editor@omanobserver.om www.omanobserver.omVOL. 37 NO. 319 | PAGES 16 | BAISAS 200

INSIDESTORIES

Indonesia hit by tsunami after quake

Plane lands in lagoon, all safe

JAKARTA: A tsunami up to two metres high hit a small city on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Friday after a major 7.5 quake struck offshore, collapsing buildings and washing a vessel ashore, but officials could provide no information on casualties. The quake hit as dusk fell and communications were down and the airport closed.

MARSHALL ISLANDS: Passengers were forced to swim for their lives on Friday when an airliner ditched into a lagoon after missing the runway on a remote Pacific island and began sinking.The Air Niugini Boeing 737-800 was attempting to land at Weno airport in Micronesia but ended up half submerged in Chuuk lagoon after the accident on Friday morning. Within minutes, locals scrambled a flotilla of small boats to pluck the 35 passengers and 12 crew from the water.

PAGE 7

PAGE 7

PRAYER TIMINGS

WEATHER TODAY

MUSCATMAX: 340CMIN: 280C

SALALAHMAX: 300CMIN: 230C

NIZWAMAX: 380CMIN: 240C

SUNRISE 05.58 AM

FAJR: 04:43DHUHR: 12:02ASR: 15:27MAGHRIB: 18:02ISHA: 19:11

OLGA VELIKAYA paints nature not the way she sees, but the way she feels it. SEE P3

SATURDAY | SEPTEMBER 29, 2018 | MUHARRAM 19, 1440 AH

OMAN DAILY

GCC foreign ministers meet in New YorkNEW YORK: Foreign ministers of the Gulf

Cooperation Council, Jordan and Egypt

met in New York City on the sidelines of the

United Nations General Assembly on Friday.

Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs

Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdallah and the Oman’s

Ambassador to the US Hunaina bint Sultan al

Mughairy took part in the meeting hosted by

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo.

Pompeo thanked the foreign ministers for

their partnership with the United States in

the fight against terror. “We all have a shared

interest in a wide range of security issues —

defeating IS, Al Qaeda, other terrorist groups,

bringing peace and stability in Syria,” he said

at the meeting. And in a statement issued

after the meeting on the sidelines of the

ongoing UN General Assembly, the State

Department said “all participants agreed

on the need to confront threats faced in the

region and the United States.”

It also referred to the goal of forging

greater cooperation in the Middle East

“anchored by a united GCC” which could

advance prosperity, security and stability in

the region.

SHINING AND STRONGER

THE LIST OF SUCCESSFUL OMANI WOMEN WHO

HAVE CARVED A NICHE FOR THEMSELVES IS LONG

AND INSPIRING

IT SIMPLY SHOWS THAT AN ENCOURAGING AND FAIR

SOCIAL SYSTEM CAN HELP WOMEN TO BRING THE

BEST OUT OF THEM

AMAL BAHWAN,

Hind Bahwan, Haifa al Khaifi,

Rawan al Said, Devaki Khimji, Hudal

al Lawati, Areej Mohsin Darwish… They are

the high achievers from Oman who made it into

this year’s Forbes List of Middle East’s Most Influen-

tial Women. And this is not the first time Omani women

have featured on the Forbes list.

The Sultanate can really pat itself on the back, for the

recognition has come when globally a signifi-

cant number of women continue to face dis-

crimination, and in some cases violence,

in varying degrees across regions, even

as the world makes strenuous efforts

to ensure gender equality and wom-

en’s empowerment under the Mil-

lennium Development Goals.

Statistics brutally stare us in

the face: Globally, 750 million

women among us have been

married before the age of 18

and nearly 200 million women

and girls in 30 countries have

undergone female genital muti-

lation. And the share of female

CEOs in Fortune 500 compa-

nies dropped by 25 per cent

this year to 24, after peaking last

year at 32.

A FOUNDATION

While the UN unambiguously

asserts, and we all concur with

it, that gender equality is not

only a fundamental human right,

but a necessary foundation for a

peaceful, prosperous and sustain-

able world, unfortunately, a signifi-

cant number of women (and girls)

continue to be physically or sexually

abused, and as many as 20 countries have

no laws protecting women from domestic

violence, as reported in a UN study.

True, unacceptable social practices against women have

declined by 30 per cent over the past decade. But when can

humanity confidently declare that women no more face

any discrimination and ill-treatment, and that they

enjoy equal opportunities at all levels of life?

The Middle East is making remarkable

progress in women empowerment

and gender equality. Women

across the region are

coming to the forefront

as they take on the lead in busi-

nesses and across the public sector or-

ganisations.

Women university graduates outnumber the

male graduates in the region, bucking a global trend,

observes the Forbes. What is more significant is the fact

that women in the Arab world have made much career

headway in industries that were typically labeled as male

bastions, thus valiantly shattering glass ceiling

of male authority.

OMAN STANDS OUT

Among the Arab countries, Oman

stands out for its efforts at women

empowerment. The achievements

of the Sultanate’s women are not

restricted to business and leader-

ship alone; their winning streak

embraces diverse domains in-

cluding arts and crafts, music,

academics, sports, volunteerism

and others. For instance, Hind

al Hajri, one of a growing group

of talented young Omani pho-

tographers, has won as many as

40 national and international

photography awards for her out-

standing works, while Fatma al

Nabhani is the region’s one and

only professional woman tennis

player who has won several titles.

Alia al Farsi, Budoor al Riyami,

who won the Grand Prize at the

Asian Art Biennale, and Enaam

Ahmed form a small segment of

exceptionally skilled Omani artists

whose innovative experimental art

has won wide appreciation. Omani

females have made their mark in every

field of endeavour including music, mov-

ies and entrepreneurship, to name a few.

NO GENDER DIVIDE

The list of successful Omani women who have carved

a niche for themselves is quite long, and highly inspi-

rational as well. It simply shows that an encour-

aging and fair social system that doesn’t sub-

scribe to the antiquated and despicable

‘gender divide’ is all it takes for the

feminine to shine forth. And,

Oman has both.

SARNGADHARAN NAMBIAR

OMANDAILYOBSERVER S A T U R D A Y l S E P T E M B E R 2 9 l 2 0 1 82 HERITAGEG

KABEER YOUSUF MUSCAT, SEPT 28

Twenty-two countries,

35,000 km, 27

months. The Sultanate

is the 22nd stop for Dr

Raj Phanden, who is on a cycling

expedition with a mission to save

nature.

The journey, which began

from his home state of Haryana

in India, saw him cycling through

tough terrains, including deserts

and mountains and a vast

expanse of uninhabited areas in

different countries.

A staunch green campaigner,

Dr Raj says deforestation, plastic

use, pollution and other human

actions will harm nature and

turn against us in the form of

disasters.

“What we see around us is a

result of hardwork of visionaries.

It is our duty to hand the world

to the next generation in a better

shape or the time will question

is,” he told the Observer at a

gurudwara (prayer hall for the

followers of Sikh religion) in

Ghala.

The gurudwara is also his

current place of stay. Wherever

he goes on his bicycle, loaded

with 40 kg of camping gear,

clothes and other materials,

he speaks to the local people,

students and non-government

organisations (NGOs) on ways

to protect environment.

He visited the South-East

Asia and Far-Eastern countries,

including Japan and Hong Kong,

but due to extreme weather

conditions, he changed his travel

plans and headed to the Middle

East.

“Before coming to Oman, I

visited Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka,

Bangladesh, Vietnam, Myanmar,

Cambodia, Laos, Thailand,

Singapore, Macau, Taiwan,

Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia,

besides Brunei, Philippines,

South Korea and Hong Kong.”

In Oman, he visited Salalah,

the country’s summer getaway,

where he spent some time with

his countrymen as well as Omani

citizens. He planted saplings and

then headed to capital Muscat,

a distance he covered in seven

days.

From Muscat, Dr Raj will

set out on his next leg of tour to

Armenia and Turkey via Dubai,

followed by Iran.

He was all praise for the

hospitality he has been accorded

in Oman. “Omani people are

highly hospitable. The local

people came to me and shared

their thoughts on protection of

environment,” said Dr Raj.

“Reckless construction,

pesticides and other human

actions can be disastrous to the

Earth. For example, if we don’t

use plastic bottles every day,

we are saving nature to a great

extent,” he said.

“The most painful sight is

the cutting of trees around the

world.” “If we don’t protect the

environment, how are we going

to protect ourselves,” Dr Raj asks.

Rocks give peek into life in ancient times

35,000km cycling... to save nature

Jaalan Bani Bu Hassan has rock drawings done using the ‘Pecking Technique’. It involves shaping or producing a design on stone by hammering. The surface is crushed, usually with a stone hammer, and the dusty fragments are swept aside

YAHYA AL SALMANI MUSCAT, SEPT 28

Many sites across

the Sultanate

are home

to ancient

archaeological treasures. The

Wilayat of Jaalan Bani Bu

Hassan, located about 277 km

from Muscat, is no different.

This town has many

watchtowers, old fortified

houses, forts and ancient

plantation walls.

Locals have found rock

drawings done using the

‘Pecking Technique’. It involves

shaping or producing a design

on stone by hammering. The

surface is crushed, usually with

a stone hammer, and the dusty

fragments are swept aside.

These drawings, described

as ‘cultural symbols’, can

be seen in many rocks and

limestones. The painted rocks

have animal and bird shapes

that reflect the species of

wildlife existing in the area:

ibex, horses and camels.

Some painted rocks also

document the ancient lifestyle

of humans.

In the southern part of Jabal

Qahwan and specifically in

Wadi al Batha, there are many

‘cumulus tombs’. Built with

coarse limestone and gravel,

some 40 tombs dating back

to the Islamic era still exist in

Wadi al Qutin.

A total of 20 tombs can be

seen in Wadi al Khatim, which

is located just beside the old

road leading to the Wilayat

of Sur, said some locals. A

majority of these sites were

affected by encroachments.

Stone slabs found at Al

Ghamlool are locally referred

to as Al Jadrah. These are

circular- and oval-shaped

buildings.

Locals want the authorities

to protect these sites by fencing

them.

Dr Raj Phanden began his journey from Haryana in India cycling through tough terrains, including deserts and mountains and a vast expanse of uninhabited areas in different countries

OMANDAILYOBSERVERS A T U R D A Y l S E P T E M B E R 2 9 l 2 0 1 8 3ART

Homecoming

The Birds of Freedom

Artist posing with her work

Sunflowers

Burnt Poppies

LIJU CHERIANMUSCAT, SEPT 28 Dandelions, lupines,

sunflowers, poppies

and nature enchant

this amateur artiste.

Ukrainian Olga Ve-

likaya paints the world not the way

she sees, but the way she feels it.

Very often her perception of things

is different to their actual appear-

ance, texture or colours — a kind

of therapy and a way to release her

emotions.

Her common technique which

brings out the best is the use of vivid

brushstrokes as well as extensive use

of dots and splashes. To add that extra

texture, she uses a modeling paste.

All her paintings are easily

recognised by themes of floral

patterns, sun-lit forests and birds,

which catch art lovers’ attention.

Her recent solo exhibition saw

her exhibiting 15 of her acrylic

paintings on warm sun rays

between the trees, fresh wild flowers,

water shimmering over pebbles,

pirouetting golden leaves, dancing

rain drops and steaming hot coffee.

“I feel the beauty of little details

and add those pure, intricate

elements to my art,” she says.

Olga paints the world the way

she feels. Her main inspiration

comes from the nature. Her

paintings have a magnetic pull

because of the captivating colours

and intricate use of brushstrokes.

Inspired by Ukraine’s Black Sea

coastline and forested mountains,

her paintings can be described as

peaceful, inspiring and pure.

Olga says while creating these

paintings she goes nostalgic about

her childhood days growing up in

the countryside. She was always

fascinated with the sun bathed

forests, and colours dancing on

leaves and wild flowers.

“I do not limit my self-

expression to one particular style.

Of course, there are common

patterns in my paintings such as use

of vivid colours, dots, prominent

brushstrokes and floral motifs. If

I had to choose the painting styles

which I tend to use, then I would

say most of my works are abstract

or impressionistic.”

She recently painted a series on

the four seasons coming out with

bold, colourful works.

She usually chooses 3-4 prime

colours and only adds their shades,

so her paintings are colouristic,

but at the same time not multi-

coloured. Vivid brushstrokes as well

as extensive use of dots and paint

splashes are the most common.

Acrylic paints are her favourite.

She is able to apply many layers

in no time, besides changing its

appearance and texture. To show

texture, she adds modeling paste or

gels and loves its creamy and fluid

nature, which can be easily switched

from brushstrokes to palette knife.

Elena Romanovna, another

Ukrainian, introduced her to the

magic world of art. It was Elena’s

calmness and peaceful aura that

inspired her to work. “A feeling of

serene calmness washes all over

me once I pick the brush, and it

has nothing to do with knowing or

learning painting techniques,” she

recalls.

Olga feels the world in colours.

Layering hues, blending shades

and splattering drops of paint onto

the canvas releases her emotions

and helps regain balance. As she

stands behind the easel, the outside

world with deadlines, anxieties and

pressures gradually fades.

Her mind drifts into a dream-

like realm and later when her eyes

shift back to reality, everything

seems authentic, atmospheric and

serene. That’s how she comes out

with some brilliant works of art.

For Olga, painting is that moment

when time stands still. It is the time

to be free and the time to breathe.

Visitors at the her exhibition

who turned in large numbers took

a closer look of her imaginary

work. She admits connoisseurs of

art will feel peace and warmth from

her works. “I hope you’ll breathe a

little lighter and feel a little deeper.

Through colours and brushstrokes,

I show my feelings.”

The colour of the paintings

depends on her emotional state.

One notices a series of red, blue,

green and yellow paintings.

Sometimes, if she remains in one

emotional state longer, she comes

out with several paintings in the

same colours. Once the mood

changes, so does the colour palette.

Olga has always been fascinated

by the Arab world, particularly

its culture, architecture and

traditions. She loves exploring

new cultures and experiencing

authentic life in a foreign culture

not as a tourist, but as a local.

She moved to the Sultanate

from China, where she was

teaching English. Presently with

Modern College of Business and

Science (MCBS), she plans to hold

workshops for her students and also

cooperate with a children’s museum

to organise workshops.

Olga plans to devote her next

exhibition in Muscat to Omani

themes, namely sun rays in the

desert, flying sea gulls, marine

world, nature, mountains, colorful

mosaics and lanterns.

COLOURING FEELINGS

Ukrainian OLGA VELIKAYA paints nature not the way she sees, but the way she feels it. Her paintings have a magnetic pull because of

the captivating colours and intricate use of brushstrokes

OMANDAILYOBSERVER SATURDAY l SEPTEMBER 29 l 20184 TRENDSSFor once, we spent the whole day in peace and prayers till sunset

RASHA AL RAISI

In my childhood, whenever one of the elders mentioned mount Arafat, I would imagine a grand mountain that glowed in the dark and had sparks on

its top. My dreamy vision was shat-tered when I saw it on TV as an ado-lescent.

It was like any other mountain in Oman, brown and rocky. It wasn’t even high and people could climb it easily. That dawn when I arriving at Arafat, we had to disembark in the middle of the road because of the usual Haj traffic jam. It was still dark and there were no electricity poles in sight which made the stars above really visible. It felt chilly in that bar-ren valley, it was eight degrees cen-tigrade. I was shivering and could barely walk.

Mom held my arm and pulled me gently behind her. Our group divided as the men’s tent was before ours. Only the leader of the group

— a bald man with a big beard that I can’t recall his name — remained with us. He led us to our tent, that was as big as the one in Mina. As we entered and he switched on the neon light, I noticed the exercise mat-tresses scattered around. These were our beddings for the next few hours, without a pillow or blanket in sight. I was imagining myself performing a few crunches before falling asleep, when we heard screams followed by women jumping around.

