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Mass expat arrests will ‘not delay’ new airport

YUSUF MOHAMMED BALUSHI

MUSCAT: Construction of the new Muscat International Air-port project will not be delayed by the arrest of more than 1,000 expatriate workers at the site, Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Salim Al Futaisi, the Minister of

Transport and Communications, has vowed.

Speaking exclusively to Al Sha-biba, the sister publication of Times of Oman, Al Futaisi, said, “This (arrest) issue will neither hamper the construction at the air-port nor will it delay the opening of the new airport which is expected

to be opened at the end of 2016.”As revealed by timesofoman.

com on Sunday, more than 1,000 expatriate employees were ar-rested for working illegally on the new terminal being built at Mus-cat International Airport project last Wednesday, holding visas for restaurants, coffee shops, barber

shops, tailors and housemaids in-stead of construction.

The Minister of Transport and Communications said that the contractor has already started hir-ing new legal workers to replace those arrested.

Insisting that the project will be completed on time, Al Futaisi

said the ministry has promised contractors to assist with the re-quired procedures, and in turn the contractor has been asked to provide the agreed number of workers to complete the construc-tion on time.

Speaking about the mass arrest of the illegal workers, the minister said, “Ministry of Manpower has followed a regular procedure. The Ministry of Manpower’s duty is to monitor the labour market and take legal action against those vio-lating the law.”

“The Ministry of Transport and Communications in coordination with the Ministry of Manpower facilitated the required proce-dures for obtaining work visas for expat workers,” said Al Futaisi.

He urged companies construct-ing the airport project to abide by the Sultanate’s labour laws. >A3

The Minister of

Transport and

Communications

said the new airport

will open on time

Turtles head to nesting

site in Ras Al Hadd

Times News Service

MUSCAT: With the annual nesting season for the sea turtles just get-ting under way (from May to Sep-tember), turtles are coming home to Ras Al Hadd sanctuary to hatch.

The authorities are taking steps to protect the sandy beaches of the Ras Al Hadd sanctuary. Fisherman and tourists entering the beach have

been urged to take extreme care not to disturb turtle nests, and also re-port to authorities if they spot any.

Sea green turtlesAround 13,000 sea green turtles are expected to lay their eggs on the beaches of Oman for mass nesting.

The Ras Al Hadd sanctuary is the favourite nesting site for green tur-tles of the Indian Ocean. >A4

R A S A L H A D D S A N C T U A R Y

OMANSMS scams: What to watch out for

1When I see an SMS or email telling me I’ve won 20,000 rials when I haven’t entered

into contest, I delete it. >A2

REGIONTunisian soldier kills seven colleagues

2A Tunisian soldier killed seven comrades before he was shot dead, said the

authorities. >A7

MARKETOmani banks post 12% credit growth

3Oman’s conventional banks have posted a robust 11.6% growth in

net loans and advances. >B1

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

A6Indian schools CBSE class 12 results are out

HOMECOMING: Around 13,000 sea green turtles are expected to lay their eggs on the beaches of

Oman for mass nesting. - Photo: Times of Oman

HM sends greetingsMUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has sent a cable of congratulations to President Giorgi Margvelashvili of Geor-gia on the occasion of his coun-try’s National Day.

In his cable, His Majesty the Sultan has expressed his sin-cere congratulations along with his best wishes of good health and well-being to President Margvelashvili and the friendly people of his country further progress. -ONA

C A B L E

Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Salim Al Futaisi, Minister of Transport and Communications

This issue will neither hamper the construction at the airport nor will it delay the opening of the new airport

Rain, hailstorm bring some respite

REJIMON K reji@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Rain and hailstorm fell in Fanja, a village about 64 kilometres from Muscat, at around 2pm on Monday.

“It is raining heavily and the wadis are overflowing. The rain-fall was also accompanied by hail-storm,” said Bader Ali Al Baddaei, an administrator of www.rthmc.net, a local web-based forum that discusses weather trends in Oman.

“Skies over Muscat are partly cloudy and there is a possibility of showers,” added Al Baddaei.

The Oman meteorological de-partment had predicted rain in

the eastern parts of the capital city and Batinah.

The temperature in Muscat, Bid Bid, Al Amerat, Saham and Qalhat is hovering around 45° Celsius on Monday. On Sunday, wadis in Jabal Shams were over-flowing after the rain, while many parts of Salalah also experienced light rain on Saturday evening.

According to the 48-hour fore-cast, skies will be partly cloudy in the coastal areas of Dhofar gover-norate and adjoining mountains.

W E A T H E R U P D A T E

WEATHER TRENDS: Heavy

rain accompanied by hail-

storm fell in Fanja, a village

near Muscat. - Photo: www.rthmc.net

Weatherforecast

Source: Oman Meteorological Department | The Weather Channel Graphics

Muscat temperature(in Celsius degrees)

HighestLowest

Next 48 hoursTuesday

26-05

42

33

Wednesday27-05

41

34

Thursday28-05

42

30

Friday29-05

39

30

Saturday30-05

40

32

Sunday31-05

41

32

Monday01-06

43

33

Partly cloudy skies along the coastal areas of Dhofar governorateChances of convective cloud development over Al-Hajar mountains during afternoon with isolated rain and occasional thundershowers.

HM issues two Royal Decrees

MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said on Monday issued two Royal Decrees as follows:

Royal Decree No. 23/2015 appoints an advisor at Sultan Qaboos University.

Article (1) appoints Dr Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Salim Al Futaisi as Advisor at Sultan Qaboos University with his current financial grade and allocations. Article (2) The Decree shall be published in the official gazette and enforced on its date of issue. >A2

N E W A P P O I N T M E N T S

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OMAN

SMS scams: What to watch out for

There’s an old saying that goes ‘if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is’.

So, when I see an SMS or email telling me I’ve won 20,000 Rials when I haven’t entered any com-petitions, my curiosity never gets the better of me and I delete the offending message.

The problem is, though, that we still hear horror stories that peo-ple are being sucked into these scams and losing lots of their hard earned savings.

Scammers are extraordinar-ily creative which is why they are so successful. As good as mobile operators get at blocking these

fraudsters they’ll come up with something more sophisticated.

It has happened to the best of us, even the man that invented the internet, Tim Berners Lee, has confessed to buying online

from a fake company.I’m sure I’m talking for many

mobile operators when I say that they will never ask for personal details or for you to verify your ac-count information in an SMS or in an email. Furthermore, if you do win a prize, it is very unlikely that you’ll be asked to pay an ad-min fee to get it.

So, to keep your personal in-formation and your savings safe, always think twice before click-ing links, calling numbers or re-sponding to emails. If in doubt give your operator a call using the published number. If you’ve won something or your operator wants to discuss your personal informa-tion, the person on the end of the line of a published number will definitely know.

Simon Baldwin is the Director of Consumer Marketing at Ooredoo. He has plenty of useful insights and tips that are easy to understand and essential in today’s mobile con-nected world. This columns series provides some tips and tricks for all telecoms users; whether brows-ing or streaming, using apps or travelling and more. If you want to control costs, get a better picture of how things work or even need tips on security and safeguarding, these columns are for you.

As good as mobile

operators get at

blocking these

fraudsters, they’ll

come up with

something more

sophisticated

Simon Baldwin, Director of Consumer Marketing at Oore-doo. -Supplied photo

Medical board CEO

Royal Decree No. 24/2015 appoints a Chief Executive Officer at Oman Medical Speciality Board.

Article (1) appoints Dr. Hilal bin Ali bin Hilal Al Sabti as Chief Ex-ecutive Officer of Oman Medical Speciality Board.

Article (2) The Decree shall be published in the official gazette and takes effect from its date of issue. -ONA

R O Y A L D E C R E E

Indian dhow sinks

in Salalah waters

REJIMON K reji@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: An Indian dhow has reportedly sunk off Salalah coast on Sunday evening, said maritime officials.

“The report of the sinking was given by another dhow which

was coming to dock at Salalah Port. The ill-fated dhow had 11 sailors on board and they were rescued by another dhow near-by,” said an official from Salalah Port. Noore Garibe, the dhow which sank at 30NM off Salalah coast, was on its way to Bossaso from Dubai.

A C C I D E N T

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Regular checkingHe added the Ministry of Trans-port and Communications con-stantly advises firms to follow la-bour market rules and regulations.

“The Ministry of Transport and Communications keeps checking the documents of skilled worker like engineers, technicians work-ing for companies that are involved in the construction of the airport projects,” said al Futaisi.

“The companies for which these illegal workers were working will be fined and the workers will be deported,” Salim bin Said Al Badi, director-general of Labour Wel-fare at the Ministry of Manpower has said in a statement on Sunday.

Speaking to Times of Oman a Bangladeshi who is working for the airport project said, “What

I heard from some of them who were arrested is that the officials intercepted the bus at security gate itself. The officials checked every-one’s labour card and those who didn’t have the proper ones to work at airport project were arrested,”

He added, “One of my friends who tried to escape by jumping through the window of the bus fell down and suffered injuries.” Most of the arrested workers are report-edly from Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, a statement from the Ministry said that quality of the air-port project is its top priority. Every part of the project goes through the approval of technical expert from the ministry, manager of the com-pany and consultant to ensure for quality assurance, it added.

E X P A T A R R E S T S

< FROM

A1Sayyid Haitham leaves for RussiaMUSCAT: His Highness Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, Min-ister of Heritage and Culture, yesterday headed for the Russian Federation at the invitation of the Russian Minister of Culture.

Sayyid Haitham is accompa-nied in this official visit by Salim bin Mohammed Al Mahrouqui Undersecretary of the Ministry of Heritage and Culture for Herit-age and Sayyid Faisal bin Hamoud Al Busaidi, Advisor to the Minis-

ter of Heritage and Culture and a number of ministry officials.

Cultural relationsThis visit comes as part of the cul-tural relations between the Sultan-ate and the Russian Federation and the desire of the two countries in the promotion and development of cooperation in the field of herit-age, cultural and museum fields on the basis of the principle of mutual interests between the two sides

and as an application of the proven desire between the two countries to achieve a significant meas-ure in the areas of joint Omani/ Russian cooperation.

The visit aims to embody the cultural relations between the two countries and to benefit from the Russian expertise in the cul-tural and civilisational aspects in several areas, such as librar-ies, theatre, exhibitions, arts and literature, the exchange of publi-

cations in the area of documents and manuscripts. It also aims at exchanging experiences, the de-velopment of museums in the long run, provide advisory services in the field of archaeological and sci-entific studies and research and archaeological, in addition to the restoration, preservation and re-habilitation of historic buildings, as well as organising joint cultural seminars and workshops between the two countries. -ONA

O F F I C I A L V I S I T

Teacher training at A’Rustaq College

MUSCAT: Transforming the A’Rustaq College of Applied Sci-ence to a College of Education concerned with the training of Omani teachers, was among the more important resolutions adopted by the Education Coun-cil on Monday. The Council held its second meeting of the year at the Diwan of Royal Court in Mus-cat, under the chairmanship of Sayyid Khalid bin Hilal bin Saud Al Busaidi, Minister of the Diwan of Royal Court, and Chairman of the Council.

The meeting discussed the “National Strategy for Educa-tion in the Sultanate of Oman in 2040”, which is set up to imple-ment the directives of His Maj-esty Sultan Qaboos bin Said to de-velop the education system in line with the development process witnessed by Oman, especially in the educational, social and economic arena.

The Strategic vision aims to

achieve promising human devel-opment that possess the knowl-edge and values and skills needed for work and life; so that they can interactively and productively live in the world of knowledge, qualified to adapt to contempo-rary changes, preserve the nation-al identity and authentic values, and able to contribute to the ad-vancement of human civilisation.

A priority based implementa-tion plan for the recommenda-tions of the strategy was pre-pared. In this connection, the Council approved the formation of a committee of stakeholders in education.

It also reviewed the memoran-dum by its secretariat general in-cluded a study of the submitted ideas on stages and pathways of education, contained in the “Na-tional Strategy for Education in the Sultanate of Oman in 2040”, which was recommended by the study of restructuring the educa-

tion system in the Oman. The Council also reviewed the

report of the Ministry of Educa-tion on the educational needs of cadres during the coming period.

In this context, the Council has adopted a series of resolu-tions, most notably transforming the A’Rustaq College of Applied Science to a College of Educa-tion concerned with the prepara-tion and rehabilitation of Omani teachers, offering the educational rehabilitation programme in a number of private universities, increase the number of students enrolled in the College of Edu-cation at Sultan Qaboos Uni-versity, and that the respective authorities should study the im-plementation procedures and provide proposals to the Council in this regard.

The Council also discussed the project submitted by the Ministry of Education, on the establish-ment of the National Centre for Educational Assessment and Ex-aminations. The council referred the project for further study be-fore establishment.

The Council reviewed a num-ber of other reports and memo-randa submitted by various enti-ties, and took appropriate action in their regard. - ONA

A resolution was adopted at Education

Council’s second meeting this year

Services, social panel’s report reviewed

MUSCAT: Majlis Al Shura Of-fice on Monday reviewed the reports of the Services and So-cial Development Committee on the “Address System – Cod-ing” and the integration of the municipal organisations under one public entity.

The review came at the body’s 13th regular meeting of the fourth annual sitting (2014-2015) of the 7th term (2011-2015) under the chairmanship of Khalid bin Hilal Al Ma’awali, Chairman of Majlis Al Shura.

The meeting also looked into the letter of the head of the Leg-islative and Legal Committee on proposing a law to amend the Royal Decree No. 42/2008.

It reviewed outcomes and the opinion of the committee on the land transport project.

It also reviewed replies in-cluding that of chairman of Oman Oil Company about violations of Sohar Aluminum and reply of Chairman of Tender Board on the delay in construction of Tasaweer Al Washhi road.

The Legislative and Legal Committee held its fourth meet-ing this term under the chair of Said bin Ghanim Al Miqbali. -ONA

M A J L I S A L S H U R A O F F I C E

A4 T U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

OMANLET’S READ WINNERS HONOUREDWinners of Dar Al Atta’a Let’s Read 9th Children’s Writing

Competition were honoured at a prize giving ceremony

at Al Qurum Complex on Saturday. The students were

given an opportunity to read out their entries at the

event. Earlier, students were invited to submit a maxi-

mum of 500 words, in English or Arabic, on the subject

of: ‘My Home Town’. The entries were judged according

to four age groups: five to eight years, nine to 11 years, 12

to 14 years and 15 to 18 years.

Korean envoy’s recipe: Dish out cooking skills

SARAH MACDONALDsarah@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Spicy and sour, kim-chi, or fermented cabbage, is South Korea’s national dish and as a way to share his country’s culture, Ambassador Daesik Kim hosted a kimchi-making class at his resi-dence on Monday morning.

Chef Jong Cheon Park, who runs the Amazing Chicken – Taste of Korea restaurant in Ghubrah, taught a group of ambassadors’ wives his recipe for cabbage kim-chi. Napa, or Chinese, cabbages are soaked in brine before being seasoned with a chili and daikon radish sauce.

Many interested“I know there are many people in-terested in Korean food, especial-ly kimchi, so that’s why I organ-ised this class,” Kim told Times of Oman.

“This is the most typical Korean food so after experiencing making it maybe they will be more inter-ested in Korean spirit, heart and culture, Kim added.

Kimchi dates back to approxi-mately the 7th century in the Korean peninsula. Cabbage and other vegetables were pickled and fermented as a way of preserving

them. Kimchi can be kept for up to three years and as it ages its fla-vour intensifies.

Burst of flavourOver the years the recipes have developed to include spicy red pepper, ginger, garlic, fish sauce or oysters, and other seasonings to give kimchi a burst of flavour.

There are over 70 different types of kimchi, Kim explained, including kimchi made from cu-cumbers, radishes, green onions, and other vegetables. In every Korean home there is a special refrigerator just for keeping kim-chi, if not two or three such refrig-erators, he said. The ambassador even has a one such refrigerator at his residence here in Oman.

Acquired taste“Every household has a kimchi refrigerator nowadays. This is a must,” he said, opening his to show the containers of kimchi.

For the women participating in the class it was an opportunity to learn first-hand how to make the dish. Though for some people kimchi is an acquired taste, mak-ing it proved to be a lot of fun.

Happy to learnNilam Larasati Sukanto, wife of the ambassador of Indonesia, had tried making kimchi at home, but said she was happy to learn from a Korean expert like Chef Park.

“Of course here it’s much bet-ter than mine because I’m just a beginner at making kimchi. I like Korean food, especially the spicy dishes,” she said.

She added that events that fo-cus on different country’s cuisine are a wonderful way to learn about different cultures and promote friendship among diverse people.

Events that focus on

different country’s

cuisines are a

wonderful way to

learn about different

cultures and promote

friendship among

diverse people

More than 215,000 visit Oman pavilionMILAN: Thanks to its rich past, deep-rooted civilisational fea-tures, development and active trade and tourism, the Sultan-ate’s pavilion at the 2015 Expo Milan saw a large and growing turnout during the third week.

Al Siblah restaurantOf the 4.5 million people who visited the 2015 Expo Milan ex-

hibition, nearly 215,000 people visited the Sultanate’s pavilion while 14,000 people visited the Al Siblah restaurant, which was 4.7 per cent of the total visitors until May 20.

Different nationalities Visitors from different nationali-ties of the world were impressed by the architectural design of

the Sultanate’s pavilion, which is divided into four main sec-tions that embody the march of the Blessed Renaissance, its achievements in different walks of life, and highlight the tradi-tions and innovations in the field of food, the embodiment of the Omani environment and areas re-lated to the topics covered by the exhibition. -ONA

E X P O M I L A N

TRYING THEIR HAND: There are more than 70 different types of

kimchi, Kim explained, including kimchi made from cucumbers,

radishes, green onions, and other vegetables. – Sarah MacDonald

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A total of 4.5 million people had visited the 2015 Expo Milan by May 20

‘Book in advance if you want to watch the turtles’

Oman is home to five species of turtles - Green Turtle, Logger-head Turtle and Olive Ridley Tur-tle, in addition to Hawksbill Tur-tle and Leatherback Turtle - of which four of them lay their nest on its soft white sandy beaches, according to Ministry of Tourism.

The Ras Al Hadd sanctuary is the favourite nesting site for green turtles of the Indian Ocean.

“The turtles have started turn-ing up in large numbers at Ras Al Jinz,” confirmed Vijay Handa, general manager, Ras Al Jinz Tur-tle Reserve Centre, which is part of the Ras Al Hadd sanctuary.

Unique phenomenonTurtle nesting is a unique natu-ral phenomenon and is also a visual treat.

“With the climatic conditions being conducive and beach to-pography being ideal, the mass nesting on the shores of Oman is expected to continue till August,” he added.

In season, the turtles are seen loitering around the serene beach for quite a while before instinc-tively locating their preferred places to lay eggs.

“Watching Green Turtles nest-ing on the sea-front with only the roaring waves breaking the eerie silence under the moon-lit night sky is an out-of-world experience at Ras Al Jinz Turtle Reserve Centre. However, it is suggested to book in advance as only a limit-

ed number of visitors are allowed on a daily basis,” he added.

But despite travelling for more than 300 kilometres from Mus-cat, a large number of people return to Muscat without see-ing these turtles as they do not book in advance with the Turtle Reserve Management Company – which is being run by the Min-istry of Tourism.

For people who want to spend a night there, the ministry has set up eco-friendly tents with all the modern amenities overlooking

the sea on hilltops. These tents have been imported from Eco-Structures Australia and are first of its kind in Oman.

These luxury tents are wind proof/ rain proof and have been tested in cyclone hit areas as well for their safety.

However, the story of Ras Al Jinz is not just a story about tur-tles. “It is also the story of hu-mans who have been sharing the same beach with turtles for eight thousand years and probably more,” he added.

N E S T I N G

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With the climatic conditions being conducive and beach topography being ideal, the turtles have started arriving

Vijay HandaGeneral manager, Ras Al Jinz Turtle Reserve Centre

14,000 people visited the Al Siblah restaurant,

which was 4.7 per cent of the total

visitors to Milan Expo until May 20.

A5

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Spotlight on Oman in ROHM play

TARIQ AL HAREMItariqh@timeofoman.com

MUSCAT: “Ibn Battuta”, the play which will highlight the 14th cen-tury Moroccan traveller’s journey to Oman, will be staged as a finale to the summer of operas at the Royal Opera House Muscat (ROHM).

Umberto Fanni, ROHM’s ar-tistic director and acting director general stated, “We are delighted to finish the season with a pro-duction that puts the spotlight on Oman and the Arab world, high-lighting its rich and diverse cul-tures and musical traditions.”

Organised by Arabesque In-ternational, under the patron-age of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry with the support of the Ministry of Tourism, Oman Airport Management Company

(OAMC), Oman Air and Duqm Special Economic Zone Author-ity, the play is going to portray how Oman was in Ibn Battuta’s time and the metamorphosis of the Sul-tanate after his visit.

Addressing a press conference, Ahmad Abouzhara, general man-ager of Arabesque International, said, “We want to show how the golden age of Arab culture was in the time of Ibn Battuta and how it was transferred to the west.”

“He was an inveterate traveller and there is a close connection be-tween him and Oman. Our aim is to highlight Oman, both historical-ly from the perspective of the man and the country as it is today,” he added. The two-hour long produc-tion will cover different stages, pe-riods and locations of Ibn Battuta’s travels. Some 150 international

actors, including Abdel Rahman Abou Zahra, and 28 actors from Oman are part of this production. Abou Zahra is a world renowned Egyptian actor known for his his-torical roles in theatre, TV and films, and plays the old Ibn Battuta.

When asked how he would en-act the legend, Abou Zahra said, while addressing the press, “I have played Ibn Battuta on the TV in the 1960s. I am able play any historical character convincingly by speak-ing the proper Arabic language and performing well.”

“When I read the script, the character came to me naturally. It was as if the character was right in front of me,” he explained.

The younger Ibn Battuta is being played by Ezz Elostool, also from Egypt. The play features soloists Rehab Omar and Ghada Shbeir from Egypt and Lebanon respec-tively, as well as an appearance by the Sofia Ballet from Bulgaria, the Omani Al Methalia folk dance troupe, the Fondazione I Pomeriggi Musicali Orchestra from Italy, and the Antonine University and Leba-nese National Conservatory Choirs.

In tandem with an Egyptian

choir, scenes from Oman will feature Omani folkloric troupes and the poetry of Omani poet Dr Saleh Al Fahdi. Directing the play is Walid Aouni, a Lebanese expa-triate living in Egypt for the last twenty years. He said, “By mov-ing away from the traditional ap-proach to plays, we have taken a

modern approach to the choreog-raphy, music and costumes to send a message to the audience.”He said that working in ROHM had paved the way for him to work in bigger plays and productions.

“ROHM’s theatre technology gave me a big window to work with. It facilitates our needs and makes

it easier for the staff, artistes and performers,” said Aouni.

Umberto Fanni stated, “We are also pleased to announce that fol-lowing the performances in Mus-cat, Ibn Battuta will be performed on July 25 at the Milan Expo 2015, representing Oman.”

The musical has harmoniously blended the past and the present. A young lady doing her doctoral research on Ibn Battuta is played by the young Egyptian actress and singer Heba Raslan. The lady and an elderly Ibn Battuta meet on a plane at the Muscat International Airport from where he takes her on a ‘time-travel’ journey.

Abouzhara said, “Travel plays a major role in shaping cultures and creating awareness of the world. That is the approach of the show which calls for travelling to the Sultanate of Oman and getting to know its ancient civilisation.”

Ibn Battuta will be performed for two nights on May 30 and 31 at 7:30 p.m. For more information about the Royal Opera House Mus-cat, tickets, and frequently asked questions, please visit the website at: www.rohmuscat.org.om.

The play Ibn Battuta portrays Oman in Ibn

Battuta’s time and the metamorphosis since

We want to show how the golden age of Arab culture was in the time of Ibn Battuta and how it was transferred to westAhmad AbouzharaGeneral Manager, Arabesque International

Times News Service

MUSCAT: A wave of joy resound-ed in the corridors of the Indian School Ghubra at the stupendous achievement of the students in the CBSE for the year 2014-2015.

A total of 140 students appeared for the examinations in both the Science and Commerce streams.

Out of the 95 students who ap-peared in the Science stream, 47 scored more than 90 per cent, while 11 out of the 45 students in the Commerce stream also scored more than 90 per cent.

The school has scaled new heights of success. Ranking first in the Science stream is Michelle Amin who secured 97.2 per cent, followed by Gokul Krishnakumar with 96.8 per cent in second po-sition and Aparna Krishnan and Ashwita Nair with 96.6 per cent in the third position.

The top positions in the Com-merce stream were clinched by Diksha Raj Gupta and Viyanka Froila Furtado with 95.4 per cent, followed by Ishita Manoj Shah with 95 per cent who stood second and Shreyas Malhotra, who was third with 93.6 per cent.

Top honours in individual sub-jects are as follows:

Physics: 98 – Adithya Sudhan;

Chemistry: 99 – Michelle Amin and Aparna Krishnan; Biology: 98 – Ashwita Nair and Karan Mal-hotra; Computer Science: 99 – He-mant Sriram; Engineering Graph-ics: 100 – Michelle Amin, Gokul Krishnakumar and Navnika Su-dhir; Mathematics: 95 – Michelle Amin, Gokul Krishnakumar, Apar-na Krishnan, Aravind Menon and Aiswarya P, in addition to Mala-vika Menon, Navnika Sudhir, Pra-nay Garuda Prakash and Melvin Sebastian. Others who scored 95 in Mathematics were Pranav Nair, Anthea Abreo, Hemant Sriram and Thomas John, in addition to Ed-wina Sunny, Anurag Joshi, Akash

Bandyopadhyay and Mohammed Numan Rizwan. Arnav Ravichan-der, Sanyum Channa, Daksh Ta-wakley and Sanjay Jaleel, along with Viyanka Froila, Ishita Manoj Shah, Vineeth Vijayan and Pri-yanka Vedula were the others who scored 95 in Mathematics.

Individual toppers in the Com-merce stream are: Accountancy: 100 – Viyanka Froila; Economics: 98 – Sanyum Channa; Business Studies: 95 – Diksha Raj Gupta, Sharmeen Patel, Vinay Motwani, Aditya Rajesh and Varshini Mura-li, in addition to Kanuru Meghana, Christina Bonny, Fathima Zaiba and Sharanya Venkata Krishna.

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CBSE CLASS 12 RESULTST U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

100 per cent pass percentage for Indian School Muladha studentsTimes News Service

MUSCAT: All 83 students who appeared for the Class XII CBSE examinations from the Indian School Muladha registered a pass percentage.

All the students in the Science stream secured above 60 per cent and 86 per cent of the students got a distinction. Similarly, in the commerce stream 50 per cent of the students got a distinction and the remaining secured first class.

Manju Murugan clinched the top rank in the Science stream with an aggregate score of 95.8 per cent, followed by Basma Zubair

Ahmed and Nehla Abdul Jaleel with 95.2 per cent in the second position and Varun Jayakumar with 94 per cent in the third po-sition. Thirty out of 42 students, bagged above 80 per cent.

In the Commerce stream, Rahul

Bhagwanji Tanna came first with an aggregate of 91.6 per cent, close-ly followed by Annette Joe with 91 per cent in the second position, and Abdul Rahman with 88.8 per cent in third position. Fifteen out of the 41 students, bagged above

80 per cent, which is a record for the school. The results were the outcome of assiduousness and promises of the students and the strong support from their families along with the diligent efforts of teachers, said the school authori-

ties. Toppers mentioned that their achievement was the result of the consistent teaching and dedica-tion of the senior school teachers.

The subject toppers are as follows: English (96 per cent) – Davshree Shil and Libin Kurian

Cherian. Mathematics (95 per cent) – Manju Murugan, Saima Mariyam and Varun Jayakumar. Physics (95 per cent) – Amna P As-gar, Basma Zubair Ahmed, Fayyaz Ahmmed and Nehla Abdul Jaleel. Chemistry (99 per cent) – Manju Murugan. Biology (96 per cent) – Manju Murugan. Computer Sci-ence (97 per cent) – Basma Zubair Ahmed. Economics (90 per cent) – Abdul Rahman. Business Stud-ies (95 per cent) – Annette Joe and Rohith Rajendran. Accountancy (95 per cent) – Rahul Bhagwanji Tanna and Rahul Jacob, and In-formatics Practices (99 per cent) – Annette Joe.

G O O D R E S U L T

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Indian School Nizwa students have registered out-standing results in the Class XII examinations.

The exuberance of success was visible on the school premises.

The school registered a 100 per cent success rate, with all 22 stu-dents who took the examination coming through.

Arjun Gangadharan led the team with 91.6 per cent overall and is the topper for the academic session, closely followed by Jes-lin Johnson with 90.4 per cent in

the second position and Khadeeja Noor with 90.2 per cent in the third position.

The best result was in Biology where Farhin Muntaha Tasnim scored 99 per cent, followed by Chemistry where Ansa Abra-ham, Khadeeja Noor and Arjun P Gangadharan scored 95 per cent.

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

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Of the 121 students in the Science stream from Indian School Wadi Kabir, Amanda Jane Fernandes topped the list with an aggregate of 96.6 per cent followed by Aditya Gupta with 95.4 per cent and Rizvi Syed with 94.8 per cent.

Of 97 students of the Commerce stream, Akriti Kaul stood first with 95.2 per cent followed by Aditya Chandran Shankar and Sanjana Sreekumar with 95 per cent, and Abhishek Chandrashekar and Lak-shmi Haridas with 94.8 per cent.

The subject toppers in the Sci-

ence stream : English: 98 per cent — Yadukrishnan; Mathematics: 96 per cent – Amanda Jane Fer-nandes; Physics: 99 per cent – Adi-tya Gupta, Bisekh Karunakaran, Gautam Jayakumar Nayar, Rizvi Syed and Pranitha Krishnaraj, in addition to B, Samuel Sumeet Raj Kumar, Alen Antony Pathil, Aman-da Jane Fernandes, Ashiba Nau-shad Marikar and Ramya Pramela Mariappan; Chemistry: 99 per cent – Aditya Gupta; Biology: 99 per cent – Amanda Jane Fernandes; Computer Science: 99 per cent – Abisekh Karunakaran, Rizvi Syed, Rhea Rao.

I N D I A N S C H O O L W A D I K A B I R

ISM students march aheadTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Indian School Muscat students performed well this year too, with 101 of the 470 students securing above 90 per cent.

In the Science stream, Krishna Caitanya Ananthanarayana was the school topper with 97.2 per cent. The second position was shared by three students — T Sriramkumar, Dhyey Rikin Shah and Yameena Naqvi, who all scored 96 per cent while Upasana Sanyal and Jessina Cherry Kola-dy shared the third position with 95.8 per cent.

In the Commerce stream, Anju Vijayaraghavan stood first with 96.8 per cent. Zahabiya Juzer Halela came second with 96.4 per

cent and Ekta Dubey came third with 96 per cent. In the Humani-ties Stream, Diya Hitesh Sang-hani stood first with 96.2 per cent, while Suchira Sunil Prabhakar came second with 94.6 per cent, and Angelica P. Christopher came third with 94.4 per cent.

In sculpture, six students did exceedingly well scoring 100 per cent, whereas in Engineering Graphics, Mathematics and in Informatics Practices a student each secured 100 per cent.

Three students scored 99 per cent in Chemistry, while in Phys-ics one student scored 98 per cent and stood first.

The top scorer in English scored 98 per cent, while two students scored 99 per cent in Computer

Science and two students excelled with 98 per cent in Biology.

In Accountancy, two students scored 99 per cent, while in Eco-nomics one student scored 99 per cent. In Sociology, two students scored 99 per cent, whereas in Psychology one student scored 99 per cent, and in Business Studies three scored 99 per cent.

In Entrepreneurship, two stu-dents outshone others with 90 per cent marks. In Physical Edu-cation, one student scored 78 per cent to come first.

Srinivas K Naidu, principal, said that the results were largely due to the deep commitment of students and their supportive families and the hard work of the teachers.

Indian School Darsait students fare well

Seeb students earn outstanding score

Times News Service

MUSCAT: The Class XII stu-dents of Indian School Darsait produced a good result in the CBSE examination.

Aarathi T. Sasidharan topped the Science stream with 96.4 per cent. Devika Dinesh, Nita Alisa Mathew and Pratik Ninad Mayekar shared the second posi-tion with 95 per cent, and Balab-haskar Ashok Kumar came third with 94.6 per cent.

In the Commerce stream, Tom-cy Thomas secured the first posi-tion with 95 per cent, followed by C J Anjusree with 90.2 per cent, while Rose Mary Antony grabbed

the third position with 89.6 per cent.Seven students in Science and two students in Commerce scored 90 per cent and above, while 37 students in science and 36 in commerce, secured 70 per cent and above. The English de-partment produced yet another overwhelming result of 87.7 per cent bettering the past results, whereas Marketing topped the school average of 87.8 per cent.

School averages in other sub-jects are: Chemistry at 85.8 per cent, Biology at 82.1 per cent, Computer Science at 80.2 per cent, Multimedia at 78.2 per cent and Physics at 78.1 per cent, along with Business Studies at 65.5 per

cent, Mathematics at 62.6 per cent, Accountancy at 59.2 per cent and Economics 42.5 per cent.

Two students in the Science stream and one in commerce scored A1 in all subjects.

Top scorers: English: 59 stu-dents scored 95 marks bettering the previous result; Mathematics: 95 per cent – Aarathi Sasidharan, Nita Alisa Mathew, Pratik Ninad Mayekar and Tomcy Thomas; Physics: 95 per cent – Aarathi T Sasidharan, Pratik Ninad Mayekar, Devika Dinesh and Bal-abhaskar Ashok Kumar, in addi-tion to Godson K Shibu, Bipinjot Kaur Hara and Lakshmi Para-meswar; Chemistry: 99 per cent –

Aarathi T Sasidharan; Computer Science: 99 per cent – Roshan Shibu; Biology: 96 – Bipinjot Kaur Hara and Godson K Shibu; Eco-nomics: 95 – Thomcy Thomas, C J Anjusree, Anu Sam Baby and Rizwana Nasar; Accountancy: 95 – Tomcy Thomas and C J Anjus-ree; Business Studies: 95 – Tomcy Thomas, C J Anjusree, Rizwana Nasar, Mohammed Hafes Javed and Rose Mary Antoney, in ad-dition to Sumayya Mohammed Basheer, Vandana M, Savio Cyriac and Ashwathi Govindan Kutty; Multimedia and Web Technology: 97 – Jawad Ummer C P, and Mar-keting: 99 – Ashwathi Govindan Kutty and Mohammed Thansif.

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Students of Indian School Al Seeb have made their school and parents proud with an outstanding performance in the Central Board of Secondary Edu-cation, Class XII Examination.

The students were elated when the results were displayed on the website. Of the 120 students who appeared for the examina-tion, 64 were from the Science stream and 56 were from the Commerce stream.

The Commerce stream boasted a 100 per cent result which re-flected the hard work put in by the students. Swati S topped the batch with 93.4 per cent, Sneha Rebeccah Koshy stood second with 91.8 per cent and Ayisha

Abdul Khader bagged the third place with 90.4 per cent. In Busi-ness Studies, 13 students got A1 with Henna Thabassum coming first with 97 per cent. In Eco-nomics, four students got A1 with Sneha Rebeccah Koshy fetch-ing 95 per cent. In Accountancy, Swati S got 92 per cent, which was the highest.

Aswathy Jayaraj topped the Science batch with an aggregate

of 93.2 per cent and received A1 in all subjects, making the school as well as her parents proud and happy. The second position was bagged by Nesmy Usman with 92 per cent and Fathimath Amal stood third with 86 per cent.

Out of the 64 students who gave the Science stream examination, four students got A1 in Phys-ics. Ayswariya T Sasidharan and Zeeshanshah S topped the batch

with 93 per cent each. The high-est in Chemistry was 95 per cent by Nesmy Usman. Nazish Iqbal Madre topped Biology with 93 per cent. John Samuel Ebenezer scoring 93 per cent, which was the highest in Mathematics. Fifteen students appeared in the Physi-cal Education Examination and two students received A1. Mar-jana Muthuvana made the school proud scoring the highest with 97.

G O O D R E S U L T

I N D I A N S C H O O L A L S E E B

Indian School Ghubra sets new benchmark of success

I N D I A N S C H O O L G H U B R AI N D I A N S C H O O L M U S C A T

Hard work pays

Nizwa students shine

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REGIONT U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

The Washington Post’s Tehran correspondent Jason Rezaian, an Iranian-American, was arrested in July last year. He is being held in Tehran’s Evin prison. The 39-year-old was formally charged with espionage, collaboration with hostile governments, gathering classified information and disseminating propaganda against Iran

Soldier kills seven colleagues

TUNIS: A Tunisian soldier the authorities say had psychologi-cal problems seized a gun at a barracks on Monday and killed seven comrades before being shot dead himself.

The interior ministry said the rampage was not linked to “ter-rorism”, but a defence ministry spokesman did not rule this out before an investigation reports on the incident. Defence minis-try spokesman Belhassen Oues-lati said the corporal, whose name was not given, “had family and psychological problems”.

Because of this, he had been “forbidden from carrying arms”

and given “non-sensitive duties”.“He attacked one man with

a knife and took his gun before shooting at his comrades who were saluting the flag,” Oueslati said. The incident “caused the deaths of seven soldiers and also of the shooter. Ten soldiers were wounded, and one is in a serious

condition,” he added. Monday’s shooting was at the Bouchoucha barracks in Tunis, not far from parliament and the Bardo Nation-al Museum where gunmen killed 21 foreign tourists and a police-man in March. It triggered a secu-rity alert across the Bardo district, AFP correspondents reported.

One heard two volleys of gunfire from inside the barracks at around 8:45 am (0745 GMT), before an ambulance emerged, its siren blaring. The interior ministry’s elite Counterterrorism Brigade deployed in force across the area.

On alertPolice with sniffer dogs also checked parked vehicles for fear of car bombs in the district, which also houses two police barracks.

“The incident which took place at the Bouchoucha barracks is not connected with a terrorist op-eration,” interior ministry spokes-man Mohamed Ali Aroui told AFP initially. The defence ministry’s Oueslati said the shooter had been killed. “The armed forces took control of the situation after firing on the soldier,” Oueslati told AFP.

“Investigations will show

whether this was a terrorist act or not,” Oueslati told reporters, adding that all theories would be examined. Tunis has been on high alert ever since the March massa-cre at the National Bardo Museum, which dealt a heavy blow to the North African country’s tourism industry. Tunisia has seen an up-surge in militancy since the pro-tests which toppled veteran leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.

Since then, there has been a growing threat from armed mili-tants, especially on the border with Algeria.

Some 70 members of the securi-ty forces, both police and soldiers, have been killed over the past four years, mostly in the rugged Mount Chaambi area.

Tunisia has also had to contend with the violence in Libya, its violence-ridden neighbour to the east where the Bardo attack kill-ers underwent weapons training.

The porous desert border be-tween the two countries has seen trafficking of all kinds, includ-ing in weapons, mushroom in recent years. — AFP

The Tunisian

corporal ‘had family

and psychological

problems’

Fierce fighting erupts in Yemen’s TaezSANAA: Rebel forces and loyal-ist fighters were locked in fierce fighting in Yemen on Monday as hopes of a political solution faded after the United Nations post-poned peace talks.

Clashes raged in the country’s third city Taez, sowing panic after Houthi rebels bombarded several districts with rocket and tank fire.

“There’s a real massacre going on in Taez, the city that spear-headed the revolt” against former president Ali Abdullah Saleh who now supports the Houthis, one resident said.

“Saleh has aligned himself with the rebels to take revenge,” Bas-sam Al Qadhi added.

Saleh quit in early 2012 after bloody year-long protests against

his rule, and was replaced by Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi who has taken refuge along with his government in neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

Monday’s clashes in Taez came just four days before a new UN effort was to have been held, aim-ing to resolve the conflict in the impoverished Arabian Penin-sula nation. But there had been growing uncertainty over which of the warring parties would at-tend the talks slated for Thursday in Geneva.

“I can confirm that the meeting has been postponed,” a UN official said on Sunday, without providing further immediate explanation.

The postponement is another blow to UN efforts to broker peace

in a country where nearly 2,000 people have been killed since March. Hadi had laid out his gov-ernment’s demands in a pre-talks letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, insisting that the rebels must withdraw from terri-tory they have seized.

Position reiteratedHe reiterated his position on Sun-day during talks in Riyadh with Ban’s special envoy, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.

In a bid to restore Hadi’s au-thority, Saudi Arabia has led an air campaign against the Houthis since March 26.

Coalition aircraft bombarded targets across the country at the weekend, including the airport in

second city Aden and its northern suburbs, officials said.

On Monday, residents and an official in Taez said fierce fighting had killed and wounded dozens of people. The clashes, which erupt-ed on Sunday and raged overnight, have killed at least 30 Houthi re-bels and allied forces, the official told AFP.

He said a provisional toll showed at least five Hadi loyalists were also killed.

For a second consecutive day, rebels and their allies targeted several Taez neighbourhoods with rockets and tank shells, resi-dents said. Medics and residents told AFP late Sunday the bom-bardment had killed 10 civilians and wounded 80. — AFP

U N P O S T P O N E S T A L K S

US reporter’s trial opens in Iran todayTEHRAN: The trial of the Wash-ington Post’s Tehran correspond-ent Jason Rezaian, in custody for 10 months and accused of espio-nage, will open in Iran on Tuesday, a senior judicial official said.

Judiciary spokesman Gholam-hossein Mohseni-Ejeie, quoted on Monday by the ISNA news agency, said that Rezaian’s lawyer and an interpreter will be present in court but declined to give fur-ther details.

“I cannot reveal the details of the case but the trial will take place tomorrow and it will be up to the judge to decide whether the trial will be public or not,” he said.

Rezaian, an Iranian-American, was arrested in July last year. He is being held in Tehran’s Evin pris-on. The 39-year-old was formally charged with espionage, collabo-ration with hostile governments, gathering classified information and disseminating propaganda against Iran. — AFP

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

IN ACTION: Tunisian anti-terrorism brigade personnel enter a house to take position after a shooting at the Bouchoucha military base in Tunis, Tunisia on Monday. – Reuters

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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 AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

I do not see any creation of jobs....What has

one year brought in terms of jobs. In terms

of jobs, I will give this government zero

P. Chidambaram, Former finance minister

Heatwave toll crosses 430 in two statesHYDERABAD: More than 430 people have died in two Indian states during a heatwave that has seen temperatures nudge 50 de-grees Celsius and force Kolkata’s iconic yellow taxis off the road, of-ficials said on Monday.

Officials warned the toll was al-most certain to rise, with figures still being collected in some parts of the hard-hit Telangana state in the country’s south, and with no end in sight to the searing conditions.

Large parts of India, including

national capital New Delhi, have endured days of sweltering heat, prompting fears of power cuts.

But the highest temperatures have been recorded in Telanga-na and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh state.

Andhra Pradesh authorities are urging labourers and others not to work long hours in the heat of the day after 246 people died from the high temperatures there in the last week.

“The majority of the victims

are people who have been ex-posed to the sun directly, usually aged 50 and above and from the working classes,” P. Tulsi Rani, special commissioner of Andhra Pradesh’s disaster management department, said.

Rani said although the deaths started occurring on Monday last week, the number increased rap-idly towards the end of the week after days of scorching heat.

“We are asking them to take precautions like using an um-

brella, using a cap, taking a huge quantity of liquids like water and buttermilk, and wearing cotton clothing,” he said.

Another 188 people have died in Telangana since April, although most fatalities have occurred since the middle of last week.

Hundreds of mainly poor peo-ple die at the height of summer every year across the country, while tens of thousands suffer power cuts from an overburdened electricity grid. - AFP

H O T S U M M E R

THREE KILLED AS TRAIN DERAILS IN UTTAR PRADESHJammu-Tata Nagar Muri Express derails in Kaushambi district of Uttar Pradesh on Monday. Ten bogies of a Jammu-bound

train derailed on Monday, killing three people including a woman on the spot and injuring nine and affecting train traffic on

Allahabad-Kanpur route. - PTI

DMK is set to challenge Jayalalithaa’s acquittal

CHENNAI: DMK on Monday said it has decided to file an ap-peal against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa’s acquit-tal in a wealth case by the Karna-taka High Court.

“With Supreme Court having said twice that DMK has the right to participate in this case, I firmly say that the party also will file an appeal in the disproportionate assets case against Jayalalithaa in the Supreme Court,” DMK President M Karunanidhi said in a statement here.

Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) has been pressing the Karnataka Government to file an appeal against the May 11 ver-dict of the high court acquitting Jayalalithaa and three others in the disproportionate wealth case, which paved the way for her return as chief minister of the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Karunanidhi’s statement on Monday came after he chaired a meeting of DMK’s District Secretaries where the matter was discussed.

District Secretaries play a sig-nificant role in the the DMK’s

organisational set-up. Karunani-dhi said the Special Public Pros-ecutor in the case, B. V. Acharya, and Karnataka Advocate General Ravi Varma Kumar had recom-mended to that government to file an appeal against Jayalalithaa’s acquittal.

“We firmly believe that Karna-taka government will accept their recommendations and file the ap-peal,” he said.

