1. Art and Diseño

FRIDAY | JANUARY 30, 2015 | RABEE AL THANI 9, 1436 AH
P15 Asian shares skid as Fed takes investors by surprise
VOL. 34 NO. 77 | PAGES 20 | BAISAS 200
P9 Crafting guitars only for musicians in need
P20 Oman clinch third spot
Inside
Chief Executive Officer
DR IBRAHIM BIN AHMED AL KINDI
Majlis approves drugs law amendments Lanka levies super tax Sudan rivals meet for talks 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
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OMAN
HM greets King
of Jordan
MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos has
sent greetings to King Abdullah II Ibn al
Hussein of Jordan on his birthday. His
Majesty wished good health, happiness
and a long life to King Abdullah, praying
to Allah to bring progress, welfare and
prosperity to the people of Jordan.
— ONA
HM thanked by
Tunisia, Belgium
MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos
has received a cable of thanks from
President Beji Caid Essebsi of Tunisia in
reply to His Majesty’s congratulatory
cable on the occasion of him being
elected as a President of the Republic.
President Essebsi prayed to Allah to
grant His Majesty good health and well
being and the Omani people further
prosperity and welfare under His
Majesty’s wise leadership. His Majesty
was also thanked by King Philippe
of Belgium in reply to His Majesty’s
condolences cable on the death of
Queen Fabiola. King Philippe thanked
His Majesty’s sincere condolences and
sympathy. — ONA
WORLD
Four babies dead in
Mexican blast
MEXICO CITY: At least four babies and
three adults were killed, and scores
of people injured, when a gas truck
exploded at a children’s hospital in
Mexico City on Thursday, the authorities
said. Rescue efforts were ongoing. It
was expected more victims would be
found in the rubble. “We are searching
for potential victims,” said Mexico City
Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera. Adrian
Rubalcava, head of the Mexico City
district of Cuajimalpa, where the hospital
is located, confirmed the latest death toll
in an interview with MVS Radio. Mancera
said 58 people had been hospitalized in
connection with this incident.
FULL REPORT ON PAGE 5
INSIDESTORIES
P4
BEATING THE RETREAT
INDIAN-WESTERN BLEND
P5
EU TO EXPAND RUSSIA
SANCTIONS
[email protected]
MH370’s 239 passengers declared dead
AFTER 327 DAYS: Malaysia Airlines to pay compensation; Months of searches have failed to turn up any trace
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia declared
on Thursday the disappearance of
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 an
accident, clearing the way for the airline
to pay compensation to victims’ relatives
while the search for the plane goes on.
The Boeing 777 aircraft disappeared
on March 8 last year, carrying 239
passengers and crew shortly after taking
off from the Malaysian capital of Kuala
Lumpur, bound for Beijing.
Months of searches have failed to
turn up any trace.
“We officially declare Malaysia
Airlines flight MH370 an accident...
and that all 239 of the passengers and
crew onboard MH370 are presumed
to have lost their lives,” Department of
Civil Aviation (DCA) Director-General
Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said in a
statement.
The announcement is in accordance
with standards of annexes 12 and 13 in
the International Civil Aviation, said
Azharuddin.
It will allow families of the
passengers to obtain assistance through
compensation, he said.
Malaysia Airlines was ready
Co-pilot helmed when
AirAsia plane crashed
Daughter Michelle Gomes (L) and wife Jacquita Gonzales of in-flight supervisor
Patrick Francis Gomes, who was aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370,
comfort each other at their home in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday. — Reuters
to proceed immediately with the
compensation process to the next-of-kin
of the passengers on the flight, he said.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told
reporters Malaysia should settle claims
with the families.
3 of family die
in car accident
“We hope the Malaysian side honours
its promises and fully investigates the
incident, settling claims and making
peace with the families, especially
continuing to make all efforts to
find the missing plane and its
JAKARTA: The French co-pilot was
at the controls of an AirAsia plane
before it crashed into the sea last
month after flying through an area
of towering clouds, killing all 162
people on board, investigators
said. The announcement came
as fishermen found two more
bodies from the crash in waters
off Sulawesi island in central
Indonesia, around 1,000 kilometres
from where the plane crashed, an
official said. Indonesia’s National
Transportation Safety Committee
said that prior to the crash, the
aircraft had climbed fast in an area
packed with huge storm clouds,
and the stall alarms started going
off.
FULL REPORT ON PAGE 3
passengers,” Li said.
Most of the passengers on the plane
were from China.
International
investigators
are
looking into why the Boeing jet veered
thousands of miles off course from
Deadline today
Bank Muscat moots
45pc dividend
BANK Muscat has proposed a 45 per
cent dividend for the year 2014, 25
per cent in cash, 5 per cent as bonus
shares and 15 per cent in the form of
mandatory convertible bonds.
The meeting of the Board of
Directors chaired by Shaikh Khalid
bin Mustahail al Mashani, Chairman,
on January 28, 2015, approved the
2014 financial results and dividend
payout, subject to approval of the
Central Bank of Oman (CBO) and
shareholders of the bank.
FULL REPORT ON PAGE 13
SUWAIQ: Three people died and 2 were injured when a
taxi they were travelling met with an accident in Al Suwaiq
on Thursday. The driver’s mother, wife and daughter died
in the accident while the man and his son were injured and
rushed to the hospital. The accident comes a day after 4
people were killed in Qurayat when an ambulance hit a
parked truck.
Turkey and Lebanon restart
Baghdad flights, Gulf waits
BAGHDAD: Turkish Airlines and Lebanon’s Middle East
Airlines (MEA) resumed flights to Baghdad on Thursday
after halting them earlier in the week when bullets hit a
plane as it was landing in the Iraqi capital.
Samir Kubba, the head of Iraq’s civil aviation authority,
said a flight from Istanbul had landed and another from
Beirut was expected shortly. An MEA official and the
Turkish Airlines website confirmed that both carriers,
which provide daily flights to Baghdad, had resumed
service. At least seven airlines suspended flights to
Baghdad following the shooting incident.
flydubai, Emirates Airlines, Sharjah’s Air Arabia and
Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways suspended flights in line with
a directive from the United Arab Emirates’ civil aviation
authority. A message on Qatar Airways’ website said
service between Doha and Baghdad had been suspended
until February 5 with resumption subject to daily review.
its scheduled route before eventually
plunging into the Indian Ocean.
The search in the Indian Ocean
is still going on and Malaysia is also
conducting a criminal investigation,
Azharuddin said.
“Both investigations are limited by
the lack of physical evidence at this time,
particularly the flight recorders,” he said.
“Therefore, at this juncture, there
is no evidence to substantiate any
speculations as to the cause of the
accident.”
Malaysia said it, China and Australia
remained firmly committed to the
search.
“This declaration is by no means the
end,” said Azharuddin.
The DCA plans to release an
interim report on the investigation
into the missing jetliner on March 7,
a day before the first anniversary of
the disappearance, a minister said on
Wednesday.
Malaysia airline’s crisis worsened on
July 17 when its Flight MH17, on a flight
from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was
shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298
people on board. — Agencies
Ooredoo’s net
profit rises 14.5pc
ANWAR Tarawneh (R), the wife of IS captive Jordanian
pilot Lieutenant Muath al Kasaesbeh, and his sister (C)
weep after listening to a statement released by IS in
front of the Royal Palace in Amman.
Jordan on Thursday demanded proof from IS
militants that a Jordanian pilot they are holding is
still alive, despite purported threats by the group to
kill the airman at sunset unless an al Qaeda prisoner
is freed from death row in Jordan. The militants’
deadline passed without word on the fate of the pilot,
Lt Muath al Kasaesbeh, and a fellow hostage, Japanese
journalist Kenji Goto.
Their families issued desperate pleas for the lives of
their loved ones. Goto’s wife Rinko, who had kept silent
until now, said their two young daughters, a newborn
and a two-year-old, must not grow up without a
father. She also revealed that she has exchanged
e-mails with his captors. — AP
OMANI Qatari Telecomm-unications
Company SAOG (Ooredoo) posted
a net profit of RO 37.9 million for
financial year ended December 31,
2014, representing a 14.5 per cent
rise over the previous year’s net of RO
33.1 million.
Announcing its preliminary
unaudited financial results, the
operator attributed the increase to
improvement in EBITDA partially
offset by higher depreciation due
to the investment in network
modernisation and expansion and
rebranding cost (especially in Q4).
FULL REPORT ON PAGE 13
Samsung’s share of the global smartphone market tumble from 30 per cent to 19.6 per cent on a par with Apple
P6
SNOW HITS TRAVEL IN
NORTHERN ENGLAND
WEATHER TODAY
MUSCAT
MAX: 270C
MIN: 210C
SALALAH
MAX: 280C
MIN: 200C
SUNRISE 06.48 AM
PRAYER TIMINGS
FAJR: 05:31
DHUHR: 12:25
ASR: 15:34
MAGHRIB: 17:57
ISHA: 19:09
NIZWA
MAX: 280C
MIN: 100C
Apple ties with Samsung as top smartphone seller
SEOUL: Apple caught up with Samsung
as the world’s biggest smartphone
vendor in the fourth quarter of 2014,
thanks to booming sales of its new
iPhone 6, market researcher Strategy
Analytics said on Thursday.
Apple reported a record net profit
of $18 billion in the quarter, on the
back of what the California tech titan
described as “staggering” iPhone 6 sales
— especially in China.
Strategy Analytics said Apple
shipped 74.5 million handsets in the
fourth quarter, compared to 51 million
a year ago.
Samsung logged the same number of
shipments, which in its case marked a
downturn from 86 million the previous
year. The turnaround saw Samsung’s
share of the global smartphone market
tumble from 30 per cent to 19.6 per cent,
on a par with Apple.
Samsung, which belatedly entered
the market pioneered by Apple, had
dethroned the US firm as the world’s top
smartphone vendor in the third quarter
of 2011.
The South Korean electronics giant
then went on to replace Nokia as the
global leader in overall mobile phone
Company
Samsung
Apple
Lenova
Huawei
Q4 ‘13 2013 Q414
86.0
319.8 74.5
51.0
153.4 74.5
18.8
62.1 24.7
16.6
50.4 24.1
2014
317.2
192.7
92.7
74.1
Others
117.8
606.8
Total
290.2 990.0 380.1 1283.5
Source: Strategy Analytics
sales in the first quarter of 2012.
Over the past year, Samsung’s
market-leading position has been under
siege from a resurgent Apple and rising
Chinese rivals like Xiaomi.
The South Korean company, whose
404.3 182.3
(Figures in millions)
latest Galaxy S5 smartphone received
a lukewarm reception, posted its first
drop in annual net profits in three years
on Thursday. “Samsung continues to
face intense competition from Apple
at the higher-end of the smartphone
market, from Huawei in the middletiers and from Xiaomi and others at the
entry-level,” Strategy Analytics said in a
statement.
“Samsung may soon have to consider
taking over rivals, such as Blackberry,
in order to revitalise growth this year,”
it added. Earlier this month, Samsung
denied media reports that it was seeking
a takeover of the struggling Canadian
handset maker. Taking 2014 as a
whole, Samsung still remained the top
smartphone vendor with total shipments
of 317.2 million units, followed by
Apple’s 192.7 million.
— AFP
2
WHERE TRADITION COMES ALIVE
F R I DAY l J A N U A R Y 3 0 l 2 0 1 5
The Muscat Festival 2015 highlights
the Omani traditional heritage and
industries. The Heritage Village in
Al Amerat Park showcases the living
reality of the Omani society, including
its old industries and professions that
represent the old Omani man and
his originality, and what the present
generation should do to preserve these
traditions and profession.
OMAN
Credentials
received
Reports on amendments
to drugs law approved
MUSCAT: Majlis Ash’shura yesterday approved the two reports of the Majlis
Ash’shura’s Health and Environmental Committee on amending some provisions
of the law regulating the practicing of pharmacy profession and health institutions
and the amendment of certain provisions of drugs and psychotropic substances
referred by the Council of Ministers and decided to refer them to the State Council.
Ali bin Khalfan al Qutaiti, Head of Health and Environmental Committee said
that within the framework of the committee’s study of the two laws, the committee
held a series of meetings during which it hosted a number of officials in the various
competent authorities, to exchange views and proposals regarding them, as well
as to inform them on some of the corresponding laws in some neighbouring
countries.
— ONA
CULTURAL ENRICHMENT
MUSCAT: Yusuf bin Alawi bin
Abdallah, Minister Responsible for
Foreign Affairs, received in his office
yesterday a copy of credentials of
Mohammed Sultan Saif al Suwaidi,
appointed ambassador of the United
Arab Emirates (UAE) to the Sultanate.
Bin
Alawi
welcomed
the
ambassador, wishing him success in
his new assignment and the good
relations between the two brotherly
countries further progress and
prosperity.
— ONA
Infiltrators held
MUSCAT: The Royal Oman Police
(ROP) arrested 53 infiltrators of
different nationalities in various
governorates of the Sultanate for
entering the Sultanate illegally.
The ROP also deported 139
infiltrators after taking the necessary
legal actions.
— ONA
The Royal Navy of Oman yesterday
concluded the cultural events of
the year 2014. The different areas
represented in the competitions
were: memorization and recitation of
the Holy Quran, short story reading,
scientific research, poetry, painting
and calligraphy, theatre, photography
and graphic design, as well as the
general knowledge contest.
SQU invited to participate in
WB’s education activities
MUSCAT: Dr Ali bin Saud al Bimani,
the Vice-Chancellor of Sultan Qaboos
University, received in his office yesterday
a delegation from the World Bank
Group (Education) headed by Dr Harry
a Patrinos, Manager in the Education
Global Practice at the World Bank.
The two sides had a detailed discussion
on the possibilities of cooperation
between the SQU and the World Bank
in different fields of higher education
including teaching and research.
Dr Patrinos said that as part of World
Bank Education Sector strategy which
revolves around the theme “learning for
all”, they are concerned about quality of
teaching, employability of graduates and
international recognition of academic
programmes. The World Bank team
invited Sultan Qaboos University to
participate in various international
activities organised by the organisation.
“We are here to talk about SQU’s plans
and efforts to measure the effectiveness
of the university’s graduates and how it
impacts the economy of the and overall
development of the country.
World Bank has active programs in
education and training for education
institutions in the region which is
implemented in cooperation with the
governments concerned. We hope to
make SQU a partner in our activities
which includes information exchange
and other specific programs for higher
educational institutions in the region.
We do a lot of research on education as
well. We hope to see SQU benefitting
from our activities and services for the
region” Dr Patrinos said.
New hotel will enhance tourism and
economic activities in Duqm
AL DUQM: A celebration was held at the
Wilayat of Al Duqm in the Governorate of
Al Wusat yesterday to mark the opening
of Park Inn Hotel and Resort.
Sayyid Taimour bin Asaad bin Tareq al
Said, who presided the opening ceremony
said that the new hotel and resort will
enhance the tourism and economic
activities in the Al Duqm and will attract
more tourists and investors to this area
at which a number of key projects are
underway at the different sectors.
In a statement to reporters after
opening the hotel and resort, he said
that the tourism sector is one of the
promising sectors at the Sultanate’s plan
for economic diversification.
He affirmed the role played by the
private sector in the development process
witnessed by the Sultanate under the wise
leadership of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos.
Park Inn by Radisson and Mustier,
the real estate development arm
of Mohammed al Barwani Group
announced yesterday that Park Inn Hotel
in Al Duqm is the 3rd one to be opened
in the Sultanate and the first outside the
Governorate of Muscat.
Safana al Barwani, Director of Mustier,
said ‘the Sultanate’s government has
selected the Wilayat of Al Duqm to be a
centre for a number of key projects worth
of more than $10 billion. We are proud
to be part of the development strategy of
the Al Duqm by providing high quality
hospitality services.’
Park Inn Hotel and Resort, which
started receiving guests since November
16th 2014 is the third in the Al Duqm
after Al Madina Hotel (3 stars) and
Crowne Plaza Hotel (4 starts). The hotel
installations in the Special Economic
Zone in Duqm (SEZD) are trying to
meet the needs of tourists, investors and
companies operating in the Zone.
The resort consists of 73 chalets and
wards that meet the needs of families and
businessmen, especially it has wards with
three bed rooms, a hall and a kitchen with
the necessary equipment.
Some chalets are provided with one
and 2 bedrooms in addition to a hall, a
kitchen and two bathrooms. The chalets,
which are provided with interior garden
and car park ensures the privacy preferred
by Omani and Gulf families.
Ahmed bin Nasser al Mehrzi, Minister
of Tourism, Dr Fuad bin Jaafar al
Sajwani, Minister of Agriculture and
Fisheries, Yahya bin Said bin Abdullah al
Jabri, Chairman of SEZAD, a number of
sheikhs and officials attended the opening
ceremony.
— ONA
World Arabic Language Day marked
GENEVA: The Sultanate’s Permanent
Delegation to the World Trade
Organisation (WTO), affiliated to the
Ministry of Commerce and Industry,
in cooperation with “Global Digital
Networks
Language”
Foundation,
organised a celebration to mark the World
Day of the Arabic Language at the WTO’s
headquarters in Geneva yesterday.
The celebration came as an emphasis
on the importance of multilingualism
among
diplomatic
forums
and
international organisations in Geneva
and to enrich, preserve the Arabic
language and spread it among the digital
society through the innovative and
multi-language global digital networks
language system.
The celebration was held under the
patronage of Abdullah bin Nasser al
Rahbi, Ambassador of the Sultanate
and its Permanent Representative to the
United Nations, and other international
organisations.
— ONA
STAFF DEVELOPMENT
Dr Hamdan al Fazari, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Resources at Sohar University, presented a lecture on management skills on
Wednesday. The lecture was attended by deans, managers, deputy managers and employees of the university.
PAKISTAN PUNJAB GOVERNOR RESIGNS
The governor of Pakistan’s central Punjab
province resigned yesterday saying the
country’s political system had failed
ordinary people and served “only the elite
class”. Mohammad Sarwar, a businessman
who served as a British member of
parliament for more than a decade, was
appointed to the largely ceremonial
role in Pakistan’s most populous and
influential province in 2013.
THAI JUNTA CANCELS MEDIA FREEDOM EVENT
F R I DAY l J A N U A R Y 3 0 l 2 0 1 5
Thailand’s military
government cancelled an
event on media freedom by
an NGO due to “sensitive”
content. Friedrich Ebert
Stiftung (FES) said it had
received a call from Thai
military officials requesting
that the briefing scheduled
for Friday be cancelled.
3
ASIA
Lanka levies ‘super’ tax on companies
SAD STATE: A ‘mansion’ tax of Rs 1 million imposed annually on owners of large homes
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s new government
yesterday announced hefty taxes on
top companies in a bid to raise revenue,
accusing the previous regime of fudging
the figures and leaving the economy in a
“sad state”.
Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake
also said prices of essential food items
would be slashed to cut the cost of living
for average Sri Lankans, as he unveiled his
government’s supplementary budget.
Karunanayake said public debt had
been hidden and growth artificially
inflated by the regime of Mahinda
Rajapakse, who was ousted after 10 years
in elections this month on claims of
corruption and cronyism.
“The officials and economic experts
have looked into the figures and now the
economics of deceit and falsehood had
surfaced,” Karunanayake told parliament.
“The bad news is that economy is
in a sad state, and the good news it is
not beyond resurrection and is in safe
and sound hands,” he said, pledging a
Sri Lankan Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake presents a supplementary budget to
parliament, marking the first economic policy statement of the new government
which came to power earlier in the month in Colombo.
— AFP
transparent government.
Karunanayake announced a “super”
tax of 25 per cent on companies which
earn annual net profit of more than two
billion rupees ($15.38 million), and a onebillion-rupee ($7.56-million) tax on Sri
Lanka’s handful of local casinos.
He revealed tax cuts on a dozen
essential food items including milk
powder and bread, and granted a Rs
10,000 ($76) salary increase to more than
1.6 million public servants.
A “mansion” tax of one million rupees
($7,700) will also be imposed annually on
owners of large homes, the minister said.
The new government last week
reduced fuel by 20 per cent and pledged
further reductions, in populist measures
ahead of parliamentary polls.
Sri Lanka’s new President Maithripala
Sirisena has pledged to dissolve parliament
in April, two years ahead of time, and call
an election aimed at strengthening his
hold on power.
Karunanayake said debt was 88.9
per cent of GDP, sharply higher than
the Sri Lankan central bank’s figure of
74.5 per cent given before the change of
government. Sri Lanka reported more
than eight per cent in the first two years
after the end of a decades-long separatist
war in 2009, and has recorded steady
growth since then.
But Karunanayake branded those
figures highly suspect, although he did
not estimate what the actual figures were.
— AFP
Trawler carrying migrants Nine die from poisoning
sinks, dozens missing
DHAKA: Dozens of people are missing
after an overloaded fishing trawler
carrying migrants to Malaysia sank
in strong currents off the coast of
Bangladesh yesterday, officials said.
Emergency workers rescued 43
Bangladeshis in the Bay of Bengal after
the boat capsized some 2.5 kilometres
offshore, police and the coastguard said.
They said dozens more remained
unaccounted for, although it is unclear
exactly how many people were on board.
One survivor said on local television
there were around 80 people on the boat
when it capsized and sank at around 3
am, and told how he had waited more
than four hours to be rescued.
“We’re scouring a huge swathe of
waters around the accident spot,” said
coastguard commander Maruf Hassan.
“Our guards have so far rescued 32
people,” he said, adding local fishing
trawlers had rescued others, while a few
had managed to swim ashore.
Local police chief Masud Alam said
all the passengers were Bangladeshi and
they were heading to Malaysia by sea
illegally.
Thousands
of
impoverished
Bangladeshis and ethnic Rohingya
refugees from Myanmar attempt the
perilous journey to Malaysia every year.
Ferry and other boating accidents
are common in Bangladesh, home to
thousands of small and medium-sized
The sinking trawler which was carrying
migrants headed for Malaysia, drifts in
the waters off Kutubdia.
— AFP
boats, 95 per cent of which officials
say do not meet minimum safety
regulations. Some 50 people were killed
in August last year when a crowded ferry
sank in rough weather in Bangladesh’s
Munshiganj district.
Hassan said the boat had hit strong
currents in a treacherous sea channel
shortly after leaving a coastal town near
the southern port city of Chittagong.
“It’s a small fishing trawler which was
overloaded. It sank as it tried to make a
turn in a dangerous channel,” he said,
adding the stricken vessel had been
dragged to the shore.
A Bangladesh navy ship has joined
the two coastguard ships and four small
boats looking for survivors, he said.
— AFP
QUETTA: At least nine people, all
women and children, died after inhaling
noxious fumes from an electricity
generator outside their house in
southwest Pakistan yesterday, officials
said.
The incident happened in Killi
Karbala village, 70 kilometres north of
Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan.
“These people were asleep in the
same room and inhaled poisonous
gases emitted by an electricity generator
installed outside their room,” senior
local administration official Bashir
Ahmad Bazai said.
He said the nine — three women
and six children — were found dead on
Thursday morning.
Frequent blackouts due to a longstanding energy crisis in Pakistan have
forced many to turn to generators to
power their homes, but safety standards
are generally low and deaths due to
carbon monoxide inhalation are not
uncommon.
Baluchistan is Pakistan’s largest
but least developed and most sparsely
populated province, wracked for
decades by a separatist insurgency.
— AFP
KARACHI SHUTDOWN
Pakistani residents travel on an auto-rickshaw in Karachi yesterday during a protest
strike called by political party Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) following the
killing of a senior party worker.
— AFP
Chairman of National Transportation Safety Commission Tatang Kurniadi
briefs journalists about AirAsia flight QZ8501 during a press conference in
Jakarta yesterday.
— AFP
French co-pilot was flying
AirAsia jet before crash
JAKARTA: The French co-pilot
was at the controls of an AirAsia
plane before it crashed into the sea
last month after flying through an
area of towering clouds, killing all
162 people on board, investigators
said yesterday.
The announcement came as
fishermen found two more bodies
from the crash in waters off Sulawesi
island in central Indonesia, around
1,000 kilometres from where the
plane crashed, a search and rescue
official said.
Flight QZ8501 went down in
stormy weather on December 28
in the Java Sea during what was
supposed to be a short trip from
the Indonesian city of Surabaya to
Singapore.
Only 72 bodies have so far been
recovered.
Yesterday, Indonesia’s National
Transportation Safety Committee,
which has been analysing the plane’s
black boxes, said that prior to the
crash, the aircraft had climbed fast
in an area packed with huge storm
clouds, and the stall alarms started
going off.
They also revealed that the
Airbus A320-200’s less experienced
French co-pilot, Remi Plesel, was
flying the plane before it went
down, rather than Captain Iriyanto,
a former fighter pilot who had
around 20,000 hours of flying time.
“The second-in-command was
the pilot flying,” chief investigator
Mardjono Siswosuwarno told
reporters in Jakarta, disclosing
details from a preliminary report
into the crash.
He said the captain sat on the left
and acted as “the monitoring pilot”.
Gerry Soejatman, a Jakartabased independent aviation analyst,
said that while there was nothing
unusual about the co-pilot being
at the controls, the question was
Aquino under fire for missing ceremony, calls for salvaging peace pact
Philippines mourns police killed in bloodbath
MANILA: A long, slow procession of
coffins draped in the Philippine flag
poured out of military transport planes
in Manila yesterday as the country
mourned dozens of policemen killed in
a botched anti-terror operation.
Marching to muted drums, uniformed
commandos bore the numbered coffins
of comrades brought home from the
southern island of Mindanao, the scene
of the worst loss of life by the country’s
police or troops in recent memory.
President Benigno Aquino has
declared on Friday a day of mourning for
the 44 men slaughtered in a cornfield last
Sunday when their top-secret mission —
to catch or kill one of the world’s most
wanted militants — went badly wrong.