Right in the middle of the tent, lied a dead rotting dog. Being abso-lutely delirious by fever, I got closer and stood watching in awe the white maggots coming out of its mouth and nostril. The maggots actually glowed under the neon light and were a sight. One of the Egyptians cried that this was a bad sign and the place was jinxed. Of course, the re-ligious women chided her and ridi-culed her words that they considered

haram. What was the point of being on Haj if that was her way of think-ing? The leader excused himself and brought two other men from the group to help him haul the corpse out of the tent.

The men held the dog from its paws and threw him out, causing maggots to fly and scatter freely on the floor. As expected, the clumsy move caused more screams and jumping around. When the men left, one of the Egyptians cleaned the floor by collecting the rest of the maggots in a tissue. Mom pulled me gently to the back of the tent and I lied down on the cold mattress. I was shivering and my teeth were chatter-ing. We were not told to bring our own blankets or warned beforehand about the potential temperature drop at night time.

Mom ended up covering me with all the clothes we had in our duffle bags. Still, I couldn’t feel any warmth

and ended up sticking by her side till the sun rose. Thankfully, the fe-ver broke and the weather changed drastically and became so hot. We woke up hearing the women argu-ing about where to spend the day, in the tent or on the mountain. Which act was more rewarding? Our room-mates (the three sisters) decided to head to the mountain. They came back half an hour later.

Not being the sporty types, the elder sister twisted her ankle and the younger pulled a muscle while climb-ing. For once, we spent the whole day in peace and prayers till sunset. Just before dusk, we gathered our things and got ready to leave to Muzdalafa where we’d collect the stones before heading back to Mecca and Mina once again (to be continued…)

Rasha al Raisi is a certified skills trainer and the author of: The World According to Bahja. rashabooks@ya-hoo.com

THANKFULLY,

THE FEVER

BROKE AND

THE WEATHER

CHANGED

DRASTICALLY

AND BECAME SO

HOT. WE WOKE

UP HEARING

THE WOMEN

ARGUING ABOUT

WHERE TO

SPEND THE DAY,

IN THE TENT

OR ON THE

MOUNTAIN

ECO-FASHION BECOMES

CATWALK REALITY

OLGA NEDBAEVA, FIACHRA GIBBONS

PARIS: It may have been a long time com-

ing, but eco-fashion is no longer a hippie pipe

dream.

Biker jackets made from pineapple leaves

and leather tanned with olive extract rather

than hugely polluting chemicals are now

within reach, experts say.

Everyone from young avant garde design-

ers to the big-name brands are racing to hop

on the bandwagon, with trainers with soles

made from recycled plastic bottles already

selling by the million.

Last year alone, Adidas sold one million of

its Parley trainers — made

from plastic fished from the

ocean — and the German

sportswear giant is ramping

up production of a range of

similarly recycled styles.

And on Wednesday,

Yolanda Zobel, the new

designer at the futuristic

French brand Courreges,

did the “unthinkable” and

declared that she was doing

away with the space-age vi-

nyl that has been the label’s

stock and trade since the

1960s.

After a final numbered

capsule collection called “Fin

de Plastique” (The End of

Plastic) that will count down

its stocks of vinyl, the Ger-

man will try to source sustainable or recycled

versions of the shiny fabric.

“There’s no better world coming if we don’t

take actions today,” Zobel said.

Attitudes to eco-fashion have “totally

changed in the last few years”, said Marina

Coutelan, who helps run Premiere Vision,

a hugely influential twice-yearly trade fair in

Paris where the movers and shakers of the

fashion industry flock in search of new mate-

rials and ideas.

Millennials driving change

With the millennials (those born between

1980 and 2000) now beginning to call the

shots in the fashion industry, “we are see-

ing lots of trendy products from sustainable

materials because they have grown up with

the idea that we need to be eco-responsible”,

Coutelan said.

A case in point are rising stars Rushemy

Botter and Lisi Herrebrugh, the Dutch pair

who have just been headhunted to take over

the Nina Ricci Paris fashion house.

“Sustainable fashion was always talked

about,” said 28-year-old Herrebrugh. “Now

it is something we can see.” Their own Botter

brand makes hats, scarves and jackets from

recycled plastic bags and bottles often found

in the sea — a cause dear to Botter, who was

born on the Caribbean island of Curacao.

High street chains may still be obsessed

with fast, throwaway fashion, but luxury

brands are leading the way

in trying to rethink the busi-

ness, said Coutelan.

She points to the French

giant Kering, which owns

Gucci, Saint Laurent, Balen-

ciaga and Alexander Mc-

Queen among others, as one

of the pioneers of sustain-

ability.

Second biggest polluter

“It has reduced its envi-

ronmental impact by a quar-

ter and hopes to cut it by 40

per cent by 2025,” she said.

Even so, fashion is still by

some measures the second

most polluting industry the

world. Kering until recently

owned a 50-per cent stake in

Stella McCartney, the label

that has pushed the ethical and environmen-

tal envelope the furthest, refusing to use fur,

leather or feathers.

The British designer uses recycled wool and

polyester made from plastic water bottles, and

intends to stop using “virgin” nylon entirely

within two years and new polyester by 2025.

Invitations for her Paris fashion week

show on Monday proclaim that “Green is the

new black” and feature a new cartoon where

she stars with Minnie The Minx in a story ex-

tolling the virtues of regenerated cashmere.

McCartney said that she would like to go

faster but “the technology we need to reach

this point is not yet available in a sustainable

and circular way.” Campaigners say there are

multiple ways to make sustainable clothes.

— AFP

BIKER JACKETS

MADE FROM

PINEAPPLE

LEAVES AND

LEATHER

TANNED WITH

OLIVE EXTRACT

RATHER

THAN HUGELY

POLLUTING

CHEMICALS ARE

NOW WITHIN

REACH,

EXPERTS SAY

OMANDAILYOBSERVERS A T U R D A Y l S E P T E M B E R 2 9 l 2 0 1 8 5TRENDSS

Unaudited Consolidated Statement of Financial Position

DIRECTORS’ REPORT FOR THE THIRD QUARTER ENDED ON AUGUST 31, 2018.

The complete accounts in either Arabic or English will be delivered to any shareholder within 7 days of receipt of the request. Such requests may be sent to the Board Secretary, Sahara Hospitality Co. (S.A.O.G.), PO Box 311, Postal Code 100, Muscat.

at 31st August, 2018

Unaudited Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

For 9 months ended 31st August 2018.

On behalf of the Board of Directors, I am

pleased to submit the unaudited Financial

Statements of the company for the third

quarter ended on August 31, 2018 along

with related reports.

Revenue was RO 8,959,905 as against

RO 9,482,256 in the corresponding period

of previous year whereas net Profit after

taxes for the period was RO 1,686,987

as against RO 1,846,489 in the previous

year.

The total shareholders fund increased

from RO 19,466,197 as at the end of

August 2017 to RO 20,908,710 at the

end of August 2018 and as result of this

increase, the net assets per share has

been increased to RO 3.414.

We are pleased to highlight that

Sahara Hospitality Company has

completed eighteen years of continuous

work at Fahud PAC without LTI on

September 1, 2018.

On behalf of the Board of directors, I

express our most sincere gratitude to His

Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said for his

wise leadership and generous support to

the private sector. Furthermore, I would

extend our gratitude to his government

for their co-operation and assistance with

special mention of Ministry of Commerce

& Industry, Muscat Security Market and

Capital Market Authority.

I conclude this report by expressing

our appreciation to our shareholders,

Petroleum Development Oman, our

bankers and customers for their valued

support and cooperation.

For and on behalf of Board of Directors,

TALAL BIN QAIS AL ZAWAWI

CHAIRMAN

2018 2017

RO. ‘000 RO. ‘000

Turnover/Revenue 8,960 9,482

Gross Profit 3,276 3,475

Depreciation (789) (799)

Administration & general expenses (369) (334)

Operating profit 2,118 2,342

Finance charges (134) (170)

Other income 1 --

Profit before taxation and

minority interest 1,985 2,172

Taxation (298) (326)

Net profit attributable to

ordinary Shareholders 1,687 1,846

Net profit margin 19% 19%

2018 2017

RO. ‘000 RO. ‘000

Fixed assets 17,448 18,444

17,448 18,444

Current assets

Inventories 19 22

Trade receivables 5,006 5,458

Receivable from related party 218 261

Bank and cash 4,720 2,451

9,963 8,192

Total assets 27,411 26,636

Current liabilities

Trade and other payables 915 588

Payables to related parties 1,553 1,372

Bank loans and over drafts 1,179 1,179

Tax liability 289 317

3,936 3,456

Long-term liabilities

Bank loan 2,457 3,636

Deferred tax liability 109 78

2,566 3,714

Total liabilities 6,502 7,170

Net Assets 20,909 19,466

Shareholders’ funds

Share capital 6,125 5,833

Legal reserve 2,042 1,945

Retained earnings 12,742 11,688

Total shareholders’ equity 20,909 19,466

The Spanish town that wants to shed

100,000 kilosLAURENCE BOUTREUX

Narón: In a remote corner of

northwestern Spain, a small

town has set itself the ultimate

weight loss challenge: by

early 2020, its residents must

shed 100,000 kilos (220,500

pounds).

Gone are bacon and fried calamari from the

diets of thousands of residents in Naron who

are taking to sport again as part of a slimming

programme that kicked off in January.

“In the 21st century, people forget they’re

made to walk,” says Carlos Pineiro, the 63-year-

old family doctor behind the programme, which

has the support of the town council.

No more tripe

Pineiro often swaps his practice for the local

wooded park where he helps dozens of others

warm up and exercise.

Conrado Vilela Villamar, a 65-year-old former

crane operator, is one of Pineiro’s regulars.

“In Spain where people say that you can eat

everything in the pig, from the tip of the tail to the

tip of the nose, the first food I stripped from my

diet are tripe, pork belly and cold cuts,” he says.

Perched on the Atlantic coast of the Galicia

region, the 40,000-strong town counts 9,000

overweight residents and another 3,000 who

suffer from obesity, Pineiro says.

Known for its gastronomy and often

gargantuan dishes, Galicia is the region in Spain

with the most overweight people, according to a

study by the Spanish Society of Cardiology.

“The rainy weather means people stay at home

a lot with a very big daily ingestion of calories,”

says Pineiro. More than 4,000 residents — or a

tenth of the population — have joined the project.

To show their support, the mayor, Marian

Ferreiro, and her municipal councillors weighed

themselves together in public on giant scales.

The programme, drawn up by local doctors,

offers personalised diets and physical activity

adapted to those who adhere.

Every now and then, they come to the town’s

health centres to weigh themselves.

“I walk with friends including a woman who

is 80 or so, who holds on to my arm,” says Maria

Teresa Rodriguez, 55.

“In March, I weighed 82 kilos, now 70,” she

adds, beaming, standing on the scales.

Every day, she walks or does gymnastics for

an hour and a half, and has started dancing on

Fridays since her “legs no longer hurt.” In the

town, 18 restaurants now offer healthier dishes by

promoting an Atlantic-style diet full of seafood.

“I replace salt with algae, fish infusions or

a simple dehydrated mussel, and butter with

virgin olive oil,” says Diego Platas, a 37-year-old

restaurant owner as he cooks a local mackerel.

‘I pedal while reading’

Earlier this month, the World Health

Organization warned that obesity and the

growing proportion of people who are overweight

risked reversing the general trend of rising life

expectancy in Europe.

In Spain, the topic regularly comes up. An

interview with a 34-year-old patient in eastern

Spain who weighs 385 kilos recently made

headlines.

“It’s not at all easy to convince adults” to

change their lifestyle, says Pineiro, whose own

family history has been blighted by genetic

cardiovascular illness, albeit not linked to weight.

“Some say: ‘the last thing I need is for the

doctor to tell me what I must do’.” He is more

hopeful that children will catch on.

At the Jorge Juan school in Naron, for instance,

pupils are being encouraged to live a healthy

lifestyle in a pilot programme in the town.

During recess, “we go out to the seaside

promenade” with the youngsters, says Maria Jose

Cazorla, a 55-year-old teacher, who has lost 14

kilos in a year.

The school’s 224 students are given the option

of doing sport for one hour every day and those

who are reticent can ride an exercise bike for

an activity called “I pedal while reading.” Those

who live nearby are encouraged to walk or

cycle to school, or ride scooters, wearing special

electronic bracelets that let parents know when

they have arrived.

The slogan “get addicted to fruit” adorns the

walls of the school where fruit is given out every

morning. But “we don’t ever talk about weight

directly” to the children, which “would have a

stigmatising effect,” says Pineiro.

Beyond the 100,000-kilo weight loss challenge,

he hopes residents will adopt “a healthy lifestyle

to put a brake on chronic illness”, which would

also reduce health spending. — AFP

A teacher teaches gymnastics to his pupils at the Jorge Juan school in Naron. — AFP

A man walks in a park near Naron. People are taking to sport again as part of a slimming programme that kicked off in January. — AFP

Known for its gastronomy

and often gargantuan

dishes, Galicia is the region in Spain with the

most overweight

people, according to a study by the

Spanish Society of Cardiology.

OMANDAILYOBSERVER SATURDAY l SEPTEMBER 29 l 20186 REGIONG O

A Syrian rescue worker rides a motorcycle ambulance in the city of Al Dana in the rebel-held Idlib region. These new vehicles will allow the rescuers to enter in narrow alleys to evacuate casualties in case of bombardments against residential areas. — AFP

Yemen doctors despair as babies starve in ‘orphaned province’

DALEH: At Nasr Hospital’s

emergency room in the Yemeni city of

Daleh, a little boy struggles to breathe.

He is too tired, or too hungry, to cry.

Born with a degenerative

neurological disease, his muscles

have atrophied to nothing, his tiny

joints visible through his pale skin, his

stomach distended.

The child’s body cannot retain

even water, so nurses have resorted to

putting him in diapers.

And doctors say there is nothing

they can do.

The boy is one of an estimated five

million Yemeni children who may not

see their next birthday in a war the

UN children’s fund has described as a

“living hell” for minors.

The UN has warned that

international aid agencies are losing

the fight against famine in Yemen,

where 3.5 million people may soon

be added to the eight million Yemenis

already facing starvation — more than

half of them children.

Mahmud Ali Hassan, director of

Nasr Hospital, does not mince words.

Life for his patients, he says, is “pure

misery”.

“We need help. We need real help.”

South of rebel-held Sanaa and north

of the government bastion of Aden,

Daleh is, in the words of its residents,

a forgotten city.

‘DESPERATE NEED’

The war has left an estimated

10,000 dead since 2015 and triggered

what the UN calls the world’s worst

humanitarian crisis.

Another 2,200 have died of

cholera, according to the World

Health Organization, nearly one-third

of them under the age of five.

In government-held Daleh, medics

at Nasr Hospital are desperately

looking for ways to treat patients —

most of whom have not yet learned to

read, tie their shoelaces or even walk

— as supplies dwindle and hunger

spreads.

A sign outside Nasr Hospital

reads “funded by the World Health

Organization”. The hospital is a lifeline

for three provinces with a combined

population of more than 1.5 million.

“We take cases from Daleh as well

as Ibb and Lahaj,” said Hassan.

“Most cases we receive are

malnourished children. We get three

to four cases a day. The ward is always

full. It’s full right now.” In a lime

green onesie, another malnourished

baby wails as doctors hook him

up to a nasal cannula — the tube

used to deliver oxygen to patients in

respiratory distress.

His diaper is multiple sizes too big.

“We are in desperate need of

medical supplies,” Hassan said.

“We need orthopaedic equipment,

and everyone says they’re trying —

the government coalition and other

sides — and yet we haven’t gotten

supplies yet.”

