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WEDNESDAY, July 29, 2015 / 12 Shawwal 1436 AH timesofoman.com wtimesofoman.com facebook.com/timesofoman twitter.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com ISO 9001:2008 Certified Company

HM sends condolences to India, Saudi ArabiaMUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has sent a cable of condolences to President Pranab Mukherjee of India on the death of former Indian president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

In his cable, His Majesty the Sultan has expressed his sincere condolences and sympathy to President Mukherjee, the de-ceased’s family and the Indian people.

His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has also sent a cable of

condolences to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) on the death of Princess Misha’el bint Abdulmohsen bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

In his cable, His Majesty the Sultan has expressed his sincere condolences and sympathy to King Salman, praying to Allah the Almighty to rest the deceased’s soul in peace and grant her family patience. -ONA

C A B L E S

GRAND WELCOME FOR OMAN CRICKET HEROES Victorious Omani cricket team was accorded a rousing reception at the Muscat International Airport on Monday night. Cheering fans welcomed them to the beats of drums which lasted until the stroke of midnight. — Jun Estrada See also >C1

Will Oman go UAE way on fuel subsidies?

SALEH AL SHAIBANYsaleh@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Experts believe Oman will probably follow the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to end subsidies on domestic pet-rol as the country looks at ways to rein in its chronic deficits that have dogged its budgets in the last five years.

The UAE yesterday announced that domestic petrol prices will in-crease 23.6 per cent from AED1.72 to AED2.14 from August 1. Oman’s neighbour said that it would revise petrol prices every month based on global average prices.

That means, if international oil prices go up, drivers in the UAE would find a trip to their offices becoming dearer.

“I would not be surprised if Oman contemplates doing ex-actly the same thing. If a much richer country like the UAE is

now strapping itself for a tighter fiscal budget then Oman will find it hard to balance its accounting sheet if it continues with its poli-cies of subsidies,” Said Al Shihri, an independent economist, told the Times of Oman.

The UAE has already an-nounced that it will cut its spend-

ing in the next budget for the first time in 13 years. Oman on the other hand, may put the brakes on spending in 2016, as interna-tional prices are at the moment trading at around $51 per barrel.

Oman earned an average $115 per barrel in June 2014 before an oil glut in the world market forced prices down after heavy-weight producers like Saudi Ara-bia kept pumping in more oil.

2016 budget“It is just a matter of time before Oman decides to drop fuel subsi-dies like the UAE. I have no doubt in my mind that the decision to cut subsidies in fuel will be done by the first quarter of next year. I am sure the Ministry of Finance is looking keenly at the develop-ment in the UAE while reflecting on the 2016 budget to balance the books,” said financial analyst Fa-reed Al Ojaili. >A6

Experts believe

it’s just a matter of

time before Oman

decides to drop fuel

subsidies, like the

UAE, to rein in rising

deficits and balance

the accounting sheet

Orphan children adopted swiftlyTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Orphans find a home as soon as they are brought in, and that is the reason why the num-bers at the Child Care Centre in Al Khoud are not high, said an of-ficial at the centre.

The number of orphaned chil-dren at the Child Care Centre in

Al Khoud largely remains low because of eager parents who are ready to adopt them, the official explained.

The procedure“To adopt an orphan, parents must send a letter expressing their desire to foster a child to the Directorate of Family Devel-

opment at the Ministry of Social Development, where the proce-dures are initiated,” said Hamed Al Matroushi, director general of family empowerment and devel-opment at the ministry and act-ing director of the Child Welfare Centre, while speaking to Al Sha-biba, the sister publication of the Times of Oman. >A6

C H I L D C A R E C E N T R E I N A L K H O U D

OMANTributes to Kalam

2Indian expats mourned the death of ex-president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. >A4, 9

WORLDLibyan court sentences Gaddafi’s son to death

3 A Libyan court sentenced Muammar Gaddafi’s son Saif Al Islam and eight others to death over war crimes including killings of protesters during the 2011 revolution. >A11

OMANAlawi meets Benkirane

1Moroccan PM Abdelilah Benkirane met Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah. >A3

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

Deregulating fuel prices

Graphics

Oman government

petrol subsidy

Petrol price set to increase in UAE domestic market

Diesel price cut in UAE (Dirhams)

Cost per barrel (US$)

(Dirhams)

115

51

23.6%-29%

June2014

July2015

2.14

1.72

2.902.05

I would not be surprised if Oman contemplates doing

exactly the same thing

Said Al Shihri Independent economist

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Oman, Britain dialogue’s focus on SMEs and Islamic banking Times News Service

LONDON: On the occasion of the Omani British Friendship Asso-ciation (OBFA) Financial Services Roundtable, The Anglo-Omani So-ciety and OBFA hosted a reception on Monday in the presence of His Royal Highness The Duke of York and His Highness Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, patrons of OBFA.

Attended by leading dignitaries and senior level business figures from both Britain and the Sultan-ate, the event, hosted by the Anglo-Omani Society and OBFA at the Society’s premises in Sackville Street, was organised on the oc-casion of the OBFA Financial Ser-vices Roundtable.

Aimed at enhancing financial and business co-operation, the programme included sessions on the development of public-private partnerships (PPP), SMEs, and Is-

lamic banking, with an emphasis on how the United Kingdom (UK) can assist Oman in these develop-ments. To this end, the reception closed the programme of events offering a unique opportunity for commercial networking.

Robert Alston, chairman of The Anglo-Omani Society, welcomed the attendees at the reception ,say-ing, “The Anglo Omani Society is pleased to partner OBFA in today’s important discussions about the further development of the eco-nomic ties between the two coun-tries.”

Decision-makingThe Omani British Friendship As-sociation was formed in 1991 and welcomed Maqbool bin Ali bin Sultan and Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles as chairmen last year. Its particular strength is the senior level of its members and their abil-

ity to inform key decision-makers on issues of common interests which can help facilitate trade and investment between Oman and Britain.

During the reception, Maqbool bin Ali bin Sultan stressed the importance of the diversification of the economy and the human resources development in the Sul-tanate.

He added that there are many profitable investment opportuni-ties in these areas and encouraged British companies to invest in fea-sible projects. OBFA, he said, will be pleased to provide more details on these investments.

Sultan also spoke about the Fi-nancial Services Roundtable con-ference at the Mansion House, which was well attended by a vari-ety of experts in finance and bank-ing and representatives of compa-nies from both the UK and Oman.

R O U N D T A B L E M E E T I N G

GLOBAL TIES: The Omani British Friendship Association strength is the senior level of its members and their ability to inform key decision-makers on issues of common interests. HRH The Duke of York and HH Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq Al Said attend the event as guests of honour.–ONA

Real estate trade clocks OMR2.2b

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Total traded value of real estate activities recorded un-til the end of June 2015 crossed OMR2.2 billion — a 45.9 per cent rise, compared to figures recorded

during the same period in 2014.In contrast, the activities in

the real estate sector had crossed OMR1.52 billion until June 2014, stated the National Centre for Sta-tistics and Information (NCSI).

The fees collected for all legal

transactions crossed OMR25.6 million, a 12.8 per cent increase. The traded value of sales con-tracts also increased 4.7 per cent to cross OMR649 million. The number of selling contracts wit-nessed a 4.8 per cent decline to 42,261 compared to 44,395 during the same period of 2014.

The traded value of mortgage contracts logged a 10.2 per cent increase to reach 11,585, com-pared to 10,514 recorded until the end of June 2014.

The value of exchange con-tracts logged a 143.5 per cent in-crease until the end of June 2015 by reaching OMR11.20 million, compared to the same period of 2014, when it reached OMR4.60 million. The number of exchange contracts recorded an increase of 6.5 per cent to reach 703 by the end of last June, compared to 660

recorded during the same period of 2014.

Title deeds The statistics also revealed that 126,828 title deeds were issued by the end of last June, a 5.8 per cent increase, compared to the same period of 2014, when 119,849 title deeds were issued.

The number of title deeds is-sued for nationals of GCC coun-tries witnessed a 27 per cent de-crease by the end of June to reach 1,354 as compared to 1,854 during the same period of 2014.

The fees collected for all legal transactions

crossed OMR25.6 million — a 12.8 per cent

increase. The traded value of sales contracts

also increased 4.7 per cent to cross OMR649

million. But the number of title deeds issued

witnessed a 27 per cent decrease

Real estate activityTotal trade value Number of selling contracts

Traded value of mortgagecontracts

Exchange contracts

2014

2015

2014

2015

45.9%-4.8%

1,529

2,231

25,6

(OMR million, end of June)

Collected fees of all legal

transactions

649

Traded value of sales

contracts

Source: NCSI Graphics

2014

2015

10.2%

11,585

2014

2015

143.5%

4,200

42,26144,395

10,514

11,600 HAVE YOUR SAY Send us your comments at facebook.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com haveyoursay@timesofoman.com

Total traded value of real estate activities recorded till the end of June 2015 recorded a 45.9 per cent hike, compared to figures recorded during the same period of 2014.

National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI)

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Pakistan Social Club calls to renew membershipTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Pakistan Social Club (PSC) has urged the Pakistani community in Oman to join the club while calling on its regis-tered members to renew their membership as soon as possible.

According to A H Raja, PSC vice-chairman, Ministry of So-cial Development has instruct-ed all community clubs to hold their election within 30 days of the completion of their term on December 30, which marks an end to the official calendar year.

Henceforth, the AGM must also be held on or before Janu-ary 30. The ministry wants this rule to be strictly observed, said Raja.

“In order to comply with the ministry directive, PSC wishes to inform all our community members and Club members to obtain new memberships or re-new their existing memberships immediately in order to par-ticipate in the forthcoming PSC AGM/election scheduled to be held on or before 31/01/2016 as directed by the Ministry of So-cial Development,” the PSC of-ficial added.

It may be noted that only a member having six months old membership can contest elec-tion or cast his or her vote in the AGM 2016.

E X P A T I S S U E S

Fatigue leads to accidents: ROP

TARIQ AL HAREMItariqh@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Motorists must be careful while driving long dis-tances as fatigue could set in and that could lead to accidents, the Royal Oman Police has said.

With most travellers driving towards Salalah for the Khareef season, safety experts have been highlighting the need for taking breaks. According to the Nation-al Centre for Statistics and In-formation (NCSI) 150,000 have already visited Salalah as of July 21.

The Royal Oman Police (ROP) has advised people to pull over to the side of the road and park in a safe place on long trips for a break if they are feeling fatigued.

“Resting during long trips from time to time will benefit the mind and body to stay awake and alert as it will also benefit the passen-gers on board as well as the ve-hicle. Pushing yourself to drive long hours, especially in the heat, could result in an accident,” said the tweeted guideline advisory from the ROP.

The late Sheikh Khalfan Al Esry once said in a speech, “Your eyes can be open but your brain is sleeping, and no matter how much you rinse your face with water or drink hot coffee, your brain wants to sleep, and that will affect your concentration.”

“It is better for you to have a nap, sleep for some time and be refreshed for the journey,” he said.

In 2014, fatigue was the reason behind ten accidents resulting in seven deaths and nine injuries.

During long trips drivers must also watch out for animals such as camels straying into the ve-hicle’s path. It is fairly common to spot a flock of goats or camels along the way during long drives

and the ROP advises drivers to slow down as animals are unpre-dictable and can interfere with the driver’s path.

There has been a 1.7 per cent increase in road accidents across the Sultanate compared to the same period last year, according to the monthly bulletin of the Na-tional Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) for July.

The report says that 2,958 ac-cidents were recorded till June, compared to 2,909 for the same period in 2014. Fatalities de-creased 24 per cent compared to

last year, with 307 people losing their lives in the first half of 2015, compared to 404 last year.

According to optalert.com there are two main reasons for fatigue. The first is lack of quality or quantity of sleep, and driving during a time of day when you should be normally asleep.

Symptoms for detecting fa-tigue range from narrowing vi-sion, poor judgment and inability to keep your eyes open, to drift-ing off lane, and daydreaming, apart from yawning constantly and rubbing the eyes.

The Royal Oman

Police has advised

drivers to move to the

side of the road and

park the vehicle in a

safe place for a break,

if they are feeling

tired after hours of

driving on long trips

Sultanate promotes global peace, regional brotherhoodCAIRO: Countries should pro-mote positive relations to achieve a common interest, said Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Minister Re-sponsible for Foreign Affairs, at a press conference in Cairo.

At a joint press conference with Sameh Shoukry, Egyptian foreign minister, the Omani minister said that the Sultanate has good rela-tions with every country and this is one of the highlights of Oman’s’ ties with other countries.

As for establishing a joint Arab force, the Omani minister said that the Sultanate hopes that this force is established to meet the current needs.

He stressed the importance of finding political solutions to the problems in the Arab world and underpinned the fact that violence and power will lead to nothing. He highlighted the co-ordination with Egypt about the challenges facing the region and stressed the impor-tance of Arab co-operation in com-plex Arab issues.

He congratulated the Egyptian people for the opening of the new Suez Canal and hailed the digging of the canal in such a short time.

The Egyptian Foreign Minister stressed the deep-rooted relations binding Egypt and the Sultan-ate, pointing out that the leader-

ships in both countries sought to enhance bilateral relations and co-operation. He hailed the Sul-tanate’s stance towards Egypt on various occasions.

He also said that the meeting covered situations in Syria, Libya and exchanged views on the im-portance of close consultations between the two countries to find suitable solutions for these is-sues, and maintain Arab national security. He also added that the proposed Arab joint force is a vol-untary initiative that aims at en-suring stability and is not target-ing any party. It is meant to defend Arab joint interests. -ONA

D I P L O M A C Y

Times News Service

MUSCAT: A campaign, launched a couple of weeks ago, focuses on raising the awareness of tourists, Min-istry of Tourism (MoT) staff, workers in the tourism sec-tor and taxi drivers on safe driving, under the slogan “Drive safely and enjoy the Sultanate”.The ongoing nationwide awareness campaign on road safety, a joint initia-tive by the MoT and Royal Oman Police, is one among the many people-focussed efforts designed by the min-istry to promote the tourism sector in the Sultanate and also to enhance public awareness of the same.

According to Ahmed bin Said Al Bahrani, tourist affairs researcher and a member of the Road Safety Committee at the MoT, the ministry has organised an array of programmes and events including work-shops and talks about road safety, especially in tourist destinations in the Sultanate targeting its employees from regional departments across governorates. The ministry has also broad-cast awareness messages via various social networking sites and tourism informa-tion centres, highlighting the significance of a culture of road safety across tourist sites.

Tourism Ministrypitches for safety

SAFE DRIVE: The ministry has organised awareness lectures on road safety at major tourist attractions in the Sultanate.–Supplied photo

Alawi holds talks with Morocco PM RABAT: Moroccan Prime Min-ister Abdelilah Benkirane re-ceived here, on Tuesday, Yousef bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Minis-ter Responsible for Foreign Af-fairs, who is currently visiting Morocco.

During the meeting the two leaders discussed ways of fur-ther enhancement of the bilat-eral relations between the two countries, issues of common concern and cooperation be-tween the two countries.

The two leaders also ex-changed views on a number of issues of concern to the Arab and Muslim world, particularly the latest developments in the Middle East and the horizons for providing peaceful solutions to the crisis witnessed in the re-gion. The two sides also pledged to enhance the relations and political consultations between the two countries under the Royal care of His Majesty Sul-tan Qaboos bin Said. -ONA

R E G I O N A L T I E S

A4 W E D N E S DAY, J U LY 2 9, 2 0 1 5

OMANExpatriates mourn Kalam’s demise

APJ Abdul Kalam,

who visited Oman in

2009, left a lasting

impression on the

members of the

Indian community

and the children he

addressed. During

his visit to Oman,

he also interacted

with Omani school

children. As the

president of his

country, he interacted

with the top leaders

of the world as

well as youths and

students

Kalam left lasting impression on Indian Diaspora in OmanMRUDU NAIKmrudu@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Indians in Oman mourned the passing away of the country’s much loved former president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, who suffered a heart attack and died while delivering a lecture at a management institute in the eastern Indian city of Shillong on Monday.

Kalam, who visited Oman in 2009, left a lasting impression on the members of the Indian com-munity and the children he ad-dressed. During his stay in Oman he also interacted with Omani school children.

Ahmed Rayees, president, school management committee, Indian School Ghubra is someone who had got the opportunity to interact with Kalam a number of times.

“Each time I was impressed by his wisdom and vision. On one such occasion, I met him with my sons’ and my father, when he was the President of India at his official residence. We had an ap-pointment of 10 minutes and it lasted for more than half an hour. He was enjoying every minute he interacted with my children. The officials reminded him a number of times that he needed to close the session. He just waved them off and continued. The interac-tion with my children hovered from India’s future to the world politics. He even told me off when in my eagerness; I answered a question instead of my children,” said Rayees.

“During the conversation, he asked my boys to join politics and to make positive changes in our nation’s future,” he said.

Rayees feels, “his ideas were far ahead of his time. He had a sheer passion to inspire all of us and he succeeded. He left a mark and touched the lives of many Indians and citizens of the world”.

He had a great impact on India and that will never be forgotten for a very long time.

Rayees considers his speech at the European parliament on their golden jubilee celebration most

inspirational. He quoted Kaniyan Pungundranar, the Tamil poet where he said, ““When there is Righteousness in the heart, There is Beauty in the character. When there is Beauty in the character, there is Harmony at home. When there is Harmony at home, there is Order in the nation. When there is Order in the nation, there is Peace in the world.”

“It was one of the most inspira-tional speech,” Rayees said.

P.V. Venkatesh, former presi-dent, Indian Social Club, Tamil Wing said, “It is very sad to hear that Dr Kalam is no more. We had the unique privilege of hosting him in Muscat in the year 2009 .Those were the most cherished days of my life. His vision for In-dia and the world, his passion for the cause he espoused, his pro-found happiness when he inter-acted with children, his admira-tion for teachers, and finally his inspired leadership, they all truly made him a statesman par excel-lence.”

Venkatesh recalled that dur-ing his four-day visit to Muscat, among others, he met and inter-acted with more than 6,000 chil-dren from all nationalities and made them take the pledge for the nation’s development.

Humanist, visionaryAnil Wadhwa, present secretary (East), India’s Ministry of Ex-ternal Affairs, who was the am-bassador to Oman when Kalam visited the Sultanate said, “With the passing away of Dr Kalam we have lost a humanist and a vision-ary who loved his country and his people dearly.

He contributed immensely to the Indian society through sci-ence, his writings and his interest in education and consequent up-lift of the common citizen of the country.

Kalam was humble yet firm and articulate, he was compassionate yet a stickler for law or the land and rules of governance which are important for a diverse coun-try like India to progress.”

Wadhwa added, “He carved out a niche for himself in the post of

president where he interacted with the top leadership of the world as well as the youth and students with equal ease. His vision of empowerment of the youth and building solid institu-tions will endure forever. Indian nationals living in Muscat will re-member him from the time when he visited there a few years ago and interacted with all sections of the society. The greatest trib-ute we can pay to him would be to follow his path for progress and prosperity of India.”

Pointing out that Kalam had this amazingly different per-spective of things, Giri Balasu-bramaniam, Quizmaster & CEO, Greycaps said, “Once we were together with some teachers from Sweden and he introduced me to them as a quizmaster and then asked, ‘Do you know what quiz-master means?’ They did not so he smiled and said, ‘Well, he too is a teacher like you all. His method of teaching is a little different and his classroom is sometimes a sta-dium.”

The quizmaster said, “Kalam patronised us because we were messengers of knowledge and learning for children. Such was his commitment to making India a better place.”

Astrin D’silva, manager - mar-keting and corporate commu-nications, Travel City LLC said, “Shouldering the blame for fail-ure and conferring credit where it is due comes rarely to most. In an era where playing the blame-game and taking undue credit to forge ahead in life has become the norm, Dr Kalam had a thought which was different. That an ex-emplary leader is one who gives credit and recedes into the shad-ow as the protégé takes centre-stage.”

She said, “A creative leader gives credit to his team when there is success and when there is defeat he absorbs it. Today, is the saddest day for India and for the world of science and politics. As a scientist, his vision was revolu-tionary. In politics he spearhead-ed the nation without needing to play the game.”

2 0 0 9 V I S I T

Indian nationals living in Muscat will remember him from the time when he visited there a few years ago and interacted with all sections of the societyAnil Wadhwa, Former Indian ambassador to Oman

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Bait Muzna Gallery opens in Salalah

SARAH MACDONALDsarah@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Bait Muzna Gallery, Muscat’s first private art gallery, has opened a location in Salalah at the Salalah Beach Resort where it will promote Omani artists to the growing number of tourists who visit Dhofar.

The gallery had its soft open-ing on July 18 under the auspices of Ahmed Al Mashikhi, Director of Omani Fine Art Society – Dho-

far Governorate, and with special guests Issam Kahlan Al Barwani, VP Operations Destination of Salalah Beach and Hossam Kamal, GM of Salalah Rotana Resort.

Sayyida Susan Al Said, owner of Bait Muzna, said the local art-ists in and around Salalah need more space to show their work, so the gallery is welcomed by the arts community. One of the goals of the new gallery is to support the growing arts scene in Salalah and encourage new talent.

Like its location in Muscat, Bait Muzna Gallery will exhibit paint-ings, photographs, sculptures and other types of fine arts, leaving handicrafts to the Public Author-ity for Craft Industries to promote.

Bait Muzna Gallery in Sala-lah will also host exhibitions by international artists and invited them to share their expertise with the local arts community. Al Said said she hopes the gallery will be able to feature artists specialise in media such as watercolours, pas-

tels, oil painting, photography and even woodworking. “We do plan to bring international and regional artists to give workshops to inspire and further develop the skills of the local artists,” said Al Said.

The new gallery will comple-ment the new hotels and other tourist attractions that are open-ing in Salalah, she added.

“It’s a positive move to have a presence to showcase the arts and provide the visitors with a venue that’s easily accessible and pleas-

ant to visit,” she said. The gallery will also be able to

offer framing services for the new hotels and community. It will also feature some Rajasthani furniture to help the patrons imagine how the works of art might look in a home, noted Al Said.

Bait Muzna Gallery’s Salalah Branch is located in the East Block at Salalah Beach Marina, near the Juweira Boutique Hotel. It is open from Monday to Saturday from 10am to 10pm.

One of the goals of

the new gallery is to

support the growing

arts scene in Salalah

and encourage new

talent

ART AND CULTURE: Bait Muzna Gallery in Salalah will also host exhibitions by international artists and invite them to share their expertise with the local arts community. –Supplied photos

SALALAH: Focus was on youth and community programmes as the second youth forum for Friends of the Arab Woman Or-ganisation was inaugurated on Tuesday at Rotana Hotel Salalah.

The two-day event is hosted by Public Authority for Craft Indus-tries (PACI) and Ministry of So-cial Development in collaboration with Arab Woman Organisation.

The opening ceremony was held under the auspices of Sayyid Mo-hammed bin Sultan Al Busaidi, minister of state and governor of Dhofar in the presence of Sheikha Aisha bint Khalfan Al Siyabiyah, PACI chairperson, and member of the Executive Council of the Arab Woman Organisation. The PACI chairperson hoped that the host-ing of the forum would enhance the role of the Sultanate in the sus-tainable development.

The forum, in which 90 per-sonalities are taking part, will dis-cuss a number of themes related to capacity building of youth in adopting and implementing com-munity programmes and projects that support the comprehensive development at the regional level.

The participants will also be briefed on voluntary work initia-tives and case studies on women involvement and contribution.– ONA

Y O U T H I N I T I A T I V E

SQU students get statistics trainingTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Thirteen students majoring in statistics from the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) are being trained at the National Centre for Statistics and Infor-mation (NCSI) in various aca-demic and practical fields of sta-tistics.

The programme started last Sunday and will continue for a month. The NCSI recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the SQU for collabo-rating in the fields of research and training. The MoU mandates that the Centre provide necessary in-formation for researchers, includ-ing SQU professors and students.

It also stipulates that the centre should provide practical training to university students who spe-cialise in areas that come under the scope of the centre’s projects. By virtue of the MoU, the centre is given priority in attending various symposia and training courses held by SQU.

The university provides the necessary technical support in operating the library at NCSI. It also offers academic expertise

needed by the centre and con-ducts joint studies and research projects. In addition, it provides specialised technical training courses for NCSI staff.

NCSI has, since the beginning of 2015, trained a total of 27 stu-dents (both males and females)

from various educational insti-tutions in the Sultanate. Of this, eight were information technol-ogy students, while seven pursued business administration and hu-man resources.

Another batch of nine was from statistics stream. Three were

from the field of information technology. Further, employees from various government depart-ments have also been trained in the field of statistical analysis at the Centre’s Directorates General for Information and Economic Statistics.

R E S E A R C H A N D T R A I N I N G

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS: NCSI recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the SQU for collaborating in the fields of research and training.–Supplied photo

Treatment of Hepatitis C needs early awarenessTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Stressing the im-portance of early awareness on Hepatitis C, medical experts in Oman said that tackling the dis-ease dubbed as a “silent killer” needs close monitoring and early screenings, to mitigate the risk of the viral infection developing into mortally dangerous stages among people susceptible to the ailment.

A statement from the global bio-pharmaceutical company, Bristol Myers-Squibb quoting medical experts and published reports on regional Hepatitis C in-fection said that across the world, about 130 to 150 million people have long-term (chronic) infec-tion with Hepatitis C.

In Arab countries, more than 20 million people have been infected with the virus, it said, adding that these numbers will continue to rise, unless something significant is done to stop the spread of this virus, said experts.

“In Oman, hospital-based local screening programmes are the norm in diagnosing Hepatitis C infection among the population. The screening is done particularly among high-risk categories of the population and these measures have helped us identify the spread of disease in the country and over the last few years the number of

identified cases for both HCV and HBV has increased significantly,” said Dr Said A Al Busaifi, consult-ant, Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Liver Transplantation, Sul-tan Qaboos University Hospital, Oman.

“In Oman, conducting work-shops among local GPs on Hepa-titis-C will also have an impact on diagnosis of new cases,” he said.

Significantly, the Hepatitis-C treatment landscape has changed in Oman with the advent of direct antiviral agents (DAA).

“Without any doubt, the new

anti-viral treatments are going to make the lives of patients much easier.

The high-cure rate, easy course of medication, short duration and high degree of tolerance to these new drugs among patients will help us cure the disease faster,” noted Dr. Said, and added that nowadays patients in Oman are increasingly asking for the new methodology of treatment with DAAs.

Hepatitis C which could se-verely damage the liver could turn serious or even life-threatening.

Hepatitis refers to a condition where the liver is inflamed (‘hepa’ refers to the liver and ‘itis’ refers to inflammation). The liver is the one of the largest organs in the hu-man body that performs a variety of functions, from helping to di-gest food, to removing toxins from the body, to fighting diseases.

The Hepatitis viruses – par-ticularly the five Hepatitis A, B, C, D and E viruses – are some of the main causes of Hepatitis. Some of these viruses can spread through contaminated water, but Hepa-titis C is “blood-borne” which

means that it spreads through blood. Although millions of people across the globe have this infec-tion, many people are not aware of it, pointed out experts.

Explaining further, experts said that not everyone with a Hepati-tis C infection goes on to develop severe liver disease. In fact, about 15–45 per cent of people are able to rid themselves of the virus within six months without any medication, and without even re-alising that they had an infection. Some people may only develop a mild infection.

H E A L T H I S S U E S

Focus on youth at Arab women forum

In Oman, hospital-based local screening programmes

are the norm in diagnosing Hepatitis C infection.

The screening is done particularly among high-risk

categories of the population and these measures

have helped us identify the spread of disease

Dr Said A Al BusaifiConsultant, Gastroenterology, Sultan Qaboos University Hospital

A6

OMANW E D N E S DAY, J U LY 2 9, 2 0 1 5

The steps we are taking under this new initiative are designed to both identify incidences of fraud and deter fraudsters from continuing with their criminal actsMohammed Al Shikely, General Manager Marketing for Oman Air

END CALLSAVE LIVES

A TIMES OF OMANHANDS-FREE DRIVING INITIATIVE

Oman Air’s initiative to prevent credit card frauds Times News Service

MUSCAT: Oman Air has an-nounced the launch of a new initi-ative to prevent credit card fraud.

The campaign will see a tightening of checks on the validity of credit card transactions. It will be backed up with social media announcements, e-flyers and newsletters.

The move aims at raising aware-ness among customers about the potential for credit card fraud and the steps Oman Air is taking to

protect its customers from such fraud. Customers who use credit cards to book tickets will be re-quired to carry the same card with them during check-ins.

If a third-party card has been used for the booking and the cardholder is not present, the passenger should carry relevant authorisation from the person named on the card. Random checks by Oman Air’s staff will be carried out to ensure the legiti-macy of the booking.

Announcing the initiative,

Mohammed Al Shikely, General Manager Marketing for Oman Air, said: “Credit card fraud is on the rise globally. Not only does it harm businesses, but it also causes great distress and inconvenience for consumers. Oman Air is therefore taking every possible step to pre-vent this from happening in pro-tection of our customers.”

Deter fraudsters“The steps we are taking under this new initiative are designed to both identify incidences of fraud

and deter fraudsters from contin-uing with their criminal acts. We would like to thank our customers in advance for their co-operation with, and support for this vital ini-tiative,” said Al Shikely.

Oman Air’s latest anti-fraud campaign builds on a series of measures which are already in place.

These include secure credit card transactions on the airline’s website, the highest levels of se-cure data storage and continuing review of retail transactions.

N E W M E A S U R E S

AWARENESS DRIVE: The campaign will see a tightening of checks on the validity of credit card transactions. -Supplied photo

‘Ibn Battuta the musical’ charms all at Expo Milan

Times News Service

MUSCAT: It was a journey back in time as Ibn Battuta, the musical, was staged at the Expo Milan 2015 recently with the participation of 180 artistes, including many Oma-nis. Ibn Battuta is an adventurous story about a modern-day woman who goes back in time with the 14th century Moroccan explorer to retrace some of his travels in Morocco, Egypt, the Levant and Oman.

The musical showed the diver-sity of the Arab world and brought the elements of rhythm and dance from four different regions. The heart and soul of each area was presented through the music.

The musical focussed strongly on Oman, which was one of the

many countries Ibn Battuta visited during his travels. The musical put the Sultanate in the international spotlight in Milan and also show-cased what a beautiful, peaceful nation it is.

The musical was held under the patronage of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and was also supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Oman Airport Manage-ment Company, and Oman Arab Bank, apart from Oman Air and the Duqm Special Economic Zone Authority.

Omani pavilionAt the expo, the Sultanate’s delega-tion participated in the celebra-tion of the Omani pavilion on the National Day and also visited the pavilions of some friendly coun-

tries, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Qatar, in addition to the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Federal Republic of Germany.

The Sultanate’s delegation was chaired by Dr Fu’aad bin Ja’afar Al Sajwani, minister of agricul-ture and fisheries, and member of the ministerial committee to supervise the preparations for the participation of the Sultanate in the exhibition, in the presence of Ahmed bin Nasser Al Mahrazi, minister of tourism, Mohsen bin Khamis Al Balushi, advisor of the Ministry of Commerce and In-dustry and commissioner general of the Sultanate’s Pavilion in the exhibition, Dr. Hamad bin Said Al Oufi, undersecretary of the Min-istry of Agriculture and Fisheries

and deputy commissioner gen-eral of the Sultanate’s Pavilion in the exhibition, Mohammed bin Youssef Al Zarafi, undersecretary for Administrative and Financial Affairs in the Foreign Ministry, and a number of officials from var-ious government agencies.

The delegation was briefed, dur-ing the visits to the different pa-vilions, on the experiences of the friendly countries in their partici-pation at the expo and on the con-tent in their pavilions, as well as the techniques used in their efforts to provide and translate the theme of Expo Milan “Food Planet - En-ergy for Life.”

The Sultanate’s Pavilion en-joyed a large turnout of visitors, for its content that characterised the Omani through the ages.

Ibn Battuta is an

adventurous story

about a modern-day

woman who goes back

in time with the 14th

century Moroccan

explorer to retrace

some of his travels in

Morocco, Egypt, the

Levant and Oman

SHOWCASING DIVERSITY: The musical showed the diversity of the Arab world and brought the elements of rhythm and dance from four different regions. – Supplied photos

Petrol prices in Sultanate among cheapest in world

Petrol sold in Oman is among the cheapest available anywhere in the world, but the government is subsidising it by as much as 50 per cent. It has remained un-changed for more than a decade.

Like the UAE, Oman has been increasing spending for more than a decade to finance various infrastructure projects at the cost of rising budget deficits.

“Let us look at the bright side. If Oman goes for the deregulation of petrol prices, which it is more likely to do, there will be many advantages such as a cleaner environment, lower fuel con-sumption, reduced road conges-tion and support to the national economy,” Ahmed Al Habsi, eco-nomic analyst at Capital Invest-

ment Company, told the Times of Oman.

But the UAE, while hiking pet-rol prices across the nation, has reduced diesel by 29 per cent from AED2.90 to AED2.05.

“Oman would want to follow suit on this too. Dropping diesel prices makes a lot of sense since this will reduce the overheads

of local industries to make their productions cheaper. As a result, prices of goods in the local mar-kets will be more competitive and people will save money from their shopping. It will offset high-er spending for your car but get a relief on your monthly spending. This way, everybody is a winner,” added Al Shihri.

D E R E G U L A T I O N O F P E T R O L P R I C E S

< FROM

A1

“The parents are subjected to a background check on social, residential, economical and medical aspects, among other things, in order to ensure an ap-propriate living environment for the child, keeping in mind that it is only limited to Oma-nis,” he added.

Currently, of the 113 orphans being taken care of, there are 30 girls and 73 boys. Of the boys, 35 are over the age of 14.

When asked about how they receive the children, Al Ma-troushi said, “Children are re-ceived via the ministry in co-operation with the directorates of social development in the governorates, the Royal Oman Police (ROP) and through the courts. The children undergo a health check-up to make sure they do not have any contagious diseases. After that their birth records are officially registered and they are welcomed into the care centre.”

The children live in one of the 33 villas provided by the cen-tre where four to five children, both boys and girls of various ages, are taken care of by the “mother” or “aunt”. Each villa contains four rooms. There is the mother’s room, three chil-dren’s rooms, of which one is for the boy or the eldest girl, and the rest are for smaller children.

The boys aged over 14 years live with a “father” in separate villas which are rented by the Ministry of Social Development in Al Khuwair, Ghubra, Athaiba, Mawaleh and Al Khoud.

Since education is an impor-tant aspect of any youth’s life, the orphans are sent to public and private schools. The acting par-ents from the orphanage contin-ue to monitor academic progress of the children as their own.

“After reaching the legal age the children can study further by enrolling in colleges and uni-versities which will be moni-tored by us. However, if they do not choose to go to college we will look for job opportunities in public, private and military sectors for them,” said Al Ma-troushi.

Since being established in December 1995, the Child Care Centre has transferred the building to Al Khoud, where they abide by four elements necessary for the child’s devel-opment. These are home, moth-er, siblings and community, where they teach the orphans the values of life, religion, soci-ety, and education, apart from health and psychology.

A D O P T I O N

< FROM

A1Rigorous check for parents

A7

REGIONW E D N E S DAY, J U LY 2 9, 2 0 1 5

One in two of Yemen’s people - nearly 13 million - are now struggling to find enough to eatOxfam

6m on the brink of starvation in war-torn Yemen

LONDON: More than 6 million people in Yemen are on the verge of starvation, Oxfam warned on Tuesday, adding that months of war and a blockade on imports were pushing an additional 25,000 people into hunger every day.

Also on Tuesday, a humanitar-ian truce has failed to take hold af-ter Saudi-led warplanes resumed strikes against rebels, military sources said.

One in two of Yemen’s people - nearly 13 million - are now strug-gling to find enough to eat, the aid agency said. “As the warring parties continue to ignore calls for a ceasefire, the average family in Yemen is left wondering when their next meal will be,” Oxfam’s Yemen country director Philippe Clerc said. Nearly 4,000 people have been killed and more than 1.2 million displaced in a conflict between Houthi rebels and forces loyal to exiled President Abdrab-bo Mansour Hadi. Four fifths of the population need help, the United Nations says.

Oxfam said the number of hun-gry people had risen by 2.3 mil-lion to 12.9 million since March, when a Saudi-led coalition back-ing Hadi began bombarding the Houthis and imposed a blockade in a bid to cut off arms supplies. “In a country that has historically faced food shortages, this is the highest ever recorded number of people living in hunger,” Oxfam

said in a statement. It said the blockade had exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, which imports up to 90 per cent of its food and the majority of its fuel. UN humanitarian coordina-tor for Yemen Johannes van der Klaauw said more than 6 million people were in an emergency food situation - the phase before fam-ine on the internationally used food security scale. “The food sit-uation in many governorates in-cluding Aden is very critical, but we’re not at the stage of famine,” van der Klaauw added.

“In some governorates the level of criticality is such that the next level would be famine, but we’re not there and let’s hope we do not get there.”

Van der Klaauw, who visited Aden at the weekend, said the United Nations hoped to scale up aid to the port city massively now that fighting had moved north.

Oxfam said Saada governorate in the north was the worst affect-ed by food shortages, with nearly four in five people going hun-

gry and half at a critical level. In neighbouring Hajjah governorate families uprooted by the wars are having to sell livestock at well be-low market value to buy food, Ox-fam said. Some displaced families in Sanaa have resorted to begging

The World Health Organiza-tion (WHO) said on Tuesday that 3,984 people had died and 19,347 had been injured between March 19 and July 19, according to data from health facilities.

