December 29th, 2015 by The Morung Express

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TuesDAY • December 29 • 2015

DIMAPUR • Vol. X • Issue 352 • 12 PAGes • 4

T H e

ESTD. 2005

You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old Iraqi army declares major victory over IS in Ramadi

P o W e R

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— George Burns

NASU annual conference underway

Moeen spins trouble for South Africa

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India’s ‘environment stand’ in a fix

New Delhi, December 28 (iANS): Soaring pollution levels, crippling floods, quivering Richter notes to scores of environment laws awaiting their implementation - this, in short, was India's environmental standing this year. As alarming as the climatic challenges posed to the nation have been, India is still found struggling to find the right laws to fight climate change, experts say. India witnessed a challenging year in terms of its environmental conditions, starting the year with a title its capital city New Delhi earned last year -the world's most polluted city according to the World Health Organisation --- which it retained this year as well. Delhi and cities surrounding it have surpassed the pollution levels of Beijing, which was the most polluted in the world until Delhi took its spot. Pollution surfaced in unexpected ways -- like a lake in Bengaluru turning toxic and frothy with the industrial pollutants being mixed with the water. This incident caught not just national attention but that of the whole world. The country's northern part was known to have exceeded pollution levels at many times of the year, which should have triggered a 'red alert' had it been in another country, according to environment body Greenpeace. "If India had an air quality monitoring system as robust as that of

reflectioNs

By Sandemo Ngullie

Beijing, a large portion of north India would have been on red alert for as many as 33 days," the NGO said recently, pointing to the necessity to establish stronger air monitoring systems across the country. Even before the start of winter, which usually greets the northern states with hazy skies and smog covered days, the entire belt of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Chandigarh choked in smoke due to the paddy field fires -- the smoke which affected the country's climate even later for weeks, according to environmentalists. But, according to Delhibased environmentalist Vikrant Tongad, the year also saw the issue of air pollution being heard on a national and global level. "The year saw some initiatives which were much needed to be addressed: like methods of tackling air pollution, making clear India's stand to fight climate on a global level et al, but solutions for the issues still remain to be found," Tongad told IANS. Tongad said India never had such an "active" stance at the crucial UN Climate Change Conference, in standing up for the developing countries, as it had this year at the 21st Conference of Parties (CoP 21) held in Paris, he said. There are however some gaps in the deal signed, he added. India, which had committed to cut its greenhouse emis-

Imphal | December 28

Four villagers, including a mother and her son, were injured when police commandos opened fire to control an angry crowd inside the complex of the 3rd IRB posted at Kasom Khullen village under Ukhrul district, Manipur last night. According to reports, the incident took place around 7:00pm. S SimCompared to crackers, Me- reibul, 30, and her 13 year tallica songs sound like old son have been undersentimental hits. taking medical treatment at Shija Hospital here. The The Morung Express other two injured are being Poll QuEsTion treated at the Jawarharlal Vote on www.morungexpress.com Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS), Imphal. SMS your anSwer to 9862574165 The condition of the womCan Nagas overcome an is reported to be serious. our current victimEarlier, a skirmish enmentality and bring sued between some perabout positive change in 2016? Why? sonnel, including police no

others

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In this file photo, a rag-picker looks for recyclable material at a dumping site in Dimapur. Plagued by soaring pollution levels and crippling floods, India has struggled to find the right laws to fight climate change. (Morung File Photo)

sions up to 35 percent by 2030, also pioneered the alliance of 120-odd nations to form the grand solar alliance, a move to harness solar energy better. India also bore a stern face in saying that the developed nations must contribute their part to reducing emissions and raising $100 billion a year to help developing ones. Indian interlocutors, who have been holding pride for introducing the terms "sustainable lifestyle" and "climate justice" to the preamble through Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have received criticism

from the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and other environment bodies for having no operational parts of these terms in the text, and hence no commitments. CSE also felt that India will be under constant pressure to take more of a burden for mitigating climate change by 2020 and beyond, especially when the next review of all the nationally-determined contributions of countries take place. As India made these commitments in Paris, the country's northern states remained fight-

ing smog, while a majority of southern ones battled extreme untimely torrential rains that led to huge floods. These rains, which lasted for over a week, lashed Chennai and other areas of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Union Minister for Forests, Environment and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar termed the floods as "not a part of climate change" and said that they were a "localised event" and a "natural calamity", which the environmental groups rejected. According to CSE, "un-

regulated urbanisation and climate change-induced extreme weather" were the reason behind the flood crisis in Tamil Nadu and other states. But this year it was quite commendable to see Indian courts taking active stand in pushing for cleaner air and to act against pollution, Tongad added, referring to the Delhi High Court asking the Delhi government to take stricter steps to battle the city's pollution. "It seems we are living in a gas chamber," the court had said, asking the Delhi government and the Centre to immediately act on reducing pollution in and around the capital. The Supreme Court's recent decision to ban diesel vehicle registrations in the National Capital Region for three months and surrounding towns is also a much needed move, to fight a large amount of pollution caused by diesel vehicles, environment groups said. This step has brought the whole nation's attention to fighting for a clean environment, he said. Following the Delhi High Court's orders, the Delhi government undertook the initiative in the capital to ration road space, allowing even and odd numbered vehicles to ply only on alternative days. But an initiative like this needs to be thought through, as it could lead to the people going for a second car, the National Green Tribunal said.

Instead of having laws which safeguard environment, the current government's attempt to amend the environment laws so as to allow better investments and bigger companies to be housed in the country is a scary move, environment activists said. According to Environment Support Group (ESG), a Bengaluru-based trust which works to safeguard environment, the Draft Environment Laws (Amendment) Bill 2015, dated October 7, 2015 (which could perhaps be presented before parliament in the budget session) allows the government to "relax environment laws for better investments". The draft, according to ESG, "pushes laws through the backdoor", and has been proposed by private firms Ernst and Young and Amarchand and Mangaldas and Company, whose interests are majorly "economical and environmental", said Bhargavi S. Rao, coordinator of the ESG. "The country has been regressive in the past few years in terms of environment law amendments taking away right to participation from the communities. We have brought down our standards in terms of pollution tackling. Amendments which are being proposed could bring a disaster to the country. The amendments itself are violating environment principles in the name of development," Rao told IANS.

4 villagers hurt in Ukhrul police firing Stolen bike meets with accident our Correspondent

Yes

Country plagued by soaring pollution, crippling floods, laws awaiting implementation

commandos attached with the India Reserve Battalion (IRB) post, and a group of people in Somarei village under Saikul constituency on the intervening night of December 25 -26. Reports informed that the commandos and IRB personnel misbehaved with some village girls during the Christmas celebration when the skirmish was taking place. A villager was picked up by the personnel from the post on December 27 and he was later allegedly thrown out of a police vehicle near the village area. Enraged, a large number of people from Somarei and its surrounding areas stormed the IRB post, resulting in a violent standoff over the incident. The angry protesters demanded that all per-

sonnel involved in the incident be punished. The post commander was injured when one of the protesters reportedly attacked him with a club during the confrontation. The IRB personnel then opened fire in their attempt to control the mob. Meanwhile, Somarei villagers blocked the Kasom Khullen road since early Monday morning in protest against the firing and the earlier incident. They demanded that the IRB personnel and commandos should be punished and their post also be removed immediately. Official sources said Saikul MLA Yamthong Haokip visited the village and took stock of the situation. A tense atmosphere still prevailed in the village, sources informed.

Morung Express news Dimapur | December 28

A stolen bike was recovered after it met with an accident in Dimapur on the night of December 27. According to the officer-in-charge, Traffic Control – I, LM Patton, the accident occurred in the space of a few hours after it was stolen. While no one was injured, the bike rider disappeared from the scene as soon as the traffic police arrived, Patton said. As per the account, the bike met with a minor collision with a car at the New Flyover at around midnight on December 27. Since it was a minor mishap, the two parties came to an understanding and settled the matter while the police reached the spot. But the bike rider disappeared as

The unclaimed Hero Honda Glamour, which was found abandoned at Murgi Patti in the month of November.

the policemen arrived. The car went on its way, while the bike was taken to the Traffic Control Room. Patton added that initially nothing suspicious was assumed. Later, in the

morning on December 28, a report was received of a bike missing from Burma Camp on December 27 and an FIR about which had been registered at East Police Station. The descrip-

tion of the missing bike matched with that of the one abandoned at the New Flyover following the accident. East Police Station was informed after which the bike was handed over to the owner, who had registered the FIR. In an unrelated incident, an abandoned bike (Hero Honda Glamour) was recovered by the Traffic police at Murgi Patti, Dimapur in the month of November. According to ABSI (Traffic), Tatong, it was recovered during Diwali and has gone unclaimed since. The rightful owner of the bike – bearing registration no. NL 07J 4925, engine no. JA06EFBGM15294, chassis no. MBLJA06EZBGM01637 – has been informed to claim it after producing the necessary documents.

Big data & online security to become Norms relaxed for small, mainstream in 2016: Oracle predicts isolated gas fields in NE New Delhi, December 28 (iANS): The new year will see more banks, insurers and credit-rating firms across the globe turning to enhanced security measures to guard against online fraud more effectively, global software and cloud major Oracle has predicted. “(The year) 2016 will witness an increase in the proliferation of experiments default risk, policy underwriting, and fraud detection as firms try to identify hotspots for algorithmic advantage faster than the competition,” the leading US-based cloud service provider said in its outlook for 2016 on Monday. The professional data scientists will see increasing demand for their skills from established companies including in India, it added. Oracle has 12 develop-

ment centres in India, including facilities in many emerging cities like Vijayawada, Thiruvananthapuram, Noida and Ahmedabad. “(The year) 2016 will be the year when big data becomes more mainstream and is adopted across various sectors to drive innovation and capture digitization opportunities,” said Neil Mendelson, vice president, Oracle’s big data product management, in a statement. “We will also see the emergence of dataflow programming which provides simpler reusability of functional operators and gives pluggable support for statistical and machine learning functions,” the 2016 outlook added. In 2016, simpler big data discovery tools will let business analysts shop for datasets in enterprise “Hadoop” clusters, reshape them into

new mashup combinations and even analyse them with exploratory machine learning technique. “This will improve both self-service access to big data and provide richer hypotheses and experiments that drive the next level of innovation,” the company said. In 2016, organisations will witness technologies mature and become more mainstream thanks to cloud services and appliances with pre-configured automation and standardisation. “Companies will not only capture a greater variety of data in 2016, they use this in a variety of algorithms, analytics and apps,” it noted. 2016 will be the year where Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies such as Machine Learning (ML), Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Property Graphs (PG)

will be applied to ordinary data processing challenges. “The new shift will include widespread applications of these technologies in IT tools that support applications, real-time analytics and data science,” the outlook stated. Increasing consumer awareness of the ways data can be collected, shared, stored and stolen will amplify calls for regulatory protections of personal information in next year. “The continuous threat of ever more sophisticated hackers will prompt companies to both tighten security, as well as audit access and use of data,” the outlook report predicted. India is home to Oracle's second largest workforce of developers and engineers and accounts for its largest research and development investment outside the US.

New Delhi, December 28 (iANS): Rules for selling natural gas produced from small, isolated fields in northeast India have been further relaxed to extend the time stipulation for offtake by customers to one year from the date of readiness, an official statement said on Monday. "The national oil companies (NOCs) have brought to the notice of the ministry that customers of northeast region are facing various difficulties in utilising the gas within 90 days and have been requesting for longer lead time for monetisation of gas from small and isolated fields," said a petroleum ministry release here said. "Considering the difficulties of Northeast customers, the government has decided to increase the period of 90 days for off-take of gas from the date or readiness indicated by the NOCs to one year in respect of small and isolated fields located in the Northeast region," it added.

The petroleum ministry had in July 2013 permitted pricing freedom for gas produced from small, isolated fields and given marketing freedom by imposing no obligation of seeking customers only from the fertiliser and power sectors, with a stipulation, however, that only those customers who can take supply within 90 days be sold the gas. The policy permits producers from such fields to sell gas at market rates by inviting competitive bids from prospective consumers. The government has effected an 18-percent cut in domestic prices of natural gas, from $4.66 per unit to $3.82 per unit for six months starting October 1. Natural gas prices in India are set by taking a volume-weighted annual average of that prevailing in the US, Britain, Canada and Russia. Prices are calculated on the trailing 12 month data with a lag of one quarter.

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TuesDAY 29•12•2015

NAGALAND

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Rongpang Reju celebrates Silver Jubilee NASU annual conference underway

Memebers and officials of Rongpang Reju with members of Arkong ward yimden after the programme at Arkong Community Hall, Arkong ward, Mokokchung. (Morung Photo) Morung Express News Mokokchung | December 28

The Rongpang Reju Club of Arkong ward celebrated it silver jubilee by organizing a small prayer fellowship at Arkong ward community hall, Mokokchung. The club, formerly knwn as Arkong Sporting Club, changed its nomenclature to Rongpang Reju

in the year 2012 an since then it has been carrying out various programmes of the youth at Arkong ward. The silver jubilee celebration had Nganghi Longchar, former chairman, Arkong ward as the guest speaker, where he encouraged the youths to wake up from the sleep and rework towards a bet-

ter and stronger club. He also encouraged the members of the club to work hand in hand with the ward authority for a better functioning. A challenge was given by A. Bendang Jamir, and the welcome address as pronounced by Aongsen Aier, president, Rongpang Reju. A special presentation was presented by Tzudi Lemtur.

NiulaNd, december 28 (mexN): The 23rd annual conference of Niuland Area Students’ Union is being held from December 27 to 29 at Kiyezu ‘A’ village with ‘perpetuity of education’ as its theme. Khehovi Yeputho, Block Development Officer, Aghunaqa Block graced the inaugural session as chief guest on December 28 while Y. Isawoto Zhimomi exhorted the gathering of the introductory session on December 27 evening. Addressing the student delegates who are attending the conference from villages under Niuland area, chief guest primarily stressed on the need to inculcate the spirit of workculture in society, especially among the younger generations. He was of the view that work-culture would bring about major change and have immense impact towards the overall growth of the society inclusive of economic aspects. He challenged the students to be assets of the

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Chief guest Khehovi Yeputho delivers speech at the inaugural function of the conference. (Right) Students taking part in cultural activities.

society urging students to think of what they can do for the society and not what the society can do for them. He encouraged them to make best use of their abilities for the community and reminded them to make ‘success’ their goal as there was no reason why they would

fail when others succeed as long it is pursued through determination and education. “Winners do not do different things but do things differently”, he added. Khehovi also talked about the need of preservation and promotion of culture and language – the

inherent identity of the community. Further, he called upon the students to always seek God “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3) and to respect and love their parents, which is the foremost of all good behaviors.

Chief Guest also unfurled the flag of the union. Men-folk of K. Hetoi village presented cultural dance. Hekiye Awomi, former president NASU chaired the function while Kakuho Yepthomi, chairman, Niuland Area GBs Union proposed vote of thanks.

42nd Rutsa annual day held at Kohima Concert held in aid of Rest House Project Wokha, december 28 (mexN): The Change Initiative team, Wozhuro town in collaboration with Team Metamorphosis, Wokha town organised a variety night show cum concert at the Wozhuro mini Stadium on December 27 in aid of ‘Rest House Project’ which is to be constructed at the Wozhuro NST bus stand with an aim to facilitate travelers especially during peak monsoon season. The Chief Patron of the evening Er Mhondamo Ovung, General Secretary, Lotha Hoho in his keynote address exhorted the gathering on the need to promote our identity as

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a Lotha which must begin with using only our dialect in any Lotha gatherings or naming our children with local names instead of English as all other languages are alien to us and do not in any way portray our identity as a Lotha Naga. He donated an amount of Rs 50,000 towards the Rest House Project. The organisers in a press release sincerely acknowledges the active participation of all the local artists, well-wishers, different groups and bands for the huge success of the Chief Patron Er Mhondamo Ovung, General Secretary, Lotha Hoho speaks at the variety night show cum concert at programme and further the Wozhuro mini Stadium on December 27 in aid of ‘Rest wishes everyone a prosperHouse Project.’ ous new year.

Young girls presenting at Tati song at the 42nd Rutsa annual day held at Zieke, P. Khel Kohima Village on December 28.

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kohima, december 28 (mexN): The 42nd Rutsa annual day was held at Zieke, P. Khel Kohima Village on December 28. Exhorting the gathering, NAPO President Vilie-o expressed happiness over the large number of turn out Rutsanuomia on the day and hoped that the spirit of oneness should continue amongst each and every one in the days and years to come. He also congratulated all the meritorious students who

were able to achieve success and glory during the past years. P. Khel Council Chairman, Zeneizo gave was brief background how the Rutsanuomia day was started in way back 1973 and applauded the founders. In his statistical report, Kevilhoutuo informed that Rutsanuomia has 201 household with 779 populations, with 125 government servants and 276 are students. A team led by Neisevotuo as Pres-

IN GRATITUDE

On 23rd December, 2015 our beloved Mother Lhouzhü-ü Rüpreo (W/O Thepfuso Rüpreo) breathed her last from KOHIMAS Hospital, Nagabazaar Kohima. In that moment of grief-stricken ordeal, there were many friends and well-wishers who came forward to help us overcome our sorrow and also made all the arrangements to take the mortal remains of our beloved Mother to our native village Tsiemekhuma. We want to say ‘THANK YOU’ to everyone who showed us your unconditional love which we received through cash and kind ,comforting words, prayer support and your visitations that helped us accept God’s plan in our life. We have nothing to give you in return but it is our earnest prayer that God bless you all abundantly. Family Members

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YUD 36th General Session

ident for the tenure 2016-18 was announced by the election committee. Earlier the function as chaired by Keneiriikuo, Advisor RYO, invocation prayer was given by Neiliehu-ii, welcome address was delivered by Dr. Ruokuohelie, Advisor RYO, special number was presented by Dziesengunuo and co and the vote of thanks was delivered by Keduolhoutuo, Advisor, RYO, followed by mass feast and entertainment.

Mokokchung Town Lanur Telongjem (MTLT) members busy preparing the stage and seating arrangement for the biggest open air free concert in commemoration of 25th anniversary of Squardon, the popular rock band of Nagaland. With more than eighteen bands lined up to take the stage, and with well-known dignitaries and music lovers expected to throng the Imkongmeren Sports Complex, the MTLT is planning to make December 29 as a special treat to all the music lovers, a night to be remembered, of past and the present. (Photo: Maong Longkumer)

When insect can follow certain rules for laning

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dimapur, december 28 (mexN): Yimchungru Union Dimapur (YUD) has informed all Yimchungrus in and around Dimapur Town to attend the 36th General Session on December 29 at YUD Treasurer’s residence at 9 a.m. A press release from the union has requested all households to send at least one representative for the meeting. For more information one may contact 9862946900, 8729831462.

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Intone for Charity-4 ‘A Christmas Gift’ held kiphire, december 28 (mexN): Intone for Charity -4 ‘A Christmas Gift’ organized by the Charitable Trust Brothers’ under the theme “Give Hope” was held on December 21 at Hopongkyu Memorial Hall with Dr. Tionjongshi Chang, ADC & Administrator Kiphire Town Council as ‘Santa of the Night.’ Dr. Holiba, M.O. Kiphire, and Longdiba, EAC Kiphire, delivered solidarity speeches while Tsipi, Khumchoba, and Lilongla enthralled the gatherings with songs, a press note informed. During its Visual Documentary Show and Declaration of 2015-16 Work Plan, it was announced that the Brothers will sponsor Rodila Sangtam’s school expenses with hostel facilities for one full academic year. A ‘CTB Hospital needy Patient fund’ amounting to Rs. 10,000 was also handed over to District Hospital authority on the occasion. This fund will be directly monitored by District Hospital Authority Kiphire as per the needs and requirement of the patient.