‘NOWHERE TO BE SEEN’

Dr Ayman Shayef, head of the

emergency room at Nasr, says three

to four children die under his watch

every week of preventable causes,

mainly linked to neo-natal care.

“We have serious issues with the

total absence of pre-natal care and

the inability to open an obstetrics

department,” Shayef said.

“We’ve also seen a rapid rise in

malnutrition cases.

“Daleh is an orphaned province.

We need help. We need support for

pre-natal care, malnutrition.” In

addition to the war, the rising cost of

living in Yemen, the depreciation of

the local currency and blockades have

left millions unable to feed themselves

and their children. Katba Ahmed

made the trip to Nasr to help a close

friend care for her sick child.

“A bag of flour is 18,000 riyals

($72). And with four people at home,

how long do you think that’s going

to last, with breakfast, lunch and

dinner?” Katba said.

And the food baskets sent in by

international organisations, Katba

says, are nowhere to be seen in her

neighbourhood in Hajja province.

“Where do they go? Why don’t

we get any baskets?” she says. “Why

should we be deprived? Why should

we be humiliated?” — AFP

NEAR AL BAB: Syrian rebels

forced from their towns when

government forces retook

eastern Ghouta near Damascus

are starting over in the far north,

aiming to build hundreds of

homes for displaced fighters

and civilians on opposition-held

land near the Turkish border.

Jaish al Islam, one of Syria’s

most prominent rebel groups,

likens the project to a new town

for people from eastern Ghouta

who have been living in camps

since President Bashar al Assad

recaptured their area in April.

The project near the city of

Al Bab points to preparations

for a long stay in northern Syria,

though Jaish al Islam insists

that the people displaced from

eastern Ghouta will return. It

is part of a wider effort by the

group to recover in the north.

Jaish al Islam commander

Issam al Buwaydani said in

an interview that his group is

reorganising and rearming.

Since arriving in the north, it is

operating under the “National

Army” umbrella.

But civilian affairs are also a

top priority: Buwaydani said a

mall, a school, a mosque and a

clinic would also be built at the

construction site some 15 km

from Al Bab.

“My entire combat group is

working today in construction,”

said Abu Jaafar al Khouli, 25,

one of the Jaish al Islam fighters

working at the construction site.

“I took part in many battles

in Ghouta against the regime

and the Nusra Front. Now, I

have returned to my original

profession,” added Khouli, a

carpenter before Syria’s civil war.

The site, where the goal is to

build 1,400 homes, is part of an

arc of territory in the northwest

at that forms the last major

opposition-held area in Syria.

The eastern Ghouta rebels

defended their stronghold on

the Damascus outskirts through

years of government siege

until earlier this year, when the

government took back the area

in a ferocious Russian-backed

offensive.

When it fell, thousands of

people opted to take safe passage

to the northwest, a pattern

seen elsewhere that has left the

northwest crammed with anti-

Assad fighters and dissidents

from all over Syria.

The housing project is being

built on land that officially

belongs to the Syrian state.

Permission was granted by the

opposition-run council in Al

Bab, Buwaydani said.

Financing is being provided

by Ghouta merchants with no

foreign funding, he said.

He noted that some displaced

Syrians had been living under

canvass for three or four years,

adding: “Our view is that living

in tents has a negative impact

on society.” The first phase of

the project will lay foundations

for homes. These will then be

handed free of charge to Ghouta

residents who will complete

the construction with financial

support from relatives outside

Syria, he said. — Reuters

BASRA: Sweet Iraqi dates adorn tables

in homes across the country, but the

fruit tree and national symbol has

come under threat from conflict and

crippling drought.

Shopping in the southern city of

Basra, Leila only buys “the queen

of dates” — those produced in the

surrounding province.

Her husband Mehdi, 68, said the

couple have the sweet fruit “every

lunchtime, and also for snacks

between meals”.

The pair devours a kilo (two

pounds) over two to three days, at a

cost of 5,000 dinars, or just over $4.

But high unemployment and price

hikes mean not all families can afford

such luxury.

For trader Salem Hussein, who

has been selling dates for 40 years, the

decline set in long ago — before the

drought and even this century’s series

of deadly conflicts.

IMPORTS FILL THE GAP

The 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war

decimated the groves of date palms on

Iraqi soil, he said, dressed in a sky blue

robe and white skullcap.

The majority of trees lining the

Shatt al Arab waterway, marking the

border between the two countries,

were incinerated by shells and rockets.

Hussein once dreamt of expanding

palm groves and introducing even

more varieties than the 450 already

boasted by Iraq, which used to be

known as the land of 30 million palm

trees. The country’s dates were long

exported “to the United States, Japan

and India”, recalled the 66-year-old.

“We thought of developing and

doubling the number of palms, but the

figure only falls.” Official estimates put

the decline at 50 per cent of pre-1980

numbers.

“We hoped for a better future

— and it got even worse,” Hussein

lamented.

Iraqi agriculture has been especially

hard hit by drought this year, resulting

in an official ban on the growing of

rice and cereals which require a lot

of water and the deaths of thousands

of animals. With Iraqi farmers hiking

their prices due to the drought, seller

Aqil Antuch has adapted to keep his

cash-strapped customers happy.

He now sells dates imported from

Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab

Emirates and Kuwait at his central

Basra shop, which he has run for 25

years.

SICK PALMS ONCE ‘LIKE

PATIENTS’

Shopper Mehdi remembers palm

trees in his garden, when Iraq was

under an international trade embargo.

“We would go to the agriculture

office with a sick palm tree and they

would examine it like a patient at the

doctor’s,” he said.

But, in recent years, farming has

also been hit by an exodus from rural

areas, as Iraqis flock to cities and

informal neighbourhoods.

Irrigation channels have become

open sewers and the rows of trees

which once provided shade have

disappeared.

Palm groves have also been ripped

up to make way for oil installations, the

country’s biggest source of revenue.

Other groves have been snapped up

for construction of new buildings.

In a cruel irony, the majority of

dates now sold in Iraq come from trees

which first took root in the country,

before being replanted in other states

decades ago.

One Basra grower, Raed al Jubayli,

said surviving producers have been hit

by a double “tragedy” — drought and

pollution from oil installations.

“Buying a palm tree costs around

$250. The maintenance then costs

about $12 per season, while its four

kilos of dates don’t sell for more than

$3.50,” he said.

But Jubayli remains proud of the

date palm’s “ancestral heritage” and its

diverse uses. “With the palm, nothing

is wasted,” he said.

“Dates bring people sugar and

energy; the palms, which provide

shade, once woven, make brooms; the

wood is used to make furniture.”

The 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war decimated the groves of date palms on Iraqi soil, a trader lamented. — AFP

Iraq used to be known as the land of 30 million palm trees. But official estimates put the decline at 50 per cent of pre-1980 numbers. — AFP

A Yemeni child suffering from malnutrition is weighed at a hospital in the northern district of Abs in the northwestern Hajjah province. — AFP

“A bag of flour is 18,000 riyals ($72). And with four people at home, how long do you think that’s going to last, with breakfast, lunch and dinner?”

Syrian rebels build new ‘town’ far from home

SPEEDY AMBULANCE

OMANDAILYOBSERVERS A T U R D A Y l S E P T E M B E R 2 9 l 2 0 1 8 7ASIAS

ISLAMABAD: It’s a far cry from those

sponsored Facebook posts asking you to

invest in a start-up’s new digital watch or

an unbreakable phone case.

But Imran Khan wants Pakistanis

to crowdfund a whopping $14 billion

for desperately needed dams, a plea

capitalising on nationalist fervour but

ridiculed by detractors as unrealistic.

If it succeeded it would be the largest

crowdfunding effort in history —

shattering the current Kickstarter record

700 times over.

But while Pakistanis have responded

to Imran’s plea with enthusiasm, the tally

so far is just a drop in the ocean of what’s

needed to alleviate the country’s chronic

water crisis. “We have only 30 days

water storage capacity,” cricketer-turned-

premier Imran warned in a televised

appeal this month.

“We already have so many loans that we

have problems in paying them back... We

alone will have to build this dam, and we

can.” The biggest crowdfunding effort in

the world to date, a Kickstarter campaign

for the Pebble Time Smartwatch, raised

just over $20 million in 32 days, according

to the Wall Street Journal.

But Imran appeared undaunted by the

magnitude of what he was asking.

If the millions of Pakistanis living

overseas all contribute $1,000 then

Pakistan will have the funds to build the

dams, he claimed. “I promise to you that I

will safeguard your money,” he added.

Critics say Imran’s plan is little more

than pie in the sky.

“You can’t collect $14 billion via

crowdfunding. It’s not feasible,” Khaleeq

Kiani, senior economics correspondent

with Pakistani daily Dawn, said.

“We have no example in which such a

huge amount was collected to build such

a huge project.”

‘ABSOLUTE WATER SCARCITY’

Few would deny Pakistan desperately

needs new reservoirs.

The country is rich in glaciers and

rivers, but has just two large-capacity

dams, and has for decades slept through

warnings of a water crisis. With its

surging population experts warn Pakistan

faces “absolute water scarcity” by 2025.

The government’s plan is to build

two facilities: the Mohmand dam in

the country’s northwest, widely seen as

feasible, and the much larger, troubled

Diamer-Basha project in the north, first

mooted in the early 2000s.

Its location in territory disputed by

India means major international donors

have refused funding, while financing

terms proposed by ally China were

rejected as too harsh.

Experts also question whether the

Diamer-Basha dam is feasible in an

earthquake-prone region, while others

point out that simply patching up

Pakistan’s current water infrastructure

and rethinking its water policies would

be more efficient. This summer the issue

caught the attention of maverick Supreme

Court Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, who

created the dam fund in July.

Imran’s decision to join the fray in

September has transformed Nisar’s idea

into a nationalist cause, with the fund at

the State Bank of Pakistan doubling to

$33 million, or 0.25 per cent of the target.

That includes a $9,740 donation from

the national football team, its winnings

from a recent tournament, along with $8

million worth of salaries donated by the

powerful army.

‘EVERY SINGLE RUPEE’

The donations have flowed despite

the fact that Imran, who took power in

August, has offered no detailed plan for

the money — or explained how Pakistanis

could recoup their cash if the project fails.

The lack of specifics has not bothered

many citizens who, in a country riddled

with corruption, have placed their faith in

“honest” Khan.

“Imran Khan will take care of every

single rupee,” said Islamabad shopkeeper

Muhammad Naseem. Khan has form.

He built two of the country’s only state-

of-the-art cancer hospitals purely on

donations, raising over $300 million to

date, a campaign that laid the foundations

for his political career.

Concerns about the fundraising have

centred on the Chief Justice Nisar, who

used his power to force people to donate,

demanding one lawyer give $8,000 if he

wanted more time in preparing his case.

Nisar has even suggested that opposing

the fund was tantamount to treason.

The remarks invited a backlash.

Political analyst Ijaz Haider, writing

in the Pakistani edition of Newsweek,

wondered if experts who pointed

out legitimate problems might find

themselves in trouble.

Would they be “considered traitors to

the cause?” he wrote. — AFP

Imran wants Pakistanis to crowdfund $14bn for dams

Indonesian city hit by tsunami after powerful quakeJAKARTA: A tsunami up to two

metres high hit a small city on the

Indonesian island of Sulawesi on

Friday after a major 7.5 quake struck

offshore, collapsing buildings and

washing a vessel ashore, but officials

could provide no information on

casualties.

The quake hit as dusk fell and

communications were down and the

airport closed, making it impossible to

assess the damage to life and property,

officials said.

National Disaster Mitigation

Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo

Nugroho said communications had

been cut both in the city of Palu, a

sleepy but growing tourist resort, and

the nearby fishing town of Donggala,

closest to the epicentre of the quake 80

km away.

Officials hope to be able to gauge

the scale of the damage at daybreak

after the strongest of a series of

earthquakes that continued late into

the evening.

More than 600,000 people live in

Palu and Donggala.

“The 1.5- to two-metre tsunami

has receded,” Dwikorita Karnawati,

who heads Indonesia’s meteorology

and geophysics agency, BMKG, told

Reuters. “It ended. The situation is

chaotic, people are running on the

streets and buildings collapsed. There

is a ship washed ashore.” BMKG had

earlier issued a tsunami warning, but

lifted it within the hour.

Amateur footage shown by local TV

stations, which could not immediately

be authenticated by Reuters, showed

waters crashing into houses along

Palu’s shoreline.

The national search and rescue

agency will deploy a large ship and

helicopters to aid with the operation,

said agency chief Muhammad Syaugi,

adding that he had not been able to

contact his team in Palu.

Palu, hit by a 6.2 magnitude quake

in 2005 which killed one person, is a

tourist resort at the end of a narrow

bay famous for its beaches and water

sports.

In 2004, an earthquake off the

northern Indonesian island of

Sumatra triggered a tsunami across

the Indian Ocean, killing 226,000

people in 13 countries, including more

than 120,000 in Indonesia.

Some people took to Twitter saying

they could not contact loved ones. “My

family in Palu is unreachable,” Twitter

user @noyvionella said.

Palu airport was closed.

The area was hit by a lighter quake

earlier in the day, which destroyed

some houses, killing one person

and injuring at least 10 in Donggala,

authorities said.

The US Geological Survey put the

magnitude of the second quake at a

strong 7.5, after first saying it was 7.7.

“The (second) quake was felt very

strongly, we expect more damage and

more victims,” Nugroho said.

The Southeast Asian archipelago

nation lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”,

where tectonic plates collide and many

of the world’s volcanic eruptions and

earthquakes occur.

This summer, a series of powerful

quakes hit Lombok, killing over 550

people on the holiday island and

neighbouring Sumbawa.

Some 1,500 people were injured

and about 400,000 residents were

displaced after their homes were

destroyed.

Indonesia has been hit by a string

of other deadly quakes including a

devastating 9.1 magnitude tremor that

struck off the coast of Sumatra in 2004.

That quake triggered a tsunami that

killed 220,000 throughout the region,

including 168,000 in Indonesia.

The Boxing Day disaster was the

world’s third biggest quake since 1900,

and lifted the ocean floor in some

places by 15 metres.

Indonesia’s Aceh province was

the hardest hit area, but the tsunami

affected coastal areas as far away as

Africa.

Among the country’s other big

earthquakes, a 6.3-magnitude quake

in 2006 rocked a densely populated

region of Java near the city of

Yogyakarta, killing around 6,000

people and injuring 38,000.

More than 420,000 people were left

homeless and some 157,000 houses

were destroyed.

A year earlier, in 2005, a quake

measuring 8.7 magnitude struck

off the coast of Sumatra, which is

particularly prone to quakes, killing

900 people and injuring 6,000.

It caused widespread destruction

on the western island of Nias.

— AFP

Plane crash lands in lagoon, passengers swim for lives

MARSHALL ISLANDS: Passengers were

forced to swim for their lives on Friday when

an airliner ditched into a lagoon after missing

the runway on a remote Pacific island and

began sinking.

The Air Niugini Boeing 737-800 was

attempting to land at Weno airport in

Micronesia but ended up half submerged in

Chuuk lagoon after the accident on Friday

morning.

Within minutes, locals scrambled a flotilla

of small boats to pluck the 35 passengers and

12 crew from the water.

The airline said the plane, which was

involved in a collision with another aircraft

earlier this year, had “landed short of the

runway”.

Remarkably, it reported no serious

injuries among those on the plane, which was

making a scheduled stop on its way from the

Micronesian capital Pohnpei to Port Moresby.

“Air Niugini can confirm that all on board

were able to safely evacuate the aircraft,” the

firm said in a brief statement.

“The airline is making all efforts to ensure

the safety and immediate needs of our

passengers and crew.” The airline did not detail

what caused the accident.

