10
thursDAY 04•02•2016
sports
THE MORUNG EXPRESS
prosecutors accuse Neymar, father in tax evasion scheme Henry, Guptill superb as NZ thrash Australia by 159 runs
MAdRId, FEBRUARY 3 (REUTERS): Brazilian prosecutors filed a formal complaint against Neymar and his father on Tuesday for tax evasion and providing false information. Two former presidents of Spanish club Barcelona, Alexandre Rosell Feliu and Josep Maria Bartomeu Floresta, were also accused by the Prosecution Service in Santos, Neymar's home town. The prosecution's statement said: "They forged a series of documents between 2006 and 2013 with the intention of reducing the taxes owed to the inland revenue in Brazil. "Neymar's conduct, along with the others accused, caused millions in losses to the public coffers." A judge must now decide whether the case goes forward. The allegations refer to image rights contracts from 2006 when a teenaged Neymar was playing for Santos. Prosecutors allege further fraud occurred during negotiations to take him to Barcelona in 2011. He eventually joined the
Catalan side in 2013. Prosecutors said the schemes involved three companies linked to the striker's family - Neymar Sport e Marketing, N&N Consultoria Esportiva e Empresarial and N&N Administração de Bens, Participações e Investimentos. Neymar defended himself in a post on his personal website on Monday and said the prosecution
was "seeking the limelight". He invited Prosecutor Thiago Lacerda to visit the offices of NR Sports to see the company for himself. The prosecution has accused Neymar's father of designing schemes with the Spaniards as they negotiated his son's transfer. "Between 2006 and 2013, the player's father was the principal mentor and mastermind of a se-
ries of contractual frauds involving Neymar's image rights, mainly through Neymar Sport e Marketing," the statement said. Neymar signed several contracts with Santos and Barcelona to do publicity work but the money was paid into his father's accounts in order to reduce their tax burden, prosecutors allege. They also said he provided false information on some contracts. Earlier on Tuesday, both Neymar and his father – following on from Rosell and Bartomeu – appeared in front of a Spanish judge to give evidence about the alleged irregularities surrounding his transfer to Spain. Rosell resigned as Barcelona chairman to defend himself against accusations that he and the club swindled Spanish tax authorities out of 13 million Euros. A Sao Paulo judge also ruled last week that Neymar and his father must pay nearly 460,000 reais ($113,000) to Brazil's inland revenue in taxes owed from 2007 and 2008.
Magnussen returns in new-look Renault F1 team
PARIS, FEBRUARY 3 (REUTERS): Renault announced the Formula One comeback of Danish driver Kevin Magnussen at the launch on Wednesday of a new-look team that will put the French carmaker back on the starting grid as a constructor. Magnussen, whose F1 career appeared to have stalled after he spent last year on the sidelines and then got cast aside by McLaren, has replaced Pastor Maldonado after the Venezuelan's funding dried up. He will partner British rookie Jolyon Palmer, whose signing was announced last year by the team when they were racing as Lotus F1. Frenchman Frederic Vasseur will run day-to-day operations as racing director. Renault bought back
the team, which they had sold at the end of 2009 after winning championships with Spaniard Fernando Alonso in 2005 and 2006, last December. They will now compete under the Renault Sport Formula One name, with Renault branding prominent, along with that of
the Infiniti luxury marque, which is part of the Renault-Nissan alliance. "We are not here (just) to participate ... we are here to compete at the highest level and eventually win," Renault Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn told reporters at the company's Technocentre at Guyancourt
outside Paris. "It's not going to happen in 2016 ... it's going to take more time," Ghosn said. He set a target of podium appearances in the next three years. He said Renault's strategic aim was to integrate Formula One into a new comprehensive motorsport programme to boost the image of the brand and establish clear synergies between sport and road cars. Magnussen, 23, made an impressive debut with McLaren in 2014 when he took second place in his first race in Australia. But he had to drop back to a reserve role in 2015 when double champion Fernando Alonso arrived. He was let go by McLaren in October, at a time when most teams had set their line-ups. The news
came in an email that Magnussen got on his birthday. Palmer was the 2014 champion in the GP2 feeder series and a regular in Friday practice as reserve driver last season, but Renault will still have one of the sport's least experienced line-ups when the season starts in Australia on March 20. French youngster Esteban Ocon, winner of last year's GP3 junior series, will be the test and reserve driver. The British-based team, who finished sixth overall in 2015 after struggling financially, also announced a change of livery with the car presented in black and yellow colours. Vasseur, who nurtured the budding talents of drivers like triple champion Lewis Hamilton when he ran the successful ART outfit in GP2, will run the team day to day.