Why we the Humans cannot?

DIMAPUR TRAFFIC POLICE

in collaboration with The Morung Express

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TUESDAY 29•12•2015

NORTH-EAST

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Atrocities against women increasing in Assam: Irani NALBARI, DECEMBER 28 (PTI): Union Minister Smriti Irani on Monday came down heavily on the Tarun Gogoi government, alleging that atrocities against women had increased in Assam during its tenure. "There have been 75,000 cases of atrocities against women (in Assam) during the last ten years. Attacks against women have increased under the corrupt Congress government," she told a BJP workers rally in Assam's Nalbari district. "Tarun Gogoi has downgraded the status of women in Assam. There is only goondagardi and no development," Irani, against whom derogatory comments were made by Congress MLA Nilomani Sendeka on Sunday, said. "I ask were the sacrifices of Kanaklata Barua, Mukunta Kakoti and other freedom fighters of Assam made for this," she said, adding that BJP would fight the Congress in the state Assembly polls and "ensure

Protests in Assam over Cong leader's remark against Irani GuwAhATI, DECEMBER 28 (IANS): Protests rocked different parts of Assam on Monday seeking Congress leader Nolamoni Sen Deka's ouster from the party for making objectionable comment against union Minister Smriti Irani on Sunday. Some Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators have filed FIR against Deka, a former Assam minister who while addressing a public meeting on Sunday in Assam's Nalbari district said many refer to Irani as the "second wife of Prime Minister Narendra Modi". Deka's comment came a day ahead of union Human Resource Development Minister Irani's scheduled visit to the district for a public rally. The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) distanced itself from Deka's statement, that lotus (BJP's symbol) will bloom in the state." She exhorted the party workers to fight the "ghamandi" (arrogant) Congress in the coming election for bringing about change. "Each of you pledge today to make Assam Congressfree and take it on the path of development."

Veteran Tripura CPI-M leader commits suicide AGARTALA, DECEMBER 28 (PTI): The body of veteran CPI(M) leader and former Deputy Speaker of Tripura Legislative Assembly Sunil Kumar Chowdhury was found hanging from a tree at his residence in Sabroom town, about 140 km from here. 86-year-old Chowdhury, a five-time MLA, committed suicide yesterday. He was cremated with full state honours at his home in Sabroom in the South Tripura district today. In a suicide note, the police said he had mentioned of unbearable pain from his diseases as the cause behind taking such a step. Chowdhury was suffering from old-age problems. Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, who is presently in Kolkata, in a condolence message, said Chowdhury's death was an irreparable loss to the party. A press statement issued by the Tripura unit of CPI(M) said "The party will always remember his contribution with deep respect. He was an example of a good organiser and always worked for communal harmony and peace." Chowdhury was a member of the undivided CPI since 1953 and joined the CPI(M) in 1964. He is survived by his wife, four daughters and a son.

Sendeka had made derogatory remark against Irani at a public meeting in Nalbari on Sunday. It sparked off demonstrations by BJP workers in front of the Congress headquarters in Guwahati on Monday who demanded that Sendeka be handed over to them and

immediately arrested. They also demanded that he be expelled from Congress. The unruly scenes forced police to burst tear gas shells. Continuing her attack, Irani said Congress during its long tenure could not link the seven Northeast state capitals through rail.

"But it will be made possible under a BJP government, which is committed to all round development of the region," she added New employment avenues will be created for the youth, the the Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister added. In an apparent dig at

saying it was his personal comment and not the APCC's official view. The former Assam minister, however, later withdrew his comment. But hundreds of BJP workers surrounded Deka's residence at Rajgarh locality in Guwahati over the comment. Several women organizations and BJP units have also staged massive protests against the Congress leader across the state. Many organizations also burnt Deka's effigies. Seeking a public apology from Deka, the BJP workers are demanding the Congress to expel him and a disciplinary action should be taken against Deka, saying he not only disrespected the union minister but Assam's entire women community. "We are going to stage the protest here (outside the residence of Deka) till 3 pm today. If the Congress does

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Irani said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who belonged to a very poor village family and sold tea on railway platform, understood the hardship faced by the poor and did not need to resort to any natak (drama), eat in villagers' houses for photo

28 (PTI): Although many fans of Darjeeling tea attribute its unique flavour to voodoo farming, a new book says the farming methodology goes beyond taste and aims at striking an ecological harmony. American travel writer Jeff Koehler who has come out with his new book "Darjeeling: A History of the World's Greatest Tea" says it is really hard to gauge how voodoo or biodynamic farming actually affects the muscatel flavour of one of the world's most prized tea. "Taste might almost be secondary. Biodynamics is a holistic approach to farming that seeks more than just flavor. It is a way of creating an ecological harmony on the garden, a tight web that interlinks the soil, plants, animals, and those who live

cast the shadow of my disbelief how Assam will see the ray of Vikash when the NDA withdrew the Special Category Status to Assam, suspended Northeast Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy, changed the funding pattern and discontinued several schemes sponsored by the Centre. Gogoi also said that the Centre’s decision to withhold nearly 17 thousand crore rupees as petroleum royalty and other development funds due to Assam was a great injustice meted

PTI. However he said there is no question that those who farm biodynamically treat their bushes with particular care and that is often reflected in the taste of the teas. The author wonders whether biodynamic farming actually makes the taste better, as many believe it to be the secret behind the unmatchable taste. "Does planting according to the moon's orbit and the position of the constellations make a difference in that final judgement of a tea when it's sipped from the cup? Does spraying the leaves with ground silica crystals that have been buried in cow horns give deeper muscatel flavours? A more nuanced body?" he writes in the book published by Bloomsbury.

manager and one-time owner Rajah Banerjee is a follower of Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner who had devised this alternative form of farming. Biodynamics, which is often called as voodoo farming for taking into account celestial forces, plays a very important role in Makaibari tea which fetches world record price. Makaibari's Silver Tips Imperial tea is plucked around full moon as it is believed that the moon and planets influence the growth of plants and its leaves. According to the book only around 15 per cent of tea produced in the Darjeeling hills of West Bengal can be called "voodoo vintages". Considered the "champagne of tea", produce from Darjeeling is known

amber-coloured brew and muscatel flavors - delicate and flowery, hinting of apricots and peaches. "Here ecology, history, tradition, culture, and terrier come together to create a sublime product with an unduplicable essence," the book says. Koehler says he went on four backpacking tours around Africa and Asia where the fondest memories of many of the places he visited seem to include tea. "Over the years since I have visited many of the world's tea-producing areas but none ever managed to seduce or intrigue me like Darjeeling. I long wondered exactly how and why the tea grown there is, simply, the finest, and why it could not be replicated elsewhere," he says.

out to the State. Moreover, the Centre did not disburse funds for flood and erosion management besides turning a blind eye to releasing funds meant for maintenance of National Highways in the State including Barak Valley. “By announcing Vikash Yojana, the Centre is trying to hoodwink the people of Assam once again”, Gogoi said. The Assam CM said that the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj invariably missed out certain issues of utmost importance to the North East like

Centre’s policy on taking foreign nations when latter’s reluctance on accepting the declared foreign nationals comes to the fore, opening up river-transport to boost trade and commerce, insurgent outfits given refuge in neighbouring country, re-opening of Stillwell road, construction of dams in China so on and so forth. Gogoi further said that Sushma Swaraj’s unwillingness to talk to me or any other Minister or even the State Government officials during her visit to Assam

reveals that Swaraj is not interested in the development of Assam. Upping his ante Gogoi said that Sushma Swaraj even evaded direct interaction with the media and intellectuals regarding vital issues concerning the State. On the other hand referring to the last visit of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to Assam, Gogoi said that Rahul preferred to spend time with Self Help Groups and women entrepreneurs and had discussion with the media fraternity. Though the NDA Gov-

ernment at the Centre takes credit of starting the broad gauge rail service connecting Brahmaputra and Barak Valley, Gogoi said the same was initiated during the time of the UPA regime and the NDA has no role in this regard. Regarding foreign investment that the NDA Government at the Centre always boasts of, Gogoi said that “A statement from the Centre on how much did the Centre bring in for the development of Assam will portray Centre’’ real love for the development of Assam.

BJP eyes Assam to get its mojo back in 2016 NEw DELhI, DECEMBER 28 (ET): The year began for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with a drubbing in the Delhi state elections. A few months later came the defeat in the Bihar legislative contest despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigning long and hard to unseat Nitish Kumar. Squabbles within the party, greater opposition unity and an aggressive Congress in and outside Parliament could make life more difficult in 2016. But getting the reforms agenda back on track and an election win in Assam would give it a strong positive charge. BJP president Amit Shah's position was regarded as unassailable until just a few months back, especially as he has Modi's full backing. But with senior members such as lawmaker and former cricketer Kirti Azad not toeing the party line, there seem to be cracks in the edifice. Some party members are even said to doubt whether Shah will get a full term as party chief from January, which had been considered a fait accompli until recently. Shah is

opportunity to understand their problems." Modi, she said, struggled hard to empower the poor by opening the doors of banks to them for the first time. "He directed banks to begin Prime Minister's Jan Dhan Yojona for the poor to have bank accounts

without depositing any money and identification documents. Under the Yojana 20 crore poor people got bank accounts and Rs 28000 crore got deposited," she said. The minister also mentioned Prime Minister's Suraksha Bima and Mudra Yojana.

'Voodoo farming of Darjeeling tea is beyond taste' Meghalaya picked as one of Makaibari tea garden's for its characteristic bright, the best performing IT states KOLKATA, DECEMBER on the estates," Koehler told

Gogoi decries Centre’s inconsistent attitude towards State’s development GuwAhATI, DECEMBER 28 (AGENCIES): Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi decried the inconsistent and indifferent role of the Centre towards development of the North East and said that the dispensation at the Centre needs to work corresponding to its high rhetoric for the development of Assam and North East. In a statement on Monday Gogoi said that while I welcome the much vaunted announcement of Assam Vikash Yojana by Sushma Swaraj, I really

not take any action against him, we are going to file a criminal case against the former minister," said BJP leader Vijay Gupta. "The Congress must prove that they respect the women of the country and we are not going to tolerate this kind of nuisance against any woman," he added. Senior BJP leader Chandra Mohan Patowari demanded the APCC to expel Nilamoni sen Deka for crossing all limits and alleged that Deka has been making such controversial statements ever since becoming a legislator and minister. "It is an insult of the prime minister. How can anyone dare to disrespect the prime minister of the country? The statement of Deka only proved the Congress' attitude towards women of the country," the BJP leader said.

currently serving the remainder of Rajnath Singh's term. The party's prospects in three states — West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala— in assembly elections due in April are being seen as dim. Opposition unity could spoil its chances in Assam, where BJP is hoping to take advantage of voter antipathy toward CM Tarun Gogoi, who's led the state for 15 years. But Nitish Kumar is reportedly working on getting the anti-BJP parties together to form a coalition similar to the Grand Alliance that he led successfully in Bihar polls. Even a covert understanding between Congress and the All India United Democratic Front on seat sharing may spell trouble for BJP. The Asom Gana Parishad, a possible post-poll ally for BJP, is now a muchweakened political entity in Assam. The old guard, considering itself to have been cast aside, has been chafing at this banishment. Party veterans LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Yashwant Sinha and Shanta Kumar have jointly demanded that BJP office bearers be held accountable for election

defeats and that the party function in a more democratic manner rather than being controlled by a select few. After dithering on the issue of taking disciplinary action against the likes of Shatrughan Sinha, RK Singh, Bhola Singh and others, Shah finally suspended Kirti Azad for "anti-party activities." That may have been because his actions were seen as a personal attack on finance minister Arun Jaitley, regarded as one of the three top personalities in the party along with Shah and Modi. Some see the attack as an attempt to break their hold. There is also talk that the aim may be to dislodge Jaitley from the finance ministry, a portfolio that others are eyeing. The party leadership has tried to make peace with the veterans, who've been informed that they will be kept in the loop on all important decisions taken by the party after their comments on the Bihar defeat. However, their decision to meet and discuss Azad's suspension, as well as the support that Shatrughan Sinha and Subramanian Swamy's have given him, implies that the voices of rebel-

lion aren't going to fall silent anytime soon. Azad has made it clear he's planning more revelations about the alleged financial irregularities at the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA), which Jaitley ran 2000-2013. The feud between Jaitley and Azad is almost a decade old and neither side seems to be in no mood to relent, which could mean the image of the party taking a few knocks. And, with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal keen on pursuing the matter, the denouement of this tussle is unpredictable. To be sure, Shah is still very much in the saddle. Reputed for his single-mindedness and brooking no slackness, he's hopeful of the BJP doing well at least in Assam in the assembly polls. But the Bihar election has dispelled the notion within the BJP that it can win just on the back of the Prime Minister's appeal. Instead, the party will have to look for delivery on the ground to win over the electorate, analysts said. Modi is likely to induct some central office bearers into his council of ministers in the next Cabinet reshuffle, which may

happen before the budget session of the Parliament. Within the organization, all eyes are on who will get cut from Team Modi. The Prime Minister has expressed his anger over the growing aggression of the Congress in the Parliament. He has directed party members to reach out to people in their constituencies and weaken the Congress, which has just 45 seats in the Lok Sabha, where it's vastly outnumbered by the BJP. But the BJPled National Democratic Alliance lacks a majority in the Upper House, which has rendered it incapable of pushing through critical reforms such as the goods and services tax. The BJP will hope to improve its performance in parliament during the budget session to regain momentum. The successful passage of key legislation, including that related to the GST, will give it renewed vigour. A winning performance in Assam will help quell internal squabbles besides giving the party a big boost. This, perhaps with some help from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, may see the party getting its mojo back in 2016.

ShILLONG, DECEMBER 28 (AGENCIES): Meghalaya has been selected as one of the best performing states in the Digital India Week held in New Delhi in July last. The state ranks 3rd overall and three districts have been acknowledged as major contributors. Chhattisgarh tops the list followed by Himachal Pradesh in the number two position. Meghalaya commissioner and secretary of information technology, DP Wahlang will receive the award from Union minister of communication and IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad in New Delhi on Monday during the commemoration of ‘Good Governance Day’. Mentionably, the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) had constituted a committee to select states and districts that have performed well in 2015 as per data and information submitted by them at the Digital India Week held between July 1 and 7, 2015. Three districts namely – North Garo Hills, East Garo Hills and South West Khasi Hills – are the top three districts that have been chosen by the selection committee as best performing districts in the state. This was informed by Ajay Kumar, additional secretary, Union ministry of communication and IT in a communiqué addressed to State chief secretary PBO Warjri. Besides Wahlang, the State informatics officer (NIC) has also been invited to receive the State award while the deputy commissioners and district informatics officer (NIC) will receive the respective districts’ award.

Sunny Darjeeling hots up for year-end bash DARJEELING, DECEMBER 28 (TNN): The sun is shining bright on the magnificent Kanchenjunga, the town is bustling with tourists and last-minute party details are being worked on: Darjeeling is gearing up to usher in the New Year with gusto. Hotels and resorts are booked with domestic as well as international visitors and restaurants are busy deciding on mouth-watering spread for their New Year menu. After a cold and bleak week, the sudden change to sunny days seems to have buoyed Darjeeling into a festive mood."I always make it a point to visit Darjeeling during Christmas and New Year with my family. Darjeeling has a different flavour to offer during this time of the year," said Asish Chakraborty, a state government official who was once posted in the Hill town. Unlike other places, the Hills have fewer "entertainment" options, but that does not spoil the party. Chowrastha, the popular Hills promenade, is buzzing with shoppers and visitors. Hotels and restaurants are rushing against deadlines to put all party arrangements in place. Special dinners, barbeque with bonfire and other cultural activities are being designed by hotels to regale their guests. The Park has planned an exotic spread, but the officials preferred to keep it a surprise. But regular Thai servings, like `Pla Nung Manao' (fish in lemon juice), `Laab Kai' (northern chicken salad) and `Pla Choo Chee' (fish in shrimp paste), are on the offering. Badal Majumder, manager of The Elgin Hotels and Re sorts, said, "We will have candle light dinners, bonfire with cocktails and live band playing for our guests on the New Year's Eve. We are fully booked on that day." The Darjeeling Gymkhana Club and different social organizations will also lining up fun-filled New Year's Eve programmes.

INVITATION TO ALL THE ALUMNI OF JNV PFUKHRO MAO PurPose:

“Get together” to have “Open Discussion” and to form JNV Alumni schedule Day: 30th December, 2015 at 10.00 AM Venue: Premises of JNV Pfukhro Mao Further Information please contact: 1. Pfuneo Krichena – 09402125458 2. Adani Athikho – 09612986163

TuesDAY 29 •12•2015

Business

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Aviation waited in wings for a new policy New Delhi, December 28 (iANS): If the revival of an airline and return to profitability of some others marked the highlights in 2015 in Indian aviation, the year also went by without the government spelling out its long-awaited policy for the sector. All that the civil aviation ministry managed in the last 19 months was to come up with a draft national civil aviation policy (NCAP) which, nonetheless, has some farreaching implications. Among the proposals is one to scrap the 5/20 norm, which stipulates a minimum five years of operations and a fleet of 20 aircraft for oversees flying rights, and to peg a minimum tariff of no more than Rs.2,500 per ticket for each flying-hour. The grand scheme, however, still hangs in the balance and awaits the union cabinet’s approval. “Draft NCAP has contemplated many interesting proposals to promote growth in the aviation sector,” Amber

Dubey, partner and head of aerospace and defence at global consultancy KPMG, told IANS. “Its vision to enable 300 million domestic ticketing by 2022, although ambitious, highlights the potential of the Indian aviation sector.” In addition, aviation was among 15 industries in which foreign equity norms were eased in the year gone by. Moreover, India’s passenger traffic demand grew at a stellar pace. Official data from the Ministry of Civil Aviation showed that passengers carried by domestic airlines between January and November 2015 grew by 20.41 percent at 73,382,000. Sector-based experts pointed out that low crude oil prices helped to bring down fares which supported the rise in passenger traffic. “Aviation fuel makes up for 30 percent of the cost of running an airline, at record low levels, airfares have reduced which in turn has led to the increased passenger load that

we see today,” Rajiv Chib, director for aerospace and defence with PwC, told IANS. Besides fares, lower oil prices gave a jolt of fortune to the sector which till a year back was reeling under heavy losses on account of expensive jet fuel. “Whenever fuel cost as a percentage of total cost falls near or below the 40 percent level, airlines start reporting profits. Further, oil price reduction leads to a tempering of the airfares which stimulates demand, thus increasing load factors of airlines,” Kuljit Singh, partner for infrastructure practice at EY, told IANS. For the industry the year saw the dramatic turnaround of one of the country’s earliest budget carriers - SpiceJet - what with another having crashed towards bankruptcy led by industrialist Vijay Mallya. The crashing budget airline was piloted back into a stable financial trajectory by one of its co-founders, Ajay Singh, who bought out the stake of erstwhile promoter Kalanithi

Maran and KAL Airways earlier in the year. Under his leadership the airline soon recovered lost ground, garnered fresh funding, posted three consecutive quarters of profit and is in the process to augment capacity. The airline set new benchmarks in Indian aviation by achieving over 90 percent load factor (PLF) for seven consecutive months since May and reported the highest PLF amongst its peers for the last nine months. “The biggest reason behind SpiceJet’s revival is the handson approach of the new owner-cum-CMD Ajay Singh. He understands the industry and the airline inside out,” Dubey elaborated. “His presence brought in a lot of confidence to passengers, employees, lenders and suppliers.” The company’s scrip price appreciated by 379 percent from Rs.13.9 on December 16, 2014, to Rs.66.55 on December 16, 2015. Jet Airways too showed a

marked recovery as the company recorded two consecutive profitable quarters after a gap of eight years. But IndiGo was the one which landed with big bucks thanks to its grand initial public offer (IPO) during the just concluded year. The company’s Rs.3,018 crore IPO became the biggest in nearly three years on the Indian exchanges and marked an over-subscription by 4.95 times. “Listing of IndiGo is a great development for the industry as this will ultimately benefit airlines such as Spicejet, Go Air, to raise capital which they may urgently need to grow, to pay down debt and to consolidate their operations,” Singh said. The financial turnaround did not stop with just private players, even Air India made headlines by announcing that it expects to post an operating profit of Rs.6 crore for the current fiscal. “Lower fuel prices, aircraft availability, increased cabin manpower, aggressive market-

ing and promotions coupled with improved operational performance are the factors contributing to its growth,” Chib cited. Nevertheless, the rainbow weather was disrupted with concerns over exceptionally high fares that even had Prime Minister Narendra Modi worried! Other incidents, like the flip-flop over the status of a proposed new airport in the National Capital Region (NCR) showed a power tussle between the senior and junior minister, who run the show at the Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan which houses the civil aviation ministry. But the real bolt from the blue came in from of the fair business practices regulator -the Competition Commission of India (CCI) which penalised Jet Airways, IndiGo and SpiceJet for indulging in anti-competitive practices. Nonetheless, all three airlines that time said that they were considering challenging the order.