The original complainant in the case, BJP leader Subramani-an Swamy, had also said he would move the apex court against Jay-alalithaa’s acquittal, Karunanidhi pointed out.

DMK’s decision to take on its arch-rival comes two days after Jayalalithaa was sworn-in as Chief Minister for a fifth time, following her acquittal in the Rs 66.66 crore disproportionate as-sets case by the high court.

The court had allowed her ap-peal challenging the September 27, 2014 order of the trial court in Bengaluru convicting her and sentencing her to four years im-prisonment imposing a fine of Rs 100 crore. - PTI

D I S P R O P O R T I O N A T E W E A L T H C A S E

Bad days for scamsters, says Modi

MATHURA: Marking the first an-niversary of the National Demo-cratic Alliance government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Mon-day presented a report card for one year which he asserted has been free of corruption and scams but has brought “bure din” (bad days) for those who have “robbed” the country in their 60 years of rule.

Attacking the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) gov-ernment, Modi said one more year to that government would have “sunk” the country and that now there were no stories of a scam in-volving “son-in-law or a son” of a political leader happening.

“Some people are very troubled these days. Their trouble is with the fact that ‘achche din’ has come to all people but ‘bure din’ for them.Those whose ‘bure din’ have come, they are troubled. They are shout-ing. Because for 60 years, in Delhi’s political corridors, only their voice was heard and the country was run as they wished...

“I did not give guarantee of ‘ach-che din’ for those who looted the nation for years. We will run the country in a way that there will be more ‘bure din’ for them and their troubles will increase. Your

money can’t be looted by anyone,” the prime minister said at a public rally here at the birth place of Deen Dayal Upadhyay, a BJP ideologue.

BJP has planned nearly 200 public rallies by its main leaders across to mark the first year of the NDA government.

However, Modi, who made a very pro-farmer and pro-poor pitch during his hour-long speech, did not mention the contentious land acquisition bill, on which his government is facing tough oppo-sition even from NDA allies.

AchievementsNoting that thoughts of three lead-ers “shaped us in the last several years — those of Mahatma Gandhi ji, Lohia ji and Deendayal ji”, the prime minister said he therefore picked the “Deen Dyal Dham” to share the one year achievements of his government.

Earlier, the government was run by the remote control and every day a scam or corruption case was coming out, Modi alleged and asked people if “you have heard about any

scams, any nepotism, any remote control in the last year?”

Reminding people of the “cor-ruption scandals” during the UPA regime, Modi asked them whether those bad days have gone or not. Claiming that his government has brought to an end the “loot” in the country, the prime minister said that he is the “pradhan santri, pradhan sevak and pradhan trus-tee” of the country’s resources and will not allow its loot.

Attacking Congress without naming it, he said that in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, he had promised that he will not allow any “panja” (hand) to touch the na-tion’s treasury. Congress’ election symbol is hand.

“In Delhi, power circles domi-nated more than any power cen-tre... Abhimanyu had to destroy eight power circles. There were hundreds of power circles here.With your blessings, those hun-dreds of circles of power have been destroyed now,” he said claim-ing that the NDA government has brought an end to nepotism and

middleman culture. Recalling that former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi used to say that only 15 paisa of one rupee sanctioned in Delhi reach the intended villages, Modi said that the NDA govern-ment has made arrangements that 100 paisa of the money reach in-tended beneficiaries and are not guzzled by tauts.

“We have succeeded in bring-ing to an end the business of loot, blackmarketing,” he said as he made a contrast between the functioning NDA government and that of UPA.

Under attack from the Opposi-tion for being pro-corporate and anti-poor, Modi sought to project the government as one, which is dedicated to the poor, farmer and deprived.

Putting the blame on previous governments for the poor plight of farmers, he listed a number of measures like Jan Sinchai, Soil Health Card and other meas-ures taken by his government to provide succour to the farming community. - PTI

Attacking the

previous United

Progressive Alliance

government, Prime

Minister Narendra

Modi said one

more year to that

government would

have ‘sunk’ the

country and that now

there were no stories

of a scam involving

‘son-in-law or a

son’ of a political

leader happening

In Delhi, power circles dominated more than any power centre... Abhimanyu had to destroy eight power circles. There were hundreds of power circles here. With your blessings, those hundreds of circles of power have been destroyed now

Narendra ModiPrime MinisterONE-YEAR REPORT CARD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves to

the crowd at Jan Kalyan Rally at Farah in Mathura district on Mon-

day. Actress and BJP lawmaker Hema Malini is also seen. -PTI

NEW DELHI: Former finance minister P. Chidam-baram on Monday gave zero marks to the Modi govern-ment on the issue of job crea-tion, faulted it for not carry-ing out major reforms despite adequate numbers in the Lok Sabha and spoke of worrying signs in the economy.

The Congress leader also took a jibe at Finance Min-ister Arun Jaitley, saying tax terrorism coined by him has “come to haunt him” now in the backdrop of tax notices to FIIs regarding Minimum Alternate Tax.

Seeking to puncture the celebratory mood of the Nar-endra Modi dispensation over completing one year in office, Chidambaram suggested that the tenure so far was a missed opportunity as it failed to carry out reforms despite the ruling BJP securing majority on its own.

“Why did you put Direct Taxes Code on the back-burner. Why did you ditch the Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA), why are you not implementing the legisla-tive proposals of Financial Sector Legislation Reforms Commission. These are com-pletely puzzling. These are absolutely necessary. Why have all of these been put on the backburner when you have 282 members in the Lok Sabha”, he said.

WarnedHe warned that investors will not come if growth in credit and demand do not pick up and private projects remained stalled.

Expressing his concern over the state of the economy, he said: “When the credit growth is lowest in many years, when aggregate de-mand is sluggish, when 585 private sector projects are stalled, How will an investor come in?....”

“I do not see any creation

of jobs....What has one year brought in terms of jobs. In terms of jobs, I will give this government zero”, he said adding farmers in general and agriculture experts like Ashok Gulati too would give this government a zero rating.

AccusedTaking a dig, he said “but if you will ask a big industrialist who was promised Rs5,000 crore from State Bank of India, he will of course give 10 out of 10”. Chidambaram accused the government of not passing on the full ben-efits of drop in international crude oil prices to consum-ers, claiming the government has made a windfall of about Rs50,000 crores.

He said that the petrol and diesel should have been sell-ing at least Rs15 less per litre if the government had passed on the entire benefit.

On the issue of inflation, he said still some pulses and vegetables are costly. He at-tributed the drop in inflation mainly to the decline in inter-national crude oil prices.

Dismissing BJP’s charge that the UPA had practised crony capitalism, Chidambar-am said that a record growth rate of 8.5 per cent would not have been possible if the al-legations were correct.

He said the UPA achieved the record growth by ensur-ing high credit and demand growth and ensuring that conditions are created for investment.

Regarding the recent sur-vey on one year performance of Modi government, Chidam-baram said “undoubtedly all surveys shows that the level of support they enjoyed in May 2014 has declined sharply by May 2015.Why, (because) people are beginning to recog-nise that much of the ‘acche din’ (good days) was only a ‘chunavi jumla’”(election gim-mick). - PTI

Zero marks to Modi government on job creation: Chidambaram

A9

INDIAT U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

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Maoists torch 32 vehicles in BiharGAYA/RAIPUR: Heavily armed Maoists torched 32 vehicles, in-cluding tankers and containers, on the Grand Trunk Road in this district in eastern Indian state Bi-har on the first day of the two-day Bihar and Jharkhand bandh called by the extremists against the kill-ing of their woman leader.

However, nobody was injured in the attack that took place on the route which connects Kol-kata to New Delhi in the wee hours on Monday and traffic has been restored.

A group of over 50 Maoists set ablaze 32 vehicles on the GT Road near Bishunpur and Taradih vil-lages, Patna Zonal Inspector Gen-eral (IG) Kundan Krishnan said.

Among the vehicles were four

tankers filled with LPG and one with diesel. The Maoists torched the cabins of the drivers of these tankers, but the fire did not spread to the tanks, he said.

The attackers allowed a family to move to safety before torching their car, he said.

The Maoists have called the bandh to protest the killing of their

Bihar Jharkhand Chhattisgarh Special Area Committee member Sarita alias Urmila Ganjoo in an encounter with CRPF on May 16.

The IG said police teams and Gaya SSP and DIG reached the spot and the burnt vehicles had been removed. Krishnan also said that special operations to check Maoist activities in the area would be considered in the wake of the two-day bandh in the Left wing ex-tremism affected areas.

Meanwhile in another incident, armed Maoists destroyed a mobile tower at Panapur in Saran district of the state.

A group of Maoists allegedly killed two villagers at separate places in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewa-da district today while suspecting

them to be working as police in-formers.

While 63-year-old Sukku Patel was killed at Pandewar village un-der Faraspal police station limits, another villager, identified as Chi-tranjan, was murdered in Gondpal village under Dantewada police station area, Dantewada SP Kam-lochan Kashyap said.

As per the preliminary investi-gation, a group of ultras stormed into the house of Patel in the wee hours and dragged him out saying he was a police informer, he said, adding they attacked Patel with sharp-edged weapons killing him on the spot.

Chitranjan was also killed in a similar way at Gondpal village, Kashyap added. - PTI

The Maoists have

called a bandh to

protest the killing of

their Bihar Jharkhand

Chhattisgarh Special

Area Committee

member Sarita in

an encounter with

CRPF on May 16

Court order a huge embarrassment for Modi, says an upbeat KejriwalNEW DELHI: Buoyed by the high court judgement over jurisdiction of Delhi government’s anti-graft body, Chief Minister Arvind Ke-jriwal on Monday said the verdict was a “huge embarrassment” for the Modi dispensation and has strengthened his government’s fight against corruption.

At an event to mark 100 days of his government, Kejriwal said the high court’s order clarifying that the Home Ministry has no rights to interfere in the matters of ACB was a major victory for people of the city.

In a statement, the AAP gov-ernment termed the high court verdict in “restoring the powers of the Anti-Corruption Branch” a “decisive victory” for the people of the city.

“I want to congratulate and ap-prise you of a major high court judgement. Forty years ago, the anti-corruption bureau had come up in Delhi. Forty years ago, its jurisdiction was over officials of all agencies based in Delhi, be it of the Union government, DDA, police, MCD, the ACB could probe instances of corruption of all these bodies,” he said.

The chief minister said the powers of the ACB were taken away last year by the NDA govern-ment after it filed a case against a leading industrialist.

“Last year when our 49-day government was formed, we had filed a case against a big person of this country, Mukesh Ambani.

“After our government quit, Centre issued an order restricting the ACB to Delhi government of-ficials only. “It said the ACB won’t look after the corruption of Union government officials, police and NDMC.Today Delhi HC ordered that the Centre and MHA have no rights to interfere in the matters of ACB,” he said addressing the “open cabinet” at the Central Park in Connaught Place.

Kejriwal said the court’s order has strengthened the resolve of his government in its ongoing

fight against graft. “We have got strengthened by this. All of them are after us. You must have been observing. But when you are in the path of truth, all the good forces of the universe help you. When the God is with you then there is no need to worry who is against you. Whoever is against will get de-stroyed gradually,” he said.

In its statement, the AAP gov-ernment said the move to “curtail the original powers” of the ACB through an “ill-conceived” notifica-tion by the union home ministry on July 23 last year has been categori-cally “rebuffed” by the high court.

“The high court verdict will strengthen the resolve of the peo-

ple of Delhi to fight corruption and it will go a long way in having an effective anti-corruption mecha-nism in the national capital.

“Delhi government is commit-ted to eradicate corruption and make the national capital the first corruption-free state of India.”

The high court’s order came amid a bitter tussle between the AAP government and the Lt Gov-ernor over posting and transfers of senior officials as well as some other contentious issues.

The AAP government has called an emergency session of the Delhi Assembly beginning on Tuesday to discuss the notification.

It has also indicated taking legal recourse on the issue.

The gazette notification dated May 21 by the Home Ministry had said the LG will have jurisdictions over matters connected with ser-vices, public order, police and land and he may consult with the chief minister whenever he thinks nec-essary on issues of services using his own “discretion”.

The appointment of senior bureaucrat Shakuntala Gam-lin as acting Chief Secretary by the LG last week had triggered a full-blown war between the rul-ing AAP and Jung, with Kejriwal questioning the LG’s authority and accusing him of trying to take over the administration. - PTI

A N T I - G R A F T B O D Y J U R I S D I C T I O N

Militants strike twice in J&K; soldier among three killedSRINAGAR: Three people, in-cluding a soldier and a militant, were killed and two people were injured on Monday as ultras tar-geted an army patrol and a fran-chise of state-owned telecom service provider, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), at two places in Kashmir, police said.

Militants opened fire at an army patrol at Kanjikulla in Yaripora area of Indian-adminis-tered-Kashmir’s Kulgam district, about 80km from here, a police officer said. Sepoy Dharam Ram was injured in the firing and suc-cumbed later, the officer said.

Security forces immediately cordoned off the area and tracked down a militant to an orchard where he was killed in a brief gun-fight, the police officer said.

Earlier in the day, militants fired at a franchisee outlet of BSNL at Iqbal Market in Sopore in north Kashmir Baramulla dis-trict, 52 km from here.

The attack was apparently di-

rected at telecom operators who have been threatened earlier, a police officer said. He said three workers of the BSNL franchisee were injured in the firing and they were rushed to a local hospital, where doctors referred them to a hospital in Srinagar for treatment.

One among the injured, Mo-hammad Rafiq (26), a resident of

Handwara area of Kupwara dis-trict, succumbed to his injuries at the Srinagar hospital.

The two injured, Ghulam Mo-hammad Bhat (40) and Imtiyaz Ahmad Lone (30), both residents of Sopore township, were being treated, the officer said. This was the second terror attack in Sopore in less than 48 hours. -PTI

A R M Y P A T R O L T A R G E T E D

IN FLAMES: Maoists set ablaze a vehicle at GT Road during their

Jharkhand bandh, in Amas on Monday. - PTI

OPEN CABINET MEETING: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal

with his cabinet colleagues during his ‘Open Cabinet’ meeting at

Connaught Place’s Central Park in New Delhi on Monday. - PTI

COMBING OPERATIONS: Special Operation Group (SOG) of Jammu

and Kashmir Police personnel search for militants who attacked a

BSNL telecom franchise at Sopore on Monday. -PTI

Two Indian women among Swiss bank account holdersBERNE: Two Indian women figure among scores of foreign nationals with Swiss bank ac-counts, whose names have been made public by Switzerland in its official gazette for being probed in their respective countries.

Making public these names, the Swiss Federal Tax Adminis-tration (FTA) has asked the two Indians to file an appeal within 30 days before the Federal Ad-

ministrative Court if they do not want their details to be shared with the Indian authorities under their ‘mutual assistance’ treaty on tax matters.

However, no further details — other than their dates of birth — were made public for the two “Indian nationals” — Sneh Lata Sawhney and Sangita Sawhney.

At least 40 such ‘final notic-es’ have been published in the

Swiss Federal Gazette so far this month, while more such names are expected to be published go-ing forward. The alleged stash-ing of wealth by Indians in Swiss banks has been a matter of great debate in India.

The Indian government has been pushing the Swiss authori-ties for a long time to share in-formation on the suspected tax evaders. - PTI

N A M E S M A D E P U B L I C

A10

PAKISTANT U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

HOME-BOUNDA man sits with his belongings while waiting for a train to leave for his hometown, at Cantonment Railway Station in Kara-

chi, on Monday. — Reuters

Fake degree firm CEO’s bail plea rejected

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday rejected Axact Chief Executive Officer Shoaib Sheikh’s application plea seeking grant of a pre-arrest bail, terming it “meritless”.

Sheikh appeared before a two-judge bench of the SHC yesterday and submitted the application to avoid any possibility of arrest.

The company, that has pledged to build a media empire, faced tough criticism after The New York Times said it was earning tens of millions of dollars by sell-ing fake degrees.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar had taken notice of the re-

port which claimed that Axact ran a fake education empire that involved paid actors promoting fictitious universities.

The report, which quoted for-

mer employees and analysed more than 370 websites of fake universities, accreditation bodies and other purported institutions, sparked a wave of criticism on

social media even as the company denied wrongdoing.

As the scandal surrounding Ax-act’s fake degree empire roiled the country, several senior journalists announced on Saturday that they were leaving the Bol Network, a sister concern of the controver-sial IT company.

Those who quit Bol included the network’s two top executives, Kamran Khan and Azhar Abbas.

“Charges against Axact are far from having been proved in court but my conscience is not letting me continue,” tweeted Bol’s presi-dent and editor-in-chief Kamran Khan. — Express Tribune

A X A C T

President’s son unhurt as attack kills three

QUETTA: Three people were killed and four others injured when Baloch separatists targeted a convoy carrying the Pakistani president’s son in the southwest-ern province of Balochistan late Sunday night, police said.

“An explosive laden motorbike parked at a roadside was blown up with a remote control device when [the] convoy of President Mam-noon Hussain’s son, Salman Mam-noon was passing by late Sunday night in Hub Industrial Zone in Balochistan near Karachi,” local police official Ghulam Mustafa Shah told AFP Monday.

He said the president’s son was unharmed as his vehicle had al-ready passed the spot where the device exploded hitting a rickshaw and the last vehicle of the convoy.

“The rickshaw driver, a 12-year-old child in the rickshaw and a pas-serby died at the spot while four police personnel of the security squad received minor injuries,” he said.

Zahidullah, a senior police of-ficial confirmed the incident and said the president’s son owns a

dairy farm in the area and is a fre-quent visitor.

“The president’s son was the ap-parent target of the attack,” he said.

Meerak Baluch, spokesman of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the at-tack in a telephone call to AFP.

“We claim responsibility for the attack, it was in response to the mil-itary operation carried out in vari-ous areas of Balochistan,” he said.

Rebels began their fifth insur-gency against the state in 2004, with hundreds of soldiers and militants killed in the fighting since then. — AFP

An explosive laden motorbike parked at

a roadside was blown up with a remote

control device when the convoy of Salman

Hussain was passing by in Balochistan,

a local police official said

Mamnoon Hussain

Shoaib Sheikh’s counsel said that it was feared that Federal Investigation Agency would arrest his client on the basis of the ‘New York Times’ report even though no case was registered in Pakistan

‘Nawaz gives go ahead for Shawal ground offensive’ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday gave the go-ahead to extend Operation Zarb-e-Azb into Shawal Valley, sources privy to the development told The Express Tribune.

The development to expand the operation into the mountainous north-western region of North Waziristan Agency came during a meeting between the premier and army chief General Raheel Sharif in Islamabad on Monday.

“All financial issues related to the new military offensive in Sha-wal Valley will be incorporated in the upcoming budget,” the sources added.

Further, the sources said, “Pa-kistan Army’s operation in Sha-wal will force Afghanistan to take action against Taliban’s strong-holds in their country.”

The deeply forested ravines of the valley are a key smuggling route between Pakistan and Af-ghanistan and are hub of Taliban bases used as launch pads for at-tacks on Pakistani forces.

Tirah ValleyPakistan army has cleared Tirah Valley from terrorists through military operations and the next step is to clear Shawal Valley, they added.

There have been a number of air strikes in the Shawal Valley over the past week, including two US drone attacks, but the military has now decided to move ground troops into the valley.

During the second week of May, the military had began prepara-tions for an offence to push Tali-ban from their last major strong-hold, the Shawal Valley. But now the premier formally approved the operation.

Regarding developments in relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, sources said that significant breakthrough has tak-en place between Pakistan’s spy

agency, the Inter Services Intelli-gence (ISI) and Afghanistan’s spy agency National Directorate of Security (NDS) relations as both agreed to share vital informations about terrorists.

Zulfiqar MirzaRegarding Karachi’s security

situation, the top civil and mili-tary leadership discussed the ap-pointment of new Sindh Home Minister Sohail Anwar Sial.

“Sial’s appointment was just to address the issue of former Sindh home minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza and not to deal with the law and order situation of the province,” a source said.

“Pakistan People’s Party’s co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari has appointed Sial with a special task to settle Zardari’s personal scores with Mirza,” he added.

According to the sources, Sial used to work as personal security incharge of Faryal Talpur and his duty was to hire personal guards for Talpur.

“Nawaz and Raheel agreed to see continuation of current po-litical set up in the Sindh province under Rangers which would deal law and order situation through an apex committee,” the sources added. — Express Tribune

F I G H T A G A I N S T T A L I B A N

The deeply forested ravines of the valley are a key smuggling route between Pakistan and Afghanistan and are hub of Taliban bases used as launch pads for attacks on Pakistani security forces

Two lawyers killed in clash with cops

DASKA: Two lawyers, including the president of a local bar asso-ciation, were killed and another was injured on Monday when a clash broke out between law-yers and police officials in Daska area of Sialkot district, Express News reported.

According to the initial reports, a scuffle broke out between police officials and lawyers when the latter were peacefully protesting outside a police station.

Daska police officer Sardar Shehzad opened fire to disperse the angry crowd, injuring Presi-

dent of Daska Bar Association Rana Khalid and two other ad-vocates. The security forces also fired tear gas at the protesters.

Khalid and one of his colleague succumbed to their injuries on the way to the Gujranwala hospi-tal. According to hospital authori-ties, the injured are reportedly in critical condition.

Soon after the incident, lawyers strongly protested against po-lice officials. They hurled stones at them and set the office of the deputy superintendent of police on fire. A Sialkot district police

officer was injured as a result. The windows of Lahore Com-missioner Abdullah Sumbal’s car were also smashed as protests spread in various cities including Gujranwala and Sialkot.

Meanwhile, lawyers set the assistant commissioner’s house on fire. He and his family was not in the present in the house, and according to reports, have fled the city.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif took notice of the incident and ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident. — Express Tribune

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A malign shade named Iraq has returned to haunt America’s nascent 2016 presidential campaign. The past few days, beginning with the humiliat-ing fall of Ramadi to IS, and ending with its seizure of the

last government-controlled crossing point from next-door Syria, has offered proof of how dread-fully wrong things have gone since the last US combat troops left Iraq at the end of 2011 — a step that was supposed to draw a final line under eight years of war. Of course, the shade of Iraq has nev-er gone away. In good measure, Barack Obama owed his crucial victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primaries to his opposition to George W Bush’s “dumb war”.

Four years later, completion of the pull-out un-doubtedly helped him win a second presidential term, as he fulfilled a promise that was supported by a country which by then regarded the 2003 in-vasion as a terrible mistake.

And all along the Republicans — once the par-ty that could be trusted with national security — paid a heavy price. The Iraq mess was seen as their mess, despite the support of many Demo-crats, including Clinton, for the invasion.

The vast expenditure of blood and treasure, Americans came to believe, had been brought about by a coterie of GOP hawks and neo-cons, peddling nonsense about Saddam Hussein’s im-agined weapons of mass destruction. But now, if Republicans have their way, that narrative is about to change. Their strategy ahead of the 2016 vote is clear. In terms of demographics and the electorate’s more liberal social bent, the tide is not running the Republicans’ way.

But the chaos in the Middle East and else-where, and Obama’s muted and much criticised response to it, offers them a golden chance to re-claim the national security mantle.

First, though, the party must shed the burden of Iraq. And the shambles that has followed the 2011 withdrawal provides the opening. Who, Re-publicans ask, is really to blame?

Not Bush, who sent the troops in the first place but whose 2007 “surge” briefly stabilised the country — but Obama, who withdrew the troops too soon and too hastily, throwing that stability away. To which the president has now respond-ed, in a fascinating interview with The Atlantic magazine. “No, I don’t think we’re losing,” he said of the debacle in Ramadi, essentially re-iterating the Pentagon’s line that victory over IS would

take years, and that setbacks along the way were inevitable. That response may be a case of what Americans call “whistling Dixie”, but Obama’s cool logic and self-confident rationalism cannot fail to impress.

This is a White House incumbent facing an un-precedented set of interlocking dilemmas. What to do about Syria’s horrific civil war? Should the US make common cause with Bashar Al Assad, the prime author of that civil war, and with its old rival Iran, against IS? How much of a threat to America are the Islamists, really? Should the US, as some urge, launch an all-out assault against them — a step that would lead to direct American involvement in the Syrian conflict?

Reading the Atlantic interview, you realise not only how deeply Obama has thought about these issues, you almost get the feeling that he’s writ-ten off both Iraq and Syria, countries artificially created from the rubble of the Ottoman empire, and whose arbitrary border in the sands east of Palmyra — now too part of the self-styled cali-phate — has now vanished.

The US has sacrificed enough already, Obama argues, and it is not for Washington to write blank cheques to stem the tide of history: “If the Iraqis themselves are not willing or capable to arrive at the political accommodations neces-sary to govern, if they are not willing to fight for the security of their country, we cannot do that for them.” Instead, the considered conclusion of the law professor and supreme pragmatist who occupies the Oval Office is that the real priority is a deal with Iran to curb its nuclear programme.

He reasons, lies the best hope both of making the region safer by turning Iran into a constructive, rath-er than destructive, force and of advancing US inter-ests there. For the moment he’s winning the political argument. The bottom line — as Republicans well know — is that Americans want another land war in the Middle East like a hole in the head. A Republican Congress and the party’s presidential candidates may bloviate about a more forceful American policy against IS. But press them about what exactly they mean, and the answer is more special forces, more trainers and advisers (the US currently has 3,000 in Iraq), more airstrikes and more arms shipments: ex-actly what Obama is doing right now.

But more defeats like Ramadi and Palmyra could change that calculus. Pressure will grow for more special forces, more trainers and then old-fashioned boots on the ground. At which point, another shade, even more malign, could retake the stage. Its name is Vietnam. - The Independent

In terms of demographics and the electorate’s more liberal social bent, the tide is not running the Republicans’ way. But the chaos in the Middle East and elsewhere, and Obama’s muted and much criticised response to it, offers them a golden chance to reclaim the national security mantle

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

The suicide bombing of a mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia on May 22 was swiftly claimed by the IS. At least 21 were killed and another 50 injured. The incident represents an expansion

of IS activity inside a few GCC countries itself. On the same day, but at a Houthi mosque in the Yemen capital of Sanaa, another suicide bomber detonated himself. There can now be no doubt as to the op-erational capacity of the IS in the Arabian Peninsula, and taken with the advances it has made in Syria, over-running both Palmyra and Ramadi in the last week, there seems little to halt its inexorable ad-vance. American airpower has done little to impede the IS, which now controls about half of Syria and Anbar province in Iraq.

Wherever the IS makes an advance, it claims to have widened the envelope that it calls the caliphate, and in doing so it is creating and sustaining a narrative of success. Indeed, there have been few failures for the IS since it began an aggressive expansion nearly two years ago. It has flowed into the vacuum created by the American withdrawal in Iraq and the chaos of the civil war in Syria, exploiting sectarian ten-sions and weaknesses as it did so. The bombing in Saudi Arabia will be calculated to further exacerbate sectarian conflict; and in the highly labile environment of the Muslim world across the Middle East there is every chance that the IS will be successful. Of particular note in the IS claim that it has already gained considerable influence, if not out-right control, of several key areas in a few GCC nations. There is no independent confirmation of this, but with the IS now edging out al Qaeda and shifting allegiances and tacit support, if not for an organi-sation, then for the ideology it operates under, then there is a potential threat emerging, a threat far more potent than al Qaeda ever was — or is. The IS is the richest and most successful terrorist organisation of modern times. And thus far — unstoppable. - The Express Tribune

A worrying development

International trade typically produces winners and losers. Con-sumers benefit when they pay less for imported goods than simi-lar domestic products. Some American workers are clearly hurt

when foreign competition leads factories to shut down or move over-seas. That’s why economists have long argued that government should help those displaced by the dynamics of freer trade. But to hear some Republicans tell it, trade only produces winners. Even as President Obama and Congress vigorously debate major trade agreements with Asia, Australia, Europe and Latin America, these legislators are trying to cut back on the few benefits that the government provides to work-ers hurt by foreign competition. A longstanding programme known as Trade Adjustment Assistance gives displaced workers training for new jobs, extended unemployment benefits, reimbursement for relocation expenses and so on. But the programme is quite modest, helping just 84,529 people in the 2013 fiscal year, and less than half of those people received any training.

Congress made it harder for workers to qualify for TAA last year. It is now available only to manufacturing workers; people laid off from service businesses like call centres cannot get help. And it assists only people affected by trade with a country that has a trade agreement with the United States. Those whose companies moved their jobs to China, for instance, are out of luck. Democratic lawmakers intro-duced a bill in February to expand the programme to cover workers in the service and public sectors and to all workers hurt by foreign trade, regardless of the country involved. That bill would have provided up to $575 million a year for training. It would have restored funding to where it was in 2013, before Congress reduced the programme and the budget cuts known as sequestration went into effect, leaving spending at about $300 million for training and related expenses.

Republicans in the Senate have shown little regard for the TAA, labelling it an ineffective welfare scheme. Even so, they agreed with their Democratic colleagues on a compromise that would extend the benefits to more workers, but set the training budget at a still insuf-ficient $450 million. On Friday, the Senate is expected to vote on TAA, along with a broader bill that would bind Congress to an up-or-down vote on trade agreements. Of course, if the Republicans had truly re-garded the programme as an ineffective way of helping people who have been hurt by trade get good jobs, they would have proposed re-forms to make the programme better. They did not, leaving only a stripped-down programme that seems all the more petty considering what big corporations stand to gain in the trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic trade agreements the United States is negotiating, includ-ing getting other countries to adopt strict patent and copyright laws. If Republicans and the Obama administration want more bipartisan support for increasing trade, they should provide more support to American workers. This, of course, would also help the economy as a whole. - The New York Times News Service

On trade, don’t leave the workers behind

Those who hire illegal workers are culpable tooThis refers to the news story, 1,000 illegal expats in Oman caught on airport job (May 25). It is not the mistake on the part of workers alone, but also of those who employ such illegal workers. Those employing ille-gal workers must realise they are not under their direct sponsor-ship and their hiring is against the law of the land. Ramachandran NairRuwi

Punish the companies employing illegal workers This refers to the news story, 1,000 illegal expats in Oman caught on airport job (May 25). The government should take action against the sponsors who are selling visas against premi-

um and those employing illegal expatriate labourers knowing fully well that such recruitments are against the law of the land. It is not so important whether the arrested workers are deported or not. What is more important is what measures would be taken against the companies that employ the workers without documents. Unless the compa-nies are punished the practice will continue and workers will get periodically arrested — some will get deported and many more batches of illegals will come into the country.Jane DesilvaMuscat

Construction sector is starved of workersThis refers to the news story, 1,000 illegal expats in Oman

caught on airport job (May 25). A shortage of workers seems to have hit the country, espe-cially in the construction sector, following the government’s decision not to issue fresh labour visas for the construc-tion industry. The companies are being forced to recruit illegal expat workers for their survival and completion of the projects which are already under way. The companies would likely not recruit workers who do not have proper documents if the authori-ties start issuing new visas for the construction sector.Hiren SinghWadi Kabir

Employees often get fired on superficial groundsAn employee joins a firm with lots of hope and even the

employer pins a lot of hope on the employee. Their aim is to im-prove productivity by utilising their qualification, experience and talent. And the employee expects suitable rewards and returns from the employer. After a few years of service, one morn-ing, the employer terminates him from the service without offering prior notice — and often — on trivial grounds. Is there any law to protect the interests of the employees?Ajmal AhmedRuwi

Harbhajan justifies his selection in the Test teamAce spinner Harbhajan Singh proved why he has been picked up for the national Test team.Ashok PanickerSeeb

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Obama proving to be supreme pragmatist

FOREIGN POLICY

PERSPEC IVET I M E S O F O M A N T U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5T I M E S O F O M A N A13

Sharks and their cousins, the rays, predate the dinosaurs. They survived the cata-strophic mass extinction that finished off

Tyrannosaurus Rex and all the rest, as well as the Permian-Triassic extinction that wiped out around 96 per cent of marine species. Even the more recently evolved shark lineages, such as the hammerheads, have been around for more than 30 million years.

Yet in just a few decades, a quarter of all sharks and rays have become threatened with extinc-tion. This is our fault — and it is our responsibility to fix it. Shark and ray populations are not alone. Many other components of marine biodiversity — especially corals, marine mammals, seabirds, and turtles — are also struggling to withstand hu-man pressures. As a result, marine ecosystems are at risk of unravelling and becoming less sta-ble and less productive.

Given the broad range of threats facing ma-rine life — including overfishing, climate change, pollution, and coastal development — it is easy, perhaps even rational, to be pessimistic. Yet this year could mark the beginning of a more robust approach to safeguarding ocean ecosystems, particularly with regard to overfishing, which is responsible for precipitous declines in many spe-cies. The challenge ahead should not be under-estimated. Meeting it will require overcoming one of the most intractable obstacles to marine conservation: ensuring the sustainability of bio-diversity in the roughly 60 per cent of the world’s oceans that lie beyond the jurisdiction of indi-vidual states. Within the 200-nautical-mile limit that comprises their exclusive economic zones (EEZs), a few countries have used a combination of strong legislation, good management, and ef-fective enforcement to preserve fish stocks and ecosystems. (There have also been far too many counter-examples.)

Whenever a cost arises from engagement with an international process, there will always be an incentive not to play by the rules, to enforce them weakly, or not to participate at all. This is especially true for environmental issues, where the political capital required is high; the need for near-unanimous support is crucial; the issues can be contentious; and the benefits are dispro-portionately distributed and are realized over a long time horizon. A passing familiarity with the Realpolitik of climate change suggests that this is

an intimidating — if not intractable — challenge, displaying elements of the most difficult political and social quandaries: the prisoner’s dilemma, the free-rider problem, and the tragedy of the commons. At present, a web of legislation — in-cluding the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Food and Agriculture Organiza-tion guidelines, and the Fish Stocks Agreement, as well as the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals — governs activities that may af-fect biodiversity on the high seas. Yet the protec-tion afforded to living resources remains limited — and riddled with loopholes.

One promising step, recommended by a UN working group in January, is the development of a new, legally binding agreement on high-seas biodiversity, to be ready for the UN General As-sembly to review by September.

Such a coordinated and harmonized framework may help to close regional gaps in governance; compel existing fisheries bodies to work to im-prove outcomes; and ultimately enable the devel-opment of new bodies that are focused on manage-ment and protection of ecosystems, not only fish stocks. That, in turn, may catalyze the cooperation needed to create high seas marine protected areas, which would enable damaged or depleted ecosys-tems to recover. Of course, to be effective, such ar-eas must be monitored. A promising development has been the use of satellite technology to detect and address fisheries violations by individual ves-sels. This could bring about a profound change for the better in ocean management, particularly for countries with large EEZs and limited marine en-forcement capacity.

A coordinated system for responding to vio-lations is also vital. Closing ports to vessels that break the rules could be achieved through the Port State Measures Agreement, currently awaiting ratification. Ocean governance and conservation is at a critical juncture. Marine re-sources cannot be overexploited indefinitely. The forthcoming “biodiversity beyond national juris-diction” agreement, underpinned by novel ways of monitoring compliance, could improve ocean management dramatically.

The difficulty is that, in any scenario, better management assumes that we choose long-term sustainability over short-term profits. Whether we will overcome our inclination to choose oth-erwise remains to be seen. - Project Syndicate

Fewer armed conflicts generate more violence

GraphicsGraphic News /Source: Armed Conflict Survey 2015 by International Institute for Strategic Studies

While the number of armed conflicts raging across the world has fallen dramatically since 2008, fatalities have tripled in the same period, according to the body that monitors global wars.

Fatalities in 2014

ConflictFatalities

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

63

56,000 59,000 49,00087,000 110,000 113,000

180,000

61 55 54 51 5042

MexicoIraq SyriaCentral America

South Sudan

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000 70,000 killed and 3.4 million refugees of which 1.4m fled to neighbouring states.

Syrian conflict has resulted in 200,000 deaths since 2011

What’s the best way to reduce the chances of climate

change wreaking havoc on Earth? The most obvious an-swer — one we’ve known for years now — is to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide we’re pumping into the at-mosphere. This can be done, for instance, by putting a price on carbon and thus create powerful market incentives for industries to lower their carbon footprint.

Or by moving to renewable energy sources. Or by chang-ing people’s behaviour so that our collective actions radi-cally reduce the amount of fossil fuel the world needs to power itself.

Despite this knowledge, however, few policies have been put in place to spur any of that. In the United States, the effective price of car-bon, as Gernot Wagner and Martin Weitzman point out in their new book, “Climate Shock” is “about zero” (aside from California).

Fossil fuels remain the world’s default energy source, and — despite the impressive growth of global solar capac-ity over the last decade — that’s likely to be the case for decades to come. A carbon tax on the worst emitters has got-ten nowhere.

Using technology So maybe we need to start thinking about coming at the climate-change problem from a different direction. Instead of hoping that humans will start reducing their carbon use, maybe it’s time to at least consider using technology to keep climate change at bay.

The deliberate use of tech-nology to manipulate the en-vironment — usually in the context of fighting climate change — is called geoengi-neering. One method is car-bon capture, traditionally conceived as a process that sucks up carbon from the air and buries it in the ground.

A second is called solar ra-diation management, which uses techniques like shoot-ing sulfate particles into the stratosphere in order to re-flect or divert solar radiation back into space.

This very effect was illus-trated after the volcanic erup-tion of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991. Spewing 20 million tons of sulfur di-oxide in the air, the volcano caused global temperatures to fall, temporarily, by about 0.5 degrees Celsius, according to Wagner and Weitzman.

Somewhat to my surprise, a good portion of Wagner’s and Weitzman’s book is devoted to the subject of geoengineer-ing, especially solar radiation management, which they describe as relatively inex-pensive and technologically feasible, with a serious bang

for the buck. The reason I was surprised is that the authors have solid environmental credentials — Weitzman is an environmental economist at Harvard, and Wagner is a sen-ior economist at the Environ-mental Defense Fund — and many environmental groups object to the very idea of geoengineering.

They even object to re-search into the subject, view-ing the desire to manipu-late nature as immoral. Ben Schreiber of Friends of the Earth, an advocacy group, re-cently described discussions about geoengineering as a “dangerous distraction.”

Schreiber was reacting to two reports by a National Academy of Sciences panel that came out just a week be-fore “Climate Shock.” The reports concluded that, while “climate intervention is no substitute for reductions in carbon dioxide emissions,” the politics around carbon reduction have been so frac-tious that the day could well come when geoengineering was needed as part of a “port-folio” of responses to global warming. It urged further study for both methods, and, in particular, called for the establishment of a research program to examine the pos-sible risks of solar radiation management.

Wagner and Weitzman do not deny the potential risks; indeed, they write quite cau-tiously about geoengineering. Wagner told me that it should be thought of as a last resort — something the world could turn to if it had to. He de-scribed it as a kind of “chem-otherapy for the planet” — something you hope you don’t have to use, but you are ready to use if the need arises. And that requires doing research now to prepare for the future.David Keith, a scientist who is perhaps the foremost pro-ponent of geoengineering, told me that he believes that solar radiation management should be used even if decent carbon policies became law. “It has substantial benefits,” he said. “That would be true whether we were cutting emissions or not.”

But he also acknowledged that more research is needed. “If you put sulfur into the at-mosphere, will there be a risk of ozone loss?” he said, as an example of the kind of risk that needed to be studied.

There is another kind of risk, of course: the risk that if people thought a technologi-cal solution were available to “solve” climate change, it would make it even less likely that they would col-lectively agree to do what is needed to be done to reduce carbon emissions.

It is yet another reason that many environmentalists ob-ject to geoengineering. Still, if disaster is truly approach-ing, wouldn’t you rather be safe than sorry? - The New York

Times News Service

Rather be safe than sorry

PAUL KRUGMAN

A human being is made up of four main elements: biological, psychological,

social and spiritual. When we talk about the biological, we are of course talking about the physi-cal body. The psychological com-ponent consists of our emotions and our mental state.

The social component is our connections, actions and reac-tions to other human beings. But today’s topic is the most ignored of those elements, the spiritual.

People tend to connect their minds and body with society at large but they don’t pay much heed to the needs of their soul.

This is perhaps because we are talking about a non-physical connection. Yet, the tragedy is that connection to one’s soul can be a stronger bond than one has with one’s husband, wife, child or parents.

Everyone desires an ideal fu-ture. The dream is to have a hap-py, calm and content life where you have both personal and pro-fessional success. Obviously, suc-cess is relative and differs from person to person. The problem is that true success only comes when we connect and balance our mind, body and soul. First and

foremost, learn to be with your-self, alone. Take some time, close your eyes and just breathe.

The important thing is to try and empty your mind. If thoughts spring up, learn to gently — but firmly — push them aside. Even if you set aside as little as 10 minutes a day for meditation and mindfulness, you will find yourself happier and healthier. Another important thing to do is to focus on the positive aspects of your life.

Let go of the negativity of your past and accept whatever is hap-pening in the present. Let go of the desire to control things. Try to chill as the youth of today says.

Exercise, even if it is for 30 minutes a day; it is good for your physical, mental and spir-itual health. If sweating isn’t your thing, try yoga, tai chi or just a simple walk.

Finally, have a vision in your mind of how you want your life to be and believe that it is possi-ble. We need to create a positive perspective of the world at large in our mind. Finding joy in the simple things is key to a more sat-isfied existence.

If you adopt all these tips and implement them sincerely and

wholeheartedly, you will feel more love for yourself and oth-ers because connecting to your soul will reveal what a wonder-ful and beautiful person you are. Once the level of sensitivity in you increases, you will be more expressive in a positive way with others and feel like a kinder hu-man being.

Once you open up yourself to having a ‘real’ relationship with your soul, you will find that you have unlocked a vast reserve of your inner talents and abilities. If you’ve always wanted to sing, you will find yourself seeking out a teacher and actually learning to play an instrument.

Just to clarify, I’m not talking about religion here at all. What I am talking about is making yourself a better, more evolved and more satisfied human be-ing. Learn to connect with your-self and you will never find yourself lonely.

You will help others who are in despair and your understanding of human nature will increase. Not only will you be wiser but you will also want to impart that knowledge to others. People will be drawn to you like moths to a flame. - The Express Tribune

Of threats, deaths and hopes on the high seas

J U G G U N KA Z I M

Time to connect with your soul

D E R E K T I T T E N S O R

GOOD RESPONSE TO ART SHOW BY CANCER KIDSMUSCAT: The first art exhibition by children with cancer and other chronic illnesses ended here yesterday. The exhibition, which is the first-of-its kind in the Middle East, was inaugurated by Dr Saud Nasser Al Riyami, vice chancellor of Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), on Monday. The function was attended by a large number of dignitaries and of-ficials. The exhibition had a large number of paintings and artwork exclusively done by these children with the guidance Sabriya A Rasoul, the play therapist of the Sultan Qaboo University Hospital (SQUH). The exhibition was made possible through the hard work of over a 100 sick children admitted at the SQUH, last year. “The department of child health takes great pride in providing normal childhood to these unfortunate children,” said Dr Zakia Al Lamki, head of the child health department in a written note to Times of Oman.

FROM OUR ARCHIVES

TODAY IN HISTORY17 Germanicus of Rome celebrates his

victory over the Germans. 1670 Charles II and Louis XIV sign a secret

treaty in Dover, England, ending hostilities between England and France.

1691 Jacob Leiser, leader of the popular

uprising in support of William and Mary’s succession to the throne, is executed for treason.

1736 British and Chickasaw forces defeat the French at the Battle of Ackia.

1940 The evacuation of Allied forces from Dunkirk begins.

HISTORYNET.COM

Given the broad range of threats facing marine life — including overfishing, climate change, pollution, and coastal development — it is easy, perhaps even rational, to be pessimistic. Yet this year could mark the beginning of a more robust approach to safeguarding ocean ecosystems

A14

WORLDT U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

The attack comes as the Taliban step up

attacks on government and foreign targets

despite Kabul’s repeated overtures to the

insurgents to reopen peace negotiations

175TH ANNIVERSARY OF CUNARD CRUISE LINEThe Red Arrows, the British Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, fly over Cunard liners Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen

Elizabeth on the River Mersey in Liverpool, Britain on Monday. The ships are in the city for the 175th anniversary of the Cunard

cruise line. — Reuters

70 wounded as Taliban strike hits Afghan city

KANDAHAR (AFGHANI-STAN): A Taliban truck bomb-er detonated about a tonne of explosives outside a govern-ment complex in southern Af-ghanistan on Monday, wound-ing more than 70 people as a surge in attacks sends civilian casualties surging.

Women and children were among those injured in the attack at the gate of the com-plex in Zabul province, which includes several govern-ment buildings including the provincial council.

The attack comes as the Tali-ban step up attacks on govern-ment and foreign targets despite Kabul’s repeated overtures to the insurgents to reopen peace negotiations.

“Seventy-three people have been wounded in the suicide attack on the complex” in the provincial capital Qalat, deputy provincial police chief Ghulam Jilani Farahi told AFP.

Provincial police chief Mir-wais Noorzai said more than 70 were hurt and four of them were in critical condition.

“Around 1,000 kilograms of explosives was used in the at-tack,” he said.

Six police officers and four members of the provin-cial council were among the wounded. — AFP

Z A B U L P R O V I N C E

139 grave sites, 28 detention camps found, says Malaysia

WANG KELIAN (MALAYSIA): Malaysian police said on Monday they had found 139 grave sites and 28 abandoned detention camps used by people-smugglers and capable of housing hundreds, lay-ing bare the grim extent of the re-gion’s migrant crisis.

