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UAE seal ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 berth
UAE seal ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 berth Adur Pradeep / 31 January 2014 Scotland also secure a place in ICC World Cup 2015 to be hosted in Australia and N. Zealand UAE team and officials celebrate victory over Namibia in Christchurch on Thursday. — Supplied picture The agonising wait of 18 years is over. UAE, who played at the Cricket World Cup way back in 1996, on Thursday qualified for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 after clinching a convincing 36-run victory over Namibia on the last day of the Super Six stage of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier New Zealand 2014 in Christchurch. UAE will face Scotland, who also secured a World Cup berth after defeating Kenya by three wickets on Thursday, in the qualifier final at Lincoln Oval, Christchurch, on Saturday. The final will determine which group the teams will join at the World Cup, to be held in Australia and New Zealand from February 14 to March 29, 2015. The winner of the final will join England, Australia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, New Zealand and Afghanistan in Group A while the loser will be clubbed in Group B alongwith South Africa, India, Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe and Ireland. A total of 14 teams will contest the World Cup, comprising ICC’s 10 full member nations and four affiliate countries. Ireland and Afghanistan secured two of the affiliate spots last year. “You can’t describe in words the feeling,” UAE captain Khurram Khan said. “I’ve been playing for UAE since 2001 and it is an amazing feeling to help my team to qualify. It’s been very, very hard to make it this far. Most of us are part-time cricketers — we are not professionals. This is for everyone who trusted us and believed in us,” he said. The 42-year old Khan, who is also the leading run-getter of the tournament with 547 runs, said his side is looking forward to returning to New Zealand in one year’s time. “New Zealand is a special country for us. The grounds were awesome, the crowds supported us, the wickets suited us. We are coming back for the World Cup – we’ll work hard and see how it goes.” Khan, who played a stellar role in UAE’s victories in qualifying matches, was back at his best again in the crucial encounter, making an useful 49 off 83 balls and helped his team, who chose to bat first, post a competitive 263 all out in 49.5 overs. UAE 263 for 49.5 overs (Khurram Khan 49, Shaiman Anwar 47, Amjad Ali 46, Swapnil Patil 38; Louis Klazinga 5-36, Sarel Burger 2-47) Namibia 227 for nine, 50 overs (Sarel Burger 54, Gerrie Snyman 48,Nicolaas Scholtz 33; Amjad Javed 3-35, Manjula Guruge 2-34, Khurram Khan 2-45, Kamran Shazad 2-48) Result : UAE won by 36 runs Man of the Match : Louis Klazinga (Namibia) Khurram Khan (captain), Ahmed Raza, Amjad Ali, Amjad Javed, Chirag Suri, Manjula Guruge, Kamran Shahzad, Mohammad Naveed, Nasir Aziz, Swapnil Patil, Rohan Mustafa, Salman Faris, Shaiman Anwar, Vikrant Shetty and Shadeep Silv Amjad Javed, who picked up three wickets for 35, turned out to be the star bowler for UAE as he first denied Namibia a flying start and claimed wickets at crucial times to restrict them to 227 for nine. ICC chief executive David Richardson congratulated the teams: “Congratulations to Scotland and UAE for a tremendous effort in qualifying to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. It has been a tough tournament, one in which every game counts, and both teams have performed remarkably well to finish in the top two.” UAE coach and former Pakistan Test bowler Aqib Javed, who was instrumental in the team’s turnaround, said: “It was a tough task coming to New Zealand, and making the top two. They had in their mind that the pitches would have lot of sideways movement. But in seven games our batting has done really well. And now they are saying these conditions are good for cricket. There won’t be any hurdle coming back to play in Australia and New Zealand. They’re excited now.” The skipper’s decisive 100-run partnership with Amjad Ali, who chipped in with 46 off 67 balls, rescued UAE, who lost opener Salman Faris (0) in the second over itself. Shaiman Anwar (47) and Swapnil Patil (38) too chipped in with useful contributions, while Nambibia struck back through Louis Klazinga, who claimed five wickets for 36. Namibia lost their way despite their captain Sarel Burger (54) hitting a half-century, while the knocks of Gerrie Snyman (48) and Nicolaas Scholtz (33) gave hopes for the team. pradeep@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Dubai hotels excel in profit levels in the region in 2013
Dubai hotels excel in profit levels in the region in 2013 Issac John / 31 January 2014 The emirate plans to double its visitor numbers in seven years. Hotels in Dubai reported the highest profit levels in the region in 2013 for the fourth consecutive year, and ended the year with occupancy above 80 per cent as rates surged, according to the latest HotStats survey of full service four and five star hotels in five Mena markets by TRI Hospitality Consulting Middle East. Data shows that the hotel sector in Dubai and the UAE in general has been on an upswing. — Supplied photo In December, Dubai continued to record strong performance levels reflecting the continued growth experienced throughout the year. Although the market witnessed a 4.5 percentage points decline in occupancy to 79.5 per cent, a 9.1 per cent rise in Average Room Rates (ARR) to $368.22 drove Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) growth of 3.2 per cent to $292.70, the report said. Data compiled by STR Global also