It also recorded an upsurge in cases of dengue fever in Yemen, with nearly 5,700 suspected cases reported since March, around half of them in Aden.

Meanwhile, the five-day truce that began on Monday was unilat-erally declared by the pro-govern-ment Arab coalition to allow the delivery of desperately needed relief supplies.

The coalition, which mount-ed an air campaign against the Houthi rebels and their allies in late March, had reserved the right to hit any military movement by the insurgents. — Agencies

Saudi-led air raids,

clashes shatter

humanitarian truce

Blast kills two Bahraini policemenDUBAI: A bomb blast killed two Bahraini policemen and wounded six others on Tuesday in an area often shaken by clashes between security forces and protesters, the interior ministry said.

The blast took place in Sitra is-land outside the capital Manama. Police blocked routes leading to the island following the explosion, wit-nesses said. “The explosives used in the terrorist incident are of the same quality of explosives seized recently while being smuggled,” the BNA state news agency reported. The interior ministry described the blast as a “terror” attack.

Footage of the aftermath of the explosion showed a shrapnel-riddled police bus with shattered windows. — AFP

V I O L E N C E

MALNOURISHED: A woman holds her malnourished daughter at a hospital in Yemen’s capital Sanaa on Tuesday. – Reuters

SITE OF EXPLOSION: A Bahraini forensic police officer inspects the site of a bomb blast in the village of Sitra, south of capital Manama, on Tuesday. – AFP

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INDIAW E D N E S DAY, J U LY 2 9, 2 0 1 5

Slain cop’s family seeks job, refuses last ritesKAPURTHALA: The family of police officer Baljit Singh, who was killed fighting terrorists in Dinanagar, on Tuesday refused to cremate him till the state govern-ment hands over appointment let-ters of SP rank to his son and post of tehsildar to his daughters.

Kulwant Kaur, wife of the slain SP (Detective), said the family had suffered a lot at the time of the death of her father-in-law, police inspector Achhar Singh, to get appointment for her husband and he had to wait for two years to get the job.

Baljit Singh was a son of a po-liceman, who too was killed by militants during the height of mili-tancy in Punjab in 1984.

Kaur also charged that the state government did not provide so-phisticated weapon to the police force for fighting militants.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ashish Chaudhary, when contacted, said he was not aware of any such demand and will inquire into it. Deputy Commissioner Daljit Singh Mangat said the issue did not pertain to him.

Seven persons - four civilians and three policemen including Baljit, were killed by heavily-armed militants who stormed a police station in the Gurdaspur district of north Indian state of Punjab on Monday.

The Punjab government had announced that the next of kin

of each member of the police force who lost their lives in the operation would be given government job.

Financial aidIn addition, the deceased families would also be given financial assis-tance to the tune of Rs one million each. Baljit had joined the force in

1985 as ASI following the death of his father.

He served as Station House Of-ficer Phagwara and with Vigilance department in Mansa before tak-ing up the post of Deputy Com-mandant in 7th IRB Battalion. Baljit is survived by son, Maninder Singh (24), daughters Parminder Kaur (22) and Ravinder Kaur (20).

Condoles deathUnion Cabinet on Tuesday con-doled the death of the Punjab Po-lice personnel and civilians who lost their lives in the Gurdaspur terror attack.

Sources said a resolution was also adopted at the Cabinet meet-ing chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard. -PTI

C R E M A T I O N R O W

Punjab terror attack suspects had entered from Pakistan: ProbeGURDASPUR: Preliminary probe into the terror strike in the district of north Indian state of Punjab that left seven persons dead indicates that the three suspected Lashker-e-Taiba mili-tants had entered the country from Pakistan through Bamiyal village close to the International Border.

Global Positioning SystemThe investigators are pinning their hope on seized Global Posi-tioning System (GPS), a compass used by travellers to reach their destinations, to ascertain the movements of the terrorists who were killed in the gunbattle. The GPS has been sent for forensic examination.

As part of the probe, a high-level forensic team on Tuesday visited the abandoned building near the Dinanagar police station where the terrorists were holed up.

The four-member team led by Davinder Pal Sehgal and Ashwani Kumar started their investiga-tions, police said.

Director General of punjab Police Sumedh Singh Saini had said the terrorists were carry-

ing sophisticated weapons. “We have recovered ‘Made in China’ grenades from them. They were wearing combat fatigues,” he had said.

Saini said AK 47 guns and hand grenades were recovered from the terrorists, who had attacked the sentry at the police station before engaging with the SHO and the SP.

He had described the attack as “planned” as their modus operan-di pointed at a specific direction.

Senior Superintendent of Po-lice Gurdaspur Gurpreet Singh said the bodies of the militants have been kept at the civil hospi-tal and their weapons were being examined.

Alert soundedAn alert has been sounded along the international border in Pun-jab and Jammu as the terrorists are suspected to have infiltrated from there.

Dinanagar town, which is close to Pakistan, falls in Gur-daspur district. It is sandwiched between Gurdaspur town on the one side and Pathankot on the other and lies about 260 km from capital Chandigarh. -PTI

I N I T I A L I N V E S T I G A T I O N

MOPPING UP OPERATION: Punjab police personnel carry body of a Home Guard after an encounter with armed militants in Dinanagar town, in Gurdaspur district of Punjab on Monday. -PTI

Kerala to be India’s first digital stateTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The south Indian state of Kerala, is all set to be declared as the first digital state in the country.

State Minister for IT and In-dustries P K Kunhalikutty said here that preparations were on to declare Kerala as digital state pos-sibly on August 15, the nation’s In-dependence Day.

Speaking at a function to launch the logo of IT hub Technopark here, the minister said proposal with all necessary parameters would be presented in the cabinet for approval in this regard.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy launched the logo at the function and inaugurated the one-month long silver jubilee cel-ebrations. “It is a proud moment for the state. Technopark now provides employment to nearly 45,000 people,” he added. Located at nearby Kazhakootam, Tech-nopark, which began operation in 1990, laid the foundation for the growth of IT and IT related indus-tries in the state. -PTI

T E C H N O P A R K

It is a proud moment for the state. Technopark now provides employment to nearly 45,000 peopleOommen Chandy, Kerala Chief Minister

New bench of apex court to hear Yakub’s mercy appeal

NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India Justice H L Dattu will con-stitute a new bench on Wednes-day that will hear 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blast convict Yakub Memon’s plea seeking stay of his execution slated for July 30 and quashing of death warrant on the

grounds that it was issued even before he could exhaust his legal remedies.

Chief Justice Dattu said, “I will constitute a bench tomorrow” as Attorney General Mukul Ro-

hatgi informed the bench about the split verdict earlier in the day, with common order asking the court registry to place before the chief justice for reference the matter to be listed before an ap-

propriate bench. Senior counsel Raju Ramachandran, appearing for Yakub Memon, urged Chief Justice Dattu to grant stay of execution of Memon slated for Thursday.

However, the court did not pass any order on its plea for stay of execution. Earlier on Tuesday, Supreme Court judges Anil R. Dave and Kurien Joseph took differing stands on Memon’s plea challenging his death penalty and urged the chief justice to set up “an appropriate bench” to hear the case.

Recounting the sequence of the court proceedings from 1993 till the curative petition was dis-missed on July 21, 2015, Justice Dave dismissed Memon’s plea.

But Justice Kurien found fault with the composition of the bench which heard the curative petition, and stayed the operation of the death warrant issued by the TADA court on April 30.

Justice Kurien said the case should be re-considered after constituting a bench in accordance with Supreme Court rules. The judges then referred the matter to Chief Justice H.L. Dattu. -IANS

Supreme Court

judges Anil R. Dave

and Kurien Joseph

took differing stands

on Memon’s plea

challenging his death

penalty

HIGH HOPES: Jubeda arrives in Nagpur to meet with her father Yakub Memon who is on death row in 1993 Mumbai blast case. -PTI

A9

INDIAW E D N E S DAY, J U LY 2 9, 2 0 1 5

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FLORAL TRIBUTES: President Pranab Mukherjee paying his last respects to former President APJ Abdul Kalam at his residence at Ra-jaji Marg in New Delhi on Tuesday. – PTI

Nation pays tributes to ‘people’s president’

NEW DELHI: President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation on Tuesday in paying tributes to for-mer president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

Thousands of people visited the ‘Missile Man’s’ official residence here to pay their last respects to the “people’s president” who col-lapsed while delivering a lecture at the Indian Institute of Manage-ment in Shillong on Monday even-ing. The two houses of Parliament were adjourned for two days as a mark of respect to Kalam as polit-ical parties gratefully recalled his contributions to the nation.

Humble beginningsThe union cabinet met in the morning to formally pay tributes to Kalam who rose from humble beginnings to become one of In-dia’s leading scientists and later a popular president.

Kalam’s body, wrapped in the Tricolour, arrived on Tuesday at the Palam technical area of Indira Gandhi International Airport at around 12.30 p.m. in a special In-dian Air Force plane.

After a ceremonial guard of

honour at the airport in the pres-ence of the three service chiefs, Kalam’s mortal remains were brought in an army vehicle to his official residence at 10, Rajaji Marg in central Delhi.

Thousands of people visited his residence to pay homage as cries of “Abdul Kalam amar rahe” and “Long live Abdul Kalam” rent the air. The prime minister and the president went to the airport to pay tributes to the late leader. Other dignitaries present at the airport included Vice President Hamid Ansari, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Delhi Lt. Gov-ernor Najeeb Jung and Chief Min-ister Arvind Kejriwal.

While the central government declared a seven-day mourning on Monday, the Goa government declared a seven-day mourning on Tuesday. Kejriwal announced that the Delhi government will

name its scheme providing edu-cational loan up to Rs.10 lakh af-ter Kalam. Modi, who addressed a meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parliamentary party on Tuesday, paid glowing tributes to Kalam and said India had lost a “ratna ( jewel)”.

Kalam was president from 2002-2007 and assumed the highest office when BJP-led Na-tional Democratic Alliance was in power. Modi said Kalam was “rashtra ratna” (country’s jewel) and his “personality was special”.

“His life inspires us; it inspires the youth,” Modi said.

The former president died on Monday evening in a private hos-pital in Shillong after he collapsed while delivering a lecture on ‘Live-able Planet’ to students of the Indian Institute of Managment, Shillong. Kalam will be accorded a state funeral with full military

honours at 11 a.m. on Thursday at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu. His family had wished that his last rites be performed in his home-town. After the Lok Sabha met on Tuesday morning, Speaker Sumi-tra Mahajan read out a condolence message and said Kalam was a “real gem” of the country and a “sa-gacious statesman”.

The members stood in silence for two minutes to pay their respects. In the Rajya Sabha, Chairman Hamid Ansari said the country had lost a true son. “His contributions to the nation as a man of technology, a teacher and a leader will be deeply cherished by a grateful nation,” he said.

Both houses will now have their next sitting on July 30.

The union cabinet, which met on Tuesday to pay its condolences to Kalam, said the country lost a visionary scientist, a true nation-alist and a great son.

“Kalam made significant con-tribution in developing India’s first indigenous satellite launch vehicle and made India an ex-clusive member of space club,” the resolution said, adding that strategic missile systems were developed and the Pokhran-II nu-clear tests were conducted during Kalam’s term as scientific advisor to the defence minister.

It said Kalam was responsible for evolving policies, strategies and missions for many develop-ment applications and piloted In-dia Millennium Mission 2020.

Born on October 15, 1931 at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, Kal-am specialised in aeronautical en-gineering from Madras Institute of Technology. - IANS

Thousands visited

the official residence

of the ‘Missile Man’

to pay their last

respects

‘Don’t rest after victory, failure just an attempt at learning’NEW DELHI: “Don’t take rest after your first victory because if you fail in second, more lips are waiting to say that your first vic-tory was just luck.” These were the words of former president A P J Abdul Kalam which he lived by till the last moment.

Eighty-three-year-old Kalam was a daring President who un-dertook a submarine sortie, flew Sukhoi jet, visited Siachen glacier, world’s highest battlefield and in-teracted with troops at the Line of Control. But probably none as daring as a night-time flight from Aizawl airport that took off after the runway was illuminated with lanterns and torches. This oc-curred one evening in 2005 when Kalam, always wearing a genial smile, had completed all his offi-cial engagements during his visit to Mizoram and was scheduled to leave the next morning. But a rest-less Kalam decided to take off for Delhi at night, one of his senior aides recalled.

The local Indian Air Force (IAF) station’s head was sum-moned and informed of the Presi-

dent’s wish to fly to the national capital as his work in Mizoram was over. “But there are no facili-ties for taking off from the airport at night,” the IAF official said, thinking the matter was settled.

However, his explanation did not cut ice with Kalam, who re-torted: “What if there is an emer-gency? Will the IAF wait for the morning? Tell them I have to take off and all necessary arrange-ments should be made.”

His aides went to the IAF of-ficial and conveyed the message from Kalam, who as President was also the supreme commander of the armed forces.

The IAF commander immedi-ately got in touch with his seniors in Delhi, who did not come to his rescue and instead asked him to comply with the orders of the “missile man”.

Finally, Kalam had his way and IAF personnel lit up the runway with lanterns, flaming torches and bonfires to facilitate the take-off, the aide said. President’s aides too were concerned about his de-cision to take off at night from an

airport that had only basic equip-ment and privately asked IAF of-ficials whether such a flight would be safe. The answer from an IAF official was enough to send a chill down their spines -- “you can take off but there may be some prob-lems if you have to return”.

At around 9 pm, the Presiden-tial Boeing took off with Kalam and his entourage of 22.

“If you fail, never give up be-cause F.A.I.L. means “first At-tempt In Learning”; End is not the end, if fact E.N.D. means “Ef-fort Never Dies”; If you get No as an answer, remember N.O. means “Next Opportunity”. So Let’s be positive,” was another quote that he often used to mention in his pep talks to university and school students.

Immediately after he became the 11th President, Vice President Krishna Kant suffered a heart at-tack and was admitted to AIIMS. His first visitor was Kalam, who was dressed in blue shirt and Khaki pants. This was probably the kalam’s first engagement after taking office. — PTI

W O R D S O F F O R M E R P R E S I D E N T

World leaders pay glowing tributes to inspirational KalamDHAKA/KUALA LUMPUR: World leaders on Tuesday paid glowing tributes to late former President A P J Abdul Kalam, hail-ing him as an inspirational figure in South Asia and lauding his sci-entific achievements.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina described Kalam as “a rare combination of a great statesman, acclaimed scientist and a source of inspiration to the young generation of South Asia” and said his death is an “irrepara-ble loss to India and beyond.”

Hasina said, “We are deeply shocked at the sad demise of for-mer President of India Dr A P J Ab-dul Kalam, one of the most famous sons of India and a great scientific mind of his time. He was highly re-spected in Bangladesh as well.”

“His invaluable contribution to India’s rise in the sphere of sci-ence and technology would be re-membered forever by all. He was a source of inspiration to the young generation of South Asia, someone who gave wings to their dreams,” she said.

Opposition Bangladesh Nation-alist Party chief Khaleda Zia said that “as a nuclear scientist, he en-gaged himself in the welfare of the people.”

Expressing his condolences, Af-ghan President Ashraf Ghani said, “Saddened by the death of Dr Kal-am. He was an inspirational figure to millions of people including me. We have a lot to learn from his life.”

‘Good friend’Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala recalled Kalam’s contribu-tions in leading India on the path of scientific advancement and pro-gress. “Nepal has lost a good friend and I have lost an honoured and ideal personality,” Koirala said.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also expressed deep condo-lences on the demise of the former Indian President.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak also condoled the loss, saying, “His passing is a loss to the scientific community.”

Condoling Kalam’s death, Sin-gaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said, “Saddened to learn of the passing of India’s for-mer President Dr Avul Pakir Jai-nulabdeen Abdul Kalam. Dr

Bhutanese Premier Tshering Tobgay said, “Saddened to hear of the passing of Dr Abdul kalam, In-dia’s iconic president -- one who was loved by all people, especially the youth of India.” — PTI

G R E A T S T A T E S M A N

REMEMBERANCE: School girls hold candles as they sit in front of a portrait of former Indian President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam during a prayer ceremony in Chennai, on Tuesday. – Reuters

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PAKISTAN W E D N E S DAY, J U LY 2 9, 2 0 1 5

$336m aid received to fight Afghan Taliban insurgency

KARACHI: Pakistan on Tuesday received some $336 million from the United States for its ongoing role in combating a Taliban insur-gency in neighbouring Afghani-stan.

The injection of cash, which comes as the Taliban steps up its annual summer offensive launched in late April, has helped Pakistan’s foreign exchange re-serves reach a fresh high of about $19 billion, state bank officials

said. Regular payments to Paki-stan under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) programme began in 2001 when Pakistan joined the US-led coalition in Afghanistan as a “frontline ally”.

Pakistan provides use of its air

bases and other facilities in ex-change for the reimbursements.

The central State Bank of Pa-kistan (SBP) in a one-line press note said it had received a total of $336.8 million under the CSF pro-gramme, which is the first tranche

of a $1.5 billion for the current fis-cal year ending June 2016.

Pakistan has received a total of $13 billion in CSF payments since the programme began.

The Afghan government mean-while conducted its first face-to-

face talks with Taliban cadres on July 7 in Muree, aimed at ending the 14-year insurgency.

But despite the willingness to engage in talks there has been no let-up in militant attacks, which are taking a heavy toll on civilians.

Almost 1,000 civilians were killed in the conflict during the first four months of this year, said the United Nations. — AFP

Regular payments to

Pakistan under the

Coalition Support

Fund programme

began in 2001 when

Pakistan joined the

US-led coalition in

Afghanistan as a

‘frontline ally’

FIGHTING INSURGENCY: A Pakistani container truck carries NATO vehicles as they make their way to Afghanistan, in Peshawar on March 25, 2014.— AFP file photo

US-led NATO forces

ended their combat

mission in Afghanistan

in December, leaving

local forces to battle

militants alone, but a

13,000-strong residual

force remains for

training and counter-

terrorism operations

Three MQM workers handed over to RangersKARACHI: Two anti-terrorism courts in Karachi handed over three workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) to Rangers under 90-day preven-tive custody.

The courts heard on Monday that Muhammad Abid was ar-rested from Samanabad while Abdul Waqar and Muhammad Ali were arrested from Burns Road area for their alleged in-volvement in targeted killings and incidents of kidnapping and extortion.

The force claimed that they possessed credible evidence of the suspects’ involvement in the aforementioned criminal activ-ities. After a brief conversation with the suspects, the courts allowed Rangers to interrogate them for 90 days.

The move comes a day after the MQM staged a walk out in the National Assembly in pro-test against the ongoing opera-tion by Rangers in Karachi.

Party leader Farooq Sattar said that the Constitution and law were being sabotaged, and added that lawmaker Ali Raza Abidi’s restaurant had been ‘ille-gally’ sealed by law enforcement officials. — Express Tribune

P R E V E N T I V E C U S T O D Y

TOWARDS SAFETY Local farm workers help a man cross the flooded Chenab river in Chinoit outside Faisalabad, Paki-stan, on Tuesday. Flash flooding caused by torrential monsoon rains has killed at least 28 in Pakistan and affected hundreds of thousands of people, according to aid agencies, with further downpours expected in the coming days. — Reuters

Poor weather forces end of K2 climbing seasonISLAMABAD: The second high-est mountain in the world, K2, has closed its doors of hospitality for this year. Mountaineers who had come from all the world to scale the 8,611 metres peak are now heading back as bad weather engulfs the region.

Wilco Van Rooijen, a moun-taineer, who in 2008 was stuck for three days at the top of the Savage mountain in a climb which killed eleven of his peers, tweeted the news.

Mariano Glavan of Argentina, Carlos Sarurez of Spain, teams from Estonia and Hungary, and commercial expeditions Himex and Madison Mountaineering have all retreated back to their homes, with the hopes of scaling K-2 in the years to come.

Switzerland’s Mike Horn ex-pressed his disappointment at not making it to the top of K2 in his blog.

He wrote, “We are back down from our summit attempt. Base camp is not exactly where we want to be, but I am satisfied that we gave it our best shot. Even more important, we tried with everything we had.”

Pakistani mountaineer Mirza Ali also tweeted regarding the conditions surrounding the peak.

AvalanchesThis year bad weather has re-sulted in avalanches which has caused injuries and the loss of life.

On July 20, at around 11 am, seven climbers were on the mountain when an avalanche ripped through the lower sec-tion below camp-1 on Broad Peak

(8,051m). It apparently crushed a Pakistani porter and injured Sumiyo Tsuzuki, a Japanese mountaineer along with a Nepali Sherpa.

Pakistan-China borderBroad Peak is the 12th highest mountain in the world, stand-ing tall at 8,051m. It is part of the Gasherbrum massif in Baltistan on the border of Pakistan and China, right across the glacier from K2.

After hearing the news, Nepali Sherpa Lakpa from the Seven Summits Trek team, along with some other climbers, immediate-ly mounted a rescue effort, pull-ing one climber out of the snow. — Express Tribune

W O R L D ’ S S E C O N D H I G H E S T P E A K

Wilco Van Rooijen, a

mountaineer, who in 2008

was stuck for three days

at the top of the Savage

mountain in a climb which

killed eleven of his peers,

tweeted the news

A11

WORLDW E D N E S DAY, J U LY 2 9, 2 0 1 5

Stay ahead of the curve with

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SCAN THIS TO INSTANTLY INSTALL WHATSNEWS

UPBEAT: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, right, and EU foreign policy chief Fed-erica Mogherini, left, arrive to their meeting ahead of a joint news conference in the capital Tehran on Tuesday. – AFP

Gaddafi’s son sentenced to death

TRIPOLI: A Libyan court on Tuesday sentenced a son and eight aides of slain leader Muammar Gaddafi to death for crimes dur-ing the 2011 protests, in a verdict denounced by rights campaigners.

The United Nations also said it was “deeply disturbed” by the outcome and criticised the trial for failing to meet international standards.

Seif Al Islam, the strongman’s one-time heir apparent who is also wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), was tried in his absence because he is held by militia opposed to the Tripoli authorities.

Former intelligence chief Ab-dullah Senussi and Gaddafi’s last

prime minister Al Baghdadi Al Mahmudi were also sentenced to death, although they can appeal to the supreme court.

37 defendantsThe 37 defendants were charged with crimes including murder and complicity in incitement to rape during the revolution.

Libya has been wracked by con-flict since Gaddafi’s overthrow, with rival governments and pow-erful militias battling to control key cities and the country’s oil riches.

The trial, which opened in the

capital in April last year, has been dogged by criticism from rights watchdogs and an unresolved dis-pute with the ICC in The Hague over jurisdiction in the case of Gaddafi’s son.

The UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Tuesday that there were “serious issues relating to access to lawyers, claims of ill-treatment, and trials conducted in absentia”.

Rights groups say the trial missed an opportunity to expose the crimes of the Gaddafi regime.

Amnesty International called the death sentences “appalling”.

“Instead of helping to establish the truth and ensuring accounta-bility for serious violations during the 2011 armed conflict, this trial exposes the weakness of a criminal justice system which is hanging on by a thread in a war-torn country with no central authority,” Amnes-ty’s Philip Luther said.

Human Rights Watch’s Joe Stork said the trial was “plagued by persistent, credible allegations of fair trial breaches that warrant independent and impartial judi-cial review”.

The militia holding Seif Al Islam in the southwestern hill town of

Zintan is aligned with the inter-nationally recognised government which fled to the remote east last August when a rival militia alli-ance seized Tripoli and set up its own administration.

Prosecutor general Siddick Al Sour acknowledged that there was no prospect of Seif Al Islam facing the court’s sentence any time soon, but said that was a matter for poli-ticians.

“The court pronounced sen-tence and has nothing to do with the political conflict,” Sour said.

Seif Al Islam’s sole appearances before the court were by video link and there had been none since May last year.

The UN Security Council re-ferred the conflict in Libya to the ICC in February 2011 amid Gaddafi’s repression of the popu-lar protests against his decades-old regime.

Wanted by ICCSeif Al Islam is wanted by the ICC on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

ICC prosecutors say that as part of his father’s “inner circle”, he “conceived and orchestrated a plan to deter and quell, by all means, the civilian demonstrations against Gaddafi’s regime”.

Muammar Gaddafi, who ruled Libya for four decades, was cap-tured and killed by rebels in Octo-ber 2011.

Three of his sons died in the pro-

tests. Another, Saadi, was extra-dited to Libya from Niger in March 2014. Seif Al Islam has been held in Zintan since his capture in No-vember 2011 despite repeated ICC demands for Libya to hand him over for trial.

Twenty-nine other defendants, including Senussi and Mahmudi, were in court for Tuesday’s sen-tencing.

They were brought into the black cage in blue prison uniforms, some with their heads shaved. Most sat impassively in the dock.

Senussi has been in custody since September 2012 when he was handed over by Mauritania, where he had sought refuge after the regime’s overthrow.

“He has from day one had no ef-fective legal representation, no ac-cess to his family and the outside world, and no ability to prepare any defence against the charges,” his international legal team said.

His 17-year-old daughter Salma said her father had been denied a fair trial.

“Even if my father did some-thing wrong, I would ask them to put him in a real court in a place with rule of law,” she told AFP from her home in Britain.

The court sentenced eight other defendants to life in prison, seven to 12 years, four to 10, three to six and one to five.

Four were acquitted and one was ordered confined to a psychi-atric hospital. — AFP

Seif Al Islam,

Muammar Gaddafi’s

one-time heir

apparent, was tried in

his absence because

he is held by militia

opposed to the Tripoli

authorities

Nuclear deal will not hit roadblock, assures IranTEHRAN: Iran’s Foreign Min-ister Mohammad Javad Zarif moved to dismiss concerns on Tuesday that his country’s nucle-ar deal with major powers could hit difficulties, saying he had “no concern or worry” about its im-plementation.

Zarif ’s remarks came during a joint news conference with visit-ing EU foreign policy chief Fed-erica Mogherini aimed at ensur-ing that the historic agreement swiftly takes effect.

As the European Union’s high representative, Mogherini was intricately involved in the long-running diplomacy that culmi-nated in a July 14 accord between Iran and six world powers.

Her trip to Tehran came days after US Secretary of State John Kerry was grilled by lawmakers in Washington who effectively ac-cused him of being duped in the talks by Zarif and Iran’s other ne-gotiators.

Republicans in the US Con-gress, including presidential can-didates, have poured scorn on the nuclear deal but they face a mon-umental battle to overcome Presi-dent Barack Obama’s veto power over any attempt to block it.

The past week has also seen hardline elements in Iran, includ-ing the commander of the power-ful Revolutionary Guards force and MPs, raise concerns about the agreement’s terms. Under the deal, Iran must take measures at its nuclear facilities to satisfy UN monitors of their peaceful nature. In return, the P5+1 powers in the talks -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany -- must finalise the mechanism for lifting UN and Western sanctions.

Zarif gave a timeline of “60 to 70 days” for the deal to be settled,

following talks with Mogherini about measures that are needed.

“Iran will continue to cooper-ate with the IAEA,” he said, refer-ring to the UN nuclear watchdog.

“I hope the EU and United States will continue to implement their commitments,” he added.

Asked about accusations made in some of Iran’s conservative media that the agreement breaks supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s “red lines” for the talks, Zarif moved to allay such claims. “Iran has stuck to its ob-ligations and Iran is going to do the same when it comes to im-plementing the deal,” he said, ac-knowledging that “some people in Iran have some doubts about some countries, particularly the US, to implement seriously and precisely”. But he added: “I have no concern or worry that the deal will be implemented. I know very well that it is going to be imple-mented.”

MPs recently passed a law for-bidding foreigners from entering Iranian military sites where in-ternational monitors have alleged

past work on developing nuclear weapons took place.

Although international inspec-tors have visited Iran’s nuclear sites for years, critics have said such restrictions on military fa-cilities will hamper any effective enforcement of the deal.

Iran has always denied seeking an atomic bomb.

Mogherini flew in from talks in Saudi Arabia.

Mogherini said that while the accord was on the nuclear issue it could have a broader impact as it was “not the end of a process... it’s a beginning.”

“It’s going to open a new chap-ter in relations between Iran and the EU,” she said, before address-ing possibly greater cooperation between Iran and the West on tackling IS group militants in Iraq and Syria.

“It is probably one of the most difficult chapters that will be opened,” Mogherini said.

“If we manage to adapt to a new understanding this can lead to benefits for all in the region and beyond.” — AFP

E U F O R E I G N P O L I C Y C H I E F ’ S V I S I T

ON TRIAL: Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s former aides sit dressed in prison behind the bars of the accused cell during their trial on Tuesday at court of appeals in Tripoli. – AFP

DISMISSING CONCERNS: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, right, and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini at press conference in Tehran on Tuesday. – AFP

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Leonid Bershidsky

Elect far-left politicians to run a country and they will still plot a revolution. That, appar-ently, is what ministers from the Syriza bloc

were doing while negotiations with creditors were taking place. Though none of the crazy things they planned came to pass, Greece’s radicals may some-day be tempted to carry out a Syriza-style “Plan B.” Euro-zone officials need to prepare for this even-tuality and work out an exit procedure — one that might still be needed.

Panagiotis Lafazanis, who served as energy min-ister until Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras fired him for refusing to support the latest Greek bailout plan, revealed one such plot from July 14, during a meeting of the Left Platform, Syriza’s extreme wing. His alleged idea was to end all talks with the creditors, arrest central bank governor Yan-nis Stournaras — a well-known Grexit opponent — and seize the national mint, where the country’s cash reserves are kept. The money — 22 billion eu-ros ($24.4 billion), Lafazanis figured — would be used to pay wages and pensions while the govern-ment printed and distributed drachmas.

The plan, of course, was ridiculous (and worthy of parodies such as this one). If the government raided the mint, the European Central Bank (ECB) would probably declare the euros kept there coun-terfeit, and even if it somehow failed to do that, the money -- there was actually much less of it in the vaults than Lafazanis thought -- wouldn’t last long enough to allow an organised reintroduction of the drachma.

Lafazanis admitted in an interview published on Sunday that he had called on the government to raid central-bank reserves in defiance of the ECB, but he denied proposing that Stournaras be arrest-ed, calling those accusations “old-fashioned anti- Communism.” He is unashamed about the mint part: That, he said, was “for the Greek economy and Greek people to survive.”

Another, more sophisticated Plan B originated with the former finance minister, Yanis Varou-fakis. On Sunday, the Greek newspaper Kathi-merini published what it said was a transcript of Varoufakis’s July 16 phone call with a former Brit-ish finance minister, Norman Lamont, in which Varoufakis described a scheme to use Greek’s tax identification numbers to set up a parallel pay-ment system that the government would run if banks were forced to close.

The system supposedly would have enabled people to send and receive money using their tax accounts. To develop the system, Varoufakis need-ed access to the tax identification numbers, but, according to the article, he couldn’t get it without alerting the top tax official — technically his sub-ordinate, but in practice an appointee approved by the creditors. Kathimerini quoted Varoufakis saying he asked a friend at Columbia University to hack the Greek tax authority to obtain the num-bers: “ ‘So I authorised him -- and you can’t tell any-one that, this is totally between us...’

“Norman Lamont interrupts: ‘There are certain-ly others listening but they will not tell it to their friends.’

“Varoufakis (laughing): ‘I know. I know they are. And even if they do I will deny I said it, so we de-cided to hack into my ministry’s own software pro-gramme in order to be able break it up to just copy, just to copy the code of the tax systems website onto a large computer in his office so that he can work out how to design and implement this paral-lel payment system.’ “

When the story broke, Varoufakis did issue a de-nial of sorts, tweeting: “So, I was going to ‘hijack’ Greek citizens’ tax file numbers? Impressed by my defamers’ imagination.” Kathimerini did use the word “hijack” to describe Varoufakis’s plan, but it never attributed that word to Varoufakis. The hacking episode wasn’t mentioned in the tweet.

Still, keeping the euro may not be Greece’s best option, and it’s far from certain that the country will work out, much less execute, an effective me-dium-term reform program acceptable to the cred-itors. Greece may again find itself thinking about a euro exit, a default and a devaluation. It may happen to other countries, too. It’s understand-able that Europe wants to treat such situations as impossible for political reasons, but they can’t be ruled out for economic ones.

The ECB and the euro-zone governments should design an orderly exit process that members could activate as a last resort — an algorithm including the printing and distribution of a national curren-cy, all the necessary notifications, the treatment of euro balances in the currency bloc’s payment sys-tem, and perhaps financial aid to make a smooth exit possible.

Yes, that amounts to creating a door that will tempt many a potential renegade, but that’s bet-ter than having eager revolutionaries devise hare-brained schemes. - Bloomberg News

Kalam’s vision for India as a superpower by 2020 will constantly inspire youthThis refers to the news story, Former President APJ Abdul Kalam passes away (July 28). I offer my sincere condolences on his death, which is a great loss to all Indians. Even though he is no more among us, his vision of India becoming a superpower by 2020 will con-stantly inspire the youth of India. The departed soul will always be

remembered for his love for children, and his passion for research, science and edu-cation. I sincerely salute the departed soul, who spent his entire life for the welfare of the country. — Mohammad Osama Rawat, Ruwi

Not many leaders who speak from their hearts like Kalam This refers to the news story, Former Pres-ident APJ Abdul Kalam passes away (July 28). Abdul Kalam constantly reminded us how important it is to remain apolitical to be a true patriot. At a time when political parties are stuck to age-old ideologies and vote-bank politics, most often neglecting true national and human interests, here was a person whose ideology was primar-ily anything that makes life better and meaningful, and how Indian youths realise the immense potential of their country, However, they are perplexed as to why that paradigm shift is not really happening.

The late president’s words strongly inspired India’s youths to strive to change themselves. I am deeply saddened that we aren’t left with many such leaders who can speak from their hearts and be absolutely true about what they say!— Dr M.S. Aziz, Rusayl

T I M E S O F O M A NW E D N E S DAY, J U LY 2 9, 2 0 1 5A12

Leaving euro-zone should be an option

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Insurance firms asked to cut high vehicle premiums In a move that would have far-reaching impact on the insur-ance industry in the Sultanate, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has asked the insurance companies to avoid charging high premiums for vehicle insurance. In a letter, addressed to all insurance companies, by Salim bin Hamed Al Mandhari, di-rector of insurance department at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the companies have been advised to rein in the premium for comprehensive insurance of private vehicles at 4 per cent and that for commercial vehicles at 4.5 per cent.

1663: British Parliament passes a second Navigation Act, re-quiring all goods bound for the colonies be sent in British ships from British ports. 1778: British and French fleets fight to a standoff in the first Bat-tle of Ushant.

1944: US troops complete the liberation of Guam.

1981: William Wyler, director of Ben Hur, dies

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M O S T P O P U L A R V I D E O

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Female members of union councils in Pakistan’s Punjab

province are now to be indirectly elected to the two seats legally

reserved for them, by eight (expectedly all male) returning

candidates on the region’s general seats.

bit.ly/pakistanwomeninpolls

SAHAR BANDIAL

Negative income taxes have to be phased out at some earnings

level; otherwise there’s no way to raise money for the tax! But for

poor people, the negative income tax provides money to live and

an incentive to work. It really is a Goldilocks policy

bit.ly/negativeincometax

NOAH SMITH

Along, perhaps, with doctors and nurses, teachers are the

most important people in Great Britain. More important, that’s

for sure, than politicians, for whom education, for all their fine

words and confident policies, is just another theatre of war,

another set of election pledgesbit.ly/nickymorganukteachers

CHRIS MAUME

F R O M O U R A R C H I V E S

T O D A Y I N H I S T O R Y

A light plane crashed into a residential area of Tokyo on Sunday, setting fire to several houses and report-edly killing three people and injuring five others, according to officials

JULY 2000

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EXPATRIATE WORKERSBY OCCUPATION GROUPS

Source: NSCI

(June 2015)

Administrationand managers

Human mattersspecialists

Human subjectstechnicians

Clerical

Total 1,564,058

Sales

Service

Agriculture andstock breeding

Industrial

Engineering 754,789

364,321

100,750

91,766

76,946

74,424

59,102

39,478

2,482

A13

SPECIALW E D N E S DAY, J U LY 2 9, 2 0 1 5

Of caves that house homeless Afghans

BAMIYAN (AFGHANISTAN): Carved into dun-coloured cliffs, hundreds of manmade caves sit-uated next to empty niches that once sheltered giant statues de-stroyed by the Taliban are home to Bamiyan’s poverty-stricken who have nowhere else to go.

The ancient caves lining the Bamiyan valley in central Af-ghanistan were originally used by monks for meditation and retreat but now shelter landless Afghan families who cannot afford con-ventional housing.

With no electricity or run-ning water, the cave dwellers are forced to adapt to an arduous ex-istence in these dark, dank, and musty structures.

“It’s not a good place, it’s never been a good place to live,” said Haji Hussain, who has been liv-ing in a cave atop a cliff with his wife and three children for thirty years.

“It’s very difficult to climb up here and then come back down. And as far as water is concerned, it’s a big problem. We have to carry it on our back to bring it up here,” the labourer told AFP in his cave, just a few hundred me-tres from the vacant niches.

Like Hussain, hundreds of families dwell in the caves of Bamiyan, a rare oasis of tranquil-ity that has largely been spared the wrenching conflict that af-flicts the rest of Afghanistan.

When the Taliban captured Bamiyan in the late 1990s, some of these people lost their homes as the hardline movement burned down the houses, forc-ing them to take shelter in caves right next to the statues.

