Don't resort to sorcerers - Oman Daily Observer

SATURDAY, January 26, 2013/Rabee al Awwal 14, 1434 AH 

Business 

UK economy shrinks 

BRITAIN’S economy shrank at the end 

of 2012 with a slump in North Sea oil 

production, lower factory output and a 

hangover from the Olympics pushing it 

close to a “triple-dip” recession. P21 

HM greets 

Russian 

President 

Reaching 

out to 

Europe 

Page 10 

RUSSIAN president 

Vladimir Putin received 

here on Thursday 

evening Yusuf bin Issa al 

Zadjali, who presented 

his credentials to the 

president as the Sultanate’s 

ambassador to Russia. 

The ambassador 

conveyed the greetings and 

best wishes of His Majesty 

Sultan Qaboos to President 

Putin. 

Greetings 

to India, 

Australia 

P4 

HIS Majesty Sultan Qaboos 

has sent cables of greetings 

to Parnab Mukherjee, 

President of Indian, and 

Quentin Brice, the Governor 

General of Australia, on the 

occasion of their country’s 

National Day. 

His Majesty the Sultan 

wished them good health 

and happiness. — ONA 

Connecting 

cultures 

through art 

P4 

THE great initiative taken 

to unite the cultures of 

Oman and Italy returned 

to Rome again with four 

Omani artists (Saleh al 

Shukeiri, Juma al Harthy, 

Saud al Hunaini and Abdul 

Majid Karooh) attending 

the event to support the new 

exhibition entitled ‘Oman 

in Gubbio — connecting 

cultures through art and 

architecture’. 

Apple no 

longer 

world’s top 

P25 

APPLE surrendered its 

status yesterday as the 

world's most valuable 

company as a stock dive 

sparked by a disappointing 

earnings report allowed 

oil giant Exxon Mobil to 

leapfrog to the top spot. 

Shares in the technology 

giant plummeted 12 per cent 

on Thursday, knocking 

over $50 billion and were 

down a further 2 per cent 

yesterday. 

AN employee de-ices the 

tail of a plane at Munich’s 

international airport. 

Features Sport 

Causes of hyperactivity 

FEMALES exposed to Bisphenol A 

through the mother’s diet during gestation 

and lactation develop hyperactivity and 

have a leaner body mass than those not 

exposed to the chemical. P26 

WOMEN and children took part in popular celebrations marking His Majesty’s presence in Bahla. Details in 2, 3 

7.54m air passengers 

MUSCAT — The total passenger 

traffic (including transit 

and transfer passengers) 

through Muscat International 

Airport increased by 16 per 

MUSCAT — In preparation 

Muscat Festival, the Royal 

Oman Police (ROP) has laid 

down a safety and security 

plan to ensure the success of 

the festival which will start 

on Wednesday and run till 

February 28. 

Col Said bin Sulaiman 

al Aasmi, Head of the Security 

Committee of Muscat 

Festival 2013, said that, the 

ROP’s Directorate General 

of Operations is coordinating 

with Muscat Municipality 

to achieve a high level 

of security and order at all 

venues. 

He pointed out that certain 

items will be prohibited 

at the festival venues, including 

glass drink bottles 

or containers, firecrackers 

(Al Fattak type), firelighters, 

metal-coated sticks 

or sticks with metal ends, 

knives and other bladed 

weapons, laser lights, metal 

chains, whistles, loudspeakers, 

clothes carrying vulgar 

or immoral expressions and 

other things that might compromise 

the festival atmosphere 

of the extravaganza. 

The plan also includes 

facilitating smooth traffic 

to and from the venues of 

the festival and defining a 

LONDON — Global oil 

prices advanced yesterday, 

buoyed by a weakening dollar, 

upbeat German economic 

data and gains on European 

stock markets, dealers said. 

Brent North Sea crude for 

delivery in March rose 41 

cents to $113.69 a barrel in 

London midday deals. New 

York’s main contract, light 

sweet crude for March, won 

47 cents to $96.42 a barrel. 

In foreign exchange trade, 

the European single currency 

surged to $1.3465 — which 

marked the highest level since 

February 29, 2012. 

The shared euro zone unit 

cent to 7,546,715 passengers 

by the end of December 2012 

compared to 6,479,860 passengers 

during the corresponding 

period of 2011. 

No glass bottles, 

lasers at festival 

mechanism for communication 

with the departments 

concerned, he added. 

Col Al Aasmi reminded 

visitors to Al Amerat that 

they should exercise caution 

when travelling to that destination 

via Wadi Adai-Al 

Amerat road, which is witnessing 

expansion, or Bausher-Al 

Amerat road, which is 

a hilly path with sharp turns 

or steep sections. 

The deployment of police 

corps will be an ongoing 

process, but special 

centres will be set up at Al 

Amerat park and Al Naseem 

park, the main venues, said 

Col Al Aasmi, adding that 

the centres will continue to 

monitor the situation and do 

the needful, for example, by 

returning lost items to Muscat 

Municipality, receiving 

queries, assisting the visitors 

and removing all obstacles 

that might impede 

the smooth running of the 

festival. 

Col Al Aasmi requested 

festival visitors not to hesitate 

seeking ROP’s help 

by dialing the Emergency 

Number 9999. He called up 

all to listen to instructions 

pertaining to entry, exit and 

parking of vehicles. 

Oil prices advance 

soared following news that 

German business confidence 

had struck the highest level in 

seven months. 

The Ifo institute’s closely 

watched business climate index 

for Europe’s top economy 

rose to 104.2 points in January 

— its highest reading since 

June — from 102.4 points a 

month earlier. 

The euro also spiked after 

the European Central Bank 

revealed that 278 euro zone 

banks will repay early $184.5 

billion of ultra-cheap threeyear 

loans made available to 

them last year in emergency 

liquidity measures. — AFP 

Statistics, released by the 

Air Transport Department at 

the Public Authority for Civil 

Aviation (PACA), show an increase 

in the arrival passengers 

CAIRO/ALEXANDRIA — 

Protesters clashed with police 

across Egypt yesterday on the 

second anniversary of the revolt, 

taking to the streets. 

At least 91 civilians and 42 

security personnel were hurt 

in violence across the country, 

officials said. Street battles 

erupted in Cairo, Alexandria, 

Suez and Port Said, where the 

political party offices were 

torched. 

Thousands of youths 

massed in Tahrir Square to revive 

the demands of a revolution. 

Police battled protesters 

who threw petrol bombs and 

firecrackers as they tried to approach 

a wall blocking access 

to government buildings. 

There were similar scenes 

in Suez and Alexandria, where 

protesters and riot police 

clashed near local government 

offices. — Reuters 

WASHINGTON — Senator 

John Kerry, nominated to be 

the next US secretary of state, 

said he hopes for a revival of 

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. 

The comment by Democratic 

senator, whose Senate 

confirmation is regarded as 

a virtual certainty, suggests 

by 17 per cent to 3,828,403 

passengers ending December 

2012 comparing to 3,276,650 

passengers for the same period 

of the year 2011. 

the US could consider a new 

peace initiative despite the 

failure of President Barack 

Obama’s first-term efforts. 

US-brokered peace talks 

broke down in 2010 amid mutual 

acrimony. Since then Israel 

has accelerated construction 

in the West Bank and east 

Murray floors Federer 

BRITAIN’S Andy Murray faced down 

his Grand Slam nemesis Roger Federer 

in an electrifying five-set thriller to reach 

the Australian Open final in Melbourne 

yesterday. P18 

The number of departing 

passengers has also increased 

by 16 per cent to 3,638,685 

passengers ending December 

2012 To page 4 

Chaos returns to Egypt 

POLICE take cover as protesters throw flares and stones 

at them during clashes in Alexandria. Thousands youths 

fought Egyptian police across major cities. — Reuters 

New hopes for ME talks 

Jerusalem. “My hope is ... my 

prayer is that perhaps this can 

be a moment where we can renew 

some kind of effort to get 

the parties into a discussion 

to have a different track than 

we have been on over the last 

couple of years,” Kerry said at 

his confirmation hearing. 

1 in 5 infected by flu pandemic 

PARIS — More than a fifth 

of the world’s population was 

infected by the H1N1 virus in 

the 2009-2010 flu pandemic, 

according to new estimates 

released yesterday. 

The study confirms warnings 

that flu was highly contagious. 

It also estimates that the 

flu’s lethality — as previously 

reported — was low. Between 

20 and 27 per cent of people 

were infected by the virus, the 

investigators reported in a specialist 

journal, Influenza and 

Other Respiratory Viruses. 

Children aged five to 19 

had the highest rates of infection, 

accounting for 47 per 

cent of the total. Older people 

aged 65 and above accounted 

for 11 per cent. 

The probe aims to give the 

most complete picture of the 

pandemic to help future preparations 

for flu outbreaks. 

The 16-month episode 

sparked a surge in demand for 

vaccines, prompting critics to 

accuse health watchdogs of 

scare-mongering. 

By the time the pandemic 

was officially over in August 

2010, countries had notified 

the UN’s World Health Organisation 

(WHO) of less than 

one million infections and 

around 18,500 deaths, but this 

has always been known to be a 

small fraction of the toll. 

The new study is based on 

data from 27 pieces of research 

that looked for traces of antibodies 

to H1N1 in more than 

90,000 blood samples collected 

in 19 countries. Presence of 

the antibodies is a telltale of 

infection, but does not in itself 

mean the individual fell ill. 

The investigation was not 

designed to look at mortality 

rates, but the authors say the 

data it provided, when compiled 

with other estimates, 

suggest 0.02 per cent of cases 

— one in 5,000 — ended in 

death. — AFP 

Don’t resort 

to sorcerers 

 

 

 

MUSCAT — The Royal 

Oman Police (ROP) has 

warned members of the public 

against resorting to sorcerers 

to resolve any problems they 

might be facing. The ROP 

pointed out that sorcerers are 

swindlers and that sorcery is 

considered a crime punishable 

by law. 

The ROP is cautioning all 

citizens and residents against 

sorcery which, the ROP said, 

is alien to the Omani society. 

Members of the public are 

reminded that the main objective 

of sorcerers is to increase 

their wealth by making 

people believe that they can 

invoke supernatural power. 

When arrested, sorcerers are 

usually found in possession 

of a number of books, frankincense, 

herbs, candles and 

solutions used in the illicit 

operations. 

DAVOS — Global political 

and business leaders heard 

calls for urgent action over 

Syria’s escalating civil war 

yesterday as the Arab world 

took centre stage at the Davos 

forum. 

Jordan’s King Abdullah 

II was to address the world’s 

elite at the Swiss ski resort 

and regional government 

chiefs were to discuss transformations 

in Arab countries, 

on the second anniversary of 

Egypt’s revolution. 

Regional experts and diplomats 

meanwhile warned that 

Syria’s conflict was threatening 

to settle into a long war 

and urged the international 

community to take more action 

to stop the violence. 

“We have something like 

a military stalemate on the 

THE January issue of Observer’s lifestyle magazine 

Mazoon will be distributed soon. 

Prayer timing Fajr Dhuhr Asr Magrib Isha Weather Muscat M Nizwa Sohar Al Buraimi Sur Duqm Salalah 

EXCHANGE RATES 

GOLD 

Omani Rial/Euro, Dollar 

PRICE 

Muscat 05:31 am 12:24 pm 03:32 pm 05:54 pm 07:07 pm Max M 26 27 25 27 26 24 26 

Min 17 14 18 13 17 17 17 

RO 1 €1.93123 $2.60004 $1,658.86 

 

Magical Month of Muscat Festival 

Snowing on Omani mountains 

The saga of shipwreck in Oman 

Mass weddings win popularity 

The ROP, in a report released 

yesterday, said that 

many sorcerers were also 

found in possession of large 

sums of money which they 

misappropriated from members 

of the public. In a cautionary 

note, the ROP said, 

“Don’t fall prey to conjuration 

as it will not solve your 

problems.” 

The ROP noted that sorcerers 

claim to know supernatural 

matters and they often ask 

people to slaughter animals 

by way of sacrifice at a grave 

yard or a tree or at a river or to 

be closer to Jinn — which all 

goes against Islamic faith in 

the oneness of the Almighty. 

A Muslim religious adviser 

has reminded people 

that no Jinn will have the 

power to, for example, to cure 

anyone against a serious disease. 

To page 4 

Global call for unified 

action on Syria crisis 

ground and this can continue 

for a long time,” said Ghassan 

Salame, dean of the Paris 

School of International Affairs 

and former Lebanese 

culture minister. 

Calls were also issued for 

more humanitarian assistance 

both inside Syria and 

in neighbouring countries, 

where more than 600,000 

refugees have fled. 

Jordanian Foreign Minister 

Nasser Judeh said greater 

efforts were needed to help 

countries that have taken in 

those fleeing the war. 

Turkey’s Foreign Minister 

Ahmet Davutoglu said 

his country had already spent 

about $500 million on assisting 

more than 160,000 Syrian 

refugees and that concerted 

action was needed. — AFP

BAHLA — Citizens from the Wilayat of 

Nizwa yesterday held a variety of activities 

marking their delight at the presence 

of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos in the Dakhiliyah 

Governorate as part of the Royal 

meet-the-people tour this year. 

More than 650 men and women from 

Nizwa took part in the national festivity 

dubbed “Festival of Love and Allegiance”. 

Folk troupes staged dances peculiar to 

Nizwa, while more than 100 children 

showcased a tableau known as “Al Tahloola, 

Al Taimeema and Kasirat Suh”. 

The finale was a show of the dance arts 

of Al Maidan and Al Aazi, as well as laser 

shows. 

Meanwhile, horse race and pageants 

known as Rakdh al Ardha were organised 

by the people of Bahla at the Equestrian 

Square here. Equestrian clubs from the 

wilayats of Adam, Al Hamra and Manah 

2 OMAN 

OMAN DAILY Observer 

SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013 

Over 750 take part in popular celebration 

also took part in the event, held in celebration 

of His Majesty’s visit to the Dakhiliyah 

governorate. 

As part of the festival, horse men 

and cameleers took their positions at the 

square and chanted traditional songs, part 

of a folkloric art known as Fan Mahoreb. 

Camel riders performed Hambal al 

Boush dance art, which was followed by 

a slow march of camels and chanting of 

popular songs. 

Horse riders made a show of race 

rides and equestrian skills to the accompaniment 

of music concerts by the Royal 

Army of Oman band which staged patriotic 

songs. 

The celebration was attended by ministers 

accompanying His Majesty Sultan 

Qaboos during the Royal tour, the Wali of 

Bahla, shaikhs and local dignitaries. 

— Pictures by Salim al Hashli, ONA

3 OMAN 



Wilayats mark His Majesty’s visit

4 OMAN 



Muslims told to ponder on Almighty’s power 

IZKI — His Eminence Shaikh Ahmed bin Hamad al Khalili, Grand Mufti of the Sultanate, gave a lecture at Al Qaryatain village in the Wilayat of Izki yesterday on the occasion of the anniversary of Prophet Mohammed’s Birthday. 

Al Khalili urged Muslims to ponder on the Almighty’s power which, he said, reflects in many things directly related to our lives. An example of the Creator’s power is the fact that our bodies 

replace 125 million cells in a minutes, and this calls for deep thinking and sincerity in worshiping the Almighty Allah. — ONA 

HM greetings conveyed to Russian President 

Don’t resort to sorcerers 

From page 1 

People who resort to sorcerers 

usually have illusions, 

said the religious guide. He 

advised people that it would 

be better to resort to psychiatrists 

who know more about 

psychological and spiritual 

matters and who will have the 

capacity of removing illusions 

from the minds of patients or 

their relatives. 

It would be mere illusion to 

believe that a patient was the 

victim of a specific evil spirit 

or an elderly person, said the 

religious adviser. 

The ROP, in its reports yes- 

terday, said that a man was recently 

arrested in the Wilayat 

of Shinas after being observed 

selling drugs. 

He was found in possession 

of cash earned from this 

trade, as well as heroin and 

hashish hidden in cans in his 

vehicle. 

Air passenger traffic rises 

From page 1 

compared to 3,123,988 passengers 

for the same period 

of the year 2011. 

The increase in arrival and 

departure traffic into Muscat 

International Airport is attributed 

to the introduction 

of new airlines into Muscat, 

which are IndiGo, Ethiopian 

Airlines and United 

Airways of Bangladesh, 

as well as increase in the 

number of flights operated 

by existing airlines, such as 

Oman Air, Qatar Airways, Sri 

Lankan Airlines and Turkish 

Airlines. 

In terms of air cargo traffic 

at Muscat International 

airport, Aviation Statistics indicate 

an increase in the total 

unloaded and loaded freight 

by 14 per cent, with total 

shipment 112,307 ton ending 

December 2012 compared to 

98,086 tonnes in the same period 

in 2011. 

Salalah Airport has witnessed 

an increase by 23 per 

cent in the total number of 

arriving and departing passengers 

to 629,305 passengers 

for the period ending 

December 2012 compared to 

513,278 passengers for the 

same period of 2011. 

As for the movement of 

Air Cargo at Salalah Airport, 

freight traffic has recorded a 

2 per cent decrease in total 

unloaded and loaded freight, 

bringing the shipment to 

1,321 tons till December 

2012 compared to 1,350 

tonnes in the same period in 

2011. — ONA 

MOSCOW — Russian President 

Vladimir Putin received 

here on Thursday evening 

Yusuf bin Issa al Zadjali, 

who presented his credentials 

to the president as the 

Sultanate’s Ambassador to 

Federal Russia. 

The ambassador conveyed 

the greetings and best 

wishes of His Majesty Sultan 

Qaboos to President Putin, 

along with His Majesty the 

Sultan’s wishes of further 

progress and prosperity for 

the friendly people of Russia. 

In turn, President Putian 

asked the ambassador to 

convey his best wishes to 

His Majesty Sultan Qaboos 

and the Omani government 

and people. 

He wished Oman continued 

welfare under the leadership 

of His Majesty the 

Sultan. 

In a speech before the 

ambassadors of many countries 

who envoys presented 

credentials, President Putin 

reiterated keenness to foster 

Russia’s ties with the Sultanate 

and other GCC states. 

— ONA 

Greetings to India, Australia 

MUSCAT — His Majesty 

Sultan Qaboos has also sent 

a cable of Indian President 

Parnab Mukherjee on the occasion 

of his country’s National 

Day. 


wished President Mukherjee 

good health and happiness 

and the friendly people of India 

further progress and prosperity. 

KOM takes part in InfoBiz, 

InfoConnect exhibitions 

MUSCAT — The Knowledge 

Oasis Muscat (KOM) 

will take part from tomorrow 

in InfoBiz and InfoConnect 

2013 Exhibitions due to be 

held at Kuwait International 

Exhibition Centre and last for 

two days. 

Mohammed bin Hamad 

al Maskri, KOM Director- 

General, said that KOM will 

take part within Digital Oman 

pavilion alongside with the 

Information Technology Authority 

(ITA), the Public Authority 

for Consumer Protection 

(PACP), the Ministry of 

Commerce and Industry and 

the Ministry of Tourism. 

He explained that the participation 

stems from KOM 

continuous keenness to be 

present at all local, regional 

and international forums in a 

bid to highlight opportunities 

available for investment in 

the fields of information and 

communication technology in 

the Sultanate in general and in 

KOM in particular. 

Al Maskri added that In- 

foConnect is considered an 

appropriate opportunity to 

highlight KOM, as well as 

package of investment incentives 

provided to allure foreign 

investments as per the 

enforced systems and laws. 

"Through its participation, 

KOM will present its basic 

services and facilities that 

could assist investors to process 

their business quickly and 

smoothly," he said. 

KOM Director-General 

pointed out that KOM avails 

offices, meeting halls, office 

areas provided with the latest 

standards and with competitiveness 

prices, besides KOM 

proximity to the largest and 

rapid growing residential areas 

as it is situated in the centre 

of the largest industrial area, 

represented in Al Rusayl Industrial 

Estate and the Sultan 

SHINAS — The Fisheries Department 

in the Wilayat of Shinas, Al 

Batinah North governorate, distributed 

17 cool boxes to local fishermen 

operating onboard professional fishing 

boats. The step comes as part of 

a quality control project being under- 

Qaboos University (SQU). 

He added that KOM has 

opportunities for trade communication 

and co-operation 

with big companies, gaining 

knowledge, exchanging 

consultancy and expertise, 

besides the presence of information 

network linked with 

international organisations, 

governmental departments 

and higher institutes. 

Al Maskri pointed out that 

KOM incubates more than 

115 local and foreign establishments 

and companies. 

He added that the KOM 

fourth building expected to 

domesticate about 100 local, 

regional and international 

companies as its rate of works 

stands at more than 70 per 

cent with total of 71 local and 

international establishments 

and companies. — ONA 

Fishermen in Wilayat of Shinas receive cool boxes 

Health educators visit juvenile centre 

MUSCAT — Health educators 

from the health Bausher and 

Al Athaiba and the Ministry 

of Health, as well as Hail Al 

Awamir School and Al Aesry 

His Majesty Sultan Qaboos 

has sent a cable of greetings 

to Quentin Brice, the Governor 

General of Australia, on 

the occasion of her country’s 

National Day. 


wished Brice good health and 

happiness and the friendly 

people of Australia further 

progress and prosperity. 

— ONA 

Centre recently visited the 

Royal Oman Police’s Juvenile 

Care Unit in Sidab, Wilayat of 

Muscat. 

They exchanged views 

with the unit’s officials about 

the best practices for the juveniles, 

toured the departments 

of the unit and took note of its 

facilities. — ONA 

KOM incubates more than 

115 local and foreign 

establishments and companies 

taken by the Ministry of Agriculture 

and Fisheries. 

The ongoing campaign includes 

the replacement of old cool boxes, 

said Yaqoub bin Naser al Ghassani, 

Director of the Fisheries Department 

in Shinas. — ONA 

Majlis Ash’shura 

delegation for Turkey 

MUSCAT — Shaikh Khalid bin Hilal al Busaidy, Chairman 

of the Majlis Ash’shura, will today (Saturday) begin an official 

visit to Turkey lasting several days in response to an invitation 

by the Speaker of the Turkish Parliament. 

The Majlis delegation will have a close look at the Turkish 

experience in parliamentary practices and visit several institutions, 

historical and cultural landmarks. — ONA 

National Youth Commission 

to organise meetings 

MUSCAT — The National Youth Commission (NYC) will 

begin a visit to the North Sharqiyah governorate on Monday 

during which it will hold a number of sessions in the Wilayat 

of Ibra with youths of the governorate. The commission will 

confer with 150 young men and women representing various 

segments of the local community. 

Lectures on the role of youth in formulating the future of the 

nation will be delivered by Omani scholar Khalfan al Aesry. 

On January 14, NYC had met at its first exploratory session 

with Omani youth in Al Buraimi Governorate. — ONA

CAIRO — Youths fought Egyptian 

police in Cairo and Alexandria yesterday 

on the second anniversary of the 

revolt that toppled Hosni Mubarak 

and brought the election of an Islamist 

president who protesters accuse of 

riding roughshod over the new democracy. 

The January 25 anniversary showcased 

the divide between the activists 

and their secular foes that is hindering 

President Mohamed Mursi’s efforts to 

revive an economy in crisis and reverse 

a plunge in Egypt’s currency by enticing 

back investors and tourists. 

Inspired by Tunisia’s historic 

popular uprising, Egypt’s revolution 

spurred further revolts across the Arab 

world. But the sense of common purpose 

that united Egyptians two years 

ago has given way to internal strife that 

has only worsened and last month triggered 

lethal street battles. 

Opponents of Mursi and his Muslim 

Brotherhood allies massed in Cairo’s 

Tahrir Square to revive the demands of 

a revolution they say has been betrayed 

by Islamists. 

“Our revolution is continuing. We 

reject the domination of any party over 

this state. We say no to the Brotherhood 

state,” Hamdeen Sabahy, a popular 

leftist leader, that told as he made 

his way to the square for the rally. 

PARIS — France yesterday 

joined Britain, other European 

states and Australia in pulling 

its nationals out of Benghazi 

because of a terror threat that 

the Libyan government has 

played down. 

Having insisted Thursday 

there was no “no new intelligence” 

to justify the Europeans” 

concerns, Libya said 

yesterday it had not been informed 

of their plans to pull 

citizens out of the country’s 

second city and was seeking 

clarification from Britain. 

France, whose military action 

in Mali is said to have 

provoked the threat, confirmed 

Police battled protesters who threw 

petrol bombs and firecrackers as they 

tried to approach a wall blocking access 

to government buildings near the 

square in the pre-dawn hours. 

Clouds of tear gas fired by police 

filled the air. At one point, riot police 

used one of the incendiaries thrown 

at them to set ablaze at least two tents 

erected by the youths, a Reuters witness 

said. Clashes between stone-throwing 

youths and the police continued in 

streets near the square into the day. 

Ambulances ferried away a steady 

stream of casualties. The health ministry 

said 25 people had been injured 

since Thursday in clashes around Tahrir 

Square. 

There were similar scenes in Alexandria, 

where protesters and riot police 

skirmished near local government offices. 

Tear gas fouled the air and black 

smoke billowed from tyres set ablaze 

by youths. Nine people were wounded 

by birdshot pellets, according to medical 

and security sources. 

Some protesters pledged to march 

to Mursi’s Cairo palace. 

Thousands more protested against 

the Brotherhood in cities across Egypt 

including Suez, Ismailia and Port Said. 

The Brotherhood decided against 

mobilising in the street for the anniversary, 

wary of the scope for more 

yesterday that it had followed 

the lead from Britain. 

“The information we had 

on the threats was sufficiently 

reliable to justify telling our 

nationals to leave the region,” 

said Foreign Ministry spokesman 

Philippe Lalliot. 

France has only around 40 

citizens in Benghazi out of 

250-300 in Libya as a whole. 

In an updated travel advisory, 

the foreign ministry said 

French nationals should avoid 

eastern Libya altogether. 

Australia’s department of 

foreign affairs had earlier issued 

a statement saying: “We 

are aware of a specific, im- 

minent threat to Westerners 

in Benghazi. All Australians 

in Benghazi should leave immediately. 

“There is a risk of retaliatory 

attacks against Western 

targets in Libya following the 

French intervention in the conflict 

in Mali in January 2013.” 

Benghazi was the cradle of 

the uprising that ousted dictator 

Moamer Kadhafi in 2011 

and also the city where a US 

ambassador was killed in an 

attack last September. 

Germany and the Netherlands 

followed Britain in telling 

their citizens to get out of 

Libya, prompting an aston- 

conflict after violence in December 

that was stoked by Mursi’s decision to 

fast-track a constitution. 

“The people want to bring down 

the regime,” chanted crowds in Tahrir 

Square, where numbers stood at several 

thousand by early afternoon. “Save 

Egypt from the rule of the Supreme 

Guide,” said another, a reference to 

leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, 

Mohamed Badie. 

“We are not here to celebrate but to 

force those in power to submit to the 

will of the people. Egypt now must 

never be like Egypt during Mubarak's 

rule,” said Mohamed Fahmy, an activist. 

Mursi, in a speech on Thursday 

marking the Prophet Mohammad's 

birthday, called on Egyptians to mark 

the anniversary “in a civilised, peaceful 

way that safeguards our nation, our 

institutions, our lives”. 

“The Brotherhood is very concerned 

about escalation, that's why they have 

tried to dial down their role on January 

25,” said Shadi Hamid, director of research 

at the Brookings Doha Center. 

“There may very well be the kinds 

of clashes that we've seen before, but 

I don't see anything major happening 

that is going to fundamentally change 

the political situation,” he said. 

With its eye firmly on forthcoming 

parliamentary elections, the Brother- 

ished response from the north 

African country’s deputy interior 

minister, Abdullah Massoud. 

“If Britain was afraid of 

threats to its citizens, it could 

have pulled them out quietly 

without causing all the commotion 

and excitement,” Massud 

said yesterday, according 

to the Lana news agency. 

The Libyans have acknowledged 

that there are security 

problems in Benghazi but 

insist there is no new intelligence 

to justify the current 

alarm. 

Since its pivotal role as the 

springboard for the uprising, 

5 REGION 



RIOT police officers sit behind barbed wire in front of the presidential palace in Cairo yesterday. — AFP 

Violence flares on uprising anniversary 

hood marked the anniversary with a 

big charity drive across the nation. It 

plans to deliver medical aid to 1 million 

people and distribute affordable 

basic foodstuffs. 

Writing in Al Ahram, Egypt's flagship 

state-run daily, Brotherhood leader 

Badie said the country was in need 

of “practical, serious competition” 

to reform the corrupt state left by the 

Mubarak era. “The differences of opinion 

and vision that Egypt is passing 

through is a characteristic at the core of 

transitions from dictatorship to democracy, 

and clearly expresses the variety 

of Egyptian culture,” he wrote. 

Still, Mursi faces discontent on 

multiple fronts. 

His opponents say he and his group 

are seeking to dominate the post-Mubarak 

order. They accuse him of showing 

some of the autocratic impulses of 

the deposed leader by, for example, 

driving through the new constitution 

last month. 

“I am taking part in today's marches 

to reject the warped constitution, the 

'Brotherhoodisation' of the state, the 

attack on the rule of law, and the disregard 

of the president and his government 

for the demands for social 

justice,” Amr Hamzawy, a prominent 

liberal politician, wrote on his Twitter 

feed. — AFP 

France joins Benghazi exodus 

A YOUNG Iraqi girl flashes victory signs during a protest in the western Iraqi city 

of Ramadi yesterday. The longest-running of the protests, in Ramadi, has cut 

off a key trade route linking Baghdad to Jordan and Syria for a month. — AFP 

Benghazi has emerged as a 

hub for groups. 

US Ambassador Chris Stevens 

and three other Americans 

were killed in September 

when dozens of heavily armed 

Al Qaeda-linked fighters overran 

the compound and a nearby 

CIA-run annex. 

Britain closed its mission 

in Benghazi around the same 

time and there were thought 

to be only a handful of Britons 

in the city when Thursday’s 

warning was issued. 

Earlier this month the Italian 

consul in Benghazi was 

shot at in his car, although he 

escaped unhurt. — AFP 

Iraq troops kill 4 

FALLUJA — Iraqi troops shot dead at least four people during 

clashes with protesters in Falluja yesterday in escalating unrest 

against Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki. 

A Reuters witness said troops initially fired in the air to 

disperse crowds, but then he saw some soldiers fire towards 

protesters who had approached their military vehicles and set 

one of them on fire. 

Thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest 

against mistreatment of their minority sect since late December, 

increasing worries that Iraq could slide back into widespread 

sectarian confrontation. 

Yesterday’s violence complicates Maliki’s attempts to end 

the protests, where demands range from amendment of terrorism 

laws that many feel single them out to more radical calls 

for the leader to step down. 

After thousands gathered for Friday prayers in Falluja, a 

city 50 km north of the capital, clashes broke out when troops 

arrested three protesters and others tried to block a major highway, 

officials said. 

“A final count shows we have six people killed and 52 

wounded,” a hospital source said. He said at least four had died 

from gunshot wounds, but it was not clear how the other two 

people had died. 

A local television channel showed demonstrators approaching 

the army vehicles and throwing stones and water bottles 

while troops tried to keep them away by firing in the air. But 

images also showed one soldier aiming his rifle at demonstrators. 

— Reuters 

Syrian troops push 

to take Homs areas 

AMMAN — The Syrian army 

has stepped up an offensive on 

opposition strongholds in the 

central city of Homs, bringing 

in ground forces and loyalist 

militia to try to secure a major 

road junction, opposition 

sources said yesterday. 

Around 15,000 civilians 

are trapped on the southern 

and western edge of the 

city near the intersection of 

Syria’s main north-south and 

east-west arteries, crucial to 

let the army travel between 

Damascus and the Mediterranean 

coast, opposition campaigners 

in Homs said. 

Rebels said they had moved 

into new areas of Homs this 

month to grab more territory, 

which could explain the offensive. 

Activists said that rebels 

had asked them not to report 

on the advances because it 

could provoke retaliatory 

strikes. 

But activists in Homs said 

a barrage of army rocket, artillery 

and aerial bombard- 

ADDIS ABABA — Rival 

leaders of Sudan and South 

Sudan met for face-to-face 

talks yesterday in the latest 

push to implement stalled economic, 

oil and security deals. 

Sudanese President Omar 

al Bashir and his Southern 

counterpart Salva Kiir met at 

the African Union-mediated 

talks for the second time this 

month to push deals signed in 

September after bloody border 

conflict broke out last year. 

In addition, key issues left 

unresolved after the former 

civil war foes separated in 

July 2011 remain, including 

the contested flashpoint Abyei 

region. 

AU peace and security 

commissioner Ramtane 

Lamamra said “there is a need 

to move as fast as possible to 

resolve these pending issues.” 

AU chief mediator and 

former South African president 

Thabo Mbeki, as well 

as Ethiopian foreign minister 

Tedros Adhanom, attended 

ment had killed at least 120 

civilians and 30 opposition 

fighters since Sunday. 

In the south, eight members 

of Syria’s military intelligence 

were killed by militant 

car bomb on Thursday night 

near the frontier with the Israeli-occupied 

Golan Heights, 

opposition activists and a violence 

monitoring group said 

yesterday. 

The Syrian Observatory 

for Human Rights said 

the bomb was planted by Al 

Nusra Front, a unit fighting 

to oust Assad that the United 

States has labelled a fighter 

group. 

“We think the blast might 

have killed a colonel who has 

been leading the fight against 

rebels in the area,” Rami Abdelrahman, 

head of the Britain-based 

Observatory said. 

The building targeted is in 

the town of Saasa, 14 miles 

from the frontier with the Golan 

Heights, he said. 

Syrian authorities have 

banned most independent me- 

the talks. Bashir and Kiir are 

expected to also join top level 

AU security meetings due to 

start late yesterday. 

The two sides have been at 

loggerheads over the demarcation 

of the oil-rich border and 

pipeline costs to export the 

South’s crude via the north, a 

dispute that led to Juba halting 

oil production last January and 

weeks of border conflict. 

Khartoum also accuses 

South Sudan of supporting 

rebels in Sudan, which has 

been a major obstacle to implementing 

the agreements. 

The South, in turn, says 

Sudan backs insurgents on 

its territory, a tactic it used to 

deadly effect during the two 

decades of civil war. 

The leaders of Sudan and 

South Sudan will hold their 

second summit in a month on 

January 24, a Sudanese official 

said on Tuesday, in a fresh 

bid to defuse tensions over oil, 

territory and other disputes. 

The neighbours came close 

dia, making it difficult to verify 

such reports on the ground. 

The nearly two-year-old 

conflict has now killed an estimated 

60,000 people and a 

military stalemate has formed 

while hundreds of thousands 

of refugees flood into Syria’s 

neighbours. 

The Syrian Interior Ministry 

called on Thursday for 

Syrian refugees to come home 

and said they would be guaranteed 

safety. 

A statement on the state 

news agency Sana said the 

government was “offering 

guarantees to all political opposition 

sides to enter the 

country ... (and) ... take part in 

the national dialogue without 

any query.” 

Few who left have returned, 

especially opposition 

supporters, and Assad said in 

a speech this month that he 

would not talk with opposition 

members he said had betrayed 

Syria or “gangs recruited 

abroad that follow the orders 

of foreigners". — Reuters 

Sudan, S Sudan leaders 

meet for security, oil talks 

to war in April in the worst 

border clashes since South 

Sudan declared independence 

from Sudan in 2011. 

After mediation from the 

African Union, both agreed 

in September to resume oil 

exports from the landlocked 

South through Sudan, a lifeline 

for both struggling economies. 

But mutual distrust remains 

deep and neither side has yet 

withdrawn its armies from the 

border, a condition for both to 

restart oil flows. 

The AU brought Sudanese 

President Omar Hassan al- 

Bashir and his South Sudan 

counterpart Salva Kiir together 

in the Ethiopian capital 

Addis Ababa at the start of the 

month to end the stalemate. 

“The presidents will continue 

their discussions in Addis 

Ababa on January 24 according 

to the schedule agreed 

at their (first) summit,” Bashir’s 

media secretary Emad 

Said Ahmed. — Agencies

ATHENS — Striking Greek 

subway workers trickled back 

to work yesterday after the 

government threatened them 

with arrest, ending a nine-day 

walkout that paralysed public 

transport in Athens. 

The showdown had turned 

into the latest test for Greece's 

fragile three-party ruling coalition 

as it faces down unions 

to try to implement austerity 

measures demanded by foreign 

lenders as the price for 

bailout funds. 

Traffic slowly resumed on 

Athens' subway lines yesterday 

afternoon after workers 

protesting wage cuts were 

served orders to return to work 

or face jail, the first time the 

government has invoked such 

legislation since it took power 

in June. 

"The workers who were 

handed the notice didn't have a 

choice. We are exploring legal 

options," said Manthos Tsakos, 

General-Secretary of the main 

subway workers' union. 

Earlier, police forced their 

way through a metal gate at a 

train depot in Athens to break 

up an overnight sit-in by 90 

transport workers against wage 

cuts. Scuffles broke out and 

at least three people were detained 

before being released. 

The radical leftist opposi- 

METRO workers gather around a fire at a metro depot in Athens yesterday. — Reuters 

tion Syriza party, which is 

leading in some opinion polls, 

said the police intervention 

was a "barbaric" attack on 

workers' rights. 

Eager to show lenders and 

Greeks that it is determined to 

implement promised reforms, 

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras 

has taken a hard line 

on the strikers despite facing 

criticism from one of his own 

coalition partners. 

"Under no circumstances 

can the government allow the 

country to be derailed and to let 

the sacrifices of the Greek people 

go to waste," Development 

Minister Kostis Hatzidakis, 

who oversees transport issues, 

said in a televised statement. 

Other transport unions held 

strikes in solidarity with subway 

workers, leaving Athens 

without bus, tram, trolleybus 

or rail services, and causing 

6 THE WORLD 


gridlock across the city. 

Traffic ground to a halt in 

the capital. "This week has 

been hell. How can they expect 

people to be on their side 

when they do this to us? We're 

all suffering (from austerity) 

but it's very difficult to have 

any sympathy for them," said 

50-year-old Dionisis Kefalas. 

Other commuters, worn 

down by years of frequent 

strikes and exasperated by the 


BELGIAN police block Arcelor Mittal workers from entering the zone where a meeting is taking place in Brussels yesterday. Arcelor Mittal, the 

world’s largest steel producer, plans to shut a coke plant and six finishing lines at its site in Liege Belgium, affecting 1,300 employees. — Reuters 

Italy’s centre-left leading; split Senate likely 

ROME — Italy's centre left is 

still in the lead a month before 

elections but will fall short of 

a majority in the Senate, a result 

which would make stable 

government more difficult, according 

to a poll yesterday. 

The centre-left's lead could 

be eroded by its links to the 

troubled Banca Monte dei 

Paschi di Siena, enveloped by 

a widening scandal over derivatives 

losses. 

Centre-left leader Pier 

Luigi Bersani's Democratic 

Party (PD) has long had ties to 

the Tuscan lender, the world's 

oldest bank. The PD and its 

hard-left ally, the Ecology and 

Freedom (SEL) party, would 

fall short of a majority in the 

Senate if the vote were held today, 

a Piepoli Institute poll in 

La Stampa newspaper said. 

That means Bersani's coalition 

would need the support of 

the centrist group led by outgoing 

Prime Minister Mario 

Monti in order to control the 

Senate. Under Italy's electoral 

law, the bloc with the most 

votes automatically gets a majority 

in the Chamber of Deputies, 

but in the Senate seats are 

awarded by region. 

A split result would make it 

difficult for the government to 

pass legislation in a bi-cameral 

system where laws have to go 

through both houses. The La 

Stampa poll showed the centreleft 

winning a majority in the 

lower house, but former Prime 

Minister Silvio Berlusconi's 

centre-right taking the key regions 

of Sicily, Lombardy and 

Veneto in races for the Senate. 

Lombardy has more seats in 

the 315-member Senate than 

any other region so is one of 

the keys to the control of the 

upper house. The centre-left's 

lead was less than five points 

in a further three regions, the 

survey said. 

A separate poll by Demos 

and Pi for the left-leaning 

newspaper La Repubblica 

gave the centre left 38.1 per 

cent, followed by Berlusconi's 

centre right with 25.8 per cent 

and Monti 's centrist coalition 

with 16.2 per cent. 

Twenty rescued as floods 

sweep northeast Australia 

SYDNEY — A teenage boy 

was dramatically rescued 

from surging floodwaters as 

he clung to a tree yesterday, 

while others were plucked 

from stranded cars and homes 

as floods swept northeastern 

Australia. 

Authorities said there were 

20 water rescue cases across 

central Queensland state overnight 

and early yesterday, 

after the remnants of tropical 

cyclone Oswald dumped huge 

rains around the coastal city of 

Rockhampton. 

Rescues included those of 

a woman and two children 

trapped in a car isolated by 

flood waters, and seven people 

taken from two flooded 

homes. 

Authorities said a teenage 

boy was lucky to be alive after 

he was found clinging to 

a tree as muddy floodwaters 

surged around him at Frenchville, 

some 525 kilometres 

northwest of Brisbane, early 

yesterday. 

"The current was so strong 

it just took him away," station 

officer Brett Williams told 

the Australian Broadcasting 

Corporation. The national 

broadcaster said the boy's rescuer 

was himself swept under 

the waters after helping the 

teenager to dry land, but later 

bobbed up safely further down 

the swollen creek. 

The Bureau of Meteorology 

issued a severe weather 

warning, saying with extropical 

cyclone Oswald over 

central Queensland, damaging 

winds with gusts of up to 90 

kilometres per hour were possible 

in the wider Rockhampton 

area. 

The torrential rain has 

flooded rivers and dumped 

enough water to isolate towns, 

with Rockhampton experiencing 

its biggest daily downpour 

since 1939. 

The bureau said severe 

flash flooding was reported 

overnight in the Yeppoon area, 

north of Rockhampton, where 

rainfall of 271 millimetres 

has been recorded since early 

Thursday. In Gladstone, south 

of Rockhampton, the town 

was cut off by the flood waters, 

but damage was limited. 

"It's very wet here," Gladstone 

regional mayor Gail 

Sellers told ABC TV. — AFP 

A third poll, conducted by 

SWG, showed the centre-left 

with a thinner lead of 34.1 per 

cent compared to 26.6 per cent 

for the centre-right and 12.8 

for Monti's centrist coalition. 

Meanwhile, Monti called 

for an immediate investigation 

of a widening scandal at Monte 

dei Paschi di Siena over the 

historic bank’s losses of nearly 

$1 billion in a series of complex 

derivatives deals. 

Monti defended the Bank 

of Italy, whose governor at 

the time of the losses was 

Mario Draghi, the European 

Central Bank chief now facing 

criticism for failing to spot 

the trouble brewing at Monte 

Paschi. “This episode has to be 

dealt with the maximum clarity 

and those responsible have 

to be dealt with rigorously,” 

Monti told RAI radio. 

Monti has promised to address 

parliament on the matter 

but he denied the government 

shared responsibility and said 

the problems did not affect the 

Italian banking system as a 

whole. He expressed “full and 

total confidence” in the Bank 

of Italy. “Italian savers should 

know, and I think they know, 

that Italian banks have been 

among the most solid during 

the crisis,” he said, adding that 

Monte Paschi was the only 

bank to be required to boost its 

capital by European authorities. 

— Reuters 

Leftist, aristocraft 

square off in runoff 

PRAGUE — Czechs went to 

the polls yesterday to choose 

a new president between a 

former communist and a 75year-old 

aristocrat whose 

campaign brought the election 

to life and down to the wire. 

The two-day second round 

will end a decade under eurosceptic 

Vaclav Klaus but few 

dared to predict who would 

succeed him, with veteran 

left-winger Milos Zeman and 

Karel Schwarzenberg, the 

central European republic's 

blue-blooded foreign minister, 

locked in a tight race. 

"It'll be very tight. I'm not 

nervous, far from it, I'm calm, 

we'll see," Schwarzenberg 

said upon casting his ballot 

in Sykorice, a small village 

near the castle where he lives 

southwest of Prague. 

Zeman, 68, scored 24.2 per 

cent in the January 11-12 first 

round, narrowly trumping rival 

Schwarzenberg, 75, who 

clinched a second spot finish 

with 23.4 per cent. 

As both contenders back 

greater European integration, 

the republic's first direct 

presidential election is certain 

to turn the page on Klaus' strident 

brand of euroscepticism. 

Analysts are pointing 

to voting age as a factor to 

watch. "If young people decide 

to go to the polls, Karel 

Schwarzenberg will win. The 

more of them go, the better his 

chances," Frantisek Vrabel, a 

consultant with the Semantic 

Visions think tank, said earlier 

this week. — AFP 

Metro resumes after week-long strike 

long wait for a taxi to work, 

agreed. 

"Ordinary people are being 

inconvenienced — as if 

our problems weren't bad 

enough," said Daphne Kiritsi, 

46, an office clerk, who said 

she had paid 200 euros out of 

her 800-euro monthly salary 

for taxis this week. 

Subway employees oppose 

being included in a unified 

wage scheme for public sector 

workers drawn up under 

an austerity programme that 

would slash their salaries. 

Under the emergency law 

invoked, which is meant to 

be used in times of war, natural 

disaster or risks to public 

health, workers can be arrested 

and jailed for up to five 

years. 

Subway, shipyard and other 

public sector workers planned 

to march to parliament in Syntagma 

Square, the scene of 

often violent protests in recent 

years. The most powerful unions 

threw their support behind 

the subway workers. 

"The workers' struggle will 

continue until justice is had," 

said Nikos Kioutsoukis, General 

Secretary of the GSEE 

private sector union, which 

has called a 24-hour strike 

against austerity measures 

next month. — Reuters 

British voters would 

choose to leave EU 

LONDON — Britain would 

vote to quit the European Union 

if Prime Minister David 

Cameron's promised referendum 

was held today, an opinion 

poll suggested. 

In the first major survey 

since Cameron pledged on 

Wednesday to hold a public 

vote on Britain's troubled EU 

membership by the end of 

2017, 40 per cent said they 

would vote to leave and 37 per 

cent to stay, the Times newspaper 

said. 