But it said it had been informed that “the

weather was very poor with heavy rain and

reduced visibility at the time of incident”.

Passenger Bill Jaynes, editor of the Pohnpei-

based Kaselehlie Press newspaper said he did

not even realise there had been an accident

until he saw water gushing into the fuselage.

“It was surreal,” he said shortly after being

discharged from hospital with a gash on his

forehead.

“I thought we landed hard until I looked

over and saw a hole in the side of the plane and

water coming in. I thought ‘this is not the way

it’s supposed to happen’.” Jaynes praised the

response of the locals.

“They immediately starting coming out in

boats. They were awesome and I was really

impressed,” he said.

PREVIOUS ACCIDENT

A witness told the media the plane

approached the airport “very low” before

hitting the water.

The runway, like others in the north Pacific,

is relatively short at 1,831 metres.

It is surrounded on three sides by water.

The Chuuk lagoon was a famous World War

II battle site and dozens of Japanese vessels and

planes are on the lagoon floor, now a tourist

attraction for scuba divers.

It is not the first time a plane has overshot

the runway in Micronesia.

In 2008, an Asia Pacific Airlines cargo

Boeing 727 overran and ended up with its nose

landing gear in the lagoon at the end of the

Pohnpei airport runway.

Papua New Guinea’s Accident Investigation

Commission (AIC) said it was preparing to

send investigators to Weno.

“We’re trying to arrange a team to go there

but I cannot give you any more information

because I simply don’t have it,” a spokesman

said.

Air Niugini is Papua New Guinea’s national

airline and lists only one 737-800 among its

fleet of 21 aircraft on its official website.

According to registration details supplied

by the airline, the plane was built in 2005

and had previously been owned by Air India

Express and Mumbai-based Jet Airways.

The AIC website details an incident

involving the aircraft in May this year when

a Hercules operated by a freight company

clipped the 737’s wing while taxiing, causing

“significant damage”.

The website said the accident is still under

investigation. — AFP

Locals scrambling in small boats to rescue the passengers and crew. — Reuters

The quake hit Indonesia’s central Sulawesi island at a shallow depth of some 10 kilometres. — AFP

The quake hit as dusk fell and communications were down and the airport closed, making it impossible to assess the damage to life and property

OMANDAILYOBSERVER SATURDAY l SEPTEMBER 29 l 20188 INDIA

NEW DELHI: India’s burgeoning

shadow finance sector is likely to face

a shake-up after defaults at one major

lender battered the financial markets

in the past week and reinforced

worries about credit risk.

Industry officials and experts

say they expect Indian regulators

to cancel the licenses of as many as

1,500 smaller non-banking finance

companies because they don’t have

adequate capital, and to also make it

more difficult for new applicants to

get approval.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI),

which has been tightening rules for

non-banking financial companies

(NBFCs), did not respond to requests

for comment.

Better capitalised and more

conservatively run finance firms are

likely to swallow up an increasing

number of smaller rivals, the experts

said. That could make it difficult for

many small borrowers to get loans,

especially in the countryside where

two-thirds of India’s 1.3 billion

people live, and put the brakes on a

surge in private consumption with a

knock-on effect on growth.

Infrastructure Financing and

Leasing Services Ltd (IL&FS), a

major infrastructure financing

and construction company, sent

shockwaves through the NBFC

sector when it defaulted on some of

its debt obligations in recent weeks.

Then last Friday, a large fund

manager sold short-term bonds

issued by home loan provider Dewan

Housing Finance at a sharp discount,

raising fears of wider liquidity

problems.

“The way things are unfolding,

there is certainly cause for

concern and the sector could see

consolidation,” said Harun Rashid

Khan, a former deputy governor at

the RBI and now a non-executive

chairman at Bandhan Bank Ltd,

formerly a microfinance company

specialising in small-value loans.

“The whole issue is they have

to take care of their asset-liability

mismatch,” Khan said in reference to

concerns that some of the firms have

borrowed short-term when their

revenue streams are longer-term.

The spotlight has now been

turned on thousands of “high-risk”

small players dominating lending in

villages and towns.

The shadow banking sector now

comprises more than 11,400 firms

with a combined balance-sheet

worth Rs 22.1 trillion ($304 billion),

and is less strictly regulated than

banks. It has been attracting new

investors, particularly as the nation’s

banks have had to slow their lending

as they seek to work through $150

billion of stressed assets.

The NBFC loan books have grown

at nearly twice the pace of banks, and

the cream of them, including IL&FS,

had received top credit ratings.

Those credit ratings are now

being called into question — IL&FS

has suffered a series of downgrades

in recent months — and there are

growing concerns that many of these

firms took on excessive credit risk by

lending to people with little means

of paying them back. There are also

growing questions about whether

lax regulation has allowed some of

these firms to be used for money

laundering. — Reuters

Infrastructure Financing and Leasing Services Ltd, a major infrastructure financing and construction company, sent shockwaves when it defaulted on some of its debt obligations in recent weeks. — Reuters

Shadow banking sector likely to face shake-up after default

RAFALE ROW

Supporters of main opposition Congress party protest in New Delhi on Friday demanding resignations of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over allegations of corruption in a Rafale fighter planes deal with France. — Reuters

SC says women can enter Kerala shrine; temple tantri unhappyTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The

historic Supreme Court judgment

which on Friday allowed women

of all ages to enter Lord Ayyappa

temple in Sabarimala in Kerala, has

left the temple tantris (priests) and

those associated with it by tradition

disappointed.

They plan to file a review petition

against the verdict that came after

12 years of legal battle and nearly a

month ahead of the annual pilgrimage

that starts in November.

Expressing disappointment, temple

tantri (chief priest) K Rajeevaru

said: “While I will respect the court’s

directive, I wish tradition and culture

is allowed to continue.

“The Travancore Devasom Board

(TDB) will decide on the appeal

challenging today’s decision, only

after a discussion.”

On whether the temple will allow

women from all age groups to come

for the annual pilgrimage when it

opens for the two-month long season

in November, he said he did not know

“how it would be managed this time”.

“As of now, what I can say is at

present there are no facilities that are

there and now the TDB will have to do

the needful,” Rajeevaru added.

Until now according to the rule

of the temple located on a hilltop in

Pathanamthitta district, about 130 km

from the state capital, has remained

closed to women in the age group of

10 to 50 years.

State Minister for Devasoms (a

watchdog body of temples which

oversees the functioning of all the

Devasom Boards in Kerala), K

Surendran said: “This has been a long

standing legal battle both in the Kerala

High Court and now Supreme Court.”

“The state government has nothing

to do as it is the TDB which has to

see that the directive is followed,” the

senior leader from Communist Party

of India-Marxist party said.

Over the years, the Left government

has always been for opening the

temple doors to all women.

TDB President A Padmakumar

said that they were now duty-bound

to see that the directive of the apex

court is put into practice.

“We will now speak with the state

government to see what needs to be

done. The long legal battle is over

now,” said Padmakumar.

Spokesperson of the Pandalam

Royal Family, which has an integral

role in the affairs of the Sabarimala

temple, Sasikumar Varma said the

palace was disappointed with the

verdict.

All the jewels of the temple is

stored in the Pandalam Palace.

“Just by a verdict, the century old

traditions of Sabarimala has been

changed and that’s very sad. Every

religious place has its own traditions

and culture that is practiced for

its own reasons,” said the palace

spokesperson.

“Sabarimala temple has its own

traditions — one of which is that all

pilgrims who come to the temple

undergo a 41-day penance, and that

should not be forgotten,” said Varma.

Meanwhile, Rahul Eashwaran,

a family member of the Sabarimala

tantri, said that they were deeply

saddened by the verdict and would file

a review petition.

“Various Hindu organisations will

now get together and conduct special

prayer sessions. We have time till

October 16 to file a review petition

which would be done after discussing

with all.

“This is not a balanced judgement

and Article 25 of the Constitution has

been overlooked,” said Eashwaran.

— IANS

NEW DELHI: Amid a nation-

wide traders’ strike on Friday

called by the Confederation

of All India Traders (CAIT),

the organisation submitted a

memorandum to Prime Minister

Narendra Modi.

In response to the call for a

“Bharat Trade Bandh” against

the Walmart-Flipkart deal and

foreign direct investment in

retail, the commercial markets

across the country were closed

on Friday, a CAIT statement

said.

The traders body submitted

the memorandum and a Traders

Charter to Modi urging for his

intervention to stop the deal

as it violates FDI Policy Press

Note Number 3 of 2016 of the

government, CAIT Secretary-

General Praveen Khandelwal

said in a statement.

It urged Modi to constitute a

high level committee under the

chairmanship of a senior Union

Minister and comprising officials

and trade representatives to look

into the matter.

On Friday around seven

crore business establishments

and more than 40,000 trade

associations and federations

across the nation participated in

the one-day strike, the traders’

organisation said.

Traders across the country

held “dharna”, demonstrations

and protest marches and later

submitted similar memorandum

as given to the Prime Minister

to their respective District

Collectors, CAIT said.

The CAIT also regretted

that retail trade has never

been a priority although after

agriculture, it is the largest

employment provider and

largest source of revenue for the

government.

“Such a stepmotherly

treatment to the traders must

come to an end,” the statement

said.

On August 28, the

Confederation had approached

the National Company Law

Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT)

against the Competition

Commission of India (CCI)’s

approval for the Walmart-

Flipkart deal.

Consequently, NCLAT issued

a notice to Walmart, enquiring

about its business model.

In August, Walmart Inc

acquired approximately 77 per

cent stake in e-commerce major

Flipkart.

Walmart now holds

approximately 77 per cent of

Flipkart, while the remainder

of the business is held by other

shareholders, including Flipkart

co-founder Binny Bansal,

Tencent, Tiger Global and

Microsoft Corp.

The global retail giant’s

investment includes $2 billion

of new equity funding to help

accelerate the growth of Flipkart’s

business. Both companies will

retain their unique brands and

operating structures in India, the

statement said. — IANS Putin to visit India for bilateral summitNEW DELHI: Russian President

Vladimir Putin will visit India from

October 4-5 during the course

of which he will hold an annual

bilateral summit with Prime Minister

Narendra Modi, it was announced on

Friday.

“Russian President Vladimir Putin

will pay an official visit to New Delhi

on October 4-5 for the 19th India-

Russia Annual Bilateral Summit,” the

External Affairs Ministry said in a

statement.

“During the visit, President Putin

will hold official talks with the Prime

Minister Modi... He will also have

a meeting with the President (Ram

Nath Kovind), as well as other official

engagements,” it stated.

Russia is one of only two countries

with which India holds annual

bilateral summits, the other being

Japan.

The India-Russia bilateral

relationship was elevated to Special

and Privileged Strategic Partnership

in 2010.

Earlier this month, External Affairs

Minister Sushma Swaraj visited

Moscow for the 23rd India-Russia

Inter-Governmental Commission on

Technical and Economic Cooperation

(IRIGC-TEC) meeting which also

prepared the groundwork for Putin’s

upcoming visit.

During that meeting, India and

Russia decided to increase the target

of two-way investments to $50 billion

by 2025 since the earlier target of $30

billion has already been crossed.

Speculation is also rife about

whether a missile deal that New Delhi

has been negotiating with Moscow

will be finalised during Putin’s visit.

With US President Donald

Trump’s administration’s law —

Countering America’s Adversaries

Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) —

coming into effect in January, India’s

defence deals with other countries

have come under the scanner.

CAATSA targets countries doing

business with Russian, Iranian and

North Korean defence companies. It

is a matter of concern for India as it

is a major defence partner of Russia.

The most controversial issue is

India’s purchase of S-400 air defence

missile systems from Russia at a cost

of more that Rs 40,000 crore. — IANS

Nation-wide strike against Flipkart-Walmart deal

Devotees queue outside the Sabarimala temple in Kerala. — Reuters

Speculation is also rife about whether a missile deal that New Delhi has been negotiating with Moscow will be finalised during Putin’s visit

Poll campaigning amid violence, fraud claimsALLISON JACKSON & USMAN SHARIFI

ampaigning for Afghanistan’s long-

delayed parliamentary elections kicked

off on Friday, as a crescendo of deadly

violence and claims of widespread fraud

fuel debate over whether the vote will go

ahead.

More than 2,500 candidates will

contest the October 20 poll, which is seen

as a test run for next year’s presidential

vote and a key milestone ahead of a UN

meeting in Geneva where Afghanistan

is under pressure to show progress on

“democratic processes”.

But preparations for the ballot, which

is more than three years late, have been

in turmoil for months, despite UN-led

efforts to keep Afghan organisers on

track.

Bureaucratic inefficiency, allegations

of industrial-scale fraud and now an

eleventh-hour pledge for biometric

verification of voters threaten to derail the

election and any hope of a credible result.

It will be “highly flawed”, a Western

diplomat admitted this week, reflecting

falling expectations across Kabul’s

international community, which is

providing most of the funding for the

elections.

The Independent Election

Commission (IEC) has insisted voting

will go ahead, with or without the

biometric machines that have been

demanded by opposition groups to

prevent people from voting more than

once.

Only 4,400 out of the 22,000 German-

made machines ordered have been

delivered to Afghanistan, officials said.

“They have promised (biometric

verification) and they may do it, but

will it be successful in dispelling the

concerns? I’m doubtful,” Afghanistan

Analysts Network researcher Ali Yawar

Adili said.

“It may create a bigger mess.”

The list of candidates, which has been

trimmed to 2,565 after 35 were expelled,

are competing for 249 seats in the lower

house, whose members are widely

derided as corrupt and ineffective.

Most MPs are seeking re-election.

But hundreds of political first-timers

— including the offspring of former

warlords, entrepreneurs and journalists

— are also contesting the vote.

“Parliament is supposed to be the

house of the people. Instead, it has

become a place for mafia networks,

corruption, and those who work for their

own interests,” said former TV journalist

Maryam Sama, 26, who is running in

Kabul province.

“If anyone can bring real change, it is

the young people.”

Afghanistan’s demographics should,

in theory, favour younger candidates

— the country is ranked as one of the

youngest and fastest growing in the

world.

But they face a formidable challenge

from the old guard, who have long

dominated the political landscape

through tribal and ethnic connections

and deep pockets.

Traditional attitudes are also stacked

against the younger hopefuls in a

country where elders are respected and

listened to.

“Old politicians, ethnic and religious

power brokers regard themselves as the

rightful and exclusive owners of politics

and have the power and resources,”

said Naeem Ayubzada, director of

Transparent Election Foundation of

Afghanistan.

The international community is

pushing hard for the vote to happen

before November’s ministerial meeting

in Geneva, which the United Nations

says is a “crucial moment” for the Afghan

government and its foreign partners to

demonstrate progress.

But a wave of deadly violence across

the country in recent months has raised

concerns that parliamentary elections

could end up being a bloody rehearsal

for the presidential vote scheduled for

April.

Some 54,000 members of

Afghanistan’s beleaguered security

forces will be responsible for protecting

more than 5,000 polling centres on

election day.

More than 2,000 polling centres that

were supposed to open will be closed for

security reasons.

It is a daunting task as the Taliban

and the IS group, which have vowed to

disrupt the ballot, ramp up attacks across

the country.

“Elections are not about Nato but

about Afghan people,” Cornelius

Zimmermann, Nato’s senior civilian

representative in Afghanistan, told

a recent meeting of Afghan security

officials.

Allegations of massive fraud in the

voter registration process that saw nearly

nine million people sign up are also

disrupting the process.

District council elections, which

also were scheduled to be held on

October 20, have been postponed and a

parliamentary vote in Ghazni province,

whose capital the Taliban recently

raided, has been cancelled.

Delaying voting in the rest of the

country until after the presidential

poll “would be best”, a Western official

monitoring election preparations said

on the condition of anonymity.