But two years after the Taliban regime was toppled in the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan, the area was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

The government came down heavily on the cave dwellers, evicting many and moving them into temporary shelters else-where in the city.

Local authorities argue that the longer the structures are occupied, the more damage is wrought on the site as some fam-ilies install doors, windows and build makeshift extensions.

“If the people live here, they damage the caves and ancient murals, and we should save these structures,” said Kabir Dadras, head of Bamiyan’s information and culture department.

Some 250 families have been evicted from the caves in recent years but many still remain.

Once a caravan stop along the fabled Silk Road, the central Af-ghan city was recently named this year’s cultural capital of South Asia, igniting hopes of restoring its place on the global tourism map.

But the government is strug-gling to revive the heyday of tourism after decades of war, including the Taliban’s 1996-2001 reign when they destroyed the statues, an act globally condemned as “cultural terror-ism”. — AFP

With no electricity

or running water, the

cave dwellers are

forced to adapt to an

arduous existence in

these dark, dank, and

musty structures

NOWHERE ELSE TO GO: Hazara Afghan children sit inside their cave in the old city of Bamiyan, some 200 kilometres (124 miles) northwest of Kabul. – AFP

MUSTY STRUCTURE: A Hazara Afghan family look on in front of their cave in Bamiyan. – AFP

MAKESHIFT SHELTER: A Hazara Afghan man stands by the entrance to his cave in Bamiyan. – AFP DARK AND DANK: A Hazara Afghan child plays inside her cave. – AFP

HOPE IN ADVERSITY: A Hazara Afghan girl looks on as her mother cooks inside their cave. – AFPDAILY COURSE: Hazara Afghan women wash dishes in front of their caves. – AFP

A14

GLOBAL EYEW E D N E S DAY, J U LY 2 9, 2 0 1 5

NORTH KOREA: A firework display celebrating the 62nd anniversary of the ending of the fight at Korean War in Pyongyang, North Korea is seen on Monday. — AFP/KCNA VIA KNS

PERU: Peruvian Army members ushering adults and children to helicopters at the Air Force base in the jungle town of Mazamari, af-ter their liberation by the armed forces from captivity by the Mao-ist guerrilla group Shining Path, in the central Amazonia region of Satipo in Peru. Authorities in Peru rescued 39 people, including 26 children, whom Maoist Shining Path rebels were raising in bond-age as future rebel troops, the government said on Tuesday. — AFP/MINDEF/LUIS ENRIQUE SALDANHA

GREAT BRITAIN: Children look at a scarecrow of characters from the ‘Room on a Broom’ book during the Scarecrow Festival in Heather, Great Britain, on Tuesday. The annual event asks residents of Heather to make scarecrow’s to raise thousands of pounds for local groups and charities. — Reuters

AFGHANISTAN: An Afghan man works at a traditional yarn factory in Heart province, Afghanistan on Tuesday. — Reuters

FRANCE: French fashion designer and artist Jean-Charles de Castelbajac draws a design on the walls of Paris-Orly airport, on Tuesday in Orly, France. — AFP

EL SALVADOR: People use different means of transportation to get to work in Apopa, Salvador, on Tuesday during a transport strike over the lack of security in the violence-plagued coun-try. Gangs have shot dead five bus drivers in El Salvador since Sunday. — AFP

A15

WORLDW E D N E S DAY, J U LY 2 9, 2 0 1 5

Obama to African leaders: Step aside at end of terms

ADDIS ABABA: Barack Obama on Tuesday condemned African leaders who refuse to give up pow-er and urged the continent to end “the cancer of corruption”, in the first ever address to the African Union by a US president.

But Obama said the rest of the world also needed to change its ap-proach to Africa by boosting fair trade and not just providing aid handouts, and vowed that the Unit-ed States stood with the region to defeat terrorism and end conflict.

End of tourThe speech marked the end of a short tour that has seen Obama visit Kenya, his father’s birth-place, and Ethiopia, from where he flew out on Air Force One after the speech.

Both are key security allies in the fight against Somalia’s Al-Qae-da-affiliated Shebaab militants, but they were also challenged on concerns over democracy, human rights and graft.

“Africa’s democratic progress is also at risk when leaders refuse to step aside when their terms end,” Obama said, drawing huge ap-plause and cheers from some sec-tions of the audience in the AU’s Nelson Mandela hall.

“No one should be president for life,” he said, explaining that he was personally relishing handing over office in 18 months.

“Now let me be honest with you: I do not understand this. I am in my second term... I love my work, but under our constitution, I can-not run again. I actually think I’m a pretty good president, I think if I ran again I could win, but I can’t,” he said.

“And, I’ll be honest with you, I’m looking forward to life after be-ing president. I won’t have such a big security detail all the time, it means I can take a walk, it means I can spend time with my family.

“The point is I don’t understand why people want to stay so long. Especially when they’ve got a lot of

money,” he said, drawing another huge cheer from the hall -- packed with diplomats but also many civil society activists.

Endemic graftObama’s keynote speech also went further on endemic and institu-tionalised graft, something he also pressed on in Kenya over the weekend.

“Nothing will unlock Africa’s economic potential more than ending the cancer of corruption,” Obama said, before speaking at length of the need for growth to be unlocked by ending discrimina-tion and sexual violence against women and girls.

Obama singled out Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza -- whose successful bid for a third term provoked weeks of unrest in the small central African nation -- as an example of the dangers of trying to stay put and risking “in-stability and strife”.

At the same time, Obama said

the world needed to “recognise Africa’s extraordinary progress”, and outlined how American busi-nesses were increasing US trade with the continent.

“A half century into this inde-pendence era, it is long past time to put aside old stereotypes of an Af-rica forever mired in poverty and conflict,” the president said.

Playing up his position as the first-ever African-American US president, he also cast Washington as a trusted partner of the conti-nent, and took a veiled swipe at resource-hungry China -- which has massively stepped up its pres-ence in Africa, symbolised by the Chinese-built AU headquarters where he gave the speech.

“Economic relationships cannot simply be about other countries building infrastructure with for-eign labour, or extracting Africa’s natural resources,” Obama said.

“Real economic partnerships have to be a good deal for Africa. They have to create jobs and ca-

pacity for Africans. That’s the kind of partnership America offers.”

Obama said the United States was also a solid security part-ner that would stand by Africa in dealing with terrorism and end conflict. He said continent’s pro-gress will “depend on security and peace”.

Fight against rebels“As Africa stands against terror and conflict, I want you to know the United States stands with you,” he said, highlighting threats rang-ing from Somalia’s Shebaab, Boko Haram in Nigeria, insurgents in Mali and Tunisia, and the Uganda-led Lord’s Resistance Army rebels in central Africa.

Obama said the United States was backing AU military efforts and saluted the “brave African peacekeepers” battling militants.

“Because of the AU force in So-malia, Al Shebaab controls less territory, and the Somali govern-ment is growing stronger. In cen-tral Africa, the AU-led mission continues to degrade the Lord’s Resistance Army,” he said.

“In the Lake Chad basin, forces from several nations -- with the backing of the AU --are fighting to end Boko Haram’s senseless bru-tality.”

Many audience members emerged impressed -- even if sev-eral African leaders may be less happy.

“It was excellent, inspiring,” said Aeneas Chuma, a UN worker from Zimbabwe who said he was speaking in his personal capacity. “He touched on all challenges for Africa, like the importance of good governance, the fact that this trend of leaders staying in power cannot continue.”

Addis Ababa university student Anatoli Bulti said Obama’s address was “empowering”.

“He spoke about a lot of issues that don’t usually get addressed in this country: democracy, freedom. Coming from him it gives these is-sues a lot more weight.” — AFP

In the first ever

address to the

African Union by a

US president, Obama

said that Africa’s

democratic progress

is at risk when

leaders refuse to step

aside when their

terms end. He also

urged an end to ‘the

cancer of corruption’ CANDID: US President Barack Obama talks about presidential term limits during remarks at the Afri-can Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Tuesday. — Reuters

Cairo furniture factory fire kills 25CAIRO: At least 25 people died in a fire that gutted an Egyptian furniture factory north of Cairo on Tuesday, a health ministry of-ficial said.

Twenty-two more workers suf-fered from burns and smoke inha-lation in the blaze in the Al Helw factory on the outskirts of the capital, health ministry spokes-man Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said.

Security officials said the fire raged through the three-storey factory and its warehouse after a gas cylinder exploded. The inte-rior ministry said 23 fire trucks were at the scene to extinguish the blaze.

Alexandria fireVideo footage posted on social networks showed thick smoke billowing from the factory as res-cuers crowded to help the victims.

Another fire at a supermar-ket in a town near Alexandria on Tuesday injured 12 people, secu-rity officials said. — AFP

I N F E R N O

TRAGIC: Egyptian firemen put out the flames after a fire broke out at the Al Helw furniture factory north of the capital Cairo on Tuesday. — AFP

Teen volunteer archaeologist finds 560,000 year-old toothTOULOUSE (FRANCE): A 16-year-old French volunteer ar-chaeologist has found an adult tooth dating back around 560,000 years in southwestern France, in what researchers hailed as a “ma-jor discovery” on Tuesday.

“A large adult tooth — we can’t say if it was from a male or female — was found during excavations of soil we know to be between 550,000 and 580,000 years old, because we used different dating methods,” paleoanthropologist Amelie Viallet told AFP.

“This is a major discovery be-cause we have very few human fossils from this period in Europe,” she said.

The tooth was found in the Ara-go cave near the village of Tautavel, one of the world’s most important prehistoric sites which has been excavated for about 50 years.

It is also the site of the discov-ery of over 140 fossils belonging

to Tautavel Man, an early hominid that lived an estimated 450,000 years ago.

Volunteer Camille, 16, was working with another young ar-chaeologist when she found the tooth last Thursday.

They were among the hundreds of young trainee archaeologists who come to work in the cave eve-ry year to study human ancestors during the lower Paleolithic era, when they first began to use tools.

The owner of the tooth -- a very worn lower incisor -- lived during a cold, dry and windy period and according to archaeological finds in the cave, hunted horses, rein-deer, bison and rhinoceros.

For a long time the Heidelberg jaw — including the chin and full set of lower teeth — discovered in Germany in 1907 dating to around 600,000 years ago, was the oldest fossil of human ancestors in west-ern Europe.

However some archaeological sites offered up evidence of stone tools dating back much earlier.

This has left many questions and stirred debate about the life and presence of human ancestors in Europe before modern humans rose out of Africa and went on to

conquer the planet.In 2013 the discovery of a fossil

tooth in southeastern Spain that dated to about 1.4 million years ago shook up the timeline of the colonisation of Europe by modern humans.

Dr Matthew Skinner, a palaeo-

anthropologist from the Universi-ty of Kent in Britain said that while the find was important as there are few human fossils from this peri-od, “a single tooth, I wouldn’t say is a major discovery, unfortunately”.

“If there’s something about its shape or its size that would suggest that it is different from the other fossils we have from that time pe-riod and perhaps belongs to a dif-ferent species, then that would be of course very interesting.”

He said the most obvious spe-cies to which the tooth would belong would be Homo heidelber-gensis — owner of the German jaw — about whom little is known.

“These are certainly different from modern humans, they existed before Neanderthals.

“They had quite large brains and fairly complex behaviour but weren’t modern in the way that we are.

“They were quite robust, very

stocky individuals, they had really massive skulls.”

However he said most fossils available came from above the neck, making it difficult to under-stand the species.

Lots of skulls“What we need is for them to find a skeleton...We have lots of skulls of heidelbergensis but what we don’t have are arms and legs and ribs and pelvis... not much, there’s a few pieces, but it’s really not very much.”

Tony Chevalier, another paleo-anthropologist from Tautavel, said the tooth would also shine a light on the current debate over Homo Heidelbergensis — owner of the German jaw and ancestor of Nean-derthals.

“Was Homo Heidelbergensis simply European or also African? It is a very important debate,” said Chevalier. — AFP

D I S C O V E R Y

MIRACLE: Volunteer archaeologists work in the Arago cave near Tautavel village, France on Tuesday. — AFP

Russia declares USgroup ‘undesirable’MOSCOW: Russian prosecu-tors on Tuesday declared the US Congress-funded National En-dowment for Democracy the first “undesirable” foreign group un-der a controversial new law to ban overseas organisations deemed a threat.

The move is part of what critics say is a Kremlin drive against civil society being fuelled by growing anti-Western rhetoric over the Ukraine crisis.

“Taking into account the over-all aim of the Endowment’s work, prosecutors came to the conclu-sion that it presents a threat to the constitutional order of Russia, its defence capabilities and state se-curity,” the prosecutors said in a statement.

Prosecutors accused the Amer-ican non-profit organisation of using local NGOs to undermine elections and organise political rallies in the country.

“The National Endowment for Democracy participated in work to declare the results of election campaigns illegitimate, to organ-ise political demonstrations aimed at influencing decisions taken by state institutions and to discredit service in the Russian armed forc-es,” the statement said.

Opening offices barredThe decision -- which now needs to be approved by the justice min-istry -- will see the Endowment barred from opening offices in Russia or funding any groups or individuals in the country.

Prosecutors said that in 2013 and 2014 the foundation gave funding worth around $5.2 mil-lion to local organisations.

The move comes as Russia and the West are locked in their worst standoff since the end of the Cold War over the crisis in Ukraine. — AFP

N A T I O N A L E N D O W M E N T F O R D E M O C R A C Y

Over 1,800 migrants rescued off Italy coastROME/LILLE (FRANCE): More than 1,800 migrants have been picked up in the Mediter-ranean and 13 bodies recovered as the exodus from north Africa by boat endures, Italy’s coast guard said on Tuesday.

Vessels taking part in EU bor-der security operation Triton rescued the migrants from their rickety boats in five separate op-erations on Monday, following the arrival in Sicily on Saturday of 1,300 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa and Syria.

The 13 bodies were recovered by an Irish military ship after it came to the aid of one of the boats, which was carrying 522 people.

The cause of death was not yet known, the coast guard said, but migrants attempting the perilous crossing to Europe often suffer from dehydration and sun exposure. More than 1,900 migrants have died this year making the dangerous journey across the Mediterra-nean to Europe, out of around 150,000 people who have made the crossing, the International Organization for Migration said earlier this month.

Eurotunnel entry bidMeanwhile, About 2,000 mi-grants tried to enter Eurotunnel premises in the French port of Calais overnight in a desperate bid to reach England through the Channel tunnel, a spokes-man said Tuesday.

“It was the biggest incursion effort in the past month and a half,” said the spokesman for Eurotunnel, which is battling often deadly efforts by migrants to smuggle themselves into Britain.

The migrants were trying to enter the site “between mid-night and 6:00 am,” he added.

“All our security personnel, that is nearly 200 people, as well as police were called in.” — AFP

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NATO backs Turkey in fight against rebels in Iraq, Syria

BRUSSELS/ISTANBUL: NATO gave Turkey its full political sup-port in fighting militants in Syria and Iraq at an emergency meeting on Tuesday but several nations urged Ankara not to undermine the Kurdish peace process by us-ing excessive military force.

Following a 90-minute meeting in Brussels, Turkey won the back-ing it sought for stepping up its role in the US-led fight against IS militant group with air strikes.

Ankara made no request to its 27 allies for military help and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg noted that it had the second-largest army in the alli-ance. Instead, the meeting heard how Turkey was carrying out President Tayyip Erdogan’s sud-den change in strategy against IS militant group. “We all stand unit-ed in condemning terrorism, in solidarity with Turkey,” Stolten-berg told a news conference.

The killing of 32 young students in a Turkish border town near Syria last week drove Ankara into battle against IS - a move NATO welcomes - shedding its previous reluctance. Turkey has a 900km (560-mile) border with Syria and is also concerned about Kurdish militants occupying the frontier area. Some European nations wor-ry that Erdogan is using the oppor-tunity to bomb Kurdish groups he brands a threat to the integrity of the Turkish state but which enjoy some sympathy in the West.

According to a NATO official present at the meeting, several na-tions called for “a proportionate use of military force” in the action against Kurdish militants.

European allies, who need Tur-key’s help to combat militants re-turning to Europe, said Turkey’s decision to hit Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) camps in Iraq at the weekend was justified. But they made it clear at the same time they do not want Erdogan to abandon several years of a domestic peace

process which they supported.German Chancellor Angela

Merkel urged Turkish Prime Min-ister Ahmet Davutoglu in a tel-ephone call on Sunday to respect the principle of proportionality and not to give up on the Kurdish peace process.

“Reconciliation should contin-ue,” the Netherlands’ ambassador to NATO, Marjanne de Kwaas-teniet, said on Twitter.

While the NATO meeting was in session, Erdogan told a news

conference it was impossible to continue the peace process with Kurdish militants who claimed responsibility for the killing of two Turkish police officers after the students’ massacre.

NATO ambassadors were said not to have been aware of Erdog-an’s remarks, and they did not fea-ture in the discussion.

The peace progress entailed giving Turkey’s own Kurdish pop-ulation more cultural rights with the prospect, over time, of greater autonomy in the southeastern re-gions where they constitute a ma-jority. The European Commission on Tuesday repeated its concern to keep the peace process alive. Turkey is a candidate negotiating for EU membership.

Stoltenberg defended NATO’s limited role in the fight against IS, arguing that the alliance was al-

ready active in combating terror-ism across the Mediterranean, in Afghanistan, in Jordan and Iraq as part of a US-led coalition.

The ability of NATO and part-ner nations’ armed forces to oper-ate together due to years of joint NATO training and exercising also contributed to the campaign, he said. NATO rules provide for mutual support if an ally comes under attack, although Turkey has not invoked Article 5 of the North Atlantic treaty which requires al-lied nations to consider military action. “If a NATO member coun-try comes under attack, NATO would support it in every way,” Er-dogan said. “At the moment, Tur-key has come under attack and is exercising its right to defend itself and will exercise this right until the end... but what we’re saying is that there could be a duty for NATO, and we ask NATO to be prepared for this.”

Tuesday’s meeting of ambas-sadors was held under Article 4 of the treaty, which permits a mem-ber of the alliance to ask for con-sultations with other allies when it feels its security is threatened. Ankara twice invoked this article in 2012 to ask for consultations with its NATO allies over the Syr-ia conflict, notably after an aerial clash with Damascus.

Erdogan said on it was impos-sible to continue a peace process with Kurdish militants and urged parliament to strip politicians with links to them of immunity from prosecution. “It is not pos-sible for us to continue the peace process with those who threaten our national unity and brother-hood,” Erdogan told a news con-ference in Ankara before depart-ing on an official visit to China.

Saboteurs attacked a pipeline carrying natural gas from Iran to Turkey in Turkey’s eastern prov-ince of Agri late on Monday, halt-ing the flow, Turkish Energy Min-ister Taner Yildiz and state gas company Botas said. — Agencies

Peace process with

Kurdish militants

impossible, said

Turkish President

Tayyip Erdogan

Dinosaurs like T rex had unique serrated teethWASHINGTON: If you want to know the secret behind the suc-cess of Tyrannosaurus rex and its meat-eating dinosaur cousins, look no further than their teeth.

Scientists on Tuesday unveiled a comprehensive analysis of the teeth of the group of carnivorous dinosaurs called theropods, de-tailing a unique serrated structure that let them chomp efficiently through the flesh and bones of large prey.

Theropods included the largest land predators in Earth’s history. They first appeared about 200 mil-lion years ago and were the domi-nant terrestrial meat-eaters until the age of dinosaurs ended about 65 million years ago.

The study involving eight thero-pod species revealed their previ-ously unknown tooth complexity. Internal dental tissues were ar-ranged in a way that reinforced the strength and prolonged the life of teeth that were serrated like steak knives for easy dismembering of other dinosaurs.

Fossil evidenceUniversity of Toronto Mississauga paleontologist Kirstin Brink said fossil evidence showed that T rex’s teeth could crush bone. Its teeth have been found embedded in the bones of its prey and chunks of bone appear in its fossilized dung. “But the serrations were most ef-ficient for piercing flesh and grip-ping it while ripping off a chunk of meat, called the ‘puncture and pull’ feeding style,” Brink said.

The researchers analysed slices from fossil teeth using a power-ful microscope and a sophisti-cated device that revealed tooth chemical properties. They stud-ied teeth from: the early and rela-tively small Coelophysis; bird-like Troodon; large predators Allosau-rus, Gorgosaurus, Daspletosaurus, Tyrannosaurus and Carcharodon-tosaurus; and big, semi-aquatic Spinosaurus. — Reuters

S T U D Y

VOICING SUPPORT: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg chairs a meeting of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) following Turkey’s request for Article 4 consultations, at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on Tuesday. – Reuters

MARKEWWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COMW E D N E S DAY, J U LY 2 9, 2 0 1 5B

Muscat6,556.74 - 11.35 - 0.17%

Dubai4,110.00- 35.68 - 0.86%

Abu Dhabi4,854.63- 18.15 - 0.37%

Saudi Arabia9,090.84+ 10.82+ 0.12%

Kuwait6,235.47- 24.23 - 0.39%

Bahrain1,334.49 - 3.07 - 0.23%

Qatar11,831.33- 82.25- 0.69%

CURRENCY RATES* DRAFT RATES (OMR1)* GOLD PRICES*Forex rates vs OMR1*US Dollar .................................2.58Euro ............................................ 2.32Pound ...........................................1.65Indian Rs .............................165.98Pak Rs ....................................260.15Bangla Taka.......................199.20

* Rates are as of July 28Source: Bank Muscat

Indian Rs .................................. 165.80Pakistan Rs ............................ 263.40Sri Lanka Rs .......................... 346.60Bangla Taka.............................201.70Phil Peso .....................................117.60

* Rates as of July 28 Source: Oman UAE Exchange

Muscat 24ct per gm (OMR) ........14.10

Muscat 22ct per gm (OMR) .......13.60

Dubai 24ct per gm (Dh) ............132.25

Dubai 22ct per gm (Dh) ............. 125.75

* Rates as of July 28

Source: Malabar Gold & Diamonds

Type ............................Delivery...........PriceOman Crude ............. (Spot) ........ $52.78Dubai Crude ............. (Spot) ........$52.58Murban Crude ........ (Spot) ........$54.44Arabian Light ......... (Spot) ........$52.68N.Sea Brent ............... (Spot) .........$52.77West Texas Int ....... (Spot) .........$47.04

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Port Services eyes management contract of South Batinah dry port

Times News Service

MUSCAT: A consortium led by Port Services Corporation (PSC) has been shortlisted to participate in bidding for a contract to operate and manage the Sultanate’s first dry port coming up at South Bati-nah Logistics Area.

“The consortium, led by the corporation, has been shortlisted to participate in the ‘request for proposal,’ which is expected to be floated in September 2015,” PSC said in its first half result posted

on the Muscat Securities Market (MSM) website.

Logistics hubAccording to earlier reports, South Al Batinah logistics hub, coming up in an initial area of 30 hectares, will be built in six stages. The first stage, which will have three mil-lion square metres, is dedicated for logistic services including the dry port, which will be the first of its kind in the Sultanate. The dry port includes spaces for custom inspection over the con-

tainers coming to and going from the land and marine ports.

Referring to the operation and management of Khasab port, PSC said that the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) has no comments on the joint busi-

ness proposal submitted by PSC and its strategic partner. However, the ministry has expressed its de-sire to contract for managing and operating Khasab port directly with the corporation, which will in turn have the right to appoint the

strategic partner at its discretion. “Meanwhile, the corporation con-tinues overseeing the operation of the Port of Khasab on a temporary basis based on a MoU entered into with the MoTC.”

While the corporation contin-ues to provide efficient services to the cargo vessels which have been allowed to call Port Sultan Qaboos by the MoTC, the terms of the concession agreement, which has been proposed by the ministry to extend upto December 31, 2015, is under negotiation process for signing the final extension pact.

Drop in net profitThe number of vessels called and cargo throughput achieved during the first six months of 2015 has reduced significantly compared to the same period last year on ac-count of the shifting of the main commercial activities from PSQ with effect from September 1, 2014 to Sohar Industrial Port.

Port Services Corporation said

that its net profit for the first half of 2015 dipped by 98.1 per cent to OMR73,140 from OMR3.88 mil-lion for the same period last year.

The company’s turnover plum-meted by 86.6 per cent to OMR1.58 million from OMR11.83 million, while total expenses were down by 45.7 per cent to OMR3.21 million during the period.

“Due to transition of business volumes from PSQ, the turnover has been significantly lower than the turnover achieved during the last year by 86.6 per cent which is considered as a natural result for this period, the company said. By the end of June, 2015, the cor-poration employed a total of 372 employees out of which 309 are Omani nationals. “While the cor-poration has already terminated the services of all surplus expa-triate employees, it still awaits the government directives with regard to reduction of the surplus national employees,” noted the first half result.

A consortium led by PSC has been

shortlisted to participate in the ‘request for

proposal,’ which is expected to be floated in

September 2015, said the corporation

Port Services Corporation. — Times file picture

Iran plans to sell natural gas to neighbouring Oman and Iraq TEHRAN: Exporting gas to coun-tries in the Arabian Gulf area along with Iraq, Oman and Afghanistan, tops the agenda of the National Iranian Gas Export Company (NI-GEC), according to its managing director Alireza Kameli.

He was talking about the post-sanctions plans to trade gas with neighbouring countries, according to a Mehr News Agency report.

The vast distance and the cheap price together push any plan to ex-port gas to Europe down the list, while the regional market in need of Iran’s gas is a fit priority for NI-

GEC, according to Kameli.To take advantage of the gas liq-

uefaction plants of Oman, the gas pipeline between Iran and Oman was under study, and in addition to exporting gas to Oman the two countries would form a trilat-eral consortium including Iran, Oman and an Iranian commis-sioner to produce and export LNG, said Kameli.

The official reassured that the Iranian side of the Iran-Iraq gas line was 99 per cent complete and the project depended on Iraq’s do-mestic security.

Liquefied fuel projects on the Iranian territory include a plant with an annual capacity to pro-duce 16.2 million tonnes of gas. The project had been awarded to Shell and Repsol but they aban-doned it in 2010.

Total had won another project — the Pars LNG with a capacity of 10 million tonnes — but pulled out of it as well. Iran, however, is car-rying on with the construction of Iran LNG, a $3.3 billion project to produce 10.5 million tonnes of liq-uefied gas per year, after dropping a Chinese partner. — MNA

G A S E X P O R T S

Central Bank of Oman issues treasury bills worth OMR12mMUSCAT: A tender of Govern-ment treasury bills was held at the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) this week.

The total value of the allot-ted treasury bills amounted to OMR12 million, for a maturity pe-riod of 91 days, from July 29 until next October 28, 2015.

The average accepted price reached 99.950 for every OMR100, while the minimum accepted price arrived at 99.945 per OMR100. Whereas the av-erage discount rate and the average yield reached 0.20222 per cent and 0.20232 per cent, respectively.

Treasury bills are short-term highly secured financial instru-ments issued by the Central Bank of Oman on behalf of the Govern-ment, which helps the licenced

commercial banks to gainfully invest their surplus funds, with added advantage of ready liquid-ity through discounting and repurchase facilities (Repo) offered by the central bank. Furthermore, Treasury Bills promote the local money market by creating a benchmark yield curve for short-term interest rates. Additionally, the Ministry of Finance may also resort to this instrument whenever felt neces-sary for financing its recurrent expenditures.

The interest rate on the repo operations with CBO is one per cent for the period from July 29, 2015 to August 4, 2015, while the discount rate on the treasury bills discounting facility with Central Bank of Oman is 1.35 per cent for the same period.

Certificate of depositsCertificates of deposit tender was held at the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) this week. The total amount allotted for issue No. 927 was OMR120 million.

A CBO bulletin stated that the average interest rate of these cer-tificates was 0.10 per cent while the maximum accepted interest rate was 0.10 per cent. The tenor of these certificates is 28 days, so their maturity date is on August 26. The certificates of deposit is-sued to licensed banks by the CBO as a monetary policy instrument aimed at absorbing excess liquid-ity at the banking sector in par-ticular and maintaining stability of the interest rate and the money market in general. The repo rate during July 29 till August 4 is one per cent. — ONA

I S S U E N U M B E R 4 2 2

Gulf countries raise $48b from bonds, Islamic instrumentsTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Total primary issue of bonds and sukuk by GCC entities, including central banks, totalled $48.13 billion in the first half of 2015, a 15.19 per cent decrease from the total amount raised in the first half of 2014, according to a new report.

Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz), in its recent research report titled GCC Bonds and Sukuk Market Survey, has high-lighted the trends pertaining to aggregate issuances in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) re-gion during the first half of 2015.

Fixed income securitiesCentral bank local issuances (CB-LIs) are fixed income securities issued by GCC central banks for the purpose of regulating levels of domestic liquidity.

According to the report, dur-ing the first half of 2015, a total of $28.29 billion was raised by the GCC central banks, namely by the Central Bank of Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman.

The Central Bank of Kuwait raised the highest amount with $12.85 billion, representing 48.8

per cent of the total amount raised by CBLIs through 36 issuances, followed by the Central Bank of Bahrain, which raised a total of $6.69 billion, 47.13 per cent high-er from $4.55 billion raised in the first half of 2014.

Bonds and sukuk marketThe GCC bonds and Sukuk mar-ket is composed of bonds and sukuk issued by GCC sovereign and corporate entities — includ-ing government related entities (GREs) and financial institutions (FIs) — for financing purposes and denominated in local and for-eign currencies.

A total of $19.83 billion was raised in the GCC bonds market in the first half of 2015, a decline of 19.29 per cent from $24.57 bil-lion raised in the first half of 2014.

Geographical allocation Issuances by UAE entities

raised the largest amount in GCC bonds and sukuk market in the first half of 2015, representing 75.6 per cent of the total amount, or $14.99 billion, and were the most active in terms of issuance frequency with 99 issuances.

Saudi Arabian issuers raised $1.57 billion through 3 issues.

Omani corporates raised $1.38 billion while Bahraini issuers raised $800 million. Qatari en-tities raised $380 million by 10 issuances. There was a single Kuwaiti corporate issue, a tier 1 perpetual $700 million bond by National Bank of Kuwait bearing an initial coupon of 5.75 per cent.

During the first half of 2015, corporate issuances (which in-cludes GREs and FIs) dominated the majority of the amount raised in the GCC bonds market, with $18.83 billion or 95 per cent of the total amount raised. The sole sov-ereign issue was a 10 year $1.0 bil-lion bond issued by the emirate of Ras al Khaimah bearing a coupon of 3.094 per cent. Conventional issuances raised $15.01 billion, or 75.71 per cent of the total amount raised in GCC bonds and sukuk market dur-ing the first half of 2015. This was a decline of 16.69 per cent as compared to the first half of 2014. Sukuk issuances shrunk by 26.45 per cent from $6.55 billion to $4.82 billion raised in the first half of 2015. The financial servic-es issuers accounted for the larg-est amount raised during the first half of 2015.

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DHL Express plans to strengthen presence in Oman, says top official

Times News Service

MUSCAT: DHL Express plans further expansion in Oman as the government is developing the infrastructure to transform the country into a major logistics hub in the region.

“The Sultanate is blessed with a strategic natural location and the government has readily developed it with high quality, accessible infrastructure,” said Ali Thabet, country manager at DHL Express Oman. Given the impending inau-guration of Muscat International Airport, fully-fledged operation of the ports of Duqm and Sohar and Oman Rail’s plan for a national rai-way network, DHL Express Oman foresees a massive increase in presence through newer facilities, Thabet said in response to Times of Oman queries.

He said that DHL Express Oman believes it safe to say that the bur-geoning e-commerce market re-mains one of the key contributors

to making Oman a logistics hub.

E-commerce“We plan to focus on promoting this, within the Sultanate. Based on a trend report focused on the Internet of Things (IoT) an-nounced at the DHL Global Tech-nology Conference in Dubai earli-er in 2015, the e-commerce sector in 2014 saw a total revenue of a trillion US dollars – a direct 13 per cent growth of 2013. By the year 2016, we also expect e-commerce users in the Middle East region to grow up to 100 million in members and believe that Oman will be a major part of this growth trend,” the official noted.

He added that according to the report, over the next decade, the logistics industry could unlock higher levels of operational ef-ficiency as the web connects in real time millions of shipments being moved, tracked and stowed each day. “In warehousing, con-nected pallets and items will be

a driver for smarter inventory management. In freight trans-portation, tracking and tracing of goods becomes faster, more accu-rate, predictive and secure while analytics of a connected fleet can help to predict asset failure and to schedule maintenance checks au-tomatically,” he said. “Finally, con-necting delivery personnel with surrounding vehicles and people can become a way of monetising and optimising the return trip to improve efficiency and service in last mile delivery. For customers, this means DHL can provide an even faster, more reliable and cost-effective service – this is a snap-shot of what we would like to bring to Oman,” Thabet stated.

Small enterprisesCommenting on the support given by DHL Express Oman to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), he said, “In Oman, DHL Express has been intent on supporting SMEs by enabling the businesses to go online and initiate a shift from an import-centered model

to an export-based one.” As a busi-ness policy, as well as in adher-ence with Royal Directives in the Sultanate towards the support for small enterprises, preference is given to Omani companies in the sectors of packaging, local transport, maintenance and office supplies among others, at DHL Express Oman, he added. Thabet stated that DHL Express Oman invites local suppliers to be a part of the DHL supply chain –manag-ing region-based deliveries within the DHL umbrella. “This initiative not only allows DHL to expand its existing network into the various wilayats of the Sultanate, but also gives entrepreneurs an opportuni-ty to learn from one of the world’s largest and most efficient logistics company,” he said.

Asked about Oman’s advan-tages in establishing the country’s ports as transhipment centres for regional supply, the official said, “DHL ships to more than 220 countries and territories around the world. Among the destinations we cover in the Middle East region,

Oman enjoys a favourable loca-tion. Ideally situated between sev-eral rapidly developing countries, it has been connecting the world to the Gulf and serving as a regional logistics hub for more than 4,000 years.” “Today, the Sultanate has advanced from all arenas. Given its progress in recent years, and the steady growth of GDP and other economic indicators, we believe that the Omani economy will progressively continue to grow,” said Thabet. He added that the stable political climate, which is one of the basic elements needed to make a significant de-velopment in the logistics service industry has enabled Oman to be-come a key centre for logistics in the world.

“In reflection, we at DHL in Oman are investing in our infra-structure, updating our facilities with the most advanced technolo-gies and increasing our capacity, which will keep us well prepared to handle the growth and advances in the economy,” he said.

Redistribution centre Asked how successful the authori-ties have been in making Oman a centre for redistribution in the region, Thabet said, “As part of the 9th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), the government of Oman has devel-oped a strategic plan for the logis-tics sector.”

“This plan will look to build on the achievements of Oman in linking the key trading hubs in the country with Gulf, Arab, Asian and global markets through the pres-ence of a land-transport network that includes over 32,600km of paved roads connecting the vari-

ous governorates, Wilayats and villages within the Sultanate,” he said. He added that the authorities in Oman have been paving the way by promoting initiatives that will complement the projects of the government in strengthening the infrastructure of the logistics sec-tor to meet trade movement and the increasing volume of invest-ment demand in the commercial and industrial sectors.

“Moreover, with the Muscat In-ternational Airport expansion en route to completion, the expanded Salalah airport with a capacity of 3 million passengers already func-tion and several other airports in the pipeline, in addition to Oman’s port infrastructure (in Duqm and Sohar) – there already exists a rather cohesive area for develop-ment,” he said.

This is a huge benefit to a busi-ness such as ours, as we depend on developed infrastructure and a government with a vision towards making the country a nucleus of progress, added Thabet.

“The growth of the logistics sector is not limited to itself, but extends to the role it plays in sup-porting other sectors, and we, at DHL Express Oman are eager to make the most of the opportuni-ties that the government is provid-ing,” he noted.

“We started our activities in Oman more than 30 years ago and in 2013, we set a budget for new investments in Oman, given the importance of the country, and the course of the development followed by the government to be-come a modern logistics hub in the Middle East,” the country manager at DHL Express Oman concluded.

Given the impending inauguration of Muscat

International Airport, fully-fledged operation

of ports of Duqm and Sohar as well as Oman

Rail’s plan for a national railway network, DHL

Express Oman foresees a massive increase

in presence through newer facilities, said the

company’s country managerAli Thabet, country manager at DHL Express Oman. — Supplied picture

Times News Service

MUSCAT: National Detergent Company is investing in a mod-ern state-of-the-art blending and manufacturing unit, being set up in Rusayl Industrial Estate.

This plant will be able to cater to the total requirements of spe-cialty chemicals for the oil and gas and construction sectors in the Sultanate, the company said

in a stock market filing.“This manufacturing plant at a

total cost of around OMR400,000 will be ready for trial production by this year end,” the statement said, adding, “The company be-lieves that this additional busi-ness segment will gradually increase the revenue base and profitability of the company in the years to come, along with the current business.”

The company has signed a technical agreement with one of the leading manufacturers of chemicals for oil and gas indus-try. This manufacturer is having more than 25 years of experience in this field, with whose help the company is participating in a recent Petroleum Development Oman tender for the supply of demulsifiers and other specialty chemicals for the next five years.

National Detergent investing in new unitE X P A N S I O N

China shares plunge againSHANGHAI: Chinese shares fell on Tuesday, as Beijing scrambled once again to prop up a stock market whose wild gyrations have heightened fears about the financial stabil-ity of the world’s second big-gest economy.

After a plunge of more than eight per cent in major indexes on Monday, Chinese regulators said they were prepared to buy shares to stabilise the stock market, while the central bank injected cash into money markets and hinted at further monetary easing.

