REJIMON KFAHAD AL GHADANIreji@timesofoman.comfahadnews@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: As the rain poured so came the deluge of calls for help to the rescue services as once again people ignored repeated warnings to stay out of danger and avoid risk during the adverse weather condi-tions.

“Even after several cautionary calls were given to motorists to stay at home and not go out unless

there was an emergency, a large number of distress calls from stranded motorists was coming in as people had not taken our advice seriously,” tweeted the Public Au-thority of Civil Defence and Am-bulance (PACDA).

Speaking to Times of Oman, an

official from the Royal Oman Po-lice (ROP) again reminded people to stay indoors and step out only in the event of an emergency.

Patients were airlifted, families had to be rescued from flooded flats and passengers had to be pulled out from their vehicles stuck on flooded roads and over-flowing wadis as heavy rains lashed Muscat by Monday even-ing. The primary sections of In-dian schools have been closed in view of the incessant rains lashing the capital city. >A4

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HM receives thanksMUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has received a cable of thanks from President Klaus Iohannis of Romania in reply to His Majesty’s congratu-latory cable on the occasion of being elected as the President of Romania.

In his cable, President Iohan-nis expressed his thanks and ap-preciation for His Majesty the Sultan’s best wishes to him and the friendly people of Romania further progress and prosperity. He stressed his keenness to pro-mote the relations in all spheres to serve the joint interests of the two countries. -ONA

R O M A N I A

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Omanis feelthey deserve better positions at workplace

SARAYA BANDAR JISSAH BAGS ‘BEST MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT’ AWARDNestled on the outskirts of Muscat on a secluded beach surrounded by the Al Hajar Mountains, the $600 million Saraya Bandar Jissah project scooped ‘best international mixed-use development’ at the International Property Awards ceremony held recently in Dubai. Times of Oman was granted exclusive access to the huge site of Saraya Bandar Jissah, dubbed Oman’s newest luxury lifestyle destination, as the development celebrated becoming a world beater. The first Integrated Tourism Complex (ITC) to be launched in Oman in seven years, it also received the ‘Five Star award for New Hotel Construction and Design category’ and ‘Five Star award for Mixed-use Development category’ in Oman. Details >A5

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RESCUE SERVICES FUME AS RAIN WARNINGS IGNORED

Despite the

warnings, both

Royal Oman Police

and PACDA were

besieged with calls

Don’t visit Duqm exercise site: ROP

MUSCAT: Citizens and resi-dents have been urged by Royal Oman Police (ROP) not to ap-proach Al Haris Al Manea se-curity exercise 2015 site in the wilayat of Duqm in the Governo-rate of Al Wusta for their safety.

ROP and security services are carrying out training for their units in association with friend-ly countries, including the US.

The exercise is aimed at en-hancing the combat capabilities of the security services. -ONA

A L H A R I S A L M A N E A

WORLDLifestyle diseases

2Diseases linked to lifestyle choices, including diabetes and

some cancers, kill 16 million people each year. >A15

MARKETOil and gas block

3Oman government plans to award an oil and gas block to an international

oil company on production sharing basis this year. >B1

OMANTram to spur realty

1Introduction of public transport will be well received and will go a long

way in alleviating the severe traffic congestion. >A2

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

A2 T U E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 0, 2 0 1 5

OMANTram plan to spur real estate sector

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Announcement by the government to study the possi-ble introduction of a tram service across Muscat is the first sign of a long awaited public transportation infrastructure plan, with the city’s real estate landscape directly ex-pected to benefit in the long term, according to leading international real estate consultant, Cluttons.

While the exact details of the

proposed route are yet to be re-vealed, it is clear that any move to introduce public transport will be well received and will go a long way in alleviating the se-vere traffic congestion in areas of central Muscat.

Crucially, Cluttons believes that through such public transporta-

tion infrastructure investments, the government is adding long-term premiums to residential val-ues and commercial rents.

Cluttons’ international research and business development man-ager, Faisal Durrani said, “The proposed tram network is cer-

tainly a step in the right direction. A city as large and linear as Muscat would benefit tremendously from public transport.

“While the tram network will go some way in addressing the clear need for improved transport sys-tems, authorities should ensure

that both its route and integration into the city’s urban fabric are carefully considered.”

He added, “It would be incor-rect to not draw comparisons with Dubai, where a tram network in the Dubai Marina area has been integrated into the Dubai Metro network and extensive bus routes. For an expanding city like Muscat, a public bus network would be a natural pairing with any tram de-velopment in order to increase ac-cessibility and boost the mobility of residents.

“The city has now evolved to a point where public transport is the obvious missing piece in Muscat’s landscape. This long-term view will start to significantly bolster office rents, house prices and resi-dential lettings values.”

Across the globe, tenants and buyers actively seek to be in close proximity to public transporta-tion nodes, but unlike the vast established public transporta-tion networks of larger cities like London for instance, Muscat is still in its infancy. Last summer, UK building society Nationwide

revealed that being located within 250m of a Tube Station in Great-er London could add as much as 10.5 per cent to the value of your property, which equates to about OMR25,000 ($70,000). Once es-tablished, Cluttons believes there will be a rapid and widespread appreciation in Muscat of the benefits of being close to a public transportation node.

“The key to unlocking the true potential of public transport is to stitch together all of Muscat’s communities in a cohesive and sustainable way. There are the ob-vious challenges of putting infra-structure into established parts of the city but an integrated transport system that is part of a carefully master planned urban framework will be of significant benefit for Muscat’s on-going development.

“The challenge now is to cre-ate an integrated and accessible world class city that is pedestrian-friendly; the benefits to real estate values will follow naturally from this,” concluded Matthew Wright, head of Consultancy & Industrial for Cluttons in Oman.

Introduction of public

transport system

would go a long

way in reducing

gridlock in areas

of central Muscat

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Rain, fog in parts of Oman

FAHAD AL MUKRASHIfahad@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: In a bid to improve mobility across Muscat, the Mu-nicipal Council has urged the Ministry of Transport and Com-munications to introduce a tram system in the capital.

Tram, a rail vehicle that runs on tracks along public roads is a

said another citizen. The call to introduce a tram system in Mus-cat came on the heels of the as-surance given on Sunday by Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Sa-lem Al Futaisi, Minister of Trans-port and Communications, at the GCC Rail and Metro Conference 2015, that Oman’s ambitious 2,135-kilometre long national railway project will not be delayed due to the plunging crude.

The members also approved the development of passenger waiting areas on a number of main roads in Muscat.

The council also recommended to the Oman National Transport Company (ONTC), a proposal to introduce double decker buses in

Besides reducing gridlock, it will save time,

increase mobility and reduce pollution

MERS undsays healtREJIMON KFAHAD AL GHADANI reji@timesofoman.comfahadnews@gmail.com

MUSCAT: Middle East Res-piratory Syndrome coronaviru(MERS-CoV) infection, the virrespiratory illness, is under control in Oman, said a top offi cifrom the Ministry of Health.

“Since December 2013, the Sultanate has been free of the MERS virus. The patient who died due to MERS infection haother ailments which complicaed eff orts during his treatmentsaid the offi cial.

“The moment the patient waadmitted to the hospital, labortory tests were conducted and results confi rmed the infectio

O N G U A R DCouncil seeks tram service for Muscat

While the tram network will go some way in addressing the clear need for improved transport systems, authorities should ensure that both its route and integration into the city’s urban fabric are carefully considered

Faisal DurraniCluttons’ international research and business development manager

NDC COMMANDANT MEETS IRANIAN COMMANDERMaj Gen Salim bin Musallam Qatan, Commandant of the National Defence College (NDC),

and his accompanying military delegation met in Tehran on Monday with Rear Admiral

Ali Fadavi, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy, as part of his

current visit to the friendly Islamic Republic of Iran. The meeting exchanged cordial talks

and discussed a number of topics of common concern. —ONA

Foreign Ministry receives credentials of ambassadorsMUSCAT: Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamoud Al Busaidi, Secretary General of the Foreign Ministry, received in his office on Monday a copy of credentials of two European ambassadors: Gert Creel, non-resident ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium ap-pointed to the Sultanate and Rolf Willy Hansen, the non-resident

ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway appointed to the Sultan-ate of Oman.

Sayyid Badr welcomed the ambassadors, wishing them suc-cess in their diplomatic mission and hoped that the bilateral rela-tions between the Sultanate and their countries continues to pro-gress and grow in various areas to

benefit the joint interests of the two nations.

The credentials presentation ceremony was attended by His Highness Sayyid Mohammed bin Salim Al Said, Head of Protocols Department and Sheikh Hilal bin Marhoon Al Ma’mari, Head of West Europe Department at the Foreign Ministry.– ONA

D I P L O M A C Y

378 held for Labour Law violationsMUSCAT: A total 378 work-ers were found violating the Labour Law during the period from January 11 to January 17, including 278 commer-cial workers, 27 farm workers and 73 housemaids and their equivalents, according to the weekly report of the joint in-spection team at the Ministry of Manpower.

The inspection teams caught 350 workers, including 187 ab-sconding workers, 149 astray workers and 14 workers with other violations.

The Governorate of Muscat witnessed the maximum num-ber of workers violating the law with 113 cases, followed by the Governorates of Al Batinah with 73 cases of violations.

The competent authorities at the Ministry of Manpower are taking legal procedures against the violators.

Meanwhile, the Manpower Ministry statistics showed that 229 expatriate workers were deported for violating provi-sions of the Labour Law and ministerial decisions executing the law. – ONA

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MUSCAT: Main Organising Committee for the Muscat In-ternational Book Fair 2015, held a meeting on Monday at Oman Establishment for Press, Publica-tion and Advertising, headed by Dr. Abdul Munim bin Mansour Al Hassani, Minister of Information Committee Chairman.

The Committee discussed the

preparations for the 20th ses-sion of the Muscat International Book Fair, which will be launched during the period from February 25th- March 7.

The Committee reviewed a number of topics including the new events and activities that take place in the 20th session of the book fair, and take advantage

of the evaluation of activities in the previous session.

The 19th Muscat International Book Fair was attended by more than 570 publishers from 25 countries and allocated integrat-ed halls for children’s literature which allowed the conducting of various activities for that litera-ture.– ONA

Book Fair from February 252 0 1 5 E V E N T

FAHAD AL MUKRASHIfahad@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Duqm Port will be-come fully operational by the end of 2016, said Yahya Al Jabri, chairman of the Special Econom-ic Zone Authority at the port.

He said that work on the dry dock had been completed, and so had the maritime work at the port. Offices, terminals and cus-toms gates will be finished before the end of 2016, he informed.

Certain spots will also be de-marcated to accommodate equip-ment of oil companies at the port which can then be easily trans-ported to other nearby oilfields not exceeding 200 kilometres.

Regarding the terminal build-ing at the Duqm airport, Al Jabri told Times of Oman that it would be completed by the beginning of 2017. The company that won the tender would be mobilising workers soon to kick off con-struction work at Duqm by next month, he said.

Asked whether the slump in crude prices would affect the pro-ject, Al Jabri affirmed that there would be no impact as the budget had already assigned funds for it.

He further added that the gov-ernment was giving its full sup-port to such a gigantic project, to ensure that it was completed in the scheduled time as part

of the diversification of national resources.

“We should speed up things here in Duqm rather than delay it, so it can be part of the diversifica-tion process,” said Al Jabri.

This information came on the sidelines of a visit by a delegation of the State Council, which vis-ited the Special Economic Zone in Duqm (SEZD) on Monday to review projects.

I N F R A S T R U C T U R E

INVESTMENT AVENUES: A delegation of the State Council, which visited the Special Economic Zone in Duqm (SEZD) on Monday, to review projects.– ONA

Duqm port set to be fully operational by 2016-end

A4 T U E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 0, 2 0 1 5

OMAN

RAIN CAUSES CHAOS ACROSS OMAN

While Amerat topped the list with 34.2 millimetres (mm) of rain, Khas-ab received 29.8mm and Muscat re-ceived 10.4mm, said the Oman Met department.

Rain, which started at around 3:30pm lasted for two hours and threw life out of gear in Muscat and the surrounding areas. “There was heavy rain in Amerat with strong winds. Roads were also flooded and blocked later,” said a resident.

Meanwhile, many low lying ar-eas in Muscat like Hamriyah, Darsait, Muttrah, Wadi Kabir and Qurum were badly affected by the down-pour. Traffic movement was badly affected and cars were seen floating in flood waters in many areas. “Civil defence personnel rescued families staying on the ground floor of build-ings in Hamriayh and other areas. Parked cars were also seen floating in the flood waters in Hamriyah,” reported residents.

In the evening, there were rumours circulating that members of a family had perished in a building collapse in Hamriyah. However, civil defence personnel refuted these rumours and tweeted, “The family stuck in Hamri-yah building was rescued and they are in good health.”

As the flood waters entered Al Nah-dha hospital in Hamriyah, patients had to be evacuated by late evening.

“There was power outage in the hospital by evening. As more water began entering the hospital, the de-cision to evacuate was taken and pa-tients were airlifted at around 7pm,” said a source from the hospital.

Muscat Festival organisers halted their activities on Monday and said that they would resume after check-

ing out the weather conditions in the coming days.

Meanwhile, as primary class stu-dents of the evening shift from the Indian school in Jibroo got late reach-ing home, worried parents began making frantic calls to transporters. They were seen waiting on the roads in the rain for their children.

“The class ends at 4:30pm. We waited till 6:30pm as we knew they would be delayed in the rain, but it is 7pm now and the children have not yet reached.

The transporters are not respond-ing to our calls either,” Bosky Dutia, a panic-stricken parent told Times of Oman as this report was being filed. However, transporters said that many of their vehicles had not reached the destination.

“The children are safe and we are trying our best,” they assured.

Traffic on most of the roads in Muscat was stopped due to the wa-terlogged conditions.

“Traffic on Wadi Kabir, Hamari-yah, Amerat and Qurum apart from Muscat Expressway and Seeb roads was totally affected. It was diverted in many areas. We were stuck for hours on Wadi Kabir and Muscat Express-way. We even saw a car being washed away in Wadi Kabir,” said Moham-med Iqbal, a motorist.

Meanwhile, as the Muttrah Souq shop owners had prepared for the floods, they were able to save their goods. “Before the rains itself we moved our items to our warehouses. We had suffered huge losses in the past, but this time we anticipated the rain and acted,” said souq shop owners.

Rains wreaked havoc in many oth-er parts of Oman.

“Buraimi, Fahud, Rustaq and Ibra in addition to Qarn_Alam, Yaaloni, Khassab and Sohar were affected. Also affected were Saiq, Samail, Bahla and Qalhat along with Dibba, Ibri, Adam and Suwaiq. Mudhabi, Haima, Dhank and Sunaynah also re-ceived heavy rainfall apart from Saiq, Ras Al Hadd, Zamaim and Al Amerat. Other areas also hit were Manah, Duqum, Bidiya and Jabal in addition to Yanqual and Bidbid,” said Bader Ali Al Baddaei, an administrator of www.rthmc.net, a local Web-based forum that discusses weather trends in Oman.

On Sunday evening, the Oman me-teorological department had forecast heavy rain and thunderstorm in sev-eral parts of Oman. The rains which started in Khasab, Musandam, Ma-hadha, Buraimi and Dibba entered Muscat by evening.

Rain in Khasab led to cancelled flights and also affected motorists and tourists. “Roads to Dubai are blocked. Transportation has been af-fected due to waterlogged roads.

“Tourists in hotels who were plan-ning to check out today are stranded and now have to wait. Moreover, one flight from Muscat to Khasab has been cancelled. We are hoping the second flight may land,” said a Khasab resident.

Civil defence officials had to rescue occupants trapped in vehicles in Al Hajir wadi in Khasab.

In its 48-hour outlook, the Oman meteorological department said that skies will be partly cloudy with chances of rain and thundershow-ers over governorates of Musandam, coastal areas of Oman Sea and Al Ha-jar mountains.

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Luxury address crowned the ‘best’

STAFF REPORTER

MUSCAT: This is what a $600 million project looks like when the vision starts to become a reality.

Times of Oman was granted exclusive access to the huge site of Saraya Bandar Jissah, dubbed Oman’s latest luxury destination, as the development celebrated be-coming a world beater.

Nestled on the outskirts of Mus-cat on a secluded beach surround-ed by the Al Hajar Mountains, it scooped ‘best international mixed-use development’ at the recent In-ternational Property Awards cer-emony held recently in Dubai.

The first Integrated Tourism Complex (ITC) to be launched in Oman in seven years, it also re-ceived the ‘Five Star award for New Hotel Construction and De-sign category’ and ‘Five Star award for Mixed-use Development cat-egory’ in Oman.

Describing the project as a ‘truly visionary’ initiative, Ali Hassan Kolaghassi, chairman of Saraya Bandar Jissah, said that the award proves that Oman has the skill, ex-pertise and talent to develop pro-jects of international standing.

A host of Arabia’s finest develop-ers, architects, interior designers and real estate agents gathered for the awards ceremony held at Ma-dinat Jumeirah Hotel in Dubai on December 4, 2014.

The results of the Arabian Prop-erty Awards were announced in the presence of the Earl of Caith-

ness, chairman of the judges for development categories.

“We are indeed delighted to be recognised world-over for Saraya Bandar Jissah’s extraordinary beauty. We take great pride in this achievement as Saraya Bandar Jis-sah places the Sultanate of Oman’s drive to promote tourism develop-ment firmly on the international stage,” added Kolaghassi. The de-velopment is being developed in a 50-50 partnership between Om-ran and Saraya Oman over 2.2 mil-lion square metres of land with an expansive beachfront aspect and a high point of 250 metres above sea level. Only 20 per cent of the total area is being developed.

Saraya Bandar Jissah will be home to 398 exclusive residential units, spacious hilltop villas, styl-ish townhouses and luxury apart-ments - all with attractive water-front and mountainside views.

“The Saraya Bandar Jissah de-velopment sets a new benchmark for ITC projects in the Sultanate, and this global award underlines the quality and vision of the de-velopment,” said Wael Al Lawati, chief executive officer of Omran.

He noted that Omran’s primary goal is to deliver on the govern-ment’s vision of growing the ca-pacity and scope of the tourism sector in Oman and it does so by working closely with national and international partners to bring ar-chitectural marvels such as Saraya

Bandar Jissah to life. “We enjoy a very close relationship with our joint partner Saraya Oman on this project, and we believe Saraya Bandar Jissah is set to become one of the most prestigious addresses in the region.”

Scheduled for a grand open-ing in 2017, the development also incorporates two luxury hotels operated by the internationally renowned luxury operator, Jumei-rah Hotels and Resorts. The hotels, each positioned on the beach, will offer tourists a distinctly boutique or resort experience, and will form the major leisure component of Saraya Bandar Jissah.

Tough competition The competition received entries from companies in 12 countries across Arabia with the winning entries receiving either a ‘Highly Commended’ or ‘5-Star’ award.

Saraya Bandar Jissah won two five star awards – New Hotel Con-struction and Design category and Mixed-use Development category. The 5-star winners were then re-judged to select just one from each of the 50 different categories to go forward to represent Arabia in the 2014-2015 International Property Awards.

Among Saraya Bandar Jissah’s competitors were Artha Group –

India, Immobiliare Coco Drive – Mexico, Pulsar – Turkey, Harvard Estates – UK and Century Prop-erty – South Africa.

The International Property Awards in London invited devel-opment companies to present their finest work. The judging committee was chaired by three members of the House of Lords who scrutinised hundreds of en-tries from regional and global developers.

Sheikh Hamood bin Sultan Al Hosni, chief executive officer of Saraya Bandar Jissah said the company takes pride in the rec-ognition of its exemplary lev-els of quality, professionalism and innovation.

“We have proved ourselves on an international level and can now take our rightful place as leaders in the property market. We look for-ward to more global recognitions and hold our position as the most sought after ITC in the Sultanate,” he noted.

Stuart Shield, president of the International Property Awards, said that each and every one of the companies to win a coveted World’s Best award has displayed exemplary levels of quality, profes-sionalism and innovation.

“Having proved their worth at country level, Saraya Bandar Jis-sah has now set a new standard,” he noted.

The Times of Oman team which

recently visited the construction site of Saraya Bandar Jissah was told by the company’s representa-tives that the pace of development on site is in full swing.

“The progress made so far is clear for all to see and due to be de-livered on target.”

Saraya Bandar Jissah, which of-fers picturesque seascapes framed by the ancient rock formations which connect the land with the sea on either side, has seen ‘high’ demand in the market due to its lo-cation and characteristics and in-vestment potential offered by the development. With a commitment to cater to both local and foreign investors, the project released the first residential zone to the market on September 15, 2014.

Zaha residential zone offers a mix of three and four bedroom vil-las, three bedroom duplexes and two bedroom apartments.

Properties located within the Zaha residential zone are also in close proximity to the recreational club and boast a variety of pic-turesque views of the landscaped park, flowing lagoon and sweeping seascape beyond.

The Saraya Bandar Jissah devel-opment comprises five residential zones. These are Safa, Na’eem and Zaha along with Nameer and Wajd.

The ITC’s primary market focus is within the Oman market with the buyers expected to be Omanis, resident expatriates and nationals from the Gulf region.

According to the company, the resort hotel is well under con-struction and the construction of the boutique hotel will start soon as the package has been awarded.

Saraya Bandar Jissah, which is planning to set up a sales cen-tre on site, says that the project will not face any delay and every component is well on target to be delivered.

The project has been focus-ing on small and medium enter-prises (SMEs) as well, using their products and services during the development.

At least 800 direct jobs are ex-pected to be created by the project.

A number of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives are also being planned with the aim of contributing to the local community.

Nestled on the

outskirts of Muscat

and surrounded by

Al Hajar Mountains,

Saraya Bandar Jissah

was named ‘best

international mixed-

use development’

at the International

Property Awards

ceremony held in

Dubai recently

Real estate deals touch OMR3bMUSCAT: Real estate transac-tions in 2014 stood at more than OMR2.926 billion when com-pared to OMR2.307 billion in 2013, a rise of 27 per cent, Abdul-lah bin Salim Al Mekhaini, secre-tary of the real estate registry at the Ministry of Housing said.

The fees collected amounted to more than OMR49.79 million compared to OMR34.22 million, a rise of 46 per cent.

Al Mekhaini pointed out that 354,565 transactions were con-

ducted in the governorates dur-ing 2014. These included 80,299 in Muscat, 25,238 in Dhofar, and 50,637 and 57,867, respectively, in the Governorates of South Al Batinah and North Al Batinah.

The others on the list were the governorates of South A’Sharqiyah and North A’Sharqiayh with 24,356 and 29,334 respectively, A’Dakhiliyah with 43,404, A’Dhahirah with 23,144, in addition to Al Buraimi with 113,63, Musandam with

3,921 and Al Wusta with 4,729. He said that 217,583 title deeds

were issued in 2014, as compared with 203,330 in 2013, a rise of 7 per cent.

He added that 51,253 new land plots were registered in 2014, compared to 87,718 in 2013, a de-cline of 42 per cent.

He explained that 3,095 title deeds were issued for the GCC citizens during 2014, compared to 3,521 in 2013, a decline of 12 per cent. – ONA

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BEACHSIDE LIFESTYLE: Saraya Bandar Jissah will be home to 398 exclusive residential units, spacious hilltop villas, stylish townhouses and luxury apartments — all with attractive waterfront and mountainside views. –Photos and videos: Jun Estrada and supplied photos

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You will see there is a very high benchmark for the food itself when it comes to flavours, when it comes to combinations. We are not into extremely spicy, chilly food. India is not about chilly. Muhammad Ashfaque Qureshi, Chef

Warm tango rhythms reverberate at ROHM

SARAH MACDONALDsarah@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Uruguayan opera singer Erwin Schrott and his Ro-jotango Ensemble filled the Royal Opera House Muscat with the warm rhythms of tango on Sunday evening. A classically trained and award-winning opera singer, bass-baritone Erwin Schrott has two loves: opera and tango, which he grew up listening to in his home-land Uruguay.

His Muscat debut focused on tango, with music from his 2011 album Rojotango and his ensemble

which includes Peruvian Claudio Constantini on bandoneon, Ar-gentines Federico Lechner on pi-ano, Alvaro Rovira Ruiz on guitar and Andrés Litwin on percussion, Finnish violinist Suvi Myöhänen, and Austrian Gina Schwarz on double bass.

Some of the loveliest moments came early in the concert with the ballad Oblivion, a slow, soft song in which Schrott’s voice was like a warm embrace.

An instrumental piece called Milonga del Angel was also beau-tiful, with music that was almost hypnotic. Schrott described it as

composer Astor Piazzolla’s vision of an angel dancing if it heard the bandoneon. Though most of the concert centred on tango, Schrott included a couple of Brazilian songs with bossa nova and samba rhythms, too.

He said what he loves about this music is that even when the lyrics are sad, the music can still make you happy.

Schrott also had the audience singing along for a couple of songs, including the Brazilian Desde Que O Samba E Samba, and the Span-ish favourite Quizas, Quizas, Qui-zas, during which he even tried to sing “Mumkin, mumkin, mumkin,” adding some local flavour.

One of the pleasures of watching a small tango ensemble is having the chance to see how the musi-

cians play. Pianist Federico Lech-ner impressed the audience with his nimble and sensitive playing. He has a jazzy approach that adds a freshness to the music.

Another one to watch in this concert was bandoneon player Claudio Constantini. He played with one knee up and his accordi-on-like instrument resting on his leg, stretching and pulling the bel-lows in full display.

The concert also featured one of Constantini’s own composi-tions, Romanza Tanguera, which included a great bass solo by Gina Schwarz.

Tango, bossa nova and samba rhythms tend to be very popular in Muscat, and the music in Sunday’s concert was lovely, but sometimes it felt as though Schrott’s oper-atic voice didn’t quite fit the genre. Schrott is clearly gifted with a gor-geous voice, but the next time he visits the ROHM, it should be in an opera so the audience can experi-ence his full vocal potential.

A classically trained and award-winning

opera singer, bass-baritone Erwin Schrott

has two loves: opera and tango

WARM RHYTHMS OF TANGO: Opera singer, bass-baritone Erwin Schrott has two loves: opera and tango, which he grew up listening to in his homeland Uruguay. – Khalid Al Busaidi, ROHM

SARAH MACDONALDsarah@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: When Chef Muham-mad Ashfaque Qureshi came to Muscat to open a new Indian res-taurant, he came with high ambi-tions: to be the best restaurant in Oman.

His restaurant, called Qureshi, opened at the Hormuz Grand ho-tel in Airport Heights. The fine dining restaurant serves very classic dishes from his family’s culinary traditions which date back more than 230 years when his forefathers began cooking for the nawabs, and Chef Ashfaque hopes his special blends of spices will win over foodies in Muscat.

“You will see there is a very high benchmark for the food it-self when it comes to flavours, when it comes to combinations. We are not into extremely spicy, chilly food. India is not about chilly. India is colourful but col-our doesn’t only mean red. Our emphasis in principal is going to be on the flavours of food,” he told Times of Oman.

He loves cardamom, nutmeg, mace, clove, as well as flowery flavours like orange blossom, rose water, and pomegranate, and nuts like almonds, pistachios and pecans. According to Chef Ash-faque, the scents and flavours of his dishes will set Qureshi apart from other Indian restaurants in the city.

Some of the dishes have in-tense blends of spices and burst with flavour, such as his oxtail curry and his chicken kebabs, while others focus more on the meat themselves, such as the raan, in which the taste of the meat is largely unadorned.

He has also paid attention to popular dishes in the Middle East and made a few Indian versions of them, such as a soup made with seven different lentils.

“Classically it is not a soup, it’s a dal, but we have translated it into a soup. Lentil soup and the Arab World has a special relationship,” Chef Ashfaque explained.

The Qureshi name is well-known in India, as the family popularised Tandoor and tradi-

tional Dum Pukht cooking, and has expanded into other markets including Malaysia and the UAE.

Chef Ashfaque says their name will help set them apart from oth-er Indian restaurants in the city, because many people know the name and the story.

Fine dining“In terms of Qureshi as a brand there are fundamental things we are different about. This is an absolute fine dining setting for an Indian restaurant. Then there is the food itself. Each and every dish has gone through a lot of studies and research and is the final filtration of thousands and thousands of dishes,” he said.

He and his brothers, who learned from their father, make sure that each and every recipe is made under their supervision and they insist on treating their guests like royalty, he says.

Chef Ashfaque is optimistic that people in Oman will be satis-fied with their dining experienc-es at Qureshi, which has a very elegant, rich setting, so much so that the restaurant will soon be an award winner and mentioned as one of the best in Muscat.

“I think in the end people must be satisfied with what we have here and there must be a position that we want to place ourselves and that is number one. And nothing less than number one. We look forward to the process of being awarded, and not only as the best Indian restaurant but among the best restaurants in general,” he said.

F L A V O U R S O F F O O D

CLASSIC DISHES: Qureshi, opened at the Hormuz Grand hotel at Airport Heights recently. –Photo: Shabin E/Times of Oman

Chef Muhammad Ashfaque Qureshi.

Qureshi aims to win over Muscat foodies

Majority of Omanis feel they deserve better position at workStaff Reporter

MUSCAT: Sixty per cent of Oma-nis feel they deserve to work at a higher position in the workplace, and 51 per cent state that a key reason for seeking employment is to be financially independent, reveals a survey.

The survey was conducted by the Bayt.com and YouGov.

The survey showed that seven in 10 respondents in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have set professional goals for themselves, with 26 per cent having long-term ambitions to achieve in the next five years.

The most common goals are a higher salary (54 per cent), a new job (53 per cent), and learn new skills (52 per cent).

“Advancement in one’s career and financial independence is the ‘in thing’ that all career-oriented professionals are looking at. This will definitely raise the bar when they compete among themselves as well as in the international market and excel in their cho-sen area of expertise,” said a hu-

man resource official at a leading company in Oman. In Oman, 73 per cent of respondents have set professional goals they want to achieve, the top three of which echo those of the region.

In terms of personal goals for 2015, 70 per cent of Omani re-spondents want to save more money, 38 per cent want to travel, and 36 per cent want to spend more time with family.

Eight in 10 (83 per cent) Oman respondents feel positive about the year 2015.

“The sentiments for the year ahead are very positive,” said Su-hail Masri, VP of sales, Bayt.com.

“Different projects around the Middle East region are generating more opportunities, especially in the GCC. These projects are, however, driving up costs, making respondents more anxious about savings and salaries. Employers must take this into consideration going forward, both with current employees and future hires. At Bayt.com, our mission is to em-power people to lead better lives, and this information is vital for

employers and job seekers in the region alike. It helps them plan for their personal and career goals and make informed and em-powered work and life decisions,” he added.

In Oman, 51 per cent would prefer to be employees and 26 per cent would rather have their own business.

Most Omani respondents (50 per cent) claim to be motivated at work. Higher salary and more perks and benefits (57 per cent) are the top factors that would make Oman respondents feel more motivated at work. Other factors like the opportunity to express their creativity and show-case their skills (48 per cent) and better work-life balance (54 per cent) are also among the best ways to increase the motivation of Omani employees.

The biggest barriers to profes-sional growth in Oman are con-sidered to be the lack of growth opportunities (44 per cent), poor management within the company (45 per cent), and favouritism within the workplace (21% ).

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Majlis Al Shura legal committee discusses changes to draft laws MUSCAT: Legislative and Legal Committee of the Majlis Al Shu-ra on Monday held its seventh meeting of the fourth annual sit-ting of the current term (2011–2015) under the chair of Said bin Ghanim Al Muqbali, head of the Committee.

The Legal Committee dis-cussed amendments of the Health and Environmental Committee related to the draft amendments to some provisions of the Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law, as well as draft

pharmacy profession law at phar-maceutical institutions, which were referred to it by the Council of Ministers.

Majlis Al Shura has issued the 20th version of “Shura” maga-zine, which coincides with the convening of the 4th annual sitting. The new version of the magazine includes many top-ics, studies, plans of the perma-nent committees, draft laws and agreements referred to it by the Council of Ministers to the Majlis Al Shura. -ONA

4 T H A N N U A L S I T T I N G

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‘Syria has begun destruction of chemical weapons facilities’AMSTERDAM: Syria has started the long-delayed destruction of a dozen underground bunkers and hangars that were used for the pro-duction and storage of chemical weapons, diplomatic sources told Reuters on Monday.

Damascus last year handed over 1,300 metric tonnes of toxic agents after joining the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weap-ons (OPCW), but it is months be-hind schedule in destroying the facilities used to make and store its deadly stockpile.

Work at a first tunnel began on Dec. 24, but was delayed by win-ter storms. The site will be sealed off with cement walls by the end

of January, said one source in The Hague, where the global chemical weapons watchdog is based.

“The work finally began, which is good news,” said another source. “There were some technical issues and the bad weather has slowed up the process.”

Syria joined the OPCW after a sarin gas attack killed more than 1,000 people in the Damascus sub-urb of Ghouta on August 21, 2013, prompting threats of military in-tervention by the United States, which blamed President Bashar Al Assad’s government. Assad’s gov-ernment and rebels blamed each other.

US President Barack Obama

called off military action against Damascus after Syria agreed to de-stroy its chemical stockpiles.

A year later the United States began a bombing campaign against IS militants in Syria with the tacit approval of Assad, which still con-tinues.

More than 200,000 people have been killed and millions displaced in the Syrian civil war since March 2011.

The head of the OPCW is ex-pected to provide an update on the destruction of Syria’s production and storage sites, part of its obliga-

tions under OPCW membership, to foreign governments at closed door meetings in The Hague on Wednesday. The technical details of how the seven hangars are to be demolished with explosives are still being drawn up with experts at the OPCW, the sources said. The sources declined to be identified while sharing information about the programme before it is official-ly made public.

Repeated delays in destroying the facilities led to protests from Washington last month, when the US representative to the OPCW, Bob Mikulak, called on Syria to speed up the process under tighter outside monitoring.

An OPCW fact finding mission has been investigating the use of chlorine bombs, which have killed and injured dozens of people in Syrian villages in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and UN Security Council resolu-tions on Syria.

Syria denies allegations by Western governments that it with-held part of its chemical weapons stockpile.

Western diplomats said Syria has failed to provide any documen-tation about the chemical weapons programme, which was built up over decades and produced mass quantities of toxic nerve agents for warfare. -Reuters

B E H I N D S C H E D U L E

Syria joined the OPCW after a sarin gas attack killed more than 1,000 people in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta on August 21, 2013, prompting threats of military intervention by the United States, which blamed Assad’s government

Houthis accused of coup bid amid Sanaa fighting

SANAA: Yemen’s powerful Houthi movement fought artil-lery battles with the army near the presidential palace in Sanaa on Monday, throwing the fragile Arab state deeper into turmoil and drawing accusations that the mili-tia fighters were mounting a coup.

Explosions echoed across the city and smoke hung over down-town buildings as the most in-tense clashes since the minority sect Houthi movement seized the capital in September brought eve-ryday life to a halt. The Houthis had seized the state news agency and television station, but by evening a ceasefire was in force, government ministers said.

Five killedMedical sources said five people had been killed and more than 20 wounded. Final numbers were likely to be higher. The battles marked a new low for Yemen, plagued by tribal divisions, a sepa-ratist challenge in the south and the threat from a regional wing of Al Qaeda, which claimed a deadly January 7 attack in Paris on a sa-tirical journal.

The Houthis’ September takeo-ver made them the country’s de facto top power, a development that has scrambled relationships and raised tensions across the po-litical spectrum ever since.

Information minister Nadia Al Saqqaf, a critic of the Houthis, told Reuters the presidential pal-ace had come under “direct at-tack” in what she described as an attempted coup. “If you attack the presidential palace... This is aggressive, of course it is an at-tempted coup,” she said.

Gunfire explosionsSaqqaf did not specify who had attacked the palace, but said the Houthis, friends with Iran, were now in control of the state news agency, Saba, and state television. The palace is defended by the mili-tary’s presidential protection unit.

In the early evening, state news agency Saba quoted Interior Min-ister Jalal Al Roweishan as saying a ceasefire had gone into effect. Residents reported that the in-tense artillery and gun battles of earlier in the day appeared to have tailed off.

Tensions between the Houthis and President Abd-Rabbu Man-sour Hadi had been growing since Saturday when the Houthis ab-ducted his Chief of Staff, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, to gain lever-age in a bitter dispute over a pro-posed new constitution.

But residents were uncertain about the immediate cause of the violence, which began in the early morning with explosions near the palace and the home of the national security chief. Hadi was believed to have been at home in another district at the time.

Saqqaf said Houthi fighters lat-er fired on Prime Minister Khaled Bahah’s motorcade after he left a meeting with Hadi and a Houthi adviser that had been called to try to resolve bitter disagreements over a draft constitution. A Yem-eni government spokesman de-scribed the shooting at Bahah’s armoured convoy as an assassina-tion attempt.

Residents said army gunners had shelled a housing compound used as a Houthi base.

Heavy gunfire and explosions shook the Hadda district in the diplomatic quarter in Sanaa’s

south. A Reuters witness saw gunmen in Al Khamseen street, home to some senior government security officials, including the defence minister.

Bazookas“On my way to work in the morn-ing in Hadda street, there were gunmen swarming everywhere. They were in military fatigues. Their bazookas bore ‘Death to America, death to Israel’ signs, which is the Houthis’ sign,” said a hotel worker.

Widely seen as Iran’s ally in its regional struggle for influence with Saudi Arabia, the Houthis — now part of Yemen’s govern-ment -- said they would “escalate the situation” if their demands for a fair stake in a new constitution were not met.

The Houthis want more rights for the country’s Zaydi Shi’ite sect and say they are campaigning against corruption.

In a move that stunned the Arab world, they seized Sanaa in September and advanced into central and western regions of Yemen, where majority sect pre-dominates. -Reuters

Information Minister

Nadia Al Saqqaf, a

critic of the Houthis,

told Reuters that the

presidential palace

had come under

‘direct attack’ in what

she described as an

‘attempted coup’

FIGHTING IT OUT: A Houthi fighter sits in a military vehicle belonging to Houthi fighters on a street

leading to the Presidential Palace during clashes, in Sanaa, on Monday. A ceasefire has been agreed

after a morning of artillery and gunbattles between army troops and Houthi fighters, an official of the

minority sect movement said. State television also reported a ceasefire. - Reuters

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Iranian general killed in Israeli raidBEIRUT: An Israeli strike on Syria killed an Iranian general, Tehran confirmed on Monday, as Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement buried one of six of its fighters killed in the same raid.

The Sunday attack, near Qu-neitra on the Syrian-controlled side of the Golan Heights, enraged Hezbollah’s supporters, but ana-lysts said the group would avoid a major escalation with Israel.

Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards confirmed the death of one of their generals in a state-ment on their website.

“General Mohammad Ali Allah-dadi and a number of fighters and Islamic Resistance (Hezbollah) forces were attacked by the Zion-ist regime’s helicopters,” it said.

“This brave general and some members of Hezbollah were mar-tyred.” A source close to Hezbol-lah said six Iranians had been killed in the attack. Hezbollah told AFP that it was not the source of that toll. Among Hezbollah’s dead was Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of an assassinated commander from the group, and Mohammed Issa,

a commander responsible for Hezbollah’s operations in Syria and Iraq. Once solely focused on fighting Israel, Hezbollah is now deeply involved in the war in neighbouring Syria, where it backs President Bashar Al Assad.

With its forces spread thin, and little appetite in fragile Lebanon for a new conflict with Israel, ana-lysts said Hezbollah would seek to respond to the raid without pro-voking a full-on war.

On Monday afternoon, mourn-ers gathered in Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold for Mugh-niyeh’s funeral. “God willing, the resistance will retaliate but the leadership of the resistance will be the one to decide the na-ture and timing,” said Hassana Sadaqa, as she prepared to pay her respects.

Mourners chanted “Our party is Hezbollah, our leader is Nas-rallah” as the coffin was carried through the streets. Mughniyeh will be buried in the same grave as his father Imad, who was killed in a 2008 car bombing that Hezbol-lah blamed on Israel. -AFP

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

EU appeal on terror

tag immoral: Hamas

GAZA CITY, PALESTIN-IAN TERRITORIES: Palestin-ian extremist movement Hamas slammed as “immoral” on Mon-day an EU appeal to keep it on the bloc’s terror blacklist, a month after a European court ordered its removal.

“The European Union’s insist-ence on keeping Hamas on the list of terrorist organisations is an im-moral step, and reflects the EU’s total bias in favour of the Israeli occupation,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP.

“It provides it (Israel) with the cover for its crimes against the Palestinian people,” he added.

Foreign ministers from the 28 EU member states decided at a Monday meeting to appeal the de-cision taken by the General Court of the European Union on Decem-ber 17, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said.

Israel, which slammed the De-cember ruling, said it was not sur-prised about the EU’s latest move.

“It’s not a surprise, we’re happy. We expected them to do this in the

first place,” a foreign ministry of-ficial said on condition of anonym-ity. “We do expect that they will correct this procedural error that was identified,” he added.

The ruling by the EU’s second highest court had said that the blacklisting of Hamas in 2001 was based not on sound legal judge-ments but on conclusions derived from the media and the Internet.

Hamas, which has dominated the Gaza Strip since 2007, had ap-pealed against its inclusion on the blacklist on several grounds.

Israel’s closest ally the United States has urged the EU to keep up its sanctions on Hamas, saying the US position had “not changed” and Hamas is still a “designated for-eign terrorist organisation”.

Hamas fired thousands of rock-ets at Israel during a 50-day war last summer in which the Jewish state pounded Gaza with thou-sands of its own strikes.

The war killed nearly 2,200 Pal-estinians, mostly civilians, and 73 on the Israel side, most of them soldiers. -AFP

B L A C K L I S T

MILITARY TRAINING: Israeli soldiers from the Golani Brigade

take part in a military training exercise in the Israeli-occupied

Golan Heights near the border with Syria on Monday. - AFP

If you attack the presidential palace... This is

aggressive, of course it is an attempted coup

Nadia Al Saqqaf, Yemeni Information minister

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I can assure you that our objective is to complete

our investigation as soon as possible. I understand

Tharoor can be examined soon by the SIT

B. S. Bassi, Police Commissioner

REVIEWING SECURITYUS President Barack Obama’s advance team reviews the Taj Mahal monument with Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) chief

Navratan Kumar Pathak, foreground right, in Agra on Monday. On January 27, the Yamuna Expressway which connects Delhi

with Agra, may be closed for normal traffic for a few hours as a back up route for US President Barack Obama who will be visit-

ing Taj Mahal. The US President is arriving in Delhi on January 25 on a three-day visit during which he will hold talks with

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, attend the Republic Day parade as chief guest, and visit Taj Mahal. - PTI

‘Avoid ordinance route for normal legislation’

NEW DELHI: President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday asked rul-ing and opposition parties to put their heads together and find out a workable solution, apparently to avoid resort to frequent issuing of ordinances.

In comments that have come against the backdrop of a raging debate on a spate of ordinances promulgated by the NDA govern-ment, he acknowledged that the Constitution provided for prom-ulgation of ordinance in extraor-dinary situation but this route cannot and should not be taken for normal legislation.

Addressing faculty and students of central universities and research institutions through video confer-encing, he referred to situations when the ruling party may not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha but

felt a joint session of Parliament to make up for numbers to enact laws “is not practical.”

Responsibility“It is the responsibility of entire political establishment to put their heads together and work out a workable solution. The opposition can oppose, expose and possibly depose, if they have the numbers.

“But always keep in mind, it is the collective responsibility of the elected members of the House whether directly elected to the Lok Sabha or through states in Rajya Sabha.... I ask the political estab-lishment to engage in a dialogue and resolve their differences,” he said in reply to questions on his views on frequent resort to ordi-nance route by the Executive.

The president’s views assume significance in the context of the Modi government promulgat-ing nine ordinances including on

opening the insurance sector to higher foreign investment after Parliament was paralysed in the winter session.

The president, on one occasion, had called a battery of ministers including Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and raised questions over the urgency of the ordinance relat-ing to acquisition of land.

However, he later gave assent to it. Explaining the ordinance mak-ing powers under the Constitu-tion, he said when the government issues ordinances, it is also tak-ing the risk of getting it lapsed if they cannot get it approved by the Houses both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha within a maximum period of six months.

He said Constitution had all the safeguards to ensure that such a provision is meant only for “an extraordinary situation under ex-traordinary circumstances.”

Replying to another question,

Pranab disapproved of the fre-quent disruptions in Parliament and legislative Assemblies.

“It is incumbent on the ruling party and opposition to sit togeth-er and find a workable solution to avoid disruptions. Disruptions is not the way to Parliamentary in-tervention. Disruptions will only showcase energy but does not allow others to make their voice heard.

Major role“The ruling party has a major role in running of Parliament and should take initiative and the op-position should cooperate because only informed discussion and dia-logue in the spirit of accommoda-tion should allow enactment of law for betterment of people.

“I request both ruling and op-position parties to share their concerns to see that disruptions be avoided and Parliament should start functioning,” he said. - PTI

The President’s views

assume significance

in the context of the

Modi government

promulgating nine

ordinances, including

on opening the

insurance sector

to higher foreign

investment, after

the winter session

I request both ruling and opposition parties to share their concerns to see that disruptions be avoided and Parliament should start functioning

Pranab MukherjeePresident

MAKING A POINT: President Pranab Mukherjee gestures during

his address on the topic ‘Parliament and Policymaking’ to Central

universities, IITs, NITs and other institutions through video

conferencing, at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Monday. - PTI

Tharoor gets notice,

asked to join probe

in Sunanda’s death

NEW DELHI: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor will be ques-tioned by the Delhi Police in the next two days in connection with the mysterious death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar a year back and a notice has been served on him for it, Police Commissioner B. S. Bassi said on Monday.