“If the process is not accepted, how

can you accept the outcome?” the official

asked. — AFP

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this page are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the opinion of the Observer.

ANASTASIA MOLONEY

s a boy growing up in a slum in Cali, one of the most world’s most

violent cities, Andres Felipe Gonzalez knew his chances of a life without

crime or becoming a victim of crime were slim.

“I remember hooded men would enter the neighbourhood. We’d

switch off the lights and hide under a table,” said Gonzalez, who lives in

southwest Cali’s Las Minas Comuna 18 neighbourhood.

“In the culture I grew up in, the best man is the one who has the

biggest gun. The bigger the gun, the more respect you have,” said

Gonzalez, known locally as Fares. But against the odds, Fares did not

end up joining a gang or resorting to violence.

Fares, now 27, is part of a multi-million-dollar initiative that aims

to keep young men off the streets and away from gangs in Colombia’s

third largest city by offering them other options.

Since starting in 2016, the project, called “Integrated Approach

to Gangs — Youth Without Borders” (TIP) and funded by Cali city

hall, has worked with about 1,400 people and 73 gangs in slum areas,

including young men and women at risk of being recruited by gangs.

With a murder rate of 51 per 100,000 people in 2017, Cali ranks as

one of the world’s most dangerous cities. Much of the violence is drug

or gang-related, and perpetrated by young men.

Across Latin America, a region where nearly one in every four

of the world’s murders takes place, cities seeking to cope better with

modern-day pressures are looking beyond risks from natural hazards

like floods, and tackling social stresses too.

In Cali, preventing gang violence is part of the city’s five-pronged

resilience strategy, drawn up under its membership of the 100 Resilient

Cities network, backed by The Rockefeller Foundation. The plan also

covers action on climate change, education, transport and governance.

“We understand resilience as overcoming both shocks and tensions,”

said Juan Camilo Cock, deputy secretary of the Areas of Inclusion and

Opportunities programme at Cali mayoral office.

Tensions are ongoing issues that affect people’s livelihoods, he

noted. “When we did the diagnostic for resilience in Cali, one of the

main issues that came out was violence,” he said.

— Thomson Reuters Foundation

Catching them young

Bracing for winter in Greek island campsODILE DUPERRY & ANTHI PAZIANOU

housands of migrants packed into

overcrowded camps on the Greek islands

are bracing for winter in conditions that

have already driven some there to attempt

suicide.

Even those on the list for transfer to the

mainland after NGOs exposed the poor

conditions there are hoping to make the trip

before seasonal rains turn their camp into a

field of mud.

“Why don’t the Greeks do anything

when they get a lot of money to take care of

us?” asked Jamal, 53, at the Moria camp on

the island of Lesbos, the biggest in Greece.

His question echoed the frustration

of many others stuck in the camp at the

government’s apparent inability to provide

even the most basic amenities.

Jamal, a Somalian, arrived three weeks

ago with his 21-year-old daughter, who

is blind and suffers from debilitating

hemiplegic migraines.

He may be among the lucky few, some

two thousand, to benefit from an accelerated

transfer to the mainland.

Earlier this month, medical charity

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported

multiple cases of suicide attempts and

self-harm among those stuck at the camp,

including some children.

Workers at the camp had already

threatened to strike in protest at what even

the government acknowledged was “near

impossible” overcrowding.

But despite a 2016 agreement between

Turkey and the European Union, the

migrants are continuing to arrive.

For although the islands of Lesbos and

Samos, which shelter the biggest migrant

camps, are both Greek, they sit just off the

Turkish coast, on the eastern side of the

Aegean. Between them they have more

than 20,000 refugees and migrants — 8,000

in Moria alone, which is only built to hold

3,000.

Under humanitarian law, most qualify

for passage to Greece. Among them is

Jamal, who is waiting for his passage to the

Greek mainland, due on October 8.

In the meantime, he has to make do with

an overcrowded tent lined up, like hundreds

of others, around the fence delineating the

official Moria camp.

These places change hands for between

60 and 100 euros ($70-$116), but when the

first rains come they risk transforming the

makeshift campsite into a field of mud.

And already, the cold autumn winds are

beginning to bite.

In the meantime, he and his fellow

migrants complain about the hours they

have to spend queueing for poor-quality

food every day, about the cold showers and

the dirty toilets. Jamal’s daughter at least has

a more robust shelter inside the camp itself.

But the poor conditions reported by

MSF and 19 other aid agencies have not

gone away, and the migrants stuck there

grow increasingly impatient.

“Wait, wait, we always have to wait,” said

Sylvie a 24-year-old who fled her home in

the Democratic Republic of Congo.

She arrived with an eye injury which

has only got worse since her stay, she said,

adding: “I don’t think they have given me

the right medicine.”

Conditions at the camp made things

worse for people already suffering from

whatever trauma forced them to flee their

homes, said MSF, which also highlighted

significant gaps in the protection of children.

And the children, mainly from

Afghanistan and Syria, make up a third of

the camp’s population.

In its defence, Greece has pointed to

the continuing flow of new arrivals — and

the failure of EU member states to reach

agreement on sharing out the migrants.

In all, it says, 21,737 more people have

arrived since the beginning of the year —

already well above the 17,563 who arrived

in the whole of 2017.

And those running the camp have

pointed to the facilities on offer there:

lessons for the children, dental and eye care.

Mandek, a Somali woman, counts herself

fairly lucky, even if she still dreams of getting

her nine-year-old daughter Filsna and her

two boys, one and three, to Germany.

The sewage system is up and running

again, after a barrage of criticism and threats

from local officials to close them down if the

problem, which was stinking out the camp,

was not resolved. — AFP

ESTABLISHED ON 15 NOVEMBER 1981

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Abdullah bin Salim al Shueili

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C

A

T

More than 2,500 candidates will

contest the October 20 poll, which is seen as a test run

for next year’s presidential vote

and a key milestone ahead of a UN

meeting in Geneva

Even those on the list for transfer to the mainland after NGOs

exposed the poor conditions there are hoping to make the trip before seasonal

rains turn their camp into a field of mud

OMANDAILYOBSERVERSATURDAY l SEPTEMBER 29 l 2018 9ANALYSISS SLL

A girl looks on as she stands inside a tent in a camp outside the refugee camp of Moria, in the northern Greek island of Lesbos. — AFP

OMANDAILYOBSERVER SATURDAY l SEPTEMBER 29 l 201810 EUROPEU O

LONDON: Brexit campaigner

Boris Johnson called on Prime

Minister Theresa May to rip up her

proposal for Britain’s exit from the

European Union, ratcheting up the

pressure on May as she prepares to

face her divided party at its annual

conference next week.

Just six months before Britain is

due to leave the European Union on

March 29, 2019, little is clear: May

has yet to clinch a Brexit divorce

deal with the EU and rebels in her

party have threatened to vote down

any deal she makes.

Adding to the uncertainty, a poll

of polls published on Friday showed

voters would now vote 52 to 48 per

cent in favour of remaining in the

EU were there to be another Brexit

referendum. May has repeatedly

ruled out another referendum.

Johnson, the bookmakers’

favourite to succeed May, said her

Brexit plans would leave the United

Kingdom half in and half out of

the club it joined in 1973 and in

effective “enforced vassalage”.

“This is the moment to change

the course of the negotiations and

do justice to the ambitions and

potential of Brexit,” Johnson, who

resigned in July as foreign secretary

over May’s Brexit proposals, wrote

in Friday’s Daily Telegraph.

Under the headline, “My plan

for a better Brexit”, Johnson, called

for a “SuperCanada-type free

trade agreement”. He said the EU’s

“backstop” proposals for Northern

Ireland, under which the British-

ruled province would remain

within the EU customs union even

if the rest of Britain left, amounted

to the economic annexation of part

of the United Kingdom.

The plan outlined by Johnson

gained support from other rebels

such as Conservative lawmaker

Jacob Rees-Mogg who are pushing

for a deeper break with the EU.

— Reuters

Boris Johnson demands May scrap her Brexit proposals

Brexit gym punchbags help Londoners vent their rageLONDON: Londoners fed up with

Brexit can vent their rage with a special

gym routine that includes high-

intensity exercises like pummelling

punchbags bearing photographs of

some of the main players like Boris

Johnson and Jean-Claude Juncker.

The 30-minute circuit also

features the “Theresa May Sack Race,”

“Jacob Rees-Logg lifts” and “Politico

Headslammer” in which participants

slam balls on to pictures of British

Prime Minister Theresa May and

opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy

Corbyn.

There is also a “Cameron

Quitters’ Corner” named after May’s

predecessor David Cameron to take

time out.

The Brexfit classes are being offered

by fitness company Gymbox, whose

boss Marc Diaper said the theme was

chosen by a members’ poll of their

main frustrations with living in the

British capital.

Fifty-two per cent of respondents

said Brexit, followed by rent prices and

train delays.

“We thought well, what better way

to actually release frustration and

anger than actually put on a Brexfit

class as we’ve called it, where you

can actually punch your most hated

politician in the face on a punchbag,”

he said.

The course was designed with

the help of an anger management

expert, said fitness instructor Boriss

Visokoborskis.

“It’s for our members to relieve

the stress caused by Brexit, and all

the frustration they see in the mass

media and Internet and so on,” he

added. “They are leaving our classes

feeling relieved, lighter and they do

something good for themselves, they

work on their body.”

Student Ania Jarzabkiewicz, 26,

originally from Poland, said she felt

“amazing” after the class.

“I have a problem to get my student

loan because of Brexit, so today I really

take out my frustration on this whole

situation and I feel really good,” she

said.

Fitness coach George, 25, said his

favourite exercises were the sack races

and punchbags. In this particular class,

leading Brexiteer and former foreign

secretary Johnson bore the brunt of

his frustration.

“It’d be wrong to punch him in

the face in real life so... doing it on a

punchbag there’s nothing wrong with

that, and it’s definitely a great way to

get your frustration out,” he said.

With six months until Britain leaves

the EU, May has yet to reach a deal on

the terms of the divorce, and her plan

for future trade ties has been rebuffed

by both the EU and many in her own

Conservative Party.

Corbyn said this week that Labour

would vote against a Brexit deal based

on May’s proposals, the strongest

warning yet to a prime minister whose

plan to leave the EU is hanging by a

thread. — Reuters

Merkel, Erdogan vow to rebuild ties despite rifts

BERLIN: German Chancellor

Angela Merkel and Turkish President

Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed on

Friday to rebuild strained relations

after a two-year crisis despite

remaining differences on civil rights

and other issues.

Erdogan was on a state visit to

the top EU economy, home to three

million people of Turkish descent, in

what German media have described

as a charm offensive.

Turkey is suffering economic

turbulence aggravated by US

sanctions stemming from a row with

US President Donald Trump.

The three-day visit is being held

under tight security, with over 4,000

extra police deployed in Berlin, as

several protests were planned against

the Turkish leader under the banner

“Erdogan Not Welcome”.

In a first rally, hundreds of mostly

ethnic Kurdish demonstrators

marched in Berlin with banners

that showed likenesses of Erdogan

shooting a journalist and devouring

a peace dove.

Merkel and Erdogan meanwhile

stressed the need to rebuild

traditional ties that hit a historic

low after a 2016 failed coup and

subsequent crackdown in Turkey.

The two Nato allies agreed to

jointly discuss the Syria crisis in a

meeting next month with Russian

President Vladimir Putin and

Emmanuel Macron of France, Merkel

said at a joint press conference.

But the gulf between them

remained apparent on issues from

press freedom to the fate of German

or dual citizens being held behind

bars in Turkey, and on whether

Germany should extradite Erdogan’s

declared foes.

Merkel, under pressure at home

for giving Erdogan the red-carpet

treatment, said there was “on both

sides a joint strategic interest in good

relations” despite “deep differences...

especially in questions about a

democratic, open society”.

But she stressed that continued

dialogue was the best way to

overcome those differences.

She also vowed to keep pushing

for the release of five German citizens

still being held in Turkey.

At the height of the crisis, Berlin

had urged its citizens and companies

to stay away from Turkey and pulled

out its troops from a Nato base.

However, relations have thawed

since Turkey in February released

prominent German-Turkish

journalist Deniz Yucel.

Trump in August raised tariffs

on Turkish aluminium and steel,

in retaliation for the detention of

an American pastor on terrorism

charges in Turkey. On Turkey’s

economic woes, Merkel said that

“Germany has an interest in an

economically stable Turkey”.

Erdogan, who at the height of

the diplomatic crisis had accused

Berlin of “Nazi” style practices, also

struck a conciliatory tone, pointing

to “win-win” business projects on the

horizon.

On the question of open trade,

he said, without mentioning Trump,

that “we are of the same opinion as

Germany” and that protectionism

“spells a great danger for global

security”.

However, Erdogan also said

Germany was doing too little to deal

with thousands of Kurdish fighters

on its soil.

And he complained that

Germany was refusing to extradite

followers of Muslim cleric Fethullah

Gulen, whom he blames for the coup

attempt. — AFP

Macedonia to vote on new name to end rowSKOPJE: Voters across the Balkan state of Macedonia

will decide on Sunday whether to re-name their

country North Macedonia, an emotional vote that

could end a bitter row with Greece and unlock a path

to Nato and the EU.

It is a loaded question for many in the nation of

around 2.1 million, which has tussled with Greece

for 27 years over its name and history.

Athens objects to its northern neighbour’s name

because it has its own province called Macedonia.

It accuses Skopje of encroaching on its territory

and cultural heritage. In protest Greece has used its

veto to thwart Macedonia’s progress in Nato and EU

accession talks.

But in June the two neighbours reached a

compromise: the Republic of North Macedonia.

Now Macedonians are being called on to approve

the name, despite a widespread feeling that they have

been pushed around by Greece.

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev is selling the name-

change as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the

poor country to move past the row and integrate

with the West.

He has the backing of a host of European and US

leaders who have trotted through Skopje this month

to shore up support.

“You know well that a better deal cannot be

made,” Zaev told a crowd this week in one of his final

campaign events.

Some Macedonians say they are willing to vote

“yes” in the hope that Nato and EU membership will

inject life into a flat economy ravaged by emigration.

“We won’t ever have a chance for a better future

for Macedonia,” said Bogdana Zabrcanec, a resident

of the central city of Prilep who came to listen to

Zaev speak this week.

But even if voters approve the name change, the

deal will still need to be ratified in parliament, where

a right-wing opposition threatens to block it.

Zaev is hoping a strong majority for “yes” will

make it difficult for the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE

party to resist the public’s will.

But turnout figures could prove contentious.

If less than half of the 1.8 million registered voters

cast ballots, detractors may attack the referendum’s

credibility. That turnout figure could be hard to

reach in a country where a quarter of the population

is estimated to have emigrated abroad.

So far, the boycott movement has been mostly

limited to online activities. A planned rally on

Thursday night was cancelled, with only several

dozen people showing up.

The opposition’s leader, Hristijan Mickoski, said

this week that Macedonians should “listen to their

heart” when they wake up on Sunday morning.

Meanwhile President Gjorge Ivanov, who is

allied with the nationalist opposition, told the UN

assembly this week that he personally would not

vote, describing the deal as “historical suicide”.

— AFP

A gym instructor punches a boxing bag containing an image of Boris Johnson during a Brexfit gym class at Gym Box in London. — Reuters

German Chancellor Angela Merkel with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after a joint press conference on Friday at the Chancellery in Berlin. — AFP

A couple stands next to the monument of Alexander the Great in Skopje on Friday. — AFP

OMANDAILYOBSERVERS A T U R D A Y l S E P T E M B E R 2 9 l 2 0 1 8 11WORLDO

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis has defrocked an 88-year-old Chilean priest who sexually abused teenage boys over a period of many years and is at the centre of a wider abuse scandal that is still under investigation, the Vatican said on Friday.