But despite those moves, aimed at bolstering the confi-dence of the ordinary investors who dominate China’s equity markets, the CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen fell 0.2 on Tuesday, while the Shanghai Composite Index shed 1.7 per cent. A highly volatile day — not unusual in China’s unruly stock markets — had seen both index-es lurching between losses as deep as five per cent and gains of more than one per cent. — Reuters

S T O C K M A R K E T

Pacific Rim ministers optimistic on trade dealLAHAINA (Hawaii): Ministers from Pacific Rim nations hoping to finalise an ambitious free trade deal this week warned on Monday that hurdles remained including intellectual property and dairy.

The United States and Japan, the two biggest economies in the talks, are both keen for strong in-tellectual property protections,

such as long copyright periods and data protection for next-genera-tion drugs.

Japanese Economy Minister Akira Amari, arriving in Hawaii with his counterparts from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partner-ship (TPP) countries, told report-ers that the aim was to produce a win-win outcome for all countries.

“There are a lot of difficulties to overcome with intellectual prop-erty,” he said, noting that a series of one-on-one as well as group meet-ings are planned during the four days of talks ending on Friday.

Mexico’s Economy Minister Il-defonso Guajardo declined to say if he backed the US call for 12 years data protection for biologic drugs

but he was confident a deal could be reached. “We are expecting to close off this agreement,” he told reporters. Another major sticking point is dairy.

Mexico is under pressure to give Australia and New Zealand more access to its markets, while Canada is also so far resisting de-mands to open up its protected

local industry. “We are looking for what we call commercially mean-ingful access,” New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser told local TV 3 news. “I’m not going to be dog-matic about how to define that, but there’s nothing on the table yet that allows me to recommend to the cabinet that we should sign this deal at this point. — Reuters

F R E E T R A D E D E A L

Akira Amari. — Bloomberg file picture

B3W E D N E S DAY, J U LY 2 9, 2 0 1 5

MARKET

Libya crude output drops as strife cuts power at oil fieldsTRIPOLI: Libya’s crude produc-tion dropped below 400,000 bar-rels a day as the conflict in the di-vided North African country cut electricity supply at oil fields, ac-cording to the state-run National Oil Corp. Output in Libya, holder of Africa’s largest crude reserves, has been hampered by a lack of se-curity and maintenance as well as power outages, said Mohamed El-harari, an NOC spokesman.

Crude production was about 411,000 barrels a day in June, ac-cording to the most recent OPEC monthly report.

BP recorded $598 million in exploration write-offs and other costs in Libya in the second quar-ter, the company said on Tuesday.

Poor maintenance“The situation is not very good,” Elharari said Monday by phone from Tripoli.“There is poor main-tenance, and there are electricity cuts at the oil fields.”

Libya produced about 1.6 mil-lion barrels a day before the 2011 rebellion that ended Muammar Qaddafi’s 42-year rule. The coun-try is today the smallest producer in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries Opec).

It has failed to restore output as militias fight for the control of export terminals while tribes and workers block operations at fields and pipelines to seek jobs and bet-ter pay. The country has been di-vided since last year between an

internationally recognized gov-ernment that operates from the east and an administration that rules over the capital Tripoli and most of the western region. Es Sid-er and Ras Lanuf, the nation’s larg-est and third-largest oil ports, have been shut down since December following attacks by militias loyal to the Tripoli government.

No change “There is no change to the situa-tion at the ports,” Elharari said.

“We are trying to re-open them, but so far there is no progress.”

BP, which in August declared force majeure in Libya, said “there is significant uncertainty on when drilling operations might be able to

proceed,” in a note in its quarterly results. Force majeure remains in effect at both locations where BP was exploring, in deepwater off the coast of Sirte and onshore in the Ghadames North and South areas in the Sahara Desert, David Nicho-las, a company spokesman, said Tuesday by phone from London.

“We would hope to return, and we still believe in the potential of this acreage,” he said.

Libya’s challenges in boosting crude production coincide with a global excess in supply over de-mand for the past five quarters, the most enduring oil glut since the 1997 Asian economic crisis, according to the International Energy Agency. - Bloomberg News

O I L S U P P L I E S

VITAL RESOURCE: Libya produced about 1.6 million barrels a day before the 2011 rebellion that ended Muammar Qaddafi’s 42-year rule. - Bloomberg file picture

BP falls into loss on oil spill charge, price slumpsLONDON: BP said on Tuesday it sank into the red in the sec-ond quarter, after taking a vast $10.8-billion (9.8-billion-euro) hit on costs linked to the deadly 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The British energy giant’s performance also took a heavy knock from slumping global oil prices. Losses after taxation stood at $5.82 billion between April and June, BP said in a re-sults statement.

That contrasted with net profit of $3.37 billion in the sec-ond quarter of 2014.

Charge of $10.8b“In the quarter BP took a charge of $10.8 billion in total related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill — including $9.8 billion associ-ated with the government set-tlements as well as charges for further business economic loss claims and other ongoing costs,” BP said in the earnings release. BP had already announced on July 2 that it would pay a record $18.7 billion to compensate the US government and five states for damages stemming from the oil spill.

The British company’s total pre-tax charge for the incident now stands at $54.6 billion.

The spill was sparked by a blast on the Deepwater Horizon rig which killed 11 men and sent millions of barrels of oil flowing into Gulf waters, in one of the worst environmental disasters to strike the United States.

Oil price collapse weighs BP added on Tuesday that un-derlying replacement cost profit — a measure of earnings adjusted for one-time items and inventory charges — tumbled 64 per cent to $1.3 billion as oil prices collapsed.

That missed market expecta-tions of $1.7 billion, according to analysts polled by Bloomberg News, and compared with $3.6 billion a year earlier.

Brent North Sea crude, a benchmark for more than half the world’s oil, has dived by about 50 per cent in value over the last year, slashing profitabil-ity across the sector and forcing some of the energy majors to slash investment. — AFP

P E R F O R M A N C E

– Bloomberg file picture

B4

MARKETW E D N E S DAY, J U LY 2 9, 2 0 1 5

MUSCATSECURITIES MARKET

SHARE PRICE BULLETIN FOR TUESDAY, JULY 28

REGULAR MARKET .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................OM0000003968 ...........OOREDOO....................................................................... 334,100 ......... 265,724..................... 25 ............0.788 ...........0.800 ...........0.788 ........... 0.796 ............. 0.788............ 0.008 ..............1.015.................0.800..............0.792...................0.800 ................. 518,151,607 ........0.100

OM0000004669 ...........SHARQIYAH DESALINATION ......................................550 ...............2,162........................ 1 ........... 3.930 ........... 3.930 ...........3.930........... 3.930 .............3.900 ........... 0.030 ............. 0.769 ................3.930 ..............3.930...................4.050 ..................38,436,249 .........1.000

OM0000003398 ...........BANK SOHAR................................................................ 1,330,867 ...... 273,595......................19 ........... 0.206 ...........0.206 ...........0.205........... 0.206 .............0.205 ............0.001 ............. 0.488 ................0.205..............0.205...................0.209 ................ 296,936,640 .......0.100

OM0000001749 ............OMAN CEMENT .......................................................... 300,000 ......... 156,600........................4 ........... 0.522 ........... 0.522 ...........0.522........... 0.522 .............0.520 ........... 0.002 ............. 0.385 ................0.522.............. 0.514...................0.530.................. 172,715,555 ........0.100

OM0000003026 ...........OMAN TELECOMMUNICATION ..........................48,968 .............85,919......................21 ............1.750 ........... 1.760............ 1.750 ............1.755 ............. 1.750 ............ 0.005 ............. 0.286 ................1.760 ...............1.755................... 1.760 ................ 1,316,250,000 ......0.100

OM0000001145 ............PORT SERVICES CORPORATION ........................... 2,473 .................. 472........................ 1 ............0.191 ........... 0.191 ............ 0.191 ............0.195 ............. 0.195............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................ 0.191 .............. 0.191...................0.195 ...................18,532,800 .........0.100

OM0000001418 ............RAYSUT CEMENT ............................................................. 200 .................. 296........................2 ............1.480 ........... 1.480 ...........1.480 ........... 1.500 ............. 1.500 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................1.480 ..............1.480...................1.500 ................. 300,000,000 .......0.100

OM0000001483 ............NATIONAL BANK OF OMAN .................................. 70,000 ............ 25,060........................2 ........... 0.358 ........... 0.358 ...........0.358 ........... 0.358 .............0.358 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.358 ..............0.346...................0.354..................479,974,270........0.100

OM0000001889 ............SALALAH MILLS ............................................................. 8,792 .............13,144........................2 ............1.495 ........... 1.495 ...........1.495 ............1.495 ............. 1.495 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................1.495 .............. 1.450...................0.000 .................. 72,003,781 .........0.100

OM0000001962 ............AL MADINA INVESTMENT ................................... 147,500 ............ 10,002......................17 ........... 0.068 ........... 0.069 ...........0.067 ........... 0.068 .............0.068 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.067 ..............0.067...................0.068...................14,086,294 .........0.100

OM0000002028 ...........GULF INTERNATIONAL CHEMICALS ............ 566,200 ......... 152,852......................19 ............0.271 ........... 0.271 ...........0.268........... 0.270 .............0.270 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.269..............0.269...................0.270 ...................5,670,000 ..........0.100

OM0000002226 ...........AL JAZEERA SERVICES ............................................ 90,193 ............ 32,830........................6 ........... 0.364 ...........0.364 ...........0.364........... 0.364 .............0.364 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.364..............0.358...................0.364 ..................22,278,355 .........0.100

OM0000002366 ...........AL BATINAH DEV. INV. HOLDING ....................... 60,000 ...............7,320........................4 ............0.122 ........... 0.122 ...........0.122 ........... 0.122 ............. 0.122 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.122 ...............0.117...................0.122 ....................3,660,000 ..........0.100

OM0000003661 ............VOLTAMP ENERGY ........................................................1,231 .................. 554........................4 ........... 0.450 ........... 0.450 ...........0.450........... 0.470 .............0.470 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.450 ..............0.440...................0.466...................28,435,000 .........0.100

OM0000003711 ............SOHAR POWER ................................................................ 2,210 .................. 756........................2 ........... 0.342 ...........0.342 ...........0.342........... 0.380 .............0.380 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.342..............0.342...................0.366...................83,983,800 .........0.100

OM0000004925 ...........AL BATINAH POWER ................................................ 484,032 ..........111,327......................14 ........... 0.230 ...........0.230 ...........0.230........... 0.230 .............0.230 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.230..............0.226...................0.230 .................155,224,109 ........0.100

OM0000004933 ...........AL SUWADI POWER .................................................. 410,000 ...........94,300......................12 ........... 0.230 ...........0.230 ...........0.230........... 0.230 .............0.230 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.230..............0.225...................0.230 .................164,313,458 ........0.100

OM0000005005 ...........ALMAHA CERAMICS ..................................................27,384 .............15,363..................... 33 ........... 0.562 ........... 0.562 ...........0.560........... 0.562 .............0.562 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.562 ..............0.560...................0.564...................29,505,000 .........0.100

OM0000004735 ...........SEMBCORP SALALAH .................................................. 1,245 ...............3,050........................2 ........... 2.450 ........... 2.450 ...........2.450........... 2.450 .............2.455 ...........-0.005 ........... -0.204 ...............2.450..............2.450...................2.500 .................233,870,128 ........1.000

OM0000002168 ............AL ANWAR CERAMIC TILES .................................68,050 .............27,764........................8 ........... 0.408 ...........0.408 ...........0.408........... 0.408 ............. 0.410............-0.002 ........... -0.488 ...............0.408..............0.404...................0.408 .................120,855,182 ........0.100

OM0000003224 ...........RENAISSANCE SERVICES ...................................... 42,822 ............ 12,006........................6 ........... 0.280 ...........0.282 ...........0.280 .......... 0.280 .............0.282 ...........-0.002 ........... -0.709 ...............0.280............. 0.280...................0.282 ..................78,986,447 .........0.100

OM0000003521 ............GALFAR ENGINEERING AND CON. .................. 604,771............ 73,292......................19 ............0.121 ........... 0.122 ........... 0.121 ............0.121 ............. 0.122 ...........-0.001 ........... -0.820 ...............0.122 ..............0.120...................0.122 ................... 35,087,657 .........0.100

OM0000002176 ............AL JAZEERA STEEL PRODUCTS ........................ 541,238 ......... 126,370......................21 ........... 0.234 ...........0.234 ...........0.233 ........... 0.233 .............0.235 ...........-0.002 ............-0.851................0.233 .............. 0.231...................0.233................... 29,101,225 .........0.100

OM0000001525 ............OMAN INVESTMENT AND FINANCE .............. 105,000 ...........22,260........................2 ............0.212 ........... 0.212 ...........0.212 ........... 0.212 ............. 0.214 ...........-0.002 ........... -0.935 ...............0.212 ..............0.210...................0.213 .................. 42,400,000 ........0.100

OM0000002796 ...........BANK MUSCAT ............................................................ 596,439 ......... 334,188......................41 ........... 0.562 ........... 0.562 ...........0.554 ........... 0.560 .............0.566 ...........-0.006 ........... -1.060 ...............0.560..............0.550...................0.560 ...............1,283,420,654 ......0.100

OM0000001681 ............OMAN AND EMIRATES INV. HOLDING ........... 1,344,440...... 154,487..................... 36 ............0.115 ........... 0.116 ............ 0.114 ............0.115 ............. 0.117 ............-0.002 ............-1.709 ................ 0.114 .............. 0.114................... 0.115 ................... 14,015,625 .........0.100

OM0000001772 ............AL ANWAR HOLDING............................................... 3,038,310 ......679,549...................208 ........... 0.225 ........... 0.227 ...........0.220 .......... 0.224 .............0.228 ...........-0.004 ............-1.754 ................0.221 ............. 0.220...................0.221 ...................33,616,800 .........0.100

OM0000001087 ............OMAN UNITED INSURANCE ............................... 150,000 ........... 46,850........................8 ............0.314 ........... 0.314 ...........0.312 ........... 0.312 ............. 0.318............-0.006 ............-1.887................0.312 ..............0.306...................0.312 ...................31,200,000 .........0.100

OM0000004768 ...........AL MADINA TAKAFUL ...............................................83,000 ............... 7,549........................9 ........... 0.090 ........... 0.092 ...........0.090............0.091 .............0.093 ...........-0.002 ............-2.151 ................0.092.............. 0.091...................0.092 ..................15,925,000 .........0.100

OM0000002200 ...........AHLI BANK .................................................................... 345,000 ............74,770......................11 ............0.214 ........... 0.218 ...........0.214 ............0.217 .............0.222 ...........-0.005 ........... -2.252 ...............0.218 ............. 0.202...................0.218 ................. 309,232,843 .......0.100

OM0000001160 ............NATIONAL GAS .............................................................98,450 ............ 36,427......................16 ........... 0.370 ........... 0.370 ...........0.370 ........... 0.370 .............0.388 ...........-0.018 ........... -4.639 ...............0.370 ..............0.360...................0.370...................18,500,000 .........0.100

.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 10,903,465 2,846,837...................575 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ...... 31........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

PARALLEL MARKET ................................................................................................................................................................................. OM0000004511 ............ALIZZ ISLAMIC BANK.............................................. 244,000............19,506........................6 ........... 0.077 ...........0.080 ...........0.077 ........... 0.080 .............0.074 ........... 0.006 ............. 8.108 ................0.080..............0.073...................0.080 ..................80,000,000 ........0.100

OM0000001285 ............NATIONAL MINERAL WATER ..................................1,874 .................. 124........................ 1 ........... 0.066 ........... 0.066 ...........0.066........... 0.066 .............0.066 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.066 ..............0.063...................0.070.................... 1,782,201 ..........0.100

OM0000002564 ...........AL HASSAN ENGINEERING....................................42,750 ...............4,223......................15 ........... 0.099 ........... 0.100 ...........0.098........... 0.099 .............0.099 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.098 ..............0.098...................0.099.................... 7,445,592 ..........0.100

OM0000002671 ............GULF STONES..................................................................... 800 .....................90........................ 1 ............0.112 ........... 0.112............ 0.112 ............0.110 ............. 0.110 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.112 ............. 0.000................... 0.112 ....................3,993,000 ..........0.100

OM0000004776 ...........TAKAFUL OMAN INSURANCE ..............................40,100 ............... 4,491........................3 ............0.112 ........... 0.112............ 0.112 ............0.112 ............. 0.112 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.112 .............. 0.112................... 0.114 ...................11,200,000 .........0.100

OM0000005963 ...........PHOENIX POWER ...................................................... 7,837,666....1,243,746...................190 ............0.159 ........... 0.160 ...........0.158 ............0.159 ............. 0.159............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.158 .............. 0.158...................0.159 ..................232,553,632........0.100

OM0000001400 ...........OMAN FLOUR MILLS ....................................................7,700 ...............3,857........................3 ........... 0.500 ...........0.502 ...........0.500........... 0.500 .............0.502 ...........-0.002 ........... -0.398 ...............0.502..............0.490...................0.502 ..................78,750,000 .........0.100

OM0000004420 ...........BANK NIZWA ................................................................ 111,324 ...............8,248......................14 ........... 0.074 ........... 0.075 ...........0.074 ........... 0.074 .............0.075 ...........-0.001 ............-1.333................0.075 ..............0.074...................0.075 ..................111,000,000 ........0.100

.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 8,286,214 .. 1,284,284...................233 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ........ 8........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

ISIN .................................................. SECURITY NAME ...............................................................................................VOLUME ..............TURNOVER ................... TRADES ...........OPEN PRICE ............. HIGH .................... LOW ............... CLOSE PR. ..........PREV. CLOSE.......... DIFF (RO) .................DIFF % ......................LAST PR............... LAST BID .....................LAST OFFER ................. MARKET CAP ........PAR VALUE

O M A N S T O C K S

INDICESIndex .................................................High .................Low ..................... Value ............... Prev . Value.......... Diff ...............Diff %MSM30 Index ....................................... 6,568.09 ...............6,550.57 ....................6,556.74 ...................6,568.09 ................ -11.35 .................. -0.17Financial Index .....................................8,076.91 ...............8,028.76 ................... 8,028.76 ................... 8,079.65 ................-50.89 .................. -0.63Industrial Index ................................... 8,320.97 ...............8,312.67 ....................8,313.73 ...................8,320.97 .................. -7.24 .................. -0.09Services Index .......................................3,527.60 ...............3,522.81 ................... 3,524.93 ...................3,526.97 ..................-2.04 .................. -0.06MSM SHARIAH INDEX....................... 993.11 ..................989.95 ....................... 993.11 ...................... 990.93 .................... 2.18 ...................0.22

Trading SummaryVolume ................ Turnover ..........Trades .............. Market Cap............. Up ............Down ............. Equal .........Sec. Traded19,942,127 .................4,206,068 .................... 820 ...............15,208,078,680 .................. 6 ......................15 ....................22 .........................43

MSM index ends lower

MUSCAT: Taking cues from the bearish sentiments in global and regional markets, local investors moved to risk aversion mode, causing the benchmark index to close down by 11 points or 0.17 per cent at 6556.74 points.

The MSM Sharia Index in-creased by 0.22 per cent and closed at 993.11 points. Phoenix Power was the most active in terms of volume as well as turn-over. Alizz islamic bank, up by 8.11 per cent, was Tuesday’s top gainer while National Gas, down by 4.64 per cent, was the top los-er. As many as 820 trades were executed during the day’s trading session generating turnover of OMR4.2 million with around 20 million shares changing hands. Out of 43 traded securities, six advanced and 15 declined. Do-

mestic investors stood as net buyers for OMR168,000, while GCC and Arab investors were net sellers for OMR89,000 fol-lowed by foreign investors for OMR81,000 worth of shares.

Financial Index had lost 0.63 per cent before closing at 8,028.76 points. Alizz islamic bank and Bank Sohar gained 8.11 per cent, and 0.49 per cent, re-spectively. Ahli Bank, Al Madina Takaful, Oman United Insurance, Al Anwar Holding, and Oman & Emirates Investments declined by 2.25 per cent, 2.15 per cent, 1.89 per cent, 1.75 per cent, and 1.75 per cent, respectively.

Industrial Sector Index end-ed at 8,313.73 points, down by 0.09 per cent. Oman Cement in-creased by 0.38 per cent to close at OMR0.522. – United Securities

alizz islamic bank, up by 8.11 per cent, was

Tuesday’s top gainer, while National Gas,

down by 4.64 per cent, was the top loser

Muscat Securities Market. – Times file picture

Qatar Airways in talks to acquire stake in India’s IndiGoMUMBAI: Qatar Airways is in talks to purchase a stake in IndiGo, India’s biggest carrier, according to an e- mailed statement from the Gulf carrier on Tuesday.

The “only airline” it is talking to is IndiGo, the Doha-based compa-ny confirmed, without elaborating, denying local media reports it was negotiating with rival SpiceJet.

InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., the owner of IndiGo last month filed a draft red herring prospectus to sell shares in an initial public offering.

“It could possibly be they take a minority stake,” Kapil Kaul, the South Asia chief executive officer (CEO) for the CAPA Centre for Aviation, said in an interview on Bloomberg TV India.

But beyond that, he said he

didn’t see what “value addition” Qatar would bring to IndiGo.

Low fares and economic growth that boosted incomes over the past decade helped IndiGo find first-time fliers and become the biggest airline in the world’s second-most populous nation.

The profitable carrier is a rare bright spot in India’s fiercely com-petitive aviation sector, where carriers have lost a combined $10 billion since 2009 and IPOs have fallen below sale prices.

IndiGo, which flies mostly with-in the country, operates a fleet of single-aisle planes from Airbus.

The carrier started operations in August 2006 just as a rash of budget airlines entered the coun-try, challenging full-service carri-

ers like Jet Airways India Ltd. on expectations that rail passengers would trade up to flights.

Not interestedQatar Airways would be keen to buy up to 49 per cent of Indigo but the Indian airline has no plans to sell, Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker told reporters at a confer-ence in Dubai in May, adding that he has a personal relationship with IndiGo’s owner.

IndiGo is the best-run and most-successful carrier in India and if there was an opportunity to take a stake in the airline, Qatar Airways would be very interested, Al Baker said at the time.

A deal would mean a boost for Qatar Airways access into India,

where its Gulf rival Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, already has a 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways.

Al Baker said last month that he is looking to build Qatar Airways’ global presence by buying stakes in other airlines.

Always bigger“We don’t go and just do five per cent,” he said on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Interna-tional Air Transport Association in Miami early June.“We would always take a bigger share.”

IndiGo probably had a profit of $150 million to $175 million in the fiscal year that ended March 31, according to estimates by CAPA Centre for Aviation.

The airline’s domestic market

share will probably exceed 40 per cent in the current fiscal year, CA-PA’s Indian unit predicts.

GoAir was the only other Indian carrier to earn a profit last fiscal year, according to CAPA India.

IndiGo has taken delivery of 100 A320 planes so far and has out-standing orders for 180 more.

In October 2014, IndiGo signed an agreement with Airbus to buy 250 A320neo single-aisle planes in what will be Airbus’s largest or-der by number of aircraft.

Denying talks with SpiceJet, Qatar Airways said in a statement that it doesn’t have any form of in-terline agreement with the budget carrier and it isn’t planning to pur-sue any form of arrangement in the future. — Bloomberg News

A V I A T I O N

Akbar Al Baker. — Bloomberg file picture

Sensex falls; rupee advancesMUMBAI: Benchmark BSE Sensex fell for the fourth straight session on Tuesday by 102.15 points to 27,459.23 as realty and auto shares dropped on receding hopes of a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India and mixed bag of corporate earnings.

After resuming in the positive zone, the BSE barometer gave up all of its gains as investors pre-ferred to remain on the sideline

ahead of the RBI’s policy review on August 4. Brokerage houses in-cluding, Morgan Stanley, RBI and DBS say the apex bank will main-tain status quo key lending rate.

Sector-wise, BSE realty index suffered the most by losing 2.72 per cent, followed by healthcare (0.87 per cent), metal (0.73 per cent), auto (0.69 per cent), oil & gas (0.45 per cent) and teck (0.42 per cent).

Rupee appreciatesIndia’s rupee rose for the first time in five days on speculation export-ers repatriated overseas income to take advantage of the currency’s drop to a six-week low. The rupee gained 0.4 per cent to 63.9150 a dollar in Mumbai, prices from lo-cal banks compiled by Bloomberg show. It fell one per cent in the last four days, dropping as low as 64.2050 on Monday. — Agencies

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Lulu announces 4th, 5th Dream Drive winners

MUSCAT: As Oman celebrated the holiday season, Lulu Hyper-market gave its customers anoth-er reason to make the festivities even more memorable.

Adding to the fun of the cel-ebratory atmosphere, the hyper-market recently announced the winners of the fourth and fifth draw of its Dream Drive cam-paign as part of Eid celebrations.

The draws were organised to coincide with the Eid holidays to enhance the season’s spirit of giv-ing and to make festive shopping a fun-filled experience. The win-ners were announced to a huge group of eager customers who thronged the outlets with fam-ily and friends to enjoy the festive

shopping. A number of officials of the Lulu group were also present at the event, says a press release.

The fourth draw was held on July 21 at the Darsait Lulu hy-permarket outlet. The draw saw Faizal Hussain take home the fourth of the 6 brand new BMW X5 35is. Thirty other winners also took home amazing gifts products from Ikon. Vijay Kumar was lucky to win the Ikon 48” LED TV, Juma Abdul Rasool won the Ikon auto-matic washing machine, Hamed Al Busaidi won the Ikon air cool-er, Abdul Samad took home the Ikon halogen air fryer and Mohd Salim Ali won the Ikon tablet.

The fifth draw took place on July 27 at the Salalah Lulu hy-permarket outlet. Al Moyid Ibra-him Thani Saif became the lucky winner of the fifth BMW X5 35is. Salim Al Harasi took home the Ikon 48” LED TV, Jaya Chandran won the Ikon automatic washing machine, Mohd Husai Ibrahim won the Ikon air cooler, Mahdi Mohd Al Mahroni took home the Ikon halogen air fryer and Iyada Ali Salim won the Ikon tablet.

Lulu has been successfully running the Dream Drive promo-tion across Oman for 15 years in a row as part of its endeavor to extend exciting, value-added and customer-centric shopping expe-riences. With only a single draw remaining, customers can still hope to drive home a brand new BMW X5 35is or take home one of

the several Ikon products.Speaking on the fourth and

fifth draws, A. V. Ananth, regional director of Lulu Hypermarket, said: “We are overwhelmed by the response we’ve received so far through the Dream Drive cam-paign. Customers’ satisfaction and happiness have always been our top priority. We take every possible step to make every occa-sion and festival special for them. The Eid festive season turned out to be a perfect occasion for us to offer amazing prizes to our cus-tomers while they shop.”

“We congratulate all the win-ners of the campaign. Through this campaign, we aim to thank our customers for their unwaver-ing support and loyalty towards us.The last draw and the prize dis-tribution ceremony will be held in the coming days,” he added.”

Commenting after the win, the winner Faizal Hussain, said, “This is the best Eid gift ever for me and I thank Lulu for reflect-ing the dreams of its customers through this ‘Dream Drive’ pro-motion. Lulu has always offered me and my family a wonder-ful shopping experience like no other. All their promotions are unique and specifically organised keeping in mind the customers’ happiness. Apart from being our favourite shopping destination all through these years, Lulu has now proved to be our lucky destination too,” he added.

The draws were

organised to

coincide with the Eid

holidays to enhance

the season’s spirit of

giving and to make

festive shopping a

fun-filled experience

Panasonic launches new blenderMUSCAT: Simplifying meal preparations, Panasonic has in-troduced an all-rounder 4-in-1 hand blender, MX-SS40 capable of multi-functions like chopping, shredding, slicing and whisk-ing. With the latest high blending performance, cooking a variety of delicacies is now more convenient than ever.

The powerful 600W motor with step-less control drives two straight and two blending blades which deliver powerful perfor-mance and quick efficient blend-ing for smoothies, sauces, fast dips, soups, baby food, and more, says a press release.

Deluxe, durable stainless-steel blender shaft easily reaches into deep bowls, pots and pitchers - safe

for hot/cold foods and beverages. The shaft goes directly into the pan for soups and sauces and the ergo-nomic, sure-grip handle provides safety, comfort and control.

Designed for everyday cooking, with the 4-in-1 hand blender you can simply switch attachments to blend, chop, slice, shred and whisk. It is ideal for both daily meals and

special delicacies for a house party.Kei Taniguchi, director, Divi-

sion Head, Panasonic Marketing Middle East & Africa, commented: “A smart addition for any kitchen, the new 4-in-1 hand blender from Panasonic is all you need for your meal preparations. With added slicing and shredding blade, and a large chopper bowl it is just a single hand blender which per-forms like multiple blenders. With an easy grip handle and multiple power settings, food preparation becomes fuss free and fast.”

Oman Marketing and Services Co (Omasco) is the authorised distributor of Panasonic in Oman. The product is available across Omasco Electronic retail stores and major hypermarkets in Oman.

C O N V E N I E N C E T O O L

Exclusive offers at Mopar till August 15

MUSCAT: Has the recent long and tough summer taken its toll on your ride? If yes, this festive season you can take advantage of Dhofar Automotive’s offers on Mopar service, parts and cus-tomer-care, that has some great ways to help even the hardest-hit vehicles get ready for the sun and fun-filled road trip days ahead with refreshing makeovers.

During the course of the cam-paign, vehicle owners are encour-aged to follow basic maintenance procedures to make sure their rides are running at peak perfor-mance, says a press release.

For customers who may have put it off until the last minute, head to a Dhofar Automotive service centre near you and avail

of free oil and filter with regular, scheduled maintenance service. You can also buy one brake pad and get the next one free, avail of a free 10-point safety inspection, free AC check-up and gas top-up on 2008 to 2015 model year ve-hicles, and also get a 15 per cent discount on dealer price for all maximum care extended war-ranty contracts.

Roderick Lloyd, head of Af-tersales, said: “In the spirit of the festive season, whether you are seeking to upgrade your car or buy a gift for a car enthusiast, Mopar is giving you offers like never before.”

Valid till August 15, the Mopar festive season promotion covers all brands of Dhofar Automotive.

S E R V I C E C E N T R E

B6 W E D N E S DAY, J U LY 2 9, 2 0 1 5

ROUND-UPThird lucky Hyundai customer gets half kilo gold in Ramadan promotion

MUSCAT: In the recently held raffle draw for half kilo gold, as part of the ‘Hyundai gives you gold’ pro-motion, the third lucky winner was picked up.

A total of 12 kilos of gold was of-fered in gifts as part of the promo-tion, apart from a host of other at-tractive benefits.

Muna, a lucky customer from Wattayah showroom, was the win-ner of the third raffle draw. Muna had very recently purchased the popular SUV model Hyundai Santa Fe from the OTE- Hyundai flagship showroom at Wattayah. She was pleasantly surprised upon hearing the news of winning half kilo gold, says a press release.

Santa Fe with a solid heritage as Hyundai’s most representative SUV model and with its core prod-uct concepts being ‘Smartness’ & ‘Practicality’, is enjoying outstand-ing consumer demand in the SUV market and offers a whole lot of luxury and comfort with its differ-entiated design, cutting-edge tech-nologies and practical use of space.

Santa Fe with a distinctive ‘Storm Edge’ styling captures the strong and dynamic shapes cre-ated by nature during the forma-tion of a storm, as well as cutting-edge technologies and practical use of space in a premium quality package. It has been influenced by

Hyundai’s brand direction ‘Mod-ern Premium’, consequently fea-turing luxury elements that have traditionally been reserved for more premium models.

The interior design is bold and modern, especially in the front where the dashboard and centre console exude a finish akin to that of a luxury modern sedan. Usage of high quality materials throughout

the cabin and the state-of-the-art manual or automatic air condi-tioning ensures a comfortable journey for occupants whatever be the region’s climate.

Families appreciate the remark-able versatility of the Santa Fe, which also offers class-leading amounts of leg-room. The second row seats can slide, recline and split-fold to offer a wide range of

seating set-ups, while two addi-tional foldaway seats in the boot can also be specified.

The luggage compartment it-self has two neat storage areas un-der the floor and provides a huge storage space. Santa Fe appeals immensely to families who are looking for a tough, versatile on-road SUV.

And with families in mind, Hyundai has ensured that the San-ta Fe is one of the safest vehicles in the market. Cutting-edge ac-tive safety systems include Elec-tronic Stability Control, as well as a Brake Assist System, which increases braking pressure in an emergency situation.

Hyundai as a brand has made significant strides on the back of sophisticated product design, quality, safety technology and ex-ceptional value. No wonder Hyun-dai has become one of the top au-tomotive brands in the world. One has to test drive and discover what millions of satisfied Hyundai own-

ers already experience and enjoy – Hyundai stands for uncompromis-ing quality.

Hyundai has a strong pres-ence in the passenger vehicles category in Oman with its wide range of Sedans and SUVs each in various trim variants. Hyundai sedan range in Oman include: Ac-cent, Elantra, Sonata and Azera, apart from the trendy Veloster & Veloster Turbo. Grand i10, i20, i30, i40 form the cutting edge ‘i’ series range designed to meet global cus-tomer needs. Hyundai SUV range - Tucson, Santa Fe and Grand Santa Fe are definitely the pick of the lot. Centennial and Genesis in the lux-ury car segment have been well re-ceived and are going from strength to strength.

OTE Group is the exclusive deal-er of Hyundai’s range of vehicles in Oman. With a nationwide network of showrooms and service centres, OTE Group ensures that Hyundai customers are never far from get-ting high quality service.

A total of 12 kilos of

gold was offered in

gifts as part of the

‘Hyundai gives you

gold’ promotion, apart

from a host of other

attractive benefits

City Cinema hosts ‘Terminator’ premiere to full houseTimes News Service

MUSCAT: City Cinema screened the premiere of Terminator Gene-sys to a full house of movie buffs, media and sponsors recently at its highly popular theatre in Shatti.

Arnold Schwarzenegger starred Terminator Genesis is an Ameri-can science action film directed by Alan Taylor and written by Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lus-sier. The film’s plot follows soldier Kyle Reese (Courtney) in the war against Skynet, an artificial gen-eral intelligence seeking to destroy the human race. In a sequence of events similar to 1984’s The Terminator, John Connor (Jason Clarke), leader of the Resistance, sends Reese back in time from 2029 to 1984 to protect Connor’s mother, Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke), who is being targeted by Skynet. However, once Reese ar-rives in the past he discovers the timeline has been altered, and Sarah has been raised by a repro-grammed Terminator, known as the Guardian (Schwarzenegger),

since her childhood.

Raffle gameThe premiere was held in asso-ciation with Merge 104.8. Refresh-ments were supported by PepsiCo and Nabil biscuits. The first show also saw 10 lucky ticket numbers

getting exciting prizes through a raffle game.

City Cinema operated by Oman Arab Cinema Co. is the single larg-est motion picture exhibitor chain in Oman, with 25 screens spread in eight locations viz. CC Ruwi, CC Shatti in Muscat, CC Sur,

CC Sohar, Muscat Grand Mall in Bausher, Muscat and CC Buraimi, in Lulu Hypermarket and the new-ly opened CC Azaiba. All cinemas are equipped with latest sound and projection equipment and have the capability to screen 3D movies either on active system or on pas-

sive system represented by depth Q 3D technology. Since the turn of the millennium, City Cinema has been dedicated to providing block-buster entertainment in movies ranging in all genres. Today City Cinema successfully offers online ticket booking facility.

B L O C K B U S T E R

Fortune Global leaders look to OBG for data

LONDON: Over half of the companies on the newly-re-leased 2015 Fortune Global 500 Index use the international publishing, research and con-sultancy firm Oxford Business Group (OBG) as a source of ref-erence for their operations.

Figures show that in total, representatives from 293, or 59% of all Fortune Global 500 companies also feature on OBG’s subscriber database, up from 246, or 49% in 2014. Of these, 141, or 70% of the top 200 firms subscribe to OBG’s report, says a press release.

Stephanie Parker, OBG’s di-rector of Digital, Marketing and PR, said she was delighted that more of the world’s top compa-nies were drawing on data fea-tured in the group’s investment guides and economic updates.

Nine out of the top 10 compa-nies in the 2015 index hold sub-scriptions with OBG, including representatives from top five companies Walmart, Sinopec, Royal Dutch Shell, China Na-tional Petroleum and Exxon Mobil. The Fortune Global 500 Index is an annually-produced list of the world’s 500 largest corporations, ranked by rev-enue for the fiscal year ended on or before March 31. Fortune’s latest list was published on July 22 this year.

“Oxford Business Group is currently celebrating its 21st year of operations and I’m pleased that we can mark this milestone by announcing that 293 of the Fortune Global 500 now use our data,” she said. “The largest corporations in the world are known to contain a significant investor base and it makes sense to track our reader-ship against the Fortune Global 500. I’m sure these companies, and many others, will continue to use our business intelligence on emerging economies, where information can sometimes be lacking, when making invest-ment decisions.”

OBG’s reports are a vital guide to the economies of the countries they cover, including macroeconomics, infrastruc-ture, banking and other sec-toral developments. The pub-lications are available in print or online.

A U T H E N T I C G U I D E

BIG DRAW: Movie buffs thronged City Cinema Shatti for the first show of 3D movie Terminator Genesys. – Jun Estrada/TIMES OF OMAN

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RECRUIT

Bank Muscat Themaar savings products offer exciting benefits

MUSCAT: Bank Muscat, the flag-ship financial services provider in the Sultanate, hosted a celebra-tion to mark the first three years of Themaar savings deposit prod-ucts, which are designed to help customers save for specific goals.

