times of oman - march 31, 2015

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TUESDAY, March 31, 2015 /10 Jumada Al Thani 1436 AH timesofoman.com wtimesofoman.com facebook.com/timesofoman twitter.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com ISO 9001:2008 Certified Company

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FATAL FRIDAYS

FAHAD AL MUSKRASHI [email protected] MUSCAT: Friday was the dead-liest day on Oman’s roads in 2014, with more people dying and being injured than any other day of the week.

The first day of the weekend saw an estimated 152 motorists dead and 627 injured in a total of 985 accidents which occurred on Fridays.

While Thursdays registered the highest number of accidents, at 1,015, Friday proved more dan-gerous to life and limb.

This is a change from 2013, when Saturday saw the highest number of deaths on roads with 166 fatalities registered.

Hamed Al Wahaibi, founder of Safety First, an organisation en-gaged in creating awareness and improving road safety, feels that because many roads are empty on the weekend, a lot of drivers are tempted to indulge in speed-ing and reckless driving.

An official at the Royal Oman

Police (ROP) said families also move from one wilayat to anoth-er during the weekend, increas-ing the probability of accidents.

Urging road users to practice safety, Al Wahaibi said, “Most motorists travel with families which increases the chance of there being more casualties. It is important to be extra careful while driving.”

Wednesdays saw 135 people being killed and 520 injured in 985 road accidents that occurred on that day, according to the ROP figures.

July topped other months for the number of casualties, when 78 people were killed, fol-lowed by 76 deaths in April, and

75 deaths in October. Muscat governorate topped other gov-ernorates with 130 casualties, followed by Dhakliyah with 126, North Batinah with 120 and Dhofar and South Batinah with 85 deaths in 2014.

Al Wahaibi pointed out that it was natural for the Muscat gov-ernorate as it is the capital and is a very populated area, and has a large number of vehicles.

The Musandam governorate registered the lowest number of casualties at four.

The most fatal road accident was a collision that occurred in the Mazyonah area of Dhofar and resulted in the death of nine people. >A6

The first day of

the weekend saw

an estimated 152

motorists dead

and 627 injured

in a total of

985 accidents

Road accidents

GraphicsSource: Royal Oman Police

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

2013 2014

Died

Accidents

Injured

913 816

3,835

7,829

10,802

6,717

Casualties

By nationality

By gender

By governorate

Male

Female

Death

Muscat 130

Dhakliyah 126

120NorthBatinah

671

Injured

Death

Injured

Omanis 535

249

16

Others

Arabs

145

871

2,964

4,654Vehicles writtenoff due to accidentsin 2014

9,134,095OMR

is the total value of vehicleswritten off

Minister hints that some Omanisation and expat policies could be revisitedTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Some policies con-nected to Omanisation and expat labour may be re-examined, said the Minister of Manpower, if the private sector can suggest an alternative plan to boost the na-tional workforce numbers.

At a meeting with industri-alists, Minister of Manpower Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Bakri said, “The ministry is very flexible when it comes to re-examining some of the policies related to Omanisation and the foreign workforce if the compa-nies and factories can commit to identifying a mechanism to increase the number of Omani cadres in these institutions to be agreed upon between the minis-try and business owners.”

Urging companies to find a clear plan to ensure a rise in Om-anisation rates in local compa-nies, Al Bakri said that additional advantages and facilities will be provided to the companies com-mitted to this policy.

At the same meeting, Minister of Commerce and Industry Dr Ali bin Masoud Al Sunaidy explained that the meeting was being held to find a mechanism to address challenges such as determin-ing the number of Omani work-ers and expatriates in a single institution.

The meeting, held at the Knowledge Oasis Muscat, of-fered a platform for industrialists to interact with ministers and

their counterparts. Al Sunaidy supported the idea of finding a neutral party to evaluate the performance of the factories and their local and foreign workforce requirements.

He also suggested that a web-site be established to receive complaints and suggestions by industrialists and entrepreneurs in order to add more transparency to the industrial processes.

The meeting discussed the cur-rent mood in the local industry and highlighted obstacles faced by the industrialists. It also touched upon their vision for the future.

Meanwhile, the industrial-ists stressed on the importance of “reconsidering some personal behaviour” during inspections by the Ministry of Manpower due to the lack of proper training. >A6

I N T E R A C T I O N

Indian rescue plane waits in Oman for clearance from Yemen

REJIMON [email protected]

MUSCAT: A rescue plane, which landed in Muscat on its way to evacuate Indians stranded in war-torn Sana’a, is stuck in Oman, hav-ing still not got clearance from Yemen, said an official of the In-dia’s national carrier Air India.

BP Kulkarni, country manager of Air India in Muscat, told the Times of Oman that they have not

received permission to fly into the Yemeni capital.

Sources at the Indian consulate in Saudi Arabia said they were working to get the clearance as soon as possible. The 180-pas-senger plane landed in Muscat on Monday morning and was await-ing clearance to fly to Sana’a.

As per earlier plans, the flight was supposed to fly to Yemen and return to India by tonight. It had plans for a refuelling stopover

in Muscat on its return trip too. There are around 3,700 Indians working in Yemen and on Sunday, India had airlifted 80 nationals from Sana’a to Djibouti.

The Indian Ministry of Exter-nal Affairs (MEA) has obtained permission to operate flights from Sana’a for up to three hours a day.

Last Thursday, after launching air strikes in Yemen, Saudi Ara-bia had warned foreign ships from approaching Yemeni ports and

declared Yemen’s airspace as “re-stricted”. Meanwhile, an Indian Navy patrol vessel involved in anti-piracy operations was also headed for the port of Aden, where a small-er Indian community is based.

The patrol vessel has capacity to evacuate 150 to 200 people, said MEA spokesman Syed Akbarud-din. A larger vessel with the capac-ity for 1,500 people is expected to arrive in around five days.

See also >A8, 10, 14

W A R

DEVASTATION: Soldiers and Houthi fighters inspect the damage caused by air strikes on the airport of Yemen’s northwestern city of

Saada, near Saudi border on Monday. Warplanes struck the Yemeni capital of Sana’a overnight and after daybreak on Monday. -Reuters

FAHAD AL [email protected]

MUSCAT: Unable to call his parents in the Yemeni port city of Aden, a Yemeni student, who is pursuing his bachelor’s degree in Oman, is worried and totally distracted from his studies.

“For the past week, I have been trying to contact my parents but my efforts have been in vain. I do not know what to do,” Abdulkarim, a Yemeni student in Oman, told the Times of Oman, adding that he was unable to focus on studies. “I feel totally lost. I cannot fly back now also as examinations are coming up. Even If I make plans to visit, I do not know whether it will be possible,” Abdulkarim further

said. The Yemeni Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research has listed 480 pupils as studying abroad during the academic year 2015-2016. Of them, four students are studying in the Sultanate on scholar-ship. There could be others enrolled in private colleges.

Television news is the only source of information on the latest developments back home. “I know many other Yemenis in Oman who are in the same condition. Uncer-tainty is haunting us all,” said Abdulkarim. >A6

Yemenis in Oman worried about families back home

WORLDIran, global powers struggle for N-deal

2Iran and major powers were struggling on Monday to reach a

preliminary nuclear accord as “gloom” set in, with both sides sticking to their positions a day before deadline. >A11

MARKETOman plans spot market for power

3Oman plans to introduce a spot market for electricity to enhance efficiency in

the sector. John Mather has been made project manager for a new spot market pricing system. >B1

OMANMore than 300 firms in BIG show this year

1Products of more than 300 local and global firms from the construction and

interior design industry are on display at BIG show inaugurated in Muscat on Monday. >A5

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

A11UAE carriers introduce ‘rule of two’

FLEXIBLE APPROACH: Sheikh

Abdullah bin Nasser Al Bakri,

Minister of Manpower.

HM receives greetings from leadersMUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has received a cable of greetings from the Emir of Qatar His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, on the occasion of his return to the homeland. In his cable, Sheikh Tamim expressed his sincere greetings and best fraternal wishes of good health and well-being to His Majesty the Sultan and the Omani people further progress and prosperity. He wished His Majesty on behalf of the people and government of the sisterly State of Qatar.

His Majesty also received a cable of greetings from Akila Saleh Issa, chairman of the Libyan Parliament, on the occa-sion of the auspicious return of His Majesty to the homeland.

In his cable, Akila Saleh Issa prayed to Allah the Almighty to perpetuate good health and wellbeing on His Majesty the Sultan and protect His Majesty for his homeland and people to achieve aspirations of further progress and prosperity under His Majesty’s wise leadership. >A6

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A2 T U E S DAY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5

OMANLEGAL AFFAIRS MINISTER HEADS TO KUWAITAssigned by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, Dr. Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Sa’eedi,

Minister of Legal Affairs and Chairman of Oman Charitable Organisation left on Monday

for the State of Kuwait to attend the third International Humanitarian Pledging Confer-

ence for Syria, to be hosted by Kuwait on Tuesday.—ONA

Symposium to focus on jurisprudenceMUSCAT: New ‘ijtihad’ (dili-gence) process in the modern era will be reviewed at a sympo-sium here.

The 14th Symposium on De-velopment of Jurisprudence (‘fiqh’) Sciences, titled ‘Fiqh’ of the Era: ‘Fiqh’ and Reli-gious Renewal (‘tajdid’), will be organised by the Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs from April 5 to 8. Dr Salim bin Hilal Al Kharusi, Preaching and Guidance Advisor at the office of the Minister of Awqaf and Religious Affairs, Deputy Chair-man of the Organising Commit-tee of the symposium, said that the symposium will also focus on contemporary ‘ijtihad’, “by which we renew the true reli-gion and we put our future ‘fiqh’ vision in harmony with the past and present”.

A total 57 working papers will be presented, in the presence of learned Islamic scholars and dignitaries.–ONA

R E L I G I O U S M E E T I N G

Many wilayats organised marches to express

their gratitude and loyalty for His Majesty.

National songs and dances marked these rallies

Love and loyalty expressed for HM >A4

A3

OMANT U E S DAY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5

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Dubai crackdown on lane violators

FAHAD AL [email protected]

MUSCAT: Starting from April 1, Omanis and expatriates who drive into Dubai will have to pay a fine of AED600 if they are found using lanes meant only for buses and taxis.

The Roads and Transport Au-thority (RTA) of Dubai, the public transport agency, recently an-nounced that a fine of AED600 would be levied on motorists found misusing the bus and taxi lanes. The RTA also said that the new rule will come into effect from April 1.

In addition, smart cameras have been installed on some

roads, while Dubai Police patrols will continue to monitor other roads. In 2010, the RTA devel-oped six kilometres of dedicated bus lanes in the city.

A survey carried out a few years ago revealed that from 2006 to 2008, the revenue accumu-lated in Dubai from fining traf-fic violators with vehicles hold-ing Omani plates amounted to AED3.29 million.

Omanis biggest violatorsCompared to those from other GCC countries, Omani vehicles registered the highest number of traffic violations — as many as 27,722 times — in the United Arab Emirates during the same

period, with the amount reaching AED14.68 million.

Yahya Khalfan, a resident of Muscat, who travels to Dubai often, said that he kept himself updated with the latest rules and regulations introduced in Dubai, especially those related to traffic.

RTA website“I usually check the RTA websites to look for any newly-implement-ed rules in Dubai, or any that are likely to be brought into effect,” stated Khalfan, adding that he usually travelled two or three times a week to Dubai.

“My advice to motorists trav-elling to Dubai would be to keep themselves updated with the new rules and regulations implement-ed to avoid violating any during their stay there.”

Furthermore, Saif Al Wishahi, a Shinas resident, remarked, “As much as we need visitors to re-spect and to adhere to the traffic rules in Oman, we expect Omani motorists to do the same in other countries, as well.”

He feels that the RTA and the Royal Oman Police (ROP) must come up with an arrangement to disseminate information on any new traffic rules to both Omanis and Emiratis.

Dubai’s public transport agency recently

announced that a fine of AED600 will be

slapped on motorists found misusing the

bus and taxi lanes. Fines on vehicles with

Omani plates amounted to AED3.29m

Seminar on chemical arms safetyMUSCAT: Management of chemical weapons and materi-als was the focus of a seminar held by The Sultan’s Armed Forces (SAF) Command here.

The two-day seminar was held at Al Shafaq Club of SAF under the auspices of Lt. Gen Ahmed bin Harith Al Nabhani, SAF Chief of Staff.

The seminar was organised in collaboration with The Or-ganisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. A number of senior SAF, RGO, ROP and other security services officers attended the seminar.

Keynote speeches were de-livered by Brigadier Hamad bin Rashid Al Balushi, As-sistant SAF Chief of Staff for Operations and Planning and Kumaresh Misra, Head of Inter-national Cooperation Branch, Organisation for the Prohibi-tion of Chemical Weapons.

A number of experts partici-pated in this seminar. –ONA

G L O B A L S E C U R I T Y

National held for bootleggingTimes News Service

MUSCAT: A citizen was arrested for bootlegging while he was try-ing to smuggle liquor in his vehicle via Buraimi border post.

Personnel at the Customs De-partment at Buraimi border post found the bottles hidden in his ve-hicle. Legal action has been initi-ated against the accused.

Meanwhile, weekly report of the joint inspection team at Min-istry of Manpower informs that the number of workers found vio-lating the Labour Law from March 22 to March 28 stood at 315.

These cases included 249 com-mercial workers, 27 farm work-ers and 39 housemaids and their equivalents. Inspection teams caught 295 workers, including 172

absconding workers, 114 astray workers and nine workers in-volved in other violations.

Muscat witnessed the largest number of violations with 105 cases, followed by Al Batinah.

Meanwhile, the ministry has deported 340 expatriate work-ers for violating provisions of the labour law and ministerial deci-sions. –ONA

L A W A N D O R D E R

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Rallies express loyalty to HMSeveral wilayats

organised marches

to express their

gratitude and loyalty

for His Majesty.

Several marches

were held in the

wilayats of Maqshan,

Khabourah, Buraimi

and at educational

institutions. Citizens

expressed their

happiness and joy

over His Majesty’s

good health and

prayed for his

continued success

in leading Oman on

the path of prosperity.

National songs and

dances marked these

rallies, which were

covered with the

national flag

and HM’s portraits

Times News Service

MUSCAT: A “Pledge of Allegiance March” will be organised by the private sector employees at Seeb Corniche Street on Tuesday.

They will be celebrating the return of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said.

The march, which is being organised by the leading companies of private sector, will begin from Al Abab Club at around 4.30pm and will march towards Wadi Al Bahais Lagoon.

Meanwhile, sev-eral wilayats continued to organise marches and celebrations to express their gratitude for His Majesty’s safe return to his homeland. Reports of festivities have come in from the wilayats of Khasab, Hamra, Nakhal, Kamil Wa Alwafi, Saham, Jalan, Sadah and Barka.

Thousands of people, who participated in the marches nationwide, expressed their happiness over His Majesty’s return.

Folklores, national songs and dances were the highlights of these celebrations, which had an abundance of national flags and symbols.

Loyalty march at Seeb today

Classical concert for music connoisseurs at ROHM show

SARAH [email protected]

MUSCAT: As one regular con-cert-goer said upon leaving the Royal Opera House Muscat (ROHM) on Sunday night follow-ing the Riccardo Muti and Anne-Sophie Mutter concert, “That’s a concert we won’t forget.”

He was right. The brilliant performance by German viol-ist Anne-Sophie Mutter and the strong playing by the Luigi Cheru-bini Youth Orchestra under the ba-ton of legendary Italian conductor Riccardo Muti were unforgettable.

The concert began with the fa-miliar William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini. From the rich sounds of the cellos and basses that start to the piece, to the thun-derous and triumphant sound of galloping horses at the end, the large orchestra, which Muti him-self founded in 2004 as a training ground for young Italian musi-cians, really seemed to amplify each note, from the soft trill of the flute to deep hum of the bassoon

and the light tingle of the triangle. Maestro Muti’s commanding

presence was palpable from the moment he walked on stage. He led the orchestra with authority and intensity, ensuring the music was played to his exacting stand-ards. Watching both the musi-cians and Muti, who is 73 years old, one couldn’t help but realise the maestro’s genius, since all of the musicians are under 30 years of age, yet they sound as good as many of the leading European orchestras. Muti seems to con-duct with precision and expects no less than perfection from each member of the orchestra.

Anne-Sophie Mutter, a Gram-my Awarding-winning violinist, joined Muti and the orchestra on stage for the second piece, Ludvig van Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61. Mutter played with elegance, grace and refine-ment, giving no unnecessary dra-matic flair to her performance, rather letting the music speak for itself. In typical Beethoven style, it’s a piece that is emotional and

adventurous, and one which ex-plores the different dimensions of the violin. At times it almost sounded like Mutter were playing two violins at the same time!

Following the intermission the orchestra played Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E Minor Op. 64. Though it wasn’t well-received by critics when it premiered in 1888, it now stands as an example of what an exceptionally beautiful and emotional composer Tchai-kovsky was. It is moody and dra-matic and in some ways unfolds like an epic saga, telling a bold tale. Under the guidance of Muti, the young orchestra performed it to the max, with a passionate and perfect performance.

After a long, loud and persis-tent applause Muti and orchestra indulged the audience with an encore, playing Giuseppe Verdi’s Overture from the opera Nabucco. It was a vibrant and fitting end for the Italian conductor and musi-cians, its themes still echoing in the ears of the audience long after the musicians had left the stage.

G R A N D P E R F O R M A N C E

Mega catch at fishing contest Times News Service

MUSCAT: A record-breaking catch was the highlight of the event as Team Marassi emerged winners at the Jebel Sifah Fishing Chal-lenge organised by Muriya Tour-ism Development for the third consecutive year.

Two days of intense competi-tion saw 59 professional anglers and fishing enthusiasts go head-to- head to experience the breathtak-ing marine environment offered by Sifah.

Altogether 17 boats departed from Jebel Sifah Marina returning with six species of fish. This year’s challenge featured three catego-ries including International Game Fish Association (IGFA) that in-cluded Rod & Line and Fly Fishing,

as well as the Open category. The winning angler, Fahad Al

Farsi in the IGFA Rod & Line cate-gory, commanded the leader board with 137kg cumulative weight in two days of catching 73kg and 64kg yellow fin tunas to claim the Best Catch title.

The second prize went to Rashid Al Jabri with 108kg and third catch to Salem Al Muqimi with 84kg.

The best catch in the Fly Fish-ing category went to Adrian Hol-lis with 11kg and the winner in the open category was Alistair Botha with 16kg, followed by young an-gler Dylan Jones with 5kg and Hani Macki with 3kg.

In addition to claiming the sec-ond best catch in the Open cat-egory, Dylan Jones won the under 14-year category as well.

J E B E L S I F A H C H A L L E N G E

MUSICAL FANTASY: Anne-Sophie Mutter, a Grammy Awarding-winning violinist, joined Muti and

the orchestra on stage. – Photo: Khalid Al Busaidi, ROHM

Two days of intense competi-

tion saw 59 professional anglers

competing for the top honours.

A5


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BIG show offers global platform for builders

TARIQ AL [email protected]

MUSCAT: Development projects in Oman are still going strong de-spite the dropping oil prices. The number of companies participat-ing in the ongoing BIG (Builders International Gathering) Show in Muscat is proof of this fact, said Rasheed bin Al Safi Al Huraibi, chairman of Tender Board.

He was speaking after inaugu-rating the BIG show at the Oman International Exhibition Centre where over products of 300 lo-cal and international companies from the construction and interior design industry were on display on Monday.

The event offers over 1,000 new products and services, including building materials, construction equipment, wood machinery and interior furnishings in addition to other equipment and technology for building and construction op-erations.

The BIG show is being organ-ised by OMANEXPO.

“This exhibition is considered one of the specialised events that have proved its worth over the years since its establishment,” said

Rasheed Al Huraibi.“It encour-ages investment for the continued development of the Sultanate,” he said.

“New products will increase the efficiency of deployment and con-struction of products like solar en-ergy,” added Al Huraibi.

Fehmi Ouaja, manager, BIG Show’s exhibition said, “This year’s edition marks another mile-stone with more representation

from each segment and more di-verse exhibitor and product pro-files. We have recorded a 30 per cent growth in the number of par-ticipating companies and exhibi-tion space.

“Visitors will see clearly seg-mented product pavilions such as cement and concrete, doors and windows, kitchen and bathroom, ceramic, marble and stone in ad-dition to interior design and con-

struction equipment and tools.”When asked about how the

boom in construction will develop despite the dropping oil prices, Rasheed Al Huraibi said, “The number of companies at this event demonstrates that development is ongoing.”

With increased diversity in this year’s BIG Show the space has been taken by European, Asian, Arabian and Omani companies to display their products and tech-nologies for building and con-struction.

Focus on ChinaThe participation of two of the biggest pavilions in the history of Oman exhibitions to date, namely the China pavilion featuring 25 companies and the India pavilion featuring 40 companies, is the ma-jor highlight of the event.

“Other significant highlights are the national pavilions of Italy, Germany, Turkey, Iran, China and Austria,” he added.

The exhibition is being held against a backdrop of increasing investment by the government in major infrastructure projects, es-timated at $78 billion, which will boost vital sectors such as tourism, real estate and logistics.

The annual show, which was launched as Interiors and Buildex in 1996 and rebranded as The BIG Show in 2010, provides a platform for local and international compa-nies to take advantage of major op-portunities in the industry as well as to learn about the developments in the local and global markets.

In 2009, it was given recognition as a ‘UFI - approved event’. UFI is the Global Association of the Exhi-bition Industry.

The BIG Show will be open from between March 30 and April 2 from 4pm to 10pm.

The BIG show

is being held

against a backdrop

of increasing

investment by the

government in

major infrastructure

projects, estimated

at $78 billion

PDO renews pledge for OmanisationTARIQ AL [email protected]

MUSCAT: Some 362 young Omanis successfully completed their training to take up roles in the oil and gas industry as Petro-leum Development Oman (PDO) held the graduation ceremony of another batch of vocational train-ees, on Monday.

At the same event, the latest in a series of education and em-ployment initiatives with the Omani government, PDO signed a Memorandum of Understand-ing (MoU) with the Ministry of Manpower.

The graduation ceremony was held under the auspices of Dr Mohamed bin Hamed al Rumhy, minister of oil and gas.

The graduates who complet-ed an 18-month training pro-gramme in specialist institutions are ready to take on roles in the oil and gas industry of which they will be part of PDO’s 7000 em-ployment plan for 2015.

The graduates will work with PDO contractors in a wide range of trades including mechanical, electrical and instrument techni-cians, welders and pipe fitters.

As per the MoU signed by Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Abdullah Al Bakri, minister of manpower and Raoul Restucci, PDO’s managing director, it will encourage co-operation in ar-eas of training and Omanisa-tion in the oil and gas sector and other industries. This will be achieved through training and the provision of job opportunities for Omanis.

Al Bakri praised the relation-ship between PDO and the Min-istry of Manpower in terms of providing skilled jobs for Omani youth. He described the agree-ment as a model of co-operation between the two sides and added, “Four years ago we presented to the board the ambition to create 1000 jobs,” said Raoul Restucci.

In 2014, PDO significantly ramped up its In-Country Value (ICV) drive, working with the

contractor community to create more than 4,300 jobs through structured training.

“This year we are targeting more than 7,000 workers. A few weeks ago we have identified 7,300 and should be able to ex-ceed that,” added Restucci.

PDO’s training programmes proves to be an important aspect of employment in Oman. By sign-ing the MoU with the Ministry of Manpower they are looking to compliment the industry needs with trained Omani manpower.

“We work closely with the un-dersecretary of the Ministry of Manpower, particularly in terms of the vocational training pro-grammes, to align the many pro-grammes the ministry has with what the industry needs,” said Restucci.

3 6 2 O M A N I S G R A D U A T E

ANOTHER MILESTONE: This year’s edition marks another mile-

stone with more representation from each segment and more

diverse exhibitor and product profiles. –TIMES OF OMAN

MUSCAT: Projects in the oil and gas sector will continue, said Dr Mohamed bin Hamed Al Rumhy.

When asked on the sidelines of the gradua-tion ceremony whether signing 7,000 graduates for training is a sign that the Ministry of Oil and Gas is going ahead with all the projects, Dr Al Rumhy, minister of oil and gas, said, “Yes, em-ployment is an extreme-ly important part of our business. These people are the ones producing oil. They are responsible for production and are extremely important for daily operations.”

Projects will continue, says Rumhy



A6


Oman Air gears up to expand base in China, South Korea

SINGAPORE: Oman Air is on a major expansion drive with plans to open a station in Korea in 2016 while a direct route to China will be launched in the last quarter of 2015, said Paul Gregorowitsch, CEO of the national carrier, in Sin-gapore on Monday.

There are also plans to exchange some of the ATR and Embraer air-craft in the Oman Air fleet with

Boeing 737s in an attempt to re-duce the diversity of aircraft and the cost, indicating that three new Boeing 737 aircraft had been or-dered and were expected to join the fleet in 2017.

The two 787 Dreamliners (out of six) will be received in the fourth quarter of this year, and one of them will operate on the China route.

Though the cost of a single Air-bus aircraft is $130 million, the company continues to invest in the purchase of aircraft.

Meanwhile, in another major announcement the CEO said, that the total number of aircraft owned by Oman Air will reach 70 by 2020, Paul Gregorowitsch said.

These acquisitions will be in two categories. The first includes

25 wide-bodied aircraft while the second includes 25 single- aisle aircraft.

Gregorowitsch explained dur-ing a press conference along with Abdul Razzaq bin Juma Al Raisi, Oman Air’s chief commercial offic-er, that this will in turn raise Oman Air destinations to 75, while noting that flights to Dhaka in Bangladesh will be launched in July. By the end of this year more than 60 per cent of connecting flights will be through the Muscat International Airport in as little as two hours. He pointed to the serious negotia-tions in the offing related to avia-tion rights, and also expressed the likelihood of the number of flights to London increasing to two by the end of this year.

Gregorowitsch said that the fi-nancial support provided by the Government of the Sultanate to the company has contributed to the new contract deals but this support will decrease gradually up to 2017 when the company will break even and start to earn profits.

Al Raisi said that the Muscat to Singapore route carrying the num-ber 48 confirms the strength of the diplomatic relations between the Sultanate and Singapore that extends for more than 30 years. A celebration is to be held in Muscat

to mark the occasion, he added. On the feasibility of the Muscat -

Sohar route, Al Raisi said that this route would turn profitable in the future. He said that the company is also currently waiting for some additional landing rights in India and neighbouring countries and expressed the hope that interna-tional routes would be operated from Sohar airport, while point-ing out that Oman Air has signed several contracts with companies located in Sohar.

While stating that by the end of 2015 the number of stations would be 51, he confirmed that there are no plans to open new European stations, but there could be an in-crease in the number of flights to existing stations.

Sayyid Taimour’s meeting Meanwhile, His Highness Sayyid Taimour bin Asa’ad Al-Said, re-ceived Lim Heng Kiang, Minis-ter of Trade and Industry in the Republic of Singapore, on the sidelines of launching ceremony. Sayyid Taimour also discussed investment opportunities and sustainable development. The meeting was attended by Zakaria bin Hamad Al Sa’adi, Sultanate’s Consul General in the Republic of Singapore.–ONA

Oman Air’s flights

to Dhaka will be

launched in July and

a direct route to China

will be launched in

the last quarter of

2015. Also on the

anvil is the opening

of a station in

Korea in 2016

New corporate association

They also proposed non-inter-ference by external actors in the internal affairs of the com-panies, holding of performance evaluations, and co-operating with specialised international offices to relieve pressure on the two ministries.

The industrialists expressed their interest in forming their own association as the Oman Chamber of Commerce and In-dustry could not solve all the problems at once.

This association will review all the laws and regulations govern-ing the economy in general and find solutions to the challenges facing the economic sectors in the Sultanate.

The industrialists also sug-gested that special advantages with issues related to accelera-tion of procedures by ministries be offered to companies and fac-tories that are committed to the Omanisation rates. During the meeting, Al Sunaidy mentioned that through his recent meetings with Omani industrialists and businessmen, a variety of issues and obstacles related to man-power in the Omani companies and factories were raised.

The minister stressed that the meeting confirmed the close and constant co-operation be-tween the ministry and the private sector.

“The major challenges cur-rently faced by the industrial sector are related to the Omani-sation policy, which was devel-oped by the government based on economic and social considera-tions,” said Al Bakri, and added that industrialists emphasised that the current stage requires developing and strengthen-ing confidence and trust be-tween business owners and the Ministry of Manpower in rela-tion to the required number of workers per firm.

Al Sunaidy also said there were looking to develop a mechanism to regulate the system of vaca-tions and holidays particularly in factories which produce daily consumer materials.

In line with the efforts un-dertaken by the government to maintain communication chan-nels with the industrialists in the Sultanate, the meeting was attended by Ahmed bin Hassan Al Dheeb, undersecretary of the Commerce and Industry Minis-try, Hamad bin Khamis Al Amri, undersecretary of Ministry of Manpower, and Hilal bin Hamad Al Hasani, CEO of Public Estab-lishment for Industrial Estates. Officials from the two ministries, the Oman Chamber of Com-merce and Industry, and director generals of the industrial estates also attended the meeting.

O M A N I S A T I O N

< FROM

A1 HM receives more greetings

Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani, Deputy Emir of Qatar and Sheikh Abdullah bin Nas-sir bin Khalifa Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Inte-rior of Qatar, also greeted His Majesty the Sultan on his re-turn. In their cables, they ex-pressed their sincere greetings and best wishes of good health, wellbeing and a long life to His Majesty, the Sultanate and Omani people further progress, prosperity and welfare under His Majesty’s wise leadership.

In his cable, President Omar Hassan Ahmed Al Bashir of the Republic of Sudan expressed his sincere greetings on this happy occasion, praying to Allah the Almighty to grant His Majesty the Sultan good health, wellbe-ing, a long life and success to continue his blessed march and comprehensive renaissance in leading his people towards further progress, welfare and prosperity.

In his wishes, President Ismail Omar Guelleh of the Republic of Djibouti prayed to Allah the Almighty to per-petuate good health, happiness and a long life on His Majesty the Sultan.–ONA

C A B L E S

The reason for this accident that occurred last April was wrong overtaking.

Another nine people were killed in a collision accident that occurred last December in the wilayat of Ibra due to fatigue.

Rustaq road accident that oc-curred due to collision with a stationary object claimed eight lives in March 2014, thus be-coming the third most fatal.

Males accounted for 82 per cent of the total fatalities with 671 deaths, while 2,964 males were injured, accounting for 77 per cent of the total injuries, in road accidents.

At the same time, 145 females were killed in the road accidents while 871 were injured in 2014.

More Omanis were killed than people of other nationalities; 535 Omanis died compared to 249 deaths of people from other nationalities.

Of the dead, 16 were Arabs and there were as many GCC nation-als. A total of 78,819 new driving licences were issued in 2014, while the total number of valid driving licenses issued stood at 1,242,721 in 2014.

A total of 4,654 vehicles were written off in 2014 due to the ac-cidents in 2014, their value ap-praised at OMR9,134,095.

The total length of the road network is 62,987 km.

Of those, 31,365 km comprises tarmac road, while 31,622 km of road length is paved.

In total, 816 people died and 3,835 were injured in 6,717 road accidents in 2014, while 913 people died and 10,802 were injured in 7,829 road accidents in 2013.

“The traffic awareness bore good results in reducing road ac-cidents in other governorates”, said Al Wahibi.

R O A D A C C I D E N T S

Yemen crisis

Another Yemeni, Ahmed, who is working at a restaurant, shared Abdulkarim’s concern. “I came here to work to meet my family’s daily needs. However, now I do not know what has happened to them,” he said.

“I am not able to get in touch with them,” said Ahmed, who has a wife and two children back home. Missing his family a lot, Ahmed said that he now regret-ted the decision to leave them behind in Yemen. “I will think a million times in future before leaving my lovely family alone again,” said Ahmed, while pray-ing that nothing bad would have happened to them.

Meanwhile, expatriates who are waiting to be evacuated said that the condition in Yemen is worsening. “We have returned to Sanaa, but the situation is deteriorating, and we are very scared. The bombings which started on Sunday night contin-ued till 6am on Monday. Later on, at around 10am, we heard two bomb blasts near the air-port,” Shibin Daniel Mony, an Indian male nurse at a hospital in Yemen, said.

E X P A T R I A T E ’ S W O E S

< FROM

A1

< FROM

A1

In total, 816 people died and 3,835 were injured in 6,717 road accidents in 2014, while 913 people died and 10,802 were injured in 7,829 road accidents in 2013. Males accounted for 82% of the fatalities

< FROM

A1

GLOBAL AVIATION: His Highness Sayyid Taimour bin Asa’ad Al-

Said receiving a momento on the sidelines of station launching

ceremony in Singapore on Monday.–ONA

Oman Air plans to exchange some of the ATR and

Embraer aircrafts in its fleet with Boeing 737s in

an attempt to reduce the diversity and expenses

Paul Gregorowitsch, CEO of Oman Air

Fatal Fridays trigger alarm

A7

REGIONT U E S DAY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5

Ban Ki-moon urges more aid for displaced Iraqis

BAGHDAD: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called in Baghdad on Monday for Iraq and the international com-munity to increase assistance for over 2.5 million people displaced by violence in the country.

Ban met Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi as well as President Fuad Masum, Foreign Minister Ibra-him Al Jaafari and parliament speaker Salim Al Juburi during

his visit, and also addressed the Iraqi parliament. Iraqi forces are battling to retake the city of Tikrit, the government’s largest military operation yet against the I mili-tant group, which led an offensive that overran much of the coun-try’s heartland last year. The con-flict has forced a huge number of Iraqis to flee their homes, and Ban said that “additional resources are urgently needed to save lives”.

“I call on the government of Iraq and the international community

to enhance support to Iraq’s dis-placed and to help alleviate the suffering of all the Iraqi people,” Ban said, according to a transcript of his remarks.

He also expressed concerns over “allegations of summary kill-ings, abductions and destruction of property perpetrated by forces and militias fighting alongside Iraqi armed forces”.

“Civilians freed from the bru-tality of IS group should not have to then fear their liberators,” he

said, using an Arabic acronym for IS. Baghdad turned to militias to shore up its security forces, which were swept aside by the IS-led drive last June.

These forces have played a ma-jor role in Iraqi operations that have pushed IS back, but have also been accused of carrying out sum-mary executions and kidnappings of members of Iraq’s minority community.

They have also been accused of confiscating or destroying minor-ity community’s property.

Iraq must “bring volunteer armed groups fighting in support of the government under govern-ment control”, said Ban.

Abadi said that “strict orders” had been issued against commit-ting human rights abuses, and pointed to “the absence of reports of this type”, his office said.

Abadi also dismissed reports of earlier violations by pro-govern-ment forces as actually being the work of IS, despite the existence of strong evidence that militia-men have killed, looted and de-stroyed property on multiple oc-casions. — AFP

The conflict with

IS militant group

has forced a huge

number of Iraqis to

flee their homes, and

the UN chief pointed

out that additional

resources were

urgently needed

to save lives

UN warns of ‘catastrophe’ in Syria as NGOs pledge more fundsKUWAIT CITY: A UN envoy warned on Monday of a “horrify-ing” humanitarian situation brew-ing in Syria as non-governmental organisations pledged more than $500 million for refugees on the eve of a major donor conference.

The United Nations has launched an appeal to raise $8.4 billion for Syria this year and hopes to receive major pledges at the donor meeting on Tuesday in Kuwait.

“Failing to meet the required funds risks resulting in a horrify-ing and dangerous humanitarian catastrophe,” Abdullah Al Maatuq, UN special envoy for humanitar-ian affairs, told a meeting of NGOs.

Among the aid groups which gathered on Monday, Turkey’s IHH Humanitarian Relief Foun-dation made the largest pledge of $100 million.

Other donors included Qatar’s Red Crescent Society and Kuwait’s International Islamic Charity Or-ganisation (ICO).

UN humanitarian affairs chief Valerie Amos said the donor re-sponse at Tuesday’s conference

“needs to be comprehensive”.She said the humanitarian situ-

ation had deteriorated in Syria with no reduction in violence and children particularly affected.

The aid is urgently required to provide life-saving assistance to half of Syria’s population as sever-al UN aid agencies have said they remain underfunded and warned they could halt or downsize their operations.

Opening ceremonyThe Third International Humani-tarian Pledging Conference will be chaired by UN Secretary Gen-eral Ban Ki-moon and opened by Kuwait’s Emir His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah.

At the first and second confer-ences, also hosted by Kuwait, pledges of $1.5 billion and $2.4 billion were made. However, the United Nations has complained that not all pledges were honoured.

In a report on the worsening hu-manitarian crisis in Syria released last week, Ban said devastation from the fighting had left around

7.6 million people internally dis-placed. Another 3.9 million have sought refuge in neighbouring countries. “Every day brings more death, displacement and destruc-

tion,” the UN report said.With the conflict now in its fifth

year, almost half of all Syrians have been forced to flee their homes, the UN Office for the Coordination

of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. Of the $8.4 billion needed, $5.5 billion is for refugees in neigh-bouring nations and $2.9 billion for people inside Syria, it said.