Father Fernando Karadima was defrocked, or “reduced to the lay state” by the pope on Thursday, a move the Vatican called “exceptional” and done “for the good of the Church”.

Karadima, who lives in a home for the elderly in the Chilean capital Santiago, was notified on Friday.

He was found guilty in a Vatican investigation in 2011 and

ordered to live a life of “prayer and penitence”, but was not defrocked at the time, the final years of the reign of former Pope Benedict. That meant he was still a priest, although he could not minister in public.

Karadima, who has always denied wrongdoing, escaped civilian justice because of the statute of limitations in the country.

Seven Chilean bishops have resigned since June after an investigation into an alleged cover-up of Karadima’s crimes, some of them former proteges of Karadima, who prepared them for the priesthood as young men in Santiago’s up-scale, conservative El Bosque neighbourhood. — Reuters

Pope defrocks priest at centre of Chilean abuse scandal

LONDON: The family of a British teenager who died from an allergic reaction to a sandwich called on Friday for a change in the law on food labelling, as an inquest into her death ended.

Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, 15, who suffered from numerous allergies, went into cardiac arrest on a 2016 flight from London to Nice after eating a baguette containing sesame seeds from sandwich chain Pret A Manger.

There was no allergen information on the packaging or the store’s food display cabinet, but this is not required by British law.

A coroner concluded the teen had been “reassured by that” and said he would advise the government on whether food labelling regulations should be tightened. Nadim Ednan-Laperouse, the victim’s father, said the inquest “should serve as a watershed moment to make meaningful change to save lives”.

“If Pret A Manger were following the law, then the law was playing Russian Roulette with our daughter’s life,” he said in a family statement. “It’s clear that the food labelling laws as they stand today are not fit for purpose and it is now time to change the law.”

Natasha Ednan-Laperouse had the fatal reaction aboard a British Airways plane in July 2016 after buying the baguette, which had sesame seeds inside its dough, from a Pret outlet at London Heathrow airport.

At the time, the company relied on stickers on food display units highlighting that allergy information was available by asking staff or visiting its website. — AFP

Family of nut allergy victim call for UK law change

Swiss on collision course with EU as treaty talks stallZURICH/BRUSSELS: The European

Commission set a mid-October deadline

for progress in talks on a treaty governing its

economic relationship with Switzerland on

Friday, taking a tough line after Bern made

no new concessions that could break a logjam

weighing on bilateral ties.

Negotiations have dragged on for five years

on a treaty that Brussels has demanded for a

decade.

The talks are now complicated by Britain’s

separate negotiations on divorce terms from

the European Union, with the Commission

loath to be too soft on the Swiss for fear of

providing ammunition to Brexiteers.

Unable to forge domestic consensus on

amending rules that protect high Swiss wages

from cross-border contractors, the Swiss

cabinet proposed continuing negotiations on

the basis of its current mandate.

The Swiss labour rules have been the major

bone of contention with Brussels, which has

been pushing to wrap up an accord by the end

of the year.

Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis had

told parliament on Thursday that talks had not

made enough progress so far to clinch a deal,

adding it was “written in the stars” whether a

breakthrough was still possible this year.

Such star-gazing was not enough for the

Commission.

“Time is pressing and the window of

opportunity is closing (in) mid-October,”

it said, calling it vital to make progress on

disputes over state aid provisions and the Swiss

labour rules.

“Our guiding principle in these negotiations

remains: those who want to do business in

the EU’s internal market need to comply with

the rules,” a spokeswoman said in an emailed

statement.

Brussels has been ratcheting up pressure on

non-member Switzerland to agree a pact that

would sit atop an existing patchwork of 120

sectoral accords and have the Swiss routinely

adopt changes to single market rules.

The treaty would also provide a more

effective platform to resolve disputes, providing

greater legal certainty. It would focus on five

areas linked to the single market: the free

movement of people, civil aviation, land

transport, mutual recognition of industrial

standards and processed farm goods.

In a sign of good faith, the Swiss government

said it would ask parliament to approve

another 1.3 billion Swiss francs ($1.33 billion)

in contributions over a decade to help EU

member states handle training and migration

issues.

Should treaty talks fail — and time is short

ahead of elections in Switzerland and for the

European Parliament both due next year — the

120 sectoral accords would stay in effect, but

bilateral relations would enter a deep freeze.

Failure to strike a deal would mean no

increase in Swiss access to the single market,

dashing hopes for a new electricity union. It

could also endanger unfettered EU market

access for Swiss makers of products such as

medical devices, if agreements on mutual

recognition of standards lapse.

The Commission has threatened not to

extend beyond this year recognition of Swiss

stock exchange rules that allow cross-border

trading, which could touch off tit-for-tat

escalation.

After Commission President Jean-Claude

Juncker last year proposed letting joint

arbitration panels rather than the European

Court of Justice handle some disputes, talks

had been making progress.

The offer helped defuse arguments from the

right-wing, anti-EU Swiss People’s Party, the

largest in parliament, that foreign judges should

not be allowed to dictate to the sovereign Swiss.

But negotiations ran aground again in

August when Switzerland’s normally pro-

Europe centre-left baulked at adapting the

labour rules.

With both the left and right opposed to a

deal, the treaty would hardly have a chance of

surviving a referendum that would be likely

under the Swiss system of direct democracy.

— Reuters

Over Democratic objections, Senate panel sets vote on Trump’s court pickWASHINGTON: Angry Democrats

walked out as a Republican-led Senate

panel set a vote over their objections

for later on Friday on President

Donald Trump’s nominee to the US

Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh,

who won the support of a key senator,

Jeff Flake.

Republicans appeared to have the

votes, after the moderate Republican

Flake announced his position, to

approve Kavanaugh in the Judiciary

Committee.

If confirmed, Kavanaugh would

consolidate conservative control of

the nation’s highest court and advance

Trump’s broad effort to shift the

American judiciary to the right.

The committee’s meeting came the

morning after a jarring and emotional

hearing into sexual misconduct

allegations against Kavanaugh that

gripped the country, with a university

professor named Christine Blasey Ford

accusing him of sexual misconduct.

He denied the allegation.

As the committee, with 11

Republicans and 10 Democrats, set its

vote for 1:30 pm (1730 GMT), some

Democrats left the room in protest.

“What a railroad job,” Democratic

Senator Mazie Hirono said.

A committee vote to approve

Kavanaugh would pave the way for

a final debate and vote on the Senate

floor in the coming days.

Republican committee Chairman

Chuck Grassley said he found both

Ford’s and Kavanaugh’s testimony

“credible,” but added, “There’s simply

no reason to deny Judge Kavanaugh

a seat on the Supreme Court on the

basis of evidence presented to us.”

The timing of the panel’s session

gave committee members little time

to review Thursday’s extraordinary

testimony from Kavanaugh and

Ford, who accused him of sexually

assaulting her when they were high

school students in 1982. Kavanaugh

forcefully denied the accusations and

accused Democrats of a “calculated

and orchestrated political hit.”

Senator Dianne Feinstein, the

committee’s senior Democrat, called

Kavanaugh’s remarks unseemly for a

judicial nominee.

“This was someone who was

aggressive and belligerent. I have

never seen someone who wants to

be elevated to the highest court in

the country behave in that manner.

In stark contrast, the person who

testified yesterday and demonstrated a

balanced temperament was Dr Ford,”

Feinstein said.

Flake, who had previously raised

concerns about the allegations against

Kavanaugh, said on Friday Ford

gave “compelling testimony” but

Kavanaugh provided “a persuasive

response.”

Soon after Flake made his

announcement, he was confronted

in an elevator while on his way to the

committee meeting by two protesters

who said they were sexual assault

survivors.

“That’s what you’re telling all

women in America — that they

don’t matter, they should just keep it

to themselves,” one of the protesters

shouted at Flake in an exchange aired

by CNN.

“I need to go to my hearing. I’ve

issued my statement,” Flake said.

If Kavanaugh is confirmed,

Democrats said it could taint the

Supreme Court, which prides itself on

staying above the political fray.

“Voting to advance and ultimately

confirm Judge Kavanaugh while he

is under this dark cloud of suspicion

will forever change the Senate and our

nation’s high court. It will politicise

the US Supreme Court,” Democratic

Senator Patrick Leahy said.

Trump’s fellow Republicans hold

a slim Senate 51-49 majority, making

the votes of two other so-far undecided

Republican moderates crucial: Lisa

Murkowski and Susan Collins.

Democrats have urged a delay in

the confirmation process to allow for

an FBI investigation, a move backed

late on Thursday by the American

Bar Association, which had earlier

endorsed his nomination.

Kavanaugh could be the deciding

vote on several contentious legal

issues if he is confirmed to the nine-

member court, with disputes possibly

heading to the court soon. The court

begins its next term on Monday,

down one justice after the retirement

of conservative Anthony Kennedy

effective in July. Trump nominated

Kavanaugh to replace Kennedy.

Ford testified on Thursday she was

“100 per cent certain” Kavanaugh

assaulted her in 1982. Kavanaugh

said he was innocent and the victim

of “grotesque and obvious character

assassination.”

Questions were raised about

Kavanaugh’s temperament at the

hearing as well as his fiery political

accusations and how that could

impact his role on the court.

“I believe once he gets to the

Supreme Court, he will call the balls

and strikes fairly,” White House adviser

Kellyanne Conway told “CBS This

Morning,” using a baseball analogy.

Attention to the hearing moved far

beyond the world of Washington

politics. Ford has emerged in the

eyes of many American women as

a compelling figure in the #MeToo

movement against sexual harassment

and assault.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch

McConnell is hoping the full Senate

will quickly approve Kavanaugh,

possibly as soon as Tuesday.

— Reuters

This combination of pictures made on Thursday shows Brett Kavanaugh testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. — AFP

Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis speaks during a news conference in Bern, Switzerland on Friday. — Reuters

FOR THE MISSING

Relatives of the 43 students of the teaching training school in Ayotzinapa who went missing in 2014 take part in a demonstration to mark the fourth anniversary of their disappearance, in Iguala, Guerrero state, Mexico, on Thursday. — AFP

TAIPEI: A former manager at Taiwan’s

technology giant Foxconn has been jailed for

stealing and selling 2,000 iPhones to pocket around

Tw$8.46 million ($277,000), a court said on

Friday.

Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai, is the world’s

largest contract electronics maker and assembles

products for international brands such as Apple

and Sony.

It employs about one million workers at its

factories across China.

Tsai Yi-wei, who worked in the company’s

testing department, had instructed eight employees

at Foxconn’s factory in the southern Chinese city of

Shenzhen to smuggle out iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s

test models between July 2013 and December 2014,

the high court said.

Tsai and his accomplices then sold the phones,

which were supposed to be scrapped, to stores in

Shenzhen.

He was sentenced to two years and four months

in prison on Thursday and can appeal the ruling.

“The defendant was the head of a department

but violated the company’s trust,” the court said in

a statement.

Foxconn reported the case to Taiwanese

authorities following an internal audit and Tsai was

indicted in late 2016.

The firm has been hit by a number of scandals in

recent years, from employee misconduct to labour

disputes.

In 2016, five former Foxconn employees were

given up to 10 years and six months in prison

for soliciting Tw$160 million in kickbacks from

suppliers in exchange for clearing quality checks

and buying their equipment.

The company had also come under the spotlight

over labour unrest, from employee suicides to the

use of underage interns at its Chinese plants several

years ago. — AFP

OMANDAILYOBSERVER SATURDAY l SEPTEMBER 29 l 201812 PANORAMAO

Over 300 endangered

turtles hatch in

Singapore

SINGAPORE: More than 300

hawksbill turtles have hatched on

beaches in Singapore this month and

been released into the sea, authorities

said on Friday, in a boost for the

critically endangered creatures.

They hatched on three beaches

across the tropical Southeast Asian

country, according to the National

Parks Board, which oversees parks and

nature reserves.

Over 100 turtles hatched on Sentosa

Island, a popular tourist destination,

according to the organisation that

manages the island. After their nest

was discovered in July, a barrier was

erected around the site to protect it

from monitor lizards and crabs

It was the fourth time since 1996

that eggs of the critically endangered

turtles have hatched on Sentosa.

The other turtle nests were

discovered at a beach on the east coast

and on Satumu island south of the

Singapore mainland, the parks board

said. A total of 321 turtles hatched over

a 10-day period from September 15.

Hawksbills get their names from

their narrow pointed beaks and are

found throughout the world’s tropical

oceans, mainly around coral reefs.

They are threatened by damage to

their natural habitats from pollution

and coastal developments, and are also

targeted by poachers.

Their body parts are used to make

turtle soup and their shells are crushed

into powder for use in jelly dessert. The

Hawksbill shell is also used to make

products like combs and ornamental

hairpins.

The International Union for

Conservation of Nature classifies the

turtles as critically endangered. — AFP

Foxconn former manager jailed for stealing 2,000 iPhones

LURING TECHNIQUE: A vendor makes bubbles to attract customers at the Saujana Beach in Port Dickson, Malaysia, on Friday. — AFP

REFLECTING LOYALTY: Royal Thai Army soldiers stand in a formation during a handover ceremony of the army chief at the army headquarters in Bangkok on Friday. — AFP

CEREMONIAL GESTURE: Presidential Evzoni guards perform the change of the guards at the Monument of Unknown Soldier in Athens. Greece. “Endurance, discipline, accuracy”: these are the three commandments of this elite corps, an emblematic image of the country for a century and a half. — AFP

JOY RIDE: Children enjoy a ride as they visit the Bangladesh Air Force Museum park in the afternoon in Dhaka on Friday. — Reuters

CHEERING THE CROWD: A Palestinian woman dances during a demonstration in a square in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday, ahead of Mahmud Abbas’ speech during the General Debate of the 73rd session of the General Assembly at the United Nations in New York. — AFP

SATURDAY | SEPTEMBER 29, 2018 | MUHARRAM 19, 1440 AH

business editor@omanobserver.om www.omanobserver.omfollow us @oman_biz

MILAN: The European Union on

Friday issued a stern warning to

Italy’s populist leaders following

their defiant pledge to increase

spending and run a budget deficit

that risks putting Rome on a

collision course with Brussels.

Thursday’s deal on a 2.4-per

cent deficit for the next three years

came after warnings from the

European Commission — the EU’s

executive arm — to hold the reins

on spending.

It vastly exceeds the 0.8-per cent

deficit foreseen by the previous,

centre-left government, and comes

dangerously close to the EU rule

saying that government deficits

cannot exceed 3 per cent of gross

domestic product (GDP).

Crucially, it will inflate the

country’s already mammoth debt

burden — currently 131 per cent of

GDP, the biggest in the euro zone

after Greece and way above the 60

per cent EU ceiling.

The Milan stock exchange

plunged on Friday, dropping by

around 4.5 per cent at one point,

as jittery investors dumped shares.

Trading in Banco BPM bank stocks

was suspended after they tumbled

nearly 11 per cent. Trading was also

briefly paused on the equities of

BPER Banca, UBI Banca, UniCredit

and Intesa Sanpaolo.

Meanwhile, the yield on Italian

government bonds shot up above

the symbolic 3 per cent threshold.

“It is a budget which appears to

be beyond the limits of our shared

rules,” said Pierre Moscovici, who

runs the European Commission’s

economic and finance portfolio.

“If you allow public debt to

increase you create a situation that

becomes unstable as soon as the

economic context worsens,” he

added.