The killings have sparked growing
calls for retribution.
Analysts warn this threatens a peace
process aimed at ending the decadeslong armed conflict that has claimed tens
half-mast.
Cabinet ministers and lawmakers
watched from the stands.
“As president and as father of this
country, I am greatly saddened that our
policemen had to lay down their lives for
this mission.
Without question, these people are
heroes,” Aquino told the nation on
television late on Wednesday.
Aquino came under fire for missing
a ceremony.
Former president Fidel Ramos, who
is a former military chief of staff, and top
government and security officials, most
wearing black arm bands, attended the
ceremony.
Aquino was absent from the event
Philippine police commandos carry the flag-draped coffins of their fallen comrades and instead attended the inauguration of
from C-130 planes shortly after arriving at a military base in Manila yesterday. — AFP
a new production plant of Japanese car
of thousands of lives in regions of the as a priest sprinkled holy water on the maker Mitsubishi Motors Corporation,
mainly Catholic Philippines.
metal caskets, which were laid at an air triggering criticism for failing to show
Relatives wept and hugged each other base in front of a large national flag at concern and sympathy.
“Aquino’s absence... speaks volumes
of the president’s lack of basic respect
for his servicemen,” said Representative
Terry Ridon of the Kabataan (Youth)
party-list group. “His cold, unfeeling
heart cannot even sympathise briefly
with the families of the fallen officers.”
“It is truly despicable, especially for
the commander in chief,” he added
Deputy presidential spokeswoman
Abigal Valte said Aquino was not
scheduled to attend the ceremony in the
first place. Valte said the president will
instead lead services for the slain police
officers today.
To cement the peace, Aquino has
urged wavering legislators to pass a
proposed law granting regional self-rule
to the regions in time for the end of his
six-year rule in mid-2016.
But senators have warned the law is
now unlikely to be passed by March as
planned.
— AFP
whether the captain took the right
decision when the plane got into
trouble.
“The captain has a choice
whether to let the co-pilot continue
flying and he does the troubleshooting, or he takes control of the
aircraft and allows the co-pilot to do
the trouble-shooting,” he said.
He said it would not be clear what
happened until more analysis of
the plane’s black boxes — the flight
data recorder and the cockpit voice
recorder — had been conducted
and made public.
Investigators’ comments that
the plane climbed sharply before
crashing echoed those made by
Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan
last week.
In 30 seconds, it rose from 32,000
feet to 37,400 feet, then dipped to
32,000 feet, before descending for
around three minutes, after which
the black boxes stopped, said
investigator Ertata Lananggalih.
Siswosuwarno said the plane’s
stall alarms were going off for four
minutes before the crash.
A plane suffers an aerodynamic
stall when it climbs so steeply that
the flow of air around the wings is
disrupted, and they can no longer
generate lift.
An investigator previously said
that the plane’s warning alarms
were “screaming” before it crashed,
citing data from the cockpit voice
recorder.
The transport committee also
said the storm clouds — known as
cumulonimbus — reached heights
of up to 44,000 feet at the time of
the crash, although they declined
to say whether the plane had flown
directly into them.
Siswosuwarno said that the plane
was in good condition, and that its
crew all held the correct, up-to-date
licences.
— AFP
N Korea demanded
$10 bn for summit:
former Seoul leader
SEOUL: Late North Korean leader
Kim Jong Il repeatedly pushed for
summit talks with South Korea before
his 2011 death but the plans failed
because Pyongyang demanded $10
billion and large-scale shipments of
food and fertilizer, a former South
Korean president says in a memoir to
be published next week.
Parts of the memoir by exPresident Lee Myung-Bak, provided
to reporters in advance, reveal that
senior intelligence officials from the
two Koreas made secret visits to each
other’s countries to explore summit
possibilities in 2010, when two deadly
attacks blamed on Pyongyang killed
50 South Koreans.
Lee says a North Korea envoy
who visited Seoul that year was later
publicly executed after returning to
the North. The memoir comes as both
countries float the idea of a possible
summit between Kim’s son and
current leader, Kim Jong Un, and Lee’s
successor, President Park Geun-Hye.
4
INDIA
omandailyobserver
F R I DAY
JANUARY 30 l 2015
SERIOUS CAMPAIGNING: Kejriwal asked to explain why he took police security after denying it and why his govt asked for SUVs
BJP poses 5 queries to Kejriwal; AAP says party panicking
NEW DELHI: The BJP on Thursday asked AAP
chief Arvind Kejriwal why he took support from
the Congress to form a government and why did
he seek facilities after rejecting them first, but the
AAP termed the queries “old and boring” and
claimed the party was “panicking”.
Questions about the Congress support and
facilites were among the five the Bharatitya Janata
Party plans to put before Kejriwal everyday in
the run-up to the Delhi assembly elections on
February 7.
BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy said his party will
ask Kejriwal five questions every day till February
5, starting with the Aam Aadmi Party’s decision
to join hands with the Congress to form the
government in Delhi.
“Where were his moralities when he joined
hands with the Congress to come to power in
Delhi?” Rudy said, putting out first of the five
questions.
And why there was no case registered against
former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit whom
the AAP accused of corruption, Rudy asked.
Kejriwal was also asked to explain why he took
police security after denying it initially, and why
his government asked for SUVs.
“How come comforts of life have caught on him
so heavily, people of Delhi would like to have an
answer,” Rudy said.
Mentioning that Kejriwal criticised politicians
flying in chartered planes during the Lok Sabha
polls, Rudy asked why did the AAP chief himself
take a chartered plane on his way from Gujarat.
“We are asking these questions because this
identity of a common man he (Kejriwal) created
for himself is based on lies,” he said.
Delhi’s Chief Electoral Officer has
issued instructions to all district
electoral officers-cum-district
magistrates to ensure prohibition
of smoking at polling booths
A supporter holds a party flag as he shouts slogans during an election rally ahead of the Delhi
Assembly elections, in New Delhi.
— AFP
The BJP on Thursday said it will not issue
a manifesto for next month’s Delhi assembly
elections but a vision document which will be
released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and
the party’s chief ministerial candidate, Kiran Bedi.
“The BJP will not have a manifesto for Delhi.
We will have a vision document which will be
released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and
Kiran Bedi,” senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
leader Ananth Kumar told the media here.
He informed that Modi will address four rallies
in the capital tomorrow, February 1, February 3
and February 4.
According to informed sources, BJP President
Amit Shah would review the campaigning on a
daily basis, and also take in to account the response
garnered.
Sources added that 12 MPs would be
campaigning for the upcoming polls and 250
public meetings would be held in the next seven
to eight days across the 70 assembly constituencies.
Ananth Kumar also said that in each seat, more
than 1,000 party posters would be put up.
“We will do all that it takes, and win by a twothird majority,” he said.
Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay added that
every day till February 6, the party will ask five
questions to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief
Arvind Kejriwal.
Delhi goes to polls on February 7 and counting
would be held on February 10.
Meanwhile, the BJP on Thursday asked AAP
chief Arvind Kejriwal why did he take support
from the Congress to form the government and
why did he ask for facilities after denying them
initially. BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy said his
party will ask Kejriwal five questions every day till
February 6, starting with the Aam Aadmi Party’s
decision to join hands with the Congress to form
the government in Delhi.
Meanwhile, all polling booths for the February
7 assembly election in the national capital would be
no-smoking zones, it was announced on Thursday.
Delhi’s Chief Electoral Officer has issued
instructions to all district electoral officers-cumdistrict magistrates to ensure prohibition of
smoking at polling booths.
The district electoral officers have also been
asked to display signs outside polling booths
informing voters about the no-smoking rule.
The order issued to the district election officers
of all the nine districts of the NCT of Delhi, said:
“As per provisions contained in handbook for
presiding officers 2014 issued by the Election
Commission, smoking inside polling station is
prohibited.
Human Resource Development Minister
Smriti Irani, External Affairs Minister Sushma
Swaraj — who is a former Delhi chief minister,
Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan
— the chief ministerial candidate in the 2013 polls
— have already hit the campaign trail addressing
numerous public meetings all over Delhi.
Chief Ministers Manohar Lal Khattar
(Haryana) and Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya
Pradesh) are also campaigning for the party and its
chief ministerial candidate in Delhi.
Both Sushma Swaraj and Chouhan addressed
two rallies Thursday, while Irani interacted with
people in four assembly segments.
Sources added that discussions were held on
the rallies that will be taking place in the future,
especially those to be addressed by Modi and Bedi.
The BJP also announced that it would put up
five questions for Kejriwal every day till February
5. On Thursday, the BJP tried to corner the AAP
by asking why did Kejriwal take support from the
Congress to form the government and why did he
ask for facilities after denying them initially.
— IANS
Jaishankar takes over as Kuwaiti govt to be approached
foreign secretary
for stranded Keralite nurses
NEW DELHI: S Jaishankar, India’s
envoy to the US who was seen as having
played a catalytic role in the turnaround
in bilateral ties, on Thursday assumed
charge as India’s foreign secretary.
The Congress, however, questioned
the government decision to “curtail the
tenure” of his predecessor Sujatha Singh
and demanded an explanation for the
abrupt change.
The government on Wednesday
night appointed Jaishankar, an Indian
Foreign Service officer of the 1977
batch, as the new foreign secretary.
The
cabinet’s
Appointments
Committee, headed by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, decided to “curtail
the tenure” of singh “with immediate
effect”. The surprise announcement
came a day after US President Barack
Obama wound up his three-day state
visit during which India and the US saw
a breakthrough announcement on the
stalled civil nuclear deal.
R A K SINGH
The Congress questioned the
government’s decision, linking it to the
visit of the US president and Singh’s
stand on the Devyani Khobragade issue.
“Foreign secretary is head of
foreign services... before you start
gerrymandering
with
seniority
and fixed tenure, you need to very
categorically explain as to what is the
reason doing so,” Congress leader
Manish Tewari said.
“The decision coming as it does two
days after the US president’s visit...
— IANS
NEW DELHI: India has decided to
approach the Kuwait government seeking
the latter’s help for over 300 nurses from
Kerala, stranded there without any job
or regular income due to “machinations
and foul play” of some unscrupulous
Indian recruitment agencies.
A senior External Affairs Ministry
official said the Union government
has decided to approach the Kuwait
government after the Kerala government
apprised it of the plight of the stranded
nurses in Kuwait.
In a letter to External Affairs Minister
Sushma Swaraj, Kerala Minister for
Culture and Non Resident Keralites
Affairs K C Joseph said a large number
of nurses from the state recruited by
various agencies were now practically
stranded in Kuwait as they were not
given employment as per the terms and
agreement.
More than 300 nurses have got
stranded in Kuwait without job and
income, said Joseph in his letter adding
that this situation has arisen “due to the
foul play by the unscrupulous recruiting
agencies.”
The Kerala minister also told in his
letter that the nurses had paid substantial
amount to recruitment agencies for
getting the visa from Kuwait.
Seeking the Union government’s help
to extricate the state nurses from the
mess that they have landed themselves
in, Joseph also pleaded with the Centre
to explore the possibility of finding jobs
for these nurses in the vacancies that
exist in Kuwait Health and Education
Ministries to avoid their repatriation.
Ironically, the discovery that over
300 Kerala nurses have fallen prey
to machinations of the recruitment
agencies operating in India have
thrown a new challenge for the Indian
government to save the interests of wellqualified professionals like nurses, who
have allowed themselves to be tricked in
by unscrupulous agents.
The EAM officials pointed out that
the cases of well-qualified, skilled and
informed professionals like nurses
happen to be different from those of
blue-collar workers, who end up getting
duped by Indian employment agencies
due to their ignorance despite the
government having a well-meaning and
efficient set of rules and regulations for
the job seekers abroad.
The officials said to ensure that lowskilled Indian workers seeking jobs
abroad don’t get duped, the government
provide them Emigration-clearancerequired passports only, which require
emigration clearances from the Protector
of Emigrants offices for their visits to
either of the 18 ECR countries in Middle
East.
This year’s ceremony was exceptional as 20 of the 23 tunes were played by Indian composers
Beating Retreat attempts Indian-Western blend
NEW DELHI: On a sunny evening, under a clear
blue sky, with a bracing breeze fluttering the tricolour,
1,000 bandsmen of the Indian armed forces brought
music alive on Thursday at the Beating Retreat
ceremony which brings the curtain down on the
four-day Republic Day celebrations.
Over time, there have been innumerable changes
in the selection of music for the occasion but this
year’s ceremony was exceptional in that 20 of the 23
tunes were by Indian composers and here lies the
rub: Not all the tunes could be classified as marches
and to that extent, they took away much of the
military aspect.
Thus, while debutants “Vir Bharat”, “Chhana
Bilauri”, “Jai Janam Bhumi” and “Athulya Bharat”
were rousing enough and served their purpose,
“Anandloke” sounded more like a lullaby than the
slow march it was supposed to be.
Then, the “Dashing Desh” fusion began with a
lone flute and with clarinets, bassoons, saxophones,
trumpets and drums joining in before yielding to the
flute — a work more appropriate for a concert hall
than for the grand Vijay Chowk square at the foot of
the Raisina Hill where the Beating Retreat ceremony
is held. Then, “Glorious India” opened as fanfares
should but then went into what could be loosely
called a dance number.
What did work was the experimental “Salaam to
the Soldiers” slow march, interspersed with strains
of “Aae Mere Watan ke Logon”. Still, this is not to
detract from the magnificence of the hour-long
ceremony, which began with the arrival in state
of President Pranab Mukherjee, to be received by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister
Manohar Parrikar, his deputy Rao Inderjit Singh and
the three service chiefs.
The massed bands then made their entry with a
soul-stirring version of “Deshon Ka Sartaj Bharat”
that never fails to bring on the goose pimples.
At the bottom line, the Beating Retreat ceremony
is about more than just music — while this is its
raison d’etre. There’s the precision marching, the
intricate patterns created and the precise timing, with
much of the music being played without a conductor.
The other fascinating feature of the ceremony
is that the bulk of the bandsmen would have been
village lads when they signed up and would perhaps
never have seen a musical instrument barring
perhaps a flute made out of a reed.
Marching bands from Army, Navy and Air Force march during the Beating Retreat ceremony in New Delhi.
Such is the expertise of the armed forces that they
are not only able to hone these lads into soldiers but
also expert musicians.
And then, there were the uniforms.
While the Indian Army’s bandsmen were in
olive green or black trousers and white anklets, their
tunics dazzled in a range of colours from red to olive
green to orange to purple — and with gold-trimmed
matching headgear and waistbands.
In contrast, the musicians from the Indian
Navy and the Indian Air Force were elegant in
their simplicity — the former in black tunics and
trousers, white anklets and caps and black and white
waistbands and the latter similarly in blue.
By now, the sun was slowly going down, bathing
the sky in bright orange and this was the cue for the
mass bands to advance for one last time.
Major Girish Kumar U, the principal conductor
of the ceremony, led the bandsmen through the
eternally haunting “Abide With Me”, favourite of
Mahatma Gandhi with the bells in the belfry of the
North Block etching out the theme before returning
it to the massed bands.
Major Girish Kumar sought the president’s
permission to conclude the ceremony, the Retreat
was sounded, the tricolour was lowered — by a
woman officer — and the bands exited — to what else
but “Saare Jahan Se Aacha”. The last of the bandsmen
had barely crested the hills when tens of thousands
of bulbs on Rashtrapati Bhavan, the North and South
Blocks that flank it, Parliament House, Rail Bhavan
and Air Headquarters came alight, bathing the scene
with an ethereal beauty.
— IANS
KERALA BUDGET
‘Mani will not
be allowed to
present budget’
T H I RU VA NA N T HA P U R A M :
Kerala’s Leader of Opposition V S
Achuthanandan on Thursday asserted
Finance Minister K M Mani, who
faces allegations of corruption, will not
be allowed to present the budget this
year. “You wait and see, he will not be
allowed to present it,” Achuthanandan
told reporters here.
The Oommen Chandy government
has made it clear that Mani will be
presenting the 2015-16 budget.
Asked if preventing Mani from
presenting the budget would not
be against democratic traditions,
Achuthanandan shot back: “Let it be,
you can wait and see.”
Mani is facing the heat after bar
owner Biju Ramesh alleged the
minister was given Rs 1 crore as the
first instalment of the Rs 5 crore he
demanded to help reopen bars in the
state. Achuthanandan had earlier said
that Mani will not be allowed entry
to the assembly when the upcoming
session commences.
Mani, who turns 82 on Friday has
also gone on record that he will be
presenting the budget, come what
may. He has already started work and
begun wide-ranging consultations
with various organisations and people.
Pillai warns CM
T H I RU VA NA N T HA P U R A M :
Senior UDF leader R Balakrishna
Pillai, who has an estranged relation
with the Congress leadership, on
Thursday, asked Chief Minister
Oommen Chandy to correct himself
before preaching others to mend their
ways.
The other day, the UDF coordination committee had asked Pillai
to stop troubling the government. Pillai
was kept away from the meeting after
he supported the corruption charges
raised against Finance Minister K M
Mani.
Reacting to the UDF decision to
put him on “probation”, Pillai said let
Chandy correct himself. “Chandy is
protecting the corrupt ministers. Two
years back, I had brought to Chandy’s
notice about a minister indulging in
corruption. When I had written to him
twice on that minister’s corruption,
Chandy should have probed into it.
Instead, he rejected my allegations
with contempt.
Let Chandy and UDF correct their
stand at first,” said Pillai.
— IANS
EMERGENCY TALKS
Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter
Steinmeier arrives for an emergency
foreign affairs council at the European
Council headquarters in Brussels,
yesterday. EU foreign Ministers are
gathering in an emergency meeting in
Brussels to address the latest wave of
fighting in Ukraine.
— AFP
NEW COUTURE CREATIONS
EU to expand sanctions as
new Ukraine talks loom
FRESH TRUCE: Gorbachev warns the new Cold War turning into
a ‘hot’ armed conflict between Moscow and the West
The relative of a reservist called up to participate in the fighting in the east of
Ukraine, cries during the ceremony at one of the recruiting offices in Kiev.
BRUSSELS: The EU prepared on
Thursday to expand sanctions against
Russia as Ukraine’s warring parties
announced fresh truce talks after a surge
in fighting between Kiev and Kremlinbacked rebels.
Former Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev warned meanwhile that
the threat of further sanctions risked
turning the new Cold War into a “hot”
armed conflict between Moscow and
the West with global repercussions.
F R I DAY l J A N U A R Y 3 0 l 2 0 1 5
A model presents a
creation by Stephanie
Coudert during the 2015
Haute Couture SpringSummer collection fashion
show yesterday in Paris.
Milan Expo fair officials
say they are heightening
security following terror
attacks in Paris.
During talks in Brussels, EU foreign
ministers looked set to overcome
opposition from Greece’s new radical
government and add to a blacklist of
individuals who face travel bans and
asset freezes over the conflict.
“We are going to reinforce the
sanctions that target the separatists and
those who support them, including
in Russia,” France’s European affairs
minister Harlem Desir told reporters.
European Union leaders ordered
ministers to discuss new sanctions
after fresh fighting in the key port city
of Mariupol that threatened to turn the
nine-month conflict in eastern Ukraine
into all-out war.
Ministers may recommend extending
through to September sanctions initially
imposed on Russian and Ukraine figures
after Moscow annexed Crimea in March
2014, according to a draft document
seen by AFP.
They could also examine the
possibility of widening much tougher
sectoral measures hurting the Russian
economy which were introduced after
the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines
flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in
July.
EU diplomatic chief Federica
Mogherini said she would “work to keep
our unity and exercise the maximum
of pressure to stop the fighting and to
reach a ceasefire.”
Kiev and local officials said six
civilians and five Ukrainian soldiers
were killed in the last 24 hours, adding
to the UN’s confirmed death toll of
5,100 for the conflict in the former
Soviet state.
The West says Russian forces are in
Ukraine supporting the rebels, a charge
the Kremlin denies, and has urged
Moscow repeatedly to respect the terms
of a peace deal signed in the Belarussian
capital Minsk in September.
— AFP
Kiir and rebel leader Machar meets in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa
WORLD
7 dead in blast at Mexican UK GOVERNMENT
Data from
children’s hospital
MEXICO CITY: At least four babies
and three adults were killed, and
scores of people injured, when a gas
truck exploded at a children’s hospital
in Mexico City on Thursday, the
authorities said.
Rescue efforts were ongoing.
It was expected more victims
would be found in the rubble.
“We are searching for potential
victims,” said Mexico City Mayor
Miguel Angel Mancera.
Adrian Rubalcava, head of the
Mexico City district of Cuajimalpa,
where the hospital is located,
confirmed the latest death toll in an
interview with MVS Radio.
Mancera said 58 people had been
hospitalized in connection with this
incident.
“The situation is under control, but
it remains serious,” Rubalcava said.
Some of the injured suffered burns,
while others were hurt by rubble or
broken glass in the blast.
“I would like to express my sadness
and solidarity to the injured and
the families of those who lost their
lives this morning at the Children’s
Hospital in Cuajimalpa,” Mexican
President Enrique Pena Nieto stated
on Twitter. The blast happened when
a truck was supplying the hospital
with gas.
A punctured gas pipe is believed
to have led to the explosion, Mancera
said. Firefighters brought the fire that
followed under control.
A search with dogs was ongoing for
further victims.
About a third of the hospital
collapsed.
initially expected on Friday, were
postponed until an African Union
summit opening on Friday in Addis
Ababa ends on Saturday.
Machar, asked by AFP if there had
been progress as talks broke on Thursday,
replied only: “Not yet.”
South Sudan Foreign Minster Barnaba
Marial Benjamin said that peace does not
come “in an hour”, and that negotiations
would continue.
The rivals last met earlier this month
in Tanzania, where they signed a sixth
ceasefire deal within a year, and also
promised to “make a public apology to
the people of South Sudan for what has
happened” since war broke in December
2013.
Since then, fighting has continued
and diplomats have been growing
increasingly impatient with the peace
talks held in luxury hotels, with delegates
accused of being out of touch with the
suffering back home.
The country divided along ethnic lines
and set off a cycle of retaliatory battles and
massacres across the country that have
left tens of thousands dead and pushed
the country to the brink of famine.
All previous agreements to end more
than a year of violence — marked by
massacres, gang rape and child soldier
recruitment — collapsed within days if
not hours.
Rebel military spokesman Lul Ruai
Koang said in a statement on Thursday
that government troops were advancing
in eastern Jonglei state.
He also warned that the rebel force
would create “the largest mass grave” for
any troops who continued attacking.
— AFP
PROTEST FOR A CAUSE
People chant anti-government slogans outside the cemetery where late prosecutor Alberto Nisman was being buried, in
Buenos Aires, Argentina.
— AP
The areas devoted to the Emergency
Room and the nursery were worst hit
by the blast, the civil protection office
reported.
In Mexico, most buildings get gas
from so-called “pipas,” trucks that
carry gas door to door and recharge
gas tanks.
The explosion sent a column of
smoke billowing over the area on the
western edge of Mexico’s capital and
television images showed much of the
hospital collapsed, with firefighters
trying to extinguish fires.
Mancera said the heaviest damage
was near the hospital’s loading dock.
Mancera said the blast apparently was
caused by a leak in the hose carrying
gas from the truck to the hospital,
which is operated by the city.
“There was a super explosion and
everything caught on fire,” said Ismael
Garcia, 27, who lives a block from the
hospital.
Garcia ran toward the hospital
where the truck had exploded and
was told it had been connecting to the
kitchen when the explosion occurred.
Garcia and others entered the hospital
and made their way to the nursery.
“Fortunately, we were able to get
eight babies out,” he said. Rubalcava
said the injured were being taken to
a nearby hospital, but the area had
insufficient ambulances.
Rafael Gonzalez of the Red Cross
said one 38-year-old woman was stable
in their hospital in Polanco while a
27-year-old man who had initially
been taken there was transferred
again with burns over 90 per cent of
his body.
— AP
police killings
probes lost
in mail
LONDON: Copies of files from three
judge-led inquiries — two of them into
killings by police — have been lost in
the mail, the British government said
on Thursday.
The Justice Ministry said two discs
containing documents were reported
missing on January 8, “having been
dispatched by post.”
It said “intensive searches” had
failed to find them. The ministry said
lawyers were reviewing the documents
to determine whether they contain
sensitive or classified material, such as
the personal details of police officers
involved in shootings.
Some of the documents relate to
now-concluded inquiries into the fatal
shootings by London police of two
men — Azelle Rodney in 2005 and
Mark Duggan in 2011.
Duggan’s death sparked several
nights of rioting across England. The
third inquiry is looking at the 1997
death of Robert Hamill, a Roman
Catholic man from Northern Ireland
killed by a group of Protestants.
The justice ministry said it had no
evidence to suggest the information
was lost through “malicious intent,”
but was taking the security breach
seriously. “The government has
undertaken urgent investigations into
how this incident was able to happen,”
it said in a statement.
— Reuters
AROUND THE GLOBE
Man faces execution for strangling death
S Sudan rivals meet for peace talks
ADDIS ABABA: South Sudan’s president
and rebel leader met on Thursday for
the latest round of peace talks mediated
by East African leaders aimed at ending
their 13-month-old civil war.
President Salva Kiir and rebel leader
Riek Machar, whose rival armies continue
to clash met face-to-face, met alongside
presidents from the East African regional
IGAD bloc in the Ethiopian capital Addis
Ababa.
Kiir “is doing his duties trying to
restore peace”, his spokesman Ateny Wek
Ateny said, dismissing reports Kiir was
unable to attend talks because he had
been sick.