The police chief maintained that all those people relevant in the case are being examined by the Special Investigation Team probing the high-profile case.

Asked when would Tharoor be questioned and whether a notice has been served, Bassi said, “No-tice has been issued and he may be questioned today, tomorrow or day after tomorrow.”

Tharoor, who was out of town, arrived in Delhi here on Monday afternoon. He refused to respond to a volley of questions related to the case from reporters.

“I can assure you that our ob-jective is to complete our inves-tigation as soon as possible. I understand Tharoor can be exam-ined soon by the SIT,” Bassi said.

Asked whether Tharoor will be questioned at his home or somewhere else, the police chief said that the SIT will take a call, “wherever they will find it con-venient they will do it”.

On the number of times the former union minister can be questioned and for how long, he said, “I cannot say at this mo-ment. May be it could be for few minutes may be it could be a long-er exercise”.

Asked about reports that the then I&B minister Manish Tewari, who was travelling on the same flight from Tiruvanan-thapuram to Delhi on January 15 on which Tharoor and Sunanda had a bitter spat can also be ques-tioned in the case, he did not rule out the possibility.

See I would like to tell you that everybody who has information in this case, we will talk to them. Sunanda’s viscera samples have to be sent to a foreign lab in the US or the UK to determine the nature and quantity of the poison which caused her death, accord-ing to the police.

The police chief said that the process to send her viscera sam-ples to a lab abroad is on.

Some of those questioned in the case so far include Tharoor’s domestic help Narayan Singh, family friend Sanjay Dewan, the hotel doctor who pronounced her dead and hotel staff including its manager. - PTI

Q U E S T I O N I N G

Shashi Tharoor

Resentment stories

exaggerated; BJP an

organised party: Bedi

NEW DELHI: Describing BJP as an “amazing and organised” party, Kiran Bedi on Monday dis-missed as “exaggerated” reports of brewing resentment within it over her possible projection as the party’s chief ministerial candidate.

Bedi, who was the country’s first IPS officer, claimed BJP workers are happy and united over her in-duction in the party and likened the comments against her to as differing voices in a family.

“It’s all exaggerated. I am an insider now. They (party work-ers) are very happy. They are very united. You can have a voice even in a family here and there. Party workers are happy, enthused and united,” she said.

According to sources in the party, a number of senior Delhi BJP leaders were also not happy over the way Bedi has been pro-jecting herself as the chief min-isterial choice just four days after her induction into the party.

Earlier in the day, party MP

Manoj Tiwari said Bedi is just a worker as of now and that the “best option” for the party would be to project Narendra Modi as its face in the campaign.

Asked about Tiwari’s com-ments, Bedi said, “I will go and have a cup of tea with him. It’s all about unity — there are no egos in-volved — we are all here for a high-er purpose so that Delhi does not become a hub of disturbances.”

Describing BJP as an “amazing and organised” party, she said it was a “mystery when and how my thoughts changed and I decided to join politics”.

“I don’t know when I started.There was no plan. For me it’s In-dia first. I will continue to serve whether I win or lose,” he said.

Bedi, a former Team Anna member, was severely critical of Arvind Kejriwal when he had de-cided to float Aam Aadmi Party.

Kejriwal had even requested her to become chief ministe-rial candidate of AAP which she turned down. - AFP

P R O J E C T I O N A S C H I E F M I N I S T E R

WOOING VOTERS: BJP leader Kiran Bedi during a road show for

the upcoming Delhi assembly polls, in New Delhi on Monday. - PTI

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FOGGY MORNING IN DELHIA traffic policeman discharges his duty in fog at Vijay Chowk in New Delhi on Monday. It was a foggy Monday morning in Delhi

with the visibility dropping to less than 50 metres, delaying nearly 60 trains. According to an official of the Northern Railway,

around 60 trains coming to the city were delayed while the departure time of nine trains was rescheduled. - PTI

Jaitley hints at steps to boost public spending

CHENNAI: With one-and-a-half months left for the Budget, Fi-nance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said the government will take “special steps” to boost pub-lic spending on infrastructure and initiate measures to rationalise subsidies.

“Even with the present con-straint of fiscal deficit in revenue, it’s a challenging and a difficult opportunity for us. But I think we have to take some special steps as far as public investments is con-cerned,” he said.

The minister underlined the need for stepping up public invest-ments in infrastructure sector to boost economic growth.

“The whole PPP model is still under stress and we have to revive

this. This is a course we are on and hopefully, with clarity in govern-ance, we will be able to proceed,” he said while addressing a CII function here in Chennai.

RecommendationsReferring to the need to ration-alise subsidies, the minister said: “From January 1, LPG sub-sidy is going through banks...We have to gradually rationalise all possible subsidies.”

The government is expected to incorporate the suggestions of the Expenditure Finance Commission headed by former RBI Governor Bimal Jalan in the budget propos-

als for 2015-16, which will be pre-sented by Jaitley next month.

Jalan is reported to have sub-mitted interim recommendations to the Finance Ministry suggest-ing various steps to rationalise subsidies and public expenditure.

The government’s subsidy bill towards oil and fertilisers runs into lakhs of crores of rupees.

The minister also underlined the need for stability in tax and other policies to make India an at-tractive place for investment.

The implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), he added, will help in improving the business climate in the country.

The GST, Jaitley said, was wel-comed by different states and that “none of them will lose a single ru-pee” following the implementation of the new indirect tax regime.

“A seamless transfer of GST is going to add to the GDP. It will make business easier. In the long run it may even lower taxes.

“Higher buoyancy is going to help the states in areas where states had no share of taxation (like) service tax,” Jaitley said.

Stating that on Monday almost Rs two lakh crore are collected as Service Tax and states also have a share of it, he said some consum-ing states will gain from day one of GST implementation.

Referring to the proposed changes in land acquisition laws, Jaitley said that it would eventual-ly help farmers to get a better price for their land.

Moreover, he added, establish-ment of rural infrastructure and industrial corridors would in-crease the price of land and gener-ate employment for rural youth.

Commenting on the changes in companies law, he said the govern-ment is committed to improving ease of doing business.

“Yes, we are committed to the ease of doing business...we worked out the amendment, I moved the amendment in Parliament that has been unanimously passed by Lok Sabha and it is now pending before the Rajya Sabha,” he added. - PTI

The finance minister

underlined the need

for stepping up public

investments in the

infrastructure

sector to boost

economic growth

A seamless transfer of GST is going to add to the GDP. It will make business easier. In the long run it may even lower taxesArun JaitleyFinance Minister

Scientists design potential morphine replacement for pain therapy

KOLKATA: In a breakthrough that could impact the blurring realms of pain and pleasure, In-dian scientists have designed a potential morphine replacement, sans the side effects of addiction, but loaded with pain-killing power.

For nearly four millennia, mor-phine and its cousin compounds (opioids) have ruled the roost in terms of their extraordinary prow-ess to dull pain (analgesics).Mor-phine (sulphate) is a by-product of opium which is extracted from poppy plants.

India grows poppy under licence in three states — Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

It is sheer irony that India is the world’s largest legal exporter of morphine sulphate when stringent laws and regulations aimed to curb its misuse in the country limits ac-

cess to only 0.4 percent of the pop-ulation in need, i.e. a million people with cancer and an unknown num-ber of people with other incurable and disabling diseases.

Drug of choiceMorphine works by binding to the opioid category of receptors in the brain and is a boon for pain therapy. It is considered the drug of choice for treatment of chronic pain — due to burns, terminal pain or cancer-related pain.

It is also included in the WHO ‘Model List of Essential Medi-cines’. Morphine comes in differ-ent forms, such as short-acting liquids or tablets, and long-acting (sustained-release) tablets or cap-sules. However, it can be a bane too, given its potential for addic-tion and abuse.

“Its pain relieving property is very high because of its strong binding to the opioid receptor but it also has a high risk for abuse. It has addiction property like heroin but not as strong. In addition, it may cause breathing problems,” Surajit Sinha, associate professor

in the organic chemistry depart-ment at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science in Kol-kata, said.

The solution, Sinha said, is to tweak compounds and create a substitute that is structurally as distinct from morphine as chalk

and cheese but at the same time clings to the specific brain recep-tors for effective non-addictive pain therapy.

Sinha and his team considered a plant-derived compound called ibogaine, popular in African folk medicine and known for its anti-addictive properties and pain-killing effects, but notorious for its psychedelic (hallucinogenic) reac-tion. “We synthesised an ibogaine analogue in our laboratory from scratch and saw that when mice was treated with 40 mg/kg dose of the new substance, it could provide pain relief for more than 50 minutes. When treated with morphine at a dose of 10 mg/kg, duration was 45 minutes, which is lesser than the novel substance,” said Sinha.

The screening was done in col-

laboration with Sumantra Das’s lab in the neurobiology depart-ment at the CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology in Jadavpur.

The study can be read online in the September edition of the Bio-organic and Medicinal Chemistry journal. The researchers have ap-plied for patent and are now work-ing towards lowering the dose and studying other properties, includ-ing effects in the nervous system.

“For the first phase of the study, we can say the analogue is safe, in-digenous and comes without the psychedelic properties. It is also completely different from mor-phine structurally,” said Sinha.

He said there have been impor-tant discoveries in this area, par-ticularly in the US, but a morphine replacement without side-effects still eludes drug developers. - IANS

S A F E , I N D I G E N O U S

Morphine works by binding to the opioid category of receptors in the brain and is a boon for pain therapy.It is considered the drug of choice for treatment of chronic pain — due to burns, terminal pain or cancer-related pain

CPI accuses Sangh

Parivar of attempting

to polarise society

NAGPUR: Accusing Sangh Pari-var of attempting to polarise the society, CPI on Monday said the programmes like ‘Ghar Wapsi’ and ‘Bahu Beti Bachao’ are in-tended to divert the attention of the masses from the failures of the government.

The Left party urged secular forces to observe the death an-niversary of Mahatma Gandhi on January 30 as National Integra-tion Day and “unveil” the people responsible for the assassination of the Father of the Nation.

In a resolution adopted at its National Council meeting here, CPI said that during a short span of seven months of the Narendra Modi government, more than 800 communal clashes took place in various parts of the country.

“In the name of Ghar Wapsi, love jihad and Bahu Beti Bachao, the ruling clique wants to divert the attention of the masses to-wards their failures.

Undesirable tacticsMajority and minority funda-mentalists are active towards communal polarisation,” it said while accusing the Sangh Pari-var of adopting several “undesir-able tactics” to create fissures in the society.

“The secular and democratic forces should take it as a greater challenge and unveil the faces of those responsible for assassina-tion of Mahatma Gandhi.

These forces are directly and indirectly responsible to harm the integrity of the nation,” said a resolution adopted at the end of the three-day meet on Sunday.

“The National Council of the party calls upon the units and members to invite other Secular and democratic forces to observe January 30 as the National Inte-gration Day which is the need of the hour,” it said.

The party meet also strongly rejected the Ordinance on Land Acquisition Act and extended its support to the nationwide pro-test against it on January 30 by All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and other farmers organisations.

“All pro-farmers measurers en-shrined in Land Acquisition Act 2013 has been either removed and attacked by this ordinance,” it said.

In another resolution, the party said the government con-tinues to deny the consumers the benefit of low crude oil prices in the international market and demanded halt to increasing Excise Duty. - PTI

C O M M U N A L F O R C E S

Frank Islam presented with Martin Luther King Award

WASHINGTON: An eminent Indian-American entrepreneur and philanthropist has been pre-sented with the prestigious Mar-tin Luther King Jr Award in rec-ognition of his contribution to the legacy of the great leader through his efforts in international ser-vice and civil engagement.

Azamgarh-born Frank Islam was given the annual award on Sunday by Harry Johnson presi-dent of the Memorial Founda-tion for working to keep the “dream alive.” Noting that there is an “indelible connection” be-tween Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, Islam said he was proud and humbled to have received the award.

“King visited India in 1954, studied the non-violent move-ment and patterned the protests he led after those of Gandhi.

“As an Indian-American, I am proud and humbled to receive this award which honours the memory of one great man directly

and another indirectly,” he said.“King and Gandhi have been

beacons to me in my personal life and charitable and philan-thropic involvement. I have given to numerous causes to support humanitarian efforts and to ad-vance the interests of the under-served in the world,” Islam said in his speech. - PTI

R E C O G N I T I O N

HONOUR: Eminent Indian

American entrepreneur and

philanthropist Frank Islam

being presented with the

prestigious Martin Luther King

Jr Award at a ceremony in

Washington on Sunday. - PTI

A10

PAKISTAN T U E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 0, 2 0 1 5

This is the height of incompetence

and gross mismanagement

by the government

Saeed Ghani, Opposition senator

POLIO VACCINATION TEAM ATTACKED IN KARACHIPakistani residents look on at the scene after gunmen fired on a polio team in Karachi on Monday. Gunmen wounded a po-

liceman who was guarding a polio vaccination team in the port city, the latest in a series of attacks on the teams. — AFP

Government pledges to solve petrol crisis

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s gov-ernment, facing public anger over severe petrol shortages, prom-ised on Monday the crisis that has led to long queues outside petrol stations would be solved within a week.

Already frustrated by crippling electricity and gas shortages, Pa-kistanis have accused the govern-ment of not acting fast enough to preempt a decrease in domestic fuel supplies at a time of falling global oil prices.

The crisis started this month when the cash-starved state fuel importer slashed petrol imports by half and skipped overseas fuel oil purchases altogether, worsen-ing power cuts and leading to pet-

rol shortages around the country.“This is the height of incompe-

tence and gross mismanagement by the government,” said opposi-tion senator Saeed Ghani.

The anger over the govern-

ment’s handling of the crisis has added to the list of problems fac-ing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his authority already weakened by months of opposition protests last year.

At a meeting chaired by Sharif on Monday, the government de-cided to buy additional petrol to defuse the crisis.

“From today we have started buying 15,000 metric tonnes of petrol and in the next 5-6 days it will be much easier to buy petrol,” said Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

The state importer says it buys up to 90 per cent of fuel oil and petrol abroad, but this month it was forced to cut purchases be-cause it had not been paid by its customers on time.

Circular debtThe government subsidises elec-tricity, but rarely pays the subsi-dies to power companies on time. They, in turn, cannot pay for their fuel imports, leading to a buildup of unpaid bills referred to as “cir-cular debt”.

Some ambulance services were forced to suspend their work be-cause of fuel shortages, media re-ported. On the streets, disgruntled motorists said they were running out of patience.

“This government should be ashamed of itself,” said one man, Akhlaq Ahmed. “How can they run this country if they can’t even manage petrol distribution in the capital?” — Reuters

The crisis started

this month when the

cash-starved state

fuel importer slashed

petrol imports by half

and skipped overseas

fuel oil purchases

altogether, worsening

power cuts and

leading to petrol

shortages around

the country From today we have started buying 15,000 metric tonnes of petrol and in the next five to six days it will be much easier to buy petrol

Shahid Khaqan AbbasiPetroleum Minister

Lakhvi to stay in jail for one more monthLAHORE/DHAKA: Zakiur Reh-man Lakhvi, the alleged master-mind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, will remain in jail for another month after the Pakistan government extended his deten-tion under a public security law amid a row with India over grant-ing him bail in the 26/11 case.

As the Lahore High Court yes-terday resumed the hearing in Lakhvi’s detention case, Islama-bad Deputy Commissioner Muja-hid Sher Dil told the court that the government had extended the de-tention of Mumbai attack prime accused for another 30 days un-der the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).

54-year-old Lakhvi’s counsel Raja Rizwan Abbasi protested the government’s decision to detain his client for another one month.

The court adjourned the hear-ing till January 26.

On December 18, the trial court (Anti Terrorism Court Islama-bad) granted bail to Lakhvi, who was involved in planning, financ-ing and executing the attack in November 2008.

The Pakistan government de-tained him next day under the

MPO. However, Islamabad High Court judge Noorul Haq Qureshi suspended Lakhvi’s detention on “weak legal ground”, evoking a strong reaction from India.

Bangladesh arrestsMeanwhile, Bangladesh arrested four alleged IS militants, who were trained in Pakistan, dur-ing overnight raids in the Jatra-bari and Khilkhet areas of the capital, Dhaka.

“Yes, the IS coordinator and the

three others have been arrested,” a police spokesman told PTI.

The IS coordinator has been identified as Shakhawatul Kabir who is also the regional com-mander of the militant group in Bangladesh.

The other three men arrested are Anwar Hossain, Rabiul Islam and Nazrul Alam.

The police said the arrested militants have confessed that they are members of IS and had plans to create

an anarchic situation attack-ing Bangladesh’s key installations with IS financial and weaponry support.

“The aim of the attacks was to establish a caliphate state in Bangladesh,” deputy commis-sioner Sheikh Nazmul Alam told reporters.

“They all confessed their links to the IS (while) one of them Sakhawatul Kabir was found to the networks coordinator in Bangladesh,” Alam said. — PTI

T E R R O R S U S P E C T

Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi

While the court is hearing Lakhvi’s detention case, the government should have sought the court’s permission in this regard. The government cannot issue another ‘illegal’ order while the case is pending with the court

Raja Rizwan AbbasiZakiur Rehman Lakhvi’s counsel

Pakistani released after easyJet alarmROME: Italian authorities on Monday released a Pakistani man who was removed from an easyJet flight to Britain minutes before take-off after it was dis-covered he was travelling on a fake passport.

The man, who is awaiting a decision on his request for po-litical asylum in Italy, will be charged with possession of false papers but police do not believe he was linked to any plot, as initially feared.

“We have now confirmed with the authorities that this incident does not relate to any attempted terrorism,” an easyJet spokes-man told AFP.

“It was just one of the many at-tempts that are made to get into the UK with false passports.”

The flight from Rome’s Fiu-micino airport to London-Luton was within minutes of its sched-uled take-off on Sunday when Italian border agents boarded the plane and removed the man.

Online bookingThe officers were acting on ad-vice from the UK border agency, which spotted discrepancies between the passport details the 33-year-old passenger had entered in his online booking and information they held in their database.

After all bags were removed from the hold and rechecked, the plane took off later Sunday. EasyJet said there had been 124 passengers and six crew on board when the suspect was removed.

The scareThe scare occurred on the same day that Italy announced a Paki-stani was among nine foreigners expelled from the country since December because of suspicions they could be involved in extrem-ist attacks.

The others expelled were five Tunisians, an Egyptian, a Moroc-can and a Turk. — AFP

F A K E P A S S P O R T

We have now confirmed with the authorities that this incident does not relate to any attempted terrorism. It was just one of the many attempts that are made to get into the UK with false passports, an easyJet spokesman said

US drone strike kills five militants PESHAWAR: A US drone strike on Monday killed at least five mili-tants in a Pakistani tribal region where Islamabad launched a full-scale military offensive last year, security officials said.

The strike targeted a Taliban compound in North Waziristan, one of seven semi-autonomous tribal districts that border Afghan-istan, and an area that has been a hub for Al Qaeda and Taliban mili-tants since the early 2000s.

Recent drone attacks by the US have raised speculation that Washington and Islamabad are coordinating their military efforts.

Pakistan however officially de-nounces the strikes as a violation of its sovereignty.

“A US drone fired two missiles at a compound in Shahi Khel neigh-bourhood of Shawal, killing five terrorists,” a senior security offi-cial told AFP, speaking on condi-tion of anonymity.

Another security official con-firmed the strike and casualties.

The area is generally off-limits

to journalists, making it difficult to independently verify the number and identity of the dead.

Washington pressed Islamabad for years to wipe out militant sanc-tuaries in North Waziristan, which have been used to launch attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Major offensiveThe Pakistani military launched a major offensive in the area in June and says it has killed more than 1,800 militants so far, with 126 sol-diers having lost their lives.

The latest strikes came after Pakistan ramped up its anti-terror strategy in the wake of a December 16 attack on an army-run school in Peshawar that killed 150 people, 134 of them children.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has announced the establishment of military courts for terror-re-lated cases in order to accelerate trials, and the premier has also lifted a six-year moratorium on the death penalty, reinstating it for terrorism-related cases. — AFP

N O R T H W E S T I N S U R G E N C Y

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Hollande popularity soars over response to extremist attacksPARIS: Once France’s most un-popular post-war president, Fran-cois Hollande has experienced a dramatic surge in approval ratings over his widely-praised response to the extremist attacks in Paris.

An opinion poll carried out by the Ifop polling company showed Hollande’s ratings jump by a mas-sive 21 percentage points to 40 per cent after the spate of attacks two weeks ago that left 17 people dead.

“This is a rare phenomenon in the history of opinion polls,” in France, said Ifop expert Frederic Dabi.

He said the only other such ex-ample was when Francois Mitter-rand soared 19 points in the ratings during France’s participation in the Gulf War of 1990-1991.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who talks a tough line on secu-rity, also saw his ratings jump 17 percentage points to 61 per cent -- higher than when he first took office in April 2014.

Prior to the attacks, record French unemployment, sluggish growth and a string of personal and political scandals had sent Hollande’s ratings plunging to his-toric lows.

But his response to the country’s worst attacks in decades has seen his image transform from that of bumbling, dithering president to solid, reassuring statesman.

Not known for his charisma, Hollande moved the nation with several powerful speeches calling for unity in the face of the attacks

on Charlie Hebdo satirical maga-zine, a Jewish supermarket and police officers.

The image of the Socialist leader comforting a sobbing Charlie Heb-do columnist at a mammoth rally in Paris came to symbolise the em-pathy he exuded.

But Andrew Knapp, an expert in French politics at Britain’s Uni-versity of Reading, said the after-glow was unlikely to last for Hol-lande, “unless there is better news on another front”.

He said if the situation re-mained calm in France, people would quickly “get back to the old tedious business of economic growth and unemployment and Hollande’s ratings will slide down accordingly”.

Conversely, fresh attacks could also hurt him as the feeling would likely set in that whatever rem-edy Hollande had applied was not working, he argued.

French political analyst Thomas Guenole agreed that the popular-ity accompanying Hollande’s “war chief” transformation was likely a flash in the pan.

But, he said, whatever happens, the days of Hollande-bashing were probably over, as he had finally proven himself capable. — AFP

A P P R O V A L R A T I N G S

An opinion poll carried out by Ifop polling company showed Francois Hollande’s ratings jump by a massive 21 percentage points to 40 per cent after the spate of attacks two weeks ago that left 17 people dead

Francois Hollande

Khaleda confinement ends but party defiant

DHAKA: Bangladesh Monday ended its confinement of opposi-tion leader Khaleda Zia after a surge in political violence left 27 people dead, but her party vowed to continue a nationwide trans-port blockade.

Zia had been barred from leav-

ing her office for the last 16 days to prevent her from spearhead-ing protests aimed at toppling her arch-rival, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Police stationed outside Zia’s office in Dhaka’s upmarket Gulshan district were stood down

Monday, while two police vans and a water cannon parked out-side were removed.

“We’ve withdrawn the addi-tional security from her office after midnight,” local police chief Rafiqul Islam told AFP, adding that the former two-time premier was now free to leave. The siege at her office sparked a renewed upsurge in political unrest around the country that left 27 people dead and hundreds injured.

Zia’s opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) con-firmed the security had been re-moved but vowed Monday to push ahead with the transport blockade which she called during her con-finement.

The blockade has seen opposi-tion activists firebomb buses, cars and lorries across the country, while police have retaliated by fir-ing bullets and tear gas.

“The BNP-led 20-party opposi-tion alliance’s transport blockade

will continue until the govern-ment agrees to our demand,” said party spokesman Sayrul Kabir Khan. “At the moment, there is no security outside her office,” Khan added. The blockade has hit the impoverished nation’s economy hard, with shipments of garments from its thousands of factories disrupted. Bangladesh is the world’s second largest garment exporter after China.

Transport operators estimate they are losing $26 million a day, while millions of dollars worth of crops have rotted in the fields.

A total of 238 vehicles have been torched since January 4 and another 307 damaged, according to Bengali daily Prothom Alo.

Zia wants Hasina to call fresh polls after last year’s controver-sial general election, which was boycotted by opposition parties on the grounds it would be rigged and was marred by deadly vio-lence. — AFP

Opposition leader Zia

had been barred from

leaving her office

for the last 16 days

to prevent her from

spearheading anti-

government protestsKhaleda Zia

Erdogan chairs cabinet meeting as Turkish presidentISTANBUL/ANKARA: Tayyip Erdogan became the first Turk-ish president to chair a cabinet meeting in more than a decade on Monday, furthering his drive for a stronger presidency and fuelling concern among critics that he is accumulating too much power.

Erdogan, who had already domi-nated Turkish politics for a decade as prime minister when he won the presidency last August, has made no secret of his desire to transform the previously largely ceremonial role.

He has made clear he believes the direct nature of August’s vote, in which he won 52 per cent sup-port, hands him more powers without constitutional changes to Turkey’s parliamentary system.

Erdogan’s tightening grip has unnerved some Western allies as well as his opponents at home, who fear the erosion of checks and balances on his authority is tak-

ing Turkey further from Western standards on the rule of law and free speech.

Suggestions rebuffedPrime Minister Ahmet Davuto-glu told Reuters that Erdogan was within his rights to chair a cabinet meeting and rebuffed suggestions that his own powers were being eclipsed.

“Any time he can call for a meet-ing, just to get a briefing, and for consultations. This is something that is normal according to the constitution and normal accord-ing to Turkish political tradition in the last 50 years,” Davutoglu said in an interview on Friday.

“In the future, if there is any constitutional change, we will see. But at the moment this is the divi-sion of power which is clear from the perspective of legality and from the perspective of political responsibility,” he said. — Reuters

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The perpetrators of the horror at Charlie Hedbo were not devout Muslims outraged by insults di-rected at their faith. They were not motivated by religious pi-ety, nor did they seek to strike a blow at “freedom of expres-

sion”. Rather they were crude political actors who planned an act of terror — seeking to create the greatest possible impact. They were murderers, plain and simple. I believe in freedom of expres-sion, but with freedom also comes responsibility. Pope Francis got it right when he noted “You can-not provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others”.

At the same time, I am horrified by the outra-geous murders of innocent journalists. As Francis added “one cannot offend, make war, kill in the name of one’s religion—that is in the name of God. To kill in the name of God is an aberration”.

It is wrong to insult. But the greater wrong is to kill those who insult you, especially if you claim to do it in God’s name.

As profoundly wrong as were the killings at Charlie Hebdo, the murders at Parisian kosher market, were even more despicable. What should be clear is that France has a problem. Most minori-ties belonging to a particular religion in France come from former French colonies — where France’s behaviour was often brutal and hurtful. During the colonial period, the Algerians were de-nied their identity, their language, and their rights.

The French looked at and treated these Arabs as less than human. Two generations later, these once-colonised Algerians have come to France seeking jobs and opportunity. Instead they find themselves trapped in poverty, as part of a per-manent underclass. It is important to understand this context in order to grasp the humiliation felt by many French Muslims on seeing their religion denigrated by the country’s elite intellectuals.

This, of course, in no way excuses the horrible murders at Charlie Hebdo. The terrorists hijacked not only the religion, but the hurt other Muslims have felt at the insults directed at the faith by the dominant secular French culture.

The hurt is legitimate, the terrorist killings are not. France has another problem. It welcomes im-migrants, but it does not respect them or absorb them. In the days that followed the Paris murders, there were a number of articles that, after point-ing to conflicts raging from Iraq to Libya, called

on Muslims to “re-examine their religion” and its “penchant for violence and intolerance”.

Even though a few of these commentaries may have been well-meaning, they were wrong and evi-dence of a deeper prejudice against the religion.

In the last century, Europe was the scene of two bloody world wars that killed tens of millions. The continent gave birth to fascism in Spain, Italy, and Germany, and to Communism and violent anar-chism. It also saw the expansion of Europe’s colo-nial enterprise in Africa, Asia, and the Arab World — with horrific and shameful violence in their ulti-mately failed efforts to subdue the indigenous peo-ples who resisted subordination. During all that time and even now, in hindsight, did we ask Chris-tianity to re-examine itself ? Did we ever suggest that this mass murderous rampage that engulfed a continent had its roots in a religion that glorified conquest and blessed oppression and racism?

And when George W. Bush told us that God called him to go to Iraq and when clergy blessed the war effort and when there has been no account-ability for horrors of Abu Ghraib and torture or the deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqis and thou-sands of Americans in what can only be described as a failed war based on a lie, have Christians been called upon to re-examine the principles of their faith? The simple truth is that murderers and presidents, and governments and groups may use the evocative power of religious language to justify their behaviour. The problem is not in the language or the religion. The problem is with those who abuse it for their evil ends.

The source of the current violence is to be found not in religion but in the conditions that exist in the countries from which those who abuse religion come, whether it is discrimination and humilia-tion, extreme deprivation and oppression, occu-pation, or other forms of severe dislocation that result in aberrant anti-social behaviour.

This doesn’t absolve those who respond to such conditions with violence. But our condemnation should be precise. They are not Muslim or Chris-tian or Jewish or Hindu or Buddhist murderers or terrorists. Rather they are murderers or terrorists who defile the language of religion in a vain effort to justify their violence.

The author is the President of Arab American Institute. All the views and opinions expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not reflect those of Times of Oman.

The French looked at and treated these Arabs as less than human. Two generations later, these once-colonised Algerians have come to France seeking jobs and opportunity. Instead they find themselves trapped in poverty, as part of a permanent underclass

Letters, containing not more than 200 words with full name, address and telephone number, may be sent by mail (Times of Oman, P.O. Box 770, P.C. 112, Ruwi), by fax (24813153) or by e-mail (times@omantel.net.om)

The situation for Afghan refugees remains precarious and in-secure, as it usually is, with countless questions for many on what the future holds. While Pakistani authorities and the UN

Refugee Agency, the UNHCR, have decided to extend repatriation of all Afghan refugees by December 2015, a majority are said to be un-willing to voluntarily return because of the unstable law and order conditions they fear in Afghanistan. What remains for hundreds of thousands of Afghans then is a constant state of insecurity, worries of unforeseen consequences of starting life again in Afghanistan and living as unwanted and frequently harassed members of society in Pa-kistan. Many Afghans have lived here for most or all their lives, have been born, raised and married here, and this is the only home known to them. They must be treated with the empathy and humanity that is deserving for all when forced to move from one home to another. Although Pakistan has hosted Afghans for decades, the harassment of refugees at the hands of the police and other law-enforcement agen-cies remains a frequent problem, as was witnessed following the at-tack on the Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16.

The narrative of Afghan refugees should also be included in the public narrative, for many in Pakistan equate the deteriorating law and order problem to the presence of refugees in the country. This is not only a very simplistic explanation but ignores the complex situ-ation that Pakistan is faced with and avoids looking at the problem within. Even if all refugees are sent back by the end of the year, it is safe to say that Pakistan’s law and order problems will not end over-night. - The Express Tribune

Rehabilitating Afghan refugees

Standing before the press on Capitol Hill, Senator Kelly Ayotte, Republican of New Hampshire, argued that this is no time to be releasing detainees from the military prison in Guantánamo

Bay, Cuba. Opportunistically, she cited the recent massacre in Paris and deteriorating security in Yemen, which she oddly described as “the wild, wild West for terrorists.” She warned that American of-ficials suspect or know that roughly 30 per cent of the men released from Guantánamo have returned to the fight.

“We need a timeout,” Ayotte said, flanked by Senators John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, fellow Republi-cans who are co-sponsors of a bill that would prevent the Obama ad-ministration from releasing Guantánamo prisoners who have never been charged and who have been cleared for release by officials based on a thorough risk analysis. Coming from Ayotte, a defence hawk who takes extreme positions on national security matters, this misguided proposal is unsurprising. But its rollout was particularly troubling for a few reasons. The recidivism rate the senators cited failed to take into account how much it has decreased in recent years.

“Guantánamo is a betrayal of American values,” a former military officers wrote. “The prison is a symbol of torture and justice delayed. More than a decade after it opened, Guantánamo remains a recruiting poster for terrorists …” Those words are as true now as they were then. President Obama pledged to move swiftly to shut down the prison during his first presidential campaign. Still, the Obama administra-tion has made significant headway, and the recidivism rate of former detainees has dropped considerably.

Out of the 88 prisoners who have been released since January 2009, six are known to have become involved with terrorist or insurgent groups, and one is suspected of having done so, a 6.1 per cent recidi-vism rate. During the Bush years, more than 33 per cent of the 532 detainees released were confirmed or suspected to have re-joined the fight, according to statistics released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence last September. The Obama administration is looking for countries willing to take 54 prisoners who have been cleared for release by a team of American national security agencies and is evaluating how many of the remaining detainees could be safely freed. Only 10 of the prisoners currently at Guantánamo, which was established in January 2002, have been prosecuted; seven of them are facing charges in military commissions, and three have been convict-ed and are either serving sentences or awaiting sentencing.

It is long past time for American officials to do the right thing: prosecute suspected terrorists in American courtrooms and shut down a wartime prison that has deservedly brought the United States international scorn. Besides moral and strategic consid-erations, shutting Guantánamo would make fiscal sense. Currently, the United States spends $3 million a year to hold each detainee. - The New York Times News Service

It will make sense to shut down Guantánamo

The new rules of traffic fines for expats welcomeThis refers to the news story, Clear your traffic fines or face problems leaving Oman (January 19). I feel the new rules and the measures being taken to make expatriate traffic rule offenders pay fines is perfect. In fact, such a rule was long overdue. I know of many expatriates who left the country without paying their fines. The new rule will now plug the gap very effectively. D. N. SharmaMuscat

People must pay heed to warnings about weatherI was much dismayed to learn that several people in and around Musandam were trapped in wadis due to heavy rain in the area. I really fail to understand

why people do not pay heed to the weather warnings and forecasts. For the past two days we are being told by the met office about the chances of rain in the Sultanate. Yet, apparently, people took no heed to the warn-ings and were caught unaware in wadis in Musandam. Such an attitude reflects a lackadaisical approach of the people. Joy ChatterjeeMuscat

AAP may go out of politics after Delhi Assembly pollsThe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will storm into power in Delhi and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will probably go out of politics after the Assembly polls in the state. If this happens, AAP will have none else but itself to blame. It is sad but true that

AAP squandered the golden opportunity the people of Delhi gave it. Rather than making the best use of the opportunity AAP leaders took suicidal decisions one after the other which not only tarnished the image and standing of the party but also eroded its credibility. The AAP leader who briefly became the chief minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, was the biggest disap-pointment. If he and his party had not quit and made use of the opportunity they had got, AAP would have become an effective foil to the BJP by now. P. K. AnandGhubra

Lone wolf theory is a ploy to sell security measuresThe article, Lone wolves will define the future of terrorism

(January 18) made an interest-ing reading and it was in sync with the worst fears left in the minds of everyone all across the world, including in the US. Such attacks cannot be ruled out in New York or in any other city. But Kouachi brothers’ attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris had some sort of link with extremist groups engaged in global terror-ism. Some analysts argue that the lone wolf theory serves po-litical interests of governments and is used to sell tougher secu-rity measures to public. Yet, we cannot disagree that in the past two decades, all the more since 9/11, terrorism has changed and will change with time in future. Therefore, we cannot rule out the threat of lone wolves and terrorism in general.Suddapalli Bhaskara RaoRuwi

READERS’ FORUM

Mediocre men often have the most acquired knowledgeCLAUDE BERNARD

website: www.newindiaoman.com

NEW INDIA ASSURANCENew India’s PERSONAL ACCIDENT INSURANCE offers you world-wide cover/protection and TRAVEL INSURANCE that ensures you tension-free travels.

J A M E S J . Z O G B Y

Pope is right. You can’t insult faith of others

WASHINGTON WATCH

PERSPEC IVET I M E S O F O M A N T U E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 0, 2 0 1 5T I M E S O F O M A N A13

TODAY IN HISTORY

OPINION POLL

1327 Edward II of England is deposed by his eldest son, Edward III.

1616 The French explorer Samuel de

Champlain arrives to winter in a Huron Indian village after being wounded in a battle with Iroquois in New France.

1783 Britain signs a peace agreement

with France and Spain, who allied against it in the American War of Independence.

1941 Hitler meets with Mussolini and offers

aid in Albania and Greece.

1944 Allied forces in Italy begin unsuccessful operations to cross the Rapido River and seize Cassino.

FEASIBILITY STUDY ON ALUMINIUM PLANT DONE, 2nd STAGE UNDERWAYMUSCAT: A feasibility study for a proposed $2.5 billion aluminium smelter in Oman has been success-fully completed and an implementation review is un-derway, a project official said yesterday. “The baseline study has been successfully completed and now we are entering the second stage of identifying different technologies and the financial mechanism that would be applied to the project,” Tony Kemp, business devel-opment manager for W J Towell, said.

FROM OUR ARCHIVES

‘Easy’ is a word not easily spoken among the poor. Things are hard — the times are hard, the work is hard, the way is hard. ‘Easy’ is for uninformed explanations issued by the callous and the haughtily blind

Earlier this month, the Pew Research Centre released a study that found that most wealthy Americans believed “poor

people today have it easy because they can get government benefits without doing anything in return.” This is an infuriatingly obtuse view of what it means to be poor in the United States — the soul-rending omnipresence of worry and fear, of weariness and fatigue. This can be the view only of those who have not known — or have long forgotten — what poverty truly means.

“Easy” is a word not easily spoken among the poor. Things are hard — the times are hard, the work is hard, the way is hard. “Easy” is for unin-formed explanations issued by the callous and the haughtily blind.

Allow me to explain, as James Baldwin put it, a few illustrations of “how extremely expensive it is to be poor.” First, many poor people work, but they just don’t make enough to move out of poverty — an estimated 11 million Americans fall into this category. So, as the Pew report pointed out, “more than half of the least secure group reports receiving at least one type of means-tested government benefit.”

And yet, whatever the poor earn is likely to be more heavily taxed than the earnings of wealth-ier citizens, according to a new analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. As The New York Times put it last week:

“According to the study, in 2015 the poorest fifth of Americans will pay on average 10.9 per cent of their income in state and local taxes, the middle fifth will pay 9.4 percent and the top 1 per cent will average 5.4 percent.”

In addition, many low-income people are “unbanked” (not served by a financial insti-tution), and thus nearly eaten alive by exor-bitant fees. As the St. Louis Federal Reserve pointed out in 2010:

“Unbanked consumers spend approximately 2.5 to 3 per cent of a government benefits check and between 4 per cent and 5 per cent of pay-roll check just to cash them. Additional dollars are spent to purchase money orders to pay rou-tine monthly expenses. When you consider the cost for cashing a bi-weekly payroll check and buying about six money orders each month, a household with a net income of $20,000 may pay as much as $1,200 annually for alternative service fees — substantially more than the ex-pense of a monthly checking account.”

Even when low-income people can become affiliated with a bank, those banks are increas-ingly making them pay “steep rates for loans

and high fees on basic checking accounts,” as The Times’s DealBook blog put it last year.

And poor people can have a hard time getting credit. As The Washington Post put it, the ex-cesses of the subprime boom have led conven-tional banks to stay away from the riskiest bor-rowers, leaving them “all but cut off from access to big loans, like mortgages.”

One way to move up the ladder and out of pov-erty is through higher education, but even that is not without disproportionate costs.

As the Institute for College Access and Suc-cess noted in March:

“Graduates who received Pell Grants, most of whom had family incomes under $40,000, were much more likely to borrow and to bor-row more. Among graduating seniors who ever received a Pell Grant, 88 percent had student loans in 2012, with an average of $31,200 per borrower. In contrast, 53 percent of those who never received a Pell Grant had debt, with an av-erage of $26,450 per borrower.”

And often, work or school requires transpor-tation, which can be another outrageous ex-pense. According to the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights:

“Low- and moderate-income households spend 42 percent of their total annual income on transportation, including those who live in rural areas, as compared to middle-income households, who spend less than 22 percent of their annual income on transportation.”

And besides, having a car can make prime targets of the poor. One pernicious practice that the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. — and the protests that followed — resurfaced was the degree to which some local municipalities profit from police departments targeting poor communities, with a raft of stops, fines, sum-monses and arrests supported by police actions and complicit courts.

As NPR reported in August: “In 2013, the municipal court in Ferguson — a city of 21,135 people — issued 32,975 arrest warrants for non-violent offenses, mostly driving violations.”

“ArchCity Defenders, a St. Louis-area public defender group, says in its report that more than half the courts in St. Louis County engage in the ‘illegal and harmful practices’ of charging high court fines and fees on nonviolent offenses like traffic violations — and then arresting people when they don’t pay.”

The list of hardships could go on for several more columns, but you get the point: Being poor is anything but easy. - The New York Times News Service

HISTORYNET.COM

Threat of terror from European extremists

GraphicsGraphic News /Source: The Brookings Institution, wire agencies

Many US and European intelligence officials fear that a wave of terror attacks will sweep through Europe, driven by the large number of foreign fighters travelling to Syria to participate in extremist conflict

Foreign fighters of european origin who have travelled to syriaNumbers based on official figures and estimates.Includes those who have returned or died

60

140

120

50

100

60

110

90

UK500

45Finland

Sweden

Denmark

Serbia

Kosovo

AlbaniaMacedonia

Montenegro

ItalyAustria

Norway

Netherlands

Ireland

France950

Spain

Lux.

Switz.

Maximum number

Minimum number

Less than 10 fighters

Factors reducingthreat from foreign fightersMany die in suicide attacks orconflict with opposing forces

Many never return home, butcontinue fighting in conflict zone ornext battle for extremist

Others arrested or disrupted byintelligence services

LAST POLL RESULTDo you agree with Oman Majlis members’ plea for a reduction in fines for traffic offenders?

Do people in Oman take unnecessary risks even when there are forecasts for rain and thundershowers?

Visit timesofoman.com to cast your vote

Yes56.9%

No39.7%

Can't say3.4%

It’s not Google’s business to save newspapers

C H A R L E S M . B L O W

It does not make sense for a whole province to run out of petrol overnight.

That is what seems to have happened in Punjab where fuel stations have turned dry leaving the people hav-ing to fight for what little that remains.

It takes a particularly in-competent government to achieve this feat. This is what the Nawaz Sharif gov-ernment is fast becoming.

We are told that the fault lies with the private sector oil marketing companies who have lessened or are unwilling to let go of their stocks because of falling oil prices.

But if fuel was to be found at any pump, it was at those which were owned by private oil marketing companies. That too could not hold out for too long.

It is not the private sec-tor that calls the shots. And declining fuel prices are a global phenomena, not re-stricted to Pakistan. One did not hear of fuel shortages in land-locked Afghanistan or its capital Kabul.

In his usual darbari style, prime minister Nawaz Sha-rif took the step of suspend-ing (not sacking as was re-ported in some sections of the media) some officials in a bid to lessen the anger directed against his admin-istration. But that is not good enough.

I remember how the Sharif government treated the in-dependent power producers that the Benazir government had brought to Pakistan. These IPPs were hounded and publicly humiliated.

The man who helped set up the policy, Shahid Hasan Khan, was attacked and abused by Sharif loyalists.

Ironically, it is these very IPPs who have helped us manage our power produc-tion over the past years. So much drama on the economy only for point scoring.

This time round, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has disappointed us further. We were expecting that his government would not act

like its predecessor and it would get the economy up and running.

This is a pro-business PM we were told, who cut red tape to let the economy flourish. The opposite has been the case.

Sharif has been bad for both the economy and for the private sector. And we can-not blame Imran Khan or the hidden hand for everything.

For one, he has stuffed near and dear ones in almost all public sector enterprises. Take Shujaat Azeem, the golden boy of aviation who seems to have brought the national airline to its knees.

Almost every other day we hear tales of scandals, cor-ruption and incompetence in PIA. And this is the tip of the iceberg.

There is a lack of eco-nomic vision. Ishaq Dar’s only achievement it seems was to bring the dollar back to 100 after Pakistan pledged to remain neutral in the war in Syria. It was a cheap bar-gain with the Saudis, but we made it.

State enterprises are overburdened and under-performing. Entities like Pakistan State Oil, Pakistan Steel, the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation and many others. There has been no effort made to fix them.

Pakistan Steel, for exam-ple, is bleeding. It enjoys an almost monopoly like situa-tion in the steel production sector so this defies logic. Corruption seems the only plausible answer.

There is the lack of di-rection on the part of the government. Like the ap-pointment of acting heads of private sector enterprises but not giving them control.

The inability to get regu-lators to act decisively be-cause many have been ap-pointed based on personal considerations.

Then there is lack of fore-sight in terms of planning ahead and the over-empha-sis on high ticket infrastruc-ture projects, in place of less grand but more important undertakings.

We have billions to spend on motorway’s and city bus projects but not enough for health, education, water, public transport and other less attractive subjects.

We do not need the Chi-nese or the Turk to help us in fixing our roads and our schools.

To help us clean up our cities and to build our basic health infrastructure. We are capable of this and more by having competent people in positions of authority and by checking theft and malprac-tice through an institutional-ised approach.

All we need are honest leaders and ministers who themselves are not dip-ping their hands in the till. This is the real challenge. - The Express Tribune

Running on empty tanks

KA M A L S I D D I Q I

The rebellion of the news-papers has come to a rather embarrassing end.

In Spain, a gang of titles has long lobbied for a Google tax. They got their wish this year.

Spain’s government is passing a law that will force Google to pay a fee for the 30-word or so “snip-pets” of news reports — taken from Spanish websites — with which it stocks up Google News.

One hitch. Google does not want to pay.

So it announced that from to-day there would simply be no more Google News in Spain.

Vamos. And a cherry on top; Spanish papers would not appear on Google News around the world — so if a big story breaks in Spain this minute, international readers will only see the work of reporters from outside the country.