Highlights of 2015: • Government comes out with a draft civil aviation policy • Among many proposals is one to scrap the 5/20 norm • Policy aims at pegging a minimum tariff for each flying-hour • Policy on hold awaits cabinet’s approval • Passenger traffic grows by 20.41 percent during January-November • Sliding crude oil prices lowered fares and strengthened airlines balance sheets • Dramatic turnaround of SpiceJet under industrialist Ajay Singh • IndiGo’s Rs.3,018 crore IPO oversubscribed • Air India hopeful of posting an operating profit of Rs.6 crore • Flip-flop over the status of a proposed new airport near Delhi • CCI penalises airlines for indulging in anti-competitive practices.

Harley-Davidson discontinues Amway’s first manufacturing facility in India inaugurated the production of Superlow New Delhi, December 28 (NDTV AuTo): One of the most famous bikes from the Harley-Davidson line-up in the international market - the SuperLow - has been discontinued in the Indian market. Harley-Davidson India just confirmed that a new SuperLow will be replacing the previous generation bike sometime in 2016. The new SuperLow will be powered by the same 883cc, V-twin, fuel-injected, air-cooled Evolution engine which is found in the current version delivering a peak torque of 70Nm at 3,750rpm making cruising at slower

speeds a breeze. The new SuperLow has been given an all-new suspension to make the ride more comfortable than ever and the frame has been redesigned to give a lower centre of gravity to the bike for better handling. The rear suspension can be adjusted to suit the rider’s style giving him more confidence. The new Harley-Davidson SuperLow has a ground clearance of 100mm with a wheelbase of 1,500mm which will make it easy to ride it around the corners. The 120/70 18 tyre at the front and a 150/60 17 at the rear will provide adequate grip while cruising on the highways. A tank capacity of 17 litres will enable the riders to cover l o n g d i s tances witho u t stopping

often for refuelling. The 2016 Harley-Davidson SuperLow will have a dry weight of 247kgs which might make it a bit difficult to manoeuvre it in Indian conditions. Harley-Davidson India has not confirmed the exact launch date and price of the 2016 SuperLow, but the possibility of it being showcased at the 2016 Auto Expo can’t be ruled out. Harley-Davidson India commenced operations in August 2009 and the first dealership was opened in July 2010. Harley-Davidson has been assembling motorcycles in India at its CKD assembly unit at Bawal in Haryana. India is the second country where Harley-Davidson has CKD assembly operations outside the US, after Brazil. At present, the Company has 13 authorized dealerships in India. The company offers a whole bunch of customisations for its owners and not just that but there are a whole bunch of accessories to choose from.

KohimA, December 28 (AgeNcieS): Amway’s first Manufacturing facility in India was inaugurated by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Selvi. J Jayalalithaa at a function held at the secretariat in Chennai today. The Chief Minister, in the presence of senior management of the company, connected with select employees via a video conference and officially inaugurated the plant.Present on the occasion were P. Thangamani, Minister for Industries and Transport, Government of Tamil Nadu, and Anshu Budhraja, CEO, Amway India. Amway India Enterprises Pvt. Ltd is India’s largest direct selling FMCG Company and a wholly owned subsidiary of Amway Corporation, USA. Amway’s first manufacturing facility in India is located at Nilakottai in the Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu. This is Amway’s third manufacturing plant located outside of USA. The other plants are located in China and Vietnam. Amway has spent in India, more than 30% of the USD 335 million allocated for global expansion. Doug DeVos, President, Amway Corp, said, “The manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu

LEISURE

Simple Rules - There is just one simple rule: “Fill in the grid so that every row, every column, and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.”

SUDOKU Game Number # 3446

Amway’s first manufacturing facility in India at Nilakottai ,Dindigul district, Tamil Nadu.

is another example of Amway’s belief in the India market and reiterates our commitment to ‘Make in India, Make for India.’ We believe the facility is amongst the very best in the nation. The state-of-the-art operations will further strengthen our efforts to develop Indiaspecific products, which should support greater growth and meet the increasing demand of consumers.” Samir Behl, Regional President – Europe, Africa and India, Amway Corp, said, “We see huge potential in the country for direct selling as has been validated by number of reports in the re-

cent past. Our studies indicate that the spirit of entrepreneurship in the country is very high and we will continue to work on ground to enable individuals, especially women, to realise their true potential. We are keen to participate and contribute to India’s growth story. Ultimately, Amway, which is firmly established as the leading direct selling business in the world, is built on the mission of, ‘Helping People Live Better Lives’. Anshu Budhraja, CEO, Amway India, said, “We had acquired 50 acres of land in Nillakottai in 2012 after signing an MOU worth Rs. 300 crores with

DAILY CROSS WORD

CROSSWORD # 3458

Answer Number # 3445

DIMAPUR Civil Hospital:

SIPCOT, Government of Tamil Nadu. The outlay was later revised to Rs. 550 crore in the year 2015. Overall, wehave invested more than Rs. 800 crores in the country. The plant will provide direct employment to more than 400 people. Post the launch, Amway India will provide direct and indirect employment to more than 3000 people in India. Currently, the company provides income-generating opportunity to over 550,000 active independent Amway Business owners (ABOs) or distributors. The manufacturing facility can handle a turnover of Rs. 6500 crore to meet the needs of Indian consumer. Foremost, the manufacturing facility will enable us to explore launching India specific products. The investment and plant’s size only increases the company’s ability to source locally. All the products sold by Amway in India will now be made in India. We are planning to expand our product base and launch more than 10 new products in the country in the calendar year 2016. The high quality cookware that we are planning to launch in early 2017 will also be produced in this manufacturing plant.”

STD CODE: 03862 232224; Emergency229529, 229474

Metro Hospital: Faith Hospital:

227930, 231081 228846

Shamrock Hospital

228254

Zion Hospital:

231864, 224117, 227337

Police Control Room

228400

Police Traffic Control

232106

East Police Station West Police Station

227607 232181

CIHSR (Referral Hospital)

242555/ 242533

Dimapur hospital

224041, 248011

Apollo Hospital Info Centre:

230695/ 9402435652

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131/228404

Indian Airlines

229366

Nagaland Multispe- 248302, cialty Health & 09856006026 Research Centre

DeNtAl VOCAbulARy GINGIVITIS ENAMEL DENTIN PULP ROOTCANAL CAVITY PLAQUE TOOTHBRUSH PRIMARY PERMANENT BACTERIA STREPMUTANS SUGAR XYLITOL SUGARFREE TARTAR CALCULUS FLOSS INTERPROXIMAL SALIVA PERIODONTIST ORTHODONTIST ABCESS FILLING COMPOSITE AMALGAM CALCIUM DENTALCARIES AVULSEDTOOTH PROPHY ENDODONTIST DENTALIMPLANT RETAINER SPACEMAINTAINER EXTRACTION

G Z F S A P E R V D U V N F F U V Z A I

J I V H S V H X A V U L S E D T O O T H

Y H P S S E I H Y V Y X W T A R P Y D E

T C R U T D C L X L O H S F T S R D I T

I R O R R N E B A U I I P H J A E E Y I

V O O B E P G N A S T T O O M G I X N S

A O T H P T S I T N O D O I R E P T J O

C A C T M P R D O A O K R L A P E R R P

L M A O U N K D E N L P N S P R A A S M

E A N O T L O R T N Y I L A P S T C U O

A L A T A D F I T J T V M R I R U T G C

A G L F N J S S O L F A O P A D X I A A

W A Z E S T A G B X G X L T L B D O R L

U M S I T I V I G N I G P C G A E N F C

R G G C S P A C E M A I N T A I N E R U

V P U L P E R M A N E N T A O R T T E L

Police Control Room: North Police Station: South Police Station: Fire Brigade: Naga Hospital: Oking Hospital: Bethel Nursing Home: Northeast Shuttles

W M E N A M E L D F Y G N I L L I F E U

N F D K E U Q A L P D R E T A I N E R S

D C A L C I U M P Z N P O B R A G U S J

A I R E T C A B Q L E R O Y L I P H J Z

STD CODE: 0370 100/2244279 2222222 2222111 2222952 2222916 2243339 2224202 08974997923

ACROSS

1. Competent 5. Motionless 10. Arid 14. Den 15. Leg bone 16. Burden 17. Falsehood 19. Midmonth date 20. Citrus drink 21. Excrete 22. Wear away 23. Schemes 25. Aquatic mammal 27. Calypso offshoot 28. Principles 31. Works as a street musician 34. A low evergreen shrub 35. Hasten 36. The products of human creativity 37. Passageway 38. Printer’s unit 39. 52 in Roman numerals 40. Breaks 41. Blockheads 42. Searches 44. One of the tribes of Israel 45. Zest 46. Motion of hands 50. Sprite

DOWN

1. Assumed name 2. Hash out 3. Inhabits 4. Historic period 5. A symbol of disgrace 6. High, low and neap 7. Nile bird 8. Coasts 9. Nonclerical 10. Evening event 11. Neurochemical 12. Regretted 13. Being 18. Scallions 22. Carve in stone 24. Sounds of disapproval 26. French for “Head” 28. Vermin 29. Clock sound 30. Oceans

31. Emollient 32. Murres 33. Most frugal 34. Historiographer 37. Parental sister 38. Kick 40. Not idle 41. Optical maser 43. Yay! 44. Abandon 46. Donor 47. Practical 48. Kino gum 49. Ancient Hebrew vestment 50. Bungle 51. Relating to aircraft 53. Countertenor 56. Mayday 57. Watch chain Ans to CrossWord 3457

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MON: 03869-251222/ 101 (O) 9862130954 (OC)

CHILD WELFARE COMMITTEE 52. Lift 54. Not bottom 55. Lascivious look 56. Silver-grey wingless insect 58. Constellation bear 59. Cowboy movie 60. Hodgepodge 61. The two together 62. Sound of contempt 63. Curve

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2226241

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2226214

Civil Hospital: Woodland Nursing Home:

2226216 2226263

Hotel Metsüpen (Tourist Lodge):

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CURRENCY NOTES

222246 222491

BUY(Rs)

SELL(Rs)

US Dollars Sterling Pound Hong Kong Dollar Australian Dollar Singapore Dollar Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen

64.77 96.29 8.09 46.64 45.99 46.39 53.17

67.74 101.02 9.01 48.97 48.27 48.68 56.19

Euro

70.64

74.11

Thai Baht Korean Won New Zealand Dollar Chinese Yuan

1.74

1.94

0.0533

0.0594

44.00

46.19

9.58

10.68

TuesdAY 29•12•2015

DoSE notifies on academic calendar 2016 SSU 43rd annual conference commences KOHima, December 28 (mexN): The Directorate of School Education (DoSE) in a notification stated that academic calendar 2016 has been notified to all government and private schools throughout the state for strict compliance. A notice issued though the DIPR stated that School re-opening for admission in hot region is scheduled on January 15 (Friday) while for School reopening for hilly region is on January 21 (Thursday). All admission should to be completed January 30, 2016 and regular classes to resumes in February. The Directorate of School Edu-

Urges government and private schools throughout the State for strict compliance cation has accordingly notified the academic calendar for the schools for the year 2016. Further, it notified that the schools should ensure working days in compliance to RTE Act 2009 i.e. Class 1-5 – 200 and Class 6-8 – 220. The institutions should split the whole syllabus into 3 equal sections (Elementary) one section for each Term exam in the teachers' scheme of works ( covering 1-2 lessons) in a week with all academic exercises and class test as per

CCE for Elementary section. 1st and 3rd Saturdays of every month shall be utilized for class tests/ co-curricular activities/ life skills/ social works etc. All general holidays indicated in the State Government Calendar are to be observed as State/ National holidays compulsorily along with 3 (three) local restricted holidays. “Every school is to enforce Code of Professional Ethics for teachers as per NCERT norms,” DoSE notified further.

It also instructed that to cope up with the changing world the schools are directed to develop physical, moral, social, spiritual well being of the students throughout the academic year. The performance of students in all the 3 (three) Term exams (Elementary) shall be taken together to determine the promotion of the students to the next higher class and the weakest students shall have to repeat the same class in the next academic session.

Dimapur, December 28 (mexN): Suhoi Students’ Union is holding its 43rd annual conference from December 28 to 30 under the theme ‘The ability to utilize knowledge.’ G. Hukugha Sema, IRS Joint Commissioner Taxes (Intl & CI) Ahmedabad, Gujarat graced the inaugural session, as chief guest, that was held on Monday morning. Addressing the students, chief guest said many have heard how to be successful and live a life of purpose and fulfillment but we do not want to make change towards attaining our goals, hence, failing ultimately. He said as students, there is no other option

Chief guest g. hukugha sema addresses the suhoi students’ Union 43rd annual conference on december 28.

than hard-work and once students achieve success, then after there are lots of options in life. He reminded the students that they should realize that their life, environment and stud-

ies have been paid for it and there is a price-tag attached to each of them. Therefore, Hukugha said, they have to make use of the assets in them which have been built by their parents, church, village and society instead of liability. Stating that one can achieve greatness in life with determination, focus and will-power he urged them to realize their responsibility and focus on achieving their goals. He also encouraged the students to strife as one, learn and change together and inspire each other for betterment of oneself, family and the society at large, instead on encouraging

and inspiring in bad deeds and actions. Khehovi Kiho exhorted the students in the afternoon session on Monday. Atozheli S. Awomi, lecturer, Servanthood Bible College would address the congregation as speaker on December 30. Inaugural session was chaired by Agholi Kiho, former president. Rev. Nikheto Kiho, Mission Promoter WSBAK said the invocation. Vihoshe Yeptho, GB delivered welcome address. Salomi Aye, finalist of Kids for Fame Season 5 presented special song. Sukhapu Kiho, advisor to the union proposed vote of thanks while Kughali Kiho, ex women pastor pronounced the benediction.

TGKK 54th annual session inaugurated

Mex FIle KYSP meeting on Jan 5 Dimapur, December 28 (mexN): The 39th Keor Yangdong Suro Pumji (KYSP) general meeting will be held on January 5, 2016 at Keor Village. Chairman of KYSP, Thsithrongli Sangtam, has informed all members to attend the meeting without fail.

One Tata Sumo recovered pereN, December 28 (mexN): Peren police recovered a vehicle which was reported lost from Sibsagar, Assam on December 22. According to a press release from the Superintendent of Police, Peren, the registration number of the vehicle, Tata Sumo (Gold), was found changed from AS01-GC-0525 to NL07-C-7542. Two persons identified as Laloumie (25 years) and Namsurai (30 years) have been arrested in this connection. The recovered vehicle was later handed over to Assam Police after completing all formalities, the SP informed. A hukiye yeptho, ato Kukau thahekhu ghami at thahekhu regular case has been registered at Jalukie P.S and fur- ghami Kiphimi Kuqhakulu inaugural session held on december 28. ther investigation is on. Dimapur, Decem- hu Village, Dimapur. The annual session was ber 28 (mexN): The Thahekhu Ghami Kiphimi inaugurated by Hukiye YepKuqhakulu (TGKK) has tho, Head GB Thahekhu vilkick started its 54th annual lage and he exhorted the stusession which will be held dents to give due importance till December 30 at Thahek- to sports for physical as well

as mental fitness and urged the TGKK to take the initiative to encourage the students to take sports seriously and that the village elders and Village council are ever ready for support. He also urged the TGKK to be true to its motto “Deeds not words” and not the other way around. The welcome speech was delivered by Avikishe Khujumi, TGKK President and special song from Livika Swu of Vivace who is also the executive member of TGKK. Invocation prayer was prononcued by Boqhito Chishi, Associate Pastor Youth TVBC and Benediction by Vihoni Yeptho, Asso Pastor Children TVBC. The three day annual session consists of Sports, games and literary activities for all age groups. Several renowned persons will exhort the members during the session.

students of the sinai educational Centre (seC) during the annual day 2015 held at the Centre in Island Colony, dimapur. sinai educational Centre is a philanthropic endeavor of the sinai Ministry committed to providing free educational to the downtrodden and the poor. It was established in 2009.