Stripping out the 23 per 

cent who were undecided 

and taking into account how 

likely people said they were to 

vote, the survey conducted by 

Populus for the Times said the 

figures translated into a 53-47 

vote in favour of quitting. 

Cameron has said he wants 

to renegotiate the terms of 

Britain's relationship with the 

27-member bloc before call- 

FRANKFURT — Passengers 

travelling through Germany's 

Duesseldorf and Cologne airports 

faced a second day of 

disruption yesterday as security 

personnel continued a strike 

over pay. 

More than 100 flights were 

cancelled at the two airports, 

with Germany's largest airline 

Lufthansa scrapping over 80 

flights at Duesseldorf alone. 

Trade union Verdi has 

called for a 33 per cent increase 

in pay for around 1,000 

security personnel employed 

by private firms at the two 

airport. 

It says the majority of security 

staff in the German 

state of North Rhine-West- 

ing a referendum to let the 

public decide whether or not 

to accept the new deal. But 

the poll of some 2,000 Britons 

suggested many voters had already 

made up their minds. 

Half of those in favour of 

staying in the EU, and two 

fifths of those against, said 

their vote in the referendum 

would have little or nothing to 

do with any opt-outs or repatriated 

powers the premier may 

win from Brussels. 

Nevertheless, the Conservative 

leader emerged the clear 

favourite when voters were 

asked who they trusted most 

to hammer out a new deal between 

Britain and the EU. 

Some 36 per cent chose 

Cameron, compared to 18 per 

cent who favoured the leader 

of the main opposition Labour 

party, Ed Miliband. 

Only five per cent backed 

Deputy Prime Minister Nick 

phalia, where the two airports 

are located, are on hourly pay 

of 8.23 euros ($11) and wants 

that increased by 2.50 euros 

to pull workers out of the low 

pay sector. 

The BDSW association 

representing the security firms 

has called the pay demand 

"completely excessive" and 

said the strike is out of proportion. 

It has offered a pay 

increase of 9.22 per cent. 

Verdi has said the strikes 

could go on indefinitely and 

could be extended to include 

other staff and security personnel 

in a show of solidarity. 

The strike had already resulted 

in around 200 flights 

being cancelled on Thursday. 

Clegg, who leads Cameron's 

pro-Europe coalition partners, 

the Liberal Democrats. 

Joining the slew of European 

leaders who have criticised 

Cameron's proposal, Clegg 

said on Thursday that it was 

"wholly implausible" to think 

European rules could be rewritten 

to "benefit us and disadvantage 

everybody else". 

Cameron came face to 

face with world leaders at 

the World Economic Forum 

in Davos on Thursday for the 

first time since his landmark 

pledge. "This is not about 

turning our backs on Europe 

— quite the opposite," Cameron 

told an audience of business 

leaders, top politicians 

and journalists. 

"It's about how we make 

the case for a more competitive, 

open and flexible Europe, 

and secure the UK's place 

within it." — AFP 

Flights hit by security staff stir 

Duesseldorf is Germany's 

third largest airport after 

Frankfurt and Munich. Meanwhile, 

German business confidence 

rose to its highest level 

in seven months in January, 

data showed, amid optimism 

that Europe’s top economy has 

put the worst of the region’s 

debt crisis behind it. 

The Ifo institute’s closely 

watched business climate index 

for Europe’s top economy 

rose to 104.2 points in January 

— its highest reading since 

June — from 102.4 points 

a month earlier. Economists 

polled by Dow Jones Newswires 

had been pencilling in 

a more modest rise to 103.0 

points. — AFP 

SUPPORTERS of the detained opposition lawmakers protest in front of a court in 

the Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek yesterday, during the lawmakers’ trial. — AFP 

Russian anti-smoking bill 

supported by lawmakers 

MOSCOW — Russian lawmakers 

on yesterday backed a 

law which would ban smoking 

in bars, cafes and other public 

spaces to promote healthier 

living in the world's largest tobacco 

market after China. 

Supported by President 

Vladimir Putin, who likes to 

present a healthy, active image, 

and has previously rebuked 

ministers for smoking, 

the bill was voted through in 

a second reading in the State 

Duma, the lower house of parliament. 

The law — which must 

go through one more reading 

in both the lower and upper 

houses before being signed off 

by Putin — would also ban tobacco 

advertising entirely and 

restrict sales from kiosks. 

The bill signals a culture 

shift in Russia, where cigarettes 

typically cost 50-60 

roubles a packet (around $2) 

and bars and restaurants often 

lie under a thick blue haze of 

smoke. 

Deputies applauded as the 

bill sailed through the State 

Duma, with 442 votes in favour, 

one against and one 

abstention. Prime Minister 

Dmitry Medvedev has also 

spoken out in favour of the 

law in a personal video blog. 

He said that 44 million Russians, 

nearly one in three, are 

hooked on smoking, and almost 

400,000 die every year 

of smoking-related causes. 

However, the bill is controversial 

with Russian smokers. 

"This bill is a veil, behind 

which they want to bring in 

another prohibition, only this 

time for tobacco," Andrei 

Loskutov, Director of the 

All-Russia Movement for the 

Rights of Smokers, said. 

"Let us act with understanding 

towards half of the 

adult population. Let us educate 

about giving up smoking 

with persuasion and education, 

and not throw out into the 

cold people who have spent 

their own money on a legal 

product." 

Kiosk owners have said 

many could be driven out 

of business by the proposed 

changes. They have already 

been hard hit by a ban on selling 

alcohol last year. 

The law is also opposed 

by tobacco companies such as 

British American Tobacco, Imperial 

Tobacco, Japan Tobacco, 

and Philip Morris, which 

together control more than 90 

per cent of Russian sales and 

have been lobbying to soften 

the proposed legislation. The 

Russian cigarette market was 

estimated to be worth around 

$22 billion in 2011 by Euromonitor 

International. 

The Finance Ministry has 

also previously announced 

plans to increase excise duty 

on tobacco by around 40 per 

cent for 2013 and 2014, and by 

10 per cent a year after 2015. 

The Health Ministry supports 

a greater increase in duty. 

Putin, a judo black belt, 

lobbied successfully for Russia 

to host the 2014 Winter 

Olympics and 2018 soccer 

World Cup. 

In another development, 

Russian police have questioned 

a star dancer as a witness 

over the acid attack 

against the artistic director 

of the Bolshoi ballet that exposed 

bitter infighting at the 

company. 

The attack on Sergei Filin 

— who risks permanent 

disfigurement and even blindness 

— came after months of 

squabbling inside what is arguably 

the world’s best known 

ballet troupe. — Reuters/AFP

PESHAWAR — The World 

Food Programme in Pakistan 

reduced wheat flour quota for 

internally displaced persons 

from 80 kilograms to 40 kilograms 

owing to shortfall in donations, 


Reduction in monthly 

food ration quota has affected 

around 908,000 people 

in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 

Federally Administered Tribal 

Areas (Fata) who have been 

rendered homeless owing to 

violence in their hometowns 

and villages. 

The displaced people in 

Jalozai camp, Nowshera district 

have refused to receive 40 

kilograms of flour. 

“IDPs have refused to accept 

the reduced quantity of 

flour because their needs have 

been increased,” said Haji 

Gulbatt, a member of the camp 

council in Jalozai. 

7 

SUBCONTINENT 


He said that relief agencies 

had also reduced quantity of 

biscuits, provided to the displaced 

children as food supplement. 

The UN agency, which 

depends exclusively on donations, 

requires $136 million to 

continue food distribution operation 

for violence-stricken 

people for 2013. The agency 

spokesman, Amjad Jamal, 

said that the organisation had 

received only $28 million for 


A PAKISTANI vendor sells balloons during the Prophet’s Birthday in Rawalpindi yesterday. — AFP 

Mobile phone services suspended 

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan 

yesterday suspended mobile 

phone services in some of its 

cities as part of enhanced security 

measures after overnight 

blasts, officials said. 

Two policemen and a security 

guard employed by a private 

company were killed and 

about 10 people were injured 

in two bombings on Thursday 

night in the southern port city 

of Karachi, police official Muhammad 

Amir said. 

The first bomb was hidden 

in garbage, and the second 

one was concealed in concrete 

blocks. Police said the second 

bomb caused most of the casualties 

because it exploded after 

Attack on Nato 

convoy kills 

5 civilians 

KABUL — A suicide car 

bomber attacked a Nato 

convoy in Afghanistan's 

strategic Kapisa province 

yesterday killing at least five 

civilians and wounding 15, 


No Nato troops were 

killed or injured in the attack 

in a village in Tagab district 

in the province, northeast of 

the capital Kabul, a spokesman 

for Nato's US-led International 

Security Assistance 

Force said. 

The explosion destroyed 

the wall of a house, killing 

four civilians inside, while 

a passerby on a motorcycle 

also died and 15 people were 

wounded, said the provincial 

police chief of security, Abdul 

Jalil Shamal. 

A spokesman for Taliban, 

Zabihullah Mujahid, said in 

a text message that 12 American 

troops had been killed 

and wounded. 

High-profile targets in 

Kabul have been attacked 

twice in the past 10 days. 

On Monday, a Taliban 

suicide squad stormed the 

traffic police headquarters at 

dawn, killing three police officers 

and unleashing a standoff 

that lasted for more than 

eight hours. A week earlier, 

a squad of suicide bombers 

attacked the intelligence 

agency headquarters. 

police and civilians had gathered 

to see the damage from 

the first blast. 

An official at the Interior 

Ministry said on the condition 

of anonymity that more security 

measures had since been 

put in place. 

"Mobile service will remain 

suspended in various cities, 

and additional police and 

paramilitary troops will patrol 

areas which have been marked 

as sensitive," he said. 

He refused to give details 

about the number of police and 

troops being deployed. 

Mobile phone service was 

out in some areas of Karachi, 

Lahore, Rawalpindi, Quetta 

and several smaller cities, Geo 

News reported. 

In the capital, Islamabad, 

several hundred police officials 

were seen patrolling the 

roads and checking vehicles. 

The bombings occurred 

hours ahead of Prophet's birth 

anniversary. 

The day began with a 31gun 

salute in Islamabad and a 

21-gun salute in four provincial 

capitals to celebrate the 

birthday, Radio Pakistan said. 

The government was also 

holding a national seminar to 

highlight the message of the 

Prophet after declaring yesterday 

a national holiday. 

Huge rallies and proces- 

sions were held to mark the 

day. 

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s 

cricketer-turned-politician Imran 

Khan accused Washington 

of using Pakistan. 

He said the war on terror 

has had adverse impact and 

the way it has been fought has 

led to results that are counter 

productive. 

“There has been negativity 

and anti-US feelings in Pakistan 

because of this. The feeling 

is that Pakistan has been 

used as a tissue paper by the 

US ... So people in Pakistan 

suspect the intentions of US. 

“On the other hand people 

in US suspect Pakistani army 

IDPs refuse to receive reduced food package 

AN Afghan man pushes a motorcycle past US Army soldiers on patrol near Command 

Outpost in Maiwand District of Kandahar Province yesterday. — Reuters 

of playing double role. So, it is 

a relationship based on distrust. 

So how can you have a common 

agenda of fighting terror 

when two countries don’t trust 

each other,” he asked. 

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf 

chief also stressed on the need 

for dialogue and underlined 

that Pakistan and India should 

sort out the issues on their 

own. 

Terming the LoC violations 

as “very unfortunate”, Khan 

said, “We were moving forward 

on peace process and it 

(LoC incidents) has pushed us 

back. Not as back as the Mumbai 

26/11 time but still it is 

quite back”, Khan said. — dpa 

feeding IDPs. He said that the 

agency was facing $108 million 

shortfall. 

“No funding, no operation. 

WFP will suspend food 

distribution if it does not get 

required funds for the current 

year because it is totally 

depending on voluntary donations,” 

he said. The agency, he 

said, had convened a donors’ 

meeting in Islamabad on January 

29 to raise funds for IDPs. 

Pakistan planning to 

introduce new taxes 

ISLAMABAD — The government 

of Pakistan is considering 

introducing new 

taxes to raise Rs 50 billion 

from next month to bridge 

the shortfall in revenue collection, 

it was learnt yesterday. 

The top tax machinery has 

identified six areas for new 

taxation. 

“We have identified areas 

for taxation and submitted to 

Finance Minister Dr Hafeez 

Shaikh for approval,” a senior 

tax official said. 

The FBR plans to raise Rs 

30 billion from new taxes under 

the head of sales tax and 

federal excise duty, Rs 10bn 

from income tax and another 

Rs 10bn from customs duties. 

The government has no 

other option but to levy new 

taxes ahead of the next elections, 

said a source. 

Pakistan needs money because 

a significant amount of 

$2.9 billion would be repaid 

to the IMF during the current 

fiscal year 2012-13. 

ISLAMABAD — Legislators 

from three divisions of south 

Punjab of Pakistan, especially 

invited to a meeting of the 

controversial parliamentary 

commission on new provinces, 

discussed yesterday the 

unique idea of having a new 

province with “twin capitals”. 

After the commission’s incamera 

meeting which was attended 

by over 12 legislators 

from Multan, Bahawalpur and 

Dera Ghazi Khan Divisions, 

PML-Q’s Kamil Ali Agha said 

that it had almost been decided 

that the name of the proposed 

province would now be 

“Bahawalpur Janoobi Punjab” 

instead of the earlier agreed 

“Janoobi Punjab”. 

Agha, who had earlier 

claimed that there was a consensus 

in the commission that 

the capital of the new province 

would be Bahawalpur, said 

that following the discussion 

with the MNAs and senators 

belonging to the Seraiki region 

yesterday, the commission 

might come up with the 

suggestion that the new province 

should have two capitals, 

both Bahawalpur and Multan. 

Explaining the term “twin 

capitals”, Agha said both the 

cities could share the secretariat 

offices, governor’s house, 

CM’s house and the provincial 

Customs makes export clearance mandatory 

KARACHI — Pakistan Cus- manual One-Customs system 2012. 

has directed all the concerned for clearing the imports. 

ISLAMABAD — American 

toms has made it mandatory after the cutoff date of January The MCC Exports issued to get their WeBOC user ID Recently, Pakistan customs 

Senator John Kerry, President 

to process goods declarations 27, they said. 

these fresh instructions to shed within the time from the MCC had announced to launch a 

Barack Obama’s nominee for 

for export cargo through Web- The latest measures have and terminal operators not to PaCCS, Karachi in case they test-run of Web-based Onesecretary 

of state, said durbased 

One-Customs (WeBOC) been taken in pursuance of the entertain any shipment of ex- are not registered as WeBOC Customs at Al Hamd Off Dock 

ing his confirmation hearing 

at Air Freight Unit (AFU) Ka- previous decision on July 4, port cargo in One-Customs users. 

Terminal from January 18, but yesterday that cutting US aid 

rachi from January 25, said 2012 to ensure a seamless and system after the cut off date The sources said that the due to several issues pertaining to Pakistan, would be a “dra- 

sources. 

a phased implementation of as all export cargo would be Federal Board of Revenue to the clearance, the plan was matic, draconian and sledge- 

The Model Customs Col- electronic clearance system. handled by the MCC Exports (FBR) aims at rolling out We- withdrawn for implementation hammer” measure. 

lectorate (MCC) of Exports Earlier, Pakistan customs at AFU, said sources. BOC across the country from at the MCC Appraisement. Senator Kerry also said 

has directed all the exporters had made mandatory all goods Similarly, the collectorate February 28, for exports and The sources said that the that Pakistan’s role in fight 

and their clearing agents to file declaration of exports at the has also advised all the airlines imports. 

software developed problems against terror had not been 

goods declarations pertain- Karachi International Contain- to file export manifest regard- The sources, however, said of inter-port movement and sufficiently appreciated. 

ing to exports, through AFU er Terminal (KICT) and Pakiing export cargo pertaining to that there are grim chances for shifting of statutory regulatory In his first appearance be- 

in WeBOC system as no exstan International Container AFU in WeBOC system from the revenue authorities to meet orders (SROs) from manual fore the Senate Foreign Relaport 

cargo pertaining to AFU Terminal (PICT) processed January 28. 

the deadline as there are chal- One-Customs to WeBOC systions Committee in his new 

would be allowed gate-in in through WeBOC in September The customs authorities lenges in running the software tem. — Internews 

role, Kerry told the senators 

Pakistan has, so far, paid 

only $395 million in current 

fiscal year. 

In March 2011 when the 

government faced revenue 

shortfall, it had withdrawn 

major exemptions on tractors, 

pesticides and fertilisers, 

plant, machinery and 

equipment and parts. 

It had also increased 

special excise duty besides 

imposing 15pc special surcharge 

duty on incomes. 

The new taxes would be 

raised from withdrawal of 

major tax exemptions, reduction 

in duties for various 

sectors through SROs and 

special procedures. 

According to internal 

working of the FBR, 84 per 

cent of tariff and duty rates 

had either been exempted or 

reduced for the benefit of certain 

influential lobbies and 

elite in the country through 

SROs. 

The FBR faced a massive 

shortfall in revenue collection 

during the first half of 

the current fiscal year and it 

assembly. He claimed that his 

party’s proposals to include 

Bhakkar and Mianwali districts 

in the proposed province 

had also been accepted. 

Briefing reporters after 

presiding over the meeting, 

the commission’s chairman 

Farhatullah Babar said that 

valuable suggestions had been 

received from the MNAs and 

senators regarding the name 

of the proposed province, 

its capital and geographical 

boundaries. 

He categorically stated that 

“nothing is final so far” and 

the commission would meet 

again today. He said a draft 

of the amendment bill seeking 

formation of a new province 

was almost ready and it would 

be reviewed at the next meeting. 

Seven to eight articles of 

the Constitution would have 

to be amended for carving out 

a new province in Punjab, he 

added. 

Earlier, a PPP MNA from 

Vehari, Mehmood Hayat Khan 

alias Tochi Khan, walked 

out of the meeting in protest 

against non-representation in 

the commission of settlers living 

in Seraiki-speaking areas. 

When contacted, Khan said 

a large number of Urdu- and 

Punjabi-speaking people were 

also living in south Punjab. 

had already communicated it 

to the IMF that revenue collection 

would witness a minimum 

of Rs181 billion shortfall 

by the end of June 2013. 

The proposed taxes include 

withdrawal of zerorating 

of GST (Lesser duty or 

no duties) on domestic supply 

of five sectors- textile, 

sports, carpet, surgical and 

leather goods. 

The FBR is charging five 

per cent duty on sales of these 

products in domestic market 

as against the standard rate of 

16 per cent. 

The board estimates an 

annual revenue collection by 

withdrawal of zero-rating on 

these sectors to Rs 36 billion. 

For five months, collections 

from these sectors would be 

Rs 15 billion. Tax officials 

fear that powerful textile 

lobby may try to block the 

move. 

It has also been proposed 

that rate of withholding tax 

be enhanced from 0.5 per 

cent to 1 per cent on supplies 

to exporters. — Internews 

THE mother of factory fire victim, Fathema Ahenur weeps during a protest demanding 

punishment for the Tazreen Fashion factory owner and compensation for the 

victims of the 2012 factory fire in Savar, north of Dhaka, yesterday. — AFP 

Twin capitals for new 

province discussed 

he foresaw a “more rapid” 

transition in Afghanistan, allowing 

an accelerated withdrawal 

of US troops before 

the 2014 deadline. 

But the senator, who 

headed the committee before 

his nomination, assured 

the Afghans that America’s 

counter-terrorism mission in 

their country would continue 

beyond 2014. 

It was Senator Rand Paul, 

a new Republican face in the 

committee, who suggested 

cutting US aid to Pakistan “if 

they do not release Dr Shakil 

Asked why he had not 

raised the issue earlier, he 

claimed that he had done so at 

the party level and even PPP 

Co-Chairman and President 

Asif Zardari had agreed to include 

them in the commission. 

The MNA said he had boycotted 

the meeting to register 

his protest. 

Prominent among those 

who attended the meeting 

were Foreign Minister Hina 

Rabbani Khar, Raza Hayat 

Haraj, Khwaja Sheeraz Mehmood, 

Mumtaz Gilani and 

Mohsin Leghari. 

It may be recalled that 

the main opposition PML-N 

which is in power in Punjab 

has been boycotting the commission 

and has already declared 

that it would not accept 

its recommendations. 

The PML-N alleges that 

the PPP is bulldozing the parliamentary 

process required 

for establishment of new 

provinces just to gain political 

advantage in the forthcoming 

elections. 

The commission had 

become controversial since its 

inception when the PML-N 

objected to its composition 

as well as its focus only on 

one province and decided 

to boycott its proceedings. 

— Internews 

Kerry suggests aid cut measure 

Afridi” who, he said, was 

imprisoned for helping the 

CIA. 

Kerry informed the senator 

that he had discussed this 

issue directly with President 

Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan’s 

Army Chief Gen Ashfaq 

Pervez Kayani. 

The senior US lawmaker, 

who stayed engaged with 

both Pakistan and Afghanistan 

as President Obama’s 

informal emissary during his 

first term, urged Senator Paul 

to also look at what the Pakistanis 

say. — Internews

MUMBAI — The nationalist 

party governing Mumbai has 

handed out kitchen knives and 

chilli powder to women following 

the brutal New Delhi 

assault that ignited a national 

debate on the best way to tackle 

sex crimes. 

The Shiv Sena party, an 

ally of the main opposition 

BJP, said it had handed out 

21,000 knives with three-inch 

(7 cm) blades to women in the 

city and surrounding areas and 

plans to distribute 100,000. 

Mumbai police said they 

were examining the knives 

and considering legal action. 

“This is a symbolic gesture,” 

said Shiv Sena spokesman 

Rahul Narvekar, adding 

that a knife shorter than six 

inches in length does not fit 

the definition of a weapon. 

The party also handed out 

small bags of chilli powder — 

apparently to throw into an attacker’s 

eyes. 

“It’s only to pass a signal 

to eve-teasers, anti-social elements 

and perpetrators of 

crime against women that 

women are empowered and 

they can take care of themselves,” 

Narvekar said. Eveteasing 

is a euphemism for 

molesting women. 

“Don’t be afraid of using 

this knife if someone attacks 

you,” Ajay Chaudhari, running 

the knife campaign, was 

quoted by the party newspaper, 

Saamana, as saying. “We 

have set up a team of nine 

advocates to protect you from 

any potential court cases.” 

A 23-year-old physiotherapy 

student was assaulted and 

beaten on a moving bus before 

being thrown bleeding on 

a expressway in New Delhi. 

Mumbai is generally considered 

a safer city for women. 

The attack and the student’s 

death two weeks later caused 

public outrage at the failure 

of the government and police 

to protect women from rising 

sexual offences in a country 

where one rape is reported on 

average every 20 minutes. 

In response, more women 

are taking up self-defence 

classes and carrying pepper 

spray. 

A government commission 

set up to recommend revisions 

to India’s sex crime laws this 

week said women who kill an 

attacker during a attempted 

rape should be able to plead 

self-defence. 

8 INDIA 



SIKH devotees carry the Palki Sahib — Sikh Holy Book — Guru Granth Sahib — during a procession at the Golden Temple in Amritsar yesterday on 

the eve of the 331th Birth Anniversary of Sikh warrior, Shaheed Baba Deep Singh. The Gurdwara Shaheed Bunga Baba Deep Singh 

at the Golden Temple commemorates the memory of Singh and his great deeds. — AFP 

Rahul lagging behind Modi: poll 

NEW DELHI — The ruling 

Congress party is headed for 

defeat in elections next year 

with barely one in five voters 

thinking Rahul Gandhi, its 

likely candidate, would be the 

best prime minister, a poll suggested 

yesterday. 

Gandhi — whose father, 

grandmother and great-grandfather 

have all served as prime 

minister — is widely expected 

to lead Congress into the polls 

after being elevated to the post 

of party vice-president last 

weekend. 

But only 22 per cent of voters 

surveyed by the magazine 

India Today said he would 

make the best prime minister 

— well behind the hardline 

Hindu nationalist politician 

Narendra Modi who had a 36 

per cent rating. 

The same poll showed the 

left-leaning Congress and its 

allies are on course to get 152- 

162 seats in the 552-seat Lok 

Sabha while the right-wing 

Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) 

and its allies were projected to 

get 198-208 seats. 

The BJP’s Modi, who is 

chief minister of the western 

state of Gujarat, is widely seen 

as pushing to lead the party into 

the polls amid a fierce internal 

power struggle. 

The 42-year-old Gandhi 

has often appeared less than 

hungry for power after rejecting 

repeated requests to take on 

ministerial responsibilities. 

But he is now his party’s 

official number two behind his 

mother Sonia and a senior min- 

MUMBAI — Maharashtra 

Governor K Sankaranarayanan 

yesterday felicitated Prema 

Jayakumar for topping the 

chartered accountancy (CA) 

examinations, an official said. 

At a function in Raj Bhavan, 

the governor awarded 

Prema Rs 1 lakh and asked her 

to take care of her parents, autorickshaw 

driver Jayakumar 

Perumal and his home-maker 

ister said on Wednesday that 

he was the party’s “consensus” 

choice to be its prime ministerial 

candidate in elections due 

early next year. Prime Minister 

Manmohan Singh, who is 80, is 

not expected to stand in 2014. 

The BJP chose the veteran 

Rajnath Singh as its new president 

earlier this week after the 

scandal-plagued incumbent Nitin 

Gadkari abruptly resigned. 

But analysts expect Modi, 

who was re-elected as Gujarat 

chief minister for a third time 

last month, to launch a bid 

for the party leadership in the 

coming months and few expect 

Rajnath Singh to be the final 

candidate. 

Modi, whose humble roots 

are in sharp contrast to Gandhi’s 

privileged upbringing, 

FIRE fighters works to put out a fire in a gutted building in a slum in Mumbai yesterday. 

Six people died and several people were injured when a fire tore through a slum during 

the early hours in the Mahim area of Mumbai, local media reported. — Reuters 

‘End dual 

pricing 

for diesel’ 

CHENNAI — Tamil Nadu 

Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa 

has urged Prime Minister 

Manmohan Singh to immediately 

end the dual pricing 

in diesel, saying it hurt the 

common man. 

She also threatened to file 

a case in the Supreme Court 

if the central government 

did not revoke the decision 

to hike the diesel prices for 

bulk consumers. 

"I really wonder whether 

there is any justification for 

the partial decontrol of retail 

diesel prices and the huge 

increase in the price for bulk 

consumer," she added. 

Dated on January 24, the 

text of the letter was released 

to the media yesterday. 

"In normal marketing 

practice, it is the bulk consumers 

who enjoy discounts. 

All this leads me to question 

what the true motive behind 

these perverse decisions 

could be. 

The central government 

has decided to hike diesel 

price by Rs 11 a litre for bulk 

consumers and 0.55 paise a 

litre per month for retail consumers. 

— IANS 

wife, Lingammal. 

Sankaranarayanan also 

invited Prema, her younger 

brother Dhanaraj and their 

parents to attend the Republic 

Day function with VVIPs at 

Raj Bhavan today. 

Prema was accompanied by 

Dhanaraj — who also cleared 

the CA exams in his first attempt 

— and Ancy Jose, principal 

of Nagindas Khandwala 

remains a hugely divisive figure 

as he was at the helm in 

Gujarat during religious riots 

in 2002 in which some 2,000 

people were killed. 

While the survey made 

grim reading for Congress, it 

also represents a blow for the 

BJP as regional parties appear 

to be the chief beneficiaries of 

voters’ frustration. 

According to government 

forecasts for the fiscal year 

ending in March, India’s economy 

is growing at less than six 

per cent a year — its worst performance 

in a decade. 

Congress has also been hit 

by corruption scandals but allegations 

surrounding Gadkari 

have also damaged the BJP’s 

standing, according to the survey 

of 12,823 people. 

PATNA — Nearly seven million 

school students in Bihar 

will not get free cycle and 

uniform under a government 

scheme as they lack the mandatory 

75 per cent attendance. 

And despite protests from 

parents, Chief Minister Nitish 

Kumar is standing firm. 

Nitish Kumar has made it 

clear that the government will 

not compromise on the mandatory 

attendance criteria for 

providing cycle and uniform 

to school children. 

“What is the use of spending 

so much money if children 

don’t go to school?” he said. 

“Parents should ensure that 

they attend school.” 

Kitchen knives, chilli for defence 

No cycle for students 

with poor attendance 

College, Malad, where she 

studied. 

Daughter of a migrant from 

Tamil Nadu, Prema lives with 

her family in a tiny 300 sq ft 

tenement in a congested and 

noisy neighbourhood in Malad, 

a north Mumbai suburb. 

Her achievement stunned the 

nation earlier this week. 

Ever since the exam result 

was announced, the family 

Subsidy may 

exceed 

budget: FAI 

NEW DELHI — Fertiliser 

subsidy burden is likely to 

overshoot budgetary estimate 

by at least Rs 40,000 crore 

($7.4 billion) to Rs 1 lakh 

crore in the financial year 

ending on March 31, officials 

of the Fertiliser Association 

of India said yesterday. 

Satish Chander, Director 

General of Fertiliser Association 

of India (FAI), told reporters 

here that the budgetary 

estimate for the fertiliser 

subsidy was not realistic as 

the actual burden is likely to 

be much more. In the union 

budget for 2012-13, a provision 

of Rs 61,000 crore was 

made for fertiliser subsidy. 

Education Minister P K 

Shahi echoed the view: “The 

government is not going to 

make any change on the attendance 

issue. 

“Only those students will 

be eligible for funds (to buy 

cycle and uniform) who have 

at least 75 per cent attendance 

between April and September 

2012,” Shahi said. Under the 

scheme, Rs 700 is given to 

students to buy school uniform 

and Rs 2,500 for a cycle. 

In over a dozen districts, 

students and their parents after 

being denied the cash blocked 

roads and burnt tyres. In some 

places they ransacked the offices 

of the schools. — IANS 

Chawl girl who topped CA exams felicitated Smart card for Bihar prisoners 

PATNA — Bihar will issue a 

has been besieged with phone 

calls from the national and 

international media, with top 

Indian and foreign companies 

eager to hire her. 

Along with Prema, 24, 

her 22-year-old brother also 

cleared the same CA exam, 

the results of which were announced 

January 21. 

Prema had scored 607/800 

marks. — IANS 

Omar 

Abdullah 

calls for talks 

JAMMU — Jammu and 

Kashmir Chief Minister 

Omar Abdullah yesterday 

asked separatists to talk to 

the central government. 

Addressing people of the 

state on the eve of the Republic 

Day here, Abdullah 

said separatist leaders had 

been holding talks with Pakistan 

but were making excuses 

against talking to the 

government of India. 

Abdullah’s speech tempered 

with the theme of 

peace and the need for dialogue 

was crisp. He emphasised 

that guns and money 

would not be able to achieve 

anything. — IANS 

Karnataka CM: Governor 

didn’t ask to prove majority 

BANGALORE — Karnataka 

Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar 

yesterday met Governor H 

R Bhardwaj and said he has 

not been asked to prove his 

majority though 13 BJP legislators 

have quit the assembly. 

“The governor brought 

to my notice the resignation 

of the 13 legislators. I have 

assured him that I have the 

majority and that there is no 

problem for the government,” 

Shettar told reporters. 

Ahead of the meeting, 

Bhardwaj had said that “if 

necessary I will direct the 

chief minister to prove his majority.” 

Shettar said Bhardwaj had 

accepted the government’s 

invitation to address the joint 

sitting of the legislature on 

February 4. 

The 10-day session is the 

first this year and it is customary 

for the governor to address 

it detailing the government’s 

programme for the year. 

Shettar is scheduled to 

UID to revolutionise public 

health delivery system 

By Ashraf Padanna 

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM 

— Those having the national 

unique identification (UID) 

card, Adhaar, will get a better 

healthcare in Kerala as part of 

the federal government’s pilot 

project being implemented in 

the state. 

The state’s health department 

has won a project grant 

from the federal department of 

IT (DeITY) for total automation 

of public healthcare delivery 

system with automation 

of demographic data indexed 

on UID. 

It also includes State Data 

Centre (where all individual 

data would be stored) linked 

HYDERABAD — Congress 

MPs from Telangana yesterday 

said they were ready for 

any sacrifice if the central government 

failed to announce its 

decision on separate statehood 

for the region by January 28. 

The MPs, who met here, 

decided to meet again Jan 

29 to announce their future 

course of action. 

The meeting was held to 

discuss the latest developments 

in view of Congress 

General-Secretary Ghulam 

Nabi Azad’s statement that a 

decision on Telangana issue 

was not likely by January 28. 

The MPs reiterated that 

the central government should 

stick to the one-month deadline 

announced by Home 

multi-purpose smart card — a 

first of its kind in the country 

— to more than 33,000 prisoners 

in its 56 jails, an official 

said yesterday. Inspector-General 

(Prisons) Anand Kishore 

said that Bihar would be the 

first state to issue such smart 

cards that would enable them 

to access services ranging 

from buying snacks, to get 

present the budget for 2013- 

14 on February 8. 

Bhardwaj asked Shettar to 

meet him following the decision 

of the 13 legislators, all 

loyalists of former BJP Chief 

minister B S Yeddyurappa, to 

quit the assembly. 

Their decision to quit is 

part of a plan to prevent Shettar 

from presenting the budget. 

Yeddyurappa, who quit the 

BJP and the assembly in November 

last to head the Karnataka 

Janata Party (KJP), wants 

Shettar’s ministers to resign 

and not go in for the budget 

session as elections are due in 

May. 

C M Udasi and Shobha 

Karandlaje, who resigned 

from the Shettar ministry on 

Wednesday, are among the 13 

legislators. 

The resignation of the 13 

legislators, which the speaker 

has no option but to accept, 

would bring down the BJP’s 

strength to 105, including the 

to all health institutions and 

accessed by field workers 

through 3G-enabled tablets 

and hospital automation. 

The field workers will digitise 

the family health register 

where each individual will be 

identified by UID. This data 

would be sent to the state data 

centre (SDC) through the Kerala 

State Wide Area Network 

(KSWAN). 

“The field worker will be 

able to down load the demographic 

data she needs for her 

planned work for the data and 

be able to update the individual 

data at the SDC with new 

data generated (immunisation, 

blood pressure data, etc) 

during her work for the day,” 

Minister Sushilkumar Shinde 

after the all-party meeting on 

December 28. 

Senior leader K Keshava 

Rao told reporters that they 

were ready to work with any 

party to achieve the goal of a 

separate state. 

G Vivek, one of the MPs, 

said if the central government 

failed to take a decision soon 

to carve out Telangana, it 

would have serious repercussions. 

“This time we will have to 

take some hard decision because 

we are losing our credibility 

among the people in Telangana,” 

said MP S Rajaiah. 

“The Congress party’s image 

will suffer further damage,” 

warned Manda Jagan- 

information about court cases, 

wages and health services. 

“The smart card is going to 

change prisoners’ life. It will 

enable them to buy daily use 

items like soap, shaving kit... 

and food items like bread, tea 

and biscuits from the jail canteen,” 

Kishore said. 

The smart card, christened 

e-Prison, Bihar, could also be 

used as a health card. Kishore 

speaker, in the 225-member 

assembly. 

Of the 225, a total of 224 

are elected and one is a nominated 

member. 

The effective strength 

of the assembly now is 223 

as two — Yeddyurappa 

and another BJP legislator Haladi 

Srinivas Shetty — have 

quit. 

The BJP has the support 

of one of the seven independent 

members who is a cabinet 

minister. 

The party is said to be wooing 

the other six independents 

to back it. 

The Congress has 71 members 

and the Janata Dal-Secular 

26. The two parties are also 

opposing Shettar’s move to 

present the budget. 

While the speaker and his 

office have remained silent on 

his whereabouts, Sports and 

Youth Affairs Minister Appachu 

Ranjan said that he had 

gone abroad and would return 

January 28. — IANS 

a post on the department’s 

Facebook page KeralaHealth 

said. 

The data will be available 

at a mouse click when a person 

visits any government 

health institution which can be 

downloaded to the local server 

of the institution. 

It will contain alerts for 

the physician, pharmacist and 

other staff on pre-existing 

condition, allergies etc. Communication 

between different 

faculties like clinician and 

laboratory or ward nurse and 

pharmacy will be through 

this system. At the time of 

discharge an abstract will go 

back to update the data at the 

SDC. 

Ready for ‘any sacrifice’ 

natham, at whose residence 

the meeting was held. 

G Sukhender Reddy 

said they would not hesitate 

to quit the party if it takes a 

decision against a Telangana 

state. 

Meanwhile, Congress legislator 

Komatireddy Venkatreddy 

called on Telangana 

Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Chief 

K Chandrasekhara Rao yesterday 

amid speculations that he 

and his brother Komatireddy 

Rajagopalreddy, a Congress 

MP, plan to join TRS. 

“We will take a hard decision 

after January 28,” said 

Venkatreddy, who had resigned 

as state minister last 

year to press the demand for a 

separate state. — IANS 

said that information kiosks 

would be set up in all the jails 

to facilitate the users. 

The prisoners will have the 

option to recharge the cards 

from their wages in jail. 

“We hope to provide these 

cards by end of February. The 

prison and correctional service 

inspectorate will implement 

the smart card project,” 

he said. — IANS 

WOMEN pose with knives, distributed by the Shiv Sena, in Mumbai.

9 INDIA 



PEOPLE walk past the historic Charminar monument after congregational Friday prayers during Eid Milad-un-Nabi in Hyderabad yesterday. 

Thousands of Muslims staged rallies across the country to celebrate the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammed. — AFP 

Probe all blasts since 1992 

HYDERABAD — MIM 

president Asaduddin Owaisi 

has demanded a probe into all 

bomb blasts in India following 

the demolition of the Babri 

Masjid in December 1992. 

The Hyderabad MP referred 

to Home Minister Sushilkumar 

Shinde’s statement 

that the Bharatiya Janata 

Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya 

Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) 

were spreading terrorism in 

the country while seeking to 

restart the probe. 

Addressing a massive public 

meeting on the occasion of 

Milad-un-Nabi yesterday, he 

attacked BJP leader L K Advani 

for meeting Prime Minister 

Manmohan Singh to defend 

Pragya Thakur and other accused 

in bomb cases. 

The Majlis-e-Ittehadul 

Muslimeen chief alleged that 

the BJP and the RSS were 

CHENNAI/HYDERABAD 

— Even as support across the 

globe against the movie Vishwaroopam 

is mounting, Tamil 

superstar Rajinikanth has 

come out to back Kamal Haasan 

who has acted, produced 

and directed the movie. 

The Tamil and Telugu versions 

of Vishwaroopam, which 

deals with the adversities of 

war, was scheduled to release 

yesterday, but the Tamil Nadu 

government on Wednesday 

imposed curbs on it following 

protests from groups. 

A day later, Kamal challenged 

the ban by the state 

government in the Madras 

High Court. In his plea, he 

contended that the movie was 

cleared by the censor board 

and the state government could 

not ban it. 

The court restricted the 

targeting Shinde as he was a 

Dalit. He said his party was 

ready to work for unity among 

Muslims and Dalits. 

“I am looking forward to 

the day when we will have 

leaders like Mayawati and 

Mulayam Singh in Andhra 

Pradesh. We will work with 

them,” he said. 

Thousands attended the 

meeting at the MIM headquarters. 

Owaisi clarified that his 

party was not against Hindus 

or Hinduism but against Hindutva 

forces and the Sangh 

Parivar. 

He accused the Congress 

government in Andhra 

Pradesh of targeting him, his 

younger brother Akbaruddin 

Owaisi and other MIM leaders 

due to personal vendetta. 

He vowed to defeat Congress 

in the next elections. 

film’s release till January 28. 

A judge will see the movie today 

and decide on its fate. 

Expressing his sadness 

at the developments against 

Kamal’s movie, Rajinikanth 

appealed to the groups to give 

up their demand for the ban on 

Vishwaroopam. 

“I request them to sit with 

Kamal Haasan, discuss and 

release the film without hampering 

the storyline. He is no 

ordinary artiste but an extraordinary 

one who can take Tamil 

cinema to all new levels,” the 

super star said in a statement. 

“Kamal and I have been 

friends for over 40 years and 

I know personally for a fact 

that he wouldn’t hurt the sentiments 

of anybody,” he said 

and added he is upset at the 

hardship Kamal underwent in 

investing around Rs 100 crore 

Owaisi accused the government 

of adopting double 

standards while dealing 

with the alleged provocative 

speeches. 

“You have charged Akbar 

Owaisi with sedition but not 

Swami (Kamlananda Bharati). 

You did not even oppose Swami’s 

bail. You never arrested 

Praveen Togadia (booked for 

making provocative remarks 

in Hyderabad),” he said. 

Akbar Owaisi, lodged in 

a jail in Adilabad, has been 

charged with sedition, waging 

war against the nation and 

promoting enmity between 

people. 

Asad Owaisi said Akbar 

was a political prisoner and 

accused the government of 

harassing him and playing 

with his life by making him 

travel from one town to another 

despite ill-health. — IANS 

in producing the film. 

According to Rajinikanth, 

the pre-release screening of 

Vishwaroopam to some organisations 

shows his love and 

regard for them. 

“He should be respected for 

the fact that he screened the 

film to some leaders before its 

theatrical release,” said Rajini. 

Meanwhile, the Andhra 

Pradesh government yesterday 

stopped the release of 

Vishwaroopam in Hyderabad 

after some organisations complained 

that the movie hurt religious 

sentiments of the community. 

State Home Minister Sabita 

Indra Reddy directed police to 

stop the screening till January 

28 after some leaders called on 

her and demanded a ban on it. 

Following this, the Hyderabad 

police commissioner 

Subsonic cruise missile 

to be tested in February 

BANGALORE — The ‘Nirbhay’ (fearless) subsonic cruise 

missile is all set to be tested next month from the integrated 

test range at Chandipur in Odisha on the east coast, a top defence 

official said yesterday. 

“The medium range sub-sonic cruise missile Nirbhay is 

at the final state of integration and we hope to launch it next 

month to flight test its capabilities, including stealth and accuracy,” 

scientific advisor to defence minister V K Saraswat 

told reporters here. 

Weighing about one tonne, the six-metre long missile is being 

integrated with ring-laser gyro-based high accuracy navigation 

system and a radio altimeter for the height. 

Designed and developed by the Aeronautical Development 

Establishment of the state-run Defence Research and Development 

Organisation (DRDO) in Bangalore for the Indian armed 

forces, the cruise missile can be launched from land, sea and 

air and has a 750 km range. 

“The missile has also a good loitering capability, control 

and guidance with a high degree of accuracy for maximum 

impact,” Saraswat, who is also director-general of DRDO, said 

at a briefing on the upcoming ninth edition of Aero India 2013 

here. 

The all-weather cruise missile will be inducted into the Indian 

navy, army and air force over the next 12-18 months. 

Rajinikanth pleads help in Vishwaroopam release 

asked cinema distributors not 

to screen the movie at theatres 

in the city. 

Screening of the movie was 

stopped midway at some theatres 

in Hyderabad. The morning 

show had started at a few 

multiplexes before the state 

home minister decided to suspend 

the release in view of the 

objections raised by some. 

“We were asked to vacate 

the theatre after the interval. No 

reasons were given. We were 

only told that there is some 

problem,” said Vinod Reddy, a 

student who was watching the 

movie at a multiplex. 

The theatre management 

refunded the money. 

When asked if he found 

anything objectionable, Reddy 

said: “It would be difficult to 

comment without watching 

the complete movie.” 

SADHUS (holy men) search for salvageable belongings after a fire destroyed their tents at the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad 

yesterday. Nineteen people were injured when a fire broke out at the Triveni area of Kumbh Mela in Allahabad district, a 

local report said citing officials. The Kumbh Mela in the Indian town of Allahabad will see up to 100 million worshippers 

gather over the next 55 days to take a ritual bath in the holy waters, believed to cleanse sins and bestow blessings. — AFP 

The Cyberabad police 

commissioner, covering areas 

around Hyderabad, also directed 

theatres to stop Vishwaroopam 

screening. 

Officials said the orders 

were issued in view of the 

demands by Muslim organisations. 

Also, there were fears of 

law and order problems. 

It was not immediately 

clear if the movie would be released 

in the rest of the state. 

The movie in Tamil and 

Telugu was scheduled for release 

yesterday; the Hindi version, 

titled Vishwaroop, is set 

to hit the screens February 1. 

Earlier, the film’s release 

got into trouble when Kamal 

decided to premiere it first on 

the DTH and then into the theatres. 

The distributors opposed 

the idea, and he had to change 

his release plans. — IANS 

Cloned 

buffalo gives 

birth 

KARNAL (Haryana) — The 

world’s first cloned buffalo, 

Garima, has given birth to 

a female calf, scientists at 

the National Dairy Research 

Institute (NDRI) here said 

yesterday. 

NDRI director A K 

Srivastava said that the calf, 

named Mahima, was born at 

1.51 pm. 

“It is the first calf born 

from a cloned buffalo, produced 

through hand guided 

cloning technique. The 

newborn, Mahima, weighing 

32 kg, is keeping very 

good health and has started 

suckling of milk within 30 

minutes of birth,” Srivastava 

said in a statement. 

He said that the NDRI 

Karnal had done pioneering 

work on cloned buffaloes. 

Headley sentencing 

raises questions 

Nikam says he should be made govt approver 

NEW DELHI — The US yesterday said its 

justice department decided against seeking 

death for David Headley because he co-operated 

with law enforcement authorities over the 

26/11 Mumbai attack as India expressed disappointment 

over the verdict, saying it wanted 

nothing less than the death penalty. 

David Coleman Headley, 52, a US citizen 

of Pakistani descent, was sentenced on Thursday 

by a Chicago court for helping plan the 

Mumbai attacks. 

US prosecutors dropped their request for 

life imprisonment in exchange of Headley’s 

testimony in cases against other suspects and 

co-operation with US intelligence officials. 

Referring to the sentence without parole of 

Headley, a US Embassy statement said: “This 

decision was taken because of Headley’s willingness 

to co-operate with law enforcement 

authorities — American, Indian and others 

— to help bring the perpetrators to justice and 

prevent other terrorist attacks.” 

It said Headley provided information that 

was of substantial value “in our efforts to combat 

international terrorism and to save lives”. 