“The meeting... was aimed at
narrowing the gap in the negotiations in
an attempt to arrive at finding a peaceful
solution,” Ateny added.
But full talks with regional leaders,
5
Ex-minister
indicted for
money-laundering
BUCHAREST: Prosecutors have
indicted a former presidential
candidate, who was one of Romania’s
most influential politicians in recent
years, on suspicion of moneylaundering and making false
statements.
Anti-corruption prosecutors
questioned Elena Udrea on Thursday
on suspicion that she failed to declare
money she received in 2010 from
her then-husband, as she is legally
required to do as a lawmaker.
Udrea, who has previously denied
wrongdoing in her finances, declined
comment after more than four hours
of questioning, telling reporters to
address her former husband Dorin
Cocos, who was arrested in October
on charges of taking a bribe of 9
million euros ($10.1 million). A dozen
people gathered outside the anticorruption office yelling “Shame on
you!” as she left.
A former tourism minister, Udrea,
41, gained notoriety due to her close
relationship with Traian Basescu,
president from 2004 to 2014.
Basescu supported Udrea’s bid
for the presidency in November’s
elections, where she came fourth.
He indicated he would join her
Popular Movement Party once he left
office, but eventually did not.
She was the president of the
People’s Movement Party (PMP), she
has been a member of the Romanian
Chamber of Deputies since 2008.
In successive Emil Boc cabinets, she
served as Tourism Minister from 2008
to 2009 and as Regional Development
and Tourism Minister from 2009 to
2012.
HUNTSVILLE: The US Supreme Court was considering appeals intended to prevent
the execution on Thursday of a convicted killer who strangled a woman in Texas and
beat her with a hammer before setting her body on fire nearly two decades ago.
Attorneys for Robert Ladd argued that he’s ineligible for the death penalty because
he is mentally disabled. He also was part of a separate lawsuit before the court that
questioned the potency of pentobarbital, a sedative used in Texas executions.
Ladd, 57, would be the second Texas inmate executed this year in the nation’s most
active death penalty state. Ladd came within hours of lethal injection in 2003 before
a federal court agreed to hear evidence about juvenile records that suggested he was
mentally impaired. That appeal was denied and the Supreme Court last year turned
down a review of Ladd’s case.
His attorneys renewed similar arguments as his execution date approached. “Ladd’s
deficits are well documented, debilitating and significant,” Brian Stull, a senior staff
lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union Capital Punishment Project, told the
high court. Kelli Weaver, a Texas attorney general, reminded the justices in a filing
that “each court that has reviewed Ladd’s claim has determined that Ladd is not
intellectually disabled.”
— AP
Some 800 shopping bags made of plastic sewed together in the shape of a
fish are laid out by environmental activist group Greenpeace, in a protest
against the pollution of oceans by plastic, in a street in Vienna.
— AFP
Army in new offensive against Rwanda rebels
DR CONGO: The army in the Democratic Republic of Congo announced on Thursday a
fresh offensive against Rwandan ethnic Hutu rebels after weeks of heavy international
pressure to act.
But the military operation was being conducted without the assistance of the UN
mission in the troubled central African country.
“Today we’re launching new operations against the FDLR (Democratic Forces for
the Liberation of Rwanda),” General Didier Etumba said in Beni, in the north of North
Kivu province.
“This is an operation by the FARDC (DRC Armed Forces),” Etumba said, rather than a
joint offensive with a special UN brigade deployed in the country.
“This is not a joint FARDC-MONUSCO operation,” confirmed razilian General Carlos
Alberto dos Santos Cruz, commander of the military force in the UN mission in Congo
(MONUSCO).
The Kinshasa government and the international community gave the FDLR rebels
an ultimatum to lay down their arms and surrender by January 2 or face attacks and
forcible disarmament.
The rebel movement failed to respond.
— AFP
6
EUROPE
omandailyobserver
F R I DAY
JANUARY 30 l 2015
No waiver for Greece, maybe more time to pay debts
GREAT EXPECTATIONS: France sees mediation role between Athens, EU * Greek debt renegotiation ‘on the table’, says Sapin
PARIS: Greece could be given more time to pay
off its debt if it keeps its budget in balance and
maintains promised reforms, French officials
said on Thursday.
In a series of statements spelling out
Paris’s position days before talks with the new
government of Alexis Tsipras, senior French
officials ruled out any prospect of an outright
cancellation of Greek debt.
“Cancelling the debt is an aberration, a
renegotiation is on the table,” Finance Minister
Michel Sapin told French daily Liberation in an
interview posted on its website.
“There are a whole number of technical
options up for discussion. But careful: all that
depends on the commitments to reform that
Greece will make,” he added.
He did not elaborate on the scope of any renegotiation. Earlier, European Affairs Minister
Harlem Desir, a junior-ranking minister in the
government, told LCI television any discussions
could also cover the time frame of repayment.
Athens targeted a general government
primary budget surplus of 1.8 per cent of gross
domestic product in 2014 and Sapin said staying
in surplus could not be compromised.
“Since 2013, spending has been balanced by
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (R) and European Parliament President Martin Schulz share a joke
revenues... It is out of the question to allow the outside the Greek Premier’s office in Athens.
— Reuters
Renzi backs constitutional
court judge for presidency
ROME:
Sergio
Mattarella,
a
constitutional court judge who served
as a Christian Democrat minister,
is the lead candidate in Italian
presidential elections due to kick off
on Thursday.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi
rallied his centre-left Democratic
Party (PD) around the 73-year-old
Mattarella. However, conservatives led
by former premier Silvio Berlusconi
oppose his candidature, rendering the
election outcome uncertain.
“Sergio Mattarella stands for the
rule of law, for the fight against the
Mafia, and for politics with a capital ‘P’,
” Renzi said at a preparatory meeting
where PD lawmakers unanimously
backed the presidential candidate.
Mattarella entered politics in 1983,
three years after his brother Piersanti,
governor of Sicily, was killed by the
Mafia. He hails from a family of
politicians, as his father was also a
prominent Christian Democrat.
More than 1,000 national and
regional lawmakers were due to start
voting on the new president at 3 pm
(1400 GMT).
The first three rounds — due to
take place on Thursday and Friday
— are expected to be inconclusive,
because a winning candidate needs
to clear a two-thirds majority. In the
subsequent rounds, the requirement
falls to a simple 50-per-cent-plus-one
majority.
“I feel very optimistic that we
will resolve the election very rapidly,
presumably by the weekend, starting
from the fourth ballot,” PD lawmaker
Conservatives led by former
premier Silvio Berlusconi
oppose candidature of
Sergio, rendering the
election outcome
uncertain
Laura Garavini said.
Even without Berlusconi and his
allies, a coalition comprising the PD,
a leftist opposition party and renegade
members of the anti-establishment
Five Star Movement (M5S) would be
able to clear a 50-per cent majority in
favour of Mattarella.
Lawmakers cast ballots on
Thursday for a new Italian president
in a vote testing Premier Matteo
Renzi’s ability to rally his divided party
behind his reform agenda and a single
candidate who is also agreeable to expremier Silvio Berlusconi. Polling was
expected to last at least until Friday
or Saturday since the threshold slips
from a two-thirds majority to a simple
majority after three rounds of voting.
The Italian president is a largely
ceremonial figure with no political
role, but he has powers to dissolve
Parliament, call new elections and tap
a candidate to form a new government,
thus playing a crucial role in resolving
Italy’s not-infrequent political crises.
Two years ago, President Giorgio
Napolitano
reluctantly
accepted
an unprecedented second term
after lawmakers couldn’t agree on a
successor.
— AFP
Greek budget to go out of balance again and spin
off into a spiral of deficit,” he said.
Asked whether he excluded any possibility of
Greece leaving the euro zone, Sapin said: “Totally.
No one wants an exit, not Greece, not the other
members of the euro zone.”
Paris, which will host a visit by new Greek
Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis on Monday,
has said it wants to facilitate talks between the
new anti-bailout government in Athens and its
European partners.
Sapin’s comments were in line with those
of Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron,
who earlier told reporters Greece would get
“no specific waiver” due to the change in its
government.
“Greece has commitments with the euro zone
and it must respect them,” he said, pointing to
the fact that other euro zone countries including
France were exposed to Greek debt.
But Macron also said there would be
negotiations, adding that Europe must hear the
message from Greek voters, which have put in
government parties opposed to the austerity that
came with the bailouts which saved the country
from bankruptcy.
“We must step away from this ‘religious war’
between Europe’s North and South where the
former keep on blaming those in the South for
the errors of the past and the indebtedness, and
the latter say that all that (the debts) is in the past
and must be forgotten,” he said.
Meanwhile, European Parliament’s president
arrived in Athens on Thursday for a visit closely
watched for signs of a potential clash between
Greece’s new left-wing government and its
bailout lenders.
Martin Schulz is the first European Union
official to meet Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras,
whose new Cabinet alarmed the Greek stock
market on Wednesday with promises to renege
on a series of key budget commitments made
by previous administrations in exchange for 240
billion euros in rescue loans. Schulz will meet
government and opposition officials a day ahead
of Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the chairman of euro
zone finance meetings.
On Wednesday, incoming ministers
announced they would scrap several major
privatisations, restore the minimum wage to
previous levels and rehire some suspended public
workers.
All were budget cuts demanded by bailout
creditors — other euro zone countries and the
International Monetary Fund.
— Agencies
Snow causes travel havoc
in northern England
MANCHESTER: Heavy snowfall
forced Britain’s Manchester Airport to
suspend flights and shut down roads
and train lines across northern and
western England on Thursday, with
weather officials issuing an amber “be
prepared” warning.
Dozens of schools in the northern
English region of Cumbria and in
Northern Ireland were shut, bus services
in the English city of Sheffield were hit
and mobile phone operator EE said
there was a loss of coverage in affected
areas.
“We have currently suspended all
departures and arrivals for a short
period of time, whilst we are in the
process of clearing both runways,”
Manchester Airport tweeted.
Prime Minister David Cameron
urged Britons to heed weather alerts
and said he had requested an update
from the government on “heavy snow
contingency plans” as the wintry blast is
expected to continue.
Heavy
snow
and
galeforce winds have caused major
disruption to travellers across the UK,
with flights delayed, cross-channel
ferries suspended and motorists
stranded.
The freezing weather also brought
treacherous conditions to roads, with
many motorists in Sheffield forced to
abandon their cars overnight after snow
left roads impassable.
Bulgaria extradites
man suspected of
link to attacks
PARIS: A judicial official says a
Frenchman wanted in connection
with deadly terrorist attacks in Paris
has been extradited from Bulgaria to
France, where he is facing charges of
links to terrorism.
Fritz-Joly Joachin was arrested on
January 1 on an unrelated warrant
while trying to cross from Bulgaria
into Turkey. French police say that
Joachin, 19, was an associate of the
Kouachi brothers, who killed 12
people in an attack on January 7
against newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
Joachin is accused of participating
in an organised crime group with a
terrorist aim, and links to a network
feeding fighters to Syria.
The official said he arrived in
France on Thursday, and is expected
to appear before a judge imminently.
The official spoke on condition of
anonymity because of the sensitivity
of the investigation.
EU tourism
hits record
in 2014
Passenger aircraft apparatus stands covered in snow at Manchester Airport as staff work to recommence flights, which had
been suspended due to heavy snowfall, in Manchester, northern England.
— AFP
10,000 children orphaned, 5 million miss out on education * Lowest number of cases since June
Weekly Ebola cases below 100, WHO says endgame begins
Afshan Khan, Director of the Office of Emergency Programs
Unicef, , speaks during a press conference at the European
headquarters of the United Nations, in Geneva.
— AP
IN BRIEF
GENEVA: The number of new confirmed Ebola
cases totalled 99 in the week to January 25, the
lowest tally since June 2014, the World Health
Organization said on Thursday, signalling the
tide might have turned against the epidemic.
“The response to the EVD (Ebola virus
disease) epidemic has now moved to a
second phase, as the focus shifts from slowing
transmission to ending the epidemic,” the WHO
said.
“To achieve this goal as quickly as possible,
efforts have moved from rapidly building
infrastructure to ensuring that capacity for case
finding, case management, safe burials, and
community engagement is used as effectively as
possible.”
The outbreak has killed 8,810 people out of
22,092 known cases, almost all of them in Sierra
Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
Cases and deaths have fallen rapidly in
Liberia and Sierra Leone in the past few weeks,
with just 20 deaths recorded in Liberia in the 21
days to January. 25.
But Guinea reported 30 confirmed cases in
the latest week, up from 20 in the previous week.
The outbreak has killed 8,810
people out of 22,092 known
cases, almost all of them in Sierra
Leone, Liberia and Guinea
The epidemic is also still spreading
geographically there, with a first confirmed case
in Guinea’s Mali prefecture bordering Senegal,
which reopened its border with Guinea on
Monday.
A resurgence of the virus in Guinea, where
the outbreak began, would threaten President
Alpha Conde’s goal of eradicating Ebola from
the country by early March.
“It is too early to declare a success or a
deadline for success,” Dr Peter Salama, global
Ebola emergency coordinator for the UN
Children’s Fund (Unicef), told a news briefing.
“Our work is far from over. During the course
of this outbreak, we have repeatedly underestimated this pathogen.
“We now have a time-limited window of
opportunity to eliminate the virus, by April or
May the rains will set in West Africa, limiting
our access and our ability to find cases and trace
their contacts,” he said.
Some 10,000 children have lost one or both
parents to the Ebola virus, while five million
children have been deprived of education,
Salama said at the press conference.
“Guinea reopened the schools last week,
Liberia will do so next week and Sierra Leone
won’t be far behind. It is a really important sign
of some semblance of a return to normalcy for
these societies,” he said.
Disease experts say that tracking down
everyone who has had close contact with an
Ebola patient is crucial to ending the outbreak.
But in dozens of remote villages in Guinea,
angry residents are blocking access for health
workers.
The most intense transmission in Guinea
is in Forecariah district, amid reports of “high
levels of community resistance to response
measures” in the area that is close to the border
with western Sierra Leone — the worst Ebola
hotspot.
— AP
BRUSSELS: The European Union
attracted a record number of tourists
in 2014, with visits to France leading
the bloc, official data showed on
Thursday.
Last year tourists spent 2.7 billion
nights in tourist accommodations
across the EU’s 28 countries, the
Eurostat data agency said, up 1.7 per
cent from 2013. France still came top
of the heap, with 403 million visitor
nights, but that was down 1.7 per cent
from last year.
Sun-soaked Spain moved ever
closer to dethroning France, up 3.1
per cent to 401 million nights. The
figures include both domestic and
international visitors.
Baltic nation Latvia saw the
biggest increase in tourism, up by 11
per cent, while Greece and Portugal
enjoyed solid recoveries after years of
weakness due to the euro zone debt
crisis.
Spain and Italy attracted the most
number of foreign tourists, the data
showed.
Meanwhile, European Union
interior ministers met in Riga to
finalise a counter-terrorism strategy
targeting weeks after the Paris terror
attacks that left 17 people dead.
The ministers recommend more
stringent controls on EU citizens
leaving and entering the Schengen
free travel zone, an air passenger
registry to check the movement
of suspected militants and fresh
cyber security measures aimed at
intercepting suspect traffic.
REGION
F R I DAY
JANUARY 30 l 2015
UN plans future
Libya talks
within country
GENEVA/TRIPOLI: Libya’s warring
factions who operate rival governments have agreed “in principle” to
move future nego\tiations on ending
the crisis from Geneva back to the
war-ravaged country, the United Nations said yesterday.
Some of the opposing factions met
in Geneva earlier this week under UN
auspices, but key representatives from
the Tripoli-based government stayed
away, demanding the dialogue be held
within Libya.
“There was agreement on the principle of convening future dialogue sessions in Libya, provided that logistical
and security conditions are available,”
the UN Mission for Libya (UNSMIL)
said in a statement after another round
of talks in Geneva.
It gave no date or venue.
Libya, in turmoil since a Natobacked revolt ousted Muammar
Gaddafi nearly four years ago, has two
rival governments and parliaments,
each backed by armed factions which
Western governments fear are dragging the oil-producing nation into
full-blown civil war.
Underlining the precarious security situation, heavily armed gunmen
on Wednesday stormed a luxury hotel
in Tripoli, killing at least nine people,
including foreigners, before blowing
themselves up with a grenade.
Libya’s internationally-recognised
government under Prime Minister
Abdullah al Thinni and its elected
House of Representatives are now
based in the east of the country after
a group called Libya Dawn seized
Tripoli last summer, set up its own
administration and reinstated the old
parliament.
The Tripoli-based parliament, the
General National Congress (GNC),
welcomed the Geneva statement and
said it would end a boycott of the negotiations declared after Thinni’s forces seized a central bank branch in the
eastern city of Benghazi.
Thinni’s government said it was
only “securing” the bank, which controls vital oil revenues.
— Reuters
IS blows up nine
palaces in Tikrit
BAGHDAD: IS militants yesterday
blew up nine luxurious palaces of
former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein
in his hometown of Tikrit, a security
source said.
The militants planted bombs in
the palaces and detonated them, the
source said.
There were a total of 76 palaces,
smaller villas, artificial lakes and date
orchards, most of which were built by
the Tigris river, stretching from northern Tikrit, some 170 km north of Iraq’s
capital Baghdad, to Saddam’s village of
Awja, some 12 km south of the city.
After the US-led invasion in 2003,
occupation forces operated from
former presidential sites before they
handed them over to Iraqi authorities
who then used these as government offices and military bases.
— IANS
SELF-DEFENCE TECHNIQUES
7
Israel, Hizbullah signal
their flare-up is over
Palestinian youths jump through rings of fire during a military-style graduation ceremony in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza
Strip yesterday.
— Reuters
Yemen rebels seize army
base outside capital
DEEPENING TURMOIL: Anti-Houthi demonstrations erupt in
Sanaa, Hodeida and Taiz; Talks to end crisis likely today
SANAA: Yemen’s rebels took over a key
military base south of Sanaa where US
advisers had previously trained counterterrorism forces, officials said yesterday.
Military officials said the Republican Guard camp captured was used by
American experts until 2012 to train local forces battling powerful armed group.
The rebels, known as Houthis, have
seized a number of key military facilities
in recent days, including the headquarters of the paramilitary special forces.
Last week the rebels put President
Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and his
Cabinet under house arrest, escalating a prolonged power struggle. The officials resigned in response, and Prime
Minister Khaled Baha yesterday said his
resignation was “irreversible” according
to a statement posted on his Facebook
account.
Baha expressed his “extreme condemnation” over the Houthis’ “coup,” adding
that he had escaped an assassination attempt. He said he would refuse to serve
in a caretaker government.
Anti-Houthi demonstrations meanwhile erupted in Sanaa, with rebel forces
dispersing the protesters with batons
and shots fired in the air. Protesters attempted to break the Houthis’ siege on
the home of the minister of local administration but the rebels forcibly drove the
crowd away.
Larger demonstrations were held
in the western port city of Hodeida —
which is controlled by the Houthis —
and Taiz, where scuffles broke out between demonstrators and rebels.
The camp captured yesterday was led
omandailyobserver
JERUSALEM/BEIRUT: Israel and
Hizbullah yesterday signalled their
rare flare-up in fighting across the Israel-Lebanon border was over, after the
guerrillas killed two Israeli troops in retaliation for a deadly air strike in Syria
last week.
Israel said it had received a message
from UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping
force in Lebanon, that Hizbullah was
not interested in further escalation.
In Beirut, a Lebanese source briefed
on the situation said that Israel informed Hizbullah via UNIFIL “that it
will make do with what happened yesterday and it does not want the battle to
expand”.
Asked on Israel’s Army Radio
whether Hizbullah had sought to de-escalate, Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon
said: “There are lines of coordination
between us and Lebanon via UNIFIL
and such a message was indeed received
from Lebanon.”
A salvo of Hizbullah guided missiles killed an Israeli infantry major
and a conscript soldier as they rode in
unmarked civilian vehicles along the
Lebanese border on Wednesday.
Israel then launched an artillery and
air barrage, and a Spanish peacekeeper
was killed.
Spain’s ambassador to the UN
blamed the Israeli fire for his death.
Israel said that its deputy foreign
minister met the ambassador to voice
regret at the death and promise an inquiry.
Wednesday’s clash was one of the
most serious on that border since 2006,
when Hizbullah and Israel fought a 34day war.
Quiet returned yesterday though
Lebanese media reported overflights by
Israeli air force drones.
Both sides appear to share an interest in avoiding further escalation.
Hizbullah, which fought Israel to a
standstill in 2006, is busy backing Damascus in Syria’s civil war.
It may also be mindful of the ruin
Israel has threatened to wreak on Lebanon should they again enter a full-on
conflict.
Israel is gearing up for a March 17
general election and gauging the costs
of its offensive on the Gaza Strip last
year against Palestinian gunmen, whose
arsenal is dwarfed by Hizbullah’s powerful long-range rockets.
The Lebanese government, of which
Hizbullah is a part, said in a statement
it was determined to keep stability in
southern Lebanon and to deny the “Israeli enemy the chance to drag Lebanon
to a wide confrontation”.
UNIFIL officials did not confirm or
deny passing messages between Israel
and Hizbullah.
UNIFIL says it has no contacts with
Hizbullah but its head of mission was in
close contact with Israel and the Lebanese government throughout the day.
The channel of communication “is
still open now and it is always open in
order to ask the parties to exercise maximum restraint”, spokesman Andrea Tenenti said.
— Reuters
Police officer arrested over
fatal shooting of child
Houthi fighters in army uniform secure an entrance to the presidential palace in
Sanaa yesterday.
— Reuters
by forces loyal to former president Ali
Abdullah Saleh.
The violence highlighted the volatility
in leaderless Yemen, after the president
resigned last week under pressure by the
rebels who had placed him under house
arrest and demanded a greater share of
power.
Witnesses say the rebels have detained several protesters and journalists,
and that around 10 people were lightly
wounded in the scuffles.
Yemeni newspaper Source Online
said that one of its journalists had been
taken by the Houthis but was later released.
The Houthis seized Sanaa in September and last week put the president,
prime minister and top Cabinet members under house arrest, leading to their
resignation.
Since then, demonstrations against
the Houthis have been held across the
country. The rebels detained around
a dozen protesters and journalists on
Monday, and opponents of the Houthis
have called for their release as a sign of
good faith.
On Wednesday, the leader of the
Houthis called for a “peaceful transfer of
power” after his forces released a presidential aide whose abduction had set in
motion a violent escalation that led to the
government’s resignation.
Houthi leader Abdel-Malek al Houthi
has called for a meeting to be held in
Sanaa today to work towards resolving political and security issues. He also
pledged to take a stand against “anarchists.”
ISTANBUL: Police in south-eastern
Turkey have arrested a fellow officer
who is accused of fatally shooting a
12-year-old boy this month, broadcaster CNN Turk reported yesterday.
The officer was arrested in the city
of Cizre, near the border with Syria, on
Wednesday night.
The city has been witnessing unrest
since late December, leading to seven
deaths.
The boy, identified as Nihat Kazanhan, was the second minor killed in the
violence. Nihat reportedly died of an
undisclosed head wound on January 14.
The exact cause of the wound remains unclear.
A video of Nihat purportedly being
Turkish soldiers monitor the border in Sanliurfa province, where IS militants control
the Syrian side of the gate.
— Reuters
Google, Facebook, Twitter and other companies urged to combat online terrorist propaganda
EU plans to step up fight against IS on Internet
RIGA: The EU yesterday called for
more help from Internet companies
to fight online terrorist propaganda
in the face of the terror attacks in
France.
Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told reporters in
Riga that the EU needs to deepen cooperation with the Internet industry
“and to strengthen the commitment
of social media platforms in order to
reduce illegal content online.”
Already before this month’s shooting massacres carried out by IS extremists in Paris, EU officials had been
reaching out to Google, Facebook,
Twitter and other companies to
discuss ways of removing extremist
IS group militants patrol in a commandeered Iraqi military vehicle in Fallujah, west of propaganda from the Internet. “We
Baghdad.
— AP are now taking this cooperation fur-
ther by deepening dialogue... in order
to develop concrete, workable solutions,” Avramopoulos said.
But policing the vast amount of
material posted on social media is a
major challenge. Google said that the
sheer volume on its YouTube website,
with about 300 hours of video material being uploaded every minute,
makes it tough to catch all terror-related content.
Groups like IS using online videos
as recruitment tools. In a rare speech
earlier this month, British domestic spy chief Andrew Parker said the
group’s skill at using social media
means it has been able to spread its
message to virtually every home in
Britain.
Omar Ramadan, head of the Radi-
shot was broadcast this week by Turkish
media outlets.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
had initially denied that police were involved in the boy’s death.
The unrest in Cizre in recent weeks
has involved supporters of the banned
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), rival
and security forces.
In October, about 40 people were
killed during unrest across Turkey’s
south-east, which is home to the country’s large Kurdish minority.
The clashes erupted amid anger over
the perceived failure of the Turkish government to aid Kurdish fighters battling
the IS militia in Kobane, in neighbouring northern Syria.
— dpa
calization Awareness Network, a European group tackling extremism,
said removing terror-related content
from the Internet wasn’t enough.
“If you’re only taking down content
and not worrying about the people
watching content, they will be searching for content elsewhere,” Ramadan
said on the sidelines of an EU interior
ministers’ meeting in Riga.
“We should prevent them from
searching such content by feeding them counter-narratives, telling
them that extremist propaganda is a
lie.” Security officials say more than
3,000 Europeans have gone to Syria to
join extremists there as foreign fighters, sparking worries they will bring
the battle home when they return.
— AP
Syria talks end
without results
MOSCOW: Representatives of Syrian
President Bashar al Assad and opposition figures have agreed to hold another round of talks in Moscow, moderator Vitaly Naumkin said yesterday, but
the date had not yet been set.