Presently two Themaar prod-ucts are available, one for children’s

higher education and the other for retirement, says a press release.

Amjad AL Lawati, head Prod-ucts, said: “The Themaar products were launched in line with the bank’s strategy to inculcate pru-dent savings habit. Many people do not plan for the future of their chil-dren as well as their retirement years. Themaar serves as a proper financial security for children’s higher education and retirement.”

“The Themaar savings concept is very simple as depending on the financial status of customers, the monthly savings amount can be decided. The flexible scheme ensures that customers do not experience financial burden in earmarking a regular monthly de-posit amount toward the savings plan,” he added.

Themaar Higher Education Savings Plan addresses a need in Oman, providing an affordable and systematic monthly savings

plan to cover the higher education costs of children. Themaar helps customers to tap their own savings instead of resorting to loans while sending children for higher educa-tion at home or abroad. The sav-ings plan is open for citizens and residents in Oman.

Lump sumThe nominal monthly amount invested on behalf of beneficiary children grows into a substantial lump sum. The attractive benefits include a handsome bonus on ma-turity of the scheme. Customers can earn bonus on monthly depos-its and all the monthly deposits made by them are fully protected throughout the term, even if they wish to prematurely withdraw in the middle of the term. The bonus rate is equivalent to term deposit rates prevailing at the time of opening the Themaar Higher Edu-cation Savings plan and customers

are clearly advised of the same.Themaar customers are eligi-

ble for three annual cash schol-arships worth OMR10,000 each. The scheme offers waiver of future monthly deposits in the event of death of the family’s breadwin-ner (customer who has opened the Themaar Higher Education Savings plan), while guaranteeing a lump sum amount to the ben-eficiary on maturity of the savings plan which can be used at the time of admission to college.

The Themaar Retirement Sav-ings Plan allows deposits to be tailored to one’s financial needs after retirement. At a time when savings are critical to ensure a secure future for one’s family, the Themaar retirement plan helps maximise savings. The Themaar retirement savings plan is open to citizens and expatriates.

The Themaar Retirement Sav-ings Plan is especially beneficial

for sections of society who do not have access to pension schemes from employers. The flexible The-maar savings plan allows custom-ers to decide at what age to retire and the amount of monthly pen-sion/income they require at the time of retirement. With rising costs of living, Themaar Retire-ment Savings plan is an ideal way to benefit from an extra monthly income in the future.

With guaranteed bonus, The-maar customers can enjoy appre-ciation on all monthly deposits throughout the savings term, plus an additional bonus at the end of the pension term. Themaar also provides 100 per cent protection of deposits throughout the term period and customers have access to their deposits any time during the product term. Customers also get a chance to participate in an annual prize draw for five custom-ers to win OMR500 each.

As an added reassurance, in case of death of the customer anytime during the term, the bank will waive all future outstanding de-posits and immediately start pay-ing monthly pension/income to the beneficiary/family.

The primary objective of The-maar retirement plan is to provide retirement security. With a long-term perspective, Themaar helps customers in judicious retirement planning. A timely investment in Themaar Savings Plan helps to stay financially secure when a reg-ular source of income is not avail-able after retirement.

All Bank Muscat products and services have evolved over the years in tandem with specific customer requirements. A keen perception of customer require-ments has enabled the bank to develop innovative products and services in line with the current and emerging needs.

Presently two

Themaar products

are available, one

for children’s higher

education and the

other for retirement

BankDhofar registers profit growth for first half of 2015MUSCAT: BankDhofar has con-tinued to show significant growth in all areas during the first half of 2015, with the total assets in-creased to OMR3.39 billion at the end of June 2015 as compared to OMR2.85 billion at the end of June 2014, recording a growth of 18.95% year on year, says a press release.

According to a statement pub-lished on Muscat Securities Mar-ket (MSM) official website, Bank-Dhofar net loans advances and financing to customers showed strong growth of 14.68% to reach OMR2.50 billion as at end of June

2015 compared to OMR2.18 billion as at end of June 2014. This growth in loans advances and financing was supported by a correspond-ing growth in the customer depos-its, which improved by 20.09% to reach OMR2.33 billion as at June 2015 as against OMR2.19 billion at June 2014.

Non-funded incomeThe total operating income in-cluding the non-funded income such as fees and commissions, for-eign exchange profit, investment income grew by 13.22% to reach

OMR54.91 million for the half year ended 30th June 2015 as com-pared to OMR48.47 million for the same period last year.

The cost to income ratio for the first half of 2015 improved to 45.21 % from 45.84% for the first half of 2014. Net provisions for loan and investment impairments in-creased to OMR4.45 million year-to-date June 2015 as compared to OMR3.05 million year-to-date June 2014 with impairment allow-ance of OMR0.90 million required for available-for-sale investments during first half 2015.

The net profits of the bank for the first half ended June 2015 reached OMR22.63 million as compared to OMR20.50 million first half of 2014 showing a growth of 10.39%. The earnings per share (EPS) for first half 2015 are OMR0.030 as compared to OMR0.027 achieved in first half 2014.

Capital increase In May 2015, the bank successfully completed country’s debut Basel III compliant AT1 Perpetual Bond issue of $300 million which are listed and traded in the Irish Stock

Exchange. This capital instrument issue helped the bank enhance the capital adequacy ratio to 16.47% as at 30th June 2015 and augment the future growth.

Maisarah highlights Bank’s Islamic Banking Window, Maisarah Islamic Banking Servic-es, continued the trend of show-ing strong growth in assets, cus-tomer deposits and profitability. The total assets have increased by 90.50% to OMR238.53 million at June 2015 from OMR125.21 mil-lion at June 2014.

The gross financing portfolio has grown from OMR89.62 mil-lion at June 2014 to OMR174.25 million at June 2015, recording a significant growth of 94.43%. Customer deposits have grown fivefold from OMR26.96 million at June 2014 to OMR144.29 million at June 2015.

Maisarah’s key profitabil-ity indicators continued to record strong growth. The net financing income increased to OMR2.56 million in June 2015 compared to OMR1.12 million in June 2014, re-cording a growth of 128.57%.

S I G N I F I C A N T G R O W T H

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SPOR SY O U R G A M E

SECTIONC W E D N E S DAY, J U LY 2 9, 2 0 1 5

FORMER SOUTH AFRICA SKIPPER CLIVE RICE DIESFormer all-rounder Clive Rice, the first post-apartheid captain of South Africa, died on Tuesday aged 66, an official from the national cricket association said. Rice had been suffering from a brain tumour. >C2

ROUSING RECEPTION FOR OMAN CRICKET HEROES

T.K. MOHANDOSSsportseditor@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: The Muscat Interna-tional Airport on Monday night was reverberating with the beat-ing of drums and the loud cheers of cricket fans as the heroes of Oman Cricket was accorded a rousing welcome with celebrations lasting till stroke of midnight.

The history-making Oman cricketers, who had qualified for the ICC World T20 to be held in In-dia March next year and returned home from ICC World T20 Quali-fier in Scotland/Ireland experi-enced an unprecedented welcome ceremony, which will be etched in the annals of Oman Cricket to cast an everlasting memory.

Hundreds of cricket fans turned out at the airport waving Oman flags, distributing sweets, and also holding huge placards and banners.

Also present were officials of the Ministry of Sports Affairs, In-dian Social Club and Pakistan So-cial Club — all joining the team in dancing and singing to glory.

Ecstatic was the general secretary of Oman Cricket Madhu Jesrani and national coach Duleep Mendis, who too put behind the tiredness of the long journey from Dublin to join the euphoric atmosphere.

“It was indeed a grand reception and something we have never seen before,” Madhu Jesrani told Times Sport. “I am still excited and I am already thinking on the next step forward,” said Madhu, who hinted at Ministry of Sports Affairs felicitating the triumphant players on August 3.

Oman Cricket is also likely to shower the team with cash awards, but Madhu said: “We are yet to fi-nalise plans, but will reveal soon.”

Skipper Sultan Ahmed said: “Qualifying for the world stage has been a rare experience for all of us, but we were determined to do it this time around and made it.”

He went on to say, the training strategies of Sri Lankan coach Duleep Mendis and the inputs of former England bowler Derek Pringle, who was specially roped in by Oman Cricket as technical advisor ahead of the tournament, plus the hard work put in by play-ers and officials contributed to the success story.

“We went to Scotland much ear-ly to acclimatise by playing warm-up games and the conditioning camps were fantastic that all of us quickly adapted to the conditions,” said Sultan, who is indeed now the veteran of Oman cricket.

First from GCCMeanwhile, Oman Cricket’s senior board member Dad Mohammed Al Balushi lauded the entire team and the technical staff of the historic achievement. “We have been wait-ing for this kind of achievement for a long time. It is a truly his-toric achievement. Oman Cricket

and the entire cricket fraternity is proud of this fete. Even the fans turned up in large numbers today to greet the players which is un-precedented in Oman,” he said.

“This is Oman’s greatest cricket achievement. The team has not only made the country proud but the entire GCC region as we are the only team ever from the Gulf region to qualify for the World T20 Championship,” a beaming Dad Mohammed added.

The official also gave full credit to the players and coaching staff for the achievement.

“Full credit to the players. They really worked hard for this and performed to their full potential throughout the tournament. Not to forget the contribution of coach Duleep Mendis and team as well as Derek Pringle,” he added.

Team manager Syed Jameel Zaidi was cheerful on return and he certainly knows sweetness of the fruit of hard work.

Before going for the qualifiers, he had said that the team has put in all efforts and confident to make the mark.

On return, he commented: “The hard work and dedication has brought us to this level and there is no looking back from now. We dedicate this glory to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said for his wise leadership and benevolence.”

Something specialMr. Consistent of Oman cricket, Jatinder Singh, who had the maxi-mum following, he said: “Thanks to everyone. It’s great to see so many people turning up late night to receive us and special thanks to media.”

Jatinder Singh, who scored 213 runs at 35.5 average, is one among the two Omani players — the other being slinger Munis Ansari — to feature in the Combined XI put up by ESPNcricinfo.

Jatinder had been the main stay for Oman throughout the tour-nament. His scores of 65 not out against Netherlands and 40 against Afghanistan were the hallmarks, but his 33 and his match-winning stand with Zeeshan Ahmed Sid-diqui was something special.

Munis Ansari with 12 wickets (16.08 average) was fourth overall in the tournament and for skipper Sultan he has been the go-to bowl-er at death. Though others like Zee-shan Maqsood, Aamir Kaleem and Rajeshkumar Ranpura had their best moments in the tournament, the man who still remains in glare is Zeeshan Siddique, who filled the television screen with his man of the match performance on the his-toric day, which saw Oman beat the exeperienced Namibia in style.

Incidentally, that was the only match of Oman televised live.

He is normally called the ‘silent killer’ as he lays low more often and bursts himself to prominence when the situation demands.

“I went into bat with purpose and everything I did just clicked,” said Zeeshan, who is yet to see his full knock on television.

“Some of my friends have re-corded it and I will take time to see it leisurely,” said the man who drove Namibia into tears.

Well, one more person, who deserved applause was cricket enthusiast Guru Prasanna of En-hance, who was right at the thick of things, and provided endless inputs for the Oman media and friends. “It was amazing to be there in Dublin and to witness Oman making history,” said Guru, who played a huge part in making the reception ceremony colourful.

— Photos by Jun Estrada/ TIMES OF OMAN

The history-making

Oman cricketers,

who had qualified

for the ICC World

T20, experienced

an unprecedented

welcome ceremony,

which will be etched

in the annals of Oman

Cricket to cast an

everlasting memory

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Australia experience to help India in Lanka, says Ganguly

NEW DELHI: Former India cricket captain Saurav Ganguly believes the experience of the Aus-tralia tour last winter will have matured and helped the likes of Virat Kohli, Murali Vijay and oth-ers for the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka will host India to play three Tests from August 12 to Sep-tember 1. While the first match will be held at Galle, the last two will be played in Colombo.

“India will do well in the series against Sri Lanka. The away se-ries in Australia last winter should have helped the players. The Mu-rali Vijays, Virat Kohlis, Ajinkya Rahanes, Lokesh Rahuls should have matured from that tour and it will definitely help them against Sri Lanka, who are a tough team... but I expect India to do well,” Gan-guly said on Tuesday.

The tour immediately follows

the short limited overs trip to Zim-babwe which saw Rahane debut as captain. Though India won the One-Day International (ODI) se-ries 3-0, Zimbabwe pulled one back to level the Twenty20 Internation-al series 1-1 earlier this month.

“I don’t think we should even evaluate the team’s performance in Zimbabwe. It was a team where the seniors and other regulars were not playing. Rahane and the oth-ers should leave it behind, not be bothered and focus on the upcom-ing tour of Sri Lanka which will be very important,” said the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)

advisory committee member. When asked about the Proteas’

70-day tour of India starting on September 29, the 113-Tests veter-an advised patience saying: “Let us go one by one and focus on the Sri Lanka series... When it is over, we can look at the South Africa series.”

Ganguly added that India team director Ravi Shastri, who did not travel to Zimbabwe, will be with the side in Sri Lanka.

“Ravi Shastri is going to Sri Lan-ka along with three other assistant coaches. Ravi is doing a great job and is going to be with the team for the time being. The chief coach

will be decided in the future,” said Ganguly, who along with cricket greats Sachin Tendulkar and V.V.S. Laxman comprises the advisory committee of the BCCI which will also give recommendations on who the new coach will be after the departure of Duncan Fletcher following the World Cup.

So much overdose of cricket is also going to bring in fatigue to the players, which happened just be-fore Zimbabwe when regular skip-pers Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Kohli, among others, decided not to go to Africa.

But Ganguly’s take is that in

modern sport, players should get used to it.

“Fatigue is going to be there. Nowadays, cricket is played throughout the year. A profes-sional sportsperson has to manage it today. A life of a sportsperson is approximately 14-15 years long and fatigue will be a part of it, but they have to manage that,” Gangu-ly, who played 311 One-Day Inter-nationals, said.

“Every professional sportsper-son goes through this. I was at the Wimbledon some time back and I saw Roger Federer play. He is play-ing throughout the year as well — at the French Open, Cincinnati Open and several other tourna-ments. A professional has to man-age these days.”

Ganguly is part of a four-mem-ber working group which will give recommendations to the Indian Premier League (IPL) Governing Council (GC) following the suspen-sion of two franchises. He is also on the BCCI advisory committee and a member of the IPL GC. With so many duties to perform, how does the former India left-handed bats-man manage his time?

“I am also the joint secretary of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), so you can well imagine. It is tough trying to manage eve-rything, all these duties. I am also nominated in honorary positions at several places,” said the 43-year-old Kolkata-resident.

“To add to it, I also have to man-age my personal work which takes a lot of time. I am literally running from pillar to post but in the end, I am somehow being able to man-age it.” - IANS

Sri Lanka will host

India to play three

Tests from August 12

to September 1. While

the first match will be

held at Galle, the last

two will be played in

Colombo

FORMER CAPTAINS: Former India captain and chief selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth with CAB Joint Secretary Saurav Ganguly during Annual Award Ceremony of Cricket Association of Bengal. – PTI

Former South Africa skipper Clive Rice diesJOHANNESBURG: Former all-rounder Clive Rice, the first post-apartheid captain of South Africa, died on Tuesday aged 66, an official from the national cricket association said.

Rice, who had been suffer-ing from a brain tumour and was admitted to hospital last weekend with severe stomach pain, played most of his cricket during South Africa’s 20-year isolation from the international game.

He was selected for a 1971-72 tour of Australia, which was cancelled because of opposition to the South African govern-ment’s policy of apartheid.

When South Africa returned to the international fold in November 1991, Rice was ap-pointed captain of a team which played three One-day Interna-tionals (ODIs) in India.

But he was controversially omitted from the South Africa team which played in the 1992 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand with the selectors placing an emphasis on youth.

Former South Africa stars paid tribute to Rice, who played in 482 first-class matches for Transvaal, Natal and Notting-hamshire, scoring 26,331 runs at an average of 40.95.

He also took 930 wickets at an average of 22.49 before retiring in 1994. Pat Symcox tweeted: “Devastated ... a great friend and wonderful man. Clive Rice has passed away. The world is a poorer place”.

Peter Kirsten called him “one of the most formidable, gifted and competitive all-rounders that any age of the game has ever seen”.

Herschelle Gibbs tweeted: “Sorry to hear about the passing of Clive Rice’ ‘Ricey’ ... astute captain and a man that played the game hard.”

Former national cricket as-sociation president and Test skipper Ali Bacher also lavished praise on Rice. “Clive Rice was a truly great all-rounder,” he said. “Had it not been for apartheid, he would have been a world great in the game of cricket.

“He was in the same class as Ian Botham and Richard Hadlee. “Clive possessed huge determination and courage and was one of best cricketers South Africa has produced.” — AFP

N O M O R E

OMAN HORSES DOMINATE NEWBERRY RACEHorses of the Royal Cavalry and those of Sheikh Nasser bin Mohammed Al Hashar and his son Sheikh Mohammed have won the titles at the 34th Dubai International Horse Races for Arabian horses held at Newberry in England. The race comprised of eight rounds which have seen tough competition for the titles and the prizes were worth £158,000. The Royal Cavalry’s Falcon won the top place in the 2000m third round. Al Mohannad, also of the Royal Cavalry, has won the fourth round honours. Horses belonging to Sheikh Mohammed bin Nasser Al Hashar won the first and second place in the 1400 m round eight. Karar, owned by Sheikh Nasser bin Mohammed Al Hashar, won the second place in the 1600m opening round of the race. Jet Tawi of the Royal Cavalry won the second place in the 2000m sixth round of the race. — ONA

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England aim to overcome Mitch hitch

BRIMINGHAM: Joe Root is con-fident England’s latest collapse against an Australia pace attack led by Mitchell Johnson won’t still haunt them come the third Ashes Test at Edgbaston starting on Wednesday.

Left-arm fast bowler Johnson took 37 wickets at 14 apiece as Australia thrashed England 5-0 on home soil to regain the Ashes in 2013-14. Johnson, however, was mocked by England fans while go-ing wicketless during the first in-nings of Australia’s 169-run defeat in Cardiff in the opening match of the current Ashes campaign.

It was though a very different story in the second Test at Lord’s, where Johnson had match figures of six for 80 during Australia’s crushing 405-run win that levelled the five-match series at 1-1.

England captain Alastair Cook may be in better form than Aus-tralia counterpart Michael Clarke but that counted for little as the hosts, with Johnson taking three cheap wickets, slumped to a hu-miliating 103 all out in their sec-ond innings.

But a defiant Root said of John-son: “It’s wrong to single one man out. You look at Cardiff and he only got two expensive wickets so it’s about putting him under pressure.”

England have responded to their drubbing at Lord’s by dropping Gary Ballance and promoting the experienced Ian Bell — himself struggling for runs — to Ballance’s position of number three, with

Jonny Bairstow coming into the side at the expense of his Yorkshire colleague.

‘Extra pace’ Australia left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc was not concerned by England’s attempts to stabilise a top order that has been 43 for three or worse seven times in their past 13 Test innings and promised there would be no let-up from the tourists’ pace attack.

“I am sure we will be following suit from what Mitch (Johnson) dished up at the end at Lord’s,” said Starc. “It is great to see a few of the guys jumping about, and we got a few wickets that way. We have got extra pace in our side.”

This year has seen England bounce back from defeats by the West Indies and New Zealand

with a win in their very next Test.“Throughout this summer we’ve

always come back from heavy de-feats well,” said Root.

“There’s so much confidence in the camp and we’ll be looking to put them back on the back foot on Wednesday.”

The second Test defeat prompt-ed England’s Australian coach Trevor Bayliss to call for a live-lier surface than the one on which England great James Anderson went wicketless at Lord’s.

But Starc was unconcerned by the state of the Edgbaston pitch.

“It doesn’t matter what they dish up, we’ve got all bases covered,” he said. Bell has scored just one fifty in 12 Test innings since he made a hundred against the West Indies in Antigua three months ago.

In welcoming his promotion to

number three, Bell — looking to become the first Warwickshire batsman to score a Test hundred at Edgbaston — said on Monday: “I know I haven’t performed to the best of my ability in the last two months.

“It’s a good opportunity to take some responsibility and score some runs.”

Bairstow’s recall for his first Test since he featured at Sydney last year is set to be England’s lone personnel change after fast bowler Mark Wood, who has a history of ankle trouble, came through Mon-day’s net session.

Bairstow is averaging over a hundred in the County Champion-ship this season, having scored five centuries, but how well that has prepared him to face Australia’s quicks remains to be seen. - AFP

Left-arm fast bowler

Johnson took 37

wickets at 14 apiece

as Australia thrashed

England 5-0 on home

soil to regain the

Ashes in 2013-14

CAN HE HAUNT ENGLAND AGAIN?: Australia’s Mitchell Johnson during a training session. – Reuters

BIRMINGHAM: Mitchell Johnson heads into this week’s Ashes clash against England at Edgbaston need-ing just one more wicket to become only the fifth Australia bowler to take 300 in Tests. The left-arm fast bowler’s 68-Test career has not been one of uninterrupted progress, with Johnson mocked mercilessly by visit-ing fans when he lost control of both line and length during England’s 2010-11 Ashes series win in Australia.

But it was a very different story in 2013/14 when he took 37 wickets at under 14 apiece as Australia regained the Ashes with a 5-0 rout of their arch-rivals. Johnson showed signs of that impressive form during the recent second Test at Lord’s where he led Australia’s pace attack in a 405-run thrashing of England that levelled the five-match Ashes series at 1-1 heading into Wednesday’s third Test at Edgbaston.

“He’s bowling as well as I’ve seen throughout his career,” said Australia captain Michael Clarke of Johnson, in line to join Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Dennis Lil-lee and Brett Lee as the only Australian bowlers to have taken 300 Test wickets.

“I’ve been lucky enough to play with some really fit quicks — you think of Brett Lee, Andy Bichel, Glenn McGrath,” Clarke said.

“These guys worked exceptionally hard in the gym to stay healthy and Mitch is as fit, if not fitter, than those blokes put together. He trains really hard. Hence why he’s

been able to play for such a long period of time.”

England have tried to play down talk of a resurgent John-son, with all-rounder Moeen Ali insisting Australia’s spear-head had “bowled really well in one innings out of four” in the current series to date.

No qualms If the grass covering that was on the pitch at Edgbaston on Monday remains intact come the start of Wednesday’s match, it should certainly aid Johnson and his fellow Australia quicks.

There have been sugges-tions that England and Wales Cricket Board chiefs have or-dered groundsmen to prepare deliberately slow surfaces for the five-match series in a bid to blunt Australia’s impres-sive pace attack, although England team director Andrew Strauss has denied issuing such a request.

But such a tactic, if there was one, played into Aus-tralia’s hands at Lord’s as the tourists’ pacemen are quicker than their England coun-terparts, who suffered more from the lack of seam move-ment at the ‘home of cricket’.

Clarke said that if the Edgbaston pitch, which he likened to a green seamer at Brisbane’s Gabba ground, still looked the same on Wednes-day morning he would have no qualms in bowling first should he win the toss.

Australia bowlers with 300 or more Test wickets (total Test wickets, bowler): 708 - Shane Warne; 563 - Glenn McGrath; 355 - Dennis Lillee; 310 - Brett Lee. - AFP

Johnson on brink of Australia’s 300 club

Cook backs Bell to come good at No. 3BIRMINGHAM: England cap-tain Alastair Cook has backed Ian Bell to return to form following the veteran batsman’s promotion to number three for the third Ash-es Test at Edgbaston.

Bell, England’s most experi-enced batsman, having made his Test debut 11 years ago, has strug-gled for runs during the Ashes thus far with scores of one, 60, one and 11 in the first two matches.

There had been speculation that, with England repeatedly suf-fering top-order collapses, Bell might be dropped for the third Test at his Warwickshire home ground starting Wednesday after Australia levelled the five-match series at 1-1 with a crushing 405-run win at Lord’s. But despite two failures in the second Test, Bell has been promoted to number three after England dropped Gary Ballance and brought in Jonny Bairstow to bat at five.

Great opportunity“He’s delighted to be back at three,” Cook said Tuesday of Bell.

“It’s a great opportunity to get in and make his mark on the game. He’s a proven international player and I think he’ll relish the chance to bat at three. Also being at his home ground is a really great op-portunity.”

There had been speculation that the in-form Joe Root might be promoted to number three and opening batsman Cook said: “The selectors would have thrown that

around in the meetings. “But they decided (to go with) the experi-ence Ian’s got in terms of 100-odd Test matches. Belly at three and Rooty at four looks pretty good.”

Bell’s recent performances have revived a longstanding criti-cism that, for all the technical ability that has yielded over 7,000 Test runs at an average of more than 43 with 22 hundreds, he is

rarely a man for a crisis.Bell, whose 562 runs at an aver-

age of 62 played a key role in Eng-land’s 2013 home Ashes series win, told Sky Sports: “I still be-lieve that when I’m playing at my best I’m a world-class player.

“I know that I haven’t done that to my capability over the last six or seven Test matches, and hope-fully this is the start of me kicking

on and going forward again.”Root, who scored a hundred in

England’s 169-run first Test win at Cardiff, said Bell had the proven class to score runs at Edgbaston.

“I think every international player is playing for his place at all times,” Root said.

“Obviously some guys are scor-ing more consistently than others, but Ian’s record is fantastic.” - AFP

A S H E S

SUPPORT FROM CAPTAIN: England’s Alastair Cook, left, and Ian Bell take a break during a training session. – Reuters

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Platini to announce FIFA presidency bid

ZURICH: Michel Platini, the head of European soccer’s governing body UEFA, is to announce in the next few days that he will stand for the presidency of FIFA, a source close to the former France inter-national said on Tuesday.

The 60-year-old Platini, a for-mer France and Juventus mid-fielder, has been UEFA president since 2007 and had been widely expected to throw his hat into the ring to succeed Sepp Blatter, who announced his plan to stand down two months ago.

Platini’s impending announce-ment, expected before the end of the week, is likely to prompt other contenders to confirm their plans to stand.

South Korea’s Chung Mong-Joon, a former FIFA vice-president, is expected to announce his can-didacy next month, while Jordan’s Prince Ali bin Al Hussein, beaten by Blatter in May’s presidential vote,

is also considering running in next February’s election.

The vote will be held at a special ‘elective congress’ in Zurich on February 26.

Blatter, who has been president since 1998, was re-elected for a fifth term in May, but amidst the fall-out from the arrest of nine soc-cer officials, including some senior FIFA and former FIFA officials, he said he was “laying down” his mandate.

Platini has long been the book-makers’ favourite to succeed Blat-ter and last week his supporters indicated that he has picked up widespread support from leaders of the continental confederations.

A former protege of Blatter’s, Platini turned into one of his big-gest critics and he has said FIFA’s corruption scandal “disgusted” him and gave him “stomach trouble”.

Difficult line of attackBut the Frenchman’s own critics will focus on his support for the 2022 World Cup to be held in Qatar. Platini, part of the FIFA executive committee since 2002, voted for Qatar, despite FIFA’s own technical report flagging up concerns about the searing heat in the Gulf state.

That may be a difficult line of attack for his two possible Asian rivals to take however, given that Qatar is part of the Asian Football

Confederation. Three outsiders have also said they intend to run — Liberian Football Association chairman Musa Bility, former Brazil international Zico and ex-France winger David Ginola.

Ginola had intended to stand in May’s vote but was unable to get the five nominations from football federations needed to be a candi-date — a problem Zico has conced-ed he will probably encounter.

The deadline for candidates to formally present their nomina-tions, with support, is October 26 and they will also have to undergo integrity checks, led by Domenico Scala, head of the ad-hoc election committee. - Reuters

Platini, a former

France and Juventus

midfielder, has been

UEFA president since

2007 and had been

widely expected to

throw his hat into

the ring to succeed

Sepp Blatter

BOOKMAKERS’ FAVOURITE: Michel Platini

Boston out as possible 2024 Olympic host, but LA interestedNEW YORK: Boston’s troubled bid for the 2024 Olympics ended on Monday amid financial fears and local opposition, leaving the US Olympic Committee to seek a replacement candidate by mid-September.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Tues-day it was “confident” the US could find a replacement candi-date despite Boston pulling out before the nomination deadline.

Boston’s bid was in trouble al-most as soon as the USOC chose the New England city in January ahead of Los Angeles, San Fran-cisco and Washington.

It died for good shortly after Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said he wouldn’t commit taxpayers to financing any cost overruns for the quadrennial spectacle.

Vocal groups of Boston resi-dents opposed to the games had argued that taxpayers could well end up footing the bill.

US Olympic Committee chief executive Scott Blackmun said resistance was too great to over-come before the September 15 deadline for submitting a bid city to the International Olympic Committee.

“We have not been able to get a majority of the citizens of Bos-ton to support hosting the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, therefore, the USOC does not think that the level of support en-joyed by Boston’s bid would allow it to prevail over great bids from Paris, Rome, Hamburg, Budapest or Toronto,” Blackmun said in a statement.

“Boston 2024 has expressed confidence that, with more time, they could generate the public support necessary to win the bid and deliver a great Games. They also recognize, however, that we are out of time if the USOC is going to be able to consider a bid from another city.

“As a result, we have reached a mutual agreement to withdraw Boston’s bid,” Blackmun said.

The failure of Boston’s bid leaves the USOC in the humbling position of having to pull togeth-er a short-notice plan to offer against their global rivals.

The IOC said it was sure a new US candidate would come for-ward. “We are confident that the US will make the right choice and that they can still put forward a strong candidate by 15 Septem-ber,” the IOC said in a statement from Kuala Lumpur, where it is currently meeting.

The United States has not hosted the Summer Games since 1996 in Atlanta and has not host-ed the Winter Olympics since 2002 at Salt Lake City.

A 2012 New York bid was un-done by the last-minute wipeout of the planned main stadium site while a 2016 Chicago bid was the first ousted in IOC voting.

“The USOC would very much like to see an American city host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024,” Blackmun said, adding that officials “understand the reality of the timeline that is before us.”

Los Angeles to the fore Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garc-etti was quick to say the Southern California city was still inter-ested, although his office has not spoken to members of the USOC.

“I continue to believe that Los Angeles is the ideal Olympic city,” Garcetti said.

It was not immediately clear if Washington or San Francisco would be interested in reviving their bids, and Blackmun said

the USOC wouldn’t comment on a potential new candidate before next month. Not only did opinion polls reveal a worrying lack of support in Boston, the bid failed to gain key political backing.

Independent reportMassachusetts Governor Char-lie Baker said Friday he wouldn’t back the bid until he had re-viewed an independent report on its finances that wasn’t due until August.

And on Monday, Walsh said he wouldn’t sign a host agreement without strong guarantees to pro-tect taxpayers.

“If committing to signing a guarantee today is what’s re-quired to move forward then Boston is no longer pursuing the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” he added.

It wasn’t clear if Walsh knew as he spoke that the USOC would soon pull the plug, issuing a state-ment from their Colorado head-quarters calling it a joint decision with the Boston 2024 Partnership.

The No Boston Olympics op-position group issued a state-ment welcoming the decision.

“We’re better off for having passed on Boston 2024,” the group said. - AFP

F I N A N C I A L F E A R S

KUALA LUMPUR: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has signed $14 billion in deals since the Sochi Winter Olympics last year, a spokesman said Tuesday highlighting the sports body’s financial strength.

Eighteen contracts signed in the past 17 months include 13 broadcast deals, one for $7.65 billion with US broadcaster NBC television to show the Olympics in the United States up to 2032.

Discovery Commu-nications of the United States bought the 2018-2024 broadcast-ing rights for most of Europe for $1.45 billion.

The IOC has also signed up Bridgestone and Toyota as top level sponsors and renewed existing accords with Atos, Panasonic and Samsung.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams said the deals “represent a significant contribution to the long-term financial stability of the Olympic move-ment up to 2032.

“The establishment of this strong and stable financial foundation allows the IOC to redis-tribute more than 90 percent of its revenues to support athletes and sport around the world - the equivalent of 3.25 million dollars a day, every day of the year,” Adams added. - AFP

IOC signs $14 billion of deals in 17 months

Chand eyes Olympics after gender ruling

NEW DELHI: Indian sprinter Dutee Chand said on Tuesday she was “super excited” about return-ing to athletics after a landmark ruling on the validity of so-called gender tests.

Chand’s hyperandrogenism — a condition that produces high tes-tosterone levels — meant she fell foul of International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) rules on gender.

But in a ruling on Monday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) suspended the controver-sial regulation for two years, allow-ing her to compete again.

The CAS also said the rule

would be scrapped permanently if the IAAF failed to prove that en-hanced testosterone levels led to improved performance in hyper-androgenic athletes.

“I am very happy and relieved,” India’s reigning under-18 100 metres champion said by telephone from the southern city of Hyderabad. I have gone through a lot of suffering and humiliation. Now I want to forget everything and start afresh,” said Chand, now 19, her voice choked with emotion.

Chand, who missed the Com-monwealth and Asian Games due to the ban imposed last year, had

challenged the rule, which she said did not take into account athletes who were “born this way”.

“I never took any drugs, I was born like this. I really want to thank the judges,” said Chand, the third of seven children born to weavers in rural India.

“It is not only me, many more athletes like me will benefit from this landmark ruling.”

Critics say so-called gender testing is arbitrary and psychologi-cally damaging.

The IAAF introduced the rule after a controversy over the treat-ment of South African runner Caster Semenya, whose ban was

lifted following an investigation.Chand, who is currently training

at a sports academy in Hyderabad, said she had to deal with insensi-tive questions over her sex with little regard for her privacy.

She said the ruling meant she could now focus on qualifying for next year’s Olympics and improv-ing her timings in her favourite 100m and 200m races.

“It is going to be very tough be-cause my form has gone down. But it is not impossible, I still have seven months to recharge and re-coup,” she said.

“I am super excited. I think I have God’s blessings.” - AFP

A T H L E T I C S

‘SUPER EXCITED’: Dutee Chand

NEW DELHI: India’s Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday welcomed the de-cision of the CAS getting Dutee Chand back to the race track.

A three-member panel of the apex court in sports chaired by Justice Annabelle Claire Bennett suspended the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) regulation governing eligibil-ity of females with naturally-occurring hyperandrogenism.

Monday’s verdict has thus allowed Chand to be “im-mediately and uncondition-ally eligible to compete after being barred from competing against women because her natural testosterone levels

were too high”. Chand chal-lenged the September 2014 ban on her and was supported by the Indian government. “This is a great day for women sports and for Indian sports. It is a tremendous victory for India,” said Sonowal.

The CAS has given the IAAF two years to pre-sent convincing scientific evidence establishing that naturally high testosterone levels provide an unfair athletic advantage to hyper-androgenic female athletes as compared to their peers. If the IAAF does not, or cannot, do so, the hyperandrogenism regulation will be rendered null and void. - IANS

India welcomes CAS’ decision

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MUSCAT: Oman’s FIVB In-ternational Coaches Instructor Shihab Aldin Al Riyami has been nominated as a Technical Moni-tor in Technical Committee for the 18th Asian Senior Men’s Vol-leyball Championships to be host-ed in Tehran September 1 to 8.

The invitation from the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) comes as latest feather in the cap of Shihab who has officiated in various FIVB international volleyball events and also partici-pated in and conducted several

courses in the world.And reacting to his nomina-

tion as Technical Monitor for Asian continent’s biggest volley-ball event, Shihab, who is also the Secretary of the AVC’s Coaches Committee, said: “It is a great op-portunity to be there in one of the greatest volleyball events in Asia.”

“Surely, we are going to watch high level of performance and ex-ploring new teams and noticing excellent standard of volleyball,” Shihab added.

Tree years ago, Shihab was also

nominated as a Technical Moni-tor at the Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championships and interestingly there are only two officials from the Gulf region, the other being Bahrain’s Ahmed Y Hussein.

“This is a big championship and I am extremely satisfied to be chosen for the biggest tourna-ment of the Asian continent for third time. This is really a proud moment for me and the entire Oman volleyball fraternity,” Shi-hab said.

C O A C H E S I N S T R U C T O R

GREAT OPPORTUNITY: Shihab Aldin Al Riyami

Ennis-Hill ready for WorldsLONDON: British heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill will be avail-able for selection for the World Championships in Beijing, the Olympic champion announced on her Instagram account.

Ennis-Hill confirmed she was putting herself forward for a first major tournament since her return to competition after the birth of her son, Reggie.

The 29-year-old wrote: “My coach and I have made the deci-sion that I’m going to make my-self available for selection for the World Champs.”

Ennis-Hill’s decision comes three days after she produced her best three performances since London 2012 at the Anni-versary Games. She recorded a long jump of 6.37 metres and a 23.49 seconds in the 200m to go with the 12.79 seconds she ran over the 100m hurdles.

But the Sheffield athlete maintained she would only trav-el to China if she felt she could challenge for a medal, with de-fending her Olympic title in Rio next summer the key target.

“I am making progress and my times are coming down. I’m re-ally happy with this weekend,” Ennis-Hill said. “I’m towards the end of my career. So Rio is the main thing for me and I want that to go the right way.” - AFP

A T H L E T I C S

Saina to lead 18-member Indian squad at world championships

JAKARTA: In probably the best chance to grab multiple medals, an 18-member Indian badminton contingent led by ace shuttler Sai-na Nehwal will vie for honours at the 22nd edition of the World Bad-minton Championships to be held at the 9,000-seater Istora Senayan here from August 10 to 16.