Pfutseromi Village celebrate centenarian’s birthday

Longpa SU celebrates Platinium jubilee mOKOKcHuNG, December 28 (mexN): Longpa Kaketshir Telonjem (Longpa Village Students’ Union) kicked off its Platinum Jubilee celebrations at Longpa village here this evening which was attended by Longpa students from all over the state and also from Thongrar village. The LKT Plainum Jubilee is being celebrated on the theme ‘Nuklasen’ (which literally can be translated as new vision). Speakers from the Asetkong Kaketshir Telongjem Mungdang (AKTM), Longpa Village Council Chairman, Senior Advocate of Guwahati High Court Temsujungla Aier and others spoke at the function. The vice president of AKTM, Aopong Longchar,

while speaking at the programme, paid rich tribute to the past Longpa Students’ Union leaders, who have contributed immensely towards the students’ community. He also acknowledged the steadfast support and contribution of the Longpa Students’ Union to the Asetkong Kaketshir Telongjem Mungdang, and added that the AKTM will also be ever ready to work hand in hand and support the Longpa Students’ Union in whatever way in the days to come. Senior advocate of Guwahati High Court, Temsujungla Aier, while sharing her vision for the students’ community, challenged the youths to dare to dream and have an indomitable will. She

also urged the students to have a goal and to chart their own path for a successful life. Moreover, she encouraged the students to be imaginative and to look ahead while forgetting their past mistakes in life. Nonetheless, the senior advocate strongly cauIn the spirit of Christmas, Kalos went out giving gifts to tioned against procrastinasome of the citizens at Pfutsero. a total of 61 homes were tion and urged them not ‘to reached with gifts including Christmas cakes, cards, delay’ their works. cash and 30 bags of rice. apart from society members funding/contributions, it may be mentioned that Kalos On the second day, have received much help from well wishers across the Parliamentary Secretary country and even from abroad. for Geology & Mining, Dr. Imtiwapang Aier would grace the main function as the chief guest while former Additional Director for Land Resources, Moatoshi Dearest Elivini Longkumer would be the special guest. The Principal "Wishing you a very first happy birthof Wangkao Government day, God bless you." College, Akok Walling Dimapur, Decem- 33 times. Rev. L. Ritse, Se- times. Mero was Pastor, From Puppu, Anito, Linti, would be the main speaker ber 28 (mexN): Pfutsero- nior Pastor, PVBC graced Pfutseromi Village from mi Village under Phek Dis- the special occasion along 1965 to 1971. On August at the function. Nipu & loved ones trict celebrated the 100th with special invitees Maj 18, 2005, and April 25, birth anniversary of Werul- Ricky Nagi and Capt. Rahul 2009, special services were held to mark his achievehi Mero on December 26 at (Post Commander 9 AR). According to a press ment of completing the his residence at Upper Colony in Pfutseromi Village. release, Mero, born on De- Bible 25 times and 30 times The birthday celebrations cember 26, 1915, adopted respectively. Mero and his wife, who also marked a feat that the Christianity only in 1961. centenarian achieved in However, Mero’s keen in- is also of the same age, reNovember 2012 – reading terest in the Bible led to main strong and healthy t’s such a joy to learn retary, Rev. Vepocu Epao, a success is worthy of dou- and lead the Chakhesang The next vision is to the whole of the Holy Bible him reading the Bible 33 despite their ages. that the Chakhesang assistant Ngotso Dasai and ble honour. This achieve- Chokri community to the see the entire bulk of Bible Chokri dialect Bible all the co-translators and ment will not only add to true knowledge of salva- (O.T/N.T) in our hands. (NT) has been released committee members will the bookshelf of our library tion. This work should/will But for now, it’s time to say after much anticipation. go down in history for the but will certainly contribute challenge the Chokri clergy “Thank you” to the translaThe Bible Society of In- invaluable contribution positively in the shaping of leaders to strive harder to tors for accomplishing this dia Dimapur Auxiliary, to the Chakhesang Chokri our literature, language, vo- reach greater heights in the herculean and noble task. Tovihoto aye: MLA and Chairman, NIDC to Chairman Ceasefire Monitoring Cell, Chokri Gospel Literature community. cabulary and much more. days coming.This milestone You have done well! Ltd, Tovihoto Aye, has condoled the un- on December 28 at his residence at DiphCommittee, Rev. Dr. K.Z. The toil, sweat and tears This inspired translated will be etched in stone for Vebu Khamo timely demise of K. Kakiye Zhimomi. In a upar, Dimapur. Kohima Bible College Rochill, Sr. Auxiliary Sec- in the making of this Bible text will surely enlighten generations to come. In a condolence message, WYH stated condolence message, Aye stated that the news of the demise came as a deep shock that both were great leaders who have sacChristian without CHRIST I AM artificial which is outward but to to him and the entire Western Sumi com- rificed a lot for the uplift of society. “Their demise is a huge lost for the Nagas,” WYH NOTHING. We might have mem- be Christ likeness as His true wit- munity. Aye informed that late Kakiye was the stated. “Their contribution for the people orised the whole scriptures but nesses. He calls us to be 30,60 and President of Western Sumi Youth Front will be always remembered,” it added. propos my letter, which aphe transition hour and time not have power of God (CHRIST) 100fold not below. Why Nagas are The Western Yimchunger Hoho consince its formation till the time of his death. peared in your esteemed speaks to Naga when we need which contains the whole plan of unable to accomplish the common “He was an efficient village headman and veyed its deepest condolences to both the paper on the 20th December, to pace with India and the God. Many Naga Christians loathe goal because we don’t have room an able man to whom the mass looked bereaved family and prayed for their souls 2015 issue, in which I had deworld but until we let Christ in our Nagaland for Christ but you cannot for Christ and room for others. Let up with confidence in his leadership. In to rest in eternal peace. clared my Grandfather, late life there is no hope that will prog- run away or hide or deny it. We have us earn or gather the sheaves of his demise, the Sumi community and the Reverend Subongwati, got exress and develop as expected of a na- been told, you must be born again peace and righteousness and joy of Naga people have lost a tall leader whose KGpO: The Khuhuboto Ghakhu Public pelled from Changki village, I tion. Much has been said, not much in water, spirit and fire. Christ is the Christ. Let us not be like CICADA absence would be hugely felt and his con- Organisation has expressed grief at the unwas in grave error. My father, late Dr. T. Ao, ei- done. Sovereignty, liberty (freedom) way to tread, truth to act and life to anymore but be wise like ANT dur- tributions to the society would remain timely demise of late Kakiye Zhimo, Head ther misstated it or I had mis- belong to the Lord God and who- live. Why we forfeit Christ because ing harvest-transition time. Redeem in the memories of the people for a long G.B. of Kughato Village, at his residence on understood his statement. ever is led by the spirit of God Sov- we don’t have these three words the time and restore our fortune; if time,” Aye stated. December 27. Reverend Subongwati went to ereignty belongs to them because - LOVE ONE ANOTHER which is we miss this time we may have to In a condolence note, the organizaThe MLA conveyed heartfelt condoTsungmeli and settled there for they are heirs and co-heirs of God the first and greatest highest com- struggle another century. We must lences to the bereaved family members tion informed that late Kakiye was a forsome years on his own volition with Christ. We share His sufferings mand from the Lord. We condemn know our time and situation, and and prayed to the Almighty to grant them mer President of Khuhuboto Ghakhu before settling down in Impur. in order that we may also share in His ourselves, when we live our self- make room for Christ so that we can strength and solace to overcome the loss. Public Organisation and also the PresiI, therefore, most hum- glory and His promised rewards. centered lives and when we are af- receive brothers and sisters in our dent of Sumi youth Front. “His demise has bly retract my rash declaraWYH: The Western Yimchunger Hoho brought a great vacuum not only to the It is unfortunate and awful situa- ter our desires we are much worse hearts this Christmas season. tion publicly and apologise to tion happening in our life which has than the idol worshippers. Merry Christmas and Happy has expressed shock to learn of the un- area but Western Sumi in general,” it statChangki village. I take full retimely demise of late Kakiye Zhimo, Head ed. “The KGPO salutes his works, deeds Even Christian workers cannot New year. Amen. no future goal like Esau, first grandsponsibility for my rashness. G.B. of Kughato village, and President, and sacrifices he made for the people of love their own fellow-men. Christ son of Abraham friend of God who Rev. Vitovi Yepthomi Mr. A. Tally did not call out to be religion or had no truth in him like Naga today, Pastor (FCF) Western Sumi Youth Front, on December Khuhuboto area and will be always reSon of late Dr. T. Ao membered,” it added. 27 at his residence in Khuhuboto town. KGPO further conveyed its heartfelt The Hoho has also expressed shock The Morung Express is introducing “Public Space” as part of our intention to provide deliberate space for the opinions of the people to be expressed and heard through this newspaper. Nonetheless, The Morung Express points out that the opinions expressed in the contents to learn of the sudden demise of late condolences to his family members and published in the “Public Space” do not reflect the views and position of the newspaper or the editor. Shokhum Yimchunger, Retd. DYSP, Asst. prayed for his soul to rest in eternal peace.

BIrthday greetIngs

Public SPace

On Chakhesang Chokri Bible (NT)

CondolenCe Messages

Apology

Christ-Must

TuesDAY 29•12•2015

IN FOCUS The Power of Truth

The Morung Express X issue 352X issue 185 Thursday 9volume July 2015 volume

Meaning and Purpose

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

C O M M E N T A R Y

Marc Herzog

When govts jail people for reading

ith each passing year the necessity to collectively and imaginatively envisage a Naga society that is cohesive, peaceful and dignified increases. Reflecting on the past year, the collective visioning continues to be strengthened by all who contribute in thoughts and actions that are connected through imagination to break the vicious cycle of bondage. The search for a creative vision and prophetic imagination for a just society effectively obstructs those who feed upon an unjust system that perpetuates domination and marginalization. Our society has become repressed as seen in the silent majority composed of Naga men and women, some of whom pass through life without questioning or critically thinking about the conditions that surround their own lives or of others. Our present situation is one in which the ‘abnormal’ has become the norm. It is a situation in which violence, suspicion, distrust, fear, threats, assumptions, accusations and counter-accusations, and impunity has become the norm. This supposed norm has imposed itself upon us manifesting in indifference, monotonous fatigue and loss of self-confidence, self-respect and self-worth. Any effort to create awareness and consciousness in situations such as this requires the consistent need to be fully aware of the peoples’ feelings, and to use these feelings to reveal the factual truths of their conditions. One of the most crucial necessities of our time is for the truth to be freed so that we can also experience liberation. Yet, one has to contend with the human and moral dilemmas of freeing the hidden truth and to engage with the truth surrounding these dilemmas as well. In a society that is seeking to heal from its past, every Naga woman, man and organization needs to participate in processes based on value oriented decisions. A crucial challenge that is yet to be decisively overcome is the need for Nagas to cut across all village, clan, tribal, political and territorial lines to give a united expression to manifest their will and desire for justpeace. It is more than just a demonstration of the collect will, as it reflects the people’s collective desire to guide the course of its own future which is essential for a dignified existence. The path to a dignified and peaceful co-existence is in essence a praxis in the making through which the people’s voices can be heard as their participation strengthens in processes as they exercise their rights. As we enter a new year, let us face it together in unity in order to address the dilemmas of truth and generate a praxis that embraces all human feeling, thinking and acting. Through this collective action the praxis is transferred into new social and political basis for endowing life in Naga society with meaning and purpose.

lEfT wiNg |

Iris C. Gonzales New Internationalist

Seeking salvation

t is quiet in the confession booth, except perhaps for the whispers of sinners seeking salvation from strangers in white robes. Men and women, thieves, vagabonds, adulterers, lonely mistresses – all of whom may be considered sinners by some – will kneel and confess their acts before they do it all again, another time, another day. There is a soldier, slumped on his back, perhaps dead or dying; perhaps wounded or too weak to stand. His gun-wielding comrades are by his side. They are in the middle of a battle, or the war has just begun. All are fighting for their lives. In a place named Tacloban, after the world came to an end when super typhoon Haiyan struck, a man is standing in the middle of the chaos. There is a mountain of trash and debris behind him. He has almost nothing: no shirt, no bags, no home; just a black rosary he wears around his neck. There are rituals for the dead, ceremonies for the living, flagellations for the sinners and guns for the saviours. These are just some of the images of faith and how it is held deeply by nearly every man, woman and child here in the Philippines, a predominantly Catholic country of 100 million people. There is sometimes no rationality or reason but faith, nevertheless, serves its epistemic function in this country where more than 25 million Filipinos are mired in deep poverty. It is an end to contradictions or at the centre of ironies. Faith is at the core of one’s survival in a country where the government has failed its people, where religion dictates birth-control methods and where a church insists on keeping unhappy marriages intact. It is expressed in endless ways and the differences are stark and telling. And the different ways by which Filipinos hold on to their faith are vividly captured in a collection of images by 5 Filipino photographers: Jose Enrique Soriano, Veejay Villafranca, Jake Verzosa, Carlo Gabuco, and Jes Aznar. The result is Pananampalataya – the Filipino word for faith – an exhibition, which is part of the inaugural Photo Bangkok Festival, an international photography festival that is currently ongoing in Bangkok, Thailand. Pananampalataya is presented by AsianEye Gallery, an online gallery that aims to raise the profile of veteran and emerging Asian photographers and to encourage collectors from all over the world to discover and appreciate their vision and work. ‘The Filipino photographer is unique when juxtaposed with the rest of his Asian and Western counterparts. The artist comes from an archipelago composed of 7,107 islands in Southeast Asia, and is greatly influenced by the country’s history of popular struggles. One unparalleled historical factor which explains the distinctiveness of the Philippines in Asia is its prolonged history under direct colonial domination. Colonialism in the Philippines began in the 16th century, as in Latin America – 300 years earlier than most Asian countries. The worldview of Filipinos reflects a strong Hispanic and Christianized influence, with the Catholic Church contributing to this. The Filipino is the fruit of this integration. And what is integral in this integration is the faith (pananampalataya) of its people – a faith in a force (tadhana) that determines the destiny of its people,’ the exhibition notes explain. Pia Artadi, the Filipina behind AsianEye, says she wanted to show the world the talent of Filipino photographers: ‘I wanted to portray how strong and how unique their work is.’ On the subject of faith, Artadi says its universality remains profound and that she wanted to share Filipinos’ practice of faith to a wider audience that, in the process, may find common ground.

t is not every day that you hear of a grotesque situation where people are arrested, accused of planning a coup and put on trial for reading books and publicly discussing them. But it is just this sort of Kafkaesque scenario that faces 15 political and human rights activists in Angola. They were arrested on 20 June 2015 in a bookstore in the capital, Luanda, for organizing a public discussion of two books that focus on peaceful means of challenging authoritarian regimes, one of them Gene Sharp’s From Dictatorship to Democracy. The activists were involved in civil campaigns on a range of social justice issues for which they tried holding the government and Angola’s ruling elites accountable. The government in turn accuses the group of preparing a coup as well as an assassination attempt on President Eduardo Dos Santos, who has been in power for more than 36 years. If convicted, they face prison sentences of up to 12 years. The activists were kept in isolated detention without trial for more than three months, in different prisons scattered around the country, and there are plentiful allegations of torture and abuse. Two more activists since then were included in the accusations and the trial that started on 16 November. Meanwhile, peaceful solidarity vigils in Angola were deemed a ‘security threat to the public’ and dispersed by the police. To protest their treatment by the state, several of the group, including well-known rapper Luaty Beirão, known by the stage name of Ikonoklasta, went on hunger strike. Beirão maintained his strike for 36 days, one day for each year of President Dos Santos’ reign, seriously endangering his health in the process. The group has used the court hearings to put the ruling regime and its crimes and corruption under the spotlight. Indeed, the ruling regime under President Dos Santos has increasingly found itself on trial in front of an international audience for its authoritarian and corrupt rule of the country, where a small elite reaps the benefits of the country’s economy while around

The singer, musician and cultural activist talks to Graeme Green about Ethiopia, equality and losing the ego

70 per cent of the population survive on $2 a day and human rights and civil liberties are routinely ignored and trampled on. Amnesty International called the trial against the 17 activists ‘a travesty of justice’, while the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst, urged the government to drop all charges and release the 17 immediately. The case has attracted the attention of people around the world, the international media, NGOs such as Amnesty International, and many governments. Solidarity protests have been held in Brazil, Portugal and Britain, and an international campaign is clamouring for the release of the activists under the slogan Liberdade Já (Freedom Now). The motivations of the activists on trial derive from the shockingly intense poverty and social inequality that grips the majority of Angola’s population, in a country that possesses the natural wealth to go far toward providing a dignified life for all its citizens. Angola was wrecked by three decades of civil war (19752002), one of the Cold War’s worst proxy conflicts, in which the US and South Africa on one side and the Soviet Union and Cuba on the other armed and supported opposing factions. Over 500,000 people were killed and the country suffers from high levels of landmines and unexploded ordnance. Nevertheless, since the end of the civil war, Angola has had one of Africa’s fastest growing economies, due to its plentiful natural resources of petrol, diamonds and other precious minerals. It is, in fact, the continent’s second-biggest oil exporter. Yet while the international media have often focused on this booming economic growth, the fact that the generated wealth flows almost exclusively to a very small group of people is rarely mentioned. Nor do they report that amidst all these riches, which have made Luanda the most expensive capital in the world in terms of cost of living, Angola also has the world’s highest child mortality rate and one of the highest childbirth mortality ratios. China, Angola’s main

trading partner, has benefited most from Angola’s ‘rise’, inadvertently posing as the putative role model for Angola’s human rights record. With friends like these, the Angolan people (except for the few oligarchs occupying the Manhattan-priced seafront Luanda apartments, enjoying views and feasts denied to most) do not need much by way of enemies. In fact, the ruling regime under Dos Santos turned the country’s natural resources and extractive industries into a formidable source of rentier income by which to maintain its grip on power, as well as tie and subordinate all significant sections of state, economy and society to it. This appalling picture of corruption and social inequality, as well as the regime’s authoritarian governance, has increasingly sparked civil opposition campaigns in recent years that were repressed by means of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, and torture of those courageous enough to raise their voices against the regime. The arrest and trial of the activists and the trumped-up charges supposedly justifying them have exposed this picture to a worldwide audience, who are vocally demanding their immediate release. In that sense, it may just be that the government has gravely erred. The trial could in fact become a very damaging boomerang for them that will further animate civil opposition in Angola, especially as the slump in global oil prices since 2014 moved the regime to slash the state’s budgets and services even further. A new hunger strike by four of the group, including Luaty Beirão, was commenced on 10 December to protest against the severe manipulation of the trial to suit the regime’s needs. These 17 people deserve to be supported by all who value the struggle for social justice, human rights and democracy. Their courage and sacrifice in taking on a tyrannical and corrupt regime makes them, and the many like them, heroes whose selfless example deserve to be supported by us all. They must be released immediately.

And finally… Meklit Hadero

Your family fled the violent revolution in Addis Ababa in 1974. What impact did that have on you? You grow up with a mix of stories and silences. This is the legacy of any political upheaval. I left when I was two years old. I realized when I was 21 and visited the country for the first time as an adult that so many of my ideas of Ethiopia had been filtered through the stories of my parents, and I understood the country is much more than that. There were so many other aspects of the country and culture I didn’t know. Where do you call home now? I have three places I think of as home: Addis Ababa, Brooklyn in New York, where I did most of my growing up and which left a huge impression on me, and the Bay Area in San Francisco. I don’t think I could ever have one place as home. I don’t mean a house, but as a concept. What makes you happy? Music. Playing it and achieving the sense of complete abandon to the song, to the moment, to the interaction with other musicians. Losing the ‘I’, the sense of the ego, to the spontaneity and improvisation when you’re truly inside a song. Can music help bring about change? Yes. I think of myself as a singer, musician and cultural activist. I like to think about the ways that art and cul-

to bring together musicians from the Nile region had the potential to have a positive impact beyond music. We’ve had three residencies and an African tour of five of the Nile countries, and we just toured North America. Water could be a more pressing issue than oil in the future, couldn’t it? Yes, we depend on it. What’s interesting is that a lot of the time nervousness about water scarcity relates to questions of identity: who you share water with is about who is included when we talk about ‘we’. Music is quite an effective tool for addressing those identity issues.

ture can be a vehicle for asking ques- difficult to get to know one another. tions about where we’re at and where The project started as a way to bring we want to go collectively. together the music of the neighbours who share the Nile. When we started What is The Nile Project hoping our research, we learned about the to achieve? conflict over It was started w a t e r. R i g h t in 2011 by myself now things are and Mina Girgis, pretty good bean Egyptian ethtween Nile Basin nomusicologist, countries; Ethifrom a place of opia, Sudan and cultural curiosEgypt recently ity. In the diaspora in San Francisco signed an agreement over how the and New York and London, we’re Grand Ethiopian Renaissance dam is each other’s neighbours and friends, going to be managed and that’s a huge and it’s quite easy to be connected, step forward. But earlier it was quite but on the African continent it’s quite tense. We realized that a music project

wRiTE-wiNg

You’ve also helped promote gender equality in Africa. Why do you think it’s so important? I was part of UN Women’s theme song, ‘One Woman’, and inaugurated their campaign for gender equality in Africa with a concert in Addis Ababa. With the Nile Project, we were insistent from the beginning that the project had equal representation of women – not just singers, but composers and songwriters, too. When we’re talking about equal rights for women it’s very easy, especially in the eyes of the West, immediately to make an African woman a victim. But we’re saying there’s a generation of women who are coming up as leaders in their communities, breaking these barriers. What’s your biggest fear? In some ways, fear is about boundaries. When I think of fear, it is like an indicator that there’s a boundary for you, something you have to look out for, to be aware of, to pay attention to. So fear isn’t always a bad thing.