Reacting to the sentencing, Special Public 

Prosecutor Ujjawal Nikam in Mumbai yesterday 

said that Headley should be made an approver 

in the case. 

Nikam, who was the public prosecutor in 

the Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks case, said that 

by turning the mastermind of the attacks into a 

government approver, the state might be able 

Pranab warns Pakistan, 

hails youth and woman 

NEW DELHI — In his maiden Republic 

Day eve speech, President Pranab Mukherjee 

warned Pakistan not to take India’s friendship 

for granted, hailed the spirit of the Indian 

youth and said brutalising women amounted to 

wounding “the soul of our civilisation”. 

In a crisp speech laced with his trademark 

intellect, the president referred to the numerous 

doubts and problems plaguing the world’s 

largest democracy but predicted a bright future 

for India. 

“On our 64th Republic Day, there may be 

some reason for concern but none for despair,” 

said the veteran politician who became the 

head of state in July 2012. 

“If India has changed more in six decades 

than six previous centuries, then I promise you 

that it will change more in the next 10 years 

than in the previous sixty,” he said. “India’s 

enduring vitality is at work.” 

Without naming Pakistan, the president 

spoke of “serious atrocities” committed on Indian 

troops on the Jammu and Kashmir border 

— an obvious reference to the brutal killing of 

two Indian soldiers by Pakistanis. 

“Neighbours may have disagreements; tension 

can be a subtext of frontiers. But sponsorship 

of terrorism through non-state actors is a 

matter of deep concern to the entire nation. 

“We believe in peace on the border and are 

always ready to offer a hand in the hope of 

friendship. But this hand should not be taken 

for granted.” 

Mukherjee spoke about the December 16 

rape and murder of a young woman in Delhi, 

calling the 23-year-old a “symbol of all that 

new India strives to be”. 

Her death, he said, “has left our hearts 

empty and our minds in turmoil. We lost more 

than a valuable life; we lost a dream. If today 

young Indians feel outraged, can we blame our 

youth?” 

The president said that while there was a 

law of the land, “there is also a higher law” 

when it came to women. 

“The sanctity of a woman is a directive 

principle of that larger edifice called Indian 

civilisation. 

“Mother is our protection from evil and oppression, 

our symbol of life and prosperity,” he 

said. “When we brutalise a woman, we wound 

the soul of our civilisation.” 

The president said it was “time for the nation 

to reset its moral compass... We must look 

to identify and subsequently punish the main 

perpetrators of terror. 

Nikam, however, termed the sentence as 

“inadequate and disproportionate”. 

Citing the “significant co-operation” provided 

by Headley to the US government’s efforts 

to combat terrorism, the US federal prosecutors 

had sought only 30 to 35 years in prison 

for him. “Headley agreed to provide evidence 

about the Mumbai attack in a plea bargain in 

the US court. Now that it has been done, the 

onus is on Pakistan to book him as one of the 

accused of the attacks,” Nikam said. 

“It will help if Pakistan turns him an approver 

and records his evidence against LeT 

leader Hafiz Saeed,” he added. 

Nikam said that since Pakistan is citing that 

there was no incriminating evidence against 

Saeed, it is important that Headley’s trial be 

recorded since he might say something. 

Nikam said that Ajmal Kasab who wasconvicted 

for the attacks and hanged last year, had 

implicated Saeed in his confession. 

“Since Headley has confessed to a key role 

in the 26/11 conspiracy, it is possible that he 

might have interacted with top functionaries 

of LeT,” Nikam said. Headley, 52, is a Washington-born 

son of a Pakistani diplomat and 

an American mother. Under a plea deal, US 

prosecutors “had agreed not to seek the death 

penalty against him and to not extradite him to 

Pakistan, India or Denmark for the offences to 

which he pleaded guilty”. 

PRESIDENT Pranab Mukherjee (R) shakes hand with King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar 

Namgyel Wangchuk as prime minister Manmohan Singh and Bhutanese Queen Jetsun 

Pema Wangchuck look on during the welcome ceremony at the Presidential 

Palace in New Delhi yesterday. — AFP 

PRANAB Mukherjee addressing the nation 

on the eve of the country’s 64th Republic 

Day, in New Delhi yesterday — AFP 

deep into our conscience and find out where 

we have faltered”. 

Mukherjee admitted that the Indian youth 

were today troubled by a range of existential 

doubts. 

“Does the system offer due reward for 

merit? Have the powerful lost their Dharma 

in pursuit of greed? Has corruption overtaken 

morality in public life? Does our legislature 

reflect emerging India or does it need radical 

reforms? 

“These doubts have to be set at rest. Elected 

representatives must win back the confidence 

of the people. The anxiety and restlessness of 

youth has to be channelised towards change 

with speed, dignity and order.” 

The former finance minister underlined that 

the fruits of economic growth should not become 

the monopoly of the privileged. 

“As we move ahead on the path of economic 

reforms, we must remain alive to the persisting 

problems of market-dependent economies. 

“Many rich nations are now trapped by a 

culture of entitlement without social obligations; 

we must avoid this trap.” 

Failure to do so could make Maoist violence 

“acquire far more dangerous dimensions”, he 

warned. 

He spoke of India’s many successes over the 

past six decades, the vision of India’s founding 

leaders and asked the civil society and the 

government to work together for the country’s 

betterment. — IANS

Road to 

recovery 

By Audrey Stuart 

NEWS that the global 

music industry has 

finally turned the 

corner and is on the road to 

recovery should help get the 

annual four-day gathering 

of many of the world’s top 

music execs at the MIDEM 

trade fair that opens here 

today off to a good start. 

“I believe we can now 

say that the music industry 

globally is on the road 

to recovery and heading 

for growth for the first 

time since 1999,” Frances 

Moore, CEO of the IFPI 

(International Federation of 

the Phonographic Industry), 

the body that represents the 

interests of the international 

recording industry, said. 

“We may not get there 

this year, but the direction 

of travel is clear,” Moore 

added, noting that every 

digital revenue stream, 

including music downloads, 

subscriptions, ad-revenues 

and other channels are all 

growing. The vibrant, growing 

digital music sector, 

however, will only realise 

its full potential if copyright 

laws are protected, the IFPI 

boss cautioned. 

The main driver helping 

fuel this turnaround in the 

music sector is the increasing 

popularity of music 

download and subscription 

services such as Deezer, 

MOG and Spotify, industry 

executives noted. 

“Download and 

subscription services are 

growing fast driven by 

smartphones and tablets,” 

Edgar Berger, President and 

CEO International of Sony 

Music entertainment, one 

of the world’s largest record 

labels, said. 

This advance is also 

worldwide, Edgar stressed, 

noting that eight of the top 

20 music markets are showing 

growth, and this is a 

group of countries that span 

all the continents. 

How much this upturn 

in the digital music sector 

can cover the losses and 

decrease in physical formats 

such as CDs and records, 

however, is still uncertain, 

according to experts. 

MIDEM Director, Bruno 

Crolot, said that digital music 

is growing in a way that 

it’s now starting, at least in 

some territories such as the 

US, to cover the losses and 

decline in physical sales. 

“Even if it’s a bit slow 

and a bit fragile, it’s a real 

trend in the USA and we 

hope and the industry hopes 

that this will also come to 

other countries in Europe 

and the rest of the world,” 

Crolot said. 

By Marianne Brown 

MANY residents of 

Hoa Binh Peace 

Village, a non-governmental 

residential facility 

outside Hanoi, were born well 

after the Vietnam War, but are 

still living with the effects of 

US chemical weapons dropped 

during the conflict. 

In a small room lined with 

mats a group of disabled 

young adults sit bundled up in 

scarves and jackets alongside 

their carers. Chief physician 

Vu Son Ha points out one man 

with an enlarged head and 

bulging eyes. “He is the son of 

a soldier who fought in South 

Vietnam,” Ha says. 

Tomorrow marks the 40th 

anniversary of the signing 

of the Paris Peace Accords, 

which ended the United 

States’ military involvement 

in the Vietnam War. But one 

of the conflict’s most destructive 

legacies, Agent Orange, 

continues to blight the lives of 

young Vietnamese. 

The symptoms of the young 

man in Hoa Binh are thought 

to be a result of his father’s 

exposure to Agent Orange, a 

herbicide used by the US to 

clear jungle cover sheltering 

enemy soldiers. 

More than 43 million litres 

were dumped on South Vietnam 

from 1965 to 1970, populated 

at the time by around 4.5 

By Danny Kemp 

BRITISH Prime Minister David 

Cameron insisted he was not 

turning his back on Europe 

as he came face to face with world 

leaders for the first time since unveiling 

plans for an EU referendum. The 

global elite gathered at the World Economic 

Forum in Davos on Thursday 

and discussed issues ranging from the 

civil war in Syria and the conflict in 

Mali to the need to counter tax avoidance 

by multinational corporations. 

But the hot topic at the snowy Swiss 

ski resort was Cameron’s relations 

with his European Union partners, one 

day after he unveiled his controversial 

proposal to let the British public vote 

on whether to stay in the bloc. 

Cameron held talks with German 

Chancellor and EU powerbroker Angela 

Merkel and the prime ministers 

of Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands 

at the annual forum as he tried to win 

their backing for his plans. 

“This is not about turning our backs 

on Europe — quite the opposite,” 

Cameron told the audience of business 

leaders, top politicians and journalists. 

“It’s about how we make the case for 

a more competitive, open and flexible 

Europe and secure the UK’s place 

within it.” Back home Cameron’s announcement 

on Wednesday that he 

wants to renegotiate Britain’s relationship 

with Brussels and then hold an 

“in-or-out” referendum on membership 

by the end of 2017 has delighted 

his increasingly anti-EU party. 

European leaders in Davos called 

on Britain to remain in the 27-nation 

group and made encouraging noises in 

public, but there were signs he has a 

mountain to climb to convince them 

of his case. Dutch premier Mark Rutte 

warned that without the EU, Britain 

would be “an island somewhere in the 

middle of the Atlantic Ocean, somewhere 

between the United States and 

Europe”. 

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny 

said the EU would be “stronger if Britain 

is part of it”. From Lisbon, Portugal’s 

Foreign Minister Paulo Portas 

said: “We would have liked to have 

had a United Kingdom taking an active 

part in Europe.” Merkel reached 

out to Cameron by vowing more action 

on one of the key reforms he wants for 

Europe — boosting competitiveness. 

“I say this expressly to my colleague 

David Cameron. You too have 

addressed competitiveness, see this 

as a central issue to ensure Europe’s 

prosperity for the future,” she said. 

10 ANALYSIS 



BRITISH Prime Minister David Cameron and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon at the World Economic Forum meeting at in Davos. — AFP 

Reaching out to Europe 

million people. It contained the 

dioxin TCDD, thought to have 

strong carcinogenic properties 

and persistence in the environment 

and food chain. 

Its impact on genetic material 

has passed some of the 

worst effects onto the next 

generation in the form of developmental 

problems, experts 

say. 

Hanoi says around 150,000 

children suffered birth defects 

linked to the chemical. The Vietnamese 

Red Cross puts the 

figure at half a million. 

The Hoa Binh Peace Village 

cares for more than 100 

children whose parents or 

grandparents served or lived 

for at least a year in areas 

sprayed with Agent Orange, 

and have relevant symptoms 

as identified by the Ministry 

Cameron has said he wants 

to renegotiate the terms of 

Britain’s relationship with 

the 27-member bloc before 

calling a referendum 

of Health, Director Nguyen 

Thi Thanh Phuong says. 

“The US government 

should do more to help the 

victims of Agent Orange because 

their lives are still very 

difficult now, especially in the 

context of the economic crisis 

as donations have reduced,” 

she says. 

Washington has not recognised 

the health impact of 

Agent Orange, even on its own 

troops. An attempt by US veterans 

in the 1980s to sue for 

damage suffered while serving 

in contaminated areas led to an 

out-of-court settlement. 

In 2009 the Supreme Court 

refused to hear a similar case 

by the Vietnamese Association 

for Victims of Agent Orange 

(VAVA). Head of VAVA’s 

propaganda board, Mai The 

Chinh, says the US was trying 

to “escape their responsibility 

to Vietnam.” 

“For political, legal, economic 

and social reasons, the 

US government and companies 

do not dare to admit their 

legal responsibility,” he says. 

“Vietnamese victims of 

Agent Orange will continue 

to struggle legally in the US to 

bring justice for victims.” 

Since diplomatic relations 

between the two countries were 

normalised in 1993, economic 

and political interests have led 

to burgeoning ties. Agent Orange, 

however, has remained a 

sticking point. Charles Bailey, 

former Vietnam director of the 

philanthropic Ford Foundation, 

started working on Agent 

Orange problems in 1998. 

“In those days the issue was 

Former US secretary of state Henry 

Kissinger told the forum that the 

“idea of European unity needs to be 

resolved” for the continent to fully 

recover from the three-year euro zone 

debt crisis. But Cameron rejected 

any idea of a European superstate or 

of Britain ever adopting the euro and 

added that he did not agree that “there 

should be a country called Europe”. 

Cameron said in his speech that 

Britain’s presidency of the Group of 

Eight leading world economies — 

Britain, Canada, France, Germany, 

Italy, Japan, Russia and the United 

States — would focus on tackling tax 

avoidance. He said multinational corporations 

must “pay their fair share” 

of taxes and that too many businesses 

were abusing tax schemes. 

UN Secretary-General Ban 

Ki-Moon urged members of the Security 

Council to “overcome the 

so polarised and sensitive that 

nobody wanted to talk about 

it,” he says. 

Bailey is part of the US- 

Vietnam Dialogue Group on 

Agent Orange’TCDD, a group 

of experts from both sides 

who have helped bring their 

governments together on the 

issue. Its goals include providing 

services to the disabled, 

deadlock” and find a solution to the 

bloodshed in Syria, where 60,000 people 

have died in the past 22 months. 

Russia and China have blocked three 

previous resolutions threatening sanctions 

against Syrian President Bashar 

al Assad but Ban said letting the conflict 

go on was an “abdication of our 

collective responsibility to protect”. 

Ban also called for the world to help 

end the crisis in Mali, where a Frenchled 

military offensive against militants 

is under way. 

Davos lived up to its reputation as 

a venue where deals are sewn up on 

the sidelines as Ukraine and global 

oil giant Royal Dutch Shell signed a 

$10-billion shale gas deal. The invitation-only 

meeting is also known for its 

lavish cocktail parties — but with the 

glitzy guest list comes tight security, 

with around 5,000 police and military 

guarding the venue and helicopters 

buzzing overhead. 

Britain would vote to quit the European 

Union if Cameron’s promised 

referendum was held today, an opinion 

poll suggested on Thursday. In the first 

major survey, 40 per cent said they 

would vote to leave and 37 per cent to 

stay, the Times newspaper said. Stripping 

out the 23 per cent who were undecided 

and taking into account how 

likely people said they were to vote, 

the survey conducted by Populus for 

the Times said the figures translated 

into a 53-47 vote in favour of quitting. 

Cameron has said he wants to renegotiate 

the terms of Britain’s relationship 

with the 27-member bloc before 

calling a referendum to let the public 

decide whether or not to accept the 

new deal. 

especially from contaminated 

areas. 

In August the two sides celebrated 

the breaking ground 

of a $43-million joint project 

to clean up a heavily contaminated 

former US military base, 

a first after decades of negotiation. 

“Our ability to work constructively 

to resolve war 

How effective 

are sanctions? 

By Park Chan-Kyong 

THE latest sanctions 

against North Korea 

will have little impact 

on its nuclear and missile 

programme, despite the 

added clout of China’s support 

for the UN measures, 

analysts said. 

The action announced by 

the UN Security Council on 

Tuesday was a clear compromise 

that expanded the list 

of North Korean entities on 

the UN’s sanctions list, but 

stopped short of imposing 

any tough new penalties. 

It followed weeks of 

intense negotiations between 

the United States, which 

wanted a strong response 

to the North’s long-range 

rocket launch last month, 

and China which sought to 

shield its ally from any harsh 

measures. 

The resolution added 

North Korea’s space agency, 

a bank, four trading companies 

and four individuals to 

the UN list of entities subject 

to an assets freeze and travel 

ban. “The sanctions themselves 

amount to little more 

than a slap on the wrist,” said 

Kim Yong-Hyun, a professor 

of North Korean studies 

at Dongguk University in 

Seoul. 

“But the North is likely 

to be upset at China yielding 

to pressure from other 

members of the UN Security 

Council and accepting the 

resolution,” Kim said.The 

US-proposed resolution 

was adopted unanimously 

by the 15-nation council 

and included a threat of 

“significant action” should 

Pyongyang stage a nuclear 

test in the future. 

As North Korea’s sole 

major ally and economic 

lifeline, China is seen as 

the only country with any 

genuine leverage over the 

impoverished, isolated and 

nuclear-armed state. At the 

same time, Pyongyang has 

played on Chinese fears of 

the consequences of North 

Korea’s collapse to defy 

Beijing’s efforts to rein in its 

nuclear weapons programme. 

Most analysts agreed 

with Kim that the real import 

of Tuesday’s sanctions announcement 

lay in Beijing’s 

backing, rather than the 

actual measures themselves. 

“Any kind of Chinese 

move is important,” said 

Robert Kelly, professor 

of Political Science and 

Diplomacy at Pusan National 

University.”North Korea 

would collapse without 

Chinese support. So when 

China backs sanctions, even 

if they aren’t that tough, it’s 

legacy issues has contributed 

to an overall strengthening of 

our bilateral relations,” US 

Embassy spokesman Christopher 

Hodges says. 

Susan Hammond, director 

of the War Legacies Project, 

says more needs to be done 

to help some of the most severely 

affected, particularly 

those in remote areas, to pro- 

significant,” Kelly said. 

Pyongyang’s reaction to 

the UN measures was swift 

and defiant, with the North’s 

foreign ministry denouncing 

the resolution and vowing 

to strengthen the country’s 

nuclear and missile capabilities. 

Its response is likely 

to fuel speculation that 

Pyongyang is preparing a 

third nuclear test, following 

its previous detonations in 

2006 and 2009. 

“The problem is that 

North Korea has far too 

much invested — financially 

and politically — in its nuclear 

programme to step back 

now,” said Kelly. 

“The best that sanctions 

have done and can do is slow 

the march to nuclearisation 

and make it harder to proliferate,” 

he added. 

Speaking to reporters 

after the Security Council 

announcement, China’s UN 

Ambassador Li Baodong 

made it clear that Beijing 

was equally sceptical about 

the effectiveness of sanctions. 

“The policy of sanctions 

and resolutions alone does 

not work,” Li said, calling for 

an early resumption of sixparty 

talks on the North Korean 

nuclear issue that have 

been held intermittently since 

2003. Pyongyang walked 

out of the negotiations in 

April 2009, a month before it 

carried out its second nuclear 

test, and in its statement on 

Wednesday the foreign ministry 

appeared to rule out any 

return to the table. 

Last month a US thinktank, 

citing satellite photos, 

said the North had repaired 

extensive rain damage at its 

nuclear test site in the northeast 

of the country and could 

conduct a detonation at two 

weeks’ notice. 

And South Korea’s Unification 

Minister Yu Woo-Ik 

recently told a parliamentary 

committee that it was “highly 

probable” the North would 

follow up the successful 

rocket launch with another 

nuclear test. But Professor 

Yang Moo-Jin of the University 

of North Korean Studies, 

said the prospect of another 

test in the first half of this 

year was “rather low”. “A 

test is the North’s last card 

and it’s still too soon to play 

it,” Yang said. 

Yun Duk-Min, a professor 

at the Institute of Foreign Affairs 

and National Security, 

said Pyongyang would wait 

to see what line the US 

administration would take on 

North Korea at the beginning 

of President Barack Obama’s 

second term. 

40 years on, Agent Orange still sore spot for Vietnam, US 

Hanoi says around 150,000 

children suffered birth defects 

linked to the chemical. The 

Vietnamese Red Cross puts the 

figure at half a million 

PRESIDENT Truong Tan Sang (R) handed Heroic Award of Armed Forces to former vice-president Nguyen Thi Binh 

(L) and Luu Van Loi, who represented teams from two parts of Vietnam during peace talks in Hanoi yesterday. — AFP 

vide them with the expert care 

they need. 

But she says US funding 

to clean up dioxin hotspots 

and support disabled people 

has been helpful. “You can 

get cynical about how long it’s 

taking, but compared to where 

we were just ten years ago 

we’ve made huge progress,” 

she says.

Setback for 

transparency 

By Jessica Donati and 

Marie-Louise Gumuchian 

LIBYA will not reveal the details 

of its oil sales this year, 

National Oil Corporation 

(NOC) officials said recently, stepping 

back from pledges to deliver 

greater transparency. Oil producers 

commonly keep the details of crude 

deals secret, yet Libyan officials 

promised to publish the details of oil 

deals after over 40 years of secrecy 

under deposed leader Muammar 

Gaddafi. 

The state firm revealed who 

would buy Libya’s oil in 2012 and 

began releasing information on prices 

and volumes of oil shipments on 

its website — but this lasted just two 

months, ending in 2011. 

Libya’s NOC Chairman, Nuri 

Berruien, said any secrecy clauses 

were introduced at the request of 

clients, not the NOC, and that most 

of last year’s buyers would continue 

to purchase its oil. The state firm 

would resume publishing details on 

its yearly activities, he said. 

“I have asked them (marketing 

department) to put all of the activities 

undertaken last year on the 

website, like an annual report. I am 

surprised it is taking this long, but it 

will be there,” Berruien said. 

But plans to address past corruption 

have also halted. The committee 

the National Transitional Council 

(NTC) set up in late 2011 to probe 

Gaddafi-era oil deals made little 

progress due to the slow handover of 

documentation, according to one of 

its members. 

That committee was dissolved 

with the transitional authorities after 

July elections for the General National 

Congress and no taskforce has 

yet been set up in its place to investigate 

Gaddafi-era oil deals. 

Progress on energy sector transparency 

has stalled, according to 

Tim Bittiger, a director at the Extractive 

Industries Transparency Initiative, 

an NGO that seeks to promote 

transparency in oil and mining. 

“Indications at the moment are 

not that great. Partners have suggested 

we wait until there is a new 

government in place before renewing 

talks”, he said. 

The Libyan congress now has 

its own energy committee, headed 

by Suleiman Ghjum, which with 15 

members plays a supervisory role. 

“We should look at all the contracts 

that look suspicious,” a member 

of the GNC energy committee 

said last month. He said he wanted 

to meet with members of the now 

dissolved NTC committee to talk 

about their work. 

Details on the identities of 

Libya’s oil buyers this year have 

emerged through a survey of traders 

who were customers last year, but 

many are reluctant to disclose the 

volumes they have been allocated, 

or say that details are still being finalised. 

Last year, the NOC provided a 

breakdown on allocations, revealing 

that trading houses had won around 

9 per cent of Libya’s full pre-war exports 

of 1.3 million barrels per day. 

By Ben Hirschler 

CLIMATE change is back on 

the global agenda, with debate 

in the corridors at Davos 

given fresh impetus by US President 

Barack Obama and UN Secretary- 

General Ban Ki-moon both highlighting 

it as top priority this week. 

Yet business leaders are still struggling 

to find the economic incentives 

to change current practices. 

The World Economic Forum 

(WEF) has not held back in its own 

assessment of the dangers, with 

former Mexican president Felipe 

Calderon warning of "a climate crisis 

with potentially devastating impacts 

on the global economy". 

Christine Lagarde, Managing Director 

of the International Monetary 

Fund, summed it up for any Davos 

doubters: "Unless we take action on 

climate change, future generations 

will be roasted, toasted, fried and 

grilled." 

There is a disconnect, however, 

between increasing evidence of extreme 

weather — from Superstorm 

Sandy in the United States in October 

to record heat in Australia this month 

— and the limited response from 

politicians and businesses. 

In some cases the clash is stark, as 

highlighted yesterday when Greenpeace 

activists shut down a Shell gas 

station near the WEF meeting in protest 

at oil drilling in the Arctic that is 

made easier by a warmer world. 

Many companies tout the opportunities 

presented by a shift to a 

low-carbon economy, yet the reality 

is that the continuing economic cri- 

sis has discouraged businesses and 

governments from developing a truly 

long-term view. The rapid growth in 

shale gas — a greener alternative to 

coal when it is burned, although not 

when it leaks into the atmosphere — 

has also made renewables comparatively 

less attractive, adding to the 

challenge. 

The result is that while global investment 

in renewables is rising, the 

world still needs to spend $700 billion 

each year to curb its addiction to 

fossil fuels, according to a study is- 

sued by the WEF this week. "There is 

a clear lack of urgency in the climate 

debate," said Greenpeace Executive 

Director Kumi Naidoo. "Big business 

is holding us back." 

Business, in turn, complains that 

the failure of governments to provide 

a clear regulatory framework limits 

its ability to plan for the future. After 

past failures, governments aim to 

work out a new UN plan to address 

climate change in 2015 but it will 

only enter into force from 2020. 

"Climate change is a long-term 

11 ANALYSIS 



ECUADOR’S President Rafael Correa (R) greets indigneous Indian supporters during a political rally in Zumbahua recently. — Reuters 

Clear favourite to win poll 

By Eduardo Garcia 

ONCE a forgotten cluster of mud houses 

amid windswept peaks, the Ecuadorean 

village of Zumbahua today boasts a stateof-the-art 

schoolhouse with large projection touch 

screens, Internet access in every classroom and 

lessons in three languages. Indigenous Kichwa 

Indians who once stuffed savings under their mattresses 

now have a bank in town and a free Internet 

cafe — all paid for by the state. 

The treacherous muddy road to the village is 

being widened and paved, and residents are particularly 

proud of their local school. “Education 

has improved dramatically ... The students know 

how to work with computers better than kids from 

the city,” headmaster Vicente Caiza said. 

Zumbahua is one example of how Ecuadoreans 

from the Andes mountains to the Amazon jungle 

have benefited from heavy government spending 

that will almost certainly win socialist President 

Rafael Correa a new term in next month’s presidential 

election. 

Buoyed by strong oil revenue, record tax collection 

and steady economic growth, Correa has 

won broad popular support by expanding access 

to healthcare, doubling state spending on education 

and turning rough dirt paths into proper paved 

roads. Polls show the US-trained economist turned 

leftist stalwart is the clear favourite to win the February 

17 election. Polls show he has the support of 

about 50 per cent of voters, in spite of opposition 

criticism that he is an autocrat who has amassed 

power and persecuted rivals. 

A Correa victory would be a boost to the alliance 

of left-wing Latin American presidents at a 

time when Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, the bloc’s 

figurehead, is battling to recover from cancer surgery 

in Cuba. It could also mean an extension of 

his fight with foreign investors. 

In 2008, Ecuador defaulted on $3.2 billion in 

bonds despite having funds to make payments. It 

has also squeezed revenue out of oil companies 

by forcing them to sign new contracts, and bullied 

Spain’s Telefonica and Mexico’s America Movil 

into paying more for telecoms licences. 

A Correa victory 

would be a boost to 

the alliance of leftwing 

Latin American 

presidents at a time 

when the bloc’s 

figurehead is battling 

to recover from cancer 

surgery in Cuba 

But Correa’s anti-capitalist rhetoric belies a 

pragmatic streak that has allowed him to negotiate 

with foreign investors when necessary. His government 

has offered concessions to Canadian gold 

miner Kinross as part of negotiations to kick-start 

Ecuador’s nascent mining industry, and it recently 

called a bidding round for oil blocks to help boost 

stagnant production. 

Though companies are startled by Correa’s 

heavy-handed approach to negotiations, the 

49-year-old will need to be more measured in his 

next term to ensure that Ecuador — locked out of 

international credit markets — receives the financing 

it needs. 

“We have to make use of our natural resources 

... oil and mines to fight poverty, especially among 

the indigenous people,” Correa said at a campaign 

rally in Zumbahua, as hundreds of supporters 

wearing wool ponchos and fedora hats shouted 

“We already have a president, we have Rafael!” 

Many people in rural areas support Correa, but 

Climate threat grabs attention after calamities 

SWISS riot police arrest a Greenpeace protester in Davos-Wolfgang yesterday. — Reuters 

issue and it is not clear how it is going 

to play out or what the returns are 

going to be," said Pricewaterhouse- 

Coopers International Chairman 

Dennis Nally. 

"So CEOs have to measure how 

this investment stacks up vis a vis 

other opportunities that can generate 

clearer returns." In practice, only 

a quarter of CEOs surveyed by PwC 

said they planned to raise investment 

in climate risks as cash is rationed and 

allocated to projects with the most obvious 

near-term commercial returns. 

want more. “He has to continue, because we want 

the hospital that he promised us, and a fire station, 

and a football pitch,” said Luzmilla Cuchiparte, a 

24-year-old mother of one who works at Zumbahua’s 

Internet cafe. 

Correa lived in Zumbahua for a year in the 

1980s when he volunteered with a Roman Catholic 

organisation. He worked at the local barley 

mill and provided occasional religious instruction. 

Most residents then lived hand-to-mouth, but the 

town is more affluent now and the school shows 

how much the area has changed. The some 1,000 

students from Zumbahua and surrounding villages 

receive free books and uniforms, and teachers 

have been trained to use the Internet and computers 

to teach in Spanish, English and the local 

Kichwa language. 

“We can’t turn a blind eye to reality... They 

need to learn to use the technology because if they 

don’t they will never be able to travel,” said teacher 

Jakeline Chicaiza. Correa’s government says 

it has revamped about 5,000 schools and built 18 

hospitals and 250 health centres across the nation. 

“You will find people throughout Ecuador saying 

that Correa built that road, or that a school was 

not there before, or that they now receive cash 

handouts ... Who can compete against that?” said 

Paulina Recalde, head of local pollster Perfiles 

de Opinion. Such support has helped Correa stay 

in power for six years, making him the longestrunning 

Ecuadorean president for at least four 

decades. He backed a constitution re-write in 2008 

that allows presidents to serve two consecutive 

terms. That means that after this poll he cannot run 

again in 2017. 

Rival politicians accuse Correa of undermining 

judicial independence and of circumventing a hostile 

legislature by calling a referendum on policy 

changes in 2011 rather than negotiating with opposition 

lawmakers. The father of three is also in 

a self-avowed “battle” with Ecuadorean media 

groups, alleging that they are in the pockets of a 

capitalist elite. 

While Correa has broad support, many in this 

Opec-member country of 15 million complain that 

he has raised taxes and failed to fight crime. 

That doesn't mean CEOs are not worried, 

according Fred Krupp, President 

of the Environmental Defence Fund, 

who said virtually every corporation 

was affected to some degree. 

"There was mostly silence on climate 

change for the last two years at 

Davos," Krupp said. "But that has 

changed. The US drought, especially, 

has grabbed people's attention here in 

Davos because that has had a real effect 

on prices." 

Also chiming with business leaders 

is Obama's argument that the 

United States cannot afford economically 

to fall behind in a global clean 

energy race dominated by countries 

like China, South Korea and Germany. 

"The US has to be among the 

leaders in this global discussion, so 

it is a positive development," Andrew 

Liveris, CEO of Dow Chemical, said 

of Obama's inauguration speech, in 

which he made climate change a priority 

for his second term. 

UN Chief Ban Ki-Moon came to 

Davos with a similar message, saying 

he was very encouraged by Obama's 

speech, while warning that climate 

change was approaching "much, 

much faster than one would expect". 

For investors, however, the climate 

issue remains hard to assess, as 

shown when the price of European 

permits to emit carbon fell this week 

to a new low below 3 euros a tonne, 

providing minimal incentive for industry 

to change behaviour. 

Analysts estimate prices need to 

be between 20 and 50 euros to make 

utilities switch to lower-carbon generation. 

Big price hikes, 

trade war fears 

By Tom Brown 

US business groups 

warned on Thursday 

of skyrocketing tomato 

prices and a damaging 

trade war if President Barack 

Obama’s administration follows 

through on a preliminary 

decision to end a long-standing 

tomato trade agreement 

with Mexico. 

“We are concerned as US 

distributors about the ability 

to continue to be able to sell 

Mexican tomatoes with the 

tomato trade dispute that’s 

going on between the United 

States and Mexico,” said 

Lance Jungmeyer, President 

of the Fresh Produce Association 

of the Americas. 

He said a new pricing study 

had found that US consumers 

would be hit with huge premiums 

for fresh tomatoes, with 

prices doubling or worse, if 

distributors were forced to 

withdraw Mexican tomatoes 

from the marketplace. 

Under some scenarios, tomatoes 

could become “more 

expensive than steak,” Jungmeyer 

said, adding that prices 

could quickly spiral to levels 

“more than the American consumer 

can bear.” 

The US Commerce Department 

signalled in September 

that it favoured ending the 

16-year-old tomato agreement 

on grounds that it failed to 

protect US growers, especially 

in Florida, against Mexican 

tomatoes that are sold in the 

United States, allegedly below 

the cost of production. 

A final decision is not due 

until May, but a Commerce 

official said US-Mexico 

negotiations over the issue 

continued in Washington this 

week. 

Terminating the tomato 

agreement would clear the 

way for Florida growers, 

who compete fiercely with 

Mexico for the US winter and 

early spring market, to file a 

new anti-dumping complaint 

against their Mexican rivals. 

Jungmeyer said such a 

complaint would almost certainly 

lead to preliminary 

but “prohibitive duties” that 

would sharply curb or cut off 

Mexican supply completely, 

due to increased costs for US 

importers and distributors. 

That, in turn, threatens to 

“put the Department of Commerce 

and Mexican growers 

on a collision course that 

would have disruptions to 

trade all around,” Jungmeyer 

said. 

Mexican officials have 

already raised the threat of 

retaliation if Mexico’s tomato 

exports to the United States, 

valued at nearly $2 billion a 

year, are damaged by the trade 

By Ed Cropley 

Mexican 

officials have 

already raised 

the threat of 

retaliation 

if tomato 

exports to 

the US are 

damaged by 

the dispute 

dispute and failure to extend 

the tomato agreement. 

Their warning was echoed 

on Thursday by Patrick 

Kilbride, a senior US Chamber 

of Commerce official, 

who joined Jungmeyer on the 

conference call in which they 

both spoke to reporters. 

“In any trade relationship, 

and especially in one as broad 

and deep as the US-Mexico 

relationship, there’s going to 

be a number of areas at any 

given time where there are 

disputes,” Kilbride said. 

“In a number of areas on 

both sides of the border you’re 

going to have situations where 

one country or the other could 

as a legal matter impose some 

sort of legal restriction,” Kilbride 

added. 

“If we go down that path, it 

really works to the detriment 

of producers and consumers 

in both countries,” he said. 

“Our simple point is that this 

relationship is far too important 

to let that happen and we 

want to see both governments 

working together to create the 

mechanisms that will defuse 

these sort of disputes before 

they come to this point.” 

Reggie Brown, who heads 

the Florida Tomato Exchange, 

said warnings about price 

hikes and retaliatory measures 

over the possible termination 

of the US-Mexico tomato 

agreement were nothing 

but “scare tactics” and a “red 

herring.” 

“The only reason the price 

of tomatoes may change in 

the marketplace would be if in 

fact the Mexicans have been 

dumping the product into the 

US market and they self-correct 

themselves to get prices 

that are not actionable under 

US trade law,” he said. 

“Why would it ignite a 

trade war with the Mexican 

industry simply because there 

are laws that regulate trade 

disputes?” Brown asked. 

Youngsters’ concerns 

AMAJOR South African bank has become embroiled 

in a row with the ruling African National Congress 

(ANC) over an advertising campaign in which youngsters 

voice concerns about the faltering progress of Nelson 

Mandela’s self-styled ‘Rainbow Nation’. 

The “You Can Help” campaign by First National Bank 

(FNB), the high street arm of financial services group 

FirstRand, was billed as a bid to reinvigorate the push to build 

a non-racial democracy from the ashes of apartheid. 

Instead, it elicited a furious response from the ANC. The 

party’s youth wing accused the bank of treason and a “lame attempt 

to recreate an Arab Spring of some sort in South Africa”, 

while its Women’s League branded the TV advert — which did 

not name the ANC — “offensive and politically biased”. 

In a statement, the party’s chief spokesman dismissed the ad 

as “disrespectful to elders” and said the ANC would “engage” 

with FNB bosses. The advert, which first aired recently, features 

a speech by a 17-year-old girl at a school in the sprawling 

Johannesburg township of Soweto in which she expresses 

concerns about crime, corruption and a shambolic public education 

system. The issues are all long-running political topics 

that the ANC has acknowledged are problems, but the ferocity 

of its reaction suggests concerns about a general election due 

in April next year. 

While there is virtually no chance of the party that helped 

overturn decades of white-minority rule losing, analysts say 

it is worried about its popularity among the so-called “Born 

Frees” — young South Africans who have no memory of 

apartheid. 

With millions of blacks seeing little improvement in their 

lives despite strong economic growth since 1994, the ANC is 

also worried that 94-year-old Mandela’s campaign pledge of a 

“Better life for all” is starting to ring hollow. 

“Clearly the ANC is very sensitive about the possibility 

it may lose votes because of ineffective management of the 

country in some places and not delivering on promises of jobs 

and growth,” said William Gumede, a political analyst at Johannesburg’s 

Wits University. “Although the party has been 

in power for such a long time, it still has its inferiority complexes,” 

he added. 

FNB said it would not bow to pressure to pull the advert, 

which was based on interviews with 1,360 young South Africans 

speaking unscripted and “from the heart”.

12 

ASIA/AMERICAS 



ANTI-riot policemen use batons on a protester as they disperse a demonstration calling for a pullout of US troops stationed in the country and the 

grounded USS Guardian minesweeper, in front of the US Embassy in Manila yesterday. Philippine President Benigno Aquino has given instructions not 

to allow the US navy to salvage its grounded USS Guardian minesweeper without Philippine involvement, in order to minimise damage to coral reefs. 

US military opens door to 

women in ground combat 

WASHINGTON — Ushering 

in a new era for the US military, 

Defence Secretary Leon 

Panetta on Thursday lifted 

a ban on women serving in 

ground combat, saying female 

troops had proven themselves 

in a decade of war. 

The ground-breaking decision 

reflected the changed realities 

of the battlefield, Panetta 

said, with women soldiers 

having already fought in conflicts 

that lack clear frontlines. 

“Female service members 

have faced the reality of combat, 

proven their willingness 

to fight and, yes, to die to defend 

their fellow Americans,” 

the Pentagon chief told a news 

conference. 

“Not everyone is going to 

be able to be a combat soldier. 

But everyone is entitled to a 

chance,” he said before signing 

a document ending the 

ban. 

President Barack Obama, 

whose inauguration address 

on Monday called for opening 

BEIJING — Japanese premier Shinzo Abe 

made a direct appeal to Chinese Communist 

Party leader Xi Jinping for the two countries 

to improve relations amid their bitter row over 

disputed islands, Beijing said yesterday. 

Tokyo’s hawkish new leader said in a letter 

to Xi that he would like to “push forward 

Japan-China strategic relationships for mutual 

benefit”, foreign ministry spokesman Hong 

Lei told reporters at a regular briefing. 

The personal missive was handed to Xi by 

Abe’s coalition ally Natsuo Yamaguchi in a 

meeting in Beijing aimed at smoothing links 

between the world’s second- and third-largest 

economies, which have been heavily damaged 

by the dispute. 

“In the letter, Abe said that Japan-China 

relations are one of the most important bilateral 

relationships (and) the two countries share 

common responsibilities for peaceful development 

for Asia-Pacific and the world,” the 

spokesman added. 

Yamaguchi, head of the New Komeito party, 

the junior partner in Japan’s ruling coalition, 

is the most senior Japanese parliamentarian to 

doors to all Americans, hailed 

the move as “historic” and 

“another step toward fulfilling 

our nation’s founding ideals of 

fairness and equality.” 

The move highlighted 

evolving social attitudes and 

marked yet another sweeping 

change for the military under 

Obama, who led a drive to end 

a prohibition on openly gay 

troops. 

Although some Republican 

lawmakers oppose the idea, it 

likely will face little concerted 

opposition, as Americans have 

become accustomed to seeing 

women in uniform and at war. 

Panetta unveiled the decision 

after a months-long review 

by chiefs of all the armed 

services who unanimously endorsed 

a gradual change that 

would be phased in over the 

next three years. 

Under the decision, the 

armed services will have until 

January 2016 to carry out the 

new policy. Military departments 

would have to submit 

detailed plans on implementing 

the order by May 15, 2013, 

Panetta said. 

The change will apply 

mainly to the Army and the 

Marine Corps, as the Air Force 

and Navy already have lifted 

most prohibitions on women 

in combat, allowing them to 

fly fighter jets and fire weapons 

on ships. 

In 2010, the Navy opted to 

allow women to serve on submarines. 

Commanders began taking 

a second look at the ban 

in 2010, a reflection of the 

changing conditions on the 

battlefield, as women served 

on the blurry and ever-shifting 

frontlines in the wars in Iraq 

and Afghanistan. 

General Martin Dempsey, 

chairman of the Joint Chiefs 

of Staff, told the same news 

conference the move was 

part of a long-term trend in 

the military and that he had 

witnessed changes during his 

time in Iraq. 

PM’s appeal to China leader 

NATSUO Yamaguchi (L), leader of Japan’s New Komeito party, delivers a personal letter 

from Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to China’s president-in-waiting Xi in Beijing 

visit China since the long-running row over the 

islands intensified in September when Tokyo 

nationalised part of the chain. 

The move triggered a diplomatic dispute 

and huge anti-Japan demonstrations across 

China.Beijing has repeatedly sent ships and 

aircraft near the Tokyo-controlled islands, 

known as the Senkakus in Japan but claimed 

by Beijing as the Diaoyus. The chain could sit 

atop vast mineral reserves, it is believed. 

At the Great Hall of the People in Beijing 

both sides expressed appreciation for the trip 

before beginning private talks. 

“Mr Yamaguchi visits China at a period in 

which Sino-Japanese relations face a special 

situation. We attach great importance to your 

visit,” said Xi. Yamaguchi — who has no official 

role in the Tokyo government — said he 

was “incomparably happy” about the meeting. 

But neither side appeared to offer substantive 

concessions. 

According to a statement on the foreign 

ministry website, during the meeting Xi 

stressed that the two sides had to “properly 

handle sensitive issues”. — AFP 

Court says Obama recess 

appointments ‘invalid’ 

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court yesterday invalidated 

President Barack Obama’s ‘recess’ appointments to a labour 

board last year, ruling that the move was unconstitutional 

and dealing a blow to Obama’s strategy of bypassing Senate 

Republicans. 

The three appointments to the National Labor Relations 

Board in January 2012 were made while the Senate was out of 

town but potentially available to act on them. 

“Considering the text, history, and structure of the Constitution, 

these appointments were invalid from their inception,” 

the panel said. 

Obama also used such a “recess” appointment last January 

to install Richard Cordray as head of the Consumer Financial 

Protection Bureau, although his appointment was not part of 

the lawsuit. 

The suit started as a routine dispute between soda bottling 

company Noel Canning and the labor board, but lawyers for 

Senate Republicans seized on the suit as a chance to challenge 

the appointments. 

The case was seen as a test of the limits of the president’s 

ability to make appointments during a Senate recess, a power 

that bypasses the Senate’s usual ability to block nominees and 

that dates to the US Constitution of 1787. 

At the time, the Senate was not officially in recess, meeting 

every few days for minutes at a time but accomplishing 

no work and with few senators present. Meanwhile, Obama’s 

nominees remained on the Senate’s calendar, blocked by Republicans 

from up or down votes on their confirmation. 

Nancy Cleeland, a spokeswoman for the NLRB, had no immediate 

comment. Cordray’s appointment was challenged in a 

separate lawsuit brought in June by the State National Bank of 

Big Spring, Texas, and other institutions. 

Brazil, EU seek early 

free trade pact 

BRASILIA — Brazilian and European leaders called for the 

speedy conclusion of a free trade pact between the European 

Union and South American trading bloc Mercosur. 

The call for action was made as Brazilian President Dilma 

Rousseff hosted European Council President Herman Van 

Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel 

Barroso on Thursday. 

Mercosur, founded in 1991 by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay 

and Uruguay, now also includes Venezuela, and its 

members represent a huge swath of South America’s growing 

economy. 

Both the EU and Mercosur “expressed the strong political 

will to reach an accord,” Van Rompuy told reporters. 

Negotiations have so far stumbled over differences on agriculture, 

especially European farm subsidies, which are seen as 

hindering South American growers. 

McDonough named to 

US chief of staff post 

WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama yesterday 

named Denis McDonough to be his new White House chief of 

staff, saying McDonough was a “consummate public servant” 

whom Obama can trust to help in making difficult decisions. 

McDonough, 43, described as a fervent Obama loyalist, 

was an adviser on Obama’s 2008 campaign. 

He has served as the second-highest ranking official at the 

National Security Council for the past two years. In that capacity, 

he visited US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan “without 

fanfare,” Obama said. 

McDonough has helped guide Obama in handling major 

decisions on the military drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan, 

the response to earthquakes in Haiti and Japan and the aftermath 

of the terrorist attack on the US diplomatic mission in 

Benghazi, Libya, in September. 

In his new position, McDonough will be required to shift 

to domestic issues, including the budget, gun violence and immigration, 

as well as dealing with Congress. 

Obama said McDonough understands the importance of 

reaching across the aisle to opposition Republicans “to deliver 

results for the American people” on jobs, the economy, health 

care, education, reducing the deficit or addressing climate 

change. 

Kerry gets praise, seen 

winning confirmation 

WASHINGTON — John Kerry 

urged Congress to fix the 

US economy to ensure America’s 

role as a world leader at 

a Senate hearing on Thursday 

that left little doubt he will win 

easy confirmation as secretary 

of state. 

The five-term US senator 

and Vietnam War veteran, 

who was the Democrats’ 2004 

presidential nominee, said the 

“first priority” in protecting his 

credibility as a diplomat was 

the country’s ability to get its 

fiscal house in order. 

“Foreign policy is economic 

policy,” Kerry told the Senate 

Foreign Relations Committee, 

which he has chaired for 

the past four years. “It is urgent 

that we show people in the rest 

of the world that we can get 

our business done in an effective 

and timely way.” 