“We don’t have a specific target (for Tuesday’s conference). We hope donors will pledge gener-ously like they have in the previous two conferences,” OCHA spokes-man Jens Laerke said.

“We aim to raise the $8.4 billion throughout the year and the Ku-wait pledging conference will be an important step.”

CriticisedInternational aid agency Oxfam on Monday criticised the interna-tional response to the Syria crisis, saying the funds were woefully in-adequate.

“Wealthy countries meeting on Tuesday in Kuwait to pledge aid have a chance to turn this around, but they must dig deeper than last year. Failure to do so will have a devastating effect on millions of civilians in Syria and its neigh-bouring countries,” Oxfam said.

It said less than 10 per cent of European nations have pledged their “fair share” so far in 2015 based on the size of their econo-mies, and overall appeals are only 9.8 per cent funded. — AFP

A P P E A L

I call on the government of Iraq and the international

community to enhance support to Iraq’s displaced and

to help alleviate the suffering of all the Iraqi people

Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary General

DONORS MEET: UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordi-

nator Valerie Amos, right, attends a donor conference alongside Abdullah Matouq, second right, UN

Special humanitarian envoy to the Gulf, Chairman of the International Islamic charitable organisation

(IICO), Advisor of Diwan Al Amiri, during the Third Conference of Non-Governmental Organisations

(NGOs) Donors to Syrian People in Kuwait city on Monday. – AFP

WARM WELCOME: Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi, right,

with Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, in the

Iraqi capital Baghdad on Monday. – AFP/HO/Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office


ARTICLE, PHOTOSW W W.T I M E S O F O M A N . C O M

A8

INDIAT U E S DAY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5

Seven die, 10 missing as J&K in flood’s grip again

SRINAGAR/JAMMU: Seven months after witnessing the un-precedented floods, Jammu and Kashmir was again in the grip of panic on Monday as several areas of the Valley and parts of Jammu were in deluge leading to death of seven people, including a child, and fears over the fate of 10 others.

Process to evacuate affected people was underway as eight teams of National Disaster Re-sponse Force (NDRF) were rushed to Kashmir.

Immediate reliefArmed forces, along with four helicopters, have been placed in readiness for deployment at short notice after local authori-ties declared a flood situation in the Valley.

Promising all help, the central government granted Rs2 bil-lion as immediate relief as Prime Minister Narendra Modi rushed minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi to Kashmir for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation and coordinate with state authorities with regard to the requirements.

While making the announce-ment about Centre’s grant, Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed said in the Assembly that the state govern-ment has sanctioned Rs250 mil-lion for Kashmir and Rs100 mil-lion for Jammu region which also has been affected by flood.

Police said six people have died while 10 others are believed to be trapped under the debris after a landslide brought down four houses in Indian-administered- Kashmir’s Budgam district.

The deceased include four women, a man and a child, a police official said, adding efforts are on to identify them.

Search is going on for 10 others believed to be trapped in the de-bris of the fallen houses.

Sayeed said there was an “un-fortunate” death in Udhampur and there have been some flash floods in Jammu as well.

Due to heavy rains over the past 36 hours, river Jhelum was flow-ing above the danger mark at sev-eral places including Sangam in Anantnag district and Ram Mun-shi Bagh in the city.

Flood water entered several low-lying areas of Kashmir, in-cluding capital Srinagar, lead-ing to panic among the locals for whom memories of the devas-tating deluge only seven months back are fresh in mind.

Over 280 people had died and tens of thousands left homeless and property worth hundreds of crores damaged in unprecedented

floods in the state in September last year.

Incessant rains over the past 36 hours in Kashmir has caused landslides at many places while people from many areas vulner-able to floods have been evacuated to safer places.

More than 320 families have been moved to safer places in Kashmir valley as water level in river Jhelum was still above the flood level. More than 200 struc-tures including 176 houses have developed cracks due to land sink-ing in Shopian district of south Kashmir, it said.

Stranded passengersMeanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir government is making serious efforts for early airlifting of pas-sengers stranded here following closure of Jammu-Srinagar Na-tional Highway, state minister Ab-dul Ghani Kohli said on Monday.

The government is making se-rious efforts for early airlifting of passengers stranded in Jammu following closure of Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, the Minister of State for Transport (independent charge), Rural De-velopment and Horticulture told reporters.

It was informed that at present there are about 2,000 stranded passengers at GB Jammu and they are being provided free meals by the district administration. - PTI

Armed forces, along

with four helicopters,

have been placed

in readiness for

deployment at short

notice after local

authorities declared

a flood situation

in the Valley

App-based membership drive launched by CongressNEW DELHI: With an aim of ex-panding the party’s base, Congress on Monday launched an online and application-based member-ship drive.

Former prime minister Manmo-han Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur launched the application at their residence in the presence of AICC spokesperson P C Chacko and DPCC chief Ajay Maken.

“Any person wanting to be a part of Congress can now apply through their smart phones.

“There is also an option in the application to take a selfie from his or her phone and submit it through online.

“It will very useful, especially for youths who are Internet savvy,” Maken told reporters here.

Maken said through this appli-cation, which is both android and I phone-based, anybody from any part of the country can become a member of Indian National Con-gress. This is a new way of becom-ing a Congress member and the party has added three others ways of joining it, he said.

“There are four ways of becom-ing members of the Congress. One way is to enter the website -www.inc.in and fill up the form and ap-ply for membership.

“The second way is to download the form, getting it photostated and distributing it among others and then sending it to DCC or PCC.

“And, the third way is android and I-phone-based application through which Manmohan Singh and his wife have today become members of the party,” Maken said. - PTI

N O V E L W A Y

Modi seeks Saudi help for evacuation of Indians

NEW DELHI: Concerned over the safety of 4,000 Indians in strife-torn Yemen, Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi on Monday sought the help of Saudi Arabia as he held a telephonic conversa-tion with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

The Saudi king called up Prime Minister Modi who during the conversation briefed him on In-dia’s evacuation plan.

The prime minister sought Saudi Arabia’s support and coop-eration in the evacuation.

Recalling the “strong and close” relations between both the nations, the Saudi King assured Modi of his full attention to the safety of Indians in Yemen and all possible assistance for their early and safe evacuation.

Expressing gratitude“Prime minister shared his deep concern about the safety and wel-fare of the approximately 4,000 Indian citizens in Yemen,” a PMO statement said.

The Prime Minister expressed his gratitude to the Saudi King

and conveyed his best wishes to him for a quick resolution of the challenges in the region and early restoration of peace and stability under his leadership.

He also reaffirmed his com-mitment to further strengthen-ing India’s close relations with Saudi Arabia.

In a related development, con-cerned over the safety of Indians in strife-torn Yemen, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj held an inter-ministerial meet-

ing during which it was decided to evacuate at least 400 nationals from Aden by sea routes on Mon-day night.

With government’s plans to airlift the stranded Indians not materialising in view of attack on the Yemen airport late last night, the sea route option was explored and it was decided that a local ship with the capacity of ferry-ing 400 passengers will be used to transfer all the Indians in Aden to Djibouti, where they will reach

on Tuesday morning. There are about 300 to 400 Indians in Aden.

In Djibouti, the Indian nation-als will be assisted by senior diplomats and their return to In-dia will be on two large military transport C-17 Globemaster air-craft. Announcing government’s decision, the Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry, Syed Akbaruddin, said that Minister of State for External Affairs V. K. Singh will leave for Djibouti on Tuesday to supervise the evacua-tion efforts.

Meanwhile, 80 Indians who had left from Yemen on Satur-day for Djibouti, have returned to their respective states.

The meeting, which was at-tended by the Air Chief and senior officials of the Defence and Shipping ministries as well as aviation, also decided to utilise overseas Indians wel-fare funds in the region for the evacuation efforts.

Asked if the Indian embassy would be shut as was done by many countries, he said as long as “our nationals need assistance, the mission will be there”. - PTI

Y E M E N

India, Japan vow to build strong

relationship in defence, security

NEW DELHI: India and Ja-pan on Monday agreed to build a strong relationship in defence and security as Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar held talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo.

Highlighting that Japan is the first country he is visiting since assumption of office, he said this clearly conveys the importance India attaches to strengthening bilateral defence and security co-operation.

He said that he would like to see a strong partnership with Japan in defence equipment and tech-nology. The Japanese prime min-ister said that he wants to build a strong relationship with India not only in economic field but also in defence and security field.

PartnershipHe said that a strong India-Japan partnership is not only in the na-tional interest of the two coun-tries but is also important for peace and security in the region, an official statement by the min-istry here said.

Parrikar, who is on a four-day visit to Japan, also held talks with his Japanese counterpart Gen Nakatani and both chaired the Defence Ministerial Meeting.

The two ministers briefed each other on the security environ-ment surrounding each coun-try and their respective defence policies. They reviewed stra-tegic developments relating to

international security situation with emphasis on the inter-con-nected Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions.

“They were of the view that in the inter-connected Indo-Pacific region, India-Japan Special Stra-tegic and Global Partnership has a key role in maintaining peace and stability in the region,” the state-ment said. -PTI

B I L A T E R A L T I E S

WARM GREETINGS: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a meeting in Tokyo on

Monday. Parrikar is on a four-day visit to Japan to strengthen the

mutual defence cooperation. -PTI

NATURE’S FURY: An ailing woman is carried on a wooden plank to a safer place from her partially

submerged house after incessant rains in Srinagar on Monday. Due to heavy rains over the past

36 hours, river Jhelum was flowing above the danger mark at several places including Sangam in

Anantnag district and Ram Munshi Bagh in the city. - Reuters

SCAN THIS TO VISIT

PHOTO GALLERYARTICLE, VIDEO,

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

RESCUE EFFORTS: Passenger ship MV Kavaratti leaves from

Cochin Port on Monday for Djibouti Port to evacuate Indians

stranded in conflict-hit Yemen. - PTI

A9

INDIAT U E S DAY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5

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Isro successfully completes navigation satellite orbit raising operationCHENNAI: The orbit raising op-eration of latest navigation satel-lite IRNSS-1D has been completed and it was placed in the intended orbit “successfully”, Indian Space Research Organisation(Isro) said on Monday.

“First orbit raising operation of IRNSS-1D is successfully com-pleted by firing the Apogee motor at 17.28 hours on March 29, 2015,”

Isro said on its website. Isro suc-cessfully launched the IRNSS-1D, the fourth in the series of seven navigation satellites on board its workhorse PSLV-C27 from the spaceport of Sriharikota near here on Saturday.

IRNSS-1D, which will provide navigation, tracking and mapping service and has a mission life of 10 years, is the fourth in the constel-

lation of seven satellites, which would be on par with US-based GPS once the full complement of spacecrafts are launched.

While four satellites would be sufficient to start operations of the IRNSS system, the remaining three would make it more accurate and efficient. Isro has planned to launch the remaining three navi-gation satellites IRNSS-1E, 1F and

1G before the end of the next fi-nancial year. However, while other systems are global, the Indian sys-tem is regional in nature.

Nevertheless, Isro officials claim that India can replace the US GPS with the Indian system when full fledged operations begin.

The fully operational system is expected to provide accurate posi-tion information service to users

across the country and the region, extending up to an area of 1,500km. While Isro is silent on the naviga-tion systems strategic application, it is clear that IRNSS will be used for defence purposes as well. Each satellite costs around Rs150 crore and the PSLV-XL version rocket costs around Rs130 crore. The sev-en rockets would involve an outlay of around Rs910 crore. -Agencies

I R N S S - 1 D

Malviya conferred with Bharat Ratna award

NEW DELHI: Freedom fighter and the founder of Banaras Hindu University, Pandit Madan Mo-han Malviya, was on Monday posthumously conferred with the Bharat Ratna, India’s high-est civilian award, by President Pranab Mukherjee in a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan here.

Named for the honour 68 years after his death, it was the mem-bers of Malviya’s family, including granddaughters Hem Sharma and Saraswati Sharma and grandsons Premdhar Malviya and Girdhar Malviya, who received the award

in the Darbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan at a cermony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vice President Hamid Ansari, among others.

FelicitationExternal Affairs Minister Su-shma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Min-

ister Arun Jaitley, too, were in at-tendance along with other senior Cabinet ministers.

However, no Congress leaders, including former prime minister Manmohan Singh, were spotted at the function even though govern-ment sources said that, as per the protocol, all former prime minis-ters are invited for the function.

The president also bestowed the highest Padma award, the Padma Vibhushan, on BJP stal-wart L.K. Advani, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Sanskrit grammar expert, Jagadg-uru Swami Rambhadracharya.

EducationistKnown for his espousal of Hindu nationalism, Malviya, an educa-tionist, was behind the establish-ment of the Banaras Hindu Uni-versity and was also the initial founders of right-wing organisa-tion, Hindu Mahasabha.

Prominent Padma Bhushan awardees included noted lawyer Harish Salve, journalists Swa-pan Dasgupta and Rajat Sharma and 98-year old Saichiro Misumi — a proponent of Indo-Japa-nese friendship who had sup-ported Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose during his visit to Japan in June, 1943.

Padma AwardsOf the 109 Padma Awards an-nounced this year, 43 were con-ferred on Monday while six awar-dees did not attend the function.

The remaining 60 Padma awards will be given next month with the tentative date for the ceremony being April 8, the sources said. -PTI

The freedom fighter

and the founder of

the famous Banaras

Hindu University

was named for the

country’s highest

civilian honour 68

years after his death

LIGHTNING KILLS FIVE IN BIHARVehicles ply at a slow pace during heavy rains in Patna on Monday. At least five people,

including two children and a woman, were killed on Monday when they were struck by

lightning in two separate incidents in Bihar, officials said. - PTI

Salman’s driver tells court he not actor was driving the carMUMBAI: Ashok Singh, the fam-ily driver of Bollywood star Sal-man Khan, on Monday told the sessions court here that it was he and not the actor who was driv-ing at the time of the 2002 hit-and-run accident in which one person was killed and four others were injured.

Salman, charged by the police with ramming his Landcruiser into a bakery in suburban Bandra in a drunk state on September 28, 2002, had told the court last week that Singh was driving the car.

It was the first time he made this disclosure.

Ashok Singh (42), who on Mon-day appeared as a defence wit-ness, corroborated Salman’s ver-sion completely.

His versionDescribing how the accident took place, Singh said: “A tyre burst and the car was dragged to the left....I tried to turn the steer-ing wheel but it was hard, then I tried to apply brakes but by then the car had climbed the stairs of

bakery. “I was in a state of shock and Salman was sitting on the left side. He tried to open the door but it got jammed. He got down from my side which was on the right,” said Singh, replying to ques-tions asked by Salman’s lawyer Shrikant Shivade.

Altaf, another driver who worked for Salman, had called him on phone at 1.30am that day, asking him to pick up the actor at

the J. W. Marriot hotel because he (Salman) was not well. Singh said he reached the hotel in auto-rick-shaw, and saw the actor sitting on the driver’s side with engine run-ning and air-conditioning on.

As Altaf had left, Singh got into the driver’s seat; Salman sat on his left and his friend Kamal Khan and constable Ravindra Patil, the actor’s police bodyguard, sat be-hind, he said. - PTI

2 0 0 2 H I T - A N D - R U N C A S E

FOURTH IN SERIES: Isro’s navi-

gation satellite IRNSS-1D was

launched on Saturday. -PTI

CONFESSION: Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s driver Ashok

Singh arrives at session court in Mumbai on Monday in the

2002 hit-and-run accident. - PTI

HIGHEST HONOUR: Family members of Pandit Madan Mohan

Malaviya receive the Bharat Ratna (posthumous) from President

Pranab Mukherjee during Padma Awards 2015 function at Rash-

trapati Bhavan, in New Delhi on Monday. - PTI

A10

PAKISTAN T U E S DAY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5

Pakistan is set to join anti-Houthi coalition

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will send troops to Saudi Arabia to join the coalition fighting Yemeni Houthi rebels, a senior govern-ment official said on Monday, joining several Gulf states, Sudan, Egypt and Morocco.

Pakistan would join a Saudi-led military coalition conducting air strikes against Houthi forces.

The air strikes are targeting the rebels’ southward advance on the port city of Aden, the last bastion of Saudi-backed president, Abe-drabbu Mansour Hadi.

“We have already pledged full support to Saudi Arabia in its op-eration against rebels and will join the coalition,” the Pakistani official said.

A Pakistani team, to be led by Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz, had been due to arrive in Saudi Arabia on Monday but de-layed the trip at the request of the Saudis, the official told Reuters.

On Monday night, Aziz and Asif met with Pakistan’s mili-tary chiefs and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

“Pakistan remains firmly com-mitted to supporting the sover-eignty and territorial integrity of Saudi Arabia in accordance with the aspirations of the people of Pakistan,” a statement from Sha-rif ’s media office said.

“Pakistan stands committed to playing a meaningful role in ar-resting the deteriorating situation in the Middle East.”

There are already about 750-800 Pakistani servicemen in Saudi Arabia but none are combat troops. Pakistan has already had small demonstrations both for and against military intervention.

DemonstrationsRight-wing religious groups dem-onstrated last week vowing to de-fend Saudi Arabia.

But some civil society groups and opposition politicians spoke

against intervention, on the view that it could further inflame sec-tarian tensions at home.

Sharif has long enjoyed close relations with the Saudi royal

family. After his second term as prime minister was ended by a military coup in 1999, he was sent into exile in Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, 500 Pakistanis

were evacuated from Yemen by a jumbo jet and sent a naval frigate to rescue others stranded in the war-torn country, officials said.

Shujaat Azeem, aviation advi-sor to the prime minister, said the PIA flight carrying 503 passen-gers from Hodeidah had arrived in Karachi.

Jubilant passengersLive television footage showed the jubilant passengers being of-fered rose garlands and bunting of the Pakistani white and green flag as they emerged from the ar-rivals lounge of Jinnah Interna-tional Airport.

Many people cried when they hugged each other and relatives of some passengers distributed sweets to those who had gathered to welcome the evacuees.

Passengers said they were happy to be home and thanked the government amid slogans of “Long live Pakistan”, “Long live prime minister” and “Long live PIA.”

Foreign ministry spokeswom-an Tasnim Aslam said there were still up to 250 Pakistanis in the port town of Mukalla, which was peaceful, with officials trying to ascertain how many want to be evacuated from nearby Riyan airport. — Agencies

See also >A14

Pakistan has already

pledged full support

to Saudi Arabia in

its operation against

rebels and will join

the coalition, a senior

government official

said on Monday

BACK HOME: A Pakistani family evacuated from Yemen, is greeted by relatives on their arrival in Jin-nah International Airport in Karachi on Monday. — AFP

SUPPORT FOR COALITION: Pakistani activists march in support of the Saudi government at a protest in Quetta on Monday. — AFP

NO TO WAR: Activists protest against the war in Yemen at a rally in Islamabad on Monday. — AFP

70 schools face action for failing to tighten securityPESHAWAR: A northwestern Pakistani province is taking crimi-nal action against 70 schools that have failed to tighten security with measures such as installing barbed wire following a December high school attack that killed 132 chil-dren. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa made it compulsory for all schools to hire armed guards, raise the height of boundary walls with barbed wire and install closed-circuit televison.

Pakistan is in mourning after December’s attack on the army-run high school in the northwest-ern city of Peshawar.

Six gunmen believed linked to the Pakistani Taliban killed 153 people in all. The 70 schools taken to task are in Kohat, south of Peshawar, which Khyber Pakh-tunkhwa Education Minister Mo-hammad Atif Khan described as “dangerous”. Khan told officials to

hold meetings with school officials before taking action, he said.

Deadline extended“We extended the deadline sev-eral times to enable the owners and principals to make security arrangements, but finally we de-cided to take action in those areas whose security risk level is very high, such as Kohat,” the minister told Reuters.

The province enforced the se-curity measures even though the school targeted on December 16 also had CCTV and security guards, which did not help stop the bloodshed.

When asked if the cost of the measures might be a reason for non-compliance, Khan said any-one who ran a school had the re-sponsibility to protect the chil-dren. — Reuters

P E S H A W A R A T T A C K F A L L O U T



18 Indian fishermen arrestedKARACHI: Pakistani authori-ties have arrested 18 Indian fishermen and seized their three boats for allegedly violating the country’s territorial waters.

The fishermen were arrested by Pakistan’s Maritime Secu-rity (PMS) forces on Sunday night in the Arabian Sea off the Karachi coast, Geo News reported.

No official of the PMS was available to confirm the arrests.

Normally Indian fishermen arrested by the PMS are handed over to the Docks police after in-itial interrogation and then they are produced before a judicial magistrate.

Routine arrestsIndia and Pakistan routinely ar-rest fishermen on charges of en-tering each other’s waters as the maritime boundaries between the two countries were poorly defined and many fishing boats lack the technology to be certain of their precise location.

Many fishermen languish in jail for months even after com-pleting their prison terms.

Last month Pakistan released 172 Indian fishermen as a good-will gesture after Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi telephoned his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, informing him about Foreign Secretary S Jais-hankar’s visit to Pakistan. — PTI

T H R E E B O A T S S E I Z E D

We extended the deadline several times to enable the owners and principals to make security arrangements, but finally we decided to take action in those areas whose security risk level is very high, such as KohatMohammad Atif Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Education Minister

A11

WORLDT U E S DAY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5

Gloom sets in as Iran, major powers stick to their stands

LAUSANNE (SWITZER-LAND): Iran and major powers were struggling on Monday to reach a preliminary nuclear accord as “gloom” set in, with both sides sticking to their positions a day be-fore a self-imposed deadline.

For days Iran, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Rus-sia and China have been trying to break an impasse in negotiations aimed at stopping Tehran having the capacity to develop a nuclear bomb, in exchange for an easing of United Nations sanctions that are crippling its economy.

But officials at the talks in the Swiss city of Lausanne said at-tempts to reach a framework accord, which is intended as a

prelude to a comprehensive agree-ment by the end of June, could yet fall apart.

Negotiators from all parties appeared increasingly pessimis-tic. “If we don’t have some type of framework agreement now, it will be difficult to explain why we would be able to have one by June 30,” said a Western diplomat.

He said three major sticking points must be resolved if Iran and the six powers are to secure the deal before March 31, and it is unclear whether those gaps could be filled.

The diplomat said the most dif-ficult issues related to the dura-tion of any limits on Iranian ura-nium enrichment and research and development activities after an initial 10 years, the lifting of

the sanctions and the restoring of them in case of non-compliance by Iran. “It seems that we have an accord for the first 10 years, but with regard to the Iranians the question of what happens after is complicat-ed,” the official said on condition of anonymity, adding: “I can’t say what the final result will be.”

German Foreign Minis-ter Frank-Walter Steinmeier said there had been “some pro-gress and some setbacks in the last hours”.

Highlighting the general mood, a diplomat quoted by Chinese news agency Xinhua said the at-mosphere on Monday had turned from “optimism” to “gloom” among negotiators.

An adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

criticised the powers. “Our nego-tiating team are trustworthy and compassionate officials that are working hard, but they should be careful with the enemies’ decep-tive and skillful tactics,” the ad-viser, Ali Akbar Velayati, told Fars news agency.

In addition to US Secretary of State John Kerry, Iranian For-eign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Steinmeier, British For-eign Secretary Philip Hammond, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, China’s Wang Yi and Rus-sia’s Sergei Lavrov gathered at a 19th-century hotel overlooking Lake Geneva.

After the first meeting since November of all the ministers, Lavrov returned to Moscow for an engagement, though officials said he would return if there was something to announce. Western officials said the two sides had previously been closing in on a preliminary deal that could be summarised in a brief document which may or may not be released.

Officials said the talks were now likely to run until the deadline of midnight on Tuesday or beyond.

The six powers want more than a 10-year suspension of Iran’s most sensitive nuclear work. Tehran, which denies it is trying to develop a nuclear weapons ca-pability, demands a swift end to sanctions in exchange for limits on its atomic activities.

Both Iran and the six have floated compromise proposals but agreement has remained elusive.

One sticking point concerns Iran’s demand to continue with research into newer generations of advanced centrifuges. These

can purify uranium faster and in greater quantities than those it currently operates for use in nuclear power plants or - if very highly enriched - in weapons.

Another question involves the speed of removing the sanctions on Iran.

Progress, setbacksThere were several examples of progress and setbacks. West-ern officials said Iran suggested it would could keep fewer than 6,000 centrifuges in operation, down from its current figure of nearly 10,000, and ship most of its enriched uranium to Russia.

But Iranian negotiator Ab-bas Araqchi said dispatching stockpiles abroad “was not on Iran’s agenda”.

A senior US State Department official said there had been no decisions on stockpiles, though several officials made clear that the Iranians had given prelimi-nary consent to the idea before reversing their position. Still, ne-gotiators said stockpiles were not a dealbreaker.

It was not clear if the Iranian backtracking on certain proposals was a sign that Tehran might be getting cold feet.

On the issue of UN sanctions, officials expressed concerns that the five permanent veto-wield-ing members of the UN Security Council could object to plans to strip away some of the UN meas-ures in place since 2006, albeit for different reasons.

Britain, France and the United States want any removal of UN sanctions to be automatically re-versible. — Reuters

Officials at the talks

in the Swiss city

of Lausanne said

attempts to reach a

framework accord,

which is intended

as a prelude to a

comprehensive

agreement by the

end of June, could

yet fall apart

Emirates, Etihad introduce ‘rule of two’ after plane crashDUBAI: Leading carriers Emir-ates and Etihad Airways said on Monday that their cockpits will have two crew members in at all times under new procedures in-troduced in response to the Ger-manwings disaster.

Investigators believe co-pilot Andreas Lubitz locked his cap-tain out of the cockpit of Flight 4U 9525 and deliberately steered the

Airbus A320 into a French moun-tainside last week, killing all 150 people onboard.

“Although there is no interna-tional industry regulation that mandates this as a compulsory practice, Emirates has imple-mented a new operating policy where there would always be two crew members in the cockpit,” a spokesperson for the Dubai-based

carrier told AFP. “This is effective immediately.”

Tragic newsEtihad Airways made a similar an-nouncement, saying: “We have re-viewed our operating procedures and will continue to do so in the light of the disturbing and tragic news from France.

“With immediate effect Eti-

had Airways will ensure there are always two crew members in the flight deck at all times on all flights,” the Abu Dhabi carrier said.

The announcements by the two United Arab Emirates carri-ers follow similar moves by many European airlines to implement the so-called “rule of two”, which is already standard in the United States. — AFP

S E C U R I T Y M E A S U R E

Solar Impulse set to reach China from Myanmar

MANDALAY (MYANMAR): So-lar Impulse 2 took off from Myan-mar’s second biggest city of Man-dalay early Monday and headed for China’s Chongqing, the fifth flight of a landmark journey to circum-navigate the globe powered solely by the sun.

The single-seater aircraft’s team spent more than a week waiting in Mandalay for weather conditions to improve in southwestern China for what will be one of the most challenging legs of the round-the-world attempt so far.

Speaking on a live feed from mission control in Monaco, Prince Albert gave pilot Bertrand Piccard clearance for takeoff.

“Bertrand, from Albert, you are clear to proceed. Have a nice flight,” Prince Albert said.

Extreme cold in cockpit“Thank you very much my friend,” Piccard replied before taking off at around 3:35 am local time (2105 GMT Sunday) into the dark pre-dawn skies. Piccard, one of the two Swiss pilots of the solar-powered plane, will have to battle extreme cold of down to -20 degrees Cel-sius in the cockpit and the general unpredictabilities of flying above the mountainous Chinese prov-inces of Yunnan and Sichuan.

Flying at high altitude for most of the journey, Piccard will also need to use additional oxygen. — AFP

H I S T O R I C J O U R N E Y

ARDUOUS TASK: EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, left, and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif smile ahead of the opening of a plenary session on Iran nuclear talks in Laus-anne, Switzerland, on Monday. — AFP

Investigators believe co-pilot Andreas Lubitz locked his captain out of the cockpit of Flight 4U 9525 and deliberately steered the Airbus A320 into a French mountainside last week, killing all 150 people onboard



Our negotiating team are trustworthy and compassionate officials that are working hard, but they should be careful with the enemies’ deceptive and skillful tacticsAli Akbar Velayati, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

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T I M E S O F O M A NA12

Two impossible things hap-pened to the US economy over the course of the past year — or at least they were supposed to be impossible, according to the ideology that dominates half our political spectrum.

First, remember how Obamacare was supposed to be a gigantic job killer? Well, in the first year of the Affordable Care Act’s full implementation, the US economy as a whole added 3.3 million jobs — the biggest gain since the 1990s. Second, half a million of those jobs were added in Cali-fornia, which has taken the lead in job creation away from Texas.

Were President Obama’s policies the cause of national job growth? Did Jerry Brown — the tax-raising, Obamacare-embracing governor of California — engineer his state’s boom? No, and few liberals would claim otherwise. What we’ve been seeing at both the national and the state level is mainly a natural process of recovery as the economy finally starts to heal from the hous-ing and debt bubbles of the Bush years.

But recent job growth, nonetheless, has big po-litical implications — implications so disturbing to many on the right that they are in frantic de-nial, claiming that the recovery is somehow bo-gus. Why can’t they handle the good news? The answer actually comes on three levels: Obama Derangement Syndrome, or ODS; Reaganolatry; and the confidence con.

Not much need be said about ODS. It is, by now, a fixed idea on the right that this president is both evil and incompetent, that everything touched by the atheist Marxist Kenyan Demo-crat — mostly that last item — must go terribly wrong. When good news arrives about the budg-et, or the economy, or Obamacare — which is, by the way, rapidly reducing the number of unin-sured while costing much less than expected — it must be denied.

At a deeper level, modern conservative ideol-ogy utterly depends on the proposition that con-servatives, and only they, possess the secret key to prosperity. As a result, you often have politi-cians on the right making claims like this one, from Senator Rand Paul: “When is the last time in our country we created millions of jobs? It was under Ronald Reagan.”

Actually, if creating “millions of jobs” means adding two million or more jobs in a given year, we’ve done that 13 times since Reagan left of-fice: eight times under Bill Clinton, twice under George W. Bush, and three times, so far, under

Barack Obama. But who’s counting? Still, don’t liberals have similar delusions? Not really. The economy added 23 million jobs under Clinton, compared with 16 million under Reagan, but there’s nothing on the left comparable to the cult of the Blessed Ronald.

That’s because liberals don’t need to claim that their policies will produce spectacular growth. All they need to claim is feasibility: that we can do things like, say, guaranteeing health insur-ance to everyone without killing the economy.

Conservatives, on the other hand, want to block such things and, instead, to cut taxes on the rich and slash aid to the less fortunate. So they must claim both that liberal policies are job killers and that being nice to the rich is a magic elixir. Which brings us to the last point: the con-fidence issue.

One enduring puzzle of political economy is why business interests so often oppose policies to fight unemployment. After all, boosting the economy with expansionary monetary and fis-cal policy is good for profits as well as wages, yet many wealthy individuals and business leaders demand tight money and austerity instead.

As a number of observers have pointed out, however, for big businesses to admit that gov-ernment policies can create jobs would be to devalue one of their favourite political argu-ments — the claim that to achieve prosperity politicians must preserve business confidence, among other things, by refraining from any criti-cism of what businesspeople do.

In the case of the Obama economy, this kind of thinking led to what I like to call the “Ma! He’s looking at me funny!” theory of sluggish recov-ery. By this I mean the insistence that recovery wasn’t being held back by objective factors like spending cuts and debt overhang, but rather by the corporate elite’s hurt feelings after Obama suggested that some bankers behaved badly and some executives might be overpaid.

Who knew that moguls and tycoons were such sensitive souls? In any case, however, that theo-ry is unsustainable in the face of a recovery that has finally started to deliver big job gains, even if it should have happened sooner.

So, as I said at the beginning, the fact that we’re now seeing mornings in blue America — solid job growth both at the national level and in states that have defied the right’s tax-cutting, de-regulatory orthodoxy — is a big problem for con-servatives. Although they would never admit it, events have proved their most cherished beliefs wrong. - The New York Times News Service

Were President Obama’s policies the cause of national job growth? Did Jerry Brown — the tax-raising, Obamacare-embracing governor of California — engineer his state’s boom? No, and few liberals would claim otherwise

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 ([email protected])

Political drama never seems to cease in our country. The latest episode has come with the leaked telephonic conversation in which PTI Chairman Imran Khan is apparently heard telling

another party leader that the 2014 storming of the PTV headquar-ters by protestors during the party’s sit-in in Islamabad last year was “good” and something that the prime minister “deserved”. There is firstly a need to verify if the audio tape is a doctored or a genuine one. The PTI has, so far, not refuted the veracity of the audio tape. The tone, content and language used in this conversation is quite obviously un-fortunate. No political leader should be condoning acts of hooligan-ism. But beyond this, other issues arise. The invasion of privacy is un-fortunate. No one should have the right to tap into the conversations of citizens, all the more so when they are political leaders, and use these against them. We need to know who recorded the conversation and what their purpose was.

The government needs to play a part in this. After all, it could be-come a victim of similar tactics itself. In the past, there have been reports of certain quarters being engaged in such activities, which are essentially both illegal and unethical. We need then to get to the bottom of who was involved this time and put in place measures to prevent this in the future. The timing of the leak, many months after the casual dialogue took place, is also significant. Why was this con-versation made public now? Is there some plan we are not aware of behind the action? The video confession of Saulat Mirza implicating the MQM could be seen in a similar vein. Certainly, we need to know more why such videos and audios are being released at this point in time and what more could be expected in the future.

Such underhand tactics should not be acceptable. An investiga-tion is required not only into this but into other incidents where the abuse of technology is used to spy on politicians and the information thus gathered used against them. Action in this regard must be taken promptly. - The Express Tribune

Tapped conversations

There is a lot we still don’t know about the tragic crash of the Germanwings plane in France. But what we do know suggests that airlines can take steps to reduce the risk of pilots deliber-

ately or inadvertently crashing a plane. Based on recordings recovered by investigators, officials have said a co-pilot on the flight from Bar-celona, Spain, to Düsseldorf, Germany, initiated the plane’s descent when he was alone in the cockpit and then failed to open the door for the captain, who had stepped outside. The captain could be heard on the recording trying to get back in. French investigators believe the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, was conscious, but we may never know for sure. We do know that things might have turned out differently had there been another person in the cockpit. The chief executive of Luf-thansa, which owns Germanwings, said on Thursday that European regulators do not require two people to be in the cockpit at all times.

By contrast, two people are required to be in the cockpit on United States airlines, according to the Federal Aviation Administration and an industry association. If one pilot has to go outside for any reason, flight attendants or off-duty pilots flying on the plane can step in. Such a policy makes sense and all airlines should adopt it. In an emergency, a flight attendant could try to open the door or call the other pilot back. Their presence would be useful not just in cases of deliberate sabotage but also if the pilot at the controls was incapacitated, by a heart attack, for example. After the 9/11 attacks, lawmakers and regulators did the right thing by requiring airlines to increase the security of cockpits with armoured doors. That decision seems to have made it harder for the captain of the Germanwings plane to get back into the cockpit. On Thursday, several airlines, including Norwegian Air Shuttle, said they would require at least two people to be in the cockpit during their flights. Air travel over all remains incredibly safe, and the incidence of pilots using planes to commit suicide and kill passengers is exceed-ingly rare. In a study published last year, the FAA identified eight such cases from 2003 to 2012, but all involved small private planes, not commercial jets operated by airlines, and in only one case did the pilot have a passenger on board.

No safety policy will ever anticipate every situation. But requiring two people to be in the cockpit during flight is a sensible step to re-duce the risk that comes with leaving the lives of dozens or hundreds of people in the hands of just one pilot. - The New York Times News Service

Reducing risks after the Germanwings crash

The remedy is to fix the maximum speed limitThis refers to the news story, Road deaths drop but toll still runs to 15 per week (March 30). Speeding is the primary reason for accidents in Oman. No car should have a maximum speed limit of more than 210-km per hour. The remedy lies in fixing the maximum speed limit which will help curb the high rate of accidents here. Motorists should not be allowed to over speed.Alhamask NkonokiMuscat

Using mobile phones while driving must stopThis refers to the news story, Road deaths drop but toll still runs to 15 per week (March 30). I don’t drive but travel extensively in taxis. Every time I get into a

taxi I get a sort of nervous break-down. The drivers not only drive recklessly but also keep texting messages while driving. The use of phones while driving has to stop. Accidents will drop down dramatically in Oman if motor-ists stop using their phones while driving.Ravindran K.Al Khuwair

The roads in Oman are still far from being safeThis refers to the news story, Road deaths drop but toll still runs to 15 per week (March 30). The other day I almost got killed near Darsait because of the recklessness of a driver who was driving a brand new four-wheel SUV. From nowhere he came right in front of my car cutting lanes from the wrong

side and giving no indication. As he overtook me I could see he was talking on phone and was blissfully unaware of the perils he was creating for others. When will such rash driving stop? Mohammed IsmailMuscat

More needs to be done to make roads safer in OmanThis refers to the news story, Road deaths drop but toll still runs to 15 per week (March 30). I felt happy to learn that the number of accidents has gone down. But the number of people dying still remains distressingly high. Fifteen people dying every week is not normal. This calls for more action to be taken to make roads in Oman safer.Nandan Seeb

ICC President brought the humiliation on himselfThe outburst of the Interna-tional Cricket Council (ICC) President AHM Mustafa Kamal against ICC was funny. ICC did not let Kamal, also a minister of Bangladesh, to hand over the tro-phy at the post-match presenta-tion ceremony of the World Cup final. To a large extent Kamal should be blaming himself for this. His comments on the Rohit Sharma no-ball controversy was uncalled for. As ICC President, Kamal should have maintained his silence in public. He paid the price for talking too much but hasn’t leant any lesson. He is now threatening to sue ICC for not letting him to give away the cup to the winning captain. Some people never learn.Ramesh NaiduRuwi

READERS’ FORUM

People don’t start wars, governments doRONALD REAGAN

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PA U L K R U G M A N

Cheerful mornings in blue AmericaJOB GROWTH

THE I

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PERSPEC IVET I M E S O F O M A N T U E S DAY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5T I M E S O F O M A N A13

TODAY IN HISTORY

OPINION POLL

1282 The great massacre of the French in Sicily The Sicilian Vespers comes to an end.

1779 Russia and Turkey sign a treaty by

which they promise to take no military action in the Crimea.