Letters to the Editor should be sent to: The morung express, House No. 4, Duncan Bosti, Dimapur - 797112, Or –email: morung@gmail.com All letters (including those via email) should have the full name and Postal address of the sender. Readers may please note that the contents of the articles, letters and opinions published do not reflect the outlook of this paper nor of the Editor in any form.

tuesDAY 29•12•2015

PERSPECTIVE

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

The UN sustainable development goals miss the point Nick Dearden

ot many people enjoy the existence of poverty. Some think it’s inevitable, others that tackling it is politically impossible. But for those with ambition, an end to poverty is a worthy enough goal. Naturally, the self-congratulation will be in full flow this weekend, as celebrities and world leaders gather in New York to launch their latest effort to do just that, in the form of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). But something will be missing in between the speeches and performances by the likes of Ed Sheeran, Beyoncé, Bill Gates and Meryl Streep. That thing is power. Because unless you understand that the poverty of some flows from the wealth and power of others, efforts to fight poverty will not truly work. The SDGs consist of 17 objectives which aim to build a better planet – from eradicating hunger to building more sustainable cities. Each objective contains a number of targets which cover everything from having better public transport to helping artisanal fisherfolk get better access to markets. The goals do represent the many dimensions of poverty – it isn’t simply about a certain number of dollars a day. While some targets are limited or problematic (‘preventing trade restrictions in agriculture’ could cover a multitude of sins) others are very good (‘encouraging local involvement in water management’ and ‘improving the incomes of small farmers’). The real problem is that this wish-list comes with no historical background of how we got here, and no political strategy for how we get out. As such, it relies on a mixture of more market and more technically competent governments. There’s no sign that the economic model itself is broken – just that it needs some tuning. Take one obvious gap: transnational corporations. They aren’t mentioned in the SDGs, yet the power of corporations is fundamental to the staggering levels of inequality which afflict the world, and are at the centre of an economic model quite prepared to burn the planet in its drive for ever more profit. It is impossible to realize the targets of the SDGs without tackling corporate power. Nor is there any acknowledgment of colonial history, of slavery, of racism, of desperately unfair terms of trade, of structural adjustment policies which flushed dozens of countries’ economies down the drain only 30 years ago. Far from critiquing the control of the market, the SDGs exhort world leaders to ‘remove market distortions’ and ‘ensure the proper functioning of food commodity markets’. The SDGs’ answer to ‘hunger’ is growing more food – despite the fact that we have more than enough food in the world to feed everyone. Technology plays a key role in the targets – for instance in the eradication of epidemics of HIV and malaria – but with no sign of how governments will improve the flow of knowledge around the world without breaking the ever more ferocious intellectual property regime that allows corporate giants to monopolize that knowledge. More foreign investment is encouraged, but

Corporate Social Responsibility: Present Trend and Benefits

without a framework for controlling that investment, how is it supposed to benefit the majority? In short, power doesn’t exist in the SDGs. The chapter on inequality nowhere mentions that the problem of poverty is inseparable from the problem of super-wealth; that exploitation and the monopolization of resources by the few is the cause of poverty. Of course, this lack of analysis isn’t accidental. In the world of fighting poverty, of ‘development’, corporations and the super-rich are no longer problems, but partners. How on earth will the SDGs be financed, especially since a global tax body has already been vetoed by rich countries 3 months ago? By big business, of course. With a captured public sector unable to fund the SDG promises, big business will happily come in, with state backing, to run healthcare and education, communications and transport, food and water. The market is the answer. Perhaps it’s unfeasible to think that the UN could advocate such seemingly radical proposals as democratic control of the world’s resources? Actually, that doubt shows how far backwards we’ve gone. Because in the mid1970s the UN adopted a policy which, while less detailed (mercifully, it fits on a few pages), laid out a far better analysis of the world’s problems, with a clearer set of solutions for moving forward.

It seems incredible now that the New International Economic Order (NIEO) was really UN policy, but it passed the General Assembly in May 1974 and was regarded as much too moderate by many campaigners of the time. The NIEO declared that ‘the remaining vestiges of alien and colonial domination, foreign occupation, racial discrimination, apartheid and neocolonialism in all its forms continue to be among the greatest obstacles to… full emancipation and progress’. In an era when few people knew what a transnational corporation was, its recommendations included the ‘regulation and supervision of the activities of transnational corporations’, as well as radical reform of the global trade regime. The world has changed and the NIEO is not a blueprint for a perfect planet. But it highlights the poverty of ‘development’ thinking, the pinnacle of which is represented by the SDGs. The answer to world poverty can’t be found among the development professional and celebrities in New York this weekend. Rather it will be found among the many thousands of activists, community organizations and social movements who are really confronting power in the world. Let’s join them. Nick Dearden is the director of Global Justice Now, on whose website this post first appeared

Nicholas Kristof

“Arena of Mind” portrays a space for idea germination, a field where ideas from multi-disciplinary viewpoints fertilize the world of intelligence. The writers aspire to envision a new future by exploring the mind, discovering new seeds of insights and unleashing them to enlightenment.

Moa Temsu

For Many, Faith Comes at a High Price NYT

S we celebrate the holidays, let’s remember that this is one of those savage epochs when some families must choose between their faith and their lives. It is an echo of when Nero burned Christians alive, or when self-described Christians unleashed pogroms against Jews. Partly because of allergies about religion, the international response has been utterly ineffective. Liberals are sometimes reluctant to champion Christians who are persecuted for their faith. And conservatives are too quick to champion only Christians, neglecting other religious minorities — such as the Yazidis — who suffer even worse fates. One result of this “God gulf” is that the Western response to atrocities against religious oppression is pathetically inadequate. The Islamic State in October released a video that is a stomach-wrenching glimpse of the worst kind of religious repression. Three Syrian Christian men, one a doctor, are made to kneel in the desert in orange jumpsuits and state their religion. Behind each is an executioner who then uses a handgun to fire a bullet into the back of each Christian’s head. Some Christian leaders in America want President Obama to declare that a genocide is underway against Christians in the Middle East. I don’t think I’d call it a genocide, but it is absolutely the religious version of an ethnic cleansing. In 1910, Christians made up 14 percent of the population of the Middle East. Today they are about 4 percent, the result of emigration, lower birthrates — and religious repression that threatens the viability of Christianity in much of the region where it was born. The United States bears some responsibility, for in Iraq our invasion in 2003 led to a drastic worsening of this ethnic cleansing. The number of Christians in Iraq has fallen by half since 2003, and a religious minority called the Mandeans says that almost 90 percent of its members have been killed or have fled Iraq, according to an indispensable report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. The most repressed group in the Middle East may be the Yazidis, an ancient group with their own monotheistic religion. In August 2014, the Islamic State invaded Yazidi areas, immediately killing some 5,000 people, mostly men. About 3,000 women and girls were kidnapped and, in many cases, turned into sex slaves. One was just 9 years old and handed over

In this file photo, clergy conduct morning Christmas mass at the Saint Afram Syrian Orthodox Church in Amman, Jordan, Dec. 25, 2013. Syrian and Iraqi Orthodox Christian families prayed for peace in their countries. Faith can be hazardous in the Middle East.

to an ISIS fighter to be raped; no one knows what happened to her. Laila Khoudeida, a Yazidi woman who came to the United States in 1999 and is now a social worker in Nebraska, spends her evenings offering long-distance counseling to Yazidi women and girls who have escaped their captors. She told me of Hedya, who was 16 when ISIS fighters seized her family. ISIS fighters first shot Hedya’s father in front of her, and then turned Hedya and her mother into sex slaves, Khoudeida says. Hedya’s mother managed to escape, but Hedya was caught and badly beaten. Eventually, after more than a year of sexual slavery, Hedya escaped a few weeks ago. But because of the beatings and rapes, Hedya suffers head injuries and internal pelvic pain. The psychological trauma is also devastating: She spends much of her time sobbing. It’s not just ISIS that is the problem. Iran goes out of its way to persecute its Bahai minority. Many nations persecute Ahmadis as heretics. In many countries, including Egypt, with its large Coptic Christian population, Christians and other minorities feel newly insecure. And the most common targets of persecution in Muslim countries are Muslims themselves, in part because of the de facto civil war between Shiite and Sunni factions. Some of the greatest venom in the Middle East is from Sunni groups disparaging Shiites. While the villains are often Muslims,

so too are the heroes. When Iran charged a Christian pastor with apostasy, it was a brave Muslim lawyer, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, who defended him and won his acquittal — but Iran then sentenced Dadkhah to prison on vague political charges for nine years. He is a model of leadership in speaking out against the religious persecution of people of another faith. Republicans are right to demand that Obama speak up more forcefully against religious persecution, and it’s sad that the United States is quiet when our allies like Saudi Arabia model religious intolerance. But Republicans go off the rails when they insist (as Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush have) that Christians be favored in the refugee process. Refugee status should go to the most vulnerable, whatever their faith — and in many cases in Syria that is not Christians, who have often been protected by the Assad regime or have moved to Christian enclaves in Lebanon. The Islamic State has been savage to Christians, but fortunately, relatively few Syrian Christians live in areas seized by the Islamic State. Christian groups like World Relief have been dismissive of Republican claims that the Obama administration discriminates against Christians in the refugee process. Over all, 44 percent of refugees who resettled in the United States since 2003 have been Christians; a full 30 percent of Iraqi refugees accepted by the United States have been Christians, Christianity Today

noted. And the Republican-led effort to block Syrian refugees means that we would keep out desperate Syrian Christians. “Most Syrian church leaders insist that Christians should not be given special treatment,” notes Miles Windsor of Middle East Concern, an organization supporting persecuted Christians. “Assigning refugee status or offering asylum must be on the basis of vulnerability and need. To do otherwise not only violates international refugee and humanitarian law, but also the teachings of Christ.” We don’t need to give Christians preference. But we should recognize that Middle Eastern Christians, along with Yazidis, Mandeans and others, are facing an ethnic cleansing, and that confronting this should be a global human rights priority. As we celebrate the holidays, let’s speak up for those for whom faith is a matter not of casual worship but of fear, rape and murder. If we need inspiration, we can find it among the Yazidis, who have a traditional culture that emphasizes chastity before marriage. Indeed, some rescued sex slaves fear lifelong stigma that will make it impossible for them to ever have families. But dozens of Yazidi men have recently stepped forward and announced that they honor these raped women and girls and wish to marry them. The raped girls now have their pick of husbands. Bravo. It’s a reminder that alongside the worst of humanity, we can also find the best.

Asst. Professor, Dept. of Business Administration

usiness Organisation exists and thrives within the society. The workers and consumers which constitute the society enable the business to earn profits and sustain it. In the process of its existence and operation, a business organisation, irrespective of its size or nature of business, adversely affects the environment directly or indirectly. Thus, it is essential for the business organisation to contribute toward the interest of the society. They are also required to preserve and enhance the quality of environment in which they operate. Corporate Social Responsibility is one such approach or practice adopted by Companies toward this end. According to the World Bank Council for sustainable Development defined Corporate Social Responsibility “as the continuing commitment by business to contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the community and the society at large”. Corporate Social Responsibility is a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns into their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders (employees, customers, shareholders, investors, local communities, government), on a voluntary basis. Today, many Multinational Corporations like IBM, Dell, Verizon, Deloitte, Cisco, PG&E LinkedIn, Toms etc are engaged in Corporate Social Responsibility activities through contributions and donations towards charities; employees’ volunteer in environmental efforts; initiating community development programs in education, health care, literacy; providing relief assistance to communities affected by natural disaster etc. Even in India, Corporate like Reliance Industries, ONGC, SAIL, BHEL, Indian Airlines Coca- Cola Company, Mahindra & Mahindra, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, Bajaj Electricals Ltd and many others are involved in serving the community in various ways. The Reliance Industries’s CSR projects focus on health, education and environment. Its CSR activities includes “Project- Drishti” initiated to bring back the eyesight of visually challenged Indians from the economically weaker sections of the society; Running medical facility center and providing free health checkups; building school at the site for the children of the Project Affected Families and the children of the villages around the sites; provide free school bus facility for the students, stipend to every child who attends school, free uniforms; organise study tours for children; provide teaching aids to the teachers, training of teachers, as well as night schools for uneducated adults etc. ONGC’ s CSR projects emphasise on higher education, grant of scholarship and aid to deserving young pupils of less privileged sections of society, facilities for constructing schools etc. SAIL’s focal areas of CSR activities are environmental conservation, health and medical care, education, women upliftment and providing drinking water. BHEL & Indian Airlines focus on disaster management and adopts 56 villages having nearly 80,000 inhabitants. Coca-Cola initiated 5by20 to empowerment of 5 million women entrepreneurs across the Coca-Cola value chain by 2020. Mahindra & Mahindra launched a unique kind of ESOPs- Employee Social Option in order to enable Mahindra employees to involve themselves in socially responsible activities. GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals’ CSR programs primarily focus on health and healthy living. Provide medical check-up and treatment, health camps and health awareness programs at tribal areas. Donate money, medicines and equipment to non-profit organizations that work towards improving health and education in under-served communities. Bajaj Electricals Ltd. corporate social responsibility activities include Education, Rural Development & Environment. Corporate Social Responsibility programs can be very beneficial to the company, the community and the environment in which the business operates. The benefits accrued to the company can be felt through improved financial performance; Lower operating costs; Enhanced brand image and reputation; Increased sales and customer loyalty; Greater productivity and quality; More ability to attract and retain employees; Reduced regulatory oversight; Access to finance, capital and resources ; Workforce diversity; Product safety and decreased liability. The community and the general public enjoy benefits in the form of increased in charitable contributions; employees’ volunteer programmes; corporate involvement in community education and employment programmes. Environmental benefits derived from CSR are greater material recyclability, better product durability and functionality and greater use of renewable resources. No matter the size of an organisation or the level of its involvement with Corporate Social Responsibility every contribution is important and provides a number of benefits to both the community and business. Contributing to and supporting Corporate Social Responsibility does not have to be costly or time consuming. Thus, the business organisation in Nagaland can also initiate programs and activities that would make a difference in the society and improve the overall quality of life.

Readers may please note that, the contents of the articles published on this page do not reflect the outlook of this paper nor of the Editor in any form.

TUESDAY 29•12•2015

INDIA

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Kejriwal refuses to apologise as BJP slams CM's political drama

'Terrorism, maoist activities contained to large extent'