“It would have been naive to expect
that the sides would solve all problems
during their very first consultations,”
he said.
The talks between elements of the
Syrian opposition, but not including
the Western-backed National Coalition, and government representatives
began as a Russian initiative to revive
stalled peace efforts in the four-year
conflict.
Naumkin said the majority of participants agreed to a series of points
known as the Moscow principles
which include maintaining the sovereignty and unity of Syria, the rejection
of foreign interference and combating
terrorism.
— AFP
8
ANALYSIS
omandailyobserver
F R I DAY
JANUARY 30 l 2015
World’s largest Ebola unit shut as outbreak retreats
A
potent symbol of the nightmare enveloping west
Africa at the height of the Ebola outbreak, the
ELWA-3 treatment centre is being dismantled
and incinerated bit by bit as the region emerges
from catastrophe.
The largest Ebola unit ever built opened in
the Liberian capital Monrovia with 120 beds on
August 17 but was immediately overwhelmed,
with staff forced to turn patients away at its gates,
despite more than doubling its capacity.
Five months later to the day it registered no
patients at all for the first time, and staff this week
marked a drastic retreat of an epidemic which has
killed thousands by dismantling and burning the
first tent put up at the clinic.
“The number of cases has decreased significantly — we are down to five confirmed cases in
Liberia,” said Duncan Bell, the field coordinator
in Liberia for Medecins san Frontieres (MSF),
the medical aid charity at the forefront of treating victims of the outbreak. “In line with this development we think it was appropriate to reduce
the treatment centre. Today we have 60 beds and
at the end of February we hope to go down to
30 beds. This does not mean that we are closing
ELWA-3 — we are just reducing the capacity.”
“We still have the capacity to scale up to 120
He said the crisis had cost Liberia $93 milbeds within 24 hours if the need arises,” he added,
as staff carried wooden planks and canvas to a lion (82 million euros) in lost revenue, with the
large fire nearby. The worst outbreak of the virus key mining sector coming “to a grinding halt”.
in history has seen Liberia and its neighbours Bell said the downsizing of ELWA-3’s capacity
went hand in hand with a
Guinea and Sierra Leone regreduction in workers on the
ister almost 9,000 deaths in a
ground, noting that MSF
year. Soon after it opened, staff Five months on it regishad performed an “inat ELWA-3 were struggling to
tered no patients at all for staff
credible job”. MSF said in its
screen new arrivals, care for
latest crisis update on Monadmitted patients or safely re- the first time, and staff
day it was treating just two
move dead bodies and trans- this week marked a drasin ELWA-3, a huge
port them to the crematorium.
tic retreat of an epidemic patients
tented field clinic put up on
By the end of the year the
the grounds of a missionary
centre had taken in 1,826 pa- which has killed thouhospital.
tients, 1,225 of whom tested sands by dismantling
Those were among just
positive for Ebola and 498 of
and burning the first
over 50 patients at MSF’s
whom survived.
eight Ebola units across
But Liberia and its neigh- tent put up at the clinic,
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra
bours Sierra Leone and Guinea reports Zoom Dosso
Leone. The charity’s busiest
have reported huge progress
Ebola management centre is
on stemming the spread of
Ebola since the summer, when the joint tally was currently the Prince of Wales centre in Freetown,
with 30 patients as of January 24. Children trickseveral hundred new infections a week.
Liberian Commerce Minister Axel Addy told led back to school last week in Guinea, where the
reporters in Geneva on Monday that 12 of Libe- Ebola epidemic broke out in December 2013 and
ria’s 15 counties had reported no new cases, add- teaching is due to resume in neighbouring Liberia next week. Classrooms in both countries have
ing: “We’ve made a tremendous leap.”
been provided with health kits containing chlorine, thermometers and soap, while teams will
monitor students to detect possible infections.
Mali, which along with Senegal and Nigeria had
a minor Ebola scare, was able last week to declare
itself Ebola-free after 42 days without any new
cases. Senegal and Nigeria had previously already
done so. “This decline is an opportunity to focus
efforts on addressing the serious weaknesses that
remain in the response,” said Brice de la Vingne,
MSF Director of Operations.
“We are on the right track, but reaching zero
cases will be difficult unless significant improvements are made in alerting new cases and tracing
those who have been in contact with them.”
He warned that just a single new case could
be enough “to reignite an outbreak”. “Until everyone who has come into contact with Ebola has
been identified, we cannot rest easy,” he said. The
African Union plans to launch an Ebola fund
and disease control centre, officials in Ethiopian
capital Addis Ababa said on Wednesday, as aid
agency Oxfam warned leaders needed to keep
their promises to boost healthcare systems on the
continent. Oxfam called for a “massive post-Ebola Marshall Plan”, referring to the United States
aid package to rebuild Europe after World War II.
Townes, laser inventor, dies
C
A woman begs Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to stop the bombing in Donetsk after shell hit the residential area where she lives, killing two civilians in
Donetsk’s Kyibishevsky district, on Thursday. — AFP
Gorbachev warns of ‘hot’ war after sanctions
E
urope prepared on Thursday to draft
even tougher sanctions against Russia
over Ukraine as ex-Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev warned against the danger of
an increasingly isolated Kremlin fighting
back.
The last Soviet leader’s words of caution
came with the daily death toll in Ukraine’s
separatist east spiking again with the ninemonth war threatening to turn into a lasting conflict that keeps Europe on constant
edge.
Gorbachev said the West’s decision to
respond to the violence by blaming Russia
and cutting it off from access to US and European capital markets threatened to spiral
into open warfare with dire consequences
across the world.
“Where will that lead all of us? A Cold
War is already being waged openly.
What’s next?” the 83-year-old Nobel
peace prize winner asked.
“Unfortunately I cannot say for sure
that a Cold War will not lead to a ‘hot’ one.”
Pro-Russian insurgents last week pulled
out of peace talks and announced a new offensive that was followed by a rocket assault on the strategic port of Mariupol in
which 31 civilians died.
Rebel commanders later distanced
themselves from the bloodshed despite being blamed for it by international monitors
on site.
But they have followed through on
their threat to push into lucrative eastern
industrial lands that still answer to Kiev’s
pro-Western government under a September deal approved by the warring sides in
Belarus.
“We pronounce the Minsk agreements
dead,” Donetsk separatist commander Eduard Basurin told reporters.
“The version that was signed no longer
The last Soviet leader said the
West’s decision to respond to
the violence by blaming Russia
and cutting it off from access to
US and European capital markets threatened to spiral into
open warfare with dire consequences across the world, say
Anna Malpas and Dmitry Zaks
applies.”
The United States and its European allies view the latest rebel surge as part of a
proxy war launched by Russian President
Vladimir Putin in reprisal for last year’s
ousting a Kiev’s former Kremlin-backed
government.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko
— his ill-equipped army once again on
the defensive — has also been working the
phones and encouraging world leaders to
keep the pressure on Putin and his inner
circle of ex-KGB agents and tycoons.
Poroshenko’s office said US Vice-President Joe Biden on Wednesday “expressed
his firm support for the Ukrainian president’s actions and spelled out the possibility of expanding sanctions against Russia
in case of a further escalation.”
EU leaders unanimously backed more
Russian sanctions in a rare statement
adopted outside a regular Brussels session
on Tuesday.
Greece and Cyprus later distanced
themselves from the statement but are not
expected to fight new penalties the bloc’s
28 foreign ministers draft on Thursday.
Previous Western measures and a coin-
ciding slide in oil prices have plunged Russia into recession and seen Standard and
Poor’s slap a “junk” rating on Moscow’s
foreign currency debt.
The downgrade threatens to further alienate Western investors and burdens Russia’s economy with the same failing grade
it struggled with at the start of Putin’s 15year rule. Yet the pain appears to have done
little to alter Putin’s tough approach to his
western neighbour or to dent Russians’
monumental trust in the Kremlin chief.
Some analysts think Putin may be calculating that EU nations are too busy
bracing for the consequences of a possible
Greek exit from the euro to undermine
their economic relations with Russia any
further.
“The Russian president is likely calculating the EU is distracted by the Greek
elections and is highly resistant to increasing sanctions while the euro zone economy
flounders,” the Eurasia Group political risk
consultancy said in a research note.
“Putin seems also to have reasoned that
sanctions will stay in place or get worse regardless of what he does.”
The Kremlin — having long denied
backing the rebel fight — on Thursday
continued to reject the notion that it could
somehow rein in the insurgency.
“Mediators cannot... solve the conflict
on their own,” Kremlin administration
chief Sergei Ivanov told a meeting of Russian governors and mayors.
“This can only be done by the two warring sides themselves.”
Gorbachev — either despised or ignored by most in Russia — is revered in
the West as an elder statesman who helped
erase the threat of global nuclear warfare
by overseeing the peaceful end to the Cold
War.
harles H Townes’ inspiration for the predecessor of the laser came to him while sitting on a
park bench, waiting for a restaurant to open
for breakfast.
On the tranquil morning of April 26, 1951,
Townes scribbled a theory on scrap paper
that would lead to the laser, the invention he’s
known for and which transformed everyday
life and led to other scientific discoveries.
Townes, who was also known for his strong spiritual faith, famously
compared that moment to a religious revelation.
The 99-year-old Nobel Prize-winning physicist died on Tuesday.
In 1954, that theory was realised when Townes and his students developed the laser’s predecessor, the maser (microwave amplification by
stimulated emission of radiation). “I realised there would be many applications for the laser,” Townes told Esquire magazine in 2001, “but it never
occurred to me we’d get such power from it.” The laser paved the way for
other scientific discoveries that revolutionised everything from medicine
to manufacturing but also has a huge array of applications today: DVD
players, gun sights, printers, computer networks, metal cutters, tattoo removal and vision correction are just some of the tools and technologies
that rely on lasers. “Charlie Townes had an enormous impact on physics
and society in general,” Steven Boggs, the chairman of the physics department at the University of California, Berkeley, said Wednesday.
A devoted member of the United Church of Christ, Townes drew
praise and skepticism later in his career with a series of speeches and essays investigating the similarities between science and religion. “Science
tries to understand what our universe is like and how it works, including
us humans,” Townes wrote in 2005 upon being awarded the Templeton
Prize for his contributions in “affirming life’s spiritual dimension.” The
award, billed as the world’s richest religion prize, was worth more than
$1.5 million, and past recipients have included Mother Teresa.
“My own view is that, while science and religion may seem different, they have many similarities, and should interact and enlighten each
other,” he wrote. Townes was a faculty member at Columbia University
when he did most of the work that would make him one of three scientists to share the 1964 Nobel Prize in physics for research leading to the
creation of the laser. The others were Russian physicists Aleksandr M
Prokhorov and Nicolai G Basov. Townes’ research applied the microwave
technique used in wartime radar research to the study of spectroscopy,
the dispersion of an object’s light into its component colours. He envisioned that would provide a new window into the structure of atoms and
molecules and a new basis for controlling electromagnetic waves.
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Q ELLA IDE & MARCO BERTORELLO
ffer Roberto Ceretti
a fortune for one of
his coveted handmade guitars and
he’ll likely turn you
down: the Italian
craftsman may be in demand among
collectors, but only plies his trade for
top musicians in need.
Tucked away in the hills of northwest Italy, Ceretti’s workshop is hung
with half-finished models, the walls
lined with stacks of cedar, mahogany
and apple wood, and a large drawing
board is littered with classical guitar
designs.
“I made my first guitar when I was
12 years old, out of cardboard.
It didn’t work of course, but the
passion stuck,” said Ceretti, 50, who
began his business in earnest 15 years
ago after transforming his run-down
holiday home in the Piedmont woods
into an atelier.
Now he makes between five and six
guitars a year, selling them for a song to
help musicians hit hard by the economic
crisis and cuts in culture budgets.
The father of three fells trees himself
during the winter — the best season
because the wood is less likely to split
— hauling them back to the remote
workshop in his truck before chopping
their rich tonal qualities, can sell for up
to 25,000 euros ($28,500), but Ceretti is
not in business for the money.
“Guitars aren’t prostitutes to put
in the window. They’re instruments
to be kept for a lifetime, to be
played and lovingly cared for,” Ceretti
said.
“I only have musicians as clients.
I don’t make guitars for collectors
or people who just want something
fashionable to put on their wall,” he
added.
White-bearded and decked out
in a lumberjack shirt and workman’s
boots, Ceretti sees himself as more of a
carpenter than an artist.
Breaks are spent walking alongside
a nearby river, waiting patiently for the
right moment to collect fresh materials
— a timetable he says is often dictated
by the waxing and waning of the
moon, which affects the presence of
woodworm.
From the moment the wood is ready,
it takes him about a month to craft
the instrument, which he sometimes
rounds off with inlay on the rosette or
fingerboard.
It is a painstaking, time-consuming
vocation he says his children are unlikely
to want to inherit, but one Ceretti says
he finds “incredibly rewarding”.
“If you’re a musician living in Italy
today, you are not making any money.
them down to size in the clearing, his
dog at his side.
He also rescues trees such as
redwoods or firs destined for the chop
in gardens around the region.
He selects the best grain aesthetic
from those to carve out the back, front
and neck of his guitars, and uses all
natural materials — such as boiled cow
femurs — to make parts like the bridge
and nut.
In crafting his instruments, Ceretti
takes inspiration from master makers
like Antonio Torres Jurado, the 19thcentury Spanish luthier (stringed
instrument maker) renowned for
designing the first modern classical
guitar --Ceretti likes his instrument
bodies rounded rather than flat.
Modern artisanal guitars, sought for
So I don’t charge for many of my
guitars — I exchange things for them,”
Ceretti said, adding that in the past
he’s been paid in machines or tools he
needs, and even a cement mixer.
His family lives in the house
adjoining the workshop, and Ceretti
saves money by using spring water
rather than tap, and wood stoves for
both central heating and cooking.
But even out here in the wilderness,
his philosophy is based on sharing.
“With the best musicians that’s
always been the way I’ve worked.
If they can afford to pay, I might
charge between 2,000 euros ($2,270)
and 7,000 euros ($7,950) for a guitar,
but it doesn’t happen often,” he said.
“With the economic crisis as it is, I
help out real musicians in need.” — AFP
O
Italian luthier Roberto Ceretti works on a guitar in his workshop in the Alps Region of Barge, near Turin. — AFP
CRAFTING GUITARS
only for musicians in need
THIS ITALIAN
CRAFTSMAN MAY BE
IN DEMAND AMONG
COLLECTORS. BUT
HE SAYS, ‘I ONLY
HAVE MUSICIANS
AS CLIENTS. I DON’T
MAKE GUITARS FOR
COLLECTORS OR
PEOPLE WHO JUST
WANT SOMETHING
FASHIONABLE TO PUT
ON THEIR WALL’
INSEPARABLE!
People are emotionally attached to their smartphones
P
eople are becoming emotionally
attached to their smartphones, show
researchers from Loughborough
University and University of Iceland in
Reykjavik.
The emergence of devices such as the
Apple iPhone in January 2007 gave users a
computer in their pocket.
Now apart from making phone calls
and sending text messages, smartphone
users have immediate access to the Internet,
social media and network systems, e-mail
accounts, video clips, music files and a vast
array of phone-based software apps.
“Smartphones are creating a huge
ripple in the pond of human behaviour
and it is important that, as smartphones
develop, we continue to study the way they
affect behaviour, emotions and emotional
attachments,” said Tom Page from
Loughborough University Design School.
People grow emotionally attached to their
smartphone, or at least the connectivity and
the technology that the device facilitates,
pointed out Tom Page and professor
Gisli Thorsteinsson from the University of
Iceland.
The understanding how users become
reliant on their smartphone for particular
tasks, how they invest time and money in
these gadgets and the relationship they have
with their devices is increasingly key to the
manufacturers.
It is the ease with which smartphones
can be used, the ability to pour out one’s
life into the apps and networks to which it
connects that brings emotional baggage to
ownership.
For teenagers, journalists, business
users and other professionals, it is even
considered something of a social faux pas,
a sign of being inept not to have a constant
connection with the outside world via one’s
smart phone regardless of the circumstances
one finds oneself at any given time. — IANS
SMARTPHONES ARE
CREATING A HUGE RIPPLE
IN THE POND OF HUMAN
BEHAVIOUR AND IT IS
IMPORTANT THAT, AS
SMARTPHONES DEVELOP, WE
CONTINUE TO STUDY THE WAY
THEY AFFECT BEHAVIOUR,
EMOTIONS AND EMOTIONAL
ATTACHMENTS
10
LIFESTYLE
omandailyobserver
F R I DAY
JANUARY 30 l 2015
LAMPLIGHTERS keep
London’s history burning
WHILE MANY LONDON RESIDENTS
ARE OBLIVIOUS TO THEIR PRESENCE,
THE LAMPS ARE PROTECTED BY LOCAL
AUTHORITIES AS A PIECE OF HISTORY
— AND NEW ONES ARE EVEN BEING
INSTALLED. DESPITE NATIONWIDE
BUDGET CUTS THAT HAVE REDUCED
LOCAL SERVICES AND SEEN STREET
LIGHTS DIMMED TO SAVE MONEY,
1,500 GAS LAMPS IN LONDON ARE
STILL MAINTAINED BY HAND
Garry Usher, a lamplighter, inspects a gas burning street light close to The Houses of Parliament.
— AFP
Q ALICE RITCHIE
O
n a quiet street lined with 18th-century
Georgian houses behind Westminster
Abbey, Garry Usher winds the
mechanical clock on the gas street lamp
and gives the glass globe a polish.
He steps down off his ladder and
looks up with satisfaction as the soft, warm light lifts the dark
winter evening, and moves on down the street.
Despite nationwide budget cuts that have reduced local
services and seen street lights dimmed to save money, 1,500
gas lamps in London are still maintained by hand.
They are the last of tens of thousands of lamps that were
first introduced in the capital 200 years ago, a marvel of
modern technology that brought life to the once dark and
dangerous streets.
While many London residents are oblivious to their
presence, the lamps are protected by local authorities as a
piece of history — and new ones are even being installed.
“They’re lovely. It’s a fantastic form of lighting, not as harsh
as electric,” Usher said as he went on his rounds.
The 50-year-old, an engineer with the British Gas energy
firm, used to maintain central heating but began working on
the lamps because it gave him Saturdays off to play rugby.
Now he leads a team involving four other “lamplighters”
who maintain the lamps, half of which still have mechanical
clocks that need re-winding every 14 days.
The others run on electrical timers which need their
batteries changed every six months, while the various parts
also need checking regularly.
“You’re touching history everywhere you go — it’s a
privileged job,” Usher said.
Gas lamps became common across Europe in the mid19th century. Before that, walking the streets at night was a
dangerous business.
In London, you could pay a “link boy” a farthing to guide
your way with a candle, but there was always a risk he might
rob you blind.
Initial reaction to the first demonstration of gas lights in
1807 — the first on any street in the world — was mixed, not
least because the early gas lines could be dangerous and there
was the odd explosion.
But when King George IV ordered their widespread
introduction in 1814, they quickly caught on.
Some lamps had a dual purpose of lighting the streets and
clearing the smells from London’s underground sewers.
The Webb Sewer lamp drew up gases from the sewers
down below and burnt it off. One such functioning lamp still
exists, next to the Savoy Hotel near the River Thames.
As late as the 1970s, many gas lamps in London were still
lit by hand each evening and extinguished every morning.
Now they all have a permanent pilot light burning and the
mains gas flows on a timer, heating up the “mantles” — small
ceramic meshes resembling bulbs, that become white hot and
give off a glowing light.
British Gas Operations Manager Iain Bell inspects a gas
burning street light.
— AFP
They lend a magical quality to the streets and in St James’
Park, near Buckingham Palace, are the only source of light,
offering a rare glimpse into what it might have looked like in
Dickensian times.
The lamps survived the arrival of electricity and the Blitz
bombings in World War II, and these days the biggest threat
is the traffic.
Originally designed to stand above a horse and cart, many
have been extended upwards to stay out of the way of trucks,
although some still get hit and must be repaired.
They are not just about history, however.
A number of new gas lamps have been installed in recent
years, including one requested by the architect behind the
new Apple store in Covent Garden.
“There’s no chance of these lamps disappearing,” said Iain
Bell, operations manager at British Gas. “If anything we’re
getting more calls to install them.”
— AFP
A gas burning street light which has been turned off is seen
close to The Houses of Parliament.
— AFP
ECHOING EXCELLENCE
The music, lyrics of Om Kolthoum through the voice of Rehab Omar
Q MELANIE HELD
“Oman is also a great opportunity for
me because I would like to sing in the
he music, the words, the
Royal Opera House Muscat so this will
lyrics, they are the top of all
open a good opportunity for me to go
songs. Om Kolthoum is a
there and preform.”
legend of all of us, she had the singing
Being a part of the growth of the
technique, she had it all. People see you
Muscat Chamber Music Series was a
as something special when they hear you
delight to Rehab on both a professional
sing Om Kolthoum in a good way, or a
and a personal level. “I was very pleased
bit close to perfect, it makes you special
to be asked to come to Oman because
in the singing world.”
this is the first time for me to be in
The heartwarming songs of Om
Oman.
Kolthoum was brought to the stage
We Egyptians like Oman and
in Muscat at the Al Bustan Oman
Omanis a lot so I was glad to come to
Auditorium Hall by Arabesque
this country and sing to the people,”
International’s Muscat Chamber Music
explained Rehab. “It always makes me
Series.
happy to sing in concerts because when
With the music performed by the
you travel and sing to Egyptians abroad
Maged Sorour Ensemble for Arabic
it feels different. They show you how
Music and Dr Maged Sorour, the
much they are missing Egyptian songs
founder of the ensemble, playing the
and it makes me happy to sing it to
Qanoon, along with the voice of Rehab
them,” she added.
Omar, the guests to the third prelaunch
“Preforming comes naturally to me,
concert of the Muscat Chamber Music
I get nervous about the sound system
Series had nothing but praise for the
evening’s event.
Om Kolthoum’s songs took their place in night of music, culture and pure delight Muscat Chamber Music Series looks to and the sound check because, if it walked around the streets I could hear
goes wrong in any way it can take you them say ‘shway shway’. It was amazing!”,
bring to Muscat.
As dignitaries, guests and admirers of the hall what awaited them was truly a by talented musicians.
out of the mood and then I can’t she added.
Talking to the talented Rehab Omar
Even though her stay in Oman was
concentrate as much as I should to make
as to why she chooses to perform the
a short one, Rehab looks to hold more
it magical.”
song of Om Kolthoum, she said, “It
Travelling to different countries in Egypt and around the world with the
became a habit from years ago when I
and performing isn’t something new personal goal of having “some private
was a kid. I was 11 years old at the Cairo
to Rehab and as she recalls some of concerts under my name in order to
Oprah House and I used to sing her
her favourite places, one country stood get my own audience and have my own
songs since then.”
out the most due to the reaction of the ensemble.”
The love of Om Kolthoum’s songs
What lies in her future can only be one
people.
is one that has no boundaries when
“I’ve been to a lot of countries but of growth and respect, for as the “evening
it comes to countries; this was clearly
it was amazing to go to Japan and sing with the songs of Om Kolthoum” being
evident when it came to the audience
to the Japanese. We had 23 concerts in one of standing ovation and praises
that night.
total because of the islands and it was to both Rehab Omar and the Maged
From Omanis to Egyptians, from
an amazing experience,” Rehab recalled. Sorour Ensemble for Arabic Music, the
Germans to Sudanese, people of all ages
“There weren’t any Arab people there vision of Ahmed Abouzahra and the
and backgrounds embraced the night
and I sang songs like the Om Kolthoum Arabesque International team began to
not only for the talent that was on the
‘Ghanili shway shway’ and when I become that of many more.
stage but also for the initiative that the
“
T
INFORMATION/LEISURE
F R I DAY
JANUARY 30 l 2015
omandailyobserver
11
NAOMI CAMPBELL steals the show at couture
S
inger Carla Bruni, actress
Catherine Deneuve and
burlesque performer Dita
Von Teese were among
regulars attending the
spectacular displays at Paris’
haute couture week on Wednesday.
Sophie Hunter, the fiancée of Oscarnominee
Benedict
Cumberbatch,
meanwhile, caused much fracas when
she attended Valentino hiding her baby
bump. But it was surely Naomi Campbell
who stole the show, strutting out
panther-like at Jean Paul Gaultier despite
being dressed as a bouquet of flowers.
It’s good to know that high fashion
still retains its humour. Here are the
tidbits and highlights of the 2015 springsummer collections.
CARLA BRUNI MOBBED, THEN
CELEBRATED: Unaccompanied Bruni
was mobbed by intrusive cameramen
upon entering the Jean Paul Gaultier
collection. As she arrived at the top of
the venue’s marble steps the scrum grew,
she panicked, calling out: “Where do I
go? Where is the show?” The 47-year-old
former French first lady then physically
forced one of the lenses away from her
face. Once in her front row seat, the
mood changed — and she was seen to be
enjoying herself.
There were even cheers when her
2002 hit “Quelqu’un m’a dit” was played
in the show soundtrack. “It’s completely
understandable I love her songs and it
was perfect,” said Gaultier, unaware of
the scuffle.
LIFE AFTER READY-TO-WEAR:
Jean Paul Gaultier chose to explore
Naomi Campbell wears a design as part of French designer Jean-Paul Gaultier’s Spring-Summer 2015 Haute Couture fashion collection, presented in Paris and (right)
models displaying designs by Viktor Horsting/Rolf Snoeren and by Maria Grazia Chiuri/Pier Paolo Piccioli at the fashion show.
marriage in white — and divorce, in
black — for his first couture show after
the end of his ready-to-wear line.