President Barack Obama 

nominated Kerry last month to 

replace Secretary of State Hillary 

Clinton. The Senate will 

hold a confirmation vote on 

Kerry on Tuesday, said Senate 

Majority Leader Harry Reid, a 

Democrat. 

The Massachusetts senator 

was praised by Republicans 

as well his fellow Democrats 

during the 3 1/2-hour hearing. 

Republicans in particular said 

World’s biggest nuke plant 

may be forced to shut: Japan 

TOKYO — The largest 

nuclear power plant in the 

world may be forced to shut 

down under tightened rules 

proposed by Japan’s new nuclear 

watchdog aimed at safeguarding 

against earthquakes, 

a report said yesterday. 

Fukushima operator Tokyo 

Electric Power’s vast 

Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant 

in central Japan could be on 

the chopping block if the Nuclear 

Regulation Authority 

expands the definition of an 

active fault. 

The movement of a fault 

— a crack in the earth’s 

crust — can generate massive 

earthquakes like the one 

that sparked a tsunami that 

slammed into the Fukushima 

Daiichi plant in March 2011, 

setting off the worst atomic 

crisis in a generation. 

The watchdog is planning 

to define an active fault as one 

that moved any time within 

the past 400,000 years, rather 

than the current 120,000 to 

SEOUL — North Korea threatened to attack 

rival South Korea if Seoul joined a new round 

of tightened UN sanctions, as Washington unveiled 

more of its own economic restrictions 

following Pyongyang’s rocket launch last 

month. 

In a third straight day of fiery rhetoric, the 

North directed its verbal onslaught at its neighbour 

yesterday, saying: “‘Sanctions’ mean a 

war and a declaration of war against us.” 

The reclusive North has this week declared 

a boycott of all dialogue aimed at ending its nuclear 

programme and vowed to conduct more 

rocket and nuclear tests after the UN Security 

Council censured it for a December long-range 

missile launch. 

“If the puppet group of traitors takes a 

direct part in the UN ‘sanctions,’ the DPRK 

they appreciated his calls for 

fiscal order. 

“I look at you, in being 

nominated for this, as someone 

who has almost led their 

entire life, if you will, for this 

moment, being able to serve 

in this capacity,” said Senator 

Bob Corker of Tennessee, the 

top Republican on the panel. 

“For a moment I was wishing 

you had been nominated 

for secretary of the treasury,” 

Corker quipped. 

“You will need no introduction 

to the world’s political 

and military leaders, and will 

begin — on Day One — fully 

conversant not only with the 

intricacies of US policy, but 

with an understanding of the 

nuanced approach necessary,” 

said Senator Robert Menendez, 

the New Jersey Democrat 

presiding over the hearing for 

the committee. 

Kerry stressed his commitment 

to Obama’s policy of 

seeking a diplomatic solution 

to persuade Iran to give up its 

suspected pursuit of nuclear 

weapons even as Tehran insists 

its programme is solely for 

peaceful purposes. 

“He (Obama) and I prefer 

a diplomatic resolution to 

this and I will work to give 

diplomacy every effort to suc- 

130,000-year limit, an official 

said which could spell 

the end of the TEPCO plant. 

“The new guidelines will 

be put into effect in July, and 

then we will re-evaluate the 

safety of each of Japan’s nuclear 

plants,” said the NRA 

official, adding no decisions 

would be made until the new 

rules were in place. 

At least two “non-active” 

faults underneath the site’s 

reactors could be ensnared 

by the new definition, forcing 

its closure, according to a 

report in the mass-circulation 

Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper. 

Other Japanese media 

have carried similar reports. 

A company spokesman 

said TEPCO was conducting 

more tests on the faults 

underneath the Kashiwazaki- 

Kariwa plant, the world’s biggest 

by generating capacity. 

The NRA is conducting or 

planning to conduct investigations 

into six other nuclear 

plants in Japan. 

ceed,” Kerry said. Kerry said 

“everybody’s very hopeful we 

can make progress on the diplomatic 

front now” and that 

Obama had made clear his 

willingness to have direct negotiations 

with Iran if need be. 

Critics have said Kerry 

failed to seek tougher sanctions 

to discourage the country 

from pursuing its nuclear programme. 

Kerry told Menendez, 

an ardent advocate of tighter 

sanctions, that he was “totally” 

committed to enforcing them. 

Kerry also said during the 

hearing that he would push for 

a revival of Israeli-Palestinian 

peace talks, suggesting the 

United States could consider a 

new peace initiative. 

“We need to try to find a 

way forward, and I happen 

to believe that there is a way 

forward. But I also believe 

that if we can’t be successful, 

the door, window... to the possibility 

of a two-state solution 

could shut on everybody, and 

that would be disastrous in my 

judgment,” he said. 

Kerry was greeted with 

backslaps as he arrived for his 

hearing and bantered easily 

with senators, wryly noting his 

role reversal after spending 29 

years sitting up on the dais and 

questioning witnesses. 

At present only two of 

the country’s 50 reactors are 

operational, after the entire 

stable was shuttered over 

several months for scheduled 

safety checks. Public resistance 

has meant the government 

has been reluctant to 

give the go-ahead for their 

re-starting. 

The two reactors that are 

working are both being investigated 

by seismologists. 

In 2007, the government 

ordered the temporary closure 

of the Kashiwazaki- 

Kariwa plant after a 6.8-magnitude 

earthquake destroyed 

hundreds of homes in the 

area and jolted the sprawling 

plant, which was close to the 

quake’s epicentre, leading to 

a small radiation leak. 

The 9.0-magnitude earthquake 

that struck off Japan’s 

northeastern coast in 2011 

triggered the tsunami that 

left about 19,000 dead and 

set off the emergency at 

Fukushima. — AFP 

N Korea warns South 

will take strong physical counter-measures 

against it,” the North’s Committee for the 

Peaceful Reunification of Korea said, referring 

to the South. 

The committee is the North’s front for dealings 

with the South. DPRK is short for the 

North’s official name. 

The UN Security Council unanimously 

condemned North Korea’s December rocket 

launch and expanded existing UN sanctions. 

On Thursday, the United States slapped 

economic sanctions on two North Korean bank 

officials and a Hong Kong trading company 

that it accused of supporting Pyongyang’s proliferation 

of weapons of mass destruction. 

The company, Leader (Hong Kong) International 

Trading Ltd, was separately blacklisted 

by the United Nations on Wednesday. 

PEOPLE look on around a demolition site of a recreation centre built over a spillway at 

Meixi village of Wenling, Zhejiang province. According to local reports, the three-floor 

recreation centre for elderly villagers was built on a bridge over a spillway in 2010 costing 

around $160,000, in order to economise on the use of limited land in the village. — Reuters

FLIGHT LIGHT SSCHEDULE 

CHEDULE 

ARRIVALS LS — SATURDAY 

Flight No Aircraft From/Via om/Via STA 

WY614 B737-8 Dubai 0005 

WY648 B737-8 Kuwait 0015 

WY682 B737-8 Riyadh 0015 

WY716 B737-8 Dar-es-Salaam 0015 

BG023 DC10 Dacca 0130 

TK858 B737-8 Istanbul 0130 

PK259 B737-3 Islamabad 0200 

QR170 A320 Doha 0315 

EY384 A320 Abu Dhabi 0350 

EK866 B777 Dubai 0355 

GF560 E190 Bahrain 0425 

MS930 B737-8 Cairo 0500 

WY146 A330-200 Malpensa 0605 

WY122 A330-300 Munich 0630 

WY114 A330-300 Frankfurt 0645 

WY652 E175AR Bahrain 0700 

WY662 E175AR Doha 0700 

FZ043 B737-8 Dubai 0740 

WY132 A330-200 Paris 0745 

WY632 ATR42 Abu Dhabi 0800 

WY914 B737-8 Salalah 0800 

WY674 B737-8 Jeddah 0800 

WY202 B737-8 Bombay 0800 

WY602 B737-8 Dubai 0825 

WY328 B737-8 Lahore 0840 

WY274 B737-8 Jaipur 0840 

WY322 A330-300 Karachi 0900 

WY102 A330-300 London Heathrow 0900 

WY286 B737-8 Bangalore 0920 

WY262 B737-8 Lucknow 0920 

EK862 B777 Dubai 0930 

QR166 A321 Doha 0950 

G9113 A320 Sharjah 0955 


9W530 B737-8 Trivandrum 1045 

PK191 ATR42 Turbat 1055 

WY604 E175AR Dubai 1100 

IX543 B737-8 Trivandrum-Cochin 1130 

IX337 B737-8 Calicut 1155 

WY916 E175AR Salalah 1200 

WY314 B737-8 Chittagong 1210 

WY3302 ATR42 Mukhaizna 1230 


WY918 ATR42 Khasab 1315 

WY606 B737-8 Dubai 1330 

WY924 B737-8 Salalah 1440 

FZ045 B737-8 Dubai 1545 

WY664 E175AR Doha 1615 


WY204 B737-8 Bombay 1655 


WY326 B737-8 Islamabad 1710 

WY244 B737-8 Delhi 1710 

IX817 B737-8 Mangalore-Abu Dhabi 1725 


WY236 B737-8 Hyderabad 1730 

WY298 B737-8 Calicut 1750 

WY216 B737-8 Trivandrum 1805 

GF564 A319 Bahrain 1810 

WY930 B737-8 Salalah 1810 

G9117 A320 Sharjah 1905 

FZ047 B737-8 Dubai 2020 


WY338 B737-8 Kathmandu 2100 

AI973 A320 Delhi 2125 

BA073 B777 London Heathrow-Abu Dhabi 2130 

WY616 B737-8 Dubai 2145 


AI907 A319 Madras 2200 

WY406 A330-300 Cairo 2215 

WY381 A330-300 Male-Colombo 2215 

LH618 A330 Frankfurt-Abu Dhabi 2225 


LX242 A330 Zurich-Dubai 2235 

QR168 A320 Doha 2235 

WY228 B737-8 Cochin 2250 

WY656 B737-8 Bahrain 2305 

WY624 ATR42 Al Ain 2305 

AI985 A321 Ahmedabad-Bombay 2310 

WY928 B737-8 Salalah 2310 

WY668 B737-7 Doha 2310 

WY672 A330-300 Jeddah 2315 

WY636 B737-8 Abu Dhabi 2315 

WY686 B737-8 Dammam 2320 

9W534 B737-8 Cochin 2330 

WY816 A330-200 Bangkok 2335 

9W540 B737-8 Bombay 2340 

WY258 B737-8 Madras 2340 

KQ318 B737-8 Nairobi-Dubai 2350 

QUOTATIONS FOR TODAY 

What difference does it make 

to the dead, the orphans, and 

the homeless, whether the mad 

destruction is wrought under the 

name of totalitarianism or the holy 

name of liberty or democracy? 

— Mahatma Gandhi 

CINEMA 

FILM INFORMATION 

www.citycinemaoman.net 

AL BAHJA CINEMA: 

24540856, 24540855. 

AL NASR CINEMA: 

24831358, 24831809 (after 3pm) 

AL SHATTI PLAZA: 

24607360, 24692656 (after 2pm) 

STARS CINEMA: 

24791641, 24792360 

MAJLIS A’SHURA 

ADDRESSES 

Keep in touch with Majlis Ash’shura’s news. 

Log on to the Majlis’s website: 

www.shura.om 

and the Majlis’s 

e-mail: info@shura.om 

Or write to the Majlis’s postal address: 

P O Box 981 

Postal Code 111, Muscat 

Tel: 24510344 / 24521427/ 

Fax 24510560 

INFORMATION 

MINISTRY WEBSITES 

Ministry: www.omanet.om 

Oman TV: 

www.oman-tv.gov.om 

Oman Radio: 

www.oman-radio.gov.om 

Omani Centre for Traditional Music: www. 

octm-folk.gov.om 

OMAN RADIO 

06.00 am Opening, Royal Anthem, The Holy 

Quran, Preview of Morning Programme, 

Weather Forecast, Pharmacies on Duty; 06.15 

Good Morning Oman; 07.00 News Bulletin; 

07.10 Good Morning Oman (Sat-Wed); 10.00 

News Headlines; 10.02 Classical Music; 12.00 

News Headlines; 12.02 Around Town (June); 

02.30 News Bulletin; 02.40 Afternoon Buzz; 

04.00 News Headlines; 04.02 Radio Magazine 

- (Laxmi); 06.30 News Bulletin; 06.40 Herbs 

and Health- (Huda Sultan); 07.00 Sun down 

Rhythm (Frank) Live; 08.00 News Headlines; 

08.02 Sun down Rhythm (Frank) Live; 10.00 

News Bulletin; 10.10 Country Music (June); 

11.00 Jazz Cafe (Suhail); 12.40 News 

Summary; 12.45 The Holy Quran; 01.00 

National Anthem, Close Down. 

Flight No Aircraft DEPARTURES 

To / Via STD 

BA072 B777 Abu Dhabi-London Heathrow 0001 

AI986 A321 Bombay-Ahmedabad 0005 

9W539 B737-8 Bombay 0045 

WY601 B737-8 Dubai 0115 


WY261 B737-8 Lucknow 0125 

WY201 B737-8 Bombay 0130 

9W529 B737-8 Trivandrum 0130 

WY661 E175AR Doha 0130 

WY285 B737-8 Bangalore 0135 


WY327 B737-8 Lahore 0200 

WY313 B737-8 Chittagong 0200 

WY273 B737-8 Jaipur 0205 

WY321 A330-300 Karachi 0220 

TK859 B737-8 Istanbul 0220 

BG024 DC10 Dacca 0300 

PK260 B737-3 Islamabad-Lahore 0300 

EK867 B777 Dubai 0500 


QR171 A320 Doha 0550 

MS931 B737-8 Cairo 0600 





FZ044 B737-8 Dubai 0820 

WY929 B737-8 Salalah 0825 

WY717 B737-8 Zanzibar-Dar-es-Salaam 1000 

WY243 B737-8 Delhi 1000 

WY823 A330-200 Kuala Lumpur 1005 

WY297 B737-8 Calicut 1005 

WY215 B737-8 Trivandrum 1010 

WY235 B737-8 Hyderabad 1010 

WY815 A330-200 Bangkok 1010 

WY381 A330-300 Male-Colombo 1030 

WY917 ATR42 Khasab 1030 

WY605 B737-8 Dubai 1030 

WY325 B737-8 Islamabad 1030 

G9114 A320 Sharjah 1035 

WY923 B737-8 Salalah 1035 

WY203 B737-8 Bombay 1040 

EK863 B777 Dubai 1045 


QR167 A321 Doha 1055 

PK192 ATR42 Turbat-Gwadur 1130 

9W533 B737-8 Cochin 1145 

WY337 B737-8 Kathmandu 1155 

WY113 A330-200 Frankfurt 1200 

WY663 E175AR Doha 1215 

IX542 B737-8 Trivandrum 1220 


WY405 A330-300 Cairo 1310 




IX350 B737-8 Calicut 1355 

WY101 A330-300 London Heathrow 1400 

WY227 B737-8 Cochin 1445 

WY671 A330-300 Jeddah 1540 

WY257 B737-8 Madras 1545 

FZ046 B737-8 Dubai 1630 



WY615 B737-8 Dubai 1805 

IX146 B737-8 Amritsar 1815 

GF565 A319 Bahrain 1855 

WY927 B737-8 Salalah 1905 

WY347 B737-8 Kuwait 1905 

WY685 B737-8 Dammam 1905 

WY681 B737-8 Riyadh 1910 

WY655 B737-8 Bahrain 1915 

G9118 A320 Sharjah 1945 

WY667 B737-7 Doha 2000 

WY635 B737-8 Abu Dhabi 2015 

WY623 ATR42 Al Ain 2015 

WY613 B737-8 Dubai 2045 

FZ048 B737-8 Dubai 2105 

WY913 B737-8 Salalah 2245 

AI908 A319 Madras 2300 

AI974 A320 Delhi 2310 


QR169 A320 Doha 2335 

LX243 A330 Dubai-Zurich 2335 

LH619 A330 Abu Dhabi-Frankfurt 2350 

AQUARIUS 

(January 21- 

February 19) 

Be more reticent in 

talking about your private affairs 

in the future and people will be 

less inclined to ask so many embarrassing 

questions. 

PISCES 

(Feb. 20-March 20) 

If you dread the 

thought of becoming 

dependent on others in your 

later years it is not too late to 

start making plans for your 

future security. 

ARIES 

(March 21-April 20) 

If it is inconvenient 

at this time to let a 

friend have a loan which he has 

asked you for tell him so frankly. 

This will avoid straining the relationship. 

TAURUS 

(April 21-May 20) 

If you are not quite sure 

that you are following 

the right course of action analyse the 

situation and if necessary consult a 

more experienced person. 

13 

INFORMATION/LEISURE SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013 

PHARMACIES 

PHARM 

24-HOUR SERVICE 

Al Hashar ph, 

Ruwi 24783334 

Muscat ph, Ruwi, 24702542 

Al Sarooj, 24695536 

Scientific ph, Qurum, 24566601 

Ruwi, 24702850 

DAY DUTY 

Muscat Al Waleed 24593601 

Farooq 24451347 

Muscat 24538953 

Alfa 24831479 

Sur Masira 25544033 

Buraimi Al Haditha 25650755 

Ibri Al Ariaf 2 25691389 

Nizwa Al Hadhfa 25426102 

Salalah Scientific 23298095 

Sohar Al Rifaa 26844277 

NIGHT DUTY 

Muscat Muscat 24695536 

Al Tadawi 24450670 

Muscat 24535977 

Muscat 24702542 

Sur Ibn Sina 25540669 

Buraimi Fajr Khaleej 

25654321 

Ibri Al Mukhtar 25689839 

Barka Al Farooq 26884553 

Rustaq Bader al Jashmi 

26876523 

Samayil Balsm 25351064 

Nizwa Basmat Nizwa 

25431060 

Salalah Al Zaher 23291040 

Saham Al Shifa 26854997 

Sohar Muscat 26840211 

KHOULA HOSPITAL VISITING HOURS 

Private & Other Wards 

Working Days: 16:00-18:00. Weekends & Public 

Holidays: 10:-12:00, 16:00-18:00 

ICU 

Working Days: 16:00-17:00. Weekends & Public 

Holidays: 16:00-17:00 

Special Care Baby Unit 

Working Days: Parents may visit at any time. 

Weekends & Public Holidays: Parents may visit 

at any time 

YOUR STARS 

IF IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY: After careful consideration of all the facts you may decide on a different course of 

action in the coming year. You will probably meet some resistance, which will not be easy to overcome, but if you 

assert yourself you will reach a successful conclusion. 

GEMINI 

(May 21-June 21) 

A friend unexpectedly 

returning from abroad 

is likely to encroach too much on 

your time but you will learn things 

you were always wanting to know. 

CANCER 

(June 22-July 21) 

Be very cautious when 

participating in a business 

venture. Check contracts and 

agreements, and suggest any alterations 

necessary to ensure that you 

will not lose out. 

LEO 

(July 22-August 21) 

It is very important for 

someone like yourself 

to have absorbing and constructive 

spare time activities. Avoid the inclination 

to slump down in front of 

the TV when you get home. 

VIRGO 

(August 22- 

September22) 

If you find that you are 

too much alone it is up to you to 

seek the company of other people 

and divert your serious thoughts 

into more cheerful ones. 

CCARTOONS A R T O O N S 

LIBRA 

(September 

23-October 22) 

Some labour-saving 

devices which you have so far 

refused to employ would give you 

much more time to enjoy some leisure 

and neglected hobbies. 

SCORPIO 

(October 23- 

November21) 

You should think about 

postponing a visit to a comparative 

stranger until you feel the time to 

form a closer relationship has arrived. 

SAGITTARIUS 

(November 22- 

December 21) 

If a plea for advancement 

is likely to fall on deaf ears 

at the moment carry on as before 

and wait for a more favourable 

opportunity. 

CAPRICORN 

(December 

22-January 20) 

Don’t be taken in by 

an acquaintance who keeps on 

boasting about his ancestors but 

on closer contact will have very 

little else to commend him. 

ADAM @ HOME by Brian Basset 

CALVIN AND HOBBES by Bill Watterson 

GARFIELD by Jim Davis 

STONE SOUP by Jan Eliot 

Hospital . . . .Board . . . . . Emergency 

Royal. . . . . . .24599000 . . 24590491 

Health Services Department 

Muttrah . . . . .24797602 

Quriyat . . . . .24845001 . . 24845003 

SQH, Salalah 23211555 . . 23211151 

Police . . . . . .24603988 . . 24603980 

Al Nahda. . . .24831255 . . 24837800 

Ibn Sina . . . .24876322 . . 24877361 

Nizwa . . . . . .25439361 . . 25425033 

Al Rustaq . . .26875055 . . 26877186 

Sumayil. . . . .25350055 . . 25350022 

Izki . . . . . . . .25340033 . . 25340033 

Haima . . . . . .23436013 . . 23436055 

OTHER HOSPITALS 

CRYPTIC PUZZLE 

ACROSS 

3 Part of a body established 

by the Church (5) 

8 Act it somehow in 

silence (5) 

10 Payment for when he 

gets the bird (5) 

11 Thus hiss an important 

message (3) 

12 Left food out with lots of 

water (5) 

13 Certain ships used it for 

operations, in the end (7) 

15 The blow I had in 

making fast (5) 

18 It’s of major effectiveness 

in metal production (3) 

19 In feel, perhaps, rather 

like a cat (6) 

21 Fought to get the 

expected £50 notes (7) 

22 Join me for set-piece (4) 

23 Something like a hairpin? 

(4) 

24 Answered that the 

salesman was dishonest 

(7) 

26 Fragment of silver? (6) 

29 Time of hesitation by a 

brave heart (3) 

31 He has a disturbing effect 

on most lassies (5) 

32 Chinatown? (7) 

34 Simply exists to dispel 

evils (5) 

35 Brown gets the bronze 

(3) 

36 Deems to be old people 

(5) 

37 One bent on taking 

refreshment? (5) 

38 Flight member with a 

saintly air (5) 

DOWN 

1 Possibly Joan’s legendary 

hero (5) 

2 Avoid making teacher 

wrong (4,3) 

4 He will not be heavenly! 

(4) 

5 Being kept for some 

time, strode around (6) 

6 Going up and down 

below Teddington (5) 

7 It has links with China 

(5) 

9 In the CID he has quite a 

bit of scope (3) 

12 He may be there to catch 

ACROSS 

1 Rock (5) 

5 Repeat (6) 

8 Originate (5) 

10 Reduce (6) 

11 Finishes (4) 

14 Women (6) 

15 Fire (7) 

18 Set (3) 

19 Decorate (3) 

21 Cord (4) 

23 Things (5) 

24 Glide (4) 

27 Bark (3) 

29 Drain (3) 

31 Disobedient (7) 

32 Unites (6) 

34 Border (4) 

35 Frequents (6) 

38 Vault (5) 

39 Wasp (6) 

40 Trace (5) 

DOWN 

2 Tool (3) 

3 Whips (6) 

4 Before (3) 

5 Strip (4) 

Sohar . . . . . .26840022 . . 26840099 

Al Buraimi . . .25650855 . . 25652319 

Sur . . . . . . . .25440244 . . 25461373 

Tanam. . . . . .25499011 . . 25499033 

Masirah. . . . .25404018 . . 25404018 

Ibra . . . . . . . .25470533 . . 25470535 

Adam . . . . . .25434167 . . 25434055 

Bidiya . . . . . .25483535 . . 25483535 

Ibri. . . . . . . . .25491011 . . 25491990 

Saham . . . . .26854427 . . 26855148 

Khasab . . . . .26830187 . . 26830187 

Dibba . . . . . .26836443 . . 26836443 

Burkha . . . . .26828397 . . 26828397 

Sinaw . . . . . .25474338 

one out (7) 

14 An area in Bucharest (3) 

16 Being soft on Enid, 

perhaps, kept longing (5) 

17 Only paper 

performances? (5) 

19 They’re touchingly 

sensitive (7) 

20 It’s wrong to be so 

loveless with our French 

friends (5) 

21 Lived up to a bad name! 

(5) 

23 With brutal treatment, 

bleats to the very end! (7) 

24 Oppose having one’s 

sister disturbed (6) 

25 One again shows 

passion! (3) 

27 Brown sort of bird up 

North (5) 

28 Low places in the 

country (5) 

30 Joint share in the 

composition of a nonet 

(5) 

32 In part, takes half the side 

half a mile (4) 

33 To apply as an expert? 

(3) 

EASY PUZZLE 

ACROSS 

3 Sum (5) 

8 Ethical (5) 

10 Mother-of-pearl (5) 

M USEUMS IN OMAN 

FAISAL BIN ALI AL SAID 

MUSEUM, 

Tel: 24641650 

MUSEUM OF OMANI HERITAGE, 

Tel: 24600946 

CHILDREN’S SCIENCE MUSEUM. 

Tel: 24605368 

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, 

Tel: 24641374 

NATIONAL MUSEUM, Tel: 24701289 

SULTAN’S ARMED FORCES 

MUSEUM, Tel: 24312646 

CURRENCY MUSEUM, 

Tel: 24796102 

MUSCAT GATE MUSEUM, 

Tel: 24739005. 

OMANI-FRENCH MUSEUM (Bait 

Fransa), Tel: 24736613 

BAIT AL ZUBAIR, Tel: 24736688 

BAIT A’NAMAN, Tel: 24641300 

SOHAR FORT MUSEUM. 

Tel: 26844758 

NAHKAL FORT, Tel: 26781384 

BAIT AL MAKHAM. Tel: 24641300 

BAIT ADAM MUSEUM, QURUM, 

Tel: 24605033, 24605013 

OIL AND GAS EXHIBITION 

CENTRE AND PLANETARIUM, 

Tel: 24677834. 

PLANETARIUM, Tel: 24675542. 

AQUARIUM at the Marine Science 

and Fisheries Centre (located next to 

Marina Bandar Rowdha, Sidab). 

SALALAH MUSEUM, Tel: 23294549 

CULTURAL CENTRE, 

Tel: 23294549. 

SUR MARITIME MUSEUM, 

Tel: 24541466. 

BAIT AL BARANDA, Tel: 24714262. 

CROSSWORD 

11 Hill (3) 

12 Flans (5) 

13 Performance (7) 

15 Wading bird (5) 

18 Zero (3) 

19 Breed of sheep (6) 

21 Recover (7) 

22 Expensive (4) 

23 Fewer (4) 

24 Hand over (7) 

26 Delighted (6) 

29 Male (3) 

31 Indian dresses (5) 

32 Fingernail skin (7) 

34 Note value (5) 

35 Devour (3) 

36 Skinflint (5) 

37 Go in (5) 

38 Cut (5) 

DOWN 

1 Famous (5) 

2 Sailor (7) 

4 Gemstone (4) 

5 National song (6) 

6 Beam of light (5) 

7 Type of gas (5) 

9 Fabled bird (3) 

12 Agreed (7) 

14 Twitch (3) 

16 Stream (5) 

17 Scandinavian (5) 

19 Least (7) 

20 Borders (5) 

21 Navigation aid (5) 

23 Tolerant (7) 

QUICK CROSSWORD 

6 Guide (6) 

7 Scuffle (6) 

9 Superficiality (7) 

12 Harass (3) 

13 Tower (4) 

16 Notch (4) 

17 Sea (5) 

20 Understanding (7) 

22 Fuel (4) 

24 Fragment (6) 

ROYAL OMAN POLICE 

EMERGENCY 9 9 9 9 

DG of Passports & Residency, 24569603 

DG of Customs, 24714626 

Traffic offences, 24510227/228 

ROP Public Relations, 24569270 

Consumer Complaints Cell, 24817013 

Muscat Governorate Headquarters, 24560021 

Muscat, 24736611 

Wattayah, 24677990 

Ruwi, 24701099 

Muttrah, 24712211 

Bausher, 24600099 

Al Amerat, 24875999 

Qurayat, 24845555 

A’Seeb, 24420099 

Al-Athaiba, 24521099 

AI-Khodh, 24425012 

Directorate of the University Security, 

24513999 

Directorate of Traffic Muscat, 24567898 

Al Batinah Headquarters, 26840096 

Al Rustaq Division, 26875099 

Al Dakhiliyah, 25425099 

Nizwa Division, 25425099 

Samayil Division, 25350099 

Al Sharqiyah Headquarters, 25545070 

Ibra Division, 25570100 

Al Dhahirah Headquarters, 25650099 

Al Buraimi Division, 25650199 

Ibri Division, 25689099 

Al Wusta Headquarters, 23436099 

Haima Division, 23436211 

Special Task Force, 24560088 

Coastguard Headquarters, 24714888 

Dhofar Governorate Headquarters, 23234599 

Salalah Police Station, 23290099 

Thamrait Division, 23279099 

Musandam Governorate Headquarters, 

26730299 

Khasab Division, 26731502 

ROP websites: www.rop.gov.om, www.ropoman. 

net and 

e-mail: ropnet@omantel.net.om 

24 Lust (6) 

25 Barrel (3) 

27 Dead language (5) 

28 Occasions (5) 

30 Change (5) 

32 Quote (4) 

33 Feline (3) 

THURSDAY’S CRYPTIC 

SOLUTIONS 

ACROSS: 9, Thir-d-rat-e 

10, One-liner 12, NotE (rev) 

13, Despo-t 14, So-onish 15, 

Se-Nsati-on 17, B-eachwe-ar 

18, Pa-tie-nt 20, Dee-p in 21, 

Face 24, Messe-s up 26, Condense 

28, Rose 29, Sile-N-t 

31, Snorter 34, Suggested 

36, B-owing out 38, Going to 

39, Reckon 40, S’ti-(fa)r 41, 

Clarence (House) 42, Menagerie. 

DOWN: 1, Stands up 2, Bitten 

3, Fac-e lif-t 4, Keep on 

5, Po-r-table 6, Persuasion 7, 

T-imot-hy 8, Der-i-dE (rev) 

11, Char-me-d 16, Aver-s (af)e 

19, Tiers 20, Dip 22, AsseT 

(rev) 23, Reborn 25, Skirt 

round 26, Cut 27, P-re-sage 

30, End-orsed 31, Saw round 

32, Returned 33, B-egg-ars 

35, Grisl-Y 36, Became 37, 

Outcr- (happ)y. 

THURSDAY’S EASY 

SOLUTIONS 

ACROSS: 9, Nightmare 10, 

Bone idle 12, Cues 13, Adroit 

14, Insulin 15, Nostalgia 17, 

Overcomes 18, Albumen 20, 

Stream 21, Beta 24, Perspire 

26, Plectrum 28, Rude 29, 

As well 31, Skipper 34, 

Talkative 36, Commences 

38, Classic 39, Nature 40, 

Feel 41, Regiment 42, 

Airliners. 

DOWN: 1, Anaconda 

2, Agrees 3, Cardigan 4, 

Senora 5, Abattoir 6, 

Incinerate 7, Dissect 8, Slalom 

11, Unusual 16, Almost 19, 

Bleed 20, Sue 22, Equip 23, 

Strike 25, In stitches 26, 

Pal 27, Protect 30, Eternity 

31, Sombrero 32, Restless 

33, Warship 35, Leader 36, 

Catnap 37, Clever. 

25 Island (4) 

26 Girl (6) 

28 Rodent (6) 

30 Fix (3) 

33 Denomination (4) 

36 Suitable (3) 

37 Label (3) 

THURSDAY’S QUICK 

SOLUTION 

ACROSS: 1, Skimpy 5, 

Stop 8, Cameo 9, Had 10, 

Rear 11, Murk 12, Tapir 13, 

Sicken 16, Live 18, Avid 

20, Sty 22, Tie 23, Rid 24, 

Flee 25, Pats 28, Skates 30, 

Truck 32, Noon 33, Kiwi 

34, Oat 35, Mewed 36, 

Sped 37, Ignore. 

DOWN: 1, Schism 2, 

Indicate 3, Parcel 4, Parakeets 

5, Seminar 6, Tour 7, 

Pike 8, Cat 14, Nitpicked 

15, Bid 17, Via 19, Virtuoso 

20, Sly 21, Yearned 26, 

Skiing 27, Tsetse 29, Gnus 

30, Tome 31, Kid.

PORTA CABINS / TURNKEY CAMPS 

Our Services Manufacturing, Erection, Mobilization. 

Our Products Camps, Kitchens, Offices, Ablutions 

Phone 24503725 Fax 24503723 

Mobile 95228450 Mobile 99277505 

e-mail info@speedhouseoman.com 

Web www.speedhouseoman.com 

SPEED HOUSE BUILDING CONSTRUCTION LLC 

R 

ENT-A-CAR 

ENT-A-C 

Latest Model Cars — Excellent Service 

Saloon Cars, 4WD, Pick-ups, Buses 

Luxury Cars with Chauffeur 

Al Khuwair: 2448 9248/9648 

Ruwi: 24707074, Qurum: 24691110 

Mct. Airport: 24521189, 

Sohar: 26845565 

Salalah: 23296246, 

Sll.Airport 99323619 

S 

ERVICES 

SERVICES 

PLUMBING, painting 

and maintenan maintenance. 

Contact: 96191837. 

96 

1. AC, Fridge & Washing 

Machine Servicing & 

Repairing 2. Painting, 

Plumbing, Electrical 

& Carpentry Works. 

Contact: 97014234/ 

97123569, 24504281. 

HOOPOE SMART 

CARD SERVICES 

Sanad Service Centre 

We provide the following 

services: Typing, clearing 

all transactions related to 

government departments 

and private sector, eg 

labour agreement for 

Omanis and expatriates, 

typing of labour 

card for expatriates, 

typing of visas and 

document clearing from 

immigration department, 

Ministry of Commerce 

& Industry, Ministry of 

Manpower, Commercial 

names reservation, 

renewal of commercial 

registration, renewal 

of OCCI membership, 

attestation of all 

documents from OCCI 

& Ministry of Foreign 

Affairs. Renewal of 

labour cards through 

electronic payment or 

cash payment. Please 

note you may deliver 

your transaction 

through our e-mail 

and our representative 

will deliver it to your 

office personally after 

completion. Our address 

is: Ruwi, near Gulf 

Transport Co. (GTC), 

Fax: 24793331, GSM: 

98793665 (Direct) 

99231500. 

E-mail: hoopoeoman@ 

gmail.com 

AL FAHAD 

TRANSLATION 

SERVICES 

Translation of all kinds 

of legal, medical, and 

other types of documents, 

Commercial Agencies, 

etc. Ruwai, near Gulf 

Transport Co (GTC), 

Fax: 24794286. GSM 

: 98793665 (Direct) 

95959838. E-mail: 

bptland@gmail.com 

LANDRAIL TRADING 

& SERVICES (Smart 

Card) Ruwi, near 

Gulf Transport Co. 

(GTC), Fax: 24780244, 

Tel: 24789117, GSM 

98793666 (Dir), 

96777170. E-mail: 

landrailoman@gmail.com 

M 

ANPOWER 

ANPOWE 

AZOOZ 

TRUST PLACE 

Indonesian RO 840/- 

Ethiopian RO 330/few 

applications 

24831448 

FRIENDS 

MANPOWER: 

Filipino housemaids 

and all kinds of 

workers. 24489268 

Tel/Fax: 24478153. 

CLASSIFIED SECTION 

RUWI: 24785668 

P.C.O. (PEST 

CONTROL OMAN 

CO. LLC) 

Professionals who 

specialise in all types 

of Pest Control 

Services & Snake 

control and 

Guaranteed Termite 

Control. Also 

available Gel 

treatment for 

Cockroaches. 

Suppliers of UK 

Pesticides 

Chemicals, Snake 

Repellent, 

Cockroach Gels and 

Peripel treated 

Mosquito Nets. 

24787606, 

24787503, 

Fax: 24787607. 

MARBLE Marble 

polishing and 

crystallisation building, 

cleaning floor, floor 

polishing, carpet, sofa 

shampooing, pest 

control, anti-termite, 

shifting, maintenance. 

99504275. 

D 

RIVING SSCHOOL 

MORNING STAR 

DRIVING SCHOOL S 

— LLearn ddriving i 

manual/ automatic 

with professionally 

qualified male/ female 

trainees in brand new 

cars and flexible 

payments. Call: 

99043283, 

24478589, 24478505, 

www.chamberman. 

com/member/ 

morningstar www. 

morningstar.com 

ILYA MANPOWER 

HOUSEMAIDS 

available from 

Philippines, 

Sri Lanka & 

Africa. All 

types of skilled 

workers (waiters, 

cooks, drivers, 

constructions, 

industrials, hotels 

& ministries.....) 

Tel/Fax 

22050086 — Hail 

Shimaly Al Jabri 

Bldg. next to 

Bahja Mall. 

CLASSIFIED 

SECTION 

RUWI: 

24785668 

DIRECT: 24649594 — 

FAX : 24649590, 

e-mail: classified@ 

omandaily.om 

Behind Royal Oman 

Police, Adjacent, to 

Dhofar Building 

F 

OR RENT REN 

SAVILLS OMAN 

QUALITY homes 

for rent throughout 

Capital Area 

Muscat. Contact: 

24692151. 

www.sav-oman.com 

OFFICES, shops, villa 

at Al Khuwair, flats 

at Al Khuwair, Wadi 

Kabir, MBD, Mumtaz, 

furnished/unfurnished. 

96596348. 

SHOWROOMS/offices/ 

stores — Barka Industrial 

area 95753852, 

99374727 

1 BEDROOM for rent at 

Rex road 99889590. 

A FLAT at Al Qurum 

consists of 3 bedrooms, 2 

halls and a sitting room 

with ACs. Contact 

93924297. 

VILLA for rent —At Al 

Mawaleh — 4 bedrooms/ 

3 bathrooms, 2 family 

halls, kitchen 

99411041 

VILLA for rent — 7 

rooms and majlis, 9 split 

unit ACs, good condition 

at Al Athaiba 

99323242. 

OFFICE for rent — 

Large spaces on Sultan 

Qaboos Street in Al 

Athaiba, start 300m to 

1800m 92261196 

INDUSTRIAL shops and 

workshops (under 

construction) for 

reservation. 99486118, 

99323957. 

A FLAT at Grand Mall - 

Muscat. 99445771. 

- 

1 BR flat at Wadi Adai 

new building Contact: 

99377249. 

FLAT, Al Khuwair 17/2 

(family only) — 4 

bedrooms, majlis, 3 

bathrooms. RO 500/- 

monthly 99385957. 

INDUSTRIAL land, 

2,000 sq m, Rusayil 

Industrial area. Wanted 

RO 1,400 monthly 

99353994. 

G 

OOD NEWS NEW 

ALL ALLL Season 

clinic 

Ayurvedic Tre Treatment, 

Yoga massage 

& 

slimming. Contact: 

92504980/24475280, 

CLASSIFIED SECTION: 

OMAN DAILY Observer SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013 

G 

UEST HOUSE HO 

MURAHIB HOTEL 

APARTMENTS 

APARTMEN 

welcome l our valuable 

GUESTS to our 

excellent location, 

AL KHUWAIR, near 

AL ZAWAWI 

MOSQUE, a single 

bedroom, a bedroom 

& majlis, two 

bedrooms & majlis. 

24478087, 

Fax: 24482454. 

QURUM BEACH 

HOTEL. 24564070. 

B 

F 

UYING/SELLING 

UYING/S 

BUYING and 

d selling 

used furniture and 

shifting 993 99320402 

WE buy all Kinds of 

equipment 94123606 

OR SALE 

BARBER Shop Sho h for 

Sale — Prime location 

on main road 

at Al 

Khuwair, 5 seats and 

fully equipped with 

required machinery and 

accessories. For more 

information and serious 

buyers place call: 

97203030, 97701001, 

92118793. 

CTAIBER Lorry 3xL. 

99445771. 

RESTAURANT for sale 

in Al Athaiba 

97442774. 

PETROLEUM Tanker 

99445771. 

HIGH Quality Bread 

Bakery with machines 

and staff interested 

buyers 92261832. 

COFFEE shop with 

full equipment and 

labour in Maawelah, 

after Burj al Sahwa 

roundabout, behind 

Oman Oil Petrol 

Station. Interested 

buyers can contact 

96203333 

OURS 

MARINE To Tourism 

92808636 92808636, e-mail: 

info@alainain.com 

SPECIAL Rates on 

New Cars & 4 WDs 

RENTING & LEASING 

Tours and Airport Transfer 

Tel: 24582663 

GSM: 95859497, 

Fax: 24582664, 

abcrent@omantel.net.om 

SITUATION VACANT 

Urgently required experienced 

Cook and light vehicle Driver 

(male) resident of an Omani family. 

Send CV to: P O Box 5, Postal 

Code 100, Muscat. Fax: 24708671 

or e-mail: saajaaj@omantel.net.om 

T 

FREE 

INFORMATION 

ABOUT ISLAM 

If you would like 

to know more 

about 

Islam, please 

call: 

Tel : 99425598, 

96050000, 

99353988, 

99253818, 

99341395, 

99379133, For 

ladies: 99415818, 

99321360, 

99730723 

Or visit: www.islamfact.com 

U 

AL Hikmani 

for 

HAJ and UM UMRAH 

— With a host of 

services including 

the following: Hiring 

luxurious coaches, 

arranging weekly trips, 

preparing visas for 

expats at cost-effective 

price, including 

transport, housing, 

meals and visits to 

shrine locations. Land 

and air trips weekly. 

(99311310, 24566016, 

99361982, 99707248, 

99322124. 

A 

MRAH/HAJ 

MRAH/HA 

NNOUNCEMENT 

NNOUNCE 

WE are execu executing the 

procedures for 

opening 

of new comme commercial 

registrations, and 

forwarding and 

clearing all the 

transactions related 

to all ministries and 

various governmental 

departments just choose 

what kind of business 

you are going to open, 

and at end of every pay 

to us the percentage to 

be agreed for it for every 

kind of business trade. 

For further inquires 

please contact 98209820 

Sulaiman Awlad Thani: 95181747 

Ali al Maashari: 99639264 

GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!! 

W 

S 

14 

GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!! 

Available on very GOOD prices 

HP 1000 Wireless Printer 

RO 10.500 only 

HP 2510 3 in 1 Printer 


HP OJ 4500 4 in 1 Printer 


HP Laptop 4540 2 GB VGA 

RO 249.900 only 

AII HP, Epson, Canon, Lexmark, Samsung 

Cartridges also available 

ANTED 

ITUATION WANTED 

ACCOUNTS professional 

with over 12 years 

experience in banking 

financial accounts, 

accounts payable 

operation and team 

handling seeks suitable 

placement. Ready to 

join immediately. Please 

99044889 (Oman) or 

0091 9849497200 (India). 

20 YEARS Gulf 

experienced, Indian male, 

Mechanical Engineer 

available on visit visa, 

experience in fabrication, 

project, estimation, 

planning, inspection, 

maintenance quality with 

oil & gas, cement, power 

& water industry. Contact: 

92422690. 

MECHANICAL Engineer 

from Coventy University 

(UK), with valid Omani 

driving licence and visa, 

currently working in 

Oman, seeks suitable post. 

Contact: 

93176763. 

28 YEARS, MBA 

(Marketing and 

Management) with 3 

years experience in both 

domains, seeks suitable 

job. Contact: 

93638042, shah_ 

anwar@hotmail.com 

EXPERIENCED female 

secretary for leave 

vacancy or full-time, 

Contact: 92168951. 

INDIAN male, 23 years, 

BBM, knowledge in MS 

Office, Tally, 2 years in 

Oman. Contact: 

99853194. 

COMPUTER SUPPLIES 

Ruwi: 24792792 

GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!! 

REQUIRED URGENTLY 

STEEL scraps or 

cancelled plan plants from 

all parts of Sul Sultanate 

of Oman. For further 

inquiries please contact 

94086106. 

C 

DIRECT: 24649594 — FAX : 24649590 

e-mail: classified@omandaily.om 

CLASSIFIED SECTION 

RUWI: 24785668 

Behind Royal Oman Police 

Adjacent to 

Dhofar Building 

AR BUY & 

SELL 

GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!! 

SALES REPRESENTATIVES (Male) 

Science Graduate having Omani Driving Licence & experience 

in the Sales of Laboratory, Medical Equipment & Surgicals. 

MEDICAL REPRESENTATIVES (Male) 

Pharmacy Graduates minimum 3 years with a reputed National/ 

Multinational Pharmaceutical Company, excellent communication 

skills in English and with a Omani driving licence preferred 

Salary commensurate with the qualification & experience 

Send CV with photograph & copies of certificates to: 

Fax: 24708671 or E-mail: natpharm@omantel.net.om 

IF you are interested in 

to sell your cars, send 

SMS, we pay cash. 

Contact: 99333088. 

28 YEARS, MBA 

(Management and 

Marketing) with 3 

years experience in 

both domains, seeks 

suitable job. Contact: 

92223661. 

shah_anwarss@ 

hotmail.com 

SENIOR Architect with 

10+ years experience 

in designing & 

management with ability 

of independent client 

handling is looking 

out for some serious & 

challenging role. Contact 

93590422. 

ACCOUNTANT, 

Indian male, 28 yrs, 

MBA Finance with 

6.6 years of working 

exp (2.6 yrs in Oman) 

in accounts finance & 

purchase, seeking suitable 

placement 92187231. 


diploma in IT, experience 

in various roles, IT 

administrator, ERP 

Software co-ordination, 

civil procurement, 

presently working in 

a reputed company in 

Oman seeking placement 

99571690. 

INDIAN female, 

chartered accountant with 

4 years experience in 

finance, audit and 

accounts, is looking for 

suitable placement. 

99147922 

enjoylife138@gmail.com. 

al-haditha 

centre 

AUTO REPAIR 

CENTRE 

Quality Repairs & Maintenance of all 

types of Cars and Heavy vehicles 

(ROP approved Grade A Workshop) 

Telephone: 24595951/1414, Fax: 24597979. 

S 

ITUATION VACANT 

REQUIRED: 

An experienced 

Engineer to 

manage Engineering 

Consultancy office 

in Muscat. 

96550444, 93344935 

e-mail: alfurjar@ 

hotmal.com 

REQUIRED Purchase 

Officer for 

construction materials 

with good relation 

with companies. 