shows that hotel sector in Dubai and the UAE in general has been on an upswing. With Expo 2020 in the offing, Dubai plans to double its visitor numbers from 10 million to 20 million in seven years. Philip Wooller, area director of Middle East and Africa for STR Global, said it would be a fascinating journey for Dubai. Announcements will soon be released for all the new projects in the run up to the event, Wooller said. “The numbers alone suggest the hotel supply will need to nearly double from the existing 68,000 rooms to 120,000 rooms.” In December, the Middle East/Africa region reported positive results with a 3.0 per cent increase in occupancy to 59.5 per cent, a 4.2-per cent increase in average daily rate to $180.65 and a 7.3-per cent increase in revenue per available room to $107.44. According to HotStats, average rates and RevPAR for Dubai hotels in December exceeded levels witnessed throughout the year and helped push year to date figures up 6.5 per cent and 7.6 per cent, respectively. Bottom line performance levels in December were boosted by a 2.8 per cent rise in Total Revenue Per Available Room (TRevPAR), which was driven by increased MICE revenues and coupled with lower operating costs. Gross Operating Profit Per Available Room (GOPPAR) for the month increased 3.9 per cent to $260.00 and helped drive year to date figures up 10.3 percent to $206.05, the report said. Peter Goddard, Managing Director of TRI Hospitality Consulting, said occupancy levels in December 2013 were marginally lower than December 2012, which is attributed to an increase in supply compared to the same period last year; however average rates were maintained by the minimum stay agreements imposed by hotels during the festive season. “A combination of stable demand and increased confidence in the market resulted in hoteliers applying more aggressive yielding strategies which resulted in average rates rising 6.5 per cent to $324.44 in 2013,” said Goddard. Jeddah witnessed growth in all key performance indicators for the month of December as corporate demand surged in the city. The combined effects of a 5.2 percentage point rise in occupancy to 73.3 per cent coupled with a 1.9 per cent increase in ARR drove RevPAR up 9.7 per cent to $171.05 in Jeddah Doha hotels experience stronger demand, however rates and profits continue to fall. “Doha Hotels continued to struggle to elevate key performance indicators which remained under pressure during December, despite a 3.1 percentage point rise in occupancy to 63.3 per cent. On-going rate reductions resulting from high levels of competition fuelled a 20.8 per cent decline in ARR to $226.99 which in turn, drove RevPAR down 16.8 per cent to $143.71,” the report said. — issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Beware, Angry Birds are spying on you!
Beware, Angry Birds are spying on you! (Reuters) / 29 January 2014 Among these new intelligence tools were “leaky” apps on smartphones that could disclose users’ locations, age, gender and other personal information. US and British intelligence agencies have plotted ways to gather data from Angry Birds and other smartphone apps that leak users’ personal information onto global networks, the New York Times reported on Monday. It was citing previously undisclosed intelligence documents made available by fugitive American spy agency contractor Edward Snowden. The Times said the US National Security Agency and its British counterpart, the Government Communications Headquarters, had tried to exploit increasing volumes of personal data that spill onto networks from new generations of mobile phone technology. Among these new intelligence tools were “leaky” apps on smartphones that could disclose users’ locations, age, gender and other personal information. The US and British agencies were working together on ways to collect and store data from smartphone apps by 2007, the newspaper reported. The agencies have traded methods for collecting location data from a user of Google Maps and for gathering address books, buddy lists, phone logs and geographic data embedded in photos when a user posts to the mobile versions of Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, Twitter and other services, the Times said. Snowden, who is living in asylum in Russian, faces espionage charges in the United States after disclosing the NSA’s massive telephone and Internet surveillance programmes last year. His revelations and the resulting firestorm of criticism from politicians and privacy rights activists prompted US President Barack Obama to announce intelligence-gather reforms on January 17, including a ban on eavesdropping on the leaders of close allies and limits on the collection of telephone data. The Times report said the scale of the data collection from smartphones was not clear but the documents showed that the two national agencies routinely obtained information from certain apps, including some of the earliest ones introduced to mobile phones. The documents did not say how many users were affected or whether they included Americans. White House spokesman Jay Carney said US surveillance agencies were only interested in collecting data on people considered a threat to the United States. “To the extent data is collected by the NSA through whatever means, we are not interested in the communications of people who are not valid foreign intelligence targets, and we are not after the information of ordinary Americans,” Carney told a regular White House news conference. Any such surveillance was focused on “valid foreign intelligence targets … I mean terrorists, proliferators, other bad actors (who) use the same communications tools that others use,” he said. For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