New Delhi, December 28 (PTi): Centre has achieved success in containing extremism, terrorism and maoist activities in the country to a large extent, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday. Singh was laying the foundation stone of Lucknow branch office of New Delhi, DecemNational Investigation Agency (NIA) here. ber 28 (iANS): Delhi Hailing the achievements of the NIA, Mr. Singh said, Chief Minister Arvind Ke“We have managed to control extremism, terrorism and jriwal on Monday said he Maoist activities to a large extent and if it is continued at will not apologise to union the same pace, we will get more success in future.” “NIA Finance Minister Arun New Delhi, December 28 (iANS): The Aam Aadmi Party on investigates complicated criminal cases...extremists, terJaitley over the DDCA row Monday said the central government "has no authority" to stop the com- rorists and Maoists have involvement at the global level though the BJP was "begmission of inquiry from probing the alleged irregularities in the Delhi and so the role of this investigating agency becomes more and District Cricket Association (DDCA). "The central government is challenging,” Mr.Singh said. ging" for it. However, the working under the influence of someone and is making a joke of itself. BJP retorted that "staging Terming terrorism, extremism and Maoist activities It has no authority to hold the commission of inquiry from forming and as the biggest challenges faced by the country, Mr. Singh drama" on petty issues was functioning," AAP leader Ashutosh said at a press conference. Kejriwal's political agenda. stressed on equipping investigating agencies with modHe said it was known to everyone that Delhi High Court had on Sep- ern techniques to deal with these security issues. “Inves"BJP almost begging tember 22 refused to stay the previous commission of inquiry from prob- tigations and inquiries cannot be performed using old me for an apology. Sorry. I ing the CNG fitness scam that was established by the Delhi government. methods. Criminals today are equipped with modern won't oblige them. Let JaitLt. Governor Najeeb Jung on September 17 had directed all officers techniques and so the investigating agencies also have to ley-ji be cross-examined in not to follow AAP government's orders which were declared "null and adopt new techniques,” Mr. Singh said. defamation cases. Let truth void" by the union government, otherwise they would face strict action prevail," Kejriwal tweeted. “The manner in which the NIA has been working, not for non-compliance of the order. The Delhi government had sought a only the people of the country but also of the entire world Kejriwal's comment stay on Jung's September 17 notification and the central government have started believing that it is the best agency working in came a day after the sought direction to stay the Delhi government's August 11 notification a professional, unbiased and trustworthy manner,” he said. Bharatiya Janata Party setting up a commission of inquiry without the lt. governor's nod. (BJP) sought an apology Referring to the emergence of ISIS as a new and serious from the chief minister danger before the world, he said the number of its activists stating that Jaitley was not done now," Kejriwal said in DDCA scam. The AAP claimed that mission of inquiry which the alleged DDCA scam in the country is almost nil and its biggest reason is that Innamed in the report of the a succession of tweets. AAP spokesperson the union ministry of sports would be chaired by me. I and just wanted to expose dian Muslim families stop their children to adopt this path. Delhi government-apReacting to Kejriwal's Ashutosh, addressing a and youth affairs had asked assure you that I am keep- the corrupt. Azad, howevpointed committee which comments, union Envi- press conference, said: the Delhi government to ing a completely open er, refused to name Jaitley probed the alleged Delhi ronment Minister Prakash "The central government is probe the alleged irregu- mind and starting my work directly. and District Cricket Asso- Javadekar of the BJP said: working under somebody's larities in the DDCA and by with clean slate." "Why are you taking the ciation (DDCA) scam. "Staging a drama everyday influence and is making a "scuttling" the probe, it will Deputy Chief Minister name of Arun Jaitley again "No clean chit ever on petty issues seems to be joke out of itself. only "contradict its order". Manish Sisodia said the and again? He is my leader given by any Delhi govern- Kejriwal's political agenda. "It has no authority to Earlier on Monday, for- commission of inquiry and it's his birthday today. KolKATA, December 28 (iANS): Conceding that ment probe. That report "He should first talk prevent the commission of mer solicitor general Go- was yet to start the probe, I am only talking about it needed enormous organisational strength to counter confirmed several instanc- about the auto permit scam inquiry from forming and pal Subramaniam agreed but the BJP was trying to corruption in the DDCA," the challenges posed by communal forces, the CPI-M on es of wrong-doings but did which he did not reveal," he functioning." to chair the commission of create a misconception in Azad, also a former India Monday said it will take up the issues of economic exploitation and social oppression in a big way to reach out to not fix responsibility," Ke- added. Ashutosh said it was inquiry to probe the alleged the minds of people that cricketer, told reporters. jriwal tweeted. The Aam Aadmi Party known to everyone that the financial irregularities in Jaitley has been given a "I would like to tell the the masses. Addressing mediapersons on the second day of the "It didn't mention (AAP) backed its chief, say- Delhi High Court had on the DDCA. clean chit. CBI that I have already anyone's name and rec- ing the central government September 22 refused to In a letter to Kejriwal, On Monday, suspend- done all the investigation. party organisational plenum here, Communist Party of ommended (an) enquiry "has no authority" to stop stay the previous commis- Subramaniam said: "I ac- ed BJP MP Kirti Azad said There are efforts to stop the India-Marxist general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the commission to fix respon- the commission of inquiry sion of inquiry from prob- cept the decision of the he had conducted a thor- move to weed out corrup- party will adopt novel ways to counter the penetration made by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and sibility, which we have from probing the alleged ing the CNG fitness scam. cabinet to appoint a com- ough investigation into tion in sports." other communal forces among the people. "The RSS and other communal forces have invaded the various spheres of the youth and are constantly penetrating among the people by propagating and intensifying communal polarisation. "We need to counter this KolKATA, December 28 ders coming from the top, he has New Delhi, December the Kerala Bar Hotel Associa- manner to curb the sale of li- penetration by reaching out to the masses particularly the marginalised sections through novel methods," he said. (iANS): West Bengal's ruling Tri- been suspended from the party. Such 28 (iANS): The Supreme tion and others had contend- quor in his state. "They are seeking to replace Indian history with Hinnamool Congress on Monday sus- acts demand strongest of actions and ed that the new policy under Defending the ban on the du mythology and replace Indian philosophy with Hindu pended party leader Pabitra Roy ar- we have zero tolerance for such acts," Court is likely to pronounce rested for allegedly shooting dead a said O'Brien. The opposition hit out on Tuesday its verdict on a challenge that permitted service of liquor at the bar be- theology. "Unless party organisation becomes stronger, it youth while fleeing an accident site at the Mamata Banerjee government batch of petitions challeng- only the five star hotels to sell low the five star hotels, Kerala is not possible to meet the challenges posed by the coming the Kerala policy restrict- and serve liquor bars in their government had contended munal forces. To counter this, our organisational strength over the issue. in Malda district. "The incident is only one of the ing the sale and consumption hotels was discriminatory to that the liquor was available has to grow enormously. That is the exercise we are unEnglishbazar Panchayat Samity on the retail outlets and peo- dertaking in this plenum," said Yechury. chief Roy was arrested Sunday night many that have been happening of liquor at the bars in five star other hotels. The liquor policy restrict- ple can buy and drink at their after he opened fire on a mob which across the state under the Trinamool. hotels only and ejecting other Talking about the novel methods, Yechury said the tried to chase his vehicle after it fatal- There is no law and order in the state, hotels serving liquor at bars ing the sale and consumption homes. The state government party will be targeting the unorganised sector which conly knocked down a cyclist. The firing the administration under this gov- from the business. of liquor at the bar benefitted had told the court that drink- stitutes the bulk of the work force, students youth as well killed a youth and seriously injured ernment is non -existent," said state The judgment listed to be 24 five-star hotels in the state ing at home in the family with marginalised sections of the society by taking up the isCongress president Adhir Ranjan pronounced by the bench of and it was upheld by the Kerala wife and children present was sues of social oppression and economic exploitation in another. Indicted by police for the youth's Chowdhury. a big way. The party will be projecting its alternate ecodiscouraging. Justice Vikramajit Sen and High Court on March 31. Communist Party of India-Marx- Justice Shiva Kirti Singh was murder as well as the cyclist's killing, The apex court verdict The apex court on Sep- nomic policies as opposed to the neo-liberal policies purRoy, during the day was remanded to ist MP Mohammad Salim castigated reserved on August 27 after on the Kerala liquor policy tember 11, 2014, had asked sued by the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party three day's police custody by a local the Trinamool for harbouring crimilong arguments spread over which seeks to take away Kerala High Court to decide central government. nals and encouraging crime. court. "The hallmark of the Trinamool is many days wherein the Ker- from the reach of common the challenge to the notificaAsserting that the Trinamool has a zero tolerance for such acts, party patronage of criminals. They encour- ala government, defending man to buy and consume li- tion directing the bar owners Rajya Sabha member and spokesper- age the criminals run amuck and if its policy, had said that those quor at the bars within their below the five star hotels to son Derek O'Brien said Roy has been by chance they are caught, the Trin- ousted from the business had means may have bearing on shut their business. The high amool is quick to disown them. Law no fundamental right to con- the attempts by the Bihar court by its March 31 order suspended from the party. "He (Roy) is not a Trinamool lead- and order under the Trinamool has tinue selling liquor at the bar. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had upheld the policy, term- SriNAgAr, December 28 (iANS): Separatist womThe batch of petitions by to gradually and in phased ing drinking at bar a luxury. er. He has been arrested and with or- collapsed in the state," he said. en's group Dukhtaran-e-Milat here on Monday said the cultural programmes and concerts being organised on New Year's eve and other occasions are 'cultural onslaught' on Kashmiris' religious sensibilities. "Programmes being organised by some unknown group called 'Kashmiriyat' on December 31 at Gulmarg New Delhi, December 28 consumers, out of nearly 15 sis while booking cylinders from half as oil prices have slumped to en a call to the well-to-do house- is a cultural onslaught. This programme is being sponsix year low. During April-Sep- holds for voluntarily giving up sored by a few Urdu and English dailies and TV chan(PTi): Tax payers with annual crore customers, have given up January 2016 onwards.” nels," said Asiya Andrabi, chief of separatist women's To cut subsidy bill and reduce tember, the subsidy outgo was Rs LPG subsidy. income of more than Rs 10 lakh subsidies. “While many consumers have fiscal deficit, the previous UPA 8,814 crore. “So far, 57.50 lakh LPG con- group 'Dukhtaran-e-Milat', in a statement here. will not get subsidised cooking "In this proposed programme, in the name of art, There are no estimates of sumers have opted out of LPG gas (LPG) from next month as given up subsidy voluntarily, it is government had restricted the the government on Monday de- felt that consumers in the higher number of subsidized domestic how many LPG customers subsidy voluntarily heeding the music and comedy, shameless actors of Bollywood have cided to limit the supply of under- income bracket should get LPG cylinders per household to six would have a taxable income of call given by the Prime Minister,” been invited. These events are being branded as Kashmiriyat in a clear attempt to counter the Islamic ideology cylinders at the market price,” the every year in September 2012, Rs 10 lakh or more. it said. priced fuel to cut subsidies. revising it to nine the following Presently, there are 16.35 The subsidy saved from the of Kashmiris. At present, all households statement said. "Real culture of Kashmir is related to Islam and it The government, it said, “has January. crore LPG consumers in the ‘GiveitUp’ campaign is being utiare entitled to get 12 cylinders of The cap was revised in Janu- country. This number fell to lized for providing new connec- has no place to celebrate events like New Year... these 14.2-kg each at subsidised rate of decided that the benefit of the Rs 419.26, while the market price LPG subsidy will not be available ary 2014 to 12 cylinders a year, 14.78 crore after the start of Direct tions to the BPL families under events ... don't have any connection with Islam. "These programmes are being organized under an agenda defor LPG consumers if the con- starting April 1. Benefit Transfer on LPG (DBTL) the ‘Giveback’ campaign. is Rs 608. The subsidy for 12 cylinders in scheme which eliminated dupliThis enables provision of LPG, vised by Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh to thrust upon The government had asked sumer or his/her spouse had taxa clean fuel, to poor households Kashmir the shameless and lewd culture of India," the well-off people to voluntarily able income of more than Rs 10 a year is paid directly in the bank cate and inactive customers. “The objective of the scheme by replacing the conventional statement said. Appealing to people to stay away from give up using subsidised LPG lakh during the previous finan- account of consumers which they was to ensure that the subsidy fuels such as kerosene, coal, fuel these programmes at any cost, she said that on one and instead buy cooking fuel at cial year computed as per the In- use to buy LPG at market rate. The subsidy payout on LPG benefits go to the targeted group,” wood, cow dung, etc, relieving hand "our youth are laying down their lives for Islam market price, Oil Ministry said in come Tax Act, 1961.” This would, however, be done in 2014-15 was Rs 40,551 crore, the statement said. the poor of the hardships and and on the other hand, these shameless programmes a statement. are being held". The government had also giv- health hazards from such fuels. So far, over 57.5 lakh LPG initially on “self-declaration ba- which this fiscal will be less than

Centre can't stop probe panel from functioning: AAP

‘Need enormous organisational strength to counter communalism’

TMC suspends leader arrested for shooting SC verdict on Kerala's liquor policy today

'New Year events against Kashmiris' religious sensibilities'

No subsidised LPG for consumers with annual income more than Rs 10 lakh

Indians three times more prone to cardiac arrest than Americans New Delhi, December 28 (iANS): Indians are three times more prone to cardiac arrest than Americans owing primarily to poor lifestyle, eating habits and genetic reasons, medical experts have said. While on an average the Americans suffer from cardiac arrest in their 50s, Indians get it in their 40s and the prime reason behind it is lifestyle and food consumption, they said here on Sunday. Genetically also the disease is likely to be passed down Indian families three times more than American families. "The cardiac problem has emerged the number

one killer in India which has left the rest of the world behind," said Pawan Sharma, an eminent cardiologist, at a conference on cardiac death hosted by the Heart Care Centre here. He said better health care and advances in medical sciences in the developed countries had helped curb the death rate ascribable to heart conditions. Several speakers at the conference said the heart problems in India were best tackled through widespread awareness campaigns focussed on prevention and lifestyle changes rather than relying on India's inadequate medical

resources. Sanjay Tyagi, Director of the city-based Govind Ballabh Pant hospital, said: "It's a myth that anyone developing chest pain and suspecting an impending cardiac attack should be immediately administered sorbitrate before medical care could be reached for management and treatment of the condition". There was a consensus that suspected case should first be put on disprin as every instance of chest pain was not necessarily heart attack and starting treatment on just having the pain was not advisable, he said.

Free Basics protects net neutrality: Mark Zuckerberg beNgAluru, December 28 (AgeNcieS): Standing firm on his crusade for Free Basics, Facebook's founder and chief executive officer, Mark Zuckerberg, today reiterated that his pet project supports net neutrality and is not a walled garden of select applications. In an opinion piece in The Times of India, Zuckerberg said, "...when people have access to free basic internet services, these quickly overcome the digital divide." In the article titled 'Free Basics protects net neutrality', Zuckerberg drew analogies between Facebook's Free Basics and other popular basic services such as select books in libraries, health care facilities and

education that are free for people. "We know that when people have access to the internet, they also get access to jobs, education, healthcare, communication. We know that for every 10 people connected to the internet, roughly one is lifted out of poverty. We know that for India to make progress, more than 1 billion people need to be connected to the internet. That's not theory. That's fact." he wrote. "Free Basics is a bridge to the full internet and digital equality" wrote Zuckerberg of his pet project to spread the net of the internet, by providing some services to people from under-privileged sections of society without any charge

— while, eventually, getting them to pay for internet access and better services. Free Basics has been criticised by Microsoft, Truecaller and a number of Indian start-up entrepreneurs who claim that it violates the principles of net neutrality — following which internet service providers enable access to all content regardless of the source Zuckerberg's article comes in the backdrop of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) asking Reliance Communications, Facebook's Indian telecom partner, to stop offering Free Basics in India after objections emerged from various sections of the society, including companies like Microsoft, True-

caller and Paytm, against its preferential approach and anti-net neutrality principles. On Sunday, TRAI Chairman R S Sharma said it would resolve the issue by bringing guidelines after getting inputs from several stakeholders. Following this, in a Reddit Ask me Anything (AMA) on Saturday, Facebook had invited the likes of Google Plus and Twitter to join its Free Basics platform. According to Facebook, more than 35 operators have launched Free Basics across 30 nations that have helped bring 15 million people come online. It also claims that about 50% of the people who access Free Basics go on to use general internet within 30 days. In his post, Zuckerberg

condemns the critics of Free Basics who "continue to spread false claims — even if that means leaving behind a billion people." "Instead of welcoming Free Basics as an open platform that will partner with any telco, and allows any developer to offer services to people for free, they claim — falsely — that this will give people less choice. Instead of recognizing that Free Basics fully respects net neutrality, they claim falsely - the exact opposite," he says. The Facebook founder also quoted the example of a farmer from Maharashtra named Ganesh who accessed Free Basics and took farming decisions with the help of various free services available on it.

TuesdaY 29•12•2015

WORLD

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Islamic State sets up Department of “War Spoils”

WASHINGTON, December 28 (re uTerS): Islamic State has set up departments to handle “war spoils,” including slaves, and the exploitation of natural resources such as oil, creating the trappings of government that enable it to manage large swaths of Syria and Iraq and other areas. The hierarchical bureaucracy, including petty rivalries between officials, and legal codes in the form of religious fatwas are detailed in a cache of documents seized by U.S. Special Operations Forces in a May raid in Syria that killed top IS financial official Abu Sayyaf. Reuters has reviewed some of the documents. U.S. officials say the documents have helped deepen their understanding of a militant group whose skill in controlling the territory it has seized has surprised many. They provide insight into how a once small insurgent group has developed a complex bureaucracy to manage revenue streams - from pillaged oil to stolen antiquities - and oversee subjugated populations. “This really kind of brings it out. The level of bureaucratization, organization, the diwans, the committees,” Brett McGurk, President Barack Obama’s special envoy for the anti-IS coalition, told

Iraqi army declares major victory over IS in Ramadi

Militant Islamist fighters hold the flag of Islamic State (IS) while taking part in a military parade along the streets of northern Raqqa province in this June 30, 2014 photo. (ReuteRs File Photo)

Reuters. For example, one diwan, roughly equivalent to a government ministry, handles natural resources, including the exploitation of antiquities from ancient empires. Another processes “war spoils,” including slaves. “Islamic State is invested in the statehood and Caliphate image more so than any other jihadist enterprise. So a formal organization, besides being practical when you control so much contiguous territory and major cities, also

reinforces the statehood image,” said Aymenn al-Tamimi, a fellow at the Middle East Forum think tank and an expert on IS’s structure. The documents also show how “meticulous and data-oriented” IS is in managing the oil and gas sector, although it is not a sophisticated operation, said Amos Hochstein, the State Department’s top official for energy affairs. U.S. officials said the documents have helped the anti-IS coalition to pinpoint vulnerabilities. The United States and its allies

have been using air strikes to degrade the group’s oil infrastructure and target key officials. The documents show the Islamic State is not immune to the rivalries and personality clashes that typify bureaucracies everywhere. A Nov. 21, 2014 letter from the Diwan of Natural Resources emphasizes that Abu Sayyaf is in charge of handling antiquities. “The reason being is that he is very knowledgeable in this field and that Abu Jihad al-Tunisi is a simpleton who can’t man-

age the division,” it says. KINDNESS AND CRUELTY Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the documents it obtained, which represent a fraction of the material seized in the Syria raid. U.S. forces captured a huge amount of data in the form of computer hard drives, thumb drives, CDs, DVDs and papers. Many of the seized documents are fatwas, or religious rulings, covering issues from rape of female prisoners and the treat-

bAGHDAD, December 28 (reuTerS): Iraq’s army declared victory over Islamic State fighters in a provincial capital west of Baghdad on Sunday, the first major triumph for the U.S.-trained force since it collapsed in the face of an assault by the militants 18 months ago. The capture of Ramadi, capital of mainly Sunni-Muslim Anbar province in the Euphrates River valley west of the capital, deprives Islamic State militants of their biggest prize of 2015. The fighters seized it in May after government troops fled in a defeat which prompted Washington to take a hard look at strategy in its ongoing air war against the militants. After encircling the city for weeks, the Iraqi military launched a campaign to retake it last week, and made a final push to seize the central administration complex on Sunday. “By controlling the complex this means that we have defeated them in Ramadi,” said Sabah al-Numani, a spokesman for the force leading the fight on the government side. “The next step is ment of slaves with minor children to when it is permissible for a son to steal from his father to fund travel to fight jihad, or holy war. Reuters reported last week on a previously undisclosed ruling by the Islamic State’s Research and Fatwa Committee that sanctions the harvesting of human organs. The fatwa raises concerns that the violent extremist group may be trafficking in body parts. A booklet entitled “From Creator’s Rulings on Capturing Prisoners and Enslavement,” lays out rules

to clear pockets that could exist here or there in the city.” State television broadcast footage of troops, Humvee vehicles and tanks advancing through Ramadi streets amid piles of rubble and collapsed houses. Some districts appeared to have been completely destroyed by the advance. Television also showed nighttime celebrations in mainly Shi’ite cities south of Baghdad for the victory in Anbar, with people dancing in the streets and waving Iraqi flags from cars. Officials did not give any immediate death tolls for the battle. The government says most civilians were able to evacuate before it launched its assault. Anbar provincial council member Falih al-Essawi called on the government to restore services to Ramadi quickly and start rebuilding the city to allow the return of the displaced. “It will not be easy to convince families to return to a city that lacks basic human needs,” he told Reuters.

on enslaving women seized from vanquished “infidels.” The October 2014 document, reviewed by Reuters, attempts to ground the rules in Islamic law. Citing sayings of the Prophet Mohammad, the booklet calls for both kindness and cruelty to captives by Islamic State fighters. Enslave d w omen should not be separated from their children, it says, but elsewhere the rules allow Islamic State fighters to have sex with female slaves. Middle East Forum’s Tamimi said the fatwas are

intended to bolster Islamic State’s claim that it is a legitimate state. The rules not only apply to captured territory in Iraq and Syria but also its self-declared provinces in Africa, the Sinai and South Asia. They cover even mundane issues. In the documents, there is a ruling on proper procedure for filling out the personal details of prospective fighters: name, gender, and communications method telephone, telegram, Skype or the mobile messaging service WhatsApp.

What makes foodies happy & dieters sad Storms and tornadoes kill at least 43 in US TOrONTO, December 28 (IANS): Contrary to popular perceptions, foodies - those who take time to appreciate the texture, flavour and beauty of food - do not eat larger portions than what the dieters generally eat, says new research. What makes foodies what the researchers call Epicurean eaters -- happier is that they derive enduring pleasure from aesthetic appreciation of the sensory

and symbolic value of the food, the study said. “Dieters make a tradeoff between pleasure and health,” one of the researchers Yann Cornil, professor at University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada was quoted as saying. “They think that they need to sacrifice the pleasure they expect to get from eating large portions in order to be in better health and have a lower weight,”

Cornil noted. By contrast, foodies eat less because they know that large quantities of food is not essential for deriving pleasure from food. The researchers developed and tested a scale measuring Epicurean eating pleasure tendencies and showed that they are distinct from the tendency to experience visceral pleasure measured using the external eating and emotional eating scales.