Thailand, meanwhile, deployed a helicopter carrier to serve as a temporary medical and process-ing centre as the United States offered to launch flights to locate vessels carrying migrants but abandoned by smugglers, with

rights groups warning thousands of boat people may still be at sea.

Malaysia’s national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar announced the discovery of the grave sites and camps, but said it remained unclear how many bodies were buried in the inaccessible area of mountainous jungle along the Thai border.

The findings appeared to indi-cate a system of camps and graves

larger than those discovered by Thai police in early May, a finding which ignited regional concern about human smuggling and traf-ficking.

The Malaysian discovery fol-lows earlier denials by the gov-ernment -- long accused by rights groups of not doing enough to stop the illicit trade -- that such grisly sites existed in the country.

“It’s a very sad scene... to us even

one is serious and we have found 139,” Khalid told reporters in the border town of Wang Kelian, vow-ing to find the culprits.

He said authorities had found 139 suspected graves and 28 de-tention camps, but noted that it was not known how many bodies were in each grave.

Police have released no infor-mation yet on causes of death.

Khalid said the largest of the 28

camps could hold up to 300 peo-ple, another had a capacity of 100, and the rest about 20 each.

By comparison, Thai police have said they found a half-dozen jungle camps and more than 30 bodies so far on their side.

Thailand was previously a ma-jor people-smuggling route to Malaysia, which is the preferred destination of migrants from Bangladesh and from Myanmar’s oppressed Rohingya minority.

But a Thai crackdown launched after graves were found there trig-gered a regional crisis as nerv-ous traffickers abandoned over-loaded vessels carrying starving migrants. After initially turning boatloads away, Malaysia and In-donesia last week bowed to inter-national pressure to accept the boat people temporarily.

Thailand, which is hosting a May 29 regional meeting on the crisis, said Monday it had de-ployed a carrier to act as a “float-ing base with medics and police” on board.

The US said it was looking to obtain permission and support from regional governments to conduct flights to spot stricken migrant boats.

Rights groups say thousands more men, women and children may still be at sea.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said Monday he was “deeply concerned” by the graves, vowing to “find those responsi-ble”. He said this month that Ma-laysia had zero tolerance for hu-man trafficking. — AFP

Thailand, meanwhile,

deployed a helicopter

carrier to serve as a

temporary medical

and processing

centre as the United

States offered to

launch flights to

locate vessels

carrying migrants

but abandoned by

smugglers

GRISLY DISCOVERY: This undated handout photo made available on Monday by the Royal Malaysian

Police shows an abandoned migrant detention camp used by people-smugglers in a jungle near the

Malaysia-Thailand border in Genting Perah. — AFP/ROYAL MALAYSIAN POLICE

Hundreds of Nepalese mark one month of deadly quakeKATHMANDU: Hundreds of Nepalese gathered on Monday at the rubble of a 19th-century tower in Kathmandu to mark one month since a devastating earthquake killed more than 8,600 people in the Himalayan nation.

The quake, which was fol-lowed by a second major tremor on May 12, brought down build-ings across the country including historic temples, monuments and the much-loved Dharahara tower as tourists and locals climbed its more than 200 steps.

After the national anthem was played on loudspeakers, crowds surrounded the collapsed tower and observed 56 seconds of silence at 11:56, the moment the 7.8-mag-nitude quake ripped through Ne-pal on April 25.

Nina Shrestha, a 23-year-old student carrying a small Nepali flag, said the nine-storey tow-er was “always the first thing” she looked for when flying into Kathmandu.

“Its collapse signifies the devas-tation our country has suffered,” she told AFP.

The 50.5-metre high attraction was reduced to just its base when the quake struck.

Ram Chandra Shrestha, who spent 12 years tending the gar-den in the tower complex, told AFP that “it is hard to look up and not see the tower, it sends a chill through my heart”.

Those attending the ceremony, organised by political party Bibek-sheel Nepali, told of their despair not only of losing their homes but

also their jobs, leaving them facing a bleak future.

Like thousands of others, 41-year-old Dil Maya Rai has been living in a tent since the massive quake.

“We can’t find a room to rent and the carpet factory where I worked also collapsed in the quake,” Rai told AFP.

“I don’t know how we will get by,” he said.

500,000 houses destroyedThe twin quakes destroyed near-ly half a million houses and left thousands in desperate need of food, clean water and shelter, with experts warning that the oppor-tunity to help victims is closing fast before monsoon rains arrive next month.

The World Food Programme announced plans to open up land and air routes to get more aid to far-flung mountain villages de-molished by the quake, although no details were given.

“To open up some of the over-land routes is gonna be incredibly difficult, it’s gonna be incredibly dangerous and it’s gonna be in-credibly expensive,” WFP’s emer-gency coordinator Richard Ragan told reporters.

The United Nations has repeat-edly called on international donors to ramp up their aid contributions, with only a fifth of its $423 million appeal trickling in so far.

Ragan also denied allegations in the Nepali press that villagers found the rice distributed by the organisation to be inedible. — AFP

T R A U M A T I S E D

CANDLE-LIGHT MEMORIAL: Nepalese residents and others par-

ticipate in a candle-light memorial for the victims of the April 25

earthquake in Kathmandu on Monday. — AFP

Dhaka bans group after murders of bloggers

DHAKA: Bangladesh on Mon-day banned an extremist militant group suspected of involvement in the murders of atheist bloggers that sparked protests in Dhaka and outrage around the world, an offi-cial said.

The Home Ministry’s move to outlaw the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) comes almost a week after police asked the government to ban the group, suspecting it of being behind the deaths of three bloggers this year.

Police had also earlier charged ABT members with the 2013 mur-der of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider.

“The ( junior home minister) today signed a government order, outlawing the militant organisa-tion Ansarullah Bangla Team,” Sharif Mahmud, a ministry spokesman, told AFP.

Machete-wielding attackersA police spokesman said last week that initial police findings impli-cated ABT in the recent killings of bloggers including Ananta Bijoy Das, who was hacked to death by machete-wielding attackers on his way to work.

The 33-year-old was the third secular blogger to be killed since February when Bangladeshi-born US citizen Avijit Roy, a writer and moderator of a blog site, was hacked to death in Dhaka.

Fellow writers said Das was on a hit-list drawn up by militants who were behind Roy’s killing.

No one has yet been charged over Das’s death. — AFP

E X T R E M I S T M I L I T A N T S

SCAN THIS QR CODE TO INSTANTLY VISIT

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

A15

WORLDT U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

The 69-year-old former Israeli prime minister

Ehud Olmert already faces a six-year prison sentence

handed down in a separate bribery case which

is the subject of an appeal to the supreme court

Iraqi forces set to take on IS rebels

BAGHDAD/BEIRUT: IS militant group poured more fighters into Ramadi as security forces and par-amilitaries prepared to retake the Iraqi city that fell to the extremists a week ago in a major setback for the government.

In Palmyra, the Syrian air force struck at buildings captured by the militant group, whose arrival has

raised fears that the city’s famed Roman ruins will be destroyed.

The air force levelled IS “hide-outs” and killed a large number of its members around Palmyra’s military air base, Syrian state me-dia said. IS has killed at least 217 people execution-style, including children, since it moved into the Palmyra area 10 days ago, accord-

ing to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Another 300 soldiers were killed before the Syrian city was cap-tured, the monitoring group said.

The insurgents reinforced Ram-adi on Monday, deploying fighters in preparation for battle against security forces and paramilitary groups advancing on the provin-cial capital, which lies 110 km (70 miles) northwest of the capital, Baghdad. Police sources said Iraqi forces supported by militia and lo-cally recruited tribal fighters had retaken parts of Al Tash, 20km (12 miles) south of Ramadi.

Pro-government tribal fighters, with the help of the army, laid land

mines to reinforce their defensive lines around Baghdadi, a settle-ment northwest of Ramadi which controls access to a major Iraqi air base. IS attacked Baghdadi with seven suicide car bombs on Sunday. In Ramadi, residents said trucks carrying IS militants arrived on

Sunday evening. Local man Abu Saed heard a commotion outside his house in the city’s southeastern Officers neighbourhood. “I saw two trucks pull up outside with dozens of fighters carrying arms running quickly into nearby buildings and taking cover.”

In a sharp criticism of Washing-ton’s ally, US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter on Sunday accused the Iraqi army of abandoning Ramadi to a much smaller enemy force. A spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Al Abadi dis-missed the comments as “untime-ly and surprising at a time when Iraqi security forces are preparing to launch a counter offensive to re-take Ramadi”.

In Syria, Hezbollah fighters cap-tured two hilltops from Al Qaeda’s Syria wing, the Nusra Front, in are-as close to the Lebanese border and killed dozens of enemy combatants, Hezbollah-run Al Manar television reported on Monday. — Reuters

In Palmyra, the Syrian air force struck at

buildings captured by the militant group

Olmert gets eight months in prison

Iran minister hopes curbs will be lifted by December

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert was sentenced to eight months in prison for cor-ruption on Monday, the latest legal blow in a spectacular fall from grace.

Lawyers for Olmert, who was premier from 2006 to 2009, crowning a political career spanning decades, immediately announced they would appeal.

The 69-year-old already fac-es a six-year prison sentence handed down in a separate brib-ery case which is the subject of an appeal to the supreme court.

He remains at liberty until the appeals have been heard, but will have to serve the two jail terms consecutively if they are upheld. The occupied Jeru-salem district court convicted Olmert of fraud and corruption in March following a retrial over allegations that he had received envelopes of cash from a US businessman while trade and industry minister in the early 2000s. Passing sentence, the three-judge bench said: “The conduct of Ehud Olmert merits a custodial sentence.

Crime“A public servant — a minister — who receives cash payments in dollars, keeps them in a secret safe and uses them for personal purposes, is committing a crime which undermines the people’s confidence in public office.” The judges also handed Olmert an ad-ditional suspended eight-month prison term and a 100,000-shek-el (nearly $25,000) fine in what they said was a “light sentence in recognition of the contribu-tion to the country made by Ehud Olmert”. — AFP

TEHRAN: Iran’s deputy oil minister said on Monday he hoped for a total lifting of in-ternational sanctions later this year if a nuclear deal is struck with world powers by June 30.

Amirhossein Zamani-Nia also told the oil ministry’s Sha-na news agency that the lifting of sanctions could help Iran’s oil and gas sectors attract billions of dollars in foreign investment.

“The structure of sanctions is being destroyed bit by bit and we could expect a total lifting of the sanctions towards the month of Azar,” which in Iran falls between November 22 and December 21, he said.

Central point“If the sanctions are lifted, Iran will become a central point for oil and gas projects,” Zamani-Nia said.

The oil ministry has projects to inject $200 billion in the en-ergy sector over the next six years, he said.

“Such a level of investment will be very attractive” for for-eign firms, he added.

The UN Security Council adopted six resolutions, four of which imposed sanctions, against Iran’s nuclear and mis-sile programmes between 2006 and 2010. — AFP

C O R R U P T I O N T R I A L

O P T I M I S T I C

MARKEWWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COMT U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5B

Muscat

6,377.86+ 2.43

+ 0.04%

Dubai

4,067.67+ 17.69

+0.44%

Abu Dhabi

4,625.94+ 9.43

+ 0.20%

Saudi Arabia

9,743.19+ 10.67

+ 0.01%

Kuwait

6,304.11- 6.98

- 0.11%

Bahrain

1,363.88- 7.64

- 0.56%

Qatar

12,399.49- 43.93

- 0.35%

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

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

Euro ............................................ 2.33

Pound ...........................................1.66

Indian Rs .............................164.83

Pak Rs ...................................260.55

Bangla Taka.......................199.48* Rates are as of May 25

Source: Bank Muscat

Indian Rs .................................. 165.00

Pakistan Rs ............................ 263.25

Sri Lanka Rs .......................... 346.50

Bangla Taka.............................201.70

Phil Peso .................................... 115.36

* Rates as of May 25 Source: Oman UAE Exchange

Muscat 24ct per gm (OMR) .......15.40

Muscat 22ct per gm (OMR) .......14.85

Dubai 24ct per gm (Dh) ............ 145.75

Dubai 22ct per gm (Dh) .............135.25

* Rates as of May 25

Source: Malabar Gold & Diamonds

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

Oman Crude ............. (Spot) ........$63.39

Dubai Crude ............. (Spot) ........$62.43

Murban Crude ........ (Spot) ........$65.39

Arabian Light ......... (Spot) ........$62.63

N.Sea Brent ............... (Spot) ........$63.27

West Texas Int ....... (Spot) ........ $58.78

CRUDE OIL PRICE

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Omani banks post 12% credit growth

A E JAMESbusinesseditor@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Oman’s conventional banks have posted a robust 11.6 per cent growth in net loans and advances at OMR17.41 billion for the first quarter of 2015, from OMR15.59 billion for the same pe-riod of last year.

It is more or less in line with last year’s credit growth as the to-tal bank credit grew 11.3 per cent to OMR16.90 billion by the end of 2014 from OMR15.18 billion for the same period of 2013.

Sources said that the credit

growth is continuing at the same pace as the government is not slowing down its expenditure, de-spite a marked fall in oil revenues.

Demand for credit“Some local companies are also going in for an expansion, which is driving demand for credit,” noted a research analyst working with Al Maha Financial Services.

Credit demand from corporate sector is expected to improve fur-ther in the second half, thanks to better business confidence in the

industrial sector. Hamoud Sang-our Al Zadjali, executive president of Central Bank of Oman (CBO), said that the credit growth for the whole year would be in double digits and would probably hover around 10 per cent.

Oman has seven conventional banks — Bank Muscat, National Bank of Oman, BankDhofar and HSBC Bank Oman, in addition to Bank Sohar, Oman Arab Bank and ahlibank — and two Islamic banks. Islamic banks and window operations showed a phenomenal

growth of 112.1 per cent growth in financing at OMR1,218.6 mil-lion by end-March, 2015, from OMR574.4 million for the same period of 2014, according to the latest CBO monthly bulletin.

Islamic financeSuch a robust growth in Islamic finance shows that Sharia-com-pliant banks are able to establish themselves in the market and are able to overcome its teething problems. Two Islamic banks and window operations of conven-tional banks have launched inno-vative products to attract Omani customers, besides opening sev-eral branches in different parts of the country.

The country’s conventional banks have posted a 4.62 per cent growth in deposits at OMR17.96 billion by the end of March, 2015 against OMR17.16 billion for the same period of last year. In fact, the liquidity situation is good as banks are still flush with liquidity.

The total assets of Omani banks stood higher at OMR26.22 billion by end-March 2015.

Credit growth is

continuing at the

same pace as the

government is not

slowing down its

expenditure, despite

a marked fall in

crude oil revenue

alizz Islamic’s new Sharia-compliant products unveiledTimes News Service

MUSCAT: alizz Islamic bank has announced the launch of its all new term investment deposit campaign for the second quarter of 2015 to assist customers in invest-ing their funds through Sharia-compliant products.

The new campaign encourages customers to invest their funds through flexible, short and long term investments with attractive returns based on the sharia princi-ple of Unrestricted Mudaraba.

As part of this campaign, the bank offers its customers profit payment on a flexible quarterly basis and an optional automatic renewal of the principle amount. The product is available in mul-tiple currencies with a minimum deposit amount of OMR400.

Moosa Al Jadidi, deputy general manager and head of retail bank-ing at alizz Islamic bank, while commenting on the campaign, said, “Our Term Investment De-posit account is an ideal option for customers who are looking for peace of mind by investing in com-pliance with sharia principles.”

“At alizz Islamic bank we have a competitive advantage, as we of-fer cutting-edge products and ser-vices that allow our customers to

experience a unique and secured banking experience,” he added.

Under the Mudaraba princi-ple, the customer provides the capital to be invested for a fixed period, and using its expertise, the bank acts as a Mudarib or ‘entrepreneur’.

The bank pools all customer funds along with its own capital and invests it in sharia compliant investments for a specified invest-ment term and expected profit rate. The resulting profit is shared between the bank and its custom-ers according to predetermined mutually agreed ratios.

I S L A M I C F I N A N C E

Central Bank of Oman. — Times file picture

Moosa Al Jadidi. — Supplied picture

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

Companies in Saudi Arabia yet to float Islamic bondsDUBAI: Saudi companies have yet to market a single security in 2015, making it the country’s quietest start for Islamic sales in nine years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The new government has reorganised the cabinet, removed princes from government roles, merged minis-tries and realigned succession.

“You’re not going to commit to large-scale spending unless you’re confident the government’s policies will continue,” Emad Mostaque, who travels regularly to Saudi Arabia as a strategist at emerging markets consultancy company Ecstrat in London, said by e-mail on May 22. “You had a complete overhaul of the politi-cal process, realignment of min-istries. There have been a lot of changes. You need some stability before you start looking at sukuk-type issuance.”

The dearth of Islamic bonds from the kingdom has taken its toll on borrowing in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), where about $3 billion has been

raised through sukuk this year, 64 per cent less than in 2014. Saudi borrowers were the biggest issu-ers of Sharia-compliant debt in the region last year, and the larg-est in the world after Malaysia’s.

Political changes“The dramatic political changes have put the private sector on hold,” Ghanem Nuseibeh, the founder of Cornerstone Global Associates, which advises clients on risk in the Middle East, said by phone from London on May 24. “Because the private sector relies heavily on government grants and subsidies, there’s a strong link be-tween the two.”

Saudi issuers raised $7.9 billion through the sale of Islamic bonds last year, according to data com-piled by Bloomberg.

Temporary slowdownSales will probably rebound as the government burns through foreign reserves at a record pace, and as banks struggle to keep up with borrowing needs, according

to Ecstrat’s Mostaque. The king-dom spent $36 billion of the cen-tral bank’s net foreign assets in February and March, the biggest two-month drop on record.

“The slowdown is temporary because companies need money for expansion,” Mostaque said. “You expect a pickup because the political situation in Saudi Ara-bia is stable. Budget spending will continue and there will be more need for issuance.”

Larger companies will have to tap the sukuk market to finance their expansion plans, according to John Sfakianakis, the Riyadh-based director of the Middle East at Ashmore Group. “It’s unavoid-able given the economic size of these companies for them not to consider issuing,” he said by phone on May 24. — Bloomberg News

S U K U K I N S T R U M E N T

– Bloomberg file picture

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Riyada to manage incubator facility

MUSCAT: Public Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Riyada) on Monday signed an agreement with the Pub-lic Establishment for Industrial Estates (PEIE) on the manage-ment and operation of ‘Riyada’ In-cubator, which belongs to National Business Centre of PEIE.

The agreement was signed at Ri-yada premises by Khalifa bin Said Al Abri, CEO of Riyada and Hilal bin Hamad Al Hasani, PEIE CEO.

Khalifa Al Abri said that the agreement would help entrepre-neurs to develop their businesses, train the staff working at small and medium enterprises and qualify

them to contribute to the growth of these enterprises.

Al Hasani said as per the agree-ment, the National Business Centre would provide technical, administrative and promotional support for starting up projects to help them contribute to the growth of the national economy. – ONA

S M E D E V E L O P M E N T

B2

MARKETT U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

Fukushima operator wins $2.5b Qatar utility contract

TOKYO: The operator of the tsunami-crippled Fukushima nu-clear plant has jointly won a large power and water infrastructure contract in the desert state of Qa-tar, it said on Monday.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) and Japanese trading house Mitsubishi Corp have been selected by a company backed by the Qatari government to build and operate power and water plants for 25 years, in a project worth some $2.5 billion.

The announcement will be welcome news for Prime Minis-ter Shinzo Abe, who has led the drive for Japanese companies to sell their technology abroad and represents Tepco’s biggest for-

eign commercial success since the triple meltdowns at Fuku-shima in 2011. However, the new agreement does not include nu-clear technology.

The deal, sealed between K1 Energy, a joint venture estab-lished by Mitsubishi and Tepco, and Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa), “is the result of an international tender issued by the Kahramaa in May 2014”, the Japanese com-panies said in a statement. The

final purchase agreement will be concluded between Kahramaa and a special purpose company established through a partnership among K1 Energy and three other Qatar companies, it said.

Special purpose company“The special purpose company will construct, own and operate a gas-fired power generation plant with the capacity of 2.4 gigawatts and a water desalination plant with the capacity of 590,000 cubic

metres per day in Qatar over 25 years,” it said.

Operations at the site, located 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of the capital Doha, “are scheduled to commence in 2017”, it said.

K1 Energy will hold 30 per cent of the special purpose company, while Qatar Electricity and Wa-ter Company will hold 60 per cent, with Qatar Petroleum and Qatar Foundation each hold-ing five per cent. Mitsubishi and Tepco hold an equity share of

98.5 per cent and 1.5 per cent of K1 Energy respectively, but the companies are discussing “rais-ing Tepco’s ratio of share holding to a maximum of 33.3 per cent” by the end of September.

The project, which a Tepco spokesman said will cost a total of 300 billion yen ($2.5 billion) “will also enhance Tepco’s business base as it seeks to increase oper-ating revenue towards revitalisa-tion in Fukushima”, the statement further added. - AFP

Tokyo Electric

Power Company

and Mitsubishi Corp

have been selected

by a company

backed by the Qatari

government to build

and operate power

and water plants for

25 years, in a project

worth some $2.5b

Japan swings back to trade deficit in April

TOKYO: Japan swung back to a trade deficit in April after the first surplus in almost three years in March, but the shortfall shrank drastically year-on-year thanks to stronger exports and lower energy bills, official data showed on Mon-day. The monthly deficit came in at 53.4 billion yen ($440 million), about one-15th of the 825.5 billion yen posted a year earlier, finance ministry data showed.

Exports rose 8 per cent year-on-year chiefly on robust shipments of cars, electronics components and machinery as the yen was 17 per cent cheaper against the dollar than last year.

By region, US-bound shipments soared 21.4 per cent, far outpacing a 2.4 per cent increase in exports to China and a 0.8 per cent rise in ex-ports to the European Union.

“Japan’s economy will be more robust this year, led by domestic consumption and external de-mand,” said Yoshitaka Suda, an economist at Nomura Holdings.

“We think that the US economy will continue to recover moder-ately, helping to boost Japan’s ex-ports,” he told Bloomberg News.

The April data came after a stronger-than-expected economic growth report last week.

Data from the Cabinet Office showed Japan’s economy grew a faster-than-expected 0.6 per cent on-quarter in the first three months of 2015 as it crawls back from a brief recession.

The Bank of Japan on Friday held off launching more stimulus and governor Haruhiko Koroda said the world’s number-three economy was on the upswing after taking a hit from a sales tax hike in April last year. - AFP

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

Alibaba takes steps to fight fake productsPUTIAN, (China): Criticised and even sued by luxury brand Gucci and others for facilitating the counterfeit goods trade, Chi-nese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding has been quietly piloting a scheme to try to curb fakes at source.

In the coastal city of Putian, in Fujian province, Alibaba is work-ing with 17 shoe manufacturers to cultivate home-grown brands on-line, revitalise a flagging industry and offer would-be counterfeiters an alternative source of livelihood.

Critics say the scheme is mis-guided and Alibaba should in-stead focus on scrubbing its on-line marketplaces of widespread listings of fakes.

‘Made in China’But the “Made in China” plan speaks to what proponents say is one of the reasons why there’s been only limited progress in the battle against fake goods in China: a lack of attractive alternatives for those making and hawking goods that infringe on others’ intellec-tual property rights.

“You can crack down forever and never see an end to it,” said Song Zonghu, who once peddled counterfeit name-brand sneakers and now runs Shuangwei Sport-ing Goods, one of the firms in the Alibaba programme. “Creating new opportunities while cracking down is the way to go. Everybody has to eat.”

Ni Liang, Alibaba’s senior direc-tor of Internet security, says the scheme is a key anti-counterfeit initiative this year. The group plans to expand it to household electronics, toys, bags and other industries, hoping that by building local brands, small manufactur-ers will turn away from fakes and serve a legitimate sector.

Logistics hubPutian is the epicenter of China’s high-quality fake sneaker busi-ness, a byproduct of a legitimate footwear industry that employs a tenth of the city’s three million people. Copies of Nike , Adidas, New Balance and other brand-name shoes made here are hard to distinguish from the real deal, but

sell for a fraction of the price.The municipal government has

cracked down on fakes, arresting 156 people and confiscating about two million pairs of counterfeit footwear since 2014, said Wu Haiduan, director of the Putian

e-commerce office. He declined to give an estimate of the overall size of the industry, but a grid of Putian’s sleepy daytime streets near government offices comes alive at night, offering hints as to the scale of the issue.

Hundreds of scooters ferry shoes as runners duck in and out of off-brand storefronts or apartment blocks to fetch more boxes. Sellers check each shoe for blemishes, wielding scissors or cigarette lighters to eliminate stray threads

and pencil erasers to clean the foam midsoles. Fake certificates and phony credit card receipts are tucked in with the shoes. Dozens of curbside courier services then wrap and stack the boxes ready to be trucked out by daybreak.

Sneakers are just the start“We’ve received more than 60 requests from other industries,” said Jeff Zhang, head of Alibaba’s domestic retail marketplaces, which include the Taobao and Tmall shopping sites.

For most, the hope is that Aliba-ba can help re-tool local industry in the face of rising costs and shrink-ing overseas orders. “They’re all looking for a model that can help them upgrade their local manufac-turing,” said Zhang.

Song, the businessman, sees the Alibaba scheme as an economic lifeline, and says the future of his Siweiqi brand canvas shoes, which resemble Converse All-Stars, de-pends on continued support with sales promotions and exposure. “What we’ve seen so far is just a signal,” he said. - Reuters

H O M E - G R O W N B R A N D S

CLOSE MONITORING: An employee works in the central operation room at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s combined cycle thermal power

station in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. — Bloomberg file picture

RAPT ATTENTION: Employees work at a Shuangwei factory in Putian, Fujian province, China.

Criticised and even sued by luxury brand Gucci and others for facilitating the counterfeit goods trade,

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding has been quietly piloting a scheme to try to curb

fakes at source. — Reuters

B3T U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

MARKET‘Need more incubation centres for start-ups given low survival rate’

ELHAM POURMOHAMMADIelham@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: More incubation facil-ities and programmes are required to nurture a higher number of en-trepreneurs as around 80 per cent of start-ups die within their first three years, said an Omani official.

Entrepreneurship is a ‘risky’ business and international figures

show that 80 per cent of start-ups or more cannot survive the first three years of their business, said Fahad Al Abri, director general at the Information Technology Au-thority (ITA).

Speaking to Times of Oman, Al Abri said that given the high failure rate, more incubation facilities and supporting programmes should be provided to entrepreneurs to make

them the ‘drivers’ of the economy. He was speaking on the side-

lines of an event in which Daleel Digital Solutions Company, one of the start-ups supported by the ITA’s Sas Programme, signed an agreement with Khalifa Al Rahbi Lawyers and Legal Consultancy, to make its mobile taxi booking ser-vices sustainable.

Sas Programme, established in 2013, is a public-private partner-ship model, which aims to con-tribute to the development of an internationally competitive ICT industry, self-employment, job creation, and introduction of new technologies to create innovative products, solutions and services.

Incubation Al Abri further said that around 100 entrepreneurs had enrolled to join the programme but 24 or 26 of them were accepted, with 22 still surviving.

They are provided with a three-year incubation period and after that they have to establish their own office to continue their busi-ness, he noted.

The official added that ITA cre-ates a platform for them, offers them consultancy services to help them grow their business and equips them with the right skills.

He also said that all Sas incuba-tion facilities have a vibrant, color-ful and welcoming environment, which leads to higher productivity.

Maha Al Balushi, director of Sas Centre for Entrepreneurship, had earlier told Times of Oman that around OMR524,000 were gener-ated in 2014 by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) specialised in ICT, which were supported by ITA.

This revenue was generated by 15 companies incubated under Sas Programme. In 2013, a total rev-enue of around OMR400,000 was generated by nine companies.

Entrepreneurship is a ‘risky’ business and

international figures show that 80% of start-

ups or more cannot survive the first three

years of their business, said a senior official

at the Information Technology Authority

National Aluminium posts strong performanceTimes News Service

MUSCAT: National Aluminium Products Company (Napco) has posted a profit of OMR165,000 for the first quarter of 2015, com-pared to OMR159,000 for the same period last year.

Napco, which is one of the leading extruders of alumini-um profiles in the Gulf Coop-eration Council (GCC), has an-nounced a strong performance for 2014, posting a net profit of OMR701,000 with revenues to-talling OMR 19,399,000.

The figures were revealed during the company’s recent board meeting held at the Napco headquarters.

The company has attributed its remarkable performance to in-

creased sales volume, better plant capacity utilisation, increased market share, deeper penetra-tion into domestic markets, a wider product offering, improved services and more thrust on mar-keting activities.

Streamlined productionThe first quarter 2015 figures are a result of streamlined produc-tion along with active marketing and branding initiatives. Despite low oil prices, the outlook for the GCC remains optimistic and bodes well for Napco’s growth prospects.

Robert Holtkamp, chief execu-tive officer of Napco, said, “We are delighted to have posted ex-cellent financial results for 2014 and Q1 of 2015 despite the vola-

tility in oil prices. Napco’s use of new technologies to enhance its capacity has resulted in increased production, while our new mar-keting strategies have translated production into sales.”

Napco has been part of several landmark projects in Oman and the rest of the region.

These include the Supreme Court in Muscat, Salalah Airport, and the Dubai International Air-port expansion, the Burj Khalifa and the Al Rayyan Complex, all in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

F I N A N C I A L P E R F O R M A N C E

MAKING A VALID POINT: Fahad Al Abri, director general at the

Information Technology Authority. – Supplied picture

Robert Holtkamp, chief executive officer of Napco. — Supplied picture

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Indian builders face slowdown in demand

MUMBAI: Indian builders struggling to sell homes amid mounting debt face a new hurdle: reluctant bankers.

“There’s a lot of demand from builders and commercial real es-tate developers for loans,” Ran-jan Dhawan, Bank of Baroda’s Mumbai-based chief executive officer, said in a May 11 interview. “There’s a limit to how many builders we can finance. The cur-rent economic scenario has made us very cautious.”

Expansion in lending for com-mercial real estate slowed to 8.9 per cent in the 12 months through March 20, from 22.4 per cent a year earlier, central bank data show. Home sales in India’s top six property markets fell eight per cent last quarter from a year ear-

lier, according to research firm Li-ases Foras, which estimates it will take 46 months to find buyers for unsold homes in Mumbai alone.

Some of India’s largest devel-opers have seen debt surge more than 60 per cent as mortgage rates around 10 per cent deter buyers of their new apartment projects. Three out of India’s five-biggest banks reported an increase in bad loans for the year ended March 31 as policy makers’ efforts to boost investment and economic growth have yet to bear fruit.

Slowing inflationBanks are also becoming more cautious about financing apart-ment purchases amid a slowdown in house-price inflation, the cen-tral bank said in a report on May 7,

noting that lenders are bringing down the loan-to-value ratio for mortgages. The ratio repre-sents the percentage value of an apartment that the bank may lend to customers.

Loans outstanding at Indian banks to developers stood at Rs1.7 trillion ($27 billion), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data show.

The All-India Residential Prop-erty Price Index, which tracks real estate prices in 13 cities, in-creased less than four per cent in the December quarter from the previous year, the lowest since the June quarter of 2011, according to the RBI. The pace of annual gains peaked at 28 per cent in the three months to December 31, 2012. House prices in Mumbai fell by more than three per cent in the

December quarter from the year before.

Debt at Godrej Properties climbed 63 per cent to Rs27.64 billion in the quarter ended on March 31 from a year earlier, while DLF, India’s largest devel-oper, had a 7.7 per cent increase in its net debt to Rs209.7 billion.

Sales will take at least 12 months to begin improving with the turnaround expected when interest rates move lower and the economy picks up, DLF said in a statement May 20. DLF said it was in talks with a few private-equity firms to sell some projects.

The one-year government bond yield reached the lowest in almost two years last week, at 7.80 per cent, as pressure mounted on the RBI to cut rates. — Bloomberg News

P R O P E R T Y M A R K E T

African bank chief to assume charge soon

ABUJA: New president of the Af-rican Development Bank will take over soon as the institution is en-tering a much tougher economic environment than the one Donald Kaberuka inherited.

Kaberuka’s successor, who will be elected on May 28 during the AfDB’s annual meeting in Abid-jan, faces a slowdown in some of Africa’s biggest economies after a plunge in oil prices.

An almost 40 per cent slump in the price of oil in the second half of last year and declining metal prices are clouding the outlook for economies such as Nigeria, Angola and Zambia. - Bloomberg News

E C O N O M Y

B4

MARKETT U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

MUSCATSECURITIES MARKET

SHARE PRICE BULLETIN FOR MONDAY, MAY 25

REGULAR MARKET .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................OM0000004933 ...........AL SUWADI POWER .................................................. 581,173 .......... 114,966......................19 ............0.195 ...........0.200 ...........0.195 ........... 0.198 ............. 0.193............ 0.005 ............. 2.591 ................0.199 .............. 0.198...................0.200 .................141,452,455 ........0.100

OM0000004925 ...........AL BATINAH POWER ................................................. 511,711 .......... 101,500..................... 24 ............0.196 ...........0.200 ...........0.196 ........... 0.198 ............. 0.195............ 0.003 ............. 1.538 ................0.200 ............. 0.198...................0.200 ..................133,627,711 ........0.100

OM0000001962 ............AL MADINA INVESTMENT ................................... 361,766 ............ 27,842..................... 22 ........... 0.076 ........... 0.078 ...........0.076 ........... 0.077 .............0.076 ............0.001 ..............1.316.................0.077 ..............0.077...................0.078................... 15,950,657 .........0.100

OM0000002226 ...........AL JAZEERA SERVICES ............................................ 11,000 ...............4,026........................3 ........... 0.366 ........... 0.366 ...........0.366........... 0.366 .............0.362 ........... 0.004 ............. 1.105.................0.366 ..............0.364...................0.368...................22,400,764 .........0.100

OM0000002614 ............ONIC. HOLDING ............................................................28,622 .............13,052........................5 ........... 0.456 ........... 0.456 ...........0.456 ........... 0.456 .............0.452 ........... 0.004 ............. 0.885 ................0.456 ..............0.456...................0.470...................79,081,002 .........0.100

OM0000002820 ...........GULF INVESTMENT SERVICES ......................... 248,428 ........... 33,664......................11 ............0.134 ........... 0.136 ...........0.134 ............0.136 ............. 0.135 .............0.001 ..............0.741.................0.135 ..............0.134...................0.135 ....................8,002,678 ..........0.100

OM0000001087 ............OMAN UNITED INSURANCE .................................79,200 ............ 23,874........................4 ........... 0.302 ...........0.302 ...........0.296........... 0.302 .............0.300 ........... 0.002 ............. 0.667 ................0.300 .............0.296...................0.300 ..................30,200,000 ........0.100

OM0000003711 ............SOHAR POWER ............................................................ 103,510 ............ 36,226........................3 ........... 0.350 ........... 0.350 ...........0.348........... 0.350 .............0.348 ........... 0.002 ............. 0.575 ................0.348..............0.348...................0.362 ..................77,353,500 .........0.100

OM0000003968 ...........OOREDOO....................................................................... 1,533,305 ... 1,189,426..................... 38 ............0.772 ........... 0.776 ...........0.772 ............0.776 ............. 0.772............ 0.004 ............. 0.518 ................0.772 .............. 0.776...................0.780 ..................505,132,722 ........0.100

OM0000002168 ............AL ANWAR CERAMIC TILES ............................... 110,100 ............ 46,228........................9 ............0.418 ...........0.422 ...........0.418 ........... 0.420 ............. 0.418............ 0.002 ............. 0.478 ................0.422.............. 0.416...................0.420 .................124,409,746 ........0.100

OM0000001707 ............OMAN CABLES INDUSTRY ......................................29,657 ............ 62,975........................9 ............2.115 ........... 2.125 ........... 2.115 ........... 2.125 ............. 2.115 .............0.010 ............. 0.473 ................2.125 .............. 2.125...................2.250 .................190,612,500 ........0.100

OM0000001772 ............AL ANWAR HOLDING............................................... 350,002 ........... 84,245..................... 29 ............0.241 ........... 0.241 ...........0.240 .......... 0.241 .............0.240 ............0.001 ............. 0.417 ................0.240 ............ 0.240...................0.241 ...................31,450,500 .........0.100

OM0000004735 ...........SEMBCORP SALALAH .............................................. 322,836 .........778,032........................2 ........... 2.405 ........... 2.410 ...........2.405........... 2.410 .............2.400 ............0.010 ............. 0.417 ................2.410 .............. 2.415...................2.445 .................230,051,840........1.000

OM0000002796 ...........BANK MUSCAT ............................................................ 184,647 .........100,046..................... 23 ........... 0.540 ...........0.542 ...........0.540........... 0.542 .............0.540 ........... 0.002 ............. 0.370 ................0.542..............0.540...................0.542 ............... 1,242,167,848 ......0.100

OM0000001483 ............NATIONAL BANK OF OMAN ................................. 155,871 ............ 49,878........................7 ............0.318 ...........0.320 ...........0.318 ........... 0.320 .............0.320 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.320..............0.302...................0.320 .................429,027,280 .......0.100

OM0000001525 ............OMAN INVESTMENT AND FINANCE .............. 126,134 .............29,317......................15 ........... 0.234 ...........0.234 ...........0.231 ........... 0.232 .............0.232 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.231 ..............0.230...................0.232 ..................46,400,000 ........0.100

OM0000001749 ............OMAN CEMENT .......................................................... 800,000 ........ 428,800........................6 ........... 0.536 ........... 0.536 ...........0.536 ........... 0.536 .............0.536 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.536 ..............0.536...................0.550.................. 177,347,773 ........0.100

OM0000002200 ...........AHLI BANK .................................................................... 225,137.............47,954........................4 ............0.213 ........... 0.213 ...........0.213 ........... 0.213 ............. 0.213............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.213 ..............0.201...................0.213 ..................303,532,699 .......0.100

OM0000002374............UNITED FINANCE ..................................................... 161,700 ............ 21,404........................9 ............0.133 ........... 0.133 ...........0.132 ........... 0.132 ............. 0.132............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.133 .............. 0.132...................0.133 ...................41,020,972 .........0.100

OM0000002440 ...........AL SHARQIA INVESTMENT HOLDING ............... 6,954 ..................904........................ 1 ............0.130 ........... 0.130 ...........0.130 ........... 0.130 ............. 0.130............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.130 ..............0.130...................0.133 ................... 11,700,000 .........0.100

OM0000003000 ...........ALMAHA PETROLEUM PRODUCTS MAR. ..........9,797 .............21,455........................6 ............2.190 ........... 2.190 ...........2.190 ........... 2.190 .............2.190 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................2.190 ..............2.190...................2.195 .................. 151,110,000 ........0.100

OM0000003026 ...........OMAN TELECOMMUNICATION ........................ 139,220 .........229,463..................... 26 ............1.650 ........... 1.650 ...........1.640 ............1.650 ............. 1.650............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................1.650 .............. 1.650...................1.670 ................1,237,500,000 ......0.100

OM0000003398 ...........BANK SOHAR................................................................ 383,957 ............71,401......................12 ............0.185 ........... 0.186 ...........0.184 ........... 0.186 ............. 0.186............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.186 ..............0.182...................0.186 ..................268,107,840 ........0.100

OM0000003661 ............VOLTAMP ENERGY ........................................................1,199 .................. 477........................4 ........... 0.398 ........... 0.398 ...........0.396 ........... 0.398 .............0.398 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.398 ..............0.396...................0.416 ...................24,079,000.........0.100

OM0000004768 ...........AL MADINA TAKAFUL ............................................. 124,690 ............10,723......................11 ........... 0.086 ........... 0.086 ...........0.086........... 0.086 .............0.086 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.086 ..............0.085...................0.086...................15,050,000 .........0.100

OM0000005005 ...........ALMAHA CERAMICS ................................................ 105,000 ........... 55,230..................... 23 ........... 0.526 ........... 0.526 ...........0.526........... 0.526 .............0.528 ...........-0.002 ........... -0.379 ...............0.526 ..............0.520...................0.526................... 27,615,000 .........0.100

OM0000001418 ............RAYSUT CEMENT ........................................................ 39,533 ............. 61,671........................4 ............1.560 ........... 1.560 ...........1.560 ........... 1.560 ............. 1.570............-0.010 ........... -0.637 ...............1.560 .............. 1.550...................1.560 ................. 312,000,000 .......0.100

OM0000001517 ............HSBC BANK OMAN .................................................... 956,000 ......... 132,128..................... 20 ............0.139 ........... 0.139 ...........0.138 ............0.138 ............. 0.139............-0.001 ............-0.719 ................0.138 .............. 0.137...................0.138 ..................276,043,165 ........0.100

OM0000003521 ............GALFAR ENGINEERING AND CON. .................... 96,125 .............11,923........................9 ............0.125 ........... 0.125 ...........0.124 ........... 0.124 ............. 0.125............-0.001 ........... -0.800 ...............0.124 .............. 0.123...................0.124 ................... 35,957,599 .........0.100

OM0000001681 ............OMAN AND EMIRATES INV. HOLDING ........... 1,829,971 ...... 198,037..................... 65 ............0.109 ........... 0.109 ...........0.107 ........... 0.108 ............. 0.109 ...........-0.001 ........... -0.917................0.108 .............. 0.107...................0.108 ................... 13,162,500 .........0.100

OM0000001160 ............NATIONAL GAS ............................................................. 10,592 ............... 4,175........................6 ........... 0.396 ........... 0.396 ...........0.394........... 0.394 .............0.398 ...........-0.004 ........... -1.005 ...............0.394..............0.394...................0.400 ..................19,700,000 .........0.100

OM0000002028 ...........GULF INTERNATIONAL CHEMICALS ..............10,000 ...............2,180........................2 ............0.218 ........... 0.218 ...........0.218 ........... 0.218 ............. 0.221 ...........-0.003 ............-1.357................0.218 ..............0.219...................0.223 ...................4,578,000 ..........0.100

OM0000003125 ............GLOBAL FINANCIAL INVESTMENT ................ 165,000 ........... 18,260........................5 ............0.111 ........... 0.113 ............0.110 ............0.111.............. 0.114 ............-0.003 ........... -2.632 ............... 0.113 .............. 0.110................... 0.114 .................. 22,200,000 ........0.100

OM0000002176 ............AL JAZEERA STEEL PRODUCTS ........................ 694,828 ..........173,740..................... 25 ............0.251 ........... 0.251 ...........0.250........... 0.250 ............. 0.261............ -0.011 ........... -4.215 ...............0.250..............0.243...................0.250 ..................31,224,490 .........0.100

.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 10,497,665 4,185,224...................461 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ......34........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

PARALLEL MARKET ................................................................................................................................................................................. OM0000001368 ............CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS IND. .................. 364,833 ............14,188......................13 ........... 0.038 ........... 0.039 ...........0.038........... 0.039 .............0.038 ............0.001 ............. 2.632 ................0.039 ..............0.039...................0.040 ................... 3,315,000 ..........0.100

OM0000001400 ...........OMAN FLOUR MILLS ................................................... 3,500 ............... 1,764........................3 ........... 0.504 ...........0.504 ...........0.504........... 0.504 .............0.504 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.504..............0.504...................0.506 ..................79,380,000 .........0.100

OM0000001590 ............MUSCAT FINANCE ........................................................ 2,872 ..................402........................3 ............0.138 ........... 0.140 ...........0.138 ........... 0.140 .............0.140 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.140 .............. 0.138...................0.140 ...................35,226,586 .........0.100

OM0000002564 ...........AL HASSAN ENGINEERING...................................... 1,950 ...................191........................ 1 ........... 0.098 ........... 0.098 ...........0.098........... 0.099 .............0.099 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.098 ..............0.098...................0.100.................... 7,445,592 ..........0.100

OM0000004511 ............ALIZZ ISLAMIC BANK.............................................. 200,000........... 16,800........................4 ........... 0.084 ...........0.084 ...........0.084........... 0.084 .............0.084 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.084..............0.077...................0.084 ................. 84,000,000 ........0.100

OM0000004420 ...........BANK NIZWA ................................................................ 755,517 ............ 56,006..................... 34 ........... 0.074 ........... 0.075 ...........0.074 ........... 0.074 .............0.075 ...........-0.001 ............-1.333................0.074 ..............0.074...................0.075 ..................111,000,000 ........0.100

OM0000001566 ............OMAN FISHERIES ..................................................... 135,500 .............. 7,143......................11 ........... 0.053 ........... 0.053 ...........0.052........... 0.053 .............0.054 ...........-0.001 ........... -1.852................0.052 ..............0.052...................0.053....................6,625,000 ..........0.100

OM0000004776 ...........TAKAFUL OMAN INSURANCE ................................ 5,383 ...................613........................2 ............0.114 ........... 0.114............ 0.113 ............0.114 ............. 0.119 ............-0.005 ........... -4.202 ............... 0.113 .............. 0.114...................0.000 ..................11,400,000 .........0.100

.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 1,469,555 .........97,108......................71 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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

BONDS MARKET ................................................................................................................................................................................. OM0000004487 ...........RENAISSANCE SERVICES BONDS3.75 ..............73,425 ............... 9,178........................ 1 ............0.125 ........... 0.125 ...........0.125 ............0.125 ............. 0.124 ............0.001 ............. 0.806 ................0.125 .............. 0.125...................0.140 ...................52,892,710 .........0.100

OM0000004628 ...........BANK SOHAR BONDS 4.5 ............................................... 280 .....................29........................ 1 ............0.103 ........... 0.103 ...........0.103 ........... 0.103 ............. 0.103............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.103 ..............0.070...................0.000 ................... 7,364,500 ..........0.100

.............................................SUM: .................................................................................... 73,705 ...............9,207........................2 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ........ 2........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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

O M A N S T O C K S

INDICESIndex .................................................High .................Low ..................... Value ............... Prev . Value.......... Diff ...............Diff %MSM30 Index ....................................... 6,380.02 ...............6,373.43 ....................6,377.86 ................... 6,375.43 ....................2.43 ...................0.04Financial Index ..................................... 7,762.31 ................7,745.15 ....................7,754.30 ....................7,762.31 .................. -8.01 .................. -0.10Industrial Index ....................................8,308.73 .............. 8,278.47 ................... 8,278.47 ................... 8,308.17 ................-29.70 .................. -0.36Services Index ....................................... 3,451.72 ...............3,447.83 ....................3,451.66 ................... 3,447.83 ....................3.83 ................... 0.11MSM SHARIAH INDEX.......................985.54 ..................984.54 ...................... 985.32 ...................... 985.28 ....................0.04 ...................0.00

Trading SummaryVolume ................ Turnover ..........Trades .............. Market Cap............. Up ............Down ............. Equal .........Sec. Traded12,040,925 ................. 4,291,539 .....................534 ............... 14,782,107,805 ................ 16 ......................12 .................... 16 .........................44

MSM index ends flat

MUSCAT: Oman’s general in-dex — MSM30 Index — ended on a flat note to close at 6,377.86 points, marginally up by 0.04 per cent. The MSM Sharia Index remained unchanged to close at 985.32 points. Oman & Emirates was the most active in terms of volume while Oreedoo Oman was the most active in terms of turno-ver. Monday’s top gainer was Construction Material Indus-tries, up by 2.63 per cent, while Al Jazeera Steel Products down by 4.22 per cent was the top loser for the day.