The obvious symbolism was renewal,
or change — after bidding an emotional
goodbye last season to his over-threedecade long “pret-a-porter” career. But
there was no soul searching whatsoever
in this infectious and imaginative show.
Burlesque star Von Teese and Eurovision
Song contest winner Conchita Wurst
were among celebrity guests escorted
to sections named after wedding
anniversaries: amethyst for 6 years, jade
for 12 years, emerald for 20 years — and
the unromantic-sounding granite, for
the near-impossible 90-year-celebration.
Gaultier, ever the optimist, said that
the end of the ready-to-wear had given
him more time to “perfect the techniques
and the work of the atelier, which was
unbelievable” — such as a trompe l’oeil
dress resembling python skins, which
was, in reality, embroidered silk knots.
Whatever this ageing enfant terrible
does, one thing is a constant: Fun.
GAULTIER GOES TO THE
CHAPEL: The show, almost exclusively
in black and white, was a tale of two
silhouettes — with many dresses split
down the middle. The best look was
a figure-hugging black crepe number
with another gown, in trompe l’oeil 3-D
hourglass tulle, placed creatively on the
front. The 62-year-old designer said
show celebrated “all forms of marriage,
and for all ages, and as many times as you
want... And, yes divorce.”
This mantra was resoundingly clear:
in his signature menswear tuxedos
(representing gay marriage) and in the
inclusion of models up to their 60s; a
common theme. The divorce element
appeared as a comic homage to the
infamous seven weddings of actress
Liz Taylor — with a blue python dress
and feathered hair piece, modelled
theatrically.
The couturier said, in an aside, that
divorce and multiple marriages may
indeed help boost couture dress sales.
Silhouettes were often graphic, with
more than an echo of his Eighties heyday.
It might have benefited more if Monsieur
Gaultier had used this fresh chapter in
his career to do something completely
different — but in all, it was a joyful
collection.
VALENTINO’S
CHAGALLINSPIRED COUTURE: It was a strong
couture collection from Valentino’s Maria
Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli
that moved gracefully from the dense,
geometric embroideries of Hungarian
styles to the bright colours and cosmic
dreaming of Russian artist Marc Chagall.
But the high point of the show was surely
the final flourish of diaphanous powdercoloured gowns with chic embroidered
writing.
They were aptly called “tulle clouds”
and felt at once both couture and highly
contemporary. Valentino Garavani
looked on approvingly from the front
row, as some 47 looks filed by inside the
chic Hotel de Rothschild. The designers
did not do away with their signature
Empire lines and continued their ongoing
musings in the traditional flowing silks
and silhouettes of the Renaissance. But
the muse of Chagall served well as a
spring board to liberate the occasionallystiff designs. Here the duo explored
bolder colours such a vibrant “Chagall
blue,” cut with primary yellow.
Elsewhere, hand painted prints such
as a sun, sky and stars — beautifully
evoked the naturalised-French artist’s
famed stained glass windows.
ELIE SAAB’S DELICATE COUP:
Elie Saab moved in a welcome direction
in Wednesday’s delicately feminine
display — inspired, apparently, by the
nostalgia of his mother’s Seventies
heyday.
In a fleshed out programme book,
the Lebanese designer touchingly went
back in time through text and photos,
tracing the fashions throughout the eras
of his birth city, Beirut — once graced by
such stars as singer Dalida, actor Omar
Sharif and French icon Brigitte Bardot. It
particular, Saab described the impact of
the last golden years of glamour before
the protracted Civil war in 1975, through
the prism of a tulip print silk dress his
mother would often wear. Flesh pink,
beige, black and blue-grays abounded in
floaty, nostalgic silhouettes that touched
on these moments.
“These memories still inspire my
colors and my scents... The 70’s, women
in ankle length dresses, trapeze dresses,
high waist skirts, embroidered and sheer
tops wading through downtown,” said
Saab.
— AP
PREPARING FOR THE D-DAY
CARTOONS
ADAM @ HOME
by Brian Basset
Sofia Vergara boosts workout for wedding
A
CALVIN AND HOBBES
by Bill Watterson
GARFIELD
by Jim Davis
STONE SOUP
ctress Sofia Vergara is said to have started working out two
hours a day because she wants to be in the best shape
possible when she marries fiance Joe Manganiello.
The “Modern Family” star spending most of her spare time
in the gym as she wants to wow the 38-year-old actor when
she walks down the aisle, reports femalefirst.co.uk.
“She usually heads to Gunnar Peterson’s gym midmorning, then to a Pilates studio right after.
She’s been working out five to six times a week for up to
two hours at a time,” a source told Life & Style magazine.
The 42-year-old beauty, who has
22-year-old son Manolo from a
previous
marriage,
confessed
recently she has a very sweet-tooth
and only works out so she can eat
what she likes.
The insider said: “She’s very
committed to working out and
looking good in her wedding dress.”
The couple are keen to tie the
knot as soon as they can, as they want
to have a baby.
A source close to the actor had
previously revealed: “Joe is already
talking about having a huge summer
wedding. (They) want to have the
wedding this summer because
they want to have a baby together,
but he wants to wait until she is his
wife.” — IANS
Hospitals
by Jan Eliot
Hospital . . .Board . . . . . .Emergency
Royal . . . . .24599000 . . .24590491
Health Services Department
‘ YOUR STARS ‘
Muttrah . . . . . 24797602
Quriyat . . . . . 24845001
SQH, Salalah 23211555
Police . . . . . . 24603988
Al Nahda. . . . 24831255
Ibn Sina . . . . 24876322
Nizwa . . . . . . 25439361
Al Rustaq . . . 26875055
Sumayil. . . . . 25350055
Izki . . . . . . . . 25340033
IF IT’S YOUR
BIRTHDAY:
If you have been
fortunate until now
to lead a sheltered
life, special efforts
may be needed in
the coming year to
maintain that state.
Your common sense
and ability to adapt
will be a great help
but you will need
to face up to reality
and realise there is
a cruel harsh world
out there.
..
..
..
..
..
..
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..
..
24845003
23211151
24603980
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Haima. . . . . . 23436013 . .
Sohar . . . . . . 26840022 . .
Al Buraimi. . . 25650855 . .
Sur . . . . . . . . 25440244 . .
Tanam. . . . . . 25499011 . .
Masirah. . . . . 25404018 . .
Ibra . . . . . . . . 25470533 . .
Adam . . . . . . 25434167 . .
Bidiya . . . . . . 25483535 . .
Ibri. . . . . . . . . 25491011 . .
Saham . . . . . 26854427 . .
Khasab . . . . . 26830187 . .
Dibba . . . . . . 26836443 . .
Burkha . . . . . 26828397 . .
Sinaw . . . . . . 25474338
23436055
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26828397
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 the behaviour of a relative is
puzzling you and seems out of
character just bide your time
and the reasons will soon become clear.
An article of great sentimental
value, which you thought you
had lost, will turn up in the most
unexpected place. Take your
time reminiscing.
You will be able to help a close
friend through a difficult patch
if you do not get too closely involved in the details but are ready
to listen to his confidences.
You will please your family more
than you realise if you could make
arrangements to spend a little more
time with them over the Christmas
period.
You should pay a visit which you
have already postponed several
times if you want to keep on good
terms with your hosts.
Accept your financial limitations.
There is no need to spend lavishly
on a friend’s entertainment. It is
not expected of you.
LEO
VIRGO
LIBRA
SCORPIO
SAGITTARIUS
CAPRICORN
July 22August 21
August 22September 22
September 23October 22
October 23November 21
November 22December 21
December 22January 20
You are sure to weaken your partner’s confidence in his ability to do
certain jobs by constantly calling his
attention to the fact that you can do
them better.
Keep your sense of proportion
when contemplating a suitable
reward for a trifling favour recently done you or you will embarrass the person concerned.
You must voice your objection
to a proposed change at work if
you have the feeling based on
previous experience that the
general efficiency may suffer
by it.
You would be more successful in
your dealings with a neighbour
if you stuck to discussing local
matters instead of boring him
with your personal problems.
Now would be a good time to
strike out and look for better chances of improving your
income instead of keeping on
with the struggle where you are.
A lengthy period of stress is sure
to come to an end soon and you
will at long last be able to take a
much overdue rest.
12
ENTERTAINMENT
omandailyobserver
F R I DAY
JANUARY 30 l 2015
TINSELTOWN
HONOURING A STAR
Lohan’s community
service quizzed in court
Lindsay Lohan rehearses a scene from “Speed-the-Plow” by David Mamet at
the Playhouse Theatre in London in this file photo.
— Reuters
(L-R) Smokey Robinson, Hollywood Chamber President Leron Gubler, Stevie Wonder, Ken Erhlich, John Legend, a guest, LL Cool J and another guest attend the ceremony
honouring Ken Erhlich with a star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame in front of the Capitol Records building in Hollywood, California.
— AFP
Film lifts lid on FBI stings
Doc premiered at Sundance festival gives disturbing answers
THE NUMBER OF FBI
INFORMANTS ‘EXPLODED’
AFTER THE SEPTEMBER
11, 2001 ATTACKS,
FROM 1,500 BEFORE
TO 15,000 BY 2008. THE
NUMBER MAY HAVE EVEN
INCREASED SINCE THEN.
EVIDENCE SUGGESTS
THAT IN THESE CASES
THESE INFORMANTS
ARE NOT GOING INTO
COMMUNITIES SIMPLY TO
MONITOR AND COLLECT
EVIDENCE ON TERRORISM,
SAYS FILM-MAKER DAVID
SUTCLIFFE
Q MICHAEL THURSTON
T
he type of news item is all too familiar:
US authorities have foiled a plot to
blow up an airliner, or bomb the
Capitol, or kidnap the president.
Something along those lines.
But how do we know there really
was a plot? That’s essentially the question behind a
documentary premiered at the Sundance Film Festival
this week which gained unprecedented access to a realtime FBI counter-terrorism “sting” — and found some
disturbing answers.
“Evidence suggests that in these cases these
informants are not going into communities simply to
monitor and collect evidence on terrorism,” said David
Sutcliffe, co-director of “(T)ERROR.”
“They themselves are the ones posing the
inducements and suggestions for criminal activity,” he
said in an interview with fellow film-maker Lyric Cabral
in Park City, Utah.
The documentary tells the real story of “Shariff,”
a 63-year-old informant for the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) who is tasked with monitoring a
Muslim convert, Khalifah al Akili, in Pittsburgh.
The FBI wants him to assess Akili’s interest in
attending a terrorist training camp abroad.
We see “Shariff ” — real name Saeed Torres, a former
black revolutionary turned school canteen cook, and
practising Muslim — as he befriends Akili through a
local mosque.
The unprecedented part? The FBI doesn’t know its
informant has agreed to be filmed for the documentary.
The background: “Shariff ” had worked for the FBI
for over two decades and was earning hundreds of
thousands of dollars in his prime.
But he is down on his luck after his cover was blown
in 2005, when he had to relocate overnight from New
York to South Carolina, and is scraping by.
“He was just essentially a man out in the cold,” said
Sutcliffe. “They’d bring him in for random cases.
But he was looking for a different path, and he felt
A
Los Angeles judge has given a prosecutor more time to investigate
whether actress Lindsay Lohan failed to complete her community
service requirements in a reckless driving case.
Santa Monica city prosecutor Terry White will present his findings in
court on February 18 after disputing Lohan’s claim that she completed her
sentence while living in London, Lohan’s attorney, Shawn Holley, said.
The 28-year-old “Mean Girls” star was ordered to complete 30 days of
community service in addition to rehabilitation and therapy as part of a 2013
plea deal after she crashed her Porsche into dump truck near Los Angeles en
route to the set of TV movie “Liz & Dick” and later lied to police.
The former child star known more for her legal troubles than big-screen
roles has been living in London where Holley says she has completed her
community service.
White alleges Lohan, who was not at the hearing, received credit for a
“meet-and-greet” with fans as well as letting two young people shadow her
while at work, according to City News Service.
Lohan has been arrested in the past for drunk driving and theft before the
2012 car crash. She has been on probation since 2007 and gone to rehab six
times.
— Reuters
Would love to do full-length
action role: Taapsee
Film-makers Lyric R Cabral and David R Sutcliffe speak
before the world premiere of their film ‘(T)ERROR’
that this (the film) was an opportunity.”
Training for FBI informants is apparently pretty
rudimentary: the agency set up a Facebook account
for “Shariff ” to keep in touch with his target, but didn’t
show him how to use it.
And his FBI handlers’ incompetence is shown to be
responsible for blowing his cover for a second time, this
time spectacularly, although Akili still ends up being
jailed for eight years.
The number of FBI informants “exploded” after the
September 11, 2001 attacks, from 1,500 before to 15,000
by 2008, said Sutcliffe. “The number may have even
increased since then,” he said.
Coincidentally, a US man was arrested only two
weeks ago for allegedly plotting an attack on Congress
inspired by IS fighters, according to the Justice
Department and the FBI.
US House Speaker John Boehner said that the plot
was foiled thanks to the government’s controversial
surveillance programmes, allowed under the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
But the film-makers are not convinced.
“There are certain details... that lead us to believe that
the informant had a similar role in that case to Akili’s
case in the film,” said Sutcliffe.
— AFP
A
ctress Taapsee Pannu, who
briefly unleashed her action
side in Neeraj Pandey’s
“Baby”, is ready to repeat her act in a
full-length role but she says she won’t
do it right away.
“Everybody has been asking me the
same question. Will I now be able to
pull off a full-length action role? I’d
love to do that but not immediately,”
Taapsee said.
She feels it’s important she finds
another capable director like Pandey.
“I’ll probably wait for the right
director to do a full-length action film.
Had it not been for Neeraj and the
way he’s shot my sequence in ‘Baby’, it wouldn’t have made so much of an
impact.
If I find a capable director, I’d love to do it again,” she said.
Taapsee has received appreciation from all quarters for her performance.
“I knew the film will be talked about. I knew I’ll be appreciated but I never
anticipated this kind of overwhelming response.
I’m completely taken aback by this kind of appreciation,” she added.
Taapsee underwent special training in Krav Maga, a form of Israeli martial
arts for her part in the film.
She never got injured while performing the stunt sequence, but admits
facing a tough time while practicing for it.
“I had a ligament tear in the past and it had resurfaced when I was training
for this scene.
— IANS
IN FOCUS
‘Hawaizaada’: A dreamlike masterpiece about a dreamer
Q SUBHASH K JHA
D
FILM REVIEW
o you ever wonder what it
would be like to fly? Then see
Film: “Hawaizaada”;
“Hawaizaada”, a film that soars
into the skies with its overweening
Cast: Mithun Chakraborty,
ambitions and miraculously manages to
Ayushmann Khurrana,
stay airborne as it chronicles the life of a
man who wanted to fly.
Pallavi Sharda, Naman
Debutant director Vibhu Puri’s very
Jain, Jayant Kriplani,
accomplished film, a tribute to the
Natasha Sinha;
scientist who apparently manned the first
aircraft that civilisation has ever flown,
Director: Vibhu
is a stunning feast of visual splendour,
Virender Puri;
compounded with a script that’s tightly
and judiciously written to accentuate the
Rating: ****1/2
audacity and eccentricity of people who
can float in the future.
Straightaway it can be said with
great pride that Vibhu Puri’s debut is a reminiscent of several Bhansali creations,
homage to the art and visual aesthetics notably “Devdas” and “Saawariya”, the
of Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Every frame is former for the theme of unfulfilled love
(with Khurana’s capricious love interest
Pallavi Sharda forming a fusion of
Paro and Chandramukhi’s two-layered
character from Devdas) and the latter for
the rich bold use of flamboyant colours
to highlight the heightened opera-styled
emotions.
“Hawaizaada” attempts an almostimpossible marriage of a visual
splendour with emotional surrender. The
characters, be it the whimsical aimless
Shivkar Talpade or his kooky mentor
Shastry, or the Britishers who scowl at
any attempt by Shastry and Talpade to
create inventional history....these are
people who don’t believe in holding back
emotions.
The year is 1895. The possibilities of
recreating that era in present times seems
far-fetched and unlikely. Thanks to Puri’s
art directors (Subrata Chakraborty0,
Amit Ray), music composers (Vishal
Bhardwaj pitches in with a zestful lavni
filmed on the gorgeous Sharda) and most
specially his incredibly gifted cameraperson Savita Singh (who happens to be
Puri’s wife), the director has constructed
a world as unthinkable on paper as
the theory of flying a plane must have
seemed to Talpade’s contemporaries.
Thank God for the dreamers, back
then and now.
“Hawaizaada” is a film with
tempestuous ambitions. Co-writers
Vibhu Puri and Saurabh R Bhave use
Talpade’s dream of flying as a metaphor
for anyone from any era who has dreamt
of breaking free. The pronounced but
Amuted metaphor is extended into
Talpade’s extend family of repressed
character, again very Devdas-like in its
operatic structure.
— IANS
FRIDAY | JANUARY 30, 2015 | RABEE AL THANI 9, 1436 AH
P14
P15
P16
Inside
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Briton picked to
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[email protected]
Bank Muscat proposes to
declare 45pc dividend
A MARCH FOR MORE
THE PAYOUT: Shareholders will get 1:20 bonus shares, mandatory
convertible bonds apart from cash ™ Bonds will be listed on MSM
BUSINESS REPORTER
MUSCAT
LONDON: The 91,000 people working
in Britain for McDonald’s learned
yesterday that their former boss, Steve
Easterbrook, had become the first Briton
to lead the US fast-food giant’s global
operation. Easterbrook, 47, is only the
second non-American chief. The first was
Australia’s Charlie Bell, who joined at 15
and was boss until a few months before
he died in 2005.
Easterbrook ran McDonald’s Europe’s
7,000 outlets in 2010 but left the
following year to head Pizza Express
and later Wagamamas before rejoining
McDonald’s in 2013. His appointment
comes as the restaurant chain battles
declining sales in the US. Bell, the
originator of the McCafe concept, spent
his whole career with McDonald’s.
Easterbrook joined in a management
role after working as a business
consultant.
— dpa
Ford Motor’s fourth
quarter beats street
Jan 29: Bank Muscat has proposed a
45 per cent dividend for the year 2014,
25 per cent in cash, 5 per cent as bonus
shares and 15 per cent in the form of
mandatory convertible bonds.
The meeting of the Board of
Directors chaired by Shaikh Khalid bin
Mustahail al Mashani, Chairman, on
January 28, 2015, approved the 2014
financial results and dividend payout,
subject to approval of the Central Bank
of Oman (CBO) and shareholders of
the bank.
Al Mashani said: “Amid the
challenging economic and financial
situation marked by volatile oil prices
in the last quarter of 2014, the key
business lines of the bank recorded
healthy performance on expected lines.”
The Board’s decision means
shareholders will receive cash dividend
of RO 0.025 per ordinary share of RO
0.100 each aggregating to RO 54.57
million on bank’s existing share capital.
In addition, they would receive
bonus shares in the proportion of one
Shaikh Khalid bin Mustahail al Mashani
share for every 20 ordinary shares
aggregating to 109,134,409 shares
of RO 0.100 each amounting to RO
10.91 million. They would also receive
mandatory-convertible bonds of RO
0.015 per ordinary share of RO 0.100
each aggregating to RO 32.74 million
(including issue expenses), which will
carry a coupon rate of 3.5 per cent per
annum. These bonds will mature after
a period of 3 years from the date of
issuance.
On maturity, the bonds will be
converted to ordinary shares of the bank
by using a “conversion price” which will
be calculated by applying 20 per cent
discount to 3 month average share price
of the bank on the Muscat Securities
Market prior to the conversion.
The bonds will be listed on the
Muscat Securities Market. The proposed
cash dividend and issuance of bonus
shares and mandatory-convertible
bonds are subject to formal approval
of the Annual General Meeting of
the shareholders and the regulatory
authorities.
The bank posted a net profit of RO
163.23 million in 2014 compared to
RO 152.19 million reported in 2013, an
increase of 7.3 per cent.
The basic earnings per share were
RO 0.075 in 2014 as against RO 0.072
in 2013. The banks’ capital adequacy
ratio stood at 15.92 per cent after
appropriation for proposed dividend
for the year 2014 as against the
minimum required level of 12.625 per
cent as per Basel III regulations issued
by the Central Bank of Oman.
Employees of Mercedes Benz and members of German metal workers union IG
Metall (IGM) hold protest banners as they walk out from their day shift in a
warning strike at the Mercedes Benz factory in Sindelfingen yesterday.
Thousands of engineering workers on night shift across Germany walked out
over a wage dispute early yesterday, IG Metall, Germany’s biggest trade union,
said. The union, which represents 3.7 million workers, has rejected an offer from
employers for a 2.2 per cent pay increase for 2015 from March 1. It wants a 5.5
per cent rise for all of 2015, saying solid growth in Europe’s biggest economy
justified the demand.
— AFP
Ooredoo’s net profit rises 14.5pc in 2014
DETROIT: Ford Motor Co’s quarterly
earnings beat Wall Street earnings
expectations yesterday and the
automaker maintained its 2015 profit
forecast. Excluding special items,
fourth-quarter earnings were 26 cents
per share, which beat expectations of 23
cents per share by analysts. Net income
was $52 million, or 1 cent per share, a fall
from $3.07 billion a year earlier, when
results were boosted by a one-time
$2.1 billion special tax item. Ford took a
one-time charge of $800 million for an
accounting change in Venezuela that
also shields its future earnings from
the volatile currency and operations
there. Revenue of $35.9 billion topped
expectations of $34.54 billion by
analysts.
In North America, Ford made a pretax
profit of $6.9 billion in 2014, which will
yield an annual bonus for about 50,000
union-represented workers of $6,900 per
person, down from $8,800 in 2013. Ford
maintained its forecast for 2015 pretax
profit of between $8.5 billion and $9.5
billion.
— Reuters
Alibaba’s earnings
dips 28 per cent
to $964 million
NEW YORK: Chinese e-commerce
giant Alibaba said yesterday its net
profit for the three months ending
December plunged 28 per cent to
$964 million, hit by a one-off charge
and higher taxes.
However sales soared 40 per
cent to $4.219 billion, and earnings
per share were up 13 per cent to
81 cents. Alibaba completed the
world’s biggest IPO with its listing
on the New York Stock Exchange in
September.
Headquartered in the eastern
city of Hangzhou, Alibaba operates
China’s most popular online shopping
platform, Taobao, which is estimated
to hold more than 90 per cent of
the online market for consumer-toconsumer transactions. — AP
BUSINESS REPORTER
MUSCAT
Jan 29: Omani Qatari Telecommunications Company SAOG (Ooredoo)
posted a net profit of RO 37.9 million for
financial year ended December 31, 2014,
representing a 14.5 per cent rise over the
previous year’s net of RO 33.1 million.
Announcing
its
preliminary
unaudited financial results, the operator
attributed the increase to improvement
in EBITDA partially offset by higher
depreciation due to the investment in
network modernisation and expansion
and rebranding cost (especially in Q4).
Total revenues for the year 2014 grew by
12.1 per cent to RO 226.4 million compared
with RO 202 million in 2013. The growth
is driven by increases in both mobile and
fixed data revenue as well as international
voice revenue, the company said.
EBITDA for the year 2014 was
RO 116.9 million compared with RO
98.3 million in 2013 driven by higher
revenue.
The total number of customers grew
by 8.6 per cent in 2014 from 2,396,826
to 2,601,704. The fixed service customer
Our investment in
2015 will continue
to improve the
performance and
experience of customers
across the Sultanate
— Greg Young
base decreased by 10.3 per cent to 57,654
customers in 2014 compared to 64,287
in 2013. This is due to the transition
period where a new Home Broadband
technology that will bring improved
services to our customers being rolled
out. The mobile post-paid customer
base grew by 4.9 per cent to 196,142
customers compared with 186,917
customers in 2013. The mobile pre-paid
customer base for 2014 increased by
9.4 per cent to 2,347,908 compared to
2,145,622 for the same period last year.
Commenting on the results, Ooredoo’s
Chairman said: “This breakthrough year
saw a very strong financial performance,
the flawless transition from Nawras to
the global brand, Ooredoo, and further
technological advances which have
transformed us into a world-class operator,
and helped consolidate Oman’s growing
status as a regional economic force.
The
considerable
financial
commitment involved in modernising
our network since 2012 has been justified
by opening up exciting possibilities
for new products and services that are
fulfilling customers’ expectations and
matching their needs. The resulting
extra capacity and speed from the
turbocharging project has fuelled an
extraordinary demand for data, which
has underpinned the exceptional
financial year. World-class telecoms and
data services are attracting multinational
corporations to the safe haven of Oman,
all of them with very specific demands
for connectivity and security.”
Greg Young, CEO, added: “We are
delighted with our revenue growth
this year, which has been driven by an
increase in both mobile and fixed data
as well as international voice revenue.
Under both the Nawras and Ooredoo
brands during 2014, we have provided
our customers with some exciting and
targeted new offers and these have
contributed to our solid growth.
Our rebranding to Ooredoo in Q4
2014 was a huge success and there has
been a very positive response from the
market. With our Ooredoo brand came
some inspiring new offers, which are
generating ongoing significant interest
and uptake.”
“Our results also validate the
investment in our network, providing the
speed and coverage our customers need
and want. Our investment in 2015 will
continue to improve the performance
and experience of customers across
the Sultanate. We expanded our fiber
network and are providing a futureproof network countrywide and a
second-to-none customer experience.”
(OEPPA Business Development Dept)
500 tpd flour
mill coming up
at Sohar Port
MUSCAT: Sohar Flour Mills signs
an agreement with Sohar Port and
Freezone for the establishment of a
major milling plant at the industrial
port.
The agreement was inked at
The Chedi Muscat on Wednesday
during a business reception hosted
by Sohar Port and Freezone for its
large community of tenants, service
providers and investors.