Italy does indeed face a

lacklustre growth forecast: just 1

per cent in 2019 according to the

Bank of Italy and the International

Monetary Fund (IMF), and 1.1 per

cent according to the European

Commission. — Reuters

EU slams Italy budget as stocks plunge

Regulator sues Musk for fraud, seeks to oust himNEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO:

The US Securities and Exchange

Commission accused Tesla Chief

Executive Elon Musk on Thursday

of fraud and sought to remove him

from his role in charge of the electric

car company, saying he made a series

of “false and misleading” tweets about

potentially taking Tesla private last

month.

Musk tweeted on August 7 that he

had “funding secured” to privatise the

electric automaker at $420 a share,

causing a brief spike in Tesla’s share

price.

The SEC said Musk’s statements on

Twitter were “false and misleading”

and that he had never discussed

the plans with company officials or

potential funders.

Musk said he later decided against

the plan. But Musk quickly rejected the

SEC’s allegations on Thursday, calling

the charges baseless and vowing to

defend himself.

“This unjustified action by the

SEC leaves me deeply saddened

and disappointed,” Musk said in

a statement. “I have always taken

action in the best interests of truth,

transparency and investors. Integrity

is the most important value in my

life and the facts will show I never

compromised this in any way.”

Tesla expressed support for Musk

on Thursday, saying the company

and the board of directors “are fully

confident in Elon, his integrity, and

his leadership.” The SEC’s charges

pose a potentially devastating threat

to Musk’s future as an entrepreneur,

as the agency is seeking fines and the

return of ill-gotten gains, as well as

potentially barring him from ever

serving as an officer or board member

of a publicly-traded company.

Stephanie Avakian, the SEC’s co-

director of enforcement, told reporters

that Musk knew his statements lacked

any basis in fact.

The Tesla CEO “had not even

discussed key deal terms, including

price with any potential source of

funding,” she said at a news conference.

The charges were a fresh blow to the

embattled silicon valley entrepreneur

and his company, which has been

buffeted in recent months, struggling

to reach production targets.

Musk has baffled investors with

emotional and seemingly erratic media

appearances, including one where he

appeared to smoke marijuana, and

a public battle with a rescuer who

helped save a group of boys trapped in

a cave in Thailand.

Steven Peikin, SEC co-director

of enforcement, told reporters on

Thursday that Tesla’s investor relations

department had scrambled to contain

the fallout from Musk’s tweets, falsely

assuring investors the matter was

effectively a done deal.

“The investor relations department

told analysts that there was a quote

firm offer, and that quote — the offer is

as firm as it gets,” Peikin said.

Tesla’s share price closed up nearly

11 per cent the day of the tweet —

which caused the Nasdaq to suspend

trading for an hour and a half.

The company’s fortunes on Wall

Street worsened considerably on

Thursday, sinking about 10 per cent in

after-hours trading to $277.50, down

25 per cent since the day of the go-

private tweet.

The SEC lawsuit comes as Tesla

has been struggling to deliver its new

Model 3 sedan, which is key to the

company’s future profitability, after a

long series of production issues and

delays. — Agencies

Elon Musk, 47, is the public face of Tesla and losing him would be a big blow for the money-losing car maker which has a market value of more than $50 billion, chiefly because of investors’ belief in his leadership

BRUSSELS: Ryanair cancelled scores

of European flights on Friday as

unions staged what they warned could

be the biggest strike in the airline’s

history.

The Dublin-based carrier has

played down fears of widespread

disruption but confirmed it would

cancel about 250 flights.

“Today, over 2,150 Ryanair flights

(90 per cent of our schedule) will

operate as normal carrying 400,000

customers across Europe,” the airline

said in statement.

Walk-outs by cabin crew took

place in Germany, Belgium, Italy, the

Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. In

some countries, pilots’ unions also

took action.

At Charleroi Airport in Belgium,

around 20 strikers unfurled a strike

banner at the terminal and four of 12

scheduled services were cancelled.

“Some cabin crew staff earn 2,000

euros, and you have a colleague who

does exactly the same work, who only

earns 1,000 euros, and with 1,000

euros in Belgium, it is impossible to

live,” said Yves Lambot of the CNE

union in Belgium.

Tensions ran high at Eindhoven

Airport in the Netherlands where

some passengers had already passed

though security when a flight to

London was cancelled with just half-

an-hour until take-off.

The Dutch union VNV said it was

seeking to take legal action to prevent

Ryanair from bringing pilots in from

abroad to replace striking Dutch

crews.

At Porto airport, where Ryanair

has its main base in Portugal, about 10

people queued up on Friday morning

in front of the airline’s counter to find

alternatives to cancelled flights.

“The company has provided a bus.

It’s not that comfortable. Instead of 50

minutes, the trip will take five hours.

But at least I will arrive today,” one

traveller told Portugal’s SIC television.

Affected customers received

e-mail and text message notifications

on Tuesday to advise them of

cancellations and options, Ryanair

said.

Trade unions hope that Friday’s

24-hour stoppage will be the biggest

strike in the Irish carrier’s history.

Ryanair staff have been seeking

higher wages and an end to the

practice whereby many have been

working as independent contractors

without the benefits of staff employees.

A key complaint of workers based

in countries other than Ireland is the

fact that Ryanair has been employing

them under Irish legislation. — AFP

A Ryanair worker takes part in a protest inside the departure hall during a strike by Ryanair workers of several European countries, at the airport in Valencia, on Friday. — Reuters

US-Mexico trade deal text to exclude CanadaWASHINGTON: The Trump ad-

ministration is expected to release

the text of its trade agreement with

Mexico as early as Friday, launching

a contentious congressional approval

process as it tries to coax Canada into

a revamped North American Free

Trade Agreement.

US lawmakers briefed by US

Trade Representative Robert Light-

hizer on Thursday said that they

expect the long-awaited document

to largely exclude language related

to Canada, but were still hoping for

Canada to join. They expressed little

optimism that a deal with Canada

could be reached quickly, noting dis-

agreements over dairy and dispute

settlement provisions. Some Demo-

crats said they could not support a

NAFTA trade deal without Canada.

“Canada is exceptionally impor-

tant. I think it would be malpractice,

both for economic and political rea-

sons, not to have a major agreement

with Canada,” said Senator Ron

Wyden, the top Democrat on the

tax and trade Senate Finance Com-

mittee. “I think leaving Canada out

of a new deal amounts to the Trump

administration surrendering on fix-

ing NAFTA.” Wyden is from Oregon,

a state that trade more with Canada

than Mexico.

The text needs to be published

by late on Sunday night — 60 days

ahead of a November 30 deadline for

President Donald Trump and Mexi-

co’s President, Enrique Pena Nieto,

to sign the deal before a new Mexi-

can president takes office on Decem-

ber 1.

The text will flesh out an agree-

ment in principle reached by the

United States and Mexico on August

27 that aims to rebalance automotive

trade between the two countries and

modernise the nearly 25-year-old

NAFTA with new chapters on digital

trade, stronger labour and environ-

mental standards.

The text is expected to conform to

details previously released on tighter

automotive rules requiring an in-

crease in regional value content to

75 per cent from 62.5 per cent pre-

viously, with 40-45 per cent coming

from “high wage” areas, effectively

the United States.

Auto industry executives say it is

unlikely those targets can be met if

Canada is not part of the deal, given

supply chains that crisscross NAFTA

borders multiple times.

Details are also expected on an

automotive side-letter that preserves

the Trump administration’s abil-

ity to impose global national secu-

rity tariffs on imports of autos and

auto parts, granting Mexico a quota

for tariff-free exports to the United

States that allows some expansion of

production.

Other key details expected to be

revealed include how new labour

standards will be enforced and trade

dispute settlement arrangements

between the United States and Mex-

ico. The United States has said that

Mexico agreed to eliminate a system

of settlement panels to arbitrate dis-

putes over anti-dumping and anti-

dumping tariffs.

But a Mexican source close to the

talks said that in exchange for this,

the United States agreed to drop a

demand for tariffs to protect US sea-

sonal produce growers. — AFP

A car hauler heading for Detroit, Michigan, drives on the lane to Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. — Reuters file picture

BALLOONING DEBT

Tencent , Alibaba chase remittances in battle for Southeast Asia

Trump metals tariffs will cost Ford $1 billion in profits, says CEO

JAKARTA/HONG KONG: For

Chinese tech giants Alibaba and

Tencent, Southeast Asian domestic

helpers in Hong Kong may prove key

to their global ambitions in financial

services.

Both companies recently launched

money-transfer services that allow

Hong Kong-based workers from

Indonesia and the Philippines to send

money home cheaply and easily. The

moves are a first step in going after a

global remittance business that moves

more than $600 billion around the

world annually. But the initiatives are

also part of the firms’ broader efforts

to take their wildly successful WeChat

Pay and Alipay mobile payment system

overseas.

Southeast Asia, with a growing

population of 600 million people who

mostly lack bank accounts, is a strategic

battleground for Asian tech behemoths

and their US rivals.

Alibaba’s financial affiliate Ant

Financial called its Hong Kong

remittance initiative “a starting point

and significant step in accelerating our

pace to promote financial inclusion

globally.”

Tencent’s WeChat Pay, which is

ubiquitous in China but has struggled

to gain traction abroad outside of

Chinese tourist destinations, is more

circumspect about the goals for

its Hong Kong We Remit service,

although a spokesman said it was open

to “all possibilities.”

Sending money across borders,

however, is harder than it looks. That

helps explain why both companies

are working with a Hong Kong-based

financial technology start-up, EMQ,

which has regulatory approvals and

bank partnerships in place across

Southeast Asia and elsewhere.

“We are the pipes and distribution

for Tencent,” said EMQ CEO Max

Liu. He declined to comment on

any relationship with Ant Financial,

but three sources with knowledge of

the matter said that Ant Financial is

developing its own partnership with

EMQ as part of a suite of new cross-

border payment efforts. Ant Financial

declined to comment.

The “pipes” are only part of the

challenge. Reuters interviewed six

Filipino and Indonesian domestic

workers in Hong Kong who said it

would take time to get their families

to trust receiving remittances via their

mobile phones.

Indeed, We Remit doesn’t currently

link up to mobile phone wallets.

Instead, recipients pick up funds at

banks or pawnshops, just as they’ve

traditionally done with services from

market leaders Moneygram and

Western Union.

For the senders, the new services

can be a revelation. For years, the

only way Filipino maid Rochelle

Bumanglag could send money home

was by spending her off days on Sunday

waiting hours at banks and remittances

shops in downtown Hong Kong.

“When I go to a bank, it’s a lot

of queuing and a lot of hassle. WeChat,

they always give us a good rate. It’s very

convenient, very fast. I go to 7-11 and

put money in my account,” the 42-year

old said.

Another big attraction: neither

WeChat nor Alipay are charging fees,

at least for now.

“The WeChat rate is 6.80 peso to

the HKD (Hong Kong dollar), whereas

the bank’s rate is 6.79 pesos plus a

HK$25 ($3.20) cable charge. It’s a big

difference for us,” said Bumanglag,

who sends about 10,000 pesos, or about

HK$1,470, a month home.

Eventually, those new WeChat and

Alipay users might be persuaded to use

other services too, the companies hope.

Filipinos and Indonesian make up

most of Hong Kong’s 370,000 domestic

workers, according to government data.

The two countries are among the world’s

top recipients of money transfers: The

Philippines received $32.8 billion in

remittances in 2017, while Indonesia

had $9 billion, according to the World

Bank. Over $16.9 billion in remittances

flew through Hong Kong the same year.

— Reuters

NEW YORK: Steel and aluminium

tariffs imposed by the Trump

administration have cost Ford Motor

Co about $1 billion in profits, its chief

executive officer said on Wednesday,

while Honda Motor Co said higher

steel prices have brought “hundreds of

millions of dollars” in new costs.

“From Ford’s perspective the metals

tariffs took about $1 billion in profit

from us,” CEO James Hackett said at

a Bloomberg conference in New York,

“The irony of which is we source most

of that in the US today anyway. If it goes

on any longer, it will do more damage.”

Hackett did not specify what period

the $1 billion covered, but a spokesman

said the automaker’s CEO was referring

to internal forecasts at Ford for higher

tariff-related costs in 2018 and 2019.

Higher US steel prices have resulted

in “hundreds of millions of dollars” in

additional annual costs, Rick Schostek,

Executive Vice-President of Honda

North America, told the US Senate

Finance Committee, even as more

than 90 per cent of steel in its vehicles

assembled in the United States is made

domestically.

Honda also faces retaliatory tariffs

from Canada and China on lawn-

mowers it builds in North Carolina and

transmissions made in Georgia.

Honda has not boosted US vehicle

prices as a result of the higher costs

but the issue is “certainly part of our

thinking as we go forward,” Schostek

told reporters after the hearing.

While the vast majority of steel

and aluminium that Ford uses for US

production is made domestically, it has

said the tariffs could result in higher

domestic commodity prices.

The United States said in March it

would impose a 25 per cent tariff on

imported steel and a 10 per cent tariff

on imported aluminium from most

countries. The tariffs have allowed US

producers to raise their prices.

US President Donald Trump’s steel

and aluminium tariffs will boost car

prices by hiking commodity costs

for manufacturers, automakers have

warned. During the presidential

campaign, Trump lambasted US trade

deficits as detrimental to American

manufacturers and workers.

Since taking office, Trump has

pursued a policy of escalating tariffs

that he says will reverse that trend,

including waging an increasingly bitter

trade war with China.

The auto industry is bracing for a

possible new round of tariffs. On May

23 Trump ordered a “Section 232”

national security investigation into

whether to impose a 25 per cent tariff

on vehicle and auto parts imported

from the European Union and other

trading partners.

The section, included in the US

Trade Expansion Act, allows the

president to adjust imports through

tariffs if they threaten national security.

At a briefing in Detroit on

Wednesday, officials from analytics

data firm IHS Markit said if the Trump

administration imposed the Section

232 tariffs globally, it would have far-

reaching consequences for the US

auto industry as well as the broader

economy.

— Reuters

We Remit volunteer Jona de Cuia chats with Joslyn Pimentero, a domestic helper, at the financial Central district in Hong Kong, China. — Reuters

Workers assemble vehicles at a plant of Changan Ford, a joint venture between Changan Automobile and Ford Motor Company, in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China. — Reuters

LONDON: British car production fell by an annual 12.9 per cent in

August, the third consecutive drop in a row, due to model changeovers

and preparations for new, tougher emissions rules, a car industry body

said on Thursday.

Output stood at 89,254 units last month, driven down by a nearly 40

per cent drop in production for domestic buyers compared with a 4 per

cent fall in exports, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers

and Traders.

“The quieter summer months are often subject to fluctuations due to

the variable timing and duration of annual maintenance and re-tooling

shutdowns,” said Chief Executive Mike Hawes.

“This instability was exacerbated in August, with the industry racing

to recertify entire model ranges to meet tougher testing standards in

force on September 1.” — Reuters

FRANKFURT AM MAIN: Growth in lending to companies and

households in the euro zone sped up in August, European Central Bank

data showed on Thursday, in an encouraging sign for the institution as

it withdraws stimulus from the economy.

The pace of credit growth to the private sector climbed to 3.4 per

cent year-on-year last month, adjusting for some purely financial

transactions, 0.1 percentage point faster than in July.

Looking in more detail at the data, expansion in lending to

households added 0.1 percentage points, reaching 3.1 per cent, while

growth in credit to firms reached 4.2 per cent, up by 0.2 points.

The faster growth in lending to the real economy comes as the

ECB prepares the final steps in its gradual withdrawal of “quantitative

easing” stimulus to the euro zone economy. Introduced in 2015, the

mass bond-buying scheme currently sees the bank buy 30 billion euros

($35.1 billion) of government and corporate bonds per month.— AFP

FRANKFURT AM MAIN: German high-end carmaker Daimler said

that it plans to replace long-serving chief executive Dieter Zetsche next

year, setting up a Swedish successor to take the helm of the Mercedes-

Benz parent company. Zetsche will “step down from his positions in

the board of management of Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz

Cars, effective at the end of the annual shareholders’ meeting” on May

22, 2019, the group said, adding that he will be replaced by fellow board

member Ola Kallenius.