PERTH, FEBRUARY 3 (REUTERS): Matt Henry shrugged off the disappointment of missing out on selection for next month's World Twenty20 with a hostile spell of pace bowling that helped New Zealand ease to a 159-run win over Australia in the first one-day international on Wednesday. The 24-year-old Henry, who has been regularly overlooked this summer and then brought in as injury cover, took 3-20 in his first four overs at Eden Park as he and Trent Boult reduced the visitors to 41 for six in their pursuit of 308 to win. They were helped by an lbw decision against David Warner, who was told not to review by partner George Bailey despite the opener's concerns about the height. Ball tracking suggested
the ball would have gone well over the stumps, causing Warner to slam his bat into his pads as he watched the replay on the big screen. Wicketkeeper Matthew Wade (37) and all-rounder James Faulkner (36), however, then put on 79 runs to partially resurrect Australia's innings as they chased New Zealand's 307-8. Once Wade holed out at deep midwicket in the 21st over and Faulkner was bowled by Adam Milne in the 22nd, the match was all but over and they were bowled out for 148 in just 24.2 overs. Henry finished with 3-41, while Boult had 3-38. Mitchell Santner bowled just two balls and took the last two wickets. Martin Guptill top scored for New Zealand with 90, his highest total against Australia and his
29th one-day international half century. The 29-year-old opener, who hit one of his five sixes onto the roof of the stand at the Auckland venue, shared in partnerships of 79 runs with captain Brendon McCullum (44) and 100 with Henry Nicholls (61). New Zealand, who were asked to bat by Australia captain Steve Smith, had initially looked on course to set a total well in excess of 320 but lost wickets at critical times when batsmen looked set to push on. John Hastings was the most economical of the visiting bowlers with 1-39 from 10 overs, while fifth seamer Mitchell Marsh had figures of 2-35 from seven. The three-match oneday international series moves on to Wellington on Saturday with the sides also scheduled to play two tests.
Hiddink warns Guardiola of tough competition in EPL
London, FEBRUARY 3 (IAnS): Chelsea's interim manager Guus Hiddink has warned Pep Guardiola that he will find it tougher to win trophies at English Premier League (EPL) side Manchester City next season than during his time with FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich. The Spaniard will replace Manuel Pellegrini at the Etihad Stadium in the summer, having enjoyed great success as a coach in both La Liga in Spain and the Bundesliga in Germany. Hiddink feels that although Guardiola will take time to adjust to life in Eng-
lish football, he has the experience to cope. "It is a very attractive league for the younger managers. To work in this league is beautiful. He will face another league to that which he is used to. He has always had domination from the teams he worked with," Hiddink told reporters here on Tuesday. "This is a little bit different because there is no specific favourite as there is in Spain with Barcelona and Real Madrid, and in Germany where the only one who can be champion is Bayern. But it is not his first year. He is very experi-
enced in his career and he has the Spanish guys who are in Manchester City for many years who know this league," he said. Outgoing City boss Pellegrini has been linked with a move to Stamford Bridge, and Hiddink responded to questions if the Chilean could replace him. "That's up to Chelsea to decide. I have not met him or talked to him but I admire the approach of his football and his teams," he said. "He is a well-balanced manager and I respect him, without having met him," Hiddink concluded.