As many as 534 trades were executed during the day’s trading session generating turnover of OMR4.29 million with more than 12.04 million shares changing hands. Out of 44 traded securi-ties, 16 advanced, 12 declined and 16 remained unchanged. GCC and Arab investors were net buy-ers for OMR418,000 while for-eign investors were net sellers of OMR390,000 followed by Omani investors for OMR28,000 worth of shares.

Financial Index closed at 7,762.31 points, down by 0.10 per cent. Al Madina Investment, ONIC Holding, Gulf Investment Services and Oman United In-surance increased by 1.32 per cent, 0.88 per cent, 0.74 per cent and 0.67 per cent, respectively. Global Financial Investment, Oman & Emirates and HSBC Bank Oman declined by 2.63 per cent, 0.92 per cent and 0.72 per cent, respectively.

Industrial Index closed at 8278.47 points, down by 0.36 per cent. Construction Material In-

dustries, Al Anwar Ceramic and Oman Cables increased by 2.63 per cent, 0.48 per cent and 0.47 per cent, respectively. Al Jazeera Steel Product, Gulf Internation-al Chemicals, Galfar Engineer-ing and Raysut Cement declined by 4.21 per cent, 1.36 per cent, 0.80 per cent and 0.64 per cent, respectively.

Services Sector Index up by 0.11 per cent to close at 3,451.66 points. Al Suwadi Power, Al Bati-nah Power, Al Jazeera Services and Sohar Power increased by 2.59 per cent,1.54 per cent, 1.10 per cent and 0.57 per cent, re-spectively. National Gas was the only loser in the sector and was down by 1.01 per cent to close at OMR0.394.

Arabtec project An Egyptian government official on Monday denied a local media report that a project for Dubai-based builder Arabtec to build a million homes in the north Afri-can country had stalled.

“We are at the stage of prepar-ing the contracts after receiving the necessary approvals, and we await the opinion of Arabtec’s new management,” assistant housing minister Khaled Abbas told Reuters by telephone.

Shares in Arabtec dropped 3.3 per cent on Sunday after Egyp-tian newspaper Al Mal reported, citing an anonymous source, that the deal over the project had fall-en through. The firm was not im-mediately available for comment. Its shares were up 2.15 per cent in early trading.

Abu Dhabi businessman Mo-hamed Thani Murshed Ghan-nam Al Rumaithi was elected chairman of Arabtec earlier this month, the latest in a series of senior management changes over the past year.

Egyptian officials have said the entire housing project will cost about 280 billion Egyp-tian pounds ($36.7 billion) and Arabtec said in April the first phase would involve building 100,000 homes.

The project is seen as part of economic and political support for Egypt by the United Arab Emirates, which has provided billions of dollars of aid to Cairo since Islamist president Moham-ed Mursi was ousted in 2013.

– United Securities/Reuters

Monday’s top gainer

was Construction

Material Industries,

up by 2.63 per cent,

while Al Jazeera

Steel Products down

by 4.22 per cent was

the top loser

Sensex and rupee declineMUMBAI: India’s benchmark stock-index declined by the most in two weeks as metal producers and consumer companies fell be-fore the expiry of monthly deriva-tives on Thursday.

Vedanta, the nation’s largest copper and aluminum refiner, slid to a six-week low, and Tata Steel retreated to the lowest price since April 6. ITC decreased to an 11-month low after its quar-terly profit missed estimates. Tata Power lost 1.5 per cent af-ter the BSE said the stock will be dropped from the S&P BSE Sensex starting June 22.

The Sensex lost 1.1 per cent to 27,643.88, the most since May 12. The gauge rose to a five-week high on Friday as bets mounted that slowing inflation will give the central bank room to ease mon-etary policy next month. While 52 per cent of the Sensex members that have posted results for the March quarter have exceeded or matched estimates, earnings will fall for a second quarter, forecasts compiled by Bloomberg show. The index trades at 15.3 times projected 12-month profits, com-pared with the MSCI Emerging Markets Index’s multiple of 12.3.

Lower corporate earnings“The valuations are extended as expectations of corporate earn-ings are low,” Chakri Lokapriya, chief investment officer at TCG Advisory Services, said by phone from Mumbai. The market “may consolidate a bit more in the near term,” he said.

ITC’s fourth-quarter earnings rose 3.5 per cent to Rs23.6 billion ($372 million) from a year earlier, trailing the Rs25.2 billion esti-mated in a Bloomberg survey. The stock tumbled 2.4 per cent. Re-sults were announced after mar-ket hours on Friday. The 50-stock CNX Nifty Index lost 1.1 per cent,

while the India VIX Index posted a fourth day of losses, the longest run since the period ended April 30. Stock derivative contracts in India expire on the last Thursday of every month.

Moderate growthThe Sensex completed its third weekly gain on Friday, the long-est run since March, amid bets that RBI Raghuram Rajan would cut interest rates for a third time this year at the June 2 review. While consumer prices slowed to a four-month low in April, factory output grew 2.1 per cent versus an estimated three per cent rise, offi-cial data showed May 12.

“Economic growth is relatively moderate and it needs a boost,” Jim Walker, managing director of Asianomics Group, said in an in-terview with Bloomberg TV India on Monday. “The RBI should take

a signal and lower rates.”International investors sold a

net $28 million of Indian stocks on May 21, paring this year’s in-flows to $6.8 billion. The Sensex has risen 0.5 per cent this year and trades at 15.3 times projected 12-month earnings, compared with the MSCI Emerging Mar-kets Index’s multiple of 12.3.

Rupee depreciatesSnapping its two-day rising streak, the rupee on Monday slipped by five paise to close at 63.57 per dollar on fresh demand for the American currency from banks and importers amid sharp fall in the domestic equity market.

The rupee resumed lower at 63.62 as against the last week-end’s level of 63.52 at the Inter-bank Foreign Exchange (forex) market and dropped further to 63.67 before ending at 63.57 per dollar, disclosing a loss of five pai-se or 0.08 per cent.

The local currency moved in a range of 63.67 and 63.53 during the day. The dollar remained firm against the yen and the euro in the Asian market on Monday follow-ing comments by Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen late last week and renewed concerns about Greece.

Crude prices rose on bargain-hunting in Asia on Monday after sliding last week, but a supply glut is likely to cap gains, analysts said.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for July de-livery climbed 14 cents to $59.86 a barrel and Brent crude for July added eight cents to $65.45 in late-morning trade. — Agencies

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

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

The valuations are extended as expectations of corporate earnings are low. The market may consolidate a bit more in the near term

Chakri LokapriyaChief investment officer TCG Advisory Services

B5T U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

ROUND-UPA million kilometres and my Toyota is still running strong: Proud owner

MUSCAT: Toyota they say is a synonym for reliability and en-durance which adds to its appeal as a brand for everyone. That is precisely why Toyota cars are so highly popular in Oman.

It was in 1998 that Mohammed Said Abdullah Al Hinai bought his first Corolla and he has been hooked on for so for many good reasons, says a press release.

“The performance, reliability and durability I experienced in my first Corolla became my standard…I realised that only a Toyota can equal another Toyota. Hence when I wanted to start my taxi business in 2002, I went in for another Corolla,” he said.

“With the new Corolla my taxi business took off. Very early into my business, I began experiencing the rewards of Toyota’s legend-ary performance, reliability and other core efficiencies. Till today I stand proud, well aware of how

far my Corolla has brought me, by just being with me throughout my journey in business. Over a period of time, I have clocked upwards of 9,99,999 km, which is way above

most other cars. The people at Toyota were happy to know of my journey and affection for Toyota,” he added.

When asked what special care he took to keep his Corolla at peak levels, Al Hinai replied casually, “My only discipline for my Corol-la’s smooth running has been to remember to take it in for regular Toyota service. I have never had to take any extra pains or care. In the taxi business, the car is used rigor-ously and the demands are severe. Even so, nothing, apart from regu-lar service, was ever required to be done by me.”

He felt that Toyota’s after sales support was outstanding and de-served all praise.

“I specially thank Saud Bahwan Automotive and the sales staff who advised me to purchase this vehicle. Not to forget the services of highly skilled technicians who infuse a lot of passion besides

their talent when working on my Corolla. Truly speaking, owning a Corolla makes me feel really special,” he added.

When asked if he would recom-mend Toyota to others, he said: “Of course I do so wholeheartedly. But truth be told, does one really need to be told about Toyota’s ex-cellence which is well exhibited through their products? People are wise; they know what is best for them.”

Since its inception, Toyota has always focused on engineering and introducing the finest automobiles in the world. This passion contin-ues to dwell even today, making Toyota the most loved brand lo-cally and globally.

“I am a loyal customer of Toyota. Besides the Corolla which I have specially assigned for my Taxi ser-vice I am also a proud owner of a Land Cruiser. I must say the engi-neers at Toyota are doing a wonder-

ful job. Till date my Corolla works as good as new,” stated Al Hinai.

“We deeply value such custom-ers who have put so much trust in us and we appreciate them for their long association with the brand. We are happy that our ve-hicles, with their renowned du-rability, have been successful in creating a sense of peace of mind amongst our customers. It is in this, that we see our success,” said a spokesperson from Saud Bahwan Automotive.

“In Oman, Saud Bahwan Auto-motive has pioneered a number of initiatives towards garnering the highest customer satisfaction. These include investments in in-frastructure like possessing a large number of service bays at the Wat-tayah showroom; presence of Toy-ota showrooms throughout Oman, availability of most spare parts at any given point in time and more,” he added.

Since its inception,

Toyota has

always focused on

engineering and

introducing the finest

automobiles in the

world. This passion

continues to dwell

even today, making

Toyota the most

loved brand locally

and globally

Eint Auto launches new Primewell, Suntrac tyresMUSCAT: Adding to their assort-ment of tyres from different world renowned brands, Eint Automo-tive conducted a customer meet recently at Crowne Plaza Hotel where they unveiled three new models of tyres from Primewell and Suntrac.

Earning the title of the most trusted and reliable partner in the auto care industry, Eint Automo-tive, a successful division of the WJ Towell Group, caters to the distribution, retailing and market-ing of the best names in the auto-motive aftermarket products.

With a specialised division dedi-cated to the service and sale of tyres, Eint Automotive has an extensive range of tyres to suit the varying needs and preferences of their cus-tomers, says a press release.

Reputed “Primewell and Suntrac are re-puted brand names that have sur-passed other tyre manufactures in the industry creating its own dis-tinct position of supremacy. Given its credentials, the common myth that surrounds their place of man-ufacture no longer stands true,” said Raj Nair, business manager, Eint Tyre Division.

“Yes, it is ‘Made in China’, and that only gives it the advantages that others aren’t able to benefit from. China now has a few of the largest and best manufacturing units in the world that are fuelled with the latest technology and effi-cient manpower. With every other

product bearing the same stamp, it is a common misconception that places a doubt on the quality of any Chinese good. After being certified with titles that many other manu-facturers from different parts of the world yearn for and several other awards certifying its excellence, our ‘Made in China’ tyres assure superior quality, reliability and du-rability; properties that have been tried and tested on proving ground facilities in the European Techni-cal Centre (ETC) located at the in-ternationally acclaimed MIRA Ltd (Motor Industry Research Associa-tion), UK, as well as other testing fa-cilities in Ohio, USA, Hanover, Ger-many and Finland,” he explained.

Since the early years, WJ Tow-ell has had the vision to recognise the ever-increasing demand and prospect of the automotive indus-

try. The tyre segment being an in-tegral part of auto care was given prime importance and all such measures were taken to promote it. Today, the division has emerged as a market leader and is a promis-ing segment contributing not only to the company’s returns but also doing its part to society, providing excellent services pertaining to all requirements related to tyres, the release added.

The world-acclaimed Primewell tyres found their entry into the Oman market with Eint Automo-tive who have been pioneers in bringing to the country reputed brands from across the globe. Primewell tyres have become a preferred choice amongst both private as well as commercial vehicle owners due to their supe-rior quality and affordable prices.

With a wide range of passenger car tyres, light truck tyres, SUV/crossover tires, winter tyres, Primewell is set to meet all of their customers’ demands.

“Our services have found usage in key sectors of the country. We have had a steady increase in de-mand from the booming construc-tion and transportation segments. Our reliable products have met the stringent quality standards of the oil and gas sectors and we can therefore claim to be the proud partners of various PDO contrac-tors,” added Raj Nair.

Expanding their range with new tie-ups with leading manufactur-ers worldwide and adding to their existing portfolio, Eint Automo-tive will continue to bring to their customers an ever-growing choice in tyres and related services.

C U S T O M E R M E E T

Tibiaan Properties ties

up with Zawaya Interiors

MUSCAT: Tibiaan Properties is a reputed one-stop shop that provides turnkey solutions for all aspects related to real estate in Oman. Later this year, it will be relocating its premises to 18th November Street in Azaiba and has tied up with Zawaya Interiors to reflect what Tibiaan stands for — quality, transparency through open office space and a seamless blend of the tradition with mo-dernity, says a press release.

“Office interior design is not just about a nice working envi-ronment, it is also about creating a space that inspires staff, in-creases productivity and in turn helps business to perform better,” said Fahad Al Ismaili, founder and CEO, Tibiaan Properties.

What prompted the company to tie up with Zawaya is that it pro-vides a complete range of interior

services — right from designing to MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) and furnishing.

“A well known group in Oman, Zawaya has earned respect in the market and holds true to its promise of quality and on time delivery. I was impressed by the diverse projects that Zawaya has undertaken that includes impres-sive corporate head offices as well as lavish homes,” Fahad added.

“Right from space planning and traffic flow, down to interi-ors concepts and detailing, we at Zawaya Interiors seamlessly integrate all aspects of interior designing to provide a complete end-to-end fit out solution. Our aim is to transform the client’s vision to reality. It is always a pleasure to have a satisfied cli-ent,” explained Sheikh Al Harith Al Khalili, executive partner.

N E W O F F I C E

Health walkathon concludes successfully

SALALAH: The much awaited Health Walkathon 2015 – Cancer Awareness Walk organised re-cently by Lifeline Hospital Sala-lah, attracted more than 1,500 people who came from far and wide to participate in it.

Lifeline Hospital organised the walkathon under the auspices of Oman Athletic Association with the theme ‘Healthy Oman, Happy Oman’, says a press release.

The guest of honour for the health walkathon was Eng. Ahmed Ali Abdullah Al Amri, ad-viser, Technical Affairs, Office of the Minster of State and Governor of Dhofar, along with dignitaries and doctors from various institu-tions, departments and hospitals. It was supported by Hamdan Plaza Hotel, Finland Eye Center, Oman Air, Malabar Gold And Dia-monds, As’afwah Dairy and House of Khimji Ramdas.

People had started gathering at the starting point well before the start of the event in huge numbers braving the harsh summer sun. This was ample testimony to their enthusiasm for the event and con-cern for the cause. People from all walks of life, nationalities and age groups – from toddlers in their baby strollers to children, adoles-cents, adults to senior citizens – were in attendance with a glint in their eyes, smile on their faces and a sense of purpose in their walk.

The members of the organising committee from Lifeline Hospital distributed blue T-shirts specially designed for the event along with wrist bands bearing serial num-

bers for the lucky draw which the participants donned with much glee and pride.

Getting to know the fact that a large number of participants are young children, Dr Asif Gani, oper-ations director, Lifeline Hospital, said, “I salute the charged youth power over here who will be the torch bearers for many such initia-tives in the future, and events like these should prove to be a good learning experience for them.”

As the starting time ap-proached, volunteers requested all the participants to stand in rows with banners and placards and the walk started which was led by the guest of honour.

The 1.4km walk was a sight to behold. More than 1,500 people marching in discipline with a sin-gle minded devotion – crusade against cancer.

Looking to the people gathering at the stage and the number swell-ing by the minute, Sheikh Ahmed Abdullah Al Marhoon, Vice Presi-

dent, Oman Athletic Association, stated, “I really appreciate the resilience and the huge appetite of the public to participate for a noble cause.”

Tariq Al Jabry, manager HR, Lifeline hospital, member of the organising committee thanked all the people participating in the walk and said, “We cannot achieve our mission to fight against can-cer without each one of you par-ticipating towards the cause.”

Master of the ceremony Dr Asif Gani, welcomed the guest of hon-our, dignitaries, doctors and all the participants. His announce-ment that Dr Shamsheer Vayalil, MD of VPS Group, has been con-ferred with the Global Humani-tarian Award at a special function held at the United Nations head-quarters in New York resulted in a thunderous round of applause. Dr. Shamsheer has pledged to do-nate 100 free heart surgeries to the United Nations for the under privileged society.

Looking at the overall public participation Dr Asif Gani ob-served, “I am overwhelmed and humbled by this experience and I am sure such concern from all the people will definitely spread the message of awareness thick and fast and far and wide.”

Dr Shahid Yousaf, Medical di-rector added, “More and more people will benefit from early detection, diagnosis and treat-ment bringing down the menace of cancer.”

There was also a short briefing on cancer by Dr Hussain Aldin from Sultan Qaboos Hospital. Al Amri was felicitated and he dis-tributed mementos to all the sup-porters of the event.

Finally, the lucky draw began which was an icing on the cake after all the hard work. Gold coins, return air tickets, gift vouchers, mobile phones were up for grabs which in most cases were won by young children, much to their and their parents' happiness.

C A N C E R A W A R E N E S S

B6 T U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

ROUND-UPPanellists highlight women’s concerns, strengths and challenges at Conclave

MUSCAT: The first edition of The Woman Conclave, organised recently by The Woman magazine at the Jabrin Ballroom, InterCon-tinental Muscat, brought forth concerns, conducted discourses on issues and discussed topics relevant and close to the heart of every woman.

Men were also an important part of the Conclave, as together with women, they are also the game changers and decision mak-ers and the future of Oman lies in their young and capable hands,

says a press release.The Woman Conclave began

with a motivational keynote ad-dress by Sayyida Dr. Shariffa Khalid Qais Al Said, an educa-tional expert at the Ministry of Education. She spoke about her exceptional journey despite her visual impairment. A woman par excellence, she brought into fo-cus the immense and untapped strength of a woman, saying, “You never know how strong a woman is. She is like a tea bag; only when you immerse it into hot water, will you know how strong it is.”

The event also saw engaging and knowledgeable presentations by Zainab Mohammed, CEO Property Management and Marketing, Wasl

Properties, Dubai, on the ‘Art of Being Yourself ’; Zuwaina Al Rash-di, CEO, Dar Al Herfya, on ‘Being a Successful SME Owner’ and Aisha Al Maani, founder of Studio Aisha and certified instructor of Body-Balance and CXWORKS on ‘The importance of women’s health in a multi-tasking world’.

The highlights of the event were two enriching panel discussions that deliberated on key subjects and brought to light some very important matters of concern and ways forward towards success.

The first panel discussion fo-cused on ‘Women in SMEs – Growth, challenges and the way forward.’ The panel, moderated by Lina Hussein, head of Communi-

cations and Social Impact, Zubair SEC, comprised top achievers and experts in the field that included Shadya Al Ismaily, Founder of Deema Oman; Maimuna Al Su-laimani, head of Legal, Alizz Is-lamic Bank; Maryam Al Balushi, deputy head-SME, Bank Muscat; Ghada Al Harthy, proprietor, Café G and Waleema Catering; Hus-sam Al Nabhani, vice president, Social Responsibility and External Affairs, Occidental of Oman and Mulkie Al Hashmi, marketing di-rector, National Business Centre.

The focus of the second panel discussion was on ‘Women in the Workplace’ which was moder-ated by Aisha Al Kharusi, chief marketing officer, Alizz Islamic

Bank. The panelists who took part were Nashia Nasib, market-ing and advertising director, Yahya Group Holdings; Iman Al Ghafri, president, Omani Women’s As-sociation; Lubna Al Kharusi, chief financial officer, Omran; In-sherah Bawazir, head of Corpo-rate Affairs, Standard Chartered Bank, and Pankaj Khimji, direc-tor, Khimji Ramdas.

With valid inputs on how flexi-timings impact the organisation, women taking longer to reach top positions and the challenges they face during the course of the career, this panel touched upon various issues regarding women in the workplace.

Post lunch, the venue was buzz-

ing with laughter, fun, games, team building exercises and com-munication enhancing activi-ties, as Ayesha Al Shoily, certified springboard trainer and depart-ment head – Special Projects at Ooredoo, conducted a lively and empowering workshop. Keeping the tempo up and getting the audi-ence into the groove, were Marissa Pontila and team with their upbeat Zumba routine.

As the curtains came down on The Woman Conclave, the delegates left the venue feeling inspired and empowered to be agents of change and progress, looking forward to the 2016 edi-tion of the Conclave.

The event had on board –: BMW and Mouawad (strategic partners), Khafeef (health partner), Mus-cat Pharmacy (support partner): Oman Oil Marketing Company (inspirational partner) Times of Oman and Al Shabiba (media part-ner) and Oman Printers and Sta-tioners (print partner) with whose support The Woman Conclave was a grand success.

The Conclave saw the launch of The Woman magazine’s new interactive portal www.thewomanoman.com.

The Woman Conclave

served to inspire

all to be forward

thinkers, determined

professionals and

encouraged them to

believe in themselves

Swiss luxury watchmaker looking to tap domestic market with higher salesTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Swiss luxury watch-maker Vacheron Constantin, along with its local partner Mistal, is tar-geting to tap the domestic market with higher sales.

“Oman for us is part of the fu-ture. The country is developing and we have a long-term vision in the country. Our partner also has such a long term vision,” said Juan-Carlos Torres, chief executive of-ficer of Vacheron Constantin.

He was talking to Times of Oman on the sidelines of a get-together jointly organised by Ajit Khimji group’s Mistal and the Swiss watchmaker. In Oman, the dealer is focusing on both locals and tourists. Torres said Gulf countries need to be developed for strengthening sales of Vacheron Constantin, which costs anywhere between 20,000 euros and one million euros (without diamonds).

“We will put efforts to develop

the region and we have right part-ners to do so,” he added.

Torres said that his company has sold 29,000 pieces of luxury watches last year in 80 countries.

“The United States and Hong Kong are leading countries in terms of sales. We are also very strong in China and Europe,” he added.

The Swiss luxury watchmak-

er, which has been producing watches uninterrupted since 1755, has been targeting a niche market of high net worth in-dividuals who value the tradi-tion. He said the company takes anywhere between two to seven years for developing a Vacheron Constantin watch.

“We are trendsetters in terms of both quality and design.”

Referring to the recent debut of smartwatches, he said smart-watches are like smartphone and their future cannot be predicted. ”We talk about human craftsman-ship here. It is the result of years and years of apprenticeship.”

The quest for the best is the driving force behind high-preci-sion mechanics at Vacheron Con-stantin. Even the watch’s design is made involving high technology. Assembly of the parts, watch en-casing and the various inspection protocols are carried out using this meticulous approach.

L O N G - T E R M V I S I O N

TRENDSETTERS: Juan-Carlos Torres, left, chief executive officer,

Vacheron Constantin, with Dharmesh Khimji, managing director,

Mistal. – Supplied photo

Dubai’s Caramel

Group to launch

restaurant in Oman

MUSCAT: Al Zaman Group of Companies of Oman and Caramel Group, a Dubai-based hospital-ity company, have entered into a partnership to open the ‘Caramel Restaurant & Lounge’ in Muscat. The restaurant will be opened at the Opera Galleria in the Royal Opera House towards the end of 2015, says a press release.

Currently located in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Nairobi, Caramel Restaurant & Lounge is a top end ‘casual fine dining’ restaurant famous for its contemporary-American menu perfect for a quick bite or business lunch. By night, the restaurant transforms into an exciting and energetic ul-tra-lounge that offers dining and entertainment for unwinding with co-workers or close friends and family.

Khalid Zaman, director, Al Zaman Group of Companies, is happy. “We are delighted to become partners with a well-known group as Caramel. Al Za-man Group is stepping into dif-ferent areas and hospitality is one such area where we look for-ward to expand significantly. We feel Caramel is the right brand to bring to Oman and with its hybrid fine dining concept it will surely make a positive impact. The venue of Opera Galleria will do complete justice to the high end Caramel brand.”

“In terms of the group’s inter-national expansion, Oman is the second country where Caramel

restaurant will be launched after Kenya. The popularity and cred-ibility of the Al Zaman Group, the magnificence of the Opera Galleria and the cosmopolitan nature of the population are the key motives behind select-ing Oman as Caramel’s second overseas destination. We want to thank Al Zaman Group for all their support and look forward to our joint venture in the Sul-tanate of Oman,” said Jim Moad-dab, chief operating officer, Car-amel Group.

C A S U A L F I N E D I N I N G

Currently located in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Nairobi, Caramel Restaurant & Lounge is a top end ‘casual fine dining’ restaurant famous for its contemporary-American menu perfect for a quick bite or business lunch

Air Arabia named ‘Best Low-Cost Carrier’ ISTANBUL: Air Arabia has been named ‘Best Low-Cost Carrier’ at the World Tourism Forum Awards in Istanbul, Turkey.

The World Tourism Forum is an annual gathering of leading busi-ness figures and industry experts to discuss the future direction of the global tourism sector. Among the topics discussed were online tour-ism, destination marketing and the economic benefits of tourism.

Air Arabia took home the award for ‘Best Low-Cost Carrier’ based on its performance over the last year, which has included the open-ing of two new international hubs in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, and Amman, Jordan, and increasing its global network to 104 destina-tions, says a press release.

The airline also reached another major milestone during the period when it became first low-cost car-rier from the Middle East and Af-rica to enter the Chinese market

with the start of regular non-stop services to Urumqi, the largest city in Western China.

“It is a source of great pride for everyone at Air Arabia that our contribution to the aviation sec-tor continues to be recognised, not only within the Middle East and North Africa, but also by our peers around the world. We thank the organisers of the World Tourism Forum for this accolade and we would like to express our gratitude to the millions of loyal customers who have enabled our success for more than a decade,” said Adel A. Ali, group chief executive officer of Air Arabia. This is the latest in a series of recent accolades won by Air Arabia including ‘Low Cost Carrier of the Year’ from Aviation Business, ‘Middle East’s Leading Low-Cost Airline 2014’ at the 21st World Travel Awards, and the ‘Air-line Business Award’ at the Airline Strategy Awards 2014.

T O U R I S M A W A R D S

B7T U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

ROUND-UPSohar University students visit Times of Oman office

Times News Service

MUSCAT: A group of 30 graduat-ing students from the Faculty of Business at the Sohar University visited the office of Times of Oman, the leading English daily published by Muscat Media Group (MMG).

The delegation, which was led by Dr Rakesh Belwal, associate professor in the Faculty of Busi-ness, visited the newspaper of-fice to provide the students with a first-hand exposure to the industry and to explore the possibilities of placement opportunities.

The students, who were study-ing Electronic Business as one of the core courses in their portfolio,

interacted with the marketing di-vision of the group and were pro-vided with a detailed briefing on the establishment of the Times of Oman as the leading newspaper in the print as well as online media in Oman.

The students learnt about the innovations initiated by the Times of Oman and the accolades re-ceived in both online and print formats while competing with in-ternational newspapers.

Additionally, the students were given an interactive tour on the different functions of the news-paper, during which they were welcomed and briefed by the de-partment heads. The first half con-cluded with students interacting with the department heads.

In the second half, the group was introduced to Scott Armstrong, chief executive editor, who an-swered questions posed by stu-dents in an hour long Q&A session. The group also met Felicia Camp-bell, executive features editor, who updated the students about the lat-est initiatives of the group in the area of feature writing and the re-quirements from interested candi-dates wishing to join the division.

“The students were impressed with the innovation by MMG in the diffusion of information and tech-nology in Oman,” said Dr Belwal.

Manish Juyal, adviser of human resources, along with the de-partment heads, welcomed the students to the premises of the Muscat Media Group.

The students were

given a detailed

briefing on the

establishment of the

Times of Oman as the

leading newspaper

in the print as well as

online media in the

Sultanate

Oman based HR expert gets global recognitionMUSCAT: In its recent publi-cation titled ‘Top 100 HR Glob-al Professionals’, The CHRO Asia organisation has featured Oman based HR expert P. V. Venkatesh as one among them.

The publication was released recently in the World HRD Congress which was held in Mumbai, India this year, says a press release.

“I am greatly honoured with this recognition which has come to me in my 25th year of service in the HR space out of which 16 years have been spent in Oman. I would like to thank all organisations with whom I had worked earlier for giving me an opportunity to do my bit in the global HR space,” said Venkatesh. “There is so much of scope in Oman to help or-ganisations to improve people’s productivity and I am enjoying every assignment which helps me contribute to the develop-ment of people’s talent in this country,” he added.

P R O F E S S I O N A L

Kitsu-SPAR bring a taste of entrepreneurial successMUSCAT: Entrepreneur, busi-ness man, restaurateur and youth motivator Bader Al Shidi wears many hats. But most of all he is a self-made achiever and a shining example of entrepreneurial suc-cess in the country.

A success that has led to the creation of the food-on-the-go outlet called Kitsu in the newest retail chain, SPAR supermarkets, brought to Oman, by Khimji Ram-das, says a press release.

Al Shidi comes with substantial and impressive academic creden-tials. He is a business graduate from Sultan Qaboos University – College of Economics & Political Science; he was the President of the Business Society at the col-lege; and he also has an MBA from Bedfordshire University in the UK. He began his career at Petro-leum Development Oman where he dealt mostly in non-fuel re-lated retail products such as food.

“This is where I got the idea to expand in the business of food retail,” he says. And that’s exactly what he set out to do. “I travelled frequently and extensively to ex-pand and grow my knowledge of this industry.”

Soon, he’d put together a multi-national team and launched his first restaurant Barcelos.

“I started receiving orders for catering from companies and in-dividuals and decided to expand this area of business further,” he says. Soon, Al Shidi expanded his food related business to in-clude import and export of food and livestock; he also works on exporting Omani (non-food) products to South Africa and other countries.

When Khimji Ramdas opened its first SPAR outlet earlier this year, Al Shidi was quick to seize the opportunity for further busi-ness expansion and to establish a

greater presence in the ready-to-go food industry. His entrepre-neurial aspirations received the full backing of the KR Group, one of the nation’s keen supporters of local entrepreneurship.

“I am really thankful to the KR Group for all their advice and support. We have gained so much knowledge and experience from this partnership, such as how to balance our costs and learn about the local market,” says Al Shidi.

But for Al Shidi, the partner-ship with the KR Group began long before his dreams of mak-ing it big in the fast food industry took wing. His relationship with Oman’s oldest conglomerate goes back to the days when he started his restaurant at PDO. “When I opened the restaurant, the direc-tors of KR became regulars. One day they asked me to present an idea on how to manage the food-on-the-go section at SPAR. They must have been impressed be-cause here I am, thanks to their belief in me,” he says.

For the KR Group, supporting entrepreneurs such as Al Shidi is integral to the company’s strong allegiance and support of local entrepreneurship. It fulfils a long-

term commitment to empower-ing local enterprise and creating business opportunities that guar-antee growth and employment for skilled nationals.

Already Al Shidi has been gleaning the benefits of his part-nership with the KR Group. Apart from knowledge of local markets, he is privy to first-hand informa-tion on international catering standards and knowledge shar-ing on the best ways to identify growth opportunities. His enter-prise will also meet another goal of the KR Group’s entrepreneur-ial support policy and commit-ment to the younger generation of Oman, which is creating gainful employment for Omanis.

Also a passionate votary com-mitted to developing Omani tal-ent, Al Shidi has initiated plans to fulfil his commitment. At the mo-ment, he is in negotiations with the College of Tourism to enrol 20 students in summer training. On completion of training, these stu-dents will be deputed across his restaurants – Barcelos, Kitsu and his catering business. He also has three Omani chefs who work on a freelance basis.

Al Shidi is an inspiring role model for Omani youth of today and he is always eager to share his experience to motivate them on to greater ambitions. His com-mitment to youth has taken his to many colleges and universities where he has shared his knowl-edge on a number of topics that include CV writing, time manage-ment, job interview skills, public speaking and the like.

His ultimate goal is to strength-en his footprint in the food and restaurant business and, of course, expand his partnership with the Khimji Ramdas Group to cover all future SPAR branches in Oman.

F O O D - O N - T H E - G O O U T L E T

BankDhofar unveils new

instant banking servicesMUSCAT: In continuation of its efforts to lead the banking sector in the Sultanate by providing the best customer experience, innova-tive products and creative services that are custom-designed to meet the needs of its customers across, BankDhofar recently launched a wide range of instant banking ser-vices, says a press release.

Elaborating on the instant bank-ing products and services from BankDhofar, Acting CEO Abdul Hakeem Omar Al Ojaili, stated: “In a technology driven age, our aspi-ration is to continue to lead with creativity and innovation. We as-pire to shorten distances and cut off time to distinguish ourselves from the rest by providing instant services, following instant pro-cesses and win back instant cus-tomer satisfaction.”

BankDhofar’s diverse range of instant banking services includes instant card-less cash transaction through BankDhofar ATMs and Mobile Banking channels, instant money transfer through Mobile Banking, Internet Banking, ATMs and Call Centre, instant mobile top-up (Omantel, Ooredoo and FRiENDi) through Mobile Bank-

ing, Internet Banking, ATMs and Call Centre, instant phone bill payment (Omantel and Ooredoo through Mobile Banking and In-ternet Banking, instant cash de-posit through BankDhofar CDMs, instant withdrawal of OMR1,000 for Personal Banking customers and OMR1,500 for Priority Bank-ing customers across all BankD-hofar’s ATMs, instant Credit Card payment and transaction notifica-tion through Mobile Banking and Internet Banking, instant ATM/branch/CDM locator through Mo-bile Banking, instant registration for Internet and Mobile Banking, instant online statement through Mobile Banking and Internet Banking, instant debit and credit notification through Mobile Bank-ing and Internet Banking, instant Mobile Banking and Internet Banking password reset, instant donation through Mobile Bank-ing, Internet Banking and CDMs, as well as instant card activation and blocking through BankDhofar Call Centre.

“By introducing instant bank-ing services, we aim to provide the best banking customer expe-rience. We would like to see cus-

tomers think BankDhofar when they think instant banking, and we promise to continuously en-hance their banking experience by following world’s best business practices and by offering the best products and innovative services,” added Al Ojaili.

Aspiring to be the best bank in the Gulf, BankDhofar has direct-ed all its efforts and resources towards these objectives. Today it is considered one of the best banks in the region, catering for customers’ needs and require-ments, and setting the standards for the best customers experi-ence within the banking industry in the Sultanate through creative solutions and innovation.

The combination of the thor-ough vision of BankDhofar’s ex-ecutive management, the compre-hensive operational strategy that revolves around following best international banking practices and providing best customer ex-perience, as well as commitment to community development and contribution to the growth of the national economy, placed Bank-Dhofar on top of the list of best banks in the region.

F O C U S O N I N N O V A T I O N

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Ooredoo appoints new chief governance officer

MUSCAT: Ooredoo has appoint-ed Majid Al Marzooqi as chief governance officer and company secretary. He will lead Ooredoo’s strategic efforts to comply with all applicable corporate codes, iden-tifying and adopting essential or-ganisational governance practices, and ensuring the efficient admin-istration of the company.

As Ooredoo’s former director of legal affairs and company secre-tary, Al Marzooqi brings a wealth of in-house experience to the posi-tion, says a press release.

He enters his new role with nearly 10 years of experience with Ooredoo after starting as the com-pany’s legal counsel and quickly rising through the ranks.

His ascending career develop-ment reaffirms Ooredoo’s commit-ment to building the capabilities of

family members and supporting personal growth.

“We welcome Majid Al Mar-zooqi’s appointment, which will inspire our family members to achieve their career aspirations with Ooredoo. His strong back-ground as a member of our fam-ily is proof that with us personal

growth is highly valued and is a key part of our developmental strate-gy,” said Kumail Al Moosawi, chief people and corporate affairs officer at Ooredoo.

“Majid has a very successful ca-reer in legal affairs and his experi-ence will be crucial in monitoring the latest legislative changes and ensuring that the company meets all legal and statutory require-ments from a corporate govern-ance and company secretarial per-spective,” Al Moosawi added.

Ooredoo champions multiple initiatives to drive the growth of Oman’s national workforce in-cluding organising training activi-ties, workshops, update sessions and personal development pro-grammes and this recent appoint-ment comes as a testament to its efforts to enable human growth.

Majid Al Marzooqi

enters his new

role with nearly 10

years of experience

with Ooredoo after

starting as the

company’s legal

counsel and quickly

rising through

the ranks

VLCC launches 3D tummy reduction treatment for menMUSCAT: Sweating over a pro-truding tummy? There is good news for obese and overweight men. Premier wellness brand VLCC has launched a revolution-ary tummy reduction treatment in Muscat, exclusively for men.

This unique, completely safe and painless treatment entitled, ‘‘Men’s 3D Tummy Reduction Treatment’ provides quick and assured weight loss in just a sin-gle session, says a press release.

Developed after a series of re-search conducted by the VLCC R&D team, Men’s 3D Tummy Reduction Treatment is revolu-tionary in character. One can lose 5cm and 300gm in a single ses-sion. Technically, this treatment is simple and clinically-proven.

The treatment is non-invasive, and offers visible results from the first session by breaking down the fat around the waist and tummy, improving blood circula-tion and increasing metabolism. The VLCC treatment will also improve the waist-hip ratio by re-ducing the waist circumference.

A flat and toned stomach is a physical feature that many men strive for. However, due to weight

fluctuations, unhealthy eating habits, men fail to maintain their body shape and weight. Here comes the VLCC’s Men’s 3D Tum-my Reduction Treatment, which has been developed for men who have a problem of weight around the waist and tummy.

Obese and overweight men with high waist circumference and men with loose and sagging abdominal skin can make use of Men’s 3D Tummy Reduction Treatment. Men with normal BMI and high fat percentage can also make use of this unique treatment.

‘‘At VLCC, we are working with added zeal to continue to deliver meaningful results to our custom-ers as we celebrate the seventh anniversary of our operations in the Sultanate of Oman. We are delighted that our efforts have been recognised by our customers wholeheartedly, and we will con-tinuously build on our approach in providing unique solutions — a holistic and scientific approach in addressing the mind and body, ori-ented towards lifestyle modifica-tion,’’ says Sanjeev Setia, business head, VLCC International.

P A I N L E S S T R E A T M E N T

Genetco rewards top achievers at annual trade teams awardsMUSCAT: In the Genetco Annual Trade Team Convention for Home Appliances and Business Automa-tion as well as their service centres and warehouse teams, Genetco formally recognised and awarded achievers who have been dedicat-ed and made sincere efforts to suc-ceed, leading to such outstanding performance of the company, says a press release.

Genetco reached new heights during the year 2014 and have sig-nificantly increased sales across Oman through dealers, power re-tailers, hypermarkets, government and institutional, as well as own showrooms. This was achieved for all the distributed Genetco brands including but not limited to Can-

on, Hitachi, York, Gree, TCL, Best, Harman Kardon, JBL and Gigaset.

The convention started with the speech by Sharad Kumar, sen-ior GM, highlighting the achieve-ments of the year 2014 followed

by CEO Dr Muthanna Al Durrah, who addressed the gathering on the successful journey and how the organisation has evolved by di-versifying the offerings along with the use of innovative marketing

approaches to grow the business. The CEO recognised the out-

standing performance of Genetco which was only possible with dedi-cated team work and thanked the teams wishing them success and prosperity for 2015.

Employee were given appre-ciation rewards and recognition, followed by exciting activities by employees who celebrated and participated in various dance forms, songs and standup comedy to the delight of the gathering.

It was a day to celebrate and ac-knowledge the past achievements for Genetco’s team comprising Omanis and expats and looking forward to the journey ahead. The event concluded with a gala dinner.

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

Hyundai launches exciting offer on trucks and busesMUSCAT: OTE Group, the exclu-sive distributor for Hyundai Truck and Bus, recently launched a pro-motion scheme to offer complete peace of mind to their customers.

The scheme offers a host of amazing benefits across the range of Hyundai trucks, such as two years/100,000km warranty, two years/40,000km lube service, a very special six-year financing option, an attractive interest rate starting at 3.99 per cent per an-num and a confident 50 per cent assured buyback offer.

Promotion elements may vary for different models. Exact details of the promotion can be checked out at any of the Hyundai Truck and Bus showrooms. This on-going promotion is being well ap-preciated by customers across the Sultanate, says a press release.

“With the combination of refined and confident products, modern design, state-of-the-art safety and technology, attractive pricing, com-bined with the irresistible ‘peace of mind’ offer, it’s no wonder so many prefer Hyundai trucks,” said a cus-tomer, while taking delivery of his 10 Ton Hyundai HD 170.

In a world where time is mon-ey, Hyundai trucks are built to run reliably and economically, work round the clock and carry maximum payloads, often under extreme conditions.

Hyundai trucks come at a lower investment and lower running and maintenance costs, thereby in-creasing the profits manifold. Over and above that, the current peace of mind offer makes the preposi-tion absolutely irresistible.

Tough but stylish, Hyundai of-fers the perfect Truck range to meet the demands of the trucking business. The range starts with a pay load of 2.3 tons, followed by 3.5 tons (single and double cabin), 4 tons, 4.5 tons, 7 tons and 10 tons. The truck range is offered with factory fitted air conditioners and a wide cabin to provide immense comfort and satisfaction to the crew and driver.

The Hyundai HD series brings dynamism and capability to the truck range. Medium and heavy duty trucks range has the right truck to get the job done. The Hyundai HD120 sets the standard in medium duty truck category, with a payload of 7 tons. The heavy

duty range includes 4X2 HD170 (16,800 GVW) and 6X4 HD260 (26,300 GVW).

Hyundai also offers a choice of four tractor models (ranging from 45 T GCW to 70 T GCW), each de-signed to give an extra margin of productivity and efficiency to stay ahead of competition. Drivers will quickly appreciate the very latest in air suspension sleeper cabs and driver oriented ergonomics. Pow-ertrain, frame, axle, suspension etc. have been perfectly matched and rigorous testing has been car-ried out to deliver top performance and reliability.

OTE Group, the sole distributor of Hyundai cars, trucks and buses in Oman, brings to Oman a wide range of transportation solutions that Hyundai has to offer, along with tailor-made finance and leas-ing options. OTE Group offers excellent sales and aftersales sup-port with a nationwide network of showrooms and service centres.

P R O M O T I O N

Hala, Hi FM become first private radio stations to have nationwide coverageMUSCAT: As the first private ra-dio stations to reach all Omanis, Hala and Hi FM celebrated the launch of their coverage in all the governorates in the Sultanate, says a press release.

Speaking on the occasion, Ei-hab Al Saleh, CEO, Entertain-ment Network Co., the parent company of the two radio sta-tions said, “Hala FM became the first private radio station in Oman when it was launched in 2007 and today it became the first to cover the entire Sultanate. The same is true for Hi FM.”

He further added, “This suc-cess would not have been pos-sible without the availability of a suitable environment for invest-ment in the field of media.