All in all, a blow to the Span-ish press, who, like the rest of us, rely on Google to direct read-ers to their stories online: more eyeballs, more advertising, more money to keep paying for staff and reporting the news.

The Spanish Newspaper Pub-lisheditorialers’ Association (AEDE), which put its shoulder to the new law, is attempting a be-lated reverse ferret.

It announced it wanted Google News back as the retreat would “undoubtedly have a negative impact on Spanish citizens and Spanish businesses”.

Which is true. But having first sought to squeeze the Google teat for more cash, it’s a little un-dignified to start mewling now its bosom has been withdrawn as a result.

The AEDE might have seen it coming, too — newspapers in Bel-gium, France and Germany have attempted something similar and, although small concessions were won, had to water their claims down to more or less maintaining the status quo.

The Spanish law, by contrast, is draconian.

Publishers will not be able to opt out: they have to demand money from Google.

It’s a calamity, I hope you’ll agree, that newspapers are going

out of business at such speed. And it was to a large degree the inter-net did it. But the genie cannot be put back in the bottle by govern-ment regulation.

The newspapers that survive — smaller fish, perhaps, in a smaller pool — will be those that learn to swim with the demands of online journalism and find ways of mak-ing money from it.

In short, Spain’s press lobby has learnt that you shouldn’t start up a game of chicken when you’re driv-ing a beat-up Seat Ibiza and the other party is sitting at the wheel of a bullet train.

Google’s no pip squeak inno-cent, that said. It claims not to make any money out of its news service, but of course the site gathers users through it.

Nevertheless, if the legacy me-dia isn’t hurt by Google News and the average internet drifter benefits, then this is one case that the Silicon Valley giant doesn’t fit in to the Big Bad Wolf costume that Europe has sized up for it. What’s the Spanish for “oops?”. - The Independent

M E M P H I S B A R K E R

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has disappointed us further. We were expecting that his government would not act like its predecessor and it would get the economy up and running

Oh! How expensive it is to be poor in United States

A14

GLOBAL EYET U E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 0, 2 0 1 5

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PHOTO GALLERYW W W.T I M E S O F O M A N . C O M

BRAZIL: A man crosses on a slickline installed over the water during sunset at Apoador beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Sunday. — AFP

EGYPT: Workers prepare Koshary, a popular Egyptian dish, in an attempt to break the Guinness World

Record for the world's biggest plate of Koshary in Cairo, on Saturday. — Reuters

LIBYA: Families of the 27 Egyptian Coptic Christians workers kidnapped in the Libyan city of Sirte,

hold pictures of their kidnapped relatives as they ask for their release, in front of the UN office in

Cairo, on Monday. — Reuters

MALAWI: People unload relief aid from a Malawi military helicopter as it arrives at M'bwazi Primary

School in Malawi's southern Nsanje District on Sunday. Torrential rains have wreaked havoc across

half the country's 28 districts, washing away homes, crops and disrupting power supplies. — AFP

FRANCE: Lorry drivers driving cars and waving flags of the French workers' union FO (Workers Force),

escorted by police, carry out a go-slow operation in Aubagne on the A50 highway towards Marseille,

early on Monday, at the start of a lorry drivers' strike to demand higher salaries. — AFP

UNITED KINGDOM: The Cairngorm mountains (Carn Liath on the right ) are seen covered in snow

near Blair Atholl, Scotland, United Kingdom, on Sunday. — Reuters

UNITED STATES: Houseboats sit on Lake Kaweah, well below the visible high-water mark in Lemon

Cove, California, US, on Saturday. A combination of record high temperatures and sparse rainfall

during California's three-year drought have produced the worst conditions in 1,200 years, according

to a study accepted for publication by the American Geophysical Union. — Reuters

A15

WORLDT U E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 0, 2 0 1 5

Lifestyle diseases claim 16m lives every year: WHO

GENEVA: Diseases linked to life-style choices, including diabetes and some cancers, kill 16 million people prematurely each year, the World Health Organisation said on Monday, urging action to stop the “slow-moving public health disaster”.

Unhealthy habits like smok-ing, alcohol abuse and consuming too much fat, salt and sugar have sparked an epidemic of diseases which together constitute the leading cause of death globally, WHO said.

This “lifestyle disease” epi-demic “causes a much greater public health threat than any oth-er epidemic known to man,” said Shanthi Mendis, the lead author of WHO’s Chronic Diseases Pre-vention and Management report.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), like cardiovascular con-ditions, diabetes, lung disease and a range of cancers, killed a full 38 million people around the globe in 2012 — 16 million of them under the age of 70.

“Not thousands are dying, but millions are dying... every year in their 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s, not in their 80s and 90s,” said Mendis.

“It’s beyond belief that it is

seemingly invisible,” she told re-porters ahead of the launch.

Most of the world’s 16 million premature NCD deaths each year — 82 per cent — occur in poor and middle income countries, and most of them could be averted with just small investments, the report found.

“The global community has the chance to change the course of the NCD epidemic,” WHO chief Mar-garet Chan said in a statement.

Promoting healthier habitsMillions of lives could be saved if the world over the next decade in-vests just $11.2 billion each year, or $1-3 per person, on promoting healthier habits, the report found.

Today, some six million people die prematurely each year due to tobacco use, 3.3 million deaths are linked to alcohol abuse, 3.2 mil-lion to lacking physical activity and 1.7 million to eating too much salt, according to WHO findings.

A full 42 million children un-der the age of five are considered to be obese, and an estimated 84 per cent of adolescents do not get enough exercise, Mendis said,

describing the situations as “ex-tremely frightening.”

The international community has staked out nine global targets for shifting unhealthy habits with the aim of slashing premature NCD deaths by a quarter between 2011 and 2025.

Simple and inexpensive steps like banning advertising of to-bacco and alcohol products and taxing foods and drinks that con-tain high levels of salt and caffeine has already proven successful in a range of countries, WHO said.

In Turkey, for instance, an ad-vertising ban on tobacco prod-ucts combined with significant price hikes and health warnings has pushed smoking rates down 13.4-percent since 2008.

A move in Hungary to heav-ily tax unhealthy food and drink components has meanwhile led to a 27-per cent drop in junk food sales, the report said.

But while some countries have made progress, most will fall short of the 2025 target, WHO said, warning that inaction would have far-reaching conse-quences. - AFP

Unhealthy habits

like smoking,

alcohol abuse and

consuming too much

fat, salt and sugar

have sparked an

epidemic of diseases

WHO has estimated that if nothing is done to improve the situation, premature NCD deaths will suck $7.0 trillion out of the global economy over the next decade

The global community has the chance

to change the course of the Non-

communicable diseases epidemic

Margaret Chan, WHO chief

A16

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Kenyan policemen tear-gas

children in playground protest

NAIROBI: Kenyan police fired tear gas at children as young as eight protesting on Mon-day against the seizure of their school playground by a property developer.

Around 100 primary school children and a small group of ac-tivists pushed over a newly built wall that separated playing fields and the school buildings, close to the capital Nairobi’s main domes-tic airport. The majority of the children were aged between eight and 13. Around 40 armed police accompanied by dogs dispersed the protesters by firing tear gas canisters, an AFP photographer at the scene said.

Dozens of children were caught in choking clouds of tear gas be-fore being forced to shelter on a pedestrian bridge over the main road to escape the noxious fumes.

Children screamed as police officers in riot gear and waving truncheons pushed them back, some panicking as they sought

water to wash their burning eyes. At least five children received

medical treatment while one po-liceman was wounded, seen with blood pouring down beneath his riot helmet. A senior police officer at the demonstration, Mwangi Kuria, told Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper that officers had been deployed to “safeguard the prop-erty”, adding that rocks had been thrown at his men.

Disputed land“This is disputed land, but they should not use the children,” Ku-ria was quoted as saying. Two activists were detained by police, Kenyan media said.

Macharia Njeru, chairman of the Independent Policing Over-sight Authority, said the incident would be investigated.

“Teargassing children is in-excusable,” he said. Renowned activist Boniface Mwangi said a “school playground is a neces-sity, not a privilege.”

Some of the children carried placards protesting the alleged land grab. “Kenya: the land of shameless grabbers,” read one, with others pleading for govern-ment to fight corruption.

‘Shame!’“Shame!” read another. “Grab-ber, you won’t live forever.” The incident sparked angry reactions on social media, including Twit-ter, where comments used the hashtag “#OccupyPlayGround”.

“Shame on the government for assaulting children with tear gas to protect the corrupt,” politician and former presidential hopeful Martha Karua said on Twitter.

Monday was the first school day since the wall was built dur-ing the holidays.

Nairobi, a city of more than three million people, is rapidly growing and land prices are rising at some of the fastest rates any-where on the continent, accord-ing to real estate experts. -AFP

V I O L E N C E

‘Richest 1 per cent to soon own more than rest of world’DAVOS: The richest 1 per cent people in the world will soon have more wealth than the remaining 99 per cent of the global popula-tion, says a report.

The Oxfam report yesterday came ahead of annual World Eco-nomic Forum meeting in Davos.

The international agency, whose executive director Winnie Byanyima will co-chair the Davos event, said the explosion in in-equality is holding back the fight against global poverty at a time when 1 in 9 people do not have enough to eat and more than a bil-lion people still live on less than USD 1.25 a day. According to the report by worldwide development organisation Oxfam, in 2014, 85 rich individuals held more wealth than the poorest half of the world’s population -- 3.5 billion people.

Now, a year later, that figure has become more extreme -- 80 bil-lionaires have the same amount of wealth as the bottom half of the planet. “If this trend continues of an increasing wealth share to the richest, the top 1 per cent will have more wealth than the remaining 99 per cent of people in just two years,” Oxfam said in a report.

In 2010, the richest 80 people in the world had a net wealth of USD 1.3 trillion. By 2014, the 80 people who top the Forbes rich list had a collective wealth of USD 1.9 tril-lion; an increase of USD 600 bil-lion in just 4 years.

Meanwhile, between 2002 and 2010 the total wealth of the poor-est half of the world in the current US dollar terms had been increas-ing more or less at the same rate as that of billionaires; however since 2010, it has been decreasing.

The wealth of these 80 indi-viduals is now the same as that owned by the bottom 50 per cent of the global population, such that 3.5 billion people share between them the same amount of wealth as that of these extremely wealthy

80 people, the report said.“The scale of global inequality

is quite simply staggering and de-spite the issues shooting up the global agenda, the gap between the richest and the rest is widen-ing fast,” Byanyima said, adding that it is time our leaders took on the powerful vested interests that stand in the way of a fairer and more prosperous world.

“Business as usual for the elite isn’t a cost free option - failure to tackle inequality will set the fight against poverty back by decades. The poor are hurt twice by ris-ing inequality - they get a smaller share of the economic pie and be-cause extreme inequality hurts growth, there is less pie to be shared around.” - PTI

O X F A M R E P O R T

The explosion in inequality is holding back the fight against global poverty at a time when 1 in 9 people do not have enough to eat and more than a billion people still live on less than USD 1.25 a day

No proof of terrorism in AirAsia crash so far

JAKARTA: Indonesian investi-gators said on Monday they had found no evidence so far that ter-rorism played a part in the crash of an AirAsia passenger jet last month that killed all 162 people on board.

Andreas Hananto told Reuters that his team of 10 investigators at the National Transportation Safe-ty Committee (NTSC) had found “no threats” in the cockpit voice recordings to indicate foul play during AirAsia Flight QZ8501.

The Airbus A320-200 vanished from radar screens on Decem-ber 28, less than halfway into a two-hour flight from Indonesia’s second-biggest city of Surabaya to Singapore. There were no survi-vors. When asked if there was any evidence from the recording that terrorism was involved, Hananto said: “No. Because if there were terrorism, there would have been a threat of some kind.”

“In that critical situation, the recording indicates that the pi-lot was busy with the handling of the plane.”

Investigators said they had lis-tened to the whole of the record-ing but transcribed only about half. “We didn’t hear any voice of other persons other than the pilots,” said Nurcahyo Utomo, another investigator. “We didn’t hear any sounds of gunfire or ex-plosions. For the time being, based on that, we can eliminate the pos-sibility of terrorism.”

Explosion unlikelyUtomo said that investigators could hear “almost everything” on the recording contained in one of the flight’s two “black boxes”. The other is the flight data recorder, and both have been recovered from the wreckage at the bottom of the Java Sea.

He declined to give details about what was said during the doomed flight’s final moments, citing Indonesian law.

Indonesian authorities have said that bad weather was likely to have played a part in the disaster.

According to Hananto, evidence also showed that an explosion was unlikely before the plane crashed, disputing a theory suggested by an official from the National Search and Rescue Agency last week.

“From the (flight data record-ings) so far, it’s unlikely there was an explosion,” Hananto said. “If there was, we would definitely know because certain parameters would show it. There are some-thing like 1,200 parameters.”

The final minutes of the AirAsia flight were full of “sounds of ma-chines and sounds of warnings” that must be filtered out to get a complete transcript of what was said in the cockpit, said Hananto, who has been an air safety investi-gator since 2009.

The first half of the two-hour long cockpit voice recording has been transcribed. That includes audio from the previous flight and the beginning of Flight QZ8501, which crashed around 40 minutes after takeoff.

The team, which is working with French, Singaporean and Chinese air safety investigators, hopes to finish transcribing the recording this week, Hananto said. With seven computers and various audio equipment, the small NTSC laboratory dedicated to the AirAsia investigation is split into two rooms; one for the cockpit voice recorder and the other for the flight data recorder.

Analysis of the flight data re-corder would take longer, Hanan-to said, because investigators were examining all 72 previous flights flown by the aircraft.

Investigators hope to finish a preliminary report on the crash early next week. The full report could take up to a year, but will not include the entire cockpit voice transcript.

“In Indonesia it remains un-disclosed,” said Tatang Kurniadi, chief of the NTSC. “Just some important highlights will be in-cluded in the report.” - Reuters

The 10 investigators

at the National

Transportation

Safety Committee

had found ‘no threats’

in the cockpit

voice recordings to

indicate foul play

during AirAsia

Flight QZ8501CRUCIAL EVIDENCE: A police officer stands near part of the fuselage of crashed AirAsia Flight

QZ8501 inside a storage facility at Kumai port in Pangkalan Bun, Indonesia, on Monday. The airliner

lost contact with air traffic control in bad weather on December 28, 2014 less than halfway into a

two-hour flight from the city of Surabaya to Singapore. All 162 people on board were killed. -Reuters

SCRAMBLE TO SAFETY: Schoolchildren from the Lang’ata road primary school scramble up a bridge

in Nairobi, on Monday, to escape tear gas after police attempted to break up their demonstration

against the removal of their school’s playground, which was allegedly grabbed by a powerful politi-

cian. Children were in the front line of people pulling down a wall erected around the playground. -AFP

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Euro ............................................2.22

Pound ........................................... 1.70

Indian Rs ............................ 160.00

Pak Rs ...................................256.87

Bangla Taka.......................199.52* Rates are as of Jan. 19

Source: Bank Muscat

Indian Rs ..................................160.00

Pakistan Rs ............................260.30

Sri Lanka Rs ...........................342.45

Bangla Taka............................201.80

Phil Peso .................................... 115.55

* Rates as of Jan. 19 Source: Oman UAE Exchange

Muscat 24ct per gm (OMR) .......16.30

Muscat 22ct per gm (OMR) .......15.65

Dubai 24ct per gm (Dh) ............154.50

Dubai 22ct per gm (Dh) .............146.25

* Rates as of Jan. 19

Source: Malabar Gold & Diamonds

Type ............................Delivery...........Price

Oman Crude ............. (Spot) ........$46.03

Dubai Crude ............. (Spot) .........$45.01

Murban Crude ........ (Spot) ........$49.62

Arabian Light ......... (Spot) ........ $48.76

N.Sea Brent ............... (Spot) ........$49.32

West Texas Int ....... (Spot) .........$47.94

CRUDE OIL PRICE

DIGEST VIDEO

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Oman plans to award an oil and gas block this year

A. E. JAMESbusinesseditor@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Oman government plans to award an oil and gas block to an international oil company on production sharing basis this year, according to a senior official at the Ministry of Oil and Gas.

“Hopefully, we will award one oil block, which has both oil and gas deposits,” Dr Saleh A. Al An-boori, director general of Manage-ment of Petroleum Investment, told ‘Times of Oman’.

Dr Al Anboori said the recent fall in oil prices would not affect investment in oil and gas sector in the country. “I don’t think it will affect investments. (develop-ment) activity is continuing as per the plan.” According to the lat-est budget estimate, investment

expenditure in oil and gas sector is 9.35 per cent higher in 2015 at OMR1,520 million, against OMR1,390 million last year.

Oman government has been en-couraging multinational oil giants to find new reservoirs in a move to sustain production levels. As huge investment is required for bring-ing crude oil and natural gas above the ground in view of the peculiar nature of reservoirs in the Sultan-ate, the government has been en-couraging multinational firms to undertake exploration on produc-tion sharing basis.

The government is trying to open up both offshore and on-shore blocks for development in a bid to enhance hydrocarbon re-sources in the country.

Oman government last year signed one each production shar-

ing agreement with Total Ex-ploration and Production Oman Petroleum B V and Petrogas Ka-hil for developing an offshore oil block in northern coast and an onshore block in Al Wusta region.

The first agreement with Total was for developing offshore block 41 spread in a large 23,850 square kilometres area off northern coast, while pact with Petrogas was for onshore block 55, spread in an area of 7,564 square kilometres.

Twenty-nine oil blocksAccording to latest available fig-ures, twenty-nine oil blocks have already been awarded to interna-tional firms for exploration and in recent years, the initiative is gain-ing prominence. Some of these blocks started producing oil, while others are in various stages of studies and development.

While eight companies are en-gaged in oil production, 12 others are carrying out either explora-

tion or geological studies in 19 oil blocks. The number of companies operating in the oil and gas sector has reached 18, working in 29 con-cession areas. Presently, multina-tional oil companies contribute 30 per cent of total crude produc-tion, while majority state-owned Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) constitutes the remaining 70 per cent oil output.

Referring to the recent com-missioning of Oman Oil Company Exploration and Production’s 27 million cubic feet per day natural gas field in Abu Butabul, Dr Al An-boori said that it would help the country in meeting growing natu-ral gas demand from both indus-tries and power sectors.

The successful production of gas from the deep and tight res-ervoir substantially enhanced gas availability to meet the grow-ing local demand — which is vital for the economic development of the country.

Government is trying to open up both

offshore and onshore blocks for development

in a bid to enhance hydrocarbon resources

Port Services Corporation profit dips 51%Times News Service

MUSCAT: Port Services Corpora-tion on Monday said its net profit for 2014 dipped by 51.3 per cent to OMR3.06 million from OMR6.29 million posted in the previous year, mainly on account of shifting of Muscat Port’s commercial ac-tivities to Sohar in August.

From August 2014, commercial operation of vessels was shifted from Port Sultan Qaboos (PSQ) to Sohar as part of the government’s plan to convert Muscat port into a tourism hub. This plan has impact-ed the volume of business handled at the port as well as the revenue.

The company’s total operating revenue also declined by 37.2 per cent to OMR14.24 million from OMR22.66 million for 2013, ac-cording to the preliminary results posted on MSM website. The com-pany’s operating expenses showed a 16.5 per cent fall at OMR10.94 million from OMR13.09 million.

Non-operating income also fell by 32.1 per cent to OMR1.63 mil-lion from OMR2.40 million during the period under review. Earnings per share of the company dipped to 32 baisas by December-end, from 66 baisas for the same period of 2013. The unaudited results are subject to approval.

S H I F T I N G O F A C T I V I T I E S

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Dr Saleh A. Al Anboori

GLOBAL OIL GIANTS Oman has been favouring

global oil giants to find

new reservoirs in a move

to sustain production

levels. As huge investment

is required to bring crude

and natural gas above

the ground in view of

the peculiar nature of

reservoirs in Oman,

government has been

encouraging multinational

firms to undertake

exploration on production

sharing basis

B2 T U E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 0, 2 0 1 5

MARKET

Al Jenaibi drives BMW Oman sales in top gear

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Al Jenaibi Interna-tional Automobiles has achieved its best-ever annual sales result with a 38 per cent growth in sales over the previous year. Oman was the second biggest growth market for BMW Group in Middle East.

The highest number of vehicles sold in one year by any premium luxury automotive manufacturer in the Sultanate, 2014 was an im-portant milestone for the BMW importer and a direct result of

its ongoing commitment to the BMW and Mini brands.

New showroomAl Jenaibi International Automo-biles has the largest infrastruc-ture for sales and service in Oman with plans to expand its facilities to include a best-in-class new showroom and after-sales facil-ity for further improvements to customer service and the overall purchase experience.

Commenting on the company’s exceptional performance, Divy-endu Kumar, managing director of of Al Jenaibi International Au-

tomobiles, said: “The year 2014 was an important year for us. It was a record-breaker in terms of growth. We were the second fastest growing market in the en-tire Middle East. This is down to many factors, but put simply — a desirable and innovative product portfolio, ongoing investment into the brands and an unwavering fo-cus on excellent customer service. We look forward to another strong performance in 2015.”

Once more it was BMW’s high-end models that contributed to Al Jenaibi International Automo-biles’ impressive performance.

The BMW 5 Series, the global leader in the executive saloon seg-ment, was the best-selling BMW model, followed by the BMW X5 Sports Activity Coupé and flag-ship 7 Series, a top-selling model since its launch in the Sultanate in October 2012 — the three mod-els together accounted for 60 per cent of the importer’s total sales.

Mini brand popularThe Mini brand also grew in popu-larity, with an increase of 8 per cent over 2013 results. The launch of the all-new Mini Hatch was a strong contributing factor to its success in the Sultanate, as was the ever-popular Mini Country-man, the first Mini with four doors and a four-wheel drive option.

Across the Middle East region, the success was echoed with BMW Group Middle East selling more vehicles in 2014 than ever before in the company’s history. Altogether 30,148 BMW and Mini vehicles were sold across 12 coun-tries, an increase of 23 per cent.

The Sultanate was

the second biggest

growth market for

BMW in the Middle

East as the luxury

automaker achieved

its best-ever annual

sales growth of 38%

Ithraa chairman to attend World Economic Forum MUSCAT: Dr Salem bin Nasser Al Ismaily, chairman of Ithraa, will join more than 40 heads of states and government at the 45th World Economic Forum (WEF) slated to be held from January 21 to 24 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland. The WEF will be attended by 2,500 delegates from business, non-government organisations and social groups. Among world leaders in at-tendance will include French President François Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, United States Secretary of State John Kenny and South African President Jacob Zuma. The world’s corporate giants will also attend who includes Fa-cebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Google’s Eric Schmidt as is Jack Ma, founder of China’s web giant Alibaba.

Tender floated for sewage network system in Suwaiq MUSCAT: Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Re-sources yesterday floated a tender to build a sewerage network system for Suwaiq in Al Batinah North. The tender submission date is March 30, while the documents will be distributed until February 19.

Saudi’s Fakeeh Hospital mulls selling 30% stake RIYADH: Dr Soliman Fakeeh Hospital, owner of one of Saudi Arabia’s largest private hospitals, may sell a 30 per cent stake through an initial public offering (IPO) after the kingdom opens its bourse to foreign investors. “We’re applying corporate gov-ernance standards and we are ready to go for listing whenever we feel the market conditions are appropriate,” Mazen Fakeeh, president and chairman of the group, said in an interview in Dubai. The hospital would probably sell shares “within the next three years,” he said. - Times News Service/Agencies

B R I E F S

US government’s plan to mop up $110b from tax will hurt economyWASHINGTON: Wall Street’s top lobbying group said United States President Barack Obama’s plan to raise $110 billion over the next decade through a new tax on financial companies could stifle economic growth and make banks less likely to lend.

The proposal released on Sat-urday would impose a seven-basis-point fee on the liabilities of the nation’s biggest banks, in-vestment firms and insurers. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (Sifma) said the fee is an unnecessary attempt to rein in risk on Wall Street, fol-lowing the approval of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act.

“The tax code is not the place for a broad, new and duplica-tive financial regulatory regime,” Sifma president and chief execu-tive officer Kenneth E. Bentsen said in a statement. The “targeted tax increase on America’s most productive financial institutions

could have far-reaching, unin-tended consequences that will curtail economic growth.”

The tax proposal comes as Democrats have been increasingly

sparring with Wall Street. Populist lawmakers in the party,

including US Senator Elizabeth Warren, have engaged in fights in the past month over efforts to roll back Dodd-Frank and used their clout to reject Obama’s nomina-tion of Lazard banker Antonio Weiss for a key Treasury Depart-ment post.

Obama’s initiative follows a similar tax proposal last year for banks with $50 billion of assets. The new plan would expand the tax to large money managers and insurers, while lowering the rate each company has to pay. The new proposal would raise about twice as much money as last year’s plan.

Sector-only tax“The imposition of a special, sector-only tax on the vast ar-ray of financial institutions cap-tured by the president’s proposal under the guise of further limit-ing excessive risk completely ig-

nores the changes this admin-istration, Congress, regulators and industry have implemented over the past six years,” Sifma’s Bentsen said.

The bill faces uncertain pros-pects in Congress, where both the House and Senate are led by Re-publicans whose party has gener-ally resisted tax increases. Former US representative Dave Camp, who retired from Congress after leading the House panel that sets tax policy, proposed a similar fee that drew fierce opposition from banks last year.

The bank fee is part of a package of proposals released on Saturday that would allow the White House to expand tax breaks for lower- and middle-income families. The Obama administration also pro-posed new taxes on the wealthiest Americans that would limit prof-its from investments and make it harder for them to pass assets on to their heirs. - Bloomberg News

N E X T D E C A D E

Renault sales grow as budget vehicles offset Russian drop

PARIS: Renault delivered 3.2 per cent more vehicles last year as sales of budget cars in Europe off-set falling demand in Russia and Argentina.

Global sales rose to 2.71 mil-lion cars and light commercial vehicles from 2.63 million a year earlier, the Boulogne- Billancourt, France-based company said yes-terday in a statement. Deliveries of no-frills vehicles, including Europe’s Dacia brand, jumped 5.3 per cent to 1.14 million vehicles.

Renault, Europe’s third-largest carmaker, relied on demand for low-cost models like the Sand-ero hatchback and Duster sport-utility vehicle (SUV) as a push into emerging markets backfired because of economic woes in

Russia and Latin America. The Dacia brand and the new Renault Captur compact SUV helped it tap into a gradual recovery in its home region, where demand hit a two- decade low in 2013.

Five new modelsEven with overall demand for new vehicles ‘uncertain’, Renault is predicting its sales will rise again this year, underpinned by ‘an ac-celerated product plan’ with five new models slated to hit show-rooms, said Chief Performance Officer Jerome Stoll.

The firm forecast industrywide car sales this year to rise 1 per cent to 2 per cent in Europe and 2 per cent globally. The compa-ny’s home region propelled sales

growth last year, with gains of 42 per cent in the UK, 30 per cent in Spain and 29 per cent in Italy.

Deliveries in Russia, Renault’s third-biggest market, fell 7.4 per cent to 194,500 vehicles, as a plunge in oil prices and a drop in the value of the ruble pushed Russia to the brink of a recession. Renault and its alliance partner Nissan together control AvtoVAZ, the maker of Lada models and the country’s largest auto producer.

The French manufacturer’s deliveries in Argentina plunged 40 per cent to 85,000 vehicles as the country’s currency strug-gles. However, sales in Brazil, Renault’s second-biggest mar-ket, edged up by 0.3 per cent to 237,000 cars. - Bloomberg News

A U T O M O T I V E

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

LUXURY ON WHEELS: The BMW 5 Series, the global leader in

the executive saloon segment, was the best-selling BMW model,

followed by the BMW X5 Sports Activity Coupé and flagship 7

Series. Photo is used for illustrative purpose only. – Bloomberg News

Barack Obama. – Reuters

IN THE FAST LANE: Europe’s third-largest carmaker relied on demand for low-cost models like the

Sandero hatchback and Duster sport-utility vehicle as a push into emerging markets backfired be-

cause of economic woes in Russia and Latin America. – Bloomberg News

B3T U E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 0, 2 0 1 5

MARKET

Dana Gas’ deals in Egypt fails to stem debt descent

DUBAI: Dana Gas’ latest deals in Egypt, including teaming up with BP to explore for oil and gas, are doing little to convince investors to buy its debt.

The energy explorer’s Islamic bonds are trading at the lowest since they were issued in May 2013, even after chief executive officer Patrick Allman-Ward said last week the company reached an agreement to recover all its Egyp-tian receivables within three years.

The yield on its $425 million callable sukuk due 2017 rose 33 basis points to a record 14 per cent last week, compared to a 13 basis-point decline to 4.1 per cent in the average yield of Sharia-compliant debt in the Middle East, according to JPMorgan Chase indices.

Company’s sukuk “Regardless of what positive news has come recently, the repayments they expect to see from Egypt, it’s not going to create much of a move,” Ahmed Shehada, the head of advisory and institutions at NBAD Securities in Abu Dhabi, who twice correctly advised inves-tors to sell the company’s sukuk last year, said by phone. “The posi-tive cashflow they’ve witnessed from the repayments from their Egyptian contracts came at a time when there’s a shadow on the sec-tor as a whole.”

Oil’s more than 50 per cent col-lapse in the past seven months is compounding payment delays from Egypt and Iraq’s Kurdish re-gion that forced the Sharjah, UAE-based company to restructure $1 billion of debt. - Bloomberg News

I S L A M I C F I N A N C EAsia sales help Saudi crudeexports rise to 7-month high

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s oil ex-ports rose to a seven-month high in November when it led Organi-sation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) to keep pro-duction unchanged as the largest crude shipper fought to keep mar-ket share with output rising from the United States to Russia.

Saudi Arabia’s oil exports rose to 7.3 million barrels a day from 6.9 million barrels in October, accord-ing to data on the website of the Joint Organisations Data Initia-tive. Crude stockpiles at the end of the month stood at 305.8 million barrels, the highest level since at least January 2002, figures on the group’s website showed.

Saudi Arabia dropped its offi-cial selling prices in Asia for No-vember sales to gain market share in the fastest-growing region for petroleum demand while it helped domestic refiners to be profitable. Brent crude futures have dropped about 35 per cent since Opec un-

expectedly maintained its produc-tion target of 30 million barrels a day on November 27.

Testing the market“The Saudis are trying to test the market with both higher volumes and lower prices,” John Sfakiana-kis, head of Ashmore Middle East, said by phone from Riyadh.

“They are flooding the market with exports and storage while keeping the price of their crude competitive. These are signs that they will do all what they can to keep up the market share.”

Brent oil dropped 0.3 per cent to $50 a barrel in Dubai, extending the decline to 53 per cent in the past year.

Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali

Al Naimi has asked why he should be responsible for cutting output while United Arab Emirates En-ergy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said non-Opec producers should

reduce ‘irresponsible’ production.An increase of about 6 million

barrels a day in supply from coun-tries outside the group, includ-ing the United States and Russia, helped trigger the drop in prices, according to Opec secretary-gen-eral Abdalla El Badri.

Market shareSaudi Arabia’s production in No-vember dropped to 9.61 million barrels a day from 9.69 million barrels in October, according to the Joint Organisation website. Saudi Arabia wants to keep mar-ket share so it can maintain pro-duction of at least 9.6 million bar-rels a day, Sfakianakis said.

“The discounts Saudi Arabia gave in November helped a lot in

selling crude that was freed dur-ing the month from domestic use,” Essam Al Marzooq, an independ-ent energy analyst in Kuwait and former vice president for Europe at state-run Kuwait Petroleum International, said by phone from Kuwait City.

“Saudi Arabia doesn’t want to see its output go below 9.6 million barrels a day. This is a baseline and legitimate level the Saudis will not forgo,” Essam Al Marzooq said yesterday- Bloomberg News

Saudi’s oil exports

rose to 7.3 million

barrels a day from

6.9 million barrels in

October as it dropped

official selling prices

to Asian buyers

China stocks nosedive 7.7%; Europe eyes crunch meeting LONDON: Chinese shares chalked up their biggest one-day slide of 7.7 per cent in nearly seven years yesterday after regu-lators there took steps to rein in speculative lending, while inves-tors everywhere braced for what is shaping up to be a critical week in the eurozone.

Expectations are high that the European Central Bank (ECB) will unveil a bond-buying stimu-lus package at a crunch policy meeting on Thursday, while the anti-bailout party Syriza main-tains a lead in the polls going into Greece’s general polls on Sunday.

Investors focused more on the anticipated quantitative easing, or ‘QE’, from the ECB than the plunge in Chinese shares or jit-ters over the Greek vote — some eurozone government bond yields hit new lows and German stocks reached a new high.

A United States holiday also made for relatively thin condi-tions at the start of a week in

which investors continue to digest the fallout of the Swiss National Bank’s shock decision last week to scrap the franc’s ex-change rate cap and that will be marked by a barrage of major data from China and elsewhere.

“The main speculation now is likely to be around the flavour of any ECB action at Thursday’s meeting,” said Michael Hewson, chief markets analyst at CMC Markets in London.

Bond buying“European markets have started a new week on the front foot in-creasingly confident that the ECB will announce a bond buying pro-gramme. This is being reflected in early trading by new record lows in European yields and fresh all-time highs in the German DAX,” he said.

European stocks shrugged off China’s tumble, with Germany’s DAX up 0.5 per cent at a new high of 10,220 points, Britain’s FTSE 100 index also rising by 0.5 per cent at 6,581 points , and France’s CAC 40 was up 0.2 per cent at 4,382 points.

In early European trade the Spanish 10-year government bond yield hit a new low of 1.47 per cent and Italy’s benchmark yield fell as low as 1.62 per cent. The QE speculation kept the euro anchored near last week’s 11-year low, and it was trading unchanged from Friday’s New York close around $1.1575. - Reuters

E C O N O M Y

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MAINTAINING MARKET SHARE: Saudi Arabia wants to keep market share so it can maintain production of at least 9.6 million barrels a

day, said John Sfakianakis, head of Ashmore Middle East Sfakianakis. – Bloomberg News

Was Brent oil price a

barrel in Dubai, dropped

0.3%, extending the

decline to 53% in the

past year. Saudi’s output

in November dropped to

9.61m barrels a day from

9.69m barrels in October

$50

EUROPEAN STOCKS European stocks

shrugged off China‘s

tumble, with Germany‘s

DAX up 0.5% at a new

high of 10,220 points,

Britain‘s FTSE 100 index

also up 0.5% at 6,581

points and France‘s CAC

40 was up 0.2%

B4

MARKETT U E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 0, 2 0 1 5

MSM index ends higher

MUSCAT: MSM 30 Index con-tinued its rally and closed at 6,655.27 points, up by 0.97 per cent. Similarly, MSM Shariah in-dex advanced strongly by 1.31 per cent to close at 989.98 points.

Al Anwar Holding was the most active in terms of volume as well as turnover. Al Batinah De-velopment & Investment Hold-ing, up by 9.66 per cent, was the top gainer, while Oman & Emir-ates Holding, down by 3.62 per cent, lost the most.

Altogether 2,157 trades were executed in the day’s session generating a turnover of OMR8.9 million with more than 27.6 mil-lion shares changing hands. Out of 54 traded stocks, 29 advanced, 10 declined and 15 remained unchanged. GCC and Arab in-vestors were net buyers to the tune of OMR122,000 worth of shares, while Omani investors were net sellers at OMR102,000 followed by foreign investors who sold stocks amounting to OMR20,000.

Financial Index increased by 0.31 per cent to close at 8,130.25 points. Al Batinah Development & Investment Holding, National Securities, Al Sharqia Invest-ments, ONIC Holding and Al Ma-dina Investments increased by 9.66 per cent, 7.50 per cent, 4.71 per cent, 4.17 per cent and 2.74 per cent respectively. Oman & Emir-ates Holding, Bank Sohar, Global Finance & Investments, Bank Nizwa and HSBC Bank Oman dfll fell 3.62 per cent, 2.49 per cent, 1.71 per cent, 1.22 per cent and 0.68 per cent respectively.

Industrial Index closed at 8,595.49 points, up by 0.65 per cent. Raysut Cement, Al Maha Ceramics, National Aluminium Products, Al Hassan Engineering and Oman Fisheries increased by 5.88 per cent, 4.21 per cent, 3.07 per cent, 1.87 per cent and 1.47 per cent respectively. Al Anwar Ceramics and Voltamp Energy

decreased by 1.29 per cent and 1.03 per cent respectively.

Services Sector Index ended the day’s session at 3,610.59 points, up by 0.92 per cent. Oore-doo, Al Jazeera Services, Nation-al Gas, Omantel and Al Suwadi Power increased by 4.19 per cent, 3.57 per cent, 2.42 per cent, 1.99 per cent and 1.72 per cent respec-tively. Sharqiyah Desalination and Renaissance Services de-creased by 1.56 per cent and 0.39 per cent respectively.

Emerging stocks fallEmerging-market stocks fell as a regulatory crackdown on high-risk margin trading led to the biggest rout in Chinese equities since 2008. Russian and Nigerian shares climbed amid optimism oil prices will stabilise.

Citic Securities Co. and Hai-tong Securities., China’s two big-gest listed brokerages, dropped by the 10 per cent daily limit in Shanghai after they were sus-pended from lending money to new clients. A gauge of infor-mation-technology companies headed for the highest close since November after India’s Wipro reported better-than-estimated quarterly profit.

The ruble strengthened after oil traded near $50 a barrel and Standard & Poor’s delayed a de-cision on whether to cut Russia’s sovereign rating to junk. Brazil-ian stocks fell for the first time in three days.

Chinese regulators moved to cool down the world’s best- per-forming stock market by tighten-ing norms for trading with bor-rowed money.

Their action came after out-standing margin loans in the country almost trebled to $174 billion since June and bank lend-ing to companies for investing in financial markets surged to the highest on record.

- United Securities/Bloomberg News

Al Batinah Development & Investment

Holding was the top gainer, while Oman &

Emirates Holding was the top loser

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SHARE PRICE BULLETIN FOR MONDAY, JANUARY 19

REGULAR MARKET .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................OM0000001418 ............RAYSUT CEMENT ........................................................ 21,190 .............38,192........................6 ............1.800 ........... 1.850 ...........1.800 ........... 1.800 ............. 1.700 .............0.100 ............. 5.882 ................1.850 ..............1.800...................1.850 ............. 360,000,000 .....0.100OM0000002440 ...........AL SHARQIA INVESTMENT HOLDING ........... 1,019,359........181,835..................... 97 ............0.175 ........... 0.180 ...........0.174 ............0.178 ............. 0.170............ 0.008 ............. 4.706 ................0.174 .............. 0.174...................0.178 ...............15,400,560 .......0.100OM0000003968 ...........OOREDOO....................................................................... 1,209,519 ......839,870..................... 87 ........... 0.668 ........... 0.708 ...........0.668 ........... 0.696 .............0.668 ........... 0.028 ............. 4.192 ................0.704 ..............0.700...................0.704..............453,057,184 ......0.100OM0000002614 ............ONIC. HOLDING .......................................................... 907,557..........362,485..................... 60 ........... 0.390 ...........0.400 ...........0.386........... 0.400 .............0.384 ............0.016 ............. 4.167 ................0.400..............0.394...................0.400 ..............69,369,300 .......0.100OM0000002226 ...........AL JAZEERA SERVICES .......................................... 364,010 ......... 126,886..................... 69 ........... 0.340 ...........0.360 ...........0.340 .......... 0.348 .............0.336 ............0.012 ............. 3.571 ................0.346..............0.344...................0.346 ..............21,299,087 .......0.100OM0000001319 ............NATIONAL ALUMINIUM PRODUCTS ............. 484,432 ..........162,716..................... 37 ........... 0.334 ...........0.340 ...........0.334........... 0.336 .............0.326 ............0.010 ............. 3.067 ................0.340............. 0.340...................0.342 .............. 11,280,007 .......0.100OM0000001962 ............AL MADINA INVESTMENT ....................................... 5,856 .................. 439........................2 ............0.075 ........... 0.075 ...........0.075 ........... 0.075 .............0.073 ........... 0.002 ............. 2.740 ................0.075 ..............0.073...................0.075 ............... 15,536,354 .......0.100OM0000001772 ............AL ANWAR HOLDING............................................... 8,260,582...1,955,360...................412 ........... 0.234 ........... 0.239 ...........0.234........... 0.237 ............. 0.231............ 0.006 ............. 2.597 ................0.234..............0.234...................0.235...............30,928,500 ......0.100OM0000001160 ............NATIONAL GAS .............................................................75,422 ............44,660..................... 20 ............0.574 ...........0.600 ...........0.574 ........... 0.592 .............0.578 ............0.014 ............. 2.422 ................0.580..............0.574...................0.580 ..............26,972,357 .......0.100OM0000001533 ............OMINVEST .................................................................... 221,875 ........... 95,406......................14 ........... 0.430 ........... 0.430 ...........0.430........... 0.430 .............0.420 ............0.010 ............. 2.381 ................0.430..............0.422...................0.430 .............144,799,490 ......0.100OM0000001483 ............NATIONAL BANK OF OMAN ................................. 1,690,932 ......606,664..................... 53 ........... 0.354 ...........0.364 ...........0.354........... 0.358 .............0.350 ........... 0.008 ............. 2.286 ................0.364..............0.364...................0.368............. 436,340,245 .....0.100OM0000003026 ...........OMAN TELECOMMUNICATION ........................ 268,495 ..........481,181..................... 75 ............1.765 ........... 1.810............ 1.765 ............1.790 ............. 1.755 .............0.035 ............. 1.994 ................1.810 .............. 1.810...................1.820 ............1,342,500,000....0.100OM0000001087 ............OMAN UNITED INSURANCE ............................... 1,460,967 ......443,948................... 103 ........... 0.297 ...........0.308 ...........0.297........... 0.304 .............0.299 ........... 0.005 ............. 1.672 ................0.304............. 0.304...................0.306 ..............30,400,000 ......0.100OM0000002820 ...........GULF INVESTMENT SERVICES ......................... 2,226,249 .....352,085....................117 ............0.157 ........... 0.160 ...........0.157 ............0.158 ............. 0.156............ 0.002 ............. 1.282 ................0.157 .............. 0.156...................0.157 ................ 9,297,228 ........0.100OM0000001525 ............OMAN INVESTMENT AND FINANCE .............. 1,144,500 ......279,600..................... 99 ........... 0.244 ...........0.246 ...........0.241 ........... 0.244 ............. 0.241 ........... 0.003 ............. 1.245 ................0.243............. 0.242...................0.243 ..............48,800,000 ......0.100OM0000002374............UNITED FINANCE ..................................................... 195,887 .............27,849..................... 22 ............0.145 ........... 0.148 ...........0.140 ........... 0.142 ............. 0.141 .............0.001 ............. 0.709 ................0.140 ..............0.140...................0.143 ............... 39,051,878 .......0.100OM0000003521 ............GALFAR ENGINEERING AND CON. .................. 447,400 ........... 85,422..................... 38 ............0.191 ........... 0.191 ............0.188 ............0.191 ............. 0.190 ............0.001 ............. 0.526 ................0.188 .............. 0.188...................0.190 ............... 50,351,183 .......0.100OM0000002028 ...........GULF INTERNATIONAL CHEMICALS ..............33,000 ...............6,332........................6 ............0.190 ........... 0.193 ...........0.190 ........... 0.192 ............. 0.191 .............0.001 ............. 0.524 ................0.190 .............. 0.186...................0.190 ................4,032,000 ........0.100OM0000001707 ............OMAN CABLES INDUSTRY ......................................20,592 ............ 41,342........................5 ........... 2.005 ...........2.040 ...........2.005........... 2.010 .............2.005 ........... 0.005 ............. 0.249 ................2.025............. 2.020...................2.025 .............180,297,000......0.100OM0000001145 ............PORT SERVICES CORPORATION ........................... 1,000 .................. 336........................ 1 ........... 0.336 ........... 0.336 ...........0.336 ........... 0.356 .............0.356 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.336 ..............0.336...................0.350...............33,834,240 ......0.100OM0000001749 ............OMAN CEMENT .............................................................. 5,000 ...............2,590........................ 1 ............0.518 ........... 0.518 ...........0.518 ........... 0.522 .............0.522 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.518 .............. 0.510...................0.518 .............. 172,715,555 ......0.100OM0000002176 ............AL JAZEERA STEEL PRODUCTS ........................ 177,024 .............58,157..................... 23 ........... 0.328 ........... 0.336 ...........0.328........... 0.328 .............0.328 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.330..............0.328...................0.330 .............. 40,966,531 .......0.100OM0000002200 ...........AHLI BANK .................................................................... 225,550 ............54,132........................9 ........... 0.240 ...........0.240 ...........0.240 .......... 0.240 .............0.240 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.240 .............0.233...................0.240 ............. 310,916,977 ......0.100OM0000002275 ...........SHELL OMAN MARKETING ........................................ 200 ..................400........................2 ........... 2.000 ...........2.000 ...........2.000 .......... 2.000 .............2.000 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................2.000 ............. 1.810...................2.000 .............190,000,000 .....0.100OM0000002572 ...........OMAN OIL MARKETING ..........................................20,345 ............ 45,573........................2 ........... 2.240 ...........2.240 ...........2.240 .......... 2.240 .............2.240 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ............... 2.240 ............ 0.000...................2.240 .............137,256,000 ......0.100OM0000002804 ...........ASAFFA FOODS .............................................................35,000 .............27,160........................2 ............0.776 ........... 0.776 ...........0.776 ............0.776 ............. 0.776............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.776 .............. 0.752...................0.800 ..............93,120,000 .......0.100OM0000003000 ...........ALMAHA PETROLEUM PRODUCTS MAR. ......... 2,010 .............. 4,342........................7 ............2.160 ........... 2.160 ...........2.160 ............2.155 ............. 2.155 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................2.160 .............. 2.155...................2.300 .............148,695,000......0.100OM0000004248 ...........SMN POWER HOLDING ............................................10,000 ...............6,600........................ 1 ........... 0.660 ........... 0.660 ...........0.660........... 0.660 .............0.660 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.660..............0.660...................0.696.............. 131,759,496 ......0.100OM0000003224 ...........RENAISSANCE SERVICES ..................................... 461,825 .........233,503..................... 33 ........... 0.508 ........... 0.508 ...........0.498 ........... 0.506 .............0.508 ...........-0.002 ........... -0.394 ...............0.498 ..............0.496...................0.498.............. 142,739,794 ......0.100OM0000002796 ...........BANK MUSCAT ............................................................ 1,297,734.......786,833................... 112 ........... 0.608 ........... 0.608 ...........0.600........... 0.608 ............. 0.612............-0.004 ........... -0.654 ...............0.604..............0.608...................0.612 ............ 1,327,074,418 ....0.100OM0000001517 ............HSBC BANK OMAN ......................................................75,000 .............10,875........................4 ............0.145 ........... 0.145 ...........0.145 ............0.145 ............. 0.146............-0.001 ........... -0.685 ...............0.145 .............. 0.141...................0.145 ..............290,045,355 .....0.100OM0000003661 ............VOLTAMP ENERGY ..................................................... 25,641 ...............9,903........................6 ........... 0.386 ...........0.390 ...........0.386........... 0.386 .............0.390 ...........-0.004 ........... -1.026 ...............0.390..............0.382...................0.390 ..............23,353,000.......0.100OM0000002168 ............AL ANWAR CERAMIC TILES ............................... 454,082 ........ 208,994..................... 22 ........... 0.462 ........... 0.462 ...........0.460........... 0.460 .............0.466 ...........-0.006 ........... -1.288 ...............0.460..............0.458...................0.460 ............. 113,548,578 ......0.100OM0000003125 ............GLOBAL FINANCIAL INVESTMENT ................ 130,000 ............14,970........................7 ............0.117 ........... 0.117 ............ 0.115 ............0.115 ............. 0.117 ............-0.002 ............-1.709 ................ 0.115 ...............0.113................... 0.115 ...............23,000,000 ......0.100OM0000003398 ...........BANK SOHAR................................................................ 849,280 .......... 199,731..................... 30 ........... 0.239 ........... 0.239 ...........0.234........... 0.235 ............. 0.241 ...........-0.006 ........... -2.490 ...............0.235 ..............0.234...................0.235............. 268,840,000 .....0.100OM0000001681 ............OMAN AND EMIRATES INV. HOLDING ........... 1,123,972 .......150,018..................... 96 ............0.136 ........... 0.136 ...........0.132 ............0.133 ............. 0.138............-0.005 ........... -3.623 ...............0.132 ...............0.131...................0.132 ............... 16,209,375 .......0.100.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 24,951,487 7,946,387............1,680 .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. TRADED SEC. ......36..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