Thailand’s PM defends British murders verdict bANGKOK, December 28 (reuTerS): Thailand’s prime minister lashed out on Monday at protesters who took to the streets of Myanmar’s Yangon on the weekend after a Thai court sentenced two Myanmar migrant workers to death for murdering two British tourists. Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chanocha said critics should respect the verdict and that Thailand’s justice system would not bow to public pressure. “They have the right to appeal, right? Laws all over the world have this. Or should Thai law not have this? Is it the case that we should release all people when pressured?,” a visibly angry Prayuth told reporters before boarding a plane to the southern province of Surat Thani. Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, both 22, were found guilty by a Thai court on Thursday of killing Hannah Witheridge, 23, and

David Miller, 24, whose battered bodies were found on a beach on the southern Thai holiday island of Koh Tao in 2014. The verdicts sparked anger in Myanmar where hundreds have held daily protests outside the Thai Embassy in Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city, calling for the two to be released. Protesters said the two men were used as scapegoats by authorities in an effort to close the high-profile case. On Saturday, Myanmar’s army chief called for Thailand to review the sentencing of the two men. The murders on Koh Tao, a laid-back divers’ paradise, sullied Thailand’s image as a tourist haven. A police investigation into the killings was riddled with allegations of police incompetence, torture and mishandling of evidence, but a judge dismissed allegations of torture, saying there was no evidence it took place.

No fines for second child in China from 2016 beIjING, December 28 (IANS): Chinese parents who bear a second child after January 1, 2016, will no longer be fined, a media report said on Monday. “The state advocates that one couple shall have two children,” said a revised Population and Family Planning Law passed by the Chinese legislators at a bimonthly session of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee on Sunday. The newly revised law will take effect on January 1, 2016, the Global Times reported. The amendment comes after the Communist Party of China’s Central Committee in October announced the scrapping of the decades-long “one couple, one child” policy to stabilise population growth and offset the burden of an aging population. Since the late 1970s, couples in cities have been allowed only one child, and those in rural areas a second child if the first is a girl. People who have more children than allowed would have to pay a considerable amount to cover for “social costs.” “The change reflects a mindset shift from ‘controlling’ to ‘encouraging’ childbearing,” Wang Ming, a public administration professor at Tsinghua University and a member of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, said. Wang noted that the policy change also reflects China’s respect for childbearing as a basic human right, explaining that parents are encouraged to pursue their own benefit rather than making contributions to the country. According to the new law, parents will also be given extended maternity leaves and other benefits when their first and second child is born. However, those subsidies will not be given to parents who voluntarily choose to have only one child after 2016.

DALLAS, December 28 (reuTerS): Storms hit the U.S. South, Southwest and Midwest over the Christmas holiday weekend, unleashing floods and tornadoes that killed at least 43 people, flattened buildings and snarled transportation for millions during a busy travel time. The bad weather, or the threat of it, prompted the governors of Missouri and New Mexico to declare a state of emergency for their states. Flash floods killed at least 13 people in Missouri and Illinois. In Missouri, emergency workers have evacuated residents from their homes and conducted dozens of water rescues, Governor Jay Nixon said on Sunday. He said at least eight people had been killed and numerous roadways had been closed. Nixon declared a state of emergency, saying continued rains would make already widespread flooding conditions worse. Three adults and two children were near the village of Patoka, Illinois, 85 miles (137 km) east of St. Louis, Missouri, when their car was washed away by floodwaters

on Saturday night, according to Marion County Coroner Troy Cannon. In Texas, at least 11 people were killed in the Dallas area over the weekend by tornadoes, including one packing winds of up to 200 miles per hour (322 km per hour). The twister hit the city of Garland, killing eight people and blowing vehicles off highways. “It is total devastation,” Garland Police spokesman Lieutenant Pedro Barineau said. “It is a very difficult time to be struck by such a horrible storm the day after Christmas.” Three other deaths were reported in the Dallas metropolitan area, the United States’ fourth most populous with about 7 million residents. Scores of people were injured in the region and officials estimated some 800 homes may have been damaged. Powerful tornadoes are a staple of spring and summer in central states but occur less frequently in winter, according to U.S. weather data Three tornadoes were reported in Arkansas on Sunday, the weather service said, but there were no initial reports of significant

Damage caused by a tornado is seen in a neighborhood in Birmingham, Alabama, on December 26. (ReuteRs Photo)

injuries or damage. The service has issued tornado watches and warnings for areas in that state, as well as in parts of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Mississippi. A tornado watch means a storm is likely, while a warning means a storm or storms have been sighted. The storms came on the heels of tornadoes that hit two days before Christmas, killing at least 18 people, including 10 in Mississippi.

In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott said his office had declared Dallas County and three nearby counties disaster areas. He also warned people to be wary of snow in western parts of the state and rivers spilling their banks in other places. The National Weather Service issued severe weather advisories for large parts of the central United States, including a blizzard warning for parts of New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma

and a flash flood watch stretching from Texas to Indiana. New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez declared a state of emergency for the entire state due to a winter storm that had dumped up to two feet of snow by Sunday night. The New Mexico city of Roswell bested its one-day snowfall record, receiving 12.3 inches by Sunday evening, the Weather Service said.

South Korea and Japan reach landmark agreement to irreversibly end ‘comfort women’ row SeOuL, December 28 (reuTerS): South Korea and Japan reached a landmark agreement on Monday to resolve the issue of “comfort women”, as those who were forced to work in Japan’s wartime brothels were euphemistically known, which has long plagued ties between the neighbours. The foreign ministers of the two countries said after a meeting in Seoul that the “comfort women” issue would be “finally and irreversibly resolved” if all conditions were met. South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to take the opportunity to boost bilateral ties soon after the agreement by the foreign ministers. The accord will be welcomed by the United States, which has been keen for improved relations between its two major Asian allies in the face of an increasingly assertive China and an unpredictable North Korea. Strains between Tokyo and Seoul have prevented the two

countries from signing an agreement to share sensitive military information, so a year ago they signed a three-way pact under which Seoul routes its information to the United States which then passes it on to Japan, and vice versa. Park “hoped that since the two governments worked through a difficult process to reach this agreement, they can cooperate closely to start building trust and open a new relationship,” her office quoted her as saying to Abe. Abe told reporters in Tokyo that Japan has apologised and expressed its remorse, but added future Japanese generations should not have to keep on doing so. “We should never allow this problem to drag on into the next generation,” he said, echoing remarks he made marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two on August 15. “ From now on, Japan and South Korea will enter a new era.” Japan was “painfully aware of its responsibilities” for the affront

to the women’s honour and dignity, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told a news conference in Seoul with his South Korean counterpart. “Prime Minister Abe expresses anew his most sincere apologies and remorse to all the women who underwent immeasurable and painful experiences.” Calling the agreement “epoch-making”, Kishida told reporters later: “I believe this has set up a stage for advancement of security cooperation between Japan and South Korea, as well as among Japan, the United States and South Korea”. Japan will draw on its government budget to contribute about one billion yen ($8.3 million) to a fund that will help the former “comfort women”, and work with South Korea to run a programme to restore their honour and dignity, Kishida said. Scholars continue to debate the number of women exploited. Activists in South Korea say there may have been as many as 200,000 Korean victims, only a

few of whom came forward. Only 46 survivors remain of the 238 women in South Korea who came forward, and their average age is 89. “FINALLY AND IRREVERSIBLY” South Korea’s Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said he valued Japan’s efforts. “On the premise that the steps pledged by the Japanese government are earnestly carried out, the Korean government confirms that the matter (of comfort women) is finally and irreversibly resolved,” Yun told the news conference. The two countries have been trying for decades to overcome divisions over the “comfort women” issue, but past efforts have not succeeded. Japan had been insisting South Korea state its intention to lay the issue to rest this time, since many officials resent what they see as South Korea’s use of the “comfort women” issue for domestic political gain despite

past steps taken by Tokyo. South Korea, for its part, wanted a clearer statement by Japan of its responsibility for the women’s suffering. Former Japanese diplomat Kunihiko Miyake said the timing was right for the deal, since Abe wanted to resolve the dispute this year, the 70th anniversary of World War Two’s end, and Park doubtless felt it was better to do so well ahead of a parliamentary election set for next year. A powerful symbol of success would be the fate of a statue symbolising “comfort women” that has been put up in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul and has been an irritant to Tokyo. Although South Korea did not agree to remove the statue, Yun said Seoul recognises Japan’s concerns and will hold discussions with the group that erected it to address the issue. The two countries have been pushing to improve relations since Abe met Park last month. That meeting took place partly under pressure from Washington.

TuesDAY 29•12•2015

sports

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Key week as Real Madrid coach Benitez works to save his job Madrid, deceMber 28 (iaNS): Real Madrid head coach Rafael Benitez faces a vital week as he looks to save his job with the Spanish football giant. Although Real president Florentino Perez has spoken twice already this season of his continued support for the coach, (after the 0-4 defeat at home to FC Barcelona, and less than a fortnight ago) insisting Benitez will be in charge until at least then end of the current season, the

fact is that the knives are out for the former Liverpool, Inter Milan, Valencia and Napoli tactician, reports Xinhua. Fans at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium booed the announcement of his name ahead of Re-

al's game at home to Rayo Vallecano just over a week ago and continued to do so, despite Benitez's men putting 10 goals past nine-man Rayo. The decision by Chelsea to sack Jose Mourinho has only complicated matters further with some fans seeing the return of the controversial Portuguese boss as the remedy to FC Barcelona's dominance in Spain and Europe (forgetting perhaps that in three years at Madrid, Mourinho only won one league and two Spanish Cups) and that his relationship with the dressing room had soured badly by his departure in the summer of 2013. However, with Manchester United also reported to be interested in Mourinho as a replacement for the beleaguered Louis van Gaal, it is now or never for Perez if he wants him back and as such Benitez could be on borrowed time whatever happens in the next week. One thing that is certain is that failure to win the next two games will almost certainly cost the experienced coach his job. Real Madrid entertain Real Sociedad at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday, before travelling to

face Valencia on Sunday. Benitez will probably already be steeling himself for the whistles he can expect to hear against Sociedad for a game which his side should win without too many problems, despite the probably absence of captain Sergio Ramos through injury. If he gets through that game intact he will then return to one of his former hunting grounds -- the Mestalla stadium, where he led Valencia to two league titles and the UEFA Cup in the 2003-4 and 2004-5 seasons. Valencia are yet to win in the league under new coach Gary Neville, but showed signs of improvement in their 2-2 draw against Getafe before Christmas and there is little Valencia fans like more than beating Real Madrid. Meanwhile Neville, a former Manchester United player who loved to torment Benitez's former side, Liverpool, will also have underlined the date and the Real Madrid coach can expect little sympathy from his former supporters. It is a litmus test both for Benitez and his side: if they can dig deep and show they are willing to graft a win, then he could cling onto his job, but if they return to the capital with anything less than a triumph, Mourinho could yet make his return to the Bernabeu.

Forward Kane is not for sale: Tottenham coach

LoNdoN, deceMber 28 (iaNS): English football club Tottenham Hotspur's head coach Mauricio Pochettino has said that his star forward Harry Kane is not for sale. The 22 -year-old scored a brace on Saturday against Norwich which took his goal tally to 27 for 2015. In the process, he broke Teddy Sheringham’s record of 26 goals in a calendar year. "There is no price. No one can buy him," Pochettino was quoted as saying by BBC on Sunday. "He is not for sale. There is not a value because it is impossible to put a price." Tottenham are now fourth on the English Premier League (EPL) table, two points ahead of fifth placed Crystal Palace. Spurs play next against Watford later on the day -- with midfielder Mousa Dembele in a cloud of doubt after picking up an ankle knock.

Messi wins best player of Globe Soccer Awards

Guptill flirts with record as New De Villiers to reduce workload, but not retire Villiers and reducing worktowN, deceMZealand smash Sri Lanka cape loads because of the "unsusber 28 (iaNS): South Afri-

chriStchurch, deceMber 28 (reuterS): Martin Guptill flirted with a world record then had to settle for a New Zealand one as he demolished Sri Lanka's bowling to guide his side to a comprehensive 10-wicket victory in the second one-day international in Christchurch on Monday. Guptill, who had moved to 46 off 13 balls, had AB de Villiers' record of 16 balls for a half-century in his sights before two yorkers from Nuwan Kulasekara ended the bid. He brought up his 50 off 17 balls, with five boundaries and four sixes, as New Zealand chased down Sri Lanka's 117 off just 8.2 overs. Guptill said he had no idea he was close to De Villiers' record before umpire Richard Illingworth mentioned it. "Richard Illingworth said something like I was getting close with a couple of balls to go and then I got a couple of yorkers in there," Guptill said in a televised in-

terview. "I am pretty happy with the way things are going (but) I'll take a 90 not out and the win rather than the fastest 50 and getting out." Guptill ended 93 not out, from 30 balls, while Tom Latham was on 17 as the hosts finished on 118 without loss to achieve victory before the scheduled lunch break. It was the second successive heavy defeat for the visitors at Hagley Oval, after they were bowled out for 188 in the first game on Saturday, with Guptill and captain Brendon McCullum putting on a century stand in 10 overs to set up the seven-wicket victory. Sri Lanka's senior players were urged by coach Jerome Jaryatane after the first game to step up against New Zealand but again failed against a pace bowling attack without the express speed of Adam Milne. Despite a more aggressive start than the previous match on the same pitch 2 days ago, none of the top 6 batsmen scored more than 17.

ca’s talismanic wicketkeeper-batsman AB de Villiers is set to cut down on his workload in all the three formats but reports of his retirement have been dismissed. The cricket world was thrown into a tizzy when Afrikaans newspaper Rapport reported that the highlypopular batsman, currently the world No.1 One-Day International (ODI) batsman and No.3 Test batsman was considering his future in the Test arena. But Proteas pacer Morne Morkel rubbished the report. Later, commentator and former first-class cricketer Mike Haysman moved to clear up the situation. "He's got a back injury that he's got to manage, which is a constant concern for everybody and he says he's going to

be looking to lessen his workloads in all three formats. There is no thought that he will retire from the game as some of the rumours (claim)," Haysman was quoted as saying by cricket. com.au on Monday. Former England captain Michael Atherton said he expects to see more players following in the footsteps of 31-year-old de

tainable" pressure of international cricket. "It is a warning sign for the game. When you look at the game more generally, take the AB de Villiers situation as a specific, you'll get more and more players doing this because the demands on the players are becoming unsustainable. The cricket calendar is absolutely bursting at the seams ... (and) it's not just international cricket," Atherton said. "Now the opportunities for players to do well financially in the domestic franchise Twenty20 tournaments all round the world is an extra element to the cricket calendar. For players like AB de Villiers who are in high demand from their national teams in all three formats and then domestic franchise competitions, something has to give,“ added Atherton.

Lanzini poised to make early permanent switch to West Ham Former Salvadoran national ances. "Payet is the signing of the soccer player Alfredo shot dead season. He's the best player I've

LoNdoN, deceMber 28 (reuterS): West Ham United will make midfielder Manuel Lanzini's season-long loan from Al Jazira Club in the United Arab Emirates a permanent deal two months earlier than planned, cochairman David Sullivan has said. Lanzini, who is currently sidelined with a thigh injury, has scored four times in his 12 Premier League appearances this season. "The contract we have is 100 percent watertight. We have until April to make it permanent but we'll probably do it before the due date," said Sullivan,

who is also a film producer and was speaking at an event to publicise his latest project. "He is a fantastic player and a fantastic man. By February or March, he will be a permanent West Ham player. "He could be a top, top, top player. He's already sensational and he could be as good as any player in the world." Sullivan also heaped praise on injured midfielder Dimitri Payet, who has gained many admirers for some eye-catching performances for the Hammers, having been directly involved in nine goals in his 12 league appear-

signed in 25 years. He's a 30 million pound ($44.76 million) player," Sullivan said of a player signed for an undisclosed eight-figure fee from French side Marseille. "He's a supreme footballer. He makes every player in our side play better. On his day, he's world class, he's unstoppable." The 66-year-old revealed he approached several high-profile managers as a replacement for Sam Allardyce but was content with the appointment of Slaven Bilic during the close-season. "We were two hours from getting (Rafael) Benitez and then Real came in. We had agreed a contract and everything," Sullivan said. "He is a top manager whatever anybody says and I think he'd have done a wonderful job for us. "We tried (Juergen) Klopp as well but he wouldn't come because he said he wanted a break. But I'm glad with the manager we have got." West Ham, who are 10th in the league, will look to return to winning ways after four successive draws in Monday's league clash with 12thplaced Southampton.

rio, deceMber 28 (reuterS): Alfredo Pacheco, a soccer player who played for the Salvadoran national side before being banned from the sport for life for his involvement in match fixing, was murdered on Sunday, the Salvadoran attorney general's office said. Pacheco, 33, was with a group of friends chatting in a petrol station when an unknown assailant shot at the group various times, authorities said. Two other people were injured and were taken to a nearby hospital in the city of Santa Ana, west of the capital San Salvador. "The attorney general's office in Santa Ana processed the crime scene of the murder of Alfredo Pacheco at 3.30 am in a petrol station," it said. Pacheco was a defender who played for the Salvadoran clubs Club Deportivo FAS and Asociacion Deportiva Isidro Metapan. He also played for the New York Red Bulls in the United States. Pacheco was the player with the most caps for the Salvadoran national team. He was banned from the sport by the Salvadoran soccer federation in 2013 when it was found he had been involved in match fixing.

Lahiri climbs to world No 40, qualifies for Augusta Masters New deLhi, deceMber 28 (iaNS): India's Anirban Lahiri jumped a place to be 40th in the world golf rankings released on Monday, thereby securing a berth for the Masters, 2016's first Major. A top-50 finish in the world rankings at the end of the year secures a ticket for the event at the Augusta National Golf Club, venue of the year's opening Major that will be played in April in the United States. Newly crowned Asian Tour number one Lahiri, who triumphed in Malaysia and India this year and also finished tied fifth at the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Championship to reinforce his stature as one of the global game's rising young stars. The 28-year-old finished tied 49th in the 2015 Masters and

will return for his second appearance at the Augusta with renewed confidence. "Starting out the year, finishing in the world's top-50 was one of my main goals and I'm delighted to achieve this target. It also means a lot to me as I will have the opportunity to play in my second Masters Tournament after making my debut this year," Lahiri, who also earned his 2016 PGA Tour card through the Web. Com Finals, said in an Asian Tour release. "Playing in all four rounds at Augusta National was certainly one of the main highlights of my 2015 season and I'm looking forward to heading back there again for another crack at this great tournament," Lahiri, who was also ranked top-20 in this year's European Tour Order of Merit, added.

The Bengaluru golfer also said the fact that three Asian Tour members -- he alongside Thongchai Jaidee and Kiradech Aphibarnrat -- are featured in the world's top-50 was yet another endorsement of the growing stature and rising standards of the game in the expansive region. "I think it's also fantastic to see Thongchai and Kiradech featuring in the world's top-50 which is a great reflection of the strength of the Asian Tour." The 46-year-old Thongchai, who won once in Europe and posted eight other top-10s this season, jumped to a career high 28th position in the world to cement his reputation as one of the best Asian golfers in the game. Thailand's Thongchai, the only man to win three Asian Tour Order of Merit titles, said: "I'm

very proud of my achievements. Finishing so high up in the world rankings makes me very happy. I have worked very hard with my coach and my game was very consistent this year, especially my putting. "I want to keep improving and keep playing good golf next year. I'm also very excited to play in my fifth Masters next April as to me, it's the best tournament in the world." Kiradech will earn a dream Masters Tournament debut after moving up to 38th position on the rankings, up by nearly 100 rungs from where he started the season. The big-hitting Thai brilliantly won twice on the European Tour in addition to nine other top-10s around the world. The 26-year-old said: “I am so happy to end the year in the world’s top-50. I guess winning

twice this year helped me achieve this goal and I hope to keep moving up in the rankings and hopefully break into the top-30, top-20 and top-20 in time to come. “I also cannot wait to play in the Masters Tournament as I have heard so much great things about this event and the golf course. I have always watched the Masters on TV and it will be a dream come true to tee up in the tournament with Thongchai and Anirban.” S.S.P. Chawrasia, who dropped two places to 213th, was the second highest-ranked Indian. While Rashid Khan also fell a place to be 292nd, Chiragh Kumar moved up three places to be 296th. Veteran Jyoti Randhawa dropped down a place to be 398th, while Rahil Gangjee went down three spots to be 423rd.

dubai, deceMber 28 (iaNS): Star football player Lionel Messi won the best player of the seventh edition of the Globe Soccer Awards here on Sunday, and FC Barcelona took home the best club prize. "It is difficult to choose one moment as we were winning wherever we played," said Messi, who travelled from Argentina to attend the ceremony. "It has been a fabulous year for me and for the entire club," he added. FC Barcelona also won the best media attraction in football and its president Josep Maria Bartomeu won the best president of the year. Belgian coach Marc Wilmots was named best coach while Italy's Andrea Pirlo and England's Frank Lampard were honoured with player career award.

