. Appreciating donors’ support in this noble goal, souvenirs will be distributed to volunteers from the Royal Opera House Muscat. egardless of what you want to accomplish in life, you will need the help of others to achieve it. You need to build relationships with people who are in a position to offer you help and support. You could try and assert authority and dictate to, and bully others into doing what you want them to do. While this approach may work in the shortterm, in the long-term you are going to create damaged relationships where nobody wants to help you. If you want to be truly successful, you need to build better relationships and this requires emotional intelligence. Whereas old style management practices were based on shows of strength and exerting authority; emotional intelligence allows you to build better relationships, based on mutual respect and understanding. While the use of fear and authority tend to lead to immediate improvements in employee performance, the effect soon wears off. This requires more scare tactics. Before too long, employees are running for the exit door. When you build better relationships with emotional intelligence, the results can be startling. People like to help those whom they like and respect. They don’t need to be forced into helping them; they willingly volunteer. Whether you are dealing with employees, management, customers, colleagues or peers; when you use your emotional intelligence to build better relationships, you create a team of people who will do anything within their power to help you succeed. But how to build better relationships with emotional intelligence, here some great tips for how you can use your emotional intelligence to build better relationships and increase your influence. Be an example of the type of attitude and behaviour that you wish to see more of. If you would like to see more confidence in the workplace; demonstrate your own confidence eg back your decisions, tell people about the goals you are aiming to achieve and how you plan to achieve them. Rather than waiting for people to do things wrong before correcting them; catch them doing things right and praise them for it using positive feedback. Don’t just say well done, tell them exactly what they did right and how you, or the organisation, benefit from their efforts. This helps to create a positive, supportive environment which people want more of. Also learn to use your physiology; your physiology and your psychology are closely linked. Try the following: keep looking up while trying to hold on to negative thoughts. It is nigh on impossible to remain in a negative disposition while looking upwards. Next time that you are feeling confident, take a note of your body language eg your stance, your gestures etc. When you are feeling down, try to replicate this body language. If you hold yourself in that position, before long you will feel an improvement in your confidence levels. Top athletes and leading businessmen receive training on how to use their physiology to influence their emotions. They know that body language is the biggest factor in communication and that using their own physiology; they can influence their own emotions while inspiring and, motivating those around them. Another tip is to share, when you know someone and you feel that you understand them, you are more likely to trust them. Sharing a little bit of information about yourself and your personal life can reap great rewards and enable you to build better relationships. It never ceases to amaze me when I encounter people who have worked together for years but know little or nothing about each other’s lives outside of the workplace. Many managers could improve the morale and confidence of their team by scheduling time, first thing in morning, to have a chat about the weekend. Just a few minutes would allow the team to let go of the weekend, get to know each other better and bond. Because the content is not work related the discussion would be less threatening. Some companies spend thousands on bonding sessions when a few minutes, once per week, would reap bigger rewards. Emotional intelligence is essential if you wish to build better relationships which can help you to speed towards your goals and objectives. The ability to manage your own emotions is critical to success. When you broadcast positive, supportive emotions, you will get a far better response from those who you interact with. When you build better relationships with emotional intelligence, you build a team of people who are happier, better motivated, and more confident and, willing to do anything they can to help your cause. It takes time, effort, patience and a little courage to build better relationships but the positive effects are long lasting. That is the power of using emotional intelligence. Indian School Al Wadi Al Kabir celebrates Founders’ Day T he 25th Founders’ Day celebrations of Indian School Al Wadi Al Kabir brought out the essence of cultural diversity and rich heritage of India an Indo-Oman relations. Dr Hamood bin Khalfan al Harthi, Under Secretary of Education and Curricula in the Ministry of Education was the Chief Guest. A colourful cultural programme and prize distribution ceremony marked the 25th Founders’ Day celebrations. SMC President Harshendu Shah in his speech stressed upon the need to further upgrade the existing facilities in the school to make it one of the most modern and a premium educational institutions in Oman. D N Rao, Principal of the school presented the annual report highlighting the various activities undertaken during the academic session 2014-2015. The cultural programme with ‘Light’ as the theme saw some riveting performances by the children of the school. There was an underlying message in all of them, which aimed at bringing the world communities together and fostering