PARALLEL MARKET ................................................................................................................................................................................. OM0000002366 ...........AL BATINAH DEV. INV. HOLDING ........................ 13,025 ............... 2,071........................3 ............0.159 ........... 0.159 ...........0.159 ............0.159 ............. 0.145.............0.014 ............. 9.655 ................0.159 .............. 0.159...................0.000 ............... 4,770,000 ........0.100OM0000002234 ...........NATIONAL SECURITIES ............................................ 7,000 ...............1,206........................2 ............0.175 ........... 0.175............0.170 ............0.172 ............. 0.160 ............0.012 ............. 7.500 ................0.170 .............. 0.150...................0.167 ................3,440,000 ........0.100OM0000005005 ...........ALMAHA CERAMICS ................................................ 687,192 ..........408,828...................209 ............0.576 ...........0.600 ...........0.576 ........... 0.594 .............0.570 ........... 0.024 ............. 4.211 ................0.590..............0.590...................0.594...............29,700,000 .......0.100OM0000002564 ...........AL HASSAN ENGINEERING.................................. 445,594 ........... 48,622..................... 53 ............0.108 ........... 0.110............0.108 ........... 0.109 ............. 0.107............ 0.002 ............. 1.869 ................0.109 ..............0.108................... 0.110 .................8,197,672 ........0.100OM0000004933 ...........AL SUWADI POWER .................................................. 244,521 ........... 43,225..................... 24 ............0.175 ........... 0.178 ...........0.175 ............0.177 ............. 0.174 ............ 0.003 ............. 1.724 ................0.178 .............. 0.178...................0.179 ..............126,449,922......0.100OM0000001566 ............OMAN FISHERIES .......................................................59,700 ............... 4,119........................8 ........... 0.069 ........... 0.069 ...........0.068........... 0.069 .............0.068 ............0.001 ..............1.471 .................0.069 ..............0.068...................0.069................8,625,000 ........0.100OM0000004735 ...........SEMBCORP SALALAH .............................................. 154,300 .........352,809..................... 42 ........... 2.260 ...........2.300 ...........2.260 .......... 2.285 .............2.260 ............0.025 ............. 1.106 ................2.300 ............ 2.300...................2.310 .............. 218,119,691 ......1.000OM0000004925 ...........AL BATINAH POWER ................................................ 312,121 ............ 55,020..................... 33 ............0.175 ........... 0.177 ...........0.175 ............0.176 ............. 0.175 .............0.001 ............. 0.571 ................0.177 .............. 0.177...................0.178 .............. 118,780,188 ......0.100OM0000001368 ............CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS IND. .................... 11,000 .................. 419........................2 ........... 0.039 ........... 0.039 ...........0.038........... 0.038 .............0.038 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.038 ..............0.037...................0.038................3,230,000 ........0.100OM0000001806 ............MUSCAT NATIONAL HOLDING ..................................745 ............... 1,386........................ 1 ............1.860 ........... 1.860 ...........1.860 ........... 1.860 ............. 1.860............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................1.860 ..............1.860...................0.000 ...............9,300,000 ........1.000OM0000001855 ............MAJAN GLASS .................................................................4,000 ...............1,000........................ 1 ........... 0.250 ...........0.250 ...........0.250........... 0.244 .............0.244 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.250..............0.230...................0.250 .............. 10,253,685 .......0.100OM0000004768 ...........AL MADINA TAKAFUL ............................................. 458,063 ...........42,826..................... 54 ........... 0.093 ........... 0.095 ...........0.093........... 0.093 .............0.093 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.093 ..............0.093...................0.094 ..............16,275,000 .......0.100OM0000004420 ...........BANK NIZWA ................................................................ 169,567 ............. 13,739......................19 ........... 0.082 ........... 0.082 ...........0.081 ........... 0.081 .............0.082 ...........-0.001 ........... -1.220 ...............0.081 ..............0.080...................0.081 ..............121,500,000......0.100OM0000004669 ...........SHARQIYAH DESALINATION ................................ 11,204 ............ 35,293......................19 ............3.150 ........... 3.150 ...........3.150 ............3.150 .............3.200 ...........-0.050 ............-1.563................3.150 .............. 3.150...................3.200 ..............30,807,680 .......1.000.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 2,578,032 ... 1,010,562...................470 .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. TRADED SEC. ......14..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

BONDS MARKET ........................................................................................................................................................................................OM0000004867 ...........BANK MUSCAT C C B 4.5 ......................................... 100,984 ........... 10,904........................2 ............0.106 ........... 0.108 ...........0.106 ........... 0.108 ............. 0.106 ........... 0.002 ............. 1.887 ................0.108 ..............0.106................... 0.113 ...............34,521,409 .......0.100OM0000004602 ...........BANK MUSCAT CONV. BONDS 4.5 ........................ 12,683 ............... 1,355........................3 ............0.105 ........... 0.107 ...........0.105 ........... 0.107 ............. 0.106 ............0.001 ............. 0.943 ................0.107 .............. 0.105...................0.107 ...............32,394,155 .......0.100OM0000003810 ............BANK MUSCAT SUBORDINATED BONDS .......... 1,000 ...............1,060........................ 1 ............1.060 ........... 1.060 ...........1.060 ........... 1.060 ............. 1.060 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................1.060 ..............1.060...................1.080 ...............79,500,000.......1.000OM0000004628 ...........BANK SOHAR BONDS 4.5 ................................................140 .....................14........................ 1 ........... 0.100 ........... 0.100 ...........0.100 ............0.101 ............. 0.101 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.100 ............. 0.000................... 0.101 ................ 7,221,500 ........0.100.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 114,807 .............13,333........................7 .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. TRADED SEC. ........ 4..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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 ........................................6,655.27 .............. 6,590.24 ................... 6,655.27 ....................6,591.13 ................. 64.14 ................... 0.97Financial Index .....................................8,135.26 ...............8,103.63 ................... 8,130.25 ................... 8,105.33 ................. 24.92 ................... 0.31Industrial Index ....................................8,595.72 .............. 8,533.94 ................... 8,595.49 ...................8,539.60 ..................55.89 ................... 0.65Services Index ....................................... 3,611.14 ............... 3,577.51 ....................3,610.59 ....................3,577.51 ................. 33.08 ...................0.92MSM SHARIAH INDEX.......................989.99 ...................977.13 .......................989.98 ....................... 977.17 .................. 12.81 ................... 1.31

Trading SummaryVolume ................ Turnover ..........Trades .............. Market Cap............. Up ............Down ............. Equal .........Sec. Traded27,644,326 ................. 8,970,283 ..................2,157 ............... 14,933,081,375 ................29 ..................... 10 .................... 15 .........................54

Indian stocks peak to six-week high; rupee advances againMUMBAI: Indian stocks rose for a third day after Wipro reported profit that beat estimates and as crude oil traded in New York had its first weekly gain since November.

Wipro, the third-biggest soft-ware exporter, rallied the most in 18 months. Reliance Industries Ltd., owner of the world’s largest refining complex, rose for a third day. Axis Bank Ltd. jumped to a record. Hindustan Unilever Ltd.

tumbled the most since January 2011 after reporting the slowest sales growth in three quarters.

The S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.5 per cent to 28,262.01, the high-est close since December 5. Eu-ropean Central Bank President Mario Draghi may announce a 550 billion-euro ($635 billion) bond-purchase program on January 22, according to a survey.

The Sensex last week had its biggest weekly jump in more than

two months after Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Ra-jan cut borrowing costs in an un-scheduled move.

“Markets have stabilised glob-ally, and we should have the ECB quantitative” this week, Ajay Srivastava, managing director of Dimensions Consulting Pvt., told Bloomberg TV India on Monday. “A benign international environ-ment and a very aggressive local environment is a potent combina-

tion. We should get at least 1 per cent to 2 per cent rate cut in 2015.”

Wipro jumped 5.3 per cent, the most since July 2013.

Rupee advancesIndia’s rupee advanced for a third day as foreign investors stepped up purchases of the nation’s bonds.

Global funds bought $1.3 billion more rupee-denominated sover-eign and corporate debt than they sold last week through January

15, the latest exchange data show. That took inflows for this month to $1.8 billion, following a record $26 billion in 2014. India’s central bank cut interest rates last week for the first time since May 2013 to spur the economy.

The rupee climbed 0.3 per cent to close at 61.7075 a dollar in Mum-bai, according to prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg. It reached 61.4850 on January 15, the strongest level since November 13.

The currency has gained 2.2 per cent in 2015, the best performance in Asia, data shows. “The rupee’s gain can be attributed to the enor-mous inflows into debt assets,” said Anindya Banerjee, a currency analyst at Kotak Securities.

Reserve Bank of India gover-nor Raghuram Rajan lowered the benchmark repurchase rate to 7.75 per cent from 8 per cent in an un-scheduled move on January 15

- Bloomberg News

I N D I A N M A R K E T S

B5T U E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 0, 2 0 1 5

ROUND-UPBankDhofar organises trade finance seminar

MUSCAT: In line with its con-stant drive to support corporate customers, BankDhofar recently conducted its Annual Trade Fi-nance Seminar at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Muscat.

The event, which aimed to spread first-hand knowledge among participants on the aspects of international trade finance, was attended by a group of finance managers and trade finance per-sonnel who represented custom-ers from large companies as well as small and medium-sized enter-prises, says a press release.

“BankDhofar works tirelessly to support its customers on the retail and corporate levels likewise. This annual seminar provides a plat-

form for us to meet with our re-spective corporate customers and also gives us all the opportunity to interact and share knowledge on the trade finance sector. This does not only strengthen our relation-ship with our corporate customers, but also helps us better understand their needs and requirements in order to provide them with the best banking services and prod-ucts available in the market,” said Kamal Hassan Al Murazza, DGM – Wholesale Banking.

During the seminar, partici-pants discussed various topics relevant to local and global trade financeand touched base with the challenges, opportunities, insights and latest trends in the sector. A vast array of BankDhofar prod-ucts, services and trade finance solutions were presented during

the seminar where participants also shared their experiences and exchanged perspectives on several areas of common interest.

“BankDhofar aspires to pro-vide corporate customers with an insightful understanding of the global market and to keep them abreast of the developments in the international trade finance sector. We want to ensure that our cor-porate customers are acquainted with the latest trends in the indus-try, and we stress our commitment to meet their financing needs and exceed their expectations,” said Al Murazza.

BankDhofar continues to be a leader in the market and a major contributor to the financial servic-es sector in the Sultanate. As a part of the bank’s increased emphasis on trade finance, a special unit has

been created to attend to special-ised requirements of the custom-ers in this area.

Corporate customers can en-joy a full array of import-export products and services, including centralised trade finance facili-ties, competitive foreign exchange rates, faster payments, quick turn-around time, improved cash management, competitive service charges, import letters of credit and collection bill services, ar-ranging buyer’s credit, export LC advising and confirmation, export collections, export bill purchase and discounting, bid and tender bonds, receipts of remittance from overseas (inward remittance) ser-vices and overseas payment ser-vices (outward payments).

For more convenience, in-ternet banking channels areav-ailable 24/7 to provide instant banking services to BankDhofar corporate customers.

Dedicated business centres across the Sultanate also offer state-of-the-art banking services to further boost BankDhofar’s support to the SME sector as well as corporate customers. Today there are seven dedicated centres nationwide, providing services to customers in Ghala, Muscat Grand Mall, Nizwa, Al Buraimi, Salalah, Sur and Sohar.

The seminar

highlighted aspects

of international trade

finance and current

trends in the local

and global markets

Al Aufi visits RAY skills training siteMUSCAT: Salim bin Nasser Al Aufi, Undersecretary, Ministry of Oil and Gas, recently visited RAY Skills International Develop-ment Training site at Halban and had a comprehensive tour of the facility, says a press release.

Chairman Dr Tahir Al Kindi introduced the guest to the staff, the trainees as he reviewed the facility and its capabilities. Ta-meem Al Mahrouqi, managing director, briefed the undersec-retary about the 2015 plans of having training infrastructure for LV and HV electrical and mechanical training within the same facility.

“The training facility holds the world’s largest welding training institute with 100 independent welding booths, first of its kind

training rig and wire line unit that is fully designed by Omani engineers and built in Omanfor public,” said Rashid Al Mahrouqi, executive director.

Salim Al Aufi had discussion with the Omani trainees for both welding and RIG to have a first-hand understanding of the training progress in the presence of Rashid Nasser Al Jahdhami — general manager and Ronaye Beck — business development director for RAY Skills Interna-tional Development. The under-secretary expressed his satisfac-tion and said he wished to see the entire training with other disci-plines functional by 2015, which will enable the country to train more local workforce in Oman with international accreditation.

T O U R

Leading Malaysian doctors share medical expertise at IMTEC OmanMUSCAT: MHTC and its member hospitals from Malaysia have set up shop to share medical expertise in the IMTEC Oman at the Oman International Exhibition Centre (OIEC) from January 19 to 21.

Malaysian hospitals and their doctors will be present at Booth Stand No. ED1 from 10am to 8pm to attend to medical enquiries on site, says a press release.

Malaysian doctors and special-ists are here in Oman as Malay-sia continues to gain popularity as a medical tourism destination amongst the GCC countries.

The Ministry of Health Malay-sia under the corporatised agency, the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) Malaysia, is proud to be amongst one of the few countries within the region where medical tourism is promoted by the government.

Hence medical tourists can have the assurance of quality care and can be guided by the regulation, safety standards and the governing laws within this industry.

They can also be sure of inter-nationally accredited hospitals, western trained professionals,

Halal food easily obtainable, short time waiting Arabic speaking translators and Muslim-friendly hospital environment

Four reputable hospitals from Malaysia will be present for the IMTEC Oman expo.

The details of these hospitals and the consultants are: Dr. Saini Jeffery (rehabilitation medicine consultant), KPJ Healthcare; Dr. Andrea Ooi (consultant bariat-ric and metabolic surgeon), Nilai Medical Centre; Dr. Lee Chee Kuan (consultant orthopaedic),

Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care and Dr. Sarenjit Kaur (Medical Of-ficer) KPJ Healthcare.

Malaysia’s presence in Oman is to highlight its medical edge over some of the favoured countries by Omanis such as Thailand and Germany. Malaysia further aims to foster a healthier working rela-tionship by sharing and exchang-ing medical ideas and expertise between doctors from Oman and Malaysia. The ultimate aim is to provide better medical options for the people of Oman.

M E D I C A L E X P O

Class XII ISAS students make a memorable trip to Bidiya SandsMUSCAT: The Class XII stu-dents of Indian School Al Seeb (ISAS) had a great time when they recently went to an educa-tional-cum-fun trip to Bidiya Sands for an over-night camping.

This was the best medicine for them to bust up their stress level after their preliminary examina-tion and to combat the coming Board exams, says a press release.

The trip began with the daily prayer and a well-being message with a word of caution from the Principal’s side. Then they were on the road for a luxurious and comfortable bus ride, proving the famous quote that it is the journey which is more important in life than the destination.

Upon reaching there the chil-dren were pleasantly surprised to check in their spacious and plush rooms. After having light snacks, they went on to the sand dune tracks to watch the hues and shades of the setting sun.

They also had loads of fun sledging and sliding. There were squeals of laughter and giggles heard while hundreds of selfies and group pictures were clicked.

The night began with a sur-prised entertainment programme presented for the students by their teachers where the educa-tors sang, danced and mimicked. The organisers had laid a sump-tuous dinner which the children enjoyed with their friends. The camp fire under the chilly and clear, starry night was a magical moment and the highlight of the whole trip.

The students unwound all their tensions and strung along on their guitars songs in Arabic, English and Hindi. There was a jam ses-sion in the end where all danced together and adored these unfor-gettable moments.

The fun filled picnic didn’t end

here as in the morning a lot of in-door and outdoor games awaited them. After a hearty and lavishly spread out breakfast they played cricket, table tennis, chess, foot-ball and enjoyed the swings and rides. They were accompanied by six senior teachers.

“We sincerely thank our school management and the Principal for allowing us to come on this wonderful trip,” said the students.

The students literally proved that when they are entrusted with a sense of responsibility and faith they can work wonders. They displayed an extraordinary level of self-restrain and discipline throughout the trip and made it a huge success.

F U N T I M E

Bridgestone announces special new year offer

MUSCAT: Tyre major Bridge-stone and sole distributor in the Sultanate, Towell Auto Centre (TAC), start the New Year with a special offer.

‘Buy four Bridgestone tyres and win Lulu gift vouchers free instantly’ is the message to one and all. This campaign is another initiative by Bridgestone to reward customers, by adding value to driv-ing pleasure in the New Year, says a press release.

The scheme offers customer gift vouchers instantly with cash pur-chase of four Bridgestone tyres. The offer is valid on cash purchase of PSR, 4WD, LSR, and LVR tyres upto February 28.

The scheme offers one gift voucher worth OMR10, 15 or 20 against purchase of four Bridge-stone tyres from any Tyre Care Plus or First Stop outlet in Oman. With every single purchase of four tyres, customers are eligible to win the gift vouchers as per the catego-ry specified.

Customers purchasing tyres of rim size 15 and below will receive a gift voucher worth of OMR10. Gift vouchers of OMR15 can be won on the purchase of tyres with rim siz-es from 16-18. Gift voucher worth OMR20 can be won on rim size 19 and above and for 4WD tyres.

“We are extremely delighted to offer our customers a chance to start off the New Year by being a part of our campaign. We are more

than happy to reward our custom-ers and the scheme is one platform through which the company aims to show appreciation to its loyal customers,” said, Oommen John, AGM, Bridgestone Tyre division at TAC .

“Bridgestone Tyres continue to be one of the most trusted tyre brands offering a great range of tyres without compromising on quality. Bridgestone’s growth in the Sultanate is a clear indication of the trust reposed on its brands and ser-vices by the motorists in the coun-try. We look forward to exciting of-fers for our customers in the year to follow to reward the customer for showing confidence in our prod-ucts and operations,” he added.

Bridgestone is committed to in-novation and assures customers of

quality tyres and reliable services. The company aims to redefine safety and performance with a huge emphasis on environment to continuously improve the brand. Bridgestone’s commitment to the safety and comfort of its custom-ers inspires and sets standards for technological advancement.

TAC has wide network of Tyre Care Plus outlets for Bridgestone Tyres located at Barka, Musannah, Bu Ali, Ibra, Sinaw, Ibri, Nizwa, Karsha, Sumail, Sohar, Saham, Bu-reimi, Sur, Salalah, and in the capi-

tal at Al Khoudh, Baushar, Ghala, Ghubra, Mabella, Rusayl, and Wadi Kabir. Bridgestone Truck Tyre Centre is located Ghala and Fleet points are located at Duqum, Fahud, Karsha, Nimr, and Salalah.

“We welcome everyone to visit First Stop, our multi-product multi-service outlets opened in Seeb and Amerat. Customers can choose from an extensive range of tyres and avail the best in terms of service, quality care and expertise from well trained professionals and service engineers,” said John.

C A M P A I G N

We are extremely delighted to offer our customers a chance to start off the New Year by being a part of our campaign. We are more than happy to reward our customers and the scheme is one platform through which the company aims to show appreciation to its loyal customers

Oommen JohnAGM, Bridgestone Tyre division at Towell Auto Centre

First Dubai records 51% profit from sales, leases in 2014DUBAI: First Dubai, a Sub-sidiary Company of Al-Mazaya Holding, announced its financial results for the 2014 ending fiscal year following the Board Meeting held here recently.

The Board of Directors of First Dubai Real-Estate Development announced the company has re-corded KD 3.55 million net profit and 3.55 Fils earnings per share, says a press release.

The financial statements of the company for the 2014 ending fiscal year report First Dubai’s strong ability to maintain its operating revenues at KD 5.36 million resulting from sales and lease processes, compared to KD 5.30 million achieved in 2013. Furthermore, from the lease pro-cesses only revenues registered an outstanding jump by 30 per cent of the total operating rev-enues, increasing to KD 1.97 mil-lion at the year ending in 2014, compared to KD 1.52 million earned in the year ending in 2013.

Impressive results These remarkable results were the fruit of management efforts exerted during the last year leas-ing and operating promising

projects, mirroring KD 3.39 mil-lion returns attained from cur-rent projects, reflected by a 51 per cent increase on the opera-tional profits from lease and sales processes, surging to KDs 2.42 achieved in 2014, compared to KD 1.60 in 2013. �

Real estate unitsFirst Dubai attributes the suc-cesses reflected in its financial results to the considerable num-ber of real-estate units concluded and delivered mostly in Dubai. ‘The Villa’, the first-quality resi-dential project ideally located in Dubai Land, is a live example of these projects. At the ‘Sky Gar-dens’ project, meanwhile, located in Dubai World Financial Cen-tre, occupations increased to 99 per cent. First Dubai’s financial statements reflect strong assets, amounting to KD 99.28 million at the end of 2014, compared to KD 72.61 million achieved in 2013 – rising by 37 per cent. Similarly, the equity increased to KD 61.16 million end of 2014, up from KD 55.20 million at the end of 2013, representing 11 per cent increase from last year. One Kuwaiti dinar equals 1.31 Omani rials.

F I N A N C I A L R E S U L T

B6 T U E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 0, 2 0 1 5

ROUND-UPPowerful Pathfinder 3.5L offers unforgettable driving experience

MUSCAT: The Nissan Pathfind-er 3.5L from the house of Suhail Bahwan Automobiles is set to de-fine what the next generation SUV should offer: Perfect off-road ca-pability (i-Auto 4WD system), dy-namic design, class-leading com-fort, thoughtful technology, and a rewarding driving experience.

With the introduction of the all-new fourth generation, not only does Pathfinder provide ca-pability with spacious seating for seven, and an intuitive 4 wheel drive system, but it also resets the standard for the segment with an unprecedented level of premium

style, comfort, fuel economy and thoughtful technology, says a press release.

The Pathfinder now enters the Nissan range at a time when de-mand for SUVs in Oman contin-ues to show considerable growth. With the feature-packed all-new Pathfinder, Nissan is confident of capitalizing on this growth and strengthening its position in the off-road segment.

Dynamic designAlong with reduced weight, Pathfinder’s new unibody plat-form provided the designers an

opportunity to create the more aerodynamic exterior without compromising headroom or cargo capacity. Moving upscale in appearance, the new exterior styling presents a smart fusion of signature Nissan styling cues and dynamic strength. The look is adventure-ready with wheel-oriented muscular fenders and a strong, stable stance. The upper body features an open cabin with large windows which can be com-plemented with an available Dual Panoramic Moonroof, to enhance the new Pathfinder’s open, airy in-terior environment.

Class-leading comfort The new Pathfinder offers the

comfort of a larger SUV with its flat floor enhancing interior pack-aging flexibility.

The Pathfinder’s unique versa-tility is exemplified in the design of the EZ Flex seating system, giving 5.5 inches of sliding sec-ond row seating travel while ad-ditionally providing exceptional third row access even with a child safety seat remaining securely in place (on the passenger curb side). Pathfinder’s quiet, comfortable in-terior benefits from a wide range of available features, rich leather-appointed seating surfaces; ven-tilated, heated and cooled front seats; sliding second row seats and an advanced Bose audio system with 12 speakers.

Thoughtful technologyThoughtful technology is also found throughout the Pathfinder interior, starting with Nissan’s advanced, class-exclusive Around View™ Monitor, which provides the driver a virtual 360-degree im-age of the area around the vehicle. The instrument panel includes ad-vanced drive-assist display (stand-ard on every model), features a 4.0-inch LCD colour display, and utilises 3D-effect graphics to relay key information right in front of the driver.

The instrument panel includes a large multifunction centre IT dis-play, available Nissan navigation system, streaming audio via Blue-tooth and rear view monitor.

Other technology includes Tri-Zone automatic climate con-trol, Bluetooth hands-free phone system, power rear liftgate, iPod integration and tri-zone enter-tainment system with 2nd row head restraint-mounted DVD display screens.

Rewarding experienceAddressing buyers’ desire for more efficiency in every aspect of their lives, the Pathfinder’s engine and CVT combination develops 13% better acceleration than the previous generation while return-

ing 30% better fuel efficiency. Featuring a 3.5-litre DOHC V6 engine mated to a next-genera-tion Xtronic CVT (continuously variable transmission) the ideal rpm for the driving conditions are always maintained. All-new Pathfinder is the only vehicle in class with selectable 2WD, Auto or 4WD Lock modes for its avail-able intuitive All-Mode 4x4-i sys-tem. The system lets the driver choose full-time 2WD for maxi-mum fuel economy, Auto mode to automatically monitor conditions and adjust the balance of power between front and rear wheels for best traction, or 4WD Lock mode when the confidence of full-time 4WD is desired. In addition, stand-ard Hill Start Assist helps add control when starting and driving away on a steep incline (both 4WD and 2WD models).

With best-in-class standard towing capacity, up to 5000lb, the all-new Pathfinder also retains its ability to tow boats, jet skis, trail-ers and a variety of other recrea-tional gear.

SBA is largely committed to supporting Nissan’s growth in the Sultanate through major emphasis on customer satisfaction and by providing world-class after-sales services in Oman.

The Pathfinder now enters the Nissan range

at a time when demand for SUVs in Oman

continues to show considerable growth.

With the feature-packed all-new Pathfinder,

Nissan is confident of capitalising on this

growth and strengthening its position

in the off-road segment

Bank Sohar highlights Islamic discoveries in 2015 calendarMUSCAT: Celebrating the en-during legacy of Muslim civili-sation, Bank Sohar issued their 2015 calendar under the theme ‘Discover the Discoveries’ in as-sociation with 1001 Inventions – a leading and award-winning inter-national science and cultural her-itage organisation.

As a part of its efforts towards promoting local traditions and cultures as well as educating its customers on the important con-tributions of the historic Muslim civilisation to modern society, each of the 12 months of the Bank Sohar 2015 calendar discusses the achievements of stalwarts from ancient Islamic civilisations, who had made breakthroughs that have left their mark on our world, says a press release.

Highlighting the significance of the new calendar, Munira Abdulnabi Macki, the DGM of Human Resource and Corpo-rate Support noted, “During its

Golden Ages, the Muslim civili-sation stretched from Spain to China. During this time scholars and inventors built on the knowl-edge from ancient civilisations, making breakthroughs that have shaped the world we enjoy today.

Unfortunately, inventions are most noticeable only when we can physically see the historical changes they cause.

“It is because of this limited perception that today we might not appreciate the work of these

7th century inventors on a daily basis. With this calendar, we at Bank Sohar, want to provide our customers with a snapshot of the world during this Golden Age and spread awareness on the signifi-cant contributions of our ances-tors to modern society, giving due credit to these innovative minds.”

With each passing year Bank Sohar, as a part of its CSR ini-tiative, refreshes the design and theme of its calendar with the aim of spreading awareness and knowledge on key topics that can make meaningful contributions to the lives of its customers& so-ciety as well.

The 2015 version of Bank Sohar calendar takes readers on a jour-ney to the Golden Age of Muslim civilisation where, from the 7th century onwards, scholars from different cultures and faiths built on ancient knowledge to make breakthroughs that had a positive impact on our lives today.

‘ D I S C O V E R T H E D I S C O V E R I E S ’

With this calendar, we at Bank Sohar, want to provide our customers with a snapshot of the world during this Golden Age and spread awareness on the significant contributions of our ancestors to modern society, giving due credit to these innovative minds

Munira Abdulnabi MackiDGM of Human Resource and Corporate Support

B7T U E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 0, 2 0 1 5

ROUND-UP

alizz Islamic bank, ROP conduct joint fire drillMUSCAT: alizz Islamic bank demonstrated a well-orchestrated fire drill in partnership with the Royal Oman Police (ROP), Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance (PACD) and the Safety & Security Services recently. Fire drills are monitored by the bank’s Health and Safety function of the Administration Division, led by Eng. Yusouf Al Balushi, to evaluate egress and behavioural patterns, says a press release.

Reports are prepared by allocat-ed staff wardens and recommen-dations are followed through to correct any identified deficiencies.

“We were encouraged by the sup-port from ROP, PACD and Safety & Security Service’s to conduct a safety exercise as it is important to ensure staff at all levels are well-informed and able to support oth-ers during emergency. The ROP and PACD proved that they are ex-tremely efficient and demonstrated first class response. We would like to commend their efficiency and thank them for their guidance and support during this exercise,” Saif Al Yarabi, COO, said.

Fire drills are conducted twice a year at the main head office and supervised by the HSE supervisor of the bank, Nasser bin Sultan Al Shaqsy. The purpose of fire drills

is to prepare staff for an organised evacuation in case of fire or other emergency. At alizz Islamic bank, fire drills are used as a way to edu-cate and train staff on fire safety issues specific to their building. During the drill, staff practice drill procedures, familiarise them-selves with the location of exits, the sound of the fire alarm and the assembly point located in the parking lot directly across from Al-izz Tower. In addition, fire drills al-low the bank an opportunity to test the operation of fire alarm system components.

The ROP, PACD and the Safety & Security Service also conducted

mock scenario of injured staff, as well as managed traffic on the roads leading to and away from Alizz Tower. The mock scenario showcased an alizz islamic bank staff locked in the building of which the ROP and Civil PACD acted efficiently and swiftly.

The bank has appointed and trained 12 staff wardens from each floor as fire leaders to ensure that the fire safety evacuation proce-dure is carried out promptly. The fire drill was overall successful; evacuation, arrival of the firemen and policemen and rescue of the stranded staff were completed in a record time.

S A F E T Y M E A S U R E

‘Be inspired’ as Oman fascinates more

at Ooredoo’s Muscat Festival stalls

MUSCAT: In line with its theme, ‘Be Inspired’, Ooredoo is offering an exciting and diverse range of activities for visitors to the Mus-cat Festival this year. This year’s festival focus is on children and families and Ooredoo promises to provide a fun and enriching expe-rience, says a press release.

The first participation for Oore-doo since the rebrand, the com-pany is sponsoring the Kids Village at Al Amerat Park to bring families some exciting new experiences, in-cluding a specially designed maze, painting competitions and other fun activities on the Ooredoo stage. These events will aim to inspire the little visitors to do more, have a great time and hone their talents and skills at the same time.

Ooredoo stands at Naseem Park in Seeb and Al Amerat Park will feature their exciting range of products and services with cham-pions available to assist new and current customers with a host of different offers. Visitors will be able to learn about More Credit, More Internet and Shahry plans and also take up the great iPhone 6 and Note 4 offers. Showcasing its digital capabilities and net-work strength, the Ooredoo stands promise to engage crowds and there’s even an augmented reality show, giving visitors a truly unique experience.

Raed Dawood, director of Gov-ernment Relations and Corporate Affairs at Ooredoo, said, “Our com-mitment to bringing different ex-periences that suit our customers remains our focus.

“In keeping with the festival’s theme this year, ‘Oman Fasci-nates’, we wanted to give visitors an opportunity to look deeper into our way of doing things, to see how we care for our customers, how we connect with them at every stage of their lives and how we challenge ourselves to continue to do better for them. We are confident that each and every visitor will enjoy their Ooredoo experience at Mus-cat Festival this year, no matter their age.”

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

In keeping with the festival’s theme this year, ‘Oman Fascinates’, we wanted to give visitors an opportunity to look deeper into our way of doing things, to see how we care for our customers, how we connect with them at every stage of their lives and how we challenge ourselves to continue to do better for them

Raed DawoodDirector of Government Relations and Corporate Affairs at Ooredoo

Guaranteed cash gift offer on 2015 ZNA Rich pickups

MUSCAT: A proven workhorse, a reliable partner delivering an im-pressive combination of power, ca-pability and efficiency, Zhengzhou Nissan Automobile (ZNA) Rich pickups are now available with an even more impressive offer that gives you guaranteed cash gift on the 2015 models.

The starting price of these mod-els is OMR4,799 and customer gets a guaranteed cash gift of OMR450, in addition to free 24 hours AAA roadside assistance package on its purchase, says a press release.

The Rich Pickups from ZNA is a workhorse equipped to meet vary-ing business needs and is complete

value for money. Dependable for a wide variety

of activities, the 2015 models are available in single cabin 2 door and double cabin 4 door configurations with new enhanced interiors.

The powerful 2.4 litre 4 cylin-der engine sees you through it all, be it a long drive to a faraway des-tination or hauling heavy loads. The adjustable and compress-ible steering column, independ-ent double wishbone suspension along with the plush interiors and a CD + USB + SD card enabled au-dio system make sure each drive is a comfortable one.

About this offer, a spokesperson

from Towell Auto Centre (TAC), the sole distributor of ZNA range of vehicles in Oman said, “The ZNA brand is synonymous with affordability and reliability and because of these qualities ZNA has made a mark especially among the small and medium businessmen. These SMEs are an integral part of our country’s progress and we are sure this guaranteed cash back of-fer will help the SMEs boost their business. The guaranteed cash back will be offered until Feb 28.”

Established in 1993 and located in Zhengzhou in central China, Zhengzhou Nissan Automobile Co. (ZNA) is a 50/50 joint venture between the Chinese Dongfeng Motor Group Co. Ltd. and Japan’s Nissan Motor Co. Ltd which is the largest investment project of Nis-san all over the world.

With a network of 11 show-rooms, 13 service outlets and 10 parts outlets spread across the Sultanate, TAC is the sole distribu-tor of the ZNA range in Oman.

The starting price of ZNA Rich pickups 2015

models is OMR4,799 and customer gets

a guaranteed cash gift of OMR450

Air India Express woos customers with free extra baggage, low fares

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Passengers travelling to India can now take advantage of a generous offer from Air India Express by carrying extra bag-gage free of cost.

They can also look for some attractive promotional fares to a couple of destinations in south-ern India.

Air India Express has an-nounced enhanced free baggage allowance (FBA) of 30 kilogram for all passengers travelling from Muscat and Salalah to its Indian destinations until March 11.

In addition, passengers who purchased excess baggage of 10 kg along with earlier FBA of 20 kilos will now be entitled to carry 40 kg (30 + 10).

The airline has also intro-duced promotional fares from Muscat to Kochi and Thiru-vananthapuram.

Air India Express currently operates weekly 19 flights from Muscat to Kerala and Manga-lore - Daily to Kozhikode, Four Flights (Wednesday, Thursday,

Friday and Saturday) to Kochi, Four Flights (Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday) to Thiru-vananthapuram and Four Flights (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday) to Mangalore.

Apart from this Air India Ex-press operates twice weekly flights from Salalah connecting Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.

Passengers travelling to India can now also take advantage of the ‘24 x 7 Air India Express call centre facility’, which can be ac-cessed on phone number: +91- 44 – 66921500.

Air India Express currently op-erates Direct flights using B737-800 aircraft to Kochi, Thiru-vananthapuram, and Kozhikode from Muscat and Salalah and to Mangalore from Muscat.

National Travel and Tourism is the Representative Agent for Air India Express in Oman. Pas-sengers can contact Air India Express office located at CBD Area opposite to Central Bank of Oman or their travel agents for planning their next visit to India.

G E N E R O U S O F F E R

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ROUND-UPT U E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 0, 2 0 1 5

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Toyota makes Muscat Festival more special

MUSCAT: Toyota enthusiasts have a wonderful opportunity to get closer to the brand at the pop-ular, fun-filled family event, the Muscat Festival. The festival will last until February 14.

Since its inception in 1998, Saud Bahwan Group has been the gold sponsor of this popular festival, says a press release.

Over the years Muscat Festival has proved to be more than just a celebratory, cultural and artistic event in the Sultanate of Oman. It has managed to invent and rein-vent itself into a major entertain-

ment spectacle, plus a carnival and a shopping wonder, all rolled into one. Muscat Festival celebrates traditional art, culture and her-itage while providing people of Oman fun, adventure, excitement and entertainment.

A senior official of the Amerat Park venue said that those visit-ing the 2015 Muscat Festival have many events lined up for them.

“Last year, around one million people visited the festival but this year we expect that number to go up as there are too many attrac-tions at both the venues,” he said.

For the first time, a Jurassic Park at the Nassem Park and a snow village at the Amerat Park have been introduced. In the area, water sports activities like sail-ing and racing boats will be or-ganised, in collaboration with the Royal Navy of Oman (RNO) in

conjunction with Oman Sailing. Other attractions include laser shows, child aerobic show, camel and equestrian racing show, tent pegging show, Muscat Marathon, universities and colleges beach soccer, beach volleyball, various auto shows, basketball competi-tions, marine craft village and the Tour of Oman.

“The event line-up provides great excitement to the Naseem Garden and Al Amerat venues in the city of Muscat. In the same spirit, the Toyota Zone features captivating programmes and quizzes. These specially prepared programmes are made to engage and entertain the Toyota fans and audiences,” said a Toyota spokesperson

“Over the years Toyota has made its presence felt at the Muscat Fes-tival. Every year there are many exciting and engaging events visi-

tors look forward to at the Toyota zone. Toyota presents its fans with some of the finest set of events to make a lasting place in their hearts and minds,” he added.

The Toyota Zone has a lot to of-fer in terms of gifts, on-stage activ-ities and entertaining performanc-es. Here, visitors can also view the latest Toyota models like the Corolla, the Avalon, the Aurion, the Fortuner TRD and the LC 200 5.7L Premium Edition at Naseem Garden and the Yaris Hatchback, the RAV4 and the FJ Cruiser at Al Amerat venue.

On being informed about Toy-ota’s participation at this year’s Muscat Festival, a Toyota custom-er remarked, “My family already knows this! They are impatiently waiting to visit the Toyota zone! My friends told me that the zone has so much going on there that it’s very hard to move out of an ongo-ing event, especially when there are so many prizes to be won.”

This year, the team at Saud Bahwan Automotive have planned a range of activities that are set to up the levels of celebrations at this year’s Muscat Festival.

Several interactive activities, events like acrobatic shows and folklore dances are all in place to encourage the visitors to have a wonderful and memorable time such that Toyota can be a part of these sweet memories.

Over the years

Toyota has made

its presence felt at

the Muscat Festival.

Every year there are

many exciting and

engaging events

visitors look forward

to at the Toyota zone

BankDhofar supports

Environment Day

MUSCAT: Reaffirming its com-mitment to the environment and in line with its operational strat-egy as an integral member of the community, BankDhofar extend-ed its support to the events and activities organised at the Float-ing Theatre in Al Qurum Natural Park to mark the Oman Environ-ment Day.

The three-day annual event was organised by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs to celebrate the Oman Environ-ment Day that falls on January 8 every year. The day included various educational and cultural activities that aimed to spread awareness of environment relat-ed issues says a press release.

In addition to senior officials from the Ministry of Environ-ment and Climate Affairs, senior representatives from the public and private sector organisations, the fun-filled event was attended by a large crowd of the public who

engaged in various activities, ex-hibitions, educational games and competitions.

Highlighting BankDhofar’s commitment to environment causes and community engage-ment initiatives, Ahmed Said Al Ibrahim, Deputy General Man-ager of Government Banking and Branding, stressed: “Envi-ronment issues are a concern to all of us. We all need to be re-sponsible and show support to such initiatives.

“Environment sustainability and climate change are very deli-cate subjects that require spe-cial attention, comprehensive strategies and joint efforts by all segments of society. We at Bank-Dhofar realise our responsibility in relation to the environment, and we do not hesitate to support efforts that aim to contribute to the sustainability of the environ-ment and contribute to the well-being of society.”

C O M M U N I T Y E N G A G E M E N T I N I T I A T I V E

Bank Muscat leads successful business delegation to MaltaMUSCAT: Bank Muscat, in pur-suance of the private sector role in the economic development of Oman, led a successful business delegation to Malta to explore in-vestment and trade opportunities between the two countries.

The delegation led by Abdul-Razak Ali Issa, Chief Executive, visited the Mediterranean island nation connecting Europe with African markets from 12 to 15 Jan-uary, says a press release.

Oman enjoys growing trade re-lations with Malta which is a stra-tegically located offshore financial centre with world class facilities in ports, logistics and education. During the visit, the delegation comprising representatives from key sectors met Joseph Muscat, the Prime Minister of Malta, the Governor of the Central Bank of Malta and high-level officials of Malta Freeport, Malta Financial Services Authority, Fimbank and Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation.

“The visit of the Omani busi-ness delegation to Malta marked a successful exercise to explore in-vestment and trade opportunities between the two countries. Oman is a forward looking nation that is

proud of its friendly relations with countries across the world.

“Given the structural shift in the way how international trade and investment works due to glo-balisation, Oman seeks to explore new opportunities for mutual eco-nomic benefits and strengthening of friendly ties.

“Bank Muscat looks forward to embarking on a new frontier of mutually beneficial association with counterparts in Malta, there-by contributing to strengthening of relations between Oman and Malta. Based on the findings of the delegation, possible avenues for investment and trade will be iden-

tified and an appropriate strategy formulated for initiating potential trade and business relations be-tween Oman and Malta,” said Ab-dulRazak Ali Issa.

Bank Muscat is very active in trade finance and financial in-stitution (FI) business, with FI risk appetite covering prominent countries in Asia as well as parts of Africa. Bank Muscat is among few GCC based banks in a position to provide customers and coun-terparts pan-GCC coverage. With direct and indirect presence in all the GCC states, Bank Muscat is uniquely positioned to serve their requirements in the GCC region.

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

KR Shipping excels to earn two

Duqm Port Authority awards

MUSCAT: Khimji Ramdas Ship-ping won two prestigious awards from the Port of Duqm Authority, for the company’s role in growing business for both the Duqm dry dock and its adjoining port, says a press release.

“We are greatly honoured and privileged to receive not only one, but two awards for our achieve-ments at the Duqm dry dock and port. We thank the Port Author-ity for rewarding our hard-work, dedication and diligence. It keeps us motivated to continue moving forward and develop the dry dock and port into a major port hub for Oman and the region,” said M. C. Jose, CEO, Projects and Logistics Group, Khimji Ramdas.

KR Shipping, he added, has always functioned in the role of both business development part-ner and global ambassador for the Duqm port, actively promoting its position as a prominent port of call for industrial cargo and trans-shipment purposes.

“We have been involved in the development of the dry dock right from the beginning, spreading awareness about it globally. KR was proactive in letting the world know that there was a dry dock

coming up in Oman that would be of great interest to businesses around the world because of its strategic location,” he said.

The company, he emphasised, was diligent in keeping trade partners apprised of the progress made at the Duqm dry dock, such as the number of ships coming in and how many vessels KR Ship-ping handled. “One of the chal-lenges we faced was the dry dock being located 600km away from the airport, but we overcame it by building investor confidence in the project which ultimately won

more clients for the dry dock. On the naval side of it, we are already handling around 80 per cent of the ships that come to Omani wa-ters. Here too we have promoted the port of Duqm as a viable alter-native for naval ships requiring longer port stays,” he added.