“I thank all the authorities particularly, the Ministry of In-formation, Private Radio and Television Enterprises Com-mittee, and the Telecommunica-tions Regulatory Authority for their support in facilitating our goal to reach out to the entirety of Oman. I would also like to ex-tend my sincerest appreciation for all the brands collaborating with Hala and Hi FM and also to the teams for their excellent creativity and efforts.”

With this coverage, people all over Oman can enjoy numerous radio programmes. Hi FM will be available all across the country

on frequency from 95.0 to 95.9. Hala FM will be available in

Muscat, Dhofar, Al Dakhiliyah, Al Sharqiyah North, and Al Shar-qiyah South on frequency 102.7, whereas in Al Batinah North and Al Batinah South the frequency will be 101.3. In Al Buraimi it will be 104.8, in Ad Dhahirah 88.2 and in Musandam the frequency will be 102.8.

In line with this nationwide coverage, Hala FM launched a new competition called Hala Question ‘Suwal Hala’ on May 23. The competition was launched celebrating the eighth anniversa-ry of the station and will continue till the Sultanate’s Renaissance Day celebrations on 23 July.

For Real Madrid and Barcelo-na fans a new programme called ‘Clasico Hala’ is being launched. Other programmes are also on the way for traditional poets in the Sultanate.

Hala FM will also launch new programmes during Ramadan to be presented by popular broad-casters like Wafa Al Balushi, Ibrahim Al Alghebr, Issa Al Mul-la, Shahid Al Hashimi, Zubaida Al Balushi, and Samira Al Har-rasi. These programmes will focus on the Sultanate’s Stars and will show their creativity in different fields. A new set of pro-grammes is also scheduled for launch in September.

A C H I E V E M E N T

Nima Abu-Wardeh to anchor OER Business Summit

MUSCAT: Nima Abu-War-deh, the presenter of the BBC World News weekly financial programme Middle East Busi-ness Report, will moderate the panel discussions at the OER Business Summit 2015 today at Grand Hyatt Muscat.

Organised by Oman Econom-ic Review (OER), the national economic summit will com-prise two panel discussions ti-tled ‘Life at $50 per barrel’ and ‘Infrastructure Development-The Way Ahead’ and various paper presentations by industry experts, says a press release.

Nima is a bilingual English Arabic broadcast journalist specialising in Arab issues. She presents BBC World’s business and finance programme, Middle East Business Report and was part of the team that set it up. She has also reported, produced and presented programmes for Al Jazeera and Dubai’s Business Channel. Before joining MEBR, Nima was a regular guest on BBC Radio 4’s Four Corners addressing Arab issues, and a guest on BBC World’s Dateline London as a regional expert.

She is regarded as an opin-ion leader and is approached by think-tanks, the corporate world and government or-ganisations for her insight. She has written opinion pieces for Forbes Arabia and has taught media courses at Zayed Uni-versity in the UAE as a visiting lecturer. Nima regularly chairs, and is a speaker at, regional and global gatherings, notably the World Economic Forum and the Arab Business Council meet-ings, as well as other events.

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

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SPOR SY O U R G A M E

SECTIONC T U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

PAKISTAN’S RAZA BANNED FOR FAILING DRUGS TESTPakistan’s cricket board on Monday banned left-arm spinner Raza Hasan, who played one One-day International and 10 Twenty20 matches for the national side, for two years after he failed a dope test in a domestic competition. >C2

Le Guen ‘committed’ to Oman

T.K. MOHANDOSSsportseditor@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Frenchman Paul Le Guen categorically stated on Mon-day that he has no intention to quit and he is here to stay as Oman na-tional team coach.

“I am a man of commitment. I have a contract with Oman football and I respect it,” said the shrewd French coach, while announcing the list of Oman probables for the World Cup qualifiers at the Oman Football Association headquarters at the Seeb Sports Stadium.

“As long as the contract is valid, I will be a dedicated soldier of Oman and when it expires, I will leave po-litely. I did receive many offers but I am obliged to my contract,” said Le Guen, adding that Asian Cup re-

sults must not be a judging factor.“We lost to top teams like Aus-

tralia and South Korea and I still don’t think comparatively Oman football has reached the level of standard of both those teams. Their players play in top leagues around the world and Oman league is still way behind,” he said.

“We can hope for many things, we can dream too. But we need to be realistic in football,” he added, saying that there is no scope of complaining.

Le Guen also cited the exam-ple of Philippe Burle, who had been the under-22 coach and was shown the door after failures.

“Burle returned to coach Al Arouba Club (OPL and HM’s Cup winners this season) and see how

he is been rated now,” Le Guen quipped.

“I repeat, if I feel I am not the man for the situation, then I will leave,” said Le Guen. “There can be many situations, but it is not cer-tainly necessary to feel guilty.”

Still under pressureWhen queried whether he still was under tremendous pressure, the Oman coach nodded an affirma-tive yes. “Yes pressure stays all the time, but we need to build on it and deliver,” he said.

Braving the calls for his ouster after Oman’s early exit in the Asian Cup finals, Paul Le Guen is back into business with the World Cup qualifiers looming, which also doubles up as the qualifier for the

Asian Cup 2019. This time around the qualifiers have a new format. Unlike the past qualifying cam-paign for Brazil 2014, the jousting for Russia 2018 also serves as qual-ification for the next Asian Cup. As a result, the eight group winners, as well as the four best runners-up, will receive double rewards.

Wary of IndiaLe Guen said he is starting afresh and will hope to get the best result possible. Oman is placed in Group D with India, Iran, Turkmenistan and Guam and will open their campaign against India on June 11 in Bangalore.

Though Le Guen is confident of passing the first hurdle, he is indeed wary of playing India at

home. “I will not take them lightly, but I believe we will progress from this group without much hiccups. My immediate aim is to target the top two places in Group D,” he said.

However, he is worried about the playing surface in Bangalore.

“Team manager Mohammed Al Alawi had visited the Sree Kan-teerawa stadium ground recently found the surface uneven and bumpy,” said the coach.

Later Mohammed Al Awai too said the India’s English coach Ste-phen Constantine too expressed his unhappiness over the surface.

“Apart from that we also need to worry about the weather,” Le Guen added. Meanwhile, Le Guen said that he has picked four play-ers from the Olympic (under-22)

team, but at the same time said that he did not find any young foot-ballers who can get a direct entry to the senior squad.

“I have been watching the junior players. I found them good but not good enough to represent the na-tion,” he said.

Mohammed Mubarak Al Na-gashi, Saud Khamis Al Farsi, Ahmed Khalfan Al Siyabi (all from Sur Club) and Yaseen Khalil Al Shiyadi of Al Suwaiq Club are the under-22 players named among the 26 probables.

Al Maimani in technical staffMeanwhile, Le Guen also said that former star and Gulf Cup winner Badr Al Maimani will be part of his technical staff from now on.

Oman national team will also play two friendlies against Bahrain in Manama on May 30 and against Syria in Muscat on June 5.

“We will travel to Bangalore, India, on June 6 and have a condi-tioning camp there to get acclima-tised,” he said.

ProbablesAli Al Habsi, Faiz Issa Al Rashdi (Saham), Riyad Sabait Al Alawi (Al Arouba), Saad Suhail Al Makhaini (Al Arouba), Ali Salim Bait Al Na-har (Dhofar), Ahmed Saleem Al Makhani (Al Arouba), Fahad Nasib Bamasela (Al Nasr), Abdulsalam Amer Al Makhaini (Al Kuwait), Mo-hammed Saleh Al Musalami (Fanja), Ali Suleiman Al Busaidi (Al Nahda), Nasser Ali Al Shamali (Al Arouba), Ahmed Mubarak ‘Kanu’ (Al Arou-ba), Ali Hilal Al Gabri (Fanja), Eid Mohammed Al Farsi (Al Arouba), Mohsin Jawahar Al Khaldi (Sa-ham), Raid Ibrahim Saleh (Fanja), Hussein Ali Al Hadari (Dhofar), Fa-had Khamis Al Galboubi (Saham), Mohammed Mubarak Al Nagashi (Sur), Abdulaziz Humaid Al Miqbali (Al Kuwait), Abdulrehman Saleh Al Gasani (Fanja), Qasim Said Sangour (Al Nasr), Imad Al Hosni (Saham), Yaseen Khalil Al Shiyadi (Suwaiq), Saud Khamis Al Farsi (Sur) and Ahmed Khalfan Al Siyabi (Sur).

Oman national

football coach Paul

Le Guen said he

respects his contract

with Oman Football

Association while

announcing the list

of Oman probables

for the World Cup

qualifiers, starting on

June 11 against India.

Oman will prepare

for the qualifiers with

friendlies against

Bahrain and SyriaCANDID TALK: Oman national coach Paul Le Guen, centre, flanked by Mohammed Al Alawi, left, and Khamis Al Balushi reveals plans on

the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers. – ISMAIL AL FARSI / Times of Oman

Advancing Sharapova jeered off court, Azarenka returns with winPARIS: Defending women’s champion Maria Sharapova reached the French Open second round on Monday but was jeered by fans after she refused to carry out an on-court TV interview.

Second-seeded Sharapova de-feated experienced Estonian Kaia Kanepi, who was a quarter-finalist three years ago, 6-2, 6-4 to set-up a clash against Fed Cup teammate Vitalia Diatchenko.

But the 27-year-old Sharapova then irritated the Philippe Chatri-er Court crowd by refusing to carry out the traditional on-court televi-sion interview, claiming her voice was not strong enough.

Sharapova took her record against Kanepi to 5-0 but struggled at times on Monday in the testing wind which swirled around the showpiece arena.

Meanwhile, ex-world number two and 2012 Wimbledon runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska was a shock first-round loser.

The Polish 14th seed, a quarter-finalist in 2013, went down 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 to Germany’s Annika Beck, a player she defeated 6-0, 6-0 when they met at Indian Wells last year.

The loss was only the third time in 34 Grand Slam tournaments that 26-year-old Radwanska had lost in the first round.

“Maybe I’m getting older,” said the tearful Pole.

World number four Tomas Berdych, a 2010 semifinalist, con-tinued his solid claycourt season with a 6-0, 7-5, 6-3 win over Japa-nese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka, the world number 146.

The 29-year-old Berdych will now face Davis Cup-winning teammate Radek Stepanek, the oldest man in the draw at 36, for a place in the last 32.

“It is always good to have the first one down and now I’ll just keep focusing on my next oppo-nent,” said fourth-seeded Berdych.

Stepanek became the oldest man to win a match at Roland Garros since 38-year-old Jimmy

Connors in 1991 when he saw off Croatian journeyman Ivan Dodig 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1.

Lopez losesSpain’s 11th seed Feliciano Lopez was the biggest men’s casualty so far when he lost to Russian world number 74 Teymuraz Gabashvili, 6-3, 7-6 (11/9), 6-3.

Australia saw their three bright-est prospects all make it to the sec-ond round.

Nineteen-year-old wildcard Thanasi Kokkinakis defeated Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 while 27th seed Bernard Tomic saw off Italy’s Luca Vanni 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Kokkinakis and Tomic will face off for a place in the third round where top seed Novak Djokovic will likely be waiting.

Nick Kyrgios, the 29th-seeded Australian who beat Roger Feder-

er in Madrid earlier this month, eased past Denis Istomin of Uz-bekistan 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.

In the women’s event, Span-ish eighth seed Carla Suarez Na-varro, a quarterfinalist in 2008 and 2014, beat Romania’s Monica Niculescu 6-2, 6-2.

There were home wins for French 29th seed Alize Cornet, who defeated Roberta Vinci 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 for her first victory over the veteran Italian in five at-tempts, and wildcard Amandine Hesse, ranked 272, who hit back to beat Australia’s Jarmila Gajdosova 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Hesse’s reward is a second-round match-up with 2010 run-ner-up Samantha Stosur, the win-ner in Strasbourg at the weekend, who defeated Madison Brengle of the United States 6-1, 6-3.

Virginie Razzano, playing in her 17th French Open, edged

out Paraguay’s Veronica Cepede Royg 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Worried by exacerbating a stomach strain, Razzano served underhand at one stage, losing the point in the process.

German 11th seed Angelique Kerber, the champion on clay in Charleston and Stuttgart this sea-son, needed just 50 minutes to make the second round.

Kerber, a quarterfinalist in 2012, brushed asided Timea Babos of Hungary 6-0, 6-1.

Former world number one Vic-toria Azarenka, who missed last year’s Roland Garros through injury, marked her return by beating Spain’s María-Teresa Torró-Flor 6-2, 6-1.

Croatia’s Ana Konjuh, the youngest woman in the draw at 17, made the next round with a 6-1, 6-4, win over Russian qualifier Margarita Gasparyan. — AFP

F R E N C H O P E N

EASY GOING: Russia’s Maria Sharapova celebrates after winning

her match against Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi during the women’s first

round of the French Open tennis at Roland Garros. – AFP

It is always good to have the first one down and now I’ll just keep focusing on my next opponent

Tomas BerdychCzech Republic

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SPORTST U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

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When Mohit Sharma’s top-edge off the last

delivery of the eighth edi-tion of the Indian Premier League flew over the head of wicketkeeper Parthiv Pa-tel, landed on the grass and rolled over to the boundary, hardly any Mumbai Indian bothered about the journey and the destiny of that ball. Their destiny has already been scripted, without any further need for interven-tion of any sort.

If that, plus the 41-run victory margin, wouldn’t give you a fair idea of the brutal ease with which Rohit Sharma and his boys did it at the Eden Gardens on Sunday to claim their second IPL title, you may have taken a coffee break when the Chennai Super Kings were in the 16th over of their chase of a hot target of 203.

CSK needed 78 runs from 24 balls at that stage of the game, and with even MS Dhoni back in the dug-out, it was a task beyond even imagination for Faf duPlessis and Pawan Negi. That was just about when Mathew Hayden was keen on tilting his smartphone at 45degrees just above his eyeline and pressed the button to take a selfie with Sachin Tendulkar, though his primary business at that moment was something else, which was, in fact, getting juicy inputs from the MI icon on the ongoing game for TV viewers.

So, what went wrong for CSK? Almost everything, including what looked like a huge, awesome, superhu-man right. There was more than a human dimension about what DuPlessis did in the first over of the MI in-nings when he dived to his right, grabbed the moving ball, flicked it underarm as he was hitting the ground and disrupted the bails to send Parthiv Patel back to the dressing room.

Brilliant stuff. But in the context of what happened in the next over, and over af-ter over thereafter until MI posted an imposing total of 202, and wiser after seeing a beaten MS Dhoni pointing his finger at the second over when Rohit got everything going great for his team with a calculated assault on Mohit Sahrma that fetched him 16 runs, you may be inclined to think differently.

What if DuPlessis really missed the stumps and Pa-tel survived?

That might have delayed Rohit’s entry. That might have denied MI the kind of sizzling platform handed to Keiron Pollard and Ambati Rayudu to take the matter from 120 to an intimidat-ing 191 in the space of just 25 balls. That might have offered Dhoni a chance to get MI out under 180 runs or so and announce to the world, second time in a row, that going with his gut feeling — of fielding first after winning the toss—was a decision that could be made and proved right by men of rare courage and insight.

How the defeat and his now-regular inability to swiftly morph into the kind of superman he had been for the better part of his now-fading career are going

to impact Dhoni is not clear at this moment, but there have been ominous signs that he is aware of the fact that the myths surrounding him are quickly vanishing into thin air. A few more of similar contacts with the rude reality could push the Indian captain in shorter formats of the game to seriously think about his present and future, all in one go.

It’s in this context what Ricky Ponting said about Rohit Sharma a day before the final assumes signifi-cance. Here’s is someone who has done well under pressure, someone who has played at different positions: as an opener, at number three and four, so Ponting has “no doubt that Rohit could captain at a higher level”.

If it’s time to name sepa-rate captains for Test and shorter formats, the choice for One-day and Twenty20 teams is obvious. And it’s Rohit Gurunath Sharma.

The writer is a freelance con-tributor based in India. All the views and opinions expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not reflect those of Times of Oman

Rohit should replace Dhoni as captain

C O M M E N T A R Y

What Ricky Ponting said about Rohit Sharma a day before the final assumes significance. Here’s is someone who has done well under pressure, someone who has played at different positions: as an opener, at number three and four, so Ponting has “no doubt that Rohit could captain at a higher level”

CUP OF JOY: Mumbai Indians celebrate after winning the Indian Premier League 2015 at Eden Gardens on Sunday. – BCCI

Rohit reveals secret behind winning IPL

KOLKATA: Written off after four losses on the trot to start with in the IPL, Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma said on Monday that their revival and the subsequent title triumph was triggered by the belief that every game was his team’s final.

After suffering five losses from their first six matches, Sharma and co. showed tremendous resil-ience winning seven of their last eight matches to finish second in the league and in the first qualifier they beat Chennai Super Kings.

Pitted against familiar foes CSK in the summit clash -- against whom they have played all their three finals - MI capped the turna-round brilliantly thrashing Ma-hendra Singh Dhoni’s yellow bri-gade by 41 runs to win their second title at the Eden Gardens on Sun-day night. “To be honest, there was no game-changing instance for us. We did not have any instance

like that. we knew the moment we would lose, we would be out of the tournament and we treated every game as a final, as it was our last game,” Sharma told the post-match news conference.

Crediting their coach and two-time World Cup winning Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting for guiding him through, Sharma said he’s rel-ishing his captaincy. “Ponting has played a huge part. He has come and helped me a lot in terms of captaincy. He has been such a great captain for Australia. He brings that experience to the table.

Even when we won the title in 2013, he was not playing, he guided us through and was very much part of our team. He was there to help.

“Basically I try to keep it simple. I stick to my strengths and listen to myself a lot on the field and go by my instincts on the field. The planning, strategy we did for two months really seemed to be work-

ing well.” He also showered praise on the team’s support staff for standing up to the challenge and deliver when it mattered most.

“There were times when we’re not winning games. As a captain it was important to keep the team stay together and let it not drift away. We knew we would have it our way when we do our basics right. we have got guys who can individually turn the game. It was a matter of putting it together and we did that perfectly.”

‘Good bunch of guys’“I have very good teammates, a good bunch of guys who are will-ing to take up the challenge and perform. At any given point when we’re in trouble the guys took up the challenge and put it across the opposition. This is all it required to win a tournament. You try and win those little moments and we did well,” Sharma said.

“Credit to each one of us and not just the 11 players. It’s the whole squad who deserves a lot of credit. The support staff also put a lot of efforts behind the scene and some of them get unnoticed,” he said hailing their nine-man support that included team icon Sachin Tendulkar. The MI skipper said he loved to bat first and take the at-tack to opposition in big matches and skipper Dhoni’s call for bowl-ing first after winning the toss was a welcome sign.

“It was a good toss to lose. When MS said he would like to bowl first, I was little happy inside. It’s a big

game, you want to put runs on the board and put pressure on opposi-tion. That exactly what happened. In big games, you would like to do that that’s my preference.”

Sharma, who also has an IPL century against KKR, a world re-cord ODI score of 264 and a debut Test hundred at the Eden, looked in full flow after he came with MI at 1/1 in the first over.

The MI skipper hit a 26-ball 50 while Lendl Simmons slammed a 45-ball 68 as their 119 run partner-ship from 67 balls set them up for a huge 202/5, the second highest total in an IPL final.

Sharma said they never went in eyeing a 200-plus total. “We just batted normally. It was al-ways important to have partner-ship with wickets in hand and get the momentum. We wanted to bat normally and at the same time we wanted to be aggressive as well. Our partnership was important as later on Rayudu and Pollard finished off well.” Things may not be going well for the CSK skipper Dhoni but Sharma backed the In-dian World Cup winning captain and said he’s a champion. “There’s a certain way he goes about his batting. He has been a great match winner for CSK and India.

The situation was probably not right today as he would have ex-pected more from the openers.

“You should give credit to our bowlers for the way they restricted them as CSK didn’t get off to a good start and it always becomes diffi-cult when you lose wickets.” - PTI

After suffering five losses from their first six

matches, Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai Indians

showed tremendous resilience winning

seven of their last eight matches to finish

second in the league and in the first qualifier

they beat Chennai Super Kings

Pakistan’s Raza banned for failing drugs testLAHORE: Pakistan’s cricket board on Monday banned left-arm spinner Raza Hasan, who played one One-day Internation-al and 10 Twenty20 matches for the national side, for two years after he failed a dope test in a do-mestic competition.

“Hasan has been banned for two years on a failed dope test, making him ineligible to partici-pate in cricket,” a Pakistan Crick-et Board (PCB) statement said.

The PCB said that for the peri-od of his ban, “Hasan will not en-titled to take part in any capacity, in any cricket match or activity... authorised or organised by the PCB,” except for approved anti-doping education or rehabilita-tion programmes.

The PCB conducted random testing during a domestic tourna-ment in January and sent Hasan’s samples to a World Anti-Doping

Agency (WADA) accredited labo-ratory in India. The PCB did not name the banned substance but Pakistani media last month re-ported Hasan was under investi-gation for using cocaine.

Hasan, 22, featured in a one-off Twenty20 international against Australia in Dubai in December before making his one-day debut against the same opponents at the same venue a few days later.

Pakistan has a history of ban-ning players as a result of failed dope tests. In 2006, frontline pace-man Shoaib Akhtar was banned for two years and fellow fast bowl-er Mohammad Asif for one after the pair tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone. The bans were overturned on appeal.

And in May 2014, first-class cricketer Kashif Siddiq Khan was banned for two years for violating the anti-doping code. - AFP

P E N A L I S E D

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SPORTST U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

Pakistan, Zimbabwe look to build one-day future

LAHORE: After two nail-biting finishes in the Twenty20 series marking the return of interna-tional cricket to Pakistan, the hosts and Zimbabwe move to the three-match one-day series on Tuesday aiming to build for the future. Pakistan won the Twen-ty20 series 2-0 Sunday in front of a packed audience of 27,000 at Lahore’s Gaddafi stadium, but will be far from happy over the manner of both wins which saw them nearly snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

The matches were played un-der massive security with 4,000 policemen guarding the stadium and another 2,000 deployed on the route from the team hotel to the venue. Security has been ratcheted up to avoid a a repeat of the 2009 attacks on the Sri Lan-kan team bus, which killed eight people and cast Pakistan into sporting exile for six years.

Pakistan’s one-day captain Azhar Ali, who did not feature in the Twenty20s, said the huge excitement surrounding the tour had helped the team forget its disastrous 3-0 ODI drubbing in Bangladesh last month.

“The excitement on the re-turn of international cricket was so big that it helped us put our Bangladesh defeat in the back of our minds,” said Azhar who took over after Misbah-ul-Haq retired following the 2015 World Cup in April.

“It was disappointing to lose in Bangladesh but we will look

to build a team for the future and improve on what we did wrong in Bangladesh.”

The 30-year-old middle order batsman said replacing players like Misbah and Shahid Afridi -- who also retired from one-day after the World Cup — would re-quire time. “When you lose play-ers of that calibre it takes time to get their replacement,” he said, adding his team would not take Zimbabwe lightly.

Pakistan have persisted with spinning allrounder Shoaib Malik and paceman Mohammad Sami, both of whom featured in the T20s, in the one-day squad after a break of two and three years respective-ly. Opener Ahmed Shehzad also returns after being left out of the Bangladesh tour over what was termed an attitude problem.

For Zimbabwe, the series rep-resents another shot at ruining Pakistan’s homecoming party after they threatened to close out both Twenty20s but eventu-ally lost in crucial passages of play at the death. Zimbabwe will miss the services of ace batsman Brendan Taylor who quit interna-tional cricket to take a three-year contract with England county Nottinghamshire.

He was Zimbabwe’s best bats-man in the 2015 World Cup with 433 runs at an excellent average of 72.16. Captain Elton Chigum-bura admitted Taylor and pace-man Tendai Chatara— not on the tour with a broken leg — will be missed but said his team will

try to overcome the loss. “That’s the good thing about life, players come and go and get opportunity and players came here to grab those opportunities,” he said.

“We just want to try and carry that momentum from the World Cup and obviously improve one or two percent on the thing that we didn’t do well,” added Chigum-bura, whose team lost five of the six matches in the mega event.

Middle-order batsman Craig Ervine is likely to play after miss-ing both the Twenty20 matches due to flu.

Pakistan have won 43 of the 48 one-day matches between the two sides with Zimbabwe win-ning three while one match each ended in a tie and no result.

The matches will be held on on May 26, 29 and 31.

Teams (from):Pakistan: Azhar Ali (capt), Moham-

med Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Shoaib Malik, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfraz Ahmed, An-war Ali, Hammad Azam, Imad Wasim, Ya-sir Shah, Wahab Riaz, Mohammed Sami, Junaid Khan

Zimbabwe: Elton Chigumbura (capt), Sikandar Raza, Chamu Chibhabha, Charles Coventry, Graeme Cremer, Craig Ervine, Roy Kaia, Hamilton Masakadza, Christo-pher Mpofu, Tawanda Mupariwa, Rich-mond Mutumbami, Tinashe Panyangara, Vusi Sibanda, Prosper Utseya, Brian Vitori, Sean Williams

Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK) and Russell Tiffin (ZIM)

TV umpire: Ahmed Shahab. Match referee: Azhar Khan (PAK). - AFP

O N E - D A Y S E R I E S

STAGE SET: Pakistan’s ODI captain Azhar Ali, right, Javed Afridi, CEO of Haier Home Appliances,

the main sponsor for the series, and Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura, left, hold the ODI series

trophy at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. – AP/PTI

Reports claim Bayliss in frame for England coaching jobLONDON: Australia’s Trevor Bayliss may have overtaken compatriot Jason Gillespie in the race to be the new perma-nent head coach of England, ac-cording to media reports.

Former Australia fast bowler Gillespie has long been regard-ed as the favourite to replace the recently-sacked Peter Moores.

Gillespie is currently the coach of English county cham-pions Yorkshire and was ap-pointed to that role by Colin Graves, now the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board.

But reports in Australia and Britain said Andrew Strauss, the ECB’s new director of crick-et, was poised to make an offer to experienced coach Bayliss.

The 52-year-old Bayliss guided New South Wales to two domestic first-class Shef-field Shield titles in Australia and was Sri Lanka’s coach when they reached the 2011 World Cup final.

He is also a former colleague of current England caretaker coach Paul Farbrace, the pair having worked together with Sri Lanka.

The ECB have made no of-ficial statement as yet but if ei-ther Bayliss or Gillespie gets the job it will see one of them coach-ing against their native country when England face Australia in an Ashes series starting in Car-diff in July.

Australia great Shane Warne said Bayliss would be a good choice for the England job.

“I know him well,” Warne told Sky Sports on Monday. “He’s done a wonderful job, on all the reports, with the teams he’s coached — whether it be Sri Lanka, the Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL (Indian Premier League), New South Wales, Big Bash.”

The former leg-spinner add-ed: “I think he’s more of a ‘back-ground’ sort of coach, a bit like the New Zealand camp.

“He’s not front and square all the time, (but) he’s not afraid to give a few rockets when they’re needed.

“He’s a good man, Trevor Bay-liss, a really good man.” - AFP

H U N T I S O N

Stokes leads England to victory

LONDON: England completed a remarkable win to beat New Zea-land by 124 runs in the first Test at Lord’s on Monday.

New Zealand, set 345 to win on the fifth and final day, were dis-missed for 220 as England won the 100th Test between the two coun-tries to go 1-0 up in this two-match series ahead of the second Test at Headingley on Friday.

For England, without a perma-nent head coach following the sacking of Peter Moores and com-ing off the back of a disappointing 1-1 series draw in the West Indies, this was just the morale boost they needed.

New Zealand, who had ear-lier collapsed to 12 for three, were again in dire straits at 61 for five af-ter man-of-the-match Ben Stokes

had taken two wickets in two balls.But the gritty BJ Watling, whose

59 was his second fifty of the match, and the dashing Corey An-derson (75), kept England at bay during a sixth-wicket stand of 107.

However, both batsmen fell in quick succession to leave New Zealand 174 for seven.

New Zealand were rocked from the outset of their second innings, losing both openers for ducks without a run on the board in a match where, for the most part, they had been on top.

The second ball saw Martin Guptill become James Anderson’s 399th Test wicket, caught in the slips by Gary Ballance.

New Zealand were still on nought when Stuart Broad’s first ball of the second over had Tom

Latham lbw for a golden duck.For New Zealand, it was all

starting to become horribly remi-niscent of their last Test at Lord’s, in 2013, when they slumped to 68 all out chasing 239.

The collapse continued when Broad, who took a Test-best sev-en for 44 against New Zealand at Lord’s two years ago, had Ross Taylor plumb lbw for eight.

Stokes doubleNew Zealand took the score on to 61 before Stokes, who on Sunday scored the fastest Test century at Lord’s, off just 85 balls, struck twice in two balls. Kane William-son, who made 132 in the first in-nings, fell for 27 when he guided Stokes to Joe Root in the gully.

And next ball New Zealand cap-

tain Brendon McCullum played on to a Stokes inswinger.

Given a roar by the crowd wor-thy of Ian Botham or Andrew Flintoff, Stokes, the New Zealand-born son of former Kiwi rugby league international Ged Stokes, who came to England as a 12-year-old, charged in again.

But Corey Anderson survived the hat-trick delivery, allowing the ball to pass his stumps. Anderson, in Stokes-like fashion, later pulled the Durham all-rounder for six.

Deciding attack was the best form of defence, Anderson com-pleted a 44-ball fifty in which 46 of his runs — 10 fours and a six — came in boundaries.

Soon after tea, James Anderson nearly had his 400th Test wicket when Watling, on 40, was given out

caught behind down the legside only for the batsman to overturn Indian umpire S Ravi’s decision on review.

But Watling had to go when he gloved debutant fast bowler Mark Wood through to wicket-keeper Jos Buttler. England then saw the back of dangerman Corey Ander-son, lbw to part-time off-spinner Root, with Ravi’s initial decision of ‘out’ seeing the tightest of ‘um-pire’s call’ verdicts fall in their fa-vour when the batsman reviewed.

New Zealand lost their next two wickets on 198 but, with the draw now their only realistic goal, last

man Trent Boult somehow man-aged to get out playing an attacking upper-cut off Broad, with Moeen Ali taking a fine catch running back at third man. Earlier, England were dismissed for 478 after re-suming on 429 for six.

England captain Alastair Cook took his overnight 153 not out to 162. Cook batted for more than nine hours, facing 345 balls includ-ing 17 fours.

His exit was the start of a Boult burst that saw the left-arm pace-man take four wickets for nine runs in 17 balls for final innings figures of five for 85. - AFP

Last-wicket-pair

Matt Henry and

Trent Boult survived

for eight overs amid

mounting tension

before the latter was

brilliantly caught

at third man by a

diving Moeen Ali off

Stuart Broad as the

Kiwis were bowled

out for 220

England 1st Innings: 389 (J Root 98, B Stokes 92, J Buttler 67, M Ali 58; T Boult 4-79, M Henry 4-93)New Zealand 1st Innings: 523 (K Wil-liamson 132, M Guptill 70, R Taylor 62, BJ Watling 61 no, T Latham 59; S Broad 3-77, M Wood 3-93, M Ali 3-94)England 2nd Innings (overnight: 429-6)A. Lyth c Southee b Boult 12A. Cook c Latham b Boult 162G. Ballance b Southee 0I. Bell c Latham b Southee 29J. Root c Boult b Henry 84B. Stokes c Taylor b Craig 101J. Buttler c Latham b Henry 14M. Ali lbw b Boult 43S. Broad b Boult 10M. Wood not out 4J. Anderson b Boult 0Extras (b-2, lb-12, w-5) 19Total (all out, 129 overs, 571 mins) 478

Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Lyth), 2-25 (Ballance), 3-74 (Bell), 4-232 (Root), 5-364 (Stokes), 6-389 (Buttler), 7-455 (Cook), 8-467 (Broad), 9-478 (Ali), 10-478 (Anderson)Bowling: Boult 34-8-85-5; Southee 34-4-162-2 (1w); Henry 29-3-106-2 (3w); Craig 28-3-96-1 (1w); Anderson 3-0-13-0; Wil-liamson 1-0-2-0

New Zealand 2nd Innings (target: 345)M. Guptill c Ballance b Anderson 0T. Latham lbw b Broad 0K. Williamson c Root b Stokes 27R. Taylor lbw b Broad 8BJ Watling c Buttler b Wood 59B. McCullum b Stokes 0C. Anderson lbw b Root 67M. Craig b Stokes 4T. Southee c and b Ali 20M. Henry not out 10T. Boult c Ali b Broad 10Extras (b-5, lb-7, w-2, nb-1) 15Total (all out, 67.3 overs, 300 mins) 220Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Guptill), 2-0 (Latham), 3-12 (Taylor), 4-61 (Williamson), 5-61 (Mc-Cullum), 6-168 (Watling), 7-174 (Anderson), 8-198 (Craig), 9-198 (Southee), 10-220 (Boult)Bowling: Anderson 14-5-31-1 (1w); Broad 16.3-3-50-3 (1nb); Wood 13-3-47-1; Stokes 11-3-38-3 (1w); Ali 8-3-35-1; Root 5-3-7-1;Result: England won by 124 runsMan of the match: Ben StokesSeries: England lead two-match series 1-0Toss: New ZealandUmpires: S. Ravi (IND) and Marais Erasmus (RSA)TV umpire: Rod Tucker (AUS)Match referee: David Boon (AUS)

S C O R E B O A R D

JUBILATION England’s Moeen Ali and teammates celebrate after beating New Zealand in the first Test

at Lord’s. – AFP

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SPORTST U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

Oman’s Ali gets rousing welcome in Rhode IslandMUSCAT: Oman Sail’s Rookie Award winner, Ali Al Balushi, re-ceived a rousing welcome when he visited Newport, RI, USA re-cently during the Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) stopover.

In recognition of his success in winning the first ever VOR Rookie Award at the 2015 EFG Sailing Arabia — The Tour (SATT) in Feb-ruary, Al Balushi was invited to the stopover to see behind the scenes at the world’s foremost round the world crewed race. But he had not reckoned on the welcome he re-ceived when he arrived at the sea-side city in Rhode Island, USA.

“There were so many friends over there,” said Al Balushi, one of Oman Sail’s rising stars who is currently bowman onboard the Oman Air Extreme 40 boat.

“People I have sailed with like Rob Greenhalgh who was our skipper on Oman Air last year and who now races on the Volvo Ocean Race boat Mapfre and Phil Harmer on Abu Dhabi plus all the guys on Dongfeng. I have sailed on the Farr 30 in the Tour de France with some of them. It was great to see them and they were all so happy to see me again.

“Hopefully one day I will also be one of the sailors on the Volvo Ocean Race.”

Al Balushi was one of two Om-ani sailors to win the inaugural VOR Rookie Award, which was announced for the first time in February for the two best under 30 sailors competing in SATT. The announcement was preceded by recognition for the race as a lead-ing development race for young offshore sailors by the Volvo Ocean Race, which requires all their com-peting teams to have at least one crew member under the age of 30.

Sailing Arabia, the leading offshore race in the Gulf of Ara-bia where 50 percent of all the crewmembers are aged under 30, was acknowledged as an event that could offer opportunities for young talented sailors to test the kind of endurance, technical and strategic skills that are vital to winning the Volvo Ocean Race.

Al Balushi sailed with Team Renaissance during SATT in a predominantly Omani crew skip-pered by Fahad Al Hasni. “I was very lucky to win this award — and very proud to represent my coun-try in America. We were there for four days and experienced great hospitality. We took part in the Youth Pro-Am programme and we had a tour of the Volvo Ocean 65 and the VOR Boatyard,” Ali added.

“On the third day, we watched the Pro-Am racing then on the final day, we watched the start of the leg from Newport to Lisbon from a rib and that was very excit-ing. One day, I hope I will get the chance to be on a VOR start line as a sailor rather than a spectator.”

Al Balushi will not need to wait long before he is on the start line of his next race. On June 18, he will be in Cardiff for Act 4 of the Extreme Sailing Series and as a member of Oman Air’s new crew, looking for their first win of the series.

V O R R O O K I E A W A R D E E

‘Sultanate of Oman’ boat ready for inaugural Bullitt GC32 Racing Tour

MUSCAT: Oman Sail’s new foil-ing GC32, the ‘Sultanate of Oman’, will be relying on tried and trusted teamwork at the inaugural Bullitt GC32 Tour, which starts in Austria on Wednesday.

The team have boosted their chances by adding America’s Cup sailor Glenn Ashby to their line-up.

For the first event on Lake Traunsee, an Alpine lake surround-ed by the beautiful Salzkammergut Mountains, British skipper Leigh McMillan has made sure he has his Extreme 40 teammates Nasser Al Mashari and Pete Greenhalgh on board, knowing their successful collaboration on The Wave, Mus-cat will stand them in good stead in this brand new venture.

In addition, he has recruited the Australian foils specialist Ashby as well as Britain’s Alistair Richard-son, another multihull expert who, until recently, was with the Luna Rossa America’s Cup team, to make sure their progress is rapid.

“There are a lot of challenges

ahead of us as we try to make the boat competitive and ready to race, but we are lucky in that we have the expertise on board to learn quickly,” said McMillan.

“We are hoping that Alistair and

Glenn will prove good sources of knowledge and by the end, we are hopeful of posting some good re-sults. This is the kind of challenge that we really enjoy so it is exciting.”

McMillan’s crew have com-

pleted just four days of training together in England where a big breeze propelled their GC32 along at speeds in excess of 30 knots. In the light Lake Traunsee airs, the opening races in the five-day event

(May 27-31) might prove to be a tougher prospect.

“This is the first time that these boats get to race together on a proper circuit and there are some big budget teams like Spindrift

and Alinghi who already have done a lot of training,” McMillan said.

“We are a late entry and on the back foot a bit, but we will look to be competitive as soon as we have enough learning under our belts and will push hard. We have no expectations but it will be nice to have a good first week!”

The ‘Sultanate of Oman’, backed by Oman’s Ministry of Tourism and co-sponsor EFG Bank Mona-co, will line up against four other GC32s for the curtain-raiser in-cluding Swiss team Alinghi with McMillan’s old Extreme 40 rival Morgan Larson at the helm.

“From what we have seen, Alin-ghi are favourites and will be the team to beat but there is a lot of ex-perience in this fleet,” added Mc-Millan. “This is the first event and it will be tough racing so we are keen to learn a lot, make our mark and have a solid week.”

For Oman’s Nasser Al Mashari, the GC32 is his first experience of foiling but he is relishing the new challenge.

“These are very fast boats, faster than I am used to,” he explained. “It was very breezy during training in Southampton and we really enjoyed getting to grips with a new boat.

“Other teams on this tour will have more experience in the GC32s but we have had a lot of success as a team on the Extreme 40, so we are confident we can be competitive. We are all really ex-cited about the new challenge and to be representing Oman at the forefront of our sport.”

The team have

boosted their chances

by adding America’s

Cup sailor Glenn

Ashby to their line-up

Seeb Club ready for historic GCC Cup final

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Seeb Club of Oman is on top gear to face Al Shabab of United Arab Emirates in the final of the Del Monte 30th GCC Club Cup championship final.

The match, to be played at the Seeb Sports Stadium on Wednes-day, will kick off at 7.30 pm.

Speaking to Times Sport on Monday, Yousuf Al Wahaibi vice-chairman of Seeb Club, exuded confidence.

“Our team is ready to take on the UAE club and they are brimming with confidence,” he said.

“The final will have free gates and we expect the football fans of Oman to turn out in large num-bers,” he added.

However, Yousuf said that he

was expecting a large number of fans to turn out from the United Arab Emirates as well. “We have marked an area in the stands for the fans from UAE,” he said.

Seeb Club, Coached by Syria’s coach Imaddin Dahbour, has a golden chance to become the sec-ond team from Oman to win the GCC Club crown.

Fanja is the only club from Oman to have achieved the feat way back in 1989.

Seeb had entered the final by vir-tue of an away goal against Qatar’s Al Rayyan in the double leg semifi-nals. Both the teams had drawn the match 1-1 after Al Rayyan had held Seeb in the latter’s home 0-0.

Seeb’s final opponent Al Shabab had defeated Al Nasr 2-0 to pro-gress 3-1 on aggregate.

Al Nahda points restored Meanwhile, Al Nahda won an ap-peal to get their points restored in the Omantel Professional League

(OPL) after being deducted six points by the Oman Football Asso-ciation (OFA) disciplinary issues.

Al Nahda, following the Oman Football Association action, went to the Oman Olympic Committee’s Disputes and Arbitration panel, which upheld the Buraimi-based club’s appeal.

According to the sources, the OFA has restored the points of Al Nahda, who were once languishing near the drop zone.

The sources also informed that the disputed match of Week 10, be-tween Al Nahda and Dhofar will be played at Al Saada Sports Complex in Salalah on May 30.

Al Nahda are currently in ninth place on 30 points and the sea-son’s last scheduled matches were played on Monday.

F O O T B A L L

Yousuf Al Wahaibi

MUSCAT: European Challenge Tour graduate Byeong An contin-ued his startling rise in the world of golf by winning the biggest title of his career in record breaking fashion at the BMW PGA Champi-onship at Wentworth.

Korean An was one of the star performers at last year’s National Bank of Oman Golf Classic at Al-mouj Golf — The Wave here in Muscat when he finished tied fifth to follow up from his sixth place finish in the inaugural event the previous year.

He went on to finish fourth in the season-ending Challenge Tour Grand Final, which was last year played in Dubai, to secure one of the 15 cards on offer for this sea-son’s European Tour. Having won his maiden title with tournament record total of 21 under par 267, and rocketed to third place in The Race to Dubai, in a stunning debut season, it’s clear that his experi-

ences on the Challenge Tour were the perfect preparation.

“It’s like a fifth Major to me,” said An after firing a closing round of 65 to finish six strokes ahead of Thongchai Jaidee and Miguel An-gel Jimenez, beating the previous tournament record by two shots . “It’s the biggest title I’ve won and it gets me into a lot of events. This is life changing.

“Playing on the Challenge Tour in events like the National Bank of Oman on tough courses like Al-mouj Golf over the past few years definitely helped prepare me to play with the big boys on the main tour. It really helped me step my game up a level.”

“I think I handle the pressure pretty well, I’m quite laid back and I just try to concentrate on playing one shot at a time,” he said.

The Challenge Tour event at Almouj Golf – The Wave has now been promoted to become the

season-ending NBO Golf Classic Grand Final which will play host to the top 45 players on the newly coined Road to Oman Rankings from November 4 to November 7 and An believes that it’s nothing less than the tournament deserves.

“The National Bank of Oman Golf Classic was a great event,” he said. “I finished sixth there in 2013 and fifth last year so I have nothing but good memories of the tourna-ment and the people there. The Wave course can play really tough if the wind picks up but there are some birdie holes. It can be daunt-ing in the wind, though — it totally changes the course.

“The overall organisation of the event was first class and the hospi-tality was excellent. In one way I’m happy that I don’t have to go back there because it means I’m now playing on The European Tour, but on the other hand I’m sad because I enjoyed it so much.

“I’d definitely like to go back there and maybe one day in the fu-ture it will host a European Tour event. I think it’s a good fit to be the final event of the Challenge Tour season. It’s a good test for everyone and a really well-run tournament.”

G O L F

Byeong An

Byeong credits Oman experience

C5

SPORTST U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

Sports ministry organises special ceremony to felicitate achievers

Sports Reporter

MUSCAT: The Ministry of Sports Affairs organised a special cer-emony at the ministry’s head-quarters on Monday to felicitate the national teams and individual athletes to who won laurels for the country at the international arena.

The ministry has been organis-ing annual Awards Gala over the years to honour those who excel the international championships in that particular year.

But Monday’s special ceremony was a kind of ‘after event’ felicita-tion aimed at encouraging the med-al winners after their return from the international tournaments.

“We have the usual annual

awards ceremony to honour our best teams and individual athletes for their achievements during the year,” Minister of Sports Affairs Sheikh Saad bin Mohammed Al Mardouf Al Saadi said after hand-ing over the cash awards to 11 na-tional teams.

“Today we have honoured these teams for their achievements in the recent events. This is their im-mediate reward for earning laurels for the country and these rewards are meant to encourage them.”

Included among the honoured teams were national beach soccer team, tent pegging team, powerlift-ing, cycling, golf, beach volleyball, swimming, beach handball and sailing teams — all whom did the

Sultanate proud with their exploits at the GCC, Asian and other inter-national level championships.

‘Special gift’Oman beach soccer team coach

Talib Hilal Al Thanawi said: “It’s a very special gift, special reward for the team. Such encourage-ments are always welcome and such gestures will boost the whole squad, encourage them to do well

in future championships.”“The boys richly deserved such

rewards,” Talib said in his remarks to Times Sport. “The team won two big tournaments in space of ten days, which I believe is a great

achivement,” he said referring to Oman emerging champions at the Asian Beach Soccer Champion-ships in Qatar in March this year and their gold winning perfor-mance at the second GCC Beach Games in Bahrain in early April.

Echoing Talib’s views, national beach handball team coach Ham-oud Al Hassani said: “These rewards will definitely encourage our players to do even better in the upcoming championships.

“The boys will now prepare with more vigour for the Beach Handball World Championships.”

The Oman team had qualified for the 2016 World Champion-ships when they clinched the sec-ond place after defeating the even-tual champions in the Asian Beach Handball Championships hosted by Oman early this month.