Quantity Survey 

Engineer 

95205321. 

ELECTRICAL 

Engineer 10-15 year 

experience in Oman, 

overhead line, erection 

of 33/11KV substation 

UG cabling. Reputed 

company in Salalah, 

knowledge of tendering 

preferred. nairbbc@ 

yahoo.com 

92174588. 

COMPUTER hardware 

technician Contact. 

+968 94034545, 

e-mail: aldhiyabi@yahoo. 

com 

AN Omani family 

looking for a House 

Driver. (Salary over 

RO 200 + bonus), More 

than 5 years experience 

as a house driver, fluent 

in English/Arabic is an 

advantage, valid driver's 

licence, age less than 

45 years. Interested 

applicants are requested 

to apply to the address 

below within 10 days of 

this announcement: 

99366097/24835295 

Urgently required 

experienced 

1- Auto Electrician 

minimum experience 5 

years. Interested 

candidates to send CV by 

fax : 24699283 

Email: icesco20omantel. 

net.om 

URGENTLY required 

Car Polishing & Interior 

Cleaner having 1 year 

experience. Contact 

98479824. 

CLASSIFIEDS 

Continued on P-15

BAMAKO — French and Malian 

troops advanced on Gao 

yesterday after recapturing the 

northern town of Hombori, as 

the extremists struck back by 

bombing a strategic bridge. 

The French-led assault 

against the groups controlling 

northern Mali entered its third 

week with a strong push into 

the semi-arid zone amid rising 

concerns for people in the area 

facing a dire food crisis. 

“At present, Malian and 

French soldiers are in Hombori. 

There are no longer any 

insurgents on the ground,” said 

a teacher in the town which 

lies 920 kilometres north of 

the capital Bamako and 200 

kilometres west of Gao. 

A Malian security source 

said the troops would press on 

to the eastern city of Gao, one 

of the three major northern 

towns along with Kidal and 

S 

MALIAN soldiers stand near an armoured vehicle at the military Command Post in Sevare, 

about 600 km northeast of the capital Bamako yesterday. — Reuters 

French and Malian troops seize 

northern towns from insurgents 

Timbuktu. Two French men 

were kidnapped in Hombori 

in November last year and are 

still in captivity. The Al-Qaeda 

in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) 

claimed the abduction. 

The security source added 

that in the west, the Frenchled 

forces who had recaptured 

the town of Diabaly on Monday, 

were pushing towards the 

town of Lere with the aim of 

“taking control of Timbuktu” 

which lies further north. 

Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal 

were seized by an alliance of 

Tuareg rebels — who wanted 

to declare independence of the 

north — and hardline groups 

in April last year. 

The hardline group hijacked 

the rebellion and sidelined 

the Tuaregs. 

France swept to the aid of 

the Malian army on January 

11 amid rising fears the zone 

INDIAN I.T.I in 

automobile 12 years 

experience, 2 years in 

Qatar presently in Muscat 

93426565. E-mail: 

irfanhukhan@yahoo.com 

could become a haven for terrorism. 

They have bombarded 

both Gao and Timbuktu with 

airstrikes. 

However the insurgents 

remained on the offensive, 

blowing up a key bridge linking 

Gao to neighbouring Niger 

yesterday where more than 

2,000 Chadian soldiers and 

500 troops from Niger are being 

deployed to open a second 

front from the east. 

“They dynamited the Tassiga 

bridge. No one can pass 

to Niger or come to Gao,” said 

the owner of a transport business, 

Abdou Maiga. 

A security source from Niger 

confirmed the strike. 

A Malian trader, Oumar 

Maiga, said by telephone 

that a truck headed towards 

the bridge had failed to notice 

it was no longer there 

and crashed, killing two and 

ACCOUNTS/Finance, 

Store in-charge, Indian 

male, 4 years experience, 

B Com, DCA and Tally 

seeks suitable job. 968- 

92980061, 99549073. 

Mailing Address: OBSERVER CLASSIFIEDS SECTION, P.O. Box 974, Muscat, P.C. 100 

Location: OEPPA HEAD OFFICE, Medinat Al Alam, 

Near Ministry of Information 24649 593, 594, 594, 595, 596, 597 

& OEPPA Ruwi Office, Next to Dhofar Bldg, Behind Ruwi Police Station 24785668 

15 

AFRICA/CLASSIFIEDS 


injuring three. Aid groups 

warned of rising food insecurity 

as fighting escalated in the 

drought-wracked Sahel. 

French aid group Action 

Against Hunger (ACF) raised 

fears “that an armed ground 

intervention from Niger will 

cut the last access route to 

supply basic goods (food and 

medicine) to people in the region,” 

a statement said. 

The French-led offensive 

has received support, but there 

has also been increasing alarm 

about reports of rights abuses 

against Tuaregs and Arabs. 

“Many civilians of Arab 

and Touareg origin have 

been targeted by the military 

simply because of their ethnicity 

and unsubstantiated rumours 

that they are protecting 

the rebels, said Yacouba Kone, 

of the UK-based Christian 

Aid. 

GULF experienced female 

secretary on leave vacancy 

or full-time 92168951. 

B.SC computer science, 

diploma in Java Web 

Technologies having 12 

months experience in Java 

Web apps, knowledge in 

Oracle SQL, PL/SQL, 

Indian male, 23 years, on 

visit visa, seeks suitable 


MECHANICAL engineer, 

PG diploma in process 

piping detailed engineering 

with ASME, ASNT 

level two QC certified, 

completed NEBOSH IGC, 

UK, Indian male, 23 years, 

on visit visa, seeks suitable 


INDIAN female, 22 years, 

BE computer science 

and diploma in .Net 

Technologies, currently on 

family visa, seeks suitable 

position. 93612056. 


presently working as 

admin manager, 3 years 

experience in Oman, 

overall 9 years experience 

in admin, sales, customer 

care, banks, commerce 

qualification from preuniversity 

+ diploma, 

seeks suitable placement 

95321154. 


ITUATION WANTED SITUATION WANTED SITUATION WANTED 

Outcry over S Africa aid 

to Zimbabwe military 

CAPE TOWN — South Africa 

yesterday said it will donate 

helicopter spares and frames to 

Zimbabwe’s military, sparking 

outcry as it comes just before 

Zimbabweans go to the polls. 

“We are sending spare parts 

of the helicopter that has been 

phased out and the frames,” 

said Siphiwe Dlamini, spokesman 

for the Department of Defence. 

The size of the delivery and 

its timeframe could not be confirmed, 

but Dlamini insisted 

assembled helicopters will not 

be sent across the border. 

“These things are not assembled 

— they are spare parts 

and frames.” The materiel is 

part of the French-developed 

Alouette III craft. 

But the move prompted one 

lobby group to threaten legal 

action against President Jacob 

Zuma’s government, fearing 

misuse by Zimbabwe’s military, 

which backed President 


NCVT course, 4 years experience 

as welder/metal fabricator 

(tig welding, pipeline & 

structural, heat exchanger, 

boiler, retubing, salvaging), 

presently working with Bharat 

Petroleum in Kochi, seeks 

suitable placement. Steve 

0091-9846127192, 

Oman: 96078947 

steveralphlopez@gmail.com 

TENDER technical 

submission, prequalification, 

all type 

of tender related work, 

co-ordination and 

company, registrations, 

Indian male, 35 yrs B 

Sc (Maths) diploma 

in office management, 

13 yrs experience, 5 

yrs in Muscat. Contact 

96934274. 

INDIAN male, 28 years 

old having B Tech in 

EEE with 5 years of 

experience in electrical 

project execution having 

valid Omani licence 

seeks suitable placement. 

Contact. 96112855 

TOUR CONSULTANT 

Indian male 27 years, 

graduate 5 years 

experience now on visit 

visa, looking for suitable 

placement. Contact. 

+968 93144275, 95368962 

Robert Mugabe in previous 

elections. 

“Indications are that the 

Zimbabwean Defence Force is 

increasing its visibility, mobility 

and presence all over the 

country” ahead of the elections 

said Willie Spies a legal representative 

of AfriForum. 

The group has vowed to use 

“all legal avenues” to stop the 

move. 

The polls will replace a 

compromise government between 

Mugabe and long-term 

foe Morgan Tsvangirai, forced 

by 2008 election violence. The 

date has yet to be set. 

The military deal has been 

in the works for some time. 

The original decision to donate 

the materiel, which dates 

back to the 1960s was taken in 

1997 and the helicopters were 

retired 10 years later. 

It is not clear why the deliveries 

were not made sooner 

after 2007, but Dlamini said a 

DIPLOMA in electrical 

engg, 14 years Oman 

experience in purchase/ 

infrastructure department, 

need suitable placement. 

Contact 99098551, 

E-mail: vijisagi2003@ 

yahoo.com. 

INDIAN male, masters 

degree in IT, having 

relevant industry 

certifications, MCSE, 

CCNA, CCNP, ITILV3 

with 9 years experience, 

seeks suitable placement. 

99059728. 

ACCOUNTANT/Finance, 

Indian male, B.Com, 

Tally, PGDCA, 10 years 

experience in accounts, 

seeks job, currently on 

visit visa 99445478. 

20 YEARS Gulf 

experienced Indian male, 

mechanical engineer 

automobile, on visit, 

experience in fabrication 

project, estimation, 

planning, inspecting, 

maintenance, quality with 

oil & gas, seeks suitable 

job 92422690. 

STOREKEEPER, Indian 

male, Tally, DCA, 1 year 

experience, seeks suitable 

job, currently on visit visa 

91195167. 

thorough inventory had to be 

done. 

AfriForum said it would 

also appeal to the international 

community to stop the trade. 

“We are also writing to the 

French Ambassador to South 

Africa, to inform him about a 

potential risk of his country being 

in contravention of the European 

Union arms embargo 

against Zimbabwe,” said legal 

representative Willie Spies. 

United Nations sanctions 

against Zimbabwe, including 

an arms embargo, were vetoed 

in 2008. 

But the European Union 

and the United States imposed 

a visa ban and assets freeze on 

Mugabe and dozens of top officials, 

as well as an arms embargo 

on the country following 

disputed presidential polls in 

2002. 

Mugabe retained control of 

the army and police under the 

power sharing deal. — AFP 

Opposition in Eritrea claim 

being targeted for reform call 

NAIROBI — Eritrea’s authoritarian 

government has 

launched a purge of top leaders 

following a reported mutiny 

calling for political reform 

according to the opposition, 

although the secretive regime 

has made no comment. 

Multiple arrests — some 

sites say dozens of people detained 

— include the number 

three of Eritrea’s only political 

party, a regional governor 

and senior military officers, 

according to website reports 

yesterday. 

The reports, including by 

Awate.com and Asmarino. 

com, could not be confirmed 

independently, although Eritreans 

in the capital Asmara 

said there had been numerous 

arrests. 

Those arrested reportedly 

include Abdella Jaber, director 

of organisational affairs for 

the ruling People’s Front for 

Democracy and Justice, and 

Mustafa Nurhussein, governor 

of the Southern region, one of 

Eritrea’s six provinces. 

If confirmed, the arrests 

would echo the regime’s political 

purge of 2001, when 

15 top officials who wrote an 

open letter calling for democratic 

reforms — dubbed the 

Group of 15, or G-15 — were 

jailed or fled into exile. 

Opposition parties are 

banned and those that challenge 

President Issaias Afeworki 

— who has ruled the 

Horn of Africa nation with an 

iron grip since independence 

in 1993 — are jailed without 

trial, often in the harshest of 

conditions. 

Asmara has not accepted 

telephone calls since troops 

were reported to have briefly 

taken control of the informa- 

tion ministry on Monday. 

The protest, a rare challenge 

to the Red Sea state’s 

hardline regime, ended peacefully 

after a few hours when 

soldiers agreed to leave the 

ministry. 

European diplomats in Asmara 

reported that tanks and 

troops were seen on Monday 

at the ministry complex, the 

site of a former hilltop fort 

that towers over the highland 

capital. 

However, much remains 

unclear about exactly what 

happened on Monday, with 

government yet to issue any 

information about the events. 

Impoverished Eritrea falls 

below North Korea on the 

Press Freedom Index of the 

Paris-based media watchdog 

Reporters Without Borders, 

ranking last out of 179 countries. 

— AFP 

INDIAN male, 25 yrs, 

MBA (Finance and 

Marketing) with 2 years 

full time work 

experience in both 

domains, seeks suitable 

job, now on visit visa. 

96474799. sayooj@live. 

com 

MALE, 27 yrs, MSc 

chemistry with PG diploma 

in petroleum and 4 yrs Qa/ 

QC exp in pharma field, 

now looking for suitable 

post in petroleum and 

other. 99300411. e-mail: 

govindchemistry@gmail. 

com 


CA Inter, M.Com, having 

9 years of experience 

including 5 years in Oman 

in accounts, finance & 

audit having valid Omani 

D/L, seeks suitable 

position. 91081389. 

OMANI seeks 

Administration & P.R.O 

position. E-mail: 

salam2oman@yahoo.com 

IRAQI Architect, 22 years 

experience in projects 

management & 

supervision, 6 years in 

Oman seeks suitable 

placement. 97608513. 

Diamond 

fraud probe 

in Zimbabwe 

HARARE — Zimbabwe 

President Robert Mugabe’s 

ZANU-PF party has told 

police to investigate five 

provincial leaders accused 

of swindling nearly a million 

dollars from diamond mining 

companies. 

State media said yesterday 

a ruling party politburo 

meeting chaired by Mugabe 

this week had ordered the 

probe amid allegations two 

diamond mining firms were 

forced to donate $750,000 

for use by the party. 

The cash was later diverted 

to personal projects, state 

media said. Partnership Africa 

Canada, a member of the 

Kimberley Process initiative 

against “blood diamonds”, 

said in November at least $2 

billion of revenues from the 

eastern Marange diamond 

fields had been stolen by 

people linked to Mugabe’s 

party. — Reuters 

Clashes kill 

9 in Nigeria 

JOS, Nigeria — At least 

nine people have been killed 

in clashes in central Nigeria, 

the military said yesterday, a 

region straddling the boundary 

between the north and 

south of the country. 

Violence flared after the 

discovery of a corpse of a 

missing person in the Wadata 

region of Plateau state 

in Africa’s most populous 

nation, local residents said. 

Fighting broke out between 

the Fulani and Tarok 

groups, who often compete 

for fertile pastures in Plateau. 

Local resident Nuru 

Shehu said the violence began 

on Tuesday night. 

“I am confirming to you 

that nine people were killed 

in a clash,” Military Spokesman 

Ibrahim Mustapha said. 

In the past decade Plateau 

has been a tinderbox of 

unrest over land and power 

between local people and 

migrants from other regions. 

SRI LANKAN senior 

finance professional 

ACMA (UK), (GMA, 

BBA (Hons) with 17 yrs 

experience (13 yrs in 

GCC) looking for a 


+971555278923, 

e-mail: ahamed_zakee@ 

yahoo.com 

INDIAN female, MSc 

medical biochemistry, post 

graduate certificate course 

in nutrition, clinical 

laboratory and teaching 

experience to medical 

students, seeks suitable 

position 98650806. 

FINANCE & operations 

professional, 10 years of 

experience in Gulf (bank), 

Indian male, 35 years, 

presently working in 

Muscat as operation 

manager, looking for 

suitable placement in 

finance, admin & 

operations. 98519020 

ptlitson@yahoo.com 


MBA with 3+ yrs Indian 

experience in HR & 

Admin, Marketing seeks 


96033956. E-mail: 

karoludaya17@yahoo.co.in

Agassi amazed 

by ‘golden 

age’ of tennis 

Page 18 

BOSTON — Carmelo Anthony 

and Kevin Garnett showed 

no signs of any lingering bad 

blood between them as the 

New York Knicks snapped 

their 11-game losing streak in 

Boston with a 89-86 win over 

the Celtics in the National 

Basketball Association (NBA) 

series on Thursday. 

New York's Anthony and 

Boston's Garnett had jawed at 

each other throughout a testy 

contest earlier this month, 

which continued after the 

game when Anthony tried to 

confront Garnett at the Boston 

team bus. 

Anthony received a onegame 

suspension for his role 

in the incident. 

On Thursday, the pair exchanged 

a fist bump before 

the tipoff and were all about 

business. 

Anthony led the way with 

a game-high 28 points while 

Amar'e Stoudemire, Jason 

Kidd and Iman Shumpert all 

reached double figures to help 


the Knicks (26-14) cement 

their place at the top of the 

Eastern Conference's Atlantic 

division. 

Garnett was restricted to 

just eight points, but also contributed 

12 rebounds for Boston. 

Celtics point guard Rajon 

Rondo added 23 points, 10 

rebounds and 11 assists while 

Paul Pierce weighed in with 

22 points as the home team 

slipped to 20-22 for the season 

with their fifth straight defeat. 

There were 17 lead changes 

but none in the final quarter as 

Anthony hit the 20-point mark 

for his 21st straight game. 

HORENTS TO BE 

KNOWN AS PELICANS 

The NBA’s New Orleans 

Hornets will become the Pelicans 

beginning in the 2013-14 

season, team owner Tom Benson 

announced on Thursday. 

Benson said the new name 

— unveiled complete with a 

logo of a stylised bird with a 

fierce glare — is nod to the 

pelican’s long association with 

the state of Louisiana, nicknamed 

‘The Pelican State’. 

The pelican has been the 

state bird of Louisiana for 

more than a century and can 

be found on the state flag and 

seal. Benson also noted that 

the species was nearly wiped 

out in Louisiana, but has come 

back and was removed from 

the endangered species list in 

2009. 

“When we purchased the 

basketball team, it was a priority 

to change the name to reflect 

our culture, our community 

and our resolve,” Benson 

said. “The Pelican does that.” 

The team kept the Hornets 

nickname when it relocated 

from Charlotte for the start 

of the 2002-03 season. New 

Orleans previously hosted the 

Jazz from 1974-79 until the 

franchise left for Salt Lake 

City and kept that nickname. 

Results: New York Knicks bt 

Boston Celtics 89-86; Phoenix Suns 

bt LA Clippers 93-88; Toronto Raptors 

bt Orlando Magic 97-95. 

WASHINGTON — The Montreal 

Canadiens used a fourgoal 

barrage to rout Washington 

4-1 on Thursday and leave 

the Capitals still searching for 

their first win of the lockoutreduced 

National Hockey 

League (NHL) season. 

Second period goals from 

Tomas Plekanec, Andrei 

Markov, Brian Gionta and 

Josh Gorges secured back-toback 

victories for the Canadiens 

after a lacklustre seasonopening 

loss to Toronto. 

"We took advantage of 

our powerplay, especially in 

the second period," Montreal 

coach Michel Therrien told reporters. 

"The powerplay gave 

us a good chance to win this 

hockey game." 

Canadiens netminder 

Carey Price stopped 30 shots 

and was rarely tested before 

a Joey Crabb goal with 2:33 

remaining ended the veteran 

goalie's shutout bid. 

"Things haven't been going 

our way," Capitals first-year 

coach Adam Oates said. "The 

team is probably a little fragile 

and we gave them a five-onthree 

goal, which right away 

took the wind out of our sails 

a little bit." 

Montreal opened the scoring 

early in the second period 

when Plekanec netted from 

the right-wing circle with the 

Canadiens enjoying a twoman 

advantage. 

Less than a minute later, 

the Canadiens added another 

powerplay goal when Markov 

beat back-up Michael Neuvirth 

to the stick side. 

With 11 minutes left in the 

period, the Canadiens made it 

3-0 when Gionta caught the 

Capitals napping and fired an 

uncontested, five-foot wristshot 

high to the gloveside to 

silence a sold-out Verizon 

Center crowd of 18,506. 

Gorges completed the scor- 

Four Omanis in 

qualifiers of ITF 

junior tourney 

Page 19 

Snedeker, Choi share lead as Tiger lurks 

KJ Choi of South Korea holds up his ball after making his 

par putt on the eighth hole during the first round of the 

Farmers Insurance Open on the South Course at Torrey 

Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, California, on Thursday. 

Mickelson finds first round 

taxing at Torrey Pines 

SAN DIEGO — Having begun 

this week in 'damage limitation' 

mode after making unwise 

public comments about 

his tax concerns, Phil Mickelson 

made an erratic start to the 

Farmers Insurance Open on 

Thursday. 

A three-time champion at 

the picturesque Torrey Pines 

venue which hugs the bluffs 

above the Pacific Ocean, 

Mickelson struggled on the 

greens on the way to a levelpar 

72 in the opening round. 

The American left-hander 

offset four birdies with four 

bogeys on the easier North 

Course and knows he will have 

to respond with a low score on 

the tougher South layout in 

second round if he is to climb 

into contention. 

"There are some low scores 

out there if you play the course 

right and effectively," Mickelson 

told reporters about 

7,698-yard South. "There are 

probably half the holes where 

you've got to play for par and 

the other half you can make 

some birdies." 

Asked if it was possible for 

a player to win the tournament 

without scorching the North 

layout, Mickelson replied: 

"Sure. It's going to take some 

exceptional golf over on the 

South, but three of the rounds 

(this week) are on the South. 

"I've got to shoot something 

in the sixties, and see if I 

can get a couple of putts to go 

(in). I putted very poorly today 

so I've got to get that putter 

going. If I can putt well, hopefully, 

the mid-sixties." 

Mickelson, who has twice 

apologised this week for what 

he described as "insensitive" 

and "dumb" comments about 

soaring tax rates for millionaires 

in his native California, 

totalled 30 putts in the opening 

round. 

"I didn't play the best. I hit 

it poorly. I putted poorly," the 

four-times major winner said. 

"But I love being here at 

Torrey Pines. The golf course 

is in great shape, the greens 

are as firm as I've ever seen 

TORONTO — Instead of the 

regular 82-game endurance 

test, the National Hockey 

League (NHL) season has 

turned into a survival of the 

fittest as teams grapple with a 

rapid-fire schedule and mounting 

injuries in the lockoutshortened 

campaign. 

With 48 games packed 

into a 99-day window, injuries 

have already become the wild 

card in an unpredictable sea- 

them and I'll see if I can get it 

going tomorrow." 

Mickelson, who won the 

first of his three Farmers Insurance 

Open titles 20 years 

ago, felt he had paid the penalty 

on Thursday for being "very 

lethargic" on the first tee. 

"I've got to get my head a 

little bit more focused on the 

shots," the 42-year-old said. 

"I haven't been as mentally 

focused starting out, so, hopefully, 

I'll be able to turn that 

around tomorrow. 

"Something I'm going to 

be working on tomorrow is 

getting a better mental picture 

of the shot I'm trying to hit 

and create it, trying to hold it 

longer while I'm creating the 

swing. I haven't been as sharp 

as I need to be." 

Asked whether he had been 

criticised by any of the fans at 

Torrey Pines on Thursday because 

of his tax comments, 

Mickelson replied: "Nothing 

negative. There have been 

some good positive ones 

though." 

Mickelson hinted after last 

week's Humana Challenge he 

was considering making "drastic 

changes" and might leave 

California because of soaring 

federal and state tax rates but 

has since said he should have 

kept his thoughts to himself. 

"I made a big mistake talking 

about this stuff publicly, 

and I shouldn't have done 

that," he told reporters on 

Wednesday. 

"It was insensitive to talk 

about it publicly to those people 

who are not able to find a 

job, that are struggling paycheck 

to paycheck." 

Mickelson, a 40-times winner 

on the PGA Tour, has piled 

up career earnings of more 

than $67 million and considerably 

more via corporate endorsements 

and his golf course 

design company. 

According to Forbes magazine, 

he earned $43 million in 

endorsements in 2012, second 

only to Tiger Woods among 

golfers and seventh among all 

athletes. — Reuters 

son that is not yet a week old. 

The Toronto Maple Leafs were 

not quite on survival mode on 

Thursday but the toll taken by 

three games in four nights and 

an injury to All-Star winger 

Joffrey Lupul was clear in 

their 7-4 loss to the New York 

Islanders. 

Coming off a big away win 

over Sidney Crosby and the 

Pittsburgh Penguins, Toronto 

returned home and came out 

SAN DIEGO — While most 

eyes were on six-time champion 

Tiger Woods as he briefly 

moved within a stroke of the 

lead at the Farmers Insurance 

Open on Thursday, Brandt 

Snedeker launched his title defence 

in barnstorming style. 

Snedeker, who has posted 

four top-10s in his previous 

six appearances in the PGA 

Tour event at Torrey Pines, 

charged into a tie for the lead 

with South Korean KJ Choi 

after carding a flawless sevenunder-par 

65 in the opening 

round. 

The fast-talking American 

birdied four of his first nine 

holes before picking up three 

more shots after the turn on the 

easier North Course, one of 

two layouts hosting the fourth 

PGA Tour event of the year. 

"Obviously, a great start," 

FedExCup champion Snedeker 

told reporters after a mainly 

overcast and calm day at Torrey 

Pines. "It was nice to be 

back here defending. The golf 

course is in great shape and to 

play the way I played today 

was nice. 

"I drove the ball really 

well, didn't make too many 

mistakes and, when I did, my 

putter saved me. 

"It was a great day, but I realise 

we've got three more of 

them (rounds) to go and I've 

still got the hard course to go, 

so not too much excitement 

yet." 

Choi birdied three of his 

all guns blazing to race to a 3-1 

first period lead. 

The Leafs, however, ran 

out of gas midway through the 

second period as the Islanders 

struck five straight goals, including 

a pair each from Matt 

Moulson and Michael Grabner, 

to steal the win and headed to 

Boston for a meeting with the 

Bruins yesterday. 

"You're realistic, that is the 

second half of a back-to-back, 

last four holes on the tougher 

South layout to join Snedeker 

at seven under while Woods, 

who got to six under after 

a storming seven-under run 

from the fifth to the 13th, finished 

bogey-par-bogey-par for 

a 68 on the South. 

"I made a few mistakes out 

there, but I made some nice 

plays as well," said Woods, 

whose charge came immediately 

after he had double-bogeyed 

the fourth. "We couldn't 

ask for better conditions to 

score than we had today." 

it's not an excuse, it's just part 

of what you have to do," Leafs 

coach Randy Carlyle told reporters. 

"I think we have nine backto-backs 

and seven of them are 

in the same situation where we 

have the opposition here waiting 

while we are playing on the 

road. 

"What you do is you try to 

mix and match your personnel 

and when you do get a lead 

Canadians Mike Weir and 

Adam Hadwin, who both started 

out on the North course, 

and Britain's Ross Fisher were 

among a group of eight players 

knotted on 66. 

ELBOW INJURY 

Weir, the 2003 Masters 

champion, is in good position 

to end a run of 17 consecutive 

missed cuts on the PGA Tour 

dating back to 2011, after being 

hampered by a lingering 

elbow injury. 

"I've tried to have a positive 

outlook as bad as I've played 

you stick to the game plan and 

make the simple play. 

"Giving up seven goals 

isn't usually conducive to winning." 

With only a six-day training 

game, the first few weeks 

of the regular season were expected 

to produce some wacky 

results. 

The topsy-turvy start left 

the Stanley Cup champion Los 

Angeles Kings entering Thurs- 

and as much as I've struggled," 

the 42-year-old said. "I'm happy 

with the progress I'm making. 

My putter was just really 

hot today." 

Snedeker, who tied the 

North Course record in 2007 

with a blistering 11-under-par 

61 in only his third start as a 

PGA Tour member, has always 

felt comfortable at Torrey 

Pines. 

"The golf course just fits 

my eye really well," he said. 

"I come in hitting the ball the 

right speed, reading the right 

day's action still searching for 

their first win while the Philadelphia 

Flyers, another Cup 

favourite, were 0-3 out of the 

gate before a 2-1 victory over 

the New York Rangers. 

Part of the Kings and Flyers 

troubles can be traced to 

injuries, Los Angeles losing 

defenceman Matt Greene for 

the season while Philadelphia 

forward Scott Hartnell is set sit 

out two months with a broken 

lines and when you do that, 

and you have that kind of confidence, 

it kind of bleeds into 

the rest of your game." 

Choi, an eight-times winner 

on the PGA Tour, was 

delighted with his impressive 

start on the challenging South 

layout. 

"My goal today was a couple 

under par," he smiled after 

mixing eight birdies with a 

lone bogey. 

"I hope that this momentum 

just carries on into tomorrow 

and the weekend." 

Phil Mickelson, a threetimes 

champion here whose 

tournament preparation was 

distracted by unwise public 

comments he made about his 

tax concerns, struggled on the 

greens on the way to a levelpar 

72 on the easier North 

Course. 

"It's fun to see a guy play 

well, it shows you what you 

need to do," said Mickelson, 

who totalled 30 putts while 

playing in the company of 

Snedeker. "I didn't play the 

best. I hit it poorly. I putted 

poorly. 

"But I love being here at 

Torrey Pines. The golf course 

is in great shape, the greens are 

as firm as I've ever seen them 

and I'll see if I can get it going 

tomorrow." 

The scoring average on the 

North course was 70.06 during 

the opening round while the 

South layout played to a mean 

of 71.73. — Reuters 

Anthony fires Knicks past Celtics 

TOMAS Kundratek (left) of the Washington Capitals and 

Colby Armstrong of the Montreal Canadiens go 

after the puck during their NHL game at Verizon Centre 

in Washington on Thursday. — AFP 

BRANDT Snedeker hits out of a bunker during the first round of the Farmers Insurance 

Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, California, on Thursday. — AFP 

CARMELO Anthony (right) of the New York Knicks is 

guarded by Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics during their 

NBA game at TD Garden in Boston on Thursday. — AFP 

Canadiens keep Capitals winless 

ing blitz with 1:39 remaining 

in the period to put the Canadiens 

out of sight of their 

shell-shocked opponents. 

"Some of our mistakes are 

pure effort," Oates added. "It's 

very upsetting. We're pros. 

You've got to be a pro and 

you've got to do your job." 

After being out-scored 

10-5 in their first two contests 

of the 48-game season, Oates 

opted to start Neuvirth in goal 

but the move backfired in the 

decisive middle period when 

he conceded all four goals on 

11 shots. 

Results: NY Islanders bt Toronto 

Maple Leafs 7-4; Philadelphia 

Flyers bt NY Rangers 2-1; Montreal 

Canadiens bt Washington Capitals 

4-1; Carolina Hurricanes bt Buffalo 

Sabres 6-3; Ottawa Senators 

bt Florida Panthers 3-1; St Louis 

Blues bt Nashville Predators 3-0; 

Chicago Blackhawks bt Dallas Stars 

3-2 (OT); Colorado Rockies bt Columbus 

Blue Jackets 4-0; Edmonton 

Oilers bt Los Angeles Kings 2-1 

(OT). 

NHL season’s endurance test turns to survival of the fittest 

foot. Colorado Avalanche forward 

Steve Downie could also 

be gone for the season with a 

knee injury while Toronto will 

have to get by without Lupul, 

who ranked second among the 

Maple Leafs in goals (25) and 

points (67) last season and will 

be sidelined for a minimum of 

six weeks with a broken forearm. 

"We didn't count on losing 

Lupul but these things happen 

LPGA Tour 

to launch 

international 

team event 

NEW YORK — The LPGA 

Tour has created an eightnation 

tournament that will 

identify the best team in the 

world when it makes its debut 

in 2014, two years before 

golf returns to the Olympic 

Games. 

The inaugural International 

Crown, a biennial 

matchplay event featuring 

four-player teams, will be 

held at Caves Valley Golf 

Club in Owings Mills, Maryland, 

outside Baltimore from 

July 24 to 27. 

"We celebrate great players 

from all over the world 

on a weekly basis, but this is 

the first time we'll pit country 

versus country for global 

bragging rights," Ladies 

Professional Golf Association 

Commissioner Michael 

Whan said in a statement. 

"Only countries that have 

produced the best female 

teams can compete and only 

four players from any one 

country will be invited. The 

International Crown will 

take women's golf to the next 

level and allow fans to rally 

behind their homelands." 

Based on current world 

rankings, South Korea, the 

US, Japan, Sweden, Australia, 

Spain, Taiwan and England 

would compete for the 

inaugural title. — Reuters 

Duncan, Bosh 

head All-Star 

reserves 

NEW YORK — San Antonio's 

Tim Duncan and the 

Miami Heat's Chris Bosh 

headline the 14 players selected 

by NBA coaches as 

reserves for the 2013 All- 

Star Game next month. 

Duncan was selected 

to his 14th All-Star Game 

and he'll be joined by Spurs 

teammate Tony Parker, who 

was also named a reserve on 

Thursday. 

The Chicago Bulls, keeping 

themselves in the playoff 

hunt in the Eastern Conference 

despite the prolonged 

injury absence of Derrick 

Rose, also had two players 

named as reserves in Joakim 

Noah and Luol Deng. 

Noah is among five firsttime 

All-Stars among the 

Eastern Conference reserves 

along with Tyson Chandler 

of the New York Knicks, 

Cleveland's Kyrie Irving, 

Philadelphia's Jrue Holiday 

and Indiana's Paul George. 

Bosh was named to his 

eighth All-Star team. 

Joining Duncan and Parker 

as reserves in the West 

are Portland's LaMarcus 

Aldridge, Houston's James 

Harden, David Lee of Golden 

State, Zach Randolph of 

Memphis and Oklahoma 

City's Russell Westbrook. 

The mid-season exhibition 

will be on February 17. 

The starters, selected 

by fan voting, were named 

last week with Los Angeles 

Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant 

leading all players in 

votes in earning a record 

15th successive All-Star 

selection. Bryant is joined 

in the West starting lineup 

by the Los Angeles Clippers' 

Chris Paul and Blake 

Griffin, Lakers teammate 

Dwight Howard and Oklahoma 

City's Kevin Durant. 

Miami's LeBron James 

and Dwyane Wade, New 

York's Carmelo Anthony 

and Boston's Kevin Garnett 

and Rajon Rondo will start 

for the East. — AFP 

and as you go on the fly you 

have to make adjustments with 

your personnel," said Carlyle. 

"I don't think you can revamp 

or change dramatically your 

line combinations. 

"We had two different 

teams playing, the one that 

played last night and the one 

that played today were two different 

ends of the spectrum. 

"We just didn't have it." 

— Reuters

RUSTENBURG, South Africa 

— Zambia goalkeeper 

Kennedy Mweene, a noted 

penalty saving and taking specialist, 

scored from the spot to 

salvage a 1-1 draw against Nigeria 

here yesterday. 

Mweene's late heroics 

in this African Nations Cup 

Group 'C' clash cancelled out 

Emmanuel Emenike's goal 

with Nigeria's John Obi Mikel 

failing to convert a first-half 

penalty. The stalemate left 

defending champions Zambia 

and Nigeria tied at the top of 

the mini-league, with Burkina 

Faso and Ethiopia playing 

later. 

Nigeria coach Stephen 

Keshi made three changes. In 

came Chelsea winger Victor 

Moses, making his Cup debut 

after missing the 1-1 draw 

with Burkina Faso with a hamstring 

injury. Joining Moses 

were Lazio midfielder Ogenyi 

Onazi and Fegor Ogude. 

Fenerbahce defender 

Joseph Yobo dropped to the 

bench after a late ankle injury, 

with goalkeeper Vincent 

Enyeama taking over his captain's 

armband, Dynamo Kyiv 

striker Brown Ideye was also 

out, while Celtic defender Efe 

Ambrose was suspended. 

For Zambia, defender Emmanuel 

Mbola and Southampton 

striker Emmanuel Mayuka 

were called up for Hichani 

Himonde and Collins Mbesuma, 

the scorer in the 1-1 stalemate 

with Ethiopia. 

Chisamba Lungu, who suffered 

an ankle injury when 

floored by Ethiopian goalkeeper 

Jemal Tassew, won his 

battle to be fit for this sixth 

Nations Cup meeting between 

the two sides. 

For the Zambians this clash 

on the threadbare Mbombela 

Stadium pitch represented the 

chance to avenge defeats to 

Nigeria in Angola in 2010 and 

in the 1994 final, the last of 

Nigeria's two titles. 

Herve Renard's men started 

ambitiously, but Nigeria's 

defence held firm as the titleholders 

struggled to capitalise 

on all their possession. 

On 25 minutes, Zambia had 

a lucky escape when defender 

Davies Nkausu felled Ahmed 

Musa in the box, with Egyptian 

referee Grisha Ghead pointing 

to the spot. Mikel stepped up, 

but his far-from-vintage low 

effort went the wrong side of 

Mweene's right post. 

MANCHESTER — Manchester United 

manager Alex Ferguson has told supporters 

not to expect too much too soon from 

new signing Wilfried Zaha. 

Young England winger Zaha, 20, was 

undergoing a medical in Manchester 

yesterday ahead of a £15m (17.5 million 

euros) move from Championship club 

Crystal Palace. 

The 20-year-old forward has agreed 

a five-and-a-half year deal but is being 

loaned back to Palace until the summer. 

United will pay £10m (11.7 million 

euros) up front, with the fee potentially 

rising to £15m based on Zaha's appearances 

and success. 

"We like to sign young players with 

potential," said Ferguson at a news conference 

yesterday. "We can develop players 

well as we have proved many times 

so hopefully the boy will enjoy it coming 

here. 

"He's a winger, only a young lad, 20years-of-age 

so we will see." 

Zaha, who joined Palace as a 12-yearold, 

is expected to win his second England 

cap against Brazil in February. 

Both clubs have refused to comment 

on a proposed deal, but Ferguson has 

been heavily involved in the talks, having 

remained in England as his squad 

travelled to Qatar last Sunday for a short 

training camp. 

He was named the Football League 

Young Player of the Year last season and 

Zambia ended the first half 

as they'd begun it, on the attack, 

yet unable to land a sucker 

punch. A more assured Nigeria 

emerged after the restart, and 

deservedly took a 57th-minute 

lead when Emenike raced on 

to Mikel's neat through pass. 

He controlled the ball well before 

shooting low into the left 

hand corner of Mweene's net. 

The Spartak Moscow striker 

was doubling his tally in 

South Africa, having scored in 

Nigeria's first game. 

That sparked Renard to alter 

his line-up, Mbesuma and Mulenga 

Mukuka coming on for 

captain Christopher Katongo 

and Lungu. Soon after, Isaac 

Chansa came off for Jonas 

Sakuwaha as Renard strengthened 

his attack. Mweene then 

saved Zambia's day. 

17 SPORT 



Goalie helps Zambia hold Nigeria 

ZAMBIA’S goalkeeper Danny Munyao (third right) celebrates after scoring a penalty during their African Nations Cup match 

against Nigeria at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit, South Africa, yesterday. — AFP 

Scolari considering 50 for 

Brazil World Cup squad 

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil 

coach Luiz Felipe Scolari 

revealed on Thursday that he 

has a long list of 50 potential 

candidates in mind for his 

squad that will go into the 

2014 World Cup on home 

soil. 

"Our staff are keeping an 

eye on 50 players all over 

the world as we try to build 

the best possible team for the 

World Cup," said 'Big Phil', 

who was speaking at a teleconference. 

Scolari, who led Brazil 

to glory at the 2002 World 

Cup, and recently returned 

to the job for a second spell 

following the sacking of Mano 

Menezes, announced his first 

squad earlier this week for the 

friendly against England at 

Wembley on February 6. 

It included Ronaldinho, 

now 32 and playing his club 

football at home with Atletico 

Mineiro, but there was no 

place for Kaka, whose career 

has nosedived since his move 

to Real Madrid in 2009. 

"We are not just trying 

players out for the sake of it, 

MADRID — Holders Barcelona 

set up a King's Cup semifinal 

with their arch-rivals 

Real Madrid after a thrilling 

4-2 second leg win in Malaga 

on Thursday. 

The La Liga leaders progressed 

6-4 on aggregate after 

drawing 2-2 in the Nou Camp 

last week, with goals from 

Pedro, Gerard Pique and late 

strikes from Andres Iniesta 

and Lionel Messi putting them 

through. 

Malaga's Joaquin had 

quickly cancelled out Pedro's 

early strike in the 12th minute 

and after Pique netted early in 

the second half, Roque Santa 

Cruz put the hosts back in the 

tie after 68 minutes. 

However Manuel Pellegrini's 

side ran out of steam 

as the game wore on after 

an impressive first half and 

we need to be sure that their 

experience counts," Scolari 

added. 

"If a player is in the right 

shape, he will be given opportunities." 

The former Portugal and 

Chelsea coach admitted that 

Brazil are 'the favourites' to 

win a sixth World Cup, and a 

first on home soil. 

"We have to win, of that 

there is no argument," he 

said, but he also accepted that 

Spain, Germany, Italy and Argentina 

are all candidates to 

be taken seriously. 

"Spain come to mind for 

what they have achieved, and 

Germany have done a good 

rebuilding job since 2003. 

"Traditionally, and because 

of the way they play, Italy 

are among the favourites, 

and Argentina are because of 

the quality of players at their 

disposal." 

This year, Brazil will face 

Italy, Russia and England in 

friendlies, while they will also 

feature in the Confederations 

Cup, which they will host in 

June. — AFP 

Iniesta combined with Cesc 

Fabregas for a wonderful third 

after 76 minutes. 

World Player of the Year 

Messi ended the game as a 

contest with ten minutes to 

go. 

Jose Mourinho's Real beat 

Valencia 3-1 on aggregate, despite 

having two players sent 

off in Wednesday's 1-1 second-leg 

draw at the Mestalla. 

The semifinal first legs are 

scheduled for next week. 

On the other side of the 

draw, Atletico Madrid set up 

a last four encounter with 

Sevilla after drawing 1-1 at 

their city rivals Real Betis to 

progress 3-1 on aggregate. 

Diego Costa scored a valuable 

away goal, to add to last 

week's 2-0 victory at the Calderon, 

after a dreadful misunderstanding 

in the Betis de- 

fence just before halftime. 

Chasing a long punt over 

the top Betis defender Antonio 

Amaya did not see his keeper 

Casto Espinosa had raced out 

of the area and he headed the 

ball past him allowing Costa 

to run through and tap into an 

empty net. 

La Liga's second-placed 

side Atletico successfully stifled 

their hosts until they gave 

away a penalty in the final 

minute to concede their first 

goal in six games in this season's 

cup competition. 

Atletico defender Diego 

Godin bundled over Jorge Molina 

in the area and the striker 

netted from the spot. 

Sevilla, who beat Atletico 

2-0 in the 2010 Cup final, 

swept aside Real Zaragoza 4-0 

on aggregate in their quarterfinal. 

— Reuters 

The keeper coolly stepped 

up to slot home a spot kick 

awarded harshly when Onazi 

tangled with Mayuka in the 

box. 

NIGER HOLD CONGO 

On Thursday night, Niger 

created the Cup history by collecting 

their first point after 

drawing 0-0 with the Democratic 

Republic of Congo in a 

dull Group ‘B’ game. 

However, they remain bottom 

of the table with one point. 

Ghana are on top with four followed 

by Mali with three and 

DR Congo with two and all 

four teams have a chance of 

making the quarterfinals. 

The final matches in this 

group are scheduled for Monday 

with Niger facing Ghana 

here and DR Congo taking on 

Mali in Durban. 

Zaha needs time, says Ferguson 

WILFRIED ZAHA 

attracted the attention of a number of 

Premier League clubs. Zaha, who came 

through the youth academy at Selhurst 

Park, has scored 15 goals in 124 appearances 

for the Eagles since his debut 

against Cardiff in March 2010. 

Winger Ashley Young (knee) and 

Jonny Evans (hamstring) have returned 

to training but will not be considered for 

Saturday's FA Cup fourth round tie at 

home to Fulham. 

The tie marks the return of Dimitar 

Berbatov, 31, to Old Trafford after the 

Bulgarian striker, frustrated at his lack of 

first-team chances under Ferguson, called 

time on his four-year career at United in 

August. 

January transfer 

window should 

be axed, says 

Wenger 

LONDON — The January 

transfer window should be 

abolished or at least limited 

because it is unfair to the 

league, Arsenal manager Arsene 

Wenger said yesterday. 

While Arsenal have yet 

to make any new signings 

this month, fellow Premier 

League side Newcastle 

United have been busy with 

purchases including French 

players Moussa Sissoko, 

Massadio Haidara, Mathiew 

Debuchy, Yoan Gouffran and 

Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa. 

"I think it (January transfers) 

should all be completely 

cut out or limited to 

two players," Wenger told a 

news conference. 

"It's unfair for the league, 

some teams who have played 

for example Newcastle now 

twice already have an advantage 

on teams who play 

Newcastle now they have 

bought six or seven players. 

"You do not face exactly 

the same team so I believe 

the number of players you 

could buy should be limited." 

Wenger did not rule out 

bringing in new players in 

this window but reckoned 

it was not necessary for the 

club. "If someone else can 

strengthen our squad, we 

will do it of course, but we 

have the resources inside to 

do well," he said. 

"We have two players in 

every position, that should be 

enough, plus the young players 

in behind. But if we find 

the top-class players in any 

position, we never refuse to 

strengthen our squad." 

He pointed out fundamental 

flaws in the mid-season 

transfer window. 

"It is a wrong transfer 

market. The only teams who 

sell players are teams who 

are in financial trouble who 

sell or players who are unhappy 

where they are," he 

said. — Reuters 

Berbatov scored 49 goals in 108 Premier 

League appearances for United. 

"He's their best player," added Ferguson. 

"I don't think Dimitar was a failure 

here. I think he did a great job here. 

"The problem is I had choices and at 

his age it's not easy to be part of those 

choices when he's not playing. 

"He wanted first-team football and we 

gave him the opportunity to go to Fulham. 

At his age it was the right thing to do. 

"He's done pretty well there. The problem 

here was the way we wanted to play, 

the selections we had. The hardest thing 

was when we had Tevez here also." 

Berbatov's relaxed style on the pitch 

attracted criticism from some fans, but 

Ferguson said: "Some people like to see 

players run through brick walls all the 

time. Dimitar is not that type of player. 

But he's a very talented boy who had a 

decent goalscoring record here." 

Ferguson has been asked by the 

Football Association to explain his comments 

made about a match official during 

United's 1-1 draw at Tottenham last 

Sunday. 

The Manchester United boss accused 

assistant referee Simon Beck of failing to 

give Wayne Rooney a 'clear' penalty. 