Sardar Singh denies sexual harassment charge Messi to meet young Afghan famed for shirt made from plastic bag
nEW dELHI, FEBRUARY 3 (PTI): Under-fire India hockey captain Sardar Singh on Wednesday rubbished alleged sexual harassment charges leveled against him by a British hockey player of Indian origin, saying even though he knew her they never got engaged as claimed by the woman. The 21-year-old woman has filed a written complaint with Ludhiana police, claiming she has been engaged to Sardar for the past four years and alleged that he "mentally, physically and emotionally tortured" her. "I know her but it's wrong to say that I assaulted her," Sardar said. She also alleged that Sardar forced her to abort their child last year against her wishes and later refused to marry her. Sardar said these are serious allegations and he will retort
back at an appropriate time as he is presently focusing on the ongoing Hockey India League, where he is captaining the Jaypee Punjab Warriors side. "Presently my full concentration in on the ongoing HIL. After last night's match, I came to know about the allegations. Tomorrow I have a match again. It is a very serious allegation. I will look at the report ans consult my lawyer. I will answer all questions but I need some time," he said. Asked whether he got engaged with the complainant, Sardar outrightly denied it, saying: "Nothing like that happened between us." In her complaint to the Ludhiana Police Commissioner P S Umranangal, the woman had accused the veteran midfielder of "mentally, physically and emotionally" tor-
turing her. The 21-year-old, in a startling revelation, has also claimed that Sardar, whom she met during the London Olympics in 2012 and has been engaged to him for the past four years, also forced her to abort their child in 2015. "We have been in a fouryear relationship which was known to all in India and abroad. I met him during the London Olympics and he finally proposed to me during the 2014 World Cup in Hague. He then invited me to his native village where Sardar and his family formally initiated the engagement," she alleged. "After this me and Sardar were expecting our first child in mid-2015. I spoke to him regarding this and he said sorry I don't want to have the child and you must abort it immediately otherwise I won't speak to
you and there will be no contact. "So under pressure and with him also threatening and blackmailing me physically and emotionally, I aborted our child under the consultation of my parents. After this, Sardar abandoned me," the woman further alleged. he complainant said she filed the FIR to make public Sardar's fraud and the injustice which she has meted on her. "I filed the FIR because Sardar has resorted to fraudulent means. He lied to me, cheated me, physically, mentally and emotionally abused me," she said. "It has come to the point now that I need justice as a woman. If Sardar has any self-respect, he will call me or contact my lawyers. I have full faith in Five year-old Murtaza Ahmadi, wears Barcelona's star Lionel Messi shirt Indian law and Indian judi- made of a plastic bag , as he plays football at the Afghan Football Federation ciary," she concluded. headquarter in Kabul, Afghanistan February 2. (REUTERS)
KABUL, FEBRUARY 3 (REUTERS): Barcelona star Lionel Messi will meet an Afghan boy who gained Internet fame after a touching series of photographs went viral, showing him playing in a shirt improvised from a plastic bag and bearing the name and playing number of his hero. Five year-old Murtaza, from a poor family in the Jaghori district in the central province of Ghazni, became an unlikely Internet sensation after the pictures were shared on Facebook and other social media sites. Unable to get a real Messi shirt, Murtaza's brother had rigged him up a plastic bag in the light blue and white colours of the Argentinian national team, with "Messi" and the number "10" written on it in marker pen. The pictures were shared around the world and the Afghan Football Federation said on its website on Monday it was in contact with representatives of Messi and would arrange for Murtaza to meet the player soon. Last month, Messi won the Ballon d'Or award for the world's best player for the fifth time.