1790 In Paris, France, Maximilien

Robespierre is elected president of the Jacobin Club.

1889 The Eiffel Tower in Paris officially

opens on the Left Bank as part of the Exhibition of 1889.

1939 Britain and France agree to support Poland if Germany threatens to invade.

BOOK FAIR ATTRACTS ADULTS, CHILDRENMUSCAT: The Fifth Muscat International Book Fair, being held at the Seeb International Exhibi-tion Centre, is attracting people from all walks, with schoolchildren dominating the morning hours. His Higness Sayyid Faisal bin Ali Al Said, minister of national heritage and culture, yesterday, inaugurated a poetry evening as part of the cultural programmes on the sidelines of the fair. The annual fair, which will end on Friday, has been wooing buyers with a long list of titles aimed at catering to both children and adults alike.

FROM OUR ARCHIVES

On the economic front, His Majesty has taken steps to safeguard Oman, despite the global financial crisis that negatively impacted major regional and international markets. Despite declining oil prices globally, we have seen a significant growth

The Sultanate of Oman is hopeful again — we are all overwhelmed with happiness at the return of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos

bin Said to his homeland, after a long absence of eight months when he was away in Germany for medical treatment.

The unanimous joy felt by people across Oman and the wider Gulf, which has been expressed strongly through online and traditional media channels, does not come as a surprise. Throughout his successful reign, His Majesty the Sultan has become a role model for security, justice, infinite generosity, pride and honour for Oman and beyond.

With the return of His Majesty, the Sultanate has been relieved of its distress and grief and is once again experiencing a feeling of contentment.

As the father of modern Oman, the vision of His Majesty in dealing with all internal and external is-sues has always been widely commended and is a source of pride for the Omani people.

When His Majesty commenced his reign, the number of educational institutions in the country was not adequate and it was extremely difficult to enrol in one to begin with. Furthermore, these in-stitutions only accepted boys. His Majesty took the initiative to expand the educational matrix in the Sultanate, build a proper network of colleges and reinforce international relations with a variety of global academic institutions to provide Omanis with much-needed chances to obtain scholarships.

His accomplishments were not limited to the educational domain. The cultural scene in the Sul-tanate witnessed a remarkable renaissance, one of the milestones being the publication of the ‘Sultan Qaboos Encyclopedia of Arab Names’, the first of its kind in the Arab world that aims to enrich Ara-bic cultural life and libraries with its rich content.

His Majesty also launched Sultan Qaboos Prize for Environmental Preservation, the first Arab prize awarded internationally in the field of envi-ronmental protection.

His prominent role in propagating peace and security in the global arena as well as the policy of neutral dialogue has placed his Majesty high on a list of prominent world leaders, and earned him the prestigious International Peace Award.

The World Rose Society in Netherlands has also named a new species of roses ‘Sultan Qaboos Rose’, in recognition of His Majesty’s honourable track record of achievements to ensure the welfare of his people, his continuous care for the environment and his support for human rights.

Moreover, thanks to his insight, the Sultanate

today enjoys a leading strategic position on the in-ternational map, notably for its important role in facilitating peace talks with Iran with respect to its nuclear project.

On the economic front, His Majesty has taken steps to safeguard Oman, despite the global finan-cial crisis that negatively impacted major regional and international markets. Despite declining oil prices globally, we have seen a significant growth in important sectors, notably tourism and transport.

The mega projects launched by His Majesty to develop the sea ports and airports, as well as his efforts in strengthening our infrastructure projects have gone a long way towards securing Oman’s financial sector.

Creditably, the Sultanate also announced a huge historic budget in 2015, affirming His Majesty’s commitment and aspirations for the country.

His Majesty was keen on engaging with Omani citizens as active partners in the national develop-ment process and as key elements in the advance-ment of society.

In order to maintain constant communication with his people, and meet their demands, he es-tablished public and legislative institutions, such as the Consultative Assembly and the Council of State of Oman.

Moreover, he always took the initiative to spread peace and security in the Sultanate.

In addition, the Sultanate of Oman ranked fifth among the Arab countries in the Global Peace In-dex produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace. Today, the Sultanate continues its journey to be one of the most secure countries in the re-gion and around the world. Oman has been blessed with a true statesman, one who has continuously endeavoured to ensure the growth of the country before all else. He has keenly cared for Omanis, easing concerns and solving issues, even during his absence from the country.

Under his wise governance, we have always felt as one family, united by love, harmony and peace. May Allah continue to bless our land with honour, peace and growth under the glorified leadership of His Majesty, and grant him a long, healthy life surrounded by his people and their unprecedented love and support.

The author is the Chairman of National Bank of Oman and an International Advisor to the Brookings Institution. All the views and opinions expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not reflect those of Times of Oman.

HISTORYNET.COM

UK election — voting intentions

GraphicsGraphic News /Source: UK Polling Report, polling companies

36

32

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8

6

Lab

Con

UKIP

Lib Dem

Green

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02 09 2316 30

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40%

M A R C H

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Latest poll tracker from the UK’s main polling companies – ComRes, ICM, Ipsos MORI, Panelbase, Populus, Survation and YouGov

Mar 14: Labour’spledge card unveiled

Mar 26:TV debate

YouGov/Sunday Times

Mar 18:Budget Day

LAST POLL RESULT

Should Earth Hour become a monthly event, rather than annual, in Oman?

Do you think that motorists in Oman are becoming more aware about safe driving?

Visit timesofoman.com to cast your vote

Yes71.4%

No11.5%

Can't say17.1%

M O H A M M E D M A H F O O D H A L A R D H I

We humans do not only share the planet with a range

of other species, including plants, animals, and even microbes; we also depend on them for our survival. Can we determine the economic value of protecting the natu-ral world?

Some people will balk at the idea of putting a price tag on biodiversity, viewing its protection as an obvious imperative. But they would undoubtedly also agree that preventing human death and suffering, while providing food, water, and an education to all, is vital.

The reality is that there are simply not enough resources to do everything. Hard choic-es have to be made. Fortu-nately, economics can help us determine how to do the most good with the resources we have.

This is particularly rel-evant today, as the world’s 193 national governments work to establish the Sustainable Development Goals to guide global development efforts for the next 15 years. The SDGs will be modelled on the Millennium Development Goals, which were agreed in 2000 and focused on objec-tives like lowering maternal and infant mortality, eradi-cating poverty, and improving access to primary education.

So far, a huge number of po-tential SDG targets have been proposed, some of which relate to biodiversity. But, though trillions of dollars will be spent on the SDGs, there are simply not enough resources to complete every project. That is why world leaders must focus on the tar-gets that will have the great-est impact. My think tank, the Copenhagen Consensus, is working with more than 60 top economists and several Nobel laureates to identify which targets promise the highest return on investment.

Preserving biodiversity, it turns out, is not only de-sirable; according to three new studies by the econo-mists Anil Markandya, Luke Brander, and Alistair McVittie, it also makes good financial sense, at least for some projects.

Protecting forests is a good place to start, with every dol-lar spent bringing benefits worth about $10. Some of the resources that forests provide — such as timber, firewood, and tourism — can be valu-ated relatively easily. But the value of others — such as the wide range of animal species they support and their intrin-sic worth to people — is more difficult to quantify.

In attempting to do so, economists have conducted surveys to find out how much people would be prepared to pay to protect forests and the

animal species they support.Forests also serve as an

enormous “carbon sink,” storing atmospheric carbon dioxide for many decades or centuries; thus, protecting forests would help to mitigate climate change. Moreover, forests absorb intense rain-fall, thereby reducing the risk of flooding.

The 2010 flooding in Paki-stan, for example, would have been far less devastating if so many trees from upper slopes had not been felled.

The conclusion is thus that each dollar spent on conserv-ing forests would yield $5-15 worth of social good, includ-ing tangible benefits, such as from logging or carbon capture, and “soft” gains, like preserving forests’ intrin-sic beauty. Conserving the world’s wetlands — which also provide valuable ser-vices, including protection of coastal areas and river valleys from flooding — is also sensi-ble, providing a tenfold return on each dollar spent.

But protecting coral reefs would bring the highest returns, amounting to an extraordinary $24 worth of benefits for every dollar spent. Like forests, coral reefs provide multiple services — including tourism and fish nurseries, which help to sus-tain commercial fishing — and have an intrinsic value to people. To reduce the loss of coral reefs by half would cost about $3 billion each year — and yield at least $72 billion in benefits.

Not all projects aimed at protecting biodiversity are a smart use of public resources. Creating additional nature reserves, for example, might sound like a great way to pro-tect more species’ natural habitats, but the economic benefits would not cover the nearly $1 trillion in costs.

Doubling the area of pro-tected coastal land and bring-ing substantial areas of open ocean into reserves is a par-ticularly formidable task. Clearly, protecting coral reefs is a much better use of limited resources.

Though the SDGs will aim largely to improve daily life for the very poor, a cool-headed economic assessment suggests that there are also smart biodiversity targets that should be considered.

If world leaders take ad-vantage of cost-benefit anal-ysis to separate the wheat from the chaff, the next 15 years could be a boon for global development — in-cluding the preservation of biodiversity. - Project Syndicate

The price of biodiversity

BJØRN LOMBORG

Have you noticed that sometimes what you say is completely different

from what others understand? You think you are being very posi-tive, clear and specific about what you are saying but somehow you manage to upset and enrage the other person.

The problem is that most peo-ple don’t ask what you meant and our false ego gets in the way of doing the ‘right’ thing, which is to ask for a clarification or explana-tion of whatever has been said. In-stead, people come up with their own conclusions regarding what someone said to them.

The core reason why most re-lationships, whether personal or work related, fall apart, is through misunderstandings.

Employer and employee dy-namics often suffer because instead of hearing what the em-ployer says, the employee tries to read between the lines. If the employer gets angry one too many times, the employee presumes he is about to be fired.

This leads to panic. Honestly, if your boss wants to fire you, he will and not come up with schemes to fire an employee.

We start projecting our inter-nal complexes on to situations. If a discussion on working women being way too busy comes up, a working mother involved in this discussion gets angry because she feels that she is being attacked for not being an involved parent but that’s not the case.

Actions speak louder than words. But actions are judged by intentions and the problem is who can physically see our intentions?

Parents work hard every day to give their children a bright future. That means they have less time than a stay-at-home parent. Kids in these situations might think their parents don’t love them and start misbehaving.

Parents interpret their kids’ behaviour as disobedience, teen hormones, problems of the grow-ing stage, etc. The never-ending cycle of parent-child disagree-ments and sulking continues… Wouldn’t it be easier to commu-nicate and just apologise?

Miscommunication is common when people interact through writing, such as text messages, emails and more recently, through the social media. It is almost im-possible to gauge a person’s tone,

mood and frame of mind by mere-ly reading what has been written.

People either immediately re-act negatively or they over-an-alyse what they have read until they drive themselves completely nuts. It’s better to say whatever you have to say in person, espe-cially if it’s important.

The main reason for lack of communication is that we tend to induce fear in our children, domestic staff and even spouses without realising it, either by getting irritated when asked a question or by being vague and irritable. This kind of negative reinforcement leads them to lie, retract and misunderstand our actions.

The only entity that can judge us fairly and on the basis of inten-tions is God. So why not try to be more clear, precise and kind so that there is no confusion or mis-understanding?

Modifying one’s own behaviour is always easier than trying to modify the world.

If everyone misunderstands you or people keep getting up-set with you, then the chances of you giving the wrong message are pretty high. - The Express Tribune

A heartfelt welcome to our father and leader

J U G G U N K A Z I M

Say what you mean, mean what you say

The 2010 flooding in Pakistan would have been less devastating if trees from upper slopes had not been felled

A14

YEMEN CRISIST U E S DAY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5

GRIM SITUATION: Smoke billows from the site of an explosion that

hit an arms depot in Yemen’s second city of Aden on Saturday. – AFP

A Chinese naval flotilla, which had been carrying out anti-

piracy escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters,

was sent to Yemen on Sunday to evacuate Chinese nationals

China’s defence ministry

Air strike kills 45 at Yemen camp

SANAA: An air strike killed doz-ens of people at a camp for dis-placed people in northwest Yemen on Monday, aid workers said, as Arab coalition warplanes bombard rebels around the country.

The International Organiza-tion for Migration (IOM) said 45 internally displaced people had been killed and 65 wounded at the Al Mazrak camp in Hajja province.

IOM spokesman Joel Millman said that the organisation had 75 staff on hand assisting the victims.

Earlier Doctors Without Bor-ders (MSF) said 15 dead bodies and 30 wounded were taken to a hospital where it operates near the Al Mazrak camp. “It was an air

strike,” said MSF’s Middle East programme manager Pablo Marco.

The Al Mazrak camp has since 2009 been housing Yemenis dis-placed by the conflict between northern Houthi rebels and the central government. Marco said 500 new families had arrived at the camp over the past two days. A

Saudi-led Arab coalition has been pounding rebel positions in Yemen since early Thursday.

VowIt has vowed to keep up the raids until the Houthi rebels abandon their insurrection against Presi-dent Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi,

who has fled to Riyadh.Warplanes carried out a fifth

night of air strikes around the capital Sanaa, a news correspond-ent reported. Positions held by the Houthi rebels and soldiers of the renegade Republican Guard overlooking the presidential pal-ace were believed to have been

targeted. A Republican Guard camp in south Sanaa was also hit, witnesses said. In the area around Marib, 140 kilometres (90 miles) east of Sanaa, radar facilities and surface-to-air missile batteries were targeted, local officials said.

The Houthis are backed as well by army units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who stepped down in 2012 after a year of protests in the country, where Al Qaeda is active.

SackedOfficials said on Monday that the ex-strongman’s son had been sacked as ambassador to the Unit-ed Arab Emirates (UAE), which is part of the coalition.

Ahmed Ali Saleh was relieved of his duties at the demand of the UAE, according to a Gulf diplo-matic official who did not want to be named.

A Hadi aide confirmed the presi-dent had dismissed Saleh, who was appointed to the post after his fa-ther’s overthrow but is believed to have remained in Yemen.

The Houthis and allied renegade military units have overrun much of Yemen and prompted Hadi to flee what had been his last remain-ing refuge in the main southern

city Aden. Dozens of people have been killed in several days of clash-es in Aden, and Hadi’s aides have said he has no immediate plan to return there. A Chinese naval flo-tilla, which had been carrying out anti-piracy escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters, was sent to Yemen on Sunday to evacuate Chinese nationals, China’s defence ministry said in a statement.

EvacuatedMore than 500 Chinese citizens have been evacuated over the past two days, Beijing said.

The fighting in Yemen has stoked sectarian tensions.

Turkey has also expressed sup-port for the Saudi-led coalition that is bombing the Houthis. Turk-ish President Recep Tayyip Er-dogan said on Monday that he still planned to visit Iran despite a war of words with Tehran.

In Riyadh, two Saudi police of-ficers were wounded in a drive-by shooting on Sunday, the authori-ties said, but it was unclear if there was any link to the Yemen ten-sions. “A security patrol was carry-ing out its duties in Riyadh when it came under fire from an unknown vehicle,” a statement said. The two were admitted to hospital and “their health situation is stable”.

The attack came just days after Interior Minister Prince Moham-med bin Nayef ordered that se-curity measures be strengthened across the kingdom. — AFP

The International

Organization for

Migration (IOM)

said 45 internally

displaced people had

been killed and 65

wounded at the

Al Mazrak camp

in Hajja province

Hospitals in Aden flooded by injuredADEN: As Houthi fighters close in on the Yemen port city of Aden, the wounded from clashes and other incidents are pouring into overwhelmed hospitals.

“We were not ready to face this kind of situation,” said Valerie Pierre, coordinator for aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), which runs a 45-bed hos-pital in Aden.

“The competency is there, but in terms of the number of staff, it’s not enough.”

Many of the victims are young men wounded by gunshots or bomb shrapnel. Not all injuries were directly sustained in com-bat. One young man arrived in a van which screeched into the courtyard of the MSF hospi-tal, where medics waited with stretchers.

He was the victim of a quarrel with two armed men near a taxi stand after he refused to give up his own rifle before boarding. The bullet only grazed his forehead.

Struggling with patientsDoctors at the hospital have struggled to cope with more than 250 patients from Aden and near-by provinces in the 10 days since Houthi fighters and allied army units pushed to Aden’s gates in a campaign to topple President Ab-drabbo Mansour Hadi.

Saudi Arabia, along with sever-al Arab allies launched air strikes to stem the Houthis’ advance but rebel forces are still massed on the outskirts of Aden. Hadi him-self is in Saudi Arabia.

Saddam Saleh Jaber, 25, said he had been operated on three times since gunmen claiming to be from Al Qaeda shot him in the leg below the knee while they

tried to break into the traffic de-partment in nearby city of Lahj, where he worked as a guard.

“I am due for a fourth surgery,” said Jaber, a police cadet who had been on leave when the advance on Aden began. “I am lucky not only to be alive but also that I ran into a Medicine Sans Frontiers team after I was shot,” he added.

The latest victims suffered from shrapnel wounds and se-vere burns caused by the explo-sion of Aden’s main arms depot as looters tried to break in and grab weapons.

At least 15 people were killed in the series of blasts which scat-tered debris across town and belched out plumes of smoke.

Two of the victims died at the Medicine Sans Frontiers hospi-tal and staff were preparing the bodies for burial before handing them over to their families for burial. Medics say the main chal-lenges facing the team of nearly 150 mostly local staff is to the security of the hospital and main-taining medical supplies.

“Everything is OK now, but if things get worse we will need supplies. We need an emergency team to reach us, either from Sanaa or from Paris,” Pierre said.

State institutions have been paralysed by the war while sea-ports and airports remain shut-tered since the bombing began.

The exhausted medics admit being confused by the array of armed groups and the politi-cal upheaval that has rocked the country. But the hospital remains open to all.

“We never ask who they are or who they belong to,” said Pierre. “Only, armed men are kindly asked to remain outside.” — Reuters

O V E R W H E L M E D

UNDER ATTACK: Smoke billows near military barracks in the Jabal Al Jumaima mountain following

an air strike near Sanaa on Monday. – Reuters


ARTICLE, PHOTOSW W W.T I M E S O F O M A N . C O M

A15

WORLDT U E S DAY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5

Another Bangladeshi blogger hacked

DHAKA: A Bangladeshi blogger was hacked to death in Dhaka on Monday, the second such attack on a critic of extremism in the mainly Muslim country in less than two months. Three knife-wielding

attackers set upon 27-year-old Washiqur Rahman near his home on Monday morning, weeks after the murder of an American blog-ger in Dhaka triggered interna-tional outrage. Police said they had

arrested two suspects at the scene and retrieved three knives, but a third escaped.

Deputy commissioner Wahidul Islam said Rahman had been “bru-tally hacked to death”.

“They hacked him in his head and neck with big knives and once he fell on the ground they then hacked his body,” he said.

Fellow writers said he opposed extremism. Police said he used a Facebook page under the name Washiqur Babu to post articles written by other writers that ap-peared to mock extremist views.

Deputy police commissioner Biplob Kumar Sarker told AFP the motive for the killing appeared to

be “ideological” differences with extremist groups in Bangladesh.

“So far what we’ve gathered af-ter primary interrogation of the two suspects is that they killed him him because he criticised ex-tremists,” he said. Officially secu-lar Bangladesh has seen a rise in extremism in recent years.

Fellow blogger Asif Mohiuddin, who survived a brutal attack by extremists in January 2013, de-scribed Rahman as a “fellow war-rior”. “He is a friend of mine and a fellow warrior,” said Mohiuddin in a Facebook message to AFP from Berlin. The two suspects in custo-dy are aged about 20 and are both students of seminaries, Islam said.

The killing bears strong simi-larities to the murder of Avijit Roy, an American blogger of Bangla-deshi origin who was hacked to death with machetes in Dhaka last month. His death sparked uproar, with hundreds of secular activists holding protests for days to de-mand justice.

Witnesses said Roy and wife were returning from a book fair when they were both hauled off their rickshaw on a busy street by at least two attackers who then slashed them with machetes.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s secular government has faced criticism for failing to do enough to protect writers. Police have ar-

rested one suspect over the death of Bangladesh-born Roy, who was also the author of a series of books.

Roy’s murder followed the 2013 killing of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider.

Fellow bloggers and secular writers reacted angrily to the lat-est attack, with secular activists calling for protests.

“He was murdered because we have a culture of impunity here. He was a progressive free thinker and was against religious fundamen-talism,” said Imran Sarker, head of a Bangladeshi bloggers’ network.

“We condemn this attack and have urged all bloggers to join pro-tests.” — AFP

Three knife-wielding attackers set upon

27-year-old Washiqur near his home on

Monday, weeks after the murder of an

American blogger in Dhaka

Filipino staff killed in Libya attackZAWIYAH (LIBYA): A Fili-pino oil worker has been killed and five others wounded in a rocket attack on a coastal town west of the Libya capital, a Libyan security source said on Monday.

Three other Filipino oil work-ers were wounded in Sunday’s attack on Zawiya, 40 kilometres west of Tripoli, the source said.

The four Filipinos were rid-ing in a car when the attack took place, the source said, adding that a Sudanese man and a Lib-yan man who were driving sepa-rate cars were also wounded.

The foreign ministry spokes-man in Manila confirmed the death of one of its citizens.

“Our embassy in Tripoli con-firmed that one Filipino died in (a) bombing in Zawiya,” spokes-man Charles Jose said in a text message to AFP.

Libya has been wracked by conflict since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed veteran leader Muammar Gaddafi, with rival militias and governments battling for its oil wealth.

Fajr LibyaThe security source said Zawiya falls under the control of Fajr Libya, a militia coalition that in August seized Tripoli, where it has set up a rival government and parliament. There was no immediate confirmation by Lib-ya’s internationally recognised administration of the attack.

But an AFP photographer in Zawiya saw the apparent im-pact of a rocket attack in the middle of a road near a shut-tered school in the town. The wife of one of the wounded men told AFP it was the second time her husband was hurt in unrest in Libya. — AFP

C O N F L I C T

Myanmar, rebels agree on draft of peace dealYANGON: Myanmar peace ne-gotiators agreed the draft text of a historic nationwide ceasefire agreement on Monday, as the country edges closer to end-ing decades of conflict between ethnic minority groups and the government.

The tentative deal, which comes as heavy fighting be-tween the military and rebel groups continues to ravage a northern border area, sets out the framework for a country-wide ceasefire -- a key target of the government as the nation heads towards crucial elections later this year.

But the draft, which was ne-gotiated by representatives of the government and the 16 eth-nic armed groups involved in the talks, will only officially be signed after a conference of the rebel groups.

No date for conference“This is the first step to signing a nationwide ceasefire agreement and to move to political dia-logue,” said Naing Han Tha, who led the ethnic group negotiators. No date has been given for the conference. But negotiators said they had managed to find mutu-ally acceptable ground on most points. — AFP

F I R S T S T E P

Bangladesh police said they had arrested

two suspects at the scene and retrieved

three knives, but a third escaped

MARKEWWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COMT U E S DAY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5B

Muscat

6,214.99+ 26.02

+ 0.42%

Dubai

3,444.65+ 6.85

+ 0.20%

Abu Dhabi

4,431.35+ 61.05

+ 1.40%

Saudi Arabia

9,075.00+ 3.80

+ 0.04%

Kuwait

6,286.03- 36.73

- 0.58%

Bahrain

1,454.24- 4.36

- 0.30%

Qatar

11,586.83+ 98.42

+ 0.86%

CURRENCY RATES* DRAFT RATES (OMR1)* GOLD PRICES*Forex rates vs OMR1*

US Dollar .................................2.58

Euro ............................................2.36

Pound ............................................1.73

Indian Rs .............................162.02

Pak Rs ...................................260.40

Bangla Taka.......................199.64* Rates are as of Mar. 30

Source: BankMuscat

Indian Rs ................................... 162.10

Pakistan Rs ............................264.00

Sri Lanka Rs .......................... 343.65

Bangla Taka............................ 201.25

Phil Peso .....................................115.75

* Rates as of Mar. 30 Source: Oman UAE Exchange

Muscat 24ct per gm (OMR) .......15.30

Muscat 22ct per gm (OMR) ....... 14.70

Dubai 24ct per gm (Dh) ............144.50

Dubai 22ct per gm (Dh) ............. 137.25

* Rates as of Mar. 30

Source: Malabar Gold & Diamonds

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

Oman Crude ............. (Spot) ........$53.43

Dubai Crude ............. (Spot) .........$53.19

Murban Crude ........ (Spot) .........$55.91

Arabian Light ......... (Spot) ........ $55.76

N.Sea Brent ............... (Spot) ......... $55.71

West Texas Int ....... (Spot) .........$48.10

CRUDE OIL PRICE

Oman plans spot market for electricity

A E [email protected]

MUSCAT: Oman plans to intro-duce a spot market for electricity in an apparent move to enhance efficiency within the sector.

The proposed spot market is an alternative route for power producers to sell eletricity to the state-owned procurement com-pany outside a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA).

As a first step, Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) has appointed John Mather as project manager for implementing a new spot market pricing system.

Independent power produc-ers will be able to participate in a the alternative market and re-ceive prices determined on a day-to-day basis in accordance with specified market rules.

Mather has extensive experi-ence of the design and operation of wholesale electricity mar-kets in the United Kingdom and Australia and has advised on the application of power purchase agreements in a number of juris-dictions, including China, Jamai-ca and the Philippines.

Mather will work with a mul-tidisciplinary team of experts at OPWP and Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC) to develop a high-level mar-ket design in to a set of detailed market rules for approval by the industry regulator - Authority for Electricity Regulation, said OPWP in a statement.

“OPWP will soon be issuing a

tender to engage suitably-qual-ified consultants to codify the market rules,” it added.

These market rules will be similar to those that operate in wholesale electricity markets around the world.

Eng Ahmed Al Jahdhami, chief executive officer of OPWP last week said that his company was looking for spot market for elec-tricity and the recent approach to separate water projects from electricity projects would support the proposed spot market scheme in the future.

A spot market for electricity is also vital in view of the fact that the demand for power is growing at a faster pace. > B3

As a first step,

Oman Power and

Water Procurement

Company has

appointed John

Mather as project

manager for

implementing a new

spot market pricing

mechanism

BankDhofar board clears OMR45m rights issueTimes News Service

MUSCAT: BankDhofar board on Sunday approved a rights issue worth OMR45 million, which is subject to regulatory approvals.

The rights issue will be in ad-dition to the planned tier 1 bond issue up to $300 million , which was earlier approved by the shareholders, the bank said in a disclosure statement posted on the MSM website.

CBO guidelinesAn additional tier 1 type capital instrument, falling under Basel III and Central Bank of Oman guidelines, is a new type of in-strument for the Oman market and subject to Central Bank of Oman approval.

Net loans and advanc-es of BankDhofar rose to OMR2,254.70 million, an 18.55 per cent growth, while custom-er deposits moved up by 22.17 per cent to OMR2,482.18 mil-lion in 2014, according to the results posted by the bank on MSM website.

The operating income of the bank also showed a 10.38 per cent growth to OMR98.85 million, while operating ex-penses were up 1.87 per cent to OMR46.16 million.

C A P I T A L B A S E

Times News Service

MUSCAT: As many as twelve companies have sub-mitted application seeking pre-qualification to partici-pate in bidding for two large independent power projects planned in Barka and Sohar.

Two successful bidders will be selected to develop independent water projects in Barka and Sohar. Barka IWP will have a desalination capacity of 281,000 cubic metres per day, while Sohar project will have a desalina-tion capacity of 250,000

cubic metres per day.These companies/consor-

tiums are Veolia - Marubeni consortium, Itochu - Degre-mon consortium, Interna-tional Power, Tecnicas de Desalinizacion de Agus - led consortium, Abengoa Water - National Power & Water consortium, FCC Aqualia - Samsung Engineering consortium, Valoriza Agua, Hyflux Ltd, GS Inima Envi-ronment - led consortium, Sijitz Corporation, JGC Corporation and Citic Con-struction - Al Sulami Group consortium.

12 firms seek pre-qualification for Barka, Sohar water projects

DIGEST VIDEO

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B2

MARKETT U E S DAY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5

German exchange set to invest in Indian bourses

LONDON: Deutsche Boerse plans to hold stakes in two new Indian securities markets be-ing developed by the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The German exchange operator will invest as much as 5 per cent in a planned commodities exchange, BSE chief executive officer Ash-ishkumar Chauhan said in an in-terview in London on March 27. Deutsche Boerse will also take a holding in a new stock-trading venue based in Gujarat state.

The new investments would

increase Deutsche Boerse’s finan-cial commitment to Asia’s oldest stock exchange.

The German company bought a 5 per cent stake in BSE in 2007 and announced a wide-ranging technology alliance in 2013 that has led the BSE to move its eq-uity and derivatives platforms on to Deutsche Boerse’s N7 trading network. The much faster trans-action speeds have enabled BSE to rebuild its market share against its main domestic rival, National Stock Exchange of India.

Market share“By getting Deutsche on board, BSE’s exchanges will benefit from better technology, ideas, innova-tion and best practices,” Jagan-nadham Thunuguntla, the head of fundamental research at Karvy Stock Broking in the southern In-dian city of Hyderabad, said in a phone interview. “

India is bracing up for competi-tive action on the exchange front as the markets are projected to grow.” BSE’s share of Indian stock trading will reach 18 to 20 per cent

in March, compared to 13 to 14 per cent a year earlier, Chauhan said. It will account for 30 per cent of equity- derivative trades, up from 15 to 20 per cent, he added. BSE’s currency derivatives now account for half the market, compared to 2 to 3 per cent a year ago.

Special economic zoneNSE has also agreed to set up a new stock exchange in Gujarat. The rival market operators will open their venues inside a new special economic zone that is be-ing developed on the outskirts of Gandhinagar, the state capital.

Deutsche Boerse spokesman Frank Herkenhoff declined to comment in an e-mail. The Ger-man exchange operator has picked a new chief executive of-ficer, Carsten Kengeter, who joins the company next month.

“The co-operation will be in data, sales and also financial par-ticipation,” Chauhan said. “De-pending on their appetite,” he added. - Bloomberg News

Deutsche Boerse

will invest 5 per

cent in a planned

commodities

exchange and also

take a holding in a

new stock-trading

venue in Gujarat

Volvo Car to build $500mplant in US to revive salesMUNICH: Volvo Car Group plans to invest about $500 million to build its first auto factory in the United States in a bid to revive sales, which have tumbled over the past decade.

The new plant will start opera-tion in 2018 and produce vehicles built with the same underpin-nings as the XC90 sport-utility vehicle, the Gothenburg, Sweden-based company said.

A decision on the location and size of the plant will be an-nounced at a later date. “The US is an absolutely crucial part of our global transformation,” chief executive officer Hakan Samuels-son said. “Today’s announcement makes it perfectly clear that Volvo is in the US to stay.”

The Swedish carmaker, which was bought by Chinese billion-aire Li Shufu’s Zhejiang Geely Holding in 2010, is seeking to revive prospects in the US., where sales ast year totaled about 56,000 vehicles, less than

half the brand’s peak in 2004. The plant will give Volvo a local presence, putting it on a similar footing as BMW and Mercedes-Benz. It will also help reduce risks related to currency fluctuations.

GeelyGeely is pushing Volvo to become more global and plans to raise output to about 800,000 cars by the end of the decade, up from a record 466,000 deliveries last year. The expansion is part of a five-year, $11 billion investment

program that includes overhaul-ing the brand’s product range.

Underpinned by the revamped XC90 SUV, Volvo targets sales this year of about 500,000 cars. The XC90 is the first vehicle de-veloped completely under Geely’s ownership and will serve as the basis of future models.

Volvo Cars has drawn up a shortlist of possible locations in the US, where it expects to in-crease annual sales to 100,000 cars in the medium-term.

- Bloomberg News

I N V E S T M E N T

HAVE YOUR SAY Send us your comments at facebook.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com [email protected]

BULL AND BEARS: The German company bought a 5 per cent

stake in Bombay Stocks Exchange in 2007 and announced a

wide-ranging technology alliance in 2013. – Bloomberg News

B3T U E S DAY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5

MARKETCBO chief stresses on reducing risksTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Different ways to reduce systemic risks resulting from the domestic systemati-cally important banks (D-SIBs) were discussed by experts at a regional seminar on regulating and supervising systemic banks here yesterday.

The seminar reviewed modern supervisory rules issued by Basel Committee on Banking Supervi-sion within Basel III resolutions on ways of supervising and regu-lating such banks.

Hamoud bin Sangour Al Zadja-li, executive president of the Cen-tral Bank of Oman (CBO), said that the seminar would assess the experiences of Gulf Coopea-tion Council (GCC) states in implementing various methods used in specifying the domestic systematically important banks (D-SIBs) and their current poli-cies in hedging against risks.

It will also examine how these banks are managed, the efforts exerted in laying down suit-able regulatory rules to overcome such risks and the latest develop-ments in applying stress tests on both the micro and macro levels, he added.

Basel regulations“I also hope that you will be able to apply the knowledge you gain here, which will boost your ca-pabilities to dealing with D-SIBs and ultimately enable us to devel-op performance at central banks and the regulatory authorities of GCC states and develop their current procedures and policies. Consequently, they will be con-sistent with the latest develop-

ments and controls issued by Ba-sel,” said Al Zadjali.

Al Zadjali noted that it is no se-cret that this issue has gained mo-mentum in the wake of the global financial crisis, which resulted in the collapse of many major banks and banking institutions and had a negative impact on the concept of financial stability.

Consequently, he said, the need has arisen to improve risk man-agement systems in the systemi-cally influential financial and banking institutions on one hand, and to improve the efficiency and integrity of the financial sector and enhance its role in bolster-ing comprehensive growth and macro-economic stability on the other hand.

The Committee for Banking Supervision and the General Sec-retariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have organised the seminar in collaboration with the Financial Stability Institute (FSI) of the Bank for Interna-tional Settlements (BIS) under the auspices of the CBO.

BANK ING Oil drops on fears Iran deal could expand glut

MELBOURNE: Oil fell for a sec-ond day as Iranian and Western diplomats worked toward a nucle-ar deal that may lead to the Islamic Republic boosting crude exports, exacerbating a global supply glut.

Futures dropped 2.1 per cent in New York. Diplomats scheduled to meet on Monday morning in Swit-zerland remained deadlocked over the pace of easing sanctions on Iran and the limits to be imposed on its nuclear programme.

Organisation of Petroleum Ex-porting Countries’ (Opec) fifth-largest producer has been stock-piling oil, which Barclays and Societe Generale predict would be the first supplies to be sold abroad if an agreement is reached.

The potential for Iran to in-crease shipments has bolstered speculation that the global surplus will worsen after the Opec resisted calls to cut supply. Iran could raise exports by 1 million barrels a day if sanctions were lifted, oil minis-ter Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on March 16.

“Reaching any kind of agree-ment on Iran sanctions can be a negative factor for oil prices,” Hong Sung Ki, a commodities ana-lyst at Samsung Futures in Seoul, said by phone. “The possibility of a deal being reached can’t be ruled out. We may see a partial deal.”

West Texas Intermediate for May delivery declined as much as $1.04 to $47.83 a barrel in elec-tronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $48.02 in Singapore. The contract lost $2.56 to $48.87 on Friday, the biggest slump since February 26.

The volume of all futures traded was about 5 per cent below the 100-day average. Prices are down 9.9 per cent this year.

Iranian exportsBrent for May settlement slid as much as 84 cents, or 1.5 per cent, to $55.57 a barrel on the Lon-don-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It decreased $2.78 to $56.41 on Friday. The European benchmark crude traded at a pre-mium of $7.81 to WTI.

Iran’s oil exports have been con-strained to about 1 million barrels a day following sanctions imposed in mid-2012. Daily sales rose to about 1.2 million in February, from 780,000 barrels in January, the In-ternational Energy Agency said in its monthly report on March 13.

The “other side must make seri-ous decisions,” Iran’s Deputy For-eign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters on Sunday in the Beau Rivage Palace Hotel in Lausanne. UK foreign minister Philip Ham-mond said to another group out-

side the hotel entrance that “Iran has to take a deep breath and take tough decisions.”