"I've put in my letter and we'll see what 

happens," said Ferguson, who labelled 

those who criticised the performance of 

keeper David De Gea at White Hart Lane 

as 'idiots'. — AFP 

Barca set up King’s Cup semifinal with Real 

BARCELONA’S Lionel Messi eyes the ball during their Spanish King’s Cup quarterfinal 

second leg match against Malaga at the Rosaleda Stadium in Malaga on Thursday. 

Commission halts 

probe into Armstrong 

scandal as UCI is yet 

to release documents 

LONDON — An independent 

commission set up by 

the International Cycling 

Union (ICU) following the 

Lance Armstrong scandal 

was suspended yesterday 

after it emerged it had yet 

to receive a document from 

the sport's global governing 

body. 

"We have yet to receive 

any documents from the 

UCI," an initial procedural 

hearing in London was told 

by Guy Morpuss, lawyer to 

the commission. 

Later, inquiry chairman 

Philip Otton, a former 

judge in England's Court of 

Appeal, said he was, 'with 

considerable reluctance' 

suspending the hearing until 

January 30. 

Afterwards, embattled 

UCI President Pat McQuaid 

told reporters: "A truth and 

reconciliation hearing is the 

best way we can examine 

the process. 

"Our procedures are the 

most innovative and stringent 

in sport, we were the 

first (sports) federation to 

introduce a biological passport 

in 2008 and we want 

to eradicate doping in cycling." 

McQuaid, who said he 

had resigned on Thursday 

from an International Olympic 

Committee body evaluating 

candidate cities for the 

2020 Games because 'my 

sport needs me', added: "We 

want a truth and reconciliation 

commission with Wada 

(the World Anti-Doping 

Agency). 

"We cannot do it without 

them," McQuaid, UCI chief 

since 2005, said. 

"The foundation board 

of Wada have to change the 

Wada code to give an amnesty. 

Their next meeting is 

in May -- they can change 

that regulation straight 

away." 

Asked how long the 

whole process might take, 

the Irishman replied: "It's 

very difficult to know the 

timescale...But I don't want 

a cloud hanging over the 

sport for the next year or 

two years." 

Earlier, after the UCI 

revealed it had 16 files of 

documents, an angry Tanni 

Grey-Thompson, the British 

Paralympic champion who 

is one of the three members 

of the commission, asked: 

LONDON — Harry Redknapp 

has spoken out in support 

of Chelsea's Eden Hazard 

following his red card 

for kicking a ball boy against 

Swansea, instead labelling 

the actions of the ball boy involved 

as 'disgusting'. 

The comments from QPR 

manager Redknapp came 

after the ball boy at the centre 

of the row, 17-year-old 

Charlie Morgan -- who is also 

the son of Swansea's biggest 

shareholder -- took to Twitter 

after a 'crazy 24 hours' and 

confirmed that he would not 

be pressing charges against 

Hazard. 

Hazard was sent off by 

referee Chris Foy for kicking 

Morgan in the closing stages 

of Wednesday night's Capital 

One Cup semifinal second 

leg at Liberty Stadium, which 

ended 0-0 as the Swans advanced 

to the final 2-0 on aggregate. 

The Belgium playmaker 

lost patience when Morgan 

refused to hand over the ball 

after it had gone out for a 

goal-kick. 

Morgan fell to the ground 

as Hazard attempted to get the 

ball from him, with the 22year-old 

then trying to kick it 

from under him but appearing 

to instead make contact with 

the youngster. 

However, Redknapp said 

he sympathised with Hazard 

and holds Morgan responsible 

for the incident. "Hazard toepoked 

the ball under the boy's 

body. Why is the kid lying on 

the ball in the first place?" 

"You can imagine the 

"When we will get the 

files?" 

Ian Mill, lawyer for the 

UCI, said the governing 

body 'had no desire to suppress 

or conceal the documents'. 

But he said the UCI had 

been taken aback by the 

commission's call, in a press 

release last week, for an amnesty 

and a truth and reconciliation 

process which he 

thought went beyond their 

original remit of looking 

into the UCI. 

He added the UCI could 

not offer an amnesty to 

cyclists who admitted 

doping offences as this 

would breach existing Wada 

rules. 

Last week the Wada, 

the United States Doping 

Agency (USADA) — the 

organisation whose investigations 

into Armstrong led 

to him being stripped of his 

seven Tour de France titles 

for doping offences — and 

pressure group Change Cycling 

Now all said they were 

withdrawing from the hearing 

because of the lack of an 

amnesty. 

"This commission still 

strongly believes an amnesty 

is important for the good 

of professional cycling generally," 

Otton said Friday as 

he announced the hearing 

had been suspended after 

the commission had deliberated 

for 45 minutes. 

"But the UCI has been 

unable to establish an allembracing 

agreement... 

In the circumstances, the 

commission has decide with 

considerable reluctance to 

adjourn the procedural hearing 

until Thursday, January 

30." 

Otton added: "The commission 

recognises the immense 

public interest in 

how Lance Armstrong and 

the US Postal team were 

able to engage in systematic 

doping without detection or 

sanction." 

Armstrong indicated last 

week he would participate 

in a truth and reconciliation 

process during a television 

interview with US chat 

show host Oprah Winfrey. 

And McQuaid said: "We 

heard Lance Armstrong say 

he will be one of the first in 

the door. It's important he 

discloses a lot more than he 

disclosed on TV." — AFP 

Redknapp brands Swansea 

ball boy ‘disgusting’ 

frustration — you're a player 

trying to reach a cup final but 

there's this kid behaving like 

an idiot who won't give you 

the ball back. 

"Hazard didn't kick the kid, 

he kicked the ball underneath 

him, but the whole thing got 

blown out of all proportion. 

"I can think of a lot of players 

who would have kicked a 

bit harder than he did. He just 

toe-poked the ball away. 

"The boy was tweeting before 

the game that he's a super 

time waster. The way he behaved 

was disgusting." 

In the early hours of Friday, 

Morgan tweeted: "Crazy 

24 hours. Spoke to Hazard and 

I will not be pressing charges. 

Be in touch." 

Despite that, South Wales 

Police have been obliged to 

continue investigating the 

incident after receiving three 

complaints. "Three calls have 

been received from members 

of the public living in Sussex, 

Kent and west Wales which 

are being followed up," a police 

spokesman said. 

Hazard was assumed to 

have avoided criminal charges 

when the matter was dropped 

after he and the teenager met 

and made mutual apologies. 

It then emerged Morgan 

was the son of millionaire 

Swansea Director Martin 

Morgan. 

Charlie's parents Martin 

and Luisa Morgan own 

almost a quarter of the Premier 

League club and their 

son enjoys a lifestyle most 

professional footballers would 

envy. — AFP

MELBOURNE — Accused of gamesmanship 

and dogged by injury, Victoria 

Azarenka's bid for successive Australian 

Open titles today will pit her 

against an opponent in the form of her 

life and a centre-court crowd wary of 

any hint of bad sportsmanship. 

The Belarusian will take on sixth 

seed Li Na, who has not dropped a set 

all tournament and boosted her skyhigh 

confidence further by demolishing 

last year's finalist Maria Sharapova 

6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals. 

Azarenka's performance against 

American Sloane Stephens was less 

assured, and marred by controversy 

when the top seed took a near-10 

minute medical timeout after blowing 

five match-points. 

Azarenka returned to the court with 

jeers from the crowd, and after closing 

it out on the sixth match-point, added 

fuel to the fire by telling the on-court 

interviewer she nearly had 'the choke 

of the year'. Slammed on social media 

and grilled by reporters, Azarenka denied 

she had taken the timeout to calm 

her nerves, saying it was to receive 

treatment for a rib injury that was restricting 

her breathing. 

Medical staff confirmed the treatment, 

according to tournament director 

Craig Tiley, and the 23-year-old tried 

to clear the air in an interview with the 

host broadcaster Channel Seven. 

"It wasn't really pleasant but there 

are some things that you have to deal 

with and some things you have to learn 

from," said Azarenka of the controversy. 

"The important thing is just to 

move forward and have a great match 

tomorrow." 

If Azarenka requires any additional 

motivation today, she knows she will 

18 SPORT 



Murray floors Federer for final date with Djokovic 

Britain’s Andy Murray hits a return against Switzerland’s 

Roger Federer during their men’s singles semifinal match 

at the Australian Open in Melbourne yesterday. — AFP 

Djokovic delighted to carry 

lighter workload into final 

MELBOURNE — Supremely 

confident Novak Djokovic 

says he is feeling fitter and 

fresher than he did carrying 

last year's leviathan workload 

as he sits back and waits for 

tomorrow's Australian Open 

final. 

The Serbian world No 1 

has the benefit of an extra 

day's rest and is in prime position 

to go after his fourth 

Australian title against Andy 

Murray. 

Djokovic demolished 

Spanish world No 4-elect 

David Ferrer in less than 90 

minutes in one-sided semifinal 

to clinch his third straight 

Australian final appearance. 

It is in stark contrast to 12 

months ago, when Djokovic 

had to dig deep to win the title 

after fighting off Murray in a 

five-set semifinal over four 

hour and 50 minutes ahead 

of his five hour and 53 minutes 

final triumph over Rafael 

Nadal, the longest-ever match 

at Melbourne Park. 

Djokovic, who taken to the 

brink in a five-hour five-setter 

with Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 

in the fourth round, has 

bounced back with untroubled 

wins over fifth seed Tomas 

Berdych and Ferrer. 

The defending champion's 

confidence is sky-high as he 

builds towards a shot at his 

sixth Grand Slam crown. 

"I definitely prefer being 

fitter for the final and having a 

little bit more time than I had 

MELBOURNE — Andre Agassi was 

shocked and saddened by disgraced cyclist 

Lance Armstrong's confession to 

using performance-enhancing drugs and 

the eight-time Grand Slam champion said 

tighter, more frequent dope testing procedures 

in tennis would be good for the 

sport. 

The American, who co-founded a philanthropic 

organisation with Armstrong 

and other athletes like Muhammad Ali, 

women's World Cup winner Mia Hamm 

and NBA champion Alonzo Mourning, 

said he had been convinced of Armstrong's 

innocence. 

"Well, my reaction to it is the same as 

everybody. It was shock, hard to stomach, 

sadness, disappointment. I think 'anger' is 

a fair word," Agassi told reporters at Melbourne 

Park yesterday. 

"I was certainly one of those that flat 

out believed him that long period of time. 

The thought of it not being the case was 

unconscionable to me." 

Armstrong, 41, admitted in an interview 

with Oprah Winfrey last week that 

he used performance-enhancing drugs 

and lied about it for over decade, finally 

owning up to being at the centre of one of 

the biggest drug scandals in world sport. 

In 2007, Agassi and Armstrong were 

two of the founders of the organisation 

Athletes For Hope which helps educate 

professional athletes on how to raise money 

and the profile of charitable and philanthropic 

causes. Armstrong is still listed 

in 2012," Djokovic said. "It's 

quite different circumstances 

that I have to face this time. 

"Last year I played five 

hours in the semis and had 

only a day-and-a-half to recover 

for another six hours 

with Nadal. This year it hasn't 

been the case, and I'm very 

glad. I was pushed to the limit 

in the fourth round and I've 

had some really physically 

tough matches in this tournament, 

and I'm glad that I got 

through it. Right now I feel 

great on the court." 

Those are ominous words 

for his title rivals as he has 

dropped just three sets and 

spent a total of 14 hours and 

37 minutes on court to reach 

the final. Djokovic described 

his tennis as 'incredible' 

against the outgunned Ferrer. 

"It can only do positive 

things for my confidence," 

he said. "Definitely at this 

stage of a tournament, playing 

semifinals against the world 

number four and being able 

to perform as well as I did, it's 

incredible. 

"I have a great feeling 

about myself on the court 

at this moment. Now I have 

two days off before the final 

which gives me enough time 

to get ready and recover for 

the finals," Djokovic said. "I 

don't expect myself to play always 

this well, but I was free 

in my mind tonight and hopefully 

I can maintain that to the 

final." 

as one of the founders of the organisation 

on its website (www.athletesforhope.org), 

though he does not have a biography link 

on its front page. 

The 42-year-old Agassi, who admitted 

to recreational drug use in his autobiography 

Open, said he felt that tennis was rela- 

MELBOURNE — Britain's Andy Murray faced 

down his Grand Slam nemesis Roger Federer in 

an electrifying five-set thriller to reach the Australian 

Open final yesterday. 

The US Open champion finally ended his 

run of Grand Slam failures against the Swiss 

world No 2, winning their semifinal 6-4, 6-7 

(5/7), 6-3, 6-7 (2/7), 6-2 in exactly four hours. 

Murray is now into in his third Australian 

final and will play defending champion Novak 

Djokovic tomorrow, a rematch of the US Open 

decider when the Scot won his first Grand Slam 

title last September. 

Murray extended his record over Federer, 

the 17-time major champion, to 11-9, but it 

was his first victory over Federer in four Grand 

Slam matches. 

It will be Murray's sixth Grand Slam final 

and he is the first Briton to reach three Australian 

Open finals. 

"It's always tough against Roger and he's at 

his best in the Grand Slams and when his back 

is against the wall, and (when) I was serving for 

the match at 6-5 he produced some great shots," 

Murray said. 

"I kept fighting and he made a few loose 

shots early in the fifth set and I stuck in." 

Murray, who has now extended his unbeaten 

run in Grand Slam matches to 13, broke Federer's 

serve six times, while dropping his own 

serve twice, and hit 62 winners, including 21 

aces, to 47 unforced errors while Federer committed 

more errors than winners. 

Murray began the better and had five break 

points in Federer's opening two service games, 

culminating in breaking the Swiss in the third 

game. 

The Scot was keeping on Federer's backhand 

and earned two more break points before 

Federer held in the seventh. 

Murray went on to take the opening set in 

45 minutes, but Federer came back in the sec- 

lose her world No 1 ranking to Serena 

Williams if she fails to take the title. 

The public relations exercise is unlikely 

to win much of the Rod Laver 

Arena crowd back to her corner, especially 

against an opponent like Li, who 

lost in the 2011 final to Kim Clijsters 

and remains a sentimental favourite at 

Melbourne Park. 

tively clean and doubted anyone would be 

able to get away with the systemic level of 

doping that Armstrong admitted to. 

"It's a sport where I wouldn't know 

how to get away with that level of cheating. 

It's a year round sport," Agassi said. 

"It's an out of body governance, a third 

BRITAIN’S Andy Murray (right) is congratulated by Switzerland’s Roger Federer 

after their men’s singles semifinal in Melbourne yesterday. — AFP 

ond. Games went with serve to a tiebreaker and 

Federer got the early jump on the back of two 

forehand errors. 

Murray got back one of the mini-breaks but 

Federer seized on a mishit smash and rammed 

home a forehand winner for set point, and levelled 

the match on an overhit forehand. 

Murray appeared to be having calf muscle 

trouble in the third set but he broke Federer in 

the sixth and went on to take a two sets to one 

lead with an ace. 

The Scot went down on the court wincing as 

he chased an early break in the fourth set, but 

it was Federer who struck. Murray fought off 

two break points but a wide forehand gave the 

Swiss a break. 

Li, who will turn 31 next month 

and is bidding to become the tournament's 

oldest women's champion, is in 

the shape of her life after a punishing 

off-season boot-camp under new coach 

Carlos Rodriguez, former mentor to 

seven-time Grand Slam champion Justine 

Henin. 

Li said she was better prepared to 

party governance. When last I played, it 

was comprehensive in the sense of nearly 

every tournament, nearly week to week, 

blood, urine, out of competition testing. 

"I don't know how it's changed, but if 

it's stayed the same at least that's a good 

thing." 

He got back the break in the eighth 

and broke Federer a second time to serve for 

the match, but was broken on a forehand 

error. 

Federer played a great tiebreaker with three 

mini-breaks to send the match into a fifth set. 

But Murray was too strong in the deciding 

set with two service breaks to take the match 

and his second win over Federer on the big 

stage after last year's Olympic final. 

"I've been known for losing a lot of tough 

matches and big matches, especially here a few 

times, and having never beaten Roger in a big 

match until the Olympics," he said. 

"That obviously helps but it doesn't make it 

any easier when you're trying to serve it out." 

Azarenka faces headwinds again Li 

take the title after being overwhelmed 

in her first attempt against Clijsters, 

which was also her maiden Grand 

Slam final. 

"(The) first time to the grand slam 

final, I was a little bit shocked because 

I didn't know what I should do," said Li 

who captured her sole grand slam title 

at the French Open a few months after 

the disappointment Down Under. 

"Also no one told me what I should 

do on the court. But this time I've got 

more experience, so I think I should be 

better." 

Rodriguez has not only encouraged 

the hard-hitting Li to use more topspin 

as a defensive weapon and to mix up 

her play, but also brought a more tactical 

approach to her game. The approach 

was obvious against Sharapova, as Li 

dominated the baseline and turned her 

soft serve into a slicing weapon that 

rarely allowed the Russian a free hit. 

Most of Rodriguez's work has been 

between the ears, however, teaching 

the temperamental Li to silence the 

voices of doubt in her head and trust 

in her game. 

"He gives me 'homework'. He'll 

give me a piece of paper with some 

things written on it," said Li, Asia's 

first Grand Slam singles champion. 

"It's just about believing in myself." 

Azarenka holds a 5-4 record over 

Li and has won their last four matches, 

the most recent a tight battle in October 

at the WTA Championships in Istanbul 

that ensured she would finish the year 

as world No 1. 

Li, however, is 2-0 up in Grand 

Slam encounters, having beaten Azarenka 

at Melbourne Park in 2011 and 

again during her run to the title at Roland 

Garros. — Reuters 

Agassi tested positive for methamphetamine 

during his career, but lied to ATP 

officials about how it got into his system, 

claiming he had consumed a drink spiked 

with the drug. 

He felt that his own drug use, and how 

he avoided a ban, may have helped ten- 

RESULTS 

Men's singles: Semifinal: Andy Murray 

(GBR x3) bt Roger Federer (SUI x2) 6-4, 6-7 

(5/7), 6-3, 6-7 (2/7), 6-2. 

Women's doubles: Final: Sara Errani (ITA)/ 

Roberta Vinci (ITA x1) bt Ashleigh Barty (AUS)/ 

Casey Dellacqua (AUS) 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. 

Mixed doubles: Semifinals: Lucie Hradecka 

(CZE)/Frantisek Cermak (CZE) bt Kveta Peschke 

(CZE)/Marcin Matkowski (POL) 3-6, 7-5, (10/7); 

Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS)/Matthew Ebden (AUS) 

bt Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ)/Denis Istomin 

(UZB) 7-5, 7-6 (7/5). 

Agassi shocked and saddened by Armstrong’s confession 

Amazed by ‘golden age’ of tennis 

MELBOURNE — Eight-time Grand Slam-winner Andre 

Agassi yesterday said tennis was witnessing a 'golden 

age' and that Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and 

Rafael Nadal were arguably the best the sport had seen. 

Agassi, 42, speaking on his first visit to the Australian 

Open since he retired in 2006, joked that the only 

way he could have beaten Djokovic, the world No 1, 

would have been to pick a fight with him. 

"Let's see. I would have probably gotten in a fight 

with him in the locker room before the match. I might 

have had a chance, maybe there," Agassi said, adding 

that he was amazed at how standards had soared. 

"It's been amazing watching the standard continually 

sort of get better. You wonder how it's possible, you 

know, to continue at that sort of rate. 

"I mean, what Federer did when he came and when 

I said goodbye, a lot had to do with what I knew was 

untouchable. 

"It's just a different standard of tennis. It's different 

rules of engagement when guys can do what these guys 

can do. I don't recognise it from a standpoint of strategy, 

because I counted on getting somebody behind in a 

point and then slowly smothering them. 

"But nobody's behind in a point. You never know 

when they're behind in a point. That would have eliminated 

any ability I had to move forward in the court. 

"Means I would have had to be a different player, 

would've had to have a different body. It means the 

game has gotten a lot better." 

Since Agassi retired, Federer has outstripped Pete 

Sampras to reach a record 17 major titles, including 

a career Grand Slam. Nadal has totted up 11 and 

Djokovic, 25, has been the dominant player of the past 

two seasons. 

"You know, Fed raised it; Nadal matched and raised 

it; Djokovic, for that intense little period of time, even 

raised it," Agassi said. 

"It seemed like last year settled down a bit, and now 

all of a sudden (Andy) Murray is in the equation of 

where is he going to go. 

"But when I see those top three guys, I see what history 

will say is the golden age of tennis. You're talking 

about arguably the three best guys. 

"Djokovic will still need some distance to cover, but 

best of all time, if you're having that discussion in the 

same generation, it's remarkable." — AFP 

ITALY’S Roberta Vinci (left) and Sara 

Errani pose with the winner’s trophy after 

their victory over Australia’s Ashleigh 

Barty and Casey Dellacqua in the women’s 

doubles final in Melbourne yesterday. 

Errani and 

Vinci clinch 

doubles title 

MELBOURNE — Top seeds 

Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci 

beat local favourites Ashleigh 

Barty and Casey Dellacqua 

yesterday to win the 

Australian Open women's 

doubles title. 

The world No 1 pairing 

from Italy raced through the 

first set in just under half-anhour 

and were impeded in 

the second, but they broke 

three times in the final set to 

win their third major trophy 

6-2, 3-6, 6-2. 

"It's very hard to figure 

them out. They're obviously 

the number one team in the 

world," Dellacqua said. 

"They're there for a reason. 

They play very good doubles, 

and a specific style of 

doubles." 

In mixed doubles, the 

Australian pairing of Jarmila 

Gajdosova and Matthew 

Ebden reached the final 

when they beat Kazak-Uzbek 

duo Yaroslava Shvedova 

and Denis Istomin 7-5, 

7-6 (7/5). They will play 

Czechs Lucie Hradecka and 

Frantisek Cermak, who bettered 

Czech-Polish pair of 

Kveta Peschke and Marcin 

Matkowski 3-6, 7-5, (10/7). 

In today's men's doubles 

final, American twins Bob 

and Mike Bryan will play 

Robin Haase and Igor Sijsling 

for a record 13th Grand 

Slam trophy. — AFP 

nis in pursuing more vigorous drug testing 

programmes. 

"You know, for their own reasons I 

might have played a part in it, for them 

going to Wada (World Anti-Doping Agency) 

and the governance that has no horse 

in the race," he said. 

"That, to me, is a great thing. 

"For me, it would have kept me from 

destroying a few years of my life. That's 

what I did to myself with the use of the 

recreational, destructive substance of 

crystal meth. 

"It would have saved me on a lot of 

fronts." 

Agassi was also keen for tennis officials 

to increase testing so that the sport 

was not tainted by claims and counter 

claims of hiding the extent of any problem. 

"Anything that can protect the integrity 

of the sport, and those that aren't cheating 

should absolutely be considered," he 

added. 

"The more the better as far as I'm concerned. 

The stricter, the better; the more 

transparency the better; the more accountability 

the better. 

"It's sad to watch people who may 

question things for those that worked 

pretty darn hard. 

"Describing a problem is a heck of 

a lot easier than solving it, is one thing 

I've learned. Let's always have the 

discussion of making it more comprehensive." 

— Reuters

19 SPORT 



Riders await early season challenge at Tour of Oman 

MUSCAT — A whiff of the 

Tour de France (TDF) will 

shortly be filling Oman. Taking 

place between February 11 

and 16, this relative new comer 

to the world cycling circuit has 

firmly cemented its position as 

a key early season race for riders 

to test their legs and gauge 

their rivals’ form. 

And in the year that celebrates 

the 100th edition 

of the Grande Boucle, it is 

no surprise that the top contenders 

for the yellow and 

green jerseys all want to race 

here. 

Crunch time will come on 

Stage Four up the Al Jabal Al 

Akhdhar. 

The inclusion of this fearsome 

climb (5.8 km at an average 

gradient of 10.3 per cent), 

at this stage of the season, will 

provide a real challenge for 

three of the four most recent 

Tour de France winners: Bradley 

Wiggins, Cadel Evans and 

Alberto Contador. 

It will be no less difficult 

for those who are vying to follow 

in their footsteps: Christopher 

Froome, Vincenzo Nibali, 

MUSCAT — Two boys and 

same number of girls will provide 

the local interest when the 

qualifying rounds of the first 

of the two Oman ITF Junior 

(Under-18) Tournaments gets 

underway at the Sultan Qaboos 

Sports Complex today. 

The first of the annual 

twin tournaments have been 

upgraded by the International 

Tennis Federation (ITF) from 

Grade 5 to Grade 4 thanks 

mainly to the successful hosting 

of the events by the Oman 

Tennis Association (OTA) in 

the past years. 

And the maiden Grade 

4 event will provide the 

great opportunity to the four 

Omanis players — Younis al 

Rawahi and Ahmed al Balushi 

in the boys section and Samar 

al Bakri and Sarah al Balushi 

in the girls category — to test 

their skills against some of the 

best junior talents from across 

the globe. 

In the first round of the 

boys qualifying event, Younis 

is drawn against Kazakhstan’s 

Dias Omashev while Ahmed 

is pitted against Uzbekistan’s 

Ulugbek Fayzullaev. 

In the girls first round quali- 

and Joaquim Rodríguez. 

The winner of this stage 

during the last two years 

has secured overall victory. 

Whether the winner will join 

previous winners Peter Velits 

(2012) and Fabian Cancellara 

(2010), both of whom are on 

the start line this year, with the 

honour of the Tour of Oman’s 

winners’ red jersey, is yet to be 

seen. 

The other five stages will 

be no less difficult. 

Unfolding against the dramatic 

backdrop and majestic 

beauty of the Sultanate, these 

fast and relatively flat stages 

will provide opportunities for 

the sprinters and attackers to 

also shine — and the race also 

boasts lots of talent in this department. 

The main challengers to 

Peter Sagan, last year’s green 

jersey winner, include Team 

Argos-Shimano’s teutonic 

twosome of John Degenkolb 

and Marcel Kittel as well as 

up-and-coming Italian Sacha 

Modolo and his fellow countryman 

Daniele Bennati. 

French national champion 

fiers, Samar squares off against 

Russia’s Arina Sedanova and 

Sarah faces Kazakhstan’s Isabel 

Makhmudova. 

“It is a good draw for the 

Omani boys and girls,” said 

OTA technical adviser and 

tournament director Karim 

Saadallah. 

“These matches will pro- 

Nacer Bouhanni, Australian 

Matt Goss, Belgian Tom 

Boonen and Dutchman Kenny 

van Hummel will also look to 

make their marking the sprint 

finishes. 

World Champion Philippe 

Gilbert may play the sprinters’ 

spoil if he can capitalise on the 

rugged terrain around Muscat 

to grab a stage win! 

MAIN CONTENDERS 

Australia: ORICA-Green- 

EDGE: Goss (AUS), Cooke 

(AUS), Davis (AUS). 

Belgium: Omega Pharma — 

Quick Step Pro Cycling Team: 

Boonen (BEL), P Velits (SVK). 

China: Champion System: 

Traksel (NED). 

Denmark: Team Saxo — 

Tinkoff: Contador (ESP), Bennati 

(ITA). 

France: AG2R – La Mondiale: 

Pozzovivo, Nocentini (ITA), FDJ: 

Bouhanni, Jeannesson (FRA). 

Germany: Team NetApp — 

Endura: Downing (GBR). 

Italy: Cannondale Pro Cycling: 

Sagan (SVK), Sabatini 

(ITA), Bardiani Valvole — CSF 

Inox: Modolo (ITA). 

Luxembourg: RadioShack — 

Leopard: Cancellara (SUI), Gallopin 

(FRA). 

vide all the four Omani talents 

a great opportunity to play 

against the best and improve 

their standard. It will be a 

great experience for them,” he 

added. 

Meanwhile, Great Britain’s 

Josef Dodridge is given 

top seeding in the boys while 

Turky’s MErt Zincirli is the 

POTCHEFSTROOM, South 

Africa — Lonwabo Tsotsobe 

and Ryan McLaren took four 

wickets each but could not 

prevent New Zealand putting 

in a late burst in the third and 

final one-dayer against South 

Africa at Senwes Park yesterday. 

New Zealand, who have 

already won the series, scored 

260 for nine thanks to half 

centuries by Grant Elliott, 

Colin Munro and James Franklin. 

But they had been struggling 

at 96 for four after 30 

overs before adding 164 runs 

in the last 20 overs. 

Tsotsobe took four for 45 

and McLaren claimed four 

for 52 but as in the first two 

matches the South African 

bowlers were unable to exert 

control towards the end of an 

innings. 

Tsotsobe bowled an excellent 

opening spell of two 

for nine in five overs as New 

Zealand lost their first three 

wickets for 46 runs and when 

Brendon McCullum fell for 

13 with the total on 68 New 

Japan: Japan National Team: 

Miyazawa (JPN). 

Kazakhstan: Astana Pro 

Team: Nibali (ITA). 

Netherlands: Team Argos 

— Shimano: Degenkolb, Kittel 

(GER), Vacansoleil — DCM Pro 

Cycling Team: Marcato (ITA), Rujano 

(VEN), Van Hummel (NED). 

Russia: Katusha Team: Rodríguez 

(ESP). 

Switzerland: IAM Cycling: 

Elmiger (SUI), Hinault (FRA). 

United Kingdom: Sky Pro- 

Cycling: Wiggins(GBR), Froome 

(GBR). 

United States: BMC Racing 

Team: Evans (AUS), Gilbert 

(BEL). 

THE STAGES 

Stage 1: February 11: Al Musannah-Sultan 

Qaboos University 

(162km). 

Stage 2: February 12: Fanja in 

Bidbid-Al Bustan (146km). 

Stage 3: February 13: Nakhal 

Fort-Wadi Dayqah Dam (190km). 

Stage 4: February 14: Al Saltiyah 

in Samail-Jabal Al Akhdhar 

(152.5km). 

Stage 5: February 15: Al Alam 

Palace-Ministry of Housing in 

Bausher(144km). 

Stage 6: February 16: Hawit 

Nagam Park-Muttrah Corniche 

(144km). 

Oman ITF jr tourney qualifiers from today 

Younis, Abdullah, Sarah and Samar lead local challenge 

SOUTH Africa’s Lonwabe Totsobe (right) bowls a ball 

against New Zealand’s Frant Elliott during their third 

and final ODI in Potchefstroom yesterday. — AFP 

KARACHI — Former South 

African all-rounder Mike 

Proctor, fellow countryman 

Rudi Koertzen and Zimbabwean 

Russell Tiffin were yesterday 

confirmed as match officials 

for Pakistan's Twenty20 

league. 

Although all three have 

retired as top-level ICC (International 

Cricket Council) 

officials, their confirmation is 

the first sign of foreign participation 

in the Pakistan Super 

SARAH SAMAR 

League (PSL) which starts 

from March 26. 

"The PSL is pleased to 

announce that, apart from 

Pakistani umpires Aleem Dar 

and Asad Rauf, three other 

match officials Procter, Koertzen 

and Tiffin have confirmed 

their participation in 

the PSL 2013," said a PCB 

release. 

Pakistan Cricket Board 

(PCB) said the league is the 

first step towards reviving 

international cricket in the 

country since it suspended in 

March 2009 following a terrorist 

attack on the Sri Lankan 

team bus in Lahore. 

PSL Managing Director 

Salman Sarwar Butt said he 

was pleased with the appointments. 

"The PSL is in full steam 

recruiting top-notch match 

officials and exciting cricketers. 

In addition, preparation is 

proceeding apace in all other 

YOUNIS 

second seed. In the girls qualifying 

draw, the top five seeds 

were given first round byes 

and they are India’s Ramya 

Natarajan (1), German Emelie 

Luisa Schwarte (2), Luciana 

Rabines (3) of the US, Italian 

Cecilia Castelli (4) and Carlotta 

Giannetta (5), also of Italy. 

The top four from each cat- 

New Zealand thrive 

after late run burst 

Zealand were in trouble. 

But Elliott (54) and Munro 

(57) added 67 for the fifth 

wicket, while Franklin again 

batted well with the tail to 

make an unbeaten 53. 

New Zealand hold a winning 

2-0 lead in the series. 

SCOREBOARD 

New Zealand 

M Guptill c Ingram b Tsotsobe ..... 5 

B Watling c Du Plessis 

b McLaren ................ 20 

K Williamson c De Kock 

b Tsotsobe ............ 6 

G Elliott c Steyn b Tsotsobe ...... 54 

B McCullum c Steyn 

b McLaren ........... 13 

C Munro c De Kock b Tsotsobe 57 

J Franklin (not out) .................... 53 

N McCullum c De Kock 

b McLaren ............. 2 

J Neesham lbw McLaren ........... 13 

K Mills run out ............................. 7 

M McClenaghan (not out) ........... 2 

Extras: (b-1, lb-10, w-17) ......... 28 

Total: (9 wkts, 50 overs) ......... 260 

Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-27, 3-46, 

4-68, 5-129, 6-196, 7-199, 8-216, 

9-234. 

Bowling: Steyn 10-1-56-0 (w-6), 

Tsotsobe 10-2-45-4, Kleinveldt 10- 

1-44-0 (w-4), Phangiso 8-0-43-0 

(w-1), McLaren 10-0-52-4 (w-2), 

Behardien 2-0-9-0. 

aspects and the team is well on 

track," said Butt. 

The PCB faces a huge challenge 

in convincing foreign 

players and match officials to 

come for the inaugural edition 

of the PSL, with a max of six 

foreign players in each of the 

five teams. 

The league further ran into 

trouble on Tuesday when the 

Federation of International 

Cricketers Association warned 

foreign players not to tour Pa- 

ABDULLAH 

egory will qualify for the main 

event. After two days of qualifying 

matches, the main draw 

will be held from Monday till 

February 2. 

The qualifying rounds of 

the second event, a Grade 5 

event, will take place on February 

2 and 3 while the main 

event will start on February 4. 

Aussies bring 

Finch back 

SYDNEY — Australia 

brought batsman Aaron 

Finch back into the one-day 

squad unveiled yesterday for 

the first two internationals 

against the West Indies next 

month. 

David Hussey made way 

for Finch, paying the price 

for what the selectors said 

were ‘concerns’ with the batting 

performance in the ODI 

series against Sri Lanka. 

Australia levelled the 

series 2-2 in Hobart on 

Wednesday but struggled 

against Sri Lanka's swing 

bowlers and looked to have 

been saved by the rain in 

Sydney last Sunday. 

The opening game of the 

series of five will be played 

on February 1 at the Waca. 

Perth also hosts the second 

game two days later. 

ODI squad: Michael Clarke 

(capt), George Bailey, Ben Cutting, 

Xavier Doherty, Aaron 

Finch, Moises Henriques, Phillip 

Hughes, Mitchell Johnson, 

Glenn Maxwell, Clint McKay, 

Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, 

David Warner. — AFP 

PCB confirms match officials for Pakistan Super League 

kistan because security was 

'not manageable'. 

But the PCB on Wednesday 

brushed aside the warning and 

claimed there was an encouraging 

response from players, 

sponsors and officials. 

Proctor played seven Tests 

for South Africa in 1960s before 

his country was banned 

from international cricket due 

to apartheid. He later had a 

stint as ICC match referee between 

2002 and 2008. 

Chris Wood goes three 

clear at Qatar Masters 

DOHA — England's Chris 

Wood produced a spectacular 

display of golf to 

establish himself as a serious 

contender for the Qatar 

Masters at the Doha Golf 

Club yesterday. 

Looking for his first victory 

since turning pro in 

2008, the 25-year-old stroked 

a fluent 64 to carry a threeshot 

advantage over the 

trio of compatriot Simon 

Khan, Swede Alexander 

and New Zealander Michael 

Campbell into today's final 

round. 

In near-perfect conditions, 

Wood, best known for 

his challenges at the 2008 

and 2009 British Open, shot 

past the front nine in 31, 

consolidating his position 

with an eight foot eagle on 

the 548-yard tenth. 

The six foot five inch 

player then suffered a hiccup 

on the 12th, which he 

bogeyed, before picking up 

two more shots for a threeround 

aggregate of 13 under-par 

201. 

Khan also put himself in 

the mix with a bogey-free 

LONDON — Eden Hazard 

was facing the prospect of an 

additional ban for kicking a 

ball boy after the Football Association 

(FA) charged him 

yesterday over his red card 

in Chelsea's League Cup exit 

at Swansea. Belgian forward 

Hazard was already set to serve 

an automatic three-match ban 

for his red card in Wednesday's 

semifinal second leg at 

the Liberty Stadium, where 

a goalless draw condemned 

64 after finding himself in 

the 31st place at the halfway 

stage. 

The 2010 BMW PGA 

Championship winner at 

Wentworth actually held a 

two-shot lead by the time 

he was on the 13th hole but 

a string of five pars later 

coupled with Wood's charge 

saw end the day in joint 

third place. 

"It's been a tough couple 

years since winning Wentworth, 

so it's amazing," said 

Khan, who has had just one 

top-ten finish since then. 

"The feelings start coming 

back pretty quickly in 

this game, which is good. 

Hopefully I can carry it on 

tomorrow. 

"It was really good fun on 

the front nine, and I had a 

good up and down out of the 

waste area on three, which is 

a real tough one. I managed 

to par that and that really 

kept me going. 

"I'm pleased with the 

back nine. I played quite 

nicely — left a couple of 

putts short but haven't been 

up there for a while, so hope- 

Chelsea to a 2-0 aggregate defeat. 

However, the FA insisted 

yesterday that constituted an 

'insufficient' punishment for 

the offence. 

"The FA has charged Chelsea's 

Eden Hazard following 

his side's League Cup semifinal 

at Swansea on January 23, 

2013," an FA statement said. 

"It is alleged that Hazard's 

behaviour in relation to a 

Swansea ball boy, for which 

the player was dismissed in 

fully I can do that a little bit 

better tomorrow." 

Sergio Garcia, who was 

part of a four-way tie with 

German Martin Kaymer, 

Australian Marcus Fraser 

and Portugal's Ricardo Santos, 

could only manage a 70 

yesterday thanks to bogeys 

on the 15th and 18th. 

His aggregate of 11under 

par 205 sees him in 

joint third place with South 

African Brenden Grace who 

stroked a 67. 

Australian Fraser saw 

three bogeys ruin his round 

as he finished on 71 for an 

aggregate of 206. 

Santos, who had led after 

the first day, suffered 

a spectacular meltdown in 

the third round to blow his 

chances of winning for the 

second time on the European 

Tour. 

The 2012 Henry Cotton 

Rookie of the Year had four 

bogeys and two double bogeys 

as he finished the day 

on 76 which gave him an aggregate 

of 211, 10 shots off 

the pace. — AFP 

ACTION from the match between Al Nahda and Fanja in the Oman Football Association‘s 

Omantel Elite League played at the Seeb Stadium yesterday. The match ended in a goalless 

draw. Meanwhile, Sur blanked Al Shabab 2-0 at the Sur Sports Complex, Saham routed 

Seeb 3-0 at Sohar Sports Complex and Salalah edged Al Nasr 2-1at Al Saada Sports 

Complex in Salalah. In other matches played yesterday, Oman scored a 3-0 win over Al 

Musannah at Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Bausher, Al Talee’a and Suwaiq shared 

points in a 1-1 draw in Sur while Dhofar and Al Arouba settled for a goalless draw at Al 

Saada Sports Complex. — Picture by Mohammed Mahjoub 

FA charge Hazard over ball boy clash 

the 78th minute, constituted 

violent conduct whereby the 

standard punishment that 

would otherwise apply was 

clearly insufficient. 

"The player has until 6 

pm (1800GMT) on Tuesday, 

January 29, to respond to the 

charge. The FA will remind all 

clubs of their responsibilities 

in ensuring ball boys and other 

personnel around the pitch act 

in an appropriate manner at all 

times."

20 

PANORAMA 



THE peloton ride during the 126.5km stage 4 of the Tour Down Under in Adelaide, Australia, yesterday. The six-stage Tour Down Under takes place from January 20 to 27. — AFP 

EUROPEAN Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst (R), US astronaut Gregory Wiseman (L) and Russian cosmonaut 

Maxim Suraev take part in a survival training exercise near the Russian cosmonaut training facility in Star City outside 

Moscow yesterday. They are preparing for a mission to the International Space Station in May 2014. — Reuters 

A PAKISTANI man rides a decorated bicycle in Lahore yesterday. — Reuters 

Held in morgue 

for three years 

BEIJING — A Chinese 

woman was held in an 

abandoned morgue for 

three years after serving 

hard labour for complaining 

about her husband’s own 

detention, state-run media 

said yesterday. 

Chen Qingxia was 

guarded by sanitation 

workers at the facility in 

the northeastern province 

of Heilongjiang, the Global 

Times said. 

Her difficulties began 

in 2003 when her husband 

was sentenced to “reeducation 

through labour” 

for attempting to escape 

quarantine during a SARS 

epidemic. — AFP 

Explorer pistol 

up for auction 

SYDNEY— A pistol owned 

by explorer Captain James 

Cook, who first claimed 

Australia for Britain nearly 

two and a half centuries ago, 

will go on the auction block 

next month in Melbourne. 

The brass pistol, an early 

18th century Continental 

Flintlock holster pistol with 

a 13-bore barrel made by 

Dutch gunmaker Godefroi 

Corbau Le Jeune, is 

expected to fetch between 

A$100,000 to $200,000 

($105,0700 to $210,000) at 

the February 14 sale. 

One of a rare handful of 

personal effects remaining 

from the explorer, who 

claimed Australia for Britain 

in 1770, the gun — handed 

down through generations 

of Cook’s family — is a 

symbol of his relationship 

to the vast continent, said 

auctioneer Leski Auctions. 

A SICHUAN Opera artist breathes fire during a performance to celebrate the Chinese 

New Year, in Tiantai village of Chongqing municipality. — Reuters 

New device to 

protect identity 

TOKYO — A “privacy 

visor” that uses infra-red 

light to interfere with facial 

recognition technology has 

been developed in Japan for 

people worried about being 

spotted by computers. 

The goggles are useful 

for anyone who wants to 

avoid their identity being 

detected by hidden cameras, 

the inventors say. 

“Measures for preventing 

the invasion of privacy 

caused by photographs 

taken in secret... are now 

required,” said Isao Echizen 

of Tokyo’s National Institute 

of Informatics. 

The goggles, which are 

made of clear plastic, have 

lines of lights that emit 

near infra-red rays. Echizen 

says this is enough to throw 

software off the scent, 

rendering a face invisible 

to a computer. However, 

the large plastic structures, 

complete with glowing 

lights and a sizeable power 

pack, may make the wearer 

somewhat conspicuous to 

the naked eye. 

A SYRIAN girl from the northern Syrian town of Ras al Ain walks at the border line 

as she is pictured from the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar, Sanliurfa province 

yesterday. — Reuters 

A FOUNTAIN partially frozen into ice is seen in New York. Frigid arctic air held the US Midwest and Northeast in its icy 

grip, with the cold so dangerous that emergency warming centres opened up and ski resorts shut down. — Reuters 

Sailing on twig 

raft to Australia 

SYDNEY — A Polish 

man was lucky to be alive 

yesterday after sailing from 

Papua New Guinea to a 

north Australian island on 

a raft made of twigs and 

sticks, through crocodile 

and shark-infested waters, 

during a cyclone. 

The man was found 

washed up in mangroves 

on Saibai Island in the 

Torres Strait, a treacherous 

stretch of water.What 

made his survival even 

more miraculous was that 

he attempted the trip in 

the aftermath of Cyclone 

Oswald, with 1.5 metre 

swells and 40 knot winds, 

rescue authorities said. 

A WALRUS and its tamer perform during a show presenting the new programme “From 

Heart to Heart” at the National circus in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. — Reuters

Whitman Capital 

founder gets 

two years jail 

Page 23 

BEIJING — China's recovery from 

its longest slowdown in growth 

since the global financial crisis is being 

driven by the two forces posing 

the biggest risks to the economy's 

increasingly urgent need to rebalance 

investment and property. 

The central government wants 

to raise consumption's share in the 

economy as the cornerstone effort to 

close one of the world's widest gaps 

between rich and poor and quell the 

discontent among those Chinese 

who feel they missed out on the 

country's blistering expansion of the 

past three decades. 

The economy picked up in the 

fourth quarter as a spurt of infrastructure 

spending orchestrated by 

Beijing broke seven straight quarters 

of a slowdown. Consumption's contribution 

to growth fell in the fourth 

quarter for the third straight quarter 

even though retail sales were rising 

in each of the last three months. 

Short-term policies to drive the 

recovery may well explain that because 

the biggest improvements 

were real estate-related, casting 

doubt on whether Xi Jinping and Li 

Keqiang — President- and Premierin-waiting, 

respectively — can really 

rebalance the economy and lever 

Boeing probe far from complete 

US safety regulators are nowhere near finishing a probe into a 

battery fire on the Boeing Co 787, a top official said. Deborah 

Hersman, chairman of the NTSB, made clear that investigators have 

found a series of “symptoms” in the battery damaged in a Boston 

fire, but not the underlying cause of the problem. Page 22 

its giant size to deliver widespread 

wealth. 

"While the recent turn in the 

economy is real, the true test for 

China's new leadership is not whether 

they can manage the cycle, but 

whether they can put longer-term 

growth on a stronger footing," Janet 

Zhang, an analyst at consultancy, 

GK Dragonomics, wrote in a note 

to clients. Dependence on investment 

spending — now at around 

50 per cent of GDP — for three 

decades of development has created 

huge industrial overcapacity in 

China, eroding economic efficiency 

despite some of the world's lowest 

labor costs and requiring increasing 

amounts of capital to deliver diminishing 

returns. 

That worries investors and makes 

the International Monetary Fund fret 

about the risk of a capacity glut that 

could have global consequences. 

Analysis by HSBC shows investment 

growth is contributing more to 

the economy than at any time since 

2009 — the year in which China injected 

the bulk of a 4 trillion yuan 

($640 billion) stimulus to counter 

the impact of the global financial 

crisis. 