The Beach Handball World Championships will be organised in Hungary.

The swimming and sailing teams were honoured for winning medals in the GCC Beach Games in Bahrain.

The Sultanate’s long distance swimmers bagged as many as four gold and two silver medals helping the nation top the medal tally at the GCC Games.

The ministry has been organising annual

Awards Gala to honours all the achievers of

that particular year. But Monday’s ceremony

was a kind of ‘after event’ felicitation aimed

at encouraging the medal winners

REWARD FOR EXCELLENCE: Oman beach soccer team, left, and swimming squad pose for group photos after receiving their awards. – JUN ESTRADA/Times of Oman

Talib recalls custodian Al Busaidi ahead of World Cup A. SESHAGIRI RAOraoas@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: The Oman beach soc-cer team are continuing with their training while coach Talib Hilal Al Thanawi is looking for better op-tions in their preparations for the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup to be organised in Portugal later this year.

Talib, in association with the Oman Football Association (OFA) officials, is chalking out plans for the team with the main objective of making the best possible ar-rangements, which includes train-ing camps and friendly matches, and some additions to the squad.

“We want to have good prepa-rations, good training camps and friendly against strong European team before we participate in the World Cup,” Talib said.

Speaking to Times Sports on the sidelines of the awarding cer-emony organised by the Ministry of Sports Affairs on Monday, the Omani coach said: “We have al-ready started our weekly training

camps. During the first camp at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, the boys have trained five days and took weekend breaks. We are con-tinuing with these weekly camps.”

“Next month we will have a longer camp and we are also plan-ning to arrange for a camp in an European country as we want the team to get used to the conditions there as the World Cup will be held in Portugal,” Talib said.

“We are looking at Spain, Portu-gal and Russia as the possible ven-ues for our training camp,” he said. “Once we finalise the venue we will be travelling there some time in June during which we will also be playing a few friendlies.

“If everything works out as planned we will most probably camp in Spain.

“We want to play strong Europe-an teams in the friendlies because we will be facing very tough teams at the World Cup,” he said.

“Our opponents for the friend-lies will depend on the venue we chose for the camp. If we train and

play in Spain, we would like to have additional friendlies against Por-tugal and Russia,” he explained.

Play infront of home fansTalib also revealed plans to train in Portugal just before the start of the

World Cup. “We will be training in the host country for about ten days before the World Cup,” he said.

“But before that we would like to play a couple of friendlies against strong teams in Oman. We want our fans to see our boys play

against the big teams and encour-age the players,” he said.

Talib said the team will also playing friendlies against Mexico and Tahiti.

Asked whether he is still looking for new players to strengthen Hani

Al Dhabit-led team, he said: “We are not looking to make any big changes. In fact, the team will stay the same. But we have included custodian Mohammed Al Busaidi to the list.”

“Al Busaidi is not a new player. He has been with us in the past and we have just recalled him. He gives us more options to finalise the team. We now have three goal-keepers,” he added.

Oman qualified for the World Cup after emerging as the conti-nental champions defeating Japan in the final of the Asian champion-ships organised in Doha in March this year.

The World Cup will take place in Portuguese city of Espinho from July 9 to 19.

The Sultanate squad are placed in Group B along with Switzer-land, Italy and Costa Rica.

Talib’s team will begin their campaign against Switzerland on the inaugural day before taking on Italy on July 11. They play Costa Rica on July 13.

B E A C H S O C C E R

Mohammed Al Busaidi is not a new player. He has been with the team in the past and we have just recalled him. He gives us more options to finalise the the squad for the Beach Soccer World Cup

Talib Hilal Al ThanawiOman beach soccer team coach

C6

SPORTST U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

Top 15 Pro Cup finish for Ahmad’s Oman Racting TeamSILVERSTONE: Three challeng-ing hours of Blancpain Endurance Series action at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit on Sunday, resulted in a somewhat frustrating top 15 fin-ish in the Pro Cup class for Ahmad Al Harthy and the Oman Racing Team – an event which really could have delivered so much more.

On course in qualifying to secure a magnificent front row start from the 62-strong entry, the No.44 As-ton Martin V12 Vantage GT3 was second fastest after the first two rain-affected sessions but as the track dried towards the end of the third run the team slipped back to 18th overall.

Despite the frustration of miss-ing out on a lofty grid position, Ah-mad and teammates Daniel Lloyd and Jonny Adam all headed into the second race of the Blancpain season confident of battling into the points-paying top 10 but an is-sue with the ABS system ultimate-ly compromised their chances.

“We were very close in quali-fying to getting a front row start which would have been incred-

ible,” said the 33-year-old Omani. “It dried up in Q3 and unfortunate-ly we didn’t improve while some others did. In the first sessions we were second fastest overall, it would have been amazing to start

the race there and the result could have been much different if that had been the case.

“Our starting position was tough but we started well with Dan (Lloyd) and kept climbing

up the order. When I got in the car, the first few laps were strong but then we had an issue with the ABS which cost us some time and meant I had to change my driving style to work around that. It was

very tough in traffic and trying to overtake, but a championship like Blancpain is always difficult.”

With Lloyd taking the open-ing stint, the Briton put together a good opening lap to climb from 18th position into 16th place over-all and after 30 minutes of action the Oman Racing Team car was in the top 15.

Despite being nudged back a couple of places soon after, Lloyd climbed into ninth position as the opening round of pit-stops started before handing the car over to Ah-mad after 65 minutes.

Quickly getting up to speed af-ter leaving the pits, the Oman Air, Oman Ministry of Sports Affairs, Ooredoo, National Bank of Oman and Al Hashar Group supported driver started to make strong pro-gress back up the order from 26th position. Within a handful of laps he was into 18th place overall, 15th in the Pro Cup, but soon after prob-lems struck with the ABS.

Professionally working around the issue, Ahmad managed to re-main in the top 20 and the Aston

Martin Middle East and North Af-rica ambassador pitted to hand the car over to Adam from 19th place, with just over an hour to run. Join-ing the track 23rd overall, 16th in the Pro Cup, the Scotsman made progress to take the flag on lap 84 in 19th position and inside the Pro Cup top 15.

“It’s been tough this weekend but we know we can do it, the pace is there and when everything falls into place we’ll get the rewards that come with that,” added Ah-mad. “There are many positives, as always, and it’s certainly been fan-tastic preparation for the three-hour British GT race at Silverstone next weekend. We’re definitely aiming for a good result then!”

Paul Ricard HTTT in France will host round three of the Blanc-pain Endurance Series on June 19 and 20. First, though, Ahmad and the Oman Racing Team will be back on track at Silverstone GP Circuit again on May 30 and 31, for round four of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship – the Silverstone 500.

B L A N C P A I N E N D U R A N C E S E R I E S

TOUGH WEEKEND: Ahmad Al Harthy in action at Silverstone. – Supplied photo

Platini accuses Blatter of lying about quitting

ZURICH: Uefa President Michel Platini on Monday backed Prince Ali bin Al Hussein’s bid to unseat Sepp Blatter as Fifa president, ac-cusing the football leader of lying to him about seeking a new term.

Platini said as Fifa’s execu-tive gathered in Zurich that the 79-year-old Blatter fears a life of “emptiness” if he loses a vote for the presidency on Friday and that the world body will have no cred-ibility if he remains.

Blatter is a strong favourite to win a fifth term in the vote. The Jordanian prince is now the only challenger but the bulk of his sup-port will come from Europe.

Platini recalled how he had backed Blatter in previous elections and in 2011 the Swiss official had said he would serve one last term.

“He asked us face to face to sup-port him for what would be his last mandate,” Platini told French sports newspaper L’Equipe in an interview. “I have the unpleasant feeling of having given my support on the basis of a lie.”

Platini said Blatter had made good decisions in his 40-year ca-reer but that he could just not let go of power.

“I understant the fear of empti-ness he must feel, that is human,” the Uefa leader said.

“You have to be capable of hand-ing over the levers of power at the right time and not be guilty of hold-ing on to it at any cost.”

Blatter has said he needs a fifth term to complete his “mission” and explained his change of mind by saying “times change” and that he feels fit enough for a fifth term.

“He is not staying on because he has a job to complete or because he still has some big projects to carry

out for Fifa,” declared Platini.“No, he simply is scared of what

the future holds for him having consecrated his life to Fifa to the point that he identifies himself to-tally with it.”

Platini said that he believed that it was the right time for new blood to be brought in and that Prince Ali, 39, would make a “great presi-dent” of Fifa.

“He is not a politician and he does not need Fifa to exist,” the Uefa chief said.

The Jordanian prince is the sole remaining challenger to Blatter fol-lowing last week’s withdrawals of Portugal great Luis Figo and Dutch administrator Michael van Praag.

Blatter has strong support from Africa and Asia and is expected to easily get a majority from the 209 member federations on Friday de-spite the many scandals that have hit Fifa in recent years.

The football strongman’s fourth term has been overshadowed by controversy, not least over the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar and the 2018 tournament to Russia. The campaign and vote for the tournaments were the subject of a corruption investigation that Fifa has yet to fully release.

Platini, a member of the Fifa ex-ecutive meeting in Zurich on Mon-day and Tuesday, does not vote in the election. - AFP

Platini backed Prince

Ali’s bid to unseat

Blatter as Fifa chief

while accusing the

football leader of

lying to him about

seeking a new term

He asked us face to face to support him for what would be his last mandate. I have the unpleasant feeling of having given my support on the basis of a lie

Michel Platini Uefa chief

Record in sight for Europa League masters SevillaLONDON: The road to Europa League success is renowned for being one of football’s great-est slogs, making it all the more impressive that holders Sevilla stand on the brink of lifting the trophy for a record fourth time in the last nine years.

The roll of honour for Europe’s second tier competition is head-ed by some illustrious clubs, yet victory over Ukrainian outsid-ers Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in Wednesday’s final will allow Se-villa to edge ahead of Inter Milan, Juventus and Liverpool.

Unsurprisingly, Sevilla, whose first two successes in 2006 and 2007 came in the competition’s former guise as the UEFA Cup, will start the showpiece in War-saw as clear favourites.

They are facing a club who are playing their first European final and are without silverware of any variety since 1989.

Sevilla are, in footballing terms, everything that Dnipro are not — an exciting, high-scoring outfit who have eased through to the final in style, winning 10 of their 14 matches, losing only once and scoring a competition high 26 goals in the process.

Historic rootsDnipro, befitting a team whose historic roots lie in Soviet era in-dustry, are rugged, hard-working and well-organised, but far from easy on the eye.

They have scrapped their way through to the final, winning re-spect but few admirers, having claimed only six wins since the start of the group stage, losing

four times and scoring 13 goals, less than one a game.

They have, however, proved masters of a format that seems perfectly designed to test will and stamina of all who take part, having begun their campaign with a qualifying playoff back in August.

It probably seemed unthink-able they would reach the final when they picked up only one point in their first three group games, including a 1-0 defeat to Azerbaijani minnows Qarabag.

But they are nothing if not re-silient, which is to be expected from a team who have had to overcome the disadvantage of staging home games in Kiev due to Dnipropetrovsk’s proximity to the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Coach Myron Markevych, who took over from Juande Ramos in May last year, has crafted a tacti-cally astute side, who get results when it really matters, including a 2-1 aggregate win over a heavily fancied Napoli in the semi-finals.

They will need to be just as re-silient if they are to shock Sevilla, who unlike some clubs from Eu-rope’s bigger leagues, take this competition, which now offers a Champions League place to the winners, very seriously.

“It means something,” Emery told Uefa.com

“The team want the fans to feel the vibrations that this competi-tion gives us.

“We’ve achieved something that makes us bigger, it gives us prestige, it gives us a place in his-tory and recognition in Europe for our hard work.” - Reuters

F O O T B A L L

OTA competitions and teams committees hold meetingsMUSCAT: The Competitions Committee of Oman Tennis As-sociation (OTA) held a meeting on Monday under the chairman-ship of OTA general secretary Mohammed Al Balushi.

The meeting considered and approved the minutes of the pre-vious meeting and organising of sessions for referees in North Al Batinah Governorate and other governorates.

The meeting also approved or-ganising a course on tennis by a private company for national and expatriate children while also dis-cussing the reply of the Ministry of Sports Affairs on the issue of maintenance of the tennis courts at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Bausher and shifting of training facilities to the play-grounds of Al Qurm Beach during the maintenance period.

Meanwhile, the OTA National Teams Committee also met under the chairmanship of OTA treas-urer Siddiq bin Qamar Al Hashmi.

The meeting discussed the pro-files of coaches and a proposal of

the committee member Said Al Barmani on organising of a work-shop for tennis coaches.

The panel also spoke about an invitation from the University of Tunisia to take part in the un-der-11 tennis championships to be organised from June 12 to 16 and decided not to send the team to the championship.

The committee members also

reviewed the report of the an ac-tion team to develop and spread the sports as well as the techni-cal and administrative report on Oman’s participation in the Islamic Solidarity Sports Fed-eration’s International Tennis Championships held in Indone-sia from May 10 to 18, where the Omanis the bagged team silver and individual gold.

T E N N I S

Mohammed Al Balushi Siddiq Al Hashmi

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COMSECTIONC T U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5LIFE & STYLEThe country is home to

the world’s oldest desert

and some intriguing

landscapes

Giant sand dunes ripple gracefully towards a mag-nificent sunset. Salt flats blur towards a dazzling

infinity. And while the Namib Desert — the world’s oldest — defines the word “parched,” the nation’s 1,000-mile coastline is pounded by the wild Atlantic. These extremes are home to unique creatures from dune larks to desert elephants.

Namibia is certainly weird. And in the estimation of many travellers, it is also wonderful. Adventures await in this south-west African nation. You can walk and talk with the local community, climb ancient moun-tains and slide down a sand dune on a piece of hardboard at speeds of up to 50 mileds per hour.

The country, repeatedly voted the most enticing in Africa, did not ex-ist three decades ago. Namibia was colonised in 1884 by Germany as Deutsch-Südwestafrika; an often-vi-cious regime that is interpreted in the Alte Fort Museum, a fortress-turned-museum in Grootfontein. More decoratively, German architecture enriches Swapokmund, where there are masterpieces of Jugendstil (Ger-man Art Nouveau) that make you feel you’re walking in the Black Forest rather than beside the Atlantic.

Stranger still is Luderitz, in the south of the country, which has the feel of a Bavarian town. Close by, Kol-manskop is an old diamond-mining settlement that has become an eerie ghost town. The main attraction in the south of the country is Fish River Canyon — a 100-mile long, 15-mile wide and 1,700-foot deep gouge in the planet, close to the frontier with South Africa.

For most of the 20th century Na-mibia was effectively a province of South Africa, and shared white mi-nority rule. It was freed from the co-lonial shackles only in the late 1980s — a long struggle that is spelled out in the impressive National Museum of Namibia in the capital, Wind-hoek; there are two sites on Robert Mugabe Avenue; 9am to 6pm, Mon-day to Friday, 3-6pm at weekends (museums@iway.na).

The capital, home to one-sixth of the 2.2 million population, is a well-groomed aberration compared with the rest of Namibia — a compendium of diverse landscapes nearly four times the size of Britain. The ideal way to experience the country is to join an overland trip. Overland trucks are made for Namibian travel, able to negotiate the often-challenging roads and tracks and carry the camp-ing gear that is essential in a country short of guest accommodation.

Many tours start or end in neigh-bouring countries. For example, Acacia Africa (acacia-africa.com) has frequent departures on its 12-day Cape Desert Safari between Cape Town in South Africa and Windhoek, taking in Fish River Canyon, Namib-Naukluft National Park, Spitzkoppe and Swakopmund. Dragoman (dragoman.com) has an unusual 19-day Family Adventure departing from Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe on 19 July and taking in part of Botswana — though with most of the time spent in Namibia.

This trip takes in the Caprivi Strip — a narrow band of Namibian terri-tory, squeezed between Angola and Botswana, that was handed over by Britain to Germany (in exchange for Zanzibar) to give its colony access to the Zambezi river.

The terrain is unrelenting scrub-land, punctuated by small settle-ments. At n’Kwazi Lodge; nkwa-zilodge.com) you can sign up for community tourism ventures that invite visitors to meet locals and gain insight into the tribulations and re-wards of rural life here.

Also, try to meet the San Bushmen, a tribe of diminutive stature who have battled with foes from colonial-ism to modern life yet still endure.

The finest scenery is in the west-ern part of Namibia, areas of which resemble a cut-price Arizona. A high-light is Spitzkoppe, a spectacular 5,669 feet peak. Close by, weather-worn rocks resemble nature’s take on Surrealism. -Simon Calder/The Independent

C8

EXTRAT U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

The Nobel laureate was celebrated for his work

on so-called ‘game theory’, which used mathematical

theorems to describe and predict the outcomes of contests,

whether between individuals, states or corporations

JOHN NASH

John Nash, the Nobel laureate whose life as both a genius math-ematician and a victim of cruel mental disor-

ders inspired the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind, has died with his wife, Alicia Nash, in a crash on a busy stretch of motorway in New Jersey. He was 86 years old and his wife was 82.

They were on the way to their home near Princeton Univer-sity late on Saturday after flying from Oslo, where Nash received a prize for mathematics from King Harald V. Police said that the driver lost control of the taxi they were riding in and struck a central reservation barrier. The two were thrown from their ve-hicle. They may not have been wearing seatbelts.

Russell Crowe, the actor who portrayed Nash in the film, said he was “stunned” on hearing of the accident. Directed by Ron Howard and starring Jennifer Connolly as Alicia Nash, A Beauti-ful Mind won an Oscar for best pic-ture. “My heart goes out to John &

Alicia & family. An amazing part-nership. Beautiful minds, beauti-ful hearts,” Crowe said on Twitter. Nash was celebrated for his work on so-called “game theory”, which used mathematical theorems to describe and predict the outcomes of contests, whether between in-dividuals, states or corporations. He shared the 1995 Nobel prize for economics with two colleagues, the game theorists John Harsanyi and Reinhard Selten.

His theories are used in eco-nomics, computing, evolutionary biology, artificial intelligence, accounting, politics and military theory. Serving as a Senior Re-search Mathematician at Prince-ton University during the latter part of his life, he shared the 1994 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with game theorists Reinhard Selten and John Harsanyi. In 2015, he was awarded the Abel Prize (along with Louis Nirenberg) for his work on nonlinear partial dif-ferential equations.

His work was in time widely adopted, including in the fields

of business and diplomacy. But his career for a long period was derailed by mental dysfunction, eventually to be diagnosed as schizophrenia. He had already laid down the outlines of his theory when at the age of 30 he resigned from the Massachu-setts Institute of Technology, suffering from delusions, hal-lucinations and paranoia. Some of those years, during which he and Alicia were divorced, were spent wandering Europe.

When he was approached for a prestigious academic position in Chicago he declined because he said he was in line to become the Emperor of Antarctica.

The condition eased in his ear-ly fifties. Nash joined the faculty at Princeton, and he remarried Alicia in 2001.

“We helped lift him into day-light. We resurrected him in a way,” Assar Lindbeck, the former chairman of the committee for the Nobel prize in economics, told Sylvia Nasar, whose biogra-phy of him formed the basis of the film. -The Independent

1928-2015

‘A BEAUTIFUL MIND’

AND WIFE ALICIA

KILLED IN A

CAR CRASH

MATHEMATICIAN

Joan Rivers said, “I hate housework. You make the beds, you

do the dishes — and six months later you have to start all over again.”

In today’s deal, the defenders need six tricks to defeat South’s two-spade contract. How can they do it?

After South opens one spade and West makes a takeout double, North raises to two spades. However, as this might be done with a much weaker hand, some pairs use a conventional response (some employ two clubs, others two hearts) to indicate a good three-card

single raise. Discuss with your partner if this appeals to you.

Maybe West should have doubled a second time, because three diamonds is makable.

West starts with three top hearts, East playing high-low, then discarding —what?

East would like a club shift, so he should discard the club seven. West now leads his club three, low guaranteeing at least one honor in the suit. East wins with his ace and returns the club two. West takes that trick and leads his third club, which East ruffs to defeat the contract.

How does West know that East can ruff the third club?

If East had started with four clubs, after discarding the highest spot card and winning with his ace, he would have returned the higher of his last two clubs: high-low with a remaining doubleton.

Phillip Alder is combining in May 2016 with Kalos to run a bridge and golf river cruise starting from Bordeaux, France. Details are available on Phillip’s website:

www.phillipalderbridge.com.

— By Phillip Alder

C9

ENTERTAINMENT

Yes, the defenders can win six tricks

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

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

Answer to previous puzzle

WITH LOVE

T U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

Send us a colour photograph of the child (below 16 years) whose birthday you are celebrating, along with his/her full name, date of birth, address, telephone number and parents’/your name to Times of Oman, With Love, PO Box 770, PC 112, Ruwi or through e-mail to extra@timesofoman.com

ADVIK V.May 26, 2011

VINAYAKMay 26, 2011

RISHAB KUMAR LADHERMay 26, 2010

ACROSS 1 Cat hair 4 Item in a tent 7 Blacken a steak11 Plato’s vowel12 Nasty!13 Warning signal14 Chemistry lab vessel 16 Large deer17 Snowy-white bird18 Manicurist’s board20 Any boy21 Field units of measurement23 England’s FBI26 Sorrowful wail27 Allot28 Gentle breeze31 Looks angry

33 Debtors’ letters34 Very hard to find35 Calif. hours36 Provide reinforcement38 Sonnet kin41 Monk’s cloister43 Finish-line markers45 Minnesota neighbour47 Making sense49 Thick carpet50 Literary collection51 Prima donna’s solo52 Stocking stuffers53 Air-pump meas.54 Loud noise

DOWN 1 Skip 2 180 degree maneuver (hyph.) 3 Kentucky Derby, for example 4 Young wolf 5 Gawkers 6 English assignment 7 One-name entertainer 8 Good golly! (2 wds.) 9 Indiana Jones quest10 Hosp. staffers11 Finishes a cake15 Where Pisa is19 Plural ending22 Lemon or clunker

24 Under par25 — Moines26 Happy sighs27 Forest grazer28 Close a parka29 Selene’s sister30 Save (2 wds.)31 Marsupial pocket32 Knossos site34 Synthetic fabrics36 Air rifle pellet37 Summary38 “Phantom of the —”39 Durable fabric40 This, in Tijuana42 Tea holders44 Graceful steed45 Is, to Ilse46 Taunting cry48 “Bali —”

C I N E M A S C H E D U L EC I N E M A S C H E D U L E

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

Mad Max Fury Road (Action)Cast: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult1:45, 7:30 & 9:45pm; CP NO: 1273 (12+)Spooks: The Greater Good ( Action/Drama/Thriller ) Cast: Kit Harintion, Elyes Gabel, Jennifer Ehle4:00, 8:00, 10:00 & 11:55pmCP No: 1343 (12+)Danny Collins (Comedy/Drama ) Cast: Al Pacino, Annette Bening, Jennifer Garner2:00 & 6:00pmCP No: 1346 (12+)Offender (Thriller) Cast: Joe Cole, English Frank, Kimberly Nixon3:45 & 11:55pm; CP No: 1344 (18+)Captain Masr (Arabic) (Comedy) Cast: Mohamed Emam, Edward Bayoumi Fouad5:45pm; CP No: 1345 (PG)

Bhaskar The Raskal (Mal) (Rom/Com) Cast: Mammootty, Nayanthara & Isha Talwar 3:30, 6:30 & 9:30 pm at Cinema Main 36 Vayadhinile (Tamil) (Family/Drama) Cast: Jyothika, Rahman & Abhirami 3:30, 6:30 & 9:30 pm at Cinema -2 Lion (Telugu) (Act/Rom) Cast: Balakrishna, Trisha Krishnan, Radhika Apte & Prakash Raj 3:45 & 6:45 pm at Cinema -3 Piku (Hindi) (Drama\Com) Cast: Amitabh Bachchan , Deepika Padukone & Irfan Khan 6:45 & 9:45 pm at Cinema -4Oru Vadakka Selfie (Mal) (Com\Drama) Cast: Navin Pauly, Manjima & Vineeth Sreenivasam; 3:45 pm Cinema -4, 9:45pm at Cinema 3Next Change: Demonte Colony (Tamil)

Mad Max Fury Road (Act)(2D) 12+Cast: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron9:30 & 11:45pmPiku (Comedy, Drama)(PG)Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Irrfan Khan. 4:40 pmPoltergeist (Horror, Thriller) (2D/15+)Cast: Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, Kennedi Clements. 2:45 pmPoltergeist (3D/15+)Cast: Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, Kennedi Clements. 9:40 & 11:30 pmSpooks The Greater Good (Action, Drama) (12+)Cast: Kit Harington, Tuppence Middleton, Jennifer Ehle. 2:00 & 11:45 pmDanny Collins (Comedy, Drama) (12+)Cast: Al Pacino, Annette Bening, Jennifer Garner. 7:20 pmTomorrowland (Action, Adventure) (PG)Cast: George Clooney, Britt Robertson, Hugh Laurie3:00, 4:15, 6:45, 9:15 pmOmar (Arabic) (Drama, Thriller) 12+Cast: Adam Bakri, Leem Lubany, Eyad Hourani. 5:30 pmTanu Weds Manu Returns (Comedy, Romance) (TBC)Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Madhavan, Eijaz Khan7:00 pm

Kennedi Clements12:45 & 11:45 pmGold Class: 11:15 pmPoltergeist (2D) 15+Cast: Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt 12:45 pmTomorrowland (2D) PGCast: George Clooney, Britt Robertson, Hugh Laurie.10:15 am, 2:30, 9:15 & 11:45 pmGold Class: 2:00 & 8:50 pmRobosapien: Rebooted (2D) PGCast: Kim Coates, Penelope Ann Miller, Bobby Coleman. 11:00 amSpooks The Greater Good (2D) 12+Cast: Car Kit Harington, Tuppence Middleton, Jennifer Ehle. 5:00 pmDanny Collins (2D) 12+Cast: Al Pacino, Annette Bening, Jennifer Garner. 7:15 pm. Gold Class: 4:20 PMTanu Weds Manu Returns (H) (2D) Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Madhavan, Eijaz 9:15 pmGold Class: 6:20 pmOmar (2D) (Arabic) (Drama, Thriller) 12+Cast: Adam Bakri, Leem Lubany 5:30 pm

Avengers Age Of Ultron (3D) PG12Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo. 3:00pmMad Max Fury Road (3D) 12+Cast: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult. 12:45 & 7:00pmPoltergeist (3D) 15+Cast: Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt,

SCREEN 1

Tanu Weds Manu Returns (Rom/Drama/Comedy) – TBCCast: Kangana Ranaut, R. Madhavan3.30, 6.30, 9.30pm

SCREEN 2

Piku (Drama/Comedy) – PGCast: Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Irrfan Khan 3.45, 6.45, 9.45pm

SCREEN 3

Gabbar - Hindi (Action/Drama) – PG

Mad Max: Fury Road - 3d (12+) Action, Adventure, Thriller  Cast: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult7:00, 9:20, 11:45 pmPiku - 2D (PG)Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Irrfan Khan  4:45 pm Spooks: The Greater Good - 2D (12+) Action | Drama | ThrillerCast: Kit Harington, Tuppence Middleton, Jennifer Ehle5:00, 11:45 pm Danny Collins - 2D (12+) Com |DramaCast: Al Pacino, Jennifer Garner2:30, 5:15 pm Robosapien: Rebooted - 2D (12+) Adventure |Drama | Family  Cast: Kim Coates, Penelope Ann Miller, Bobby Coleman3:30  pmPoltergeist - 2D (15+) Horror | Thriller  Cast: Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, Kennedi Clements4:30 pmPoltergeist - 3D (15+) Horror | Thriller  Cast: Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt 9:45 & 11:30  pmBhaskar the Rascal - 2D  (M)(PG12) ComedyCast: Mammootty, Nayanthara, Isha Talwar, 6:15 pmTomorrowland - 2D  (PG) Act |Adv |   Cast : George Clooney, Britt Robertson

Spooks: The Greater Good - 2D (12+) Cast: Kit Harington, Tuppence Middleton 3:00, 11:40pmMad Max: Fury Road – 3D (12+) (Action)Cast: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron4:30, 9:30 pmDanny Collins – 2D (12+) (Com, Drama) Cast: Al Pacino, Annette Bening, Jennifer Garner. 2:45, 5:00 pmRobosapien: Rebooted – 2D (PG) (Adventure); 2:45, 4:15 pmCast: Kim Coates, Penelope Ann MillerPoltergeist  - 3D (15+) (Horror, Thriller)Cast: Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt 7:50, 11:50 pmTomorrowland - 2D (PG) (Action)Cast: George Clooney, Britt Robertson 7:00, 9:30, 11:45 pmBhaskar the Rascal - 2D (PG12) (Com)Cast: Mammootty, Nayanthara, Isha 6:45 pmTanu Weds Manu Returns – 2D (Com)Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Madhavan9:20 pm (PG)Demonte Colony - 2D (TBC) Horror5:45 pm

Mad Max: Fury Road (3D) (Act ) (12+) Cast: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron7:00 pmSpooks: The Greater Good (Act) (12+) Cast: Kit Harington, Tuppence Middleton, 4:30pmPoltergeist (3D) (Horror |Thriller) (15+)

Spooks: The Greater Good (2D) (12+)(Action)                                                              Cast: Kit Harington, Tuppence Middleton 11:00 am, 5:00pmDanny Collins (2D) (12+) (Com, Music)                                                              Cast: Al Pacino, Annette Bening, Jennifer Garner; 1:00, 4:45 pmRobosapiens: Rebooted (2D)(PG) (Adventure, Drama, Family)                                          Cast: Kim Coates, Penelope Ann Miller11:00 am, 1:30 pmOffender (2D) (18+) (Thriller)                                                              Cast: Joe Cole, English Frank; 3:10pmPoltergeist (2D) (15+) (Horror, Thriller)                                                                  Cast: Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt 3:00 pmPoltergeist (3D) (15+) (Horror, Thriller)                                                                  7:15, 11:30 pmTomorrowland (2D) (PG) (Act)                                                              Cast: George Clooney, Britt Robertson11:15 am, 2:45, 7:00, 9:20, 11:45 pmMad Max: Fury Road (3D) (12+) (Act)                                                              12:30, 5:00, 11:45 pmTanu Weds Manu Returns – 2D (Com)Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Madhavan9:00 pm (PG)Bhaskar the Rascal (2D) (PG12) (Co)                                                              Cast: Mammootty, Nayanthara9:00 pmDemonte Colony (2D) (Horror) 6:45pm  

Cast: Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, 9:15 pmTomorrowland (Act | Adv) (PG) Cast: George Clooney, Britt Robertson 04:40, 06:30, 08:55pmTanu Weds Manu Returns (Hindi) (Comedy | Romance) (TBC) Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Madhavan, Eijaz 11:15 pm Bhaskar the Rascal (Mal) (Com) (PG12) Cast: Mammootty, Nayanthara, 11:00 pm

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Shruti K. Haasan, Kareena Kapoor3:45, 9.45 pm

Bhaskar the Rascal (Malayalam)(Comedy/Drama ) – PGCast: Mammootty, Nayantara6.45 pm

2:30, 7:15, 9:05, 11:30 pmTanu Weds Manu Returns (H) (2D) Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Madhavan, Eijaz 2:15, 9:15 pmDemonte Colony - 2D (T) (TBC) Horror Cast: Arulnithi7:00 pm

C10

FIND-IT-ALLT U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

PHARMACIESRound the clockAl Hashar Pharmacy, Ruwi: 24783334; Appolo Medical Centre, Hamriya: 24782666; Muscat Pharmacy, Ruwi: 24702542, Salalah: 23291635; Atlas Pharmacy, Ghubra: 24503585; Ruwi 24811715 Muscat RegionApollo, Al Hamriya. Tel: 24787766Muscat, A Seeb Market. Tel: 24421691Muscat, Al Khuwair. Tel: 24485740Muscat, Al Hail South. Tel: 24537080Dhofar RegionMuscat, Al Nahdha Road, Salalah. Tel: 23291635

HOSPITALSAl Amal Medical & Health Care Centre: 24485052Atlas Hospital: Ruwi: 24811743/ Ghubra: 24504000Al Musafir Specialised Medical Clinic: 24706453Hatat Polyclinic LLC,Ruwi: 24563641, Azaiba: 24499269, Sohar: 2683006Al Raffah Hospital: 24618900/1/2Al Massaraat Clinic & Laboratory: 24566435Al Makook Medical Coordinance Centre: 24499434Apollo Medical Centre, Hamriya: 24787766, 24787780Capital Polyclinic: 24707549Badr Al Samaa Polyclinic, Ruwi: 24799760/1/2Capital Clinic, Seeb: 24420740Ceregem National Raak: 24485633Dr Harub’s Clinic: 24563217Elixir Health Centre: 24565802Emirates Medical Centre: 246045401st Chiropractic Centre: 24472274Hamdan Hospital: 23212340International Medical Centre LLC: 24794501/2/3/4/5Kims Oman Hospital: 24760100

24 Hrs Emergency: 24760123Lama Polyclinic, Sohar: 26751128, MBD: 24799077, Al Khuwair: 24478818Magrabi Eye and Ear Hospital: 24568870Muscat Private Hospital: 24583600Welcare Diagnostic and Treatment Centre, Al Khuwair: 24477666Al-Hayat Polyclinc LLC: 22004000

ROYAL OMAN POLICEEmergencies and inquiries: 9999General Directorate of Passport and Residence: 24569603Directorate General of Customs: 24521109Traffic violations inquiries: 24510228Public Relations Admin: 24560099

ACCOMMODATIONAl Bahjah Hotel: 24424400Al Bustan Palace: 24764000 Al Khuwair Hotel Apartments: 24478171Al Madina Holiday Inn: 24596400Al Maha International Hotel: 24494949Al Fanar Hotel: 24712385Al Falaj Hotel: 24702311Al Qurum Resort: 24605945Azaiba Hotel Apartments: 24490979Beach Hotel: 24696601Bowshar Hotel: 24491105Coral Hotel Muscat: 24692121Crowne Plaza Muscat: 24660660Crystal Suites: 24826100Golden Tulip Seeb: 24510300Grand Hyatt Muscat: 24641234Haffa House Hotel: 24707207Hotel Muscat Holiday: 24487123InterContinental Muscat: 24680000Majan Continental Hotel: 24592900Marina Hotel: 24711711Midan Hotel Suites: 24499565Mina Hotel: 24711828Muttrah Hotel: 24798401

Nuzha Hotel Apartments: 24789199Oman Dive Centre: 24824240Park Inn: 24507888Qurum Beach House Hotel: 24564070Radisson Blu Hotel: 24487777Ramee Dream Resort Seeb: 24453399Ramee Guestline Hotel: 24564443Ruwi Hotel: 24704244Safeer Hotel Suites: 24691200Sheraton Oman Hotel: 24772772Shangri-La’s Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa: 24776666The Chedi Muscat: 24524400The Treasurebox Muscat Hotel: 24502570

AIRLINE OFFICESMuscat Airport Flight information (24 hours): 24519456/24519223Aeroflot: 24704455, Air Arabia: 24700828, Air France: 24562153, Air India: 24799801, Air New Zealand: 24700732, Biman Bangladesh Airlines: 24701128, British Airways: 24568777, Cathay Pacific: 24789818, Egypt Air: 24794113, Emirates Air: 24404400, Ethiopian Airlines: 24660313, Gulf Air: 80072424, Indian: 24791914, Iran Air: 24787423, Japan Airlines: 24704455, Jazeera Airways: 23294848, Jet Airways: 24787248, Kenya Airways: 24660300, KML Royal Dutch Airlines: 24566737, Kuwait Airways: 24701262, LOT Polish Airlines: 24796387, Lufthansa: 24796692, Malaysian Airlines: 24560796, Middle East Airlines: 24796680, Oman Air: 24531111, Pakistan International Airlines: 24792471, Qatar Airways: 24771900, Qantas: 24559941, Royal Jordanian: 24796693, Saudi Arabian Airlines: 24789485, Singapore Airlines: 24791233, Shaheen Air: 24816565, SriLankan Airlines:

24784545, Swiss International Airlines: 24796692, Thai Airways: 24705934, Turkish Airlines: 24703033

MUSEUMSBait Al Baranda: Corniche (seafront opp fish market), Open from Saturday to Thursday 9am to 1pm and 4 to 6pmNatural History Museum: Al Khuwair, Tel: 24604957, Open from Saturday to Wednesday: 8am to 1:30pm; Thursday: 9am to 1pmMuseum of Omani Heritage: (former Omani Museum), Madinat Al Alam, Sat-Wed 8am to 1:30pm, Thursday - 9am to 1pm, Tel: 24600946Armed Forces Museum: Bait Al Falaj, Tel: 24312651, Open from Sat to Wed: 8am to 1:30pm; Thurs 9-12pm and 3-6pm; Fri 9-11am and 3-6pm. Al Hoota Caves 24498258; Turtle Beach 96550606/96550707Children’s Science Museum: Shatti Al Qurum, Tel: 24605368, Open from Saturday to Wednesday: 8am to 1:30pm, Thursday: 9am to 1pmOman-French Museum: near Muscat Police Station, Tel: 24736613, Open from Sat to Wed: 8am to 1:30pm, Thurs: 9am to 1pmBait Al Zubair, Muscat: Tel: 24736688, Al Saidiya St., Muscatmuseum@baitalzubairmuseum.comOpen from Sat to Thurs: 9:30am to 6pm.National Museum Ruwi: Tel: 24701289, Open from Saturday to Wednesday: 8am to 1:30pm, Thursday: 9am to 1pmSohar Fort Museum: Tel: 26844758, Open from Saturday to Wed: 8 to 1:30pm Thurs: 9am to 1pmMuscat Gate Museum: at Al Bahri Road, Muscat open from Sat to Wed 8am to 2pm

PRAYER TIMINGS

Dhuhr 12.09pmAsr 3.30pmMaghrib 6.51pmIsha 8.12pm Fajr (Tomorrow) 3.56am

Sunset 6.47pmSunrise (Tomorrow) 5.21am

High tide 3:21pm 3:26amLow tide 10:16pm 9:10am

W E A T H E R

OMAN

Max 42Min 28

Max 44Min 33

Max 42Min 33

Max 44Min 29

Max 44Min 32Max 43

Min 26

Max 42Min 29

Max 33 Min 28

Clear to partly cloudy skies along the coastal areas of Dohfar governorate and adjoining mountains. Mainly clear skies over rest of the Sultanate with chances of dust rising wind over desert and open areas and chances of

convective clouds development and isolated rain with occasional thundershowers over Al-Hajar mountains and adjoining areas during afternoon that may extend to coastal areas. Chances of late night to early morning low level clouds and fog patches along the coastal areas of Arabian Sea.EXPECTED WIND: Along the coastal areas of Oman Sea wind will be northerly to northeasterly light to moderate during day becoming southwesterly light to moderate at night, and along the coastal areas of Arabian Sea wind will be southwesterly moderate to fresh while over the rest of the Sultanate wind will be southeasterly light to moderate.

SEA STATE: Moderate to rough along the Arabian Sea coast with a maximum wave height of 2.5 metres. And slight along the rest of Oman’s coast with a maximum wave height of 1.25 metres.HORIZONTAL VISIBILITY: Good over most of the Sultanate becoming poor during rain and fog.THE NEXT 48 HOURS OUTLOOK: Partly cloudy skies along the coastal areas of Dohfar governorate & adjoining mountains. Chances of convective clouds development over Al-Hajar mountains and adjoining areas during afternoon with isolated rain and occasional thundershower. Chances of late night to early morning low level clouds or fog patches along the coastal areas of Arabian Sea. Moderate to rough sea is expected over the western coast of Musandam governorate.