Global glutIran may be hoarding 7 million to as much as 35 million barrels of oil, shipbrokers and government officials estimated. Thirteen su-pertankers operated by National Iranian Tanker were anchored off-shore of Bandar Abbas, Assaluyeh or Kharg Island from March 15 to March 18, according to data.

Opec, which pumps about 40 percent of the world’s oil, agreed in November to maintain its out-put quota at 30 million barrels a day to defend market share. The 12-member group produced 30.6 million a day in February, exceed-ing that target for a ninth straight month, data shows.

Crude stockpiles in the US, the world’s largest oil consumer, climbed to 466.7 million through March 20, according to data from the Energy Information Adminis-tration. That’s the highest level in weekly records from the Energy Department’s statistical arm dat-ing back to August 1982. Produc-tion expanded to 9.42 million a day, the fastest pace since at least January 1983.

Crude oil capped a second week-ly gain on March 27 after Saudi Arabia and its allies bombed rebel targets in Yemen. - Bloomberg News

Iranian and Western

diplomats worked

toward a nuclear

deal that may lead to

the Islamic Republic

boosting oil exports

Road map for spot market for power to be developed

Oman’s average annual growth in power demand from 2013 to 2020 within the areas of the main in-ter-connected system (MIS) is projected at 10 per cent, from 2,592 megawatt in 2013 to 5,023 megawatt in 2020, ac-cording to a seven-year outlook for power demand released by

Oman Power and Water Pro-curement Company (OPWP).

However, peak demand growth, under the demand forecast, is expected at about 11 per cent per annum, from 4,455 megawatt in 2013 to 9,133 megawatt in 2020. The continued high growth in de-mand for electricity can be attrib-

uted to rising personal income levels, new houses and continued government investment in infra-structure projects. A road map for spot market will be devel-oped by the authorities. The road map will identify key milestones, providing anticipated dates for achieving these milestones.

OUTLOOK

Hamoud bin Sangour Al Zadjali

HAVE YOUR SAY Send us your comments at facebook.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com [email protected]

barrels a day Iran could raise exports if sanctions were lifted, oil minister

Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on March 16

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B1

B6 T U E S DAY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5

ROUND-UPSecond alizz bank AGMapproves annual report

MUSCAT: alizz Islamic bank held its Second Annual General Meet-ing (AGM) for 2014 recently at Crowne Plaza Hotel here.

The meeting was presided by His Highness Sayyid Taimur bin As’ad Al Said, chairman of alizz Is-lamic bank, and attended by board

members, senior officials of the Bank, and shareholders. The An-nual General Meeting was also at-tended by the Shari’a Supervisory Board, in the presence of Sheikh Dr Mohammed Abdul Rahim Sul-tan Al Olama, says a press release.

In his speech addressed to the shareholders, Taimur Al Said pointed out that with the appoint-ment of Salaam Al Shaksy as the Chief Executive Officer, and other senior management, the bank is on course to pursue its strategy by en-hancing its market share and de-

livering exceptional and sustain-able results for its shareholders.

“The bank continued to ex-pand its distribution network by opening four more branches in Al Khoudh, Sohar, Nizwa and Sala-lah. Looking ahead, the bank in-tends to embark on the growth of its balance sheet under a ‘high as-set quality’ philosophy to ensure shareholder value is sustainable in the long term,” he added.

During the meeting, the Board of Directors presented the report for the financial year ended December

31, 2014 of which was reviewed and approved. The shareholders approved the corporate govern-ance report, the auditor’s report, the balance sheet and the profit and loss account of the bank for the same financial year.

In addition, the shareholders were informed of the Shari’a Su-pervisory Board report and of the related parties’ transactions dur-ing the financial year ended De-cember 31, 2014. The transactions which the bank will carry out with the related parties during 2015 were considered and approved.

“Despite the competitive market in the banking sector, alizz Islamic bank remains at the forefront of the sector. The bank received a number of prestigious awards in recogni-tion of its noteworthy achieve-ments across the banking industry. The opening of our most recent branch in Salalah demonstrates our commitment to offering our cus-tomers a wide range of Shari’a com-pliant products and services across the Sultanate,” Al Shaksy added.

During the meeting,

the Board of Directors

presented the report

for the financial year

ended December

31, 2014 of which

was reviewed and

approved

MB Holding celebrates return of His MajestyMUSCAT: The MB Holding Group joins hands with the na-tion in celebrating the arrival of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said to the Sultanate. His Maj-esty returned to the Sultanate in good health after a successful treatment abroad.

On this happy occasion, a get together was organised by the employees of the company. A special prayer was recited for his continued good health as well as for the prosperity of the nation under his wise leadership, says a press release.

Addressing the employees, Dr Mohammed Al Barwani, chair-man, MB Holding Group, said, “On this happy occasion, I would

like to congratulate and extend my humble greetings and best wishes to His Majesty Sultan Qa-boos bin Said and the people of Oman. As a 100% Omani compa-ny, we will continue to pledge our allegiance to the nation and help translate his vision into reality.”

Echoing chairman’s senti-ments, Sharifa Al Harthy, Vice Chairperson, MB Holding Group, added, “This is an exciting day for the people of Oman. We are happy to know that His Majesty has returned safely to Oman fol-lowing a successful treatment. We will continue to pray for His Majesty’s lasting health and long life and continue to support him in leading Oman to prosperity.”

S P E C I A L O C C A S I O N

Azzan bin Qais International School raises funds to help WFP initiativeMUSCAT: As part of its efforts to raise awareness against global poverty, Azzan bin Qais Interna-tional School in the Sultanate of Oman has extended its support to the World Food Programme’s (WFP) Red Cup Initiative for the school children.

The WFP uses Red Cups to dis-tribute school meals. Each cup contains nutritious food staples like soya, cereal and beans.

A full cup represents health, ed-ucation, hope and a stronger com-munity. Currently, an estimated 66 million school children are starv-ing around the globe.

The school community of Azzan bin Qais International School has been proactive in its outreach to the poor. They launched a fun-draiser in 2014, to support the WFP’s Red Cup Initiative. In their bid to do so, they managed to raise a significant amount of OMR1,700. This was accom-plished in a record time of just eight days, says a press release.

“Our sincere and heartfelt gratitude and appreciation are ex-tended to our loyal and dedicated

parents, staff members, students, friends and custodians for their unequivocal support by donating money for this noble cause to break the cycle of hunger and poverty for the world’s most vulnerable chil-dren,” said Desmond Moses, dean, primary grades 4, 5, 6 of Azzan bin Qais International School.

As the largest humanitarian provider of school meals world-wide, WFP in collaboration with governments and partners, sup-ports education and reduces malnutrition. The organisation provides food to an average of 90 million people annually, of whom 58 million are children. The objec-

tives of the WFP include saving lives and protecting livelihoods in emergencies, supporting food security and nutrition, reducing risk and enabling people, commu-nities and countries to meet their own food and nutrition needs and breaking the inter-generational cycle of hunger.

According to WFP, a meal at school acts as a magnet to get chil-dren into the classroom, school meals support the healthy devel-opment of children to help them become productive learners and that a daily school meal provides a strong incentive to promote school attendance.

S O C I A L C A U S E

A’Saffa honours employeesMUSCAT: A’Saffa Foods recently felicitated over 190 members of staff as part of its Long Service Awards Programme. The event has been instituted under the aus-pices of Eng. Saleh bin Moham-med bin Amer Shanfari, Chair-man of A’Saffa Foods, to recognise employees who have contributed and served the company for more than 5 and 10 years with awards, says a press release.

The A’Saffa Foods Long Service Awards have been instituted as part of the company’s commit-ment to appreciate and acknowl-edge the contributions of its peo-ple. It is also an extension of the organisation’s people-centric pol-icy, which accords utmost value to its most important assets - the employees. A’Saffa has always been an employee-focused work-place and the company places the well-being of its employees up-permost on its corporate credo. The awards also celebrate the milestone of a tenure that has been rewarding, enriching and epitomises an employee’s loyalty to the organisation.

“Some of our employees have spent some of the best years of their lives with us. A 5 and

10-year-long tenure depicts the level of trust and commitment on the part of both the employee and the employer. So it is important that we as a company recognise and appreciate our employees’ loyalty, dedication and hard work towards the organisation. We believe that our people are our biggest asset and we will keep investing in their potential to drive the company forward,” said Saleh Shanfari.

During the ceremony, 144 em-ployees were awarded with 5 years and above service awards

and 48 employees were awarded for 10 years and above service. A’Saffa Foods HR practices focus on creating, nurturing and supporting people to meet its ambitious growth plans, through a wide variety of ini-tiatives that cover all stages in the lives of employees as they train and hone the skills of their majority Omani staff. Further-more, the company ensures that they deliver on their promise to provide products which consist-ently deliver the highest quality standards to consumers.

L O N G S E R V I C E A W A R D

Alargan participates in Baituna Souq

MUSCAT: Alargan Towell, the Sultanate’s leading affordable housing solutions provider, re-cently participated in the Baituna Souq conducted by Bank Muscat.

Organised with the theme of ‘A home for every family’, the four-day event was intended to bring togeth-er prospective homebuyers, lead-ing property developers and real estate developers. Alargan Towell, since its inception has been at the forefront of affordable housing so-lutions in the Sultanate and there-fore it goes without saying that the event was indeed a perfect fit for the company, says a press release.

Over the years the company has successfully delivered mixed-use projects in the Sultanate, and cur-rently is promoting projects like Al Waha, Telal al Qurm and Beyout Alfaye, which are in various stages of completion. The event attracted hundreds of homebuyers and a significant amount of the visitors took the time to interact with the Alargan Towell team present at

the venue. The event gave the com-pany the right opportunity to build on its position as a leading real es-tate developer in Oman and also as the perfect choice for families which hope to own a world-class home at an affordable price.

Tony Safarian, GM, Alargan said “From the marketing point of view, I think we made the right choice to be present at the event. Due to its fo-cus on homebuyers only, the event helped us identify and interact with the right target audience who read-ily welcomed our projects and also tried to understand more about the affordable housing concept.”

H O U S I N G S O L U T I O N S

Range Rover Autobiography: 21 years of rewriting luxuryMUSCAT: This year marks the 21st anniversary of Land Rover’s introduction of the Autobiogra-phy designation – then and now the pinnacle of the Range Rover model line-up. Across two dec-ades Autobiography has denoted the ultimate combination of Land Rover design and luxury, adapting with changing customer tastes and preferences to remain a benchmark in the premium SUV market, says a press release.

The Autobiography was first announced at the London motor show in late 1993 and introduced to customers the following year. The responsibility for these mod-els has always been the work of a dedicated team using finely honed skills and attention to detail.

The earliest Autobiography Range Rovers were wholly be-spoke, offering customers the op-portunity to indulge their tastes in limitless varieties of paintwork colours and interior finishes. De-

mand was so high, Land Rover was prompted to adopt Autobiography as a limited edition version of its Range Rover, featuring the larger engine from the long-wheelbase LSE models and distinctive in-terior and exterior colour-ways. Just 25 were built, securing their highly prized status among con-noisseurs of the marque.

To maintain exclusivity and customer appeal, Land Rover has ensured its Autobiography mod-els remain at the cutting edge of

technology features. The original publicity made much of the fact the rear console could accom-modate a fax machine; since then Range Rover Autobiography has continued to set the pace with adoption of satellite navigation, television and video systems from as early as 1997.

Moving into the third genera-tion Range Rover from 2002, Land Rover addressed increasingly sophisticated customer infotain-ment tastes with the introduc-

tion of concert hall-quality audio packages and a multi-play DVD system. Customers could specify myriad details, from the colour of the sheepskin rugs to type of wood used for cabin trims. Anyone who wanted something more exclusive only had to ask – and many did.

John Edwards, managing direc-tor of Jaguar Land Rover Special Operations, said: “For 21 years, Autobiography has given our cus-tomers the chance to specify the most luxurious Range Rovers ac-cording to their tastes and desires. Within Special Vehicle Opera-tions we are continuing this tra-dition. The latest Autobiography Black has greater levels of luxury and sophistication than ever be-fore and even more opportunities for personalisation.”

Current and forthcoming Au-tobiography models will be built by the Special Vehicle Operations team, which is transferring to a new technical centre.

A N N I V E R S A R Y

B7T U E S DAY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5

ROUND-UPBahwan Pharmacy opens branch in Sur

MUSCAT: Bahwan Pharmacy, in its continuous efforts to reach out to people and serve the commu-nity, has opened a new pharmacy outlet in Sur. Amal Suhail Bahwan, Managing Director and Board Member of Suhail Bahwan Group,

opened the new pharmacy recent-ly, says a press release.

Congratulating the Bahwan Healthcare Centre team on the opening of the new pharmacy, Amal Bahwan said, “We are glad to be opening a new Bahwan Phar-

macy in Sur, our home town. “This is also our 8th branch of

the growing network of Bahwan Pharmacies in Oman and we hope to continue to serve the people of Oman by providing better health-

care services.” Strategically located in the cen-

tre of the town, the state-of the-art pharmacy stocks full range of medical, healthcare, consumer and OTC products.

Strategically located in the centre of the town,

the state-of the-art pharmacy stocks full

range of medical, healthcare, consumer and

OTC products

SRM University eyes students from OmanMUSCAT: The SRM University team conducted a spot admission meeting for NRI and foreign stu-dents from the Sultanate of Oman at Haffa House Hotel recently.

The session was attended by a large number of parents and stu-dents keen to explore opportuni-ties for higher education in quality institutions.

SRM University is recognised as a leading private university in India, with an impressive coun-trywide network in six locations across India, and wants to be among the top 100 universities in the world. The global ambition extends to the development of new programmes and courses that are needed to solve some of the chal-lenges confronting humanity in the 21st century in areas like engi-neering and technology; medicine and health sciences; science and humanities; and management and business studies, all areas where the University has a proven track record, says a press release.

A key focus will be in creating greater multi-discipline options across all programmes and re-search, and in strengthening re-search capability so as to emerge as a research driven university. The university has initiated pioneering work in developing cutting edge learning platforms of open course-ware, with a pilot in business and management studies, to enable learners to access courses at their convenience of location and time.

The imperatives for higher edu-cation in India continue to be ac-cess, equity and quality, and SRM University expects to play a domi-nant role in helping the country to overcome these obstacles. New frontiers will be opened in sec-

tors like law, where the demand for trained and high quality man-power is high. SRM University is also committed to playing an im-portant role in widening access to higher education. One way of doing this is to look at introduc-ing high quality distance learning programmes, and a beginning has been made, with a campus in Sik-kim that will specialise in the de-sign and delivery of courses.

Education is all about creating an environment of academic free-dom, where bright minds meet, discover and learn. The era of globalization means many things to SRM: Research on issues re-lating to science and technology, exchanges with foreign universi-ties, overseas opportunities for undergraduates, and collabora-tion. Several ambitious strategic initiatives have been taken to ensure that SRM University con-tinues to educate future leaders and to find solutions to the most pressing global challenges through its International Advisory Board with eminent scholars from 40 top universities/organisation across the world, Corporate Advisory Board with eminent executives from 215 leading companies, Fac-ulty Abroad Programme, Student

Semester Abroad Programme, Research Institute, Innovation in Teaching and Learning Pedagogy, and diversity of students from 48 countries and from across India.

All these have led the University to be ranked as India’s No.1 (fac-tual ranking) by India Today 2013, earlier by “The Education Times” (The Time of India) and Zee News. NAAC and MHRD placed SRM in ‘A” category, making President of India Pranab Mukherjee to com-ment,” I am delighted to know that foreign faculty members, flexible and dynamic curriculum, exciting research and global connections are features that set SRM apart. In the context of meeting the objec-tives of higher education in today’s competitive world, SRM Univer-sity has played an outstanding role over the past 27 years.”

Unrivalled reputation SRM University is one of In-dia’s leading institutes, with over 40,000 students and 2500 faculty members. The faculty are encour-aged to build global alliances, currently there are over 80 inter-national programmes across 20 countries. The Faculty Abroad Programme (FAP), sponsors SRM faculty to overseas Universities

of repute for research, auditing courses and for gaining greater un-derstanding of global governance and academic processes. Several faculty members have been to in-stitutions like MIT, Harvard, USC, Carnegie Mellon, University of Berkley, Warwick University, Dal-housie University, Lin Yi Normal University, NEC and University Francois-Rabelais.

SRM University’s infrastruc-ture is world class. At the vast Kat-tankulathur Campus, Chennai, one can find the Faculties of Engi-neering and Technology, Medicine and Health Sciences, Manage-ment, and Science and Humani-ties. The SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Center, and the SRM Hotel are also situ-ated in this campus. Students have access to round the clock se-curity and free counselling. There are many options for dining like the SRM hotel, restaurants, food courts, numerous canteens and departmental stores.

Key strengthsStudents today are looking for di-versity in courses and how these courses will get them a good job. On the other hand shifting in-dustry needs and the extent of di-versification that is taking place, calls for new employability and skills sets. This is happening at a macro level as well. With India’s almost complete integration with the world economy, the workplace demands new skills, competencies and experience. SRM University is well placed to meet this challenge as the institutional framework and the autonomy it enjoys pro-vides ample scope to come up with innovative programmes.

Q U A L I T Y E D U C A T I O N

BankDhofar celebrates

His Majesty’s return

MUSCAT: As the overwhelm-ing joy and happiness pervaded throughout the Sultanate fol-lowing the return of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said in the country after successful treat-ment in Germany, BankDhofar has organised various activities and events in all its branches, and participated in several celebra-tory functions in different parts of Oman.

All BankDhofar branches and departments rejoiced and cel-ebrated this jubilant occasion, expressing their love and loyalty to His Majesty the Sultan, the wise leader of the Sultanate, says a press release.

Abdul Hakeem Omar Al Ojaili, Acting CEO, noted: “Our happi-ness is indescribable. No words can express how we feel and the overwhelming happiness that prevailed throughout the whole nation in this blessed occasion. This historical moment will al-ways be carved in Omani people’s memory. We pray to the Almighty Allah for His Majesty the Sultan’s health, long life and happiness, and may Allah bless the people of Oman with further progress and prosperity under His Majesty’s wise leadership.”

One of the national initiatives launched by BankDhofar was the release of a music album in love of His Majesty the Sultan. The album contains a selective col-lection of Omani musical tracks in a folkloric style representing traditional Omani musical styles of Razha, Rabuba, Bu Zalaf, Bara’a and Madar. Available on Bank-Dhofar YouTube channel, the al-bum was produced and recorded by Omani artists to express the

high-spiritedness and joy prevail-ing over the Sultanate these days.

BankDhofar also sponsored the celebration of the Wilayat of Muttrah’s open day where traditional Omani music was played and folklore dances were performed. While buildings and houses were decorated with Om-ani flags and glamorous white, red and green lights, people marched on the Muttrah corniche, chant-ing and dancing in celebration. BankDhofar is also sponsoring the musical performance that is organised by the Directorate General of Education in Dhofar Governorate – Ministry of Edu-cation. The event is scheduled on April 4 under the patronage of Sayyid Mohammed bin Sultan Al Busaidi, Governor of Dhofar.

“BankDhofar’s participation in various celebratory events across the Sultanate reaffirms our commitment to join hands with community and contribute to the initiatives that showcase our love and loyalty to this coun-try and to His Majesty the Sultan. We strongly believe in our role as a key contributor to the develop-ment of the nation, diversifica-tion of the national economy in line with His Majesty’s vision,” added Al Ojaili.

S H O W O F H A P P I N E S S

Renna celebrates HM’s homecomingMUSCAT: Renna Mobile cel-ebrated His Majesty Sultan Qa-boos bin Said’s safe return to Oman with their customers by offering unlimited free calls on March 27 to their clients who could make unlimited calls to all renna customers in addition to all customers on Omantel’s net-work, says a press release.

“We had to join the whole country and convey our sincere contentment of His Majesty Sul-tan Qaboos bin Said’s safe return to Oman. The Renna family con-tinues to pray for His Majesty’s well-being and guidance in carry-ing the nation forward,” said Raed Haddadin, CEO, Renna Mobile.

With the aim to become the most cost-efficient mobile service provider in Oman; Renna Mobile provides fantastic prices and bril-liant customer service coupled with superb network coverage, of-fered through Omantel’s superior telecom network all across Oman, that allows one to enjoy the ser-vices anytime and anywhere.

It is worth mentioning that Renna Mobile recharge cards and services are easily accessible by means of shopping kiosks and several other locations across Oman. Customers can also buy recharge online, by signing up and logging in to the customer-friendly website.

F R E E C A L L S

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ROUND-UPT U E S DAY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5

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al Mazyona rewards customers as prize draws gain momentum

MUSCAT: The Sultanate’s flag-ship al Mazyona savings scheme from Bank Muscat has gained mo-mentum with the series of 2015 weekly and monthly prize draws fulfilling dreams with a never-be-

fore offer guaranteeing bigger and better winning chances for cus-tomers across the Sultanate.

With attractive weekly, month-ly, special and year-end grand prizes totalling OMR9 million,

the popular scheme offers high-value prizes throughout the year to maximum number of custom-ers, says a press release.

Innovation has long been the buzzword for Bank Muscat and al Mazyona reflects a unique posi-tioning way ahead of competition. The bank attaches great impor-tance to inculcating prudent sav-ings and spending habits and has tailored al Mazyona scheme with this objective in mind.

‘Save more’Marking Oman’s 45th Renaissance anniversary, Bank Muscat raised the 2015 al Mazyona prize money to OMR9 million from OMR8 mil-lion in 2014. Structured on the the-matic ‘45’ reflecting the Sultanate’s

45 years of Renaissance under the leadership of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the 2015 al Ma-zyona savings scheme campaign reaches out with a powerful call to action ‘Save more, Dream big’ guaranteeing more for everyone to

share in the biggest prize money in Oman and the region.

The enhanced 2015 prize mon-ey is to be shared by more winners as customers from all regions are guaranteed to win prizes rang-ing from OMR45,000 a week to OMR450,000 a month and OMR1.5 million at the end of the year. A special prize draw offer-ing OMR450,000 in celebration of the 45th National Day is an-other highlight.

Bank Muscat understands cus-tomer expectations and big prize money is not the only way by which al Mazyona seeks to transform the lives of prudent savers. The scheme is targeted to accommo-date all segments, including asalah Priority Banking, ladies, youth,

children and customers in all re-gions, thereby inculcating prudent savings habit among citizens who are responsible for the future de-velopment of Oman. The underly-ing principle of the scheme is that the greater the deposit balance, the higher the chances of rewards. Customers can win more by saving more with Bank Muscat.

al Mazyona scheme reflects in-novative customer segmentation based on two principles — region and demographics — ensuring a higher winning chance to all cus-tomers across the Sultanate.

Winning with al Mazyona has never been simpler as custom-ers are not required to block their money or wait for a long time to win big prizes.

With attractive weekly, monthly, special and

year-end grand prizes totalling OMR9 million,

the popular scheme offers high-value prizes

throughout the year to maximum number of

customers

BankDhofar launches mobile banking app via WindowsMUSCAT: In a pioneering initia-tive to add to the convenience of e-banking channels and to fur-ther enhance its customers’ ex-perience, BankDhofar recently launched its mobile banking app through Windows mobile.

The instant mobile banking pro-vides access to BankDhofar’s app on all Windows mobile, in addition to iOS, Android and RIM, says a press release.

Marwan Mohammed Al Zad-jali, Head of eBanking, noted that BankDhofar is working to diversi-fy its electronic channels option in order to provide best customer ex-perience through new initiatives and creative banking solutions. “While other banking apps are available on iOS, Android and RIM devices, we are the first bank in the Sultanate to provide Mobile Bank-ing through Windows mobile.

“We promise to offer the best banking experience to our valued customers, and we pledge to con-tinue to lead the market in creativ-ity and innovation.”

The newly launched service al-lows BankDhofar customers with Windows mobile to enjoy a wide array of fast, simple, direct and super convenient features, includ-ing: all accounts and cards details,

balance inquiry and transactions statement, utility bills payment (water, electricity and phones), mobile top-up (Omantel, Ooredoo and FRiENDi), credit card pay-ment, money transfer (personal accounts, third party within the bank and to other local banks in Oman), card-less cash transfer, ATM/CDM/branch locator with interactive maps, updated ex-change rates, products and promo-tions update, etc.

BankDhofar customers can also request for cheque books, credit cards, opening a savings account, demand drafts, pay orders, loans, insurance (vehicles, family and do-mestic help insurance), and they can also check the status of their request through the app.

Earlier this year, the bank has gone live with FRiENDi to allow users to add credit to their mobile phones through its mobile and in-ternet banking facilities. In addi-tion, BankDhofar has become the first bank in Oman to offer mobile banking services for Research in Motion’s (RIM) Blackberry 10 edition. BankDhofar has been a leader in the local market in terms of customers experience, creativity and innovation.

As a result, it bagged a collection of prestigious awards from locally and globally esteemed organisa-tions in recognition of its success-ful strategy and robust leadership, including: ‘Best Bank in Oman 2014’ by The Banker magazine, ‘Sultan Qaboos Award for Excel-lence in eGovernment’ in the Best Public Mobile eService Award for large organisations by Infor-mation Technology Authority (ITA), ‘Best Evolved Brand Award 2014’ by Global Financial Market Review, ‘The Customer Delight Award 2014 – MENA’ in associa-tion with British Institute of Sales & Marketing Management, in ad-dition to ‘Best Managed Advisory Service 2014’, ‘Best Mobile Bank-ing App 2014, and ‘Best Bank in the Sultanate 2014’ by CPI Financial.

I N N O V A T I V E

Omasco associate tops technical excellence testMUSCAT: Omasco, Honda’s ex-clusive authorised distributor in the Sultanate, announced yes-terday that Harish Prabhakaran, Technical Associate at Omasco, has achieved Gold Certification at the Honda Qualified Service Per-sonnel Assessment (HQSP) held at Honda Africa and Middle East Region office, Dubai.

The HQSP is an initiative hosted by Honda which enables technical associates across GCC to display their skills and recognises their achievements and commitment to the sector.

Harish was the first Technical Associate out of 240 HQSP Certi-fied Technicians across GCC, who scooped gold. These assessments incorporate a stringent series of tests, both theory and practical to assess the competency of the Hon-da After Sales technical associates across GCC.

The Gold Certification, the high-est honour bestowed by Honda is awarded to technical associates who excel in the field based on Honda standards of excellence.

This process recognised the hard work and dedication of the Honda team and compliments its consist-ent customer service, attention to detail and its ability to go the extra mile for its customer.

“We have a huge pool of talent in house at Honda and we encourage them to actively participate in the success of our business. Harish is

an outstanding technical associ-ate and deserves this recognition due to his mastery at his craft and dedication to our business,” said Hussain Al Lawati, Managing Director, Omasco.

“I am delighted to win this 1st Gold Certification for the GCC region. I have been working with Omasco for the past 6 years

and I’m a part of a very solid and talented team.

“The expertise of my team greatly aided me in achieving this award,” stated Harish Prabha-karan. With Harish making it hap-pen, Omasco has felt the sense of motivation and many more tech-nical associates are being planned for upgradation and assessment.

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

NBO picks Al Kanz winner

MUSCAT: National Bank of Oman (NBO) announced the February winner of its flagship Al Kanz prize draw, with a customer of its airport branch taking home the OMR100,000 prize.

The draw was held during the celebrations for the opening of the branch’s new premises in Bahla. The new location of the branch was chosen to offer customers greater convenience, while the design and layout will enable an enhanced level of service.

The inauguration ceremony and prize draw were held under the patronage of Sheikh Hilal bin Sultan bin Hamed Al-Shukaili, Deputy Wali of Bahla, says a press release.

National Bank of Oman had taken the lead in designing a sav-ings scheme that encourages customers to adopt good savings habits. February’s draw is cause for double celebration since it coincides with the inauguration of the bank’s new branch in Bahla.

Under NBO’s Al Kanz cam-paign, customers that have main-tained a minimum monthly aver-age balance of OMR100 or above are eligible to participate in the monthly prize draws.

The earlier a customer deposits and the longer they retain their deposits, the higher the chances of winning the monthly and grand prize draws. The Al Kanz savings account is currently one of the most rewarding schemes avail-able in the market.

F E B R U A R Y W I N N E R

Comex promises to be bigger and betterMUSCAT: Comex, leading ICT exhibition in Oman, will this year focus on new and emerging trends in the IT, telecommunications and technology space. These will in-clude fibre optics, cloud comput-ing, ICT convergence solutions and integrated communications.

The five-day exhibition will start on April 27 and conclude on May 1 at Oman International Exhibition Centre, says a press release.

“We are delighted that some of the world’s largest brands in the IT, telecom and technology space have given us their support. As

industry leaders these compa-nies will showcase innovations and best practices at Comex. Lo-cal and regional companies will greatly benefit from the exposure to new ideas and technologies and the networking opportunity that Comex will provide,” said Tarek Ali, General Manager OITE.

Growth in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector has exploded over the past two decades which has resulted in the erosion of boundaries between previously separate ICT services, networks, and business practices.

An example of this phenomenon is Internet television. Comex will introduce both participants and attendees to the latest research and development, new products and new opportunities to upgrade existing technology platforms.

Comex has evolved into one of the most recognised ICT exhibi-tions in the Gulf. Attracting over 95,000 consumers and 10,000 business buyers from Oman’s private and public sectors, Comex is held under the patron-age of the Information Technol-ogy Authority of Oman.

I C T E X H I B I T I O N

ISM plans grand celebrationsMUSCAT: The Indian School Muscat (ISM) turns 40 this year and as part of the celebrations the ISM alumni will get together at the school on the April 29 in the evening.

“Apart from its over 9,000 stu-dents, there are nearly 400 ISM alumni who work and live in this beautiful city. ISM and the time spent within its walls may well be the reason these young people came back to work here,” said a school official.

The ISM family would like to reach out to them and ask them to visit their Alma mater when-

ever they wish to, feel the nostal-gia and mentor the seniors in the school. The alumni are a source of great pride for any institution and ISM is no exception.

“Over the four decades ISM has seen many principals and ISM would also like to reach out to them and thank them for mak-ing ISM what it is today. ISM would like to invite them all to come and be a part of this special occasion and take the opportuni-ty to mingle with their teachers, themselves and the senior stu-dents at the school for a mentor-ing session,” said the statement.

4 0 T H A N N I V E R S A R Y

Al Hashar celebrates HM’s homecomingMUSCAT: The chairman and the staff of Al Hashar Group ex-pressed their deep happiness and thankfulness over the return of His Majesty the Sultan by or-ganising a special event, says a press release.

“We felt that all of us should share our happiness by getting together to thank the Almighty for the safe return of our beloved leader His Majesty Sultan Qa-boos bin Said,” stated the COO in his address.

The event was held at the company headquarters in Azai-ba and was attended by all the senior officials and employees of the company.

“We are overjoyed at the bless-ed return of His Majesty and we appeal to Allah Almighty to grant him good health and long life. He is the light of Oman and he guides us towards peace, pro-gress and prosperity with His

wise and able leadership,” re-marked the chairman.

Calling it a moment of joy, the employees chorused, “We feel proud to say that Oman under the wise leadership of His Maj-esty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has earned a unique place of respect in the global arena. It is a blessed nation where not only Omanis but also expatriates are treated with the fair policies of peace, se-curity and justice.”

Following the path of His Majesty, Al Hashar is one of the pioneering business house and one of the most progressive and diversified corporations of beau-tiful Oman.

The group continues to focus on the needs and wants of its customers. It aspires to serve a large and growing group of loyal patrons who choose to do business with it — generation after generation.

S P I R I T O F P A T R I O T I S M

Comex will introduce both participants and attendees to the latest research and development, new products and new opportunities to upgrade existing information and communications technology platforms

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM

SPOR SY O U R G A M E

SECTIONC T U E S DAY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5

INDIAN EVES BOX, SHOOT, WRESTLE FOR RECOGNITIONSaina Nehwal joins a series of women — from boxing’s Mary Kom to tennis star Sania Mirza — who have succeeded on the world stage, outperforming the men who have long received the lion’s share of attention and resources back home. >C4

Most powerful World Cup ever

MELBOURNE: The ICC hailed the 11th cricket World Cup the “most popular ever” and al-though most neutrals would have preferred New Zealand to win Sunday’s final, there is no doubt Australia were worthy of their fifth title.

Michael Clarke’s side had the best blend of deep batting, strong fielding and, most impor-tantly, wicket-taking bowlers which made them fitting winners of a tournament where power was king.

The big hitters, extraordinary batsmen like New Zealand’s Bren-don McCullum, South Africa’s AB de Villiers and Australia’s Glenn Maxwell, lit up the tournament and showed how much the 50-over game has transformed.

With improvised shots that sometimes defy conventional description, they punctured the boundary at all points as six be-came the new four while 400 be-came the new 300.

And popular it was. Fans crammed into grounds all over Australia and New Zealand in their hundreds of thousands — the final tally for all 49 matches was just over a million — and re-cord numbers tuned in around the world on TV.

Yet when the last six had been hit, the final batting power play concluded and the majority of the 93,013 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground were celebrating a home win, the Player of the Tour-nament was left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc.

Taking wicketsThe Australian was, by consensus, a worthy recipient. The days of containing batting sides in one-day cricket appear to be over and the best way to stop runs being scored is now simply to take wickets.

Starc took 22 at the cost of just over 10 runs apiece, his stingy av-erage putting him ahead of New Zealand’s Trent Boult, who formed the most dangerous new ball at-tack in the tournament with Tim Southee. New Zealand’s aggres-sive play was a major highlight in a pool stage that took a month to whittle 14 teams down to eight.

Afghanistan made a welcome World Cup debut and secured their maiden victory over Scotland in a Dunedin thriller, while Ireland beat West Indies and Zimbabwe only to miss out on the knockout stage in the final game of the pool phase. Both advanced the cause of the “associate members” though their battle to prevent the ICC re-ducing the number of teams in the 2019 tournament to 10, is one they look like losing.

England came and went unloved and unmourned after a calamitous campaign in which they failed to beat any of their Test playing op-

ponents. Jason Holder’s West Indies scraped into the last eight only to be pounded into the ground by New Zealand, for whom Mar-tin Guptill scored a record 237 not out, surpassing Chris Gayle’s bludgeoning 215 earlier in the tournament.

Likewise, Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara proved that pro-lific batting could still be about

stroke play and not just destruc-tive violence with an ODI re-cord four successive centuries in his and Mahela Jayawardene’s last campaign.

Misbah-ul Haq’s Pakistan brief-ly revived memories of their tri-umphant 1992 campaign by start-ing poorly before storming into the knockout stages only to bow out to Australia.

Champions India brushed off a poor run-up to the tournament to romp unbeaten into the semifinals, where they too fell victim to Aus-tralia’s pace with skipper Mahen-dra Singh Dhoni conceding they had done well to get that far.

South Africa went some way to shedding the “chokers” tag by win-ning their first World Cup knock-out match in the quarter-final

against Sri Lanka only to reacquire it after defeat to New Zealand in the semis.

That Eden Park match, decided on the penultimate ball by a Grant Elliott six, was sporting drama at its very best, even if it was the only one of the seven knockout matches that proved a contest.

Australia skipper Clarke bowed out of the 50-over game a world

champion for a second time after the final, hoping quitting one day-ers might extend his career in test cricket, which he still regards as the pinnacle of the game.

While he is not alone in that thought among the game’s pur-ists, the 2015 World Cup proved, if nothing else, there is still a place in cricket for a format between the test and Twenty20 games. - Reuters

Michael Clarke’s side

had the best blend of

deep batting, strong

fielding and, most

importantly, wicket-

taking bowlers

which made them

fitting winners of a

tournament where

power was king

PUBLIC CELEBRATION: Australian captain Michael Clarke holds the 2015 cricket World Cup trophy as he poses with the team during a public event to celebrate their victory in Melbourne. – AFP

SYDNEY: Amidst all the blaz-ing hitting witnessed at the 2015 World Cup, the value of one of cricket’s enduring constants was proved again — nothing slows a run-rate quite like tak-ing wickets.

Few matches better demon-strated this point than Austral-ia’s dominant seven-wicket win over New Zealand in Sunday’s final in Melbourne.

Left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc, deservedly named man-of-the-tournament for a haul of 22 wickets at a stunningly meagre average of just over 10 apiece, summed up his brilliant six weeks in the final’s opening over.

The dynamic Brendon Mc-Cullum, New Zealand’s inspi-rational captain, couldn’t lay a bat on the first couple of balls he faced and was then yorked for a duck by an express Starc delivery off the third.

“What this World Cup has clearly shown is that a fast, full and straight yorker is a very good delivery,” tweeted former Australian paceman Jason Gillespie.

Starc was one of several left-arm quicks, including New Zealand’s Trent Boult, who also took 22 wickets, to star at this World Cup.

Both bowlers were well-sup-ported by aggressive fields set by their respective captains in Australia’s Michael Clarke and McCullum, whose sides also showed the value of a genuine

five-man attack. Nevertheless, this tournament witnessed the most 300-plus and even 400-plus totals at a World Cup.

‘Sensible change’ Crowds loved the big hits but many within cricket weren’t so sure, with the fielding restriction that means just four men are al-lowed outside the 30-yard circle in the last 10 overs under fire.