The pact was signed on behalf
of Sohar Industrial Port Company
(SIPC) by Sultan bin Salim al Habsi,
Chairman of SIPC, and on behalf of
Atyab Investments by its Chairman,
Khamis bin Abdullah al Farsi. Andre
Toet, CEO and Jamal T Aziz, Deputy
CEO — Sohar Port and Free Zone,
were also present at the signing event.
Sohar Flour Mills is a partnership
between Atyab Investments, whollyowned by Oman Flour Mills, and Essa
Al Ghurair Investments based in UAE,
said Oman Flour Mills in a filing to the
Capital Market Authority yesterday.
(OEPPA Business Development Dept)
The South Korean firm’s earnings from smartphones and other gadgets dropped 64 pc while iPhone sales create a record
Samsung’s smartphone primacy under threat from Apple
SEOUL: Samsung Electronics is closer
to losing its crown as global smartphone
leader after posting a plunge in quarterly
mobile earnings yesterday, a day after
rival Apple reported the biggest profit
in corporate history.
The South Korean giant said
earnings from smartphones and other
mobile gadgets dropped 64 per cent
annually in the October-December
period to 1.96 trillion won ($1.80
billion), contributing to its first annual
earnings fall in three years. It was the
mobile division’s fifth consecutive
quarter of decline, in contrast to Apple’s
record-breaking 74.5 million iPhone
sales in the three months to December
27 on the back of the success of its bigscreen iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Analysts say
Samsung is under immense pressure to
hang on to its market share, with a lot
resting on the launch of its next flagship
Galaxy S6 high-end smartphone due
around March. “I think after learning
a hard lesson, we’ll see a significant
improvement in terms of design,
build quality and on the specs... The
question right now is whether this is
enough,” Maybank Kim Eng analyst
Warran Lau said. While Samsung did
not release smartphone sales figures, it
said smartphone and tablet shipments
declined in the fourth quarter, leading
some analysts to declare Apple had
caught up.
“Apple’s new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus
models are proving wildly popular
in China, United States and Europe.
Apple tied with Samsung to become the
world’s largest smartphone vendor for
the first time since Q4 2011,” Strategy
Analytics Executive Director Neil
Mawston said in a statement. Research
firm Counterpoint said in a separate
report yesterday that Apple overtook
Samsung as the top smartphone maker
during the fourth quarter.
Mobile’s share of Samsung’s
operating profit fell from almost 70 per
cent in 2013 to about 58 per cent last
year. The company expects shipments
and average selling prices for handsets
to pick up in the first quarter following
the launch of new mid-tier models like
the Galaxy A.
The semiconductor division was
a bright spot as Samsung posted Q4
operating profit of 5.3 trillion won
($4.88 billion), in line with the 5.2
trillion won profit the firm guided for
earlier this month. The result put the
firm’s 2014 profit at 25 trillion won,
down from a record 36.8 trillion won in
2013 and the lowest since 2011.
“Uncertainties for global business
conditions will likely grow further
in 2015 due to the slowing euro
zone economy and financial risks in
emerging countries,” Samsung said in a
statement.
14
omandailyobserver
Japan’s Skymark’s
files for bankruptcy,
shares plunge
TOKYO: Shares in Japan’s Skymark
Airlines lost a quarter of their value
yesterday after the struggling carrier
filed for bankruptcy protection, citing
potentially crippling penalties over a
cancelled $2.2 billion jet order with
Airbus.
The embattled airline’s shares
dropped 25 per cent to 237 yen — their
daily loss limit — as investors reacted
to news late on Wednesday that Japan’s
third-largest carrier would file for
bankruptcy, in an acknowledgment that
efforts to turn itself around had failed.
“The company came to the
conclusion that it will be extremely
difficult to rehabilitate itself on its own,”
Skymark said in a statement, citing
“unreasonable”
breach-of-contract
penalties.
“If the payments for breach of
contract happened, there are concerns
that our company’s financial situation
could worsen.”
At a press conference in Tokyo
yesterday, company executives bowed
and apologised for seeking court
protection, a common act of contrition
in Japan’s business world.
“I sincerely apologise to our
customers, business partners and
shareholders for this trouble,” said
Skymark’s newly appointed president
Masakazu Arimori, adding that daily
operations would be unaffected.
His predecessor Shinichi Nishikubo
— who rejected an Airbus call to merge
with a larger rival after their dispute
was made public in July — resigned
on Wednesday as executives held an
emergency board meeting.
The airline will continue operating
for the time being, but its shares would
be delisted from March 1, according to
the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
“We are aware that Skymark Airlines
has filed for bankruptcy protection, this
is now a matter for the courts,” Airbus
said in an e-mail.
Skymark said it has debts topping
$603 million and faces possible
compensation costs of as much as $700
million linked to the axed Airbus deal.
It is in talks with Airbus to reduce
the size of the penalty, after earlier
saying that the European plane maker
was preparing a lawsuit over the dispute.
Skymark has struggled because of
fierce competition in the airline sector,
and its woes deepened after the Airbus
affair made headlines last summer.
Its shares lost about half their value
in the wake of Airbus cancelling the
order for six A380 jets, signed in 2011,
apparently over concerns it would not
get paid.
Skymark, which has about 2,200
employees, was born out of deregulation
measures in the 1990s that were aimed
at challenging rival All Nippon Airways
and Japan Airlines’ (JAL) control of the
market.
It operates domestic flights in and
out of Haneda Airport, just a short train
ride from central Tokyo.
Japan’s transport ministry “must be
considering keeping Skymark so that
competition remains in the oligopoly
market with two majors,” Hiroshi
Hasegawa, an analyst at SMBC Nikko
Securities, told Bloomberg News.
JAL received a government bailout
after it went bankrupt in 2010. The
country’s flagship carrier re-listed on
the Tokyo bourse in 2012 after an $8.5
billion share sale.
— AFP
China: ECB QE could cause
competitive depreciation
BEIJING: The European Central
Bank’s new quantitative easing (QE)
measures could trigger “competitive
depreciation” of currencies around
the world, China’s commerce ministry
warned yesterday.
The ECB last week unveiled a
programme to buy 60 billion euros
($68 billion) of private and public
bonds each month starting in March,
a move intended to ward off deflation
in the euro zone.
The figure was more than the 50
billion euros expected by analysts, and
the unprecedented scheme will total
over 1 trillion euros.
“The European QE may worsen the
competitive depreciation of currencies
of various countries, further increasing
the uncertainties in international
cross-border capital flows,” said China’s
commerce ministry spokesman Shen
Danyang.
“We will closely monitor that,” he
told reporters at a briefing.
While the measures would make
European exports cheaper and might
help boost market confidence and
growth in the euro zone in the short
term, he added, their long run effects
remained uncertain.
“It is still unclear whether in the
mid-to-long term the QE can stop
the euro zone economy from slipping
into long-term stagnation and realise
comprehensive recovery and growth,”
he said.
The European Union is China’s
largest trade partner. It is the Asian
giant’s top source of imports and its
second-largest export market.
Shen said the impact of the
stimulus on bilateral trade will be
“both good and bad”.
“The QE will push the euro
to further depreciate, which is
likely to lead Chinese companies
expanding imports from Europe and
lowering their investment costs in
Europe.
“Meanwhile the weakening of the
euro will affect Chinese companies’s
exports to Europe and Chinese firms’
existing investment in Europe will also
face the risks of suffering losses,” he
said.
According to Chinese data, twoway shipments increased 9.9 per cent
year-on-year to $615.1 billion in 2014,
with China in surplus to the tune of
$126.6 billion.
— AFP
OMAN/INTERNATIONAL
F R I DAY
JANUARY 30 l 2015
MUSCAT SECURITIES MARKET
INTERNATIONAL
F R I DAY
JANUARY 30 l 2015
omandailyobserver
15
Asian shares skid as Fed takes investors by surprise
TOKYO: Asian shares extended losses
yesterday after the Federal Reserve took
an upbeat view on the US economy and
signalled that it remains firmly on track
to raise interest rates this year, despite an
uncertain global outlook.
Spreadbetters predicted the weak
tone would carry over into European
trade, with Britain’s FTSE 100 seen
opening 63 to 81 points lower, or down
1.2 per cent; Germany’s DAX opening
116 to 145 points lower, or down 1.4 per
cent; and France’s CAC 40 opening 60 to
74 points lower, or down 1.6 per cent.
“European equities are set to open
lower following last night’s FOMC
statement,” Jonathan Sudaria, a dealer at
Capital Spreads, said in a note.
“There was no change in the language
or their stance that they remain patient
on raising rates but this sent US markets
into a tail spin because for traders who
are now addicted to accommodative
monetary policy, even ‘patient’ is
deemed to be hawkish,” he said.
A greater likelihood of higher US
interest rates this year helped Asian stock
indexes follow Wall Street into negative
territory. Japan’s Nikkei slipped 1.1 per
cent to mark its biggest one-day drop in
two weeks, while MSCI’s broadest index
of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was
down 1.1 per cent.
Adding to the gloomy picture,
Chinese shares skidded after the
official Xinhua news agency said that
country’s stock regulator will inspect
the stock margin trading business of
46 companies, amid concerns that the
country’s stock markets are becoming
over-leveraged and vulnerable to a crash
which could strain the financial system.
The Fed said that international
developments would be taken into
FTSE declines to a one-week low
Pedestrians cross a street in the financial district of Hong Kong yesterday. Asian stock markets fell across the board, largely on
the back of declines in the US triggered by concerns over a strengthening dollar and falling oil prices.
— AFP
consideration, but noted that falling
energy prices boosted household
purchasing power even as it
acknowledged a decline in certain
inflation measures.
“The markets were a bit surprised
that the Fed was more hawkish than
expected, especially considering that
many people had thought that the board
members this year would be more dovish
than last year’s,” said Hideyuki Ishiguro,
senior strategist at Okasan Securities.
Four voting members from regional
Feds at the policy committee this year
are considered less hawkish than last
year’s rotating members.
On Wednesday, the Dow Jones
industrial average fell 1.1 per cent to a
six-week low while the S&P 500 lost 1.4
per cent.
The Fed’s optimism and unwavering
stance on future rate hikes contrasted
with a recent spate of dovish policy shifts
at many central banks around the world
— from Europe to Canada to India.
“Most every central bank wants to
weaken their currency at the moment,
in contrast with the Fed,” said Kaneo
Ogino, director at Global-info Co in
Tokyo, a foreign exchange research firm.
“The market liquidity is relatively low
now, considering it is getting towards the
end of the month,” he added.
The diverging monetary policy
Gazprom profits plunge on Ukraine row
MOSCOW: Russia’s gas giant Gazprom
said yesterday its Q3 profits plunged
61 per cent as supplies were suspended
to Ukraine, one of its main customers.
The group’s profits between July and
September reached 105.7 billion roubles
($1.5 billion) but revenues in that
quarter were down 6 per cent yearon-year to 1.13 trillion roubles ($16.5
billion). Analysts were expecting the
group’s profits to drop significantly due
to its dispute with Ukraine. Kiev has
refused to accept a price rise imposed
after its pro-Western authorities came
to power a year ago.
As Kiev’s debts built up, Gazprom
cut supplies in June and only switched
them back on in autumn, with reduced
volumes of gas that Ukraine’s state
company Naftogaz has to pay for in
advance. In the first nine months of
2014, Gazprom’s net profits fell by 35 per
cent to 556.2 billion roubles. Its revenues
BIZ BRIEF
Deutsche Bank
posts a profit as
legal costs ease
reached 4 trillion roubles, up 6 per cent
from the same period a year ago.
The profits were hit by factors
including an increase in impairment
provisions made over Naftogaz’s debts,
the group said in a statement. Gas sales
fell 2 per cent year-on-year between
January and September to 2.084 trillion
roubles ($30.5 billion), with those to
Europe remaining fairly stable. — AFP
Nippon Steel blamed loss at its Vallourec & Sumitomo Tubos do Brasil
Japan’s top steelmaker cuts
full-year profit forecast
TOKYO: Nippon Steel & Sumitomo
Metal said yesterday its nine-month
net profit dropped 20.3 per cent as it
slashed its full-year profit forecast, citing
the impact of plunging oil prices on a
Brazilian unit.
The Tokyo-based company, one of
the world’s biggest steelmakers, said
its earnings for the April to December
period came in at 153.6 billion yen ($1.3
billion), while sales rose 3.6 per cent to
4.18 trillion yen.
Nippon Steel blamed part of the
profit slump on a 68.6 billion yen
extraordinary loss that it took due to an
unexpected slowdown at its seamless
pipe maker Vallourec & Sumitomo
Tubos do Brasil (VSB), which supplies
the oil and gas market.
“The recent rapid decline in oil
prices is expected to impair the business
environment surrounding the oil and
gas related markets and future profits of
VSB,” the company said in a statement.
Nippon Steel also cut its net profit
forecast for the fiscal year to March to
180 billion yen, from an earlier estimate
of 250 billion yen.
outlooks helped the US dollar recoup
some losses this week. The dollar index,
which tracks the greenback against a
basket of major currencies, gained about
0.2 per cent on the day to 94.661.
Against the yen, the dollar added
about 0.1 per cent to 117.70 yen, while
the euro slightly to $1.1282, moving
away from a high of $1.1423 hit on
Tuesday.
Signs of tension in Greek financial
markets added to downward pressure on
the euro. Greek short-term bond yields
hit their highest since the country’s 2012
debt restructuring and Greek shares
tumbled 9 per cent to a 2½-year low on
Wednesday, as the new government in
“The global economy maintained
an overall moderate growth pace as
solid corporate profits and private
consumption supported an ongoing
improvement in business conditions in
the United States,” the company said in
a statement.
But “the European economy
continued to be weak and the trend
of slowing growth in China and other
emerging countries became more
pronounced”.
It also said demand at home was flat,
partly owing to delays in construction
projects. The company was also hit by
recent explosions at a domestic plant.
At least 15 people were injured in
September after an explosion at a steel
mill in central Japan, the latest in a series
of accidents at the site.
“(The company) sincerely regrets the
great trouble and inconvenience caused
to shareholders and others concerned
by the power failures and fire accident
which occurred at the company’s
Nagoya Works,” it said.
The firm’s Tokyo-listed shares fell 1.9
per cent to 289.1 yen yesterday. — AFP
FRANKFURT: Deutsche Bank
rebounded to make a surprise Q4
profit of 441 million euros ($498
million) as it saw lower charges for
settling accusations of wrongdoing.
The bank also saw higher revenues
at its investment banking division
from trading bonds and foreign
exchange in volatile markets at
the start of the October-December
quarter. The bank’s Q4 earnings beat
estimates among analysts surveyed
by financial information provider
FactSet who had expected a loss of
155 million euros.
The profit for the OctoberDecember quarter compared to a
loss of 1.365 billion euros in the same
quarter the year before.
Co-CEO Anshu Jain cautioned
yesterday that litigation expenses “will
remain a challenge in 2015” as well.
The bank faces several investigations
connected with allegations of
manipulating foreign exchange and
interest benchmarks as well as other
matters. Litigation expenses for
settling such cases with regulators
and law enforcement has been a
significant cost recently for several
major global banks.
Litigation expenses for fines and
settlements fell to 207 million euros
from 1.111 billion euros in the Q4 the
year before. Chief financial officer
Stefan Krause said some litigation
expenses may only have been
delayed as investigations take longer
than expected, but declined to offer
a more specific forecast. “We are not
in control of the timing of litigation
and settlements,” Krause said on a
conference call with analysts.
Overall revenues rose 19 per cent
to 7.834 billion euros. Deutsche Bank
has been working to get past the
investigations into past behaviour and
to comply with a regulatory push to
get banks to carry less risk compared
to their loss-absorbing buffers. The
bank has suffered a steady drag on
earnings from litigation costs and
from losses on non-core investments
it has set aside and is selling off to
remove risk from its finances.
For the full year 2014, earnings
rose to 1.691 billion euros from 681
million euros in 2013.
— AP
LONDON: Britain’s top share index
slipped to a one-week low yesterday
with oil major Royal Dutch Shell
leading the market down after missing
earnings expectations. Energy shares
also came under pressure as oil sank
to its lowest point in nearly six years
after data showed record
stockpiles had built up
in the United States. The
UK Oil and Gas index fell
3.3 per cent, while both
oil company BP and Weir
Group, which makes
valves and pumps for the energy
and mining industries, fell about 3
per cent. Royal Dutch Shell dropped
3.4 per cent, the heaviest faller in the
blue-chip FTSE 100, after earnings
excluding identified items came in
below market expectations at $3.3
billion. The company also announced
a three-year, $15 billion cut in
spending after a slump in oil prices.
Oil has fallen by almost 60 per cent
Athens appeared to be squaring up for a
fight with international creditors.
The New Zealand dollar steadied after
tumbling to a 3½-year low yesterday
after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand
opened the door to a possible rate cut.
As share prices eased, US bond
yields have fallen, with the 30-year yield
hitting a record low of 2.273 per cent on
Wednesday. The 10-year yield stood at
1.720 per cent, not far from this month’s
low of 1.698 per cent, which was its
lowest level since May 2013.
The Fed repeated it will be “patient
in beginning to normalise” rates,
although it dropped a reference that
rates will be held at the current levels
since June because of weak global
demand and a boom in US shale
production.
John Smith, senior fund manager
at Brown Shipley, said the company’s
quarterly update disappointed
investors due to its high spending and
poor refining margins.
“Earnings estimates
look far too high. The real
impact of the decline in
the oil price will be felt on
this year’s earnings, and
the dividend will remain
under pressure if oil prices do not see
a significant recovery soon,” he said.
The FTSE 100 index was down 0.9
per cent at 6,762.36 points after falling
to a low of 6,759.11, the lowest in a
week. Sentiment also worsened after
the Fed said on Wednesday the US
economy was expanding “at a solid
pace” with strong job gains in a signal
that it remained on track with its plans
to raise interest rates this year.
“for a considerable time” — which many
traders had taken to mean about six
months. Despite the indication from the
Fed that the first rate hike could come as
early as June, markets have relentlessly
pushed the timing out to year-end and
are plotting a much lower trajectory for
future hikes.
Oil prices steadied after slumping
anew overnight, with US crude
futures hitting near six-year lows after
government data showed record-high
inventories in the United States.
US crude futures were nearly flat on
the day at $44.48, having sunk as low as
$44.08 on Wednesday, their lowest since
April 2009.
— Reuters
LG Electronics profit soars 125pc in 2014
SEOUL: South Korea’s LG Electronics said yesterday its net profit last year soared 125
per cent, boosted by surging sales of its flagship smartphones and television sets. Net
income reached 501.3 billion won ($462 million) in 2014, compared with 222.7 billion
won a year earlier. Operating profit, meanwhile, was up 46 per cent to 1.82 trillion won,
with sales rising four per cent to 59 trillion won. The country’s second-largest home
appliance and smartphone maker attributed its strong bottom line to upbeat sales of
its TV sets and flagship G-series smartphones.
The annual profit surge came despite a 205.7 billion won net loss in the fourth
quarter — the result of writing off its plasma TV operations.
Fourth-quarter operating profit, however, soared 28 per cent year-on-year to 275.1
billion won, and sales rose 4.9 per cent to 15.3 trillion won.
Last year LG’s mobile division reported a 16 per cent increase in annual revenue to
15.06 trillion won mainly thanks to increased shipments to North America.
Of 78.2 million mobile handsets sold last year, it shipped 59.1 million smartphones,
up 24 per cent from the previous year. LG had been hit by sluggish handset sales and
losses for years, but it swung back to profit from 2012. This year the company vowed to
improve its brand power for smartphones, citing tough competition abroad. Last year
LG’s home appliance sector also saw stronger sales in Europe and emerging markets,
offsetting slower sales in North America.
— AFP
An employee stands next to an assembly production line of Buick cars at a
General Motors factory in Wuhan, Hubei province. China plans to cut its
growth target to around 7 per cent in 2015, its lowest goal in 11 years,
sources said, as policymakers try to manage slowing growth, job creation
and pursuing reforms intended to make the economy more driven by
market forces.
— Reuters
Toyota raises output of Mirai hydrogen car
BERLIN: Toyota has announced a four-fold increase in production of its hydrogenpowered model, the Mirai. The move follows an unexpected surge in orders for the
four-door saloon, which is powered by an electric motor mated to a hydrogen fuel-cell.
Water vapour is the only exhaust pipe emission. Output is now being ramped up from
700 this year to 3,000 of the car by 2017.
Following announcement of the car last year, Toyota said orders for 150 were
received within the space of four weeks. Around 40 per cent of these were from private
customers and the remainder from companies and pubic services.
Toyota originally expected to sell 400 Mirai models annually. The Mirai will go on
sale in Germany from September.
— dpa
Nokia turns to Q4 profit on strong growth
HELSINKI: After selling its ailing handset unit, Nokia has turned a Q4 net profit of 443
million euros ($502 million) with sales increasing nearly 10 per cent, partly buoyed
by strong growth in North America. The Finland-based company says revenue grew
to 3.8 billion euros in the period. Last year, it reported a net loss of 26 million euros.
Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri noted excellent network profitability with strong growth in all
operations after selling its devices and services to Microsoft last year. “We see 2015
as a year of execution,” Suri said yesterday, adding that the company will continue
to cut costs and invest. Nokia said it expects annual sales to grow in 2015 in all three
remaining sectors; networks, mapping services and technologies and patents. — AP
16
omandailyobserver
INVESTMENT
PERSPECTIVE
F R I DAY
JANUARY 30 l 2015
IDEAS
Stockpickers hope to break the seven-year slide
NEW YORK: The year 2013 was
reckoned by some to be the “year of the
stockpicker,” fuelled by the concept that
corporate profits would be driven by
individual company performance, not
so much as a rising tide raises all boats.
That didn’t work out: As the
benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 Index
gained 29.6 per cent in its best year since
1997, mutual funds run by stockpickers
slightly lagged cheaper index funds.
The year 2014 was also supposed to
be the year of the stockpicker as the S&P
500 rose 11.4 per cent, until it wasn’t. Last
year, active managers underperformed
comparable index funds by the worst
margin in more than a decade.
This year, pundits ranging from
money managers to publications like
Barron’s are saying this is finally going
to be the year that strategic stock pickers
will best the indexers. After six straight
years of gains, they say the stock market
is once again showing flashes of the
stomach-churning drops that allow
active managers to exert judgment and
pick up shares at lower prices.
“There’s a level of volatility in this
market which makes it very ripe for
stockpicking skills to be rewarded,”
said Phil Orlando, a portfolio manager
and chief equity strategist at Federated
Investors. Well, maybe. The last year in
which stockpickers beat passive funds
by a wide margin was 2007, which was
also the last year the Colorado Rockies
played in baseball’s World Series or AC
Milan won the European Cup in soccer.
To be sure, past performance doesn’t
necessarily indicate future results, as
fund managers like to say.
As active managers underperform,
they are increasingly fighting an uphill
battle for assets. Investors have shunned
active management since the current bull
market began in 2009, sending $444.6
billion to index funds and exchange
traded funds while pulling $421.2
billion out of those run by stockpickers,
according to Lipper data.
Vanguard Group, which launched
the first index fund in 1975, has
become the largest US mutual fund
company by assets largely by catering
to investors who shun the idea that the
average stockpicker can beat the market
after fees, an idea popularised by firm
founder Jack Bogle. “Regardless of
market conditions, for every winning
trade there’s someone who had to sell
it to them, making the market a zero
sum game,” said Jim Rowley, a senior
investment analyst at Vanguard.
The stock market is becoming more
volatile. In January, the volatility of the
benchmark S&P 500 index was nearly 10
per cent higher than its 50-year average,
said Howard Silverblatt, senior index
analyst at S&P Dow Jones indices.
Over the last 90 years, periods of low
dispersion — a measure of the range
of returns for stocks in a benchmark
— have been difficult for stockpickers,
with October of last year hitting the
third-lowest dispersion on record, said
Thomas Lee, head of research at New
York-based Fundstrat. Yet periods of
extremely low dispersion tend to give
way to those where dispersion is above
average, making it easier for stockpickers
to be rewarded for their choices, he said.
Fund managers say that they are
already reaping the benefits of more
volatile markets.
“The hardest environment is when
stocks move in unison and stockpickers
After six straight years of gains, pundits say the stock market is once again showing flashes of the stomach-churning drops that
allow active managers to exert judgment and pick up shares at lower prices.
don’t have an opportunity to do their
thing,” said Bob Doll, a portfolio
manager at Nuveen. This year, his Large
Cap Core fund is beating the S&P 500
by almost 3 percentage points, thanks
in part to positions in Gilead Sciences
Inc and Merck & Co Inc that have each
jumped by more than 10 per cent since
the start of January. “Now, companies
are being valued on their fundamentals
and you are rewarded for making the
right call,” Doll said.
Orlando, from Federated Investors,
said that the stronger dollar should also
help stockpickers who shift into more
US focused companies this year. The
average company in the S&P 500 gets
about half of its revenue from overseas.
Those with smaller market caps tend to
earn most of their revenue in the US and
are less affected by the dollar’s jump.
Overall, the higher dollar could shave
POLICY MATTERS
up to $12 billion off of US companies’
fourth-quarter 2014 revenue alone,
according to FireApps, a data analytics
company in Phoenix, Arizona.
“Moving down the market cap will
mean less of a currency impact, while
the biggest companies in the index are
getting hurt,” Orlando said.
Yet investors have reasons to
be sceptical that certain market
environments favour stockpickers,
analysts say.
With so many actively managed
mutual funds — there are 4,635 largecap funds alone tracked by Morningstar
— there is little reason to think that all of
them will react to the same environment
in the same way.