universal brotherhood. Indian classical as well as western dances presented by students received a huge applause. Brilliantly choreographed dance performances such as ‘ Light of the World’, ‘Flight of Fancy’, ‘Illuminating Glory’, ‘Dancing Lights Paint the Sky’ and ‘Fusion of Colours’ bedazzled the audience with their mesmerising effect. A melodious composition with lyrics sung in eight different regional languages by young singers enthralled the audience. Western choir of the school presented a soulful rendition of the song ‘We are the World’ which received a standing ovation by the Chief Guest and the audience. Meritorious students of Class XII, who managed to be placed among the top 0.1 per cent and those from Class X with CGPA 10 received awards from distinguished guests. Awards were also given away for special achievements in SAT, sports, co-curricular activities. Teachers who received the coveted ‘Excellence in Teaching Award’ were also felicitated along with those who have completed a dedicated service in the school for 25, 20 and 10 years respectively. Above all, it was an evening full of joy, entertainment and glory. W E D N E S DAY FEBRUARY 11 l 2015 SPOTLIGHT omandailyobserver 31 BIMAL SAIGAL bimalsaigal@hotmail.com Culinary calls M TV Production Studio at CAS Nizwa trains 400 students THE STUDIO WAS LAUNCHED LAST YEAR UNDER THE AUSPICES OF DR ABDULMUNIM BIN MANSOUR AL HASANI, MINISTER OF INFORMATION, DURING HIS VISIT TO THE COLLEGE TO DISCUSS TRAINING ISSUES Q MARWA AL ADAWI AND ZAHRA AL ADAWI S ince its launch in the last academic year, the TV production studio of Nizwa College of Applied Sciences offered training for around 400 students from different media specialisations. These students had specialised mainly in Digital Media, Advertising, Journalism, as well as other specialisations offered by the Communication Studies Programme in the College. Through this step, the vision of the Communication Studies Department evolved into becoming a leading communication studies programme in the region designed to educate and prepare skilled professionals for the industry; the main focus was applied research and the provision of practical and innovative solutions for both local and regional needs. Zahid Waheed, an assistant lecturer at the Communication Studies Department and the supervisor of the studios said: “to fulfil this vision, the department is privileged to have a state-of-the-art television studio. The professionally equipped, high- definition television studio also has a digital media production facility, including editing suites with advanced and sophisticated equipment for various productions that are part of the students’ practical studies.” Zahid added that “since its inception, the television studio serves both as a production floor and a handson classroom where the students have qualitatively enriched their learning outcomes by understanding key concepts through practical learning”. He continued “the students learn how to transform their ideas into the visual medium by means of various production tools and facilities. These include, but are not restricted to, a multi-cam set-up, online chroma keying and lighting and sound equipment.” The studio was launched last year under the patronage of Dr Abdulmonem bin Mansoor al Hasani, Minister of Information, during his visit to the College to discuss training issues. In the first live interview that took place in the studio, Dr Abdulmonem stated that “the practical sessions are fundamental to the learning process, and this studio will give a better understanding of the media environment”. He also added that “undoubtedly, the studio will not limit the scope of its services within the College; it will also benefit any media organisation.” CAS Nizwa is the centre of the Communications Studies Programme among the six Colleges of Applied Sciences; besides which it offers two other programmes in Design and International Business Administration. Coconut oil, daily exercise can beat high BP HEALTHY SNACK Eat berries to lose weight N o need to skip a meal or head to a gym as easy ways to lose a few pounds — not anymore. Replacing just one between-meal confectionery snack with a handful of berries can do the trick as well. Research shows that when people swapped a confectionery treat for a berry snack with the same energy content, considerably fewer calories were consumed at their next main meal. This suggested that a simple change in habit alone could reduce a person’s calorie intake by nearly 1,000 calories a week, reports femalefirst.co.uk. The reduction in calories would be expected to produce a loss of around 0.45 kg of body fat per month, and much more if consumed alongside exercise and other healthy-eating choices, according to researchers. Lewis James from the School of conducted the research, said anyone Seasonal Berries commissioned Loughborough University to conduct Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences who does the simple swap could feel the the research. at Loughborough University, that effects on their health and waistline. y wife has not been keeping well for the past one week. Down with a fluctuating-fever and stubbornly-stable body ache she is not strong enough to be on her feet to keep pace with her household chores. Even the lure of the daily dose of her favourite TV serials has not been proving tantalising enough to get her out of the bed to such charms of the living room though surprisingly she has been able to muster motivation enough and surge on its strength to get back on her feeble feet to trail the maid visually and even pace up with her to the blind spots adjusting the focal length of her binoculars to cover all distant corners of the house in diligent discharge of her supervisory duties as the maid with the hitherto unverified credentials comes to clean the house in the mornings. But