“In the old days you had one area you couldn’t defend, now there’s two and if a good bats-man is set, as a bowler you’ve got very little price,” said ICC Chief Executive David Richardson.

“One of the things we might look at is allowing an extra fielder out of the ring in the last

10 overs...That might be a sensi-ble change.”

New Zealand may have lost their maiden World Cup final but on the way they won eight straight matches and in so doing disproved the theory that in order to play good aggressive cricket, it is also necessary to verbally abuse or ‘sledge’ your opponents.

“New Zealand’s semi-final win over South Africa was a brilliant example of how you could play attacking, hard cricket and not worry about the man,” said Richardson.

The Black Caps also showed that with the ICC now being run by the ‘Big Three’ of India, Aus-tralia and England -- whose dire

effort in crashing out in the first round was no surprise -- that talent, good organisation and strong leadership can help com-pensate for a small playing base and a lack of financial clout.

One crumb of comfort for England, who will host the 2019 tournament, was that the past two World Cups have now been won by the host nation in India and Australia.

Plenty of colour, excitement and no little skill was provided in the early stages by the four non-Test or Associate sides, with Afghanistan’s Shapoor Zadran, the UAE’s Shaiman Anwar and Scotland’s Josh Davey all making a name for themselves. Meanwhile Ireland,

for the third World Cup in a row, enjoyed success against Test nations with wins over the West Indies and Zimbabwe.

Yet, as things stand —despite Richardson leaving the door open to change — the 2019 World Cup will feature 10 teams (the same number as there are Test nations) rather than this year’s 14. Remarkably, the next World Cup is scheduled to last slightly longer than the 44-day marathon of 2015 as there will be more ‘marquee’ matches demanding prime-time televi-sion slots.

Richardson made the point that the game must do more for the Associates between World Cups, but what is the long-term future for cricket in those countries if they do not have a realistic chance of playing in the sport’s showpiece tournament?

In 2017, the top eight-ranked sides in the ICC’s standings will gain direct entry to England 2019. The bottom four, in a list that will now include Afghani-stan and Ireland, will play in a 10-team 2018 qualifier to determine the last two teams involved.

“The Associates will still have a meaningful chance,” ICC Chairman Narayanaswami Srinivasan told Fox Sports during the final. A record Mel-bourne Cricket Ground crowd of more than 93,000 made their feelings known by booing Srinivasan at the presentation ceremony. - AFP

Starc truth a lesson for future one-dayersMitchell Starc was one of several

left-arm quicks, including Trent Boult to star at this World Cup

Australia lauds world champions for ‘fairytale’ triumphMELBOURNE: Australia lauded its World Cup winning team on Monday for a “fairytale” victory on home soil over New Zealand, with praise heaped on retiring one-day captain Michael Clarke after a dream farewell.

The win, culminating a gruelling tournament, was front page news across the country with The Aus-tralian newspaper saying: “Pitch perfect Australia lives the dream

to claim fifth World Cup.”“Done it without raising a sweat

or anybody’s pulse,” the broad-sheet’s cricket writer Peter Lalor said. “Michael Clarke’s side made easy work of New Zealand at the MCG, much as they had with India in the semifinal and Pakistan in the quarter.”

Thousands of fans turned out to greet the hungover team in Mel-bourne’s Federation Square on

Monday with the biggest cheers reserved for Clarke. “A little hun-gover. I think I speak for everybody in that sense,” he said when asked how he was feeling.

The Sydney Daily Telegraph focused its coverage on the out-going Clarke, who announced his retirement from the one-day in-ternational format on the eve of the final. “Pup’s fairytale farewell as Aussies crowned world champi-

ons,” it said on its front page, refer-ring to Clarke by his nickname.

“Lifting the trophy provided Clarke the fairytale ending that seemed so unlikely in November, when his chronic hamstrings again betrayed him and the ambition of captaining a World Cup winning team appeared far-fetched,” it added.

The captain, wearing a black armband, dedicated the win to Phillip Hughes, the team-mate

who died after being hit on the head by a bouncer last year, which the Telegraph said was a fitting tribute. “Of course no silverware could erase the painful memories of Phillip Hughes’ tragic and trau-matising death,” cricket writer Richard Hinds said. “Yet, at the twilight of a confronting, even bru-tal summer, this was rich reward for Australia’s experience, endur-ance and composure.”

With Clarke choosing to now focus on Test cricket, The Age in Melbourne said the team was in transition but was in good hands, with Steve Smith expected to be named his successor.

“In Clarke and Smith, two gener-ations of Australian cricket steered their team through the final leg of their long trek to a fifth World Cup,” wrote Malcolm Knox, the Fairfax Media cricket writer. - AFP

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Michael Clarke and Australia would have no complaints, but I

did say the other day that part of me feared the final could end up being lop-sided. There are, however, a number of reasons why Australia were so dominant at the MCG on Sunday. First and foremost, they are an absolute quality team. And much as the ODI game appears tailored for bats-men, Australia have shown how formidable a side you can be if you possess a world class bowling attack, with no real weak link to speak of.

Then, there was also the matter of New Zealand, who were contesting their first World Cup final, having to ad-just to the occasion as well as the conditions. Having played every match in New Zealand, to suddenly come to Australia and adapt for the most impor-tant game of your life was a big ask of the players. And bear in mind that their semifinal win over South Africa went right down to the wire, so that too would have taken some toll on the Kiwis.

Ultimately, as I had men-tioned earlier, the key was always going to be which side handled the opposition’s bowling better. In this regard, the Aussies made a damning statement in that brilliant first over by Mitchell Starc which yielded the prized wicket of the New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum. I did feel sorry for a man who, for everything he had done in this tournament, deserved a

lot better than a duck besides his name in a World Cup final. You could argue that he could have looked to get his eye in a bit, but then he simply stuck by the way he’s always played his cricket. Unfortunately for him, this was one occasion it didn’t come off.

The second key moment was delivered by James Faulkner when he derailed the Kiwi fightback by Ross Taylor and Grant Elliott by dismissing Taylor and Corey Anderson within three balls. Situations like that bring out the ruthlessness of this Australian attack as they quickly snuffed out any hopes of a second revival for the Kiwis. Left to chase a modest score, skipper Michael Clarke, wasn’t going to miss out in his final ODI outing and struck a fluent half-century to take his

side to the cusp of glory.Looking ahead, with Clarke

gone and the likely prospect of Johnson, Watson and Haddin also not being around in four years time, there are still a good seven to eight players from this current lot who will form the core of Australia’s ODI team come 2019. So the newly crowned champions do appear to be well poised for continued success in the 50 over game.

As we bid World Cup 2015 goodbye, it’s safe to say that batsmen well and truly ruled the roost when you look at some of the stats. But I hope people will also remember the great bowling spells that lit up the tournament, especially from the left-armers. Indeed it was great to see one of them crowned ‘player of the tourna-ment’. For his sheer quality and consistency, Mitchell Starc deserved it.

I was also impressed with the tremendous support the tournament received from fans both in Australia and New Zealand. Along with those who flew in from various corners of the world, it surely added to the event’s success. I would like to end by complimenting the Cricket World Cup committee for doing a stellar job, though I do hope they may yet reconsider their decision to limit the next tournament to just 10 teams. We can all agree that teams like Ireland and Afghanistan deserve that opportunity for what they treated us to in this World Cup. - PMG

First and foremost, Australia were an absolute quality team

C O M M E N T A R Y

As we bid World Cup 2015 goodbye, it’s safe to say that batsmen well and truly ruled the roost when you look at some of the stats

The ‘goat’ may have lost final but not applause

WELLINGTON: The New Zea-land team has been dubbed a “goat” but in an endearing way as the country celebrated their ap-pearance in the World Cup final rather than mourned the loss on Monday. “This New Zealand crick-et team is our GOAT, the Greatest Of All Time,” wrote the Herald on Sunday’s Andrew Alderson.

“One hell of a ride,” added The Press on the front page of its souve-nir edition, while the New Zealand Herald admitted: “We were done by a better team.”

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum’s World Cup philoso-phy of “no regrets” struck a chord with an enthralled public. Former Black Caps fast bowler Jonathan Millmow said seven weeks “of rol-licking entertainment” had been replaced by a below par effort on the day when it counted most.

“There will be post mortems, but they should be short and respect-ful of a side and a campaign that has been pretty much inch perfect until the entire cricket world’s eyes set upon them,” he wrote in The Dominion-Post.

Despair at ease with which Aus-

tralia wrapped up the final by sev-en wickets was quickly replaced on Radio New Zealand with talk of how the New Zealand team ex-ceeded expectations. “Under Mc-Cullum and (coach Mike) Hesson, halcyon days lie ahead,” said the national broadcaster.

Ardent fans who had crossed the Tasman Sea to watch the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground found it hard to sit through New Zealand in their death throes.

‘Hold your heads high’ Regan Tait told Radio New Zea-land he left the MCG early when the game became difficult to watch.

“I’m not happy. But very proud to be a Kiwi and the whole cam-paign has been amazing,” he said. “They performed a little bit under par, but they should still hold their heads really high.”

Fan Andy Bryant said his

thoughts were mostly with the players. “They’ve done so well over the last four to five weeks. Proud of them, but gutted for them. They proudly deserved a better showing than what they had.”

In two years, New Zealand have risen from rock bottom to being a whisker away from the top of the cricket world. On January 2, 2013 in the first innings of the first Test against South Africa, they were rolled for a disastrous 45 in Cape Town and from that humiliation came urgently needed change.

“Not just from an internal point of view but also externally how we are viewed by the public,” captain McCullum said. “It was essential to all of us that we wanted the pub-lic support and the best way to go about that is to make sure you’re out there and trying to represent New Zealand with everything you’ve got.” - AFP

New Zealand captain

Brendon McCullum’s

World Cup philosophy

of “no regrets” struck

a chord with an

enthralled public

NO REGRET: New Zealand player Daniel Vettori, centre, gives a hug to team captain Brendon McCullum as Kane Williamson looks on. – AFP

Ali is new Pakistan ODI captainISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s cricket chiefs named batsman Azhar Ali as the national side’s new One-day International cap-tain, despite the fact he has not made the 50-over team in more than two years.

The 30-year-old replaces Misbah-ul Haq, who retired from One-dayers following Pa-kistan’s World Cup quarterfinal exit at the hands of eventual champions Australia.

Ali has played just 14 ODIs, the most recent in January 2013, when he contributed two with the bat as Pakistan beat arch-rivals India by 85 runs at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Shaharyar Khan in-sisted he had proved himself in the domestic Pentangular Cup.

“Azhar Ali has been ap-pointed captain because of his leadership skills, team spirit and character,” PCB boss told reporters. - AFP

R E P L A C I N G M I S B A H

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Algeria outplay Oman in Doha friendlyMUSCAT: Oman were handed a 4-1 defeat by Algeria in an inter-national football friendly match played in Doha on Monday.

According to information received here, Paul Le Guen-coached Omanis were completely outplayed by the African outfit.

The Algerians, who have been camping in Doha, were under a lit-

tle bit of pressure after being edged 1-0 by hosts Qatar in an earlier friendly match

Oman though they managed to score a goal thanks to a 74th minute effort by Ali Sulaiman Al Busaidi.

But the goal came too late for Oman as the Algerians had al-ready netted four goals with Ishak

Belffdil and Sofiane Feghouli scor-ing a brace each.

The Algerians opened the ac-count just two minutes after kick-off with Ishak scoring his first goal. In the 24th minute, Sofiane struck first of his two goals.

After resumption, Algeria scored two goals in two minutes - first by Sofaine in the 61st minute

and Ishak his second in the 62 minute. Oman, who routed Malay-sia 6-0 at home in another friendly on Thursday, played the match as part of their preparations for the 2019 Asian Cup and 2018 World Cup qualifications.

The draw for the Asian and world event will take in Malaysia on April 14.

R O U T E D

Srinivasan hails ‘truly world class’ tourney

MELBOURNE: International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman Narayanaswami Srinivasan has hailed the cricket World Cup 2015 as “the most popular in history”, and said he believes the 50-over game is in good health following Australia’s triumph at the Mel-bourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.

Commenting in the aftermath of Sunday’s game Srinivasan said the ICC was delighted with the manner in which the game’s pin-nacle 14-national One-Day Inter-national (ODI) event was hosted and delivered. He also thanked all of the media, supporters and spon-sors for their promotion of the tournament. “On behalf of the ICC, I would like to firstly congratulate

Australia on its fifth ICC Cricket World Cup win. Australia dis-played great tenacity, skill levels and consistency throughout the tournament, and are worthy win-ners,” Srinivasan said in a release.

“It was a wonderful event with many thrilling highs and magic mo-ments, which will live long in the memory. Australia has set a new benchmark for limited overs crick-et and our congratulations to them, and indeed all of the competing teams, which produced excellent cricket over the past seven weeks.”

Srinivasan, former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), also praised the 2015 edition’s organisers.

“It is not an easy task hosting an

event of this scale. I would like to extend my special thanks to the ICC staff as well as Local Organ-ising Committee chairman Ralph Waters, CEO John Harnden, head of New Zealand Therese Walsh and the rest of the team who worked extremely hard across both host countries over the last three years to ensure the deliv-ery of a truly world-class tourna-ment,” Srinivasan said.

“I would also like to pay tribute to Cricket Australia and New Zea-land Cricket for their support in the build-up to, and during the event.”

Srinivasan felt that the World Cup has delivered a fan-friendly event. “The ICC had strived to de-liver a fan-friendly spectacle, and it has achieved its target. Over one million spectators have passed through the turnstiles over the course of the last seven weeks and our thanks to them and, indeed, to all followers of the game globally for the support they have given the competing sides.”

“The ICC’s proactive digital enhancement has attracted an unprecedented 36 million unique visitors to its website to date and has accumulated over 300 million page views,” he added.

“This represents a 10-fold in-crease on any previous ICC event. A further positive development

was the official tournament app, which has been downloaded more than 4.5 million times and has been the number-one sport app in no fewer than 48 countries.”

“I believe that the legacy of this tournament will extend across the world and the quality of cricket, enhanced by a strong sense of sportsmanship and fair play, can resonate for the next generation of cricket followers.”

Srinivasan also hailed the ef-forts put in by umpires, referees and pitch curators. “Congratula-tions to our Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and Match Ref-erees, who have once again dis-played a high level of officiating throughout the competition. The curators and ground-staff who produced quality pitches. Finally, a special word of thanks to the un-sung heroes of ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 — the team of volun-teers in each of the cities whose assistance, courtesy and hospital-ity added enormously to the feel-good factor around the event.”

“As we reflect on the success of the World Cup 2015, it has rein-forced 50-over cricket as a hugely exhilarating format of the game, which attracts a large global follow-ing. It is with confidence that we look forward to World Cup 2019, which will be staged in the UK.” - IANS

ICC chairman paid

tribute to Cricket

Australia and New

Zealand Cricket for

the success of

the tournament PRAISING ALL: N. Srinivasan

DOUBLE STRIKE: Algeria’s Sofiane Feghouli, centre, celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal during their international friendly match against Oman in Doha on Monday. – AFP

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Indian women box, shoot, wrestle for recognition

NEW DELHI: For India’s female badminton champion Saina Ne-hwal, newly crowned world No. 1, it’s been a tough climb to the top in a patriarchal country that has long neglected women athletes.

Although badminton is keenly followed in India, cricket has long been the national obsession, over-shadowing all other sports and whose male stars command eye-popping sums.

“It’s difficult to play any other sport in a cricket-mad country, especially if you are a woman,” said Nehwal on the sidelines of the Indian Open in New Delhi, a title she clinched on Sunday night after downing Thailand’s Ratcha-nok Intanon.

“But I’m glad mindsets are slowly changing. Girls have started saying that if boys can do it, girls can do it as well,” Nehwal, who becomes the first Indian women to reach the No.

1 spot this week when the latest rankings are released.

With the defeat of India’s crick-eters in the World Cup semifinal last week in Australia, Indian media have been quick to hail the 25-year-old, who has battled inju-ries and a string of defeats by the dominating Chinese, as the coun-try’s new sporting hero.

She joins a series of women -- from boxing’s Mary Kom to tennis star Sania Mirza -- who have suc-ceeded on the world stage, outper-forming the men who have long re-ceived the lion’s share of attention and resources back home.

‘Check out’ my skills A new advert showing on Rupert Murdoch’s Star Sports urges view-ers to “check out” the skills and de-termination of these women, who include shooters, hockey players and five-time world champion Kom.

The one-minute video, pro-duced this month for International Women’s Day, also takes a swipe at male chauvinistic attitudes, with the women sweating through

gruelling practice sessions and defiantly asking: “You wanna check me out?”

“Then check out my serve, my bull’s eye, check out my black eye, check out my medals (pause) my Olympic medals”.

Although women say their suc-cesses are being increasingly rec-ognised, they still struggle to make a living — in contrast to the coun-try’s cricketers who were show-ered with gifts including luxury cars and hard cash when they won the last World Cup in 2011.

When the glitzy Indian Pre-mier League kicks off next month, cricket’s flamboyant all-rounder Yuvraj Singh stands to make 160 million rupees ($2.6 million) after being bought at a player auction for the event.

“In India you can’t make a pro-fession out of sport unless you are a cricketer,” said Heena Sidhu, who last year became India’s first world No. 1 pistol shooter, al-though she has since fallen to 16 in the rankings.

“When I started out seven, eight

years back it was really tough to break through,” added Sidhu, say-ing Indian society still has tradi-tional expectations of women.

“It’s not as if people come marching to your house (de-manding you quit) but what soci-ety thinks affects the parents and eventually it trickles down to the children,” she said.

‘No one will marry you’ Sports writer Prem Panicker said slowly changing attitudes have giv-en rise to a generation of successful women on the sporting fields.

“As we moved into the 2000s, disposable incomes increased, parents were more willing to al-low their daughters to engage in (sporting) activities. As demand increased, so did coaching facili-ties,” Panicker said.

“I don’t think it is any one factor as it is an indication of a progres-sive attitudinal shift, aided by ex-ternal factors.”

The likes of Nehwal and Mirza, who has racked up 24 doubles ti-tles including the Miami Open this

month, have also inspired girls to take up sport, according to experts.

A Bollywood movie has been made about Kom, who overcame grinding poverty and an initially disapproving father to win her titles including an Olympic bronze medal.

But Geeta Phogat, India’s first woman wrestler to qualify for the Olympics, in 2012, said she and others have had to overcome hur-dles men simply do not face.

“When I started wrestling my family had to face a lot of criticism from community elders,” Pho-gat, 26, said. “People said I would bring only shame to my family, no one would want to marry me,” said Phogat, who as a young athlete trained with men in northern In-dia because there were no women wrestlers.

“I was told wrestling is a man’s sport. But I have proved that wom-en can wrestle and win medals as well,” said Phogat, who won gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

“You can’t ignore women any more.” - AFP

Although women say

their successes are

being increasingly

recognised, they still

struggle to make a

living — in contrast

to the country’s

cricketers

Heena Sidhu

Saina Nehwal

Sania Mirza Mary Kom

RC CUP CRICKET TOURNAMENT FROM FRIDAYThe fourth edition of RC Cup MRI ball cricket tournament, scheduled to be organised at Al

Maha Recreation Club in Bausher from Friday, has attracted 24 teams. The participating

teams are Coastal, Asfandyar XI, HCC, Golden Sendan, Al Faisal, CBD Challengers, Havoc,

Master XI, Asad XI, Al Dasser Friends, S.S. Friends, Muscat Lions, National Gas, Cheers XI,

Friends XI, BHR Boys, Managalore United, Indo-Pak Riders, AACC, FCC, OEF and Darsait

XI. The tournament is being sponsored by Al Kaif Trading, CBD Challengers, Siraj Quriyat

Trading LLC, New Sur Restaurant, Muscat Parts Centre LLC, Red Rose Furnishing Co. LLC,

Strong Light Electronics, Al Majadief International, Desert Storm LLC, Muscat Pharmacy,

Al Dasser Trading, Sahara International LLC and Golden Ghubra House LLC. — Supplied photo

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Hummels leaves door open on United switchBERLIN: Manchester United-target Mats Hummels admits he is pondering his future at Borussia Dortmund and refuses to rule out a transfer abroad.

“Everyone knows how much I like Dortmund, but I also want us to have a powerful team which has a powerful approach,” Hummels told German magazine Kicker.

“I have had a few conversations recently, which were very relevant for me to get a general overview, but I haven’t made a decision about my future.”

The 26-year-old Germany inter-national has a Dortmund contract until 2017.

But the World Cup-winner has long been courted by United, whose coach Louis van Gaal is seeking a defensive leader with the Premier League giants reported to be willing to meet Dortmund’s 35 million euro (US$37.9m) price tag.

“I often think that I definitely want to move abroad, but then there are other days where I say I don’t need it,” added Hummels.

“Basically, I think a foreign move would be good both for both per-sonal and footballing development, so it could well transpire that I’d someday like to move abroad.

“It’s definitely not the case that I

am saying I will definitely go.“When there is a decision from

me in which direction things are heading, I’ll talk about it openly.

“I’m not a fan of those who claim they are staying, but behind the scenes have already secretly set-tled the matter.”

Dortmund host defending Ger-man champions Bayern Munich on Saturday and have moved up to mid-table in the Bundesliga after a disas-trous set of results left them bottom of the league at the start of February.

They have a 12-point gap to bridge if they are to qualify for the Champions League next season and are 31 points behind current leaders Bayern. - AFP

F O O T B A L L

Bank Muscat to receive applications for Green Sports scheme till April 23MUSCAT: Bank Muscat, the flag-ship financial services provider in the Sultanate, will receive applica-tions from sports clubs and teams till April 23 for greening and in-frastructure development of play-grounds across the Sultanate.

The Green Sports CSR pro-gramme was launched by the bank in 2012 to lay the foundation at the grass-root level for a sus-tainable sports infrastructure.

In a record time, the bank achieved notable success in de-veloping green fields in all parts of the Sultanate, thus contributing to realising the sporting dreams of clubs and teams. In the first three years of the programme, the bank supported 34 sports clubs and teams to green their playing fields.

As part of its commitment to promoting a sporting nation, the bank this year widened the scope of Green Sports initiative beyond greening of playgrounds.

From 2015, sports clubs and teams seeking Green Sports sup-port can choose from four options to green their playgrounds with natural or synthetic turf, or avail support to affix flood lights or wa-ter sprinklers.

The move is aimed at provid-ing wider representation to sports clubs and teams in building up sustainable sports infrastructure in all parts of the Sultanate.

Green Sports application forms are available at the CSR depart-ment in the bank’s head office or can be downloaded from the Bank

Muscat website www.bankmus-cat.com

The bank will consider only new applications and completed forms must be submitted before April 23.

The bank’s support to the ini-tiative stems from its commit-ment to giving a helping hand to all deserving teams and clubs in Oman to green as well as provide infrastructural support for play-grounds in Oman.

The bank recognises that local clubs wield immense influence on neighbourhood communities, especially youth, hence clubs with modern infrastructure facilities can help raise sporting heroes for the country.

The funding criteria of the

programme, include that sports clubs/teams should have been in existence for three years with a minimum membership of 300 youth from the local community.

The Green Sports initiative reiterates the bank’s support to Oman’s youth who represent the future of Oman.

True to its commitment to sup-porting varied sporting activities in the country, Bank Muscat re-mains at the forefront in offering the required encouragement to youth. As the nation’s leading fi-nancial institution, Bank Muscat aims to motivate and provide the required impetus for youth to ex-cel in all arenas and thereby con-tribute to the development and progress of Oman.

P R O M O T I N G S P O R T S

OFA lauds Oman Air for engaging football fans

MUSCAT: The Oman Foot-ball Association (OFA) thanked Oman Air, the official partner of the Oman national football team, for their support of the new fan zone during Oman’s international friendly match against visiting Malaysia last week.

As part of the match day enter-tainment, Oman Air ‘produced some new fun activations that fans could take part in and win prizes’ in the lead up to the game that took place on Thursday night. These were agreed as part of dis-cussions taking place between

the respective teams at OFA and Oman Air, with both parties look-ing to increase the enjoyment of fans coming to Oman national team games.

On show at the Malaysia game, which Oman won by a 6-0 margin, was a new “Shoot the Hole” game, where fans had to shoot a football into targets on a picture of one of Oman Air’s panes, and a “Speed Shot” test – where fans could test how powerful their strength of their shots.

“And all fans who took part had a chance to walk away with gifts including wristbands and Omani

national team jerseys.Sultan Al Zadjali, Acting

General Secretary of the OFA, was very happy with these activations.

He said: “We are determined to provide better entertainment for all our fans, and we are working hard to improve the facilities on a match day. I want to thank Oman Air for the great support that they showed for this game (and looking ahead for future games).

“Their activations were very well received, and I thought that the fans really took to them. To have a partner show such much

interest to interacting with the fans is a really good sign for our fans.”

Oman Air were also on show with some of their cabin crew at the game, to welcome VVIP guests and also to be a part of the special team photo shoot that took place in honour of His Majesty’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said return to Oman.

The next key games for the Oman team will be the start of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers tak-ing place in June, and the Oman Air fun zone will be available for all fans once more, with further prizes on show.

As part of the match

day entertainment,

Oman Air conducted

some new fun

activities that fans

could take part in

and win prizesMats Hummels

Zidane wants to be coach of Real, France

PARIS: World Cup legend Zin-edine Zidane says he wants to be the coach for Real Madrid or France.

The former Juventus and Real star, who has been learn-ing the ropes as coach of Real’s reserve side Castilla, set out his ambitions on French channel Canal Plus.

Would he take over the Real job? “Yes I would go for that,” he said, while adding “there is al-ready a coach (Carlo Ancelotti) in place who is doing a great job.”

“Do I feel ready if I was of-fered the first team? You are never ready, but if it happened like that I would have to say yes.”

The 42-year-old added France, with whom he won the World Cup in 1998, to his wish list in the programme late Sunday.

“I was a player in this team and it would be good, one day (to be coach), but for the moment there is a coach (Didier Des-champs) who is doing a great job. But yes I have this target, this ambition,” Zidane said.

The former world player of the year retired from club and international football in 2006. Zidane said he has time to wait until taking on a bigger post. “I am doing fine at Madrid.” - AFP

F O O T B A L L

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Sensei Simson conferred Hall of HonourMUSCAT: Simson VZ, the Chief Instructor and Technical Director of Ko-In-Chi Academy of Martial Arts, has earned the distinction of being the first in GCC and the second person in India to receive the Hall of Honour for 2014. The award instituted by Action Martial Arts Magazine of the US, is con-ferred once in four years.

The award is considered as one of the most prestigious one in the field.

Close on the heels of receiving the coveted award, Simson, who is the martial arts instructor at Kalabhavan Music & Art Centres located at Ruwi, Al Ghubra and Al Hail, has received the authorisa-tion from the World Kalaripay-attu Federation to form the Oman Kalaripayattu Federation.

The sports body to be formed needs to be registered under the

law of registration of Oman so as to be considered for recognition by the world body.

Simson’s 35-year illustrious career in martial arts gets a boost

with his endeavour to establish the Oman Kalaripayattu Federation gaining ground.

Over the three decades, he is into teaching the students in vari-

ous schools in India and abroad for over 27 years now.

Sensei Simson has obtained 5th Dan Black Belt from Ko-In-Chi Academy, 5th Dan Black Belt from

Danny Lane’s World Martial Arts Federation, US, 5th Dan Black Belt from Karate Association of India, 5th Dan Black Belt from World Ka-rate Federation and 2nd Dan Black Belt in Taekwondo.

In 1984, he became the Interna-tional Champion at the Shotokan Karate International Tournament. He was also selected as the National Champion (under 55 Kg) category for the years 1991-92 and 1992-93 at the All India All-Style Open Full Contact Karate Tournament.

The Ko-In-Chi Academy of Martial Arts (Shotokan), India, the pioneers in imparting training in Sports Karate and Full Contact Karate, was established and reg-istered in 1986 by Grand Master Sebastian, 7th Dan Black Belt from Danny Lane’s World Martial Arts Federation, U.S.

M A R T I A L A R T S

OMAN ENGINEERING WIN RIGHTWAY INTERNATIONAL TITLE Oman Engineering defeated Asad XI by 159 runs to emerge champions at the Rightway

International Cricket Tournament organised at Power Plant Ground last Friday. Waseem

of Oman Engineering was adjudged man of the match and the best bowler trophy went to

Nadeem of Al Faisal. Tariq Al Belushi, Proprietor of Rightway, was chief guest on the occa-

sion. The winners and runners-up were presented with the cash prizes and the trophies

by Sujith Pillai, Chief Organiser of the tournament, Reju Mathew, Representative of Oman

UAE Exchange, and Vineeth Bhaskar, Representative of New India Assurance. — Supplied photo

Atkins, NBO B record victories

MUSCAT: Atkins registered a five-wicket win against Times of Oman in a Khimji Ramdas spon-sored Intermediate Cup T20 knockout match.

Opting to bat first, Times of Oman scored 167 for the loss of five wickets in 20 overs with opener Syed Kazimi chipping in with a top score of 75 runs.

In reply, Atkins reached their target scoring 169 for the loss of five wickets in 17.3 overs.

Michael Ignatius Winston scored 57 while Sayyed Waseem Raza made 41.

Brief scores: Times of Oman 167 for 5 wickets in 20 overs (Syed Kazimi 75, Mohamed Al Fayd 34 n.o.; Push-paraj Manoharan 2/24, Nasser Haider

2/34) lost to Atkins 169 for 5 wickets in 17.3 overs (Michael Ignatius Win-ston 57, Sayyed Waseem Raza 41, Sajeev Thamarath Mohanan 22 n.o.; Sherbaz Safdar 2/38).

NBO B in quarters National Bank of Oman B (NBO B) recorded a 24-run win against Mustafa Sultan Enterprises (MSE) to earn a place in the quar-

ter finals of the Khimji Ramdas-sponsored T20 Junior Cup knock-out tournament.

Opting to bat first, NBO B scored 149 for five wickets in 20 overs with opening batsman Ho-meshwar Ratre (57) and Samuel Kett (41) making valuable con-tributions. Skipper Abdulla Alam picked up three wickets.

MSE in their turn were bowled out for 125 in 18.5 overs. Moham-med Shahid top scored with 42 runs. Vinod Rajan took three wickets.

Brief scores: NBO B 149 for 5 in 20 overs (Homeshwar Ratre 57, Samuel Kett 41, Siddharth Oza 23; Abdulla Alam 3/21) bt MSE 125 in 18.5 overs (Mohammed Shahid 42, Rajendra Sawant 28; Vinod Rajan 3/25, Homeshwar Ratre 2/25, Sid-dharth Oza 2/29).

Starcare down Douglas OHIStarcare defeated Douglas OHI by four wickets in another Junior Cup T20 knock-out match.

Batting first, Douglas OHI were bowled out for 156 in 18.4 overs. Vinod Vijayakumar batting at No.8 scored 36. Meesam Ali picked up three wickets.

Starcare, playing with 10 men, reached their target scoring 159 for six in 19.1 overs. Arun Mano-har opening the batting top scored with 50 runs.

Brief scores: Douglas OHI 156 in 18.4 overs (Vinod Vijayakumar 36, Santosh Ku-mar 20, Kaja Mohaideen 20; Meesam Ali 3/25, Jestin Augustin 2/31) lost to Star-care 159 for 6 in 19.1 overs (Arun Mano-har 50, Anoop Kumar 29, Sidhi V.S. 29 n.o.; Ramsheela Prasad 2/19).

Opting to bat first, Times of Oman scored 167

for of five in 20 overs. In reply, Atkins reached

their target scoring 169 for five in 17.3 overs

INTERMEDIATE CUP: Atkins celebrate their victory over Times of Oman.

JUNIOR CUP: NBO B after their victory over MSE. – Supplied photo

JUNIOR CUP: Starcare pose for a group photo after defeating Douglas ODI. – Supplied photos

Russia to have anti-racism inspector

MOSCOW: The Russian Foot-ball Union (RFS) has created a new position of anti-racism inspector, the organisation’s president Nikolay Tolstykh said on Monday.

“In accordance with a deci-sion with Fifa, the RFS will in-troduce the position of an anti-racism inspector,” Tolstykh told reporters.

“Alexei Tolkachev, the head of the RFS department for safety work with supporters, will take up this new position,” the Rus-sian federation chief added.

Russia is hosting the 2018 World Cup and the RFS has punished several clubs this sea-son following racist behaviour by their fans. - Reuters

F O O T B A L L

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COMSECTIONC T U E S DAY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5

Tell me if this scenario sounds fa-miliar to you: You get into work. You’re feeling productive. You’ve powered through approximately

three e-mails/order forms/whatever qualifies as progress in your particular industry when — BAM — your best friend signs onto Gchat and sends you a video of a dachshund puppy getting pushed around in a tiny shopping cart.

No big deal! — you think. You will return to e-mails in approximately five seconds, right after you check Facebook and an-swer that e-mail your mom sent you about the date of your cousin’s wedding. But on Facebook, someone has posted a really

Internet essentially promises two things: instant gratification and an endless, var-ied, hyper-stimulating buffet of entertain-ment and information options. If you don’t like one thing within the first five seconds, you can (and, science says, do) jump to something else.

The Internet, it turns out, incentivizes the exact types of behaviours and thought processes that characterise ADHD.

The question now is whether the symptoms of compulsive Internet use and the symptoms of ADHD share any deeper commonalities. Researchers have, it’s worth noting, linked the two before: ADHD is a common “comorbidity,” or ac-

try at Cardiff University. In other words, people with ADHD might just go on the Internet more.)

There’s even some research, in fact, that the Internet could actually help peo-ple with attention disorders. Last June, a team of Swedish researchers trialled an online therapy programme for adults with the disorder; adults in the programme saw a sharp reduction in their symptoms, even though (or perhaps because?) the therapy was administered online.

Whatever the exact relationship be-tween the Internet and ADHD, Pietrus says it is important to realise that push-ing back against these symptoms requires

interesting article about J. Crew, which reminds you (about two sentences in) that you wanted to check J. Crew’s site real quick to see if it was spring sale time yet, which — oh hey!! Push notification from Instagram!

It’s no secret that the Internet pre-sents a bevy of distractions. Many of us have grudgingly accepted perpetual scat-terbrain as a hallmark of modern life, as unavoidable as Facebook and the Kar-dashians. But in a lecture at SXSW last week, University of Chicago psycholo-gist Michael Pietrus floated a provoca-tive hypothesis: Maybe these aren’t just Internet-age annoyances but something

companying condition, of Internet addic-tion, which means that people who use the Internet excessively are likely to also have symptoms of ADHD.

ADHD rates, much like Internet use, are also inexplicably up over the past 10 years: from 7.8 per cent of children in 2003 to 11 per cent in 2011, the last year the CDC measured. And while we tend to think of attention or discipline as a sort of constant, a matter of individual personal-ity, Pietrus points out that the brain can change — and it can change in response to how we use technology. “But which way the arrow of causality flows is the impor-tant question,” explained Peter Killeen,

a careful, intentional strategy. There’s a lot of research that suggests mindfulness and meditation could help people sustain their attention, even online; Pietrus also suggests techniques like expressive writ-ing or “chunking,” which helps short-term information stick in your mind.

“The biggest thing is to increase aware-ness and understanding of what social media and technology are doing to us,” he said. “Once we acknowledge the potential effects on our brains, we can make better-informed choices about our actions and behavioural patterns.” — Caitlin Dewey/The Washington Post

approaching an actual pathology. Maybe the Internet is giving us all the symptoms of ADHD.

“We are not saying that Internet tech-nologies and social media are directly causing ADHD,” Pietrus cautions. But the Internet, he says, “can impair functioning in a variety of ways ... that can mimic and in some cases exacerbate underlying at-tention problems.”

ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactiv-ity disorder, is one of the great spectres of 21st-century psychology. For parents of children who have it — and more than 1 in 10 do, per the CDC — ADHD is a be-havioural scourge, making their children

a former behavioural neuroscience re-searcher at Arizona State University who has written extensively on ADHD.

Killeen points out the classic parental fear of children developing ADHD from video games. There does indeed seem to be some indication that the attention-def-icit play games more — but is that because the games are giving them ADHD, because they’re more drawn to their flashiness than the average child, or because exces-sive gaming can delay social development in any child and it’s just more obvious in the ones with ADHD?

The case of Internet use is similar: The Web certainly may cause ADHD-like symp-

impatient, restless, impulsive and easily bored. For adults who have it — an esti-mated 4.4 per cent — the disorder can make it difficult to concentrate on one thing for any period of time.

Adults with ADHD, unlike children, usually aren’t “hyperactive” in the con-ventional sense. But they can be compul-sive, easily distracted, easily bored. They lose interest halfway through reading an article or completing a task. They’re “hardwired for novelty seeking,” Pietrus said — much like your average Internet junkie, opening 150 tabs at a time and clutching his smartphone in jittery hands.

After all, when you think about it, the

toms, and it could exacerbate the disorder in children and adults who suffer from it already... but there’s no evidence that Inter-net use could actually cause an otherwise healthy person to develop the disorder.