Colleagues plan to make the flamboyantly-moustachioed Zetsche —

who has been in the post since 2006 — head of the group’s supervisory

board from 2021. But he must wait out a two-year cooling-off period

before taking on the non-executive job.

Zetsche will be followed in the chief executive’s chair by Kallenius,

a Swedish manager who joined Daimler in 1993 and has been head of

research and development for Mercedes-Benz cars since 2017.

“In Ola Kallenius, we are appointing a recognised, internationally

experienced and successful Daimler executive,” current supervisory

board chief Manfred Bischoff said in a statement. — AFP

British car output falls 13 per cent in August

Euro zone loan growth picks up pace in August

Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche to leave in 2019

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Southeast Asia, with a growing popula-tion of 600 million people who mostly lack bank accounts, is a strategic bat-tleground for Asian tech behemoths and their US rivals

INTERNATIONALOMANDAILYOBSERVER SATURDAY l SEPTEMBER 29 l 201814

A worker checks a TX4 at the end of the production line at the London Taxi Company in Coventry, central England. — Reuters

OMANDAILYOBSERVERSATURDAY l SEPTEMBER 29 l 2018 15FOOTBALLOO

LONDON: Unai Emery believes

restoring Arsenal’s confidence has

been the key to his side’s revival as they

look to make it seven successive wins

when they face Watford on Saturday.

When Emery took charge at the

Emirates Stadium in the close-season,

the Arsenal manager found his squad’s

morale was at a low ebb after the

disastrous final years of the Arsene

Wenger era.

Arsenal had been reduced to a

laughing stock as Wenger floundered

before finally being persuaded to step

down at the end of last season.

Emery’s job was to restore his

players’ belief, while convincing them

to buy into his football philosophy of

high-tempo pressing from all areas.

Initially, it seemed the former Paris

Saint Germain boss was struggling to

get his message across as Arsenal were

swept away by champions Manchester

City on the opening weekend before

squandering a two-goal comeback in a

3-2 defeat at Chelsea.

When Marko Arnautovic fired

West Ham ahead in Arsenal’s next

match, the cynics among the Gunners

fanbase were already beginning to fear

their club had picked the wrong man

to succeed Wenger.

But Arsenal rode their luck to

win that game, giving Emery his first

Premier League success and going

some way to restoring his players’

shattered confidence.

Hard-fought away wins at Cardiff

and Newcastle maintained the

momentum and by the time Arsenal

eased to a 3-1 victory over Brentford

in the League Cup third round on

Wednesday, the north London club’s

winning streak had grown to six

matches.

STEADYING THE SHIP

While it is far too early to proclaim

Emery has solved all of Arsenal’s

problems — they still have a creaky

defence with only one clean-sheet

and the club are locked in a contract

stalemate with Aaron Ramsey — the

Spaniard has at least steadied the ship.

“It’s very good work for continuing

to improve and continuing also

individually the players taking

confidence into the next matches,”

Emery said of the win against second-

tier Brentford.

“It was good to continue working on

our tactical things and our individual

things, also for taking responsibility

for the players, for taking confidence

in the players.”

Balancing his desire for an all-

action pressing game with the need to

accomodate more capricious talents

like the gifted but underachieving

Mesut Ozil remains a dilemma for

Emery.

But he has at least found a way

to include both Pierre-Emerick

Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette

in his starting line-up.

Gabon striker Aubameyang started

the season, with French forward

Lacazette on the bench, but Emery

is now using Lacazette up front and

Aubameyang on the left flank.

Encouragingly for Emery, Danny

Welbeck, who endured a poor run

last season, showed signs of emerging

as another attacking option with two

goals against Brentford.

“Danny Welbeck, he worked

with two goals, helping us. And for

Saturday, he’s also another player

that I can try, to help the first eleven

because he’s doing very well, with a big

commitment,” Emery said.

Watford are without a win in their

last three matches after losing a penalty

shoot-out in the League Cup against

Tottenham on Wednesday. — AFP

ROME: AC Milan’s

stuttering start to the

season continued on

Thursday when the former

European champions were

held to a 1-1 draw at Empoli

for a third successive Serie

A stalemate.

The result will pile the

pressure on coach Gennaro

Gattuso whose side have

just six points from five

games and are already

12 points off the pace of

champions Juventus.

Milan took the lead

after just 10 minutes when

Leonardo Capezzi diverted

a fierce drive by Lucas

Biglia into his own goal.

Pietro Terracciano

pulled off a series of fine

saves to prevent Milan

— who were without star

striker Gonzalo Higuain

through injury — from

adding to their lead.

Empoli striker

Francesco Caputo made

Milan pay for their

wastefulness when he

converted a 71st-minute

penalty awarded when he

had been hauled down

by Biglia. Little Sassuolo

continued their strong

start with a 2-0 win at

SPAL moving them into

third place, five points

behind Juve and just two

back from Napoli.

Defender Claud

Adjapong gave Sassuolo a

59th-minute lead before

Alessandro Matri added a

last-minute second just 60

seconds after coming on as

a substitute. — AFP

SOCHI, Russia: Sebastian Vettel has

rejected the idea of using a sports

psychologist to help him in his title

fight with Lewis Hamilton and said on

Thursday that he and Ferrari plan an

unchanged approach.

The four-time world champion

German lies 40 points adrift of

Mercedes’ Hamilton ahead of this

weekend’s Russian Grand Prix after

being swept aside by the dominant

Briton in Italy and Singapore.

But, he said, he and his team will

not give up.

“I think it’s very simple from where

we are,” he told reporters on Thursday.

“We are some points behind and

we need to catch up to make sure we

stay there. That’s our target and the

best way to do that is to finish ahead,

and ideally ahead of everybody.

“So the plan doesn’t really change.

Obviously, at this point, we try to give

it everything we have and I still believe

that we have the chance.

“I think we have a fair chance. We

had races in the past that we should

have won and we didn’t. And we had

others that we won — (when) we

shouldn’t have.

“You never know what happens,

but anything is possible. I’m not

aiming to win all six races. First of

all, I’m aiming to win here, then once

that’s done we go to the next one and

we go to the next one.

“I don’t think there’s much point

looking five, six races ahead. I think

you’re much better off staying in the

moment at what lies in front of you.”

Earlier, he said he had considered

asking for psychological coaching,

but had decided to stick with his own

method of coping with pressure and

managing the heat of competition.

“Formula one is about putting

together a puzzle,” he told Auto Bild.

“It’s important that the finished puzzle

is your dream and your goal, but

that can’t distract you from putting it

together.

“Of course I have pressure, but

most of the time it’s me putting it on

myself. In my spare time, I hardly read

about F1. It’s mainly football.

“And I don’t let public criticism

get to me. But, generally, the motto

is you’re never as good or as bad as

people say you are.”

Asked about needing a

psychological coach, he said: “I find

that side of it very interesting, but I

have not met the person that I think

can help me.” — AFP

China star Wang’s Wuhan Open run ends in heartbreakWUHAN, China: Rising star Wang

Qiang’s dream run at the Wuhan

Open in China ended in heartbreak

on Friday as an injury forced her to

retire from the semifinal, with Anett

Kontaveit leading 6-2, 2-1.

Roared on by adoring home fans,

Wang — top-ranked in China — had

already made history by becoming the

first local player to reach the quarter-

finals of the tournament with an

impressive march to the last four that

included an upset of world number

seven Karolina Pliskova.

Wang won the first two games of

the match but the clinical Kontaveit

won the next six games in a row to

take the first set.

The 34th-ranked Wang was

moving gingerly before the final game

of the first set, and got some on-court

treatment on her legs before play

resumed.

But the home favourite, appearing

to hold back tears between points,

played only three games in the second

set before signalling to the umpire that

she had to retire.

“I wanted to hold on, game after

game, hoping for a miracle,” Wang

said.

“But my body did not give me

that miracle. It’s a pity that I couldn’t

continue.”

Her exit means the first final of

2018 for the 22-year-old Kontaveit,

who will be looking to win her second

WTA title after enjoying a breakout

season in 2017.

“I’m so sorry that it had to end this

way and I feel so bad for (Wang),” said

the Estonian, who is currently 27th in

the WTA rankings.

Kontaveit, who knocked out world

number nine and 2017 US Open

champion Sloane Stephens in the first

round at Wuhan, is aiming to finish

the season strongly.

“From the beginning of the season,

the goal has been top 20 for this year,”

she said. “It’s my first final this year...

it’s really exciting.”

Winning the Wuhan Open on

Saturday could help achieve that top-

20 result, with the tournament victor

receiving 900 ranking points.

She will face the winner of the

second semifinal between Australia’s

Ashleigh Barty and Aryna Sabalenka

of Belarus. — AFP

Arsenal manager Unai Emery gestures. — Reuters

Brentford’s Romaine Sawyers in action with Arsenal’s Stephan Lichtsteiner. — Reuters

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel steers his car during the first practice session of the Russian Grand Prix at the Sochi Autodrom circuit in Sochi on Friday. — AFP (Inset) Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel during practice. — Reuters

Wang Qiang of China hits a return against Anett Kontaveit of Estonia during their women’s singles semi-final. — AFP

AC Milan coach Gennaro Gattuso. — Reuters

Pressure grows on Gattuso as Milan held again

Emery eyes seven in a row as revived Arsenal face Watford

Emery’s job was to restore his players’ belief, while convincing them to buy into his football philosophy of high-tempo pressing from all areas

Vettel shrugs off mind games in Hamilton title pursuit

SATURDAY | SEPTEMBER 29, 2018 | MUHARRAM 19, 1440 AH

editor@omanobserver.om www.omanobserver.om

follow us @observersportzsport The president of the German Football Association (DFB) on Friday rekindled

his war of words with Mesut Ozil by criticising the Arsenal midfielder for

refusing to meet with Germany head coach Joachim Loew this week.

GERMAN FA BOSS REKINDLES WAR OF WORDS WITH OZIL

Chelsea’s Eden Hazard celebrates with Cesar Azpilicueta, Ross Barkley, Emerson Palmieri and David Luiz after scoring their second goal. — Reuters

LONDON: Boasting arguably the best

player in the Premier League in Eden

Hazard and an unbeaten start under

new coach Maurizio Sarri, Chelsea

have emerged as surprise challengers

for the title ahead of their meeting

with leaders Liverpool on Saturday.

In a chaotic summer at Stamford

Bridge, Sarri was only officially

announced as Antonio Conte’s

successor a month before the new

season got underway, Fifa’s goalkeeper

of the year Thibaut Courtois went

AWOL to force a move to Real Madrid

and Hazard also expressed interest in a

move to the Spanish giants.

Yet, rather than fall further behind

after finishing sixth and 30 points

adrift of Manchester City last season,

Chelsea have stolen a march on

Manchester United, Tottenham and

Arsenal to nestle alongside City just

two points behind leaders Liverpool.

A soft start with Huddersfield,

Arsenal, Newcastle, Bournemouth,

Cardiff and West Ham in his first six

Premier League games have helped

Sarri settle in.

However, the acid test for where

Chelsea’s title ambitions stand will

come when Liverpool visit on Saturday

looking to extend their 100 per cent

start to the Premier League season.

Sarri has repeatedly insisted his

side can’t yet be compared to City or

Liverpool in their third full seasons

under Pep Guardiola and Jurgen

Klopp.

“We have started to work together

40 days ago. So for us I think it is a

bit early,” said the Italian. “We have to

work, we need to improve and then

maybe, in one year, we will be at the

same level of Liverpool.”

However, his transformation of

Chelsea’s style from the cautious

approach of Antonio Conte to a side that

asphyxiates opponents by dominating

possession has been so seamless, a title

challenge can’t be ruled out.

“The biggest change I ever saw in

such a short space of time. Wow. Style

completely different. What a manager

he is, to be honest,” said Klopp

admiringly this week.

‘REALLY EXPERIENCED’

While Chelsea struggled in Conte’s

second season, they also boast much

more title winning experience than

Liverpool with many of the same

squad having won the Premier

League in 2014/15 and 2016/17.

“People were always talking about

City being clear, and completely

forgot Chelsea,” added Klopp.

“This team is really experienced. It

won the title before, 80 per cent won

it twice, and they know how it works.

That’s a really strong football team.”

Chelsea also have Hazard, who

showed his class by coming off the

bench to score an incredible solo goal

to inflict Liverpool’s first defeat of

the season in all competitions in the

League Cup on Wednesday.

Sarri has challenged the Belgian

to follow the example of Liverpool’s

Mohamed Salah last season by

scoring 40 goals in a campaign for the

first time in his career.

Salah was let go by Chelsea

after making just 19 appearances,

mainly as a substitute, but fulfilled

his potential in an incredible 44-

goal debut campaign at Anfield that

saw him finish ahead of Hazard and

Lionel Messi in third place for Fifa’s

best player of the year on Monday.

The Egyptian hasn’t been in such

sparkling form at the beginning of

this season, but looked back close to

his best by scoring in a 3-0 cruise past

Southampton last weekend.

Klopp will be hoping that upward

trajectory continues in what is also a

massive week of Liverpool’s ambitions

both for a first Premier League title in

29 years and in Europe.

After facing Chelsea, Liverpool

travel to Napoli in the Champions

League on Wednesday before hosting

City at Anfield next Sunday.

Klopp’s men took just one point

from five away games against the rest

of the top six last season.

Having already won at Tottenham

a fortnight ago, another big win on

the road will be a strong statement

of intent.

— AFP

Rising Chelsea face acid test against LiverpoolCoach Maurizio Sarri had repeatedly

insisted his side can’t yet be compared to City or Liverpool in their third full seasons

under Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp

Lamela fights for a place in Pochettino’s plansHUDDERSFIELD, United King-

dom: Erik Lamela is fighting to con-

vince Tottenham manager Mauricio

Pochettino he is worthy of more than

‘impact substitute’ status ahead of a

big week for the north London club.

Tottenham take on the Premier

League’s bottom team when they travel

to Huddersfield on Saturday, then

host Lionel Messi’s Barcelona in the

Champions League on Wednesday.

With Tottenham already six points

adrift of Premier League leaders

Liverpool and having started their

European campaign with a defeat

against Inter Milan, Pochettino’s team

selections are sure to be scrutinised

more closely than ever before.

Exactly where Argentina winger

Lamela will fit in is difficult to predict.

An abdominal problem means

Christian Eriksen will not travel to

Yorkshire, giving Lamela a potential

chance to start at the John Smith’s

Stadium.

But Denmark star Eriksen could

be back in time for the Barcelona

clash, so Lamela must make the most

of his chance if he features against

Huddersfield. Lamela is already on

course for his most productive season

in a Tottenham shirt as far as goal-

scoring is concerned.

He has played five times this

season and contributed three goals,

against Liverpool and Brighton in the

Premier League and most recently in

the League Cup against Watford on

Wednesday.

Yet, the 26-year-old has started

just twice, with the Watford game,

which was eventually settled by

a penalty shoot-out in which he

scored, the only 90 minutes he has so

far been allowed to complete. Lamela

might point out that the other

game he started was the 2-1 loss at

Inter that Tottenham were actually

winning when he was replaced by

Harry Winks in the 72nd minute.

“Of course you always expect from

a player like Lamela to have an impact

when he’s on the pitch,” Pochettino

said. “It’s normal for me that he scores

goals and performs so well.”

DEVASTATING

It should not be forgotten though that

this is actually Lamela’s fifth year at

Tottenham. — AFPTottenham’s Erik Lamela in action with Watford’s Domingos Quina. — Reuters