Max Min

GULFAbu Dhabi 38 28Doha 42 28Dubai 38 30Kuwait 39 29Manama 37 27Riyadh 37 24

WORLDAthens 28 18Baghdad 42 22Beijing 36 22Berlin 19 7Boston 27 17Cairo 40 25Colombo 30 27Frankfurt 16 8Hong Kong 27 26Istanbul 25 16Johannesburg 22 8Kuala Lumpur 32 25Lisbon 31 15Paris 18 11Perth 20 9Singapore 30 28Tokyo 28 17Toronto 26 19

WORLD

Max 28Min 19

Max 46Min 23

Max 26Min 18

Max 38Min 29

Max 22Min 14

Max 17Min 12

Max 26Min 17

Max 34Min 28

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  00209W539 BOMBAY  0020SG062 AHMEDABAD  0030WY657 BAHRAIN  0055WY637 ABU DHABI  0105WY235 HYDERABAD  0110WY281 BANGALORE  0110WY685 RIYADH  0115WY201 BOMBAY  0115WY643 KUWAIT  0120WY251 MADRAS  0120WY345 ISLAM ABBAD  0125WY271 JAIPUR  0135WY601 DUBAI  0145WY341 LAHORE  0145WY431 TEHRAN  0155WY371 COLOMBO  0155WY123 MUNICH  0200WY325 KARACHI  0210WY901 SALALAH  0215WY241 DELHI  0215WY667 DOHA  0225WY383 MALE  0230BG022 CHITTAGONG-DACCA  0230NL769 LAHORE  0230TK775 ISTANBUL  02304H584 DACCA  0300WY331 KATHMANDU  0350PK282 SIALKOT  0400EK867 DUBAI  0450ET625 ADDIS ABABA  0450EY385 ABU DHABI  0500FZ042 DUBAI  0510QR1133 DOHA  0515GF561 BAHRAIN  0715WY651 BAHRAIN  0730WY3301 MUKHAIZNA  0730WY903 SALALAH  07404H562 DACCA  0745WY603 DUBAI  0750WY917 KHASAB  0815WY323 KARACHI  0835WY669 DOHA  0835FZ044 DUBAI  0845WY633 ABU DHABI  0900WY373 COLOMBO  0900WY215 TRIVANDRUM  0900WY815 BANGKOK  0905WY291 CALICUT  0915WY263 LUCKNOW  0940WY385 MALE  0945G9842 RAS AL KHAIMA  0945WY821 SINGAPORE-KUALA LUMPUR  0945G9115 SHARJAH  0955WY231 HYDERABAD  1000WY905 SALALAH  1020WY605 DUBAI  1020WY203 BOMBAY  1025WY245 DELHI  1040EK863 DUBAI  1045WY337 KATHMANDU  1050IX818 MANGALORE  1100QR1129 DOHA  1100EY383 ABU DHABI  1105WY311 CHITTAGONG  1140WY919 KHASAB  11459W533 COCHIN  1145GF563 BAHRAIN  1215WY223 COCHIN  1215WY655 BAHRAIN  1215FZ038 DUBAI  1225WY631 ABU DHABI  1240IX350 CALICUT  1255WY253 MADRAS  1255WY113 FRANKFURT  1320WY693 DAMMAM  1330WY3303 MUKHAIZNA  1330WY663 DOHA  1330WY131 PARIS  1345WY143 MALPENSA  1350WY645 KUWAIT  1350WY101 LONDON HEATHROW  1400BG024 DACCA  1400PK192 GWADUR-TURBAT  1405PA951 SIALKOT  1430WY927 SALALAH  1430WY405 CAIRO  1440WY609 DUBAI  1445WY907 SALALAH  1540WY675 JEDDAH  1615FZ046 DUBAI  1620WY671 MEDINA  1705WY613 DUBAI  1710QR1127 DOHA  1750WY623 DUBAI  1840WY681 RIYADH  1840WY647 KUWAIT  1845WY909 SALALAH  1850GF565 BAHRAIN  1855EK865 DUBAI  1910WY695 DAMMAM  1915WY661 DOHA  1920WY653 BAHRAIN  1920G9117 SHARJAH  1955SV535 RIYADH  2000WY913 SALALAH  2000TG508 KARACHI-BANGKOK  2005WY635 ABU DHABI  2015FZ048 DUBAI  2025WY611 DUBAI  2035RG126 ABU DHABI  2045WY915 SALALAH  2100FZ050 DUBAI  2145WY411 AMMAN  2205WY421 BEIRUT  2215WY817 BANGKOK  22259W529 TRIVANDRUM  22306.00E+82 BOMBAY  2245AI908 MADRAS  2300UL206 COLOMBO  2305AI974 DELHI  2310GF567 BAHRAIN  2325LX243 DUBAI-ZURICH  2325BA072 ABU DHABI-LONDON HEATHROW  2330QR1135 DOHA  2330WY673 JEDDAH  2350LH617 DOHA-FRANKFURT  2355EY381 ABU DHABI  2355

FLT NO DEPARTURES TO ETD 9W539 BOMBAY  0020AI986 BOMBAY  0020WY657 BAHRAIN  0055WY637 ABU DHABI  0105WY235 HYDERABAD  0110WY281 BANGALORE  0110WY201 BOMBAY  0115WY685 RIYADH  0115WY643 KUWAIT  0120WY251 MADRAS  0120WY341 LAHORE  0145WY601 DUBAI  0145WY431 TEHRAN  0155WY371 COLOMBO  0155WY123 MUNICH  0200WY847 JAKARTA  0215WY241 DELHI  0215WY901 SALALAH  0215WY667 DOHA  0225TK775 ISTANBUL  02304H584 DACCA  0300PK230 LAHORE  0315WY331 KATHMANDU  0350EK867 DUBAI  0450ET625 ADDIS ABABA  0450EY385 ABU DHABI  0500FZ036 DUBAI  0510QR1133 DOHA  0515WY651 BAHRAIN  0645GF561 BAHRAIN  0715WY3921 DUQUM OMAN  0740G9842 RAS AL KHAIMA  0745WY603 DUBAI  0750WY903 SALALAH  0750WY3301 MUKHAIZNA  0800WY917 KHASAB  0815WY347 ISLAM ABBAD  0830WY669 DOHA  0835WY323 KARACHI  0835FZ044 DUBAI  0845WY633 ABU DHABI  0900WY815 BANGKOK  0905WY291 CALICUT  0915WY215 TRIVANDRUM  0915WY253 MADRAS  0915NL769 LAHORE  0930WY717 ZANZIBAR-DARESSLAM  0940WY263 LUCKNOW  0940WY385 MALE  0945WY821 SINGAPORE-KUALA LUMPUR  0945WY843 MANILA  0955G9115 SHARJAH  0955WY231 HYDERABAD  1000WY905 SALALAH  1020WY605 DUBAI  1020WY203 BOMBAY  1025WY245 DELHI  1040EK863 DUBAI  1045IX554 TRIVANDRUM  1045WY337 KATHMANDU  1050QR1129 DOHA  1100EY383 ABU DHABI  1105IX442 COCHIN  1120WY311 CHITTAGONG  11409W533 COCHIN  1145WY919 KHASAB  1145QR8550 DUBAI WORLD CENTRE-DOHA  1205WY655 BAHRAIN  1215GF563 BAHRAIN  1215WY273 JAIPUR  1220FZ038 DUBAI  1225WY3303 MUKHAIZNA  1230IX350 CALICUT  1255PA451 LAHORE  1315WY113 FRANKFURT  1320WY663 DOHA  1330WY143 MALPENSA  1350WY645 KUWAIT  1350WY101 LONDON HEATHROW  1400WY423 BEIRUT  1415WY153 ZURICH  1420WY927 SALALAH  1430WY413 AMMAN  1440WY405 CAIRO  1440WY609 DUBAI  1445WY907 SALALAH  1540WY675 JEDDAH  1615G9110 SHARJAH  1615FZ046 DUBAI  1620WY631 ABU DHABI  1640WY613 DUBAI  1710QR1127 DOHA  1750WY327 KARACHI  1810WY623 DUBAI  1840WY681 RIYADH  1840WY647 KUWAIT  1845WY909 SALALAH  1850GF565 BAHRAIN  1855EK865 DUBAI  1910WY695 DAMMAM  1915WY661 DOHA  1920WY653 BAHRAIN  1920G9117 SHARJAH  1955WY913 SALALAH  2000WY635 ABU DHABI  2015FZ048 DUBAI  2025WY611 DUBAI  2035RG126 ABU DHABI  2045WY915 SALALAH  2100FZ050 DUBAI  2145AI978 HYDERABAD-BANGALORE  2200KL442 DOHA-AMSTERDAM  2220WY817 BANGKOK  22259W529 TRIVANDRUM  22306.00E+82 BOMBAY  2245AI908 MADRAS  2300AI974 DELHI  2310WY677 MEDINA  2310GF567 BAHRAIN  2325LX243 DUBAI-ZURICH  2325BA072 ABU DHABI-LONDON HEATHROW  2330QR1135 DOHA  2330WY673 JEDDAH  2350EY381 ABU DHABI  2355LH617 DOHA-FRANKFURT  2355

A I R L I N E S

—www.met.gov.om

TUESDAYFLT NO ARRIVALS FROM ETA WY406 CAIRO  0005WY648 KUWAIT  0005WY676 JEDDAH  0005WY682 RIYADH  0010WY914 SALALAH  0020BG021 DACCA  0100WY916 SALALAH  0120NL768 LAHORE  0130TK774 ISTANBUL  01354H583 DACCA  0200PK281 ISLAM ABBAD-SIALKOT  0300GF560 BAHRAIN  0325QR1132 DOHA  0345EK866 DUBAI  0350ET624 ADDIS ABABA  0350EY384 ABU DHABI  0400FZ041 DUBAI  0415WY114 FRANKFURT  0515WY412 AMMAN  0515WY658 BAHRAIN  0635WY638 ABU DHABI  06404H562 JEDDAH  0645WY902 SALALAH  0645WY644 KUWAIT  0650WY326 KARACHI  0650WY686 RIYADH  0655WY154 ZURICH  0700WY144 MALPENSA  0705WY678 MEDINA  0710WY668 DOHA  0715WY132 PARIS  0735WY674 JEDDAH  0735WY102 LONDON HEATHROW  0740FZ043 DUBAI  0800WY432 TEHRAN  0805WY602 DUBAI  0805WY346 ISLAM ABBAD  0815WY342 LAHORE  0825WY272 JAIPUR  0830WY202 BOMBAY  0835G9841 RAS AL KHAIMA  0855WY236 HYDERABAD  0900G9114 SHARJAH  0905WY282 BANGALORE  0910EK862 DUBAI  0930WY242 DELHI  0935WY252 MADRAS  0955QR1128 DOHA  1000IX817 MANGALORE  1010EY382 ABU DHABI  10109W530 TRIVANDRUM  1045WY3302 MUKHAIZNA  1050WY604 DUBAI  1115WY918 KHASAB  1115WY652 BAHRAIN  1125GF562 BAHRAIN  1130FZ037 DUBAI  1140WY372 COLOMBO  1140IX337 CALICUT  1155WY384 MALE  1210WY822 KUALA LUMPUR-SINGAPORE  1215WY705 DARESSLAM-ZANZIBAR  1215WY904 SALALAH  1220WY634 ABU DHABI  1220WY818 BANGKOK  1220BG023 DACCA-CHITTAGONG  1230WY670 DOHA  1250WY324 KARACHI  1300WY332 KATHMANDU  1305PA950 SIALKOT  1310PK191 GWADUR  1320WY606 DUBAI  1340WY906 SALALAH  1440WY920 KHASAB  1445FZ045 DUBAI  1535WY632 ABU DHABI  1605WY656 BAHRAIN  1610QR1126 DOHA  1650WY3304 MUKHAIZNA  1650WY204 BOMBAY  1655WY292 CALICUT  1710WY264 LUCKNOW  1740WY664 DOHA  1745WY216 TRIVANDRUM  1745EK864 DUBAI  1745WY232 HYDERABAD  1750WY246 DELHI  1750WY610 DUBAI  1800WY694 DAMMAM  1805GF564 BAHRAIN  1810TG507 BANGKOK-KARACHI  1900SV534 RIYADH  1900G9116 SHARJAH  1905WY374 COLOMBO  1915WY646 KUWAIT  1920FZ047 DUBAI  1940WY908 SALALAH  2000RG125 ABU DHABI  2005WY386 MALE  2020WY224 COCHIN  2025WY614 DUBAI  2025WY338 KATHMANDU  2040FZ049 DUBAI  2100WY124 MUNICH  21059W534 COCHIN  2115AI973 DELHI  21256.00E+81 BOMBAY  2130WY254 MADRAS  2135BA073 LONDON HEATHROW-ABU DHABI  2140WY624 DUBAI  2150UL205 COLOMBO  2155AI907 MADRAS  2200WY312 CHITTAGONG  2210LX242 ZURICH-DUBAI  2225QR1134 DOHA  2225GF566 BAHRAIN  2240LH616 FRANKFURT-DOHA  2245EY388 ABU DHABI  2300WY910 SALALAH  23109W540 BOMBAY  2315AI985 BOMBAY  2325WY662 DOHA  2335WY654 BAHRAIN  2340WY636 ABU DHABI  2340WY928 SALALAH  2345WY816 BANGKOK  2350WY696 DAMMAM  2355WY612 DUBAI  2355

WEDNESDAYFLT NO ARRIVALS FROM ETA

WY648 KUWAIT  0005WY406 CAIRO  0005WY676 JEDDAH  0005WY672 MEDINA  0005WY682 RIYADH  0010WY914 SALALAH  0020WY916 SALALAH  0120TK774 ISTANBUL  01354H583 DACCA  0200PK229 LAHORE  0215GF560 BAHRAIN  0325FZ035 DUBAI  0340QR1132 DOHA  0345EK866 DUBAI  0350ET624 ADDIS ABABA  0350EY384 ABU DHABI  0400WY114 FRANKFURT  0515WY412 AMMAN  0635WY658 BAHRAIN  0635WY638 ABU DHABI  0640WY902 SALALAH  0645WY644 KUWAIT  0650WY686 RIYADH  0655G9841 RAS AL KHAIMA  0655WY144 MALPENSA  0705WY668 DOHA  0715WY674 JEDDAH  0735WY132 PARIS  0735WY102 LONDON HEATHROW  0740FZ043 DUBAI  0800WY432 TEHRAN  0805WY422 BEIRUT  0805WY602 DUBAI  0805WY342 LAHORE  0825NL768 LAHORE  0830WY202 BOMBAY  0835WY236 HYDERABAD  0900G9114 SHARJAH  0905WY282 BANGALORE  0910WY226 COCHIN  0920EK862 DUBAI  0930WY242 DELHI  0935IX549 TRIVANDRUM  0955WY252 MADRAS  0955QR1128 DOHA  1000EY382 ABU DHABI  1010IX443 COCHIN  1020QR8550 DOHA  1035WY3922 DUQUM OMAN  1035WY652 BAHRAIN  10409W530 TRIVANDRUM  1045WY918 KHASAB  1115WY604 DUBAI  1115WY3302 MUKHAIZNA  1120GF562 BAHRAIN  1130FZ037 DUBAI  1140WY372 COLOMBO  1140IX337 CALICUT  1155PA450 LAHORE  1215WY822 KUALA LUMPUR-SINGAPORE  1215WY818 BANGKOK  1220WY634 ABU DHABI  1220WY904 SALALAH  1230WY670 DOHA  1250WY324 KARACHI  1300WY332 KATHMANDU  1305WY606 DUBAI  1340WY906 SALALAH  1440WY920 KHASAB  1445WY348 ISLAM ABBAD  1515G9119 SHARJAH  1525FZ045 DUBAI  1535WY3304 MUKHAIZNA  1550WY656 BAHRAIN  1610QR1126 DOHA  1650WY204 BOMBAY  1655WY292 CALICUT  1710WY264 LUCKNOW  1740WY664 DOHA  1745EK864 DUBAI  1745WY232 HYDERABAD  1750WY246 DELHI  1750WY254 MADRAS  1750WY610 DUBAI  1800GF564 BAHRAIN  1810WY216 TRIVANDRUM  1820G9116 SHARJAH  1905WY274 JAIPUR  1910WY646 KUWAIT  1920FZ047 DUBAI  1940WY908 SALALAH  2000RG125 ABU DHABI  2005WY632 ABU DHABI  2005WY386 MALE  2020WY614 DUBAI  2025WY848 JAKARTA  2035WY338 KATHMANDU  2040FZ049 DUBAI  2100AI977 BANGALORE-HYDERABAD  2105KL441 AMSTERDAM-DOHA  2105WY124 MUNICH  21059W534 COCHIN  2115AI973 DELHI  21256.00E+81 BOMBAY  2130BA073 LONDON HEATHROW-ABU DHABI  2140WY624 DUBAI  2150AI907 MADRAS  2200WY312 CHITTAGONG  2210LX242 ZURICH-DUBAI  2225QR1134 DOHA  2225GF566 BAHRAIN  2240LH616 FRANKFURT-DOHA  2245WY717 ZANZIBAR-DARESSLAM  2250WY328 KARACHI  2250EY388 ABU DHABI  2300WY414 AMMAN  2300WY910 SALALAH  23109W540 BOMBAY  2315AI985 BOMBAY  2325WY662 DOHA  2335WY636 ABU DHABI  2340WY654 BAHRAIN  2340WY928 SALALAH  2345WY816 BANGKOK  2350WY612 DUBAI  2355WY696 DAMMAM  2355

BORN today, you are a strong, confident, forthright individual who is able to make many friends and navigate the difficult realm of rivalry and competition with a positive outlook, good spirits and a desire for fairness and parity. Though you have the strength and personal force required to get your way even when others stand against you, you prefer to discuss matters openly, to consider options and to negotiate with others in order for everyone to get what they want — including you. You are not one to insist that you come out on top and others remain at the bottom; on the contrary, if it is possible for others to ascend the ladder of success with you, all the better! You are both traditional and progressive; you combine the best of old-school thinking with cutting-edge awareness and skill.

You can be so private in your personal affairs that others know little or nothing about you outside of your work or public life. Indeed, you will work tirelessly to protect your privacy and the privacy of family members. What you do behind closed doors is nobody’s business, and you will see to it that it stays that way!

Also born on this date are: John Wayne, actor; Lenny Kravitz, singer; Helena Bonham Carter, actress; Stevie Nicks, singer; Miles Davis, composer; Sally Ride, astronaut; Jay Silverheels, actor; James Arness, actor; Hank Williams Jr., singer; Pam Grier, actress; Al Jolson, actor and entertainer; Peter Cushing, actor; Genie Francis, actress; Brent Musburger, sportscaster; Bobcat Goldthwait, comedian; Robert Morley, actor; Jack Kevorkian, doctor.

Are you willing to turn the other cheek? True, you have been working on controlling your temper, but even in light of recent events?

VIRGO [AUG. 23-SEPT. 22]

LIBRA [SEPT. 23-OCT. 22] LLLLLLLLLLLLLLL[S[S[S[S[[[S[[S[S[S[[S[S[SSS[SS[SSSS

SCORPIO [OCT. 23-NOV. 21] S[

SAGITTARIUS [NOV. 22-DEC. 21] S[[[[[[[[[[[[[[

AQUARIUS [JAN. 20-FEB. 18]

You can impress the powers that be by doing precisely what it is you do best — indeed better, perhaps, than most others.

You are well-equipped for a coming trial, but take care that you don’t make any assumptions that could possibly weaken your position.

You can rally forces to serve you well in your current endeavors, particularly if you’ve recently made a professional change.

You’re not in the mood to mix and mingle with the same old folks; you want to explore options that arise among a different set of people.

You feel very strongly about even the most minute details, and you’re certainly not willing to overlook anyone’s mistakes.

Don’t jump to conclusions, and don’t force someone in charge to abandon his or her habitual easy approach. Keep things in harmony.

You’re usually one to follow the rules, yes, but a situation will arise that may require you to bend them almost to the breaking point.

PISCES [Feb. 19-March 20]

You must insist that others follow your lead if you wish to make the best of a quickly evolving situation. Use gentle persuasion.

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 may be disappointed when a good friend or loved one is a no-show, but he or she surely has a good reason to be absent.

You’ll want to be sure you have enough time later in the day to explain a passing comment you make during morning hours.

You’ll be eager for the chance to prove yourself in a new role, but that chance may come at an unexpected price.

C11

EXTRAT U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

Saving lives through technology

Four people wearing sur-gical gloves, goggles and face masks marched into

a branch of PC World in London last autumn.

The masked men and women were the technological arm of the humanitarian aid charity, Médecins Sans Frontières, and they had come to test tablet com-puters for the Ebola outbreak in West Africa (in full gear, to really get a feel for the hardware). It may have been a memorable shift for the shop assistant serving them, but for MSF’s techies, it’s was all in a day’s work.

Ivan Gayton is MSF UK’s in-novation advisor, and one of the overdressed PC World visitors. “The Ebola tablet project came out of a call from a field doctor in Sierra Leone,” said Gayton, when I met him inside the atrium of the Royal Society of Medicine, at MSF’s annual Scientific Day. The day is a chance for volunteers and medical workers from around the globe to discuss how new inno-vations can help the charity save lives. “The doctor told me,” con-tinued Gayton, “that when he fin-ished his round he had a piece of paper with all his patient obser-vations on it. He said: ‘Of course I can’t take that out of the centre — it’s covered in Ebola — so I have to go and shout over the fence wearing an entire plastic suit, two masks, fogged-up goggles and two pairs of gloves. And it’s 35 degrees. It’s a recipe for mistakes and it takes a lot of time when I’ve got a maximum of an hour and a half inside’.”

Gayton took on the challenge of finding a better way to collect pa-tient data and the race for an Eb-ola-proof tablet was on. The chal-lenges were numerous — to find a device rugged enough to with-stand the physical challenges of field work in West Africa with lit-

tle or no electricity, internet and phone coverage while remaining easy enough to use for field work-ers in cumbersome protective gear. Fortunately Gayton was not alone. Soon the project, nick-named Buendia, had the backing of some brilliant volunteers from the tech world, including young innovator and entrepreneur Pim de Witte, founder of tech start-up Whitespell, who flew his whole team from Amsterdam to London to help with the project. “Then Google got interested,” said Gay-ton. “It allocated a huge number of people to the project. From then on it was off to the races.”

The first task was to find a suit-able waterproof tablet to build from — hence the shopping trip to PC World. The team settled on the Sony Xperia Z2 and set about developing its consumer water-proof capabilities into industrial ones. By the time they’d finished they had a device which could be fully submerged in a 0.5 per cent chlorine solution — enough to kill off any traces of Ebola.

The team experimented with other ways to “ruggedise” the device. They settled for an injec-tion-moulded polycarbonate case — a material which, in sufficient thickness, is bulletproof. The screen and operating system was full of big green buttons, bright enough and large enough so that even a tired, sweaty doctor with a fogged-up mask and cumber-some gloves could operate it with relative ease. The device could be inductively charged so it didn’t need to be plugged in and problems of network cov-erage were solved by a device called the Intel Edison, a tiny processor capable of powering an entire local network.

Adapting technology to dif-ficult field conditions isn’t just a challenge in West Africa. Another

innovation presented at the Sci-entific Day was from a team try-ing to solve the problem of deliv-ering time-sensitive TB samples in Papua New Guinea amid some of the world’s most inaccessible terrain. The South Pacific coun-try has one of the highest rates of tuberculosis in the world, with an estimated 25,000 new cases a year amid a population of 7 mil-lion, 80 per cent of which lives in rural and often remote areas, ac-cording to Isaac Chikwanha and Eric Pujo from MSF’s Tokyo desk.

Papua New Guinea’s Gulf Province, where the team car-ried out tests, is a good example of the kind of challenges faced by medical professionals work-ing in these areas. There is only one road to the province’s capital, Kerema, and it passes through the biggest swamp in the world, Pujo explained. Sea routes are also in-accessible for several months of the year and rivers are infested with crocodiles. “It forced us to be innovative,” Pujo told the audi-ence at the Royal Society of Medi-cine. “How could we get diagnos-tic samples of TB from a remote

health centre to an MSF labora-tory in the shortest time possi-ble?” The answer they came up with was unmanned aerial vehi-cles, or drones. Teaming up with Matternet, a start-up company in the US, they developed a four-rotor “quadrocopter” which could carry a 500 grams payload up to 28 kilometres at speeds of 60 kilometres and could be op-erated by a smart phone. The drone is also capable of auton-omous flight — co-ordinates and altitudes can be programmed in and the drone will navigate its own way between them keep-ing at a safe 100 metres above ground level.

Initial tests were successful — in one trial it took human opera-tors four hours by car; the drone delivered the same payload in just one hour. But despite the success, the technology is still only in the development stage.

It’s also expensive. Other innovations discussed

during MSF’s Scientific Day ranged from the high to the lo-tech, from kits for clearing bore-holes in African villages, to new ways of fighting diabetes among Syrian refugees in Lebanon. But all the developments seemed to share one thing in common — taking fresh ideas from people who work in the “realm of the possible”, as Gayton puts it, and “ruggedising” them — another Gayton phrase — so that they work in the most challenging and hostile conditions.

As such, MSF acts as a bridge between the possible and the ac-tual, the theoretical and the prac-tical, the thinkers and the doers. “That’s how you get locally appro-priate tech,” says Gayton. “Put us all together in a room and we start coming up with answers.” Or, in-deed, a branch of PC World. -Lee Williams/The Independent

Other innovations discussed during MSF’s Scientific Day ranged from the high to the lo-tech, from kits for clearing boreholes in African villages, to new ways of fighting diabetes among Syrian refugees in Lebanon

The innovations of volunteers and medical workers are helping save people around

the world but they too have their own share of problems

Watch 3D films to boost your brain power

WATCHING 3D movies is beneficial for enhancing and boosting brain power, new re-search says. According to Brit-ish researchers, watching 3D films helps improve cognitive abilities. The team led by neu-roscientist Patrick Fagan from Goldsmiths University found a 23 percent increase in cognitive processing ability among partic-ipants after watching a 3D mov-

ie. The subjects’ reaction times were improved by 11 per cent and they experienced a “brain boost” for up to 20 minutes af-ter viewing a 3D film, The Guardian reported. Along with pro-fessor Brendan Walker of Thrill Laboratory, a London-based company dedicated to new forms of thrilling experience, they found that the improvement in reaction time was five times that experienced by participants, who had been watching a 2D movie. “Surgeons, boxers and tennis players may benefit from watching films in stereoscope before taking on challeng-ing tasks,” the authors noted. There has been a noticeable de-cline in cognitive brain function in old age, which can impair future quality of life. “The initial results indicate that 3D films may potentially play a role in slowing this decline,” Fagan was quoted as saying. For the study, cognitive brain tests and brain-monitoring headsets were used to analyse moviegoers. The researchers also found that 3D experience provided more immersion for viewers than 2D. -IANS

RESEARCH

Today, everybody uses the Internet as a convenient tool. Its roots can be traced back to research

efforts at US universities in the 1960s, with people trying to connect their computers

C12

EXTRAT U E S DAY, M AY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

In Japan, computers were connected for the first time by a group of scientists led by Jun Murai, dean of Envi-

ronment and Information Studies at Keio University.

The following is an excerpt of an interview with Murai, known as the father of the In-ternet in Japan, about the past and the future of the network.

Jun Murai — It was back in October 1984. Computers from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Keio University and the University of Tokyo were connected via tele-phone lines to enable users to exchange e-mails and files. It was the start of the Internet in Japan.

At the time, I was an assis-tant at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. I got a job there after graduating from Keio University’s graduate school, but I’d left a lot of files at Keio University, so I had to trek back to Keio whenever I needed them. It was a has-sle, so I came up with the idea of connecting computers at Keio University and the To-kyo Institute of Technology.

However, connecting only two sites did not resemble a network, so I asked the Uni-versity of Tokyo to join in.

In the 1960s, universi-ties and research labs in the United States succeeded in connecting their comput-ers experimentally and began using the network to exchange information. I was able to connect our network in Japan with computers overseas in 1986. I was really happy when I received a message saying “hello” on my computer from a university in the United States. I thought our comput-ers were finally connected to those all over the world.

Keiko Chino: The Inter-net was revolutionary in that it connected computers around the world like a web.

Murai: People say the Unit-ed States created the Internet in preparation for nuclear war, but that’s an urban myth. The research funding came from the US Defence Depart-ment, but it was for cutting-edge research, not military purposes. That became clear during the Gulf War from 1990 to 1991.

The US military used sev-eral types of communication technologies. However, it was the Internet that stood strong until the end amid the harsh conditions of the desert war. Norman Schwarzkopf, then commander-in-chief of US Central Command, realised the Internet was important technology. He started talk-ing about banning the export of Internet technology.

Chino: The Internet was run and administered volun-tarily by researchers around the world.

Murai: US researchers and I were surprised but came up with a plan. We invited Schwarzkopf to give a lec-ture in Washington. We then surrounded him at the post-lecture dinner and told him, “The Internet is al-ready used by people all over

the world.”He was surprised. Re-

searchers had created tech-nology sturdier than that de-veloped for military purposes and through grass roots ef-forts. It was extraordinary.

The general public start-ed using the Internet in 1995, and it exploded out into the world. This was the birth of cyberspace, a first in human history.

In the early days of the Internet, many US re-

searchers believed that everybody used English to communicate, which was why English was a prereq-uisite for using the Internet. emails had to be written ei-ther in English or in Japa-nese using the alphabet.

I persuaded US research-ers to develop a technology for inputting and displaying Japanese kanji. It was hard work, but they persevered. It was not a matter of the

Japanese language alone — Unless they took into ac-count the great diversity of languages and cultures around the globe, the Inter-net would not be able to cov-er the whole world.

One of the achievements of the Internet was giving peo-ple equal opportunity. It also changed our way of think-ing. This is particularly true with regards to Japan. Our little island country in the Far East, thought to have a

completely different lan-guage and culture, was sud-denly connected to the rest of the world, and its people could expand their activi-ties beyond the waters sur-rounding us.

We learned that we can cre-ate great power by sharing information on the Internet. For example, by collecting information on dark clouds spotted in the sky, we can forecast when and where lo-

cal heavy rain will occur.At the beginning, this idea

was considered antisocial. Weather forecasts were seen as the task of public or-ganisations, such as the Ja-pan Meteorological Agency, so people thought it would cause chaos and confusion around the world if the gen-eral public were allowed to send information.

In the early days of the Inter-net, I was told the same thing by a prominent scholar. “If you

catch a cold and end up bed-ridden, the Internet will stop,” he said. “So the government should take over running it.”

However, besides letting the government do a job, you can also create things by combining everyone’s strengths. The Internet changed the landscape of Ja-pan, globalising this island country and shifting pow-er from the government to the people.

Surpassing people’s intelligenceToday, attention is focused on a theory that the intelligence on the Internet will surpass that of mankind in 2045.

The Internet connects in-formation and knowledge from all around the world. Software can be used to ana-lyse information and make judgments. If we think about the progress of Internet tech-nology over the years, it could happen around 2045.

Does this mean that the In-ternet would use us, instead of the other way around? That would be bad. The Inter-net is technology created for people, so we, human beings, must remain the master of it.

After the crisis began at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, I joined a group of volunteers who measured radiation levels, and we pub-lished the radiation figures on the Internet. I felt it was vital

to disclose the figures and help create an environment where people could figure out what the numbers meant for them.

Some people attribute my actions to my grandfather’s influence. I am a second-generation survivor of the US atomic bombing of Hi-roshima. My grandfather on my mother’s side, Arata Os-ada, experienced the atomic bombing while at his home. At the time, he worked as a lecturer at Hiroshima Bun-rika Daigaku (today’s Hiro-shima University). He was showered with pieces of glass broken by the atomic blast and seriously injured.

We bathed together when I was a child, and he used to tell me that glass pieces still came out of the scars.

Soon after the bomb was dropped, my mother, who was living in Tokyo, went to Hiro-shima to look for my grandfa-ther and was subjected to sec-ondary radiation exposure.

She told me she suffered the terrible effects of radiation, in-cluding her hair falling out.

Chino: Osada compiled essays by children who sur-vived the atomic bombing and published them in a book titled Genbaku no Ko (Children of Hiroshima). A film was made based on the book, which was translated into several languages.

Murai: My grandfather wanted to leave the book as a material for peace education. Together with researchers at

Hiroshima University and other universities, I also

considered translating Children of Hiroshima into different languages and distributing it on

the Internet.However, these es-

says contained the children’s names, school years and family circumstances. They were col-lections of personal informa-tion. So I wondered whether it was appropriate to upload them on to the Internet.

In those days, the children who survived the atomic bombing had hide that fact due to fear of discrimination. Even today, some of them are still suffering mentally and physically from it. I worried about them and ultimately abandoned the plan.

Behind all data and infor-mation are real people, and we must respect and support them. I believe that is the con-dition mankind must meet to stay master of the Internet.

You can obtain almost any information you want wherever you are, in Japan or abroad. This new space of interconnected computers has been fascinat-ing people around the world for a long time. It has now been nearly 30 years since the first connections were made by Murai and others in Japan. Cy-berspace has undergone mas-sive expansions since then and is still growing.

What transformations will it go through in the future? Will something that sur-passes man-kind be created? There is a mixture of expec-tation and concern regarding these questions.-Keiko Chino/The Washington Post

JAPAN’S ROLE IN THE LAUNCH OF THE INTERNET

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 AY 2 6 , 2 0 1 5

RENT D2

DAILY GUIDE Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

FOR RENT

For rent furnished, non furnished

flats & shops in Duqm.

Contact: 97283999

Labour camp for rent 100 pax

labour camp in Duqm near special

zone. Contact 97283999

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-BHK apartment available for

immediate occupancy from June

1st in Azaibah next to Al Meera

hypermarket, close to highway and

18-November St. Call 93504997

for viewing.

For rent new building 2 & 3 BHK

flats at Wadi Al Kabir behind Mus-

cat Bakery. Contact: 99338133

1BHK flats at Muttrah near Oman

House. Contact: 93231403

Deluxe 3 Room Penthouse with

Seaview, ideal for office / residence

at Qurum near PDO.

Contact: 97721313 / 9507 0421

One BHK flat near Wadi Adi R/W,

Hillat Assad. Contac: 98772585

Commercial villa 10 BHK

Al Khuwair 25 near HTC.

Contact: 94300909

Showroom 606 sqm Bousher

height. Contact: 94300909

Independent villa in Darsait (Opp.

KIMS Hospital, behind Khimji Mart)

for rent 4 bedrooms, big hall and 1

kitchen + 1 pantry. Please call Ms

Hiba Shaikh. Contact 98048210/

Mr. Anil Kumar 99261773

Villa for rent in Azaiba near

well roundabout & Umm AL

Qura Mosque, 5 bedrooms, two

hall, kitchen. Contact: Mr Sunil

92887809/ Mr. Habib 98048207

2 bedroom flat new building in

Wadi Kabir. Contact 99313274

1,2 & 3 BHK flat for rent in

Al Khuwair. Contact 99792181

D2 T U E S D AY, M AY 2 6 , 2 0 1 5

Flat ( ground floor ) with living room

+ 2 big room & hall , big kitchen &

store , 3 toilet with car parking in

Mabela South with new split AC only

240/- R.O. Contact 93295953

Flat for Rent- Contact No 99315515

AL- Khuwair 33/1 3 Bedrooms.

Dining room. Family hall. 3 Bathrooms.

Kitchen with store. Split A/C units.

2BHK flat with store room split

A/Cs in CBD, Ruwi near QNB.

Contact 99603696

2 BHK flat in Azaiba.

Contact 99792181

Labour camp for rent in Wadi

Kabir. Contact 99792181

2 BR in Rex road. Contact 99792181

Spacious 1& 2 BH flats having

good finishing A/C kitchen etc,

AL Khuwair near Al Zawawi

mosque. Contact: 99385074

Restaurant available for rent brand

new fully equipped restaurant on

Barka- Nakhal-Rustaq Highway ,

ideal for Pakistani /Indian /Omani

Cuisine , available for rent and man-

agement excellent opportunity for

those who are in restaurant business

in Oman /UEA. Only serious and

experienced parties need to

Contact on: 99337991

3 bedrooms flat for rent near NIT

Institute Darsait. Contact 93494098

1& 2 BHK at Honda road.

Contact: 99224748 / 99332297

1 Bedroom bachelors, sharing K & T

in Al Khuwair R.O 100/-.

Contact 95154331

2 BHK at AL Azaiba, 2 bedrooms,

1 hall & dinning 3 & bath rooms.

Contact: 99224748 / 99425665

Villa for rent with 4 bedroom at

Al Khodh, Rent 600/-RO.#92888115

Flat at Darsait. Contact 99326879

5000 sqm prime indusial land in

Misfah, Bausher, with 550 sqm of cov-

ered warehouse and office space, for

rent only. Contact: + 968 – 99264162

1BHK, 2BHK, 3BHK new flat avail-

able at Mabela in front of Modern

English School Contact: 96239126

Deluxe 1, 2 BHK flats in Darsait,

AL Khuwair 1deal for office &

residence. Contact 99369081

/99142314

Villa 12 rooms and a lounge Council

in citrus 11 first line along with

Omantel serve as a school or as

liaison offices: 91256340

2 BHK Flat in Azaiba.

Contact 99792181

Flats for rent south AL Mabela.

Contact: 95331177/95230355

For rent special price 3 BHK Al Falaj

area 270/- , 3BHK South AL Hail

275/- Contact: 24707340/95282986

2 BHK Flat in Al Khuwair.

Contact 99792181

Showroom for rent 200 m in

Al Misfah, Bousher facing the main

road. Contact 95202430

New building, residential apart-

ments and offices, in Al Khoud

Souq. Contact 95202340

2 & 3 BHK in Qurum, with split AC, Near PDO Gate 2.

Contact 94057023

506 sqm space with mezzanine

available for rent in Al Wadi Al

Kabir. Suitable for carpentry / auto

workshop and /or electrical shop.

Interested parties may

Contact 24703981

Labor camp available with all facili-

ties at Sohar Falaij (Near Sohar Sea

port) - Contact – 92982172

10 BHK Villa in Al Khuwair

25 for Executive bachelors.

Contact 99792181

New 3 bedroom flats split AC,

attached toilets available behind

Kims Oman hospital.

Contact 95225662

2 BHK (with split AC) residential

flat at Honda road.

Contact 98087644 / 99795241 3000 sq mtrs Industrial landß,

in Barka Sanaiya, with electricity

400KW, shed, staff accommodation

and office. Ready to start any kind

of factory. Contact 99384255.

Deluxe 2 BHK in Mumtaz area Ruwi

Contact 97707007

Furnished spacious single room

in a new building with attached

bathroom for executive bachelor at

South Al Mawaleh (Behind Seeb City

Center). Gsm 99221067

DAILY GUIDET U E S D AY, M AY 2 6 , 2 0 1 5 D3

MV. SALE

FOR SALEFOR SALE

FOR SALE

FOR RENT

FOR RENT

Running computer shops for sale

Souq Sohar. Contact 99420543

Shop in Ruwi OPP: OC.

Contact: 99378397

A well equipped running dental clinic

in Ruwi for sale. Contact 93769963

Coffee shop & BBQ running

Wadi Kabir, open parking having

clearance. Contact: 97161811

Shfandish & tables for sale.

Contact 99368907

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

Coffee shop for sale in

North Al Ghubra. Contact 95256009

Ice cream & Juices shop in Ruwi

good location for sale, 1.5mt fish

display machine unused for sale.

Contact: 92150455

Port cabin new & refurbished –

porta cabin for sale & rent.

Contact: 96723468 / 97775501 /

97775502

Household items for sale, all items

are in a very good condition. For

more details contact 97287410

558 Sq mtrs residential land in

Barka (Al Jenainah) near Lulu and

near to school. OMR 32 Thousand.

Tel: 99333479 or 95215360

Shop for sale ladies beauty parlour

AL Hassan Company near top up super

market AL Wadi Kabir, good Run-

ning condition. Contact 91207003

/96700192

Residential land for sale 21000

sqm, best for housing complex

at Al Harm – Barka, opp to Khimji

logistic. Contact 99438397

60,000 Sq Mtrs Agriculture Land in

Misfah, can be changed to Industrial

Land. OMR 27 Per Square Meter.

Tel: 99333479 or 95215360

Shopping center for sale at Bousher

by good price 400 m2 with all equip-

ment. Reason for selling

part-time. Contact 92916490

Mezzanine floor office space

for rent area 200 sq. Contact

97175979 / 99001341

Flat with 2 rooms, toilet & kitchen

in second floor in Souk Al Khoud

behind bank Al Ahli 200/- R.O .

Contact : 99738881

7 BHK Flat in Azaiba for Executive

Bachelors. Contact 99792181

Villa for rent in Khuwair 33, 8 bed-

rooms, 5 Bathrooms with parking

area near Taimur Mosque.

Contact 99366624

2BHK flats in Al Khuwair-33 with

split AC. Contact: 94057023

3 flats for rent 3 bedrooms include

A/C, near the highway (Bowshar

Amerat). Contact 97777911 /

95533777

WANTED

Treadmill –motorized. Contact:

99378397

One BHK flat for rent in Ghobra

with attach and common bathroom.

For Indian family.

Contact 92322096

Flats for rent in Wadi Kabeer.

Contact : 92800007

1st floor flat in Amerat Phase 5,

4 rooms, bathrooms (3), kitchen

with A/C for family.

Contact 95522405

1 BHK flat in Honda Road (Ruwi).

Contact 99792181

2 & 3 BHK flat in Al Khuwair.

Contact 99792181

200 Sqr mtrs office space in CBD.

Contact 99792181

1st floor flat in Amerat Phase 5,

4 rooms, bathrooms (3), kitchen

with A/C for family.

Contact 95522405

2BHK at Al Azaiba, 2bedrooms,

1 hall & dinning , 3 bathrooms.

Contact : 99224748 / 99425665

2 BHK & studio flat at Darsait 1SM.

Contact 99024730

Flats shops and store for rent in

Ruwi, MBD Honda road.

Contact 97293708 / 92433127

2 Prime Movers Man 2008 with 40

ton petrol tank each working at the

moment in Al Maha. Price OMR 35

Thousand each. Contact 97000155

or 92688692

Land Cruiser 2012. Contact

99336093

2013 LEXUS ES350 for Sale 40,000

km Full Option Gold Color Bought

from Bahwan dealership Price:

13,500 Riyals Call: 9291 2660

Nissan Tiida 2009, H/B fully

automatic, expat lady driven.

Contact 99457908

Peugeot 206-2007 Model, expat

driven. Contact 99209285

Fork Lift for rent or sale Nissan 3.5 Ton. Contact: 94102899

Furnished flats for rent in

Al Buraimi, daily, weekly, monthly.

Contact 97819981 / 93593336

2 BHK with A/C Muttrah near Oman

house. Contact: 99896838

2 BHK with A/C Ghobrah. Contact:

92144045

Flats for rent near Indian school in

Wadi Kabir. Contact 99777122

Labour Camp for Rent in Wadi

Kabir. Contact 99792181

Flat for rent 1 & 2 bedroom avail-

able behind Zaker Mall Al Khuwair.

Contact - 99530405

2 BHK flat in Rex Road.

Contact 99792181

Studio & 1BHK flat in Wadi Kabir.

Contact: 99376454

Labour camp for Rent in

Wadi Kabir. Contact 99797422

Room main road, Al Khuwair

R.O 110/-. Contact 97799175

For rent 3 industrial land.

Contact 92702891/ 95490842

1/3 BHK Flat Ghubrah, close to

ISG Way 4041, building 4390.

Contact 99319880

1& 2BHK for rent at Wadi Kabir,

Hilal Al Sad and Al Khoud areas .

Contact Office: 24834644

Mobile: 93994401/02/03

Flat for rent, 2 BK near Kuwaiti

Mosque, Wadi Kabir. Contact

97007934 / 92629232

Flat for rent 2 BK near Oman

House Muttrah. Contact 97007934

/ 92629232

If require flats for rent in Wadi

Kabir please send me

messages through whatsapp or

call 99376454

Spacious 2 BHK flats in Ruwi MBD

area only on 350/- OMR.

Contact – 95122188 / 96441499

Studio flat Wadi Kabeer 160/-O.R.

Contact - 99358589 / 97079146/

95570288

1BHK flat near star cinema with

split A/C 230/- O.R. Contact -

99358589/ 97079146/95570288

Bath attached room for rent

Al Khuwair. Contact 99743569

Villa in Al Khuwair and Seeb.

Contact 95250300/ 99119699 /

92125648

Industrial land for rent in Wadi

Kabir 7000 Sq mtrs.

Contact 99354340

Apartments for rent Ghubra : near

Indian School Ghubra & Al Maha

International Hotel (2BHK with 5

split A/C units).Contact 99273774 /

99202278 /94652485

Ghubra near Al Maha hotel &

Indian school (2BHK with 5 split

ac units). Contact 94652485/

99273774 / 99202278

Flats/villas owned by ROP pen-

sion fund available for rent in

Muscat. Contact 99349526

2,560 sq mtrs industrial land

Wadi Kabir Main Road, First line on

way to Al Bustan hotel. Possible to

make petrol station or hotel. OMR

990 Thousand Tel: 99333479 or

95215360

5 Flats of 1 bedroom for Sale in

Boushar: OMR 35 Thousand each.

Monthly income OMR 270 Tel:

99333479 or 95215360

23,886 Sq Mtrs Agriculture land

with water well in Al Salwa, Barka.

OMR 260 Thousand. Tel: 99333479

or 95215360

3 floor commercial building in

Muttrah behind Police. Generating

income of OMR 18 Thousand annu-

ally. Neat and well maintained. Built

on 197 sq mtrs land. 2 tailor shops

on ground floor and 6 flats. OMR

207 Thousand. Tel: 99333479 or

95215360

Restaurant for sale. Contact:

97710015 / 92934027

Ladies beauty parlor for sale in

Muttrah, above Ahla Sceps Market.

Contact : 93231403

DAILY GUIDED4 T U E S D AY, M AY 2 6 , 2 0 1 5

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION VACANT

MEDICAL

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

DRIVER

BEAUTICIAN

ARCHITECT / DRAFTSMAN

DOMESTIC HELPER

ENGINEER

EDUCATION

SALES / MARKETING

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

Omani family looking for full time

lady driver. Contact: 91401838

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

SITUATION WANT-SIT. WANTED

Looking for a House maid for

Karalee family in Darsait.

Contact 99276312

An Indian family in Al Ghubra re-

quires a full time living housemaid. Contact : 97084023

Required looking for full time Housemaid preface Indian / Sri

Lanka for Omani family at Mabela,

visa available. Contact: 92454170

Urgent required House maid in

Mabela. Visa available.

Contact- 95200180.

Indian CA with 15 yrs exp working

as Finance Head for MNC

looking for suitable job.

NOC available. 94047434

Accountant having 8 yrs, experience

looking for part time job.

Contact: 99867456

Jordanian, Senior accountant, 34 year old, 12 years experience in

the GCC, 7 years in construction & 4

years in hospital having Oman D/L

proficient in tally 9.0.

Contact 96470036

Young dynamic Indian MBA having

one year exp in CA Firm looking for

an opening. Skills: MS Office & Tally.

Contact:+919744732896/

Email: asifakbar4@gmail.com

Indian female Chartered

Accountant,6years Experience as

Finance Manager,Auditor.Immedi-

ate joining- 92530131;

catanalur131@gmail.com

Finance Manager (15+yrs experi-

ence) thorough knowledge on Hold-

ing Company accounts. Well versed

on Trading, Investment, Insurance

Brokerage, Travel & Rent A Car

accounts. Ability to manage Group

of companies. Contact: 92701962 :

amritaa.m2002@gmail.com

Indian male B.Com, 1 year experi-

ence in accounts and sales looking

for suitable placement on visit visa.

Contact: 98295101

Chief Accountant / Accounts

Manager, Indian male (34 years)

MBA/ M.com more than 10 years

experience (7 tears in Oman) with

D/L NOC available seeks suitable

placement. Contact: 96915438

MBA Indian male looking for suit-

able position having 2 years working

experience as an accountant now in

Oman a visiting visa.

Contact: 99424803

Indian female B.com 4 years experi-

ence in accountant 1 years experi-

ence in Oman having knowledge of

tally seeking suitable placement.

Contact: 93491124/92054531

Indian female B.com Graduate

over 8 years experience in Finance,

customer relation, sales coordinator,

secretary, Bank Office seeks suitable

placement. Contact: 95433987

Indian male graduate B.com looking

for suitable in Account Finance / sales

marketing release available with

2 years working experience.

Contact: 94574596

Indian male 2 years experience in

account cum sales coordinator NOC

available looking for suitable job.

Contact: 91298422/96458189

Bachelor of Banking and Insurance.

Experience: Has 6 months experience

in marketing firm1 month internship

with wiz craft international on project

“Farah ki dawat”Seeking a suitable job

in advertising, event, banking firm.

Contact - 99505290 / 96696183

djs007.93@gmail.com

Indian male 22 yrs B. Com Graduate

1 year exp in Accounts, currently on

visit visa. Looking for suitable job.

Contact 94341848 /

Email – mohdhaji7272@gmail.com

An Indian lady Chartered Accountant

with five years experience (including

article ship) on family visa in Oman

looking for a suitable job. Please

Contact 9621 0347 / 9943 5346,

shincycrajan@gmail.com

SECRETARIAL & OFFICE

Required Office Assistant

160+25+Acc, Contact 99454425

TOURS & TRAVELS

Reputed Construction Company

required Draughtsman / Accountant experience in

Construction Company with ac-

countancy degree.

Email: jvacancy05@gmail.com

ACCOUNTANT

ADMINUrgently required out door Sales Executive for furniture company,

minimum 5 years experience with

Oman D/L. Contact: 93231403

Looking for smart & intelligent female Telesales Executive/Sales coordinator with IT background, 2-3

yrs experience with clear & com-

manding voice, good & effective

communication, correspondence and

coordination skills. Send your resume

to 002atech@gmail.com

Urgently need a Marketing Executive to develop marketing

campaigns to promote company’s

product &service. He/She should

have 2-3 years in organizing events,

product branding, Social Media

marketing, Email Marketing and

Web Site promotion. Send your

resume to 002atech@gmail.com

Looking for a Retail Sales Execu-tive & 3-5 yrs experience in selling

building material, structure cabling,

Access control, and CCTV products

& motivated by sales and targets.

Candidate with Omani D/L will be

given preference. Send your resume

to 002atech@gmail.com

Required Van Salesman for a major

beverages company in Qatar. Salary

1800 Qatar Riyal + free accomoda-

tion & food+ Sales commissions

averaging around 2000 Qatari Riyal.