After all, ADHD is believed to have a range of underlying genetic causes, things you couldn’t just “catch” from a computer screen. And as Pietrus himself points out, there isn’t yet enough research to com-ment on causality. (“Showing something is ‘causal’ in psychiatry is really difficult because people with difficulties are often the ones that select specific types of en-vironment,” said Anita Thapar, a clinical professor of child and adolescent psychia-

LIFE & STYLE

It’s no secret that

the Internet presents

a bevy of distractions.

Many of us have grudgingly

accepted perpetual

scatterbrain as a hallmark

of modern life

INTERNET INDUCED

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EXTRAT U E S DAY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5

CAPUCHIN monkeys jump from branch to branch in the trees — eucalyptus, ma-hogany, rosewood — towering above. On the ground, coatis and lizards scuttle through thick mounds of decompos-ing rainforest biomass. Hik-ing along, we haven’t actu-ally seen any monkeys or coatis and I get only the brief-est glimpse of a lizard — its tail the length of my arm — before it disappears into deadfall and underbrush, but their rustling is non-stop.

Because humans are also scarce, I don’t mind the hid-den wildlife. Walking for sev-en hours smack in the middle of a city with over six million residents, we’ve only seen eight other people.

At 15 square miles, Tijuca National Park might be the smallest of Brazil’s 60-some national parks. But it’s smack in the middle of Rio. Any amount of green space in a city as populous as Rio is sweet. Tijuca is one of the largest urban forests in the world.

The city’s famous Christ the Redeemer statue is perched on the summit of one of the dozens of peaks in the park. There’s a tram that takes you there and also a hiking trail to the top. Sometimes the wait for the former is hours long. The latter, despite being terribly steep, can be so busy it feels like a mule train.

Elsewhere in Tijuca, though, it feels like a national park.

Tijuca Forest is secondary Atlantic Rain Forest. By the mid-19th century, the original Atlantic Forest ecosystem — Mata Atlântica in Portuguese — that greeted the Portuguese when they first came to this area in the early 1500s had been cut down to make way for sugar and coffee planta-tions. In 1861, the Brazilian king, Dom Pedro II, was pres-cient enough to realise this deforestation would affect the city’s supply of drink-ing water. He ordered the continent’s first reforesta-tion programme. In less than two decades, employ-ees and slaves planted over 110,000 seedlings.

A century after the refor-estation programme was first ordered, Tijuca was named a national park. I hired Anna Atz Asen of Free Tours de Aventura to show me around.

We meet at the Afonso Pena metro station and together hop onto a bus (the 301, 302 or 345 all work) so stuffed with passengers and climbing up a road so steep and twisty I many times wonder wheth-er we’ll actually make it to the top. Nearly an hour after boarding, we get off at Bar da Pracinha, at the Praça Afonso Viseu in Alto da Boa Vista. And that’s pretty much the last interaction with civilisa-tion we have for seven hours.

Instead of killing yourself though — you’ve got to stay alive long enough to enjoy the beaches, remember — hike just Pico da Tijuca, with a summit knob so rocky and ex-posed that in 1920, 117 stairs were cut into the side of it and a chain railing was installed. Also, the views from its sum-mit are the best of the day.

From Tijuca Peak’s 3,353-foot summit, I see Guanabara Bay, Bico do Papagaio Peak, Pedra da Gávea, Maracanã Stadium, the Rock of the Top-sail, Barra da Tijuca, and the Atlantic Ocean.

A peak almost directly to our south blocks views of Co-pacabana Beach, but we see neighbouring Ipanema Beach and then Leblon.

It is from Tijuca’s summit that the extent of Rio’s beach-es finally hits me. I thought Copacabana and Ipanema were the biggest beaches in the city. They’re nothing. I mean, of course they’re great — Copacabana is directly across the street from my ho-tel, has the softest sand my feet have felt since visiting Zanzibar’s beaches nearly a decade ago and the water’s warm enough to swim in —

but, to the west, past Leb-lon, in the city’s West Zone, where much of the construc-tion for the 2016 Olympic Games is happening, stretch miles and miles and miles more of white sand.

My last day in Rio, I explore these beaches. Driving west out of the city with a crew from Rio EcoeSporte Adven-tures, we pass more beaches than I can count, much less remember the names of.

I do remember Sao Con-rado, because that’s the beach where the paragliders and hang gliders who launch off Pedra Bonita land. And also Tijuca Beach, because it’s there where Sergio, a true Carioca (what natives of Rio are called) and Rio EcoeS-porte’s founder, alerts me to the presence of caimans, al-ligator-like creatures, in the brackish lagoons opposite the beach.

“But these are Carioca caimans,” he says. “They’re relaxed, like the people here. They’re no problem to you.” Evidently, the sharks some-times seen off these beaches got the same memo the cai-mans did. “Sharks here are relaxed, too. No problem,” Sergio says.

I’m told Prainha Beach, about an hour via our scenic back route from my hotel in Copacabana, is one of the best spots in the city to surf.

We drive past Grumarí without stopping. We’re headed to Praias Selvagens, Rio’s wild beaches, accessible only to those willing to hike.

Two hours by car from Copacabana, the neighbour-hood of Barra de Guaratiba is still in the city of Rio. Walk-ing up a residential street, past two- and three-storey houses painted every shade of the rainbow but all with red tile roofs, it doesn’t feel it, though.

Cutting across a steep, veg-etated hillside, we’re soon out of Guaratiba’s residen-tial area and looking several hundred feet down onto the Atlantic Ocean, which fills the horizon.

My day on Copacabana

was wonderful, and exactly what would be expected at a major beach in a big city: reading a novel for the first time in over a year and, with an attendant from the Co-pacabana Palace watching my lounger and belongings, getting up every so often to wade into the ocean to a point where it is just deep enough the waves knock me over.

Walking back across the isthmus, we head for the first wild beach, Praia do Perigoso. Its sand squishing up be-tween my toes, I’m no longer in Rio, but on some exotic, remote island. Or so I think. On a beach the size of five football fields, there are half a dozen people. This is not what I expect in Rio.

In the distance, islets rise out of the ocean. At our feet, emerald green waves — taller than those at Copacabana — crash into clean, white sand. “Perigoso means ‘danger,’ so this is ‘Danger Beach,’ “ Ju-lián says. “But I think the only danger here is that you won’t want to leave.” Sergio adds: “It’s Carioca danger.”

We swim, then find rocks to rest on. The sun dries us off quickly, and leaves a gritty lay-er of salt behind on my skin. The salt won’t last, so I look for a seashell to take home as a memento. There are none. But, where the beach meets the forest, there are nuts, still in their shells, everywhere. Of course the forests around the wild beaches are full of Brazil nut trees.

Brazil nuts are an entirely different beast than walnuts, but evidently, the trees they grow on are close enough to be reminiscent.

My time in Rio could end now, and I’d be happy. But Sergio has another adventure planned.

Less than an hour later, we’ve dropped off our beach supplies at the car and are standing, feet hip-width apart, on stand-up paddle-boards and making our way across the mouth of the Canal do Bacalhau in the protected area of Restinga da Maram-baia. Safely across — not that the crossing is at all techni-cal — Sergio points deep into a thicket of mangroves, most of their rainbowed roots ex-posed because it’s low tide.

He’s indicating the spot where he once saw one of the prettiest birds found in the area.

I can’t bring myself to look for birds, though. In addition to living in the Barrio da Tiju-ca lagoons, caimans live here, too. I might risk an afternoon on a beach that is danger-ous Carioca-style, but I don’t know whether I’m yet ready to meet any caimans, no mat-ter how relaxed they are.

And we don’t. An hour lat-er, we’re returning our pad-dleboards. We didn’t see any caimans, but neither did we see Sergio’s bird. Maybe it’s hanging out with Tijuca’s co-atis and monkeys. - Dina Mishev/

The Washington Post

THE SECRET OASES OF RIO DE JANEIRO

FRANCESCO Petrarch, a 14th-century Italian poet, said, “The aged love what is practical while impetuous youth longs only for what is dazzling.”

This deal features dazzling bidding, defence and declarer-play. What is the best defence against six spades, and how can South survive?

When this deal arose in a duplicate, there were as many different auctions as tables in play. The first round was predictable, but should South have passed over five clubs? If not, should he have bid five diamonds or five spades? Then, after West continued with five hearts despite the unfavourable vulnerability, should North have passed, doubled or bid five spades or six clubs? Who knows?

In this auction, North bid five spades, and South boldly raised himself to six spades.

I think South should have passed over five clubs, but when West rebid five hearts and North passed (assuming he did), it would have been reasonable for him to compete with five spades.

West led his heart ace. Then, judging that South would not have bid six spades with two low hearts in his hand, West did brilliantly to shift to a club.

Now declarer had to decide on the trump split. If it were 2-2, he could draw trumps ending in the dummy and run the clubs. But South felt that, given West’s bidding, 1-3 was more likely than 2-2.

Declarer, after winning the second trick in the dummy, cashed the spade ace, then played high clubs, discarding diamonds from his hand. When East ruffed the fourth club, South overruffed, led a low spade to dummy’s nine, drawing East’s remaining trump, and claimed.

— By Phillip Alder

C9

ENTERTAINMENT

Dazzling defence and declarer-play

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 2 9 7 7 8 2 6

6 1 4 2

4 7 9 3 5 1 2 8 1 7 6 9

3 2 8 5 6 2 3

8 5 3 6 1

4 2 8 9 3 1 7 6 5 3 6 7 2 5 8 4 1 9 9 5 1 6 4 7 8 3 2

5 8 3 1 9 4 2 7 6 2 7 4 8 6 3 9 5 1 6 1 9 5 7 2 3 4 8

1 4 6 3 2 9 5 8 7 8 3 2 7 1 5 6 9 4 7 9 5 4 8 6 1 2 3

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, M A R C H 3 1 , 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 [email protected]

26 Charge it27 Ended up ahead28 Swing off-course29 Run up a tab30 Fixes squeaks31 Dry, as wine32 High schoolers34 Geisha’s attire36 N.C. neighbour37 Moon track

38 Principle39 A Beatle40 Frat-party orders42 More, to some44 Get poison ivy45 “When We Was

—”46 Ms. Thurman of

filmdom48 Fall mo.

ACROSS 1 Sweet-talk 4 Fan’s shout 7 Greenish-blue

duck11 Knock — — loop12 Switch positions13 Kibbles ‘n Bits

rival14 Hobbyists16 Goldfish17 Raj headquarters18 Fable author20 USN officer21 Profundity23 Ave. crossers26 Utterly

exhausted27 Lacking strength28 Cultured dairy

product31 Hidebound33 With a twist to

one side34 Quick-witted35 Petite, plus36 Alto or tenor38 Mo. neighbour41 It may be false43 Water sprite

45 Firecracker part47 Giving a lift49 Iowa college

town50 Business abbr.51 Gear teeth52 Quartet member53 Moppet54 Med. plan

DOWN 1 Amazons 2 Paperless exams 3 Solemn promise 4 Not me 5 Thrilled beyond

words 6 Strong point 7 Baja snack 8 Passed by, as

time 9 Loan abbr.10 Cut with a

sweeping motion11 Slowly vanish15 Quilt filler19 Library warning22 Wolf down24 Put out a runner25 Firmament

SWARNAJEET GADAGMarch 31, 2012

VISHAK VAITHIYANAATHANMarch 31, 2001

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

The Lovers (Action) (12+) Cast: Josh Hartnett, Tamsin Egerton 4.00, 8.00, 10.00 & 11.55 pmCP No: 813 A Little Chaos (2D) (Comedy) (PG12) Cast: Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman 2:00 PM; CP No: 816 (12+) Has West El Balad (Arabic/ Drama) Cast: Elham Shahein, Zeina, Fathy Abdul Wahab2.00 & 6.00 pmCP No: 817 (15+)Ex- Machina (Thriller/ Sci:Fic) Cast: Oscar Isac, Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson6.00, 10.00 & 11.55 pmCP No: 815 (15+)Get Hard (Comedy) Cast: Will Farell, Kevin Hart, Alison Brie4.00 & 8.00 p.m.CP No: 814 (15+)

100 Days Of Love (Mal) (Comedy) Cast: Dulquer Salmaan, Nithya Menon3:30, 6:30 & 9.30pm at Cinema Main Valiyavan (Tamil) (Action) Cast: Jai & Andrea Jeremiah 3:30, 6.30 & 9:30pm at Cinema -2Fireman (Mal) Cast: Mammootty, Unni Mukandan 3:45, 6.45, 9.45pm at Cinema 3 Temper (Telugu) (Act) Cast: Jr Ntr, Kajal Agarwal 3:45pm Cinema-4NH 10 (Hindi) (Act) Cast: Anushka Sharma, Deepti Naval6:45 & 9:45 pm Cinema -4Next Change: Komban (Tamil) Nannbenda (Tamil) and Detective Byomkesh Baksy (Hindi)

Get Hard (2D) (Comedy) (15+) Cast: Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Alison1:45, 5:45, 9:45 pmHome (2D) (Animation) (PG) 3:45 pmHome (3D) (Animation) (PG) 2:00, 5:30 pmEx-Machina (2D) (Drama/Sci fi) (15+) Cast: Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson3:50, 7:45, 9:45 pmTheeb (2D) (Adventure/Drama) (15+) Cast: Jacir Eid Al-Hwietat, Jack Fox6:00, 7:50 pmClown (2D) (Drama I Horror) (18+) Cast: Eli Roth, Peter Stormare, Laura4:00, 11:45 pmA Little Chaos (2D) (Comedy) (PG12) Cast: Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman, 7:15 pmThe Lovers (2D) (Action) (12+) Cast: Josh Hartnett, Tamsin Egerton 9:30 pmInsurgent (3D) (Adventure I Sci Fi) (PG12) Cast: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, 11:45 pmInsurgent (2D) (Adventure) (PG12) 1:45 pmThe Gunman (2D) (Action) (15+) 11:30 pm

10:30 AMHome (3D) (Animation) (PG)2:15 & 4:00 pmGold Class: 1:15 pmEx Machina (Sci-fi/Drama) (15+)Cast: Alicia Vikander, Domhnall12:15, 5:50 & 9:45 pmGold Class: 7:15 & 11:15 pmCrazy Beautiful You (2D) (Action) (PG12)Cast: Daniel Padilla, Kathryn Bernardo 5:30 pmGet Hard (2D) (Comedy) (15+)Cast: Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Alison7:45 & 9:45 pmGold Class: 3:15 & 9:15 pmA Little Chaos (2D) (Comedy) (PG12)Cast: Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman 11:15 AMClown (2D) (Horror) (18+)Cast: Eli Roth, Peter Stormare, Laura1:30 & 11:45 pmTheeb (2D) (Adventure) (12+)5:30 pmGold Class: 7:45 pm

Insurgent (3D) (Sci-Fi) (PG12)Cast: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort 11:45 pmCinderella (2D) (Adventure) (PG)Cast: Lily James, Hayley Atwell, Richard3:30 pmHome (2D) (Animation) (PG)

SCREEN 1NH 10 – Hindi (Suspense) (12+)Cast: Anushka Sharma , Neil Bhoopalam, Ravi Jhankal, Darshan Kumaar3.30, 6.30, 9.30 pm

SCREEN 2 Valiyavan – Tamil (Action) PG3.45, 9.45 pmCast: Andrea Jeremiah, Jai, Bala Saravanan100 Days of Love – Malyalam (Romance) – PG9.45 pm

Insurgent – 3D (PG12) (Adventure)7:15, 11:30 pmThe Gunman – 2D (15+) (Action) 11:45 pmEx Machina– 2D (15+)(Drama) Cast: Alicia Vikander, Domhnall3:45, 5:45, 9:45 pm Get Hard – 2D (15+) (Comedy)Cast: Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Alison4:30, 7:45, 9:30 pmHome – 2D (PG) (Animation) 2 pmHome – 3D (PG) (Animation) 3:45, 5:30 pmCharlie Countryman – 2D (15+) (Comedy) Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Evan Rachel Wood, 3:00 pmHaz West El Balad – 2D (Drama)Cast: Elham Shahein, Horeya Farghaly, 5:00 pmTheeb – 2D (12+) (Adventure) Cast: Jacir Eid Al-Hwietat, Jack Fox7:15 pmValiyavan – 2D (Tamil) (Romance)Cast: Jai, Andrea Jeremiah 9:15 pmThe Lovers – 2D (12+) (Action) Cast: Josh Hartnett, Tamsin Egerton, 2:30, 11:45 pmClown – 2D (18+) (Drama |Horror)Cast: Eli Roth, Peter Stormare, Laura

The Lovers – 2D (12+) (Action) Cast: Josh Hartnett, Tamsin Egerton 5:45, 9:30 pmTheeb – 2D (12+) (Adventure)Cast: Jacir Eid Al-Hwietat, Jack Fox7:15 pmEx Machina – 2D (15+) (Drama)Cast: Alicia Vikander, Domhnall3:30, 8:00, 11:45 pmGet Hard – 2D (15+) (Comedy)Cast: Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Alison6:15, 7:45, 10:00 pmHome – 3D (PG) (Animation) 4:00, 5:30 pm100 Days of Love – 2D (PG) (Romance)Cast: Nithya Menon, Sekhar Menon, Dulquer Salmaan9:00 pmThe Gunman – 2D (15+) (Action) Cast: Javier Bardem, Sean Penn11:45 pmInsurgent – 3D (PG12) Adventure, 4:00, 11:30 pm

Insurgent – 3D (PG12) Adventure,6:30pmThe Gunman (15+) (Action) Cast: Javier Bardem, Sean Penn6:05pmGet Hard (Comedy) (15+)

Ex Machine (2D)(15+) (Sci-Fi) Cast: Alicia Vikander, Domhnall4:00, 9:45pmThe Lovers (2D) (12+) (Action) Cast: Josh Hartnett, Tamsin Egerton 12:15, 9:30pmInsurgent (3D)(PG12) (Adventure) 1:45, 11:45pmThe Gunman (2D)(15+) (Action) 11:30pmA Little Chaos (2D)(PG12) (Comedy) 11:30AMCinderella (2D)(PG) (Drama/Family) 4:00pmGet Hard (2D)(15+) (Comedy) 12:00, 5:30, 7:30pmHome (2D)(PG)(Animation) 10:15AMHome (3D)(PG)(Animation) 2:00, 3:45, 6:00pmClown (2D) (18+) (Drama/Horror) 2:15, 11:15pm100 Days of Love (2D) (PG) (Mal) 8:20pm (Comedy) Valiyavan (2D) (Tamil)( Action) 5:50pmTheeb (2D) (12+)(Arabic) 7:45pm

8:40 pmEx Machina (Drama | Sci-Fi) (15+) 4:15, 9:55 pm100 Days of Love (Mal) (Romance) Cast: Nithya Menon, Sekhar Menon 10:30 pm (PG)Theeb (Arabic) (Adventure) (12+) Cast: Jacir Eid Al-Hwietat, Jack8:10pmThe Lovers (Action ) (12+) 11:45 pmHome (3D) (Animation) (PG) 4:45pm

Cast: Dulquer Salmaan, Nithya Menen SCREEN 3100 Days of Love – Malyalam (Romance) – PGCast: Dulquer Salmaan, Nithya Menen 3.45, 6.45 pmValiyavan – Tamil (Action) PG9.45 pmCast: Andrea Jeremiah, Jai, Bala

6:30, 11:30 pm100 Days of Love – 2D (Malayalam) (TBC ) (Comedy | Romance) Cast: Nithya Menon, Sekhar Menon, Dulquer Salmaan8:30 pm

C10

FIND-IT-ALLT U E S DAY, M A R C H 3 1 , 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., [email protected] 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 12.16pmAsr 3.43pmMaghrib 6.27pmIsha 7.38pm Fajr (Tomorrow) 4.45am

Sunset 6.22pmSunrise (Tomorrow) 6.01am

High tide 7:19pm 7:18amLow tide 1:36am ---

W E A T H E R

OMAN

Max 32Min 23

Max 33Min 27

Max 33Min 28

Max 39Min 23

Max 37Min 28Max 39

Min 22

Max 38Min 23

Max 31 Min 24

Mainly clear skies over most of the Sultanate with chances of early morning low level clouds or fog patches over the southeastern coast.

EXPECTED WINDS: The winds will be northeasterly light to moderate becoming variable light at night along Oman sea coast, southerly to southeasterly light to moderate along Arabian Sea coast and northwesterly over rest of the Sultanate.SEA STATE: Slight along most of Oman coasts with maximum wave height of 1.25 metres.

HORIZONTAL VISIBILITY: Good over most of the Sultanate becoming poor during fog.THE NEXT 48 HOURS OUTLOOK: Mainly clear skies over most of the Sultanate with chances of high cloud advection over the north governorates. Chances of early morning low level clouds or fog patches over the Arabian Sea coast. Moderate to fresh southwesterly winds and moderate to rough sea along the southeastern coast.

Max Min

GULFAbu Dhabi 34 22Doha 35 20Dubai 30 21Kuwait 28 19Manama 29 21Riyadh 33 17

WORLDAthens 18 11Baghdad 26 11Beijing 17 7Berlin 8 2Boston 8 -3Cairo 27 14Colombo 32 25Frankfurt 13 3Hong Kong 25 21Istanbul 14 9Johannesburg 21 12Kuala Lumpur 32 25Lisbon 22 10Paris 13 6Perth 22 14Singapore 29 25Tokyo 20 11Toronto 5 -2

WORLD

Max 10Min 1

Max 27Min 18

Max 3Min -5

Max 33Min 23

Max 26Min 14

Max 23Min 20

Max 3Min 1

Max 33Min 25

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 0110WY423 BEIRUT 0115WY201 BOMBAY 0120WY235 HYDERABAD 0135WY601 DUBAI 0150WY345 ISLAM ABBAD 0150WY241 DELHI 0155WY431 TEHRAN 0155WY271 JAIPUR 0200WY657 BAHRAIN 0205WY821 KUALA LUMPUR 0205WY637 ABU DHABI 0205WY123 MUNICH 0210WY371 COLOMBO 0210WY667 DOHA 0225NL769 LAHORE 0230WY691 DAMMAM 0235WY901 SALALAH 0240PK282 SIALKOT 0300TK775 ISTANBUL 0315PK226 KARACHI 0315ET625 ADDIS ABABA 0450EK867 DUBAI 0455FZ042 DUBAI 0510QR1133 DOHA 0520EY385 ABU DHABI 0525WY3301 MUKHAIZNA 07154H562 DACCA 0745GF561 BAHRAIN 0745WY903 SALALAH 0800WY603 DUBAI 0800WY917 KHASAB 0815WY323 KARACHI 0920WY263 LUCKNOW 0920WY215 TRIVANDRUM 0920WY291 CALICUT 0920WY327 LAHORE 0930FZ044 DUBAI 0935WY385 MALE 0940WY245 DELHI 0955WY231 HYDERABAD 0955G9115 SHARJAH 1005WY815 BANGKOK 1010WY203 BOMBAY 1030WY905 SALALAH 1030WY605 DUBAI 1030WY373 COLOMBO 1040WY337 KATHMANDU 1040WY717 ZANZIBAR-DARESSLAM 1045EK863 DUBAI 1055WY311 CHITTAGONG 1100EY383 ABU DHABI 1105WY3303 MUKHAIZNA 1115QR1129 DOHA 1115WY919 KHASAB 1145G9842 RAS AL KHAIMA 1210GF563 BAHRAIN 1215QR8551 DUBAI WORLD CENTRE-DOHA 1220WY927 SALALAH 1220WY631 ABU DHABI 1220WY223 COCHIN 1235IX350 CALICUT 1310WY253 MADRAS 1315FZ038 DUBAI 1315WY663 DOHA 1330WY101 LONDON HEATHROW 1400WY113 FRANKFURT 1400WY645 KUWAIT 1405PK192 GWADUR-TURBAT 1405WY143 MALPENSA 1415WY131 PARIS 1420WY609 DUBAI 1420WY405 CAIRO 1430BG024 CHITTAGONG 1500WY3305 MUKHAIZNA 1515IX818 MANGALORE 1530WY671 MEDINA 1535KU678 ABU DHABI-KUWAIT 1625WY675 JEDDAH 1630G9110 SHARJAH 1645WY613 DUBAI 1700FZ046 DUBAI 1700WY913 SALALAH 1735WY623 DUBAI 1820QR1127 DOHA 1845WY681 RIYADH 1845WY907 SALALAH 1850GF565 BAHRAIN 1855WY661 DOHA 1900WY647 KUWAIT 1900EK865 DUBAI 1905WY695 DAMMAM 1910WY653 BAHRAIN 1920SV535 RIYADH 2000G9117 SHARJAH 2005WY909 SALALAH 2015WY611 DUBAI 2025WY635 ABU DHABI 2040TG508 KARACHI-BANGKOK 2040FZ048 DUBAI 2040WY915 SALALAH 21104H561 JEDDAH 2215FZ050 DUBAI 2225WY817 BANGKOK 22356.00E+82 BOMBAY 2245AI908 MADRAS 2300AI974 DELHI 2310QR1135 DOHA 2320GF567 BAHRAIN 2325UL206 COLOMBO 2335WY673 JEDDAH 2350EY381 ABU DHABI 2350

FLT NO DEPARTURES TO ETD AI986 BOMBAY 0005LX243 DUBAI-ZURICH 0020BA072 ABU DHABI-LONDON HEATHROW 00259W539 BOMBAY 0025LH619 ABU DHABI-FRANKFURT 0050WY685 RIYADH 0105WY251 MADRAS 0110WY201 BOMBAY 0120WY225 COCHIN 0125WY235 HYDERABAD 0135WY601 DUBAI 0150WY341 LAHORE 0150WY281 BANGALORE 0150WY431 TEHRAN 0155WY241 DELHI 0155WY643 KUWAIT 0200WY821 KUALA LUMPUR 0205WY657 BAHRAIN 0205WY637 ABU DHABI 0205WY123 MUNICH 0210WY371 COLOMBO 0210WY667 DOHA 0225WY383 MALE 0235WY901 SALALAH 0240WY847 JAKARTA 0245PK230 LAHORE 0315TK777 BAHRAIN-ISTANBUL 0350EK867 DUBAI 0455FZ042 DUBAI 0510QR1133 DOHA 0520EY385 ABU DHABI 0525WY3921 DUQUM OMAN 0740GF561 BAHRAIN 07454H562 DACCA 0745WY903 SALALAH 0800WY603 DUBAI 0800WY3301 MUKHAIZNA 0800WY917 KHASAB 0815WY215 TRIVANDRUM 0845WY263 LUCKNOW 0920WY323 KARACHI 0920WY291 CALICUT 0920WY347 ISLAM ABBAD 0920NL769 LAHORE 0930FZ044 DUBAI 0935WY385 MALE 0940WY245 DELHI 0955WY231 HYDERABAD 0955WY843 MANILA 1000G9115 SHARJAH 1005WY815 BANGKOK 1010WY273 JAIPUR 1030WY905 SALALAH 1030WY605 DUBAI 1030WY203 BOMBAY 1030WY253 MADRAS 1040WY337 KATHMANDU 1040EK863 DUBAI 1055WY311 CHITTAGONG 1100EY383 ABU DHABI 1105IX554 TRIVANDRUM 1110QR1129 DOHA 1115IX442 COCHIN 11159W533 COCHIN 1135WY919 KHASAB 1145WY655 BAHRAIN 1210G9842 RAS AL KHAIMA 1210GF563 BAHRAIN 1215WY631 ABU DHABI 1220WY3303 MUKHAIZNA 1300IX350 CALICUT 1310PA451 LAHORE 1315FZ038 DUBAI 1315WY663 DOHA 1330WY113 FRANKFURT 1400WY101 LONDON HEATHROW 1400WY153 ZURICH 1405WY645 KUWAIT 1405WY927 SALALAH 1415WY143 MALPENSA 1415WY609 DUBAI 1420WY405 CAIRO 1430WY413 AMMAN 1455WY675 JEDDAH 1630FZ046 DUBAI 1700WY613 DUBAI 1700WY913 SALALAH 1800WY623 DUBAI 1820QR1127 DOHA 1845WY681 RIYADH 1845WY907 SALALAH 1850GF565 BAHRAIN 1855WY647 KUWAIT 1900WY661 DOHA 1900EK865 DUBAI 1905WY695 DAMMAM 1910WY653 BAHRAIN 1920G9117 SHARJAH 2005WY909 SALALAH 2015WY611 DUBAI 2025FZ048 DUBAI 2040WY635 ABU DHABI 2040WY915 SALALAH 2110AI978 HYDERABAD-BANGALORE 2200FZ050 DUBAI 2225KL442 DOHA-AMSTERDAM 2230WY817 BANGKOK 2235WY411 AMMAN 22409W529 TRIVANDRUM 22406.00E+82 BOMBAY 2245AI908 MADRAS 2300AI974 DELHI 2310WY677 MEDINA 2310QR1135 DOHA 2320GF567 BAHRAIN 2325WY673 JEDDAH 2350EY381 ABU DHABI 2350

A I R L I N E S

—www.met.gov.om

TUESDAYFLT NO ARRIVALS FROM ETA WY636 ABU DHABI 0005WY406 CAIRO 0005WY682 RIYADH 0005WY676 JEDDAH 0005WY648 KUWAIT 0010WY816 BANGKOK 0015WY910 SALALAH 0030WY916 SALALAH 0125NL768 LAHORE 0130PK281 ISLAM ABBAD-SIALKOT 0200PK225 KARACHI 0215TK774 ISTANBUL 0215QR1132 DOHA 0345ET624 ADDIS ABABA 0350EK866 DUBAI 0355EY384 ABU DHABI 0405GF560 BAHRAIN 0405FZ041 DUBAI 0415WY658 BAHRAIN 06404H562 JEDDAH 0645WY638 ABU DHABI 0650WY902 SALALAH 0655WY678 MEDINA 0700WY686 RIYADH 0700WY412 AMMAN 0705WY114 FRANKFURT 0715WY144 MALPENSA 0720WY154 ZURICH 0720WY692 DAMMAM 0725WY674 JEDDAH 0730WY668 DOHA 0735WY132 PARIS 0800WY602 DUBAI 0805WY202 BOMBAY 0815WY432 TEHRAN 0815WY102 LONDON HEATHROW 0820FZ043 DUBAI 0850WY272 JAIPUR 0855G9114 SHARJAH 0915WY236 HYDERABAD 0920WY242 DELHI 0920WY346 ISLAM ABBAD 0930WY252 MADRAS 0940EK862 DUBAI 0940QR1128 DOHA 1010EY382 ABU DHABI 1015WY3302 MUKHAIZNA 1045QR8550 DOHA 1050WY604 DUBAI 1110WY918 KHASAB 1115G9841 RAS AL KHAIMA 1120GF562 BAHRAIN 1130WY424 BEIRUT 1130WY372 COLOMBO 1140FZ037 DUBAI 1200IX337 CALICUT 1210WY904 SALALAH 1215WY818 BANGKOK 1305PK191 GWADUR 1320WY606 DUBAI 1330BG023 CHITTAGONG 1345WY324 KARACHI 1355IX817 MANGALORE-ABU DHABI 1440WY920 KHASAB 1445WY906 SALALAH 1445WY3304 MUKHAIZNA 1445KU677 KUWAIT 1525WY632 ABU DHABI 1530FZ045 DUBAI 1555G9119 SHARJAH 1555WY328 LAHORE 1600WY204 BOMBAY 1710WY292 CALICUT 1720WY246 DELHI 1730WY610 DUBAI 1730WY264 LUCKNOW 1735WY232 HYDERABAD 1740WY216 TRIVANDRUM 1740QR1126 DOHA 1745WY664 DOHA 1745EK864 DUBAI 1750GF564 BAHRAIN 1810WY3306 MUKHAIZNA 1845SV534 RIYADH 1900WY822 KUALA LUMPUR 1910G9116 SHARJAH 1915WY646 KUWAIT 1925TG507 BANGKOK-KARACHI 1935FZ047 DUBAI 1945WY338 KATHMANDU 2010WY614 DUBAI 2030WY224 COCHIN 2045WY124 MUNICH 2105WY386 MALE 21104H561 DACCA 2115AI973 DELHI 2125WY624 DUBAI 21256.00E+81 BOMBAY 2130WY374 COLOMBO 2140WY312 CHITTAGONG 2140WY914 SALALAH 2140FZ049 DUBAI 2145WY254 MADRAS 2155AI907 MADRAS 2200QR1134 DOHA 2210WY928 SALALAH 2220UL205 COLOMBO 2225GF566 BAHRAIN 2240BA073 LONDON HEATHROW-ABU DHABI 2240EY388 ABU DHABI 2250WY672 MEDINA 2250WY908 SALALAH 2305AI985 AHMEDABAD-BOMBAY 2310WY662 DOHA 2315LX242 ZURICH-DUBAI 23209W540 BOMBAY 2325LH618 FRANKFURT-ABU DHABI 2330WY612 DUBAI 2335WY654 BAHRAIN 2340WY696 DAMMAM 2350WY717 ZANZIBAR-DARESSLAM 2355

WEDNESDAYFLT NO ARRIVALS FROM ETA

WY636 ABU DHABI 0005WY406 CAIRO 0005WY682 RIYADH 0005WY676 JEDDAH 0005WY648 KUWAIT 0010WY816 BANGKOK 0015WY910 SALALAH 0030WY916 SALALAH 0125PK229 LAHORE 0215TK776 ISTANBUL-BAHRAIN 0255QR1132 DOHA 0345EK866 DUBAI 0355GF560 BAHRAIN 0405EY384 ABU DHABI 0405FZ041 DUBAI 0415WY114 FRANKFURT 0610WY658 BAHRAIN 06404H562 JEDDAH 0645WY638 ABU DHABI 0650WY902 SALALAH 0655WY686 RIYADH 0700WY144 MALPENSA 0720WY674 JEDDAH 0730WY668 DOHA 0735WY644 KUWAIT 0735WY132 PARIS 0800WY602 DUBAI 0805WY202 BOMBAY 0815WY432 TEHRAN 0815WY102 LONDON HEATHROW 0820NL768 LAHORE 0830FZ043 DUBAI 0850G9114 SHARJAH 0915WY342 LAHORE 0920WY242 DELHI 0920WY236 HYDERABAD 0920WY226 COCHIN 0930EK862 DUBAI 0940WY252 MADRAS 0940WY282 BANGALORE 1000IX443 COCHIN 1010QR1128 DOHA 1010EY382 ABU DHABI 1015IX549 TRIVANDRUM 10209W530 TRIVANDRUM 1035WY3922 DUQUM OMAN 1035WY604 DUBAI 1110WY918 KHASAB 1115G9841 RAS AL KHAIMA 1120GF562 BAHRAIN 1130WY372 COLOMBO 1140FZ037 DUBAI 1200WY384 MALE 1205IX337 CALICUT 1210WY904 SALALAH 1215PA450 LAHORE 1215WY3302 MUKHAIZNA 1230WY818 BANGKOK 1305WY606 DUBAI 1330WY324 KARACHI 1355WY906 SALALAH 1445WY920 KHASAB 1445WY632 ABU DHABI 1530FZ045 DUBAI 1555WY348 ISLAM ABBAD 1625WY3304 MUKHAIZNA 1630WY656 BAHRAIN 1630WY216 TRIVANDRUM 1705WY204 BOMBAY 1710WY292 CALICUT 1720WY246 DELHI 1730WY610 DUBAI 1730WY264 LUCKNOW 1735WY274 JAIPUR 1740WY232 HYDERABAD 1740QR1126 DOHA 1745WY664 DOHA 1745EK864 DUBAI 1750GF564 BAHRAIN 1810WY822 KUALA LUMPUR 1910G9116 SHARJAH 1915WY254 MADRAS 1920WY646 KUWAIT 1925FZ047 DUBAI 1945WY338 KATHMANDU 2010WY614 DUBAI 2030WY848 JAKARTA 2055WY124 MUNICH 2105AI977 BANGALORE-HYDERABAD 2105WY386 MALE 2110KL441 AMSTERDAM-DOHA 2120AI973 DELHI 2125WY624 DUBAI 21256.00E+81 BOMBAY 21309W534 COCHIN 2140WY312 CHITTAGONG 2140FZ049 DUBAI 2145AI907 MADRAS 2200WY914 SALALAH 2205QR1134 DOHA 2210GF566 BAHRAIN 2240BA073 LONDON HEATHROW-ABU DHABI 2240EY388 ABU DHABI 2250WY414 AMMAN 2255WY908 SALALAH 2305AI985 AHMEDABAD-BOMBAY 2310WY662 DOHA 2315LX242 ZURICH-DUBAI 23209W540 BOMBAY 2325LH618 FRANKFURT-ABU DHABI 2330WY612 DUBAI 2335WY654 BAHRAIN 2340WY928 SALALAH 2345WY696 DAMMAM 2350

BORN today, you are nothing if not unusual. This simply means that you do not fit easily into the normal mould of one born under your sign — it certainly doesn’t have to imply anything sinister at all! You are quirky, idiosyncratic and, above all, highly independent. You will go to great lengths to set yourself apart from the crowd, and you are not to be denied! Like so many Aries natives, you are quite ambitious and will work tirelessly to achieve your goals. What makes you different are the little things — those personal strategies and tactics that you develop to further your pursuit of happiness.