with the benefit of the past experience during her sabbaticals, my wife has no such doubts on my culinary capabilities and is content in leaving the unbridled charge of the kitchen readily on my equally aching shoulders. So here I am setting up alarm at quarter to six in the morning on the bedside clock to rush to the kitchen to prepare the bed tea, stoically sacrificing the warmth of the bed in these cold winter mornings. This is notwithstanding that by that time I am already wide awake as my overzealous wife ensures not to forget to switch off those routine recurring alarms set on her mobile phone for herself buzzing right from five-fifteen onwards. That is to doubly ensure my timely ejection from the bed. While I get busy with the preparation of breakfast and tiffin for our school-going daughter, my wife joins me in the chorus of cautious hammering in of the running commentary of elapsing time in the ears of our sleeping daughter, whom we are concertedly able to wake up and get out of the bed only around or beyond seven even though her bus docks at the gate sharply at a quarter past seven. So getting her out of the house in nick of the time to catch the school bus is a daily challenge for us, the accentuated charge for which also has come fallen as an integral part of my duties as the standby chef. But I thoroughly enjoy donning the occasional Chef Hat as it usually proves to be a win-win situation for all in the family. Our two daughters have equally enjoyed my trying new dishes and even presenting the oft-tried ones in new flavours. The magic ingredients of them all, which I prefer to keep secret from my wife for intellectual property rights reasons, really floor them all on such endeavours and resultantly there are persistent promptings by the daughters for finding some more steaming immersion in the salt and spice company of the pots and pans in the house. Even my wife also bored sometimes by her own insipidly drawn menu proposes that I prepare kuch baria sa majedar (something nice and tasty) for the meals. Though, I can sense the trap being laid by her to make me work, yet most of the times I willingly walk into that with confidence as these are the moments which knit a family close together. I was introduced to the art of cooking when I was around fourteen-fifteen by my mother whom I used to follow and assist in the kitchen when she would not be well. I honed those skills in the late eighties when I had to stay alone in our Kabul posting. Even though there was a day-time Begum or the maid to clean the house and do all other chores including cooking, each one of us colleagues as friends in the Mission would proudly display their individual culinary skills when we would be holed up together in the night at one of the houses during the daily curfew that would be clamped by seven in the evening. The skill was honed further in the mid-nineties when my wife was working in Delhi and expecting our second child. She would return from job past eight in the night. As I had plenty of time after return from my nearby office in the evening, I would devote that time to pleasantly surprise her with some new dish or the other so that she would not have to slog anew after a hectic day. She had simply to roll out some chapattis for us to enjoy our dinner together even though the artist in me had since perfected the art of creating the round ones in pure geometric proportions and his chefcounterpart being able to puff them to precision, the hybrid skills which too were occasionally put to test, nonetheless. For these reasons I have taken interest in books on cooking and those columns on recipes appearing in newspapers and magazines. Over the years, I have collected nearly a dozen books on the art of cooking and on recipes of exotic dishes, appetisers and snacks from around the world to try myself and also to motivate my wife to treat us more often with something different from the mundane. As despite my collection of books bursting at its seams and the situation turning nightmarish on finding no appropriate place for those volumes, my holding on to those books on the art of cooking marks my optimism that one day she would surely find time to tingle our taste buds with some of those beckoning gourmet-delight recipes. “Our research shows that an afternoon snack of mixed berries decreases energy intake at dinner. It’s a simple method that might help people control and lose weight,” said James. “There are a number of potential health benefits of consuming berries, but this is the first time that consuming them as a snack has been shown to reduce how much people eat during the next meal of the day. The cumulative effect of the reduced calories could help people lose the extra pounds without them having to make an effort, or even noticing,” added the expert. In the research trials, which were carried out over four months, 12 participants tested the effects of swapping a confectionery snack with a handful of berries — strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries — with the same energy content. A combination of daily coconut oil intake and exercise training results in reduction in blood pressure and bringing it to normal level, says a research. The reduction in blood pressure might be explained by the improvement of the reduced baroreflex sensitivity and by the reduction in oxidative stress in the serum, heart and aorta — key factors regulating blood pressure, the researchers said. “The possibility of using coconut oil as an adjuvant to treat hypertension adds to the long list of benefits associated with its consumption,” said co-author Valdir de Andrade Braga from Federal University of Paraiba in Brazil. Their experiments were performed in spontaneously hypertensive rats. They found that both coconut oil and exercise training were able to reduce weight gain compared to