This will also be Saina’s golden opportunity to grab a medal at the Worlds which has eluded the Olympic bronze medallist ever since she started participating at the annual contest in 2009. The

25-year-old has always exited the event at the quarterfinals stage the five times she has taken part in it.

The Hyderabadi has been seed-ed second in women’s singles this time behind defending champion

Carolina Marin of Spain. Saina, who has got a first round bye here, has had a good run this year win-ning the India Grand Prix Gold, the India Open Super Series and also reaching the final of the All

England Open. Compatriot P.V. Sindhu, who is the most successful Indian at the global event, won two bronze medals in 2013 and 2014. This year, however, she will find the going tough, despite having

being seeded 11th and receiving a first round bye, as her 2015 season has been injury marred.

Kidambi Srikanth, meanwhile, has been seeded third in men’s singles and will be facing Aus-tralian Michael Fariman in the opener. The 22-year-old has had a strong year, winning the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold and India Open Super Series titles which has helped him maintain his World No.3 spot. He also reached the fi-nal of the India Grand Prix Gold where he lost to compatriot Paru-palli Kashyap.

Reigning Commonwealth Games champion Kashyap on the other hand has been seeded 10th and will take on Dutch Erik Meijs first up. Though he has beaten top players regularly, failure to win Super Series events has irked his career. However, a medal here will certainly be a big plus in his resume.

Right behind Kashyap in the seedings is H.S. Prannoy at 11 who will open his campaign against Brazil’s Alex Tjong.

In doubles competition, the two men’s pairs of Pranaav Chopra-Akshay Dewalkar and Manu Attri-B. Sumeeth Reddy will be seen in action.

While Chopra and Dewalkar will open against Russian Vasily Kuznetsov and Nikita Khakimov, Attri and Reddy will start against Chinese combine of Cai Yun and Lu Kai.

Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Pon-nappa will once again be looking

to repeat their women’s doubles bronze medal-winning perfor-mance of 2011. They are only In-dian doubles pair to be seeded at 13 and have got a first round bye. The combinations of Pradnya Gadre-N. Sikki Reddy and Dhanya Nair-Mohita Sahdev will also take part in the category.

Sikki will then join hands with Tarun Kona in mixed doubles and the two will also be accompanied by multiple time national champions Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan.

The seedings are based on rank-ings as of July 23. This is the third time the Indonesian capital is hosting the tournament after 1980 and 1989.

India have won only four bronz-es till date at the Worlds. The first time was in 1983 when the legend-ary Prakash Padukone clinched the metal. India had to wait 28 years before Jwala and Ashwini broke the deadlock to take the medal in 2011. Thereafter, Sindhu won two consecutive medals in 2013 and 2014.

The squad: Men’s singles: Kid-ambi Srikanth, Parupalli Kashyap, H.S. Prannoy. Women’s singles: Saina Nehwal, P.V. Sindhu. Men’s doubles: Pranaav Chopra and Ak-shay Dewalkar, Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy. Women’s dou-bles: Pradnya Gadre and N. Sikki Reddy, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, Dhanya Nair and Mo-hita Sahdev. Mixed doubles: Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan, Tarun Kona and N. Sikki Reddy. - IANS

This will also be

Saina’s golden

opportunity to grab a

medal at the Worlds

which has eluded

the Olympic bronze

medallist ever

since she started

participating at

the annual contest

in 2009

IN FINE FORM: India’s Saina Nehwal has had a good run this year winning Indian Grand Prix Gold and India Open Super Series and reaching the final of the All England Open.

Chelsea sell Brazilian winger Filipe Luis back to AtleticoMADRID: Brazilian winger Filipe Luis is returning to Atletico Madrid just a year after they sold him to Chelsea, the clubs said on Tuesday.

Atletico sold the long-haired

29-year-old to the London side for a reported £15.8 million (22 mil-lion euros, $25 million) a year ago after they won the Spanish league in the 2013-2014 season.

Now the Brazil international

has signed up to return to Atletico for four seasons, the club said in a statement.

British media reported that Atletico paid about 15 million eu-ros to buy him back.

Luis won the English Premier League with Chelsea and scored in their League Cup final victory but only played 26 games overall under coach Jose Mourinho.

“Happy! Glad to be coming

home and to be a new Atleti play-er,” Luis said in a Twitter message.

Atletico’s sporting director, Jose Luis Perez, called Luis “one of the most talented wingers in the world”. “He already knows our

club and our way of playing so he will adapt quickly,” Perez said.

A statement on Chelsea’s of-ficial website announced simply: “We wish him all the best for the future.” - AFP

F O O T B A L L

Shihab to officiate at Asian Volleyball Championships

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F1 summer break? Time to get the learner plates onLONDON: While Formula One rivals head to the sea or mountains at the start of the August break, Max Verstappen has some driving lessons on the horizon.

The Dutch 17-year-old, fourth for Toro Rosso in Sunday’s Hun-garian Grand Prix, will have to wait for his 18th birthday in September before he can pass his test but he can at least get the tuition in.

“I’m doing my lessons in the summer break,” the youngest ever grand prix driver said as the sea-son reached the halfway point in Hungary.

“With the F1 schedule it has been difficult to fit everything in so I’ve had to wait for the break.

“You need a minimum six or seven hours driving under the laws in Belgium, where I live, and I hope that’s all I need. We’ll see.”

The conversation between driv-ing instructor and a pupil more used to reaching speeds in excess of 300kph and braking as late as possible can only be imagined.

World champion Lewis Hamil-ton, who had a nightmare in Hun-gary but increased his lead over Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg to 21 points, was already enjoying his break. The Briton posted a pic-ture of himself on Twitter tucking into a hearty al fresco breakfast.

“It’s officially summer break, and the only day I can eat whatever I want,” he said. “So that calls for pancakes and bacon.”

Ferrari team boss Maurizio Ar-rivabene heads into the holiday fresh from celebrating Sebastian Vettel’s win in Hungary and with every intention of getting away from the office and relaxing.

There are important decisions to take, not least concerning Kimi Raikkonen’s future if that has not already been fixed, but driver moves can wait. “Our goal now is to focus on the car. We have time to talk about the driver,” Arrivabene said after the race at the Hungaroring.

“During the summer break you are swimming, climbing... not de-ciding. Otherwise it’s not a break,” he added.

For Manor Marussia, the en-forced time off will allow the team to rest after a traumatic week of remembrance for Jules Bianchi, their former driver whose funeral was held last week with many of the drivers present.

“The factory shutdown has come at a good time to give everyone time with their families and a little time to reflect and to remember the good times because it was a very, very difficult weekend,” chief executive Graeme Lowdon said. - Reuters

N O T A B R E A K

South Sudan set to join Olympic familyKUALA LUMPUR: South Su-dan is set to become the 206th member of the Olympic family later this week, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Tuesday, despite ongoing fierce fighting in the African country.

The IOC Session will vote on South Sudan’s membership on Sunday after a recommendation submitted by the executive board on Tuesday, spokesman Mark

Adams said. “The Olympics is all about bridging gaps, building bridges between communities. This a great signal to send to a troubled region.”

Thousands have been killed and more than 2.2 million displaced since fighting broke out in De-cember 2013 between President Salva Kiir’s government and re-bels commanded by Riek Machar. Both sides have been accused of

human rights abuses and indis-criminate killings, which have of-ten been carried out along ethnic lines, with Machar’s Nuers pitted against Kiir’s powerful Dinkas.

South Sudan’s marathon run-ner Guor Marial competed at the London 2012 Olympics but did so under the Olympic flag after refusing to run for Sudan and with South Sudan not yet an IOC member. - Reuters

B R I D G I N G G A P S

Montreal Impact rope in DrogbaMONTREAL: Canadian foot-ball club Montreal Impact who play in Major League Soccer (MLS) have announced the signing of Didier Drogba, in a trade with Chicago Fire.

The Ivorian will officially join the team upon receiving his In-ternational Transfer Certificate and his Canadian work permit. As per MLS policy, the details of the deal were not released.

“It’s an honour to welcome Didier Drogba to the Impact,” Impact president Joey Saputo on Monday was quoted as say-ing by the club’s website im-pactmontreal.com.

“From the first conversation I had with him, I felt that he re-ally wanted to play in Montreal. This is one of the biggest days in club history and his arrival to the club will be beneficial in every aspect.”

The 37-year-old has played in 381 games with English giant Chelsea FC between 2004 and 2012, and during the 2014-15 season, ranking fourth all-time with 164 goals, adding 88 assists.

He won the Premier League Golden Boot twice, following seasons of 20 goals in 2006-07 and 29 goals in 2009-10.

Indian Super League (ISL) club Atletico de Kolkata too had shown interest in the talis-manic striker to land him for the upcoming season. - IANS

M L S C L U B

Montpellier’s El Kaoutari moves to Italy’s PalermoMONTPELLIER: Moroccan in-ternational defender Abdelhamid El Kaoutari has agreed a deal to move from French side Montpel-lier to Serie A outfit Palermo, the French club announced on their website on Tuesday.

On the books when Montpel-

lier won the French title in 2012, Abdelhamid El Kaoutari came up through the youth system and has made 170 appearances for the southern club.

He has now agreed a four-year deal with Palermo, although the transfer fee was not revealed. - AFP

F O O T B A L L

Sreesanth to approachBCCI to get ban lifted

KOCHI: He contemplated “sui-cide” during his time at Tihar Jail but pacer S Sreesanth is now hop-ing to sing the redemption song and would approach the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for lifting the life ban im-posed on him from playing cricket by the Board.

Sreesanth was last week exon-erated in the 2013 spot-fixing IPL scandal by a Delhi Court.

“I have sought an appointment with BCCI Secretary Anurag

Thakur. He has told a TV channel that I can file an application re-questing to lift the ban.

“I am hopeful after indication from the higher-ups of the BCCI that it would consider my request. So I want to file an application. I am waiting for his (General Sec-retary Anurag Thakur) call. I hope the next meeting of the BCCI would take a favourable decision,” Sreesanth told reporters here.

The cricketer, who has played Tests and ODIs for India, spoke

about the trauma he went through when he was arrested and put in Tihar jail after being accused of having nexus with a cricket bet-ting racket, allegedly run by un-derworld don Dawood Ibrahim and his aide Chhota Shakeel.

“Initially I thought about sui-cide. I could overcome because of my devotion to Lord Ettuma-noorappan (Lord Shiva in Kerala’s famouse Ettumanoor Mahadevar temple) and the support given by my family,” Sreesanth said.

Asked if he expects a favourable response from BCCI, in which for-mer Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar is chief advisor to the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU), the cricketer said: “After all he is also a human being. He has also got a heart.”

Sreesanth said that if Kumar, who ordered his arrest, along with Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan when he headed the Delhi police, recalled the circumstances which

led to his arrest in the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal, he would get a clearer picture.

“I don’t think he would put any hindrance on my path. After all, BCCI is a body, not an individ-ual,” he said.

The cricketer also said he would not approach the court in case BCCI is reluctant to lift the ban. “I will wait. I don’t want to challenge any one. I want to play cricket,” he said.

The cricketer rejected reports that he had a net session at Jawa-harlal Nehru International Sta-dium on Monday evening.

He said he would start practis-ing in the ground only if his life ban is lifted.

The stadium at Kaloor, owned by Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA), has been par-tially leased out to the Kerala Cricket Association, a member of the BCCI, for 30 years for hosting Test matches. - PTI

Sreesanth said he is ‘hopeful after indication

from the higher-ups of the BCCI that it

would consider my request. So I want to

file an application

Vidal completes $44m move to BayernBERLIN: Chile midfielder Arturo Vidal has completed his transfer from Juventus to Bayern Munich by signing a four-year contract with the Bundesliga champions.

No fee was disclosed but media reports put it at 40 million euros ($44.23 million).

“I wanted to take another big step forward in my career,” the 28-year-old Vidal told the Bavar-ian club’s website (www.fcbayern.de) on Tuesday. “I want to keep developing as a player and win im-portant trophies like the Champi-ons League. I think the best op-portunity to do so is with Bayern.”

Vidal was a member of the Juven-tus team beaten 3-1 by Barcelona in last month’s Champions League final at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium.

He becomes Bayern’s second major signing of the transfer window after Brazilian midfielder Douglas Costa joined from Shakhtar Donetsk at the start of July.

Bayern have also sold Germany playmaker Bastian Schwein-steiger to Manchester United.

Vidal is no stranger to the Bun-desliga having played for Bayer Leverkusen for four seasons un-til 2011. He also helped Chile win the Copa America title for the first time on home soil this month.

“I’m thrilled about playing in the Bundesliga again and obvi-ously hope to win it this time,” Vidal said. “I didn’t manage it with Leverkusen back then but with Bayern there’s a very, very good chance.” - Reuters

F O O T B A L L

BIG STEP FORWARD: Bayern Munich’s new recruit Chilean mid-fielder Arturo Vidal, left, and Sporting Director Matthias Sammer pose for a picture during a press meet in Munich on Tuesday. – AFP

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LeisureSECTIONC L I F E S T Y L E W E D N E S DAY, J U LY 2 9, 2 0 1 5

Luxury properties in Muscat have the most spectacular

temperature controlled pools in town. To gain access to these

urban oases you don’t have to be a guest, as most hotels now

offer pool and health club memberships to residents.

Join the ClubKeeping cool in Muscat’s members-only hotel pools

By Salim Joseph

LIFESTYLEC8 W E D N E S DAY, J U LY 2 9, 2 0 1 5

AVOID JET LAG

SALIM@TIMESOFOMAN.COM

T R A V E L T I P S

Get Some RestIt is important to get a good night’s sleep the day before you travel, so never leave things like packing your luggage, confirming flights and hotel reservations, or sorting out family affairs to the last minute, as this can increase stress and inhibit sleep on the eve of your trip.

Treat Yourself WellBe sure to eat and get your regular exercise in the week leading up to your trip as exercise helps to regulate sleep, even on a plane, and eating healthy foods and drinking plenty of water can help you avoid uncomfortable bloating and dehydration in the sky.

Nap By Destination Spend a bit of calculat-ing the time differences between your origin and destination, then be sure to plan your inflight rest according to the destina-tion. If you will land in the morning, have your meal and get comfortable, then try to sleep until you land.

Close Your EyesIf sleep isn’t possible dur-ing the flight, you can still reap restful benefits by leaving your eyes shut and lying back in a comfortable position. Try using ear-plugs or an eye mask and take off your shoes (to im-prove circulation) for the most rejuvenating flight.

PHO

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Be it an azure pool shaded by palm trees, an infinity with unincumbered views of the sea, or a swanky rooftop lap pool overlooking city, there

are few things that can revitalise and lift your spirits on these hot summer days like a dip in one of the beautiful, temperature controlled pools housed in Muscat’s picturesque hotels.

Of course, you have to be an in-house guest to enjoy these glorious pools. Or you can opt to become a member of the hotels’ health clubs to gain access.

Many properties in Muscat now of-fer monthly or annual memberships that provide access to their pools, gyms, and various other recreational amenities. For many, the prices charged are well worth it for access to world-class facilities in which to take advantage of the cooling fun and health benefits of swimming.

Set in the rugged mountains of Qant-ab, Shangri-La’s Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa is a premiere destination with pool facilities that include six fresh wa-ter swimming pools equipped with tem-perature controllers that keep the pools’ water temperatures around 28 to 30 de-gree Celsius. The property offers a Day Use access privilege called “A Day in Par-adise” which enables people to use the swimming pools and beach area facili-ties for one whole day as well as enjoy a buffet lunch (priced at OMR25 for adults and OMR15 for children). The property also offers exclusive loyalty membership programme through Club Mata’am at OMR85 for 12 months. (Tel: 24776334, website: www.clubmataam.com)

At the Chedi Muscat, the chic 5-star beach resort in Al Ghubra, guests can choose between three pools: the adult-only Chedi Pool, an infinity pool sur-rounded by cabanas with a superb seafront location; the Long Pool, the lengthiest in the region at 103-metre (also for adults only); and the family-friendly Serai Pool, set with black mo-saics and covered by an elegant canopy. “Our pools are temperature controlled. So the guests can enjoy these pools

throughout the day. We also offer annual Health Club memberships for access to pools which are priced at OMR1,900 per person,” says Linda Silveira, the Sales Coordinator at the resort.

At Park Inn Muscat in Al Khuwair, The Summer Sky Club gym and pool membership is available for either a three or six month period (with the cur-rent promotion, they will give you an ad-ditional three or six months free). “The pool timings are from 7am to 8pm,” says Vianney Antonio, the PR & Executive Secretary at the hotel. “Guests like to chill at the rooftop pool with the spec-tacular view of the city, surrounded by mountains and the beach.”

Day passes and memberships are of-fered by many other luxury hotels in Muscat including The Crowne Plaza, where the day passes are priced at OMR10 for adults and OMR6 for chil-dren. The Grand Hyatt Muscat, which has one big pool for adults and one pool for kids, offers both memberships (1, 3 & 6 months and 1 year - now with a 20 per cent summer discount) and day passes priced at OMR10 for adults and OMR5 for children. The pools are open from 7am till 9pm in both the hotels. The Intercontinental Hotel, which has a leisure pool and a lap pool offers day passes to public at OMR15 for an adult and OMR10 for a child. They also offer 3-month, 6-month and one year mem-berships for individuals and families. Meanwhile, Al Bustan Palace Hotel has a ‘day use offer’ where an individual or family can check into a “relax room” and have access to all facilities including the swimming pools from 10am till 6pm (rates start at OMR70).

Besides, these high end properties, various other hotels across the city in-cluding Majan Continental Hotel, the Al Falaj Hotel, and Ruwi Hotel offer pool memberships for more moderate prices, around OMR40 per month.

Make the most of what’s left of the scorching summer heat by starting a healthy, new, cooling habit at one of Mus-cat’s premiere swimming pools.

STROKES OF GOOD LUCK Start Swimming: The Basics

YOU’LL NEED: A swimsuit, a pair of goggles, and (at some properties) a swimming cap.

START SLOW: A beginner should try swimming for 10 minutes and build up to a 30-minute swim, three to five times a week.

REMEMBER: Always include a warm-up and a cool-down to prevent straining a muscle, and in between challenge yourself with a specific goal, focusing on endurance, stroke efficiency or speed.

The Benefits of Swimming

is a great way to release stress and tension

to your joints as your movements are cushioned by the water

every direction, which helps to build strength

joints while you workout

groups, including the shoulders, back, abdominal, legs and hips

-cidents and sickness as it is zero impact, but high intensity

forget about work, problems, and other issues

you can get in your fitness while just enjoying yourself splashing around in the pool

Water Workouts

Water Walking Pushing forward, backward, and sideways, using a variety of steps, through waist-deep or chest-deep water.Web Resource: www.arthritis.org

Water Aerobics Full body rhythmic exercises conducted in shallow or deep water, usually in a class setting. Web Resource: www.howcast.com

Water Toning/Strength Upper and lower body moves designed to strengthen, firm, and sculpt the muscles using the resistance of the water Web Resource: www.fitday.com

Water Yoga & Relaxation Gentle, easy-flowing moves that use the water as an aid in stretching and relaxation poses. Web Resource: www.aqua4balance.com

Deep Water Running Simulating land running in the water at a depth at which the feet do not touch the bottom of the pool. Flotation devices are used to support different running styles and drills.Web Resource: www.fluidrunning.com

Wall Exercises (Deep or Shallow) Using the pool wall for support as you engage in moves that iso-late and strengthen various body parts.Web Resource: www.swimmingpool.com

Lap Swimming The best way to improve your stroke and efficiency is to practise. There are many routines to help build power, lose weight, or improve overall cardiovascular health.Web Resource: www.100swimmingworkouts.com

LIFESTYLEC9W E D N E S DAY, J U LY 2 9, 2 0 1 5

BelovedI was reading Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” for the second time — a necessary exercise for books that are so hauntingly beauti-ful that they demand revisiting —when news flashed across my television telling of nine people gunned down in a black church in Charleston, South Carolina in the United States. It was a grim reminder of why it is so important to read and discuss books like Be-loved that examine prejudice and human rights violations.

Set during the time of the Civil War, Morrison’s novel tells the story of Sethe, a black female who escapes the horrors of a slave plantation (ironically called “Sweet Home”), only to become a

permanent prisoner of her night-marish memories.

When Sethe and her fellow slaves attempt to escape from the “Sweet Home” plantation, their plan goes haywire plunging them into deeper darkness. In despera-tion, Sethe tries to kill her chil-dren to save them from a future of slavery, and while her other children miraculously survive, her two-year-old daughter suc-cumbs to her injuries. We never learn the young girl’s name, but she is referred to as “Beloved” at certain points in the novel, as this was the only word Sethe could af-ford to engrave on her daughter’s tombstone. Beloved comes back as a ghost later in the book, one

of many symbols of the tortur-ous past that continues to haunt Sethe and other members of her small black community.

As Morrison writes: “Not a house in the country ain’t packed to its rafters with some dead Ne-gro’s grief.”

Like all great books, Beloved is above all a story of human re-lationships. Morrison explores the powerful mother-daughter bond through the complex re-lationship between Sethe and Beloved as well as through Sethe’s incomplete memory of her own mother.

In the end, Beloved is a tale of reconciliation and resilience—of the indomitable human spirit

that rises above personal loss and refuses to accept defeat, as put so beautifully in one of my favourite lines: “.. we got more yesterday than anybody. We need some kind of tomorrow.”

Reviewed by Bhaswati

Y O U R F A V O U R I T E B O O K S

ARE YOU A PROLIFIC READER? What is your favourite book? Pick one and send in your thoughts on it.

Contactsalim@timesofoman.com

Just get into it and enjoy the thrill and speed of the game. All the players are very friendly

and helpful. To master it you only need to focus, practise, and do it again

A novel by Toni Morrison

Why do you love it?It is a new game in the Gulf region and it has a lot to do with team spirit and team work. Ice hockey is a unique sport in that it is the fast-est team sport in the world. A hockey player can shoot the puck at a speed of 160km/ph. All that and more make this sport challenging and unique to learn and to play.

THE HOBBYIST

Kumail Hassan Al Lawati

Ice hockey player

COOL AS ICEiititititiittttititt h h h h hhhhhhhh hasasasas a a a

ooooorkrkrkrkrkrkk. . . IcIcIcIcIIIIcee e e eheheheheh f f f fffasasasasasttttt---

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How did you get into it?Skating was my hobby and one day I went to the ice rink at Fun Zone in the Al Qurum area and one of the players invited me to join hock-ey. At the beginning, it seemed like a crazy idea — imagining myself putting on all that protec-tive gear and skating with a stick — but soon it became the greatest hobby and sport for me. Now it is part of my life and I would like to master it and help my team win regional tour-naments and championships.

How can I get into it?Registration is open for everyone and we now have a new team (Muscat Team) and a new programme called LTP (Learn to Play). It’s a programme designed by International Ice Hockey Federation and Oman Ice Sports Committee to increase the number of young players in ice hockey. The programme aims to recruit children aged 4-15 in both boys and girls categories. LTP is also an academy where parents can register their children to learn skating and ice hockey in a fun envi-ronment with skilful instructors. The pro-gramme will start in September 2015 and is open for registration now.

What’s your pro-tip?Just get into it and enjoy the thrill and speed of the game. All the players are very friendly and helpful. To master it you only need to focus, practise and do it again.

Contact info/resources for ice hockey in MuscatFor those who are interested in learning about ice hockey in Oman contact the Oman Ice Sports Committee.Website: www.oisc.omGeneral information: info@oisc.om Learn to Play programme: LTP@oisc.om. Twitter: @O_I_S_C Facebook: Oman Ice Sports Committee

What’s your favourite hobby? Want to tell us about it? Contact : salim@timesofoman.com

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Photos : Supplied photos

FIND-IT-ALLC10 W E D N E S DAY, J U LY 2 9, 2 0 1 5

ROYAL OMAN POLICE

Emergencies and inquiries: 9999General Directorate of Passport and Residence 24569603Directorate General

of Customs 24521109Traffic violations inquiries 24510228

Public Relations Admin 24560099

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Kuwait 24 699628

Lebanon 24 693208

Libya 24603466

Malaysia 24698329/643

Morocco 24696152/3

Nepal 24696177

Netherlands 24603706

Pakistan 24603439

Palestine 24601312

Philippines 24605335

Qatar 24 691 153/2/4

Russia 24602894

Saudi Arabia 24601705

Senegal 24694139

Somalia 24697977

South Africa 24647300

Spain 24691101

Sri Lanka 24697841/2

Sudan 24697875

Switzerland 24603267

Syria 24697904

Tanzania 24601 174

Thailand 24 602684/5

Tunisia 24603486

Turkey 24697050/1/2

UAE 24400000

United Kingdom 24609000

United States 24643400

Yemen 24600815

PHARMACIES

Round the clock

Al Hashar Pharmacy, Ruwi 24783334

Appolo Medical Centre,

Hamriya 24782666

Muscat Pharmacy, Ruwi 24702542

Salalah 23291635;

Atlas Pharmacy, Ghubra 24503585

Muscat Region

Apollo, Al Hamriya 24787766

Muscat, A Seeb Market 24421691

Muscat, Al Khuwair 24485740

Muscat, Al Hail South 24537080

Dhofar Region

Muscat, Al Nahdha Road,

Salalah 23291635

HOSPITALS

Al Amal Medical & Health Care

Centre 24485052

Atlas Hospital

Ruwi 24811743/

Ghubra 24504000

Al Musafir Specialised

Medical Clinic 24706453

Hatat Polyclinic LLC,

Ruwi 24563641

Azaiba 24499269

Sohar 2683006

Al Raffah Hospital 24618900/1/2

Al Massaraat Clinic &

Laboratory 24566435

Al Makook Medical

Coordinance Centre 24499434

Apollo Medical Centre,

Hamriya 24787766, 24787780

Capital Polyclinic 24707549

Badr Al Samaa Polyclinic,

Ruwi 24799760/1/2

Capital Clinic, Seeb 24420740

Ceregem National Raak 24485633

Dr Harub’s Clinic 24563217

Elixir Health Centre 24565802

Emirates Medical Centre 24604540

1st Chiropractic Centre 24472274

Hamdan Hospital 23212340

International Medical

Centre LLC 24794501/2/3/4/5

Kims Oman Hospital 24760100

24 Hrs Emergency 24760123

Lama Polyclinic, Sohar 26751128

MBD 24799077

Al Khuwair 24478818

Magrabi Eye and

Ear Hospital 24568870

Muscat Private Hospital 24583600

Welcare Diagnostic and Treatment

Centre, Al Khuwair 24477666

Al-Hayat Polyclinc LLC 22004000

AIRLINE OFFICES

Muscat Airport Flight information

(24 hours) 24519456/24519223

Aeroflot 24704455

Air Arabia 24700828

Air France 24562153

Air India 24799801

Air New Zealand 24700732Biman Bangladesh Airlines 24701128British Airways 24568777Cathay Pacific 24789818Egypt Air 24794113Emirates Air 24404400Ethiopian Airlines 24660313Gulf Air 80072424Indian 24791914Iran Air 24787423Japan Airlines 24704455Jazeera Airways 23294848Jet Airways 24787248Kenya Airways 24660300KML Royal Dutch Airlines 24566737Kuwait Airways 24701262LOT Polish Airlines 24796387Lufthansa 24796692Malaysian Airlines 24560796Middle East Airlines 24796680Oman Air 24531111Pakistan International Airlines 24792471Qatar Airways 24771900Qantas 24559941Royal Jordanian 24796693Saudi Arabian Airlines 24789485Singapore Airlines 24791233Shaheen Air 24816565SriLankan Airlines 24784545Swiss International Airlines 24796692Thai Airways 24705934

LISTINGS

LONG DISTANCE BUS TIMINGS (OMAN NATIONAL TRANSPORT COMPANY SAOC) *SUBJECT TO CHANGE

CINEMA SCHEDULE

FROM MUSCAT (RUWI)

Dept Destination Arrival Operatingtime time days

QURIYAT - SUR - JAALAN (ROUTE 36)

15:00 Quriyat 16:30 Daily15:00 Sur 18:00 Daily15:00 Jaalan 19:30 Daily

TO AL BURAIMI (ROUTE 41)

06:30 Sohar 08:50 Daily06:30 Buraimi 11:00 Daily08:00 Buraimi 14:30 Daily via Ibri13:00 Sohar 15:45 Daily13:00 Buraimi 17:40 Daily16.00 Sohar 18.35 Daily16.00 Buraimi 20:20 Daily

TO SINAW (ROUTE 52)

17:30 Sinaw 20:50 Daily

TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54)

14:30 Nizwa 16:50 Daily14:30 Yanqul 19:30 Daily

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54)

08:00 Nizwa 10:20 Daily08:00 Al Araqi 12:30 Daily

TO SUR (ROUTE 55)

07:30 Sur 12:00 Daily14:30 Sur 18:45 Daily

TO FAHUD - YIBAL (ROUTE 62)

06:30 Fahud 10:30 Daily06:30 Yibal 11:15 Daily

TO MARMUL-SALALAH (ROUTE 100)

07:00 Salalah 20:00 Daily10:00 Marmul 20:30 Daily10:00 Salalah 23:30 Daily19:00 Salalah 07:40 Daily

TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)

06:00 Marmul 16:50 Daily

SALALAH TO DUBAI (ROUTE 102)

15:00 Dubai 07:00 Daily

TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201)

06:00 Sohar 08:30 Daily06:00 Dubai 11:30 Daily13:00 Sohar 15:30 Wed,Thur13:00 Dubai 18:30 Wed,Thur15:00 Sohar 17:35 Daily15:00 Dubai 20:55 Daily

TO DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH & SHARJAH (ROUTE 204)

07:00 Fujairah 11.45 Daily 07:00 Sharjah 13.30 Daily 07:00 Dubai 14.00 Daily

CITY CINEMAContact (10 am to 6pm) 24567664 | 68. www.citycinemaoman.net facebook.com/citycinemaoman

SHATTI Ant-Man (Action, Adventure) (PG12)Cast: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Corey Stoll8:00 pmBajrangi Bhaijaan (Drama)(PG)Cast: Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Harshaali11:30 am, 3:30, 8:30, 11:30 pmTerminator: Genisys (Action, Adventure)(3D)PG12Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke 9:15, 11:45 pmTerminator: Genisys (Action)(2D)PG122:30 pmMinions (Animation, Comedy)(3D) PG1:30, 5:00 pmMinions (Animation, Comedy)(2D) PG11:30 pmHayaty Mebahdela (Comedy)(PG)Cast: Mohamed Saad, Nicole Saba7:00 pmThe Gallows (Horror, Thriller) (15+)Cast: Reese Mishler, Pfeifer Brown, Ryan Shoos6:15, 10:00 pmThe Vatican Tapes (Horror, Thriller) (12+)Cast: Michael Peña, Kathleen Robertson, Djimon Hounsou, 4:30, 11:55 pmPixels (3D) (Action, Comedy) PG12Cast: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Michelle2:30, 6:30Pixels (2D) (Action, Comedy) PG1212:15 pm

MUSCAT GRAND MALLA Royal Night Out 2D (Drama)Cast: Sarah Gadon, Emily Watson, Jack3:45PM (15+)Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! 2D (Horror) (15+)Cast: Tara Reid, Bo Derek, Frankie Muniz7:45PMTerminator Genisys (3D): (Action) (PG12)9:30 PM, 11:55 PM

Gold Class: 12:30 PM, 11:15PMTerminator Genisys (2D) (Action) (PG12)4:15 PMMinions (3D) (Animation, Comady) (PG)12:30 PM, 2:00PMBajrangi Bhaijaan (2D): ( Action) (PG)11:00 AM, 8:45 PM, 11:45PMGold Class: 3:00 PM, 8:15 PMPixels (3D) (Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi ) (PG12)Cast: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Michelle 2:15, 6:45 PMGold Class: 6:00 PMHayaty Mebahdela (2D) (Comedy)(PG)Cast : Mohamed Saad, Nicole Saba, Hassan Hosny5:45 PM

RUWISCREEN 1Bajrangi Bhaijaan (Action/Drama ) – PGCast: Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Harshaali3.30, 6.30, 9.30 PM

SCREEN 2Baahubali: The Beginning (Action) – (12+)Cast: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka3.45, 6.45, 9.45 PM

SCREEN 3Masaan (Romance/Drama) – (12+)Cast: Richa Chadda, Sanjay Mishra, Saurav Choudhary3.45, 9.45 PMBin Roye- Urdu - Pakistani (Romance/Drama/Comedy) – PG12Cast: Mahira Khan, Humayun Saeed, Armeena Rana Khan , Zeba Bakhtiar6.45 PM

SOHARTerminator Genisys - 2D (PG12) (Action) 3:30 PMTerminator Genisys - 3D (PG12) (Action) 12:30, 9:00, 11:45 PMBajrangi Bhaijaan - 2D (PG) Drama, Action4:00, 6:00, 8:45, 11:30 PMMinions - 2D (PG) (Animation)11:45 AMMinions - 3D (PG) (Animation)2:15, 5:00 PMBaahubali - 2D (Telegu)(12+) (Action)3:15 PMHayaty Mebahdela - 2D (Arabic)(PG) (Comedy) 6:45 PMPixels - 2D (PG12) (Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi) 6:15 PM

Pixels - 3D (PG12) (Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi) 12:15, 3:00, 7:00 PMThe Vatican Tapes - 2D (18+) (Horror)1:30, 11:55 PMNom El Talat - 2D (12+) Comedy 8:15 PMMasaan - 2D (12+) (Drama)Cast: Richa Chadda, Saurabh Chadhary 10:00 PMIvide - 2D (M) (12+) (Crime, Drama)12:45 PMBaahubali - 2D (12+) (Action)11:30 PMAnt Man - 2D (PG12) Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi Cast: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Corey Stoll9:05 PM

BURAIMITerminator Genisys - 3D (Action) (PG12)6:45, 11:50PMBajrangi Bhaijaan– 2D (Drama, Action) (PG)2:45, 7:00, 9:00, 11:30PMIvide– 2D (Crime/Drama) (12+)Cast: Prithviraj Sukumran, Nivin Pauly 7:30PMMinions– 3D (Animation) (PG)2:00, 6:00PM

Baahubali: The Beginning – 2D (Thriller) Cast: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka3:45PM (12+)The Vatican Tapes– 2D (Horror) (18+)Cast: Olivia Taylor Dudley, Michael Pena 11:45PMSharkando 3: Oh Hell No! (2D) (Horror) (15+)Cast: Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, Cassie Scerbo, 5:45, 10:00PMThe Gallows– 2D (Horror/Thriller) (15+)Cast: Reese Mishler, Pfeifer Brown, Ryan3:45, 10:00PM

SURTerminator Genisys (3D) (Action) (PG12) 5:45, 11:45 PMMinions (3D) (Animation) (PG) 4:00 PMBajrangi Bhaijaan (Hindi) (Drama) (PG)4:15, 8:00 PMBahubali (Hindi) (Action) (12+) 7:15 PMThe Vatican Tapes (Horror | Thriller) (18+) 10:00 PMAnt-Man (3D) (Action/Sci-Fi) (PG12) Cast: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Corey stoll11:00 PM

SALALAHTerminator (3D)(PG12) (Action) 11:55 PMTerminator (2D)(PG12) (Action) 2:45, 8:45 PMAnt-Man (3D)(PG12) (Action/Sci-Fi)Cast: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Corey Stoll 9:00PMMinions (3D) (PG) (Animation) 10:30, 2:15 PMMinions (2D) (PG) (Animation) 1:00 PMPixels (3D) (PG12) (Action/Comedy/Sci-Fi ) 10:15am, 12:15, 5:00, 7:00 PMBajrangi Bhaijaan (2D) (PG) (Drama/Action) 10:00AM, 12:30, 4:00, 9:00, 11:15 PMHayaty Mebahdela (2D) (PG)(Arabic) 5:00 PMThe Gallows (2D) (15+) (Horror/Thriller) Cast: Reese Mishler, Pfeifer Brown, Ryan3:30, 11:30 PMMasaan (2D) (12+) (Drama) Cast: Richa Chadda, Saurabh Chadhary, Sanjay Mishra 7:00 PMMahra Story (2D)(PG) (Drama) Cast: Salim Bahwan, Raniya Al Ali7:00 PM

BAHJA CINEMAFilm information 24540856 / Advance Booking 24540855Website: www.albahjacinemaoman.com

Terminator: Genisys (Action / Adventure) Cast: Arnold Schwarznegger, Emily Clarke 3.30, 7.30, 9.45 & 11.55 pmCP No: 1714 (PG 12)The Gallows (Horror/ Thriller)Cast: Cassidy Gifford, Pfiefer Brown, Riyan Shoos8.00 & 10.00 pm CP No: 1730 (15+)Minions ( Animation/ Comedy )12.00 & 5.45 pmCP No: 1731 (PG)Max (Adventure/ Family)Cast: Thomas Harden Church, Josh Wiggin 4.00 pmCP No: 1732 ( PG)Vatican Tapes ( Horror/Thriller )Cast: Katheleen Roberston, Djimon Hounsou, Dougrey Scott12.00, 1.45 & 11.55 pmCP No: 1835 (18+)Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! ( Horror/Sci: Fic ) Cast: Tara Reid, Bo Derek, Frankie Muniz2.00 & 6.00 pmCP No: 1836 (15+) STAR CINEMAFilm information 24791641 / 24786776Website: www.isurf.co.om

Baahubali (Tamil) (Action) Cast: Prhabas, Rana Daggubatti, Anshka Shetty, Tamannaah & Satya Ra3-30, 6-30 & 9-30 pm at Cinema MainBaahubali (Telugu) (Action)3-30, 6-30 & 9-30 pm at Cinema -2Ivede (Mal ) (Thriller)Cast: Prithviraj, Nivin Pauly & Bhavana3-45, 6-45 & 9-45 pm at Cinema – 3Premam (Mal) (Rom)Cast: Nivin Pauly & Anupama3-45, 6-45 & 9-45 pm at Cinema -4 Next Change: Acha Din (Mal), Appatakkar (Tamil), Vallu (Tamil)(Programmes are subject to change)

TO MUSCAT (RUWI)

Dept Destination Arrival Operatingtime time days

FROM JAALAN-SUR-QURIYAT (ROUTE 36)

05:30 Sur 06:45 Daily05:30 Quriyat 08:30 Daily05:30 Ruwi 10:00 Daily

TO AL BURAIMI (ROUTE 41)

07:00 Sohar 08:55 Daily07:00 Ruwi 11:40 Daily13:30 Ruwi 20:20 Daily via Ibri13:00 Sohar 14:55 Daily13:00 Ruwi 17:40 Daily 13:00 Sohar 19:20 Daily 17:00 Ruwi 22:15 Daily

TO SINAW (ROUTE 52)

07:00 Ruwi 10:25 Daily

TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54)

06:00 Nizwa 08:40 Daily06:00 Ruwi 11:00 Daily

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54)

15:40 Nizwa 17:55 Daily15:40 Ruwi 20:20 Daily

TO SUR (ROUTE 55)

06:00 Ruwi 10:45 Daily14:30 Ruwi 19:00 Daily

TO YIBAL - FAHUD (ROUTE 62)

12:30 Fahud 13:15 Daily12:30 Ruwi 17:30 Daily

TO SALALAH -MARMUL (ROUTE 100)

07:00 Ruwi 19:50 Daily10:00 Marmul 13:15 Daily10:00 Ruwi 22:30 Daily19:00 Ruwi 07:30 Daily

TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)

06:00 Marmul 16:30 Daily

DUBAI TO SALALAH (ROUTE 102)

15:00 Salalah 07:00 Daily

TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201)

07:30 Sohar 10:50 Daily07:30 Ruwi 13:40 Daily13:00 Sohar 16:15 Thur-Fri13:00 Ruwi 19:10 Thur-Fri15:30 Sohar 18:45 Daily15:30 Ruwi 21:35 Daily

FROM DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH/SHARJAH (ROUTE 204)

16:00 Sharjah 16:30 Daily 16.00 Fujairah 18.15 Daily16.00 Ruwi 23.00 Daily

8:00 pm 3:30, 6:30, 9:30 pm 5:45 & 10:00 pm 10:15am, 12:15, 5:00, 7:00 pm

@MGM @SHATTI @RUWI @BURAIMI @SALALAH

ANT-MAN (Action, Adventure) (PG12)Cast: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Corey Stoll

3:45 pmA ROYAL NIGHT OUT 2D (Drama)Cast : Sarah Gadon, Emily Watson, Jack (15+)

BAJRANGI BHAIJAAN(Action/Drama ) Cast: Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Harshaali Malthotra

SHARKANDO 3: OH HELL NO (2D) (Horror ) (15+)Cast: Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, Cassie Scerbo

PIXELS (3D) (PG12) (Action/Comedy/Sci-Fi ) Cast: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Michelle Monaghan

CHILDREN BELOW THE AGE OF 3 YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THE CINEMA | BOX-OFFICE COUNTER OPENS 30-MINUTES PRIOR TO THE SCREENING OF THE FIRST SHOW

WEATHER

340

Maximum

320

Minimum

TEMPERATURE

50-85%RELATIVE HUMIDITY

Send us a colour photograph of the child (below 16 years) whose birthday you are celebrating, along with his/her full name, date of birth, address, telephone number and parents’/your name to Times of Oman, With Love, PO Box 770, PC 112, Ruwi or through e-mail to extra@timesofoman.com

WITH LOVE

JOAN VIGIL JOSEPHJuly 29, 2011

LIFESTYLEC11W E D N E S DAY, J U LY 2 9, 2 0 1 5

M O D E R N T R A V E L L E R

Beaches, hotsprings, & duty-free shopping make Sanya attractive

Smooth Sa’al Stones

Location: Sa’al, near Mughrah, after Rusayl and Murayrat23°27’05.0”N 58°13’09.9”EHave you been able to capture the beauty of an off-the-beaten-path destination in Oman? Send your pictures with a caption & geo-locator to:salim@timesofoman.com

FAQ:

Phot

os :

Supp

lied

How to reach:Sanya is a 90-minute flight from Hong Kong. It is con-nected to Beijing, Shanghai and other important cities across China through a number of flights.