“I don’t know that any one variable
helps the light bulb go off across
an industry with so many different
strategies involved,” said Jeff Tjornehoj,
head of Lipper America research.
Moreover, higher levels of volatility
don’t always help stockpickers,
according to Thomson Reuters data.
As measured by the VIX, the so-called
fear index which measures the amount
of risk about the size of changes in
a security’s value, volatility spiked
to above 40 in August of 2011 and
remained above its historical average
of 20 for the remainder of the year. Yet
active managers underperformed that
year, losing an average of 2.1 per cent
compared with an average loss of 1 per
cent among passive funds.
In 2007, the last year in which
stockpickers beat passive funds by a
wide margin, volatility never jumped
above 30, according to Thomson Reuters
data. The VIX is currently at 18, below
its long-term average.
Only about 40 per cent of stockpickers
beat the benchmark in any given year,
said Todd Rosenbluth, director of fund
research at S&P Capital IQ. Should
stockpickers once again underperform
this year on average, fund companies
may be under increasing pressure to
lower the expense ratios of activelymanaged funds in order to regain the
market share that they have lost to index
funds and ETFs.
— Reuters
TRACKRECORD
Fed sees strong economy but patient on rates Philippines confident
of faster growth ahead
WASHINGTON: The Federal Reserve’s
outlook for the US economy is steadily
brightening. Yet the Fed will be ‘patient’
in raising interest rates from record lows.
That was the dual message the central
bank sent on Wednesday in a statement
it issued after its latest policy meeting.
Why is no rate hike likely soon? The
main reason, the Fed suggested in its
statement, is that inflation remains
well below the central bank’s target
rate. And it said the pressures holding
down inflation — mainly plunging oil
prices — have intensified. The Fed said
it thinks inflation will decline further
before eventually reaching the central
bank’s 2 per cent target rate.
The Fed sketched a bullish picture of
the economy — with a strengthening
job market, lower unemployment,
rising consumer spending and higher
household purchasing power fuelled
by lower energy prices. Paul Ashworth,
an economist at Capital Economics,
said the statement suggested that the
Fed “is still taking the view that the
collapse in oil prices is a net positive for
the economy.” The Fed’s statement also
made clear that policymakers still think
the impact of low oil prices on inflation
will prove temporary, Ashworth said.
The statement was approved on a
10-0 vote.
The Fed’s emphasis on low inflation
could affect when it decides to raise
its key short-term rate from near zero.
Many economists have forecast a rate
hike in June, but some have pushed
back their predicted timetable. The Fed’s
statement did not explicitly mention
the weakening global economy. But
it did say the Fed planned to take
“international developments” into
account in determining when to start
raising rates.
The Fed operates with two key
mandates: Maximising employment
and keeping prices rising at a moderate
pace of 2 per cent. The US economy’s
steady growth and improving job
market would normally argue for a
move to begin raising rates to prevent
high inflation. The Fed has kept its
benchmark rate near zero since 2008
to encourage borrowing, spending and
investment and support the recovery
from the Great Recession. The Fed’s key
rate affects rates on many consumer and
business loans. But the concerns about
global economic weakness and low
inflation have raised doubts about when
the Fed’s first rate increase will occur. A
growing number of economists say the
date could slip to September or even
later. Economists at Morgan Stanley this
week pushed back their forecast for the
first rake hike to March 2016 because of
the factors holding inflation down.
Some economists said the Fed’s
references to both stronger growth and
Why is no rate hike likely
soon? The main reason,
the Fed suggested in its
statement, is that inflation
remains well below the
central bank’s target rate.
lower inflation largely offset each other.
That suggests that the Fed sees little
pressure to raise rates soon. “This is a
wash, from a policy perspective,” said
Michael Gregory, an economist at BMO
Capital Markets.
At the same time, Gregory said the
Fed’s mention of weakening economies
overseas shows it is increasingly
concerned about the strengthening US
dollar. A rising dollar makes imports less
expensive and holds down US inflation.
For that reason, Gregory expects the Fed
to put off a rate hike until September.
Chair Janet Yellen said last month
that by using the word “patient,” the Fed
intended to signal that there would be no
rate increase for at least two meetings.
That would mean that if officials want to
signal that a rate hike is coming in June,
they would need to alter the “patient”
wording at their next meeting in midMarch.
A complicating factor is the
European Central Bank’s new plan to
flood its sputtering economy with more
than 1 trillion euros. That money should
keep the euro zone’s interest rates ultralow and could lead some investors to
buy higher-yielding US Treasury. That
would further strengthen the dollar and
could push US inflation further below
the Fed’s 2 per cent target.
Growth in China, the world’s second
largest economy, is slowing, too.
By contrast, the US economy added
nearly 3 million jobs last year, enough
to cut the unemployment rate to 5.6
per cent. That is just above the Fed’s
goal of 5.2 per cent to 5.5 per cent
unemployment.
Still, Yellen and other Fed officials
have pointed to other factors — such
as weak pay growth and a still-high
number of part-time workers who can’t
find full-time jobs — as evidence that
more must be done to achieve a healthy
job market.
US prices rose just 1.2 per cent in
the 12 months that ended in November,
according to the Fed’s preferred gauge
of inflation. When inflation is too low,
consumer spending — and economic
growth — can slow as people delay
purchases on the assumption that the
same or lower prices will be available
later. The biggest fear is deflation — a
broad decline in prices and income that
can further restrain spending and even
tip an economy into recession. — AP
MANILA: Philippine officials voiced confidence the country had escaped
a “boom-bust cycle” as they predicted yesterday that economic growth
would accelerate in 2015, after expansion last year beat international
expectations. The economy grew 6.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2014,
new figures showed, offsetting weaker growth in the previous nine months
to boost full-year gross domestic product (GDP) expansion to 6.1 per cent,
exceeding forecasts from major international institutions.
The rebound puts the country on a high-growth trajectory not seen in
decades that will finally see it shake off its image as the “sick man” of Asia,
economic planning secretary Arsenio Balisacan told reporters.
Balisacan added that the government expected the economy to grow by
between 7 and 8 per cent
in 2015.
“We have avoided
the dreaded boom-bust
cycle that has hounded
our
economy
for
decades,” he said.
“What we are seeing
in the last five years has
never been seen in the
last 40 years. The last
time we have seen such
growth was in the mid-1970s,” he said, referencing a period when the
Philippines saw annual economic growth rates approaching nine per cent.
Despite global uncertainties, the Philippines was buoyed by “solid”
macroeconomic fundamentals including strong domestic consumption,
ample foreign exchange reserves, a stable banking sector and manageable
inflation, finance secretary Cesar Purisima said.
Purisima said in a statement that the country “has more fundamental
strength than most peers to fuel long-term growth prospects and buttress
against vulnerabilities to external shocks.”
On a full-year basis, the Philippine economy grew at a rate second in
Asia only to China’s 7.4 per cent, and narrowly outpacing Vietnam’s six
per cent, Balisacan said. “With this upbeat year-end performance, the
economy is anticipated to gain further traction in 2015,” he said.
Balisacan, however, conceded that such high growth rates must be
sustained over 20 years before they could be felt by the poor, as shown
by the experience of other countries. “It’s a long way to go before we can
effectively make this growth shared broadly. There’s so much to do. There’s
no shortcut to it. We have to deepen reforms,” he said.
The full-year economic growth rate of 6.1 per cent exceeded forecasts
of 6 per cent by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund,
but fell short of the government’s targeted range of between 6.5 per cent
and 7.5 per cent. The economy grew by an impressive 7.2 per cent in 2013.
The 2014 fourth quarter growth figure of 6.9 per cent was also an
improvement from the 6.3 per cent growth posted in the same period in
2013. Analysts, meanwhile, largely echoed government confidence about
the economy.
“Overall, this remains consistent with our long-held view that the
economy is on a solid growth trajectory,” Nomura research analyst
Euben Paracuelles said. Barclays analysts Rahul Bajoria and Bill Diviney,
meanwhile, predicted expansion will be “robust” this year as the Philippines
is expected to benefit from a marked drop in world oil prices while the
central bank is expected to hold off on any interest rate hikes until the
fourth quarter.
— AFP
SPORT
F R I DAY
JANUARY 30 l 2015
omandailyobserver
Red-hot Irving nets 55 as Cavs beat Blazers
FLYING HAWKS: Atlanta Hawks pushed their winning run out to 17 games by defeating Brooklyn
CLEVELAND: The Cleveland Cavaliers,
who were playing without injured
superstar LeBron James, beat Portland
99-94 to extend their win streak to eight
games behind an electric performance
from Kyrie Irving.
Irving tallied a career-high 55
points which included a team-record
11 three pointers in front of a crowd of
20,500 at the Quicken Loans Arena on
Wednesday.
His final dagger from beyond the arc
came with just six seconds left and gave
the Cavaliers the lead for good.
“He delivered,” said Cavaliers coach
David Blatt.
“I’ve seen a lot of great performances,
but something quite like that? No.
“I’ve never seen that. And I’ve been
coaching a long time.”
With James out because of a sprained
right wrist that could keep him sidelined
for at least one more NBA contest, Irving
missed his first seven field goal attempts
but went 17-of-29 after that.
He scored 28 points in the first half
and had 16 in the fourth quarter to keep
the Cavs from blowing a game they led
by as much as 14 points.
LaMarcus Aldridge paced the Trail
Blazers attack with 38 points, including
a pair of free throws that tied the score
with 27 seconds remaining.
Following a timeout, Irving drained
his final shot from the left side over
Nicolas Batum to give Cleveland the lead
and break CJ Miles’ franchise record for
three pointers in a game.
Irving grabbed the rebound after
Damian Lillard was short on a three
from the right corner at the other end
and made two foul shots for the last of
his 55 points.
His 55 points bettered his previous
career high of 44 points which he posted
in an overtime loss to Charlotte last
season.
It was also just one short of James’
franchise record set in a game against
the Toronto Raptors in 2005.
His point total was also the highest in
the league this season, bettering the 52
scored by Golden State’s Klay Thompson
and Minnesota’s Mo Williams.
Portland had an extra day off after
Monday’s scheduled game in Brooklyn
was postponed because of a snow storm
that hammered parts of the US eastern
seaboard.
In Houston, Houston beat Dallas
99-94 on Wednesday to inflict a fourthstraight defeat on the Mavericks and
widen the gap between the Rockets and
their Texan rivals in the NBA Southwest
Division.
The Rockets closed within 1½ games
of Southwest leader Memphis, and also
moved 2½ clear of Dallas and another
state rival in San Antonio.
Elsewhere, Phoenix held on to
beat Washington and Atlanta pushed
their winning run out to 17 games by
defeating Brooklyn.
Houston had a balanced scoring effort
led by 18 points from Josh Smith and
17 from James Harden, compensating
for the absence of the injured Dwight
Howard.
The game remained up for grabs into
the closing seconds.
Houston’s Terrence Jones blocked a
shot by Monta Ellis but knocked it out of
bounds in the closing moments, giving
Dallas a final chance. The inbounds
pass by Chandler Parsons sailed out of
bounds to give Houston the ball. Harden
made two free throws after that to secure
the win. Ellis led the Mavericks with 33
points.
Phoenix had five players in double
figures to beat Washington 106-98.
Goran Dragic scored 20 points to lead
the Suns, who improved to 5-2 with one
game remaining in an unprecedented
run of eight-straight home games.
The Wizards, playing their fourth
game in five nights, trailed by 22 in
the first half and 18 early in the fourth
quarter before twice cutting it to four.
Otto Porter and Marcin Gortat scored
14 each for Washington.
Atlanta’s Paul Millsap had 28 points
and 15 rebounds and five other Atlanta
players scored in double figures as the
Hawks stretched their franchise-record
winning streak with a 113-102 victory
over Brooklyn.
Atlanta have won 31 of 33 and lead the
Eastern Conference by a commanding
seven games.
The Hawks pulled away in the final
quarter, leading by as many as 15. Joe
Johnson led the Nets with 26 points.
It wasn’t enough to prevent Brooklyn’s
11th loss in 13 games, a slide that has
knocked the team out of the top eight in
the East.
San Antonio shook off a lethargic
third quarter to beat Charlotte
95-86. Tony Parker scored 17 points
and Danny Green had 16 points for the
Spurs, who have won six consecutive
home games. Gerald Henderson scored
18 points for the Hornets, who were
without star guard Kemba Walker, who
will be out at least six weeks following
knee surgery.
The Los Angeles Clippers needed
a fourth-quarter rally to win 94-89 at
Utah and extend their dominance over
Cleveland Cavaliers’ Kyrie Irving (centre) drives between Portland Trail Blazers players.
the Jazz to 13 games.
Jamal Crawford scored 21 points,
including four 3-pointers, and Chris
Paul scored 21 points and dished out six
assists for the Clippers.
Enes Kanter scored 21 points and
grabbed 11 rebounds for the Jazz.
Toronto made a season-high 17
3-pointers in a 119-102 victory over
slumping Sacramento.
Denver arrested a seven-game losing
skid with a 93-85 win at New Orleans.
LOCAL FLAVOUR
Red Bull Local Hero Tour event returns to Oman
MUSCAT: The Red Bull Local Hero Tour
2015 is set to return to Oman for the
second time on January 30 and 31.
The event promises to be a weekend
of pure skateboarding and will include
international Red Bull Skateboarding
athlete Gavin Adams (pictured), also
well-known as ‘Moses’.
The two-day event will also include a
skateboarding workshop one day prior
to the competition. After the workshop,
Adams will judge the competition the
next day as the skateboarders go headto-head to see who will be crowned the
Omani Local Hero.
Only the country’s best skateboarders
will be selected to compete in the
competition and showcase their talent.
The competition itself will take place in
a specially designed skate park that will
bring out the best skating techniques
and outstanding tricks by the
skateboarders. The technical aspects of
the competition will also be supervised
by the Red Bull athlete who will judge
the degree of difficulty and consistency
of tricks.
Last year in the local competition,
Firas al Hinai battled for first place after
going head-to-head with other local
skateboarders in the competition, and
was followed by runner-up Ahmad
Khidir Amirrudin in second place and
Yann Pejon in third place.
This year’s event will be held at the
Tanuf Warehouse and is the perfect
opportunity for local skaters to enjoy a
hands-on workshop.
OFA holds consultative meeting with club representatives
MUSCAT: Oman Football Association (OFA) chief Sayyid Khalid
al Busaidy and board of directors held a consultative meeting
with the club representatives during a consultative meeting at
the OFA headquarters in Seeb on Wednesday.
The OFA addressed the clubs’ concerns on various issues
including the poor performance of Oman in the ongoing
Asian Cup and regarding administrative and financial issues at
the body.
New York’s Carmelo Anthony had
31 points and 10 rebounds to lead the
rejuvenated Knicks to a 100-92 win
against Oklahoma City.
Philadelphia brought up their
first win in seven games by beating a
misfiring Detroit 89-69, with the Pistons
making only 2 of 20 3-point attempts.
Minnesota’s Kevin Martin scored
21 points in his first game in more than
two months, helping the Timberwolves
down Boston 110-98.
— Agencies
— USA Today Sports
NBA RESULTS
Cleveland bt Portland ------------------ 99-94
Philadelphia bt Detroit ---------------- 89-69
Toronto bt Kings -----------------------119-102
Houston bt Dallas ------------------------ 99-94
Minnesota bt Boston ------------------110-98
Denver bt New Orleans ---------------- 93-85
NY Knicks bt Oklahoma---------------100-92
Atlanta bt Brooklyn ------------------113-102
San Antonio bt Charlotte -------------- 95-86
LA Clippers bt Utah ---------------------- 94-89
Phoenix bt Washington -------------106-98
17
Bryant to miss
season after
successful
surgery
LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles
Lakers star Kobe Bryant
had successful shoulder
surgery on Wednesday, the
third-straight year he has
undergone a season-ending
procedure, the National
Basketball Association team
said.
The two-hour surgery, to
repair a torn rotator cuff in his
right shoulder, was performed
by doctors Neal ElAttrache
and Steve Lombardo at the
Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic
in Los Angeles.
The 36-year-old Bryant
is expected to be out nine
months and doctors said
with proper rehabilitation
he would be able to return
to the Lakers in time for his
20th season. “I expect Kobe to
make a full recovery and if all
goes as expected, he should
be ready for the start of the
season,” ElAttrache said.
For the last three years
Bryant has endured a seasonending injury, after a torn
Achilles tendon in April 2013
and a broken bone in his knee
last season.
The 19-year veteran and
five-time NBA champion
suffered the injury in last
Wednesday’s 96-80 loss at
New Orleans. Bryant, a fivetime NBA champion, is the
league’s highest-paid player
at $23.5 million.
The Lakers made a point
of giving a specific timeline
for Bryant’s expected return
on Wednesday to reiterate
that they don’t expect him to
retire. He injured his shoulder
while dunking the ball against
the Pelicans and on Monday
the team announced he had
opted for surgery.
“In my mind right now,
he’s coming back next year,
unless he tells me something
different,” said Lakers coach
Byron Scott on Wednesday.
“But I think the biggest
thing with Kobe, as long as
[people] are saying that he’s
done, he’s going to come
back.”
— AFP
Woods returns to Phoenix
with plenty of memories
SCOTTSDALE, Arizona: Tiger Woods
returned to the Phoenix Open and
received cheers, boos and gasps.
All on one hole.
There is rarely a dull moment with
golf ’s biggest star, especially at the PGA
Tour’s rowdiest venue. Even though
Woods has played at TPC Scottsdale
only three times, what defines his
experience at the Phoenix Open is not
a trophy, rather it’s some beer, a boulder,
an orange and a gun. So a typical proam on Wednesday was anything but
that — especially at the par-3 16th hole.
Woods managed to deliver another
memory. His 9-iron was just left of the
pin when it turned enough left that
it tumbled into a bunker. The cheers
turned to boos, and Woods tugged the
bill of his cap in mock shame. Seconds
later, the cheers returned from the full
house. And then the gasp — instead of
blasting out of the sand, Woods bladed
the shot over the green and into the
front row of the gallery.
It was quite a scene, and this was
not lost on John Wood, the caddie for
Hunter Mahan, who was in the group
ahead of Woods on the 16th. The caddie
looked around at the enclosed arena,
where it was hard to find an empty seat.
And this was for a pro-am.
“This is usually about one-third full,”
Wood said. “I have never seen it this
packed on a Wednesday. Never.”
The difference? He looked over his
Tiger Woods and Bubba Watson talk on the tee box at par-4 17th hole at the
Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale.
— USA Today Sports
shoulder at Woods on the tee box and
pointed his thumb in that direction.
Record crowds are expected this
week at the TPC Scottsdale, though the
forecast is for cold and rain on Saturday,
the biggest day. The Super Bowl is in
town. Woods is playing for the first
time in 14 years. The field includes Phil
Mickelson, Masters champion Bubba
Watson, Jordan Spieth and Rickie
Fowler.
All eyes, however, are on Woods.
There’s too much history with him, even
at a tournament he rarely plays.
Of the three aces Woods has made
as a pro, none gets replayed as much as
his debut in the Phoenix Open in 1997.
When the ball disappeared into the cup,
it set off a celebration so wild that fans
began throwing beverage cups onto the
tee. Woods was so excited he missed the
high-five with Omar Uresti.
Two years later, Woods had a chance
to win while playing in the final group
with Rocco Mediate. What stood out
that day was a tee shot left into the desert
scrub and his ball landing just short of a
waist-high boulder. It might have been
the heaviest loose impediment ever
moved — with help. Woods summoned
help from the gallery, and they heaved
with all their might to get the boulder
out of the way of his swing on the par-5
13th.
“I thought it was lighter than it was,”
Woods said. “I thought I could move it.
Evidently it took like five other dudes to
do it.”
— AP
18
LEAGUE
SPORT
omandailyobserver
F R I DAY
JANUARY 30 l 2015
Barce knock out Atletico to enter semis
CUP
SHINING STAR: Neymar leaves no one indifferent with goals and swagger in King’s Cup match
Tottenham Hotspur’s Christian Eriksen (left) beats
Sheffield United’s Ryan Flynn (second left) in the air
during the semifinal second leg in Sheffield.
— AFP
Last-gasp goal
from Eriksen
powers Spurs
SHEFFIELD, United Kingdom: Two moments of
magic from Christian Eriksen helped Tottenham
Hotspur reach the final of the League Cup with a
3-2 aggregate victory over League One club Sheffield
United.
Dane Eriksen’s sublime first-half free-kick put
Maurico Pochettino’s team 1-0 up on the night and
they looked to be in cruise control before two goals
in as many minutes from 18-year-old substitute Che
Adams levelled the tie overall.
But a calm finish from Eriksen with three minutes
left meant the Premier League side prevailed without
the need for extra-time.
With most of the 30,236 supporters roaring on
the home team at a Bramall Lane lashed by wintry
showers, it was the sort of night to expose any flaws in
character and Tottenham only just survived.
Their reward is a meeting with Chelsea in the final
on March 1, Spurs’ first Wembley final since 2009, and
a chance to win the League Cup for a fifth time.
“When they scored
they got confidence, Their reward is
and you saw the a meeting with
crowd, but we had to
Chelsea in the final
play our best,” said
on March 1, Spurs’
Eriksen.
“To be in the final first Wembley final
is what everyone
since 2009, and a
wants at Tottenham.”
Sheffield United chance to win the
manager Nigel Clough League Cup for a
praised his players.
“I’m incredibly proud fifth time
of the players, to run
a team like Spurs so
close, that bit of quality made the difference,” he said.
United will point to marginal moments that
mounted up and cost them the tie and, before Eriksen’s
opener, they might have taken the lead and levelled the
aggregate score.
Michel Vorm’s late error led to Tottenham’s FA Cup
exit at the hands of Leicester City on Saturday and the
goalkeeper endured another uncomfortable moment
as the Blades made a bright start.
The Netherlands international, under pressure
from Marc McNulty, spilt Jamal Campbell-Ryce’s cross
and McNulty prodded the ball to Jamie Murphy, only
for the winger to see his shot blocked on the line by
Kyle Walker, Tottenham’s Sheffield-born defender.
Tottenham’s defeat came on the same day that
Chelsea were stunned 4-2 by League One side
Bradford City and Manchester City lost 2-0 against
Middlesbrough, of the Championship.
Clough has criticised top-flight teams for
deprioritising the FA Cup and League Cups and he is
in a position to judge.
— AFP
BARCELONA, Spain: Neymar’s
two-goal performance to help knock
Atletico Madrid out of the Copa del
Rey showed why Barcelona spared
no expense to win the bidding war
for the young Brazil striker.
With his hard-to-match speed
and quick dribbling, Neymar scored
from two counterattacks started by
Lionel Messi to lead Barcelona to a
3-2 win and into the semifinals on a
4-2 aggregate score on Wednesday.
“Neymar had an outstanding
performance,” said Barcelona coach
Luis Enrique. “He is daring. He
provides us with so many things
with his goals and his ability to
challenge on the dribble.”
Last season, Neymar’s first goal
in
Barcelona’s
burgundy-andblue came against Atletico to give
Barcelona the Spanish Super Cup,
its only title from a disappointing
campaign.
Now, his 20th and 21st goals of
the season have put Barcelona one
step closer to another cup final.
Only Messi has scored more for
Barcelona with 31 goals this season.
Barcelona sports daily SPORT
splashed the headline “Ney’s Cup”
on Thursday’s front page.
The
22-year-old
striker’s
swashbuckling style, however, left
no one indifferent.
Atletico players bickered with
Neymar during the match and
openly complained about him
afterward.
Neymar and Fernando Torres had
to be separated after tempers flared
as they held a heated argument while
leaving Vicente Calderon pitch at
half-time. Atletico midfielder Gabi
Fernandez earned a second booking
during the break for arguing with
the referee, and he didn’t mince
words about Neymar.
Barcelona’s Neymar scores a goal as Atletico’s Jan Oblak tries to make a save during the Spanish King’s Cup quarterfinal against Atletico de Madrid. — AP
“He has a peculiar way of playing,
above all when he is ahead,” said
Gabi. “He always makes gestures that
are annoying when he is winning.”
The signing of Neymar from
Brazilian club Santos in June
2013 brought Barcelona plenty of
problems. A lawsuit filed by one of
its club members over the cost of the
transfer led to club president Sandro
Rosell resigning in January 2014.
Barcelona then paid 13.55
million euros ($18.6 million) to
Spanish tax authorities to cover any
potential irregularities in its signing
of Neymar — which initially cost
57.1 million euros ($74 million).
The club has suffered increasing
instability since then, and this
month new president Josep
Bartomeu announced early elections
this summer. That said, the benefits
of teaming up Messi with Neymar
are undeniable.
After a season of adjusting to
the more physical Spanish league,
Neymar has developed into a perfect
partner for Messi.
Less than a month ago Barcelona
had entered crisis mode following a
loss at Real Sociedad and the firing
of its sports director. Luis Enrique
looked like he could be the next to
go. But Messi and Neymar have led
Barcelona on a seven-game winning
streak, including three victories
over Atletico, the defending Spanish
league champion. Neymar has
scored seven times in that stretch.
Luis Enrique defended Neymar’s
playing style.
“Neymar’s attitude is what it
is. He is a player with a lot of selfconfidence,” the coach said. “That’s
how he plays. He understands
football that way. He likes to
challenge opponents with his
dribbling. Nobody will change him,
and we like to see him that way.”
Barcelona will face either
Villarreal or Getafe in the semifinals.
It will also try and catch Real Madrid,
one point ahead in the league, and
prepare for its Champions League
tie against Manchester City next
month.
— AP
Ivory Coast advance as Mali
and Guinea need some luck
Cameroon’s Vincent Aboubakar (right) challenges Ivory Coast’s Serge Aurier
during the 2015 African Cup of Nations Group D match in Malabo.
