Keon Daniel, who has already been called-up by Trinidad & Tobago, will not be available for Saturday’s game. Daniel said, “I’m always happy to play for my country. I think it’s an honor for every player. We haven’t been in a tournament for a while and I think the whole team is eager to play in a tournament like this—a major tournament…It will be sad for me to miss [MLS] games because I love being here to help my teammates. But life goes on and that’s why we are a team and not one player.”
John Hackworth described Daniel as having “his most consistent year as a professional at the highest level,” and said of the effect his call-up will have on the Union, “We’re going to miss (Daniel), but I think the most logical player (to replace him) would be Michael Farfan,. I think it’s an opportunity for Farfan to come back to a more natural position for him.”
Turning to Saturday’s game against Dallas —the start of a four game stretch that Hackworth said the team has talked about as “being pivotal to our success all year long”— there are a number of concerns.
Speaking at Wednesday’s weekly press conference (click here to watch video of the press conference), Hackworth noted that it important that the team put the euphoria over beating New York for the first time in two years behind them. “It is a challenge, there’s no question. We need to try to do a really good job of staying focused and not still thinking about New York. So far this week, I think the team has responded very positively. From what our staff can tell and in the conversations we’re having in our training, we’re fully focused on Dallas.”
Saturday’s game is the beginning of a three games in a week that includes road games against Real Salt Lake on Wednesday and Houston the following Saturday. Hackworth said, “I think we’ll be smart because we have to be. Anytime you’re faced with the selection challenges that we are going into Dallas and then knowing on the back side that we’re going to have to really tough road games, I think we have to play really smart. We have to know that this stretch of three games is going to be very difficult to get through and how we manage our roster at the time being and down a few members is going to be important.”
Hoppenot said, “We look at these next three games as being the most important of the season. Even at the beginning of the season, we knew this was going to be the deciding point of our season.”
Myanmar has announced the results of a landmark telecommunications auction, permitting investment into the country’s communication infrastructure and lifting traditional restrictions on cellphone ownership.
Telenor Mobile Communications of Norway and Ooredoo of Qatar have won 15-year concessions for the creation of mobile phone networks. Under military rule, mobile phones were kept in short supply — with only three percent of the population owning such a gadget in 2011. Laos, despite similar poverty levels, has a mobile penetration rate of 87 percent.
The landmark auction paves the way for additional freedom and access to information for the country’s 55 million people.
Three years ago, a mobile SIM card cost upwards of $2,500 which meant mobile devices were luxuries owned by the rich. Now recovering from military rule, mobile contracts will allow for innovation in the banking and payment industry, which is currently reliant on cash transactions. This will be key for Myanmar’s economic prospects in addition to the added bonus of improved communications infrastructure.
One crucial element remains: only 13 percent of Myanmar’s population has consistent access to electricity. This in itself will make cellular transmission towers difficult to place. However, because Myanmar is one of the world’s last remaining undeveloped mobile markets, the business prospects remain promising.
Recently, Myanmar’s Ministry for Hotels and Tourism unveiled a “master plan” to entice more tourists across the border. The plan includes strengthening tourism-related training and education, expanding international air arrivals rates, building better transport links and streamlining tourist-based business licensing.
Despite the long lines and Tarek el-Barkatawy, head of the Egyptian Gas and Petroleum Company, acknowledging a gas shortage at a press conference earlier in the week, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Sherif Hadarra denied any shortage on June 26. While Hadarra blamed the long lines at gas stations on false rumors that the government intends to halt the supply of gas products, el-Barkatawy reported that the current rate of gas consumption is exceeding normal levels by 20 to 30%.
Saad Abdel Magid, a Cairo taxi driver, also pointed to Egypt’s diminishing foreign reserves, which are a major factor underlying many of the nation's problems. “The country doesn’t have money, so the country doesn’t have gas,” he said while staring in frustration at a downtown traffic jam of cars haphazardly lined up near a gas station.
In a report issued June 25, the office of the president blamed the lack of fuel on the lack of foreign currency, but also cited smuggling and the black market for the shortage.
Oil-rich Iraq and Libya agreed to deals in March 2013 to supply oil to help ease Egypt's fuel shortages, but they both fell through in June. Indicative of a lack of confidence in Egypt’s economy, the talks ended when Iraq rejected a guarantee by the Egyptian Central Bank for the $1.2 billion value of the oil.
For Manar el-Barrawy, a private language instructor who depends on her car to reach her students, the lack of financial reserves, smuggling, hoarding all seem like plausible reasons for the gas shortage. She also thinks that the government’s ineptitude in monitoring fuel supplies and acting accordingly has a lot to do with the current problem. She told Al-Monitor, “Nothing is really clear.”
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