Places to see:Yalong Bay, Haitang Bay, Dad-hong Bay (all beaches), CDF Mall in Haitang Bay, Buddha statute, La Floret shopping village, hot springs in the countryside.

What to eat:Chinese food in abundance; there’s also Asian and conti-nental fare to be savoured.

Where to eat:La Floret shopping village, CDF Mall plus other markets (for roadside variety and cafes).

Where to stay:Hotels, resorts, spas and other properties are lined up in all three popular bay areas and are located close to the beaches. From 3-star to 5-star proper-ties - all are available and cater to all kinds of budgets.

Shopping:CDF Mall, La Floret shopping village and local markets.

SANYA (CHINA): Beach re-sorts are always an attraction for holiday-loving people. But if you get hot springs and duty-free shopping too in the package, the attraction becomes much larger. The Sanya beach resort in southeast China offers just that.

That Sanya is getting popular among holiday-makers is evident from the fact that top-of-the-line hotel chains, many of them inter-national giants, have come up with lavish properties along the beaches that Sanya has to offer.

Some of the big hotel chains in-clude Mandarin Oriental (Dadong Hai Bay), Westin (Haitang Bay), MGM Grand, Hilton, Ritz-Carlton, Kempinski, Marriot, Pullman, Holi-day Inn (all in the Yalong Bay area) and others. There are a number of other hotels, resorts and spas run by

leading hotel chains in China."The tourist inflow is not only

from China's mainland now. We get a lot of foreign tourists from Australia, New Zealand, Euro-pean countries, Russia and even India," Flada, an executive with the MGM Grand hotel in the Ya-long Bay area, said.

The sun-kissed beaches, tropi-cal weather and the greenery of the Hainan countryside offer a lot to visitors in Sanya. Being located in the southeast part of China and just a 90 minute flight away from Hong Kong gives Sanya easy access.

The Sanya Phoenix Interna-tional Airport may not look flashy enough to carry the tag but it caters to a number of flights, most of which originate from within China or nearby countries.

Sanya is also home to open hot

spring resorts. There are a few of them located in the green coun-tryside of the province. The Sanya Pearl River Nantian Hot Spring re-sort boasts of the largest open-air hot springs in China.

"It is a different feeling to be sit-ting in open air hot springs that open into personalised small pools. One can choose the type of hot spring that one wants to and also the tem-perature of water (20 to 50 degrees) as per convenience," Cheng Lei, a visitor to one of the hot springs, said. But Sanya is not all about beaches and hot springs alone.

One of the big attractions is the duty-free shopping that the place offers without going to an interna-tional airport.

The stunning China Duty Free (CDF) Mall is the world's largest duty free shopping centre, built at a

cost of over five billion yuan ($800 million/Rs51 billion), and is located in the Haitang Bay area next to the Westin hotel.

At 70,000 square metres spread over three floors, the CDF Mall integrates duty-free shopping, duty-paid shopping, restaurants, entertainment venues and cultural facilities. Top of the line interna-tional brands have big outlets at the mall. The duty-free shopping done at the mall can be collected at the mall's counters inside Sanya air-port's check-in.

The unique aesthetic design of the mall is inspired by the Haitang flower, the symbol of Sanya.

"Its atrium is formed by four unique curved surfaced steel struc-tures, which enable natural light to filter into the mall and create a world-class shopping environment

for the users. Its unique 3D free surfaced steel structure covers en-trance arch-truss, link-bridges and other five individual skylights," the mall management notes.

The mall opened in September 2014 and shuttle buses are avail-able to ferry visitors and shoppers from hotels and resorts and even residential areas. A popular place for eating and shopping in the Yalong Bay area is the 'La Floret' shopping village. It's quite vibrant and has a number of eating joints which serve Chinese, Asian and international cuisines.

Some eating joints even have open-air sitting with flashy lights and music bands making the eve-nings even livelier.

Sanya truly offers a lot as a tropical paradise and a shopping destination. - IANS

w w w.t i m e s o f o m a n . c o msection

CONNECt h e d a i ly g u i d e

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d4 VACANCY CARGO d7

w e d n e s d ay, j u ly 2 9, 2 0 1 5

RENT d2

*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon

for next day’s publication. * Subject to space availability

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

for rent

3BR villa, sitting, dining & hall, Azaiba behind Al Meera H- Market. Contact: 99259977 / 95033008 1BHK, Darsait, walking distance to ISM , neat and clean building, ground floor, OMR 260/- per month rent Call IQRAR on 99076557

Fully furnished 3 BHK accommo-dation with all spacious rooms in a villa at Darsait near ISD.Contact: 9526 5289 / 9604 8422 Furnished room for rent at Al Khuwair R.O 225/- for family only. Contact: 99251975 Deluxe PH 1BHK at North Ghoubra. Contact: 99242218 1BHK brand new flat in Al Qurum Polo Road for rent GYM & swimming pool facility available. Contact: 92527573 / 98902216 2BHK commercial Al Khuwair R.O 400/-. Contact: 97799175 2 rooms in Al Khuwair. Contact 99330385 Office / shop near Star Cinema & CBD Muttrah. Contact: 99233116 2BHK near CBD & Star Cinema, Muttrah. Contact: 99233116 BHK Flat in Azaiba. Contact 99385835 / 99428143 Deluxe 1, 2,3 bedroom flats in Ruwi & Wadi Kabir & Al Khuwair. Contact: 95282986 / 24707340 Office/ storage space in new build-ing at MBD South. Contact 94460790 / 24714625 Godown for rent Approx: 4500 sqm area with building materials in Barka for rent with workers accommodation etc. Showrooms also for building ma-terials available. Contact: 99808868 1bedroom, kitchen, sharing toilet, parking, family R.O 110/-, 1bedroom sharing K& T family in Al Khuwair R.O 100/-. Contact: 95154331

Two shops in Muttrah Souq, for rent. For more details please contact: 99364735 / 91214849 600 sqm build up office / ware-house area for rent. Consisting of basement space, ground floor and mezzanine showroom / office area. Easy access and parking space also available. Located on opposite Oman flour mills and beside to Lulu, Darsait available from 1 August 2015 onwards for lease. Contact: 99364735 / 91214849 2BHK flat near Indian School, Wadi Kabir. Contact: 94460790/24714625 Coffee shop for rent, Muttrah, Mab-elah (with visa). Contact: 92749464 / 92222806 Store 2 shutter Wadi Kabir R.O 300/-. Contact 95113037 600 sqr mtrs showroom in Wadi Kabir. Contact: 99792181 A fully equipped furnished and licensed private polyclinic for sale or rent in excellent location in Sohar - Falaj al Qabail opposite to life line hospital Departments are GP clinic, Dental, Medical lab, X-ray And Work-ing Pharmacy. Contact 95603395 3 flats, 2BHK near Ghala Church, top of Majan Hyper market Ghala. Contact: 95928800 / 98014921 Well maintained spacious 2BHK at Rex Road. Contact: 92227165

d2 w e d n e s d ay, j u ly 2 9, 2 0 1 5

250 sq mtrs restaurant for rent in Plaza Hotel, Walja Ruwi. Contact 99326339 Two bedrooms flats in Wadi Kabir near Indian School. Contact: 99313274 Commercial Space 68 SQM, Wadi kabeer, near Indian Elemen-tary School. Contact 99441193, 93004802 2 BHK near Kuwaiti Masjid Wadi Ka-bir. Contact: 24816774 / 97608564 Flat for rent in Wadi Kabir with 3 rooms. Contact : 98555580 / 92800007 Flats for rent near Indian School in Wadi Kabir. Contact 99777122 Brand new villa Bosher 37, 4 BHK. Contact: 91936034 2 BHK flats in Rex Road. Contact: 99792181 1BHK flat at Honda road (Ruwi). Contact: 99792181 2BHK flat in Al Khuwair. Contact: 99792181

for sale

Daily guiDE

FOR RENTBuilding In Rusail Industrial

near to Amiantit Oman comprising a store divisible

area 266 sq. meters.The building includes Studios and rooms with different size

suitable for offices or residence.

Preferably to be leased to one company.

Mob + 968 96177505

500 sq mtrs office space on mez-zanine floor near Royal Hospital. OMR 6.500 per sq mtr. Tel: 99333479 or 95215360 2 bed rooms, kitchen, toilet & car park in Al Khuwair R.O 200/- . Contact 95154331 2BHK near Oman house Muttrah. Contact: 99233116 3BHK, 3 bathrooms, 2 balconies, nr Al Hassan W/Kabir R.O 340/-. Contact: 99384640 Available 2 BHK flat with two bath-rooms at Wadikabir near Shell petrol pump, rent RO 225/-. Contact 95708014 Villa 4 & 5 BHK for rent in Al Khuwair. Contact 99792181 Store 2000 Sqr mtrs for rent in Wadi Kabir. Contact 99792181 Deluxe 3 BHK Penthouse with Seaview, ideal for office / residence at Qurum near PDO. Contact: 9772 1313 / 9507 0421 1,000 sq mtrs industrial land in Misfah Industrial area near to Khanco. OMR 1,500 Monthly. It has Electricity and boundary wall. Tel: 99333479 or 95215360 For rent in Qantab European style 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, Guest toilet, fully equipped modern kitchen, covered car park for two cars, approximately 150 meters from the beach. For enquiries, please Contact: Yasser at 92606005

1BHK, 2BHK, 3BHK new flat available at Mabela in front of Mod-ern English School Contact: 96239126

Running established for sale includ-ing industrial licenses for marble & granite, fully furnished kitchen showroom and fully equipped fac-tory. Contact: 99337670 / 92623665 Ladies beauty Saloon for sale at Amerat on prime location with two clearances. Contact : 95867900 New villa at Qurum, 6 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, sitting, dining and open sitting on the terrace. Contact: 99342733 House hold items. Contact: 97094797 Truck spare parts (new) for sale. Contact: 92600900 Used office furniture – tables (30 Nos) and Chairs (45 Nos) for sales on as-is-where-is basis. Interested parties my contact Mr. Nagesh on GSM No. 99267273 / 92181035 at NTS Office , Rex Road , Ruwi for inspection. Sealed offers should be submitted on or before 29.07.2015 Shop for sale in Ruwi High street,Contact 96078411 Grill cafe sale Al Khuwair. Contact 97249366 3 floor commercial building in Muttrah behind Police. Generating income of OMR 18 Thousand annu-ally. Neat and well maintained. Built on 197 sq mtrs land. 2 tailor shops on ground floor and 6 flats. OMR 207 Thousand. Tel: 99333479 or 95215360 2560 sq mtrs industrial land in Wadi Kabir main road, First line on way to Al Bustan hotel. Possible to make petrol station or hotel. OMR 990 Thousand. Tel: 99333479 or 95215360 60,000 Sq Mtrs Agriculture Land in Misfah, can be changed to Industrial Land. OMR 29 Per Square Meter. Tel: 99333479 or 95215360

2 BHK with split /AC in W/K behind Sana fashion. Contact: 96708000

3BHK with split AC in MSQ, opp. Al Fair. Contact: 96708000

2BHK in Al Ghubra near Indian School. Contact : 96708000

2B/R, RES / COMM flat directly from owner Bausher near Dolphin Com-plex. Contact 92158031

2BHK, 2 Baths, Split A/C, Wadi ka-beer, near Indian Elementary School. Contact 99441193, 93004801

Flats shops for rent in Ruwi MBD area Mumtaz area. Contact: 97293708 / 92433127 Fabulous AC flat at Al Khoud 3 bed-rooms, hall and kitchen RO 270/- for rent. Contact: 99334699 2 bedrooms apartments for rent in Al Khuwair and Ghubra. Call Yel-low Bird property on 24615375 / 97137989 or visit www.muscat-realty.com 3 Bedroom flat in Wadi Kabeer and 2 bedroom villa in Sidab- Muscat. Contact: 95755953 Villa with two floors in (Hay Al Arjan) in AL Khoud with 4 bedrooms, hall, Majles, kitchen & one room in ground floor. Contact: 93219597 1 Villa & 3 big Flats of 2/3 BHK with hall, Kitchen & ACs Al Khoudh 6, Close to express way, from owner. Tel 97600322 alnehang@gmail.com House in Amerat near to Makah hypermarket with three room, 5toilets, kitchen and hall 430/-. Contact: 92747078 For rent if require flats for rent in Wadi Kabir please send me mes-sages through Whatsapp. Contact: 99376454 Bath attached room for rent Al Khuwair. Contact 99743569 4 BHK single villa in Al Khuwair. Contact: 97616158 Office space at Alasfoor Plaza Qurum. #: 24566217 /24564686 Deluxe furnished / unfurnished flats Qurum. # 24566217 / 24564686

Villa for rent - Al Seeb/Al Mawelah - Block 5 - 4 bedrooms with attached bathrooms , Majlis, 2 halls, kitchen and storeroom. split Ac and car park - contact 99564616

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for sale

BUYInG/sellInG

Motor VehIcle for sale

Toyota Echo - 1.3, Model - 2001/2002, Manual, Excellent condition, lady driven and regularly serviced by Dealer. KM -190,000 . RO. 1,200/-. Contact Mobile - 92250666 Mazda 3, 2007 KM 1,43000, full automatic R.O 1900/-. Contact : 99781671 RAV4-2009 model, silver colour, 2.4 liter, single hand use by Indian Expat. Contact 99355382 Nissan Sunny new / excellent con-dition. Contact: 95790291 Izuzu 4 ton Vehicle - 2nos (2008), Izuzu 3 ton Vehicle- 1 no (2006), Nis-san UD 10 ton 1 no (2001), Mitsubishi 7 ton -1 no (2004), Toyota forklift – 1 no (2000). Contact: 99719124 Email: thekkutt@gmail.com

Volkswagen Caddy 2013, 146,000 KM, under warranty. Contact: 99822843 Tucson automatic V-6 2007, R.O 2300/-. Contact: 99384640 Touareg 2011 Oman cars, 114000 KM, silver, 8500/-R.O. Contact 92857111 Car for sale in Muscat, single owner (doctor) driven, Mazda SUV cx-9, model 2014, low mileage (66,000 kms) in excellent condition with company warranty, for sale. Interested parties please contact in 99341156. Prado ,2012. Contact : 99336093 Land Cruiser 2012. #99336093 Sportage, 2013. Contact:99336093

acc. wantedacc. aVaIlaBle

acc. aVaIlaBle

Required a room in Darsait / WadiKabir /Ruwi area. Contact: 95405033

New fully furnished room & attached bathroom, kitchen, Wifi, for bachelor Honda road. Contact: 98582078 Sharing accommodation available at Wadi Kabir for bachelor. Contact : 94195690 Sharing accommodation available small family behind Mars Wadi Kabir spacious room attached big bathroom, separate kitchen Indian only. Contact: 95731543 Furnished single / sharing room for Exe. bachelor at Rex Road, near Ka-mat Restaurant with WIFI available. Contact 92873832 Large room furnished bath attached separate entrance Wadi Kabir. Contact: 99336206 2 BHK rent R.O 200/- from 01.09.2015 location after Muscat Gate main road fully furnished for sale. Contact Francis 92251786 Two room with attached toilet and small kitchen near Hamariya round about behind Noor Shopping. Contact 99728153

Used furniture & Electronic items, office & house. Contact: 99834373

The following properties in South India are for sale. 1. 25 cent plot in Eroor, Cochin (less than 2km from Vytila hub) 2. 12 cent plot in Trivandrum opposite to Kims hospital in hill top colony. Interested parties- please send SMS “property” to 99341156. We will contact you.

nrI

aVaIlaBle

MatrIMonIal

Party & Wedding equipment rentals. Full line, from Tables, Linen & Skirting, Chairs & Chair covers, Cutlery, Crock-ery, Glassware, Chafing Dishes, Ice Sculptures, to Large Sound Systems and spectacular lighting. Call Andrea 9606 2222 for Catering and Croyden 9623 5555 for Sound & Light. www.tunesoman.com, E-mail: info@tunesoman.com

Good news

chanGe of naMe

Genuine Ayurvedic treatments & massage, Ayurvedic clinic at AL Khuwair. Contact: 24478618 / 97263637 / 93309131 Ayurvedic treatment for joint pain, backache, paralysis massage, steam bath, obesity, spondylitis IDEAL , CARE Ayurvedic Clinic 18 November street, Azaiba. Contact 99639695 / 99117987 FREE INFORMATION ABOUT ISLAM. If you would like to know more about Islam, please call: 99425598, 96050000, 99353988, 99253818, 99341395, and 99379133. For ladies: 99415818, 99321360, 99730723 Orvisit: www.islamfact.com Ayurvedic treatment for backache, paralysis, arthritis etc & massage, All Season (Vaidyaratnam). Contact 24475280 / 95371554 / 92504980 www.siddhayur.com

Sharing single room with toilet, AC kitchen at A Hail high way roadside. Contact 92968292 Furnished room in Ruwi for non cooking Executive bachelor in Ruwi, rent RO 90/- per month. Contact 94412557 Room with attached bath and sharing kitchen available for Execu-tive bachelor, opp. O.C. Center Ruwi. Contact: 99016562 / 99296296 Acc. available single room, semi-furnished, attached bathroom, split a/c in Nizwa. Contact 968 96616898 2BHKFlat Near Oman House, Mut-trah for family/Ex Bachelor. Contact 96528069 Family sharing accommodation available in Al Khodh. Contact: 99371129 Room for rent available in CBD near Papa John’s Restaurant. Contact 96568100 Full furnished room with attached bathroom near Star Cinema for Ex. Bachelor/lady. Contact 92886715 Rooms in Seeb for couple / single ladies. Contact : 96996938 Fully furnished 1BHK with all house-hold items in Darsait near Lulu on monthly Basis. Contact : 99378397 Sharing accommodation available for working lady or couples near Ruwi Church. Contact: 92837206 Room attached toilet and kitchen near Indian School Wadi Kabir. Contact: 95345537 Fully furnished room for a decent expatriate. independent kitchen, bathroom in Wadi Adai. Contact 96243086 at 5p.m.

Muslim girl, Keralite, 21, tall, fair, BBA, presently staying with parents in Oman. Contact 99047216 25 year old RC girl working as staff nurse in private hospital capital area seeks suitable alliance. Contact 99744392 / 93678941 Remarriage, Pentecostal boy, LLB 35 /170 Project Executive hailing suit-able proposal. . Contact 97413778 Email: winupaul01@gmail.com Sunni Muslim girl, Indian origin, 20 yrs BA graduate from Oman, good looking homely with good religious values, seeking alliances from Muslim professionals, well settled in Oman or Middle East. Contact: 99644760 or Email: ghulamuzma23@gmail.com

Vehicle automotive batteries avail-able at cost price. Interested parties who want to buy the batteries in bulk numbers for reselling purpose may. Contact: 24794657 5 Flats of 1 bedroom for Sale in Boushar: OMR 35 Thousand each. Monthly income OMR 270 Tel: 99333479 or 95215360 23,886 Sq Mtrs Agriculture land with water well in Al Salwa, Barka. OMR 260 Thousand. Tel: 99333479 or 95215360 Turkish MDF door with frame for sale, size 210 x 100 Price: RO 75/-. Contact: 95899296 / 92141514 Wall papers, grass carpets sale & fixing. Contact: 99834373 / 97102699

I Annamma Koraha (holder of Indi-an passport No. G8910972) daughter of T. M. Mathew having permanent residence in Mulanthanathukuzhi, Vakathanam PO, Kottayam, Kerala Pin 686538 (complete postal ad-dress in India) and presently resid-ing in Sultanate of Oman P.O Box 1222 P.C 121 (complete postal ad-dress in Oman) intend to change my name from Annamma Koraha (old name) to Blessy Annamma Thomas (new name) for all practical purpose. Any objection towards my name change may please be communi-cated to Embassy of India, Muscat, Diplomatic Quarters, Al Khuwair, P. Box No. 1727, Postal Code 112, Ruwi , Sultanate of Oman. I Bethel Thomas Varghis (holder of Indian passport No. M 2296679) son of Mulan Thanthukzhi Chandy Var-ghese having permanent residence in Bethel, Vakathanam PO, Kottayam Kerala PIN 686538 (complete postal address in India) and presently residing in Sultanate of Oman P.O Box 1222 P.C 121(complete postal in Oman) intend to change my name from Bethel Thomas Varghis (old name) to Thomas Bethel Varghese (new name) for all practical purpose. Any objection towards my name change may please be communi-cated to Embassy of India, Muscat, Diplomatic Quarters, Al Khuwair, P. Box No, 1727 Postal Code 112, Ruwi Sultanate of Oman.

Daily guiDEd4 w e d n e s d ay, j u ly 2 9, 2 0 1 5

sItUatIon wantedsItUatIon Vacant sItUatIon wantedsItUatIon wanted

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

DOMESTIC HELPER

DOMESTIC HELPER

DESIGNER

ENGINEER

ENGINEER

EDUCATION

IT

SALES / MARKETING

SALES / MARKETING

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

SECRETARIAL & OFFICE

Required Omani Receptionist / Office assistant for a company in Ghoubra. Fresher’s can apply with expected salary. Email : thomas.john@ext.gfk.com

ACCOUNTANT

BEAUTy

Indian male 33, B.com, MBA (HR) tally having 9 yrs exp looking for suitable placement.Contact: 98181652, Email: wailsmathew@gamil.com

Pakistani male 25 years male MBA finance having, 18 months experi-ence accounts and transport seeking suitable job having valid Omani D/L /. Contact: 99191284

Indian male 24 years MBA finance 2 years experience in accounts looking for suitable job. Contact: 98222753 Email: shemeejvp@gmail.com Filipino Male 26 years old, Certified Public Accountant, Bachelor of Sci-ence in Accountancy with 5 yrs of experience now on visit visa, Look-ing for suitable opening. Contact: +968 91278583, Email: kennethalcedo07@gmail.com Chartered Accountant with 7 years of post qualification experience in the areas of auditing/accounts & finance/taxation/IFRS, etc. seeking challenging job opportunity. Can obtain NOC. Email: sns2205@gmail.com and GSM +968 95763680. Indian male, 30 years, CMA (Inter),M.com.4 out of 7 years experience in Oman in Auditing/ Accounts/ Finance. Having NOC and valid Oman D/L. Contact: 96746420, Email: sijuthampi@ymail.com

Urgently required housemaid. Contact: 96339339 Email CV on info@eigllcoman.com Require qualify caregiver for an orderly mother. Contact 99425200 Indian House Maid with experience required to work in Sohar, visa ready. Contact 99417418 House maid required for an Indian family at Al Ghubra (stay full time). Contact: 98622766 Full time housemaid required for Indian family in Ghubra, Nepalese preferred, call 95681350

Urgently required Junior Account-ant. Please send CV: hr.azatllc@gmail.com Urgently required male Account-ant & Office Admin. Contact: 96339339 Email CV on info@eigllcoman.com Urgently required Jr. Accountant/Purchasing Manager (preferably In-dian) 3-5 yrs Exp. to work with food stuff market. software/hardware knowledge would be an advantage, valid Omani D/L with NOC Contact 99417418 Reputed Construction Company require Accountant experience in Construction Company with accountancy degree. Email: jvacancy05@gmail.com Urgently required cash investors for company’s profitable projects. Contact: 92950082 Required Office Assistant in a market research company. Send CV to jayakumar.valiyaparambith@nielsen.com

DRIVER ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

sItUatIon want-ed

sIt. wanted

DRIVER

DRIVER

2 years experienced Electrical Engi-neer looking for suitable placement. Contact: 98480509

B.Tech Computer Engineer wanted job to work on IT / Banking / sales marketing, MCITP, CCNA, Network-ing, having NOC. Contact: 98857689 Email: khanshoebameer@gmail.com Indian (M) B.Tech (civil) with 2 yrs exp in Structural Designing using Etabs, Staad, Safe, excel looking for suitable position. Contact: 96698342 / 98768045 Email: qadeertom@gmail.com

Civil Engineer diploma holder hav-ing 7 years experience in construc-tion / oil & gas as Site Engineer seeking for suitable placement. Contact: 93294965 Electrical Engineer, B.Sc. degree/ B.Tech, 4 years experience. Looking for suitable placement. Available in visit visa. Contact: 94739355, Email: mahin.eee@gmail.com Indian male B.E Electronic and Communication Engineering & have 2 years experience in oil & gas sec-tor (maintenance & construction). Contact: 98848077

Indian male 25MBA having 4years Gulf experience in Coordination with contracting company .NOC Available. Looking for(Store,Coordination,Admin,Backoffice) Jobs Ph:95405885 5+ years experience BE Electrical Engineer having knowledge in exe-cution & basic knowledge in electri-cal design looking for suitable post. Contact: 99704742 / 97469689 Indian male 23 B.E mechanical & AutoCAD 1 year experience cur-rently on visit visa looking for suit-able job. Contact: 92835957 Email: rafeekmohammed84@gmail.com Indian male Electrical Engineer with 7 years experience (electrical, marine, fire fighting) valid Oman driving license seeking suitable placement. Contact 93396338 Email: syamsk2255@gmail.com Egyptian Civil Engineer-total expe-rience 7 years - 2 years@Oman. I have good experience in Technical office & site Works. Contact: 98078095 M Tech Computer Science Engineer, female seeking suitable placement. Contact : 93035521,96439645 Email : anzilav@yahoo.co.in DIPLOMA CIVIL Eng 5 year exp in building construct (MOE) in Muscat seeking suitable job. (NOC AVAILABLE) GSM 95364183 Indian male 27 years, Mechanical Engineer (B.E) having experience seeks suitable placement holds valid Oman driving license, on visit visa. Contact: 98847638 MEP Project Engg 23 years experi-ence out of 13 years in Gulf holding Electrical and driving license. NOC available. Contact: 98894682 Computer Engineer Iraqi National-ity 7 years experience seeking suit-able placement. Contact: 94694146

Indian male diploma Civil Eng with 2 yrs experience on site as QS & AutoCAD seeking on site or - off site position. Contact: 94756183 Email: indianexpat1@gmail.com Engineer with 4 years Oman experience in telecom operations, having valid Oman driving license looking for a suitable opportunity, interested in Marketing also. Contact 98513495

Wanted experienced Beautician for beauty parlor in Al Amerat 3. Contact: 91107337 Indian male 2+yrs oman exp in HR.

joing immediatly. release available. Contact :93671437

CATERING

BEAUTICIAN

Project Engineer Civil with degree only need to apply with 7 to 10 years experience in Gulf. Contact: Email: omaniantrad@gmai.com Engineering company in Muscat requires HVAC Engineer, minimum 7 Years experienced, knowledge in Tendering, BOQ, Design, Supply, Installation & Supervision of all Central & Unitary A/C systems. Email: info@4dengineering.net Urgently Required: Civil Engineer minimum 5years experience in building construction in GCC, MUST have NOC and immediately join. Apply, fax 00968–24605955, emails sbc@steelbuildingsllc.com, sbeoman@yahoo.com.

Grade”A” company in interior Designing looking for: Operations manager Sales executive Qs Inte-rior Designer CVs to be emailed to : alzahi.oman@gmail.com

Indian male 33 yrs DEM, chef DE Partie (Continental, Chinese & South Indian) 14 yrs exp in hotel Indus-try, 7 yrs in Oman N.O.C available, seeks placement. Contact 97858956 Email: pratheesh.chef@gmail.com Indian male 33 yrs DEMI chef DE Partie Chinese South Indian, cold kitchen 13 yrs exp in Hotel industry 7 yrs in Oman, N.O.C available seeks placement. Contact: 95872464, Email: sreejith809@gmail.com

MISCELLANEOUS

Required Indian or Pakistani calligrapher & Painter (staff accommodation) Contact# 24480487/24483493 Urgently required experienced Safety Officer with valid license for a reputed construction company. Interested candidates can send their CVs to rajesh@oasisgrace.com Contact: 99881459 / 99885931 fax: 24812226 Wanted urgently Secretary to the managing partner, Sales Execu-tive with driving license for rent a car business & electrical Engineer, linemen, electricians. All the above vacancies are for Salalah and enough experience required. Apply soon to hr_oman1@yahoo.com

Experienced LTV driver available. Contact: 99514703 / 96943902 Bangladeshi male looking for job in any company or family, speak English, Hindi & Arabic, exp 3 years in Dubai taxi and 3 years in Oman in company. Contact: 93822195 Driver with car 3 yrs exp looking for part time job. Contact: 92041902 Light driver, age 3 yrs exp, KSA 7 years & Oman 5 years Education – HSC seeking job in Oman. Contact: 98474031 NOC available Driver LTV 3 years exp available local release. Contact: 98503406 Job driver light operator shawl and excavator. Contact: 91376612 Light vehicle driver NOC available, seeks suitable job with 4 yrs exp in Oman having driving license. Contact: 95683735 / 95495003 Driver 8 years exp India (Keralite). Contact: 93412587 Light driver looking for suitable placement. Contact: 95141473 Driver available with car and without car. Contact 96771598 / 92883299 Looking for driver. Contact: 91788481 Looking for driver job. Contact : 93650209 Light driver searching for job expe-rience 5 years. Language English, Arabic & Hindi. Contact: 92458526 / 97941771 Faisal

Required heavy duty truck driver holding Omani driving license w/ 5 years experience please contact 92001111 Wanted driver. Contact: 95112461 Driver heavy duty required urgent-ly for trailer. Oman / GCC experience must. Those ready for immediate joining. Contact: 99310859

MEDICAL

Required Indian or Bangladesh GP Doctor with M.O.H license & N.O.C available, attractive package. Prometric passed Doctors can also apply. Contact: 97985325 Email: nooralfadayil@gmail.com Stuff Nurse for 2 months for a clinic in Muttrah.( LOCUM). Contact: 99330385 Immediately required lady Doctor (DGO) or GP with Gynecology experi-ence & lab technician. # 99310590. Email : tjmaluke@gmail.com Dental surgeon, Staff Nurses (female), Dental Technician with or without MOH license for a polyclinic near Sohar. Excellent salary package. Phone: 99006915, Email : alhinaee.clinic@yahoo.com

General Practitioner DR to work in Bidbid, Prometric passed,3 years of work experience, Send CV clinic@m-oman.com Urgently wanted Lady Ayurveda Therapist. Contact: 91590083 / 92798678

ADMIN

Beautician exp Gulf and India look-ing job. Contact 93554741

Experienced Indian lady is looking housemaid job looking full time job for European family total experience : 9 years, 2 years exp. with European family 6 years worked with Indian family language English & Hindi. Contact: 93392788 Housemaid Indian looking for Madras family house job. Contact 93554741 Housemaid (full time / part time) looking for job. Contact: 95799643

Indian male,Accountant,B.com,1yr experience in auditing and hav-ing knowledge in tally. Contact : 94733824/95769355

Salesman required for a well estab-lished building materials company. Oman D/L required. Contact: 93698385 Email: united@omantel.net.om

A leading marketing company is looking for outdoor Sales Execu-tives on part time or full time basis in Salalah. # 92760281 / 96436719 A leading Tissue paper & food stuffs company requires Sales & Marketing person with minimum 5 yrs exp. in Oman with good com-munication skills & valid Oman D/L. Candidate with interior market knowledge & experience preferable. Send CV : allub@alhosnigroup.com, fax: 24451430 Urgently required experienced Salesman in Dairy Company with valid Oman License. salesrecruitment1090@gmail.com. For More clarification, please contact :98414736 Wanted male written & spoken Ma-layalam & Bengali as freelancers to conduct corporate & individual markets surveys on temporary basis, Must be fluent in English with driv-ing license. Contact: 24701242 A leading building materials shop required Marketing Executive (Omani National only) 1No with minimum 2 years experience and driving license. Contact: 99808868 Email: aalfarsi2020@gmail.com Experienced Marketing represent-ative – interlock blocks with light Omani driving license is required. Contact 99222086

MBA (Finance) with NOC, 6 years accounting and finance experience in Oman, knowledge of Tally ERP9 having Omani driving license seeks suitable placement. Contact: 97205715 Email: ammar_uh@hotmail.com

Chartered Accountant with ICWA Inter having 5 years experience in Finance, Accounts, Costing, Budget-ing, Audit, Insurance, Treasury & Banking operations - NOC Available + OmanDrivingLicense Contact :97881548 Email-financecost2@gmail.com Indian male (34) B.Com with com-puter, 11 years experience as Store Manager, Accountant, Sales Execu-tive having Oman driving license, looking for suitable job. Contact: 92753822 13 years exp (7.5 years gulf exp) B.Com graduate, looking for Ac-countant job, GSM No:-92957064 with NOC. Energetic Finance & Audit Manager / Chief Accountant, C.A , MBA ,ACCA , CPA..15 yrs in GULF , Expert in Bank-ing, Financing, Profit Maximizations, Admin, Biz Developments ,All ERPs Software’s, 15yrs Audit Exp. with Big 5 , NOC & Driving License Call 94403270 – 94504505 Accountant, Indian Male, 15 Years experience (8 Years in Oman with Driving License) seeks suitable placement with NOC, Contact 94117616, 91238272 Fresh Graduate B.Com with CIMA (partly Qualified) looking for a suit-able position. Contact 94652485 32 male Pakistani Accountant B.Com having 2 years experience in Oman. Contact 99761664 Indian 24 years MBA finance 2 years experience seeking suitable placement. Contact: 9822253 6 years experienced male having masters degree and experience in sales, accounts, customer services and IT. Contact: 98823248 Email: sajjadhussain@yahoo.com Indian female 25 yrs B.Com MBA / 3months experience looking for job in Accts /Mktg. Contact: 94657403 / 99355931 Indian female B.Com 20 yrs exp in Accounts / Insurance seeking suit-able placement. Contact: 92986455 12 years Oman experienced Chief Accountant looking for immediate placement. Contact: 99513082