— AFP
MALABO, Equatorial Guinea:
The luck of the draw will decide
the final quarterfinallist at the
African Cup of Nations.
The Ivory Coast earned their
spot from Group D by beating
Cameroon 1-0 on Wednesday,
but Mali and Guinea drew 1-1 yet
again, meaning they cannot be
separated in the standings.
Instead, the African football
confederation will put the names
of the two teams into balls on
Thursday at a hotel in Malabo and
an official will pick one of them.
Whichever one is chosen will
advance.
“It’s hard for each team because
nobody deserves to be out of
the competition,” Guinea coach
Michel Dussuyer said. “But now it
is a reality we have to face.”
There had been a possibility
that all four teams would be in the
draw, but Ivory Coast managed to
hold on for victory in Malabo —
the only result in the group that
did not finish 1-1.
In Mongomo, Guinea took
the lead when Kevin Constant
converted a 15th-minute penalty.
Mali had a chance to equalise two
minutes later but captain Seydou
Keita missed a penalty at the other
end.
The
equaliser
eventually
came in the second half through
forward Modibo Maiga’s backpost header. But since Mali and
Guinea could not be separated on
the field, they will be separated by
luck.
“They are the regulations of
the competition and we have to
go by them,” Mali coach Henryk
Kasperczak said. “But it doesn’t
work well. They (CAF) need to
look at it again.”
Max Gradel scored the only
goal of the match at Malabo
Stadium after collecting a pass
from Siaka Tiene that went
through the legs of Cameroon
forward Edgar Salli. He then ran
towards the middle of the field
before unleashing a hard shot that
flew past a diving Fabrice Ondoa.
The result gives the Ivorians
first place in the group and a
quarterfinal match against Algeria
on Sunday in Malabo. In Sunday’s
early match at the same venue, the
lucky team from Thursday’s draw
will face Ghana.
Ivory Coast coach Herve
Renard, who has worked with
several teams around the
continent, coached in Algeria
a few years ago, so his next
opponent is no stranger.
“I spent a very, very good time
over there, and now I have to
make them cry,” Renard said. “It’s
just a joke. I have a lot of friends in
Algeria.”
— AP
The ICC gave permission for the 22-year-old fast bowler to return to the domestic matches in Pakistan with immediate effect
Banned Aamer vows to be better on return to cricket
Pakistan’s Mohammad Aamer waves from
his residence in Lahore.
— AFP
KARACHI: Disgraced Pakistani fast
bowler Mohammad Aamer on Thursday
vowed to prove himself a “better player
and better human” after his spot-fixing
ban was relaxed, allowing him to play
again in domestic matches.
The International Cricket Council
(ICC), the sport’s governing body,
gave permission on Thursday for the
22-year-old to return to the game in
Pakistan with immediate effect.
The move brings Aamer a step closer
to a return to international competition
and a measure of redemption for his
part in one of the most scandalous
episodes in modern cricket.
Aamer was one of three Pakistani
players handed bans of at least five years
for arranging no-balls to order in a Test
against England at Lord’s in 2010.
His ban was due to expire on
September 2, but the ICC’s AntiCorruption and Security Unit (ACSU)
used discretionary powers to allow him
to return to domestic cricket early.
“The ACSU Chairman, Sir Ronnie
Flanagan, with the prior approval of
the ICC Board and the PCB (Pakistan
Cricket Board), has exercised his
discretion to allow Aamer to return
to domestic cricket played under the
auspices of the PCB with immediate
effect,” the ICC said in a statement.
‘BIGGEST NEWS OF MY LIFE’
Aamer said he was overwhelmed
by the announcement, the fruit of two
years of efforts by the PCB.
“It’s the biggest news of my life,”
‘My job is to play and do
well and I am sure that I
will return to international
cricket as a better player
and better human being
and that’s my aim’
he said by phone. “It was the most
difficult phase of my life but I am sure
it’s over now and I am keen to return to
international grounds.”
Aamer, along with captain Salman
Butt and new-ball partner Mohammad
Asif were found guilty of orchestrating
deliberate no-balls in the Test against
England. The three players and their
agent Mazhar Majeed were jailed by
a British court after the now-defunct
tabloid News of the World exposed them
in a sting operation.
At the time of the incident, leftarmer Aamer was regarded as one of
the hottest young bowling prospects
in world cricket and there was some
sympathy for him, given his young age
— he was 18 at the time.
The ACSU said it was satisfied Aamer
had shown remorse and cooperated
in the fight against fixing by recording
messages for education sessions.
Some former professionals have
said he should not be allowed back
into international cricket, but Aamer
vowed to win over the naysayers with
his bowling — and promised to behave
from now on. “If anyone has any
problems with my return I am sure he
will change his views with my character
and good performances,” he said. “My
job is to play and do well and I am sure
that I will return to international cricket
as a better player and better human
being and that’s my aim.”
PCB lawyer Tafazzul Rizvi said
Aamer will be monitored closely during
his return to domestic matches.
“The ICC code was followed in the
process and now PCB will monitor
Aamer’s behaviour in the next few
months and only after that will he
be eligible to return to international
cricket,” Rizvi said.
Aamer said that even at his lowest
points he never thought of giving up
cricket.
— AFP
19
F R I DAY l J A N U A R Y 3 0 l 2 0 1 5
SHORT TAKES
IRAQ BOSS IN
TALKS OVER
PERMANENT DEAL
NEWCASTLE: Caretaker boss Radhi
Shenaishil on Thursday said he was in
talks with Iraq’s football association over
a permanent deal after their success at
the Asian Cup.
Qatar Sports Club loaned Shenaishil
to Iraq for the tournament and despite
arriving just weeks ago, the former
international defender led his country to
the semifinals.
“I have had talks with the Iraqi FA
but there has been no pen to paper yet,”
Shenaishil said ahead of Iraq’s thirdplace play-off against UAE.
“It’s a pleasure to serve my country
and hopefully I’ll be talking more with
them in the days to come.”
The 48-year-old’s contract with the
Qatari side runs out in May and he said
he wasn’t yet in a position to sign with
the Lions of Mesopotamia, who won the
Asian Cup in 2007.
“I have contract and I cannot
disrespect them as they respected me.
I cannot leave them right now,” said
Shenaishil, a mainstay of Iraq’s defence
in the 1990s.
He stepped in at the last minute
following Hakim Shakir’s sacking after
Iraq finished bottom of their group at
the Gulf Cup in November.
— AFP
FINAL BOOST FOR
AUSSIE DEFENDER
FRANJIC
Golden boot glitters as UAE size up Iraq
GOAL-HUNGRY: Sharpshooter Ali Mabkhout can win a tight race for the top-scorer honours
Ahmed Yaseen Gheni of Iraq (centre) beats Iran players during their quarterfinal in Canberra. RIGHT: UAE’s Ali Mabkhout celebrates his goal against Bahrain.
NEWCASTLE, Australia: Sharpshooter
Ali Mabkhout can win a tight race for
the Asian Cup’s golden boot when the
United Arab Emirates face Iraq for the
consolation prize of finishing third on
Friday.
The UAE went down 2-0 to Australia
this week and Iraq lost by the same
scoreline to South Korea, as their dreams
of Asian Cup glory were shattered in the
semifinals.
Both teams must now pick
themselves up for an unwanted thirdplace play-off in Newcastle, although
Mabkhout has more motivation than
most. Deeply in tune with playmaker
Omar Abdulrahman, the striker has
already grabbed four goals, placing him
joint top of the scoring charts alongside
Jordan’s Hamza Aldaradreh.
Among his strikes are the fastest
goal in Asian Cup history — after just
14 seconds against Bahrain — and the
volley that put UAE 1-0 up against Japan
before they shocked the holders on
penalties.
Another goal against 2007 champions
Iraq would take the Al Jazira marksman
clear on the scorers’ list and help him
towards his aim of securing a big-money
move to Europe.
Socceroo Tim Cahill is lurking
behind Mabkhout with three goals,
while South Korea’s Son Heung-Min
Deeply in tune with
playmaker Omar
Abdulrahman, the striker
has already grabbed four
goals, placing him joint
top of the scoring charts
alongside Jordan’s
Hamza Aldaradreh
and Lee Jeong-Hyeop both have two
ahead of Saturday’s final in Sydney.
UAE coach Mahdi Ali said he would
rest some players but not Mabkhout,
who top-scored at November’s Gulf Cup
and in Asian Cup qualification, against
— AFP
Radhi Shenaishil’s Iraq.
But of greatest concern to Ali is that
UAE, favourites to host the 2019 Asian
Cup, finish third in what has been their
best campaign since they were runnersup in 1996.
“This is a good opportunity to give
other players a chance and to give some
a rest,” Ali said. “Of course I will make
some changes. But Ali (Mabkhout) will
play tomorrow.
If he gets top-scorer it would be good
for him and the team but the important
thing is to win the game and go home
happy,” he added.
Meanwhile Iraq’s Shenaishil, on loan
for the tournament from Qatar Sports
Club, will also want a strong finish after
entering talks for a permanent deal with
his national team.
“I have had talks with the Iraqi FA
but there has been no pen to paper yet,”
Shenaishil said. “Hopefully I’ll be talking
more with them in the days to come.”
Iraqi icon Younis Mahmoud is also
looking to the future after a team packed
with youngsters encouragingly reached
the last four, downing arch-rivals Iran
along the way.
“I’m not retiring after this Cup. We’re
now building a new generation and we
need to have experienced players with
them in the national team,” the striker
said.
— AFP
Tim Cahill dodges retirement talk
SYDNEY: Australia defender Ivan Franjic
has received a boost in his fight to be
fit for the Asian Cup final after scans
cleared him of serious injury, a report
said on Thursday. Franjic finished
Tuesday’s semifinal against UAE limping
and, as the only right-back in the
Socceroos squad, he is a key man for
Saturday’s final against South Korea.
The 27-year-old was cleared of a
serious hip problem, Australia’s AAP
news agency said, but coach Ange
Postecoglou will await medical advice
before selecting his team.
Franjic has played every minute of
Australia’s campaign and will need to be
at or near his best against a pacy South
Korean attack led by Son Heung-Min.
If Franjic is not passed fit, Postecoglou
will have to rejig his defence with Trent
Sainsbury the likely choice to move over
from centre-half.
— AFP
Australian striker Tim Cahill arrives for a press briefing in Sydney.
— AFP
SYDNEY: Australia’s talisman Tim
Cahill brushed off retirement talk before
the Asian Cup final and cannily labelled
South Korea favourites as he indulged in
some mind games on Thursday.
The 35-year-old, whose explosive
performances have propelled the hosts
to the brink of their first Asian title,
sidestepped the question of whether
Saturday’s clash would be his last
appearance in a Socceroos shirt.
“I’m not sure but that’s something I’ll
talk about after,” Cahill told reporters in
Sydney. “My main focus is the final and
hopefully trying to win something that’s
very special for our country.
“It’s definitely going to be one of
our most difficult games but the boys
are determined to do well which is the
biggest factor. They have been really well
drilled and it’s all about being mentally
ready for 95 minutes of football because
I don’t think this game is going to go to
extra time.”
South Korea, who famously reached
the World Cup semifinals in 2002 but
have failed to lift the Asian Cup in 55
years, beat Australia 1-0 in the group
stages and Cahill sought to put pressure
on the Red Devils by insisting they
would be favourites in Sydney.
“People can say what they want,”
Australia’s record goal-scorer said.”For
us as players it doesn’t make a difference
what people write or say because our
focus is just to switch off from everything.
If we’re favourites, excellent. But I feel
that’s a bit of a hardship when Korea beat
us so I think they’re probably favourites.”
Cahill scored in Australia’s opening
4-1 win over Kuwait and netted a
stunning double in their 2-0 quarterfinal victory over China, including a
jaw-dropping bicycle kick, and the
former Everton forward expects to be a
marked man again against South Korea.
“We definitely know a lot about their
game,” he said. “They’re strong and
they’re very physical. I don’t need love
from the ref. Every single game I’ve
come up against something different.
“First 45 minutes against China I
touched the ball three times because the
Chinese defenders had me wrapped up.
A lot of their focus is do we be all over
Tim Cahill, or do we give him space?
Either way you can’t do it for 90 minutes.
If you do, someone else is going to reap
the rewards.”
Cahill, who has scored 39 goals in 81
games for the green and gold, pointed
to Tuesday’s 2-0 semifinal victory over
the United Arab Emirates, when goals
from defenders Trent Sainsbury and
Jason Davidson swept Australia into
their second successive Asian Cup final.
“When you see two, three defenders
holding me, Trent Sainsbury got free
and scored a header,” he said.
“Overall we’ve had 10 different goalscorers and come the end of this game
hopefully it will be 11, 12 or 13. We will
play with intent. I’m pretty sure we’ll
find a way to break them down.”
Cahill shrugged when asked about
the pressure of delivering as a nation
awaits. “I don’t really feel the pressure,”
he said.
— AFP
Sangakkara gets world record for most dismissals behind the stumps in ODIs after scoring an unbeaten 113 for his 21st century
Record-breaker Sangakkara fashions Sri Lankan win
Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara plays a shot during the seventh and
final ODI against New Zealand in Wellington.
— AFP
WELLINGTON: Kumar Sangakkara scored
an unbeaten 113 and then returned to break
the world record for the most dismissals by
a wicketkeeper in one-day internationals as
Sri Lanka beat New Zealand by 34 runs in
the seventh and final match in Wellington
on Thursday.
Sangakkara’s 21st one-day hundred
anchored Sri Lanka to 287 for six after the
visitors opted to bat first on winning the
toss. New Zealand, who won the series 4-2,
never recovered from losing early wickets
in their chase and were all out for 253 in
the 46th over. The hosts were reduced to
42-3 in the 12th over and barring a 74run stand between Luke Ronchi (47) and
Daniel Vettori (35) for the seventh wicket,
Sri Lanka always looked in control.
Kane Williamson top-scored for New
Zealand with 54 while Kyle Mills hit a
17-ball 30 towards the end. The 37-yearold Sangakkara, who is expected to retire
from international cricket after the World
Cup, passed Adam Gilchrist as the most
successful wicketkeeper when he caught
Corey Anderson off the bowling of
Shaminda Eranga.
He later added another catch to the
tally when he pouched Tim Southee off
Thisara Perera, taking his career total to
474 dismissals with 378 catches and 96
stumpings in the 50-over format when he
played as a wicketkeeper.
Australia’s Gilchrist achieved 472
dismissals in 287 one-day matches.
“The entire team has been working very
hard. The hard work has paid off with some
good performances out in the middle,”
man-of-the-match Sangakkara said at the
presentation. “I just try to do the basics as
well as I can,” Sangakkara said.
Earlier, Tillakaratne Dilshan (81) and
Lahiru Thirimanne (30) gave Sri Lanka a
good start, adding 71 for the opening wicket
before the latter fell leg before to Anderson.
Sangakkara walked out at number
three and then added 104 for the second
wicket before Dilshan was out caught by
wicketkeeper Ronchi off paceman Southee.
Sri Lanka lost a few quick wickets but
Sangakkara held the innings together and
brought up his century with a crisp pull
shot off Mitchell McClenaghan. — Reuters
SCOREBOARD
SRI LANKA
L Thirimanne lbw Anderson ----------------------------------------- 30
T Dilshan c Ronchi b Southee --------------------------------------- 81
K Sangakkara not out ------------------------------------------------- 113
M Jayawardene c Ronchi b Southee ---------------------------- 14
S Prasanna lbw Mills -------------------------------------------------------1
D Chandimal c Ronchi b Anderson ----------------------------------5
T Perera c Mills b Anderson ------------------------------------------ 20
N Kulasekara not out ---------------------------------------------------- 12
Extras (lb 2, wd 9) ------------------------------------------------------- 11
Total (for 6 wickets, 50 overs) ---------------------------- 287
Fall of wickets: 1-71, 2-175, 3-203, 4-209, 5-231, 6-253
Bowling: Mills 8-1-42-1, Southee 10-0-50-2,
McClenaghan 9-0-47-0, Vettori 8-0-52-0, Anderson 9-059-3, Elliott 4-0-24-0, Williamson 2-0-11-0
NEW ZEALAND
M Guptill lbw Kulasekara ------------------------------------------------0
T Latham b Eranga -----------------------------------------------------------6
K Williamson c Jayawardene b Dilshan ----------------------- 54
R Taylor b Chameera ---------------------------------------------------- 11
G Elliott c Chandimal b Chameera ------------------------------- 24
C Anderson c Sangakkara b Eranga ------------------------------ 29
L Ronchi b Kulasekara -------------------------------------------------- 47
D Vettori b Prasanna ----------------------------------------------------- 35
K Mills run out ------------------------------------------------------------- 30
T Southee c Sangakkara b Perera -------------------------------------1
M McClenaghan not out -------------------------------------------------5
Extras (lb 5, wd 6) 11
Total (for 10 wickets, 45.2 overs) ----------------------- 253
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-11, 3-42, 4-101, 5-121, 6-141,
7-215, 8-218, 9-225
Bowling: Kulasekara 9-0-55-2, Eranga 9-1-34-2,
Prasanna 9.2-0-30-1, Chameera 8-0-60-2, Perera 5-0-421, Dilshan 5-0-27-1
FRIDAY | JANUARY 30, 2015 | RABEE AL THANI 9, 1436 AH
P17
P18
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Inside
Bryant to miss season after surgery Last-gasp goal from Eriksen powers Spurs Sangakkara fashions Sri Lankan win FOLLOW US ON:
SHORT TAKES
Pogba agent hints
at PSG, Real move
MILAN: Paris Saint Germain and Real
Madrid could lead the race to buy
Juventus star Paul Pogba although the
French midfielder may remain in Italy for
another season, his agent Mino Raiola
said on Thursday.
A string of stunning performances
for the Italian champions has seen the
combative midfielder’s value rocket,
with a number of top European clubs
said to be lining up to secure Pogba’s
signature at the end of the season.
Raiola, the Dutch ‘super agent’ who
also represents Zlatan Ibrahimovic and
Mario Balotelli among others, compared
Pogba to a painting by Dutch master
Vincent Van Gogh. “Who knows how
much he is worth? It depends how much
money you have to spend, and who is
buying,” Raiola said in an interview with
La Gazetta dello Sport on Thursday.
He hinted the 21-year-old could
make the “natural” choice of a move to
Paris Saint Germain, or decide to leave
Juve “only for a top club”.
Either way, Raiola believes Juventus
could purchase the backbone of a
new team capable of challenging for
Champions League honours with the
money they receive for the Frenchman.
“If they don’t sell Pogba they won’t
have the money they need to challenge
for honours in the Champions League,”
added Raiola.
“How long can I keep Paul in Italy?
Everyone has a card up their sleeve, it
just depends when they want to play it.
“PSG is the most natural choice. If he
wants to go there, who can say no? But I
don’t know if that is an option right now.
Paul could stay for another year at Juve.
“Plus, if he leaves, he will leave only
for a top club. So, if it’s not this year,
it could be next. In the meantime, his
value is on a par with all the other ‘big’
players on the market, so he can stay
another year.”
Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri
recently admitted Pogba could leave
the club before the end of his contract,
which expires in June 2019.
— AFP
www.omanobserver.om
[email protected]
CHANGE OF FORTUNES: Sharapova hopes to
break a 15-match losing streak against Serena
Murray overhauls
Berdych in semis
MELBOURNE: After three heart-breaking
trips to the final, Andy Murray secured another
shot at Australian Open glory by overhauling
Tomas Berdych on Thursday after women’s top
seed Serena Williams set up a blockbuster titledecider with Maria Sharapova.
Edged in a marathon first set, Murray fired
up after a frosty exchange with the hard-hitting
Czech and blazed to a 6-7(6), 6-0, 6-3, 7-5
victory under the lights of Rod Laver Arena.
The sixth-seeded Scot will contest his first
Grand Slam final since his emotional triumph at
Wimbledon in 2013.
His next opponent will be decided in Friday’s
semifinal between world number one Novak
Djokovic and champion Stan Wawrinka.
Murray’s clinical disposal of Rafa Nadal’s
conqueror sent an ominous signal to his
eventual challenger and thrilled the centre court
crowd after the women’s semifinals were earlier
wrapped up in straight sets.
With his former assistant coach Dani
Vallverdu sitting in Berdych’s player’s box,
Murray made redundant any plans the two
might have hatched by taming the Czech’s
monster serve and cutting him to pieces in the
baseline exchanges.
“I changed tactics a little bit (after the first
set) but also I was getting more comfortable
with the conditions and Tomas’s ball,” Murray
said courtside on a chilly, breezy night.
“I made him do most of the running... which
was important.”
Murray sealed the match with a thumping ace
down the ‘T’ after three hours and 26 minutes.
The late match followed on from some fierce
skirmishes earlier in the day when top seed
Williams brushed aside teenager Madison Keys,
the latest member of ‘generation next’ trying to
steal her crown.
Williams was pushed hard by her 19-year-old
challenger in a duel between two of the game’s
hardest hitters before triumphing 7-6(5) 6-2 to
reach her first Melbourne Park final in five years.
NEXT TORCHBEARER
Keys burnished her credentials as the next
torchbearer for American tennis, defiantly
saving eight match points as her opponent
roared in frustration before Williams sealed the
contest with an ace down the middle.
“She’s obviously a great player,” Williams said
courtside, still suffering a cold and breaking into
coughs. “I think she’s going to be winning this
tournament very soon and lots of other Grand
Slams.
Williams, who retains her world number
one ranking by reaching the final, will face the
woman she has tormented for over a decade in
27-year-old Sharapova, who trounced Ekaterina
Makarova 6-3 6-2 in the first semifinal.
Five-time Grand Slam champion Sharapova
will be hoping a 15-match losing streak against
her American nemesis, stretching back to 2004,
will have no bearing come on Saturday.
Sharapova, a 2008 champion at Melbourne
Park, lost to Williams in the 2007 final and again
in the final at the 2013 French Open.
AUSTRALIAN OPEN RESULTS
Men (semifinal)
Andy Murray (GBR x6) bt Tomas Berdych (CZE x7) 6-7 (6/8), 6-0,
6-3, 7-5
Women (semifinals)
Maria Sharapova (RUS x2) bt Ekaterina Makarova (RUS x10) 6-3,
6-2; Serena Williams (USA) bt Madison Keys (USA) 7-6 (7/5), 6-2
Men’s doubles (semifinals)
Simone Bolelli/Fabio Fognini (ITA) bt Jean-Julien Rojer (NED)/
Horia Tecau (ROU x6) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut (FRA) bt Ivan Dodig
(CRO)/Marcelo Melo (BRA x4) 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/5)
Mixed doubles (quarterfinals)
Kristina Mladenovic (FRA)/Daniel Nestor (CAN x3) bt Cara Black
(ZIM)/Juan Sebastian Cabal (COL x5) 6-2, 6-3
Hsieh Su-Wei (TPE)/Pablo Cuevas (URU) bt Katarina Srebotnik
(SLO)/Marcelo Melo (BRA x2) 6-1, 6-2
Maria Sharapova celebrates winning match point over Ekaterina Makarova of Russia in Melbourne.
OMAN CLINCH THIRD SPOT
Morata takes Juve
into Cup semis
ROME: Alvaro Morata came on to net
a late winner for lacklustre Juventus
in a 1-0 win at Parma on Wednesday
that qualified the Serie A leaders for
the semifinals of the Italian Cup.
The 40-point gap between Juve
and the hosting tail-enders remained
hardly noticeable after the break,
as Morata on 86 forced the first
telling save of the game and Claudio
Marchisio had a shot deflected above
the bar.
Morata secured the win on 89
minutes, storming in the box off
a pass from Spain’s compatriot
Fernando Llorente to flick past
Antonio Mirante.
“It was not an easy game against
a tough team on their pitch,” Morata
said.
— dpa
Oman and UAE players fight for the ball in the 6th GCC Under-23 Championship 2015 in Bahrain late on Wednesday. Oman
won 2-1 to finish third in the championship. In the final, Saudi Arabia thrashed Kuwait 5-2 to clinch the title.
— AFP
Wiesberger leads by one
shot as McIlroy lurks
DUBAI: Austrian Bernd Wiesberger
emerged the sole leader at Omega
Dubai Desert Classic after Thursday’s
first round featuring a deluge of birdies
at the Emirates Golf Club on Thursday.
The
29-year-old
Wiesberger
appeared to be struggling on the greens
as he did not make a single birdie in
his first five holes, but warmed up his
putter nicely, needing just 25 putts to
complete a round of eight-under par 64.
It kept him one ahead of American
Peter Uihlein, Belgium’s Nicolas
Colsaerts and the English duo of Lee
Westwood and Andy Sullivan.
And gave him a two-shot advantage
over the world number one Rory
McIlroy and the defending champion
Stephen Gallacher, who both shot
matching 66s.
The scoring conditions were ideal,
with not an iota of wind on the course
for much of the day with the greens
extremely receptive and rolling well.
The scoring average for the field was
more than a shot less than par — 70.97
— and as many as 80 players in the 132man field submitted sub-par scores.
Westwood, who closed his 2014
season with a win in the Thai Golf
Championship, started his year well,
and two huge birdie putts in his last five
holes — one was from 35 feet on the
fifth hole and the other from 18 feet on
the ninth — saw him close on a 65.
McIlroy also finished on the tough
par-4 ninth, but he made his only bogey
of the day there after struggling to find
fairways off the tee.
Colsaerts met with a similar fate as
McIlroy, and having started from the
10th tee and making eight birdies, he
too closed with a bogey on the ninth for
a 65. Wiesberger, who finished inside
the top-six in the previous two events,
could have closed his round with six
straight birdies, but missed a chance on
the par-5 18th for his 64.
— AFP