Jose concluded by highlight-ing that, as Duqm continues to grow into one of the country’s important centres for trade and business, KR Shipping will have further opportunities for steering businesses on board the region’s massive growth and expansion.

A C C O L A D E S

Zubair SEC announces 10 winners of Direct Support Programme

MUSCAT: Zubair Small Enter-prises Centre (Zubair SEC) an-nounced the group of selected members for its Direct Support Programme for the year 2015 in an official ceremony that was held at Bait Al Zubair in Muscat recently.

The event was held under the patronage of Khalid bin Moham-med Al Zubair, Managing Director of The Zubair Corporation, in the presence of centre’s members and executive management represent-atives from both public and private institutions and organisations that support small and medium enter-prises and entrepreneurship in The Sultanate, says a press release.

The winners are entrepreneurs and young business owners, mem-bers of Zubair SEC, who have pe-rused the journey of having their own businesses and have proven dedication towards achieving pro-gress and success. They are

Adel Suwaid Salim Al Abri, National High Tides “Uniboats”: Sea tourism and watersports ser-vices – Wilayat Muscat, Muscat Governorate

Kadhia Hamid Mohammed Al Nabhani, Jana’en Al Hamra’ Pri-vate School: A private school for both genders from kindergarten to elementary levels – Wilayat Al Hamra, Al Dakhiliyah Governorate

Amur Khalfan Mohammed Al Rawahi, Arab Adventures: Envi-ronmental tourism in the Sultan-ate – Wilayat Al Seeb, Muscat Gov-ernorate

Aisha Alawi Hafidh Baabood, White Hands Centre for Assis-tance & Rehabilitation Tech-niques: Advanced complementary therapy services for people with disabilities – Wilayat Al Seeb, Muscat Governorate

Mahfodha Ahmed RahmiAl Bal-ushi, Dar Al Khabourah: Designing and crafting traditional Omani sil-ver works – Wilayat Al Khabourah,

Al Batinah North Governorate Muna Humaid Omair Al Khu-

saibi, Dar Al Washa Trade ‘Kidani’: design and crafting of Arabian jew-elry and dresses – Wilayat Al Seeb, Muscat Governorate

Najlaa Bilal Said Al Shekaili, Raneem Jalan: Selling women wear and accessories through a sales network from local commu-nities to provide them with sourc-es of income – Wilayat Ja’laan Bani Bu Hasan, Al Sharqiyah South Governorate

Nasra Yasser Nasser Al Mamari, A Touch of Velvet: De-signing perfume and bath prod-ucts customised as per clients re-quests – Wilayat Al Seeb, Muscat Governorate

Yousuf Thani Sulaiman Al Jabri, Al Mithaliyah Printing Press ‘InvoMail’: Producing differ-ent kinds of envelops using an ar-ray of eco-friendly paper – Wilayat Al Amirate, Muscat Governorate

Yousuf Yaqoob Nasser Al Bu-saidi, Asia Food: Specialised in tea mixing and packaging, owners of the brand ‘King’ – Wilayat Nizwa, Al Dakhiliyah Governorate

“We celebrate today the launch of a new batch of distinguished entrepreneurs and their outstand-ing projects, ideas and determina-tion to be a valuable addition to

the small businesses market in the Sultanate”, said Khalid Muham-mad Al Zubair, managing director of The Zubair Corporation.

“We in Zubair Small Enterpris-es Centre harness all the capabili-ties and efforts of our employees to serve as a valuable source of expertise and consultations for all entrepreneurs and provide strate-gic partnerships with the centre’s distinguished partners.

“We will continue the develop-ment of our work in Zubair Small Enterprises Centre to be the ideal destination for each entrepreneur and a vibrant work environment for the benefit of each member and remain a valuable source of support for the future of entrepre-neur’s project,” he added.

The centre has opened doors for applications to join the Direct Support Programme in its second round last June; around 100 of the Centre’s members applied and a very thorough assessment process lasted for more than three months to select the ten winners based on diversified selection criteria.

The criteria included the per-sonality, business plan, working team, product/service specifica-tions and features, market speci-fications, financial needs, innova-tion, and social impact.

The Zubair SEC Direct Support Programme rewards members who have joined it through exist-ing or potential business projects and have proven through their en-gagement with the centre’s team remarkable commitment towards their goals and sincere persever-ance in taking to heart all guidance and advice provided by the centre.

Their projects are based on proper strategic planning and ac-curate feasibility studies that re-flect its owners’ determination to apply best business administra-tion practices and standards. Ac-cordingly, those valued members who are carefully selected to join the Programme will enjoy further incubation and acceleration ser-vices through advisory and finan-cial support.

“Joining Zubair SEC was an entrance to various benefits such as individual business advisory sessions, training workshops, and participation at SME related ex-hibitions. I have ambitions to ex-pand with my business and being selected for the Direct Support Programme brought tremendous value and encouragement and will help me achieve many of the goals that I have set for the near future,” said Adel Al Abri, winner of the Di-rect Support Programme 2015.

Y O U N G E N T R E P R E N E U R S

ISC Malayalam Wing to hold spelling contest

MUSCAT: Indian Social Club (ISC) Malayalam Wing will be conducting its annual English Spelling Contest for school chil-dren on January 24 at the ISCM (ISM) hall in Darsait. Children from all the Indian schools and other international schools will be participating in the event, says a press release.

The event is being organised by the Children Wing of the Malayalam Wing, said Rajeev Kumar K.K., Secretary, Chil-dren Wing. Preparations have already started and the appli-cation forms and the rules and regulations of the contest have been sent to all the schools in Oman. The contest will be in three groups, Class V to VII, Class VIII to X and Class XI and XII. The winners will be given trophies and certificates on the Children’s Day celebrations.

Application forms can be collected from the respective schools or from the ISC counter or from the Malayalam Wing of-fice at MBD area. Children can also submit the forms online through the website www.isc-malayalam.com.

A N N U A L E V E N T

FRUITFUL TRIP: Bank Muscat Chief Executive AbdulRazak Ali Issa,

right, with Joseph Muscat, Prime Minister of Malta. – Supplied photo

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM

SPOR SY O U R G A M E

SECTIONC T U E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 0, 2 0 1 5

MACGILL SUES CRICKET AUSTRALIA FOR $2.1MStuart MacGill is suing Cricket Australia claiming he is owed A$2.6 million dollars ($2.1 million) in match payments, prize money and interest. Cricket Australia failed or neglected to pay MacGill injury payments for 104 weeks from May 2008. >C6

Federer and Sharapova shine after seeds scattered at Melbourne Park

MELBOURNE: Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova glittered under the Rod Laver Arena lights on Monday, restoring order at the Australian Open after eight wom-en’s seeds crashed out in the after-noon sun on a manic opening day.

The evergreen Federer strolled into the second round with a classy 6-4 6-2 7-5 win over Taiwan’s Lu Yen-Hsun before fellow second seed Sharapova ruined Croatian qualifier Petra Martic’s 24th birth-day with a 6-4 6-1 victory.

Rafa Nadal and Andy Murray also enjoyed comfortable wins as three of the men’s ‘Big Four’ shook out the early-season rust.

Although the retired Li Na is not defending her singles title, the glowing Chinese stole the spot-light from the players when she announced she was expecting her first child with husband and for-mer coach Jiang Shan.

“I think Dennis (Jiang) is do-ing a good job. He just made one ace,” said the 32-year-old crowd favourite on the Rod Laver Arena, sparking cheers from the terraces.

The hole left by the twice grand slam champion’s absence is beg-ging to be filled and a rejuvenated Sharapova, dressed to kill in a smart red outfit, looked the part in a controlled display against the outgunned Martic.

Federer joined Sharapova in the winners’ circle at the Bris-bane International this month and, on his coach Stefan Edberg’s 49th birthday, the Swiss notched his 1,001st tour win.

“Winning in the first round, it’s always a bit of a relief. I thought I played good,” the 33-year-old told reporters after dashing around the court like a frantic teenager against the 47th-ranked Lu.

Glorious dayWhile seventh seed Eugenie Bouchard advanced with a straight-sets victory over 98th-ranked German Anna-Lena Fried-sam, half of the 16 women’s seeds in action were swept away before the sun had set on a glorious day.

Fifth seed Ana Ivanovic was the highest-profile casualty, the former world number one falling in three sets to doubles specialist

Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Re-public. Ninth-seeded German An-gelique Kerber blamed a “bad day” at the office after being dumped out by Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu in three topsy-turvy sets.

Lucie Safarova (16), Carla Su-arez Navarro (17) and twice grand slam champion Svetlana Kuznet-sova (27) were also among the eight sent packing.

It was steadier going on the men’s side where an undercooked Nadal felt the confidence flooding back after thrashing Russian vet-eran Mikhail Youzhny.

Coming back after a long lay-off from injury and illness, Nadal gloomily ruled himself out of title contention before the event but the Spaniard eased quickly into the grand slam groove with a 6-3 6-2 6-2 win.

“This first match here was tough mentally for me,” the 2009 champion said on centre court, resplendent in a pink shirt and a fluorescent yellow headband.

“I hope this match will give me confidence as I play the next round.”

Very difficultSixth seed Murray, bidding for a maiden Australian Open title af-ter three trips to the final, opened up with a 6-3 6-4 7-6 (3) win over Indian qualifier Yuki Bhambri, occasionally berating himself but pleased overall with his display at the refurbished Margaret Court Arena.

“The whole match he made it very difficult, he played very ag-gressively,” Murray said of Bham-bri, the lowest-ranked player in the draw at 317.

“He shouldn’t be ranked 300 in the world.”

Romania’s Simona Halep, seeded third and fancied to break through for a maiden grand slam title this year, had few worries in a 6-3 6-2 rout of Italian Ka-rin Knapp. Men’s seventh seed Tomas Berdych went through without fuss while number 10 Grigor Dimitrov, tipped to rock the tennis establishment after a breakout 2014 season, showed ominous form with a 6-2 6-3 6-2 victory over German Dustin Brown. - Reuters

Rafa Nadal and Andy

Murray also enjoyed

comfortable wins as

three of the men’s

‘Big Four’ shook out

the early-season rust

GOOD START: Switzerland’s Roger Federer serves during his men’s singles match against Taiwan’s Lu Yen-Hsun on day one of the 2015 Australian Open tennis tournament in

Melbourne. – AFP

Winning in the first round, it’s always a bit of a relief. I thought I played good

Roger FedererSwitzerland

EASY OUTING: Maria Sharapova plays a shot during her women’s singles match against Petra Martic. – AFP

Retired star Li shares ‘special secret’MELBOURNE: Pioneering Chi-nese tennis star Li Na announced she was pregnant on Monday in front of 15,000 cheering fans at the Australian Open.

The two-time Grand Slam win-ner, hugely popular at the Austral-ian Open where she won the title last year and reached the final in 2011 and 2013, unexpectedly re-tired in September. She is a guest of honour at Melbourne Park this year and told the crowd in Rod La-ver Arena ahead of Roger Federer’s opening match that she was ex-pecting her first child.

“Dennis and I are so excited. Our first child will arrive in the sum-mer,” she said to huge cheers.

In statement, she added that she was overjoyed.

“A mere 12 months ago, I stood on this court clutching the Aus-tralian Open trophy tightly in my hands, a huge grin on my face, overwhelmed with joy and a sense of accomplishment that I shared with everyone who had helped me along the road to this incredible achievement,” she said.

“Today, all of those emotions came back to me, yet I had extra

butterflies in my stomach because I wanted to share a very special se-cret with the Australian Open fans.

“Over the years, they have sup-ported me and truly helped my suc-cess, so it felt just right to let them in on a little secret I’ve been hold-ing on to for a few months now.

“This summer, Dennis and I are expecting our first child. We

are overjoyed! And it really feels like this baby is going to enter the world already having about 15,000 friends.”

Li, who won nine titles in her ca-reer, is credited with introducing tennis to the masses in China.

She became a sporting pioneer in her homeland when she decided to break from the state sports sys-

tem in 2008 with a group of up and coming players, in a move dubbed by local media “fly alone”.

The move meant she was able to choose her own coaches and keep most of her winnings rather than giving them to the government.

She said she and her husband could not wait until their baby was born. - AFP

A U S T R A L I A N O P E N

OFFICIAL CEREMONY: Defending Australian Open tennis champion China’s Li Na waves to the crowd as

she stands next to the women’s singles trophy during an official ceremony on Rod Laver Arena. – Reuters

Comeback queen Azarenkaall set for a grudge match

MELBOURNE: Two-time Aus-tralian Open champion Victo-ria Azarenka faces a first-round grudge match against American Sloane Stephens as she seeks to resurrect her career at the open-ing Grand Slam of the season.

The showdown on Tuesday is certain to revive memories of one of the most controversial epi-sodes in the tournament’s recent history. In 2013, Azarenka de-feated Stephens in the semi-final after taking a 12-minute medical timeout that halted a barnstorm-ing comeback by the American.

Azarenka admitted after the match that “I almost did the choke of the year” and needed time to recompose herself, lead-ing to allegations she faked an injury to halt play and stall Stephens’ momentum.

John McEnroe, commentating on television, called her antics “an absolute travesty”, while the New York Times railed against “a timeout jeered around the world”.

Australian fans also turned on Azarenka, who had already tried their patience with her high-dec-

ibel screeching, subjecting her to jeers and boos during her final against the popular Li Na of Chi-na. The Melbourne Park crowd greeted her eventual win over Li with stony silence and Azarenka admitted last week that she was unsure whether spectators would give her a hostile reception at this year’s event. “I can’t control it, it would be silly if they do,” she said.

Stephens drily noted after the match that it was becoming “trendy” for her opponents to call timeouts at crucial moments but has since steered away from com-menting on the controversy.

At the time, she was a rising star who appeared set to break into the top 10 and lead a new generation to take over the Amer-ican mantle from the Williams sisters. But she has never again advanced so far in a Grand Slam and goes into this year’s Open ranked 32 in the world.

Circumstances are also vastly different for Azarenka, who since 2013 has slipped from number one to 44 after injury-prone 2014 season. - AFP

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Ahmed chip leaves Qatar red-faced

SYDNEY: Sayed Ahmed scored a glorious late chip as Bahrain shat-tered Qatar 2-1 and left the future World Cup hosts ruing a string of missed chances in their Asian Cup dead rubber on Monday.

With both teams already elimi-nated, the match in Sydney was heading for a draw until Ahmed spotted Qatar ‘keeper Qasem Burhan off his line and embar-rassed him in the 82nd minute.

The defeat was a disaster for Gulf Cup champions Qatar, who came to Australia with high hopes but leave with much to ponder as they build towards the 2022 World Cup.

With little but pride at stake at a cool, damp and sparsely attend-ed Stadium Australia, both sides showed little caution.

Qatar’s Ali Asadalla had the goal at his mercy but chose to pass, and striker Mohammed Muntari nearly scored three with his head in the first half, crashing one effort off the post.

Hasan Al Haydos had a shot cleared while at the other end, Bahrain’s Shubbar also shuddered the upright with a header before he made the breakthrough. The Moroccan-born Faouzi Aaish ran through a crowd of defenders and cut back to Shubbar, who checked before picking his spot and ram-ming Bahrain ahead.

The eventual equaliser was soft, as Al Haydos’s grass-cutting free kick crept under the leaping wall and into the bottom right corner on 68 minutes. Muntari kicked the post in anger when yet another fly-ing header sailed narrowly over, and he was guilty of a howling miss on 78 minutes when he shot wide from six yards out. — AFP

With both teams

already eliminated,

the match in Sydney

was heading for a

draw until Ahmed

spotted Qatar

goalkeeper Qasem

Burhan off his line

and embarrassed him

in the 82nd minute

JUBILANT: Bahrain players celebrate their second goal against Qatar during their Group C match at the Asian Cup in Sydney. – AFP

BRISBANE: Reza Ghoochan-nejhad scored in stoppage time to give Iran a heart-thumping 1-0 win over the United Arab Emirates in their decisive Asian Cup Group C encounter on Monday.

Introduced as a late substi-tute, Ghoochannejhad net-ted the match winner with a perfectly taken header in the first second of stoppage time to ensure Iran finished as the Group C winners.

Roared on by their boisterous fans, Iran’s players celebrated like they had won the Asian Cup, knowing that the victory had spared them a treacherous path to the title.

As Group C winners, Team Melli will play the Group D runner-up, most likely Iraq, in Canberra on Friday while UAE, who only needed a draw to top the group on goal difference,

could face the defending cham-pions Japan next.

Although both teams had already booked their places in the quarter-finals before kick-off, the prospect of a better route to the final ensured the match would be anything but meaningless.

The two Middle Eastern sides attacked each other from the outset on a hot and humid night at Brisbane’s Lang Park, leaving players from both teams exhausted at the end.

The match seemed destined to end in a draw until the final moments when UAE failed to clear an Iranian corner, knock-ing the ball out to Andranik Teymourian.

The Iranian midfielder tried to shoot but couldn’t get his foot to the ball in time, how-ever he got enough to chip it to Ghoochannejhad and the Charl-

ton Athletic striker headed it past the outstretched arms of Majed Naser.

UAE dominated possession in the second half and created plenty of opportunities of their own. Khamis Esmaeel un-leashed a ferocious long-range volley that just went wide in the fifth minute, while Amer Abdul-rahman posed plenty of prob-lems for the Iranian defence.

UAE’s loss was compounded when key defender Walid Abbas picked up his second yellow card of the tournament, ruling him out of the quarter-final.

With both teams pushing for-ward and engaging in some wild goalmouth scrambles, tensions began to fray and the referee booked three Iranians — Sardar Azmoun, Mehrdad Pooladi and captain Javad Nekounam — although all can play in the quarters. - Reuters

Iran edge past UAE with last gasp goal

HAPPY DUO: Iran’s Ashkan Dejagah and Reza Ghoochannejhad, right, celebrate at the end of their Asian Cup Group C soccer match against UAE at the Brisbane Stadium. – Reuters

Iraq boss fears Asian Cup jobcould destroy his reputationCANBERRA: Radhi Shenaishil said on Monday that he had taken a huge risk to his reputation by agreeing to fill in at the last minute as Iraq’s coach for the Asian Cup.

Hakim Shakir was sacked as Iraq boss just weeks before the start of the continental show-piece, after the Lions of Meso-potamia finished bottom of their group at the Gulf Cup.

With the Iraq Football Associa-tion scrambling to find a replace-ment, Qatar Sports Club agreed in mid-December to loan head coach Shenaishil for the tourna-ment in Australia. “Every coach here has pressure on them,” She-naishil told reporters ahead of his side’s crunch Group D clash with Palestine, where they will try to reach the last eight.

“(But) there’s actually more pressure not having a contract. Being on loan with the Iraq na-tional team means a lot of pres-sure to make things work in a very short period of time.

“A negative result in this tour-

nament could actually destroy your name as a coach,” added the Iraqi former defender. But She-naishil added that the call of duty had been too strong to ignore.

“I put all the disadvantages I thought of aside,” he said in Can-berra. “I’ve been called for my country and I’m here to serve my country and hopefully I can pro-duce something.”

Iraq defeated Jordan 1-0 in their opening game before losing by the same scoreline to defending champions and favourites Japan.

With Japan expected to beat Jordan Tuesday, an Iraqi win against Palestine would send them into the quarter-finals where they would meet either arch-rivals Iran, or surprise pack-age United Arab Emirates. - Reuters

F O O T B A L L

HIGH RISK: Iraq coach Radhi Shenaishil, left, says takin over Iraq in a short notice was a huge risk. – AFP

Asian Cup officials rule out semifinal venue changeBRISBANE: The Asian Foot-ball Confederation (AFC) has ruled out any possibility of switching the venues for the Asian Cup semifinals even if the host-nation ends up playing at the smallest stadium.

The first semifinal is sched-uled to be played at Sydney’s 83,000 seater Olympic stadium on January 26, which is also Australia’s national holiday.

The second semi is set to be played a day later at Newcastle’s Hunter Stadium, which has a capacity of just 23,000.

Melbourne, Australia’s self-proclaimed sporting capital, did not bid for the semifinal because it clashes with the Australian Open tennis championship. If Australia win their quarter-final against China, they will play in the second semifinal in New-castle, possibly against Japan in a repeat of the 2011 final. - Reuters

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SPORTST U E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 0, 2 0 1 5

India to face England hoping to start afresh

BRISBANE: Jolted by the open-ing loss to Australia, India would look to plug the bowling loopholes and ensure a stronger batting dis-play when they take on England in their second ODI tri-series cricket match here on Tuesday.

In Brisbane, both sides will be looking to register their first win in this tournament with the hosts having stolen a march on them with two successive wins.

Australia beat England by three wickets in Sydney on Friday and then beat India by four wickets in Melbourne on Sunday.

They took a bonus point from the first game as well and sit pretty on nine points from two games.

In this series, billed as the dress rehearsal for the upcoming ODI World Cup, these two sides will be keen to get a win under their belt.

India can take some solace from their match against Australia in the sense that they pushed the hosts a lot closer.

By their own admission, the Australian batsmen were going for that bonus point against England and thus lost quick wickets in the middle order.

The repeated mini-collapse against the Indian bowling was no such fluke. Two bowlers played a key role in squeezing the run-rate, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Axar Patel.

It was quite a positive for the Indian team, reeling under the in-consistency shown by their attack in the preceding Test series.

They missed the medium-pacer in the first three Tests and when he returned in Sydney, he was way off-colour, down on pace and lack-ing in match fitness. A five-day rest since and lot more bowling in the nets has done him good.

Sunday’s performance should be another boost for him to return to form for the Men in Blue need him to work his magic with the new ball in the next two months.

In only his first international outing in Australia, the young left-arm spinner Axar impressed with

his control as skipper MS Dhoni even opted to hold back a few of his overs and bring Patel back later during the end overs of the chase.

Later the Indian skipper even talked about the possibility of Patel becoming his prime choice in the death overs, if he persists with this same consistency in his bowling.

That was a big vote of confi-dence in Patel’s abilities.

Even so, the underlying word here is consistency which is a cer-tain weak-point with India’s bowl-ing in recent times.

This is where Tuesday’s game assumes significance.

Coming quickly on the heels of their Sunday outing, Indian bowl-ers — in particular Kumar and Pa-tel — will be under the spotlight.

A similar bowling performance will be expected from the duo and if they are able to deliver on their promise, then it will be a huge step forward for this attack seeing as R Ashwin had an off-day in Melbourne.

Dhoni will also be looking for consistency from Rohit Sharma.

He batted with much calm amid wickets falling at the other end and looked keen to make his start count.

More importantly, he was pre-pared to run hard between the wickets and rotate the strike, a trait previously missing in his bat-ting in overseas ODIs last year.

If he continues to do the same,

then the debate over his opening position in favour of Ajinkya Ra-hane will be a thing of the past.

However, that topic could re-start at the other end if Shikhar Dhawan too doesn’t start scoring.

It is too early to comment on his failure in Melbourne.

But with a new-look batting or-der, with Rahane at three and Virat Kohli at four, they need to click in unison to take pressure off the middle order, especially with Dho-ni coming in at number six.

In the absence of Ravindra Jadeja, the onus of big-hitting in the end overs lies squarely on the skipper’s broad shoulders.

Early wickets for few runs, as in Melbourne, won’t help his case and also won’t make the five-bowl-er strategy work.

In the last couple of years, In-dia’s ODI record against England has been quite good.

Since the 2011 tour when they didn’t win a single game, the Men in Blue have recorded 12 wins in 15 matches, four of them coming in England (one in 2013 and three in 2014).The rest have all come in sub-continental conditions.

Yet, Dhoni and his players will be quietly confident of taking on a team under new captaincy.

And that is the big question mark for England as they prepare for the World Cup.

They have made the right call in

leaving Alastair Cook out of their plans and instead picking Eoin Morgan to lead.

However, they might have left him too little time to introduce some new plans and experiment with his strategies.

England have called upon the services of their former star all-rounder Andrew Flintoff during the net-session in Brisbane on Monday, in the hope of garnering some confidence and motivation from the Big Bash player.

Obviously enough, they have opted to not give a call for help to Kevin Pietersen, who is also in the country to play the T20 league.

And so, it remains to be seen what effect Flintoff’s words will have on their Tuesday perfor-mance.

Teams (from):India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni

(c & wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Stuart Binny, Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mohit Sharma.

England: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Joe Root, James Taylor, James Tredwell, Chris Woakes. - PTI

In this series,

billed as the dress

rehearsal for the

upcoming ODI World

Cup, these two sides

will be keen to get a

win under their belt

HOPING TO DO BETTER: File photo of Indian players celebrating during the first match against Aus-tralia in Melbourne Cricket Ground.

INDIA know they have to beat England in their second game of the

tri-series to stay in the hunt for a place in the finals. Of course, they still have two more games after the game against England but it will become that much more dif-ficult if they lose to England at the Gabba. Cricket is so much a confidence game, and if England win, then they will feel even more confident for their next encounters. Their new skip-per Eoin Morgan played an outstanding innings in getting that century against Australia, but just like the Indians, the English also did not post a challenging enough total for the Aus-tralians to chase.

With the influence of the T20 format, unless a team scores in the vicinity of 300 they will be struggling to defend their total. India did run Australia close, but the Aussies have a long batting order which is a huge plus and they never really looked in trouble and ended up by winning with an over to spare. Rohit Sharma batted splendidly, playing some truly breathtaking shots, as he got his first century in Australia. Unfortunately, apart from Suresh Raina, another tremendous one-day player, there was no support from anybody else and so the Indians ended up with less than 300 which looked eminently possible when Rohit and Raina were batting and building their partnership. Raina’s departure to the last ball of the first over of the bat-ting power play was just the break that the Aussies wanted, and even though Dhoni tried his best, it was clear that he was a bit rusty after his sudden retirement from Test cricket at the end of last year.

Luckily, India has three or possibly four more games before the World Cup starts and then there are some warm up games after that too, so that will hopefully get the batteries properly recharged for not just Dhoni but the likes of Dhawan and Rahane too. It is important that India keep faith in Dhawan for he is capable of taking the game away from the opposition, but then he also has to show the patience on the field that will help him settle down and get the big scores. A left and right-hand opening

combo is a tricky one for the opposition bowlers as they have to change their line of attack and it can result in wides and extra deliveries. The white ball hardly moves after half a dozen overs or less, so all that Dhawan needs to do is to choose his shots carefully. Once he gets through that initial period he can always make up in the later overs with the range of shots that he has.

India’s bowlers, also, must be ready at all times to be called to bowl and not take a few deliveries to settle down. If India win in Brisbane, it would make sense to give Shami a rest, for he seems a bit troubled by either a knee or ham-string problem, and keep him fit for the tri-series final. India’s bowlers did well to get the team back after the Smith-Finch part-nership was broken. They will have to pay special attention to the wides, es-pecially those down the leg side, for they can be costly to the team. India may have lost, but they were far from disgraced and showed that if a bit of luck goes their way they can turn it around pretty fast. — PMG

It is important that India keep faith in Dhawan

C O M M E N T A R Y

Root backs call for yellow cards to curb misbehaviourBRISBANE: Having been on the receiving end of Australian open-er David Warner’s fiery temper, England batsman Joe Root sees logic in Kiwi great Martin Crowe’s call for a soccer-like card system to curb player misbehaviour.

Warner’s growing reputation as a hard-hitting batsman has coincided with the pugnacious southpaw’s increasing fondness to get involved in on-field spats, making him a regular visitor to the match referee’s room.

The latest, against India’s Rohit Sharma in Sunday’s tri-series contest, cost him half his match fee and a reprimand from his own board, who have asked the 28-year-old “to stop looking for trouble”.

“...there is a growing concern that David Warner’s thuggish be-haviour has gone too far,” former New Zealand captain Crowe wrote in his ESPNCricinfo column.

“Soon one day, it will lead to an incident that will sully the game for good,” added Crowe, convinced fines can no longer act as a deterrent.

“You have to take them out of the game for extended periods. Two yellow cards should result in a red card, which should ban any player for six months,” he added.

The confrontation with Rohit follows Warner’s spat with an-

other Indian, Shikhar Dhawan, in the Adelaide test last month, after which both players were fined.

Root felt Crowe’s suggestion made a lot of sense.

“At the minute, people aren’t happy with the way people are holding themselves on the field and if that is going to sort it out then why not?” asked Root, fa-mously punched by Warner in a bar in 2013.

“You are out there to either score runs or take wickets, if that is not your main focus then you are not doing your team a full service,” Root said ahead of Tuesday’s tri-series one-day in-ternational against India.

“It’s about mutual respect for each other.”

Crowe said players such as Warner risked getting punched by opponents but Root felt that was a mark no one was prepared to overstep.

“I can’t (foresee such a situ-ation), to be honest. Someone would have to be in a really bad place to do that,” the 24-year- old added.

“There have been a few things that have happened over the last six months and that is not good for the game.

“But I can’t really see it going that far to lead to a punch-up... it’s not ice hockey.” - Reuters

T R I - S E R I E S

The white ball hardly moves after half a dozen overs or less, so all that Dhawan needs to do is to choose his shots carefully. Once he gets through that initial period he can always make up in the later overs with the range of shots that he has

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SPORTST U E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 0, 2 0 1 5

If there’s anything to be learned from the India-Aus-tralia ODI match at MCG on

Sunday, that may be by Australi-an coach Darren Scott Lehmann and his boys, despite winning the match with an over to spare and four wickets in hand.

Does that mean that the winners have a lot to get a grip on, especially in the matter of spoken Hindi for guys like David Warner to engage Rohit Sharmas “teetering pretty close” to the Lehmann line of accept-ability but without giving hints to Cricket Australia bosses that they were “looking for trouble”, and the losers are so perfect that they needn’t bother much about anything, not even their “speak English” skills so some polite Australian guys wouldn’t incur unnecessary financial losses to the tune of 50% of their match fee?

Perhaps, yes, if you take what Indian coach Duncan Fletcher had said on the just-concluded four-Test series that you thought exposed the woeful shortcom-ings of the Indian team, espe-cially of the bowlers, but which, according to Fletcher, who tried to open the eyes of the world to figures that wouldn’t lie, wasn’t really so.

So, what did Duncan figures suggest? Simple truths the world of cricket was not seeing as they should be. Like, Mohammed Shami was a better bowler than Mitchell Johnson. Proof? Shami got 15 wickets at 35.50, while Johnson managed only 13 at a similar bowling average. Never mind the fact that matters the

most: one was a match winner, and the other was an also-ran.

With people like Fletcher at the helm, who are happy to highlight what they think as the positives and quick to sweep the negatives under the carpet, maybe because that’s the best way open for them now to serve out their term and bow out in peace, it’s hard to hope that team India will learn from the mis-takes. There was nothing out of place for Fletcher to say Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami need to learn how to put at least four balls in an over in the same spot, preferably just outside off stump, and keep doing that over after over.

To think that someone in the team — maybe Fletcher, maybe Ravi Shastri, maybe the bowling coach, maybe the captain — may really have told the erratic young guns to mind their line and length is impossible after watch-ing their first spells at MCG. Yadav and Shami, for reason beyond the comprehension of normal folks, seemed obsessed with the idea that batsmen were just as stupid as they were.

One of the reasons that Yadav bowls more than a couple of short balls every over is perhaps he gets a wicket once in a while through that often tried and seldom worked trick. If he wants

to learn something from his performance on Sunday, he must watch his third over —the one he bowled after getting David Warner out — and his 10th, which was the 45th. The first was a maiden when he pinned Aaron Finch down, and the sec-ond was almost a maiden where he kept Brad Haddin and Glenn Maxwell clueless (Well, to keep the record straight, one run was scored).

The fourth ball of the 45th over was a yorker, the toe-searching kind perfected by Waqar Younis, that got Glenn dance to his tune, figuratively and literally. That’s the sort of stuff Yadav should be doing if he wants to win respect and wick-ets. And victory for his team.

In the end, Australia had some anxious moments that made Mitchell Starc chew his fingers sitting in the dressing room as the Australians were six down and needed 20 runs from the last

three overs , and India put up a fight that looked unlikely for the better part of the game. And that offered something for everyone who follows Indian cricket, either to cheer for or to throw muck at. You could rave over how MS Dhoni and his bowl-ers denied Australia the bonus points and how they came close to pulling off a surprise, or you could talk about how brainless the bowlers were and how stupid it’s to expect Shikhar Dhawan to be reliable.

There may be a bit of truth on both sides of the divide, but meaningless figures and mere fooling around would hardly help Dhoni and his boys live the dream Sachin Tendulkar is now coaxing them to chase.

The writer is a freelance contributor based in India. All the views and opin-ions expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not reflect those of Times of Oman

What Duncan Fletcher should ask Umesh Yadav to do now and forever

C O M M E N T A R Y

You could rave over how Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his bowlers denied Australia the bonus points and how they came close to pulling off a surprise, or you could talk about how brainless the bowlers were and how stupid it’s to expect Shikhar Dhawan to be reliable. There may be a bit of truth on both sides of the divide...

Al Naba, Royal Challengers, Kokani Boys in quarterfinals

MUSCAT: Royal Challengers, Al Naba and Kokani Boys recorded victories to reach the quarterfi-nals of the New Year Cricket Cup organised by Rising Kokan Team.

The tournament is being spon-sored by Abu Maather, Al Zaitun Travels, Al Rawabi, Capital Insur-ance, Shalimar Restaurant, Ma-jan Events, United Gulf Beacons, Um Salama Pharmacy, Nurson, Qaser Al Doha, Al Basim and Po-cari Sweat.

The organisers have also de-cided to host a Junior Cup tour-nament for the losing teams of the New Year Cup as well as

other intereted teams. But the tournament will be restricted to eight teams. For registera-tion the teams can call the or-ganisers at 95480481 or mail at rkleague2012@gmail.com

RESULTSFriends XI 58/6 in 7 overs

(Aslam 16, Shafi 1/11) bt Knight Riders Mangalore 40/6 in 7 overs (Safaf 14, Israr 3/7).

AMT Ofsat Warriors 58/3 (Naeem 34, Murad 2/6) bt XI Warriors 41/6 in 7 overs (Mu-dassar 12, Vinod 2/6).

XI Fighters 43 all out in 6.5 overs (Wajid 7, Mujahid Surve 6,

Wasim 4/9, Nagesh 2/8) lost to OEC 44/4 in 5.4 overs (Abdul-lah Khan 19, Riyaz 2/11, Hanif Hodekar 1/5).

Friends XI 50/7 in 7 overs (Khalid 13, Satish 3/9, Happy Sin-gh 2/14) lost to Al Naba 53/3 in 6.5 overs (Vijay 32, Khalid 1/17).

Asfandyar XI 52/6 in 7 overs ( Shams 16, Giri 3/11) lost to Royal Challengers 53/6 in 6.5 overs (Giri 21, Shams 2/8).

Kokani Boys 59/5 in 7 overs (Muzaffar 24, Imran 2/6) bt Bombay Blues 57/5 in 7 overs (Imran 18, Wasim Jamadar 2/9, Saddam 2/11).

N E W Y E A R C R I C K E T C U P 2 0 1 5

EASY OUTING: Al Naba team members celebrate their victory over Friends XI. – Supplied photo

Champagne facing fight to stay in Fifa presidential raceLONDON: Fifa presidential can-didate Jerome Champagne does not yet have the letters of support he needs from five football asso-ciations with the deadline for his nomination to be accepted only 10 days away, the Frenchman said on Monday.

Champagne, the 56-year-old former Fifa deputy secretary general, who opened his cam-paign in London a year ago this week, has sent an open letter to the heads of Fifa’s 209 mem-ber associations appealing for their support before the January 29 deadline.

“I do not yet have all the five letters,” he wrote in a statement headed “The Moment of Truth”.

“The feeling exists that the fi-nal result of the election is set, and that it would be risky to sign them,” he said.

“There is also the fear of be-ing singled out or punished,” Champagne says alluding to the idea that most people believe, despite all of the controversies surrounding Fifa, that ageing in-cumbent Sepp Blatter will win a fifth term of office.

Champagne began his cam-paign on Jan.20 last year. Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan de-clared his intention to run earlier this month.

On Friday former France inter-national footballer David Ginola said he was also standing, so - de-spite his campaign being widely regarded as a publicity stunt backed by a bookmaking firm - as it stands, there are three chal-lengers to Blatter.

Missing lettersChampagne was openly dis-missive of Ginola’s candidacy, speaking of “individuals without a program” declaring their inter-est, and called on associations to provide him support.

“I am thus compelled today to solemnly call upon you to obtain these missing letters,” he wrote.

Champagne said that under the old rules — under which he would have needed the support of only one association — he would already have had enough support, but he is yet to meet the amended requirements established under revised Fifa statutes introduced two years ago.

Champagne makes a robust de-fence of his campaign so far and says that even if he gets the five letters, that does not commit an FA to vote for him, just to enable him to stand.

“I have opposed the current simplistic analysis, according to which all is wrong in Fifa, by presenting a program to con-tinue what has been done cor-rectly during the last 40 years and to change what needs to be changed.”

He said: “A white ballot, an abstention, will not advance the cause of football.”

“It will not accomplish what you have set out to do for your Association, and it will not make Fifa a more respected organiza-tion in the eyes of the world,” Champagne concluded.

The election will be held at the Fifa Congress in Zurich on May 29. - Reuters

F O O T B A L L

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Zafar dazzles for Enhance Eagles

MUSCAT: Zafar Iqbal picked up three wickets in six overs and thereafter contributed 62 runs to help Enhance Eagles maintain their unbeaten record with a three-wicket victory over Muscat Crick-et Coaching Centre A (MCCC A) in the Khimji Ramdas-sponsored 30 overs-a-side B Division match.

Opting to bat first, MCCC A reached 165 for the loss of seven wickets in 30 overs. Opening the batting Ivan Joseph Manjila scored 39 while Aadil Abbas and Mohool Misra scored 25 runs each. Bhavesh Mehta remained unbeaten on 23.

Enhance Eagles in reply scored 167 for the loss of seven wickets in 29 overs S. Parameswaran re-mained undefeated on 21. Mohsin Qureshi picked up two wickets.

Brief scores: MCCC A 165 for 7 in 30 overs (Ivan Joseph Manjila 39, Aadil Ab-bas 25, Mohool Misra 25, Bhavesh Mehta 23 n.o.; Zafar Iqbal 3/38) lost to Enhance Eagles 167 for 7 in 29 overs (Zafar Iqbal 62, S. Parameswaran 21 n.o.; Mohsin Qureshi 2/39). Points: Enhance Eagles - 2 (5 games, 10 pts), MCCC A – Nil (5 games, 4 pts).

Oman Engineering winIn an Enhance-sponsored E Di-vision T20 match, a 10-member Oman Engineering team defeated OCT Al Hail A by two wickets.

Electing to bat first, OCT Al Hail A scored 140 for the loss of eight wickets in 20 stipulated overs with skipper Sufyan Mahmood opening the batting making a top score of 54. Nagesh picked up two wickets.

Oman Engineering reached their target scoring 144 for eight wickets. Major contributions came from Qamar Nazir (37), Sha-hid Ali (23), Irtiza Ahmed (22) and Syed Fakhar (20).

Mohammed Ishaq Al Bal-ushi bagged three wickets while Waleed Al Balushi took two.

Brief scores: OCT Al Hail 140 for 8 in 20 overs (Sufyan Mahmood 54; Nagesh 2/27) lost to Oman Engineering 144 for 8 in 18.3 overs (Qamar Nazi 37, Sha-hid Ali 23, Irtiza Ahmed 22, Syed Fakhar 20; Mohammed Ishaq Al Balushi 3/20, Waleed Al Balushi 2/20). Points: Oman Engineering - 2 (5 games, 7 pts), Oman Engineering - Nil (4 games, 2 pts).

Orange Mart down MARHIn an F Division T20 match, Or-ange Mart defeated a 10-man Moosa Abdul Rahman Hassan (MARH) by six wickets. Deciding

to bat first MARH scored 146 for eight wickets in 20 overs with Mo-hammed Ayaz contributing 52.

In reply, Orange Mart replied with 149 for the loss of four wickets in 15 overs thanks to contributions from Jeason Jacob (63) and open-ing batsman Vijesh Vijay (39).

Brief scores: MARH 146 for 8 in 20 overs (M. Ayaz 52) lost to Orange Mart 149 for 4 in 15 overs (Jeason Jacob 63, Vijesh Vijay 39). Points: Orange Mart - 2 (5 games, 5 pts), MARH - Nil (5 games, 3 pts).

Professional Trading winIn an afternoon G Division T20 match, Professional Trading re-corded a thrilling six-run win against Huawei. Invited to bat by their opponents, Professional Trading scored 177 runs for the loss of eight wickets in 20 overs.

Opening the batting Nandaku-mar top scored with 81 while N.P. Prem Kumar (30) and M.A. Shifan (21 not out) chipped in with useful contributions. Sudheesh Mekkatt and Mohammed Shari claimed two wickets each.

In reply, Huawei were well

placed at 136 for the loss of three wickets in 15.1 overs but soon lost their way and were bowled out for 171 in 19.4 overs. Openers Umar Zaman (52) and Mohammed Neyazul Haque (26) were associ-ated in a 49-run partnership for the first wicket in five overs. Skip-per Karthikeyan Jayachandran and Sanjeev Kumar scored 24 runs each and Narayanan S. made 21.

S. Boopathy spearheaded the bowling attack with three for 31 in 3.4 overs while skipper Binu B.V. and Shine N.V. picked up two wick-ets each.

Brief scores: Professional Trading 177 for 8 in 20 overs (Nandakumar 81, N.P. Prem Kumar 30, M.A. Shifan 21 n.o.; Sud-heesh Mekkatt 2/17, Muhammed Shari 2/23) bt Huawei 171 in 19.4 overs (Umar Zaman 52, Mohammed Neyazul Haque 26, Karthikeyan Jayachandran 24, San-jeev Kumar 24, Narayanan S. 21; S. Boopa-thy 3/31, Binu B.V. 2/27, Shine N.V. 2/41). Points: Professional Trading - 2 (5 games, 10 pts), Huawei - Nil (5 games, 5 pts).

Abhishek lifts R K GroupOpening batsman Abhishek Kalla

smashed an unbeaten 100 off just 60 balls as R K Group recorded a 16-run win against Prime Trading in a H Division T20 match.

Opting to bat first, R K Group scored 151 for the loss of eight wickets in 20 overs.

Kiran K.A. claimed three wick-ets while Brijesh Kumar and Joby Abraham bagged two each.

In reply, Prime Trading man-aged to score 135 for seven wickets in 20 overs. Sajeesh V.S. (36) and Anoop V. (24) made useful contri-butions. Muneer Ahammad picked up two wickets.

Brief scores: R K Group 151 for 8 in 20 overs (Abhishek Kalla 100 n.o.; Kiran K.A. 3/18, Brijesh Kumar 2/17, Joby Abra-ham 2/20) bt Prime Trading 135 for 7 in 20 overs (Sajeesh V.S. 36, Anoop V. 24; Muneer Ahammad 2/20). Points: R K Group - 2 (5 games, 4 pts), Prime Trading - Nil (5 games, 5 pts).

Mustafa Sultan beat RAHRCIn an I Division T20 match, Mustafa Sultan Enterprises (MSE) clinched a 14-run win against RAHRC.

Opting to field after winning the toss, RAHRC did well to bowl out MSE for 145 runs in 19.4 overs with skipper Abdullah Alam opening the batting scoring 25 runs and Ismail Rahim Bakhsh Al Balushi chipping in with a useful run a ball 24.

Jassim Al Lawati and Pratik Vedak claimed three wickets each while Madan Nir bagged two.

RAHRC were reeling at 45 runs for six at the end of the ninth over but managed to reach 131 for the loss of nine wickets in 20 overs thanks to a 75-run seventh-wicket partnership between No. 8 bats-man skipper Suresh Ramachan-dran (46) and Madan Nir (30).

Abdullah Alam claimed four wickets while Sudheesh P. took three wickets.

Brief scores: MSE 145 in 19.4 overs (Abdullah Alam 25, Ismail Rahim Bakhsh Al Balushi 24; Jassim Al Lawati 3/20, Pratik Vedak 3/28, Madan Nir 2/21) bt RAHRC 131 for 9 in 20 overs (Suresh Ra-machandran 46, Madan Nir 30; Abdullah Alam 4/22, Sudheesh P. 3/18). Points: MSE - 2 (6 games, 7 pts), RAHRC - Nil (7 games, 5 pts).

Opting to bat first,

MCCC A scored 165

for seven wickets in

30 overs. Enhance

Eagles, in reply,

scored 167 for

seven in 29 overs

H DIVISION: R K Group after their victory over Prime Trading. – Supplied photo F DIVISION: Orange Mart pose for a group photo after defeating MARH. – Supplied photo

ALL-ROUND SHOW: Enhance

Eagles’ Zafar Iqbal. G DIVISION: Professional Trading celebrate their thrilling victory over Huawei. – Supplied photo

China’s Wang to buy

20 percent stake in

Atletico: reports

MADRID: Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin has agreed to buy a 20 percent stake in La Liga cham-pions Atletico Madrid, Spanish media reported on Monday.

The deal with Wang, who con-trols the Dalian Wanda Group conglomerate and is a keen soc-cer fan, will be announced in Beijing on Wednesday, according to the reports in sports dailies Marca and As.

Wang Jianlin has a net worth of $13.2 billion, Forbes said in October, putting him fourth on the magazine’s China rich list after he topped the ranking the previous year.

His investment in Atletico is worth around 40 million euros ($46.34 million), Marca and As said, without identifying the source of their information. Wanda have called a news con-ference for Wednesday but did not provide further details.

An Atletico spokesman said on Monday he was unable to confirm the reports and the club would not be making any official comment.