Economists at UBS noted mean- 

Saturday, January 26, 2013 

while that growth in December's 

retail sales may have been strongerthan-expected 

at an eight-month 

high of 15.2 per cent year-on-year, 

but the pickup was on household 

goods, furniture and construction 

materials tied to rising property 

transactions. It serves to emphasise 

how hard it is for Beijing to shift 

the economy's underlying growth 

Asian stock markets remain mixed 

ASIAN markets were mixed yesterday, with Tokyo’s Nikkei 

surging to a near three-year high on the back of a weaker yen, 

while Wall Street provided an uneven lead. The yen resumed 

its downtrend after a brief rally. Tokyo surged 2.88 per cent to 

10,926.65.Sydney was 0.42 per cent higher. Page 24 

UK economy shrinks anew, flirts with ‘triple dip’ 

LONDON — Britain's economy 

shrank more than expected 

at the end of 2012 with a slump 

in North Sea oil production, 

lower factory output and a 

hangover from the London 

Olympics pushing it perilously 

close to a "triple-dip" recession. 

Britain's gross domestic 

product fell 0.3 per cent in the 

fourth quarter, the Office for 

Chinese recovery underlines need to rebalance economy 

ANALYSIS 

National Statistics said yesterday, 

a sharper fall than the 

0.1 per cent decline seen by 

analysts. 

The news is a blow for 

Britain's Conservative-led 

BoJ governor says tough 

to meet inflation target 

TOKYO — Japan's top central 

banker yesterday said the new 

inflation target that his organisation 

set earlier this week 

would be difficult to achieve 

unless the country undergoes 

tough economic reforms. 

Bank of Japan Governor 

Masaaki Shirakawa (pictured) 

said the BoJ would 

seek one per cent inflation "for 

the time being" just days after 

it had adopted a two-per cent 

target under pressure from the 

government. 

The two per cent goal was 

set on Tuesday when the BoJ 

also launched an open-ended 

easing plan to start next year, 

following a relentless campaign 

by Prime Minister Shinzo 

Abe for the bank to usher 

in more aggressive policy 

measures. 

Abe hailed Tuesday's 

move, designed to beat Japan's 

long-running deflation, 

as an "epoch-making" shift in 

setting monetary policy. 

But Shirakawa's comments 

Friday appeared to push back 

once more against the two-per 

cent inflation target. 

"For the Bank of Japan, 

'price stability' means the 

positive area between two per 

cent (inflation) and zero. The 

Bank will seek one per cent 

for the time being," Shirakawa 

told the National Press Club in 

Tokyo yesterday. 

"It will take radical efforts 

from...the government, central 

bank and the private sector in 

order to achieve the two-per 

cent inflation target." 

Tensions have run high between 

BoJ policymakers and 

Abe's administration, with the 

58-year-old premier having 

openly said he would like to 

turf out Shirakawa, whose term 

ends in April, and threatening 

to change a law mandating the 

bank's independence if it does 

not fall into line. — AFP 

government, which only a day 

earlier defended its austerity 

programme against criticism 

from the International 

Monetary Fund and needs 

solid growth to ensure it meets 

Certificates of 

deposit tender 

results 

MUSCAT — Certificates of 

deposit (Issue No 801) tender 

was held at the Central 

Bank of Oman (CBO) last 

week. The total amount allotted 

was RO 82 million. 

A bulletin issued by the 

CBO stated that the average 

interest rate of these certificates 

was 0.11 per cent while 

the maximum accepted interest 

rate was 0.12 per cent. 

The tenor of these certificates 

is 28 days and their maturity 

date is on February 20. 

The certificates of deposit 

are issued to licensed banks 

by the CBO as a monetary 

policy instrument aimed at 

absorbing excess liquidity at 

the banking sector. 

The Repo rate during 

January 23 to 29th is 1 per 

cent. — ONA 

budget targets and keeps its 

triple-A debt rating. 

Sterling fell to its lowest 

in 13½ months against the 

euro and hit a five-month low 

against the dollar in response 

while British government 

bonds reversed losses. 

The euro was also buoyed 

by a stronger-than-expected 

German Ifo sentiment survey. 

"This is a very disappointing 

outturn," said Philip Shaw, 

economist at Investec in London. 

"Clearly now the talk will 

focus on whether we are in a 

triple dip recession. Certainly 

the news is unwanted." 

Britain's economy is now 

3.3 per cent smaller than its 

peak in Q1 2008, having recovered 

only about half the 

output lost during the financial 

crisis — a worse performance 

than most other major economies. 

The country slipped back 

into recession in the last three 

months of 2011, and only 

emerged from it in the third 

quarter of 2012, after a boost 

from the London Olympics. 

After a bout of inclem- 

DAVOS — The head of the 

European Central Bank said 

yesterday that the embattled 

euro had been relaunched but 

that more had to be done to 

boost the euro zone's recession-wracked 

economy. 

Speaking to the world's top 

business and political leaders 

at the World Economic Forum 

in Davos, Mario Draghi (Pictured) 

also said that austerity 

measures being taken in crisishit 

countries were "unavoidable" 

despite the impact on 

growth. 

"If one has to find a common 

denominator... for defining 

why 2012 is going to be remembered, 

I think one would 

say it's the year of the relaunching 

of the euro," Draghi 

said in his well-attended and 

hotly anticipated speech. 

Draghi outlined three "extraordinary" 

steps taken by 

European leaders and institu- 

A CONSTRUCTION site of a residential compound is reflected on the glass facades of 

an office building in Taiyuan, Shanxi province. — Reuters 

ent snowy weather in January 

— which is likely to have hit 

spending and output — the 

risk is that the economy will 

continue to shrink in the first 

three months of this year, technically 

pushing it into a rare 

and unwelcome "triple dip" 

recession. 

Britain's biggest department 

store group, John Lewis 

JLPUL, said earlier yesterday 

that snow was responsible for 

its sales growth stalling in the 

latest week. 

In economic terms, the 

picture remains an unchanged 

one of stagnation over the past 

year. But politically, the latest 

dip in national output is more 

incendiary. 

Finance minister George 

Osborne stuck fast to his austerity 

plan on Thursday, rejecting 

suggestions the International 

Monetary Fund's chief 

economist that he should consider 

slowing his deficit reduction 

plan. 

Prime Minister David Cameron 

this week staked his political 

future on offering a referendum 

on Britain's place in 

tions to battle the three-year 

sovereign debt crisis that has 

pitched the 17-nation bloc into 

recession. 

Governments have pushed 

through structural reforms 

with "urgency" and these are 

"now bearing fruit," said the 

ECB boss. 

European leaders had recognised 

structural flaws inherent 

in the single currency and 

drivers. Consumption might have 

been the biggest single contributor 

to 2012's full-year GDP growth of 

7.8 per cent, but its 51.8 per cent 

share remains far below the 70-80 

the European Union. But it is 

Osborne's gamble that austerity 

will deliver strong growth 

before a 2015 election that will 

be crucial in determining his 

Conservative party's chance of 

winning. 

After the figures were released, 

the Treasury conceded 

that Britain still faced a "very 

difficult economic situation". 

"While the economy is 

healing, it is still a difficult 

road," it said in a statement. 

Britain's chief central banker 

Mervyn King expects no 

more than a "gentle recovery" 

this year, while this week the 

IMF cut its 2013 forecast for 

British economic growth to 

1.0 per cent from 1.1 per cent 

predicted in October. 

However economists and 

business groups warn that even 

such lackluster growth could be 

derailed by a hit to firms' and 

consumers' confidence from 

talk of a triple-dip recession. 

That prospect will also 

add to pressure on the ruling 

coalition of Conservatives and 

Liberal Democrats to loosen 

its deficit-cutting drive and 

were now pushing for greater 

integration. 

And finally, his own institution 

had undertaken actions 

that broke the monetary policy 

mould, including providing 

one trillion euros ($1.33 trillion) 

in liquidity for banks. 

The ECB also announced a 

programme to buy the bonds 

of debt-wracked countries 

which had proved "very helpful" 

in reducing the perception 

that the euro was on the point 

of collapse, Draghi said. 

However, he said it was too 

early to declare the battle over. 

"Are we satisfied for that? I 

think to say the least, the jury 

is still out. Because all in all, 

we haven't seen an equal momentum 

on the real side of the 

economy and that's where we 

will have to do much more," 

he said. Nevertheless, Draghi 

hailed what he called a period 

of "relative tranquility" on the 

per cent typical in developed rich 

economies. preading the benefits 

of China's ascent to its position as 

a global economic powerhouse is 

seen as the best way of quelling the 

risk of revolt. Even a newly recalibrated 

official index last week indicated 

the wealth gap was so wide 

that serious social dissatisfaction 

may be brewing. 

Chinese officials are likely to be 

agonising anew over the headstrong 

property market in the wake of GDP 

data that showed fourth-quarter 

growth rebounding to a strongerthan-expected 

7.9 per cent alongside 

a pronounced upswing in real estate 

sales, housing starts, investment and 

home prices. 

Real estate is a hot-button topic for 

the government because many Chinese 

complain that prices are out of 

their reach. 

House prices in their own central 

Beijing backyard are zooming 

towards record highs, despite three 

years of steady policy action to reinin 

rises and stifle speculation. 

Apartments in the Champion 

Court housing estate that is a 

15-minute walk from the headquarters 

of the People's Bank of China 

are selling at all-time-high prices 

of between 80,000-100,000 yuan 

($12,900-$16,100) per square meter. 

Prices have jumped 10 per cent 

in the past year, data from China's 

bolster the economy as finance 

minister George Osborne prepares 

his 2013 budget, due in 

March. 

The biggest driver for the 

fourth-quarter fall in GDP was 

a 10.2 per cent drop in mining 

and quarrying output, the 

biggest since records began 

in 1997, driven by disruption 

from extended maintenance 

affecting North Sea oil and gas 

fields. 

This knocked 0.18 per cent 

off GDP, while slightly smaller 

amounts of damage were done 

by falls in factory output and 

in the 'government and other 

services' category, where the 

Olympics had boosted sports 

and recreation services in the 

third quarter. 

Yesterday's figures showed 

that output in Britain's service 

sector — which makes up more 

than three quarters of GDP — 

was flat in the fourth quarter 

after rising 1.2 per cent in the 

third. Industrial output was 1.8 

per cent lower, while construction 

— which accounts for less 

than 7 per cent of GDP — grew 

by 0.3 per cent. — Reuters 

ECB chief hails euro ‘relaunch’ 

financial markets and said: 

"All the indices point to a substantial 

improvement of financial 

conditions." "It is a situation 

where you have what I 

called once positive contagion 

on the financial markets... but 

we don't see this being transmitted 

into the real economy 

yet," complained the central 

banker. The European Central 

Bank has forecast the euro 

zone economy will contract by 

0.3 per cent this year but rebound 

to register GDP growth 

of 1.2 per cent in 2014. 

Draghi urged governments 

not to let up on the momentum 

of reforms just because the 

pressure from the markets had 

been reduced. "We can have a 

positive development if national 

governments would persevere 

in their actions, both in fiscal 

consolidation but especially 

now in the field of structural 

reforms," he said. — AFP 

largest online real estate firm Soufun 

Holdings showed, as Champion 

Court's proximity to China's financial 

center draw buyers who think 

they can benefit from its location. 

Official data shows monthly rises 

in the country's top 70 cities for five 

of the last six months, the latest in 

December. 

"To be honest, I think prices are 

unthinkable," said a property agent 

surnamed Jin who declined to give 

his full name. 

Jin's firm specialises in property 

in Beijing's financial district and 

around 60 per cent of the homes 

it sells are paid for immediately in 

cash, he said. 

Champion Court's eye-watering 

prices belie a dreary exterior, suggesting 

Beijing faces a long slog in 

curbing property inflation despite 

limits on home purchases and hefty 

down payment rules. 

An 80-square-metre (860 sq ft), 

one-bedroom Champion Court flat 

was on the market last week for 7.2 

million yuan ($1.16 million) when 

Reuters visited. The bathroom had 

a rusty tub and a hole in the wall. 

Built in 2004, the price of Champion 

Court apartments — which 

give buyers 61 years of ownership 

rights — have galloped 10-fold 

since, said Zeng, a property agent 

who also declined to give her full 

name. — Reuters

Toyota 86 Sport loaded with benefits 

MUSCAT — The revolutionary new Toyota that has put the “sport” back into the 

“car”, the Toyota 86 is a compact front engine, rear-wheel drive sports car designed to 

place the driver in control. It is called the Toyota 86 in tribute to the hugely successful 

Toyota AE86 — one of the most cherished and loved sports cars having a huge fan following. 

The Toyota 86 Sport is an excitingly new grade that offers a sport aero package, 

makes the car stand apart from the rest with a front bumper spoiler, side spoilers, 

rear bumper spoiler and a large rear spoiler.” 

The Toyota 86 is a sports car that is lightweight and well-balanced, making it a solid 

choice for driving enthusiasts. Toyota 86’s 2.0-litre, naturally aspirated four-cylinder 

engine has a horizontally opposed engine and Toyota’s cutting edge D-4S injection 

system that incorporates both direct and port injection. The D-4S system, partnered 

with a high compression ratio, results in an impressive 197 horsepower - still achieving 

impressive fuel economy. 

Quick and nimble into and out of corners, with dynamic maneuverability and confident 

handling, the Toyota 86's weight is kept to a minimum by utilising an aluminium 

hood, a solid roof, and by featuring a trunk design instead of a hatchback. 

The Toyota 86’s low weight is matched with a dynamically tuned suspension setup 

consisting of McPherson struts up front and a double wishbone system in the rear. 

Lightweight 17-inch alloy wheels and ventilated disc brakes are on all four corners. 

The fierce exterior of the Toyota 86 is a solid reflection of its inner power. The 

profile reveals a hood and roof-line that is remarkably sleek and low, giving it an aerodynamic 

shape that channels air cleanly over to the top. The low stance continues to 

exaggerate the coupe’s menacing face, which is made up of sharp lines, a wide mouth 

and angular headlights. 

The Toyota 86’s interior features a 2+2 seating configuration that is designed with 

both form and function in mind. This 2-door sports car is packed to the hilt with thrilling 

features such as cruise control, Bi-Xenon headlamps, LED clearance lamps, ABS 

and VSC, world’s first frame-less rear view mirror, ultra-low hip point 400mm, VSC 

sports function (a Toyota first), superior audio CD/MP3 system with built-in USB/Aux 

and Bluetooth, 6 speakers; another Toyota first — sports engine sound creator, non-slip 

assist pad for entry and exit, Fender garnish with 86 logo, SRS airbags front, curtain 

side (fr)+knee (fr), exclusive seat material & sports seats, amongst many others. 

Apart from the above, the Toyota 86 is adorned with machined alloy wheels, pagoda 

styled concave roof, sash-less sports car door and 3-spoke leather steering wheel, 

which also happens to be Toyota’s smallest. 

In Oman, Toyota is a household name, a part of people's lives. Toyota offers enduring 

quality and nothing comes close to it in terms of value-retention. It is no surprise, 

therefore, that Toyota soars far above the rest, with a dominant market share and everexpanding 

customer base. 

The unmatched, nationwide parts and service support of Saud Bahwan Group 

makes Toyota's pride of place a reality. Toyota customers in Oman enjoy 6-year unlimited 

mileage protection, over 98 per cent parts availability and round-the-clock care, 

amongst many other exclusive privileges from the Group. 

Fortuner Safari — a prized possession 

“I AM in love with this car,” admits Hamed, “ It has everything I want — space, 

power, comfort, features and safety. On top of that I know if I need something to be 

done on it, there are experts from Saud Bahwan Automotive to do it for me, anywhere 

I may be, in Oman.” 

The Fortuner Safari is truly a prized possession for many people. It is adorned with 

many attractive features that include coloured front bumper spoiler, sporty rear 2-tone 

bumper spoiler, 17” alloy wheels, chrome garnish on fog lamps, stylish side cladding 

panels, classy daytime running lights, expressive “safari” branding decal, striking 

chrome rear license garnish, quality floor mats with “safari” logo — among others. 

Inside, the Fortuner Safari’s luxurious cabin greets one with an ergonomic interface 

— a horizontal theme instrument panel set within strikingly beautiful black wood 

grain panelling. Abundant storage spaces further reinforce the high-class character of 

this luxurious 4WD. The roomy cabin is also very versatile and can be re-arranged 

to accommodate various combinations of passengers and luggage. Three rows of upmarket 

leather seats lodge 7 people comfortably. The third and second row seats can 

be quickly folded and stowed away to create large luggage space with room for big or 

long loads. 

The Fortuner Safari offers an abundance of efficacy and comfort from front bumper 

to boot. Available in three grades Fortuner 2.7L Premium, 4.0L Exclusive, and 4.0L 

Grand. Power is privilege, and the new Fortuner Safari is engineered for the discerning 

driver. Toyota's advanced technology provides superior engine performance that guarantees 

optimum response and good fuel efficiency. The genuine 4-wheel drive, all-new 

Fortuner Safari is equipped with an advanced large displacement engine and tough 

chassis for an uncompromising running performance, whether on-road or off-road. At 

the heart of the vehicle, is a V6 4.0-litre, 24-valve VVT-i engine that delivers output of 

235 HP and torque of 38.3 kg-m in SAE net. 

The engine has been combined with a choice of 5-speed manual and 4 or 5-speed 

automatic transmission incorporating advanced electronics technology, to provide op- 

22 

OMAN/INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013 

BUSINESS ALERT 

timum shift control, making the Fortuner Safari easier to drive. The Fortuner Safari is 

also available with an inline 4-cylinder 2.7-litre engine that produces an output of 158 

HP and a torque of 24.6 kg-m in SAE net. To efficiently transmit engine power to the 

front and rear wheels, a Torsen Limited Slip Differential is used for the Centre differential. 

Optimal torque distribution according to driving and road conditions makes 

the new Fortuner Safari a full time 4-wheel drive capable of taking on any kind of 

road conditions. The Toyota Fortuner Safari features the most advanced safety features 

such as the antilock braking system (ABS) that prevents the wheels from locking and 

skidding, especially while braking in difficult conditions. Driver and front passenger 

airbags protect the front seat passengers in case of heavy impact. Advanced features 

are used in the seat belts, which restrain passengers from being thrown forward. Additionally, 

the rear parking sensors, head lamp levelling, anti-theft engine immobiliser, 

crash safety body with crumple zones are amongst the many features that ensure total 

peace of mind driving. 

In Oman, Toyota is a household name a part of people's lives. Toyota offers enduring 

quality and nothing comes close to it in terms of value-retention. It is no surprise; 

therefore, that Toyota soars far above the rest, with a dominant market share and everexpanding 

customer base. 

The unmatched, nationwide parts and service support of Saud Bahwan Group 

makes Toyota's pride of place a reality. Toyota customers in Oman enjoy 6-year unlimited 

mileage protection, over 98 per cent parts availability and round-the-clock care, 

amongst many other exclusive privileges from the Group. 

Kia Picanto — style, your way 

EMOTIONAL and consumer-friendly values become a potent blend in the Kia Picanto. 

The interior concept is fresh and unexpected, and unique styling and differentiated 

elements provide a new, fun design in a compact car. “We focused on expanding 

the space with soft and minimal aspects and creating a refined and modern image,” 

remarks the Kia spokesperson, “ The all-new Picanto provides a user-oriented, intuitive 

and easy-to-use interface with ‘Cognitive Design’. The cluster applies the entire centre 

cylinder and digital graphics for a display and matches the digital age with increased 

speed and cognitive capabilities. In addition, a large LCD screen is added to the cluster. 

In the process of designing, we focused on creating unique and advanced visuals by 

applying a large display to a compact car’s cluster. We added sporty elements in the 

fresh design by adding subtle lighting (optional feature) as graphic colour “garnishes” 

to the air vents and the bottom of the audio.” 

“ We also tried to make driving at night more comfortable by adding lighting to the 

driver’s tray to match the exterior design,” he adds, “We designed the centre fascia, 

taking into consideration ergonomic aspects like visibility, functionality and more. The 

all-new Picanto has a control switch that is positioned relatively higher for easier navigation. 

Unlike other compact cars, the Picanto has heater controls that are closer to the 

driver. The controls also have an asymmetrical structure, which are more aesthetically 

pleasing. As most of the Picanto owners are expected to be young women, there are 

new female-friendly features, including a vanity mirror, accented colours, a delicate 

sheet pattern and plenty of storage space designed for privacy and convenience. “ 

Among various ideas, the large vanity mirror on the sun visor is the one that stands 

out as it allows drivers to look at themselves and fix their makeup without having to 

turn their heads. It’s not easy to apply make up in the dark. Although the previous Picanto 

had lighting, it shaded the driver’s face because the light was positioned from the 

head lining. To fix this, the lighting in the all-new Picanto was repositioned to directly 

light the face without shining directly into the eyes. Additionally, the lively lamp lighting 

brings an emotional feeling, similar to that of stars’ dressing rooms. 

Boeing 787 probe far from complete, 

safety regulator ‘very concerned’ 

WASHINGTON — US safety 

regulators are nowhere near 

finishing an investigation into 

a battery fire on the Boeing Co 

787 Dreamliner, a top official 

said, raising the prospect of a 

prolonged grounding for the 

aircraft. 

Deborah Hersman, chairman 

of the National Transportation 

Safety Board, made 

clear that investigators have 

found a series of "symptoms" 

in the battery damaged in a 

January 7 fire in Boston, but 

not the underlying cause of the 

problem. 

She also said the agency 

would be looking at the design 

of the battery compartment 

area of the plane and whether 

the certification standards had 

been strong enough. 

The comments were seen 

by some safety experts within 

the aerospace industry as 

a clear signal that this is no 

longer just a teething issue for 

the new plane. 

That will raise questions 

about the financial impact for 

Boeing, which is still running 

its assembly lines and backing 

up aircraft to be delivered, and 

for airlines, many of which 

NATIONAL Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah AP Hersman (C), standing 

with Director of the Office of Aviation Safety John DeLisi (L) and Director Office of 

Research and Engineering Joseph Kolly (R), briefs reporters on the NTSB’s ongoing 

investigative work being done on JAL Boeing 787 in Washington. — Reuters 

counted on getting the futuristic 

787 for their expansion 

plans. 

"We are early in our investigation, 

we have a lot of activities 

to undertake," Hersman 

told a news conference. 

"This is an unprecedented 

event. We are very concerned. 

We do not expect to see fire 

events on board aircraft. This 

is a very serious air safety concern." 

She rebuffed multiple 

questions on how long the investigation 

would take, making 

clear it could be weeks or 

more. She also would not say 

when the 787 would fly again, 

which is in the hands of the 

Federal Aviation Administration. 

Former NTSB Chairman 

Mark Rosenker said the briefing 

made it clear the investigators 

had come up short in 

their hunt for the cause of the 

battery fire. 

"It's going to take them 

longer," he said in an inter- 

view. "Weeks, not days." 

Richard Aboulafia, aerospace 

analyst with the Virginia-based 

Teal Group, said the 

NTSB briefing was a sobering 

reminder that investigators 

have not made much headway 

on finding a cause for the battery 

problems. 

"It was hard to find a lot of 

optimism on the call. It sounds 

like they're still in the middle 

of a lot of hard work and a lot 

of mysteries," Aboulafia said. 

"It just wasn't encouraging. 

Fire is the last thing you want 

on an airplane." 

The 787 has been grounded 

worldwide since an All Nippon 

Airways plane made an emergency 

landing in Japan on 

January 16 after a battery incident, 

which Hersman said may 

or may not have been a fire. 

That emergency landing 

came after a fire occurred on a 

Japan Airlines Co Ltd 787 on 

the tarmac in Boston. 

In a statement late on 

Thursday, Boeing said it was 

cooperating with regulators 

and had teams of "hundreds 

of engineering and technical 

experts" working on the situation. 

— Reuters 

This highly individualised styling elements that give a 'new identity' to this wellknown 

Kia. Experts have also gone on to admire on how the “...the harmony between 

the European-style sophisticated image and unique detailed elements give rise 

to the Picanto's new 'Smart Premium' character.' The Picanto's front view emphasises 

confidence and dignity. In particular, its front bumper was shaped and re-shaped to 

conform to the Euro NCAP Pedestrian Protocol. The challenge is best described in the 

words of Mr. Kee Hong Park, Kia's man-in-charge of exterior design, “A better design 

with greater safety always puts the designer in a dilemma. More emphasis on safety 

make the shape of the bumper different from the original concept, while disregard for it 

results in lower safety standards. Its pretty tough to satisfy both criteria. However, this 

dilemma led us to discover a solution, which turned out to be a new style for a premium 

compact car,” he said. 

Kee Hong Park reiterated that it is the harmony between design and technology 

that has created this highly safe and dignified style for the new Picanto. As far as the 

specific design characteristics are concerned, the moulding around the fog lamp gives 

an expression of the bumper image and dynamic image, which emphasises sturdiness 

and safety. In addition, the headlamp LED DRL (Daytime Running Light) brings a 

high-tech style and stability with abundant volume. In particular, the headlamp of the 

All-new Picanto is based on the image of the helmet used in American football. With its 

details emphasised, the headlamp was transformed into the new eye of the new Picanto. 

Reliable International Automotive, the distributor for Kia in Oman provides a rewarding 

ownership experience for customers. Excellent product attributes and unmatched 

18 facilities easily ensure their absolute satisfaction, every mile of the way. 

No wonder then that Reliable International Automotive has been ranked amongst 

the top Kia distributors worldwide and has been honoured with prestigious accolades 

including the Kia 'Dealer of the Year' award; Kia 'Distributor of Distinction' award, 

'Family Like Care' Service award and the 'Zenith Club' award for excellent performance. 

The prestigious 'Kia Award for Overall Excellence and Outstanding Performance' 

amongst Kia distributors worldwide was bestowed most deservingly. 

Micra — a hatchback that speaks style 

THE Nissan Micra is a zippy and smart compact hatchback which comes with trendy 

looks, characteristic agility and distinctive lifestyle appeal, Micra is currently one of 

the most popular sedan cars offering a highly-rewarding driving experience to its discerning 

consumers. 

The Nissan Micra is a powerful, safe and fuel-efficient city car possessing all the 

features required to become the segment leader in the Sultanate. With stand-out looks, 

class-leading driving dynamics and an interior design offering both comfort and convenience, 

the Nissan Micra is a step ahead of the regular compact hatchback offering. 

The cool and zippy Nissan Micra S80 variant is now available at an even cooler 

price tag of RO 4,000 onwards. The foundation of the new Nissan Micra S80 variant 

features outstanding driving performance which comes in a 16-valve, four cylinder 

1.5-litre engine. It is available in 5 trim grades with features such as the Nissan Intelligent 

Key with Push Engine Start, which can lock or unlock doors or start the engine 

without using a key, Climate-control air-conditioning, reversing sensors, 15-inch alloy 

wheels and front fog lights. Efficiency is built into the very fabric of Micra with 

its lightweight roof panel contributing to reduced weight and higher fuel economy, 

while its boomerang-shaped bead in the roof panel reduces booming noise in the cabin 

otherwise caused by roof resonance. The structure also provides reduced weight and 

high-rigidity, which improves quietness. 

The Nissan Micra also comes with the highest levels of safety features, a crucial 

quality in any small car. Its high standard safety features include dual airbags, anti-lock 

brakes with electronic brake force distribution and brake assist, to help the driver avoid 

a collision while a high mount stop lamp providing better visibility to other motorists 

when Micra is slowing. 

In addition, the Nissan Micra offers a range of convenience features such as a multifunction 

Drive Computer, power windows and mirrors, friendly storage spaces and an 

outstanding sound system; MP3/WMA compatible CD player. 

A refined vehicle in its own right, the all new Nissan Micra aims to attract a wider 

audience with its contemporary good looks, eye-catching exterior colour range, spacious 

and fashionable interior, in addition to a powerful high performance engine and a 

range of other options to make city driving easier Suhail Bahwan Automobiles (SBA) 

offers wide range of after sales service with modern technology and state-of-the-art 

facilities in strategic locations. Their practice of ‘total ownership experience’ and customer-centric 

approach will ensure that customers of the Nissan Micra are given par 

excellence professional services for all car related needs. 

SBA is largely committed to supporting Nissan’s growth in the Sultanate through 

major emphasis on customer satisfaction and by providing world-class after-sales services 

in Oman. With a national network of more than 17 showrooms, 21 service centres 

and 35 spare parts outlets, SBA has further built upon its legacy of trust, excellent 

customer service and providing value for money to each of its customers. 

Morgan Stanley CEO Gorman 

made $6 million for 2012 

NEW YORK — Morgan 

Stanley Chief Executive Officer 

James Gorman received 

lower compensation for 2012 

after a difficult year for the 

bank in which profits declined. 

Gorman received $6 million 

in total compensation 

for 2012, including $800,000 

in salary, $2.6 million in deferred 

cash and $2.6 million 

in stock options, a person familiar 

with the matter said on 

Thursday. He did not receive a 

cash bonus. 

Gorman made $8.56 million 

for 2011, when counting 

salary, deferred cash and restricted 

stock grants. 

Morgan Stanley's board 

also plans to award Gorman 

an undetermined amount of 

long-term incentive pay for 

2012, the source said. But he 

will still make less than the 

$10.5 million total he made 

in 2011, when counting $1.9 

million in long-term incentive 

pay, the source said. 

Gorman isn't the only 

Wall Street chief taking a pay 

cut. JPMorgan Chase & Co 

(JPM.N) last week slashed 

CEO Jamie Dimon's bonus by 

half after the bank lost more 

than $6 billion on its disas- 

trous "London Whale" trade. 

Goldman Sachs Group Inc 

CEO Lloyd Blankfein, however, 

received a more than 50 

per cent increase in restricted 

shares as part of his bonus for 

2012, according to filings last 

week. 

Morgan Stanley on Thursday 

disclosed stock and option 

awards for top executives in 

filings with the US Securities 

and Exchange Commission. 

The rest of the executives' pay 

will be disclosed later in the 

company's annual proxy filing. 

Among the executives, 

Chief Financial Officer Ruth 

Porat received 99,834 shares 

of restricted stock, worth 

$2.29 million on Tuesday, the 

day the shares were granted. 

Gorman received stock options, 

which give the holder 

the right to buy stock at a certain 

price, instead of restricted 

stock grants for corporate 

tax reasons, the source said. 

Granting options was a way to 

maintain deductibility, which 

is allowed under IRS rules, the 

source said. 

Porat was able to receive 

restricted stock because CFO 

compensation was not subject 

to the same tax deduction limits, 

the source said. 

Charles Elson, director of 

the Weinberg Center for Corporate 

Governance at the University 

of Delaware, said he 

was surprised to see the use of 

stock options to pay Gorman 

because restricted shares are 

considered to be more in line 

with shareholder interests. 

Restricted stock goes up 

and down with the value of a 

company's stock, while stock 

options can vary from being 

worth a lot to becoming 

worthless, he said. Restricted 

shares "are not a trip to Las 

Vegas," he said. "It's an ownership 

stake." — Reuters

Apple steps up labour audits, 

finds underage workers 

THE Apple logo is pictured on the front of the company’s flagship retail store near signs 

for the central subway project in San Francisco, California .— Reuters 

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple 

Inc stepped up audits of 

working conditions at major 

suppliers last year, discovering 

multiple cases of underage 

workers, discrimination and 

wage problems. 

The iPhone and iPad maker, 

which relies heavily on Asianbased 

partners like Taiwan’s 

Foxconn Technology Group 

to assemble the vast majority 

of its iPhones and iPads, said 

on Thursday it conducted 393 

audits, up 72 per cent from 

2011, reviewing sites where 

over 1.5 million workers make 

its gadgets. 

Apple in recent years has 

faced accusations of building 

its profits on the backs of 

poorly treated and severely 

underpaid workers in China. 

That criticism came to the 

fore around 2010, after reports 

of suicides at Foxconn drew 

NEW YORK — California 

hedge fund manager Doug 

Whitman was sentenced to 

two years in prison after he 

became the first defendant in 

a broad US crackdown on insider 

trading to take the stand 

to convince jurors of his innocence. 

US District Judge Jed 

Rakoff in Manhattan imposed 

the sentence, which was less 

than half the 4-1/4 to 5-1/4 

years that federal prosecutors 

wanted. 

Whitman, the founder 

of Whitman Capital LLC in 

Menlo Park, was convicted in 

August of securities fraud and 

conspiracy over his involvement 

in two insider trading 

schemes between 2006 and 

2009. 

Prosecutors said one 

scheme resulted in more than 

$900,000 of illegal profit from 

trading the shares of Google 

Inc and video-conferencing 

company Polycom Inc. 

They said the other in- 

attention to the long hours that 

migrant labourers frequently 

endure, often for a pittance in 

wages and in severely cramped 

living conditions. 

Foxconn is the trading 

name of Hon Hai Precision 

Industry and employs 1.2 million 

workers across China. 

Under Chief Executive Tim 

Cook, who took over from 

Steve Jobs in 2011, Apple has 

taken new steps to improve its 

record and boost transparency, 

including the extensive audits 

of its sprawling supply chain. 

Last year, it agreed to separate 

audits by the independent Fair 

Labor Association. 

In an interview on Thursday, 

Apple senior vice president 

of operations Jeff Williams 

said the company has 

increased its efforts to solve 

two of the most challenging 

issues — ensuring there are no 

volved “soft-dollar” payments 

used to obtain tips on and then 

trade in chipmaker Marvell 

Technology Group Ltd. 

Rakoff said he believed 

Whitman “repeatedly perjured 

himself” on the stand and was 

“willfully, blatantly aware that 

he was trading on inside information 

every step of the way.” 

But he also noted evidence of 

the defendant’s good character, 

including his assistance to 

children with learning disabilities, 

in imposing punishment. 

Before learning his punishment, 

Whitman, 55, choked 

up as he read from a prepared 

statement in which the 

Atherton, California, resident 

alluded to the breakup of his 

20-year marriage soon after he 

was charged. 

“This has been the most 

painful and shaming experience 

of my life,” Whitman 

said. “My father taught me not 

to cut corners and I tried to apply 

that to my life and my job 

underaged workers in its supply 

chain and limiting working 

hours to 60 hours a week. 

While child labour reflected 

a small percentage of the 

workforce, Apple is now investigating 

its smaller suppliers 

— which typically supply 

parts to larger suppliers and 

hence face less oversight on 

such issues — to bring them 

into compliance, sometimes 

even firing them. 

“We go deep in the supply 

chain to find it,” Williams 

said. “And when we do find it, 

we ensure that the underage 

workers are taken care of, the 

suppliers are dealt with.” 

In one case, Apple said it 

terminated its relationship with 

a component maker Guangdong 

Real Faith Pingzhou 

Electronics Co Ltd after discovering 

74 cases of underage 

workers. — Reuters 

China slaps duties on some 

EU and US chemicals 

BEIJING — China has imposed 

anti-dumping duties 

on European and US exporters 

of two chemical solvents, 

the Commerce Ministry said 

yesterday, in the latest round 

of trade restrictions involving 

China and the West. 

The United States and the 

EU have relied increasingly 

on anti-dumping and countervailing 

duty laws in recent 

years to halt what they say 

are unfairly priced and subsidized 

imports from China, 

the world’s second-largest 

economy. 

China has stepped up its 

own use trade remedies in 

the face of what it decries as 

rising trade protectionism on 

products ranging from ceramic 

plates to solar panels. 

The five-year anti-dumping 

duties on glycol and diethylene 

glycol will come into 

effect from January 28, the 

ministry said in a statement 

posted to its website. 

“The glycol and diethylene 

glycol produced in Europe 

and the United States is being 

dumped in China, which has 

caused substantial damage to 

China’s domestic industry,” 

it said. 

The duties range from 9.3 

to 18.8 per cent on companies 

such as Eastman Chemical 

Company, Equistar Chemicals, 

LP from the United States, 

and BASF from Europe. A 

US trade panel last Friday approved 

punitive duties for five 

years on hundreds of millions 

of dollars of wind towers from 

China and Vietnam. US producers 

have complained that 

unfair Asian competition was 

forcing them to close plants 

and shed jobs.— Reuters 

Whitman Capital founder gets 

two years for insider trades 

CALIFORNIA hedge fund manager trader Doug Whitman exits the Manhattan Federal 

Courthouse in New York, following his sentencing. — Reuters 

... My trial and my conviction 

have served as a rude and bitter 

wakeup call.” 

Whitman was also fined 

$250,000 and sentenced to 

one year of supervised release. 

He was granted bail pending 

an expected appeal. Federal 

prosecutor Chris LaVigne said 

the government will seek a 

forfeiture of $935,306 of illegal 

profit. 

“Doug Whitman maintains 

his innocence and looks 

forward to vindication on appeal,” 

his lawyer David Anderson 


Whitman had sought a 

maximum prison term of six 

months. 

Another of his lawyers, 

David Rody, told Rakoff that a 

long sentence was not needed 

for deterrence, and that prosecuting 

a “relatively smaller 

player” such as Whitman was 

enough to convince others in 

the hedge fund industry that 

“nobody’s safe.” — Reuters 

23 

OMAN/INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013

24 

OMAN/INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013 

Asian stock markets mixed, Tokyo surges on yen tumble 

HONG KONG — Asian markets 

were mixed yesterday, 

with Tokyo’s Nikkei surging 

to a near three-year high on the 

back of a weaker yen, while 

Wall Street provided an uneven 

lead. 

The yen resumed its down- 

A MAN looks at a stock index board outside a brokerage in Tokyo yesterday. — Reuters 

trend after a brief rally as the 

country’s vice finance minister 

indicated the new hawkish 

government would step in to 

stop the currency from returning 

to record highs against 

the dollar. Tokyo surged 2.88 

per cent, or 305.78 points, to 

10,926.65, pushing the benchmark 

index to its best close 

since April 2010. 

Sydney was 0.42 per cent 

higher, adding 25.0 points to 

4,835.2 but Seoul closed 0.91 

per cent lower, shedding 17.79 

points to 1,946.69. 

In the afternoon Hong 

Kong lost 0.37 per cent while 

Shanghai eased 0.22 per cent 

on profit taking. 

Hong Kong closed flat dipping 

21.64 points to 23,580.43 

and Shanghai fell 0.49 per 

cent, or 11.30 points to end at 

2,291.30. 

Takehiko Nakao said the 

government was closely watching 

the yen’s movements in 

currency markets, adding that 

“appropriate action” would be 

taken if it got too strong. 

His comments in an interview 

with the Wall Street 

Journal sent the yen tumbling 

Thursday in New York, where 

the US dollar jumped to 90.40 

yen from 88.56 yen a day earlier, 

while the euro climbed 

120.91 yen from 118.00 yen. 

“Nakao’s comments serve 

as a stark reminder of the government’s 

unrelenting drive to 

pursue a weaker currency in an 

attempt to resuscitate the economy,” 

Chris Gore, currency 

analyst at Go Markets said in 

a note to clients, according to 

Dow Jones Newswires. 

The BoJ move, which came 

after pressure from the government, 

raised eyebrows around 

the world and stoked fears of 

another currency war as other 

economies look to weaken 

their currencies to boost exports. 

German Chancellor Angela 

Merkel said: “I will admit I am 

not without some concern about 

Japan right now.” She added 

that “political influences or 

manipulations of the exchange 

rate” have become a hot topic 

within the Group of 20. 

However, Japan’s Finance 

Minister Taro Aso yesterday 

rejected claims Tokyo was orchestrating 

a slide in the yen, 

with the online version of the 

Nikkei quoting him as saying 

Microsoft beats forecasts with $6.4bn profit 

SAN FRANCISCO — 

Microsoft said its profit dipped 

slightly from a year earlier but 

posted record revenues in the 

past quarter, getting a lift from 

sales of its new Windows 8 operating 

system. 

Profit dipped 3.7 per cent 

from 12 months ago to $6.38 

billion, better than most forecasts, 

while revenues rose 2.7 

per cent to $21.46 billion, a 

record for the US tech giant. 

Microsoft said the boost in 

revenues came from pre-sales 

and upgrades of Windows 8, 

recognised in the quarter, and 

gains in business software and 

other segments. 

The second fiscal quarter 

statement, however, did not 

offer specific sales data for 

the Surface tablet launched 

late last year by Microsoft 

or its new Windows Phone 8 

system, two keys to the company’s 

future. 

“Our big, bold ambition to 

reimagine Windows as well as 

launch Surface and Windows 

MICROSOFT CEO Steve Ballmer speaks in front of Microsoft products at the Qualcomm 

pre-show keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. — Reuters (File) 

Phone 8 has sparked growing 

enthusiasm with our customers 

and unprecedented opportunity 

and creativity with our 

partners and developers,” said 

Steve Ballmer, chief executive. 

“With new Windows devices, 

including Surface Pro, and 

the new Office on the horizon, 

we’ll continue to drive excitement 

for the Windows ecosystem 

and deliver our software 

through devices and services 

people love and businesses 

need.” 

The profit amounted to 76 

cents per share — one cent 

better than the Wall Street 

consensus. Microsoft shares 

traded down 1.4 per cent in 

after-hours exchanges. 

John Ogg at 24/7 Wall Street 

called it a “mixed” report and 

said there appeared to be concerns 

that Microsoft did not 

offer guidance other than that 

its operating expenses would 

be in the $30.3 to $30.9 billion 

range for the fiscal year. 

“Until guidance is offered 

in the call we would consider 

this unfinished business,” he 

said. 

“This was the first time in 

memory we haven’t seen disappointment 

in the Windows 

line,” he said in a research 

note, maintaining a buy rating. 

Raimo Lenschow at 

Barclays said the results were 

“essentially in line with investors’ 

low expectations.” 

The analyst said Microsoft 

shares would “pull back only 

modestly” and that investors 

will be “looking for further 

detail on what management 

expects for Windows 8 moving 

forward” and sales figures 

for the Surface. — AFP 

TEL: 24601003, 24600586 • FAX: 24600736 

• WEBSITE: www.salalahport.com 

such criticism “is completely 

off the mark”. 

Highlighting the work 

ahead for Japan’s new leaders, 

official data yesterday showed 

the economy remained stuck 

in a deflationary rut, with core 

consumer prices slipping 0.1 

per cent in 2012, the fourth annual 

decline. 

Traders took heart from another 

rise on the Dow, which 

ended 0.33 per cent higher after 

figures were released showing 

weekly US jobless claims 

fell for a second straight week, 

but Wall Street’s other two major 

indexes fared less well. 

The S&P 500 was flat and 

the tech-rich Nasdaq fell 0.74 

per cent, dragged by a 12 per 

cent plunge in Apple after the 

iPhone maker’s latest earnings 

WASHINGTON — Starbucks 

Corp reported stronger-thanexpected 

sales in the United 

States and Asia despite economic 

uncertainty worldwide, 

offsetting unexpected costs including 

the bill for cleaning up 

after Superstorm Sandy. 

The company’s first-quarter 

profit matched but did not 

exceed Wall Street estimates 

and it merely repeated its forecasts 

for the full year. Starbucks 

often tops profit expectations 

and raises forecasts. 

Seattle-based Starbucks is 

frequented by affluent consumers 

with extra money to 

spend on premium drinks like 

lattes and mochas, but the 

chain’s executives joined industry 

peers in adopting a cautious 

stance for the new year, 

largely because of concerns 

that this month’s US payroll 

tax increase could depress 

report fell short of expectations. 

Seoul, which fell on weak 

economic growth figures 

Thursday, took another hit 

yesterday after index giant 

Samsung Electronics posted 

below-forecast results for the 

October-December fourth 

quarter. 

Gold was at $1,669.20 at 

1055 GMT compared with 

$1,677.37 late Thursday. 

In other markets: 

Thai stocks rose 0.85 per 

cent or 12.32 points to close 

at 1,461.41. Banpu was unchanged 

at 392.00 baht, while 

PTT shed 0.30 per cent or 1.00 

baht at 333.00 baht. 

Jakarta ended up 18.87 

points, or 0.43 per cent, at 

4,437.59. Hero Supermarket 

consumer spending. 

Starbucks’ results landed 

a day after fellow restaurant 

bellwether McDonald’s Corp 

reported an unexpected rise in 

December sales at established 

US restaurants. But McDonald’s 

also warned that its 

rose 7.22 per cent to 5,200 rupiah, 

mobile phone provider 

Indosat gained 4.48 per cent 

to 7,000 rupiah, while Aneka 

Tambang fell 1.50 per cent to 

1,310 rupiah. 

Kuala Lumpur shares 

gained 1.88 points, or 0.11 

per cent, to close at 1,637.13. 

UMW Holdings added 2.7 per 

cent to 12.10 ringgit, and Felda 

Global Ventures Holdings rose 

1.8 per cent to 4.59. Axiata 

Group dipped 0.9 per cent to 

6.37 ringgit. 

Manila closed 0.82 per 

cent higher, adding 50.37 

points to 6,167.64. Ayala Corp 

rose 1.85 per cent to 552 pesos, 

Alliance Global Group 

gained 0.11 per cent to 17.48 

pesos and Manila Electric Co. 

was 1.50 per cent up at 284.60 

pesos. 

Mumbai rose 0.9 per cent, 

or 179.75 points, to 20,103.53. 

Singapore closed up 

0.64 per cent, or 20.92 points, 

to 3,269.31. Wilmar International 

gained 3.78 per cent to 

Sg$3.84 while United Overseas 

Bank dropped 0.84 per 

cent to Sg$18.86. 

Taipei fell 0.30 per cent, 

or 23.41 points, to 7,672.58. 

Hon Hai Precision rose 1.09 

per cent to Tw$83.4 while 

TSMC was 0.9 per cent lower 

at Tw$99.0. 

Wellington rose 0.24 

per cent, or 9.91 points, to 

4,199.82. Fisher & Paykel 

Healthcare was up 2.1 per cent 

at NZ$2.49 and Telecom added 

1.9 per cent to NZ$2.38. 

— AFP 

Starbucks Corp stays 

hot in US and Asia 

SEOUL — South Korea’s 

Samsung Electronics said yesterday 

net profit soared 75.6 

per cent to a record 7.04 trillion 

won ($6.6 billion) in the 

fourth quarter of 2012, driven 

by strong smartphone and 

memory chip sales. 

The world’s largest technology 

firm by revenue and 

top smartphone maker also 

saw a record operating profit 

in October-December of 8.84 

trillion won, up 89.7 per cent 

from a year earlier. 