rats that were given saline and were not exposed to the exercise training protocol during the five weeks of study. “Our next step is to start some clinical trials in order to verify whether we can reproduce those findings in hypertensive human patients,” Braga said. “This is an important finding as coconut oil is currently being considered a popular ‘superfood’ and it is being consumed by athletes and the general population who seek a healthy life style,” he added. The study was published in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism. WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 11, 2015 | RABEE AL THANI 21, 1436 AH P29 P30 P31 Inside ‘Woman in Gold’ at Berlin fest Warm welcome for Queen of Indipop TV Production Studio at CAS Nizwa FOLLOW US ON: www.omanobserver.om editor@omanobserver.om Bygone era weaponry at Heritage Village Q KABEER YOUSUF T he model of a traditional Omani village at the Heritage Village in Amerat Park has become a major attraction of the Muscat Festival 2015 as a few more days are left for the curtain fall. As one enters, a huge line-up of old guns, spears, daggers and swords which are older than two hundred years is what you find at the entrance to the heritage exhibition. The vast collection of armoury and ancient weaponry with which the men of yesteryear used to live in harmony with animals and the environment around them, earned a living by doing indigenous jobs, is a major crowd puller at the village. Mostly from Rustaq, the archery is giving the visitors a trip down memory lane which, according to many, is aweinspiring and thought-provoking. A wide collection of archery tools and weaponry from across the country helps a curious visitor travel beyond time. The swords and other weaponry used during the 13th and 14th centuries are catching the visitors’ eye giving an inexplicable feeling of a bygone era. “We used to stand guard at some of the forts in Oman when I was young and these weapons are really giving a nostalgic feeling”, Hamoud, a septuagenarian whispered after taking THE SWORDS AND OTHER WEAPONRY USED DURING THE 13TH AND 14TH CENTURIES ARE CATCHING THE VISITORS’ EYE, GIVING AN INEXPLICABLE FEELING OF A BYGONE ERA a stroll along the exhibits. He said the metals used in the manufacturing of these weapons were a class apart and the reason behind their sheen is nothing but the quality of the metals used. Pure iron mixed with copper, brass and silver and heated at a high temperature before it could be moulded into the desired shape is all what Hamoud, the then warrior could recollect. The vast range of antiques include the old conventional weapons and bronze age Sabaean sword that belongs to the Sabean Dynasty which ruled Southern Arabia that included Yemen, Oman and one third of Saudi Arabia. The weapon called Caldura dates back to the Islamic conquests and built or used during the reign of the Ottoman Empire, along with bayonets dating back to three thousand years are some of the few rare objects that inspire visitors. “These swords and other weapons date back to the time of Imam Ahmed bin Saeed al Said, founder of the State”, Hamoud said, adding, “And these pottery, which dates back to 300 years, as well as these copper pots, agricultural and household items, jewellery and women’s accessories are part of the legacies of yesteryear”. These various metal shields, protective headgears of warriors, and other self-defence as well as fighting tools are a must see at the Amerat Park. “Oman’s position is unmatched in terms of its vast reservoir of historical military arms and a visit to this tent is a eye-opener to the past”, Sadiq al Araimi a public sector employee who came for the festival with his family told the Observer. Development are attracting more visitors as days Attractions galore at Naseem At the Naseem Garden where many family village events are taking place every day, a number of cultural and educational programmes in cooperation with Ministry of Social pass by. and Entertainment Education Corner, Nature Pavilion, Omani Heritage Pavilion Child, Theatre Pavilion, Arena of Skills Events, Fireworks shows, and Omani Folkloric Arts Band are some of the countable attractions. SWEETENED THREAT Energy drinks trigger hyperactivity in children M iddle-school students who consume heavily sweetened energy drinks are 66 per cent more likely to be at risk for hyperactivity and inattention symptoms, reveals a new study. The finding has implications for school success and lends support to existing recommendations to limit the amount of sweetened beverages schoolchildren drink. The authors also recommend that children avoid energy drinks, which in addition to high levels of sugar also often contain caffeine. “Our results support the American Academy of Paediatrics recommendation that parents should limit consumption of sweetened beverages and that children should not consume any energy drinks,” said lead researcher Jeannette Ickovics from the Yale School of Public Health. The research team surveyed 1,649 middle-school students randomly selected from a single urban school district in Connecticut. The researchers found that boys were more likely to consume energy drinks than girls. The average age of the student participants was 12.4 years. “As the total number of sugarsweetened beverages increased, so too did risk for hyperactivity and inattention symptoms among our middle-school students. Importantly, it appears that energy drinks are driving this association,” Ickovics explained. In addition to hyperactivity and inattention, heavily sugared beverages also impact childhood obesity, Ickovics noted. The study appeared in the journal Academic Paediatrics. THE AUTHORS ALSO RECOMMEND THAT CHILDREN AVOID ENERGY DRINKS, WHICH IN ADDITION TO HIGH LEVELS OF SUGAR ALSO OFTEN CONTAIN CAFFEINE
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