15 years Oman experienced Admin & Accounts Manager looking for suitable placement. Contact: 92253080

Good experienced in accounts and Admin knowledge of Tally ERP9 having NOC looking for suitable job. Contact: 98717938

Accountant Indian male 8 years experience, 6 years in Oman with Oman driving license, seeking suit-able job. Contact 96012973

Indian male, M.Com & CA inter qualified seeking a suitable position in Audit/finance. Contact: 91148139 15 yrs of experience in Oman, Indian male – Accounts & finance professional with Oman driv-ing license is looking for suitable position. Commerce Graduate with certifications in DPCS & PPGDCA. Contact 93422557 Indian male 22 years, having 1 year experience in accounts & admin looking for suitable vacancy. Contact 97375512 Accounts or sales 27 years male Graduate B.Com 2 years experience in Oman as Asst Accountant looking for suitable job currently working in Oman. Contact: 98427810 Email: shaheel9895@gmial.com Qualified Accountant 5 years expe-rience bilingual Arabic & English, 2+ years in Oman. Contact: 95539923 Motivated and energetic male 25 having 4 years of experience in finance with Master’s degree in Eco-nomics and CAT Certified seeking opportunity in Accounts/finance/audit in a reputable organization. Cell no: 00968-94626209 E-Mail: omerjawedshah@gmail.com Accountant, Indian male, 10 years experience in Oman, having knowl-edge of Tally ERP9 & able to do upto finalization and can be joined imme-diately with NOC. Contact: 94134085 Email: mascatoman95@yahoo.com

14 years of Gulf experience in HR / Admin & logistics fluent in Arabic / English with D/L looking for suitable position. Contact: 95824598

Indian female 24 years MBA (HR) having 3 years experience in HR Administration, payroll seeking suit-able placement. Contact: 91104352 / 99012861 5 years experience in store and admin department with Omni driv-ing license looking for suitable job, release available and can join im-mediately. Contact : 95860170 BSCS hons (4 years) 2 years expe-rience female currently on visit visa looking for any vacancy. Contact: 91519478 Email: marryum.akmal@gmail.com Indian male, 15 yrs experience in Admin & Office management seeks job. Contact: 96425101 Indian female, 29 yrs, MBA (HR) 4 yrs exp in HR & Admin seeking suit-able placement. Contact: 95619537 Master degree HRM professional having excellent experience in fi-nance and management and having 8 yrs experience looking for suitable placement. Contact: 92955453 / 91213269 Male Admin office Manager, 16 years experience in Oman. Contact: 95790291 Indian female MBA, 3 Years experi-ence in Admin MIS, Family Visa. Contact 98234427,jkjsmith01@gmail.com MSW HR female professional with 3+ years work ex, UGC net qualified, looking for a suitable position in Muscat. Contact - 99579874. Email : rubitah@gmail.com

Male Driver 2 years exp in Oman seeking suitable placement. Contact 96362684 Driver with 8 years experience looking for job. Contact: 98130645 / 94342106

Kindergarten in Seeb looking for (female) English Teacher bachelor in English language. Contact: 99319259 / 93972775 Email: saif123.s171@gmail.com

Software developer with experience in asp.net, sql server and crystal reports required for a software development firm. Email CV to hr@ promisworld.com

Required Electrical Engineer mini-mum 5years experience in building construction in GCC, MUST have NOC and immediately join. Apply, fax 00968–24605955, emails sbc@steelbuildingsllc.com, sbeoman@yahoo.com. MEP Engineer on urgent basis required for immediate placement. Please contact tgi17@omantel.net.om

Looking for Outdoor Salesman for heavy equipment spare parts. Contact - 93292015, Email: mail.om@gulfcenter.co

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sItUatIon wantedsItUatIon wanted

MEDICAL

MANAGER/ SUPERVISOR

Facility / Project Mgmt, 4+ yrs of exp holds B.E (ECE) Indian visit visa looking for suitable opening. Contact: 98580569 Email: arafacareer@gmail.com

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

If you need A GP DOCTOR now: Immediately want change place-ment preferably in Sohar areas . 23 yrs of uninterrupted experience in Oman .Hospital, Polyclinic & Big companies having own clinic can contact. Mobile : 95406530 . Prefer Email to get Bio-data : uneedgpdr@yahoo.com BA degree Nursing professional having excellent looking for suit-able placement. Contact: 92955453 /91213269 Female Nurse - Indian, well expe-rienced, Prometric passed – 60%, currently on visit visa, ready to join immediately. Kindly contact: 9721 9495 / 9655 0603 or jshani67@gmail.com GP Doctor yemeni national-male, with 4 years of work experience. Mobile:00966531598754 Email: alsyaniramzy@gmail.com

TOURS & TRAVELS

Five years experience in Travel field ,BCom.,IATA & pursuing MBA, Presently working in the Travel Desk of (ITC managed) Five Star Hotel in India.Looking for a suitable position in the Middleeast pl contact 9465 2485 B.Com IATA MCSE working for Qatar Airways, Sales Reservation, ticket-ing English, Hindi, and Malayalam, Marathi NOC is available. Contact: 92954613 Indian male B.Com MBA (Tourism) 23 years, seeks a job in any field currently on visit visa. Contact: 92363811 Email: faizekk@gmail.com

Civil Engineer, Diploma, Male 25, 3 years experience in site, CAD, 3d, MS Project, Seeking job in Oman. # 92875345, jubincivileng@gmail.com Indian male accountants, 12 years experience, tally also. Looking for a part time/ full time job in accounts or purchase. Contact- 98983122 Indian Female 2yrs exp. in Accountant 5 yrs exp. in Electronics, seeking suitable Job. Contact: 97162705,93705090 Indian male, 14 years Experience in maintenance & Supervisor in hotel field (Electrical, Ac Mechanical & Plumber). NOC available #95253640 email = hareeshma24@yahoo.com Female Candidate: Having experi-ence (ISRO India) in Administration (seeking suitable opportunities &presently in Oman Mob:97239854, Mail:asherlalitha@yahoo.com

MISCELLANEOUS

SALES / MARKETING

SALES / MARKETING

Indian visit visa, Network / System Engineer switches, routers, servers, load balancers 5 yrs of exp holds B.E (ECE), CCNA looking for good opportunity. Contact: 91911792 Email: arafakdnl@gmail.com Diploma holder in Computer Hard-ware and Networking with valid Oman driving license, NOC avail-able seeking suitable placement. Contact: 95249087 / 93095329 B.Tech (CSE) Diploma Fire & safety IOSH, NEBOSH having 3.5 years exp in MNC on visit. Contact: 90260889 Male 25 B.Com with 3.5 years experience in IT and Administration excellent computer and communi-cation skills, web developing and handling, looking for relevant job, on family visit till 5th Oct 2015. Contact: 91298960 Email: usman.ali786@hotmail.com Male BE ECE having 1 years experi-ence CCTV, ACCESS CONTROL, Server now on visit visa, seeking suitable op-portunity. Contact 96792239

IT

MISCELLANEOUS

MISCELLANEOUS

Procurement / Purchase Executive 1.6 yrs exp in Oman construction industry Indian male 27 yrs, MBA with valid Oman D/L, available for immediate placement. Contact: 96300958 / 24796010 Indian female 35 years MCA, MBA six sigma black belt, 14 years Gulf experience in business analytics, Marketing business development qualities seeks placement. NOC available, Omani driving license available. Contact: 95783792

MBA from UK with 9 yrs experience in London, Dubai & Mumbai. Special-ized GCC experience in top real estate co & bank with driving license. NOC available. #968 95168205, dubaihomes1@gmail.com Indian ( Keralite) looking for job in sales (oilfield) 20 years experience in the Middle East with valid Omani driving license good communication skills. NOC available. #95991122 Email: muneervmd@gmail.com Sales Mechanical Engineer 14 year’s exp looking for Senior po-sition. Contact: 0091 9600987895 Email: srameson@yahoo.co.in Indian male B.Com (Computer) looking Sales Manager. Contact: 97235819, Email: aji.roja@gmail.com Indian 44 yrs, 16 yrs Indian Army 5 and Half years in Oman exp ware house, seeks suitable placement in store, ware house or sales having Oman driving license. Contact: 94050311 B. Com & MBA Graduate on visit visa seeks suitable placement. Contact : 97372624 ,email : sivaraj.gurukripa@gmail.com 22 years Indian B.Com Graduate having 5 years experience in Sales with a valid Oman driving license looking for a suitable job. Contact: 97302353 Indian Keralite, 27 yrs, experience 3 years in sales with visa & NOC, driving license seeks suitable job. Contact: 98626682

Indian material controller / store keeper with 9 years exp , seeking job in Oman NOC/ Release available. Contact: 91946174 IFAA – Indian Master Trainer (The International Fitness and aerobic academy strength & conditioning coach) looking for suitable job. Contact: 99600593 Electrician, Plumber, Driver, looking for job. Contact 95175192 Mason, still fitter, carpenter, helper, looking job. Contact 95175192 Indian male, Post Graduate in law, 15 + experience - seeks suitable position in corporate companies. Contact: 92844354 SKILLED / UNSKILLED

Welder 16 years experience Arc Tig Welding & fabrication seeks placement, NOC available. Contact: 9134547 / 91604842

CCNA MCITP network support / net-work technician with 2 years experi-ence Indian male having bachelors degree on visit visa. Contact : 93080871 sean.f.peters@outlook.com Female from India -MA. B.Ed. with One year three months Teaching experience. English seeking for a urgent better placement, Now working in Oman. Contact: -: 93961142, 92184408 Email:- anoopkesavan78@gmail.com.

Indian female, Electronics and Communication Engineering Graduate presently in Salalah Oman on visit visa, fresher, seeks entry in a reputed organization. Has good communication skills both in English and Hindi and excel-lent computer knowledge. Contact: 93889495/ 92089906 / 98152686 Email: rukzanabavakunju@gmail.com Indian male, B.Tech Computer Sci-ence Engineering with knowledge in C, C++, Java, .Net, PHP, seeks a suitable job in Oman and can join immediately (available in Oman on family visa). Contact: 91029244 Email: mithunmatheww@gmail.com Indian m 25 yrs B.E Mechanical 3 yrs exp in oil & gas as Piping Project Engineer now on visit visa. Contact : 96487013 Email: riarun.007@gmail.com Graduate Engineer Electronics & Communication, Indian (23) M.Tech from reputed University in Banga-lore, 1 year experience, currently on visit Tel. 968-99152453 mail : robin.scaria.1992@gmail.com DIPLOMA + B.E. (CIVIL ENGINEER) from India, having 4 years of experi-ence in construction, currently on visit visa; Seeking Right Position. GSM:91570703. Email:Rizwan.mohd1@gmail.com Civil Engineer B.E 12 years ex-perience with valid Oman driving license. Contact: 93843448 Sudanese male Engineer looking for job. Contact: 94537607 Electrical Engineer bachelor degree having 6+ years experience of Gulf and professional license available to join. Contact: 98063081 Email: imran.engr08@gmail.com Civil Engineer B.E, 5.5 years experi-ence with Omani D/L. # 96785311 Indian 24 yrs male, 2 years experi-ence in Site Engineer (Diploma in Civil Engineering), Now on visit visa in Oman. Contact: 94050311 Indian Male, Diploma in Civil Engi-neer working as a Project engineer with 7years of experience looking for suitable job. Contact- 92636569 SAP – SCM.MM Consultant B.Tech. (Chemical), from NIT, working with oil industry, seeks employment. Contact: 98049288 Indian female 23, B.Tech (Electrical & Electronics) & Diploma in Electrical CAD on Visit Visa seeks suitable placement. Contact: 99278410 / 94027398, Email: renju.raghavan7@gmail.com Electrical Engineer Indian male 29 years, having 5 years of experience in industrial automation and utility maintenance in India (MRF Tyres) seeking suitable placement. Contact: 92789995 Email: akhilabrahamlktr@gmail.com Btech computer science graduate 2015 passout.. Android application marketing.. Having good communi-cation skills and mindset to work in a team. Contact 91024385 B.E in ECE worked as Junior Scientist Trainee in Chennai worked as System Admin in Berik Honda Nagger coil worked at Technical Support in Sam-sung Service, presently in Bangalore. Contact : 0091 7026267513 Engineer with 3 yrs experience in Indian in MEP, HVAC& mechanical maintained field on visit visa looking for suitable job. Contact 99191535 Email: fareed029@gmail.com Indian Male, IT Support Engineer, 2 yrs in Oman & 5 yrs Indian experi-ence. Contact 97311847 Electrical Eng. Degree (MEP) need suit-able job of construction 12 yrs exp. Email: mohd.ateeq.khan@gmail.com

Video Editor 29 years Indian male with 8 years experience on visit visa looking for a suitable placement. Contact: 91275969 / leomoorkoth@gmail.com 8 yrs exp 2d, 3d Draughtsman (HOLDING OMANI DRIVING LICENSE) seeking job. Contact : 97449630 Tunisian shoes designer wuth 40years expereince in designing and manifacturing loocking for a job in a related field contact : 97816917 Indian male MBA + TALLY , 29 years & 7years experience in Administra-tion and Manager level in Reputed companies, Seeking suitable place-ment. Contact : +96297709 / +91 9066130371, Email: jomonjohnm9@gmail.com Indian female MBA Finance cur-rently on visit visa seeks immediate placement. Phone: 968-98430089 Indian male,27, IT/Telecom Engi-neer, 2 yrs exp in Oman, with valid Oman D/L, NOC Available. Ph: 9393 8727 ACCOUNTANT, Indian male, 29 years.8 years experience .Presently working in Oman as a Senior Ac-countant with oman Driving license. NOC available. Seek suitable oppor-tunity. GSM: 98184170 Indian Male, 28, B.Com, 6+ yrs exp in Accounts, 2 yrs in Oman with Valid Oman D/L, NOC available. Contact: 9719 4864 Indian, male, 41 years, CA Inter, Persuing CA final. Now on express visa. 7 years of Experience in OMAN as Finance and Accounts Manager in Trading , Construction and Firefight-ing industry. 21 Years of exp. seeking suitable Managerial positions. No visa issues. Immediate joining. Contact :98469311 Email:sebin30@yahoo.co.in Indian male post graduate.2 years experience in sales. currently in oman on visit visa.seeks suitable placement.Gsm 92388346 Civil site coordinator, Diploma, Male 25, now present in Oman, Seeking job in Oman. Contact: 92875345, jubincivileng@gmail.com

Sudanese Business development Manager, long experience Interna-tional trade in Oman (import /export / marketing) seeking suitable place-ment full / part time in reputable company. Contact: 91173146 Indian male 31 visionary business strategist having over 8+ years of global experience seeking a chal-lenging position that utilizes my years of experience currently on visit. Contact: 91902154

Syrian male 3yrs. exp in IT support, Networking, Security systems, Serv-er support, IT sales and marketing. Valid Omani D/L seeking suitable placement. Contact 91033395 Chartered Accountant with 7 years of post qualification experience, seeking challenging job opportunity. Experience in auditing/accounts & finance/taxation/IFRS, etc. GSM +968 95763680 Indian male having 4 years of experi-ence in IT Support & networking. Cur-rently on visit visa. seeking suitable opportunities. Contact : 92013641. Male Indian 27, working as finance analyst having two years Oman experience with Driving license looking for suitable position. Mob: 98097009, rameesnm@gmail.com FRESH - B.Com Graduate on Family Visa, looking for any suitable Job. Contact : 92567020 / 95322175, Email: shwayanad@gmail.com Admin Executive, Indian Female having 10 years Gulf experience in seeking suitable placement cur-rently working in Muscat. Email: meenafajar@yahoo.com, Mobile 0096893211402 Having 9+ years exp. in Adminis-tration & HR in reputed companies. Presently working in Muscat and seeking for suitable placement. Contact No.: 97693456. Email : muralimahdav77@gmail.com MOH Indian Dentist 10 years expe-rience in Oman. Can speak Arabic, has driving license. Contact 98995321 or ventureoman007@gmail.com Omani , female, have diploma in quantity survey, bachelor in Constitution management, seeking situated placement at Sohar. Tel 94454180, Mail nhlmct@yahoo.com Finance Manager / Chief Account-ant / Audit Manager, C.A , MBA ,ACCA , CPA..15years in GULF , Expert in Banking ,Financing, Profit Maxi-mizations , Admin & Management, Business Developments , ERPs Soft-ware’s, Audit Exp. with Big 5 , NOC & Driving License Call 94403270 or 94504505

Indian Male 24 years, Looking for a Suitable Job in Telecom / Network-ing. 1 year sales experience. MSc. Communications Engineering & Valid Driving license. Ph: 91280121. Email: jackrprasad@yahoo.com 29 years Indian female (MBA-Finance) with 4+yrs experience (Oman) in Accounts is seeking suit-able placement in Accounts/Admin. Contact:96141283. SENIOR ACCOUNTANT, Indian male,29 years.8 years experience .Presently working in Oman as a Sen-ior Accountant with oman Driving license. NOC available. Seek suitable opportunity. GSM: 97705854 MEP Quantity Surveyor-Estima-tion-Project, 10 Years Experience (3 years in Oman). Having NOC & Oman D/L. Looking for suitable job, contact – 98291626 Indian male Auto cad Draughtsman (civil) 8 years experience seeking for part time job. Contact : 00968 99070584, Email: remluvp@gmail.com ACCOUNTANT, Indian Male, 25 years old, 5 years Experience (2 years in Oman & 3 years in India) Presently working in Oman. Going exit on this week with NOC. Seeking suit-able opportunities. GSM : 97018783

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Diploma civil Engineer seek-ing jobs(positions suits me: civil engineer ,site engineer,qa/qc engineer,land surveyor ,total sta-tion, auto level,draftsman (autocad, microstation) mob:97239854, Mail:asherlalitha@yahoo.com BRANCH-HEAD, MBA-BBA, Indian Male having experience in UAE, India, Oman total 5 years (including MNC), looking for similar or same openings.NOC available. #:92700670, E mail:catanalur131@gmail.com Qualified Native speaking male English Teacher with 18 years experience seeks position. Salary Negotiable. Whatsapp on +968 9334 1047 / +968 93952732 or e-mail me on nadgov@gmail.com Indian female, IATA, B. Sc, look-ing for suitable placement.Con-tact-95514305, E mail id- raveendranmala@gmail.com ACCOUNTANT, Indian male, 29 years, 8 years experience. Presently working in Oman as a Senior Ac-countant with Oman Driving license. NOC available seek suitable opportu-nity. GSM: 98184170 12 yrs exp FREELANCE 2d, 3d Draughtsman (holding Omani driv-ing license). Contact : 93790601 Sudanese male, 31 year, have 3 year Diploma in Electrical Engineer, 6 years experience in construction and electrical plant. Mobile :94549609 Freelance Graphic Designer availa-ble to assist in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Corel Draw Projects. Contact : 95811820 Indian Female Lawyer 36 Yrs hav-ing 11 yrs experience presently work-ing in Oman as Legal Advisor seeks placement in Legal/HR/Admin NOC available Contact-94436960 Email: famidakhan123@gmail.com 23, Male, ACCA Affiliate, 2 years+ experience in Audit and Finance in audit firm, Looking for suitable permanent placement, NOC release Available. Contact: #95140445 a.saran891@gmail.com MBA - (F), M.Com, B.COM. Indian fe-male having knowledge of accounts with Tally looking for part time or full time job. Presently on family visa. Contact :- 91892264. Email:- yashicapandya@gmail.com Indian Female 10 years exp as cook in Oman. South Indian & Gujarati special looking for part-time job Contact 96733187. Indian male-28 years, Diploma in Electrical Egg, having gulf experi-ence. Specialization on Electrical Installation and Maintenance, Opera-tion. 7 years experience seeks for suit-able placement.:95334580. E-mail -sunilkumar257.sk23@gmail.com Seeking Teaching Position. Quali-fied and experienced Native English speaking teacher seeking position in Muscat, I have a Teaching Diploma , two Honours Degrees and a CELTA Certificate. Position at Language school will be suitable. Will e-mail CV. Whatsapp only +96893952732

sItUatIon wantedsItUatIon wanted

sItUatIon wantedsItUatIon wanted

MISCELLANEOUS

PART TIME ACCOUNTANT, Indian male, M. Com, 35 years, 12 Years exp. in Accounts, 8 years in Oman. Knowledge upto finalization. Having valid D/L, seeks suitable Placement.GSM: 96249124 Egyptian Civil Engineer, total expe-rience 7 years - 2 years experience in Oman. I am looking for Project Engineer, I have good experience in site & office works. Contact number:91148708 Indian Male 24 years, Looking for a Suitable Job in Telecom / Network-ing. 1 year sales experience. MSc. Communications Engineering & Valid Driving license. Ph: 91280121. Email: jackrprasad@yahoo.com. Filipino Male looking for a job & have experience in sales, waiter, barista, technical support / customer service with good communication skills. # 91789465 ACCOUNTING – Indian male seeking accounting job with 2 years experience in accounting. Contact: 94263445, E mail – contactantonyxavieranand@gmail.com Sudanese male: 27 yrs, 2 years ex-perience in accounting, other experi-ence (purchasing – HR - Coordinat-ing and Office Management), looking for a job Omani Driving License, NOC. Contact: 94174403 24 year Indian Chartered Account-ant male with 3yrs of experience is seeking suitable placement in Mus-cat, currently on visit visa & ready to join immediately. Contact him on 98201476 or email at lokeshkaluri@gmail.com Sudanese male (B.Sc, computer sci-ence) (diploma computer engineer-ing), 6 yrs. experience DBA oracle PL-SQL, MS SQL - Server, MS visual studio vba, network. Contact 91415886 Syrian male 3yrs. exp in IT support, Networking, Security systems, Serv-er support, IT sales and marketing. Valid Omani D/L seeking suitable placement. Contact 91055584 Over 15 years experience in Gulf. Interior Architect, Lebanese Nation-ality, on visit visa seeking a suitable Placement. 96268005. PRODUCTION OPERATOR – Indian male seeking production operator or related jobs with 4 years of experi-ence in oil & gas field. Contact 94263445. Email: tonyxavier4u@gmail.com Indian Keralite Male 35 looking for Scaffolding supervisor post having 5 years of Supervisor and HSE experi-ence in GCC Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Fluent in English Arabic and Hindi . Contact 96155921, or mail fysal.nellaya@gmail.com Indian Male 28 yrs, having 7 years Gulf + Indian experience in HR and Admin field, looking for suitable place-ment. Contact: 97914340, Email: rajkv3086@gmail.com Indian Male 28 years MSM, B. Com having 6years experience in Gulf and India as a HR and Admin looking for suitable placement.#97914340. Email: rajkv30@gmail.com B.Sc. Mechanical Engineer Suda-nese 3 yrs of exp. In industrial field available in muscat on vist visa seeking suitable job . Contact: 95868922, Email: almouthanaosman@yahoo.com IT system and Printer engineer ME, 5Years bank IT Management exp in India looking for full time job visit visa contact 94462150

Indian male with 8 yrs experience in FMCG in Oman as Sales Supervisor looking for suitable placement. NOC available. Gsm: 96495206 24 year Indian Chartered Account-ant male with 3yrs of experience is seeking suitable placement in Mus-cat, currently on visit visa & ready to join immediately. Contact him on 98201476 or email at lokeshkaluri@gmail.com MCA IT Professional Indian Female seek placement in Teaching/ Non Teaching field. Presently on visit visa. 9588 7051, ashwininakod@gmail.com ACCA Affiliate, Indian, 2.5Years experience in Audit/ Finance in Big 6 Audit Firm and Oil Accounting in PDO, For Permanent Placement for Finance or Accounts or Audit. Re-lease NOC Available on hand. Contact #95140445, a.saran891@gmail.com Finance ACCA Affiliate, Worked as an Auditor with 2.5 Years Experience in reputed firm, Handled independ-ent audit/finance assignments, Look-ing for permanent placement, NOC available. Contact 95140445. a.saran891@gmail.com Piping Design Engineer, Indian male 27, looking for suitable place-ment in Piping Design & Engineer-ing. Having 7 years of experience in AutoCAD. Also familiar with PDMS (11.6 Version),CAESAR ll. Contact : 97351786 / 96143708, E-mail : mohammednazeer07@gmail.com Sudanese male (B.Sc Computer sci-ence) (diploma computer engineer-ing) 6 yrs. experience DBA Oracle pl-sql, MS sql-server ,ms visual studio vba, network. Contact :91415886 Indian Male, Graduate, 11 years Sales experience in Lighting /Industrial products, ready to join im-mediately. GSM: 9710 5356 Indian heavy duty driver with 8 years experience in oman available with NOC. GSM : 93601943 GSM : 94496457 Indian male, 28 yrs MBA (HR/M) 2 years experience in Indian Oman in HR & admin seeks suitable place-ments. NOC available. Contact 97484159 Email: rameshkapa86@gmail.com M.Sc 3+ years exp from France & India in IT Support Engineer / Hard-ware & Networking / Server support / scientific system support looking for suitable positions. Indian, male on visit visa, contact 98898781/ anoopys@gmail.com Looking for managerial post (full time ), More than Ten years of expe-rience in Team Development ,Train-ing, planning, Administration, Sales & Marketing, Advertisement and Credit Control and Logistics. Contact 91076608 / 99322748. Release & noc available Indian male, 34years having 10 years of experience in Sales, Sales Coordination and Administration. Experienced in SAP and MS Office. NOC available. Contact # 94686594 Indian Male MBA Marketing/HRM 3 year experience with Omani D/L, seeking suitable jobs. Contact: 97424188 email: dharwesh@gmail.com Indian, Male, 23 years, BE Electri-cal, having 2 years experience in Electrical Works-H.T. cabling etc, & Construction, looking for a suitable placement. Contact +968 96927880 (Oman), +91 9765376109 (India), Email: rahulrevi6@gmail.com

Indian Female M.Com with Com-puter Skills and Four Month Experi-ence as Accountant ,Currently On Family Visa Looking for a Suitable Placement, Available Immediately. Contact : 95846642, Email : dhanyashree91@yahoo.com ACCA Affiliate, Experience in audit/finance of 2.5 years in Big 6 Firm and Oil industry, looking for suitable permanent placement, Release NOC available. Contact: #95140445 a.saran891@gmail.com

B.Tech Computer Engineer Wanted job to work on(IT/Banking/Admin-istrator/Technical/Office works) having NOC with the limited time from (04/06/2015 to 13/06/2015). Mobile:98402389 email:naresh6672@gmail.com British Beauty Therapist looking for suitable position. #:97175240 Highly Qualified & Experienced Finance Manager Pakistani with USA , UK & Canadian Degrees , CPA ,ACCA-UK . MBA-USA ,IFA- Financial Consultants Canada , Corporate An-alyst USA Professional of Banking , Audits ,ERPs & Profit Maximizations ( NOC available ) call 94 504505 – 94403270 27 year Indian female who has 4 years of experience with logistics function in distribution of spares for both heavy machinery & wind turbine parts. Kindly contact me on +91 9790769104 E-mail: joemohana@yahoo.co.in Indian male Executive Secretary having vast experience in admin, logistics & procurement well versed with computer .seek suitable place-ment. Contact : 99514286 Indian male MBA (U.K), 10 Years of experience in Admin, Sales, HR, stores and logistics seeks suitable placement. Contact 99271903. Indian Female MCA, 4 plus Years of experience in Web designing, Ad-min, P.A, seeks suitable placement. Contact 99486374 8 years successful experience, SENIOR ACCOUNTANT, Indian male,29 years. Presently working in Oman as a Senior Accountant with oman Driving license seeks suit-able opportunity. GSM: 97705854 7 and half years experience working accounts / inventory manager looking suitable job. Contact: 96991782 Email: srinivasu.sp@gmail.com Indian female , MCA BCA, certifica-tion PL SQL , 6months training PHP, date warehouse looking for suitable placement. #95694330 Email: mondkashyapodl@gmail.com B.Com with more than 5 yrs exp. looking for an accounts part tome job work. know with tally. Email-shilpa_62@yahoo.com

Part- time accountant, well experi-ence senior accountant , doing all type of accounting works, finaliza-tion, budgeting available. Contact : 98803439 Indian male, looking for a part time accounting job. Having additional knowledge & experience in HR admin & purchase. Contact 99196621 Indian Female, 24yrs, M.COM (Ac-counts) having 3yrs experience in Accounts, HR, Administration, Customer Service. Good Computer Proficiency. Seeking Suitable Posi-tion. Visa Transfer/NOC Available. Contact: 99654913 HSE Advisor, NEBOSH IGC, Indian male, 4 years experience in con-struction and oil fields, seeking suit-able jobs. Gsm: 97458900, Mail: miroshbabu@gmail.com Highly Experienced Finance Man-ager, CPA ,ACCA-UK . MBA-USA , Pro-fessional of Banking, Audits , ERPs Sap , Management as Team Leader and Problem Solver call 94 504505 / 94403270 Indian male MBA Finance presently OMAN IN visit visa, 26 years, look-ing for an accountant job. Contact 95240641, email Id mohammadabdulazharuddin@gmail.com Admin Executive, 31, Indian Male, having 9+ years exp. in reputed companies. Seeking suitable place-ment in any gulf region. Contact +968 99276601 & 97693456. email : muralimahdav77@gmail.com MEP Quantity Surveyor-Estimation-Project, 10 Years Experience (3 years in Oman). Having NOC & Oman D/L, looking for suitable job, Contact - 98291626 Indian house maid looking full time job. Contact : 98254909 B.E. Civil Engineer age 27, total 3 years of experience in Mumbai look-ing for placement asap in oman now on visit visa of 1 month ph 9571 3441 Email. Khatrialeem@gmail.com Indian Male, 29 years, CCNP, MCITP having Bachelor degree and 6 years of experience in Networking looking for job. 96760618 / varghese.manthara@gmail.com

Sudanese male, 31 year old, have 3 year Diploma in electrical engineer, 5 years experience in different activ-ities . Mobile No ; +96894549609 ACCA affiliate, with 2.5 years experience in Big6 audit firm and Oil industry, looking for permanent placement in Accounts/Audit. Release available Contact :95140445 a.saran891@gmail.com Indian Female, Commerce Gradu-ate, Total 9 yrs of experience in India. worked as Accounts Assistant and Business executive seeking for suitable placement. Tel : 96173533/24222457 Email : topranidivya@gmail.com Indian Male, 29 years, CCNP, MCITP having Bachelor degree and 6 years of experience in Networking looking for job. 96760618 / varghese.manthara@gmail.com Female Executive Assistant/Execu-tive Secretary with 27+ experience, worked with top management/Board in financial services with shorthand skills & Omani driving license, seeks suitable placement. call 95941515 B.E. Civil Engineer from India with 3 years of experience looking for suitable vacancy in oman now on visit visa. Contact 9571 3441, Email . Khatrialeem@gmail.com Indian male 21 IT Eng. networking & computer hardware diploma, 1 year experience, currently on visit visa looking for a suitable job. Contact 96036273 email: faizanfarooqui23@gmail.com Indian, 32 years, completed M.A. English, M.Sc. Psychology and B.Ed in English. Searching for suitable job in the field of teaching. To Contact: 00968 99869535 Email: sahadkeyi33@gmail.com Indian Male 24 years, Looking for a Suitable Job in Telecom / Network-ing. 1 year sales experience. MSc. Communications Engineering & Valid Driving license. Ph: 91280121. Email: jackrprasad@yahoo.com 26 years Indian male with MBA & PGDFM, Total 3.8 years experience in Administration, seeking suit-able placement in any gulf region. Holding Oman valid driving license. Contact :94501423

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Driver for Automatic Transmis-sion. Contact: 99040813 Learn driving with professional only automatic. Contact 94022250

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Daily guiDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

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MBA (F), B.COM. Indian female having knowledge of accounts with Tally looking for full or part time job. presently on family visit visa. Contact :- 96259171. Email:- bhumicapandya@gmail.com Indian male auto cad draughtsman (civil) 8 years experience seeking for part time job Mobile 99070584, E mail: remluvp@gmail.com SENIOR ACCOUNTANT, Indian male,29 years.8 years experience .Presently working in Oman as a Senior Accountant with oman Driv-ing license. NOC available, seek suit-able opportunity. GSM: 97705854 Sudanese male (B.Sc Computer Sci-ence) (Diploma Computer Engineer-ing) 6 yrs. experience DBA Oracle PL-SQL , MS SQL-server, MS visual studio VBA, network. Contact :91415886 Syrian male 3yrs. exp in IT support, Networking, Security systems, Serv-er support, IT sales and marketing. Valid Omani D/L seeking suitable placement. Contact 91033395 Tunisian women looking for a job, khnows english,frensh, italian and arabic. Contact: 91171838 Indian Male, 34 years old, DEE – Electrical Supervisor 10 years Oman experience. Ready for NOC , VISA transfer and valid Oman driving licence light, ready to join immedi-ately, Mob +91 9740679094, kulasekar1980@gmail.com 24 years, Indian Chartered Account-ant male with 3 yrs of experience is seeking suitable placement in Muscat, currently on visit visa & ready to join immediately. Kindly contact him on 98201476 or email at lokeshkaluri@gmail.com Indian Male, 38 years old, DME – Mechanical Maintenance Techni-cian 11 years Oman experience. Ready for NOC , VISA transfer, ready to join immediately, Mob :95612870, seeniselvan@gmail.com young Indian Chartered Account-ant, female, Having 6 years experi-ence in Oman and India. Accounts and Finance Manager, Auditor. Urgently seeking suitable positions.Contact 92530131, jobcareer44@gmail.com

sItUatIon wantedserVIces

House shifting & transporting. Contact 92490422 MARBLE CRySTALLIzATION restore the original shine of your marble. # 24793614/ 99314807 House shifting. Contact 99708138 House shifting packing. 99657644 / 98518013 Carpet Shampoo, marble & tile polishing, pest control & anti-ter-mite treatment, general cleaning painting, Plumbing, Electrical, shifting. Contact Mundhir Al-Rizaiqi trading. L.L.C. # 24810137, 99450130 Water proofing ABUQABAS- Contact 99320217/24788722 Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles polishing, carpet shampooing, maintenance.Contact ABU QABAS- 99320217 /24788722

weBsIte

WEB, ERP and Business Intel-ligence (BI) creation and man-agement at rock bottom price. Contact: http//webviewoman

classes

coMpUter

Split & window A.C servic-ing & maintenance. Contact 93769089/95323517 GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet & sofa shampooing, Contact 99314807/24792998

Split & widow unit A.C servicing & repairing. Contact: 99557080 Split & window unit A.C servicing & maintenance. Contact: 96236476 Window & split unit A.C servicing & maintenance. Contact : 93769089 / 95323517

Civil maintenance - plumbing, elec-trical, painting, and tiling, interior decorations, shop furnishing and all other maintenance works. Contact: 97897831 / 92112094 (Indian, Keralite) A/C Maintenance & servicing, fridge, washing machine & dish washer re-pairing, painting & cleaning services, electrical & plumbing. Contact: 99447257 / 97014234 / 24504281

sItUatIon want-Manpower

sItUatIon want-sIt. wanted

Indian male 25 years B.tech comput-ers (Having 3 years of experience in customer service/Admin/IT Support) looking for suitable position. Visa Transfer/NOC Available immediate to join. Contact: 98402389, Mail: naresh6672@gmail.com Manager, Young Indian Male, MBA, BBA. Having excellent manage-rial experience (around 5 years) in leading Multi-National-Company. Looking for suitable positions. #92700670,fardhaan@gmail.com BSc Graduate, INDIAN male , seeking suitable jobs. GSM: +91-8589820233. MAIL ID: prajinap45@gmail.com

Available for part time accounting job, contact 99196621 Indian Female MA. B.Ed. with One year three months Teaching experience. Subject: EnglishSeeking for a Better placement. Now work-ing in Oman. Contact 93961142, 92184408, Email:-anoopkesavan78@gmail.com ACCOUNTANT: Indian male 25 hav-ing 4years experience in accounting & having well knowledge in tally. Contact:968094535881, 0091 9037622048 Email: vishnuraj889@gmail.com ACCA Affiliate, 2.5years experience in Audit/Finance in Global Big6 Firms and Oil company in Oman, Looking for suitable permanent placement. Release NOC Available. Contact: #95140445, a.saran891@gmail.com

sItUatIon want-ed

sIt. wanted

BUsIness

Serious investor needed for suc-ceeded furniture company for expansion purposes. Contact: 99041337 Established running Grade -1 tender board construction com-pany with work force, plant, staff, credit suppliers & financial credit limit up to 335,000/- in place only serious buyers. Please Contact: civilprojects57@gmail.com Looking for financial partner or investor for running small indus-try. Contact : 92337002 New company seek partnership. Contact: 96996938 General Investors. Gsm-99674870

sItUatIon want-ed

sIt. wanted