NEW YORK // A lockout of NBA players by club owners began one minute after midnight local time yesterday (8.01am UAE time), setting up a league shutdown that threatens the 2011/12 NBA season.
After a three-hour negotiating session failed on Thursday, NBA owners ordered the first work stoppage since the 1998/99 season was slashed from 82 to 50 games, leaving fans to wonder if next season will start as planned around November 1.
"I'm resigned to the potential damage it could do to our league," said David Stern, the NBA commissioner.
The pressure of lost income will not push talks for several months since the most recent NBA campaign ended on June 12, but that means talks might not become serious until October when training camps usually start.
The lockout means teams cannot conduct trades, sign out-of-contract players or have contract talks. Players, who will not be paid, are barred from using team facilities or working with team coaches.
Players must also take care of their own health insurance, an issue for some who might not want to risk playing in Olympic qualifying tournaments over the next few months due to the injury consequences no longer being covered by NBA clubs.
The NBA follows the National Football League into a work stoppage. Stern and Billy Hunter, the NBA players union executive director, failed to break the impasse in negotiations on Thursday, with owners saying only eight of 30 clubs make money as they seek a hard salary cap and payroll reductions from players.
"I've been anticipating this lockout for the last two or three years," Hunter said.
"It's here. Maybe now we can really begin to negotiate all those issues. Players want to continue playing basketball and are very disappointed."
Stern said that teams collectively are losing US$300 million (Dh1.10 billion) per season, and the owners and players face a huge divide in their financial proposals.
"The expiring collective bargaining agreement created a broken system that produced huge financial losses for our teams," said Adam Silver, the deputy commissioner. "We need a sustainable business model that allows all 30 teams to be able to compete for a championship, fairly compensates our players, and provides teams, if well-managed, with an opportunity to be profitable."
The players made a final pitch at the Thursday meeting but Stern said it would have raised the average player salary from $5m, the level the NBA was willing to accept, to $7m in its sixth year, a level Stern could not stomach.
"We don't have any choice," Stern said. "We've tried unsuccessfully to persuade the union. There has to be a return on the investment we are making. It worries me that we're not closer. We have a huge philosophical divide."
It now is unclear when such stars as LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki might return to the court, only two weeks after the German star Nowitzki led Dallas to victory over James and the Miami Heat in the NBA finals.
Sonchiriya
Director: Abhishek Chaubey
Producer: RSVP Movies, Azure Entertainment
Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Manoj Bajpayee, Ashutosh Rana, Bhumi Pednekar, Ranvir Shorey
Rating: 3/5
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The Vines - In Miracle Land
Two stars
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Fitness problems in men's tennis
Andy Murray - hip
Novak Djokovic - elbow
Roger Federer - back
Stan Wawrinka - knee
Kei Nishikori - wrist
Marin Cilic - adductor
The alternatives
• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.
• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.
• 2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.
• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases - but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.
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Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