The figures were largely in 

line with Samsung’s guidance 

released earlier this month. 

For all of 2012, Samsung 

logged a net profit of 23.8 trillion 

won, with revenue and operating 

income reaching 201.1 

trillion won and 29.05 trillion 

PEDESTRIANS walk past the new Starbucks logo on a 

store in Times Square in New York. — Reuters 

won respectively. 

The company said growth 

in the fourth quarter was mainly 

driven by “solid sales” of its 

flagship Galaxy S3 and Galaxy 

Note 2 smartphones. 

IT and Mobile Communications 

accounted for the lion’s 

share of operating profit in 

the fourth quarter, racking up 

5.44 trillion won on revenue of 

31.32 trillion won. 

However, Samsung cautioned 

that the “furious growth 

spurt” in the global smartphone 

market in 2012 would be “pacified” 

this year by intensifying 

price competition by a slew of 

new products. 

“In the first quarter, demand 

for smartphones in developed 

countries is expected to decelerate,” 

it said in a statement. 

January same-restaurant sales 

would fall as it follows strong 

year-ago results. 

“We don’t know where the 

consumer is going to shake 

out this year,” Edward Jones 

analyst Jack Russo said. 

— Reuters 

Samsung posts record 

fourth quarter profit 

SAMSUNG Galaxy tablet computers are displayed at a store in Seoul. — Reuters 

Samsung’s growth momentum 

still remains faster than 

smartphone rival Apple’s, and 

analysts expect it to stay that 

way for much of the year due 

to a larger mix of products. 

While shares in Samsung 

have climbed 12 per cent over 

the past three months, Apple 

has slumped 20 per cent. 

The California-based company 

announced record quarterly 

profits on Wednesday, but 

investors soured on forecasts 

of levelling growth and reduced 

profit margins. 

While Samsung does not 

provide figures for quarterly 

smartphone shipments, analysts 

estimate the company 

sold 63 million smartphones 

on total handset sales of 110.5 

million units. — AFP

By Kaushalendra Singh 

THE great initiative 

taken to unite the cultures 

of Oman and 

Italy in June last year turned 

out to be so successful that it 

reached Rome in January this 

year. It made such a wonderful 

impact on the viewers that 

the organisers are planning yet 

another exhibition sometime 

in March. 

This is the background of 

some Omani artists who are 

in the news again in Italy. In 

June 2011 Ahmed al Busaidy, 

Ibrahim al Busaidy, Juma al 

Harthy, Saud al Hunaini, Abdul 

Majeed Karooh, Mohammed 

al Maamari, and Saleh al Shukairi 

exhibited their works in 

IT is the art world’s equivalent 

of finding a precious 

gold coin down the back 

of a sofa. 

A major renovation at 

Paris’s legendary Ritz hotel 

has resulted in the discovery 

of a painting thought to 

be the work of 17th century 

artist Charles Le Brun that 

nobody knew was there. 

Now, the giant tableau is 

to be sold by Christie’s auctioneers 

and could raise up to 

500,000 euros ($665,000) for 

the foundation established by 

owner Mohamed al Fayed in 

memory of his son Dodi, the 

late boyfriend of Princess 

Diana. 

The oil painting has been 

identified by experts as 

an early work by Le Brun 

(1619-1690) that would have 

been completed before he 

became the official painter at 

the court of Louis XIV and 

established his reputation as 

one of the dominant figures 

of 17th century French art. 

It adorned one of the 

Easy chic wraps up Paris 

couture shows 

Page 27 

Gubbio in an exhibition entitled 

‘Oman in Gubbio.’ A 

selection of both Italian and 

Omani art taken from that exhibition 

is now displayed in 

the ‘Casa dell’ Architettura’, 

Rome, where a seminar took 

place on January 22. 

Four of the Omani artists 

(Saleh al Shukeiri, Juma al 

Harthy, Saud al Hunaini and 

Abdul Majid Karooh) attended 

the event to support the new 

exhibition in Rome, entitled 

‘Oman in Gubbio — connecting 

cultures through art and 

architecture’. Some of their 

ceramic artworks, which they 

had done in workshops during 

their stay in Gubbio, were also 

exhibited. 

Present at the exhibition 

suites in which Coco Chanel 

lived for more than 30 years 

but when exactly it was installed 

in the hotel remains a 

mystery. 

The building that houses 

the hotel on the swanky 

Place Vendome dates from 

1705 and was initially a family 

home for French nobles. 

It became the Ritz after it 

was bought by Swiss hotelier 

Cesar Ritz in 1898. 

The hotel archives offer 

no clue as to how the painting 

ended up there, according 

to Ritz art adviser Joseph 

Friedman. 

“When I saw this painting 

in the suite, I had to take 

a step back. It had a very 

powerful impact,” Friedman 

said. 

“The use of colour and the 

movement are remarkable. 

The influence of (Baroque 

master Nicolas) Poussin is 

obvious.” 

“A colleague then found 

the initials CLBF, which 

stand for Charles Le Brun 

Exposure to BPA promotes 

hyperactivity 

Page 26 

was Said Nasser al Harthy, 

the Omani Ambassador, who 

extended constant support for 

this cultural series of events. 

The speakers at the event 

included Amedeo Schiattarella 

Presidente dell Ordine 

degli Architetti di Roma; Pietro 

Reali Member IIA and 

Academie d’Architecture de 

France and Federico Fazzuoli, 

who is well known for his TV 

Programmes of Italian Cultural 

Heritage and a very good 

friend of Oman. 

At times the event was 

tinged with sadness due to 

the recent death of Francesco 

Rampini, a young man full of 

innovative ideas and son of one 

of the organising committee 

members Giampietro Rampini. 

Discovery of 17th century 

mystery masterpiece 

Fecit (Le Brun did this) and 

a date, 1647.” 

Christie’s embarked on 

a process of consultation 

with relevant experts and although 

they have not found 

any contemporary record of 

the painting, “no-one is in 

any doubt that it is a genuine 

Le Brun,” according to 

Friedman. 

Olivier Lefeuvre, a Christie’s 

France specialist in the 

period, said he was blown 

away when he first saw the 

painting in July, a month before 

the Ritz closed its doors 

for a two-year renovation. 

“I thought it was a Le 

Brun straight away,” he said. 

“It was very well preserved. 

It was really quite moving.” 

The painting depicts 

the killing of Trojan princess 

Polyxena after she was 

implicated in the death of 

Achilles. In the absence of 

any historical records, Christie’s 

have named the painting 

as “The Sacrifice of Polyxena.” 

— AFP 

High odds in 

weight loss 

Page 26 

Sundance film reads ‘blind faith’ 

lesson in Google Books 

Page 28 

Fea ures 

Saturday, January 26, 2013 

He was remembered by everyone 

for his idea of ‘connecting 

cultures’ and his deep involvement 

with the Omani artists 

during their stay in Gubbio. A 

few works were also displayed 

at the exhibition as a tribute to 

the talented young man. 

The event organisers expressed 

gratitude to sponsors 

of the earlier events of this 

series, including Wolf Group 

of Companies, Kroll Advisory 

Solutions and W J Towell, 

and did special mention of the 

Comune di Gubbio and Embassy 

of Oman for their continuous 

support. 

The previous event was 

held in the historic and famous 

medieval town of Gubbio, 

Umbria (Italy) which is known 

Singer Shweta Pandit 

turns chawl girl for David 

Page 28 

Omani artists make an impact in Rome 

Art works exhibited in Rome 

Ahmed al Busaidy, Ibrahim al Busaidy, 

Juma al Harthy, Saud al Hunaini, Abdul 

Majeed Karooh, Mohammed al Maamari 

and Saleh al Shukairi exhibited their 

works in Gubbio in an exhibition 

entitled ‘Oman in Gubbio’ in June last 

year. A selection of both Italian and 

Omani art taken from that exhibition 

is now displayed in the ‘Casa dell’ 

Architettura’, Rome, where a seminar 

took place on January 22 

Saleh al Shukeiri with the ambassador 

for ceramics. The event had 

taken place in the largest and 

most impressive building in 

Gubbio, right in the centre, in 

the Sala dell’Arengo, Palazzo 

dei Consoli. 

For three days a tent was 

erected in the Piazza Grande, a 

huge piazza in front of the Palazzo 

dei Consoli with stunning 

views of the town below and 

the countryside beyond. This 

gave the Omani artists an opportunity 

to the art of glazing 

and all about ceramic art from 

the Italian specialists. 

The exhibition displayed 

not only the regular work of 

the artists, but there was an interactive 

space in a tent where 

the public could view and interact 

with the artists as they 

Juma al Harthy Abdul Majeed Karooh with Giampietro Rampini Saud al Hunaini 

AN exhibition at Switzerland’s Fondation 

de l’Hermitage in Lausanne 

showcases 150 works of art from the 

15th century to the present day, analysing the 

use of windows to frame landscapes in paintings, 

transforming a frame and marking the 

interior and exterior boundaries. 

The exhibition, “Windows, from the Renaissance 

to the Present. Dürer, Monet, Magritte...”, 

features paintings, engravings, photographs 

and videos showing different uses 

for windows, depending on the era and the 

dominant artistic movement. 

“Windows are a fascinating element because 

they establish a relationship between 

the frame, understood as a window by some 

artists, and the windows become a fundamental 

theme in some works of art,” Fondation de 

l’Hermitage director Sylvie Wuhrmann told 

reporters at the unveiling of the exhibition. 

The exhibition traces the role of windows 

in different works of art across 500 years of 

art history. 

One interesting point illustrated by the 

exhibition is that of the subject contemplating 

something happening in an interior space 

through a window, getting a look at how the 

occupants live. 

Works by “major artists, such as Dürer, 

Dou, Constable, Monet, Hammershøi, 

Munch, Delaunay, de Chirico, Mondrian, 

Jawlensky, Matisse, Duchamp, Vallotton, 

Ernst, Bonnard, Vuillard, Klee, Delvaux, Picasso, 

Balthus, Rothko (and) Scully, among 

many others”, are featured, the foundation 


worked. 

The selection of work and 

styles for the event revealed 

the kaleidoscope of artistic talent 

prevalent in Oman; from 

the intricate calligraphy fused 

with minimalist modernism 

of Saleh al Shukeiry; to the 

vibrant bold colours of Abdul 

Majeed Karooh; the intense 

energy from Mohamed al 

Maamari; to the classical realism 

of Saud al Hunaini and 

the distinct interpretation of a 

traditional legacy by Juma al 

Harthy. 

The organisers are planning 

more such events to give 

maximum exposure to Omani 

artists as also to bring different 

cultures of the world together. 

Swiss exhibition showcases role of windows in art 

Art serves as a window that peeps into the souls of nature

PEOPLE’S 

PLATFORM 

DURING the month-long 

Muscat Festival Muscat 

from January 30, the capital 

city of Muscat will attract a great 

many tourists and visitors. The tourists 

would love to see that over the 

years Muscat has improved and beyond 

recognition, but has never lost 

its pride in its heritage and culture. 

The capital area is a prime example 

of intelligent and aesthetic development, 

blending the ancient and 

modern. The construction of some 

new high-rise building in recent 

times has not been a good trend. 

While in Muscat, the tourists 

can also visit Nizwa Castle. 

Set amid a verdant spread of date 

palms, Nizwa Castle is a powerful 

reminder of the town of Nizwa’s 

invincibility through turbulent periods 

in Oman’s long history. The 

town of Nizwa has a strategic location 

at the crossroads of vital 

caravan routes linking the interior, 

Muscat and Dhofar governorates. 

Nizwa was declared the capital of 

Oman in the 17th century during 

the reign of Imam Sultan bin Saif 

al Ya’arubi, who built and used the 

castle as his headquarters. 

— Ahmed 

Editor: Muscat Festival is a big 

draw for tourists from around the 

world. We hope tourists and local 

visitors will have a good time. 

Muscat Festival 

THIS year’s Muscat Festival has 

a big line up of events. With 

over 105 events from different 

countries and magic shows, it 

will be a big attraction for family 

get-together. Many of us miss the 

Qurum Natural Park because it has 

been a wonderful venue for many 

years. 

The good weather conditions 

and the festival’s focus on education, 

fun and entertainment for 

youth is another factor for its appeal 

to visitors this year. We hope 

there will be interesting events for 

small children, such as face painting, 

painting competition, games, 

Women face higher 

odds in weight loss 

THE odds seem to be heavily stacked against women, who 

have to sweat and slog their way to weight loss, more so than 

men, scientists warn. Scientists found that obese men reaped 

much better results than women on the same fitness programme. 

While exercise alone might be enough for men to lose weight, 

women must also add diet to get the same results, they warn. 

Jill Kanaley, professor at the University of Missouri and her 

colleagues looked at the heart rate and blood pressure of nearly 

75 obese men and women with Type 2 diabetes, the journal Metabolism 

reports. 

They all followed a programme of aerobic (cardiovascular) 

exercise for 16 weeks. They all worked at an effort of 65 per 

cent, which was worked out based on each individual’s ability. 

Despite everyone exercising at relatively the same speed, the 

researchers found that men got far more benefit from the exercise 

than women. Over the 16 weeks, women’s recovery time 

did not improve, whereas men’s did, indicating their fitness had 

improved. They also lost more weight, the Daily Mail reports. 

Kanaley said: “This research highlights that the advantages 

we think exercise is going to give individuals may not be the 

same across genders, particularly for those who have Type 2 diabetes. 

— IANS 

SNORING MAY be a 

gateway to higher risk of 

heart disease than those 

who are overweight, smoke or 

have high cholesterol, according 

to a new finding. 

Snoring is tied to increased 

thickening of the lining of the 

two large blood vessels that 

supply the brain with oxygenated 

blood. It is a precursor 

to hardening of the arteries 

responsible for many vascular 

and heart diseases. 

“Snoring is more than a 

bedtime annoyance and it 

shouldn’t be ignored. Patients 

need to seek treatment in the 

same way they would if they 

had sleep apnoea, high blood 

pressure or other risk factors 

for cardiovascular disease,” 

stage shows and raffle draws. 

— Sameer 

Editor: Muscat Festival has a 

special appeal to children and families. 

We hope children will have a 

26 LETTERS SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013 

Muscat’s beauty to draw more tourists 

said Robert Deeb, otolaryngologist 

at Henry Ford Hospital, 

Detroit, the journal The Laryngoscope 

reports. 

“Our study adds to the growing 

body of evidence suggesting 

that isolated snoring may not be 

as benign as first suspected. So 

instead of kicking your snoring 

bed partner out of the room 

or spending sleepless nights 

elbowing him or her, seek out 

medical treatment for the snorer,” 

added Deed, according to a 

Henry Ford statement. 

The study reveals changes 

in the carotid artery with snorers 

— even for those without 

sleep apnoea — likely due to 

the trauma and subsequent inflammation 

caused by the vibrations 

of snoring. 

Obstructive sleep apnoea 

(OSA) — a sleep disorder that 

occurs due to the collapse of 

the airway in the throat during 

great time in the coming festival. 

More traffic jams, accidents 

AS time passes, there will 

be more traffic jams and 

sleep and causes loud snoring 

and periodic pauses in breath- 

accidents in Muscat unless 

something drastic is done. It looks 

as if officials will not take any 

action on their own. 

According to recent statistics 

ing — has long been linked to 

cardiovascular disease, along 

with a host of other serious 

health issues. 

But the risk for cardiovascular 

disease may actually begin 

with snoring, long before it 

becomes OSA. Until now, there 

was little evidence in humans 

to show a similar connection 

between snoring and cardiovascular 

risk. For the Henry Ford 

study, Deeb and senior study 

author Kathleen Yaremchuk, 

reviewed data for 913 patients 

who had been evaluated by the 

institution’s sleep centre. 

These findings were presented 

at the 2013 Combined 

Sections Meeting of the Triological 

Society in Scottsdale, 

Arizona. — IANS 

published by the National Centre 

for Statistics and Data (NCSD) 

127,780 new vehicles were registered 

during the period from 

January to November last year, an 

Do you have a word of appreciation for any services you received? Or suggestions for improvement? Observer is giving you an 

opportunity to rant or rave about anything and everything around you: Please write to: 

FEMALES exposed to Bisphenol 

A (BPA) through 

the mother’s diet during 

gestation and lactation develop 

hyperactivity and have a leaner 

body mass than those not exposed 

to the chemical, says a 

new study. 

BPA is a chemical found in 

the lining of food cans and cash 

register receipts. It once was in 

many hard plastic bottles, including 

baby bottles, but many 

companies have removed it as 

concerns about exposure have 

come to light in recent years. 

These latest findings from 

University of Michigan School 

Tel: 24649451, Fax: 24649469; e-mail: observerfeatures@gmail.com 

facebook.com/oman observer twitter.com/omanobserver 

Exposure to BPA promotes hyperactivity 

of Public Health seem to contradict 

previous studies on BPA 

that found the chemical to be a 

factor in obesity, the Journal 

of the Federation of American 

Societies for Experimental Biology 

reports. 

But Dana Dolinoy, assistant 

professor of environmental 

health sciences and study coauthor, 

says research shows 

that many factors impact how 

the body reacts to the chemical, 

according to a Michigan statement. 

“Our hypothesis going into 

this study was that BPA would 

act as an obesogenic (obesity 

promoting) agent. And there is 

some preliminary evidence that 

it does,” Dolinoy said. 

“But there are differences 

in exposure, duration and when 

you actually measure the individual. 

“Recent evidence in 

humans only looks at one time 

point. What we’re really interested 

in is BPA exposure during 

early development, and how 

that affects health throughout 

life. So those are two very different 

questions.” 

Researchers exposed mothers 

to three different levels of 

BPA in the diet then followed 

the offspring through adulthood 

at three, six and nine months of 

age. The average lifespan of a 

mouse is two years, so by three 

months they are young adults. 

“I think the most striking result 

we saw was the increased 

activity in these animals,” said 

Olivia Anderson, doctoral student 

in Michigan environmental 

health sciences, who led the 

study. As to why only females 

exhibited the excessive activity 

and lean bodies, Dolinoy said it 

bears more study, but because 

BPA is known to impact estrogen 

and thyroid hormone, most 

likely it is affecting these natural 

hormones in the females. 

Snoring gateway to greater heart risks, more than annoyance 

increase of 26.5 per cent as compared 

to the corresponding period 

of 2011. 

The number of privately owned 

vehicles stood at 96,600 while 

government vehicles increase by 

58 per cent to 3,387. The number 

of motorcycles has increased 

by 740 or 69 per cent while the 

number of taxis remained at the 

same level. 

The growth of vehicle volumes 

has led to a rise in the number of 

road accidents with the ROP statistics 

showing an increase of 4.1 

per cent during the period from 

January to November last year 

registering 7,119 road accidents 

killing 1,048 — including 701 

Omanis — and injuring more 

10,000 people over 8,000 of them 

were Omanis. 

The statistical data published 

recently by Oman, sister daily of 

the Observer, showed that import 

of automobiles during the first 

eight months of last year stood 

at RO 7.3 billion, an increase of 

26 per cent compared to the corresponding 

period of 2011. The 

automobile parts constitute the 

largest portion of the import with 

RO 1.8 billion. Experts say the 

unprecedented traffic snarls and 

chaotic traffic movement at various 

parts of the country, with special 

focus on the capital city, is the 

by-product of the disproportionate 

growth in the number of vehicles. 

Additional jobs generated both 

in the private and public sectors 

have also contributed to the rise 

in the number of vehicles. 

— Thomas 

Editor: Of course, the officials 

should be proactive and must 

launch urgent initiatives to stop 

the situation from getting worse. 

This is a serious problem that demands 

a national action plan. 

Mediterranean diet 

may not protect the 

ageing brain 

HOPES that a Mediterranean diet would be as good for 

the head as it is for the heart may have been dampened 

by a French study that found little benefit for ageing brains 

from the diet rich in fruit, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, 

wine and olive oil. 

The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical 

Nutrition, looked at the participants’ dietary patterns in 

middle age and measured their cognitive performance at 

around age 65, but found no connection between Mediterranean 

eating and mental performance. 

“Our study does not support the hypothesis of a significant 

neuroprotective effect of a (Mediterranean diet) on 

cognitive function,” wrote study leader Emmanuelle Kesse-Guyot 

at the nutritional epidemiology research centre of 

the French national health research agency INSERM. 

It’s been suggested that the “good” fats in the Mediterranean 

diet might benefit the brain directly, or that low 

saturated fats and high fiber in the diet could help stave 

off cognitive decline indirectly by keeping blood vessels 

healthy. 

Previous research has seemed to uphold that premise. 

One large study in the US Midwest, for example, found 

that people in their 60s and older who ate a mostly Mediterranean 

diet were less prone to mental decline as they 

aged. Another study of residents of Manhattan linked 

a Mediterranean-style diet to a 40 per cent lower risk of 

Alzheimer’s disease. 

Researchers in the French study used data on 3,083 

people who were followed from the mid-1990s, when they 

were at least 45 years old. 

At the beginning of the study, participants recorded 

what they ate over one 24-hour period every two months, 

for a total of six dietary record samples per year. Then, 

between 2007 and 2009 when the participants were about 

65 years old, their memory and other mental abilities were 

measured. 

Researchers then separated participants into three categories 

depending on how closely they adhered to a Mediterranean-style 

diet, and compared their mental ability test 

scores. 

Overall, they found that people who ate a diet closest to 

the Mediterranean ideal performed about the same as those 

who ate a non-restricted diet. 

Nikos Scarmeas, who was not involved with the study 

but has researched the effects of food on brain health, said 

it’s important to note that the new study had some limitations. 

For instance, researchers only tested the participants’ 

mental abilities once, making it impossible to track whether 

they got better or worse over time, added Scarmeas, an 

associate professor at New York’s Columbia University 

Medical Center. — Reuters Health

A1794 silver dollar, 

which many experts 

believe was the first 

such coin struck by the US 

Mint, sold for a record $10 

million at auction on Thursday. 

The Flowing Hair Silver 

Dollar more than doubled the 

previous $4.1 million record 

for a coin set in 1999, auction 

house Stack’s Bowers Galleries 

said. 

Legend Numismatics, a 

rare-coin firm based in New 

Jersey, bought the coin, 

which was the highlight of 

the evening sale in New York 

that fetched a total of $17.2 

million. 

“We felt in our heart that 

this would be the very first 

coin to exceed the $10 million 

barrier in auction and were 

in fact prepared to bid much 

high in order to acquire this 

unique piece of history,” the 

company said in a statement, 

adding it had no plans to sell 

the coin in the near future. 

David Bowers, chairman 

emeritus of Stack’s Bowers 

Galleries, said the coin has 

unique features that make it 

particularly valuable. 

“It is the first American 

metal dollar struck and the 

finest known. You have these 

combinations coming together. 

No museum has an equal 

piece,” he said. 

The coin was part of the 

Cardinal Collection, amassed 

by the collector Martin Logies. 

Bowers described the 

collection as the “Old Masters” 

of coins struck during 

the earliest years of the US 

Mint. 

“I think it is extraordinary 

and I am very pleased that the 

first silver dollar is the first to 

top the $10 million threshold,” 

said Logies, who purchased 

the coin three years 

ago. 

The $10 million price includes 

the buyer’s commis- 

27 LIFESTYLE SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013 

Easy chic wraps up Paris couture shows 

FOUR days of haute couture 

shows wrapped up 

in Paris late on Thursday 

with the easy chic of Beatrice 

Demulder Ferrant contrasting 

with Zuhair Murad’s golden 

goddesses. 

Aiming for clothes that 

were “practical and elegant, 

shaped but not stiff”, Frenchwoman 

Demulder Ferrant’s 

collection combined luxury 

and comfort. 

Sky blue and navy damask 

trousers were teamed with a 

matching tunic or navy blazer, 

while a red and black damask 

skirt slashed to the thigh was 

worn with matching sleeveless 

top, long red leather gloves 

and ankle boots. 

Standing out for evening 

were a backless floor-length 

dress in grey chiffon accesso- 

Designer duo Pankaj and Nidhi 

rised with long silver earrings, 

and a short purple “twisted” 

wool dress. 

Guest Lebanese designer 

Zuhair Murad, whose models 

looked like goddesses in gold 

laurel hairbands, meanwhile 

sent out a sumptuous, super 

feminine collection. 

Evening dresses in faded 

gold, glacier blue, pale green 

and powdered salmon silk all 

featured intricate gold embellishments. 

Flowing capes and trains 

completed some of the robes 

creating dramatic silhouettes. 

It is an “honour to be invited 

by these big names and 

a responsibility too”, Murad 

said afterwards, referring to 

the other couture houses. He 

added that he hoped his guest 

spot would translate into a 

sales boost. 

Customers were spread 

around the globe, he said, with 

many in Russia and a growing 

number in Asia. 

“I think this (Asia) is the 

future,” he said, echoing comments 

by Christian Dior chief 

Sidney Toledano who said 

earlier the house was succeeding 

in winning new couture 

customers there. 

The “haute couture” label is 

protected by law in France and 

IT is a proud moment for 

designer duo Pankaj and 

Nidhi Ahuja — they are 

set to represent India at the 

final round of International 

Woolmark Prize award in 

London with their collection 

that epitomises true Indian 

craftsmanship with an essence 

of global appeal. 

The designer will compete 

with five other selected designers 

from Australia, China, 

Belgium, Japan and the US at 

the final round that will happen 

at London Fashion Week 

on February 16. 

“The techniques and craftsmanship 

that we are going to 

showcase in London comes 

from India and also because 

India is known as the land of 

colours, so we have put in lot 

of colours. It’s very global 

collection and is not customised 

to a particular country,” 

Pankaj said. 

The designers have already 

planned their itinerary and 

says the preparation is in full 

swing. 

“We are just preparing our 

lookbook for the Woolmark 

competition. We are leaving 

for London on February 14 

awarded on strict criteria such 

as the amount of work carried 

out by hand and in-house. The 

industry caters to no more 

than 200 of the world’s richest 

women. 

Elsewhere bandage dress 

pioneer Herve Leroux’s collection 

featured long, flowing 

evening dresses each with 

a different neck line shaped 

from tightly pleated silk jersey. 

“What is important is that it 

is a work on the body, it is an 

obsession I have had for many 

years,” he said. 

“I create a fabric and find 

new lines,” he added. 

Plenty of big names turned 

out for the week, including 

Kevin Costner, Princess Charlene 

of Monaco, Catherine Deneuve 

and Kim Kardashian. 

Highlights included Christian 

Dior designer Raf Simons’s 

dreamy silk evening 

dresses modelled in a garden 

and then we have got a full 

day of meeting hair and makeup 

stylists and working out for 

the fittings. We are very excited 

of representing India on 

such a big platform,” added 

Pankaj. 

Launched in Australia in 

1954, the International Woolmark 

Prize nurtures emerging 

designers and highlights 

the diverse interpretations of 

Merino wool (a fibre that is 

incredibly easy-to-handle and 

versatile) within their collection. 

The winner will get an 

amount of $A100,000 along 

with an opportunity to be 

stocked in the most important 

boutiques around the globe 

including Harvey Nichols in 

London, Bergdorf Goodman 

in New York, 10 Corso Como 

in Milan, Joyce in China, 

David Jones in Sydney and 

Eickhoff Konigsallee in Germany. 

Well-known names from 

the fashion and the retail industry 

Diane Von Furstenberg, 

co-chairman and founder of 

Diane von Furstenberg Studio 

LP, Donatella Versace, 

creative director and vice- 

sion. 

Like the buoyant art mar- 

within a garden at Paris’s famous 

Tuileries. 

Jean Paul Gaultier also 

gave the fashion world plenty 

to remember with his Rajasthan-inspired 

collection featuring 

the embroidery and 

vibrant colours of the Indian 

desert state. 

And Chinese-born French 

guest designer Yiqing Yin 

flew the flag for the avantgarde 

with a truly original and 

thought-provoking collection. 

Karl Lagerfeld, meanwhile, 

risked controversy with 

a finale featuring two female 

models in wedding dresses 

accompanied by his four-yearold 

nephew. 

The German couturier offered 

words of encouragement 

for disgraced British designer 

John Galliano, sacked by 

Christian Dior and convicted 

in France last year. 

He said he hoped he could 

make a fresh start with the 

help of fellow designer Oscar 

de la Renta, who has invited 

him to work with him. 

“He made a mistake,” he 

said. “But you cannot pay forever.” 

— AFP 

Pankaj-Nidhi set for London dreams 

president of Gianni Versace 

S.p.A and Victoria Beckham 

Rare 1794 silver dollar sells for record $10 million 

ket, which is expecting another 

good year in 2013, Bowers 

said coins are a good investment, 

have a worldwide market 

and have risen steadily in 

value. 

“We’re continually surprised 

by surprises,” he said, 

adding there are several million 

coin collectors around 

the globe. “They want to collect 

coins for appreciation, 

art, rarity and beauty.” 

The record-setting coin 

shows a profile of Miss Liberty 

facing right surrounded 

by stars representing each 

state in the union. The design 

was only used in 1794 and 

briefly the following year. 

Another top seller in the 

sale of 94 lots was the 1792 

Half Disme, which dates back 

to David Rittenhouse, the 

first director of the US Mint. 

It fetched $975,000, excluding 

the 17.5 per cent buyer’s 

commission. — Reuters 

will be in the judges panel. 

— IANS 

Pankaj & Nidhi’s International Woolmark 

Prize Finale Round design 

DESIGNERSare reinventing 

sportswear with new 

synthetic fibres that combine 

design and technology, and are 

on display at the Colombiatex 

2013 fair in Medellin, 

northwestern Colombian city. 

The “Sportive” concept, 

an independent category that 

blends sportswear and tailored 

clothing, incorporates synthetic 

textiles that improve the exercise 

experience. 

The category is an example 

of growing interest in sports attire 

that can be worn informally 

on a daily basis. 

The industry is conducting 

“extensive research” to find 

new weaves that “repel water, 

are antiperspirant and anti-bacterial”, 

Export and Fashion Institute, 

or Inexmoda, fashion director 

Martha Calad told EFE. 

Casual clothing is being developed 

for the 2013-14 spring/ 

summer season that will feature 

“hooded jackets, kangaroo 

pockets and sweat pants”, Calad 

said. — IANS 

Disfigurement of 

banknotes punishable 

under law 

THE Central Bank of 

Oman has recently 

issued a statement 

warning against the defacement 

of banknotes in 

circulation by some citizens 

and expatriates. Statements 

like these are rarely 

issued by the CBO. However, 

it is absolutely necessary 

to educate the public 

and make them aware of 

the significance of preserving 

the sanctity of Omani 

currency and refrain from 

defacing it, an act that can 

ultimately invalidate banknotes 

from daily transactions. 

The banking regulator 

said: “It has been noticed 

by the Central Bank of 

Oman that some members 

of the public are in the 

habit of putting stamps 

and pins, writing numbers 

and sometimes different 

names on the banknotes, 

which affect the shape and 

quality of the banknotes. 

Therefore, it is necessary 

to acknowledge that this is 

uncivilised behaviour and 

is punishable by law, as it 

negatively affects the legal 

tender of the disfigured 

banknotes.” 

It is no secret that paper 

currency or banknotes 

emerged as a solution to 

problems related to the cost 

of storage and transportation 

of commodity money, 

ie, gold and silver, which 

were used for the purposes 

of commodity exchange. 

Hence, paper money 

was created to serve as 

cash guaranteed by governments 

and central banks 

who issue such currency 

against the reserves of 

certain amounts of gold 

bullions or other in-kind 

assets resembling the value 

of these currencies in international 

funds. This process 

makes paper money 

legal, redeemable with 

gold or silver or commodity 

barter. 

Also, it is no secret that 

the use of banknotes has 

become more popular during 

the past two centuries 

because the old practice 

of carrying around precious 

metals was growing 

increasingly impractical. 

With the development of 

trade exchange among the 

public, handling banknotes 

replaced commodities and 

metals. 

This is why some vendors 

and shopkeepers 

sometimes do not accept 

banknotes that are defaced 

or torn. 

Such disfigured paper 

money can often be 

a burden on the national 

economy, and cannot be 

exchanged except through 

central banks that issue 

new currency to replace 

the old at a very high fi- 

Haider Al Lawati 

haiderdawood@hotmail.com 

nancial cost. 

It is a well-known fact 

in Oman those banknotes 

of 5, 10, 20 and 50 Riyal 

bills are carried by adults, 

while most children carry 

smaller one Rial or 500 

or 100 baisa bills, which 

means that people of all 

ages and professions are 

required to take good care 

of those banknotes. 

For example, an official 

is required to bear this in 

mind and refrain from writing 

any comments, numbers 

or notes on banknotes, 

and so are bank tellers 

and cashiers at money exchanges 

and other commercial 

establishments that 

receive large sums of paper 

currency. 

Such a behaviour comes 

from adults, and younger 

people follow suit by mishandling 

the paper that 

carries monetary value. 

Disposing of or destroying 

disfigured banknotes 

requires the provision of 

other sums to print new 

ones, costing states large 

sums of money to provide 

newly minted currency. 

When properly preserved, 

paper money can 

be handled for many years, 

while those depicting 

notes, distortions, dribblings, 

numbers, stamps 

or different ink markings 

are destroyed and disposed 

of. A new application is 

then submitted to the specialised 

institutions abroad 

to print new banknotes, 

incurring heavy costs of 

travelling, supervision and 

printing by officials from 

the departments concerned 

at central banks. 

All members of society, 

whether citizens or 

expatriates, are required to 

exercise extra care in handling 

banknotes especially 

when placing them inside 

the wallets or pulling them 

outside the wallets to avoid 

causing tears. 

People must also not 

use banknotes as a paper 

pad. 

Sometimes, someone is 

in a hurry to write a quick 

note but cannot find a 

piece of paper so he writes 

the note in haste on a banknote. 

Last but not least, parents, 

teachers and other 

groups are required to educate 

children and youngsters 

the significance of 

handling paper money with 

care and not disfigure them 

in any way by stamping 

them or writing on them. 

They must be aware of the 

fact that any person who 

mishandles banknotes or 

does not preserve the sanctity 

of the paper currency 

will be legally accountable. 

It is a warning that must be 

noted by all. 

Designers reinvent sportswear with new fibres

Dr Ibrahim bin Ahmed al Kindi, 

Chief Executive Officer 

Fahmi bin Khalid al Harthy, 

Editor-in-Chief 

28 

ENTERTAINMENT SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013 

Film reads ‘blind faith’ lesson in Google Books 

Actresses Dakota Fanning (left) and Elizabeth Olsen pose for a portrait during the 2013 

Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. — AFP 

Vedhika bags 

Kannada remake 

of Brindavanam 

ACTRESS Vedhika 

Kumar has been roped 

in to play the female lead 

in the upcoming Kannada 

family-drama Brindavana, 

a remake of Telugu film 

Brindavanam. 

“Nowadays family films 

have become a rarity in our 

film industry, and therefore 

I’m excited to be part of this 

wonderful family project”, 

Vedhika said. “I will probably 

start shooting by the end 

of February or early March,” 

she added. 

N T Rama Rao Jr, Kajal 

Agarwal and Samantha Ruth 

Prabhu played the lead role 

in Brindavanam, which revolved 

around a guy who 

resolves the tussle between 

two brothers and unites 

them. 

Vedhika is cast opposite 

Kannada superstar Darshan 

Thoogudeep in the film. She 

will essay the role played by 

Samantha in the original. 

The rest of the cast of 

Brindavana will be announced 

soon. It will be 

directed by K Madesh and 

produced by Suresh Gowda 

and Srinivas Murthy under 

SSB production banner. 

Brindavanam has already 

been remade in Bengali as 

Khoka 420. 

GOOGLE Books, the 

doomed project to 

build the world’s biggest 

library online, provides a 

powerful lesson in the danger 

of “blind faith” in technology, 

according to British director 

Ben Lewis. 

Presenting his new film 

Google and the World Brain 

in competition at the Sundance 

Film Festival, Lewis said the 

failure of the online giant’s plan 

marks a victory over those who 

believe the Internet can encompass 

everything. 

“Around four years ago, I 

began to think that there was a 

kind of blind faith in the Internet 

and the technology,” he said 

at America’s biggest independent 

film festival, held in the 

snowy mountains of Utah. 

“There was a kind of naive 

belief that technology would 

cure the world of many serious 

problems, and that it would 

make us more intelligent. And I 

just thought that was a kind of 

false God.” 

“And I decided that I wanted 

to make a film that stimulated 

or began to develop a 

sort of critical way of thinking 

the Internet, but still balanced. 

I wanted to present the dilemmas, 

the dreams and dangers.” 

He decided to base his film 

on Google Books, a project 

which was already well under 

way at the time to digitise every 

book in the world’s top university 

and public libraries, to create 

a universal and free global 

library. 

The film shows the enthusiasm 

generated by the project 

in its early stages, when prestigious 

institutions including 

Harvard University welcomed 

Google and its money-saving 

digital offer with open arms. 

But fairly quickly it ran into 

problems, notably in Europe 

where the head of the French 

Bibliotheque Nationale, Jean- 

Noel Jeannenay, rebuffed 

the Californian upstarts, and 

backed a rival online cultural 

library, Europeana. 

Google also rapidly ran into 

opposition when it began digitising 

works not in the public 

domaine, as copyright holders 

cried foul. The film presents the 

crusade by a Chinese author, 

Mian Mian, against the search 

giant. Threatened with legal action, 

Google agreed negotiate a 

deal with American publishers 

and authors, but that was ruled 

unlawful and litigation is continuing. 

Lewis said the setbacks for 

Google — which has nevertheless 

used the books it has 

already digitised to improve 

its search engine, according to 

experts — have reshaped the 

future of the Internet. 

“Google Books in its old 

form is dead. They actually got 

stopped by quite a conventional 

international alliance of institutions, 

individuals and governments,” 

he said. 

“That shows that it’s not 

inevitable that the net goes in 

a certain way. It’s not like we 

don’t have any control over 

these giant Internet corporations 

and we just have to sort of 

go along with it. We can change 

it, if we want to.” 

One of the biggest question 

marks hanging over Google 

Books, fuelling mistrust in the 

project, is the commercialisation 

of digitised books, as opposed 

to the original free-for-all 

library model. 

“We all associate libraries 

with the community, with 

sharing things, something that 

shouldn’t cost money, that everyone 

should have access to,” 

said Lewis. “And in our hypercapitalist 

globalised world, it’s 

a big issue. 

“How much of our public 

space has been taken over 

by private corporations? A library 

constantly reminds you 

that there are these sort of secret 

spaces that we don’t think 

should be privatised.” — AFP 

Singer Shweta Pandit Desi Magic my toughest role: Ameesha 

turns chawl girl for David 

CTRESS Ameesha Patel 

Awill be seen in a double 

SINGER Shweta Pandit has revealed that she plays a 

chawl girl in Bejoy Nambiar’s David, which marks her 

foray into acting. 

“My character in David is called Alice and I play a 

Mumbai chawl girl in the film. She is a brat and tomboyish. 

She is loved by everyone in the family,” Shweta said in 

Mumbai in an interview. 

Shweta, who has rendered songs in films like Mohabbatein 

and Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl, says shooting for the film 

was as good a learning experience as going to an institute. 

“It was like going to a big institution of film, and learning 

everything possible under the roof while working at it. I 

don’t think I would have got anything better than this as an 

actor. So, it was a great experience,” she said. 

Calling it a “huge honour” to work with Nambiar, 

Shweta added: “He is completely phenomenal... I enjoyed 

a lot while working in this film and I really had the best 

time of my life while shooting for it.” 

David, slated to release on February 1, also features 

Neil Nitin Mukesh and Tabu. — IANS 

role for the first time in Desi 

Magic, and admits it is one of 

her toughest roles. 

“My film Desi Magic will 

go on floors in April. I am 

very excited about the film as 

I am playing a double role for 

the first time. This film is going 

to be the toughest role of 

my career,” Ameesha said. 

Desi Magic, her home 

production, will be directed 

by a new director, while 

its screenplay is written by 

Sanjay Gadhvi. 

Talking about the movie’s 

flavour, Ameesha said: “It 

HER seductive, bold 

and outspoken avatar 

as Veronica in 

Cocktail left the audience 

spell-bound, but now actress 

Deepika Padukone is looking 

forward to shed that glamorous 

image with her forthcoming 

projects. 

“The year 2013 is an exciting 

year and it would be 

interesting to see how it pans 

out. Yes, I have played many 

glamorous roles till now, but 

if you see the line-up for the 

rest of the year, I am sure this 

will change. The audiences 

will see me in an all new avatar 

this year,” Deepika said. 

From films to endorsements, 

model-turned-actress 

Deepika, who is daughter of 

badminton player Prakash 

Padukone, has today managed 

to make a place for herself 

among the top actresses of the 

industry. 

Talking about her film 

journey so far, she said: “It 

has been a good learning experience, 

especially the last 

one year — with the kind of 

people I have met and the 

films I have been doing.” 

She hopes this year will be 

a turning point. 

“The year 2013 will be an 

Presenting his 

new film Google 

and the World Brain 

in competition at 

the Sundance Film 

Festival, Lewis said 

the failure of the 

online giant’s plan 

marks a victory 

over those who 

believe the Internet 

can encompass 

everything 

important year for me. With 

the kind of films that are lined 

up, I hope it turns out to good 

for me. I have been working 

hard for the last six months,” 

she said. 

For now, her glam look 

will continue in the racy Race 

2. 

will be a blend of Jab We 

Met, Dilwale Dulhania Le 

Jayenge and other (such) 

Bollywood films.” 

The actress says she is enjoying 

being a producer. 

“I am completely enjoying 

the role of a producer. It 

is fun being part of the narration, 

giving suggestions, 

and contributing a lot more 

than as an actress. It is 

like taking care of your newborn 

baby,” the 37-year-old 

said. 

On the acting front, Ameesha’s 

multi-starrer film Race 

2 hit the screens yesterday. 

— IANS 

Deepika eyes image makeover 

Post that, the actress’s list 

of films for 2013 includes 

Chennai Express, in which 

she plays a Tamilian girl, Ram 

Leela, in which she dons a 

Gujarati avatar and Yeh Jawaani 

Hai Deewani, in which 

she will sport a very simple, 

girl-next-door look. 

Oman Establishment for Press, Publication and Advertising; P.O. Box 974, Postal Code 100, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman; Tel: 24649444, 24649450, 

24649451, 24604563, 24699437 Fax: 24699643 Website: omanobserver.om e-mail: editor@omanobserver.om Salalah Office: Tel: 23292633, 

Fax: 23293909 Nizwa Office: Tel: 25411099, P.O. Box 955, P.C. 611 ADVERTISING: AL OMANEYA ADVERTISING & PUBLIC RELATIONS, P.O. Box 3303, 

Postal Code 112, Ruwi, Sultanate of Oman, Tel: SWITCHBOARD: 24649444, DIRECT: 24649430/24649437/24649401, Fax: 24649434 DISTRIBUTION 

AGENT: AL OMANEYA FOR DISTRIBUTION & MARKETING, P.O. Box 974, P.C. 100, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, Tel: 24649351/24649360, Fax: 24649379, 

subscribe@omandaily.om 

Singer Shakira’s baby on Twitter 

THE first public glimpse 

of Colombian singer 

Shakira’s new baby came in 

a Twitter post by his father, 

Spanish soccer standout 

Gerard Pique, who put up a 

photo of little Milan Pique 

Mebarak’s feet. 

Labelled “Milan’s feet”, 

the image shows the newborn 

shod in expensive sneakers 

with his name embroidered 

in the red and blue colours of 

Pique’s club, FC Barcelona. 

Amador Bernabeu, Pique’s 

grandfather, registered Milan 

as Barcelona member No 

171,761 on Wednesday, just 

hours after Shakira gave birth 

at a hospital in this Spanish 

metropolis. 

Peaches Geldof off to honeymoon 

SOCIALITE Peaches 

Geldof headed for her 

honeymoon, four months 

after marrying Thomas 

Cohen. 

The 23-year-old, who is 

pregnant with her second 

child, exchanged vows with 

rocker Cohen in September 

last year, but they only managed 

to get away and enjoy 

the traditional romantic vacation 

on Tuesday. 

She shared a number of 

photos from their sunny destination 

on Wednesday, but 

did not reveal where they had 

chosen to holiday, reports femalefirst.co.uk. 

Contostavlos reveals body shaper 

SINGER Tulisa Contostavlos 

ended up with a fashion 

faux pas when she accidentally 

revealed a thigh-shaper which 

she had worn underneath her 

revealing dress. 

The faux pas happened 

at the National Television 

Awards red carpet, reports 

thesun.co.uk. 

The X Factor judge turned 

heads by flaunting a bulging 

bust in a slinky white dress at 

the star-studded awards ceremony. 

But the slit at the front of 

the knee-length gown went 

a little too high, putting her 

flesh-coloured figure-enhancing 

underwear on show. 

Scherzinger fails to cover up well 

SINGER Nicole 

Scherzinger tried her 

best to cover up by using 

strategically placed covers, 

but flashbulbs ended up 

turning her dress transparent 

at the National Television 

Awards. The X Factor judge 

also dared to wear a plunging 

neckline and grabbed a lot 

of attention. If that wasn’t 

enough, the blinding light of 

the camera flashes exposed 

the singer’s fashion blunder, 

reports thesun.co.uk. 

Once inside London’s O2 

Arena for the event, she was 

seen in the company of fellow 

X Factor stars Tulisa Contostavlos 

and Gary Barlow. 

Jenny becomes mother again 

BRITISH singer Jenny 

Frost has become a 

mother again, giving birth to 

twin daughters. 

The 34-year-old delivered 

daughters Nico and Blake, 

her first children with Spanish 

husband Vicente Juan 

Spiteri on Sunday, reports 

femalefirst.co.uk. 

Frost, who also has a fiveyear-old 

son Caspar from a 

previous relationship, announced 

the news on Thursday 

on Twitter. 

“Good morning, our girls 

are here... Blake and Nico arrived 

on Sunday night. They 

are perfect... tiny but perfect,” 

she said. — IANS 

Printers and Publishers 

Oman Establishment 

for Press, Publication 

and Advertising

Don't resort to sorcerers - Oman Daily Observer

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?