public discourse
proMoTioN oF NAGAMese A THreAT To NAGA culTure
I
'm not against Nagamese developing as a common or Naga official language. But I'm also for balancing that with bilingualism - the language of your family and culture to speak at home, and Nagamese to get along in the neighbour outside of that. And then beyond that, as many additional languages as you have the time and resources to learn because multilingual people tend to have a broader view of the world and be more accepting of people who aren't just like them. That's another extremely valuable human trait. One practical reality we the present Naga generation should question ourselves and be well aware of is the standard of our present cultural life. How do we view our quality cultural life today? How do we evaluate ourselves in line with cultural identity? Do we virtualize our future well with this present trend of cultural life? Which organization will we opt for, present convenient or safeguard
traditional heritage? Whom will we let our children blame for the lost of our Naga cultural life? Have we ever given a thought of cultural declension and damage, caused by so called unofficial dialect (Nagamese)? I think no one could ever imagine of a greater cultural damage than ever if Nagamese is made official language. Nagas have deviated from the core reality of Culture. On analyzing such degradation of Naga cultural values and its pessimistic cause on life, I feel we need to revitalize and strengthen Naga cultural life. The present trend of Naga cultural life is shown below in the table for public awareness. This language declension has caused us: Loss of cultural information - There may be a lot of interesting and useful cultural information captured by a language's lexicon that is lost when the language dies. For example, a language might make a lexical
Language Survey: Usage of Naga Dialect ( by ICS, accredited body of UNESCO in 2006) Age group
80yr. above 60yr. above 40yr. above 20yr.above 20yr below. Total in percentage%
Language spoken in Rural area 95% 90% 85% 80% 75% 85%
distinction between two different types of plants that may ultimately have medical benefit. Ultimately, Language has been called "the DNA of culture." Loss of cultural identity Language is an important way of establishing and maintaining cultural identity. This may not seem important to you, but to a lot of cultures and peoples, it makes them happy to not assimilate 100% to the dominant culture. If culture is important to a tribe, then their language must be kept alive. Whether they are endangered or not, all languages carry a people’s identity and are part of their culture. The
Language spoken Who can speak pure in Urban area Naga Lang. Rural 90% 5% 85% 3% 80% 2% 75% 1% 70% 0% 80%
2.2%
threat that faces almost all Naga tribes is that their languages do not have written scripts, hence the likelihood of them becoming extinct with less usage is greater than that of other languages (like the alien languages) where a lot of material on the languages are captured in written form. Knowledge is also trapped in a language – specific knowledge about a people’s environment and their histories. Some of the puzzles of this modern era could possibly be solved with knowledge gleaned from endangered languages' knowledge that is not present in most of the alien languages. We recognize that language
Who can speak pure Naga Lang. Urban 2% 1% 0.75% 0% 0% 0.75%
is an essential means of transmitting cultural identity and educating future generations about indigenous knowledge and traditions. Yet, a global history of colonialism, racism, and discrimination has led to the extinction of approximately 600 languages in the last century. With 7,000 different speech systems in the world, many nearly killed off with their native speakers, preservation is a beyond-enormous goal. It’s also time sensitive. Experts estimate that 3,054 to 3,176 languages are endangered: That’s 43 to 46 percent of all known languages on earth, in addition to the hundreds that are
already extinct. According to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 90 percent of the world's languages are at risk of disappearing in the next 100 years. With most indigenous knowledge being passed down orally through the generations, and fewer and fewer young people learning linguistic traditions from their elders, the vast archive of traditional knowledge is at risk of being lost forever. Knowing the fact that no language is greater or lesser than the other we tend to evaluate language irrationally from literary perspective, undermining some and heartening the other as we inclined towards modernization. Cherishing the one that is dominant and convenient in usage while restrain which is not commonly spoken. Such trend of ignorance in failing to understand distinctiveness of language damages the values and ethos of language especially among the communities of third world countries.
Resulted in the extinction or lost of indigenous dialogue. Let’s revitalize, standardize and promote our Naga local dialects by strengthening them and take advantage of English international language which is our official language as well, by empowering at the maximum scale through different ways and means. So as to enable us to discourage recognition of Nagamese as official language, a conglomerated language that was fashioned by non Nagas to serve timely purpose of communication with other cultural communities. Therefore, identifying all the languages and literary problems of the past from particular contextual confrontation, people of present generation should rationally analyze and come up with inclusive and constrictive ideas to preserve and promote diminishing oral literature for the generation to come. Dr.Hesheto Y.Chishi Director, ICS Nagaland.
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.