Atletico would be the latest La Liga team to attract significant investment from outside Spain following the likes of Malaga and Valencia.

Malaga were bought out by a member of the Qatar royal fam-

ily back in 2010, while Singapore billionaire Peter Lim recently took a majority stake in another La Liga club Valencia.

La Liga heavyweights Real Madrid and Barcelona, the world’s richest clubs by income, have lucrative deals with inves-tors from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Atletico’s recent success on the pitch has made Madrid’s second club an attractive partner and they already have a deal with Chi-nese telecommunications firm Huawei and a shirt sponsorship agreement with the Azerbaijan tourist board.

Like many Spanish clubs, Atletico Madrid have struggled to keep their finances under control in recent decades while striving to remain competitive, racking up debts of more than 500 mil-lion euros.

With the future looking brighter, however, they have ambitious plans and are look-ing to move from their crum-bling Calderon Stadium to a new 70,000-capacity arena at La Pei-neta near the main airport in a couple of years.

They are also planning to build a new training complex including offices, a 15,000-seater stadium for the second and third teams and facilities and shops for fans. - Reuters

F O O T B A L L

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MacGill sues CA for $2.1m

MELBOURNE: Retired bowler Stuart MacGill is suing Cricket Australia claiming he is owed A$2.6 million dollars ($2.1 mil-lion) in match payments, prize money and interest.

Lawyers for the spinner, who re-tired from international cricket in 2008 with 208 Test wickets at an average of 29.02, filed the details in a writ in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Monday.

It alleges that Cricket Australia failed or neglected to pay MacGill injury payments for 104 weeks from

May 2008 when he “ceased being able to perform his obligations un-der the CAPC (Cricket Australia Player Contract) due to injury”.

MacGill is seeking A$1,640,890 in payments, including for 15 away

Test matches and 11 home Test matches, his annual retainer and prize money. He is also seeking A$984,534 in interest.

“We are aware of the media re-ports and at this stage we’re not in

a position to comment further,” a spokesman for Cricket Australia informed.

MacGill, who played 44 Tests, suffered a string of injuries as a player before his career ended

abruptly in May 2008. The writ states that MacGill had

one-year contracts with Cricket Australia from 1998 to 2007 and claims that in June 2007 the or-ganisation had hired him for an-other year and offered him a con-tract for 2008 to 2009.

It says that when MacGill had been injured and unable to play on previous occasions up until 2006 — suffering an ankle frac-ture, broken nose, displaced discs in his spine, knee cartilage dam-age, nerve damage in his hands and wrists, an elbow fracture and other injuries — Cricket Australia had continued to pay him.

But in May 2008 he spoke to the Australia team manager and the captain while on tour in the West Indies about numbness and pins and needles in both hands, knee and shoulder pain and was advised to return to Australia.

“The team medical officer was not available to be consulted by MacGill or notified during the Test match as he was not in attendance due to his own personal illness,” the writ said.

MacGill says in the writ that when he failed to receive pay-ments on returning home, the Australian Cricketer’s Association had entered into negotiations with Cricket Australia on his behalf but the sporting body denied liability and refused further dispute reso-lution. - AFP

Lawyers for the

spinner, who retired

from international

cricket in 2008 with

208 Test wickets at

an average of 29.02,

filed the details in a

writ in the Supreme

Court of Victoria

on Monday

NEGLECTED: It alleges Cricket Australia failed or neglected to pay MacGill injury payments for 104

weeks from May 2008 when he “ceased being able to perform his obligations due to injury’.

Clarke on track to return during World Cup

Malaysia down Oman at FIHWorld League

SYDNEY: Australian skipper Michael Clarke is recovering well from hamstring surgery and is on track to play a part in the World Cup, physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said Monday.

The 33-year-old badly tore his right hamstring during the first Test against India last month, ruling him out of the fol-lowing three Tests and threat-ening his involvement in the one-day tournament which be-gins next month.

Clarke had surgery in Decem-ber and Kountouris said a review by the surgeon in Melbourne on Sunday had been positive.

“Michael is progressing well in his rehab and is currently running on a regular basis and has commenced batting,” Koun-touris said in a statement.

“He remains on track for a return to play by February 21, the date we spoke of when the squad for the ICC Cricket World Cup was announced.”

Australia are scheduled to play Bangladesh on February 21 after beginning their World Cup against England on February 14.

Australia coach Darren Leh-mann earlier Monday said Clarke was ahead of schedule with his progress.

“He’s had a couple of bats in the nets, which is a really good thing for us. Fingers crossed, but he’s ahead of schedule,” Lehmann told reporters in Melbourne.

“We’d love him to play some warm-up games, but we’ll be guided by the medical staff there. The pleasing thing is he’s back in the nets and hopefully he can ramp it up from there.” - AFP

MUSCAT: Oman found formi-dable Malaysia too hot to handle as they were handed a heavy de-feat by the latter in the ongoing FIH Hockey World League in Singapore on Monday.

According to information re-ceived here, Malaysia blanked the Sultanate squad 7-0 in their Pool A game. Malaysia were too dominant.

German stalwart Oliver Kurtz-coached Omanis had be-gan their campaign in the tour-nament with a well-deserved 3-2 win over hosts Singapore on Saturday.

Oman now need to beat Ukraine on Tuesday to fancy their chances of progressing to the semifinals.

Oman and Ukraine have three points each from two out-ings but the latter are in the sec-ond place thanks to their better goal average.

Malaysia are on top with six points while Singapore are at the bottom after two losses.

P R O G R E S S I N G W E L L

H O C K E Y

‘Messi a class above all season’MADRID: Barcelona boss Luis Enrique hailed Lionel Messi’s con-sistent brilliance this season after the Argentine took his tally to 28 goals in 27 games with a hat-trick in a 4-0 win away to Deportivo la Coruna on Sunday.

Messi and Enrique’s relation-ship has reportedly been frosty since the four-time World Player of the Year had been left on the bench for his side’s 1-0 defeat to Real Sociedad earlier this month.

However, Enrique has repeated-ly insisted Messi remains the best player in the world and refused suggestions he has taken his form to another level over the past week with another stellar performance after vanquishing La Liga champi-ons Atletico Madrid last weekend with a goal and two assists.

“Messi has been at an extraor-dinarily high level all season,” said Enrique, despite reports of a dressing room rift between the two in recent weeks.

“He hasn’t dipped at any point. He has been world class.”

Victory brought Barca back to within a point of league leaders Real Madrid and continued their positive response to an institu-tional crisis that enveloped the club following the Sociedad defeat.

However, Enrique is still look-ing for further improvements if the Catalans are to continue their pursuit of honours on three fronts this season. “Winning is good for the players’ confidence but there are still many things to improve, both in attack and defence.

“We still need to improve in both areas because that is the only way to challenge for all the titles.”

One of the reported reasons for the dressing room discontent with Enrique has been his much criti-cised rotation policy. The 44-year-old named a different line-up for the 29th consecutive game, but maintained the same 11 that start-ed against Atletico last weekend.

However, he refused to admit he had bowed to pressure from his players for a more settled side.

“I am not faithful to one single manner of doing things. I played the 11 I think will work best. We will be stronger the more players we have contributing to the cause.”

And Barca’s captain on the day Andres Iniesta backed his coach’s intention to keep all his players heavily involved throughout the campaign.

“I don’t think the rotations are bad, that way we all feel useful and important,” said the Spanish in-ternational. “It also makes sure we are in a good situation to get to the end of all the competitions in bet-ter condition.

“In the end what matters is what the coach says and we have to ex-ecute it in the best way possible.”

Barca’s attention now turns to another meeting with Atletico in the first leg of their Copa del Rey quarterfinal tie on Wednesday.

“We have an exciting few weeks ahead of us, but it is a very intense and tough tie against a difficult op-ponent in Atletico. We need to be at our best.” - AFP

L A L I G A

WORLD CLASS: Barcelona boss Luis Enrique said ‘Messi has been

at an extraordinarily high level all season’. – AP/PTI

Marussia auction halted as possible investor emergesLONDON: Hopes of reviving the failed Marussia Formula One team grew on Monday after an auction of their cars and equip-ment was postponed to allow talks with a potential new investor.

The 2014 cars, spares and race equipment had been due to go on sale on Wednesday but adminis-trators FRP Advisory said it had been “halted to allow for discus-sions to continue with a third party.

“Given the confidential nature of the negotiations underway we are unable to provide further de-tails,” they added in a statement.

John Booth, who was principal of the Banbury-based team when they went into administration and missed the last three races of 2014, told the BBC he hoped there could be a deal in time for the start of the new season on March 15.

He said talks were “at a fairly advanced stage with a new inves-tor, a credible investor.

“Postponing the auction gives us a bit more time to explore it,” he added.

Although Marussia ceased trading in November, with staff made redundant, they still have an entry to the 2015 championship as Manor Grand Prix but would need

last year’s cars to compete.The governing Fia has said it is

willing to allow struggling teams to race with 2014 cars if that helped them to survive. - Reuters

F O R M U L A O N E

LONDON: Nico Rosberg will be first and world champion Lewis Hamilton second when it comes to testing the new Mercedes Formula One car in southern Spain next month.

Mercedes said on Monday that Rosberg, the German beaten to the title last year by his British team mate, would be first to drive the F1 W06 hybrid car after it is unveiled on the opening day of pre-season testing in Jerez on February 1.

Hamilton, chasing a third title this year after winning 11 races in 2014 to Rosberg’s five, will drive it on the sec-ond and third days.

Mercedes said the sched-ule was simply the reverse of the 2014 testing allocation, when Hamilton was first out in the new V6 turbo-powered car that replaced the old V8s.

The season starts in Aus-tralia on March 15. Mercedes are again expected to be the pace setters. - Reuters

Rosberg to get first test of Mercedes

Bailey fined, suspended for over-rate violation

BRISBANE: Australia one-day captain George Bailey has been slapped with a one-match sus-pension for a second over-rate offence in 12 months, the Inter-national Cricket Council (ICC) said on Monday.

In his absence, Steve Smith is likely lead the hosts, who will seek a hat-trick of tri-series match victories against Eng-land at Hobart on Friday.

Bailey, who is leading the side in place of injured regular skip-per Michael Clarke, has also been deducted 20 percent of his match fee, while his players were docked 10 percent of their match fee.

“(Match referee) Andy Py-croft... imposed the suspension on Bailey after Australia was ruled to be one over short of its target at the end of the match when time allowances were tak-en into consideration,” the ICC said in a statement.

Bailey led Australia in the first ODI against South Africa in Perth in November, in which both teams were fined for slow over rates.

Under the ICC code of con-duct, in the case of a second such over-rate offence in the same format within 12 months, the captain receives a one-match suspension. - Reuters

C R I C K E T

IN DEMENTIA CARE

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EXTRAT U E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 0, 2 0 1 5

Pepper,the world’s

first robot

designed to

serve people

by recognising

their emotions,

is set to retail for

about $1,680

on the consumer

market

Pepper, dear, when is the next time you’ll visit?”

“Look over here!”In a third-floor lounge at Nishi-Koi-

gakubo Ninjin Home, a special elderly nursing home in western Tokyo, elderly dementia patients recently spent time with Pepper, a human-oid robot with artificial intelligence being developed by SoftBank Mobile.

Said to be the world’s first robot designed to serve people by recognising their emotions, Pepper is set to retail for 198,000 yen (about $1,680) on the consumer market in February.

With Japan facing a rising number of dementia suf-ferers, more businesses have begun to develop prod-ucts and services to help patients and their families live more comfortably. Such products and services benefit society and also are becoming an important industry, with companies now launching full-fledged efforts to enter the market.

SoftBank Mobile hopes to develop its robot to act as a conversation partner for those suffering from de-mentia. During its visit that day, Pepper played a game and showed off its dancing skills, thanks to the instal-lation of a prototype program. Seeing the elderly resi-dents smile as they chatted with Pepper, nursing home operator Harue Ishikawa expressed high hopes, saying, “Even with a manpower shortage in the nursing care field, we can provide a higher-quality service if such robots can take over some of the work.”

The number of people suffering from or at risk of dementia is estimated to have exceeded 8 million in 2012, and the figure is expected to increase even more. Mean-while, the percentage of households com-prising either a single person aged at least 65 or an elderly couple without younger family members is forecast to rise from 20 percent in 2010 and reach 28 per cent in 2035. There also are many senior citizens who live with younger family members but stay alone at home during the daytime while the others are at work.

Kaname Hayashi, who is involved in the development of Pepper at SoftBank, said, “We see a demand for products that will prompt communication and support eve-ryday life by asking the elderly if they have taken their medication and other questions.”

To help prevent the condition of elderly patients from deteriorating to the point where they require nursing care, the firm hopes to give people more options than simply relying on efforts by the central and local governments.

The company plans to develop a pro-gram to provide better support for demen-tia patients, such as by adding a function to encourage the elderly to talk about their memories. “Pepper, who is indefatigable, can always be there as a conversation part-ner,” Hayashi said.

In 2011, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. chose dementia as a research sub-ject. First, the laboratory staff accompanied dementia patients and their families living in Tokyo on trips to pick mandarin oranges and visit hot springs, aiming to study the kinds of difficulties such people face in their daily lives.

“Products designed for people with dementia should be easy enough for anyone to use,” said Makoto Okada, the lab’s project leader. “The study will enhance the value of our products and services.”

PaPeRo, a communication robot developed by NEC Corp. and others, is already taking an active role at such places as nursing care facilities. The company hopes to make it available to the average consumer for less than 20,000 yen (about $170) a month. “The use of products specially developed for dementia patients has been limited to such places as nursing homes,” the company said. “But we believe that they will be soon spreading to ordinary households.”

Kao Corp., which makes daily necessities, set up a special internal team in March 2014 and began research on the disease.

“Various companies have taken an interest in dementia in the last few years, and we’ve been receiving more inquiries,” said Takenobu Inoue, di-rector of the Assistive Technology Department at the Research Institute of the National Rehabilitation Centre for Persons with Disabilities. “If well-known makers start to sell products and services that are dementia-friend-ly, it could play a major role in disease prevention. We’re willing to cooper-ate with companies that can disseminate information.”

A ROBOT DESIGNED

8 Million people suffering from or at risk

of dementia estimated in 2012

TO FILL ROLE

DENNIS Bilde from Denmark is now too old for junior events, but his final junior deal ever was memorable.

In the auction, North’s two-no-trump response showed four or more spades and at least game-invitational strength.

If West (Majka Bilde, Dennis’ sister) had led the diamond ace against six spades, it would have defeated the slam and ruined the story. When, though, she led the heart nine, South won with his ace, drew trumps, cashed his other two heart tricks, discarding the diamond king from his hand, ruffed a diamond in his hand, crossed to dummy with a trump and ruffed the last diamond. Now declarer had to play the club suit for only one loser. How did he read the deal?

South felt sure that if East or West had six or seven diamonds, he or she would have entered the auction. So declarer decided that the diamonds were 5-5. Furthermore, the carding in hearts suggested that West had begun with five. If so, West had started with 2-5-5-1 distribution.

Backing his judgment, Bilde led a low club toward the dummy. When West played the nine, declarer covered with dummy’s 10. East won with his king and returned a low club, but South played low from his hand to make his contract.

That was very well read. Also note that if West had had a singleton club honour, she would have been endplayed. On her forced red-suit return, declarer would have ruffed in the dummy and sluffed a club from his hand. Then he would have run the club jack to get home.

— By Phillip Alder

C9

ENTERTAINMENT

How do you handle the club suit?

B I G N A T E

B O R N L O S E R

M A R M A D U K E

A C E S O N B R I D G E

C I N E M A S C H E D U L E

K I D S P O T H E A L T H C A P S U L EC R O S S W O R D

Ans

wer

to p

revi

ous

puzz

le

WITH LOVE

Previous puzzle Solution

HOW TO PLAY Fill the empty cells with the numbers 1 to 9, so that each number appears once in each row, column and area. — Seven Galaxies

S U D O K U

T U E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 0, 2 0 1 5

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

25 Yes, to Rob Roy26 Not waste27 Talk to a beat28 Limo passenger29 Ben & Jerry rival31 Abby’s sister34 Moon goddess35 Wry36 Holbrook or Roach37 Dreaming, maybe

39 Frothy40 Lemon —41 Took the trolley42 Revival shout43 Polite chap44 Funny Bombeck45 Berets46 MD’s ASAP48 Dove’s cry

ACROSS 1 Bivouac 5 “Waterloo” pop

group 9 I knew it!12 “La Traviata”

highlight13 Total14 Congeal15 “Faint heart —

won ...”16 Brought up18 Halter cousin (2

wds.)20 Furry tree-dweller21 Oxygen source22 Chips go-with23 Humble26 Deprive of

confidence30 Boastful knight31 Stiff — — board32 Give alms33 “Sweet” girl of

song36 Carefree38 40-cup brewer39 Stockholm carrier40 Pipe unclogger43 Throats

47 Wooed49 QED part50 Type of poem51 Smoke-detector

output52 Jane Austen novel53 Permanent marker54 Cosmetics brand55 History

DOWN 1 Pessimist’s word 2 Zone 3 Bearing 4 Goose-down items 5 Shady nook 6 Dinner-table faux

pas 7 Sci. class 8 Darth Vader’s real

name 9 — Khan10 Command to Fido11 TV’s Hawkeye17 Deal with it19 Cravat22 Forensic science

tool23 Rap-sheet letters24 Terrible

HUMAM JAFRIJanuary 20, 2009

JOSHUA JAISONJanuary 20, 2002

AL AYHAM AL WAHAIBIJanuary 20

ALFIN BINOYJanuary 20, 2004

KUNGURUJanuary 20

BAHJA CINEMA

STARS CINEMA

Film Information - 24540856 / Advance Booking - 24540855Website: www.albahjacinemaoman.com

For More Information 24789032, 24786776 Website: www.isurf.co.om

Film information 24791641 / 24786776

Taken 3 (Action)Cast: Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker Famke Janssen, Maggie GraceCast: 4.00, 8.00, 10.00 & 11.55 pmCP No: 2015 /153 (12+)Seventh Son (Adventure/Fantasy) Cast: Jeff Bridges, Ben Barnes, AliciaVikander Kit Harington8.15 pm; CP No: 2015/62 (PG 12 )13 SIN (Horror-/Thriller) Cast: Mark Webber, Devon Graye4.15, 10.15 & 11.55pmCP No: 2015/154 (18+)The Theory of Everything (Drama) Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Tom Prior2.00 & 6.00 pm; CP No: 2015/155 (15+)Snow Queen 2 The Snow King (Animation) Voice Overs: Anna Shurochkina, Ivan Okhlobystin, Anna Khilkevich2.00 & 6.00 pmCP No: 2015/156 (U)

“I” (Tamil) ( Action\Thriller) Cast: Vikram, Amy Jackson and Suresh Gopi 3:00, 6:30 & 10:00pm Cinema Main Mylanchi Monchulla Veedu (Mal) (Rom/Com)Cast: Jayram & Asif Ali3:45, 6:45 & 9:45pm Cinema 4Chinnadana Nee Kosam (Telugu) (Com)Cast: Nitin Reddy & Misnti3:30, 6:30 & 9:30pm Cinema 2P K (Hindi) (Comedy) Cast: Aamir Khan, Anushka Sharma and Sanjay Dutt 3:45, 6:45 & 9:45 pm Cinema-3 NEXT CHANGE: Nagaravaridhi Naduvil Njaan

Taken 3 (2D) (Action | Crime) (12+) Cast: Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker, Maggie Grace3:00, 7:15, 9:30, 11:45 pmI (2D) (Action | Fantasy) (12+) Cast: Chiyaan Vikram, Amy Jackson, Upen Patel; 8:15 pmThe Theory of Everything (2D) (Biography | Drama) (PG12) Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Tom Prior; 5:15, 7:30 pm13 Sin (2D) (Horror | Thriller) (18+) Cast: Mark Webber, Devon Graye, Tom Bower; 9:45, 11:30 pmThe Snow Queen: Magic of the Ice Mirror (2D) (Animation) (TBC)Voice Overs: Anna Shurochkina, Ivan okhlobystin, Anna Khilkevich2:00 pmThe Snow Queen: Magic of the Ice Mirror (3D) (Animation) (TBC) 3:30, 5:00 pmWe’ll Never have Paris (2D) (Com) Cast: Melanie Lynskey, Nancy Marlowe 6:30 pm Seventh Son (2D) (Adv) (PG12)Cast: Ben Barnes, Julianne Moore5:15 pmSeventh Son (3D) (Adv) (PG12) 11:45 pm

The Imitation Game (2D): (Biography/Thriller) (12+)Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew GoodeGold Class: 2:00 pmTaken-3 (2D) (Act/Thriller) (12+)Cast: Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker 11:30am, 7:45, 9:45 & 11:45 pmGold Class: 4:15, 9:00 & 11:15pm13 Sins (2D): (Horror/Thriller) (18+)Cast: Mark Webber, Devon Graye 1:30 & 11:45 pmThe Theory Of Everything (2D): (Biography/Drama) (PG 12)3:15 & 5:30 pmGold Class: 6:30 pmFeng Shui (Tagalog) (2D) (Hor) (15+)6:30 pmI (Tamil) (2D) (Act/Thriller) (12+) 10:30 am I (Hindi) (2D) (Action/Thriller) (12+)Cast: ‘Chiyaan’ Vikram, Amy Jackson 8:20 pm

Snow Queen-Magic Of The Ice Mirror (2D)(Animation) (PG)Voice Overs: Anna Shurochkina, Anna Khilkevich; 2:00pm Snow Queen-Magic Of The Ice Mirror (3D): (Animation) (PG)03:30 PM & 05:00

SCREEN 1Alone - Hindi - (Thriller | Horror) Cast: Bipasha Basu, Karan Singh3:30 & 10:00pmShankar’s “I” - Hindi - (Thriller)(12+) Cast: Vikram, Amy Jackson, Suresh 6:30pmSCREEN 2Shankar’s “ I” - Hindi - (Thril) (12+ ) Cast: Vikram, Amy Jackson, Suresh 3:30 pmAlone - Hindi - (Thriller | Horror) Cast: Bipasha Basu, Karan Singh7:00pmShankar’s “ I” - Hindi - (Thril) (12+ )

Seventh Son – 2D (PG12) (Adv) Cast: Ben Barnes, Julianne Moore 5:30pmSeventh Son – 3D (PG12) (Adv)Cast: Ben Barnes, Julianne Moore 10:00pmTaken 3 – 2D (12+) Crime | ThrillerCast: Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker3:30, 7:30, 9:30 & 11:30 pmThe Snow Queen: Magic of the Ice Mirror – 3D (PG) Animation Voice Overs: Anna Shurochkina, Ivan Okhlobystin, Anna Khilkevich3:30, 5:00 pmI (Hindi) – 2D (12+) (Action) Cast: Anna Shurochkina, Ivan Okhlobystin, Anna Khilkevich6:30 & 11:00 pmI (Tamil) – 2D (12+) (Action)Cast: Anna Shurochkina, Ivan Okhlobystin, Anna Khilkevich7:45 pm13 Sins – 2D (18+) Horror | ThrillerCast: Mark Webber, Devon Graye11:55pmWe’ll Never Have Paris – 2D (PG12)(Comedy | Romance)Cast: Melanie Lynskey, Geoffrey Cantor, Nancy Marlowe3:30, 7:15pmThe Theory of Everything – 2D (PG12)(Biography | Drama | Romance)

Snow Queen 2: Magic Of Ice Mirror (3D) (Animation | Adventure) (PG)Voice Overs: Anna Shurochkina, Ivan Okhlobystin, Anna Khilkevich3:00, 5:00 pmTaken 3 (Crime | Thriller) (12+)Cast: Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker, Maggie Grace4:30, 6:30, 9:45 & 11:45pmI (Tamil) (Action | Fantasy ) (12+)Cast: ‘Chiyaan’ Vikram, Amy Jackson, Upen Patel8:30 pmTevar (Action | Romance) (PG12)Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha and Manoj Bajpayee3:30, 8:00 pm13 Sins (Horror | Thriller) (18+)Cast: Mark Webber, Devon Graye3:15, 6:15, 11:45 pmI (Hindi) (Action | Fantasy) (12+)Cast: ‘Chiyaan’ Vikram, Amy Jackson 6:30 & 10:45pm

Seventh Son (3D) (Adv| Fan) (PG12) Cast: Ben Barnes, Julianne Moore9:00pmSeventh Son (2D) (Adv | Fa) (PG12) Cast: Ben Barnes, Julianne Moore5:30pm

Taken 3 (2D/12+) (Action) Cast: Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker, Maggie Grace12:00, 3:45, 07:45, 9:45, 11:45pmSeventh Son (3D/PG12) (Adv) Cast: Ben Barnes, Julianne Moore8:45pmSeventh Son (2D/PG12) (Adv) 5:45PMThe Snow Queen: 2 (2D/PG) (Animation/Adventure/Family) 2:00pm The Snow Queen: 2 (3D/PG) (Animation/Adventure/Family) 3:30, 5:00pm The Theory of Everything (2D/PG12) (Biography)Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones2:45, 6:30pm13 Sins (2D/18+) (Horror/Thriller) Cast: Mark Webber, Devon Graye, Tom Bower12:45 & 11:30pm I – (Tamil) (2D/12+) (Action) 5:00, 8:15pmI – (Hindi) (2D/12+) (Action) Cast: ‘Chiyaan’ Vikram, Amy Jackson12:15, 10:45pm

I (Tamil) (Action | ) (12+) Cast: ‘Chiyaan’ Vikram, Amy Jackson, Upen Patel; 05:45, 11:00 pmTaken-3 (Action | Crime) (12+) Cast: Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker, Maggie Grace7:30, 9:30, 11:30 pmThe Snow Queen: Magic of the Ice Mirror (3D) (Anim/ Family) (PG) Voice Overs: Anna Shurochkina, Ivan 4:15 pm

Cast: Vikram, Amy Jackson, Suresh 9:30 pmSCREEN 3P. K (Comedy | Drama | Social) (PG)Cast: Aamir Khan, Anushka Sharma3:30pmSharafat Gayi Tel Lene (Comedy) Cast: Zayed Khan, Rannvijay Singh, 6:30 & 8:30 pm

Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Tom Prior4:00, 5:00, 9:00 pm Tevar – 2D (PG12) Action Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha 11:15 pm

C10

FIND-IT-ALLT U E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 0, 2 0 1 5

PHARMACIESRound the clockAl Hashar Pharmacy, Ruwi: 24783334; Appolo Medical Centre, Hamriya: 24782666; Muscat Pharmacy, Ruwi: 24702542, Salalah: 23291635; Atlas Pharmacy, Ghubra: 24503585; Ruwi 24811715 Muscat RegionApollo, Al Hamriya. Tel: 24787766Muscat, A Seeb Market. Tel: 24421691Muscat, Al Khuwair. Tel: 24485740Muscat, Al Hail South. Tel: 24537080Dhofar RegionMuscat, Al Nahdha Road, Salalah. Tel: 23291635

HOSPITALSAl Amal Medical & Health Care Centre: 24485052Atlas Hospital: Ruwi: 24811743/ Ghubra: 24504000Al Musafir Specialised Medical Clinic: 24706453Hatat Polyclinic LLC,Ruwi: 24563641, Azaiba: 24499269, Sohar: 2683006Al Raffah Hospital: 24618900/1/2Al Massaraat Clinic & Laboratory: 24566435Al Makook Medical Coordinance Centre: 24499434Apollo Medical Centre, Hamriya: 24787766, 24787780Capital Polyclinic: 24707549Badr Al Samaa Polyclinic, Ruwi: 24799760/1/2Capital Clinic, Seeb: 24420740Ceregem National Raak: 24485633Dr Harub’s Clinic: 24563217Elixir Health Centre: 24565802Emirates Medical Centre: 246045401st Chiropractic Centre: 24472274Hamdan Hospital: 23212340International Medical Centre LLC: 24794501/2/3/4/5Kims Oman Hospital: 24760100

24 Hrs Emergency: 24760123Lama Polyclinic, Sohar: 26751128, MBD: 24799077, Al Khuwair: 24478818Magrabi Eye and Ear Hospital: 24568870Muscat Private Hospital: 24583600Welcare Diagnostic and Treatment Centre, Al Khuwair: 24477666Al-Hayat Polyclinc LLC: 22004000

ROYAL OMAN POLICEEmergencies and inquiries: 9999General Directorate of Passport and Residence: 24569603Directorate General of Customs: 24521109Traffic violations inquiries: 24510228Public Relations Admin: 24560099

ACCOMMODATIONAl Bahjah Hotel: 24424400Al Bustan Palace: 24764000 Al Khuwair Hotel Apartments: 24478171Al Madina Holiday Inn: 24596400Al Maha International Hotel: 24494949Al Fanar Hotel: 24712385Al Falaj Hotel: 24702311Al Qurum Resort: 24605945Azaiba Hotel Apartments: 24490979Beach Hotel: 24696601Bowshar Hotel: 24491105Coral Hotel Muscat: 24692121Crowne Plaza Muscat: 24660660Crystal Suites: 24826100Golden Tulip Seeb: 24510300Grand Hyatt Muscat: 24641234Haffa House Hotel: 24707207Hotel Muscat Holiday: 24487123InterContinental Muscat: 24680000Majan Continental Hotel: 24592900Marina Hotel: 24711711Midan Hotel Suites: 24499565Mina Hotel: 24711828Muttrah Hotel: 24798401

Nuzha Hotel Apartments: 24789199Oman Dive Centre: 24824240Park Inn: 24507888Qurum Beach House Hotel: 24564070Radisson Blu Hotel: 24487777Ramee Dream Resort Seeb: 24453399Ramee Guestline Hotel: 24564443Ruwi Hotel: 24704244Safeer Hotel Suites: 24691200Sheraton Oman Hotel: 24772772Shangri-La’s Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa: 24776666The Chedi Muscat: 24524400The Treasurebox Muscat Hotel: 24502570

AIRLINE OFFICESMuscat Airport Flight information (24 hours): 24519456/24519223Aeroflot: 24704455, Air Arabia: 24700828, Air France: 24562153, Air India: 24799801, Air New Zealand: 24700732, Biman Bangladesh Airlines: 24701128, British Airways: 24568777, Cathay Pacific: 24789818, Egypt Air: 24794113, Emirates Air: 24404400, Ethiopian Airlines: 24660313, Gulf Air: 80072424, Indian: 24791914, Iran Air: 24787423, Japan Airlines: 24704455, Jazeera Airways: 23294848, Jet Airways: 24787248, Kenya Airways: 24660300, KML Royal Dutch Airlines: 24566737, Kuwait Airways: 24701262, LOT Polish Airlines: 24796387, Lufthansa: 24796692, Malaysian Airlines: 24560796, Middle East Airlines: 24796680, Oman Air: 24531111, Pakistan International Airlines: 24792471, Qatar Airways: 24771900, Qantas: 24559941, Royal Jordanian: 24796693, Saudi Arabian Airlines: 24789485, Singapore Airlines: 24791233, Shaheen Air: 24816565, SriLankan Airlines:

24784545, Swiss International Airlines: 24796692, Thai Airways: 24705934, Turkish Airlines: 24703033

MUSEUMSBait Al Baranda: Corniche (seafront opp fish market), Open from Saturday to Thursday 9am to 1pm and 4 to 6pmNatural History Museum: Al Khuwair, Tel: 24604957, Open from Saturday to Wednesday: 8am to 1:30pm; Thursday: 9am to 1pmMuseum of Omani Heritage: (former Omani Museum), Madinat Al Alam, Sat-Wed 8am to 1:30pm, Thursday - 9am to 1pm, Tel: 24600946Armed Forces Museum: Bait Al Falaj, Tel: 24312651, Open from Sat to Wed: 8am to 1:30pm; Thurs 9-12pm and 3-6pm; Fri 9-11am and 3-6pm. Al Hoota Caves 24498258; Turtle Beach 96550606/96550707Children’s Science Museum: Shatti Al Qurum, Tel: 24605368, Open from Saturday to Wednesday: 8am to 1:30pm, Thursday: 9am to 1pmOman-French Museum: near Muscat Police Station, Tel: 24736613, Open from Sat to Wed: 8am to 1:30pm, Thurs: 9am to 1pmBait Al Zubair, Muscat: Tel: 24736688, Al Saidiya St., Muscatmuseum@baitalzubairmuseum.comOpen from Sat to Thurs: 9:30am to 6pm.National Museum Ruwi: Tel: 24701289, Open from Saturday to Wednesday: 8am to 1:30pm, Thursday: 9am to 1pmSohar Fort Museum: Tel: 26844758, Open from Saturday to Wed: 8 to 1:30pm Thurs: 9am to 1pmMuscat Gate Museum: at Al Bahri Road, Muscat open from Sat to Wed 8am to 2pm

PRAYER TIMINGS

Dhuhr 12.23pm

Asr 3.28pm

Maghrib 5.50pm

Isha 7.03pm Fajr (Tomorrow) 5.32am

Sunset 5.44pm

Sunrise (Tomorrow) 6.51am

High tide 7:38am 9:29pm

Low tide 2:35pm 3:09am

W E A T H E R

OMAN

Max 24Min 18

Max 25Min 17

Max 23Min 15

Max 24Min 13

Max 26Min 17Max 25

Min 12

Max 25Min 12

Max 27 Min 19

Partly cloudy to cloudy skies over the governorates of Musandam, north Al-Batinah, Al-Buraimi, Al-Dhahira, south Al-Batinah, Muscat, Al-Dakhliah, North Al-Sharqiya and South Al-Sharqiya with chances of rain and

occasional thundershowers associated with hail and fresh downdrafts wind. Clear to partly cloudy skies with chances of isolated rain along the coastal areas of Dhofar and Al-Wusta governorates.EXPECTED WIND: Along the coastal areas of Arabian Sea wind will be southeasterly to southerly light to moderate and over the rest of the Sultanate wind will be northerly to northwesterly light to moderate becoming fresh northwesterly during evening time over Musandam and coastal areas of Oman Sea.

SEA STATE: Moderate to rough along Musandam and Oman Sea coasts with maximum wave height ranges between 2.0 to 3.0 metres. Slight to moderate along Arabian Sea coast with a maximum wave height of 1.5 metres.HORIZONTAL VISIBILITY: Good over most of the Sultanate becoming poor during thundershowers.THE NEXT 48 HOURS OUTLOOK: Partly cloudy skies with chances of rain and occasional thundershowers over governorates of Musandam , coastal areas of Oman Sea and Al-Hajar mountains. Chances of isolated rain along the coastal areas of Dhofar and Al-Wusta governorates . Moderate to rough along most of Oman coasts with maximum wave height ranges between 2.0 to 3.0 metres. Decrease in temperature over most of the Sultanate during night.

Max Min

GULFAbu Dhabi 21 17Doha 18 10Dubai 20 12Kuwait 16 10Manama 17 14Riyadh 18 4

WORLDAthens 17 11Baghdad 17 3Beijing 2 -4Berlin -2 -2Boston 2 -3Cairo 22 3Colombo 31 20Frankfurt 3 -1Hong Kong 16 11Istanbul 12 7Johannesburg 24 14Kuala Lumpur 31 22Lisbon 10 6Paris 2 0Perth 36 22Singapore 30 24Tokyo 11 2Toronto -4 -11

WORLD

Max 4Min -1

Max 22Min 8

Max -4Min -12

Max 24Min 14

Max 19Min 12

Max 24Min 22

Max -3Min -11

Max 29Min 23

LONG DISTANCE BUS TIMINGS (OMAN NATIONAL TRANSPORT COMPANY SAOC) *SUBJECT TO CHANGE

QURIYAT - SUR - JAALAN (Route 36)Dept Destination Arrival Operating Time Time Days 15:00 Quriyat 16:30 Daily15:00 Sur 18:00 Daily15:00 Jaalan 19:30 Daily

FROM JAALAN-SUR-QURIYAT (Route 36)Dept Destination Arrival Operating Time Time Days 05:30 Sur 06:45 Daily05:30 Quriyat 08:30 Daily05:30 Ruwi 10:00 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 Daily 16.00 Sohar 18.35 Daily 16.00 Buraimi 20:20 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)17:30 Sinaw 20:50 Daily

TO SINAW (Route 52)07:00 Ruwi 10:25 Daily

To Yanqul (Route 54)14:30 Nizwa 16:50 Daily14:30 Yanqul 19:30 Daily

To Yanqul (Route 54)06:00 Nizwa 08:40 Daily06:00 Ruwi 11:00 Daily

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (Route 54)08:00 Nizwa 10:20 Daily08:00 Al Araqi 12:30 Daily

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (Route 54)15:40 Nizwa 17:55 Daily15:40 Ruwi 20:20 Daily

TO SUR (Route 55)07:30 Sur 12:00 Daily14:30 Sur 18:45 Daily

TO SUR (Route 55)06:00 Ruwi 10:45 Daily14:30 Ruwi 19:00 Daily

TO FAHUD - YIBAL (Route 62)06:30 Fahud 10:30 Daily06:30 Yibal 11:15 Daily

TO YIBAL - FAHUD (Route 62)12:30 Fahud 13:15 Daily12:30 Ruwi 17:30 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 (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

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 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 16:50 Daily

SALALAH TO DUBAI (Route 102)15:00 Dubai 07:00 Daily

TO MARMUL (Route 101)06:00 Marmul 16:30 Daily

DUBAI TO SALALAH (Route 102)15:00 Salalah 07:00 Daily

TO DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH & SHARJAH (Route 204)Dept Destination Arrival Operating Time Time Days 07:00 Fujairah 11.45 Daily 07:00 Sharjah 13.30 Daily 07:00 Dubai 14.00 Daily

FROM DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH & SHARJAH (Route 204)Dept Destination Arrival Operating Time Time Days 16:00 Sharjah 16:30 Daily 16.00 Fujairah 18.15 Daily16.00 Ruwi 23.00 Daily

FROM MUSCAT (RUWI) TO MUSCAT (RUWI)

LISTINGS

FLT NO DEPARTURES TO ETD AI986 BOMBAY  0005LX243 DUBAI-ZURICH  00209W539 BOMBAY  0025BA072 ABU DHABI-LONDON HEATHROW  0025SG062 AHMEDABAD  0030LH619 ABU DHABI-FRANKFURT  0050WY685 RIYADH  0105WY251 MADRAS  0110WY201 BOMBAY  0120WY811 BANGKOK  0120WY235 HYDERABAD  0135WY601 DUBAI  0150WY241 DELHI  0155WY431 TEHRAN  0155WY643 KUWAIT  0200WY637 ABU DHABI  0205WY313 CHITTAGONG  0205WY657 BAHRAIN  0205WY667 DOHA  0220NL769 LAHORE  0230WY691 DAMMAM  0235TK775 ISTANBUL  0310PK282 SIALKOT  0325PK226 KARACHI  0330WY271 JAIPUR  0350WY267 LUCKNOW  0355ET625 ADDIS ABABA  0450EK867 DUBAI  0455FZ042 DUBAI  0510QR1133 DOHA  0520EY385 ABU DHABI  0525WY3301 MUKHAIZNA  0715GF561 BAHRAIN  0745WY603 DUBAI  0800WY903 SALALAH  0800WY813 BANGKOK  0805WY327 LAHORE  0920WY325 KARACHI  0920WY291 CALICUT  0920WY215 TRIVANDRUM  0920WY823 KUALA LUMPUR  0930FZ044 DUBAI  0935WY231 HYDERABAD  0955WY245 DELHI  0955G9115 SHARJAH  1005WY815 BANGKOK  1010WY283 BANGALORE  1010WY373 COLOMBO  1020WY203 BOMBAY  1030WY605 DUBAI  1030WY905 SALALAH  1030WY347 ISLAM ABBAD  1040WY717 ZANZIBAR-DARESSLAM  1045EK863 DUBAI  1055EY383 ABU DHABI  1105WY655 BAHRAIN  1110QR1129 DOHA  1115QR8551 DUBAI WORLD CENTRE-DOHA  1130WY917 KHASAB  1140G9842 RAS AL KHAIMA  1210PK192 GWADUR-TURBAT  1305WY337 KATHMANDU  1310IX350 CALICUT  1310FZ038 DUBAI  1315WY253 MADRAS  1315WY3931 SOHAR  1315WY223 COCHIN  1325WY631 ABU DHABI  1325WY663 DOHA  1330WY101 LONDON HEATHROW  1330BG024 CHITTAGONG  1415WY405 CAIRO  1430WY3305 MUKHAIZNA  1515IX818 MANGALORE  1530WY609 DUBAI  1545KU678 ABU DHABI-KUWAIT  1625WY675 JEDDAH  1630WY913 SALALAH  1650FZ046 DUBAI  1700WY613 DUBAI  1700WY623 DUBAI  1820QR1127 DOHA  1845WY681 RIYADH  1845WY907 SALALAH  1850GF565 BAHRAIN  1855WY647 KUWAIT  1900WY661 DOHA  1900WY653 BAHRAIN  1910WY695 DAMMAM  1910EK865 DUBAI  1915WY821 KUALA LUMPUR  1930WY909 SALALAH  1940SV535 RIYADH  2000G9117 SHARJAH  2005WY611 DUBAI  2025WY635 ABU DHABI  2030TG508 KARACHI-BANGKOK  2040FZ048 DUBAI  2040WY915 SALALAH  2135FZ050 DUBAI  22256.00E+82 BOMBAY  2245AI908 MADRAS  2300AI974 DELHI  2310QR1135 DOHA  2320GF567 BAHRAIN  2325UL206 COLOMBO  2335EY381 ABU DHABI  2350WY901 SALALAH  2350WY673 JEDDAH  2350

FLT NO DEPARTURES TO ETD AI986 BOMBAY  0005LX243 DUBAI-ZURICH  00209W539 BOMBAY  0025BA072 ABU DHABI-LONDON HEATHROW  0025LH619 ABU DHABI-FRANKFURT  0050WY685 RIYADH  0105WY251 MADRAS  0110WY201 BOMBAY  0120WY225 COCHIN  0125WY235 HYDERABAD  0135WY601 DUBAI  0150WY345 ISLAM ABBAD  0150WY341 LAHORE  0150WY431 TEHRAN  0155WY241 DELHI  0155WY151 ZURICH  0155WY643 KUWAIT  0200WY313 CHITTAGONG  0205WY637 ABU DHABI  0205WY657 BAHRAIN  0205WY115 FRANKFURT  0215WY667 DOHA  0220WY123 MUNICH-PARIS  0220WY143 MALPENSA  02254H584 DACCA  0230WY691 DAMMAM  0235PK230 LAHORE  0315TK777 BAHRAIN-ISTANBUL  0350WY267 LUCKNOW  0355EK867 DUBAI  0455FZ042 DUBAI  0510QR1133 DOHA  0520EY385 ABU DHABI  0525WY617 KHASAB  0630WY3921 DUQUM OMAN  0715GF561 BAHRAIN  0745WY903 SALALAH  0800WY603 DUBAI  0800WY273 JAIPUR  0815WY215 TRIVANDRUM  0845WY325 KARACHI  0920WY291 CALICUT  0920NL769 LAHORE  0930FZ044 DUBAI  0935WY283 BANGALORE  0940WY245 DELHI  0955WY231 HYDERABAD  0955WY3301 MUKHAIZNA  1000G9115 SHARJAH  1005WY815 BANGKOK  1010WY203 BOMBAY  1030WY905 SALALAH  1030WY605 DUBAI  1030WY253 MADRAS  1040WY717 ZANZIBAR-DARESSLAM  1045EK863 DUBAI  1055EY383 ABU DHABI  1105WY655 BAHRAIN  1110IX554 TRIVANDRUM  1110IX442 COCHIN  1115QR1129 DOHA  11159W533 COCHIN  1135G9842 RAS AL KHAIMA  1210WY631 ABU DHABI  1225IX350 CALICUT  1310FZ038 DUBAI  1315PA451 LAHORE  1315WY101 LONDON HEATHROW  1330WY663 DOHA  1330WY413 AMMAN  1330WY3303 MUKHAIZNA  1400WY927 SALALAH  1415WY609 DUBAI  1420WY405 CAIRO  1430WY331 KATHMANDU  1455WY913 SALALAH  1630WY675 JEDDAH  1630FZ046 DUBAI  1700WY613 DUBAI  1700WY623 DUBAI  1820QR1127 DOHA  1845WY681 RIYADH  1845WY907 SALALAH  1850GF565 BAHRAIN  1855WY661 DOHA  1900WY647 KUWAIT  1900WY653 BAHRAIN  1910WY695 DAMMAM  1910EK865 DUBAI  1915WY909 SALALAH  1940G9117 SHARJAH  2005WY611 DUBAI  2025WY635 ABU DHABI  2030FZ048 DUBAI  2040WY825 KUALA LUMPUR  2110WY915 SALALAH  2135AI978 HYDERABAD-BANGALORE  2200FZ050 DUBAI  2225KL442 DOHA-AMSTERDAM  22309W529 TRIVANDRUM  22406.00E+82 BOMBAY  2245AI908 MADRAS  2300AI974 DELHI  2310QR1135 DOHA  2320GF567 BAHRAIN  2325WY901 SALALAH  2350EY381 ABU DHABI  2350WY673 JEDDAH  2350