Leander Paes to partner Granollers at Chennai Open

cheNNai, deceMber 28 (iaNS): Indian tennis veteran Leander Paes has been seeded second and will partner Spaniard Marcel Granollers in the men's doubles category of the Chennai Open to be played here from January 4 to 10, 2016. Paes reached the final last edition with South African Raven Klaasen, who this year has been top seeded with American Rajeev Ram. Paes won the tournament in 2012 with Serbian Janko Tipsarevic) and in 2011, 2002, 1999, 1998, 1997 with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi. Season tickets are available on bookmyshow.com and have been priced at Rs.5,000, Rs.3,000 and Rs.1,500. The 20th edition of the tournament has $480,000 as its prize money. The title sponsor for the event is Aircel.

Russia has serious problem of athletics doping issue Sochi, deceMber 28 (iaNS): Former director general of Russia's anti-doping agency Ramil Khabriev has admitted that his country has "a serious problem" in doping, adding that 40 percent of its drug-test violations have come in youth sports. Russia was suspended from international athletics over doping, and must reform in order to return for the Olympics. Recently, four Russian weightlifters were suspended after failing drugs tests at the World Championships. "In Russia, the doping issue is acute, we can't deny it," Khabriev, who left his post at Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) earlier this month, was quoted as saying by BBC on Sunday. "We have the most violations in antidoping rules in comparison with other countries. This, of course, shows there's a serious problem. Around 40 percent of these violations are from youth sports, which is alarming." The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) voted to suspend Russia's athletics federation in November. That followed the publication of an independent World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report that alleged "state-sponsored doping".

Tuesday 29•12•2015

Ninth edition of annual EDM festival Sunburn kicks-off in Goa S

Chicken Head, a metal band based in Dimapur, adjudged as the 1st runner up of Glam & Groove 1.0 Band Competition held at DKD College, Dergaon Assay on December 27 last. The band also bagged the individual prizes of best bassist and best drummer.

Kurt Cobain greatest true love I've experienced: Courtney Love

n a tribute to her late husband Kurt Cobain, singer Courtney Love has called the Nirvana frontman "the greatest true love I've ever experienced in my life". Kurt Cobain died in 1994 at the age of 27, and Courtney was emotional upon thinking of him and their good times together around Christmas. Courtney has also praised their "beautiful and gifted daughter" Frances Bean Cobain.

She posted a photograph of all three together when Frances was a baby, with the youngster dressed up in a Santa outfit, reports femalefirst.co.uk. She captioned the family photograph: "That Christmas moment in everyone's lives that you never forget, the one that makes you feel on top of the world, where the greatest gifts are the loved ones you shared that moment with. Well this is mine, I'm grateful to have ever expe-

rienced that moment." "Merry Christmas Kurt, the greatest true love I've ever experienced in my life. You gave me the gift that makes life worth living, our incredibly talented, loving, beautiful and gifted daughter Frances Bean Cobain. Merry Christmas Bean, love mom and dad (sic)." Meanwhile, rumours are rife that Courtney is currently dating Nicholas Jarecki, the writer and director of the Richard Gere movie "Arbitrage".

5 day leave after 3 long years, Priyanka Chopra excited C M Y K

Sacha Baron Cohen, Isla Fisher donate $1 mn for Syrians

ctor Sacha Baron Cohen and his actress wife Isla Fisher have donated $1 million to charity for Syria. The star couple have given $500,000 to NGO Save the Children to fund measles vaccinations for children in northern Syria and a further $500,000 to the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to support families who are victims of conflict in the country. "By allowing us to make their generous donation to the Syrian children public, Sacha and Isla are helping highlight the tragedy of the issue today," Justin Forsyth, CEO, Save the Children said, reports femalefirst.co.uk. "These are desperate times for Syrian families facing bombs, bullets, and

torture in Syria. The couple's donation will save many thousands of lives and protect some of the most valuable children," he added. David Miliband, president and CEO of IRC, said: "Now is the time for all of us to double down on commitments to civilians caught up in the Syria conflict. These people are the victims of terror. As hope for the end of conflict recedes, it is all the more important to meet the most basic human needs. "SachaandIsla'sdonation is a great expression of humanity, and a challenge to do more for the most vulnerable. I hope it is an example to many others seeking practical ways of making a difference during the Christmas and New Year season."

unburn Goa 2015, the ninth edition of the annual Electronic Dance Music (EDM) festival, witnessed a gush of Indian and foreign tourists in the coastal state as the fest kicked-off with a lot of energy and high-octane music. Ranked amongst the world's biggest music festivals, the four-day fest kickstarted at the Vagator Beach here on Sunday. In total, there are five themed stages at the festival -- which I Label Stage, Experimental Stage, Techno/Deep House Stage, Psy Stage and a 200-feet Main Stage, titled "Empire Of The Sun". The "Empire Of The Sun" draws inspiration from Indian ethnicity with the cranium of Ashoka taking centre stage on a chariot, heralding the 10th year anniversary of the dance music brand. On the first day, artists like Dyro, Nucleya, Paji, Paperqueen and Juliet Sikora enthralled the audience with their revolutionary beats. Dutch artist Sam Feldt created magic on the Main Stage when he played an amazing collection of refreshing deep house songs and warm tropical house hits. World's top spot holder on annual "Top 100 DJs" poll, Belgian DJ duo of Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike, headlined the first day with their famous hits like "Waves", "Wakanda" and "Mammoth" as the people at the venue danced their hearts out amid thumping beats, lasers, confetti and flashing lights. With food courts, adventure sports, flea market and exotics bars on-site camping, a first time concept in India is a major attraction at this year's festival.

fter juggling between her Bollywood assignments and shooting for the American TV show "Quantico", Priyanka Chopra can't wait to head out for a break ahead of the New Year. She's geared up to take a five-day holiday after three years. Asked about her New Year plans, Priyanka said: "I'm going on a five-day leave after three long years. I have been very busy and now finally I am going out of Mumbai with my friends. I am not telling anyone where I am going... I am just going and I will switch off my mobile phones." The actress's performance as Kashibai in "Bajirao Mastani" has been widely appreciated. She gives all credit to filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali. "I knew Kashi was a very special character, and that's why I wanted to do this film. I was the first person to be cast for this film. The story is about Bajirao and Mastani, but history forgot to mention about Kashi and all credit goes to Sanjay sir to bring her on screen so beautifully. I have never played such a soft character," added the National Award winner. "Bajirao Mastani" stars Ranveer Singh as Bajirao and Deepika Padukone as Mastani.

Popularity of EDM in India is skyrocketing: Belgium DJ duo

he popularity of Electronic Dance Music (EDM) in India is skyrocketing, believe Belgian DJ duo Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike. However, they say there's scope for improvement. The duo, who are brothers, hold the top spot in an annual 'Top 100 DJs' poll. They headlined the first day of the three-day Sunburn Goa festival here on Sunday, playing hits like "Waves", "Wakanda" and "Mammoth". "EDM... I still see it skyrocketing (in India). We started in India five years back in small clubs. And events like Sunburn and solo concerts that we do are amazing. I think we still haven’t hit the roof. The market is still improving,” Dimitri told IANS in an interview here. Happy to be back in the country after their performance at Sunburn Goa last year, Dimitri said: "We are really excited to be here. After what

we felt the last time... it was such an amazing party that we couldn't resist coming back here. Even though we have to travel a lot, it is worth it (to come here." There was news last year that they were collaborating with Bollywood superstar Salman Khan for a project. Asked if they are planning something new, Dimitri said: “We are still thinking. We already did a couple of small Bollywood projects. But at this point we don’t have anything on that front to perform for the people.” They were adjudged numero uno in DJ Magazine's annual 'Top 100 DJs poll', and said such spots motivate them. "We don't feel pressurised, but it is an honour to be on that position. We are honoured that so many people, including a lot of fans from India, voted for us. We feel obliged to make

all of them proud who voted for us. But, I wouldn't call it pressure... it's rather motivation," he said. How has their life as musicians affected their bond? Dimitri said: "We are together all the time. We have been working together as artistes for 12 years. Before that, we were working as entertainers... so we have always been together. It's just great that we have reached the level where we are (at present).” With two different minds at work, differences are bound to happen. So how do they manage? “It happens, but most of the times, if one of us is really opinionated about something, the other one goes, ‘You are so sure, let’s do it!’. But then that also puts a lot of pressure on the other person because if it goes wrong, the other one gets to say, 'I told you so',” Dimitri quipped.

Campers, who came tioned atop the hills, getOther international Soul also unleashed their to get "sunburnt" at Asia's ting a panoramic view of DJs like Headhunterz, electrifying sets on the largest festival, were posi- the entire venue. Tube & Berger and Liquid opening day.

‘The Force Awakens’ exceeds $1 billion mark in global box office

isney's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens", the latest installment of the blockbuster science fiction franchise, on Sunday hit the $1 billion mark in global box office at record pace. The blockbuster installment, the seventh of the kind, posted the biggest second-weekend box office total ever recorded in North America by raking in more than $153 million in the US and Canada, Xinhua quoted the box office figures gathered by Rentrak. The latest installment of the "Star Wars" franchise took over the previous second weekend record of $106.6 million set by "Jurassic World" earlier this year by $46.9 million. since it was released in "Star Wars: The Force North America ten days Awakens" has grossed $544 ago. million in North America Of this weekend's over-

all gross for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," IMAX grosses made up an estimated $19 million. Total

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IMAX grosses of the new blockbuster film have exceeded $70 million in North America.

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Moeen spins trouble for South Africa

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DURBAN, DECEMBER 28 (REUTERS): Spinner Moeen Ali took three wickets for England on the third day of the opening test at Kingsmead as South Africa were bowled out for 214 just before lunch despite dogged resistance from opener Dean Elgar. South Africa trail England by 89 runs after losing six wickets in the opening session on Monday with Ali returning figures of four for 69 off 25 overs. Elgar, who was 67 not out overnight, punched the air and pounded his chest in exuberant celebration after reaching 100, the first South African to do so in their last seven test matches. His patient strokeplay contrasted with the nervy batting of many of his team mates as a crisis of confidence in the South African side, still ranked number one in the world despite a heavy series defeat in India last month, continued. Stuart Broad, who claimed three wickets on Sunday and finished with 4-25, made an immediate impact with only the second ball of the day as play started 30 minutes early again to make up for the slow over rate from the first two days. Temba Bavuma played on to a wider delivery and was bowled for 10. But it was Moeen who took up most of the bowling duties with the older ball on a slow pitch and accounted for the wickets of JP Duminy, Kyle Abbott and Dale Steyn. Ben Stokes took a sharp catch as Duminy (two)

Steyn to have scan on shoulder injury South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn will have a scan on a shoulder injury after he pulled up in the middle of an over and left the field on the third day of the opening test against England on Monday. Steyn, the world’s top-ranked test bowler, clasped his shoulder on his follow through after two balls continued his struggles against spin, nicking the ball to slip. Abbott was out without scoring after getting a thick edge onto his pad and be-

of his fourth over in England’s second innings and was sent from the field by his captain HashimAmla for treatment. Steyn, only just back after a groin injury, was diagnosed with a right shoulder strain but will get a more detailed diagnosis after a scan later on Monday, officials said.

ing caught by a diving James Taylor but it needed a review before he was given out. Steyn played patiently at first but then could not

Injury to their main strike bowler, who took four wickets in the first innings, would be a major blow to South Africa who are already struggling in the test. South Africa were bowled out for 214 just before lunch, 89 runs behind England’s first-innings tally.

resist attacking Moeen and holed out to mid-on with a lofty shot that Chris Woakes had to juggle before holding the catch. The new ball brought

(REUTERS)

almost immediate rewards as Steven Finn grabbed the last two wickets with both Dane Piedt (1) and last man Morne Morkel (0) caught behind.

Debutant Brathwaite puts smile back on West Indian faces MELBOURNE, DECEMBER 28 (REUTERS): A thick gloom that has pervaded the West Indies lifted briefly on Monday as paceman Carlos Brathwaite struck a defiant half-century on debut and celebrated wildly upon taking his first wicket during the second test against Australia. West Indies have been widely panned for a perceived lack of commitment as much as the quality of their cricket during a tough tour Down Under, but Brathwaite's spirited 59 helped fire up the Caribbeans' dressing room. Resuming on 91-6 in response to Australia's imposing 551-3 declared, Brathwaite rode his luck with top order batsman Darren Bravo in a 90-run stand to help push their team to a credible 271 before they were dismissed at tea. Although Australia captain Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja batted the hosts to an imperious 459-run lead at stumps, the 27-year-old Barbadian was satisfied his team had secured a nourishing moral victory at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. "I was just happy that I could contribute to a fighting day's performance and we hope that the fans in the West Indies get a smile back on their face and realise that we're not just here for being here's sake," Brathwaite, who replaced injured paceman Shannon Gabriel in the side, told reporters. "We actually want to compete and do well. I know I desperately want to represent the West Indies. It's the stuff dreams are made of. "It's something I will hold dear to my heart every second that I'm out there representing the West Indies with the maroon cap on.

Porto president admits possible SAFF C'ship: B'desh beat Bhutan, departure of striker Osvaldo Afghanistan hammer Maldives LISBON, DECEMBER 28 (IANS) FC Porto president Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa has acknowledged that striker Pablo Osvaldo may leave in this winter market after having few opportunities since coming to the Portuguese football club. The president of the Dragons was quoted on Monday by Portuguese media saying that Osvaldo may leave or stay and nothing is definite at the moment, reports Efe. The Portuguese sports media have speculated for weeks on Boca Juniors' interest in the player. Osvaldo, 29, landed in Porto from Boca Juniors on a free transfer as a candidate to be a starter in the team of coach Julen Lopetegui, but the sound performance of Vincent Aboubakar closed the doors on that. The Italy international has participated in 11 matches so far this season, starting in only four and scoring only one goal.

ThIRUvANANThApURAM, DECEMBER 28 (IANS) : Bangladesh registered a 3-0 victory over Bhutan while Afghanistan beat the Maldives 4-1 in the SAFF Championship at the Trivandrum International Stadium here on Monday. Even though Bangladesh won, they crashed out of the tournament along with Bhutan. Afghanistan and Maldives qualify from Group B for the semi-finals. From Group A, India and Sri Lanka have already made the last four. On Monday, for Bangladesh, Topu Barman scored once and Mohammad Shakawat Hossain Rony struck a brace. In the second game, for Afghanistan Omid Popalzay struck twice and Faysal Shayesteh and Ahmad Arash Hatifi netted once each. Ali Fasir scored the only goal for Maldives. In the eighth minute, Mark Barman gave Bangladesh the lead with a strong header from inside the box. Some minutes later, the situation got worse for Bhutan when a Porto occupy first place rival, Sporting Lisbon, who case of mistaken identity saw Chiin the Primeira Liga, only they face on January 2 in mi Dorji sent off for a tackle from behind on Hemonta Biswas inside one point ahead of main the Portuguese capital.

the box by Jigme Dorjee. Rony stepped up and calmly tucked the ball in for his side's second of the evening. At half-time, Bangladesh led 2-0. After the breather, in the 67th minute of the game, Rony darted into space with the ball and then rolled it past the onrushing goalkeeper for Bangladesh's third goal. In the other contest, Afghanistan made easy meat of Maldives with swift and pacy attacks. Shayesteh scored Afghanistan's opener but a few minutes later Fasir equalised for Maldives. But Fasir and his team's joy was short-lived as Popalzay found the back of the net with a stunning freekick two minutes later. At the break, Afghanistan led 2-1. The restart resulted in Afghanistan launching a series of attacks and at the 51st minute Hatifie scored with a piledriver. Three minutes later, Popalzay found the net again to gift his side an easy victory. In the semifinals on December 31, India will play Maldives, whereas Sri Lanka will lock horns with Afghanistan.

"I think the team spirit is there. Fortunately for me I see it day in day out." GOOD MARKETING Making the day more memorable, Brathwaite was dismissed twice by fast man James Pattinson, bowled on 13 and caught in the deep at long leg on 50, but was called back to the crease both times after TV reviews showed the bowler had over-stepped. The knock was nonetheless good publicity for the budding entrepreneur's side-business as the owner of Trident Sports, a sporting goods manufacturer in the Caribbean, which produced the bat he wielded at the MCG. "Ultimately I want it to eventually stand on its own two feet," he said of his company. "A noticeable brand worldwide." Brathwaite raised eyebrows with the ball as well, having Australia opener David Warner caught in the gully by Jason Holder for 17 after he and his skipper engaged in some heated banter with the chirpy Austalian vice-captain. He also bowled over Holder when charging through for an exuberant high-five and then slid on his knees in a soccer-style celebration that had the terraces roar their approval. "I have quite a few (celebrations)," he laughed sheepishly. "(Holder) almost took me out. Fortunately there was one left standing and I went and got my slide in."

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Langer to coach Australia in mid-2016 C M Y K

MELBOURNE, DECEMBER 28 (IANS): Former Australia batsman Justin Langer will chip in as his country's cricket team head coach during the tri-series featuring West Indies and South Africa in mid-2016. Current coach Darren Lehmann will spend the time during that period working at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane, looking at the next tier of players, reported ESPNcricinfo on Sunday. Lehmann will be back at the helm after the conclusion of the series. "Given the amount of cricket coming up on the international

calendar, we've tried to find some time for Darren to plan and focus on the next period for the Australian side. Justin Langer has done an outstanding job, taking his teams to the finals of our three domestic competitions last year, and winning two of them," Cricket Australia's team performance chief Pat Howard said. Langer is currently the coach of Western Australia (WA). "He's also done a very good job preparing WA players to represent Australia. This appointment to cover the limited-overs series in the Caribbean is a great reward for that excellent work."

Real Madrid wants to sign de Gea next season C M Y K

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MANChESTER, DECEMBER 28 (IANS): Spanish football club Real Madrid wants to sign Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea next season, a club spokesman said on Monday. The 25-year-old was heavily linked with the Spanish giants last summer but the move failed to materialise and de Gea penned a fouryear contract with United which reportedly has a 36 million pound release clause. "Real Madrid will not attempt to sign David de Gea in the January window. But the club is proposed to sign him in the summer for next season," a club spokesman was quoted as saying by telegraph.co.uk. The Spaniard signed for United in 2011 from Atletico Madrid where he had joined as a youth player when he was just 13. He debuted for Atletico in 2009.

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