You are likely to be instantly recognisable and known to many. But the truth is, only a precious few really know you intimately, for you are anything but an open book. You are quite an expressive individual, yet there is always something rather mysterious about you that keeps most people from getting close to you.

Also born on this date are: Ewan McGregor, actor; Christopher Walken, actor; Al Gore, politician; Shirley Jones, actress and singer; Cesar Chavez, labour leader; Rhea Perlman, actress; Richard Chamberlain, actor; William Daniels, actor; Rene Descartes, mathematician and philosopher; Joseph Haydn, composer; Gabe Kaplan, actor and comedian.

A loved one may be trying to force your hand. Stand firm, and don’t let anyone tell you that you aren’t doing the right thing.

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]

A cooperative effort pays off handsomely for everyone involved. You’re eager to see the big picture when all is said and done.

A good friend is eager to benefit from your expertise in a certain area. Be sure you’re not doing yourself a disservice, however!

Both good luck and bad could combine to put you in a position that you can exploit to your distinct advantage.

You may think you’ll learn something by watching your competitors, but in fact, you may only be passing time. Get out there and compete!

You may not get what you think you deserve, but you’re actually in line to receive something even better very soon.

You may think that you’re seeing a certain someone everywhere, but in fact, he or she may only live in your imagination right now.

An underling begins a slow and steady rise, and you’ll be the one he or she has to displace in order to make it to the top. Be ready.

PISCES [Feb. 19-March 20]

It’s not what you know how to do that will be most important, but rather what you don’t know. It’s time to face this key reality.

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]

You’ll have a chance to demonstrate just how much you know, even as you study up on those things you don’t know quite as well.

A minor error is affecting you quite dramatically. It’s time to take your case to the one who can do something about it.

You may be waiting for someone to come to you with a special request, but now is not the time. This doesn’t mean you can’t get ready!

C11


DRIVE SLOWER LIVE LONGER

If a glue did not stick to the inside of the tube or bottle, you might think it must not be a very good glue.

On the other hand, clinging glue has annoyed parents and children at-tempting to scoop out the remaining bits with their fingers.

This is one of life’s little problems. Liq-uiGlide, a company started by a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech-nology and one of his graduate students, has come up with a solution for it: a coat-ing that makes the inside of the bottle permanently wet and slippery. The glue quickly slides to the nozzle or back down to the bottom.

The company announced recently that Elmer’s Products Inc. had signed an ex-clusive licensing agreement for the use of such coatings in glue containers. “We certainly see a chance for a competitive advantage,” said Anthony Spath, associ-ate manager for innovation and business development at Elmer’s.

LiquiGlide, in Cambridge, has also li-censed its technology to a packaging com-pany in Australia. The idea there is to make the inside surface of paint can lids slippery so paint slides back into the can instead of sticking to the lid and drying. The dried bits fall into the paint, leading to bumpy walls and clogged painting equipment.

The technology could also have major environmental payoffs by reducing waste. In a few years, “we expect it to be ubiqui-tous,” said J. David Smith, the graduate stu-dent turned chief executive of LiquiGlide.

Tests by Consumer Reports in 2009 found that much of what we buy never makes it out of the container - up to a quarter of skin lotion, 16 per cent of laun-dry detergent and 15 per cent of condi-ments like mustard and ketchup.

“It’s pretty crazy, getting mayonnaise out,” said Kripa K. Varanasi, a professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, who is Smith’s thesis adviser and co-founder of LiquiGlide.

Mayonnaise and toothpaste are what scientists call Bingham plastics. A Bing-ham plastic, named after Eugene Bingham, a chemist who described the mathematical properties, is not made of plastic; the term describes a highly viscous material that does not flow without a strong push.

How to make a slippery surface has been an interest for many scientists and engineers with many potential uses.

When water or other liquids flow through a pipe, the layer of liquid next to the pipe wall typically sticks. Farther from the pipe wall, the liquid flows, fast-est at the centre. “Different layers of water are sliding past one another, and therefore

there is friction, which is viscosity, and that is why you need to pump it,” said Nee-lesh A. Patankar, a professor of mechani-cal engineering at Northwestern Univer-sity, who is not involved with LiquiGlide.

The trick is to find a way around the so-called no-slip boundary condition. “What people have tried to do is, can we have something between the solid surface and the liquid which will help the liquid slide?” Patankar said.

One example a droplet of water skitter-ing across a hot pan. The droplet is riding on a layer of steam like a hovercraft, not touching the pan.

Patankar and other scientists have been investigating superhydrophobic surfaces. A hydrophobic surface repels water; a su-perhydrophobic surface, as one might im-agine, really repels water. Inspired in part by lotus leaves, the surface of a superhy-drophobic material looks rough, at least under a microscope. Water rolls up into balls, sitting on the tips of the rough sur-face, but mostly on air trapped between the droplet and the rough surface. The droplets roll off easily.

That technology has had some suc-cess. Rust-Oleum, for example, sells a superhydrophobic treatment devel-oped by a company called NeverWet in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. But the mi-croscopic roughness can be damaged, and then water flows in, displacing the pockets of air, and sticks to the no longer slippery surface.

Because air dissolves into water, supe-rhydrophobic surfaces can also lose slip-periness when submerged for long peri-ods. That makes it impractical for ship hulls, for instance. But Patankar and his colleagues have shown that with a clever choice of texture, trapped water vapour could serve as the persistent layer sepa-rating the water from the surface.

LiquiGlide’s approach is similar, but it uses a liquid lubricant, not a gas.

“What could be a solution that provides sort of universal slipperiness?” Varanasi said. The idea we had was, ‘Why not think about trapping a liquid in these features’?

Varanasi and Smith worked out a the-ory to predict interactions among the surface, the lubricant and air. Essentially, the lubricant binds more strongly to the textured surface than to the liquid, and that allows the liquid to slide on a layer of lubricant instead of being pinned against the surface, and the textured surface keeps the lubricant from slipping out.

“We’re not defying physics, but effec-tively, we are,” Smith said.

A mayonnaise bottle could be coming by early next year, the founders say. Easier-to-squeeze toothpaste could arrive in 2017.

LiquiGlide, with 20 employees, just moved to a larger office, and this month announced a $7 million venture capital investment. The company is also explor-ing the industrial applications origi-nally envisioned, including coatings for petroleum storage tanks and pipelines. That could not only reduce the energy needed to push materials through the pipes, but also speed cleaning of tanks, with fewer chemicals.

“There are significant savings from a sustainability perspective,” Varanasi said. -Kenneth Chang/The New York Times News Service

AN UNEXPECTEDLY high percentage of young people ex-perience ‘exploding head syn-drome’, a new study reveals.

Exploding head syndrome is a psychological phenomenon in which people are awakened by abrupt loud noises, even the sensation of an explosion in their head. The researchers found that nearly one in five of college stu-dents interviewed said they had experienced it at least once. It was so bad for some that it sig-nificantly impacted their lives, he said. “Unfortunately for this minority of individuals, no well-articulated or empirically sup-ported treatments are available, and very few clinicians or re-searchers assess for it,” said lead researcher Brian Sharpless from Washington State University. The study also found that more than one-third of those who had exploding head syndrome also experienced isolated sleep pa-ralysis, a frightening experience in which one cannot move or speak when waking up. People

with this condition will literally dream with their eyes wide open. In fact, both exploding head syn-drome and isolated sleep paraly-sis have been misinterpreted as unnatural events.

The waking dreams of sleep paralysis can make for convincing hallucinations, which might ac-count for why some people in the Middle Ages would be convinced they saw demons or witches. The results appeared online in the Journal of Sleep Research. The disorder tends to come as one is falling asleep. Researchers sus-pect it stems from problems with the brain shutting down.

“When the brain goes to sleep, it’s like a computer shutting down, with motor, auditory and visual neurons turning off in stag-es. But instead of shutting down properly, the auditory neurons are thought to fire all at once,” Sharp-less said. “That’s why you get these crazy-loud noises that you can’t explain, and they’re not ac-tual noises in your environment,” he said. -IANS

‘Exploding head syndrome’ not a supernatural event

WITH NEW NONSTICK COATING, THE WAIT, AND WASTE, IS OVER

A coating developed by a start-up

company makes the inside of a bottle

permanently wet, allowing viscous fluids like ketchup

to pour out easily

HEALTH

T U E S

C12


I fundamentally object to the phrase “guilty pleas-ure”. What is the point of it – that we can only like certain things in a cer-

tain way because they’re consid-ered a bit embarrassing?

Please. I’ve tried to do away with the whole “let’s like that but only ironically because oth-erwise other people might sneer at us” attitude because I’d rather be sincere about my cultural tastes than feel obliged to have endless chin-stroking conversa-tions about Wes Anderson’s col-our palettes.

So, it follows that I take of-fence when people ask me if my love of the Fast and Furious franchise is a “guilty pleasure”. Nope. This, for the pretend-ig-norant, is the gas-guzzling, car-centric action film series, star-ring Vin Diesel and the late Paul Walker, whose seventh instal-ment hits cinemas this week.

Given that critics usually consign the films to the realm of boy-racer fantasies, many find this 32-year-old woman’s intense love for their majesty difficult to understand. But while I might not be their tar-get audience, I am an audience member nonetheless, and one whose deep-rooted love for ac-tion movies makes me evangeli-cal in my defence of them – for, make no mistake, FaF is too good to be left to the teenagers. Don’t believe me? Fine. As Dom Toretto, Diesel’s reluctant hero might say, let me give you a rea-son to stay…

The series first sped into our lives almost 15 years ago with 2001’s The Fast and the Furi-ous; based on a magazine article about New York street racing, it was pitched by its studio as a tale of “rival Los Angeles street teams who use street racing as a means of establishing pow-er”. However, that description, befitting a more sombre film, directed by Michael Mann, say, didn’t do justice to the re-sult: a pile-up of revving cars, gyrating women and rap music, topped off by the best “shooting the air in frustration and anger” moment since Point Break. It was shallow – retrograde, even – but so uniquely ridiculous, it touched brilliance.

A key part of its appeal was the chemistry between its two leads, Diesel’s street race gang leader Toretto and his clean-cut adversary, Walker’s undercover FBI agent Brian O’Conner. We saw O’Conner switch sides, no-tionally as a result of falling in love with Toretto’s sister, Mia, but it was clear from the first rev that bromance was the real driv-er. An unexpected hit, it prompt-ed inevitable sequels: 2Fast-2Furious, which erroneously lost Diesel, and the third, Tokyo

Drift, which moved to the Far East with a completely new set of leads. The latter was a gam-ble that didn’t pay off – like any sequel that effectively starts all over again, it lost fans who didn’t want to invest in a new “family”. It was the worst box-office per-former of the series so far, and it felt, even to die-hard fans like me, like the series might be running out of NOS gas.

GAME-CHANGERBut then came the game-chang-er: the nononsense(ly) moni-kered fourth instalment Fast and Furious. In a move that should be studied in film classes across the world about how to rescue a dying franchise, FaF4 brought the original lead cast back together and, crucially, broadened the scope of the se-ries beyond car-racing with a story that sent Toretto and O’Conner on a revenge mission for the death of a loved one. Here was a can’t-fail plot, to satisfy even non-petrolheads.

And lo, a decade into exist-ence, the series accelerated into top gear. Fast Five took us to Rio, and introduced the one actor that could elevate the franchise even further – Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. His inclusion in this movie as a DEA agent pitted against Toretto’s crew not only raised the stakes for our gang

of anti-heroes but also meant we got to see Riddick fight The Scorpion King, in a showdown that was action movie fans’ very own Rumble in the Jungle.

Fast Five also featured one of the greatest car chase scenes ever committed to film – a se-quence involving a bank vault that was only topped by the fina-le of Furious 6, in which the gang tried to stop a plane taking off what seems to be an infinite run-way by, essentially, using cars as weights. The sixth Furious also provided an extra adrenaline rush for British fans by travel-ling to London for a late-night race across Piccadilly Circus – as if it has ever been that empty – and paved the way for Furious 7, in an ingenious post-credits scene that had the cinema I was in on its feet, whooping in delight. You didn’t get that with The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Yes, the scripts might be, shall we say, repetitive: the number of car chases is probably on a par with the number of variations of the phrase “we don’t give up on family”. But, for unmitigated thrill value, FaF is untouchable. FaF has also succeeded where so many other Hollywood block-buster franchises fail – in the art of reinventing itself, whilst re-maining true to its roots.

Most excitingly, and unlike most other franchises out there, however, FaF isn’t working to a blueprint: unfettered by source material, it can career wherever it wants. And now, seven films in, the series has even acquired some emotional gravitas, follow-ing the untimely death of Walker last year. It’s a tragedy that hangs over Furious 7; Walker died half-way through shooting, and a seamless mix of body doubles and CGI trickery were employed to finish his scenes.

In terms of set-pieces, Furi-ous 7 has stepped it up yet again – and that’s not to mention the addition of Jason Statham, as the resident evil. But it’s the manner in which it sends off Walker that makes it linger in the memory. No spoilers, but let’s just say Furious 7 is this year’s first great weepie.

- Manisha Ferdinand/The Independent

FuriousThe ‘Fast and Furious’ franchise is not just

a guilty pleasure for boy racers

urio

It’s a tragedy that hangs over ‘Furious 7’; Walker died halfway through shooting, and a seamless mix of body doubles and CGI trickery were employed to finish his scenes

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, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5

RENT D2

OFFICES FOR RENT

Contact: 97377355 / 97307476, Email id: [email protected]

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.

DAILY GUIDE Email: [email protected] [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

FOR RENT

1bedroom, 2 bedroom + showroom,

18 November road Al Azaiba.

Contact 99565364 / 99617786

2 Bedroom Townhouse with

Swimming pool, free Wi-Fi for Rent

near British School in Madinat

Sultan Qaboos. Contact: 92197959 /

92502497

Flat for rent 1 & 2 bedroom available

behind Zaker Mall Al Khuwair.

Contact - 99530405

5 BHK villas with A.C Qurum, 29

near A. B. School. Contact 92144045

1,2,3 BHK flats & villas.

Contact 97799175

2BHK commercial Al Khuwair

R.O 400/-. Contact 92144045

Office furniture R.O 1500/-.

Contact 97799175

3 BHK Qurum R.O 425/-.

Contact 92144045

3BHK near Star Cinema R.O 400/-.

Contact 92144045

2BHK with A.C Ghubra R.O 350/-.

Contact 92144045

Deluxe two, three, bedroom flats

in Mumtaz /Wadi Kabir /Al Falaij

Wattayah. Contact 24707340 /

99472457

Shops and workshop for rent at

attractive prices in the area Bowshar,

Al Misfah. Contact 99414377

Flat with A/C for rent in South Al

Mabalh close to the mosque Tawab

in the first Tabut consists of two

rooms, living room, kitchen and

three toilets. Contact 99388995

Store with Mezzanine floor for rent

in Wadi Kabir near Majestic hotel.

Contact 99887907

5BHK villa Al Khuwair 33 garden

parking 800/-R.O. Contact 95178930

Printing press for lease.

Contact 97842797

Show room cum godown for rent in

Barka, Sohar, Muscat road.

Contact 99886530 / 92880411

1 / 3 BHK Flat Ghobrah, close to ISG

Way 4041, building 4390.

Contact 99319880

IBHK Flat at Hamriya - for fami-

lies. R.O. 200/- Contact – 99424470

– 9 Am to 7 PM

Near Indian School Ghubra

2 bedroom flat for rent.

Contact 99427574

2 Bedroom Centrally

Air-conditioned flat at CBD.

Contact : 94460790/ 24714625

2BHK at Honda Road Ruwi.

Contact 99224748 / 99332297

Looking for a cold room for rental.

Contact 99100146

Ghubra furnished room with

attached bath, dish, internet,

available for Executive person.

Contact 96117178

Villa in Bosher behind Dolphin,

5 BHK hall living room with split A/C

RO 650/- family only.

Contact 92479515

Spacious villa, 2 floors with swim-

ming pool garden, garage, servant

room, 3 bedrooms with seaside view,

three lounges, dining room, 5 bath

rooms in Qurum area rent R.O 1500/-

per month, 1 yr advance. Contact

99335594 / 95501858

D2 T U E S D AY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5

Flat Al Ghubra South first floor,

3BHK hall, living room split a/c for

family only 500/-. Contact 92479515

Flat Al Azaiba ground floor 4BHK

living room split a/c for family only

parking 550/-R.O. Contact 92479515

Flats shops and store for rent in

MBD area and Honda road. Contact

92433127/ 97293708/ 95150632

Flat for rent in Wadi Kabir near

Lulu 4BHK. Contact 97007934 /

92629232

300 Sq mts available in Wadi Kabir

suitable for warehouse or workshop.

Contact 96001855

Al Ghubra small house for rent 160/-

. Contact 95032152

Single room for rent at Al Khuwair

area with attach bathroom for Execu-

tive bachelor / single family. Contact

93941622 / 93835869

2 BHK flats Muttrah near Oman

House. Contact 97007934 /

92629232

Warehouse for rent in Al Misfah

Indl. area near Oman cement

1200 sq mtr to 3000 sq mtr.

Contact 99441688

Flat 4 rent south Al Mabelah.

Contact 95331177 / 95230355

2Bed room flat at Madinat Sultan

Qaboos, office space - 2/3 bedroom

type at Qurum. Contact 24566217/

24564686

Good quality apartment with 3

bedrooms in Al Khoudh, located

between University road and

Al Khoudh

Commercial Street. #99319829

Spacious 2 BR flat in MBD.

Contact 99713489

2 & 3 BHK Darsait School new

building. Contact 99024730

2 BHK & studio flat at Darsait 1SM.

Contact 99024730

2 bedroom flat in Al Ghubra near

Oman oil 18 November Street. OMR

330. Monthly. Tel: 99333479 or

95215360

Villa for rent with 4 bedroom at

Al Khodh, Rent 750/-RO.#92888115

Dental clinic for sale in Seeb area.

Contact 96903341

Scrap for sale Contact Mr. Ravi

99329514

For sale 2Nos. Forklift to inspection

Contact Mr. Mohammed Al Harthy

99427071

Used window A/C. Contact

97752395.

Used furniture of readymade gar-

ments shop. Contact 96441670

Land in Mawaleh for sale.

Contact 91155779

Industrial lands in (Mabella &

Misfa) for (sale & rent).

Contact 91155779

Farms in Barka main road for sale.

Contact 91155779

For sale work shop carpenter

with 4 clearances in Wadi Kabir.

Contact 99345137

Flat at Darsait. Contact 99326879

Urgent sale man tipper, Tata

Novus prime mover with trailer, Tata

Daewoo tipper, Tata water tanker,

Tata Hyup, Roller, Bitili, roller double

drum bitili, PTR Roller Bitili, Titan

paver, Volvo, back hoeloader, SDLG

wheel loader. Contact 92964673

Commercial lands for sale in Al

Ghubra /Mabella. Contact 91155779

New dental chair & instruments for

sale. Contact 92816015

3 floor building in Muttrah 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

Shop for sale at Ruwi. Contact

99103077

1BHK C.B.D. Contact 99024730

Building material shop for sale in

Al Hail. Contact 98003111

FOR SALE

One BHK flat for rent in Ghobra

with attach and common

bathroom. For Indian family.

Contact - 92322096

2BHK with split /AC in W.K behind

Sanaa furnishing.

Contact 96708000

2BHK in Al Ghubra, near Indian

School. Contact 96708000

We have 2BHK flats in Ghubra,

Ghala, Boushar Azaiba & Qurum,

Mabela very good price & locations.

Contact 93782735 / 99208033

We have 2BHK flats in Ghala

with large sitting hall & 3 toilets

new building main road. Contact

93782735/ 99208033

We have 150 sqm office in Ghubra

main road prime location Already

Glass partition done, 2 toilets and

pantry available. Contact 93782735

/ 99208033

3BR top class fitting flat , ideal for

top Executives Mumtaz area, Ruwi.

Contact 91287824

Flat for rent in Wadi Al Kabir,

2 rooms & 3 toilets next to Platinum

Gym. Contact 99210008

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

Flats/villas owned by ROP pension

fund available for rent in Muscat.

Contact 99349526

1,000 sq mtrs industrial land in

Misfah Industrial area near to

Khanco. OMR 1,500 Monthly. It has

Electricity and boundary wall.

Tel: 99333479 or 95215360

1 Bedroom attached toilet Al Khu-

wair area only for ladies or husband

and wife without children. Contact

9:00 pm to 7:00 am 95765719

Spacious 2 BHK flats in Ruwi

MBD area only on 350/- OMR.

Contact – 95122188 / 96441499

If require flats for rent in Wadi Ka-

bir please send messages through

Whatsapp or call – 99376454

Furnished room available on Seeb

share with small family

for couple working ladies.

Contact 96996938

DAILY GUIDET U E S D AY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5 D3

ACC. AVAILABLE

ACC. AVAILABLE

ACC. WANTED

Wanted a separate room near

Lulu Darsait. Contact 92481082

Furnished accommodation wanted for April, May for Keralite

family. Contact 99378397

Used household & office furni-

ture and electronic items. Contact

99834373, 97102699

BUYING/SELLING

AVAILABLE

LOST

NOTICE

1 bedroom attached toilet in

Al Khuwair bachelors/ family

R.O 140/-. Contact 95154331

WANTED

Looking for a contractor to build my

house. If you wish to apply for the

position, please feel free to contact

the following number: 94488999

Freelance HSE Advisor. Contact

93637030

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: [email protected]

M.V. FOR SALE

Delivery Van Renault for sale only

monthly installment R.O 143 /-, 2014

Model Renault station wagon Duster

2014 only monthly installment R.O

104 /-. Contact 93642648

Pajero – V6 price 8000/-(brown).

Contact 93731296

Toyota Camry white 2011 km -51000

R.O 4800/-.Contact 99561562

Toyota Fortuner Safari 2011July,

92000KM, Professor driven,

OMR9000. Contact 98813910

Furnished single room with A/C

attached bath room is available at

Rex road for non cooking Executive

Bachelor from 1st April 2015 only for

Indian. Contact 93085074

Semi- furnished room, separate

toilet & balcony for Indian Bachelor

130/-R.O. Contact 98928458

Room for rent in flat for bachelor /

bachelors near ISWK primary wing,

Way 6930 rent 100 OMR per month.

Contact 97687055 / 98001645

GF near furnished flat with A/C,

parking, 3BKH, 3bath, Mumtaz, Ruwi,

550PM, 1year advance contract.

Call 99241044

Fully furnished room with equipped

kitchen with sharing bathroom sea

facing balcony is available from 1st

April in Azaiba near Muscat Bakery.

Contact 95450250

Furnished single /sharing room

for Executive bachelor at Rex Road.

Contact 91752474

Single room with attached toilet in

AL Khuwair. Contact 94617422

Gubrah furnished room, attached

bath dish TV, WIFI, kitchen available

for Executive single person, couple.

Contact 99658689

FOR RENT

Independent rooms in Qurum /

Al Hail. Contact 95529970

Bachelor Sharing Accommodation

available in villa, rex road, ruwi.

Contact 94442157

Sharing accommodation at Wadi

Kabir attached room & sharing kitch-

en. Contact 95882866 / 96575016

Furnished room for Executive bach-

elor at Ruwi. Contact 92435784

Furnished room with attached bath-

room for non-cooking bachelor in

Ruwi RO 150/-. Contact 92478852

Room with separate bath available

for non cooking Executive at

Al Khuwair. Contact 99224185

2BR, 1BTR for Indian family ladies

near Ruwi Church.Contact 99746379

1B/R available for bachelors in

REX ROAD, Ruwi. Contact 99889590

Room in CBD area for non

cooking Executive bachelors free

WIFI, Advance deposit.

Contact 95934642

3 Bedrooms, with spacious hall &

3 bathrooms near ISM, Darsait

from 1st April 2015. Gsm 94288861Construction building material /

equipment for sale on urgent basis.

Contact 95526871

Building material shop with mate-

rial for sale in Al Musannah.

Contact 98053324

2 residential Lands together, one

610 and the other 600 sq mtrs, in

Al Haram on way to Barka. OMR 49

Thousand both. Tel: 99333479 or

95215360

558 Sq mtrs residential land in

Barka behind Lulu and near to

school. OMR 32 Thousand.

Tel: 99333479 or 95215360

Brand new UK made wheel balancer

for sale with accessories,

contact 94052713, 99885638

2 Prime Movers Man 2008 with 40

ton petrol tank each working at the

moment in Al Maha. Price OMR 35

Thousand each. Tel: 97000155 or

92688692

Ready mix concrete for sale.

Contact 99054673

Land for sale residential commer-

cial and residential and tourist and

industrial, and hotels for sale in

Muscat (Al Khuwair and the Qurum,

and crushed stone, and Bowshar,

and spite and Gala heights, and the

heights of the airport) to deal with

the buyer. Contact 99070093

Restaurant for sale well running

with open area and good parking

area. 3 new clearance also in Wadi

Kabeer near Mars hyper market.

Contact 99656863

23,886 Sq Mtrs Agriculture land

with water well in Al Salwa, Barka.

OMR 260 Thousand. Tel: 99333479

or 95215360

1.5 Toyota Yaris, 2008 Model,

160,000 KM, good condition. Expat

driven. Price RO 2450/- negotiable.

Call 91148453

Excellent condition Volks Wagen

Caddy 2013, 145000 km, unlimited

mileage warranty for 3 years for sale.

Contact 99822843

I, Francesca Frenchell Fernandes (holder of Indian passport No. G

6643200) D /O Mathias Cosmos

Fernandes having permanent

residence in 304, Jupiter Apts,

Yari Road, opp. St. Anthonys High

School, Versova, Andheri (W)

Mumbai - 400061 (complete postal

address in India) and presently re-

siding in Al Khuwair, P.O. Box 793,

PC 112 Ruwi , Muscat, Sultanate of

Oman (complete postal address in

Sultanate of Oman) intend to marry

Mr. Ajit Manjit Joginder Gill (holder

of Omani Passport bearing No.

02799612) S/o Manjit Singh Gill in

Embassy of India, Muscat. I swear

that I am marrying him at my own

free will and not under any duress

and intimidation. Any objection

towards this marriage may please

be communicated to Embassy of

India, Muscat, Diplomatic Quarters,

Al Khuwair, P.O. Box No. 1727, PC

112, Ruwi, Sultanate of Oman within

30 (thirty) days of publications of

this newspaper advertisement.

Sumon Miah Mojaffar Ali has

lost Bangladeshi Passport No. E

1901776. Finder please handover

to ROP.

Mohammed Ibrahim has lost

Bangladeshi Passport No. AB

8456062 . Finder please handover

to ROP

MATRIMONIAL

MATRIMONIAL

Vaniya Nair boy (Bahrain) 38 years

Visakam, Kannur. Contact 96146973

Jacobite boy, 28/175 fair, Diploma

working in Oman M4 ID - 4003130.

Contact 99097785 / 93977526

Keralite Syrian Christian Parents

seeking alliance from any Syrian

Christian Denominations Graduated

working girls preferably in Oman or

UAE for their son MBA 29/175-born

brought up in Muscat working in a

reputed organization.# 97226324

email: [email protected]

NRI

3 BHK, semi furnished Skyline

flat in Kaloor, Ernakulam near Po-

takhuzhi church for rent. Contact

91 9846777118 or 968 99324337.

Kerala Malankara Catholic girl

28/155 GNM, MOH Oman looking for

suitable match from Muscat /

Kerala (Pta dist) M4 ID 4002623.

Contact 96708960 / 95338210

We are looking for a Muslim Girl for

our son interested parents or daugh-

ter May. Contact 97664009

DAILY GUIDED4 T U E S D AY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION VACANT

MISCELLANEOUS

MEDICAL

MEDICAL

Email: [email protected] [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

ENGI./ELECT./TECH..

ENGI./ELECT./TECH..

DOMESTIC HELPER

CATERING

DRIVER

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

ADMIN

TOUR

ITSALES / MARKETING

SALES / MARKETING

Omani Citizen searching a job in

the field of computer Especially in

data base professional in operating

oracle SQL, PL/ SQL, form6i, Report

6i. Contact 96977368

Email: [email protected]

Professional Accountant B.Com,

CA CIA 10+ year’s exp.

Contact 94641805

Qualified Chartered Accountant with big 4 experience including in

Oman. No visa restrictions.

Contact: 92625576

Accountant Indian male 10 years

experience, 6 years in Oman with

Oman driving license seeking suit-

able job. Contact 97123002

Professional Accountant Finance

Manager, Chartered Accountant,

15 years experience in ERPs,

MS office. Contact 96264969

C.A with 11 years experience

(6 years in Oman, with NOC).

Contact 93731296

Chartered Accountant & MBA

Finance – Indian male, 29 years, Ex-

perience of 6 years in Accounts and

Audit including two years in Oman.

Seeking challenging job opportunity.

Mobile: 91094013


A South African male, with working

experience in Oman since 2009,

seeking a temporary position to long

term as a management consultant/

adviser/auditor, with experience in

management, customer care, HSE

and risk assessment.

Contact -00968 9827 0971.

Indian male 24years, 2+yrs exp. in

finance/administration on visit visa

seeking suitable position.

Contact: 24475596.

Indian female M.Com Finance, DCA

3 years experience in Accounts /

finance, knowledge in ERP & tally

seeking suitable position in corpo-

rate finance / banking /consulting.

Contact 96953705

Email [email protected]

MBA (in HR & Finance) & BBA (in

General Management) and 5+ years

experience in Administration & Fi-

nance in Oman, looking for suitable

opportunities.NOC available.

Contact: 93183137

Indian male, 7 yrs in FMCG-Logistics

and warehouse seeks placement. NOC

available. Contact 99684327

ACCA affiliate having more than 4

years experience looking for suitable

job in accounts audit & finance. NOC

available. Contact 91185127 Email:

[email protected]

Indian male MBA (fin & market-

ing) 9 years experience in business

development, healthcare insuring fin

& actng seeking suitable job on visit

in Oman. Contact 98653962


Finance Professional. Masters in

Finance with approximately 3years

of experience including GULF. Can

join immediately. 97259596.

[email protected]

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

A full time maid and a part time nanny is required in Qurum. For

more information contact at

00 968 98518580.

Part time maid required in

Al-Khuwair 25 on Sunday and

Wednesday, call 97093525

Indian Accounts / Audit assistant

with 2 years of experience currently

on a visit visa looking for suitable

job openings. Contact 94677338,

97041086


ACCA finalist and BSc from Oxford

Brookes University UK, having 18

months working experience, cur-

rently in Muscat on visit, seeking

immediate and suitable position.

Contact : 95375282

Wanted cook / Tandoor /Shawarma / maker. Contact 97939688

Accountant with NOC or release

who can join us with in 15 days.

Send your CV with expected salary.


Indian Accountant, Female, BBM

Graduate (Immediate joining) having

5years experience in India, Cur-

rently on Visit Visa Till 20th April’15.

Looking for suitable job. Contact-

94662416, E-mail:

[email protected]

Male, total 17 years experience in In-

dia & Oman - India - 9 years & Oman

- 8 years In the field of procurement,

material controller and accountancy -

Local release available (Noc)

Cont no. 91680124 , 98606546

Indian male 22 yrs B. Com Graduate

1 year exp in Accounts, currently on

visit visa. Looking for suitable job.

Contact – 94341848 /

Email – [email protected]

Required Barber. Contact

96964767

Wanted driver. Contact 95112461

Urgently required qualified &

experienced male Civil Engineer

with 10 – 15 years experience for a

Muscat based well known

construction company.


Fax: 24479675

Senior Project Engineer – Civil,

Graduate in Civil Engineering with

20 years of relevant experience

preferably 5+ years of experience in

Oman. Strong command over writ-

ten / spoken English & Arabic. Inter-

ested candidates send resume to

[email protected] Fax:

24437007

Architectural & Engineering

Consultancy Office looking for :

Manager / Civil Engineer 10 years

experience of the related job.

Contact 99243100

A reputed Multi franchise Automo-

tive centre in Oman is looking for

experienced in G.C.C for the post of service manager / incharge, Accountant, Senior Mechanics and Lube technicians. Send your

CVs to [email protected] or fax to

24568146 immediately

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED


Required qualified and IT teachers note: candidates for

teaching should have minimum

bachelor degree and having expe-

rience not less than 2 years. Please

submit your CV through email

till 29th of March 2015. For more

information please contact with

24498423


A leading fiberglass products

manufacturing company, required

experienced Sales Executives. Interested candidates please mail

CV to [email protected]

Experienced sales professionals for

digital media / advertising / Events.

Fresh Graduates with flair for sales

can also apply. Oman D/L essential.

Contact [email protected]

A leading group is looking for Sales Executives, min 2 years

experience in Building materials &

Electricals with driving license &

release/ NOC. Email CV to

[email protected]

or Fax: 24701683

Indian CA, male, having 12+ Years’

experience in the field of A/Cs,

finance, auditing, consultancy and

also knowledgeable in SAP B1,Tally

ERP ,etc. Working as Finance

Manager for last 2 years in Oman

and have valid D/L of Oman. NOC

available. PLZ contact: 98234761,

Email:[email protected]

Indian male 24 yrs MBA market-

ing 21 days visit visa looking for

marketing accounts and sales good

communication skills.

Contact 91379124


Indian Chief Accountant M.Com,

LLB, exp 7 yrs UAE, 2 yrs Oman with

D/L. Have NOC seeks placement

Contact 93346789

Indian male with 15 years experi-

ence on visit visa seeking suitable

job in maintenance of radio equip-

ments or HSE. Contact 96238294

Bachelor degree in business

(Accounting) from Majan College

searching for job with D/L and 2

years exp . Contact 96132149

Finance Manager, CPA, with more

than 15 yrs. of experience in GCC.

Fully knowledgeable in Finance,

General & Management Accounting .

NOC available. Contact 96209331

Indian female 7 years experience as

Accountant with good working knowl-

edge in Sap, Fico, Tally, ERP9 and

peachtree also having IELTS score

6.5 looking for immediate placement.

Contact +091 9495002094.


Sr. Accountant, B.Com, 10 years

experience in Oman, knowledge

in Tally & focus with D/L and NOC.

Contact 96742564

Accountant B.Com MBA Indian

male having 5 year G.C.C exp in

similar field with valid Oman D/L

& NOC available. Contact 91719385


Indian male currently in Oman

looking for a suitable placement

experience in Accounts, Computer,

AutoCAD , 3D studio Max, DTP

software’s, Office works.

Contact 98788518, Email:

[email protected]

Indian Chartered Accountant 15

years experience in KSA & Dubai.

EPR, Tally, Peachtree, SAP, MS Office.

Contact 0091 8086469422

Oman 99886373


Indian 34 yrs B.Com CA Inter pass

12 yrs exp in Audit A/C, Finance

on visit seeks suitable placement.

Contact 95585069

Urgently required travel agent for

travel agency having 1 year experi-

ence SABRE software.

Contact 91120003 or


Wanted experienced candidate for tours and rent a car Email: almoo-

[email protected]

Fax: 24796040

Wanted urgently one Staff Nurse with MOH license / prometric score

60 % and above and presently

available in Oman.

Contact 99375016

whatsapp 92960778 Email:

[email protected]

Wanted a young male Bangla-deshi MBBS doctor with three

years experience, for a private

medical clinic in Oman.

Contact 94209634

Urgently required an Orthodontist with MOH

to work at a reputed Dental Center

in Muscat.

Contact 968 99694723,

Email : [email protected]

Indian Male, 27 yrs MBA (Fin),

SAP, 4 Yrs Exp in Finance Seeking

Suitable Job with a Reputed Firm

Currently on Visit Visa #92481230

22 years of experience in Multina-

tional Companies & reputed firms

in Financial Management, Project

Management, Budgeting and Cost

control, seeking a strategic Finan-

cial/Management Accounting role

in a dynamic organization .

Contact : +971-506178139,

Wanted Salesman with driving

licence and car. Gsm : 98805474 or

email id: [email protected]

Urgently required Irrigation Engi-neers, B.Tech (Agri/Irri) for supervi-

sion 5 yrs experience.

Contact- secons.engineers@gmail.

com Contact 99244481

Urgently required for leading

company, Land Surveyor, Electrical technician, MEP foreman, Camp Boss. Fax: 24478522


Wanted for immediate appointment linemen, Electrician, Duct fabrica-tor, AC technicians, AC foreman HVAC, Procurement Asst. Engineer, minimum 2 years experience in Gulf

for all posts. Apply with bio-data to

[email protected]

immediately.

Looking for Assistant Workshop Manager, Automobile Engineering

with minimum 4 years experience

in vehicle modification works.

Contact: 97441935

Construction Company require Civil Engineer, minimum 2 years

experience. Contact 93806556

Sales man for a printing press.

Contact 97842797

Sales Executives needed for marble

& granite company with minimum

one year experience with driving

license. Good looking Indians only.

Email: [email protected] /

[email protected]

Need sales man for furniture show-

room at Barka with valued Oman

driving license. Contact # 91398380

/ 91398378, email id

[email protected]

An investment company wants to employ an Executive Secretary, minimum qualifica-

tion required diploma in office

administration, English & Arabic

language (writing & speaking),

experience not less than 5 years.