A I R L I N E S

—www.met.gov.om

TUESDAYFLT NO ARRIVALS FROM ETA WY406 CAIRO  0005WY682 RIYADH  0005WY682 RIYADH  0005WY676 JEDDAH  0005WY648 KUWAIT  0010WY816 BANGKOK  0015NL768 LAHORE  0130WY916 SALALAH  0150TK774 ISTANBUL  0215PK281 ISLAM ABBAD-SIALKOT  0225PK225 KARACHI  0230QR1132 DOHA  0345ET624 ADDIS ABABA  0350EK866 DUBAI  0355GF560 BAHRAIN  0405EY384 ABU DHABI  0405FZ041 DUBAI  0415WY902 SALALAH  0630WY638 ABU DHABI  0650WY658 BAHRAIN  0700WY412 AMMAN  0705WY668 DOHA  0710WY644 KUWAIT  0715WY122 MUNICH  0715WY114 FRANKFURT  0715WY692 DAMMAM  0725WY674 JEDDAH  0730WY154 MALPENSA-ZURICH  0745WY132 PARIS  0800WY602 DUBAI  0805WY202 BOMBAY  0815WY432 TEHRAN  0815WY102 LONDON HEATHROW  0820WY422 BEIRUT  0830FZ043 DUBAI  0850G9114 SHARJAH  0915WY236 HYDERABAD  0920WY242 DELHI  0935WY252 MADRAS  0940EK862 DUBAI  0940QR8550 DOHA  1000QR1128 DOHA  1010EY382 ABU DHABI  1015WY3302 MUKHAIZNA  1045WY272 JAIPUR  1100WY604 DUBAI  1110WY904 SALALAH  1110G9841 RAS AL KHAIMA  1120FZ037 DUBAI  1200WY314 CHITTAGONG  1210WY268 LUCKNOW  1210IX337 CALICUT  1210PK191 GWADUR  1220BG023 CHITTAGONG  1245WY918 KHASAB  1245WY606 DUBAI  1330WY326 KARACHI  1355WY918 KHASAB  1440IX817 MANGALORE-ABU DHABI  1440WY906 SALALAH  1445WY812 BANGKOK  1525KU677 KUWAIT  1525WY656 BAHRAIN  1530WY328 LAHORE  1550FZ045 DUBAI  1555WY632 ABU DHABI  1635WY204 BOMBAY  1710WY292 CALICUT  1720WY246 DELHI  1730WY232 HYDERABAD  1740WY216 TRIVANDRUM  1740WY348 ISLAM ABBAD  1745WY664 DOHA  1745QR1126 DOHA  1745EK864 DUBAI  1800GF564 BAHRAIN  1810WY284 BANGALORE  1810WY610 DUBAI  1845WY3306 MUKHAIZNA  1845SV534 RIYADH  1900G9116 SHARJAH  1915TG507 BANGKOK-KARACHI  1935FZ047 DUBAI  1945WY614 DUBAI  2030WY914 SALALAH  2055WY624 DUBAI  2125AI973 DELHI  21256.00E+81 BOMBAY  2130WY224 COCHIN  2140FZ049 DUBAI  2145WY374 COLOMBO  2150WY254 MADRAS  2155WY814 BANGKOK  2200AI907 MADRAS  2200QR1134 DOHA  2210UL205 COLOMBO  2225GF566 BAHRAIN  2240BA073 LONDON HEATHROW-ABU DHABI  2240EY388 ABU DHABI  2250WY908 SALALAH  2305AI985 AHMEDABAD-BOMBAY  2310WY662 DOHA  2315LX242 ZURICH-DUBAI  23209W540 BOMBAY  2325LH618 FRANKFURT-ABU DHABI  2330WY654 BAHRAIN  2330WY612 DUBAI  2335WY696 DAMMAM  2350WY636 ABU DHABI  2350WY910 SALALAH  2355WY717 ZANZIBAR-DARESSLAM  2355

WEDNESDAYFLT NO ARRIVALS FROM ETA

WY682 RIYADH  0005WY406 CAIRO  0005WY676 JEDDAH  0005WY648 KUWAIT  0010WY816 BANGKOK  0015WY816 BANGKOK  0015WY824 KUALA LUMPUR  00554H583 DACCA-CHITTAGONG  0130WY916 SALALAH  0150PK229 LAHORE  0215TK776 ISTANBUL-BAHRAIN  0300QR1132 DOHA  0345EK866 DUBAI  0355GF560 BAHRAIN  0405EY384 ABU DHABI  0405FZ041 DUBAI  0415WY638 ABU DHABI  0520WY902 SALALAH  0630WY686 RIYADH  0700WY658 BAHRAIN  0700WY668 DOHA  0710WY644 KUWAIT  0715WY692 DAMMAM  0725WY674 JEDDAH  0730WY602 DUBAI  0805WY202 BOMBAY  0815WY432 TEHRAN  0815WY102 LONDON HEATHROW  0820NL768 LAHORE  0830WY342 LAHORE  0835FZ043 DUBAI  0850G9114 SHARJAH  0915WY236 HYDERABAD  0920WY918 KHASAB  0930WY226 COCHIN  0930WY242 DELHI  0935EK862 DUBAI  0940WY346 ISLAM ABBAD  0940WY252 MADRAS  0940IX443 COCHIN  1010QR1128 DOHA  1010EY382 ABU DHABI  1015IX549 TRIVANDRUM  10209W530 TRIVANDRUM  1035WY604 DUBAI  1110WY822 KUALA LUMPUR  1115WY3922 DUQUM OMAN  1115G9841 RAS AL KHAIMA  1120FZ037 DUBAI  1200WY268 LUCKNOW  1210IX337 CALICUT  1210WY314 CHITTAGONG  1210PA450 LAHORE  1215WY904 SALALAH  1215WY3302 MUKHAIZNA  1330WY606 DUBAI  1330WY326 KARACHI  1355WY918 KHASAB  1440WY918 KHASAB  1440WY906 SALALAH  1445WY274 JAIPUR  1515WY656 BAHRAIN  1530WY632 ABU DHABI  1535FZ045 DUBAI  1555WY216 TRIVANDRUM  1705WY204 BOMBAY  1710WY292 CALICUT  1720WY610 DUBAI  1730WY246 DELHI  1730WY3304 MUKHAIZNA  1730WY284 BANGALORE  1740WY232 HYDERABAD  1740QR1126 DOHA  1745WY664 DOHA  1745EK864 DUBAI  1800GF564 BAHRAIN  1810G9116 SHARJAH  1915WY254 MADRAS  1920WY144 MALPENSA  1930FZ047 DUBAI  1945WY614 DUBAI  2030WY914 SALALAH  2035AI977 BANGALORE-HYDERABAD  2105KL441 AMSTERDAM-DOHA  2120WY624 DUBAI  2125AI973 DELHI  21256.00E+81 BOMBAY  2130WY414 AMMAN  21359W534 COCHIN  2140FZ049 DUBAI  2145AI907 MADRAS  2200QR1134 DOHA  2210WY272 JAIPUR  2235GF566 BAHRAIN  2240BA073 LONDON HEATHROW-ABU DHABI  2240EY388 ABU DHABI  2250WY908 SALALAH  2305AI985 AHMEDABAD-BOMBAY  2310WY662 DOHA  2315WY124 MUNICH  2320LX242 ZURICH-DUBAI  23209W540 BOMBAY  2325LH618 FRANKFURT-ABU DHABI  2330WY654 BAHRAIN  2330WY612 DUBAI  2335WY116 FRANKFURT  2345WY928 SALALAH  2345WY636 ABU DHABI  2350W696 DAMMAM  2350WY717 ZANZIBAR-DARESSLAM  2355WY910 SALALAH  2355

BORN today, you are a natural trailblazer, never so content as when you are exploring, to the fullest capacity of your considerable talents and intellect, all that life offers you — personally, professionally and recreationally. You will be recognised as one who does not fear the criticism of lesser individuals who cannot understand why you are driven to try what hasn’t been done before, exploring territory that might be dangerous to you and others. Indeed, that kind of criticism often serves as a kind of motivator for you: The more of it you get, the more eager you are to forge ahead, following your instincts and seeking the kind of discoveries that result from your particular brand of daring.

When it comes to your personal life, things may either go exactly according to plan or fall completely apart with little or no warning. This depends, in large part, on your ability to keep the professional and the personal carefully in balance. If things teeter one way or the other, you risk much in one or both domains.

Also born on this date are: George Burns, comedian; Paul Stanley, guitarist and singer; Buzz Aldrin, astronaut; Bill Maher, comedian and television host; Lorenzo Lamas, actor; DeForest Kelley, actor; Aristotle Onassis, shipping magnate; David Lynch, director; Arte Johnson, actor and comedian; Skeet Ulrich, actor; Federico Fellini, director; Patricia Neal, actress.

You may be called upon to step forward and do something that you feared to do only yesterday. Today, you’re confident that you can prevail.

VIRGO [AUG. 23-SEPT. 22]

LIBRA [SEPT. 23-OCT. 22] LLLLLLLLLLLLLLL[S[S[S[S[[[S[[S[S[S[[S[S[SSS[SS[SSSS

SCORPIO [OCT. 23-NOV. 21] S[

SAGITTARIUS [NOV. 22-DEC. 21] S[[[[[[[[[[[[[[

AQUARIUS [JAN. 20-FEB. 18]

You may not fully understand what another intends when he or she presents you with information that you didn’t know you needed.

Opportunity knocks, but not necessarily in a loud and insistent manner. Listen carefully, or you may not hear it at all.

You may not be able to ignore the many distractions around you, but a little quick thinking can allow you to take advantage of them.

You must be willing to listen to what someone in the know has to tell you, for it’s bound to come in handy in an unusual way.

The goal is not total agreement, but rather the friendly exchange of ideas and information. You can get much from a rival, in fact.

Unusual behavior finds its roots in the unusual, albeit instinctive reaction to unexpected events. Are explanations enough?

You’ll want to proceed in a way that allows you to assess your progress at every new stage — so adopt a suitable pace.

PISCES [Feb. 19-March 20]

Y

Your reaction to someone’s offer will say more about you than it does about the offering itself. Are you making real sense?

GEMINI [MAY 21-JUNE 20]

CANCER [JUNE 21-JULY 22]

LEO [JULY 23-AUG. 22]

CAPRICORN [DEC. 22-JAN 19]

Y O U R B I R T H D A Y

ARIES [March 21-APRIL 19]

TAURUS [APRIL 20-MAY 20]

A question of bravery is likely to arise when you are expected to do what another is unwilling to do. Your instincts serve you well.

Are you ready to say “yes” to someone who has been urging you to do something unusual for quite some time? Once you answer, it’s done!

What appears easy today may actually deceive you, giving you good reason to go back to the beginning and review the basics.

Endless meetings that do little but waste every-one’s time. Dysfunction-al committees that take

two steps back for every one for-ward. Project teams that engage in wishful groupthinking rather than honest analysis. Everyone who is part of an organisation — a com-pany, a nonprofit, a condo board — has experienced these and other pathologies that can occur when human beings try to work together in groups.

But does teamwork have to be a lost cause? Psychologists have been working on the problem for a long time. And for good reason: — Nowadays, though we may still idolise the charismatic leader or creative genius, almost every de-cision of consequence is made by a group. When Facebook’s board of directors establishes a privacy policy, when the CIA’s operatives strike a suspected hide-out or when a jury decides whether to convict a defendant, what mat-ters is not just the intelligence and wisdom of the individual actors involved. Groups of smart people can make horrible decisions — or great ones.

Psychologists have known for a century that individuals vary in their cognitive ability. But are some groups, like some people, re-liably smarter than others?

Working with several col-leagues and students, we set out to answer that question. In our first two studies, which we published with Alex Pentland and Nada Hashmi of MIT in 2010 in the journal Science, we grouped 697

volunteer participants into teams of two to five members. Each team worked together to complete a series of short tasks, which were selected to represent the varied kinds of problems that groups are called upon to solve in the real world. One task involved logical analysis, another brainstorming; others emphasized coordination, planning and moral reasoning.

Individual intelligence, as psy-chologists measure it, is defined by its generality — People with good vocabularies, for instance, also

tend to have good math skills, even though we often think of those abilities as distinct. The results of our studies showed that this same kind of general intelligence also exists for teams. On average, the groups that did well on one task did well on the others, too. In other words, some teams were simply smarter than others.

We next tried to define what characteristics distinguished the smarter teams from the rest, and we were a bit surprised by the an-swers we got. We gave each vol-unteer an individual IQ test, but teams with higher average IQs didn’t score much higher on our collective intelligence tasks than did teams with lower average IQs. Nor did teams with more extro-verted people, or teams whose members reported feeling more motivated to contribute to their group’s success.

Instead, the smartest teams were distinguished by three char-acteristics.

First, their members contribut-ed more equally to the team’s dis-cussions, rather than letting one or two people dominate the group.

Second, their members scored higher on a test called Reading the Mind in the Eyes, which measures how well people can read complex emotional states from images of faces with only the eyes visible.

Finally, teams with more wom-en outperformed teams with more men. Indeed, it appeared that it was not “diversity” (having equal numbers of men and women) that mattered for a team’s intelligence, but simply having more women.

This last effect, however, was partly explained by the fact that women, on average, were better at “mindreading” than men.

In a new study that we published with David Engel and Lisa X. Jing of MIT last month in PLoS One, we replicated these earlier findings, but with a twist. We randomly as-signed each of 68 teams to com-plete our collective intelligence test in one of two conditions. Half of the teams worked face to face, like the teams in our earlier stud-ies. The other half worked online, with no ability to see any of their teammates. Online collaboration is on the rise, with tools like Skype, Google Drive and old-fashioned email enabling groups that never meet to execute complex pro-jects. We wanted to see whether groups that worked online would still demonstrate collective intel-

ligence, and whether social ability would matter as much when peo-ple communicated purely by typ-ing messages into a browser.

And they did. Online and off, some teams consistently worked smarter than others. More sur-prisingly, the most important ingredients for a smart team re-mained constant regardless of its mode of interaction: members who communicated a lot, partici-pated equally and possessed good emotion-reading skills.

This last finding was another surprise. Emotion-reading mat-tered just as much for the online teams whose members could not see one another as for the teams that worked face to face. What makes teams smart must be not just the ability to read facial expres-sions, but a more general ability, known as “Theory of Mind,” to con-

sider and keep track of what other people feel, know and believe.

A new science of effective team-work is vital not only because teams do so many important things in society, but also because so many teams operate over long periods of time, confronting an ever-widening array of tasks and problems that may be much dif-ferent from the ones they were ini-tially convened to solve. General intelligence, whether in individu-als or teams, is especially crucial for explaining who will do best in novel situations or ones that re-quire learning and adaptation to changing circumstances. We hope that understanding what makes groups smart will help organisa-tions and leaders in all fields create and manage teams more effective-ly. -Anita Woolley, Thomas W. Malone and Chris-

topher Chabris/The New York Times News Sevice

The results of our studies showed that this same kind of general intelligence also exists for teams. On average, the groups that did well on one task did well on the others, too. In other words, some teams were simply smarter than others

C11

EXTRAT U E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 0, 2 0 1 5

Does teamwork have to be a lost cause? Psychologists have been

working on the problem for a long time. And for a good reason!

WHY SOME TEAMS ARE SMARTER THAN OTHERS

STUDY

A NEW study finds that people who spend more time online or using social media do not have higher levels of stress compared to those who do not. This re-search explored whether the use of social media, mobile phones and the internet is associated with higher levels of stress.

Internet, social media and cell-phone users did not have higher stress levels than those who are less tech savvy, Time reported quoting the study. The research, done by global think tank Pew Research Centre, was based on a survey of 1,801 American adults.

The survey was conducted in English and Spanish on land-line and cellphones It found that

women who spend more time on social media report being less stressed overall.

But people who use social me-dia are more aware of stressful events in other people’s lives.

“Learning about and being re-minded of undesirable events in other people’s lives makes people feel more stress themselves,” said Keith Hampton, Rutgers Univer-sity scholar and study author.

Women who are hooked to Fa-cebook were aware of 13 per cent more stressful events in their close friends’ lives and aware of 14 per cent more in the lives of acquaintances. Men were eight per cent more aware of stressful events in their friends’ lives and

six per cent more aware of events.Women were more often in-

formed of other people’s stress from photos shared online on sites, whereas men’s awareness came most often from text mes-sages, e-mails and LinkedIn.

“There is a great deal of specu-lation that social media users feel extra pressure to participate and keep up on social media, to avoid the ‘fear of missing out’ in activities that others share,” noted Keith Hampton, associate professor of communications at Rutgers University. Social me-dia users tend to be more aware of stressful events in the lives of people they know, noted the study. -IANS

Social media users not more stressed out than others

C12

EXTRAT U E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 0, 2 0 1 5

The hottest accessory after Golden Globes wasn’t beaded,bejewelled or bespoke. It was the paper ticket, wristband or, trendiest yet,

invisible wrist stamp for the after-parties

THE SPECTACLEAFTER THE GLOBES

Competing parties raged in and around the Beverly Hilton hotel, with the com-ings and goings cre-

ating their own spectacle. Outside the party by InStyle and Warner Bros., Annie star Quvenzhané Wallis stopped to sign autographs before she limboed under a velvet rope and sashayed inside.

In the lobby of the hotel, a rev-eler called out: “Has anyone seen Oprah? She owes me $20 for park-ing,” prompting a ripple of giggles. Claire Danes stood near the con-cierge desk, looking a little lost.

One of the night’s biggest draws was the InStyle party, held at the Oasis Courtyard, which evoked the feeling of being underwater. Hollywood stars included Jessica Chastain, Paul Rudd, Jake Gyllen-haal and Lea Michele.

“We’re having fun. We’re talking trash,” said Jeremy Renner, who was swigging a glass of something and palling around with Vince Vaughn and Joaquin Phoenix.

Jennifer Aniston, who stayed close to her fiancé, Justin Th-

eroux, was overhead lamenting the rumors about whether she’s pregnant. “Are you going to have a baby?” she said three times, echo-ing the tabloid speculation.

Across the room, Gyllenhaal, who wore a Gucci tuxedo, turned philosophical about the “Who are you wearing?” question.

“I understand the interest in the women’s side a lot more than the men’s,” he said. “They all have beautiful gowns and it’s a real art.”

Kelsey Grammer grinned and soaked up the spirit.

“Other awards, they can be fun, but you have to kind of work at that a little bit more,” he said.

HBO, meanwhile, held an after-party by the hotel’s pool, which on the uncharacteristically humid Los Angeles night felt like a sauna. Lena Dunham played with her ripped-off wristband and greeted well-wishers, while her “Girls” co-star Allison Williams chatted with Dunham’s boyfriend, musician Jack Antonoff.

The mood felt muted — perhaps because the network received only one award at the show (for

Matt Bomer’s supporting perfor-mance in the TV movie The Nor-mal Heart).

The most festive atmosphere was arguably at The Weinstein Co. and Netflix party, thanks in part to a DJ who got the crowd dancing in the cavernous tree-filled lot next to the Beverly Hilton.

Among those who loosened their black ties were Channing Tatum and his wife, Jenna De-wan Tatum.

“We got a nanny, so me and the wifey are going out, having a good time,” he said, swinging his arm in the air.

Harvey Weinstein held court in a booth, surrounded by glamour girls, including Jennifer Lopez, Taylor Swift and Lorde.

As midnight approached, the crowds began to thin. Patricia Ar-quette, who won a Golden Globe for Boyhood, was plotting her exit back at the InStyle party.

“We have to go to sleep,” she said, citing an early-morning call. “But also this dress is going to turn back into rags at 12.” — Sheila Mariker/

The New York Times News Service

One of the night’s biggest draws was the InStyle

party, held at the Oasis Courtyard, which evoked the feeling of being underwater.

Hollywood stars included Jessica Chastain, Paul Rudd,

Jake Gyllenhaal and Lea Michele

Farhan confirms his duet with Priyanka Chopra

ACTOR-SINGER Farhan Akhtar has sung the first duet of his career, and that too for his sister’s forthcoming film Dil Dhadakne Do. Accompanying him on the mike is actress-sing-er Priyanka Chopra. Confirm-ing the exciting combination, Farhan said: “Yes, Priyanka and I have sung a duet in Dil Dhadakne Do.” So far, Farhan has only rendered solo songs in Rock On!!, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Shaadi Ke Side Ef-fects. According to sources, the duo has sung a “smouldering

smoky love ballad steeped in nostalgia and longing”. Need-less to say the song has been filmed on Farhan and Priyanka, as neither actor-turned-singer is willing to playback for other actors. “I don’t see myself giving voice to other actors. It just doesn’t work for me.” As for Priyanka, one has ample reason to believe she wouldn’t sing for other heroines. Not when the new breed of female actors are most eager to give voice to their own songs: Alia Bhatt in Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania and Highway and Shraddha Kapoor in Ek Villain.

Release of ‘Zid’ boosts Shraddha’s career

ACTRESS Shraddha Das, who is currently shooting for Hindi-Telugu bilingual Haunting of Bombay Mills, says the release of thriller Zid has benefited her ca-reer in Bollywood. “I think the release of Zid boosted my career in Bollywood. I’ve been getting lot of offers,” Shraddha told IANS. Haunting of Bombay Mills, which is being directed by Ayush Raina, sees Shraddha playing two different characters in the Hindi and Telugu versions of the film. “While I play a CEO in the Telugu version, I’m a jour-

nalist in the Hindi version. It’s exciting and challenging at the same time because I think I’ll be the first actress to play two different roles in the same film,” she said. Actor Vikram earlier played two characters in Mani Ratnam’s Raavan. Inspired by some real life incidents, Haunting of Bombay Mills, according to Shraddha, will send chills down the spines of the viewers. “It’s about Mukesh Mills, which is known to be one of the most haunted places in Mumbai. The film tries to reveal why this place is haunted,” she said. -IANS

Akshay doesn’t behave like a superstar: Sushant Singh

HATE STORY 2 actor Sushant Singh is impressed with Bolly-wood star Akshay Kumar’s hu-mility after sharing screen space with him in the upcoming film ‘Baby’. The 42-year-old ACTOR said Akshay was one of the rea-sons for him to do ‘Baby’. “Work-ing with Akshay was really nice. He is a great ACTOR and is so chilled out. He does not behave like a superstar. The way he han-dles fans is amazing. On outdoor shoots, when he is surrounded by fans, he never gets perturbed. “He remains calm and concen-

trates on his work. There was in fact one incident when he started singing for the crowd gathered to get his one glimpse. He is a humble man,” Sushant told PTI. The actor plays a nega-tive role in the espionage action thriller film, directed by Neeraj Pandey of A Wednesday and Special 26 fame. “I play one of the main villains in the film. It is not a larger-than-life negative role but is really interesting,” he said. Praising Neeraj, Sushant said, “I love Neeraj’s films. I loved his work with Ak-shay in Special 26. I knew I would be utilised well by Neeraj. Besides Akshay, he was another reason why I did Baby and I am really happy to have done it.” -PTI

BOLLYWOOD

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

D

D4 VACANCY CARGO D7

T U E S D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 0 , 2 0 1 5

RENT D2

DAILY GUIDE Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

FOR RENT

2 BR flat for rent in Wadi Kabir next

to Al Maha Petrol Pump.

Rent RO 300 pm. contact 99440826

Fully furnished rooms for rent for

family. Contact 99251975,

Al Khuwair

For store, workshop in Wadi Kabir

Industrial Area 5/5 m.

Contact 99374977

2 bedrooms flat with hall,

2 bathrooms in Darsait near

Muscat Municipality.

Contact 24700120, 92584715

2 shops, store accommodation,

Barka Sanayya opposite Al Khalili.

Contact 92423401

1&2 BHK flat & Shop for rent at MBD,

Hamriya, Hallat sad, Al Khoudh area.

Contact: 24834644,

93994401, 02, 03

150 Sqm Store, Darsait, RO 300/-.

Contact 95076261

1 BHK near Medical, Darsait,

RO 175/-. Contact 98748925

2 bedroom fully furnished luxurious

flat for rent at Ghala for long term or

short term basis. Contact 97762321

Studio, Al Athaibah, ground floor,

1 BHK, hall, 2 bathrooms, family only.

RO 250/-. Contact 92479515

Flat, Al Ghubrah near Indian School,

2 BHK , RO 325, family only,

3 bathroom, living room.

Contact 92479515

Office space for rent in Ruwi,

OMR 500. Contact 91120552

Flat for rent in Al Khuwair 33.

Contact 99003626

Villa Al Athaibah near Oman post,

3 BHK hall, living room, maids room,

split A/c, family only, RO 600/-.

Contact 92479515

One bedroom flat, Muttrah,

Corniche. Contact 99414644

1 BHK with A/C, Al Ghubrah,

RO 275/-. Contact 92144045

Family villa & flats at Al Ansab and

Awabi. Contact 98458542

2 BHK flats Muttrah near Oman

House. Contact 97007934 /

92629232

1 BHK at Ghobrah - Near Indian

School. Contact: 99014885

Al Qurum heights Sea view.

Contact 99249069 / 92888376/

93201688

D2 T U E S D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 0 , 2 0 1 5

Flat in Darsait. Contact 99326879

Villa in Al Khuwair 33 close to

Technical College with 3 bedrooms,

1 sitting room and shaded balcony.

Directly from owner not for brokers.

Contact 92814242

500 Sq Mtrs industrial land, lev-

eled, ready to use with boundary

wall, in Misfah industrial Area, block

2 near Baladiyah Camp, RO 600/-,

monthly. Contact 94030814

1000 Sq Mtrs, Industrial Land for

rent in Ghala suitable for warehouse

workshop etc. Contact 24700120,

92584715

Flat for rent in Al Hail, North

near The Wave, Muscat. Contact

99353433, 99271017

New bldg 3 BR flats located at

Darsait, Muscat close to Kims Pvt

Hospital. Contact 92020004 /

99800838

New warehouse for rent at Ghala ind.

area. 578 & 1200 sqms near. hotel

al-madinah holiday, Ghala. Container

can enter, immediate access to roads

& highways.Contact : 92078090

For rent at Al Khuwair, 4 bedrooms,

3 bathrooms, sitting, dining, kitchen

split A/C near Rawasco, 1st floor.

Rent 480 PDC. Contact 99879939

For rent at Ruwi, 2 bedrooms, 2

bathrooms, sitting, dining, kitchen

with A/C near Al Falaj Hotel, Ruwi,

Way 2116 building 577, rent RO 275,

PDC. Contact 99879939

For rent at Al Khuwair, 1 room with

bathroom (Independent), near Raw-

asco with split A/C, 2nd floor,

rent RO 125 PDC. Contact 99879939

2 BHK Commercial, Al Khuwair,

RO 375/-. Contact 92144045

Office space & store, CBD 20059.

Contact 99024730

2 BHK with split A/C in Wadi Kabir,

Sana Building furnished.

Contact 96635026

3 BHK with AC, Al Falaj, RO 425/-.

Contact 92144045

Office space (3 BHK flat – Ample

space) located in prime area at 18th

November street, Al Azaiba (nr. To

Sultan Center). Contact 99261522

6 shops in Mabela Industrial Area.

Each Front Shop OMR 400 and Side

Shop OMR 300Monthly.

Tel: 99333479 or 95215360

Fully furnished one bedroom

penthouse Wadi Kabir behind Sana

Hassan, weekly RO.140/- Monthly

RO 350/- Contact – 99349990

Office space with cassette type A/C’s

with free internet at al Khuwair near

KM Hypermarket. Contact 99460330

1,000 sq mtrs industrial land in

Misfah Industrial area near to Khan

co. OMR 1,500 Monthly. Electricity

and boundary wall will be provided.

Tel: 99333479 or 95215360

Family room available for rent at

Muttrah Souq. Contact 24712088 /

99022790

Flat, shops, basement, Ruwi-MBD

Area, Honda Road.

Contact 96942749, 92433127

2 BHK, Al Khuwair. Contact 99024730

Spacious well maintained 2 BHK at

Rex Road from 1st February.

Contact 92227165

2 BHK, CBD. Contact 99024730

2 BHK, Darsait near Kims Hospital.

Contact 99024730

1 & 2 BHK & villa 3 BR-Darsait near

ISM & ISD. Contact 99024730

1 BHK, 2 BHK, Ghala, new bldg.

Contact 99024730

1 BHK, Wadi Kabir. Contact 99024730

Flat for Rent in Ruwi, Bareeq

Shatti, Mawalah. Contact 92521080,

98899916

Flat for rent Ghubrah South, ground

floor flat, 3 bedrooms, majlis, family

hall, RO 425/-. Contact 94669711

6 bedroom villas at Al Ansab

(nr Express highway).

Contact 99199365

Villas & flats & stores. Contact

99776071 / 99057348

OFFICES FOR RENT

Contact: 97377355 / 95530121, Email id: aaleem@ggcoman.com

- Premium offices to let a very good location on the main road very close to Zakher Mall, Al Khawiar. Business Center has offices with sizes of 50m2, 110m2, 180m2, 207m2, 230m2, 437m2.- Showroom also available at Business Center, Area 500m2 with central A/c. - Offices with Central Air-conditions, Security System with CCTV cameras, and Security presence in the building.

3BHK, (3 bathroom and big hall)

opp. Apollo Hospital, Hamariya R/A

(OMR 300/-) Contact 91181761

Showroom space available in

Qurum. Road Facing prime location.

commercially viable and affordable.

Contact- 98839950

Twin villa at Al-Kuwair 33. Six

rooms with bathrooms. 670 OMR,

contact: 99414767. Families only.

DAILY GUIDET U E S D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 0 , 2 0 1 5 D3

FOR RENT

FOR RENT

FOR SALEFOR SALE

2 BHK Pent House with split A/C

in all rooms, very spacious balcony

with sea & city view RO 350, 2 BHK

RO 340, Bldg #1619, Way #1322

adjacent to Indian Nursery Darsait.

Contact 99476728 / 99831047

1 BHK bedroom flat in Wadi Kabir

neat Kuwaiti Mosque RO 200/-.

Contact 95094028

Abu Adnan Tower - flat for rent

available at Al Mabelah, 2 B/R,

1 hall, 2 toilets, 1 kitchen.

Contact 95566475 / 99654252

1 / 3 BHK Flat Ghobrah, close to ISG

Way 4041, building 4390.

Contact 99319880

2 BHK flat for rent RO.350/- at

Al Khuwair near Sultan Taimur

Mosque. Contact – 98893294

1 BHK residential flat at Honda road.

2 BHK residential flat opposite to

Al Nahdha hospital. Contact93219590

1 BHK flat Qurum RO.270/- with

split A/C. Contact – 99358589 /

95570288 /97079146

2 BHK flat at Al Khuwair RO.370/-

with split A/C. Contact – 99358589 /

95570288 /97079146

If require flats for rent in Wadi

Kabir please send messages through

Whatsapp or call – 99376454

Luxury 2 bed room villa at Bausher-

AL Ansab Phase 3.Call. 99324456

Villa, ground floor in Al Khuwair.

Contact 99743569, 97004265

2 BHK at Al Azaiba, Building No.5145

Way 4470. Contact 99224748,

99425665

2 BR, 2 toilets, kitchen at

Al Mawaleh. #99444786, 99747560

We have 1 BHK, 2 BHK, 3 BHK flats,

4, 5 bedrooms villa, open space offic-

es & shops available in Ghala, Gho-

brah, Qurum, Mabela, Ruwi, Darsait,

Mumtaz, Wadi Kabir. All brand new

buildings & very affordable prices.

Contact 93782735 / 99208033

Flat for rent 2 bedrooms one hall in

South Al Hail. RO 270. #93221474

For rent apartments: An apartment

in old Muscat at Oman Arab Bank’s

building. 3 bedrooms + 3 bathrooms,

dining room, living room and a

kitchen. Air conditioned apartments.

2 bedrooms + 2 bathrooms, living

room, dining room area and kitchen

in an excellent location in Al Khuwair

opposite the court of first instance. For

further information call 97072976

Apartments in Al Khuwair new area

each apartment contains (2 bedrooms

+ living room) for RO 365. # 93181111

3 bedroom furnished Executive

Apartment @Al Khuwair 25, 2 BR

fully furnished Executive Apartment

@Azaiba near Zubair Showroom, 2

BR fully furnished executive Apart-

ment @Al Khuwair 33 near Zakher

Mall. Please contact : Atlas Real

Estate & Rent A Car LLC, 99249069

/ 92888376 / 93201688,

email : info@alshahiintl.com

2 BHK with A/C near ISM RO.325/-

1BHK Al Falaj without A/C RO.200/-

2 BHK with A/C near Kims hospital

RO.300/- Darsait commercial or

residential with A/C RO.230/-

Studio at Al Falaj RO.170/-. 2 BHK

without A/C at Wadi Kabir RO.300/-

Contact - 92144045

Sinaw Gift House & Shopping

Center for sale at Sinaw in good

condition, with very good business

opportunities. Contact 99738014,

95652642

Good running boutique and ladies

tailoring shop in MBD Area for im-

mediate sale. Contact 95123679,

99885298

Toshiba Laptop I 3, 3 GB ram, 500

GB hard disk with traffic card, in

very good condition.

Contact 94412557

Aluminum scaffolding, folding type

with tire and accessories, electric

hot plate 5 burner with grill full

stainless steel body, CT runner,

thread mill sparingly used one year

old. Contact 99359698

If you have any empty land, plot,

building, villa to sell. Contact with all

information : info@goldenllc.com

1 BHK with attached toilet & bath-

room behind Bank Muscat at

Wadi Kabir. Contact 99373290,

24815012

Flats and shops. Contact 93009999

For rent (flats), 2 bedrooms

+hall+kitchen, location:

South Al Mawaleh.

Contact 99870020

1 / 3 BHK Flat Ghobrah, close to ISG

Way 4041, building 4390.

Contact 99319880

Show room on the main road Saham

center total area 450 m sq.

Contact: 99366558 / 99334226

Flats/villas owned by ROP pension

fund available for rent in Muscat.

Contact 99349526

Flats ground floor, 3 Rooms & AC,

kitchen, hall, in Al Mabaila South.

Contact 99377290

2 B/ R Fully Furnished Executive

Apartment @ Al Khuwair 33 Near

Zaker Mall. 3 Bedroom Furnished ex-

ecutive apartment @ Al Khuwair 25

5 B/R Luxury Fully Furnished villas

at Azaiba with servants, 3 Bedroom

Unfurnished Villa @ Mawalah South

Area 6 with Servant Quarter, 5 Bed-

room Unfurnished Villa @ An Apart-

ment that resembles a penthouse

has 2 rooms with 2 toilets, living

room & an elegant balcony. Fully

furnished, suited for families.

Final price RO.300/- Mabela

8 near German University.

Contact 99888400

Industrial Land in Misfah.

Contact 93009999

New Villa for Rent Two floors newly

built villa in Maabillah,

8 Full-fledged Residential Area

6 Rooms, 8 Toilets, excellent finish-

ing spacious Kitchen, Big Dining

Rooms in Both Floors,

Easy Access to Muscat and Sohar

using Maabillah Bridge.

Contact 92828303

Beauty Salon, Wadi Kabir, Al Hassan

Co. Contact 95241147, 96700192

A/C spares shop for sale in Seeb.

Contact 92693304 / 91445876

Villa for sale in new Al Khoudh.

Contact 99778773

Running Medical Centre with

full equipments is available for

sale. Those interested can contact

98994208.

Clinic for sale. Contact 99824232,

email : modern.medicalclinic@gmail.

com

Industrial shed / warehouse for

immediate lease in Rusayl Industrial

Estate. Contact 99263196 /

abcon@omantel.net.om

Dental clinic for sale in

Sohar. Contact immediately

99705760,92625962

New fully equipped 2 chair dental

clinic in Seeb area for immediate

sale. MOH approved.

Contact 94514045

Flats for Sale in Bowshar: OMR

35 Thousand 1 bedroom. OMR 45

Thousand 2 bedroom. Monthly

income 1 bedroom OMR 270 and 2

bedroom OMR 350. Tel: 99333479 or

95215360

Contd on Pg 6

I room with attached toilet in Al Hail

for bachelor, rent RO 100 to RO 130/-.

Contact 97661432

Industrial empty plots 1000 –

15000 sqm are available in Misfah /

Jiffnain rent for long lease, RO 1.200

per sq mt. Contact 96789522

2 BHK with window A/C in

Al Khoudh rent RO 250/-.

Contact 97661432

Constructed warehouse 3000 sq mt

with boundary wall & gate in Misfah

ready for lease or rent for long term.

Rent RO 3.500 per sq. mt.

Contact 96789522

For sale Professional sound

system contact 99353978

Darsait Business Office furniture,

Isuzu 4 ton brand new.

Contact 91391363

23,886 Sq Mtrs Agriculture land

with water well in Al Salwa, Barka.

OMR 260 Thousand. Tel: 99333479

or 95215360

3 floor commercial building in Mutt-

rah behind Police. Generating income

of OMR 18 Thousand annually. 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

A newly opened Barber Shop for

sale at upcoming industrial zone in

Misfah. Expat leaving Oman.

Genuine buyers call 93833107

(Sale Price Negotiable)

Running Workshop for Tiles /

Marble & Granite cutting & skirting

in Wadi Kabir for immediate sale.

Contact 99105492

DAILY GUIDED4 T U E S D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 0 , 2 0 1 5

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION VACANT

MEDICAL

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

DRIVER

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

ADMIN/HR

ENGINEERS

EDUCATION

Light Driver having own visa

looking for job as driver

Contact 92303692

Light driver looking for job.

Contact 94077119

Driver with car. Contact 91452930

Indian Driver need job with car.

Contact 91254539

Light vehicle driver looking for job,

experience 2 yrs.

Contact 94195818

LV Driver- 2 yrs Exp-know

English- Contact 95292064

Light vehicle driver looking for job.

Contact 95141473

Pakistani male, having one year exp

as light vehicle driver looking for job.

Contact 96342684

Bangladeshi Driver seeking job,

3 yrs exp. Contact 99063175

Light Driver looking for job.

Contact 92787245

Driver seeking job. Contact

99805236

6 Years experience light duty driver.

Contact – 96736744

Light driver looking for job.

Contact 92791678

EDUCATION

Indian male MBA 32 yrs having

10 yrs of exp seeking suitable place-

ment in Admin/ HR/ Operations/

Coordination/ Logistics etc. Holding

valid Oman D/L .

Contact - 99054786

Graduate Indian female having

5+ Years Oman experience in Ad-

min/Procurement/Logistics with

excellent computer skills(PGDCA).

Seeking suitable Placement.

NOC available.

Contact:95382966

Post Graduate Indian male, MBA

(Hospital Administration) hav-

ing 4 Years experience in hospital

administration looking for suitable

placement. Currently on visit.

Contact: 96701543, 92945632

HR & Admin Assistant, 26 yrs

Indian male having 6+Yrs of experi-

ence looking for suitable position.

Contact 93264616

Indian female with excellent

communication skills, confident,

dedicated to work and enthusiastic.

Knowledge about ms office. Has

6 years of experience in cus-

tomer service, telecommunication,

HR.Looking for immediate place-

ment. Contact # 97348819

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

MANAGER

ARCHI./ DRAUGHTSMAN

Dentist required to work urgently in

dreams clinic at Al Khoud and must

be resident in Sultanate of Oman.

Please send your CV to the following

email – towershr70@gmail.com /

balushi70@gmail.com /

info@towersinternationalgroups.com

Mobile – 99882340 / 24545914

General practitioner Doctor is

required to work urgently in Dreams

Clinic at Al Khoudh and must be

resident in the Sultanate of Oman.

Please send your CV to the following

email: towershr70@gmail.com,

balushi70@gmail.com &

info@towersinternationalgroups.

com, Mobile 99882340,

Tel: 24545914

DESIGNER

DESIGNER

DOMESTIC HELPER

Indian male, 8 yrs GCC experience

in 3D & Architectural Designing

with D/L. Contact 97263199

Indian female, 25yrs Bsc-

FASHION DESIGNING, 3yers

experience in designing field and

teaching. looking for a sutable

placement. Contact: 98785310.

Email: vinaya.m.nair@gmail.com

Interior Designer, Indian male,

have 5 yrs experience with Oman

License looking for a suitable job.

Email : sijithpattath@gmail.com,

93779308

A reputed Catering Company in

Muscat urgently requires Omani heavy truck (Freezer) drivers – 4 yrs experience with PDO license

will mostly be preferred. Interested

candidates send CV to : email : info@

rcsoman.com or fax : 24478123,

GSM : 99869949 / 95892831

Wanted driver. Contact 95112461

An excellent company seeking

for experienced male Light Duty Driver to work in Salalah. Contact

92322588 / 99653350, email :

sadiq.fm@omantel.net.om

DRIVER

CATERING

Required experienced Account-ant Tally, excellent English &

driving license. Contact –

omanlaw.om@gmail.com /

24497762 / 92192510

ADMIN

MECHANICALLAWYER

Urgently required: Receptionist (Omani) - 01 no with 2-4 years

experience Marketing Executive - 01 no; with 5 years experience

(Location - Mawelah, Muscat) . PRO

-02 no with min 10-15 years expe-

rience (Location - Muscat & Sohar).

Interested candidates may send

CV to infoduqumoil@gmail.com

A leading foodstuff company

requires the following : Office Coordinator – with experience in

related fields, female. Interested

candidates may send their

resumes at jobs.om@outlook.com

Construction Company requires female executive assistant, with

good computer and communica-

tion skills, advanced English,

fluent Arabic. Please send your CV

harun.koyyar@adaliholding.com

Indian female, 25 yrs, bachelors of

businesses management, having

experience of 5 years as a fund/

financial administration, on visit

visa,looking for suitable placement.

Contact 94662416

Apurwaverma@gmail.com

Urgently required a dynamic Marketing Executive for a furniture

company. Should posses a valid

Omani Driving License.

Contact 97164554 /

aliasgar@ultimate-furniture.com

Urgently required Sales Personnel (full time / part time) - 5 to 10 yrs

experience in Building Materials,

knowledge of Arabic is an advan-

tage, should have car. Email :

alnajjardevelopmentco@gmail.com

Reputed Building Materials Company looking for Outdoor Sales Executive having valid Omani D/L

with more than 2 yrs Local Sales

Experience in Tiles/Sanitaryware.

Please fax your CV to 24798709 /

email : united@omantel.net.om

A reputed Electrical Material Company is looking for dynamic & hardworking salesman with

minimum 2 yrs experience in same

field of GCC with valid GCC Driving

License for its Mussanah office

for Al-Batina Region. Send CV to

al.senair@gmail.com,

contact : 98534685, 26868984

Looking for outdoor salesman for heavy equipments.

Contact- 93292015, 99656542

Salesman for Printing Press mate-

rials like Printing Press Plates, inks,

rollers etc. Must have worked in a

printing press and know the prod-

ucts well. Job is in Dubai with visa

and good salary. Apply to

sales@ies-oman.com

UPVC Doors and Windows Company

urgently require Sales and Market-ing Person, experience 3-5 yrs in

same industry with Oman Driving

License. Contact 99475701,

email : siju.greentech@gmail.com

Highly reputed Perfume Company requires Omani Sales girl promoters. Contact 95663682, 92956876 Leading Construction company

requires young purchase assistant

with Oman driving license.

Email : nikunj@uniqueom.com.

Required an experienced person who has ideas to start a new business

in electrical field or supply with mini-

mum cost. Contact 99426421

Indian Male 25 years B.Com hav-

ing 3 years of exp of Oman in Ac-

counts/Administration.Well versed

with computer knowledge looking

for suitable position. Immidi-

ately available. Contact:93207867

email: tambeazhar@gmail.com

Seeking job, BTech Instrumenta-

tion, 12 years experience Design,

FEED, Detailed engineering, Oil

& Gas, Instrumentation systems,

Oman Driving license.

Email :- wilfridsjacob@gmail.com

Mobile:- 00968 99048130

Indian male having 14 years of ex-

perience in Various dept. (stockbrok-

ing Dealing, Back Office Accounts,

Dmat, Settlement, Risk management,

Maintaining Books of accounts ETC).

Having Good Computer Knowledge

seeking suitable placement

Email Id: vora_bharat@yahoo.com,

+91 9820240094

Omani Trainers & OJT’s for Mechanical / Electrical / Instru-mentation & Business with suitable

qualification and min 5 yrs experi-

ence in Oil & Gas. Very attractive

salary offered. Suitable candidates

send your CV to

trainingjobsoman@gmail.com

Required laboratory technician &

4 nurse Filipina (female) for health

center in Sohar. Contact: 92369417,

Email: shafii_17@hotmail.com

Wanted Pharmacist (B.Pharm), Staff Nurses (female), Dental Tech-nician (Acrylic, Ceramic & veneer

experience), with or without MOH

license for a polyclinic near Sohar.

Excellent Salary package. Contact

99006915, dxbclinic@yahoo.com

Wanted female physiotherapist with MOH License. Send CV at Email

: info@sagarpolyclinic.com

Required experienced Pharmacist with MOH License for a

New Pharmacy in Muscat.

Contact 95146957, email :

medicare@fusionlogicoman.com

Urgently required a GP Doctor with MOH license for a leading Med-

ical Clinic. # 92008272 / 96602188,

email : dearnaif@hotmail.com

Urgently required an experienced Pharmacist with MOH License for a

reputed Pharmacy in Muscat.

Please send CV to

newcareesr2015@gmail.com

Doctor needed for a rehabilitation

centre in Muscat. send cv to

oman@rochesterwellness.com

Reqd 1 Lady Doctor (Internist)

with 3 yrs experience in Oman. One

female Nurse with atleast 3 yrs

experience in Oman. For newly es-

tablished clinic in Ruwi. Send your

detailed CV to mohamedsfarah@

hotmail.com, Tel : 91283188

We are looking for an Optometrist for an Optical with minimum 3 yrs

experience. Please contact 99340769

or email : aeooman@gmail.com

Wanted MBBS Doctor, Staff Nurse and Lab Technician for a Clinic

in Capital Area. Please contact

93431024, send CV to

drasyanaseem@gmail.com

SALES / MARKETING

Chartered Accountant, 10+ yrs

experience, B.Com, CA, CIA. Imme-

diate availability. Audit, Finance.