Also require key accounts supervi-

sor. Salary negotiable. Interested

candidates may send their CV to

rlkekkas@gmail.com or

contact 0097455096272

Urgently required 2 sale person with Omani driving license ready

with NOC. Contact : 96967223

Salesman with driving license for

company. Contact: 96440587

Urgently needed Marketing Execu-tive for kitchens, Sales Assistant for kitchens and sanitary ware,

Office Assistant ( all male) for a

marketing company, graduates

with 3 to 5 yrs relevant experience

please email CV to

yourfutureinoman@gmail.com

Looking for Sales person for UPVC

products windows/doors & kitchens

with valid driving license. Send CV

TO altaameerupvc@gmail.com

Required Sales man - 1 Person

Qualification. Gulf Experienced

- Minimum 5 Years with Oman

Driving Licence Language - English

Education:- Any Degree Further

Contact :Mr. Abdul Hameed

Nashabat - Mobile No: 97414307

and -92807399

amn@yaqeeneng.com

Requirement counter Sale & Marketing sale for work in building

material shop in Saham.

Contact: 99352829 / 99417418

Salesman experienced 5 yrs in

Oman, in the field of industrial &

oilfield service, garage equipment

tools & spares, safety wears &

rescue equipments. Please forward

your CV to almaadhi.trd@gmail.com

MISCELLANEOUS

Urgently required experienced Travel Agent for a reputed

rent a car & tourism co.

Contact: 24701070/77

Email: muscatcaravan@gmail.com

Vinyl Applicators (preferably for

vehicles), Metal Fabricators.

Contact 98918344

Required Salesman, Tailor and Barber. Contact : 96964767

Urgently Required: Draftsman - Temporary for 1 month. Apply,

fax 00968–24605955,

emails sbc@steelbuildingsllc.com,

sbeoman@yahoo.com.

Urgently required a junior Architect for a consultancy office.

Email: ajith@milesconsultancy.com

Urgently required a Senior Drafts-man for a consultancy office. Email:

ajith@milesconsultancy.com

Leading Construction company requires MEP Draftsman and Civil Draftsman with 5 to 7 years gulf

experience with NOC available.

Send your CV to

recruitment1947@gmail.com

Urgently required Indian experi-ence beautician, good salary +

Accountant + Food visa Available

location Al Hail.

Contact: 92284899 / 92139922

Beautician required with good

experience visa available.

Contact: 95867900

Required Nurse for a Clinic in

Al Buraimi, S. Of Oman.

Contact: 00968 92737149. Send CV

to drpkabbas@yahoo.co.in

Urgent required staff Nurse

in Mabela. Contact- 95200180.

We are looking for a Staff Nurse, who is having 60% or above in pro-

metric exam. Contact : 99235643

/99463609 Email:

abuahamedclinic@gmail.com

Urgently required Staff Nurse, Pharmacist and endodontist Fe-male Staff nurse, Pharmacist and endodntist with MOH License/

Prometric exam passed

with 60% and above.

Contact 24780088, 97374459

Email : karamadental@gmail.com

Immediate placement ( with or

without MOH) A. Pharmacist - 3 nos B. Asst.pharmacist - 2 nos

Contact Tel.99338219 , 93240949

Wanted Lady Doctor GP or Gynecologist with MOH license.

Immediate opportunity.

Contact - 99310590

A private clinic in Oman requires a staff nurse (Indian female prefer-

ably) salary negotiable interested

candidates kindly mail their re-

sumes/ CV with contact details to

medicalclinic2015@gmail.com or

call 00968-91941373

ADMIN/HR

Indian male 29, MBA (HR & Admin),

six years experience in UAE as sales

coordinator and office / Administrator

valid GCC driving license. Now on visit

visa looking for suitable placement.

Contact: 98466505/93061079

Filipino Female, 30 yrs old, with

8yrs experience in Payroll/Admin/

HR and 2yrs experience as Techni-

cal Support/Cashier/Secretary.

Currently in Muscat on Family Visit

Visa, Seeking for suitable placement.

Contact: 96708114

Email: lucy08_tm@yahoo.com

Indian Female MBA, 3 Years experi-

ence in Admin MIS, Family Visa.

Contact 98234427,

jkjsmith01@gmail.com

Indian female, 28 yrs, experience in

Admin / sales coordination /

accountant and secretarial.

Knowledge in accountant software,

with Oman D/L,

looking for a suitable placement.

Contact: 96751993

Indian male 2+yrs oman exp in HR.

joing immediatly. release available.

Contact :93671437

Indian female, 29 yrs, MBA (HR)

4 yrs exp. India & Oman in HR & Ad-

min, seeks suitable placement.

Contact 96759820

Over 15 years of gulf experience

in Admin /HR /Logistics, fluent in

Arabic & English with D/L looking

for suitable position.

Contact 95824598

Indian female with 10 yrs of experi-

ence in HR/Banking/Operations

seeks a suitable placement. Can be

contacted on 98919015 or

sherianne.coelho@gmail.com

Document controller / project coor-

dinator having 15 years experience

is same Field.

Contact: 00919605635590

Indian female 24 yr ,MBA in HR

and management with one yr exp,

ready to join immediately,

Contact 97895004,

Email: naziyabanu705@gmail.com

Accountant: Indian male 10 years

experience, 6 years in Oman with

Oman driving license, seeking

suitable job. Contact 96012973

Analyst accountant knowledge

& skill excel Advance misreport

account & finance administration

work document oracle advertising

knowledge degree MBA, BBM.

Contact 91840109/99783953

Email: mohd.rashid19@gmail.com

MFA (Master of finance and account-

ing), B.com. 6 months experience,

looking suitable position in finance

and accounts. Contact: 97829315.

Email: muhsin1819@gmail.com

Male 24, B.com / PGD having 2

years experience in accounts and

inventory field. Looking for suitable

job, on visit visa. Contact 94129550

Indian male MBA, Finance, 6 years

experience in Finance & Accounting

spatially in Oil & Gas , Now on visit

visa . Contact: 94327063

Email: shabab3939@yahoo.com

Part Time Accounting, Accounts

Finalization, Audit Preparation,

Internal Audit, Onsite Tally Train-

ing, Inventory Management

Contact: 96975454,

Email: ibfc.gcc@gmail.com

Indian Female, 34 yrs, B.Com,

Knowledge in MS Office & Tally, exp

in accounting & admin seek suitable

placement 99199710/96744965

Part time Accounts job & finalization

work Muscat. Contact: 92917448

Indian male 25 yrs B.com having

experience in accounts for 3 yrs

currently on visit looking to job.

Contact: 97937868 Email:

rehman.naseer999@gmail.com

Indian male, MBA finance, presently

working as branch supervisor in

a reputed logistics co. For past 10

years with an overall experience of

21 years in finance& logistics,

looking for a suitable placement.

NOC available. Contact: 96567151

Email: girishlalmahadev@yahoo.com

Accountant Indian male 10 years

experience in Oman looking for a

suitable position, up to finalization

NOC available can join immediately.

Contact: 94134085

Email: muscatoman95@yahoo.com

Sr. Accountant M.com (finance)

15 years experience (2years in Oman

with a reputed firm) NOC available.

Contact: 92404608

Email: jin_75@rediffmail.com

Indian male 25 yrs B.Com PGDBM

currently on visit visa, looking for

suitable opening in accounts, store

and Admin. Contact: 96986349

Email: gafoordawre@gmail.com

Indian Female 25 MBA looking

for a suitable opening in Accounts,

Admin/Hr. Contact 97013375

Urgently required Site Engineers & all kinds of civil construction work-

ers for a reputed construction com-

pany. Interested candidates can send

your CV’s to mohamed@oasisgrace.

com, contact 99881459, 24826566,

fax: 24812226

Wanted Project Engineer, Email:

almoosaengineering@gmail.com

Wanted Mason, Email:

almoosaengineering@gmail.com

Wanted site Forman, Email:

almoosaengineering@gmail.com

Wanted civil Engineer, Email:

almoosaengineering@gmail.com

Engineers / Tech urgently required Civil Engineer with four years expe-

rience for a consultancy office. Email:

ajith@milesconsultancy.com

Omani lady HR Manager for a lead-

ing metal fabrication company. Min.

5 yrs exp, familiar with Oman labor

Laws. Responsibilities – Making HR

policies, Training of Omanis, liaising

with various Ministries. Contact:

operation@khancogroup.com

Teachers required (B.A, BEd, BSc,

and B.ed) for Omani Pvt. School

Al Hail (North). Contact 95141554/

96653118

MBA (international business) from

London, 4 years of UK experience

in banking operational, looking for

suitable position.

Contact 91710075

India Accountant: Male, M com,

7 Yrs experience in Accounts up to

finalization, having knowledge of

ERP, Tally, seeks suitable placment.

contact 93950138 Email:

lijinrajan123@gmail.com

MBA Graduate with 6 yrs exp in

finance/accounts/ auditing. Special-

ized in accounts payable dept, Ora-

cle app user, proficient in Sap (fico)

end user & tally 9.0. lean &six sigma

certified trainer on visit visa.

Contact – 91967213 / 99064780

DAILY GUIDET U E S D AY, M AY 2 6 , 2 0 1 5 D5

DAILY GUIDESITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

DOMESTIC HELPER

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

Indian female M.E power system

B.E Electrical Engg, seeks suitable

placement. Contact: 99842083

/99326054

Graduate Electrical Engineer

having 6 years experience of Gulf

and professional license available to

join. Contact: 98063081

Engineer Teacher female (M. A. B.

Ed) having 14 years experience with

11 years experience in Oman with

reputed Institute and School. Con-

tact: 92289080 / 99318276 Email:

babvjosev@yahoo.com

Indian male, B.A, 4 years experi-

ence in Teaching 3 years experience

in life insurance, 3 years experience

in supermarket division UAE as

Sales Promoter for the whole group.

Contact : 91968699

Indian male, (B.E) Electronics and

Communication (ENC), 2 years

experience in Instrument Engineer

and plant supervisor in India.

Contact : 94188216

Email: azeez45ec@gmail.com

Indian Civil Engineer (building)

available immediately as supply

contract. Contact : 95218004

Electrical Engineer 10 years experi-

ence in underground cables exten-

sion and distribution substation and

terrestrial station available in Oman,

on visit visa. Contact : 95471606

Structural Engineer, 8 yrs expe-

rienced in flat slab, post tensioned

& slab-beam multi story building

design & supervision with driving

license. Contact: 98256860

Civil Engineer: 5 years experience

in building & structure works in

Oman seeks suitable placement.

NOC available. Contact: 98180524

Engineer (ECE) seeking job.

Contact: 98584498 / 91981503

Electrical Engineer new in Oman

B.Tech (Hons.) with Diploma of

Electrical Engg. seeks a suitable job.

Contact: 96752080

Email: ilyasqader97@gmail.com

Btech computer science graduate

2015 passout.. Android application

marketing.. Having good communi-

cation skills and mindset to work in

a team. Contact 91024385

Toms Davis, 5+yrs Exp in Projects

and design, 10+2+Diploma in Mech

Eng, 92068508

Civil Engineer, Indian Female, 3 yrs

experience, on visit visa seeking suit-

able placement. Contact: 99195433

Indian female 27 yrs-BSc Biotech

and P.G Diploma in Quality Assur-

ance having experience in Pharma-

ceutical Industry seeking immedi-

ate placement- Contact- 93218363.

Indian male 24 years (BE) Mechan-

ical Engineer undergone HSE fire

and safety training seeking suitable

placement. Contact 96542840

Fiber design and implementation

Engineer, 8+ yrs experience (6 yrs in

Saudi ARAMCO) in OPS & ISP/FTTX,

on visit visa till June end, with valid

GCC D/L, GSM: 94769479,

email: fiberoptic2011@gmail.com

Indian male B.Tech marine Engi-

neer on visit visa. Seeking suitable

placement. Contact – 91991386 /

prvnpurushan@gmail.com

Civil Engineer (B.E) 12 years experi-

ence with valid Oman D/L.

Contact: 93843448

Civil degree Engineer with 3 years

experience form Indian looking for

suitable job currently on visit visa

till 15th June 2015.

Contact: 95713441

Email: khatrialeen@gmail.com

Filipino HSE officer with 7 years

and 5 months experience in MEP

and civil construction works, Qatar

petroleum, nakilat shipyard, super

substation and high NSE building

with Nebosh IGC 3, IOSH, Auditor

lead course etc. Contact 98938461

Email: e.romil@yahoo.com

B.Sc in civil Engineer having

2 years experience with driving

license in Oman. Contact 94618906

Email: msamps988@yahoo.com

MEDICAL

29 Indian male Nurse.B.SC prometric

exam passed on a visit. 10 years expe-

rience in India & Italy seeks a suitable

placement in multinational hospitals

& clinics. Contact 96071773 –

sanukochiparampil@gmail.com

Assistant Pharmacist (Indian female,

28 yrs) with MOH license.

Contact 93022787 / 99108751

Indian female Dentist MOH Oman

passed seeking a suitable placement

in capital region. Contact– 91377681

hashimsarawat@gmail.com

Well experienced MOH Licensed

Indian GP Doctor looking for

locum / permanent position in the

Capital area. Contact 98140024

email:drgpoman@yahoo.com

Lab Technician, Civil (8yrs Gulf

experience) looking for a suitable

job (NOC available)

Contact-93344378

Indian male, B.E ( computer science

engineer), MBA (finance), OCA certi-

fied, having 5 years of experience in

oracle Dba/ oracle apps Dba, seeks

a suitable position in the field of IT.

Contact: 96212062

email: zubairkhan11@gmail.com

CATERING

Omani Mechanical Engineer, has

3 years experience ,has HSE, H2S,

Riggers/Banks men Permit, Drawing

/ cad, SCBA, Safety Leadership and

Initial Fire Response Courses. good

with computer and English language

looking for suitable job. Contact

99224319-98454500

Indian male 22 Mechanical Diploma

holder Engg with HVAC certified,

having 1 year exp. seeking suitable

position. Currently available on visit

visa. Contact - 92835952

IT

Indian male 25 yrs B.SC computer

science 2 yrs exp in computer hard

ware and networking & CCTV work

& windows administration currently

in Muscat on visit visa.

Contact: 93243372

Indian male BCA, MCA, 2 years ex-

perience in software programming

knowledge of Java, SQL, NET, C#,

ASP.NET, DB2, Oracle.

Contact: 99210940

IT, female fresher MCA, BCA Oracle

certified 6 months PLSQL, data ware

housing training PHP seeking job at

good company. Contact: 95694330

Email: monakasapool@gmail.com

Expat Lady (M.Sc IT), Looking for

suitable position in IT/Office work.

Contact 98176793,

Email : santhi.85@gmail.com

IT professional with 20 years

experience MBA, PMP, OCP, ITIL cer-

tified looking for suitable position.

Contact: 91829676

Indian female 27 yrs B.Tech (IT)

MBA one years of experience as a

software analyst. Contact 91234864

Email: ashwinirathnam2011@gmail.

com

Network Engineer, Female, CCNA,3

yrs exp specializing in DHCP, DNS,

NTP, desktop level3 assistance

in different OS, on resident visa

94525630/93215372

Indian female MCA, Experience in

C#.Net, SQL Server, ORACLE with

4.5 years experience seeking

suitable positions.

Contact: 96485923, 99886271

prathibhakp07@gmail.com

Indian male, 20+ years experience

in IT management, ERP imple-

mentation, seeks suitable opening.

Contact: 96101779

IT Network and Security Engineer

with a master degree, CISCO and

Linux red hat certified seeking a

suitable job in a good company.

Contact 99818601

Networking technician with

driving license, with Noc, having

2 experiences in data & telephone

structured cubing EPABX & CCTV

installation is looking for suitable

jobs. Contact: 96027516

Gulf experienced Software Develop-

er & certified professional in English

looking from a Job with vast experi-

ence in sales and Management +

D/L. Contact 00968 96701312

Email: farhanaslam586@yahoo.com

Indian male 25, BSE computer with

MBA, 3 years experience in IT, in

visit visa seeking a suitable post.

Contact: 92364368

Network system Engineer B.E / ECE

+ CCNA & Ms certified with 4+ yrs exp

looking for a job. Currently in Oman

on visit visa. Contact: 92589502

Email: careersjegan@gmail.com

2 Years of Experience as Java

Software Developer. Looking for the

suitable job in IT. Call: 97897616

Driver with car, 3 years experience

part & full time looking for job.

Contact: 97456062

Light Driver needs Job. Contact:

93284327

For Driving. Contact: 95870012

Bangladeshi male looking for a light

vehicle driving job.

Contact: 97751070

Driver light. Contact: 91020999

Pakistani male looking for a

light vehicle driving job.

Contact: 95149231

Driver looking for job.

Contact 92137431

DRIVER

DESIGNER

BE Electric & telecom Eng: 4 yrs

exp in Oman , exp in AV system

design integration & telecom work

with D/L , looking for better opportu-

nity field of electronic & telecom.

Contact 97423932 Email:

mzeeshanshaikh89@gmail.com

Indian Male B.Tech Civil having

17+ years of experience, includ-

ing 4 years oman experience as a

consulting engineer seeking suitable

position anywhere in Oman

MAIL: subpal60@gmail.com,

MOB:91622490

Indian male, Mechanical Engineer,

2 years experience in fabrication

& erection of heavy structures as

Project Engineer in India, now on

visiting visa seek suitable place-

ment. Contact: 91251818 Email:

krishnakumarkk9@gmail.com

Indian male 26 yrs mechanical

Engineer with 3 yrs experience in

Indian in MEP, HVAC& mechanical

maintained field on visit visa look-

ing for suitable job.

Contact: 99191535

Email: fareed029@gmail.com

Indian male with ITI certification

in Mechanical Drafting with good

Experience Looking for good

opportunity contact 9194 9181

Indian male 28 yrs electronics &

instrumentation Engineer with 4+

years experience in Industrial au-

tomation (SCADA) Seeking suitable

job. Contact: 93154156

Sudanese Electrical Engineer, 2 years experience.

Contact: 91211592 Email:

aymanhamza1990@gmail.com

Young Energetic Indian male, 7 years Oman experience in retail

wholesale, sales including electron-

ics, building materials with Oman

D/L. Contact: 98465550

Indian male B.Tech Mechanical

three years varietal experience in

piping Engineering & management

of retail mobile phone shops seeking

sales engineering job with Oman

D/L. Contact 94401234

Electrical Engineer : Indian male 29

years , having 5 years of experience

in industrial automation and utility

maintenance in India (MRF Tyres)

seeking suitable placement.

Contact 92789995,

Email: akhilabrahamlktr@gmail.com

BE Mechanical Engineer -NDT level

2, Quality Control (Oil & Gas) . 1 year

exp ph: 95908293

Sudanese Civil Engineer, 2 yrs

experience. Contact 96077482,

Email : ebraheemann@gmail.com

Network / system Engineer B.E /

ECE + CCNA & Ms certified with 4+

yrs exp looking for a job, currently

in Oman on visit visa. Contact :

92589502 / 96216397,

Email : jeganscareer@gmail.com

Sudanese Petroleum Engineer, 4 yrs experience looking for job,

MC office, C, Exlips.

Contact 96039290

Indian Male, IT Support Engineer,

2 yrs in Oman & 5 yrs Indian experi-

ence. Contact 97311847

Indian female, B.Tech biotechnology with strong computer

skills and 2 years experience as

associate research analyst (Media

Monitoring) in Nasdaq Oman seek-

ing growth oriented jobs. Contact

92044603 /918056169148 or

angeline.babithac@gmail.com.

Indian male fresher BCA young and

energetic, seeking good opportu-

nites.email: jlaxmimenon@gmail.

com, Contact 00919567722270

Finance Manager, CPA, with more

than 15 yrs. of experience in GCC.

Fully knowledgeable in Finance,

General & Management Accounting .

NOC available. Contact 96209331

Indian male, 32 years, M. Com.

7 out of 9 years experience in Oman

in Accounts/finance. Having NOC and

valid Oman D/L. Contact 98277143,

Email: anzarks@gmail.com

Indian male with total 5 year

experience (2 years experience in

Accountant cum sales co ordinator

in a FMCG Company in Oman) in

accounts field and NOC available

Looking for suitable job

Contact 92130188

Indian male B.Tech Mechanical having 4 years experience with

QA/ QC & CWSIP looking for suit-

able position. Contact 99447106 /

24483297

Indian male, MA multimedia, 25 yrs

presently working in Bangalore as

visual layout / Graphics designer hav-

ing 2 years experience, seeks suitable

placement. Currently on short visit.

Contact 92368969

Email: don007james@gmail.com

Creative Web graphic designer looking for a full time job in a reputed

company in Muscat. 9 years overall

experience + freelance expert.

Contact 97276004

Indian male 29 yrs, M.sc post gradu-

ate having 7 years experience in

healthcare Industry presently work-

ing in orthopedic Implants company

(MNC) in Indian ( trauma & spine )

on visiting visa seeking suitable job

opening. Contact: 93083553

Email: prakash05629@yahoo.com

Arab female 30 sales marketing busi-

ness development manager 9 years

experience in Oman UK University

graduate talented enthusiastic well

– groomed MS Office social media

expert bilingual Arabic & English

having driving license able to join im-

mediately. Contact 96612369

Cargo & logistics Manager, Indian

with more than 15 years experience

in UAE, seeks suitable position.

Contact: 95402099

Warehouse In charge or store keeper

26 yrs. Gulf exp 4 yrs in Oman. NOC

available. Contact 97657823 /

Email:rusaikmzm_2009@yahoo.com

Indian, 45 years, Housekeeping

working one of five star hotel 10 yrs

experience and health club exp also,

experience in Oman.

Contact: 99628602 /98693655

Indian male 24 years, Mechanical

Engineer,pdms.1 yr experience in

pipeline,16years in oman seeking

immediate placement # 95775742

Indian male currently in Oman on

visit, looking for suitable vacancy in

hotel Industry as Supervisor having

8 years experience in Europe.

Contact: 97376612

Indian male 38 yrs senior chef

de parst pastry & bakery 15yrs expe-

rience one of the five star hotels in

Oman experience 10 yrs Oman

looking job. Contact: 96460519

Email: venagovindhan@yahoo.com

Electrical Eng. Degree (MEP) need

suitable job of construction 12 yrs exp.

Email: mohd.ateeq.khan@gmail.com

MANAGER/ SUPERVISOR

MISCELLANEOUS

MISCELLANEOUS

13 Years UAE experienced in MNC &

reputed firms logistics distribution

looking for a suitable placement, on

visit visa contact 99838743,

gani.dawood@gmail.com

Construction Surveyor Indian

looking for suitable job.

Contact 91977142 / 95141554

Graduate 1 yr experience in India,

Clerk now in Oman on visit visa.

Contact 92933431,

princemathew2813@gmail.com

SECRETARIAL/OFFICE

Arabic – English translator having,

3 years experience currently on visit

visa seeks translation or Bi-Lingual,

Secretarial job.

Contact: 96599601

Email: gawadjamal@gmail.com

Indian (Kerala) male 37yrs, B.com

graduate seeking for suitable

employment one year experience.

Preferably as an office assistants.

Contact 96701495

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

placement. Contact 99709336

SALES / MARKETING

SALES / MARKETING

Indian male 10 years experience in

Welding Supervisor NDT Technician,

MIG Welding specialist seeking suit-

able job. Contact 96771841

Indian male MBA 7 years experience

in Hospitality industry, operation,

sales & marketing looking for suitable

vacancy. Contact 92115860

Email vibin.py@gmail.com

Indian male, 30 yrs, 6 years Gulf

experience in shipping operations

and customer service, NOC available.

Contact: 93042516

8 years store experience Indian

male looking for placement. N.O.C

available. Contact: 98456535

8 years purchase experienced

Indian male looking for job. N.O.C.

available. Contact: 98161323

Indian male, 30, BSc, Food Science

and Quality control, MBA 5 years

experience, driving license.

Contact: 93405643

Sr. Manager, 18 yrs experience in

project Sales building materials in

Gulf, on visit, GCC license, looking for

job placement. Contact 93364846

Indian male with 08 yrs exp in sales

& marketing, seeks suitable place-

ment. NOC available.

Contact: 95970204

Indian Male, B.Com Graduate, 23,

with experience in Sales looking for

suitable placements.

Contact - 9837 1144

Having 20 years experience in Gulf

area for sales, marketing distribu-

tion, having Oman D/L looking for

suitable work, speaking Arabic &

English. Contact: 94639053

Indian male, B.Sc (Mathematics)

PGDBM (Marketing). 9 yrs of Oman

experience in sales in midlevel

management, NOC available.

Valid Oman D/L. Contact: 95278838

Email: anup2p4p@yahoo.com

25 Indian female B.S.C. Fashion

Technology. 5 years experience in

textile industry as a merchandiser

and good in fashion marketing.

Currently available on visit visa,

seeking for a suitable job.

Contact 96990368.

Email: simmy.missy@gmail.com

TOURS & TRAVELS

Female British Beauty Therapist looking for suitable situation.

Contact 97175240

Civil supervisor-8 year’s experi-

ence in commercial and residential

building, including portable cabin,

natural and artificial play ground’s,

and Oxy petroleum field, at sultan-

ate of Oman. GSM :91249005. Mail

:sandeep88joseph@gmail.com

Indian Male 28yr age having 6year

gulf+ Indian experience in HR field.

Looking for suitable placement.

Contact: 97914340,

Email: rajkv3086@gmail.com

Indian male 27, looking for suit-

able placement in Piping Design &

Engineering. Having 7 years of ex-

perience in AutoCAD. Also familiar

with PDMS (11.6 Version),CAESAR

ll. Contact : 97351786 / 96143708,

E-mail : mohammednazeer07@

gmail.com

Indian Male 34 years Mechani-

cal Engineer 3 years of Experi-

ence seeking suitable placement

immediately contact: 91991435,

93310821

Indian male 21 Diploma in Mechan-

ical Eng with HVAC certified having

6 yrsexp and seeking job in HVAC

field as a supervisor. Currently

on visit visa. Contact 92835952/

92734863

Civil Autocad draughtsman

looking for part time job. Mobile:

95218737

Sudanese / 29 years old / Bsc Eng-

lish language and Translation / 3

years experience in Oman teaching

& translation / have driving license.

Contact 94211377.

Email: hosam.karar.1@gmail.com

AUTO CAD/ARCHITECT

Autocad D man, Gulf exp in major

projects, knows arch, structural,

MEP, NOC available ph: 98225740

Female architect (27) 4 years ex-

perience seeking for suitable job in

Oman experience in Oman,

India & UK. Contact: 96146645

Email: anjuovil@gmail.com

EDUCATION

Qualified primary English Teacher for almost 12 years W/ experience in

Qatar independent school interna-

tional school & British curricular

IELTS qualified looking for immedi-

ate post. Contact: 98938272

Email: me_ann_laloma@yahoo.com

Indian male B.com, 5 years experi-

ence in shopping center can manage

purchase / sales and admin func-

tions valid Oman driving license

NOC available. Contact 95459944

BE computer science 6 years

experience software developer and

support Engineering exp sales and

management Oman D/L, NOC avail-

able. Contact: 98097722

Indian male Graduate in business

management having work experi-

ence of 12 years looking for a suit-

able position. Contact : 93431567

Male MBA (General) from Cardiff

Metropolitan University London)

looking for a suitable placement.

Contact 92819301

Email: adicbhat@outlook.com

Pakistani male 34 yrs Intermedi-

ate 2 yrs exp in sales & marketing

in Oman. Looking for suitable job.

Contact - 92146864

Indian male 45+ yrs , 20 yrs exp as

sales supervisor in India looking for

indoor sales /stores /cashier or any

suitable placement can speak

Hindi , English, Malayalam, Tamil,

kannada can join immediately

on visit visa.

Contact 93086105/33016546

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

D6 T U E S D AY, M AY 2 6 , 2 0 1 5

Civil Engineer, Diploma, Male 25, 3

years experience in site, CAD, 3d, MS

Project, Seeking job in Oman.

Contact 92875345,

jubincivileng@gmail.com

Indian female B.ED & BCA looking

for a suitable placement in school

or admin office, having 5 yrs exp in

same field. Contact – 97384206 /

rani_sweet786@live.com

Electronics and instrumentation

Engineer 28 year Indian male, elec-

trical, electronic, industrial, building

& automation exp of 4+ yrs in India.

Contact - 93154156

CCNP Network Professional with 6

years experience having Bachelors

degree on visit visa looking for suit-

able job. Contact: 96760618 email:

varghese.manthara@gmail.com

Indian female with MBA (Finance)

on visit visa, seeks immediate place-

ment. Phone: 968-98430089

Indian female, IATA, Bsc, Looking

for suitable placement.

Contact-95514305, email id-

raveendranmala@gmail.com

Sudanese male, 31 year old, have 3

year Diploma in electrical engineer,

5 year experience in different activi-

ties. Contact; +96894549609

Male, 30 years Accountant, 1 year

Oman experience in accountants,

finance. Seeking suitable position in

Muscat .Can join immediately, NOC

available. Email: lalitbls1@gmail.com

Call: 97903175

CCNP Network Professional with 6

years experience having Bachelors

degree on visit visa looking for suit-

able job. Contact: 96 76 06 18

Indian male, post graduate,

currently in Oman on visit visa.

Seeks suitable placement.

Contact 92388346

Indian male 60 years old have 30

years Muscat experience in all office

works with Omani driving license.

Contact: 99024055

Indian female, B.Com. knowledge of

MS Office & Tally, 4yrs experience

in Accounts &admin dept. looking

for good placement in any field.

Contact.98928220

Indian male, total experience is 5

years in Retail industry. Currently su-

pervisor in Sun and sand sports Mus-

cat City centre. Contact : 96994345.

Email : jsp.jsr85@gmail.com

More than Ten years of experience

in Sales & Marketing, Advertisement

and Credit Control and Logistics&

Administration.

Contact 91076608 / 99322748

MCA IT Professional Indian Female

seek placement in Teaching/ Non

Teaching field. Presently on visit

visa. Contact 9588 7051,

Email: ashwininakod@gmail

Indian male, Engineer, BE Mechani-

cal, having with 21 years of experi-

ence in India and 13 years in Oman,

In production, project management,

quality control and assurance and

MR for ISO and API Standards look-

ing out for a suitable placement

in Oman. GSM: 00968 97311616.

E-MAIL: fahazasa@yahoo.com

Indian female BA graduate. My total

experience is 4 and half year in Call

Center looking for jobs in admin

and HR. Contact : 96089143, Email:

sharanjit_kaur2009@yahoo.com

Indian male, MBA marketing &

finance with B com & diploma in

IFRS seeks job.

Contact 99469726 / 99469729

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

MISCELLANEOUS

Sr. Manager, MBA, 18yrs profes-

sional exp in Building materials, in-

teriors, tiles, sanitary wares, Gypsum

in gulf, seeking job immediately/on

visit/ Contact - 93364846 /

mgrprofessional@hotmail.com

Indian Male 34 years Mechanical

Engineer 3 years of Experience seek-

ing suitable placement immediately

Contact: 91991435, 93310821

Indian Male, 29 years, CCNP, MCITP

having Bachelor degree and 6 years

of experience in Networking looking

for job. 96760618 /

varghese.manthara@gmail.com

B.E. Civil Engineer from India with 3

years of experience looking for suit-

able vacancy in oman now on visit

visa. Contact 9571 3441,

Email . Khatrialeem@gmail.com

Indian male 21 IT Eng. networking &

computer hardware diploma, 1 year

experience, currently on visit visa

looking for a suitable job

Contact 96036273 email:

faizanfarooqui23@gmail.com

Indian Female, Commerce Graduate,

Total 9 yrs of experience in India.

worked as Accounts Assistant and

Business executive seeking for

suitable placement.

Tel : 96173533/24222457

Email : topranidivya@gmail.com

24 year Indian Chartered Account-

ant male with 3yrs of experience is

seeking suitable placement in Mus-

cat, currently on visit visa & ready

to join immediately. Contact him on

98201476 or email at

lokeshkaluri@gmail.com

Indian, 32 years, completed M.A.

English, M.Sc. Psychology and B.Ed

in English. Searching for suitable job

in the field of teaching. To

Contact: 00968 99869535

Email: sahadkeyi33@gmail.com

8 Years successful experience, SEN-

IOR ACCOUNTANT, Indian male,29

years. Presently working in Oman as

a Senior Accountant with oman Driv-

ing license seeks suitable opportu-

nity. GSM: 97705854

Female Executive Assistant/Execu-

tive Secretary with 27+ experience,

worked with top management/Board

in financial services with shorthand

skills & Omani driving license, seeks

suitable placement. call 95941515

26 years Indian male with MBA &

PGDFM, Total 3.8 years experience

in Administration, seeking suit-

able placement in any gulf region.

Holding Oman valid driving license.

Contact :94501423

8 yrs exp Site supervisor cum 2d,

3d Draughtsman (holding Omani

driving license) seeking job.

Contact : 93790601

Indian Male 24 years, Looking for a

Suitable Job in Telecom / Network-

ing. 1 year sales experience. MSc.

Communications Engineering &

Valid Driving license. Ph: 91280121.

Email: jackrprasad@yahoo.com

Indian Male, 29 years, CCNP, MCITP

having Bachelor degree and 6 years

of experience in Networking looking

for job. 96760618 /

varghese.manthara@gmail.com

Iraqi Pharmacist with 15 years

experience as regulatory affairs and

Marketing Manager seeking job in

pharmaceutical co. Mobile 96720441

Finance ACCA Affiliate, 2.5 years

experience in audit/finance and oil

company in reputed firms. Look-

ing for suitable permanent place-

ment. Release available. Contact

95140445, a.saran891@gmail.com

ACC. AVAILABLE

AVAILABLE

Party & Wedding equipment rentals.

Full line, from Tables, Linen & Skirt-

ing, Chairs & Chair covers, Cutlery,

Crockery, Glassware, Chafing Dishes,

Ice Sculptures, to Large Sound Sys-

tems and spectacular lighting. Call

Andrea 9606 2222 for Catering and

Croyden 9623 5555 for Sound & Light.

www.tunesoman.com,

E-mail: info@tunesoman.com

1BHK available Mumtaz area Ruwi.

Contact: 99269751

Sharing accommodation available

for Indian family Ruwi high street

Raymond bld. Contact : 97380459

Furnished room attached bath for

Indian bachelor - Al Falaj area &

for lady at Wadi kabir (Al Maya) -

95941515.

Sharing accommodation available

for Executive bachelor. Ruwi high

street. Contact-99776193

Accommodation for Indian Execu-

tive bachelor near Al Khuwair R/A.

Contact : 99659513

Single room for executive bachelor

near AL Falaj Hotel.

Contact 99643845

Fully furnished room with attached

Bath for executive bachelor, behind

Al Meera Hypermarket Azaiba

R.O 150/-. Contact: 99455735

Sharing accommodation for

executive bachelor near Sadolin

Wadi Kabir. Contact: 99016230

Sharing accommodation avail-

able opposite Mars at Al Ghubra for

Executive bachelor or small family

sharing, kitchen. Contact 94474351 /

96237050

Furnished single rooms available

for bachelors at Ruwi.

Contact: 98049288

ACC. OPP, OK center for non- cooking

bachelor. Contact - 97900642

after 5 pm

Executive bachelor room with

attached toilet near Al Nahda

Hospital, Hamriya. Contact - 96474313

Sharing for non-cooking Executive

bachelor in CBD area wi fi free,

advance deposit. Contact 95934642

Accommodation available for South

Indian family, one bedroom with

attached toilet, kitchen, hall in a villa,

Al Ghubrah. Contact 99209160

Sharing acc. Available in Muttrah

behind Oman house.

Contact 99354340

Sharing family accommodation in

Wadi Kabir. Contact 99335057

GOOD NEWS

Ayurvedic massage backache, joint

pain & neck pain etc.

Contact: 98254909

Ayurvedic treatment for backache,

paralysis, arthritis etc & massage,

All Season (Vaidyaratnam).

Contact 24475280 / 95371554 /

92504980 www.siddhayur.com

Ayurvedic treatment for joint pain,

backache, paralysis massage, steam

bath, obesity, spondylitis IDEAL ,

CARE Ayurvedic Clinic 18 November

street, Azaiba. Contact 99639695 /

99117987

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

Taimour Ayurvedic Clinic, Ruwi

offers genuine & effective treatment

for back pain, paralysis, cervical and

lumbar spondylitis, osteoarthritis,

joint pains, sinusitis, migraine, aller-

gic problems, varicose vein and all

other health related problems. Kerala

massage and rejuvenation package

available. For details please

Contact 92197920/ 24799689

2 Rooms with separate bathroom &

kitchen for executive bachelors.

Gsm 942-888-63

Key Account Executive, Indian

male, currently working with a

reputed FMCG company Oman is

looking for a placement asap, NOC

will be given. Valid Omani driving

license. Total experience in Oman is

12yrs and particularly in Sales is 8

1/2 years. Contact 95589765 Email :

agnelfrancis@yahoo.co.in

25 Indian female, B.Sc fashion tech-

nologist, 5 years exp in merchandis-

ing, familiar with fashion marketing

& designing. Currently available on

visit visa, seeking for a visual mer-

chandising job. Contact : 96990368,

email jumshi@gmail.com

Sudanese male BSC Telecommuni-

cations Engineer , 4 years experi-

ence in telecom field

Contact: 97783092,

Email: Alrsheed88@hotmail.com

Indian male, 28 years, 7 years

experience in transporting & heavy

equipment renting company. Having

Omani driving license seeks suitable

positions. Contact 94410485

Civil autocad draughtsman part

time work for job mob :96023726

Working as Senior Accountant, 4 yrs.exp.in oman, relevant computer

skills, Audit, Accounting upto fina-

lization, valid oman driving license,

languages known Arabic, Hindi.

NOC available can join immediately.

Tel: (+968) 96339599, E-mail-

(ahmedmohdkhan@gmail.com)

Mechanical Engineer, Indian, (B.E.)

on visit visa, seeking suitable post.

Contact :99534733

Email: rajesh92prince@gmail.com

Male, 19 years of experience in

Finance and Administration cur-

rently on visit visa seeks suitable

placement. Contact: 99720132/

abidrafi33@hotmail.com

Sudanese male BSC Telecommuni-

cations Engineer, 4 years experience

in telecom field.Contact : 97783092,

Email: alrsheed88@hotmail.com

Piping Design Engineer, Indian

male 27, looking for suitable place-

ment in Piping Design & Engineer-

ing. Having 7 years of experience in

AutoCAD. Also familiar with PDMS

(11.6 Version),CAESAR ll. Contact :

97351786 / 96143708, E-mail :

mohammednazeer07@gmail.com

Indian female, B.Com. knowledge of

MS Office &Tally, 4yrs experience in

Accounts &admin dept. looking for

good placement in any field.

Contact.98928220

Indian female MBA Finance cur-

rently on visit visa. Seeks immediate

placement. Phone: 968-98430089

Key Account Executive , currently working with a reputed

FMCG company Oman is looking for

a placement asap, NOC available,

valid Omani driving license.

Total experience in Oman is 12yrs

and particularly in Sales is 8 1/2

years. Contact 95589765

Email : agnelfrancis@yahoo.co.in

Senior IT Professional, Indian Male,

more than 17 yrs. of experience in

software development(PB, Oracle,

SAP ABAP) and IT Support with

valid Oman DL and NOC available

Contact : 92193867,

Email : cp.prasad@gmail.com

23,Male, ACCA with 2.5 years ex-

perience in Big6 audit firm and Oil/

Gas,looking for permanent place-

ment in Accounts/Audit. Contact

#95140445 a.saran891@gmail.com

Indian female MBA Finance

currently on visit visa, seeks imme-

diate placement. Phone- 98430089

BUYING / SELLING

Investors required for a Running

hotel in AL Khuwair.

Contact 98049288

Used household & office furniture

and electronic items.

Contact 99834373, 97102699

DAILY GUIDET U E S D AY, M AY 2 6 , 2 0 1 5 D7

DAILY GUIDESITUATION WANTEDCARGO

Dolphin Watch, Dhow Cruise

with Buffet, & Land Tours Al- Ainain

Marine Tours Contact- 98029602,

92808636

RENT A CAR

TOURS

TRANSPORTATION

Transportation available. Contact:

99867456

Transportation. Contact

99077348

House shifting & transporting.

Contact 92490422

Transportation. Contact

99508282

Transport to ISWK. Contact

93172589

Pick & Drop any time. Contact

97014786

*Classified Advertisement space booking with text,

should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication. * Subject to space availability

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

D8 T U E S D AY, M AY 2 6 , 2 0 1 5

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.comDAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.comDAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

*Classified Advertisement space booking with text,

should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication.

* Subject to space availability

Looking for a working partner to

run a well established fabrication

& carpentry workshop in Barka.

Contact: 95120404 or mail to

elmechoman@gmail.com

Software development based on

requirements such as: Web devel-

opment & cloud computing, SAP

implementation & services. Android

App development networking.

Contact 97423932

Required business Researcher.

contact 99229700

Email: kjaaraimi@hotmail.com

Business Consultant, feasibility

study. Contact 99229700

BUSINESS

SITUATION WANTEDSERVICES

Specialist available for explosive

growth in term of restructuring

all modules of businesses with

over 30 years of experience across

continents with a decade in Oman.

Contact 96733578

Email : profitoman@gmail.com

A/C maintenance & servicing.

Fridge, washing machine & dish

washer repairing. Painting & clean-

ing services & electrical & plumb-

ing. Contact 99447257/97014234/

24504281

We do building maintenance all

kind of works. Contact 99247663

Carpet & sofa cleaning, house clean-

ing. Contact 99542979 / 98855815

P.R.O services. Contact 99368907

Electric, Plumbing, painting & all

kinds of building maintenance.

Contact 93896787 / 97924862

House shifting packing. Contact 99657644/ 98518013

Carpet & sofa shampooing. Ocean

Centre LLC. Contact 99884591 /

92682970

WEBSITE

WEB, ERP and Business Intelli-

gence (BI) creation and man-

agement at rock bottom price.

Contact: http//webviewoman

CLASSES

COMPUTER

ACCOUNTANTS AND CONSULTANTSWE ARE PROVIDING

ACCOUNTING/ AUDITINGTAX/ CONSULTING

CONTACT: 24 567 251 / 95 498 033

GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet

& sofa shampooing, Contact

99314807/24792998

MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of

your marble. Contact 24793614/

99314807

Window & split unit A.C servicing & repairing.

Contact 99557080

Split & window A.C servicing &

maintenance. Contact: 96236476

Split & window A.C servic-

ing & maintenance. Contact

93769089/95323517

Air condition maintenance split

and window services AC specialist

ducted and package type unites.

Contact: 98667326

A/C maintenance split A/C servic-

ing. RO. 10 only. Contact 94217681/

99210141

House shifting. Contact 99708138

Pest Control Treatments, Termites, Cockroaches, Bedbugs.

Contact Ocean Centre LLC.

Contact 99344723

MATRIMONIAL

MATRIMONIAL

KERALA NAIR BOY working in

Muscat, age 31 ,Height 165cm.

Seeking alliance from Nair /

Nambiar girls, especially from north

Malabar area. Manager visa with

family status GSM: 96344388

Alliance invited for a Hindu, Ezhava

male 28, 5”8” working as a machin-

ist in a well established company in

Oman. Contact: 98323862

We are Muslim family seeking

alliance for our son interested

families. Contact 97664009 Kerala Nair girl, B.Com, 22 yrs, 5.2”

very fair, slim, (Star Uthrattathi)

Presently working in infosis, Chen-

nai. Financially sound, from parents

of nair boys from Trissur, Palakkad

and Eranakulam & Calicut dist. .

Contact :0091 8301865688

email: raveendrandr@yahoo.com

NRI

Ready / under construction apart-

ments / villas / row houses / shops,

available for sale in North / South

Goa (India).

E- mail - tonynoronha@rocketmail.

com, tel # 95867021

Residential plot 47 cents, also as

10-15 cents plots at Manjapra 15kms

from Nedumbassery Airport with

calm and beautiful surroundings.

Price IRS.180,000/cent.

Contact 9193 6563

3 BKD attached semi furnished

1380 sq.feet 4.25 cent villa, ready for

occupation in Sree nakshtra project

katachani, vattiyoorkave, Trivan-

drum, for sale. Villa project has all

common facilities swimming pool,

tennis court; children play ground,

gym etc. with both city water and

bore well connection. Contact no

99880135/92043900

Flats on distress sale near Goa

approx area 1 BHK 720 with , 2

balcony 4 flats , 2 flats ground floor

without balcony approx area 620,

2 nos studio 300 sqft at sawant

wadi at 2500 per sqr ft. Contact :

+919320517730/+919769051996 /

93683695

46 cents of land kattakada peyad

road (malapanan code) near E.M.S

academy expecting 1 lakh percent.

Contact: 99016230

SERVICES

Split & window A.C servicing &

maintenance. Contact 93769089 /

95323517

Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles

polishing, carpet shampooing,

maintenance.Contact ABU QABAS-

99320217 /24788722

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

Hindu Ezhava family, settled in

Muscat looking for suitable groom

working within Oman for their

daughter 25 yrs (MBA) working

with a reputed company in Muscat.

Contact : 98689663

DRIVING

Learn driving with professional

only automatic.

Contact 94022250