Email ID: [email protected]

last day of receiving CV would be

5th April 2015

Immediate placement (with or

without MOH) - Pharmacist - 3 nos, Asst. Pharmacist - 2 nos. Contact- 99338219 , 93240949

Urgently required Pharmacist. Contact 94200385/ 95206905/

97433142



DAILY GUIDESITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

MEDICAL

IT

IT

DRIVER

DRIVER

DESIGNER

ARCHI./ DRAUGHTSMAN

CATERING

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

Indian male 28 holding diploma in

hotel management with experi-

ence looking for suitable job.

Contact 94388320 Email:

[email protected]

Modular kitchen designer with

4 years Bahrain /Dubai experience

plus 10 years AutoCAD, 3D,

Photoshop& 20-20 Fusion.

Contact -96467673,

[email protected]

ADMIN/HR

Indian Male 27years, 5yrs exp. as

QA/QC Civil Engineer on visit visa

seeking suitable placement.

Contact-94372711

M.Tech Computer Science & En-

gineering, Indian female, Fresher,

looking for suitable vacancy.

Contact 96103071


Civil Engineer (Diploma) looking for

a placement. Contact 95200650

Indian Engineer 36 yrs BE ECE

14 + years of experience worked

with reputed companies in Oman

seeking a suitable position in sales,

marketing, product management,

project execution in an organization

of repute in Telecom / IT industry.

Contact 99771815


NOC available

Female, M. Tech Engineer, special-

ized in power electronics seeking

suitable posts currently on family

visa. Contact 96460373


B.Tech Electric Engineer looking

for suitable placement, now on visit

visa. Contact 92701339,


Part time structural designer of

Civil Engineering, villas, commercial

building etc.


D.A.E Civil experience 4 years.

Contact 91197271

Electrical Engineer having 5 years

of project experience up to 33KV,

having valid driving license. NOC

is available. Contact 94107952

/95538337

Mechanical Engineer Indian male

(B.Tech, asme.ndt, level 2 piping

course) having 1 year experience in

Automobile industry is seeking suit-

able placement. Contact 97800807

/ 95844631

Indian male, BE Aeronautical with

MBA in production & operations

management seeking suitable place-

ment. Contact 97738182 / 95097270

Indian Mechanical Engineer, 25

years with 5 years experience in fab-

rication (steel & pipe), machinery in-

stallation HVAC and Quality control

in welding & mechanical working in

Muscat and NOC available.

Contact 97270431


D.A.E Civil 4 years experience D/L

Oman. Contact 96719649

Civil Engineer with MBA have

10 years exp in construction and

roads projects management.

Contact 97046565

Omani Citizen BE Mechanical Engi-

neer with 1 year Experience looking

for job urgently. Contact: 95993315


Electrical Eng diploma 12 yrs exp

HV /LV - UG & OHL having NOC with

valid Oman D/L & Mazoon CEP.

Contact 96274568

Mechanical Engineer (BE) done

process piping, PDMS, Q.C welding

N.D.T course fresher on visit visa

looking for job. Contact 97359171


Electrical Eng. Degree (MEP) need

suitable job of construction 12 yrs exp.


Project Engineer, civil engineer

BSC, Building Construction 5 Years

Exp in Oman fluent Arabic, English

and good Hindi .Contact - 97858589

Indian Male, IT Support Engineer,

2 yrs in Oman & 5 yrs Indian experi-

ence. Contact 97311847

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

Indian male 2+yrs oman exp in HR.

joing immediatly. release available.

Contact :93671437

Indian male 26 years (MBA) (Op-

erations & Marketing) 2 years expe-

rience in administration, operations

and sales and marketing looking

for suitable placement on visit visa.

Contact 97920125

Indian male 36 yrs having 12 yrs of

experience in Oman in the follow-

ing fields- HR & Admin, Purchase,

Logistics, Operation. NOC available.

Ph: 93885680

GCC / Oil field experienced Indian

Graduate operations and administra-

tion / sales and business develop-

ment experiences, fluent Arabic &

English with Omani D/L looking for

immediate placement.

Contact 99086007

Indian female, 29 yrs, HR (MBA)

BSC 3+ yrs in HR & Admin India &

Oman seeking suitable placement.

Contact 95619537

Indian male, B.Com, almost 2 yrs

exp in Accounts & Admin on visit

visa. Contact 98546162

Indian male, MBA, 8 yrs experience

in HR with Oman D/L. NOC available.

Contact 98692434

Indian male, 13 yrs Gulf experience

in Admin / front office.

Contact 97941050

Over 14 years of Gulf experience

in Admin /HR /Logistics, fluent in

Arabic & English with D/L, looking

for suitable position.

Contact 95824598

Indian female B.Com with excellent

communication available for immedi-

ate joining full time or part time in

HR & Admin coordination.

Contact 98460262

EDUCATION

Pakistani male light vehicle driver

looking for job. Contact 99748264

Driver with car available.

Contact 96524904

Looking for a job as driver experi-

ence 9 years in Oman.

Contact 92517532

Diver available with car.

Contact 91553628

Bangladeshi Driver 18 years experi-

ence speak Arabic, English & Hindi

also. Contact 99191270

Looking for light driver job.

Contact 95141473

Light driver job. Contact 91376612

Indian male 24 years, Mechani-

cal Engineer,pdms.1 yr experience

in pipeline,16years in oman seek-

ing immediate placement

Contact 95775742

Environmental Marine Consult-ant 14 yrs PHD Nebosh EMS Auditor

teaching experience working in

Environmental consulting firm for

8 yrs in Muscat seeks posts like

Environmental expert. NOC avail-

able. Contact +968 91099060


Indian female M.SC, M.PHIL, BIO,

Informatics 1 yr experience in

college level seeks suitable place-

ment in schools and colleges.

Contact 92237504

Indian female, B.Tech biotechnol-ogy with strong computer skills

and 2 years experience as associate

research analyst (Media Monitoring)

in Nasdaq Oman seeking growth

oriented jobs. Contact 92044603

/918056169148 or

[email protected].

MANAGER/ SUPERVISOR

MISCELLANEOUS

Lab Technician, Civil (8yrs Gulf

experience) looking for a suitable

job (NOC available)

Contact-93344378

MD with 4 years of experience in

Trinidad Government Hospital West

Indies. Prometric exam of Oman

succeeded with 66% looking for GP

anywhere in Oman.

Contact 96226787

Nazia Shahid Shah, General Dentist

from India with 3 plus years of

full hands-on experience includ-

ing clinic management. Prometric

exam passed in March 2015 63% -

Looking for a suitable placement in

Muscat region. Contact 97469553.

Email :- [email protected]

Pakistani male Master of Computer

Science 5 years experience as an

IT instructor, belong to Pakistan or

a tourist visa currently reside in

Muscat. Contact 98076420

Indian male 22 years BCA graduate,

CISCO certified Network Associate

and COMPTIA A+ (Installing, Config-

uring and troubleshooting). Fresher

with good computer proficiency

seeking for suitable opportunities.

Ready to do other office routines and

work anywhere in Oman.

Valid Indian driving license.

Currently on visit visa.

Contact 99704508 / 91258708


Indian male 28 yrs, trained in com-

puter hardware and networking and

certified CCNA MCSA,

looking for suitable job.

Contact 94388320 Email:

[email protected]

BSC Computer Science 4 years

Oman EXP, driving license MCSE,

CCNA, MCITP. Contact 95874315

Indian male 25 years, bachelor in

Computer Science with 3 years expe-

rience in basic hardware software and

networking seek suitable placement

now on visit visa. Contact 92995706


IT Project Manager (PMP) available

for immediate joining. Total 15+ years

exp & 12 years of IT experience in

SAP & Project management. Having

working experience of UK, France,

Germany, China, UAE, India, etc.

Currently on Visit Visa. Call 94300317

Website software developer Oman

experience looking for job.

Contact 91781286


Indian male, 25 years BSC, (Com-

puter Science) 2 years experience in

computer, hardware & networking

looking for suitable placement

presently on visit visa. # 93243372

Network Engineer, BSc Commu-

nications, 5 years exp, CCNA, VAS,

Data Center, working now at Alcatel

Lucent, visit visa. Contact 91268787

Male Omani National, 27 years,

holding Master in IT - Computer Sci-

ences Engineering (India) and Mas-

ter in Robotic Intelligency (Spain),

looking for a suitable placement.

Contact: 99211549.

Projects / Contracts Manager 31 yrs (26 yrs Oman) experience

in Management & coordination

of multi-million R.O projects of

Government & private sector, post

Graduate Structural Engineer with

QS Background looking for senior

position in construction / Engineer-

ing consultancy / Government.

Contact +00968-91400599

Indian male D/L looking job as

Supervisor or safety officer/ camp

boss. Contact 94003617

Diploma in Architect 2.5 years

experience in Oman having driving.

Contact 92967404

Indian male Graduate IT profes-

sional having 3+ years of experience

in IT Support Engineer / Hardware

& networking CCNA, MCITP, PHCE,

looking for job on visit visa.

Contact 94647824

email id: [email protected]

3G , 4G Welding lead man Indian

male, 33 years, having 15 years

experience in American company,

UAE and India, seeking for suitable

placement. Contact 92122468


Tunisian women looking for

job, knows english, frensh, Italian

and arabic. Contact: 91171838

Indian male MBA 32 yrs having

10 yrs of exp seeking suitable

placement in Admin/ HR/ Opera-

tions/ Coordination/ Logistics etc.

Holding valid Oman D/L .Contact -

99054786

Indian female, well experienced

in secretarial, administration,

customer care & supervisory jobs.

5 years experience in Muscat.

Immediately available for joining.

Contact: 92139298

Indian female with 10 yrs of experi-

ence in HR/Banking/Operations

seeks a suitable placement. Can be

contacted on 98919015 or

[email protected]

M.Tech Civil (structure) with 3 yrs

experience looking for a suitable

job with reputed consultants or

contracting companies.

Contact 93137035,


Generator maintenance in charge

with 4 yrs experience with

Cummins, caterpillar, kirloskar

and voltas. Contact - email:

[email protected]

Experienced female Electrical

Engineer. Contact 93800906

Civil Engineer with 12 years Experi-

ence Looking For Job.

Contact 98162295

Aircraft Maintenance Technician with one year experience seeks

suitable placement. Contact

[email protected]

B.Tech Mechanical Engineer (Automobile)&Diploma in QC

with 2yrs experience in oil & gas

company seek suitable placement

job currently on Visit Visa. Contact

no.96071081, 99214308 ,


Sudanese Mechanical Engineer 11 years exp in oil & gas industry.

Contact - 95928035

Telecom Engineer with 4.5 years

Oman experience looking for a suit-

able opportunity, interested even in

Marketing also. Possess valid Oman

driving license. Contact 94145460

DAE (Civil) having 3.5 years Experi-

ence 2 years from Oman with driving

licences, seeking for suitable position

in Construction field NOC and release

available . Contact 96968554 Email:

[email protected]

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

Mechanical Engineer, Gulf Exp in

Design and Manufacturing

Ph: 97097688

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 : [email protected]

24 years Indian female diploma

in computer science and

engineering now on visit visa seek

suitable placement.

Contact 96314974/99107369

SECRETARIAL/OFFICE

Indian male more than 10 years

Gulf experience in Office / Sales

Coordinator, Admin (employees visa

processes), Secretarial and purchase

coordination with good computer

skills. Having Driving license and

NOC available. Looking for suitable


SALES / MARKETING

BBA Graduate with 3 years experi-

ence in sales & marketing valid

Oman D/L. Contact 97378073 Email:

[email protected]

Indian male 34 yrs having 10 years

of experience in Oman in Sales

coordination, Sales administration

experience in SAP. NOC available.

Contact 94686594

Indian 45 years Sales Manager for

European Modular kitchen & furni-

ture. Contact 92284856

Indian male MBA 7 years experi-

ence in Hospitality industry,

operation, sales & marketing looking

for suitable vacancy.

Contact 92115860


Indian male 23 with 2 years Oman

experience looking for suitable

placement in sales and marketing.

NOC available with valid D/L.

Contact 96392009

MBA in marketing with more than

5yrs of experience in building mate-

rial sales in Oman seek suitable

placement D/L & NOC available.

Contact 96353095

Indian, male, 27 yrs, B.Com 5 yr exp

in Sales & sales coordinator Excel,

MS Office, word now on visit visa.

Contact 95612321


Marketing Executive + warehouse

Manager male 24 yrs, 2 yrs exp with

NOC available GCC driving license.

Looking for suitable placement

opening. Contact - 97307863

Marketing Sales job Oman

experience. Contact 91781286

Accounting up to finalization, audit-

ing & contact for tally ERP software

Contact– 91720465

B.com doing CA Accounts/ office

job male now working in Oman Noc,

release available. Contact 92715465


Indian female (Aviation and

hospitality management) with

excellent communication skill,

confident, dedicated to works and

enthusiastic and 1 year experience

in admin department looking for

immediate placement .

Contact 93351256 email :

[email protected]

Hardware specialist B.Tech

M.Tech electronics with 10 years

experience seeks suitable oppor-

tunities in reputed organizations.

Contact 91289459


IT Prof, MCA having 6+ yrs exp,

seeks suitable position.

Contact 94543668

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

Indian male Graduate (BSc. IT) 25

years new on visit visa in Muscat.

1 year experience in Accounts looking

for suitable position.

Contact 95752827


Indian male 25 B.Tech (IT) Engineer

2.5 yrs exp in hardware networking.

Currently on visit visa looking for

suitable job. Contact – 94359564

Bangladesh male MBBS Doctor with

3 years experience for a private

clinic. Contact 00968-94209634

Medical- Indian female, 27 yrs,

masters in hospital administra-

tion, fellowship in HTA studied

in a super specialty medical sci-

ences and research center in India

and done project in an established

hospital in sultanate of Oman.

Contact 93200827, 91026506

Female pharmacist with 3 years ex-

perience and MOH license currently

in Oman, CONTACT 92455124

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.

Contact 93826090


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.

Contact: 91219787

1 year experience in teaching all

subject to KG classes, currently

working as a teacher in Oman,

seeking suitable placement,

Family visa. Contact 92178304 /

99036256

Welder, 3G, 6G, TIG, Exp in Fabri-

cation , Gulf Exp Ph : 97103168

Care taker, Gulf Exp knows Hindi,

Arabic Ph: 94238840

Indian male 28 years experience in

Accounts & Admin with B.E, MBA fi-

nance seeks suitable placement with

a reputed from on visit visa.

Contact 97409606


India Accountant: Male, M com,

7 Yrs experience in Accounts up to

finalization, having knowledge of

ERP, Tally, seeks suitable place-

ment. Contact:93950138


Accountant 25 years experience

M.Com Accounts up to finalization

14 years in Oman. NOC release avail-

able. Contact 99640490


Accounts part time works up to

finalization, monthly report, balance

sheet and finalization works.

Contact 96247295

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,


Senior Accountant, 10 years

experience in Oman on visit.

Contact 98897581.

Light driver with car available.

Contact 95520696

Pakistani, light duty driver with

3 yrs exp. Contact 96756014

Looking for driving job with car

4x4. Contact 91331299 / 96157595

Bangladesh and Oman driver

looking for job.

Contact 98503237

Six years experience in Oman driver

seeks suitable placement.

Contact 99437236

Light duty driver with 3 years

experience in Oman +5 years in

Saudi Arabia speaking Hindi Arabic

English. Contact 96088707

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

Email: [email protected] GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624


D6 T U E S D AY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5

MISCELLANEOUS


24 year Indian Chartered Account-

ant male with 3yrs of experience

is seeking suitable placement in

Muscat, currently on visit visa &

ready to join immediately. Kindly

contact him on 98201476 or email at

[email protected]

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.

Indian female 25 years MBA finance

currently on visit visa seeks im-

mediate placement. Contact: +(968)

9843 0089, +(968) 97851940

Marketing Manager Indian male 11

years local market experience with

Oman driving license and NOC look-

ing for suitable placement.

Contact 93564959


Indian Male, 58 years, Rich Oman

experience in Multifunctional

Management, Administration,

Business Development, Purchase &

Operations, seeking suitable Manag-

er/Supervisory Position.Visa transfer/

NOC Available. GSM: 95036410

Indian, Male 43, CA/ISA, Experience

in Retail, NBFC, Logistics, Banking,

Automobile, Investment and facility

Management, seeking for a change.

Valid D/L. Release available.

Contact: [email protected]

AutoCAD draughtsman temporary

available at the month of April

(AR+ST+PL+HVAC).

Contact – 91620107

MCA, MBA, CCNA, MCSE, Indian

male with 10 years of experience,

holding Oman driving license on

visit visa seeks any suitable place-

ment. Contact 92716116 / 91266535


South African Teacher – male –

Teaching Diploma , B.A. (Hons), B.

Admin (Hons ). 18 years experience

– seeking a primary teaching post

– grades 4 to 7 (8 to 12 years). Can

teach all subjects at this level.

On 30 day visitors visa.

Contact 93341047.

E- mail [email protected]

Indian male, 14 yrs Experience

in Maintenance & Supervisor in

hotel (Electrical, Ac Mechanical &

Plumber). Contact : 95253640

Accountant, Indian male 24 yrs,

2 years successful experience in

Oman with Oman Driving License .

NOC Available. Seek a suitable

opportunity. GSM : 9340 9315

Computer Teacher, MCA in

Al Ghubra. Contact : 94231633

Indian male Executive secretary

having vast experience in admin,

logistics & procurement well versed

with computer seek suitable place-

ment. Contact : 99514286

7 Years successful experience.

ACCOUNTANT, Indian male,

29 years. Presently working in

Oman as a Senior Accountant with

oman Driving license seek suitable

opportunity. GSM: 97705854

Indian Male, 22 years, B.com gradu-

ate, Knowledge of Tally ERP9, MS

Excel & MS word.Currently in Oman

on visit visa, looking for suitable



Indian, Male, 43 years, Chartered

Accountant, 18+ years of experi-

ence, looking for a change. Valid

Driving License. Release available.

Contact: [email protected]

Indian Female MA. B.Ed. with

One year three months Teaching

experience, English seeking for a

Better placement. Now working

in Oman. Contact: -: 93961142,

92184408 Email:-

[email protected]

24 year Indian Chartered

Accountant male with 3yrs of

experience is seeking suitable

placement in Muscat, currently on

visit visa & ready to join immedi-

ately. Contact him on 98201476 or

email at [email protected]

23,male,ACCA affiliate,2.5 years

of experience in Finance and

Audit in an audit firm ,looking for

permanent replacement.

Contact +96895140445,

[email protected]

2 years experienced B.Com

graduate looking for a Job in

Accounts/Sales. Now on visit visa.

Contact No. 98546162.

Indian Male 29 yrs, having 7year

India + Gulf experience in Procure-

ment Engineer, looking for suit-

able placements. # 96035370,


Indian male, 14 yrs experience in

maintenance & Supervisor in hotel

field (Electrical, Ac Mechanical &

Plumber). NOC available.

Contact : 95 25 36 40

Diploma in Fire and Safety

Engineering, having 3.5 years of

experience as an Safety Advisor.

Having PDO PASSPORT and IOSH.

Have valid Omani driving license

is looking for job. Contact number

968 96176872, 968 9808527.

Indian male, 22 years, B.com

graduate, Knowledge of Tally

ERP9, MS Excel & MS word. Cur-

rently in Oman on visit visa, look-


Contact : 99894250,


3 years experience B. Pham Phar-

macist, Passed Pometric written

exam, require suitable post.

Mobile: 9561 3245

E.mail:[email protected]

Indian, male, Business Manage-

ment graduate with 10 years UAE

experience in supervisory/ ad-

ministration position in Electronic

Card Personalisation projects,

seeks jobs in banking/ financial

sector. Contact: 00971505250274/

[email protected]

Indian male, 14 yrs experience

in maintenance & Supervisor in

hotel ( Electrical, Ac Mechanical &

Plumber). Contact 95253640

B.tech Mechanical Engineer,

Keralite bachelor with B.tech look-

ing for job in Oman with three year

of experience on visiting Visa.

Contact no.-0096891296354,

[email protected]

Indian Male 25yrs, having 3year

Indian experience in Accountant

Shipping Company, looking for

suitable placement.

Contact: 919632529484,


Pakistani Male having 5 years

exp. Valid Omani Driving license

working as a Logistic Officer

looking for a suitable position. Sal-

ary is negotiable. Email : naveed-

[email protected],

Mob: +96893363316

OPTOMETRIST, 27 years Indian

female, 3 years experience looking

for suitable placement in Muscat.

Contact: 92066532 Email:

[email protected]

Indian male, 45+ yrs, 20 yrs

exp. in Sales Supervisor looking

for sales / stores / cash or any

suitable placement, can join im-

mediately on visit visa. Contact

93086105 / 99016546

Indian male 23 years B.Com

completed fresher with fluency in

English, Hindi and Telugu looking

for suitable job . Currently in Oman

on visit visa. Contact 96098174 /

98912870

AutoCAD draughtsman temporary

available at the month of April

(AR+ST+PL+HVAC)

Contact – 91620107

Civil Engineer Indian with 12years

experience in building construc-

tion having valid driving license.

[email protected],

91305025 /93839731

24 year Indian Chartered

Accountant male with 3yrs of ex-

perience is seeking suitable place-

ment in Muscat, currently on visit

visa & ready to join immediately.

Contact him on 98201476 or email

at [email protected]

Indian male, 14 yrs Experience

in Maintenance & Supervisor in

hotel (Electrical, Ac Mechanical &

Plumber ) mob : 95253640

Indian Male 26 Years, having 2

year experience in accounting

field Looking for suitable place-

ment. Currently working in Oman.

NOC available, immediate joining.

Contact No: 94282980, Email:

[email protected]

Pakistani Male having 5 years

experience Valid Omani Driving li-

cense working as a Logistic Officer

looking for a suitable position.

salary is negotiable.

naveedmuhammad037@gmail.

com Mob: +96893363316

/94202746

Indian female 25 years MBA

finance currently on visit visa

seeks immediate placement.

Contact: +(968) 93316493

Indian Male, 58 years, Oman expe-

rience in Multifunctional Manage-

ment, Administration, Business

Development, Purchase & Opera-

tions seeking suitable Manager/

Supervisory Position.Visa transfer/

NOC Available. GSM: 95036410

Part- Time Accountant, well

versed with all accounting, Finali-

zation, Budgeting available

Contact : 98803439

Looking for Network Engineer Job,

NOC Available Immediately, CCNA,

CCIE Collaboration Written Current

Company: Global Solutions L.L.C, 3.5

Years experience. #97312044

engineerwaleedkhan@hotmail.

com

Australian Network Engineer, with 4 years exp, BE in Telecom

MS in Network Sys worked as a

Network/WiMax Eng well versed

with Cisco devices, available on

contact 92606921


Sri Lankan, female, 25 years,

Graduate in Management,

possessing 6 years experience in

banking, financial, administration

and risk management.

Currently on a visit visa seeks

suitable immediate placement.

Contact 93462521.

[email protected]

Corporate Communication Profes-

sional, smart, quality English

writing, double Masters, Oman exp

in Corporate, Internal &Marketing

Communication, CSR Programs,

PRs, Ads, Events, Campaigns,

Customer Relations. Immediately

Available, Release.

Contact 91229392

Manager-Corporate Communica-

tions, pleasing personality, excel-

lent English, Masters-Journalism,

Mass Communication, Finance, ex-

pert in writing & publishing press

releases, advertisements, website

content, speeches, CSR, promo-

tions, events. Immediate joining,

NOC. Contact 91229392

Indian male, 25 years, now on

visit visa in Muscat. One year

experience in accounts ,

looking for suitable position.

Contact:95752827, Email id:

[email protected]

Indian Male 28yr age having

6year gulf+ Indian experience

in HR field. Looking for suitable

placement. Contact:97914340,


30 years Indian male with hotel

management degree, 02 years

experience in F&B service at five

star hotel in Dubai and 05 years

in American 6 star cruiseliner as

Butler . Currently in Muscat on

visit visa. Contact 91075704

Senior Accountant Indian Male

with 13 Year of Experience

(7 years in Oman) in Accounts &

Finance having valid Omani Driving

License with NOC Available. Look-

ing for suitable job. # 96001918

Indian Male, 27, Mechanical

Engineer. HND, with exp. as Project

coordinator in U.A.E, Valid GCC D/L,

currently on visit, looking for a suit-

able position. Contact 97070427

Indian female (B.A. B.ed) seeks

suitable placement as fresher

primary teacher.(Specialization in

social studies, currently pursuing

M.A in English).Presently in family

visa status. Contact:99713864.


28 year Indian male Art spe-

cialist with 7.5 yrs of experience

in Healthcare industries in AR

analyst (US Based Project - M.BA.,

Finance) seeking suitable place-

ment. Contact +91 9841906431,


Indian male, 25 years, now on visit

visa in Muscat. One year experience

in accounts, looking for suitable

position. Contact:95752827,

Email id: [email protected]

CIVIL Autocad Draughtsman Look-

ing for part time job. #95218737

Indian Teacher Female with two

years experience seeks suitable

placement in Indian or Omani

Schools currently on visit visa

please contact 99436826. Email

id :- [email protected]

Looking for job Tunisian Bachelor

with experience 5 years in

Network/IT. Cont.:91368102

Diploma in Fire and Safety Engi-

neering. Have 3.5 years of experi-

ence as an Safety Advisor. Having

a valid Omani driving license is

looking for job.

For further information please

contact me at 96896176872,

9689808527.

Indian male 28yr age having 6

years Gulf+ Indian experience in

HR field, looking for suitable place-

ment. Contact: 97914340,


Indian Female, 24 yrs MS. Soft-

ware Engg. Currently on family

visa, 1 year experience in SAP WM

& IT seeks suitable placement.

Contact: 95490105

MBA fresher, with fluency in

English, Arabic, Hindi, Tamil & Ma-

layalam, looking for suitable job.

Currently in Oman on visit visa.

Mob : +968-93730345

B.tech Mechanical Engineer : Keralite bachelor with B. Tech

looking for job in Oman with three

year of experience ,on Visiting

Visa. Contact no.-0096891296354,

[email protected]

Indian Male more than 10 years

gulf experience in Office / Sales

Coordinator, Admin (employees visa

processes), Secretarial and purchase

with good computer skills. Having

Driving license and NOC available.

Looking for suitable placement.

Contact 99709336

Indian male, 14 years Experience

in maintenance & Supervisor in

hotel ( Electrical, Ac Mechanical &

Plumber ) mob : 95 25 36 40

27 years, Indian optometrist ,

female , 3years experience look-

ing for suitable placement in

Muscat. Contact : 92066532

mail: [email protected]

Indian Male 22 years, B.Com look-


Contact no. - 99894520

email- [email protected]

ACCA+2.5 years of experience in

Accounts, Bookeeping and Audit.

Looking for job in Accounts/Fi-

nance/Internal Audit. Also worked

on Oracle R12, Tally, Quick Books

and PeachTree. Gsm: 91717234

Email: [email protected],

Civil draughtsman expecting part

time job.(civil infrastructure) and

BBS. Contact :95914642

Planning Engineer 7 years of

Experience in project planning and

control in oil and gas, PDO & QP

Approved Planner,PRIMAVERA-6,B.

Tech in Mechanical engineering

from CUSAT Contact-

[email protected],

ph-00974 70230223

Sales manager (be-mech/mba)

in oman since-2005; (omn-d/l);

seeking immediate replacement

in marketing and sales or, bdm

profile, contact-96040977,

[email protected]

B.tech Mechanical Engineer, Keralite bachelor with B.tech look-

ing for job in oman with a year

of experience on Visiting Visa.

Contact no.-0096891296354,

[email protected]

Sr. Sales Manager (BE/MBA) 9 yrs

in Oman; (GCC/omn-d/l); seeking

immediate replacement in mktg,

sales or, bdm profile, # 96040977,

[email protected]

Logistics Officer, Experience in

Store keeping. Contact : 99505934

Keralite Bachelor professional

building designer with AutoCAD,

3D Max & Accounts.

Contact 96535497,

email : [email protected]

Light driver looking for job.

Contact 92791678

Light driver looking for job.

Contact 91376612

LV Driver- 2 yrs Exp-know

English- Contact 95292064

Indian cook, Tandoori cook, male, 32 yrs, having 4 yrs of experi-

ence in Muscat in India, looking

for a cook job in Hotel. Contact

93753523 / 98744307 / 92175119

Young Indian male with 5 years

Muscat experience in admin,

purchase & Masters from UK seeks

placement. Possess driving license.

Contact 94400671

Indian Male, 25 yrs currently in

Oman on visit looking for suitable

vacancies in accounts, B.Com

completed 1 yr experience.

Contact 92024380

Pakistani male, 25 yrs, MBA

Finance, 1.6 yrs exp in Accounts

seeking placement in Accounts,

Administration or Business Manage-

ment. # 92651927 / 94250149

Part- Time Accountant, well

versed with all accounting, Finali-

zation, Budgeting available.

Contact : 98803439

Indian female, 24yrs, M.Com

(Accounts) having 3 yrs experi-

ence in Accounts, HR, Adminis-

tration, Customer Service. Good

Computer Proficiency seeks suit-

able Position. Visa Transfer/NOC

Available. Contact: 99654913

Indian male total 17 yrs exp in field

of procurement, inventory, control-

ling & accountancy. Local release

available, seeking suitable place-

ment. # 91680124 / 98606546

Indian female, B.Com. knowledge

of Ms .Office & Tally, 4yrs experi-

ence in A/Cing & admin dept .look-

ing for good placement in any field.

Contact.98928220

ACCA-UK, B.Sc (OBU-UK) hav-

ing 2.8 years of experience in

Accounts, Bookeeping and Audit.

Looking for job in Accounts/Fi-

nance department. Also worked on

Oracle R12, Tally, Quick Books and

Peach Tree. Email:

[email protected],

Gsm: +968-95459936

Indian male, 11 years exp.

In accounting, knowledge in tally

also. Looking for a part time job.

Contact . 98983122

Female Executive Assistant/Ex-

ecutive Secretary with 27+ experi-

ence, worked with top manage-

ment/Board in financial services

with shorthand skills & Omani

driving license, seeks suitable

placement. Call 95941515

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.

Indian female, Graduate, Certified

in IATA, with 8 months experience

in Travel and 2 and half years

experience in Operations and HR

looking for job in Field of Travel/

Office Management. Contact

-92816803/ 92459686. Email-

[email protected]

MBA (international business) with

2.5 years experience in sales and

also experience in vehicle spare

parts (in-charge) looking for a suit-

able job presently on visit visa. Con-

tact 93539456, 95765868, E mail:

[email protected]

British Beauty Therapist Looking for suitable position

Mob: 97175240

INDIAN FEMALE ,Graduate, Certi-

fied in IATA, with 2 and half years

experience in Admin/ Accounts

and Office coordinator looking

for job in Field of Travel/Office

Management. Contact -92459686/

92816803, Email-

[email protected]


DAILY GUIDESITUATION WANTEDCARGO

Dolphin Watch, Dhow Cruise with Buffet, & Land Tours Al- Ainain Marine Tours Contact- 98029602, 92808636

RENT A CAR

RENT A CAR

TOURS

TOURS

*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication. * Subject to space availability

TRANSPORTATION

Pick & Drop Available @ 99159277

Transportation. Contact 98505294



Transport to ISWK. Contact

93172589

Pick & Drop any time.

Contact 97014786



D8 T U E S D AY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5



*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done

till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication. * Subject to space

availability

GOOD NEWS

SITUATION WANTEDSERVICES

SITUATION WANT-SERVICES

Tile/marble/granite cutting,

skirting & polishing please contact

94052713,99885638.

GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet & sofa shampooing,

Contact 99314807/24792998

MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of

your marble. Contact 24793614/

99314807

Repairing and services of split,

cassette, stand A.C, Window A/C.

Contact 99540621 / 97145652

A/C service repair RO 10/-.

Contact 95084850 / 92230581

Ocean trading is Professional in

auto A/C repairing since 35 years

serving with high quality & best

price.24817426 & 95206751

Pest Control Treatments, Termites,

Cockroaches, Bedbugs. Contact

Ocean Centre LLC.

Contact 99344723

House shifting. Contact

99708138

Cheapest prices all types window,

curtains and Blinds. Contact

99539521

Carpet & sofa shampooing. Ocean

Centre LLC. Contact 99884591 /

92682970

Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles

polishing, carpet shampooing,

maintenance. Contact ABU QA-

BAS- 99320217 /24788722

We offer you the business ser-

vices maintenance of buildings

and villas for paint and carpentry

and decoration works and instal-

lation of material awater Broof

and cleaning services building

management and leasing of real

estate . Contact 99070093

A/C maintenance & servicing.

Fridge, washing machine & dish

washer repairing. Painting & clean-

ing services & electrical & plumb-

ing. Contact 99447257/97014234/

24504281

AC service repair and maintenance.

Contact 95356877

Split & window A.C servicing &

maintenance. Contact 93769089 /

95323517

Water proofing ABUQABAS-

Contact 99320217/24788722

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

CLASSES

WEBSITE

WEB, ERP and Business Intelli-

gence (BI) creation and man-

agement at rock bottom price.

Contact: http//webviewoman

COMPUTER

A/C maintenance split A/C servic-

ing. RO. 10 only. Contact 94217681/

99210141

BUSINESS

Varkey s Saloon & SPA offers

Summer discount on Hamam Spa,

pedicure & manicure massages with

steam bath, Jacuzzi, facial treat-

ments. Contact 92935679

Ayurvedic treatment for backache,

paralysis, arthritis etc & massage,

All Season (Vaidyaratnam). Contact

24475280 / 95371554 / 92504980 ,

www.siddhayur.com

Taimour Ayurvedic Clinic, Ruwi

offers genuine & effective treat-

ment for back pain, paralysis,

cervical and lumbar spondylitis,

osteoarthritis, joint pains, sinusi-

tis, migraine, allergic problems,

varicose vein and all other health

related problems. Kerala massage

and rejuvenation package avail-

able. For details please contact:

92197920/ 24799689

Ayurvedic treatment for joint pain,

backache, paralysis massage, steam

bath, obesity, spondylitis IDEAL ,

CARE Ayurvedic Clinic 18 November

street, Azaiba. Contact 99639695 /

99117987

FREE INFORMATION ABOUT 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

DRIVING

Window & split unit A.C servicing &

repairing. Contact 99557080

Split & window A.C servicing &

maintenance. Contact 96236476

FOR HIRE

50 seater bus with PDO

specification for rent or lease.

Contact 99839898

MANPOWER

Canadian Manpower Co. Recruit-

ing Construction, Hotel, Medical,

Gas & Oil Staffs - 2 years contract,

work visa, tickets, accommodation.

Free recruitment. Please send CV to

[email protected],

www.margholdingimmigration.com,

93392630

Available construction workers, hospital staff with Oman

parametric, housemaids

Indian, Uganda. Contact

9629417/98408488



Indian Male 28yr age having

6year gulf+ Indian experience in

HR field, looking for suitable place-

ment. Contact:97914340,


Part Time Accounting Job Com-

plete Data Entry, Reporting and

Finalization. Any Time Available.

Location Ruwi to Bharka. Please

Contact- +968-92049215

Email:- [email protected]

Indian female B.Com Graduate,

4yrs experience in accounts, ad-

min dept looking for placement in

any field Contact: 98928220

Indian Female, B.tech bio-technol-

ogy graduate. Knowledgeable in

food processing techniques, hav-

ing 2 yrs experieince as associate

research analyst(media moni-

toring)in Nasdaq Omx, seeking

for growth oriented job. Contact

92044603,

[email protected].

CAT (UK) , ACCA (UK) , 3 year

experience. (including one year

experience in EY world 3rd largest

audit firm) looking for reputed

company for a job of Internal

Audit, Finance and Accounting.

Contact no: 00923008833525

Sudanese/Bsc IT/ 2 years experi-

ence/ excellent English-Arabic

speaking/ Omani driving license/

Contact: 96387227,

[email protected]

Female, MSc Chemistry, BEd, with

1.5yrs of experience as research

officer in a chemical

manufacturing company in India.

Ph: 95243584


neering, 3.5 year experience as a

Safety Advisor in Carillion Alawi 27

year Indian male also having valid

Omani driving license,

looking for job

Email:[email protected],

Contact 968 9808527, 96176872

Experienced, male 25, hardwork-

ing, looking for permanent job in

Accounting, Finance and Auditing

field, ACCA UK and B.Sc in applied

accounting (OBU-UK). 2-years

of practical experience with an

audit firm in Pakistan. Email:

[email protected],

Gsm:+968-95459936

Accountant , Indian Male,24 years

, 3+ years experience in Finance

and Accounts, M.com Finance , Ex-

posure in SAP & Tally ERP 9 , Good

communication skill, on visit Visa.

Contact 95366407

B.Tech Mechanical Engineer (Automobile) & Diploma in QC

with 2yrs experience in oil & gas

company seek suitable placement

job currently on Visit Visa. Contact

no.96071081, 99214308


37 years Indian Male with 10

years PDO experience Store Keeper

seeking suitable placement.

Contact: 95849804


neering, Completed IOSH, have PDO

Passport.3.5 year experience as a

Safety Advisor in Carillion Alawi

27 year Indian male also having

valid Omani driving license,

looking for job.


times of oman - march 31, 2015

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