Contact 94641805

Indian male, B.Com with 2 yrs Oman

exp & 4.5 yrs Accounts exp looking

for suitable placement in Accounts

with NOC letter. Email : parasunad-

kat12@gmail.com

Part time Accounts & Finalization

job. Contact 96536955

Pakistani Male MBA having 4 years

experience in Accounting looking

for job.NOC Available.

Contact# 95610772

Accountant, B.Com, MBA, In-

dian male, having 4 yrs GCC exp in

similar field, valid Omani D/L & NOC

available. shinuyesodharan@gmail.

com, contact : 91719385

Indian male, 24 yrs MBA, having

2 yrs of experience in financial ac-

counting finalization, knowledge of

Tally, ERP, focus, wings, PEACHTREE,

MS Excel, Payroll, currently on visit

visa seeking suitable placement

available immediately.

Contact 91058205, email :

aslammohammed10@gmail.com

Indian male, 29 yrs, Accounts /

Administrator, 1.8 yrs exp in Gulf

seeking employment for suitable

position. NOC available.

Contact 93581182

Pakistani male, 25 yrs, MBA

Finance, 1.6 yrs exp in Accounts

seeking placement in Accounts,

Administration or Business Manage-

ment. Contact 92651927 / 94250149

Indian Male, looking for job in Ac-

counts & Administration previously,

experience 1 yr in Oman, now on

visit visa. Contact 97424337

Indian accountant with more than

30 years of experience in construc-

tion (financial / cost accounting)

with experience in material manage-

ment ,HR and general administration

seek part time/full time assignment.

Ready to work any where in Oman.

Contact 98598099

Male, 4 yrs of experience as Finan-

cial Analyst looking for suitable

position. Contact 94140728

Part time Accountant, up to fina-

lization, looking for job after 5 pm

(Location prefer – Qurum to

Al Khoudh). Contact 92917574

Accountant B.Com & CIMA Part

qualified, 8 yrs experience currently

in Sri Lanka. Contact +94777222392

or 91126314

Female Accountant with 4 years

experience in Oman seeking suitable

placement. Contact 98721909

B.Com Graduate, 3 yrs experience

in Accounts, Indian male, looking

for accounts or suitable job. Contact

afsarsabith@yahoo.com, 93975526

Part time Accountant with 15 yrs

exp in Accounting, Auditing, Taxa-

tion Management.

Contact 95857199

Finance Manager, CPA, with more

than 15 yrs. of experience in GCC.

Fully knowledgeable in Finance,

General & Management Accounting .

NOC available. Contact 96209331

Accounts part time works upto fina-

lization & finalization works.

Contact 96247295

Pakistani Male, 26 yrs, MS-Supply

Chain & Project Management, BS-

Finance & Business Administration,

+2 yrs experience in Trading Firm

responsible for Supply Chain &

Accounts. Skills including strong

operation managerial Communica-

tion & interpersonal,

fluent in English, SAP and EPM.

Contact 94663827,

email : musadiqfayyaz@gmail.com

Accountant / Auditor, Srilankan

male 27, having 3+ yrs experience

looking for suitable placement.

Contact 93556320

Indian male, 32 years, M. Com.

7 out of 9 years experience in Oman

in Accounts/finance. Having NOC

and valid Oman D/L.

Contact 98277143,

Email: anzarks@gmail.com

Indian Male, MBA 2 yrs experience

in Accounts, Admin & HR on visit

visa. Contact 92045306

India Accountant: Male, M com,

7 Yrs experience in Accounts up to

finalization, having knowledge of

ERP, Tally, seeks suitable place-

ment. Contact:93950138

Email: lijinrajan123@gmail.com

Indian Female, M.Tech (A.E), B.Tech

(ECE) with 1.5 yrs experience in

teaching (Asst Professor) in Engi-

neering College, seeking suitable

teaching / non teaching jobs in

Muscat. Contact 91532690

Email: rin2mary@gmail.com,

English Teacher (M.A, B.Ed) Indian

female with 2yrs of experience

looking for suitable position

91507099.

Indian female MSc costume

design & fashion having 3 yrs exp

in teaching seeking suitable job.

Contact: 97614456 / 95918968

Mechanical Engineer, B.Tech

4 yrs MNC experience, installation

commissioning & on-site repairs /

maintenance of heavy

mechanical equipment.

Contact 93387867,

mamgain9806@rediffmail.com

B.E Production / Diploma Fab-

rication, 2 yrs experience valid

PDO permit holder visa expiry on

26/01/2015. Contact 94270360,

+91 9925140499,

pankajrathod1985@gmail.com

Mechanical Engineer, Indian male,

seeking suitable job on visit visa.

Contact 99796730, 92031312, email

: pudsalamilup123@gmail.com

Diploma of Associate Civil Engi-

neering, Diploma of AutoCad, having

3.5 yrs experience, 2 yrs experience

of Oman in Building Construction,

valid transferrable ID Card.

Contact 94378581

Indian B.Tech Mechanical Engi-neer, 26 yrs, 4 yrs experience in

HVAC/MEP. Contact 94669629,

rajeevhpd15@yahoo.com

26, female, B.Tech in Electronics &

biomedical engineering with 1 And

Half yrs experience in medical field

is seeking suitable job openings.

Email : aswathiravirak@gmail.com,

ph : 94652908

Telecommunication Engineer with

5 yrs experience in the Gulf.

Contact 95219822

Electrical Project Engineer, 4 yrs

experience OHL, Substations, Oil &

Gas field, AutoCAD. D/L available.

Contact 95120225

Civil Engineer with 12 years Experi-

ence Looking For Job.

Contact 98162295

Industrial Electrician with Oman

Driving license. Contact 96348016

Indian male, 26 yrs B-Tech (ECE)

with MBA in Marketing / HR looking

for a suitable placement. Currently

on visit visa valid up to 30 January

2015. Contact 93754428,

email : shijosirius709@gmail.com

DAE (Civil) having 3.5 years Ex-

perience 2 years from Oman with

driving licences, seeking for suitable

position in Construction field NOC

and release available .

Contact 96968554

Email: mehranahmad26@yahoo.com

M. Tech Electrical Eng. Female,

now in visit visa.

Contact +968-94654481.

B. Tech Civil Eng. 3 yrs exp in

Oman with driving license.

Contact 93733627.

Mail id : joinvisam@gmail.com,

neethusprakash@gmail.com

Indian Male, IT Support Engineer,

2 yrs in Oman & 5 yrs Indian experi-

ence. Contact 97311847

Jordanian Engineer Electrical 7 yrs

exp. Consulting, site & shop drawing

works. Ready to join immediately.

Worked in UAE & Saudi Arabia.

Contact - 00971555594733

Civil Engineer B Tech, Site Engineer

Experienced, Drafting on Visit Visa

Ph : 91642050

Looking Part time Job in HVAC-

93198128

30Male, 3D Designer, 5 yrs exp,

software command in autocad,

3dmax, , illustrator & Photoshop

seeks immediate placement

GSM 93481811

AutoCAD jobs, Preparing Working/

Shop Drawings & Civil Quantity Sur-

veying jobs. Contact : 92758095

Required English teacher for

KG 1 / KG II. Contact 97163777,

99429352

Required Teacher for ISWK stu-

dent studying in VII & III at Honda

Road Ruwi. Contact 99471699

Male Accouuntant required in

Ghala. Candidates present

in Oman only. # 99454425,

Email: qamest@omantel.net.om

B.E Mechanical Engineer, Indian

Male, 29, 5 years experience in

steel fabrication field (piping and

structural) as site engineer. Look-

ing for suitable placement.

Contact 96115463.

Jijoraju085@yahoo.com.

Urgently required AC Mechanic. Contact 97075347 / 99747684

Required urgently a Legal consult-ant /Lawyer for reputed law firm

for SOHAR office. Candidates should

have 5-7 yrs exp. as a Legal Consult-

ant/ Lawyer with good knowledge

of Computer & should be fluent in

English. Contact 99153620 Email

C V to shejaanil66@gmail.com or

between 8am to 5.30 pm.

SIT.WANTED Well experienced MOH Licensed

Indian female staff nurse looking

for placement under contract with

Schools, Medical Centres, other

Institutions. Contact 98140024.

Phd – Management, specialization

in management, e-marketing and

online consumer behavior, 6 years

of academic and research experi-

ence. Indian lady GSM 97240687

& 93463439

Required part time web designer

with experience in CMS back-

ground. Send your CV & sample

work to hrmedia123@gmail.com

Urgently required Interior Designer qualified with minimum

5 yrs experience, capable to execute

internal / external decorations to

work for a leading construction

company.

Email : alfayafy@outlook.com

or fax : 24479675

European Family looking for maid and or cook. Email: cv.lo.oman@gmail.com

Brand new restaurant requires: Restaurant Managers – Degree

/ Diploma in Hotel Manage-

ment with minimum 5/6 yrs Gulf

experience. Omani / Yamani cook

minimum 5 yrs experience.

Interested candidates send CV to :

Email : info@rcsoman.com or

fax : 24478123, GSM : 95892831

Urgently required Indian / Chinese cooks, Waiters, Wait-resses for a reputed restaurant in

Ruwi Area. Contact 99704304 /

93427614 / 93462113

Required Physiotherapist. Contact: 91453024

MEDICAL

DAILY GUIDET U E S D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 0 , 2 0 1 5 D5

DAILY GUIDESITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

Indian male on Visit Visa. Expert

in ELV systems, Instrumentation,

PID controllers, Embedded systems,

Electronics CAD. 20years experi-

ence. Contact 98915066

Indian Civil Engineer, M.Tech in

Construction Management, Pri-

mavera Expert looking for suitable

placement. Contact 92550987

Indian female, Electrical Engineer

(family visa) M-Tech in Power Sys-

tem having 1 yr experience seeking

suitable placement.

Contact 94306164

Diploma Civil Engineer, Indian

male, 29, 4 yrs experience in

building construction field, 2

yrs experience with consulting

company in Oman driving license

and release available from cur-

rent company. Contact 93282447,

cv.shihabedappal@gmail.com

Diploma in Civil Engineer, 6 yrs

experience in Oman with D/L.

Contact 94052815

Mechanical Engineer, Indian

male, 6 yrs experience, 3 yrs in

GCC, seeking suitable opening in

Oil & Gas Sector, have valid GCC

D/L. email : msfebco@gmail.com,

Contact 91228398

Indian male, 27 yrs B.A. Econom-

ics, Diploma in Fire & Safety Engi-

neering, NEBOSH, IOSH Certifica-

tion, 4 yrs exp as Safety Officer in

India, on visit visa.

Contact 97209656

Building Construction Sr. Site

Supervisor looking for better

opportunity since March 2010 in

Oman with Omani D/L.

Contact 93061107

Diploma in Civil Engineer, 20 yrs in Oman with D/L.

Contact 94677220

39, Indian Male, Diploma in

Mechanical Engineering, 6 yrs

experience steel fabrication,

maintenance of heavy equipments

in Oman, 10 yrs in India, having

Omani Driving License, NOC avail-

able. Contact 96728805,

email : jansanjosep@yahoo.co.in

Pakistani male, 41 yrs Electrical

Foreman, 9 yrs exp in Gulf seeking

employment for suitable position.

NOC release. Contact 99562454,

92896190

HSE Officer, 8 yrs experience

NEBOSH OSHA having NOC,

seeking good opportunity.

Contact 98640063

Indian Female, 24, UK Gradu-

ate - MSc Digital Communication

Network Engineering with B.Tech

Electronics and Communication

with Omani Driving License,

seeks suitable placement.

Contact No. : 95408113

Sudanese Mechanical Engineer, 3 yrs experience in HVAC fire

fighting, NOC and driving license

available. Contact 91135140

B.Sc, Civil Engineer, over 19 yrs

experience in construction field with

project management skills, seeks

suitable placement. NOC available &

can join immediately. #92198264,

Email : mdrana1970@gmail.com

Indian male Mechanical Engineer (M.Tech), Manufacturing Engineer-

ing, having 2 yrs Exp with Oman D/L

- seeking suitable placement . NOC

available. Contact: 98681278;

Email : alexyvellara@gmail.com

Diploma in Civil Engineer, 15 yrs

Oman experience (total 28 yrs) look-

ing for senior position with valid D/L,

NOC available. Contact 99013465

Civil Engineer, Diploma, Sudanese,

5 yrs experience in Oman, have driv-

ing license. Contact 96618918

Electrical Engineer, Sudanese male,

8 yrs experience in Construction,

operation, maintenance, electrical

plants, responsible for electrical

installation coordination.

Contact 94549609

Civil Diploma Engineer, Indian

male, 5 yrs experience in Oman with

valid Omani D/L. Contact 98518370

Telecom Engineer with Bachelor

Degree, CCNA female, 1 yr experi-

ence in Sales & Marketing seeking

suitable job. Contact 97269189

B.E (Civil) Engineer looking for a

suitable placement, driving license

available. Contact 91253392

Civil Engineer (Diploma) looking for

an urgent placement.

Contact 95200650

MEDICAL

MECHANICAL/TECH.

SECRETARIAL/OFFICE

Indian female, well experienced

in secretarial, administration,

customer care & supervisory jobs.

5 years experience in Muscat.

Immediately available for joining.

Contact: 92139298

TOUR / TRAVELS

SKILLED / UNSKILLED

Omani Man looking for a job with

experience in HR/ Admin/

accounting. # 99767666

Civil foreman maintenance D/L,

12 yrs in Oman, 2 yrs in Kuwait.

Contact 96405865, 99534138,

India - +91 7589248550,

+91 9464255409, email:

sukhwinder9@yahoo.com

3 Years experienced Administra-

tive Executive seeking for Virtual

Admin Opportunities. Can work for

6 hours/day from a virtual location

for 100 RO/month. Call: 95811820

Indian female, 25 yrs, B.Com with

computer Application, 1 yr experi-

ence as Accountant, looking for

suitable job. Contact 98847165

Graduate, Indian, having 6 yrs

experience in Sales with D/L, NOC

available. Contact 93410723

Sales & Marketing Indian male

MBA (marketing & sales) business

development experience at all levels

of management. Currently on visit

visa. Contact – 91272819

MISCELLANEOUS

MISCELLANEOUS

MISCELLANEOUS

Skipper, fishing vessels, 33 yrs

experience as Captain in Indian and

International waters, oceanography

and fishery related research activi-

ties and management.

Contact 95775380 / 99616823

Quality Assurance Officer, ISO

Quality System Internal Auditor, BSc

Graduate, female 27, with 4 years

experience seeks suitable placement.

Contact nipuni.d.silva@gmail.com

Microbiologist & Quality Assurance Executive, BSc Gradu-

ate, female, 27 with 4 yrs experience

in food industry looking for a

suitable placement.

Email : nipuni.d.silva@gmail.com

Logistics Officer, Experience in

Store keeping. Contact : 99505934

BCA Gratuate, Indian male with 1yr

of exp in System Admin, IT Support,

Network Admin and 1yr exp as sales

Executive.CCNA,MCSE .looking for

suitable job. # 95938303

email- hafsalhs@gmail.com

IT Professional, 7 yrs exp in Sys-

tem Administration, IT Support,

Networking etc. currently on visit

visa. Contact 94064579,

email : preejes01@gmail.com

Female dentist with MOH license

and with Noc looking for suitable

placement in Muscat region

Contact no. 99147426

Lab Technician, Civil (8yrs Gulf

experience) looking for a suitable

job (NOC available)

Contact-93344378

Wanted Female Staff Nurse with

MOH Licence/Prometric passed can-

didates (immediate placement)for a

Medical Clinic in Muscat area

Contact :+ 968 98185250

e mail:fizashafir@gmail.com

Female Pharmacist with MOH

license seeking suitable job

Contact 93215380

Indian male, B.Sc nurse with critical

care specialization, 16 yrs experi-

ence including GCC Oman Prometric

passed, seeking for good posting.

Contact 91124083, 96132494

Indian female Nurse, 4 yrs experi-

ence Prometric passed, seeking for

good posting. Contact 92917448,

97362119

Male Nurse -prometric exam passed

and valid till feb21-5year experience.

Allwyn David-

allwyndavid123@gmail.com

# 94686268, 92800101

Indian female, 26, Pharmacist with

MOH license, 3.5 yrs of experience

in India, seeking suitable placement.

Contact 94474924,

Email: suryacprasad88@gmail.com

Indian female Pharmacist, 28 yrs

MOH license holder with 3 yrs expe-

rience seeking suitable placement.

Contact 94037178

Indian male Pharmacist (B.Pharma) 5 1/2 years experience in Oman seek-

ing suitable placement in Muscat.

NOC from the present employer avail-

able. Contact +968 98525100

Indian Female, Dentist fresher look-

ing for suitable placement.

Contact 98857686,

email : drsumbulahmad@gmail.com

Home nurse. Contact 99156191

IATA Certified experienced Indian

Lady looking for job. Currently on

visit. Contact 94613747, 91339846

MBA Graduate 10+ exp FMCG food

serv. Sales channel/ Branch Man-

ager. Contact - 99185205

Indian male Graduate with 20+

years of Administration, Operations &

Management experience in IT, Oil &

Gas & Hospitality Industry. 12 years in

Oman with vast contacts, very strong

management, operational, com-

munication and interpersonal skills,

can handle any size of business and

projects whether it’s in initial stage

or established. Can join immediately.

Local release available on request.

Contact: 9906 4589

Experienced Warehouse Supervisor

with 12+ yrs of Saudi Arabia experi-

ence in warehouse and stores proce-

dures on visit visa. #92983288,

email: hasinabegum2000@gmail.com

Techno - Commercial Manager,

well experienced in Oman. Vast

knowledge in Operations, Business

development, Logistic / Purchase,

General administration. Looking

for suitable opening. NOC Possible,

Contact - 96599704

Project Manager more than 20 yrs

experience, 15 yrs in Sultanate of

Oman in construction field.

Contact 93385789

Qualified Manager: (12+ yrs. Oman

Exp.) Vast knowledge in A/c & Admin,

Costing, Banking, Credit Control,

Insurance, International Purchase/

Logistics & Finance, With D/L looking

for suitable position. Gsm: 93826090

Email: jskanchan01@gmail.com

Indian female with nine years of

experience in 5 Star hotels as

Assistant Food & Beverage Manager

looking for a suitable placement

in a reputed Star hotel. # 91219787

General Manager / working partner

20 years in Dubai adverting agency

experience. Contact 93031168

MANAGER/ SUPERVISOR

INFORMATION TECH

Indian Male 23 yrs – IT / Pre-

post Sales Consultant / Business

Analyst / Web Designing. 2 yrs. exp.

Languages-HTML5, WebRTC, Java,

CSS, C++, .Net, SQL, Oracle, ERP-Mi-

crosoft Dynamics CRM. Looking for

suitable job. Contact: 98802504,

email:shrihari26@gmail.com

B.Tech IT Professional, Indian

Male with 3 yrs of Exp. In System

Admin, IT Support, Networking,

Installing Active Directory, DHCP,

DNS,RAS, configuring maintaining

and managing servers, configur-

ing cisco routers, Exp in handling

SQL database, With Valid Driving

Licence. Contact - 968 98863507

IT Prof, MCA having 6+ yrs exp,

seeks suitable position.

Contact 94543668

IT Professional, Indian male, B.Sc

Graduate with 4+ yrs Gulf (UAE)

good exp in System Administration,

IT Support, Server Desktop, laptop,

smartboard, datashow biometric,

CCTV, currently on visit visa.

Contact 98936548,

Email: vaseemj@yahoo.com

IT Network Engineer with Bachelor

Degree, CCNA, RHCSA, RHCE seek-

ing suitable job in good Company.

Contact 99818601

Indian male having 6 yrs experi-

ence of working in Oman with Ad-

vertising, Interiors, Events, Purchase

& Accounts valid Oman D/L looking

for suitable job. Contact 98851980

Indian male, B.Com, 20 yrs experi-

ence in Sales & Marketing having

UAE light D/L looking for suitable

post. Contact +91 9946699062,

email : sajim40@gmail.com

Indian male, 26, MBA Marketing,

1 yr GCC experience Oman, license.

Contact +91 9946308583,

haris.hameedali@gmail.com

Indian MBA-Marketing & Systems

Manager having 6 yrs experience

in Solar System & Inverters seek-

ing suitable placements. Contact

97892269 / 99046313

Pakistani male, 34, College 2 yrs, 2

yrs experience as Sales Representa-

tive, 3 yrs experience as Clerk /

Office Assistant, 3 yrs experience as

Salesman in Oman, Computer Skills

: Excel, BUSY, ERP, languages known

– English, Arabic, Hindi and Urdu.

Contact 96763346

Pakistani Graduate have a two years

experience in sales/marketing in

Muscat. Have a valid driving license.

Fluent in English and Arabic. Need a

suitable position. Contact 95919265

Indian male, 30 yrs, 8 yrs + experi-

ence in Sales & Marketing, looking

for suitable placement.

Contact 95601197

Indian Male having 7 yrs in experi-

ence in Oman Sales & Marketing Of-

fice Automation Printer, Copier, MFP,

IT products & Stationery. Looking for

Suitable Placement NOC Available

Contact :97384748

Oracle certified BE (CS) Indian male

with skills in OCA (DBA, SQL10g,

looking for suitable placement.

Contact 98436022/99848874

Email: rineel2005@yahoo.com

Young Energetic Male, with Oman

work experience in the field of Sales/

Marketing and Administration.

Currently on a visit visa seeking

suitable position. Contact 97832289.

wakakhan.1@gmail.com

15 years experience in Business

Development , marketing, purchase –

UAE & Oman-staff coordination, doc-

umentation, civil & technical main-

tenance, -valid GCC license-looking

for working partnership or manage-

ment post. Contact:91568362 /

Email vpj555pem@gmail.com

MBA Finance, 6 yrs exp in Sales

& Marketing with Omani Driving

License seeks suitable placement.

Contact 94685706

Indian male, MBA 9+ yrs Oman exp

in Sales & Marketing in FMCG (F &

B) sector on a Supervisor / manage-

rial role with D/L & Local NOC avail-

able. Contact 97912789

Young female, having experience

of working in Oman with expertise

in the field of Event Management,

Advertising, Marketing and Hotel

Management. Currently on a visit

visa. Seeking for a suitable Job.

Contact 96153578

Sri Lankan Salesman cum driver

with NOC. Contact 97265733

Indian male, 25yrs, MBA in HR/

Marketing.6yrs exp with MNC and

pharma. Presently in family visit

visa looking for suitable placements.

Contact no-94657379/ 96645182

Indian Male, MBA in Marketing and

Finance, 10 years’ Sales & Business

Development Experience with valid

D/L of Oman & UAE looking for a

suitable placement. NOC Available.

Contact: 93969961

e-mail abhilash.pvrk@gmail.com

Indian Male, 7 yrs experience in

building materials trading having

Oman D/L, immediate release avail-

able. Contact 98676713

SALES / MARKETING

Graduate, Indian, having 6 yrs

experience in Sales with D/L, NOC

available. Contact 93410723

Indian male 25 B.Tech (IT)

Engineer 2.5 years experience in

hardware networking. Currently on

visit visa, looking for suitable job.

Contact - 94359564

Indian male, B.com with tally,

having 11 years experience in ac-

counting, looking for a part time

job. contact.96423671

Post Graduate Indian male, MBA

(Hospital Administration) hav-

ing 4 yrs. experience in hospital

administration looking for suitable

placement. Currently on visit.

Contact: 96701543, 92945632

PROCUREMENT OFFICER-Indian

33yrs, 7yrs Exp. in Oman in

(ROAD,CIV,MEP & Others) Contg &

Trdg Co. Visa will Exp in Feb-15.

M: 94064650,

Email:nagauae@gmail.com

Indian Male, 31 years of Rich

Oman experience in Multifunction-

al Management, Administration,

Business Development, Purchase &

Operations seeking suitable Man-

ager/Supervisory Position. Visa

transfer/NOC Available.

GSM: 95036410

Seeking for immediate placement

as a manager- projects, sales,

marketing, product, business

development job for BE- MBA, 12

years Oman experience with D/L.

Contact-96040977,

kvmssn@gmail.com

Indian Female, B.com, 2year Indi-

an Exp. in Accounts, strong in Tally

ERP 9,MS Office, looking for suit-

able position. Part time/Full time.

Contact-95939129, 99104579,

mail:sreekulaparambil@gmail.com

AutoCAD draughtsman (Architect

ural+Structural+Plumbing & HVAC)

having more than 12 years Oman

experience seeking work as a

FREELANCER. Contact - 91620107

26 years male, MBA Finance &

Marketing, 1 year experience in

marketing. Looking for sales job.

Contact: 95437921

31 years, male with Gulf Experi-

enced Microsoft Certified Solu-

tion Associate, Have GCC driving

license, looking for a suitable job

as Network/System Administrator.

Phone: +968 93927126, 99853614,

Email: khalil837@hotmail.com

Mechanical Engineer with 10+

years experience currently on visit

visa looking for a Operation Man-

ager/Branch Manager position in

reputed organizations. #95757845

Indian Female, B. Com, 2year

Indian Exp. in Accounts, strong in

Tally ERP 9,MS Office, looking for

suitable position.

Part time/Full time. Contact no:

95939129, 99104579,

Email-sreekulaparambil@gmail.com

Indian Male, 31 years of Rich

Oman experience in Multifunction-

al Management, Administration,

Business Development, Purchase

& Operations, seeking suitable

Manager/Supervisory Position.Visa

transfer/NOC Available.

Contact : 95036410

Indian female, Accountant. having

+5 years experience in Oman till

Nov 2014. seeking suitable place-

ment. NOC available. currently in

family visa. Contact :98447045,

email:anilavandika@gmail.com

IT supports 6 yrs experience, male,

Filipino Desktop Support, Backup

administrator, Wireless Networking,

server admin. #- +96896126502

Indian male, 26 yrs - MBA Gradu-

ate with 3 yrs of Experience in

Banking ( Standard Chartered Bank

Scope International - Operations)

&Coffee Vending Machine (Fresh

& Honest Cafe ltd - Operations)

on Visit Visa seeking placement.

Contact 91267867

Indian male 23 yrs, 4 yrs experi-

enced in Architectural Draughts-

man looking for a suitable Post

GSM:96023726, Email

jayan.mathew009@gmail.com

INDIAN, B.E Mechanical Engineer, 2 years job experience in Oman

in pipeline field, fluent in English,

Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi, with

valid Omani driving license (light)

searching for job. Contact 99871470

Male 28, seven & half an year ex-

perience. Worked as maintenance

division co-ordinator, purchaser’s

assistant, and office administra-

tion works. Valid driving license.

Contact 94454847

28 year Indian male with 7yrs of

experience in Accounts & Finance

up to finalisation in Construction

Oil & Gas and also in Manufacturing

industries with Oman D/L

seeking suitable placement.

Contact 97104364 .

email:moorthy_cbe@hotmail.com.

Indian male, 25yrs, MBA in mar-

keting from Delhi with 1 year ex-

perience in operation department,

currently on visit visa seeking suit-

able placements. Ph 97334359

email: mshahinp1@gmail.com

Civil Engineer, B.E in civil ,

Approx. two year experience in

Oman, Pakistani age 29 years.

Contact : 94389853 Email :

faheemdeeer1986@gmail.com

Male 28, seven & half an year ex-

perience. Worked as maintenance

division co-ordinator, purchaser’s

assistant, and office administra-

tion works. Valid driving license.

94454847

Indian, female, Pharmacist avail-

able with NOC and MOH License,

preferably in Muscat.

Contact 9439 1355.

Senior Accounts Professional,

Indian Male, 35 years, M.Com,

MBA (Fin) 8 years in Oman, with

valid Oman DL and NOC available.

Capable to handle accounts up to

finalization. Contact 9602 3965.

Looking out for the post of Travel

coordinator/Senior travel Consult-

ant, 14 years (10 years in GCC Coun-

tries) of experience in the travel

industry looking for a suitable

placement. Contact : 96328687.

An Indian driver with car

looking for part time job.

Contact 91103909

Indian, Female, Pharmacist avail-

able with NOC and MOH License,

preferably in Muscat.

Contact 9439 1355.

Civil draughtsman part time work

for job. Contact : 96023726

Indian, 24 years, B.Tech with

Diploma in Sound Engineering &

Sound Recording seeking suitable

placement. Currently on Visit Visa.

Contact: 95615436. Email:

siddharthsadasiv@gmail.com

Indian Female-Tech Electrical,

from third best college, Govern-

ment Engineering College Trissur.

Fluent in English. Excellent presen-

tation skill.Engineering, IT, teach-

ing or account sector job wanted.

Contact -97724630 / email:

vyshnaparthan@gmail.com

Indian male, 31 years of Rich Oman

experience in Multifunctional Man-

agement, Admistration, Business

Development, Purchase & Opera-

tions seeking suitable Manager/

Supervisory Position. Visa transfer/

NOC Available. Contact 95036410

Indian male, 27 yrs, B.Tech Me-

chanical, 1 yr pipeline experience

seeking job in any mechanical field,

NOC available, available in Oman till

31st Jan. Contact 95982207,

rahman.taus@gmail.com

Indian Electronics & Com-

munication with transmission

project, embedded designing,

telecommunication experience

(3 yrs) having visit visa looking

for suitable placement in Oman.

Contact Mohammed Arshad Khan

– 93398772, email :

eng.mohdarshadkhan@gmail.com

Quantity Surveyor (Civil Building)

looking for Part time job Contact

no:-94391712 E-mail address-

inayathhussain@yahoo.com

Experienced female Electrical

Engineer.Contact 93800906

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.comDAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

D6 T U E S D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 0 , 2 0 1 5

EVERY FRIDAY 2.00PM ON INDIA’S KAIRALI PEOPLE TV

● Worldwide ● Air Ticket ● Car Rental ● Holiday Packages ● Hotel Reservations ● Travel Insurance

Call: +96824790400, +96898569830 Email: info@omanorienttravels.com

MATRIMONIAL

Keralite girl, 26 (160), BSC Nurse at

South America seeks suitable alli-

ance. Contact 94413100, 98335340

Proposals are invited from parents

of professionally qualified Nair Boys

for 24 year old Upper Middle Class

Nair girl hail from Trivandrum, (171

cm, Star-Bharani) employed in a

reputed Company in Oman. Contact:

0968-9950 2593 /99798041.

(KM ID.2844689)

MANPOWER

NRI

Land for sale, 36 cents in Kak-

kanad near Athani. 5 lacs/cent

and 6 acre land near Veliyam,

Kottarakkara. 30 lacs/acre. Seri-

ous buyers only call – 99886386 /

+919645888877

Villa for sale 2200 sq ft in 8 cent.

Kottayam. Contact: 92652534

For Astrological consultation,

Jathakam. Contact 99860435 /

97102599

Genuine Ayurvedic treatments &

massage, Ayurvedic clinic at Al Khu-

wair. Contact 24478618 / 97263637

/93309131

FREE INFORMATION ABOUT IS-LAM. 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

Ayurvedic treatment for joint pain,

backache, paralysis, massage, steam

bath, obesity, spondylitis, ideal

care Ayurvedic Clinic, 18 November

Street, Azaiba.Contact 99639695 /

99117987

GOOD NEWS

Indian Male having 14 years of

experience in HR, Purchase Dept

having Oman Driving License

looking for a suitable position

NOC available.

Email –madhuvtk@gmail.com.

Contact: 99252635, 99239498

Filipino Accountant with 13 years

working experience in the field of

accounting looking for a suitable

job in Muscat. Contact: 94547323

28 years Indian male with 7yrs of

experience in Accounts & Finance

up to finalisation in Construction

Oil & Gas and also in Manufactur-

ing industries with Oman D/L

seeking suitable placement.

Contact me on 97104364 .email:

moorthy_cbe@hotmail.com

Indian female MA. B.Ed. with

One year three months Teaching

experience. Subject: English,

seeking for a Better placement.

Now working in Oman.

Contact 93961142, 92184408

Email:anoopkesavan78@gmail.com.

MBA with 1 yr experience, Indian

looking for job, salary 40000 INR.

Contact 96271935

Admin Executive, 31, Indian Male,

having 8+ years exp. in reputed

companies, seeking suitable place-

ment in any gulf region. Contact:

+968 99276601 & 97693456.

muralimahdav77@gmail.com

Indian male, 26 yrs - MBA Graduate

with 3 yrs of Experience in Banking

(Standard Chartered Bank Scope

International - Operations) & Coffee

Vending Machine (Fresh & Honest

Cafe ltd - , Operations) on Visit Visa

seeks placement. # 91267867,

Email: jai.ks1988@gmail.com

Tunisian women looking for

job, khnows english, frensh, Italian

and arabic. Contact: 91171838

28 year Indian male with

7yrs(5yrs in Oman) of experi-

ence in Accounts & Finance up

to finalisation in Construction Oil

& Gas and also in Manufacturing

industries with Oman D/L

seeking suitable placement.

Contact me on 97104364 email:

Moorthy_cbe@hotmail.com

Looking out for the post of Travel

coordinator/Senior travel Con-

sultant, 14 years (10 years in GCC

Countries) of experience in the

travel industry looking for a suita-

ble placement. Contact:96328687

Female dentist with MOH license

and release looking for a suitable

placement in Muscat, presently re-

siding in Muscat. Contact: 99147426

Indian Female. B-Tech Electrical,

from third best college, Govern-

ment Engineering College Thris-

sur. Fluent in English. Excellent

presentation skill. Engineering,

IT, teaching or account sector job

wanted. GSM-97724630, email:

vyshnaparthan@gmail.com

Structural Engineer with 14 years

experience in structural design

and supervision fields with full

knowledge of structure design

programs, Omani D/L, seeking a

reputed engineering consultancy

office vacancy Tel. 96248598.

Indian Male, B.COM, ICWA, CMA

Australia, 24 years experience in

finance, costing, accounts, internal

audit. Valid Oman driving license.

NOC available. Can join immedi-

ately. Contact 97917136

Furnished single room with

attached bathroom near Mars

Hypermarket, Al Ghubrah. Contact

97312111, RO 150/- per month

Single room at Walja, opposite

MBD area available for executive

bachelors or single working woman

for OMR 100 including Electricity

and Water. Contact 93079877

Single furnished room in Ruwi.

Contact 24833609

Independent room furnished

Executive at Wadi Kabir.

Contact 99336206

Single room available for a

working lady with separate bath-

room & sharing kitchen with a

family @Rex Road. # 95423572

Room with separate toilet and WiFi,

Wadi Kabir near pencil building.

Contact 93416854

Rooms for rent in Al Hail, front of

the Wave. Contact 95192927

2 Bedroom flat for offices with

furniture near Al Manaf Hotel,

Ghala. Contact 99525743,

99439705

Excellent 3 bedrooms , 2 sitting

rooms, 3 bathrooms, kitchen & store

with A/C. 92817777

ACC. AVAILABLE

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

ACC.WANTED

ACC. AVAILABLE

Furnished room with AC for expat,

Al Khuwair. Contact 99689315 /

97004265

Fully furnished big room with

sharing toilet, kitchen immediately

available for Executive bachelor in

N.Gubrah. Contact-95450250

Room available in Ruwi near Badr

Al Samaa for Executive bachelor

or couple, RO 125/- including W/E.

Contact 92196783

Furnished sharing one room with

bath at Darsait near ISM.

Contact 95257213

1 room balcony toilet for Indian lady

/ small family near Khimji Institute

(NIIT) near Ruwi Church. # 99746379

Independent room, kitchen and

bathroom available near Ruwi

roundabout. Contact 99016562

4 bedrooms house and one bedroom

attached bathroom sharing kitchen

in Wadi Kabir. Contact 96639246

Spacious semi-furnished room with

separate entrance, attached wash-

room for non-cooking Indian Bachelor

near ISG. # 95146361, 92657598

Single room attached bathroom,

kitchen, split A/C, Al Ghubrah near

Mars Hypermarket, OR 180/-.

Contact 95094028

Single room available for exec

bachelor, Muttrah opp Oman House.

Contact 93340125

Independent rooms in Qurum/

Al Hail. Contact 95529970

Room with separate entrance, bath-

room, A/C, furniture near Al Nahdha

Hospital. Contact 93201710

Bath attached room with separate

sharing kitchen for rent in Wadi

Kabir. Contact 99378661

2 rooms with 2 bathrooms and

sharing kitchen for couple or

executive bachelors at hamriya

r/abt. ( on the main road side, opp.

Apollo hospital ) RO 150.

Contact 98232567

Single room or studio flat required

in Ruwi area. Contact : 95405033

Furnished single room with sepa-

rate bathroom near al meera hyper-

market, azaiba. Gsm 94288863

Looking for purchase of Used Portable Compressor (350 CFM,

7 Bar Pressure) powered

with Diesel run Generator.

Kindly Contact 99014686 or

operation@khancogroup.com

Looking for commercial lands for

sale in Al Ghobrah North (urgent

serious buyers, commercial lands in

al Ghobrah North (corners prime loca-

tion). Contact 91155779

AVAILABLE

Established Restaurant for rent with

sponsorship.Contact 97628242

Party & Wedding equipment rent-

als. Full line, from Tables, Linen

& Skirting, Chairs & Chair covers,

Cutlery, Crockery, Glassware, Chaf-

ing 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

BUYING/SELLING FOR SALE

Household items on sale.

Contact 93833107

Port cabins – New & refurnished

Porta cabin for sale and rent.

Contact 96723468

Sale!, all household items, like fridge,

freezer, cooking range, washing

machine, window/split A/Cs, LCD TV,

Laptop, tab and many more for attrac-

tive prices. Location :

near Toyota service Center, Honda

Road. Contact - 97048983, 95293643

Restaurant for leasing/sale in

Al Hail. Contact 94148970,

94148972, 97820877

NOTICE

AL Etehad for Customs Clearance joint which is recorded under the

commercial register in directorate

general for trade industry number

1090901 is going to change its

name to Shuaa Al Etehad Compre-

hensive company. This is to inform

anybody who concerns about that.

I, Roy D’Costa (holder of Indian Passport No. J4218485) s/o Joac D’Costa having permanent address

in Goa-H-No-E-31, Portan Panjim,

opposite Bambolkar Building

(complete postal address in India)

and presently residing in P.O.Box

2882, P.C 112, Ghala Service Road,

Sultanate of Oman (complete postal

address in Oman) intend to marry

Ms Nina Zedekiah Errey (holder

of Australian Passport bearing No.

N 6802430) d/o Norman Errey in

Embassy of India, Muscat. I swear

that I am marrying her at my own

free will AND not under any duress

and intimidation. Any objection to-

wards this marriage may please be

communicated to Embassy of In-

dia, Muscat, Diplomatic Quarters, Al

Khuwair, P.B. No 1727, Postal Code

112, Ruwi, Sultanate of Oman within

30 (thirty) days of publication of

this newspaper advertisement.

DAILY GUIDET U E S D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 0 , 2 0 1 5 D7

DAILY GUIDE

SITUATION WANTEDCARGO

SITUATION WANTEDCARGO

Dolphin Watch, Dhow Cruise

with Buffet, & Land Tours Al- Ainain

Marine Tours Contact- 98029602,

92808636

TOURS

RENT A CAR

DRIVING

M.V. FOR SALE

Renault Safrane 2011, Excellent con-

dition OMR3400. Contact 94015245

Pajero 3.8 v6 full option, 2008

model expat driven single owner, ex-

cellent condition, accident free, 217k.

Contact - 92590781

Lexus GS300, 2006. Contact

93218349

Tucson V-6, 2007, automatic

RO 2500/-. Contact 99384640

TRANSPORTATION

Transportation. Contact 93405941

Labor Pick & drop. Contact

92218001

Transportation. Contact

92306582

Transportation. Contact

98178135

Transportation available.

Contact 95570429

Pick & drop anytime in al Khuwair.

Contact 99764307

Transportation. Contact

91379976

Transportation with car & driver.

(VIP’s only). Contact 95040768

Pick & Drop any time. Contact

97014786

Transportation. Contact

99664703

Transportation available

99159277

Transportation. Contact 96538078

Transportation Available

Contact 97180655

Toyota Yaris 1.5, 2010 single owner

84,000 kms, fully automatic, 100%.

Service history with dealer.

Contact 93876159

30 seater Toyota Bus, 2014, white

color for sale. Contact 98888999 /

96341946

Chevrolet van model 2000 for

sale, RO 1400/-. Contact 96789522

L/R Discovery, 2003,

KM 1,60,000. Contact 99238877

Prado 2012. Contact 99336093

FOR HIRE

FOR HIRE

TRUCK FOR HIREIsuzu 10 ton cargo body truck

(2012 FVR) with UAE experienced driver

available for long term / short term rent.

Contact: 95346950

PDO approval truck for hire. Contact

99350915

50 seater bus with PDO specifica-

tion for rent or lease. # 99839898

Running truck wash for rent in

Ouhi Sunia Sohar. Serious people

can. Contact on 97864747

M.V.WANTED

Required Nissan Tida / Toyota

yaris / Suzuki swift / hyundai/Kia

hatchback car in good condition.

Contact 95405033

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

D8 T U E S D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 0 , 2 0 1 5

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

SITUATION WANTEDSERVICES

SITUATION WANT-SERVICES

GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet & sofa shampooing,

Contact 99314807/24792998

MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of your

marble. # 24793614/ 99314807

Cleaning services, carpet & sofa

shampooing, marble restoration

(grinding) and polishing, pest

control, fogging service. Contact

99448057, 95401996

Cheapest Prices, all types win-

dow, curtains and blind.

Contact 99539521

Computer service/ AMC/ Net-

working. Contact 93552434

Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles

polishing, carpet shampooing,

maintenance. Contact ABU QA-

BAS- 99320217 /24788722

Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles

polishing, carpet shampooing,

maintenance. Contact ABU QA-

BAS- 99320217 /24788722

Door to Door Computers repair

specialist laptop software Website

cartridges. Contact 99199376

A.M Trading Pest control. Contact 99067923

Split & window A/C servicing &

maintenance. Contact 93769089

Maintenance – 1) A/C Mainte-

nance, 2)fridge, washing machine

& dish washer repairing, 3)paint-

ing & cleaning services, 4)electri-

cal & plumbing carpentry work.

Contact 99447257 / 97014234 /

24504281

GULF INTERNATIONAL LLC

all kind of pest control.

Contact 92326955

Assddin trad. & cont. steel, lathe &

welding workshop. services of all

type gear making, maintenance,

repairing & technical engineering

works. Muhammad Sabir, Wadi Al

Kabir, Call: 99057248/ 24816390,

E mail:gear_oman@yahoo.com

Painting Interlock plumbing

maintenance. Contact 92142319

Carpet & sofa cleaning, house

cleaning. Contact 99542979 /

98855815

For All Your Maintenance Solu-

tions, A/c Servicing & Fixing,

Painting, Cleaning, Electric. Contact

99002390

Carpet & sofa cleaning, house clean-

ing. Contact 99542979 / 98855815

For All Your Maintenance Solutions,

A/c Servicing & Fixing, Painting,

Cleaning, Electric. # 99002390

Water proofing ABUQABAS-

Contact 99320217/24788722

Civil Maintenance, Painting Elec-

tric, Plumbing, Decor, Tile Fixing,

Lecithin Copra Board flat stifling ,

Carpet Cleaning and A/C Servic-

ing. Contact 97897831 (Indian

keralite)

Waterproofing, light weight Screed,

Antitermite and MS Fabrication.

Contact 92888337

Electrical Plumbing Painting

Contract and Maintenance.

Contact 98456535

CLASSES

WEBSITE

WEB, ERP and Business Intelli-

gence (BI) creation and man-

agement at rock bottom price.

Contact: http//webviewoman

COMPUTER

Al Manar Vocational pleased to an-

nounce at vocational short and long

term courses in tailoring, cooking

and internal design. Contact us now :

24698070 or 91144335

PRO services. Contact 99368907

Fast & Right Way - For all PR

related works – permanent Visa

stamping, family visiting visa

holders, clients contacts – with

NOC letter with signed & sealed

photocopy documents .

Contact 91568362

Catering services We do industrial

catering service, Canteen/ mess,

3 times packed meals,

and all types of catering events.

Contact 92188777/99249899

BUSINESS

BUSINESSFirst Grade Building Construc-

tion Company registered in Tender

Board, MOD, and all Ministries

with 120 manpower have current

projects of RO 2 million seeking for

investor partner to be the Managing

Director. Send CV to

constructionjop@gmail.com

My client needs to buy Residential

land or villa in Al Ghubra Bahar

Factory area. Tel: 99333479 or

95215360

For HT cable jointing and

termination works 33KV/11KV.

Contact 99056438 /

Email: npgoman@gmail.com

A/C service, repair and mainte-

nance works. Contact 95356877,

93937368. Al Sahib Modern Projects

Split & window unit A/C servicing &

repairing. Contact 99557080

Window & split unit A/C servicing &

maintenance. Contact 96236476

House shifting. Contact 99557080,

96236476

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

Wanted dentist or investor to buy a

well-running dental clinic in Sohar

immediately. Contact 92625962,

95904234

We assist in new business

set up local sponsorship,

real estate services, assist in

company formation services.

Contact - 93166088

SITUATION SIT. WANTED

Manager Maintenance/Engi-

neering/Purchase, 31 yrs. exp. in

mechanical, electrical, electronics,

parts fabrication, purchase deptt,

oman exp. 5yrs, have NOC, looking

for job. Contact - pkv2k3@yahoo.

com, 99331289

Indian Male, 31 years of Rich

Oman experience in Multifunc-

tional Management, Adminis-

tration, Business Development,

Purchase & Operations seeking

suitable Manager/Supervisory

Position. Visa transfer/NOC Avail-

able.GSM: 95036410